Non-ozone depleting sterilant compositions made of ethylene oxide and 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-heptafluoropropane. These compositions provide good sterilization characteristics, and are compatible with contemporary environmental concerns.. One preferred aspect of the invention is a sterilant mixture comprising from about 20 mole percent to about 35 mole percent ethylene oxide and from about 65 mole percent to about 80 mole percent HFC-227ea. Compositions comprising from about 25 mole percent to about 30 mole percent ethylene oxide and from about 70 mole percent to about 75 mole percent HFC-227ea are preferred, with a composition comprising about 27 mole percent ethylene oxide and about 73 mole percent HFC-227ea being most preferred.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to sterilization mixtures, and more particularly to sterilization mixtures comprised of ethylene oxide and 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-heptafluoropropane.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sterilization technology is employed in a wide range of industries and because of this widespread use a variety of sterilization techniques have been developed. One common method of sterilization is dry-heat sterilization, in which the items to be sterilized are heated to a temperature of about 160.degree. C. to 170.degree. C. for several hours. Specific exposures are dictated by the bioburden presented, with higher temperatures requiring less exposure time.
A second common sterilization method is steam sterilization in which a moist heat is applied. Steam sterilization at 100.degree. C. and atmospheric pressure is generally not effective, so elevated temperatures and/or pressures are used. Appropriate temperatures range from about 115.degree. C. to 125.degree. C. or more; pressures range from atmospheric to about 100 psi. The process is most commonly carried out in autoclaves using both elevated pressures and saturated steam.
Although the dry-heat and steam sterilization methods are broadly applicable, certain articles, and particularly those employed in the medical and aerospace industries, cannot withstand the high temperatures of dry-heat sterilization or the moisture of steam sterilization. To sterilize these articles a variety of gaseous sterilants have been developed. These gaseous sterilants typically function at relatively low temperatures and normally comprise anhydrous compositions.
Ethylene oxide is widely employed as the sterilizing agent in sterilization compositions due to its overall effectiveness in that regard. The use of ethylene oxide however is known to have both advantages and disadvantages. One advantage of ethylene oxide is the volatility of its residues. Because ethylene oxide residues volatilize quickly they are less likely to be absorbed by or adsorbed to the articles being sterilized.
One disadvantage of using ethylene oxide in sterilant compositions is its flammability. This flammability requires ethylene oxide to be employed in a carefully controlled manner or to be combined with a fire retardant material. In practice, ethylene oxide is generally not used alone for sterilization. Most often, ethylene oxide is employed in admixture with a fire suppression agent such as carbon dioxide or a fluorocarbon gas.
Over the past several decades, the most commonly employed fire suppression agent for ethylene oxide-based sterilizations mixtures has been the chlorofluorocarbon dichlorodifluoromethane (CFC-12). For example, one commonly employed sterilant mixture comprises 27.3 mole percent (12 weight percent) ethylene oxide and 72.7 mole percent (88 weight percent) CFC-12 and is commonly referred to as 12-88 in the industry. Similar CFC-containing sterilants are also known.
Recent studies have suggested that chlorine-containing compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons release chlorine atoms to the stratosphere and may be at least partially responsible for the observed deterioration of the earth's protective ozone layer. Accordingly, the production and use of chlorofluorocarbons, including CFC-12, is being severely restricted and may eventually be banned entirely. Thus, fire suppression agents for ethylene oxide-based sterilizations mixtures that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons are desired for their compatibility with current environmental concerns.
Carbon dioxide has been proposed as one non-CFC-containing diluent for ethylene oxide. Because of its poor inerting characteristics however, a nonflammable mixture of carbon dioxide and ethylene oxide contains less than 40 percent of ethylene oxide per unit volume. As pointed out by Chippett et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,484, sterilization must therefore be carried out either at higher pressures or for longer contact times.
A further problem associated with the use of carbon dioxide arises from the large difference in boiling points between it and ethylene oxide. This leads to fractionation of the mixture upon withdrawal from the storage tank, and increases the danger of delivering a sterilant mixture rich in either carbon dioxide or ethylene oxide. If the mixture is rich in carbon dioxide it will have poor sterilization characteristics. If it is rich in ethylene oxide it may be explosive.
A need therefore exists for ethylene oxide-based sterilization agents that are safe and effective to use and are environmentally acceptable. The present invention addresses that need.


In a frequency offset estimating device of a subscriber station of a communication system in which a plurality of sectors are allocated to a cell, the frequency offset estimating device extracts a preamble sequence from a downlink frame signal. The frequency offset estimating device estimates a phase offset of a sector to which the subscriber station belongs among the sectors by using the preamble sequence, and calculates the autocorrelation value for the respective signals of the preamble sequence. The frequency offset estimating device compensates the autocorrelation value by using the phase offset, and estimates a frequency offset from the sum of the phase offset compensated autocorrelation values.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and device for estimating a frequency offset in a communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and device for estimating a frequency offset in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (OFDMA) system.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In a communication system using a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers such as the OFDMA system, interference between adjacent subcarriers are increased to substantially increase the bit error rate when the orthogonality is not maintained. The orthogonality in a downlink may be lost by the frequency offset that is generated when the frequencies between the carriers of a base station and a subscriber station are not synchronized. Therefore, methods for estimating the frequency offset have been proposed in order to compensate for the frequency offset.
One frequency offset estimating method is to use the characteristic in which a preamble is repeated in the time domain. The above-noted method is to estimate a start point by searching an interval in which preambles are repeated, correlate the repeated preambles, calculate a phase value, and estimate a frequency offset. However, the method is not applicable to the system that uses subcarriers having preambles that are used to identify cells and sectors and are different for respective sectors and that uses different codes. For example, an application of the above-noted method to the IEEE 802.16e based system may generate frequency offset estimation errors.

Apparatus and method for estimating frequency offset

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A new and improved contact terminal for modular, telephone-style plugs. An elongated opening is provided in the central portion of the contact terminal for reducing capacitive coupling between contacts, resulting in better cross-talk isolation. Two parallel signal paths are also provided thereby, reducing signal reflections and improving the VSWR. A substantial savings in gold-plating is also provided by reducing the surface area of the contact terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical connectors and, more particularly, is directed towards a contact terminal for use in combination with a modular telephone-style plug.
2. Description of Related Art
Telephone-style modular plugs and jacks are well-known. They are used quite extensively in the telephone and communications industries, and for general interconnect purposes.
The modular plugs of the prior art typically utilize a plurality of side-by-side, substantially planar contact terminals to terminate a corresponding plurality of insulated wires.
A typical prior art contact terminal for such a modular plug is indicated generally by reference numeral 10 in FIG. 1. Contact terminal 10 (also referred to as a contact blade or contact pin) typically includes an upper body portion 11, a middle body portion 12 and a lower body portion 13. Each of the body portions 11, 12 and 13 include a central portion, located generally where the reference numerals 11, 12 and 13 are placed on FIG. 1. Typical contact terminals of the prior art are also described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,412,715 and 4,874,330, both of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference.
Still with reference to FIG. 1, the contact terminal 10 of the prior art is characterized by a pair of shoulders 14 and 16 which extend laterally from both sides of upper body portion 11. The purpose of shoulders 14 and 16 are to firmly seat the contact terminal 10 in a contact-receiving slot of the plug (not shown).
Upper body portion 11 also typically includes an upper, linear surface 18 for mating with a spring contact portion of the mating modular jack (not shown). Modular jacks which include conductors having spring contact portions are taught, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,717,217 and 4,738,638, the disclosures of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference.
It may be appreciated that middle body portion 12 has a reduced width compared with upper and lower body portions 11 and 13.
Extending downwardly from lower body portion 13 are typically a pair of insulation-piercing tangs 20 and 22 which are adapted to pierce the insulation of an insulated wire (not shown) placed in the modular plug. An arch 28 is formed between tangs 20 and 22.
Still with reference to the prior art contact terminal 10 of FIG. 1, extending laterally at the approximate junction between middle and lower body portions 12 and 13 are a pair of teeth 24 which are designed to become embedded during installation in a terminal receiving slot (not shown) in the modular plug, all of which is very conventional. Teeth 24 therefore help maintain contact terminal 10 in place in the modular plug. An additional pair of teeth 26 are also provided in lower body portion 13.
Although the contact terminal 10 of the prior art generally functions quite well, as signal speeds increase on communication lines, the problem of unwanted cross-talk also increases. Data rates, for example, can go up to 50-200 mb per second. Cross-talk can be a significant problem at these data rates, and it would therefore be highly desirable if some mechanism were provided for minimizing such cross-talk.
In addition, it may be appreciated from FIG. 1 that the path of the signal from the input side (upper surface 18) down through the middle portion 12 and to the pair of tangs 20 and 22 is non-uniform. That is, the signal encounters a large mass at the upper body portion 11, a thinner but still substantial mass through the middle body portion 12, and splits at the arch 28 of lower body portion 13 into two portions finally being fed via tangs 20 and 22 into the insulated conductors (not shown) therebelow. Such non-uniform signal paths may contribute to undesirable reflections of the signal. It would be highly desirable if a way were found to reduce the likelihood of such undesirable reflections (thereby improving the VSWR) by providing a more uniform signal path.
Finally, the prior art contact terminal, although constructed of phosphor-bronze, must nevertheless be gold plated in order to provide sufficient reliability and contact integrity prior to installation in the plug. Since gold is a very expensive material, it would be highly desirable to provide ways for minimizing the quantity required.


An improved automated immunoassay analyzer including a high throughput automated immunoassay system which can perform high volume testing on a broad range of analytes while selecting from among a diverse set of immunoassays for any given sample. The immunoanalyzer has the capacity to perform a wide range of different types of immunoassays by facile storage and automated combination aboard the instrument among a wide variety of different types of reagents and heterogenous immunoassay beads stored on-board the instrument. The automated design allows reduced user interface (e.g., tests are performed automatically from computer input) including the ability to order, perform and reassay tests reflexively based on test results without operator intervention. Further, the inventive analyzer is not sample tube specific; that is, an instrument that can accept sample tube sizes within a broad size range. The inventive automated immunoassay analyzer also provides a re-useable sample dilution well, and a high speed bead washing station that eliminates the need for assay tubes having integral, waste fluid collection chambers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally relates to an automated immunoassay analyzer and, more particularly, to a high throughput automated immunoassay analyzer which permits high volume assay of a broad range of analytes in bodily fluids.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An immunoassay is a well known laboratory method used to determine the amount of an analyte in a sample such as plasma or urine. It is based on the interaction of antibodies with antigens, and because of the degree of selectivity for the analyte (either antigen or antibody), an immunoassay can be used to quantitatively determine very low concentrations of drugs, hormones, polypeptides, or other analyte compounds found in a test sample. For many years, immunoassays were performed by hand by trained laboratory technicians.
More recently, many companies have begun producing automated immunoassay analyzers. Automating the immunoassay procedures can be onerous because of the large number of steps needed to be executed. For example, in a conventional scheme, a sample is mixed with a reagent and a solid support having a bound antigen or antibody, the sample is incubated such that the corresponding antigen or antibody in the sample and a labeled antigen or antibody provided in the reagent can be bound to the antigen or antibody on the solid support, then the solid support is thoroughly washed and the label (fluorescent, radioactive, chemiluminescent, or the like) is detected by an appropriate mechanism, and finally the analyte of interest (antigen or antibody) is quantified from the detected label.
Most of today's automated immunoassay analyzers are designed for "walk away" operation, where the technician loads sample containing tubes onto a carousel and presses a start button. Thereafter, the automated immunoassay analyzer mixes appropriate reagents (often stored aboard the analyzer) with the sample, performs incubating and washing operations, detects the label, and computes the quantity of analyte in the sample from the detected label and stored calibration curves. The entire operation is typically done under computer control, and in some automated immunoassay analyzers, bar coding is used to identify the sample under test. The results of the immunoassays are typically output onto computer paper for inspection by the technician, or they can be monitored and displayed in real time as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,726 to Babson et al. The immunoassay instrument described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,726 employs assay tubes that are preloaded with the immunoassay beads before the tubes are placed on the instrument.
Another automated immunoassay instrument is described in a trade brochure published by Olympus (Biomedical Products Division), Wendenstrasse 14-16, 2 Hamburg 1, Germany, describing an automated enzyme immunoassay analyzer under model no. "PK310", which is a sequential batch-processing system using a reaction disc containing U-shaped reaction tubes. A bead storage unit is included on-board the instrument for loading of assay tubes on the instrument comprising a plurality of bead cassettes mounted on a carousel. Each bead cassette stores a plurality of solid support beads as a column on a spiral track, where the beads exit the bottom of the spiral track into an open-air holding receptacle adjoining the outside of the base of the bead pack. The dispensed beads are picked up by a vacuum-operated bead transport for feeding into a U-shaped reaction tube.
With respect to hospital and clinical laboratories performing large numbers of tests per month, e.g., at least 5,000 tests per month, immunoassay systems are demanded which can handle high volume LIS based test ordering while retaining the capability of accepting test orders and any prioritizations directly from an operator.


A thermal isolation layer is formed between the bit line (BL) layers or word line (WL) layers of the decks of a multi-deck phase-change cross-point memory to mitigate thermal problem disturb of memory cells that tends to increase as memory sizes are scaled smaller. Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein are suitable for, but are not limited to, solid-state memory arrays and solid-state drives.

Phase-change memory devices, such as memory devices utilizing a chalcogenide material, electrically heat the phase-change materials to a high temperature to induce material phase transitions. Changing the phase of a phase-change material involves applying a high-current bias that flows through a target memory cell and joule heating induces a phase-change transition, both from a crystalline state to an amorphous state (i.e., a higher temperature for shorter duration) and from an amorphous state to a crystalline state (i.e., a lower temperature, but longer duration to induce crystal growth). The heat generated in the target cell during a phase-change operation dissipates primarily through the metal bit lines and/or word lines coupled to the target cell, which causes an increase in the temperature of the surrounding cells. The thermally conducted heat can result in a thermal disturb in the neighboring cells. That is, the thermally conducted head can cause either retention loss for a neighboring cell in a RESET state or accelerated drift leading to a higher threshold voltage VT for a neighboring cell in a SET state.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and/or clarity of illustration, elements depicted in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. The scaling of the figures does not represent precise dimensions and/or dimensional ratios of the various elements depicted herein. Further, if considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding and/or analogous elements.

Thermal-disturb mitigation in dual-deck cross-point memories


A gas treatment device that treats a gas to be treated, including oxygen, introduced at a gas inlet and that exhausts a treated gas at a gas outlet, the gas treatment device includes:                a gas channel that communicates the gas inlet with the gas outlet;        a blower that allows the gas to be treated to flow from the gas inlet to the gas outlet;        an ultraviolet light source that is disposed in the gas channel and radiates ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 230 nm or less;        a filter that is disposed at a side at which the gas outlet is located from the ultraviolet light source in the gas channel, and that adsorbs at least ozone; and        a control unit that controls the blower to operate, wherein the control unit controls the blower to start a blowing operation after the ultraviolet light source starts radiating the ultraviolet light.

There have been concerns about gases that could affect the global environment and human bodies, and certain regulations have been established for exhaust gases from automobiles, factories, etc. Also, the emission regulations of VOC have been established in even indoor places where specific chemicals may be used, such as laboratory facilities and medical sites.
In recent years, there has been developing equipment for decomposing and treating VOC to comply with VOC emission regulations has been developed; in particular, a treatment device using ultraviolet light has been developed as one of its equipment. The Patent Document 1 below, for example, describes a gas treatment device that generates ozone by irradiating oxygen contained in the gas to be treated with ultraviolet rays having a specified wavelength band, and reacts VOC with the ozone for the treatment.

Gas treatment device and gas treatment method


A source driver apparatus configured to drive a display panel is provided. The source driver apparatus includes a data operation circuit and a pixel driving circuit. The data operation circuit is configured to receive pixel data and perform a polarity determination operation on the pixel data to determine a polarity distribution information of pixels on the display panel. The pixel driving circuit is coupled to the data operation circuit. The pixel driving circuit is configured to drive the display panel according to the pixel data and the polarity distribution information. Furthermore, a driving method of the display panel is also provided.

1. Field of the Application
The invention is directed to a driver apparatus of an electronic device and a driving method thereof, and more particularly, to a source driver apparatus of a display panel and a driving method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 illustrates a polarity distribution of pixels appeared in a dot inversion on a conventional display panel 10, and FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic waveform diagram of driving voltage outputted by each driving channel in FIG. 1 when being configured to drive the second pixel line. In this example, every pixel would cause a coupling effect to a common electrode voltage Vcom during charging and discharging, and as a result, different offsets are produced on the common electrode voltage Vcom. For instance, according to a polarity distribution of pixels in FIG. 1, an aggregated overall effect of the driving voltage outputted by each driving channel may cause the common electrode voltage Vcom to shift upward. When the offsets of the common electrode voltage Vcom are too large, the display panel may result in a poor screen display condition such as flashing or having crosstalk noise.
In order to improve the aforementioned poor screen display condition, the related art has developed driving methods having different types of dot inversions. FIG. 3 illustrates a polarity distribution of pixels appeared in an alternative dot inversion on a conventional display panel 20, and FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic waveform diagram of driving voltage outputted by each driving channel in FIG. 3 when being configured to drive the second pixel line. In this example, the pixels on the display panel 20 are appeared to be in a polarity distribution of horizontal-2-dot inversion. It can be known from the waveform of the driving voltage shown in FIG. 4 that, the coupling effect to the common electrode voltage Vcom caused by every pixel during charging and discharging would cancel each other out, so that the common electrode voltage Vcom would not be shifted, and thereby the condition of having poor screen display is improved.
However, in the related example of the horizontal-2-dot inversion, even though this type of driving method may improve the condition of having poor screen display, an effect thereof merely limited to reduce the offsets caused by a few display patterns to the common electrode voltage Vcom. In terms of some display patterns, the condition of having poor screen display is still unable to be improved by using the horizontal-2-dot inversion to drive the display panel.

Source driver apparatus and driving method of display panel


A teething device is provided which includes a fluid-filled membrane sized to be at least partially received in the mouth of a child, a housing attached to the fluid-filled membrane, a handle sized to be grasped by a child, a vibrator configured to impart vibration to the fluid-filled membrane and a pressure switch selectively connecting the vibrator to a power source when a threshold pressure is applied to an outer surface of the membrane.

Teething is the sequential appearance of baby teeth. Generally speaking, teething begins around age six months, and continues until the baby is about three years old. But in some healthy babies, the first tooth appears in the third month; in others, it doesn't emerge until the infant is a full year old. As a child begins teething, providing a soft article to chew on may provide some relief from discomfort, hasten the eruption of the teeth from the gumline and provide a distraction from the general discomfort associated with the teething process.


A processor (50) is connected to use information supplied by a SCSI controller (32) and a buffer manager (36) to dynamically determines a motion threshold and a reconnect threshold for a buffer memory (56) of a SCSI target device, such as a magnetic tape drive (30). The motion threshold is utilized in comparison with a buffer fill level pointer to determine when transport of the storage media (31) is to be restarted. The reconnect threshold is utilized in comparison with the buffer fill level pointer to determine when the target device can reconnect to the SCSI bus (20).

1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to operation of target devices which store information on a storage media and which are connected to a SCSI bus, and particularly to the setting of buffer thresholds for such target devices.
2. Related Art and Other Considerations
For decades magnetic tape has been employed as a medium for storing information. Devices known as tape drives, tape decks, or tape recorders perform input and output operations, e.g., reading and recording operations, by transducing information from and to the tape. Information to be stored on a tape is obtained from a host device such as a computer. The information is transmitted from the host over a special connection or bus to the tape drive. Internally the tape drive has a buffer memory for storing information obtained from the host which the drive is not quite ready to record on the tape. When the information is ready to be recorded, the information passes through a write channel of the tape drive to a head. The head has gaps or other appropriate elements thereon which form magnetic flux transitions on the tape in the recording operation.
A reading operation for a tape drive is essentially the reverse of the recording operation. In the reading operation, the head detects magnetic flux transitions on the tape to obtain a read signal, processes the read signal in read circuitry, stores information ascertained from the read circuitry in the buffer, and ultimately transmits the information to a utilization device, e.g., the host, over the bus which connects the host and the tape drive.
One form of bus and interface connection between the host and tape drives has been standardized and is known as SCSI. The SCSI includes a SCSI controller integrated circuit (IC) which is resident in the tape drive and which is used to facilitate communications over a multi-bit SCSI bus. The SCSI bus includes data lines, power lines, ground lines, sensor lines, signaling lines, and control lines. The protocol for the SCSI bus is mandated by ANSI Standard X3.131-199x. The SCSI bus carries command description blocks (CDBs), two of the CDBs being data transfer from the host to the drive (data out) and data transfer from the drive to the host (data in). The time required for a CDB includes not only the time in which data is transferred, but also a certain overhead time.
When reading or recording (e.g., writing) data, a tape device can operate either as a streaming or start/stop tape device, depending on the data transfer rate of the host system. In the streaming mode the tape drive transfers data continuously (to tape or to the host) without stopping tape motion. In the start/stop mode, if the host system fails to transfer data to the tape drive quickly enough, the tape drive stops and restarts tape motion to accommodate a slow host transfer rate.
As mentioned above, tape drives typically have a memory known as a data buffer placed between the host system's data stream and the tape drive's recording and reading channels. In a recording operation, the level of data obtained from the host and transferred into the buffer must exceed a "motion" threshold before the tape drive initiates recording (e.g., movement of the tape and output of data through the recording channel). Similarly, in the recording operation, if the buffer is filling to rapidly with data from the host, the tape drive must stop receiving data from the host until the level of data in the buffer falls below a "reconnect" threshold. Conversely, in a reading operation, if the host can accept data from the tape drive's buffer faster than the tape drive can fill the buffer with data from the tape, the tape drive disconnects from the SCSI bus until the tape drive has filled its buffer back up to a level equal to the reconnect threshold. If, in a read operation, the tape drive fills the buffer with data from the tape, the tape drive must stop the tape and wait for the host to accept enough data to empty the buffer to the motion threshold, so that the tape drive can again start movement of the tape. Proper settings of the motion threshold and reconnect threshold can make a data buffer appear much larger than it really is, but improper settings have exactly the opposite effect.
Calculations for determination of static motion and reconnect thresholds were proposed in connection with a particular tape drive, i.e., an 8 mm helical scan tape drive model EXB-8500 marketed by Exabyte Corporation, in a document entitled "Setting The Motion and Reconnect Thresholds". That document sought to provide a tape drive operator with an approach for a one-time determination of the motion and reconnect thresholds. According to this static approach, a constant effective transfer rate for the tape drive/host combination was determined. By comparison with standard motion and reconnect thresholds for a 500 Kbyte/second transfer rate, the operator was to use the calculated constant effective transfer rate to adjust the static motion and reconnect thresholds of his particular drive.
Determination of static motion and reconnect thresholds as described above involved numerous assumptions and, as mentioned, resulted from a calculation of a constant effective transfer rate. For example, an assumption would have to be made regarding the size of blocks and the number of blocks transferred per CDB. Moreover, it was assumed that command overhead was a constant (i.e., fifteen milliseconds per CDB). Not only were the assumptions static, but other complicating factors were not considered. For example, the effective transfer rate cannot be considered constant when the drive employs data compression and there are variations in data compression ratios. Moreover, a SCSI bus can connect more than one host and one tape drive. As many as eight devices--at least one host and at least one drive--can be connected to a SCSI bus. When the connections of hosts and drives to a SCSI bus are changing, the data transfer rate to a particular drive is radically affected. These factors render static determinations of motion and reconnect thresholds less reliable and unrealistic.
As understood from the foregoing, inaccurately set motion and reconnect thresholds increase the number of tape start and stop operations. Increases in the number of tape start and stop operations not only decreases the tape drive's overall throughput and efficiency, but also increases wear of the drive's mechanical components and of the tape.
According, what is needed, and an object of the present invention, is dynamic motion and reconnect threshold management for a tape drive.

System for dynamically determining motion and reconnect thresholds of a storage media based on the effective transfer rate


A method and apparatus is provided for the production of locally reinforced drawn parts, in which the basic sheet of the structural part, in the flat or only preformed state, is connected in a defined position to the reinforcing sheet and this patched composite sheet structure is subsequently jointly formed. In order to improve the production method in terms of the product and result of the method and to relieve the forming tools during joint forming of the parts, the patched composite sheet structure is heated before forming at least to about 800° C. to 850° C. The composite sheet structure is then introduced quickly in the hot state to be rapidly formed. During forming the composite part is fixed mechanically and is subsequently cooled in a defined manner by contacting with the forming tool positively cooled from inside. Passage through a critical temperature range of 800° C. to 500° C. thus takes place with a defined temperature gradient. The step of connecting the reinforcing sheet and the basic sheet can be readily integrated into the forming process by the parts being hard-soldered to one another, with the result that effective corrosion protection at the contact zone can be achieved at the same time.

This application claims the priority of German Patent Document 100 49 660.1, filed in Germany, Oct. 7, 2001, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for the production of locally reinforced sheet-metal mouldings. Preferred embodiments relate to such sheet-metal mouldings as structural parts of motor vehicle bodies. German Patent Document DE 43 07 563 A1 also relates to such structural parts.
With a view to saving weight on motor vehicle bodies, it is known to provide locally restricted reinforcing sheets at force application points in sheet-metal structural parts of bodies, so that the entire structural part does not have to be produced from a thick sheet. To increase the flexural resistance of hollow members formed from sheet-metal shells, reinforcing sheets can be integrated, on the inside or outside, on at least one of the sheet-metal shells, these reinforcing sheets extending over a relatively long region of the hollow member. For stiffening purposes, stiffening tubes of constant cross section have also already been embedded inside the hollow members, but, although approximately following the profile of the hollow member, do not completely fill the cross section of the latter, instead being connected via web plates or directly to the wall of the hollow member at specific points only. Structures of this type for increasing the rigidity of a hollow member have been provided, for example, on the center pillars of passenger car bodies for a side-on crash situation. It is usually advantageous, again for reasons of weight, at the joints or connection points, that is to say at the intersections of hollow members, to integrate a locally restricted reinforcement into the wall of the transverse hollow member.
Previously, the basic sheet and the reinforcing sheet were in each case deep-drawn separately and these part-workpieces were subsequently welded together to form a complete structural part, thus presupposing two separate drawing and forming operations, two separate sets of tools and a separate operation for the assembly of three-dimensionally shaped sheet-metal parts. All this is time-consuming and costly.
In the method, known from German Patent Document DE 43 07 563 A1, for the production of locally reinforced sheet-metal structural parts for motor vehicle bodies, a sheet billet forming the basic sheet of the structural part is connected locally, that is to say at a predetermined point, in the flat state to a smaller reinforcing sheet of preferably higher strength, and this largely planar composite sheet structure is subsequently jointly deep-drawn in a press. The reinforcing sheet may itself be partially preformed, for example be provided with stiffening beads. The reinforcing sheet is so designed in its contour profile and is so positioned on the basic-sheet billet that, after deep-drawing, the reinforcing sheet optimally fills the force application point. Depending on the application, the reinforcing sheet may have a higher strength than the basic sheet, for which purpose a greater wall thickness of the reinforcing sheet and/or a better material quality may be provided. Under some circumstances, a multi-layer design of the reinforcing sheet is also recommended, the plurality of layers preferably having an extent of differing size.
As techniques for the connection of the basic-sheet billet and the reinforcing sheet, German Patent Document DE 43 07 563 A1 refers, inter alia, to setting or pressing assembly (so-called clinching), this being considered particularly advantageous because this assembly technique can intrinsically be integrated into the forming operation or into the affixation of any fastening elements—punch-in nuts, punch-in bolts. In this case, under some circumstances, the reinforcing sheet merely needs to be placed in a defined position after the basic sheet in the forming press. In addition, welding connection techniques and adhesive bonding techniques are also mentioned, and, with regard to these connection techniques, it is stressed, inter alia, that they leave the surface of the structural part unaffected. It is plainly recognized in the publication mentioned that the mutual contact surfaces of the basic sheet and reinforcing sheet must be protected against corrosion, because subsequent vehicle painting or wax preservation of these surfaces cannot permanently protect against the ingress of moisture. It is therefore recommended to use sheets galvanized at least on one side for the basic sheet and the reinforcing sheet or, instead, to insert a protective film made of plastic or metal at the contact point. The corrosion-preventing action of any adhesive layer is also emphasized.
Admittedly, as compared with the procedure outlined above, with a separate forming of the basic part and the reinforcing part, the method known from German Patent Document DE 43 07 563 A1 is substantially more cost-effective because the deep-drawing operation is combined in a single uniform work cycle. However, disadvantages are, on the one hand, that very high forming forces are necessary for this purpose, particularly when the reinforcing sheet has a higher strength or even itself has a multi-layer design. This is manifested in correspondingly higher stress and therefore in a higher elastic deformation of the individual parts of the forming press, thus, in turn, leading to lower working accuracy and a shorter useful life of the forming tools and the press. It is true that the higher stress or the higher elastic deformation of the press parts can be compensated by a corresponding dimensioning of the latter, although this increases the costs of the press. However, the increased tool wear cannot be compensated and therefore likewise adds to the piece costs of the structural parts produced.
In the already known technique, assessed here, of the common forming of patched composite sheets, it must be remembered that the degrees of reinforcement capable of being achieved thereby are only limited, since the forming and drawing forces of the reinforcing sheet can be transmitted into the latter to a substantial extent only indirectly via the basic sheet and via the connection points between the basic sheet and the reinforcing sheet which are affixed peripherally to the reinforcing sheet. If, whether because of the higher material strength or because of the greater wall thickness or on account of both measures, the reinforcing sheet is substantially more resistant than the basic sheet, it cannot be formed in any desired way jointly with the basic sheet. If particularly high degrees of reinforcement are to be implemented locally, the basic sheet and the reinforcing sheet must in each case be formed separately and the two parts subsequently welded to one another to form a composite part.
Regardless of whether the reinforcing sheet is formed jointly with the basic sheet to form a structural part or whether, as mentioned in the introduction, the basic sheet and the reinforcing sheet are in each case formed separately and two mouldings are only subsequently assembled to form the structural part, it is particularly important, in view of the intended reduction in the wall thickness of the basic sheet for reasons of weight and the consequently likewise reduced corrosion reserve, to have effective corrosion protection at the contact point of the basic sheet and reinforcing sheet, to avoid the risk of a reduced useful life of the structural part. Effective corrosion protection at the contact point of the sheets by means of the method known from German Patent Document DE 43 07 563 A1 cannot be reliably ensured even by corrosion protection films being interposed. To be precise, an interposed corrosion protection film is destroyed locally by the punctiform connection points (clinches or spot welds) between the basic sheet and reinforcing sheet, so that moisture creeping in by capillary action may lead to corrosion precisely at the connection points and in time may pit the relatively thin basic sheet there. In spite of painting and wax preservation, the ingress of moisture to the contact surface between the basic sheet and the reinforcing sheet must be expected, even in the protected inner region of bodies, because of the formation of perspiration water and on account of capillary action.
On the basis of the above assessment of the known method according to German Patent Document DE 43 07 653 A1, the weak points of this method which are inherent in the system may be summarized as follows:    limited degrees of forming of the sheets jointly to be formed;    a high recovery behavior of the jointly formed sheets;    because of this recovery behavior, comparatively low dimensional accuracy of the structural parts;    due to the indirect transmission of forming forces into the reinforcing sheet, only limited degrees of reinforcement can be implemented at the reinforcing points;    high pressing forces during joint forming and therefore high investment costs;    high tool wear and therefore an increase in piece costs;    limited corrosion protection on the assembly surface.
DE 195 29 881 C1 discloses the production of a deep-drawn part from a sheet of hardenable spring steel, the spring steel being deep-drawn in the warm state of the sheet and, in the ready-formed state, being brought to spring steel hardness by subsequent heat treatment, although there is no mention of where and how this takes place. Heat treatment subsequent to deep-drawing entails the risk that the parts will warp and therefore be subject to a pronounced dimensional and/or shape-related spread. Apart from this, in the case of locally sharply varying stress on the components, the wall thickness must be designed for the point where stress is greatest, thus leading to an overdimensioning of the wall thickness at points where stress is relatively low. It would be conceivable, in theory, subsequently to reinforce this moulding locally by the welding-in of a reinforcing sheet. However, this would not be expedient since the hardness of the basic sheet and/or that of the reinforcing sheet would be lost locally at the welds. It would be appropriate, if the sheets involved had high strength, to rule out other connection techniques, such as soldering, adhesive bonding or clinching, because these connection techniques would not be feasible without the basic sheet and/or the hardened material structure being impaired (soldering, clinching) or because they would not afford the necessary strength (adhesive bonding). The connection points would have to have at least approximately the same strength as that of the hardened basic sheet, in order to achieve the desired reinforcing effect of the embedded sheet. The known method according to German Patent Document DE 195 29 881 C1 therefore has the following weak points, and reference may be made partially to the statements regarding the literature reference mentioned in the introduction:    only light-weight construction possible because of a uniform wall thickness;    no local reinforcements possible;    comparatively low dimensional accuracy of the structural parts because of the heat treatment.
An object of the invention is to improve the generic production method in terms of one or more of the following criteria:                With regard to the product of the method, to the effect that higher local degrees of reinforcement can be achieved in a unitary manufacturing step, in comparison with the basic sheet or with the unreinforced component.        As regards the result of the method, to the effect that a higher working accuracy of the mouldings than hitherto can be achieved.        As regards the means for carrying out the method, to the effect that the forming tools and the forming press are subject to lower stress than expected and, to that extent, a justifiable useful life can be expected.
This object is achieved according to certain preferred embodiments of the invention, by providing a method for the production of a three-dimensionally shaped structural part comprising a basic sheet and at least one smaller locally arranged reinforcing sheet, in which the basic sheet is connected in a flat state or in an incompletely formed preforming state, to a reinforcing sheet at the point predetermined for a subsequent reinforcing point, and the parts of the patched composite sheet structure are subsequently jointly formed by an openable and closeable forming tool in a forming press, wherein the patched composite sheet structure is heated before joint forming to a temperature which is above a forming temperature of the material, is formed in a hot state into a desired shape and is subsequently cooled in the forming tool, which is kept closed, or in a following fixing tool, with the desired forming state being fixed mechanically.
In accordance with preferred embodiments of the invention, the patched composite sheet is formed in the warm state into the desired shape and is cooled in a defined manner on the forming tool, with the forming state being maintained mechanically.
The invention affords a cost-effective way of obtaining a novel light-weight construction concept. To explain this, it may first be recalled that a low weight of a body co-determines essentially the performance (driving enjoyment) and fuel consumption (cost level) of the vehicle and is therefore directly to the customer's benefit. On the other hand, for reasons of high occupant safety, a vehicle body should be as rigid as possible in the region of the passenger cell, the effect of this tending towards a heavier body. These two contradictory requirements as regards weight are, moreover, in direct relation to the costs of the body. The costs, on the one hand, and the weight, on the other hand, tend to develop in opposition to one another; the lighter the design of the body is, the more costly it is, as a rule, to produce, whereas a body construction which exhausts the range of available light-weight construction measures to a lesser extent can be produced more cost-effectively. However, within this network of relations between the function, the costs and the weight of a body, the hot forming according to the invention of structural parts made of steel sets new boundary conditions which make light-weight construction possible at moderate cost, whilst at the same time increasing its functioning. The potentials and advantages of the production method according to the invention are summarized as follows.
A cost-effective light-weight construction becomes possible.
Materials with high and the highest possible strength can be used. The material strength capable of being achieved can be increased about three times, as compared with conventional maximum values.
Despite the use of high-strength materials, high degrees of forming can readily be implemented.
Any desired degrees of reinforcement of the basic sheet can be implemented within wide limits.
The conventional sheet-metal shell construction and the design and repair know-how connected with this can be maintained. The latter assumes great infrastructural importance.
In so far as reinforcements still become necessary, these can be integrated into one shell and into the production of the latter.
Due to the hot forming, the recovery behavior of the sheet-metal parts after the forming process is negligible, thus increasing the manufacturing accuracy. Low manufacturing tolerances can readily be implemented.
The outlay in terms of co-ordination between the forming tool and the structural parts is no higher, but instead lower than in the forming of simple sheet-metal parts.
The costs of plant and tool investments, of the machine hours necessary and of logistics and stockkeeping are reduced.
This list of advantages according to the invention contains some which constitute a synergetic excess with respect to a sum of advantages taken together from different sources of the prior art, specifically the following are to be particularly emphasized as synergetic advantages:                Despite the use of high-strength materials, high degrees of forming can readily be implemented.        Any desired degrees of reinforcement of the basic sheet can be implemented within wide limits.        Due to the hot forming, the recovery behavior of the sheet-metal parts after the forming process is negligible, thus increasing the manufacturing accuracy. Low manufacturing tolerances can readily be implemented.
So that the structural parts produced can be protected more effectively against corrosion in the contact region between the basic sheet and the reinforcing sheet, in an expedient embodiment of the invention the contact surface of at least one of the sheets is provided in a surface-covering manner with a hard solder before the reinforcing sheet is affixed to the basic sheet, advantageously both contact surfaces previously being cleaned. During the heating of the patched composite sheet structure to forming temperature, this preferably taking place in a protective-gas atmosphere of a furnace, the applied hard solder is melted. During the forming process, an intimate and pore-free soldered joint is produced by the sheet-metal parts being deformed and pressed together. The hard solder, which fills the contact zone in a surface-covering manner, later reliably prevents the ingress of moisture and affords highly effective corrosion protection. The hard solder is preferably applied with an excess which is expressed at the edge of the reinforcing sheet during forming. As a result of the soldering, the step of connecting the reinforcing sheet and the basic sheet is readily integrated into the forming process. It is merely necessary, for example by means of a single connection point placed after the application of the solder, but before heating, between the reinforcing sheet and the basic sheet, to ensure that, during handling, the reinforcing sheet and the basic sheet unequivocally maintain their mutual desired position and, for example, cannot slip out of place in relation to one another.
Further expedient embodiments of the invention may be gathered from the following description and the claims.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method and apparatus for the production of locally reinforced sheet-metal mouldings and products made thereby


A process and apparatus for producing a stabilized product from a pledget, including the steps of providing a pledget, a transfer member having an expandable portion, and a stabilization mold having an interior surface defining an interior cavity. The pledget is pushed into the mold by the transfer member so that the expandable portion is within the interior cavity of the mold. The pledget is compressed in the mold by the transfer member to form a compressed pledget. The expandable portion of the transfer member is expanded to form a seal with the interior surface of said mold. The compressed pledget is stabilized to form a stabilized product, while the compressed pledget is maintained in compression and the expandable portion of the transfer member remains expanded.

Compressed products may be formed under sustained high pressure during their production. Compressed products also may be exposed to thermal molding conditions when formed. An enclosed mold is frequently used, with a pushrod that mechanically loads a pledget into the mold and sustains its holding force during heat treatments used to stabilize the pledget. To accelerate the thermal setting of the pledget, which provides stability to the final compressed product, steam heating may be employed due to its rapid heating characteristics.
However, steam may compromise the quality of the product's surface finish, the surrounding production equipment, and other products if the steam is not sufficiently contained in the mold when the heat treatment is applied. One source of this difficulty is the pushrod used for loading the pledget into the mold. The pushrod, which closes one end of the mold when the product is stabilized, may not create a complete seal.
The pushrod should force the pledget fiber into the mold and through other various components of the production equipment without shearing or damaging the product, its associated components such as cords, the mold surface, or even the pushrod itself. The pushrod also should prevent steam leaks from escaping the molding area, which may allow condensation of water to contaminate the tampon or the surrounding equipment.
The present invention solves the above-identified problems by supplying a pushrod that serves the sealing functions, but without damaging the product or production components.

System and method for an expandable pushrod mold seal


The invention includes an apparatus for receiving an optical signal from an optical input means and directing the optical signal to one of a plurality of optical output means. The apparatus includes a solid signal propagating material having a refractive index greater than the refractive index of air. The solid signal propagating material includes a first transparent surface optically cooperating with the optical input and output means, a second transparent surface optically cooperating with a first light directing mechanism, and a reflective surface optically cooperating with the first light directing mechanism. A first reflecting component of the light directing mechanism directs a received optical signal to a second reflecting component of the light directing mechanism via the reflective surface of the signal propagating material. The second reflecting component of the light directing mechanism directs the respective incident optical signal to the selected one of the plurality of optical output means.

In general, optical cross-connect (OXC) switches are used in optical networking for routing guided light from input optical fibers to output optical fibers. In existing OXC switches, after leaving the input fiber and before entering the output fiber, a light beam propagates in a free-space region. The free-space region is typically air, a noble gas (e.g., argon), or vacuum. Since each of these selections exhibits an optical refractive index of approximately one, light beam divergence properties are dictated by this low optical refractive index.
Disadvantageously, the refractive components in existing OXC systems contribute to optical losses. For example, in optical cross-connect switches using micromirror arrays, each micromirror array is individually packaged with a transparent refractive lid which introduces an additional source of optical loss. Although existing OXC switches may employ anti-reflective coatings for reducing optical losses from refractive components, anti-reflective coatings cannot completely eliminate such optical losses for finite temporal and spatial bandwidth.
Furthermore, existing OXC systems operate in ambient environments susceptible to temperature and pressure variations affecting beam propagation properties. Similarly, existing OXC assemblies require use of opto-mechanical alignment apparatuses that are susceptible to creep, vibration, and temperature dependencies. Moreover, since components of existing OXC systems are typically coupled to metal housings, existing OXC systems may be structurally and mechanically unstable.

Apparatus for directing an optical signal from an input fiber to an output fiber within a high index host


A mounting device for mounting a microphone on a musical instrument includes a holder adapted to hold the microphone and having a rod, and a clamping unit. The clamping unit includes a seat mounted on the rod, a pair of spaced-apart first and second clamp arms which is adapted to clamp a peripheral edge of the musical instrument and which are converged to form a common connection part connected to the seat, a shaft extending through the first and second clamp arms and having one end portion extending outwardly of the first clamp arm, and a nut threadedly engaging the shaft to bias the first clamp arm toward the second clamp arm.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mounting device, more particularly to a mounting device for mounting a microphone on a musical instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a band of drummers perform, microphones are usually mounted on stands at a height similar to the drums so as to capture the sounds and amplify them to be heard by the audience or to facilitate recording of the music. The stands are placed at fixed points and at significant distances from the drums so as not to get in the way of the drummers. However, this results in the limited capturing of the sounds by the microphones. Furthermore, these fixed-point-mounted microphones are not suitable for use when the drummers, with the drums strapped on their bodies, have to move from one point to another.


An eliminating agent used for the measurement of the amount of glycosylated hemoglobins in a blood sample is provided. The eliminating agent comprises condensed phosphoric acids and/or the salts thereof as the main ingredient, wherein the agent eliminates labile glycosylated hemoglobin A.sub.1c into non-glycosylated hemoglobin and glucose. There is also provided a reagent comprising the eliminating agent and a hemolysis agent, which is used for the measurement of the amount of glycosylated hemoglobins; and an eluent comprising the eliminating agent, which is used for the separation of glycosylated hemoglobins in blood samples by ion-exchange chromatography to measure the amount of the glycosylated hemoglobins. A method for measuring the amount of glycosylated hemoglobin A.sub.1c in a blood sample involves the use of the eliminating agent, the reagent comprising the eliminating agent and the hemolysis agent, and/or the eluent.

One of the indices of medical treatment for diabetes mellitus that are known and currently being used is the amounts of glycosylated hemoglobins (i.e., hemoglobin A.sub.1), and the amount of hemoglobin A.sub.1c in particular. As is shown below in equation 1, hemoglobin A.sub.1c is a complex in which one molecule of glucose is bound non-enzymatically to the N-terminal amino acid, valine, of the .beta.-chain of hemoglobin (below, abbreviated Hb). When the glucose has been bound to the amino acid mentioned above, first, as shown below in the equation, labile HbA.sub.1c I, which is a Schiff base, is formed: ##STR1##
In the above equation 1, .beta.-A-NH.sub.2 represents Hb, and the NH.sub.2 here shows the amino group in the N-terminal amino acid, valine, of the .beta.-chain of the said Hb.
The reaction that produces this labile HbA.sub.1c I, is a reversible reaction, and depending on the glucose concentration, the equilibrium will tend to go either in the direction of the production of the labile HbA.sub.1c I, or else it will tend to go in the direction of its elimination. Compound I is converted irreversibly into the stable HbA.sub.1c II by the Amadori rearrangement.
HbA.sub.1c can be separated from other hemoglobins by means of high-performance liquid chromatography, and measured in terms of its optical density (OD), but it is not possible to separate the stable HbA.sub.1c (S-HbA.sub.1c) and the labile HbA.sub.1c (L-HbA.sub.1c) and to measure them separately. Therefore, it is not possible to obtain a reliable value of HbA.sub.1c. The reason is that the amount of L-HbA.sub.1c varies depending on the concentration of glucose (that is, the blood glucose) that is present, and the concentration of glucose in the blood changes rapidly and greatly, depending on meals and physical activity.
To solve the problems described above, attempts to eliminate L-HbA.sub.1c from blood samples and to measure the amount of S-HbA.sub.1c have been made. For example, in a paper by David M. Nathan et al. (Clinical Chemistry, 28, 512-515, 1982), semicarbazide and aniline are used as agents to eliminate the L-HbA.sub.1c, and it is disclosed that the blood sample is treated with these agents at 38.degree. C. for 30 minutes. The semicarbazide captures the glucose, and acts as a nucleophilic reagent as well, competing with the amino group of the Hb. The aniline acts as a catalyst. The result is that virtually all of the L-HbA.sub.1c is eliminated. However, because the reaction for the elimination of L-HbA.sub.1c is at an acidic pH (pH 5.0) and at a relatively high temperature (38.degree. C.) for a long period of time (30 minutes), some denaturation of the Hb (for example, elimination of the heme) may occur. For example, when the elution pattern for ion-exchange chromatography is examined, the height of the peak decreases owing to fading of color caused by the elimination of heme, and the peaks that correspond to HbA.sub.1a and HbA.sub.1b respectively are seen as being larger.
In Japanese Laid-Open Publication 58-210024, a dihydroxyboryl compound (i.e., a derivative of boric acid) that is as an agent for the elimination of L-HbA.sub.1c is disclosed. This dihydroxyboryl compound reacts with glucose to form a complex, the result of which is to cause the elimination of the L-HbA.sub.1c. However, to eliminate the L-HbA.sub.1c, high concentrations of the dihydroxyboryl compound are needed. For example, about 0.1-1.0 M of the said compound is needed for a sample that contains blood that has been hemolyzed. When the hemolyzed blood is put on the column with the use of an eluent that contains the said dihydroxyboryl compound, it is necessary to use the compound at the concentrations of 0.01-0.15 M in the eluent. When this kind of high concentration of dihydroxyboryl compound is used for the eluent for ion-exchange chromatography, an ionic strength of the eluent is different from that of ordinary eluents. The result is that because the separation conditions are changed, measurement can become difficult, or it is necessary to make changes in the measurement conditions. Furthermore, because the optimum pH for the formation of the complex mentioned above is about 4.5-6.5, and preferably 5.0-6.0, there is a danger that the Hb will be denaturated.
As another method for the elimination of L-HbA.sub.1c, there is a method in which the blood sample is diluted, thereby lowering the glucose concentration, resulting in an acceleration of elimination of L-HbA.sub.1c. When this method is employed practically, for example, erythrocytes are incubated in a large excess of physiological saline, or the hemolysate is dialyzed. However, all of these processes require a long period of time, and thus they are not appropriate methods for use in clinical testing.

Method of treating blood containing labile glycosylated hemoglobin A.sub.1C


The present application relates to recombinant microorganisms useful in the biosynthesis of monoethylene glycol (MEG) or glycolic acid (GA), or MEG and one or more co-product, from one or more pentose and/or hexose sugars. Also provided are methods of producing MEG (or GA), or MEG (or GA) and one or more co-product, from one or more pentose and/or hexose sugars using the recombinant microorganisms, as well as compositions comprising the recombinant microorganisms and/or the products MEG (or GA), or MEG and one or more co-product.

A large number of chemical compounds are currently derived from petrochemicals. Compounds such as monoethylene glycol (MEG), glycolic acid, acetone, isopropanol (IPA), propene, serine, glycine, monoethanolamine, and ethylenediamine are valuable as raw material in the production of products like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins (from MEG), plastic polypropylene (from propene), polyglycolic acid and other biocompatible copolymers (from glycolic acid) and polyurethane fibers (from ethylenediamine). Alkenes (such as ethylene, propylene, different butenes, and pentenes, for example) are used in the plastics industry, fuels, and in other areas of the chemical industry. For example, isobutene is a small, highly reactive molecule that is used extensively as a platform chemical to manufacture a wide variety of products including fuel additives, rubber and rubber additives, and specialty chemicals.
However, the compounds are currently produced from precursors that originate from fossil fuels, which contribute to climate change. To develop more environmentally friendly processes for the production of MEG, researchers have engineered microorganisms with biosynthetic pathways to produce MEG. However, these pathways are challenging to implement, with loss of product yield, redox balance and excess biomass formation being some major obstacles to overcome.
Thus there exists a need for improved biosynthesis pathways for the production of MEG and other chemical compounds useful in industrial and pharmaceutical applications.

Degradation pathway for pentose and hexose sugars


A combination desk accessory tray and picture and calendar display easel with a tray cover having a first tray cover position, a second display item loading and unloading position, and a third easel position.

Smith U.S. Pat. No. 377,335 shows an early office tray including a displayed calendar.
Ormond U.S. Pat. No. 1,641,600 shows a desk calendar and index tray combination with a folding cover for the tray.
Turan U.S. Pat. No. 2,443,645 shows a foldable blank for picture display in an easel form.
Woofter U.S. Pat. No. 2,892,275 shows a pocket-type calendar with a writing instrument positioned at the bottom of the calendar and having plural windows for the calendar and picture.
Hayhow U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,500 shows an easel mounted calendar of a foldable variety.
Rohloff U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,034 shows a pocket-type display device on a calendar.
Cross U.S. Pat. No. 548,118 shows a foldable easel display mount as does Cziraky U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,108.
Whang U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,128 shows a easel-type calendar.
Floss et al. publication US 2003/0163936 and Doss US 2003/0217487 show calendars with storage capabilities.
None of the earlier developments show a combination desk accessory tray and picture and calendar display easel with a tray cover foldable in one position and capable of being loaded and unloaded in another position with a third position for providing an easel having front and rear display windows.

Combination desk accessory and picture and calendar display easel


A semiconductor-device mounting structure includes a first semiconductor device and a plate-shaped second semiconductor device connected to the first semiconductor device. The first semiconductor device includes a flexible board, an electronic component, and a sealing resin. The flexible board includes a bendable flexible portion and a hard portion. The flexible portion is bent at a boundary with the hard portion, along a shape of the electronic component such that the flexible board covers the electronic component. The flexible board and the electronic component are sealed with the sealing resin. The first semiconductor device is provided vertical to the second semiconductor device such that the hard portion is provided parallel to the second semiconductor device, and a length of the hard portion in a direction perpendicular to a bend line of the flexible portion is equal to a thickness of a bottom surface of the electronic component in the direction.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to a mounting structure of a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
In recent years, medical and industrial endoscopes have been widely used. In an exemplary medical endoscope, an image pickup device such as a CCD is built in a distal end of a body insertion portion. Lesions can be observed by deeply inserting the insertion portion into the body, and testing and treatment of the body can be performed by using together with a treatment instrument as needed. In the endoscope, there is a need to achieve a small-sized distal hard portion in which a semiconductor device is built.
In order to achieve a compact semiconductor device, various methods of mounting electronic components have been proposed. For example, there is disclosed a semiconductor device where a flexible board has an electrode on one surface and an external electrode on the other surface. The flexible board is bent to cover a plurality of electronic components, and after an inner portion thereof is sealed with a resin, the flexible board is mounted so as to be parallel to a motherboard (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-077294).

Mounting structure of semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


Precooked dishes loaded in a refrigerated enclosure (4) of a transport cart (1) for their transport toward a place of consumption, are selectively restored in temperature. The refrigerated cooked dishes which must be restored in temperature are, before being loaded in a single enclosure (4), disposed with the dishes not requiring restoration of temperature, on a same tray (6) common to all the dishes constituting an individual meal. Each tray is disposed directly on a heating plate inside the single enclosure (4) of said refrigerated transport cart, and the restoration of temperature of only the first-mentioned dish or dishes is effected by heat transfer through a thermally conductive region of the common tray (6) underlying only the first-mentioned dish or dishes.

It is known that for groups, and particularly in hospitals, the preparation of meals has particular constraints, because the simultaneous distribution of hot dishes at a desired temperature and cold dishes under good microbiological conditions is impossible to effectuate. For a number of years, the problem of feeding a large group under good conditions has been dealt with by a so-called "cold connection" technique.
In this known technique, one prepares and one cooks foodstuffs in a production unit or a central kitchen; the cooked foods are cooled by passage through a quick refrigeration unit, in which the cooked foods pass from a hot condition corresponding to a temperature comprised between 65 and 72.degree. C., to a cold condition equal to or less than 3.degree. C.; the cooked cooled foodstuffs are stored in a cold chamber at a temperature corresponding to the prevailing standards and less than 3.degree. C. for a variable storage time comprised between 1 and 21 days; the cooked foodstuffs are distributed according to the individual dishes and they are placed in receptacles of the type of cups, plates or other containers; the individual dishes of cooked foodstuffs are loaded in a refrigerated transport cart; the transportation of the individual refrigerated dishes by the refrigerated transport cart takes place toward the place of consumption; certain of the cooked dishes are restored in temperature to cause them to reach a temperature comprised between 65 and 72.degree. C.; and then the dish restored in temperature is placed on a tray with the cold dishes, and the individual consumer is served a meal thus comprising on the same tray refrigerated cooked dishes and cooked dishes restored in temperature.
In a similar manner, there is also used a technique of so-called "frozen connection", comprising a cycle of steps analogous to those described above for the so-called "cold connection" technique; the essential difference between the two techniques is that the temperature of refrigeration and storage is about 3.degree. C. in the case of a "cold connection", whilst the temperature of freezing and storage is less than -18.degree. C. in the case of the "frozen connection", which permits the storage of frozen foodstuffs for a storage time substantially greater, of the order of several months.
To practice the so-called "cold connection" or "frozen connection" techniques, it is known to use refrigerated transport carts.
These carts usually comprise two compartments or enclosures insulated from each other, more particularly a first enclosure in which are disposed on lateral supports trays with dishes not requiring temperature restoration, such as hors-d'oeuvres or desserts, and a second enclosure provided with a stack of electric heating plates in which are disposed the cups containing the dishes requiring temperature restoration.
Each of these two enclosures is associated with refrigeration means such as an evaporator with a fan, and cold accumulation means such as a block containing a eutectic liquid. These cold accumulation means can be common to the two enclosures.
These carts thus permit the practice of a process comprising the refrigeration, storage, transportation, and reheating of dishes which must be restored in temperature, and finally the distribution of the trays to the consumers, after having deposited the hot dish on the corresponding tray.
The drawback of this process is that the hot dish must be withdrawn from the corresponding heating plate before being, after its restoration in temperature, placed on the tray, just before giving the latter to the consumer.
This process thus requires supplemental work by service personnel who are involved in the distribution to consumers.
This handling of the hot dishes carries with it moreover risks of accidents which can give rise to burns and mistakes in the association of a hot dish with the cold dishes located on a tray. In the context of a hospital, that can have serious consequences for the patient in question.

Process for restoring the temperature of precooked dishes, transportation and temperature restoration cart, and tray for precooked dishes


A printing system for printing multiple colors on a sheet of print media includes an electrophotographic printer having a photoconductor drum and a transfer roller configured to interact in co-rotation with the drum during transfer of a color image plane from the drum onto a sheet of print media passed therebetween. A paper drive sheet feeder system is included which has a grit shaft extending generally transverse of a paper travel path, a first pinch roller configured to interact in co-rotation with the grit shaft along a first edge of a sheet of print media, and a second pinch roller configured to interact in co-rotation with the grit shaft along a second edge of the sheet of print media. The grit shaft is driven in rotation to drive the sheet of print media along a bidirectional sheet travel path such that a plurality of different colored image planes is superposed onto the sheet of print media in accurate registration therebetween. A method for printing multiple colors is also described.

Color image printing systems are known in the art. One color image printing system comprises an inkjet printer. An inkjet printer prints color images incrementally, with a continuous inkjet printing process, piezoelectric inkjet printing process or bubble-jet printing process. However, these inkjet printing processes provide relatively low-cost printing that is often satisfactory for printing color graphics images, but is not necessarily of high enough quality for certain business applications.
Another color image printing system comprises a color laser, or electrophotographic, printer. Color laser printers generate sufficient text and graphics quality for most business applications. However, color laser printers typically require complex and expensive mechanisms when forming and aligning overlaid color frames. Hence, color laser printers are not sufficiently economical for many applications.
One problem encountered with color laser printers relates to registration of individual color image planes that generate a printed color page. Typically, three or four distinct color image planes are somehow imaged and transferred onto a common piece of paper in order to generate a color image. In some cases, a yellow, a magenta and a cyan color image plane are each imaged and transferred onto a common piece of paper. In other cases, a black, a yellow, a magenta and a cyan color image plane are each imaged and transferred. Irrespective of whether individual color image planes are serially or concurrently transferred onto a piece of paper, registration of individual color image planes is very important.
One type of color image printing system builds up four different colored image planes onto a well-controlled substrate before transferring the generated image onto a piece of paper. One exemplary printing system comprises a Hewlett-Packard Color LaserJet 5, manufactured by Hewlett-Packard Co. of Palo Alto, Calif. Such exemplary printing system builds up a color image onto a paper size photoconductor drum. The generated image comprises four distinct colors: yellow, magenta, cyan and black. Four developers are used to produce the four colors, with four distinct photoconductor drum rotations being needed to accumulate the four-color toner images.
Another exemplary printing system comprises a Tektronix Phaser 560, manufactured by Tektronix of Wilsonville, Oreg. Such exemplary printing system builds up a color image onto an intermediate transfer medium. However, the use of an intermediate transfer medium adds an additional processing step, which increases cost and complexity. Yet another type of color image printing system comprises a Xerox C55 color laser printer. Such laser printer fixes a sheet of paper onto a drum in order to achieve plane-to-plane registration of successively colored image planes.
Each of the above-mentioned printing systems increases the size of the printer or increases the complexity or cost of the printer. Therefore, there exists a need to provide a reduced cost and complexity technique for achieving a multiple pass color laser printer that realizes improved plane-to-plane registration usable with a wide range of media types.

Color printer with shuttle type paper drive and method


An assembly senses fluid pressure variations within a passageway along a length of a flowline. A fiber optic cable is disposed axially within the passageway of the flowline. The fiber optic cable experiences a mechanical strain responsive to variations in the fluid pressure of the fluid communicating through the passageway of the flowline along the length of the flowline. The assembly also includes an enhancing layer surrounding the fiber optic cable. The enhancing layer is more responsive to the fluid pressure of the fluid communicating through the passageway of the cable than the fiber optic cable, which enhances the responsiveness of the fiber optic cable to the pressure by magnifying the mechanical strain associated with the fiber optic cable within a particular region of varying fluid pressure. Strain associated with the cable is communicated through back-reflected light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for sensing hydrostatic pressure, in a distributed fashion, in hydrocarbon pipelines and wells. The invention is particularly concerned with the detection and localization of flow restrictions and blockages in hydrocarbon flowlines for flow assurance purposes.
2. Background of the Invention
As part of the overall process of oil extraction and processing, it becomes necessary to transport the fluids containing liquid hydrocarbons from their reservoirs to remote plants for chemical processing. This transport process is usually conducted and pipelines that can be anywhere from several hundred meters to various kilometers in length. Ensuring the safe, reliable and continuous transport of hydrocarbons through the pipelines is of vital importance to oil companies and hydrocarbon refineries. It is also equally important to properly measure the pressure, flow and composition of the produced fluid. However, the transport of liquid hydrocarbons is faced with serious problems such as the buildup of wax and scale in the pipe walls, internal pipe erosion and corrosion, formation of hydrates and asphaltenes, and several others.
It is well understood that fluid containing heavy hydrocarbons tend to precipitate and form waxy crude oils as they flow through pipelines. These paraffin precipitates deposit on the inner walls of pipes accumulating over time and forming a solid layer that narrows the passage of any liquid flow. In addition, other chemicals present such as sulfates, calcium carbonate, drilling fluids, and other scale precipitates, start depositing solid debris layers that further obstruct the fluid flow. Obviously, if one were to know the mechanisms of wax formation, it would be possible to predict the time at which a dramatic flow reduction would occur. This is in practice possible, but in order to make the analytical models accurate and effective, it is necessary to have accurate measurements of deposited wax thickness. This is not an easy task to perform on operational flowlines and most methods available are based on invasive or destructive techniques to arrive at the sought wax thickness value.
Ensuring pipeline safety and reliability, and the flow assurance of hydrocarbons are the main drivers for the development of new, on-line, monitoring techniques for the detection and localization of wax and hydrate build-ups and blockages in oil pipelines. Pipeline blockages have dramatic operational and economic consequences. For example, consider an oilfield with 8 wells, each producing 10,000 barrels of oil per day (B/d). The importance of operating at peak efficiency of transport within a pipeline is demonstrated by considering that a 5% increase in efficiency—for a pipeline transporting 80,000 B/d of crude—would result in an increase of 4,000 B/d in transported oil. This would translate to an annual revenue increase of $36 million, assuming $25/barrel. Furthermore, as oil production practices move to regions with deeper reservoirs and cold waters, these problems become more serious, and thus it becomes increasingly important to develop monitoring systems that alert operators when the conditions are critical for wax and paraffin formation to occur.
In general, there are two popular approaches to dealing with this problem: chemical injection and pigging. In the case of injection, chemical inhibitors are injected inside the pipeline to prevent the formation of, or dissolve any wax or hydrate build-up. Pigging consists in the mechanical removal of deposited wax and build-ups inside pipelines via a mechanical swab element commonly known as a "pig". The pig is commonly inserted inside the flowline through an access port, and pushed forward by fluid pressure or some other mobile mechanism. As the pig moves, it scrapes the inner surfaces of the conduit, removing any wax or scale build-up present. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,848, Coats illustrates the use of an electronically controlled pig element that is buoyant and able to travel inside pipelines. The pig has provisions for the measurement and removal of build-up and avoids damage to the interior pipe walls by the use of a selectively expandable body. However, both the above-mentioned approaches are expensive and cumbersome, and they also require periodic maintenance and calculated guessing on the part of the operators to determine an appropriate time to conduct the chemical injection or pigging operations. Chemical injection also carries the risk of contaminating produced water, restricting its release to the sea.
In an effort to reduce the costs associated with ensuring the flow of produced fluids from the wellhead to the primary processing facility based on the above techniques, the oil industry has shown increasing interest in reducing wax build-up and in on-line monitoring instrumentation. One approach is to use electrical heating and insulation of long and deep flowlines, to prevent hydrate or wax formation. This technique may be augmented by the use of a distributed fiber optic temperature sensor to help obtain temperature profiles of the flowline and detect the onset and location of possible blockages, as well as cold temperature zones along the flowline. However, for this approach to become practical, it becomes necessary to have access to the pipeline prior to its deployment in order to install the necessary electrical heating conductors and associated monitoring optical fibers and thermal insulation.
Other on-line monitoring systems rely on the non-intrusive detection of blockages via acoustic or strain measurements taken from the outside of the flowline. U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,385 describes an acoustic sensor based on a piezoelectric transducer that emits an acoustic pulse signal. The pulse traverses the pipeline walls as well as the various deposited layers until it impinges on the opposite side wall, where the pulse is reflected back to the transmitter. Wax build-up layers are detected by measuring the time delays between incoming and returning pulses arriving at the acoustic transmitter. As before, one problem here is the fact that sensor heads need to be installed and secured around the flowlines. This presents difficulties for retrofitting into existing subsea installations. In addition, the technique might not be effective until a certain wax layer thickness is developed and, often times, it becomes necessary to calibrate and couple the system to a particular pipe and build-up combination.
Berthold et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,033, describe a fiber optic blockage detection system based on an array of fiber Bragg grating strain sensors disposed along a continuous fiber length. The sensor arrayed is mounted or spirally strapped around the exterior of a pipeline so that there is good mechanical transfer of the pipe stresses to the fiber. Any internal pressure change resulting from a flow restriction or blockage will result in a hoop strain that can be detected by the fiber Bragg grating strain sensors. As before, this approach assumes that the fiber installation can be accomplished prior to the pipeline installation itself. In addition, proper mechanical bonding and strain transfer between the pipeline and optical fiber control the efficacy of the technique. Any unwanted stress in the pipe which is not directly the result of an internal hydrostatic pressure change, can give rise to an erroneous reading or false blockage detection.

Fiber optic sensor and sensing system for hydrocarbon flow


A vacuum-based hitch rack carrier system for a vehicle having a rear hitch and rear hitch receiver. The system includes a plurality of vacuum devices having a pad shaped and sized to removably seat with a vehicle to form a vacuum cavity, a plunger attached to the pad and in fluid communication with the vacuum cavity, and an indicator associated with the vacuum device to indicate the level of vacuum pressure within the vacuum. The system has a receiver hitch adapter for joining a rack configured to secure an article to the vehicle via attachment to the rear hitch receiver, a mount shaped and sized to mate and secure the article to the rack, and one or more support bars attached to said mount. At least one of the support bars contains a break and fold assembly configured to allow the carrier system to be folded.

The present disclosure relates to a vacuum carrier system that detachably installs to automotive vehicles and other mobile transports, and more particularly, to such carrier systems that are readily stored and provide for a small or reduced size and environmental footprint. The impact on the environment is considerable when energy differentials are added together.
Standard mobile carriers or racks used with automotive vehicles to transport various recreational equipment, such as, bicycles, skis, and other various articles, largely consist entirely of cumbersome bars and fasteners, either permanently attached or removably attached to a vehicle with brackets, straps and latches to handle the carriers load-carrying functions.
In a significant step away from this standard carrier paradigm, Charles Casagrande and others associated with Seasucker, LLC of Sarasota/Bradenton, Fla., invented an entirely different system in which vacuum devices with powerful holding action were used to provide the carrying capacity, yet while doing so safely, flexibly and with smaller lightweight components. Certain of these vacuum-based mounted carriers for use in transporting bicycles and other articles such as other recreational equipment, were previously disclosed, inter alia, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/497,653 and issued U.S. Pat. No. 9,831,721, each of which is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference as though expressly set forth herein.
While the Seasucker LLC vacuum-based carrier system has addressed major issues posed by the standard "bars and brackets" variety of carriers, there remains a need for reducing even further the "footprint" of such vacuum-based carrier systems, making them take up less space and using less energy than their conventional counterparts when in use, and also making them readily stow-able when not currently needed. Further, vacuum-based carriers or racks with these common features are needed for use with a variety of vehicles, being more suited for travel, and, in particular, for use by racing teams when up to nine bikes, up to four of which could be immediately "race ready," would be highly desirable. The background of these needs addressing specific situations are further discussed herein.
Race ready racks have been used for decades with professional racing. It is required during a race to have extra bikes ready when and if the rider has a mechanical issue or crash, and needs a new bike to continue in the race. Bike races are often won by mere seconds and a fast and efficient bike rack system to supply fresh racing bikes is essential. "Race ready" racks currently available are generally custom made out of aluminum or steel and are welded. This created a one off fixed position rack. The process of designing the rack depends on what vehicle it is going to be used on. Race teams typically have 1-2 year deals with a particular car manufacturer and from year to year they change models, which also requires the rack to be sent back and re-welded. In some cases it is not even worth doing so and a new rack must be purchased. Each new vehicle has different angles and dimensions for its roof and requires new positioning of racks which is not easy, or sometimes, not possible with some rack/car combinations. Many manufacturers are currently coming out with car models without roof rails and some have all glass roofs which are difficult to attach to. Such fixed racks are not compatible at all in these situations, and therefore, cannot be used. These racks tend to be quite heavy and cannot be traveled with due to the size of the footprint being the size of a car roof.
It would thus be desirable to create a 7-9 bicycle capacity bike rack with a reduced foot print which could be used for team competitions, with at least 4 race ready positions where the entire bike can be almost instantly taken off. Further, it would be advantageous if such a rack could fit any car without needing special adaptors or fixed or welded attachments so the rack can be used on multiple vehicles and when the team gets a new vehicle the rack can be switched to a new car in just minutes. It is also desirable that such a rack be lightweight and disassembled easily and fit into a travel case that can be checked in as baggage for travel.
Crossbars on vehicle roofs have been used for a long time. A significant problem is that the size of these bars typically need to be long enough to span the roof of a vehicle to hold items such as cargo boxes, bikes, kayaks, and stand up paddle boards and creates problems with storage or travel with the bars. It is typically too difficult to continually take fixed bars off and put them back on during travel when items are this long. Bracketry is commonly used to permanently attach bars to roofs and are very vehicle specific. Different brackets must be used for different vehicles. It has been estimated that it can cost upwards of $300.00 or more a year to keep bars on the roof of a vehicle due just to wind resistance-generated extra fuel used to drive around with the empty bars on a car roof. In total, this adds up to a huge waste of fuel worldwide. It is not practical to take apart and remove these permanently affixed cross bars when they are not in use, so most people simply incur the fuel penalty.
Thus, it would therefore be advantageous to create a cross bar system that is adjustable to fit any vehicle without requiring permanent or difficult-to-disassemble bracketry. It would also be desirable to have cross bars that can be detached in seconds and easily stored within the vehicle for travel and readily available to take out of a vehicle or storage locker to be placed back on the roof when needed to carry an item. When nothing is needed on the cross bars, it would be desirable if they could come off without the wasted fuel being incurred driving the unused bars around for no reason.
Conventional racks are typically designed for use with a specific make and model of vehicle. Therefore, they generally do not work on different vehicles, at least not without adaptors or modifications. As a result, manufacturers must produce an increased number of parts and retailers must provide an ever increasingly complex list of parts options lists to consumers, which also increases the cost. In addition, consumers that purchase a rack for one vehicle cannot use the same rack for a different vehicle.
Therefore, a carrier that is easily and reliably installed and removed from a multiple vehicles is needed that maintains the integrity of a mounting surface.
One of the most popular methods to carry bikes on a vehicle is via a hitch on the rear of the vehicle. Instead of using the hitch for towing, the hitch receiver is used to accept a bike rack. These racks are typically very heavy and large and must be built extremely heavy duty to ensure the integrity of the rack and to minimize shaking. This is difficult to achieve since everything in such a system relies on the bar attachment inserted into the receiver hitch and the rack needs to be extended a great distance from the hitch to accommodate carrying bicycles. Thus, there is a tendency for the rack to sway and move, and for the system to fail. To keep it steady and strong the materials are typically required to be heavy and cumbersome. This type of rack is one which can be unsafe, fuel inefficient, and one that cannot readily be traveled with due to its cumbersome size and weight.
It would therefore be desirable to create a hitch rack system light enough and foldable so that it can easily be taken off and even traveled with. This is accomplished according to the below described embodiments without compromising the stability of the rack, and it is ensured to have a steady non-moving rack system despite using less materials and a lighter weight design for a reduced footprint.

Reduced footprint vacuum mounted hitch rack carrier systems for vehicles