An electric pump for use with an engine in a vehicle is provided. The electric pump has an impeller having a plurality of blades for moving coolant. A working surface of each blade is formed to be a flat plane which extends generally straight in both an axial direction and a radial direction. The electric pump is formed by a centrifugal pump. When the electric pump is not operating and is used as a portion of a coolant passage, flowing resistance can be reduced as compared with a case where the working surface of each blade is curved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a centrifugal pump. More particularly, the present invention relates to a centrifugal pump which is mounted on a vehicle for assisting circulation of liquid.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the number of vehicles having an "idle stop" function has been increasing for helping stop global warming. The idle stop function is turning off an engine when a vehicle is stopped, for example, at a red light, so as to reduce emissions. The idle stop function also makes vehicles more efficient.
In vehicles using a re-heat type air conditioning system, however, when the engine is stopped by the idle stop function, hot coolant from the engine is not delivered to a heater core. This may lower a heating performance of the air conditioning system. In order to avoid this problem, vehicles are usually equipped with an electric pump which operates to circulate coolant when the engine is stopped.
That electric pump does not operate while the engine is operating, but forms a portion of a coolant passage from the engine to the heater core. Thus, an impeller of the electric pump may interfere with a coolant flow in the passage if the impeller has a particular shape. In this case, flowing resistance in the coolant passage from the engine to the heater core, especially inside the electric pump, is increased, and may lower flow efficiency of coolant from the engine to the heater core. In particular, when a passenger rides in a vehicle, the flow resistance in a case where the electric pump forms a portion of the coolant passage is important because a period during which the engine is operating is longer than a period during which the engine is stopped.


According to one embodiment, a server apparatus includes a storage module stores information to execute paging of which the broadcast is not completed yet for paging using the recording module, a determination module determines whether or not to execute paging of information in which a paging request has been already recorded in the recording module, a detector detects a storage information amount of the paging stored in the storage module, and a report module reports the storage information amount detected by the detector to a terminal of a paging request origin.

1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a server apparatus, a communication system, and a paging execution method which executes paging so as to broadcast information including at least one of images and voices to a plurality of telephone terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
A telephone system includes a paging function. The paging function is a function of broadcasting voice signals from a certain telephone terminal to devices such as a plurality of telephone terminals or loud-speakers.
As regards a technique similar to the technique of this kind, a system, which an exchanger inquires, to a pager terminal of a callee, whether a voice signal can terminate to the pager terminal in accordance with pager calling from a caller, and if it is impossible for the voice signal to be terminated, the exchange apparatus reports the fact to the caller, is proposed (e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-69402).
Meanwhile, a paging function may include a system which once stores voices and images to send to a device to be paged and then broadcasts the stored voices and images. Another paging function may include a system which pages pre-recorded voices and images.
Some of these systems enable many callers to perform calling operations for paging almost at the same time. In such systems, since there are some possibilities that the systems have been broadcasting voices and images from other callers at the time when the calling operations are completed, the systems may not broadcast the voices and images just after the completion of the calling operations.

Server apparatus, communication system, and paging execution method


The present invention mainly relates to a method and apparatus for measuring the concentration of a solute in a solvent. Disclosed is an apparatus or method for determining the concentration of a solute in a solvent of a solution in a container having a time-varying volume by analyzing two signals received from the solution, comprising: measuring the quantity of the two received signals, converting the two signals into two electro-optical or electrical signals, performing a mathematical transformation on the two electro-optical or electrical signals, and determining the ratio of the transformation components of the two electro-optical or electrical signals. The present invention can be used in various applications of determining the ingredient concentration of a fluid, such as a gas or liquid. Particularly, the present invention finds applications in blood analysis in a human body for measuring, for example, the glucose, triglycerol, cholesterol, or oxyhemoglobin concentrations of the blood.

While measuring the concentration of a specific solute in a solvent, all we need to know is the ratio of the solute to the solvent. If there are two solutes and one concentration of the two solutes is known, all we need to know is the ratio between two solutes and the concentration of the other solute can be thus calculated. There are various situations requiring the determination of concentrations, such as air quality studies, water quality studies and chemical factory product monitoring. Among others, the studies of clinical diagnostics utilize lots of concentration measurements including measuring the concentrations of glucose, triglycero, cholestride, hemoglobin ureic acid, and oxyhemoglobin. Other possible measurements include the microorganisms such as specific virus, bacteria or its maker or toxin in a human body fluid, especially the blood. Additionally, in enzyme activity studies concerning immuno-tests to antibodies or antigens (such as hormones and enzymes), it is needed to analyze the product of the enzymes or the product of the coupled reactions, the antigen-antibody complex or the labels on the antigen-antibody complex, antigen-enzyme hormone can be protein. Particularly, their concentrations are needed to be determined.
As mentioned before, the concentration of ingredient B in a solution A can be defined to be the ratio of B with respect to the solvent in the solution A. For example, the concentration of glucose (i.e., the ingredient) in blood can be defined as the ratio of glucose with respect to the water in blood.
Although the definition of concentration is clear and straightforward, there exit many problems in putting the measurements of concentrations of solutions into practice. One of the challenges confronted is to measure a solute in a solution in a small time-varying and signal-generating volume in a large stationary container. The time-variance of the volume infers that the volume of the solution or just a volume that contained signal sources. What is in the volume can be liquid, air, condensed matter or ionic solution or a combination of it, being measured is not fixed with respect to time and/or space. The signal generation refers to measuring methods that involve introducing signals into the volumes and the concentration of the signal source can thus be determined by analyzing the induced signal. The problem is that the induced signal will always be mixed up with noise produced by the stationary container and thus, the analyzed result will be hardly accurate. For example, when an infrared light source is directed to a finger of a human body and toward to the blood sample inside the vessel of the finger, both the absorption peaks of water and glucose will show up, together with a lot of scattering noise mainly caused by non-blood stationary sources. Apparently, the noise is detrimental to the accuracy of concentration measurements.
Thus there is a need to provide an apparatus and method for accurately and effectively measuring the concentration of a signal source in a volume. This invention addresses the need.
In one aspect of the invention, there is a method (Mold-In strong method, which means two signals are in a mold-like relationship strongly) for determining a ratio of two signals A(t) and B(t) based on two real signals A′(t) and B′(t) including noise NA(t) and NB(t), respectively, wherein:NA(t)≈NB(t),A′(t)=A(t)+NA(t),B′(t)=B(t)+NB(t), andA(t)=K0*B(t), K0>1,
said method comprising the steps of: (a) performing a mathematical transformation T on both A′(t) and B′(t); and (b) estimating K0 from the following relation:Fi[A′(t)]/Fi[B′(t)]≈K0,
where Fi is the ith order component of the transformation T; and
(c) determining the ratio of two signals A(t) and B(t) from the estimated K0.
In another aspect of the invention, there is a method (Mold-In medium method, which means two signals are mold-like in a medium way) for determining a ratio of two signals A(t) and B(t) based on two real signals A(t) and B(t) mixed with noise NA(t) and NB(t), respectively, wherein:                A′(t) is statistically confident to be not noisy such that NA(t)≈0,A′(t)=A(t)+NA(t)≈A(t),B′(t)=B(t)+NB(t), andA(t)=K0*B(t),
said method comprising the steps of:                (a) performing a mathematical transformation T on both A′(t) and B′(t); and (b) estimating K0 from the following relation:Fi[A(t)]/Fi[B′(t)]≈K0,
where Fi is the ith order component of the transformation T and the position of Fi [B′(t)] is identified by the noise around Fi [A(t)]; and (c) determining the ratio of two signals A(t) and B(t) from the estimated K0.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is a method (Mold-In week method, which means two signals are in a weak mold-like relationship) for determining a ratio of two signals A′(t) and B′(t) based on two signals A(t) and B(t) mixed with noise NA(t) and NB(t), respectively, wherein:                A′(t) is a less noisy signal;A′(t)=A(t)+NA(t),B′(t)=B(t)+NB(t), andA(t)=K0*B(t),
comprising the steps of:                (a) identifying the minimum of B′(t), B′(t)min, by A′(t); and (b) removing the static noise by [B′(t)−B′(t)min].
In yet another aspect of the invention, there is an apparatus for determining the concentration of a solute in a solvent of a solution in a container having a time-varying volume by analyzing two signals received from the solution, comprising: a detector for measuring the quantity of the two received signals; a signal converter for converting the two signals into two electro-optical signals; and means for determining a ratio of the two electro-optical signals by performing the above-mentioned mold-in methods.
In yet another aspect of the invention, there is an apparatus for measuring the concentration of a solute in a solvent of a solution in a container having a time-varying volume by analyzing two signals received from the solution, comprising: a pressure source for generating the volume change of the time-varying volume; a detector for detecting the two received signal; a signal converter for converting the two received signals into two electrical signals; and means for determining a ratio of the two electrical signals by performing the above-mentioned mold-in methods.
In yet another aspect of the invention, there is an apparatus for measuring the blood pressure variation [P(t)−P(t)diastolic] in a human body by a marker signal B′(t) in the blood of the body, comprising: a detector for measuring the marker signal B′(t); and a data processing unit determining the [P(t)−P(t)diastolic] based on [B′(t)−B′min(t)], where:                P(t) is blood pressure as function of time,        P(t)diastolic is diastolic pressure or minimum of P(t), and        B′min(t) is the minimum of the marker signal B′(t).


A multi-part vehicle wheel includes a rim spider and a rim which are mutually connected by screwing devices. For connection by way of the screwing devices, the rim spider has ring surfaces which are placed flush on the rim. So that precise positioning of the metal foam core can take place, this metal foam core has core marks or needle cushions. For sealing off the hollow space of the spoke of the rim spider, which is filled with metal foam, a sealing strip or a sealing ring is arranged between the rim and the rim spider and is held in a clamped-in manner when the wheel parts are connected.

This application claims the priority of German application 100 12 890.4, filed Mar. 16, 2000, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a multi-part vehicle wheel for a motor vehicle including hollow spokes arranged in a rim spider between air openings. A core made of metal foam remains in the rim spider and is precisely positionable in a casting die tool, and a ring surface, provided on the rim spider, radially projects beyond an interior-side or exterior-side wall of the rim spider for connection with a rim.
German Patent Document DE 197 54 959 A1 relates to a one-piece wheel for a motor vehicle which has hollow spokes and ring ducts and in which a respective remaining core of metal foam is arranged. This metal foam core is used instead of a removable sand core during casting of the wheel in a casting die tool.
It is an object of the invention to provide a multi-part wheel for a motor vehicle in which positioning of a metal foam core remaining in hollow spaces of the wheel is to be ensured and in which an optimal sealing-off of this metal foam core against outside influences when the vehicle wheel is assembled is achieved.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by providing the ring surface on the rim spider at an outer edge of the rim spider such that it defines a radially outward-extending first ring surface which is situated opposite a second ring surface in a spaced manner. The second ring surface includes either a bent or a straight ring web, and at least one of the first and second ring surfaces is connected by screwing devices with the rim.
Precise positioning of a metal foam core in a casting die tool is achieved according to the invention by needle pins forming positioning devices projecting from the core or arranged in a distributed manner. After casting of the wheel, these positioning devices are integrated, that is cast, into the wheel wall. In this case, the positioning devices are cast into the wall of the hollow spaces. The metal foam core can therefore no longer change its position in the hollow space, the wheel spoke, or in a ring space of the wheel.
Arrangement of the metal foam core in the casting die tool can also take place by way of a core portion extending out of the hollow spokes in the area of either the wheel center or the wheel center opening. Arrangement of the metal foam core in the casting die tool can also take place by way of a core portion extending out of the hollow spoke in the area of a wheel bolt bore. After casting of the wheel has been completed, and this core portion has been cut off corresponding to requirements, the wheel bolt bore and the central wheel opening will be interconnected.
A vehicle wheel, produced in this manner by way of a metal foam core, can be constructed in several pieces. The rim spider, for example, can be cast separately from the rim in the casting die tool. The rim can also be produced by a different method such as rolling.
In a first embodiment according to the invention, the rim spider is provided with approximately parallel extending edge-side ring surfaces, between which the hollow spokes and air openings are arranged. At least one of these ring surfaces is connected with the rim in a flat manner by way of screwing devices. The rim is correspondingly constructed with angular surfaces for this purpose. On a face side, the inner ring surface abuts a rim bottom surface and can be connected with the rim, for example, in a substance-adhering manner.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the inner ring surface has a bent ring web which is placed in a flat manner against the bottom surface of the rim. As a result, a second screw connection surface with respect to the rim is advantageously achieved. The first screw connection surface is obtained by way of the outer ring surface.
The metal foam core and the hollow space are protected against outside influences by a sealing strip or a sealing ring arranged between the connection surfaces of the rim spider and the rim. Thus, when the two wheel pieces, such as the rim and the rim spider, are connected, the sealing strip is held in a clamped-in manner.
When the hollow spoke is not filled with metal foam, in each embodiment of the wheel, a sealing strip can also be interposed so that the hollow space is protected against outside influences.
Instead of having the opening, the hollow spoke can also be closed off by way of a wall which will then be supported on the bottom surface of the rim.

Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft


A communication terminal unit has a system control section including a communication error detection section that detects a communication error, which occurs at the time of originating a call over an IP network or a public network. A communication error analysis section analyzes the thus-detected communication error, and in accordance with the result of analysis of the communication error, a call origination network determination section automatically determines whether to re-dial a call over the IP network or the public network. As a result, when detecting a communication error at the time of origination of a call over the IP network or the public network, a system control section performs control operation for analyzing the communication error and automatically determining whether to re-dial a call over the IP network or over the public network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communications terminal unit to be connected to an Internet protocol (IP) network and a public switched telephone network, and to a method for controlling the unit. More specifically, the invention relates to a communications terminal unit having the function of automatically determining whether to originate a call over an IP network or over a public switched telephone network by analyzing a communication error in the event that the communication error has arisen when a call is originated by selection of an IP network or the public switched telephone network, as well as to a method for controlling the unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, some facsimile machines are connected to both an IP network and a public switched telephone network. In the case of a related-art facsimile machine of this type, a user selects "FAX" in which a call is originated over the public switched telephone network, or "iFAX" in which a call is originated over the IP network.
However, in the case of the facsimile machine which originates a call in accordance with the user's selection of a network, an indispensable feature is for all users to be able to ascertain whether or not a call can be originated to a call receiver over the IP network, or whether or not origination of a call over the public switched telephone network incurs a low communication cost.
If this is ignored, there may arise, for example, a case where a waste of communication cost occurs when a call is originated over the public switched telephone network despite the possibility of originating a call over the IP network.
In contrast, when, in spite of the impossibility of originating a call over the IP network, an attempt is made to originate a call over the IP network, a communication error arises.
In this case, the related-art facsimile machine repeats origination of a call over the same network only a predetermined number of times at predetermined re-dialing intervals. In contrast to a case where the party on the other end of the line is busy, communication cannot be established permanently, because a call is originated to a network to which a call cannot essentially be originated.
As mentioned above, in the case of the related-art facsimile machine connected to both the IP network and the public switched telephone network, the user selects one from the IP network and the public switched telephone network, thereby originating a call. However, if an inappropriate network is selected, a call will be originated over, e.g., a network to which a call cannot be originated, thereby inducing a communication error. Thus, the related-art facsimile machine presents a problem of low reliability of information transmission.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Communications terminal unit and method for controlling the same


A dispensing device that can economically and reliably dispenses predetermined quantity of fluids accurately comprising an elongated rod with one or more through holes formed perpendicularly through its axis defining one or more fluid flow paths. Adjacent to each through hole is an angular fluid flow path with one section generally parallel to the through hole and another section generally perpendicular to the through hole. In the preferred embodiment, the through holes and the angular fluid flow paths are positioned alternately through most of the length of the elongated rod. The elongated rod slides within a base component that has corresponding openings to enable accurate and reliable dispensing of predetermined quantity of fluids through the controlled dispensing device.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to a metering device to control the dispensing of fluids. More specifically, the present invention relates to a dispensing device that economically and reliably dispenses predetermined quantity of fluids accurately.
2. Description of Related Art
In many manufacturing processes, a predetermined quantity of fluid must be accurately transferred from bulk storage into small containers. For mass production, this transferring and dispensing of fluid must be performed quickly, economically, reliably, and accurately.
One of the commonly used dispensing device is a very precise electrical valve that accurately releases a predetermined quantity of fluids under pressure from a bulk container. Fluids are fed from a bulk container under pressure to an electrical valve. The electrical valve opens for a short moment to release a predetermined amount of fluid. The main control is the very expensive electrical valve. The electrical valve is expensive to maintain and replace. Furthermore, the electrical valve has a relatively short operating life.


A thin film transistor, a method of manufacturing the thin film transistor, and a display device including the thin film transistor are provided. The thin film transistor comprises an oxide semiconductor layer, a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode formed on a substrate in a coplanar configuration. A first conductive member is in direct contact with the oxide semiconductor layer and in direct contact with the source electrode. A second conductive member is in direct contact with the oxide semiconductor layer and in direct contact with the drain electrode. The first conductive member and the second conductive member are arranged to decrease resistance between a channel region of the oxide semiconductor layer and the source and drain electrodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor allowing an element characteristic of the thin film transistor having a coplanar structure using an oxide semiconductor to be enhanced, a method of manufacturing the thin film transistor, and a display device including the thin film transistor.
2. Discussion of Related Art
As much attention has been focused recently on information displays and needs for a portable electronic device has been increasing, research and commercialization on a lightweight and thin film type display device and a large-sized high-resolution display device are widely made. In particular, among these various display devices, research on a liquid crystal display (LCD) and an organic light emitting display (OLED) is widely made.
In the LCD and the OLED, a thin film transistor (TFT) is used as a switching element and/or a driving element. The thin film transistor is classified as a thin film transistor using amorphous silicon, a thin film transistor using polysilicon, or a thin film transistor using an oxide semiconductor depending on a material used as an active layer. In the case of the thin film transistor using the polycrystalline silicon, a process of implanting ions is carried out to adjust a resistance of the active layer. An additional mask for defining an ion implantation region may be used, and the ion implantation process is added, thereby causing a disadvantage in terms of process. On the other hand, in the case of the thin film transistor using the oxide semiconductor, the electron mobility increases as compared to that of the thin film transistor using the amorphous silicon, an amount of the leakage current is significantly lower than that of the thin film transistor using the amorphous silicon and the thin film transistor using the polycrystalline silicon, and a high reliability test condition is satisfied. In addition, the thin film transistor using the oxide semiconductor can advantageously ensure that a distribution of threshold voltages is uniform as compared to the thin film transistor using the polycrystalline silicon.
The thin film transistor using the oxide semiconductor may be classified as a thin film transistor having an inverted-staggered structure or a thin film transistor having a coplanar structure depending on positions of an active layer, a gate electrode, a source electrode, and a drain electrode. Since the thin film transistor having the inverted-staggered structure has a high parasitic capacitance between the gate electrode and the source and drain electrodes, it is difficult to apply the thin film transistor having the inverted-staggered structure to a high-resolution display.
Inventors of the present invention have recognized that a high resistance occurred due to an interval of several micrometers between a portion in which the active layer and the source and drain electrodes are in contact with each other and a channel region of the active layer in the thin film transistor having the coplanar structure. To address this problem, the inventors have made the thin film transistor having the improved coplanar structure.

Thin film transistor, method for manufacturing the same, and display device comprising the same


An energy harvester includes a frame having a base, a first side member affixed to the base, and a second side member affixed to the base and spaced apart from the first side member. A beam is coupled between the first side member of the frame and the second side member of the frame. The beam has a substrate layer with a first end affixed to the first side member of the frame, a second end affixed to the second side member of the frame, a first face, and a second face opposite to the first face. The substrate is elastically deformable in response to the vibratory force. The beam further includes a first piezoelectric layer joined to the first face of the substrate layer and having a terminal for electrical connection to a load, the first piezoelectric layer comprising at least one piezoelectric patch.

Modern cardiac pacemakers require batteries and, therefore, necessitate repeated surgical replacements over the life of the patient who needs heart rate support. Usage of batteries is more challenging in leadless pacemakers compared to conventional pacemakers. The miniature size of leadless pacemaker necessitates minuscule batteries and up until recently, no battery technology could reliably power leadless pacemakers. Still, the current leadless pacemaker batteries are depleted in less than twelve years. This demands placement of another leadless pacemaker in the heart.
By contrast, energy harvesters generate power continuously and never run out of power. However, high natural frequency is a common problem in microelectromechanical systems ("MEMS") energy harvesters. Different methods have been used to decrease the natural frequencies of the energy harvesters in order to increase the output power of the device.

Piezoelectric energy harvesting using a nonlinear buckled beam and method for same

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York


The invention relates to a biaxially oriented polyester film having a roughness, on at least one film surface, of R.sub.z greater than 1.0 .mu.m (Ra is greater than 0.1 .mu.m), a dielectric strength (AC) greater than 220 kV/mm (the DC dielectric strength is greater than 500 kV/mm) and a migrating fraction in the film of less than 18 .mu.S/cm based on a mass of added particles in a polyester volume of 100 cm.sup.3. The film is particularly suitable for oil-impregnated capacitors.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rough biaxially oriented polyester films which contain finely divided, inorganic and/or organic particles, have good dielectric properties and are therefore very suitable for the production of capacitors. The present invention also relates to a polyester raw material used to make such a film. The invention relates in particular to polyester films which are suitable for the production of oil-impregnated capacitors.
2) Prior Art
Oil-impregnated capacitors are employed when high voltages are used, as required in the case of power capacitors. The films used for this purpose have a greater film thickness than those used, for example, in component electronics. The thickness range of films for the production of oil-impregnated capacitors is usually from 2.5 to 30 .mu.m. For the stated applications, the films may be metallized or may be present as a film/foil laminate.
Oil-impregnated capacitors generally have the following advantages over capacitors not impregnated with oil
the capacitance of the capacitor increases owing to the higher dielectric constant of the oil in comparison with air or a vacuum, PA1 the capacitance drift of oil-impregnated capacitors is smaller, with the result that the life of these capacitors is longer, and PA1 the operating voltages of oil-impregnated capacitors are generally higher. PA1 be economically producible, PA1 have a high dielectric strength, PA1 have a roughness R.sub.z of >1.0 .mu.m (R.sub.a >0.1 .mu.m) PA1 be capable of being processed without creases and strains, PA1 have good oil impregnability, and PA1 have good long-term electrical properties. PA1 at least on one film surface, the roughness value R.sub.z is greater than 1.0 .mu.m and the roughness value R.sub.a is greater than 0.1 .mu.m, PA1 the AC dielectric strength is greater than 220 kV/mm (kilovolts/millimeter) and the DC dielectric strength is greater than 500 kV/mm, and PA1 the migrating fraction, based on the mass of the added particles in a polyester volume of 100 cm.sup.3 is less than 18 .mu.S/cm.
According to the prior art, rough biaxially oriented polypropylene films are advantageously used for the production of oil-impregnated capacitors, owing to their low dielectric loss factor and their high dielectric strength.
The production of oil-impregnated capacitors with metallized plastics films or with film/foil laminates is most successful when the films can be readily wetted with oil or the windings or layer packets of layer capacitors can be readily impregnated with oil.
For good wetting of the film with oil and for good impregnation of the winding/capacitor, it is advantageous if the films used have a greater roughness than standard films (for example, packaging films, magnetic tape films or process films). In general, the roughness of standard films is of the order of magnitude of a few nanometers (nm), whereas roughnesses of the order of magnitude of a few microns (.mu.m) are required for oil-impregnated capacitor films. If a standard film having little roughness is used for the impregnation of the capacitor with oil, the air entrained during winding of the films is only incompletely removed by the impregnating oil. The air remaining in the capacitor promotes local corrosion effects due to overvoltages, with the result that the dielectric strength and the capacitance of the capacitor are substantially reduced.
Suitable raw materials for film-based capacitors are in particular polypropylene and polyester. Impregnable, biaxially oriented polyester films are used for the production of capacitors in particular when higher heat stability or higher mechanical strength is required than with the use of polypropylene films. On the other hand, polypropylene has the advantage that great film roughnesses (in the .mu.m range) can be obtained by suitable process engineering measures. Use is made of the fact that polypropylene can crystallize in two different crystal modifications which, when they are present side by side in the film, lead to increased roughness. In the production of biaxially oriented polyester films, roughnesses as high as polypropylene films cannot be obtained by process engineering measures.
According to the prior art, in the case of biaxially oriented polyester films, the great film roughness required for winding, further processing and impregnation is achieved by means of the addition of suitable inorganic and/or organic particles or particle systems in certain concentrations.
A document which describes this procedure for winding or for further processing of films is U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,611. According to the teaching of this publication, the film roughness and the film handling are improved by a combination of small (smaller than 1 .mu.m), medium (from 1 to 2.5 .mu.m) and large (from 2.5 to 10 .mu.m) particles, it being necessary to fulfill certain ratios of film thickness to particle concentrations.
According to JP-A 03 917 136, films or laminated films having high dielectric strengths and small electrical capacitance drifts in the corresponding components are produced by the use of small particles, such as colloidal silica.
According to JP-A 63 141 308, from 1.4 to 16 .mu.m thick films having good processibility and high dielectric strengths are produced by the combination of silicone resin particles with other inert particles.
According to JP-A 03 246 814, crosslinked polymer particles may also be used for capacitor film applications, and according to JP 88 033 290 inert particles having a molar P/Ca ratio of from 0.7 to 2.5 may also be used.
Furthermore, EP-A 0 423 402 discloses that high particle concentrations or large particle diameters lead to a greater level of vacuoles around the particles during orientation with the usual orientation ratios, owing to a relatively poor affinity between particle and polymer matrix. Corresponding vacuoles have an adverse effect on the mechanical film properties and on the dielectric strength of the films. In addition, a larger number of tears are caused during film production, leading to a deterioration in the productivity during film production.
Another method of obtaining rough polyester films having excellent processing properties, very good oil impregnability and very good electrical properties is described in JP-A 63 72 531. This document describes the production of rough oil-impregnable 12 .mu.m thick films by an additional coating step in which a "swellable" silicate is applied.
All rough polyester films known to date have the disadvantage that the electrical properties of these films are poorer than the electrical properties of the polyester used for their production. This indicates that the electrical properties are impaired by the incorporation of additives, particles and other auxiliaries to the polyester raw material.

Rough biaxially oriented polyester film for use in capacitors


An object is to provide an ultrasonic measurement apparatus capable of measuring a gap length between a rotational body and a casing without providing a reference position indication member on the rotational body in fluid machinery. The ultrasonic measurement apparatus which applies to fluid machinery having a rotational body as a measurement object includes: an ultrasonic probe installed and used outside a casing part of the fluid machinery, the casing part accommodating the rotational body; a measurement circuit unit electrically connected to the ultrasonic probe; and a reference signal generation unit. The measurement circuit unit includes a gap calculation unit configured to calculate a gap length between the rotational body and the casing part; the reference signal generation unit includes a rotary machine signal detection unit to be electrically connected to a rotary machine conversion unit, and a reference time generation unit electrically connected to the rotary machine signal detection unit; and the measurement circuit unit includes an offset time setting unit configured to make an offset time variable, the offset time spanning from a reference time signal outputted from the reference time generation unit to transmission by the ultrasonic probe.

Fluid machinery is machinery that converts electric power and fluid energy. Fluid machinery equipped with a rotational body such as a rotary blade includes a pump that inputs electric power to convert into fluid energy, a water turbine that extracts energy of input fluid as electric power, and the like. Further, fluid machinery using gas as fluid includes a compressor, a blower, a turbine, and the like.
In the pump, input electric power rotates a rotary machine (motor) to rotate a rotary blade, and the rotary blade moves fluid such as water. The rotary blade is also called impeller. In the water turbine, fluid such as water rotates a rotary blade, and converts its energy into a shaft driving force of a rotary shaft, to convert the shaft driving force into electric power using a rotary machine (electrical generator).
In such fluid machinery, wear and corrosion of a rotational body such as a rotary blade may occur. For example, in a pump, a rotary blade may be worn or corroded due to a chemical action caused by impurities contained in water as fluid, a physical action caused by foreign matter such as gravel contained in the fluid, or the like. Progress of deterioration such as wear may cause an influence such as deterioration of operation efficiency of the fluid machinery or a malfunction. Accordingly, in fluid machinery equipped with a rotary blade, a method for measuring a deteriorated state such as wear of the rotary blade and the inside of a casing has been demanded.
PTL 1 discloses a technique for measuring a distance between a rotational body and a casing by using ultrasonic waves for the rotational body such as a compressor or a turbine.

Ultrasonic measurement apparatus and ultrasonic measurement method


The cage-supported hard disk drives in a computer server system are coupled to connectors on the cage back plane circuit boards and are controlled by a pair of array controller cards which are hot-plug connected in a redundant manner on the system I/O board using a pair of connectors mounted on the I/O board, each connector having first and second sets of electrical contacts thereon. Connector edge portions of the array controller cards are plugged into the I/O board connectors and have first and second sets of electrical contacts that engage the corresponding first and second sets of electrical contacts on their associated I/O board connectors. Formed on the I/O board are (1) a peripheral interconnect bus structure connected to the first sets of connector electrical contacts, (2) an electrical bus structure connected to the second sets of connector electrical contacts and associated cable connectors, and (3) an intercontroller bus structure connected between the second sets of connector electrical contacts and enabling the two array controller cards to communicate with one another independently of the peripheral interconnect bus structure. Electrical cables are interconnected between the electrical bus structure and the back plane circuit boards to couple the array controller cards thereto in a redundant control manner without requiring direct cable connection to either of the array controller cards.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer apparatus and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to the hot pluggable, redundant connection of adapter cards, such as hard disk drive array controller cards, to an associated I/O board in a computer system such as a server system.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventionally constructed computer server system a series of portable media storage devices, typically hard disk drives, are removably insertable into support cage structures and are provided with electrical connectors that are removably mateable with corresponding connectors on back plane circuit boards within the support cage structures in response to insertion of the disk drives into their associated cage structures.
This conventional type of server system also typically comprises a system I/O board having one or more array controller cards thereon which are used to control the operation of the cage-supported hard disk drives. The array controller cards are electrically coupled to the back plane connectors within the support cage structures by means of flexible cables suitably interconnected between the back plane circuit boards and cable connectors mounted on the array controller cards.
For a variety of reasons it has become desirable to provide computer server systems of this type with array controller card hot plug redundancy such that (1) each controller card has a backup-card on the I/O board which can assume control of the associated disk drive(s) if the first card fails, and (2) during system operation any array controller card or its back-up card may be removed from the I/O board without disrupting hard disk drive operation or server system operation.
Attempts to provide this desirable controller card hot plug redundancy have, however, been frustrated by current cabling configurations of available array controller cards. Specifically, conventional array controller cards have one or more cable connectors provided thereon to which one or more electrical ribbon or bundled cable ends may be coupled. When a conventionally constructed controller card and an associated redundant back-up controller card are to be operatively connected to a support cage back plane circuit board, it is necessary to utilize a ribbon cable with three mating connectors. The connectors are located at each end of the cable, and some suitable distance along the length of the cable. One end of the cable is connected to the first card. The connector along the length of the cable is connected to the second card, and the other end of the cable is connected to the back plane circuit board.
Such required card interconnection cabling technique can provide the server system with controller card redundancy, but undesirably breaks the connection between the two cards and their associated back plane circuit board in the event that the second controller card (i.e., the one to which the connector along the length of the ribbon cable is connected) has to be removed from the I/O board. This is due to the fact that the second card is, in effect, "trapped" by the external cabling, which has to be disconnected from both cards to allow the second card to be removed from the I/O board. In turn, this undesirably terminates electrical communication between both cards and the back plane circuit board, and prevents the desired hot plug connection of the second card to the system I/O board.
This hot plug redundancy connection problem, to which the present invention is directed, is not limited to array controller cards in computer server systems, but is also manifested in systems utilizing other types of adapter cards such as, for example, network interface adapter cards and system management cards.

Electronic apparatus having I/O board with cable-free redundant adapter cards thereon


A method for managing a job sent from an information processing apparatus to a network device to process the job. The method includes managing job information representing status of the job processing which changes in a time series manner, deleting the job information after lapse of a predetermined time after completing the job processing by the network device, acquiring the managed job information, recognizing whether or not the job information has already been deleted, and recognizing that the job processing is completed responsive to one of recognizing that the job information has already been deleted and acquiring the job information that the job processing is completed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a job management apparatus and method for managing a job which is processed in a peripheral apparatus, and to a control program used therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, there are two methods for managing jobs in a network device. One uses the job MIB (Management Information Base) protocol in which SNMP/MIB (Simple Network Management Protocol/MIB) control is used, and the other one uses the IPP (Internet Printing Protocol). These protocols enable display of a list of jobs in a network device, control of jobs (e.g., job suspension and job deletion), etc.
In addition, an event is used in order to monitor a change in the status of a job for printing. When the status of the job changes, this event is reported from the network device to a job management apparatus.
Regarding the case of reporting the end of a job in which printing is performed by a user, there is a method in which a job management apparatus displays a dialog box or the like by using a job-status-change event received from a network device.
There is also a method in which a job end is determined by performing polling to periodically acquire a list of jobs and a corresponding message is displayed for the user. However, in the above methods of the related art, on a network based on a WAN (wide area network) environment or in an environment in which a network traffic increases, a client application fails to detect a job-status-change event representing the end of a print job, so that the user is unable to accurately know the end of printing. Also, in an environment in which, even if a printer, which is an example of a peripheral apparatus, reports a job-status change on a timely basis, it is not ensured that the job-status change is reported to a client, a problem occurs in that the job status cannot be accurately found in real time.
In addition, since, in a high speed printer, a print job finishes in a short time, it is difficult for a client application to perform polling to monitor a job. Therefore, it is impossible to report a printing end to a user.

Job management apparatus and method of recognizing job completion, and control program used therewith


A method for controlling hydrogen combustion in a hydrogen internal combustion engine system includes a combustion chamber linked to an intake port via an intake valve, the hydrogen internal combustion engine system comprising a piston slidably moving between a top dead center position and a bottom dead center position, characterized by the steps of: injecting water in liquid phase in the intake port when the piston is between 0 and 40 crank angle degrees before opening of the intake valve, injecting hydrogen after opening of the intake valve and when the piston is between 0 and 60 crank angle degrees after the top dead center position, stopping hydrogen injection when the piston is between 0 and 100 crank angle degrees before the bottom dead center position.

Internal combustion engines operate by way of burning a fuel such as diesel or gasoline, in the presence of an oxidant inside a combustion chamber. Therefore, the fuel is transformed into other chemical species or combustion products, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O) and byproducts such as nitrogen oxides (NOx). Moreover, mechanical and thermal energy are produced. The chemical species or combustion products emitted are released as exhausts gases. In order to reduce NOx emissions, aftertreatment of the exhausts gases are necessary.
An internal combustion engine generally works in cycles comprising:                an intake phase where the fuel is introduced in a combustion chamber,        a compression phase where the fuel is compressed by a piston slidably moving between a top dead center position and a bottom dead center position,        a combustion phase where the fuel is ignited, and        an exhaust phase where burned gases are evacuated.
The vehicle industry is striving to reduce CO2 and byproducts emissions. For this purpose, various alternatives to diesel and gasoline have been developed for energizing vehicles. One such alternative is the use of hydrogen as fuel. The chemical energy of the hydrogen reacting with air may be converted into mechanical energy in order to propel the vehicle.
More precisely, hydrogen and air are introduced separately, through intake ports, into the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine. The chemical reaction mostly produce H2O at high-temperature and high-pressure. Exhaust gases are released through an exhaust port.
However, the use of hydrogen as a fuel inside a combustion engine present several issues. Hydrogen burns very easily, very fast and at high temperature. Therefore, ignition energy is very low and can induce abnormal combustion, like autoignition and knock, but also backfire from the combustion chamber to the intake ports.
To mitigate these main issues, it is known to operated under extremely lean conditions at air ratios far higher than λ=2 over a wide power range, so the level of NOx emissions is negligible. Even the crude exhaust has significantly lower concentrations of NOx in such a hydrogen-based operation in comparison with emissions of a hydrocarbon-based process following aftertreatment of the exhaust gases. Only if a relatively high power output is required it is necessary to make the fuel-air mixture richer in the range of 1≤λ≤2, which then is associated with a drastic increase in NOx emissions and thus the need for aftertreatment of the exhaust gas. However, this solution is costly.
Another solution is to dilute hydrogen with exhaust gas using a so called exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) unit. But it is not easy to have a sufficient amount of EGR because of the risk of water condensation when cooling and the low enthalpy of the exhaust gases to drive the internal combustion engine. In addition, EGR requires an exhaust gas pumping system which reduces the overall efficiency of the internal combustion engine.
Another solution is to dilute hydrogen with water in liquid phase, in order to lower the temperature of the combustion products as well as the temperature of overheated parts. This solution avoid implementing an exhaust gas pumping system in the internal combustion engine. The water is instantly vaporized to steam by igniting hydrogen gas. In addition, this solution allows decreasing boost efforts by working on lower dilution than with EGR.
The invention is directed to a method for controlling hydrogen combustion in an internal combustion engine thanks to water injection.

Method for controlling hydrogen combustion in a hydrogen internal combusting engine


An apparatus and method for calibrating range measurements are provided wherein calibration data is collected with each range measurement or group of range measurements. The calibration data comprise a plurality of simulated range measurements. In one embodiment, the simulated range measurements are used to analyze errors that vary with time and environmental conditions. Range measurements are calibrated by correlating a measured flight time of a transmitted and reflected laser beam with the simulated range measurements and a relationship between laser beam flight times and target ranges based on the speed of the laser beam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rangefinder device for measuring a distance to a target.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rangefinders are used to measure distances to targets. Typically, a rangefinder will emit a beam of energy towards a target and detect a reflected beam from the target. The rangefinder measures the time interval between the emission of the transmitted beam and the reception of the reflected beam. This time interval is referred to herein as the "flight time." The distance from the rangefinder to the target is derived from the speed of the beam and the flight time.
The accuracy of range measurements is affected by the rangefinder's ability to accurately measure a beam's flight time because small variations can create significant errors in the distance calculated. Often, capacitor discharge mechanisms are used to create a more manageable representation of the flight time. Even using such discharging mechanisms, delays in the rangefinder's internal circuitry add additional error to flight time interval measurements.
Some errors caused by the internal circuitry are due to inherent delays that can be initially measured and corrected during, for example, factory calibration and test. However, some delays caused by the internal circuitry are variable and may change over time. Further, some delays may change with variations in environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity and the like.

Rangefinder and method for collecting calibration data


The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for defrosting an absorption refrigerator comprising the steps of determining a defrost start time for defrosting of the low temperature compartment and higher temperature compartment, starting the absorption refrigerating system at the defrost start time independent of other control parameters determining start and stop of the absorption refrigerating system, detecting stop of the absorption refrigerating system, applying heat to the first tube section using the first heater, detecting end of low temperature compartment defrosting, starting the absorption refrigerating system after end of low temperature compartment defrosting, and applying heat to the second tube section using the second heater.

The present invention relates to an absorption refrigerator including; a cabinet having outer walls and at least one door encasing a low temperature storage compartment and a higher temperature storage compartment, said compartments being separated by a partition wall, and an absorption refrigerating system including an evaporator tube in which a refrigeration medium flows from an upstream end to a downstream end of the evaporator tube, and which evaporator tube comprises a first tube section which is arranged to absorb heat from the low temperature compartment, a second tube section, which is arranged to absorb heat from the higher temperature compartment, wherein the first and second tube sections are connected in series and the first tube section is arranged upstream of the second tube section. An absorption refrigerator having only a low temperature compartment, that is a freezer, is also contemplated in relation to the present invention.
Such absorption refrigerators are commonly used e.g. in recreation vehicles, mobile homes or at homes were AC power supply is not available at all times.
Normally, at the prior art refrigerators of this type, the lower temperature compartment is a freezer, which at modern absorption refrigerators normally is maintained at −18° C.
The low temperature compartment is occasionally denoted freezer or freezer compartment, the higher temperature compartment is occasionally denoted fridge or fridge compartment and the cabinet, comprising the freezer and fridge compartments are occasionally denoted refrigerator, absorption refrigerator or refrigerator cabinet.
The freezer may also accommodate a device for fabrication of ice, often referred to as the ice-maker. The ice maker may in it's simplest form be an ice-cube container but it may also comprise more sophisticated devices with means for automatic water supply and ice harvesting means including mechanical members and electrical heating elements.
The higher temperature compartment is normally maintained at around +5° C. and could be referred to as a fridge compartment.
The evaporator tube may include an upstream tube section, which is dedicated for cooling the ice-maker, if present.
Downstream of this ice-maker tube section and in direct connection to its downstream end, an intermediate tube section is arranged for cooling the freezer. Downstream of the freezer section, a downstream refrigerator section of the evaporator tube is arranged for cooling the higher temperature fridge compartment. At some applications both the freezer and the ice-maker are cooled together by one single evaporator tube section which is arranged upstream of the fridge tube section.
The evaporator may be provided with various types of heat conducting members for conducting heat from the items to be cooled, i.e. the freezer and refrigerator compartments and the ice maker, to the respective evaporator tube sections. As an example, the ice-maker section of the evaporator may be provided with a heat conducting plate, which is arranged to support the ice-cube container and which conducts heat from the container to the ice-maker section of the evaporator. The freezer and fridge sections may be provided with flanges or baffles, which conduct heat from the air in the freezer and fridge compartments to the evaporator freezer and fridge section respectively.
The evaporator reaches its lowest evaporation temperature at the upstream end. Downstream of the upstream end, the evaporation temperature rises gradually when the cooling medium in the evaporator tub absorbs heat from the ice-maker, freezer compartment and fridge compartment.
A problem at this known type of absorption refrigerator is that it is difficult to achieve a high enough cooling power of the refrigeration system to maintain the freezer compartment at the low temperature which is desired. As mentioned above, it is often desired to keep the temperature in the freezer compartment as low as approximately −18° C. The total cooling power of the absorption refrigerating apparatus is, among other factors, limited by the heat transfer capacity of the evaporator, which in turn depends on the total length of the evaporator tube. This length in turn, is limited by the dimensions of the refrigerator cabinet and by the fact that the evaporator tube needs to be designed with a downward inclination over its entire length, from the upstream to the downstream end.
Defrosting of a refrigerator, being a compressor refrigerator or an absorption refrigerator, including a freezer and/or ice-maker or not, is always a delicate task since it involves application of heat to a compartment which should be kept cold. In the type of absorption refrigerators mentioned above the application of heat is possibly more troublesome than else since the cooling capacity may be limited according to what is entioned above. Moreover, electronics, such as heaters, fans, control system etc, in such refrigerators are often driven by battery, which is shared with other RV (recreational vehicle) appliances, limiting the available power.
Consequently, it is important to achieve an effective automatic defrosting having as low heat impact as possible to the fridge and freezer compartments and consuming as little power as possible.


A prepayment system for supplying water or gas by means of a wireless intelligent card is described. The present invention also relates to a bidirectional meter specially designed to electronically record the consumption of water or gas.

So far the water and gas utilility companies have carried out the consumption reading of such services at the user's place, so they later can bill the corresponding service used by the consumer. However, new technological systems have been proposed lately, such as a prepayment supplying system for electricity, water or gas, as a way to overcome some of the disadvantages traditional billing systems have.
A kind of prepayment system was designed in order to purchase the electricity, water or gas supply directly from the central station. The information about the amount purchased is then transferred to a measuring device installed at the client's place (for instance, his store, establishment, office, home, etc.), where the service is used. The system receives the information about the prepayment and transfers the amount acquired at the central station. The measuring device usually consists of a mechanical meter located outside the client's place. It generally includes an interface or terminal placed adjacent to the meter, it reads the prepayment information or, alternatively, such interface is connected by means of a cable, or by means of the same cables of the water or gas supplying system, to the meter in case the latter is located inside the client's place. A disadvantage these prepayment systems have is that they need specific devices which are expensive and difficult to install. Another problem is their lack of capability to send back to the central station the information about the consumption, the way the credit is used, which meter is using such credit, as well as information concerning unlawful use of the meter. This kind of systems is known as unidirectional communication system.
Another kind of prepayment system known is also based on purchasing the water or gas service directly from the central station or other previously assigned stations. The information about the amount purchased is stored in a magnetic stripe card or in contact smart cards (hereafter called "contact card"). This particular prepayment system needs, by all means, the mechanical gas or water meter to have an external card reader or a magnetic key and a series of additional control devices that monitor the m3 of water or gas supply. The card reader device has a slot into which the contact card is inserted in order to transfer the information of the prepayment service. Examples of this system are disclosed in FR 2 777 677, EP 0 863 492, CN 1952613, 1952617, CN 2257636, CN 2444211 CN 2565000, CN 2727862, CN 2784887, CN 2837796, and WO 99/42963.
Nonetheless, there is a large disadvantage in this kind of prepayment card reader meters. The reader device must be accessible from the outside in order for the prepayment cards to be inserted. This makes it vulnerable to damage (voluntary or involuntary) by the user, by saline environment or by relatively high humidity. When the contact card is frequently used, its magnetic stripe or its chip may wear out causing the card and the transfer of information difficult to be read. Another problem occurs when the contact card reader is connected to the meter by means of a cable, due to such cable is also exposed to damage. There have been attempts to integrate the reader into the meter. The problem is that the meter has to undergo important design changes which apart from increasing its size, they make it more vulnerable to damage by being partly exposed to the environment and by making it incompatible with the connectors existing in the market nowadays.
Other kind of prepayment systems that control the water and gas supply are the ones that include some devices that cut off the supply by being automatically activated when the credit has run out.
Most of the water or gas meters used in the prepayment systems include mechanical elements that register the consumption of such services. This kind of meters use a mechanical register composed of a gear train that measures the m3, liters and tenths of liters of water or gas. The disadvantage with this kind of meters is that they are exposed to unlawful acts due to the fact that they can register the circulating flow in one way. However, if the meter registering mechanism is inverted, it will start to circulate backwards to register a decrease in the consumption in terms of the last reading.
Another fault in the prepayment meters previously described, particularly in water meters, lies in the fact that the mechanical elements that register the water service do not stand the water hammer produced by the high pressure generated when the water supply is provided in a controlled and scheduled way. The water hammer ends up damaging such mechanical elements. There is yet another disadvantage in this kind of meter under the circumstances of controlled and scheduled water supply, the mechanical elements that register the consumption will be activated by the air trapped and led through the pipes starting to deduct the water consumption from the prepaid amount at the moment the air circulates through such meter elements.
Having the above-mentioned faults into account, the object of this invention is to provide a prepayment system that controls more efficiently the water or gas supply by means of a meter installed in the client's place based on the prepaid service amount.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a prepayment measuring system concerning the prepaid water or gas consumption in m3 using a hermetically closed integrated meter along with a wireless intelligent card. Another object of the present invention is to provide a prepayment water or gas consumption measuring system that integrates an automatic device to interrupt the water or gas supply.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a prepayment system for measuring the prepaid water or gas consumption in m3 and which by means of a wireless intelligent card provides the supplier of the service with information about the consumption, about how the credit is used, where or which meter is using the credit and also information about unlawful acts and manipulation done to the meter.
One more object of the present invention is to provide a prepayment method for the m3 water or gas supply by means of a system consisting of a wireless card-reader.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a meter that includes electronic means that register the consumption in a bidirectional system regardless of how the meter is connected.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a prepayment system and a meter including means that detect and release the air trapped in the pipes and the air that circulates through the meter. Such means release the air that circulates in the water pipes and the one that reaches the meter, preventing this air from being registered as water flow that does not circulate in the meter.

Prepayment system for supplying water or gas by means of a wireless intelligent card and meter for said system

Sistemas Integrales de Medicion y Control Stellum S.A. de C.V.


To provide a method of accurately and efficiently acquiring a candidate for a set of discrimination elements for identification. Provided is a method of acquiring a set of specific elements on a specific sequence for discriminating the specific sequence from a number of sequences, including the steps of acquiring a group of alignment data in which each of the number of sequences is subjected to alignment processing, and acquiring a set of elements capable of discriminating the specific sequence through computational processing on the group of alignment data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing method of acquiring an element (such as a character or a symbol at a specific position) that characterizes a specific sequence from multiple pieces of sequence information, and preferably to a technique for processing sequence information such as a base sequence or an amino acid sequence.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, there are needs for SNPs, polymorphism analysis, and the like to discriminate and identify different nucleic acid sequences according to a method such as hybridization or PCR. To that end, an element for discrimination and identification must be extracted first and a probe (or primer) containing the element must be selected.
In such a case, for example, when one wishes to compare an amino acid sequence and a base sequence which relate to completely different proteins, an increase in number of nucleic acid sequences or of amino acid sequences has so far posed nearly no problems. This is because individual sequences are sufficiently different from each other to be discriminated. Therefore, for those sequences, it has been possible to manually achieve probe selection by using a general alignment tool or blast tool. However, when one wishes to discriminate the same protein between hetero living organisms or tries to successfully discriminate similar ones such as the genus, species, and strain of a fungus body, and a polymorphic in an HLA region of a human being, operation with such a tool is dull and complicated.
Furthermore, in the case where multiple sequences serving as targets are extremely similar to each other, it is usually impossible to identify the sequences with only a mutation at one position. In many cases, the identification of the sequences cannot be performed until a set of mutations at several positions with different alignment positions is successfully extracted.
Moreover, the data amount of a database storing the sequences serving as targets has been increasing year by year, so the extraction of the above set of mutations according to a conventional method has been becoming more and more difficult.
In addition, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-038160, there is disclosed an algorithm which classifies the base sequences of a known biopolymer into a common region adopting the same sequence regardless of the kind of the biopolymer and a mutation region including a mutation, and designs auxiliary probes separately for the determined common region and the mutation region. However, the algorithm for designing the probes is intended for designing multiple auxiliary probes for capturing unknown genes (or DNA fragments), and is not intended for extracting a set of probes, in which similar sequences can be completely discriminated, through identification of as small a number of mutation positions as possible.

Method of acquiring a set of specific elements for discriminating sequence


A liposomal composition and a method of using the same for achieving intracellular delivery of a liposome-entrapped agent is described. The liposomes are composed of a pH sensitive lipid and include a targeting ligand to direct the liposomes to a target cell. The liposomes also include a stabilizing component, such a polymer-derivatized lipid, where the polymer is attached to the lipid by a releasable linkage. Administration of the liposomes results in cellular internalization and destabilization of the liposome for intracellular delivery of the entrapped agent.

Liposomes have long been considered possible vehicles for delivery of therapeutic agents intracellularly. To date, however, success in achieving intracellular delivery of a liposome-entrapped agent has been limited for a variety of reasons. One reason is that liposomes, after systemic administration to the bloodstream, are rapidly removed from circulation by the reticuloendothelial system. Another reason is the inherent difficulty in delivering a molecule, in particular a large or a charged molecule, into the cellular cytoplasm and/or the nucleus.
One approach to improving intracellular delivery of liposome-entrapped agents is to extend the blood circulation lifetime of the liposome by including polyethyleneglycol (PEG) derivatized lipids in the liposome bilayer membrane (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,556). By extending the length of time that the liposomes remain in the bloodstream, the opportunity for uptake by a cell improves.
Another approach to improving intracellular delivery of liposome-entrapped agents is to provide a targeting moiety or ligand on the liposome (Klibanov et al., J. Liposome Res., 2(3):321 (1992)). Binding of the targeting moiety to a receptor on a target cell improves the chance of intracellular uptake of the liposome and its entrapped agent.
Also described in the art are liposomes capable of fusion with a target cell (U.S. Pat. No. 5,891,468). Fusogenic liposomes typically include a hydrophobic segment extending from the liposomes' outer surfaces for penetration into a target cell membrane.
Liposomes that destabilize under mildly acidic conditions, so-called 'pH-sensitive' liposomes, have also been described as an approach to intracellular delivery of an entrapped agent (Slepushkin et al., J. Biol. Chem., 272(4):2382 (1997); Wang et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 84:7851 (1987), Liu et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 981:254 (1989)). These liposomes are primarily composed of a lipid, such as dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamie (DOPE), that forms a lipid bilayer in a defined pH range. Outside this pH range, the lipid bilayer destabilizes. After such liposomes enter cells via endocytosis, the acidic pH inside the endosomes causes the pH-sensitive liposomes to destabilize and release the entrapped agent.
Because pH-sensitive liposomes, like "conventional", "non-pH-sensitive liposomes", have short circulation lifetimes, addition of PEG-derivatized lipids to extend the blood circulation time has been proposed (Slepushkin et al.). However, addition of PEG-derivatized lipids attenuates the pH-sensitivity of the liposomes, resulting in a loss of the desired rapid destabilization of the liposome bilayer and accompanying rapid release of the entrapped agent into the cell.
One approach to providing pH-sensitive liposomes having a long blood circulation lifetime and retaining the ability of the liposome to rapidly destabilize is the use PEG-derivatized lipids where the PEG is attached to the lipid by a chemically-cleavable linkage, such as a disulfide (Kirpotin et al., FEBS Letters, 388:115 (1996)). It is desirable, however, that the destabilization occurs in the cell to achieve a high intracellular concentration of the liposome-entrapped agent. The long-circulating, pH-sensitive liposomes described by Kirpotin et al. (Id.) were designed to destabilize extracellularly by release of the PEG chains. This approach suffers from the disadvantage of releasing the entrapped liposome contents extracellularly.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a liposome composition capable of specific binding to a target cell accompanied by rapid intracellular release of its entrapped agent.

Liposome composition for improved intracellular delivery of a therapeutic agent


In accordance with an embodiment, described herein is a system and method for autonomous firewall rule management, for use with cloud computing environments or other types of network environments. A firewall rule management automation framework provides rule management for firewalls deployed across availability domains. The system is adapted to automatically determine firewalls that can receive network traffic from a given source subnet or destination subnet; configure the firewalls with required firewall rules; monitor the firewall rules through collection of metrics snapshots and rule hit counts; and purge underused or potentially obsolete firewall rules, for example those having zero hits over a particular period of time or number of snapshots. The system provide generic support for different types of firewall devices, and autonomous management of firewall rules within large heterogeneous computer networks that may include several types of firewalls.

A cloud computing environment enables access by user devices to software applications and services provided at one or more cloud networks, for example as part of availability domains.
In a typical cloud computing environment there may be hundreds of firewalls front-ending network traffic, or deployed across the various availability domains. From time to time, network administrators or engineers may receive requests to block, or permit, network traffic to or from specified hosts, domains, or servers; for example, to restrict network traffic from being sent to unauthorized destinations, or being received from unauthorized or potentially-infected sources.
Presently-available tools to identify and protect against infected hosts, domains, or servers are limited in their ability to configure the many firewalls within a typical cloud computing environment. Such tools generally require a network administrator or engineer to identify a subset of firewalls that can potentially receive such network traffic, and then configure policies or rules on those firewalls to either block or permit that network traffic as appropriate.
Each such firewall rule adds performance overhead to the operation of the firewall, since the firewall typically evaluates its firewall rules sequentially for a potential match. Firewall rules that are obsolete, in that they are never hit by live network traffic, must be monitored and then manually removed, in order to maintain system performance and ensure that the security offered by such rules will not unduly slow down the network.

Method and apparatus for autonomous firewall rule management


A method and apparatus for buffering data units in a communication switch that allows for configurable monitoring of the buffer contents is presented. Such an apparatus includes a context table that stores a plurality of independent group identifiers for each connection. Although the group identifiers may include a partition group identifier and a loss group identifier that is dependent on the partition group identifier, additional group identifiers are included in the context table for each connection that are independent of other group identifiers in the context table. Such a context table may be dynamically reconfigured in order to group connections for buffer monitoring operations related to congestion detection, traffic shaping, and data admission with respect to buffering. When a data unit is received corresponding to a particular connection, the context table is referenced to retrieve the set of group identifiers corresponding to that connection. As a cell is stored in the buffer, count values corresponding to at least some of the group identifiers included in the set of group identifiers for that connection are incremented. Similarly, when data is dequeued from the buffer for forwarding, the set of group identifiers for that particular data unit is determined and the counters corresponding to at least some of those groups are decremented. As such, the count value corresponding to each of the groups can be referenced to determine the number of data units corresponding to that group that are currently stored within the buffer.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to data buffering and more particularly to a method and apparatus for monitoring buffer contents in a data communications switch.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Communication networks are known to include a plurality of communication switches that provide communication links between end users. Each switch within the network may receive data from a number of other switches in the network, and each switch may provide data that it receives to a plurality of subsequent destination switches. In order to control the data flow in the network, each of the switches may include one or more points at which data is buffered as it traverses through the switch. This allows the switches to regulate the data traffic within the switch and to other switches in the network such that bandwidth limitations across the various links are not exceeded. Data may also be buffered within switches to ensure that bandwidth available over various links in the network is fully utilized when "bursty" data is presented to the switch for transmission.
At each buffering point, data units, which may be portions of packets, cells, or other units of data, are examined to determine a particular connection to which they correspond, which may be indicated by a connection identifier. The connection identifier is then used to reference a context table that stores a partition group and a loss group for each connection. The partition group determines within which partition of the buffer data for that connection is stored. Loss groups, which are subsets of partition groups, are used to monitor such things as congestion at the buffering point. In one example, a partition group may be dedicated to constant bit rate (CBR) traffic, where numerous loss groups are included within that partition group where each loss group corresponds to a different set of CBR connections. Partition groups and loss groups are more thoroughly defined in a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/339,844 entitled "Flexible Threshold Based Buffering System For Use In Digital Communication Devices", which was filed on Jun. 25, 1999 and is assigned to the same assignee as the present application.
In such prior art systems, congestion levels for different loss groups are typically determined based on counters that monitor the input and output of data units corresponding to that particular loss group with respect to the buffering point. Thus, as cells corresponding to that loss group are received, the counter is incremented, and when cells corresponding to that loss group are dequeued from the buffer for forwarding, the counter is decremented. As such, the state of the counter at any one point will indicate the number of data units for that particular loss group currently stored within the buffer. Although these loss groups give some indication as to congestion, the congestion monitoring performed by these loss groups is directly tied to the buffering system, as loss groups are subsets of partition groups. Thus, each loss group can only contain connections that are included in the same partition group. As such, no monitoring of multiple connections that exist in different partition groups is possible. Similarly, no monitoring of the congestion for a single connection is possible, unless the entire loss group is dedicated to the connection.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for buffering data within a switch that allows for more flexible monitoring of the buffered contents.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.

Method and apparatus for monitoring buffer contents in a data communication system


An arrangement for shaft sealing and to a method for monitoring the sealing of the shaft seal are provided. The arrangement includes a rotating slide ring and a stationary slide ring, with a sealing gap having a lubricating film therebetween. The arrangement includes at least one sound transducer for generating and/or receiving exciting sound waves in the form of Lamb Rayleigh waves in at least one slide ring. The signals of the sound transducer are evaluated by an evaluation unit to determine the condition of the lubricating film in the gap.

The invention relates to an arrangement for shaft sealing having a rotating slide ring and a stationary slide ring between which a sealing gap for a lubricating film is arranged and having at least one sound transducer for exciting sound waves in and/or on at least one slide ring, wherein the arrangement has a unit for evaluating signals of the sound transducer.
A shaft seal is a seal which seals a centrifugal pump at the lead-through of the rotating pump shaft from the fixed pump casing so that the leakage loss via the air penetrating from the outside is reduced to a minimum amount and any wear of the sealing faces is as low as possible.
Mechanical seals have a sealing gap which is at a right angle to the shaft axis. Shaft seals of this type are also known as axial or hydrodynamic mechanical seals (GLRD). Such mechanical seals require less space and lower maintenance than other sealing systems.
Mechanical seals have proven effective in situations where the pressures and circumferential velocities under which sealing is to take place are both low and high.
During operation, two sealing faces slide against one another, which sealing faces are pressed against one another by hydraulic and mechanical forces. The sealing gap with a generally liquid lubricating film is located between these two precision machined slide faces.
The very small amount of leakage in the case of mechanical seals enters the atmosphere as vapor leakage and dry leakage.
Dry running is one of the fundamental causes of failure of mechanical seals, in particular in the case of mechanical seals for centrifugal pumps. Owing to an increase in temperature at the slide faces, the evaporation temperature of the lubricating film is exceeded, which results in evaporation of the lubricating film and local dry running. As a result of the increased wear and the frictional heat produced, the seal fails thermally. This can result in the slide rings breaking down. In addition to the loss of the sealing effect, it is also detrimental for any splinters to make their way into the fluid against which sealing is provided.
EP 2 362 122 A2 describes a mechanical seal in which a delivery device for delivering the lubricating fluid is integrated. Sensors in or near to the sealing gap detect operating parameters of the mechanical seal.
WO 2010/142367 A1 describes a mechanical seal with a friction monitoring device. This serves for monitoring the operating state of the mechanical seal. The monitoring device comprises a bar with a sensor element for detecting a bending of the bar. The bar is arranged in a recess in the stationary slide ring.
WO 2008/089800 A1 describes a mechanical seal which comprises a monitoring device with a force measuring device. The force measuring device detects the instantaneous anti-rotation forces and generates an output signal representing this. The force measuring device can be connected directly to the rotationally fixed slide ring by a force transmitting element.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,610 B1 describes a mechanical seal with point-to-point contact detection between a transmitter and a receiver. In this case, a shear wave (transverse wave) is generated by the transmitter. A transducer generates an ultrasound shear wave at the interface between a fixed face and the rotating face. During normal operation, the ultrasound shear wave is primarily reflected by the interface. A first transducer generates an ultrasound shear wave which is detected by a second transducer after it passes through an interface of the fixed face and the rotating face. The second transducer identifies a measurably stronger ultrasound shear wave when the liquid film in the interface breaks down.
The object of the invention is to specify an arrangement for shaft sealing which operates reliably and is protected against dry running. In this case, a method shall be used for monitoring a mechanical seal, which identifies possible wear and the occurrence of damage during operation without thereby disturbing or significantly impairing the operation. The arrangement shall moreover be notable for a construction which is as economical as possible and for a long service life.
According to the invention, the sound transducer is designed for generating and/or receiving Lamb-Rayleigh waves. In contrast to the conventional application of transverse waves or shear weaves, which are used in arrangements according to the prior art, Lamb-Rayleigh waves enable complete monitoring of the gap zone of the lubricating film over the entire area. According to the invention, the Lamb-Rayleigh waves move in a guided manner along a circular path which is realized by the slide ring.
The Lamb-Rayleigh waves propagate in the slide ring. In this case, the propagation preferably takes place in surface layers of the slide ring. This therefore refers to surface waves. It has been shown to be particularly favorable if the sound transducers are designed for sound waves to propagate in the surface layers of the slide ring material both on the surface of the slide ring into which the sound waves are fed and on an opposing surface which is in contact with the lubricating film.
In conventional arrangements, only point-to-point detection takes place since transverse waves are generated which only propagate linearly.
It has now been surprisingly established that the generation and detection of Lamb-Rayleigh waves effects a propagation of the sound waves along the entire circumference of the slide ring, and the entire sealing gap, and therefore the entire lubricating film, can thus be monitored.
Reliable identification of a dry running of the mechanical seal is thus ensured. This therefore constitutes very efficient leakage monitoring. Wear or damage to the mechanical seal can also be detected early and reliably. This is the basis for predictive maintenance.
As a result of the inventive all-round monitoring of the sealing gap, statements relating to imbalances of the shaft, for example due to incorrect alignments, are moreover possible. It is also possible to determine the rotational speed.
The arrangement according to the invention enables early detection of gradual deterioration and the prediction of any possible risk of failure.
In a particularly favorable embodiment of the invention, the sound transducer is designed for generating or receiving sound waves whereof the wavelengths correspond approximately to the width of a slide ring. A Lamb-Rayleigh wave is thus produced both at the front end face of the slide ring, into which the acoustic waves are coupled, and also at the rear end face of the slide ring towards the lubricating film.
It has proven favorable if the ratio of the wavelength to the width of the slide ring is
            λ      b        <    100    ,preferably
            λ      b        <    10    ,in particular
      λ    b    <  5.It has been surprisingly established that Lamb-Rayleigh waves also form in slide rings if the ratio of the wavelength to the width of the slide ring is
            λ      b        <    0.01    ,preferably
            λ      b        >    0.1    ,in particular
      λ    b    >      0.2    .
According to the invention, at least one sound transducer generates acoustic surface waves which are formed as Lamb-Rayleigh waves. The Lamb-Rayleigh waves propagate in at least one slide ring, which has a delimited width. They are produced by the superposition of a longitudinal and a transverse wave.
Thus, various propagable modes are produced in the slide ring, whereof the velocity depends on the product of the frequency and the slide-ring width.
Since an end face of the slide ring is in contact with the lubricating film, some of the wave energy passes over into the lubricating film.
Waves which propagate along the circumference of a slide ring are preferably coupled into the slide ring by a sound transducer. Thus, in contrast to conventional arrangements according to the prior art, a point-to-point contact detection between the transmitter and receiver does not take place, but rather a complete monitoring of the gap zone of the lubricating film over the entire area.
In a particularly favorable variant of the invention, at least two sound transducers are used. These are preferably arranged offset through an angle on the slide ring. In this case, it has proven advantageous if the sound transducers are arranged at an end face of a slide ring, wherein the angular offset between the two transducers is preferably greater than 30°, in particular greater than 60°.
In this case, one sound transducer serves as a transmitter and the other as a receiver. Alternatively, a plurality of transmitters and/or receivers can also be used. A transducer can also be operated both as a transmitter and as a receiver.
As a result of the inventive configuration of the acoustic surface waves, Lamb-Rayleigh waves can propagate on both sides of the slide ring. The sound transducers can therefore be mounted on the outer faces of the rotating and/or stationary slide ring. This creates favorable installation conditions for the sound transducers at the outer faces.
It has proven particularly favorable if at least one sound transducer is mounted at an outer edge of the rotating slide ring and/or stationary slide ring. It has thus been surprisingly established that this results in particularly precise measurements.
In a particularly favorable embodiment of the invention, the sound transducer and the coupling point of the slide ring are not in planar contact. To this end, the sound transducer can have a rounded design and/or an end face of the slide ring can be provided with a rounded portion for coupling and/or decoupling sound waves. Such rounded portions have surprisingly proven to be considerably more favorable than two planar faces since they result in a defined acoustic coupling.
Both the transmitter and the receiver can be designed with a rounded portion. Alternatively, it is also possible for only one of the two to be designed with a rounded portion.
Additionally or alternatively, the sound transducer and/or an end face of a slide ring can have a projection for coupling or decoupling sound waves. A sound transducer and/or an end face of a slide ring can also have a chamfered portion for coupling or decoupling sound waves.
Further features and advantages of the invention are revealed in the description of exemplary embodiments with reference to drawings and in the drawings themselves.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A liquid material evaporation apparatus including a mixing chamber, a flow control unit, a first flow passage for introducing a liquid material, a second flow passage for introducing a carrier gas connected to the mixing chamber through a first nozzle, the first nozzle inhibiting backflow from the mixing chamber into the second flow passage. A third flow passage for discharging evaporated mixed gas is connected to the mixing chamber through a second nozzle, the mixed liquid material and carrier gas being forced through the second nozzle by the flow control unit, the mixed liquid material and carrier gas depressurizing after passing through the second nozzle to evaporate into a mixed gas in the third flow passage. Heat is applied to the mixing chamber and the second and third flow passages to enhance mixing in the mixing chamber and to avoid condensation in the third flow passage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid material evaporation apparatus for use in semiconductor manufacturing.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 5 shows the structure of the main portion of a conventional liquid material evaporation apparatus including a gas-liquid mixing chamber, a flow control portion, and a nozzle portion formed into one block for improved evaporation of a liquid material when the block is heated. In this drawing, the main body block 51 is in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped.
Three flow passages 52, 53, 54 are formed inside the main body block 51. A gas-liquid mixing chamber 55 is formed in the upper surface.
The flow passage 52 is for introducing a liquid material LM (not shown) into the gas-liquid mixing chamber 55, and this liquid material introduction passage 52 is provided in a direction vertical to the surface of the drawing in the shape of a reverse-L character so that one end of the flow passage is opened to the front surface side of the main body block 51 and the other end is opened to the upper surface of the main body block 51. The flow passage 53 is for introducing a carrier gas CG into the gas-liquid mixing chamber 55. The carrier gas introduction flow passage 53 is in the shape of an L character so that one end is opened to the left side surface of the main body block 51 and the other end thereof is opened to a recess portion 51a of the upper surface of the main body block 51. The flow passage 54 functions as a gas discharge passage, with one end opened to the right side surface of the main body block 51, the other end is connected vertically up to an appropriate position of the main body block 51, and the upper end side is coupled to the gas-liquid mixing chamber 55 via a nozzle portion 56.
The gas-liquid mixing chamber 55 is formed so that the recess portion 51a formed on the upper surface of the main body block 51 is covered by a diaphragm 57 as a valve member. The diaphragm 57 is accommodated in a valve block 58 arranged on the upper surface of the main body block 51 and is driven downward towards the mixing chamber by means of a piezo actuator 59 extending upward on the upper portion of the valve block 58. Spring 60 constantly biases the diaphragm 57 upwardly. Heater 61 is for heating the main body block 51.
The nozzle portion 56 is dimensioned so that the diameter and length are 1.0 mm or smaller. The nozzle is located in close proximity to the end of the gas discharge passage 54 closest to the gas-liquid mixing chamber 55. The mixture of the liquid material and carrier gas passes through the nozzle portion 56 into the discharge passage 54 thereby becoming depressurized and evaporating into a mixed gas. This mixed gas flows to the downstream end of the discharge passage 54.
In the liquid material evaporation apparatus of the above-described structure, the liquid material LM and the carrier gas CG are mixed in the gas-liquid mixing chamber 55 provided in the main body block 51 which is heated to an appropriate temperature while the flow of the liquid material LM is controlled, and this gas-liquid mixture is passed through the nozzle portion 56 formed adjacent to the gas-liquid mixing chamber 55 inside the main body block 51. Thus, the liquid material LM contained in the gas-liquid mixture is quickly evaporated by depressurization in a stable state.
However, in a conventional liquid material evaporation apparatus, if the flow rate of the carrier gas CG into the gas-liquid mixing chamber 55 is too low, or if the flow rate of the liquid material LM to the gas-liquid mixing chamber 55 is too high, there is a possibility of backflow of the liquid material LM in which the liquid material LM flows into the carrier gas introduction passage 53 and the liquid material LM cannot be evaporated smoothly at high speeds.

Liquid material evaporation apparatus for semiconductor manufacturing