The present invention relates to an epitaxial wafer including a PN junction, which is improved in terms of light output and can have a good-enough ohmic electrode formed thereon. Epitaxial layers are formed of GaAs.sub.1-x P.sub.x where 0.45 <.times..ltoreq.1). A first P-type layer is formed by a vapor-phase growth process, and a second P-type layer is formed on the first P-type layer by a thermal diffusion process, said second P-type layer having a carrier concentration higher than that of said first P-type layer.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor epitaxial wafer for light emitting diodes or LEDs for short, and its fabrication method.
In recent years compound semiconductors have often been used as optical semiconductor device materials. In semiconductor materials used to this end, epitaxially grown layers of desired semiconductor crystals are formed on single crystal substrates. This is because currently available crystals, especially those usable as substrates have many defects and low purity as well, and so much difficulty is involved in using them immediately for light emitting devices. For this reason, a layer having the composition to obtain the emission of light of desired wavelength is epitaxially grown on a substrate. A ternary crystal layer is used primarily for this epitaxially grown layer. For such epitaxial growth, usually, vapor- and liquid-phase growth processes are employed. In the vapor-phase growth process, a holder made of graphite or quartz is mounted within a reactor made of quartz, in which raw feed gases are continuously fed and heated for epitaxial growth.
Semiconductors of the groups III-V compounds have a bandgap corresponding to the wavelengths of visible light and infrared light, and so are being applied to light-emitting devices. Of these, GaAsP and GaP are widely used as LED materials in particular.
Referring here to GaAs.sub.1-x P.sub.x as an example, GaAs.sub.1-x P.sub.x where 0.45<.times..ltoreq.1 is doped with nitrogen (N) as an isoelectronic trap for trapping conduction electrons, so that a light-emitting diode can be obtained, which increases about tenfold in terms of light output. Thus, GaAs.sub.1-x P.sub.x where 0.45 <.times..ltoreq.1.0 grown on a GaP substrate is usually doped with nitrogen.
FIG. 2 illustrates one construction of a conventional GaAsP epitaxial wafer.
In the vapor-phase growth process, raw feed gases are continuously fed in a reactor for growing an N-type epitaxial layer on an N-type GaP substrate 1. To prevent the occurrence of lattice strains due to a difference in lattice constant between the substrate and the epitaxial layer, a GaAsP-type layer 2 having a stepwise or continuous varying composition is formed as an intermediate layer to form GaAsP-type layers 3 and 4, each having a constant composition, and the layer 4 is doped with nitrogen, or N, in the form of an isoelectronic trap. At a post-doping step, zinc is thermally diffused at high concentration in the layer 4 to form a P-type layer 5 of about 4 to 10 .mu.m on the surface of the epitaxial layer. Thus, the formed P-type layer has a relatively constant carrier concentration, and good-enough ohmic contact is achievable in a stable manner. The thermal diffusion process enables about dozens of epitaxial wafers to about one hundred to be processed at one time, and offers a cost advantage. Generally, therefore, P-type layers are formed by the thermal diffusion process after N-type layers alone have been grown by the vapor-phase growth process.
By doing this it may be possible to obtain LEDs in a stable manner. However, the carrier concentration of the P-type layer 5 above the PN junction region becomes too high with an increased absorption of light, resulting in a drop of LED light output. In addition, the PN junction region is thermally damaged to incur deterioration of the crystals forming the epitaxial layer. Although these problems may be solved by decreasing the diffusion temperature extremely, yet the P-type layer becomes too thin to obtain good-enough ohmic contact due to a lowering of the surface carrier concentration.
As mentioned above, the vapor-phase grown epitaxial wafer has both the epitaxial layer and the GaP substrate of the N-conduction type. In the epitaxial growth of GaAsP, generally, zinc may be used as a dopant to grow a P-type layer during vapor-phase growth. If doping is carried out with vapor-phase growth using a P-type dopant zinc in the form of diethylzinc gas, the possible highest concentration is about 5.times.10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3 due to a high growth temperature when the most prevalent hydride transport process is used; in other words, it is difficult to carry out doping at a concentration higher than that. Nonetheless, since the carrier concentration of the P-type layer in the vicinity of the PN junction is lower than that, the absorption of light by the P-type layer is reduced and the PN junction is formed by vapor-phase growth at one time, so that good-enough crystallinity can be imparted thereto. In addition, the thus obtained P-type layer accomplishes an about 20 to 30% improvement in terms of light output as compared with that formed by thermal diffusion. It is here to be noted that even though growth conditions are adjusted to achieve a high concentration of zinc doping for vapor-phase growth, the crystallinity of the epitaxial layer will become worse.
To form an electrode of good-enough ohmic contact on a P-type layer with semiconductors of the groups III-V compounds, it is usually required that the carrier concentration of the P-type layer be at least 1.times.10.sup.19 cm.sup.-3. To obtain good-enough ohmic contact, various procedures have heretofore been used; for instance, various combinations of AuZn, AuNiZn and other materials are selected as electrode materials, or electrodes of multilayered structures or varying compositions are used. Still, the most effective procedure is to increase the carrier concentration of the P-type layer. For example, GaAs has been doped with zinc at a concentration higher than 5.times.10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3. When the doping amount of zinc, i.e., the carrier concentration is increased by elevating the diffusion temperature of zinc, however, the P-type layer rather absorbs the emitted light, and crystal defects due to thermal strains or the like occur, resulting in a drop of LED's light-emission output. The light output of an LED may be improved by decreasing the concentration of zinc to about 5.times.10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3 or less by lowering the diffusion temperature of zinc. However, the carrier concentration drops, thus making it difficult to form an ohmic electrode on the P-type layer and, hence, giving rise to a forward voltage variation or increase.
According to the present invention accomplished with such situations in mind, it has now been found that in an epitaxial wafer including a PN junction there is a difference in the optimum carrier concentration between a PN junction region and an ohmic contact region in a P-type layer. Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a P-type layer of the optimum structure that makes it possible to achieve an improvement in light output and form a good-enough ohmic electrode, and a fabrication method effective for such an epitaxial wafer as well.
As a result of intensive studies made for the purpose of solving such a problem, it has now been found that a P-type layer should comprise two layers and that the carrier concentration that is the greatest factor in determining the characteristics of an LED should be optimized, whereby good-enough ohmic contact can be achieved in a stable manner and the light output of an LED can be 20 to 30% higher than achieved so far in the art as well.

Epitaxial wafer and its fabrication method


A method of predicting volume of finished combustion chambers from a raw cylinder head casting including the steps of capturing cylinder head geometry of a raw cylinder head casting, transforming the captured cylinder head geometry into a machining coordinate system, virtual machining the raw cylinder head casting based on the transformed geometry, calculating a volume of combustion chambers of the virtually machined cylinder head, adding signed volumes of at least one component to the calculated volume to obtain a finished volume, and adjusting a mold for the raw cylinder head casting to achieve the desired finished volume.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to internal combustion engines and, more specifically, to a method of predicting the volume of finished combustion chambers from a raw cylinder head casting for an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to cast a cylinder head for an internal combustion engine. The cylinder head has at least one, sometimes a plurality of combustion chambers. The raw cylinder head casting is typically finished by machining the deck face and valve seat surfaces to prepare it for installation of spark plugs and valves.
It is also known that variations in the volume of the combustion chamber have a strong effect on the variation of the compression ratio of each cylinder. Differences in compression ratio between cylinders of the same engine lead to engine noise vibration harshness (NVH). Differences in compression ratio among engines of the same family require using a less than optimum engine calibration for the engine, in order to meet emissions, which reduces power and adversely affects fuel economy. Thus, it is desirable to know and control the volume of a combustion chamber for a finished cylinder head.
The most common method for measuring the volume of a combustion chamber is to first perform the finish machining and then measure the volume of liquid required to fill the chamber. The method involves covering the combustion chamber with a glass plate having a small hole therethrough. The combustion chamber is carefully filled with liquid, which is accurately measured. Another method uses sonic resonance to compare a test chamber to a master chamber. Both of these methods only measure the volume of combustion chambers and are laborious and lack repeatability. Further, neither of these methods will work with a cylinder head as casted, since they require a totally enclosed volume, i.e. the combustion chamber must contain both valves and spark plug. By knowing the finished volume at the time of casting, it is possible to adjust the casting process to repeatably produce the desired volume. Thus, there is a need in the art to predict the volume of a finished combustion chamber from a raw cylinder head casting.

Method of predicting volume of finished combustion chambers from a raw cylinder head casting


A thread winder includes a revolver on which two radially spaced mandrels are disposed for supporting thread-receiving tubes. Thread is wound onto one of the tubes located in a winding position and, when that tube is filled, the thread is transferred to the other, empty tube without interrupting the thread feed, by rotating the revolver. After the filled package is moved out of the winding position, a deflecting rod is swung to deflect the thread to a position where it can be grabbed by a transferring device. Then, the deflecting rod is swung away from the thread, and the transferring device is swung out to displace the thread toward a thread catcher disposed on the empty tube (or its mandrel), whereupon the thread is severed. A thread diverter is also swung out from the transferring device to shield the empty tube from the trailing end of the severed thread extending from the filled package.

The invention relates to the transfer of a thread from a full package to an empty tube of a thread winding machine.
In the case of the winding of threads on winding machines having a revolver carrying the winding mandrels, the thread (which is still feeding at the termination of the winding operation) must be transferred from the full package onto the empty tube. This is brought about by a series of steps, including the turning of the revolver to shift the empty tube to the winding position. The transfer should occur without waste of thread, and an end ridge of thread should be formed on the full package, and a thread ridge should be formed on the new tube or its mandrel outside of the normal winding stroke.
Methods and devices for the execution of such a package change are known. A first type of such device moves the tube, or the winding mandrel, axially during the package change so that the ridge is produced at the desired position. These devices have the disadvantage that the winding mandrels, rotating on the revolver at high rotational speed, must be made axially movable, which involves a high cost for a mechanism supporting the winding mandrels on the revolver.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,920, a winding device is known in which the thread being wound on a package is removed from a reciprocating guide by a first element in the form of a shifting guide and is deflected into a plane in which the catcher slot of the empty tube lies. A rodlike second element is fastened on the revolver carrying the winding mandrels and is situated downstream of the first element with reference to the direction of thread travel. This second element deflects the thread traveling to the full package. A third element in the form of a groove or a pawl or a change-over guide deflects the thread axially with respect to the point of contact of the thread and the second element in such a way that the thread comes to rest in the afore-mentioned plane of the catcher slot of the empty tube.
This known device has the disadvantage that the second element, which is connected permanently to the revolver and consequently can be rotated in synchronism with the winding mandrel, still has a deflected thread running at more than 90.degree. in a first plane perpendicular to the winding mandrels (see FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,920) and, after the intervention of the third thread guide, additionally deflects the thread by a further angle of more than 45.degree. (see FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,920). Such severe deflections, in conjunction with the high speed of the threads, might lead to thread damage or even to thread breaks. Furthermore, the deflection of the thread through the second element lasts for a relatively long period, starting shortly after the swiveling away of the full package from the friction roller up to the point of time of the thread transfer onto the empty tube, so that a considerable amount of thread might be affected.
An object of the present invention is to develop methods and apparatus for the transfer of the thread from a full tube to an empty tube, whereby the thread being wound on the full package during the transfer stage is only deflected for a very short time, and the deflection of the thread only undergoes a further deflection during the transfer into the catcher slot.

Method and apparatus for transferring a thread from a full package to an empty tube


Methods and systems for grapheme splitting of text input for recognition are provided. A method may include receiving a text input in a script and segmenting the text input into one or more graphemes. Each of the one or more graphemes may be split into one or more recognition units based on one or more recognition unit identification criteria associated with the script. Next, a text recognition system may be trained using the recognition units. Text input may be handwritten text input received from a user or a scanned image of text.

In general, handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. Among various recognition techniques, a complete handwriting recognition system also handles formatting, performs correct segmentation into characters and finds the most plausible words. Similarly, optical character recognition (OCR) is the mechanical or electronic conversion of scanned images of typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. In handwriting recognition and OCR, the task is to recognize a handwritten sample or a scanned document and provide a Unicode string matching the text as output. During a training phase of handwriting recognition and OCR systems, a received text input may be segmented into graphemes. These grapheme recognition units may be used to train the system and generate a trained text recognition model based on the graphemes for use during a recognition phase in the system for recognizing a received text input. In some cases, however, the graphemes can be long and may present an obstacle during training and/or recognition which can adversely impact the recognition efficiency and computational cost in a text recognition system.

Text recognition based on recognition units


A system and method for defining and detecting pestware is described. One embodiment includes receiving a file and placing at least a portion of the file into a processor-readable memory of a computer. A plurality of execution paths within code of the pestware file are followed and particular instructions within the execution paths are identified. A representation of the relative locations of each of the particular instructions within the code of the file are compared against a pestware-definition file so as to determine whether the file is a potential pestware file.

Personal computers and business computers are continually attacked by trojans, spyware, and adware, collectively referred to as "malware" or "pestware." These types of programs generally act to gather information about a person or organization-often without the person or organization's knowledge. Some pestware is highly malicious. Other pestware is non-malicious but may cause issues with privacy or system performance. And yet other pestware is actually beneficial or wanted by the user. Wanted pestware is sometimes not characterized as "pestware" or "spyware." But, unless specified otherwise, "pestware" as used herein refers to any program that collects and/or reports information about a person or an organization and any "watcher processes" related to the pestware.
Software is available to detect and remove some pestware, but many types of pestware are difficult to detect with typical techniques. For example, pestware may be obfuscated with encryption techniques so that a pestware file stored on a system hard drive may not be readily recognizable as a file that has spawned a pestware process. In yet other instances, pestware is known to be polymorphic in nature so as to change its code, data, size and/or its starting address in memory. In yet other instances, variants of known pestware are developed that alter relatively little of the functional aspects of the pestware, yet render the pestware undetectable.
Although present pestware-detection systems detect some or even most pestware, they are not sufficiently accurate or otherwise satisfactory. Accordingly, a system and method are needed to address the shortfalls of present technology and to provide other new and innovative features.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for defining and detecting pestware


Kaolin clays are conditioned for the removal of colored titaniferous impurities by (A) first mixing the kaolin clay with a collector to condition the impurities, in the absence of a dispersant, but in the presence of sufficient water to yield a mixture having a solids content of at least 65 percent by weight and (B) then deflocculating the kaolin clay mixture at a pH of at least 4.0 with a dispersant in amounts sufficient to yield a kaolin clay slurry which is suitable for subsequent processing to remove colored titaniferous impurities.

Kaolin is a naturally occurring, relatively fine, white clay which may be generally described as a hydrated aluminum silicate. After purification and beneficiation, kaolin clay is widely used as a filler and pigment in various materials, such as rubber and resins, and in various coatings, such as paints and coatings for paper.
Crude kaolin clay, as mined, contains various forms of discoloring impurities, two major impurities being anatase (TiO.sub.2) and iron oxides. To make the clay more acceptable for use in the paper industry, these impurities must be substantially removed by appropriate techniques.
The production of high brightness clays usually includes at least two processing steps. In a first step, a significant portion of the impurities, mainly anatase, is removed by employing one or more physical separation techniques, such as centrifugation, sedimentation, high gradient magnetic separation, froth flotation and/or selective flocculation. The remaining impurities, mainly iron oxides, are subsequently removed by known techniques, such as chemical leaching.
Froth flotation is regarded as one of the most efficient methods for removing colored impurities from kaolin clay. Typically, clays to be beneficiated by froth flotation are first blunged in the presence of a dispersant and pH modifier and then conditioned with a collector. The job of the collector is to selectively adsorb to impurities and render them hydrophobic. This part of the process is referred to as conditioning. The conditioned impurities, mainly titanium dioxide in the form of iron-rich anatase, are then removed in a flotation machine via the attachment of the hydrophobic impurities to air bubbles which are injected into the feed slurry or into the flotation pulp.
Two general categories of compounds are reported in the literature as collectors for titaniferous impurities in kaolin clay. Cundy U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,257 discloses the use of fatty acid compounds as collectors, and Yoon & Hilderbrand U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,556 discloses the use of hydroxamate compounds as collectors. Each category of compounds has advantages and disadvantages.
However, conventional flotation processing is adversely affected by the dispersant and pH modifier which tend to disrupt the mechanism by which the collector attaches to the impurities. This and other problems encountered when dispersing (i.e., deflocculating a crude kaolin clay for flotation beneficiation) are discussed in Hunter U.S. Pat. No. 3,410,399.
Therefore, a need exists in the kaolin clay industry for a process which will effectively condition kaolin clays for subsequent removal of impurities, such as in a flotation process.

Kaolin clays which are conditioned prior to removing impurities


A parcel delivery system is provided for use in complex having a plurality of tenant units each having a tenant address, wherein the complex further comprising an intake facility, a delivery facility, and parcel storage boxes, and wherein the intake facility comprises a scanning station and a first automated ground delivery vehicle in communication with the scanning station and wherein the delivery facility comprises a second automated ground delivery vehicle configured to travel between the delivery station and tenant units. In accordance with embodiments, a computer system interfaces with the parcel delivery system to notify tenants when they have a parcel and to further notify tenants when delivery of the parcel has been completed.

Mail and parcel delivery is a crucial service provided to tenants of both residential and commercial properties. Mail, that is, letters and other small envelopes, are often delivered directly by a mail carrier to a tenant's mailbox. In complexes, tenants often have an address that corresponds to a locked mailbox in a single mail room or common area whereby mail carriers sort and deliver envelopes to each respective mailbox address. However, parcels that do not fit in mailboxes must be stored in an area where tenants can retrieve their parcels or alternatively, parcels must be delivered to tenants' doors by employee or contractors working for the complex. Current parcel storage and delivery methods do not fully address the concerns and inefficiencies, both for tenants and for complex owners.
Logistically, parcels must be stored somewhere, whether it be in an area to which tenants have access or in an area accessed only by complex employees/contractors. If the complex does not provide doorstep delivery and opts to store parcels in a "mail room" area, parcels that are not promptly retrieved by tenants take up valuable space, and large number of package deliveries may lead to package room overflow. Further, at a minimum, tenants generally require that other tenants not be able to freely take parcels not belonging to them. Thus, any mail room must be staffed by at least one employee to ensure no theft or inadvertent taking of parcels occurs. Such an arrangement likely places limits on the hours when which the mail room can be staffed and in turn, limits the time frames in which tenants can retrieve their parcels.
As a solution to limited tenant package pickup hours, some complexes have attempted to implement 24 hour locker systems akin to traditional mailboxes. In such systems, parcels are placed in lockers by parcel delivery carriers in the same way traditional mail is placed in mailboxes. However, lockers have several limitations. First, not all parcel delivery carriers may be willing to use parcel lockers. Second, tenants must leave their unit and go to the parcel locker site to retrieve their parcels, which tenants may find objectionable, particularly if the parcel locker site is far away from their unit and if they regularly must retrieve heavy parcels. Lastly, package lockers do not solve the problem of package overflow, and are arguably even less space efficient than package rooms.
In contrast, if the complex provides parcel delivery to tenants' doors, parcels may be delivered when tenants are not present. To avoid repeated delivery attempts and inefficient use of resources, complex or third-party couriers may leave parcels outside the tenant's door. This creates a security risk whereby the parcel is freely accessible to passersby. This may be unsatisfactory to tenants. The complex may alternatively offer to deliver packages within units regardless of if tenants are home, however tenants may object to having their unit entered into when they are not present. Moreover, this may give rise to tenant complaints of theft from units, a risk complexes may be unwilling to take. Coordinating delivery times and confirming tenants are present to accept parcel delivery is, however, time consuming and resource intensive, and thus might not be favorable to complex owners. In either instance, the complex must enlist employees/contractors to perform deliveries. This further requires complex resources and results in complex employees handling tenants' parcels. Tenants may desire a more private parcel delivery experience and complexes may wish to free up valuable resources for performing other day to day tasks.
The logistical, security, and privacy pain points associated with parcel delivery are further exacerbated as more and more shopping is done online, which drastically increases the number of packages received by a given complex. Therefore, there is a need for secure and efficient parcel delivery systems and methods that can be implemented in both residential and commercial complexes that reduce intervention by complex employees and enhance tenants' parcel delivery experience.


In a movable conveyor belt storage installation including a belt storage means (4), conveyor belt support structures (29) following the belt storage means (4), and a movable takeover car (7) including a deflection means (43) for the conveyor belt and a takeup chute (8) for taking over excavated material, the belt storage means (4) is comprised of at least two segments (13, 20, 22, 26) which are connected with one another so as to be pivotable about an axis extending transversely to the belt running direction and passing through the plane of the floor (31), wherein at least a portion of the support structures (29) are capable of being carried along in or on the takeover car (7).

U.S. Pat. No. 2,925,901 discloses a continuous conveyor installation comprised of a belt storage means, consecutively arranged carrying structures and a takeover car referred to as "hopper car". The takeover car in that case takes over the material cut or excavated by a heading or mining machine, utilizing the delivery conveyor directly connected with the heading or mining machine for lifting the material to a level where its discharge onto the takeup chute is feasible. However, particularly with relatively large-structured belt storage means, such an installation cannot be moved as desired. It is rather necessary, as a rule, to completely disassemble the belt conveyor and set it up again on the new location of use, for a new break-in and a new track to be excavated. This involves high dismounting and mounting expenditures and relatively large time losses.
Conveyor belt storage installations including a storage unit with consecutively arranged carrying structures, inter alia, are described in GB 1391612. A similar installation comprising a conveyor belt storage means is to be taken from GB 1150696, in which filling is done using vehicles that are movable in the track. In particular, when working relatively low seams, the spatial limitation resulting therefrom places high demands on the construction of such a movable conveyor belt storage installation. Considering its structural dimensions, a belt storage means would, as a rule, not be introducible into a substantially lower-height seam to be worked, so that relatively large distances would have to be traveled with the stored conveyor belt in order to enable the haulage of excavated material. The accordingly increased conveyor belt demand in the known structures calls for further enlargements of the structural dimensions.
Appropriate supports for the conveyor belt must be provided between the belt storage means and the takeover car, which itself comprises a deflection pulley for the conveyor belt pulled from the belt storage means. Consequently, also the support structures will have to be introduced into the seam to be worked. To this end, DE-A1 38 37 986 proposes a carrying structure for roller holders for upper and lower belt rollers, in which the carrying beams are telescopically displaceable within one another in groups. Such additional devices can, for instance, also be taken from U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,320, where a storage system for carrying structures is described, in which the carrying structures are arranged to be displaceable within one another by their longitudinal struts. In order to ensure the required stability, the longitudinal struts are rigidly connected with a structural beam.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,738, a heading machine has finally become known, to which an extractable belt conveyor device is connected. There, the conveyor belt carrying structures required as a support can be taken from a storage means and are provided with bottom plates to ensure the necessary stability.
None of the known belt storage means, takeover cars and supporting means is size-reducible by any extent such that an accordingly largely automated use will not be readily feasible in low seams. Nor are the known devices sufficiently flexible that the disassembly and reassembly of the belt storage means could be obviated at a change from one track to another. Finally, the known takeover cars are not particularly suited for use in particularly low tracks and are, above all, limited in their mobility when traveling on roads with ditches and crowns.

Sandvik Mining and Construction G.m.b.H.


A method for manufacturing a pressure sensor having a pressure transducer, a pressure-measuring cell having a pressurizable diaphragm as well as a transducer body. The transducer body is manufactured in one piece by a metal powder injection molding process and a subsequent sintering process. Further, a pressure sensor manufactured by the method.

In the case of pressure sensors as used according to the related art, the housing of the pressure transducer is constructed from multiple parts. The individual housing parts are mainly manufactured using a metal-cutting process. Subsequently, the housing parts are welded together in a pressure-tight manner. Here a pressure-stable bond between the individual parts is required, particularly for applications in the high-pressure range. Already the smallest flaws in the weld will result in losses due to leakage and in errors in the measurement of pressure.
A sensor system for measuring pressure is described in German Patent Application No. DE 100 14 992. In this case, the sensor system includes a pressure-measuring cell featuring a measuring diaphragm that can be deflected by the pressurized measuring medium. A measuring bridge directly attached to the measuring diaphragm functions as the sensor circuit. An evaluation circuit is provided in the form of a hybrid circuit and can be attached directly to the measuring diaphragm by establishing electrical connections between the hybrid circuit and the sensor circuit and a measuring connection to the housing of the sensor system. The housing of the sensor system has a multipart design, and the contacting of the connector terminals of the hybrid circuit to the connector pins of the unit connector can be effected using pressure contacts.
The housings known from the related art have the particular disadvantage that the individual housing parts must be manufactured very precisely so that they can be joined together in a pressure-tight manner. An appropriately precise metal-cutting manufacture is bound up with high costs. A high expense is also required for quality control since each individual part must be visually inspected.

Pressure transducer with one-piece housing


A system and method for providing energy management and maintenance of a high energy battery pack that does not require installation of the battery pack into an operational EV. A secondary service port is provided to enable certain maintenance operations while by-passing battery pack interlocks and protection mechanisms used when the battery pack is installed into an operating environment.

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
Battery packs used with electric vehicles store large amounts of energy in a small space, producing high energy densities. These battery packs include an external housing that is designed for more than just environmental protection and packaging efficiency. The housing also enhances safety and stability, particularly under a range of anticipated abnormal operating conditions.
Due to the high energy densities involved, it is known to provide internal safety mechanisms to help ensure that stored energy is controllably released under a narrow set of circumstances. These safety mechanisms interact with mechanical and electrical interfaces provided by an operational vehicle to enable energy charging and discharging.
There are a wide range of situations where energy maintenance and management of a battery pack is needed, and not all of these include situations where the battery pack is installed in a vehicle or a vehicle known to be 100% operational. Some of these situations include storage, transport, and recycling of a high energy battery pack where the battery pack is not installed in an EV. Other situations include operations on a battery pack that is installed in an EV, but the circumstances indicate that operation of the EV, or a subsystem thereof, may be degraded. Degradation may occur from collisions or acts of nature and could compromise a safety system of the battery pack. Even when the safety system is not actually compromised, the state of the vehicle or its environment or status may indicate that there is a risk that the safety system has been compromised. In those situations, it may not be reasonable to expect that the vehicle may be available to provide the necessary interface and safety structures. Of course, there are also situations where maintenance and management operations are needed with respect to a fully functional EV and battery pack.
Maintenance and management operations include charging and discharging a battery pack safely to desired state of charge (SOC) levels. Depending upon the situation, the desired SOC level could require a discharging or a charging operation. Under some circumstances, it is necessary or desirable to perform the operation without benefit of the battery pack being installed into an EV, nor is it always economical or possible in every case to provide an operational EV into which the candidate battery pack may be installed.
One of the incorporated co-pending patent applications includes a discussion of a charging/discharging tool that advantageously under certain circumstances has access to a high-voltage battery pack through a secondary service connection. Sometimes it is the case that the primary service connection is unavailable while there is significant stranded energy present. These cases may include damage to the primary service connection, internal fault with the energy storage system, and/or damaged or defective internal connections.
Even in situations when the primary service connection is available, use of a charging/discharging tool through this connection may add undesired costs and complexities under some scenarios. In order to operate the primary service connection typically used by an electric vehicle, the charging/discharging requires costly CAN communication, special connectors, time to disconnect the vehicle electrical connector and install the connector to the external device, and configuration/use of any simulator to emulate conditions of the operating environment in cases where there is are failsafe protections inhibiting direct access by such a tool.
An energy storage system installed in an EV with significant stranded energy may be implicated by first responders (e.g., fire fighters, security, and emergency personnel) and second responders (e.g., tow truck drivers, dismantlers, junk yards, and auto-salvagers). Whether there is a need for rapid response or access by persons who may lack monetary resources, training, or technical background to address the stranded energy through the primary service connection using a specialized and sophisticated charging/discharging tool, it can be problematic when access the energy storage system is limited.
What is needed is an apparatus and method for providing energy management and maintenance of a high energy battery pack through use of a secondary service port.

Secondary service port for high voltage battery packs


Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for providing a third party service via a wallet client. Service provider information is received from a service provider and stored in a wallet client database. Based on the service provider information, a wallet client is authenticated with a service provider system, a communication session is established, and a servicing environment is invoked.

Field
Example aspects described herein relate generally to mobile wallets in mobile devices for use in mobile commerce, and more particularly to systems, methods, and computer program products for integrating a mobile wallet with third party services.
Related Art
Mobile devices are becoming more and more versatile, and are being used in an increasing number of ways to make various everyday tasks simpler and/or more efficient. One area where mobile devices are being used is the mobile commerce environment. For example, mobile devices are being augmented to include mobile wallets that can be used to conduct financial (e.g., payments) and/or non-financial (e.g., venue admissions) transactions, without the need for physical cash, checks, credit cards, tickets, and/or the like.
Some mobile wallets include payment products, in some cases provided by different service providers, that a consumer (also referred to herein as a "user") can use to conduct financial transactions using a corresponding one or more accounts held by the consumer at the service providers. A service provider (SP) is a company (e.g., a credit card account issuer), organization, entity, and/or the like that provides one or more services to customers or consumers. Service providers often interact with consumers, for example, to provide information regarding their accounts, their payment product, loyalty offers, and/or the like. Service providers have several means by which to communicate with consumers of their services. For example, service providers may communicate with consumers via postal mail, email, telephone, and/or the like. However, these means are not always the most efficient way to communicate with consumers. For example, postal mail can be slow, and consumers may seldom check their email, or may be difficult to reach by telephone.
Mobile wallets provide an additional means for service providers to provide communicate with, and provide services to, their consumers. Providing services via a mobile wallet, however, can carry increased security risks, for example, by exposing sensitive information to possible exploitation by hackers. In addition, consumers may hold numerous accounts at numerous service providers, each of which uses one or more different means of communicating with the consumer. This can make for a fragmented and inconsistent user experience.
Given the foregoing, it would be beneficial to enable consumers to utilize multiple services provided by multiple service providers via mobile wallets in a secure, efficient, integrated, and consistent manner. It would also be beneficial to enable the multiple service providers to provide notifications and/or other communications to consumers via the mobile wallets in a targeted, efficient, integrated, and consistent manner.

Systems, methods, and computer program products for integrating third party services with a mobile wallet


The protector comprises two plastic moldings, fastened together to form a cone around a tree planted in a city avenue. The protector prevents salt from leaching down to the root-ball of the tree, and protects the tree from damage from snow and slush piled around the tree. The protectors are temporary, and the fasteners used can be removed by the authorities, but are of the vandal-resistant type.

Typically, it takes roughly two years for a roadside-planted tree to become established as a self-sustaining tree. During that time, the tree is especially vulnerable to damage, including mechanical damage, and especially to damage by salt.
In the colder climates, in winter, it is common practice to apply salt to the roads. It is common practice also in winter to snow-plough the roads. As a result, it is common for piles of snow, which often contain high concentrations of salt, to lie heaped at the roadside, sometimes for weeks, and even for months, during the winter.
The roadside, in fact, is a highly disadvantageous location for a new tree. Even if it survives the mechanical damage occasioned by the heaping of the snow, the tree will be surrounded by salt-laden snow for long periods. The salt leaches down through the snow, through the soil, and into the root system of the tree. At the end of winter, when the snow and the ground thaws out, the salt concentration in the soil and roots can be expected to be high: but early spring is just the time when the growth of the tree should be at its most vigorous.
If the salt were to be completely effective in melting the accumulated snow, the situation might be even worse. The melted snow and slush is swept or ploughed onto the verge, with the concentrated salt contained therein. The liquid water then either evaporates or soaks into the ground. Either way, much of the salt leaches into the ground. Of course, some of the salt is washed into the sewers. But a good deal of the salt enters the root-balls of trees planted by the roadside. The salt can remain in the soil for long periods, and builds up over the years as a background level, whereby the rise in salt level over the winter can aggregate to an excessive level.
As a result, roadside trees planted in areas where salt is used to keep the roads clear in winter, are notoriously difficult to establish. In some cases, as many as sixty percent of planted trees fail to become established.
On the other hand, city authorities do desire trees to be established in residential avenues. It is an aim of the invention to provide a means whereby trees may be protected from the effects of heaping salt-laden snow and slush around the not-yet-established trees, which have been recently planted at the side of a road.
It has also been the practice for city authorities to provide mulch on the ground around young trees, to absorb the salt. This practice, though expensive, is effective; however, after the winter, the salt-laden mulch now has to be removed and disposed of. It is an aim of the invention to protect the young trees from salt, but in a manner that does not interfere with the disposal of the salt by normal drainage.


A system determines the physical configuration of a convertible checkout station and configures the software to operate the station in correspondence with the determined configuration. The system comprises a physical configuration actuator that responds to a checkout station physical configuration and a physical configuration signal generator responsive to the actuator to generate a signal identifying the physical configuration of the checkout station. The signal may be provided to a processor that controls operation of the station and the processor uses the signal to configure software for the station.

Self-checkout stations at grocery stores and other retail stores are well known. The stations permit a consumer to scan items for purchase so the station may identify the items and a corresponding price. When the consumer indicates all items for purchase have been presented to the terminal, a sub-total is accumulated, any taxes and discounts are computed, and a total amount due is displayed for the consumer. The station then allows the consumer to select a payment method. The station presents menu selections to the consumer so funds are transferred to the retailer's account. Upon confirmation of payment, the items are released to the consumer.
A self-checkout station typically includes a terminal, a scanner and scales for reading unit price codes (UPC) and determining item weight, a cashier keypad and display, a POS terminal for payment entry, a receipt printer, a change unit, and a checkout area for holding items once they have been scanned. The terminal also includes a display, a processor, memory, programmed instructions, and data peripherals to control the operations of the station. The programmed instructions may contain modules for querying for item prices, computing totals and performing other functions related to the purchase of items through a self-checkout station. Some checkout station may also include a security application program that operates to reduce the likelihood that the consumer leaves without scanning all of the items or exchanges scanned items with more expensive items that have not been scanned.
Because a self-checkout station includes the components typically found in a cashier-assisted station, self-checkout stations have been constructed that support the conversion of a self-checkout station into a cashier-assisted station. Self-checkout stations that may be converted to cashier-assisted stations and vice versa typically include a conveyor belt for moving items to a scanner/scale of the checkout terminal. In these convertible checkout stations, the scanner is mounted on a swivel atop a sliding drawer so the scanner may be pulled from the checkout station and turned to either face consumers in self-checkout station operation or away from the consumer in cashier-assisted station operation. Typically, the sliding drawer is released by depressing a drawer latch and pulling the drawer away from the checkstand. When the drawer is fully retracted, the scanner may be rotated and realigned with the sliding drawer. The drawer is then pushed into engagement with the checkstand and adjustments are made to align the scanner with the conveyor belt for cashier-assisted operation. A cashier display and keypad are mounted on a swivel to the top of a consumer display for the scanner. After the scanner is rotated, the cashier display is rotated on its swivel so it is returned to a position that faces away from the consumer side of the station. In this manner, a cashier may use a keypad or the scanner and scales for item data entry. The keypad remains accessible to the consumer for payment. To return to self-checkout mode, the described procedure is reversed so the sliding drawer may be released and pulled out, the scanner and scales rotated, the drawer returned to the checkstand in an orientation that permits consumer operation and the cashier display rotated towards the cashier side.
Once the scanner has been oriented for either cashier-assisted or consumer operation, the station software needs to be configured for the appropriate mode of operation. For example, the security application may operate differently with respect to certain events regarding the movement of items into and out of the checkout area depending upon the mode in which the scanner is operating. Typically, the person who is converting the station from one type of operational mode to another configures the software for the operational mode of the station. Unfortunately, this person may forget to reconfigure the software for the current operational mode. Improperly configured software may permit a consumer to more easily defraud the store or make errors that impede the unattended operation of the self-checkout station. The requirement of manually reconfiguring the software also increases the time associated with the conversion of the station, especially if the one who is converting the station is distracted during the conversion process and leaves the station for customer service.
Another problem with conversion of a checkout station occurs during the reboot or reapplication of power following system failure. In event of such a failure, the system reboot or power application causes the station to configure the software operating the station. If the station did not store some indicator of its last operational mode, the station does not know whether to configure the software for cashier-assisted or self-checkout mode. If its default configuration is cashier-assisted and the station is physically configured for self-checkout mode, the same erroneous operations or conditions for defrauding the store may exist.
What is needed is a way of identifying the physical configuration of the station so the software configuration of the station is correlated to the proper operational mode.
What is needed is a way of reducing the time required for converting a checkout station from one operational mode to another.

System and method for controlling software configuration in a convertible self-checkout station


An apparatus generally having a circuit board and a first strain gauge is disclosed. The circuit board may have a plurality of insulating layers. The first strain gauge may be disposed between two of the insulating layers.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a perspective drawing and a cross-sectional drawing of a conventional ball grid array (BGA) packaged component 10 mounted on printed circuit board (PCB) 12 are respectively shown. Multiple strain gauges 14a–14d are commonly mounted on the PCB 12 around the component 10 to characterize mechanical loading and strain to solder balls 16a–16n attaching the component 10 to the PCB 12. Attaching the strain gauges 14a–14b to the PCB 12 is cumbersome and extremely time consuming. The strain gages 14a–14d are attached on a top surface 18 of the PCB 12 and thus away from areas of interest. The strain gages 14a–14d cannot be placed between the component 10 and top surface 18 due to the solder balls 16a–16n. Therefore, measurements are taken away from solder balls 16a–16n or other locations that are important.
Furthermore, wiring from the strain gages 14a–14d commonly interferes with board level test equipment, such as in circuit test (ICT) or automated functional test (AFT) equipment. The strain gages 14a–14d are typically placed away from the board level test fixtures to avoid the interferences. Therefore, the board level test equipment interference makes measurements from the strain gauges 14a–14d inaccurate.

Embedded strain gauge in printed circuit boards


There are provided natural rubber free from substances which cause Type I allergy, a rubber compositions having good processability and physical properties which comprises the natural rubber and other rubber, and a tire product comprising the natural rubber.

Heretofore, natural rubber has been applied to a wide variety of products ranging from industrial products such as tires for automobiles and aircraft, conveyer belts and adhesives to household products such as gloves. Natural rubber is collected as latex containing water, proteins, inorganic salts and the like in addition to the rubber component and this latex is coagulated to give crude rubber (crepe rubber or smoked sheet rubber). A target rubber product is produced from this crude rubber through mastication, addition of compounding agents, molding, and vulcanization.
Fresh latex of natural rubber contains non-rubber components such as proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and inorganic substances in addition to about 30 to 35% w/v (by weight/volume) of rubber component. Solid natural rubber (crude rubber) obtained by coagulating the fresh latex with formic acid contains about 6 wt % of the non-rubber components. These non-rubber components are known to be important for natural rubber to exhibit specific physical properties. However, it has become a social problem around 1990 that some of proteins contained in natural rubber latex products, gloves in particular, cause Type I acute allergy, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in U.S.A. has issued a medical alert toward manufacturers of rubber products to reduce soluble proteins contained in latex products.
Following methods are known as a technique for reducing proteins in latex, (i) a method of successive centrifuging the latex, (ii) a method of treating the latex with a proteolytic enzyme, (iii) a method of treating the latex with alkali, and (iv) a method of treating enzymatically deproteinized latex with alkali (refer to JP-A 30301 (2003)). However, even after treatments by these (i), (ii), and (iii) methods, the resulting natural rubber still contains a substantial amount of nitrogenous compounds and they are not able to be free from Type I allergic reactions. Moreover, the methods (ii) and (iv) using a proteolytic enzyme are resulted in the formation of rubber containing residual proteins originated from the enzyme, which can be some allergen. Furthermore, the method (iv) requires troublesome and costing two steps of treatment, i.e., the treatment of the proteolytic enzyme followed by alkali treatment and showed no finding to prove the formation of rubber free from allergy.
As a result of extensive studies on proteins contained in natural rubber latex, the present inventors have found that it is difficult to remove all proteins by ordinary proteolytic enzymes. Because, the proteins in the natural rubber are present in the serum of the latex and on the surfaces of rubber particles in the latex as shown in FIG. 1. The surface of the rubber particles in latex is known to be stabilized by a double-layer comprising of lipids and proteins.
Thus, by the method (i) of centrifuging the latex, the proteins in the serum can be removed, but the proteins on the surfaces of the rubber particles cannot be removed. Meanwhile, by the method (ii) of treating the latex with a proteolytic enzyme or the method (iii) of treating the latex with alkali, although the proteins on the surfaces of the rubber particles can be decomposed, coagulation of the rubber particles occurs during the treatment, so that enzymatic hydrolysis or chemical hydrolysis of the proteins remaining on the rubber particles becomes extremely slow, thereby making it impossible to remove all of the remaining proteins. Moreover, by the method (ii) the presence of residual proteins from the proteolytic enzyme is inevitable.
Under the circumstances, one of the present inventors has made intensive studies. As a result, he has found a method of producing natural rubber containing a reduced amount of nitrogen to 0.02% or less, the content of which is known to be an index of the protein content, and already filed a patent application for the invention (refer to JP-A 56902 (2003)). The method comprises the steps of treating natural rubber latex with a surfactant and a proteolytic enzyme and then concentrating and washing the treated latex once or twice by centrifugation. Since the latex obtained by this method has highly deproteinized, gloves prepared by use of the low-protein natural rubber reduce the possibility for Type I allergic reactions.
However, in this deproteinization method, the addition of about 1% of a surfactant or surfactants makes it difficult to produce solid natural rubber by an ordinary coagulation method. In addition, the method requires a step of removing decomposed proteins by centrifugation. Accordingly, the method is not suitable for mass production of natural rubber. Further, it has been confirmed by a clinical test with a scratch method, which is a more strict testing method, that about 8% of patients are still positive for Type I allergy with respect to the low-protein natural rubber obtained by this method (R. Hayakawa et. al., Environ. Dermatol., 6, 10 (1999)), indicating that deproteinization by this method is not complete.

Deproteinized natural rubber, its composition and use thereof

Abstract: The natural rubber of the present invention exhibits the above properties by containing substantially no proteins specified by the bands of 14, 31 and 45 kDa by SDS-PAGE.


A fiber preform architecture and method of making, including a plurality of fiber bands. Each band of the plurality of fiber bands is placed at a time, at a predetermined position and orientation, to generate an interwoven and interlocking pattern between the fiber bands. Each of the plurality of fiber bands is formed of a plurality of fiber tows, positioned side by side at a predetermined spacing to define one or more gaps between each tow in the fiber band and define a secondary based interleaving within each of the fiber bands. The plurality of fiber bands are interwoven in an in-plane and out-of-plane orientation by interleaving each of the plurality of fiber bands with one or more of the plurality of fiber bands previously laid down and not in a common plane. The plurality of fiber bands include three or more different orientation angles and provide uniformity in coverage.

The disclosure relates generally to gas turbine engines and, more particularly, to a fiber preform architecture for composite articles for gas turbine engines, such as composite fan containment cases, and methods of fabrication.
Gas turbine engines typically include high and low pressure compressors, a combustor, and at least one turbine. The compressors compress air, which is mixed with fuel and channeled to the combustor. The mixture is then ignited for generating hot combustion gases, and the combustion gases are channeled to the turbine, which extracts energy from the combustion gases for powering the compressor, as well as producing useful work to propel an aircraft in flight or to power a load, such as an electrical generator.
Gas turbine engines used in aircraft have a fan with a hub, and fan blades are disposed for rotation about a central axis. When engines operate in various conditions, foreign objects may be ingested into the engine. More specifically, various types of foreign objects may be entrained in the inlet of a gas turbine engine, ranging from large birds, to hailstones, sand and rain. The foreign objects may impact a blade resulting in a portion of the impacted blade being torn loose from a rotor. Catastrophic damage can occur to the aircraft and its occupants if a broken fan blade is propelled radially outwardly from the rotating hub under centrifugal force and impacts on the aircraft fuselage.
In an attempt to prevent such damage, it is common to include a generally cylindrical fan containment case about the periphery for containing the fan blade and any foreign objects. Fan containment cases may also be subject to foreign object damage that causes the rotor blade to pierce an engine fan case resulting in cracks along an exterior surface of the engine fan case. Additionally, foreign object damage may cause a portion of the engine to bulge or deflect resulting in increased stresses along the entire engine fan case. A fan containment case is typically fabricated from a metallic material which results in an increased weight of the engine and therefore the airframe. Fan containment cases made of composite materials combine excellent impact resistance and damage tolerance properties with significant weight reduction relatively to the metal case.
Composite laminates made by textile fabric (ex. woven, braid) are known to have superior damage tolerance compared to unidirectional laminates, and such textile fiber preforms are suitable for fiber architecture of a fan containment case shell to obtain containment capability. However, known composite fabrication processes using textile fabric generally involve manual processes and are not cost effective. The recent development of automated fiber placement (AFP) machine enables an automated and more cost effective method of producing composite components. However, conventional fiber placement processes cannot utilize textile fabric and generate unidirectional laminates by placing the fiber bands comprising longitudinal fibers and a resin adjacent to each other.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a novel textile fiber preform for composite articles, such as a fan containment case, and method of fabrication that provides high impact resistance and superior damage tolerance, without increasing the overall weight.

Fiber preform architecture for composite articles and method of fabrication


There are provided plastisols based on poly(meth)acrylate which have a mean molecular weight in excess of 3,500,000 which have superior shelf life, tensile strength extensibility and viscosity as well as gel formation and filmforming propeties to those known heretofore. These plastisols are formed by emulsion polymerization.

The invention is directed to new plastisols with improved qualities, as well as to the use of advantageous (meth)acrylate resin masses for the production of these new plastisols.
Plastisols are generally found as a two-phase system having one component as a plastic (binding material) and the second as a suitable softening agent. As a matter of principle, a large variety of different plastics are usable as binding materials. However, from a technical point of view, only rather few plastics are actually utilized. By far, the most important class of polymers that is utilized for this purpose are derived from polyvinyl chloride (PVC). However, from the point of view of environment considerations, the utilization of PVC is undesirable. The danger of dioxin formation in the case of fire and the corresponding contamination of the surroundings militates against the utilization of PVC.
For this reason, attempts have been made to create plastisols based on poly(meth)acrylates. See for example, DE-PS 934 498, FR-A 2,291,248 and EP 0 774 483 A2. As used herein, the terminology (meth)acrylates includes both acrylates and methacrylates.
A fundamental problem associated with the use of poly(meth)acrylate plastisols in comparison to PVC plastisols rests in their insufficient shelf-life and mechanical properties. The use of spray-dried emulsion polymerisates based on PMMA in accordance with the state of the art, leads in combination with commercially available softening agents to good gelation and film properties, but also to reduced storage stabilityxe2x80x94the products already gel after comparatively short time at room temperature which can be recognized by an increase in viscosity.
The problem of storage capacity was attempted to be solved as disclosed in EP 0 774 483, by raising the amount of the middle sized particles by providing milled-suspension polymerisates to the usual emulsion polymerisates. The disadvantage of this procedure is in the circumstance that the higher particle size leads to impeded gelling of the plastisols, since under certain circumstances, the larger suspension polymerisates no longer gel completely which this technology demands. The inhomogeneity of the films caused by the incomplete gelation gives rise to insufficient mechanical properties with respect to tensile strength (resistance to tearing) in the corresponding films. Furthermore, one must not ignore the optical disadvantage of these inhomogeneous films in the formation of smooth surfaces. In order to achieve the production and reduction in size of the suspension polymerisates, additional procedural steps are required which lead to increase in cost of the product.
Furthermore, the art similarly requires the lowest possible viscosity level for the plastisol. On the one hand, it is desirable to cover the broadest possible spectrum of processing techniques and thus cover the widest possible area of usage. On the other hand, plastisols should desirably be processable at the lowest possible temperature and only after warming and subsequently cooling, should the plastisol gel to a solid uniform film.
The state of the art describes the use of emulsion polymerisates up to a molecular weight of 2,000,000 g/mol (EP 0 539 031 A1). For technically usual PMMA plastisols, there are utilized emulsion polymerisates of a substantially lower (less than 500,000 g/mol) molecular weight.
Heretofore, the state of the art does not describe polymerisates and/or copolymerisates of the utilized (meth)acrylate with such high chain lengths for the formation of plastisols. Thus, there is no suggestion to one skilled in the art that by utilizing polymerisates and/or copolymerisates of (meth)acrylates of such high molecular weight, one could obtain the above-described advantageous plastisols. On the contrary, one skilled in the art would be under the impression that by raising the molecular weight and therewith chain length polymers, there would be obtained an increase in the viscosity of the plastisols. In fact, as is shown in Table 1 hereof, what occurs is the exact reverse.
The task of the present invention is to find a plastisol that combines good film qualities and gel formability which lead to good tensile strength and break/extension properties of the product with acceptable storage stability and low viscosity. These and further named tasks, which will be clear to one skilled in the art from the state of the art, are solved by plastisol defined by claim 1 hereof.
Advantageous embodiments of the invention are set forth in claims relating back to claim 1. Uses of plastisols in accordance with the present invention are described in the corresponding claims.
These plastisols show:
1. Polymerisates and/or copolymerisates of (meth)acrylates obtainable by the polymerization of mixtures containing, as polymerizable components:
(A) 20 to 100 wt. % methylmethacrylate.
(B) 0 to 80 wt. % of (meth)acrylates different from methylmethacrylate, having formula I:
xe2x80x83wherein
R1 is hydrogen or methyl, and
R2 is a linear or branched (C1-C18) alkyl residue.
(C) 0 to 40 wt. % of further monomers different from (A) and (B),
(D) 0 to 40 wt. % of adhesion causing monomer, wherein (A) through (D) yield 100 wt. % of the polymerizable components.
II. A compatible softening agent in the proportion of 5 to 400 parts by weight, relative to 100 wt. % of polymerisate and/or copolymerisate I.
III. Inorganic fillers in the amount of 9 to 700 parts by weight, relative to 100 parts by weight of component I, characterized thereby that the mean molecular weight Mw of the poly-merisate and/or copolymerisate of the (meth)acrylate is greater than 3,500,000 g/mol, enables one to provide, a particularly advantageous and yet surprisingly stable plastisol having low viscosity which, because of homogeneous film formation on gelation, show excellent mechanical as well as optical properties. The polymerisate and/or copolymerisates are preferably obtained through emulsion polymerization.
Under normal circumstances, a rise in molecular weight, that is to say chain length, in solutions or emulsions of polymer, leads to a faster separation of mixtures and thus a poorer storage life. However, contrary to expectations, the storage stability of plastisols improves with the increase in chain length. In the plastisols of the present invention, one observes a far lower level of mixture separation than with plastisols formed with polymerisates of the state of the art.
Especially preferred in the plastisols of the present invention based on (meth)acrylate, are those wherein the residue R2 of the (meth)acrylate of formula I is a linear or branch chained (C1-C8) alkyl residue.
It is particularly advantageous if the mean molecular weight Mw of polymerisate and/or copolymerisate of the charged (meth)acrylate in the plastisols is greater than 3,500,000 g/mol., suitably greater than 3,900,000 g/mol.
Particularly desirable for the formation of plastisols is the use of polymerisate and/or copolymerisate of the (meth)acrylate with a mean molecular weight Mw of greater than 3,500,000 g/mol, preferably greater than 3,900,000 g/mol.
The term xe2x80x9c(meth)acrylatexe2x80x9d within the scope of the present invention includes both acrylates and methacrylates.
The chain length of the polymerisates and/or copolymerisates of the methacrylates are limited by a synthetically achievable chain lengths. Chain lengths having a mean molecular weight of Mw of about 12,000,000 g/mol are achievable.
The mean molecular weight Mw of polymers for use of the present invention are determined by means of SEC or GPC (size exclusion chromatography or gel permeation chromatography) relative to polystyrene standards. Those skilled in the art are familiar with SEC or GPC analysis methods for the determination of the mean molecular weight.
Within the scope of the invention, a further quantity for the characterization of the molecular mass of the charge polymerisate and/or copolymerisate is the viscosity number VZ. This viscosity number is determined by the standard set forth in DIN 51 562 Parts 1 and 3 (Revision of January 1983 and May 1985).
The polymerisates and/or copolymerisates used in the plastisols of the present invention have a VZ value equal to, or greater than 600, desirably greater than 600, preferably greater than 900, and especially preferably greater than 1200.
By the term xe2x80x9clinearxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cbranch chain (C1-C18) alkyl residuexe2x80x9d, one understands a group of alkyl residues commencing with methyl via ethyl, up to an 18 carbon atoms containing radical. Included in this group are several bonding isomers which are conceivable within the group.
Included in the different monomers of (A) and (B) are styrene and its derivatives, vinyl esters such as vinyl acetate, vinyl propionate, vinyl esters of higher alkyl acids, maleic acid anhydride, itaconic acid and its esters, and olefins such as ethylene, propylene, isobutylene, etc.
As adhesion improving monomers (HM) may be included radically polymerizable monomers which contain functional groups, which can enter into interactions with materials that are to be coated. Such interactions can occur by, for example, hydrogen bonding, complexing, dipole forces and the rest, in which, generally speaking, hetero atoms such as oxygen or nitrogen take part. There may be mentioned as functional groups amino, in particular dialkyl amino, (cyclic)amido- imido- hydroxy- oxy- carboxyl- and cyano groups. Such monomers are, generally speaking, known (see H. Rauch Puntigam, Th. Volker, (translated) Acryl- and Methacryl-compounds, Springer-Verlag, 1967; Kirk-Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd. Ed., Vol. 1, pp. 394-400, J. Wiley 1978; DE-A 25 56 080; DE-A 26 34 003).
Preferably, the adhesion improving monomers HM belong to a nitrogen containing class of vinyl heterocycles, suitably having 5 or 6 rings and/or copolymerizable vinyl carboxylic acids and/or hydroxyalkyl-, alkoxy-alkyl-, and aminoalkyl-substituted esters or amides of acrylic and methacrylic acids.
As nitrogen containing heterocyclic monomers of the HM group, particularly desirable are the class of vinyl imidozoles, vinyl lactams, vinyl carbazoles and vinyl pyridines. As examples, which no way should be considered to be limiting for these monomeric imidazole compounds may be mentioned N-vinyl-imidazole, (also called vinyl-1-imidazole), N-vinyl-methyl-2-imidazole. N-vinyl-ethyl-2-imidazole, N-vinyl-phenyl-2-imidazole, N-vinyl-dimethyl-2,4-imidazole, N-vinyl-benzimidazole, N-vinylimidazoline (also called vinyl-1-imidazoline), N-vinyl-methyl-2-imidazoline, N-vinyl-phenyl-2-imidazoline and vinyl-2-imidazole.
As examples of monomers which are obtained from lactams, there may be mentioned in particular N-Vinylpyrrolidone, N-Vinylmethyl-5-pyrrolidone, N-Vinylmethyl-3-pyrrolidone, N-Vinylethyl-5-pyrrolidone, N-Vinyldimethyl-5,5-pyrrolidone, N-Vinylphenyl-5-pyrrolidone, N-Allyl-pyrrolidone, N-Vinylthiopyrrolidone, N-Vinylpiperidone, N-Vinyldiethyl-6,6-piperidone, N-Vinylcaprolactam, N-Vinylmethyl-7-caprolactam, N-Vinyl-ethyl-7-caprolactam, N-Vinyl-dimethyl-7,7-caprolactam, N-Allylcaprolactame, N-Vinylcapryllactam.
Under monomers which may be derived from carbazole, there may be particular mentioned N-Vinylcarbazole, N-Allylcarbazole, N-Butenylcarbazole, N-Hexenylcarbazol and N-(Methyl-1-ethylene)carbazole. As copolymerizable vinylcarboxylic acids, there may be mentioned as particularly suitable acrylic and methacrylic acids as well as suitable salts thereof.
Further, there may be utilized as the following oxy, as well as alkoxy substituted alkyl esters of (meth)acrylic acids, in particular 2-Hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate, Hydroxypropyl(meth)acrylate, 2-Methoxy-ethyl(meth)acrylate, 2-Ethoxyethyl(meth)acrylate, 2-Butoxyethyl(meth)acrylate, 2-(2-Butoxyethoxy)ethylmethacrylate, 2-(Ethoxyethyloxy)ethyl(meth)acrylate, 4-Hydroxybutyl(meth)acrylate, 2-[2-(2-Ethoxy-ethoxy)ethoxy]-ethyl(meth)acrylate, 3-Methoxybutyl-1-(meth)acrylate, 2-Alkoxymethylethyl(meth)acrylate, and 2-Hexoxyethyl(meth)acrylate.
Furthermore, the following amino substituted alkyl esters (meth)acrylic acids, may be mentioned 2-Dimethylamino-ethyl (meth)acrylate, 2-Diethylaminoethyl-(meth)acrylate, 3-Dimethylamino-2,2-dimethylpropyl-1-(meth)acrylate, 3-Dimethylamino-2,2-dimethylpropyl-1-(meth)acrylate, 2-Morpholinoethyl(meth)-acrylate, 2-tert.-Butylamino-ethyl(meth)acrylate, 3-(Dimethylamino)propyl-(meth)acrylate, 2-(Dimethyl-aminoethoxyethyl)-(meth)acrylate.
As examples of (meth)acrylamide, the following monomers may be mentioned N-Methyl(meth)acrylamide, N-Dimethylaminoethyl(meth)-acryl amide, N-Dimethylaminopropyl(meth)acrylamide, N-Isopropyl(meth)-acryl amide, N-tert.-Butyl(meth)acrylamide, N-Isobutyl(meth)acrylamide, N-Decyl(meth)acrylamide, N-Cyclohexyl(meth)acrylamide, N-[3-(Dimethyl-amino)2,2-dimethylpropyl]-methacrylamide, N-[2-Hydroxyethyl](meth)-acrylamide.
The plastisols of this application contain generally known softeners W in the usual amounts, for example for PMMA plastisols (but also for PVC plastisols), in particular phthalic acid esters, adipic acid and/or sebacic acid esters, chlorinated paraffins, trialkyl phosphates, aliphatic or araliphatic polyesters, as well as various other polymeric softening agents such as urea soft resin (see H. K. Felger (Trans.), Plastics-Handbook Vol. 1/1C, Kanset-Verlag 1985 as well as in H. F. Mark, et al., Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Engineering, Supplemental Volume, pg. 568-647, J. Wiley 1989). A selection of suitable softening agents can also be found in DE-C 25 43 542. Similarly, there may be used softening agents suitably softening agent combinations which, during a storage of the prepared plastisols for 3 weeks at 30xc2x0 C., limit a rise in viscosity to 10 times, suitably only 5 times the initial viscosity. Particularly may be mentioned dioctylphthalate, diisodecyl-phthalate, diethylhexylphthalate, Di-C7C11-n-alkylphathlate, tricresylphos-phate, dibenzyltoluene (LIPINOL?T, Product of Fa. Huls AG), 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentandioldibenzoate (Benzoflex 354, Product of Velsicol) and benzyl-octytphtalate.
Furthermore, the plastisols may contain generally speaking, well known inorganic fillers in amounts in amounts up to 700 parts by weight (per 100 parts by weight of plastisol). There may be mentioned for example, calcium carbonate (chalk) titanium dioxide, calcium oxide, Perlite, precipitated and coated chalks as rheologically active additives, further similarly thixotroping agents such as, for example, pyrogenic silica acid. The particle size generally lies in the range of 5 to 25 m and furthermore the plastisols according to the intended use, may contain known active agents such as adhesive agents, cross-linking agents, stabilizers, lubricating agents, blowing agents in amounts of 0-5 wt. % (relative to the plastisols). There may also be utilized calcium stearate as a lubricating agent.
The plastisols of the present invention may be utilized for a variety of purposes such as those designated for PVC or PMMA plastisols. In particular, there may be considered walking surfaces for floor coverings, free transparent folios, KFZ underlayment protection, corrosion protection for metals, intermediate coverings for floor coverings (foamed), wallpaper, plastic sheets, car roof windows, instrument panel, coverings, crown corks.
Basically, the above-identified monomers, in particular methylmeth-acrylate as well as the monomers of Group B are useful for the core-shell polymerisates.
The construction of the polymerisate and/or copolymerisate from a core material and a shell material proceeds in a generally known manner in a particular procedure by emulsion polymerization. In this process, the monomers forming the core material are polymerized in aqueous emulsion in a first procedural step. When the monomers of the first step are substantially fully polymerized, the monomeric components of the shell material are added under such conditions to the emulsion polymerisate that formation of new particles is avoided. Thus, during the second step the thus formed polymerisate forms a shell around the core material.
In the first polymerization step in which the core material is formed, between 0.01 to 3 wt. % (relative to the monomer) of an anionic cationic or nonionic emulsifier such as sodium lauryl sulfate, alkyl benzyl sulfonate, oxy ethylation products of alkylated phenols or their neutralized sulfonation products are utilized. The polymerization suitably proceeds between 60xc2x0 and 100xc2x0 C. with the help of a water soluble radical source such as potassium or ammonium persulfate or hydrogen peroxide. Before the commencement of the second polymerization step, further initiator may be added. However, very mall amounts or in fact no additional emulsifier is used in the second step.


Mycobacterium strains that have an enhanced ability to elicit a MHC-Class I-restricted CD8+ T cell immune response are provided. The Mycobacterium strains are genetically engineered to express: a endosomalytic protein that is active at neutral pH (e.g. Perfringolysin O), permitting escape of the Mycobacterium from endosomes into the cytoplasm of the cell; and antigens of interest, such as tuberculosis antigens. The invention also provides vaccine preparations containing such Mycobacterium strains.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention provides Mycobacterium strains that have an enhanced ability to elicit an immune response. In vivo experiments have demonstrated, for example, a Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I-restricted CD8+ T cell immune response. In particular, the invention provides Mycobacterium strains that express a Perfringolysin O (PfoA) protein that permits escape of the Mycobacterium from endosomes, and vaccine preparations containing the Mycobacterium strains.
2. Background
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) has infected one-third of the world's population, causing active disease in 8 million and killing 1.6-2.2 million individuals every year, most of whom live in the developing world. Tuberculosis (TB) is an epidemic of global proportions that is growing and becoming even more deadly as it intersects with the spread of HIV. TB is the number one killer of people with AIDS.
Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG), an attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis and the current widely used TB vaccine, was developed over 80 years ago and when tested has had widely variable rates of efficacy against pulmonary tuberculosis, including no efficacy in the last large field trial conducted in India (Fine et al., Vaccine, 16(20):1923-1928; 1998; Anonymous, Indian J Med. Res., August; 110:56-69; 1999. Nonetheless, The World Health Organization currently recommends BCG at birth or first contact with health services for all children (except those with symptoms of HIV disease/AIDS) in high TB prevalent countries. This policy is based on evidence that BCG protects against serious childhood forms of TB (Lanckriet et al., Int J Epidemiol, 24(5):1042-1049; 1995; Rodrigues et al., J. Epidemiol Community Health 45(1): 78-80; 1991. Protection by BCG against TB beyond early childhood is a controversial subject with limited data giving mixed results. The high incidence of pediatric and adult TB in developing countries where infant BCG immunization is widely practiced, however, indicates that BCG as currently administered is not highly efficacious over the many years when people are at risk of TB disease. Thus, BCG is considered to be an inadequate public health tool for the intervention and control of TB.
Approximately 70 percent of humans exposed to TB organisms, and who have normal immune systems, do not become infected, and of those that do become infected only about 5 percent develop disease within the first two years. The majority of infected individuals suppress the infection, which is associated with the development of robust cellular immune responses to M. tb antigens. An additional 5 percent later reactivate when immunity declines. Both primary and reactivation disease are much more common in people with HIV/AIDS, again emphasizing the role of immunity in preventing and controlling infection.
Because most humans are able to control TB, there is good reason to hope that by inducing long lasting immunity of the appropriate kind, it should be possible to develop effective vaccines that prevent initial infection after exposure, prevent early progression to disease, prevent reactivation from the latent state, and prevent relapse after treatment. Ultimately, it is the combination of systematic vaccine use plus chemotherapeutic intervention that will eventually eliminate M. tb as a human pathogen.
In light of the critical role childhood BCG vaccination is thought to play in preventing acute TB, it is difficult to replace BCG in trials to evaluate candidate TB vaccines without overwhelming evidence that the new TB vaccine is a superior product. The problem is that M. tb is a human-specific pathogen and animal models only mimic parts of the host-pathogen interaction. Thus, definitive evidence that a new TB vaccine possesses improved potency can only be obtained from controlled field trials in humans. This reality has led many investigators to conclude that a key step toward an improved TB vaccine will be to enhance the immunogenicity of BCG.
One example of such a strategy is to improve the capacity of BCG to induce or activate T cells for enhancing the immune response. The pivotal role of major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted CD8+ T cells in immunity to M tb is demonstrated by the failure of β2-microglobulin (β2m)-deficient mice to control experimental M. tb infection (Flynn et al., PNAS USA, 89(24): 12013-12017; 1992). The pivotal role of Major Histocompatibility Complex class I-restricted CD8+ T cells was convincingly demonstrated by the failure of β2-microglobulin (β2m) deficient mice to control experimental M. tuberculosis infection (Flynn et al., supra, 1992). Because these mutant mice lack Major Histocompatibility Complex class I, functional CD8+ T cells cannot develop. In contrast to M. tuberculosis infection, β2m-deficient mice are capable of controlling certain infectious doses of the BCG vaccine strain (Flynn et al., supra, 1992; Ladel C. H., et al., Eur J Immunol, 25:377-384; 1995). Furthermore, BCG vaccination of β2m-deficient mice only prolonged survival after M. tuberculosis infection, whereas BCG-immunized C57BL/6 resisted M. tuberculosis (Flynn et al., supra, 1992).
This differential CD8+ T cell dependency between M. tuberculosis and BCG may be explained as follows: M. tuberculosis antigens gain better access to the cytoplasm than antigens from BCG leading to more pronounced Major Histocompatibility Complex class I presentation (Hess and Kaufmann, FEMS Microbiol. Immunol 7:95-103; 1993). Consequently, a more effective CD8+ T cell response is generated by M. tuberculosis. This notion was recently supported by increased Major Histocompatibility Complex class I presentation of an irrelevant antigen, ovalbumin, by simultaneous M. tuberculosis, rather than BCG, infection of antigen presenting cells (APC) (Mazzaccaro et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, October 15:93(21):11786-91; 1996).
Thus, M. tb antigens access the host cell cytoplasm better than antigens from BCG, leading to increased Major Histocompatibility Complex (herein referred to as MHC) class I presentation (Hess et al., supra, 1993) and an elevated CD8+ T cell response to M. tb. Further, M. tb stimulates antigen-specific MHC class II-restricted CD4+ T helper cells as well as Major Histocompatibility Complex class I-restricted CD8+ cytotoxic T cells in mice and humans (Kaufmann, Annu Rev Immunol 11:129-163; 1993). By extension, this fact indicates that M tb infected cells are susceptible to recognition by MHC class I-restricted CD8+ cytotoxic T cells. Given that 70 percent of immunocompetent humans exposed to TB organisms do not become infected, immunity induced by M. tb infection is highly effective in controlling this organism in the vast majority of instances. It is believed, therefore, that the efficacy of existing TB vaccine strain BCG will be improved by increasing the capacity of BCG to induce MHC class I-restricted CD8+ cytotoxic T cell responses (Kaufmann, Fundamental Immunology, 1997).
As a rule, antigens expressed by pathogens that remain phagosome-bound are primarily presented by MHC class II molecules to CD4+ T cells but are poorly recognized by CD8+ T cells, which normally recognize antigens presented in the context of MHC class I molecules (Kaufmann, supra, 1997). In contrast, intracellular bacteria, such as Listeria monocytogenes (e.g. ATCC #13932), that escape the phagosome and replicate in the cytoplasm of host cells are effective at accessing the MHC class I antigen presentation pathway and at eliciting CD8+ T cell responses (Berche et al., J Immunol, 138:2266-2276; 1987). This endosome escape function of Listeria monocytogenes was recently transferred into attenuated Salmonella, which normally resides in the phagosome, by introducing the sequences encoding listeriolysin (Llo); the resultant strains were shown to escape the endosome and were more effective at inducing CD8+ T cell responses (Bielecki et al., Nature (London), 354:175-176; 1990; Gentschev et al., Infect Immun 63(10):4202-4205; 1995; Hess et al., Host Response to Intracellular Pathogens, 75-90; 1997). More recently this approach was applied to BCG; thus rBCG strains secreting Llo were constructed to improve the capacity of BCG to induce MHC class I-restricted immune responses (Hess et al., PNAS USA, 95(9):5299-5304; 1998. Although early evidence suggested that a rBCG-Llo+ strain was more adept at eliciting CD8+ T cells, the strain proved to be incapable of escaping the endosome. Thus, a limitation of this approach is that the hemolytic function of Llo, which is required for endosome escape, is only fully active at pH 5.5 and almost inactive at pH 7.0. Since Mycobacteria maintain the pH of the endosome at a value of ca. 7.0, it is logical to surmise that Llo in rBCG-Llo strains thus far reported are dysfunctional because the environment in which they are expressed is suboptimal for hemolytic activity magnitude (Geoffroy et al., Infect Immun 55(7): 1641-1646; 1987). Thus, the immune-enhancing benefit of this approach will not be realized until a strategy is developed that enables Llo to function in BCG-manipulated endosomes.
The prior art has thus far failed to provide a rBCG with an increased capacity for endosomal escape, and which can thereby increase induction of, for example, Major Histocompatibility Complex class I-restricted CD8+ cytotoxic T cell responses.

Recombinant BCG strains with enhanced ability to escape the endosome


A medium issuing method comprises storing the issue data items corresponding to mediums each of which has a memory area, specifying one or more of the issue data items, reading the specified issue data items from the stored data step, and writing the read issue data items into the memory areas of the mediums.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for issuing portable storage mediums containing memory, such as IC cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, IC cards containing an IC chip with a nonvolatile data memory and a CPU (central processing unit) to control the memory have been widely used in various industries as portable storage mediums.
IC cards of this type are usually issued at a card issuing company using an IC card issuing machine. A general card issuing procedure comprises writing the issue data onto the specified cards in the order of entry on the basis of the issue data for issuing cards previously entered in the issuing machine. Then the cards are issued in sequence.
With the IC card issuing machine, when the issue data is written into the data memory of an IC card (card issuing), the IC card is issued on the basis of the issue data to issue cards entered in the issuing machine. For example, to issue only part of a large number of registered cards, it is necessary to select the desired issue data items randomly from the large number of issue data items entered in the issuing machine and issue the IC cards. In the prior art, the desired issue data item has had to be separately retrieved for each IC card prior to issuance of each card. Accordingly, this lengthens the issuing time and renders the process much less efficient.

System for rapidly issuing IC cards by proving an association between stored issue data and discrimination data then issuing IC cards pursuant to the issue data


Systems and methods for compensating for nozzle coking in fuel injection system include creating expected fuel flow rate formula for selected fuel injection nozzle, operating selected fuel injection nozzle for a time, measuring fuel pressure and injector control valve on-time of fuel injection nozzle during operation, determining expected fuel flow rate for measured fuel pressure and injector control valve on-time, measuring actual fuel flow rate of fuel injection nozzle, determining coking condition of fuel injection nozzle, and automatically altering injector control valve on-time to compensate. Expected fuel flow rate formula is determined as function of fuel pressure and injector control valve on-time, while actual fuel flow rate is measured by flow rate sensor attached to injection system. Sometimes, coking condition determination is based on difference between actual fuel flow rate and expected flow rate. Compensation in control valve on-time is necessitated by deterioration in actual fuel flow to cylinder.

Fuel systems typically employ multiple closed-nozzle fuel injectors to inject high pressure fuel into the combustion chambers of an engine. Each of these fuel injectors includes a nozzle assembly having a cylindrical bore with a nozzle supply passageway and a nozzle outlet. The efficiency of the nozzle outlet or orifice is a measure of how effectively the energy stored in the fuel as pressure is converted into kinetic energy. The greater the kinetic energy, the more the fuel is broken apart (atomized), improving combustion completeness and lowering soot. High-efficiency (HE) nozzles, i.e., those with the highest orifice efficiency, are desirable for emissions.
Unfortunately, HE nozzles also have a greater propensity to exhibit coking, or injector spray hole fouling, which is the deposition of coked fuel layers on the orifice wall (internal) and on the outside surface of the nozzle tip (external). The flow rate of a coked nozzle is reduced because of the added restriction to the flow. As rated injection pressures of new injection systems increase to further provide emission benefits, it has become increasingly difficult to design HE nozzles without coking.
Coking is when the byproducts of combustion accumulate on or near the injector nozzle openings. As the deposits build up, they can clog the injector nozzle orifices and adversely affect the performance of the fuel injectors. This can lead to reduced fuel economy and can increase the amount of pollutants released into the atmosphere through exhaust.
To date, the problem of coking has been addressed by engine manufactures seeking nozzle designs that avoid flow rate losses, deemed unacceptable when the loss is more than about three percent. One method for maintaining high nozzle efficiency without coking has been to minimize the spray hole aspect ratio (L/D)—the ratio of the spray hole length (L) to the spray hole exit diameter (D). The ability to further decrease spray hole length (L) is constrained by the allowable stresses in the nozzle metal as injection pressure increases. The ability to further increase spray hole exit diameter (D) is constrained by the nozzle flow rate and the number of holes that are best for emissions for a given engine application. Other methods, such as increasing spray hole internal roughness or making subtle changes in spray hole geometry, provide only marginal improvements to reduce coking.
The device of the present disclosure is directed to overcoming the problems set forth above, but in a way previously unappreciated by those skilled in the art. The present device provides a unique operation strategy which makes use of HE nozzles and requires few additional components over those currently used in fuel injection systems. The device and methods of the present invention recognize and take advantage of two previously unappreciated facts: (1) flow rate loss due to coking will eventually stabilize after sufficient service time, and (2) good emission performance can be maintained even with coked nozzles.

Injector nozzle coking compensation strategy

International Engine Intellectual Property Company, LLC


Adjustable single-ear headsets or earpieces have an earplug portion to be inserted in the user's ear canal, a body portion to rest in the user's outer ear, and an adjustable securing loop to encircle the user's pinna, the loop adjusted by a rotary mechanism to change the size or shape of the loop and hold the earpiece securely in the user's ear.

Headsets, headphones and in-ear hearing aids are available in a wide variety of styles and configurations, reflecting different engineering choices for addressing the multitude of design constraints that must be satisfied to create a functional, reliable, comfortable and attractive product. For example, binaural headphones with over-the-head or behind-the-neck tensioning bands may clamp in place securely, but the bands may interfere with articles of clothing. Similarly, the wires of wired headphones may tangle or catch on the user's surroundings, pulling the headphones off (or out).
One popular headphone style is the "earbud," a small audio transducer (or pair of transducers) sized and shaped to rest in (and/or just outside) the user's outer ear canal. However, many people cannot wear earbuds: their ears are not shaped to hold them securely, or movement of their ears during conversation or other activities tends to cause the earbuds to fall out.
Many in-ear hearing aids are worn similarly to earbuds, but because such aids are often more important to their wearer's everyday life activities (vs. merely providing entertainment—music—or hands-free capabilities for a phone conversation) the hearing aids may be custom-molded to fit their wearer's ears, and may also extend further into the ear canal to provide a more secure attachment. This custom aspect tends to increase the cost of such headsets, placing them out of reach for casual use. (Inexpertly-molded headsets may also be uncomfortable for long-term wear.)
A new headset configuration that provides secure attachment and comfort during extended wear, without requiring expensive individual customization, may be of significant value in this field.

Adjustable mechanism for securing in-ear audio device