An image sharing server provides several ways of sharing images between users. After a user contributes images to the image sharing server, the user can interact with the image sharing server to identify and tag people in the images, share the images with other users, and organize the images into memory boxes. Memory boxes can also be shared between users, and multiple users can be granted the ability to add images to a shared memory box. In addition, the image sharing server can prompt a user to share his or her images with other users who contributed related images. The image sharing server also performs facial recognition to automatically identify people in images, and facial recognition models can be shared between users.

1. Technical Field
This invention pertains in general to online storage and management for multimedia and in particular to methods of sharing images between users of an image sharing server.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital cameras have become a widespread tool for capturing photographs and videos. It is common for a typical user to own and use multiple digital cameras, such as a camera integrated into a mobile phone, a webcam attached to a home computer, a point-and-shoot camera, and a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera. It is also common for multiple users attending the same event to take photos and videos of the event from different angles and at different times. As a result, related photos and videos are saved to storage devices on many different cameras, mobile phones, and computers, and it is difficult and inconvenient for users to organize these photos and videos and share them with each other.
Some users might organize and share their photos and videos by uploading them to an online multimedia hosting service, such as FLICKR®, PHOTOBUCKET®, VIMEO®, or YOUTUBE®. Many users register for these hosting services because they wish to make their own photos and videos available to their friends and family and to view related photos and videos that were taken by others. However, content sharing methods on current hosting services are completely manual. Thus, if a user wishes to view photos and videos that were taken by other users at the event, the user must actively search for the other users and browse through their photo and video libraries to find the desired content. This makes it difficult for users to discover relevant photos and videos taken by others and efficiently share their own photos and videos with their friends and family.

Image sharing with facial recognition models


A method includes determining groups of rows to erase together in order to minimize the margin loss associated with bake after a large number of program and erasure cycles. The method alternatively includes determining groups of rows to erase together to minimize the width of a resultant erase threshold voltage distribution, erasing the groups together, stopping erasure of a group when the group is erase verified and performing the step of erasing on those groups which were not previously erase verified.

Non-volatile memory cell arrays are typically designed to undergo 100K programming and erasure cycles and to retain the stored data in each cell for a significant period of time, such as ten years. The ability of the cell to endure the required number of program and erasure cycles and to retain the data over time strongly depends on the erase operation.
The erase process is schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, to which reference is now made. Prior to erasure, the programmed cells may have a distribution, labeled 10, of threshold voltages above a program verify (PV) level. During erasure, the entire array is erased at once, one pulse at a time. After the first pulse, program distribution 10 has shifted lower, to a distribution 12. After each pulse, the array is "verified" to determine if all the cells have been erased below an erase verify (EV) level. The process is repeated until all of the cells are verified. In FIG. 1, the array required 3 pulses, generating distributions 12, 14 and 16, until all cells had threshold voltages below the EV level. The final distribution 16 is also known as the "erase distribution" 16.
Unfortunately, some of the cells are erased quickly (within 2 pulses in FIG. 1) while others take much longer to erase (the full 3 pulses), resulting in a wide distribution, indicated by arrow 18. Those that have undergone extra erase pulses may be over-erased, a non-ideal state.
Over-erasure may have many causes, among them the non-uniformity in the dimensions of cells within the array, the width of the program distribution of the array cells, the erase algorithm, the electrical as well as the physical characteristics of the cells, etc.
Over-erasure may impact product reliability as well as product performance. One aspect of this is "margin loss", shown in FIG. 2, to which reference is now made.
An array may begin with program distribution 10, above program verify level PV, and erase distribution 16, below erase verify level EV. A read level RD is defined between the two verify levels. If the cell has a threshold voltage above read level RD, the cell is defined as programmed. Otherwise, the cell is defined as erased
Margins M may be defined as well, in which case, the cell is considered programmed only if its threshold voltage is above a level RD+M0 and erased only if its threshold voltage is below a level RD−M1.
Over time, both distributions may shift lower and spread out, to become distributions 10′ and 16′, respectively. Unfortunately, distributions 10 and 16 may shift enough that a net margin NM, defined as the difference between the highest erase level E1 and the lowest program level P1, no longer guarantees a correct read operation. This is discussed in more detail in Applicant's copending application, U.S. Ser. No. 11/007,332, filed Dec. 9, 2004 which application is incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 3, to which reference is now made, illustrates the change in net margin NM for a typical array over time after 100K cycles at elevated temperature (150° C.). The example of FIG. 3 is an emulation of a product lifetime, as is known in the art. Net margin NM may reduce from 1200 mV to 300 mV, a change of 900 mV. The smaller net margin NM at 100 min may be insufficient for a read operation.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements

Method of erasing non-volatile memory cells


Novel compounds are provided which are 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type I inhibitors. 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type I inhibitors are useful in treating, preventing, or slowing the progression of diseases requiring 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type I inhibitor therapy. These novel compounds of formula I: or stereoisomers or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, wherein R* is an isotopically labeled hydroxypropyl moiety.

The steroid hormone cortisol is a key regulator of many physiological processes. However, an excess of cortisol, as occurs in Cushing's Disease, provokes severe metabolic abnormalities including: type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and osteoporosis. Many patients with these diseases, however, do not show significant increases in plasma cortisol levels. In addition to plasma cortisol, individual tissues can regulate their glucocorticoid tone via the in situ conversion of inactive cortisone to the active hormone cortisol. Indeed, the normally high plasma concentration of cortisone provides a ready supply of precursor for conversion to cortisol via the intracellular enzyme 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type I (11beta-HSD1).
11beta-HSD1 is a member of the short chain dehydrogenase superfamily of enzymes. By catalyzing the conversion of cortisone to cortisol, 11beta-HSD1 controls the intracellular glucocorticoid tone according to its expression and activity levels. In this manner, 11beta-HSD1 can determine the overall metabolic status of the organ. 11beta-HSD1 is expressed at high levels in the liver and at lower levels in many metabolically active tissues including the adipose, the CNS, the pancreas, and the pituitary. Taking the example of the liver, it is predicted that high levels of 11beta-HSD1 activity will stimulate gluconeogenesis and overall glucose output. Conversely, reduction of 11beta-HSD1 activity will down regulate gluconeogenesis resulting in lower plasma glucose levels.
Various studies have been conducted that support this hypothesis. For example, transgenic mice expressing 2× the normal level of 11beta-HSD1 in only the adipose tissue show abdominal obesity, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance. (Masuzaki, H. et al., "A Transgenic Model of Visceral Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome", Science, 294:2166-2170 (2001). Conversely, when the 11beta-HSD1 gene is ablated by homologous recombination, the resulting mice are resistant to diet induced obesity and the accompanying dysregulation of glucose metabolism (Morton, N. M. et al., "Novel Adipose Tissue-Mediated Resistance to Diet-induced Visceral Obesity in 11β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 1-Deficient Mice", Diabetes, 53:931-938 (2004). In addition, treatment of genetic mouse models of obesity and diabetes (ob/ob, db/db and KKAy mice) with a specific inhibitor of 11beta-HSD1 causes a decrease in glucose output from the liver and an overall increase in insulin sensitivity (Alberts, P. et al., "Selective Inhibition of 11β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type I Improves Hepatic Insulting Sensitivity in Hyperglycemic Mice Strains", Endocrinology, 144:4755-4762 (2003)). Furthermore, inhibitors of 11beta-HSD1 have been shown to be effective in treating metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis in high fat fed mice (Hermanowski-Vosatka et al., J. Exp. Med., 202(4):517-527 (2002)). Based in part on these studies, it is believed that local control of cortisol levels is important in metabolic diseases in these model systems. In addition, the results of these studies also suggest that inhibition of 11beta-HSD1 will be a viable strategy for treating metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and the metabolic syndrome.
Lending further support to this idea are the results of a series of preliminary clinical studies. For example, several reports have shown that adipose tissue from obese individuals has elevated levels of 11beta-HSD1 activity. In addition, studies with carbenoxolone, a natural product derived from licorice that inhibits both 11beta-HSD1 and 11beta-HSD2 (converts cortisol to cortisone in kidney) have shown promising results. A seven day, double blind, placebo controlled, cross over study with carbenoxolone in mildly overweight individuals with type 2 diabetes showed that patients treated with the inhibitor, but not the placebo group, displayed a decrease in hepatic glucose production (Andrews, R. C. et al., J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., 88:285-291 (2003)). This observation is consistent with the inhibition of 11beta-HSD1 in the liver. The results of these preclinical and early clinical studies strongly support the concept that treatment with a potent and selective inhibitor of 11beta-HSD1 will be an efficacious therapy in patients afflicted with type 2 diabetes, obesity, and the metabolic syndrome.
Accordingly, compounds that activate 11beta-HSD1 could demonstrate a wide range of utilities in treating diabetes and related conditions, microvascular complications associated with diabetes, the macrovascular complications associated with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, Metabolic Syndrome and its component conditions, inflammatory diseases and other maladies. PCT Publication Nos. WO 2006/135667 A1, WO 2006/135795 A1, WO 2008/024892 A1, WO 2008/130951 A1, WO 2009/045753 A1 (incorporated herein by reference and assigned to present applicant) and WO 2009/102761 A1, disclose compounds that activate 11beta-HSD1. The references also disclose various processes to prepare these compounds.
It is desirable to find new compounds with improved pharmacological characteristics compared with known 11beta-HSD1 activators. For example, it is desirable to find new compounds with improved 11beta-HSD1 activity and selectivity for 11beta-HSD1 versus other dehydrogenase receptors (i.e., 11beta-HSD2 receptor). It is also desirable to find compounds with advantageous and improved characteristics in one or more of the following categories:
(a) pharmaceutical properties (i.e., solubility, permeability, amenability to sustained release formulations);
(b) dosage requirements (e.g., lower dosages and/or once-daily dosing);
(c) factors which decrease blood concentration peak-to-trough characteristics (i.e., clearance and/or volume of distribution);
(d) factors that increase the concentration of active drug at the receptor (i.e., protein binding, volume of distribution);
(e) factors that decrease the liability for clinical drug-drug interactions (cytochrome P450 enzyme inhibition or induction, such as CYP 2D6 inhibition, see Dresser, G. K. et al., Clin. Pharmacokinet., 38:41-57 (2000), which is hereby incorporated by reference); and
(f) factors that decrease the potential for adverse side-effects (e.g., pharmacological selectivity beyond the intracellular enzyme 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type I, potential chemical or metabolic reactivity, limited CNS penetration, ion-channel selectivity). It is especially desirable to find compounds having a desirable combination of the aforementioned pharmacological characteristics.

Isotopically labeled triazolopyridine 11-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type I inhibitors


A method of processing seismic data on parallel processors, preferably on a massively parallel processor. The input ot the process is seismic data from one or more of a number of seismic lines. The end product of the invention is a DMO corrected, zero-offset seismic image of the subsurface. By repeating the method on different input offsets, the variation in reflection strength of a reflector as a function of the angle of incidence can be examined. The method includes a two stage parallelization. First, a parallelization over the incoming traces generates a suite of DMO-corrected partial images for each point on each incoming trace. Secondly, a parallelization over output locations accumulates and combines the partial images, and produces output traces.

The search for subsurface hydrocarbon deposits typically involves a sequence of data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation procedures. The data acquisition phase involves use of an energy source to generate signals that propagate into the earth and reflect from various subsurface geologic structures. The reflected signals are recorded by a multitude of receivers on or near the surface of the earth, or in an overlying body of water. The received signals, which are often referred to as seismic traces, consist of amplitudes of acoustic energy which vary as a function of time, receiver position, and source position and, most importantly, vary as a function of the physical properties of the structures from which the signals reflect. The data analyst uses these traces along with a geophysical model to develop an image of the subsurface geologic structures.
The analysis phase involves procedures that vary depending on the nature of the geological structure being investigated, and on the characteristics of the dataset itself. In general, however, the purpose of a typical seismic data processing effort is to produce an image of the geologic structure from the recorded data. That image is developed using theoretical and empirical models of the manner in which the signals are transmitted into the earth, attenuated by the subsurface strata, and reflected from the geologic structures. The quality of the final product of the data processing sequence is heavily dependent on the accuracy of these analysis procedures.
The final phase is the interpretation of the analytic results. Specifically, the interpreter's task is to assess the extent to which subsurface hydrocarbon deposits are present, thereby aiding such decisions as whether additional exploratory drilling is warranted or what an optimum hydrocarbon recovery scenario may be. In that assessment, the interpretation of the image involves a variety of different efforts. For example, the interpreter often studies the imaged results to obtain an understanding of the regional subsurface geology. This may involve marking main structural features, such as faults, synclines and anticlines. Thereafter, a preliminary contouring of horizons may be performed. A subsequent step of continuously tracking horizons across the various vertical sections, with correlations of the interpreted faults, may also occur. As is clearly understood in the art, the quality and accuracy of the results of the data analysis step of the seismic sequence have a significant impact on the accuracy and usefulness of the results of this interpretation phase.
In principle, the seismic image can be developed using a three-dimensional geophysical model of seismic wave propagation, thereby facilitating accurate depth and azimuthal scaling of all reflections in the data. Accurately specified reflections greatly simplify data interpretation, since the interpretational focus can be on the nature of the geologic structure involved and not on the accuracy of the image. Unfortunately, three dimensional geophysical models frequently require intolerably long computation times, and seismic analysts are forced to simplify the data processing effort as much as possible to reduce the burdens of both analysis time and cost.
In addition to the 3-D computation challenge, the analyst faces a processing volume challenge. For example, a typical data acquisition exercise may involve hundreds to hundreds of thousands of source locations, with each source location having hundreds of receiver locations. Because each source-receiver pair may make a valuable contribution to the desired output image, the data handling load (i.e., the input/output data transfer demand) can be a burden in itself, independent of the computation burden.
FIG. 1 depicts a perspective view of a region 20 of the earth for which a geophysical image is desired. On the surface 18 of the earth are shown a number of shot lines 2 along which the seismic data are acquired. As shown in FIG. 1A, shot lines 2 consist of a sequence of positions at which a seismic source 3 is placed and from which seismic signals 5 are transmitted into the earth. Receivers 4 placed along each line receive the signals from each source position after reflection from various subsurface reflectors 6.
A first method of managing the seismic data burdens discussed above involves careful definition of the region over which the data are acquired. Specifically, use of any available preliminary geologic and geophysical information may facilitate the minimization of the surface area over which seismic data may need to be acquired. Such a minimization will directly reduce the amount of data that is ultimately acquired. Furthermore, similarly careful planning of the spacing between shot lines will optimize the analysis effort by reducing data volume. Finally, optimization of the number of sources and receivers that are used, and of the spacing between adjacent source and receiver positions, will also benefit the data analyst.
None of these efforts can be accomplished without a penalty. For example, relatively wide spacing between shot lines, or between sources and receivers, reduce the resolution of the computed seismic image, thus making interpretation more difficult. In addition, complex geologic features may not be resolvable without relatively close spacing. And finally, certain data acquisition exercises, such as in relatively unexplored areas, do not allow optimization of the surface area over which data is to be acquired. As a result, the data handling burden cannot be entirely eliminated through data acquisition planning.
The recent availability of massively parallel processors offers a significant opportunity to seismic data analysts. Massively parallel processors (MPPs) have multiple central processing units (CPUs) which can perform simultaneous computations. By efficient use of these CPUs, the weeks or months previously required for complex analyses can be reduced to a few days, or perhaps a few hours. However, this significant advantage can only be realized if efficient computational algorithms are encoded in the MPP software. Thus, the opportunity MPPs offer seismic data analysts also creates a challenge for the development of suitable computational algorithms that take advantage of the multiple CPUs.
This challenge can be easily discussed by considering the manner in which computational algorithms have most commonly been written for existing seismic analysis routines. Until recently, computers relied on a mode of operation referred to as sequential computing. Sequential computing involves use of analytic routines that perform only a single procedure, or perhaps focus on a single subset of the data or image, at any given time. This is a direct result of a computer having only one CPU. For that reason, the only optimization procedures that can be employed on single CPU computers are those which increase the efficiency of the processing as to the procedure or subset. Because all calculations must ultimately be performed by that single CPU, however, the options for obtaining high performance are innately limited.
On the other hand, the multiple CPU capability of MPPs offers an obvious simultaneous computation advantage. This advantage is that the total time required to solve a computational problem can be reduced by subdividing the work to be done among the various CPUs, provided that the subdivision allows each CPU to perform useful work while the other CPUs are also performing work. Unfortunately, the disadvantage of multiple CPU hardware is that the sequential processing methods that have long been used in software development must be replaced by more appropriate parallelized computing methods. Simply stated, MPPs require that processing methods be developed which make efficient use of the multiple CPU hardware. Ideally, these methods should organize the distribution of work relatively evenly among the processors, and ensure that all processors are performing necessary computations all of the time, rather than awaiting intermediate results from other processors.
The challenge of defining parallelized processing methods, and of optimizing those parallelized methods once defined, is particularly acute in the seismic data processing arena. Seismic data consists generally of a large number of individual traces, each recorded somewhat independently of the other traces. Logically enough, sequential computing methods that require the analytic focus to be placed on a single calculation at a time adapt well to analysis of these independent traces. This is true even though computational bottlenecks may exist. For example, portions of the analytic sequence may require relatively more computation time than other portions, must be completed before other calculations may proceed, or may rely on similar input data as other traces, for example traveltimes. Since no simultaneous computations occur in sequential processing, none of these bottlenecks lead to a reduction in computational efficiency with a single CPU, except as to the total processing time that is required. Except as to that total time requirement, the existence of such computational bottlenecks does not otherwise pose problems for the analyst. To take full advantage of MPP computing capabilities, however, where the goal is to perform simultaneous processing in all CPUs, methods for optimizing the seismic analysis phase by eliminating such bottlenecks must be developed.
This advantage of an MPP becomes clear by considering the limitation which calculation time places on image region size in single CPU computers. Increasing the size of the image, e.g., by expanding the size of cube 20 in FIG. 1, or increasing the amount of data to be processed, e.g., by adding additional sources 3 and receivers 4 to shotlines 2, increase the total computation. That direct impact on calculation time places a heavy burden on seismic analysts to optimize image size, especially since even small image regions may require weeks of computation time on even the highest speed sequential processing computers. In contrast, efficient processing on MPPS, which may have as many as or more than 256 individual CPUs, should only involve minimally lengthened computation times, since each CPU would assume just a fraction, for example 1/256, of the additional work required by the larger region. This potential for scalability of the image region and the work load required in image generation is a principal benefit of MPPs, a benefit that can only be realized if parallelized seismic processing methods allowing such workload scalability are developed.
Basic considerations for determining efficient parallelized seismic processing methods become evident by reconsidering the above review of the seismic analysis process. As noted, the purpose of seismic analysis is to analyze measured seismic data using geophysical models to develop images of the subsurface. Therefore, each of three principal processing components--data, model, and image--may be considered to be a candidate for distributing computational work among the various processors in an MPP. One option for distributing work among the processors would be to assign different groups of the input seismic trace data to different processors. For example, traces may be grouped by source locations, with different processors being assigned different groups. Similarly, the output image could be subdivided and assigned to different processors. Finally, it may also be possible to subdivide the geophysical model used to generate the output image into groupings that can be assigned to the various processors. (That model is generally considered to be embodied in the arithmetic operations required by the mathematical model that is the subject of the processing effort. For example, in seismic analysis the mathematical model is often based on the wave equation). For example, the data may be transformed into the frequency domain, with individual frequencies assigned to individual processors. It may also be possible to develop combinations of these approaches. For example, groups of processors may be assigned collective responsibility for specific frequencies in the model and all depths in the image, while having individual responsibility for specific horizontal locations in the image. The challenge to the seismic data analyst is to determine methods of subdividing the seismic data, model, and image into components that can be assigned to individual processors in the MPP, thus allowing calculations to be performed in each processor independently of other processors. This subdivision of seismic data analysis into individual components is commonly referred to as seismic decomposition.
In a Single Instruction, Multiple Data stream (SIMD) MPP, the processing elements typically perform the same operation on multiple data streams. An example is the CM2, a product of the Thinking Machines Corporation. These kinds of machines typically lack shared memory, i.e., each processor has its own separate memory unit and the information in the memory cannot be directly accessed by other processors. The individual processors typically have limited computing capability and memory. Because of the large number of processing elements and a lack of shared memory, data transfer between the processing elements is a major bottleneck in efficient utilization of the capability of the machines. Even with sophisticated interconnection techniques, such as in a hypercube arrangement, transfer of data between processors is a major factor in the running time of programs.
Other computers have much more powerful elements in arrays of tens or hundreds. The T3D, a product of Cray Research Corporation, is an example of this kind of machine. Besides having individual processing elements that are much more powerful than those in the CM2, the T3D has fewer of the elements and a physically distributed, logically shared memory. This Multiple Instruction Multiple Data stream (MIMD) machine has different elements performing different operations on different parts of the data at the same time. The reduced number of processing elements means that data does not have to be transferred to as many elements as in a SIMD machine. Because of the increased sophistication and cost of the individual elements and because of their fewer numbers, efficient utilization requires that the load on the processing elements be balanced. An additional factor is that each processing element must accommodate a larger subset of the overall data volume; computations that involve sorting of the data could become more complicated.
As would be familiar to those knowledgeable in the art, prestack migration processes are computationally very demanding. As an alternative to prestack migration, a prestack partial migration could be done followed by a poststack time or depth migration. In many cases, this leads to a significant reduction in computation time without a serious loss in accuracy. One common method of prestack partial migration is the dip moveout (DMO) process. The process of DMO correction is discussed at length in Deregowski, S. M. and Rocca, F., "Geometrical Optics and Wave Theory of Constant Offset Sections in Layered Media", 29 Geoph. Prosp. 374 (1981). The DMO operator can be visualized as the result of two steps. The first step is to find the isochron for a given source and receiver position. The term isochron means the set of points such that the traveltime from the source to each of the points and back to the receiver is equal to the observed travel time. Those knowledgeable in the art would recognize that, for a constant velocity medium, the isochron is an ellipsoid with foci at the shot and the receiver. The normal to any point on this ellipsoid defines both a position on the surface of the earth and a zero-offset travel time corresponding to the ray defined by the normal. The DMO operation consists of moving data from an original observation point to a set of such possible surface positions and determining the corresponding zero-offset travel times. For a constant velocity medium, the surface positions fall along the major axis of the traveltime ellipsoid. The Kirchhoff DMO procedure consists of 1) for each input trace the generation of a set of replacement traces at a number of output surface positions followed by 2) the summation, at each output location, of the replacement traces from each input location, resulting in 3) a partially migrated image.
Deregowski and Rocca showed that a velocity independent DMO operator for a common offset section can be expressed as: ##EQU1## where t.sub.0 is zero-offset time, t.sub.n is the normal moveout (NMO) corrected time, h is half the source-receiver offset and x is the migration distance from the midpoint, i.e., the distance between the midpoint of the source-receiver pair and the position of the equivalent zero-offset replacement trace. Zero-offset time is time measured along the replacement trace. The NMO corrected time is obtained by the usual NMO procedure using the root mean square (rms) velocity.
As is known to those familiar with the art, conventional stacking of common midpoint (CDP) gathers that uses a dip corrected rms velocity is unable to deal with reflectors of different dips. The zero offset section obtained by DMO, on the other hand, correctly represents reflections from different dips. Equation 1 defines a 2-D DMO operator that moves energy into a vertical plane through the source and receiver and produces an image that can be processed by post-stack, zero-offset migration methods at a significant saving in computation time.
When the medium does not have constant velocity, the DMO operator is more complicated. A partial solution for the problem of a medium with constant vertical velocity gradient is given in Artley, C., and Hale, D., "Dip-Moveout Processing for Depth Variable Velocity", 59 Geophysics 610 (April 1994). However, Artley and Hale considered only the inline component of the DMO operator. In fact, for the case of a medium with a vertical velocity gradient, the DMO operator, which is generally referred to as the Migration to Zero Offset (MZO) operator, is no longer limited to a vertical plane passing through the shot and receiver positions. A detailed analysis of the problem of MZO for a constant velocity gradient is given by Dietrich, M., and s Cohen, J. K., "Migration to Zero Offset (DMO) for a Constant Vertical Velocity Gradient: An Analytical Formulation", 41 Geophysical Prospecting 621, (1993). The isochron in this case is a quartic polynomial in x, y and z, and the migration to zero offset (MZO) operator is multivalued. One branch of the operator is a saddle-shaped operator related to smaller dips and approximately corresponds to the conventional DMO operator for the case of no velocity gradient. The second branch of the operator is produced from larger dips or overturned reflectors. Both of these branches of the DMO operator have crossline components. Dietrich and Cohen's work has several limitations. First, their operator is based on ray-theoretical considerations. As a result, where the two branches of the operator come together there is an abrupt termination, with rather strong amplitude, of the primary branch of the operator. In addition, even away from the cusp termination, the amplitudes given by Dietrich and Cohen are inconsistent with the amplitudes given by prior art references relating to the problem of amplitudes for the DMO operator.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,422 issued to Gonzalez et. al. teaches a method for performing a 3-D DMO in the presence of a vertical velocity variation in the subsurface. In this method, the DMO operator for constant velocity is applied, and followed by the application of a residual operator that has the effect of squeezing the ellipsoid from the first step. However, the method only addresses the primary branch of the multivalued operator. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,212, Scheiman deals with the problem of smearing caused by the operation of forcing the output location into a discrete set of bins on an areal grid. However, that method does not address the problem of vertical inhomogeneities. In addition to these limitations both Gonzalez et. al. and Sheiman both are single CPU-oriented methods and cannot be efficiently implemented on an MPP.
The implementation of a 3-D DMO process on a shared memory parallel computer is discussed by Lu, L., Bell, L., and Lim, K., "Parallel Implementation of 3-D DMO on Shared Memory Systems", 64 SEG Extended Abstracts 214, (1994). Lu et. Al. implement a parallelization of tasks over input shot gathers only, but not in the output phase of the DMO calculations. However, the disclosure is limited to DMO of single offset data, and in addition has several limitations that reduce the efficiency of the overall process. Specifically, because multiple processors may be attempting to write (or add) their output to the same memory location of the MPP, a "memory locking" procedure is incorporated in the process. This memory locking procedure results in a slowdown of the process, since processors will often be delayed in accessing the desired memory locations. In addition, after processing of each group of shots is completed, the disk file is updated using an analogous "file locking". This too is a bottleneck in the efficiency of the method.
An MPP implementation for a 3-D DMO process on a CM2 (or on the Thinking Machine CM5 computer) is discussed by Biondi, B. and Moorhead, W. D., "Data Parallel Algorithm for Kirchhoff 3-D DMO", 62 SEG Extended Abstracts 330, (1992). The implementation has parallelism over input shot gathers and also over output swaths. Successive shot gathers are loaded onto consecutive processors until all the processors are full, each processor having one or more gathers as part of its input. Each processor is also responsible for a number of output locations. During the computation phase, each processor first computes the DMO replacement traces for its input traces and only for the locations for which it also has the output task. Once all the processors have completed calculations for the initial input traces, each processor sends its input traces to the next processor and the DMO operations are repeated. This "pipelining" is repeated, as many times as necessary, until output traces have been computed for all output locations. The pipelining is necessary because of the limited memory available on the individual processors of a CM-2 or CM-5. The processors also drop input traces incrementally, beginning with the nearest offset, to reduce the data transfer. This method requires that the shot gathers be contiguous and in physical order, or the load balancing between the processors will be poor. In addition, since each processor is responsible for contiguous portions of the output, bottlenecks may occur in certain portions of the model where, because of complicated velocity models, more computations are needed. Finally, the load balancing in such a scheme will deteriorate when, as is commonly the case, certain traces are missing from the input data set.
Gonzalez et. Al., Lu et. al. and Biondi and Moorhead deal only with the kinematics of the DMO operation, i.e., the DMO calculation involves a straightforward summation of the generated replacement traces. They do not properly handle the amplitude and phase information in the seismic reflections. The problem of preserving amplitudes and phase information as part of the DMO process is discussed by Black, J. L., Schleicher, K. L. and Zhang, L., "True-Amplitude Imaging and Dip Moveout", 58 Geophysics 47 (January 1993). Black et. al. point out that merely summing the contributions, at the appropriate times, from various input traces can give a misleading image of the subsurface. In particular, the amplitudes of steeply dipping reflectors would be attenuated with respect to horizontal reflectors. Those knowledgeable in the art would recognize that amplitude and phase information play an important role in interpretation of subsurface lithology and fluid content and would hence recognize the desirability of preserving amplitude and phase information. Black et. al. also discuss the problem of aliasing wherein, due to too large a distance between input trace positions, steep dips are improperly imaged. Black et. al. do not, however, suggest a solution to that problem.
Thus, there is a need for an invention that implements an MZO process on an MPP which efficiently load balances the DMO calculations, parallelizes on input and output, is able to handle multiple offsets, is able to handle vertical velocity variations, produces accurate images using both branches of the MZO operator, and does not require the data to be contiguous. In addition, the invention should more accurately preserve amplitude and phase information in the seismic data than does the prior art, and should also avoid aliasing errors. The present invention satisfies this need.

Method of dip moveout analysis on a massively parallel computer


The present invention provides a method of preparing a phosphonium salt of the formula [R1R2R3P—CR4R5R6]X, comprising ball-milling a phosphine of the formula R1R2R3P with a compound of the formula XCR4R5R6; a method of preparing a phosphorus ylide of the formula R1R2R3P═CR4R5, comprising ball-milling a phosphonium salt of the formula [R1R2R3P—HCR4R5]X in the presence of a base; and a method of preparing an olefin of the formula R4R5C═CR7H or R4R5C═CR7R8, comprising ball-milling a phosphorus ylide of the formula R1R2R3P═CR4R5 with a compound of the formula R7C(O)H or R7C(O)R8. The inventive method produces phosphonium salts and phosphorus ylides by mechanical processing solid reagents under solvent-free conditions. The advantages of the present invention over conventional solution methods, include: (1) extremely high selectivity; (2) high yields; (3) low processing temperatures; (4) simple and scalable reactions using commercially available equipment; and (5) the complete elimination of solvents from the reaction.

Phosphonium salts are used as agricultural chemicals, phase transfer catalysts, physiologically active compounds, corrosion inhibitors, flame retardants, anti-static and softening agents (see, e.g., WO 99/28287; JP 2000-265085; EP 139260; U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,031; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,380). However, the current major application of phosphonium salts is considered to be their transformation into phosphorus ylides, which phosphorus ylides further participate in the Wittig-Homer reaction leading to diverse unsaturated organic compounds (W. A. Johnson, Ylides and imines of phosphorus. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, 1993).
Typically, phosphonium salts are synthesized in solution by a broad variety of methods, which include reactions of phosphines with alcohols or oxiranes, with aromatic organic halides in the presence of metal salts, or with diazo compounds (P. Beck in Organic Phosphorus Compounds vol. 2, Eds.: G. M. Kosolapoff, L. Maier, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, p. 189, 1972; DE 19914193; K. Sasse in Methoden der Organischen Chemie (Houben-Weil), Bd XII/1, Ed.: E. Müller, Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, p. 79, 1963; K. Jödden in Methoden der Organischen Chemie (Houben-Weil), Bd E1, Ed.: M. Regitz, Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, New York, p. 491, 1982). A conventional method of preparing alkyl-substituted phosphonium salts is the reaction of ternary phosphines with alkyl halides in appropriate organic solvents. Alternatively, liquid organic halides can be used as the reaction media. Although successful in many instances, the preparation of phosphonium salts from phosphines and alkyl halides using these methods can be complicated by side reactions, thus lowering the overall yield of the desired compounds. In particular, reactions of ternary phosphines with α-bromoketones are unreliable because alkylation of phosphines is accompanied by the formation of O-phosphorylated products and by the dehydrobromination of the starting bromoketones (W. A. Johnson, Ylides and imines of phosphorus. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, 1993; Borowitz et al., J. Org. Chem. 34, 1595 (1969)).
In the presence of a base, phosphonium salts can form phosphorus ylides. Phosphorus ylides find use in the synthesis of vitamins, terpenoids, steroids, hormones, prostaglandins, amino acids, nucleotides, physiologically active compounds, and transition metal complexes, and in polymerization processes. However, as previously noted, it is believed that the major use of phosphorus ylides is their reaction with diverse organic carbonyl derivatives in the Wittig-Homer reaction, which allows for the preparation of various unsaturated organic substances. Conventionally and exclusively, the generation of phosphorus ylides is performed in a solution using a wide variety of solvents (see, e.g., W. A. Johnson, Ylides and imines of phosphorus. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, 1993; WO 99/28287; Hudson in The Chemistry of Organophosphorus Compounds vol. 1, Ed.: F. R. Hartley, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. New York, p. 386, 1990; The Chemistry of Organophosphorus Compounds, vol. 3: Phosphonium Salts, Ylides and Phosphoranes. Ed.: F. R. Hartley, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. New York, 1994).
Additionally, the bases used in the preparation of such phosphorus ylides should possess an appropriate strength, as is known. Examples of suitable bases include alkali metal carbonates, alkali metal hydroxides, alkali metal alkoxides, methyl, butyl or phenyllithium. As with the preparation of phosphonium salts, the generation of phosphorus ylides in solution can be complicated by undesirable side reactions. Consequently, phosphorus ylides must usually be prepared by means of meticulous, multiple-stage processes to avoid the preparation of the corresponding phosphonium salts (Aitken et al., Phosphorus, Sulfur and Silicon 101, 281 (1995)). Phosphorus ylides can sometimes react with the reaction solvent, thereby further complicating the synthesis. As a result, the choice of the reaction media is critical for both the generation of phosphorus ylides and in carrying out the Wittig-Horner reaction.
Environmental and health issues are other concerns with the use of organic solvents in the conventional preparation of phosphonium salts and phosphorus ylides. The reaction solvents can end up in waste streams, thereby straining the environment and causing health problems in the individuals exposed to them. Despite tremendous efforts directed towards the minimization of both environmental and health impacts of solvents, handling and elimination of solvents-related waste still remains one of the most difficult environmental and health problems. An effective approach to minimize the solvent-related chemical pollution is the replacement of solvents in both the industry and research laboratory by alternative materials acceptable from both environmental and health standpoints. However, a much more desirable method of resolving ecological problems caused by solvent wastes would be one that eliminates the use of solvents required for carrying out the particular chemical reactions altogether.
The present invention provides such a method. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.

Solvent-free mechanochemical preparation of phosphonium salts, phosphorus ylides, and olefins

Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc.


A speed bump for use in connection with highways located in climates where snow plow is used to clear the highways includes a raised mass fabricated from highway construction material. The raised mass has a crown, a base where the raised mass meets a surface of the highway, and a slope of the raised mass between the crown and the base. The slope presents a profile in the area of the slope at which a snow plow is likely to encounter the speed bump such that the snow plow is lifted smoothly over the speed bump.

Speed bumps are an effective means of preventing excessive speeds on roads. The typical speed bump consists of a ridge extending transversely to the direction of traffic flow across one or more lanes of the roadway. These speed bumps are normally formed of paving material, such as asphalt or concrete, and have a cross-sectional configuration approximating that of a segment of a circle with a sharp angle of intersection with the pavement surface. This sharp angle presents an obstacle for snow plows requiring careful operation on the part of the plow operator to avoid damage to the speed bumps and to the snow plow equipment. One approach to this problem has been the use of removable speed bumps. This, however, requires manual removal and installation, according to the season, and the desired traffic control is, obviously, lacking during the winter season. A second approach is the use of speed dips rather than speed bumps. Speed dips involve cutting into the existing pavement surface which may contribute to the deterioration thereof.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a speed bump which is compatible with the use of snow plows on the road surface while maintaining the traffic control aspects of the bump.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such speed bumps which are permanent road features.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of permanent, snow plow compatible speed bumps which are formed of conventional road construction materials.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A fuel cell assembly includes first and second compression members. Two or more membrane electrode assembly (MEA) stacks are disposed between the compression members, each MEA stack having a positive and negative end. A first current collector is electrically coupled to a positive end of a first stack of the MEA stacks. A second current collector is electrically coupled to a negative end of a second stack of the MEA stacks. A current shunt is disposed between the compression members and electrically couples the MEA stacks.

A typical fuel cell system includes a power section in which one or more fuel cells generate electrical power. A fuel cell is an energy conversion device that converts hydrogen and oxygen into water, producing electricity and heat in the process. Each fuel cell unit may include a proton exchange member (PEM) at the center with gas diffusion layers on either side of the proton exchange member. Anode and cathode catalyst layers are respectively positioned at the inside of the gas diffusion layers. This unit is referred to as a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). Separator plates (also referred to herein and flow field plates or bipolar plates) are respectively positioned on the outside of the gas diffusion layers of the membrane electrode assembly. This type of fuel cell is often referred to as a PEM fuel cell.
The reaction in a single MEA typically produces less than one volt. Therefore, to obtain operating voltages useful in most applications, a plurality of the MEAs may be stacked and electrically connected in series to achieve a desired voltage. Electrical current is collected from the fuel cell stack and used to drive a load. Fuel cells may be used to supply power for a variety of applications, ranging from automobiles to laptop computers.
It is recognized that for certain applications, such as stacks used for automotive drives, there are limitations with existing PEM Fuel Cells due to excessive weight, volume, and cost. One reason for this is due to the thickness and weight of the flow field separators. Machined graphite, carbon composite, and metals are materials commonly used for flow field separators. These material options may suffer from either excessive volume or weight. This limitation leads to heavy or bulky fuel cell stacks, as typically there are many separators in each stack. Furthermore, it is difficult to make these separators thin and robust. Breakage and cracking have been issues with graphite and carbon composite based separators. Small defects can lead to breakage and catastrophic failures. Thin, light weight metal plate separators can bend easily and remain deformed. There have been many attempts to improve the performance of flow field separators, but it has been difficult to find a good balance between cost, thickness, weight, and toughness.
Even where the thickness of the flow field separators can be reduced, there are still space constraints in some applications that make it difficult to adapt fuel cells to practical designs. For example, some electric drive motors used in automobile applications may require electrical potentials as high as 100 volts or more. In order for a fuel cell system to provide this potential without expensive power conversions, the fuel cell stack would require a large number of MEAs stacked together, making the fuel cell stack larger than desirable.
Other design requirements limit how compact a fuel cell system can be. For example, gases and fluids need to flow through the stack in order to power the cells and to regulate the cell temperature. The internal flow passages and external plumbing needed to accommodate these gases and fluids may make it difficult to produce a fuel cell assembly that is easy to integrate in a space-constrained environment such as an automobile. However, the potential benefit resulting from practical, fuel cell powered automobiles is great, so cost effective and robust solutions to these limitations are desirable.

Compact fuel cell stack with current shunt


A rotary spa jet, of the type which comprises a nozzle rotatably mounted within the end of a spa jet housing by a radial ball bearing, is provided with an internal flow guide to reduce impairment of the free rotation of the nozzle caused by debris in the spa water. The flow guide is positioned within the spa jet housing and acts on a portion of the water flow which reaches and flows through the radial ball bearing to flush and lubricate it. The flow guide includes one or more annular baffle walls which deflect water flow which reduce the amount of water that flows through the bearing and slows down its rate of flow to promote settlement and collection of debris before it reaches the bearing.

This invention relates to spa jets for hydrotherapy. In particular, it relates to a spa jet having a rotating nozzle supported by a radial ball bearing in which clogging of the bearing by debris in the spa water is reduced.
In the art of hydrotherapy, it is known to utilize spa jets which direct a stream of water into the spa through one or more nozzles which rotate to distribute the water in a swirling motion against the skin of a person in the spa. Such a spa jet typically includes a housing, which communicates with an inlet connected to a pressurized source of water, and a radial ball bearing, mounted within the open end of a cup-shaped portion of the housing, which supports the nozzle for rotation. The nozzle has a nozzle passage which is angularly and radially offset from the central axis of the spa jet so that the water jet exerts a turning moment to the nozzle to rotate it. One such spa jet of the type described is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,274 to Perdreau et al., owned by the assignee of the present invention.
While spa jets of the type described are generally satisfactory for their intended purpose, debris within the spa water can, over time, impair the free rotation of the radial ball bearing supporting the nozzle. Build-up of debris in the bearing can eventually slow down rotation of the nozzle to an unacceptable rate and, in an ultimate condition, cause it to stop rotating. This impairment can have several causes. For example, there will usually be gummy substances within the spa water, such as body oils or suntan oil, which build up over time on ball bearings, and on other rotary surfaces, within the rotary bearing. In addition, there will usually be fine particulates, such as sand or insoluble earth particles and undissolved particulate residues from the chlorine-containing tablets used in the spa to kill bacterial organisms. There may also be human hair and also particles of plastic. These particles can enter and wedge against, or roughen, the surfaces of rotating parts thereby causing them to slow down or cease to rotate. For purposes of this patent, we will use the term xe2x80x9cdebrisxe2x80x9d to refer collectively to all substances dissolved, suspended, entrained or otherwise present in the spa water, that tend to impair free rotation of the radial ball bearing. We will also use the word xe2x80x9ccloggingxe2x80x9d to generically describe any interference with rotation of the rotary bearing caused by the debris.
While rotary spa jets, of the type described, will operate for long periods before the rotation of the spa jet becomes impaired to the point of inutility, it is an objective of this invention to extend the life of the spa jet by minimizing the clogging of the rotary bearing.
The present invention provides an improvement to a spa jet of the type having an inlet tube, supplied by an upstream source of water under pressure, a cup-shaped housing extending and flaring outwardly from a downstream end of the inlet tube, a radial ball bearing having outer and inner races mounted within and surrounding the downstream end of the housing and a nozzle member mounted to the inner race, wherein there is a nozzle passage through the nozzle member which is offset relative to the central axis so that the water jet leaving the nozzle causes the nozzle to rotate. A minor part of the water flow is directed through the bearing to lubricate and flush it.
The improvement resides in structure which reduces and slows down flow of water internally within the spa jet reaching the radial ball bearing. The invention thereby diminishes the amount of debris within the water that passes through the bearing thereby prolonging the life of the bearing before it becomes unacceptedly slowed in its freedom to rotate.
In particular, the present invention provides a generally cup-shaped flow guide, mounted within the housing, which includes at least one baffle wall that reduces the amount of water and debris within it that reaches the bearing. The baffle wall extends towards the adjacent surfaces of the nozzle member to guide flow back toward the nozzle and thus reduce the flow reaching the bearing. In addition to reducing the amount of water flowing to the bearing, the baffle wall also reduces the turbulence to cause settlement of some of the debris before the water reaches the bearing. Any settled-out particulates can collect in a first debris pocket defined by the region between the flow tube and the baffle wall.
The flow guide also provides a second baffle wall which extends axially to a position spaced closely adjacent to the rotary bearing, with only a small gap through which water can flow to the bearing so that the flow of water reaching the rotary bearing is further reduced. Additional settlement of some of the debris will occur and it is collected in a second debris pocket between the two baffle walls.
The intended result of the improved structure described is to prolong the time for which the nozzle member can rotate before significant impairment is caused by debris reaching the radial ball bearing.

Rotary spa jet incorporating a rotating nozzle supported by a radial ball bearing intended to reduce clogging of the bearing


An indicator kit for detecting the presence of a quaternary ammonium compound disinfectant is provided. The kit includes an indicator composition that includes an azo dye material and water; an extraction composition that includes water, and at least one of a C1-C7 alcohol or a glycol ether; and an acidic compound present in at least one of the indicator composition, the extraction composition, or an acidic developer solution packaged separately from the indicator composition and the extraction composition. A method of detecting a quaternary ammonium compound disinfectant on a surface is also provided.

During the past decade, controlling and limiting the spread of health care associated pathogens has become one of the more challenging aspects of health care epidemiology. Three pathogens posing significant nosocomial problems are Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus (VRE), and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile). Their importance derives from a combination of resistance to presently available treatments and an ability to rapidly spread extensively in the environment around hospitalized patients. MRSA is present in wound infections, as often associated with bed sores and catheters. VRE is present in bowel and urinary tract infections. C. difficile is also present in bowel infections and presents as severe diarrhea. For each of these pathogens, control with presently available antibiotics is problematical, if not impossible. Accordingly, a more favorable way to combat the spread of these and other bacteria is through implementation of adequate cleaning and disinfecting procedures. When properly cleaned with a disinfection product, surfaces in close proximity to patients and surfaces that are most likely to be touched by patients and health care workers (e.g., high touch surfaces) do not serve as vectors to transmit infectious disease between patients. In other words, proper cleaning and disinfecting of these surfaces minimizes the risks of infectious outbreaks.
In 2002, the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) recommended that hospitals "thoroughly clean and disinfect environmental medical equipment surfaces on a regular basis". More recently the draft guidelines for disinfection and sterilization in healthcare facilities developed by the CDC emphasize the importance of environmental cleaning and disinfection activities. Although these guidelines specifically state that hospitals should ensure compliance by housekeeping staff with cleaning and disinfecting procedures and ensure consistent cleaning and disinfection of surfaces in close proximity to the patient and likely to be touched by the patient and health care worker (e.g., high touch surfaces), these guidelines provide little in the way of directives regarding the means by which hospitals are to assess their ability to objectively measure the effectiveness of and/or compliance with such cleaning and disinfecting procedures.
Despite the foregoing, environmental hygiene and/or infection control supervisors are increasingly using the currently available cleaning confirmation methods and systems to improve outcomes and meet the increasingly strict regulatory demands. Current cleaning confirmation methods and systems involve direct observation, microbacterial detection (swab cultures or agar slide cultures), detection of markers indicative of microbial metabolism (ATP system), or pre-cleaning application of a transparent material that is subsequently checked for removal. The direct observation method is unduly burdensome on personnel and is highly susceptible to the Hawthorne Effect, which is also commonly referred to as the "observer effect" whereby subjects improve or modify an aspect of their behavior, which is being experimentally measured, in response to the fact that they know that they are being studied. The direct and the indirect microbial detection methods are time intensive and are costly to implement. Concerning the transparent material marker technique, while this technique is less susceptible to the Hawthorne Effect and is less expensive than the microbial detection methods, it requires the additional independent step of applying the transparent marker prior to the cleaning process and a subsequent determination of whether the marker has been washed away during the cleaning process.
Nevertheless, one commercial transparent material marker system currently in use involves the use of a fluorescein gel marker, which is later detected using a black light (i.e., ultra-violet radiation). The fluorescein systems and their use are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,785,109; 7,780,453; 7,718,395, and 8,435,933, for example. However, in addition to the independent application and verification steps, another drawback to the fluorescein systems is that the detection of the fluorescent marker requires the use of a black light.
Despite the aforementioned shortcomings, the current cleaning confirmation methods and systems are still useful tools for educating housekeeping and infection control workers and for monitoring compliance with cleaning protocols. However, none of these current cleaning confirmation systems determine the actual presence (or absence) of any disinfecting agents. In view of the above, there is a need for new cleaning and disinfection confirmation systems that can evaluate the thoroughness with which housekeeping activities are carried out in healthcare settings by detection of disinfecting agents.

Disinfection and cleaning confirmation system


In a golf ball having a core, an intermediate layer and a cover, the intermediate layer-encased sphere has a higher surface hardness than the ball. The core hardness profile in the ball is designed such that the core surface has a Shore C hardness value which is at least 27 higher than the Shore C hardness value at the core center, and the surface areas A to F calculated from hardness differences between positions located at specific distances in the core and differences between the specific distances satisfy a specific formula. This golf ball has an excellent flight performance when struck by skilled amateur golfers and professionals, and also has a good controllability on shots with an iron.

Numerous innovations have hitherto been introduced in designing golf balls with a multilayer construction and many such balls have been developed to satisfy the needs of professional golfers and skilled amateurs. For example, functional multi-piece solid golf balls in which the surface hardnesses of the respective layers—i.e., the core, intermediate layer and cover (outermost layer)—have been optimized are widely used.
Examples of such multi-piece solid golf balls include those disclosed in JP-A 2002-765, JP-A 2016-112308, JP-A 2015-77405, JP-A 2015-47502, JP-A 2017-77355 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,855,466. However, these are golf balls having a specified core hardness profile and specified surface hardnesses for the respective layer-encased spheres. As golf balls for professional golfers and skilled amateurs, there remains room for further improvement in terms of, for example, achieving an even better flight performance and obtaining a good controllability on approach shots.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A process for preparing anhydride polymers in aromatic hydrocarbon solvents using a dialkyl peroxide/amine compound initiator system is disclosed. The amine compound allows more efficient use of free-radical initiators while achieving high monomer conversion polymerizations compared to conventional initiator systems, particularly in the preparation of maleic anhydride polymers.

This invention relates to an improved process for preparing anhydride polymers, notably poly(maleic anhydride). In particular, this invention relates to the use of amines during polymerization that allow more efficient use of freeradical initiators in achieving high monomer conversion of maleic anhydride.
Low molecular weight hydrolyzed poly(maleic anhydride) polymers and its salts are well-known as dispersants, scale inhibitors, detergent additives and sequestrants; generally a molecular weight below about 2,000 is typical for these applications. Previous processes for preparing poly(maleic anhydride) using aromatic hydrocarbon solvents, such as toluene and xylene, used large quantities of free-radical initiators but the final polymers contained substantial amounts of unpolymerized maleic anhydride. Attempts to improve the efficiency of polymerization include the use of di-tert-butyl peroxide initiator in xylene and temperature dependent isolation of poly(maleic anhydride) as an immiscible phase (U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,258), use of peroxyester initiators (U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,795) and dilute solution polymerization in xylene with limited initiator concentrations (U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,364). However these approaches still do not combine efficient use of readily available initiators with high monomer conversion.
The present invention seeks to overcome the problems associated with prior art processes used to prepare poly(maleic anhydride) by providing an efficient polymerization process using low levels of initiator while providing high monomer conversion.

Process for preparing anhydride polymers


A method for joining microstructured component layers and a method for manufacturing microstructure component layers and the microstructure component layer is provided. At least one multifunctional barrier coating is applied to the joining surfaces of a base material layer for the microstructured component layers. The layers are made of aluminum/aluminum alloys and/or copper/copper alloys, and/or noble steels. At least one solder/brazing coating is applied to each barrier coating. The coated base material layers comprising the component layers are stacked. The stacked component layers are joined by solder/brazing using heat. The melting temperature of the solder/brazing coating is higher after the heat joining than before same.

The invention relates to a method for joining microstructured component layers that are suitable for manufacturing microstructure components and that comprise metals, in particular aluminum and/or aluminum alloys, copper/copper alloys, and/or high-grade steels and furthermore relates to a microstructure component encompassing a stack of microstructured component layers that are joined to one another and that comprise metals and/or metal alloys, in particular aluminum and/or aluminum alloys, copper and/or copper alloys, and/or high-grade steels.
Microstructure components, that is, micro-(μ)-reactors, μ-mixers, and μ-heat exchangers are already employed in chemical process technology and in research and development projects. The first industrial processes have already been realized. For instance, the Clariant Company, Switzerland, jointly with the CPC Company, Germany, installed a pilot system for manufacturing two commercial azo pigments and tested the continuously-working method. The results of this method are that up to 149% greater color intensity, brighter and more transparent particles, etc. were attained (CHEmanager, May 2002). The PAMIR study (PAMIR: Potential and Applications of Microreaction Technology—A Market Survey, Mainz Institute of Microengineering, GmbH and YOLE Développement; 2002) provides a survey of the potential for microstructure technology and current industrial applications for microreaction technology. For further information on research and development projects, refer to Ehrfeld, et. al., "Microreactors," Wiley VCH, 2000 and to the proceedings of the "Microreaction Technology" conference, which has been held annually since 1997 (IMRET 1 through 6, 1997 to 2002).
Compared to conventional reactors and heat exchangers, microstructure components are characterized by excellent advantages:                1. Nearly isothermic method        2. High surface/volume ratio        3. Heat transfer improved by orders of magnitude, i.e., extremely compact high-performance heat exchangers for a wide variety of applications, e.g., for fuel cells, air conditioning in automobiles and airplanes, coolers for electronic components with high heat development        4. Extremely compact construction        5. Highest degree of system integration        6. Improved process controls        7. Very high safety standard, even during highly exothermic reactions.        8. Improved environmental protection
Microstructure components in general comprise a stack of thin metal sheets that are characterized by fine structures. Joining the structured sheets results in components with very fine channels, whereby the cross-section is typically less than 1 mm2. The sheets can be structured using dry etching methods, using wet chemical deep etching, or using mechanical microfinishing.
Normally the structured sheets are provided with a cover plate and a bottom plate and are joined into one compact component. When designed appropriately, the components attain maximum heat exchange or power exchange with minimum component volume, whereby the flow conditions in the component are adjustably defined and nearly isothermic conditions can be attained in the microchannels.
μ-Reactors, μ-heat exchangers, and μ-mixers on the market are generally made of high-grade steels because of the production engineering described in the following. In addition, the microstructure components with this production engineering cannot be employed in many fields of application, first because cost-efficient manufacture for large series and mass production is not possible and/or large numbers cannot be achieved at all or can only be achieved at great cost, and second the manufacturing method must lead to components that satisfy the following technical requirements:                1. Sealed, both between microflow channels and to the environment;        2. Pressure resistance/strength;        3. Corrosion resistance to media used;        4. Temperature resistance;        5. Free geometrically well defined fluid channels, that is, channels that are free of interfering residues from the manufacturing process.
In the prior art, thermodiffusion welding exclusively is used to join the stacked metal films for manufacturing metal μ-reactors, μ-mixers, and μ-heat exchangers. The stack of sheets to be joined, which is made of individual microstructured films, is welded to one another in a high vacuum under high pressure at high temperatures via interdiffusion. The advantage of this method is that monoliths, that is, component cores made of a uniform material, are produced. In order to provide sufficient interdiffusion, very high demands are placed on surface quality (roughness, purity, shape/planarity) during thermodiffusion welding to the components to be joined. This leads to restrictions in material selection and to expensive process conditions and material preparations. This is particularly dramatic in the case of aluminum and its alloys since the high oxygen affinity of the aluminum materials leads to the formation of oxide layers, even when work is performed under good vacuum conditions. In the past this problem has led to high reject rates during production so that this joining method is not economical for industrial applications. The subsequent housing process (forming a bond between the housing, including terminals, and the reactor body), typically by electron-beam welding, is subject to this restriction to an even greater extent since material combinations within a component are very difficult and very high local heat development can result in leaks in the diffusion-welding seams on the reactor body. Disadvantages of thermodiffusion welding are consequently the following listed complex manufacturing conditions: high vacuum, preferably very high joining temperatures (˜1000° C.), long standing and processing times, and restrictions with respect to basic materials and material combinations. The resultant costs of such products drastically limit their use. The prices of such components are currently therefore between a few hundred and a few thousand Euros (e.g., in accordance with price lists from the Mainz Institute of Microengineering).
Soldering/brazing processes have the disadvantage that the joining coating comprises other metals than the stacked films. However, these methods offer fundamental advantages in terms of costs. Although soldering/brazing methods have been suggested repeatedly as a joining technique for microstructure components, in the past it has not been possible to use soldering/brazing methods for industrial manufacture of μ-components since the requirements during the manufacture μ-components are very stringent:                1. No solder/brazing material may run into the channels during the melting process so that the channels become stopped up.        2. Work must be performed without any flux at all since flux residue cannot be removed from the finished component, or is extremely difficult to remove;        3. The solder/brazing coating must be very thin, homogeneous, uniformly distributed, and still error-free due to the small dimensions and complexity of the structure.
Humptson (Humptson, G. J., Jacobson, D. M., "Principles of Soldering and Brazing,", 4 (2001), ASM International, The Materials Information Society, ISBN 0-87170-462-5) describes Transient Liquid Phase Bonding in greater detail. This is a diffusion soldering/brazing method in which one or two solder/brazing coatings are produced between the parts to be bonded and the bond is heated to a temperature above the melting point of the solder/brazing material. The bond is heated over a lengthy period in order to make possible interdiffusion of the solder/brazing metals and the metals of the base materials. A eutectic melt of the two metals or alloys can also be formed if two different solder/brazing metals or alloys are used. It is assumed that copper, silver, or gold is used as solder/brazing material for most of the solder/brazing processes. A typical example of a solder/brazing material for use in a diffusion method is the copper/tin alloy system.
CH 690 029 A5 describes a fusible coating made of at least two layers on a substrate, in particular that can be used for solder/brazing. The manufactured substrates can be used advantageously for gas- and liquid-tight joints in watch housing parts using brazing. For manufacturing the soldering/brazing coating, two partial coatings are deposited electrolytically. During the brazing process the coatings form a eutectic melt that has a melting point at the temperature that is usual for brazing, that is, in general a melting point above 450° C. and below approx. 1000° C. For the solder/brazing coating, gold and nickel are indicated as components in a ratio of approximately 7:3 for brazing white gold, stainless steel, and titanium and titanium alloys with high portions of titanium. Other metal combinations that can be used for brazing are for instance manganese and copper as well as copper and silver. If a gold/nickel coating is applied to stainless steel, preferably a coating of gold is first deposited on the substrate.
Furthermore, EP 0 212 878 A1 describes a method for manufacturing a heat exchanger in which the flow channels for the heat medium are formed in steel plates. The steel plates are bonded to one another using diffusion bonding.
As discussed in the foregoing, microstructures currently on the market are overwhelmingly made of high-grade steel due to production constraints. But a particular challenge with respect to producing microstructure components is the use of aluminum/aluminum alloys, especially in terms of joining. In the past no microstructured components that satisfied the aforesaid technical requirements could be made from aluminum materials. For this reason this problem should be discussed in greater detail at this point:
The low density (2.7 g/cm3) of aluminum and its favorable strength properties make possible optimum shape and light weight construction and thus substantial savings in weight. This reduction in the mass of the component is extremely important for applications in vehicle design and aerospace engineering. In addition to combining light weight with great strength, aluminum has a highly electropositive character and correspondingly has a high affinity to atmospheric oxygen. In contrast to easily corrosive steel, aluminum is resistant to air due to the formation of a coherent thin oxide coating, since this prevents further attack, and thus corrosion, by oxygen.
It is precisely this protective coating responsible for aluminum's high corrosion resistance that prevents successful bonding of aluminum layers or parts during the manufacture of microstructure components or that leads to high reject rates and must therefore absolutely be removed prior to the joining process. Used for this for instance during brazing are fluxes that normally melt at temperatures of approx. 570° C. and dissolve the Al oxide coating. Use of flux should be avoided when possible since there are substantial disadvantages associated with its use, such as for instance environmental pollution, corrosion, undesired reactions between flux and for instance alloy constituents of the base material, and additional costs associated therewith. In addition, large surface areas can often be bonded together only inadequately when flux is added since build-ups can occur due to incomplete run-off of the flux during the joining process and this can cause the probability of corrosion to rise sharply. For these reasons other methods have been developed in which joining can be performed without using flux. None of these methods in the past has been able to be employed to successfully manufacture microstructured components, however.
Currently intensive research is being devoted to resolving the problems associated with joining microstructured components made of aluminum/aluminum alloys because of the great importance of aluminum materials.
In general soldering/brazing is already employed commercially as a thermal joining method in a vacuum or in an inert gas atmosphere. However, the films or pastes used when soldering/brazing the microstructure easily lead to the microchannels becoming stopped up, so that this method is not suitable for use as a joining method for microstructure components. Furthermore, the addition of flux normally used during soldering/brazing can lead to corrosion of the joints since the flux accumulates in the solder/brazing gap of the microchannels. In addition, flux is very unfriendly to the environment and its effects cannot be minimized without taking complex and expensive steps to purify waste water and exhaust air. Also, there can be undesired reactions between the flux and the alloy additives so that the bond desired between the joining partners does not have the desired properties in addition, when manufacturing catalyst-coated microreactors the use of flux can lead to deactivation of the catalyst used.
For joining aluminum and/or aluminum alloys, US 2002/0012811 A1 for instance provides that the material on the surfaces to be joined are first pretreated and then a metal coating containing nickel that also contains bismuth is electrolytically applied to the pre-treated surfaces. The joining process can be performed without flux. The nickel/bismuth-coated aluminum materials can be used for manufacturing heat exchangers.
Steffens, H.-D., Wilden, J., Möwald, K., "Use of ion-plated diffusion barriers and soldering/brazing systems when soldering/brazing steel/light metal compounds," (DVS, 166, 94-98 (1955)) provides that eutectic aluminum base solder/brazing can be used for flux-free soldering/brazing. Prior to applying the aluminum base solder/brazing, a coating of titanium as an adhesive agent and a nickel coating as a wettable surface, which also acts as a diffusion barrier, is applied by means of TiNi ion plating.
Petrunin, I. E., "Contact Reaction Soldering/Brazing," Handbook of Soldering/Brazing Technology, Verlag Technik GmbH Berlin, 1990, provides techniques for soldering/brazing aluminum and its alloys. According to it, aluminum can be soldered/brazed without flux in a gas atmosphere using the contact reaction method without using surface protective coatings. Silicon, copper, or silver can be used for solder/brazing material; they are applied to the aluminum surface electrolytically, by vapor-deposition, or by screen printing. Surface protective coatings, for instance coatings made of aluminum, copper, nickel, silver, zinc, etc., can also be used if no flux is to be used. The coatings can also be formed electrolytically or chemically.
DE 197 08 472 A1 describes a manufacturing method for chemical microreactors in which the fluid channels are formed in individual planes. The individually manufactured planes are then collected into a stack and joined securely to one another, for instance by soldering/brazing. The individual substrates can comprise metals/metal alloys. For joining the individual layers, one method cited is a brazing method using solder/brazing containing silver, and another method is cited in which first tin coating is deposited and then a bismuth coating is deposited thereupon. In this case a low fusing eutectic mixture forms at the interphase when the coatings are heated and further tempering forms a bond that has an elevated melting point.
For manufacturing a heat exchanger for a Stirling motor, in accordance with Bocking, C., Jacobson, D., Bennet, G., "Layer manufacturing of heat exchange elements using photochemical machining, electroplating, and diffusion brazing", Trans. IMP, 2000 78(6), 243-246, copper sheets are used in which fluid flow channels are formed using chemical etching. The sheets are joined to one another using a diffusion brazing method. Tin is electrolytically deposited on the copper sheets, and the sheets are brazed to one another with heat.
Bartels, F., Muschik, T., Gust, W., "Investigations into thermostable microbonds from intermetallic phases," DVS, (1991), 141, 22-24, reports on a brazing method in which intermetallic phases of binary systems are formed whose components have very different melting points. Examples listed are the binary systems Cu(Sn), Pt(Sn), Ni(Sn), and Ni(In). The report describes the Cu(Sn) system in greater detail.
It is therefore particularly remarkable that despite a great deal of work that has been performed in the field of joining methods to date there has not been any success in satisfying the requirements that were enumerated in the foregoing for manufacturing microstructure components, and that this is so even though microstructure components have already been discussed and produced as promising elements for a number of applications for some time.
Despite the substantial need to employ such components for individual applications, to date it has not been possible to manufacture microstructure components economically in large numbers. One reason for this is that in the past the available joining techniques for bonding the individual component layers were not suitable for manufacturing the microstructure components with sufficient yield. The problem is that the aforesaid requirements cannot be fulfilled satisfactorily. For instance, it is not possible without additional measures to obtain sufficient pressure resistance with sufficient gas- and liquid-tightness both between the microflow channels and to the environment (for instance, He leakage test: 1·10−8 mbar·L/s) and at the same time to ensure that the microchannels remain completely free of the joining agent, for instance a solder/brazing material, and do not become stopped up.

Method of connecting module layers suitable for the production of microstructure modules and a microstructure module


A method of balancing a movable rotating object having multiple radial projections, such as a ceiling fan, the method comprising the steps of: attaching to a non-rotating portion of the object a source that emits a focused light, directing the focused light at a target, and then attaching a weight to a location on one of the rotating projections. Then observing the orbit traced by the light source on the target, changing the location of the weight to another location on one of the radial projections, and then observing the change in the orbit on the target.

The present invention relates to an object having multiple radial projections which rotate about the center of the object, such as a ceiling fan, and, more particularly, to methods of balancing the object to reduce unwanted movement or wobble.
Any ceiling fan, which operates in a condition where its center of rotating mass does not correspond to its axis of rotation, will exhibit a degree of orbiting proportional to the amount of rotational imbalance and to the square of rotational speed. This orbit or fan wobble can only be corrected by adding weight that will move the center of mass closer toward the center of rotation. The process to achieve this is commonly referred to as balancing.
Traditionally, the process of balancing a fan is that of trial and error. The process has two parts: (1) finding the blade or blades that require the corrective weight; (2) determining the proper location of the weight on the blade(s) to provide the proper influence necessary to bring the center of rotating mass back to the axis of rotation.
To find the blade requiring the corrective weight, first the fan is operated in its uncorrected state and the amount of fan wobble is observed. Then, as a trial weight is placed on each blade, the fan is operated with each blade weight placement, and the effect of the trial weight is observed. A note is made of which blade or blades seem to have an effect on reducing the fan wobble.
Once the blade or blades that have reduced the amount fan wobble are identified, the trial weight can then be moved along the length of the blade to find the location that minimizes the orbit or wobble of the fan.
Each placement of the trial weight requires a start-up and subsequent shut down of the ceiling fan therefore making the balancing process time consuming. Combined with the subjective observation as to the degree of orbiting or fan wobble, a ceiling fan is unlikely to ever operate in a mode where the fan wobble has been truly minimized.

Method for balancing an object having multiple radial projections


A gas laser apparatus for generating a laser beam along a light beam axis, comprises, a gas as a laser medium, a dielectric tube through which the gas passes, and which surrounds the light beam axis, a pumping source generating an electric discharge through the gas existing in the dielectric tube to excite the gas so that a laser light is generated from the excited gas, and a gas blower blowing the gas into the dielectric tube, wherein the gas blower forms a circumferential flow direction component of the gas in the dielectric tube.

The present invention relates to a gas laser apparatus, in which a longitudinal axis of a dielectric tube in which a laser medium gas is excited by electric discharge to generate a laser beam is substantially identical to an axis of the generated laser beam, and/or a microwave is used to excite the laser medium gas.
In a conventional gas laser apparatus, the laser medium gas flows into the dielectric tube from a passage whose central axis crosses perpendicularly the longitudinal axis of the dielectric tube, and a plurality of microwaves with respective induction electric-field directions different from each other are used to generate the electric discharge.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A switch includes a body and a switch member pivotably engaged with the top opening of the body. A link has one end pivotably connected to a first end of the switch member and the other end of the link is movably received in a guide path is defined in the body. The second end of the link is located at an inner periphery of the guide path when the switch member is in “ON” position to let two contact points be in contact with each other, and a space is defined between the second end of the link and the outer periphery of the guide path so that the second end of the link is allowed to move toward the outer periphery when a contact portion is deformed upward when overloaded.

A conventional switch device, especially for those switches using a bimetallic plate to prevent from being burned when an overload occurs, generally includes a bi-metallic plate which is deformed when overloaded so as to separate the two contact points respectively located on the bi-metallic plate and one of the two terminals. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,262,748; 4,167,720; 4,937,548; 5,223,813; 5,451,729; and 5,558,211 disclose related switch devices. Some inherent shortcomings for these conventional safety switch devices are found. There are too many parts involved in the safety switch device and a longer period of time is required when assembling the switch device, this increases the cost of the products. The parts might be arranged inaccurately and affect the deformation of the bi-metallic plate. Once the bi-metallic plate is deformed to cut off the circuit, because of the improper arrangement of the parts as mentioned above, the bi-metallic plate could deform to re-connect the two contact points to connect the circuit again. Because the inaccuracy of the deformation of the bi-metallic plate, the switch member does not set the "OFF" position after the bi-metallic plate is deformed to cut off the circuit.
Therefore, it is desired to have a safety switch that allows the bi-metallic plate to deform toward a desired direction and also have enough space to prevent the bi-metallic plate from bouncing back to connect the circuit again.


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes the steps of: forming a semiconductor layer on a first main surface of a semiconductor substrate made of crystals having a wide band gap; forming lattice defects on a second main surface on a side opposite to the first main surface of the semiconductor substrate; and emitting a laser beam having a longer wavelength than an absorption edge wavelength which is a wavelength of a light having the lowest energy which the crystals absorb, to a lower surface of the semiconductor substrate after the step of forming the lattice defects; and forming an electrode on the second main surface of the semiconductor substrate after the step of emitting the laser beam.

Conventionally, there has been known a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device which can acquire an ohmic contact with respect to a wide-band-gap semiconductor substrate.
For example, patent literature 1 discloses a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device which includes: a step of roughening a state of an exposed surface of an n+-type SiC layer; and a step of forming an electrode on the roughened exposed surface of the n+-type SiC layer 1, wherein the surface roughening step is polishing of the exposed surface or the emission of a laser beam to the exposed surface.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device and semiconductor device

SHINDENGEN ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.