A deskew system includes a first voltage control delay receiving a data signal and generating N-numbered delayed data signals obtained by delaying a phase of the data signal in units of 90/N, where N is a natural number that is not less than 1. In response to a phase control signal, a second voltage control delay receives a clock and generates N-numbered delayed clocks by delaying a phase of the clock in units of 90/N. A skew compensation control unit generates a plurality of skew control signals to compensate for skew between the data signal and the clock based on the data signal, the N-numbered delayed data signals, the clock, and the N-numbered delayed clocks.

1. Technical Field
Example embodiments relate to a deskew technique between data signals and clock, and more particularly, to a deskew system for eliminating skew between received data signals and clock, and circuits for the deskew system.
2. Description of Related Art
When serially transmitted data is received as parallel data in a data transmission system, skew is generated between the received data and a clock signal so that an error may be generated in data transmission. To eliminate the skew between the data and clock, a phase difference between data and clock is detected and a detected phase difference is compensated. The phase difference between data and clock is detected in a phase tracking method and a phase picking method.
FIG. 1A illustrates a phase tracking type sampling method. Referring to FIG. 1A, an ideal clock position and a change of a sampling value according to an increase or decrease of clock delay can be seen. According to the phase tracking method, tracking is performed to seek for the position of a desired clock based on a sampled signal.
The phase tracking method has a merit that a sampling method is simple but has a demerit in that sufficient data transition and loop locking time due to feedback are used. Recently, as a data transmission speed is rapidly increased, the phase picking method is mainly used to reduce a loss in data operation speed.
FIG. 1B illustrates a phase picking type sampling method. Referring to FIG. 1B, according to the phase picking method, the position of a desired clock may be determined and selected using the transition of an over-sampled signal. Thus, the phase picking method has a merit of reducing time for synchronization and a loss in data operation speed.
However, the phase picking method has demerits in that a phase delay range of clock for skew compensation is at least half of a cycle and a bit error rate increases when an over-sampling number for data is decreased to reduce the loss of data operation speed.
Also, in the phase picking method, data is sampled several times using a plurality of clocks having different phases and deskew is performed based on an accumulated sampling result. Thus, when the number of clocks for sampling and the frequency of sampling are increased to improve deskew performance, a chip size and power consumption are increased accordingly.

Deskew system for eliminating skew between data signals and clock and circuits for the deskew system


Apparatuses, methods, program products, and systems are disclosed for language-based muting during multiuser communications. A method includes determining, by use of a processor, a language of speech being spoken by a user of a plurality of users communicating over a network, comparing the determined language to one or more languages that each of the plurality of users has in common, and muting the speech in response to the determined language not matching a language of the one or more languages that each of the plurality of users has in common.

Audio and video conferences between multiple users have become a normal part of communicating. Conferences can be virtual conferences where the participants of the conference are located at different locations and communicate using a data network. Because the participants are located in different locations, the participants may speak different native languages. Accordingly, during the conference, the participants may communicate using a common language, but hold side conversations in their native languages, which may be distracting for other participants of the conference who do not understand the language used for the side conversations.

Language-based muting during multiuser communications


To optimize an ignition timing of premixture for improving fuel efficiency regardless of significant change in an EGR ratio or a fluctuation in temperature of recirculated exhaust gas and temperature in a combustion chamber, there is provided a control apparatus for a diesel engine which controls an injector extending into the combustion chamber to execute a main-injection for injecting fuel and increasing the EGR ratio, so as to attain the premixed compressive ignition combustion while the engine is in the premixed combustion region on the low load side. Just before or after a cool flame reaction occurs in the mixture formed by the main-injection, an auxiliary-injection is executed so that the latent heat of vaporization of the fuel decreases the temperature of the mixture to delay the ignition to a timing near TDC. The auxiliary-injection amount is adjusted according to the estimated value of EGR ratio or the change in the crank angular velocity to optimize the ignition timing of the mixture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combustion control apparatus for an engine, and more particularly to ignition timing control for performing fuel injection by directly injecting fuel into the combustion chamber in a cylinder with an injector, so as to generate a premixed air-fuel mixture which causes self ignition by compression.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a direct-injection diesel engine injects fuel into a combustion chamber at a high temperature and high pressure near the top-dead-center position of a compression stroke in a cylinder so as to cause self ignition of the fuel. At this time, the fuel injected into the combustion chamber progresses while being split into fine droplets (atomized) by collision with highly dense air, so as to form an approximately cone-shaped fuel spray. The fuel droplets vaporize from its surface and involve surrounding air mainly at the leading edge and its periphery of the fuel spray to form a mixture which starts combustion at the timing when the density and temperature of the mixture attains the condition required for ignition, i.e., premixed combustion. Then, the combustion shifts to diffusion combustion involving surrounding fuel vapor and air, with at its core the ignition or combustion which has firstly occurred in the above mentioned manner.
In such combustion of a conventional diesel engine (herein referred to as diesel combustion), the major part of fuel causes the diffusion combustion following the initial premixed combustion. At this time, however, in the fuel spray mixture which is heterogeneous in density, nitrogen oxide (NOx) is produced by the abrupt heat production at the portion where excess the air ratio λ close to 1. Moreover, soot is produced by the shortage of oxygen at the portion where the fuel is unduly rich. In this regard, conventionally, the recirculation of part of the exhaust gas to intake air, i.e., exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) or the boosting of fuel injection pressure are put into practice in order to reduce NOx and soot.
During such EGR, the recirculation of the inactive exhaust gas decreases the combustion temperature to suppress the generation of NOx, but on the other hand, reduces the amount of oxygen in the intake air. Thus, a large amount of EGR results in the promotion of soot production. In addition, the boosted fuel injection pressure promotes atomization of fuel spray and increases fuel penetration to improve the air-utilization ratio, which is capable of suppressing the generation of soot, but is likely to easily generate NOx. That is, because of the trade-off relationship between the reductions in NOx and soot, it is actually difficult to decrease both NOx and soot simultaneously during diesel combustion.
To address this problem, a new combustion concept has recently been proposed, which significantly and concurrently reduces NOx and soot by greatly advancing the fuel injection timing to attain a combustion condition mainly dominated by the premixed combustion. The combustion concept is generally known as a premixed compressive ignition combustion. Japanese publication of Patent Application No. 2000-110669 discloses a diesel engine that recirculates a considerable amount of exhaust gas during EGR and injects fuel at the timing within the compression stroke of a cylinder. The injected fuel sufficiently mixes with air to form the mixture, which self-ignites and combusts at the end of the compression stroke.
When such premixed combustion (the premixed compressive ignition combustion) occurs, the ratio of the exhaust gas returned to the intake air by the EGR (the EGR ratio) is increased by a certain amount from that in the diesel combustion described above. Especially, the exhaust gas of which heat capacity is larger than air is mixed with the intake air, and the density of fuel and air in the premixture is decreased to prolong a ignition delay time for sufficiently mixing fuel and intake air, (air and exhaust gas). In addition, the ignition timing of the premixture is generated in such a manner it is delayed to a near top-dead-center (TDC) position of the compression stroke, so as to achieve a heat generation characteristic with a high heat efficiency. Moreover, when the premixture ignites in the abovementioned manner, the inactive exhaust gas is substantially homogeneously diffused around the fuel and air. This absorbs the combustion heat, thereby greatly suppressing NOx generation.
For recirculating such a large amount of exhaust gas to combustion chambers of the respective cylinders, the conventional diesel engine described above is equipped with an exhaust gas recirculation passage having a large diameter communicating the intake passage with the exhaust passage. The exhaust gas is drawn from the exhaust passage upstream of a compressor of a turbocharger and is recirculated to an intake passage downstream of the compressor of the turbocharger. Furthermore, a regulator valve is provided for adjusting the amount of the exhaust gas flowing through the exhaust gas recirculation passage to achieve a proper ratio of the exhaust gas recirculation in the intake air.
However, in the case that the regulator valve adjusts the amount of the exhaust gas through the exhaust gas recirculation passage as described above, the recirculation amount of the exhaust gas does not immediately change upon the adjusting of the opening degree of the exhaust gas recirculation regulator valve, but changes after a lag time. Thus, for example, in the case of an increase in the flow amount of intake air caused by a rise in engine rotational speed, the recirculation amount changes after a lag time, which causes a problem wherein the EGR ratio is temporarily lowered so as to deviate from the proper range. Moreover, the amount of the exhaust gas remaining in the combustion chamber, so called internal EGR, changes depending on an engine operational condition which causes the EGR ratio to fluctuate.
Furthermore, even with the same EGR ratio, the change in temperature condition of the recirculating exhaust gas causes the ignition delay time to vary. That is, the ignition delay time is shortened with an increase in the recirculating exhaust gas temperature, in contrast, the ignition delay time is prolonged with a decrease in recirculating exhaust gas temperature. In addition, the change in temperatures of the combustion chamber and intake air cause the ignition delay time to vary.
Therefore, in the premixed compressive ignition combustion described above, merely adjusting the opening degree of the regulator valve in the exhaust gas recirculation passage is insufficient to maintain the ignition timing of the premixture constantly near the top-dead-center, which causes the problem that the optimum heat generation characteristic is not always attained.
Here, Japanese Publication of Patent Application Publication No. 2000-008929 discloses a control process of the ignition timing of the premixture. According to the process, a part of fuel corresponding to a required engine torque is injected into the combustion chamber at a time within a period from the intake stroke to the compression stroke, to form a relatively lean premixture. Then, the remaining part of fuel is injected near the top-dead-center position of the compression stroke to immediately cause diffusion combustion, which triggers the combustion of the premixture. However, the premixture is compulsorily forced to ignite by the diffusion combustion of the fuel injected at a later time, which causes problems of a considerable amount of soot generation during the combustion; and the degradation in fuel efficiency by a likely increase in the amount of the unburned mixture.
Reference may be made to a paper entitled "Development of Ignition Timing Control in HCCI DI Diesel Engine" by Yanagihara et al, Proceedings of JSAE No. 51-01, No. 20015025, Pages 17–22, May 2001.
The paper discloses a technology, in which the engine with a relatively low compression ratio injects so small an amount of fuel as not to ignite by itself at an early timing (for example, BTDC 50 degrees CA.) of the compression stroke in the cylinder, so as to generate premixture in the combustion chamber.
Then, while a low temperature oxidation reaction (a cool flame reaction) is continuing during the expansion stroke in which the temperature gradually lowers past the top-dead-center of the compression stroke of the cylinder, fuel is additionally injected to ignite and combust.
However, in the prior art, the additional fuel injection also triggers self-ignition. The difference of this prior art from the former prior art (Japanese Publication of Patent Application Publication No. 2000-008929) is that fuel injection timing on the relatively retarded side in tile expansion stroke (for example, ATDC 10 degree CA or after) of the cylinder is set for preventing the additional fuel injection from causing the diffusion combustion. Thus, the greatly retarded ignition timing causes the cycle efficiency to decrease and the amount of unburned premixture to increase, which significantly degrade the fuel efficiency.

Combustion control apparatus for an engine


An overvoltage protection assembly includes a rail and a mount device. The mount device includes a base member having front and rear opposed surfaces and a mounting structure on the rear surface. The mounting structure secures the base member to the rail. An overvoltage protection module is mounted on the front surface of the base member.

The present invention relates to voltage surge protection devices and, more particularly, to means and methods for mounting an overvoltage protection module.
Frequently, excessive voltage is applied across service lines that deliver power to residences and commercial and institutional facilities. Such excess voltage or voltage spikes may result from lightning strikes, for example. The voltage surges are of particular concern in telecommunications distribution centers, hospitals and other facilities where equipment damage caused by voltage surges and resulting down time may be very costly.
Typically, one or more varistors (i.e., voltage dependent resistors) are used to protect a facility from voltage surges. Generally, the varistor is connected directly across an AC input and in parallel with the protected circuit. The varistor has a characteristic clamping voltage such that, responsive to a voltage increase beyond a prescribed voltage, the varistor forms a low resistance shunt path for the overvoltage current that reduces the potential for damage to the sensitive components. Typically, a line fuse may be provided in the protective circuit and this line fuse may be blown or weakened by the essentially short circuit created by the shunt path.
Varistors have been constructed according to several designs for different applications. For heavy-duty applications (e.g., surge current capability in the range of from about 60 to 100 kA) such as protection of telecommunications facilities, block varistors are commonly employed. A block varistor typically includes a disk-shaped varistor element potted in a plastic housing. The varistor disk may be formed by pressure casting a metal oxide material, such as zinc oxide, or other suitable material such as silicon carbide. Copper, or other electrically conductive material, may be flame sprayed onto the opposed surfaces of the disk. Ring-shaped electrodes are bonded to the coated opposed surfaces and the disk and electrode assembly is enclosed within the plastic housing. Examples of such block varistors include Product No. SIOV-B860K250 available from Siemens Matsushita Components GmbH and Co. KG and Product No. V271BA60 available from Harris Corporation.
Another varistor design includes a high-energy varistor disk housed in a disk diode case. The diode case has opposed electrode plates and the varistor disk is positioned therebetween. One or both of the electrodes include a spring member disposed between the electrode plate and the varistor disk to hold the varistor disk in place. The spring member or members provide only a relatively small area of contact with the varistor disk.
The varistor constructions described above often perform inadequately in service. Often, the varistors overheat and catch fire. Overheating may cause the electrodes to separate from the varistor disk, causing arcing and further fire hazard. There may be a tendency for pinholing of the varistor disk to occur, in turn causing the varistor to perform outside of its specified range. During high current impulses, varistor disks of the prior art may crack due to piezoelectric effect, thereby degrading performance. Failure of such varistors has led to new governmental regulations for minimum performance specifications. Manufacturers of varistors have found these new regulations difficult to meet.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,119 to Atkins et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses overvoltage protection modules including wafers of varistor material. The overvoltage protection modules described therein may address the problems described above.
Overvoltage protection devices, circuit breakers, fuses, ground connections and the like are often mounted on DIN (Deutsches Institut fxc3xcr Normung e.V.) rails. DIN rails may serve as mounting brackets of standardized dimensions so that such electrical control devices may be sized and configured to be readily and securely mounted to a support surface such as an electrical service utility box.
According to embodiments of the present invention, an overvoltage protection assembly includes a rail and a mount device. The mount device includes a base member having front and rear opposed surfaces and a mounting structure on the rear surface. The mounting structure secures the base member to the rail. An overvoltage protection module is mounted on the front surface of the base member.
According to further embodiments of the present invention, an overvoltage protection assembly for mounting on a rail includes a mount device. The mount device includes a base member having front and rear opposed surfaces and a mounting structure on the rear surface. The mounting structure is adapted to secure the base member to the rail. An overvoltage protection module is mounted on the front surface of the base member.
According to further embodiments of the present invention, a mount device for mounting an overvoltage protection module on a rail includes a base member having front and rear opposed surfaces and a mounting structure on the rear surface. The mounting structure is adapted to secure the base member to the rail. The base member is adapted to securely engage the overvoltage protection module. The base member is formed of metal.
According to further embodiments of the present invention, a mount assembly for mounting an overvoltage protection module on a support includes a rail and a mount device. The mount device includes a base member having front and rear opposed surfaces and a mounting structure on the rear surface. The mounting structure secures the base member to the rail. The base member is adapted to securely engage the overvoltage protection module. The base member is formed of metal.
According to method embodiments of the present invention, a method of mounting an overvoltage protection module on a rail includes providing a mount device including a base member having front and rear opposed surfaces and a mounting structure on the rear surface. The base member is secured to the rail using the mounting structure. An overvoltage protection module is mounted on the front surface of the base member.
Objects of the present invention will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art from a reading of the figures and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments which follow, such description being merely illustrative of the present invention.

Device and method for mounting an overvoltage protection module on a mounting rail


A blade type focal plane shutter comprising a plurality of auxiliary shutter blades which are pivoted on the side of an exposure aperture and can move between the unfolded position and folded position, a main shutter blade for forming an exposure slit which is rotatably supported on two of the auxiliary shutter blades and an actuating member which is pin-slot connected to the auxiliary shutter blades to move the auxiliary shutter blades and main shutter blade between the unfolded position and folded position so that the entire shutter can be made small and can be manufactured at a low cost.

(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to blade type focal plane shutters and more particularly to a blade assembly in which shutter blades consist of a plurality of auxiliary blades and a main blade for forming an exposure slit.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in a conventional blade type focal plane shutter, shutter blades divided into a plurality to cover an exposure aperture have been rotated by a pair of parallelly arranged arms or have been moved parallelly with the long side of a rectangular window forming the exposure aperture. That is to say, a main blade for forming an exposure slit is respectively pivotably supported by such means as calking to the tips of a pair of parallelly arranged arms so that, when the arms are rotated, the slit forming edge of the main blade will move while remaining parallel with the long side of the above mentioned rectangular window and a plurality of auxiliary blades to be used only for the purpose of covering the exposure aperture are respectively pivotably supported by such means as calking to the pair of arms so as to be rotated between the unfolded position and folded position by the rotation of the arms.
In such conventional shutter blade assembly, the pair of parallelly arranged arms have been indispensable components and have been required to be calked in every many parts. This means that the blade assembly requires many component parts and manufacturing steps. Therefore, there have been defects that this kind of shutter is comparatively high in the price and large in the size.


An integrated circuit (“IC”) package mold includes an upper mold platen that defines an upper mold cavity for receiving an upper substrate having a die attach side with a plurality of dies mounted thereon and a non-attach side with no dies mounted thereon. The die attach side of the upper substrate faces upwardly. A lower mold platen defines a lower mold cavity for receiving a lower substrate having a die attach side with a plurality dies mounted thereon and a non-attach side with no dies mounted thereon. The die attach side of the lower substrate faces downwardly.

Integrated circuits, also referred to as "IC's" or "semiconductor chips" or simply "chips," are electronic circuits made by diffusion of trace elements into the surface of thin substrates of semiconductor material. Integrated circuits were first produced in the mid 20th Century. Because of their small size and relatively low production cost, integrated circuits are now used in most modern electronics. Semiconductor chips are typically mass produced in the form of a single wafer that contains a large number of identical integrated circuits. The wafer is cut ("singulated") into a number of individual semiconductor chips referred to as "dies" or "dice."
Dies and sometimes other components such as passive devices are "packaged" to prevent damage to the dies and to facilitate attachment of the dies to circuit boards. Various packaging materials and processes have been used to package integrated circuit dies. One conventional packaging method involves mounting individual dies in a predetermined pattern on a substrate strip. The dies mounted on the substrate strip are then encapsulated in a plastic material, such as by a transfer molding process. Next, the encapsulated dies are singulated into individual integrated circuit packages by cutting the encapsulated die/substrate strip in accordance with the predetermined die mounting pattern. Typical cutting tools include saws and punches. Each integrated circuit package generally includes at least one die and the underlying portion of the substrate strip on which it was mounted. The underlying substrate strip is sometimes a leadframe to which the die is electrically connected.

Integrated circuit package mold assembly


A package structure and a method of fabricating the same are provided. The method includes forming a first wiring layer on a carrier board, forming a plurality of first conductors on the first wiring layer, encapsulating the first wiring layer and the first conductors with a first insulating layer, forming a second wiring layer on the first insulating layer, forming a plurality of second conductors on the second wiring layer, encapsulating the second wiring layer and the second conductors with a second insulating layer, and forming at least one opening in the second insulating layer. The at least one opening extends to a second surface of the first insulating layer, such that at least one electronic component can be disposed in the at least one opening. With forming two insulating layers first followed by forming the at least one opening, there is no need to stack or laminate the substrate that already has an opening, and the electronic component is free of displacement due to any compression. Therefore, a package structure thus fabricated has an increased yield rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to package structures, and, more particularly, to a package structure with embedded electronic components and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
As the packaging technology advances, semiconductor devices with different types of chip packaging technologies have been developed to be incorporated in various different electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets, networks, or laptops. Such semiconductor device mainly involves disposing a chip on a package substrate, where the chip is electrically connected with the package substrate, followed by an encapsulating process with the use of an encapsulating material. In order to reduce the package height, a type of package with the chip embedded in a package substrate is preferred, as the overall package size is reduced while the electrical performance is improved.
FIGS. 1A-1D are cross-sectional views showing a method of fabricating a package structure according to the conventional art.
As shown in FIG. 1A, a core board 13 having a through opening 130 is provided, and a plurality of inner wirings 11 and a copper window 110 are formed on top and bottom sides of the core board 13. A plurality of conductive pillars 12 are formed in the core board 13 for electrically connecting the inner wirings 11 on the top and bottom sides of the core board 13.
As shown in FIG. 1B, a carrier board 10 such as a polyimide (PI) tape is disposed on the bottom side of the core board 13, so as to receive a semiconductor chip 18 having a plurality of electrode pads 180 in the opening 130, as well as disposing the semiconductor chip 18 on the carrier board 10. With the design of the copper window 110, the semiconductor chip 18 is prevented from contacting the inner wirings 11.
As shown in FIG. 1C, a dielectric material is laminated on the top side of the core board 13 and on the semiconductor chip 18, so as to fill in gaps between walls of the opening 130 and semiconductor chip 18. Then, the carrier board 10 is removed, and another dielectric material is laminated on the bottom side of the core board 13, such that the two dielectric materials form a dielectric layer 16.
As shown in FIG. 1D, wiring layers 14 are formed on the top and bottom sides of the dielectric layer 16, respectively, and the wiring layer 14 has conductors 15 formed in the dielectric layer 16 and electrically connected with the electrode pads 180 and the inner wirings 11.
However, in the method of fabricating a package structure 1 according to the conventional art, the copper window 110 is used to serve as a spacing layer, which undesirably diminishes the routable regions for the inner wirings 11. Moreover, an additional laser process with the use of CO2 laser to form the opening 130 increases the cost, and the organic glass fibers of core board 13 are exposed, which would result in poor yield and poor quality of the placement of the semiconductor chip 18.
Further, a laser process is required to form blind holes (i.e. at the corresponding positions of the conductors 15) or vias (i.e. at the corresponding positions of the conductive pillars 12), such that the shapes of the holes or vias can only be circular and not as desired.
In addition, with the use of PI tape as the carrier board 10 to fix the semiconductor chip 18 is also undesirable, which not only requires additional processes for attaching and detaching the tapes, additional cost involved for the tapes and other equipment is also undesirable.
Moreover, it is required to fabricate the dielectric material twice, followed by a laminating process, to form the dielectric layer 16. As such, a pre-pressing and a curing pressing process are required, which not only is time consuming and expensive, it may also lead to dislocation (or even spinning) of the semiconductor chip 18, such that an accurate alignment for positioning the semiconductor chip 18 in the opening 130 is not easy, resulting in a poor alignment between the electrode pads 180 of the semiconductor chip 18 and the conductors 15. Accordingly, poor electrical connection or electrical connection failure may occur and lead to a poor yield.
FIGS. 1A′-1D′ show another method of fabricating package structure according to the conventional art.
As shown in FIG. 1A′, a first wiring layer 11′ is formed on a carrier board 10 such as a copper foil substrate, and a passive component 18′ such as a multi-layered ceramic capacitor (MLCC) is securely fixed on the first wiring layer 11′ by an insulating adhesive 180′.
As shown in FIG. 1B′, a first dielectric material layer 13′ having an opening 130 for fixing the passive component 18′ therein is formed on the carrier board 10.
As shown in FIG. 1C′, a second dielectric material layer is formed and laminated on the top side of the first dielectric material layer 13′ and on the passive component 18′, and the second dielectric material layer is filled in gaps between walls of the opening 130 and the passive component 18′, allowing the first dielectric material layer 13′ and the second dielectric material layer to be heat-pressed to form a dielectric encapsulating layer 16′, so as to securely fix the passive component 18′ and the first wiring layer 11′ in the dielectric encapsulating layer 16′.
As shown in FIG. 1D′, a second wiring layer 14′ is formed on the top side of the dielectric encapsulating layer 16′, and the second wiring layer 14′ has conductors 15 formed in the dielectric encapsulating layer 16′ and electrically connected with the passive component 18′. After that, the carrier board 10 is removed to expose the first wiring layer 11′.
However, according to the conventional method of fabricating the package structure 1′, since the copper coil substrate is used to serve as the carrier board 10, delaminating may easily occur resulting in structural damages. Also, a laser process is employed to make blind holes (i.e., at the corresponding positions of the conductors 15), such that only circular shaped openings could be made and the shapes of the openings are undesirable.
Further, as non-conductive material and dispensing method are used to attach the passive component 18′, and the diameter of the dispensed particle is more than 200 μm, the dispensed adhesive in each dispensing process varies greatly in size of the diameter and is difficult to be controlled, causing the adhesive 180′ to easily spread to other regions, thus contaminating the wirings of the first wiring layer 11′ thereby resulting in poor reliability.
Moreover, it is required to fabricate the dielectric material twice, followed by a laminating process to form the dielectric layer 16′. As such, the first dielectric layer 13′ and the second dielectric layer can easily be dislocated, thereby increasing the fabricating time and cost. Moreover, after placing the passive component 18′ and before curing the dielectric encapsulating layer 16′, the passive component 18′ is not fixed yet, and can easily dislocate, resulting in a poor yield.
In addition, with the use of the conductors 15 to establish an electrical connection path to one side of the passive component 18′, the electrical path is increased as well as the risk of signal loss is raised, and thus the cost of using unconventional MLCC as the passive component 18′ is significantly high.
Accordingly, there is an urgent need for solving the foregoing problems of the conventional arts.

Package stucture and method of fabricating the same


A method for making a carbon nanotube film structure is related. A rotator having an axis and a rotating surface is provided. A carbon nanotube film drawn from a carbon nanotube array is adhered on the rotating surface of the rotator. The rotator is rotated about the axis to wrap the carbon nanotube film on the rotating surface of the rotator to form a carbon nanotube layer. The carbon nanotube layer is cut along a direction to form the carbon nanotube film structure.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method for carbon nanotube film structures.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Carbon nanotubes prepared by conventional methods are in particle or powder forms, which limits the applications of carbon nanotube. Thus, preparation of macro-scale carbon nanotube structures, such as carbon nanotube film structure, has attracted a great deal of attention. A typical carbon nanotube film structure can be formed by stacking a plurality of carbon nanotube films drawn from a carbon nanotube array. However, a time period for making the carbon nanotube film structure can be long, and the process is complex.
Therefore, a method for making a carbon nanotube film structure is provided, to overcome the above-described shortcomings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for making carbon nanotube film structures

Beijing FUNATE Innovation Technology Co., Ltd.


The invention concerns a device for controlling a fluid flow, characterised in that said device comprises second valve arrangement means interposed in the circuit in series with first valve arrangement means (20, 22, 34), and wherein a second mobile closure element (38) moves between a pressing position, wherein it is pressed on the seat (32) of a second threshold (30) and an opening position wherein the second closure element (38) is spaced apart from the second seat (32) to allow the fluid through the second threshold (30), and in pressing position, the second closure element (38) allows a reduced flow of the fluid through the second threshold (30).

The invention concerns the field of devices suitable for controlling the flow of a fluid in a system, and particularly those devices designed to be used in facilities for filling containers.
In container filling machines, it is advantageous to be able to have several flows of fluid, particularly in order to be able to accelerate filling in spite of the foam creation phenomenon. Indeed, when the filling flow is fast, which enables a given volume of product to be filled quickly, the appearance of foam is inevitably observed. This becomes particularly troublesome at the end of filling because the foam causes an overflow of the product, resulting not only in a loss of product, but above all, an ambiguity about the quantity of product that the container actually holds at the end of filling. Obviously, the formation of foam is much less significant if the fill flow is reduced, but this increases the time required for the fill.
It thus appears particularly advantageous to fill the container in two phases. In a first phase, the speed of fill is favored, using a fast flow of fluid without concern for the foaming problem of the product. In a second phase, a slower flow is used to enable any foam that may have been created during the first phase to be reabsorbed and to reach the desired level of fill, either in terms of weight of product, or in terms of volume or height of fill, with the greatest possible precision.
Such a filling procedure requires the use of a means of valve regulation capable of determining at least two different flows of fluid in the system.
One possible solution consists of using a proportional valve that can be controlled to determine a first flow, then a second flow. However, compared to the control electronics of an xe2x80x9call or nothingxe2x80x9d controlled valve, the electronics for a proportional valve are relatively complex and therefore costly. Most filling machines are machines that have a large number of filling stations, each of which must be fitted with its own means of valve regulation. Thus, for machines with several dozen stations-even a hundred stationsxe2x80x94the use of proportional valves is not economically advantageous.
A first object of the invention is therefore to propose a flow control device for fluid, capable of determining two levels of flow. The device must be simple in construction and simple in operation.
To that end, the invention proposes a flow control device for fluid, of the type having valve regulation means that are provided with a threshold through which the fluid circulates, and a movable stop plug that moves inside the chamber between a seated position, in which it rests on the seat to interrupt the passage of fluid through the threshold, and an open position, in which the stop plug is separated from its seat to enable the passage of the fluid through the threshold, characterized in that the device has a second valve regulation means placed in the system in series with the first means of valve regulation, and in which a second movable stop plug moves between a seated position, in which it rests on the seat of a second threshold, and an open position, in which the second stop plug is separated from the second seat to allow the passage of the fluid through the second threshold, and in which, in the seated position, the second stop plug allows the passage of a reduced flow of fluid through the second threshold.
According to other characteristics of the invention:
at least one of the two stop plugs moves between its seated position and its open position under the effect of a magnetic field;
the stop plug moves vertically between its seated position and its open position;
the seated position of the stop plug corresponds to its lower position; it is drawn and held in its upper open position by an electromagnet, and it returns to its seated position under the action of its own weight;
the seated position of the stop plug corresponds to its upper position; it is drawn and held in its lower open position by an electromagnet, and returns and is held in its seated position under the action of a permanent magnet;
the fluid flows in the system in the direction of the movement of the stop plug from its open position to its seated position;
the stop plug is in the shape of a ball and is made from a magnetic material;
the seat of the second means of valve regulation is perforated in such a way as to allow a small section to remain for the fluid to pass through when the stop plug is in the seated position; and
both valve regulation means are built into the same valve body.
The invention also concerns a machine for filling containers, characterized in that it has a device for controlling a flow of fluid that incorporates any one of the preceding characteristics.

Ball valve with slot for continuous flow


There is provided a communication terminal including an acquisition unit that acquires service identification information associated with a communication service from an information processing device that manages shared content, a user identification information issuing unit that issues service user identification information associated with the service identification information to another communication terminal, and a transmission control unit that causes a communication unit to transmit the service identification information, and the service user identification information issued by the user identification information issuing unit to the information processing device.

Recently, mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones are proliferating, enabling individuals to exchange information with others with almost no restrictions on place. In addition, there is also the development of information processing technology that supports information sharing between acquaintances and connections between people, such as social networking services (SNS).
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses technology that acquires and manages information related to connections with users, on the basis of a communication history of a mobile terminal. Also, Patent Literature 2 discloses technology that estimates a person having a high information propagation ability, on the basis of a communication history of a communication terminal.

Communication system that support review of usage details for a communication service


A pulse combustion system having at least one combustion chamber, having an outlet end of a generally coaxial air conduit, a fuel nozzle, and an ignitor arranged generally in a first section of the chamber, and having a tangential exhaust pipe arranged generally in a second section of the chamber. At least one primary exhaust pipe extends from the combustion chamber and a plurality of secondary exhaust pipes extend from the primary pipe. An enclosure is disposed about the combustion chamber and exhaust pipes, with a blower in communication with the enclosure.. Also, a pulse combustion method of transferring heat to a material, generally including the steps of setting up a helical swirl of thermal and acoustic pulse waves within a chamber, expanding the waves along a length of the chamber, and propagating the waves tangentially out of the chamber into a resonant exhaust manifold and onto a material.

Many industrial processes are effected to provide heat and mass transfer to a material. Increased rates of heat and mass transfer are desired to increase the efficiency and productivity of such processes. Applications for such processes include food processing, carpet and textiles manufacturing, packaging and sealing, wood fiber processing, glass forming, sheet metal forming, and drying, curing, baking, sintering and like heat treating processes for a wide range of materials and compositions.
Many such industrial processes are implemented by the use of a conveyor that moves the material through a space where it may be impinged or otherwise acted upon by a combustion system to accomplish the desired heat and mass transfer. One known arrangement provides an enclosure heated by a combustion system and having entrance and exit apertures for conveying material therethrough to direct and apply heat to the material, as illustrated by the drying and curing oven of U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,463 to Bennett.
Additionally, there are known combustion systems that provide a pulsating combustion cycle. The general operational principle of such pulse combustion systems is that a fuel/air mixture is ignited within a combustion chamber which increases the pressure therein resulting in exhaustion of the combustion products from the combustion chamber causing a subsequent pressure decrease which draws additional fuel and air into the combustion chamber for ignition, thereby setting up a cycle of pulsing detonations.
Such pulse combustion systems generally provide several advantages over most non-pulsating systems, including the advantages of self-aspiration and higher thermal efficiency of the process. These systems may be self-aspirating because the above described pressure fluctuations cyclically draw combustion material into the combustion chamber to sustain the combustion process. Therefore, a blower is not required for supplying air after start-up. Additionally, these systems may provide a higher thermal efficiency because the pulsating cycles create acoustic pulse waves that break down boundary layers and thus provide for greater heat and mass transfer rates. Also, thermal efficiency may be increased by the pulsating cycles producing a greater mixing of fuel and air and thus providing for a more complete burning of the combustion materials.
One known type of pulse combustion system provides two burners connected in parallel to an air intake, with each burner operating at a phase difference of 180 degrees from the other burner, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 2,838,102 to Reimers, U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,107 to Yokoyama et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,558 to Saito et al. These systems commonly include a heat exchanger for. heat transfer to a fluid for use in applications such as water and oil heating. There are no known anti-phase type self-aspirating or forced air pulse combustion systems adapted for directing and applying thermal and/or acoustic energy to a material in a conveyor type application.
Another known type of pulse combustion system provides a spherical combustion chamber with an air intake tube extending radially into the combustion chamber to provide a more central point of combustion within the chamber, and a resonant exhaust tube extending from the chamber, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 2,719,710 to Haag et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,361 to Huber. Such centralized point of combustion generally does not promote complete combustion within the combustion chamber prior to exhaust because such systems generally do not produce the desired turbulence achieved by a fully developed thermal and acoustic pulse wave.
Additionally, there is known the combustion system of Saito et al., as described above, and the gas furnace system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,710 to Urawa, that each provide a combustion chamber with tangential air intake orifices. Neither of these combustion systems, however, have a resonant exhaust pipe system that efficiently propagates an acoustic and/or thermal pulse wave for application to a material, provide a point of combustion within the combustion chamber that sets up and fully develops the desired turbulence of an acoustic and/or thermal pulse wave, nor provide a combustion chamber that advantageously directs an acoustic and/or thermal pulse wave toward such an exhaust pipe system.
An additional deficiency of many known pulse combustion systems is the complicated valve and/or control systems employed to control combustion and heat output by regulating the flow rate and ratio of air and fuel, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,107 to Yokoyama et al. discussed heretofore. Such complicated valve systems are often difficult to maintain in proper adjustment and operating order. A further deficiency of many pulse combustion systems is that generally the systems are necessarily designed for a specific application such as water heating, because the combustion chamber and exhaust pipe must be specifically designed to set up the desired natural harmonic frequency at which the system should operate.
Accordingly, what is needed but not found in the prior art is a combustion system and method that embodies pulse combustion principles in an apparatus for conveyor type heat and mass transfer processes for achieving increased thermal efficiency and self-aspiration, that provides a combustion chamber for setting up and fully developing high turbulence, high velocity thermal and acoustic pulse waves, that provides a resonant exhaust piping system for propagating and directing without impeding the thermal and acoustic pulse waves to a material, that provides for temperature control without the need for a complicated valving and control system, and that has a design that is modular, simple, and cost-effective to manufacture and use for a variety of different applications.


The present invention provides heat reserving materials comprising alloys of Ru and at least one rare earth metal which are represented by the formula (I): EQU (A.sub.1-x B.sub.x).sub.z Ru.sub.1-y C.sub.y. wherein A represents one or two or more of Er, Ho and Dy; B represents one or two or more of the other rare earth metals; C represents one or two or more of Co, Ni, Al, Cu, Pd, Rh, Au, Ag, Cr, Mn, V and B; x is not less than 0 and not more than 0.5; y is not less than 0 and less than 1.0; and z is more than 1.1 and less than 5.0.. When the heat reserving materials of the present invention are used in a cryogenic refrigerator, very low temperatures of not higher than 10 K. can be achieved. Specific heat properties of the materials can be varied as desired by adjusting the content ratio of the plural phases each of which has a different magnetic transition temperature.

As applications of superconductivity such as MRI and SQUID develop, there is an urgent need for cryogenic refrigerators which achieve very low temperatures of from a few K. to some tens K. more facilely and more stably. Helium gas is usually used as a refrigerant in such refrigerators, which is repeatedly compressed and expanded to make a cooled section. Heat is pumped up from the cooled section to the hot section by means of a heat accumulator or a heat exchanger. Since the refrigerator using the heat accumulator is relatively simple in its structure, it is suitably used as a compact refrigerator installed in apparatuses. Typical examples of this type of refrigerator are the Stirling refrigerator and the Gifford-McMahon refrigerator.
Heat reserving materials which have a large specific heat capacity and a good heat conductivity at the working temperature are desired for use in the refrigerator of the heat accumulating type. Copper, lead and alloys thereof are conventionally used for this purpose since the specific heat thereof does not drop until relatively low temperatures while the heat conductivity thereof is good.
Heat capacity of these metals or alloys, however, results from the lattice vibration and accordingly the specific heat thereof rapidly drops as the temperature is lowered to 10-20 K. Therefore, it was difficult to achieve a very low temperature lower than 20 K., especially lower than 10 K. by using a refrigerator in which these metals or alloys were used as a heat reserving material. Very low temperatures of a few K., e.g. the liquid helium temperature (4.2 K. under atmospheric pressure) could not be achieved by these refrigerators.
Magnetic substances having an anomalous specific heat caused by magnetic transition were proposed as heat reserving materials in place of the conventionally used copper and lead. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-30473(1977) suggests Rh-based intermetallic compounds comprising Rh and at least one element selected from a group of Sm, Gd, Tb and Dy and/or a group of Ho, Er, Tm and Yb such as GdRh and Gd.sub.0.5 Er.sub.0.5 Rh Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 61-86420(1986) describes magnetic substances comprising Er, Al and O in specific content ratios. Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 1-310269(1989) describes a heat accumulator in which alloys of a wide-ranging composition represented by the formula AM.sub.z are used wherein A is a lanthanoid except Lu, M is Ni, Co and/or Cu and z is not less than 0.001 and not more than 9.0.
These alloys have a local maximum of volume specific heat at a temperature of not higher than 30 K. which results from a large entropy increase/decrease caused by the order-disorder transition of the spin system which occurs at a temperature of not higher than 30 K. However, as is described in these specifications, the peak value and the peak temperature widely changes depending on the composition of the alloy. Furthermore, there is no example where the liquid helium temperature is achieved by using these alloys as heat reserving materials.
We studied magnetic properties of superconductive materials and found that R.sub.3 Ru (wherein R represents rare earth metals), which has not yet been studied as a rare earth metal heat reserving material, has excellent properties as cryogenic heat reserving materials and our further study on Ru alloys revealed that intermetallic compounds represented by the formulae R.sub.5/2 Ru and R.sub.5/3 Ru, mixture thereof as well as Ru-based alloys having a similar composition also have excellent properties as cryogenic heat reserving materials. (The composition of these compounds has not yet been strictly confirmed. We use R.sub.5/2 Ru, R.sub.5/3 Ru and the like as representative expressions of the intermetallic compound which has a composition substantially identical or close to the composition represented by these formulae. For example, R.sub.44/25 Ru and R.sub.73/27 Ru are also represented by these formulae in this specification.)

Heat reserving materials usuable at very low temperatures


The invention relates to a novel compound which is represented by the formula (1) and has an excellent platelet aggregation inhibiting action based on fibrinogen antagonism. The platelet aggregation inhibitor containing the compound of the formula (1) as an effective ingredient are effective for prevention and curing of thrombosis and restenosis or reocclusion after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or percutaneous transluminal coronary recanalization.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel bicyclic compound and a platelet aggregation inhibitor containing the same or a derivative of the same.
The platelet aggregation inhibitor of the invention is useful as a preventive or a remedy of thrombosis such as an ischemic cardiac disease, ischemic brain disease, peripheral circulatory impairment, arterial thrombus, arterial sclerosis and pulmonary vascular impairment, and also as a preventive or a remedy of restenosis or reocclusion after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or percutaneous transluminal coronary recanalization.
2. Description of Related Art
Various medicines for inhibiting aggregation of platelets have been used for the curing of thrombosis since the platelets were found to play an important role for a crysis of the thrombosis. The aggregation of platelets is induced by various stimuli such as ADP, collagen, epinephrine, thrombin, thromboxane A, and platelet activating factors. Therefore, anti-platelet drugs exhibit an inhibiting effect merely for the platelet aggregation caused by restricted kinds of stimulus and thus validity of these drugs is limited. On the other hand, the final step in the platelet aggregation process is a mutual combination of platelets by way of fibrinogen. The step is common and independent of the kind of aggregation eliciting stimulus. Consequently, in recent years, focused on an anti-platelet drug which directly inhibits the combination of platelets and fibrinogen. Such a drug inhibits the whole aggregation eliciting stimuli. It has been found that the binding site of fibrinogen for platelets is glycoprotein GP II b/III m a which is present in a platelet membrane and that the structure of -Arg-Gly-Asp- in a fibrinogen molecule has a minimum amino acid sequence which is required for combination with GP II b/III a. Many non-peptide compounds which are similar in structure to the straight chain or cyclic peptide compound having the amino acid sequence of -Arg-Gly-Asp- have been reported thereafter [Drug of the Future, 19(2), 135(1994) and 19(5), 461(1994)]. The common structure of the so far known non-peptide compounds has an acid group such as a carboxyl group which corresponds to a carboxyl group in aspartic acid and in a certain distance a basic group such as an amidino group, guanidino group, piperadinyl group and aminomethyl group which correspond to a guanidino group in arginine. Further, diversity has been found on the skeleton structure which connects the acid group with the basic group. WO 94/29273 has disclosed bicyclic compounds formed by condensation of two six-membered rings as the skeleton structure. However, WO 94/29273 has practically described only three compounds which have a tetrahydroisoquinoline structure. The inhibiting action of these compounds for human platelet aggregation is 1-13 .mu.M at IC.sub.50, and thus the activity is still unsatisfactory for an anti-platelet drug.

Bicyclic compound and platelet aggregation inhibitor containing the same


An image forming apparatus includes a connecting device to which a charging apparatus is connected, an image forming device, an operating device, and a control device. The control device functions as an operation accepter, a controller, a charging processor, and a notifier. The notifier performs a processing for giving a first notice; the first notice is for asking a user whether or not to donate all of or part of a remaining money which is remaining, posterior to charging for a print job, in an inserted amount of money. After the notifier has performed the processing for giving the first notice, when the operation accepter accepts an instruction of execution of the donation, the charging processor performs a charging processing by subtracting, from the inserted amount of money, a charging amount for the print job and an amount of donation indicated by the instruction of execution of the donation.

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus, and particularly to an image forming apparatus used in a state of being connected to a charging apparatus.
Image forming apparatuses such as copying machines or multifunction machines in some cases are used by being connected to charging apparatuses. The charging apparatuses, sometimes referred to as coin vending machines, receive insertion of money, recognize amount of money inserted, collect charges in accordance with details of print jobs, then return remaining money.
If a user of such the image forming apparatus leaves the place while forgetting to receive remaining money (change), the change may be taken away by a stranger, which may cause damage to the user.
To cope with the problem, there is a known technique that performs authentication to identify users of the image forming apparatus, allows login for an user on a condition that the user is approved as a legitimate user, and if there is remaining money at the time of logging out, the charging apparatus avoids returning the remaining money, stores the un-returned remaining money as remaining money information for the legitimate user, and allows the legitimate user to use the remaining money at the next login.

Image forming apparatus that performs charging processing


A clock generation circuit of a semiconductor apparatus includes a first clock generation unit configured to output a first signal which swings between a level of a power supply voltage and a level of a set voltage; a second clock generation unit configured to output a second signal which swings between the level of the set voltage and a level of a ground voltage; and a regulator configured to supply the set voltage to the first clock generation unit and the second clock generation unit.

Semiconductor apparatuses may be used for storing data. When semiconductor apparatuses are used for storing data, semiconductor apparatuses may be classified into a nonvolatile semiconductor apparatus and a volatile semiconductor apparatus.
In the case of a nonvolatile semiconductor apparatus, stored data may be retained without being lost even though power is not applied to the nonvolatile semiconductor apparatus. Examples of the nonvolatile semiconductor apparatus include a flash memory device, a ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM), a phase-change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and a resistive random access memory (RRAM).
Conversely, in the case of a volatile semiconductor apparatus, data stored while power is applied may be lost if power is not applied to the volatile semiconductor apparatus. Examples of the volatile semiconductor apparatus include a static random access memory (SRAM) and a dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
In order to evaluate operation performance of a semiconductor, for example, a processing speed, power consumption, and so forth may be considered. Semiconductor apparatuses have been developed to satisfy a higher processing speed and a lower amount of power consumption.


A new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant named xe2x80x98Kipapaliaxe2x80x99, characterized by its rounded, upright and compact plant habit; freely branching growth habit; dark green-colored foliage; freely flowering habit with flowers held above and beyond the foliage; and red purple-colored flowers with lighter red purple-colored centers.

Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Kipapalia.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Kipapalia.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program Inventor in Gensingen, Germany. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new Impatiens cultivars with interesting and unique flower and foliage colors.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in October, 1997 of a proprietary Impatiens hawkeri selection identified as BE 921, not patented, as the female, or seed parent, with a proprietary Impatiens hawkeri selection identified as PE 63, not patented, as the male, or pollen parent. The cultivar Kipapalia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Gensingen, Germany in April, 1998.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Gensingen, Germany, since May, 1998, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Kipapaliaxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Kipapaliaxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Rounded, upright and compact plant habit.
2. Freely branching growth habit; bushy appearance.
3. Dark green-colored foliage.
4. Freely flowering habit with flowers held above and beyond the foliage.
5. Red purple-colored flowers with lighter red purple-colored centers.
Plants of the new Impatiens differ from plants of the female parent, the selection BE 921, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens have more green-colored leaves than plants of the BE 921.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens have larger and flatter flowers than plants of the BE 921.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens flower slightly later than plants of the BE 921.
4. Plants of the new Impatiens have red purple-colored flowers whereas plants of the BE 921 have purple-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Impatiens differ from plants of the male parent, the selection PE 63, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens have lighter green-colored leaves than plants of the selection PE 63.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens have larger and flatter flowers than plants of the selection PE 63.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens flower slightly later than plants of the selection PE 63.
4. Plants of the new Impatiens have darker colored flowers than plants of the selection PE 63.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the cultivar Kipete, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Gensingen, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Kipete in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens had darker green-colored leaves than plants of the cultivar Kipete.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger and flatter flowers than plants of the cultivar Kipete.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens flowered slightly later than plants of the cultivar Kipete.
4. Plants of the new Impatiens had red purple-colored flowers whereas plants of the cultivar Kipete had purple-colored flowers.


Provided are a solar cell substrate made of stainless steel foil which contains 7% to 40% by mass Cr and has a coefficient of linear expansion of 12.0×10−6/° C. or less at 0° C. to 100° C. and a thickness of 20 μm to 200 μm is subjected to the preparatory heat treatment for stress relief in an atmosphere consisting of one or more selected from an N2 gas, an H2 gas, an Ar gas, an AX gas, and an HN gas within the range of 250° C. to 1,050° C.; a back-contact made of a Mo layer is formed on a surface of the stainless steel foil subjected to the preparatory heat treatment or an insulating coating is formed on a surface of the stainless steel foil followed by forming the back-contact including the Mo layer thereon; and an absorber layer made of Cu(In1-xGax)Se2 is formed on the back-contact by performing coating formation heat treatment.

Glass, which is a relatively inexpensive insulator, is widely used as a material for solar cell substrates. However, glass is brittle. Therefore, it is difficult to continuously manufacture a large number of glass solar cell substrates on which an absorber layer formed.
Therefore, solar cell substrates made of a metal sheet (for example, a stainless steel sheet or the like) which can be mass-manufactured and which is more inexpensive than glass are under development. However, the metal sheet is a conductive material. Therefore, in order to use the metal sheet for a substrate for integrated solar cells, an insulating layer needs to be formed on a surface thereof. Alternatively, solar cells attached to power-collecting-surfaced electrodes are connected to each other like silicon solar cells and can be used as a grid type.
For example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 disclose an insulating sheet including an alumina coating formed on a smooth surface of a stainless steel sheet. When a back-contact including a Mo layer is formed on the insulating sheet and a coating of Cu(In1-xGax)Se2 is formed thereon as an absorber layer, heat treatment for growing crystals of Cu(In1-xGax)Se2 is performed and the resultant insulating sheet is used as an integrated solar cell substrate, whereby production costs can be reduced as compared to a glass solar cell substrate.
Alternatively, in the case of being used as a grid-type solar cell substrate, when a surface of a stainless steel sheet is smoothed, a back-contact made of a Mo layer is formed thereon, and a coating of Cu(In1-xGax)Se2 is formed thereon as an absorber layer, heat treatment for growing crystals of Cu(In1-xGax)Se2 is performed, whereby a solar cell substrate is formed. Incidentally, Cu(In1-xGax)Se2 refers to a substance which is a mixed crystal of Cu(In)Se2 and Cu(Ga)Se2 and which is referred to as CIGS.
In these solar cell substrates using the stainless steel sheets (that is, solar cell substrates made of stainless steel sheet), when insulating layer or the back-contacts are formed, there is a case where Cr layers or the like referred to as barrier layers are formed as underlayers in advance.
In this case, the insulating coatings, the back-contacts, and the absorber layers other than the barrier layers are formed in substantially the same way as above.

Solar cell substrate made of stainless steel foil and method for manufacturing the same


The invention concerns a roof reflector suspended from the thermal cover shield of a gas-cooled pebble-bed reactor with a plurality of passages for absorber rods arranged in a triangular lattice, and with channels for the passage of the cooling gas. The roof reflector comprises a plurality of essentially hexagonal graphite blocks arranged in several layers to form vertical, closely-adjacent columns. A process for the disassembly of the roof reflector is further provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the construction and disassembly of roof reflectors for gas-cooled pebble-bed reactors.
2. The Prior Art
Reactor roof reflectors are known which consist of a plurality of graphite blocks arranged in close proximity to each other, suspended by means of tie rods from the upper part of the pressure vessel enclosing the nuclear reactor. A roof reflector of this type may consist, for example, of two layers of graphite blocks, wherein each of the blocks is equipped with a bore to allow for the passage of the cooling gas, the bores running in a broken line to provide shielding against neutrons. (See German Published Application DE-OS No. 15 64 186).
Another known roof reflector consists of a single layer of hexagonal graphite columns, the cooling gas passages provided centrally through the individual columns being shielded either by means of plates placed over the graphite columns or by helically wound stoppers inserted in the bores for the cooling gas (See French Pat. No. 14 26 264).
A roof reflector consisting of hanging columns is also known, the roof reflector being suspended from a thermal cover shield. Six each of the suspended columns define an opening for an absorber rod. The columns, arranged in three layers, are provided with slits for the passage of the cooling gas, the slits of adjacent layers being offset with respect to one another to provide shielding. (See German Published Application No. DE-OS No. 23 54 540).
All of the roof constructions described above are intended for use with gas-cooled nuclear reactors employing spherical fuel elements, the so-called pebble-bed reactors. Another roof reflector for a nuclear reactor of this type consists of a supporting plate fastened by means of threaded connections to the cover of the pressure vessel, and a plurality of graphite blocks arranged in at least two layers, a free space being provided between the supporting plate and the graphite blocks, the free space serving as a collector space for the cooling gas. (See German Published Application No. DE-OS No. 26 31 408). The graphite blocks are fastened to a retaining plate which closes off the lower boundary of the cooling-gas collector space and which is suspended by means of anchors from the supporting plate. The supporting plate and the retaining plate together constitute a static plate. Both consist of sections having overlapping junctions. Passages for the absorber rods are provided in the roof reflector. The flow of cooling gas passes through annular channels arranged coaxially in relation to absorber rods and possessing two different non-coincident, passage cross-sections. The cross-section of the upper passage is shielded in each case by means of an annular plate.

Roof reflector for a gas-cooled pebble-bed reactor and process for the disassembly of the roof reflector


The subject of the invention is a method and a device for generating a digital lookup table for printing inks in image reproduction equipment. Color scan values obtained by photoelectric scanning of an original are used for this purpose. The full colors of the three printing inks and white are measured. Model colors are determined which are in as linear as possible a relationship to the printing inks. This is achieved by a position of the chromaticity range of the print scale such that the primary stimuli of the model colors in the chromaticity diagram are each on one beam of the trajectories of the scale colors through the white point while the triangle set up between the primary stimuli encloses the chromaticity range of the print scale. The scale division of the primary stimuli is adjusted with a cube root to the printing inks. The number of fields to be scanned is determined on the basis of the measured values of the space diagonals. A cubic spline interpolation follows to generate the lookup table.

The invention relates to a method for generating a digital lookup table for printing inks in image reproduction equipment using color scan values obtained by photoelectric scanning of an original.
The basis for generation of a transformation table for the primary colors "RGB" into the complementary colors "CMYK" is spectrophotometric measurement of a color scale generated with that process (e.g. Offset, Euroskala, coated paper) for which this table is later to apply. With unlimited expenditure, it would be possible to thereby obtain by measurement the right field for every required color stimulus from a scale with 1% gradation of the printing inks, i.e. 100*100*100 color fields. A method of this type would provide, if the color range of the scale is not always exceeded, the formula for the complementary colors "CMYK" accurate to 1%. Highly saturated hues have no corresponding field. In addition, one million measurements are impracticable for generating a table.
A color correction device for image reproduction equipment is known with which digitalized color density values of individual color separations obtained by photoelectric scanning are converted into complementary color density values. With the complementary color density values it is possible to obtain color separation negatives. The complementary color density values are color-corrected using correction data filed in a memory and addressable and outputtable by the color density values. A gray component is determined from the color density values. This is achieved by comparing the color density values. The gray component is processed by comparison with a predetermined white light value to obtain an equivalent gray value with which a memory is addressed that contains a specific gray value for each complementary color density value. By subtracting the gray components from the color density values, complementary color density values are generated. The various complementary color density values are each combined with an associated specific gray value. Corrections to the chromatic component and to the gray component independently of one another permit a saving of memory capacity for the conversion table (German patent DE-PS 30 15 396).
One of the objects underlying the invention is to develop a method for generation of a digital lookup table (memory table) of complementary printing inks for image reproduction equipment using standardized color scan values obtained by photoelectric scanning of an original, e.g. EBU red, green, blue. With the method of the invention a lookup table can be produced from a few measurement fields that is sufficiently accurate for determining the proportions of printing inks. In addition, non-reproducible color stimuli must be adapted to useful substitute values.
The object is substantially achieved in accordance with the invention in that the full colors of the three printing inks and white are measured by scanning of corresponding originals, in that model colors are determined which are in as linear as possible a relationship to the printing inks by means of a position of the chromaticity range of the print scale such that the primary stimuli of the model colors in the chromaticity diagram are each on one beam of the trajectories of the scale colors through the white point while the triangle set up between the primary stimuli encloses the chromaticity range of the print scale. The scale division of the primary stimuli is adjusted with the cube root to a linear gradation of the printing inks. The space diagonals of the printing inks as a function of the model colors are used to determine the number of fields to be scanned, scan values of which are further processed by cubic spline interpolation with a higher number of support points in order to generate the lookup table. The values of the model colors are each stored as a function of the printing ink values.
A lookup table of the printing inks as a function of the model colors is preferably generated from the stored lookup table. The latter table is used in the reproduction equipment to determine the proportions of printing inks for the original artwork measured values.
A substantial element of the invention is based on the setup of a computation model whose coordinate axes tally as closely as possible with the axes of the print scale (cyan, magenta and yellow). A component of the model color space depends in largely linear form on one and one only printing ink. The CIE-XYZ color space of the International Lighting Commission does not--unlike the model color space described above--fulfill these requirements, since the directions of its coordinate axes do not even approximately tally with those of the primary stimuli of the print scale. Particularly unfavorable is the fact that identically sized color intervals at different points on the print scale are reproduced on variously sized differences in the CIE-XYZ color space. The aforementioned substitute colors C.sub.t, M.sub.t and Y.sub.t describe the printing inks approximately and can be advantageously converted as a group into values of the CIE-XYZ color space. The relationship C.sub.t =1-R makes the substitute color stimulus C.sub.t proportional to the color stimulus C.sub.s. Weighting with the cube root linearizes the dependence of the model color on the printing ink. The conversion between the coordinates of the RGB color space and of the CIE-XYZ color space and vice versa is achieved in each case with a transformation matrix that is known per se (Richter: Einfuhrung in die Farbmetrik, Kap. 6).
The expense of creating a print scale depends on the number of fields to be measured. An acceptable expenditure is achieved when the number of fields to be measured is not more than a few hundred. If scan values are generated for each coordinate axis of the print scale, n.sup.3 fields must be measured. The number of scan values must ensure a sufficiently accurate coverage of the print scale.
In the space diagonals of the coordinate system of full colors C.sub.s, M.sub.s and Y.sub.s, the proportionate basic colors of the print scale are present in equal amounts. With these space diagonals as the "gray axis" conclusions can be drawn as to the remaining non-linearities of the print scale with regard to the model color space. On the basis of the dependence of the hue values on the print scale values in the "gray axis" the minimum necessary (not equidistant) scanning steps are determined. The scanning steps are selected such that points are obtained along the "gray axis" that are spread as evenly as possible and at the same time at locations with as few deviations as possible between the substitute colors.
Preferably, not more than seven scanning steps are stipulated. The n.sup.3 scan values are then extrapolated by a cubic spline interpolation to a certain number of support points greater than the number of scanning steps. It has been shown that a support point quantity of 32.sup.3 values is favorable. The cubic spline interpolation results in color cubes containing printing ink values. The subdivision of the scale space is equidistant here, i.e. a color cube with a scanning density of approx. 3% is obtained in each printing ink.
The table prepared in the manner described above gives the dependence of the color stimulus on the printing ink proportions. The table permits determination of the proportions of printing inks necessary to reproduce a color stimulus.
In a preferred embodiment, the associated combinations of printing inks for all interesting combinations of color stimuli are determined iteratively in order to generate a table giving the proportions of the printing inks C.sub.s, M.sub.s and Y.sub.s needed to reproduce a color stimulus, by proceeding from any point in the print scale table to first compute both the difference between the color stimulus required and a random scale entry point, and the complete differential in this point in order to ascertain a vector that gives, in scale increments, the amount and direction of the transition to another entry point better suited to the required color stimulus. For this scale entry point appropriate computation steps are taken to establish a further vector that gives the transition to a scale entry point better suited to the required color stimulus. The computation steps for ascertaining additional scale entry points are repeated until the scale entry point obtained remains the same. Color value differences still remaining are minimized by trilinear interpolation. Using this method, which can be designated as inversion, a lookup table table for RGB or for any colors based on CIE-XYZ coordinates to CMY is obtained.
It may be that a color stimulus is required that is outside the chromaticity range of the measured print scale. The iteration process provides for such color stimuli, for one or more colors, a dot percentage of >100% and/or <0%. These are highly saturated colors that cannot be reproduced. However, in order nevertheless to reproduce color stimuli for inks outside the chromaticity range of the measured print scale, it is expedient to employ another color model based on hue, saturation and lightness (HSL color model). If the iteration process leaves the color space of the lookup table, then it is advantageous to correct the required color stimulus with reference to the nearest color stimulus feasible with the lookup table. While a change in the hue should not occur, correction may result in a substitute color having a lower saturation in the case of very bright or very dark hues, and possibly a slightly different lightness.
In order to determine the printing inks for a color stimulus outside the chromaticity range of the measured lookup table, a color space corresponding to the lab model stipulated by the International Lighting Commission (CIE) is computed as follows for hue, saturation and lightness: ##EQU1## with X.sub.0, Y.sub.0 and Z.sub.0 as the color stimulus of the white point (cf. DIN 6174), in which "L" means the lightness, "H" the hue, "S" the saturation and "X Y Z" the virtual primary stimuli as normal stimuli, where the corresponding values for lightness, hue and saturation are filed in a table with one address space for each, with stipulation of the maximum lightness value for maximum fluctuations of the primary stimuli and with standardization of the saturation to the maximum value occurring in the blue hues, and where for all combinations of hue, saturation and lightness occurring, the values of the printing inks are determined by iteration and then stored. In this way, the point at which the required color value leaves the range of the lookup table can only be determined as a function of the saturation. All saturations above this value can then be allocated the printing ink triplet of the last color value achieved with constant lightness and constant hue.
For obtaining print results in dark hues, a black separation is preferably generated that has been obtained using a densitometer from a test form having that number of chromatic gray bars of which each contains a constant black component, where the color density values are converted to lightnesses and where a spline interpolation increases the data density until the dependence of lightness decrease on the addition of black is given in predetermined steps for each three-color lightness level. If a hue can no longer be achieved in three colors with saturation at the predetermined lightness, transition to the next highest lightness level that the hue can reproduce follows, and the lightness is then reduced by addition of black to the required value.
To save on memory capacity, the lookup table of the printing inks is not addressed directly through the measured color stimuli. The primary colors are divided in each case into a number of classes of representative values stored in a separate table. Starting from this separate table, the three-dimensional table with the printing inks is controlled, which for that reason needs only the number of memory places corresponding to the cubic number of the number of classes. The number of classes is preferably adjusted to the human visual sense curve by dividing the primary stimuli into ranges of equal size under the cube root.
It must be noted in particular that a change in the lightness .DELTA.L takes place as a function of black (.DELTA.L=f(K)).
A device for implementation of the method described above contains in accordance with the invention a light source and a measuring head to which is connected a spectrophotometer connected on its output side to a sequential control and to a color transformer, to which is connected a cubic spline interpolator controlled by the sequential control, and to which is connected a digital memory controlled by the sequential control. The sequential control is preferably a central computer.

Method and device for generating a digital lookup table for printing inks in image reproduction equipment


Methods for modifying therapeutic agents such as therapeutic biomolecules, such as proteins for improved oral, rectal or transmucosal delivery, as well as compositions made using such methods and methods of administering such compositions to a subject, are disclosed. Specifically, the therapeutic agents are conjugated to hyperbranched polymers (HBPs), such as hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG). When such conjugates are administered orally to a subject, the HBP protects the therapeutic agent from the acid environment of the stomach and protease attack in the gastro-intestinal tract, while facilitating the absorption of the therapeutic agent in the higher pH environment of the intestines. The methods and compositions are useful for the improved administration of a variety of therapeutic agents to a subject.

Therapeutic proteins are the treatment modality of choice for many disorders. Therapeutic proteins have a more clearly defined action mechanism than small molecule drugs. Furthermore, they can be administered using methods that are safer than methods for directly increasing protein expression, such as gene therapy. Advances in biotechnology have accelerated the economical, large-scale production of proteins, vaccines, and hormones, making them readily available for therapeutic applications in medical practices and clinical studies. In recent years, the market penetration of the pharmaceutical protein industry gained substantial momentum. To date over 140 FDA-approved protein drugs have been placed on the market, and more are coming. It would be desirable to be able to deliver such therapeutic proteins and other therapeutic agents through non-invasive oral or transmucosal routes.
As an example, phenylketonuria (PKU), the most common inborn metabolic disorder in the world, affecting 1 of every 1,000 people, is a genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the gene that encodes for the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH). PAH catalyzes the conversion of the amino acid phenylalanine (Phe) to the amino acid tyrosine (Tyr). When a mutation renders this vital enzyme nonfunctional, Phe, which is present in almost every food containing protein, cannot be processed. Phe builds to dangerously high concentrations in the brain and bloodstream in those afflicted with this disease. Left untreated, it causes a wide range of acute cognitive and behavioral defects. These include severe mental retardation, aggression, and seizures.
Delivering phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), a plant enzyme that converts phenylalanine to non-toxic metabolites ammonia and trans-cinnamic acid, is a potential therapy to compensate for the lack of intrinsic PAH. As PKU is a digestion related disease, orally delivering PAL may present an effective noninvasive treatment for PKU that does not require penetration through the gastrointestinal epithelial membrane.
Another example is the possible oral delivery of alcohol degrading enzyme to relieve the pain resulting from alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is associated with a variety of organ injuries (such as liver damage), as well as with serious social problems (such as violence and driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI)). Providing a way to quickly eliminate alcohol in-vivo would be a significant step towards solving these problems.
Ethanol-degrading enzymes, which have a well-defined detoxification mechanism and low toxicity, are the most direct and safe antidotes to alcohol abuse. However, the effectiveness of alcohol dehydrogenase is limited by the low extracellular concentration of NAD+. Thus it cannot serve as an effective antidote when the alcohol concentration is high. Furthermore, the associated consumption of NAD+ may cause many undesired metabolic regulations due to alterations of redox status inside a cell, affecting various biological pathways.
In contrast, alcohol oxidase (AOx), which employs molecular oxygen as a substrate, is capable of achieving rapid clearance of alcohol. Thus, delivering AOx orally would be an effective and non-invasive way to detoxify alcohol.
In addition to PAL and AOx, a number of other therapeutic proteins have shown great promise in clinical applications. Together with other protein drugs, such as insulin, calcitonin, interferons, human growth hormone, glucagons, gonadotropin-releasing hormones, encephalin, vaccines, enzymes, hormone analogs, and enzyme inhibitors, these protein therapeutics have a vast market worldwide.
Despite its fast growth in recent years, protein therapy is still in its adolescence. There are a number of reasons for this, including the difficulties associated with delivering functional proteins that retain their catalytic activity, poor protein stability both in vitro and in vivo, and the high degradation and clearance rates associated with protein therapy. These problems are especially significant in the oral administration of therapeutic proteins. Oral administration of drugs is favorable over other routes of administration due to its simplicity and convenience. However, administrating therapeutic proteins orally is problematic, due to the harsh acidic environment in the stomach, the existence of various proteases in relatively high concentrations, and poor oral adsorption of proteins. Strategies to address these issues are ongoing and in high demand in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
Various strategies have been attempted to improve the oral bioavailability of therapeutic proteins. The main approaches presently include 1) using absorption enhancers to improve the lipophilicity of the protein to favor transmucosal delivery, 2) using protease inhibitors to tune down enzymatic digestion of the protein, and 3) utilizing mucoadhesive polymeric systems to increase the resident time of the protein in GI tract. To date, various oral delivery systems for proteins have been actively developed, especially by pharmaceutical companies in the hopes of rendering various therapeutic proteins clinically useful. Although these attempts have in some cases achieved enhanced protein stability and/or improved transmucosal protein delivery, none of them have been proven to be good enough for clinical applications.
In the case of PKU treatment, investigators in the United Kingdom found that administrating PAL in enteric-coated capsules could reduce blood phenylalanine levels by 25%. Additionally, a Canadian group has been trying to encapsulate PAL in semipermeable microcapsules and to deliver the resulting microcapsules enterically. Ideally, the enterically placed PAL would metabolize dietary phenylalanine before it is absorbed, and phenylalanine in the blood could recirculate into the intestinal lumen to be degraded by the PAL. The enteric delivery of these microcapsules achieved a 50% reduction in the blood phenyalanine concentration in PAHenu2 mice. Although the degree of reduction achieved by this method is insufficient for the adequate treatment of PKU, these results validated the safety and therapeutic potential of enterically delivered PAL.
Further, although alcohol oxidase (AOx) has great potential as an alcohol detoxification agent, it is not well studied in the context of pharmaceutical applications. In the 1980s, it was shown that by injecting alcohol oxidase post alcohol intoxication, blood alcohol concentration could be reduced by up to three fold. However, the large dosage required, high cost, and resulting immune response blocked the further development of AOx-related drugs. As a consequence, little work has been done on the development of AOx-based alcohol detoxification agents, including the oral delivery of AOx.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for methods and compositions that can be used to effectively overcome the problems associated with the oral delivery of therapeutic agents, such as, functional therapeutic proteins. Specifically, such compositions and methods should enable retention of catalytic activity, protect the therapeutic agent from acid attack and protease degradation, facilitate the absorption of the therapeutic agent, and be non-toxic and biocompatible.

Therapeutic hyperbranched polyglycerol encapsulated biomolecules

The Regents of the University of California


A device for holding a flexible, nonselfsupporting bag in an opened position for allowing the bag to be filled with leaves, grass or the like. The device includes a body member having a cavity therethrough substantially in the shape of a truncated right cone with the large end of the cone normally directed downward. The bag is inserted into the hollow body member and the mouth of the bag is attached to the top of the body member in an opened position. Once the bag is filled, the mouth of the bag is detached from the top of the body member and the body member is lifted over the bag. The sloping sides of the cavity in the body member makes the device easy to lift over the filled bag.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to means for holding flexible bags opened to aid in the filling thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, various means have been developed for holding flexible, nonselfsupporting bags in opened positions for allowing the bags to be filled. See, for example, Ranken et al, U.S. Pat. No. 1,052,379; Carlson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,678,764; Dwyer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,095,172; Koger, U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,041; Vandermast, U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,242; and Pearce, U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,157. None of the above patents disclose or suggest the present invention.
One of the most difficult jobs a home owner has in taking care of his property is bagging leaves or grass that has been cut with a lawnmower or the like. The individual at this juncture has to bag or box the leaves or grass. Most people utilize flexible, nonselfsupporting plastic bags to contain such refuse because of the price and availability thereof. Filling such a plastic bag without the help of another person holding the bag opened is, at best, difficult. One common procedure is to insert the plastic bag to be filled into a standard garbage can that is substantially equal in size to that of the plastic bag. The person places the bag inside the garbage can and secures the top of the bag around the top of the garbage can by merely turning or cuffing the top of the bag over the top of the garbage can. Two distinct difficulties are inherent in this method: (1) In inserting a plastic bag inside a garbage can, air is trapped between the bag and the can, causing the bag to inflate as refuse is placed in the bottom of the bag. When this occurs, one has to stop filling the bag and release the top of the bag from the garbage can so that air will escape and deflate the bag. This is time-consuming. (2) Once the bag inside the garbage can is filled, the next task is to remove the filled bag. After securing the top of the plastic bag with ties or the like, one can attempt to lift the bag out of the can. In many cases, the bag will be torn if diligent care is not taken in lifting the bag out. The garbage can may, on the other hand, be merely turned over and shaken to cause the bag to fall out. If care is not used in doing this, the bag can be ruptured.
While the above cited patents disclose devices for holding flexible bags open other than garbage cans, these prior devices include one or more of the following disadvantages:
1. Requires ancillary devices that can be lost or used as toys, etc. PA1 2. Requires some dexterity in separating the device from the filled bag, e.g., one hand has to hold the bag while the other hand has to remove the device therefrom. PA1 3. Compacting of material within the flexible bag can't be accomplished unless the device is used by two people. PA1 4. The bag can't be filled to its ultimate capacity because of the difficulty required in separating the device and the bag. PA1 5. Large bags of the 55 gallon capacity and the like can't be utilized by one person because of the inherent difficulty in separating the device and the filled bag. PA1 6. The bag-engaging surface of the device will become marred or scarred, unless due care in storage is taken, making removal of the device from the bag difficult. PA1 7. Expensive to fabricate and distribute.