An object in a tier of a multi-tier virtual storage system is saved while the storage system is active. The object to be saved in an upper-level tier in the multi-tier storage system is identified. Servers associated with lower-level tiers below the tier containing the object to be saved to obtain the latest data stored in the respective associated tiers, use temporary storage to store the obtained data and handle any modifications to the obtained data, and cause applications running in the respective tiers to quiesce. Once a copy of the identified object is made, the servers associated with the lower-level tiers are instructed to obtain the data from the temporary storage and resume quiesced applications running in the respective tiers.

This invention relates generally to saving data in a storage space, in particular to saving data in a multi-tiered virtual storage space while the storage space is active.
Virtualization of storage allows a controlling operating system to carve out a large portion of the overall space to be allocated to a server. For example, on a system, such as an IBM system i5/OS®, large network server storage spaces can be created that are 1 terabyte in size and can be linked to a hosted operating system, like Linux, AIX, or Windows. The hosted operating system views this storage space as a single disk drive that can be partitioned and formatted like any other disk. This storage space can be saved and restored using an integrated operating system, since it is actually just a file accessible in the integrated file system.
However, to save this storage space while active requires the hosted operating system to be made aware that some higher level operating system needs to save the entire disk drive and to prepare for a backup. This means all data in cache needs to be written to disk. Once data on the disk is made consistent, a save-while-active process needs to take a snapshot of the object so no future write requests will affect the save and cause the data to be inconsistent. The save-while-active process uses a copy-on-write approach so only the data at the point of the "snapshot" will be saved.
The problem with this solution is that there is no process defined to prepare a hosted operating system for backup to allow the storage space to be saved safely and consistently. What makes this scenario even more difficult is if the hosted operating system also becomes a host to other operating systems using Microsoft virtual servers or using VMWare virtual servers. Since there is no way to safely save this storage space with consistent data, the only safe process to save a storage space, up to now, has been to have the hosted operating systems shut down so all data on the disk is consistent and will not change throughout the save.

Method, computer program product, and system for providing a multi-tiered snapshot of virtual disks

International Business Machines Corporation


A system for monitoring and controlling an electrical distribution network comprises an electrical distribution substation having a local area network (LAN), a feeder subsystem and a gateway. The feeder subsystem is coupled to the substation and receives electrical energy therefrom for distribution to customers, and includes slave devices for performing switching functions. The gateway provides remote access to the slave devices and the LAN.

The recent deregulation of the utility industry has created a market for products that facilitate the efficient distribution and monitoring of electrical power. In the past, utilities have built systems that worked in a coordinated but independent fashion, and did not provide easy access to certain information necessary to adequately monitor and control a substation, or multiple substations, and related feeder networks and the like from a central location. (Electrical distribution substations and the equipment used therein, such as transformers, circuit breakers, disconnect switches, etc., are well known. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,888, Jul. 15, 1997, titled "Power Distribution Substation," for background information regarding such substations.) For example, separate devices have been used to monitor a power system to determine when an event, such as loss of power, reduction in supplied voltage, distortion of the voltage or current waveform, or the like, has occurred on the system. One reason to monitor power quality is economic, e.g., poor power quality will affect equipment and processes and can result in misoperation and damage of equipment, disruption of operations, and other such anomalies. Moreover, a consumer, such as a business, may now be able to choose its utility provider, and therefore the customer may now have a need or desire to determine the quality of the power supplied by its present supplier. Similarly, the utilities have a need to monitor the power they supply to customers to ensure that they are providing power of sufficient quality to retain their customers. Therefore, utilities and consumers are now in need of systems to coordinate functionality, such as power quality monitoring, through a network. One aspect of the present invention concerns a system for enabling a utility or one of its customers (such as a large consumer of power) to remotely access equipment for monitoring power quality.

Method and system for monitoring and controlling an electrical distribution network


In the case of a drafting unit for a spinning machine comprising several drivable bottom rollers, it is provided that the feeding bottom roller is constructed as a sleeve which can be connected with a drive shaft by coupling devices. The coupling devices comprise a swivelling lever which can be applied radially to the drive shaft and which engages in a catch of the drive shaft. The swivel shaft of the swivelling lever is arranged on the sleeve.

This invention relates to a drafting unit for a spinning machine comprising several drivable bottom rollers, of which the feeding bottom roller is constructed as a sleeve which can be connected with a drive shaft by means of coupling devices.
In the case of a drafting unit of this type (German Patent Document DE 39 20 682 A1), a friction coupling is arranged between the sleeve and the drive shaft in the case of the feeding bottom roller, which friction coupling comprises two rings which are non-rotatably connected with the drive shaft, are arranged at a distance from one another and form friction areas with the opposite inner surfaces of the sleeve. Because of the draft between the feeding roller pair of the drafting unit and the roller pair which follows, the sliver to be drafted exercises a tensile force on the feeding bottom roller which results in a torque of the feeding bottom roller in the rotating direction of the drive shaft. An additional idle running device provides that this torque will not have the result that the sleeve rotates faster than the drive shaft. Because the sleeve is taken along by the sliver to be drafted, the take-along moment to be applied by the friction coupling only needs to reach a minimal value.
When the sleeve is stopped by means of a stopping element, for example, in the case of a yarn breakage, the drive shaft may continue to rotate while overcoming the frictional force of the friction coupling.
In the case of this known construction, there is the risk that the sleeve may rotate more slowly than the drive shaft which leads to faulty drafts in the drafting unit.
It is an object of the invention to develop a drafting unit of the initially mentioned type in such a manner that, while the drive shaft continues to rotate, the feeding bottom roller can be stopped individually, in which case a defined driving torque is ensured.
This object is achieved in that the coupling devices comprise a swivelling lever which can be applied radially to the drive shaft, engages in a catch of the drive shaft and whose swivel shaft is arranged on the sleeve.
In the case of this development, a form-locking coupling exists between the swivelling lever arranged on the sleeve and the drive shaft so that the sleeve rotates at exactly the same rotational speed as the drive shaft. After an uncoupling of the sleeve from its drive shaft by the disengagement of the swivelling lever from the catch of the drive shaft, the sleeve can be stopped individually although the drive shaft continues to rotate.
Advantageously, the swivel shaft is arranged in parallel to the axis of the drive shaft so that little space is required in the axial direction of the feeding. bottom roller for the swivel movement of the swivelling lever.
The swivelling lever is expediently arranged in the area of an end face of the sleeve. As a result, the coupling area can be separated constructionally from the bearing.
As a further development of the invention, a toothing is provided as a catch which is complementarily mounted on the swivelling lever as well as on the drive shaft. As a result, it is possible without difficulties to couple the stopped sleeve to the only slowly rotating drive shaft because a toothing ensures the play that is required for this purpose.
Advantageously, the toothing is provided on the drive shaft as an allround toothing. This accelerates the engaging operation because it is not necessary to wait until a catch moves by the area of the swivelling lever.
Advantageously, the axial course of the allround toothing corresponds to the width of the swivelling lever. This leads to a low constructional space requirement.
In an advantageous further development of the invention, the catch of the drive shaft is covered by the sleeve with the exception of the recess for the swivelling lever. As a result, the actual coupling part, apart from the swivelling lever that is visible from the outside, is situated in the interior of the sleeve so that any risk of injury is eliminated and any risk of contamination is minimized.
In a further development of the invention, the swivelling lever has two lever arms, of which one is assigned to the catch and the other is loaded by a spring in order to establish the coupling connection. This further development makes it possible to always press the swivelling lever against the catch of the drive shaft during the operation, in which case the springy devices can be mounted in the interior of the sleeve so that they are invisible from the outside.
It is advantageously provided that the moment of the spring which is effective with respect to the swivel shaft corresponds to the rotating direction of the drive shaft. In the case of such a development, the swivelling lever can be engaged in the catch of the drive shaft in a particularly smooth manner.
In a further development of the invention, it is provided that the swivelling lever is provided with a working surface situated outside the sleeve for a control element which disengages the sleeve. It is therefore possible, for example, in the event of a yarn breakage, to automatically stop the feeding bottom roller although the drive shaft continues to rotate. In this case, the working surface must be arranged such that the control element acts against the direction of the spring force.
Advantageously, the sleeve is disposed on the drive shaft by means of slide bearings. This results in a particularly narrow construction in the radial direction. In this case, it is expedient for the sleeve to be secured in the axial direction on the drive shaft by means of an elastic ring.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Drafting roller sleeve with drive engaging/disengaging lever

Spindelfabrik Sussen, Schurr, Stahlecker & Grill GmbH


A magazine includes a feeding tray having a nail path to allow passage of one nail strip and a loading space in spatial communication with the nail path and that is adapted for accommodating a plurality of stacked nail strips, a tray cover coupled to the feeding tray, and a first pusher unit connected detachably to the feeding tray and adapted to press against an uppermost one of the nail strips so as to push a lowermost one of the nail strips into the nail path, and a second pusher unit. When the lowermost one of the nail strips is moved into the nail path, it is pushed toward the nail outlet by the second pusher unit. The tray cover is slidable to uncover at least one of the nail path, thereby permitting an additional nail strip to be placed into the nail path.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a magazine for a powered nail-driving tool, more particularly to a magazine capable of accommodating a plurality of stacked nail strips.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,414 B1 discloses a conventional magazine for a nail-driving power tool. The conventional magazine includes a separating member interposed between a stacking opening in a nail-supplying member and a standby zone of a feeding tray, and having a plurality of keyways that extend in a longitudinal direction. The conventional magazine further includes a gate member having a plurality of keys. The keys are are slidable along the keyways, respectively, such that the separating member is movable with the gate member relative to the nail-supplying member in the longitudinal direction. In use, an operating block is operable to pull the gate member to move along a retracting course, and then the gate member is pulled along with the separating member away from the stacking opening.
However, the manufacturing process of the keyways in the gate member is relatively complicated. Besides, foreign particles, such as metal debris, may accumulate between the separating member and the gate member, thereby obstructing the movement of the operating block. Moreover, when the operating block is pulled, a force is required to overcome the biasing force of springs so as to move the gate member. Afterward, a larger force is required for moving the gate member along with the separating member away from the stacking opening, thereby resulting in inconvenience during use. Furthermore, when the operating block is released, it is relatively difficult for the gate member as well as the separating member to separate accurately a lowermost layer of nails from the remaining layers of nails. In addition, when it is desired to load only one nail strip, it is still necessary to load the same via the stacking opening, which results in a troublesome process.

Magazine for a nail-driving powered tool


A digital still camera includes an aperture stop opening, a taking lens system, and a CCD pickup element. In a manual focus device, an iris shifting mechanism sets the aperture stop opening in an aperture stop unit with reference to a first light amount gravity center by shifting the aperture stop opening to the right relative to a lens optical axis, and sets the aperture stop opening with reference to a second light amount gravity center by shifting the aperture stop opening to the left. First and second sample pickup data are obtained by the CCD pickup element in the setting of the aperture stop opening at the two light amount gravity centers. A display panel displays first and second sample images according to the sample pickup data, to indicate a present deviation of the taking lens system from an in-focus position in simulation. A focusing ring is externally operable, for moving the taking lens system on the optical axis, and for actuation while the two sample images are checked visually, to position the taking lens system when the two sample images inform a reach to the in-focus position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manual focus device and autofocus camera. More particularly, the present invention relates to a manual focus device and autofocus camera in which an in-focus state can be indicated and focusing can be easily effected.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
Rangefinder incorporated cameras are well-known in the art of camera, in which a rangefinder of a double image coincidence type or a vertical image coincidence type is incorporated in a viewfinder. In the rangefinder incorporated camera, changes in a focused state due to focusing operation is observed as changes in a deviation between object images. Focusing with high precision is possible by observation with a human eye. The double image coincidence type of viewfinder has a view field where double images having an image through the viewfinder and an image through the rangefinder are observed. For focusing, the image through the rangefinder moving according to the focusing operation is adjusted and caused to coincide with the image through the viewfinder. The vertical image coincidence type of viewfinder uses a micro split image prism disposed in a light path in the viewfinder, and forms upper and lower split images of the object in a partial view field of the viewfinder. The upper and lower split images are moved horizontally in a symmetrical manner according to focusing operation. If an in-focus state is obtained, the split images coincide with one another.
There is a suggested structure of the viewfinder in JP-A 9-214813 and 2001-309210 in which an electronically photographed object image is utilized for focusing instead of incorporating the rangefinder for optically forming a double image or split images. According to this, double object images deviated according to a defocus amount are indicated with movement according to operation of focusing. It is possible to save and reduce a space and cost by reducing the number of parts for the optical structure.
For the purpose of the display of an image with movement in response to focusing and the display of coincidence of images at the time of the in-focus state, it is necessary to predetermine a defocus amount. According to the prior art, there are generally known methods including a triangulation method and a phase difference detection method. In the triangulation method, an object distance is measured by use of projecting and detecting infrared rays in order to calculate the defocus amount. In the phase difference detection method, two line sensors are used to receive object light through light paths symmetrical to each other with respect to the photographic optical axis, so as to calculate the defocus amount according to a phase difference between photoelectric signals from the line sensors.
Furthermore, an autofocus camera is well-known in which focusing is automatically effected. One example of autofocus camera includes an active type of rangefinder for projecting infrared rays. Another example of autofocus camera includes a passive type of rangefinder for utilizing object light. The rangefinder of any of those types operates according to the rangefinding of triangulation, in which an object distance is measured to obtain an in-focus position of a focusing lens for the purpose of focusing. Also, a digital still camera, video camera and other electronic equipment for photographing an image are known as the autofocus camera. A pickup element such as a CCD image sensor is utilized for picking up the object image. A contrast value is retrieved from the object image, and evaluated between pixels in each of frames. The focusing operation is automatically effected by obtaining a most highly sharpened contrast.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,124 (corresponding to JP-A 2001-281530) discloses the autofocus camera having a combined structure for focusing according to the contrast evaluation method and for focusing according to the phase difference detection method. In the phase difference detection method, the phase difference is detected between photoelectric signals of object light at points in two light paths which are symmetrical with respect to the photographic light axis, so an in-focus position can be determined by instantaneously obtaining an amount of defocus according to the phase difference. In this prior document, the lens is focused preliminarily according to the detection of the phase difference. After this, the lens is precisely focused by utilizing the evaluation of the contrast. This construction is effective in raising the speed of focusing operation without lowering the precision.
However, there occurs a high rise in the manufacturing cost for the construction to calculate the defocus amount according to the triangulation method. This is because of electric parts including the pickup element, a light projecting element for active rangefinding, a position detecting element and the like which require high precision in the incorporation. Similarly, the phase difference detection method requires a high manufacturing cost, because of an optical system for splitting and introducing object light, a line sensor, and other relevant elements.

Manual focus device and autofocus camera


This invention is a three layer Si.sub.x Ge.sub.1-x structure formed on a silicon substrate in which a thin, lightly doped Si.sub.x Ge.sub.1-x layer is formed between two heavily doped Si.sub.x Ge.sub.1-x layers. The incorporation of at least 10% germanium in the silicon provides for intervalley scattering of carriers in the conduction band of the Si.sub.x Ge.sub.1-x layers. This intervalley scattering leads to the negative differential conductance necessary for transferred electron device (TED) operation. Additionally, the lightly doped Si.sub.x Ge.sub.1-x layer is made very thin, on the order of 2,000 to 7,000 Angstroms, and the current flow through the this layer is vertical so that a high electric field can be placed across the lightly doped layer without applying a high voltage across the lightly doped layer. The lightly doped layer can be made thin even though it is interposed between two heavily doped layers because the growth of the in-situ doped Si.sub.x Ge.sub.1-x layers is carried out at a temperature of less than approximately 600.degree. C. When the growth of the Si.sub.x Ge.sub.1-x layers is done in this temperature range, then there is no outdiffusion of the dopants from the heavily doped layers into the lightly doped layers and abrupt doping profiles are maintained even over relatively short distances in the layers. The TED can be connected to an RLC network formed on the silicon substrate to form an integrated oscillator circuit.

The transferred electron device (TED) has been used extensively in oscillator and power amplifier circuits. The TED provides the oscillator function in these circuits covering the microwave frequency range of typically 1 to 100 GHz. The oscillator and power amplifier circuits are important for many applications such as radar, intrusion alarms, microwave test instruments, and a variety of communication devices. The TED is particularly useful in these types of applications because of the solid state nature of the device which provides reliability and low cost, two features which are critical to the practical implementation of the electronic functions.
The solid state TED generates coherent microwave output power because the device has a negative differential conductance. The TED is typically comprised of doped semiconductor material which has a voltage applied that generates an electric field across a region of the semiconductor material. The voltage and width of the region are such that the electric field exceeds a critical value which is dependant on the type of semiconductor material used. The negative differential conductance is based on the phenomena that when carriers in the conduction band of the TED are accelerated by this electric field they undergo collisions with the lattice structure of the semiconductor material. These collisions transfer the carrier from a conduction band having a first energy level to a conduction band having a second, and higher, energy level. As carriers make the transition from the low energy conduction band to the higher energy conduction band in which carriers have a higher effective mass, their velocity is decreased with respect to the carriers which have not undergone the transition. As a result, carriers build up within the TED forming a charge dipole and decreasing current flow through the TED. The electric field applied to the TED then sweeps the charge dipole out of the TED which temporarily increases the current density for the applied electric field. Once the charge dipole has been swept out, the cycle of building up the charge dipole and sweeping it out begins again. The temporary decrease in current density is periodic in nature, and produces the oscillating behavior of the TED.
Conventional TEDs have been formed from a variety of semiconductor materials including GaAs, InP, CdTe, InAs, Ge, InSb, ZnSe, GaInSb, InAsP, and GainAsP. Typically, these materials in bulk form are placed between contacts to form the TED. The problem with forming a TED from these types of materials is that these materials are difficult to integrate with conventional electronic devices formed in silicon. In particular, when such materials are deposited on silicon, by a process such as chemical vapor deposition, the resulting films typically have numerous defects due to the lattice mismatch between the deposited films and silicon. The numerous defects preclude the formation of the TED useless. Also, when the TEDs are formed in a bulk material and then manually bonded to a silicon substrate, the integration of the TED and the silicon integrated circuit is expensive because of the manual labor cost. The manual placement of the TED on the silicon integrated circuit is also not desirable because of the low level of integration which can be achieved by manual placement of the TED. Moreover, a TED fabricated in bulk material requires a relatively high applied voltage in order to form an electric field having a sufficient magnitude to create the negative differential conductance effect. This is because the TED device must be very thick to accomodate the doped regions associated with the TED contacts. A high applied voltage is not desirable for a TED integrated in a silicon circuit because the silicon circuits typically use a low applied voltage.

SiGe transferred electron device and oscillator using same

International Business Machines Corproation


A process for the isomerization of mono-olefins in aliphatic hydrocarbon streams is carried out at 40 to 300xc2x0 F. under low hydrogen partial pressure in the range of about 0.1 psi to less than 70 psi at 0 to 350 psig in a distillation column reactor containing a hydrogenation catalyst which serves as a component of a distillation structure, such as supported PdO encased in tubular wire mesh. Essentially no hydrogenation of the mono-olefins occurs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the selective hydrogenation of diolefins and acetylenic compounds in a olefin rich stream. More particularly the invention relates to a process utilizing a hydrogenation catalyst in a structure to serve as both the catalyst and as a distillation structure for the simultaneous reaction and separation of the reactants and reaction products.
2. Related Art
Mixed refinery streams often contain a broad spectrum of olefinic compounds. This is especially true of products from either catalytic cracking or thermal cracking processes. These unsaturated compounds comprise ethylene, acetylene, propylene, propadiene, methyl acetylene, butenes, butadiene, amylenes, hexenes etc. Many of these compounds are valuable, especially as feed stocks for chemical products. Ethylene, especially is recovered. Additionally, propylene and the butenes are valuable. However, the olefins having more than one double bond and the acetylenic compounds (having a triple bond) have lesser uses and are detrimental to many of the chemical process in which the single double bond compounds are used, for example polymerization. Over the range of hydrocarbons under consideration, the removal of highly unsaturated compounds is of value as a feed pretreatment, since these compounds have frequently been found to be detrimental in most processing, storage and use of the streams.
The C4 cuts are sources of alkanes and alkenes for paraffin alkylation to produce C8 gasoline blending components and as feeds for ether production.
The C5 refinery cut is valuable as a gasoline blending stock or as source of isoamylene to form an ether by reaction with lower alcohols. Tertiary amyl methyl ether (TAME) is rapidly becoming valuable to refiners as a result of the recently passed Clean Air Act which sets some new limits on gasoline composition. Some of these requirements are (1) to include a certain amount of xe2x80x9coxygenatesxe2x80x9d, such as methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), TAME or ethanol, (2) to reduce the amount of olefins in gasoline, and (3) to reduce the vapor pressure (volatility).
The C5""s in the feed to a TAME unit are contained in a single xe2x80x9clight naphthaxe2x80x9d cut which contains everything from C5""s through C8""s and higher. This mixture can easily contain 150 to 200 components and thus identification and separation of the products is difficult. Several of the minor components (diolefins) in the feed will react slowly with oxygen during storage to produce xe2x80x9cgumxe2x80x9d and other undesirable materials. However, these components also react very rapidly in the TAME process to form a yellow, foul smelling gummy material. Thus it is seen to be desirable to remove these components whether the xe2x80x9clight naphthaxe2x80x9d cut is to be used only for gasoline blending by itself or as feed to a TAME process.
The use of a solid particulate catalyst as part of a distillation structure in a combination distillation column reactor for various reactions is described in U.S. patent Nos.: (etherification) U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,232,177; 4,307,254; 4,336,407; 4,504,687; 4,918,243; and 4,978,807; (dimerization) U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,530; (hydration) U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,022; (dissociation) U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,668; and (aromatic alkylation) U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,950,834 and 5,019,669. Additionally U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,302,356 and 4,443,559 disclose catalyst structures which are useful as distillation structures.
Hydrogenation is the reaction of hydrogen with a carbon-carbon multiple bond to xe2x80x9csaturatexe2x80x9d the compound. This reaction has long been known and is usually done at super atmospheric pressures and moderate temperatures using a large excess of hydrogen over a metal catalyst. Among the metals known to catalyze the hydrogenation reaction are platinum, rhenium, cobalt, molybdenum, nickel, tungsten and palladium. Generally, commercial forms of catalyst use supported oxides of these metals. The oxide is reduced to the active form either prior to use with a reducing agent or during use by the hydrogen in the feed. These metals also catalyze other reactions, most notably dehydrogenation at elevated temperatures. Additionally they can promote the reaction of olefinic compounds with themselves or other olefins to produce dimers or oligomers as residence time is increased.
Selective hydrogenation of hydrocarbon compounds has been known for quite some time. Peterson, et al in xe2x80x9cThe Selective Hydrogenation of Pyrolysis Gasolinexe2x80x9d presented to the Petroleum Division of the American Chemical Society in September of 1962, discusses the selective hydrogenation of C4 and higher diolefins. Boitiaux, et al in xe2x80x9cNewest Hydrogenation Catalystxe2x80x9d, Hydrocarbon Processing, March 1985, presents a general, non enabling overview of various uses of hydrogenation catalysts, including selective hydrogenation of a propylene rich stream and other cuts. Conventional liquid phase hydrogenations as presently practiced required high hydrogen partial pressures, usually in excess of 200 psi and more frequently in a range of up to 400 psi or more. In a liquid phase hydrogenation the hydrogen partial pressure is essentially the system pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,717,202 to Bailey discloses a countercurrent process for the hydrogenation of lard carried out in a plurality of independent vertical chamber using a pumped catalyst under undisclosed pressure conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,653 to Chervenak et al discloses a concurrent hydrogenation for using an ebullating bed at extremely high pressures. UK Patent Specification 835,689 discloses a high pressure, concurrent trickle bed hydrogenation of C2 and C3 fractions to remove acetylenes.
U.S. Pat No. 5,087,780 to Arganbright disclosed a process for the hydroisomerization of butenes using an alumina supported palladium oxide catalyst arranged in a structure for use as both the catalyst and distillation in a catalytic distillation reactor. The hydrogenation of dienes was also observed under high hydrogen partial pressure, in excess of 70 psia, but not at around 10 psia.
It is an advantage of the present process that the diolefins (dienes) and acetylenic compounds contained within the hydrocarbon stream contacted with the catalyst are converted to olefins or alkanes with very little if any formation of oligomers or little if any saturation of the mono-olefins.
The present invention comprises feeding a hydrocarbon stream containing highly unsaturated compounds which comprise diolefins and acetylenes along with a hydrogen stream at an effectuating hydrogen partial pressure of at least about 0.1 psia to less than 70 psia, preferably less than 50 psia to a distillation column reactor containing a hydrogenation catalyst which is a component of a distillation structure and selectively hydrogenating a portion of the highly unsaturated compounds. Within the hydrogen partial pressures as defined no more hydrogen than necessary to maintain the catalyst (most likely to reduce the catalyst metal oxide and maintain it in the hydride state) and hydrogenate the highly unsaturated compounds is employed, since the excess hydrogen is usually vented. This preferably is a hydrogen partial pressure in the range of about 0.1 to 10 psia and even more preferably no more than 7 psia. Optimal results have been obtained in the range between 0.5 and 5 psig hydrogen partial pressure.
The hydrocarbon stream typically comprises C2 to C9 aliphatic compounds, which may be narrow cuts or include a range of carbon content. The invention is the discovery that a hydrogenation carried out in a catalytic distillation column requires only a fraction of the hydrogen partial pressure required in the liquid phase processes which are the form of prior commercial operation for this type of stream, but give the same or better result. Thus the capital investment and operating expense for the present hydrogenation are substantially lower than prior commercial operations.
Without limiting the scope of the invention it is proposed that the mechanism that produces the effectiveness of the present process is the condensation of a portion of the vapors in the reaction system, which occludes sufficient hydrogen in the condensed liquid to obtain the requisite intimate contact between the hydrogen and the highly unsaturated compounds in the presence of the catalyst to result in their hydrogenation.
The highly unsaturated compounds may be present in very minor amounts, i.e., a few parts per million up to major amounts, i.e., over 90 weight %. The present invention may be used to remove impurities or to convert commodity amounts of the highly unsaturated compounds into monoolefins or alkanes as desired.
The hydrogen rate must be adjusted at the partial pressure described such that it is sufficient to support the hydrogenation reaction and replace hydrogen lost from the catalyst but kept below that producing hydrogenation of monoolefins which is understood to be the xe2x80x9ceffectuating hydrogen partial pressurexe2x80x9d as that term is used herein.
As can be readily appreciated the amount of the highly unsaturated compound in the hydrocarbon stream is a factor to be considered in selecting the optimum hydrogen partial pressure, since at least a stoichiometric amount of hydrogen must be present in the system to be available for the reaction. When the highly unsaturated compounds are impurities, present in parts per million the lower range of hydrogen partial pressure is a an excess, but it is necessary because of the scarcity of the selective reactant. Also the nature of this reaction between a gas and a liquid and the apparent need to occlude the hydrogen into the liquid makes an excess of hydrogen within the partial pressures a preferred mode of operation.
An additional feature of the process is that a portion of the mono-olefins contained within the stream or produced by the selective hydrogenation of the diolefins may be isomerized to more desirable products. Isomerization can be achieved with the same family of catalysts as used in hydrogenations. Generally the relative rates of reaction for various compounds are in the order of from faster to slower:
(1) hydrogenation of diolefins
(2) isomerization of the mono-olefins
(3) hydrogenation of the mono-olefins.
It has been shown generally that in a stream containing diolefins, the diolefins will be hydrogenated before isomerization occurs. It has also been found that very low total pressures may be used for optimal results in some of the present hydrogenations, preferably in the range of 50 to 150 psig with the same excellent results. Both higher and lower pressures within the broad range may be used may be used with satisfactory results.


An endothermal engine provided with a device for purifying the blow-by gases of the block, comprising a housing provided with an inlet opening communicating with the interior of the block of the engine and an outlet opening for the purified gases and integrally defining an impact separator for the removal of the larger oil particles and a filter member for the separation of the residual oil and particulates housed in a chamber of the housing; the device forms a compact integrated unit which may be readily mounted on the engine.

The present invention relates to an endothermal engine provided with a device for purifying the blow-by gases of the block of this engine.
As is known, the blocks of endothermal engines are provided with a bleed circuit adapted to discharge outside this block the so-called "blow-by" gases, i.e. gases that are drawn down by the cylinders into the block via the piston segments. The bleed is necessary both to prevent an increase of pressure within the block and to offset the volume variations due to the movement of the pistons.
The blow-by gases contain finely atomised oil particles as well as particles of non-combusted carbon materials (particulates) having dimensions of the order of some .mu.m, typically between 5 and 8 .mu.m.
The bleed circuit is in some cases of the open type, i.e. it discharges the blow-by gases into the atmosphere; in this case the oil and the particulates have to be separated from the gases for obvious reasons of environmental and health protection (the particulates have carcinogenic effects).
The bleed circuit is in some cases of the closed type and recirculates the blow-by gases to the engine intake in order to ensure the complete combustion of the particulates. In this case as well, however, the separation of the oil and the particulates from these gases raises a problem; the oil and the particulates tend to form resinous sediments on the components through which the gases pass before reaching the cylinders (in particular on the valves and, in the case of turbocharged engines, in the compressor and the intercooler where they greatly reduce the heat exchange), compromising the correct operation of these components. Moreover, in vehicles fitted with catalytic converters, the combustion of any engine oil recirculated to the intake has damaging effects on the catalytic converter and on the lambda probe.
While purifier devices of various types have therefore been proposed, they all have drawbacks.
For instance, impact separators are known in which the flow of gas interacts with walls which cause abrupt changes of direction of this flow; separators of this type are not, however, very efficient as regards the separation of the particulates, since the average dimensions of the particulates are too small, and are very bulky. The use of filter members of a conventional type has also proved to be unsatisfactory per se as they cause substantial losses of load and tend to clog up rapidly. Moreover, the known devices are difficult to integrate into the engine and lead to additional bulk and assembly and maintenance problems.

Endothermal engine provided with a device for purifying the blow-by gases of the block


An ice cream cone cake holder comprises a supporting platform having a plurality of joined cone and/or cake supporting members and, preferably, a pair of handle members. Several embodiments of the holder are shown. In the first embodiment, the supporting platform is solid with apertured, open supporting members. In a second embodiment, the supporting platform is solid with apertured supporting members having connected frusto-conical members. In a third embodiment, the holder is wire-like with parallel, wire-like holder members with shaped portions that support ice cream cone cakes. The holder may be used in conjunction with a carrier for the holder and may hold an ice cream cone filled with cake ingredients, before during and after baking of the cake ingredients.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to truncated, generally cylindrical food items and holders therefor during baking and transport, and more particularly to cone and cake combinations and holders therefor during baking and transport.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ice cream cones and cupcakes have long been popular dessert items. Recently, it has become known to bake cupcakes within ice cream cones to form dessert items. These dessert items must be held and supported during baking to ensure complete baking and proper shape. Moreover, these dessert items tend to become ruined and inedible when toppled, before, during, or after baking. Numerous attempts have been made to provide supports for ice cream cones, cup cakes, and the like, which maintain correct orientation during baking and transportation, and prevent the cone or other food items from falling over. However, these prior attempts have failed to provide a fully satisfactory solution to the problem of incorrectly oriented ice cream cones, and moreover these prior attempts do not present a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,628,718, issued to Carl E. Fritzche, on May 17, 1927, describes an ice cream cone wrapper and carrier having support apertures in a cross member, for supporting a plurality of ice cream cones. There is also a surrounding container that protects the ice cream cones. Because there is only a single line of apertures, the device of this patent consumes a relatively large volume per aperture. Additionally, there is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,674,209, issued to Chester R. Lord, on Jun. 19, 1928, describes an ice cream cone receptacle including a box and apertured cross member that supports ice cream cones. The box has a handle. The cross member is integral with the box, making the cross member unremovable. Additionally, there is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,6984,779, issued to Raymond W. Holmes et al., on Oct. 17, 1972, describes a container for displaying and shipping food. The container has a plurality of trays supported by a central spindle. There is no provision for supporting upright ice cream cones. Additionally, there is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,374, issued to George Webinger, on Jul. 21, 1981, describes a tray for supporting food, such as pizza, during heating. The tray has apertures for allowing steam to escape during heating of the food. There is no provision for supporting upright ice cream cones. Additionally, there is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,805, issued to Leonard Seeley, on Sep. 29, 1981, describes an ice cream tray formed from plastic in a unitary construction and having three indentations configured for receiving and supporting ice cream cones. These indentations prevent tipping of the cones. The tray of this patent supports only a bottom tip of an ice cream cone, making breakage a problem of significant likelihood. There is no provision for supporting cupcakes or for providing ventilation of ice cream cones (before insertion of ice cream) or cupcakes during baking. Additionally, there is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,654, issued to Peter Odsgard, on Dec. 18, 1984, describes a stand and carrier for conical objects such as ice cream cones. The device of this patent has a relatively complicated mechanism for both a stand and a folding carrier for carrying ice cream cones and cup-shaped objects. The foldability of material used in the carrier argues against use in baking, since easily foldable materials are typically unsuitable for use at high temperatures. Additionally, there is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,392, issued to Bernard V. Gerber, on Mar. 31, 1987, describes a muffin baking pan having a detent for producing a cavity in a muffin. There is no provision in this patent for supporting a plurality of ice creams cone cakes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,513, issued to Joyce Colucci et al., on Apr. 26, 1994, describes rolled-dough cones. There is no provision in this patent for supporting a plurality of ice creams cone cakes.
U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 317,222, issued to John E. Dodge, on Jun. 4, 1991, shows an adjustable ice cream cone holder that holds only a single ice cream cone. There is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 321,968, issued to John Schindler et al., on Dec. 3, 1991, shows an ice cream cone cover that covers only a single cone. There is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 340,343, issued to Mauricio Rizikow, on Oct. 19, 1993, shows an ice cream cone holder that holds only a single cone. There is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
Danish Patent Document No. 114,538, issued to Borge Andreas Ravn, on Jul. 7, 1969, describes an ice cream cone carrier constructed of structurally flimsy material so as to fold into a carrying configuration. If constructed of sturdy, solid material, as is the present invention, the device of this patent would not function as described. Additionally, there is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
French Patent Document No. 1,429,322, issued to Cartonneries de Saint-Germain, on Jan. 17, 1966, describes a cup holder having pop-out handles and meant to be used with closed yogurt containers. The holder of this patent does not have a support structure suitable for use with ice cream cone cakes. Additionally, there is no provision in this patent for a combination of cone, cake, baking holder, and carrier.
PCT Patent Document No. WO 89/05764, issued to Roger Hassevelde et al., on Jun. 29, 1989, describes a device for wrapping an packaging an ice cream cone. The device holds only a single ice cream cone, and is not configured to hold an ice cream cone cake during baking.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


A slide magazine for slide frames having a peripheral edge with a peripherally extending groove on the two faces thereof and a notch at at least one edge portion of the peripheral edge, comprises a base portion with longitudinally spaced pairs of transverse rib portions. The rib portions of each pair are disposed in alignment transversely to the base portion and each pair is spaced from an adjacent pair to provide a slide frame-receiving compartment. The rib portions carry retaining ribs to hold the respective slide frame in a spill-resistant manner in the slide magazine, and each rib portion further has a projection for engaging into the groove to hold the respective slide frame in its compartment. A resilient finger in the base of each compartment has a retaining nose to engage into the notch of the slide frame to hold it in position. Slide frames can thus be inserted into and removed from the slide magazine at both sides thereof.

Slide magazines for slide frames such as those referred to as CS-slide frames, which have a peripherally extending groove configuration along the peripheral edge of the slide frame on the two sides thereof, and a notch at each edge portion of the peripheral edge, typically comprise a base portion carrying a plurality of spaced-apart transverse ribs defining respective compartments each for accommodating a respective slide frame. At least one projection which is arranged to engage into a groove in the respective slide frame projects laterally away from each transverse rib and the base portion has spaced-apart resilient fingers which are associated with a respective compartment and each of which is provided with an upwardly projecting retaining nose f or engaging into the notch in the corresponding slide frame. Retaining ribs which are aligned with the transverse ribs project upwardly from the base portion to hold the slide frames in a spill-resistant fashion. The retaining ribs of such a slide magazine project into the interior of the slide magazine from a lateral longitudinal wall thereof. By virtue of the presence of that side wall, which extends along the slide magazine, it is only possible for the slide frames which are held in a spill-resistant fashion in the slide magazine to be removed therefrom at one side. In that arrangement, the slide frames are held in the slide magazine in a spill-resistant fashion by virtue of the action of the retaining noses on the resilient fingers and the -lateral projections which project away from the transverse ribs in the longitudinal direction of the slide frame and which engage into the corresponding groove configurations in the respective slide frame. The retaining noses on the resilient fingers and the notches at the corresponding edge portion of the peripheral edge of the slide frame provide a safeguard to prevent the slide frame in a compartment from being accidentally laterally displaced out of the slide magazine.


A device for sustained delivery of a poorly water soluble drug is described. A drug reservoir within the device, when in operation, contains an aqueous suspension of the drug mixed with a suspension of an excipient that, in one embodiment, generates acidic groups for a sustained period of time to maintain a desired pH in the aqueous suspension that in turn provides a constant concentration of a soluble form of the drug.

For a variety of therapeutic agents, it would be desirable to deliver an active pharmaceutical ingredient (e.g., an agent or a drug) into the bloodstream from a subcutaneously implanted device in a subject at a substantially constant rate over a sustained period of up to several months. For selected drugs, this delivery pattern can provide substantial clinical benefits to patients and address important unmet medical needs.
In general, there are two challenges that must be overcome in implementing an effective, long-term drug-delivery device of this type. First, the amount of drug delivered by the implanted device must be sufficient to provide the desired therapeutic effect and be substantially constant over time; that is, the release profile approximates zero-order kinetics, so that the treated individual receives a substantially constant therapeutic dose over a specific time period without dose spiking or periods of sub-therapeutic delivery. Secondly, the device should be capable of holding an amount of drug sufficient for releasing a therapeutic dose of compound over an extended period, e.g., 1-6 months, with a size and shape suitable for implantation in a selected anatomical site. For example, a device intended to be implanted in a subcutaneous site preferably has an elongate shape and a cross-sectional depth of less than about 5-6 mm so as be accommodated in the limited depth of the subcutaneous space and not to produce an unsuitably large bulge in the skin above the implantation site. The device would preferably need to less than about 50 mm in overall length so that normal movement would not cause the device to erode the surrounding tissues, particularly at the ends of the device where, during normal movement, bending of the device relative to the plane of tissue may occur resulting in rupture of the device through the skin surface. Given these constrains, the maximum practical volume of the drug reservoir of a subcutaneously implanted device is generally considered to be in the range of 500 microliter (μL), assuming that substantially all of the volume enclosed by the device walls is available to serve as a drug reservoir.
A preferred shape for a subcutaneously implantable device is cylindrical. Cylindrical devices may be implanted by placing the device in an implanter tool or trocar, an open-ended, pointed cannula with an inner diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the device. The trocar, loaded with the device, is inserted, through a small incision, and tunneled under the skin distally from the entry point. The device is positioned by retracting the trocar shaft mechanically, or by removing the trocar while placing pressure on the end of the device using a rod or plunger passed through the opposite end of the trocar shaft, leaving the device in place under the skin.
The art describes implantable drug delivery devices. For example, implantable osmotic pumps are known (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,396). These drug delivery pumps suffer from a lack of sufficient internal volume for extended delivery of low-water soluble drugs at a therapeutic rate because the osmotic engine occupies as much as 50% of the available internal volume. These drug delivery pumps are also prone to clogging of the exit port by precipitation of drug held in solution within the reservoir which can lead to rapid shut down, possible device rupture and/or dose dumping.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.

Implantable device for long-term delivery of drugs


A data processing apparatus comprises: at least one processor; having a private cache, a shared cache for storing data processed by the processor and by a further device, and coherency control circuitry. The coherency control circuitry is responsive to a write request from the further device to determine if data related to an address targeted by the write request is stored in the private cache, and if it is, forcing an eviction of the stored data from the private cache to the shared cache prior to perform the write to the shared cache. The data is stored in the private cache in conjunction with an indicator indicating if the stored data is consistent with data stored in a corresponding address in a further data store, and the stored data is evicted whether the stored data is indicated as being consistent or inconsistent.

1. Technical Field
The technical field relates to data processing and in particular to the field of maintaining coherency when sharing a data store between devices.
2. Background
It is known to provide systems with multiple processors sharing at least a part of the memory space. A potential problem with such a system is associated with the need to maintain a consistent view of the shared memory space between the multiple processors such that each processor can be confident that any data it stored in any address will be accessible later and will not be overwritten by another processor. This potential problem can be further exasperated by systems that have a hierarchical memory system with several memory levels. Within a multi processor apparatus such a system might have a main memory, and a level 2 cache shared between several processors and individual level 1 caches associated with individual processors. The level 1 caches provide fast access to data but are generally small, while the level 2 cache although slower than the level 1 caches provides a faster access to data than the memory does and is larger than the level 1 caches.
A drawback of these multiple memory levels is that there can be multiple versions of data items stored in the different levels of the memory system and it is important that coherency is maintained between them so that the system knows which is the most recent or valid version of the data item.
Such systems are often referred to as cache coherent systems, or SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) systems. There are multiple ways of arranging cache coherent systems to ensure coherency. One such system is a Write Invalidate system which is one that on a write request from one processor invalidates all the copies of this data located in any other private (or L1) cache of any other processor.
It is also known for such caches to operate in Write Allocate mode. In such a mode, a write request targeting data not stored within one cache will force this cache to fetch a cache line including this address from the next lower memory level, and to merge the data read with the data from the write request.
In order to make the best use of the cache storage facilities, it is also known to operate a level 2 cache and one or more level 1 caches in exclusive mode. In this mode cache control logic operates to ensure that each level 1 cache shares as little data as possible with the level 2 cache. The aim of this is to increase the amount of data stored in the caches by reducing duplication. Such a mode is common in multi-processor systems, where the amount of data stored by the multiple level one caches is considerable, when compared to the size of the level-two cache.
It is often desirable that some other devices of the system, although they themselves have no caches are able to access the shared storage in a coherent manner. Such other devices include for example DMA, hardware co-processors such as crypto-processors, Digital Signal Processors and video engines. Although these devices do not cache any data, it is important that a read from these devices to the shared storage returns the latest value, wherever the data is currently stored. This may be in the memory, in the L2 cache or in one of the private (or L1) caches of one of the processors. It is also important that a write from such devices to the shared memory does not affect the coherency of the system. This implies that such devices must be able to make coherent requests, although they do not receive any. Such devices are often connected to the system by what is referred to as a Coherent I/O. It should be noted that while coherent I/Os are discussed here in the field of multiple processor systems, this feature can be used in a single processor system where the cache of the processor is to be kept coherent with the main memory in regards of accesses made by these other devices.
On receipt of a read request from one of these devices, the data processing apparatus conventionally performs a lookup in all of the private caches where the data can be stored, to see if it is stored there. If the data is found in one of the caches, it will be transmitted to the device requesting the read, as it is believed to be the most recent version of the data. If it is not stored within any private caches, the read request will be transmitted to progressively lower levels of storage until it is found and the value will then be returned to the device.
On a write request from such a device, multiple cases must be considered. In the case that data located at the address of the write request is not stored in any of the private caches, the write request is simply forwarded to the next level of storage. In the case data located at the address targeted by the write request is present in at least one of the private cache, two cases can occur:                The data is marked in the cache as being dirty, in other words there is another copy of the data in a lower level of storage that is not current. In this case the cache line is evicted to the subsequent level of storage prior to performing the write request. It is understood that depending on the size of the write request, multiple cache lines, in different private caches, may be evicted.        The data is marked as being clean, which indicates that the value located at this address is consistent with the view of the lower storage level. The action taken in such a case is to invalidate the entry in any private caches containing this address, prior to performing the write to the shared level 2 cache. It must be noted that depending on the sizes of both the write request and the cache lines, multiple cache lines in different private caches may get invalidated.
A drawback of the latter case is that particularly if the system is operating in write allocate mode, then as the data was present in a level 1 cache it is unlikely to be present in the level 2 cache, which means that the line must be fetched from memory before the write can be performed. This consumes time and power. The technology described in this application addresses these problems.

Managing the storage of data in coherent data stores


According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a disk having a first region in which a plurality of tracks is written and a second region that is positioned with a gap in a first direction of the radial direction of the first region, and in which a plurality of tracks is overwritten in the first direction, a head, and a controller that offsets part of a plurality of tracks which is overwritten in the second region in a second direction opposite the first direction to perform rewriting.

In recent years, magnetic disk devices having a technique that achieves high recording density have been developed. An example of a magnetic disk device that achieves high recording density includes a magnetic disk device that can execute a shingled write magnetic recording (SMR) or a shingled write recording (SWR) in which a plurality of tracks is overwritten in the radial direction of the disk. In addition, an example of another magnetic disk device that achieves high recording density includes a magnetic disk device that can be executed by selecting a conventional magnetic recording type in which a plurality of tracks is written with an interval in the radial direction of the disk or a shingled write magnetic recording type.
These magnetic disk devices shingled-write-magnetic-records data in a region including a particular number of tracks or a region in which data of a particular data capacity can be recorded by the shingled write magnetic recording (hereinafter, may be referred to as a band region). These magnetic disk devices are required to perform a process (hereinafter, may be referred to as a refresh process or a rewrite process) of renewing the data written to a particular band region to the same region, a process (hereinafter, may be referred to as an overwrite process) of overwriting data to part of a particular band region, and the like in band region unit. For this reason, in the magnetic disk device, refreshing or overwriting the data written to a particular region with a shingled write magnetic recording type takes more time than refreshing or overwriting the data written to a particular region with a conventional magnetic recording type in which a plurality of tracks that is lined up in the radial direction of the disk is written with a particular interval. Therefore, a magnetic disk device capable of performing the shingled write magnetic recording type may have lower write/read responsiveness than a magnetic disk device that writes data simply by the conventional magnetic recording type.

Magnetic disk device and rewrite processing method

TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION


The present invention relates to a composition for bone-filling, more particularly, to a bone-filling composition for stimulating bone-formation and bone consolidation comprising calcium sulfate and viscous biopolymers. The composition of the present invention can easily be administered into the missing part of injured bone. Since the composition of the present invention does not diffuse to surrounding organs, it can effectively be used for bone-filling material suitable for body.

Recently, bone-loss is often caused by a disease or a car accident, so that supplementing bone-loss is importantly required. Bone-transplantation is one way to supplement bone-loss and more preferably bone-filling composition is used. Bone-extension technique is performed today to extend one's height in stature or to correct undersized jaws, for which bone-filling composition is also required a lot.
Bone-extension technique is to stimulate bone-growth, especially growth in height, by stretching based on the theory that "Tension forces stimulate histogenesis". Bone-extension technique was first devised for the growth of limb bones but has been widely used for jawbone extension. Jawbone extension method is one of techniques performed in the field of cranial jaw facial surgery, which can improve facial ratio not by cutting bone but by moving facial bones gradually by fixing bone-stretching apparatus to retreated parts of jawbone and central facial form.
Bone-extension technique has been successfully used for supplementing the loss of long bone since Ilizarov found out biomechanical elements for bone-extension (Ilizarov G A, J. Dis. Orthop. Inst., 48(1): 1, 1988; Ilizarov G A, Clin. Ortho., 239: 263, 1989; Ilizarov G A, Clin. Ortho., 238: 249, 1989) . It is important for performing the successful bone-extension to keep blood circulation in the part of bone-extension and to fix external fixator stably to both sides of joint part of cortical bone, resulting in the stimulation of bone-consolidation by gradual extension of bone (White S H, J. Bone Join Surgery, 72-B: 350, 1990; White S H, Orthop. Clin. North. Amer., 22: 569, 1991; Fishgrund J., Paley D., Sulter D., Clin. Orthop., 301: 31, 1994).
The period of bone-consolidation depends on extension part of bones such as facial bone or long bone, blood circulation condition, the age of a patient, etc. Bone-consolidation of craniofacial bone takes 3-5 weeks for children and 6-12 weeks for adults after bone-extension, while it takes 3-6 months in long bone regardless of age. Performing bone-extension for craniofacial bone has a couple of problems; one is carrying high possibility of complications and the other is postponing the return to normal life due to the long bone-consolidation time. Precisely, the treatment after bone-extension takes 2-4 months composing of latent phase, bone-extension phase and bon-consolidation phase.
According to Charls and Sailer's report, extending 1 mm a day shows stronger biochemical and physiological characteristics than extending 2-3 mm a day (Carls & Sailer, J. Craniomaxillofac Surg., 94: 152, 1994). Ilizarov has also reported that extending 1 a day showed best results while extending 0.5 mm a day caused premature bone-consolidation and extending 2 mm a day caused undesirable changes in extended tissues (Ilizarov, J. Dis. Orthop. Inst., 48(1): 1, 1988; Ilizarov, Clin. Ortho 239: 263, 1989). In addition, it has also been known that consecutive extending causes the least damage in tissues but the best development of capillary vessels and bone-formation. Therefore, shortening the period of bone-extension and bone-consolidation can contribute to prevent possible complications and to make a patient return to normal life early. In order to shorten the period of bone-extension and bone-consolidation, bone-filling composition is used to stimulate bone-formation and bone-consolidation.
Meanwhile, autobone-graft, treated homograft, heterograft and bone graft substitute have been known to stimulate bone-formation. Autobone-graft is used for the treatment of joint-agglutination or non-agglutinational fracture, or for avoiding damage and void caused by infection, tumor and operation by supplementing bone cavity or bone loss. Transplanted autobone is adsorbed well, resulting in re-circulation of blood. At this time, osteoprogenitor cells are differentiated to bony osteogenesis cells and the activation thereof stimulates bone-regeneration as well as treats bone-loss. However, autobone-graft has problems such as limitation in the amount of extraction and high morbidity caused by the secondary operation for the part of donation. Thus, bone morphogenic protein or other bone-grafting substitute is used to induce bone-regeneration at extended sites. Bone morphogenic protein is regarded as the strongest bone-inducing material but is limited in clinical use because it is very expensive and hard to obtain.
Calcium sulfate is a kind of bone-filling material that is suitable for human body and induces the growth of bony osteogenesis cells and blood vessels as well as stimulates bone-consolidation in the early stage. This material is contribute to construct a normal bone structure by stimulating new bone-formation in a proper condition, plays as a defense shield during bone-healing by preventing the growth of unnecessary connecting tissues and can be substituted with bone during the recovery process. Beeson confirmed by the experiment with dogs that calcium sulfate injected into frontal sinus of dogs induced bone-regeneration within 4-6 weeks (Beeson W., Arch Otolaryngol, 107: 664, 1981), and Pecora et al. also reported bone-healing effect of calcium sulfate injected into bone-loss area of mouse jawbone that was observed partly or over the whole area three weeks after injection (Pecora G., Andreana S., Margarone III J E., Covani U., Sottosanti J S., Oral Surg. Oral Med. Oral Pathol. Oral Radio Endod., 84: 434, 1997). According to Pelter's report, calcium sulfate was safe to be administered to various types of bone-loss patients, stimulated bone-regeneration as being absorbed in a body within several weeks or several months and did not cause any complication or any danger (Pelter L F., Am. J. Surg., 97(3): 311, 1959). However, the conventional calcium sulfate used as a bone-filling composition for bone-regeneration is difficult to be injected in bone-loss area because the composition is in a form of tablets or powder. In order to inject that composition, operation with a scar is unavoidable, which suffers patients.
Thus, the present inventors have tried to improve the way to administer calcium sulfate. As a result, the present inventors prepared a gel type composition containing calcium sulfate and viscous polymer, and accomplished the present invention by confirming that the composition of the invention can easily be administered into the bone-loss area by injection, does not diffuse to surrounding organs and shortens the bone-consolidation period by stimulating bone-formation and bone-consolidation.

Bone-filling composition for stimulating bone-forming and bone-consolidation comprising calcium sulfate and viscous biopolymers


Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with estimating noise in a receiver device based on related properties of order statistics are described. According to one embodiment, a method includes generating an initial set of magnitude squared values from a time domain impulse response of a receiver device. The method also includes generating an initial noise power estimate based on a modified set of magnitude squared values and generating a threshold value based on the initial noise power estimate. The method generates a final noise power estimate by averaging values of the initial set of magnitude squared values that are less than the threshold value and removing a thresholding bias from the resulting average.

Receiver devices, by their nature, have internal noise due to, for example, thermal energy within the receiver device. Furthermore, other internal or external sources of noise can be introduced into a receiver device. Alone or in combination, the internal noise and the external noise can interfere with receiving signals from a remote transmitter device. The ability to properly receive a transmitted signal can depend, to a large extent, on how the receiver noise is handled upon reception. Furthermore, signal reception can sometimes be improved by tailoring the transmitted signal to be received based on prior knowledge of characteristics of the receiver noise.
Therefore, some techniques perform noise estimation in receiver devices to obtain knowledge about the receiver noise. Many types of noise estimation techniques exist today. However, these noise estimation techniques have their limitations.

System and method for estimating noise in a wireless signal using order statistics in the time domain


A friction reducing fitting for downhole applications. The fitting has a body portion (3) for securement about a tubular member, the body portion having a pair of apertures (5, 6). A roller (1) is provided, and an axle (4, 11) passing through said roller and said apertures in the body at either end of said roller. The axle is deformed at at least one end to prevent movement of the end of the axle through the aperture in the body.

The present invention is directed to an axle for retaining rollers within friction reducing fittings used in downhole applications and a method of installing the same. More particularly, but not exclusively, the present invention relates to an axle which is deformed at one or each end to retain the axle.
In downhole applications it is important that tools do not fail or, if they do fail, that they do not break in such a manner that parts of the tool are introduced into the well. If the axle supporting a roller fails this can result in the roller and axle being released into the well. In the case of a drilling application this can damage the drill bit or jam the drilling rig in place. Even if this does not happen, the friction reduction will be greatly diminished.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide a friction reducing fitting and an axle and method of installation that is simple and minimises the risk of axle failure or which at least provides the public with a useful choice. According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a friction reducing fitting for downhole applications comprising:
a body portion for securement about a tubular member, the body portion having a pair of apertures;
a roller; and
an axle passing through said roller and said apertures in the body at either end of said roller, wherein the axle is deformed at at least one end to prevent movement of that end of the axle through the aperture in the body.
It has been found that surprisingly the axle can absorb the shock of a high impact load transmitted through the axle by deforming plastically. This means once the load is removed the axle and roller may revert to their original positions and remain secured to the fittings.
Conventionally, axles of the form employed in the present invention are hardened and thus are too brittle to be deformed to any great extent. Therefore, on first consideration, an axle having a deformed end would not be thought to be strong enough. However, it has been found that by only employing a small amount of deformation, an axle of sufficient strength can be formed.
The deformed end of the axle preferably has an enlarged diameter. This enables the deformed end of the axle to be conveniently enlarged by inserting a formation into a cavity formed in the end of the axle. Preferably the cavity and/or the formation are tapered to enable easy deformation.
In one embodiment the axle is deformed at both ends. In an alternative embodiment the axle is deformed at one end only and an enlarged diameter section is preformed at the other end of the axle.
The roller may be employed to reduce friction between the fitting and an internal component passing through the centre of the tubular member. However, the roller is typically located on the exterior of the body portion whereby the roller reduces drag in use between the fitting and a bore hole wall. In this case the invention prevents or at least reduces the chances of the roller being released into the bore hole.
The apertures in the body portion may be formed in a pair of ears extending from the body portion. Alternatively the body portion may have a cavity formed therein to accommodate the roller.
The deformation of the end of the axle may prevent movement of that end through the aperture away from the roller. However in a preferred embodiment the deformation of the end of the axle prevents movement of that end through the aperture in the body towards the roller (i.e. in the case where a cavity is provided in the body portion, movement towards the cavity is restricted).
In a preferred embodiment the roller has a bore which receives the axle, and the bore has portions of increased diameter at each end to form a pair of corresponding recesses between the axle and the roller. This prevents undue shear force being placed on the axle at the ends of the roller.
There is also provided a downhole device comprising a tubular member, and a fitting according to the first aspect of the present invention secured to the tubular member.
The fitting may be employed in a variety of down hole applications. For instance, the tubular member may comprise a drill string employed in the drilling of the bore hole. In this case the fitting typically reduces friction between the drill string and the wall of a borehole as described in WO 96/34173. Alternatively, the fitting may comprise a centraliser, float shoe or float collar as described in WO 95/21986. In a further alternative, the fitting may be employed in a post-drilling downhole operation, such as NMR well logging.
There is further provided an axle for securing a roller to a fitting for reducing friction in downhole applications, the axle comprising a cylindrical body section having a cavity formed at at least one end which is dimensioned to facilitate deformation of that end of the axle to retain it in position in use.
Both ends of the axle may be provided with such cavities or an enlarged diameter section may be preformed at one end of the axle. The or each cavity may be tapered, for instance frustoconical.
There is further provided a method of securing a roller to a fitting for reducing friction in downhole applications comprising:
positioning a roller so that the ends of the roller are proximate apertures in a body of the fitting; inserting an axle through the apertures in the body and bore in the roller; and deforming at least one end of the axle to prevent that end from moving through the adjacent aperture in the body in use.

Axle, a friction reducing fitting and an axle installation method


An inverting apparatus and a control method thereof are provided. The inverting apparatus includes an inverting circuit, a detection circuit, and a control circuit. The inverting circuit converts a DC input power into an AC output power. The detection circuit detects an input voltage and an input current. The control circuit provides a control signal for disturbing the input voltage, such that a voltage value of the input voltage is adjusted to a command voltage represented by the control signal. The control circuit calculates an input power corresponding to each of time points, calculates a power variation between the disturbed power and the undisturbed power, then determines whether the power variation is larger than a predetermined variation, and sets a disturbance voltage according to the determination result, based on an MPPT operation or based on a disturbance direction of the command voltage of the previous time point.

Technical Field
The invention relates to a power conversion technique, and particularly relates to an inverting apparatus and a control method thereof.
Related Art
In order to improve a whole conversion efficiency of an inverting apparatus, in the control of the inverting apparatus, a control method of a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) operation is generally used to stably maintain an input power of the inverting apparatus to a maximum power point.
In detail, in the general MPPT operation, a control circuit of the inverting apparatus consecutively samples an input power of a current time point, and compares the sampled input power with the input power of a previous time point, so as to determine whether to increase or decrease an input voltage according to a variation of the input power, and through repetitive disturbance and comparison, the input power may approach the maximum power point.
However, in the existing MPPT operation, if the input power sampled by the control circuit is shifted due to an influence of a system noise or an abnormal operation of the control circuit, when the aforementioned MPPT operation is used to track the maximum power point, a tracking error is probably occurred due to misjudgement caused by the above influence.

Inverting apparatus for avoiding misjudgement of maximum power point tracking operation and control method thereof


The present invention relates to a method for reducing a noise level of a data set for a target analyte in a sample. The present invention can reduce a noise level of a data set to a proper level conveniently by applying a noise-reduction ratio to the data set thereby the possibility of false positive may be reduced effectively. According to the present invention, the calibrated data set is obtained by using the noise-reduction ratio, so that the noise level of a data set is reduced without change of signal ratio between the data point in the data set.

A polymerase chain reaction (hereinafter referred to as "PCR") which is most widely used for the nucleic acid amplification includes repeated cycles of denaturation of double-stranded DNA, followed by oligonucleotide primer annealing to the DNA template, and primer extension by a DNA polymerase (Mullis et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195, 4,683,202 and 4,800,159; Saiki et al., (1985) Science 230, 1350-1354).
A real-time polymerase chain reaction is one of PCR-based technologies for detecting a target nucleic acid molecule in a sample in a real-time manner. For detecting a specific target nucleic acid molecule, the real-time PCR uses a signal-generating means for generating a fluorescence signal being detectable in a proportional manner to the amount of the target molecule. The generation of fluorescence signals may be accomplished by using either intercalators generating signals when intercalated between double-stranded DNA or oligonucleotides carrying fluorescence reporter and quencher molecules. The fluorescence signals whose intensities are proportional to the amount of the target molecule are detected at each amplification cycle and plotted against amplification cycles, whereby an amplification curve or amplification profile curve is obtained.
The generation of noise signals is one of serious shortcomings of real-time PCR technologies. Non-specific noise signals generated regardless of the presence of the target nucleic acid molecule are likely to result in a false positive detection.
The noise signal may be generated by various causes. For example, the noise signal may be generated by micro bubbles or particulates in a reaction mixture, contamination of cover film for reaction tube, errors in luminescence system e.g., light source and lens, electrical noise in power system, temperature or other biochemical problems.
The pattern of noise signal may be various depending on the causes, for example, a strong noise signal may be generated then disappeared within one or two cycles or may be a non-specific noise signal may be added to the target signal throughout the entire cycles.
These noise signals may be a cause of false positive result of target nucleic acid molecule detection test. Therefore, various approaches for detecting and eliminating the noise signal have been developed. For example, a signal increased more than a specific threshold between the cycles may be determined as a noise signal (U.S. Pat. No. 8,560,247); an outlier signal may be determined as a noise signal by applying a statistical test with an approximation of the calculated curve for a data set of an amplification reaction and calibrated to fit the calculated curve (U.S. Pat. No. 7,668,663); and a noise signal may be determined by calculating the residual between linear fitted data set or smoothed data set and original data set (U.S. Pat. No. 7,647,187).
These published methods that selectively calibrate signals of data points expected to include noise signals have drawbacks that they may not eliminate non-specific noise signals generated throughout the entire cycles. Moreover, because the conventional methods calibrate only a signal of the cycle which meets the noise criteria a signal ratio between data point regions calibrated and not calibrated is very likely to be changed. Therefore, there is a need in the art to develop a novel calibration method which is capable of reliably reducing the overall noise-level of a data set.
Throughout this application, various patents and publications are referenced and citations are provided in parentheses. The disclosure of these patents and publications in their entirety are hereby incorporated by references into this application in order to more fully describe this invention and the state of the art to which this invention pertains.

Method for reducing noise level of data set for a target analyte


A laboratory workbench includes a housing bounding a working space. The working space communicates with the exterior through a window bordering the working space on one of its sides thereof. A fan produces a flow of air in the working space and out the window. A protective screen is arranged on the housing in such a way that it can be moved. Specifically, the protective screen is mounted on the housing in the top area of the working space window in such a way that the protective screen can be moved between a hanging position at least partially covering the window, and a folded-up position. In the folded-up position, the protective screen projects into the housing in a substantially horizontal position plane. In one embodiment, an expansion screen is movable attached to the protective screen and has reach through openings formed therethrough.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to laboratory workbenches and, more specifically, product protection workbenches having a protective screen partially covering a working space.
2. Present State of the Art
A conventional laboratory workbench includes a housing having a working space. A window borders the working space on one side thereof. A fan produces a flow of air in the working space, and a protective screen is arranged on the housing in such a way that it can be moved. Such laboratory workbenches are known from GB 2 112 927 A or from US-A-4 179 984, for example. The company brochure "Heraeus Biological Safety Workbenches Laminair HB and HBB" of Heraeus Instruments GmbH also discloses such a laboratory workbench.
Laboratory workbenches are generally used to protect the product being handled or processed in them, the operator, and/or the environment. Safety is ensured by a suitable flow of air. Laboratory workbenches which emphasize product protection are intended to prevent contamination from the surroundings penetrating into the working space. For this purpose, a flow of air which is produced by the fan is aimed from the working space through the window to the outside.
Partially covering the window by a protective screen through which an operator can observe the operation within the working space is known from GB 2 112 927 A. On occasion, it is necessary that the protective screen be removed from the window so that the full size of the window is open. For this purpose, folding the protective screen up on the outside and also laying it on the top of the housing is known from US-A-4 179 984. Folding up the protective screen on the outside of the housing not only requires available space, but also harbors some safety risks when it is operated. This is because, for a number of reasons, the frame of such a protective screen is kept very thin and inconspicuous, as a rule. As such, there is the danger that a person in the vicinity could injure himself on the protective screen folded up outside of the housing if he did not see or was not aware of the protective screen.


A flexible and extensible virtual printer architecture is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention final status associated with a presentation job (e.g., a fax job or a print job) is made available to an output server. One or more host processing threads or processes are spawned for each new presentation job received by the output server. Then, the presentation job is submitted to a presentation device for which the presentation job is destined by way of an instance of a wrapper process that is capable of communicating bi-directionally with the presentation device. After submitting the presentation job, a host job status thread or process waits for status pertaining to the presentation job. Ultimately, a final status associated with the presentation job is received by the wrapper process and the wrapper process reports the final status to the host job status thread or process. According to another aspect of the present invention, job and device status may be reported asynchronously. One or more host processing threads or processes are spawned for each new presentation job received. A first presentation job is submitted to a presentation device for which the presentation job is destined by way of a first instance of a wrapper process that communicates bi-directionally with the presentation device. Subsequently, a second presentation job is submitted to the presentation device by way of a second instance of the wrapper process. A first and second job status thread or process wait for status pertaining to the first and second presentation jobs, respectively. A final status associated with the second presentation job is received by the second instance of the wrapper before a final status associated with the first presentation job is received by the first instance of the wrapper. Then, the second instance of the wrapper process reports the final status to the second job status thread or process.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to driving heterogeneous devices from an output server. More particularly, the invention relates to a flexible mechanism which allows jobs containing formatted data, such as image data, to be submitted to arbitrary devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Print servers, such as the IBM® InfoPrint® Manager, traditionally provide for central management of a printing environment. A simplified printing scenario in a local area network (LAN) environment will briefly be described with reference to FIG. 1. In this example, a personal computer workstation 100 is coupled to a print server 120 via a LAN 110. The print server 120 includes a spooler 130 for controlling the spooling of data files and presentation services 140 for generating appropriate commands to drive an attached printer. The print server 120 may also include other components that are not shown for performing basic tasks, such as monitoring and configuring attached printers, and providing print job management. At any rate, when the PC workstation 100 has data to print, it sends print data to the print server 120. Among the functions typically provided by a print server is the conversion of the data stream containing the print data to a data stream supported by the printer to which the print data is destined. In this example, the print server 120 is coupled to a first printer 150 and a second printer 160. The two printers 150 and 160 may each respond to different data streams. For instance, the first printer 150 may accept the Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS) and the second printer 160 may accept PostScript. Therefore, the print server 120 must provide a means for converting between the various input data streams that may be received and the two data streams accepted by the printers 150 and 160. While in this simplified example only two types of printers have been shown, it should be appreciated that real world printing environments may include many different types of printers.
Increasingly, this is the case in professional printing environments, such as commercial and production printing environments which are becoming more and more diverse. While print servers typically support diverse printing environments, such support is costly in terms of the development effort required to modify the print server software in existing inflexible architectures. For example, in order to accommodate a new data stream, it is common to add a new complex printer driver to the print server. In existing print server architectures, these print drivers must typically be developed from scratch to incorporate the rich set of features that users have come to expect. This rewriting of code is required because typically the print server's capabilities and transforms are coded for a particular type of data stream and for a particular path through the print server. Also impacting the development efforts, is the inherent difficulty in manipulating the complex data streams that are received by print servers and transforming them into equally complex data streams required by printers. In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to provide a flexible and extensible architecture that allows support for new output devices to be added easily and inexpensively.
Another problem associated with existing print servers is the limited range of output devices supported. It is often desirable to present or deliver information in a form other than printer hard copy. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a mechanism to support output to destinations including fax and email, for example.
Prior art output servers also have other significant limitations which perplex end users. Fax servers report the fact that they have successfully transmitted a fax job. However, there is no indication of the success or failure of the job being received and/or handled at the destination. Often, unwary end users are surprised to discover that their "successful" job was not successful at the receiving end. Similar limitations exist in printer control protocols that only report the success or failure of a print job being converted to image. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a mechanism by which additional job and device status may be provided to the end user.

Virtual printer with asynchronous job and device status


A process for making porous polymeric particles having high surface area includes suspending a discontinuous organic phase in an continuous aqueous phase, wherein the organic phase includes an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, a water soluble phase extender and a surfactant in an amount effective to solubilize the water soluble phase extender in the monomer and wherein the aqueous phase includes a diffusion barrier agent for limiting mass transfer of the phase extender from the organic phase to the aqueous phase, and then polymerizing the ethylenically unsaturated monomer to form the porous polymeric particles.

Porous polymeric particles having high surface area have been prepared by suspension polymerization wherein discontinuous organic phase, i.e., droplets of monomeric reaction mixture, are suspended in a continuous aqueous phase and a "phase extender", i.e., a nonreactive low molecular weight diluent is included in the monomeric reaction mixture. Organic solvents, e.g., xylene, that are soluble in the reaction mixture and insoluble in the continuous aqueous phase, are typically used as phase extenders. The suspended droplets of the reaction mixture are polymerized and the phase extender is then removed from the polymerized particles, e.g., by distillation, and recycled. The process of removing the phase extender from the particles can be tedious, time consuming and expensive.
German Patent Application DE 1137 554 discloses a process wherein an inverted emulsion of water in a water insoluble monomer is dispersed in an aqueous medium and the monomer is polymerized to produce a porous polymer having an elevated softening point compared to a polymer of the same monomer prepared by conventional suspension polymerization processes. The polymers disclosed in the German application are not characterized with regard to surface area.

Polymerization process for making porous polymeric particles