A petroleum additive having excellent storage stability and heat stability, which comprises an alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid containing a higher aliphatic carboxylic acid, a higher aliphatic amine or a higher aliphatic amide, or a sulfurized mixture thereof. A process for improving storage stability, heat stability and viscosity character of the petroleum additive.

In general, an alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid is also called an alkaline earth metal salicylate and is used as an additive to a lubricating oil for internal combustion engine (engine oil). It exhibits marked effects for the neutralization of acids such as oxyacid and sulfuric acid, dispersion of sludge, lacquer, carbon and the like, and prevention of corrosion and abrasion, choking of ring groove, hang-up of piston and the like. The alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid or a sulfurized mixture thereof is excellent in heat stability so that it can maintain its activity as a detergent for a long period of time. Furthermore, the alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid is used as an additive for a lubricating oil, and, in addition, it is added in a small amount to a diesel fuel oil or gasoline fuel oil. The object of the addition to such a fuel oil is to prevent adhesion of sludge, carbon and the like to a combustion chamber.
The alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid, which is a main component of an alkali earth metal salicylate, has heretofore been prepared by a complex process, for example, by forming an alkaline metal salt of alkyl phenol, carboxylating the resulting salt in accordance with Korbe-Schmitt reaction, neutralizing the alkali metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid thus obtained with an inorganic acid and then reacting the neutralized salt with an alkaline earth metal compound or by conducting double decomposition using calcium chloride or the like. However, these processes contain many and complex steps including a rinsing step for completely removing strong electrolytes such as strong acid, strong alkali or chloride which promote corrosion of a metal such as engine. Moreover, even by such a complex treatment, strong electrolytes cannot have been removed completely.
On the other hand, the present inventors has found that an alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid can be formed directly by reacting an alkali earth metal salt of a phenol with carbon dioxide and discloses this method JP-A-61-282336 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") and JP-B-4-25996 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined published Japanese patent publication"). That is, it is a process for producing an alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid, which comprises very simple steps, conducting direct metal addition of an alkaline earth metal reagent to an alkyl phenol as a raw material and treating the resulting product with a carbon dioxide gas.
This process is an industrially advantageous process which makes it possible to obtain an alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid far easier than the conventional process, because it requires neither formation nor decomposition of the alkaline metal salt during the process and additionally, it does not require a rinsing step of a strong electrolyte.
Since alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid has drawbacks in oil solubility and storage stability, a phenol as a raw material is desired to have a hydrocarbon side chain having at least 15 carbon atoms, preferably at least 18 carbon atoms.
However, since a phenol having such a long-chain hydrocarbon as a side chain is more expensive than a general-purpose phenol having 12 or less carbon atoms as a side chain, it is difficult to use the former phenol from the economical viewpoint. Furthermore, even if such a long-chain phenol is employed, it is not free from a drawback in stability upon long time storage.
A phenol is the most expensive material among the raw materials employed so that it is the common practice to recover a free phenol, which has remained in the reaction mixture, by distillation. It is however difficult to recover a long-chain phenol containing a hydrocarbon side chain having at least 15 carbon atoms, because its boiling point is high. Even if it is possible to recover by distillation, not only large utilities are required for the recovery but also the objective alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid is partially decarboxylated owing to the exposure to high temperatures not lower than 230.degree. C.
It is therefore not recommendable to use a phenol containing a hydrocarbon side chain having at least 15 carbon atoms as a raw material. Accordingly, there has been a demand for the development of a petroleum additive which contains an alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid--for which a phenol containing a hydrocarbon side chain having not more than 15 carbon atoms, preferably not more than 12 carbon atoms, is used as a raw material--and which is excellent in oil solubility and storage stability. When a phenol containing a hydrocarbon side chain having 15 or less carbon atoms is used in the conventional process, the alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid, which is the reaction product, inevitably has problems in oil solubility and storage stability.
It is known to conduct sulfurization of an alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid as a means for overcoming the above-described problems (JP-A-64-29354). If the sulfurization is conducted prior to carboxylation, however, an active portion of the phenol nucleus is consumed by sulfurization, which makes it difficult to conduct carboxylation. The sulfurization after carboxylation, on the other hand, inevitably causes elimination of one portion of the intentionally-introduced carboxyl group owing to the heat required for the sulfurization. This process is therefore accompanied with the problem that when oil solubility and storage stability are improved by sulfurization, the carboxylation ratio of the product largely lowers, leading to a deterioration in the heat stability, particularly, high-temperature cleanability (result of lacquer test) of the product.

Petroleum additive having excellent storage stability and heat stability comprising an alkaline earth metal salt of aromatic hydroxycarboxylic acid or a sulfurized mixture thereof


A fitment for package holding a liquid and a package including such a fitment. The fitment is a metering dispensing valve arranged to be secured to a flexible bag for selectively dispensing a metered quantity of the liquid therefrom. It includes a compressible bulb and a piercing member which when actuated pierces through the bag to enable a metered amount of the liquid to be drawn into a reservoir in the bulb. The bulb can then be compressed to dispense the metered amount of liquid from the reservoir. The dispensing valve also includes a inlet valve to the reservoir and an outlet valve from the reservoir. The fitment may include a pair of barriers to enable it to be sterilized before being secured to the bag form an aseptic package.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to flexible packages and more particularly to flexible packages including a fitment for dispensing a metered amount of liquid within the packages.
2. Description of Related Art
Numerous patents disclose flexible packing for holding liquids and for dispensing the liquid through a fitment outlet or tap forming a portion of the package. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,810 (Hample et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,969 (De Van et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,654 (Gaubert), U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,395 (Gaubert), U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,378 (Christine), U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,725 (Malpas et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,767 (Savage et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,845 (Steiger) and published application 2005/0121464A1.
The devices of the above identified prior art make use of gravity to enable the liquid within the flexible package to be dispensed from the package. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, when the contents of the flexible package has reached a very low level there may not be sufficient static head to enable the dispensing of further amounts, thereby leaving some liquid still within the package. Moreover, the dispensing packages of the prior art making use of gravity as the mechanism for effecting the dispensing operation may not provide precise and repeatable metering of the liquid being dispensed.
Flexible packages for use with pumps also exist in the prior art. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,576,313 (Smith et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,986 (Last et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,584 (Stern).
While the aforementioned packages with fitments may be generally suitable for their intended purposes, they suffer from one or more of the drawbacks, e.g., simplicity of construction, low cost, effectiveness in dispensing repeated metered amounts of liquid, and effectiveness dispensing the entire contents of the package. The subject invention addresses the needs of the prior art.

Volumetric dispensing fitment and package including the same


Tread comprising at least one groove delimited by two walls facing one another, joined together by a groove bottom, this groove having a plurality of closure devices, each made up of at least one flexible blade (of thickness E suited to allowing flexing under the effect of a circulation of liquid in the groove, and secured to a wall delimiting the groove, each flexible blade bounded by a bottom wall facing the bottom of the groove, an end wall facing the other wall of the groove and a contact wall to come into contact with the roadway and lateral walls spaced apart from one another by a distance equal to the thickness E of the blade, the bottom wall of each flexible blade having a notch in the vicinity of the wall to which the blade is attached, wherein each flexible blade is connected to one of the walls delimiting the groove inside a housing (formed on the wall bearing the blade, each housing having a depth suited to containing in its entirety a notch.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to tire treads and more particularly to treads comprising grooves comprising closure devices for reducing the noise generated by air going into resonance inside these grooves during driving.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known that as a tire that is running comes into contact with a roadway in the contact patch, air is made to circulate in each groove, notably grooves of circumferential overall orientation. With the roadway, each groove forms a pipe having two open ends.
The air in this pipe forms a vibrating column of air the resonant frequency of which is dependent on the length separating the two ends of the pipe and therefore on the length of groove in contact with the roadway.
This resonance of the air in the grooves has the result of generating, in a vehicle fitted with these tires, a noise that can be heard inside the vehicle and outside the vehicle. These inside and outside noises usually correspond to a frequency of 1 kHz or thereabouts, which is a frequency to which the human ear is particularly sensitive.
In order to reduce such noise of resonance, it is known practice to arrange, in each circumferentially oriented or generally circumferentially oriented groove, a plurality of relatively thin flexible blades or membranes made of a rubber composition, each flexible blade or membrane occupying the entire cross section of the groove or, at least, a large proportion of this cross section in order to form a closure device.
Each flexible blade may extend from the bottom of the groove or may be fixed to at least one of the walls that delimit the said groove. Relatively thin means that each flexible blade is able to flex in order to open the cross section of the groove under the effect of a flow of liquid notably when driving in the wet.
Thanks to these flexible blades, the length of the column of air in each circumferential groove is reduced by comparison with the total length of the groove in the contact patch, and this leads to a change in the resonant frequency. The shift in frequency is towards resonant-frequency values to which the human ear is less sensitive.
Of course, in order to maintain the water-drainage function, when driving on a roadway covered with water, it is necessary for this membrane to be able to flex appropriately under the action of the pressure of the water and thus open the cross section of the groove in a way that is appropriate to allowing a sufficient flow of liquid.

COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSMENTS MICHELIN


A membrane dryer includes a shell having an inner tube and an outer tube and a bundle of hollow fibers supported in the shell. A dryer air inlet into the hollow fibers and a sweep air outlet from the inner tube are at a first end of the shell. A dryer air outlet into the hollow fibers and a sweep air inlet from the inner tube are at a second end of the shell. The inner tube has a first set of circumferential openings into the sweep air space adjacent the first end of the shell and a second set of circumferential openings into the sweep air space adjacent the first end of the shell; and a second plug is in the inner tube between the first and second set of openings.

The present invention relates to a compressed air reservoir and an air dryer and a sweep air system for the dryer. In the illustrated embodiments, the invention is applied to an air braking system of a vehicle, such as a truck. Such a system typically includes an air compressor and a reservoir for storing the compressed air. Compressed air is drawn from the reservoir to provide for application of air brakes and/or other vehicle devices. Such a system also typically includes an air dryer for removing moisture from the compressed air. It is known to use a membrane dryer to remove moisture from the compressed air, and to then remove the moisture from the membrane dryer by a flow of sweep air across the membrane dryer.


A wireless, ad-hoc or private communications network comprising nodes, forming with other elements of the network a switching and management infrastructure (SwMI), and subscribers, wherein each of said nodes has a Visitor Location Register (VLR), and at least a part of said nodes are provided with Home Location Registers (HLRs) and at least a part of said nodes with said HLRs are provided with gateways, wherein in said network every node with an HLR is assigned to a node having a gateway and said SwMI directs calls to and from a subscriber of said network to an external network.

In a cellular communication system (like for example the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) and TETRA (TErrestrial Trunked RAdio)), a geographical region is divided into a number of cells each of which is served by a base station. One base station, also termed as Base Transceiver Station (BTS) with a switching infrastructure is referred as a node of the network. The switching infrastructure supporting BTS may be shared with other BTSs. The system infrastructure in a TETRA system is generally referred to as a switching and management infrastructure (SwMI), which substantially contains all of the communication elements apart from the MSs. This includes base transceiver stations (BTSs) connected to a conventional public-switched telephone network (PSTN) through base station controllers (BSCs) and mobile switching centres (MSCs). In geographical terms reference to a node is a reference to an area served by one BTS, and in network terms reference to a node is a reference to the infrastructure equipment required to support one or more BTSs. A remote unit referred also as subscriber or mobile station (MS) or communication unit is served via a radio communication link by the base station of the cell within which the remote unit is operating.
One of the basic advantages of the cellular communications systems is that subscriber may move from one geographical location to another one while receiving services from the network. To provide seamless service there are regions of overlapping coverage between base stations. As the subscriber moves from area served by a first base station towards area served by a second base station it enters the region of overlapping coverage. Within the region of overlapping coverage the subscriber changes the serving base station. This is known as cell reselection or handover.
The communication link from a BTS to a subscriber is generally referred to as a downlink communication channel. Conversely, the communication link from a subscriber to a BTS is generally referred to as an up-link communication channel.
To enable communication between two handsets operating in two different cells a fixed network interconnects the base stations. The fixed network is operable to route data between any two base stations and this way allows for communication between these two remote handsets. In addition, the fixed network may comprise gateway functions for interconnecting to external networks such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). This allows subscribers to communicate with landline telephones and other communication terminals connected by a landline. Additionally the fixed network is adapted to perform functions required for managing a conventional cellular communication network including routing data, admission control, resource allocation, subscriber billing, mobile station authentication etc.
The TETRA communications system may be used as a public cellular communication system. However a principal application of TETRA communication systems is for use by are organizations or groups such as emergency services. Special functions and services implemented in the TETRA system make this system especially suitable for services like police, emergency, fire rescue or others. One of such features provided by TETRA system, which is especially useful for the emergency services is controlling group calls as well as managing the membership of these groups. Other features and services provided by TETRA include, push-to-talk channel allocation, broadcast calls etc. In addition to trunked mode operation wherein remote units communicate via a base station, TETRA provides for the possibility of communication directly between remote units without participation of the infrastructure. This is known as Direct Mode Operation (DMO).
A deployable or ad-hoc network may be considered as one in which the topology of the network and number of nodes which together offer service to mobile users changes from time to time. The connections between these nodes also change in number and topography from time to time, either together with or independently of changes in the nodes. Nodes may be added or may be taken away. Some nodes may offer gateway services, and others may not be able to offer such services. The gateway services available at nodes may also change from time to time, such that at one time a node may be able to offer such services, but at another time, such services may not be available.
In such a deployable or ad-hoc mobile network, where users need to access services outside the network via gateways it can be difficult to determine which gateway should be accessed by a user, and which gateway should receive calls or other information from outside the network to deliver to the user. It can also be difficult to provide a fast set up of call services, especially group services in a truly ad hoc network. When calls are directed to users via gateways, it is expected that calls will be received at a gateway with a connection to the Home Location Register (HLR). This is because the HLR of the user will have information as to from which node the user is currently obtaining service. With an ad hoc network, the connection between any one gateway and the HLR of the user cannot be guaranteed. Calls originating from users may need to route to specific gateways. Identifying the specific gateway can be difficult in an ad hoc network. Gateways may not be available, or may not have external connections available, depending on the state of the network. If mobile users or their HLRs are fully distributed, it is not obvious whether either the node where the mobile user is connected has an available connection, or the node where the HLR is connected has a connection, which makes it difficult to determine how to route a call originated by the mobile user.
A need therefore exists for a method of controlling and identifying location information of subscribers in a communications network, and nodes where gateways are located particularly when the network is required to be operational irrespective of reconfiguration processes, wherein the abovementioned disadvantages may be alleviated or overcome.


Apparatus for end-pumping of a solid-state laser with a source of high optical brightness. A stack of diode laser bars are excited, and each bar emits a light beam of a selected pump wavelength in a chosen direction. The light beam output of the diode bar stack is divided into a plurality of smaller, approximately rectangular light beams, which serve as extended light sources, by a plurality of mirrors that are positioned to receive one or more of these smaller beams and redirect such beams onto first, light-receiving ends of one or more optical fibers. Light collection optics receive the beams issuing from the mirrors and focus these beams onto a light-receiving end of an optical fiber with beam convergence angles that are appropriate for the numerical aperture of that fiber. Second ends of the optical fibers are optionally positioned so that a light beam emitted from the second end of a fiber is received by a laser gain material in a laser cavity and propagates along a common optical path within the laser cavity, thereby pumping the laser gain material.

End-pumped lasers offer many advantages over side-pumped lasers in efficiency and beam quality. This is true if all of the pump energy can be imaged inside the fundamental mode radius of the solid-state laser, and if the gain medium is long enough to absorb a large fraction of the pump light.
The evolution of diode lasers to higher output powers has been from an array of single strip diodes or extended emitter diode lasers, to a bar of multiple arrays, and then to a stack of bars. Examples of diode laser arrays are Spectra Diode Labs Models SDL-2460 and SDL-2480, or Sony Models SLD 301, 302, 303 and 304. The emission pattern separation of these arrays is less than a few microns in the direction perpendicular to the diode junction. In the direction parallel to the diode junction, the pattern length is almost one millimeter for the higher power diode arrays. Because of thermal load requirements, the next step to higher power is presently implemented by use of a diode laser bar of many arrays. The Spectra Diode Labs Models SDL-3490 and 3450 are examples of 10-Watt and 15-Watt laser diode bars. These bars still emit from a few micron source perpendicular to the plane of the junction, but for the other plane the length is typically 10 mm. The number of arrays in these bars is typically between 10 and 35.
For even higher laser output power, the diode bars can be stacked into two-dimensional arrays. The model SDL-3230-TZS units are bars stacked on 0.4 mm center-to-center spacing. These stacked bars are rated only for quasi-cw operation due to thermal constraints, but they are rated for 60 Watts of power per bar at a few percent duty cycle.
T. Y. Fan et al, in "Scalable, End-Pumped, Diode-Laser-Pumped Laser," Optics Letters, Vol. 14 (1989) pp. 1057-1059, and in "Pump Source Requirements for End-pumped Lasers", I.E.E.E. Jour. Quant. Electr., vol. 26 (1990) pp. 311-316, describe a technique for scaling of end-pumped lasers using diode laser arrays. The light beam from each diode laser is collimated in two perpendicular directions by two consecutive cylindrical lenses to produce a light beam with parallel edges. This light beam is then focused by a lens on an end of an optical fiber with a large numerical aperture (NA.gtoreq.0.47) to pump a laser gain medium.
Anderson et al disclose use of a cylindrical lens to collimate light issuing from a diode laser to produce a light beam with parallel beam edges, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,518.
Barry et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,318, disclose capture of light issuing from a plurality of diode lasers by a plurality of optical fibers positioned at faces of the diode lasers. These optical fibers are then caused to coalesce into a single optical fiber, which delivers the diode laser light captured therein for side pumping of a laser gain medium. No optics are disclosed for capture or control of the light beams emitted by the diode lasers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,940, issued to Sipes, discloses use of an optical cavity with multiple light beam bounce points along two transparent parallel edges of the cavity. Individual laser diode arrays are positioned to direct diode laser light beams at the bounce points. No optics are disclosed for capture or control of the light beams emitted by the diode lasers.
Baer, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,459, discloses use of a zig-zag cavity resonator with a diode laser pump positioned at each bounce point of the zig-zag optical path in the resonator. Each diode laser is either butted against a side of the resonator or is passed transversely through an optical fiber (shown most clearly in FIGS. 3A-3E of the Baer patent) to collimate the diode laser light and produce a light beam with parallel beam edges in a first direction. The resulting light beam is delivered to a laser gain medium within the resonator.
What is needed is an approach that collects and concentrates laser output from a stack of diode laser bars in a form that is useful and flexible for pumping of a laser. Preferably, the approach should take account of the difference in beam divergence angles for light emitted by a diode laser in two perpendicular directions.

Multiple diode laser stack for pumping a solid-state laser


Method and system embodiments of the present invention employ computational analysis tools running on one or more computer systems to quantitatively analyze MRI data from patients in order to both assess various functional parameters and characteristics of a patient's kidney, as well as to provide an electronic display device interconnected with the one or more computer systems, and accessible visualization of the quantitative assessment to facilitate diagnosis of various types of kidney abnormalities and pathologies.

All publications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Over the years, many different techniques have been developed and applied for imaging kidneys. Early techniques involved radiation-opaque dyes injected into a patient followed by a time series of X-rays that allowed a diagnostician to observe the passage of the radiation-opaque dyes through the kidney. These techniques were entirely manual, requiring physical display of the images and laborious interpretation by the diagnostician. More recently, automated imaging techniques have been developed to provide high-resolution, three-dimensional images of various organs.
Dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is a noninvasive way to gain insight into both the anatomic and functional conditions of the kidney. Because previous studies have revealed a good correlation between MRI and radionuclear scintigraphy results, DCE-MRI has the potential to be the predominant method in kidney diagnosis. Moreover, this technique is especially beneficial for children because it does not use radioactivity and provides higher resolutions than nuclear scans. The quantitative assessment based on the renal DCE-MRI is foreshadowed in pediatric diagnosis.
Both morphological and functional parameters are important for clinical decisions in pediatric kidney diseases. For morphological features, kidney volume is important and computationally accessible, which is effective in disease decision trees. Nearly all patients diagnosed will undergo a renal size measurement (3). As well, the shape and position of the cortex, medulla and other tissues provide useful information for diagnosis.
To acquire functional parameters, kinetic models are used and studied. Based on first order kinetics, two compartment models, which include a vascular and a tubular compartment, are usually used to simulate the renal physical mechanisms of the kidney. The flux is considered to be unidirectional in the two compartment model through glomerular filtration, which can be measured by the Patlak-Ruland plot technique. In later research, the outflow from the tubules is taken into account, which has an improved correlation with clearance results. Recently, the multiple compartment model is also proposed and the preliminary results are reported, which concern a more detailed description of the nephron system.
However, the complexity of renal physiology and variance in imaging techniques sometimes complicates the implementation of a sophisticated model approaching a realistic kidney, which limits the application of those models. The addition of compartments does not necessarily result in an increase of performance. Therefore, model free methods are adopted as well.
The model free methods mainly focus on the individual time intensity curves (TICs). Many parameters such as mean transit time and maximum upslope can be directly calculated from TICs. According to the curve shape, model free methods try to distinguish normal tissue from abnormal tissue, which in turn is related to pathological findings. Compared to physiological models, model free methods are less sensitive to the protocol and supply a more detailed pixel by pixel (or voxel) analysis.
To create a flexible and comprehensive assessment tool for pediatric renal disease studies, the inventors employed a cluster based method and presented the post processing procedures. The major 4 stages of the post processing are displayed in FIG. 1. After preprocessing, the dynamical data are grouped into three dimensional (3D) clusters according to their activity similarities as judged by time intensity curves. When applying the anatomical and functional knowledge, the clusters are automatically recognized to be either part of the kidney or not, and then the kidney is segmented into different inner compartments. In the third stage, both global and local parameters are calculated with optional definitions. Finally, both anatomical and functional features are displayed in an intuitive form for visualization by clinicians.
Compared to the traditional two dimensional (2D) regions of interest (ROI), the 3D clusters have a more precise description of similar tissues while reducing the number of areas of interests. The automatic segmentation based on clusters has a greater capacity to deal with misshapen tissues due to the disorders, which alleviates clinicians from tedious manual delineations. The cluster number can be adjusted and parameters can be selected for different research purposes and clinical protocols.

Method and system for quantitative renal assessment


The present invention relates to a thermally regenerable adsorptive process for the purification of a feed air, wherein the feed air is contacted with a solid adsorbent to remove at least water and carbon dioxide, wherein, periodically, the solid adsorbent is thermally regenerated by contacting the solid adsorbent with a regeneration gas stream which is essentially free of at least water and carbon dioxide, wherein the regeneration gas is a nitrogen-enriched stream removed from an elevated pressure air separation unit fed with the purified feed air, characterized in that the removed nitrogen-enriched stream is compressed in a multiple staged compressor and that the regeneration gas is a portion of the nitrogen-enriched stream which is removed from an interstage of the multiple stage compressor and then contacted with the solid adsorbent. The process is particularly suited for use with a solid adsorbent selected from the group consisting of 13X zeolite, silica gel, A zeolite, Y zeolite, mordenite, chabazite and mixtures thereof. Finally, the process of the present invention can comprise recycling the regeneration gas after contact with the solid adsorbent to one of the stages of the multiple stage compressor, preferably, from the stage from which it was removed.

In a process to effect the cryogenic separation of air into at least a nitrogen-enriched product and an oxygen-rich product, it is necessary to essentially remove the carbon dioxide and other impurities (e.g., water and hydrocarbons) present in the feed air so as to prevent these impurities from freezing-out on the process equipment at cryogenic temperatures. When freeze-outs occur in a cryogenic process, it causes a loss of performance and, potentially, an unsafe operating mode. Generally, two methods are used for such impurity removal. These are temperature swing adsorption (TSA) and pressure swing adsorption (PSA).
In each of these techniques, a bed of adsorbent is exposed to a flow of feed air so that the adsorbent can adsorb the bulk of the carbon dioxide and water vapor present in the feed air. This exposure is continued for a fixed period of time which is sufficiently short in duration so as to prevent the break-through of carbon dioxide and water in the exiting treated feed air. Thereafter, the flow of feed air is shut off from the adsorbent bed and the adsorbent is exposed to a flow of regeneration gas which strips the adsorbed carbon dioxide and water from the adsorbent and, thus, regenerates it for further use. In a temperature swing adsorber, the carbon dioxide and water are driven off from the adsorbent by heating the adsorbent in the regeneration phase. In a pressure swing adsorber, the pressure of the regeneration gas is lower than that of the feed gas and the change in pressure is used to remove the carbon dioxide and water from the adsorbent. Although discussed with reference to carbon dioxide and water removal, other impurities can also be removed from the feed air by these processes, including hydrocarbons.
The adsorbent material for these TSA and PSA adsorption processes may be molecular sieves, alumina, silica gel, plus other mixed oxides, either alone or in combination with each other.
A suitable regeneration gas for these TSA and PSA adsorption processes must have the certain properties, essentially impurity-free (carbon dioxide, water, hydrocarbons); capable of being contaminated with the desorbed impurities, and capable of being operated safely and not requiring an unconventional or exotic metallurgy for the process equipment. The gas that best meets this criteria is a nitrogen-enriched stream removed from the air separation unit.
In general, regeneration of adsorption beds includes a depressurization step. The depressurization step reduces the overall bed pressure and allows strongly adsorbed components to desorb. The desorption of strongly adsorbed components is enhanced by conditions which lower the extent of adsorption, namely decrease in partial pressure and increase in temperature. The pressure reduction step helps reduce the partial pressure of the adsorbed component and thereby enhance desorption. It is also well known in the adsorption literature, that the effectiveness of purge gas is defined by actual volume of purge not moles of purge gas (Skarstrom, U.S. Pat. No. 2,944,627). This relation suggests that for a given number of moles of gas, regeneration at the lowest pressure (highest actual volume) is most effective.
However, it is occasionally desired to regenerate adsorption beds at an elevated pressure (i.e., in excess of three (3) bar(a)). For example, there is an existing commercial installation with temperature swing adsorption which uses the nitrogen-enriched gas from the air separation unit which has been compressed to a pressure of fifteen (15) bar(a). This is particularly desired when the regeneration gas effluent is used as a feed to a gas turbine. In these power generation applications, several industry-wide problems have been identified with the use of a low pressure (i.e., less than or equal to three (3) bar (a)) regeneration gas. These are: (a) the need to maintain a constant pressure drop for the regeneration gas across the bed which results in an expensive trade-off between high velocities and large diameter vessels; (b) the extra power needed to compress the desorbed water and carbon dioxide; (c) the less favorable impact of pressure drop (assumed constant) on power because of the higher pressure ratio (power=k ln(p2/p1)); and (d) the extra capital cost required to recover heat of compression in order to replace or augment the need for heat addition.
On the other hand, several industry-wide problems have, however, also been identified with the use of elevated pressure regeneration. These are: (a) because the total bed pressure is high, the partial pressure of the adsorbed impurity remains high during the desorption process, thus, rendering desorption less favorable and requiring the use of either higher regeneration temperatures or flowrates and (b) the generation of steam during the regeneration process is possible when water-laden adsorbents are regenerated at high pressure.
Because the regeneration pressure is elevated (with a consequent low actual volume of regeneration gas), the contact time of the regeneration gas in the bed can be quite high. The in-situ generated steam can then react with standard desiccants like alumina, silica gel and zeolites. This steam reacts with the desiccants and causes "aging" of the materials. In the case of alumina, this aging, or loss of dehydration performance, is caused by reaction of steam with the alumina oxide to form aluminum hydroxide. The resultant alumina hydroxide has a lower surface area and lower water capacity than "fresh" alumina. The same type of reactions occur with silica gel. In the case of zeolites, steam can react with the zeolite structure, resulting in the loss of framework aluminum which then causes loss of crystallinity and adsorption capacity of the zeolite.
Even in conventional low pressure regeneration temperature swing adsorbers, there is a gradual decrease in the capacity of the adsorbents. Although the rate of degradation is affected by many factors including regeneration temperature, the concentration of corrosive gases such as SO.sub.2, NO.sub.2, Cl.sub.2 or NH.sub.3 in the feed air, the air separation industry experience is that adsorbents are rarely replaced in less than five (5) years, and may perform satisfactorily in service for more than ten (10) years.
Temperature swing adsorption is an energy intensive process because of the need to supply heat to the regenerating gas. The temperatures needed for the regeneration gas are typically high, i.e., 150.degree. C. to 200.degree. C., which places demands on the system engineering which, in turn, increase costs. Most literature concerning temperature swing adsorption is aimed at reducing the heat input to the adsorber system. There are numerous references which teach methods for improving the operation of adsorption beds by such things as improved bed designs (e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,249,915 and 4,472,178), adsorbent material, combination and placement of adsorbent material, cycle times (heating, cooling, and purge) (e.g., von Gemmingen, U., "Designs of Adsorptive Dryers in Air Separation Plants", Reports on Technology, 54/1994, (Linde)), and regeneration heat-up temperature, regeneration cool-down temperature, temperature pulsing (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,548 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,851).
All these references refer to regeneration with a near atmospheric gas (i.e., low pressure regeneration), either explicitly or implicitly through a description of the steps in the cycle and the order in which they occur: (a) adsorption, (b) depressurization, (c) regeneration and (d) repressurization. No information has been uncovered which teaches or suggests the use of a compressed air separation unit product as regeneration gas for the adsorbent.
Acharya and Jain (1995) in "Recent Advances in Molecular Sieve Unit Design for Air Separation Plants", Separation Science and Technology, 30(18), pp 3489-3507 describe the advantages of mixed alumina/13X beds. They teach that the use of alumina for water adsorption is preferable for many reasons, one of which is that alumina is "a more resilient material than molecular sieve".
With respect to zeolites, the prior art which suggests that reaction of zeolites, particularly low Si/Al ratio zeolites, with water causes crystal structure damage. For example, it has been shown that exposure of zeolite NaX (13X) to steam at 350.degree. C. results in loss of crystal structure and adsorption capacity (i.e., F. Wolf, H. Fuertig, G. Nemitz, Chem. Tech., Leipzig, 19:83, 1967). In contrast, zeolite Y, which has the same crystal structure as X, but a higher Si/Al ratio, retains its structure when exposed to water vapor at 410.degree.C.
Other references include U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,851 that teaches a temperature swing adsorption process in which the heat pulse is consumed in desorbing both the more strongly and weakly adsorbed components from the adsorbent. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,249,915 and 4,472,178 teach an adsorption process in which water and carbon dioxide are removed from atmospheric air by adsorption in separate beds with the water laden bed being regenerated by pressure swing adsorption in a relatively short operating cycle while the carbon dioxide laden bed is regenerated thermally at considerably longer time intervals.

Temperature swing adsorption with regeneration by elevated pressure ASU nitrogen-enriched gas


In the winding of webs of plastic films on cores, defects in the web caused by hard streaks in the wound roll are avoided or reduced by a new method of control. In this method, measurements are made of elastic properties of the web and of the average widthwise thickness distribution of the web. From these values, from measured properties of the core, and from selected initial winding conditions, including web tension, edge thickness and web oscillation, a predicted value of the combined imperfection severity function is determined. This value is compared with a pre-established tolerance; if it is outside the tolerance, winding conditions are adjusted to minimize the predicted web defects.

Plastic webs such as photographic film bases, that are made by continuous extrusion or melt casting, often exhibit widthwise thickness variations (distribution of thickness across the width of the web) which are persistent in the lengthwise direction. These thickness variations are sometimes called gauge bands or thick/thin streaks. When webs having such gauge bands are wound into rolls, hardstreaks (also called ridges) can form in the winding roll. Hardstreaks are annular bands in the winding roll that are parallel to the sidewall of the roll. Where hardstreaks occur, the diameter of the winding roll is increased, and the pressure between layers in the wound roll is concentrated in this area. Hardstreaks are objectionable because they can lead to web imperfections including: distortions, pressure damage to sensitive coatings and adhesion or blocking of adjacent layers or laps in the wound roll.
To minimize the effect of such thickness variations, both edges of the web can be thickened through an embossing or knurling process and/or the web can be oscillated laterally during winding. Knurling creates artificially thickened areas at the edges of the web which, upon winding, create intentional hardstreaks at the edges. By creating these artificial hardstreaks at the edges in the nonusable portions of the web, a substantial part of the winding tension is used up and the effective tension in the middle portion of the web is significantly reduced, thereby reducing the severity of any hardstreaks which may form in the usable middle part of the web.
Oscillation, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,672,299 and 4,453,659, offsets any thickened portions of the web to reduce the build up of thickness in a particular lateral portion of the wound roll. Although oscillation (also called "wiggle-winding" and "stagger winding") can reduce the development of hardstreaks in the wound web, it can also cause an undesirable amount of edge waste if the oscillation amplitude is large. On the other hand, if the oscillation amplitude is not sufficiently great, the gauge bands in the web are not offset enough to prevent or reduce the formation of hardstreaks.
Although thickening the edges can reduce the hardstreak problem, if they are too thick, i.e., if the "knurl height" is too great, other problems are caused. For example, if the edges are too thick, the web will be supported solely at the thick edges, and buckling will occur in middle of the roll. Also, if all of the roll tension is carried at the edges of the web, the high pressure at the thickened edges can result in "telescoping" or lateral shifting of laps of the roll because of instability in the widthwise direction. Therefore, to reduce the hardstreak problem without creating other problems it is necessary to determine an optimum edge thickness or knurl height for the web.
Similar considerations apply to the tension in the web during winding. Although lowering of tension can reduce hardstreaks, other problems occur if the tension is too low. In particular, at excessively low tension a slippage between layers occurs, a problem known in the art as cinching. Likewise, excessively low tension can cause telescoping or roll shifting.
The described problems can occur in the winding of a wide range of plastic web sizes. The problems are especially serious, however, in the winding of wide plastic webs, e.g., 40 to 80 inches in width, to form large rolls, e.g., of 1.5 to 5 feet in diameter, and especially when the web comprises a thermoplastic film base or support that is coated with one or more photographically sensitive layers and other layers. Such webs are especially susceptible to hardstreak formation, and the waste created by hardstreaks is especially costly. As a consequence, a need exists for a method for controlling the winding of plastic webs so that the severity of hardstreaks in the wound web can be minimized without creating other problems.

Method for eliminating imperfections in a wound web roll


Methods for the purification of sugar solutions using hydrolyzed polyacrylamides as flocculants are herein described. The hydrolyzed polyacrylamides are prepared from emulsion or microemulsion polymerization of acrylamide monomer, and subsequently hydrolyzed to a degree of hydrolysis of about 10 to about 50 mole %. The hydrolyzed polyacrylamides have a molecular weight of at least about 10,000,000.

There is currently an increasing demand for sugar worldwide. Losses in sugar that occur during refining represent a serious economic problem as well as result in a diminution of the available supply. Therefore, an improved process that minimizes losses of sugar due to processing and is straightforward to perform would constitute a significant advance in the art.
Typically, sugar juice is extracted from a plant source such as sugar cane or sugar beets by milling or by diffusion. The resulting juice is about 12-18 Brix (percent sugar by weight) in concentration. This raw juice usually contains a considerable amount of extraneous matter, such as fiber and particles from the cane, and dirt, that comes from the surface of the plant source. The coarser matter is removed by screening, and the finer matter is typically removed in a clarification process. In order to arrest sucrose inversion, i.e., hydrolysis of sucrose to glucose and fructose, the juice is treated with lime to raise its pH to 7.5, and heated to 100.degree. C. Other treatments may also include adding phosphoric or sulfuric acid, depending on the characteristics of the juice.
The settling or clarification step used to purify the sugar juice removes fine extraneous matter therefrom. The settling step generally involves adding a flocculant to the sugar juice to be purified. The flocculants are believed to function by adsorbing onto the surface of fine, particulate matter with minimal points of attachment, thereby forming a flocculant-particulate matter network. The network containing the particulate impurities is removed from the sugar juice by a physical separation process including settling, air flotation, filtration and the like, resulting in a purified form of sugar juice. Common flocculants that have been used in this regard are typically polymers, in particular, polyacrylamide/poly(acrylate) copolymers obtained by the copolymerization of acrylamide and sodium acrylate (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,138,539 to Landolt et al.; and Chemical Abstracts No. 99:71334s). However, when such polyacrylamide/poly(acrylate) copolymers are used as flocculants for sugar juice purification, the speed and efficiency of flocculation can be undesirably low.
In addition, flocculants comprising a mixture of a cationic melamine:formaldehyde acid colloid and an anionic polyacrylamide are known to be useful for purifying sugar liquor (U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,706 to Shaughnessey). However, because such flocculants are obtained from melamine and formaldehyde, both of which are suspected carcinogens, the manufacture and use of such flocculants is highly disfavored.
Accordingly, there is a clear need in the art for flocculants for the purification of sugar juice, which are both effective and non-toxic.
Citation or identification of any reference in Section 2 of this application shall not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present application.

Method for purifying sugar solutions using polyacrylamides


A plasma display panel including front and rear substrates facing each other to form a discharge space therebetween; a plurality of address electrodes on an upper surface of the rear substrate; a first dielectric layer covering the address electrodes on the upper surface of the rear substrate; partitions provided on a upper surface of the first dielectric layer to partition the discharge space; a plurality of second dielectric layers provided on a lower surface of the front substrate and extending in a direction perpendicular to the address electrodes; first and second sustaining electrodes provided to be slanted to face each other on both sides of each of the second dielectric layers; a third dielectric layer provided on a lower surface of the second dielectric layers to cover the first and second sustaining electrodes; and a protective layer provided on a lower surface of the third dielectric layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel (PDP), and more particularly, to a PDP having a slanted pair of sustaining electrodes that face each other on a front substrate to generate efficient plasma discharges.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A PDP, which uses electrical discharges to form an image, is a bright display with a wide viewing angle. In the PDP, applying a DC or AC voltage to the electrodes generates a gas discharge in a gas between electrodes, thereby creating ultraviolet rays that excite a fluorescent material to emit visible light.
Plasma display panels are classified into direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) PDPs depending upon driving waveform shapes and discharge cell structures. In a DC PDP, the electrodes are exposed in a discharge space, and electrical charges directly moving between electrodes generate a discharge. On the other hand, in an AC PDP, at least one electrode is covered with a dielectric layer, and wall charges generate a discharge instead of the electrical charges directly moving between the electrodes.
Additionally, PDPs may be classified into facing and surface discharge PDPs depending on the arrangement of electrodes. In a facing discharge PDP, two sustaining electrodes provided on front and rear substrates, respectively, face each other, and a discharge is generated in a direction perpendicular to the substrates. On the other hand, in a surface discharge PDP, a pair of sustaining electrodes is provided on the same substrate, and a discharge is generated between the pair of electrodes and parallel to a surface of the substrate.
Although it has high luminous efficiency, plasma particles may easily deteriorate the facing discharge PDP's fluorescent layer. Therefore, the surface discharge PDP has been mainly used.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 illustrate a conventional surface discharge PDP. In FIG. 2, a front substrate 20 is rotated 90° in order to more clearly show an internal structure of the PDP.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional PDP may include rear and front substrates 10 and 20 facing each other.
A plurality of address electrodes 11 is provided in stripes on an upper surface of the rear substrate 10. The address electrodes 11 are covered by a first dielectric layer 12 made of a white dielectric material. A plurality of partitions 13 is provided at a predetermined interval on an upper surface of the first dielectric layer 12 in order to prevent electrical or optical crosstalk between discharge cells 14. Red (R), green (G) and blue (B) fluorescent layers 15 having a predetermined thickness are coated on inner surfaces of respective discharge cells 14 defined by the partitions 13. The discharge cells 14 are filled with a discharge gas, which is typically a mixture of Ne and Xe.
The transparent front substrate 20 is may be mostly made of glass, allowing visible light to pass. The front substrate 20 is sealed together with the rear substrate 10 provided with the partitions 13. Stripe-shaped pairs of sustaining electrodes 21a and 21b are provided on a lower surface of the front substrate 20 and are orthogonal to the address electrodes 11. The sustaining electrodes 21a and 21b may be made of a transparent, conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO), which is capable of passing visible light. Metal bus electrodes 22a and 22b are provided on lower surfaces of the sustaining electrodes 21a and 21b to reduce the line resistance of the sustaining electrodes 21a and 21b. The sustaining electrodes 21a and 21b and bus electrodes 22a and 22b are covered by a transparent second dielectric layer 23. A protective layer 24, typically made of magnesium oxide (MgO), is provided on a lower surface of the second dielectric layer 23. The protective layer 24 prevents sputtered plasma particles from deteriorating the second dielectric layer 23, and it reduces discharge and sustaining voltages by emitting secondary electrons.
Driving schemes of the conventional PDP having the above structure may be classified as address and sustaining driving schemes. In the address driving schemes, an address discharge is generated between the address electrode 11 and one sustaining electrode 21a, to form wall charges. On the other hand, in the sustaining driving scheme, a sustaining discharge is generated by a potential difference between the sustaining electrodes 21a and 21b in a discharge space where wall charges are formed. Ultraviolet rays emitted from a discharge gas during the sustaining discharge excite the fluorescent layer 15 in the discharge cell 14 to emit visible light. The visible light passes through the front substrate 20 to form an image on the display.
In the conventional PDP having the above structure, a gap exists between the sustaining electrodes 21a and 21b in order to generate a highly efficient plasma discharge. However, if the gap is too wide, a sustaining discharge voltage increases. Additionally, an address discharge voltage must also increase in order to accumulate sufficient wall charges.


A compact voltage sensor with stable characteristics is provided. A measuring beam that is incident from an optical fiber is branched into first and second modulation-inducing waveguides of a wave branching/combining section within an optical integrated circuit. Phase changes of opposite sign are induced in the measuring beams propagating within the first and second modulation waveguides by applying voltages of mutually opposite sign to modulation-inducing electrodes, to induce a phase difference between the two. By reflecting the measuring beams from a reflective surface, propagating them back in the opposite direction within the first and second modulation waveguides, and passing them through the optical intensity modulation section again, thus applying a further phase modulation thereto, the phase difference between the measuring beams proceeding in the opposite direction within the first and second modulation waveguides can be made to be substantially twice the phase difference of the measuring beams before they are reflected by the reflective surface. The sensor also has a function to protect a sensor section thereof from dielectric breakdown caused by the accidental input of a high voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical integrated voltage sensor for measuring the magnitude of a voltage in an optical manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In today's highly information-orientated world, the importance of electromagnetic waves as a medium for propagating information for broadcasting and communications is growing, and both the intensity and frequency of these waves are tending to increase.
At the same time, the problem of functional malfunctions in electronic equipment, caused by these electromagnetic waves, is also increasing. There is a danger that such functional malfunctions in equipment could cause a great deal of damage, particularly in the fields of medical equipment which is indispensable for maintaining human life, office equipment which processes large quantities of information at speed, and automobile electronics. That is why measures to counteract malfunctions due to electromagnetic waves have become an extremely important topic of technical concern.
When it comes to evaluating the resistance of electronic equipment to malfunctions due to electromagnetic waves, or when countermeasures are necessary after a functional error has occurred as the result of a malfunction due to electromagnetic waves, it is necessary to place the electronic equipment in an electromagnetic environment that re-creates that state, measure the voltage signal waveforms that are output from the circuitry within the electronic equipment, and thus determine the source of abnormal signals. An oscilloscope is well-known as means of monitoring such voltage signal waveforms.
However, cables that are metal conductors are used in this method for transferring the output signals from measurement locations within the circuitry to the input terminals of the oscilloscope. This means that noise is induced by electromagnetic fields within this metal cable, making accurate measurement impossible.
In order to solve these problems, voltage sensors that are being developed use optical integrated circuits formed on a substrate of an electro-optical crystal, such as LiNbO3, within the voltage detector sections thereof.
An example of such a voltage sensor is shown in FIG. 2.
This sensor comprises a light source 10, a light detector 12, and a sensor section 21 configured of an optical integrated circuit 32 that functions as a waveguide type of branching interferometer optical modulator. These components are connected together optically by an optical fiber 11 for inputting a measuring beam and another optical fiber 13 for outputting the measuring beam. The optical integrated circuit 32 has a waveguide 17 for propagating the measuring beam that is incident thereto through the optical fiber 11. This waveguide 17 is configured to branch into first and second modulation-inducing waveguides 15a and 15b at a branch section 23, then combine these waveguides once again at a wave-combining section 25.
Modulation-inducing electrodes 34a and 34b are formed on the first and second modulation-inducing waveguides 15a and 15b. When fine metal wires 27a and 27b that extend therefrom are brought into contact with an object 18 whose voltage is to be measured, which acts as a voltage measurement section within an electrical circuit, the voltage of the object 18 whose voltage is to be measured is applied to the first and second modulation-inducing waveguides 15a and 15b as voltage signals of opposite signs, through the modulation-inducing electrodes 34a and 34b.
When a measuring beam from the light source 10 is input towards the sensor section 21 through the optical fiber 11, this measuring beam is propagated into the optical modulation section through the waveguide 17 in the optical integrated circuit 32.
As described previously, voltage signals of opposite signs are applied to the modulation-inducing electrodes 34a and 34b in the first and second modulation-inducing waveguides 15a and 15b, so that a phase difference is generated in the light waves travelling within the waveguides 15a and 15b. Therefore, constructive interference at the wave-combining section 25 between the light waves passing through the two waveguides 15a and 15b causes the intensity of the light to be modulated by the phase difference, then this light is input to the light detector 12 through the optical fiber 13.
In this particular case, the voltage required for varying the luminous energy from a maximum to a minimum, which is called the half-wavelength voltage, is no more than a few volts. Thus, since a large change in luminous energy is achieved even when a small voltage is applied, the measurement sensitivity of this sensor is extremely high.
It is therefore possible for this signal processing section 20 to obtain the phase difference from the intensity of the modulated measuring beam, and thus the magnitude of the voltage, by using the light detector 12 to measure the intensity of the modulated measuring beam that is output from the optical integrated circuit 32 and inputting the result to the signal processing section 20.
A particular characteristic of this type of device is the way in which components such as the sensor section 21 and the optical fibers 11 and 13 are mainly formed by using dielectric materials. This makes it possible to measure voltages accurately and with a high degree of sensitivity, without any effects due to electromagnetic fields.
However, two optical fibers 11 and 13 are connected to this device, for inputting a measuring beam to the optical integrated circuit 32 and outputting it therefrom, as described above. It is therefore impossible to make the sensor section 21 compact enough for practicable use, raising the problem that it is difficult to measure voltages in cramped locations.
In other words, it is desirable to design the sensor section used in such a device to have a cantilevered structure, so that one of the two optical fibers 11 and 13 shown in FIG. 2 must be curved and connected to the sensor section. However, optical fibers cannot be said to be very flexible, so their minimum radius of curvature is on the order of several cm. This raises a problem when forming a cantilevered-structure sensor in that it is difficult to make it compact enough to meet the practicability requirements of a size of no more than 20 to 30 mm.
Furthermore, a connection portion between an optical fiber and a waveguide requires the most precise adjustment and is subject to mechanical slippage due to factors such as temperature or vibration, and thus changes in the characteristics thereof can easily occur. Since the sensor shown in FIG. 2 requires two optical fibers, it has to have two such connections. Making these connections is an extremely awkward task and this has prevented the inexpensive fabrication of a device that can operate stably.
This device has a further problem in that, if the voltage applied to the modulation-inducing electrodes should exceed the dielectric breakdown voltage of the optical integrated circuit substrate and modulation-inducing electrodes, even accidentally, the optical integrated circuit substrate and modulation-inducing electrodes could be damaged by dielectric breakdown, making the device unusable.

Optical integrated voltage sensor for optically measuring the magnitude of a voltage


The invention relates to a refrigerating appliance, especially a refrigerator, comprising a plate which consists of photoconductive material which can be removed from the refrigerating appliance with an electric light source which comprises a first electrical or electromagnetic transmission element which interacts—in the inserted or mounted state of the plate—with a second electrical or electromagnetic transmission element applied to the refrigerating appliance, in such a way that electrical current can be transmitted from the second electrical or electromagnetic transmission element.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a refrigerating appliance, especially a refrigerator.
2. The Prior Art
Such a refrigerating appliance is known from German patent specification DE 697 020 771 T2. The subject of this publication is a refrigerator illuminated in its interior, the illumination being provided as a support illuminated at its margin and formed as a plate of substantially transparent material. On the support, there is applied, for instance by printing, a matrix of dots. The dots printed on the surface of the support serve as light emission surfaces. The lights source disposed in a housing arranged along a margin of the support is connected to a current source by a cable and a control mechanism. The known refrigerating appliance suffers from the disadvantage that the spatial arrangement of its marginally illuminated support cannot be adjusted by a user in accordance with his individual and temporally changing desires and requirements.

Refrigerating appliance, especially a refrigerator


A mechanically controllable valve drive for a reciprocating piston engine configured to adjust a gas exchange valve includes the gas exchange valve, a cam assembly comprising a camshaft and at least one cam for the gas exchange valve, a valve, a valve lift adjustment assembly, a drag lift assembly, and a device. The valve lift adjustment assembly comprises a valve lift adjustment device, and an intermediate lever assembly comprising at least one intermediate lever comprising a working curve comprising curve portions. The valve lift adjustment assembly is configured to shift the valve between a zero lift and a maximum lift. The drag lever assembly is operatively connected to the working curve. The device is configured to provide a valve-lift standstill range so that, in a maximum lift position, the valve is opened for a turning angle ω of the camshaft with a flattened valve lift height.

Mechanically controllable valve drives of the above type are well known from the state of the art in the field of internal combustion engines. They have in particular the purpose, by use of the valve lift height and the duration of the opened state of the valve, and thus by use of the filling degree of the cylinders in the internal combustion engine, to adapt the combustion process to the respective load requirements and, correspondingly, to achieve a maximally efficient and thus also a low-pollutant combustion. Apart from this, it is known that in certain load ranges, especially in the part-load range, a certain number of cylinders can be completely switched off, for example, in a four-cylinder engine, in order to run the engine merely with two cylinders. For this purpose, the gas exchange valve is operated in the zero-lift range, which at the same time means that the valve acceleration in this range is zero. This zero-lift range is followed by an adjustment range which at a certain turning angle point will effect a maximum lift of the gas exchange valve. The integral under the whole valve-lift curve will thus determine the filling volume in a gas-exchange inlet valve and, respectively, the exhaust-gas discharge volume in a gas-exchange outlet valve.
With respect to the filling volume, a valve drive of the above design is thus dependent on the maximum obtainable valve lift. In this regard, particularly large valve lifts have the disadvantage that they require a large constructional space to allow for adjustability, that they entail a danger of piston collision and, respectively, that there will be generated higher frictional forces during an opening process against the return spring of the gas exchange valve.

Mechanically controllable valve drive for a reciprocating piston engine


Novel methods for labeling RNA in a sample are described, as well as methods of performing an array analysis of a labeled RNA sample.

Straightforward and reliable methods for simultaneously analyzing several constituents of a complex sample are extremely desirable. Polynucleotide arrays (such as DNA or RNA arrays) are known and are used, for example, as diagnostic or screening tools. Such arrays include regions of usually different sequence polynucleotides ("capture agents") arranged in a predetermined configuration on a support. The arrays are "addressable" in that these regions (sometimes referenced as "array features") have different predetermined locations ("addresses") on the support of array. The polynucleotide arrays typically are fabricated on planar supports either by depositing previously obtained polynucleotides onto the support in a site specific fashion or by site specific in situ synthesis of the polynucleotides upon the support. After depositing the polynucleotide capture agents onto the support, the support is typically processed (e.g., washed and blocked for example) and stored prior to use.
In use, an array is contacted with a sample or labeled sample containing analytes (typically, but not necessarily, other polynucleotides) under conditions that promote specific binding of the analytes in the sample to one or more of the capture agents present on the array. Thus, the arrays, when exposed to a sample, will undergo a binding reaction with the sample and exhibit an observed binding pattern. This binding pattern can be detected upon interrogating the array. For example all target polynucleotides (for example, DNA) in the sample can be labeled with a suitable label (such as a fluorescent compound), and the label then can be accurately observed (such as by observing the fluorescence pattern) on the array after exposure of the array to the sample. Assuming that the different sequence polynucleotides were correctly deposited in accordance with the predetermined configuration, then the observed binding pattern will be indicative of the presence and/or concentration of one or more components of the sample. Techniques for scanning arrays are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,870 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,679. Still other techniques useful for observing an array are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,435.
Since the discovery of the biological activity of short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) over a decade ago, so called "small RNAs" (i.e., short non-coding regulatory RNAs that have a defined sequence) have become a subject of intense interest in the research community. See Novina et al., Nature 430: 161-164 (2004). Exemplary small RNAs include siRNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs), tiny non-coding RNAs (tncRNAs) and small modulatory RNAs (smRNAs), as well as many others.
Although the exact biological functions of most small RNAs remain a mystery, it is clear that they are abundant in plants and animals, with up to tens of thousands of copies per cell. For example, to date, over 78 Drosophila microRNA species and 300 human microRNA species have been identified. The levels of the individual species of small RNA, in particular microRNA species, appear to vary according to the developmental stage and type of tissue being examined. It is thought that the levels of particular small RNAs may be correlated with particular phenotypes, as well as with the levels of particular messenger RNAs and proteins. Further, viral microRNAs have been identified, and their presence has been linked to viral latency (see Pfeffer et al., Science, 304: 734-736 (2004)).
The sequences of several hundred miRNAs from a variety of different species, including humans, may be found at the microRNA registry (Griffiths-Jones, Nucl. Acids Res. 2004 32:D109-D111), as found at the world-wide website of the Sanger Institute (Cambridge, UK) (which may be accessed by typing "www" followed by ".sanger.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rfam/mirna/browse.pl" into the address bar of a typical internet browser). The sequences of all of the microRNAs deposited at the microRNA registry, including more than 300 microRNA sequences from humans (see Lagos-Quintana et al, Science 294:853-858 (2001); Grad et al, Mol Cell 11: 1253-1263 (2003); Mourelatos et al, Genes Dev 16:720-728 (2002); Lagos-Quintana et al, Curr Biol 12:735-739 (2002); Lagos-Quintana et al, RNA 9:175-179 (2003); Dostie et al, RNA 9:180-186 (2003); Lim et al, Science 299:1540 (2003); Houbaviy et al, Dev Cell 5:351-358 (2003); Michael et al, Mol Cancer Res 1:882-891 (2003); Kim et al, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:360-365 (2004); Suh et al, Dev Biol 270:488-498 (2004); Kasashima et al, Biochem Biophys Res Commun 322:403-410 (2004); and Xie et al, Nature 434:338-345 (2005)), are incorporated herein by reference. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of single stranded RNAs of approximately 19-25 nt (nucleotides) in length.
Analytic methods employing polynucleotide arrays have been used for investigating these small RNAs, e.g. miRNAs have become a subject of investigation with microarray analysis. See, e.g., Liu et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA, 101: 9740-9744 (2004); Thomson et al., Nature Methods, 1:1-7 (2004); and Babak et al., RNA, 10: 1813-1819 (2004).
Polynucleotide arrays are also used in the characterization of cellular gene expression. Gene expression analysis involves detection of different mRNA species in a test population and the quantitative determination of different mRNA levels in that test population. Such analytic methods may be used to investigate differential expression between different tissue types, different stages of cellular growth or between normal and diseased states. In typical methods, an RNA sample from a test population and an RNA sample from a control population are distinguishably labeled. A polynucleotide array is then contacted with both test and control RNA samples. Ratios of the distinguishable labels detected on the polynucleotide array provide information on relative expression of different mRNA species in the test and control samples.
Methods of labeling RNAs are of interest for use in array analysis of RNA to provide an observable label used in interrogating the array. In the study of Liu et al., miRNA was transcribed into DNA with a biotin-labeled primer. This primer was subsequently labeled with streptavidin-linked Alexa dye prior to array hybridization. This method is susceptible to any reverse-transcriptase reaction bias. Further, the streptavidin-dye as well as streptavidin-biotin-RNA stochiometry may be difficult to quantify. In the study of Thomson et al., the miRNA was directly labeled with 5′-phosphate-cytidyl-uridyl-Cy3-3′ using T4 RNA ligase. This reaction is sensitive to the acceptor sequence. See England et al., Biochemistry, 17: 2069-2776 (1978). In the study of Babak et al (4), the miRNA was labeled with Ulysis Alexa Fluor system, which reacts with guanine residue (G) of RNA. Since different miRNAs do not have uniform G content, this method is not quantitative.
Thus, there is a continuing need for methods of labeling RNA with an observable label. Such methods may be used in conjunction with analytical methods based on observing the label, such as array-based analysis of polynucleotides.


The present invention provides an α-2A/α-1A selective agonist that includes a compound represented by Structure 1 or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, ester, amide, sterioisomer or racemic mixture thereof. The present invention further provides a pharmaceutical composition that contains a pharmaceutical carrier and a therapeutically effective amount of an α-2A/α-1A selective agonist that includes a compound represented by Structure 1 or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, ester, amide, sterioisomer or racemic mixture thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to molecular medicine and, more particularly, to α-2 adrenergic agonists that are highly selective for the α-2A adrenergic receptor as compared to the α-1A adrenergic receptor.
2. Background Information
A variety of conditions can be mediated, at least in part, by the sympathetic nervous system including a variety of conditions associated with stress. Sympathetically-enhanced conditions include, without limitation, sensory hypersensitivity such as sensory hypersensitivity associated with fibromyalgia or headache such as migraine; gastrointestinal diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome and dyspepsia; dermatological conditions such as psoriasis; cardiovascular disorders; tachycardias; disorders of peripheral vasoconstriction including Raynaud's Syndrome and scleroderma; panic attack; metabolic disorders such as type II diabetes, insulin-resistance and obesity; disorders of muscle contraction including disorders of skeletal muscle contraction, disorders of smooth muscle contraction, spasticity, and disorders of muscle contraction associated with tension-type headache; behavioral disorders such as, but not limited to, over-eating and drug dependence; and sexual dysfunction.
Although α-2 adrenergic agonists have shown promise in treating symptoms of sympathetically-enhanced conditions, use of these α-2 adrenergic agonists can be unsatisfactory due to concomitant sedative effects. This same problem limits effective α-2 adrenergic agonist treatment of other conditions including neurological conditions, ocular conditions and chronic pain. Thus, there is a need for novel effective, non-sedating α-2 adrenergic agonists for use as therapeutics. The present invention satisfies this needs and provides related advantages as well.


Two documents are processed to facilitate visual mapping and comparison. These documents comprise document subsections and the subsections comprise document subsection headers associated therewith. At least one of the first document subsection headers is juxtaposed relative to an output of second document subsection headers mapping thereto, to visually emphasize a header mapping. This header mapping is established by: mapping the first document subsections relative to the second document subsections based on identifying substantial similarities therebetween, to establish a subsection mapping therebetween; and, in relation to the subsection mapping and the association between the document subsections and the subsection headers, further mapping the first document subsection headers relative to the second document subsection headers. Several closely-related devices, systems and methods for outputting information to compare at least two documents, establishing a mapping to compare at least two documents, and highlighting similar text segments, are also disclosed.

This disclosure relates to the field of computer document processing, and particularly to enhancing the ability of a computer user to compare two or more documents and quickly understand the similarities and differences between or among these documents.
There are many circumstances in today's electronic world where it is desirable to compare two or more documents with one another. Writers of all stripes frequently wish to compare one version of a document with another version of a document, to see what similarities and changes exist as between two different versions of the same document. Legal professionals often need to compare different documents to see how they differ, whether these be, for example, draft contract proposals from two or more parties, or two different patents or patent applications. Lawmakers similarly need to compare various competing proposals for legislation, and to pinpoint what is different and what is the same between or among two or more often extremely lengthy and unwieldy proposals. A copyright attorney may be in the position of comparing two written works, to see if one has "copied" the other sufficiently to constitute an infringement. And, in a myriad of other situations, the need to compare documents and quickly pinpoint their similarities and differences, has grown to near ubiquity in today's electronic world. It is important to understand that this goes beyond and is independent of merely managing different versions of the same document. This encompasses the situation in which it is simply necessary to compare two documents—whatever their origins—for differences and similarities. Editing the document may also be done after or in conjunction with this comparison, by one person or by a group of people, but in many situations, the comparison may be the end result in and of itself.
Perhaps the most familiar method used to compare documents is the so-called "underline strikeout" method, such as is employed in the widely-used Microsoft® Word program. In this method, a first document is compared to a second document, and those words or phrases that are deleted in going from the first document to the second document are highlighted with a "strikeout" indicator on a computerized output device, while those that are added from the first to the second document are highlighted with an "underline" indicator on the output device.
This approach has many drawbacks, some of which will be described here. First, the two documents are not separately presented, but are merged into a single document rather than in distinct, juxtaposed windows. Thus, the user viewing the output presentation can often become confused about what was in the first document versus the second document. Also, the comparison method itself is generally serial, front-to-back, which makes it difficult for the user to identify when text has simply been moved from one place to another. Frequently, if a segment of text is moved, it will appear as a strikeout (deletion) from the first document, and an underline (addition) to the second document at an entirely different location. This gives the user no clue that this segment was actually moved, or where it was moved from and to. Further, for a structured document with multiple headings as well as a hierarchical header structure, the structural meaning of the headings is ignored, and these document headers are treated just like any other items of text. The entire document is outputted en-masse, and the user has no way to start from a header-based "table of contents" and simply "drill down" into the document sections that are of most interest for comparison. There are no suitable statistical or similar comparison summaries of similarities and differences, either for the whole document, or for various document substructures, to aid the user in navigating over to the subsections of greatest interest. Additionally, there is no context information outputted in conjunction with the document text to enable the user to immediately determine where the outputted text fits in the context of the overall document structure. Finally, individual subsections are not in any way "mapped" to one another before comparison, so that in deciding what to underline and what to strikeout, the computer processor's determination that something in the first document is "different" than something in the second document may be erroneous, because it is not comparing the right document subsections with one another following an appropriate subsection mapping.
A moderate enhancement to traditional underline strikeout methods is achieved by Workshare® in its DeltaView® document comparison software. Most significantly, if a segment of text is moved, it is identified as such, rather than simply as a deletion from the first document and an addition to the second document in some unrelated and not-indicated location. In particular, the move is still identified as a deletion from the first document and an addition to the second document, but is given a highlighting different from highlighting given to an ordinary deletion and addition, so as to specifically identify it as a move. This is still problematic, however, since it does not link the old location of the moved material in the first document to its new location in the second document. If there are multiple items of text that are moved or if the documents are long documents and the text is moved far from its original location, the benefit of this feature is lost since the moves will simply get lost amidst one another or the user will have to scroll through a large segment of text to find where the original text was moved to. At most, this is a move-enhanced form of underline strikeout, which otherwise diverges very little from conventional underline strikeout.
In addition to a window outputting the above-discussed enhanced underline/strikeout information, DeltaView® also has two further windows, one showing the first document, and the other showing the second document. However, these two windows show these two documents in clean, unmarked form, and do not in any way highlight changes as between the first and second documents. All information about the changes must be gleaned from the third, enhanced underline/strikeout window. It would be preferable, and would present a much simpler and easier to use output, if the enhanced underline/strikeout window were to be omitted, and if all of the highlighting information summarizing similarities and differences between the two documents were to be presented in only two windows, one for the first document, and one for the second, rather than in the three windows required for the DeltaView® presentation.
Finally, as with Microsoft® Word and similar software, DeltaView® entirely ignores the document structure, and document headers are treated just like any other items of text. As a result, the entire document is again outputted en-masse, and the user has no way to start from a header-based "table of contents" and simply "drill down" into the sections of the documents that are of most interest for comparison, aided by suitable statistical or similar comparison summaries of similarities and differences, either for the whole document, or in association with various document substructures. Additionally, there is no context information outputted in conjunction with the document text that would enable the user to immediately determine where the outputted text fits in the context of the overall document structure. Finally, individual subsections are not in any way "mapped" to one another before comparison, so that in deciding what to underline and what to strikeout, the computer processor's determination that something in the first document is "different" than something in the second document may be erroneous, because it is not comparing the right document subsections with one another following an appropriate subsection mapping.
Microsoft® WinDiff outputs a document comparison that is almost unintelligible to a novice computer user. As with the underline/strikeout method, the two documents are not separately presented, but are merged into a single document rather than in distinct, juxtaposed windows. But the comparison is even more unwieldy than an underline/strikeout comparison, and if a single word differs, it regards the entire line as differing. WinDiff requires the use of an additional window that awkwardly shows a visual output of parallel, interconnected lines representing a map of each document on a line-by-line basis, based on a three-color highlighting scheme indicating first document text not in the second document, second document text not in the first document, and text in both documents. Connecting lines are used to connect text that appears in both documents, including moved text, as between the individual document maps. The whole approach is awkward and non-intuitive at best. WinDiff also ignores the document structure, and document headers are treated just like any other items of text. Thus, WinDiff contains all of the other deficiencies earlier noted with respect to Microsoft® Word and Workshare® DeltaView® that relate to this ignoring of the document structure.
Norton Utilities® File Compare represents something of an improvement over Microsoft® Word and Workshare® DeltaView®, because it entirely foregoes the underline strikeout methodology wherein two documents are merged into a single document for output with underlines and strikeouts, in favor of a side-by-side output of the two documents being compared. In contrast to DeltaView®, this does contain highlighting information summarizing the differences between the documents. That is, Norton Utilities® File Compare does omit the third window required by DeltaView®. However, Norton Utilities® File Compare still has a number of drawbacks.
First, the highlighting of similarities and differences do not occur at a word-by-word level, but appears to occur on a line-by-line or a segment-by-segment basis, and so tend to greatly overstate the degree of difference between the documents, and to greatly understate the degree of similarity between the documents. If perhaps two or three words in a ten or twelve word segment of text have been altered, Norton Utilities® File Compare will highlight the entire ten or twelve word segment as having been altered.
Further, Norton Utilities® File Compare, like DeltaView ®, does distinguish text moves from additions and deletions. However, it does not actually move the output of text in the second document to match the sequencing of the text in the first document, nor does it allow for any form of active highlighting wherein the use can simply designate text in one document and find out where that same text exists in the other document. Instead, in the first document output, it inserts the phrase "moved from line x" opposite the pertinent second document text, where x is the line number in the first document where that same text originates. Similarly, in the second document output, it inserts the phrase "moved to line y" opposite the pertinent first document text, where y is the line number in the second document to which that text has been moved. An actual move of the second document text to juxtapose with the first document text perhaps with some indication of where the moved text originated or of the fact that the text was moved and/or some form of active highlighting, would actually render the understanding of the text move less confusing.
Finally, Norton Utilities® File Compare, like Microsoft® Word, Microsoft® WinDiff, and Workshare® DeltaView®, also entirely ignores the document structure, and document headers are treated just like any other items of text. Thus, Norton Utilities® File Compare contains all of the other deficiencies earlier noted with respect to Microsoft® Word, Microsoft® WinDiff, and Workshare® DeltaView® that relate to this ignoring of the document structure. The entire document is again outputted en-masse, and the user has no way to start from a header-based "table of contents," and to simply "drill down" into the sections of the documents that are of most interest for comparison, aided by suitable statistical or similar comparison summaries of similarities and differences, either for the whole document, or in association with various document substructures. There is again no context information outputted in conjunction with the document text that would enable the user to immediately determine where the outputted text fits in the context of the overall document structure. And again, individual subsections are not in any way "mapped" to one another before comparison, so that in deciding what to mark as similar and different, the computer processor's determination that something in the first document is "different" than something in the second document may be erroneous, because it is not comparing the right document subsections with one another following an appropriate subsection mapping.

Device system and method for determining document similarities and differences


A ranking service can retrieve metrics from a metrics data store and use the metrics to determine a priority order in which to power down resources in a data center. Metrics from the data store can include a number of instances running on a host, a length of time that an instance has been operational, a type of instance, an amount of CPU use on a host, etc. The ranking service can also obtain other parameters from other sources. The parameters can include whether redundant or failover instances exist, the importance of the instances, whether the customer itself is considered important, other generic parameters from the customer account, a customer provided ranking of instances, etc.

Network-based services exist that allow customers to purchase and utilize instances of computing resources, such as virtual machine instances, on a permanent or as-needed basis. In addition to virtual machine instances, these services typically allow customers to purchase and utilize instances of other types of computing resources for use with the virtual machine instances. For example, customers might be permitted to purchase and utilize instances of data storage resources, instances of networking resources, and instances of other types of resources.
Managing network-based services, such as those described above, can be extremely complex. At least some of this complexity is attributable to the large number of instances of computing resources and other types of resources that typically exist in such a service at any given time. For example, some network-based services might utilize dozens of data centers around the world, hundreds of thousands or even millions of server computers, along with large numbers of networking components, software programs, and other types of resources.
In some instances, a thermal event can occur in a data center. The thermal event generally means that a temperature in a data center is excessive or can become excessive for running of server computers and other electronic components. One simple example that can cause a thermal event is when one or more air conditioning units fail. In the case of a thermal event, electronic devices can start to overheat and randomly shut down. Once the thermal event is over, the devices can randomly start back up, which can quickly increase temperature causing another thermal event.

Mitigating an impact of a datacenter thermal event