Stable, concentrated non-aqueous suspensions of water-soluble solids are prepared by using a water soluble active compound comprising water hydratable polysaccharides, biocides, fertilizers and mixtures thereof dispersed in water-miscible organic liquid carriers, preferably lower alkadiols in conjunction with a specific three component surfactant system, i.e., a system comprising a nonionic polymeric viscosity modifier surfactant; an anionic surfactant; and a nonionic surfactant having a bulky hydrophobic substituent group.

Many handling problems may arise when one is forced to prepare aqueous end-use formulations and/or slurries from solids, especially active solids, e.g. wettable bioactive powders as is often the situation in the agricultural industry. Farmers preparing tank mixes of herbicides, insecticides and/or other bioactives from solids for applications to crop and soil are exposed to certain safety hazards and inconveniences due to the generation of noxious dusts which may be irritable to the skin and hazardous to breathe.
Additionally, finely ground powders, even so-called powders, of many water-soluble bioactives when prepared as tank mixes do not disperse well, they have poor spontaneity or "bloom" and have low suspendability, they have poor re-dispersibility and are incompatible with other bioactives as compared to liquid bioactive concentrates. Thus, final formulators, such as farmers, when preparing diluted aqueous active compositions find that the handling and application of solids materials such as fertilizers, are much facilitated if the material can be supplied in a fluid rather than solid form. Economics then dictates that the active material be supplied in a highly concentrated fluid to the final formulator.
Saturation solubility in water of many water-soluble active constituents, such as ammonium nitrate, is too low to make it economical to supply it to the end-user simply in the form of a solution. Alternatively, highly concentrated suspensions of water soluble compounds, both in water and in organic liquids, have very poor storage, freeze/thaw, and heat/cool stability.
As a result of the spontaneous crystal dissolution-recrystallization process, there occurs a progressive increase in the size of the particulate active material. This increase in particle size results in settling, bleed and changes in visco-elastic properties and thus severely limits concentrate loading levels.
The instant invention concerns a unique formulation which, to a great extent, addresses and overcomes the above problems.
Particle size stability of water-soluble particulate solids is obtained in a twofold manner. First, by appropriate selection of the organic carrier used as the continuous phase, the temperature coefficient of solubility can be controlled, thus stabilizing the particle size of the solids throughout usual commercial storage times and temperature cycles. The major component of the carrier liquid is non-aqueous, although small amounts of water may be used to modify the performance. Secondly, recognizing that a small number of large particles has a smaller total surface area than a large number of small particles regardless of morphology, the surface-free energy of the active solid material is lowered via surfactant adsorption onto the particle surface, thus reducing the necessity to obtain a minimization of the surface area which promotes growth of the particles.
The particle size stability and other desirable characteristics of the concentrate such as low viscosity, minimum syneresis and high bloom are primarily controlled through the use of a three component surfactant system.
The first component, a nonionic viscosity-improver material, preferably a polymeric material and most preferably an ethylene oxide-propylene oxide block copolymer, is primarily used, through rheology control, to create a stable dispersion and secondarily to mollify crystal growth.
The second component, an anionic surfactant, preferably a sulfonate, albeit having a syneresis-increasing influence, is utilized primarily to synergistically reduce the viscosity enhancing effect of the polymeric first component and secondarily, as a result of its affinity for the surface of the solids, to aid in the dispersibility of the solid particles.
The third component, which is a bulky nonionic surfactant containing a large hydrophobic group, preferably an ethoxylated tristyryl phenol such as Soprophor BSU.RTM. (Rhone-Poulenc Inc., Cranbury, N.J.), is primarily used to reduce the packing of the particles, i.e., it reduces syneresis or settling and serendipitiously enhances the bloom or dispersibility that occurs when the concentrated composition is diluted by pouring it into an aqueous medium to achieve the final concentration of the end-use formulation.
This third component also has a tendency to increase the viscosity of the concentrate.
Optionally, a minor amount of water may be added to the concentrate primarily to assist in adjusting the temperature coefficient of solubility which ultimately minimizes changes in particle size.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,591 to Marchetto, et al. discloses emulsifiable concentrated solutions of herbicides, pesticides, and other active agricultural compounds comprising a polyoxyethyleneated/polyoxypropylenated (1-phenylethyl) phenol as the surfactant. The compositions also contain a wetting agent, a stabilizing agent and a second nonionic, cationic, or amphoteric surfactant. The compounds enable agricultural actives to have improved shelf life stability, are stable in water and enable the production of highly concentrated solutions for ease of handling and transport.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,151 to Dowans, et al. teaches stabilized suspensions of water soluble polymers in a liquid hydrocarbon medium including a thickening agent consisting of the alkaline earth metal salts of fatty acids having from 6-33 carbon atoms. The suspensions dissolve readily in water and actively disperse. They are allegedly useful in enhanced oil field recovery. U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,742 to Leonard discloses corrosion inhibitor compositions comprised of a ethylene glycol monoalkyl ether solvent, inorganic alkaline solids dispersed therein and small amounts of two or more surfactants as suspension agents. The compositions are highly concentrated yet shelf stable and very effective in the removal of grease, oil, tar, asphalt, etc. from all surfaces. The concentrate is also non-flammable, ecologically benign and relatively non-toxic.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,406 to Palgrave, et al. discloses the use of an additive such as a polysaccharide to at least partially inhibit regrowth at crystal surfaces when comminuting concentrated solid materials such as water soluble explosives or fertilizer salts in saturated solutions.
Through use of the organic carrier and surfactant systems of this invention, exceptionally high loadings, i.e., from about 40 to 85% by weight of the total weight of the composition, of suspensions of water-soluble solids are prepared which exhibit minimal changes in particle size and are characterized by settling and visco-elastic properties that produce suspensions which are extremely stable even under long term storage conditions.

Non-aqueous suspension concentrates of highly water-soluble solids


The present invention relates to compound of Formula I, II, III, or IV, and/or a pharmaceutical acceptable addition salt thereof and/or a stereoisomer thereof and/or a solvate thereof, wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R11, and R12 are as defined in the claim 1 or as described in detail in the description of the invention, and to the use of said compounds to treat or prevent viral infections and their use to manufacture a medicine to treat or prevent viral infections, particularly infections with RNA-viruses belonging to the family of the Retroviridae, the family of the Flaviviridae and the family of the Picornaviridae and more preferably infections with Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 (HIV1), Human Immunodeficiency Virus 2 (HIV2), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Dengue virus, and enteroviruses like Coxsackievirus, Rhinovirus and Poliovirus. The present invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions of said compounds and the use of said pharmaceutical compositions to treat or prevent viral infections. The present invention further relates to the use of said compounds as biologically active ingredients, more specifically as medicaments for the treatment of viral disorders and pathologic conditions such as, but not limited to, viral infections with Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 (HIV1), Human Immunodeficiency Virus 2 (HIV2), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Dengue virus, and enteroviruses like Coxsackievirus, Rhinovirus and Poliovirus.

Thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidines and oxazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidines can be considered as structural analogues of purines, in which the imidazole moiety is replaced by a 1,3-thiazole or 1,3-oxazole ring system. Although purine chemistry is extensively described in literature, the number of medicinal chemistry papers that describe the synthesis and biological evaluation of oxazolopyrimidines and thiazolopyrimidines is limited. Apparently, the oxazolopyrimidine and thiazolopyrimidine scaffold is not very frequently used in drug discovery programs. However, biological activities of certain thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidines and oxazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidines have been reported. 2,5-Diaminothiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidin-7(6H)-one, a thioisostere of 8-amino-guanine, was found to be a weak inhibitor of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (J. C. Sircar et al. J. Med. Chem. 1986, 29, 1804-1806). Thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidines were covered by several patent applications as activators of caspases and inducers of apoptosis (WO2008/057402), anti-angiogenic agents (WO2004/01314), growth factor receptor inhibitors (EP1731523), heat shock protein 90 inhibitors (WO2008/059368) and xanthine oxidase inhibitors (WO2007/004688). WO2008/152390 discloses thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidines and their use as inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase. WO 2008/005303 discloses vanilloid receptor 1 (TRPV1) modulating thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine analogues and their use for the treatment of diseases, such as pain, arthritis, itch, cough, asthma, or inflammatory bowel disease.
2-Aryloxazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidines have been described as adenosine kinase inhibitors (M. Bauser; et al. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2004, 14, 1997-2000). 7-Amino-5-phenylethylamino-2-furyl-oxazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidines act as brain A2A adenosine receptor (A2AAR) antagonists (M. H. Holschbach, et al. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2006, 41, 7-15). 7-(Substituted-cyclopentyl)aminooxazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidines have been reported to possess tumor growth inhibitory activity (WO/2008/019124). However none of these documents teaches or suggests thiazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine or oxazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine derivatives having the substitution pattern disclosed by the present invention and their use as antiviral compounds.
A huge number of thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidines is already known in the art. WO 2007/102679 discloses thienopyrimidines with at position 4 a pyrrole-2,5-dione substituent which strongly inhibits IKB kinase-β (IKK-β) involved in the activation of a transcriptional factor, NF-κB, which is associated with inducing various immune and inflammatory diseases, whereby a composition comprising the compound is a useful therapeutic agent against inflammatory diseases, in particular, arthritis and cancer. WO 2007/084815 discloses 2-carboxamide substituted thieno(2,3-d)pyrimidines inhibitors of one or more of the EGFR, HER-2, c-Src, Lyn, c-Abl, Aurora-A or VEGF kinase proteins and the like possessing anti-tumor cell proliferation activity, and as such are useful in treating or ameliorating a EGFR, HER-2, c-Src, Lyn, c-Abl, Aurora-A or VEGF kinase receptor mediated, angiogenesis-mediated or hyperproliferative disorder.
WO 2006/071988 discloses certain 4,5-disubstituted thienopyrimidine derivatives which are useful for the inhibition of PDE10 enzymes, and thus are useful for treating psychiatric or neurological syndromes, such as psychoses, obsessive-compulsive disorder and/or Parkinson's disease. WO 2004/111057 discloses compounds which are particularly useful for inhibiting potassium channels Kv1.5, which are known targets for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia in the atria such as atrial fibrillation. However, none of these documents teaches or suggests thieno(2,3-d)pyrimidine derivatives having the substitution pattern disclosed by the present invention and their use as antiviral compounds.
Marketed drugs with a purine based skeleton are known. Examples include theophylline (drug for the treatment of asthma) and azathioprine (drug for the treatment of transplant rejection). Anti-cancer drugs with a purine scaffold include 6-mercaptoguanine and thioguanine. Purines are also an important constituent of antiviral nucleosides such as acyclovir (used for the treatment of herpes virus infections) and ganciclovir (medication used for treatment of cytomegalovirus infections). Abacavir and dideoxyadenosine (ddA) are both purine nucleosides acting as reverse transcriptase inhibitors and both compounds are licensed as anti-HIV agents.
Purines display a broad range of biological activities and as a result a huge number of purine analogues is already known in the art. WO 2009/005687 discloses purine derivatives and their use as modulators of Toll-like receptor 7. Compounds and pharmaceutical compositions which selectively activate toll-like receptor 7 are useful for treating viral infections in patients. WO 2008/135232 relates to substituted purines and purine derivatives as inhibitors of Aurora A, Aurora B, Aurora C, CHK2, JNK1 α1, JNK3 and abl kinase. These compounds possess antiproliferative properties and are useful in the treatment of proliferative disorders such as cancer, leukemia, psoriasis and the like. WO 2008/094737 discloses purine derivatives as inhibitors of calcium dependent protein kinase 1 (PfCDPKI). These purines are useful for treating malaria. WO 2008/090181 relates to a new series of purine derivatives as inhibitors of Janus kinases. JAK3 kinase inhibitors have been recognized as a new class of effective immunosuppressive agents useful for transplant rejection prevention and in the prevention or treatment of immune, autoimmune, inflammatory and proliferative diseases such as psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus, type I diabetes and complications from diabetes, allergic reactions and leukemia. WO 2008/060301 also discloses 7-substituted purine derivatives as immunosuppressive drugs useful for treatment of an autoimmune disease, an inflammatory disease, a mast cell mediated disease, hematological malignancy and organ transplant rejection. However none of these documents teaches or suggests purine derivatives having the substitution pattern disclosed by the present invention and their use as antiviral compounds.
However there is a continuous need in the art for specific and highly therapeutically active compounds, such as, but not limited to, drugs for treating viral infections/diseases such as Polio, Aids, HepatitisC, Dengue fever and infections with Rhinovirus. In particular, there is a need in the art to provide antiviral compounds, which are active in a minor dose in order to replace existing drugs having significant side effects and to decrease treatment costs.
Accordingly, in view of the relatively few choices for antiviral agents effective in low doses with low toxicity profiles and manageable side effects, there exists a need in the art for identification of alternative antiviral agents for several viral diseases.

Antiviral activity of bicyclic heterocycles

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, K. U. Leuven R&D


An adjustable connector for a lawn rake has a sleeve, a rake head and a lever. The rake head is connected in front of the sleeve. The lever is attached pivotally to the sleeve and has a cam head operationally pressing against a shaft of the lawn rake when the lever is pivoted to lock the handle in the sleeve. By directly pressing the cam head of the lever against the handle, other accessories such as separate compression clamps in the prior art are obviated so that the structure of the adjustable connector is simplified.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adjustable connector for a lawn rake, and more particularly to an adjustable connector that has a simple structure to make manufacturing the adjustable connector easy.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, a conventional adjustable connector for a lawn rake substantially comprises a sleeve (50), a locking device, and a rake head (70) attached to the sleeve (50).
The sleeve (50) is tubular, is attached around a handle (80) of the lawn rake and has a sidewall (not numbered), two wings (52) and a through hole (502). The wings (52) extend down from the sidewall of the sleeve (50) in parallel and have a pin (522) and a front edge. The pin (522) is mounted transversely through the wings (52). The through hole (502) is defined transversely through the sidewall between the two wings (52).
The locking device is mounted between the two wings (52) and has a lever (60) and a compression clamp (62). The lever (60) is pivotally mounted between the wings (52) and has a proximal end, a distal end, a head and a handle. The proximal end is pivotally attached to the two wings (52) with the pin (522). The head is formed on the proximal end and is a cam. The compression clamp (62) is a parallelepiped, is mounted movably in the through hole (502), has a curved inner face and is clamped between the handle (80) and the head of the lever (60). The curved inner face of the compression clamp (62) corresponds to the handle (80).
The rake head (70) is attached to the front edge of the two wings (52) and a tine block and multiple flexible or semiflexible tines (72). The tine block is an elongated parallelepiped and has a front edge and a rear edge. The rear edge is attached to the front edge of the wings (52). The flexible or semiflexible tines (72) are mounted pivotally in the tine block and extend out from the front edge of the tine block.
The conventional connector attaches the rake head (70) to the handle (80) by pivoting the lever (60) essentially parallel to the handle (80) to push the compression clamp (62) tightly against the handle (80). The connector releases the handle (80) by pivoting the lever (60) away from the handle (80) to release the compression clamp (62) and removing the handle (80) from the sleeve (50). However, the locking device has at least two elements including the lever (60) and the compression clamp (62), and manufacturing and assembly of the lawn rack are not simple.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate or obviate the disadvantages of the conventional adjustable connector for a lawn rake.


A wavelength division multiplexing transmission system that comprises an input/output terminal station for an optical signal, and an intermediate station located between the terminal stations and connected by an optical transmission line for performing wavelength division multiplexing and transmission of the optical signal, wherein the signal transmission system comprising the terminal station and the intermediate station has a redundant configuration comprising the active system and standby system, and an input/output means for the optical signal to be transmitted through the active system and the standby system is provided on both the active system and the standby system on the side of the active system of the terminal station.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wavelength division multiplexing transmission of optical signals, and, more particularly, to a wavelength division multiplexing transmission system, a wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus and a method for controlling wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus, allowing an economical redundant configuration to be achieved.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 10 illustrates an example of configuration of a conventional wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 10, the conventional wavelength division multiplexing transmission system comprises nodes A, B, C, D and so on, and transmits optical signals by the following actions.
The nodes A and D each use a transponder (TPND) to convert into electricity an optical signal entered from a client (device) and 3R regenerate (Retime, Regenerate and Reshape) the signal for conversion into signals having a plurality of light wavelengths defined by ITU-T Grid (optical interface wavelength spacing according to ITU-T G. 692), use an optical multiplexer (OMUX) to multiplex and deliver the signals having a plurality of wavelengths as wavelength multiplexed signals, while at the same time, use a transmission amplifier (TXA) to amplify the delivered wavelength multiplexed signal for transmission through a transmission line.
Relay stations having integrated link adapters (ILAs), which are relay adapters, amplify and relay the wavelength multiplexed signals that flow through the transmission lines between the nodes A and B, and between the nodes C and D, respectively.
The nodes B and C each use a receive amplifier (RXA) to amplify the wavelength multiplexed signals transmitted through the transmission lines from the nodes A and D, respectively, and use an optical demultiplexer (ODMUX) to demultiplex the signals into signals having a plurality of wavelengths defined by the ITU-T Grid and to transmit the signals as optical signals to the respective opposite nodes B and C.
Each of the nodes B and C also comprises a back to back transponder (BBTPND) for converting into electricity the optical signals transmitted by the respective opposite nodes B and C, 3R regenerating and entering the signals into the OMUX.
Further, each of the nodes A, B, C and D comprises an optical supervisory channel (OSC) for extracting information on the number of multiple wavelengths in the wavelength multiplexed signal that is required to amplify the wavelength multiplexed signal (amplification using TXA and RXA) from a transmission line, respectively, sending it out to a different transmission line within the same node, and performing wavelength multiplexing of the signal into an optical signal from which information on the number of multiple wavelengths has been extracted.
Finally, the nodes A and D each amplify (RXA) the wavelength multiplexed signal entered through the transmission line from each of the nodes B and C, demultiplex (ODMUX) the signal into signals having a plurality of defined wavelengths, and deliver the signals as optical signals to the client through the TPND.
However, such a conventional configuration poses the problem that transmission cannot be achieved if any of the functions of the wavelength division multiplexing transmission system fails.
Thus, in order to solve the above problem, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2004-32306 (Document 1) discloses a wavelength multiplexing transmission apparatus having a redundant configuration comprising an active system and a standby system, which monitors switching command information and a switching factor occurrence notification for the active system and the standby system originating from the failure of a function or the like, and is capable of switching to the standby system device if transmission of a signal cannot be carried out with the active system.
However, such a conventional wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus has the following problems.
A first problem is that the task of achieving a redundant configuration comprising an active system and a standby system is very difficult.
The reason is, when nodes are added to achieve a redundant configuration comprising an active system and a standby system, in order to control the nodes, it is necessary to consider a prescribed redundant configuration to predefine the implementation position and various settings of each node, leading to the control being very complicated. This made the task of achieving a redundant configuration by adding an extra new active system or standby system difficult.
A second problem is that when attempting to double the circuit with a wavelength division system that configures the active system and a wavelength division system that configures the standby system, the configuration becomes complicated, as a circuit for communicating control information is required.
The reason is, as each of the active system package and the standby system package monitors and keeps as information each other's circuit quality state to switch the circuit to the one with a better circuit quality between the TPNDs with a redundant configuration, a circuit is required for transmitting between the packages control information between the respective TPNDs that are implemented in the active system package and the standby system package.
A third problem is that, although the transmission distance is one that does not require regeneration relay of the optical signal for such reason as transmission is within the same station, hardware parts such as BBTPND are necessary, which is costly.
The reasons are as follows.
Normally, if the transmission distance is one that does not require regeneration and relay, a direct connection using an optical patch cord or the like is advantageous in terms of cost.
Further, because an optical amplifier has to adjust the level of excitation light in tune with the number of wavelengths of an optical signal to be entered, if the level of the excitation light in tune with the number of wavelengths is not entered, the level of the excitation light per wavelength becomes higher or lower than a design value; therefore, the targeted transmission performance would not be achieved. Therefore, the level of the excitation light to be entered per wavelength needs to be controlled by counting the number of wavelengths correctly.
However, in wavelength division multiplexing transmission, optical amplification with an erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier (EDFA) accumulates noise every time the relay is repeated. Therefore, if a signal is transmitted directly using an optical patch cord, the input unit of the OMUX sometimes detects the light power level, not of a signal but of noise, and erroneously recognizes the noise as a signal; therefore, it may not count the number of wavelengths of the optical signal correctly.
Besides, since the number of wavelengths of the optical signal cannot be counted correctly, the level of excitation light in tune with the number of wavelengths cannot be adjusted accurately; therefore, the quality of the transmission of the optical signal to be transmitted is significantly reduced.
For the above reasons, in order to count the number of wavelengths correctly, a BBTPND for converting an optical signal into an electrical signal and determining whether or not the signal is correct was needed, thus requiring a cost corresponding to the BBTPND.

Wavelength division multiplexing transmission system, wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus and method for controlling wavelength division multiplexing transmission apparatus


A sample collecting apparatus includes a housing, sample container, and handle. The housing is open at front and rear opposite ends and has a semi-cylindrical portion defining a bottom discharge opening located between its opposite ends. The container is mounted within the housing for sliding movement along and rotational movement about a common longitudinal axis of the housing and container. The container has a semi-cylindrical middle portion defined between front and rear cylindrical end portions. The container has a pair of spaced circular walls disposed at opposite ends of the semi-cylindrical middle portion defining a semi-cylindrical sample holding cavity. The handle is connected to the front end portion of the container and extends axially forwardly therefrom through the interior of the housing and from the open front end thereof. The handle is gripped to slidably move the container along and rotate the container about the common longitudinal. The container is slidable between a rearward position and a forward position. At the rearward position, the sample holding cavity of the container is disposed beyond the rear end of the housing in an upright orientation for receiving a sample. After reaching the forward position aligned with the bottom discharge opening of the housing, the container can be rotated about the longitudinal axis to dispose the sample holding cavity in an inverted position for discharging the sample.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to sampling techniques and, more particularly, is concerned with a sample collecting apparatus particularly suited for use in the paper making industry.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A growing number of new paper making plants employ a thermo-mechanical pulping process as opposed to a chemical pulping process employed by old plants. One significant advantage of the thermo-mechanical pulping process is that it does not, to any significant degree, emit noxious odors as does the chemical pulping process.
In the thermo-mechanical pulping process, a suitable feed stock, such as wood chips, is mechanically processed into pulp fibers having the desired length. The wood chips are initially transferred into a primary refiner where they are ground into relatively long pulp fibers by grinding components having coarse teeth. The pulp fibers are next tranferred from the primary refiner to a secondary refiner where they are ground into pulp fibers of relatively short lengths by grinding components having fine teeth. After the secondary refiner, the pulp goes through a screening process wherein a screen passes pulp fibers of lengths below a maximum allowable length and rejects over-length pulp fibers. The rejected pulp fibers are transferred to a reject refiner where they are ground to reduce their lengths to below the maximum allowed.
During processing of the rejected pulp fibers in the reject refiner under atmospheric pressure and at temperatures ranging from 160.degree. to 180.degree. F., samples have to be taken periodically from a stream of ground pulp fibers falling through a chute under the influence of gravity. These samples are then taken to a laboratory where they are subjected to appropriate quality control tests.
Heretofore, in order to take a sample, a port hole in the wall of the chute has had to be unplugged and an elongated probe inserted through the hole into the pulp stream. This current procedure has certain problems. At unplugging of the port hole, frequently some of the pulp ejects from the chute through the port hole, thereby exposing the technician to hazardous contact with pulp at scalding temperatures and causing splattering and contaminating of the surrounding area with the ejected pulp.
Consequently, a need exists for improvements in the way samples are taken so as to avoid the problems of the current sampling procedure.


A station for assisting the control of an aircraft includes warning means (5) adapted to deliver an alert for avoiding a later collision when there is a risk that the predicted flight trajectory of the aircraft crosses any predicted flight path of another aircraft. An arrangement (4) is adapted to determine whether the aircraft carrying said station is within an airspace volume with defined geometrical dimensions and time of appearance and disappearance or not and make the function of the warning means dependent upon this comparison by, when located in said airspace volume, deactivating said warning means with respect to other aircraft of a predefined identity, and when not located in said airspace volume, activate or keep the function of said warning means activated with respect to aircraft of said predefined identity. (FIG. 1).

"Aircraft" may be any type of manned aircraft and unmanned aircraft, such as so-called unmanned air vehicles or unmanned combat vehicles being autonomous but possibly also partially controllable from the ground. In the case of a manned aircraft it may be a civilian aircraft, but the invention is particularly directed to military aircraft, so that particular application will hereinafter be described for illuminating the invention but accordingly not restricting the scope thereof.
All aircraft, civilian as well as military, have a transponder continuously broadcasting data associated with the position, the velocity and the identity of the aircraft and receiving corresponding data from other aircraft. Accordingly, said transmitter and receiver are then present in the form of such a transponder.
The aircraft have also a so-called de-conflicting system for avoiding mid-air collisions, i.e. collisions between two or more aircraft. The most common such system is the TCAS system (traffic collision avoiding system). This system involves a processing of said transponder data for calculating through the on board computer of the aircraft whether there is a risk that the predicted flight trajectory of the aircraft cross any predicted flight path of another aircraft. When it is determined that such a risk exists a warning means delivers an alert for avoiding a later collision. This means in the case of a manned aircraft that the pilot in the respective aircraft may then without coming under time pressure change the flight path for avoiding a collision. This calculation is carried out by a simple tracking algorithm requiring comparatively limited computer capacity. In the case of an unmanned aircraft a modified flight path may automatically be selected upon such an alert indicating the risk of a later collision.
Known are also so-called automatic collision avoiding systems (ACAS) designed to be the last protection against mid-air collisions between two or more aircraft. Such systems are adapted to select an automatic so-called fly-out of the aircraft for avoiding a collision with another aircraft coming close thereto. For this sake the algorithm used to select an automatic fly-out path in a direction selected by maximising the distance between own and other aircraft automatic fly-outs requires a lot of computer capacity, so that it is not, at least at present, possible to have such a system switched on other than under very special circumstances.
The function of the means determining a risk of crossing of predicted flight paths and delivering an alert for avoiding a later collision is very important for safety reasons. However, this so-called de-conflicting system is in conflict with the purpose of air combat training sessions of aircraft, since this de-conflicting system will then continuously warn an aircraft, and when manned the pilot, of other approaching aircraft. This means that it is not possible to train the aircraft and/or pilot to handle difficult situations suddenly occurring as a surprise and requiring instantaneous actions. To the contrary, the pilot will well in advance always be aware of the position of threatening aircraft approaching.

Method and a station for assisting the control of an aircraft


The present disclosure provides, inter alia, a system and methods for targeted hyperthermia effective to differentially heat target organs. In certain embodiments, the system and/or method utilizes one or more pairs of inductive applicators coupled to the one or more RF generators and configured to deposit radio frequency radiation on a region of interest based on a set of configurable parameters.

Targeted deep hyperthermia for applications such as cancer treatment, tumor ablation and treatment of other diseases relies on the exposure of the patient to RadioFrequency (RF) radiation of various frequencies, such as 13.56 MHZ, which allows for the heating of targeted cells (e.g., malignant/cancer cells) and their subsequent selective destruction alone or in combination with one or more anti-cancer therapies or therapy combinations such as radiation, and/or chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy. Generally, such techniques require the use of an applicator that delivers the RF radiation to the desired area of interest. For example, such applicators include a mechanical housing that envelops the necessary hardware components and typically is applied to the patient in order to cause heating of the desired area through the principles of capacitive coupling (e.g., displacement of current induced by an electric field), resistive heating, and radiative arrays. Furthermore, in order to ensure that there is no long term damage to surrounding healthy tissue these techniques require constant thermal monitoring as well as additional hardware (e.g., water filled bolus, air fans, etc.) that alleviate any issues relating to excessive heating such as, for example, dangerous heating of tissues outside the area containing a malignancy.
Targeted deep RF radiation-induced hyperthermia can provide therapeutic means for various cancer related therapies by selectively heating and thus destroying cancer cells while minimizing any possible effects to surrounding healthy tissue or it can be used in combination with existing anti-cancer treatments (e.g., radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy etc.) to increase their efficacy. Prior RF radiation-induced hyperthermia techniques, however, can be inefficient for deep targeting of cancer cells and solid tumors or provide inadequate safety margins without invasive temperature monitoring or extensive attempts and cooling the patient For example, techniques that rely on capacitive coupling require additional hardware to minimize heating of surrounding tissue as well as constant temperature monitoring through sensors (e.g., invasive thermometers) and/or diagnostic devices (e.g., Magnetic Resonance Imaging) that are time consuming and non-integrated in the therapeutic process and as a result can jeopardize the efficacy of the treatment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for targeted deep hyperthermia by time-shared RF inductive applicators


An improved resonator for keyboard percussion instruments such as marimba, vibraphone and xylophone and instruments including such resonators are described herein. In one or more embodiments, a tubular resonator bent or formed into a smooth curve, open or stopped on one end, resonating only its natural fundamental frequency and its natural overtones with no non-harmonic resonances from a struck tone bar associated with the resonator is provided. According to one or more embodiments, the number of joints in the resonator is reduced to less than two joints.

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to "keyboard percussion instruments", such as marimbas, vibraphones and xylophones, which have resonators in proximity to tone bars. Specific embodiments pertain to improved resonators and instruments incorporating improved resonators.
The genre of keyboard percussion instruments is also known as "bar percussion instruments" or "tuned mallet instruments". With the exception of the glockenspiel ("orchestra bells"), which traditionally have their bars made of steel, the tone bars of the keyboard percussion instrument family generally do not produce sufficient volume for musical performance, without amplifying the acoustic output of the tone bar with a similarly tuned resonator in proximity to the tone bar.
In the field of keyboard percussion instruments such as marimbas, vibraphones, xylophones and glockenspiels, many different sizes, shapes and methods of amplifying the tone bars have been developed. Going back into the early part of the last century, Deagan, and Liebich experimented with resonator designs. These inventions mainly concern small high-pitched instruments where the resonator needed to fit directly under the tone bar and in the same parallel plane. U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,477 issued to Kawakami discusses two-part rectangular boxes extending beneath the tone bars and then turning at right angles. The purpose of such an arrangement is said to save space and allow an instrument to be of "small height".
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,570,525; 4,941,386 and 5,189,236 pertain to the fine tuning adjustment of the fundamental pitch of tubular resonators. While all three methods have been used successfully in the real world to adjust for temperature and humidity conditions (which change the frequency of both the bars and tubes, but in opposite directions), they do not address the more basic shortcomings of the shape and construction of the resonator itself. U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,737 issued to Jespersen dispenses with the resonators entirely, preferring a pickup coil, amplifier and speaker arrangement. While this might be a viable solution for amplified music styles such as jazz and popular music, players of keyboard percussion instruments more often play music of a type where it is inappropriate to amplify the sound.
It should be noted that all musical instrument manufacturers of keyboard percussion instruments currently use tubes that are stopped at one end—which already shortens the required length of the resonator by half—so no further reductions in length are obtainable. The only other methods are to be found by increasing the volume in other dimensions or by curving the tubes back up before they reach the floor. It is well known that it is more difficult to produce good musical results from the low notes than from the mid and high ranges. While the mid and high ranges of keyboard percussion instruments have traditionally been provided with straight tubular resonators, as the range expanded into lower notes, there is not sufficient room between the tone bar and floor to fit the required straight length of tubing. For instance, the lowest resonator on a 5-octave marimba that can be fit under a standard height keyboard is the "A" below middle "C" which is approximately 31 inches in length. Below this musical range, the designer must find another way to acoustically resonate the tone bar in the space available.
Another factor limiting the possible solutions is the size and spacing of the tone bars. Bass register tone bars must be of sufficient width to produce enough power to couple properly with the associated resonator. Generally speaking, a wider tone bar "moves more air". All other things being equal, a wider tone bar design will produce more usable volume out of the resonator. However, the associated resonator beneath the bar cannot be too large in diameter or width (depending on whether the resonator is round, square or rectangular at the opening beneath the bar—all of which are currently used by today's musical instrument manufacturers), or the bar will not be able to set the volume of air into vibration except by a very heavy stroke of the mallet. On the other hand, if the resonator is too narrow in diameter or width, the resonator will be set into sympathetic vibration more easily, but the resulting tone will be of weak volume and unsatisfactory in a concert hall.
Yet another factor is the intervallic reach of the player's mallets. For many years, keyboard percussion instruments have been played by musicians holding four mallets—two in each hand (two and six mallet repertoire being less common and therefore not as relevant to design considerations). The larger the width of the bar and resonator combination, the "bigger" the sound, but the more difficult it is for the player to span the distance between two notes played in one hand. It is generally accepted by those skilled in the art of designing keyboard percussion instruments that the size of the lowest octave must be of a distance that can be spanned by the two mallets in the player's left hand.
Two of the biggest percussion instrument companies in the field (Yamaha Corporation and the European company Adams), as well as some smaller firms, use a resonator shape that they refer to as a "Helmholtz Resonator" (after Herman L. F. von Helmholtz, 1821-1894 who first described a similar type of resonator and was the author of On the Sensations of Tone, published in 1862). This shape was originally introduced by a small Japanese company named Korogi in the 1980's. These resonators are generally made of sheet metal rather than round tubing and are rectangular at the opening near the tone bar, flat-sided, and sometimes even flaring into a three-dimensional trapezoidal shape at the closed bottom. FIG. 1 shows an example of this type of resonator.
The original Helmholz resonator was a sphere with a hole or neck and was intended to pick out and resonate a single frequency from a more complex sound. Such a design would be unsatisfactory for amplifying tone bars of keyboard percussion instruments because of the limited volume potential. Instead of selecting a single frequency like the original Helmholtz resonator, instrument designers have adopted the idea to keyboard percussion by using rectangular tubing connecting to sloping sides, continuing to refer to these new and varied shapes as "Helmholtz Resonators", as shown in FIG. 1. These irregular shapes dramatically increase the complexity of the harmonic content of the resonator from one frequency to almost infinite harmonics. Unlike the original sphere with a hole in it, these irregular shapes "reduce the selectivity" of the frequencies they resonate and somewhat widen the range of the fundamental pitches that can be obtained. When an air stream is forced across the open face a huge array of harmonics is heard—something more like a noise than a musical tone. However, when a tone bar is set in motion with a mallet above, the fundamental frequency of the bar does find a mode to vibrate, along with many other frequencies contained in the tone bar.
Another design rich in harmonics is offered by the American manufacturer "Marimba One". In this design, a teardrop/elliptical shape is chosen instead of a more harmonically neutral round tube. Because of the lack of a focused fundamental frequency in such a shape, the manufacturer adds something like an organ builder's "Haskill" pipe inside the teardrop shape. This pipe within a pipe helps to clarify the vast array of harmonics into a more responsive order and adds to the effective length of the tube. FIG. 2 shows such a design.
Like in the "Helmholtz" resonators above, when an air stream is forced across the open face a huge array of harmonics is heard—again, something more like a noise than a musical tone. However, when a tone bar is set in motion with a mallet above, the fundamental frequency does find a mode to vibrate, along with many other frequencies contained in the tone bar.
There are also round tubular solutions available from Steinway's Musser Marimba division, Yamaha and Malletech, for example. In each of these solutions, 22.5° angled sections of round tubing are welded, brazed or soldered together. These designs have 4 welded joints connecting the 5 sections of tubing. FIGS. 3A-3C show examples of such configurations. FIG. 3A shows a substantially J-shaped first octave C resonator 10 for a keyboard percussion instrument. FIG. 3B shows a substantially U-shaped first octave C sharp resonator 20 for a keyboard percussion instrument. FIG. 3C shows a substantially L-shaped first octave F-sharp resonator 30 for a keyboard percussion instrument. As will be seen from a review of FIGS. 3A-3C, each of these resonators includes a number of joined sections. The L-shaped resonator 30 shown in FIG. 3C comprises three sections 32, 34, and 36 joined together and has two joints 33 and 35, whereas, the U-shaped resonator 20 in FIG. 3B comprises five sections 22, 24, 26, 28, and 39 and four joints 21, 23, 25 and 27. In FIG. 3A, the J-shaped resonator also comprises five sections 12, 14, 16, 18, 19 and four joints 11, 13, 15 and 17. As noted above, each of the sections are joined at 22.5° angles with respect to each other.
Established thinking in the field assumes that a 5-section design offers the best of 2 worlds: it adheres to the basics tenets of fluid dynamics that promise easier flow through a gentle bend, while offering many internal facets at the joints that can reinforce the resonance and enrich the harmonic content of the resultant tone. When a stream of air is blown across the open face of this type of resonator, a clear fundamental pitch is heard, along with both harmonic and non-harmonic components.
While these various resonator designs have provided acceptable sound, as will be appreciated upon further reading of the details of the present invention, it would be desirable to provide a resonator that reduces or eliminates non-harmonic components. It would be desirable to provide improved resonators for keyboard percussion instruments that do not suffer from one or more of these disadvantages.

Keyboard percussion instrument including improved tone bar resonator


A fluid level responsive switch apparatus used in a tank to monitor fluid level in the tank. The apparatus has a float buoy attached to a tilt switch containing three conductors activated by a conductive sphere. The first conductor activates the fluid controller for restoring fluid to the tank when the conductive sphere is in a low fluid level position, the second conductor delays the switching between the activating and deactivating conductors when the conductive sphere is in an intermediate level position and the third conductor deactivates the controller when the conductive sphere is in a high fluid level position.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fluid level activated electrical switch and more particularly to a float switch for use in conjunction with a controller to automatically restore or drain fluid to a desired level by supplying power to a pump motor or a solenoid operated valve.
Switches responsive to fluid levels have utilized a variety of approaches for opening and closing an electrical circuit. Fluid level switch devices usually incorporate a float buoy for sensing the fluid level, the float buoy being operatively connected to a switch device. Mercury switches provide excellent switching characteristics and are readily adaptable to fluid level actuated float switches. They usually consist of a sealed glass tube of mercury into which a pair of electrodes extend. When tipped at a predetermined angle, the mercury will travel through the tube to bridge a gap between the two electrodes to actuate the switch. However, mercury is a hazardous material and there has been movement away from its use in float switches, especially where breakage of the glass tube is possible.
One alternative to a mercury-switch based float switch has been to replace the mercury tube with an enclosed raceway containing a conductive sphere. The sphere travels through the raceway as the float buoy moving up and down according to the fluid level tips the switch member. The sphere will contact an arm or yoke which will activate or deactivate the load, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,801 to Johnston, U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,770 to Pepper, U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,576 to Frede, U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,117 to Grimes her conductive spheres contact conductive strips etched onto the raceway such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,447 to Schneider, Jr.
A problem arises when the fluid levels monitored do not change uniformly. Wave action, for example, may cause prior art devices to switch on and off frequently and erratically causing burn out of the attached motors.
Therefore, what is needed is a fluid level responsive electrical float switch which does not subject the motor to erratic energization, a cause of burnout The present invention solves this problem by providing a conductive ball to make a direct contact with conductive switch contacts in three different positions, one of which is a neutral, intermediate position, within a fluid level activated float switch. The neutral intermediate position of the present invention operates as a delay mechanism which prevents wave action in the fluid from turning on and off the load.


The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and a method of controlling the same. A result, which will be displayed at a destination when a message created on a message creation screen is sent to the destination, is provided in advance. Messages having various formats can be generated on one message creation screen. Various functions relating to the message creation are provided.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention may relate to a mobile terminal and, more particularly, to a mobile terminal and a method of controlling the same to provide various functions relating to messages having various formats for user convenience.
2. Background
With rapid development of hardware and software technologies relating to various electronic devices including a mobile terminal and various network technologies supporting data communication, the mobile terminal can transmit and receive various types of messages having different formats.
Accordingly, development of a user interface capable of providing convenience to users for transmission/reception of various messages is urgently needed.

Mobile terminal and method of controlling the same


The present invention relates to aspartic acid ester-functional polysiloxanes, their use in the manufacture of curable compositions using polyisocyanate crosslinkers, in particular, in the manufacture of coating compositions, cured compositions obtained from said curable compositions and articles comprising the cured compositions.

Polymer coating systems containing reactive polyurethane and polyurea polymers in which the backbones contain urethane and/or urea groups are very well known in the art as a tough and durable compositions utilized in a wide variety of commercial applications in the construction, marine, industrial and automotive field. Notwithstanding the high performance characteristics of the polyurethane or polyurea based coating compositions such systems very often require additional adjustment of bending strength, elongation, impact flexibility and chemical resistance. Polysiloxanes are well known in the art as structural flexibilizers and impact resistance modifiers capable of improving outdoor durability and chemical resistance of polyurethane and polyurea coating systems. However direct incorporation of polysiloxanes into the polyurea or polyurethane matrix is not easy due to low compatibility of polysiloxanes with polyols or polyamines and low reactivity of polysiloxanes towards polyurea and/or polyurethane curing chemistries.
Polysiloxane polymers that have been modified with different functional groups including but not limited to hydroxyl functional group, amine functional group, thiol functional group and the like are known to one skilled in the art. Primary, secondary or tertiary amino-functional alkoxysilanes have been used to modify polysiloxane polymers. However, direct application of these aminosilane modified polysiloxane polymers in two-component polyurea or polyurethane systems is not practical due to the very high reactivity of amino functional groups towards polyisocyanate-type crosslinkers. Typically, such high reactivity results in a premature gelation of coating composition which results in two-component coating systems with unacceptable mixing pot life.
The application of aspartic acid ester-functional silanes and aspartic acid ester-functional silane modified prepolymers in coatings adhesives and sealants is known in the art. For example U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,946 discloses that polyaspartic silane end capped polyurethane prepolymers, where the alkoxysilyl-terminal group reacts with moisture to crosslink the polyurethane prepolymer, can be used for formulating adhesives and sealants.
These polyaspartic silane end capped polyurethane prepolymers do not provide for improvements in flexibility in coating formulations based on polyurethane and polyureas and have Tg's which provide for brittle compositions at low temperatures.
Other uses of aspartic acid ester-functional silanes are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,085,712 discloses a two-part composition in which one part contains a polysiloxane, such as for example a methoxy-terminated polysiloxane, an aspartic acid ester containing silane and optionally a hydrolysable silane, and the second part contains polyisocyanate and a catalyst. The two-part compositions have several limitations, such as for example, the polysiloxanes have very limited miscibility with organic resins which makes direct application of polysiloxanes in combination with polyols problematic.
Aspartic acid ester-functional polysiloxanes are also known. For example, U.S. 2016/009971 A1 and CN 104312398 B disclose aspartic acid ester-functional polysiloxanes, which do not contain reactive alkoxysilyl-functional groups. These aspartic ester-functional polysiloxanes are not capable of crosslinking through the hydrolysis and condensation reactions of the reactive alkoxy-functional groups and are not able to chemically bond to metal substrates

Aspartic acid ester-functional polysiloxanes, their preparation and use thereof


A postural assessment chair provides a device for monitoring the posture of an individual seated thereon, and correlating changes in the individual's posture, along with indicia of movement of the chair itself and the cognitive workload of the individual, to determine the mental engagement of the individual.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for analyzing postural changes to assess mental engagement during cognitive tasks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Determining the degree of mental engagement in cognitive work is potentially critical for a wide range of tasks, including flying an airplane, operating a boat, air traffic control, operation of automobiles, and/or operation of unmanned robotic vehicles through virtual interfaces.
Present efforts towards analyzing cognitive engagement focus on identifying physiological measures from neural or physiological domains and attempting to correlate these measures to cognitive states. For example, EEG or pupillometry are highly susceptible to eye movement, blinking, and other sources of activity, in addition to the time between EEG recording and food intake. Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method for measuring automatic motor behaviors to measure cognitive engagement.
Presently available means of measuring the position and orientation of sensors attached to various body parts, such as the head, arms, legs or torso, include magnetic positioning sensors such as those marketed by Ascension Technology Corp. under the trademark FLOCK OF BIRDS. The operation of such motion tracker is explained in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,744,953 and 5,831,260. The algorithms for determining the position and orientation of the sensors with respect to a reference sensor are best explained in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,849,692, 4,945,305, and 6,172,499.
Presently available position and orientation measuring means using ultrasonic positional sensors include those marketed by Logitech, Inc., and are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,506. Other ultrasonic position measuring devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,450,752 and 5,591,914.
Although there are presently available means for monitoring the position and orientation of various body parts, there is a need for correlating these measurements with cognitive engagement so that they may be used as a measure of cognitive engagement during the performance of cognitive work. Additionally, there is a need to perform these measurements upon seated personnel during the performance of cognitive tasks.

Apparatus and method for postural assessment while performing cognitive tasks

University of Pittsburgh - of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education


An illumination control device (100) includes a motion detector (110) and a control unit (150) which perform control of illuminance, color, or distribution of light of an illumination light source (210) based on a result of detection by the motion detector (110).

In recent years, light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been used as light sources of illumination devices. In particular, LED lamps have been drawing attention as illumination light sources which are taking the place of conventionally known fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps.
Meanwhile, there have been proposed various methods of controlling illumination devices, such as a method in which a remote control device is used. For example, Patent Literature (PTL) 1 discloses an illumination control system for controlling an illumination device. The illumination control system captures an image of an illumination setting instructor (user), performs image recognition on the captured image, and controls the illumination device according to gestures of the user.

Illumination control device, light source for illumination, and illumination system


The invention concerns a method for controlling a nanofiltration or reverse osmosis module system designed for treating a supply fluid or for detecting living micro-organism leaks, each module comprising nanofiltration or reverse osmosis membranes and joints connecting said membranes, including steps which consist in: selecting in the supply fluid a dissolved compound present in significant amount but normally highly retained by the membranes; measuring the concentration value of said compound in a downstream zone of a module of said system; comparing said measured value with a reference value; and recognising the existence of a fault in said zone of the system when said measured value is higher than the reference value.

The technique of water purification supplied by membranes has an increasing number of industrial implementations of all capacities. The fields of membrane filtration techniques overlap but are generally divided into:                microfiltration, in the region of pore diameters of approximately 0.5 μm,        ultrafiltration, in the region of pore diameters of approximately 10 nm,        nanofiltration, having a cut-off capability of around 1 nanometer or 250 daltons (in practice from 200 to 300 daltons for nanofiltration membranes currently on the market),        reverse osmosis below 1 nanometer.
Nanofiltration makes it possible to eliminate a substantial proportion of the dissolved organic pollution and certain mineral ions. More particularly, it enables soluble organic minerals and certain mineral ions of quite large "apparent" size. On account of this, nanofiltration overlaps the field of reverse osmosis. Nanofiltration is also referred to as "low pressure reverse osmosis" or "hyperfiltration".
Due to its very low cut-off thresholds, nanofiltration ensures total microbial sterility.
Nevertheless, in industrial installations, nanofiltration membranes are mounted within nanofiltration modules, and these nanofiltration modules are themselves implemented by virtue of arrangements of a high number of modules capable of ensuring the required throughput. Thus, even though nanofiltration is inherently impermeable to bacteria and viruses at membrane level, the arrangement of a high number of modules may include connection defects which put in doubt the impermeability of the modules.
Furthermore, the possibility always exists of modules that are defective or badly constructed (poor glued joints of the membranes, holes not detected in the membrane, etc.).
There are two general configurations commonly used to mount nanofiltration membranes within a module:                a so-called "spiral" configuration implementing flat membrane sheets, separated by spacers, rolled around a tube collecting the filtrate (that is to say the part of the fluid to be treated which has passed through the membranes, in contrast to the concentrate which is the part of the fluid which has not passed through these membranes and in which are concentrated the impurities held back by the membranes.        a so-called "hollow fiber" configuration, in which the membranes appear in the form of bundles of capillary fibers.
Whatever the type of configuration, the modules (in general of a diameter of 8 inches and a length of 40 inches for industrial water treatment installations) are connected to each other, in principle in series, within so-called "pressure tubes". A complete nanofiltration system may comprise several pressure tubes mounted in parallel, conventionally fixed onto units (or skids), or even most often several units (or stages) each formed by a plurality of tubes.
The problem which arises in practice is that of detecting a defect in the integrity of a module, or of a system constituted by a plurality of modules, of which the origin lies either with the membrane themselves, or with the joints, and which results in a passage of the fluid directly from the dirty side of the membrane (concentrate) to the clean side (filtrate) through the pierced membrane or deficient joint.
Thus there are two main categories of checking methods applied to models taken individually, that is to say methods of detecting the modification of the integrity of modules for nanofiltration or reverse osmosis.                methods implementing quality control of the water produced, i.e. of the filtrate (in particular by measurement of conductivity, or by bacteriological analyses),        methods implementing leak detection using a physical process (for example measurement of throughput, or measurement of low pressure).
These methods are implemented on the filtration modules taken individually and generally placed on test-beds; they cannot be used to locate defects in connections within a system in operation.
The method may also be cited of leak detection by noise measurement proposed in document WO99/44728, but this method is not applicable to reverse osmosis nor to nanofiltration, the latter two methods requiring operation in tangential flow mode of the membranes. This is because this mode uses higher pressures and speeds, and consequently the noises of leaks cannot be distinguished from ambient noise.
Methods also exist which apply to overall systems of modules; these methods in principle use measurements of conductivity of the water produced by the systems. Thus, for the desalination of sea water by reverse osmosis, a measurement of conductivity is generally sufficient. However, for nanofiltration membrane systems, the measurement of conductivity of the water produced by the systems does not enable defects to be detected with the necessary precision. This is because, by nature, nanofiltration lets through a high number of salts such as calcium, chlorides, nitrates, etc. without this being attributable to a defect in the integrity of the system.

Method for controlling the integrity of a nanofiltration or reverse osmosis module, or module system

Veolia Eau - Compagnie Generale des Eaux

Syndicat des Eaux d'ile de France (SEDIF)


A nonvolatile memory has logic which performs a programming operation, that controls a series of programming bias arrangements to program at least a selected memory cell of the memory array with data. The series of programming bias arrangements include multiple sets of changing gate voltage values to the memory cells.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of technology relates to programming a nonvolatile memory array.
2. Description of Related Art
The program operation of a nonvolatile memory cell is complicated by the program disturb effect. Programming refers to adding charge to, or removing charge from, selected memory cells of a memory array, unlike the indiscriminate erase operation which resets typically an entire sector of memory cells to the same charge storage state. The invention encompasses both products and methods where programming refers to making the net charge stored in the charge trapping structure more negative or more positive, and products and methods where erasing refers to making the net charge stored in the charge trapping structure more negative or more positive. In the program disturb effect, programming of a selected cell leads to unwanted programming of unselected memory cells.

Method and apparatus for programming nonvolatile memory


Provided is a light emitting device assembly. The light emitting device assembly includes a submount including bumps, each having a bonded surface and a lateral surface surrounding the bonded surface; and a light emitting device including pads, each having a bonded surface corresponding to a bonded surface of a corresponding bump. Herein, edges of the bonded surface of each of the bumps are spaced a predetermined distance inward from edges of a corresponding pad.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device assembly, and more particularly, to a flip-chip bonding type light emitting device assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a laser beam of a laser diode (LD), which has a narrow frequency bandwidth and a good property of going straight ahead, has been recently put to practical use in the fields of optical communications, multiple communications, and space communications. One of major applications of the LD, along with the optical communications, is a pickup for an optical disc.
A GaN semiconductor LD includes a plurality of compound semiconductor layers, which are grown by crystalline grain growth and stacked on a substrate formed of sapphire, GaN, or SiC. Specifically, such compound semiconductor layers as an n-type GaN contact layer, an n-type AlGaN/GaN clad layer, an n-type GaN wave guide layer, an InGaN active layer, a p-type GaN wave guide layer, a p-type AlGaN/GaN clad layer, and a p-type GaN contact layer are sequentially stacked on the substrate. In the GaN semiconductor LD having the above-described stack structure, a ridge for forming a p-type electrode is provided on the uppermost portion of the LD. A passivation layer is formed between the ridge and the p-type electrode to define a conducting path in the semiconductor stack structure.
The GaN semiconductor LD is flip-chip bonded to a submount to facilitate transfer of heat generated during drive. By the flip-chip bonding, a top surface of a light emitting device, such as the LD where the p-type electrode is formed, is fixed to the submount using a solder bump.
When the light emitting device is flip-chip bonded to the submount, since the light emitting device and the submount are directly connected to each other using the solder bump, thermal resistance and line resistance are reduced as compared with when wire bonding is used.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a light emitting device assembly in which a light emitting device is flip-chip bonded to a submount.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes the light emitting device, such as an LD, and 21 denotes the submount. The light emitting device 10 is turned over to be bonded to the submount 21. The light emitting device 10 includes a compound semiconductor layer 12 and a substrate 11 on which the compound semiconductor layer 12 is grown. The compound semiconductor layer 12 includes an n-type compound semiconductor layer (not shown), a p-type compound semiconductor layer (not shown), and an active layer (not shown) disposed therebetween. A first pad layer 22a and a second pad layer 22b are formed on the submount 21. The first pad layer 22a and the second pad layer 22b respectively face two stepped regions of the compound semiconductor layer 12 and are spaced apart from each other. The two stepped regions of the compound semiconductor layer 12 correspond to a region where an n-type electrode (not shown) is formed and a region where a p-type electrode (not shown) is formed, respectively. There is a step difference S between the two stepped regions. A pad 13a is formed in the region where the n-type electrode is formed, and a pad 13b is formed in the region where the p-type electrode is formed. The pads 13a and 13b are in contact with the n-type electrode and the p-type electrode, respectively.
A solder bump 30a is interposed between the pad 13a disposed on the compound semiconductor layer 12 and the corresponding first pad layer 22a disposed on the submount 21, and a solder bump 30b is interposed between the pad 13b disposed on the compound semiconductor layer 12 and the corresponding second pad layer 22b disposed on the submount 21. The solder bumps 30a and 30b each include stacked conductive materials.
Specifically, the solder bump 30a includes a first gold layer 31a that contacts the pad 13a of the light emitting device 10, a first platinum layer 33a that contacts the first pad layer 22a, and an AuSn solder 32a disposed therebetween. Likewise, the solder bump 30b includes a second gold layer 31b that contacts the pad 13b of the light emitting device 10, a second platinum layer 33b that contacts the second pad layer 22b, and an AuSn solder 32b disposed therebetween.
The light emitting device 10 is turned over and the solder bumps 30a and 30b are closely bonded to the pads 13a and 13b, respectively, due to a predetermined pressure. In this state, the resultant structure is heated for several seconds to a temperature of about 280° C. or higher. As a result, the light emitting device 10 is fixed to the submount 21 by the solder bumps 30a and 30b. However, in this conventional light emitting device 10, the pads 13a and 13b are unreliably bonded to the solder bumps 30a and 30b, respectively, because of the following reasons.
Typically, the pads 13a and 13b of the light emitting device 10 are patterned using lift-off. When lift-off is used, as shown in a left view of FIG. 2, which illustrates a conventional light emitting device assembly before bonding, a flare type fence 14 is formed along an edge of each of the pads 13a and 13b. Accordingly, as shown in a right view of FIG. 2, which illustrates the conventional light emitting device assembly after bonding, when the pads 13a and 13b come close to the bumps 30a and 30b, the pads 13a and 13b become the first portions that contact the top surfaces of the bumps 30a and 30b. After the pads 13a and 13b are closely bonded to the bumps 30a and 30b, a gap is formed between the pads 13a and 13b and the bumps 30a and 30b due to the protruding fences 4.
FIG. 3A is a microscopic photograph of the pads 13a and 13b of the light emitting device 10, FIG. 3B is an exploded scanning electronic microscope (SEM) photograph of a portion illustrated with a left circle shown in FIG. 3A, and FIG. 3C is an exploded SEM photograph of a portion illustrated with a right circle shown in FIG. 3A.
As shown in FIG. 3A, pads are disposed on both outer portions of the light emitting device 10. The pads are formed using a typical method, i.e., lift-off. Thus, as described above, fences are formed along edges of the pads, respectively. It can be seen from FIGS. 3B and 3C that metal fences are formed during the lift-off. The metal fences are produced when a metal material is torn off during the lift-off, and each of them has a greater height than adjacent portions.
FIG. 4A is a photograph of the conventional light emitting device assembly in which the light emitting device is fixed to the submount, and FIG. 4B is a photograph of a plan view of a solder bump of the submount after the light emitting device is separated from the submount. In the light emitting device assembly bonded as shown in FIG. 4A, a gap occurs between the solder bump and the pad of the light emitting device and thus, the solder bump is badly bonded to the pad. This poor bonding state not only precludes effective heat emission, but also increases contact resistance between the pad and the bump, thus resulting in an elevation of driving voltage.


The invention takes the form of a hydrodynamic plane which carries a fishing line up and down along a weighted downrigger trolling line. The position of the plane is controlled by the fisherman through the fishing line which is releasably clipped to a leader attached to the trailing edge of the plane. Whenever there is a mild amount of tension on the fishing line the plane is held in a down-planing position so that the device will dive and be held against the downrigger weight by the hydrodynamic force. The weight of the plane is balanced so that when the tension on the fishing line is relieved or if the fishing line is released from the friction clip, the plane will automatically pivot to an up-planing position and rise to the surface. Thus, the plane will automatically rise to the surface when a fish strikes the hook, or the fisherman can make the device rise to the surface on command without releasing the fishing line so that he or she can check the bait or the lure and send the device back down again.

Downrigger fishing is a technique which is common to both commercial fishermen and sports fishermen. The downrigger technique is used to troll for fish which swim at great depths, sometimes 100 feet or more. In this technique a downrigger, which is a line or cable with a heavy weight attached to it, is suspended from a boat to a predetermined depth. One or more fishing lines with baited hooks or lures are releasably attached to the weight or at different depths along the downrigger line. The heavy weight holds the fishing lines at an appropriate depth for catching the fish.
When a fish takes one of the hooks, the fishing line is released from the downrigger so that the fish can be landed without fighting against the heavy weight of the downrigger. A number of releasable clips have been devised for attaching fishing lines to a downrigger. Examples of these include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,816,954; 3,874,110; 3,925,920; 4,065,869; 4,069,611; 4,513,524 and 4,942,690. Any one of these prior art devices can be used with the present invention, therefore, the specifications of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
A number of hydrodynamic planing devices have been suggested for use in downrigger fishing. All of these prior art devices suffer from one or more deficiencies which have limited their popularity for downrigger fishing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,047 for a Fish Line Carrier describes a device which uses hydrodynamic force to carry a fishing line downward along a downrigger line. The device has a friction clamp which holds the fishing line so that it will be released when the hook is struck by a fish. This device has no mechanism to carry it back up the downrigger line when the fishing line is released. Consequently, each time a fish is caught, the fisherman must add a new fish line carrier to the downrigger line if he wants to avoid reeling up the downrigger each time. Eventually, several line carriers will be stacked up on the downrigger weight. The added weight and the hydrodynamic force of the stacked carriers will make it more difficult to reel up the downrigger line.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,813 for a Down Rigger Diving Plane describes another device which uses hydrodynamic force to carry a fishing line downward along a downrigger line. To avoid the disadvantage of adding multiple line carriers to the downrigger line like the device above, this device is made so that it releases from the downrigger line and stays attached to the fishing line when a fish strikes the hook. The device is then reeled in with the fish, and it can be reattached to the downrigger line when the hook is rebaited and lowered again. This approach has the disadvantage that the hydrodynamic resistance of the device on the fishing line reduces the sport and excitement of "playing" the fish while landing it.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,127 for a Power Plane For Transporting Fishing Line describes an improved downrigger fishing device which not only uses hydrodynamic force to carry a fishing line downward along a downrigger line, but when the fishing line is released, the power plane changes attitude so that the hydrodynamic force will carry the device back up the downrigger line. This improvement allows the device to be used multiple times so that many fish can be caught without the need to reel in the downrigger or to add several line carriers. However, even this device has a number of disadvantages that have limited its popularity. The device, as described in the patent, is complicated to use and complicated to manufacture. In addition, the device is not responsive to the user. Once the device has been set up and released, it will continue to plane downward until the fishing line is released. The user cannot retrieve the device except by pulling on the fishing line hard enough to detach it from the device so that it will begin to rise up on its own. This means that anytime the fisherman wants to check the bait, he or she must pull the fishing line free from the power plane, reel it in, then reset the power plane so that it will carry the line back down again.

Hydrodynamic plane for downrigger fishing


A vehicle slide rail device, which can support a movable member on an upper rail without jolting by utilizing a supporting portion and a supported portion, which device includes a lock spring generating an engagement-assisting biasing force in a same direction or a different direction from an engaging direction of a locking portion with lock grooves of a lower rail, and a supporting portion of the upper rail is provided with a pair of supporting surfaces, the space there between becoming mutually narrower with respect to the direction of the engagement-assisting biasing force, so that when the supported portion is positioned at a predetermined position by the engagement-assisting biasing force, the supported portion engages with both of the pair of supporting surfaces so that forward/rearward movement of the supported portion relative to the supporting surfaces is restricted.

Patent Literature 1 is a prior art slide rail device for vehicle, which is equipped with a pair of left and right lower rails which are fixed to a vehicle interior floor, extend in the forward/rearward direction, include a large number of lock grooves arranged in a forward/rearward direction; a pair of left and right upper rails which support a seating portion of a seat and are slidably supported by the left and right lower rails; lock springs, supported by the upper rails and each having a locking portion which is disengageably-engageable with the lock grooves from below; and lock-release levers, wherein each lock-release lever is rotatable between a locked position, at which the lock-release lever does not act on the lock spring that is supported by the upper rail, and an unlocked position, at which the lock-release lever acts on the lock spring to eject the locking portion from the corresponding lock groove.
In this slide rail device, when an occupant applies no operating force to the lock-release levers, the slide position of the seat and upper rails with respect to the lower rails is maintained by the locking portion of each lock spring engaging with one of the lock grooves. On the other hand, upon a passenger rotating the lock-release levers to the unlock position against the biasing force of the lock springs, the locking portion of each lock spring disengages from the lock groove to thereby allow the seat and the upper rails to slide with respect to the lower rails.
Whereas, a slide rail device for a vehicle disclosed in Patent Literature 2 is equipped with a pair of left and right lower rails which are fixed to a vehicle interior floor, extend in a forward/rearward direction and include a large number of lock grooves, arranged in the forward/rearward direction; a pair of left and right upper rails which support the seating portion of a seat and are slidably supported by the left and right pair of lower rails; a lock lever which includes a locking portion, which is disengageably-engageable with the lock grooves from below and is supported by each upper rail to be rotatable in the upward/downward direction between a locked position, at which the locking portion is engaged with the lock grooves, and an unlocked position, at which the locking portion escapes from the lock grooves; and a biaser which rotatably biases the locking lever toward the locked position.
In this slide rail device, when an occupant applies no operating force to the lock lever, the slide positions of the seat and the upper rails with respect to the lower rails are maintained since the locking portion of each lock lever which is held in the locked position by the biasing force of the biaser is engaged with some of the lock grooves. On the other hand, upon an occupant rotating the lock lever to the unlocked position against the biasing force of the biaser, the locking portion of each lock lever is released from the engagement with the lock grooves to thereby allow the seat and the upper rails to slide relative to the lower rails.


A power monitoring device and a power analysis method are provided. The power monitoring device receives a plurality of pieces of power consumption information from a power meter. The power meter is installed on a power line of an electric device. The power monitoring device stores a piece of power specification information of the power device and a piece of user and environment information associated with the power device, and generates a piece of user behavior feature information according to the plurality of pieces of power consumption information. The power monitoring device retrieves a piece of key feature information from the power specification information, the user and environment information and the user behavior feature information so as to generate an inform message according to the key feature information, and transmit the inform message to a user device associated with the electric device.

As the awareness of energy saving and dioxide emission reduction becomes popular in recent years, some users choose to install power meters on some electric devices having a high power consumption in order to reduce the power consumption. The power meters periodically measures the power consumption and reports the power consumption back to a power monitoring device. The power monitoring device stores power specification information (e.g., an operating status, a maximum power value, a minimum power value and a power value distribution of each of the electric devices), and generates a piece of user behavior feature information (e.g., a using status, a using frequency, a starting time, a stopping time, a continuous use duration, a number of use times per day, a number of use times per week, a number of use times per quarter, a number of use times per year, power consumption each time, power consumption per day, power consumption per week, power consumption per month, and so on) according to the power consumption measured. In this way, the user can be informed of the using conditions and the power consumption per day, per week or per month of the electric devices according to the power specification information and the user behavior feature information.
However, it requires a very large storage space to store the power specification information and all the user behavior feature information. Furthermore, it may take the user considerable time to find a piece of desired or key power consumption information from the massive user behavior feature information.
Accordingly, an urgent need exists in the art to provide a solution capable of retrieving key user behavior feature information from all pieces of user behavior feature information so that only the key user behavior feature information is stored to reduce the information storage amount and increase the retrieving efficiency.

Power monitoring device and power analysis method


An integrated circuit includes multiple power domains. Supply current switch circuits (SCSCs) are distributed across each power domain. When a signal is present on a control node within a SCSC, the SCSC couples a local supply bus of the power domain to a global supply bus. An enable signal path extends through the SCSCs so that an enable signal can be propagated down a chain of SCSCs from control node to control node, thereby turning the SCSCs on one by one. When the domain is to be powered up, a control circuit asserts an enable signal that propagates down a first chain of SCSCs. After a programmable amount of time, the control circuit asserts a second enable signal that propagates down a second chain. By spreading the turning on of SCSCs over time, large currents that would otherwise be associated with coupling the local and global buses together are avoided.

1. Field
The disclosed embodiments relate generally to the powering up and/or the powering down of a power domain within an integrated circuit.
2. Background
FIG. 1 (Prior Art) is a simplified top down diagram of an example of an integrated circuit die 1. Integrated circuit die 1 includes a peripheral ring of bonding terminals 2, and four domains of internal circuitry 3-6. These domains are called power domains because the circuitry within each domain can be powered or unpowered separately from the other domains.
FIG. 2 (Prior Art) is a simplified schematic diagram of the four power domains 3-6 of FIG. 1. The domains are powered via a supply voltage terminal 7 (denoted PWR), and a ground terminal 8 (denoted GND). The supply voltage is supplied to the various domains 3-6 by a supply bus 9. The supply bus is sometimes called a power bus. Supply bus 9 typically is in the form of a grid of conductors. The linear shape illustrated in FIG. 2 is presented just as an example to simplify the explanation of an operation of the power domains.
Although a supply bus such as supply bus 9 is typically fashioned as a wide strip of metal so that it will have good electrical conductor properties, the supply voltage bus nonetheless does have a small series resistance, a capacitance and a small inductance. The resistance and inductance are represented in the diagram with resistor and inductor symbols.
The various domains of circuitry 3-6 are grounded by a ground bus 10. Although the ground bus is also typically made of a wide strip of metal, it too has a small series resistance, a capacitance and a small inductance. The resistance and inductance are represented in the diagram with resistor and inductor symbols.
To reduce power consumption of integrated circuit 1, it is desired to be able to cut power to a domain if the circuitry within the domain is not in use. Switches 11-14 are provided so that the current path from power bus 9 to ground bus 10 through a selected domain can be cut if desired. If, for example, switch 13 is open, then there is no current flow from power bus 9 to ground bus 10 through domain 5. It is also desired to be able to supply power to a domain of circuitry that is to be used. If, for example, switch 13 is closed, then a supply current can flow from power bus 9 to ground bus 10 through domain 5.
FIG. 3 (Prior Art) illustrates a problem that can occur when a dormant power domain is then powered up so that circuitry within the domain can be used. Initially, circuitry within domains 3, 4 and 6 are in use. Switches 11, 12 and 14 are therefore closed. Switch 13, however, is open because the circuitry of domain 5 is not in use. Each domain has local power and ground conductors that extend to the various circuit elements within the domain. The local power and ground conductors and the circuitry within the domain constitute a capacitance between the power and ground buses 9 and 10. The capacitor symbols 15-18 in the domains represent these capacitances. Because switch 13 is open, capacitor 17 is discharged.
Next, the circuitry within domain 5 is to be used. The circuitry within domain 5 therefore needs to be powered. Switch 13 is closed so that the local power and ground bus lines within the domain can be charged and so that power and ground potential can be supplied to the circuitry within the domain. Initially, however, there is no charge on capacitor 17. A large inrush of current 19 therefore flows into the domain to charge the capacitance 17. This current 19 flows through supply bus 9, into domain 5, and out of domain 5 through ground bus 10. Due to the series resistance and inductance of the supply bus, the large current surge on supply bus 9 causes the voltage on node N2 to spike down. Similarly, the large current surge on ground bus 10 causes the voltage on node N6 to spike up. These spikes reduce the magnitude of the voltage between nodes N2 and N6. Rather than the proper supply voltage being present between nodes N2 and N6, the supply voltage seen by the circuitry within domain 4 drops quickly. This may disrupt operation of circuitry in the neighboring power domain 4. A solution is desired.

Distributed supply current switch circuits for enabling individual power domains