Novel, unstretched synthetic papers being virtually free of mechanically produced microvoids and having a porous surface for writing and printing thereon are disclosed. The unstretched synthetic papers of the instant invention are formed typically by extruding from pellets a film or sheet material formed with a continuous olefin resin matrix containing an effective amount of a particulate filler having pre-existing microvoids inherent thereto, such as a diatamaceous earth. The microvoid particulate filler is dispersed somewhat uniformly yet randomly throughout the continuous olefin resin matrix of the unstretched synthetic papers to provide non-mechanically produced microvoids in communication with the surfaces of the unstretched synthetic papers to render said surfaces porous for imparting writeability and printability thereto. Additional paper-like characteristics can be imparted to the novel, unstretched synthetic papers of the instant invention by the addition of other resins, such as a styrene resin, to the continuous olefin resin matrix. The novel, unstretched synthetic papers of the present invention have good receptivity and retentivity for common writing materials, such as ink, pencil lead, paint and the like, even though they are not mechanically stretched to form mechanically produced microvoids.

Conventional writing paper is typically formed of a thin layer of interchangeable cellulosic fibers and is produced from raw materials such as wood, pulp, textile fibers, waste materials and waste paper. One major drawback associated with conventional writing paper is its low physical strength when wet. This is believed to be attributable to the abundance of hydroxyl groups in the cellulose which imparts pronounced wetability to the paper when exposed to, for example, water. In addition to this disadvantage, the cost of generating pulp for conventional writing paper has dramatically increased over the years.
In view of these drawbacks, numerous attempts have been made in the industry to produce paper substitutes from synthetic materials such as synthetic resins. Although various synthetic olefin resins, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, have been proposed as the bases for paper substitutes, the surfaces of such olefin resins are inherently hydrophobic and non-polar, resulting in poor or inadequate receptivity to common writing and printing materials such as inks, pencil leads, paint and the like. Attempts to improve the ink-receptivity of such olefin resins by the addition of polar fillers, for example, have been unsuccessful by reason of the fact that relatively small amounts of such fillers are believed to be ineffective since they remain totally encapsulated by the olefin resins and thus the surface of the sheets still present an overall homogeneous non-polar surface. Large amounts of such fillers, on the other hand, are believed to result in a deterioration of the desired physical properties, such as flexibility, tear resistance, tensile strength, etc., to the point where the filled olefin resins are no longer useful as paper substitutes.
In attempts to overcome these deficiencies, the industry has resorted to a variety of elaborate and complicated methods to produce synthetic papers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,521 discloses a thermoplastic synthetic paper in the form of a cellular multi-layer film formed by biaxially stretching a thermoplastic sheet composed of an olefin resin, a styrene resin and an inorganic filler. U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,521 teaches that in order to impart writeability and printability, it is critical to mechanically treat the synthetic papers, i.e., to stretch the synthetic papers, to generate mechanically produced microvoids. For examples of other synthetic papers which rely upon mechanical processing, i.e., stretching, to produce microvoids to impart writeability and printability thereto, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,705,719, 4,359,497, 4,340,639, 4,318,950, 4,151,159, 4,097,645, 3,922,427, 3,903,234, 3,855,056, 3,841,943, 3,840,625, 3,790,435, 3,783,088, 3,551,194, 3,765,991, 3,758,661, 3,738,904, 3,551,538 and 2,971,858.
As an alternative to mechanically stretching the synthetic papers to produce microvoids, U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,625 discloses a method which relies upon elution and coagulation to deposit fine porous structures on the exterior surface to generate a paper-like film which can be used as a paper substitute. More particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,625 provides a process for producing a synthetic paper by first forming a film consisting essentially of an ethylene synthetic resin, a styrene resin and an inorganic filler, followed by dissolving the styrene resin with a first liquid and then precipitating the dissolved styrene resin with a second liquid to deposit the precipitated styrene resin onto the surface of the treated film. For other examples of synthetic papers which are formed by elution, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,855,056 and 3,551,538.
As another alternative method, U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,645 discloses a synthetic paper formed by coating a previously stretched olefin resin film containing a filler with an ethyleneimine adduct of a polyaminepolyamide for improving ink adhesion. For examples of other coated synthetic papers, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,705,719 and 4,340,639.
In yet another alternative method, U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,427 discloses a stretched synthetic paper-like film onto which an ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid, its anhydride, ester or amide has been graft copolymerized to produce a synthetic paper.
In still a further alternative method, U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,943 discloses a synthetic paper produced by laminating a paper-like film formed with a thermoplastic resin and an inorganic filler onto a previously stretched thermoplastic film, and then stretching the laminate.
In still a further alternative method, U.S. Pat. No. 3,553,302 discloses a synthetic paper produced by hydrating a sheet formed with a polyolefin resin containing gypsum, calcium sulfate hemihydrate and soluble anhydrite to impart printable properties to the film.
In addition to the above-described methods for producing synthetic papers, there are still other methods for obtaining synthetic papers. For example, a synthetic resin can be formed into staples or filaments which are interentangled and thus produced into a thin synthetic paper, as in the case of conventional pulp paper. Foamable styrene resins can be extruded into a thin sheet form to obtain a paper-like foam styrene resin film. Synthetic papers can also be obtained by flowing and spreading a solvent-dissolved synthetic resin onto a film to obtain a multi-cellular surface-roughened paper-like film. Still further, synthetic papers can be produced by coating the surface of a synthetic resin film with an inorganic or organic filler with the use of a binder or by embedding the same by means of heat and pressure. Alternatively, there are methods for obtaining synthetic papers by roughening the surface of synthetic resin films either by treating the surfaces with solvents or by treating them electrically, chemically and/or mechanically.
While paper-like thermoplastic synthetic resin films obtained by such known methods may possess certain favorable properties, such as water resistance, as compared with conventional paper made from pulp, their printability and paper-like properties are not only sometimes unsatisfactory, they may even change with the passage of time due to the complex manufacturing processes used to produce such paper-like films. Regardless, even if the paper-like films produced heretofore do not loose their favorable properties, they nevertheless are expensive to produce as a result of the complexities, additional components and additional processing steps associated with the manufacturing processes utilized hitherto to produce the synthetic paper substitutes.
Consequently, there is a demand in the industry for a synthetic paper substitute which has a wide range of utility and good paper-like characteristics including good receptivity and retentivity for writing materials, such as ink, pencil lead, paint and the like. Moreover, there is a demand in the industry for a synthetic paper substitute which can be manufactured simply and inexpensively.

Unstretched synthetic papers and methods of producing same


A micromanipulator for positioning/localization of an operating instrument coupled therewith. The micromanipulator controls movement of the operating instrument in a single- or multi-axial system of coordinates with one or more electrical actuators. The electrical actuators are especially for providing a substantially elongated structure for the micromanipulator. The one or more actuators including a piezoelectric bender enable the positioning/localization of the operating instrument for providing at least one desired direction of motion.

At present, the above type of micromanipulators are typically used for example in the field of microscopes, the desired operating range for an operating instrument coupled with a micromanipulator being typically from 0,5 μm to 10 mm. With regard to all desired directions of motion for a micromanipulator, the solutions used today are primarily based on solutions implemented hydraulically or by using electric motors. One such solution is disclosed e.g. in Japanese patent publication 8323656, wherein the linear motion produced by electric motors applied in that context being transmitted from the rotating motion of a rotor by using a sufficiently high pitched rack-and-pinion arrangement. On the other hand, other solutions of the prior art make use of piezoelectric motors, which operate at ultrasonic frequency and which produce vibration wave as a result of activating electrically a piezoelectric material.
The type of solutions, described e.g. in the above-cited patent publication JP 8323656 and based, in principle, on highly conventional technology, have a drawback of not being able to provide integral units sufficiently compact in terms of operating several appliances. On the other hand, a drawback today in the latter type of piezoelectric motors operating at ultrasonic frequency concerns a sufficiently precise control of the motion produced thereby, which is why, at the present time, it is not yet possible in highly precise procedures to exploit this particular type of solutions with a sufficient reliability, especially in situations involving a change of load.
As a result of quite an undeveloped state of the art in current micromanipulator technology, the situation today is indeed such that, especially e.g. in microscope application, it is generally possible to use concurrently no more than two micromanipulators, which are positioned on the opposite sides of an operating target. Therefore, in the process of operating with various injectable media or providing a micromanipulator in different processes with various operating instruments, such as pipettes or needles, it is always necessary to disassemble some of the basic equipment when switching from one procedure to another, by additionally cleaning it, whenever necessary, before it can be replaced with a new medium or operating instrument needed next for each procedure. As a result, operating procedures based on the use of micromanipulators are today quite laborious and unnecessarily inefficient, because it is not possible to perform the work by utilizing a sufficient number of concurrently operable micromanipulators due to the problem with available space.
On the other hand, the published Japanese application 09-267278 and the corresponding published European application 09267278 disclose a micromanipulator construction, wherein, particularly for providing a substantially elongated micromanipulator structure, one or more of its actuators enabling the positioning/localization of an operating instrument, for affecting at least one of its desired directions of motion, are implemented in the way of piezoelectric benders. However, the solution disclosed in this context is based on piezoelectric benders connected in parallel on top of the external surface of the flexible operating frame of a micromanipulator, wherein the bending or deflection is a result of rotations/elongations of benders on the opposite sides due to potential differences. Thus, the solution requires extremely precise mathematical modelling because, for example, a deflection, occurring in just a single direction, necessitates a simultaneous control over all parallel-connected benders for providing a desired displacement or motion. On the other hand, an operating instrument, such as the tip of an injection needle, can be adapted to affect an axial motion by providing all benders with the same potential difference. In this case, the bender construction is further coupled pivotally with its actuator and, hence, each desired position for an operating instrument is extremely difficult to set in practice in a reliable and sufficiently accurate manner. Thus, only relatively small motions can be reliably provided by a solution of this particular type, especially in axial direction.

Micromanipulator including piezoelectric benders


A method for configuring a computer system includes identifying a defective component in the computer system; disabling at least the defective component; and dynamically reconfiguring the computer system to allow continued operation with the defective component disabled. A computer system includes a plurality of components and a system controller. The system controller is adapted to identify a defective component from the plurality of components, disable at least the defective component, and dynamically reconfigure the computer system to allow continued operation with the defective component disabled.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a processor-based computer system, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for disabling defective components in a computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The last several years have witnessed an increased demand for network computing, partly due to the emergence of the Internet. Some of the notable trends in the industry include a boom in the growth of Applications Service Providers (ASPs) that provide applications to businesses over networks and enterprises that use the Internet to distribute product data to customers, take orders, and enhance communications with employees.
Businesses typically rely on network computing to maintain a competitive advantage over other businesses. As such, developers, when designing processor-based systems for use in network-centric environments, may take several factors into consideration to meet the expectation of the customers, factors such as the functionality, reliability, scalability, and performance of such systems.
One example of a processor-based system used in a network-centric environment is a mid-frame server system. Typically, mid-frame servers are employed in high bandwidth systems requiring high availability factors. Minimizing system downtime is an important system management goal, as downtime generally equates to significant lost revenue. Unlike current desktop computer systems, in which the internal cards and devices are essentially disposable (i.e., they are replaced if they fail, and the defective part is discarded without repair), the individual components used to construct higher end systems, such as the mid-frame server described above, are typically returned to the manufacturer or a third-party vendor associated with the manufacturer for repair. Repaired units are then reinstalled in the same or in a different mid-frame server. These units are commonly referred to as field replaceable units (FRUs). In the service life of a particular FRU, it may be installed in multiple servers owned by different customers. Exemplary units that may be field replaceable, are system control boards, processing boards, memory modules installed on one of the processing boards, input/output (I/O) boards, power supplies, cooling fans, and the like.
Mid-frame servers are employed in high availability, high utilization applications. Typically, such computer systems are provided with replaceable components or modules that may be removed and/or installed without shutting down the system. This on-line replacement capability is commonly referred to as hot-pluggable or hot-swappable environment. In a hot plug scenario, an entire board must be replaced, even if only one component on the board is defective. For example, a processing board typically includes a plurality of processors and associated components. If one of the components fails for one of the processors, effectively, all of the processors are replaced, because the entire board must be replaced.

Method and apparatus for disabling defective components in a computer system


A method and system for storing and transmitting data using variable pulse symbology over a fiber optic or ultra wide band system. Data is stored in memory, accessed and transformed into an electronic or photonic pulse and/or space which has a variable duration, the duration corresponding to the bit of data to be transmitted. The duration of the pulse and/or space is selected from a list of predetermined durations, each corresponding to a different base 10 number. The pulses and spaces may both be used to represent data, or the spaces may be used for meta data. Variable duration pulses may also be used to store data on an optical storage medium or fiber optic cable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the use of character codes to telecommunicate data. More specifically, and in particular, the present invention comprises a system and method for the use of variable duration pulses and/or variable duration spaces between electronic or photonic pulses, each representing a different base 10 number, which are transmitted using an ultra wide band or fiber optic system.
2. Problems in the Art
Currently, computers create, store, and access data which is coded using the binary language of 1's and 0's. Computers routinely access binary coded files remotely via a telecommunication network. Computers and telecommunication networks use the same binary language to create, store, and access data. At the stroke of a key a computer transforms various forms of input into a numerical representation. Many different methods of transformation have been put into effect. Morse Code was perhaps the first such method to be widely used. Today, the majority of systems all use a binary language or code to transform various forms of input into numerical representations and vice versa.
Much like Morse Code, binary numbers use only two variants to represent vast quantities of textual data. For instance, in 7-bit ASCII code, the textual number "3" is represented in binary as "0110011" and the textual letter "A" is represented in binary as "1000001". Each bit in the seven bit representation screen is either a "1" or a "0".
Problems arose with the use of many different types of binary encoding. The many different types of binary coding were not consistent and the many types of human language resulted in different textual representations from the same set of binary numbers. For instance, ASCII and ISO 646 were used for English-language data, while ISO 2022, an extension of ISO 646, is used for Latin based scripts common in Europe which tend to employ various accent marks. This new standard became known as "Latin-1". Similarly, there is now "Latin-2", "Latin-3", etc.
A solution was sought. That solution has appeared in what has become known as "UNICODE". After several attempts at a multilingual system, UNICODE, short for Unification Code, was developed to provide a unique number identifier to every possible piece of textual data. Using a 16-bit encoding means that code values are available for more than 65,000 characters. While this number is sufficient for coding the characters used in the major languages of the world, the UNICODE Standard and ISO/IEC 10646 provide the UTF-16 extension mechanism (called surrogates in the UNICODE Standard), which allows for the encoding of as many as 1 million additional characters without any use of escape codes. This capacity is sufficient for all known character encoding requirements, including full coverage of all historic scripts of the world.
Though UNICODE has become the multilingual code of choice for American manufacturers, several groups in the Far East have proposed and implemented a UNIX version of a multilingual code. This code uses an editor known as Mule, for MULtilingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs). This editor uses many escape sequences to provide a multilanguage capability.
No matter which multilingual code becomes the world-wide standard, all of them must be eventually converted into binary numbers for use on computers and transfer across networks and the internet. As the individual universal code numbers increase in size, so must their binary number representations. Further, if a system based on escape sequences is used, many levels of representation may be necessary. This, too, requires longer binary representations. Further, current mechanical drives, such as standard computer hard drives, store textual representations as binary numbers. Longer textual representations require longer binary representations which in turn requires more physical space.
The longer the binary representation, the longer the process time and transfer time for data. As most current applications use some type of buffering when transmitting data, the limited 1 's and 0's of binary also require large areas in which buffering may take place. As more and more systems move to wireless methods of communications and storage, transfer and processing time will become critical. It is therefore desirable to provide a method of minimizing the size of data representations.
There is therefore a need for a character code and transmission system and method which avoids these and other problems.

System and method of using variable pulses for symbology


A vehicle noise-proof cover is provided which includes a thermoelectric element and which is capable of efficiently generating electric power. The vehicle noise-proof cover is placed so as to cover a driving force generating device of a vehicle. The vehicle noise-proof cover includes: a cover body having a noise absorption layer made of a foamed resin; a heat supply member having a heat collection portion that is placed on a back surface side of the cover body and directly or indirectly contacts the driving force generating device, a heat supply portion that is placed on a front surface side of the cover body, and a heat transfer portion that is connected to the heat collection portion and the heat supply portion and transfers heat from the heat collection portion to the heat supply portion.

With an increasing number of electric parts being mounted on automobiles, a larger amount of electric power is required to operate the electric parts. A large capacity generator or battery is required in order to secure a power supply for them. The generator is driven by power from the engine. Accordingly, an increase in power supply causes reduction in fuel economy. In automobiles, a large amount of heat energy is discharged from driving force generating devices such as an engine and a motor. Accordingly, attempts have been made to generate electric power by using exhaust heat of the engine etc.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an energy recovery device having a thermoelectric element placed on the back surface of an engine hood. Patent Document 2 discloses an exhaust gas heat sink including a thermoelectric element. Patent Document 3 discloses a vehicle in which a temperature difference secondary battery using a redox couple is attached to an engine to generate electric power. Patent Document 4 discloses a power generation device using residual heat, which transfers heat from an engine to a thermoelectric element via a heat pipe to generate electric power.


A method and apparatus for measuring the spinal distortions of a person with laser sources prior to and after chiropractic treatment of a patient to differentiate between spinal distortions prior to and subsequent to any treatment. The apparatus includes a wall chart having measurement indicia, shoulder and/or pelvic girdle harnesses or frames mounted on a patient and each having means for projecting laser line and/or dot beams onto the wall chart for measuring spinal tilt and torque. A unique protractor is provided to coact with the wall chart and the laser line beam to measure spinal tilt. A laser source for projecting a vertical line beam measures abnormalities in posture by projecting the beam to a side of a patient.

The orthodox purpose of chiropractically treating a patient includes the correction, and/or restoration toward normal of any misalignments of subluxated vertebrae by adjusting any subluxated vertebrae to their normal relative position. A subluxation of vertebrae is a condition caused by vertebral misalignments resulting from the abnormal movement of subluxated vertebrae that, through pressure, interference of an irritation, and/or disruption of spinal sensors, produces detrimental effects on the nervous system. These misalignments affect the spinal column and the vertebral canal and can cause abnormal functioning of the central nervous system. As such, these spinal misalignments may manifest themselves in a variety of conditions or diseases for a person.
The atlas vertebra, also known as "C-1" vertebra, is the most important vertebra in the spinal column because it is the uppermost vertebra of the human spine, and is not fixed or locked in place by boney articulations. It also supports the skull in close proximity to the caudal region of the brain stem.
It has been known that spinal distortion is accompanied by and correlates with some misalignment in the atlas vertebra in one or more planes of its positionable relationship to the patient's head and spine. Accordingly, it is desirable to quickly and accurately measure the misalignments along the spinal column and body.
In order to determine the correction of subluxations, it is important to have precise X-rays as the primary source of information as to the location of the atlas vertebra and adjacent vertebrae. Heretofore, it has been normal routine to take a series of X-rays in three planes of motion in which the spinal vertebrae can abnormally move to determine misalignment. After the adjustment or procedure, a second series of X-rays would be taken to conduct an appraisal of the spine to determine the degree of correction of the misalignments.
Heretofore, it has also been well known to measure the accomplished correction of subluxations by use of a machine called an anatometer in order to reduce the need for some X-rays. Such an anatometer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,504. Such a machine is very costly, and therefore, not affordable in every chiropractic office. It does not measure the shoulder girdle position and provide a true pelvic torque or torque to the whole spine. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a method and apparatus for measuring spinal distortions before and after chiropractic treatment which is easy to use and will provide accurate measurements of spinal distortion at a nominal cost, and which will provide knowledge for better detection of a subluxation and distortion of the spine. This will also reduce the need for some X-rays.

Method and apparatus for measuring spinal distortions


A stacked heat exchanger, in particular ferritic welded heat exchanger for high temperature applications, is provided that has stack plates that are held between cover plates and/or an outer housing. Aluminum is added to the cover plates and/or the housing in production.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stacked heat exchanger, in particular welded, ferritic heat exchanger for high temperature applications.
Description of the Background Art
A stacked heat exchanger is disclosed, for example, by the applicant in DE 10328274 A1. Here, suitably contoured metal sheets, alternating with solder foils if applicable, are stacked—framed by cover plates—in a fixture, suitably pre-pressed, and welded to boxes while the tension is maintained. These boxes have the dual function of maintaining the preloading as a lost soldering device and ensuring the delivery of material to the heat exchanger. If no solder foils are going to be used, solder can also be provided in a variety of ways, including externally, namely before the boxes are welded on. The thus pretreated stacked heat exchanger is then sealed by soldering.
In addition, a stacked heat exchanger is disclosed by the applicant in DE 10 2007 056 182 A1 in which the internal heat exchanger block is mechanically separated by a decoupling device from the housing, which is sealed with respect to the outside. The decoupling device can be, for example, a mineral fiber mat or a molded knit wire mesh, with filling or film covering if applicable. It is disadvantageous here that although thermomechanical decoupling is ensured, leakage occurs from one flow to the other flow via the decoupling device, impairing heat transfer performance.
DE 10 2009 022 984 A1 discloses a heat exchanger that has a housing, made, e.g., of a Ni alloy, that is high temperature resistant relative to a soft core of, for example, ferritic stainless steels containing Al. The core is highly ductile in order to accommodate stresses during heating. The base material contains enough aluminum to minimize corrosion phenomena such as oxidation or Cr evaporation. The high strength and hot strength of the box material ensure that the component remains sealed to the outside, so that hydrogen cannot escape under any circumstances.
It is a disadvantage of the stacked heat exchangers known from the prior art, especially DE 10 2009 022 984 A1, however, that in an application in conjunction with an APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) and the long operating times there of 15 to 20 thousand hours, enough aluminum diffuses out of the aluminum-containing ferritic base material into the cover plate and box material made of Ni alloys to drop below the critical content of aluminum in the aluminum-containing ferrites needed to be able to produce the protective Al2O3 layer. This results in what is called breakaway (catastrophic) oxidation with the development of leaks in the stacked heat exchanger.


A DC-DC controller and a multi-ramp signal operating method thereof are provided. The DC-DC controller includes a ramp generating unit, a comparator, a logic circuit and a switch unit. The ramp generating unit generates a first interior-ramp signal and a second interior-ramp signal alternately. The logic circuit generates the first and second control signals according to a comparison signal of the comparator. The switch unit is configured to switch one of the first interior-ramp signal and the second interior-ramp signal alternately to a second terminal of the comparator according to the first and second control signals. When the second interior-ramp signal is switched to the comparator, the first interior-ramp signal is charged to a first voltage level by the ramp generating unit. In another switch procedure, the second interior-ramp signal is charged to a second voltage level by the ramp generating unit.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a direct current (DC)-to-DC control technique. Particularly, the invention relates to a DC-DC controller and a multi-ramp signal operating method thereof.
2. Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, in a circuit structure with constant on time (COT), a single ramp signal RAMP is generally intersected with and compared with an error signal COMP to generate an on time signal PWM_Ton. When the on time signal PWM_Ton used for pulse width modulation is started to be calculated, the ramp signal RAMP is immediately reset and recharged to a vertex of a voltage level thereof. It has to spend a constant time Ramp_Tc for charging the ramp signal RAMP. However, along with variation of a frequency of the circuit structure or phase switching of multi-phase, the constant time Ramp_Tc is bound to occupy a considerable time on a cycle of the ramp signal RAMP. For example, it is assumed that the originally required constant time Ramp_Tc is 100 μs, when the frequency is increased to change the cycle of the ramp signal RAMP to 50 μs, a transient response phenomenon is occurred due to inadequate charging time, which probably causes phase instability.

DC-DC controller and multi-ramp signal operating method thereof


The present invention provides isolated apolipoprotein transcription factors and gene regulatory elements. The invention also provides methods of modulating apolipoprotein gene expression by interfering with interactions between apolipoprotein transcription factors and their cognate regulatory elements and/or by interfering with protein-protein interactions between or among apolipoprotein transcription factors or between an apolipoprotein transcription factor and the transcription machinery. This invention has application in the treatment of disorders relating to lipid metabolism (e.g. atherosclerosis, hypertriglyceridemia, etc.).

Lipoproteins are macromolecular complexes of lipids and proteins that are involved in the transport and distribution of dietary and/or endogenously synthesized lipids (e.g. cholesterol, triglycerides, and phospholipids) in the body. Plasma lipoproteins have traditionally been grouped in four major lipoprotein classes: Chylomicrons, very low density lipoproteins (VLDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and high density lipoproteins (HDL).
The protein components of lipoproteins are called apolipoproteins and have been designated apoA-I, apoA-II, apoA-IV, apoB, apoCI, apoCII, apoCIII, and apoE. The biological roles played by each of these apolipoproteins in lipoprotein function and metabolism, and therefore in lipid transport and distribution, are being defined. Studies have revealed that genetic changes which alter either the function or the plasma concentration of any of these apolipoproteins can perturb the pathway of lipid metabolism and may directly or indirectly contribute to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and other disorders.
The plasma concentration of apolipoproteins may be altered by changes in the level of apolipoprotein gene transcription. Thus, it is important to understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for modulating apolipoprotein gene expression.
Gene transcription in eukaryotes is controlled by the interaction of nuclear proteins (transcription factors) with specific nucleotide sequences (regulatory elements, enhancers, silencers, etc.). Such interactions direct tissue-specific gene expression, gene expression during differentiation and development, and gene expression in response to intracellular and extracellular stimuli such as hormones and metabolites. Transcriptional regulatory elements are often found in front of (upstream) of genes, but can also be located within, or even downstream of, genes. In some cases, important transcriptional regulatory sequences that control tissue-specific or developmentally-regulated gene expression are located very far away, perhaps several kilobases, from the gene they regulate.
Studies of the transcriptional regulation of a gene (or genes) of interest often begin with DNA mapping analyses (e.g. DNase I protection studies or deletion analyses coupled with in vitro or in vivo transcription reactions) that identify broad sequence regions involved in modulating gene expression. However, identification of the exact protein factors and regulatory sequences involved, which is necessary for full understanding of the transcriptional regulation of a gene, is complicated by several realities of eukaryotic transcriptional regulation systems.
First of all, the regulatory elements recognized by different transcription factors are often adjacent or overlapping. Interactions between transcription factors bound to neighboring regulatory elements can profoundly alter the extent, or even the direction, of transcriptional regulation. In some cases, adjacent transcriptional activators can stimulate transcription synergistically, so that the increase in gene expression is greater than would be predicted by summing effects of the individual regulators. In other instances, proteins that are transcriptional activators in one regulatory context (i.e. in the presence of a particular set of neighboring regulatory factors) can function as transcriptional repressors under different circumstances (see, for example, Keleher et al. Mol. Cell. Biol. 9:5228-5230; Diamond et al. Science 249:1266-1272, 1990).
Secondly, individual regulatory sequences can often be recognized by more than one protein factor. In some cases, the different protein factors capable of binding to one regulatory element have opposite effects on gene expression. That is, both transcriptional activators and transcriptional repressors can sometimes recognize the same nucleotide sequence (see, for example Tanaka et al. Mol. Cell. Biol. 13:4531-4538, 1993).
Thirdly, some protein factors that are involved in regulating transcription from a particular promoter do not bind to regulatory elements within that promoter at all, but rather modulate gene expression by interacting with other factors that do bind to nucleotide sequence elements within that promoter.
For these and other reasons, identification and characterization of the exact regulatory elements and protein factors involved in transcriptional regulation is difficult. Such identification and characterization is required, however, for a full understanding of the transcriptional regulation of gene expression.

Isolated ApoA-I gene regulatory sequence elements


A novel saccharide siloxane copolymer is useful in personal care compositions. The saccharide siloxane copolymer may be used as a universal emulsifier to prepare low odor emulsions for personal care applications.

Saccharide siloxanes are known in the art. Saccharide siloxanes comprising a hydroxyl functional saccharide component and an organosiloxane component were found to be useful when applied to hair, skin, fabric, paper, wood and other substrates. The saccharide component may be covalently bound to the organosiloxane at one or more pendant or terminal positions, or some combination thereof, through linkages including but not limited to ether, ester, and amide bonds.

Saccharide siloxane copolymers and methods for their preparation and use


A flow field plate or bipolar plate for a fuel cell that includes a hydrophilic coating formed on flow field channels extending through a tunnel region between a cell active area and the inlet and outlet manifolds. The flow field plates are an assembly of a cathode side unipolar plate and an anode side unipolar plate. The hydrophilic coating is deposited on the unipolar plates prior to the unipolar plates being assembled into the flow field plate so that line of site deposition processes can be used to coat the flow field channels in the tunnel region. The unipolar plates can be any suitable fuel cell unipolar plates, such as stamped unipolar plates or composite unipolar plates.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to bipolar plates for fuel cells and, more particularly, to a bipolar plate for a fuel cell, where the bipolar plate includes a hydrophilic coating that extends completely through the tunnel region of the flow channels between the fuel cell flow field active region and the inlet and outlet manifolds.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Hydrogen is a very attractive fuel because it is clean and can be used to efficiently produce electricity in a fuel cell. A hydrogen fuel cell is an electro-chemical device that includes an anode and a cathode with an electrolyte therebetween. The anode receives hydrogen gas and the cathode receives oxygen or air. The hydrogen gas is dissociated in the anode to generate free protons and electrons. The protons pass through the electrolyte to the cathode. The protons react with the oxygen and the electrons in the cathode to generate water. The electrons from the anode cannot pass through the electrolyte, and thus are directed through a load to perform work before being sent to the cathode.
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are a popular fuel cell for vehicles. The PEMFC generally includes a solid polymer-electrolyte proton-conducting membrane, such as a perfluorosulfonic acid membrane. The anode and cathode typically include finely divided catalytic particles, usually platinum (Pt), supported on carbon particles and mixed with an ionomer. The catalytic mixture is deposited on opposing sides of the membrane. The combination of the anode catalytic mixture, the cathode catalytic mixture and the membrane define a membrane electrode assembly (MEA).
Several fuel cells are typically combined in a fuel cell stack to generate the desired power. For the automotive fuel cell stack mentioned above, the stack may include two hundred or more fuel cells. The fuel cell stack receives a cathode reactant gas, typically a flow of air forced through the stack by a compressor. Not all of the oxygen is consumed by the stack and some of the air is output as a cathode exhaust gas that may include water as a stack by-product. The fuel cell stack also receives an anode hydrogen reactant gas that flows into the anode side of the stack.
The fuel cell stack includes a series of bipolar plates positioned between the several MEAs in the stack, where the bipolar plates and the MEAs are positioned between two end plates. The bipolar plates include an anode side and a cathode side for adjacent fuel cells in the stack. Anode gas flow channels are provided on the anode side of the bipolar plates that allow the anode reactant gas to flow to the respective MEA. Cathode gas flow channels are provided on the cathode side of the bipolar plates that allow the cathode reactant gas to flow to the respective MEA. One end plate includes anode gas flow channels, and the other end plate includes cathode gas flow channels. The bipolar plates and end plates are made of a conductive material, such as stainless steel or a conductive composite. The end plates conduct the electricity generated by the fuel cells out of the stack. The bipolar plates also include flow channels through which a cooling fluid flows.
The bipolar plates are typically made of a conductive material, such as stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, polymeric carbon composites, etc., so that they conduct the electricity generated by the fuel cells from one cell to the next cell and out of the stack. Metal bipolar plates typically produce a natural oxide on their outer surface that makes them resistant to corrosion. However, the oxide layer is not conductive, and thus increases the internal resistance of the fuel cell, reducing its electrical performance. Also, the oxide layer makes the plate more hydrophobic. It is known in the art to deposit a thin layer of a conductive material, such as gold, on the bipolar plates to reduce the contact resistance between the plate and diffusion media in the fuel cells.
As is well understood in the art, the membranes within a fuel cell need to have a certain relative humidity so that the ionic resistance across the membrane is low enough to effectively conduct protons. During operation of the fuel cell, moisture from the MEAs and external humidification may enter the anode and cathode flow channels. At low cell power demands, typically below 0.2 A/cm2, the water may accumulate within the flow channels because the flow rate of the reactant gas is too low to force the water out of the channels. As the water accumulates, it forms droplets that continue to expand because of the relatively hydrophobic nature of the plate material. The droplets form in the flow channels substantially perpendicular to the flow of the reactant gas. As the size of the droplets increases, the flow channel is closed off, and the reactant gas is diverted to other flow channels because the channels are in parallel between common inlet and outlet manifolds. Because the reactant gas may not flow through a channel that is blocked with water, the reactant gas cannot force the water out of the channel. Those areas of the membrane that do not receive reactant gas as a result of the channel being blocked will not generate electricity, thus resulting in a non-homogenous current distribution and reducing the overall efficiency of the fuel cell. As more and more flow channels are blocked by water, the electricity produced by the fuel cell decreases, where a cell voltage potential less than 200 mV is considered a cell failure. Because the fuel cells are electrically coupled in series, if one of the fuel cells stops performing, the entire fuel cell stack may stop performing.
It is usually possible to purge the accumulated water in the flow channels by periodically forcing the reactant gas through the flow channels at a higher flow rate. However, on the cathode side, this increases the parasitic power applied to the air compressor, thereby reducing overall system efficiency. Moreover, there are many reasons not to use the hydrogen fuel as a purge gas, including reduced economy, reduced system efficiency and increased system complexity for treating elevated concentrations of hydrogen in the exhaust gas stream.
Reducing accumulated water in the channels can also be accomplished by reducing inlet humidification. However, it is desirable to provide some relative humidity in the anode and cathode reactant gases so that the membrane in the fuel cells remains hydrated. A dry inlet gas has a drying effect on the membrane that could increase the cell's ionic resistance, and limit the membrane's long-term durability.
It has been proposed in the art to make bipolar plates for a fuel cell hydrophilic to improve channel water transport. A hydrophilic plate causes water in the channels to form a thin film that has less of a tendency to alter the flow distribution along the array of channels connected to the common inlet and outlet headers. If the plate material is sufficiently wettable, water transport through the diffusion media will contact the channel walls and then, by capillary force, be transported into the bottom corners of the channel along its length. The physical requirements to support spontaneous wetting in the corners of a flow channel are described by the Concus-Finn condition,
            β      +              α        2              <          90            °        ,where β is the static contact angle and α is the channel corner angle. For a rectangular channel α/2=45°, which dictates that spontaneous wetting will occur when the static contact angle is less than 45°. For the roughly rectangular channels used in current fuel cell stack designs with composite bipolar plates, this sets an approximate upper limit on the contact angle needed to realize the beneficial effects of hydrophilic plate surfaces on channel water transport and low load stability.
The benefit of hydrophilic coatings on bipolar plates in PEM fuel cell stack operation has been demonstrated through testing using various coatings, such as chromic acid etching and silicon dioxide (SiO2). These tests have shown clear improvements in low power voltage stability as compared to stacks run with untreated bipolar plates. These tests include evaluating low power stability by changing the stack load from either a wet or dry condition at a 0.6 A/cm2 to a wet or dry condition at either 0.1 or 0.05 A/cm2. If no cell voltage drops below 300 mV for 120 minutes after the change to low load, it is considered that this transition is successfully passed. However, these tests have shown that extremely hydrophilic surfaces within the flow channels of the bipolar plate still have some stability issues at current densities of 0.05 Acm2 and lower under wet conditions.
In certain fuel cell stack designs, the reactant gas flow channels for both the anode side and the cathode side of the fuel cell typically transition between the inlet manifold and the active area of the fuel cell and the active area of the fuel cell and the outlet manifold through a cell sealing area. At this sealing area, the flow channels have a jog in which they go under the seal, referred to in the industry as tunnel regions of the flow channels. The known coating processes for providing a hydrophilic layer on the bipolar plates are typically line of sight deposition processes, such as PVD, where the flow channels in the tunnel regions typically do not get coated with the hydrophilic material.

Bipolar plate hydrophilic treatment for stable fuel cell stack operation at low power


A personal interactive voice response system with a web-based interface allowing the user to specify treatment of incoming calls based on voice or touchtone responses provided by the calling party. A graphical user interface available over a computer network, such as the Internet, allows the user to personalize greetings that callers hear, as well as customizing treatment of callers based on the caller's response. The user may record an initial greeting or other messages, either over the telephone or over the Internet, so that the messages are played to callers in the user's voice. Additionally, the user may enter text, via a PC or wireless device connected to the Internet, that is played back for the caller, based on the caller's response, via text-to-speech conversion using voice extensible markup language technology. Resulting actions, such as call forwarding, distinctive ringing, or remote notification of the incoming call may also be included.

Not long ago, telephone services were considered necessary but expensive such that a household typically had a single telephone line to serve all of the household members. Today, telecommunications technologies have greatly expanded and telephone services have become less expensive. Many households now have two or more telephone lines, and many people carry portable telephones, also known as mobile or cellular telephones. Some households may have added a second home telephone line for a young child, an aging parent, a fax machine, or a dial-up Internet connection. Additionally, each member of the household may have a separate mobile phone with a mobile phone number unique to that member.
However, there is rarely a home telephone line for each member of the household, and if a household includes a large number of people, it is not practical to have a home telephone line for each person. Furthermore, there are occasions when mobile phones must be turned off or may not provide quality or affordable service. People may also be wary of providing their mobile phone number to others who are not either close friends or relatives. Accordingly, having a primary telephone line for all members of a household is still important to most residential telephony customers.
When a telephone rings at a house, a user may answer the call only to learn that the call is for a child who is not at home. The user may take a message for the child on a piece of paper and leave the message for the child to see. Alternatively, the call could be for the user's spouse, who may be on a business trip, but reachable through a mobile phone. In this case, the user may provide the mobile phone number to the calling party, so the calling party may call the user's spouse directly. Alternatively, the call could be from someone, e.g., inquiring about a newspaper advertisement to sell one of the family's cars. The user may not wish to answer the call at that time, but instead direct the call to a voice mailbox for later retrieval or to play a specific message with further information about the car.
In an environment in which a telephone number is shared by a number of people, a caller frequently does not have control over routing its call to a specific member of the shared environment. The called party does not have a convenient way to specify incoming call routing instructions based on which member of the household the caller is trying to reach. Additionally, the called party has no means by which to route an incoming call to a specific member based on the topic of the call, e.g., a caller inquiring about a newspaper ad selling a used car. Furthermore, the called party has no way to route an incoming call to a specific recorded message (e.g., driving directions to an upcoming party) based on input from the caller.
When more than one person is associated with a telephone line, incoming calls may be for several different people and varying purposes. Even in situations where there is only one person associated with a telephone line, the user cannot generally specify how to handle incoming calls based on the caller's purpose. Thus, there is a need for a system and method allowing residential customers to specify the handling of incoming calls.
Residential telephony customers typically do not enjoy many of the features and services related to management of incoming calls that are available to business customers. One reason for this is the high cost of the customer premises equipment (CPE) required to provide such features. Thus, interactive voice response (IVR) systems have historically been used only in business environments for the handling of incoming calls.
Prior IVR systems are large, expensive, and self-contained. Typically, a stand-alone box containing the IVR system is connected to one or more trunk lines for the business. When an incoming call reaches a trunk line, the caller typically hears a menu of choices, e.g. "press the extension of the person you wish to reach; press 1 for a company directory; or press 0 for the operator." These menus are preprogrammed in a customized terminal that is usually adjacent to the stand-alone box that houses the IVR system. Additionally, the IVR system requires prerecorded announcements and plays the same menus to all callers, even though there may be hundreds of people served by the trunk lines connected to the IVR system. Thus, IVR systems utilized by businesses are not desirable for residential customers because of the expense and lack of customization available. Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method of providing a network-based personal IVR service that enables residential customers to customize the manner in which incoming calls are handled.

Methods and systems for personal interactive voice response

BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation


A computer implemented system and method for extracting and recognizing alphanumeric characters from traffic signs is envisaged. A camera present in the system is adapted to be mounted on the vehicle for capturing images of traffic signs. The system then gives a region of interest (ROI) within the frame of the captured image, from where the alphanumeric characters are extracted and enhanced for recognition. For recognizing the enhanced alphanumeric characters, the image is converted to binary image and morphological thinning technique is applied on it. The space then obtained between two alphanumeric characters thus helps in extracting the characters and recognizing them independently from the captured image. For each extracted alphanumeric character is re-sized to a specified size and is recognized with the help of white pixels count. Once the alphanumeric characters are recognized they are displayed on a display.

Growing amount of urban traffic has led to excessive rise in the traffic accident statistics. It is common for drivers to ignore signs, especially the traffic signs displaying speed limits. These signs are provided to insure driving safety and comfort. In order to follow the signs, it is important that the driver is able to recognize the sign and accordingly take necessary measures.
Nowadays, various Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) help drivers in the driving process by maintaining both vehicle and road safety. Traffic sign recognition is a component of Advanced Driver Assistance System that helps drivers by communicating information related to the traffic signs. Such systems assist drivers in following traffic rules. Existing traffic sign detection methods use different machine learning techniques. These techniques are computationally complex and require offline training Additionally, in such systems successful digit recognition depends on illumination i.e. on the lighting conditions as well as on the scale of the traffic signs. Moreover, based on these conditions the digits extracted from the traffic signs may be incomplete, thus, resulting in incorrect recognition.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that is independent of the machine learning techniques and which limits the aforementioned drawbacks.

Computer implemented system and method for extracting and recognizing alphanumeric characters from traffic signs


Marketing of goods and services on telephone lines and during a period from the commencement of a telephone call to the receipt and acceptance of that call (quiescent period) when the recipient of the call actuates his or her telephone. This quiescent period of time, during which a ringing signal is normally generated, is used for presentation of advertising or promotional messages, primarily to a caller, although it can be delivered to the recipient of the call, or both. In addition, the system provides for the use of messages during the normal ringing cycle time to effectively replace the ringing signal. The particular advertising or promotional message can be selected for a certain area, such as an area covered by a telephone switchboard or a certain party or characteristics of that party. In this way each individual telephone switchboard is capable of presenting a message different from the next telephone switchboard.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in telecommunication systems, and more particularly to telecommunication systems which rely upon use of promotional or advertising message presentation or other message presentation during a normal ringing cycle.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
In most telephone systems throughout the world, initiation of a telephone call is achieved by a caller generating a dial tone at his or telephone and that dial tone or voltage is then used and/or received by a telephone switching station, which selects the telephone corresponding to a dialed or inserted telephone number. Thus, if a caller dials the telephone number 12345, the switching station automatically sends that telephone call to the telephone having the telephone number 12345. At that point in time, a ringing signal is generated, which is a signal other than a voice communication signal, and is effectively initiated by the telephone switching station.
The ringing signal causes the telephone at a particular location to generate a telephone advisory message which is usually audible (or visual in the case of telephones for the hearing impaired), so that the recipient knows that a caller is waiting to communicate with the recipient. The vast majority of telecommunication systems which are presently in operation, and particularly public and private telephone systems, use some type of ringing signal to inform a receiver or recipient of an intended message that a caller is attempting to access the recipient of the telephone call. Thus, if a telephone communication is initiated to a particular residence, the telephone in that residence will generate a ringing signal advising the occupants of the intended call. When the recipient picks up the telephone handset or effectively unhooks the telephone, a message path is completed.
Although a ringing signal is generated at the residence or other location to which the telephone call is directed, a similar ringing signal, referred to as a "ring-back" signal, is generated also in the telephone of the caller. This is accomplished again, through a telephone switching station associated with that caller, so that the caller may hear a ringing signal and recognize that the telephone of the intended recipient is also ringing.
There is, by telephone design, a delay which arises between the completion of a dialing process and the initiation of a first ring of a ringing sequence. Although that time period may be short, perhaps no more than four to six seconds, depending upon the particular telephone system, that time is merely a wasted time period in which the caller must await an initiation of a ringing signal. However, most callers immediately become accustomed to the fact that there is a time delay, and hence this time delay is expected with little or no consideration being given to that delay. In addition to the foregoing, most telephone systems also use a quiescent time period between each of the ringing signals in a ringing signal sequence. Thus, a fair interval of time exists between the initiation of a telephone call and the actual time that a recipient answers that telephone call by unhooking or activating his or her telephone system.
It would be possible to use this entire ringing cycle for presentation of an advertising or promotional message. It is also possible to deliver this message to the calling party. Delivery of a message to a calling party is particularly advantageous for an organization which is called and which wishes to promote its products or services via telephone advertising or promotion. In this way, a substantially longer advertising or promotional message could be generated for hearing by a party attempting to contact a particular organization. However, if desired, it is also possible to direct that message to the recipient of the telephone call, or otherwise to both parties. The generation of a message, and particularly a message in the nature of an advertising or promotional message, can be quite advantageous for a consumer of a given product or service in that product information could actually be given during this time period. The use of this advertising or promotion, via the telephone communication link, is highly advantageous in that it can result in lower cost telephone service for the consumer attempting to initiate a contact with a certain business organization. Consequently, it is believed that the telephone communication system of the invention is highly effective for organizations which frequently receive telephone communications about the products or services. Thus, in each case, the caller would listen to an advertising or promotional message about the product or service offered by the organization that the caller was intending to contact.
The concept of applying an advertising or promotional message to a telephone communication link has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,382 dated Mar. 7, 1989, to Neal Sleevi. The Sleevi patent, however, is specifically limited to a land based or so-called hard-wired network and does not include more modern forms of telecommunication which have become available since the time of the Sleevi patent. Moreover, Sleevi did not envision the selective selec-1Xtion of messages depending upon a particular caller and which selected message was designed to conform to or meet the purchasing information or other criteria of a particular customer. Thus, Sleevi was deficient in this regard, as well as in other areas.
U.S. patent application Publication No. US 2001/0051517 A1, published on Dec. 13, 2001, to Jonathan Streitzel identifies a telecommunications advertising system in which advertising or promotional data is not limited only to a land based system, but also includes a wireless or cellular communication system. However, the Streitzel publication based on U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/753,415, filed Jan. 2, 2001, similarly suffers a number of disadvantages. Although Streitzel does provide for advertising and promotional messages used in a cellular communication, it does so with several limitations not necessarily overcome by the Sleevi patent.
There are also several commercially operating telephone companies forming part of the Bell system, which generate messages before the ringing signal. Thus, for example, the telephone organization may offer a message to the effect that this telephone call is brought by "Coastal Bell". However, that message is generated with the use of a time delay before the actual ringing signal is initiated. In effect, it does not replace any or a portion of the ring-back signal, or for that matter, the ringing signal.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a telecommunication system in which an advertising or promotional message could be generated over a telephone communication link and delivered in the time between or in place of a ringing signal sequence.

Telecommunication system using message presentation during a ringing signal period


A method and associated assembly is provided for a collapsible EMC gasket is provided. In one embodiment, the gasket comprises a flexible conductive sheet disposed between corner of a first and a second surface of a computer frame capable of housing electronic components. The sheet is larger in area than the corner area of the frame such that when disposed, said sheet forms a curved structure. The sheet is being fabricated of a material that can be compressed and then decompressed back to its original shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to packaging of computing systems and more particularly to an electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) sealing apparatus and related method such as used in computing system environments.
2. Description of Background
The industry trend has been to continuously increase the number of electronic components inside computing systems. Unfortunately, while the number of these components is increased, the foot print of these systems remains the same or is even reduced. This is because installation, transportation and storage issues of the consumers have to be addressed. Lighter, and more compact systems are often more attractive to potential consumers. Unfortunately, storing many components in a tight footprint, despite its many advantages, also creates challenges for the designer of these systems. Moreover, while increasing the components inside a simple computing system does create some challenges, such an increase in larger more sophisticated system environments create even greater problems.
A particularly challenging area for the designers of these systems is the issue of resolving electromagnetic interference (EMI). Every device or component emits a certain amount of electromagnetic radiation, also referred to as electromagnetic leakage. However, as the number of components are increased, electromagnetic leakage concerns continue to grow. In larger system environments, where the components are packaged in close proximity to one another, the increased number of components and the system footprint greatly increases the EMI concerns since the leakage from one device can greatly affect the proper function of a close by component. Consequently, unresolved EMI leakage can affect system performance, data integrity and speed of the entire system environment. This is because while such effects can be tolerated when few devices and components exist, the increasing number of components and devices can seriously impact system integrity and performance. In addition, many recent semiconductor devices that operates at higher speeds, cause even greater electromagnetic emission in higher frequency bands where interference is more likely to occur.
One way to address or minimize electromagnetic interference is through electromagnetic shielding. Electromagnetic shielding is the process of limiting the flow of electromagnetic fields between two locations, by separating them with a barrier made of conductive material. In addition, proper device operation and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requires that emissions from a given device be reduced by shielding or other similar means. Such shieldings are designed not only to reduce emissions from the device itself, but also to reduce sensitivity of the device to external fields such as fields from other devices. One type of such EMI shielding comprises EMI gaskets.
In many computing system environments, a metallic type of electromagnetic gasket is used to contain EMC emissions in an electrical enclosure in which a device having a printed circuit board or card assembly is engaged. In these cases, while the EMC emissions need to be contained when this card is plugged, it is desired for the gasket to be designed such as to allow the card to retract back into its chassis prior to plugging or when the card is removed from the system. Unfortunately, the prior art does not provide adequate solutions to allow for the easy retraction and removal of the card. It is therefore, desirable to have an apparatus and related method that can provide for this while providing a superior electromagnetic shield.

International Business Machines Corporation


A portable beverage dispensing apparatus including a spout assembly, a handle assembly pivotally attached to the spout assembly, and a first and second pressure regulator disposed within the handle assembly.

Many beverages, such as beer and soda, are often stored in a container, or keg. In the case of carbonated beverages, the keg is capable of withstanding elevated internal pressures to retain a level of dissolved carbon dioxide in the beverage during storage as well as providing a means to drive the beverage out of the keg while serving. The beverage in a keg is generally served by applying pressure, from an external source, to the contents of the keg, thereby pressurizing the keg and forcing the beverage out through a spout. The pressure is often supplied in the form of compressed gas injected into the keg. The compressed gas can be supplied manually from a hand-operated pump, in which case the gas is generally comprised of ambient air. Or, the compressed gas can be supplied by a pressurized tank containing an inert gas, such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen.
In the case of carbonated beverages, which contain dissolved carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide gas is frequently used to pressurize the keg for the purpose of serving the beverage. In addition, the introduced carbon dioxide maintains the dissolved level of carbon dioxide in the beverage, thereby preventing the beverage from going "flat."
Over-pressurizing the keg can lead to a number of undesirable results. First, a keg may burst when exposed to an internal pressure exceeding design limits. This can result is spillage of the contained beverage and potential injury to nearly persons and/or property. Secondly, over-pressurization will over-carbonate the beverage, potentially altering the character and taste of the beverage. Finally, over pressurization can result is excessive foaming of the dispensed beverage.
Some common pressurization methods, such as a hand-driven pump, cause the pressure in the keg to cycle above and below the optimum pressure necessary to serve the beverage and to maintain the proper level of dissolved carbon dioxide in the beverage.
Pressurization methods that use a single stage pressure regulator combined with a high pressure gas source either cannot (a) provide the relatively low pressure necessary to maintain the proper level of dissolved carbon dioxide in the beverage or (b) controllably maintain such a level with sufficient accuracy. For example, compressed gas sources generally provide pressure at about 850 psi in the case of carbon dioxide. The pressure to maintain the proper level of dissolved carbon dioxide for some beverages is 12 psi. The pressure of the gas source is thus roughly 70 times the desired serving pressure. Single stage pressure regulators either cannot achieve the 70 times reduction in pressure or cannot achieve the desired serving pressure with any accuracy or consistency.

Beverage dispenser with two-stage regulator


Disclosed are a hypereutectic white iron alloy and articles such as pump components made therefrom. Besides iron and unavoidable impurities the alloy comprises, in weight percent based on the total weight of the alloy, from 3 to 6 C, from 0.01 to 1.2 N, from 0.1 to 4 B, from 3 to 48 Cr, from 0.1 to 7.5 Ni and from 0.1 to 4 Si and, optionally, one or more of Mn, Co, Cu, Mo, W, V, Mg, Ca, rare earth elements, Nb, Ta, Ti, Zr, Hf, Al.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hypereutectic white iron alloy that comprises chromium, boron and nitrogen, as well as to articles such as pump components made therefrom (e.g., by sand casting).
2. Discussion of Background Information
High chromium white iron alloys find use as abrasion resistant materials for the manufacture of, for example, casings of industrial pumps, in particular pumps which come into contact with abrasive slurries of minerals. This alloy material has exceptional wear resistance and good toughness with its hypoeutectic and eutectic compositions. For example, high chromium white iron in accordance with the ASTM A532 Class III Type A contains from 23% to 30 wt. % of chromium and about 3.0% to 3.3 wt. % of carbon. However, in severely abrasive applications the wear resistance of these high chromium white iron alloys is not satisfactory due to a lack of a sufficient "Carbide Volume Fraction" (CVF). It is well known that increasing the content of both Cr and C can considerably improve the wear resistance of high chromium white iron alloys under severely abrasive conditions. For example, hypereutectic Fe—Cr—C alloys for hardfacing typically contain 4.5% C and 24% Cr. The amount of carbides and in particular, the CVF can be estimated from the following experimentally developed equation: CVF=12.33×% C+0.55×(% Cr+M)−15.2% (M representing one or more carbide forming elements in addition to chromium, if any). For the above hardfacing alloy, CVF=(12.33×4.5%)+(0.55×24%)−15.2%=53.5%.
Hardfacing has the benefit of making an article wear resistant by cladding, i.e., by depositing a layer of an alloy of wear resistant composition thereon. However, hardfacing methods have disadvantages, including a limited thickness of the cladding, distortion of the article to be cladded, and high costs of labor, cladding material and equipment. Moreover, the cladding usually is susceptible to developing defects such as spalling and cracking due to thermal stresses and contraction, and it shows constraints with respect to thermal hardening.
Further, making (slurry) pump components such as pump casings by common foundry methods from hypereutectic high chromium white iron alloys is virtually impossible due to high scrap and rejection rates. Pump casings are large and heavy and are not uniform in thickness. For example, cross-sections in some areas of a pump casing may be up to 10 inch and the wall thickness in at least some parts thereof may be 1 inch or even higher. In view thereof, it is virtually impossible for a casting to cool uniformly in a sand mold, which results in stress induced cracking during cooling.
In particular, during solidification in a sand mold, hypereutectic high chromium cast iron forms a primary phase by nucleation and growth processes. Large primary chromium carbides, up to several hundreds microns in length, crystallize in the thick sections of the casting where the cooling is slower than in the remainder of the casting. These large primary carbides lower the fracture toughness of a casting, wherefore the casting usually cracks during the manufacturing process or later during application in the work field.
For the foregoing reasons, hypereutectic high chromium white cast iron alloys have in the past not been suitable for the sand casting of large parts and there have been various attempts to address this problem.
The background section of WO 84/04760, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, which primarily relates to high chromium white cast iron alloys of both hypoeutectic and hypereutectic compositions, describes the many failed attempts to develop satisfactory hypereutectic white iron alloys for castings, which combine wear resistance with fracture toughness. This document also describes various attempts to develop hypoeutectic compositions, and draws on attempts in the art to develop suitable hardfacing alloys as providing possible solutions to the wear resistance vs fracture toughness dilemma. However, according to WO 84/04760 the cracking problem of cast compositions is in fact predominantly solved by forming them as cast composites—namely by creating a composite component comprising the preferred alloy metallurgically bonded to a substrate, thus assisting with avoiding the likelihood of cracking upon cooling of the cast alloy. WO 84/04760 seeks to overcome the disadvantages of low fracture toughness and cracking with hypereutectic castings having greater than 4.0 wt. % carbon by ensuring the formation in a composite casting of primary M7C3 carbides with mean cross-sectional dimensions no greater than 75 μm, and suggests a variety of mechanisms for doing so. Thus, WO 84/04760 aims to overcome the problem by forming composite components and limiting the size of the primary M7C3 carbides in the alloy itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,152, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, also seeks to refine the microstructure of, in particular, thick section hypereutectic white iron castings, in order to maximize the nucleation of primary carbides, thereby enabling an increase not only in fracture toughness but also in wear resistance. This refinement is achieved by introducing a particulate material into a stream of molten metal as the metal is being poured for a casting operation. The particulate material is to extract heat from, and to undercool, the molten metal into the primary phase solidification range between the liquidus and solidus temperatures. This method has the limitation of a difficult to achieve even distribution of the additive, a particulate material, into a stream of molten metal as the metal is being poured for a casting operation. The particulate material consists mainly of chromium carbides which contain about 10% C and 90% Cr and is added to the stream of molten metal in amounts of up to 10%. This addition of carbides increases the carbon and chromium concentrations in the already hypereutectic base alloy iron and causes a shift and extension of the interval between liquidus temperature and solidus temperature
Substituting nitrogen for carbon is known for the production of High Strength Low Alloy Steels (HSLAS). The HSLAS comprise about 0.15% C, 0.03% N and 0.15% V. In this case it was shown that for every added 0.01% of C the strength increases by 5.5 MPa after thermo-mechanical processing, while for every added 0.001% of N the corresponding increase is 6 MPa. It was found that vanadium and nitrogen first form pure VN nuclei, which subsequently grow at the expense of solute nitrogen. When nitrogen is exhausted, the solute carbon precipitates and progressively transforms the nitrides into carbonitrides V(CyN1−y) instead of into precipitates of VC. These carbonitrides are of submicron size and crystallize in the face-centered cubic NaCl type crystal structure.
Another advantage of the substitution of nitrogen for carbon in iron alloys is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,761,777, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. This patent discloses alloys containing from 0.01% to 0.7% of N and showing improved mechanical properties, in particular corrosion and wear resistance, due to nitrogen giving rise to the formation of carbonitride precipitates and solid solution strengthening.
Further, titanium nitride is produced intentionally within some steels by addition of titanium to an alloy. TiN forms at very high temperatures and nucleates directly from the melt in secondary steelmaking. Titanium nitride has the lowest solubility product of any metal nitride or carbide in austenite, a useful attribute in microalloyed steel formulas.
US 2015/0329944 A1, the entire disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein, discloses a hypereutectic white iron alloy and articles such as pump components made therefrom. Besides iron and unavoidable impurities the alloy comprises, in weight percent based on the total weight of the alloy, from 2.5 to 6.5 C, from 0.04 to 1.2 N and from 18 to 58 Cr and, optionally, one or more of Mn, Ni, Co, Cu, Mo, W, V, Mg, Ca, Si, rare earth elements, Nb, Ta, Ti, Zr, Hf, Al, B.
All of the alloys mentioned above have in common that they require a hardening treatment such as a heat treatment to increase the hardness of articles cast therefrom to a level which is suitable for applications such as pump components. It would thus be advantageous to have available hypereutectic white iron alloys which already in the as cast state, i.e., without hardening treatment after casting, exhibit a hardness which is sufficient for corresponding applications.

Hypereutectic white iron alloys comprising chromium, boron and nitrogen and articles made therefrom


Golf ball 2 has a center 4, a mid layer 6, a reinforcing layer 8 and a cover 10. Base polymer of the mid layer 6 includes an ionomer resin as a principal component. A melting point of the resin composition is equal to or greater than 95° C. The mid layer 6 has a thickness of 0.5 mm or greater and 2.5 mm or less. The cover 10 includes a thermoplastic resin. The cover 10 has a nominal thickness Tc of 0.1 mm or greater and 0.9 mm or less. The mid layer 6 has recessed parts which correspond to dimples 12. In the golf ball 2, the resin composition of the mid layer 6 does not flow out from a seam when forming the cover 10.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to golf balls. More particularly, the present invention relates to multi piece golf balls having a core, a mid layer and a cover.
2. Description of the Related Art
Top concern to golf players for golf balls is their flight performances. The golf players particularly place great importance on flight distance attained upon shots with a driver. The golf players also place great importance on flight distance attained upon shots with a long iron and a middle iron.
Golf balls have numerous dimples on the surface thereof. The dimples cause turbulent flow separation through disrupting the air flow around the golf ball during the flight. By causing the turbulent flow separation, a separating point of air from the golf ball shifts backwards leading to the reduction of a drag. The turbulent flow separation promotes the differentia between upper separating point and lower separating point of the golf ball, which results from the backspin, thereby enhancing the lift force that acts upon the golf ball. The dimples are responsible for flight distance.
Golf players also place great importance on spin performances of golf balls. Great back spin rate results in small run. For golf players, golf balls which are liable to be spun backwards are apt to be rendered to stop at a targeted position. Great side spin rate results in easily curved trajectory of the golf ball. For golf players, golf balls which are liable to be spun sidewise are apt to allow their trajectory to curve intentionally. Golf balls that are excellent in spin performances are excellent in control performances. High-level golf players particularly place great importance on control performances upon shots with a short iron.
For golf players, durability of golf balls is also important. Golf balls that are not damaged by repeated hitting have been desired. Further, golf balls that are resistant to generation of cuts and wrinkles on the cover upon full shots with a short iron have been desired.
In light of the flight performances, control performances and durability, a variety of improvement relating multi piece golf balls have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,890 (Japanese Patent No. 3000918 B) proposes a golf ball having a spherical center, a mid layer comprising an ionomer resin which is obtained by compression molding and a cover comprising an ionomer resin which is obtained by compression molding.
Examples of methods of covering a core with a cover include compression molding and injection molding. In injection molding, a core is held in a cavity of a mold. Around the core, a melted cover material is injected. In compression molding, a bowl-shaped half shell comprising a cover material is formed. A core is covered by two half shells. The core and the half shells are compressed and heated in a mold.
In general, a resilience performance of a resin used for a cover is inferior to a resilience performance of rubber used for a center. In light of a resilience performance of a golf ball, a thin cover is preferred. In injection molding, a thickness of a cover depends on the distance between a core and a cavity face. To form a thin cover by injection molding is difficult. Thus, compression molding is adopted to form thin covers. In this compression molding, however, a mid layer material also melts when being compressed and heated. In compression molding, it is likely that the melted mid layer material flows out from a seam of two half shells. When the outflow is generated, appearance of a golf ball is impaired by exposing the mid layer on a seam line of the golf ball. Further, when the golf ball is repeatedly hit, the exposed mid layer easily cracks, which may break the cover. The exposure deteriorates durability of the golf ball.
As mentioned above, golf balls have numerous dimples on the surface thereof. The dimples are recessed and a thickness of the cover immediately below the dimples is less than a thickness of the cover immediately below a land. When golf balls have a small nominal thickness of the cover, a thickness of the cover immediately below the dimples is particularly thin. As a result, the mid layer can be exposed at the bottom of dimples or seen through. Further, separating, cutting and cracks of the cover immediately below dimples are liable to be generated.
An object of the present invention is to provide golf balls with favorable appearance and durability.


Disclosed are a process for preparation of an optically active 7-substituted 3-(2-aminopropyl)indole compound and an intermediate therefor. In the above preparation process, 7-substituted indole is reacted with L- or DL-serine in the presence of a tryptophan-synthesizing enzyme originating in microorganisms to form corresponding 7-substituted L-tryptophan, and it is subjected, if necessary, to reduction, protection, exchange and elimination.

Many of compounds out of indole derivatives are under development as medicines since they have a very interesting biological activity, or some compounds have already been used as medicines.
Such derivatives include a drug represented by a formula:
(wherein A and B represent at least one substituent including a hydrogen atom) which acts on each subclass of β-adrenergic receptor (WO96/16938, J. Med. Chem., 25, p. 670 to 679 (1982), British Patent No. 861,428 and the like). Carbon at a 2-position of a 2-aminopropane part bonded to a 3-position of an indole ring in these compounds is an asymmetric center, and plural stereoisomers originating therein can be present. However, specific isomers in these compounds are desirable in terms of a biological activity in many cases as commonly observed in biologically active substances. In actuality, a configuration at a 2-position in the part described above in a compound having a β3-adrenergic receptor stimulation which is described in WO96/16938 is preferably either R- or S-. Accordingly, if it is intended to provide the indole derivative described above having a configuration in which the 2-aminopropane part described above is 2(R) or 2(S), the final compound or the synthetic intermediate having the 2-aminopropane part described above has to be subjected to optical resolution.
On the other hand, proposed in WO96/16938 is a method in which formed from a corresponding amine compound is a part of:
and in which formed from a corresponding oxirane compound or carboxylic acid compound is a part of:
When employing such method, a desired optical isomer shall be able to be obtained as the final compound if the 2R- or 2S-isomer is used as the amine compound described above according to the purposes.

Process for the preparation of optically active 7-substituted-3-(2-aminopropyl)indole derivatives and intermediates therefor


A method in a UI of a process control system is disclosed. The UI is configured to be displayed on an electronic visual display unit connectable to the process control system. The UI is adapted to visually indicate a plurality of components included in at least a part of a process controlled by the process control system. At least one sub-UI, such as a faceplate, is generated, each sub-UI corresponding to a respective component of the plurality of components. The at least one sub-UI is displayed on the display unit. Each of the at least one sub-UI is adapted such that a number of operation information and/or control elements visually indicated in each sub-UI when the at least one sub-UI is displayed on the display unit depends on the number of sub-UIs that are displayed on the display unit at the same time. Furthermore, such a UI is disclosed.

Processing facilities are often managed using process control systems. In process control systems for controlling and/or monitoring an industrial process, the operator typically controls/monitors the entire process or different parts of the process by means of one or more user interfaces (UIs), for example constituted by one or more graphic windows displayed on a display screen, where each graphic window may display process graphics. Such UIs may enable the operator to monitor the status of the different components of the process and/or control the operation of individual components of the process by means of user input provided to the UI. Such operations typically comprise operation of motors, valves and other industrial equipment in the processing facilities, alarm management, etc. Providing user input to the UI may for example comprise providing instructions to a component of the process by means of a pointing device, such as a computer mouse, for manipulating objects in the UI. For example, appropriate parts or objects in a graphic window displayed on a display screen may be selected and manipulated by means of a pointing device.
A UI such as described above may be adapted to visually indicate to the user or operator the positions of the components included in the process relatively to each other. Thus, the UI may provide a display of a schematic arrangement of the components for providing the user with an overview of the process or a part of the process.
Hence, such UIs may include process schematics that graphically illustrate the process being controlled. Such UIs may also include graphical faceplates, which typically can be displayed over a process schematic or graphics and are used to control a process. Amongst others, faceplates may be used by an operator via the UI to among other things set desired process targets and monitor discrepancies in process parameters relatively to process target parameters.
Faceplates are typically presented to the operator or user in so called popup windows on a workstation display device such as a computer monitor. The faceplates are generally displayed on the display device overlaid or superimposed on the process graphics. In some applications or circumstances, it may be desirable to have several faceplates displayed on the display device simultaneously, for example for having quick access to specific operations and for comparing contents of different faceplates with each other. This may allow the user to compare e.g. status and available operations of different components of the process on a more detailed level compared to that available from the process graphics alone.
In particular when working with several faceplates simultaneously, the user may become unsure where on the screen of the display device the faceplates will appear. The screen of the display device may become cluttered as a result of several faceplates appearing on the screen within corresponding pop-up windows, which may cover important underlying process graphics.


Provided are methods and kits for safe and effective therapy that can be administered early after a heart attack in order to prevent progressive heart dilatation and resultant loss of function. The therapy includes the administration of particulate compositions to a region comprising an infarct or a portion thereof.

Five million Americans suffer from heart failure and 250,000 die from the disease each year. Left ventricular (LV) remodeling caused by a myocardial infarction (MI) is now responsible for almost 70% of the 5 million cases of heart failure in the United States. Gheorghiade M, Bonow R O. Chronic heart failure in the United States: a manifestation of coronary artery disease. Circulation 1998; 97:282-289. In most cases patients who survive a myocardial infarction are initially asymptomatic, however, many develop progressive heart enlargement, loss of heart function and symptoms of heart failure over the ensuing months and years after their initial heart attack. This progressive process is termed ventricular remodeling. In spite of modern medical and surgical treatment the 5 and 8 year mortality after symptoms of heart failure develop is 50% and 80%, respectively.
Immediately after a heart attack the affected region of heart muscle stops contracting and stretches as the remainder of the heart continues to contract. This stretching is termed infarct expansion. Early infarct expansion, or stretching, has been associated with adverse remodeling and a poor long-term prognosis. Erlebacher J A et al., Early dilation of the infarcted segment in acute transmural myocardial infarction: role of infarct expansion in acute left ventricular enlargement. J Am Coll Cardiol 1984; 4:201-208; Eaton L W et al., Regional cardiac dilatation after acute myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med 1979; 300:57-62; Weisman H F, Healy B. Myocardial infarct expansion, infarct extension, and reinfarction: pathophysiologic concepts. Prog Cardiovasc Dis 1987; 30:73-110. In previous experimental studies using sonomicrometry (Jackson B M et al., Extension of borderzone myocardium in postinfarction dilated cardiomyopathy. J Am Coll Cardiol 2002; 40:1160-1167), echocardiography (Lima J A et al., Impaired thickening of nonischemic myocardium during acute regional ischemia in the dog. Circulation 1985; 71:1048-1059; Jackson B M, et al. Border zone geometry increases wall stress after myocardial infarction: contrast echocardiographic assessment. Am J Physiol 2003; 284: H475-H479), and magnetic resonance imaging (Kramer C M et al., Regional differences in function within noninfarcted myocardium during left ventricular remodeling. Circulation 1993; 88:1279-1288; Epstein F H et al., MR tagging early after myocardial infarction in mice demonstrates contractile dysfunction in adjacent and remote regions. Magn Reson Med 2002; 48: 399-403; Pilla J J et al., Early post infarction ventricular restraint improves borderzone wall thickening dynamics during remodeling. Ann Thorac Surg 2005; 80:2257-2262), infarct expansion has been shown to result in stretching and decreased contractile function in the neighboring normally perfused borderzone (BZ) myocardium. Additionally, while the perfused but hypocontractile myocardium is initially isolated to the region immediately adjacent to the infarct, the process extends with time to involve progressively more myocardium remote from the infarcted region. Jackson B M et al. (2002); Ratcliffe M B. Non ischemic infarct expansion. J Am Coll Cardiol 2002; 40: 1168-1171.
Thus, infarct expansion initiates and sustains the progression to symptomatic heart failure. A safe and effective therapy that could be deployed early after a heart attack which could prevent progressive heart dilatation and loss of function would be of great value.
Currently patients who suffer a heart attack are treated with medications such as beta adrenergic blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers. These classes of drugs have modest beneficial effects on survival that tend to deteriorate over time. Improved drug and device based treatments are, therefore, being sought aggressively. Cell therapy treatments could yield positive results; however, while significant advances have been made in cardiac cell therapy, definitive therapeutic benefits have been difficult to demonstrate conclusively despite numerous clinical trials.
Certain mechanical means for restraining the size of the heart have been developed. Acorn Cardiovascular, Inc. (St. Paul, Minn.) has developed a mesh restraint device for wrapping the heart in patients with established heart failure. This product requires major surgery for placement and has failed to gain FDA approval. It has never been placed clinically in the early postinfarction period. Paracor Medical Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) has developed a nitinol mesh for restraining the heart. Like the device developed by Acorn Cardiovascular, this product requires surgical placement and is intended for patients with established heart failure. The Paracor device is in phase II clinical trials.
Methods that involve the injection of blood plasma and cellular derivatives in order to provide (or induce) structural reinforcement for injured cardiac tissue are disclosed by Nayak et al. in U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0093748. Nayak et al. used platelet rich plasma, alone or in a gelled combination with clotting agents, to ameliorate cardiac remodeling.
There remains an unmet need for systems and methods for the regulation of post-infarct cardiac expansion other than cell therapy regimens, mesh restraint devices, and injection of blood plasma and cellular derivatives.

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