Control of many chemical processes is optimized using compositional data, rather than physical properties, as the means of control. Using near infrared spectroscopy as the analytical tool affords the opportunity for on-line measurements in real time. A calibration set of NIR spectra bounding the acceptable process space within which a particular property is to be controlled is obtained by conventional means. Applying a multivariant statistical method to the calibration set affords a method of identifying the most important characteristics of the set which governs the controlled property, and is inherently related to the composition of the process product. Control then is effected by using only a small number (2-4) of such characteristics, which can be determined quickly and simply from the measured spectra, as the control criteria to be applied to the process as a whole. The result is a very effective way of controlling a complex process using only 2-4 non-obvious criteria objectively determined from a calibration set and which can be applied in real time and virtually continuously resulting in a well-controlled process whose product composition is (ideally) invariant.

The task of maintaining product quality in a chemical process is one of the basic tasks in the chemical and petroleum industries, and also has been the subject of continuing, intense scrutiny for many years now. Advances have been many and profound, beginning with occasional sampling of one or more products and attendant time-consuming analysis, comparison of the analytical data for the product with data for some "standard," and subsequent adjustment of the process according to empirical, often variable rules as an attempt to compensate for observed product changes. This approach had numerous failings. Sampling times were erratic and analyses often were time consuming, so that the analytical data were relevant to a process state far removed in time from that required. Relations between product differences and process variables were poorly understood and often were of limited corrective value, and different operators sometimes used quite different rules, so that product quality might vary depending upon the operator shifts. Interpretation of analytical results also was subjective, which together with the subjectivity of the effects of process variables on product could certainly lead to non-uniform process control not only at a particular site, but also among different reactors at a site, and certainly could lead to non-uniformity across different sites. Moreover, the samples removed from the process stream could undergo changes as a result of the change in environment (e.g., temperature, pressure, etc.) relative to the process stream.
In time, process control assumed increasing sophistication. In particular, analytical results were incorporated into a feedback loop, often at several points, so that variables could be changed at different points in the process. Analyses also could be taken of streams at different process points, and used either to control a process variable at a specified process point or to control several process variables concurrently, or analyses could be combined to control the variable at several process points. Analytical methods became increasingly sophisticated and, at least in simple cases, were effected in real time, so that the differential between times of obtaining raw data, of reducing the raw data to operationally meaningful data, and of using the latter for process control became more nearly contemporaneous. Finally, the digital revolution and customized or customizable microprocessors permitted controls to be effected extremely rapidly, to be applied to an extended number of process variables, and not only removed subjectivity but included the possibility of "learning on the fly" as the microprocessor and/or associated software gained "experience" in the control process, as, for example, using methods incorporating "artificial intelligence" into the control process. Note, however, that this latter advance was possible only when the necessary analytical data were available on a real-time basis.
This application focuses on spectroscopy as an analytical technique capable of giving truly real-time compositional data, albeit in a complex and non-intuitive form, and develops a particular means to use spectroscopic data in a control process. Emphasis is on spectroscopy because: 1) spectroscopic measurements can be performed continuously in situ and on-line, therefore data are real-time; 2) spectroscopic techniques are widely available; 3) unique and useful compositional information of any particular product is usually available from several regions of the electromagnetic spectrum; and 4) spectral data are amenable to some powerful statistical techniques to afford information especially valuable in control schemes. The following discussion will be couched in terms of near infrared spectroscopy (NIR), but we need to emphasize that our invention is applicable to optical spectroscopy generally, e.g., in the infrared, far infrared, ultraviolet, and visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum and obtained using absorbance, fluorescence, emission, or Raman measurements. Consequently our use of NIR in the subsequent exposition is solely for clarity and simplicity of presentation, but is otherwise nonexclusive. In addition, the development of other real-time data sampling techniques in the near future will permit our approach to process control to be used equally well with analytical data from nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and fast gas chromatography.

Maintenance of process control by statistical analysis of product optical spectrum


A method and apparatus for determining the presence of surfactants in a liquid, such as a jet fuel or diesel fuel, by using the capillary rise technique, wherein an enclosed evacuated space is provided which is partially filled with water. A capillary tube is provided in the enclosed evacuated space having one of its ends submerged in the water. The liquid whose interfacial tension is to be measured is introduced into the evacuated space and the amount of rise in the capillary tube is measured. From the amount of rise in the capillary tube, the interfacial tension can be calculated. A high interfacial tension generally indicates the absence of surfactants which can affect the operation of coalescing filters which are designed to remove water from jet or diesel fuel before use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to measuring the interfacial tension of a hydrocarbon liquid. The amount of interfacial tension is generally related to the amount of surfactants in the liquid. The amount of surfactants may affect the coalescing operation used to remove water from the liquid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The necessity of removing water from fuels, such as JP4 or JP5 jet fuel, and the attendant dangerous icing conditions at high altitudes, is obvious. Water in diesel fuel can also be destructive to diesel engines during normal operations over a wide variety of operating temperatures.
It has been common to pass liquids, such as jet fuel or diesel fuel, through a coalescing operation using a coalescing filter at various times before use, such as during transfer from an underground storage tank to a tanker truck. Sometimes a coalescing filter is provided at the nozzle of the hose from the tanker truck to filter the fuel immediately before delivery into the fuel tank of the aircraft.
Presence of surfactants in the fuel being treated adversely affects the efficiency of the known filter coalescing elements and may render the element unable to remove the desired water content to produce clean dry fuel.
Accordingly, those experienced in the prior art have continually searched for a quick and easy way to determine the presence of surfactants in liquids.

Method and apparatus for measuring interfacial tension of a liquid using the capillary rise method


A source for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) comprises a body of photoneutron emitter that includes heavy water and is closely surrounded in heat-imparting relationship by target material; one or more electron linear accelerators for supplying electron radiation having energy of substantially 2 to 10 MeV and for impinging such radiation on the target material, whereby photoneutrons are produced and heat is absorbed from the target material by the body of photoneutron emitter. The heavy water is circulated through a cooling arrangement to remove heat. A tank, desirably cylindrical or spherical, contains the heavy water, and a desired number of the electron accelerators circumferentially surround the tank and the target material as preferably made up of thin plates of metallic tungsten. Neutrons generated within the tank are passed through a surrounding region containing neutron filtering and moderating materials and through neutron delimiting structure to produce a beam or beams of epithermal neutrons normally having a minimum flux intensity level of 1.0.times.10.sup.9 neutrons per square centimeter per second. Such beam or beams of epithermal neutrons are passed through gamma ray attenuating material to provide the required epithermal neutrons for BNCT use.

1. Field
The invention is in the medical field of radiation oncology, specifically boron neutron capture therapy for cancer, usually spoken of as BNCT. It is concerned with accelerator-based apparatus for, and with methods of, producing epithermal neutron spectra for application to humans and to animals in general.
2. State of the Art
BNCT is a still experimental, therapeutic, binary modality for treatment of certain types of refractory malignancies. The current area of research interest is Glioblastoma Multiforme, a primary brain tumor. Procedurally, boron-10, which has a particularly large cross section for capture of "thermal" neutrons, i.e., neutrons having energies less than 0.5 electron volts (eV), is preferentially introduced into the malignant tissue by administration of a suitable boronated pharmaceutical. A thermal neutron field is then generated within such tissue by application thereto of an externally-produced neutron beam, the objective being the selective destruction of the malignant tissue by energetic, secondary, charged particles, specifically helium-4 and lithium-7 ions, that result from neutron capture interactions in the boron-10. The average total energy of such ions is 2.35 million electron volts (MeV). This energy is deposited along charged particle paths that are comparable in dimensions to the cellular dimensions of the malignant tissue, thereby offering the possibility of cancer cell inactivation with only limited damage to nearby healthy tissue, which, ideally, contains no boron.
Until recently, human applications of BNCT were limited to some early (in the 1950s) trials in the United States and more recently to an extensive series of treatments conducted over a period of approximately the last twenty years in Japan. The early trials in the U.S. were unsuccessful for a variety of reasons. The more recent applications of BNCT in Japan have been much more successful, primarily because of the development and use of better boronated pharmaceuticals. This has led to a worldwide resurgence of interest in BNCT research, and to the resumption, in 1994 of clinical trials in the USA.
Most BNCT research efforts have been strongly influenced by the recognition that an "epithermal" neutron beam (a beam comprised primarily of neutrons whose energies fall within the energy range between 0.5 and 10,000 eV) should ultimately prove to be optimal for human clinical applications. Such a beam will have an advantage over the relatively low energy, "thermal" neutron beams currently used in Japan for application to human brain tumors. This realization is a result of the known physical fact that "epithermal" neutrons will penetrate a few centimeters into tissue before forming a neutron flux peak, whereas "thermal" neutrons do not have nearly as much penetrating power. Thus, if a beam of epithermal neutrons can be produced that is not, in itself, capable of causing significant biological damage, it will offer a safe and effective way of applying BNCT for deep-seated malignancies.
So far, however, only nuclear reactors have produced epithermal neutron beams useful for BNCT. Neutrons leaking out of one side of an active reactor core are directed into and through a filtering (allowing neutrons of a certain energy range to pass through) and moderating (reducing energy of all neutrons to a lower average level) region containing materials that cause, via neutron scattering and absorption, the so-derived, very high energy neutron beam to assume a spectrum whose energy distribution is strongly peaked in the desired epithermal energy range. The epithermal neutron beam that emerges from the filtering and moderating region is passed through gamma ray shielding material before application.
Materials which have proven suitable for use in the filtering and moderating region of nuclear-reactor-based, epithermal neutron facilities for BNCT are various combinations of metallic aluminum, heavy water (D.sub.2 O), sulfur, aluminum trifluoride (AlF.sub.3), alumina (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3), titanium, and vanadium, as well as a mixture of metallic aluminum and the material Teflon.RTM.. Gamma shielding materials that have been used are lead, bismuth, and liquid argon.
Epithermal neutron beams that have been produced by reactor-based facilities have epithermal neutron flux intensities in the range of 2.0.times.10.sup.8 neutrons per square centimeter per second (n/cm.sup.2 /s) to 1.0.times.10.sup.10 n/cm.sup.2 /s.
It has been recognized that an epithermal neutron beam for BNCT use should have any neutron flux intensity above 10,000 eV suppressed to a level that is roughly two orders of magnitude (factors of 10) below the intensity of the flux in the useful epithermal energy range. This serves to protect a patient from normal tissue damage caused by non-selective, proton-recoil interactions that occur in hydrogenous tissue when such tissue is exposed to neutron radiation. Also, it has been recognized that proton recoil interactions are non-selective and that such interactions induced by neutrons having energies significantly above the upper cutoff of the epithermal energy range are particularly damaging to normal tissue and should be minimized to the extent possible by careful neutron beam design to suppress the high-energy spectral component. Also, it has been recognized as important to suppress any "thermal" neutron component of an epithermal neutron beam, since it can cause significant surface tissue damage. "Thermal" neutrons are generally suppressed in reactor-based, epithermal neutron beams by inclusion of small amounts of cadmium, lithium, and boron in various locations within and around the epithermal neutron filtering regions.
Some nuclear-reactor-based, epithermal neutron beam facilities have been constructed and are in operation. It is expected that these facilities will continue to be used extensively in BNCT research and probably for initial human clinical trials of epithermal neutron BNCT in the United States. However, there has also been a great deal of interest in the development of a practical accelerator-based source of epithermal neutrons for BNCT. Particle accelerators are already used routinely for various other types of cancer radiotherapy and are a well-accepted technology in the clinical medicine community. Designs for accelerator-based neutron sources for BNCT that feature the use of proton beams impinging on either lithium or beryllium targets have been proposed in the literature and, in some cases, low-intensity prototypes have been constructed. In these concepts, protons having energies of approximately 2.5 MeV induce neutron-producing interactions in target materials. The resultant neutrons are then filtered and moderated into the desirable epithermal energy range using materials and techniques that are to some extent similar to those employed to produce reactor-based epithermal neutron beams. These proton devices have, however, proven to be difficult to scale to the output neutron beam intensities necessary for clinical application of BNCT. Because of problems associated with production of a proton beam of sufficient intensity and with removing the rather high level (50-250 kilowatts) of waste heat that is generated within the accelerator target, a sufficiently intense accelerator-based source of epithermal neutrons that are of practical utility for BNCT has yet to be constructed.
It has been well-known for years that neutrons can also be produced using a particle accelerator via a two-stage process by which an electron beam of sufficient energy is directed upon a target material having a relatively high atomic number (e.g. tungsten), and the bremsstrahlung photon radiation thus produced is directed into a material or a combination of materials that exhibit a high cross section for photoneutron production. Such a particle accelerator has been used to produce neutrons for a variety of non-medical purposes. In such applications, however, relatively high (tens of MeV) electron beam energies are used in order to obtain a sufficiently high neutron yield per original incident electron. The photoneutrons that are thus produced inherently have energies that are much too high for BNCT purposes. So much filtering would be required for these high-energy sources that sufficient neutron flux intensities within the required epithermal energy could not reasonably be obtained while simultaneously suppressing the higher than epithermal flux to a radiobiologically satisfactory level.
The use of a relatively low electron beam energy (8 to 12 MeV) was shown to offer a potentially-useful approach by a solely mathematical study conducted by two of the present applicants and published in abstract form in November 1992. This study was based on the contemplated use of an accelerator-based device capable of producing a filtered photoneutron beam having a flux intensity about 5 to 10 times lower than what we, in accordance with the present invention, now regard and what has historically been accepted in the relevant scientific community as the desired level (a minimum of 1.0.times.10.sup.9 n/cm.sup.2 /sec) for practical BNCT.
Nothing in the known prior art suggests that such a minimum level of flux intensity for a delimited beam of epithermal neutrons can be obtained by use of an electron accelerator. This was not shown to be obtainable by the hereinbefore-referred-to, solely mathematical study published in November 1992 in abstract form, nor has it been known to be obtainable by any electron radiation impinged on photon producing target material. Moreover, the specific filtering and moderating materials, and the relative proportions thereof, have not been suggested, except as previously indicated with respect to nuclear-reactor based systems.

Accelerator-based neutron source for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) and method

Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company


A flushometer having a cap with a substantially central exhaust passage adapted to remove air from the control chamber. The exhaust passage provides for communication between an upper pressure chamber and an interior piston chamber wherein during a flush cycle a portion of the contents of the upper pressure chamber is evacuated through the exhaust passage into the interior piston chamber and ultimately through the outlet of the flushometer.

This invention generally relates to a diaphragm or piston-type flushometer for use in a urinal, water closet, or the like. More particularly, the invention relates to a flushometer having a mechanism for removing air from a control chamber of the flushometer.
Piston-type flushometers having bypass orifice(s) are well known, as exemplified by the flush valve shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,545, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Diaphragm-type flushometers also have bypass orifices, as exemplified by the flush valve shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,119, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Another type of piston-type flushometer is taught, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,239, which includes a domed inner cover defining the top of a control chamber. This type of piston valve has become commercially popular due to the benefits set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,239, namely that the inner cover allows for the outer cover to be made form a wider range of materials and also provides for improved reliability in operation of the flushometer.
Typically flushometers include a valve (piston or diaphragm) which seals the water inlet from the outlet of the valve body. The valve is controlled, at least in part, by utilizing pressure differentials, with a control chamber located within the valve body at its upper most interior. The control chamber functions to control the reseating of the valve upon the valve seat. An auxiliary valve controllably seals the control chamber from the outlet and bypasses provide metered control flow from the inlet to the control chamber. Thus, the control chamber can be pressurized to substantially the pressure of the inlet via communication through the bypasses. As the line pressure in the control chamber acts on a larger topside area of the piston or diaphragm than the inlet line pressure acts on smaller underside area of the piston, the valve remains closed under equal pressures. When the auxiliary valve is opened, the control chamber becomes exposed to a lower pressure (typically atmospheric pressure), i.e., smaller force, and the contents of the control chamber are vented into the outlet reducing the force exerted on the piston and allowing it to raise off the main seat creating an opening so that water from the inlet may flow to the outlet. The control chamber is repressurized via the bypass(s) and the valve closes as the force in the control chamber on the piston top increases past the force pushing on the underside of the piston body.
In ideal operation, the flushometer contains only water fluid within the inlet, valve, and control chamber, i.e. there is not air in the flush valve, such that water completely fills the volume. However, in certain circumstances, such as when the valve assembly is first installed, following maintenance, or where the water supply contains excessive dissolved gases (such as air), gases may be present in the valve assembly. More particularly, the gases will typically be located in the upper most interior of the valve assembly that is in fluid communication with the inlet, which is typically (see FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B) the control chamber. In particular, for commercial flushometers utilizing the domed inner cover taught by U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,239, the gases will have a tendency to be located at the top of the domed inner cover. Thus, gas may reside in the control chamber in such situations.
When air (gas) is present in the control chamber, the gallons per flush (GPF) will differ from the GPF when only water is present in the control chamber. The compressible "fluid" air combines with the incompressible fluid water causing inconsistent volume in the critical control chamber. A certain amount of the air will dissolve in the water and be removed over time, along with the water during repeated flush cycles. In prior art devices, this phenomenon results in a small amount of the air being removed each flush cycle, effectuating removal of the air (and a return to the "normal" GPF for a control chamber with only water) over a large number of flush cycles, understood to be over 50 cycles for some devices.


A long fiber-reinforced polymer alloy resin composition (C) is provided which is obtained by blending a master batch (A) containing a long fiber reinforcement (a2) having a length of 3 to 30 mm in a resin matrix of a polyamide resin (a1), with a substantially polymer-alloyed resin diluent (B) obtained by melt kneading 45 to 20% by weight of a crystalline polyolefin resin (b1) and 55 to 80% by weight of a polyamide resin (b2), the crystalline polyolefin resin (b1) containing a modified olefin crystalline polymer (b11) having been substantially modified with unsaturated carboxylic acids. In this resin composition (C), the amount of the long fiber reinforcement (a2) is in the range of 10 to 60% by weight, and the amount of the crystalline polyolefin resin (b1) in resin components ((a1)+(b1)+(2)) other than the long finer reinforcement (a2) is in the range of 20 to 45% by weight. This resin composition (C) is excellent in tensile strength and particularly excellent in repeated impact resistance properties.

The "long fiber-reinforced polyamide resin composition" is obtained by, for example, impregnating a reinforcing long fiber bundle with a molten polyamide resin. Reinforced molded articles obtained from the long fiber-reinforced composition exhibit prominently improved impact resistance as compared with conventional short fiber-reinforced molded articles. The reason is presumably that the long fiber-reinforced composition (pellet) contains reinforcing fibers having a length substantially equal to that of the pellet. Because of its excellent properties, the long fiber-reinforced polyamide resin composition has been widely used.
However, the polyamide resin is desired to be further improved in lightweight properties, hygroscopicity and cost performance (because of its high cost), though it has high heat resistance. In addition thereto, the polyamide resin is unexpectedly brittle when repeatedly subjected to shock (that is, poor in repeated impact properties), though it is good in ordinary impact resistance. Therefore, the use of the polyamide resin composition is specifically limited.
In this connection, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 58458/1985 proposes a composition comprising a specific modified polypropylene a specific polyamide and a fiber reinforcement. It is described in this publication that a composition which has heat resistance almost equal to that of polyamide and is highly improved in lightweight properties, hygroscopicity and cost performance can be obtained according to this invention. However, a means to prepare the composition disclosed in the publication is only a method of melt kneading a resin and preliminarily chopped glass fibers by an extruder or the like. According to the additional tests, molded articles obtained from the composition is entirely insufficient not only in repeated impact resistance properties but also in impact resistance.
The present inventors have already invented a novel long fiber-reinforced resin composition, that comprises a resin matrix of a "polymer alloy" made from a polyamide resin and a modified olefin crystalline polymer prepared by graft modification with unsaturated carboxylic acids, particularly, a modified propylene crystalline polymer, to which long fiber reinforcement is homogeneously added. According to this invention, there can be obtained a long fiber-reinforced resin composition which is excellent in lightweight properties, cost performance and ordinary impact resistance and, moreover is remarkably improved in repeated impact resistance.
In fields where much higher performance is required for molded articles produced from long fiber-reinforced compositions, however, there is room for improvement in the dispersibility of the long fibers in the molded articles to thereby enhance mechanical properties such as tensile strength. Further, the glass fiber reinforcement in the form of small bundles remains in the molded articles because of lack of loosening of bundles, and, thefore, the molded articles sometimes have bad appearance. Furthermore, there remains room for further improvement in repeated impact resistance of the molded articles.
As another prior art technique, a resin composition comprising a thermoplastic resin containing fibers (first resin) and other resin (second resin) having a melting point lower than that of the first resin has been proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60780/1993. In this publication, it is described that the second resin is melted prior to melting of the first resin and includes the first resin. Therefore, folding of the fibers is inhibited by the first resin, and as a result, the molded article can be improved in mechanical strength, rigidity and heat resistance. According to the studies by the present inventors, however, the degree of the improvement in the mechanical strength of the molded article is still insufficient, though the folding of the fibers in the molded article is undoubtedly improved (reduced). Further, the repeated impact resistance is never improved, though the ordinary impact resistance is improved.
As is apparent from the above, a fiber-reinforced resin composition showing high dispersibility of fibers in the molded article and excellent in all of the lightweight properties of the molded article, cost performance, mechanical strength and the repeated impact resistance properties has been eagerly desired, but no satisfactory fiber-reinforced resin composition has been obtained yet. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fiber-reinforced composition excellent in these properties.

Long fiber-reinforced polymer alloy resin composition


Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods for delivery of a message based on a status of a receiving device. In a particular embodiment, a method provides, in a first wireless communication device, receiving first user input from a user indicating a message for transmission to a second wireless communication device. The method further provides receiving second user input from the user indicating that the message should not be delivered to the second wireless communication device when a status of the second wireless communication device satisfies a criteria. The method further provides transferring the message and an indication of the second user input to a wireless communication network, wherein, based on the indication of the second user input, the wireless communication network does not deliver the message to the second wireless communication device if the criteria is satisfied.

In recent years, messaging between mobile devices has become ubiquitous. In addition to Short Message Service (SMS) text messages, wireless devices are now able to exchange picture, video, audio, and other types of data in messages via Multimedia Message Service (MMS), an instant messenger protocol, email, social networks, or many other types of messaging platforms. When a wireless device receives a message from another wireless device, a user of the receiving device typically manipulates a user interface in order to view the message. The user of the receiving device may not want to manipulate the user interface when the message is received. The user of the receiving device may apply filters to block messages or silence messaging alerts. For example, the user may turn off alerting mechanisms, such as tones and vibrations. The user may also instruct the network to block messages from particular senders.
Unfortunately, the sender of the message does not have an efficient or effective way to assist the receiving user in this task. The sender may select a time for delayed message delivery. The sender may also select a network for message delivery. In some cases, the sender may even track the location of the receiving device and manually control their messaging to the receiving device accordingly. The sender does not have an efficient or effective way to control the delivery of a message based on the status of the receiving device when they are sending the message.

Delivery of a message based on a status of a receiving device


The herein application discloses an alternative construction system for buildings, facilities, accessories and products, with architectural elements of easy assembly, manufactured with recycled plastic improved materials, as well as the formulation of the material thereof.

Traditional construction systems such as, clay bricks, concrete bricks, ceramic bricks, concrete panels, steel girders, gypsum, lime, cement, concrete, and wood, have some disadvantages such as that they can be worn with humidity, they are vulnerable to bugs, rodents and microorganisms, they can corrode, they propagate fire, they require adhesive or mortar for their assembly, they have a prolonged assembly time, a limited useful life, they are expensive and unfriendly with the environment.
On the other hand, human activity produces more than 80 million tons of plastic waste a year worldwide, which accumulates in aquifers and soils through the planet. Said waste can take up to a thousand years to break down or decompose.
In this context, recycling activities have been an excellent option for years to reduce the amount of plastic waste and to reuse them as raw materials to manufacture materials and useful objects for daily activities, thus minimizing their environmental impact. Therefore, it is more and more important to obtain recycled materials to manufacture environmentally compatible raw materials.
Currently, due to the worldwide economic growth rate, the construction industry needs a growing amount of starting materials for its own operation, e.g., it is estimated that, on average, more than two tons of raw material are needed per square meter of building.
In addition, the formulations of the recycled plastic must be appropriate to form a construction element that meets the durability, resistance, and safety demands that are required in the construction industry.
In the state of the art, some examples of plastic waste formulations that are used as construction materials can be found, e.g., in the documents MX 222,419 B, CN 106,280,361 A, and CN 106,243,497 A; however, none of the hereinbefore mentioned documents solve the problem of providing alternative construction systems with architectural elements of easy assembly, manufactured with improved recycled plastic materials, as well as the formulation thereof.
Thus, there is a need to provide architectural elements of easy assembly manufactured with improved recycled plastic materials to be used in alternative construction systems used to build buildings, facilities, shelters, accessories, and housing products such as dividing walls, window frames, pavers, pillars, fence-posts, tablets, bricks, baffles, blocks, floors, pavements, or any other useful object for construction, as well as the formulation of the improved materials.

Alternative construction system with architectural elements manufactured with recycled plastic and the formulation of the material thereof


The present invention is a multilayer imaging element which includes a support, at least one image-forming layer, and a transparent electrically-conductive layer. The transparent electrically-conductive layer includes electronically-conductive metal antimonate colloidal particles having a particle size of from 0.005 to 0.05 .mu.m and non-conductive metal-containing colloidal particles having a particle size of from 0.002 to 0.05 .mu.m dispersed in a film-forming binder.

Problems associated with the generation and discharge of electrostatic charge during the manufacture and use of photographic film and paper have been recognized for many years by the photographic industry. The accumulation of charge on film or paper surfaces can cause difficulties in support conveyance as well as lead to the attraction of dust, which can produce fog, desensitization, repellency spots during emulsion coating, and other physical defects. The discharge of accumulated static charge during or after the application of the sensitized emulsion layer(s) can produce irregular fog patterns or static marks in the emulsion. The severity of the static problems has been exacerbated greatly by increases in sensitivity of new emulsions, increases in coating machine speeds, and increases in post-coating drying efficiency. The charge generated during the coating process results primarily from the tendency of webs of high dielectric constant polymeric film base to undergo triboelectric charging during winding and unwinding operations, during conveyance through the coating machines, and during post-coating operations such as slitting, perforating, and spooling. Static charge can also be generated during the use of the finished photographic product. The repeated winding and unwinding of film in and out of a film cassette or cartridge can result in the generation of electrostatic charge, especially in a low relative humidity environment. The accumulation of charge on the film surface results in the attraction and adhesion of dust to the film and can even produce static marking. Similarly, high-speed automated film processing equipment can generate static that produces marking. Sheet films are especially subject to static charging during use in automated high-speed film cassette loaders (e.g., x-ray films, graphic arts films, microfiche, etc.).
An electrically-conductive layer can be incorporated into an imaging element in various ways to dissipate accumulated static charge, for example, as a subbing layer, an intermediate layer or interlayer, and especially as an outermost layer either overlying the imaging layer or as a backing layer on the opposite side of the support from the imaging layer(s). A wide variety of conductive antistatic agents can be used in antistatic layers to produce a broad range of surface electrical conductivities. Many of the traditional antistatic layers used in imaging elements employ electrically-conductive materials which exhibit predominantly ionic conductivity, for example, simple inorganic salts, alkali metal salts of surfactants, alkali metal ion-stabilized colloidal metal oxide sols, ionic conductive polymers or polymeric electrolytes containing alkali metal salts and the like. The electrical conductivities of such ionic conductors are typically strongly dependent on the temperature and relative humidity of their environment. At low relative humidities and temperatures, the diffusional mobilities of the charge-carrying ions are greatly reduced and the bulk electrical conductivity is substantially decreased. At high relative humidities, an unprotected ionic antistatic backing layer containing such an ionic conductor can absorb water, swell, and soften. Especially in the case of photographic roll films, this can result in the adhesion (viz., ferrotyping) and even physical transfer of portions of a backing layer to a surface layer on the emulsion side of the film (viz., blocking).
Antistatic layers containing electronic conductors such as conjugated conductive polymers, conductive carbon particles or fibers, metallic particles or fibers, crystalline semiconductor particles, amorphous semiconductive fibrils, and continuous semiconductive thin films can be used more effectively than ionic conductors to dissipate static charge since their electrical conductivity is independent of relative humidity and only slightly influenced by ambient temperature. Of the various types of electronic conductors, electrically-conductive metal-containing particles, such as semiconductive metal oxides, when dispersed with suitable polymeric film-forming binders, are particularly effective for use in transparent conductive layers. Binary metal oxides doped with appropriate donor heteroatoms or containing oxygen deficiencies have been disclosed in prior art to be useful in antistatic layers for photographic elements, for example: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,275,103; 4,416,963; 4,495,276; 4,394,441; 4,418,141; 4,431,764; 4,495,276; 4,571,361; 4,999,276; 5,122,445; 5,294,525; 5,382,494; 5,459,021; and others. Suitable claimed conductive metal oxides include: zinc oxide, titania, tin oxide, alumina, indium oxide, silica, magnesia, zirconia, barium oxide, molybdenum trioxide, tungsten trioxide, and vanadium pentoxide. Preferred doped conductive metal oxide granular particles include Sb-doped tin oxide, Al-doped zinc oxide, and Nb-doped titanic Additional preferred conductive ternary metal oxides disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,995 include zinc antimonate and indium antimonate. Other suitable conductive metal-containing granular particles including metal borides, carbides, nitrides, and suicides have been disclosed in Japanese Kokai No. JP 04-055,492.
Antistatic backing or subbing layers containing colloidal amorphous vanadium pentoxide, especially silver-doped vanadium pentoxide, are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,203,769 and 5,439,785. Colloidal vanadium pentoxide is composed of highly entangled microscopic fibrils or ribbons 0.005-0.01 .mu.m wide, about 0.001 .mu.m thick, and 0.1-1 .mu.m in length. However, colloidal vanadium pentoxide is soluble at the high pH typical of developer solutions for photographic processing and must be protected by a nonpermeable, barrier layer as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,006,451; 5,221,598; 5,284,714; and 5,366,855, for example. Alternatively, a film-forming sulfopolyester latex or polyesterionomer binder can be combined with the colloidal vanadium pentoxide in the conductive layer to minimize degradation during processing as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,360,706; 5,380,584; 5,427,835; 5,576,163; and others. While the use of a polyesterionomer binder provides improved coating solution stability and enhanced interlayer adhesion, a hydrophobic overcoat still must be provided in order to ensure the degree of process-surviving capabilities desirable for photographic imaging elements. The need to overcoat the antistatic layer with such a hydrophobic barrier layer has several potential disadvantages including increased manufacturing cost and complexity; inability to use the antistatic layer as the outermost layer; and limited ability to overcoat the antistatic layer directly with a hydrophilic, water swellable layer such as a curl control layer or pelloid. Thus, it is desirable to avoid the use of a hydrophobic barrier layer overlying an antistatic layer in a photographic element.
The use of non-conductive "auxilliary" fine particles such as binary metal oxides (e.g., ZnO, TiO.sub.2, SiO.sub.2, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, MgO, BaO, WO.sub.3, MoO.sub.3, ZrO.sub.2, P.sub.2 O.sub.5), kaolin, talc, mica, alkaline earth sulfates (e.g., BaSO.sub.4, SrSO.sub.4, CaSO.sub.4, MgSO.sub.4) or alkaline earth carbonates (e.g., CaCO.sub.3, MgCO.sub.3) as grinding aids in the preparation of electrically-conductive layers containing conductive metal oxide particles for use in photographic elements has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,416,963; 4,495,276; 5,028,580, and 5,582,959. It was claimed in the '580 Patent that "fine grains" of a crystalline non-conductive metal oxide which do not contribute directly to improving conductivity can be added to a backing layer for a thermal recording imaging element. It was further disclosed in the '580 patent that it was particularly advantageous to remove a greater part of any such auxilliary particles by physical (e.g., filtration, centrifugation, etc.) or chemical (e.g., dissolution) treatments after preparing dispersions of the conductive metal oxide particles and before preparing coated layers.
Colloidal silica in the form of an aqueous sol consisting of silica particles with a high specific surface area can be used in combination with a soluble alkylaryl polyether sulphonate to provide conductive backing layers for photographic paper as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,621. However, such conductive layers exhibit unsuitably low levels of conductivity after photographic processing because of the solubility of the alkylaryl polyether sulphonate in the photographic processing solutions.
The use of colloidal non-conductive metal oxide particles combined with an optional film-forming polymeric binder to prepare conductive layers for photographic elements has been taught widely in prior art. For example, the preparation of conductive layers comprising a continuous gelled network of colloidal metal oxide particles on a photographic film or paper support is taught in European Application Nos. 250,154; 301,827; 531,006; 657,774. Preferred colloidal particles are disclosed to have an average diameter less than about 20 nm. The inclusion of an ambifunctional silane compound as a coupling agent in conductive layers containing colloidal metal oxide particles to improve adhesion to overlying gelatin-containing layers was claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,219. Preferred colloidal metal oxide particles claimed include silica, titania, and tin oxide, and mixtures thereof. Dispersions of such colloidal metal oxide particles are typically stabilized electrostatically by the presence of alkali metal or ammonium cations. The use of gelatin or a gelatin-compatible protein such as chitosan (i.e., a d-glucosamine) as a film-forming polymeric binder is taught in European Application Nos. 657,774 and 531,006, respectively. Coatings prepared in accordance with European Application No. 531,006 contain colloidal metal oxide particles at a particle to polymeric binder weight ratio of from 75:25 to 92:8 and exhibit surface resistivity values of 8-10 log ohms/square at 40% R.H. which increased to 10-11 log ohms/square after photographic processing. The addition of a water soluble alkali metal orthosilicate or metasilicate to a conductive layer containing a gelled network of colloidal metal oxide particles in order to improve cohesion as well as adhesion of the layer when overcoated with a gelatin-containing layer is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,236,818 and 5,344,751 and European Application No. 657,774.
The use of colloidal metal oxides in the presence of alkali metal ions, multifunctional silanes, and various ionic conductive polymers such as sodium styrenesulfonate/maleic acid copolymers in antistatic layers for photographic elements is disclosed in European Application No. 618,489. Preferred colloidal metal oxides include titania, silica, and alumina. Antistatic coatings were reported to exhibit surface resistivity values ranging from 6 to 10 log ohms/square. However, no values were reported for the antistatic coatings after photographic processing. The use of colloidal metal oxide particles in combination with various organosilanes in transparent abrasion-resistant protective topcoatings for polymeric sheets or articles is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,365. The use of non-conductive colloidal metal oxides (e.g., alumina, antimony oxide) as well as conductive metal oxides (e.g., antimony-doped tin oxide, tin doped indium oxide, cadmium stannate) in such coatings was claimed. Use of conductive metal oxides was reported to improve static dissipating properties of the protective layers. However, the utility of such protective layers for imaging elements was neither disclosed nor anticipated.
A class of composite, electrically-conductive powders said to be useful for preparing conductive coatings, films, and other articles consisting of an intimate mixture of at least one type of electrically-conductive powder and at least one type of a particulate filler material which is nonconductive has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,250. Such composite conductive powders preferably contain binary or ternary mixtures of the component powders. Further, the composite conductive powders are said to exhibit dry powder resistivity values which are lower than the weighted average of the dry powder resistivity values for the component powders. Suitable electrically-conductive component powders include crystalline antimony-doped tin oxide particles as well as composite conductive particles consisting of non-conductive core particles such as oxides of titanium, silicon, magnesium, calcium, barium strontium, zinc, tin, nickel or iron; carbonates or sulfates of calcium, barium or strontium; mica, cordierite, anorthite, pyrophyllite, and the like, upon which an amorphous silica coating and a network of conductive crystallites (e.g., antimony-doped tin oxide, silver, gold, copper, nickel, etc.) are deposited sequentially. Specific methods for preparing such composite conductive particles have been described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,024,826 and 5,236,737. Suitable non-conductive filler powders include amorphous silica, hollow silica shells, titania, mica, calcium carbonate, as well as the core particles used to prepare the composite conductive particles described hereinabove. The method used to prepare the composite electrically-conductive powders of the '250 Patent is described as essentially a relatively gentle dry blending procedure that is sufficient to provide intimate mixing of the individual component powders without degrading the electroconductive properties of the conductive component powders. Further, conductive coatings prepared using dispersions of composite conductive powders of the type taught in the '250 Patent having a film-forming binder in an aqueous vehicle are said to exhibit less color and higher optical transparency than such coatings containing equivalent amounts of the electrically-conductive component powders. However, the particles comprising the composite conductive powders as well as the conductive and non-conductive component particles taught in the '250 Patent are substantially too large to provide conductive layers with optical transparency and low haze properties suitable for use in photographic or thermally-processable imaging elements.
The use of colloidal, electrically-conductive metal antimonate particles (e.g., zinc antimonate particles) in antistatic layers for imaging elements, especially for silver halide-based photographic elements, is broadly claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,995. However, dry weight coverages of zinc antimonate in conductive subbing and backing layers sufficient to provide preferred levels of electrical conductivity for antistatic protection of imaging elements, especially in the case of micrographic films and other films, which are sensitized primarily to blue light, produce an undesirable increase in optical density and haze. The requirements for low optical density, low haze, lack of photoactivity, and low manufacturing cost dictate that the conductive layer must be coated using as low a dry weight coverage of metal antimonate as possible. One objective of the present invention is to provide transparent, conductive layers which deliver adequate antistatic protection as well as exhibit lower optical absorption and scattering losses than conductive layers containing metal antimonate of prior art. It is a further objective of the present invention to maintain the required physical properties of the conductive layers such as adhesion to overlying or underlying layers when used as a subbing layer, an interlayer or a protective layer, cohesion of the conductive layer in order to minimize dusting, and scratch and abrasion resistance when the conductive layer is to be used as an outermost protective layer such as a backing or overcoat layer. Because the requirements for a conductive layer to be useful in an imaging element are extremely demanding, the art has long sought to develop improved conductive layers exhibiting a suitable balance of all the necessary chemical, physical, optical, and electrical properties.

Imaging element comprising and electrically-conductive layer containing metal antimonate and non-conductive metal-containing colloidal particles


Provided are pharmaceutical compositions for skin lightening, which are particularly useful in treating skin hyperpigmentation, together with methods for their use. The compositions comprise glutathione conjugated to a peptide having a sequence comprising PKEK (SEQ ID NO: 1) and cysteamine or a pharmaceutical salt thereof.

Freckles, melasma, photoaging spots, scars, and shaving burns are among the most common hyperpigmentary conditions. Although these conditions are not harmful per se, they frequently contribute to real social, cultural, mental, and/or economic hardships, and they affect millions of people around the world. Therefore, compositions for treating hyperpigmentation are in high demand. Unfortunately, many existing formulations use harsh acids, toxic metals, and carcinogens. Given these substantial drawbacks, there is a need for new compositions that are effective, safe, easy to apply, and relatively inexpensive.


A power supply method and apparatus of a line interactive UPS utilizes a bi-directional AC/AC power converter in association with the AC delta control concept. When the line voltage coupled to the AC/AC power convert exceeds high/low statuses, the UPS is operated in a line voltage conversion mode, wherein the AC/AC power converter supplies a voltage to compensated the line voltage based on the stability of the line voltage, and then the compensated stable voltage is further provided to the load so as to perform the voltage boost (step-up) and/or voltage buck (step-down).

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply method of a line interactive uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and more particularly to a line interactive UPS that employs a bi-directional AC/AC power converter in association with the AC delta control theory to perform the voltage boost/buck conversion.
2. Related Art
The early uninterruptible power supply (UPS) devices mainly include two types, the on-line type UPS and the off-line type UPS. In recent years, a new kind of UPS, the line interactive type, is developed and possesses both the features of the on-line and off-line types. The three kinds of UPS devices are briefly discussed hereinafter.
1. On-line UPS: When the line voltage (local voltage) is normal, the line voltage input to the UPS through a filtering circuit and a noise absorbing circuit will charge a battery set through a charging circuit and input into an inverter through a rectifying circuit simultaneously. After the line voltage is rectified and converted by the inverter, the stable power with superior quality is further provided to electrical instruments, such as a computer or its any peripheral products. Otherwise, when the line voltage is abnormal, the power for those electrical instruments is provided by the charged battery set.
2. Off-line UPS: The line voltage is directly provided to a load without needing to be processed by the UPS when the line voltage is normal. Meanwhile, the line voltage is input through a charging circuit to charge a battery set. When the line voltage is unstable or interrupted, a switch provide inside the UPS switches the power supply path from line voltage to the battery set, whereby the load still can obtain power through the charged battery.
3. Line interactive UPS: Basically, a line interactive UPS is similar to the off-line UPS mentioned foregoing. The difference is that the line interactive UPS will convert the line voltage under a boost (step-up) mode or a buck (step-down) mode, when the line voltage is higher or lower than a normal and still in a predetermined tolerable range. Therefore, the converted voltage is able to provide to the load, and the UPS system does not need to operate in a battery power supply mode.
Usually, the line interactive UPS is equipped with an automatic voltage regulation transformer (AVR TX) therein. When the line voltage coupled to the input of the AVR TX is abnormal, the AVR TX automatically and appropriately switches to one of multiple output taps based on the voltage level of the line voltage. After the line voltage is transformed into a normal level via the AVR TX, the transformed line voltage is output through the appropriate output tap to the load. Since the load is still powered by the line voltage not the battery set, the discharge times of the battery set is accordingly reduced to prolong the use life of the battery set. However, the drawbacks of the line interactive UPS are:
(1) The AVR TX occupies a huge space because of its large size.
(2) The output voltage of the AVR TX is determined by multi-stage control means, i.e. the output voltage is output via one of the multiple output taps. Therefore, it is difficult to precisely determine the output voltage level.
(3) The voltage transforming efficiency of the AVR TX is quite low.
(4) If the tolerable adjust ranger for the abnormal line voltage is intended to widen, the AVR TX must designed with more input taps and output taps. Thus, the complexity of the AVR TX design is raised and the production cost for the entire UPS is accordingly increased.
To overcome the shortcomings, a power supply method of a line interactive UPS and the UPS device in accordance with the present invention obviates or mitigates the aforementioned drawbacks.

Power supply method of a line interactive UPS and the line interactive UPS


A system and method for vessel catheterization is provided, having an introducer sheath and a catheter. The introducer sheath can include a handle and a sheath body extending from the handle. An access lumen is provided in the introducer sheath, and can include a tapered portion that is sized to receive a tapered outer surface of the catheter. The catheter may be a central venous catheter, such as a peripherally inserted central catheter, including a hub, a catheter body with at least one lumen extending distally from the hub, and at least one tube extending proximally from the hub. The introducer sheath is preferably a splittable sheath. The catheter can be inserted into the access lumen, and translated until confronting surfaces of the tapered outer surface of the catheter body and the tapered portion of the introducer sheath contact one another. This arrangement can inhibit buckling and/or kinking of the catheter during insertion, and improve initial catheter tip positioning.

Central venous system access in a patient is an important aspect of administering intravenous therapy, such as drug, chemotherapy, and total parenteral nutrition (TPN). It is desirable that the therapy be administered in the superior vena cava (SVC) of the central venous system. In order to gain access, introducer devices are commonly used, through which other medical devices, such as central venous catheters (CVC), are inserted. One such example of a CVC is a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC). A PICC typically has one or more tubes, which are externally accessible by a clinician, that converge into a single catheter body that is internally implanted in a vein of the patient. The tubes are adapted to receive therapeutic agents, which are then released through a distal tip of the catheter body into the central venous system of the patient.
The most common technique used by the clinician to gain access to the central venous system of the patient with a PICC is a modified Seldinger technique. This technique involves the clinician first inserting a needle through the patient's skin at a peripheral location and into a vein to form a venotomy. The clinician then inserts the guidewire through the passageway of the needle and into the vein. The distal end of the guidewire may then be translated to the target site. Next, the clinician removes the needle from the proximal end of the guidewire, and following removal of the needle the clinician inserts an introducer device and dilator assembly over the proximal end of the guidewire and into the vein. The introducer device and dilator assembly typically includes a splittable introducer device and a dilator to facilitate the ease of insertion and creation of a larger opening in the venotomy. The clinician then removes the dilator, and may even subsequently remove the guidewire from the lumen of the introducer device, leaving the introducer device inserted in the body. The clinician usually with the use of the guidewire determines a suitable length of the PICC and then trims the PICC accordingly.
Next, with reference to FIG. 1, a PICC 8 is inserted through introducer device 10 in order to gain access to the vein and eventually the SVC of the central venous system. PICC 8 has a catheter body 9 extending from a manifold 11, with a portion 12 of catheter body 9 adjacent manifold 11 shown to be tapered. PICC 8 is shown inserted through a constant diameter passageway 13 of introducer device 10. As can be seen, the constant diameter passageway 13 is only sized to receive most of catheter body 9 of PICC 8, essentially until the size of the catheter body at tapered portion 12 is greater than the size of passageway 13. As a result, tapered portion 12 is left dangling external to a handle 14 of introducer device 10. This arrangement is problematic because the dangling tapered portion 12 (about 10-15 cm) can result in an increase in patient discomfort at the access site.
Furthermore, the distal tip of PICC 8 is initially positioned short of its preferred target site by about the same amount as the length of the dangling tapered portion 12. The preferred target site to position a distal tip of a PICC is the lower one-third of the SVC, close to the junction of the SVC and the right atrium. At this location, it has been found that complications from thrombosis and infection are considerably reduced. One factor for this reduction is the ability of the distal tip of the PICC to float freely within the vein lumen at this location and to lie parallel to the vein wall without impinging on the wall. Any impinging of the vein wall from the PICC is known to cause irritation, if not damage, to the vein wall.
Since the distal tip of PICC 8 is not initially positioned at its preferred target site, the clinician must then perform a series of alternating steps of peeling a small part of introducer device 10 away from the implanted PICC 8 and translating the distal tip of PICC 8 closer to the target site until the distal tip of the PICC is at the preferred target site. However, when performing the series of alternating steps, the clinician must manipulate tapered portion 12 of catheter body 9 of PICC 8, leaving the catheter body along this portion highly susceptible to buckling and kinking. Not until the clinician is satisfied with the location of the distal tip of the PICC does this risk of buckling reduce. Buckling and kinking of PICC 8 is highly undesirable because the PICC becomes essentially useless for its intended purpose. At that point, a new PICC must be inconveniently reinserted into the vein by starting over at the very beginning with the modified Seldinger technique, which can extend the procedure time and further delay the administration of intravenous therapy.
Thus, what is needed is an introducer device that is configured to receive a catheter to permit the distal tip of the catheter to reach a target site, e.g., the central venous system, during its initial insertion through the introducer device. Further, what is needed is an introducer device that is configured to receive a catheter to limit, if not eliminate, any external dangling portion of the catheter and its associated risks to buckling and/or kinking during insertion through the introducer device. What is also needed is a catheterization system, and method of use thereof for therapeutic treatment, such as therapeutic treatment of the central venous system, that can cause less discomfort and inconvenience to the patient.


Cold pressed UC.sub.2 fuel compacts are sintered at temperatures greater than about 1850.degree. C. while in contact with a sintering facilitator material, e.g., tantalum, niobium, tungsten or a metal carbide such as uranium carbide, thereby allowing for a reduction in the overall porosity and leaving the desired product, i.e., a highly dense, large-grained uranium dicarbide. The process of using the sintering facilitator materials can be applied in the preparation of other carbide materials.

Carbide fuels have been considered for advanced nuclear reactors because of properties such as high thermal conductivity, high fuel-atom metal density and high stability under most reactor conditions. For advanced reactor designs aimed at space applications, uranium monocarbide (UC), uranium dicarbide (UC.sub.2), and uranium-zirconium carbide are seen as potential fuels. Considerable prior work has examined various processes for preparing UC and fabricating UC fuel pellets. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,610 to Johnson et al. describes a process for fabricating stoichiometric uranium monocarbide wherein the uranium monocarbide is placed upon tantalum carbide during sintering at temperatures from about 3500.degree. F. and about 3800.degree. F. However, there has been considerably less work reported on the preparation of UC.sub.2 and the fabrication of UC.sub.2 fuel pellets.
Most of the work on fabrication of UC.sub.2 pellets by conventional techniques has generally involved the blending of high purity uranium powder and graphite and heating in an arc melter under an inert gas to form UC.sub.2, followed by milling the UC.sub.2, cold pressing the particles and sintering to obtain the pellets. Such a process can generally only attain densities of about 80 percent theoretical density. High density products approaching about 97 percent theoretical density have been described in Carbides in Nuclear Energy, Vol. 1, edited by Russell (1963). High density, large grained fuels are desirable for the operation of space nuclear reactors. Prior art processes have been unable to achieve high densities of greater than about 97 percent theoretical density, to achieve large grain sizes of greater than about 30 microns in diameter, or to achieve both high densities and large grain sizes.
It has been previously known to use various materials as sintering aids. For example, J. Nuclear Materials, 89, 296-315 (1980), by Pickels et al. entitled "The Sintering of Uranium Carbide and Uranium-Plutonium Carbide, and The Role of Nickel as a Sintering Additive", describes the use of nickel in a sintering process, although without the same mechanism of densification as in the present process. Further, in the Pickels et al. process, the sintering aid, i.e., the nickel additive, is essentially co-blended during the process and remains in the final composition. Thus, the sintering aids such as nickel remain in the final product as an impurity.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a uranium dicarbide material having a high theoretical density, i.e., greater than 97 percent of theoretical density.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a uranium dicarbide material having a large crystal grain size, i.e., larger than about 30 microns.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a uranium dicarbide material having an oxygen content of less than about 400 parts per million.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a process of preparing uranium dicarbide materials in high theoretical density, preferably with large grain sizes, such a process also suitable for the preparation of other actinide carbide reactor fuels, such as uranium monocarbide, plutonium carbide, and plutonium nitride, and preparation of difficult to fabricate structural ceramics such as silicon, niobium, tantalum, tungsten, titanium, and zirconium carbides, such a process involving sintering a precursor pellet while in contact with either a carbon accepting material or a carbon donating material depending on whether the pellet is to lose or to gain carbon respectively.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a densification process of preparing carbide materials wherein the density is varied in a controlled manner at different regions of, e.g. a pellet.

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Energy


A filter element and assembly for fluid applications which require a purging of air, and particularly for applications where the filter element is horizontally oriented (side loaded), where the filter element is rotationally positioned relative to the housing such that a vent orifice is properly located for venting air from the filter element as the element fills with fluid. The housing includes a cylindrical body with a closed end a threaded open end, and a threaded, cup-shaped cover which is screwed down onto the housing. The filter element and housing include i) cooperating retaining devices which temporarily couple the filter element to the housing cover when the element is initially inserted into the housing and the cover is initially screwed onto the housing; and ii) cooperating orientation devices which rotationally orient the filter element in the housing as the housing cover is further and fully screwed down onto the housing.

In certain fuel systems, such as for vehicles, a pump is provided to move fuel through the system such as from the tank to the engine. A filter element is typically provided upstream (on the vacuum side) of the pump to protect the working components of the pump, as well to protect other downstream components. When the pump is initially primed, air in the filter housing is purged to the extent of the fuel flow through the filter element. When the element is fresh, and only a small portion of the media is being used, this can amount to only a small portion of the air in the housing being purged. As the filter element becomes filled with contaminants over time, the resistance increases and the housing will be purged of a little more air until the fluid will pass through the media easily again. By the end of the element's life, the housing will be full of fuel, and the air will be substantially purged from the housing.
The constant purging of air in the housing does not significantly effect the particulate and contaminant separating functions of the filter, but it can impact the water-removing properties of the media, as the flow is forced through a relatively small portion of the media at a high rate, rather than being spread over a wide surface area. It is preferable to have a wide surface area used to take full advantage of the water-removing capabilities of the filter media.
One solution, particularly for vertically-oriented filter elements, is to provide a bleed orifice in the upper end cap of the filter element. The orifice allows the air to bleed slowly out of the element as the element is being filled with fluid. By sizing the orifice appropriately, and locating the orifice in the upper end cap, the orifice will essentially only allow air to vent out, and will substantially prevent fluid leakage. Any bypass of unfiltered fuel is fairly insignificant and can be caught by secondary filters downstream. By so doing, the fuel fills substantially the entire housing, and passes slowly across a large surface area of the media for efficient water removal.
While the above solution has received some acceptance with vertically-oriented filter elements, it does not address the issue with horizontally oriented (side-loaded) filter elements. Some applications, such as in fuel delivery systems for vehicle engines, require elements to be "side-loaded" due to the location of engine components. For such applications, the elements are typically coupled to the housing cover for ease of insertion and removal. But in so doing, the elements rotate when the cover is screwed down onto the housing. When the filter rotates, it can be difficult to anticipate and control the final location of the vent orifice, and hence to position the vent orifice such that it allows a maximum amount of air to vent from the element. As should be appreciated, positioning the vent orifice, for example, at the bottom or near the bottom of the element will not allow air to be purged from the element.
Thus, it is believed there is a demand for a filter element and assembly for fluid applications which require a purging of air, and particularly for such applications where the filter element is horizontally oriented (side-loaded), where the filter element is rotationally positioned such that the vent orifice is properly located for bleeding air from the filter element as the element fills with fluid.

Filter element with vent orifice and assembly therefore


A direct sequence spread spectrum signal processing system permits the receiver to be turned off during most of the acquisition phase of reception to significantly reduce the on time of the associated receiver front end. Power requirements are further reduced by use of very low power high accuracy time and frequency circuits in GPS based tracking units. The microprocessor based GPS tracking system is shut down almost all the time, using extremely little electrical power, and is powered up for very short periods of time at scheduled intervals by an extremely low power clock circuit with accuracy that varies with temperature. Each time the microprocessor is powered up, system temperature is recorded in memory. At times when the microprocessor is powered up, the GPS system is accessed and the GPS standard time is read. The difference between the low power clock circuit based time and the GPS based time is correlated with the recorded temperature history. A correction table, built from this data, provides a temperature history based correction to the low power clock based circuit without reference to the GPS system, and provides a highly accurate time standard. An additional table constructed in the microprocessor temperature compensates the local frequency standard used for frequency synthesis in satellite communication channels. This table is constructed by measuring offset between the calculated and actual synthesized frequency required to lock onto the satellite transmitted reference (pilot tone), and correlating this measured offset with the system ambient temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to time and frequency generation for communications systems and, more particularly, to low-power, low-cost and high accuracy time and frequency circuits in Global Positioning System (GPS) based tracking units.
2. Background Description
A preferred application of the present invention is the locating and tracking of assets such as rail cars, shipping or cargo containers, trucks, truck trailers, and the like, using the GPS. In such application, the GPS receivers are usually battery powered since an independent source of power is generally not available. It is advantageous to increase the operating life of the batteries by reducing the energy consumed by the GPS receiver.
In the present invention, a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) communication system is used. In a typical spread spectrum receiver, the receiver front end (i.e., RF and IF electronics) consumes a large amount of power while it is turned on. This results in high energy consumption if the signal acquisition and synchronization take a long time.
A typical GPS receiver performs the following for each of at least four satellite signals:
1) acquires the DSSS signal, PA1 2) synchronizes with the message data sequence (the NAV data stream) and reads the satellite time-stamp, clock-correction, ionospheric-delay and ephemeris data, PA1 3) calculates the satellite position from the ephemeris data, PA1 4) reads its own receiver clock to determine the receiver time associated with the reception of the time-stamp epoch, and PA1 5) estimates the signal travel time by subtracting the time-stamp value from the associated receiver time.
This time difference is multiplied by the speed of light to obtain an estimated range to the satellite. If the GPS receiver had a clock that was perfectly synchronized with the clocks of the satellites (or the error was known), only three such range estimates would be required to precisely locate the receiver. There is, however, a clock-bias (slowly changing error) due the fact that GPS receivers typically use inexpensive crystal clocks, whereas the satellites are equipped with atomic clocks. This clock bias is learned and its effect eliminated by measuring the range (travel time) from four GPS satellites and using these measurements in a system of four equations with four unknowns (receiver x, y, and z, and time).
In one system in which the invention is implemented, a central facility or station must track multiple assets (e.g., railcars). Each tracked object carries a GPS receiver that processes data from several of the visible GPS satellites; however, an accurate position determination is not made at the receiver. Instead, only partial processing is done at the receiver and intermediate results are transmitted from the asset to the central station. These intermediate results do not require decoding of navigational or other data from the GPS signals. This system thus allows the GPS receiver and signal processor to be powered only long enough to acquire the satellite signals (determine the satellite/code-offset/Doppler, or SCD, bins). With this system, the dominant energy consumer is the acquisition process, and the GPS receiver energy used at each tracked asset will be dramatically reduced if the signal acquisition time and energy are dramatically reduced.

Very low power high accuracy time and frequency circuits in GPS based tracking units


This document discusses, among other things, systems and methods to receive cardiac electrical information and premature ventricular contraction (PVC) information of a subject, detect atrial fibrillation (AF) of the subject using the received cardiac electrical information, and adjust AF detection using the received PVC information.

Heart failure (HF) is a reduction in the ability of the heart to deliver enough blood to meet bodily needs. HF patients commonly have enlarged heart with weakened cardiac muscles, resulting in reduced contractility and poor cardiac output of blood. Signs of HF include pulmonary congestion, edema, difficulty breathing, etc. HF is often a chronic condition, but can also occur suddenly, affecting the left, right, or both sides of a heart. Causes of HF include, among others, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, valvular heart disease, alcoholism, infection, cardiomyopathy, or one or more other conditions leading to a decreased pumping efficiency of the heart.
An arrhythmia is an abnormal heart rhythm, or any heart rhythm (e.g., fast, slow, irregular, etc.) that is not a normal heart rhythm. Arrhythmias include, among others: bradycardia; tachycardia; premature, extra, or skipped heart beats; heart defects; and atrial or ventricular fibrillation affecting one or more chambers of the heart. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is as an abnormal heart rhythm characterized by rapid and irregular activity in the left or right atria of the heart. AF is commonly associated with a reduction in cardiac output, an increased risk of heart failure (HF), dementia, and stroke. Risk factors for AF include, among others, high blood pressure, heart failure (HF), valvular heart disease, COPD, obesity, and sleep apnea.
Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) (also referred to as premature ventricular complexes, ventricular premature beats, or ventricular extrasystoles or palpitations) are premature or extra heartbeats that begin in the left or right ventricles of the heart, often originating sooner than the next expected heartbeat, disrupting a normal heart rhythm that originates in the sinoatrial (SA) node in the right atrium of the heart. PVCs are often associated with injury to the heart muscle, such as from coronary artery disease, congenital heart disease, high blood pressure, or HF.
An ambulatory medical device (AMD), such as an implantable, wearable, or other external medical device, can be configured to monitor, detect, or treat various conditions, including HF, arrhythmias, etc.


A polymerizable compound represented by general formula (1):

Liquid crystals are applied to display media in which the reversible movement of liquid crystal molecules is made use of, such as display devices of various modes typified by twisted nematic (TN), vertical alignment (VA), and in-place-switching (IPS). Besides the application to display media, the liquid crystals, particularly those having a polymerizable functional group have been studied for applicability to optically anisotropic materials, such as a retardation film, a polarizer, a polarizing prism, a luminance-improving film, a low pass filter, various optical filters, and optical fibers, taking advantage of their anisotropy in physical properties, such as refractive index, dielectric constant, magnetic susceptibility, elastic modulus, and thermal expansion coefficient, as well as their alignment properties. It is important for the optically anisotropic material (polymer) obtained by the polymerization to have not only the optical anisotropy but other characteristics, such as polymerization rate, transparency, mechanical strength, coating properties, solubility, crystallinity, shrinking properties, water permeability, water absorption, melting point, glass transition point, clear point, chemical resistance, and heat resistance.
The optically anisotropic material (polymer) is obtained by, for example, uniformly aligning the molecules of a liquid crystal compound having a polymerizable functional group or a polymerizable composition containing the liquid crystal compound into a liquid crystal phase and irradiating the compound or the composition being in the liquid crystal phase with energy rays, such as ultraviolet rays, to cause photopolymerization. It is required to fix the aligned state of the liquid crystal compound uniformly and semi-permanently.
When the polymerizable composition has a high liquid crystal phase transition temperature, photopolymerization induced by energy rays may unintentionally invite thermal polymerization, which disturbs the uniform alignment of the liquid crystal molecules, making it difficult to fix a desired state of alignment. In order to facilitate temperature control during cure, a polymerizable composition showing a liquid crystal phase at or near room temperature is demanded.
The polymer is obtained by polymerizing the polymerizable composition in the form of coating film applied to a substrate. If the composition contains a non-polymerizable compound, the resulting polymer film may have insufficient strength or contain residual stress-induced strain. Removing a non-polymerizable compound using, e.g., a solvent can result in a failure to retain film homogeneity and cause unevenness. To obtain a polymer film with a uniform thickness, it is therefore preferred to apply a polymerizable composition in the form of a solution in a solvent to a substrate. Hence, it is desirable for a liquid crystal compound or a polymerizable composition containing it to have good solubility in a solvent.
To cope with the tendencies to reduction in thickness and weight of display devices, components making up the display devices including optical films have been requested to have a reduced thickness.
A polymerizable liquid crystal compound having an acryloyloxy group as a polymerizable functional group exhibits high polymerization reactivity, i.e., readily polymerizes through a convenient method (e.g., UV irradiation), and the resulting polymer has high transparency and has therefore been extensively studied for use as an optically anisotropic material (see, e.g., Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, Patent Document 3, and Patent Document 4). However, any of the polymerizable compositions disclosed in these reference documents has the disadvantage of difficulty in controlling film formation with a reduced thickness.
In general, formation of a thick film from a polymerizable composition containing a liquid crystal compound encounters with difficulty in controlling molecular alignment of the liquid crystal compound, which can cause problems, such as reduction in transmittance and coloration. On the other hand, a thin polymer film having satisfactory molecular alignment over the entire area can be obtained, but formation of a thin film has difficulty in thickness control, readily resulting in non-uniform surface condition or crystallization. Furthermore, the liquid crystal state resulting from alignment control shows poor stability and tends to be disturbed before curing by irradiation with, e.g., UV light. Conventional known polymerizable compositions have thus failed to provide a satisfactory polymer.
Although Patent Document 5 supra discloses an epoxy compound that cures on irradiation with light, it is not pertinent to utilization as a liquid crystal material, nor does it teach or even suggest the effect on control in film formation and fixation of liquid crystal alignment.    Patent Document 1: JP 2006-193596A    Patent Document 2: JP 2005-196221A    Patent Document 3: JP 11-148080A    Patent Document 4: JP 8-231958A    Patent Document 5: JP 2006-84985A

Polymerizable compound and polymerizable composition

Abstract: wherein A represents a ring assembly composed of at least two 6-membered rings each optionally having a substituent; X1 and X2 each represent a (meth)acryloyloxy group; and Y1 and Y2 each independently represent a single bond, an optionally branched alkylene group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, an ether linkage, —COO—, —OCO—, a 6-membered ring optionally having a substituent, a naphthalene ring optionally having a substituent, or a combination thereof; the substituent being a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a nitrile group, an optionally branched alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, an optionally branched alkoxy group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, or an optionally branched alkenyl group having 2 to 8 carbon atoms, wherein the alkyl, alkoxy, or alkenyl group may have its —CH2— moiety replaced with a sulfur atom or an oxygen atom and may have its hydrogen atom replaced with a halogen atom or a nitrite group.


When a driving assistance system of a navigation device in a subject vehicle is able to communicate with a cooperative remote driving assistance system in an oncoming vehicle, images are obtained from individual front monitor cameras of the subject vehicle and the oncoming vehicle. These obtained images are exchanged. From within these images, common objects are recognized to thereby compute a positional relationship between the subject vehicle and the oncoming vehicle. The computed positional relationship is then shown in a display unit by a vehicular model using an outline of a top view of a vehicle. Consequently, a driver can intuitively recognize the positional relationship between the subject vehicle and the oncoming vehicle by seeing the display unit.

There is known a vehicular collision warning device that warns a driver when a collision risk is present so as to prevent a collision at an intersection with a vehicle outside a viewing field of a driver. (Refer to Patent Document 1.) In this device, a traveling direction detecting unit obtains a traveling direction, a speed detecting unit detects a speed, and a current position detecting unit detects a current position. Further, a communications control unit, a receiving unit, and a transmitting unit exchanges traveling directions, traveling speeds, and current positions between the subject vehicle and its neighboring vehicles. Through exchanging them, a computing unit determines whether an intersection is located within the distance D in the advancing direction. When an intersection is determined to be located within a distance D, the computing unit then determines whether any one of the neighboring vehicles approaches the intersection. When any one of the neighboring vehicles is determined to be approaching the intersection, a driver is warned of existence of the vehicle approaching the intersection through a displaying unit or a buzzer.
Patent Document 1: JP-H4-290200 A
Further, there are other positions where the subject vehicle may collide with or contact another vehicle, in addition to the intersection. For instance, when a vehicle passes an oncoming vehicle in a narrow road or when a subject vehicle is parked, there is possibility of colliding with another vehicle. In particular, suppose a case that a following vehicle is present when a subject vehicle passes an oncoming vehicle. In this case, a driver feels impatient to thereby not properly judge, so the driver may cause the subject vehicle to contact the oncoming vehicle or structures along roads or to run off road sides.


MR elastography is a non-invasive imaging modality in which a visco-elastic region (such as the human breast) is excited by mechanical waves. Present-day approaches are based on transverse waves and on other assumptions which produce artefacts when there are longitudinal wave or reflections within that region. The invention is based on the insight that the results of the MRE measurement are the time-independent solution of the partial differential equations describing exactly the behavior of mechanical waves in visco-elastic material (even for longitudinal waves and in a reflecting environment). Therefore, Young""s modulus contained in these equations can be calculated. Moreover, it is proposed to use (predominantly) longitudinal waves. Longitudinal waves are capable of penetrating the human breast, whereas transverse waves are not.

The invention relates to a method of determining mechanical parameters of an object to be examined, which method includes the steps of:
a) generating mechanical oscillations in the object to be examined,
b) exciting the nuclear magnetization in conjunction with a magnetic gradient field which is synchronized with the mechanical oscillations, and receiving the MR signals arising in the object to be examined in order to produce an MR phase image,
c) changing the direction of the gradient of the gradient field and/or the phase difference between the mechanical oscillations and the gradient field,
d) repeating the steps a to c) a number of times,
e) determining, on the basis of the MR phase images, the deflection of the nuclear spins from their state of equilibrium which is caused by the mechanical oscillations, and calculating at least one mechanical parameter in dependence on the deflection.
Methods of this kind are known as MRE methods (MRE=Magnetic Resonance Elastography). Such a method utilizes the fact that the phase in an MR image of the object to be examined changes due to the mechanical oscillations active therein. The extent of such changes is dependent on the deflection (i.e. the shift out of the state of equilibrium) caused by the mechanical oscillation. Information concerning given mechanical parameters of the tissue, for example concerning the elasticity, can thus be derived from the MR phase images, i.e. images reproducing the phase of the nuclear magnetization.
EP-A 708 340 discloses an MR elastography method of this kind. Therein, first two MR phase images are formed of a slice of the object to be examined. The direction of the gradient of a magnetic gradient field which is synchronized with the mechanical oscillations is the same in both images, but the phases of this periodic gradient are 90xc2x0 offset in relation to the mechanical oscillation. Subsequently, further pairs of MR phase images are produced in which the periodic gradient extends perpendicularly to the gradient direction for the first pair. Subsequently, the direction of the mechanical oscillation in the object is changed and further sets of MR phase images are acquired.
The wavelength for the various pixels can be determined from each pair of MR phase images. The modulus of elasticity (Young""s modulus) can be calculated from the wavelength when the propagation speed of the wave in the object to be examined and the density thereof are known.
In another method which is known from Proceedings of ISM 1997, p. 1905, Vancouver, the phase of the deflection is determined from a series of MR phase images and therefrom the modulus of elasticity is calculated for each individual pixel.
It is a common aspect of the known methods that they yield satisfactory results only if no reflections occur in the object to be examined and if only transverse oscillations propagate in the object. However, in a real object to be examined, for example the body of a patient, reflections are inevitable and a purely transverse wave propagation cannot be achieved either. Moreover, it is known that longitudinal mechanical oscillations can penetrate deeper into a body, so that it would be desirable per se to achieve longitudinal propagation for an as large as possible part of the mechanical vibration energy.
It is an object of the present invention to conceive a method of the kind set forth in such a manner that the mechanical parameters of the object can be reliably determined also in the case of longitudinal wave propagation or reflections in the object to be examined.
This object is achieved according to the invention by determining the amount and the phase of the deflection in a three-dimensional zone for three mutually perpendicular directions and by calculating at least one mechanical parameter from these values of the deflection and from their spatial derivatives in at least a part of the three-dimensional zone.
The invention is based on the recognition of the fact that the propagation of mechanical waves in visco-elastic media can be described by a partial differential equation whose solution for each voxel is determined by the amount and phase of the deflection in three mutually perpendicular directions as well as by the spatial derivatives of the deflection. When these quantities have been determined for each voxel, the measured values can be inserted in the differential equation and at least one of the mechanical parameters contained in said equation can be calculated therefrom.
Thus, it does not suffice to determine the deflection for only a single direction in space. It is not sufficient either to determine the deflection in all three spatial directions for one slice only, not even if a mechanical parameter (for example, the modulus of elasticity) is to be determined for this slice only. This is because, as is known, a spatial derivative of the deflection in the direction perpendicular to the slice can be determined only if the deflection is determined also in zones outside the slice. The deflection, therefore, must be determined in a three-dimensional zone, i.e. the MR phase images should reproduce the spatial distribution of the phase of the nuclear magnetization in this three-dimensional zone.
When the mechanical oscillations act on the object to be examined in such a manner that essentially longitudinal oscillations occur in conformity with claim 2, a larger penetration depth is obtained for the oscillations so that the mechanical parameters, for example of the tissue in a human body, can be determined in a larger zone.
The version of the invention as disclosed in claim 3 ensures that during each repeated excitation of the nuclear magnetization the mechanical oscillations are associated exactly in time with the gradient fields produced in conjunction with the excitation of the nuclear magnetization, notably with the gradient field synchronized with the mechanical oscillations.
The invention is based on the assumption that a series of MR phase images is formed of a three-dimensional zone so that comparatively long measuring times occur. In order to ensure that these measuring times are not prolonged further by waiting for the decaying of the nuclear magnetization in the excited zone after an excitation, the slices constituting the three-dimensional zone to be excited are excited by means of a multi-slice method as disclosed in claim 4.
A preferred version of the invention is disclosed in claim 5. Even though other mechanical parameters can also be calculated, for example, the density of the tissue, the Poisson number or the attenuation of the wave by the tissue, the modulus of elasticity is the most relevant parameter for the diagnosis. The elasticity is the mechanical parameter to be determined by a physician during the palpation of the tissue.
Particularly advantageous is the determination of the modulus of elasticity during examination of the mamma in conformity with claim 6.
Claim 7 describes a device for carrying out the method according to the invention.
In accordance with claim 8 the wave and the magnetic gradient field synchronized therewith vary sinusoidally in time. Even though a different periodic variation is also feasible, for example a sawtooth, delta or squarewave variation, the sinusoidal variation offers advantages. As many as 6 different mechanical parameters can be calculated on the basis of the measurement results.
The further embodiment in conformity with claim 9 enables calculation of more than 6 different mechanical parameters. In accordance with claim 10 the modulus of elasticity and one further mechanical parameter, for example, the attenuation coefficient, can then be calculated, even when one of these two parameters (or both parameters) is (are) not an isotropic quantity.
Claim 11 describes a computer program which is suitable for the method according to the invention.