A container for aeration of a substrate supporting a plant with the substrate being received in a cavity of the container so as to bury a device positioned in the cavity such that gas can be supplied from the device to the substrate. The device comprises a body having a peripheral wall defining an inner cavity. The peripheral wall has a portion permeable to gas such that a gas can flow therethrough from the inner cavity of the body to an exterior of the device. A gas permeability of the body decreases as a function of a vertical orientation of the body. The body has an inlet adapted to receive a gas to fill the inner cavity. The device is buried in a predetermined position with respect to the vertical orientation, such that greater amounts of gas can be supplied to the substrate relatively to a depth of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to plant-growing equipment. More precisely, the invention describes an apparatus to enhance aeration of a substrate supporting a plant.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Plants require fundamental elements in order to grow. (These elements are water, various nutrients, and air (more specifically, oxygen). Usually, water and nutrients are well supplied to the plant.
The roots anchor a plant to a substrate, and extract the nutrients therefrom. Artificial substrates are now widely used. They replace common soil. Unfortunately, soil oxygenation is often inadequate in many substrates. A lack of suitable oxygenation can prevent the proper development of a plant. The lack of oxygenation is exacerbated if the particles of the substrate are relatively small. A common approach to the problem is to use substrates that have large particles, but such substrates are costly. The bottom of a typical plant-growing container is often subject to a lack of oxygenation. As roots reside in the bottom of plant-growing containers, the proper oxygenation of bottom portions of containers can help in optimizing the development of plants.
In order to overcome the under-oxygenation of the roots, various solutions have been tested. One solution consists in creating aeration holes on the walls of plant-growing containers. These aeration holes then allow the natural airflow and thus the oxygenation of bordering areas of a substrate. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,774, issued to Skaife on Jul. 16, 1985, and U.S. Pat. No. 954,440, issued to Klemm on Apr. 12, 1910, each describe plant-growing containers having perforations on their lateral surfaces supporting the substrate.
British Patent No. 403,460, issued to Roberts et al. on Dec. 28, 1933, U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,098, issued to Smith on Nov. 6, 1979, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,351, issued to Smith on Dec. 2, 1980, each disclose plant-growing containers defining a cavity below a substrate section. The cavity and the substrate section are separated by a perforated disk allowing an air supply to the bottom of the substrate section. Cylindrical tubes extend through the substrate section to reach the cavity and supply water thereto. Ambient air can also circulate through the cylindrical tubes to reach the cavity. Furthermore, in British Patent No. 403,460, the cylindrical tubes are perforated in their portion embedded in the substrate section, such that the substrate can be oxygenated through these perforations.
German Patent No. 806,918, issued on Jun. 21, 1951 to Kiel, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,952,597, issued to Lizzola on Mar. 27, 1934, both describe devices that are securable to an inner wall of plant-growing containers. These devices are perforated and allow the oxygenation of the substrate. These devices can take various shapes, including an upwardly flaring cone.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,366, issued to Meyers on May 25, 1976, discloses a plant-growing container that permits the irrigation of the substrate as well as the aeration thereof. The aeration is effected by cylindrical tubes that project from the exterior surface of the plant-growing container towards the substrate. These cylindrical tubes are perforated, such that air can be supplied to the substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,356, issued to Allen on Nov. 27, 1979, describes a cylindrical tube having pointy ends to be inserted into the substrate of a plant-growing container. The cylindrical tube defines an inner cavity on a full length thereof, and the peripheral surface of the cylindrical tube is perforated, such that the substrate into which the cylindrical tube is inserted can be oxygenated by the air contained in the inner cavity. The pointy ends of the cylindrical tube are also perforated, such that ambient air can fill the inner cavity. The cylindrical tube is simply inserted into the substrate and the pointy ends facilitate the insertion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,338, issued on Dec. 2, 1997 to Rose, describes a device similar to that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,356 in that the device can be inserted into the substrate by a pointy end. However, the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,338 is shaped as a square-based pyramid, inverted when inserted into the substrate.
In the above-cited references, the diffusion rate within the aeration structure cannot be modified, as the devices are passive (only provide diffusion of air). However, considering that the aeration demand may vary in time because of an increased soil biological activity, of the evolution of the physical properties of the soil, or of a more active root growth, devices that will improve the aeration process rapidly and efficiently must be introduced.


A gear change method for an electric transmission system (1), the electric transmission system (1) including an electric machine (2), a multi-stage transmission (3) drivingly connected downstream from the electric machine (2) and having interruption of tractive force, and at least one brake (4) for braking a vehicle wheel (5), the method including transferring the brake (4) out of an inoperative condition into a readiness condition during a gear change operation of the transmission (3).

Electric vehicles are known from the prior art, which include an electric transmission system having a fixed ratio. This means, only one single gear is implementable by the electric transmission system. These types of electric vehicles have a simple design and comfortable handling characteristics. It is disadvantageous, however, that, with respect to the selection of the ratio, a compromise must be found between the tractive force during the starting operation and the possible final speed. In addition, the rotational speed level of an electric machine of the electric transmission system is necessarily low at slow speeds, which results in an unfavorable efficiency of the electric machine.
In addition, electric vehicles are known, in the case of which a mechanical transmission having at least two shiftable gears for an electric transmission system mitigates the above-described disadvantages. A first gear is utilized for the starting operation and for slow speeds of the electric vehicle. As a result, as compared to a single-speed transmission, an increased tractive force and a higher rotational speed level of the electric machine is implementable even at low speeds. A second gear is utilized for higher speeds of the electric vehicle, whereby an overspeed at the electric machine is avoided. An electric vehicle of this type is known from DE 10 2009 002 437 A1. In addition, an electric transmission system is known from FR 2928583 A1.
With respect to electric vehicles which include a transmission having interruption of tractive force, it is disadvantageous that the electric machine is decoupled from the output shaft for the time period of the gear shift and cannot provide a drive torque or a brake torque. Powershift transmissions including frictional shift elements or even continuously variable transmissions can change the ratio under load. These transmissions have efficiency disadvantages, however, and are expensive.
In the case of electric vehicles which are operable, in particular exclusively, autonomously, the comfort disadvantage of the gear shift with an interruption of tractive force is mitigated, due to the fact, for example, that the gear shifts in driving phases are implemented with low tractive force and/or such driving phases are brought about without the occupants feeling disturbed. When there is no driver, but only passengers, gear shifts with an interruption of tractive force are therefore carried out largely unnoticed.
During autonomous travel, it is necessary, however, for safety reasons, that the electric vehicle be ready to be braked at any time. Conventional brakes are generally not ready for operation immediately, because the brake shoes must first pass through a short free travel before a brake torque acts on the vehicle wheel. Such free travel is necessary because undesirable drag losses would continuously occur at the brake otherwise.
One disadvantage of the above-described, known electric transmission systems is that the electric machine cannot bring about a vehicle deceleration during the gear shift.
The problem addressed by the invention is therefore that of providing a gear change method, with the aid of which a vehicle deceleration during a gear change operation is rapidly implementable.

Gear-shifting method for an electric drive system


A dentifrice composition containing a polyethylene glycol having an average molecular weight of from about 3,000 to about 8,000, glycerin, precipitated silica, and a fluoride source. The polyethylene glycol forms a crystalline structure in the composition and the composition has a water activity from about 0.25 to about 0.46 measured at about 22° C.

Traditionally, much effort has been expended to balance a number of important consumer-related factors in an oral care composition, such as a dentifrice. Because of the nature of such compositions, consumers have come to expect a variety of efficacy benefits such as cleaning, whitening, gum health, and the like. However, since the compositions are typically used in the mouth and are delivered by use of a toothbrush, additional care must be given to viscosity, rheology, mouth feel and taste as these are also important to consumers. A particular consumer concern is that a composition not be too runny or too thick but will fairly easily dispense out of a tube or other packaging and then sit on top of the toothbrush bristles. Efforts to improve these attributes are therefore common in the art, with varying success.
Cleaning abrasives such as silicas, (for example cleaning precipitated silicas) have been used in dentifrice compositions to mechanically clean the tooth surface.
Humectants such as polyethylene glycols have been used in dentifrice compositions to modify viscosity and to provide a smooth feel to dentifrice compositions. Polyethylene glycols are available in a large range of average molecular weights and have different properties depending upon their average molecular weights.
Despite the wide array of dentifrice products currently available, a need still exists for a composition that can provide good cleaning and efficacy while delivering good rheology and viscosity to improve the consumer use experience.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Oral care compositions with improved rheology


A machine for forming a variety of different sturdy, stackable three-part fiberboard containers having a depth dimension greater than their width dimension, and which are suitable for holding bags filled with liquid. The machine includes a slidable, removable mandrel which cycles between a fiberboard hopper area and a container forming compression area. Each of two side bins provides a fiberboard end panel which comes into contact with independently slidable edge picks on the mandrel. Just before the mandrel cycles forward, the edge picks push the fiberboard end panels forward where they are bent by the action of two folding elements. Meanwhile, a fiberboard body matt is brought into position in front of the retracted mandrel from an overhead feed unit. Adhesive material is sprayed onto selected parts of the body matt as it is placed into position in front of the mandrel. As the mandrel cycles forward, the body matt is bent over into a C-shape and the now-folded end panels are pushed into close association with the middle of the body matt. A set of guides and plows bends the body matt flaps over the end panels forming sturdy corners. The compression plates loosely surround the bent fiberboard pieces in order to avoid early adhesion until the mandrel is fully extended forward bringing the fiberboard pieces into proper position. Once positioned, the compression plates collapse around the fiberboard pieces forming a finished container. The finished container is then displaced as the machine cycles back to form another container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to container forming machines, and in particular to a new and improved method and apparatus for forming, erecting elongated Bliss-style containers from pre-cut material blanks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is an ever increasing need for better containers to hold commodities having various sizes, shapes and dimensions such as fresh fruits and vegetables, canned and bottled goods, and a wide variety of other products. As new products are developed, new requirements for packing, shipping and storing various quantities of such products arise. Every time such requirements arise, or a new product is developed, there is a need for a new container design, as well as a machine to manufacture it.
In the packaging industry, numerous fiberboard containers and designs have been developed over the years. Such containers are typically constructed of a corrugated material. These materials may be single face corrugated, single wall (double-faced) corrugated, double wall corrugated, triple wall corrugated, etc. Containers may also be made of other paperboard products including, without limitation, container board, boxboard, linerboard, and cardboard.
Many different container box styles and types have also been developed over the years, each being optimally suited for one or more particular products or industries. Slotted box styles include such types as regular slotted containers (RSC), overlapped slotted containers (OSC), full-overlapped slotted containers (FOL), center special slotted containers (CSSC), bag-in-box containers, center special overlapped slotted containers (CSO or CSOSC), center special full-overlapped slotted containers (SFF), and snap-bottom boxes, among others. Telescoping boxes include such types as full-telescope design-style boxes (FTD), full-telescope half-slotted boxes (FTHS), partial-telescope design-style boxes (PTD), partial-telescope half-slotted boxes (PTHS), design-style boxes with cover (SDC), half-slotted boxes with cover (HSC), double-covered boxes (DC), interlocking-covered boxes (IC), bulk bins, and double-thickness score-line boxes, among others. Folder style boxes include such types as one-piece folders (1PF), two-piece folders (2PF), three-piece folders (3PF), four-piece folders (4PF), wrap-around blanks, self-locking trays, tuck folders, and one-piece telescopes (1PT) among others. Slide-type boxes include such types as double-side boxes (DS), and triple-side boxes (TS), among others. Rigid boxes include Bliss boxes and recessed-end boxes, among others. There are also self-erecting boxes, and numerous interior forms for boxes.
In the industry, the terms "case" and "box" are often used interchangeably. These terms each refer to a large, usually rectangular container made out of paperboard which is designed to hold a given number (e.g. 12 or 24) of smaller units such as cartons, bottles, cans, or produce pieces.
Bliss-type boxes have special characteristics which make them highly desirable for use in bulk packing industries such as meats, explosives, fresh fruits and vegetables, and other areas where strong construction and stacking strength are important. Bliss boxes were first developed in the 1920s, and were the subject of a number of early U.S. patents (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,697,709 and 1,974,527). Generally speaking, a Bliss box is made of three distinct pieces of paperboard material. The first is an elongated piece of material, sometimes called a body matt, which is folded around itself in the shape of a rectangular tube forming the bottom, sides and top of the final box. Two separate end panels, usually mirror-images of each other, are attached to the open end of the larger piece to form the completed Bliss box. The corners of the side panels typically fold over the corners of the front and back panels of the body matt on the outside, giving the Bliss style of box good corner and stacking strength. The bottom of the Bliss box is solid which avoids the need for bottom sealing.
Because of its three-part construction, Bliss style boxes offer a wide range of variations in both construction and materials. For example, the end panels may or may not include upper flaps for closing the top of the box. The body matt may include two large flaps (one on either side) to form the top of the box so that these flaps either meet or overlap; or, there may be only one large top flap (with or without a tuck-in lip) provided to form the top of the Bliss box. Top flaps from the side panels may or may not be provided, or some other suitable combination of large or small flaps from the side panels and body matt may be employed.
Similarly, the corner-area overlaps provided by the side panels may vary widely depending upon the degree of strength required. In some Bliss box variations, flaps are provided along the sides of the body matt so that, when the body matt is folded over itself, these flaps create a frame on either end to which the side panels may be attached (on the inside of the body matt). This way, instead of side-panel flaps overlapping the outside of the body matt corners for attachment and strength, body matt flaps in these corners overlap the side panels. Such frames may be made with panels along both sides as well as the bottom end of the body matt. In many cases, the side panels and the body matt may be made of different paperboard materials (e.g., corrugated body matt and linerboard side panels). The overlapping areas of Bliss boxes are generally glued together, but may also be adhered using staples, rivets, or other similar attachment devices.
The process of manufacturing Bliss boxes first requires the creation of the three pieces of the box. The size and shape of the final box is determined by the dimensions of these pieces which are, in turn, determined by the ultimate product to be placed therein. Once these dimensions are determined, the appropriate method and amount of top flap overlap is determined, as well as the manner and amount of attachment of the side panels to the body matt.
Special Bliss box forming machines have been developed over the years to assemble these three paperboard pieces into the completed Bliss box. Different styles of such container-forming machines have been in existence for many years; however, such machines are generally limited to forming only the most basic of the many possible variations of Bliss boxes. Current Bliss box forming machines are designed to fold a body matt into a generally cubed shape, with little variation in width and depth. Such machines are generally designed to attach the two side panels to the body matt with the outside flaps of the side panels overlapping the corners of the body matt. A complicated formation and assembly of a non-standard Bliss box has heretofore been impracticable because of the inherent limitations in existing machines.
The need has now arisen for a large and elongated container capable of holding a sealed, flexible vessel containing several liters of fluid. Since such a vessel (or bag) filled with fluid would be quite heavy, it is important that the container into which it is placed have a great deal of structural strength. A modified Bliss-style container box provides the solution (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,485). Such a container should have longitudinal corner frame support provided in the body matt to give the final container greater strength. The container should also have bottom flaps on the ends of the side panels for adhesion to the inside of the bottom of the body matt. Then, for added bottom corner strength, the body matt itself could also have edge flaps at the bottom that fold up on the outside bottom corners over each of the end panels. Unfortunately, no existing Bliss box forming machine is capable of forming such an elongated, specially reinforced container.
Existing machines do not have sufficiently adjustable hoppers for the unusually shaped fiberboard parts needed for an elongated Bliss container box. Existing machines cannot provide the proper amount or location of adhesive material for application to the fiberboard surfaces. Existing machines cannot provide the necessary positioning of an elongated body matt in relation to the elongated side panels, and, in particular, cannot maintain the necessary separation of these parts until such time as they are ultimately pressed together to form the final container. Without such positioning and separation, improper and/or early adhesion of incorrect surfaces would result. Such a result would be almost unavoidable using existing machines to form an elongated Bliss container.
Current machines are also incapable of providing the added bottom strength elements of combining both (1) end panel flaps adhered to the inside of the bottom of the body matt, together with (2) body matt bottom flaps adhered over the outside bottom corners of the same end panels. It is therefore desirable to provide a single machine that can rapidly form a strong elongated Bliss style container box for holding a filled vessel containing several liters of fluid.


A water spray nozzle (3) for cooling tower is provided. Wherein, the nozzle (3) or the upper connection section of the nozzle (3) has an upward extension section in a water distribution groove (1). Several layers of water inlet holes or slots (4) are opened around the extension section at different heights, or several tapered water inlets (5) with downward taper tips are distributed around the extension section. The nozzle (3) far from a water distribution port can still get the uniformly distributed water even when the water quantity of the cooling tower is low, the efficiency of the cooling tower thereby will not be reduced.

An important prerequisite for the cooling effect of a cooling tower is even spraying of cooling water to the water spraying filler in the cooling tower. A water spraying approach in cooling tower is implemented with numerous non-pressure water spraying nozzles 3 with the same aperture 2, which are evenly distributed on the bottom of a water distribution channel 1 (as shown in FIG. 1); even water distribution from the nozzles is a prerequisite for even water spraying on the entire cross section and high water spraying efficiency. In the troughing distribution channel, the incoming water is distributed from the middle part towards the two ends of the channel, when the water inflow is relatively low (e.g., water inflow≦water spraying yield), the influent in the middle part will flow away through the spraying nozzles near the water inlet before it is distributed to the two ends of the channel; as a result, there will be no water or insufficient water at the two ends of the water distribution channel in the axial direction. The bigger the cooling tower structure is, the more severe the phenomenon will be. Consequently, the heat exchange area between chilled hot water and air will be reduced, and the heat exchange efficiency of the cooling tower will be degraded and lower than the design efficiency. In practice, a solution is to utilize sprinklers or sprinkler interfaces with different apertures according to the water inflow, so as to ensure even water distribution to the nozzles, however, that solution is troublesome, because the water inflow into the cooling tower varies frequently in practice, particularly in the cases that a plurality of cooling towers are used in combination and the nozzles are in a large quantity. Actually, it is impractical to replace the nozzles according to the water inflow.
Prior art target-type sprinklers have a flow regulation ring, which is used to achieve even water distribution at nozzles with different flow rates. See, for example, the split down-regulation target-type sprinkler disclosed in Chinese Patent CN2175391, which adds a nozzle or pipe joint with threaded connection between the deflector ring and the deflector of the existing target-type sprinkler; and the height-adjustable target-type sprinkler disclosed in Chinese Patent CN2143759, which adds a flow regulator on the existing target-type sprinkler by threaded connection in the flow regulation ring, and in which the flow regulator comprises a deflector ring with a male thread cylindrical body and a louver-form structure on the top, and grid shaped openings on the sides. A main object of the above-mentioned inventions is to keep a constant water inflow level for the nozzles against severe floor level differences and thereby ensure even water distribution in the towers. However, such solutions can't deal with dynamic variations of the water field, because they can't ensure even water distribution at different water inflow rates automatically, and it is impractical to carry out manual regulation frequently in engineering applications. Moreover, such structures will cause increased manufacturing cost of the nozzles.

WUXI YONGXIN ENERGY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A motor drive device inputs two detection signals from a rotation position sensor thereby to detect a rotation position, and controls a voltage to be applied to a motor according to the detected rotation position. The motor drive device has a control unit for outputting a first voltage in a first state in which the square sum of sampling values sampled from the two detection signals is a predetermined value, and outputting a second voltage in a second state in which the square sum is not the predetermined value.

A motor device using a motor keeps driving the motor according to a detection signal acquired from a rotation position sensor of the motor. On the other hand, when a detection signal has an abnormality, the motor device notifies the abnormality state to a user, thereby achieving a safe operation of the motor through rapid maintenance. Patent Literature 1 describes therein a technique for determining whether detection signals of two rotation position sensors match with an amplitude during normal time, and detecting an abnormality of the rotation position sensors based on the determination result. Patent Literature 2 describes therein a technique for, when an abnormality is detected in an output signal of any one of three-phase output rotation position sensors, keeping driving the motor by use of the two remaining output signals.


A request for a document from a mobile device via a network is received. In response to the request, within the document a non-textual document element unrecognizable to the mobile device is identified. Within the document, at a first location associated with the non-textual document element, a start marker comprising a first code selected from a predetermined Unicode range is inserted. Within the document, at a second location associated with the non-textual document element, an end marker comprising a second code selected from the predetermined Unicode range is inserted. The second code has a predetermined relationship to the first code. The document is transmitted to the mobile device via the network.

Users of mobile devices have the ability to view webpages on their mobile browsers. Existing mobile browsers allow displaying of webpages containing documents including various features or document elements such as images and text. However, existing mobile browsers are limited compared to traditional browsers. Traditional browsers are able to support viewing of many different document elements and can be updated frequently to support the latest features. In mobile devices, updating of browsers is not as frequent as traditional browsers and as storage space is limited, it may not be feasible to update mobile browsers as frequently. Thus, updating of mobile browsers to maintain compatibility with the latest file formats can be challenging.
When existing mobile browsers are unable to recognize or interpret a document element or a portion of a document on a webpage, the mobile browsers display garbage characters or white space to the users of the mobile devices. In some instances, when mobile browsers cannot recognize a document element within the webpage, the mobile browsers may crash, reboot/restart, display a blank screen, etc. Therefore, users cannot properly view some webpages containing certain document elements and may be provided with garbage characters or their mobile browsers may crash while attempting to display the webpages containing certain document elements.

System and method for using pre-defined character ranges to denote document features


The present invention is for a method of exposing imagesetter recording film (39) on a color-proofing apparatus (10). A sheet of support material (39) is loaded on a vacuum imaging drum (300). A sheet of imagesetter recording film (42) is loaded on the support material (39) and in registration with the support material (39). Images are formed on the imagesetter recording material (39) by removing dye from the imagesetter recording film (39).

Pre-press color-proofing is a procedure that is used by the printing industry for creating representative images of printed material without the high cost and time that is required to actually produce printing plates and set up a high-speed, high volume, printing press to produce an example of an intended image. These intended images may require several corrections and be reproduced several times to satisfy customer requirements. Pre-press color-proofing saves time and money getting to an acceptable finished product.
Once an intended image meets the customers requirements, films required for exposing printing plates are generated. These films are currently generated on a separate apparatus such as an imagesetter. The imagesetter recording film is used to prepare printing plates which are used to print finished copies in high volume.
An example of a commercially available image processing apparatus is shown in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,708. This image processing apparatus is arranged to form an intended image on a sheet of thermal print media in which dye from a sheet of dye donor material is transferred to the thermal print media by applying thermal energy to the dye donor material. The image processing apparatus is comprised generally of a material supply assembly, a lathe bed scanning subsystem (which includes a lathe bed scanning frame, translation drive, translation stage member, printhead, and vacuum imaging drum), and thermal print media and dye donor material exit transports.
The operation of the image processing apparatus comprises metering a length of the thermal print media, in roll form, from the material assembly or carousel. The thermal print media is measured and cut into sheets of required length, transported to the vacuum imaging drum, registered, wrapped around, and secured to the vacuum imaging drum. A length of dye donor material is metered from a roll on the material supply assembly, measured, and cut into sheets of required length. The dye donor material is transported to and wrapped around the vacuum imaging drum, superposed and in registration with the thermal print media.
The thermal print media and the dye donor material are held on the spinning vacuum imaging drum by a vacuum and applied through holes in the surface of the drum while it is rotated past the printhead. The translation drive moves the printhead and translation stage member axially along the vacuum imaging drum in coordinated motion with the rotating vacuum imaging drum to produce the intended image on the thermal print media.
After the intended image has been written on the thermal print media, the dye donor material is removed from the vacuum imaging drum without disturbing the thermal print media beneath it. The dye donor material is transported out of the image processing apparatus by the dye donor material exit transport. Additional sheets of dye donor material, each a different color, are sequentially superposed with the thermal print media on the vacuum imaging drum and imaged onto the thermal print media as described above, until the intended image is completed. The completed image on the thermal print media is unloaded from the vacuum imaging drum and transported to an external holding tray on the image processing apparatus by the exit transport.
The material supply assembly comprises a carousel mounted for rotation about its horizontal axis on bearings at the upper ends of vertical supports. The carousel comprises a vertical circular plate having six material support spindles. These support spindles are arranged to carry one roll of thermal print media, and four rolls of dye donor material to provide the four primary colors used in the writing process to form the intended image and an additional roll, either a spare or a specialty color dye donor material. Each spindle has a feeder assembly to withdraw the thermal print media or dye donor material from the spindles to be cut into a sheet form. The carousel is rotated about its axis into the desired position, so that the thermal print media or dye donor material can be withdrawn, measured, and cut into sheet form of the required length, and then transported to the vacuum imaging drum.
The scanning subsystem generates a once per revolution timing signal to the data path electronics and linear control system as a clock signal while the translation drive traverses the printhead axially along the vacuum imaging drum in a coordinated motion with the vacuum imaging drum rotating past the printhead. This allows precise control of placement of each pixel to produce the intended image on the thermal print media.
The printhead includes a plurality of lasers diodes, individually modulated to supply energy to the thermal print media in accordance with an information signal. A plurality of optical fibers coupled to the laser diodes at one end, and the end to a fiber optic array within the printhead. The printhead is movable relative to the longitudinal axis of the vacuum imaging drum. The dye is transferred to the thermal print media as the radiation, transferred from the laser diodes by the optical fibers to the printhead and thus to the dye donor material, is converted to thermal energy in the dye donor material.
The vacuum imaging drum is cylindrical in shape and includes a hollow interior portion. A plurality of holes extends through a surface of the drum applying a vacuum from the interior of the vacuum imaging drum, which maintains the position of the thermal print media and dye donor material as the vacuum imaging drum rotates.
The ends of the vacuum imaging drum are enclosed by cylindrical plates, each containing a centrally disposed spindle. The spindles extend through support bearings and are attached to the lathe bed scanning frame. The drive end spindle extends through the support bearing and is stepped down to receive a DC drive motor armature. The opposite spindle is provided with a central vacuum opening in alignment with a vacuum fitting with an external flange that is rigidly mounted to the lathe bed scanning frame. The vacuum fitting has an extension which is closely spaced with the vacuum spindle forming a small clearance, which configuration provides a slight vacuum leak between the outer diameter of the vacuum fitting and the inner diameter of the opening of the vacuum spindle. This assures that no contact exists between the vacuum fitting and the vacuum imaging drum which might impart uneven movement to the vacuum imaging drum during its rotation.
The opposite end of the vacuum fitting is connected to a high-volume vacuum blower which produces a vacuum of 50-60 inches of water (93.5-112.2 mm of mercury) at an air flow volume of 60-70 cfm (28.368-33.096 liters/sec). The vacuum required varies during the loading, scanning, and unloading of the thermal print media and the dye donor materials. With no media loaded on the vacuum imaging drum, the internal vacuum level of the vacuum imaging drum is approximately 10-15 inches of water (18.7-28.05 mm of mercury). With the thermal print media loaded on the vacuum imaging drum, the internal vacuum level of the vacuum imaging drum is approximately 20-25 inches of water (37.4-46.75 mm of mercury). This level is required when a dye donor is material is removed, otherwise the thermal print media may move and color-to-color registration will not be maintained as sheets of dye donor material are changed. With both the thermal print media and dye donor material completely loaded on the vacuum imaging drum, the internal vacuum level of the vacuum imaging drum is approximately 50-60 inches of water (93.5-112.2 mm of mercury).
The outer surface of the vacuum imaging drum is provided with an axially extending flat, which extends approximately 8.degree. around the vacuum imaging drum circumference. The vacuum imaging drum is also provided with a circumferential recess which extends circumferentially from one side of the axially extending flat circumferentially around the vacuum imaging drum to the other side of the axially extending flat, and from approximately one inch (25.4 mm) from one end to approximately one inch (25.4 mm) from the other end of the vacuum imaging drum. The thermal print media, when mounted on the vacuum imaging drum, is seated in the circumferential recess. The circumferential recess has a depth substantially equal to the thermal print media thickness, approximately 0.004 inches (0.102 mm).
The purpose of the circumferential recess on the vacuum imaging drum surface is to eliminate any creases in the dye donor material as it is drawn down over the thermal print media during loading. This assures that no folds or creases will be generated in the dye donor material which could extend into the image area which would adversely affect the intended image. The circumferential recess also substantially eliminates the entrapment of air along the edge of the thermal print media where it is difficult for the vacuum holes in the vacuum imaging drum surface to assure the removal of the entrapped air. Any residual air between the thermal print media and the dye donor material can also adversely affect the intended image.
The purpose of the vacuum imaging drum axially extending flat assures that the leading and trailing ends of the dye donor material are protected from the effects of air turbulence during high speed rotation of the vacuum imaging drum during imaging process. Without the axially extending flat, the air turbulence would tend to lift the leading or trailing edge of the dye donor material. The vacuum imaging drum axially extending flat also ensures that the leading and trailing ends of the dye donor material are recessed from the vacuum imaging drum periphery. This reduces the chance of the dye donor material contacting other parts of the image processing apparatus, such as the printhead, which may cause a jam, loss of the intended image, or catastrophic damage to the image processing apparatus.
The task of loading and unloading the dye donor material on the vacuum imaging drum requires precise positioning of thermal print media and the dye donor materials. The lead edge positioning of dye donor material must be accurately controlled during this process. The existing image processing apparatus design employs a multi-chambered vacuum imaging drum for such lead edge control. One chamber applies vacuum to hold the leading edge of the dye donor material. Another chamber, separately valved, controls vacuum which holds the trailing edge of the thermal print media to the vacuum imaging drum. With this arrangement, loading a sheet of thermal print media and dye donor material requires that the image processing apparatus feed the lead edge of the thermal print media and dye donor material into position just past the vacuum ports controlled by the respective valved chamber. As vacuum is applied, the leading edge of the a dye donor material is pulled against the vacuum imaging drum surface.
Unloading the dye donor material, or the thermal print media, requires removal of vacuum from these same chambers so that an edge of the thermal print media, or the dye donor material, is freed and projects out from the surface of the vacuum imaging drum. The image processing apparatus then positions an articulating skive into the path of the free edge to lift the edge and to feed the dye donor material to a waste bin or the thermal print media to an output tray.
The sheet material exit transports consist of a dye donor material waste exit and the imaged thermal print media sheet material exit. The dye donor material exit transport comprises a waste dye donor material stripper blade disposed adjacent the upper surface of the vacuum imaging drum. In the unload position, the stripper blade is in contact with the waste dye donor material on the vacuum imaging drum surface. When not in operation, the stripper blade is moved up and away from the surface of the vacuum imaging drum. A driven waste dye donor material transport belt is arranged horizontally to carry the waste dye donor material which is removed by the stripper blade from the surface of the vacuum imaging drum to an exit formed in the exterior of the image processing apparatus. A waste bin for the waste dye donor materials is separate from the image processing apparatus. The imaged thermal print media sheet material exit transport comprises a movable thermal print media sheet material stripper blade that is disposed adjacent to the upper surface of the vacuum imaging drum. In the unload position, the stepper blade is in contact with the imaged thermal print media on the vacuum imaging drum surface. In the inoperative position, it is moved up and away from the surface of the vacuum imaging drum. A driven thermal print media sheet material transport belt is arranged horizontally to carry the imaged thermal print media removed by the stripper blade from the surface of the vacuum imaging drum. It then delivers the imaged thermal print media with the intended image formed thereon to an exit tray in the exterior of the image processing apparatus.
Although the presently known and utilized color-proofing apparatus is satisfactory, a separate apparatus is needed to expose the imagesetter recording film. Use of a separate machine to produce imagesetter recording film for making printing plates is not efficient since two separate machines must be purchased and maintained. Thus, there is a need to expose imagesetter recording film on the same apparatus that generates contract proofs.

Exposing imagesetter recording film on a color-proofing apparatus


An electrical connector that has a housing including a connecting interface adapted to connect with a mating electrical connector. A plurality of first contacts are coupled to the connecting interface. Each of the first contacts include opposite first and second end sections, and a plurality of second contacts coupled to the connecting interface. Each of the second contacts include opposite first and second end sections. The first end sections of the first contacts being axially aligned with the first end sections of the second contacts, and the second end sections of the first contacts being laterally offset from the second end sections of the second contacts.

Systems for connecting data cables generally include standardized racks and panels, such as 1RU or 2RU high panels, supporting multiple separate electrical connections to accommodate the data cables. Typically, the electrical connections are provided by modular plugs and jacks, presently standardized as the RJ-45 connection system. There is also a large connector, the RJ-21, which has several ports. Multiple separate connections are required due to the speed of the data, the need to reduce EMI radiation, and the need to minimize cross-talk between adjacent lines in the same connector.
Conventional jacks either provide only a single port, i.e. 8 contacts, of connection or are bulky and therefore are incapable of terminating the required density of ports within the space of a 1RU panel. In addition, increases in the data speed and the new requirements of carrying power over Ethernet networks requires higher connector performance not provided by the conventional jacks. A need exists for a connector with improved electrical performance and a higher density of interconnects within a 1RU panel. The existing designs cannot accommodate the required components for higher performance, such as magnetic cores for safety isolation.
Examples of conventional connection systems and connectors include U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,343 to Ferentz; U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,244 to Fogg et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,957 to Kuo et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,911 to Boutros et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,236 to Kan; U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,743 to Kuo; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,794 to Lindman, the subject matter of each of which is incorporated by reference in their entirety.


A method is provided for optimizing an objective measure used to estimate mean opinion score or naturalness of synthesized speech from a speech synthesizer. The method includes using an objective measure that has components derived directly from textual information used to form synthesized utterances. The objective measure has a high correlation with mean opinion score such that a relationship can be formed between the objective measure and corresponding mean opinion score. The objective measure is altered to provide a different function of textual information derived from the utterances so as to improve the relationship between the scores of the objective measure and subjective ratings of the synthesized utterances.

The present invention relates to speech synthesis. In particular, the present invention relates to an objective measure for estimating naturalness of synthesized speech.
Text-to-speech technology allows computerized systems to communicate with users through synthesized speech. The quality of these systems is typically measured by how natural or human-like the synthesized speech sounds.
Very natural sounding speech can be produced by simply replaying a recording of an entire sentence or paragraph of speech. However, the complexity of human languages and the limitations of computer storage may make it impossible to store every conceivable sentence that may occur in a text. Instead, systems have been developed to use a concatenative approach to speech synthesis. This concatenative approach combines stored speech samples representing small speech units such as phonemes, diphones, triphones, syllables or the like to form a larger speech signal unit.
Evaluating the quality of synthesized speech contains two aspects, intelligibility and naturalness. Generally, intelligibility is not a large concern for most text-to-speech systems. However, the naturalness of synthesized speech is a larger issue and is still far from most expectations.
During text-to-speech system development, it is necessary to have regular evaluations on a naturalness of the system. The Mean Opinion Score (MOS) is one of the most popular and widely accepted subjective measures for naturalness. However, running a formal MOS evaluation is expensive and time consuming. Generally, to obtain a MOS score for a system under consideration, a collection of synthesized waveforms must be obtained from the system. The synthesized waveforms, together with some waveforms generated from other text-to-speech systems and/or waveforms uttered by a professional announcer are randomly played to a set of subjects. Each of the subjects are asked to score the naturalness of each waveform from 1-5 (1=bad, 2=poor, 3=fair, 4=good, 5=excellent). The means of the scores from the set of subjects for a given waveform represents naturalness in a MOS evaluation.
Recently, a method for estimating mean opinion score or naturalness of synthesized speech has been advanced by Chu, M. and Peng, H., in "An objective measure for estimating MOS of synthesized speech", Proceedings of Eurospeech2001, 2001. The method includes using an objective measure that has components derived directly from textual information used to form synthesized utterances. The objective measure has a high correlation with the mean opinion score such that a relationship can be formed between the objective measure and the corresponding mean opinion score. An estimated mean opinion score can be obtained easily from the relationship when the objective measure is applied to utterances of a modified speech synthesizer.
The objective measure can be based on one or more factors of the speech units used to create the utterances. The factors can include the position of the speech unit in a phrase or word, the neighboring phonetic or tonal context, the spectral mismatch of successive speech units or the stress level of the speech unit. Weighting factors can be used since correlation of the factors with mean opinion score has been found to vary between the factors.
By using the objective measure it is easy to track performance in naturalness of the speech synthesizer, thereby allowing efficient development of the speech synthesizer. In particular, the objective measure can serve as criteria for optimizing the algorithms for speech unit selection and speech database pruning.
Although the objective measure discussed above has proven to replicate, to a great extent, the perceptual behavior of human beings, it might not be optimal. Accordingly, improvements in the objective measure would be desirable in order to objectively and accurately measure the naturalness of synthesized speech.

Optimization of an objective measure for estimating mean opinion score of synthesized speech


A bait holding device is used to comprises a thin piece of wire having a generally central loop or U-shaped bend, with a small length of free ends of the wire being bent again into a V- or U-shape so as to form a hook-like portion at each of the two ends of the wire. The hook-like portions serve to secure the bait in place with respect to the hook, but do so without themselves damaging the bait. The thin wire may be secured by means of a small ferrule which is formed around both shanks of the wire near the central bend. The bait holding device may be attached to the eye of the fishhook, or may be attached about the shank so that it can freely slide along the shank between the eye and the barb of the hook. The wire used for the bait holding device is much thinner than the wire used to make the fishhook.

In the field of sportfishing, a great variety of fishhooks have been developed, and similarly, a great number of different techniques have been developed for attaching bait to the hook. Some of the prior devices have been designed for use only with live bait, while others have been designed for artificial bait. Of course some such devices will work with both live and artificial bait.
The present invention is particularly suited for use with artificial bait, and more particularly with so-called soft plastic baits such as plastic worms, crawfish, grubs, snakes, and the like. In general, the textures of such baits are rather soft and of uniform texture. Frequently the baits are made to be very soft to more closely simulate a natural or living creature. The use of soft baits has grown tremendously in recent years, because of the improved technologies of the plastics used. The baits have become softer, and have also become more flexible.
Unfortunately, the use of soft, flexible plastic baits tends to give rise to more difficulty in keeping the bait on the hook. A soft, flexible bait generally is easier to tear or break as it is pulled through underwater brush, rocks, weeds, etc. As a result, the bait must be changed more frequently and the costs to the fisherman can increase. Some of the more common techniques used for attaching the bait to the hook involve passing the hook and barb completely through the body of the bait. In some techniques, only the tip of the hook is embedded in the soft plastic, while in other techniques, most of the shank of the hook is embedded.
One prior technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,381 of Carver, et al, and the technique used only involves the point of the hook being embedded in the soft plastic. To secure the bait in the desired position, the hook utilizes an additional element which is a straight, rigid rod attached to the eye of the hook. The rod has a number of barbs along the shank, and is inserted axially into the end of a bait such as a plastic worm. In this manner, the rigid rod secures the head end of the worm, while the point of the hook is embedded into the body of the worm. The rod, while being rigid, has one end pivotally attached to the eye of the hook, so that it has some degree of movement, but once the bait is secured, no significant further movement is possible, since the rigidity of the rod prevents substantial flexing of the bait. Further, since the rod is rigid and straight, some rigging techniques which utilize a curved worm body are to some extent inhibited by this type of hook arrangement. The rigid rod is also of a diameter substantially the same as, or even larger than, the diameter of the hook. This can cause tearing of the end of the worm during use, with the result that the worm would be discarded early.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved bait attaching device for fishing lures.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved bait attaching device for fishhooks which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a flexible bait securing device for fishhooks.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a bait attaching device which securely holds the bait in place, but which nonetheless retains a significant degree of flexibility.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide an improved bait securing device which may be attached either to the eye of the hook or may be attached to the shank of the hook so that it may be used to attach the bait closer to the throat of the hook.
These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a detailed consideration of the following description.


A method of treating pain and treating ailments associated with imbalances in the somatic and/or sympathetic nervous system includes delivering electricity through a circuit in the body. The circuit includes at least four nerves leading from at least two of the patient's extremities to various nerve roots adjacent the spinal column. Electrical energy from an electrical interferential therapy device is delivered though electrodes on the extremities adjacent the nerve endings. Patients report a reduction in pain and an improvement in objective and subjective symptoms suggesting some effect on the autonomic, particularly the sympathetic nervous system, and the somatic nervous system.

It is well known in the art to treat pain or other symptoms by the application of energy in the form of alternating current electricity, magnetism and other forms of electromagnetic energy. One well accepted technique is known as electrical interferential therapy in which electrodes are connected in a crossing pattern adjacent the area to be treated. Alternating current is delivered through the electrodes into the body. One such device is commercially available from Rehabilicare Corporation of St. Paul, Minn. This type equipment is used to treat small areas of the body because the electrodes are spaced relatively close together in the region to be treated.
Disclosures of some interest are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,292,980; 5,067,495; 5,447,530; 5,580,350; 5,458,625 and 5,643,329.
Modern animals, humans among them, have marvelously complex nervous systems. For purposes of analysis, the human nervous system is normally thought of as including a central nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal column, a peripheral nervous system consisting of twelve pair of cranial nerves and thirty one pairs of spinal nerves and an autonomic nervous system which helps regulate various organs and systems throughout the body. The autonomic nervous system has two main segments, the sympathetic or thoracolumbar system and the parasympathetic or craniosacral system. The nerves of the sympathetic nervous system arise in the thoracic and lumbar portions of the spinal cord. They run from the spinal cord to ganglia that lie along both sides of the spinal column. In the ganglia, the neurons from the spinal cord form a synapse with the neurons that continue to the various organs. As will be more fully apparent hereinafter, this invention acts primarily on the sympathetic or thoracolumbar nervous system and secondarily on the somatic nervous system and the central nervous system.

Treatment of pain and of the nervous system


A system, apparatus, and method are directed to managing multiple back-end connections for pipelined HTTP communications. A traffic management device is configured to open back-end connections to multiple servers. The traffic management device distributes HTTP requests from a client device across multiple server connections. Instead of buffering the responses to ensure that each are returned in a same order as the requests, the traffic management device throttles a TCP receive window between all of the back-end server connections, but that back-end server connection associated with a first expected response. As each response is sent to the client device, the TCP window for the next back-end server connection is opened. This effectively offloads any significant buffering onto the back-end servers, enabling the traffic management device to return the responses in the same order as the requests.

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a networking protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia computing information systems. HTTP is considered to be a an application layer, or layer seven, protocol, of a seven-layer protocol stack as defined by the ISO-OSI (International Standards Organization-Open Systems Interconnection) framework. TCP is considered to be layer four, known as the transport layer, of the protocol stack. The HTTP protocol operates as a request/response protocol. That is, a client may send a request to a server in the form of a request method, Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), and protocol version. The server then provides a response to the request. Traditionally, HTTP requests are issued sequentially, with a next request being issued by the client only after a response to the current request has been completely received. Depending on network latencies and bandwidth limitations, this may result in a significant delay before the next request is received by the server.
Version 1.1 of the HTTP protocol, as described in Request for Comments (RFC) 2616 (available at http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2616.html), however, allows for multiple HTTP requests to be written out together without waiting for the corresponding responses. The responses, however, then must arrive to the client in the same order as the requests so that they can be properly associated with the corresponding request. This act, known as pipelining of the requests, can sometimes result in a dramatic improvement in page loading times, especially over high latency connections.
An intermediate device with a cache that is configured to support pipelining might retrieve each request not already in the cache where there are multiple back-end connections (e.g., multiple back-end servers), in order to provide a faster response. A non-caching proxy or traffic management device may serialize the requests and responses, however. This provides for in-order responses without a need to buffer the responses. However, while this approach may not break pipelining, it may significantly diminish its benefits in terms of reducing total latency, especially where a back-end server is slow. Therefore, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention may been made.


In at least one embodiment, a specimen holder tip part comprises a specimen setting seat, a specimen mesh for mounting a specimen, a specimen holding part for holding the specimen mesh and a clamping part that clamps the specimen holding part.

In the electron microscope such as a transmission electron microscope (TEM), when observing a specimen, for example, since a tip part of a specimen holder (referred to as specimen cradle) to be inserted into the limited space between the gap of the objective pole piece for a transmission electron microscope is needed to insert into the limited space of the objective lens pole piece, and to be inclined to the electron beam optical axis in the specimen holder axis, inevitably, the specimen cradle is made as thin as possible.
For example, as the electron microscope will be described as an example of a transmission electron microscope, the specimen to be observed by a transmission electron microscope is observed by mounting it to the specimen cradle part. In order to fix and attach a TEM specimen mesh to the specimen cradle, the specimen cradle is required for at least the cradle base unit and a specimen holding member. Further, a specimen holding is required for any fixing means to sandwich a specimen mesh in the cradle body, therefore, a means arranging a screw for fixing is generally used.
Moreover, although and the thickness of the specimen holding plate, or the size of the screw for fixing a specimen are also a prerequisite in order to effectively utilize the limited space of the objective lens pole piece, but on humans handled, there is a limit to the miniaturization, in consideration of the durability of the screw itself, there is a limit to miniaturization. The screw on the M1˜M2 size at present is generally used.
Under such circumstances, as a method of exchanging a specimen, for example, a specimen exchange device made of a specimen chamber, a specimen-exchange chamber, a gate valve, a specimen exchange rod, is known (Patent Document 1).
Further, in recent years, a high resolution analysis of the electron microscope such as a transmission electron microscope (TEM: Transmission Electron Microscope), a scanning transmission electron microscopy: (STEM Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope) has advanced, for example, to the order from a nanometric to a picometric high-resolution analysis have been demanded. In a goniometer stage (Gonio) in the prior art, there is an opening and closing valve when inserting a specimen holder (Holder) from a spare chamber into a specimen chamber of a high vacuum (Patent Document 2).

Specimen holder tip part, specimen holder having said specimen holder tip part, gonio stage, and electron microscope having said gonio stage


A mechanism is provided in a debugger for building a file information database while significantly reducing debug startup time. For each line number table, the mechanism of the present invention reads the header section and determines all the source files that contribute to the line number table. The mechanism also makes note of the line number table offset. The mechanism then inserts the source filename into the file information database. In one preferred embodiment, the file information database is implemented as a hash table. Searching time occurs during an interactive debug session; therefore, the searching time is not easily detectable to a user, thus creating the perception of a faster interactive debugging session.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to data processing and, in particular, to debugging software code. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and program product for fast source file to line number table association in a debugger.
2. Description of Related Art
A debugger is software that helps a programmer debug a program by stopping at certain breakpoints and displaying various programming elements. The programmer can step through source code statements one at a time while the corresponding machine instructions are being executed. Many debuggers allow users to set a breakpoint by identifying a filename and a line number. A debugger does so by mapping the given filename and line number to a machine address in a line number table.
Thus, when the debugger encounters a breakpoint in the form of a filename and a line number, the debugger may examine the line number table for the file and determine the corresponding machine address. Assuming an application contains multiple compilation units and every compilation unit produces at least one line number table, searching through all the line number tables within the application to find entries corresponding to the given filename may be a computationally expensive task.
One common approach to solve this problem is to build a persistent table to keep track of the relationship between the filename and the corresponding line number table. Building this table, referred to as the "file information database," is computationally expensive, but needs to be done once per debugging session. Depending on when the file information database is built, this process may cause a long debug session startup time or a long wait time when the user sets a breakpoint for the very first time. However, the advantage of the file information database is to allow efficient access to the line number information for subsequent queries.

Fast source file to line number table association

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention provides a fluorinated compound having functional groups in a high concentration so that adequate characteristics of the functional groups can be obtained and having high transparency in a wide wavelength region, a fluoropolymer, and a process for its production.

As fluoropolymers having functional groups, functional group-containing fluoropolymers are known which are used for fluorinated ion exchange membranes, curable fluorinated resin coating materials, etc. However, they are all basically straight chained polymers, and they are obtainable by copolymerization of a fluoroolefin represented by tetrafluoroethylene with a monomer having a functional group.
Further, a polymer containing functional groups and having fluorinated alicyclic structures in its main chain, is also known. As a method for introducing functional groups to the polymer having fluorinated alicyclic structures in its main chain, a method of utilizing terminal groups of a polymer obtained by polymerization, a method of subjecting a polymer to high temperature treatment to oxidize and decompose side chains or terminals of the polymer to form functional groups, or a method of copolymerizing a monomer having a functional group, if necessary, followed by treatment such as hydrolysis to introduce functional groups, is, for example, known (for example, Patent Documents 1, 2, 3 and 4).
The above-mentioned methods are available as methods for introducing functional groups to a polymer having fluorinated alicyclic structures in its main chain. However, the method for introducing functional groups by treating the terminal groups of the polymer, has a drawback that the functional group concentration is low, and no adequate properties of the functional groups can be obtained. Whereas, by the method for introducing functional groups by copolymerizing a monomer having a functional group, there will be a problem such that if the functional group concentration is increased, the mechanical properties tend to decrease due to a decrease of the glass transition temperature (Tg).
Patent Document 1: JP-A-4-189880
Patent Document 2: JP-A-4-226177
Patent Document 3: JP-A-6-220232
Patent Document 4: WO02/064648

Fluorinated compound, fluoropolymer and process for its production

Abstract: The present invention provides a fluorinated diene represented by the following formula (1):CF2═CFCH2CH(C(R1)(R2)(OH))CH2CH═CH2  (1)wherein each of R1 and R2 which are independent of each other, is a fluorine atom or a fluoroalkyl group having at most 5 carbon atoms.


There is provided an ion exchange membrane and preparation process thereof. The membrane has a porous film layer having pores with an average pore diameter of 0.01 to 2 μm and a surface layer existent on at least one side of the porous film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ion exchange membrane for use as a diaphragm for cells and dialysis and for use in sensors, specifically an ion exchange membrane advantageously used as a diaphragm for a direct methanol type fuel cell and to a production process therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An ion exchange membrane is widely used as a diaphragm for cells such as solid polymer type fuel cells, redox flow cells and zinc-bromine cells and as a diaphragm for dialysis. Out of these, a solid polymer type fuel cell which comprises an ion exchange membrane as an electrolyte is one of clean and highly efficient generation systems which take out chemical energy generated from a reaction between continuously supplied fuel and an oxidizing agent as electric power and its importance is growing in the fields of automobiles, home electric appliances and portable devices because it operates at a low temperature and is small in size. The solid polymer type fuel cell is generally constituted such that a gas diffusion electrode carrying a catalyst is joined to both sides of a solid polymer diaphragm which functions as an electrolyte. Fuel which is a hydrogen gas or methanol is supplied into a chamber (fuel chamber) where one of the gas diffusion electrodes is existent whereas oxygen or an oxygen-containing gas such as air is supplied as an oxidizing agent into a chamber where the other gas diffusion electrode is existent, and an external load circuit is connected between the gas diffusion electrodes. Thus the solid polymer type fuel cell serves as a fuel cell. A direct methanol type fuel cell which uses methanol as a direct fuel is easy to handle as the fuel is liquid, inexpensive and expected to be used as a relatively low output power source for portable devices.
The basic structure of this direct methanol type fuel cell is shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, (1) denotes a cell interstructure, (2) a fuel flow hole, (3) an oxidizing gas flow hole, (4) a diffusion electrode on the fuel chamber side, (5) a gas diffusion electrode on the oxidizing agent chamber side, and (6) a solid polymer electrolyte membrane. In this direct methanol type fuel cell, protons (hydrogen ions) and electrons are produced from methanol supplied into a fuel chamber (7) on the fuel chamber side diffusion electrode (4), and the protons move to the oxidizing agent chamber (8) through the solid polymer electrolyte (6) to be reacted with oxygen contained in air or oxygen gas to produce water. At this point, electrons produced on the fuel chamber side diffusion electrode (4) move to the oxidizing agent chamber side gas diffusion electrode (5) through the external load circuit, thereby obtaining electric energy.
In the direct methanol type fuel cell having the above structure, a cation exchange membrane is generally used as the above diaphragm. The cation exchange membrane must have low electric resistance, high physical strength and low permeability of methanol used as fuel. When an ion exchange membrane having high methanol permeability is used as a diaphragm for a fuel cell, it is impossible to completely prevent methanol in the fuel chamber from being diffused into the oxidizing agent chamber and it is difficult to obtain high output from the cell.
A perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid membrane has been mainly used as the cation exchange membrane used as a diaphragm for a direct methanol type fuel cell. Although this membrane has excellent chemical stability, it does not have sufficiently high physical strength, thereby making it difficult to reduce electric resistance by decreasing the membrane thickness. In addition, when methanol is used as fuel, the perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid film greatly expands and deforms and the diffusion of methanol into the oxidizing agent chamber cannot be completely suppressed. Further, the perfluorocarbon sulfonic acid film is very expensive.
Further, it is proposed that a cation exchange membrane having low electric resistance and extremely low gas permeability may be manufactured as a diaphragm for a solid polymer type fuel cell by impregnating and polymerizing a polyolefin-based or polyfluorocarbon-based resin porous film with a monomer having a functional group capable of introducing a cation exchange group (see JP-A 2001-135328 and JP-A 11-310649) (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"). However, when the cation exchange membrane is used as a diaphragm for a solid polymer type fuel cell which uses a hydrogen gas as fuel, the above effect is observed whereas when it is used as a diaphragm for a direct methanol type fuel cell, methanol permeability cannot be completely suppressed, thereby causing the diffusion of methanol into the oxidizing agent chamber with the result of deteriorated cell performance.
Meanwhile, in order to improve the water retention properties and ion conductivity of the ion exchange membrane, there is proposed a film prepared by uniformly dispersing silica particles or silica whiskers into an ion exchange membrane (for example, JP-A 6-111827). Although water retention properties and ion conductivity are improved by this method, studies conducted by the inventors of the present invention reveal that methanol permeability does not change or becomes worse in a case.
Thus, a cation exchange membrane which has low methanol permeability and low electric resistance (high ion conductivity) has been unknown as the cation exchange membrane which is used as a diaphragm for a direct methanol type fuel cell.

Ion exchange membrane and production process therefor

Abstract: The pores of the porous film layer are filled with an ion exchange resin and the surface layer contains (a) an inorganic filler having an average primary particle longest diameter which is 0.1 time or more the average pore diameter of the pores of the porous film layer and 50 μm or less and (b) an ion exchange resin. The membrane is useful for a diaphragm of a direct methanol type fuel cell.


A method for estimating and controlling the rotor position of a SRM comprises the steps of sampling phase currents and estimating phase fluxes from at least one excited phase of the SRM, sampling phase currents and estimating phase inductances from at least one unexcited phase of the SRM, and estimating the rotor position by determining a rotor position that is common to the estimated phase flux and the estimated phase inductance solutions to predetermining flux and inductance models. The estimation of rotor position can be less sensitive to measurement noise by applying a least squares technique. Once the rotor position has been estimated by the above method, the position of the rotor can be controlled so as to provide an overall effective control of the SRM. In particular, once the position of the rotor is estimated, the excitation provided to the motor is then adjusted to urge the rotor from its current position, velocity or torque toward a desired position, velocity or torque.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a method and apparatus for controlling switched reluctance motors (SRMs) and, more specifically, is directed to a sensorless position and velocity control for SRMs using rotor position estimation based on the measurement of flux and inductance of the phases of the SRM.
2. Description of Related Art
A SRM is a brushless, salient pole electrical machine with multiple poles on both the rotor and stator. The stator has phase windings, unlike the rotor which is unexcited and has no windings or permanent magnets mounted thereon. Rather, the rotor of a SRM is formed of a magnetically permeable material, typically iron, which attracts the magnetic flux produced by the windings on the stator poles when current is flowing through them. The magnetic attraction causes the rotor to rotate when excitation to the stator phase windings is switched on and off in a sequential fashion in correspondence to rotor position.
For a SRM, the direction of the torque of a phase depends on rotor position and phase current magnitude, but not on the polarity of the current. Hence, not every phase of an SRM can produce torque in a desired direction at any given rotor position. When commutating a SRM, it is customary to associate each phase with either a productive phase group (phases which can presently generate torque of a desired direction) or an unproductive phase group (phases which presently can only generate torque of the opposing direction). Naturally, the membership in these phase groups is rotor position dependent and constantly changing. Optimal commutation of a SRM for maximum torque can be produced when every member of the productive phase group is excited and every member of the unproductive phase group remains unexcited.
For example, in a 3-phase SRM, either one or two phases (depending on the rotor position) can produce torque of a desired direction at one time. Therefore, an optimally commutated 3-phase SRM should normally be operated such that, at all times, at least one productive phase is excited and at least one unproductive phase remains unexcited. On the other hand, it should be noted that the optimal commutation of a 3-phase SRM will never lead to the occurrence where there are two or more simultaneously excited phases at all times, or two or more simultaneously unexcited phases at all times.
To provide this optimal commutation and control for a SRM, accurate and timely rotor position information must be obtained. Traditionally, the rotor position information required for stator phase current switching has been provided by such devices as Hall-effect sensors, optical switches, optical encoders, or resolvers. More recently, efforts have been made to dispense with the use of such mechanical position sensors in favor of rotor position estimators based on parameters determinable from the motor terminals. Two parameters which could be usefull in this endeavor are phase flux and phase inductance. They are known to be nonlinear functions of rotor position for a SRM but can be relatively easily calculated from motor phase currents and voltages. However, the rotor position information obtained is a double-valued function (within each electrical cycle) for either phase flux or phase inductance, for any fixed value of phase current. Thus, given a measurement of phase current and a calculation of either phase flux or inductance alone, only a pair of possible rotor positions can be determined.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,839 issued to MacMinn (MacMinn I) discloses a rotor position estimator for SRMs which simultaneously measures changes in current in two unexcited phases, processes the measurements to provide a pair of possible rotor positions for each phase, and combines the positions in a fashion which attempts to yield a unique estimate of instantaneous rotor position. But, if the two phases of the SRM do not remain unenergized throughout the sampling period, or if any phase of the motor experiences a change of state during the sampling period, the MacMinn I estimator only provides an extrapolated rotor position in place of the estimated instantaneous rotor position. Moreover, the estimator disclosed in MacMinn I estimates rotor position based on the assumption that the IR drop (voltage drop due to electrical resistance of a phase) and the back EMF (the electromotive force caused by self induction of a phase) terms of the phase voltage equation are so small as to be negligible when estimating phase inductance, whereas such assumptions are not always valid. Specifically, back EMF may be a substantial portion of the phase voltage equation at high rotor velocities.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,596 issued to MacMinn, et al. (MacMinn II) discloses a SRM drive system in which a phase inductance sensing technique is used to indirectly estimate certain rotor positions. This technique involves applying voltage sensing pulses to an unexcited phase, which results in a change in phase current. The change in phase current is inversely proportional to the instantaneous phase inductance. Commutation time is determined by comparing the change in phase current to a threshold current, thus synchronizing phase excitation to a relative rotor position. Since no explicit determination of rotor position is obtained, the excitation to the phases cannot be shaped with respect to the position, limiting the control performance that can be achieved (e.g., position control is not possible).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,190 issued to Lyons, et al., (Lyons) discloses a rotor position estimator for a SRM based on instantaneous phase flux and phase current measurements. Phase current and flux sensing are performed for the phases in a predetermined sequence that depends on the particular quadrant of SRM operation, i.e., forward motoring, reverse motoring, forward generating, or reverse generating. For each phase in the predetermined sequence of sensing, phase flux and phase current measurements are made during operation in a pair of predetermined sensing regions, each defined over a range of the rotor positions. The rotor position estimates are derived from the phase flux and phase current measurements for each respective phase during the respective sensing regions thereof The rotor position estimates for each phase are normalized with respect to a common reference phase, and a rotor position estimate for the SRM is computed according to an equation which accounts for the fact that for any given rotor position determined, the rotor poles of the SRM may be approaching alignment or unalignment.
Therefore, the prior art generally fails to provide a continuously accurate and unambiguous determination of rotor position for all configurations of SRMs at all times, and a need exists for completely eliminating ambiguity in rotor position estimations for a SRM. It is to the fulfillment of this need that the present invention is directed.

Method and apparatus for control of a switched reluctance motor


An apparatus for forming reinforcing structural rebar comprises: resin supply means for supplying a first resin; a first shaping die; means for impregnating a first reinforcing material with the first resin; means for pulling the resin-impregnated first reinforcing material through the shaping die to form the core of the structural rebar; material applying means for applying material for the outer cladding of the structural rebar to the core; and mold means for molding the outer cladding layer into a desired configuration on the core. The material applying means for applying the outer cladding includes means for applying an inner cladding layer over the core and means for applying an outer cladding layer over the inner layer. The inner cladding layer includes a second thermosetting resin containing a second reinforcing material, and the inner cladding layer applying means is configured so that the second reinforcing material is applied substantially unidirectionally along the longitudinal axis of the core. The outer cladding layer comprises a corrosion-resistant third thermosetting resin and a third reinforcing material contained therein.

It is well known that pultrusion processes are effective continuous processes for producing articles of constant cross-section. Conventional pultrusion processes involve drawing a bundle of reinforcing material (e.g., glass filaments or fibers) from a source thereof, wetting the fibers and impregnating them (preferably with a thermosettable polymer resin) by passing the reinforcing material through a resin bath in an open tank, pulling the resin-wetted and impregnated bundle through a shaping die to align the fiber bundle and to manipulate it into the proper cross-sectional configuration, and curing the resin in a mold while maintaining tension on the filaments. Because the fibers progress completely through the pultrusion process without being cut or chopped, the resulting products generally have exceptionally high tensile strength in the longitudinal (i.e., in the direction the filaments are pulled) direction. Exemplary pultrusion techniques are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,793,108 to Goldsworthy; 4,394,338 to Fuway; 4,445,957 to Harvey; and 5,174,844 to Tong. Exemplary pultruded articles include tool handles, mine shaft bolts, pipes, tubing, channel, beams, fishing rods and the like.
Of particular interest is the manufacture of fiber reinforced rods or bars ("rebar"). Such bars are often used in cementitious mixtures, such as concrete, as reinforcing members. Concrete typically has a high compressive strength, but is relatively weak in tension, so the inclusion of high-tensile strength rebar beams enhances the tensile strength, and thus the overall performance, of the concrete considerably. Fiber-reinforced rebar has drawn attention because some compositions are corrosion-resistant and thus potentially offer a solution to the corrosion problem that has plagued steel rebar in concrete. An exemplary corrosion-resistant fiber-reinforced rebar, disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/467,157, comprises a fiber reinforced thermoset core and an outer cladding formed of sheet molding compound (SMC).
Because different cement and concrete compositions and structures can have different performance and cost parameters, it is desirable to provide different compositions of fiber-reinforced rebar to meet these different demands. With different rebar compositions come different equipment concerns, particularly for continuous manufacture of such compositions.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus combining a pultrusion apparatus and an apparatus for molding an outer cladding on rebar.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for making reinforcing structural rebar comprising a pultruded core of a thermosetting resin and an outer cladding thereon.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be particularly identified below.

Apparatus for forming reinforcing structural rebar


Described herein are systems and methods for securely obtaining payment information from a recipient on a payer's mobile device within an application on the payer's mobile device. The securely obtained information can be decrypted in the application, and the recipient information can be extracted. The extracted recipient information can be validated and used by the application to initiate a fund transfer to the recipient's account from the payer's account. The application can include a user interface that can allow the payer to anonymize the payment, securing the privacy of the payer.

There are situations in which a user may be interested in making an electronic transfer of funds for payment from the user's account to a recipient's account (e.g., making payment for a service, sharing the cost of a bill, and so forth). However, in many of these situations, the recipient is unknown to the user (e.g., paying and/or tipping a valet, street vendors, and so forth). Accordingly, a way to securely obtain information from an unknown recipient is needed.

Systems and methods for responsive data transfer and anonymizing data using tokenizing and encrypting


A control unit including a switch for regulating the temperature of a passenger compartment and/or the temperature of a vehicle seat. The switch is of a unit type with a control member, a switch member, a light-emitting member, and an indicator member housed in a single case, and can be disposed anywhere near a driver.

An air-conditioning apparatus provided with a switch for regulating the temperature of a passenger compartment or the temperature of a vehicle seat is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI-9-115376, for example. A control unit of this air-conditioning apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B hereof.
A control unit 201 of a vehicle air-conditioning apparatus shown in FIG. 11A includes a printed circuit board 205 on which a number of mounted switches 202, light-emitting diodes 203 and an LCD panel are mounted, a flexible printed circuit board 207 on which chip LEDs 206 are mounted at locations opposite to the mounted switches 202, and switch knobs 209 having control panels 208. The control panels 208 are illuminated by the individual chip LEDs 206 to increase the visibility of the control panels 208.
The control unit 201 in the above related art is used for regulating the temperature of a passenger compartment. The temperature of a driver seat can also be regulated by a control unit similar to the control unit 201. For example, a control unit similar to the control unit 201 is provided at an instrument panel of the vehicle, heating or cooling of a driver seat is selected via a switch knob 209, a rotary knob 211 (including a rotary volume 212 on a printed circuit board 205) is turned right to select warm air and also to set the temperature, or is turned left to select cool air and also to set the temperature.
The above control unit 201, however, needs to be provided with the switch knobs 209, the rotary knob 211 and the LCD panel 204, and the printed circuit board 205 connected thereto. The control unit 201 thus becomes large, resulting in a low degree of freedom in layout.
Therefore, there is demand for a temperature regulation control unit for use in a vehicle, having layout freedom without impairing visibility and operability.

Vehicle temperature regulation control unit


A system, method and computer program product comprising a storage manager independent configuration interface translator which requests an opaque listing of the available storage devices from an associated metadisk driver and determines a subset of the listing meeting a preselected search criteria. The resultant opaque listing is then converted to a non-opaque format listing for presentation to a user of the computer system in a desired format such as through a command line or graphical user interface. A notification mechanism is also provided that presents information about storage devices which have in some way changed while in use.

The present invention relates, in general, to the field of computers and computer operating systems for operatively controlling a plurality of computer mass storage device drivers coupled to a computer operating system through a metadevice or metadisk driver. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system, method and computer program product comprising a storage manager independent configuration interface translator
Currently available storage manager programs for computer systems are generally release dependent. That is, they must be expressly designed for use with particular releases of an associated computer operating system. Moreover, existing storage manager programs have generally been tied to a particular developer's operating system and have not been able to function as an extensible, generic storage management product to apprise a user of the storage devices available for use and their configuration as part of larger groups of storage devices. Still further, existing programs have not been able to provide an acceptable notification mechanism for queuing any changes in the status of the underlying storage devices.

Storage manager independent configuration interface translator and method


Provided are a rubber composition for tires which provides both adhesion to fiber cords and conductivity even when an inexpensive conductive carbon black is used, and thus achieves a balanced improvement in conductivity, handling stability, fuel economy, elongation at break, adhesion to fiber cords, processability, and tire durability; and a pneumatic tire including the composition. The composition includes, per 100 parts by mass of a rubber component: 1.0-3.5 parts by mass of sulfur with an iron content of 30 ppm or less, calculated as the net sulfur content in the sulfur; and 0.5-15 parts by mass of conductive carbon black having a DBP of 300 ml/100 g or more and an iron content of 60 ppm or more, the composition having a total net sulfur content of 1.0-6.0 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component, and a volume resistivity of 1.0×108 Ω·cm or less.

Attempts have been made to improve the fuel economy of a vehicle by reducing the rolling resistance of a tire to suppress heat build-up. Tires with better fuel economy have recently become increasingly desired. Thus, several methods are used for better fuel economy, including reducing not only the heat build-up of a rubber for treads, but also reducing the heat build-up of a rubber for sidewalls or insulation, as well as reducing the thickness of a sidewall rubber.
Techniques used to reduce the heat build-up of a rubber include a technique of reducing the filling ratio of carbon black, and a technique of incorporating a filler such as silica to reduce the energy loss. These techniques reduce the rolling resistance of a tire, but are causing the problem of an increase in the electrical resistance of a tire because, for example, the amount of carbon black with good conductivity is reduced or the amount of silica with low conductivity is increased. An increase in the electrical resistance of a tire may lead to radio noise or cause an electrical discharge during fueling to ignite gasoline.
Meanwhile, a known method for suppressing an increase in the electrical resistance of a tire is to form a conductive path from the road surface to a rim using highly conductive rubber components, as taught in, for example, Patent Literature 1. Specifically, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, (1) a conducting rubber, (2) a breaker, (3) an insulation, an inner liner, a carcass and/or a sidewall, and (4) a clinch are formed of highly conductive rubber components; the conducting rubber is embedded in a tread so that it comes into contact with the road surface. With these, a conductive path is formed from the conducting rubber through the breaker, from the breaker through the insulation, inner liner, carcass and/or sidewall, and from these components to the clinch that is in contact with a rim. Thus, a conductive path can be formed from the road surface to the rim via (1) the conducting rubber, (2) the breaker, (3) the insulation, inner liner, carcass and/or sidewall, and (4) the clinch, so that the static electricity generated in the tire can be discharged. In this case, an undertread and a jointless band may also be formed of highly conductive rubber components and used to form a conductive path between the components (1) and (2).
As for the components (3) in the above conductive path, it would be enough if at least one of these components is formed of a highly conductive rubber component. Of the components (3), the sidewall highly contributes to a reduction in heat build-up leading to a reduction in the rolling resistance of a tire, and the insulation is not required in every tire; therefore, these components are considered to be unsuitable as components for securing conductivity. The present inventors have eventually concluded that it is necessary to ensure good conductivity for a carcass.
Meanwhile, a known technique for giving conductivity to a rubber composition is to add a conductive carbon black such as ketjenblack EC300J (Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation). Conductive carbon blacks, however, are a material generally used as, for example, a coating material, a colorant, a toner, or an electrode material for a cell and are unfortunately too expensive to be used for tires.
In consideration of this issue, Lion Corporation started marketing an inexpensive conductive carbon black under the name of Lionite. However, the present inventors have revealed in their studies that a rubber for carcasses (a fiber cord topping rubber) containing this conductive carbon black has good conductivity, but has reduced adhesion to fiber cords, thereby reducing the tire durability.

Rubber composition for tire, and pneumatic tire