The present invention relates to methods of synthesizing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, in recombinant cells such as yeast or plant cells. Also provided are recombinant cells or plants which produce long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a group of new enzymes which possess desaturase or elongase activity that can be used in methods of synthesizing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid(s) (LC-PUFA) are now widely recognized as important compounds for human and animal health. These fatty acids may be obtained from dietary sources or by conversion of linoleic (LA, omega-6) or α-linolenic (ALA, omega-3) fatty acids, both of which are regarded as essential fatty acids in the human diet. While humans and many other vertebrate animals are able to convert LA or ALA, obtained from plant sources, to LC-PUFA, they carry out this conversion at a very low rate. Moreover, most modern societies have imbalanced diets in which at least 90% of polyunsaturated fatty acid(s) (PUFA) consist of omega-6 fatty acids, instead of the 4:1 ratio or less for omega-6:omega-3 fatty acids that is regarded as ideal (Trautwein, 2001). The immediate dietary source of LC-PUFA such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6) for humans is mostly from fish or fish oil. Health professionals have therefore recommended the regular inclusion of fish containing significant levels of LC-PUFA into the human diet. Increasingly, fish-derived LC-PUFA oils are being incorporated into food products and in infant formula. However, due to a decline in global and national fisheries, alternative sources of these beneficial health-enhancing oils are needed.
Inclusion of omega-3 LC-PUFA such as EPA and DHA in the human diet has been linked with numerous health-related benefits. These include prevention or reduction of coronary heart disease, hypertension, type-2 diabetes, renal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and aiding brain development and growth (Simopoulos, 2000). More recently, a number of studies have also indicated that omega-3 PUFA may be beneficial in infant nutrition and development and against various mental disorders such as schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactive disorder and Alzheimer's disease.
Higher plants, in contrast to animals, lack the capacity to synthesise polyunsaturated fatty acids with chain lengths longer than 18 carbons. In particular, crop and horticultural plants along with other angiosperms do not have the enzymes needed to synthesize the longer chain omega-3 fatty acids such as EPA, DPA and DHA that are derived from ALA. An important goal in plant biotechnology is therefore the engineering of crop plants, particularly oilseed crops, that produce substantial quantities of LC-PUFA, thus providing an alternative source of these compounds.
Pathways of LC-PUFA Synthesis
Biosynthesis of LC-PUFA from linoleic and α-linolenic fatty acids in organisms such as microalgae, mosses and fungi may occur by a series of alternating oxygen-dependent desaturations and elongation reactions as shown schematically in FIG. 1. In one pathway (FIG. 1, II), the desaturation reactions are catalysed by Δ6, Δ5, and Δ4 desaturases, each of which adds an additional double bond into the fatty acid carbon chain, while each of a Δ6 and a Δ5 elongase reaction adds a two-carbon unit to lengthen the chain. The conversion of ALA to DHA in these organisms therefore requires three desaturations and two elongations. Genes encoding the enzymes required for the production of DHA in this aerobic pathway have been cloned from various microorganisms and lower plants including microalgae, mosses, fungi. Genes encoding some of the enzymes including one that catalyses the fifth step, the Δ5 elongase, have been isolated from vertebrate animals including mammals (reviewed in Sayanova and Napier, 2004). However, the Δ5 elongase isolated from human cells is not specific for the EPA to DPA reaction, having a wide specificity for fatty acid substrates (Leonard et al., 2002).
Alternative routes have been shown to exist for two sections of the ALA to DHA pathway in some groups of organisms. The conversion of ALA to ETA may be carried out by a combination of a Δ9 elongase and a Δ8 desaturase (the so-called Δ8 desaturation route, see FIG. 1, IV) in certain protists and thraustochytrids, as evidenced by the isolated of genes encoding such enzymes (Wallis and Browse, 1999; Qi et al., 2002). In mammals, the so-called "Sprecher" pathway converts DPA to DHA by three reactions, independent of a Δ4 desaturase (Sprecher et al., 1995).
Besides these desaturase/elongase systems, EPA and DHA can also be synthesized through an anaerobic pathway in a number of organisms such as Shewanella, Mortiella and Schizhochytrium (Abbadi et al., 2001). The operons encoding these polyketide synthase (PKS) enzyme complexes have been cloned from some bacteria (Morita et al., 2000; Metz et al., 2001; Tanaka et al., 1999; Yazawa, 1996; Yu et al., 2000; WO 00/42195). The EPA PKS operon isolated from Shewanella spp has been expressed in Synechococcus allowing it to synthesize EPA (Takeyama et al., 1997). The genes encoding these enzymes are arranged in relatively large operons, and their expression in transgenic plants has not been reported. Therefore it remains to be seen if the anaerobic PKS-like system is a possible alternative to the more classic aerobic desaturase/elongase for the transgenic synthesis of LC-PUFA.
Desaturases
The desaturase enzymes that have been shown to participate in LC-PUFA biosynthesis all belong to the group of so-called "front-end" desaturases which are characterised by the presence of a cytochrome b5 domain at the N-terminus of each protein. The cyt b5 domain presumably acts as a receptor of electrons required for desaturation (Napier et al., 1999; Sperling and Heinz, 2001).
The enzyme Δ5 desaturase catalyses the further desaturation of C20 LC-PUFA leading to arachidonic acid (ARA, 20:4ω6) and EPA (20:5ω3). Genes encoding this enzyme have been isolated from a number of organisms, including algae (Thraustochytrium sp. Qiu et al., 2001), fungi (M. alpine, Pythium irregulare, Michaelson et al., 1998; Hong et al., 2002), Caenorhabditis elegans and mammals. A gene encoding a bifunctional Δ5-/Δ6-desaturase has also been identified from zebrafish (Hasting et al., 2001). The gene encoding this enzyme might represent an ancestral form of the "front-end desaturase" which later duplicated and evolved distinct functions. The last desaturation step to produce DHA is catalysed by a Δ4 desaturase and a gene encoding this enzyme has been isolated from the freshwater protist species Euglena gracilis and the marine species Thraustochytrium sp. (Qiu et al., 2001; Meyer et al., 2003).
Elongases
Several genes encoding PUFA-elongation enzymes have also been isolated (Sayanova and Napier, 2004). The members of this gene family were unrelated to the elongase genes present in higher plants, such as FAE1 of Arabidopsis, that are involved in the extension of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. An example of the latter is erucic acid (22:1) in Brassicas. In some protist species, LC-PUFA are synthesized by elongation of linoleic or α-linolenic acid with a C2 unit, before desaturation with Δ8 desaturase (FIG. 1 part IV; "Δ8-desaturation" pathway). Δ6 desaturase and Δ6 elongase activities were not detected in these species. Instead, a Δ9-elongase activity would be expected in such organisms, and in support of this, a C18 Δ9-elongase gene has recently been isolated from Isochrysis galbana (Qi et al., 2002).
Engineered Production of LC-PUFA
Transgenic oilseed crops that are engineered to produce major LC-PUFA by the insertion of these genes have been suggested as a sustainable source of nutritionally important fatty acids. However, the requirement for coordinate expression and activity of five new enzymes encoded by genes from possibly diverse sources has made this goal difficult to achieve and the proposal remained speculative until now.
The LC-PUFA oxygen-dependent biosynthetic pathway to form EPA (FIG. 1) has been successfully constituted in yeast by the co-expression of a Δ6-elongase with Δ6- and Δ5 fatty acid desaturases, resulting in small but significant accumulation of ARA and EPA from exogenously supplied linoleic and α-linolenic acids (Beaudoin et al., 2000; Zank et al., 2000). This demonstrated the ability of the genes belonging to the LC-PUFA synthesis pathway to function in heterologous organisms. However, the efficiency of producing EPA was very low. For example, three genes obtained from C. elegans, Borago officinalis and Mortierella alpina were expressed in yeast (Beaudoin et al., 2000). When the transformed yeast were supplied with 18:2ω-3 (LA) or 18:3ω-3 (ALA), there was slight production of 20:4ω-6 or 20:5ω-3, at conversion efficiencies of 0.65% and 0.3%, respectively. Other workers similarly obtained very low efficiency production of EPA by using genes expressing two desaturases and one elongase in yeast (Domergue et al., 2003a; Zank et al., 2002). There remains, therefore, a need to improve the efficiency of production of EPA in organisms such as yeast, let alone the production of the C22 PUFA which requires the provision of additional enzymatic steps.
Some progress has been made in the quest for introducing the aerobic LC-PUFA biosynthetic pathway into higher plants including oilseed crops (reviewed by Sayanova and Napier, 2004; Drexler et al., 2003; Abbadi et al., 2001). A gene encoding a Δ6-fatty acid desaturase isolated from borage (Borago officinalis) was expressed in transgenic tobacco and Arabidopsis, resulting in the production of GLA (18:3ω6) and SDA (18:4ω3), the direct precursors for LC-PUFA, in the transgenic plants (Sayanova et al., 1997; 1999). However, this provides only a single, first step.
Domergue et al. (2003a) used a combination of three genes, encoding Δ6- and Δ5 fatty acid desaturases and a Δ6-elongase in both yeast and transgenic linseed. The desaturase genes were obtained from the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum and the elongase gene from the moss Physcomitrella patens. Low elongation yields were obtained for endogenously produced Δ6-fatty acids in yeast cells (i.e. combining the first and second enzymatic steps), and the main C20 PUFA product formed was 20:2Δ11,14, representing an unwanted side reaction. Domergue et al. (2003a) also state, without presenting data, that the combination of the three genes were expressed in transgenic linseed which consequently produced ARA and EPA, but that production was inefficient. They commented that the same problem as had been observed in yeast existed in the seeds of higher plants and that the "bottleneck" needed to be circumvented for production of LC-PUFA in oil seed crops.
WO 2004/071467 (DuPont) reported the expression of various desaturases and elongases in soybean cells but did not show the synthesis of DHA in regenerated plants or in seeds.
Abbadi et al. (2004) described attempts to express combinations of desaturases and elongases in transgenic linseed, but achieved only low levels of synthesis of EPA. Abbadi et al. (2004) indicated that their low levels of EPA production were also due to an unknown "bottleneck".
Qi et al. (2004) achieved synthesis in leaves but did not report results in seeds. This is an important issue as the nature of LC-PUFA synthesis can vary between leaves and seeds. In particular, oilseeds store lipid in seeds mostly as TAG while leaves synthesize the lipid mostly as phosphatidyl lipids. Furthermore, Qi et al. (2004) only produced AA and EPA.
As a result, there is a need for further methods of producing long-chain polyunsaturated, particularly EPA, DPA and DHA, in recombinant cells.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Synthesis of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids by recombinant cells

COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION


A rotor for an electric machine includes a rotor carrier having a cylindrical axial support portion which extends axially with respect to an axis of rotation of the rotor, a sheet pack which includes a plurality of lamellar sheets and is attached to the axial support portion at an attachment area, and a first weld in the sheet pack at a predetermined distance away from the attachment area to fasten a plurality of the lamellar sheets together.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rotor for an electric machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rotors of this type often have a rotor carrier with a disk-like support portion extending in the radial direction and a cylindrical axial support portion, on which a sheet pack consisting of lamellar electrical sheets is attached. The sheet pack can carry a coil winding or a plurality of permanent magnets, or it may not have any additional elements at all, and functions as the rotor of a reluctance machine while guiding the magnetic flux inside the rotor. The sheet pack is usually attached to the cylindrical axial support portion of the rotor carrier by a process such as pressing, adhesive bonding, caulking, or welding, as described in, for example, DE 102 26 572 A1.
During the operation of the electric machine, the rotor is subjected to extreme forces; in particular, the centrifugal forces acting on a cup-shaped rotor supported axially on one side can cause the open end to expand. In the case of rotors having a large diameter and/or rotors which operate at high revolutions per minute, at least some of the individual lamellar sheets can be spread apart or become laterally displaced or, in the extreme case, the entire sheet pack can break apart. Various types of mechanical vibration modes of the rotor are also associated with this behavior. Taken alone or in conjunction with the effects of the associated electromagnetic coupling between the rotor and the stator, these vibrations are accompanied by clearly noticeable, unpleasant running noises such as shrill whistling tones. The disadvantageous effects, however, are not limited to the electric machine alone but can also involve elements which are in working connection with the rotor, such as the crankshaft and its bearings in the case of a vehicle drive system consisting of an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, in which the rotor is connected non-rotatably to the crankshaft. In this case, the vibrations of the rotor of the electric machine can be superimposed with the vibrations of the crankshaft, which occur as a result of the periodic combustion process, in such a way that the two units start to vibrate in resonance with each other. The units can thus be prematurely damaged and can therefore fail a significant period before the end of their anticipated service life.
To counteract this problem, which has been known for many years, the common practice is to make the overall rotor very heavy, especially when it is cup-shaped, or at least to provide reinforcing elements in certain areas, preferably in the area of the open end of the cup, to prevent the sheet pack from spreading radially apart. A collar, for example, can be provided at the open end to act as a reinforcing element. These measures, all of which are familiar to the person of ordinary skill in the art, solve the problem by increasing the strength of the components and by shifting the occurring resonance frequencies as far as possible outside the nominal speed range. However, at the same time the mass of the rotor and its moment of inertia are considerably increased, which is generally undesirable for the application mentioned above.


A composite, analyte sensor includes a substrate; a micro- or nano-electro-mechanical (MEMS; NEMS) resonator that is coupled to the substrate at least two edge locations (i.e., it is at least doubly-clamped) of the resonator, wherein the resonator is in a statically-buckled state near a buckling transition point of the resonator; and a chemically-responsive substance covering at least a portion of the surface of the resonator that will undergo a conformational change upon exposure to a given analyte. The resonator may be a double-clamped, statically-buckled beam (or bridge), a multiply-clamped, statically-buckled dome (or crater), or other resonator geometry. The sensor may include two or more at least double-clamped, statically-buckled, composite MEMS or NEMS resonators each operating near a buckling transition point of the respective resonator, and each characterized by a different resonant frequency. A method for sensing an analyte in ambient air.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention are in the field of analyte sensors, more particularly, micro- or nano-electro-mechanical (MEMS; NEMS) resonator-based sensors and, most particularly, MEMS/NEMS, statically-buckled resonator-based sensors, methods of making, and applications thereof.
2. Related Art
A need exists for fast and inexpensive trace vapor detectors. Microsensors based on electrochemical, surface acoustic wave, optical, and mechanical transduction are under investigation to meet this demand. Sensors based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are candidates for a wide range of sensing applications including environmental monitoring; biological, biomedical and biochemical analysis; health monitoring; and detection of explosives for security use and landmine sweeping.
Microcantilevers have been the primary MEMS structures used in sensors research. FIGS. 1A, 1B schematically illustrate, respectively, a MEMS cantilever with a reactive coating on multiple sides corresponding to a resonant mode and, on a single side corresponding to a deflection mode. Changes in the resonance frequency of the cantilever due to the added mass of analyte or changes in materials properties due to chemical interaction between the analyte and a reactive coating are measured using these devices. Gravimetric mass sensors have proven extremely sensitive in vacuum. Various surface coatings and treatments have been developed for use at ambient pressure where sensitivity is lower due to viscous losses. Alternately, cantilevers are coated on a single side with a reactive layer that swells or contracts upon contact with an analyte and a static deflection is measured. In functionalized cantilever studies, deflection of the composite structure relieves the stress induced by these volumetric changes.
Breath gas analysis is a well documented technology that uses a variety of techniques spanning the scale from proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry and ion-molecule-reaction mass spectrometry, to the deflection of cantilevers. The prospect of directly analyzing 'breath gas' for various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) raises the possibility of monitoring human performance and stress, as well as enabling a broad-based non-invasive tool for diagnosis and monitoring.
Breath gas components acetaldehyde, acetone, ethanol, isoprene have been monitored, with isoprene in particular correlated to heart rate. Acetaldehyde, an oxidation product of ethanol, is seen to decrease during sleep, while isoprene is related to the biosynthesis of cholesterol and shows a time variation during sleep correlated to heart rate. Other gasses, e.g., o-toluidine, show correlation to lung carcinoma. Thus it is well established that by measuring various volatile organic compounds, important physiological information can be obtained from the breath of human subjects. The typical range of relevant gas concentrations are 100s to 1000s of ppb.
Prior technology pioneered the use of the time dependent deflection of a cantilever array on which a variety of polymer coatings were deposited to resolve the presence of VOCs using principal component analysis (a 'NOSE'). The analysis also demonstrated success in resolving signatures from various alcohols (from heptanol to methanol), as well as acetone, toluene, dichloromethane and heptane. Response times were relatively rapid (on the order of a few seconds). The 'NOSE' was used to carry out a neural network analysis of various natural flavors (M. K. Baller, H. P. Lang, J. Fritz, Ch. Gerber, J. K. Gimzewski, U. Drechsler, H. Rothuizen, M. Despont, F. M. Battiston, J. P. Ramseyer, P. Formaro, E. Meyer, J. J. Guntehrrodt, "A cantilever array-based artificial nose", Ultramicroscopy 82 1-9 (2000)).
FIGS. 2(a-d) show data published by the same group on the response of a cantilever array to breath gas from two healthy patients (a, b) and two patients with renal disease (uraemia) (c, d). A compound found in patient's breath associated with uraemia is dimethylamine, which is presumably the sensed VOC. It is noted that the detection response time in the 100s of seconds (H. P. Lang, J. P. Ramseyer, W. Grange, T. Braun, D. Schmid, P. Hunziker, C. Jung, M. Hegner, C. Gerber "An Artificial Nose Based on Microcantilever Array Sensors", Journal of Physics: Conference Series 61 (2007) 663-667 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/61/1/133 International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology (ICN&T 2006)).
Other studies have compared resonant frequency shifts and cantilever deflection as a methodology for signal extraction. The VOC sensed was RDX vapor on a carboxyl-terminated self-assembled mono-layer (SAM) of 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA aka thiosalicylic acid) (Thomas Thundat, Lal Pinnaduwage and Richard Lareau, "Explosive Vapour Detection using micromechanical sensors" in Electronic Noses & Sensors for the Detection of explosives, 249-266, J. W. Gardner and J. Yimon, eds. Kluwer (Netherlands) (2004)). FIG. 3 (their result) shows negligible sensitivity of the resonant frequency to RDX vapor in contrast to the robust signal from deflection. The deflection of the cantilever is attributed to stress in the SAM that induces bending in the cantilever. The same group also demonstrated mass absorption induced frequency shift at the 15 pg level of PETN on their 4-MBA functionalized cantilever; resolution was estimated at the few pg level.
Resonant cantilevers were used without functionalization to demonstrate sensitivity to ethanol (S-J. Kim, T Ono, M. Esashi, "Mass detection using capacitive resonant silicon resonator employing LC resonant technique" Rev. Sci. Instr., 78 085103-1-6 (2007)). In that study, the researchers hypothesized that the increase in resonant frequency observed (100 Hz shift compared to 81 kHz frequency) with a Q=10 in ambient air when the cantilever was exposed to moisture in the air was due to a change in stress in the native oxide layer on the cantilever's surface. In contrast, exposure to ethanol laden air evoked a negative frequency shift due to adsorption of the ethanol vapor. The concentrations of analytes were 1400 ppm (water) and unknown for the ethanol.
Cantilever deflection by exposure to DNT via diffusion of the VOC into a nano-porous material, TBC6A (thickness 300 to 500 nm) has also been demonstrated (P. G. Datskos, N. V. Lavrik, and M. J. Sepaniak, "Detection of Explosive Compounds with the Use of Microcantilevers with Nanoporous Coatings", Sensor Letters, 1, 25-32, (2003)). In that study, a μm thick coating of TBC6A was deposited by thermal evaporation on a cantilever. The cantilevers were able to resolve the presence of TNT and its various derivatives. However, the response time was excessively long, though the researchers were able to demonstrate improvement in the response time by elevating the temperature of the substrate.
The same group demonstrated a true "nose" similar to the Baller et al. work referred to above by thermally evaporating various organic compounds on nanostructured gold surfaces. They demonstrated a deflection response to a variety of VOCs from CO2 to tri- and tetra-chlorethylene via nine different coatings thermally evaporated onto a cantilever array. The responses were examined with an artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm, enabling identification of individual components as well as the ability to assay them from a mixture (P. G. Datskos, N. V. Lavrik, M. J. Sepaniak, and P. Dutta, "Chemical sensors based on functionalized microcantilever arrays", IEEE sensors Exco Korea Oct 22 862-867, (2006) and C. A. Tipple, N. V. Lavrik, M. Cuha, J. Headrick, P. Datskos, and M. J. Sepaniak, "Nanostructured Microcantilevers with functionalized cyclodextrin receptor phases: Self assembled monolayers and vapor deposited films", Anal. Chem., 74, 3118-3126 (2004)).
The methodology of ANN or Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is similar to that employed in commercial handheld noses that rely on mass adsorption and resonant frequency shift of quartz crystal microbalances (Quartz Crystal Monitors-QCMs). Though the various coatings of the QCMs are proprietary, it is hypothesized that as long as there is a differential response to various analytes, coatings can be relatively simple. It is clear that the distinguishing feature of the QCM vs. cantilever responses in terms of the resonant frequency shift is the fact that cantilevers are highly dissipative in air, thus relinquishing their surface area/volume advantage over QCMs, which have relatively high Qs in ambient air at the expense of poor surface/volume. Most commercial handheld noses use four to eight sensors, cost between 10000 and 25000 USD, and require battery power that is limited to a few hours of operation.
In view of the foregoing discussion as well as other information known in the art, the inventors have recognized the benefits and advantages that would be provided over cantilever-based sensors, QCMs used in current VOC monitors, and lab-based gas chromatography by sensor apparatus and methods that operate more rapidly (seconds vs. minutes) due to reduced thickness of the functionalizing film, especially for nano-porous materials, and comparable to the time constant of delivery of the gas to the sensor; that ease the readout of the sensor (e.g., frequency rather than deflection, with no requirement for the large dimensions needed for the optical measurement of deflection). That can provide a miniaturized array of sensors on a chip scale; that have reduced cost, size, and power requirements; and others. Besides medical applications, such devices could also find utility in a variety of consumer applications from food packaging to cosmetics, and defense applications ranging from explosives detection to munitions monitoring.

Stress-based sensor, method, and applications


An automated method for designing a processor""s control path employs program routines that synthesize the control path based on the processor""s instruction format and data path specification. It extracts parameters from a machine-readable description of the processor""s instruction format, and generates a specification of the components in the control path and their interconnection with the control ports in the data path.

The invention relates to the automated design of a programmable processor, and in particular, relates to the design of a processor instruction unit.
Over the last decade, the use of programmable processors has become pervasive, not only in conventional computing machines such as workstations and PCs, but also in a variety of other products such as telephones, games, vehicles, televisions, etc. While workstations and personal computer markets are converging on a small number of processor designs, the embedded systems market is enjoying an explosion of architectural diversity. This diversity is driven by widely varying demands on processor performance and power consumption, and is propelled by the possibility of optimizing architectures for particular application domains. Because of these varying demands and the advantages of optimizing a design for a particular application, it is often necessary to design an application specific processor rather than use an existing processor design. In view of the complexity of the design task and the pressure to reduce the time to market, there is a need for automation tools that assist the designer in creating the processor design.
The processor design generally includes a specification of the instruction format, a data path, and a control path. The instruction format specifies the instructions that the processor executes along with the specific bit encodings for each of the instructions. The data path specifies the functional units that execute the instructions, the register files that store the inputs and outputs of the instructions, and the interconnect that transfers data back and forth between the register files and functional units. Finally, the control path specifies how instructions are fetched from memory, decoded, and dispatched to the control ports in the data path, including the register file address ports and opcode input ports of the functional units.
An instruction unit is a general term for the control path component in the processor that fetches instructions from memory and decodes them. The design of the instruction unit is typically quite complex, particularly for Very Long Word Instruction (VLIW) processors. VLIW processors exploit instruction-level parallelism by issuing several operations per instruction to multiple functional units. Usually, the instructions are very wide and of variable width in order to minimize code size. The encoding of multiple operations into variable length instructions complicates the design of the instruction unit.
To date, the architects of programmable processor chips have had to design the instruction unit of the processor manually. While there are a number of software tools for digital logic synthesis, none of these tools are known to automate the design of the processor instruction unit. Therefore, there is a need for design tools that automate the design of instruction units, and their components.
The invention relates to an automated method for designing a processor""s control path. The method employs program routines implemented in software or hardware to automate the design of the control path based on the processor""s instruction format and data path specification. It extracts parameters from a machine-readable description of the processor""s instruction format specification, and generates a specification of the components in the control path.
The method involves a number of unique process steps for automating the design of a processor""s control path. These process steps may be used individually, or in a variety of combinations, to automate the design of components in the processor""s control path. In one design scenario, for example, the method generates a hardware description of the processor""s control path from a specification of the processor""s instruction format and a macrocell library of hardware components used to build the components in the control path. In this scenario, the processor""s control path includes: 1) the data path (the IUdatapath) of an instruction from the processor""s instruction cache to an instruction register that interfaces with the instruction decode logic, 2) the control logic for controlling the IUdatapath, and 3) the instruction decode logic. The method programmatically extracts instruction width requirements from the instruction format and uses this information to create macrocell instances for the hardware components in the IUdatapath. It also programmatically generates the decode logic (e.g., in the form of logic tables) from the instruction format specification. Finally, it programmatically generates the control logic for the IUdatapath. This control logic includes the logic that interconnects the instruction sequencer in the processor with the IUdatapath and controls an alignment network for aligning instructions in the processor""s instruction register.
Each one of the process steps outlined above can be used individually to automate portions of the control path design. For example, one aspect of the method may be used to generate a hardware description of prefetch buffers in the control path based on the instruction format. Another aspect of the method may be used to generate the control logic that controls the prefetch buffers and interconnects the instruction sequencer in the processor with the IUdatapath. Yet another aspect of the method may be used to generate the alignment network. Finally, another aspect of the method may be used to generate the control logic that decodes the instructions and distributes the control signals to the processor""s data path components.
Further advantages and features of the invention will become apparent with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

Automated design of processor instruction units


Methods of producing a polymer include contacting at least one olefin with a catalyst prepared by contacting a support comprising alumina with a sulfating agent and with chromium. Polymer compositions produced in this manner may exhibit relatively low levels of long chain branching and relatively high molecular weights. In an embodiment, polymer compositions with a PDI in a range of from about 6 to about 15 have MW values greater than about 300,000 g/mol and Eo values less than about 1×106 Pa·s. The polymer compositions may further have Theological breadths greater than about 0.25 and relaxation times less than about 10 seconds.

Supported chromium oxide catalysts are commonly employed to prepare polyolefins having desirable characteristics. Various supports for chromium oxide catalysts have been disclosed in the art. The particular support used for the chromium oxide strongly affects the properties of the polymer being formed. Silica supports have primarily been used due to their ability to form highly active polymerization catalysts. However, silica supports do not provide for the production of ultra high molecular weight polymers when hexavalent chromium is formed during the catalyst activation, which often occurs.
Aluminum phosphate supports are similar to silica supports in that they form highly active catalysts. However like the silica supports, they also do not have the ability to produce very high molecular weight polymers. Further, the polymers produced using the aluminum phosphate supports tend to contain relatively high amounts of long chain branching, which is not always a desirable property during processing of the polymer. A need therefore exists to develop a method for producing polyolefins having less long chain branching and higher molecular weights.

Polymers having low levels of long chain branching and methods of making the same


Fluid control apparatus for use with vehicle clutches are disclosed. A disclosed clutch coupling assembly for a vehicle includes a housing defining a cavity. The clutch coupling assembly also includes a fluid reservoir fluidly coupled to the cavity. The clutch coupling assembly also includes a clutch positioned in the cavity. Rotation of the clutch is to convey a fluid from the cavity to the fluid reservoir. The clutch coupling assembly also includes a pump operatively coupled to the housing to control the fluid. Operation of the pump is to convey the fluid from the fluid reservoir to the cavity when the clutch is in an engaged state.

Motor vehicles typically employ clutch systems to facilitate transferring torque from an engine to a vehicle driveshaft and/or a vehicle axle. Some vehicle clutch systems utilize fluids (sometimes referred to as wet clutches) such as oil for moving components (e.g., a clutch pack) of a clutch to cool and/or lubricate the components, which improves clutch performance and/or increases a lifespan of the clutch. Typically, the clutch is immersed in an oil bath within a sealed cavity of a housing.


Disclosed is a method for zinc phosphating a molded metal article wherein a treating bath composition comprises from 1.5 to 5.0 g/l of zinc ion, from 0.1 to 3.0 g/l of manganese ion, from 5 to 40 g/l of phosphate ion, from 0.05 to 3.0 g/l of a fluorine compound as HF and hydoxylamine as a chemical conversion accelerator. A concentration of hydroxylamine is maintained to satisfy the following relationship:. 0.5.ltoreq.hydroxylamine!(g/l)-2.0.times.Fe.sup.2+ !(g/l).ltoreq.3.0 The treating bath is agitated by a vibratory agitating means provided in the treating vessel so that a mean acceleration a of a treating solution present within a bath region in which the molded metal article is immersed to be treated under fluid agitation is at least 8 cm/sec.sup.2. The mean acceleration is calculated from the following equation: ##EQU1## wherein values of X, Y and Z, each in unit of cm/sec.sup.2, indicate average acceleration values of treating solution in three respective X, Y and Z axial directions which are perpendicular to each other. The velocity changes of the treating solution in a flow state in respective X, Y and Z directions are synchronously measured at measuring locations for 60 seconds to be averaged to obtain the respective average acceleration values in X, Y and Z directions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for zinc phosphating a molded metal article such as an automobile body, a household electrical appliance, steel furniture and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, zinc phosphating is made to molded metal articles such as automobile bodies, household electric appliances, steel furniture and the like, prior to providing an overlay coating thereon. Spray and dipping methods are typically employed for such zinc phophating. The dipping method is preferably employed when a treated object has a baggy structure as an automobile body does and a higher corrosion resistance must be given to the treated object after the overlay coating is provided. The dipping method involves immersing the molded metal article into a treating bath of a treating solution in a treating tank.
The treating bath for zinc phosphating typically contains phosphate ions, zinc ions and other metal ions. Frequently, the treating solution further incorporates a chemical conversion accelerator for the purpose of accelatating formation of zinc phosphate coating. Examples of suitable chemical conversion accelerators include nitrite ion, hydrogen peroxide and nitrobenzensulfonate ion as has been conventionally used. Of the above, nitrite ion is widely used.
However, enviromental issues are accompanied by the use of nitrites such as sodium nitrite for the chemical conversion accelerator as nitrogen oxides evolve from the treating bath containing the same.
Japanese Patent Laying-open Nos. Sho 64-277 (1989) and Hei 5-195245 (1993) respectively disclose employing a treating bath containing hydroxylamine such as hydroxylamine sulfate for the chemical conversion accelerator. The use of hydroxylamine as the chemical conversion accelerator enables a chemical conversion treatment to be made without unfavorable evolution of nitrogen oxides. Similarly to conventional chemical conversion accelerators, it is also effective to inhibit formation of iron sludges in the treating bath, which advantageously permits a small-scale desludging process.
However, the use of hydroxylamine as the chemical conversion accelerator is not well-suited to treating metal articles having a baggy structure such as an automobile body and the like because it leads to an unsatisfactory formation of a zinc phosphate coating on the baggy structure and imparts poorer corrosion resistance characteristics thereto compared to the other types of chemical conversion accelerators.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention is to provide a method for zinc phosphating a molded metal article which is capable of inhibiting formation of nitrogen oxides and iron sludges and of enhancing corrosion resistance characteristics in the baggy structure of the article while solving the aforementioned problems as has been conventionally raised.

Method for zinc phosphating molded metal articles


Embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods and systems for determining thermal properties of materials by using frequency modulated pump light intensity to cyclically heat a sample, and using probe light to induce fluorescent signals from fluorescent indicators on the surface of the material during the cyclic 5 heating. The methods and systems utilize the phase delay between the frequency modulated pump light and the corresponding fluorescent signals to determine the thermal properties of the material at one or more locations on the material sample.

Materials tend to degrade over time. Some materials may be intended to be, or may originally be, substantially homogenous. Due to one or more conditions or processes, such as oxidation, reduction, radiation, dissolution, hydration, etc., the homogenous material may degrade and lose homogeneity to include one or more degradation products therein. Information about the degradation may indicate the useful life or quality of the homogenous material.
Radioactive materials tend to be hard on equipment. For example, gamma rays, alpha particles, and/or heat emitted from radioactive material may shorten the lifespan of equipment in the proximity of the radioactive material. Also, radioactive materials, such as fuel rods, pellets, or cladding thereof may undergo degradation during use, such as during nuclear power production.

Methods and systems for determining at least one thermal property of a sample


A child restraint apparatus relates to holding a child within a vehicle interior. The apparatus has a body with an internal area for receiving a child. An energy absorbing member extends in use over at least part of an external surface of the body. This energy absorbing member faces away from the internal area.

The present invention relates to a child restraint apparatus for example a child car seat for use in a vehicle. In particular, the present invention concerns such apparatus for reducing the risk of injury to passengers present in the vehicle who are seated adjacent said child car seat in the event of a vehicle accident or the like.
In this connection, it is well known to provide child car seats to carry children and infants safely in vehicles. Most commonly, the child car seat is located on the rear seat of a vehicle and is attached or restrained to the vehicle seat using a connection which makes use of a standard vehicle seat belt or dedicated connection points such as lower anchors, top tethers or those of the Isofix type. That said, child car seats may also be located on a front passenger seat of a vehicle, in which case, the child car seat is usually attached using the front passenger seat belt.
When located on the rear seat of a vehicle, the seat area taken up by a child car seat typically extends over the at least the width of one of the rear seat cushions. As such, additional passengers are able to occupy the remaining rear vehicle seats, including the seat immediately adjacent the seat cushion occupied by the child car seat.
In terms of their structure, child car seats typically comprise a seat portion, a back portion and a head portion to support the child or infant occupant. The child car seat may also comprise raised side portions, which serve to restrict transverse movement of the child in the child car seat. The seat, back, head and raised side portions are commonly formed of a plastics material. The child car seat thereby effectively provides a rigid protective shell or body which at least partially surrounds the occupant of the child car seat. The seat, back, head and side portions of the child car seat may be covered in foam or other suitable cushioning materials on their inner facing surfaces to provide both a soft comfortable support for the child or infant against the underlying harder rigid plastic surfaces, and furthermore to provide cushioning against the internal surfaces of the shell should the child car seat be subjected to a sudden acceleration or deceleration.
In the event of a collision with another vehicle or object, such child car seats serve to properly restrain an occupant of the seat and to improve their immediately subsequent kinematics, thereby reducing the severity of injury to the child or infant. Further impact protection is afforded by the rigid shell which partially surrounds the occupant of the child car seat.
In a side impact to the vehicle, the fixings of the child seat with the vehicle, e.g. lower anchors, top tethers, Isofix connection points or the seat belt, may as a result of sufficient forces from the vehicle impact, permit the child car seat to move to some degree in a direction substantially in line with the direction of the vehicle impact. The amount and direction of movement of the child car seat will depend on a number of factors including the magnitude and direction of vehicle impact and the fixing method employed. A passenger occupying a seat adjacent to the child car seat, for example the middle rear seat of the vehicle, may as a result be impacted by the child car seat as the child car seat moves. Consequently, a passenger sitting adjacent the child seat may themselves suffer injury to the side of their body, including the torso, arms and/or upper leg areas, depending on the shape of the child car seat and where precisely the child car seat impacts the passenger.
In addition to injury that may be caused to an adjacent passenger, the impact of the child car seat on the adjacent passenger may also cause a sudden deceleration to the child car seat. This sudden deceleration may in turn cause injury to the occupant of the car child seat, as a result of the potentially high forces exerted in particular on the child seat occupant=s head and neck.
If the side impact of the vehicle should however occur on the opposite side of the vehicle, i.e. when the child car seat is positioned furthest from the point of impact on the rear seat of a vehicle, then there is a risk that the adjacent passenger to the child car seat will in this instance move towards the child car seat. Again there is a risk that the adjacent passenger will be injured as a result of impact with the child car seat, for example injury to the pelvis. Similarly, the occupant of the child car seat, due to the sudden impact, may be subjected to unduly high forces in particular to the occupant=s head and neck. Furthermore, the impact of the adjacent passenger with the child car seat may also in turn result in the child car seat impacting with the interior side of the vehicle and causing further injuries to the occupant of the child car seat.
The present invention seeks to overcome the aforementioned problems and seeks to reduce the likelihood of injury to a passenger sitting adjacent a child restraint such as a child car seat.


An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device including a heating roller configured to heat a sheet when the heating roller rotates, a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the heating roller; and a controller configured to obtain a temperature detected by the temperature sensor at intervals of a predetermined sampling time, calculate, at the intervals of the predetermined sampling time, a temperature-decrease-amount of the detected temperature over a unit time that is longer than the predetermined sampling time, and stop rotation of the heating roller when the calculated temperature-decrease-amount is greater than a predetermined threshold value.

The following disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus forming an image on a sheet while conveying the sheet.
There have been known an image forming apparatus including a fixing device having a heating roller, a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the heating roller, and a controller. In this technique, the controller is configured to calculate a temperature gradient value in temperature change of the heating roller based on results of temperatures at the heating roller detected by the temperature sensor, and determine whether a sheet is wound around the heating roller or not based on the calculated temperature gradient value and elapsed time of the temperature gradient value detected by a timer.

Image forming apparatus and method for controlling the same


The present invention provides a method of manufacturing an optical fiber coating with a greater adhesive strength between the primary coating layer and the colored layer as the secondary coating layer. This method prevents the colored layer from being removed together with the bundle coating layer when the bundle coating layer is removed, for example, prior to joining. A colored layer is provided on the outer circumference of the primary coating layer while keeping the surface of the primary coating layer in an unhardened state to thereby improve the adhesive strength between the primary coating layer and the colored or secondary layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coated optical fiber to be used, for example, in light communication and particularly relates to a coated optical fiber having a colored layer provided thereon.
2. Background Information
In an optical fiber to be used for light communication, it is considered preferable to provide a plastic coating (primary coating) on the outer circumference of a fiber immediately after the fiber is formed, regardless of the kind of the fiber, whether it is an optical glass fiber or a quartz glass fiber. Such a coating protects the fiber from injuries caused to the fiber surface which may occur when the fiber is formed, or, by the growth of cracks generated on a naked fiber when it is exposed to the air. For such a plastic layer, thermosetting silicon resin, ultraviolet setting resin (hereinafter referred to "UV resin"), or radiation setting resin, are some of the coatings most normally found in the art. UV resin has recently found wide acceptance.
An optical fiber having a primary coating layer of UV resin is manufactured, for example, through a process in which UV resin is continuously applied, by use of coating dyes, onto an optical fiber which is wiredrawn, by use of a wiredrawing furnace, and irradiated with ultraviolet rays to thereby harden the UV resin. One or more optical fibers coated with UV resin are further coated with a secondary coating layer such that a coated optical fiber is produced. For the purpose of discrimination, sometimes, an individual UV resin coated fiber is coated with a colored layer as a secondary coating layer. This optical fiber is referred to as a color-coated optical fiber.
Generally, a plurality of such color-coated optical fibers are put side by side, and a bundle coating is applied onto the outside of the color-coated optical fibers to thereby form a tape-like coated optical fiber.
In the case where the tape-like coated optical fibers are to be joined to each other at the time of laying a cable or the like, it is necessary to remove the bundle coating layers at the respective end portions of the respective optical fibers so as to expose the color-coated optical fibers. However, when the bundle coating layers are removed, the colored layers are often removed together with the bundle coating layers. If these colored layers are simultaneously removed, it becomes impossible to discriminate each of the coated optical fibers from one another, making the subsequent joining of the coated optical fibers extremely difficult and time consuming.

Method of manufacturing color-coated optical fibers


The present invention provides a process for the preparation of Vanillin (4-hydroxy-3-methoxy benzaldehyde) by a single-step oxidation of ferulate moiety of rice straw, a renewable agricultural waste. This is a chemical method where vanillin is produced from a renewable resource in a single-step using a green oxidizing reagent and green solvent. Apart from that the water and the inorganic compounds can be recycled.

Vanillin is a key additive to food products, perfumery, beverage and an intermediate in pharmaceutical industry. The world production of synthetic vanillin is estimated to be over 3000 tones per annum. With the current growth rate (5.75% annually) the global demand is likely to make an exponential growth. Vanillin is naturally obtained from Vanilla planifolia Andrew (Orchidaceae) pods. Vanilla flavour extracted from cured beans of the vanilla plant (Vanilla planifolia Andrew) is used as a flavouring agent in food and currently has high demand. The traditional method of production of natural vanillin is cumbersome as it involves cultivation of plants in restricted climatic regions, hand pollination with limited success and the tedious processes for curing and extraction of products from the beans. This 'natural' vanillin, can cover only 1% of the global demand and is costly (US$4,00.00-500.00 per kilogram) [Virginia Commonwealth University News, 14.04.2003, firstname.lastname@example.com]. It is estimated that even to cater to 5% of global demand of vanillin 2.39 Lakh hectare of land has to be brought under cultivation causing deforestation of huge tract of virgin forest [www.tidco.com/tidcodocs/tn/Opportunities/Vanillin.doc]. Apart from that natural calamity can cause havoc in vanilla cultivation. In 2001 a devastating hurricane in Madagascar the world's biggest vanilla producer destroyed about 35% of the crop and 15% of the stocks in storage, sky rocketing the price from US$20.00-US$40.00 to US$200.00-US$230.00 a kilogram [www.foodnavigator.com/newsnews-NG.asp].
The recent focus on vanillin production is centered on isolation of ferulic acid from agro-waste and its subsequent conversion to vanillin. Recently biotechnological approaches have been initiated to achieve this target. Some progress is being made in developed countries [P. Bonnarme, G. Ferm, A. Durand; Ind. Perfumer, 45(1), 63-67, 2001] to prepare vanillin through a biotechnological route from ferulate-moiety containing agricultural waste. Here ferulic acid is first isolated from its source, which is converted to vanillin and vanillic acid using microbes [Synthesis of vanillin from a carbon source; John W. Frost, U.S. Pat. No. 6,372,461 and references cited]. Use of glucose instead of ferulic acid as feed-stock results in microbial conversion to vanillic acid. The latter is reduced to vanillin by an aryl-aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme released from a genetically manipulated E. coli microbe [Synthesis of vanillin from a carbon source; John W. Frost, U.S. Pat. No. 6,372,461]. The biotechnological processes require multi-steps, heavy investment and stringent control to dictate the specific enzymes to work, and have high risk of mutation or inhibition of growth of microorganisms in presence of metabolites and are slow. Therefore, there is a scope to develop chemical methods that will be able to convert ferulate moiety of agricultural waste to vanillin in minimum chemical steps in an environmentally benign way.
Any new process aimed at preparation of vanillin today must concern itself for use of renewable resources and environmentally-friendly chemicals and solvents. In this case the ideal raw material is ferulate moiety containing agro-wastes such as rice straw, which is cheap and abundant, hydrogen peroxide as the oxidizing agent and water as solvent.
The hitherto relevant known methods for preparation of vanillin are:
A reference may be made to the guaiacol method [Esposito L. et.al., "Vanillin" Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology; Vol: 24, 812-814, 1997; Fourth Ed., Kroschwitz, J. I., Howe-Grant, M., Ed., Wiley: New York]
Vanillin is now industrially prepared in multi-steps using guaiacol as the starting material. Guaiacol itself is prepared from catechol. Catechol is prepared from phenol a crude-oil based chemical.
The drawback of the process is that it involves multi-steps and non-renewable crude oil based chemicals.
Another reference may be made to Vanillin from lignin [Esposito L. et.al., "Vanillin" Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology; Vol: 24, 812-814, 1997; Fourth Ed., Kroschwitz, J. I., Howe-Grant, M., Ed., Wiley: New York]
This industrial method of preparation of vanillin is based on lignin as raw material. In this method lignin from cellulose industry is treated with alkali at elevated temperature in presence of oxidants. The vanillin formed is separated from by-products such as acetovanillin, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy acetophenone and few other compounds.
The drawback of the process is that in spite of use of renewable lignin as raw material the process generates 160 tones of caustic wastes per ton of vanillin. This volume of waste is a threat to the environment.
Yet another reference may be made to Vanillin from ferulic acid [W. A. Herrmann, T. Weskamp, J. P. Zoller, R. W. Fischer; J. Mol. Catal., 153, 49-52, 2000]
In this method trans-ferulic acid is converted to vanillin using hydrogen peroxide in presence of methyl trioxorhenium complex as catalyst.
The drawback of the method is that methyl trioxorhenium complex is costly and short-lived in presence of water. On the other hand commercial hydrogen peroxide (ca. 30%) contains water. The reaction has to be carried out in a good amount of water-trapping agent magnesium sulphate. The reaction can be carried out using methyl tributyl ether as solvent, which is toxic and expensive. Under such a stringent condition the reaction remains only of academic interest.
Yet another reference may be made to Vanillin from alkali lignin by green chemical method [Zhou Qiang; Chen Zhonghao; China Patent No. CN 1285395; 2001]
In this method vanillin is prepared from alkali lignin by catalytic oxidation reaction with recovery of catalyst and solvent.
The drawback of the method is that lignin has to be separated with alkali prior to the oxidation reaction resulting in multiple steps.
Yet another reference may be made to Vanillin from alkali lignin by nitrobenzene oxidation method [Kozlov I. A., Kuznetsov B. N., Gogotov A. F., Rybal Chenko T. So Ran; Russian patent No. RU2179968, 2002] In this method lignin is oxidized by alkaline nitrobenzene.
The drawback of the method is that it uses nitrobenzene a toxic compound and the method also produces syringaldehyde as the major product.
Considering the environment-polluting non-renewable petroleum crude based chemicals employed in the existing methods there is a great scope for inventing environmentally-friendly chemical processes that can use renewable raw materials for the synthesis of vanillin. It is also important to recycle chemicals and solvents in one hand for optimum utilization and on the other to answer the demand of the environmental considerations. The use of renewable starting materials such as agrowastes do not demand extra virgin land and water for cultivation.
Hydroxycinnamic acids, particularly ferulic acid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxy cinnamic acid, occurs widely in the cell walls of graminaceous plants. All the cell walls of sugarcane and rice straw contain 5-15% hydroxycinnamic moieties based on total lignin. The conversion of ferulate (hydroxycinnamate) moiety into vanillin is of current global interest. But the interest is confined to biotechnological methods only. The biotechnological processes are slow, require heavy investment and stringent control to dictate the specific enzymes to work, and have high risk of mutation or inhibition of growth of microorganisms in presence of metabolites. Therefore, it is very much necessary to develop clean chemical methods to convert ferulates of agrowastes such as rice straw to vanillin eliminating the drawbacks of other methods cited above. The present invention answers all the above concerns by using rice straw as the renewable raw material, water as solvent and hydrogen peroxide as the oxidizing agent along with a catalyst and co-catalyst both of which are cheap, recyclable and stable in presence of water. The synthesis of vanillin can be done by this invention in a single simple step. All the chemicals and solvent can be recycled except hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is consumed in the reaction with release of water as the by-product.

Process for the preparation of vanillin from agricultural waste

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A computer generates a target language text phrase from a source language text phrase. The computer receives a text phrase in a source language. The computer then determines one or more salient points of the received source language text phrase. The computer determines one or more salient points in a target language that correspond to the one or more source language salient points. The computer then generates a target language text phrase based on the one or more salient points in the target language.

Machine translation (MT) is the use of software to translate text from one natural language to another. Various methodologies exist in providing a machine translation including rule-based MT and statistics-based MT. Rule-based MT is a general term that denotes machine translation systems based on linguistic information about source and target languages determined from bilingual dictionaries and grammars covering the main semantic, morphological, and syntactic regularities of each language. Statistics-based MT translations are generated on the basis of statistical models whose parameters are derived from the analysis of bilingual text corpora.
Parsing or syntactic analysis is the process of analyzing a string of symbols in a natural language according to the rules of a formal grammar. Sentence parsing is often performed as a method of understanding the exact meaning of a sentence, sometimes with the aid of devices such as sentence diagrams. It typically emphasizes the importance of grammatical divisions such as subject and predicate.
An ontology formally represents knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain, or specific area of interest such as an industry domain, and the relationships between pairs of concepts. It can be used to model a domain and support reasoning about concepts. An ontology provides a shared vocabulary, which can be used to model a domain, that is, the type of objects and/or concepts that exist, and their properties and relations. An ontology model identifies these object or concepts and defines the relationship between them. Ontologies create a structural framework for organizing information and are used in artificial intelligence, the semantic web, and other areas as a form of knowledge representation about the world or some part of it.

Domain specific salient point translation

International Business Machines Corporation


In one aspect of the invention, an apparatus for directional degradation of a surface comprises an attachment assembly connected to a motorized vehicle comprising at least one degradation tool. The at least one degradation tool comprises a substantially cylindrical rotary degradation element having a substantially cylindrical working surface formed about a rotational axis. A plurality of cutting inserts is embedded within the substantially cylindrical working surface and is adapted to degrade a surface in a direction substantially normal to the rotational axis. At least one of the plurality of cutting inserts comprises a superhard material bonded to a cemented metal carbide substrate at a non-planar interface. The superhard material comprises a substantially pointed geometry with an apex comprising a 0.050 to 0.160 inch radius and a 0.100 to 0.500 inch thickness from the apex to the non-planar interface.

Modern road surfaces typically comprise asphalt, macadam, or other bituminous material processed and applied to form a smooth paved surface. Where low quality pavement components are used, or where pavement components are improperly implemented or combined, the paved surface may deteriorate quickly, necessitating frequent maintenance and repair. Even under normal conditions, temperature fluctuations, weather, and vehicular traffic over the paved surface may result in cracks and other surface irregularities over time. Road salts and other corrosive chemicals applied to the paved surface, as well as accumulation of water in surface cracks, may accelerate pavement deterioration. In some situations, concrete roads may shift due to the earth shifting under them.
Road resurfacing equipment may be used to degrade, remove, plane and/or recondition deteriorated pavement. Typically, heat generating equipment is used to soften the pavement, followed by equipment to degrade and plane the surface. New pavement materials may be worked into the degraded surface to recondition the pavement. The mixture may then be compacted to restore a smooth paved surface.


A system and method is provided for phase interpolator based transmission clock control. The system includes a transmitter having a phase interpolator coupled to a master timing generator and a transmission module. The phase interpolator is also coupled to a receiver interpolator control module and/or an external interpolator control module. When the system is operating in repeat mode, the transmitter phase interpolator receives a control signal from a receiver interpolator control module. The transmitter phase interpolator uses the signal to synchronize the transmission clock to the sampling clock. When the system is operating in test mode, a user defines a transmission data profile in an external interpolator control module. The external interpolator control module generates a control signal based on the profile. The transmitter phase interpolator uses the signal to generate a transmission clock that is used by the transmission module to generate a data stream having the desired profile.

In the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase both in processor speeds and in memory capacity. As a result, the need for networks to handle high-speed transfer of large quantities of data among devices has also increased. Transceivers capable of efficiently receiving and transmitting high-speed data are critical components of these high-speed networks.
At a high level, a transceiver includes a transmitter and a receiver. To reliably process a received data signal, the receiver needs to match its operating characteristics with the characteristics of the received data signal. For example, to minimize data recovery errors, a receiver generates a clock signal to sample the received data signal at times that produce optimal data recovery. To achieve this optimal data recovery, the receiver must lock the sampling clock to the clock of the remote transmitter. A clock data recovery (CDR) unit in the receiver recovers the high-speed clock from the data signal and uses this recovered clock as the sampling clock. The transmitter, on the other hand, transmits data using a clock signal that is locked to the output frequency of a local reference clock.
In many applications such as storage networks, communication devices are connected in loop or daisy chain configurations. Transceivers in these communication devices are often required to re-transmit received data not destined for the device. To allow for data recovery at the destination device, the transmission clock signal used by the transmitter to re-transmit the data must be locked to the sampling clock used by the receiver.
One technique to achieve synchronization between the sampling and the transmission clocks within a transceiver is to have two separate CDR units, one for the receiver and one for the transmitter. A typical CDR unit includes a phase locked loop (PLL) having a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO). When multiple PLLs (and VCOs) are implemented in the same transceiver, cross talk between the two VCOs causes intermodulation that in turn degrades the performance of the transceiver. Intermodulation refers to the condition, also known as injection locking, in which one VCO tracks not only its own reference frequency but the frequency of the other VCO. In addition, the use of multiple VCOs increases the power consumption of the transceiver.
In another technique, the recovered sampling clock is transmitted across the transceiver and used by the transmitter as the transmission clock. The transmission of a high-speed clock across the transceiver requires significant power and also increases cross talk. In addition, any jitter in the sampling clock is introduced into the data stream by the transmitter increasing the possibility of data recovery errors at the destination receiver.
These problems are exacerbated in transceivers that have multiple transmitters and multiple receivers. These transceivers are referred to as multiple channel or multi-channel transceivers. In a multi-channel transceiver, each receiver is capable of receiving a separate data signal. Therefore, each receiver must generate a sampling signal locked to the clock of the remote transmitter. Thus, each receiver must have a separate CDR function. When these transceivers are operating in repeat mode, each transmitter must be locked to the sampling clock of the receiver that received the data to be transmitted. If a PLL is needed for each channel of the multi-channel receiver, the power limits of the transceiver will likely be exceeded.
One example of a multi-channel transceiver is a serializer/deserializer or Serdes transceiver. The transmitter in a Serdes transceiver transmits parallel data in serial order and the receiver converts a received serial data stream back into parallel data. One limitation of Serdes transceivers is the difficulty of testing the device. For example, it is desirable to determine the tolerance of a receiver to jitter and noise. Currently, the testing equipment to perform these tests is costly and cannot be used during production. As a result, a complete view of the operation of a transceiver cannot be developed.
Therefore, a need exists for a communications device having a controllable transmission clock.
A further need exists for a communications device having a transmission clock that can be controlled by an external device.

Phase interpolator based transmission clock control


A stretch wrap packaging machine includes a support frame and a rotatable frame rotatably mounted on the support frame. A dispenser is mounted on the rotatable frame to follow an orbital path. The dispenser has a web tensioning system which is selectably operable in a plurality of states. At least one actuation ring is moveably mounted on the support frame for cooperation with the tensioning system and selectively rendering the tensioning system operable in each of the plurality of states of operation throughout the orbital path. An activator moves the actuation ring to cooperate with the tensioning system. The tensioning system may include prestretch rollers connected by an engageable clutch. The tensioning system may also include at least one power assisted roller which is connected by a clutch to a power source.

The invention relates to stretch wrapping a load with packaging material and more particularly to controlling the tension of the packaging material during the wrapping process.
Stretch wrapping devices have been used to wrap a web of tensioned packaging material around the outside of a load by providing relative rotation between the load and a packaging material dispenser. In some instances, the dispenser includes prestretch rollers which rotate at different speeds to stretch the web before it is wrapped on the load, and a dancer roller which is used to help control the dispensing of the film and sense a film web break to stop the dispensing of the film.
The stretch wrapping process begins by loading a roll of stretch wrap packaging material, such as a stretch wrap film web, in the dispenser. After loading the roll, the leading end of the film web is threaded through the prestretch rollers and around the dancer roller and then secured to the load or to a clamp.
The tension in the film web between the web dispenser and the load can be provided in many different ways. For example, it can be provided by a brake which restrains film roll as the web is dispensed. It also can be provided by a roller between the film roll and the load which is connected to a brake. It further can be provided by a prestretch mechanism which, in addition to prestretching the film, restrains the film between the dispenser and the load to tension the web.
The tension imported to the film web by the prestretch mechanism can be provided solely by a mechanical interconnection between the upstream and downstream prestretch rollers. The tension also can be provided, regulated or reduced by a speed or torque control which uses an external power source to control the speed or torque of the prestretch rollers. Examples of such arrangements are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,302,920, 4,418,510, 4,387,548, and 4,866,909 which are incorporated herein by reference.
In a number of instances, it is desirable to disengage the mechanical linkage between the prestretch rollers or disengage the prestretch rollers from the external power source. For example, it is useful when the web is threaded through the prestretch rollers.
In some instances, such as with unstable loads, it may be desirable to dispense the first circumferential wrap of the web around the load at substantially less tension in the web than subsequent circumferential wraps around the load. This enables the load to be secured in position before wrapping it with a highly tensioned web which is required to effectively contain the load. Such highly tensioned web would otherwise undesirably permit the load to be displaced if it had not previously been wrapped with the web while at a low tension.
In stretch wrapping operations where the film web dispenser is stationary, it is easy to provide mechanisms to electronically control the components of the film web dispenser because the electronic circuitry between power sources, control mechanisms and the film web dispenser does not cross between two moving units. However, when the film web dispenser is rotated around a load, it is necessary to use commutators to provide electrical communication between components in the film web dispenser and control mechanisms or power sources which do not rotate with the film web dispenser.
Previous attempts to disengage the prestretch rollers or the external power source, or control the tension of the film web in a moving web dispenser have not been found to be completely satisfactory. In some wrapping machines, the mechanical drive between the two prestretch rollers, and the mechanical drive between the prestretch rollers and an external power source previously had been coupled by respective wrap spring clutches. These clutches were engaged and disengaged by a mechanical linkage which included moveable pawls that cooperated with ratchet collars on the clutches.
In one instance, the clutches were engaged and disengaged by a mechanical linkage actuated by a spring loaded dancer roller. So long as the film web pressed on the dancer roller, the clutches would stay engaged. This kept the prestretch rollers engaged and interconnected to prestretch the film web. It also kept the prestretch rollers engaged to an external power source. The power source regulated the tension of the film web between the web dispenser and the load, generally by reducing that tension during normal wrapping operations.
If the film web broke and ceased pressing on the dancer roller, the dancer roller would move because it was spring loaded. Such movement would be transmitted through a linkage to disengage the clutches. This caused the prestretch rollers to mechanically disengage from each other and from the external power source to prevent undesirable consequences such as winding the broken film web around the prestretch rollers. The use of a spring loaded dancer roller to engage and disengage the tensioning system also had the disadvantage of requiring an undesirably high minimal level of tension on the film to restrain the dancer roller against its spring loading during operation.
Another arrangement which mechanically engaged and disengaged clutch mechanisms on the web dispenser used an arm which mechanically reached in to toggle a control mechanism on the orbiting web dispenser at a predetermined point in its orbit. The control mechanism could then be toggled back to reengage the clutch mechanism when the web dispenser again reached that point in its orbit.
Yet another arrangement to engage and disengage clutches included a spring loaded follower roller which extended from the orbiting web dispenser. The follower roller was engageable with the inner radial surface of a curved plate mounted on the support frame of the stretch wrapping apparatus at one segment of the dispenser's orbit. When the plate was radially pivoted into a ramped position, it engaged the spring loaded follower roller and disengaged the clutch mechanisms on the web dispenser. The clutch mechanisms would reengage after the follower roller on the web dispenser passed the plate or the plate was pivoted out of position.
These earlier arrangements had the disadvantage of being unable to use a mechanical device to immediately and flexibly control the tension on the film web.


A base station includes a monitoring unit that monitors whether a supply of electrical power to a first other base station that forms another communication area that is overlapped with a communication area formed by the own station is stopped, and a wireless communication unit that sends, when the supply of the electrical power to the first other base station is stopped, first key data by using a first channel and that sends, after sending the first key data, second key data that is the same as the first key data and a transmission regulation notification indicating that call regulation is performed on the own station by using a second channel.

In the current mobile unit communication system, mainly, communication services are provided by base stations each of which forms a macrocell that is a wide communication area. In a description below, a base station that forms a macrocell is sometimes referred to as a "macro base station".
However, an area, such as the inside of a building, in which a radio wave transmitted from a macro base station is hardly reached, sometimes becomes an out-of-communication-service area or a non-detection area, such as an area in which communication is unstable. Accordingly, measures are taken to relieve this non-detection area such that a small-size base station with small transmission electrical power is arranged in a macrocell and, by using this small-size base station, a femtocell whose communication area is smaller than that of the macrocell is formed in the macrocell. In a description below, a small-size base station that forms a femtocell is sometimes referred to as a "femto base station".
Because a femto base station is usually arranged inside of a building, the femto base station is connected to a mobile telecommunication network via a public line, such as a broadband line arranged inside of the building. Furthermore, the femto base station provides the same communication service as that provided by the macro base station with respect to a communication terminal that is used by a user. Because the femto base station is connected to a mobile telecommunication network by using a public line, no dedicated line is needed to arrange the femto base station. Accordingly, for mobile unit telecommunication carriers, due to the arrangement of femto base stations, it is possible to take measures against non-detection areas at low cost, which is an advantage. Furthermore, due to the arrangement of the femto base station in a macrocell, it is possible to accommodate a communication terminal, which is conventionally accommodated in a macro base station, in the femto base station. Consequently, for mobile unit telecommunications carriers, due to the arrangement of the femto base station, an advantage is provided in that the communication resources in a macrocell can be efficiently used. Furthermore, due to the arrangement of the base station inside of a building, for a user of a communication terminal, an advantage is provided in that the state of a radio wave is improved and high-quality and large-volume communication is possible.
In recent years, with the development of high-performance communication terminals represented by smart phones, because data communication traffics are dramatically increased, it is difficult, only for macrocells, to satisfy demands of users who use high-quality communication terminals. Accordingly, in recent years, the femto base stations having various advantages are actively installed.
Related-art examples are described, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-166272, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-056881 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2011-250263.
Because femto base stations are often arranged in a macrocell as the measurements against a non-detection area in the macrocell, femtocells are often used in a manner such that the femtocells overlap with macrocells. Furthermore, in case of a power failure of a main power supply, a standby power supply functioning as an emergency power supply is connected to a typical macro base station. Thus, even if a power failure occurs in the main power supply, the macro base station can continue a communication service by switching the power supply from the main power supply to the standby power supply.
In contrast, because a typical femto base station does not include a standby power supply in case of a power failure, if a supply of electrical power from the main power supply to the femto base station is stopped due to the occurrence of a power failure or the like, the typical femto base station is not able to continue the communication service. Due to a stop of the communication service of the femto base station, a plurality of communication terminals accommodated in a femto base station simultaneously sends a location registration request to a macro base station. Consequently, in a macrocell, due to a stop of the communication service of the femto base station, congestion of communication data sometimes occurs. If congestion of the communication data occurs in a macrocell, a communication delay may sometimes occur in the communication of the communication terminals that are originally accommodated in a macrocell. Furthermore, if a core network located in a level higher than that of the macrocell detects congestion in the macrocell and thus performs call regulation on the entirety of the macrocell, the call regulation is also performed on the communication terminals that are originally accommodated in the macrocell. Consequently, a stop of the communication service of the femto base station adversely affect, such as a communication delay, call regulation, or the like, the communication terminals that are originally accommodated in the macrocell.

Base station, communication terminal, and call regulation control method


Screw feeders are disclosed including a conical feed screw rotatably disposed in a conical screw tube, and a drive shaft mounted at one end of the conical feed screw with a pair of bearings mounting the drive shaft, a fixed ring mounted on the drive shaft, and an axially adjustable sleeve mounted on the drive shaft, with the pair of bearings disposed between the fixed ring and the axially adjustable sleeve in order for the pair of bearings to be pretensioned therebetween.

Plug screw feeders of the type which utilize a rotatable feed screw are utilized in pulp manufacturing processes. Such processes involve feeding lignocellulosic material, such as wood chips, wood shavings and sawdust, or various non-wood fibers, such as sugarcane bagasse, from a hopper or storage container equipped with the screw feeder to further processing equipment. This further processing equipment can include mechanical refiners or disk refiners, as well as digesters and other pulp treatment devices, such as impregnating equipment. During the infeeding process, the conical screw of the screw feeder compresses the chips into a dense plug which serves to seal against the impregnator vapor pressure, for instance. The chip plug is advanced continuously as it expands into the impregnator, while water present in the chips is drained off through holes in the screw housing. The chip plug is moved in the impregnator towards a conical back-blowing mechanism, which breaks up the plug.
A principal object of the present invention is a means for dealing with the problem of providing a screw feeder that is able to take up the rotational loads and alternating axial loads that occur therein. These loads place the equipment under a great deal of strain, and serious wear will thus occur unless the screw feeder is accurately centered and stable.


A retaining modular mechanism for a hard disk and a modular frame thereof simplifies the conventional process of locking and unlocking a hard disk and reduces assembly time. Fixing holes are applied on two sides of a hard disk that includes a receiving housing and a modular frame. The receiving housing has a bottom board and a side board. The modular frame has a base positioned on the bottom board, a locking part and an elastic element positioned between the base and a locking part. The locking part has a bottom wall slidably mounted on the base, and a sidewall positioned on the side board of the receiving housing. The base has a fixing sidewall opposite the sidewall of the locking part. The fixing sidewall and the sidewall of the locking part are respectively formed with a plurality of fixing pins. The fixing pins insert into the fixing holes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retaining modular mechanism for a hard disk and a modular frame thereof, which is applied for fixing a hard disk in a host housing of a computer, and particularly to a retaining modular mechanism for a hard disk and a modular frame thereof that doesn't require any tools or screws to fix the hard disk into the housing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To ensure a precise, high-speed operating disc drive is disposed stably onto a host housing of a computer, the prior art usually locks the disc drive onto a disc drive frame in the host housing using screws. However, the space around the host housing located at the two sides of the disc drive is small and disassembling the disc drive from the host housing is inconvenient.
In the prior art, a step of locking screws in the fixing process needs to be made and this requires a screwdriver. The assembling and disassembling process is time-consuming and troublesome and the screws are easily lost. For a manufacturer or service center this is bothersome as they are more and more concerned about efficiency. Furthermore, if the screws are dropped on the motherboard and are not removed, the motherboard will short when the computer is turned on. Therefore, the computer will be damaged.
With the above-described problems of the prior art in view, an object of the present invention is to provide a retaining modular mechanism for a hard disk and modular frame thereof that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.

Retaining modular mechanism for a hard disk and a modular frame thereof


A head and neck protection device is provided which consists of a collar pad to sit upon the shoulders and is large enough for the neck of a wearer to pass through. A pair of straps are affixed to the collar pad to extend under the armpits of the wearer and retain the collar pad to the shoulders. A head protector is provided, with a structure for mounting the head protector onto the collar pad, so that it does not touch, rest and depend on the head, face and neck of the wearer. It will give better versatility and protection to the wearer, since the head protector is supported by the collar pad on the shoulders.

The instant invention relates generally to protective devices and more specifically it relates to a head and neck protection device which provides a structure that does not engage with the head, face and neck of the wearer.
There are available various conventional protective devices which do not provide the novel improvements of the invention herein disclosed.


A proposed spread spectrum signal receiver includes a radio front-end unit and a processing unit. The radio front-end unit, in turn, has an antenna, a digitizing circuit and a primary buffer unit. The antenna is adapted to receive radio signals (SHF) from a plurality of signal sources, and the digitizing circuit is adapted to downconvert and filter the received signals (SHF), and generate sample values (SBP-D) thereof. The primary buffer unit is adapted to temporarily store the sample values (SBP-D) from the digitizing circuit and allow the processing unit to read out a first set of stored sample values (SBP-D) contemporaneously with the storing of a second set of sample values (SBP-D) in the primary buffer unit. The processing unit is adapted to receive the sample values (SBP-D) from the primary buffer unit, and based thereon, produce position/time related data (DPT).

Spread spectrum transmission solutions are becoming increasingly important, for instance in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Presently, the Global Positioning System (GPS; U.S. Government) is the dominating standard, however alternative standards exist and are expected to gain increased importance in the future. So far, the Galileo system (the European programme for global navigation services), the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS; Advanced Space Business Corporation in Japan) and the Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS; Russian Federation Ministry of Defense) constitute the major alternative standards. Moreover, various types of mobile telecommunications systems employ spread spectrum transmission formats, such as the second generation standard IS-95 and the third generation standards IMT-2000 and CDMA2000.
In any case, due to the dissimilarities in the signal formats and the frequency bands specified by the different standards, a signal receiver adapted for one standard is generally not able to receive and process signals from signal sources belonging to a system that operates according to another standard.
Thus, multiple receiver chains are required to enable reception of signals from more than one type of system. However, including more than one receiver chain in a single device renders the device expensive, bulky and heavy. Therefore, a programmable software receiver solution is desired, which enables processing of many signal formats in one and the same processor, e.g. a CPU (central processing unit) or a DSP (digital signal processor). In such a design, it is possible to alter the signal processing principles depending on which signals are received and processed. A software-based receiver is also advantageous in that this kind of receiver may co-exist efficiently with other types of signal receivers, signal processing devices and/or software applications, for example in a laptop computer, a mobile telephone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).
However, the software-receiver approach presents a number of new problems. In a hardware receiver design, the signal processor has a highly standardized and well-defined interface to the radio front-end. A multi-purpose software signal processor, on the other hand, must have a comparatively open and flexible interface towards the radio front-end and be capable of handling many different types of incoming source data having characteristics, which vary over relatively wide ranges in terms of frequency bands, bandwidth, modulating principle, signal formats and signal power levels.
Various types of buffering solutions are known in the art, which allow signal samples to be stored temporarily before being further processed. For example, the published US patent application 2005/0001764 describes a flexible architecture GPS receiver having a buffer for capturing incoming radio frequency signals at a rate consistent with the GPS bandwidth. The buffer allows repeated "playbacks" of the buffered data at rate consistent with the processing hardware. Thereby, a simultaneous search and tracking of GPS signals can be performed. It is also possible to emulate a multi-channel receiver based on a single channel receiver hardware.
The published European patent application 1 467 221 discloses a GPS receiver with signal memories and parallel correlators, wherein an intermediate frequency signal is sampled and stored in a memory. The memory, in turn, has two memory banks which alternately receive samples. Thus, during a write period in one of the memory banks, the other bank may supply its output to a processor. It is stated that this design is useful when the incoming signal contains several satellite transmissions. Nevertheless, here, the subsequent processing is performed entirely in hardware, and the received satellite signals all have the same format.
The published international patent application WO 03/065610 describes a pilot searcher for GPS and CDMA signals, wherein a sample buffer is used to enable a real-time mode as well as an off-line mode operation. In the real-time mode, the sample buffer is used as a circular buffer whereby samples are written to the buffer in real time as they are received, and are thereafter retrieved, as they are needed for processing. Hence, pilots may be searched in real time in the received signal. In the off-line mode, the sample buffer is used to store a particular time window of samples, and the stored samples may then be retrieved one or more times as required for processing. Moreover, the samples may be decimated and packed prior to storing in the sample buffer, such that each packed sample represents a data word including a particular I/Q-pair of samples.
However, all the known sample-buffer based receivers include hardware, which is designated to process signals with very specific characteristics. Therefore, none of these solutions allows the kind of parameter flexibility required by a software-implemented receiver.