An input circuit has a first current-limiting resistor, a second current-limiting resistor, and an AC-input photocoupler. The photocoupler has an input terminal connected to a first external terminal and another input terminal connected to a positive electrode through the first current-limiting resistor and also to a ground electrode through the second current-limiting resistor. The first external terminal is connected to a PNP transistor and NPN transistors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input circuit for connection to an NPN switching element and a PNP switching element.
2. Description of the Related Art
On/off sensors such as proximity switches or the like employ a transistor as a switching element and have an output circuit with an open collector of the transistor. Since transistors are available as NPN and PNP transistors, input circuits of devices to which proximity switches are connected should preferable be connectable to both NPN and PNP transistors. For example, there has been proposed an input circuit 100 as shown in FIG. 3A of the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIG. 3A, the input circuit 100 includes an AC (Alternating Current)-input photocoupler 102 having an input terminal 102a connected through a resistor 104 to an external terminal 106a and another input terminal 102b connected to an external terminal 106b. The input circuit 100 also has a resistor 108 connected between the input terminals 102a, 102b parallel thereto.
For connecting an NPN transistor 110 as a switching element to the input circuit 100, the collector of the transistor 110 is connected to the external terminal 106a and the emitter thereof is connected to ground G, and a positive electrode V is connected to the external terminal 106b.
As shown in FIG. 3B of the accompanying drawings, for connecting a PNP transistor 112 as a switching element to the input circuit 100, the collector of the transistor 112 is connected to the external terminal 106a and the emitter thereof is connected to the positive electrode V, the external terminal 106b is connected to ground G.
There has also been proposed an input circuit using both NPN and PNP transistors for the purpose of increasing the input range thereof (see, for example, Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 10-247846).
The input circuit 100 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, allows either the NPN transistor 110 or the PNP transistor 112 to be connected thereto, but prevent both the NPN transistor 110 and the PNP transistor 112 from being simultaneously connected thereto.
The external terminal 106b needs to be selectively connected to the positive electrode V and ground G when the NPN transistor 110 is connected and when the PNP transistor 112 is connected.
The input circuit disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 10-247846 is of a simple arrangement. The NPN transistor and the PNP transistor in the disclosed input circuit operate as an emitter follower, and are not switching elements to be connected through external circuits. Therefore, the input circuit cannot be used as an input circuit for external switching elements.


A bolt brush includes a housing, a scraper and a ring plate. The housing has a holding space which is provided with an opening at an end and emplaces the scraper, an inner wall of the housing, close to that opening, is surrounded with a ring groove, and a side of the scraper is provided with plural brush hairs. The ring plate is locked in the ring groove, a side of the ring plate is an opening, and more than one pick-up member is formed close to that opening.

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bolt brush, and more particularly to a bolt brush which is capable of cleaning bolts of truck tires, and brush hairs of which can be easily dismounted upon replacing the brush hairs.
b) Description of the Prior Art
For many transportation companies, a cargo truck can be one of the important tools for making money. However, for this huge vehicle, it must spend a lot of time in maintaining, especially that as there are usually tens of tires which are responsible for supporting weight of the truck and for moving the vehicle, a significant amount of bolts will be used in connecting and fixing the tires. Moreover, after a long time of usage, when repeatedly locking the bolts and nuts after changing the tires, rust and oil stain will allow the bolts and the nuts not to be locked tightly, which will further affect safety in driving. Although changing the new bolts is one solution, as one truck will usually require tens of bolts, this solution is apparently not wise in nowadays where earth resources are in short gradually, due to that the new bolts will cost a lot, and the old bolts are not damaged in main bodies and can be still used after cleaning. Nevertheless, a conventional cleaning method is no more than using a conventional iron brush with a wood handle to finish and clean a rusty part of a threaded part of the bolt. This method not only wastes time, but also wastes manpower, which is provided with a low efficiency in terms of a modern society where every minute counts.
On the other hand, U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,151 B1 discloses a battery brush structure. Referring to FIG. 1, it shows an exploded view of a conventional battery brush, wherein the battery brush includes a body 1, an inner wall of which is provided with a rib 11, and an interior of which is emplaced with a cylindrical scraper 12. The cylindrical scraper 12 is locked and fixed in the body 1 through the rib 11, and the body 1 is provided with a fixing block 13, an interior of which is provided with a screw hole 131. The screw hole 131 is connected to a connecting rod 14. After improvement, the battery brush is suitable for cleaning truck bolts, and efficiency can be increased through assistance of electric and pneumatic tools, which is very inexpensive in cost and can save time and effort in usage. However, after using and experimenting with the original battery brush structure, the present inventor has actually found following shortcomings for improvement:                1. Although the structure can be used on the pneumatic or electric hand tool to become a brush head, when the cylindrical scraper 12 is to be replaced after using, fixing screws of the fixing block 13 and the body 1 have to be loosen and taken out by a tool, such as a screw driver, that the fixing block 13 can be separated with the body 1. Next, when the fixing block 13 is to be assembled with the body 1, corresponding screw holes on the fixing block 13 and the body 1 should be adjusted for alignment by eye sight of a user, allowing the screws to connect and fix the body 1 and the fixing block 13. This replacement method for the cylindrical scraper 12 is rather inconvenient.        2. According to the aforementioned patent, a tube-shape connector of battery electrodes is provided with a smooth surface. Therefore, it can be easily cleaned manually with that battery brush. However, to cope with a different diameter of the tube-shape connector of the battery electrodes, a cleaning space of the brush head should be designed to be larger than the electrode connector. Yet, this design cannot actually achieve the cleaning effect for the bolt, a surface of which is provided with a helical concavo-convex thread surface.


Systems and methods for integrated retail and ecommerce shopping platforms. A shopping system for selling products including: a shopping facility including a primary product storage area; at least one showroom; at least one delivery location; a transport system for moving products between locations within the primary product storage area, the at least one showroom and the at least one delivery location; an inventory control system; a network server in operational communication with the inventory control system and the transport system, the network server adapted to transmit interactive shopping interface pages over a network; and a customer client device associated with one of the customers adapted to receive and display the interactive shopping interface pages, for selectively displaying product information about the products sold by the shopping system, and receiving customer input regarding the selecting and deselecting of one or more of the products for possible purchase by the customer.

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to systems and methods for integrated retail and ecommerce shopping platforms.
Differentiation and Challenges of Online and Brick and Mortar Shopping Model
Existing Shopping Center and mall facilities provide shoppers with products that once acquired, are taken home. Should a customer want a product delivered to avoid the need to take the product home or because the product is not in stock at the facility, for example, he or she may find it easier to write down the name of the product and then order it subsequently from an online shopping venue—all from the comfort of his/her home. This process is known as showrooming, and retailers in the past have decried this practice as being abusive of their heavy investment in brick and mortar stores by shoppers who will acquire from the competition.
Showrooming is a product of competition and brick and mortar stores ("BAM") not responding to the more data-rich and, at times, streamlined product sales and fulfillment processes offered by online retailers. BAM's may find it difficult to adapt to this trend due to the lack of efficient integration between BAM operations and online shopping fulfillment.
Online retailing also comes with its unique set of issues and costs. If an online shopper so desires, he/she may elect to order multiple products of the same nature and ultimately return all but the one they seek to keep. For example, a shopper seeking one pair of shoes might order five styles in two sizes (for a total of ten shoes) and return all but the one pair they choose to keep. By ordering multiple, related products at once, the shopper may observe the look and feel of the products directly, thereby providing a much more advantageous and desirable shopping experience compared to simply viewing pictures of the products on a computer screen. As a result, products are often returned and the expense of shipping, return shipping and restocking is often absorbed by the retailer often resulting in a net expense instead of a profitable sale. For online retailers, even those equipped with modern automated fulfillment centers, the expense hurts profit margins, but for BAM's, which also carry the costs of operating physical stores and an inefficient distribution network, attempting to be a BAM that also provides robust online retail offerings, such continued operations can ultimately result in significant financial loss or, in some cases, even bankruptcy.
Shoppers purchase products online primarily for convenience, variety of available product, and speed of information. Retail stores, on the other hand, provide two benefits that can dissuade a shopper from shopping online: (i) the ability to touch view, and size a product as well as (ii) speed between the time a product is ordered and the time benefits of the product may be enjoyed by the shopper, provided that the desired product is in stock.
The BAM Supply Chain
BAM's have employed a store-centric model. I.e., the store was a BAM's way of connecting with their customers. BAM Retailer's departments are focused on the best possible and most efficient method to attract shoppers and sell products at their stores. BAMs have located in prime access locations, which make it easier for shoppers to visit them. Accordingly, planning, purchasing, logistics and warehousing have revolved around delivering product to stores in the most effective and efficient manner.
BAM locations generally consist of a showroom with shelf stock available for the shopper to add to their physical shopping cart or basket. As product levels at a store decline due to sales, regional warehouses send pallets of the declining product to a receiving area at the rear of the store, and the shelves are restocked accordingly. Typically, the product stock originates from manufacturers in large pallets of cases of mostly singular products that are transported to the retailer's regional distribution facility. At this facility, the pallets are separated or de-palletized, and the cases are combined into new pallets containing assortments of products for shipping to individual stores. The operation is one of scale and high quantity.
The Fulfillment Center
Online shopping requires a different, direct to consumer Fulfillment Center model. Upon receiving the large pallets of cases of singular products, the pallet is separated and the cases are opened and the products are organized either on shelves or within an automated picking infrastructure in an orderly and efficient manner so that, once an online order is received, either robotic machines or humans (i.e., pickers) select individual product(s) for any size order, package the products and send the package to the address provided by the customer via its own package delivery company and/or a third-party package delivery company (e.g., Federal Express, United Parcel Service, etc.). The Fulfillment Center manages stock and processes orders, returns, and exchanges. This fulfillment of individual products in individual orders is known as "eaches."
Adaptation Challenges of BAM Retailers
BAM's with traditional store centric supply chains have found it very difficult to integrate their existing logistics infrastructure with an efficient e-commerce fulfillment model. These historically low-margin BAMs were already under financial pressure from the loss of sales to online retailers, and they have found it difficult to create a robust eaches logistics network. While many retailers have attempted to modify their model somewhat to incorporate fulfillment centers into their distribution center accommodate accordingly, the results have more often than not been inefficient—adding further pressure to their razor-thin profit margins. Operating two distinct supply chains will result in excess and inefficient allocation of inventory as well as other logistical challenges.
Furthermore, the BAM supply chain model includes many liabilities not essential to an online retailer, including but not limited to maintaining a more cumbersome infrastructure and retail space that often is too large for current sales volumes. This combination of a "less than ideal" infrastructure and store occupancy costs has driven notable former retail giants into distress, bankruptcy protection and even liquidation.
Third Party Logistics Providers
Some online retailers, such as Amazon, have created their own expensive supply chain and fulfillment networks. Other retailers have elected to use third party logistics companies ("3PLs") to outsource logistics, storage and fulfillment services. These services may include depalletizing, repalletizing, shipping, receiving, packaging, repackaging, storage picking, shipping and processing returns/exchanges. 3PLs serve to streamline their retailer clients' businesses. In this manner, a retailer can focus on market trends, sourcing product, projecting sales, and store layout (online or otherwise) and shopper experience.
For BAM clients, retail profit margins are generally thin. With reduced sales volume and a logistics infrastructure that isn't easily adapted to e-commerce fulfillment, BAMs are increasingly considering 3PLs to handle in-store distribution and/or e-commerce fulfillment as a response to this increased competition, declining sales and an evolving business model.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for integrated retail and ecommerce shopping platforms


A radio relay apparatus including an outdoor relay unit formed of first and second receiving parts equipped out of doors and an indoor relay unit formed of third and fourth receiving parts, and a digital transmission line connecting the outdoor and indoor relay units enables radio communication even in a blind area such as an underground area and tunnel. In the first receiving part of the outdoor relay unit, a receiving antenna for receiving a high-frequency signal is integrally incorporated so as eliminate the transmission loss. The high-frequency analog signal is converted to its corresponding digital signal of a desired frequency band by a digital signal processor in the outdoor relay unit, and then, the digital signal thus obtained is transmitted to the indoor relay unit through the digital transmission line, so that high-quality radio communication can be accomplished.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a radio relay apparatus for use in a mobile communication system, and more particularly to a radio relay apparatus for establishing radio communication in a none sensitive area (blind zone) such as an underground area and tunnel, which has difficulty in communicating due to bad radio transmission.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been used a radio relay apparatus for allowing communication in a none sensitive area. The radio relay apparatus is connected to an outdoor receiving antenna through a coaxial cable, which is attached to a relay apparatus located in the none sensitive area, so as to transmit a communication signal to the relay apparatus through the coaxial cable.
In general, the coaxial cable connecting the radio relay apparatus to the receiving antenna is as long as over 100 meters in the majority of cases. The long coaxial cable exhibits larger transmission loss, resulting in consuming a large quantity of electric power. Besides, it is not easy to reduce noise figure on a receiving side.


A crematory urn having an outer shell shaped like a stylized football helmet. A face mask extends forwardly from the shell. A transparent plastic sleeve is secured to the shell behind the face mask to display a photograph of the person whose cremated remains are disposed within the shell. A base is secured to the bottom of the shell for retaining such in an upright orientation. A transparent capping plate in the base permits the contents of the urn to be viewed.

Due to the relatively high costs of traditional funerals and burial, cremation is becoming popular method for disposing of the dead. Cremated remains are typically stored in a small container or urn and, then, interred in a cemetery plot or mausoleum. Most crematory urns are plain in appearance and offer little to distinguish one set of cremated remains from another. If given the opportunity, it is believed that many individuals would choose to identify their cremated remains as those of a football fan for eternity.


A sorbent cartridge that has at least one sensor located within the sorbent cartridge.

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), also known as chronic renal disease, may be a sudden or progressive loss in renal function. As the disease severity progresses, a patient with severe renal failure develops many symptoms that, if left untreated, eventually result in death. The most severe stage of CKD is End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). ESRD, also referred to as kidney failure or renal failure, is the medical condition wherein a person's kidneys fail to sufficiently remove toxins, waste products, and excess fluid, and to maintain proper electrolyte levels.
Urea is among the many waste products often found in the blood of an ESRD patient's blood in an unhealthy amount. Urea is not very toxic by itself, but its level represents the levels of many other waste products that build up in the blood when the kidneys fail.
Kidney dialysis is a medical procedure that is performed to aid or replace some of the kidney functions in severe renal failure. Hemodialysis, hemofiltration, hemodiafiltration, and peritoneal dialysis are all replacement therapies for patients who have lost most or all of their kidney function. In connection with a hemodialysis session, waste products such as urea are removed from the blood. Hemodialysis artificially separates the waste products and excess water from the patient's blood by diffusion and ultra-filtration, by circulating through a machine with a special filter that removes wastes and extra fluids, with the clean blood then being returned to the body.
Urea is generally accepted to be the best marker for evaluating the level of uremic toxins. Dialysis procedures are therefore often aimed at reduction of urea in the blood stream. Currently, urea measurements in most dialysis clinics are often done infrequently to lower cost. Turnaround time for these samples can be quite long, and often the patient must be recalled for further dialysis if the percentage reduction of urea in the blood is not sufficient. In the absence of a blood check, the use of time of dialysis alone as a measure of completion, especially if hemodialysis is not carried out long enough, can clearly lead to morbidity and mortality.
Moreover, these measurements often require blood sampling before and after treatment and require time consuming chemical analyses. As a consequence, the measurements cannot be used to determine actual urea clearance efficiency or control the extent and duration of an individual patient's dialysis session.
Management of patients undergoing continuous hemodialysis requires a means of determining the adequacy of their treatment, which is typically reported as the unitless quantity Kt/V, where K is dialyzer clearance, t is time of hemodialysis treatment and V is body fluid volume. A simple measurement of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is generally an insufficient indication of adequacy of dialysis since, for instance, a low BUN can reflect inadequate nutrition rather than sufficient urea removal by dialysis. In a patient with little or no urine output, the protein catabolic rate (PCR) (g/day) is equal to the sum of the dialysis and stool losses of urea, protein, and amino acids. PCR is roughly equal to protein intake when a patient is in a steady state with a relatively constant pre-dialysis BUN. As such, BUN is largely reflective of patient diet rather than the adequacy of dialysis treatment. Monitoring the patient's symptoms alone is also insufficient, since the combination of dialysis plus with other treatments (e.g. erythropoietin to increase red blood cell count) can eliminate most uremic symptoms although the patient may be underdialyzed.
In accessing the adequacy of hemodialysis, blood tests for hemodialysis patients are typically, however, performed only on a monthly basis. Many factors can compromise the effective clearance achieved during a dialysis session. These factors include blood access recirculation, access connection errors, dialyzer clotting, blood flow errors, dialysis session interruptions, and dialyzer variability. However, monthly or periodic testing is inadequate to determine if effective clearance is achieved by any individual dialysis treatment.
A number of approaches have been described in the art for determining BUN and urea content:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,819 describes a method to measure BUN by means of a cation sensitive electrode having a urease layer on its surface. The electrode configured in this manner is then placed in a solution containing urea and a millivolt signal is analyzed to determine the urea concentration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,315 describes an enzymatic urease sensor to measure the urea concentration electrometrically in spent dialysate, combined together with measured flows for arterial blood, venous blood, and dialysate to calculate the arterial BUN by a method based on principle of solute mass balance across the dialyzer. The enzymatic urease sensing method used is a modified Nova 12 chemistry analyzer for Nova Biomedical, Waltham, Mass. The arterial BUN measurements are used to measure URR for purposes of determining when the prescribed dialysis dose is completed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,179 describes a method for obtaining a pre-dialysis BUN measurement by equilibrating the dialysate urea concentration to the blood urea concentration before the start of dialysis. The method of equilibration is to start blood flow through the primed dialyzer while preventing flow of the dialysate until the concentrations between blood and dialysate are equilibrated. The equilibrated sample is then analyzed by passing the sample to an ammonium sensitive electrode covered by a cap containing urease.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,806 further describes how a continuing sequence of non-equilibrated samples of spent dialysate with urea concentration measured by this sensor system can be used to monitor the progress of a dialysis dose with quantification of Kt/V and URR.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,186 describes an electrochemical sensor that quantifies urea concentration by measuring pH changes in an aqueous environment that occur when enzyme catalyzed hydrolysis of urea occurs.
European Patent 0 614 081 B1 describes a method and apparatus that passes ultrafiltrate from a hemofilter through a urease containing reactor. Inductive type conductivity sensors are positioned in the fluid circuit before the urease reactor inlet and after the urease reactor outlet. The difference in conductivity is used to determine the urea concentration of the ultrafiltrate. The BUN is determined in this method because ultrafiltrate has the same urea concentration as the arterial blood.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,114,176 and 6,521,184 describe a method and apparatus to measure urea in spent dialysate by measuring the conductivity of the dialysate before and after passing through a column containing urease. The method discloses infusion of carbon dioxide into the dialysate as a buffer to maximize conversion of urea to the ionic byproducts ammonium and bicarbonate so that the maximum conductivity signal is obtained. Use of single or dual conductivity sensors is discussed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,840 describes a method and apparatus for determining waste products in dialysate, including urea by means of measuring absorption of ultraviolet light.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,326,576 describes the use of Raman spectroscopy to measure urea concentration in blood through the tubing of the extracorporeal circuit.
US patent application publication 2011/0163034 describes measurement of urea in spent dialysate by means of UV sensing or other urea sensors and methods to determine the K/V slope and assess whether the dialysis therapy session is proceeding according to the prescribed dialysis dose.
There is a need for determining BUN and urea content for hemodialysis patients more frequently than on a monthly basis. There is also a need for assessing the adequacy of dialysis during treatment. There is a need for improved methods and devices for assessing and monitoring the effective clearance achieved during a given dialysis session. There is a need for obtaining a measured clearance of waste products during each dialysis session and determining if delivery of less or more than the prescribed dialysis clearance has occurred.
In particular, there is a need to provide a sorbent cartridge having at least one sensor located within the sorbent cartridge, with the sensor optionally being conductivity sensor, and the sorbent cartridge optionally having ion selective electrodes.


A clamp for a surgical retractor system. The clamp has a tapered conically shaped washer against and through which clamping force is applied to place the clamp in a clamped position. The clamping force is applied by a cam head connected to a central shaft. A locking pin connects the cam head to the shaft. Apertures are provided in the clamp for receiving rod ends of a surgical retractor. Such apertures are circular and are positioned to be closer to the top and bottom edges of the clamp portion of the clamp than to the end edge of the clamp portion.

The present invention relates to retractor systems for use during invasive surgical medical procedures.
During surgical medical procedures, a surgeon will typically make an incision in a patient to access the site of interest for the particular surgical procedure. To maintain clear access to the site of interest, a surgical retractor system is typically utilized. A surgical retractor system typically consists of a rail clamp, a frame connected to the rail clamp by a universal connecting joint mechanism, and retractor blades that are connected to the frame by additional universal connecting joint mechanisms. The rail clamp is commonly secured to an operating table and provides a fixed and sturdy support for the frame and the retractor blades. Each of the components in a typical surgical retractor system is conventionally made of stainless steel. The reason that stainless steel is generally used is that stainless steel is easily sterilized. As would be expected, before any use of the surgical retractor system can be made during a surgical procedure, the system must be thoroughly sterilized for the protection of the patient.
Surgical retractor systems have been made of other materials in the past, such as aluminum and titanium. The common characteristic of all of these materials is that they are highly durable and easily sterilized. That is, these materials are not porous and easily lend themselves to typical sterilization procedures used in modem day hospitals.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a surgical retractor system that can be used confidently in surgical procedures.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a universal clamping mechanism for a surgical retractor system.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a clamping mechanism that is strong against wear caused by continual use of the clamping mechanism over time.

Surgical retractor having clamping mechanism


Methods of determining the dose of UVC light delivered to a sample comprising a low optical transmission complex fluid are provided. Also provided are methods of inactivation of an organism, such as a spore, a bacteria or a virus, in a sample comprising dose of UVC light delivered to a sample comprising a low optical transmission complex fluid.

Viral contamination of cell culture media and supernatants poses a challenge to biopharmaceutical manufacturers worldwide. Several methods have been employed to inactivate and/or remove large or small, enveloped or non-enveloped (or "naked") DNA or RNA viral particles from cellular supernatants. Examples of these approaches include 20 nm filtration technology, anion-exchange membrane chromatography, low pH incubation and depth filter technology.
In addition to the above techniques, ultraviolet (UV) light, notably light in the UVC band, has also been used to treat low transmission solutions, including cell culture media, in order to inactivate viruses. In order to achieve efficient viral inactivation, however, the solution must be exposed to a sufficient and well-defined dose of UV light, in the UVC band, in order to ensure a desired level of viral inactivation. Continuing assurance of efficient viral inactivation relies on accurate quantification of the dose of UVC radiation received by the low optical transmission solution.
Currently, there are two common methods used to quantify the germicidal dose delivered to fluids by a UVC reactor. The first method uses biodosimetry, whereby a challenge micro-organism (e.g., a virus such as a parvovirus) is spiked into the fluid being treated by a reactor and the inactivation kinetics are determined. Biodosimetry results define an average fluency delivered by a UVC reactor. For high optical transmission solutions, such as water, reactor validation is often performed at scale using the biodosimetry method. However, this method does not measure the range of dose and the dose distribution within the reactor, which are critical parameters for understanding reactor design, operation, and scale-up. Moreover, conducting such studies at scale may require introducing biological contaminants into the very same environment the inactivation technology is intended to protect. This quandary is particularly unacceptable for treatment of low optical transmission solutions in the biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical and food beverage text owing to regulatory requirements for sanitary processing. Lastly, inactivation measurements using biodosimetry methods tend to pruduce "threshold" results when applied to high stringency inactivation treatments; thus, the true dose received is not known with certainty, only that the dose exceeds a known threshold.
The second method, which is often used in conjunction with biodosimetry, is mathematical modeling. Mathematical modeling employs the Beer-Lambert law along with fluid properties, system geometry, and computational fluid dynamics to estimate the germicidal dose delivered. There are commercially available computer programs to assist in creating such models, e.g., UVCalc® (Bolton Photosciences Inc.) and FLUENT (ANSYS, Inc.). The mathematical models apply mainly to fluids with high transmissions (e.g., water). This method, however, also has a drawback: for applications involving the treatment of highly absorbing (i.e., low transmission) fluids such as cell culture media, the mathematical models have a greater level of inaccuracy owing to non-linear optical absorbance phenomena not embodied in the Beer-Lambert law or other optical absorbance mathematical descriptions. While the mathematical modeling method has the advantage of appropriately describing the UVC received dose as a distribution, absent verification with experimental measurement, the results are deemed theoretical and possibly differ from measured reality.
What is needed, therefore, is a method of accurately measuring the UVC dose delivered to a low transmission fluid, such as cell culture media, and consequently ensuring that a germicidal dose of UVC light is delivered to the fluid.

Methods of determining exposure to UV light


The present invention provides an electrostatic latent developing toner which comprises:. toner particles containing a colorant and a binder resin, the toner particles satisfying the following relation: EQU 1.45-0.05 D.sub.50 .ltoreq.D.sub.25 /D.sub.75 .ltoreq.1.75-0.05D.sub.50(1) PA1 the toner particles having a volume-mean particle size of 3 to 7 .mu.m and a shape factor SF1 of 100 to 130 as expressed by the following relation (2): EQU SF1={100 .pi..times.(max length).sup.2 }/{4.times.(area)} (2) PA1 an external additive admixed with the toner particles, the external additive containing hydrophobic inorganic fine particles A having a number-mean particle size of 5 to 70 nm, and inorganic fine particles B having a number-mean particle size of 80 to 800 nm with a 20 number % or less content of particles having a particle size of 1000 nm or more.. (in which D.sub.25, D.sub.50 and D.sub.75 denote toner particle sizes such that when the toner particles are integrated from the larger particle side, the volume percentages of toner particles of respective particle sizes are 25%, 50%, and 75% based on the total volume of the toner particles), particle size D.sub.50 being within the range of from 3 to 7 .mu.m; or. (in which, "max length" represents mean value of maximum lengths of projected toner particle images, and "area" represents mean value of projected toner particle areas); and

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner for developing an electrosatic latent image formed on an electrostatic latent image-supporting member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An image forming method which includes the steps of developing an electrostatic latent image formed on an electrostatic latent image-supporting member, such as potosensitive member, by using a toner, and transferring the resulting toner image onto a recording medium, such as recording paper, has been widely employed in copying machines, printers, facsimile, and also in full-color image forming apparatus which reproduces a multicolor image by superposing a plurality of color toners one over another.
Such an electrostatic latent image-developing toner to be used in various types of image forming apparatuses is required to have different characteristics according to the types of such apparatus. In image forming apparatuses of a digital system, for example, a variable area gradation system or a laser intensity modulation system is adopted as a variable contrast image reproduction system. Whichever system of the two may be employed, however, for good image tone reproduction, the toner is required to have high fluidity. Especially where the laser intensity modulation system is employed, higher fluidity is required of the toner so as to enable tone reproduction to conform to any toner deposit variation corresponding to a change in the charge quantity of the latent image due to laser intensity modulation. Further, for use in a full-color image forming apparatus, wherein toners of different colors are subjected to multiple transfer for full-color image reproduction, the toner must have good transfer characteristics.
Since full color toners are such that color reproduction is carried out by a mixture of different color toners, for such color reproduction it is necessary that the full color toner must have good light transmission characteristics. Therefore, the binder resin used in the toner particles must possess sharp melt characteristics. Unfortunately, however, a toner having such characteristics is apt to cause toner aggregation due to a stress or the like imposed upon the toner in the developing apparatus during voluminous printing. This poses the possibility of void occurrence in a solid image that is attributable to the toner aggregation.
Further, full color toners are required to achieve higher grade halftone reproduction and finer particle feature than in the case of monochrome toners, and this necessitates particle size reduction with respect to full color toners. However, particle size reduction may tend to cause the toner to be adversely affected by heat and/or stress, resulting in toner particle agglomeration, and also in fluidity and cleanability degradation.
In order to meet the foregoing characteristic requirements, therefore, various problems exist to be overcome from technical standpoints. Conceivably, for example, one effective approach for fluidity improvement is to externally add a fluidizing agent, such as fine silica particulate or fine titania particulate, to the toner, thereby to increase the quantity of addition of such an agent. However, increased addition of external additives tends to result in an increase in the quantity of the external agent added to the toner which may pass through the cleaning blade and adhere to the surface of the potosensitive member. This in turn poses a problem such that the external agent which has adhered to the potosensitive member surface acts as a nucleus to which other toner components may adhere in a trailing fashion during the process of cleaning. As a result, the problem of external agent retention on the potosensitive member surface (hereinafter referred to as "BS") is pronounced. If the quantity of the external additive is reduced with a view to preventing the occurrence of BS, the fluidity of the toner becomes insufficient; in addition, toner aggregation may occur due to a stress or the like exerted on the toner in the developing apparatus during voluminous printing, and this may lead to the problem of voids in a solid image. A toner of reduced particle size naturally has an increased fine powder content, so that aforementioned problem is more pronounced with respect to the toner. If a spherical toner of reduced particle size is used for improvement of image quality and transfer performance, toner particles passing through the cleaning blade will increase in number, thus causing unsatisfactory cleaning which will in turn lead to image noise generation.

Electrostatic latent image-developing toner containing specified toner particles and specified external additives


An adaptive constant false alarm rate system provides a method and apparatus for reliably detecting burst information by minimizing the effects of noise levels and signal quality on the detection decision. In particular, the adaptive constant false alarm rate system of the present invention acquires an accurate estimate of the noise floor during a time when no signals information is present on the channel. Accordingly, any activity on the channel during this idle time is a relatively accurate indication of the channel's noise activity. This noise floor estimate is incorporated into a constant false alarm detection scheme to thereby minimize the effects of both the noise level and signal quality on the detection scheme.

Wireless cellular telephony systems have enjoyed increased popularity in recent years. At various times, the channels that carry voice communications in a cellular telephony system may be idle (i.e., no signal transmission over the channel at a particular time). These unused or idle voice channels may be utilized for other communications such as data communication. In particular, an overlay communication system utilizing unused or idle voice channels for digital data communication is desirable. Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) is such an overlay system which provides mobile datagram service utilizing the idle voice channels of an existing cellular telephony infrastructure. Like standard cellular voice transmissions, the CDPD overlay system transmits data from a plurality of remote subscriber units to base stations which relay the data to external fixed end systems or other CDPD networks. Data communication from the remote subscriber units to the base stations is wireless, and the subscriber units may be movable or stationary.
A consortium of cellular communication carriers prepared and released in 1993 a specification entitled "Cellular Digital Packet Data System Specification." The specification defines a protocol to be used by the industry when transmitting and receiving CDPD data messages over an existing cellular communication system. The protocol specifies that CDPD shall be transmitted at a symbol rate that is an integer multiple of 19.2 KHz. The protocol also specifies that CDPD messages are transmitted in bursts, with each burst having a preamble formed by a dotting sequence of 38 bits followed by a synchronization pattern of 22 bits. Following the preamble is the data sequence comprised of n multiples of 385 bits of data.
In general, demodulation of the received CDPD signals involves first acquiring the signal/burst, then demodulating the so-called steady state portion of the burst. Microslot markers separated by approximately 3.125 microseconds mark the beginning of the burst arrival window. The acquisition process involves detecting the presence of a burst signal, then estimating certain parameters such as burst arrival time and carrier frequency offset. Detection is typically accomplished by comparing some processed portion of the received signal with a detection threshold. If the threshold is improperly set, data bursts will be missed completely (a condition known as "burst miss"), and/or the detector will believe that it has detected a burst when in fact no burst is present (a condition known as "false-alarm").
Two fundamental design parameters in the burst detection process are the burst miss probability (or rate) P.sub.M and the false-alarm probability (or rate) P.sub.FA. Generally, P.sub.M is a function of the signal energy to noise power density ratio (SNR) and P.sub.FA is a function of the noise floor level of a particular communication channel. In a cellular environment, the noise floor is dependant on factors such as amplifier gain, antenna gain, cable losses in front of the CDPD demodulator, and others. Because the noise floor is generally different from site to site, providing a fixed threshold generally results in poor performance.
One way to regulate P.sub.FA is a system known generally as "constant false-alarm rate" (CFAR). In general, a CFAR system attempts to achieve a constant false alarm rate independent of noise level in the receiver. One approach to achieving CFAR is a standard ratio detection scheme in which a correlation value of the preamble portion of the burst is divided by a measure of the signal energy on the preamble portion of the burst. A detection is declared if the calculated ratio exceeds the threshold. An example of how ratio detection may be used in a CFAR system is disclosed in an article entitled "The Effect Of The Frequency Offset On The Probability of Miss In A Packet Modem Using CFAR Detection Method", written by M. R. Solemani and H. R. Girard (IEEE Tran. Communication Theory, Vol. 40, No. 7, July 1992, at pages 1205-1211). The P.sub.FA using ratio detection CFAR can be expressed solely as a function of the threshold setting, and is not dependent on the noise level. However, the P.sub.M using ratio detection CFAR is very sensitive to the signal quality. For mobile CDPD transmitters, signal quality can vary widely depending upon factors such as the particular hardware configuration or the proximity of the mobile unit to the base station.
Thus, there is a need for a CFAR detection scheme having a reduced sensitivity to both noise levels and signal quality, while maximizing burst detection probability (i.e., minimizing P.sub.M).

Adaptive constant false alarm rate system for detecting CDPD bursts


A mounting beam removal equipment has a cassette for holding a plurality of stacked wafers in such a manner that mounting beams of the wafers are trued up in the same direction, a brush composed of a plurality of disks which are inclined at a predetermined angle and secured to a vertical shaft along an axis of the vertical shaft at regular intervals, the brush facing a side of the mounting beams of the wafers held in said cassette. Furthermore, a rotation driving device is provided for rotating the brush about the axis of said vertical shaft, a first moving device is provided for moving the brush horizontally along the side of the mounting beams, and a second moving device is provided for moving the brush horizontally in a direction perpendicular to the side of the mounting beams. The second moving device moves the brush to the side of the mounting beams and brings the disks of the brush into contact with the side of the mounting beams, and the disks of the brush remove the mounting beams from said wafers while the rotation driving device rotates the brush and the first moving device moves the brush along the side of the mounting beams.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mounting beam removal equipment, and more particularly to mounting beam removal equipment for removing mounting beams from a plurality of wafers simultaneously.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a slicing machine slices an ingot, a mounting beam is mounted on the peripheral surface of the ingot in order to prevent the cutting face from chipping. Since the ingot is sliced along with the mounting beam, the mounting beam is attached to the sliced wafer. The mounting beam must be removed from the wafer.
In order to remove the mounting beam from the wafer, a variety of methods have been proposed: a water heating method, a heating method and a drying method. Concerning all methods, the wafers are processed on a wafer-by-wafer basis. For this reason, the wafers cannot be efficiently processed, and it takes much time to process the wafers.


Embodiments of this application provide a capacitor unit, an integrated capacitor, and a resonance unit. The capacitor unit includes: a conductive cavity, where an accommodation space is set longitudinally through in the conductive cavity; and a conductive core, where a first part of the conductive core and a second part of the conductive core are connected by using a via hole, the first part of the conductive core is located above or below the conductive cavity, and the second part of the conductive core is located in the accommodation space of the conductive cavity; and the conductive cavity is isolated from the conductive core by using an oxide layer or an insulation layer. The embodiments of this application can reduce impact from the outside on the capacitor unit, and therefore stability of the capacitor unit can be improved.

A capacitor is an important element in a circuit device. A silicon-based integrated process design kit (PDK)-based capacitor includes a metal-oxide-metal (MOM) integrated capacitor and a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) integrated capacitor. An existing capacitor includes multiple metal layers, and each metal layer includes multiple metal strips. A horizontal capacitor in a horizontal structure is formed between adjacent metal strips at each layer, and a vertical capacitor in a vertical structure is formed between metal strips that are at two layers and are vertically adjacent. Metal strip structures at all layers are the same. Multiple metal strips are evenly arranged horizontally and vertically in the existing capacitor. Metal strips are mutually coupled and a parasitic effect is generated, causing poor capacitor stability.

Capacitor unit, integrated capacitor, and resonance unit


Smoothing apparatus for smoothing flowable materials including a support portion having an end and a smoothing portion coupled to the support portion proximate said end for use in smoothing the flowable material.

Caulk materials are often used to fill cracks and joints between surfaces. Since the bead of caulk material is virtually the last item to be placed, it needs to be uniform and visually pleasing. Thus it is desirable that the bead of caulk be even and smooth. Achieving an even and smooth bead is extremely difficult and generally requires diligent practice to perfect. For the homeowner who seldom caulks, laying and smoothing a bead of caulk can be frustrating and typically results in an unsatisfying bead.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved caulk smoothing apparatus.
Another object of the invention is to provide a caulk smoothing apparatus which is easy to use and produces a uniformly smooth bead.


Device for the crossed displacement of rolling rolls (10), whether they be working rolls and/or back-up rolls, in a rolling mill stand (11) for plate and/or strip, the rolls (10) being supported at the ends by respective supporting chocks (12) associated to stationary housing (13), the chocks including an inlet side and an outlet side, the chocks (12) on one roll (10) being associated with the device to position the rolls (10) in a crossed position, cooperating with at least one of the inlet and outlet sides of the chocks (12) of at least one roll (10), there also being a front cam (16), whose axis lies on a substantially parallel plane to the rolling plane, associated with drive shafts (15), the front cam (16) comprising at least two substantially cylindrical coaxial elements (17, 18), one connected to the drive shaft (15) and the other cooperating with the chock (12), the front cam (16) including front surfaces of reciprocal connection (19, 20) defining inclined radial sliding planes and at least two principles, the rotary movement imparted to the front cam (16) being functional to the lateral displacement of the chock (12).

This invention concerns a device for the crossed displacement of rolling rolls, whether they be working rolls and/or back-up rolls.
To be more exact, the invention is applied in cooperation with the upper and lower rolling blocks of a four-high rolling mill stand for plate and/or strip in order to permit a crossed and coordinated displacement of the working rolls and/or back-up rolls.
The state of the art covers four-high rolling mill stands for plate and/or strip which include opposed upper and lower working rolls which define the rolling plane and are fitted to the relative chocks located on one side and the other of the rolling mill stand.
Each working roll is associated with a relative back-up roll, the function of which is to limit the bends produced in the working roll during rolling, thus allowing very high rolling pressures to be used.
The state of the art covers the need to induce in the rolls a displacement in the rolling plane which causes a reciprocal crossed positioning of the rolls even though at very limited angles.
In the state of the art, this crossing movement is generally carried out by using two different techniques.
According to a first technique, traversing movements are imparted in a suitable direction to all the chocks supporting the rolls.
In order to achieve the crossed positioning of the rolls, each chock positioned at one end of a roll, for example a working roll, receives a traversing movement in the opposite direction to the movement imparted to the opposite chock of the same working roll and to the movement imparted to the chock at the same end of the opposed working roll.
By using this technique, the vertical projection of the point of intersection of the axes of the rolls remains unchanged for any angle imparted to the axes of the rolls.
According to another displacement technique, by displacing only the opposed chocks located on one side of the roll, while the chocks located on the opposite side are kept stationary, the position of the vertical projection of the point of crossover of the axes of the rolls is varied.
In the state of the art, a plurality of systems to displace the chocks have been proposed, for example with gear systems, screw-threaded systems, jack systems and others.
All these systems however have been found unsatisfactory with regard to accuracy of positioning, coordination of the movements, simplicity of embodiment and application, installation costs and other reasons, among which are the considerable power required, the considerable bending caused, the incorrect functioning of the bearings, etc.
Moreover, these systems known to the state of the art involve very long and laborious inspection and/or maintenance times, both because of their complex embodiments and also because of their positioning, as access is only possible with difficulty, or the maintenance/repair workers can only reach them after preliminary operations of at least partial dismantling of the rolling mill stand, carried out when the plant has been stopped, with all the technical and economic problems which that causes.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,971,982 provides to obtain the lateral movement and positioning of the chock with a pair of male-female threaded connections.
The connections have the disadvantage that they require a considerable specific pressure, a high number of revolutions to be imparted to one or the other of the components in order to obtain the desired displacement, a considerable precision of connection and a considerable axial length.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,197,986 of 1961 provides for front cam systems to adjust the working pressure and therefore the space between the working rolls. It is a dynamic adjustment system associated with the thickness of the rolled strip and to the maintenance of the desired value of thickness.


A system for on-line testing of an emergency shut-off valve includes a first emergency shut-off valve and a control for initiating a test on the first emergency shut-off valve. The system also includes a fluid actuator for opening and closing the first emergency shut-off valve. A subsystem is also provided for testing the first emergency shut-off valve without fully closing the shut-off valve in response to a signal from the control. In this system, a second solenoid valve bleeds off pressurized fluid to move the emergency shut-off valve from a fully opened to a partially closed position functions as a second emergency shut-off valve. A second emergency shut-off valve is also provided in series with the first emergency shut-off valve and a bypass around the second emergency shut-off valve allows the second emergency shut-off valve to be tested by being fully closed without shutting down the process. The use of the two emergency shut-off valves in series wherein either valve can shut down the process raises the safety integrity level to level 3.

In the oil, gas, petroleum and power industries, various conditions may occur that necessitate immediate shut down or tripping of the operations, process or plant. In those industries, a majority of the final control elements of a shut-off systems are implemented with fast acting shut-off valves. In such industries, a majority of the shut-off valves remain open while the process is in a safe and controlled state. Such valves are closed only upon a plant trip rising from an out of control process or during a normal maintenance outage.
In practice, the testing of emergency shut-off valves is normally done during shut down of the process. However, there is a tendency for such valves to stick or freeze due to corrosion or other reasons, which lead to an unsafe condition. This problem is exacerbated by economic conditions which have lead to a reduction in the frequency of shut-offs. For example, in some operations, a process may run continuously for one or more years without shutting down the process for maintenance.
State of the art emergency shut-off systems, which control the shut-off valves, have a number of features to detect plant or process failures and typically include redundancies for added reliability. However, such systems may not provide for the testing of shut-off valves itself other than stroking the valve. The problem is that full stroking or completely closing the valve causes an undesirable disruption in the process.
A U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,282 of Zachary et al. discloses an arrangement for testing solenoids individually without process interruption. The arrangement operates in a two out of three manner to provide relatively high safety, low spurious tripping and a relatively low installation cost, while also enabling on-line testing of each solenoid individually without process interruption. Solenoid arrangements are preferably manifolded to facilitate maintenance on any detected failure, and to simplify installation and replacement.
A more recent U.S. Pat. No. 6,920,409 discloses an apparatus for testing operation of an emergency valve. As disclosed, the apparatus for testing an emergency valve in which a valve member is moveable by a fluid operated actuator between a normal open or closed position and an emergency position closed or open respectively. The apparatus comprises partial stroking means including means for initiating emergency movement of the valve from its normal towards its emergency position, and means for returning it from a predetermined position intermediate the normal and emergency positions at its normal operating speed. The apparatus includes means for detecting the loss of the controlling electrical signal to the valve and a means for detecting the correct operation of the valve and its associated operating components by measuring the pressure of fluid being released from or being applied to the actuator.
In addition, a U.S. Pat. No. 7,010,450 of Law et al. discloses a combination of field device operations with overrides and bypasses within a process control and safety system. The process control or safety instrumented system uses function block logic to coordinate the logic within the process control or safety instrumented system with operational states of field devices, even when these operational states are initiated externally to the process control or safety system. Logic within input or voter function blocks associated with field devices may monitor and determine when the associated field devices are being put into testing or calibration modes and may automatically initiate appropriate bypass or override functionality in response to such detected field device configuration states. Likewise, the function block logic may automatically remove the bypass or override functionality when the field devices are placed back into their normal operational configuration states. This automatic initiation of bypasses and overrides helps to prevent a safety system within a process plant from initiating a shut-down procedure as a result of a device test initiated manually by, for example, a hand-held device attached to a field device. Likewise, the automatic removal of bypasses and overrides helps to prevent a safety system within a process plant from failing to operate properly because a user forgot to manually reset a bypass or override that was suet up to allow a device test.
Recognizing that the emergency shut-off valves can be stroked partially as a safeguard against frozen or stuck valves has lead to a need for a simple, secure and reliable system for testing such valves without adversely effecting production. This approach also improves the safety of the operation.
The partial stroke testing system in accordance with my earlier invention described in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,435,022, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference thereto, provides a low cost, simple and reliable test for emergency shut-off valves in the oil, gas, petrochemical and power industries. Such tests do not adversely interrupt a process and will minimize or almost eliminate the risk of a "frozen" emergency shutoff valve in the event of an out of control process. Such a system is cost effective and has been designed to utilize a shut-off valve with a fast acting piston actuator. The system is also applicable to slow acting valves.
In processes in the oil, gas, petroleum, and power industries, fuel to power the heaters, boilers, or the like, is fed to the associated burners through a fuel control valve and a fuel shut-off valve. The fuel control valve regulates pressure/flow to the burners, whereas the shut-off valve is normally in a fully open state. The shut-off valve closes to cutoff fuel supply in the event of an emergency.
From the safety point of view, the shutoff action of the shutoff valve is of utmost importance. The operability of the shutoff valve can be confirmed by means of the online valve partial stroke testing. However any failure in the internals of the shut-off valve may lead to a fuel leakage to the heater. Introduction of a solenoid valve in the pneumatic circuit of the fuel control valve driven by an emergency shut-off signal is conceived as a means for supplementing the fuel shutoff action and the redundancy to achieve up to Safety Integrity Level Three (SIL-3).
In addition, the partial stroke testing system in accordance with the present invention will not interfere with a plant trip, i.e. a full shut down due to an emergency condition. Furthermore, if a partial stroke test is being conducted at the time of a plant trip, the partial stroke test will contribute to a more rapid closing of the emergency shut-off valve. Thus, the partial stroking design acts as a backup to the main trip mechanism.
Accordingly, such systems should reduce the cost of insurance or risk coverage. In essence, the system partially closes the emergency shut-off valve to a predetermined position to test and confirm its ability to function and to ensure its availability on demand in the event of a plant emergency.
The present system design can be applied to design loop instrumentation (e.g. heater or boiler fuel loops, to piping loops, or to any separation between high pressure loops and low pressure loops) to achieve up to the Safety Integrity Level Three (SIL-3) in the final element (shutoff valve) part by using a regulator control valve as supplementary of second shutoff valve, as required by IEC (International Electrical and Electronic Commission)-61508 and ISA (Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society) S 84.01 standards.
TABLE 1IEC 61598 Safety Integrity LevelsSafety IntegrityAverage Probability of Failure to Perform its DesignLevelFunction on DemandSIL-1>10−1 to ≦10−2(One failure in 11 to 100 demands)SIL-2>10−2 to ≦10−3(One failure in 101 to 1000 demands)SIL-3>10−3 to ≦10−4(One failure in 1001 to 10,000 demands)
There is also a widespread concern among process operators about the Probability of Failure on Demand (PFD) of final shut-down elements, such as shut-off valves used in safety applications. Partial trip testing of the final shut-off valve couples with the supplementary emergency shut-off valve according to the present invention will serve to improve the PFD of shut-off action in such systems.
      PFD    1001          =    λ                                                                                du                                                                                2                            Ti                                                                                +                                                      λ                                    dd      (                        MTTR          +                                                  =                                           T                                          PITT            2                              PFDProbability of Failure on DemandλduUndetected Failure RateλddDetected Failure RateMTTRMean Time To RepairTPITTPITT testing IntervalTiTest Interval (Proof Test)

Partial stroke testing system coupled with fuel control valve


An electrical connector (1) comprises, first and second clasping bodies (2) that interlock with each other and define therebetween multiple housing cavities (3), multiple cable connectors (4) in the cavities (3), each connector (4) having a housing (5) with an external profile encircled by one of the cavities (3), front mating faces (7) of the connectors (4) being aligned side to side, relatively wide sections (10) of the connectors (4) overlapping one another laterally, side to side, to achieve a compact width.

According to USA, an electrical connector for cables comprises, insulated electrical conductors terminated with an electrical connector. Multiple rows of electrical contacts in an insulative housing of the connector are arranged in rows, and are connected with individual, insulated conductors. The insulated conductors can be unshielded or shielded by a conductive jacket. Before the invention, electrical connectors have been available in various sizes and shapes for conformance with technical standards governing dimensional configurations and electrical characteristics. The existing connectors often are inadequate to meet renewed demands for faster and more compact electronic devices. Yet to specify new technical standards would require the design of new connectors that are not in existence. In view of the rapid obsolescence of electronic devices, the design of a new connector can not be accomplished in a timely manner.
As an alternative to design of a new connector, a composite connector can be formed from a number of known connectors. The configurations and electrical characteristics are known for each of the connectors. Each of the connectors would be unchanged when accompanying one another in such a composite connector.


Providing for scheduling tasks in a distributed system based on an inefficiency of each task on a particular machine as compared with available networked machines is described herein. By way of example, a distribution component can receive a plurality of tasks at a machine assigned by at least one independent agent. In addition, an ordering component can schedule each task on a machine as a function of non-decreasing inefficiency. Such a policy can be implemented locally at the machine, minimizing inter-device communication, while only marginally increasing completion time for the set of tasks. In such a manner, the subject disclosure provides for load balancing of distributed systems in a manner that utilizes fewer resources than conventional approaches.

One of the greatest modern enhancements to electronic processing and computing has been distribution of processing, storage, and like resources across remote distances and disparate devices. Access to data, applications, processes, databases, and the like has grown commensurate with an expansion of distributed networks. The success of transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) electronic communication utilized with large networks, such as the Internet, has been an important contributor to enabling such distribution. In addition, the development of algorithms that can distribute resources of multiple servers amongst multiple clients has also aided the advancement and application of such distributed networks. As a result of such advancements, shared computing has become a viable and powerful tool in modern computing.
As with most automated computer processes, the introduction of shared computing has also fostered a desire to optimize such process. Load balancing of various assigned tasks amongst distributed machines and/or processes is one such example. Load balancing can be roughly characterized as an attempt at minimizing resources required to complete a certain number of tasks on a finite number of distributed machines. In some examples, the machines are able to inter-communicate with each other to best determine a mechanism with which to share and optimize resources; other examples restrict the machines to only that information that is locally available. Such restricted mechanisms can be termed non-cooperative or independent processes.
An example of a non-cooperative process can include a system having multiple distributed machines on a wired or wireless network, assigned a set of tasks. Load balancing desires to assign tasks to the distributed machines in such a manner as to minimize the completion time of all tasks. One method of achieving such goal is to design local scheduling policies that result in the desired load balancing. An advantage of local policies, e.g., policies enforced utilizing information local to a process, occurs in minimizing communication overload among distributed portions of a system. In many distributed systems, there are rational agents independently responsible for tasks of the set of tasks, who are selfishly motivated. In other words, each agent can schedule tasks independently to minimize their own completion time. In the context of such a system, one goal has been to develop local scheduling policies that motivate these individual agents to act both selfishly and in a manner that minimizes the completion time of the entire set of tasks. A solution is desirable if it can partially minimize communication amongst various machines and processes while only marginally increasing the completion time of the set of tasks when compared with cooperative systems.

Optimal policies for load balancing for distributed and strategic agents (more technically, optimal coordination mechanisms for machine scheduling)


A screen enclosure frame element structured to resist fluid from contacting the anchor is presented. Particularly, the frame element comprises an anchor channel disposed within an interior portion of the frame element between a head surface and a support side; the anchor channel being dimensioned to receive an anchor there through and into an engaging relation with the base. Further, the frame element of at least one embodiment includes at least one anchor retention assembly which at least partially defines the anchor channel. The retention assembly comprises a support wall connected to or a part of an inner side of the head surface at one end, and disposable in a fluid restricting relation with the support base at the other end. Other embodiments include a cap with a curvilinear surface configuration and/or a plurality of support ledges with corrugates surfaces disposed in a fluid restricting relation with the base.

Screened enclosures, typically for but not limited to homes and residences with balconies, patios, and/or pools, are extremely popular as the screened enclosure helps seclude the enclosed area from certain outer elements such as bugs and foliage while maintaining an outdoor atmosphere. In general, screened enclosures are commonly installed by securing a frame element to a base (such as a wood or concrete floor, slab, column, beam, ceiling, etc.) and then securing the screen material or panel to the frame element. A typical frame element is constructed of extruded metal or aluminum and then anchored to the base via a plurality of spaced apart anchors or screws.
A common drawback to the frame assembly for screened enclosures is that over time the anchor is exposed to the outer elements and water or other fluid (e.g., rain or pool water) causing the anchors to rust and corrode rather quickly. Corroded or rusted anchors may cause the frame assembly to fail, become disengaged with the base, and must therefore be replaced on a regular basis.
Particularly, when the anchor is driven through the frame element and into the base, oftentimes, the pressure causes the frame element to slightly buckle or cave inward creating a concave or indented configuration proximate the top portion or head of the anchor. The indented, concave or buckled area will then accumulate water or other fluid. The water or fluid accumulated at or near the head of the anchor causes the anchor to experience rapid deterioration, corrosion and rust.
Furthermore, water and other fluid can oftentimes seep under the outer edges of the frame element and into the interior portion of the frame element where the anchor meets the base. Water or other accumulation therein also cause the anchor to experience rapid deterioration, corrosion and rust.
There is thus a need in the art for a frame element that is structured to protect the anchor from unwanted accumulation of water or other fluid that can cause the anchor to corrode or rust. Therefore, the proposed invention comprises various structures and features that resist fluid from contacting the anchor or accumulating on the top surface of the anchor. The resistance to or protection from fluid causes the anchor to remain structurally intact for longer periods of time, prolonging the structural integrity of the frame element and screen frame assembly.

Corrosion resistant screen frame assembly


A modular electrical bus system has a grounding circuit through a plurality of modular I/O units with each unit being both electrically and mechanically connectable together via a bridge member connecting adjacent units and the main communication module. The bridge member and modular I/O units are grounded together with a ground circuit that extends within both components.

Industrial automation uses many control devices. One useful control device combines a plurality of electrical actuated solenoids that control through valves the direction of hydraulic or pneumatic flow for actuating other downstream devices. In recent times these valves have been controlled by field busses which are often mounted adjacent the valve manifold.
Efforts have been made to modularize the field bus with modular input-output modules (I/O) so additional I/O components can be more easily added on or replaced. Each input/output module has a plurality of fittings which can all be used as input fittings, output fittings, or a mix of input and output fittings. This modularity is desirable to remotely place certain I/O modules closer to a particular sensor or machine. In the past, when such remote mounting is achieved, different remote components must be used.
Grounding of the electrical bus system is desired. Past grounding systems often relied on the fact that the housings of the modular components were often made from metallic materials which conduct electricity. The ground circuit often incorporated the metal housings as part of the ground circuit. However, this type of grounding system limited the use of housings made from electrically conductive materials. Light weight but structurally sound materials such as plastic or fiberglass are desired to replace the metal material but may not have the needed electrical conductivity required.
What is needed is a modular electrical bus system with I/O modules having housing made from lighter weight non-metallic materials which has a grounding system incorporated therethrough.

Modular electrical bus system with built in ground circuit


An electrochromic pane arrangement is disclosed having a first transparent electrode substrate or glass pane and a second electrode substrate or glass pane arranged parallel to and at a distance from the first glass pane. An ion conducting layer is disposed adjoining the two electrode substrates and consists of a polymer matrix containing at least one salt including difficult to oxidize anions. The conducting layer also includes one dopant suitable for the provision of cations, preferably metal ions. A surface of the first electrode substrate faces toward the ion conducting layer and is a first transparent electrode layer. Adjacent to it is an actively electrochromic layer in surface contact with the ion conducting layer, preferably of tungsten trioxide. This ion conducting layer has a reversibly variable transparency and/or color as a result of absorption or emission of electrons via the first electrode layer and acceptance or emission of ions of the dopant from or to the ion conducting layer. A surface of the second electrode substrate faces toward the ion conducting layer and bears a second transparent electrode layer. Adjacent to it is a transparent layer in surface contact with the ion conducting layer and is suitable for the reversible storage of charge, preferably by ion insertion. The ion conducting layer includes at least one salt having a proportion of an easily oxidizable anion and/or at least one easily oxidizable organic compound. The compound is electrically neutral and undergoes no color change upon changing the transmission of the electrochromic pane arrangement.

1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to display devices, and in particular, to an electrochromic pane arrangement.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrochromic pane arrangements for use as display devices are known in the art. Such electrochromic panes may typically have a first transparent electrode substrate or glass pane, a second electrode substrate or glass pane arranged parallel to and at a distance from the first glass pane, and an ion conducting layer joining the two electrode substrates. The ion layers may consist of a polymer matrix containing at least one salt including difficult to oxidize anions, and at least one dopant suitable for the provision of cations, preferably metal ions. A surface of the first electrode substrate faces toward the ion conducting layer and bears a first transparent electrode layer. Adjacent to it is an actively electrochromic layer in surface contact with the ion conducting layer. The electrochromic layer is preferably of tungsten trioxide, having a reversibly variable transparency and/or color resulting from absorption or emission of electrons via the first electrode layer and acceptance or emission of ions of the dopant from or to the ion conducting layer. A surface of the second electrode substrate faces towards the ion conducting layer and bears a second transparent electrode layer. Adjacent to it is a transparent layer in surface contact with the ion conducting layer. The transparent layer is suitable for the reversible storage of charge, preferably by ion insertion.
An electrochromic laminated pane of this type is known from DE-A 41 16 059, where the two individual panes are joined to one another by means of a polyvinylbutyral layer which represents the ion conducting layer. The polyvinylbutyral layer, which is a film of polyvinylbutyral sufficiently well-known for the manufacture of laminated safety glass panes, contains LiClO.sub.4 as dopant.
Electrochromic pane arrangements do not as a rule evidence any electrochromic properties in their freshly manufactured state, unless the electrochromic layer and/or the charge storage layer have been precharged by the insertion of positive ions. Otherwise, only after so-called preconditioning, does the pane arrangement acquire the property of variable light transmission. For the purpose of preconditioning, the pane arrangement is switched several times at low voltages and low cycle time after connection of a DC voltage. One cycle always consists of a colouration and bleaching period. During colouration and bleaching, identical or differing voltages can be applied, but with reversed polarities, where the pane incorporating the actively electrochromic layer, normally taking the form of a WO.sub.3 layer, is connected during colouration as a cathode, but on the other hand as an anode during bleaching.
A first type of preconditioning is characterized by successive increase of the switching times and of the voltages applied.
It has been found favourable at the beginning of preconditioning to choose the colouration period of longer duration than the bleaching period, as then lower transmission values can be induced in the pane arrangement in stages. This method of preconditioning leads to a high transmission range, but is very time-consuming on account of the high number of cycles, this time requirement naturally increasing the cost of manufacture of the pane arrangement.
If it is desired to avoid the considerable time involved in the type of preconditioning used in the procedure described above, it is also known in the state of the art that the individual electrode layers can be charged with lithium ions. Either the actively electrochromic layer or the above-mentioned ion storage layer is charged with for example lithium ions before assembly to form the electrochromic pane arrangement. This is done by immersing the individual pane to be preconditioned in each case in a liquid electrolyte solution and applying a DC voltage. As counter electrode, there is a metal plate or also a glass pane matched to the pane size which is provided with an electronically conductive layer, where the electrolyte solution is composed as a rule of propylene carbonate and a lithium salt. By these means, it is possible to achieve a considerable reduction in the preconditioning time in comparison with the type of preconditioning described above, but there is the disadvantage that an additional operation is necessary, with the corresponding cleaning problems and difficulties involved in the production of the glass sandwich from the preconditioned individual panes, so that the production of electrochromic pane arrangements is relatively time-consuming, even with this second type of preconditioning.
An electrochromic pane arrangement of the type mentioned at the beginning is known from EP-B 0 083 988, where the ion conducting layer takes the form of a cast resin layer, where propylene carbonate is used as solvent for the conducting salt LiClO.sub.4. Here as well, the preconditioning problems described above occur.
In EP-B 0 098 416, an electrochromic pane arrangement similar to that of the generic type is described, where for the ion conducting layer a polymethyl methacrylate-based or a copolymer of methyl methacrylate/methacrylic acid-based lithium ion conductor is used. The preconditioning problems of the type described further above are also present with the procedure according to this publication.
Finally, an electrochromic pane arrangement of another type is known from EP-A 0 495 220, where no electrochromic layer is used, but a metal, for example Cu and/or Bi, is deposited on a glass surface, as a result of which darkening occurs. This reaction is reversible. On the counter-electrode not defined in detail, the anion of the salt in question is oxidized, this action also being reversible. To increase the solubility of CuCl and/or BiCl.sub.3, a further salt can be added in the liquid electrolyte whose anions can form complexes with Cu. Lithium bromide is used in preference for this purpose. Finally, a salt with non-complexing anions can also be used, LiClO.sub.4 being used in preference. According to the data of EP-B 0 495 220, the switching properties should be improved thereby. A problem with this procedure is the fact that in the event of a fracture of the pane arrangement or any other form of leak, the electrolyte liquid can escape, which will occasion considerable contamination problems. In addition, the use of the liquid electrolyte, in which lithium bromide and where applicable LiClO.sub.4 are present for an increase in solubility or an improvement of the switching properties, does not permit the design of large-area switching elements. Finally, only relatively low operating voltages of not more than 2 volts are possible, as otherwise decomposition reactions can occur in the liquid electrolyte.


A power converter with bootstrap circuit, the power converter has a high side switch, a low side switch, a bootstrap circuit and a bootstrap capacitor for providing a bootstrap voltage to supply a high side driver of the high side switch. The power converter receives an input voltage and provides an output voltage based on driving the high side switch and the low side switch to switch on and off. The bootstrap circuit has a first comparing circuit, a first comparing circuit, a boost circuit and a second charging circuit. The second charging circuit charges the bootstrap capacitor when a voltage difference between the input voltage and the output voltage is smaller than a voltage threshold.

Power converters such as switch-mode voltage regulators are widely used in various electronic devices for sourcing power to the electronic devices from a power source. Taking a buck type switching regulator for example, the buck switching regulator generally has relatively high conversion efficiency, wide bandwidth and good loop stability with sample loop compensation, and is thus popular in converting high input voltage to relatively low output voltage applications. FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a typical buck type DC-DC voltage converter 100. In brief, the voltage converter 100 is configured to receive an input voltage Vin at its input terminal IN, and convert the input voltage Vin into an appropriate output voltage Vo through controlling a high side switch MH and a low side switch ML to switch on and off in a complementary manner. The voltage converter 100 comprises a control circuit 101 for providing control signals to the high side switch MH and the low side switch ML. The high side switch MH and the low side switch ML are connected in series between the input terminal IN and reference ground GND, the common connection SW (also referred to as switching voltage output node SW) is coupled to an output terminal OUT of the voltage converter 100 via an inductive energy storage component LO. A capacitive energy storage component CO is coupled between the output terminal OUT and the reference ground GND to smooth the output voltage VO.
The high side switch MH may comprise an N-channel power switching device, such as an N-channel FET or an N-channel DMOS etc. to save chip area, reduce the size and improve the performance of the voltage converter 100. In this situation, in order to make the high side switch MH to be fully turned on (i.e. to make the high side switch MH to operate in saturation region in which the switch MH has a quite small on resistance), a voltage applied between a control terminal and a terminal connected to the node SW of the high side switch MH must be large enough, at least larger than a turn on threshold voltage of the high switch MH. For instance, in the example where the high side switch is a FET/DMOS, the voltage between a gate terminal and a source terminal (connected to the node SW) of the FET/DMOS must be larger than a turn on threshold of the FET/DMOS. However, when the high side switch MH is on, the voltage at the node SW can reach the input voltage Vin, and thus a voltage higher than the input voltage Vin must be provided to the control terminal of the high side switch MH so as to turn it on completely.
Therefore, in order to generate a voltage higher than the input voltage Vin, the voltage converter 100 generally further comprises a bootstrap circuit 102. The bootstrap circuit 102 is configured to provide a bootstrap voltage VBS referenced to the voltage at the node SW. The bootstrap voltage VBS can be used to enhance the driving capability of the control signal DH provided to the control terminal of the high side switch MH, so that the control signal DH can drive the high side switch MH to turn on and off in good condition. In the example of FIG. 1, the bootstrap circuit 102 and a bootstrap capacitor CB are connected in series between the input voltage Vin and the switching voltage output node SW, the bootstrap circuit 102 comprises a first reference REG1 and a diode DB, wherein a cathode of the diode DB is connected to the bootstrap supply terminal VB, an anode of the diode DB is connected to a first terminal of the bootstrap capacitor CB, and a second terminal of the bootstrap capacitor CB is connected to the node SW. A voltage across the capacitor CB is provided as the bootstrap voltage VBS. The operating principles of the bootstrap circuit 102 can be easily understood by the ordinary artisan. When the high side switch MH is turned off and the low side switch ML is turned on, the bootstrap capacitor CB is charged by the bootstrap supply voltage till the voltage across the bootstrap capacitor CB reaches the bootstrap voltage VBS. When the high side switch MH is turned on and the low side switch ML is turned off, the input voltage Vin of the voltage converter 100 is transmitted to the switching voltage output node SW, i.e. the voltage at the second terminal of the bootstrap capacitor CB is pulled up to the input voltage Vin. Thus, the voltage at the first terminal of the bootstrap capacitor CB is raised to a voltage higher than the input voltage Vin, substantially equals to the input voltage Vin superposing the bootstrap voltage VBS. As the voltage at the first terminal of the bootstrap capacitor CB reaches to the input voltage Vin plus the bootstrap voltage VBS, the diode DB is reversely biased and is thus turned off so as to protect the bootstrap supply voltage source from being damaged by the relatively higher input voltage Vin.
In view of the above, it can be understood that the bootstrap capacitor CB can not be charged/recharged to refresh the bootstrap voltage VBS unless the low side switch ML is turned on. However, in certain circumstances, the bootstrap capacitor CB may not have enough charge stored and may not be charged/recharged in time, resulting in the bootstrap voltage VBS to be decreased, which may cause the control signal DH to not be able to drive the high side switch MH to turn on and off properly. In such a situation, the voltage converter 100 will no longer be able to operate normally, which is not desired. For example, when the voltage converter 100 operates in light load or no load condition, the control circuit 101 is configured to reduce the on time and/or the switching frequency of the high side switch MH and the low side switch ML to improve the conversion efficiency of the converter 100. However, this may lead to the capacitor CB not being able to be charged/recharged in time because the on time of the low side switch ML is too short or the high side switch MH and the low side switch ML do not switch in a relatively long time. In other circumstance, for example, if the desired value of the output voltage Vo is close to the input voltage Vin, the high side switch MH has to operate in quite high duty cycle or 100% duty cycle, wherein the duty cycle refers to a percentage of the on time of the high side switch MH in the switching cycle of the switches MH and ML. In this case, the on time of the low side switch ML in one switching cycle may be quite short or the low side switch ML may even have no chance to turn on, resulting that the bootstrap capacitor CB can not be charged/recharged in time to store enough electrical charges to provide a high enough bootstrap voltage VBS. The bootstrap capacitor CB should wait till the output voltage Vo drops, which implies that the duty cycle decreases and the on time of the low side switch ML increases, in order to be charged/recharged so as to refresh the bootstrap voltage VBS (i.e. to make the bootstrap voltage VBS restore to a high enough value). However, this event can result in large spikes in the output voltage Vo. For example, supposing the converter 100 has a 6V input voltage Vin and a 3.3V desired output voltage Vo, a 3V bootstrap voltage VBS is required to ensure the high side switch MH to be turned on and off normally. In this example, if an output current drawn from the converter 100 by a load is relatively small or no output current is drawn (i.e. the converter 100 operates in light load or no load condition), the bootstrap voltage VBS will decrease to smaller than 2.7V, inducing the high side switch MH not being able to turn on normally. The bootstrap capacitor CB should wait until the output voltage VO decreases to smaller than 3V in order to be recharged so that the bootstrap voltage VBS can refresh/restore to 3V. Then, the high side switch MH and the low side switch ML can switch normally to regulate the output voltage Vo to resume to its desired value 3.3V. However, each time the output voltage Vo resumes from smaller than 3V to 3.3V, a large spike occurs, which is harmful to the converter 100 and the load, and thus is undesirable.
A need therefore exists for solving the problem of charging the bootstrap capacitor CB in power converters.

CHENGDU MONOLITHIC POWER SYSTEMS CO., LTD.


An oven comprises:                a cooking chamber defined by chamber walls;        a baffle plate mounted within the cooking chamber for directing the flow of air within the cooking chamber, said baffle plate being provided with at least one aperture;        a fan for moving air within the cooking chamber, and for maintaining a flow of air through said aperture; and        a catalytic converter located within the cooking chamber,        characterized in that the catalytic converter is mounted both on said baffle plate and upstream of said fan.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to improvements in ovens with catalytic converters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to use catalytic converters in ovens in order to reduce the smoke output of ovens, particularly when the ovens are used to cook foods containing fat or grease which is likely to evaporate during the cooking process and cause smoke problems. For example, the present applicant's earlier International Patent Application No. PCT/GB00/04156 (WO 01/38798) describes an oven (2) having catalytic converters (38, 40) positioned outside of a cooking chamber (4). The catalytic converters (38, 40) are positioned downstream of grease filters (34, 36) and upstream of fans (26, 28) which are used to drive air out of the cooking chamber (4), along ducting (19), passed a heating element (20), and back into the cooking chamber (4) through perforations formed in the rear wall (10) of the cooking chamber (4). The grease filters (34, 36), catalytic converters (38, 40) and fans (26, 28) are all located outside of the walls of the cooking chamber (4).
German patent DE 3,636,622 describes an oven in which air is drawn through the centre of a baffle plate (3) by a fan (7), and forced outwardly through a concentric heating element (8) which is provided with strips (9) which are provided with a catalytic coating in order to reduce the smoke and odour content of the air. The strips (9) are connected to the heating element 8 so that they reach the temperature required to achieve the catalytic effect. The air then passes around the edges of the baffle plate (3) and back into the cooking chamber. It will be noted that the catalytic converter strips (9) are therefore located downstream of both the fan (7) and the heating element (8).
German patent DE 4,139,904 shows an oven having a similar arrangement. A fan (6) is used to draw air from a cooking chamber through the centre of a baffle plate (4), and to force the air outwardly through a concentric heating element (7) and then through a concentric catalytic converter (8). The catalytic converter (8) is formed from a porous sponge-like wire mesh on which a catalyst is deposited as a coating. The air then passes back around the edges of the baffle plate (4) into the cooking chamber. It will again therefore be noted that the catalytic converter (8) is located downstream of the fan (6) and heating element (7).
The invention seeks to provide an improved oven having a catalytic converter, which overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art.