An assembly includes a gearbox for a gas turbine having a geartrain, and at least one starter/generator coupled mechanically to the gearbox. The starter/generator includes a generator module with a first casing, a generator housed in the first casing, and a first shaft constrained to rotate with the rotor of the generator, projecting from the first casing, and carrying a first mechanical coupling member; an exciter module, including a second casing, an exciter housed in the second casing, and a second shaft distinct from the first shaft, constrained to rotate with the rotor of the exciter, projecting from the second casing, and carrying a second mechanical coupling member; and an electrical connection including a rectifier and at least one connector for connecting the secondary circuit of the exciter to the primary circuit of the generator.

The invention relates to gas turbines, and more particularly to mounting a starter/generator (S/G) on a gearbox, or an accessory gearbox. The field of application of the invention is that of gas turbines for aeroengines for airplanes or helicopters, and also that of auxiliary power units (APUs).
In a gas turbine, certain pieces of equipment or "accessories" are driven by a mechanical transmission using mechanical power taken from a turbine shaft. The mechanical transmission includes a set of gearwheels housed in a casing and is referred to as a gearbox or as an accessory gearbox. Accessories include in particular various pumps for producing hydraulic energy, of for delivering fuel or lubricant, and also one or more electrical S/Gs.
While a gas turbine is in operation, the or each S/G acts as an electricity generator and produces electricity that powers one or more electricity distribution centers for the airplane or the helicopter and its engine(s).
When the gas turbine is stopped, an S/G can be used as a starter by being connected to an external power supply in order to set the gas turbine into operation by rotating the turbine shaft to which the gearbox is connected.
An S/G of known type comprises a main synchronous generator having a main rotor and a main stator, together with an exciter having a rotor with a secondary magnetic circuit and a stator with a primary magnetic circuit. The secondary circuit of the exciter powers the main rotor of the synchronous generator via a rectifier such as a rotary diode bridge. In electricity generation mode, the secondary circuit of the synchronous generator produces an alternating voltage as a result of the primary circuit being rotated under power from direct current (DC) delivered by the diode bridge of the exciter, the frequency of the alternating voltage that is produced varying as a function of the speed of rotation. In starting mode, the main rotor powered by the exciter and the main stator powered by an alternating voltage from an external source act like a synchronous motor.
Such a known S/G is a relatively bulky piece of equipment that is usually mounted in a special casing on one side of the gearbox and that is mechanically connected thereto. This leads to occupying a large amount of space and to presenting a significant weight that is cantilevered out and therefore requires attachment means of sufficient strength to enable it to be mounted on the gearbox.

Distributed architecture for a gas-turbine starter/generator


An automatic transmission pump assembly includes a torque converter housing and pinion that rotate about a first axis, an idler engaged with the pinion, a gear engaged with the idler, shaft secured to the gear, and a pump rotor secured to the shaft and that rotates about a second axis offset from the first axis.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an automatic transmission pump assembly whose axis is parallel to and eccentric of an axis about which an input is driven.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an automatic transmission for a motor vehicle, an off-axis pump configuration, in which the pump shaft is eccentric from the axis of the power source that drives the pump rotor, offers improved efficiencies as compared to on-axis pumps, in which the power source and pump rotor are axially aligned. However, in a transmission for a rear-wheel-drive application, an off-axis pump usually requires a large bell housing to allow the pump to be part of a front support (called a stator/pump body).
A need exists in the industry for a technique that permits an off-axis pump to be installed from the bottom of the transmission near the valve body. This location facilitates servicing the pump without removing the transmission from the vehicle.

Hydraulic pump configuration for automatic transmission


According to the present invention there is provided a vehicular height adjusting device capable of diminishing a shock caused by a sudden change in pressure of an accumulator oil chamber at the time of adjusting the vehicular height to adjust the vehicular height in a gentle manner and capable of diminishing a beat noise of an opening/closing valve generated by the vehicular height adjusting operation, thereby improving the comfortableness.

The present invention relates to a vehicular height adjusting device disposed between the body of a vehicle and an axle to damp vibrations from the surface of a road in a normal running condition and capable of controlling the height of the vehicle constant at all times irrespective of a sprung weight.
As for this type of a vehicular height adjusting device, there has been developed, for example, such a device as shown in FIG. 3. In this vehicular height adjusting device, when the vehicle equipped with the device is at its standard height, a control orifice 1C is formed in a position not to be covered with a pump cylinder 11. Upon increase of the sprung weight due to loading of goods for example, a shock absorber S contracts as the vehicular height decreases, and the control orifice 1C and a cutout passage 1B get into the pump cylinder 11. While the vehicle is running, the shock absorber S is vibrated due to unevenness of the surface of a road. In an extension stroke of the shock absorber S in the lowered state of the vehicle height, a hydraulic oil in a rod-side chamber C moves into an antirod-side chamber B through a piston 6 equipped with a damping valve. Then, the hydraulic oil in an amount corresponding to a retracting volume of a pump rod 1 from a pump cylinder 11 leaves a reservoir F, passes through a suction pipe 8, a passage 5A formed in the upper portion of an outer shell 5, then passes through a hollow bore 1A formed inside the pump rod 1, opens an induction valve 9 and is introduced into a pump chamber A of a negative pressure.
In a retracting stroke of the shock absorber S, the hydraulic oil in the pump chamber A is discharged from a discharge valve 13, passes through a passage 11A formed between a piston rod 12 and the pump cylinder 11 and flows into the antirod-side chamber B. With an increase in the amount of oil in the antirod-side chamber B caused by repetition of such a self-pumping action, the oil in the antirod-side chamber B flows through a communication hole 2A formed in a disc plate 2 which seals the upper end of the cylinder 3, then through a passage 3A formed between the cylinder 3 and a cap 4, and enters an oil chamber E. Through a boot 7 serving as a contractible partition wall, the oil chamber E is partitioned from a high-pressure gas chamber D with an inert high-pressure gas sealed therein and serves as an oil chamber of an accumulator formed in the shock absorber S.
As a result of the boot 7 being expanded by the internal pressure of the oil chamber E, the volume of the high-pressure gas chamber D is diminished and the internal pressure thereof increases. Consequently, the pressure of the oil chamber E which balances with the pressure of the high-pressure gas chamber D through the boot 7, as well as the pressure of the antirod-side chamber B in communication with the oil chamber E, also increases, resulting in that the repulsive force of the piston rod 12 increases and the shock absorber S extends in proportion to the increase of the said repulsive force, thus causing the vehicular height to increase. With extension of the shock absorber S, the cutout passage 1B formed by cutting out a part of the outer surface of the pump rod 1 goes out of the pump cylinder 11, so that the pump chamber A and the antirod-side chamber B come into communication with each other through the cutout passage 1B and the foregoing self-pumping action vanishes. Thus, the vehicular height does not increase any further.
Next, as the sprung weight decreases due to unloading for example, the shock absorber S extends under the repulsive force of the piston rod 12 and at a speed buffered by the piston 6 equipped with a damping valve, the piston 6 being mounted to the upper end of the piston rod 12. As a result, the control orifice 1C goes out of the pump cylinder 11. During the period from this condition up to the time when the control orifice 1C enters and is closed with the pump cylinder 11, the hydraulic oil in the antirod-side chamber B passes through the control orifice 1C, then through the hollow bore 1A formed inside the pump rod 1 and further through the suction pipe 8, and is returned to a reservoir F, so that the internal pressure of the antirod-side chamber B decreases and the repulsive force of the piston rod 12 also decreases. Consequently, the vehicular height lowers to its standard height.
Numeral 10 denotes a rod guide. The cylinder 3 is fitted on a stepped upper-end portion of a small diameter of the rod guide 10, while the boot 7 is fitted on a stepped large-diameter portion of the rod guide 10. Seals 15 and 16 are mounted inside the rod guide 10 at two stages. The piston rod 12 is guided slidably by means of a bushing 17 which is press-fitted in the lower end portion of the rod guide 10. Numeral 14 denotes a clamping nut for fixing the rod guide 10 to the outer shell 5. Numeral 18 denotes a dust boot for protecting the piston rod from dust.
In the above conventional vehicular height adjusting device, the high-pressure gas chamber D of the accumulator is formed inside the cylinder 5 whose outer diameter is constant and hence its volume is restricted, there has been a problem such that it is difficult to diminish a shock caused by a sudden change in pressure of the oil chamber E at the time of vehicular height adjustment and thereby gently adjust the vehicular height. There also has been a problem such that a beat noise generated at the time of opening and closing of the induction valve and the discharge valve in the vehicular height adjusting motion which is repeated frequently.


An active matrix organic electroluminescent display device includes a substrate including a light emitting region having sub pixel regions, a plurality of switching elements on the substrate in the sub pixel regions, a first passivation layer covering the plurality of switching elements and having a plurality of first contact holes exposing the plurality of switching elements, a plurality of first electrodes on the first passivation layer, each first electrode connected to each switching element through each first contact hole, a second passivation layer on the plurality of first electrodes, the second passivation layer having a plurality of openings exposing the plurality of first electrodes and covering edge portions of the plurality of first electrodes, a plurality of organic electroluminescent layers on the second passivation layer, each organic electroluminescent layer contacting each first electrode through each opening, and a second electrode on the plurality of organic electroluminescent layers, wherein the first passivation layer is made of a first organic material having a planarized upper surface and the second passivation layer is made of a second organic material having a formation temperature lower than a formation temperature of inorganic materials.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent display device and a method of fabricating an organic electroluminescent display device, and more particularly, to an active matrix organic electroluminescent display device and a method of fabricating an active matrix organic electroluminescent display device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Among flat panel displays, liquid crystal display (LCD) devices have been commonly used due to their thin profile, light weight, and low power consumption. However, the LCD devices are not self-luminescent and suffer from low brightness, low contrast ratio, narrow viewing angle, and large overall size.
Organic electroluminescent display (OELD) devices have wide viewing angles and excellent contrast ratios because of their self-luminescence. In addition, since the OELD devices do not require additional light sources, such as a backlight, the OELD devices have relatively small size, are light weight, and have low power consumption, as compared the LCD devices. Furthermore, the OELD devices can be driven by low voltage direct current (DC) and have short microsecond response times. Since the OELD devices are solid phase devices, the OELD devices sufficiently withstand external impacts and have greater operational temperature ranges. In addition, the OELD devices may be manufactured at low cost since only deposition and encapsulation apparatus are necessary for manufacturing the OELD devices, thereby simplifying manufacturing processes.
The OELD devices may be categorized as passive matrix-type OELD devices and active matrix-type OELD devices depending upon a method of driving the devices. The passive matrix-type OELD devices are commonly used due to their simplicity and ease of fabrication. However, the passive matrix-type OELD devices have scanning lines and signal lines that perpendicularly cross each other in a matrix configuration. Since a scanning voltage is sequentially supplied to the scanning lines to operate each pixel, an instantaneous brightness of each pixel during a selection period should reach a value resulting from multiplying an average brightness by the number of the scanning lines to obtain a required average brightness. Accordingly, as the number of the scanning lines increases, the applied voltage and current also increase. Thus, the passive matrix-type OELD devices are not adequate for high resolution display and large-sized areas since the device easily deteriorates during use, and power consumption is high.
Since the passive matrix-type OELD devices have many disadvantages with regard to image resolution, power consumption, and operational lifetime, the active matrix-type OELD device have been developed to produce high resolution images in large display area displays. In the active matrix-type OELD devices, thin film transistors (TFTs) are disposed at each sub-pixel for use as a switching element to turn each sub-pixel ON and OFF. A first electrode connected to the TFT is turned ON/OFF by the sub-pixel, and a second electrode facing the first electrode functions as a common electrode. In addition, a voltage supplied to the pixel is stored in a storage capacitor, thereby maintaining the voltage and driving the device until a voltage of next frame is supplied, regardless of the number of the scanning lines. As a result, since an equivalent brightness is obtained with a low applied current, an active matrix-type OELD device has low power consumption and high image resolution over a large area.
FIG. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram of a pixel structure of an active matrix-type OELD device according to the related art. In FIG. 1, a scanning line 1 is arranged along a first direction, and a signal line 2 and a power line 3 that are spaced apart from each other are arranged along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The signal line 2 and the power line 3 cross the scanning line 1, thereby defining a pixel area. A switching thin film transistor (TFT) TS, i.e., an addressing element, is connected to the scanning line 1 and the signal line 2, and a storage capacitor CST is connected to the switching TFT TS and the power line 3. A driving thin film transistor (TFT) TD, i.e., a current source element, is connected to the storage capacitor CST and the power line 3, and an organic electrolumninescent (EL) diode DEL is connected to the driving TFT TD. When a forward current is supplied to the organic EL diode DEL, an electron and a hole are recombined to generate an electron-hole pair through the P(positive)-N(negative) junction between an anode, which provides the hole, and a cathode, which provides the electron. Since the electron-hole pair has an energy that is lower than the separated electron and hole, an energy difference exists between the recombination and the separated electron-hole pair, whereby light is emitted due to the energy difference.
In FIG. 1, when a scanning signal is supplied to the corresponding scanning line 1, the switching TFT TS is turned ON, and a data signal from the signal line 2 is supplied to the driving TFT TD. Then, the driving TFT TD is turned ON, and current from the power line 3 flows to the organic EL diode DEL after passing through the driving TFT TD. Thus, light is emitted from the organic EL diode DEL.
Since an ON ratio of the driving TFT TD depends on a value of the data signal, gray scales can be displayed by controlling the current flowing through the driving TFT TD. In addition, although the data signal is not supplied, the organic EL diode DEL emits light due to data stored in the storage capacitor CST until the next data signal is supplied.
FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of an active matrix-type OELD device according to the related art. In FIG. 2, a buffer layer 12 is formed on a substrate 10, which includes a light emitting region E for forming images. A thin film transistor T, which may be the driving thin film transistor, is formed on the buffer layer 12. An organic EL diode DEL is formed in the light emitting region E and is connected to the thin film transistor T, and a storage capacitor CST is formed to be connected to the thin film transistor T.
In FIG. 2, a semiconductor layer 14 and a first capacitor electrode 16, which are spaced apart, are formed on the buffer layer 12, and a gate insulating layer 18 and a gate electrode 20 are subsequently formed on a central portion of the semiconductor layer 14. Then, a first interlayer 22 is formed on an entire surface of the substrate 10 to cover the gate electrode 20 and the first capacitor electrode 16. Next, a second capacitor electrode 24 is formed on the first interlayer 22 corresponding to the first capacitor electrode 16, wherein the second capacitor electrode 24 branches off from a power line (not shown). Then, a second interlayer 26 is formed on an entire surface of the substrate 10 including the second capacitor electrode 24.
The semiconductor layer 14 is composed of an active region A, which corresponds to the gate insulating layer 18 and the gate electrode 20, and source and drain regions S and D, which are disposed at both sides of the active region A, respectively. A first contact hole 28 and a second contact hole 30 are formed through the first interlayer 22 and the second interlayer 26 to expose the source region S and the drain region D of the semiconductor layer 14, respectively. In addition, a third contact hole 32 is formed only through the second interlayer 26 to expose the second capacitor electrode 24.
A source electrode 34 and a drain electrode 36 are formed on the second interlayer 26, spaced apart from each other. Accordingly, the source electrode 34 is connected to both the source region S of the semiconductor layer 14 through the first contact hole 28 and the second capacitor electrode 24 through the third contact hole 32, and the drain electrode 36 is connected to the drain region D of the semiconductor layer 14 through the second contact hole 30.
A first passivation layer 40 is formed on an entire surface of the substrate 10 including the source electrode 34 and the drain electrode 36, wherein the first passivation layer 40 has a fourth contact hole 38 exposing the drain electrode 36. A first electrode 42 is formed in the light emitting region E on the first passivation layer 40, and is connected to the drain electrode 36 through the fourth contact hole 38. Although not shown, the first electrode 42 is patterned in each sub pixel area, which is a minimum unit for forming an image.
A second passivation layer 46 is formed on the first electrode 42, and the second passivation layer 46 has an opening 44 exposing the first electrode 42. Accordingly, it is difficult to form the first electrode 42 having a uniform thickness due to step coverage characteristics of the layers under the first electrode 42. Thus, an electric field is concentrated on edges of the first electrode 42, whereby leakage current may be generated. To prevent the leakage current, the second passivation layer 46 covers the edges of the first electrode 42. Then, an organic electroluminescent layer 48 is formed on the second passivation layer 46 in the light emitting region E, and a second electrode 50 is formed on an entire surface of the substrate 10 including the organic electroluminescent layer 48.
The first passivation layer 40 insulates the first electrode 42 from the layers under the first electrode 42, and prevents damage of the under layers since the first passivation layer 40 may be made of an inorganic material, such as silicon oxide (SiO2) and silicon nitride (SiNx), or an organic material, such as an acrylic resin. In addition, the second passivation layer 46 may have a bank shape in order to prevent leakage current and an electrical short due to step coverages in the peripheral portion of the first electrode 42, and in order to reduce parasitic capacitances between the second electrode 50 and a gate line (not shown), i.e., the scanning line of FIG. 1, and between the second electrode 50 and a data line (not shown), i.e., the signal line of FIG. 1.
Additionally, if the first passivation layer 40 is made of an inorganic material, such as silicon oxide and silicon nitride, the first passivation layer 40 is deposited along the shape of the second interlayer 26, and surface roughness of the first passivation layer 40 increases. Thus, characteristics of the first electrode 42 on the first passivation 40 are lowered. In addition, the first electrode 42 is formed by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method, which deposits a thin film by decomposing reaction gas molecules by collision with electrons having high energy in plasma and sticking decomposed gas atoms to the surface of a substrate, or by a sputtering method, which deposits a thin film by colliding ions of high energy against a target of a solid phase and detaching atoms and molecules from the target. Thus, the first electrode 42 may have poor surface planarization. Therefore, bumps or peaks may be easily formed on the surface, and the organic electroluminescent device may not have normal operation due to leakage current from the bumps or the peaks. Accordingly, the number of pixels that do not emit light increases as using time passes, and the lifetime of the device may be shortened.
In addition, if the second passivation layer 46 is made of an inorganic material, to form the opening 44, the second passivation layer 46 may be etched through a dry etching process using a gas mixture of SF6 and O2 or CF4 and O2. At this time, if the first electrode 42 is made of indium-tin-oxide (ITO), which is a transparent conducting material, it is not easy to control the Fermi level of the first electrode 42 as expected because of the gas mixture.

Active matrix organic electroluminescent display device and method of fabricating the same


Presence of free insulin receptor α-subunit in blood was discovered. Furthermore, methods for measuring the insulin receptor α-subunit was provided, the method comprising the steps of contacting the insulin receptor α-subunit in a blood sample with an antibody recognizing the insulin receptor α-subunit, and detecting the binding between the two. Measurement of the free insulin receptor α-subunit in the blood is useful for evaluating risk factors for diabetes.

Insulin is a hormone that plays an important role in the metabolic regulation of glucose, an energy source for living organisms. Produced in pancreatic Langerhans β cells, insulin acts on cells carrying insulin receptors and promotes the uptake of glucose by these cells. The blood-sugar level in the body is maintained within an appropriate range by the function of insulin. Diabetes is one of the pathological conditions caused by insufficient insulin function due to some cause.
Major causes of insufficient insulin function include abnormal insulin secretion and decreased sensitivity to insulin. The former is called type 1 diabetes mellitus. Since responsiveness to insulin is maintained in type 1 diabetes mellitus, blood sugar level can be controlled by administering insulin. Type 1 diabetes mellitus is also called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), and is the main cause of juvenile diabetes.
On the other hand, the latter is called type 2 diabetes mellitus. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is also called non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), and is the type of diabetes frequently found in adults. In Japan, 95% of diabetes patients are said to have type 2 diabetes mellitus. Since the body's responsiveness to insulin is decreased in these patients, even an insulin administration cannot regulate the blood sugar level. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is thought to develop due to several genetic defects and environmental factors such as obesity, stress, and aging. At present, approximately 7,400,000 type 2 diabetes patients are said to exist in Japan, and the number is increasing with the aging of the population. The number of patients is even predicted to be as many as 16,200,000, when including prediabetes patients. Therefore, the diagnosis and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus is an important research issue for the modern society.
To date, the causative gene of type 2 diabetes mellitus has not been revealed. Presumed candidate genes are genes of factors involved in the mechanism of insulin action, or genes of factors involved in insulin secretion. Factors thought to be involved in insulin action are:                insulin receptor,        insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1),        glucose transporter type 4, etc.
Genes of factors predicted to be involved in insulin secretion are:                glucose transporter type 2,        glucokinase,        mitochondrial genes, etc.
For insulin to act on a target cell, it must bind to the insulin receptor present on the target cell membrane. Furthermore, there are many reports of insulin resistance in the early stage of type 2 diabetes (Non-Patent Document 1/Taylor, S. I. Diabetes 41:1473-1490, 1992). In view of these facts, the relationship between insulin receptor abnormalities and diabetes has also been examined. If abnormalities are present in insulin receptor function, strong insulin resistance will arise, resulting in severe diabetes.
Recently, many insulin receptor abnormalities have been discovered by researchers including the present inventors, and it is becoming evident that test results and symptoms of patients vary depending on the type of mutation (Non-Patent Document 2/M. Taira et al., Science 245:63-66, 1989; Non-Patent Document 3/F. Shimada et al., Lancet. 335:1179-1181, 1990). This suggests that a part of the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus may be defects in the insulin receptor gene. The present inventors have actually identified one of the polymorphisms that allow genetic diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and have already filed a patent application (Patent Document 1/Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. (JP-A) Hei 8-103280).
Insulin receptors are heterotetrameric receptor proteins composed of two subunits, αand β. The α-subunit is present outside the cell and the β-subunit penetrates the cell membrane. The α-subunit is linked to the extracellular domain of the β-subunit via an SS bond through an SH group in a cysteine residue on the C-terminal side thereof.
When insulin binds to the α-subunit, a tyrosine residue in the intracellular domain of the β-subunit is autophosphorylated, and the insulin signal is transmitted to the cell. After binding with insulin, the insulin receptor present in the cell membrane is then taken into the cell by endocytosis (the half-life of the receptor is seven hours). The number of insulin receptors decrease with the increase of insulin concentration. This is called down regulation.
In the polymorphism of insulin receptor found by the present inventors, Thr at position 831 in the β-subunit is mutated to Ala (IRA831). Insulin receptor dysfunction caused by this amino acid substitution has not been confirmed. However, genetic statistics indicated that there is a strong relation between IRA831 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Disorders due to receptor abnormalities or the presence of free receptors in blood have recently been reported for some diseases (Non-Patent Document 4/Frode, T. S., Tenconi, P., Debiasi, M. R., Medeiros, Y. S., "Tumour necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-2 soluble receptor and different inflammatory parameters in patients with rheumatoid arthritis." Mediators Inflamm. 2002 Dec; 11(6): 345-9; Non-Patent Document 5/Baron, A. T., Cora, E. M., Lafky, J. M., Boardman, C. H., Buenafe, M. C., Rademaker, A., Liu, D., Fishman, D. A., Podratz, K. C., Maihle, N. J., "Soluble Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (sEGFR/sErbB1) as a potential Risk, Screening, and Diagnostic Serum Biomarker of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer." Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev., 2003 Feb; 12(2): 103-13; Non-Patent Document 6/Beguin, Y "Soluble transferrin receptor for the evaluation of erythropoiesis and iron status." Clin. Chem. Acta., 2003 Mar.; 329(1-2): 9-22). Furthermore, hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia have been observed in transgenic mice that release the insulin receptor α-subunit into the blood (Non-Patent Document 7/ERIK M. SCHAEFER et al. DIABETES vol. 43, 143-153; 1994). However, in humans, the presence of free insulin receptors in blood has not been reported.
Substances whose levels in biological samples change with disease states are often useful as diagnostic markers for the diseases. For example, substances in biological samples that can be used as cancer indicators are called tumor markers. When a cancer is present, tumor marker levels in these biological samples change significantly compared to those in healthy subjects. Therefore, based on the measured value of tumor markers, it is possible to estimate the possibility of cancer in the subject. Usually, definite diagnosis of the presence or absence of cancer using only tumor markers is considered difficult. However, measurement of tumor markers is considered effective in screening for test subjects who require more advanced and detailed cancer tests.
Among tumor markers, there are some whose measured levels change in correlation with the size and progression of the cancer. Such tumor markers are useful as indicators for observing therapeutic effects on cancer.
Many tumor markers have been reported so far. Generally, tumor markers are often substances that originally exist in normal tissues. Even in healthy people, the measured level of tumor markers may change due to physiological conditions and diseases other than cancer. Therefore, subjects who do not have cancer may be judged as positive, i.e., "false-positive". Conversely, tumor markers of subjects who should be diagnosed as having cancer may remain within a normal range. In this case, subjects who should be positive are determined as negative, i.e., "false-negative".
Positive or negative judgments are made based on the relationship between the measured tumor marker levels and the cutoff values. More specifically, when using a tumor marker with a measured value that is significantly high in cancer patients, cancer is suspected if the measured value is greater than or equal to a certain value (cutoff value). Generally, if a cutoff value is set high, false-negative will increase and false-positives will decrease. Conversely, lowering the cutoff value decreases false-negatives, but increases false-positives. Since the increase in false-negatives means that some cancers would go undetected, keeping it to a minimum is preferable. On the other hand, increase in false-positives will lead to advanced tests on subjects who do not need such. Therefore, tumor markers that can keep false-negatives and false-positives within an acceptable range are considered more practical.
Permissible false positives and false negatives vary depending on the level of difficulty of the diagnosis, presence or absence of a therapeutic method, or the number of patients of a cancer. In addition, an important criterion is whether or not other tumor markers that should be used for comparison are known. When confirming therapeutic effects or monitoring recurrence in patients known to have cancer, tumor markers are continuously monitored. In such applications, the response characteristics of the marker to cancer are given more weight than the issue of false negativeness or false positiveness. Based on such criteria, several tumor markers have been put to practical use. Examples of currently widely-used tumor markers are as follows:
AFP (liver cancer, kidney cancer, cancer of the digestive system)
CEA (liver cancer, kidney cancer, cancer of the digestive system)
CA19-9 (pancreatic cancer, biliary tract cancer, colon cancer)
CA125 (ovarian cancer)
PSA (prostate cancer)
NSE (small-cell lung cancer)
CYFRA (lung cancer —squamous cell carcinoma—)
Some of these tumor markers have been practically applied for specific types of cancers, and others have been recognized as tumor markers for a relatively wide variety of cancers. For example, NSE, CYFRA, or such are tumor markers for specific types of cancers. On the other hand, AFP, CEA, or such are tumor markers that are positive in a relatively wide variety of cancers.
Tumor markers having low specificity to cancer types and which are applicable as tumor markers for a variety of cancers are particularly referred to as "broad-spectrum tumor markers". Broad-spectrum tumor markers are more advantageous than markers specific to a certain cancer type in that they can be utilized to detect or assess therapeutic effects on a broad range of cancer types. The usability of known broad-spectrum tumor markers such as AFP or CEA as tumor markers has been acknowledged for certain cancer types such as cancers of the liver, digestive system, and kidney. However, their usefulness as tumor markers is not always recognized in other cancer types. Therefore, provision of tumor markers that can cover cancer types that are difficult to diagnose with known tumor markers would be useful.
As mentioned above, presence of free receptors in blood has been reported in some diseases (Non-Patent Documents 4-6). Transgenic mice that release the insulin receptor α-subunit into the blood have also been confirmed to exhibit hyperglycemia or hyperinsulinaemia (Non-Patent Document 7). However, in humans, there are no reports that suggest a relationship between cancer and free insulin receptors in blood. The finding that correlated the insulin receptor α-subunit to cancer is the work of a group at Genentech and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the United States, in February 1985, who cloned the human insulin receptor gene, determined the complete amino acid sequence, and analyzed the amino acid sequence to reveal homologies with the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor and the protein of cancer gene src.

Methods for measuring the insulin receptor α subunit

Abstract: In addition, the measurement methods of the present invention showed that concentrations of the free insulin receptor α-subunit in the blood of diabetes or cancer patients are significantly high. Free insulin receptor α-subunit in blood is useful as a marker for diabetes or cancer.

Medical and Biological Laboratories Co., Ltd.


A method of mass analysis comprises: generating ions from the sample; delivering the ions to a quadrupole; applying a radio frequency voltage, V, to rods of the quadrupole such that the instantaneous electrical potential of each rod is out of phase with each adjacent rod and a non-oscillatory voltage, U, across each pair of adjacent rods such that a subset of the ions having a range of mass-to-charge (m/z) ratios are selectively transmitted through the quadrupole; varying at least one of voltage U and voltage V such that the range of selectively transmitted m/z ratios is caused to vary and varying at least one additional operational parameter; acquiring a data set comprising a series of temporally-resolved images of spatial distribution patterns of transmitted ions at each combination of U, V and the at least one additional operating parameter; and mathematically deconvolving the data set to generate mass spectra.

Typically, a multipole mass filter (e.g., a quadrupole mass filter, alternately referred to herein as a "QMF") may be used for mass analysis of ions provided within a continuous ion beam. For example, FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view through the four parallel rods of a quadrupole mass filter. A quadrupole field is produced within the quadrupole apparatus by dynamically applying electrical potentials on configured parallel rods arranged with four-fold symmetry about a long axis, depicted as piercing point 54, which comprises an axis of symmetry that is conventionally referred to as the z-axis. By convention, the four rods are described as a pair of "x rods" 51a, 51b and a pair of "y rods" 52a, 52b. At any instant of time, the two x rods have the same potential as each other, as do the two y rods. The potential on the y rods is inverted with respect to the x rods. The "x-direction" or "x-dimension" is taken along a line connecting the centers of the x-rods. The "y-direction" or "y-dimension" is taken along a line connecting the centers of the y-rods. The x rods 51a, 51b are diametrically opposed to one another with respect to an ion transmission volume 55. Likewise, the y rods 52a, 52b are diametrically opposed to one another with respect to the ion transmission volume. Each pair of rods consisting of one of the x rods and one of the y rods is referred to herein as a pair of adjacent rods. Thus each x rod is adjacent to both of the y rods and vice versa.
Relative to the non-time-varying potential along central the z-axis 54, the potential on each set of rods, as provided by power supply 53, can be expressed as a constant non-oscillatory (DC) offset (between point A and point B of FIG. 6) plus an oscillatory RF component that oscillates rapidly (with a typical frequency of about 1 MHz). The DC offset on the x-rods is positive so that a positive ion feels a restoring force that tends to keep it near the z-axis; the potential in the x-direction is like a well. Conversely, the DC offset on the y-rods is negative so that a positive ion feels an outward-directed force that drives it further away from the z-axis; consequently, the potential in the (x, y) plane that is normal to the z-axis is in the form of a saddle.
In operation of a quadrupole mass filter, an oscillatory RF component is applied to both pairs of rods. The RF phase on the x-rods 51a, 51b is the same and differs by 180 degrees from the phase on the y-rods 52a, 52b. Ions move inertially along the z-axis 54 from an entrance or inlet end of the quadrupole to a detector often placed at an opposite outlet of the quadrupole. Inside the quadrupole, ions have trajectories that are separable in the x and y directions. In the x-direction, the applied RF field carries ions with the smallest mass-to-charge (m/z) ratios out of the potential well and into the rods. Ions with sufficiently high mass-to-charge ratios remain trapped in the well and have stable trajectories in the x-direction. The applied field in the x-direction thus acts as a high-pass mass filter. Conversely, in the y-direction, only the lightest ions are stabilized by the applied RF field, which overcomes the tendency of the applied DC to pull them into the rods. Thus, the applied field in the y-direction acts as a low-pass mass filter. Ions that have both stable component trajectories in both x- and y-directions pass through the quadrupole so as to reach an ion detector.
In operation, the DC offset and RF amplitude applied to a quadrupole mass filter is chosen so as to transmit only ions within a restricted range of mass-to-charge (m/z) ratios through the entire length of the quadrupole. Such apparatuses can be operated either in the radio frequency (RF)-only mode or in an RF/DC mode. Depending upon the particular applied RF and DC potentials, only ions of selected m/z ratios are allowed to pass completely through the rod structures, whereas the remaining ions follow unstable trajectories leading to escape from the applied multipole field. When only an RF voltage is applied between predetermined electrodes, the apparatus serves to transmit ions in a wide-open fashion above some threshold mass. When a combination of RF and DC voltages is applied between predetermined rod pairs there is both an upper cutoff mass as well as a lower cutoff mass, such that only a restricted range of m/z ratios (i.e., a pass band) passes completely through the apparatus. As the ratio of DC to RF voltage increases, the transmission band of ion masses narrows so as to provide for mass filter operation, as known and as understood by those skilled in the art. As is further known, the amplitudes of the DC and RF voltages may be simultaneously varied, but with the DC/RF ratio held nearly constant so as to maintain a uniform pass band, such that the pass band is caused to systematically "scan" a range of m/z ratios. Detection of the quantity of ions passed through the quadrupole mass filter over the course of such scanning enables generation of a mass spectrum.
The motion of ions within an ideal quadrupole is modeled by the Mathieu equation. Solutions to the Mathieu equation are generally described in terms of the dimensionless Mathieu parameters, "a" and "q", which are defined as:
            a      =                        8                                                              e                                                              U                          m                                                                          r            0            2                                          Ω            2                                ;        q    =                  4                                                  e                                                  V                    m                                                            r          0          2                                  Ω          2                    in which e is the charge on an electron, U is applied DC voltage, V is the applied zero-to-peak RF voltage, in is the mass of the ion, r is the effective radius between electrodes, and Ω is the applied RF frequency. General solutions of the Mathieu equation, i.e., whether or not an ion has a stable trajectory within a quadrupole apparatus, depend only upon these two parameters. The specific trajectory for a particular ion also depends on a set of initial conditions—the ion's position and velocity as it enters the quadrupole and the RF phase of the quadrupole at that instant.
As known to those skilled in the art, general solutions of the Mathieu equation can be classified as bounded and non-bounded. Bounded solutions correspond to trajectories that never leave a cylinder of finite radius, where the radius depends on the ion's initial conditions. Typically, bounded solutions are equated with trajectories that carry the ion through the quadrupole to the detector. The plane of (q, a) values can be partitioned into contiguous regions corresponding to bounded solutions and unbounded solutions, as shown in FIG. 1. Such a depiction of the bounded and unbounded regions in the q-a plane is called a stability diagram. The region containing bounded solutions of the Mathieu equation is called a stability region and is labeled "X & Y Stable" in FIG. 1. A stability region is formed by the intersection of two regions, corresponding to regions where the x- and y-components of the trajectory are stable respectively. There are multiple stability regions, but conventional instruments involve the principal stability region. By convention, only the positive quadrant of the q-a plane is considered. In this quadrant, the stability region resembles a triangle, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
Dashed and dashed-dotted lines in FIG. 1 represent lines of iso-βx and iso-βy, respectively, where the Mathieu parameters βx and βy are related to ion oscillation frequencies, ωx and ωy, in the x- and y-directions, respectively. The region of ion-trajectory stability in the y-direction lies to the right of the curve labeled βy=0.0 in FIG. 1, which is a bounding line of the stability region. The region of ion-trajectory stability in the x-direction lies to the left of the curve labeled βx=1.0 in FIG. 1, which is a second bounding line of the stability region. If an ion's trajectory is unstable in either the x-direction or the y-direction, then that ion cannot be transmitted through the quadrupole mass filter.
During common operation of a quadrupole for mass analysis (scanning) purposes, the instrument may be "scanned" by increasing both U and V amplitude monotonically to bring different portions of the full range of m/z values into the stability region at successive time intervals, in a progression from low m/z to high m/z. A special case occurs when U and V are each ramped linearly in time. In this case, all ions progress along the same fixed "scan line" through the stability diagram, with ions moving along the line at a rate inversely proportional to m/z. Two such scan lines are illustrated in FIG. 1. A first illustrated scan line 1 passes through the stability region boundary points 2 and 3. A second illustrated scan line 3 passes through the boundary points 6 and 8. The width of the m/z pass band of a quadrupole mass filter decreases as the scan line is adjusted to pass through the stability region more closely to the apex, said apex defined by the intersection of the curves labeled βy=0.0 and βx=1.0 in FIG. 1. During conventional mass scanning operation, the voltages U and V are ramped proportionally in accordance with a scan line that passes very close to the apex, thus permitting only a very narrow pass band that moves through the m/z range nearly linearly in time. Thus, during such conventional operation, the flux of ions hitting the detector as a function of time is very nearly proportional to the mass distribution of ions in a beam and the detected signal is a "mass spectrum".
Typically, quadrupole mass filters are employed as a component of a triple stage mass spectrometer system. By way of non-limiting example, FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a triple-quadrupole system, as generally designated by the reference numeral 10. The operation of mass spectrometer 10 can be controlled and data 68 can be acquired by a control and data system (not depicted) of various circuitry of one or more known types, which may be implemented as any one or a combination of general or special-purpose processors (digital signal processor (DSP)), firmware, software to provide instrument control and data analysis for mass spectrometers and/or related instruments. A sample containing one or more analytes of interest can be ionized via an ion source 52 operating at or near atmospheric pressure. By way of non-limiting example, FIG. 2 illustrates an ion source in which ionization is effected through the use of an electrospray nozzle 55 that receives a liquid sample from a chromatograph capillary 51. The resultant ions are directed via predetermined ion optics that often can include tube lenses, skimmers, and multipoles, e.g., reference characters 53 and 54, so as to be urged through a series of chambers, e.g., chambers 22, 23 and 24, of progressively reduced pressure that operationally guide and focus such ions to provide good transmission efficiencies. The various chambers communicate with corresponding evacuation ports 80 (represented as arrows in FIG. 2) that are coupled to a set of vacuum pumps (not shown) to maintain the pressures at the desired values.
The example mass spectrometer system 10 of FIG. 2 is shown illustrated to include a triple stage configuration 64 within a high vacuum chamber 25, the triple stage configuration having sections labeled Q1, Q2 and Q3 electrically coupled to respective power supplies (not shown). The Q1, Q2 and Q3 stages may be operated, respectively, as a first quadrupole mass filter, a fragmentation cell, and a second quadrupole mass filter. Ions that are either filtered, filtered and fragmented or fragmented and filtered within one or more of the stages are passed to a detector 66. Such a detector is beneficially placed at the channel outlet of the quadrupole (e.g., Q3 of FIG. 2) to provide data that can be processed into a rich mass spectrum (data) 68 showing the variation of ion abundance with respect to m/z ratio.
During conventional operation of a multipole mass filter, such as the quadrupole mass filter Q3 shown in FIG. 2, to generate a mass spectrum, a detector (e.g., the detector 66 of FIG. 2) is used to measure the quantity of ions that pass completely through the mass filter as a function of time while the RF and DC voltage amplitudes are scanned as described above. Thus, at any point in time, the detector only receives those ions having m/z ratios within the mass filter pass band at that time—that is, only those ions having stable trajectories within the multipole under the particular RF and DC voltages that are applied at that time. Such conventional operation creates a trade-off between instrument resolution (or instrument speed) and sensitivity. High mass resolving can be achieved, but only if the DC/RF ratio is such that the filter pass band is very narrow, such that most ions develop unstable trajectories within the mass filter and few pass through to the detector. Under such conditions, scans must be performed relatively slowly so as to detect an adequate number of ions at each m/z data point. Conversely, high sensitivity or high speed can also be achieved during conventional operation, but only by widening the pass band, thus causing degradation of m/z resolution.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,389,929, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, teaches a quadrupole mass filter method and system that discriminates among ion species, even when ions of various mass-to-charge ratios are simultaneously stable, by recording where the ions strike a position-sensitive detector as a function of the applied RF and DC fields. When the arrival times and positions are binned, the data can be thought of as a series of ion images. Each observed ion image is essentially the superposition of component images, one for each distinct m/z value exiting the quadrupole through its outlet end at a given RF phase point. The same patent also teaches methods for the prediction of an arbitrary ion image as a function of m/z and the applied field. Thus, using the predicted images as basis vectors, the image pattern for each individual m/z species within an unknown sample can be extracted from a sequence of observed ion images by a mathematical deconvolution or decomposition processes, as further discussed in the patent. The mass-to-charge ratio and abundance of each species necessarily follow directly from the deconvolution or decomposition.
The inventors of U.S. Pat. No. 8,389,929 recognized that ions of differing m/z ratios exiting a quadrupole mass filter may be discriminated, even when the ions of the differing m/z ratios are simultaneously stable (that is, have stable trajectories) within the mass filter, by recording where the ions strike a position-sensitive detector as a function of the applied RF and DC fields. The inventors of U.S. Pat. No. 8,389,929 recognized that such operation is advantageous because when a quadrupole is operated in, for example, a mass filter mode, the scanning of the device (that is provided by ramped RF and DC voltages) naturally varies the spatial characteristics with time as observed at the exit aperture of the instrument. Specifically, ions manipulated by a quadrupole are induced to perform a complex 2-dimensional oscillatory motion on the detector cross section as the scan passes through the stability region of the ions. The ion motion (i.e., for a cloud of ions of the same m/z but with various initial displacements and velocities) may be characterized by the variation of a and q, this variation influencing the position and shape cloud of ions exiting the quadrupole. For two masses that are almost identical, the sequence of their respective oscillatory motions is essentially the same and can be approximately related by a time shift.
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 8,389,929 teaches, inter alia, a mass spectrometer instrument having both high mass resolving power and high sensitivity, the mass spectrometer instrument including: a multipole configured to pass an abundance of one or more ion species within stability boundaries defined by applied RF and DC fields; a detector configured to record the spatial and temporal properties of the abundance of ions at a cross-sectional area of the multipole; and a processing means. The data acquired by the so-configured detector can be thought of as a series of ion images. Each observed ion image is essentially the superposition of component images, one for each distinct m/z value exiting the quadrupole at a given time instant. The aforementioned patent also provides for the prediction of an arbitrary ion image as a function of m/z and the applied field. As a result, each individual component can be extracted from a sequence of observed ion images by mathematical deconvolution or decomposition processes which generate the mass-to-charge ratio and abundance of each species. Accordingly, high mass resolving power may be achieved under a wide variety of operating conditions, a property not usually associated with quadrupole mass spectrometers.
The teachings of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 8,389,929 exploit the varying spatial characteristics by collecting the spatially dispersed ions of different m/z even as they exit the quadrupole at essentially the same time. FIG. 3 shows a simulated recorded image of a particular pattern at a particular instant in time. The example image can be collected by a fast detector, (i.e., a detector capable of time resolution of 10 or more RF cycles, more often down to an RF cycle or with sub RF cycles specificity, where said sub-RF specificity is possibly averaged for multiple RF cycles), positioned to acquire where and when ions exit and with substantial mass resolving power to distinguish fine detail.
The aforementioned patent described the use of three independent dimensions of acquired data to decompose a composite mass spectrum into its individual components and, by so doing, produce a high quality mass spectrum of ions exiting a mass filter at each time point in a mass scan. The three dimensions described in the patent are the two spatial (x and y) dimensions at the exit plane of a quadrupole and a third dimension comprising sub-RF phase within an RF cycle, which is referred to as sub-RF sampling. Each three-dimensional data structure was called a "voxel set" and each data point in time along a mass axis that is sampled has a corresponding voxel set data structure associated with it.
The inventors of the present invention have recognized that, since the mathematical deconvolution process described in the aforementioned patent admits of any number of dimensions of data, the acquisition of data according to additional independent variables can augment the information relating to each ion species and can enable further differentiation of different ion species from one other. Thus, the terminology "voxel set", as used in this application, refers to a multidimensional data set and is a generalization of the common term "voxel" (i.e., a volumetric pixel) to any number of dimensions of data. The inventors have further recognized and here teach that there is a simple way to collect the additional information relating to each ion using the same detection systems that are described in the above-referenced patents and patent applications.

Methods for broad-stability mass analysis using a quadrupole mass filter


A conveyor system for conveying unit loads, comprising at least one conveyor element, said conveyor element comprising a conveyor for transporting at least two unit loads in a conveying direction, the at least two unit loads being arranged side-by-side in a direction transverse to the conveying direction and to a storage and retrieval device comprising at least one carrier and a load bearing module, wherein the load bearing module has at least two carriages. A logistics system for storage, retrieval and collation of unit loads, comprising at least a store for storing unit loads, and at least one conveyor system. Moreover, a method of operating a logistics system with at least one storage and retrieval device and/or a conveyor system is disclosed, wherein at the storage and retrieval device and/or the conveyor system at least two unit loads are operated at the same time.

Logistics systems and conveyor systems or storage and retrieval devices used in logistics systems are known in different designs. Goods are continuously stored and retrieved in the logistics systems. The goods are delivered in large units, e.g., on pallets, and then stored in shelf compartments (storage racks). In addition, usually simultaneously, various goods are retrieved from the store and collated to customer specification.
The aim of all logistic systems is to achieve the highest-possible throughput in terms of storage and retrieval processes for the least-possible technical outlay. This can be accomplished in principle by increasing the speed of individual conveyor elements or by providing several identical components for parallel operation. Increasing the speed, e.g., of the conveyor systems, however, greatly increases the demands on the performance and ruggedness of the mechanics. Increasing the capacity through the use of components for parallel operation, in contrast, creates the problem of increased space requirement and increased mixing of different, separated unit loads within the logistics system. The latter, in turn, increases the outlay for storing the unit loads in a shelf storage (high-bay racking) by means of a shelf operating device (storage and retrieval device).

Conveyor system, storage and retrieval device and logistics system


This disclosure relates to digitization of industrial inspection sheets. Digital scanning of paper based inspection sheets is a common process in factory settings. The paper based scans have data pertaining to millions of faults detected over several decades of inspection. The technical challenge ranges from image preprocessing and layout analysis to word and graphic item recognition. This disclosure provides a visual pipeline that works in the presence of both static and dynamic background in the scans, variability in machine template diagrams, unstructured shape of graphical objects to be identified and variability in the strokes of handwritten text. The pipeline incorporates a capsule and spatial transformer network based classifier for accurate text reading and a customized Connectionist Text Proposal Network (CTPN) for text detection in addition to hybrid techniques for arrow detection and dialogue cloud removal.

The traditional mode of recording faults in heavy factory equipment has been via hand marked inspection sheets, wherein an inspection engineer manually marks the faulty machine regions on a paper outline of the machine. Over the years, millions of such inspection sheets have been recorded and the data within these sheets has remained inaccessible. However, with industries going digital and waking up to the potential value of fault data for machine health monitoring, there is an increased impetus towards digitization of these hand marked inspection records.

Digitization of industrial inspection sheets by inferring visual relations


The present disclosure includes a kit and method for operating or operably connecting an American locking cylinder into a European cylinder type mortise lock with the American locking cylinder functioning with the European cylinder mortise lock in place of the European locking cylinder itself. The present disclosure provides a door cylinder conversion kit that converts the European cylinder mortise lock to be operable with an American cylinder.

Windows and door markets typically have two primary main locking cylinders used to secure the windows and doors in a locked position. One such system is referred to as the American cylinder and the other system is referred to as the European cylinder. The European cylinder is also referred to as the Profile cylinder.
The American cylinder lock is widely used in the United States as a standard cylinder lock. It generally is small and mounts from behind the door hardware. A flat tail piece extends from behind the mechanism of the American cylinder lock and extends into a mortise receiver which is coupled to the internal locking system. The locking system typically drives a bolt into a door jamb (not shown) thus locking the door. The mortise may include a deadbolt and other latching mechanisms as determined by the manufacturer or user of the locking system.
In contrast to the American cylinder, the European cylinder typically has no tail piece and in order to accommodate different door thicknesses, an entire new locking cylinder must be manufactured and fitted to the locking system. Because there are different door thicknesses as manufactured by a variety of companies, so the different sized European cylinders must be manufactured and stocked. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to be able to convert a mortise lock system that accommodates a European cylinder to also be able to receive the American type cylinder regardless of the door thickness.
The apparatus of the present disclosure must also be of construction which is both durable and long lasting, and it should also require little or no maintenance to be provided by the user throughout its operating lifetime. In order to enhance the market appeal of the apparatus of the present disclosure, it should also be of inexpensive construction to thereby afford it the broadest possible market. Finally, it is desirable that all of the aforesaid advantages are achieved without incurring any substantial relative disadvantage.
The subject matter discussed in this background of the invention section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background of the invention section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background of the invention section or associated with the subject matter of the background of the invention section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background of the invention section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.

Mortise lock conversion kit for operation with an American cylinder


A method for creating a software image of a software application. During an installation of the software application on a computing machine, one or more changes of the computing machine occurring during the installation of the software application are detected. The one or more changes include one or more artifacts being added to the computing machine and one or more updates being applied to the computing machine. The software image is created by copying the one or more artifacts from the computing machine to a virtual disk and by adding activation procedures and activation information obtained from the activation procedures to the virtual disk. The activation procedures and activation information were determined according to the updates. The activation procedures are configured to apply the updates when running the activation procedures according to the activation information.

Software images, each software image encapsulating files residing on a computing machine, may be used to facilitate software deployment operations. Particularly, software images allow deploying virtual (computing) machines, each virtual machine emulating a physical (computing) machine by software, in an effective way. Indeed, each virtual machine may be deployed by being created and booted from a corresponding software image that stores the virtual machine's operating system and one or more soft applications already installed on the virtual machine. Moreover, the virtual machines may be combined into virtual appliances, each virtual appliance comprising the definition of one or more virtual machines with their software images The virtual appliance is encapsulated in a self-contained package which may be deployed as a unit and is especially advantageous in cloud computing environments, wherein computing resources offered as services are made available on-demand.
The software applications of the virtual machines are typically subject to maintenance operations during the life cycle of the software applications. Modifications may be applied to the software applications from time to time, for example, to correct bugs or to improve operation of the software applications. Once the virtual machines have been deployed from the corresponding software images, maintenance of the software applications is generally managed with a traditional approach (for example, the maintenance is managed with each software application that comprises an embedded updating tool, which is invoked periodically when the software application is launched for downloading any modification thereof that is available online and then applying the software application).
However, traditional maintenance of the software applications requires custom and complex ad hoc searches, which may be time consuming and prone to errors. Moreover, the created software images may not be effectively reused for other software applications (for example, sharing a same middleware).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Creation of software images of software applications for image-based maintenance of the software applications

International Business Machines Corporation


A bus compression apparatus for compressing data is provided to suppress an EMI signal and to simplify a data bus structure. In the apparatus, the voltage levels of the digital output signals are summed in accordance with the resistance values of the data compression circuit to produce a compressed analog signal. The compressed analog signal is transmitted through a bus lines to a data decompressor which reproduces the digital data in response to the voltage levels of the compressed analog signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bus compression device for reducing or compressing the number of bit signals representing parallel data. This invention is also directed to a bus decompression device for extending the number of bit signals representing compressed parallel data. Further, this invention relates to a data interface employing a bus compressing method and to a liquid crystal display using the data interface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since the transmission of audio information many years ago, higher band or capacity signals containing text information, video information and the like have been transmitted using various bus interfaces to transmit signals containing substantially more information than the audio information. The text information, video information and the like occupy a high frequency band and require many transmission lines. As the frequency band for the information and the number of transmission lines increase, an electromagnetic interference(EMI) increases between the transmission lines. The EMI problem is common in a data bus. In order to reduce the EMI in the transmission line, line matchers have been usually added to the transmission line. However, such line matcher complicates a wiring structure of the transmission line and limits the system design.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a computer system employing a liquid crystal display(LCD) includes various kinds of couplers LM1 to LM5 provided between a video card 12 in a computer body 10 and data driver integrated circuits D-ICs 24 in an LCD 20. Specifically, twenty-eight first line matchers LM1 corresponding to a 18-bit first bus 11 and a 10-bit first control bus 13 are arranged between the video card 12 and a first cable connector 16. Eighteen second matchers LM2 and ten third matchers LM3 respectively corresponding to a 18-bit second bus and a 10-bit control bus 23 are arranged between a second cable connector 18 and a controller 26. Finally, thirty-six fourth line matcher LM4 and seven fifth line matchers LM5 corresponding to a thirty-six bit third bus 35 and a seven bit third control bus are arranged between the controller 26 and the D-ICs 24.
As shown in FIG. 2, each line matcher LM1 includes a resistor R1, a capacitor C1 and an inductor L1 which are connected in the T shape. As shown in FIG. 3, each line matcher LM2 includes a resistor R1, a capacitor C2 and two inductors L2 and L3. As shown in FIG. 4, each line matcher LM3 includes an inductor L4 and a resistor R3. Each line matcher LM4 includes a resistor R4 and a capacitor C3 as shown in FIG. 5. The line matcher LM5 includes an inductor L5, a resistor R5 and a capacitor C4.
The matchers LM1 to LM5 match an impedance and eliminate high frequency and/or low frequency components, thereby suppressing an occurrence of EMI. As a result, the data passing through the flexible printed circuit (FPC) cable 16 and the first to third data buses 11, 21 and 25 and the clock and timing signals transmitted through the FPC cable 16 and the first to third control buses 13, 23 and 27 are not influenced by the EMI.
As described above, in the conventional computer system having a number of line matchers installed in the transmission line extending from the video card in the computer body to the D-ICs in the LCD, the configuration thereof becomes complicated and the design thereof is limited due to the line matchers. Also, the conventional computer system requires as many transmission lines as the number of data bits.
Furthermore, as the number of picture elements or pixels in the liquid crystal panel increase above the XGA format, the data bus installed between the controller and the D-ICs must have a dual structure due to a response speed of the D-ICs. In this case, the circuit configuration of the LCD having a wiring structure becomes more complicated and a die arranged with the D-ICs must be enlarged.


A heat exchanger apparatus is disposed within a first pathway along which a first fluid flows. The heat exchanger apparatus includes a component disposed in the first pathway and the component includes heat transfer surfaces. Each heat transfer surface includes a central body, an outer body surrounding the central body and intermediate bodies extending between the central body and the outer body. The heat transfer surfaces are arranged together such that the central bodies, the outer bodies and the intermediate bodies of each heat transfer surface form at least one or more second pathways along which a second fluid flows and such that the outer bodies of each heat transfer surface form a component surface disposed to contact the first and second fluids.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to heat exchangers and, more particularly, to heat exchangers including a plurality of laminates.
To date, heat exchangers for various applications, such as aerospace applications, have traditionally been constructed by either plate/fin technology or tube/shell technology. Both technologies have their advantages and disadvantages. In the latter case, a first fluid is supplied to an interior of a given body, which is formed of thermally conductive materials, and a second fluid is supplied to an exterior of the given body such that heat transfer occurs between the first and second fluids across the thermally conductive materials. In the former case, separating plates formed of thermally conductive materials are provided between the first and second fluids.

Heat exhanger apparatus including heat transfer surfaces


A transfer mechanism includes: a tray that includes a placement surface section on which a recording medium is placed, and retention means for keeping hold of the recording medium placed on the placement surface section, and is moved and rotated across an insertion/removal position at which the tray is faced toward the outside of a device body with the placement surface section being substantially horizontal and a recording/reproduction position at which the tray is housed in the device body with the placement surface section being substantially vertical; a clamp member that is supported inside of the device body to allow a main surface section thereof to move and rotate across a substantially-horizontal direction and a substantially-vertical direction, and clamps, with a support mechanism, the recording medium moved and rotated to the recording/reproduction position; and a movement mechanism that moves the tray.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transfer mechanism that transfers a transfer body across inside and outside of a device body using a transfer tray and, more specifically, to a transfer mechanism that performs loading/unloading of the transfer body by directing the transfer tray in a first direction, and houses the transfer body inside of the device body by directing the transfer tray in a direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction, a transfer device using such a transfer mechanism, and an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical disks have been previously popular with CDs (Compact Disks), DVDs (Digital Versatile Disks), BDs (Blue-ray Disks), magneto-optical disks such as MO (Magneto Optical Disks) and MD (Mini Disks), and others. To be compatible with such disks and disk cartridges, various types of disk drive device have appeared in the market.
The types of disk drive device are of directly loading a disk to a turntable visible from an open lid or cover of a chassis, of automatically loading a disk onto a turntable inside of a chassis when a disk tray carrying thereon the disk is retracted in a horizontal direction from the chassis, of directly loading a disk on a turntable equipped to a disk tray of such a type, of automatically loading a disk on a turntable only by an insertion of the disk from a disk insertion/removal port provided to the side surface of a chassis, i.e., slot-in type, and others.
The problem of a disk drive device specifically of retracting in a horizontal direction a disk tray carrying thereon an optical disk is that the device body is required to have a length at least equal to or longer than the diameter of the optical disk in the direction along which the disk tray is moved to slide. This is because the sliding movement of the disk tray in the horizontal direction transfers the optical disk across an insertion/removal position and a recording/reproduction position. At the insertion/removal position, the optical disk is inserted or removed, and at the recording/reproduction position, the optical disk is subjected to recording or reproduction of information signals. As such, with disk drive devices and electronic devices in which a disk tray slides in the depth direction of the device body, the depth dimension of the device body is required to be larger than the diameter of an optical disk. Therefore, even with a monitor device or others having been favorably reduced in thickness, once it is incorporated with such a disk drive device, the resulting monitor device turns out to have the thickness equal to or smaller than 12 cm, which is the diameter of a general optical disk.
As an example, refer to Patent Document 1 (JP-A-2003-85861).

Transfer mechanism and device, and electronic device


A thread rubber for thread wound golf balls having a high impact resilience and high strength, wherein the thread rubber is obtained by vulcanizing a rubber composition which comprises (a) a rubber component selected from the group consisting of natural rubber, a synthetic high-cis-polyisoprene rubber and a mixture thereof, (b) at least one specific diaryl disulfide, (c) a vulcanizing agent, and (d) antioxidant; the compound (b) being present in an amount of 0.5 to 10 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the rubber component (a).

A thread wound golf ball is generally produced by winding thread rubber around a center in a highly drawn condition to form a thread wound core and then providing a covering on the cover. The thread rubber requires a high strength sufficient for tightly winding it on a center and also a high impact rubber resilience at a highly drawn condition sufficient for enhancing the flight distance.
In order to satisfy the above mentioned requirement for thread rubber, the thread rubber is conventionally formed from a mixture of natural rubber or a high-cis polyisoprene rubber with a low-cis polyisoprene rubber, because the natural rubber or high-cis polyisoprene rubber provides a high strength and the low-cis polyisoprene rubber a high impact resilience.
Japanese Kokoku Publication 54 (1979)-4733 proposes that a disulfide compound is mixed with natural rubber, because the disulfide compound improves the impact resilience of the natural rubber while maintaining the strength of the natural rubber.
The above publication considerably improves strength and impact resilience, but further improvement is desired.


A compression nut including a retaining tooth for use with a fluid coupling.

The present invention relates generally to water connections and, more particularly, to water connections including a retainer having a retention member to engage a retaining ring on a fluid conduit.
Various water line connections or fluid couplings are known. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional water line connection or fluid coupling 10 is shown. Connection 10 includes a supply line 12 for a water device, such as a faucet. An end 14 of supply line 12 is received in a receptacle 16 of a compression fitting 18. Receptacle 16 either communicates water to supply line 12 or receives water from supply line 12. A diameter of an inner surface 20 of receptacle 16 is generally equal to a diameter of external surface 22 of supply line 12. An exemplary diameter of surface 22 is ⅜ of an inch. Supply line 12 is received in receptacle 16 such that end 14 abuts surface 24 of receptacle 16. A ferrule ring 30 is then captured between compression fitting 18 and a hollow nut retainer 32 forming both a compression gasket and a retention feature for supply line 12. Ferrule ring 30 may be made of plastic or metal. A compression gasket may be used in place of ferrule ring 30. Surface 22 of supply line 12 acts as a sealing surface for ferrule ring 30. A hollow nut retainer 32 includes internal threads 34 which mate with external threads 26 of compression fitting 18, and a tapered inner surface 37 which engages the ferrule ring 30, to thereby sealingly couple retainer 32 to fitting 18.
Referring to FIG. 2, another water line connection or fluid coupling 50 is shown. A supply line 52 includes an overmold fitting 54 coupled thereto. The supply line 52 may be made from a PEX material. A diameter of outer surface 56 of overmold fitting 54 is equal to the diameter of inner surface 20 of fitting 18. Since outer surface 56 is defined by overmold fitting 54, a diameter of outer surface 58 of supply line 52 is less than the diameter of inner surface 20 of fitting 18. The diameter of surface 56 and surface 20 is ⅜ of an inch and the diameter of surface 58 is 5/16 of an inch. In FIG. 1, an installer could cut supply line 12 to length and then make the connection. In FIG. 2, an installer could not cut supply line 52 to length and then make a connection with a traditional sized ferrule ring 30 (since overmold fitting 54 has been cut off) because the diameter of surface 58 is not equal to the diameter of surface 20 of fitting 18.
A gasket 60 is captured between overmold fitting 54 and fitting 18. As in FIG. 1, a hollow nut retainer 32 is coupled to fitting 18 to connect supply line 52 to receptacle 16 of fitting 18. More particularly, internal threads 34 of retainer 32 mate with external threads 26 of compression fitting 18, and tapered inner surface 37 of retainer 32 engages the overmold fitting 54, to thereby sealingly couple retainer 32 to fitting 18.
In many prior art compression connections, such as water line connections 10 and 50 detailed above, the tapered inner surface 37 on the inside of the retainer 32 may force the retaining ring 30, 54 to collapse the flexible plastic tube 12, 52, respectively. Such a collapse may reduce the inner diameter of the tube 12, 52, reducing flow therethrough and, in extreme conditions, allow the retaining ring 30, 54 to pass through (i.e., extrude) through the retainer 32 causing failure by releasing the fluid coupling between the tube 12, 52 and the fitting 18.
According to an illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a supply line for coupling to a fitting having a receptacle includes a fluid conduit having a first end, a second end, and a fluid passageway extending therethrough. A retaining ring is coupled to the fluid conduit proximate the first end. The retaining ring includes an outer perimeter greater than the outer perimeter of the conduit. A retainer is axially movable along the fluid conduit between a first position where the retainer is in axially spaced relation to the fitting, and to a second position where the retainer engages the fitting and the overmolded retaining ring to define a fluid coupling between the fluid conduit and the fitting. The retainer includes an outer wall extending between opposing first and second ends, the first end of the outer wall facing in the same direction as the first end of the fluid conduit, and the second end of the outer wall facing in the same direction as the second end of the fluid conduit. The retainer further includes a collar supported at the second end of the outer wall and extending radially inwardly to define an opening to slidably receive the fluid conduit. An annular protrusion is supported by the collar, is located radially inwardly from the outer wall, and extends axially from the second end of the retainer towards the first end of the retainer. The annular protrusion includes a deforming face facing radially outwardly and facing axially in the direction from the second end of the retainer toward the first end of the retainer. The deforming face extends from a first end and a second end. The leading edge is of sufficient hardness to deform the retaining ring radially outwardly as the retainer reaches the second position, the leading edge being positioned at a first end of the deforming face and facing toward the first end of the retainer. A relief portion is configured to receive deformed material from the overmolded retaining ring as the retainer reaches a second position, the relief portion positioned at a second end of the deforming face and facing toward the first end of the retainer.
According to another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a supply line for coupling to a threaded fitting having a receptacle includes a flexible polymeric fluid conduit having a first end, a second end, and a fluid passageway extending therethrough. A polymeric retaining ring is coupled to the fluid conduit proximate the first end, the retaining ring having an outer perimeter greater than an outer perimeter of the conduit. A metal retainer with internal threads is axially movable along the fluid conduit between a first position where the retainer is in axially spaced relation to the fitting, and a second position where the retainer threadably engages the fitting and engages the retaining ring to define a fluid coupling between the fluid conduit and the fitting. The retainer includes an outer wall extending between opposing first and second ends, the first end of the outer wall facing in the same direction as the first end of the fluid conduit, and the second end of the outer wall facing in the same direction as the second end of the fluid conduit. A collar is supported at the second end of the retainer and extends radially inwardly to define an opening to slidably receive the fluid conduit. A retention tooth is supported by the collar, is located radially along the collar and extends axially from the second end of the retainer toward the first end of the retainer. The retention tooth includes a deforming face facing radially outwardly and facing axially from the second end of the retainer toward the first end of the retainer. The deforming face extends from a leading edge to a relief portion. The leading edge is of sufficient hardness to deform the retaining ring radially outwardly as the retainer reaches the second position. The relief portion is configured to receive deformed material from the retaining ring as the retainer reaches the second position.
In another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for connecting a supply line to a fitting having a receptacle includes the steps of providing a retainer having an annular protrusion over a retaining ring and a first end of the fluid conduit. The method further includes the step of aligning the first end of the fluid conduit proximate to the receptacle, with the retainer proximate the fitting. The method also includes the steps of coupling the retainer onto the fitting to establish a sealed connection between the fluid conduit and the receptacle through which a fluid may flow, and forming an annular groove in the retaining ring with the annular protrusion. A leading edge and a deforming face of the annular protrusion deforms a portion of the retaining ring radially outwardly, and the deformed portion of the retaining ring comes to a rest in a relief portion of the retainer.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.

Fitting connection including compression nut with retainer


The invention relates to an air spring having a composite flexible member 4 in which cords 22 are embedded as a reinforcement. The cords 22 have cord angles to the peripheral direction of the flexible member 4 over the longitudinal length of the flexible member. The flexible member 4 comprises two flexible-member components (12a, 12b). The cord angle a in the first flexible-member component 12a is different from the cord angle .beta. in the second flexible-member component 12b. A method for making such an air spring is also disclosed.

Air springs are increasingly utilized for suspension in passenger motor vehicles to increase the comfort of the suspension. An especially high level of suspension comfort is ensured when the air springs exhibit an excellent vibration characteristic over the entire vibration range. However, it has been shown that in air springs, which have a cylindrical flexible member, the suspension comfort is limited for small vibration amplitudes. The negative vibration characteristic is produced in that a hardening of the air spring occurs for small vibration amplitudes which limits the suspension comfort for these amplitudes.
Air springs have been developed which exhibit no spring hardening for small vibration amplitudes and therefore have an excellent vibration characteristic over the entire vibration range. The flexible member of such an air spring has, for example, a cylindrical form in the roll-off region thereof in order to facilitate an excellent roll off at large amplitudes of vibration. In contrast, the flexible member has in its chamber region, for example, the form of a barrel having a bulging mid portion. This barrel can then be slightly shortened under the action of a small force so that the air spring provides excellent suspension comfort even for small amplitudes of vibration. The cords are worked into the flexible member as a reinforcement. In the regions of different diameter, the cords assume different cord angles to the peripheral direction of the flexible member in order to make possible the above-described configuration of the air spring having different diameters in the longitudinal direction of the flexible member. The diameter of the flexible member, which is built into the air spring, is dependent upon the magnitude of the cord angle.
Published European patent application 0,285,726 (corresponds to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 032,212, filed Mar. 30, 1987) discloses air springs having a cord angle to the peripheral direction of the flexible member which is varied over the length thereof. The shape of the flexible member is influenced by the variation of the cord angle over the length of the flexible member. Especially air springs can be configured in the manner explained above.
The air springs disclosed in European patent publication 0,285,726 were produced in that the cords are wound individually into a flexible member disposed on a mandrel. For this purpose, the individual cords assume a specific angle to the mandrel and the mandrel is rotated about its longitudinal axis and is moved in longitudinal direction so that the individual cords are pulled into the flexible member at the specific angle. The desired variation of the angle of the cords takes place because of a variation of the speed of the mandrel in the longitudinal direction. Here, the angle of the embedded cords to the peripheral direction of the flexible member is that much greater the faster the mandrel moves in the longitudinal direction.
With the method disclosed in European patent publication 0,285,726, air springs can be made having flexible members wherein the cord angle varies in the longitudinal direction of the flexible member. However, it is necessary to wind several hundred cords into the flexible member of the air spring in order to impart a long service life and a high burst pressure thereto. However, this is only possible with great difficulty with the method known from the above-mentioned European patent publication because the cords must all be guided individually and this leads to problems when there is a high number of cords. Finally, processing errors can occur when the number of wound cords is too high and this can affect the quality of the finished air spring. In the known method, the number of wound-in cords is limited to a quantity which leads neither to a satisfactory service life nor to a satisfactory burst pressure.

Air spring having a non-constant cord angle and method for making said air spring


A method includes providing a light pipe having a metallized end surface, and soldering the metallized end surface of the light pipe to a surface of a substrate. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

As information technology devices continue to evolve and advance, there is a need for increased signaling speed rates for signaling between devices on circuit boards and/or between circuit boards. It has been proposed to satisfy this need with optical signal paths. However, conventional techniques for mounting light pipes on circuit boards tend to disrupt or interfere with traces, power planes, etc. on the circuit boards. Moreover, there is in general a need for improved methods of mounting light pipes on circuit boards.

Electro-optic surface mount light pipe and connector


Compostible and flushable absorbent structures for sanitary uses for the absorption of body fluids comprising an absorbent degradable fibrous core and a backsheet that is cold-water soluble but water impermeable.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to compostible non-rigid absorbent structures comprising an absorbent degradable fibrous core and a backsheet that is cold water soluble and contains on both sides of the backsheet a discontinuous layer of aqueous-repellent material. A preferred species can be disposed of by toilet flushing.
2. Description of Related Art:
Landfill solid waste disposal sites are rapidly filling to capacity. A significant contribution to the landfills are absorbent batting materials, particularly diapers and feminine hygiene products. These products typically contain non-biodegradable polyolefins that do not degrade rapidly when buried.
Most municipal and septic sewage systems process solid waste by biodegradation. Therefore, the problem of overloading landfill capacity could be helped significantly if batting products were flushable, biodegradable and/or hydrolyzable and so could readily be recycled into the environment via a sewage system.
Noda U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,245 discloses disposable sanitary articles comprising a topsheet, a backsheet, and an absorbent core, wherein the backsheet is paper treated with a specific type of latex for improved wet strength. Any conventional core material can be used.
Scheckman U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,589 discloses disposable sanitary garments comprising top and/or back sheets prepared from polymers based on dioxanone.
Ells U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,919 discloses a flushable sanitary napkin comprising an absorbable cellulosic fibrous core, between a topsheet and a backsheet that can be torn apart and separated from the core for flushing. The top and backsheets may be biodegradable or not, but can be processed through municipal and septic sewer systems. This product has the disadvantage that before flushing the top and backsheets must be torn apart to expose the cellulose core to the sewage system.
Morgan U.S. Pat. No. 2,999,788 discloses the manufacture of highly branched discontinuous fibrils by a spurting technique.
Clendening U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,987 discloses relatively non-absorbable rigid seed germination containers made from naturally occurring biodegradable material such as wood pulp bonded by a biodegradable thermoplastic oxyalkanoyl polymer to give it strength.
Sinclair U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,537 discloses laminates made from a polyhydroxic acid (PHA), copolymer fibrous matrix which is consolidated into a rigid, non-porous laminated structure by flowing molten polymer through the fibrous material and curing it while in a mold or hydraulic press. Synthetic or natural fibers such as cellulose fibers are disclosed as the matrix.
Battelle Patent Application WO 90/01521 discloses non-porous rigid laminates made from a fibrous mat consolidated by flowing molten PHA polymer through the fibrous material and curing the polymer in a mold or hydraulic press. Fibers can include cellulose derived from wood.
Copending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/718,938 filed Jun. 21, 1991, and now abandoned, disclose paper products comprising cellulosic fiber blended with PHA fibrous materials. The blend is heated to bond, giving a strong, liquid absorbing hydrophilic batting.
Copending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/743,850 filed Aug. 12, 1991, discloses PHA shaped articles protected against premature degradation by one or more surfaces being coated with a discontinuous layer of hydrophobic and/or oleophobic material that will repel degrading liquids.
Totally degradable polymers are being used more frequently in health care products. Webb U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,299 discloses a biodegradable tampon applicator with a molded, hollow cylindrical body of a moldable degradable poly-3-hydroxybutyric acid composition.
Espy U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,042 describes improved absorbent materials formed by blending wood fluff pulp and spurted polyolefin pulp which has been treated with a wetting agent substance, and then heating the blend at a temperature for a time sufficient to consolidate the treated spurted polyolefin pulp.
Cellulosic products bonded with polyolefins do not degrade as rapidly, or completely, as cellulosic products bonded with poly(hydroxy acid) (PHA) polymers. Carl Lehrburger, author of a reusable diaper industry funded report titled "Diapers In The Waste Stream", suggests a design change. "The only biodegradable diaper may be the two piece diaper with a reusable cover and a flushable pad", his report says "However, this is not commercially available or feasible at this time." (Nonwovens Industry, October 1989, Pg. 24).