A method of analyzing a mixture of hydrocarbon oils by using gel-permeation chromatography together with infrared detection. According to the method the signals from the infrared detector are combined to form fingerprints (M) which are characteristic of the samples being analyzed and which represent the molecular size distribution of the various hydrocarbon fractions in the samples. Then, the fingerprints are combined either to determine the concentration and the fingerprints of an unknown oil present in a mixture of two oils, or else the concentrations of n known oils in a mixture of the n oils.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a method of analyzing hydrocarbon oil mixtures by gel-permeation chromatography.
More precisely, the present invention relates to a method whereby certain characteristics of a mixture of oils, such as the concentrations of the various different oils and/or the nature of one of the oils in the mixture can be determined.
The invention is particularly suitable for use in the oil industry, in particular in drilling and production fields.
2. Description of Prior Art
Petroleum oils are hydrocarbon oils constituted by mixtures of aliphatic hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons, and it is advantageous to be able to characterize and monitor such mixtures on site at exploration or production wells, and at sites where oil is transferred.
This type of monitoring can be performed by a spectrometer method using ultraviolet radiation as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,821.
Gel-permeation is a technique that is widely used in the laboratory for analyzing petroleum oils or fractions. In this technique, the hydrocarbon oil is separated into fractions of different molecular masses, and these fractions may be identified at the outlet from the chromatography column by means of an appropriate detector, generally a diffractive index detector, an ultraviolet detector, or a flame ionization detector, as described in "Chromatography in petroleum analysis" Chromatographic Science Series, Vol. 11, pp. 287-294.
However, this technique is not easy to use for determining the "fingerprint" that enables a crude oil to be characterized, i.e. for establishing a curve showing the distribution of the constituents of the oil as a function of their molecular masses. Given that the detectors used have responses that vary depending on the substance analyzed, it is difficult to convert elution curves from a chromatography column into molecular mass distribution curves. As a result, this technique cannot be used for obtaining the molecular mass distribution of an oil sample without resorting to additional measurements as described at page 305 of the above-specified document.
The fingerprint of a crude oil is thus generally determined by gas chromatography making use of flame ionization detectors.
In "Journal of Chromatography", 312, 1984, pp. 261-272, P. Guieze and J. M. Williams describe the use of the gel-permeation technique for determining molecular mass in oil distillation residues by making use of three chromatography columns in series together with two detectors, namely an infrared detector and an ultraviolet detector for analyzing the fractions leaving the chromatography columns. In that case, a computer serves to convert the information coming from the two detectors into molecular masses.
That publication also mentions that the technique could be used for characterizing petroleum oils by means of the fingerprints provided by the two detectors, but until now, nobody has envisaged using gel-permeation for obtaining such fingerprints.

Method of analyzing hydrocarbon oil mixtures using gel-permeation chromatography


The present invention discloses a digital integrated circuit simulation method and simulator. The method comprises: obtaining a circuit diagram of the digital integrated circuit and a checkpoint in the circuit diagram; determining a point relevant to a boundary between a two-value simulation and a multi-value simulation in the circuit diagram and a state of the relevant point according to the checkpoint; determining a boundary position, as well as a boundary type of the boundary position, of the boundary between the two-value simulation and the multi-value simulation in the circuit diagram according to the relevant point and the state of the relevant point; inserting a conversion circuit at the boundary position according to the boundary type of the boundary position; and modeling and simulating the circuit diagram into which the conversion circuit is inserted. The method and simulator can reduce simulation time and the needed storage resources.

In digital IC design flow, functional verification usually takes 70% of the total design cycle, and 95% functional verification is based on simulation. Therefore time for simulation has a significant impact on an IC chip's TTM (time to market), and thus simulation speedup is very important for success of IC chip design.
At present common simulation tools in the industry include VCS by Synopsys company, NCSIM by Cadence company, etc. The IC simulation verification flow is as below: first, converting RTL description of the circuit into a format recognizable to some simulator, i.e. model processing; then, loading a model to a simulator. Later, test cases are applied at the input port, and the circuit behavior is simulated by the simulator; in the meanwhile, the circuit behavior is monitored using a reference model, and if the simulated circuit behavior does not match the reference model, then errors occur and are reported to verification engineer. Test cases are usually organized into test suites and run in batch mode. Successful test suites run require all test cases included pass. This regression process takes the longest simulation time.
Circuit descriptions for RTL (register-transfer level) simulation and gate-level simulation are descriptions of different abstraction levels of a digital circuit. Taking a simple AND gate as an example, the RTL description may be C=A & B, while the gate-level description is a concrete AND gate. All descriptions of these different abstraction levels may be regarded as descriptions of circuit diagram.
RTL simulation/gate-level simulation above includes a two-value simulation and a multi-value simulation. The two-value simulation refers to represent one logical bit with only binary value 0 and 1; the multi-value simulation refers to represent one logic bit by multiple values such as 0/1/X, etc. For example, in the above example of a simple AND gate, a truth table of the two-value simulation C=A+B is shown as Table 1.
TABLE 1CAB000111001010
FIG. 2 shows a gate-level circuit model corresponding to the simple AND gate two-value simulation.
In the above example of a simple AND gate, a truth table of one implementation Cx=Ax+Bx of the multi-value simulation is shown as Table 2.
TABLE 2ABCAAXBBXCCX0000000000100011000X0000100100110000111→1111111XX110101X00010000X1X011101XXX010101
FIG. 3 shows a gate-level circuit model corresponding to the simple AND gate's multi-value simulation under the implementation in Table 2.
Real digital circuit run in multi-value so multi-value simulation is more accurate than 2-value simulation, while 2-value simulation runs much faster and has better performance. Table 3 shows a comparison between the two-value simulation and the multi-value simulation in modeling time, model scale and regression time during GPS-8 path digital IC design, wherein GPS-8 path digital IC design is merely a circuit having ordinary complexity. As seen from Table 3, the multi-value simulation model is complex; since the model scale is much larger, more memories are needed, and the regression time is longer.
TABLE 3multipletwo-valuemulti-valuerelationship (multi-simulationsimulationvalue/two-value)modeling time 90 seconds 181 seconds2 timesmodel scale10 M gate30 M gate2 timesregression time237 seconds1833 seconds8 times


A roof assembly for a storage car includes a supporting element, a pair of first fixing elements, a pair of second fixing elements, and four connecting elements. The pair of first fixing elements and the pair of second fixing elements engage and cover around the periphery of the supporting element. Two of the four connecting elements are mounted at two opposite ends of each of the first fixing elements. Therefore, a storage cart including a frame and holes does not need to install or form additional supports for connecting with the roof assembly. Fasteners can pass through the holes of the storage cart and engage with the connecting elements to cause the roof assembly securely connected with the storage cart.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a roof assembly and, in particular, to a roof assembly is adapted to be firmly mounted on a storage cart.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various stated conventional storage carts has at least one removable drawer for receiving objects, and removable casters providing easy mobility. The storage cart is foldable or removable for easy storage or transport. Therefore, due to the widespread use of the storage carts, reducing manufacturing costs and maintaining the structural strength of the storage cart are desirously solved.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,798,343, Wang and U.S. Patent No. D303,444, Yoshikawa both disclose a top panel mounted on a storage cart. However, the vast majority of the top panel is made of a metal plate to be formed one-piece structure with surface treatments thereon, such as electroplate. Then the top panel is punched to form holes therein. However, such conventional top panel formed with surface treatments to prevent rust and punched holes are too many manufacturing processes and drastically increase manufacturing costs.
Moreover, if the weight of the top panel is too heavy over than the structural strength of the storage cart, the storage cart can not withstand the weight of the top panel and has the possibility of disintegration. Additionally, the weight of the top panel is too heavy for hard assembling and transporting.
Furthermore, the top panel is directly bent its two opposite edges to form two arc portions, and the storage cart must includes two additional cylindrical supports for attached and supporting the two arc portions of the top panel. Such connection between the storage cart and the top panel is not a firmly and securely contact, rather than a high reliability of the connection method.
The present invention is, therefore, intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in the prior art.


A bond head assembly for use with a bonding machine includes a wire bonding tool and a link mechanism coupled between the wire bonding tool and the wire bonding machine. The link mechanism includes a frame, a plurality of arm links pivotably connected to the frame, and a tool support member supporting the wire bonding tool and pivotably connected to each of the arm links.

Wire bonding machines typically include a wire bonding tool, such as a capillary, which receives a metal wire to be bonded by the wire bonding machine. One example of the use of bonded wire is for electrically connecting a semiconductor device (e.g., a die) to a substrate (e.g., a circuit board). In certain wire bonding machines, the capillary is raised and lowered with respect to a work piece by a bond head during the wire bonding process. The vertical motion of the bonding tool also provides access to an end of the wire in a ball-bonding process to form a free-air ball.
Certain conventional wire bonding machines include a tool arm that supports the capillary adjacent one end of the arm. The tool arm is pivotably supported adjacent an opposite end for pivoting about a horizontal axis. The pivoting of the tool arm about the horizontal axis provides the desired vertical (Z-axis) movement of the wire bonding tool. The motion of the tool, however, is along an arc such that it includes both horizontal and vertical components. If linear motion (e.g., vertical only) is desired, the tool arm may be simultaneously translated. The pivoting of the tool arm undesirably causes an associated pivoting of the supported tool. Such tool pivot results in inconsistent looping profiles.
The bondable area for certain conventional wire bonding machines is limited by interference between the work piece and supporting structure for the tool support arm, which is located at or below the location of the tool support arm. The coverage area for such wire bonding machines, therefore, is limited by the length of the tool support arm. The potential reach by the conventional wire bonding machine is sometimes referred to as the "throat" of the machine.
Certain wire bonding machines include a link mechanism for raising and lowering a wire bonding tool with respect to a work piece. The link mechanism includes a tool support member and a pair of arm links pivotably connected to the tool support member and supported from above. The arm links are oblique to each other such that virtual extension lines intersect at a point below the tool support member, thereby minimizing interference to promote increased throat. The motion of the tool support member during the movement of the mechanism, however, includes both horizontal and vertical components. The tool support member is also pivoted during the mechanism movement.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a wire bonding machine including a mechanism for raising and lowering a wire bonding tool overcoming certain of the deficiencies related to conventional wire bonding machines.

Bond head link assembly for a wire bonding machine


Technologies pertaining to computing a tiering policy that defines how digital items are desirable stored across a plurality of different storage tiers are described herein. A data repository that comprises data that is indicative of historic user interaction with a search engine is accessed. Subsequently, a tiering policy for digital items that are retrievable by way of the search engine is computed based at least in part upon the data that is indicative of the historic user interaction with the search engine. Retrieval times for digital items in the data storage tiers differ across the data storage tiers.

Search engines have enabled users to quickly access information over the Internet. Specifically, a user can submit a query to a search engine and peruse ranked results returned by the search engine. For example, a user can provide a search engine with the query "Spider" and be provided with web pages relating to various arachnids, web pages relating to automobiles, web pages relating to films, web pages related to web crawlers, and other web pages. Search engines may also be used to return images, academic papers, videos, and other information to an issuer of a query.
Operation of a search engine may include employment of web crawlers to locate and store a large amount of information (e.g., web pages) that is available on the World Wide Web. For example, web pages or information pertaining thereto may be stored in a search engine index, which is used (in connection with one or more search algorithms) when queries are received.
Conventionally a search engine index is stored in several tiers, wherein different tiers provide different levels of performance. The tiering of the search engine index is analogous to the memory hierarchy used in computer architecture: overall storage capacity of the index is divided between different levels that vary in size, speed, latency, and cost. Higher tiers of the index typically have higher speed but have smaller capacity and higher cost. Accordingly, it is desirable to carefully index web pages to maximize efficiency of the search engine.
One manner for tiering web pages that has been used is to select a tier of an index in which to place a web page as a function of the web page's relative importance as determined by some metric, such as a static rank of the web page. Specifically, a number of links to a web page may be used to select a tier of an index in which to locate the web page. The relative importance of the page, however, is not necessarily indicative of whether the page is frequently accessed, and thus may be suboptimal for indexing web pages in a search engine index. Evaluating tier assignment is a difficult problem, however, because it is unclear which metrics capture the quality of a particular allocation of web pages to the tiers.


A glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic molding composition suitable for the preparation of articles having good surface properties is disclosed. The composition contains a resinous blend and a filler component. The resinous blend contains (i) 20 to 50 wt. % of a grafted acrylate rubber, (ii) 2 to 10 wt. % of a first copolymer containing structural units derived from styrene (meth)acrylonitrile and maleic anhydride, (iii) 20 to 80 wt. % polyamide, and (iv) 0 to 40 wt. % of a second copolymer containing structural units derived from styrene and (meth)acrylonitrile, the percents being relative to the total amount of (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv). The filler component of the inventive composition contains 1 to 29 percent of milled glass fibers, in combination with 1 to 29 percent of chopped glass fibers, the percent being relative to the weight of the molding composition. Optionally, the inventive composition also contains a positive amount of a wollastonite. Molded articles that are prepared of the composition feature good mechanical properties and excellent surface quality.

Thermoplastic molding compositions that contain grafted acrylate rubber are known. Also known are such compositions that are reinforced with glass fibers. The challenge of obtaining such reinforced compositions that are suitable for making molded articles of exceptionally good surface qualities has not yet been met.
The objective of the work leading to the present invention therefore has been to develop a thermoplastic molding composition that combines the good properties of grafted acrylate rubber with the reinforcing effect of glass fibers without sacrificing the surface quality of the molded article.

Glass fiber filled thermoplastic compositions with good surface appearance


A sealing device for a sulfur trap includes a float, a counterweight, and a cleaning rod. The density of the sealing device allows flotation of the device in molten sulfur. The counterweight includes a surface to mate with an upwardly extending hollow cylinder in the sulfur trap through which molten sulfur may flow. The sealing device engages the upwardly extending cylinder in a first position and floats in the molten sulfur contained in an upper chamber of the sulfur trap in a second position. The cleaning rod and counterweight contact the sides of the upwardly extending cylinder to prevent buildup of solid sulfur.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to equipment for separating molten sulfur from associated gases in industrial operations producing molten sulfur, such as oil refineries. More specifically, this invention relates to a seal for a sulfur trap.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gaseous compounds containing sulfur, such as hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans, carbonyl sulfide, carbon disulfide, exist in natural gas. Such gaseous compounds are produced as by-products in petroleum refining operations.
In industrial applications, gas streams containing sulfur compounds are processed to remove sulfur (primarily in the form of hydrogen sulfide). The gas streams are then further processed to form liquid sulfur in sulfur recovery units.
Conventional sulfur recovery units include a seal leg or trapping device to separate molten sulfur from the gas stream. The molten sulfur is condensed from the remaining gas stream.
The discharge into the atmosphere of residual tail gases associated with such molten sulfur, such as sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, is environmentally unacceptable. It is therefore necessary to separate the elemental sulfur from the tail gases associated therewith.
Sulfur traps associated with sulfur recovery units, as historically designed, include two concentrically arranged vertical pipes. The vertical pipes may extend approximately twenty feet to twenty-five feet into the ground. The outer pipe is capped at its lower end. The inner pipe lower end is displaced above the capped lower end of the outer pipe allowing molten sulfur to flow from the inner pipe to the annular space between the pipes. Molten sulfur is received into the inner pipe, flows downwardly from the inner pipe and upwardly in the annular space between the inner pipe and the outer pipe to a discharge pipe connected to the outer pipe. The discharge pipe transmits the sulfur into a sulfur storage tank where the sulfur may be maintained until pumped out for shipping or other disposition. A jacket is provided outside the outer pipe, with steam circulated between the jacket and the outer pipe to maintain the temperature of the sulfur trap above 250 degrees Fahrenheit and accordingly to maintain the sulfur in a liquid phase. The annular arrangement of the inner pipe and outer pipe provides a liquid trap preventing tail gases from being transferred in the storage tank.
Kuvasnikoff et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,140, Sims U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,408 and Singleton et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,199 disclose processes for removing sulfur and sulfur compounds from sulfur bearing gases.
Stothers U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,459 discloses process and apparatus for extraction of elemental sulfur from sulfur compound gases.
Mori et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,753 and Hellmer et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,100 disclose processes and apparatus for converting sulfur dioxide and gas to sulfur.
Scott et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,158 discloses a process and apparatus for burning hydrogen sulfide and other combustible fluids to recover sulfur.
Conventional in-ground sulfur traps require ground excavation and buried lines to install the concentric piping, the steam jacket and steam lines. In operation, the inner pipe or the annulus may become blocked or partially blocked from time to time by materials such as contaminated sulfur, carbon, catalyst dust, etc. To remove the blockage it is often necessary that the trap be partially disassembled and the inner pipe or annulus rodded out to restore circulation.
Operating pressures upstream of the conventional in-ground sulfur traps must be limited due to the nature of the liquid trap. Other disadvantages of conventional sulfur seal systems are that they extend 20′ or more into the earth, and that they are not easily cleaned.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,270 by this inventor discloses a sulfur trap that includes a sphere that engages an upwardly extending cylinder in a first position and that floats in the molten sulfur contained in the upper chamber in a second position.
The sulfur trap disclosed in U.S. Pat. 5,498,270 provided improved sealing over the prior art sulfur separation systems while allowing the process to operate at relatively high pressures upstream of the seal. Additionally, it did not require deep excavation and was relatively easy to clean.
The present invention comprises an improvement to the art by providing a self-cleaning mechanism on the trap enhancing the sealing interface.


The experimental determination of the moments of inertia of a rigid body such as a golf-club head about each of three mutually perpendicular axes is described. The club head is suspended so as to swing as a pendulum about an axis that is parallel to each of the axes of interest and the moments of inertia are calculated from the periods of oscillation and physical properties of the body. The products of inertia must be calculated from the moments of inertia in multiple axis systems. Once the inertia matrix is complete, the associated ellipsoid of inertia displays the inertial properties of the rigid body without reference to a specific coordinate system. The inertia ellipsoids of two golf-club heads are determined and compared to demonstrate the procedure.

As is known, short-duration impact processes like golf-club head/golf ball collisions are characterized by coefficients of restitution and friction coefficients which are computed from changes in head and ball linear and angular momenta. While changes in linear momentum are computed from the ball and head mass, changes in angular momentum require accurate knowledge of the club-head inertia matrix, alternatively referred to as the three dimensional inertia tensor. Golf-club heads, like many other irregular rigid bodies with unknown internal mass distributions, are difficult to characterize accurately by calculated inertia parameters.
Generally, little is known is about the significance to the game of golf of one shape versus another. However, there is an expectation that it is the inertia that opposes the torque resulting from an off-center hit. Thus, knowledge of the inertia of a golf-club head should aid in the design of golf-club head for a particular golf-club size.
In the past, various types of techniques have been employed for determining the swing inertia of a golf-club, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,577, as well as to determine the moment of inertia of a golf-club such as described in U.S. Pat. 4,212,193. However, club head/ball motion before and after collision is generally a three-dimensional motion. As such, the angular momentum cannot be computed from a single moment of inertia as would be the case for two dimensional motion. In the case of bodies with planes of symmetry, it may be possible to compute an entire inertia matrix from three or fewer principal moments of inertia. However, in the absence of symmetry, as in the case of golf-club heads, the three moments of inertia and three products of inertia must be computed or measured. Measurement of moments of inertia about three mutually perpendicular axes can be achieved by replication of the single-axis prior art. There is no comparable way of measuring products of inertia.
If one knows the moments of inertia about each axis of an orthogonal set of axes for multiple sets of orthogonal axes, it can be possible to compute the products of inertia with respect to one of those sets of orthogonal axes. Once the moments and products of inertia are known for any one set of orthogonal axes, they can be computed for any other set of axes. The moments of inertia together with the products of inertia constitute the inertia matrix.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to obtain direct measurements of moments of inertia and the indirect determinations of products of inertia so as to permit a complete characterization of the motion of an irregularly-shaped rigid body.
It is another object of the invention to permit the measurement of inertial properties of rigid bodies in cases where inhomogeneity, irregularity or complexity makes computing such properties impractical.
It is another object of the invention to be able to compare the inertial properties of similar objects or the establishment of functional similarity among objects of differing appearances.
It is another object of the invention to be able to determine the inertia matrix of a rigid body in a relatively simple manner.
It is another object of the invention to be able to determine the inertia matrix of a golf-club head.
It is another object of the invention to provide a relatively simple basis for designing golf-club heads.
It is another object of the invention to obtain a graphical representation of an inertia matrix for a golf-club head against which golf-club heads can be matched.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus and procedure to permit the experimental determination of a location of a center of mass and the moments and products of inertia of an irregularly shaped solid body.
Briefly, the invention provides an apparatus and method for determining the inertia matrix of a rigid body. In this respect, the apparatus and method permit an experimental determination of the location of the center of mass and the moments and products of inertia of an irregularly shaped solid body, such as a rigid golf-club head.
The apparatus is comprised of a pair of spaced apart supports, a means removably secured to the beam to receive a known weight thereon and a first adapter for mounting a club head on the balance beam for selectively balancing the club head about a Z-axis extending along a center line of the hosel of the club head relative to the known weight with a face of the club head disposed horizontally in order to determine an x-coordinate of the center of mass of the club head and with the face of the club head disposed vertically to determine a y-coordinate of the center of mass. In addition, the apparatus employs a second adapter for mounting the club head on the beam with the Z-axis perpendicular to the beam for balancing the club head about an X-axis parallel to the face of the club head in order to determine a z-coordinate of the center of mass.
The apparatus also includes a third adapter for mounting the club head on the beam in the absence of the known weight with the Z-axis extending vertically and perpendicularly to the beam in order to obtain moments of inertia I.sub.XX, I.sub.YY about the respective x and y axes of the club head.
The apparatus also includes a fourth adapter for mounting the club head on the beam with the Z-axis extending orthogonally at an angle of 45.degree. relative to the beam to obtain additional moments of inertia I.sub.x''x'', I.sub.z''z''.
The method or procedure of the invention permits measurement of the moments of inertia with respect to a base axis system and with respect to three additional axis systems. Like many bodies, golf-club heads have physical features that suggest a base axis system, e.g., the hosel face and centerline. Then the products of inertia in the base axis system can be computed, thereby completing the inertia matrix with respect to an axis system with an origin at the mass center and axes parallel to those of the base axis system. As part of the procedure, it is necessary to locate the center of mass with respect to the base axis system. The same device is adapted to this purpose.

Apparatus and method for determining the inertia matrix of a rigid body


An electrostatic latent image developing toner including, as a binder resin, a crystalline resin and at least one kind of non-crystalline resin, wherein, in a dynamic viscoelasticity measurement by a sine wave vibration method, a minimum value of the relaxation elasticity H in a relaxation spectrum obtained from frequency dispersion characteristics measured at temperatures of 60 and 80 degrees centigrade with a measurement frequency set in the range of 0.1 to 100 rad/sec and measurement strain set in the range of 0.02 to 4.5% is in the range of 10 to 900 Pa/cm2, and a relaxation time λ corresponding to the minimum value is in the range of 1 to 10,000 sec.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrostatic latent image developing toner that is used when an electrostatic latent image formed by an electrophotography method or an electrostatic recording method is developed with a developer and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of visualizing image information through an electrostatic latent image such as an electrophotography method is presently used in various fields. In the electrophotography method, an electrostatic latent image is formed on a photoreceptor by charging and exposure and visualized through developing the electrostatic latent image with a developer including an electrostatic latent image developing toner (hereinafter, in some cases, simply referred to as "toner"), transferring and fixing.
As a developer that is used here, a two-component developer made of a toner and a carrier and a single-component developer that singly uses a magnetic toner or a non-magnetic toner are known. As a manufacturing method of the toner, normally, a kneading-pulverizing process in which a thermo-plastic resin is melted and kneaded together with a pigment, a charge control agent and a releasing agent such as wax, followed by pulverizing and classifying after cooling is used.
In some cases, as need arises, in order to improve the fluidity and the cleaning property, inorganic or organic particles are added to a surface of a toner particle. The method can produce a rather excellent toner; however, since a toner shape is substantially limited to an amorphous one, particles tend to be generated, and a releasing agent and a colorant are likely to be exposed on a surface, whereby in some cases, problems such as deterioration of the developability and image quality due to stress in a developing device, contamination to other members and so on may be caused.
In recent years, as a process that makes it possible to intentionally control a shape and a surface structure of a toner, a manufacturing process of toner according to an emulsion-polymerization flocculation method has been proposed (for example, see JP-A Nos. 63-282752 and 06-250439). This is a manufacturing method in which, in general, after a dispersion of resin particles is prepared by means of emulsion polymerization and a colorant dispersion in which a colorant is dispersed in a solvent is prepared, these are blended to form flocculated particles corresponding to a toner particle diameter, followed by heating to melt and unite the same. According to this method, to some extent, the toner shape can be controlled and the charging property and the durability can be improved; however, an internal structure becomes substantially homogeneous. Accordingly, there still remain problems in the peeling property of toner receiving bodies at the fixing, the stability of the transparency at the time of OHP output, and the difference in charge amount between colors in the color toner.
Thus, in the electrophotography process, in order for the toner to stably maintain the performance even under various mechanical stresses, it is necessary to suppress exposure a releasing agent at the surface, enhance the surface hardness and improve the mechanical strength of the toner itself without damaging the fixing property, and combine sufficient charging property and fixing property.
Furthermore, from the viewpoints of recent high-speed processing and ensuring low energy consumption, a toner having uniform charging property, maintainability, toner strength and a narrow particle size distribution becomes more and more important. Furthermore, in view of the high-speed processing and power saving properties of these machines, the low temperature fixing property becomes more and more necessary.
From the viewpoint of the foregoing low temperature fixing, as a method of lowering a fixing temperature of the toner itself, a technology in which a glass transition temperature (Tg) of a binder resin for toner is lowered is generally adopted. However, since powder tends to aggregate (blocking) and the storage stability of the toner on a fixed image is lost when the Tg is excessively lowered, from a practical standpoint, the lower limit is 60 degrees centigrade. This glass transition point is a design point of many of commercially available toner resins. That is, there is a problem in that, according to a method of lowering the glass transition point, a toner that can be fixed at a temperature lower than that which is currently possible cannot be obtained. When a plasticizer is used, the fixing temperature can be lowered; however, there is a problem in that during storage of the toner or in a developing device, blocking occurs.
As a measure that combines inhibition of blocking, image storage stability up to 60 degrees centigrade and low temperature fixing property, a technology that uses a crystalline resin as a binder resin that constitutes the toner has been known from long ago (for example, see JP-B No. 56-13943). Furthermore, for the purpose of offset prevention, pressure fixing and so on, a technology that uses a crystalline resin has been known from long ago (for example, see JP-B Nos. 62-39428 and 63-25335). However, according to the foregoing disclosed technologies, since a melting point of a resin that is used is excessively low such as 62 to 66 degrees centigrade, there are problems in the reliability of powder and images and insufficient fixing property of the crystalline resin onto paper.
As a crystalline resin that is expected to improve the fixing property onto paper, a polyester resin can be cited. As a technology that uses a crystalline polyester resin in toner, there is a technology in which a non-crystalline polyester resin having a glass transition point of 40 degrees centigrade or more and a crystalline polyester resin having a melting point in the range of 130 to 200 degrees centigrade are blended and used (for example, see JP-B No. 62-39428). However, this technology, though having excellent pulverizing property and blocking resistance, cannot achieve a low temperature fixing property beyond that achieved conventionally since the melting point of the crystalline polyester resin is high.
In order to overcome the foregoing problems, a technology that uses a toner in which a crystalline resin having a melting point of 110 degrees centigrade or less and a non-crystalline resin are blended is proposed (for example, see JP-B No. 04-30014). However, when a non-crystalline resin is blended with a crystalline resin, there are practical problems in that lowering of the melting point of the toner is caused, toner blocking is caused, and the storage stability of images is deteriorated. Furthermore, when the non-crystalline resin component is contained in a large amount, since the characteristics of the non-crystalline resin are largely exhibited, it is difficult to lower the fixing temperature more than in conventional technologies. Accordingly, there is a problem in that unless the crystalline resin is used singly, if mixed, with only a slight amount of the non-crystalline resin, as the toner resin, practical use is difficult.
Furthermore, as the technologies that use a crystalline polyester resin, some proposals have been made (for example, see JP-A Nos. 04-120554, 04-239021 and 05-165252). In these technologies, the crystalline polyester resin is a resin that uses a carboxylate component of terephthalic acid and alkylene glycol or alicyclic alcohol having a small number of carbon atoms. These polyester resins, though described as crystalline polyester resins in the foregoing literature, are substantially partially crystalline polyester resins. As a result, a change in viscosity of the toner (binder resin) relative to a temperature is not steep, and accordingly, there is no problem in the blocking property and the storage stability of image, however, in heat roll fixing, low temperature fixing cannot be realized.
Still furthermore, a toner that contains as a main component a crystalline polyester resin having a cross-linking structure has been shown to be excellent in blocking resistance and image storage stability, and capable of realizing low temperature fixing (for example, see JP-A No. 2001-117268). However, there is a problem in that in oil-less fixing the peeling property is not stable. In addition, when a crystalline resin is used singly, though the low temperature fixing, the toner storage property, and the document storage stability can be assuredly improved, there are problems in that the strength of a developed image is low and an image can be easily damaged by scratching and so on.
Furthermore, there is a problem in that when double-side printing is carried out with the foregoing toners by use of a copy machine or a printer, in particular when one side is printed with a solid image and the other side is printed with a half-tone image, since the fixing property differs largely, paper printed with images warps (so-called curling).
Still furthermore, from the viewpoint of improving the fixing property in a high-speed and low-pressure fixing system, it is disclosed that an improvement in the oil-less stripping property owing to an improvement in the dispersing property of the releasing agent inside of the toner is achieved by defining the relaxation elasticity and the relaxation time obtained from dynamic viscoelasticity measurement (for example, see JP-A No. 2000-81721). According to this method, since a behavior of the toner at the fixing relates to the deformation of toner particles in a fixing system and a stress relaxation phenomenon thereof and, among these, to a change of state of the toner from a glass state to a molten state affected by a temperature, certainly the fixing characteristics and the stress of a fixed image derived from an internal structure of the toner, which cannot be sufficiently controlled by the storage elasticity and loss elasticity that have so far generally been used as parameters or the loss tangent which is a ratio thereof, can be accurately controlled to a certain degree, whereby the internal stress can be reduced. However, according to this method, in some cases, problems such as dependence of the fixing property on the process (for instance, a process speed) and warping of an image, particularly in the case of thin paper, when double-sided printing is applied cannot be avoided. Accordingly, practical application of a toner that can further eliminate these problems is demanded.

Electrostatic latent image developing toner and manufacturing method thereof


Racemic, bridged hafnocene is produced in enhanced yield by reacting a hafnium halide-aliphatic polyether adduct that has been formed and/or heated at one or more temperatures of at least about 40.degree. C., and a metallated bis(cyclopentadienyl-moiety-containing) ligand, at one or more temperatures for a sufficient period of time such that a racemic, bridged hafnocene is produced. The reaction is performed in the substantial absence of tetrahydrofuran and/or any other ether solvent or diluent that causes the formation of a tarry residue in the reaction mixture.

Chiral hafnocenes are useful for the synthesis of polyolefins. The racemic form of these hafnocenes provides stereoregular poly(alpha-olefins). In addition, the racemic form of these hafnocenes is considerably more catalytically active than the meso form, which produces only atactic polymers. Chiral hafnocenes and their use as catalysts in forming isotactic olefin polymers are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,794,096; 5,017,714; 5,036,035; 5,036,034; 5,145,819; 5,296,434; 5,324,800; 5,329,033; 5,399,636; 5,455,365; 5,455,366; 5,532,396; and 5,556,997, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
It has been discovered that although hafnium is a member of Group 4, in the synthesis of metallocenes hafnium reactants can behave in a remarkably different manner from corresponding titanium or zirconium compounds. In particular, as shown by my colleagues, S. P. Diefenbach, M. S. Ao, J. M. Power and J. R. Strickler in U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,733, ZrCl.sub.4 readily forms a tetrahydrofuran complex ZrCl.sub.4 (THF).sub.2 by addition of THF to slurry of ZrCl.sub.4 in a medium such as methylene chloride or hexanes. Moreover the ZrCl.sub.4 (THF).sub.2 complex can be reacted in tetrahydrofuran with lithium derivatives of various silicon-containing cyclopentadienyl ligands such as the dilithio derivative of 1,1'-dimethylsilanylenebis(indene)ethyl etherate to produce racemic bridged zirconocenes such as rac-1,1'-dimethylsilanylenebis(indenylzirconium dichloride. In fact this reaction was successfully performed at reaction temperatures between 50 and 54.degree. C. (note Example 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,733). In sharp contrast, if the same reaction is attempted with HfCl.sub.4, copious amounts of tar are produced and the yield of isolatable racemic isomer of the bridged hafnocene, so low as to be practically non-existent. Furthermore, the zirconocene is stable in THF solution whereas the hafnocene is very unstable in THF solvent even at room temperature.
A useful contribution to the art would be the provision of new process technology for producing racemic bridged hafnocenes, in higher yields and with better product quality at lower cost. This invention is deemed to constitute such a contribution.

Enhanced production of bridged hafnocenes


The disclosure relates to an asymmetrical double-outlet blower, including an upper case, a lower case and an impeller. The upper case includes an inlet. The lower case and the upper case are assembled to form a housing having an accommodation space, and form a first outlet and a second outlet. The accommodation space is in fluid communication with the first outlet, the second outlet and the inlet. The first outlet and the second outlet are disposed on a lateral periphery of the housing and face two opposite directions, respectively. An opening cross-sectional area of the first outlet is less than an opening cross-sectional area of the second outlet. The impeller is accommodated within the accommodation space of the housing, spatially corresponding to the inlet, and rotated around a rotation axis. An airflow is inhaled through the inlet and transported to the first outlet and the second outlet, respectively.

A blower is a fluid machine applied to a wide range of application. In the prior art, the common blower includes a single outlet. In some application environments, such as a blower for air circulation in a vehicle, there is a need for double outlets. Two air currents, flowing not only in different directions but also in different air pressures, are provided through the double outlets, respectively, so that the two air currents with different volumetric flow rates are provided for the front seat and the rear seat of the vehicle, respectively. Since the double outlets correspond to different air pressures and different volumetric flow rates, there are two flow channels having different air resistances, and it is easy to interact with each other to reduce the overall efficiency. Therefore, comprehensive performances such as the volumetric flow rate, the air pressure, the energy consumption and the noise must be considered during design. Otherwise, the goal of optimizing uniform performances cannot be achieved.
Therefore, there is a need of providing an asymmetrical double-outlet blower for providing equivalent performances under different air resistances, and to obviate the drawbacks encountered from the prior arts.


1-Aryl-3-(3,4-dihydro-4-oxo-3-quinazolinyl)-urea compounds which are effective for the control of prevention of phytopathogenic fungi are described. A method for the fungicidal use of said compounds, fungicidal compositions containing said compounds and methods for the preparation of said compounds are also presented.

Phytopathogenic fungi are the casual agents for many diseases which infect and destroy agronomic crops. Especially devastating are leaf spot type diseases such as banana black sigatoka, sugar beet cercospora leaf spot and peanut leaf spot.
The leaves of the banana plant are subject to attack by a fungus, Mycosphaerella fijiensis, causing a disease called banana black sigatoka. Uncontrolled, banana black sigatoka kills the leaves of the banana plant, resulting in small, poor quality fruit. Because banana is a major export for many Latin American countries, the control of banana black sigatoka is critical to those countries' economies.
Currently, only five fungicide classes are used to treat banana black sigatoka. In some areas, the fungus has become resistant to the two most effective of those fungicide classes. The result has been more intensive spraying with the less effective fungicides. Therefore, there is a need for new fungicides with other modes of action for the continued protection of banana.
Sugar beet is susceptible to many foliar diseases caused by phytopathogenic fungi. One of the most frequently encountered and most destructive foliar diseases occurring on sugar beet is sugar beet cercospora leaf spot, caused by the fungus, Cercospora beticola. Sugar beet cercospora leaf spot is common to sugar beet throughout the world, but is most destructive in regions with wet, warm growing seasons, such as Western and Southern Europe, and the Midwestern United States. During periods of high temperature and wetness, sugar beet cercospora leaf spot increases rapidly in the field. This disease also kills leaf tissue resulting in reduced sugar beet weight and sugar content.
Peanut leaf spot, caused by fungi of the Mycosphaerella genus, is the most destructive foliar disease of peanut in the southeastern United States. Uncontrolled, peanut leaf spot causes the defoliation of entire files, resulting in reduced pod size and number. To date, management of peanut leaf spot has been problematic. Because of the development of resistance to fungicides, and the repeal of approval for other fungicides, ninety-nine percent of peanuts grown in this region are sprayed with a single fungicide. Accordingly, there is ongoing research to create new and more effective fungicides and methods for controlling or preventing such fungal infestations.
Certain quinazolinones have shown useful biological activity (see, e.g., M. T. Bogert and R. A. Gortner, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 31, pp. 943-947 (1909); A. P. Bhaduri and N. M. Khanna, Indian J. Chem, 4, pages 447-449 (1966); and U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,102). None of these documents, however, refers to the use of quinazolinones as fungicides.
EP-A-360417-A published Mar. 28, 1990 relates to derivatives of 4-fluoroanthranilic acid and their use as fungicides. And, Y. A. Ammar, et al describe the antimicrobial activity of 6,8-dichloro-4-(3H)-quinazolinones in Current Science, 58, pp, 1231-1234 (1989). Neither of these documents, however, refers to the novel compositions and uses provided herein.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide 1-aryl-3-(3,4-dihydro-4-oxo-3-quinazolinyl)urea compounds that are highly effective for controlling or preventing phytopathogenic fungal infestations in agronomic crops, both growing and harvested.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method for the prevention, control or amelioration of a disease caused by a phytopathogenic fungus by contacting said fungus with a fungicidally effective amount of a 1-aryl-3-(3,4-dihydro-4-oxo-3-quinazolinyl)urea compound.
It is a feature of this invention to provide a method for the prevention, control or amelioration of leaf spot type diseases such as banana black sigatoka, sugar beet cercospora leaf spot and peanut leaf spot.
These and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below.


An apparatus for rotatably fitting a fork stem (4) in a head tube (5) of a bicycle. This apparatus has a first race element (1) fitted on the fork stem, and a second race element (2) opposed to the first race element and inserted into an annular space defined between the fork stem and the head tube. The first race element (1) defines a first contact surface (1b). A first ring element (7) defining a first rolling body supporting surface (7b) is fitted on the first race element (1). The second race element (2) defines a second contact surface (2b). A second ring element (8) defining a second rolling body supporting surface (8b) is fitted on the second race element (2). The first contact surface (1b) is shaped to have a component of reaction force acting radially inwardly of the fork stem from the first ring element to the first race element when rolling bodies (6) are clamped between the first supporting surface and second supporting surface. The second contact surface (2b) is shaped to have a component of reaction force acting radially outwardly of the head tube from the second ring element to the second race element when the rolling bodies (6) are clamped between the second supporting surface and second supporting surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, generally called head parts, for rotatably fitting a fork stem in a head tube of a bicycle. This apparatus comprises a first race element fitted on the fork stem, a second race element inserted into an annular space formed between the fork stem and head tube to be opposed to the first race element, and balls arranged between the first and second race elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional head parts, as shown in FIG. 5, a first race element 1 and a second race element 2 define ball supporting surfaces 1a and 2a, respectively, for supporting balls 6 to perform a bearing function.
With such a conventional construction, a head structure may be formed by the ball supporting surfaces of the first and second race elements and balls assembled together with inadequate precision, such as with a misalignment between the two ball supporting surfaces. This happens when the individual parts are manufactured or assembled with considerable errors, or errors of these parts accumulate to a large amount. As a result, the entire head part assembly has a low quality and low working efficiency.

Apparatus for rotatably fitting a fork stem in a head tube of a bicycle


A video camera is comprised of an aperture correcting signal generating circuit for generating an aperture correcting signal from a video signal of a picked-up image, and a nonlinear processing circuit for comparing the video signal with a reference voltage modulated by the aperture correcting signal and compressing the video signal at its high brightness portion higher than the reference voltage when the video signal is higher than the reference voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to video cameras and, more particularly, is directed to a video camera in which an aperture of a high brightness portion can be emphasized.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional video cameras, a white portion (high brightness portion) is compressed in order to extend a dynamic range of an imager signal.
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a diagram of a conventional white compressing circuit.
Referring to FIG. 1, a video signal of a picked-up image is supplied to a video signal input terminal 1, and the video signal applied to the input terminal 1 is supplied through a resistor R1 to an output terminal 2. A junction 10 between the resistor R1 and the output terminal 2 is coupled to the anode of a diode 4, and an output of a reference voltage source 4 is supplied through a variable resistor R2 to the cathode of a diode 3.
Thus, when the video signal applied to the input terminal 1 becomes higher in level than the output level of the reference voltage source 4, the diode 3 is turned on and a gain G of the video signal developed at the output terminal 2 is expressed by the following equation (1): EQU G=R2/(R1+R2) (1)
If the gain G is lowered as shown by the above equation (1), then the high brightness portion is compressed. FIGS. 2A and 2B are respectively diagrams showing the state such that the white portion is compressed. When a video signal whose brightness is progressively increased as shown in FIG. 2A is supplied to the input terminal 1 of the white compression circuit shown in FIG. 1, if the level of the input video signal exceeds a constant level x determined by the output potential of the reference voltage source 4 as shown in FIG. 2B, then the gain is lowered and the high brightness portion is compressed. Incidentally, the point x in FIG. 2B is what might be called a "knee point".
In the ordinary video cameras, an aperture of the video signal of the picked-up image is frequently emphasized. In this case, the above compression of the high brightness portion is effected after the aperture is emphasized so that, when the high brightness portion is compressed as described above, an aperture correcting signal (aperture emphasizing signal) added to the video signal also is compressed. There is then the disadvantage such that the aperture of the high brightness portion becomes obscure.
More specifically, if an input video signal shown in FIG. 3A is obtained, then an aperture correction signal (see FIG. 3B) which rises at timing point in which the brightness level of this video signal is changed is generated, and this aperture correcting signal is mixed into the video signal shown in FIG. 3A, thereby obtaining a mixed signal whose aperture is emphasized as shown in FIG. 3C is obtained. If this mixed signal is supplied to the white compression circuit, then a compressed signal shown in FIG. 3D is obtained. While the aperture correcting signal is not changed in the low brightness portion where the compressed signal is not compressed, the length of the leading edge of the aperture correcting signal also is compressed in the compressed high brightness portion so that the aperture emphasizing effect can be made useless substantially. To solve this problem, such a processing is proposed that the aperture correcting signal is added to the high brightness portion of the video signal output from the white compressing circuit one more time.
FIG. 4 of the accompanying drawings shows an arrangement of a white compressing circuit and other relating elements which are used to add the aperture correcting signal to the high brightness portion one more time.
As shown in FIG. 4, a video signal (imager signal) into which the aperture correcting signal is already mixed is supplied to an input terminal 11. Then, the video signal applied to the input terminal 11 is supplied to a white compression circuit 12, in which the high brightness portion of the video signal supplied thereto is compressed. The video signal thus processed is supplied to a mixer 13. In this case, a reference voltage signal is supplied to the white compression circuit 12 from a reference voltage generator circuit 14 and thereby the high brightness portion higher than the level of this reference voltage is compressed. Further, the video signal applied to the input terminal 11 is supplied to a slicing circuit 15 and only the video signal of the brightness portion to be compressed is extracted by this slicing circuit 15. Also in this case, the reference voltage signal is supplied to the slicing circuit 15 from the reference voltage generator circuit 14, and thereby only the brightness portion higher than the level of the reference voltage is extracted. The video signal of the high brightness portion extracted by the slicing circuit 15 is supplied to an aperture correcting signal generator circuit 16 which derives an aperture correcting signal of high brightness portion. Then, the aperture correcting signal of the high brightness portion is supplied to the mixer 13, in which the aperture correcting signal of the high brightness portion is mixed with the video signal having the compressed high brightness portion supplied to the mixer 13 from the white compression circuit 12, and a mixed signal is supplied to an output terminal 17.
Thus, when a signal shown in FIG. 5A is supplied to the input terminal 11 as the video signal of the image, for example, the slicing circuit 15 extracts its high brightness portion shown in FIG. 5B and the aperture correcting signal generator circuit 16 generates an aperture correcting signal (see FIG. 5C) of only the brightness portion. Then, the aperture correcting signal of only the high brightness portion is mixed into a video signal (FIG. 5D) whose high brightness portion is compressed by the white compression circuit 12 in the mixer 13 to obtain a mixed signal shown in FIG. 5E, whereby an aperture information of the high brightness portion is restored.
Since the aperture information of the high brightness portion is restored as described above, at least the aperture of even the high brightness portion is added and hence the image information of the high brightness portion is maintained at minimum. However, the circuit configuration shown in FIG. 4 is complicated and hence the development of a circuit which can emphasize the aperture of the high brightness portion with ease has been requested so far.


A particularly simple construction is intended for a packaging container for bulk material, in particular a sack or bag made of a plastic film with at least one container wall which encloses the bulk material, which comprises a multilayer venting region extending in the longitudinal direction of the container and consisting of at least one inner layer and one outer layer, wherein the venting region has at least one inner and outer opening, wherein the inner openings are designed as apertures in a strip-shaped surface region of the inner layer of the venting region, wherein the surface region extends over at least a portion of the direction of extent of the venting region, and wherein the at least one outer opening is formed in a joining seam laterally limiting the venting region, wherein a shielding element inside the venting region is associated with the outer opening in the joining seam for the deliberate diversion of at least a partial flow of the air flow passing through the venting region. This is achieved as a result of the venting region having just one chamber in which the shielding element separates the inner and outer openings from each other and the shielding element has a length that is between 10% and 50% of the overall length of the venting region.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a packaging container for bulk material, in particular a sack or bag made of plastic film, with at least one container wall enclosing the bulk material, which wall comprises a multilayer venting region extending in longitudinal direction of the container and consisting of at least one inner and one outer layer, wherein the venting region comprises at least one inner and one outer opening, wherein the inner openings are formed as apertures in a strip-shaped surface region of an inner layer of the venting region, wherein the surface region extends over at least one predetermined portion in the direction of extent of the venting region, and wherein at least one outer opening is formed in a joining seam laterally limiting the venting region wherein the outer opening in the joining seam inside the venting region has a shielding element associated with it for the deliberate diversion of at least a partial flow of the air flow passing through the venting region.
(2) Description of Related Art
It is known that packaging containers of the above mentioned kind are used for receiving pourable or free-flowing bulk materials such as for example foodstuffs, fertilizers and the like. Such pourable filling materials are a. o. manufactured in the food industry or the chemical industry or are required for further processing in a manufacturing process. The packaging containers are a means of transport for the filling materials or bulk materials, for their intermediate storage or for offering the end product contained in it for sale.
A generic packaging container is known from the DE 10 2007 022 400 A1. The venting device described herein comprises a venting channel with two separate chambers connected with each other via an overflow opening, wherein the inner venting opening is provided on the first chamber and the outer venting opening is provided on the second chamber.
The DE 20 2006 020 303 U1 describes a packaging container with walls, which form a through-passage for an air exit in a double-layer flat air exit region. The through-passage is divided into several chambers connected with each other by at least one passage, respectively, and where the inner openings and outer openings are arranged on the chambers at a distance from each other.
Another packaging container made from a flexible plastic film is known in particular from the DE 10 2004 013 469 A1, which is used for enclosing powder-like filling materials. The packaging container comprises at least one container wall enclosing the bulk material, which comprises a multilayer venting region extending in longitudinal direction of the container and consisting of at least one inner layer and one outer layer with only one chamber. In order to ensure that venting is possible from inside the container, for example, during the filling process, the venting region is provided with at least one inner and outer opening. The inner openings are primarily formed as apertures in a strip-shaped surface region of the inner layer of the venting region, so that air can flow from inside the container into between the inner and outer layer. The surface region provided with apertures roughly extends over the entire height of the venting region. An outer opening is provided in a joining seam laterally limiting the venting region, via which the air which has entered between the layers can be dissipated to atmosphere. This ensures safe venting, but in the case of relatively finely powdered filling materials it is possible that some of the filling material gets discharged from the packaging as early as during the filling process or immediately thereafter when the packaging container is subjected to a pressing operation.

Packaging container that can be ventilated


In a writable optical disc such as a CD-WO and CD-MO having a program area where, by using a recording format capable of recording data in the form of a main code and a subcode, program information is recorded in the form of the main code and control information thereof is recorded in the form of the subcode and also a lead area formed adjacent to the program area where information constituting a table of contents (TOC) only which is extracted from the control information is recorded in the form of the subcode, data for mastering the information recorded on the optical disc is recorded in the form of the main code in at least a part of the lead area.

This invention relates to recording of data on an optical disc on which additional writing is possible e.g., Compact Disc Write Once (hereinafter referred to as "CD-WO") and on an optical disc from which recorded data is erasable, e.g., Compact Disc Magneto-Optical (hereinafter referred to as "CD-MO") and, more particularly, to recording of mastering auxiliary information necessary for performing a mastering processing in a large scale production of discs after making a recorded disc.
In a case where program information has been written experimentally on a writable disc such as a CD-WO or a CD-MO and thereafter a recorded disc has finally been completed through processes such as assessing and debugging, a large scale production of discs in the form of, e.g., a Compact Disc, based on the contents of the recorded disc is generally made. In a mastering process in the large scale production, various subcode information used for mastering such as TOC (table of contents) information and subcode information and user's bit to be recorded on a program area is recorded as mastering auxiliary information on a recording medium such as a floppy disc, a Bernoulli type disc (i.e., hard disc) or a magnetic tape separately from the recorded disc and this recording medium is transferred with the recorded disc to the mastering process.
In a Compact Disc or CD-WO, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a train of recording pits is spirally formed with a track pitch of 1.6 .mu.m on a disc having an outer diameter of 120 mm.phi., a central opening diameter of 15 mm.phi. and thickness of 1.2 mm consisting of and three areas of a lead-in area Li, a program area Pg and a lead-out area Lo are formed from the inner periphery side by the train of recording pits to enable signals to be recorded in the respective areas. The program area Pg is an area (program area) where program information and subcode information are recorded whereas the lead-in area Li and the lead-out area Lo are areas (lead areas) where information such as TOC information which relates to a table of contents extracted from subcode information used for control of the disc is recorded.
In the lead-in area Li, TOC information representing contents of the program recorded in the disc is recorded in the subcode form. In the case of a disc containing a musical program, for example, TOC includes information such as the number of music pieces included in the disc, addresses on the disc of the beginning, end and intermediate break of each music, time for each music and total time of all music contained in the disc. The lead-in area Li is an area beginning from the innermost part of the recording area of the disc and continuing to a position immediately before the start point of the program area Pg, e.g., an area extending normally from a position of a diameter of 44.7 mm.phi. which is inside of a position of a diameter of 46 mm.phi. to the program start position. In this lead-in area Li, TOC information is repeatedly recorded. In most Compact Discs, the number of music and the total performance time of the disc are displayed upon loading of the disc in a Compact Disc player. This displayed information is obtained by reading TOC information upon loading of the disc. The TOC information is also ustilized for selecting a particular music in the disc. In the lead-in area Li, a main channel is vacant and data "0" is normally stored.
In the program area Pg, program information such as music signals and subcode information for the control purpose are recorded.
In the lead-out area Lo, a signal representing the end of the program is recorded. The lead-out area Lo is an area which, for example, extends from the end position of the program area Pg to a postion which is at least 0.5 mm outside in the radial direction (up to a maximum diameter of 117 mm.phi.). In the lead-out area Lo, lead-out information consisting of repeating pulses of 2 Hz is recorded. The program area Pg therefore is defined by the program start position of the diameter of 50 mm.phi. and the program end position (up to the maximum diameter of 116 mm.phi.). A main channel of the lead-out area also is normaly "0".
A recording format used in a case where a normal music source is recorded in a Compact Disc will now be described. The spiral recording track consisting of the train of pits is divided into blocks frame by frame and each frame consists, as shown in FIG. 6, of a synchronizing signal, a subcode, a program information bit, and alternate repetition of an error correction bit and a program information bit. The synchronizing signal of FIG. 6 is a frame synchronizing signal which is inserted at the start point of each frame. As the subcode, one byte is inserted for one frame and a predetermined subcode frame is constructed of a subcode ranging over plural frames. The subcode is also called control information which includes various information for control of the disc and information enabling the user to use the disc easily. As the subcode, eight channels of P, Q, R, S, T, U, V and W channels are defined. In the narrow sense of the term, the P and Q channels are sometimes called a subcode and the R-W channels are called user's bits. The program information bit is program information itself consisting of information such as digital audio information of a music to be recorded. The error correction bit is data for correcting an error to the program information. The code portion other than the synchronizing signal and the subcode in each frame constitutes a main channel which is a recording channel for main information such as a program to be recorded. In this example, the code portion of the program information bit, error correction bit, program information bit and error correction bit constituting the main channel will be called a main code. In the case of normal recording of digital audio information of a Compact Disc, as shown in FIG. 7, audio signal data of a left channel L and a right channel R each having 2 bytes are alternately recorded in the program information bits of the main channel.
In manufacturing a Compact Disc, it is a normal practice to produce a digital master tape which was recorded program information to be recorded into a Compact Disc, insert subcodes such as P and Q in the program information of the digital master tape, apply TOC information as table-of-contents information obtained from these subcodes to be recorded in the lead-in area Li and apply information to be recorded in the lead-out area Lo, thus producing a Compact Disc tape master including all information to be recorded in a Compact Disc. A glass master is then produced by applying laser cutting to a glass master original disc on the basis of the Compact Disc tape master and then a metal master, a metal mother and a stamper are sequentially made on the basis of the glass master. Transparent discs are produced in a large scale by pressing using this stamper (e.g., by injection compression forming). Compact Discs are completed by forming a reflecting film and protective film on each disc.
When a complete disc has been produced by assessing and debugging a disc produced as a CD-WO by using a disc recording system for a CD-WO and by reproducing, when necessary, a corrected disc, Compact Discs are produced in a large scale by using the completed disc as a master disc. In this case, when mastering, i.e., production of a Compact Disc master, is performed by using only a CD-WO, there is likelihood that information such as TOC and subcode, user's bit recorded in the subcode form becomes data containing much error due to poor forming of the CD-WO pits. For this reason, it was necessary in the past in mastering of a Compact Disc to record mastering auxiliary information necessary for mastering including TOC, subcode and user's bit etc. in a floppy disc, magnetic tape or other recording medium separately from the CD-WO. In other words, in mastering of a Compact Disc from a CD-WO, a recording medium such as a floppy disc or a magnetic tape on which mastering auxiliary information such as TOC, subcode and user's information is recorded must be transferred with the recorded CD-WO to the mastering process. In the mastering process, a master is made according to a predetermined format on the basis of these information. This preparation of extra recording medium containing mastering auxiliary information is a troublesome process.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an optical disc, and a method and a device for recording data on an optical disc which simplify the work and protocol for performing a mastering of a Compact Disc or the like from a writable optical disc and yet enables an accurate mastering.

Recording of mastering information for performing a disc mastering process


A pipe end fitting (13) has a cup-shaped body (15) for fitting on the end of a pipe (14), and gripping (20, 22) and sealing (18) assemblies that fit radially inside the pipe and the cup-shaped body and are radially expandable to engage the pipe interior. The gripping assembly Includes a toothed expandable assembly (20) and an expansion mandrel (22) that is urgeable axially into the cup to expand the expandable assembly. This also axially compresses the sealing assembly (18), which is formed of at least two annular bodies (30, 34) and two sealing rings (42, 56). At least one body has a ramp surface (74, 76) that urges radial expansion of a sealing ring (42, 54) to seal to the pipe.

The present invention relates to end fittings for connection to pipes (or other at least partly tubular objects), especially polyethylene and other plastic pipes. It particularly relates to towing heads and pressure test sets.
Towing heads may be useful in pipe laying and in directional drilling. For example, a hole for a pipe may be produced, e.g. under a road, by means of a drill string. This is then connected to a reamer and pipe and drawn back.
High pressure mud is pumped down the drill string and through the reamer during the drilling and reaming operations.
The reamer enlarges the hole to accommodate the pipe. However in the process the pipe is subject to considerable stresses. It risks being damaged or detached. Even if neither of these happens, mud may be forced into its interior, necessitating cleaning before use, especially if it is for use as a water supply pipe, gas pipe, or fibre optic duct.
Each polyethylene pipe of a particular outside diameter may be manufactured with a range of wall thicknesses, depending on the application, resulting in a range of internal diameters. Generally, the outside diameter of the pipe is carefully controlled in the manufacturing process, and a manufacturing tolerance applied to the wall thickness, resulting, again in a variation of internal diameter. It would therefore appear to be simpler technically to design a towing head to seal on the outside, tightly controlled diameter of the pipe than the inside, variable diameter. There are, however difficulties associated with sealing on the outside which become apparent when the four varieties of xe2x80x9cexpandingxe2x80x9d towing head are considered.
A standard, (non pressure-tight) towing head employs a threaded shaft with a towing eye at one end. The shaft passes through an expandable element, and engages a tapered expansion mandrel. In use, a pine is passed onto the head so as to surround the expandable element. Rotation of the shaft draws the mandrel further into the expandable element, causing it to expand radially and grip the bore of the pipe. The pipe-engaging surface of the expandable element has annular ribs of sawtooth section for gripping the pipe. Thus a strong connection can be attained quite easily. This is generally sufficient for a normal pipe laying process. But when very high forces are involved, e.g. in a directional drilling process, it may not suffice. The mandrel can be drawn up further to apply greater force to the pipe, but this increases the risk of splitting the pipe as the pipe continues to expand until the shoulder on the tail of the device impinges the rear of the expanding elements.
A known pressure-tight towing head, which was designed originally to facilitate pressure testing of installed pipe in addition to its use as a towing device, differs from the standard towing head in having a modified tail which is drawn into a separate expander by rotating the eyebolt. The relative axial motion of the tail and expander causes an xe2x80x98Oxe2x80x99 ring to expand radially outwards and seal on the pipe. However, there are two problems associated with this style of towing head. Firstly, the limited movement of the sealing xe2x80x98Oxe2x80x99 ring precludes the use of the same device on more than one wall thickness of pipe. Secondly, as the expanding elements engage the plastic pipe it expands outwards tending to lift off the xe2x80x98Oxe2x80x99 ring and causing the seal to be lost.
A known directional drilling towing head has an annular skirt surrounding and spaced from the expandable element. Generally, the diameter of the expandable element in a non-expanded state will be less than the internal diameter of the skirt (at least at a rear portions and at least in part less than the internal diameter of a pipe to be engaged. Thus a pipe can be engaged over at least part of the expandable element whose subsequent expansion causes the pipe to be engaged between the element and the skirt.
Preferably the skirt has sealing means on its radially inner surface for sealing to a pipe. Since the external diameters of pipes are normally accurately controlled in manufacture, this leads to reliable sealing. A single end fitting is suitable for use with a range of pipes with different internal diameters.
Generally the expandable element has radial projections such as circumferentially extending ribs (e.g. complete or partial annular ribs) that engage the pipe as it expands. Since the rearward ribs tend to be forced more strongly against a pipe than the forward ones, a rearward rib may be shaped and/or dimensioned so as to be less inclined to cut into a pipe.
The end fitting may be a towing head, in which case the elongate element may be a threaded bolt, typically having an engagement formation such as an eye at its front end. A towing head""s body normally has a tapered front portion. There may be separate front and skirt portions. They may be connected by a screw-threaded connection. Of course the handedness of the thread should be such that the parts do not tend to become unscrewed in use.
There are two problems associated with this style of towing head. Firstly, of necessity, the internal diameter of the sealing xe2x80x98Oxe2x80x99 rings positioned in thee outer sleeve is less than the outside diameter of the polyethylene pipe. Thus it is difficult to engage the sleeve over the end of the pipe, especially if the pipe has been coiled and its end is oval. Secondly, if the skirt is of sufficient wall thickness to accommodate the sealing rings, this adds significantly to the effective diameter of the pipe. In some circumstances, this may necessitate an increase in the size of the drilled and reamed hole. Furthermore, the square shoulder generally present on the rear of the skirt may foul obstacles if the pipe has to be pulled back out.
A second variety of directional drilling towing head which facilitates the engagement of the outer sleeve over the end of the pipe has an outer skirt made up of a body and a threadedly engaged operating ring. A xe2x80x98Oxe2x80x99 ring, the internal diameter of which is, at rest, larger than the outside diameter of the pipe, is compressed onto the pipe by rotating the operating ring relative to the body, However, the radial thickness of the operating ring is even more significant than the wall thickness of the fixed xe2x80x98Oxe2x80x99 ring variety and can create great problems if extraction of the pipe becomes necessary.
Increasingly, utility companies co-operate in the installation of ducts and pipes such that large numbers, often of different sizes and for different purposes, are ganged up and, in one operation, are pulled into a single reamed hole. Under these circumstances, outside sleeves reduce the number of ducts which can be ganged, which is another reason why the outside diameter of the sleeve should be kept to a minimum. xe2x80x9cGanging upxe2x80x9d is achieved using a xe2x80x9cmulti duct pullerxe2x80x9d, together with any variety of towing head. Increasingly, the ingress of bentonite (drilling mud) and debris is becoming a serious problem in both gas and fibre optics as well as in water pipe installations.
The design of equipment to pull in ducts, either singly or in multiples must address at least some of the following:
1) Outside diameter of outside sleeve to be kept small.
2) The insertion and locking of the pipe into the device must be simple to achieve and without stress or danger to the operative.
3) Maximum number of ducts or pipes (from 1 upwards) must be accommodated in the minimum cross sectional area.
4) Must be resistant to the ingress of bentonite and debris.
5) Must accommodate a range of specified wall thicknesses and manufacturing tolerances.
Preferred embodiments of the device described hereafter satisfy all or some of these five criteria.
According to the present invention, there is provided an end fitting or a tubular element (particularly a pipe) comprising;
a cup-form body having a base portion and a skirt portion, the base portion having an axial aperture;
an annular sealing assembly which, in use, is within said skirt portion adjacent said base portion;
radially expandable pipe gripping means which are, in use, at least partly within said skirt portion;
expansion means axially displaceable towards the base portion to urge expansion of said pipe gripping means; and
an elongate element extending through said axial aperture, sealing assembly and the pipe fitting means and being coupled to said expansion means;
wherein said annular sealing assembly comprises: a first annular body; a first sealing ring surrounding said first annular body; a second annular body which is axially displaceable relative to said first annular body; the arrangement being such that relative axial displacement in one sense urges radial expansion of said first sealing ring; and a second sealing ring for sealing the sealing assembly to the body.
Preferably the first annular body has a first cylinder portion on which the first sealing ring is mounted, and an enlarged end portion; and the second annular body comprises a collar portion which embraces the cylinder portion; and said collar portion and said enlarged end portion are arranged to engage the first sealing ring and at least one of them is formed with an expander surface such that relative axial movement urges expansion of the first sealing ring.
In one type of embodiment there is also a third annular body which is axially displaceable relative to the second annular body to urge radial expansion of the second sealing ring. The second or third annular body may provide a second cylinder portion on which the second sealing ring is mounted, and an enlarged end portion, said second or third cylinder portion being embraced by a collar portion of the other one of the said second and third annular bodies, the collar portion and enlarged end being arranged to engage and expand the second sealing ring. Preferably the first and second cylinder portions are of different diameters and the sealing assembly is reversible. Thus either sealing ring can seal to a pipe while the other one seals to a respective interior annular surface provided by the skirt portion of the body.
The elongate element may be a screw bolt, particularly when the end fitting is a pipe towing head. It may then be coupled to a threaded bore of the expansion means so that rotation of the bolt draws the expansion means towards the base portion of the body, thus urging expansion of the pipe gripping means and urging axial displacement of the annular bodies of the sealing assembly to urge radial expansion of the first (and in some embodiments the second) sealing ring.
The elongate element may be a tubular element, e.g. if the end fitting is a pressure test end. The elongate element may be fast with the expansion means.
A multiple connection unit may provide end fittings for two or more tubular elements.
In further aspects the invention provides a method of connecting an end fitting to a tubular element, and a process of pipe laying or directional drilling employing an end fitting as defined above. By sealing on the inside of the pipe (only) the outside diameter of the sleeve may be kept to a minimum. The annular sealing assembly or sealing cartridge accommodates a range of wall thicknesses, particularly when reversible. The expanding xe2x80x98Oxe2x80x99 ring principle ensures ease of installation. A multiple connection circuit may employ a geometric layout of the docking ports to ensure that the maximum number of ducts can be accommodated in the minimum area.
Generally, the diameter of both the expandable pipe gripping means in a non-expanded state and the annular sealing assembly will be less than the internal diameter of the skirt (at least at a rear portion) and at least in part less than the internal diameter of a pipe to be engaged. Thus a pipe can be engaged over at least part of the expandable pipe gripping means whose subsequent expansion causes the pipe to be engaged between the gripping means and the skirt, and over the sealing assembly whose subsequent compression causes expansion of the first sealing ring, which seals the pipe.
Generally the expandable pipe gripping means has radial projections such as circumferentially extending ribs (e.g. complete or partial annular ribs) that engage the pipe as it expands. Since the rearward ribs tend to be forced more strongly against a pipe than the forward ones, a rearward rib may be shaped and/or dimensioned so as to be less inclined to cut into a pipe. The pipe gripping means generally comprise a plurality of part-cylindrical shells.
The end fitting may be a towing head, in which case the elongate element may be threaded bolt, typically having an engagement formation such as an eye at its front end. A towing head""s body normally has a tapered front portion. There may be a separate front and skirt portions. They may be connected by a screw-threaded connection. Of course the handedness of the thread should be such that the parts do not tend to become unscrewed in use.
If more than one duct is to be installed at the same time, then a body having multiple docking ports may be used. Each docking port may contain an elongate element, an expandable pipe gripping means, an annular sealing assembly and an expansion means as in the single duct variety. Each is operated in exactly the same way as for a single duct puller. A mud tight nose is then assembled to the front of the body and is secured by the eyebolt which is also used to apply the pulling force to the device.
The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brewis Engineering Hendelmaker Road, Marston Trading Estate


The present invention provides a system enabling the oral delivery of therapeutics derived from polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), their metabolites and derivatives, including, eicosanoids, prostaglandins, prostacyclins, leukotrienes, resolvins, endocannabinoids, thromboxanes, epoxyeicosa-trienoic acids (EETs), hydroxyeicostetraenoic acids (HETEs), and CMX-020. The delivery system includes a vehicle comprising a purified docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in triglyceride or ester form; a purified eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in triglyceride or ester form; a combination of DHA, EPA in either triglyceride or ester forms; or a modified DHA, EPA, or omega-3 fatty acid analog; and optionally, an antioxidant, a surfactant, a solubilizer, a stabilizer, a lubricant, or a pH/tonicity adjustment agent.

Arachidonic acid (AA) is a 20 carbon polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid present in the phospholipid membranes of cells and is abundant in the brain, muscle, and liver. AA is involved in cellular signaling as a lipid second messenger in the regulation of signaling enzymes, such as PLC-γ, PLC-δ, and PKC-α, -β, and -γ isoforms; it is also a key inflammatory intermediate and can also act as a vasodilator. AA is essential to the repair and growth of skeletal muscle tissue. It is one of the most abundant fatty acids in the brain, it is involved in early neurological development and neurological health is reliant upon sufficient levels of AA.
In adults, the disturbed metabolism of AA contributes to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and bipolar disorder. This involves significant alterations in the conversion of AA to other bioactive molecules. As it is a precursor for other bioactive lipid molecules and the production of eicosanoids, the production of these derivatives and their action in the body are collectively known as the "arachidonic acid cascade".
In biochemistry, eicosanoids are signaling molecules made by oxidation of 20-carbon fatty acids. They exert complex control over many bodily systems; in growth during and after physical activity, inflammation or immunity after the intake of toxic compounds and pathogens, and as modulators and messengers in the central nervous system. The networks of controls that depend upon eicosanoids are among the most complex in the human body. See Gilman et al., eds., Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, Eighth Edition, Pergamon Press. New York, pp. 600-611 (1990), incorporated herein by reference, for a more complete discussion of the structure and synthesis of the eicosanoids, including the prostaglandins, prostacyclins, thromboxanes and leukotrienes.
AA and its analogs are subject to metabolic and chemical oxidation, acidic degradation, poor solubility, low bioavailability, fast metabolism in the liver and elsewhere, and short half-lives. There are many different commercial delivery vehicles that can and have been used for delivering lipid therapeutics. These include a wide variety of oil suspensions, emulsions, liposomes, self-micro or self-nano emulsifying drug delivery systems (SMEDDS/SNEDDS). Lipid-based delivery vehicles include single oil solutions, complex mixtures of oils, co-solvents, and surfactants. While these and other various classes of lipid based vehicles have been developed to address or enhance systemic exposure of small lipophilic compounds following oral delivery, the results for AA chemistries provide low bioavailability, short systemic half-lives, and a short shelf-life.
Alternatively, there are kits and precedents for development of liposomes, micelles, polymers, and other more complex nanocarriers, but these types of vehicles are also limited in bioavailability, provide short half-lives, or carry their own potential for adverse physiological effects. As a result, there has been only limited success in using commercial vehicles or developing more complex vehicles for delivering AA and its analogs, as demonstrated by the current absence of products on the market.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a novel delivery vehicle for AA and its analogs.

Compositions and methods for delivery of polyunsaturated fatty acid derivatives and analogs


A motor driving device and an air conditioner including the same are disclosed. The motor driving device includes a rectifier to rectify input AC power, a boost converter to boost power rectified by the rectifier, a capacitor to store a pulsating voltage from the boost converter, an inverter comprising a plurality of switching elements, the inverter transforming AC power, using a voltage across the capacitor, and outputting the transformed power to a motor, a regenerative power consuming unit arranged between the capacitor and the inverter, to consume regenerative power from the motor, and a switching driving unit to output a switching control signal to a switching element in the regenerative power consuming unit while outputting an operation control signal to an inverter controller when the voltage across the capacitor is equal to or higher than a predetermined voltage.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a motor driving device and an air conditioner including the same, and more particularly to a motor driving device capable of consuming regenerative power and an air conditioner including the same.
2. Background
An air conditioner is installed to provide a pleasant indoor environment to persons by adjusting indoor temperature and conditioning indoor air through discharge of hot or cold air into an indoor space. Generally, such an air conditioner includes an indoor unit installed in an indoor space while including a heat exchanger, and an outdoor unit including a compressor and a heat exchanger, to supply refrigerant to the indoor unit.

Motor driving device and air conditioner including the same