A method for the assessment of a multiphase (aqueous and organic) sample phase, the method comprising adding at least one detection molecule to the multiphase sample; detecting a signal emitted from the detection molecule/multiphase sample mixture, the signal being detectably different when the at least one detection molecule is present in one of either an organic phase, an aqueous phase or an interface between said organic phase and said aqueous phase of the multiphase sample; and analyzing the detected signal to assess the properties of a phase or an interface between phases. A system for use in such a method, use of at least one detection molecule for the assessment of a multiphase sample, and a composition for use in the assessment of a multiphase sample are also disclosed.

Monitoring of oil in water is important for the oil production industry. One waste product of oil production is water, which is often injected to increase well pressure and maximise oil recovery. This produced water must be monitored before disposal, to avoid contamination of the disposal area with oil. As oil wells mature, they tend to produce greater volumes of wastewater. In many geographical regions the oil industry is regulated by legislation that dictates that the amount of oil disposed of in water waste products must not breach set levels. Improved monitoring of the quantity of oil in water could help the oil production companies to provide the required information for regulatory purposes. The companies could also use this information to monitor and maintain the efficiency of their equipment, and thereby reduce or avoid fines that could be incurred by breaching set levels.
Water treatment facilities would also benefit from improved methods of oil in water monitoring, because the quantity of oil in water can impact the efficiency of water treatment. By measuring and reducing the levels of oil in water, the efficiency of a variety of water treatments could be monitored, the operator can improve efficiency of treatment and better quality oil can be generated. If increased efficiency of water treatment can be demonstrated, an operator would be able to attract custom and cite environmental record as evidence for competency when tendering for new licenses. Furthermore, where the concentration of oil in the treated water is being regulated by legislation, a company could use improved oil in water monitoring methods to avoid fines and other legal action for breach of such legislation.
There are currently numerous methods available for oil in water monitoring: gravimetric methods, or direct weight measurement (for example US EPA Method 1664), colour of samples, infrared (IR) absorption, ultraviolet (UV) absorption, fluorescence and particle counting methods.
Gravimetric methods are advantageous in that they measure quantities of oil directly. However, the oil compounds that are assessed using such methods do not include all the organic compounds in the water being tested. Instead, the subset tested using gravimetric methods is made up of those compounds that are extractable from water in n-hexane at pH 2 and remain after the hexane is evaporated. Gravimetric methods are cumbersome and require a high level of manual skill, and as such cannot be used in most field environments.
Colorimetric methods were widely used before regulatory compliance was required, but are not applicable to many oils; firstly, because such methods may not generate sufficient colour to be visible within an oil sample, and secondly because the instrument is calibrated with a standard of known oil concentration. An instrument that has been calibrated in such a way has a standard background level of colour and is therefore only useful for experiments where the ratio of the oil components within the total volume of oil remains constant.
UV methods are based on the fact that aromatic compounds absorb UV radiation and fluoresce at different wavelengths. The amount of absorbed or fluoresced light is proportional to the concentration of aromatic compounds in the water. Extractions of fractions of the sample may or may not be used and can be useful in removing interferences e.g. iron, which can increase background fluorescence. UV absorption methods can be advantageously used for online monitoring, where extractions are not used as part of the method. Online monitoring has a number of advantages; no manual handling of the sample is required, there is an immediate response (<1 second) and the result can be correlated to a recognised standard reference method. One disadvantage of the system is that the absorption coefficient, or efficiency of light absorption, changes with the composition of the oil. Furthermore, UV absorption measurements are susceptible to interference. UV methods are, therefore, only accurate when the oil type and conditions are consistent. There are many situations in which these two factors are not consistent and monitoring may therefore not be reliable, for example; where two different reservoirs with different oil types are to be assessed, where scale has formed in the system, where dissolved oils are present, or where the concentration range is too great i.e. varies from low to high.
Fluorescence-based methods also suffer from difficulty in achieving a strong signal to background ratio. This is because different oil types and different water samples give different levels of background autofluorescence, so that it can be difficult to ascertain the signal from the hydrocarbon component of the sample. In addition, treatment chemicals such as corrosion inhibitors or solids encountered during oil production may interfere with signal generation or analysis. In both UV absorbance and UV fluorescence experiments, measurements made where the concentration of oil is low are affected by error due to the "stray light effect", and measurements made at higher concentrations of oil are subject to error from the "inner filter effect".
Methods using IR absorption to measure oil in water use detection of the carbon hydrogen (C—H) bond, which is common to almost all hydrocarbon compounds. The signal from the O—H bond in water overlaps the C—H signal so a liquid-liquid extraction of the oil with a solvent with no C—H bonds must be be performed prior to analysis. The extraction step is time-consuming, expensive and requires toxic chemicals. In addition to this, it remains controversial because some essential data may be lost using this technique due to the limited range of the IR spectrum that is analysed.
The most widely used approaches for monitoring of oil in water include gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection (GC-FID). GC-FID equipment is expensive, can be unreliable, has a limited dynamic range, requires an extraction step using solvents, uses pressurised gases, requires a heating oven, is not suitable for volatile mineral oil and carries some safety issues. It has been found that different lab personnel, equipment and procedures can produce significantly different results, so that reliable conclusions cannot be drawn from results. The equipment used for GC-FID is very large and therefore difficult to store; in particular, the equipment is not sufficiently robust for straightforward use at offshore sites and maintenance issues are common. The equipment becomes clogged easily, and the extraction step is time-consuming, requires skilled personnel and causes the loss of some fractions from the sample. GC-FID provides a method of off-line monitoring. This means that a sample is taken at, for example, an oilrig, and transferred to an offshore lab or, more commonly, flown or shipped to an on-shore site where it will be tested.
Using off-line methods, it is not possible to obtain real-time information about the levels of oil in water. The time taken to transport, prepare and test the sample results in a delay between sampling and obtaining the results. This is undesirable for both regulatory and environmental reasons because waste water is constantly being disposed of Therefore, if a sample reveals that the amount of oil in the waste water is too high, this oil may have already been released into the environment. The company may then be fined and may incur further legal penalties. It would be preferable to have a method that is simpler and faster, more accurate, robust and reproducible, could be performed on site and which could provide results in real time, allowing for continuous monitoring, immediate detection of process upsets, reduction in personnel cost, reduction in sample transport cost, reduction in lab cost and that minimises variation caused by personnel, equipment or protocols. The results could then be obtained very quickly and the oil production facility or water treatment facility processes altered to address the problem and prevent contaminating wastewater from entering the environment.
Some of the problems occurring due to the presence of oil in water are outlined above. The reverse situation, water contamination in oil, can also create difficulties for oil production or water treatment. Oil produced by individual companies is transported along pipelines to the shore. One such pipeline is the Forties pipeline in the North Sea. Production companies pay by volume to transport oil from their production facilities via the Forties pipeline to the shore and therefore it is preferable to transport pure oil, rather than oil including a quantity of water. Separators can be used to remove excess water from oil to reduce transportation costs. Further examples of problems caused by water in oil include loss of efficiency of lubricating oils that are used across a wide range of industries, problems with hydraulic systems, increased corrosion of system components, microbiological growth, accelerated metal fatigue and additive precipitation. Improved monitoring of water in oil therefore has many potential advantages in a range of fields, including the food and drink industry, the pharmaceutical industry and shipping.
Multiphase flow meters are used in the oil and gas industry, but the technology is not reliable if the proportion of oil and water in the pipe is variable and unknown. Therefore, it would be advantageous for operators of terminals and refineries if the relative oil to water content could be determined to enable such meters to be used.
IR absorption/transmission can be used for detecting and quantitatively assessing water contamination in oil. Such testing may be carried out offshore on a floating production storage and offloading vessel using IR absorption. Testing is performed on crude oil lines as well as oil and diesel tanks and contaminated bilge water. However, only a small part of the whole volume of the tank is available for testing and therefore results may not reflect the true composition of the total volume of oil. Although IR testing is suitable for off-shore testing, the analysis is prone to interferences and requires complicated sample preparation and regular maintenance and calibration.
Other methods currently used to assess the presence of water in samples of oil include centrifugation, distillation, colourimetric 'Karl Fischer' titration, and testing the electrical behaviour of a sample, such as resistivity and capacitance. However, these methods cannot cover the whole range of problems that relate to water in oil testing, because these problems require solutions that provide anywhere from 0-100% water cut. Technologies capable of improving accuracy, robustness, maintenance and cost and which are available for online monitoring would be advantageous.
In addition to monitoring total volumes of oil in water or water in oil, it is important to be able to monitor the size of the oil or water droplets. Therefore, in addition to the gravimetric, colourimetry, UV, IR and GC-FID methods of analysing the presence of oil in water, methods have been developed for the assessment of oil or particle size, volume and concentration in a sample. Particle numbers and size distribution can be assessed, for example by using a Coulter counter, turbidity can be measured, and size distribution and other characteristics of particles and phases can be visually recorded online. Image analysis may also be used to assess oil droplet size. This uses a microscope (or other magnification optics) to observe particles, a camera to take an image and software to calculate the size, volume and other properties of the particles. The size limit for detection using image analysis is approximately 2 μm diameter. Another method that can be used is light scattering. The relative strength of light scattered by the oil droplets as a function of the angle of scattering can be used to determine the size of the oil droplets. The limits of detection for such techniques are governed by the wavelength of the incident light, around 0.6 μm diameter where visible light is used. Laser diffraction methods can detect particles lower than 100 μm in size but relatively dilute and uncontaminated samples are required.
Using these methods and equipment, the size and volume of all oil droplets in a known volume of water can be calculated and summed to determine the oil concentration in the water. In addition, it is difficult for particle counting equipment to detect droplets of oil, so that the techniques are not very reliable, or accurate and the results of the analysis experiments suffer from low signal to background ratios. Machines and data processing techniques that are required to obtain the assessment of the phase in the sample are therefore complex and expensive. A further problem is that there are size limits for detection of oil droplets when image analysis is used; outside a known range (around 2 micron), image analysis equipment simply cannot detect oil droplets so that these methods cannot measure soluble oil concentrations. (Tyrie and Caudle 2007 Comparing oil in water measurement methods Touch briefings, pages 31-35.) Light scattering techniques cannot distinguish between spherical particles and nonspherical particles and therefore may generate inaccurate estimates on the amount of oil and droplet size distribution based on incorrect diameter measurements. The results obtained by light scattering can vary significantly as a result of variations in sample preparation and also as a result of how the samples are subsequently handled. In particular, the results may be affected by dust particles or gas bubbles, which will also scatter light and lead to false positives.
Mechanical separators are used to separate oil from water, most of them operating by gravitational means of separation by allowing settling of the oil droplets on the surface of the water. As a general rule, the larger the oil droplet size, the more efficient the separation will be. The performance of the mechanical separator is strongly affected, therefore, by the size of the oil droplets. The droplet size can be highly variable, from <25 micron to >150 micron diameter. An improved method for assessment of the size of oil droplets in water would have a number of applications. It would be useful to system operators, who wish to, for example, determine the efficiency of oil in water separation by mechanical separators. Separator system developers wishing to assess the effect of droplet size on the system would find it useful to be able to determine the size of droplets over a large range. Improved monitoring of the droplet size would also help companies to prevent clogging of production wells or oil lines, and also to minimise disposal of waste water which contains volumes of oil that breach regulated levels.
Improved monitoring of oil droplet size in water would also be useful in oilfields where the produced water is reinjected into the reservoir to increase the reservoir pressure and enhance the rate of oil production. Water that is injected in this way must not contain particles which will block the porous formation as this would prevent further flow in the reservoir. A system which could accurately determine particle size and the nature of the particles (oil, sand, gas etc) would provide useful information for an operator when controlling the quality of the produced water for re-injection.
Treatment additives are commonly used in the oil and gas industries to ensure integrity of the production facilities and also to maximise production of fluids. It is necessary to monitor the concentration of treatment substances to ensure that they remain effective. This monitoring process can, however, be labour-intensive and expensive. Furthermore, these treatment additives are subject to environmental legislation. Therefore, when the levels of treatment additives exceed specified levels, operators of oil processing and waste water treatment plants may incur fines or other penalties. Many of these additives, such as methanol, monoethylene glycol, scale inhibitors and low dosage hydrate inhibitors partition primarily to a single phase of a multiphase mixture. Others such as emulsifiers and demulsifiers are used to disperse or separate immiscible liquids such as oil and water and are commonly used in oil production. Chemicals that act as surfactants including corrosion inhibitors and asphaltene inhibitors may also create oil in water and water in oil emulsions that require monitoring. Many standard off-line tests are available, but do not tend to provide accurate, up-to-date data reflecting the concentration of treatment chemicals in a system and a method of inline monitoring of treatment additives would be very valuable.
Monitoring the distribution of treatment additives has a number of applications. Operators can ensure that minimum inhibitory concentrations can be used, reducing the risk of flow assurance and asset integrity problems. If problems are identified, operators can carry out preventative action to minimise the risks of production loss, for example the regularity of squeeze treatments could be increased. Treatment additives would only need to be added to a system when the concentration had dropped to the minimum effective concentration, thereby reducing waste that would otherwise occur if chemicals were added on a more arbitrary basis. Improved monitoring would provide quantitative evidence of treatment substance usage within the system, this evidence being useful for environmental monitoring and regulatory compliance. The results obtained by monitoring treatment additives could also be used to provide information on oil quality and to minimise the threats caused by the treatment additives used in, for example, hydrocarbon and wastewater processing facilities. Being able to monitor chemicals such as surfactants, asphaltenes, emulsifiers and demulsifiers could also help in development of new products as this monitoring could be used to pinpoint how effectively they can disperse or separate immiscible liquids and so identify better products. Monitoring droplet formation may also be useful in development of separators and other equipment.
Treatment chemicals such as emulsifiers and surfactants are also used in other industries including the food and drink industry, the pigments and inks industry, the cosmetics industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the consumer goods industry (such as the detergents industry), colloids for the nanotech industry, polymer production and liquid crystal characterisation. It would be advantageous for product development to improve the monitoring of the concentration (and droplet size, where necessary) of emulsifiers, demulsifiers and surfactants in these industries.
Hydrocarbon fingerprinting is used to determine the hydrocarbon components of samples based on, for example, chain length. This method is useful to determine the content, purity and quality of oil, and also to determine the source of oil in order to track a source of pollution, the contribution made by a specific oil well to export lines, or to identify barrels of stolen or diluted oil. Samples are analysed using high resolution capillary gas chromatography—mass spectrometry, a complex, highly specialised technique, or or near-infrared spectroscopy which is not robust to the presence of aqueous phase in the sample. It would be advantageous to have an improved, simplified method of identifying the different hydrocarbons present in the organic phase of an oil sample, that could be carried out off-shore.
As discussed above, there are numerous problems associated with the monitoring of oil in water or water in oil. In general, one of the greatest problems is that most methods require extraction. Often the sample must be extracted using hazardous chemicals such as Freon or pentane before it can be analysed. Extraction causes the loss of some fractions of a sample, and this is particularly the case for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) aromatic compounds, which are more soluble in water than other components. BTEX chemicals are the highly toxic, but their presence in oil or water is often missed because they are lost during solvent extraction of the sample from the main body of the multiphase substance to be tested. Extraction takes time, requires skilled operators, and creates disposal problems due to the chemicals used, and there is wide variability in extraction results obtained from different operators and laboratories.
For the purpose of the present application, a number of terms will now be defined. A "multiphase sample" is a sample containing both aqueous and organic phases. The multiphase sample may be a produced fluid from an oil, gas or water production, processing or treatment facility. Multiphase samples taken from oil, gas or water production facilities are highly variable in composition and may consist predominantly of an aqueous phase, with a smaller organic component, or predominantly of an organic phase, with a smaller aqueous component. The "organic phase" of a sample taken from an oil or gas production facility will typically contain a mixture of hydrocarbons such as alkanes, cycloalkanes and various aromatic hydrocarbons and non-metals such as nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur. The multiphase sample may also contain contaminants as well as treatment additives used during the production process. "Background sample" will be understood to mean all components of the sample that are not to be directly assessed when using the method of the invention. For example, when the user wishes to measure oil in water, the background sample comprises the aqueous phase and all other non-organic components. A "background signal" is any signal that may be emitted by the background sample at any stage during the method of the invention.
Further definitions will now be provided in relation to the type of monitoring that may be performed. An "off-line" system allows the user to take a sample from a system, and analyse it at a later stage. Such a system is useful if the equipment for analysis is located far from the location at which the sample is taken. It can also provide the user with a method for collecting samples taken at various time points and then analysing them to produce data showing composition relative to time. An "at-line" system allows the user to remove a sample from the system and analyse it on site. For example, the user could remove the sample with a syringe through a needle port, mix it with a detection molecule, mount on a microscope slide and analyse the signal. A portable spectrofluorometer may also be used for the detection step. This system is not real time but is rapid, and all of the equipment is portable and may be automated, making this method of testing suitable for offshore use. "Inline" methods involve analysing system components in situ in real time. An example might be the upstream injection of some dye, a mixing chamber and then snapshot imaging or fluorescence reading. Whilst it may be possible to achieve this in the main pipe (using the general flow of fluid to mix in the marker) it is much more likely (due to amounts of needed for such large volumes and ability to detect signal through wall) that any in-line system would require a loop (e.g. similar to those used currently for gas chromatography fast flow loops) to be drawn off the main flow but in such a way that it was representative. In this way it may be that we have a line that draws a representative fluid from the main line and into which marker is injected. This then feeds into a flow cell connected to fluorometer, imager etc. This line may rejoin the main flow or be removed to waste (depending on toxicity of marker, bioaccumulation risk of marker or volumes to be stored etc). An "online" system may be an automated monitoring system, which feeds directly into a computerised system for monitoring offsite. For example, an online system may incorporate an automated "in-line" system, information from the in-line system being recorded directly to the operator's computer system so that technicians at a different location may review it. This method advantageously allows data to be recorded in real time, but the personnel required to analyse the data would not need to be on-site.

Method to assess multiphase fluid compositions


Systems are disclosed for the driving of a truck during a paving operation by an operator located alongside the truck and adjacent the paving site. The truck transmission power take off powers a hydraulic pump with pump output being controlled by a pair of solenoid valves with one regulating fluid flow to a hydraulic drive motor driving the truck differential through a gear reduction drive while the other valve controls fluid flow to a hydraulic motor coupled to a steering component of the truck. Both of the solenoid valves are in electrical circuit with switches located exteriorally on the truck for access by the dismounted driver as is a truck brake control. Accordingly steering, braking and fore and aft truck movement may all be accomplished by an operator positioned adjacent the truck.

The present invention pertains generally to an auxiliary power train and controls for operating a vehicle from a location exteriorally of the vehicle.
In use today are trucks equipped with bins and a water tank in which are transported batches or quantities of cement, stone, sand and a quantity of water. Such trucks include a dual purpose conveyor wherein the above concrete ingredients are mixed and discharged onto a prepared ground site. The conveyor is in the form of a positionable discharge chute equipped with an auger. Typically, in discharging the mixed materials, the truck will be moved and the chute will be positioned several times. The driver must necessarily rely on signals from an assistant located at the rear of the truck for subsequent moving of the truck to accomplish discharge of the material in a precise manner to minimize manual effort and hence the labor required in such a delivery operation. In accomplishing a concrete delivery it is common practice to rely on an assistant to instruct the driver as to truck positioning during a delivery operation. Accordingly, the cost of an assistant is incurred or, alternatively reliance on an available party of unknown capability. Further, the imprecise delivery of concrete can necessitate additional paving crew members.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,293 discloses a concrete batch truck of the general type which may utilize the present auxiliary power train and controls. U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,656 discloses an auxiliary control system permitting truck operation by a dismounted driver.

Auxiliary power train and steering system for a vehicle


A fluid tight sliding clasp open ended or separable continuous fastener has two parts each comprising a row of fastening elements secured to a strip of impervious flexible material and a slider operable to close at least one end of the fastener, the elements of the two rows creating a seal against fluid pressure acting transversely of the fastener. Each part has adjacent the end to be closed additional sealing means on that face of the respective strip which, in use, forms the inside face, the additional sealing means of each part being preshaped so that when said one end of the fastener is closed they lie in edge to edge contact and are under compression whereby a fluid tight seal is obtained therebetween for resisting, in use, fluid pressure acting longitudinally of the fastener at said one end of the fastener. The fastener is particularly designed for protective suits.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sliding clasp fasteners and to garments, articles and sheeting having such fasteners.
2. Prior Art
It is known to provide protective garments, such as survival or exposure suits, with a sliding clasp continuous fastener of the kind comprised of two parts each comprising a row of fastening elements secured to a strip of flexible material and a slider which is movable along the rows from one end to the other and is operative on movement in the closing direction to bring the elements of the two rows into interlocking engagement and so to close the fastener and on movement in the opening direction to separate the elements of the two rows. Such fasteners are capable of providing a substantially fluid tight closure along the fastener when the two parts are closed together. Examples of such a fastener are disclosed in British Pat. Nos. 879,771, 940,061 and 1,201,290 and its use is of considerable practical value in that it enables a large opening in a flexible article such as a protective suit to be readily opened and closed in a fluid tight manner.
However, it is often advantageous to employ an open ended fastener which has the two flexible strips separable at the end when the slider has been moved in the opening direction away from that end to open the fastener. Moreover, a separable fastener of which the two parts are separable at both ends of the fastener when the elements are disengaged by the slider has the advantage that the two parts may be entirely separated. Both such kinds of fasteners are, of course, well known but a problem arises when it is necessary, as in a protective suit, to provide an acceptable fluid tight seal at the or each open end longitudinally of the fastener. British Pat. No. 913,113 describes means for sealing two or more adjacent ends of fluid tight sliding clasp open ended or separable continuous fasteners. This invention is concerned with supplying a solution to the problem of sealing a single end of either such type of fastener against fluid pressure acting longitudinally of the fastener.

Sliding clasp fasteners and garments, articles and sheeting having such fasteners


A brake assembly for a bicycle includes a brake lever which is pivotally engaged to a base in which a first chamber is defined, the first chamber being filled with oil and a first piston movably received therein which is actuated by the brake lever, a wheel of the bicycle having a first arm disposed on one side thereof and a second arm disposed on the other side of the wheel, each of the first and the second arms having a second chamber defined therein, a second piston movably received in the second chamber and connected to a brake pad on a distal end thereof, a first pipe connected between said first chamber and the second chamber of the first arm and a second pipe connected between the respective second chamber of the first and the second arms.

The present invention relates to a brake assembly for a bicycle and more particularly, to a brake assembly using a hydraulic system to move brake pads to stop the bicycle.
A conventional bicycle equipped with a hand operated brake system which includes a pair of brake arms pivotally disposed on a bicycle front fork or a rear seat stay and mounted one both sides of a wheel. Each of the brake arms has one end with a brake pad securely disposed thereto and a brake cable connected to the other end of the brake arm, the brake cable is connected to a brake lever mounted on respective one of two handlebars of the bicycle. When a rider operates the brake levers, the brake arms are pivoted about an axis of the pivoted point thereof by the pulling force from the corresponding brake cable thereof so as to move the brake pad to contact a rim of the wheel to stop the bicycle.
However, frequently, the spacing of the two brake pads from the wheel rim becomes unequal and this results in bending of the bicycle frame, uneven wear one the brake pads or unequal tension one the bicycle wheel spokes. When the two brake pads are spaced unequally from the sides of the wheel, they will apply unequal force as the bicycle brake are applied. This detracts markedly from braking efficiency, since the frictional force applied in one lateral direction is greater than that applied in the opposite direction, this could results in unequal wear on the brake pads and can force the bicycle wheel into a condition of misalignment. Furthermore, the brake cords could be broken off because of material problems or a sudden force being applied thereto, this is dangerous.
The present invention intends to provide a brake assembly to provide an equal and steady force to each one of the two brake pads one both sides of the wheel thus can mitigate and/or obviate the above-mentioned problems.

No. 23, 21th Rd., Taichung Industrial Park


Embodiments of the present disclosure present bioinformatic systems, methods, for allelic HLA typing (as well as and computer readable media having instructions for performing methods of HLA typing) using, for example, Illumina exome-sequencing data (e.g., 101 basepair, paired-end reads).

Allelic HLA typing refers to sequencing-based typing to determine variations in coding DNA sequences that alter the protein sequences. This is also commonly referred to as high resolution typing or four-digit typing. There are also alleles that bear synonymous mutations and mutations within noncoding DNA, but resolution of these alleles is rarely necessary in clinical practice. In the IMGT/HLA database (1), the majority of HLA alleles are represented by full-length or partial complementary DNA (cDNA) sequences. Some HLA alleles have both cDNA and genomic DNA (gDNA) sequences deposited in the database. For simplicity, we also term a cDNA and/or gDNA sequence of an HLA gene an allele.
HLA typing at the allelic level is typically performed by Sanger sequencing of selected exons of Class I genes (HLA-A, -B and -C) and Class II genes (HLA-DRB1 and -DQB1). HLA typing using exome sequencing (exome-seq) data is in its infancy. Currently, there is no methodology available to perform HLA typing at the allelic level with the necessary accuracy given the typical read length of Illumina and the level of polymorphism within the region. Indeed, a recent report(2) demonstrated that allelic HLA typing is challenging to obtain from Illumina exome-seq data even at high coverage.
The nomenclature of HLA alleles follows the guidelines from the WHO Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System (http://hla.alleles.org/nomenclature/naming.html).

Accurate typing of HLA through exome sequencing


A specimen stage apparatus has a braking structure which can generate a braking force enough to stop a specimen stage while keeping a movable table from increasing in its weight. The specimen stage apparatus has an X guide fixed on an X base and representing a guide structure in X direction, an X table constrained by the X guide to be movable in X direction, an X actuator having its movable part fixed to the X table and an X brake fixed to the X base and representing a braking structure for the X table. A controller carries out positioning control in which it generates a braking force by pushing the X brake against the bottom surface of the X table to stop a specimen stage and turning off the servo-control of the X actuator after stoppage of the specimen stage.

The present invention relates to a specimen stage apparatus suitable as a specimen stage of an electron microscope used especially for inspecting and evaluating semiconductors in the field of semiconductor manufacture, an electron microscope provided with the specimen stage apparatus and a specimen stage apparatus positioning control method.
With semiconductor devices minified in recent years, not only the manufacturing apparatus but also the inspecting/evaluating apparatus has been required of high accuracy comparable to that of the manufacturing apparatus. Typically, in order to evaluate whether or not the shape critical dimension of a pattern formed on a semiconductor wafer is correct, a scanning electron microscope with the critical dimensioning function (hereinafter referred to as a critical dimensioning SEM) has been used.
In the critical dimensioning SEM, an electron beam is irradiated on a wafer, a captured secondary electron signal is processed to an image and the edge of a pattern is determined from a bright to dark change or vice versa to extract a critical dimension. In this case, it is important for coping with the minified formation of the semiconductor device to obtain a secondary electron image of less noise at high magnifications for observation. Accordingly, many secondary electron images need to be superimposed on one another to improve the contrast and to this end, the specimen stage carrying and holding the wafer is required to be suppressed in its vibration and drift in the order of nanometer.
Achieving the aforementioned suppression in vibration and drift necessitates a specimen stage apparatus capable of performing highly accurate positioning and generally, this type of specimen stage apparatus is comprised of a servo-control system adopting a linear motor as drive mechanism.
In carrying out the servo-control, however, a slight or minute vibration is occurring in the order of nanometer even in the stop condition, so that the specimen stage vibrates to vary the specimen position and besides, the vibration of the specimen stage causes the whole apparatus to vibrate and therefore, the secondary electron image will sometimes be affected adversely.
As a countermeasure against a minute vibration attributable to the servo-control as above, a technique is available in which a braking structure is provided for a movable table of the specimen stage and when stopping the specimen stage, braking is activated to turn off the servo-control (see JP-A-2001-88695 (paragraphs [0010] to [0016], FIGS. 1 to 4), for example). In the known technique, the movable table is provided with a brake driven by an air cylinder and the movable table clamps together, with the help of braking, a plate member laid along the direction in which the movable table moves, thus making it possible to brake the movable table.
In another technique different from the above one, a movable table is provided with a rolling member acting on the base surface and when stopping the specimen stage, the thrust force of the rolling member applied on the base surface is increased with the help of a force generated by a piezoelectric device provided for the movable table, so that the movable table is braked (see JP-A-8-222500 (paragraphs [0025] to [0028], FIGS. 4 to 5), for example).

Specimen stage apparatus and specimen stage positioning control method


Antibodies (polyclonal and monoclonal) having specificity for cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain are described. The antibodies simultaneously recognize a purine ring, an isoprenoid side chain, and a 4'-O-glycoside. The antibodies were elicited using a novel hapten, 9-(2-carboxyethyl) cytokinin-O-glycoside. Immunoassay methods for the determination of cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain which utilize the antibodies are also described.

1. Field of the invention
The invention relates to and has among its objects the provision of antibodies which are specific for cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain and immunoassay methods for the determination of these cytokinins utilizing the antibodies.
2. Description of the art
Phytohormones regulate many aspects of plant growth and development. Plants, like all higher organisms, senesce, and there is evidence that a complex genetic program for senescence exists and is mediated by the interaction of naturally occurring phytohormones. An important class of phytohormones is the group of cytokinins having a purine ring, hereinafter denoted simply as cytokinins. These compounds are known to evoke a diversity of responses in plants. In addition to occurring in higher plants as free compounds, cytokinins also occur as component nucleotides in tRNA of plants, animals, and microorganisms, and in plant viral RNA (D. S. Letham and L. M. S. Palni, Annual Review of Plant Physiology 34: 163-197 (1983). The most important naturally occuring cytokinin is zeatin, shown in FIG. 1. It has a purine moiety (adenine), an isoprenoid side chain (6-(4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-trans-2-enyl), and a hydrogen attached to the 4' oxygen. Another important, naturally occurring cytokinin is dihydrozeatin. As shown in FIG. 2, it differs from zeatin in that the double bond of the isoprenoid side chain (6-(4-hydroxy-3-methylbutyl)) is saturated. Derivatives of zeatin and dihydrozeatin include compounds having a glycoside substituent (e.g., glucose, ribose) linked to the 4' oxygen of the isoprenoid side chain. These compounds are denoted as cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain. Illustrative compounds are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Zeatin and dihydrozeatin and their O-glycosylated derivatives can also have N-substitution on the purine ring. Examples include N-glycosides (compounds having a sugar moiety linked to the 7 or 9 nitrogen of the purine ring) or N-amino acyl forms (compounds having an amino acid substituent on the 7 or 9 nitrogen). The N-glycosides may be optionally phosphorylated to mono-, di-, or triphosphate esters.
Cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain differ from other cytokinins with regard to stereochemistry, metabolism, and function. The glycosylated side chain is substantially bigger than non-glycosylated side chain (FIG. 3), and the isoprenoid moiety of the side chain is partially masked by the O-glycoside. Thus, the antigenicity of these compounds (that is, their ability to react with receptors of the immune system to trigger antibody formation) differs from the antigenicity of the non-O-glycosides. With regard to differences in metabolism, hydrolysis of cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain is catalyzed by glycosidases which are well documented in the plant literature. In the absence of specific enzymes, these cytokinins can also be hydrolyzed under acidic conditions, especially at elevated temperatures. With regard to function, some studies suggest that cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain function as inactive, storage forms of cytokinins, which can be metabolically activated by enzymatic hydrolysis to the non-O-glycosylated forms.
While the significance of the multiple forms of cytokinins is not fully known, they do not have identical activities in various bioassays. For example, N-ribosides are active in most bioassays, and N-glucosides are inactive in these assays and appear to be dead-end metabolites. Because the different cytokinins do not have the same biological activity, it is important to measure all of the major forms present in a plant or other experimental system (Letham and Palni, 1983, supra). The effective concentration of even a single cytokinin is influenced by the physical sequestration of the molecule within the plant and transport processes which translocate it to different sites. Interconversions of cytokinins in the leaves, for example, could regulate the effective concentration of cytokinins in the chloroplast. The distinct chemical forms appear to have different functions, with ribosides the predominant translocatable form and glucosides the storage forms (Letham and Palni, 1983, supra). Ribotides are also found, sometimes in relatively high concentrations (I. M. Scott and R. Horgan, Planta 161: 345-354 (1984) and J. Badenoch-Jones et al., Plant Physiology 75: 1117-1125 (1984)).
There are several factors which cause difficulty in the mesurement of cytokinins. One problem is that cytokinins occur in low concentration in plant tissues (nanomolar concentration is typical). Another problem is that, as stated above, they exist in multiple chemical forms in the presence of many other molecules. Further, glycosides and nucleotide forms are inherently unstable to some methods of extraction and concentration. Physicochemical methods of quantitation of cytokinins involve elaborate purification procedures, and utilize complex and expensive instrumentation for detection. While quantitation by such methods is possible, it requires relatively large samples and is labor-intensive and time consuming. Other widely used methods are bioassays, which generally involve cell or organ cultures or growth of whole seedlings. One problem inherent in a bioassay is interference due to the presence of inhibitors of cytokinin activity. A serious problem of the bioassay procedures is that the activity of the multiple forms of cytokinins is not identical from assay to assay. Another problem is that typical bioassays are time consuming (several days) and are not adaptable to automation.
Polyclonal antibodies directed against cytokinins have been reported and have been used for immunoassay (E. W. Weiler, Annual Review of Plant Physiology 35: 85-95 (1984)), immunoaffinity fractionation (E. M. S. MacDonald and R. O. Morris, Methods in Enzymology 110: 347-358 (1985)), and immunocytochemical localization of cytokinins (M. E. Zavala and D. L. Brandon, Journal of Cell Biology 97: 1235-1239 (1983)). Monoclonal antibodies have also been reported which bind to cytokinins, with the first reports being E. J. Trione and R. O. Morris, Plant Physiology 72 (supplement): 114 (1983); and M. L. Woodsworth et al., Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 114: 791-796 (1983). No antibodies have been reported which bind to cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain. Therefore, the immunochemical methods using known antibodies do not permit measurement, fractionation, or localization of this important group of cytokinins. J. Badenoch-Jones et al., supra, first reported that antibodies specific for zeatin and zeatin riboside do not bind efficiently to cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain.
Cytokinins are low molecular weight compounds and are not themselves immunogenic. To obtain an immune response they must be coupled to an immunogenic carrier. Such compounds are known as haptens. In the studies reported by all investigators except D. L. Brandon et al., 1987, discussed infra, the antibodies to cytokinins were elicited using oxidized ribosides as haptens, that is, compounds with reactive aldehyde groups generated by the oxidative cleavage of the 9-N-ribosyl moiety of the corresponding cytokinin riboside. These compounds readily combine with amino groups on a protein carrier, and can then be reduced to form stable amines. These haptens cannot be used to make antibodies to cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain since such reactions would cleave the glycoside and eliminate this important feature of the molecule.
Brandon et al., in J. E. Fox and M. Jacobs (eds.) Molecular Biology of Plant Growth Control, 209-217, Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York (1987), used 9-(2-carboxyethyl) zeatin as hapten for eliciting antibodies to zeatin (a nonglycosylated cytokinin). This report does not disclose a hapten suitable for eliciting antibodies to cytokinins with a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain. None of the prior art teaches methods for obtaining such a compound. Cytokinins having a glycoslyated isoprenoid side chain do not have a functional group (other than the glycoside moiety) available for coupling to a carrier. Coupling through the glycoside moiety would destroy the key feature of the molecule in the process of making the immunogenic conjugate. It was unknown whether a suitable functional group could be introduced into a cytokinin having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain to make a suitable derivative, or hapten, for conjugating to a carrier. The glycoside moiety is labile, and reactions such as hydrolysis, racemization, and oxidation would destroy the hapten.
Even if a functional group could be introduced, there were major uncertainties about the survival of the glycoside moiety during conjugation to carrier. Oxidative reactions or acidic conditions would be likely to hydrolyze the glycoside or cause racemization. Widely used carbodiimide reagents are not appropriate for coupling polyhydroxy compounds (such as cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain) because of side reactions, such as formation of O-alkyl isoureas (A. Williams and I. T. Ibrahim, Chemical Reviews 81: 589, 600 (1981) discusses this point as part of a comprehensive review of the reactions of carbodiimides.)
Even if conjugates could be prepared, the prior art does not disclose whether they would be sufficiently stable to reach receptors which trigger antibody production and whether the mouse (or any other species) would recognize it as an antigen and produce antibody. One problem is steric hindrance of the hapten which would alter or prevent antigenicity. Attachment to a protein would sterically hinder part of the hapten and could prevent its interaction with the cells and receptors of the immune system needed to trigger antibody production. The glycoside moiety itself partially masks the isoprenoid side chain (see FIG. 3), which is known to be recognized as an antigen. In view of the foregoing, it could not be predicted whether antibodies could be obtained having the ability to simultaneously recognize a purine ring, an isoprenoid side chain, and a 4'-O-glycoside.
As stated above, understanding how cytokinins regulate the physiological functions of plants necessitates quantitation of all of the forms of cytokinins. In addition, sites of synthesis and action, signals which regulate these processes, and transport phenomena must be characterized. Because of the importance of cytokinin interconversions, these problems must be addressed with analytical methods for cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain. Presently, immunoassays to quantitate these compounds are conducted by measuring zeatin, for example, before and after treatment with a glycosidase which hydrolyzes the glycosidic bond. Obtaining the measurement indirectly as the difference between two assay results is inherently less precise than performing a direct measurement. In addition, antibodies specific for cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain would provide ideal analytical tools to measure the enzymes which synthesize or degrade these cytokinins and growth regulatory substances which modulate the activity of these enzymes. Antibodies specific for cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain would provide the ideal reagents for these immunochemical methods.

Antibodies to cytokinins having a glycosylated isoprenoid side chain and immunoassay methods

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


Providing different levels of quality of service for different data flows being transported over a data link requires a very fast way to classify individual packets. Providing meaningful classification generally requires classifying data packets in several dimensions. A classification method represents a rule base as a hierarchy of linked tables and sequentially matches each parameter value in a packet signature against tables in the hierarchy. The method supports longest prefix matching and avoids time consuming backtracking by adding rules to the rule base.

This invention relates to the transmission of information, which may include voice data and video data, over computer networks. More specifically, this invention relates to methods and apparatus for classifying data packets. The classification methods and apparatus may be used in systems for providing a plurality of different levels of service each providing a different level of quality of service over wide area networks or other computer networks. The classification methods and apparatus have particular application in Internet Protocol (xe2x80x9cIPxe2x80x9d) networks.
Maintaining efficient flow of information over data communication networks is becoming increasingly important in today""s economy. Telecommunications networks are evolving toward a connectionless model from a model whereby the networks provide end-to-end connections between specific points. In a network which establishes specific end-to-end connections to service the needs of individual applications the individual connections can be tailored to provide a desired bandwidth for communications between the end points of the connections. This is not possible in a connectionless network. The connectionless model is desirable because it saves the overhead implicit in setting up connections between pairs of endpoints and also provides opportunities for making more efficient use of the network infrastructure through statistical gains. Many networks today provide connectionless routing of data packets, such as Internet Protocol (xe2x80x9cIPxe2x80x9d) data packets over a network which includes end-to-end connections for carrying data packets between certain parts of the network. The end-to-end connections may be provided by technologies such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (xe2x80x9cATMxe2x80x9d), Time Division Multiplexing (xe2x80x9cTDMxe2x80x9d) and SONET/SDH.
A Wide Area Network (xe2x80x9cWANxe2x80x9d) is an example of a network in which the methods of the invention may be applied. WANs are used to provide interconnections capable of carrying many different types of data between geographically separated nodes. For example, the same WAN may be used to transmit video images, voice conversations, e-mail messages, data to and from database servers, and so on. Some of these services place different requirements on the WAN.
For example, transmitting a video signal for a video conference requires fairly large bandwidth, short delay (or xe2x80x9clatencyxe2x80x9d), small delay jitter, and reasonably small data loss ratio. On the other hand, transmitting e-mail messages or application data can generally be done with lower bandwidth but can tolerate no data loss. Further, it is not usually critical that e-mail be delivered instantly. E-mail services can usually tolerate longer latencies and lower bandwidth than other services.
A typical WAN comprises a shared network which is connected by access links to two or more geographically separated customer premises. Each of the customer premises may include one or more devices connected to the network. More typically each customer premise has a number of computers connected to a local area network (xe2x80x9cLANxe2x80x9d). The LAN is connected to the WAN access link at a service point. The service point is generally at a xe2x80x9cdemarcationxe2x80x9d unit or xe2x80x9cinterface devicexe2x80x9d which collects data packets from the LAN which are destined for transmission over the WAN and sends those packets across the access link. The demarcation unit also receives data packets coming from the WAN across the access link and forwards those data packets to destinations on the LAN.
Currently an enterprise which wishes to link its operations by a WAN obtains an unallocated pool of bandwidth for use in carrying data over the WAN. While it is possible to vary the amount of bandwidth available in the pool (by purchasing more bandwidth on an as-needed basis), there is no control over how much of the available bandwidth is taken by each application.
As noted above, guaranteeing the Quality of Service (xe2x80x9cQoSxe2x80x9d) needed by applications which require low latency is typically done by dedicating end-to-end connection-oriented links to each application. This tends to result in an inefficient allocation of bandwidth. Network resources which are committed to a specific link are not readily shared, even if there are times when the link is not using all of the resources which have been allocated to it. Thus committing resources to specific end-to-end links reduces or eliminates the ability to achieve statistical gains. Statistical gains arise from the fact that it is very unlikely that every application on a network will be generating a maximum amount of network traffic at the same time.
If applications are not provided with dedicated end-to-end connections but share bandwidth then each application can, in theory, share equally in the available bandwidth. In practice, however, the amount of bandwidth available to each application depends on things such as router configuration, the location(s) where data for each application enters the network, the speeds at which the application can generate the data that it wishes to transmit on the network and so on. The result is that bandwidth may be allocated in a manner that bears no relationship to the requirements of individual applications or to the relative importance of the applications. There are similar inequities in the latencies in the delivery of data packets over the network.
The term Quality of Service (xe2x80x9cQoSxe2x80x9d) is used in various different ways by different authors. In general, QoS refers to a set of parameters which describe the required traffic characteristics of a data connection. In this specification the term QoS refers to a set of one or more of the following interrelated parameters which describe the way that a data connection treats data packets generated by an application:
Minimum Bandwidthxe2x80x94a minimum rate at which a data connection must be capable of forwarding data originating from the application. The data connection might be incapable of forwarding data at a rate faster than the minimum bandwidth but should always be capable of forwarding data at a rate equal to the rate specified by the minimum bandwidth;
Maximum Delayxe2x80x94a maximum time taken for data from an application to completely traverse the data connection. QoS requirements are met only if data packets traverse the data connection in a time equal to or shorter than the maximum delay;
Maximum Lossxe2x80x94a maximum fraction of data packets from the application which may not be successfully transmitted across the data connection; and,
Jitterxe2x80x94a measure of how much variation there is in the delay experienced by different packets from the application being transmitted across the data connection. In an ideal case where all packets take exactly the same amount of time to traverse the data connection the jitter is zero. Jitter may be defined, for example, as any one of various statistical measures of the width of a distribution function which expresses the probability that a packet will experience a particular delay in traversing the data connection. Different applications require different levels of QoS.
Recent developments in core switches for WANs have made it possible to construct WANs capable of quickly and efficiently transmitting vast amounts of data. There is a need for a way to provide network users with control over the QoS provided to different data services which may be provided over the same network.
Service providers who provide access to WANs wish to provide their customers with Service Level Agreements rather than raw bandwidth. This will permit the service providers to take advantage of statistical gain to more efficiently use the network infrastructure while maintaining levels of QoS that customers require. To do this, the service providers need a way to manage and track usage of these different services. There is a particular need for relatively inexpensive apparatus and methods for facilitating the provision of services which take advantage of different levels of QoS.
Applications connected to a network generate packets of data for transmission on the network. In providing different levels of service it is necessary to be able to sort or xe2x80x9cclassifyxe2x80x9d data packets from one or more applications into different classes which will be accorded different levels of service. The data packets can then be transmitted in a way which maintains the required QoS for each application. Data packets generated by one or more applications may belong to the same class.
Classifying data packets should be done extremely quickly, preferably at xe2x80x9cwire speedxe2x80x9d if the classification information is to be used to provide priority to data packets which require low latency. Currently available apparatus which can classify data packets at the wire speeds currently achievable is too expensive for widespread implementation. There is also a particular need for apparatus for classifying data packets which can be readily remotely configured and which is scalable.
This invention provides methods and apparatus for packet classification. The methods and apparatus use multi-level data structures which have one level corresponding to each parameter value in a packet signature. Each level of the data structure contains conditions which may be matched by corresponding parameter values in the packet signature. The methods search for conditions which match the corresponding parameter value of the packet being classified. In preferred embodiments, different search engines may be used to search for matching conditions in different levels. The methods of the invention can provide fast classification.
One embodiment of the invention provides a method for classifying data packets. The method includes providing a set of packet classification rules embodied in a plurality of lookup tables. The lookup tables include a first table containing conditions on a first parameter and one or more subsequent tables linked to the first table and containing conditions on one or more corresponding subsequent parameters. The rules define a plurality of classes. The invention can identify a class corresponding to a packet and the class information may then be used to schedule the dispatch of the packet according to the QoS requirements of the class to which the packet belongs.
The method includes reading a signature comprising values for a plurality of parameters of an incoming data packet and identifying one of the subsequent tables by searching the first table for a match between one of the conditions and a first parameter value of the signature. The method continues by sequentially searching identified subsequent tables for conditions matching subsequent parameter values, each time obtaining a pointer identifying a next one of the subsequent lookup tables. The method then searches a final one of the subsequent tables for a match to a final parameter value and obtaining a class identifier corresponding to a matched rule.
Preferably, whenever a table contains two or more different conditions which could be simultaneously matched by a parameter value and a first one of the two or more conditions has a higher precedence than a second one of the two or more conditions, a next level one of the tables corresponding to the first one of the two or more conditions duplicates one or more entries of a next level one of the tables corresponding to the second one of the two or more conditions. This reduces the need for backtracking. Most preferably very next level one of the tables corresponding to the first one of the two or more conditions duplicates all entries of a next level one of the tables corresponding to the second one of the two or more conditions. This eliminates the need for backtracking.
The invention also provides apparatus for classifying data packets according to the invention. Further aspects and benefits of the invention are described below.

Methods and apparatus for packet classification with multi-level data structure


To determine a position of an object (100) parallel to the optical axis (120) of an optical device (1), the object (100) is illumined from a first illumination direction (210-1) and from a second illumination direction (210-2) and an image (230-1, 230-2) is acquired in each case. The position of the object (100) is determined based on a distance (250) between imaging locations of the object (220-1, 220-2) in the images (230-1, 230-2).

Determination of the position of an object to be imaged, parallel to the optical axis of an optical device (z position), may be desirable for various reasons. For instance, by means of the known z position, it may be possible to position the object optimally within the focal plane of the optical device, so as to be able to produce a particularly sharp image of the object. In the case of objects which are extended perpendicularly to the optical axis, it may be desirable to determine the z position for different points of the object perpendicularly to the optical axis, in order to be able to focus the relevant image section. It may also be desirable to compile a height profile of the object by means of optical techniques.
Existing techniques, for example, allow determination of the z position by means of positioning the object at different reference positions. With the aid of the sharpness of the object at the different reference positions, it is then possible to assess whether or not the object lies in the focal plane. Often, however, it may be possible to determine a sharpness of the object only with limited accuracy. For this reason, such a previously known technique may be relatively inaccurate. Interferometric techniques for determining the z are furthermore known. Such techniques allow relatively high accuracy in the determination of the z position; the corresponding devices, however, may be relatively complex and expensive.

Determining the position of an object in the beam path of an optical device


A circuit support enclosure has drop-in receptacles in a base chassis structure for individual circuit components. After circuit components are placed in the drop-in receptacles, a retaining chassis structure is mated with the base chassis structure. The base chassis structure includes two tongs which have pawls which interlock with slots in the retaining chassis structure. The retaining chassis structure includes bifurcated retainers and clamp nodules that clamp the electrical components into their respective drop-in receptacles in the base chassis structure.

Conventional circuit chassis arrangements for electrical components normally comprise a separate base chassis structure, usually a metal plate to which the electrical components are secured by means of clip-type or screw-type attachments. Sometimes the basic support structure includes a printed circuit board to supply the wiring to which small components are plugged in and large components are mounted on a separate structural chassis member.
Large components usually comprise inductors, transformers, can capacitors and other various electrical devices of significant size. The chassis to which these components are attached is usually mounted in a separate housing which protects the circuit components from external elements. The assembly of the various electrical components on the chassis is such an arrangement; it usually requires many specific manual labor operations such as locating and aligning the various components and securing them to the chassis. This construction arrangement is time-and labor-consuming.

Molded circuit retaining enclosure with a receptacle means for securing individual circuit components

Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated


The invention discloses a NOx adsorption and removal apparatus employed in the method of passing NOx containing gas into the adsorber 1 filled with NOx adsorbent to adsorb a specific volume of NOx on the adsorbent, passing hot air into the adsorber to desorb NOx, and regenerating the adsorbent, wherein the adsorber is divided in plural zones arranged parallel in the gas flow direction. In this invention, by regenerating after adsorbing NOx in each zone, the regenerating apparatus can be reduced in size, and the energy may be saved by effective utilization of preheat.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adsorption and removal method for efficiently removing nitrogen oxides (NOx) of low concentration contained in ventilation gas in various tunnels including various road tunnels, mountain tunnels, submarine tunnels, underground tunnels, and roads with shelter.
In various road tunnels, mountain tunnels, underground tunnels, roads with shelter and the like (these are collectively called "road tunnels" in the specification), particularly in those of long distance and heavy traffic volume, ventilation of a considerable volume is necessary for protection of health of passers and improvement of the distance of clear vision. Besides, in relatively short tunnels, in an urban or suburban district, the tunnel air must be aspirated and exhausted (ventilated) as means of preventing air pollution by carbon monoxide (CO) or NOx, etc. concentrated at the entrance and exit.
However, if the ventilation gas is directly scattered around, it is not regional environmental improvement, but is a mere spread of automotive exhaust and expands the highly polluted area in the urban or suburban district. As the pollution control means of existing roads, where tunnels and shelters are installed, the situation is exactly the same.
The invention relates to an adsorption and removal method for efficiently removing NOx of low concentration contained in the ventilation gas of such road tunnels.
As the characteristics of the ventilation gas of various tunnels, the concentration of NOx contained therein is low, about 10 ppm or less, the gas temperature is 100.degree. C. or less, or usually ordinary temperature, and the gas volume fluctuates significantly depending on the traffic volume.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The inventors proposed a purification apparatus of ventilation gas of road tunnel for the purpose of efficiently adsorbing and removing NOx of low concentration, which is a rotary NOx adsorption and removal apparatus mainly constituted with a honeycomb block NOx adsorbent rotor composed of plate adsorbent bearing Ru or Ce on TiO.sub.2, comprising a NOx adsorption zone, a preheating zone for preheating the unregenerated adsorbent ahead of the adsorption zone in the rotating direction, an adsorbent regeneration zone ahead of the preheating zone in the rotating direction, and a cooling zone for cooling the regenerated adsorbent ahead of the regeneration zone in the rotating direction (see the Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 3-258324). This apparatus is capable operating the entire system continuously, does not need frequent opening and closing of the valves and dampers, is easy to operate, and is excellent in durability.
However, the rotary NOx adsorption apparatus of this constitution has the following problems.
(1) A large mechanical strength is required on the sliding surface of the adsorbent rotor. (2) The sealing performance is poor on the sliding surface of the adsorbent rotor. (3) It is hard to manufacture rotors of large aperture. (4) The adsorbent rotor parts in the regeneration process do not contribute to the gas purification function, and a huge volume of adsorbent is needed for required performance. That is, about a half volume of the adsorbent rotor is always regenerated, and the adsorbent does not contribute effectively to the NOx adsorption. (5) The regeneration time and adsorption time are linked, and the times cannot be combined freely.
It is hence a primary object of the invention to present a NOx adsorption and removal apparatus solving all these problems.
In a purification apparatus of road tunnel ventilation gas, in most cases, the operation is limited to the daytime only when the traffic is heavy, and the operation is stopped or in stand-by in the midnight when the traffic volume is extremely small. Accordingly, the invention presents a system capable of extending the adsorption time significantly, by stopping continuous regeneration treatment of adsorbent by the rotary NOx adsorption apparatus and using the whole volume of adsorbent in adsorption.

NO.sub.x adsorption and removal apparatus


A track system may include a plurality of connected slat members that may form rollable tracks. The rollable tracks may be used in moving vehicles across sensitive ground. The rollable track may be deployed using various methods and/or apparatus such as, e.g., deployment apparatus including one or more spool portions for rolling and unrolling the rollable tracks.

The present disclosure relates generally to track systems and methods for deploying the same.
Vehicles (e.g., such as vehicles carrying large or heavy loads) are often required to travel across terrain (e.g., sensitive and/or vulnerable terrain, etc.) to reach their destination point (e.g., trucks, skid loaders, or forklifts carrying materials, such as rock, blocks, or soil, for landscaping, construction vehicles traversing a beautified grass green of a park, etc.). When these vehicles drive across such sensitive and/or vulnerable terrain (e.g., unpaved grounds, such as a grassy area), they often leave deep tread marks as a result of their weight and often destroy the turf which needs to be repaired or replaced resulting in significant costs and/or degraded appearance of the grounds (e.g., in grassy areas of golf courses, cemeteries, parks, etc.).
Groundskeepers spend considerable time maintaining landscaped areas and repairing damage created by such vehicles. Alternatively, the vehicles are not allowed to traverse the ground, instead requiring manpower alone to transport goods across terrain to avoid damage. Use of manpower alone can take considerably more time and effort, and may still result in terrain damage.

Deployment apparatus for use with track systems


A hybrid drive of a motor vehicle having an automated manual transmission with two input shafts and a common output shaft. The first input shaft can be connected to the drive shaft of an internal combustion engine by a clutch and can be brought into a drive connection to the output shaft by a first group of shiftable gearwheel sets. The second input shaft has a drive connection to the rotor of an electric machine, which can operate as a motor and a generator, and can be brought into a drive connection with the output shaft by a second group of selectively shiftable gearwheel sets. The input shafts can be coupled by coupling-shift element. The hybrid drive is provided with a second electric machine, which can operate as a motor and a generator and has a rotor that can be connected to the first input shaft.

Document DE 199 60 621 B4 describes a hybrid drive of this type having three embodiments of a manual transmission. In all variants, the power transmission branch of the manual transmission associated with the internal combustion engine comprises a first countershaft, which can be brought into a drive connection to the drive shaft of an internal combustion engine on the input side by means of an input constant, a first input shaft, and a friction coupling, and which can be brought into a drive connection to an output shaft on the output side by means of a first group of selectively shiftable gearwheel sets. In the first variant embodiment according to FIG. 1 therein, a second input shaft is designed as a second countershaft, which is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the rotor of an electric machine and can be brought into a drive connection to the output shaft by means of a second group of selectively shiftable gearwheel sets. In this case, the initially mentioned coupling-shift element is designed as a shifting clutch, which is disposed between the drive wheel—on the countershaft side—of a drive stage disposed between the first input shaft and the second input shaft, and the second countershaft.
In the second and third embodiments according to FIGS. 2 and 3 therein, the second input shaft is designed as a hollow rotor shaft, which is coaxially disposed over the first input shaft and is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the rotor of an electric machine, which is coaxially disposed over the first input shaft. The rotor shaft is connected in a driving manner by means of a second input constant to the second countershaft, which can be brought into a drive connection to the output shaft by means of the second group of selectively shiftable gearwheel sets. In this case, the coupling-shift element is designed as a shifting clutch, which is disposed between the first input shaft and the rotor shaft.
In another hybrid drive of this type, according to WO 2008/138 387 A1, the two input shafts of the applicable manual transmission are designed as countershafts. The first input shaft or countershaft of the power transmission branch associated with the internal combustion engine can be connected to the drive shaft of an internal combustion engine on the input side by means of a controllable separating clutch, and can be brought into a drive connection to an output shaft on the output side by means of a first group of selectively shiftable gearwheel sets. The second input shaft or countershaft of the power transmission branch associated with the electric motor is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the rotor of an electric machine on the input side, and can be brought into a drive connection to the output shaft on the output side by means of a second group of selectively shiftable gearwheel sets. The gearwheel sets of both groups are disposed in common radial planes and each use a common output gear disposed on the output shaft. The idler gears and the associated gear clutches of two axially adjacent gearwheel sets of the second group are combined in a shifting group and are disposed on the output shaft. As a result, the gear clutches of the gearwheel sets of the first group that use the same idler gears also function as coupling-shift elements, by means of which both input shafts can be coupled independently of the shifting of one of the applicable gearwheel sets.
Document DE 10 2010 030 569 A1, which was not previously published, makes known various embodiments of a hybrid drive of the type in question, in which the applicable manual transmission is derived from a double clutch transmission having two coaxially disposed input shafts. While the centrally disposed, first input shaft can be connected to the drive shaft of the internal combustion engine by means of a separating clutch, the second input shaft, which is designed as a hollow shaft and is coaxially disposed over the first input shaft, has a drive connection to the rotor of the electric machine directly or by means of an input transmission stage. The coupling-shift element for coupling the two input shafts is designed as a friction clutch or a claw clutch, and is disposed external to the transmission directly between the two input shafts.
The hybrid drive under consideration here can therefore be implemented with manual transmissions having different designs. However, a common feature of all embodiments of manual transmissions is that each one comprises a power transmission branch associated with the internal combustion engine and a power transmission branch associated with the electric motor, which are combined at the output shaft. In each case, the power transmission branch associated with the internal combustion engine comprises the first input shaft, the gearwheel sets of the first group, and the output shaft, and enables torque to be transferred between the internal combustion engine and the drive wheels of the motor vehicle, which have a drive connection to the output shaft. In each case, the power transmission branch associated with the electric motor comprises the second input shaft, the gearwheel sets of the second group, and the output shaft, and enables torque to be transferred between the electric motor and the drive wheels of the motor vehicle.
In this type of hybrid drive, with the coupling-shift element disengaged, a drive operation using only the internal combustion engine can therefore be implemented by engaging a gearwheel set of the first group, a drive operation using only an electric motor can be implemented by engaging a gearwheel set of the second group, and a combination drive operation of both assemblies (internal combustion engine and electric machine) with the electric machine in a motor mode or a generator mode can be implemented by engaging a gearwheel set of both the first and second groups.
Gear shifts can also be implemented as power shifts within one group of gearwheel sets by at least partially maintaining the tractive force during the gear shift by means of the assembly (internal combustion engine or electric machine) assigned to the other group of gearwheel sets, by means of a gearwheel set engaged therein.
The internal combustion engine can be started using the electric machine by engaging the coupling-shift element with the motor vehicle at a standstill. Engaging the coupling-shift element also makes the gearwheel sets of the second group available for the drive operation using the internal combustion engine, and makes the gearwheel sets of the first group available for the drive operation using the electric motor. Therefore, given an appropriate gear ratio and assignment of the gearwheel sets, fewer gearwheel sets are required overall and the manual transmission can therefore have a simpler and more compact design.
The disadvantage of these known hybrid drives is that a gear shift implemented in the manual transmission during an electric drive operation, i.e. with the internal combustion engine shut off and/or decoupled by disengaging the separating clutch, is necessarily associated with an interruption of tractive force, which results in unwanted losses of comfort and dynamics. In addition, the gear clutches of the gearwheel sets of the first group cannot be externally synchronized during an electric drive operation and must therefore be designed as synchronous clutches.

Hybrid drive of a motor vehicle and method for controlling a hybrid drive


A plurality of solenoid valves are installed on a valve mount surface of a manifold base to receive a pressure fluid supplied from a supply passage of the manifold base via a supply communication hole. A stop valve base connected to a side surface of the manifold base has a stop valve mount surface formed on the upper surface to the side of the valve mount surface. The stop valve is attached to the stop valve mount surface to open and close the supply communication hole by pushing and pulling the stop valve from a side with the solenoid valve.

FIGS. 12 and 13 show a generally employed manifold type solenoid valve apparatus having stop valve. The solenoid valve apparatus is formed by installing a plurality of solenoid valves 41 on an upper surface of a manifold base 40, and providing stop valves 42 as many as the solenoid valves 41 on a side surface of the manifold base 40.
A supply passage P and discharge passages Ea and Eb are formed inside the manifold base 40. A supply communication hole 43 and discharge communication holes 44a and 44b branched from the supply passage P and the discharge passages Ea and Eb, respectively are communicated with the respective solenoid valves 41 via the upper surface of the manifold base 40. The pressure fluid such as air and liquid is supplied from the supply passage P to the respective solenoid valves 41 via the supply communication hole 43, and the pressure fluid discharged from the respective solenoid valves 41 flows from the discharge communication holes 44a and 44b via the discharge passages Ea and Eb. Outlet ports A and B for outputting the pressure fluid are attached to each of the respective solenoid valves 41.
The stop valve 42 has its male screw 46 fit with a female screw 47 inside a valve hole 45 laterally formed in the manifold base 40 so as to be retractable through the rotating operation. The stop valve 42 includes two seal members 48a and 48b. When the stop valve 42 is rotated counterclockwise to be retracted to an opening position as shown in FIG. 12, the seal members 48a and 48b are positioned apart from the supply communication hole 43 so as to be opened (communicated). When the stop valve 42 is rotated clockwise to move forward to a closing position as shown in FIG. 13, the supply communication hole 43 is closed (blocked) by the seal members 48a and 48b.
The stop valve 42 is normally set at the opening position as shown in FIG. 12. Upon maintenance or replacement of the solenoid valve 41, the stop valve 42 is moved forward to the closing position as shown in FIG. 13 such that the supply communication hole 43 is closed to stop supply of the pressure fluid to the corresponding solenoid valve 41.
In the generally employed solenoid valve apparatus, the stop valve 42 is attached onto the side surface of the manifold base 40 so as to be retractable in a lateral direction. In the case where the solenoid valve apparatus is disposed in a narrow place or the other apparatus is disposed adjacent to the solenoid valve apparatus, it is difficult to operate the stop valve 42. It is further difficult to retract the stop valve 42 through the rotating operation especially in the narrow place. As the amount of the rotating operation is large relative to the moving distance, it is difficult to realize the quick operation.

Manifold-type solenoid valve apparatus having stop valve


A time compensation architecture for use with a plurality of optical signals is disclosed. It comprises means for receiving the plurality of optical signals, optical means for selectively delaying the propagation of each of the plurality of optical signals, and means for outputting the time delayed optical signals. The delay may be achieved by changing the indices of refraction or the material lengths of the elements and can either be an active or a passive compensation technique.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to architectures for optical signals, and more particularly to time compensation architectures for controlling timing of optical and optoelectronic signals.
2. Description of the Art
The telecommunications industry is rapidly switching from electronic systems to hybrid platforms which utilize both electronics and photonics to increase the operational bandwidth. Today""s electronic communication systems consist of electrical networks, microwave amplifiers, microwave transmitters, and high speed semiconductor receivers. There are numerous electrical devices available so this architecture works well in the confines of electronics. In these electronic systems a passive technique to control timing (e.g., phasing) of signals currently utilizes an electronic stripline with an impedance load. This technique is limited because the intrinsic dispersion associated with the stripline broadens short electrical pulses that are less than 10 ps in duration. This broadening will ultimately limit the speed of the host system. Eventually as optical systems come into use, purely optical signal processing devices will be required.
What is needed, therefore, is a time compensation architecture employing optical devices as a controllable delay.
The present invention involves a time compensation architecture employing an optical device as a controllable delay.
The optical time compensation architecture utilizes the material index of refraction, n, and material lengths to control the relative timing of optical signals. The optical delay through the media can be described by
t=n*l/c
where t is the time delay, n is the index of refraction, l is the material length, and c is the speed of light. The relative timing (xcex94t12) of two signals can be controlled by either changing the indices of refraction (n1, n2), or the material lengths (l1, l2), or both. It follows that
xcex94t12=(n1*l1xe2x88x92n2*l2)/c.
Of course this technique is extendable to a plurality of delays where the index of refraction and/or the material length is controllable for each individual signal.
While passive compensation techniques have a large number of applications, active control of relative signal timing may be necessary for real time signal processing. Active techniques to control the time or phase delay of an optical beam in fiber optical systems currently include piezo-electric fiber stretching, electro-optic phase modulators, and current injection in semiconductor waveguides. These techniques suffer from slow time response (typically 10 KHz), inability to produce large temporal delays (typically 20 femtoseconds), and the inability to produce precise controllable delays, respectively.
These deficiencies can be overcome by using optically pumped photoactive systems such as doped fibers, and semiconductor or polymer waveguides where the amplitude of the pump laser alters the index of refraction of the material at the signal wavelength. In this case the dynamic timing change (xcex4T) is given by
xcex4T=xcex4n*l/c
where xcex4n is the pump induced index change.
Index of refraction changes producing hundreds of picosecond delays with sub femtosecond resolution are realizable in such optically pumped systems. In addition, index of refraction changes based on ground and/or excited state absorption processes or nonlinear optical interactions can ultimately produce control frequencies in excess of 1 THz.
Briefly, the present invention comprises time compensation architecture for use with a plurality of optical signals. It comprises means for receiving the plurality of optical signals, optical means for selectively delaying the propagation of each of the plurality of optical signals, and means for outputting the time delayed optical signals. The delay may be achieved by changing the indices of refraction or the material lengths of the elements and can either be an active or a passive compensation technique.
The foregoing and additional features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the detailed description and accompanying drawing figures below. In the figures and the written description, numerals indicate the various elements of the invention, like numerals referring to like elements throughout both the drawing figures and the written description.

Time compensation architectures for controlling timing of optical signals


Porous and non-porous polycarbonate urethane polymers having a set of properties suitable for long term implantation within the body of a mammal. The polycarbonate foams and elastomers, comprise a polycarbonate material that is resistant to attack by invivo agents over extended periods of time. The polycarbonate urethane polymers are prepared by reacting polycarbonate polyols with an isocyanate and a chain extender.

There are a series of commercially available polyurethane materials which are suitable for the manufacture of implantable medical devices. Typically these materials combine good elasticity, ultimate tensile strength, biocompatibility and biostability. However, only a small percentage of the spectrum of commercially available polyurethanes are suitable for implantation. Those that are suitable for implantation are typically based on a polyether or polycarbonate macroglycol together with a diisocyanate and a diol or diamine chain extender. Examples of these are described in EP Patent No. 461,375 (Pinchuck) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,065 (Pudlinear et al).
Products manufactured from conventional polyurethane materials are processed in two stages. Firstly the macroglycol, the diisocyanate and the chain extender are reacted in specific molar ratios so as to produce a polymer with a linear molecular structure. These systems are subsequently processed by any of a variety of thermomechanical or solvent based processes into geometry's suitable for implantation. Polyurethane polymers with a linear molecular structure lend themselves to processing by these techniques. Polyurethanes with three dimensional molecular structures do not lend themselves to processing by either thermomechanical or solvent techniques, rather these materials must be formed into useful articles as part of the polymerisation reaction.
The chemistry and materials of polyurethane manufacture are well known to those skilled in the art and are described in many publications such as the I.C.I. Polyurethane Handbook by George Woods (2.sup.nd Edition John Wiley & Sons).
Most currently available polyurethane materials are chain extended using a diol or a diamine. Diols react with the isocyanate linkage to generate urethane groups whereas amines react with isocyanates to generate urea linkages. Water can also be employed as a chain extender as it reacts with two isocyanate groups to form a urea linkage and gives off carbon dioxide in the process. The hard segment generated with water chain extenders has a high concentration of urea linkage and is thus stiff and polar. Water however is little used for chain extending biomedical polyurethanes as it generates carbon dioxide in the reaction. The inclusion of water is considered to be undesirable.
Linear polymers may be processed by either thermomechanical or solution processes. Polyurethanes with a high urea content are normally difficult to process thermomechanically and are usually solution processed. As most conventional polyurethanes are processed thermomechanically, by processes like extrusion and injection moulding, most conventional polyurethanes do not have high concentrations of urea linkages. Conventional polyurethanes are thus normally chain extended using short chain diols.
Polycarbonate based polyols have been used in the manufacture of polyurethane elastomers as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,662 (Szycher), where the polycarbonates are represented by the following general formula EQU HO(R.sub.1 O(CO)OR.sub.1).sub.n OH
R.sub.1 represents an aliphatic chain of from 2 to 20 carbon atoms, and n has a value sufficient to generate a molecular weight of from 650 to 3500 molecular weight units. The main difficulty with systems based on these polycarbonates is generating a material that is sufficiently soft and elastomeric for implantation in a soft tissue environment. This issue arises due to the regularity of the polycarbonate polyol structure.
The repeat unit of a typical polyol of the form shown above could be represented as follows: EQU (CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O--CO--O)
The oxygens of the carbonate linkage are more electron withdrawing than the carbons to which they are bonded. The oxygens therefore carry a slight negative charge while the carbons carry a slightly positive charge. When carbonate linkages of neighbouring chains come into close proximity the positive charges of one chain will interact in an attractive fashion with the negative charges of the other chain. The chain structure of the carbonates employed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,662 (Szycher) and similarly in EP 461375 (Pinchuck) contains linkages that allow the chain to take up a linear configuration. These chains containing no side groups to disrupt the regularity of the structure. These features allow the attractive forces associated with the carbonate linkage to dominate the stiffness of the polyol phase. This attraction significantly increases the stiffness characteristics of resulting PCU. The greater the concentration of carbonate linkages in this type of regular polyol phase the stiffer the resulting polyurethane will be.
The C--O linkage of the carbonate oxygen and carbon of the hydrocarbon chain could however have a low energy of rotation. This low energy of rotation should have the effect of softening the polyol phase. This is not observed to be the case because the attractive forces between the carbonates lock these rotational movements in and prevent these movements from having a significant influence on the material softness. Because polycarbonates of the type employed by Szycher and Pinchuck are very regular in structure they generate polyurethanes that are much stiffer than comparative polyether urethanes.
It is an object of the present invention to provide soft, flexible polycarbonate urethane polymers having properties making them suitable for long term implantation.

Biostable polycarbonate urethane products


A diaphragm pump is provided comprising a pump chamber, a diaphragm, an enclosure, a diaphragm reciprocator, and an enclosure pressure regulator. A valve which may be used with the diaphragm pump is also provided. The valve comprises a chamber, a chamber pressure regulator, and a timer motor for rotating a rotor to control fluid communication between the chamber and a fluid outlet.

Conventional diaphragm pumps typically operate substantially at the surrounding or ambient pressure of the fluid being pumped, e.g. atmospheric pressure for air pumps. From the moment a conventional diaphragm pump begins operating, and especially where the pump outlet is connected to a load such as a bladder to be expanded or inflated, a back pressure develops within the pump chamber and outlet line. This back pressure tends to outwardly distend or "balloon" the pump's diaphragm. One disadvantage of ballooning diaphragms is excess wear necessitating more frequency replacement of diaphragms. Another disadvantage is the over-sized enclosures necessary to contain ballooned diaphragm pump chambers.
Some diaphragms pumps incorporate directional flow controllers or valves, such as that disclosed in my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,579. These flow controllers function to meter pump output among one or more outputs for example, the controllers may be used to alternately inflate bladders A and B of a bed pad or the like. Known controllers include a mating plate and rotor. Pump output is provided to the stationary plate by tubing and associated fittings and, as the motor rotates, is directed along one or more output lines by an intricate etched pattern on the sealed mating surfaces of the plate and rotor. A vent may also be provided.
One disadvantage of these directional flow controllers is that the back pressure created in the output lines, as well as the output pressure of the diaphragm pump, tend to push the plate and rotor apart breaking their seal and thereby disrupting directional control of the pressurized fluid pump outlet. A related disadvantage is that since the rotor must be more strenuously biased against the plate to preserve the seal, the timer used to rotate the rotor must be capable of providing higher torque, and thus be of greater size and use more energy than would otherwise be necessary. Further disadvantage include the substantial cost of etching the plate and rotor, and the increased assembly and parts costs associated with such designs.

Pressurized diaphragm pump and directional flow controller therefor