The present invention provides methods for operating data loggers and in particular, software techniques useful for controlling the critical functions of a low-power-battery-operated data logger. One method initializes various memory locations upon a detection of new firmware. Another method allows a processor system belonging to a data logger to receive a high baud rate data stream while being operated in a sleep mode. Yet another method provides a highly efficient process for estimating the remaining battery capacity of a data logger's primary power source. Finally, a method is provided for protecting volatile variables during a disruption of primary power. The protected variables are written to non-volatile memory using parasitic power only.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for operating data loggers. In particular, the invention provides software techniques useful for controlling the critical functions of low-power-battery-operated data loggers.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Generally speaking, data loggers are devices that record measurements obtained from electronic sensors that sense physical properties such as temperature, pressure, electrical current and voltage among others. A conventional data logger is made up of a digital processor operationally connected to a non-volatile memory bank for storing measurements obtained from electronic sensors in communication with the data logger. Other major components include at least one digital communication port for communicating with an external user interface device such as a personal computer (PC) or personal digital assistant (PDA) and a real-time clock for keeping track of time as well as calendar dates. Additional components can include sensor interfaces such as analog-to-digital converters and event counters used to convert analog signals and discrete events into digital form for storage into the non-volatile memory bank.
The external user interface device allows a user to transfer recorded data from a data logger to a data processor so that the recorded data can be processed and presented in a useful manner. Furthermore, most, if not all data loggers have settings and parameters that must be initialized by the user. For example, conventional data loggers have real-time clock and calendar variables that must be set by the user. In order to set these variables, a user typically transfers values for the variables to a data logger through a PDA running software having a graphical user interface that includes a clock/calendar settings form. After the user inputs the desired clock/calendar settings into the PDA by way of the settings form, the user invokes a communication session between the PDA and data logger to transfer the desired clock/calendar settings to the data logger. The communication can take place over a wireless or hardwired communications channel shared by the PDA and data logger. Other user settings can include data formats and operational mode settings.
Data loggers are typically operated in one of two data collecting modes. The most prevalent mode is time-based mode. In this mode, a data logger is scheduled to obtain data readings from a sensor or number of sensors at a given time interval. For example, a user could schedule a temperature data logger to record temperature readings obtained from an electronic thermometer at a rate of one reading every ten minutes.
Once the desired recording interval and other user settings are transferred to the data logger, the data logger typically goes into a sleep mode to conserve the energy of a battery powering the data logger. Sleep modes for data loggers, generally place processors and communication ports into a power conserving state. For example, a conventional sleep mode usually disables the clock oscillator supplying the instruction cycle timing to a data logger's digital processor, thereby halting the processor. Halting a data logger's digital processor is a major technique for conserving energy.
Traditional time-based data loggers have digital processors that have an interrupt signal line connected to the logical output of an alarm function controlled by a real-time clock. If the data logger in the previous example is equipped with a real-time clock with an alarm function, the processor of the data logger will receive an alarm signal generated by the real-time clock's alarm function every ten minutes. The alarm signal will interrupt and wake the data logger from the sleep mode. Once awake, the data logger will obtain a temperature reading, record the reading and go back into the sleep mode until another alarm signal is generated ten minutes later. Data logging intervals typically range from fractions of a second for rapidly changing sensor data to once per day for slow changing sensor data.
Another operating mode for data loggers is event driven. In an event driven operating mode, a data logger only records data when triggered by an external event. For example, a seismic activity data recorder will only begin recording data after its associated seismic sensor detects a seismic event of a certain predetermined magnitude.
Numerous other operating modes and features are incorporated into modern data loggers. For example, an increasing number of commercially available data loggers have in-circuit firmware programming capability. This capability allows a user to erase a data logger's current firmware and upload new firmware. While the ability to revise a data logger's firmware is a significant advance, an unforeseen problem has surfaced relative to this new capability.
The problem occurs whenever a user programs new firmware into the data logger, but forgets to reinitialize variables such as data memory pointers, etc. Forgetting to initialize data memory pointers after a firmware upload can result in a permanent loss of important data. Removing the data memory pointer initialization burden from the user would be of substantial benefit to the user.
Another previously unsolved problem pertains to attaining baud rates greater than 19.2 kbps between a sleep mode operated data logger and an external user interface device such as a PDA. Receiving a data stream in sleep mode generally involves waking up, receiving a character and then going back to sleep until another character arrives. Up to now, a data logger operating from a sleep mode could not receive a data stream at a baud rate higher than 19.2 kbps because of delays resulting from the data logger's wake-up procedures. In order to receive a data stream at a higher baud rate than 19.2 kbps, prior art communication methods required the processor of a data logger to operate in a mode other than a sleep mode. Unfortunately, operating outside of a sleep mode during a communication session results in excessive energy consumption of a data logger's primary power source. In fact, the battery consumption rate can be tens of times higher than when communicating in sleep mode. What is needed is a computerized method that retains the benefits of sleep mode operation while at the same time maintains the ability to receive data streams at baud rates higher than 19.2 kbps.
Still yet another problem, involves estimating remaining battery capacity of the primary power source. Prior art methods for estimating remaining battery capacity generally rely on a data logger being equipped to measure it's own battery's characteristics. The characteristics typically measured, are battery voltage, battery current and battery temperature. While some of these prior art methods provide reasonably accurate results, they do so at significant disadvantages relative to low power data logger operation. First of all, in order to make the appropriate measurements, extra sensors are needed to make the measurements. Secondly, these extra sensors require power to operate, creating additional loads for the data logger's battery. What is needed is a method for estimating remaining battery life that does not require a data logger to measure its own battery's characteristics.
Another problem lacking an adequate solution up to this point, is due to primary power source disruptions that result in the loss of crucial variable data such as data memory pointers, alarm intervals and the like. The most worrisome power disruptions happen during transportation of data loggers to field sites. Power disruptions can occur when the battery powering a data logger is shaken in its holder, causing momentary loss of power as the battery disconnects and reconnects to the holder's terminals. Another lengthier, yet predictable power disruption occurs whenever the battery is removed from its holder making room for its replacement. If the battery is not quickly reinstalled, residual energy stored in filter capacitors will drain down to a point to which volatile memory locations are corrupted. What is needed is a computerized method that will protect the contents of crucial memory locations during primary power source disruptions.


There is provided a fiber-reinforced composite material is constituted by reinforcing fibers with an average fiber length of 5 mm to 100 mm and a thermoplastic resin, in which in a viscoelastic characteristic that is defined by following formulas (1) and (2), an average value in a range of −25° C. of the melting point of a matrix resin to +25° C. of the melting point of a matrix resin satisfies following formula (3):tan δ=G″/G′  (1)tan δ′=Vf×tan δ/(100−Vf)  (2)0.01≦tan δ′≦0.2  (3)                wherein G′ represents a storage modulus (Pa) of the fiber-reinforced composite material, G″ represents a loss modulus (Pa) of the fiber-reinforced composite material, and Vf represents a volume fraction (%) of the reinforcing fibers in the fiber-reinforced composite material.

A fiber-reinforced composite material in which carbon fibers, aramid fibers, glass fibers or the like are used as reinforcing fibers has been widely utilized for structural materials of aircrafts, vehicles or the like, or in general industries and sports such as a tennis racket, a golf club shaft and a fishing rod by utilizing high specific strength and high specific elasticity thereof. The forms of reinforcing fibers used therein may include a woven fabric made by using continuous fibers, a UD sheet in which fibers are pulled and aligned unidirectionally, a random sheet made by using cut fibers, a non-woven fabric and the like.
Generally, in case of the fabric made from continuous fibers or the UD sheet and the like, complicated layering steps such as layering at various angles of, for example, 0/+45/−45/90, because of anisotropy of the fibers, or and further plane-symmetrical layering for preventing warpage of a shaped product. This is one of factors that increase the cost for the fiber-reinforced composite material.
Thus, by using an isotropic random mat in advance, a relatively inexpensive fiber-reinforced composite material may be obtained. The random mat may be obtained by a spray-up method (dry production method) wherein spraying cut reinforcing fibers alone or spraying the cut fibers together with a thermosetting resin are performed at the same time into a mold, or a paper-manufacturing method (wet method) of adding previously cut reinforcing fibers into an aqueous slurry containing a binder, followed by paper-making. The dry manufacturing method requires a relatively small device and thus allows the random mat to be obtained at a lower cost.
In the dry production method, a method of cutting continuous fibers and simultaneously spraying the cut fibers is frequently used, and a rotary cutter is used mostly. However, when an interval between blades of the cutter is widened in order to increase a fiber length, the cut frequency is decreased and thus results in discontinuous discharge of the fibers from the cutter. For this reason, unevenness in fiber areal weight of the fibers in the mat locally occurs. Especially, when a mat with a low fiber areal weight of fibers is made, there is a problem in that unevenness in thickness becomes significant and thus surface appearance is deteriorated.
Meanwhile, another factor that increases the cost for the fiber-reinforced composite material is that a long time is required for molding. In general, the fiber-reinforced composite material is obtained by heating and pressurizing a material called a prepreg by an autoclave for 2 hours or more, in which the prepreg is obtained by impregnating a reinforcing fiber base material with a thermosetting resin in advance. There has recently been suggested an RTM molding method in which a reinforcing fiber base material not impregnated with a resin is set in a mold, and a thermosetting resin is poured thereto. This significantly shortens a time for molding. However, even though the RTM molding method is adopted, a time required for molding one part is 10 minutes or more.
Therefore, a composite material employing a thermoplastic resin as a matrix, in place of conventional thermosetting resin, has been spotlighted. However, the thermoplastic resin generally has a higher viscosity than the thermosetting resin, and thus has a problem in that a time for impregnating a fiber base material with the molten resin is long, and as a result, a tact time until molding is prolonged.
As a method for solving the foregoing problems, there is suggested a method called thermoplastic stamping molding (TP-SMC). This is a molding method in which chopped fibers impregnated with a thermoplastic resin in advance are heated up to a melting point or more or a flowable temperature or more of the resin, and are put into a part of a mold, and immediately, the mold is closed. In the method, the fibers and the resin are allowed to flow in the mold so as to form a product shape, followed by cooling to form a shaped product. In the method, since the fibers impregnated with the resin in advance are used, it is possible to mold in a short time of about 1 minute. A method of manufacturing a chopped fiber bundle and a molding material is disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2. However, the disclosed method employs a molding material called an SMC or a stampable sheet. In such thermoplastic stamping molding, fibers and a resin are largely flowed within a mold, and thus fiber orientation is disturbed. In a case of a random mat employing cut fibers, lack of isotropy is caused due to unidirectional fiber orientation. As a result, a development rate of physical property of an isotropic composite material is lowered by unidirectional orientation caused by the flow of the resin and the reinforcing fibers. Also, in the molding within the mold accompanying the flow of the reinforcing fibers and the matrix resin, especially, a mold temperature or a mold structure has to be investigated in order to secure stability in a thickness direction and a planar dimension of a shaped product. Thus, there is a problem in that it is difficult to adjust manufacturing conditions in mass production, and also it is difficult to make a thin-walled product. Meanwhile, for the composite material employing the thermoplastic resin as a matrix, there is suggested a technique in which a long-fiber pellet that contains reinforcing fibers is injection-molded. However, the long-fiber pellet also has a limitation on the length of the pellet. Further, there is a problem in that the reinforcing fibers in the thermoplastic resin are cut by kneading and thus the length of the reinforcing fibers may not be kept. Also, the molding method through such injection molding has a problem in that the reinforcing fibers are oriented, and thus isotropy may not be achieved.
Also, as a means for a thin-walled product without flow of fibers, there is suggested a method of manufacturing a prepreg in which a thin sheet is manufactured from reinforcing fibers through a paper-making method, and then the thin sheet is impregnated with a resin (Patent Document 3). In the paper-making method, since reinforcing fibers are uniformly dispersed in a dispersion liquid, the reinforcing fibers are in single fiber form.
(Patent Document 1) Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-114611
(Patent Document 2) Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-114612
(Patent Document 3) Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-235779

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


There is disclosed a recessed cantilever mount and an installation process. The mount may comprise a cradle adapted to attach to a wall of a chassis and extend through an opening of the wall into the chassis, a retainer adapted to attach to the cradle and secure a stem of an electric discharge device to the cradle, wherein the stem is at least partially recessed in the cradle, and a tube of the electric discharge device is recessed within the chassis. The process may comprise recessing a base of a cradle through an opening in a wall of a chassis of an air handler selected from the group comprising a PTAC and a unit ventilator, securing the cradle to the wall, inserting a tube of an electric discharge device through an opening of the base into the chassis, and securing a rim of the electric discharge device against the base.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to recessed lamp mounts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many homes, offices, and automobiles have recessed lighting systems. A recessed lighting system is an electrically powered lamp which is mounted in a fixture that is set back and concealed in a building's ceiling or wall. In general, the lamp of a recessed lighting system is housed within the recessed fixture. Typically, the lamp illuminates an area outside the ceiling, wall, or body panel, such as a living room or a kitchen.
Recessed fixtures are commonly used for aesthetic purposes, for example, to hide housings, sockets, wiring, ballasts, and switches. Recessed fixtures, in comparison with floor and/or table fixtures, enable space saving and clutter reduction. Recessed lighting is commonly configured to provide wall washing and accent lighting effects.
Recessed fixtures are commonly used for health and safety purposes. Recessed fixtures are often selected to promote ergonomics and create a well-lit work environment. In homes and offices, placing lamps and electric wires in the ceiling and/or wall prevents individuals from tripping on the wires.


Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for Web storage optimization and cache management. In one embodiment, a method of client side cache management using Web storage can include first registering a client browser session in a content browser as a listener to events for Web storage for a particular domain. Subsequently, notification can be received from the content browser of an event of a different client browser session associated with the Web storage. For instance, the notification can result from the different client browser adding a new cache entry to the Web storage, or from the different client browser periodically at a specified time interval indicating a state of one or more cache entries in the Web storage. Finally, in response to the notification, a cache entry in the Web storage can be invalided such as through cache entry removal or compression.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to state information storage during client side page processing and more particularly to Web data storage for client side page processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Page processing refers to the receipt, interpretation and rendering of a markup language defined page in a content browser. The most well-known form of a page processing content browser at present is the venerable Web browser in which Web pages are received, processed and rendered. In a conventional Web browser, a markup language page—typically a page defined according to the hypertext markup language (HTML) markup language specification—can be received, interpreted and rendered in a display of a computer. Integral to the HTML processing capabilities of the Web browser is the cookie feature.
The cookie feature provides for short term data storage of state information for a Web page. Cookies have been used for many reasons including session management, personalization and tracking. However, according to the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) specification on statement management, a Web browser in respect to the use of cookies need only support a minimal number of cookies. In particular, according to the HTTP specification, a Web browser is expected only to be able to store three-hundred cookies of four kilobytes each, and only twenty cookies per server or domain.
While the cookie feature of HTML can provide a tempting mechanism for data storage in page processing, for many applications—and in particular in light of advances in the acquisition and transfer of digital information such as digital imagery and audio, a client side mechanism of greater capacity is desirable. The HTML version 5 specification addresses this need in defining "Web Storage". Web Storage picks up where cookies left off. In this regard, Web Storage provides both a simple application programming interface (API) to getter and setter methods for key/value pairs and also a default disk space quota of no less than five megabytes per fully qualified domain name.
Consequently, the Web Storage mechanism allows the page developer to define storage for a page of more than just basic user/session info on the client-side. Rather, the Web Storage mechanism permits the storage of user preference settings, localization data, temporary offline storage for batching server writes and much more. Yet further, data stored according to the Web Storage mechanism can be accessed using the familiar JAVASCRIPT™ scripting language, which permits the developer to leverage client-side scripting to do many things that have traditionally involved server-side programming and relational databases.
Despite the advancement in client side storage offered by the Web Storage mechanism in HTML version 5, the Web Storage mechanism is not without fault. First, as clients become more robust and more application code executes within the content browser, the need to cache client side generated content increases. Due to the limitations in the size of the cache, the ability to cache large amounts of client generated content is not available. Secondly, cache management for cache entries utilized by multiple different clients generally requires centralized cache item invalidation in an application server, yet the use of Web storage is restricted to the client and, in any event, client to server communications can be excessive with constant server polling of clients in respect to cache entries.

International Business Machines Corporation


A combustor has a flow sleeve and a flow liner defining a generally axial flow direction of compressor discharge air toward combustor burners. A casing is secured to the forward end of the flow sleeve defining an annular plenum along the interior of the flow sleeve. Openings through the flow sleeve supply compressor discharge air into the plenum where the air changes direction for flow through apertures into and generally coaxially with the free air stream. The axial injection minimizes or eliminates energy losses due to cross flow injection within the axial air stream while continuing to cool the liner.

The present invention relates to a gas turbine combustor having a flow sleeve and a liner for supplying compressor discharge air to combustor burners and particularly relates to a casing for turning compressor discharge air flowing radially through holes in the flow sleeve in an axial direction for flow in a generally parallel direction relative to the free stream air in the flow sleeve. The invention also relates to methods for turning the flow.
In current combustors, a plurality of openings are provided about the flow sleeve for injecting air in a generally radial direction into the flow sleeve for impingement cooling the liner. The radially injected air is generally normal to the free stream air flowing within the flow sleeve. It will be appreciated that compressor discharge air flows through openings in the impingement sleeve of a transition piece and forms part of a free stream air flow in an aft direction and between the combustion flow sleeve and liner. This air flow mixes with fuel at the aft end of the combustor and the fuel/air mixture is combusted within the liner. The air injected in the radial direction through the flow sleeve openings and into the free stream has a momentum exchange with the axially flowing air and must be accelerated by the axially flowing free stream air until the cross flowing air reaches the free stream velocity. This process causes a net loss in energy.
In certain combustors, it is desirable to impingement cool the liner of the combustor, necessitating the net loss in energy to cool the liner. In other combustors, however, the magnitude of cooling required to cool the liner is such as to not require impingement cooling flows. Consequently, there is a need to provide a mechanism and a method for reducing energy losses due to cross flow while affording cooling of the liner.

Axial flow sleeve for a turbine combustor and methods of introducing flow sleeve air


Disclosed are an optical display device producing uniform light distribution and a method of fabricating such devices. The optical display device has waveguides arranged in vertical and horizontal directions. The waveguide has a conical shape whose cross-section decreases towards the light-projection side thereof. At least one of the size, height, spacing, and refraction index of the waveguide is designed to be different for each section, depending on an incident angle and/or intensity of light inputted from a light source. Therefore, the intensity of projected light can be made uniform over all sections of the optical device.

In general, a projection device such as a projection TV, a projection monitor, or the like is equipped with a rear projection screen projecting images toward the viewer's side. This rear projection screen is one of the optical display devices designed such that the images projected from the rear side of the screen pass through a viewing space. The viewing space may be relatively large (for example, a projection TV), or may be relatively small (for example, a projection monitor). The performance of a rear projection screen can be described by various characteristics of the screen. The screen performance typically includes gain, viewing angle, resolution, contrast ratio, color, and undesirable artifacts such as specks. The rear projection screen needs to have a high resolution, a high contrast ratio, and a high gain.
In addition, it is preferable that the rear projection television has a wide viewing angle capable of covering all the viewers within a broad range of angle. In order to achieve this wide viewing angle, the screen is provided with waveguides thereinside. In a rear projection screen, inherently, a point light source is positioned rearwards of the screen center and thus the incident angles of the light are different in the central area and the peripheral area of the screen. If the entire screen is formed of waveguides of the same structure, the reflection angles inside the waveguides are different from one section of the screen to another, due to their different incident angles. Some waveguides may not experience total reflection, depending on the position thereof. Usually, the waveguides, specially designed for a wide viewing angle, come to be placed in the central area of the screen. Therefore, in a case where the screen is designed with identically structured waveguides, the intended wide viewing angle can be achieved on the whole since the peripheral area of the screen is provided with the same waveguides. However, the luminance in the peripheral area is considerably degraded relative to the central area of the screen. For this reason, the image distinctiveness and clarity are made different in the central and peripheral areas of the screen, and homogeneity in the image is consequently degraded, thereby failing to achieve a high quality image.
In particular, a large-scale display device employs a plurality of unit light sources or a single diffusive light source, and the light intensity thus becomes non-uniform throughout the screen. More specifically, in the case where a plurality of light sources is used, the light intensity is lowered in the boundary area between the light sources. When a single diffusion light source is employed, the central and peripheral areas of the screen exhibit different luminance, due to different incident angles and different light-paths. For the above reasons, the brightness is not uniform over the entire screen, consequently resulting in non-uniform image distinctiveness and clarity, and degraded image resolution.

Display device uniforming light distribution throughout areas and method for manufacturing same


Embodiments disclosed herein provide a domain aware data migration scheme between processing elements, memory, and various caches in a CC-NUMA system. The scheme creates domain awareness in data migration operations, such as Direct Cache Transfer (DCT) operation, stashing operation, and in the allocation of policies of snoop filters and private, shared, or inline caches. The scheme defines a hardware-software interface to communicate locality information (also referred herein as affinity information or proximity information) and subsequent hardware behavior for optimal data migration, thus overcoming traditional CC-NUMA limitations.

Multi-socket server systems and cache-coherent CPU-Accelerator systems, such as those enabled by Cache Coherent Interconnect for Accelerators (CCIX), QuickPath Interconnect (QPI)/Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI), Infinity Fabric, NVLink, and Open Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface (CAPI) are all inherently Cache-Coherent Non-Uniform Memory Access (CC-NUMA) systems. CC-NUMA comes about as a result of the difference in both latency and bandwidth depending on whether the request agent (CPU or generic initiator) accesses local or remote memory (main memory or specific purpose memory) and where that memory may be cached at the time of access. System performance has improved such that the increase in scale of both compute and memory achieved by the CC-NUMA system has offset the detrimental effects of non-uniform memory access.
Another innovation in modern heterogeneous systems involves providing software with affinity information between compute elements (e.g., CPU, generic initiator) and memory elements (e.g., host-attached memory or accelerator-attached specific-purpose memory) that forms a system in order to offset the detrimental effects of CC-NUMA. The affinity information can be propagated upstream, i.e., from the firmware layer, to the OS-boot layer, on to the Application layer using data structures, such as those defined for firmware industry standards such as Unified Extension Firmware Interface (UEFI) and Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI).
Software, while running virtual machines (VMs) or containers for example, can use this affinity information to affine processes to a producer-consumer compute pair—such as a generic initiator paired with a CPU, and also affine the memory—such as allocating specific purpose memory for that producer-consumer. These affinity algorithms use the affinity information, made available to software, to reduce the non-uniformity of accesses while datasets are being produced and consumed, and thus improve the efficiency of the CC-NUMA system.

Domain aware data migration in coherent heterogenous systems


A communication control device connected between an image forming apparatus and a communication line in an image forming apparatus supervising system which connects the image forming apparatus and a host machine by the communication line. Assume that particular data of an image forming apparatus and updated day by day should be read periodically. Then, even when the power supply to the image forming apparatus is shut off, a host machine can access the apparatus to read the data which should be read periodically, and receive it. In addition, the data can be preserved until the next time for reading.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus supervising system connecting an image forming apparatus and a host machine via a communication line and, more particularly, to a communication control device connected between the image forming apparatus and the communication line for controlling their communication.
2. Discussion of the Background
An image forming apparatus supervising system of the type described may connect a plurality of copiers or similar image forming apparatuses to a host machine located at, for example, a remote service center over a switched telephone network or similar communication line. This kind of system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication (Kokai) Nos. 257155/1990, 259666/1990, and 196053/1991 by way of example. In such a system, a single host machine controls a plurality of remote image forming apparatuses collectively so as to add up the conditions of the individual apparatuses relating to use and to effect maintenance. The conditions relating to use include the number of copies produced. Regarding maintenance, each image forming apparatus may call the host machine automatically after self-diagnosis, or the host machine may access the individual apparatuses to adjust various portions thereof. Today, it is a common practice with this kind of system to read a counter (generally the number of copies produced) built in each image forming apparatus by remote control, thereby charging the user of the apparatus for a maintenance contract.
However, the problem with the conventional supervising system is that even when the image forming apparatus and the host machine are connected by a communication line, the host machine cannot read the above-mentioned particular data out of the apparatus if the power supply to the apparatus is shut off. As a result, the time when the host machine can read the data is limited. For example, although the host machine should preferably read the data out of the image forming apparatus at nighttime during which communication cost is low and traffic is light, i.e., a high connection rate is achievable, the power supply to the apparatus is often shut off at nighttime.

Communication control device connected between an image forming apparatus and a host system


A gas spring with a sealing and bearing assembly received within a casing of the gas spring adjacent to a rod slidably received through the assembly for axial reciprocation. The assembly has an annular retaining ring received within the casing, an annular bearing with a throughbore through which the rod reciprocates carried by the retaining ring, an annular retainer carried by the retaining ring downstream of the bearing, and a sealing member received within the retaining ring adjacent to the retainer and in firm engagement with the rod and retaining ring to provide a gas-tight seal between the rod and the retaining ring to prevent the escape of gas from the gas spring. The retainer preferably has a dovetail flange extending therefrom and the sealing ring has a complementarily shaped recess molded or press-fit onto the flange to attach the sealing ring to the retainer. The retainer is preferably firmly clamped to the retaining ring by rolling its upper edge over the retainer. To prevent contaminants from entering the gas spring and fouling the bearing and sealing assembly, a wiper is provided downstream of the sealing member and attached to the retainer.

Gas springs may be utilized to yieldably resist movement of a body such as a clamping ring for a metal blank of a die in a press for forming sheet metal parts. The springs are generally constructed with an actuating rod connected to a piston, slidably received in a cylinder having a chamber charged to a predetermined pressure with an inert gas such as nitrogen. This provides a spring effect or cushion permitting the rod to yieldably move toward its retracted position when a force applied externally to the rod exceeds the opposing force produced by the gas in the chamber acting on the piston. The gas springs can be operated with either an external source of gas or can be precharged and operated as a self-contained unit.
In use, as the piston approaches its retracted position, thereby decreasing the volume of the gas chamber, the pressure within the chamber may increase to between 3,000 and 5,000 psi or more. To maintain the axial movement of the piston rod and also to ensure a sufficient seal of the gas spring to prevent pressure losses in the gas spring, current gas springs have bearing, sealing, and retaining members which are relatively large and thus reduce the internal volume of the gas chamber within the gas spring. The smaller gas chamber leads to increased pressure and also increased temperatures within the gas spring which can be detrimental to the operation of the gas spring. Thus, the gas spring must be made larger in size to provide a sufficient gas chamber volume.


The present invention relates to a hatcher basket for holding newly hatched birds in an incubator. The basket has: —a pair of side walls on horizontally opposite sides having a plurality of horizontally-extending openings through them; —a horizontally-extending trough which is attached to the exterior of each side wall and which can contain feed for the newly hatched birds; —the bottom of each opening in each side wall being located at the same distance above the bottom of the side wall; —the top of each trough being located at this same distance above the bottom of its side wall; and —the size of each opening being significantly larger than the head of the newly hatched birds but significantly smaller than the thorax of the newly hatched birds.

In raising poultry, newly laid eggs are typically incubated in large batches under hot, i.e., about 37° C., and dry conditions for up to 21 days until all the fertilized eggs have hatched, or until they should have hatched. Only then the batch of newly hatched birds are removed, and fed with a starter or pre-starter source of feed for the birds.
Normally, most chicken eggs hatch in the period between 18 and 21 days after incubation has begun. Unfortunately, many of the chicks that hatch earlier, rather than later, during the final three days of incubation, suffer subsequent growth and disease problems. These problems arise principally because of a lack of feed, available to the chicks that hatch earlier during these last three days for their consumption. Research has shown that these chicks, for their further development and resistance to diseases, would benefit from providing feed as soon as possible after hatching. See: "Spread of hatch and delayed feed access affect post hatch performance of female broiler chicks up to day 5" Animal (2014), 8:4, pp 610-617; and "The Effects of the Spread of Hatch and Interaction with Delayed Feed Access After Hatch on Broiler Performance Until Seven Days of Age" 2005 Poultry Science (2005) 84:1314-1320. For this reason, it has been recommended that newly hatched chicks be fed with a feed such as a corn-wheat-soybean-based starter diet, immediately after hatching.
Ways have been sought for providing all newly hatched chicks in incubators with feed as soon as possible after hatching and thereafter until they are placed in a final poultry or egg-laying farming environment where they will be fed a conventional corn and soybean meal containing essential vitamins and minerals.
U.S. Pat. No. 33,965,703 describes a hatching house for chicks with a belt, on which eggs can hatch, and feed troughs adjacent to the belt for the newly hatched chicks.
WO0234039A1 describes an incubator for chicks containing stacked hatcher baskets, in each of which is water and feed for newly hatched chicks.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,196,548 and 8,272,352 describe stacked hatcher baskets for incubators for chicks, in each of which baskets are troughs for feed for newly hatched chicks. Because the troughs are in each basket, the troughs become dirty quite quickly with waste from the chicks that falls from upper baskets on to lower baskets. Also, chicks are likely to get soiled and wet quite quickly if the feed is provided with a source of water, which is undesirable in view of the fact that the feathers of a chick are highly relevant for maintaining its body temperature. These patents also describe an automated feeder for replenishing feed in each trough, requiring each basket to be pulled out completely from the incubator, so that the basket beneath it can be disposed beneath the automated feeder for filling its toughs.
WO2011133020A1 describes stacked hatcher baskets for incubators for chicks, each of which baskets has, attached to its opposite sides, troughs for feed for newly hatched chicks. The opposite sides of each basket have feed openings, through which chicks can access each trough to feed on its feed contents. As a result, the troughs become dirty quite quickly with waste from the chicks that have gone into the troughs from the baskets.
There has been a continuing need, therefore, for another way of providing feed to newly hatched chicks in hatching baskets in incubators, without the feed becoming rapidly contaminated with waste material from the chicks.

Hatcher basket with external feed troughs


An air inlet (10) for an engine (20) of an aircraft (50), the air inlet (10) having a duct (2) feeding outside air to said engine (20) together with a filter system combining at least one filter (3) and at least one bypass device (4). Said filter (3) and said bypass device (4) are fastened on a common support (1) situated at one end of said duct (2) and on a flank of a fuselage (51) of said aircraft (50). Said bypass device (4) comprises a cover (5) and an actuator (6) controlling opening of said cover (5). Thus, when said filter (3) no longer allows outside air to pass therethrough, said cover (5) is opened, and outside air passes via the bypass device (4) in order to feed said engine (20) with outside air.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air inlet for an engine and more particularly for a turbine engine of a rotary wing aircraft. This air inlet is provided with a filter system combining at least one barrier filter with at least one bypass device. The technical field of the invention is thus the field of turbine engine air inlets, and more particularly the field of filter systems for such air inlets.
(2) Description of Related Art
In order to feed each engine of an aircraft with outside air and thus enable the engine(s) to operate, the aircraft has at least one air inlet, each air inlet being provided with a filter system and with a duct connecting the engine(s) to the outside air.
Furthermore, each air inlet may be positioned in various locations relative to the engine and to the forward direction of the aircraft. More particularly, two types of air inlet may be distinguished.
Firstly, a longitudinal or axial air inlet can be placed facing the main advance direction of the aircraft. Such an inlet is also said to be "dynamic" since it is fed with outside air under the effects both of the forward speed of the aircraft and of the suction from the engine; and
Secondly, a lateral or radial air inlet can be placed perpendicularly to the main forward direction of the aircraft, i.e. in general in the side or in the top of the fuselage of the aircraft. Such an inlet is also said to be "static", since it is fed with air solely under the effect of suction from the engine.
Aircraft can be required to operate in a wide variety of environments and conditions, and each engine of such aircraft must therefore be protected in order to be able to withstand such environments and such conditions.
Firstly, the wash from the lift rotor of a rotary wing aircraft often raises dust during takeoff and landing, together with gravel lying on the ground. It is therefore essential to protect the air inlet of each engine to avoid it ingesting any raised elements. It is also necessary to protect each engine from various particles in suspension in the air, in particular when the aircraft is used in sandy regions where the air can be saturated with particles of sand.
For this purpose, each air inlet of the aircraft is provided with at least one filter system for stopping such particles and thus protecting each engine. Such filter systems make use of various types of filter, such as barrier filters with one or more paper or fabric layers to stop particles in suspension or vortex filters that create a vortex for the purpose of separating particles from the ingested air.
Secondly, aircraft may be required to fly in so-called "icing" conditions. During this type of flight, ice can obstruct the air inlet of an engine in part or even in full, in particular by ice becoming attached to the barrier filter. Thus, each filter may become partially or even completely obstructed by ice.
Similarly, various particles such as dust or sand can obstruct each filter of the filter system in part or in full, in particular when using barrier filters, thereby limiting or even preventing outside air from passing to the engine.
Consequently, the feed of outside air to the engine is reduced or even interrupted, thereby giving rise to a significant or even total loss of the power developed by the engine, which can lead to an accident.
Consequently, in order to guarantee that each engine of the aircraft can operate, and in particular in order to guarantee that it is fed with outside air, regardless of the outside conditions and the environment of the aircraft and regardless of the state of the air inlet filter, an aircraft maker can provide a passage for feeding outside air to the engine while avoiding the filter. Such a device ensures flight is safe when flying in an atmosphere that is, for example, loaded with particles or with ice. Indeed, such a device is required by certain aviation certifications. Such a device is commonly referred to as a "bypass device" since it is used when filter is obstructed.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 3,411,272 describes a filter system for a helicopter engine, the system having a closed position for filtering air and an open position for allowing air to pass without being filtered, i.e. a bypass position. That filter system has filtering louvers that touch one another in the closed position so as to filter air. Some of the louvers are movable and pivot in order to open the filter system in the bypass position, where necessary.
Document WO 2008/076471 also describes a filter system for an aircraft engine, the filter system possessing one or more filter panels flush with the outside surface of the aircraft. Each filter panel is connected to an actuator enabling the entire filter panel to be pivoted and thus enabling air to pass without passing through the filter panel, thereby creating a bypass position. Nevertheless, that filter system moves the entire filter panel, which may be bulky and heavy, thus requiring an actuator that is powerful.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,292 describes a filter system for a helicopter engine. That filter system has filter zones in front and on the sides relative to the longitudinal direction of the helicopter, thereby allowing air to enter equally well while the helicopter is flying forwards and while it is flying sideways. That filter system includes a flap situated on the top of the filter and suitable for tilting under the effect of a spring into a bypass position, thereby releasing an opening that allows air to pass without passing through the filter zones.
Finally, document EP 2282031 describes a filter system that incorporates a bypass device. That filter system is adapted for a radial air inlet of an engine and comprises an annular filter having a stationary portion and a movable portion. The movable portion of the annular filter pivots about the axis of the engine and of the annular filter, and thus makes it possible to release the air inlet of the annular filter, thereby creating a bypass position.
Other filter systems exist and some of them have two different air flow ducts, one duct feeding the engine with filtered air and the other duct being specific to the bypass device. However, such filter systems can be quite complex and heavy. Furthermore, the use of two different feed ducts can give rise in the air inlet to differences of temperature and pressure in the air being fed to the engine, thereby giving rise to variations in the performance of the engine. In addition, during a flight, it is possible that dust, sand, or debris can accumulate in the specific flow duct of the bypass device and subsequently be sucked into the engine when the bypass device is put into operation.

Air inlet combining a filter and a bypass device for use with a turbine engine


Reported herein is a sortase comprising an amino acid sequence that is at least 90% identical to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 11 and that comprises the mutations D101S and K137S.

The current invention is in the field of sortase. Herein is reported a sortase that has improved enzymatic activity and methods of using the same in transamidation reactions.
Sortase A (SrtA) is a membrane bound enzyme which attaches proteins covalently to the bacterial cell wall. The specific recognition motif on the SrtA substrate is LPXTG, whereby the enzyme cleaves between the residues threonine and glycine. The recognition motif on the peptidoglycan is a pentaglycine motif. It has been shown that a triglycine and even a diglycine motif on the N-terminus is sufficient to support the SrtA reaction (Clancy, K. W., et al., Peptide science 94 (2010) 385-396). The reaction proceeds through a thioester acyl-enzyme intermediate, which is resolved by the attack of an amine nucleophile from the oligoglycine, covalently linking peptidoglycan to a protein substrate and regenerating SrtA. SrtA can be used to covalently conjugate chemically synthetized peptides to recombinantly expressed proteins.
In WO 2010/087994 methods for ligation and uses thereof are reported. Recombinant approaches to IgG-like bispecific antibodies are reported by Marvin, J. S., et al. (Acta Pharmacol. Sinica 26 (2005) 649-658). In WO 2013/003555 the use of sortases to install click chemistry handles for protein ligation is reported.
Levary, D. A., et al., report protein-protein fusion catalyzed by Sortase A (PLOS ONE 6 (2011)). Engineering of an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibody to single chain format and labeling by sortase A-mediated protein ligation is reported by Madej, M. P., et al. (Biotechnol. Bioeng. 109 (2012) 1461-1470). Ta, H. T., et al., report enzymatic single-chain antibody tagging as a universal approach to targeted molecular imaging and cell homing in cardiovascular diseases (Cir. Res. 109 (2011) 365-373). Popp, M., et al., report making and breaking peptide bonds—protein engineering using sortase (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Eng. 50 (2011) 5024-5032). Engineered proteins with high affinity for DOTA chelates are reported in WO 2010/099536.
Different efforts to block the revers reactions of Sortase have been reported. Yamamura, Y., et al. (Chem. Commun. 47 (2011) 4742-4744) reported enhancement of sortase A-mediated protein ligation by inducing a beta-hairpin structure around the ligation site by introducing a β-hairpin around the recognition site of the substrate.
Sorting of LPXTG peptides by archetypal sortase A, role of invariant substrate residues in modulating the enzyme dynamics and conformational signature of a productive substrate was reported by Biswas, T., et al. (Biochem. 53 (2014) 2515-2524).
Li, Y. M., et al. report irreversible site-specific hydrazinolysis of proteins by use of Sortase (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 53 (2014) 2198-2202).
In U.S. Pat. No. 9,267,127 evolved sortases exhibiting enhanced reaction kinetics and/or altered substrate preferences and methods for using such evolved bond-forming enzymes are reported. Therein a sortase comprising an amino acid sequence that is at least 90% identical to the amino acid sequence of Staphylococcus aureus Sortase A, wherein the amino acid sequence of the sortase comprises two or more mutations selected from the group consisting of P94S, P94R, E106G, F122Y, K154R, D160N, D165A, G174S, K190E, and K196T is reported. The same evolved sortase is used in WO 2014/70865 and WO 2015/42393.
Chen, I., et al. report a general strategy for the evolution of bond-forming enzymes using yeast display (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108 (2011) 11399-11404).


Carbon fiber reinforced carbon composite rotary, sleeve, and disc valves for internal combustion engines and the like are disclosed. The valves are formed from knitted or braided or warp-locked carbon fiber shapes. Also disclosed are valves fabricated from woven carbon fibers and from molded carbon matrix material. The valves of the present invention with their very low coefficient of thermal expansion and excellent thermal and self-lubrication properties, do not present the sealing and lubrication problems that have prevented rotary, sleeve, and disc valves from operating efficiently and reliably in the past. Also disclosed are a sealing tang to further improve sealing capabilities and anti-oxidation treatments.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to rotary, sleeve and disc valves made of carbon fiber reinforced carbon composite materials, for use in internal combustion engines and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current internal combustion, 4-cycle engines use metal poppet valves. While 2-cycle engines still use reed, disc, and rotary valves, stricter air pollution standards are causing manufacturers to turn to poppet valves even for these engines. Most poppet valves are cast, forged, or machined from billets of metal. These valves are inherently heavy and have poor structural properties at higher temperatures. By design, poppet valves must reciprocate: starting from a full stop and accelerating to very high speeds, only to be brought to a stop again and reaccelerated and brought again to a stop at the place it started. Due to their significant mass, metallic valves develop substantial inertia as engine speed (revolutions per minute or "RPM") increases. Almost all production poppet valves are restrained by metallic springs. However, as RPM increases, the spring's ability accurately to restrain the poppet valve's travel is overwhelmed by the valve's inertia and it "floats". This tendency to float inhibits the engine's ability to reach higher RPM, where more power can be produced more efficiently.
Over the years, many poppet valves have been designed to control valve motion, even at high RPM. Ducati Mechanic, Spa., the Italian manufacturer of road and racing motorcycles, uses a fully mechanical poppet valve opening and closing, "desmodromic" system. The efficacy of this design has never been conclusively established and it is an extremely expensive system to manufacture and maintain. Electrically operated poppet valves are currently being tested, but they have not yet been shown successfully to operate at even moderately high RPMs. International Formula 1 racing teams have in recent years employed pneumatic springs to overcome the limitations of metal springs. It is not clear when or if these designs will be put into production engines, but it will be recognized that these systems do not avoid the basic problem: poppet valves must reciprocate.
In production engines, the tendency of poppet valves to float is compensated for by the use of increasingly stiff springs. However, increasing spring stiffness also increases the work the engine must perform just to open the valves, and this in turn results in significant power drain. Moreover, poppet valve systems are major contributors to the overall noise produced by an engine. Stiffer springs tend to result in noisier valve trains. More efficient and powerful and quiet engines could be designed if a satisfactory alternative to the poppet valve could be found.
Another inherent problem with poppet valves is the fact that they stand directly in the path of the intake and exhaust charges they are meant to admit and discharge. Over the years almost every variation in combustion chamber shape, valve position, and manifold design has been tried to maximize the amount of charged fuel that can flow past a poppet valve into the chamber. The current trend has been to give the intake charge (and, to a lesser extent, the exhaust charge as well) as straight a path as possible into the combustion chamber. Nevertheless, the poppet valve still stands in the way. The ability of an engine to admit a charge efficiently could be significantly improved if an unblocked path into the combustion chamber could be designed.
Another inherent problem with metallic poppet valves is that they quickly lose strength as temperatures increase. Low cost, commodity steel poppet valves used in the overwhelming majority of combustion engines are limited to exhaust gas temperatures in the 1500 to 1750 degree Fahrenheit range. Combustion efficiencies could be improved and undesirable emissions reduced if exhaust gas temperatures could be raised beyond this level.
Over the years engineers have proposed the use of rotary, sleeve, and disc valves to overcome the inherent limitations of the poppet valve. The basic design of these valves is to rotate a valve body to expose and close intake and exhaust ports. In this way, the need to reciprocate a poppet valve is avoided. There are three very general designs of rotary valves: cylindrical, sleeve, and disc. One type of cylindrical rotary valve is open at each end and separated inside by a wall, creating two chambers, each ported to the combustion chamber through windows in the side of the cylinder. Another type of cylindrical rotary valve is substantially solid and has in its sides one or more recesses that expose the combustion chamber to a manifold. These two types of cylindrical rotary valves have axes of rotation that are perpendicular to the cylinder. Another type of rotary valve has its axis of rotation parallel to the cylinder. One such type is in the general shape of a cone, the base of which is exposed to the combustion chamber. A port from the base and through the side of the cone permits gases to be admitted or expelled. The sleeve valve is in the shape of a cylinder and also acts as the cylinder in which the piston reciprocates. The sleeve valve rotates, and in some cases also reciprocates, exposing ports. The disc valve can operate in substantially the same manner as the cone-shaped rotary valve, or it can operate at different positions, such as at the side of the cylinder, as is the general practice with 2-cycle disc valves. Rotary valves in 4-cycle engines have never seen volume production. Sleeve valves have been used in production aero engines, but have never gained wide favor.
The principal of these valve designs is that the rotary valve and the surface it rides in must be very closely mated in order adequately to seal the combustion chamber, but as engine temperatures rise the different expansion rates of these metallic parts leads either to sealing problems, if the parts are not close enough, or to seizure, if they are too close. An additional defect of these designs is that they are difficult to lubricate and when they are adequately lubricated they tend to admit lubricating oil into the combustion chamber, leading to undesirable emissions. Moreover, if a metallic rotary valve is used to discharge exhaust gases it will tend to become extremely hot and difficult to lubricate.
The present invention overcomes the traditional problems associated with rotary, sleeve, and disc valves by constructing them of a carbon fiber reinforced carbon composite ("CFRCC") material, as more fully described below.

Carbon fiber reinforced carbon composite rotary valves for internal combustion engines

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


According to an aspect, a method includes searching for a correlated log identifier in a correlation database based on detecting a metrics-based anomaly. The method also includes providing, in a problem diagnosis, related log information associated with the correlated log identifier based on locating one or more log entries including the correlated log identifier in a same time window as the metrics-based anomaly. The method further includes searching for a correlated metric in the correlation database based on detecting a log-based anomaly and providing, in the problem diagnosis, related metric information associated with the correlated metric based on locating one or more metrics records including the correlated metric in the same time window as the log-based anomaly.

The present invention generally relates to computer systems, and more specifically, to computer systems, computer-implemented methods, and computer program products for correlation-based multi-source problem diagnosis.
In computing, different types of logs can be generated during system operation to record various events. The logs typically contain text data and may also include numeric data. Computer systems may also have various performance monitors that track resource utilization, such as memory, disk, processor, thread count, and other such metrics. Metric data may be packed into records, where record fields can be of various data types, sizes, and offset locations. Where metric data is packed or encoded as binary values, it may not be readily interpreted directly by computer system users. Metric data can be precise but is typically generalized numeric information. Log data and metric data can be generated at different time scales and separately managed through different system monitoring and reporting tools. Further, log data can include a large amount of text covering a wide variety of events, making it a "noisy" data source.

Correlation-based multi-source problem diagnosis


A method of cryogenically treating psoriatic lesions. In accordance with the present method, a cryogenic agent is applied by the spray technique to the surface of a psoriatic lesion for a period of time sufficient to "frost" the psoriatic lesion with the duration stopping short of the time necessary to cause formation of a fluid bullae or sloughing off of the affected tissue.

Psoriasis is a common cutaneous disease, affecting approximately two percent of the U.S. population. Classic plaque like psoriasis is the most common form of the disease which most typically manifests itself in erythematous lesions with silvery scales on the elbows, knees, sacrum, buttocks and scalp. The degree of physical and psychological disability ranges from slight to devastating. And, while there are a number of treatments, including topical medications, phototherapy and internal medications, the literature states that psoriasis is incurable. See Stiller, M. J., A Management Update on Psoriasis, Hospital Medicine, January 1994, pp. 28-35.
In the art of treating certain types of skin lesions, warts, pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions, cryotherapy is a known treatment modality. However, cryotherapy has not previously been reported as a psoriasis treatment. Two main techniques for cryosurgery are reported in the literature. Namely, a spray technique (ST) in which cryogen is applied directly onto the target site and a cryoprobe technique (CP) in which the surface of a probe, (that has been previously cooled by the cryogen), is applied to the target site instead of the actual cryogen. The objective of state of the art cryogenic therapy is destruction of the tissue. This destruction is the result of freezing of the tissue and transformation of water within the tissue into biologically inert ice crystals. This leads to cessation of circulation in the tissues with intra- and extra-cellular biochemical, anatomical and physiological sequel the end of which is tissue anoxemia and ischemic necrosis. It is known that, as a result of this freezing, a bullae of fluid develops in the areas treated. Subsequently, the damaged tissue on top of the bullae separates and sloughs off and the new skin below the fluid becomes the new surface. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,475, issued to A. H. A. G. Weshahy on Feb. 7, 1989, a novel probe for applying intralesional cryotherapy with the CP technique and a method for using the same is described. Further, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,028, issued to W. J. B. Swart on Sep. 12, 1989, discloses a device for carrying out cryotherapy. Further patents for treating skin conditions include U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,733, issued to J. S. Han on Mar. 30, 1976, for a moxibustion apparatus and U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,135, issued to S. E. Blum on Nov. 15, 1988, for far ultraviolet surgical and dental procedures. What has been missing from the art is a method of cryogenically treating psoriasis, without causing tissue anoxemia and ischemic necrosis of the tissues below the lesion, and which substantially reduces the chance of recurrence of the psoriatic lesion in the same location.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of cryogenically treating psoriatic lesions.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of cryogenically treating psoriatic lesions which does not result in destruction of the underlying tissue layer.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method of cryogenically treating psoriasis which substantially decreases the chance of recurrence of the psoriatic lesion in the same localized area of a patient's body.
Other objects and advantages over the prior art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description as follows.

Method for cryogenically treating psoriasis with liquid nitrogen or liquid nitrous oxide


Pipe sections and methods for forming pipe sections are disclosed. A pipe section includes a hollow body, the hollow body having an inner surface and an outer surface, the inner surface defining an interior. The pipe section further includes a barrier layer surrounding the hollow body, the barrier layer having an inner surface and an outer surface. The barrier layer is formed from a polyarylene sulfide composition. The polyarylene sulfide composition includes a polyarylene sulfide and a crosslinked impact modifier. Such pipe sections exhibit high strength characteristics and flexibility as well as resistance to degradation, even in extreme temperature environments, while maintaining desirable processing characteristics.

Multi-layer pipe assemblies are commonly utilized to convey oil, gas, and/or other suitable fluids. In particular, such pipe assemblies are employed in the oil and gas industry, such as in subsea applications as well as in oil and gas production fields. In on-shore or subsea applications, for, example, multi-layer pipes may be utilized in risers, transfer lines, umbilicals and/or other suitable pipe assemblies. In production field applications, multi-layer pipes may be utilized in risers, infield flow lines, export pipelines and/or other suitable pipe assemblies.
Multi-layer pipe assemblies, and the pipe sections thereof, typically include at least two layers; a hollow body or inner layer, and a barrier layer or outer layer generally surrounding the hollow body. Other layers may further be included generally surrounding the barrier layer. Various materials have been utilized to form each of these layers in an effort to improve various performance characteristics of the resulting pipe sections. Additionally, these layers have been bonded together or left unbonded, depending on the application and the desired performance of the pipe section. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,648 discloses a pipe section having a metal inner layer and an outer layer formed by particular shrinkable polymers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,083 discloses a pipe section having a metal inner layer and an outer layer formed by particular polymers. U.S. Pat. No. 8,210,212 discloses a pipe section having a metal inner layer and a polymer outer layer. U.S. Pat. No. 8,163,364 discloses a pipe section having a polymer layer and a film layer. U.S. Patent Application No. 2009/0301594 discloses a pipe section having a metal inner layer and an outer layer formed from a polyphenylene sulfide (PPS). U.S. Patent Application No. 2010/0326558 discloses a pipe section having an inner layer and a polymer outer layer. U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0041947 discloses a pipe section having a thermoplastic inner layer and a tape outer layer bonded to the inner layer. Japanese Patent No. 3021435 discloses a pipe section having a thermoplastic inner layer and a tape outer layer.
The materials utilized in such known pipe assemblies do not provide the characteristics required for many applications. For example, in many cases, pipe assemblies are undesirably heavy. Lightweight pipe assemblies formed using polymer materials such as those described above, however, may not exhibit both the flexibility and high strength and resistance properties required by, for example, oil and gas applications.
Polymer blends that exhibit flexibility in addition to high strength and resistance properties are of significant commercial interest. Such blends have been formed in the past by uniformly mixing an elastic component with a thermoplastic polyolefin such that the elastomer is intimately and uniformly dispersed as a discrete or co-continuous phase within a continuous phase of the polyolefin. Vulcanization of the composite crosslinks the components and provides improved temperature and chemical resistance to the composition. When vulcanization is carried out during combination of the various polymeric components it is termed dynamic vulcanization.
Polyarylene sulfides are high-performance polymers that may withstand high thermal, chemical, and mechanical stresses and are beneficially utilized in a wide variety of applications. Polyarylene sulfides have often been blended with other polymers to improve characteristics of the product composition. For example, elastomeric impact modifiers have been found beneficial for improvement of the physical properties of a polyarylene sulfide composition. Compositions including blends of polyarylene sulfides with impact modifying polymers have been considered for high performance, high temperature applications.
Unfortunately, elastomeric polymers generally considered useful for impact modification are not compatible with polyarylene sulfides and phase separation has been a problem in forming compositions of the two. Attempts have been made to improve the composition formation, for instance through the utilization of compatibilizers. However, even upon such modifications, compositions including polyarylene sulfides in combination with impact modifying polymers still fail to provide product performance as desired, particularly in applications that require both high heat and/or chemical resistance and high impact resistance.
Accordingly, improved pipe sections and assemblies formed from such pipe sections are desired in the art. In particular, pipe sections that utilize polyarylene sulfide compositions that exhibit high strength characteristics and flexibility as well as resistance to degradation, even in extreme temperature environments, while maintaining desirable processing characteristics, would be advantageous.

Pipe section having polyarylene sulfide composition barrier layer


A method for detecting in real time the growth of a hydraulic fracture in an impermeable subterranean zone separating a monitored subterranean zone and an injection subterranean zone, which zones are penetrated by a wellbore, whereby a pressure sensor is positioned in pressure sensing communication with the first subterranean zone, and the pressure sensor is monitored for a pressure increase in the first subterranean zone, the pressure increase being indicative of a hydraulic fracture extension from the second subterranean zone through the impermeable zone to the first subterranean zone.

Subterranean, geologic formations may include permeable strata or layers, such as sand, which are generally bounded on at least one side by an impermeable strata, such as shale. The permeable strata have the capacity for holding liquid and gaseous fluids which may flow through the strata within the bounds of the impermeable strata. In relatively shallow formations, permeable strata may comprise aquifers and sources of useful water. In relatively deep formations, permeable strata may comprise reservoirs of brine or hydrocarbons such as oil and natural gas.
A permeable subterranean formation bounded both above and below by impermeable strata may have the capacity to receive and hold fluids or slurries and, as such, be attractive as a repository for the permanent storage of hazardous waste materials, such as radioactive liquids or slurries, waste solids or sludges, or other toxic or undesirable liquids or gasses.
To remove hydrocarbons from, or to inject waste materials into, the subterranean formations, wells, such as oil wells, are formed which extend from a well head at the ground surface to the subterranean formations.
Whether fluids or slurries are removed from or injected into a permeable subterranean formation, it is often desirable to fracture the permeable formation to enhance the flow rate of fluids from, or into, the permeable formation. The fracture of the permeable formation is commonly achieved by injecting an incompressible fluid in a sufficient volume at a sufficient hydraulic pressure via the well into the permeable formation to cause the permeable formation to part, or fracture, under the transmitted stress.
In many instances, one or more upper permeable formations may be located above other lower permeable formations, with the permeable formations being separated by at least one impermeable formation. Commonly in such situations, the shallow or upper formation may be an aquifer and carry fresh water, useable as drinking water, and the deeper or lower formations may contain oil, gas, and/or brine, or may have the capacity to receive and hold waste materials. If one or more of the lower formations is fractured to inject wastes, the fracture must be controlled so that the fracture does not extend completely through the impermeable zone and permit hydrocarbons or waste materials to pass through from the lower formation to the upper formation. Such a fracture could result in a complete failure of the fracture treatment, contamination of the upper formation with the fracturing fluid and/or fluids from the lower formation, and, in the case of an oil or gas well, poor oil and/or gas production, the requirement of further remediation, or even abandonment of the producing zone. If waste material is to be injected into the lower zone, then a total fracture through the impermeable zone could pose serious and even illegal environmental hazards.
Conventionally, the upward growth of a fracture is monitored using temperature logs, tracer logs, or seismographs. Temperature logs and tracer logs, however, are generally unreliable and are used after-the-fact rather than in real time, thereby posing a potentially unacceptable hazard wherein hydrocarbons or waste products could leak into water that may be useable for human consumption. Seismographs are relatively expensive and require real-time data interpretation and display. There are thus many drawbacks associated with using conventional techniques for detecting the upward growth of a fracture.
Therefore, what is needed is a reliable, economical system and/or method for detecting, in real time, the upward growth of a hydraulic fracture.

System and method for detecting upward growth of a hydraulic subterranean fracture in real time


Output circuits that provide compatibility with various input and output voltage levels without sacrificing performance. A pull-up on an output terminal is gated by an internal node, and the invention encompasses various circuits and means for placing a data input signal on this internal node. One embodiment includes a level shifter on the data input path, while also providing an alternative path through the output circuit that bypasses the level shifter. When the input data value goes high, the alternative path quickly places an attenuated high value on the internal node. The level shifter then becomes active and raises the voltage on the internal node to the output power high level, ensuring that the output pull-up is completely off.

The invention relates to output buffers in integrated circuits (ICs). More particularly, the invention relates to a high-speed output buffer for an IC, the output buffer having the capability to interface with other circuits operating at various voltage levels including low voltage levels.
Integrated circuits (ICs) are growing denser and faster with every product generation. As ICs pack more and more circuitry into the same amount of silicon area and operate at higher and higher speeds, the power consumption increases rapidly. Increased power consumption is undesirable for several reasons. For example, high power consumption makes a device unsuitable for applications that run on battery power. In addition, high power consumption causes a device to give off large amounts of heat, which can be difficult and expensive to dissipate.
One method of lowering the power consumption of an IC is to decrease the operating voltage. Therefore, IC operating voltages have been steadily dropping over the years. Where once virtually all ICs operated at 5 volts, operating voltages of 3.3 volts and 2.5 volts are now common, and 1.8 volt ICs are also available. Because of this wide range of operating voltages, many ICs are designed to interface with other ICs operating at different voltage levels.
Another critical issue in today""s faster ICs is the speed at which data can be passed between different ICs. Output buffers on an IC must drive not only the capacitance of the input/output (I/O) pad, but also the capacitance of the bonding wire to the external bus, the bus wire itself, and the input buffers of the destination ICs. Therefore, the speed at which data can reliably be driven at the output pads is often the factor that determines the operating speed of an entire system.
Further, an electronic circuit operating at a lower voltage level (e.g., 1.8 volts), is inherently slower than the same electronic circuit operating at a higher voltage level (e.g., 3.3 volts or 5 volts). Hence, as operating voltages are lowered to reduce power consumption, output buffer speed becomes even more critical. Therefore, the xe2x80x9ccorexe2x80x9d (interior portion) of an IC often operates at a lower voltage level to reduce power consumption, while the I/O circuits of the IC operate at a higher voltage level to improve output performance.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an output circuit that can accept an input signal at one voltage level (e.g., a lower voltage level) and provide an output signal at another voltage level (e.g., a higher voltage level) while maintaining a high operating speed. It is further desirable for the output circuit to be compatible with input signals arriving at the pad at a higher voltage than the operating voltage of the output circuit.
The invention provides output circuits that provide compatibility with various input and output voltage levels without sacrificing performance. A pull-up on an output terminal is gated by an internal node, and the invention encompasses various means for quickly placing a data input signal on this internal node. One embodiment includes a level shifter on the data input path, while also providing an alternative path through the output circuit that bypasses the level shifter. For example, when the input data value goes high, the alternative path quickly places an attenuated high value on the internal node, then the level shifter becomes active and xe2x80x9cboostsxe2x80x9d the voltage on the internal node to the output power high level, ensuring that the output pull-up is completely off.
An output circuit according to a first embodiment of the invention includes a level shifter that adjusts the voltage level of a first data input signal to the voltage high level of the output circuit, and provides the adjusted signal on a level shifter output node. The output circuit also includes an output terminal (which can be connected to an output pad or an I/O pad), and a pull-up and pull-down on the output terminal. The output pull-down is gated by a second data input signal that can be separate from, related to, derived from, or the same signal as the first data input signal. In one embodiment, the first and second data input signals are derived from a common data input signal.
The output circuit of the first embodiment also includes an internal node that gates the pull-up on the output terminal. The speed of this output pull-up usually determines the operating speed of the output circuit. Hence, the invention encompasses various means for quickly placing the first data input signal on the internal node driving the output pull-up.
A first path through the output circuit routes the first data input signal through a non-inverting circuit (in one embodiment comprising an inverter and two N-channel transistors) that bypasses the level shifter and places the signal onto the internal node. The first path is fast, but does not pull the internal node rail-to-rail, i.e., the internal node is not pulled all the way to the power high voltage level VDDE. Thus, a second path is also provided.
The second path through the output circuit routes the first data input signal through the level shifter to the level shifter output node. The output circuit includes a pull-up on the internal node, e.g., an N-channel transistor gated by the output node of the level shifter. A pass transistor is also provided between the internal node and the level shifter output node, gated by the signal on the output terminal. These two devices ensure that the internal node functions rail-to-rail, and therefore turns the pull-up on the output terminal completely off.
Other embodiments of the invention include one or more of the following additional circuits: a configurable slew rate control circuit; an enable circuit that configurably disables the second path through the output circuit; a high voltage tolerance circuit; an N-well control circuit; and a ground bounce current reduction circuit. In one embodiment, the output circuit forms a portion of a programmable logic device (PLD), and a slew rate configuration signal is stored in a configuration memory cell of the PLD. In another embodiment, an enable signal is similarly stored.

High-speed output circuit with low voltage capability


A double wire GMAW welding apparatus having a wire spacing adjustable torch assembly is disclosed. The double wire torch assembly has a wire spacing adjusting mechanism, by means of wire spacing adjustment the torch assembly can be used for a non-synchronized metal transfer weld process. The wires remain parallel before, during, after wire spacing adjustment.

GMAW welding is a common industrial weld process because of its versatility, weld travel speed, and the relative ease of adapting the process to robotic automation. In single wire GMAW processes, a single continuous and consumable electrode wire and a shielding gas are fed through a welding torch.
To obtain higher welding speed, a double wire GMAW welding apparatus and process has also been developed, which employs two electrically isolated wire electrodes for combining two welding arcs in one weld pool. In such a double wire GMAW process, a welding torch is provided with two wire electrodes. Compared with the conventional single wire welding processes, the double wire GMAW process can obtain a substantial increase in welding speed. Therefore, the double wire GMAW process has been increasingly employed in industrial welding applications that require high productivity, performance, and deposit rate, such as tank construction, boiler engineering, vehicle manufacturing, automotive and railway constructions and shipbuilding, etc. Such a double wire GMAW welding is known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,155,330, 6,683,279, US Patent Publication Nos. 2006/0243704, 2007/0145028, and EP Patent No. 1294522.
The GMAW weld quality depends on many factors, conditions, and considerations, such as wire feeding, shielding gases, base materials and thickness of work pieces to be welded and metal transfer modes. Also, the dynamics of welding parameters are complex, and the establishment of a stable arc depends on a series of conditions involving welding current, power supply voltage, wire feed speed, torch traveling speed, distance between a contact tip and a work piece (hereinafter referred to as tip-to-work distance), and torch angle, in order to achieve a desired weld. The situation becomes more complex when two electrode wires are utilized in the double wire GMAW welding apparatus and process.
In use, because electric arc sizes vary in length and width with changes in the above parameters for variable welding requirements, these two electric arcs might get close to a point of interfering with each other as a result of the electromagnetic arc blow effect, which dramatically affects the process stability and spatter degree. This can make the process technically infeasible. It is therefore desirable to adjust the wire spacing with regard to a particular weld condition, in order to minimize the wire interference.
A synchronized pulsed welding method has recently been developed, which uses a pulsing current to melt the electrode wire and allow one small molten droplet to fall with each pulse. The pulse provides a stable arc and no spatter, since no short-circuit takes place. However, the necessity of utilizing complex arc pulsing conditions may limit the broad application of the double wire synchronized pulsed welding process, due to the extra requirement on the power sources capabilities. For example, it requires a special power source capable of providing current pulses with a frequency within a certain range, such as 30-400 pulses per second. Moreover, a controller is needed to synchronize the two arcs. As a result, there exists a need for a non-synchronized double wire welding process with the same capabilities as the synchronized pulsed-spray welding, such as the stable weld process, but without spatter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,330 discloses a double wire GMAW welding method and apparatus. The method involves two welding electrodes to be connected to a single power source for a welding process. The apparatus comprises an interchangeable elongated, electrically conductive welding wire guide member having a cylindrical body including a first and second wire, which are spaced from each other with the centerline distance between 4.7-9.4 mm by changing the angles of the contact tips.
US Patent Publication No. 2006/0243704 discloses a method and apparatus of welding using at least two consumable electrodes. When two wire electrodes are used, the first one is larger in diameter compared to the second and a common weld pool is produced. A changeable distance between 3-12 mm is disclosed, and this distance range is obtained by means of changing the tip-to-work distance of the two non-parallel electrodes. It is disadvantageous during the welding process in that the tip-to-work distance is an important variable, and that the tip-to-work distance is usually required to be kept within an optimal range for an eligible weld.
Although the above-mentioned double wire GMAW welding processes have been developed, there remains room for further improvement in the art.

Double wire GMAW welding torch assembly and process


An optical transceiver module configured for longwave optical transmission is disclosed. Significantly, the transceiver module utilizes components formerly used only for shortwave optical transmission, thereby reducing new component production and device complexity. In one embodiment, the transceiver module includes a transmitter optical subassembly including a laser capable of producing an optical signal. A consolidated laser driver/post amplifier including a first bias current source provides a bias current to the laser for producing the optical signal. A means for amplifying the bias current provided to the laser by the first bias current source is also included as a separate component from the laser driver/post amplifier. The means for amplifying in one embodiment is a field-effect transistor that is operably connected to the laser driver/post amplifier and configured to provide an additional bias current to the laser diode such that sufficient lasing operation of the laser is realized.

1. Technology Field
The present invention generally relates to optical transceiver modules. More particularly, the present invention relates to a low-cost optical transceiver module having simplified construction and electronic scheme for longwave optical signal transmission.
2. The Related Art
Optical transceivers are used to transmit and receive optical signals from an optical network and to enable electrical network components to interface with and communicate over optical networks. Many optical transceivers are modular and are designed in accordance with industry standards that define mechanical aspects of the transceivers, form factors, optical and electrical requirements, and other characteristics and requirements of the transceivers. For example the Small Form-Factor Module Multi-Source Agreement ("SFF MSA"), the Small Form-Factor Pluggable Module Multi-Source Agreement ("SFP MSA") and the 10 Gigabit Small Form Factor Pluggable Module Multi-Source Agreement ("XFP MSA") Revision 3.1 define such standards.
The basic optical components of conventional transceivers include a transmitter optical sub-assembly ("TOSA") and a receiver optical sub-assembly ("ROSA"). The TOSA receives electrical signals from a host device via circuitry of the transceiver module and generates a corresponding optical signal that is then transmitted to a remote node in an optical network. Conversely, the ROSA receives an incoming optical signal and outputs a corresponding electrical signal that can then be used or processed by the host device. Additionally, most transceivers include a rigid printed circuit board (PCB) containing, among other things, control circuitry for the TOSA and ROSA. Such control circuitry can include laser drivers and post amplifiers for conditioning the data signals handled by the TOSA and ROSA, respectively.
The TOSA and ROSA are each connected to the optical network via optical fibers that are capable of transmitting optical signals. Each optical fiber includes a connector that mates with a corresponding port defined in the respective TOSA or ROSA.
The TOSA includes a light source, such as a laser diode, that produces the optical signal transmitted via the optical fibers connected to the TOSA. The laser can be configured to transmit optical signals at one or more wavelengths. For instance, transceivers are often categorized as either "shortwave" ("SW") or "longwave" ("LW") transceivers, depending on the predominant wavelength emitted and/or received thereby. Examples of shortwave optical signal wavelengths transmitted by a transceiver are 780 or 850 nm; longwave transceivers can transmit optical signals having 1310 or 1550 nm wavelengths, for instance.
As the rates at which data is transmitted via communications networks rises and the cost of optical communication networks tightens, there exists an ever-increasing need to reduce costs involved in producing optical devices. One way this can be achieved is by increasing the interchangeability of components used to form optical devices, such as optical transceiver modules.
In particular, the ability to utilize common components, such as laser drivers and post amplifiers, in both longwave and shortwave transceivers represents a potentially significant savings that may be realized. Unfortunately, differences between longwave and shortwave transceiver designs often make interchangeability difficult, especially with regard to laser drivers, which often have distinct current and impedance requirements, depending on the wavelength of the optical signal to be transmitted.
As such, a need exists in the art by which optical devices, such as optical transceiver modules, can be configured such that selected components can be interchanged among different device types. In particular, it would be useful to provide the ability to utilize selected internal components, such as shortwave laser drivers, in longwave transceivers with a minimum of modification, thereby providing the ability to produce a low-cost longwave transceiver with minimum complexity.

Gigabit ethernet longwave optical transceiver module having amplified bias current


An oven, effectively and rapidly cooling a door by passing a sufficient quantity of cooling air through the door, is disclosed. The oven includes an outer case, an inner case, a door opening and closing the inner case, and a blower chamber having a cooling fan and provided at the upper side of the inner case. The door includes an inner plate and a frame to form an opened lower end. The frame has holes formed in the upper side to flowing air discharged by the cooling fan between the inner plate and an outer plate. A vent hole communicating with the blower chamber is provided in the upper end of the cooking chamber to pass hot air of the cooking chamber through the vent hole. Around the vent hole, a partition member is provided for preventing the hot air from being mixed with air discharged by cooling fan.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oven, and more particularly, to an oven for rapidly cooling a cooking chamber door.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, ovens are structured to heat a cooking chamber using electricity or gas to cook food placed in the cooking chamber. Since the cooking chamber of the oven is maintained at a high temperature when cooking food, a door for opening and closing the cooking chamber is also heated to a high temperature.
Thus, for safety, the oven should have a structure to cool the door under a prescribed temperature. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,099 discloses a structure to cool a door using a cooling fan installed in an oven when cooking food.
In the conventional oven, ambient air flows in the door by the cooling fan installed at the upper side of the conventional oven to cool the door when cooking food.
However, since the cooling fan, in the conventional oven, forces ambient air from an upper side to a lower side of the door through a nozzle, ambient air does not flow uniformly over the entire surface of the door. Thus, the door cannot be efficiently and rapidly cooled.
Moreover, since the conventional oven does not have a structure for separating hot air generated while cooking food in the cooking chamber from cooling air and discharging the hot air, it is difficult to devise a structure capable of reducing the door temperature.


A closet organizer includes a shelf that has horizontal partition panels fixedly connected between two vertical side panels thereof to divide the internal space of the shelf into multiple vertically spaced receiving spaces, and -shaped, -shaped and L-shaped partition members selectively mounted in the receiving spaces to divide each receiving space into multiple compartments, and hook and loop materials respectively provided at the top and bottom sides of the horizontal partition panels and the -shaped, -shaped and L-shaped partition members for enabling the -shaped, -shaped and L-shaped partition members to be detachably secured to the two vertical side panels horizontal partition panels of the shelf.

(a) Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to organizers and more particularly, to a closet organizer, which has partition members mounted therein to divide the holding space into multiple compartments and, which can be directly collapsed without moving the internal partition members.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
For making efficient use of limited home space, close organizers may be hung in a wardrobe or on a door panel to keep different items. A collapsible closet organizer normally comprises two vertical side panels made of a flexible sheet material, a vertical back panel connected between the two vertical side panels at the back side, and a plurality of horizontal partition panels connected between the two vertical side panels at different elevations and dividing the holding space of the closet organizer into multiple vertically spaced receiving spaces. Further, partition boards may be inserted into the receiving spaces to divide each receiving space into multiple compartments. The partition boards are hardboards made of plastics, wood, metal, or any of a variety of other hard materials. If the closet organizer is not in use and to be received in a storage space, it cannot be directly collapsed. When directly collapsing the closet organizer, the partition boards will hinder the collapsing operation. Therefore, the user must take the partition boards out of the closet organizer when wishing to collapse the closet organizer.