The present invention relates to compositions and methods for the modulation of TH17 responses. The invention provides compositions for the induction of TH17 responses containing a TLR agonist and an apoptotic cell-associated agent or containing a microbe-infected apoptotic cell. The compositions of the present invention may also contain dendritic cells capable of inducing TH17 responses. In other embodiments, the invention provides compositions for the inhibition of TH17 responses containing one or more blocking agents. Methods and compositions for the modulation of TH17 responses and for the treatment of TH17-associated diseases and for cancer are also provided.

The citation and/or discussion of cited references in this section and throughout the specification is provided merely to clarify the description of the present invention and is not an admission that any such references is "prior art" to the present invention.
Adaptive immune responses rely on differentiation of CD4 T helper cells into subsets with distinct effector functions best suited for host defense against an invading pathogen. Interleukin (IL)-17 producing T-helper cells (TH17) are a recently identified subset, separate from the T helper type 1 (TH1) and T helper type 2 (TH2) subsets1. The TH17 response is a pro-inflammatory T cell response that is associated with the release of IL-17 and IL-23 cytokines. It has been closely associated with immunity in response to TLR-activated microbial infections and has been reported in a variety of autoimmune conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, colitis, systemic sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and cystic fibrosis. Studies have shown that inhibitory antibodies to IL-17 or mice deficient in IL-17 responses are able to suppress or prevent the TH17 response in disease models for gastrointestinal immunity, experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE), and rheumatoid arthritis.
Generation of TH17 responses is also thought to be favored at mucosal sites for protective immunity. Importantly, mucosal sites represent a primary target for delivery of vaccines, because most infections affect or start from a mucosal surface. Moreover, often in these infections, application of a vaccine directly to the mucosal surface is required to induce an effective, protective immune response [Holmgren, J. and C. Czerkinsky, Nat Med (2005) 11(4 Suppl):S45-53], since induction of peripheral immune responses by parenteral immunization does not result in significant mucosal immunity [Kiyono, H., et al. Reg Immunol, (1992) 4(2):54-62; McGhee, J. R., et al., Vaccine, (1992) 10(2):75-88].
The effort that has been focused thus far on inducing effective immune responses in mucosal tissues has met with considerable challenge, since most protein antigens (Ags) are rather weak immunogens when given via the mucosal route. The coadministration of mucosal adjuvants, such as cholera toxin (CT), has been shown to effectively support Ag-specific mucosal immune responses, however, the inherent toxicity of cholera toxin is a major hindrance to its use in humans. Thus, the development of other, effective and reliable mucosal adjuvants, that preferably induce TH17 responses, is of central importance for new generation vaccines [McGhee, J. R., et al. Vaccine (1992) 10(2)75-88]. However, it is important to recognize that tight regulation of these TH17 responses must also be achieved, since TH17 responses are also associated with driving a number of autoimmune diseases. Thus, it is critical that the factors that govern differentiation of TH17 cells in vitro be better understood, so that TH17 responses may be carefully regulated.

T-helper cell type 17 lineage-specific adjuvants, compositions and methods


A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided. The apparatus may be an intermediate gateway. The intermediate gateway may receive a first Internet protocol (IP) packet of a first data flow for transmission to a device, determine a first quality of a cellular communication link established with the device and a second quality of at least one local area communication link established with the device, attach a header to the first IP packet when the second quality is closer to a quality requirement of the first IP packet than the first quality, the header being used to tunnel the first IP packet to the device via the at least one local area communication link, and transmit the first IP packet to the device via the at least one local area communication link based on at least the first and second qualities.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to home networking with integrated cellular communication.
2. Background
Home networking allows multiple devices, such as computers and other computing devices, to conveniently share files, printers and an Internet connection. Home networking solutions typically implement wireless local area network (WLAN) communication technologies, such as WiFi™, for transferring data and other information. However, such communication technologies are susceptible to interference from other networks that may be operating nearby, which may degrade the performance of the home network.

Home networking with integrated cellular communication


The present disclosure provides a conference device, a method of controlling the conference device, and a computer storage medium. The conference device includes a display, an image sensor, a holographic projector, and a controller configured to identify, by using an image data from the image sensor, a modification action performed at a target location for a holographic image projected by the holographic projector, modify holographic projection data based on the modification action, and convert modified holographic projection data into modified two-dimensional imaging data.

Two-dimensional image display devices are widely used in teaching, office, and other places. When the two-dimensional image display device is applied to a conference system, simple two-dimensional imaging and remote interconnection and interaction of reports may be performed, and annotation discussion may be carried out on the display screen of the two-dimensional image display device.
In this way, because the remote and current scenes are only communicated through the display screen of the two-dimensional image display device, and the space range of the conference room is different, the participation and interaction of the participants are limited.

Conference device, method of controlling conference device, and computer storage medium


An anti-snoring device for positioning within the mouth cavity of a person is disclosed. The invention is characterized in that a displacement member (9) is provided with a shape and size suitable for placement within the mouth cavity between the bottom of the tongue and the musculature at the bottom of the mouth, the member lifting the tongue in toward the mouth cavity, wherein the displacement member is connected to a mouthpiece-shaped element (8) placed between the teeth of the upper and lower jaw, and provides a passage opening (15) for ventilation of the mouth cavity with air that is breathed.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an anti-snoring device for positioning within the mouth cavity of a person.
Description of the Prior Art
The noise made during breathing when asleep (snoring) is, in particular, very disruptive for people in the vicinity of the snorer. In addition, snoring may even pose a risk to the health of the snorer, for example in the case of obstructive sleep apnoea. Snoring is generally produced by weak muscle tone of the neck muscles during sleep. The airways become narrowed until they close completely (apnoea). This leads to an increased air flow and to the generation of noise by the structures that droop during movement. Muscle tension naturally decreases in older individuals in the throat region, which is why this group of people snore more often than younger individuals.
A wide range of devices, aids and breathing masks to prevent snoring are known, including surgical procedures.
Operations generally remove the structures preventing breathing, such as enlarged tonsils, polyps, etc. However, the success rate with regard to snoring varies very widely from 20-40%. According to many reports the relapse rate is very high.
A breathing mask provides continuous positive airway pressure and therefore holds the airways open. Since it is a very expensive and complex piece of equipment that is uncomfortable for the snorer, it is primarily indicated in severe cases of apnoea.
Intraoral devices are worn at night and generally displace the lower jaw in a forward direction so as to open the pharyngeal portion of the airways. The base of the tongue is also entrained with the lower jaw in a forward direction, thus making it possible to open the airways. Success can be achieved using these devices, but they are usually found to be very cumbersome by the wearer as a result of their construction and design.
Known oral anti-snoring devices representative of a large number of known generic devices can be inferred from the following documents:
DE 40 26 602 C1 discloses a device for preventing snoring comprising a prosthesis part that is fixed to the teeth and to which a bow is attached via a spring mechanism in such a way that, on the one hand, the tongue is pressed away from the posterior soft palate and, on the other hand, the tongue can be pressed against the palate during swallowing.
EP 0 312 368 B1 discloses a modified mouthpiece as an anti-snoring device, onto which the teeth of the upper jaw bite, a lower sliding connecting member pressing the mouthpiece toward the mouth cavity opening against the inner faces of the teeth of the lower jaw, whereby the lower jaw is pushed forward and the distance between the tongue and the soft palate is enlarged.
EP 0 254 918 A1 discloses an upper and lower jaw plate comprising inserted magnets that hold both jaws at a specific distance by opposed magnetic repulsion.
DE 27 04 709 A1 represents a normal gag.
EP 0 599 445 A1 discloses a device with rigid fixing of the upper jaw and loose fixing of the lower jaw. The oral side of the device is configured in such a way that the tongue can be placed in a sucking position.
WO 92/05752 discloses a device comprising a palate plate and a mouth base plate that simultaneously push the lower jaw forward and force the wearer to breathe through their nose. Two variants are disclosed: one in which the device is fixed to the teeth, and one in which the device sits freely in the mouth.
WO 92/09249 discloses a device for preventing tongue thrust, teeth grinding and snoring. Adapted to the tongue and teeth, the device holds the tongue forward by suction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,346 discloses a device for the upper jaw comprising a ramp for the lower jaw to push the lower jaw forward, and a breathing opening between the upper jaw part and the lower jaw ramp.
DE 23 20 501 C3 discloses a device that is similarly constructed to an orthodontic activator and comprises an additional labial and adjustable lip shield. The lower jaw is pushed forward by muscle activity and corresponding grinding guides in the device for the teeth. However, the muscles still droop during sleep and muscle tone is decreased or cancelled out completely.
The main drawback of known devices is that the devices are decidedly uncomfortable to wear owing to their voluminous expansion, their constraints caused by a bite guard, their pressure on the tongue or soft palate parts, and the restricted freedom of movement of the lower jaw and tongue. The feeling of a large, annoying foreign body in the mouth prevents the snorer from falling asleep, which generally leads to the devices not being used.


A lid assembly for a beverage can has a base and a closure member that can be swiveled relative to the base between a position in which a drinking port in the top of a can is exposed to allow drinking through the port and a position in which the drinking port is covered. The base is snap fitted over a rim at the top of the can.

Cans made from aluminum or tin-plated steel are used for a large variety of beverages because, in spite of being lightweight and cheap to produce, they provide the means for relatively robust, sealed containment of drinks. Most beverage cans are made to standard dimensions corresponding to standard beverage volumes. One standard for a large part of the North American sales of beverage cans requires a liquid volume of 355 ml with the can being 2.13 inches in diameter at the top rim. Other standards cover different volumes and different can aspect ratios. Prevailing standards often differ as between different countries or other market regions. Generally, tolerances for the manufacture of cans, including the can diameter and the rim size are very tight. This is important given the relationship of the assembly of the present invention and its application to industry standard cans.
Cans are designed to be opened at the site at which the beverage is to be imbibed so that the contained drink can be drunk either straight from the can or after pouring the drink into a glass or like secondary container. Most, but not all examples of can-opening mechanisms involve configuring the top of the can to facilitate the drinker forming a port in the can top through which the beverage can be imbibed or poured. Examples of such opening mechanism include pull tab, stay-on-tab, pop-tab and press-button. Usually, the port is eccentrically located on the can top as this enables easier both to drink directly from the can and to pour from the can. For a can with no preformed top opening mechanism, tops are opened using a can-piercer which is basically the well-know church-key bottle opener but with the head of the opener having a sharp head to puncture the can top when the opener is levered around the can rim
All of these opening mechanisms and methods leave a port in the top of the can through which the contents of the can are often directly drunk. Drinking typically involves pursing the lips so that top lip covers part of the top of the can, the bottom lip covers part of the side of the can but the lips in combination surround the area of the port so as to provide a sealed conduit between the interior of the can and the drinker's mouth. Unless the drinker is very thirsty, the full contents of a can may not be drunk in a single sustained set of gulps. Instead, once an immediate thirst is temporarily quenched, the can is usually set aside for a minute or two before the drinker returns for another pull. During that time, the drinking port is normally left unprotected. Consequently, a fragrance or aroma issues through the port from inside the can and is emitted from the regions of the can that have been touched by the drinker's lips and which therefore bear a layer of the beverage. The fragrance and layer, especially if sweet, can attract insects including stinging insects such as bees and wasps. This can result in the drinker or someone else in the vicinity being stung, which is extremely uncomfortable and even fatal for someone having a severe sting allergy.


Systems and methods are provided for selecting parameter values and combinations of parameter values to use in connection with testing. A graphical user interface allows a user to graphically illustrate the importance of parameter values by drawing a probability curve for each parameter. The resulting curves are then converted to mathematical functions that are then combined into a combination function. The combination function is then evaluated for different parameter value combinations. The parameter value combinations that cause the combination function to exceed a predetermined probability value are selected for testing.

Software modules, such as application programming interfaces, continue to become increasingly complex. Such modules may include a larger number of input parameters and parameter combinations. The testing of software modules typically includes selecting parameter values and parameter value combinations. The combinations of parameter values are then applied to the software module and the resulting output is analyzed.
The selection of parameter values and combinations of parameter values is critical to ensure that a software module is operating properly. It is generally desirable to test the values and combinations of values that are mostly likely to occur during the operation of the software module. Existing systems and methods for selecting parameter values and combinations of parameter values can be time consuming and error prone. For example, manually selecting parameter values and combinations of parameter values can take a long time. And, for complex software modules that have a large number of parameters, the manual selection of parameter values and combinations of parameter values can result in a testing procedure that does not include testing critical inputs.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for efficient and accurate systems and methods for selecting input parameters and combinations of parameter values to use when testing software modules.


A base station arrangement for a cellular radio system comprising an antenna array, is disclosed. The downlink signals transmitted from antennas have a spacing which is scaled in proportion to the transmitted and received wavelengths. A method of operation is also disclosed.

Cellular radio systems are currently in widespread use throughout the world providing telecommunications to mobile users. In order to meet the capacity demand, within the available frequency band allocation, cellular radio systems divide a geographic area to be covered into cells. At the centre of each cell, there is a base station through which the mobile stations communicate, each base station typically being equipped with antenna arrays arranged sectors. Configurations of three or six sectors (sub-cells) are often employed, where the higher gain of correspondingly narrower beamwidth antennas improve the uplink from the lower power mobiles. The distance between the cells is determined such that co-channel interference is maintained at a tolerable level.
Obstacles in a signal path, such as buildings in built-up areas and hills in rural areas, act as signal scatterers and can cause signalling problems. These scattered signals interact and their resultant signal at a receiving antenna is subject to deep and rapid fading and the signal envelope often follows a Rayleigh distribution over short distances, especially in heavily cluttered regions. A receiver moving through this spatially varying field experiences a fading rate which is proportional to its speed and the frequency of the transmission. Since the various components arrive from different directions, there is also a Doppler spread in the received spectrum.
When a new cellular radio system is initially deployed, operators are often interested in maximising the uplink (mobile to base station) and downlink (base station to mobile station) range. The ranges in many systems are uplink limited due to the relatively low transmitted power levels of hand portable mobile stations. Any increase in range means that fewer cells are required to cover a given geographic area, hence reducing the number of base stations and associated infrastructure costs.
The range of the link, either the uplink or the downlink, can be controlled principally in two different ways: by adjusting either the power of the transmitter or the gain at the receiver. On the downlink the most obvious way of increasing the range is to increase the power of the base station transmitter. To balance the link the range of the uplink must also be increased by an equivalent amount. The output power of a transmitter on a mobile, however, is constrained to quite a low level to meet national regulations, which vary on a country to country basis. Accordingly the receive gain at the base station must be increased.
The principal method of improving the receive system gain and to reduce the effect of fading is to include some form of diversity gain in addition to the receive antenna gain. The object of a diverse system is to provide the receiver with more than one path, with the paths being differentiated from each other by some means, e.g. space, angle, frequency or polarisation. The use of these additional paths by the receiver provides the diversity gain. The amount of gain achieved depends upon the type of diversity, number of paths, and method of combination.
Cellular radio base stations frequently use two antennas for diversity reception on the uplink, spaced by many (e.g. 20) wavelengths. This large spacing is required because the angular spread of the incoming signals is narrow. This can be represented as a ring of scatterers around a mobile user who is transmitting to a base station otherwise known as the uplink path and such an arrangement is shown in FIG. 1. For example the radius of scatterers may be 50 to 100 meters, and the range to the base station may be up to 10 km, resulting in a narrow angular spread. A large antenna spacing is required at the base station to provide decorrelated fading, which can be calculated from the Fourier transform relationship between antenna array aperture and angular width (a large aperture in wavelengths provides a narrow beam).
In order to improve wanted signals and discriminate against interfering signals, antennas are being developed which utilise an array of antenna elements at the base station, allied with an "intelligent" beamformer. One such technique is to use a multichannel maximal ratio combiner on reception at the base station array. This operates by weighting the array signals s.sub.i (i=1 to N, where N=the number of elements in the array) with their complex conjugates s.sub.i * (assuming equal noise powers on each channel) and summing to give: ##EQU1##
For a N element array, this provides both array gain (approximately a factor N in power) and diversity gain, the latter only if at least some of the array elements are widely spaced. Thus a factor N improvement in mean signal level can be achieved, allowing extended range or lower mobile transmit power. The array provides narrower beams than a single antenna element, and hence also provides better protection against interference, improving carrier to interference ratios and hence allowing higher capacity systems by reducing re-use factors.
The limitation of the above is that the improvements are only for the uplink, and not for the downlink (base station transmit to the mobile). This invention is concerned with spatially diverse systems and in particular seeks to provide an arrangement wherein downlink performance is improved.
A standard feature of a number of cellular radio systems is that the sets of uplink and downlink frequencies are separated into two distinct bands spaced by a guard band, for example 1800-1850 MHz (uplink) and 1900.varies.1950 MHz (downlink). Up- and down- link frequencies are then paired off, e.g. 1800 with 1900, 1850 with 1950. There is therefore a significant change of frequency (e.g. 5%) between up and down links. There is consequently no correlation for the fast fading (as the mobile moves) between up and down links.


A stator of a motor having various shapes and capable of minimizing the manufacturing costs. At least teeth are manufactured by the iron powder metallurgy method. In order to obtain the overhang effect, the height of a tip of each tooth is lower than the height of a rotor and the height of a yoke is higher than the height of a tip of each tooth so as to minimize the core loss of the yoke. Since, in order to minimize the end coil, the height of a neck of each tooth is gradually higher as running from the sides to the central portion in the circumferential direction, costs for manufacturing a motor can be minimized and sufficient efficiency can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor, and more particularly to a stator of a motor in which the height of each tooth's tip is lower than the height of a rotor and the height of a yoke is higher than the teeth's tip so that costs for manufacturing a motor is decreased and the efficiency of the motor is increased.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a motor generates a driving force by which a rotor is driven by electromagnetic interaction between a stator and the rotor.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are views illustrating the stator of a conventional motor.
A stator 10 of a motor, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, includes a ring-shaped yoke 12 disposed at the outside of a rotor 20, a plurality of teeth 16 protruding from the inner wall of the yoke 12 toward the rotor 20 in the radial direction, forming slots 14 therebetween to have a desired shape, and being spaced apart from each other, and coils 18 wound around the teeth 16 and electrically connected to an external electric power.
The stator 10 constructed as described above is described as follows.
First, stator sheets 10′ having planar shapes of the yoke 12 and the teeth 16 are manufactured from a very thin electrical steel sheet in the blanking process (See FIGS. 2a and 2b). Next, the stator sheets 10′ are laminated so as to have a predetermined height and a desired shape 10″, and the coils 18 are wound around the laminated stator sheet 10″, so that a stator 10 is completed.
Here, as shown in FIG. 2a, the remainder of the electrical steel sheet 30 out which the stator sheets 10′ are cut, namely, a scrap 30′ is of use and is disposed of.
Hereinafter, since the basic structure of the conventional stator is similar to the stator shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the detailed description and drawings thereof may be omitted.
Though not depicted in the accompanying drawings, the conventional stator may have the yoke and teeth integrated with each other by the iron powder metallurgy method.
Otherwise, as shown in FIG. 3, a stator 40 may be manufactured such that a yoke 42 is cut out from an electrical steel sheet and teeth 44 are manufactured by the iron powder metallurgy method.
According to the stator manufactured by the conventional process, if all conditions except for the stator 10 in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the manufacturing method are same, manufacturing costs can be reduced by manufacturing some parts using the iron powder metallurgy method in comparison to the stator 10 in FIGS. 1 and 2. However, since the magnetic characteristics of the iron powder is not better than that of the electrical steel sheet, the efficiency of a motor including the conventional stator in FIG. 3 becomes remarkably worse than that of a motor including the stator 10 in FIGS. 1 and 2.
Meanwhile, according the conventional manufacturing method as shown in FIG. 3, since the stator 40 is manufactured such that the heights of the yoke 42 and the teeth 44 are lower than the height of a rotor 40′, effective magnetic fluxes passing through the teeth 44 are increased by the over-hang effect so that the efficiency of a motor can be enhanced.
However, if the stator 40 is manufactured by the iron powder metallurgy method, since the height of the stator 40 is lower than the height of the rotor 40′ in order to obtain the overhang effect, it is difficult to increase the efficiency of a motor because of a large amount of the increased core loss of the yoke 42.


A method for stabilizing an isocyanate compound by adding 10-5000 ppm of phenol to the isocyanate compound, and also an isocyanate composition so stabilized. In the isocyanate composition stabilized by the above method, coloring due to time-dependent changes and the occurrence of turbidity through self-polymerization are both suppressed so that it shows outstanding storage stability compared with a corresponding isocyanate composition containing a conventional stabilizer.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stabilizing method of isocyanate compounds to suppress both yellowing and the occurrence of turbidity, which would otherwise take place due to changes along the passage of time and also to isocyanate compositions stabilized by the above method. The isocyanate compositions according to the present invention are particularly useful as raw materials for optical urethane resins for plastic lenses and the like, which resins are required to have colorless transparency.
2) Description of the Related Art
Isocyanate compounds are accompanied by the drawback that, because of the high reactivity exhibited by each isocyanato group thereof, they lack stability and tend to undergo coloring and/or self-polymerization during storage. Addition of a stabilizer is indispensable to suppress coloring and self polymerization.
Various compounds have heretofore been known as stabilizers for isocyanate compounds. Representative ones among them are phenols such as 2,6-di-tert. butyl-p-cresol (U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,381) and phosphite esters such as triphenyl phosphite (Japanese Patent Publication No. 33438/1970). In addition, many other stabilizers have also been known, including ureas, carbamates, acid amides (Japanese Patent Publication No. 7044/1970, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 36546/1975); acid substances such as perchloric acid and trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (German Patent Publication No. 2,837,770); carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide (U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,236); organic amines (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 101344/1975); acid chlorides (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 179917/1988); siloxanes (Belgian Patent Publication No. 858,921); organotin compounds (European Patent Publication No. 203,874); and acyl isocyanate compounds (Japanese Patent Publication No. 3825/1973).
Known examples of phenolic stabilizers useful in the practice of the present invention include pyrogallol, catechol, guaiacol, eugenol, pentachlorophenol (Japanese Patent Publication No. 3825/1973, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7044/1970), 2,6-di-tert. butyl-p-cresol and methacresol (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 48619/1976), as well as alkyl-substituted phenols and bisphenols (Japanese Patent Publication No. 27,594/1971, Polish Patent Publication No. 100,154, British Patent Publication No. 1,315,520, U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,902, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 98050/1984).
It is, however, still difficult to suppress both the coloring and self-polymerization-induced turbiding of isocyanate compounds even by these stabilizers. Satisfactory results have not yet been obtained.
It is known that aliphatic polyisocyanates, particularly xylylene diisocyanate tend to become turbid due to the formation of a 1-nylon-type polymer through self-polymerization [Journal of the Chemical Society, 82, 866 (1960)]. It has therefore been found that the stabilizers disclosed in such patent publications do not permit stable storage over 3 months or longer at room temperature.
There is hence an outstanding demand for the development of a stabilizer which can suppress both yellowing and turbiding of isocyanate compounds over a long period of time.

Stabilizing method of isocyanate compounds and isocyanate compositions stabilized thereby


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprises providing a semiconductor layer deposited on a substrate with heat treatment by using a flame of a gas burner fueled by a hydrogen-and-oxygen mixed gas as a heat source.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. The invention also relates to heat treatment that can lower costs to manufacture a semiconductor device and can provide even and high performance of transistor elements.
2. Related Art
Examples of silicon recrystallization methods to recrystallize silicon that has been deposited on a substrate by a process such as chemical vapor deposition includes: solid-phase growth through high-temperature heat treatment at 800 to 1000 degrees Celsius; laser annealing through excimer laser radiation; and thermal plasma jet using thermal plasma as a heat source. JP-A-11-145148 and Crystallization of Si Thin Film Using Thermal Plasma Jet and Its Application to Thin-Film Transistor Fabrication (S. Higashi, AM-LCD '04 Technical Digest Papers, p. 179) are examples of related art.
The above-mentioned methods, however, have the following problems. The solid-phase growth involving heat treatment requires a semiconductor substrate used to sustain such high temperatures of 800 to 1000 degrees Celsius, that the substrate is practically limited to be made of quartz glass. However, it is economically difficult to manufacture a large substrate of expensive quartz glass. The laser annealing allows a silicon film to crystallize in an extremely short period of time, and is applicable to a wide variety of substrates even with poor heat resistance, such as glass or resin substrates. This method, however, requires high running costs and causes wide variation in element properties. The thermal plasma jet also allows a silicon film to crystallize in a short time, but consumes a lot of electricity for the heat source and a great amount of the rare gas argon (Ar), resulting in high costs.

Apparatus and method for manufacturing semiconductor device, and electronic apparatus


An apparatus and a method are disclosed for arbitrating between streams of ATM cells, or sources for a connection, on multiple input port processors vying for an opportunity to be transmitted as a fixed bandwidth, or allocated, connection on a single output port through a network switch. The network switch maintains a plurality of input port processors, at least one output port, and input and output buffers associated with the respective input and output ports. Streams of ATM cells enter the network switch as sources for a connection through the multiple input port processors and are buffered in the input buffers. The ATM cells are then routed from the input buffers to an output buffer in the output port. The network switch also provides a multipoint topology controller (MTC) and a bandwidth arbiter (BA) for performing the arbitration.

Telecommunications networks such as asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks are used for the transfer of audio, video, and other data. ATM networks deliver data by routing data units such as ATM cells from a source to a destination through switches. Switches typically include multiple input/output (I/O) ports through which ATM cells are received and transmitted. The appropriate output port to which a received ATM cell is to be routed to and thereafter transmitted from is determined based upon an ATM cell header.
Oftentimes, the cell headers of ATM cells received on several different input port processors specify a single particular output port. The occurrence of such an event does not usually pose a problem unless the bandwidth capability of the connection through the output port is less than the sum of the bandwidth rates of the connections on the input port processors for an extended period of time. Such a problem is resolved by either discarding ATM cells which cannot be included within the allocated output bandwidth or asserting flow control back at the connection source.
A further problem exists, however, in that the discarding of ATM cells has heretofore not been evenly distributed among the several different input port processors. That is, ATM cells have been disproportionately discarded among the connections from the several different input port processors. Such can result in a corresponding disproportionate diminishment of data quality causing, for example, undesirable interruptions in audio and video data transmissions or other more serious damage to other types of data transmissions. Accordingly, it would be desirable to devise a scheme whereby the allocated output bandwidth of a connection at an output port is evenly distributed among sources for a connection from the several different input port processors in a multipoint-to-point switching scenario.

Multipoint-to-point arbitration in a network switch


An ink jet recording apparatus with a carriage having a first liquid discharge unit with first liquid discharge openings and a second liquid discharge unit with second liquid discharge openings, the first liquid discharge unit and the second liquid discharge unit arranged for performing discharge when the carriage is moving, a first wiping member for wiping the first liquid discharge unit surface when the carriage is stopped at a first stopping position, and a second wiping member for wiping the second liquid discharge unit surface when the carriage is stopped at a second stopping position which is different from the first stopping position, wherein wiping by the first wiping member and the second wiping member is performed by movement of the respective wiping member along a direction different from the carriage movement direction.

xe2x80x9cThis application is a division of U.S. Application No. 08/982,776, filed Dec. 7, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,659, issued Mar. 6, 2001, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 to JP 323870, filed Dec. 4, 1996.xe2x80x9d
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus capable of obtaining high quality images on a recording medium. More particularly, the invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus that records by discharging recording ink and processing liquid such as an image enhancement agent that insolubilizes or coagulate coloring material in ink.
The present invention is applicable to all the equipment and devices that uses a recording medium formed by paper, cloth, leather, unwoven textile or the like, or a recording medium formed even by metallic material. As specific equipment and devices to which the present invention is applicable, there is a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile equipment, or some other office equipment or those usable as industrial production equipment.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, an ink jet recording method has been utilized for a printer, a copying machine, or the like, because this method enables operates at lower running costs with a lesser amount of noises, while making it easier to produce apparatuses compactly, and also, to facilitate color handling.
However, if it is intended to obtain images on a recording medium, which is the so-called ordinary paper, by means of those recording apparatuses that utilize the ink jet recording method, the waterproof capability of images thus recorded becomes insufficient or when it is intended to form color images, compatibility is not obtainable in forming highly densified images having no feathering and those having no running created between colors. As a result, it is impossible to obtain color images having good image fastness, and excellent quality as well.
In recent years, it has been made practicable to use the ink that contains waterproof coloring material in it as a method for enhancing the waterproof capability of recorded images. However, not only such waterproof capability is far from sufficient, but also, in principle, an ink of the kind is hardly soluble to water once it has been dried, which may often result in the nozzle clogging of a recording head. Therefore, there is apparently a disadvantage that the structure of the apparatus should become more complicated in order to prevent such nozzle clogging.
Also, a number of techniques have been disclosed conventionally for the enhancement of the fastness of recorded objects. In the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 53-24486, a technique is disclosed, in which colors are laked and fixed by giving post-process to a colored object in order to promote wet fastness thereof.
In the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 54-43733, a recording method is disclosed, in which the two or more components that promote the film formation capability when being in contact with each other at the room temperature or being heated by use of the ink jet recording method, thus making it possible to obtain a printed object whose film has been made strongly adhesive to the object when each of the components are in contact on a recording medium.
In the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 55-150396, there is disclosed a method for providing water soluble color ink with the waterproofing agent for the formation of colors and lake after an ink jet recording has been executed.
In the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 58-128862, an ink jet method is disclosed in which the position of an image to be recorded is discriminated beforehand, and then, recording ink and processing ink are overlaid for recording. A method is also disclosed in which a drawing is made in processing ink before recording ink is applied; processing ink is overlaid on a drawing written in recording ink beforehand; or recording ink is overlaid on a drawing written in processing ink beforehand, and processing ink is again overlaid to complete the drawing.
However, in these publications, no disclosure is made as to the recovery means, head structure, and tank structure, which are all characteristics of an ink jet recording apparatus for the maintenance of reliability of discharges, and also, as to the recording mode or the like which is needed for the enhancement of quality of recorded images.
On the other hand, there are fundamentally the problems inherent in the ink jet recording method as given below.
Firstly, ink adheres to the discharge opening surface of a recording head due to fine ink droplets (mist) generated other than the discharged main ink droplets when ink droplets are discharged from a recording head to a recording medium, such as a paper sheet, an OHP film, for recording, and ink droplets rebounded from the recording medium. If such ink is concentrated adhesively on the circumference of each discharge opening in a large quantity, or if paper particles or other foreign substances adhere to such concentration of ink, discharges are blocked, resulting in malfunction such as ink being discharged in the unexpected directions (twisting) or discharges of ink droplets being disabled (non-discharges).
Secondly, if ink in the nozzles of a recording head is evaporated and dried when printing is at rest, that is, if no discharges are made for a long time, to be exact, then overly viscous and fixed ink tends to clog the interior of nozzles to cause the twisted discharges or other defective discharges.
Therefore, in order to eliminate these unfavorable events, recovery means is provided for the ink jet recording method.
As means for cleaning and removing unwanted ink, paper particles and other foreign substances adhering to the discharge opening surface, which are caused by mist and rebounding ink droplets from a recording medium as described above as the first problem, it is generally adopted to arrange a structure in which the discharge opening surface is wiped off (wiping) by use of a blade formed by rubber or some other elastic material.
As means for solving the second problem described above, it is generally adopted to arrange the structure so that a recording head is capped to prevent ink from becoming overly viscous and fixed in the nozzle of the recording head at the time of non-recording, and that the ink, which becomes overly viscous and fixed to result in defective discharges and the adhesion of the foreign substances or the like and cannot be removed by means of the blade, is removed by exhausting the overly viscous ink from the nozzles by means of a suction pump connected with the cap for recovering the head for the performance of normal discharges. Further, for the operation of an on-demand type ink jet recording method, the plural discharge openings, which are arranged for one recording head, are not necessarily used at a time always. As a result, there are some nozzles that are not used for more than a certain period of time. Also, in a case where a plurality of recording heads are used such as for a color recording apparatus, there are some recording heads to which no data are transferred (the heads which are not currently engaged in recording), that is, the recording heads which are, not used. If a carriage is caused to scan or come to a stop while the discharge opening surface of the head mounted on it is not capped, ink is evaporated and dried on the discharge opening surface and in the interior thereof from which no ink has been discharged for a certain period continuously. As a result, the discharge capability is lowered to cause the degradation of recorded images eventually. In order to prevent such phenomenon as this, it is generally practiced for an ink jet recording apparatus to discharge ink in a specific location per certain periodical interval irrespective of recording data, thus causing ink in the nozzles to be exhausted to the outside to refresh ink. In this way, the discharge condition is always maintained normally and appropriately. Such ink discharge operation as this is called pre-discharge.
Ink by the pre-discharge described above is discharged to the location called pre-discharge position arranged separately in the cap of a recovery unit so that ink thus discharged is not caused to fly over a recording medium or in the interior of the recording apparatus to stain it.
For an ink jet recording apparatus that discharges ink and processing liquid, there is proposed a structure in the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 8-281968 Japanese Patent Application No. 7-202635 in which caps, pumps, and wiping means are provided separately for use of ink discharge and for use of processing liquid discharge as a pre-discharge structure which is arranged for the solution of the problems described above.
Particularly, with regard to the wiping structure, it is proposed to provide a structure in which the wiping directions of ink and processing liquid are made different when wiping is performed in the main scanning direction of a carriage. However, this proposal is still insufficient from the viewpoint of the compatibility between a higher reliability such as no ink coagulation, fixation, or the like occurring in the recording apparatus and the simplification of the wiping mechanism.
Along the demands more on higher image quality, an ink jet recording apparatus has more numbers of nozzle arrays for discharging deep and light ink or the like. In this case, if a structure is still such as to wipe the nozzle arrays by the provision of the corresponding numbers of blades, it automatically leads to the increased costs inevitably.
It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of presenting excellent waterproof capability on an ordinary paper sheet in a better condition than the conventional art, and also, capable of presenting the compatibility between a highly reliable image recording that provides high quality having no feathering and running between colors at the time of color recording and a higher reliability with which it can prevent ink from being coagulated and fixed in the recording apparatus, hence preventing the head from being clogged.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of providing the compatibility between the higher reliability of preventing the coagulation and fixation of ink or the like in the recording apparatus and the simplification of the wiping mechanism therefor.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus comprising a carriage having a recording liquid discharge unit provided with recording liquid discharge openings for discharging recording liquid and a processing liquid discharge unit provided with processing liquid discharge openings for discharging processing liquid to process recording liquid arranged therefor to perform the movement thereof; wiping member for use of recording liquid dedicated to wiping the surface having the recording liquid discharge openings arranged therefor when the movement of the carriage is suspended; and wiping member for use of processing liquid dedicated to wiping the surface having the processing liquid discharge openings arranged therefor when the movement of the carriage is suspended. For this ink jet recording apparatus, the dedicated wiping by the wiping member for use of recording liquid and by the wiping member for use of processing liquid are executed, respectively, by changing the stopping position of the carriage.
In accordance with the preferred embodiments of the present invention, an ink jet recording apparatus is structured to discharge a recording medium beforehand a colorless or light colored liquid containing a chemical compound that insolubilizes coloring material in ink in accordance with image information, and then, to discharge monochrome color or multiple color ink in accordance with the image information. The apparatus thus structured is to perform wiping by moving wiping means for cleaning off the discharge opening surface of the ink jet recording head that discharges the processing liquid that insolubilizes coloring material in ink against solvent in the direction of the nozzle array of the ink jet head, and to make the stopping position of the carriage shiftable for wiping in accordance with the nozzle array of the ink jet head.
In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to materialize an ink jet recording apparatus for forming images by discharging ink and processing liquid to a recording medium, which is provided with a highly reliably recovery to produce good waterproof capability of images without running on the boundaries between different colors, but not to make coloring material in ink excessively insolubilized in the recording apparatus, with an arrangement that does not allow ink and processing liquid to be in contact with each other in the recovery system unit.
Particularly with respect to the wiping structure in which wiping is performed in the direction of increased nozzle arrays of an ink jet head, it is made possible to change the stopping positions of the carriage for the execution of wiping without increase the number of the blades, thus contributing to the reduction of costs significantly.
Also, the locus of the leading end of the wiping member is made parallel to the ink jet head when wiping is performed, thus facilitating the management and control of the amount of blade advancement and the contact angle and pressure to be exerted by the blade. Therefore, it becomes possible to enhance the performance of the blade.
Further, the wiping direction is made arbitrarily changeable in accordance with the nozzle array of an ink jet head. Also, the wiping member is provided with a first retracted position and a second retracted position where it does not abut upon the ink jet head so that the reciprocation of wiping becomes possible for the enhancement of wiping throughput accordingly.

Ink jet recording apparatus with dedicated wiping members


A button cell closed without flanging includes a housing formed of two housing halves including a cell cup and a cell lid, an electrically insulating seal separating the cell cup and the cell lid, an electrode-separator assembly including at least one positive and at least one negative electrode arranged inside the housing, metal diverters electrically connecting the at least one positive and the at least one negative electrode to the housing halves, and a thermal fuse connected to or integrated into one of the diverters.

Button cells usually have a housing comprising two housing halves, a cell cup and a cell lid. These can be produced, for example, from nickel-plated deep-drawn metal sheets as punch-drawn parts. The cell cup usually forms the positive pole, the cell lid forms the negative pole. Such a housing can contain a wide variety of electro-chemical systems, for example, zinc/manganese dioxide, primary and secondary lithium systems or secondary systems such as nickel/cadmium or nickel/metal hydride.
The liquid-tight closure of such button cells is typically effected by flanging the edge of the cell cup over the edge of the cell lid in connection with a plastic ring arranged between the cell cup and the cell lid which simultaneously serves as a sealing element as well as for electrical insulation of the cell cup and of the cell lid. Such button cells are described, for example, in DE 31 13 309.
As an alternative, it is also possible to produce button cells where, in the axial direction, the cell cup and the cell lid are exclusively held together only by a force-fit connection and which correspondingly do not have a flanged cup edge. Such button cells as well as a method for producing the same have been described, for example, in DE 10 2009 017 514.
Regardless of the various advantages that can be provided by button cells not having such flanging, they are yet less stress resistant in the axial direction than comparable button cells having a flanged cup edge, in particular in terms of axial mechanical loads which can be due to reasons in the interior of the button cell. For example, the electrodes of rechargeable lithium-ion systems are always subject to volume changes during charging and discharging processes. The axial forces involved naturally tend to cause leaks comparatively more likely in the case of button cells without a flanging than in the case of button cells with a flanging.
Windings consisting of flat electrode and separator layers can be produced quite easy according to known methods (e.g., see DE 36 38 793), for example, by applying, in particular laminating, the electrodes in a planar manner, particularly in the form of strips, onto a separator present as an endless sheet. Generally, the assembly composed of electrode and separator is wound up onto a so-called "winding mandrel." After stripping the winding off the mandrel, an axial cavity remains in the center of the winding with the result that the winding can possibly relax into the cavity. The result thereof can be problems in electrical contacting of the electrodes and the metal housing halves.
Severe safety problems can occur in the case of lithium-ion or lithium-polymer cells, for example, caused by current pulses as can be caused by an external short-circuit, or by overcharging. Lithium-ion cells often include a graphite-containing anode and a lithium-cobalt-oxide-based cathode. During charging, lithium ions are released from the lithium-cobalt-oxide and intercalated into the graphite layers of the anode. If such a cell is overcharged, in particular to a voltage of more than 4.2 V, it is possible that more lithium ions are released than can be taken up by the graphite layers of the anode. As a result, highly reactive metallic lithium precipitates on the surface of the anode. If the charging process is further continued and the voltage is correspondingly further increased, in particular to a level significantly higher than 4.2 V, parts of the electrolyte in the cell may decompose and result in gas evolution. Furthermore, the lithium-cobalt-oxide structure becomes more and more instable due to the progressing release of the lithium until it finally breaks down by releasing oxidants (oxygen). Under certain conditions, these processes may lead to a significant heating of the cell which can result in an explosive combustion.

Button cell comprising a coil electrode with a thermal fuse


The present invention (in a first embodiment) relates to a process for the simultaneous dehydration and skeletal isomerization of isobutanol to make substantially corresponding olefins, having the same number of carbons and consisting essentially of a mixture of n-butenes and iso-butene, said process comprising:    a) introducing in a reactor a stream (A) comprising isobutanol, optionally water, optionally an inert component,    b) contacting said stream with a catalyst in said reactor at conditions effective to dehydrate and skeletal isomerize at least a portion of the isobutanol to make a mixture of n-butenes and iso-butene,    c) recovering from said reactor a stream (B), removing water, the inert component if any and unconverted isobutanol if any to get a mixture of n-butenes and iso-butene,Wherein,    the WHSV of the isobutanol is at least 1 h−1 or the temperature is from 200° C. to 600° C. and the catalyst is capable to make simultaneously the dehydration and skeletal isomerization of butene.

Isobutanol (2-methyl-1-propanol) has historically found limited applications and its use resembles that of 1-butanol. It has been used as solvent, diluents, wetting agent, cleaner additive and as additive for inks and polymers. Recently, isobutanol has gained interest as fuel or fuel component as it exhibits a high octane number (Blend Octane R+M/2 is 102-103) and a low vapor pressure (RVP is 3.8-5.2 psi).
Isobutanol is often considered as a byproduct of the industrial production of 1-butanol (Ullmann's encyclopedia of industrial chemistry, 6th edition, 2002). It is produced from propylene via hydroformylation in the oxo-process (Rh-based catalyst) or via carbonylation in the Reppe-process (Co-based catalyst). Hydroformylation or carbonylation makes n-butanal and iso-butanal in ratios going from 92/8 to 75/25. To obtain isobutanol, the iso-butanal is hydrogenated over a metal catalyst. Isobutanol can also be produced from synthesis gas (mixture of CO, H2 and CO2) by a process similar to Fischer-Tropsch, resulting in a mixture of higher alcohols, although often a preferential formation of isobutanol occurs (Applied Catalysis A, general, 186, p. 407, 1999 and Chemiker Zeitung, 106, p. 249, 1982). Still another route to obtain isobutanol, is the base-catalysed Guerbet condensation of methanol with ethanol and/or propanol (J. of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical 200, 137, 2003 and Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 113-116, p. 913, 2004). Recently, new biochemical routes have been developed to produce selectively isobutanol from carbohydrates. The new strategy uses the highly active amino acid biosynthetic pathway of microorganisms and diverts its 2-keto acid intermediates for alcohol synthesis. 2-Keto acids are intermediates in amino acid biosynthesis pathways. These metabolites can be converted to aldehydes by 2-keto-acid decarboxylases (KDCs) and then to alcohols by alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs). Two non-native steps are required to produce alcohols by shunting intermediates from amino acid biosynthesis pathways to alcohol production (Nature, 451, p. 86, 2008 and US patent 2008/0261230). Recombinant microorganisms are required to enhance the flux of carbon towards the synthesis of 2-keto-acids. In the valine biosynthesis 2-ketoisovalerate is on intermediate. Glycolyse of carbohydrates results in pyruvate that is converted into acetolactate by acetolactate synthase. 2,4-dihydroxyisovalerate is formed out of acetolactate, catalysed by isomeroreductase. A dehydratase converts the 2,4-dihydroxyisovalerate into 2-keto-isovalerate. In the next step, a keto acid decarboxylase makes isobutyraldehyde from 2-keto-isovalerate. The last step is the hydrogenation of isobutyraldehyde by a dehydrogenase into isobutanol.
Of the described routes towards isobutanol above, the Guerbet condensation, the synthesis gas hydrogenation and the 2-keto acid pathway from carbohydrates are routes that can use biomass as primary feedstock. Gasification of biomass results in synthesis gas that can be converted into methanol or directly into isobutanol. Ethanol is already at very large scale produced by fermentation of carbohydrates or via direct fermentation of synthesis gas into ethanol. So methanol and ethanol resourced from biomass can be further condensed to isobutanol. The direct 2-keto acid pathway can produce isobutanol from carbohydrates that are isolated from biomass. Simple carbohydrates can be obtained from plants like sugar cane, sugar beet. More complex carbohydrates can be obtained from plants like maize, wheat and other grain bearing plants. Even more complex carbohydrates can be isolated from substantially any biomass, through unlocking of cellulose and hemicellulose from lignocelluloses.
In the mid nineties, many petroleum companies attempted to produce more isobutene for the production of MTBE. Hence many skeletal isomerisation catalysts for the conversion of n-butenes into iso-butene have been developed (Adv. Catal. 44, p. 505, 1999; Oil & Gas Science and Technology, 54 (1) p. 23, 1999 and Applied Catalysis A: General 212, 97, 2001). Among promising catalysts are 10-membered ring zeolites and modified alumina's. The reverse skeletal isomerisation of iso-butene into n-butenes has not been mentioned.
The dehydration reactions of alcohols to produce alkenes have been known for a long time (J. Catal. 7, p. 163, 1967 and J. Am. Chem. Soc. 83, p. 2847, 1961). Many available solid acid catalysts can be used for alcohol dehydration (Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal. 51, p. 260, 1989). However, γ-aluminas are the most commonly used, especially for the longer chain alcohols (with more than three carbon atoms). This is because catalysts with stronger acidity, such as the silica-aluminas, molecular sieves, zeolites or resin catalysts can promote double-bond shift, skeletal isomerization and other olefin inter-conversion reactions. The primary product of the acid-catalysed dehydration of isobutanol is iso-butene:

The dehydration of alcohols with four or more carbons over solid acid catalysts is expected to be accompanied by the double-bond shift reaction of the alkene product. This is because the two reactions occur readily and at comparable rates (Carboniogenic Activity of Zeolites, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam (1977) p. 169). The primary product, iso-butene is very reactive in presence of acid catalyst because of the presence of a double bond linked to a tertiary carbon. This allows easy protonation, as the tertiary structure of the resulting carbocation is the most favourable one among the possible carbocation structures (tertiary>secondary>primary carbocations). The resulting t-butyl-cation undergoes easy oligo/polymerisation or other electrophilic substitution on aromatics or aliphatics or electrophilic addition reactions. The rearrangement of t-butyl-cation is not a straightforward reaction as, without willing to be bound to any theory, involves an intermediate formation of secondary or primary butyl-cation and hence the probability of secondary reactions (substitutions or additions) is very high and would reduce the selectivity for the desired product.
Dehydration of butanols has been described on alumina-type catalysts (Applied Catalysis A, General, 214, p. 251, 2001). Both double-bond shift and skeletal isomerisation has been obtained at very low space velocity (or very long reaction time) corresponding to a GHSV (Gas Hourly Space Velocity=ratio of feed rate (gram/h) to weight of catalyst (ml)) of less than 1 gram·ml−1·h−1. The international patent application W02005/110951 describes a process for the production of propylene via metathesis of n-butenes that have been obtained via skeletal isomerisation of iso-butene which is produced from t-butanol via dehydration. All steps in the present application are carried out separately.
It has now been discovered that the dehydration and the skeletal isomerisation of the iso-butyl moiety in isobutanol can be carried out simultaneously.
By way of example it has been discovered that for the simultaneous dehydration and skeletal isomerisation of isobutanol, crystalline silicates of the group FER, MWW, EUO, MFS, ZSM-48, MTT or TON having Si/Al higher than 10,    or a dealuminated crystalline silicate of the group FER, MWW, EUO, MFS, ZSM-48, MTT or TON having Si/Al higher than 10,    or a phosphorus modified crystalline silicate of the group FER, MWW, EUO, MFS, ZSM-48, MTT or TON having Si/Al higher than 10,    or molecular sieves of the type silicoaluminophosphate of the group AEL    or silicated, zirconated or titanated alumina's or fluorinated alumina.has many advantages. Said dehydration can be made with a WHSV (Weight Hourly Space Velocity=ratio of feed flow rate (gram/h) to catalyst weight) of at least 1 h−1, at a temperature from 200 to 600° C. and using a isobutanol-diluent composition from 30 to 100% isobutanol at a total operating pressure from 0.05 to 1.0 MPa.
By way of example, in the dehydration/isomerisation of isobutanol on a ferrierite having a Si/Al ratio from 10 to 90 and with a WHSV of at least 2 h−1 to make n-butenes beside iso-butene, the isobutanol conversion is at least 98% and often 99%, advantageously the butenes (iso and n-butenes) yield is at least 90%, the n-butenes selectivity is between 5% and the thermodynamic equilibrium at the given reaction conditions.
The isobutanol conversion is the ratio (isobutanol introduced in the reactor−isobutanol leaving the reactor)/(isobutanol introduced in the reactor).
The n-butenes yield is the ratio, on carbon basis, (n-butenes leaving the reactor)/(isobutanol introduced in the reactor).
The n-butenes selectivity is the ratio, on carbon basis, (n-butenes leaving the reactor)/(isobutanol converted in the reactor).
The simultaneous dehydration/isomerisation of isobutanol results in a mixture of n-butenes (but-1-ene and but-2-ene) and iso-butene. According to the present invention, often a composition close to thermodynamic equilibrium is obtained while maintaining the high yield of total butenes. The thermodynamic equilibrium for n-butenes varies between 50 and 65% and for iso-butene between 35 and 50% depending on operating conditions. An important advantage of the present invention is that the composition resembles the composition of a raffinate I C4 cut obtained from a steam naphtha cracker. Raffinate I is obtained by removing butadiene from the raw C4 cut produced on a steam naphtha cracker. Typical compositions are: 35-45% isobutene, 3-15% butanes and the remaining 52-40% n-butenes. It becomes evident that the product from the simultaneous dehydration/isomerisation can readily replace the use of raffinate I in existing petrochemical plants. The result is that capital investment can be minimised and that the derivatives from such iso-butene/n-butenes mixture can hence be produced from renewable resources instead of fossil resources simply by substituting fossil raffinate I by the product of the present invention.
EP 2090561 A1 describes the dehydration of an alcohol on crystalline silicates to get the corresponding olefin. Ethanol, propanol, butanol and phenylethanol are cited. Only ethanol is used in the examples. Nothing is cited about isobutanol and isomerisation thereof.

Simultaneous dehydration and skeletal isomerisation of isobutanol on acid catalysts

Abstract: The catalyst is a crystalline silicate of the group FER, MWW, EUO, MFS, ZSM-48, MTT, MFI, MEL or TON having Si/Al higher than 10,    or a dealuminated crystalline silicate of the group FER, MWW, EUO, MFS, ZSM-48, MTT, MFI, MEL or TON having Si/Al higher than 10,    or a phosphorus modified crystalline silicate of the group FER, MWW, EUO, MFS, ZSM-48, MTT, MFI, MEL or TON having Si/Al higher than 10,    or a silicoaluminaphosphate molecular sieve of the group AEL,    or a silicated, zirconated or titanated or fluorinated alumina.

Abstract: Advantageously the stream (B) is fractionated in a step d) to produce a n-butenes stream (N) and to remove the essential part of isobutene optionally recycled with stream (A) to the dehydration/isomerization reactor of step b).


A fail-safe second stage valve for controlling actuator movement upon power loss in a multiplexed fluid power control system. The second stage valve is interposed between a corresponding actuator and a fluid multiplexer to operate generally as integrating or amplifying device which regulates flow to the actuator. The second stage valve is provided with a dampening mechanism in the form of a bleed port to reduce fluid flow to the actuator. The bleed port bleeds off accumulated fluid received by the second stage valve over a predetermined range of valve positions. This changes the position of the valve and thereby reduces flow rate to the actuator. The multiplexed fluid power control system using the fail-safe second stage valve controls the flow to the corresponding actuator upon electrical power loss. The actuator may be used to open and close variable stator vanes in an aircraft gas turbine engine.

Multiplexed hydraulic control systems use a hydraulic multiplexer to multiplex or otherwise distribute the controlled output flow of a hydraulic control to multiple second stage valves and/or actuators. Significant cost and weight advantages exist in using hydraulically multiplexed control systems as opposed to separate hydraulic control systems because a dedicated hydraulic control for each actuator is not necessary. However, to realize the cost and weight advantages, it is often necessary for hydraulically multiplexed systems to match or exceed the performance that is achieved by non-multiplexed hydraulic control systems. To furnish similar performance as non-multiplexed systems, multiplexed control systems have needed to supply a sufficient amount of fluid flow to generate adequate force and/or sufficient rate of movement in the actuator. In some applications, amplification mechanisms in the form of second stage valves have been used to further increase the fluid flow and thereby the performance as shown in Leeson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,505, McLevige, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,394, Wardle, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,369, Wardle, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,903, and Wardle, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,383, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The action of each second stage valve is generally that of a sample and hold device. Each second stage valve has a position which is periodically or sequentially updated from the hydraulic control. The position of each second stage valve is determined by the time integral of fluid flow from the hydraulic control. The position of the second stage valve determines a continuous fluid flow rate to the actuator. The second stage valve position is held until the next update from the hydraulic control.
One of the significant and exemplary applications of multiplexed hydraulic control systems is in aircraft systems where hydraulic controls are provided for adjusting the mechanical variables of gas turbine engines. Such hydraulic control systems using intermediate integrating second stage valves may be used when a large flow capacity is required, such as control of variable stator vanes. Variable stator vanes control the airstream entering the compressor blades in a gas turbine engine to improve engine performance.
A problem with such hydraulic control systems using integrating second stage valves occurs during electrical power loss to the hydraulic control. Under power loss conditions, it may be desired that certain actuators slew in a predetermined direction at a controlled rate. For example, in gas turbine engine systems it is desired that the actuator controlling the variable stator vanes slew in a closed direction at a controlled rate upon electrical power loss. In systems where the output flow of a hydraulic control is directly connected to an actuator, the hydraulic control may have a null bias which corresponds to a predetermined output flow to move the actuator in a predetermined direction at a predetermined rate upon power loss. However, in hydraulic control systems utilizing integrating sample and hold second stage valves, a predetermined output flow from a hydraulic control causes each actuator to move at an increasing rate each time its corresponding second stage valve is updated. This causes the actuators to slew uncontrolled at maximum velocity. Such uncontrolled maximum velocity slew is unacceptable in many situations, particularly for actuators controlling certain critical functions such as the variable stator vanes in gas turbine engines.

Fail safe valve and multiplexed fluid control systems incorporating the same


In a method for detecting overlapped function area on a touchpad with the overlapped function area overlapped by more than two different function areas, when the overlapped function area is touched by an object, a further function can be correctly performed according to touched duration, touched movement, or a terminal touched area pressed onto the touchpad.

Touchpad is designed to be an input device. For performing all of its functions such as controlling the movement corresponding to a point, it can be touched or slipped by a finger or a conductive object. Owing to its easy operation, therefore, it is widely applied to electronic products, including portable computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, and etc.
Additionally, for supporting more functions on the limited space, of the touchpad space is improved to comprise more than two operation areas.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a conventional touchpad 10 having four operation areas placed in the corners respectively. The four operation areas, CR1, CR2, CR3, and CR4, are referred to as "corner function areas", and generally, they are acted as suppositional function keys having their own corresponding functions. Hence, a related function can be performed when one of the corner function areas is touched by finger 12.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of a touchpad 20 having two scroll function areas. The scroll function areas, SCROLL1 and SCROLL2, have their own corresponding function of rolling scrolls on Window. Similar to the touchpad 10 of FIG. 1, a further function can be performed when the scroll function area SCROLL1 or SCROLL2 is slipped by the finger 12.
For more convenient operation, more function areas are individually programmed within the touchpad limited space. In further consideration, hence, some function areas must be reasonably overlapped together to save the usable space. However, an indefinite command mistake will be easily resulted without any detection methods of distinguishing the accurate commands from a user when the overlapped function area is touched.
FIG. 3 is a diagram of a touchpad 30 having corner function areas and scroll function areas. As shown in FIG. 3, the scroll area SCROLL1 overlaps the corner function areas CR1 and CR2, and the scroll area SCROLL2 overlaps the corner function areas CR2 and CR3. Conventionally, the corresponding functions are performed when the corresponding corner function areas thereto are touched. However, the touchpad is installed inside a case slot, and there exists a gap surrounding the touchpad, as shown in FIG. 4. Thus, when a user touches a corner function area and a finger is placed on the gap between the case and the touchpad, obviously, a function corresponding to the corner function area may be missed because of incomplete or soft touching input.
Otherwise, when the finger 12 touches the corner function area CR1 of the touchpad 30, for example, the touching angle of the finger 12 will be mistaken to be a movement pressed on the scroll area SCROLL1.

Method for detecting overlapped function area on a touchpad


Techniques are provided for generating sound using a speaker mounted to an enclosure (e.g., speaker cabinet) wherein a gas pressure level (e.g., air pressure level) inside the enclosure is lower than an ambient air pressure level outside the enclosure. The reduced gas pressure level within the enclosure provides an environment with a reduced pressure level at a back side of a speaker cone of the speaker, which enhances a low frequency response for a given speaker size, while also minimizing resonant frequencies and phase cancellation issues which could otherwise occur with conventional speaker systems in which acoustic sound waves are generated at the back side of the speaker cone. A pressure compensation system is utilized counteract a force applied to the front side of the speaker cone as a result of the gas pressure level inside the enclosure being lower than the ambient air pressure level outside the enclosure.

Since the early 1950s, musicians have utilized various distortion techniques to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, such as electric guitars, to produce distorted sounds that are typically desired for use in recording many types of music genres including pop, blues, and rock music. In general, such distortion techniques include, for example, overdriving preamplifiers and/or power amplifiers, creating power supply sag, causing output transformer saturation, overdriving speakers, utilizing specially designed "distortion effect" pedal devices. There are limitations to each type of distortion technique, and often the more desirous power amplifier, output transformer, and speaker distortion techniques require operating an amplifier at or near its maximum output power level for driving speakers, which results in correspondingly high sound pressure levels emanating from the speakers.
With the advent of low cost high resolution non-linear multi-track recording systems, low cost preamplifiers, inexpensive microphones and monitor systems, along with virtual instruments and effects processors, home recording has reached near epidemic levels. The ability to record music at home has created a revolution in music production. However, the use of overdriving amplifiers to achieve the desired distorted sound of amplified electric musical instruments, such as guitars, can be problematic in home environments and many other places due to the significantly high sound pressure levels that are output from the speakers, which can be disruptive and audibly annoying to nearby individuals and neighbors.
In both commercial and home recording spaces, the high sound pressure levels utilized for amplified instrument recording causes significant complexity and cost in designing and building recording studios. Various instruments and players are often recorded simultaneously on separate recording tracks and require significant if not near perfect acoustic isolation from each other. For example, if a singer and a guitar player are recording simultaneously, then the guitar amplifier will need to be physically and acoustically isolated from the singer and the microphone. The high sound pressure level from the guitar amplifier often acoustically bleeds into the singer's microphone, making it difficult or often not possible to process the singer's voice. Thus, typical mixing effects utilized in real-time or during post recording editing and mixing (such as pitch correction with Autotune® or Melodyne®), along with the myriad of other modern effects utilized in production, will not function properly as the vocal track is essentially contaminated by the sound of the guitar amplifier. In addition, high sound pressure levels can damage certain types of microphones, for example ribbon microphones, prohibiting their use and/or limiting the placement of certain types of microphones for recording.
Further, it would be highly advantageous to also employ a smaller speaker or speakers in a system that is capable of recording high power levels of sound at low sound pressure levels. This would enable the system to be easily transported with the user for use at other recording locations or, indeed even for live use, when coupled to a sound reinforcement system, or incorporated into various pieces of equipment such as instrument amplifiers, recording consoles, musical instruments and equipment, and sound reinforcement systems or musical playback devices.
In addition to the need for being able to record at high power levels of sound at low sound pressure levels, there is a pressing need for the ability to reproduce sound with smaller speakers that can reproduce a wide range of frequencies including low audio frequencies. Most modern speakers have difficulty reproducing frequencies that possess wavelengths longer than the diameter of the speaker cone. The ability to reproduce sound with smaller speakers and speaker enclosures is widely needed for personal listening, earphones, audiophile sound systems, and in the sound reinforcement industry. In addition, within the current art there is a pressing need for speakers with highly accurate sound reproduction capability and speakers with accurate fidelity at lower costs. Currently speakers with highly accurate sound reproduction capability are expensive, requiring complex phase compensation systems or electronic networks, employ multiple or partitioned enclosures to avoid multi speaker element coupling, utilize large dense enclosures to reduce resonant frequencies, and incorporate ports or passive radiators to reduce nonlinear effects and distortion from speaker enclosure out of phase back pressure. These and other limitations of current art speaker systems are eliminated or reduced by embodiments of the disclosure.

Sound production using speaker enclosure with reduced internal pressure


Current aircraft technology comprises of fixed wing, multi rotor and vectored engine design. The synthesis of fixed wing technology and vectoring engine technology has been implemented but limited to traditional fixed wing design aircraft. The aircraft presented has been designed with an innovation in airframe expectation, improved vectoring engine design system, and landing gear system.

This invention relates generally to the enhancement of aircraft design, primarily in the unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) domain. UAV design recently has taken several forms and appearances with corresponding applications and implementations.
Fixed wing UAV aircraft are primarily built around a ground parallel fuselage traversing the length of the aircraft implementing fixed or blended parallel surfaces with respect to the aircraft in order to provide a perpendicular force or lift. The aircraft is then provided forward thrust by a propulsive device using compressor/turbine power, propeller power, or a combination/hybrid of each.
Traditional fixed wing UAV aircraft are controlled in flight using a series of moving surfaces denoted as the aileron, elevator, and rudder, each attached to different locations of the aircraft. The aileron is attached to the primary lifting surface, elevators attached to the secondary lifting surface, and rudder attached to the vertical tail. Some blended wing UAV aircraft such as the Lockheed martin rq-170 sentinel drone implement split flaps inducing surface specific drag rather than a vertical tail. Fixed wing UAV aircraft provide efficient, multi-range, reliable methods of surveillance and military designated missions.
Rotorcraft UAV aircraft are primarily built around a series of rotating blades compromised in a single rotor hub or multi rotor hub system. Single rotor hub aircraft synthesize the lifting and thrust components into a single source and its vector controlled by a swash plate and series of bar linkages to determine the orientation of the aircraft. Additionally pitch angle of the blades can be controlled in order to determine the magnitude of the lifting and thrust vector. The angular momentum of the primary blade is then offset by a counter rotating secondary tail blade and connected through a gearbox and/or transmission system to the primary blade. The yaw orientation of the aircraft is controlled by the pitch angle of the secondary counter-rotating blade.
Multi rotor hub UAV aircraft such as a quad-copter or octo-copter at current time maintain a constant blade pitch angle and employ differential angular velocities per rotor hub in order to maneuver roll, pitch, and yaw orientation the aircraft. Vertical motion is controlled simply by available power to each rotor hub. The primary benefit of rotorcraft-implemented device is the vertical take off and landing (VTOL) aspect. The primary adverse effect of large rotorcraft vehicles is overcoming transonic blade tip speeds, which limits forward flight speeds.
Hybrid UAV aircraft synthesize both a primary lifting winged surface and a variable vector thrust in order to achieve VTOL and efficient cruise performance. The design and appearance of these vehicles is extensive and conceptual domain endless. Most designs however incorporate a tilt rotor feature employing either single or dual ducted/unducted fans, which are either covered or exposed during, forward flight.
The application for such UAV aircraft designs is under constant exploration and optimization. Current applications for UAV aircraft are military designated reconnaissance, government, industrial/geological surveillance, and hobby enthusiasts. Applications under consideration and future applications may include but are not limited to courier shipping, agriculture surveillance, and medical transport. Currently the FAA is set to rule on regulations and limitations of domestic UAV employment and should be stated within the end of 2014.

VTOL symmetric airfoil fuselage of fixed wing design


Aspects described herein may allow for the application of generating captcha images using relations among objects. The objects in ground-truth images may be clustered based on the probabilities of co-occurrence. Further aspects described herein may provide for generating a first captcha image comprising a first object and a second object, and generating a second captcha image based on the first captcha image by replacing the first object with the third object. Finally, the first and second captcha images may be presented as security challenges and user access requests may be granted or denied based on responses to the security challenges.

Due to the undesirable behaviors associated with software robots, many internet services may require CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Tests to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) for security purposes. However, sufficiently advanced computer programs continue to evolve and they may decode a number of captcha images that have been proposed to date. In light of the limitations associated with the existing CAPTCHAs, there is a need for assuring human interactions via captcha images differentiating human users from automated bots.
Aspects described herein may address these and other problems, and generally improve the accuracy, efficiency, and speed of generating captcha images via Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) model, Auto-Encoders (AE), or Variational Auto-Encoders (VAE), and by offering improved model training, increasing the probability that the human may recognize these captcha images, while abating the probability that the computer programs may decode the same images.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Generating a challenge-response for authentication using relations among objects


An ammonia contact scrubber system (10) for removing ammonia from a fuel stream for a fuel cell (16) includes a contact scrubber (12) having a scrubber fuel inlet (14) and a scrubber fuel exhaust (20) for directing flow of the fuel stream through support material (24) within the scrubber (12) and into the fuel cell (16). An acid circulating loop (26) has an acid holding tank (28) holding a liquid acid solution (30), an acid feed line (32) secured in fluid communication between the holding tank (28) and a scrubber acid inlet (36) of the contact scrubber (12), an acid return (38) for returning the acid solution from the scrubber (12) to the acid holding tank (28), and an acid circulation pump (42) for pumping the acid solution (30) through the acid circulating loop (26) and through the support material (24) within the scrubber (12).

Fuel cells are well known and are commonly used to produce electrical current from hydrogen containing reducing fluid fuel and oxygen containing oxidant reactant streams to produce electrical power. In fuel cells of the prior art, it is well known that fuel is often produced by a reformer and the resulting hydrogen rich fuel flows from the reformer through a fuel inlet line into an anode flow field of the fuel cell. As is well known an oxygen rich reactant simultaneously flows through a cathode flow field of the fuel cell to produce electricity. Unfortunately, known fuels for fuel cells, such as reformate fuels from reformers, frequently contain contaminants especially ammonia. The presence of ammonia in the fuel stream is detrimental to the performance of the fuel cell.
It is understood that ammonia is a common byproduct of the reforming process and although the reforming process is designed to minimize formation of ammonia, it is common that low levels of ammonia are present in the reformate fuel. Nitrogen present in a hydrogen rich fuel reacts with hydrogen in common steam reformers, which typically utilize conventional nickel catalysts, to form ammonia in a concentration range of parts per million. The ammonia causes performance degradation of the fuel cell when introduced to either a proton exchange membrane fuel cell ("PEMFC") or a phosphoric acid fuel cell ("PAFC"). Fuel specifications for a known PAFC power plant require a maximum allowable nitrogen concentration in the natural gas of 4% to prevent degradation of the fuel cell due to ammonia formation. This fuel specification places a serious limitation on the use of fuel cells in areas of the world where natural gas includes a nitrogen content in excess of the fuel specification. Additionally, in the case of auto thermal or partial oxidation reformers, nitrogen can also be introduced when air is used as the oxygen source for the reforming process.
Many efforts have been undertaken to remove ammonia and other contaminants from fuel streams of fuel cells. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,302 to Katz et al. discloses use of a regenerable scrubber for removing ammonia from a fuel cell fuel stream. Ammonia gas is scrubbed from the fuel stream in a bed of support material soaked with acid. In Katz et al., the preferred acid is phosphoric acid and the preferred support material is carbon in the form of porous carbon particles or pellets. As disclosed in Katz, when an ammonia contaminant passes through a scrubber having phosphoric acid, the ammonia is absorbed on the support material and reacts with the phosphoric acid as follows:H3PO4+NH3→(NH4)H2PO4  (Equation 1)
As is apparent, in removing the ammonia contaminant, the phosphoric acid is converted to ammonium dyhydrogen phosphate. When approximately 50 percent of the phosphoric is converted, there is a risk of breakthrough of the ammonia out of the scrubber and into the fuel stream passing into the fuel cell. Consequently, the capacity for removal of ammonia by known scrubbers is determined by an anticipated level of ammonia in the fuel stream and the operational duration of the fuel cell prior to service or replacement of the scrubber.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,572 to Foley et al. shows another effort at minimizing ammonia contamination wherein a scrubber contains phosphoric acid absorbed onto porous carbon pellets. The scrubber of Foley et al. is utilized to both remove ammonia from the fuel stream and also to add acid to the fuel cell in a controlled manner. However, because of the described conversion of phosphoric acid within the scrubber, in the Foley et al. system, a scrubber capable of providing acceptable ammonia removal for five to ten years without replacement must be unacceptably large, bulky and excessively costly.
More recently U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,114, that issued on Apr. 23, 2002 to Bonville, Jr. et al., discloses another elaborate system for removing ammonia and other contaminants from reformate fuel. The system of Bonville, Jr. et al., includes alternatively a disposable ammonia scrubber, an ammonia scrubbing cool water bed and an ammonia stripping warm water bed, a pair of first and second regenerable scrubbers, or a single regenerable scrubber. Again, while effective the Bonville, Jr. et al. system includes elaborate and costly components that require a high level of maintenance to operate the system. The aforesaid three patents are owned by the assignee of all rights in the present disclosure.
For known scrubbers that include acid absorbed on a support material, a standard volume efficiency is between 0.10 to 0.30 units of volume of acid per unit of internal volume of the scrubber depending upon a particular carbon and shape of the carbon. Granular materials have higher packing efficiencies at an expense of a lower pressure drop. In contrast, cylindrical materials have a lower pressure drop at an expense of lower packing efficiencies. As described above breakthrough of the ammonia out of the scrubber and into the fuel stream typically occurs after only 50 percent of the conversion of the acid because of concentration gradients within the particular support material utilized within the scrubber. Passing of the gaseous fuel stream through the support material causes disproportionate contact with acid adjacent fuel stream passages within the support material. Acid concentrated within the support material and away from such fuel stream passages may experience little or no contact with the fuel stream. Therefore, to operate efficiently known scrubbers require a high volume of acid per unit of internal volume of the support material, and a corresponding high volume of support material in a large scrubber.
Other ammonia and related contaminant removal systems for fuel cells are known in the art. However, none of these provide for efficiently removing ammonia with minimal costs and minimal maintenance requirements. Most known ammonia contaminant removal systems require large components for processing a high volume of fluids, or require high frequency removal and replacement of expensive, contaminated filters and/or ion beds, etc.
Consequently, there is a need for a ammonia removal system for a fuel stream of a fuel cell that significantly reduces overall system size and that may be operated efficiently for long periods of time without high frequency maintenance.

Ammonia contact scrubber system for a fuel cell