The present invention relates generally to shredder openings or throats. Specifically, this invention teaches a shredder housing with a top throat to allow material to be disposed of from above the shredder, as well as a side throat to allow for material to be disposed of from the side of the shredder. This is accomplished by placing a guiding member in the throat to assist both the top and side input. Additionally, the guiding member can serve as a handle to assist in lifting the housing from the base.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the openings through which materials to be shredded are fed into shredders. Specifically, this invention discloses a shredder housing with at least two openings which allow paper, plastic, and other forms of media that hold information to be fed into a shredder from either the top of the shredder or from the side of the shredder. Additionally, the invention discloses a convenient handle for lifting up the shredder housing.
2. Background Information
With increased privacy concerns, shredders have become an integral part in both homes and businesses. Though originally used to destroy paper products, shredders are now used to shred other forms of media that hold information, such as compact discs. In addition, credit cards and other plastic products are commonly shredded.
Prior art shredders have an opening or throat on the top of the housing through which material to be shredded is inserted. If the shredder is situated in an open area with nothing obstructing the top of the shredder then this configuration is convenient.
However, a problem occurs if the shredder is placed underneath a desk or other piece of furniture. In this situation, the overhead obstruction may prevent insertion of materials to be shredded into the top throat. Accordingly, the present invention seeks to employ another side throat through which material to be shredded can be inserted.
One preferred embodiment of the claimed invention provides this by adding a guiding member to a wide throat which allows for both top and side input of material. Additionally, the guiding member can be used as a handle to assist in lifting the housing from the base, thus allowing the contents of the base to be discarded. Since the housing can be heavy due to the shredder mechanism inside, the guiding input/handle facilitates removal of the housing mechanism from the shredder base.
From the preceding descriptions, it is apparent that the devices currently being used have significant disadvantages and/or limitations. Thus, important aspects of the technology used in the field of invention remain amenable to useful refinement.

Top and side loading shredder with optional handle


An apparatus to alter the flow of a fluid (e.g., drilling fluid, mud, cement, etc.) in a wellbore by creating turbulence in the flowing fluid. The apparatus includes a plurality of blade members extending outward from an elongated member. The elongated member is attached to the exterior surface of a tubular that is then positioned in a wellbore.

This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the invention. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Wellbore operations commonly require circulating a fluid (e.g., drilling fluid, mud, cement, etc.) down a tubular disposed in the wellbore and at least partial back up the wellbore toward the surface. For example, during drilling operations a drilling fluid (e.g., mud) is circulated to suspend and carry the drilling cuttings to the surface. Mud is typically pumped down through the inner flow bore of the drill string, out through a drill bit at the bottom of the borehole, and back up through the annulus formed between the drill string and the wellbore wall. It is also common for the drilling fluid to be utilized to power a drilling motor disposed in the bottomhole assembly ("BHA") of the drill string. In vertical wellbores, the velocity vector of the flowing fluid counters the gravity vector. When the velocity vector opposes the gravity vector, the cuttings are easily suspended and lifted from the wellbore. In high-angle wellbores (e.g., deviated, horizontal) the velocity vector of the flowing fluid deviates from vertical while the gravity vector remains vertical. In these wellbores the cuttings tend to settle out of the circulating fluid, e.g., on the low side of the wellbore, forming cutting beds in the wellbore. These cutting beds often result in stuck pipe.
It is common to cement a tubular (e.g., casing, liner) in at least a portion of the wellbore to complete the well. Aside from completions, cementing operations are performed, for example, but not limited to, for remedial actions (e.g., squeezes), plugging sections of wells, setting bridge plugs and plugging and abandoning wells. Cementing operations are relatively expensive operations within themselves and incomplete and/or unsuccessful cementing operations can result in lost time, lost equipment, and from time to time loss of production or injection capabilities. An unsuccessful cementing operation can result, for example, from an insufficient volume of cement slurry used, too short of setting time and/or a poor distribution of the cement slurry around the tubular. One characteristic of a successful cementing operation may be creating a substantially homogeneous seal (e.g., cement layer) around the tubular.

Device and method for affecting the flow of fluid in a wellbore


Systems and methods are disclosed for a modified Sagnac interferometer having a plurality of gratings that can be reflective or transmissive. The gratings allow measurement of wavelength spectra in counter-circulating beams of the interferometer. In one embodiment, diffraction geometries at each pair of neighboring gratings are configured so that diffractive and angular contributions reinforce each other at the second of the pair of gratings. In one embodiment, diffraction geometries at the gratings are configured so that the exiting beams of the interferometer satisfy the crossing condition wherein the exiting beams are on the opposite sides of a reference beam axis for a design wavelength input beam. Also disclosed are techniques for restoring the reinforcement and/or crossing conditions when these conditions are not otherwise met.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to the field of spectrometers, and more specifically to Sagnac interference spectrometers.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a Sagnac interferometer, an input light is split into two counter-circulating beams. The two beams, commonly called clockwise and counterclockwise beams, can have slight propagation variations due to some external influence. When the two beams combine again, such variations can be manifested in effects such as interference patterns.
Typically, splitting of the input light and combination of the two beams are achieved by a beamsplitter. The effect of the combined beams can be measured by scanning across the output, e.g., interference pattern, of the combined beams.
In a Sagnac interference spectrometer, a diffraction grating is included in the optical path of the counter-propagating beams. Dispersion in the grating alters the propagation direction of the two beams, shifting one with respect to the other. The shift in the beams is manifested by a variation in the resultant interference patterns. This interference pattern can be processed to determine the spectral characteristics of the counter-propagating beams. In particular, a Fourier transform of the interference pattern yields the wavelength spectra of the beams.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Sagnac fourier transform spectrometer having improved resolution


A method, executed on a simulation system (20), characterizes propagation of a radiofrequency signal (56) in a three-dimensional environment (52). The method includes forming a database (42) of propagation paths (54) of the radiofrequency signal (56) transmitted from a transmitter (58) at a fixed location (66) in the three-dimensional environment (52). The propagation paths (54) are represented by a plurality of line segments (120, 122) in the database (42). Local line segments (188) are selected from the plurality of line segments (120, 122) to establish a subset (47) of the propagation paths (54). The subset (47) includes those propagation paths (54) each having one of the local line segments (188) proximate a location (182) of a receiver (72) in the environment (52). Distinct multipath components (246) representing distinct wavefronts of the radiofrequency signal (56) are subsequently identified from the subset (47) of the propagation paths (54).

The present invention relates to the field of simulating the propagation of radiofrequency signals. More specifically, the present invention relates to identifying multipath components of a radiofrequency signal within a three-dimensional environment.
In wireless communications systems, such as cellular, Personal Communications Services, and so forth, base stations are located such that radio signals are available throughout the service area. As a radiofrequency signal propagates from a transmitter, the signal can reach the receiving antenna by two or more paths (i.e., multipaths). This phenomena is especially evident in cluttered environments, such as in urban areas containing many tall buildings. The effects of multipaths are signal distortions due to signal interference at the receiver because of differences in arrival times and received power for waves with propagation paths of different lengths, differences in Doppler shift at a moving receiver or paths with different angles of arrival, and so forth. Predicting multipaths of a radiofrequency signal and their effect on radio signal quality is a daunting endeavor.
A number of tools have been developed which make use of terrain data, with building clutter information, satellite imagery, and so forth. This data is used in conjunction with models which use base and subscriber heights, along with a description of the terrain to predict multipath effects for the locations under consideration.
Such models may work adequately for large cells whose base antennas are well above the height of the terrain and the building clutter, so the influence of particular terrain, buildings, or groups of buildings is minimal. However, when the base station antennas are near rooftop level or below building rooftops, then the size and shape of the buildings significantly influence the radiofrequency signals as they propagate down the streets and reflect off of the buildings.
Ray tracing processes attempt to model the propagation of radiofrequency signals as rays radiating from the transmitter to the receiver. Within ray tracing there are two generally known approaches. The first is called the xe2x80x9cshooting-and-bouncingxe2x80x9d method, in which a fixed number of rays are launched from a transmitter, then forward-traced to follow the different propagation paths, with a ray being terminated when it hits a detection sphere at the receiver. A problem with this method is that the location of not only the transmitter but also the receiver must be known prior to forward-tracing the propagation paths. Thus, the rays have to be launched and traced again in all directions for each additional receiver location. This could mean hours or even days of computation time for a practical outdoor environment. Another problem arises with identifying which of the multipaths represent distinct wavefronts. In a radiofrequency signal, the wavefront is the surface that is defined by the locus of points that have the same phase, i.e., the same path length, from the source. If more than one propagation path represents the same wavefront, these propagation paths may be counted as contributions to the overall power at the receiver location, resulting in an inaccurately optimistic power level calculation for the receiver location.
The second approach is based on image theory. The basic assumption in image theory is that the images of a source at a fixed location in a given environment are independent of the location of the receiver as long as there are planar surfaces in the environment. Therefore one can build all the images for a given location of the transmitter and environment and reuse it for as many receiver locations as one needs. This represents an improvement in terms of computational efficiency; however, the image method becomes too cumbersome with large numbers of randomly oriented polygons in the environment.
A conventional image theory approach is to first determine an image tree (hierarchically organized for ease of use) based on the location of the transmitter in the environment and the environment itself. The environment consists of reflective surfaces and corners. Starting from the transmitter (xe2x80x9cparentxe2x80x9d image), each reflective surface or corner has the potential of generating a xe2x80x9cchildxe2x80x9d image from the parent image. Each child image can further generate child images for every reflective surface and every corner. Once the image tree is built, for a given receiver location, every image on the tree is examined to see whether it contributes to the total received power through a back-tracing process from the receiver to the transmitter. A problem with image tracing is the large size of the image tree for a realistic outdoor environment leads to very large computational and memory requirements.
In order to limit the size of the image tree, one prior art image tree method creates a parent image node associated with the transmitter. Child image nodes are created in the image tree only for each object (i.e., reflective surface or diffractive corner) that can redirect a propagating signal from the transmitter when the power received at the object exceeds a threshold. The power in the reflected signal depends on the distance traveled to the object, the incident angle with the panel, and the reflection coefficient of object. Accordingly, the size of the image tree created using this approach is significantly reduced from prior art image trees. Unfortunately, since power computations have to be performed for every object and every propagating signal, again the problem arises of prohibitively long computation time to create the image tree.
Accordingly, it is an advantage of the present invention that a method and system for characterizing propagation of a radiofrequency signal in a three-dimensional environment are provided.
It is another advantage of the present invention that the method and system allow a database of propagation paths to be created separate from the selection of multipaths at a receiver location.
It is another advantage of the present invention that the database can be used to select multipaths at any of a number of receiver locations.
It is another advantage of the present invention that the method and system readily select multipath components in the absence of power calculations.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is that the method and system identify distinct wavefronts at a receiver location.
The above and other advantages of the present invention are carried out in one form by a method for characterizing propagation of a radiofrequency signal in a three-dimensional environment. The method calls for forming a database of propagation paths of the radiofrequency signal transmitted from a transmitter at a fixed location in the three-dimensional environment, the propagation paths being represented by a plurality of line segments in the database. Local line segments are selected from the plurality of line segments to establish a subset of the propagation paths, the local line segments being proximate a location of a receiver in the three-dimensional environment, and each of the propagation paths of the subset including one of the local line segments. The method further calls for identifying distinct multipath components of the radiofrequency signal from the subset of the propagation paths.
The above and other advantages of the present invention are carried out in another form by a system for determining propagation characteristics of a radiofrequency signal between a transmitter location and each of a plurality of receiver locations in a three-dimensional environment. The system includes a memory element having a database of propagation paths stored therein. The propagation paths are represented by a plurality of line segments, and the propagation paths originate at the transmitter location and radially project from the transmitter location along an azimuth and an elevation such that adjacent ones of the propagation paths are spaced apart by an angle of separation. The system further includes a location coordinates receiver for one of the receiver locations, and a segment selector for selecting, in response to the location coordinates, local line segments from the plurality of line segments in the database to establish a subset of the propagation paths, the local line segments being proximate the one receiver location, and each of the propagation paths of the subset including one of the local line segments.

Method and system for characterizing propagation of radiofrequency signal


Stereolithography machine (1) comprising: a container (2) for a fluid substance (14); a source (3) of predefined radiation (3a) suited to solidify the fluid substance (14); an optical unit (4) suited to direct the radiation (3a) towards a reference surface (5) in the fluid substance (14); a logic control unit (6) configured to control the optical unit (4) and/or the source (3) so as to expose a predefined portion of the reference surface (5). The optical unit (4) comprises a micro-opto-electro-mechanical system (MOEMS) (7) provided with a mirror (8) associated with actuator means (7a) for the rotation around at least two rotation axes (X, Y) incident on and independent of each other, arranged so that it can direct the radiation (3a) towards each point of the reference surface (5) through a corresponding combination of the rotations around the two axes (X, Y).

The invention concerns a stereolithography machine of the type suitable for making three-dimensional objects by means of a plurality of superimposed layers, wherein each layer is obtained through the selective solidification of a fluid substance in the areas corresponding to the volume of the object to be produced.
A stereolithography machine of the known type comprises a container that contains a fluid substance, generally a light-sensitive resin in the liquid or paste state.
The machine comprises also a source, generally of the luminous type, which emits radiation suited to solidify the fluid substance.
An optical unit provides for conveying said radiation towards a reference surface arranged inside the container, which corresponds to the position of the layer of the object to be solidified.
The three-dimensional object being formed is supported by a modelling plate, which can be moved vertically with respect to the container, in such a way that it is possible to arrange the last solidified layer of the object in a position adjacent to said reference surface.
In this way, once each layer has been solidified, the modelling plate is moved so as to arrange again the solidified layer adjacent to the reference surface, after which the process can be repeated for the successive layer.
The stereolithography machines of the said type are divided in two main embodiments that are described, for example, in the Italian Patent application for industrial invention no. VI2010A000004, in the name of the same applicant who is filing the present invention.
According to the first one of said embodiments, the reference surface is arranged adjacent to the bottom of the container, which is transparent to radiation.
In this case, the fluid substance is irradiated from below and the three-dimensional object is formed under the modelling plate.
According to the second embodiment, the reference surface is arranged at the level of the free surface of the fluid substance.
In this second case, the fluid substance is irradiated from above and the three-dimensional object is formed over the modelling plate.
In both embodiments, the radiation can be conveyed to the different points of the reference surface using different optical units of the known type.
A first type of optical unit comprises a matrix of mirrors that can be controlled individually in such a way as to project the image of the layer of the object on the predefined surface.
In particular, each mirror can assume two different positions, an active position from which the radiation is reflected towards a corresponding point of the reference surface and a passive position from which the radiation is reflected towards a dispersion area.
Said matrices of mirrors are capable of lighting the entire reference surface at the same time, thus making it possible to obtain each layer by means of a single exposure and, consequently, in a particularly quick manner.
However, the matrices of mirrors have limited definition, with the inconvenience that objects with irregular edges are obtained.
A further drawback of the systems mentioned above lies in that the image they generate has uniform luminous intensity on its entire surface.
Therefore, this leads to the inconvenience that said systems do not allow light power to be modulated in the different areas of the reference surface.
In a second type of optical unit the radiation is conveyed to a single point of the reference surface and said point is moved in such a way as to progressively light the entire portion of the reference surface corresponding to the volume of the object.
Compared to the type of optical unit described above, this optical unit offers the advantage that it is possible to direct the light beam towards any point on the reference surface, making it cover continuous trajectories and thus obtaining objects that are free from the irregularities caused by the optical units of the type previously described.
Furthermore, this type of optical units advantageously makes it possible to modify light intensity in the different areas of the reference surface.
According to a known embodiment of the optical unit of the second type described above, a laser light source is provided that is moved on two orthogonal axes by means of a mechanical device.
This embodiment poses the drawbacks that the movements of the light beam are rather slow and that, furthermore, the mechanical device used to move the light beam runs the risk of breaking and therefore needs a certain amount of maintenance.
According to a different embodiment of the optical unit, a fixed source and one pair of galvanometric mirrors are used to direct the light beam, arranged in series one after the other.
Each mirror is motorised, in such a way as to allow it to rotate around a corresponding rotation axis that is orthogonal to the axis of the other mirror, so that the combination of their rotations makes it possible to direct the beam towards any point of the reference surface.
Compared to the known system previously described, the system just illustrated above offers the advantages that it allows the beam to be moved very quickly, which is due to the lower inertia of the galvanometric mirrors, and that it ensures more reliability, thanks to the smaller number of mechanical components used.
Notwithstanding the advantages explained above, the optical unit just described requires that the two mirrors are aligned during the construction of the machine, in such a way as to obtain the correct reflection of the light beam. In fact, in order to have the beam direction correspond to the positions of the mirrors, it is necessary that the beam be incident on both mirrors at the level of the respective rotation axes.
The above mentioned alignment operation poses the drawback that it is particularly complex and increases the cost of the stereolithography machine. Said drawback occurs also in the case where, during use, one or both mirrors break, with the consequence that it is necessary to replace them and align them correctly.
A further drawback is represented by the fact that galvanometric mirrors are relatively expensive, which considerably affects the cost of the stereolithography machine.
An optical unit based on galvanometric mirrors poses the further drawback of being relatively bulky.
The high cost and large size make the stereolithography machine unsuitable for small series applications, which might be required by small craftman's businesses.
Furthermore, galvanometric mirrors have some mechanical components that are subject to wear and therefore limit their advantages compared to the mechanical movement devices mentioned above.
Galvanometric mirrors, furthermore, are characterized by non-negligible inertia, which affects the deviation speed of the light beam and thus also the overall processing time.
The present invention intends to overcome all the above mentioned drawbacks that are typical of the known art.
In particular, it is one object of the invention to provide a stereolithography machine that offers the same advantages offered by the stereolithography machines of the known type based on the use of galvanometric mirrors and that furthermore is simpler to produce and to use compared to the latter.
In particular, it is one object of the invention to avoid the operation of alignment of the mirrors described above, both during production and during use.
The said objects are achieved by a stereolithography machine constructed in accordance with the main claim.
Further detail characteristics of the invention are illustrated in the respective dependent claims.
Advantageously, the fact that it is not necessary to provide for aligning the mirrors considerably simplifies the construction of the stereolithography machine of the invention compared to those of the known type, leading to a consequently lower cost.
It can be understood that said advantage is ensured also when it is necessary to replace the optical unit during use, leading to a reduction in machine maintenance costs.
Furthermore, to advantage, the stereolithography machine of the invention has smaller overall dimensions than the machines of the known type with equivalent potentialities.
Both the advantages illustrated above make the stereolithography machine of the invention convenient also for application in very small series, for which the stereolithography machines of the known type are not suitable.

Stereolithography machine with improved optical unit


A border planing machine for wood floors comprising a footing provided with wheels and a handle, a structure which is hinged to the footing so as to rotate about a longitudinal axis and adapted to support abrasive disks on either side with respect to the longitudinal axis and to support elements for moving the disks so that the disks arranged on one side rotate in the opposite direction with respect to the disks arranged on the other side, and levers adapted to determine, following an actuation on the part of the operator, small rotations of the structure with respect to the longitudinal axis, in both directions.

The present invention relates to a border planing machine for wood floors.
It is known that planing wood floors entails a step for finishing along the walls that surround the floors; this step is performed with suitable planing machines known as border planing machines.
Border planing machines are currently provided with a single abrasive disk which makes them difficult to control in steering them along the intended paths. Conventional planing machines have a very compact structure with grip handles located close to the floor for the very purpose of reducing the effort required of the user in operating the machine, but this causes the drawback of forcing the operator to assume a very uncomfortable position during work.
Examples of disk grinding machines are available from the prior documents DE-A-38 15 326 and DE-A-42 19 093, none of which however disclosing easy steering improvements.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a border planing machine which can be guided along the intended paths without requiring any effort of the operator and allows him to work while standing and therefore in great comfort.
This aim and other objects, which will become more apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a border planing machine for wood floors, according to the invention, having the features set forth in claim 1.


Provided is a transmission power control method for an uplink control channel of a terminal in a multi-carrier system where a plurality of downlink component carriers and at least one uplink component carrier are set in the terminal. The method includes: receiving a plurality of downlink grants from a base station; checking a Transmission Power Command (TPC) field included in each of the plurality of downlink grants; determining a transmission power of an uplink control channel (PUCCH) with a value of the checked TPC field; and transmitting the uplink control channel at the determined transmission power, with one configured uplink component carrier among the at least one uplink component carrier.

One of the most important requirements of the next-generation wireless communication system is to support requirements for a high data transfer rate. To this end, research is being carried out on various technologies, such as Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) and Cooperative Multiple Point transmission (CoMP), and a relay, but the most basic and stable solution is to increase the bandwidth.
However, frequency resources are now in the saturation state, and various technologies are partially being used in wide-ranging frequency bands. For this reason, as a scheme for securing a wide bandwidth in order to satisfy requirements for a higher data transfer rate, a Carrier Aggregation (CA) having a concept that each of scattered bands is designed to satisfy a basic requirement capable of operating an independent system and a number of bands are bundled into one system is being introduced. Here, a band that may be independently operated is defined as a Component Carrier (CC).
In a recent communication standard, for example, a standard, such as 3GPP LTE-A or 802.16m, the extension of a 20 MHz or higher bandwidth is taken into consideration. In this case, a broadband is supported by aggregating one or more CCs. For example, if one CC corresponds to a bandwidth of 5 MHz, a bandwidth of a maximum of 20 MHz is supported by aggregating four carriers. A system using a CA as described above is called a multi-carrier system.
In a multi-carrier system, a plurality of CCs can be used in downlink and uplink. Accordingly, a plurality of downlink grants for a plurality of downlink CCs (DL CCs) can be transmitted. The DL grant can include a scheduling message for each DL CC and a Transmission Power Field (TPC) for an uplink channel. In a multi-carrier system, however, although a plurality of uplink CCs (UL CCs) is configured in a mobile station, an uplink control channel can be transmitted through only one UL CC. In this case, if TPC fields included in the plurality of DL grants have different values, there is a problem in that a mobile station will determine transmission power for the uplink control channel using what method.
In a multi-carrier system, there is a need for a method of a mobile station controlling the transmission power of an uplink control channel and a mobile station using the method.

Uplink control channel transmission control method in a multi-carrier system and terminal using same


A jet engine which includes: a fan with a plurality of stages of rotor blades; a compressor compressing air sent from the fan; a combustor generating combustion gas by using compressed air generated by the compressor; a turbine generating a driving force from the combustion gas; a nozzle discharging the combustion gas; a variable guide vane disposed upstream of the rotor blades of a second and later stage of the rotor blades of the fan and adjusts an inlet angle of air flow against the second and later stage of the rotor blades; a fluid resistance adjusting device adjusting a fluid resistance at the nozzle; and a controller which controlling the variable guide vane such that the inlet angle at the time of cruise flight is smaller than the inlet angle at the time of acceleration.

As described in Patent Document 1, a jet engine is mounted on an airplane as a thrust generating device. In the jet engine, the diameters of an air intake and a fan are designed such that necessary amount of air at the time of maximum power can be taken in. When increasing-power, the jet engine generates necessary thrust by increasing rotating speed of the fan so as to take in large quantity of air from the air intake, and compressing and discharging air from a nozzle at high speed.


The voltage source and current source circuits including an amplifier, a first current mirror circuit, a first PMOS transistor, a second current mirror circuit and a NMOS transistor are provided. The amplifier has a positive input terminal and a negative input terminal coupled to the source terminal of the NMOS transistor. The first current mirror circuit is coupled to a reference current and duplicates the reference current to the source terminal of the first PMOS transistor. The first PMOS transistor has a drain terminal, a gate terminal and a source terminal. The drain terminal of the NMOS transistor is coupled to the third current terminal, and the gate terminal of the NMOS transistor is coupled to the source terminal of the first PMOS transistor. The second current mirror circuit duplicates the current from the third current terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the reference voltage source and current source circuits, and more particularly, to the voltage source and current source circuits using a source follower.
2. Description of the Related Art
The reference voltage source and current source circuits are widely utilized in the analog circuit for providing a DC parameter that has lower correlation to the fabricating process parameter. FIG. 1 schematically shows the conventional voltage source and current source circuits. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional voltage source and current source circuits comprise an amplifier 101, a current mirror circuit 102, an NMOS transistor MN1, and two resistors R0˜R1. Wherein, the negative input terminal of the amplifier 101 is electrically coupled to the source of the transistor MN1 and is grounded through the resistor R0. The current mirror circuit 102 is electrically coupled to the drain of the transistor MN1 and sequentially outputs a reference voltage VREF and a reference current IREF.
The current mirror circuit 102 comprises three PMOS transistors MP1˜MP3. The sources of the PMOS transistors MP1˜MP3 are electrically coupled to a DC bias VDD, and the gates of the PMOS transistors MP1˜MP3 jointly coupled with each other are electrically coupled to the drain of the PMOS transistor MP1.
Referring to FIG. 1, after the voltage VBG is amplified by the amplifier 101, a voltage signal is generated on the source of the transistor MN1. Meanwhile, the voltage on the node A, i.e. the output voltage of the amplifier 101, can be represented as VBG+VTN, where VTN is a threshold voltage of the transistor. For providing high portability to the modern electronic products, the analog circuit is usually operated under a lower DC bias, such that the purpose of lower power consumption is achieved. However, when the conventional voltage source and current source circuits are operated under a lower voltage, the output voltage of the amplifier 101 is easily deviated from the ideal output voltage level. For example, if the DC bias VDD is 2.5V and VBG+VT≈2.2V, meanwhile the output voltage of the amplifier 101 is far deviated from the ideal output point VDD/2 (1.25V). Accordingly, the signal source of the conventional voltage source and current source circuits are not stable, which further impacts the voltage gain and generate noises.
Moreover, under the low voltage operation, the output voltage of the amplifier 101 may be too close to the DC bias VDD, which constraints the selection of the configurations for fulfilling the requirements of the full-swing output voltage.

Reference voltage source and current source circuits


A spinning reel rotor is rotatively mounted onto a reel unit of a spinning reel and winds fishing line onto a spool. The rotor is provided with a cylindrical portion, a bail arm, and first and second rotor arms having first and second cover members. The cylindrical portion is rotatively mounted to an end of the reel unit. The first and second rotor arms extend in the direction away from the reel unit from diametrically opposing positions of the reel unit side end portion of the cylindrical portion. The second cover member covers the outside of the second rotor arm and has a plurality of through holes formed in its outside surface. In a spinning reel rotor to which cover members are mounted, it is possible to inexpensively prevent the rotor from being scratched such that its appearance can be maintained without losing the classic look of the reel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to rotors. More specifically, the present invention relates to spinning reel rotors that are rotatively attached to a reel unit of a spinning reel, and wind fishing line around a spool.
2. Background Information
Spinning reels in general have a reel unit that is mounted to a fishing rod, a rotor rotatively fitted to the reel unit for guiding the fishing line, and a spool onto which fishing line that has been guided by the rotor is wound. The rotor includes a rotor body and a bail arm pivotably mounted to the rotor body.
The rotor body has a cylindrical portion (an example of a support portion) that is rotatively fitted to the body of the reel and first and second rotor arms disposed opposing one another extending diametrically outward from the rear end portions of the cylindrical portion. Both rotor arms have first and second connection portions and first and second arm portions. The first and second connection portions are disposed on opposite positions on the rear end portions of the cylindrical portion. The first and second arm portions are bent from the connection portions and extend forward, defining a gap from the cylindrical portion. The cylindrical portion at its rear end has a ring-shaped large diameter portion which is diametrically larger than the rest of the cylindrical portion. The pair of connection portions extends diametrically outward from the opposing positions on a peripheral surface of the large diameter portion.
Conventionally known among this type of rotor are rotors to which cover members are fitted to prevent the outside surface of both rotor arms being scratched. The cover members are mounted to parts that come into contact with the ground easily when a fishing rod to which the spinning reel is attached is placed on the ground. For the cover members, a metal that is comparatively durable and not easily corroded, such as a stainless alloy has been used. Alternatively, the cover members can be made of a synthetic resin or a pliable metal such as aluminum, with a hard coating such as a relatively hard UV paint being applied on the surface. Also, conventionally the cover members are covered with an elastic protector such as a synthetic rubber. In this manner, providing cover members prevents scratches. Furthermore, the cover members can be replaced if they are damaged. Accordingly, the reel can regain its attractive original appearance. Furthermore, the cover members can be replaced if they are damaged. Accordingly, the reel can regain its attractive original appearance.
With conventional rotors, however, it is difficult to avoid scratching even if the external surface of the rotor arm is covered by a cover member made of, for example, a hard stainless alloy. Moreover, scratches may be conspicuous across the entire surface of the cover member depending on the posture of the rotor arm. In this manner, scratches covering the cover member due to use of the spinning reel make the spinning reel unattractive. Also, providing a hard coating or protector does not yield the classic look of metal and can lead to increased costs.
In view of the above, there exists a need for spinning reel rotor which overcomes the above mentioned problems in the prior art. This invention addresses this need in the prior art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.


The present invention relates to bispecific antibodies having activity against a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and an angiopoietin (ANG), and methods of making and using such bispecific antibodies.

Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from existing vasculature, is a complex biological process required for the formation and physiological functions of virtually all the organs. It is an essential element of embryogenesis, normal physiological growth, repair and pathological processes such as tumour expansion. Normally, angiogenesis is tightly regulated by the local balance of angiogenic and angiostatic factors in a multi-step process involving vessel sprouting, branching and tubule formation by endothelial cells (involving processes such as activation of endothelial cells (ECs), vessel destabilisation, synthesis and release of degradative enzymes, EC migration, EC proliferation, EC organization and differentiation and vessel maturation).
In the adult, physiological angiogenesis is largely confined to wound healing and several components of female reproductive function and embryonic development. In disease-related angiogenesis which includes any abnormal, undesirable or pathological angiogenesis, the local balance between angiogenic and angiostatic factors is dysregulated leading to inappropriate and/or structurally abnormal blood vessel formation. Pathological angiogenesis has been associated with disease states including diabetic retinopathy, psoriasis, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, atheroma, Kaposi's sarcoma and haemangioma (Fan et al, 1995, Trends Pharmacology. Science. 16: 57-66; Folkman, 1995, Nature Medicine 1: 27-31). In cancer, growth of primary and secondary tumours beyond 1-2 mm3 requires angiogenesis (Folkman, J. New England Journal of Medicine 1995; 33, 1757-1763).
VEGF is a potent and ubiquitous vascular growth factor. Prior to identification of the role of VEGF as a secreted mitogen for endothelial cells, it was identified as a vascular permeability factor, highlighting VEGF's ability to control many distinct aspects of endothelial cell behaviour, including proliferation, migration, specialization and survival (Ruhrberg, 2003 BioEssays 25:1052-1060). VEGF family members include VEGF-A, VEGF-B, VEGF-C, VEGF-D, VEGF-E, placental growth factor (PIGF) and endocrine gland-derived VEGF (EG-VEGF). Active forms of VEGF are synthesised either as homodimers or heterodimers with other VEGF family members. VEGF-A exists in six isoforms generated by alternative splicing: VEGF121, VEGF145, VEGF165, VEGF183, VEGF189 and VEGF206. These isoforms differ primarily in their bioavailability, with VEGF165 being the predominant isoform (Podar, et al. 2005 Blood 105(4):1383-1395). The regulation of splicing during embryogenesis to produce stage- and tissue-specific ratios of the various isoforms creates rich potential for distinct and context dependent behaviour of endothelial cells in response to VEGF.
VEGF is believed to be an important stimulator of both normal and disease-related angiogenesis (Jakeman, et al. 1993 Endocrinology: 133,848-859; Kolch, et al. 1995 Breast Cancer Research and Treatment: 36,139-155) and vascular permeability (Connolly, et al. 1989 J. Biol. Chem: 264, 20017-20024). Antagonism of VEGF action by sequestration of VEGF with antibodies can result in a reduction in tumor growth (Kim, et al. 1993 Nature: 362, 841-844). Heterozygous disruption of the VEGF gene resulted in fatal deficiencies in vascularisation (Carmeliet, et al. 1996 Nature 380:435-439; Ferrara, et al. 1996 Nature 380:439-442).
In addition to the VEGF family, the angiopoietins are thought to be involved in vascular development and postnatal angiogenesis. The angiopoietins include a naturally occurring agonist, angiopoietin-1 (ANG-1), as well as a naturally occurring antagonist, angiopoietin-2 (ANG-2). The role of ANG-1 is thought to be conserved in the adult, where it is expressed widely and constitutively (Hanahan, Science, 277:48-50 (1997); Zagzag, et al., Exp Neurology, 159:391-400 (1999)). In contrast, ANG-2 expression is primarily limited to sites of vascular remodeling where it is thought to block the constitutive stabilizing or maturing function of ANG-1, allowing vessels to revert to, and remain in, a plastic state which may be more responsive to sprouting signals (Hanahan, 1997; Holash et al., Oncogene 18:5356-62 (1999); Maisonpierre, 1997). Studies of ANG-2 expression in disease-related angiogenesis have found many tumor types to show vascular ANG-2 expression (Maisonpierre et al., Science 277:55-60 (1997)). Functional studies suggest ANG-2 is involved in tumor angiogenesis and associate ANG-2 overexpression with increased tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model (Ahmad, et al., Cancer Res., 61:1255-1259 (2001)). Other studies have associated ANG-2 overexpression with tumor hypervascularity (Etoh, et al., Cancer Res. 61:2145-53 (2001); Tanaka et al., Cancer Res. 62:7124-29 (2002)).
Using homology-based cloning approaches, Valenzuela et al. (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999 Mar. 2; 96(5):1904-9) identified 2 novel angiopoietins: angiopoietin-3 (ANG-3) in mouse, and angiopoietin-4 (ANG-4) in human. Although ANG-3 and ANG-4 are more structurally diverged from each other than are the mouse and human versions of ANG-1 and ANG-2, they appear to represent the mouse and human counterparts of the same gene locus. Very little is known about the biology of these members of the angiopoietin family. For example, ANG-4 is expressed at high levels only in the lung (Tsigkos, et al., Expert Opin. Investig. Drugs 12(6): 933-941 (2003); Valenzuela, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 96:1904-1909 (1999)). ANG-4 expression levels are known to increase in response to hypoxia, and endothelial cell growth factors lead to increasing levels of ANG-4 expression in a glioblastoma cell line and endothelial cells. However, the mechanism of expression regulation, and the resulting effect on physiological and disease-related angiogenesis are unknown (Lee, et al., FASEB J. 18: 1200-1208 (2004).
The angiopoietins were first discovered as ligands for the Tie receptor tyrosine kinase family that is selectively expressed within the vascular endothelium (Yancopoulos et al., Nature 407:242-48 (2000). ANG-1, ANG-2, ANG-3 and ANG-4 bind primarily to the Tie-2 receptor and so are also known as Tie-2 ligands. Binding of ANG-1 to Tie-2 induces tyrosine phosphorylation of the receptor via autophosphorylation and subsequently activation of its signalling pathways via signal transduction (Maisonpierre, P. et al. 1997 Science: 277, 55-60). ANG-2 is a naturally occurring antagonist for ANG-1 acting through competitive inhibition of ANG-1-induced kinase activation of the Tie-2 receptor (Hanahan, 1997; Davis et al., Cell 87:1161-69 (1996); Maisonpierre et al., Science 277:55-60 (1997)).
Knock-out mouse studies of Tie-2 and ANG-1 show similar phenotypes and suggest that ANG-1 stimulated Tie-2 phosphorylation mediates remodeling and stabilization of developing vessel, promoting blood vessel maturation during angiogenesis and maintenance of endothelial cell-support cell adhesion (Dumont et al., Genes & Development, 8:1897-1909 (1994); Sato, Nature, 376:70-74 (1995); (Thurston, G. et al., 2000 Nature Medicine: 6, 460-463)).
In recent years ANG-1, ANG-2 and/or Tie-2 have been proposed as possible anti-cancer therapeutic targets (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,166,185, 5,650,490 and 5,814,464 each disclose anti-Tie-2 ligand and receptor antibodies). Studies using soluble Tie-2 have been reported to decrease the number and size of tumors in rodents. Also, some groups have reported the use of antibodies that bind to ANG-2 (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,166,185 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0124129) and antibodies that bind to VEGF-A (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,216,571). Additionally, there are examples of targeting VEGF-A and ANG-2 (see, for example, WO200197850, WO2007089445, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,268,314). However, there is an unmet need is the medical arts for a bispecific antibody targeting VEGF-A and ANG-2 that is more tolerable or effective. More particularly, there is an unmet need related to improving the safety at least as it relates to toxicity associated with targeting VEGF-A (e.g., thromboembolic events, renal toxicity, etc.). To this end, the bispecific antibodies targeting VEGF-A and ANG-2 disclosed herein are effective at reducing vascular dysregulation and tumor growth with a decrease in toxicity related to, for example, thromboembolic events and/or renal toxicity.

Nucleic acids encoding bispecific anti-VEGF and anti-ANG2 antibodies and uses thereof


A protection system is provided for the transfer of toxic liquid from a bulk container through a first conduit to a connector for a delivery device such as a dosage syringe. A second conduit connects the connector to a waste receptacle. The first and second conduits penetrate the closed end of a flexible barrier bag. The bag is initially retracted from the bulk container to allow manipulation of the bulk container. The bag is subsequently extended over and sealed around the bulk container and waste receptacle to protect the health care provider during liquid transfer to the deliver device.

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS POSED BY THE PRIOR ART
Various medical procedures require the transfer of fluid from one fluid-containment system or fluid-conducting system to another fluid-containment system or fluid-conducting system. Typically, one of the two systems includes a container for a bulk supply of liquid, such as a bulk supply of a reconstituted, liquid, chemotherapeutic drug. The other system, which can be as simple as a syringe, may be connected to the first system for only a short period of time, or intermittently, to facilitate the withdrawal of a desired amount or dose of the liquid for administration or transmission to a patient.
In those medical applications where the first system includes a container for a bulk supply of a toxic liquid, it is desirable, if not necessary, to prevent inadvertent exposure of personnel to the toxic liquid. For example, a hospital pharmacy may prepare highly toxic, chemotherapeutic drugs for use in treating cancer patients. Typically, a vial of a highly concentrated, toxic drug is received from the pharmaceutical supplier by the hospital pharmacy, and the hospital personnel then admix the concentrated drug with a suitable diluent to provide a bulk reconstituted supply having a reduced concentration or effective dose per unit volume that permits the administration of a prescribed amount or volume directly to the patient.
The preparation of the bulk reconstituted, liquid drug is typically carried out in a protective environment, such as in a laminar flow hood which is specially designed to maintain a negative pressure within the hood so as to prevent the escape of toxic vapors.
The bulk reconstituted, liquid drug is usually stored in a suitable container which may be a flexible, thermoplastic, sealed bag. A suitable discharge structure, dispensing structure, or fitment is typically provided on the bulk container to accommodate withdrawal of a desired amount of the liquid from the container. It is, of course, desirable to ensure that the means for withdrawing a prescribed amount of the toxic liquid drug will not result in spills or leaks from the bulk container.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a barrier system which could be employed with a container of a bulk supply of a toxic drug and which would function to contain a leak or leaks of the liquid drug from the container, or from associated connections thereto, so as to prevent exposure of personnel to the drug.
It would also be desirable to provide such a barrier system with means for accommodating its disposition in association with, or its connection to, the bulk supply container in a manner that can be relatively easily and quickly effected.
It would also be beneficial if such a barrier system could be provided with a structure that would accommodate movement or transport of the bulk supply from one location to another while still maintaining the efficacy of the barrier system against leakage.
Further, it would be desirable to provide such a barrier system with means for accommodating withdrawal of the bulk reconstituted, liquid drug by means of a suitable, conventional syringe, especially a syringe having a luer fitment.
It would also be advantageous for such a barrier system to function to prevent inadvertent injection of the liquid drug, or other material, back into the bulk container so as to reduce the probability of contamination of the bulk supply.
In addition, it would be beneficial if the barrier system could accommodate the use of a syringe to withdraw the liquid drug from the bulk supply and to pump a desired volume of the liquid drug into a selected conduit for administration to a patient or for delivery to another container or containment system.
When a bulk container of liquid is employed for supplying small quantities or doses of the liquid drug via withdrawal by a syringe, it would be desirable to provide means for accommodating the aspiration or discharge from the syringe of an excess amount of the liquid, or of a portion of the liquid in which an air bubble is entrained, that may have been drawn into the syringe. It would be desirable to provide such a capability regardless of whether or not the bulk supply of liquid is toxic.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a suitable receiving compartment or receptacle for excess liquid and/or for a mixture of liquid and air, in conjunction with a syringe-operated transfer or withdrawal system operable on a bulk supply. It would be beneficial if such a receptacle could be provided as a unitary or integral part of the withdrawal system and could also be adapted for use with a barrier system that prevents exposure of personnel to leakage.
Further, in view of the dangers associated with toxic drugs, contamination, and infection, it would be desirable to provide a barrier system and/or receptacle system which would facilitate its use as a disposable item. To this end, such a system or systems should be relatively inexpensive. Accordingly, such systems should incorporate an improved component design that accommodates relatively simple manufacturing processes and assembly processes to keep the total cost as low as possible.
The systems should also function to effectively seal at connection points or attachment points to prevent leakage of fluids and to prevent ingress of airborne or liquid-carried contaminants.
Additionally, the systems should preferably function effectively with a variety of fluids throughout a range of fluid pressures.
Advantageously, the systems should have a suitably long shelf life and active use life. Further, such systems should preferably be adaptable to function effectively after repeated connections to a syringe.

System for accommodating withdrawal of liquid from a bulk supply


A compressed gas storage means for a vehicle occupant restraining system comprising a storage container having a chamber formed therein, the chamber containing gas stored under a high pressure and having an internal wall surface bearing a coating of a material with a high specific surface area.

Compressed gas storage means, more especially for the inflation of a gas bag for a vehicle occupant restraining system, are opened in a crash by activation of small pyrotechnic charge so that the gas stored in the storage container may escape and cause deployment of the gas bag. In this respect the gas bag must completely deploy within an extremely short period of time, a high gas pressure being required for rapid filling of the gas bag and such gas pressure must be maintained in the final phase of deployment as well. A gas pressure which is only high at the outset on the contrary tends to be an obstacle for the initial part of deployment and is unable to ensure full deployment of the gas bag.

Compressed gas storage means for a vehicle occupant restraining system


An improvement in countertop mounted cutting apparatus comprising a bracket adapted to fit into an opening in the countertop for supporting a cutting board, the bracket including a flange portion overlapping the countertop adjacent the opening, characterized by a knife scabbard adjacent the cutting board and supported by the bracket, the knife scabbard having individual slots of varying lengths to receive knives of varying blade widths.

A variety of cutting boards are available which may be mounted in a countertop. Examples of such cutting boards are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,011,849; 3,013,851 and 4,318,537. All of these structures have in common the use of a metal flashing or the like to bridge the gap between the cutting board mounting structure and the counter edge. Such flashing ensures that extraneous debris does not fall between the mounting structure and the counter edge; hence all liquids and debris remain on top of the cutting board and its structure and about the edges of the structure on the countertop. A variety of mounting devices for the cutting board are provided which ensure that the flashing is securely positioned in bridging the gap between the counter edge and the cutting board. In all of the related structures of these patents the mounting structure is tightened in place by adjusting screws beneath the countertop.
It is appreciated, however, that in many cutting operations common to professional and/or domestic kitchen work considerable liquids may develop. It is therefore desirable to drain away such liquids. Examples of cutting boards which provide for drainage are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 508,885; 4,041,964 and DES. 259,166. The cutting board of U.S. Pat. No. 508,885 is associated with the side of the board which is normally used for draining of dishes. The drain system is integral with the board structure and would therefore not be suitable for most cutting operations which require the smooth side of the board. When the smooth side is used, the drainage feature is eliminated. U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,964 and DES. 259,166 disclose drainage boards which may be positioned in the sink. Excess liquids may be drained away in perforated baskets or wiped off the board directly into the sink in which the cutting board is mounted.


A nozzle including a first channel, a second channel annularly disposed around the first channel, and a plurality of third channels fluidly connected to the second channel. The nozzle includes an interior cavity having a first inlet fluidly connected to the first channel and a plurality of second inlets. Individual second inlets of the plurality of second inlets fluidly connect to individual third channels of the plurality of third channels. The interior cavity includes an outlet and an impinging surface located opposite the first inlet.

Internal combustion engines, such as diesel engines, gasoline engines, gaseous fuel-powered engines, and other engines known in the art, exhaust a complex mixture of components. These components may include nitrogen oxides (NOx), such as NO and NO2. Due to an increased focus on avoiding environmental pollution, exhaust emission standards are becoming more stringent, and the amount of NOx emitted from engines may be regulated depending on engine size, engine class, and/or engine type. To ensure compliance with the regulation of these compounds, as well as reduce harmful effects on the environment, some engine manufacturers have implemented a strategy called Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). SCR is a process where gaseous and/or liquid reductant, most commonly urea ((NH2)2CO), is selectively added to engine exhaust using one or more nozzles. The injected reductant decomposes into ammonia (NH3), reacts with the NOx in the exhaust, and forms water (H2O) and diatomic nitrogen (N2).
Nozzles that spray and direct atomized urea into exhaust streams are known, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,301 to Hurach, issued Jul. 31, 2001 (hereinafter referred to the '301 reference). The '301 reference discusses guiding pressurized air streams inwardly towards a discharging liquid flow stream for atomizing liquid. The pressured gas is directed towards an annular chamber, which in turn communicates with an expansion chamber through a plurality of radial air passages.
While the spray nozzle of the '301 reference may attempt to increase the atomization of the reductant, the spray nozzle may be suboptimal. For example, the spray nozzle described in the '301 reference is relatively small in size, and due to the limited internal volume of the spray nozzle, effective atomization of the reductant may be difficult to achieve. Additionally, the pressurized air stream of the '301 reference may fail to atomize the liquid. In such instances, the non-atomized reductant will not react with the NOx when injected into the exhaust, and as a result, the efficiency of the nozzle may be limited. Further, the 'reference describes a nozzle having multiple distinct and assembled parts, and such a nozzle configuration may increase the size, complexity, assembly time, and/or manufacturing cost of the nozzle. Such multi-part nozzles are also often difficult to clean and may become clogged easily.
Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed toward overcoming one or more of the deficiencies described above.

Reductant nozzle with radial air injection


In one approach disclosed herein, a cache is used to provide cursor isolation. The cache is used to cache data that is updated in a query. Specifically, when a query is initiated, one or more caches may be instantiated in respect of the cursor. When data is updated during the query, the updated data is stored in the cache. By storing the updated data in the cache, the updated data is isolated from other users, from other sessions and from other queries by the same user.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, the approaches described in this section are not admitted to be prior art, merely by inclusion in this section.
Historically, there has been a distinction between relational database management systems (RDBMS) and multidimensional database management systems (MDDBMS). Each type of system has evolved somewhat independently from the other and to meet different goals. There are many general differences between such systems, including (1) database schema, (2) processes used to store, access and retrieve such data, and (3) data analysis capabilities, to name a few. Many specific differences in the internal processes associated with relational and multidimensional database systems stem from these general differences.
One significant difference between relational and multidimensional database systems is the difference in their respective transaction models and operation of associated transaction engines. Generally, relational systems and processes are modeled to provide fast and efficient loading and revising of data, whereas multidimensional systems and processes are modeled to provide fast, complex real-time analytical processing of data. Furthermore, relational systems are modeled to support many short transactions, or sequences of operations, that are almost always committed. That is, the changes made by transactions executed in a relational database system are almost always made permanent to the database. Also, typical relational systems must be able to provide read consistency for relational operations. Specifically, it is expected that a relational operation does not see any changes committed by other users, where the commit time of those changes is after the start time of the relational operation.
In contrast, multidimensional systems are modeled to support long transactions that frequently are not committed. Specifically, the changes made by transactions executed in multidimensional system are usually temporary, only visible to the transaction that is making the changes, and must be removed from the database after the transaction terminates.
Large-scale data transaction processing, which is typically associated with relational systems, is often referred to as OLTP (On-Line Transaction Processing). Real-time analytical processing of data is often referred to as OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing), and with respect to multidimensional data, MOLAP (Multidimensional On-Line Analytical Processing).
Not only do relational and multidimensional database systems meet different needs, in addition, such systems have historically been configured as separate stand-alone systems. In some instances, such systems are configured with special interfaces that attempt allow the system to emulate the functionality of another type of system. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,179 describes techniques for organizing multidimensional data in a relational database system in a manner that improves the performance of OLAP operations within the relational database system.
However, in prior approaches, the two disparate systems are not truly integrated. Prior approaches do not provide efficient large-scale analytical processing of transactions on relationally stored data, while maintaining desired properties of such data. For example, prior approaches do not provide the ability to efficiently handle multi-session what-if analysis transactions (e.g., MOLAP transactions) on relationally managed data, while maintaining the ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) transaction properties typically associated with relationally managed data. What-if analyses are popular scenarios in data warehouse environments, particularly for assimilation of data in a business decision-making context. A data warehouse is a consolidated view of enterprise data, optimized for reporting and analysis. Basically, a data warehouse is an aggregated, sometimes summarized copy of transaction and non-transaction data specifically structured for dynamic querying, analysis and reporting.
Database servers execute commands that conform to database language. A database language supported by most relational database servers is know as structured query language ("SQL"). A database command written in SQL may include a "MODEL clause. A MODEL clause provides numerous beneficial features, and is particularly useful in the context of integrated relational and multidimensional data. Specifically, use of the MODEL clause allows database developers to treat relational data as multidimensional arrays. Dimensionally aware calculations can then be defined on the arrays. As a result of the foregoing structure, a MODEL clause may be used to cause a database server to resolve formula dependencies automatically, therefore supporting large sets of interlinked calculations in sophisticated applications. In particular, a MODEL clause is useful in the processing of complex calculations that involve inter-row references. Before the SQL language was extended to support the MODEL clause, such complex calculations often demanded the use join and union statements, which are cumbersome and painstaking to develop.
Certain facets of how a database server can handle database commands that include the MODEL clause are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/898,304 entitled "Using a Multidimensional Database as a Surrogate for a Hash Table in the Context of a Relational Query,⇄ filed on Jul. 23, 2004, which is incorporated by reference into this patent application.
A cursor is a pointer to a data item. Typically, one cursor is associated with each query. The term "cursor isolation" refers to how a cursor runs with respect to other active transactions in the system. Specifically, if a cursor is "isolated," the cursor runs independent of other transactions. Cursor isolation during an SQL query has not been an issue until the introduction of the SQL MODEL clause. This is because standard SQL queries do not update data, and, therefore, do not require cursor isolation. More particularly, the problem is specific to queries which use a predefined multidimensional database as a surrogate for a hash table. The use of an analytic workspace as a surrogate for a hash table was first proposed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/898,304 entitled "Using a Multidimensional Database as a Surrogate for a Hash Table in the Context of a Relational Query," filed on Jul. 23, 2004, which is mentioned above. Previously, in the context of relational databases, cursor isolation was not an issue because all data updates occurred in an in-core hash table that was created upon the execution of a query. However, if a multidimensional database is used, updates occur against a permanent data store.
The term "cursor isolation" refers to how a cursor runs with respect to other active transactions in the system. Specifically, if a cursor is "isolated," the cursor runs independent of other transactions, and therefore cannot see the changes made in other transactions. Similar to other types of database commands, the MODEL clause specifies calculations to be done on data. However, rather than simply creating new columns to hold the results of the calculations, the operations performed by the MODEL directly replace the data that is involved in the operations.
When a query includes a clause that updates data in a multidimensional database, such as a MODEL clause, various problems arise regarding the management and protection of data. Specifically, when one user performs a query and updates data, other users that perform a query on the same data typically see the version of the data that has been updated by the first user. However, this may not be desirable. Additionally, when a user performs multiple queries on the same data, it may be desirable to isolate the data among queries so that a single item of data is not updated by multiple queries. For example, if certain data is updated during a first query, it may be desirable to have the update be transparent to a second query. In other words, the data that is returned or updated by the second query is the version of the data that existed prior to update performed during the first query. In essence, it would be desirable to have an approach for isolating cursors from each other.
Prior art approaches have been developed to provide isolation across users. One such approach involves the use of buffers to cache query results within table functions. Specifically, the output of a query, including any changes made during the query, are written into a buffer that is used only to feed an SQL engine, and then deallocated. Another such approach involves the creation of temporary multidimensional variables with read-through capabilities. However, these approaches only apply to read-only data. Additionally, these approaches are very costly in terms of the computational resources that they consume. Also, such approaches were geared toward cursor isolation in the context of relational databases, and, therefore, only dealt with updates of data in hash tables. Such solutions did not deal with updates of data in analytic workspaces, and did not provide a mechanism for updating data on a cursor by cursor (e.g., query by query) basis. The approaches cannot be used with queries that update data, such as queries that include a MODEL clause.
Therefore, with the advent of the MODEL clause, there is a great need for approaches that can provide cursor isolation in an efficient manner, so that queries associated with separate cursors do not see updates performed by queries associated with other cursors.

Using a cache to provide cursor isolation


High rate gas stripping for removal of sulfur-containing components such as mercaptans from crude oil may be conducted by feeding sweet gas to the bottom of a tower containing pre-heated mercaptan-containing crude oil feed. The gas bubbles up through the crude becoming enriched with H2S, mercaptans, CO2 and/or hydrocarbons. The rich gas exits the tower, and is treated to produce a sweetened gas, a portion of which is recycled to the tower, and an acid gas. The remainder of the sweetened and/or the acid gas may be used as a fuel or processed to recover a portion of any hydrocarbons that may have been stripped out of the crude oil with the mercaptans, sulfur-containing components, CO2, used for enhanced oil recovery or disposed.

Pipeline specifications for crude oil quality strictly limit the amount of certain sulfur containing components, such as mercaptans. Conventional sweetening treatments such as amine treating, caustic solution treatment, and proprietary processes, such as Merichem Company's NAPFININGSM, Exxon Mobil's SCANfiningSM, and the like are known to those skilled in the art. Some of the known proprietary processes use specialty solvents such as SELEXOL®, available from Union Carbide Corporation and licensed by UOP. These processes generally fall into two categories, extractive and non-extractive. Extractive processes generally use a solvent to remove sulfur-containing components, mercaptans for example, from the crude oil. The extracted mercaptans generally are reacted to form disulfides following removal from the crude oil. Non-extractive processes generally convert the mercaptans to disulfide oils which remain mixed with the crude oil. Correspondingly, hydrogen sulfide may be converted to sulfur. Disulfide oils which remain mixed with the crude oil affect the crude oil's value and hinders refining operations due to the additional, more complex processes needed to remove the disulfides from the resulting product streams. Crude oil containing disulfides also increase hydrogen requirements for refining and require more expensive metallurgy. Both extractive and non-extractive mercaptan removal processes are also used to remove sulfur and sulfur-containing species such as hydrogen sulfide and other organic sulfides, e.g., disulfides and thiophenes.
In remote production and hydrocarbon processing sites, infrastructure such as roads, railways and electrical supplies are not readily available. Thus, it is difficult to transport chemicals such as caustic, amines and specialty solvents to the site and power electrical equipment. Some sites are also located in environmentally sensitive areas such as regions containing permafrost. In these areas, it is undesirable to build additional infrastructure and increase the size of the areas (footprint) used to produce and/or process the hydrocarbons. Reduced use of chemicals save storage and further reduce the facility's footprint, but also increases safety for the environment and personnel. For crude petroleum offshore platforms, weight requirements may also be reduced. Cold climates also have freeze protection issues relating to any pipelines and equipment when using chemicals diluted with water, e.g., caustic solutions. Accordingly, the present invention offers an improvement to these processes. Therefore, the industry has sought a method and apparatus for removing sulfur-containing components from crude oil which reduce the need for infrastructure, reduce the area required for production, reduce the weight on production platforms, reduce potential freezing problems, provide improved safety and that are more environmentally friendly.

Gas stripping process for removal of sulfur-containing components from crude oil


Footwear having a shoe upper and a sandal type sole are made from an upper having a lower marginal edge with a plurality of spaced fingers extending from the lower marginal edge, a footbed having a peripheral edge and a plurality of spaced slots therethrough adjacent the peripheral edge and aligned respectively with the fingers, the fingers being extended through the slots and folded over onto the lower surface of the foot bed, an outsole secured to the lower surface of the footbed and the folded portions of the fingers and securing the fingers between the footbed and the outsole, and a structural arrangement for concealing from view the lower marginal edge and the fingers of the upper. A mid-sole is optionally provided between the footbed and the outsole. A method of making the footwear is described.

Sandals are a very comfortable, and usually inexpensive, form of footwear comprised of a sole and one or more straps for holding the sole to the plantar surface of a wearer's foot. For enhanced comfort and attractiveness, the upper surface of the sole may also be provided with a foot bed engageable with the plantar surface of the wearer's foot as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. D-429,555 and 6,811,734.
However, in cold and/or inclement conditions, sandals are not a practical form of footwear because they do not protect the wearer's foot from the wet and cold. Even if worn with socks, which can be quite unsightly, sandals do not provide sufficient protection from the wet and cold and, of course, are totally impractical in snow.


A modular poultry automatic injection and spraying apparatus (10) featuring a dual-sensor switch means (41) and a dual-action, fluid-actuated drive means (101) is disclosed. The apparatus has a casing construction (11) including an upper housing (12) mounted on a lower housing (13) such that the lower housing (13), which contains water-sensitive pneumatic logic circuitry (261), can be easily removed prior to cleaning. The casing construction (11) has the additional advantage of allowing substitute upper and lower housings (12, 13) to be interchanged during maintenance and repair. The dual sensor switch means (41) ensures that the injections are performed accurately and consistently. The dual-action, fluid-actuated drive means (101) allows for the simultaneous injection and spraying functions of the apparatus (10) obviating the need for an additional apparatus or separate compressed air signal. The apparatus (10) also features a compressed air flushing system which prevents the switch means (41) from clogging, and periodically flushes contaminants from the lower housing (13), using exhaust from an alarm means (71), which notifies an operator of a complete run. Additionally, a separation means (21) prevents chicks,. y missed by the apparatus (10) due to operator error, from mixing with chicks already inoculated by the apparatus (10).

The process of inoculating one day old chicks and other fowl has become fairly commonplace in the commercial hatchery industry. One person with an automated vaccinator can inoculate thousands of chicks per day. Such devices are described in, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,863,443 to Hornung, 4,515,590 to Daniel, 4,177,810 to Gourlandt and 4,108,176 to Walden.
The inoculation process involves placing one chick at a time on a known injection device, which detects the chick and cycles through its injection procedures. The chick, presumably inoculated, is then released by the operator, slides off the injection device and falls into a container for the inoculated chicks. This procedure is repeated for a preselected number of chicks, usually a run of one hundred, at which point the injection device notifies the operator with a sound alarm. The operator then replaces the now-filled container of inoculated chicks with an empty container and begins a new run.
The prior art inoculation devices usually comprise a single, outer housing within which is contained all necessary mechanical and electrical components of the inoculation system. The housing usually includes an inclined work surface on which the chick to be injected is placed, the surface having an aperture through which a syringe needle reciprocrates to inject the chick, a syringe mounted on the opposite side of the work plane for urging vaccine through the needle when the needle penetrates the chick and a switch and switch housing mounted on the work surface adjacent the aperture.
However, the known devices are not entirely satisfactory. With the prior art chick switch housings it is difficult to ensure that each chick is aligned correctly with regard to the syringe needle when the operators use their fast hand movements during the inoculation procedures. An improperly located injection can result in an inadequate inoculation, injury or even death to the chick. In addition, due to the repetition and haste with which the operator handles the chicks, it is common for chicks to be placed near the switch housing without actuating the switch and without causing the system to cycle. Thus, an undesirable percentage of uninoculated chicks are mixed in the container with inoculated chicks.
In addition, because the environment in commercial hatcheries is far from clean and because of the repetitive contact between the chicks and the switch, it is common for the switch housing to become clogged with feathers, etc. It then becomes necessary to halt the inoculation process in order to clean or replace the switch, thus resulting in down time and fewer inoculated chicks per day.
The outer housing of the prior art inoculators also requires frequent cleaning; however, a quick, liquid washdown is not possible because of the proximity of water-sensitive components contained within the housing.
It is also common for the compartment within the housing to become contaminated with feathers, dirt and other matter. In order to clean the compartment, it is sometimes necessary to remove from the housing some of the working components of the system and clean the compartment by hand or with a compressed air blower, resulting in further down time and less productivity.
The productivity of each operator is further reduced because of the number of hours the operator must spend at the end of each day cleaning and sterilizing the syringe and supply conduits contaminated by the vaccine.
With the known injection devices, an additional spray apparatus can be separately attached to the injection device for spraying vaccine to the eyes of the chicks as the chicks are inoculated. The known spray attachments require a separate compressed air signal in order to drive the topical spray.

Modular poultry automatic vaccine injection and spray apparatus


Improved methods are provided for the application of downhole oil or gas well treating agents, such as liquid corrosion inhibition agents. The methods involve first lowering a liquid retainer device into a well casing, preferably at or above the location of the well production zone, followed by introduction of a liquid treating agent. The presence of the liquid retainer device prevents substantial passage of the agent into the production zone, and forms a column of the liquid agent above the device. The retainer device is then withdrawn from the well so as to create a substantially uniform film of the agent along the inner surfaces of the well casing. In this manner, proper coating of the casing is achieved while preventing production losses owing to passage of the treating agent into the production zone. The liquid retainer is preferably one or more swab cups or oil field retainers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with methods for application of liquid treating agents to the inner surfaces of well casings. More particularly, the invention is concerned with such methods which substantially inhibit or prevent passage of the treating agents into the well production zones, while at the same time creating a substantially uniform film of treating agent on the inner casing surfaces. The invention is particularly suited for application of film-type corrosion inhibitors to the inside surfaces of well casings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During the production of oil and gas, water (or brine) is typically produced as an undesirable byproduct. When brine is generated in the presence of carbon dioxide, carbonic acid species may occur in solution resulting in greater water production and increased corrosion problems. In order to prevent failures due to corrosive metal losses, corrosion-inhibiting chemicals are frequently introduced into producing or injecting wells.
There are several methods for applying corrosion-inhibiting chemicals to protect downhole metal goods. The corrosion inhibitor may be supplied as a free-flowing liquid, as water or oil external emulsions, or as solids Inhibiting chemicals may be applied intermittently or continuously into a given well. In continuous applications, a liquid inhibitor is injected into the well casing. In many batch applications, corrosion inhibitor is injected and flows down the casing followed by a liquid flush.
A problem often encountered in application of corrosion inhibitors is that the inhibitors may adversely affect well production. It is believed that this problem stems from the tendency of corrosion inhibitors to flow into the production zone of the well and adhere to the production structure, particularly in the case of film-forming inhibitors.
There is accordingly a need in the art for an improved method of well treating agents such as corrosion inhibitors into producing wells, without the attendant problem of retarding oil or gas production.

Method and apparatus for downhole application of treatment chemicals in gas wells


A semiconductor device may include interlayer insulating layers stacked in a first direction and separated from each other, word lines formed between the interlayer insulating layers, and sacrificial insulating layers formed between the interlayer insulating layers so that the sacrificial insulating layers are arranged at layers where the word lines are formed. The semiconductor device may also include cell contact plugs each including a first pillar portion passing through at least one of the interlayer insulating layers and the sacrificial insulating layers in the first direction, and a first protruding portion protruding from a sidewall of the first pillar portion and contacting a sidewall of one of the word lines, wherein the cell contact plugs have different depths.

1. Technical Field
Various embodiments generally relate to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same and, more particularly, to a semiconductor device including contact plugs and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
There technology proposals relating to stacking memory cells over substrates in order to increase the degrees of integration within semiconductor devices. The memory cells stacked over the substrates may be coupled to conductive patterns. The conductive patterns may be arranged over the substrates at different heights. In order to independently apply an electrical signal to the conductive patterns arranged at different heights, contact plugs may be coupled to the conductive patterns. The conductive patterns may be patterned to form a stepped structure to open contact regions of the conductive patterns, and the contact plugs may be coupled to the contact regions of the conductive patterns opened through the stepped structure.
However, errors may occur when the conductive patterns are patterned into the stepped structure. For example, misalignment may occur between the contact plugs and the conductive patterns due to these errors.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A method and an apparatus for reporting buffer status are provided. The method includes: obtaining multiple Transport Blocks (TBs) from a base station within one Transmission Time Interval (TTI); selecting a TB compliant with a condition of transmitting a Buffer Status Report (BSR) among the multiple TBs; and bearing a BSR of a Logical Channel Group (LCG) and a Control Element (CE) sub-header of the BSR onto the selected TB and sending the TB to the base station. In this way, a UE can make full use of the padding bits of the obtained multiple TBs, and report the buffer status flexibly.

In the existing Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system, before an evolved NodeB (eNodeB) schedules resources for a User Equipment (UE), the eNodeB needs to decide the size of resources scheduled to the specific UE. In order to reduce unnecessary waste of radio resources as much as possible, the eNodeB needs to allocate a proper portion of resources to the UE, so as to achieve an objective of making full use of radio resources. To achieve the objective, the UE first needs to report its buffer status to the eNodeB by sending a Buffer Status Report (BSR). The eNodeB comprehensively evaluates factors such as the priority and the quantity of the buffer status of the UE, and finally, initiates data scheduling for the UE.
In the related art, the UE can obtain only one Transport Block (TB) on one carrier within a Transmission Time Interval (TTI), and use the TB to report the buffer status. After the technologies such as a space division multiplexing technology and carrier aggregation are introduced, the UE can obtain multiple TBs within a TTI. However, the related art provides no method about how to report buffer status by using the multiple TBs in a coordinated way.

Method and apparatus for reporting buffer status