A fluid dynamic bearing cartridge including a sleeve and a counterplate captured within a shoulder on the sleeve and including a threaded mounting extension for mounting the assembly from a base or the like. A rotating shaft is incorporated within the sleeve; the shaft includes a thrust plate which rotates in a recess defined between the counterplate and the sleeve. To incorporate this assembly into a disc drive or the like, the threaded mounting extension only needs to be mounted within a base, with a nut screwed over the threaded mounting. The base typically includes a raised portion; the sleeve is cantilevered from this base for further stability and eliminate the possibility of vibration of the shaft and sleeve with rotation of the shaft. The end of the shaft distal from the threaded mounting supports a hub which in turn supports a backiron and magnet. The base supports a stator aligned with the magnet; energization of the stator will cause rotation of the hub and the shaft.

Rotating shaft designs for bearing cartridges to be used in the assembly of motors, actuators and the like are highly desirable, because the shaft can frequently be made smaller, requiring less power to rotate the shaft. Such cartridges as previously developed typically have a spindle mounted by means of two ball bearing systems to a shaft disposed in the center of the hub. One of the bearings is typically located near the top of the spindle and the other near the bottom. These bearings allow for rotational movement between the shaft and the hub while maintaining accurate alignment of the hub to the shaft. The bearings themselves are normally lubricated by grease or oil.
The conventional ball-bearing system described above is prone, however, to several shortcomings. First is the problem of vibration generated by the balls rolling on the raceways. Ball bearings run under conditions that generally result in some measure of physical contact between raceways and balls, this in spite of the lubrication layer provided by the bearing oil or grease. Hence, bearing balls running on the generally even and smooth, but microscopically uneven and rough raceways, transmit this surface structure as well as their imperfections in sphericity in the form of vibration to the shaft. This vibration limits the overall performance of the disc drive system.
Another problem is related to the damage due to shocks to the bearing cartridge in turn show up as a force across the bearing system. Since the contact surfaces in ball bearings are very small, the resulting contact pressures may exceed the yield strength of the bearing material and leave permanent deformation and damage on raceways and balls.
Moreover, mechanical bearings are not always scalable to smaller dimensions, a problem in many rotating shaft mechanical systems which are being scaled down in size while operated at high speeds and greater rates of acceleration.
As an alternative to conventional ball bearing spindle systems, researchers are developing a hydrodynamic bearing. In these types of systems, lubricating fluid--either gas or liquid--functions as the actual bearing surface between a stationary base or housing and the rotating spindle or rotating hub and the stationary surrounding portion of the motor. For example, liquid lubricants comprising oil, more complex ferromagnetic fluids, or even air have been utilized for use in hydrodynamic bearing systems. The reason for the popularity of the use of air is the importance of avoiding the outgassing of contaminants into the sealed area of the head disc housing. However, air does not provide the lubricating qualities of oil. Its low viscosity requires smaller bearing gaps and therefore higher tolerance standards to achieve similar dynamic performance.
Many prior art hydrodynamic bearing assemblies frequently require large or bulky structural elements for supporting the axial and radial loads, as such hydrodynamic bearings do not have the inherent stiffness which results from mechanical bearing assemblies. It is difficult to scale the structural support elements to fit within smaller disc drive dimensions currently in consumer demand, as well as other small scale mechanical systems. In other instances, hydrodynamic bearing assemblies suffer from the disadvantages of requiring extremely tight clearances and alignments; this burden makes it difficult to manufacture such assemblies since even a small deviation or aberration can lead to faulty bearings.
Most known hydrodynamic bearing designs are based on a fixed shaft and rotating surrounding sleeve. However, by switching to a rotating shaft, significant improvements in power consumption and vibration response could be achieved with no trade-offs in performance. The power consumption would be decreased by using a smaller diameter shaft which has a smaller oil shearing radius, thus requiring less torque to rotate. This smaller diameter shaft can be used because the stability of the design is less dependent on the shaft stiffness than when the shaft is stationary and cantilevered or supported from the base.
The vibration performance could also be improved significantly in a rotating shaft design when the angular stiffness of the base-shaft system increases when it is replaced by a base-sleeve system. A design utilizing a fixed sleeve supported from a base has a much higher angular stiffness than one using a shaft cantilevered from a base. Therefore, the development of an easily assembled rotating shaft cartridge incorporating a fluid dynamic bearing is highly desirable.

Fluid dynamic bearing cartridge design incorporating a rotating shaft


A golf club putter head includes a faceplate groove pattern configured to provide the putter head with an elevated center of gravity. In one preferred form, a club head body defines a faceplate having at least one and preferably multiple elongated grooves formed therein to extend generally in a heel-to-toe direction, with at least one groove positioned above a vertical mid-point of the club head body. The groove depths progressively increase in a top-to-bottom direction so that the putter head center of gravity is elevated to a position spaced above the vertical mid-point of the club head body. When striking a golf ball, the elevated center of gravity functions to minimize initial ball skidding and to promote early smooth ball roll toward a target such as a cup on a golf green.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Applications 60/539,489, filed Jan. 26, 2004, and 60/553,866, filed Mar. 16, 2004.
This invention relates generally to improvements in golf club heads of the type used for putting strokes. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved golf club putter head having a faceplate groove pattern designed for minimizing initial post-impact ball skidding, and to promote early smooth post-impact rolling of a golf ball toward a target such as a cup on a golf green or the like.
Golf club putter heads are available in an extremely broad range of geometric shapes and sizes, with virtually every putter head design intended or otherwise promoted as encouraging or facilitating controlled and balanced impact with a golf ball to achieve improved directional accuracy and a corresponding stroke count reduction in a round of golf. In general, putter heads comprise a club head body mounted at a lower end of an elongated club shaft, with the club head body defining a forwardly presented faceplate for impact engagement with a golf ball. In many putter designs, the club head body is weighted or is otherwise associated with various appendages and components assembled therewith in attempts to enhance overall balance and control.
When a golf ball is putted, particularly over a distance of several feet or more, initial impact engagement by the putter head typically causes initial ball movement in the form of skidding with little or erratic ball rotation relative to the underlying putting surface. Following this initial skidding phase, which often continues for several feet of ball movement, the ball transitions to a smoother rolling movement over the putting surface. Unfortunately, ball skidding is associated with minimal ball movement control, and thereby detracts from overall putting accuracy.
The present invention is directed to an improved golf club putter head designed for minimizing initial ball skidding and thereby for promoting early smooth rolling movement of a putting stroke, thereby improving or enhancing overall putting directional control to achieve improved putting accuracy.

Faceplate groove pattern for a golf club putter head


The present invention provides methods for determining the amount of cis-diol containing compounds in a biological samples using mass spectrometry, particularly catecholamines (dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine) in a plasma sample. After a sample is mixed with an internal standard, extracted with a two-step liquid-liquid extraction process utilizing phenylboronic acid chemistry, and then derivatized with a benzoyl chloride-like agent, relevant moieties are then separated chromatographically and detected by MS/MS whereby specific ion transitions are monitored. This invention has several clinical utilities, particularly those related to measuring plasma catecholamines in patients.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to analytical methods for the detection of cis-diol containing compounds including catecholamines. More specifically, the present invention provides a quantitative assay for detecting dopamine, epinephrine or norepinephrine in plasma of individuals using mass spectrometry.
2. Description
Catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine/noradrenaline, and epinephrine/adrenaline) act as neurotransmitters or hormones at both central and peripheral levels, in both neuronal and non-neuronal tissues. The involvement of catecholamines in multiple regulatory systems and metabolic processes supports their important role as biomarkers for the clinical diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis of several neuroendocrine and cardiovascular disorders.
Tyrosine is the amino acid precursor of catecholamines which produces L-dihydroxylphenyl alanine (L-DOPA) through the action of tyrosine hydroxylase. In the central nervous system the activity of decarboxylase activity with L-DOPA produces dopamine and norepinephrine which act as neurotransmitters. The adrenal medulla produces both epinephrine and norepinephrine (via dopamine β-hydroxylase). The neurons release norepinephrine through postganglionic sympathetic nerves. Conversion of norepinephrine to epinephrine occurs mainly in the adrenal medulla through the activity of N-methyl transferase. FIG. 1 provides the molecular structure and physiochemical properties for dopamine, noradrenaline, and adrenaline.
When catecholamines are released from the sympathetic tissue, other than the adrenal medulla, the primary means of physiologic inactivation is the return of unaltered catecholamines by an active transport mechanism. The residual hormone may then be metabolized or excreted unchanged by the kidney.
When metabolized, two enzymes are important, monamine oxidase (MAO) which is responsible for oxidative deamination and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), which is responsible for O-methylation. COMT is principally responsible for inactivating circulating catecholamines, whereas MAO is thought to play a role in disposing of excess catecholamine stores. The major end product for metabolism of epinephrine or norepinephrine is 3-methoxy-4-hydroxymandelic acid (VMA). Other urinary metabolites of catecholamines are metanephrine and normetanephrine.
Catecholamines have very low molecular weights and are extremely low concentration in biological samples. Analysis of catecholamines in biological sample is prone to a lot of potential interference present in biological matrix. Catecholamines are extremely polar and very weakly retained chromatographically in commonly used reverse phase liquid chromatography. Catecholamines are chemically unstable, prone to spontaneous oxidation and decompose easily at high pH. Catecholamines chelate quickly to multivalent cation such as iron, copper, etc. in solution. Catecholamines adsorb strongly to various contact surfaces such as glass and metal by complex formation, including fluidic path in the LC-MS/MS system, leading to significant absorption loss. The measurement of catecholamines in biological samples remains a current analytical challenge, in spite of the great diversity of methodologies that have been developed throughout the years. The quantification of catecholamines in biological samples demands specific and very sensitive bioanalytical methods.
Current standard method of choice is high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with electrochemical (ECD) detection, despite time consuming sample preparation, long chromatographic runtime (approximately 30 minutes), prone to various interferences, and low sensitivity, severely limiting its clinical use. Other methods include fluorometric assays, radio enzymatic assays (REA), gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS), radio immunoassays (RIA) and enzyme immunoassays (EIA). Fluorometric and radio enzymatic assays lack accuracy and reproducibility and the fluorometiric assays do not differentiate between different catecholamines. HPLC and GC-MS are time consuming, need complex technical equipment and, therefore, are cost-intensive, leaving any suitable methods for determining catecholamines based on reliability, cost, accuracy, reproducibility and rapidness to be immunoassays.
In currently available EIA or RIA based assays for determining catecholamines, the catecholamines are first extracted out of the sample, then derivatized for antibody recognition and to enhance their stability, and thereafter detected using antibodies specific for catecholamines. Consequently, the most commonly used extraction method is binding of the catecholamines via their cis-diol structure to a boronate affinity gel (Cannizzo C. et al., 2005 Polymer 46, 1269-1276). The subsequent modification to stabilize the catecholamines is done using the enzyme catechol-O-methyl-transferase (COMT) which O-methylates the 3-hydroxyl group of the catechol moiety. For the COMT to access the 4-hydroxyl group of the catechol moiety, the catecholamines have to be released from the affinity gel which is achieved by adjusting the pH to acidic conditions. However, COMT is not active under acidic conditions. Therefore, in order to allow the reaction catalyzed by COMT to take place and prevent rebinding of the catecholamines released from the boronate affinity gel, the released catecholamines have to be separated from the boronate affinity gel by transferring them into another reaction vessel. This transfer of the sample creates an additional source of error and complicates the assay.
One means for reducing the transfer steps in methods for analyzing catecholamines by EIA is to perform the enzymatic O-methylation and the subsequent EIA in one reaction vessel. However because derivatization of the catecholamines and binding to the specific antibodies proceed in a parallel manner and since only derivatized catecholamines are detected by the antibodies, the results and kinetics of the EIA are less precise. Further, this method cannot be performed in standard automated EIA analyzer due to the preceding enzymatic reaction taking place in the same reaction vessel.
The assay of the present invention provides a simple, fast, and sensitive 2D-LC-MS/MS method to measure three catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine) in a routine clinical laboratory setting.

Sensitive method for measuring cis-diol containing compounds in plasma using 2D-LC-MS/MS


A voltage regulator for regulating a power source that supplies an input signal includes input terminals connected across the power supply, a voltage sensor, a reference generator, a variable load unit, and a control unit. The voltage sensor is connected across the input terminals and receives the input signal and generates a scaled input signal from the input signal that is a fraction of the input signal in magnitude. The reference generator receives the scaled input signal from the voltage sensor and generates a reference signal. The variable load unit is connected across the input terminals. The control unit receives and compares the scaled input signal and the reference signal and instructs the variable load unit to dissipate a first portion of the input signal if the scaled input signal exceeds the reference signal.

Undesirable power line transients have the potential to damage sensitive electrical equipment present on the line. Transients can be caused by external sources of energy such as a lightning strike, energy from an inductive load fed back to the line, or from power line switching. In order to protect the loads on the power line, this additional energy must be either dissipated or stored and later returned to the line. Due to cost and technological complications associated with storing the energy and returning the energy to the line, the dissipation option is most often selected.
Prior art voltage regulators and transient protection devices typically rely on either a series inductor and a fixed clamping voltage device to provide transient protection to loads on the power line. Series inductors of the type required for transient protection tend to be quite large, therefore resulting in voltage regulators with undesireably high weights and sizes.
Fixed voltage protection circuits must have a clamping voltage greater than the largest peak voltage being protected against plus some component tolerances. Fixed clamping voltage circuits use passive devices such as metal oxide varistors, silicon avalanche diodes, or other devices having fixed breakdown voltages to provide this fixed voltage protection.
In order to afford the most effective protection to the loads being protected it is desirable to set the clamping voltage at a level above, but very close to, the normal voltage of the line. In a voltage regulator with a fixed clamping voltage, the clamping voltage must be significantly higher than the line voltage due to changing line voltage and other technological problems, thus allowing some transients to be unregulated. These unregulated transients may damage sensitive electronic equipment.

Shunt voltage regulator with a variable load unit


Methods and devices are provided for delivery an orthopedic, e.g., calcium phosphate cement to a target bone site. In practicing the subject methods, a flowable cement composition is delivered to a target bone site in conjunction with vibration. Also provided are the devices that deliver a flowable cement to a target bone site according to the subject methods. Introducing a flowable cement to a target bone site in conjunction with vibration in accordance with the subject methods provides for highly controlled penetration of the delivered cement throughout the target bone site without the use of substantial pressure. The subject devices and methods find use in a variety of different applications, and are particularly suited for use in applications where a calcium phosphate cement is to be delivered to cancellous tissue, e.g., as found in a vertebral body.

Orthopedic cements, e.g., calcium phosphate cements that are prepared by combining a dry component(s) and a liquid to form a flowable paste-like material that is subsequently capable of setting into a solid calcium phosphate product hold great promise for use as structural materials in the orthopedic and dental fields. For example, it is desirable to be able to introduce a flowable material into a cancellous bone target site, e.g., as may be present in a reduced fracture, and have the material set into a solid calcium phosphate mineral product that is capable of withstanding physiological loads. Materials that set into solid calcium phosphate mineral products are of particular interest as such products can closely resemble the mineral phase of natural bone and are susceptible to remodeling, making such products extremely attractive for use in orthopedics and related fields.
As calcium phosphate cements have been refined, delivery protocols and devices for use in the same have also been developed. Where the target bone site is a porous cancellous structure, e.g., as may be encountered in a reduced fracture or inside a compromised vertebral body, one approach is to deliver the cement under high pressure, so that it adequately penetrates the cancellous bone tissue. However, a disadvantage of high pressure delivery methods is that they can result in penetration beyond the site of interest, and delivery may be hard to control, such that even when the pressure source is removed, cement still penetrates the tissue, perhaps to undesirable areas and/or causing undesirable side effects.
An alternative to delivery under pressure is to remove the cancellous tissue from the target site to produce a true void space into which the cement composition may be introduced. In certain embodiments, a void space may be produced by introducing a balloon into the target site and expanding the balloon in a manner that compresses the cancellous tissue and results in the production of a void space at the target site. However, there are disadvantages to this approach as well, such as the loss of cancellous tissue.
As such, there continues to be an interest in the development of new calcium phosphate cement delivery protocols and devices for use in practicing the same.
Relevant Literature
United States patents of interest include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,375,935; 6,139,578; 6,027,742; 6,005,162; 5,997,624; 5,976,234; 5,968,253; 5,962,028; 5,954,867; 5,900,254; 5,697,981; 5,695,729; 5,679,294; 5,580,623; 5,545,254; 5,525,148; 5,281,265; 4,990,163; 4,497,075; 4,429,691; 4,161,511 and 4,160,012.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and devices for delivering orthopedic cements to a target bone site


A process is provided for the production of alkylene oxide by catalytic reaction of olefin, hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of promoting buffer salts, the improvement wherein the buffer salts are recovered by electrodialysis and/or crystallization and recycled to the catalytic reaction.

Alkylene oxides such as propylene oxide are important materials of commerce. Processes for the preparation of the alkylene oxides include the chlorohydrin process as well as the hydroperoxide route; see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,351,635. Because the chlorohydrin process is costly and produces polluting byproducts and the hydroperoxide process produces a coproduct such as styrene or TBA, the industry has sought an improved direct oxidation process for alkylene oxide production.
One such improved process is the production of propylene oxide by reaction of propylene, oxygen and hydrogen in the presence of an appropriate catalyst or mixture of catalysts. See for example, Japanese Kokai No. 4-352771, JP H8-269029, JP H8-269030, U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,123, U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,123, U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,259 and the like, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. A useful description of the production of propylene oxide by reaction of propylene, oxygen and hydrogen in a salt buffered system is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,259.
In such systems, the recovery and recycle of buffer salts is of considerable importance insofar as the overall economics of the process is concerned.


The present disclosure relates to a process for growth of graphene at a temperature above 1400° C. on a silicon carbide surface by sublimation of silicon from the surface. The process comprises heating under special conditions up to growth temperature which ensured that the surface undergoes the proper modification for allowing homogenous graphene in one or more monolayers.

Graphene is a single layer of sp2 bonded carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal benzene-ring structure and is as such essentially two-dimensional. It has, as late as in 2003, been found to be present in ordinary graphite. Graphene is in graphite stacked along the c-axis of the structure via weak van der Waal forces. The strong covalent in-plane bonding and the weak inter-planar bonding forces determine the anisotropic properties of graphite. The presence of graphene in graphite has been demonstrated by peeling off graphene sheets by a simple scotch tape technique from graphite.
Graphene has lately attracted considerable attention due to its unique properties, such as very high electron mobility and efficient heat dissipation, making it interesting especially for the microelectronic industry. It is considered to be a potential successor for silicon in the continuing desire to miniaturize and produce more efficient electronic components.
Graphene may be produced by solid state graphitization by decomposition or sublimation of silicon atoms from a silicon carbide surface. During this process, silicon leaves the surface as a vapor whereas carbon atoms stay as a residue on the silicon carbide surface. Under arbitrary process conditions, the quality of the carbon on the surface is typically equivalent to amorphous graphite and such a surface is therefore often called graphitized. However, when process conditions are properly selected, the desired ordered honey-comb structure of carbon atoms may be formed on the surface. It is believed that the graphitization starts at about 1150° C. in ultra high vacuum. However, in order to achieve graphene, the temperature must be much higher.
One example of such a process is disclosed in CN101602503A wherein a 4H-SiC (0001) surface is cleaned and smoothened by hydrogen and propane, respectively, followed by silane so as remove surface oxides. Thereafter, graphene is grown on the surface by evaporation of silicon at 1590-1610° C. and 890-910 mbar argon pressure for 30-60 minutes. The process proposed by CN101602503 requires the initial steps of cleaning and smoothening making it relatively complex and expensive, and therefore does not seem to be a commercially viable process.
Tzalenchuk et al., "Towards a quantum resistance standard based on epitaxial graphene", Nature Nanotechnology, 5 (2010) 186, discloses that graphene can be grown epitaxially on silicon carbide. Graphene was grown at 2000° C. and 1 atm argon gas pressure, resulting in monolayers of graphene atomically uniform over more than 50 μm2. Tzalenchuk et al. further discloses that graphene was grown on the Si-face of silicon carbide since the reaction kinetics is slower there than on the C-face because of higher surface energy, and that this fact aids in the control of the formation of homogenous graphene.
Other processes for production of graphene includes for example carbonizing a precursor polymer as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,071,258 B1, and chemical vapour deposition as disclosed in WO 2009/119641.
There is however still some fundamental obstacles to overcome before graphene based materials can reach their full potential and be commercially successful. For example, the previously mentioned processes are impractical for large-scale manufacturing as they tend to result in graphene layers which are not homogenous, layers which comprise grains or defects, and/or layers which suffer from strong variation in carrier density across the layers grown.


The present invention discloses a nanocomposite coating composition and coating method for antenna reflector. The nanocomposite coating composition comprises a polymer matrix resin and a plurality of graphene nanoparticles. The plurality of graphene nanoparticles is added to acetone solvent and dispersed using an ultrasonic disperser. An appropriate amount of prepared epoxy resin is added to the mixture of graphene and acetone solvent and stirred using a mechanical stirrer for certain period. The sonication process is applied to the graphene incorporated resin mixture for a duration of about 30-120 minutes. The acetone in the mixture is removed using a magnetic stirrer and a vacuum oven. Further, same hardener is added to the mixture and degassed using vacuum oven to form the nanocomposite coating composition. The nanocomposite coating composition converts an electromagnetically insulated antenna into an electromagnetically conductive antenna for enhancing one or more electromagnetic characteristics of the antenna reflector.

The communication and broadcasting systems receive/transmit information in a form of signal from a satellite. Conventional systems use many types of antennas or antenna reflectors such as dish antennas and Rotman lenses, to transmit/receive signal in the form of electromagnetic waves from the satellite. The existing antenna reflectors are divided into two main groups namely, metallic antennas and composite antennas.
The metallic antennas are made of metallic materials or conductive materials, which are widely used in satellite communication based on their electromagnetic reflecting property. The metallic antenna is quite heavy and it either requires facilities for positioning in ground stations or it results in a considerable reduction in the payload for space stations. Moreover, the metallic materials transmit/receive the electromagnetic waves regardless of the frequency range. Hence, the metallic antennas are susceptible to cause electromagnetic interference, especially for satellite broadcasting. Thus, the composite antenna with low weight is designed as a next generation antenna using polymeric composite materials, which significantly reduces the weight of the antenna.
Despite the considerable weight reduction in the structure of the polymeric composite antenna when compared to the metallic antenna, the polymeric composites are intrinsically categorized under the electromagnetically insulated materials. Thus, a metallic mesh is incorporated between the composite layers to overcome the shortcomings in the electromagnetic properties. In this process, an accurate selection of depth between the composite layers is necessary to embed the metallic mesh between the composite layers. Moreover, a higher electromagnetic characteristic is expected from the higher density of mesh. The lower mesh densities can fulfill the requirements of electrical conductivity, but higher mesh densities are required when electromagnetic characteristics are intended to be improved. Therefore, the incorporation of high-density meshes within the small cells is necessary, which would increase the weight of antennas.
Some studies have focused on increasing the mechanical properties of polymer incorporating carbon nanotube or graphene. Some other studies have tried to increase the electrical conductivity of the polymeric materials using either carbon black or carbon fiber. These studies mainly consider the DC electrical conductivity and no attention has been given to the reflection or transmission of electromagnetic waves. In some very rare cases, the nanoparticles are incorporated into resin material for improving DC electrical conductivity as the main goal. The employed processing methods in those investigations are different from the current invention. In some cases, the nanoparticles are added into resin material while other conductive materials like carbon fiber, metallic films, or nano carbon ropes are used. In these cases, the nano-particle plays the role of increasing bonding between components, since electrical conductivity is improved with other mentioned materials.
Though existing prior art disclose certain graphene-based nanocomposite coatings, there exists a need for effectively converting an electromagnetically insulated polymer antenna into an electromagnetically conducting antenna. Also, there is a need for a coating method for a polymeric composite antenna to achieve the proper electromagnetic characteristics in a mentioned frequency band. Further, there is a need for satellite communication antennas that operate in a mentioned frequency band for proper and efficient transmission and reception of data without loss.

Nanocomposite coating for antenna reflector and methods of making same


Crosslinkable compositions with a polyethylene base are described which comprise a major proportion, for example 65 to 95% by weight, of at least one polymer selected from the polyethylenes grafted by a silane and ethylene-triethoxyvinylsilane copolymers; a minor proportion, for example, from 5 to 35% by weight, of at least one polymer selected from the hydrophilic polymers which are incompatible with ethylene polymers; as well as, added to the total weight of polymers (a) and (b), a small proportion, for example, from 1 to 10% by weight, of at least one polymer selected from the copolymers and the terpolymers with an ethylene base to react chemically with said incompatible hydrophilic polymer; and a catalytic proportion, for example of 0.001 to 0.3% by weight, of at least one hydrolytic catalyst. These crosslinkable compositions can be shaped by extrusion, extrusion blow-molding or injection molding and then crosslinked by heating in the presence of water.

The invention relates to the field of crosslinked polyethylenes which can be used for forming various articles such as sections, tubes, containers (tanks or bottles), injection-molded articles, sheets, films, etc. The crosslinking imparts to the articles produced from these materials mechanical properties (creep resistance, impact resistance) and physico-chemical properties (resistance to gases under pressure, insolubility in hydrocarbons) which are better than that observed for the same articles produced from polyethylenes which are not crosslinked.
Various methods of polyethylene crosslinking have been described in the prior art.
For example, crosslinking by exposure to radiation is known. This type of treatment is performed at ambient temperature and the dose of radiation is linked to the level of crosslinking which is desired. However, the depth of penetration of the radiation into the material limits the thickness of the crosslinked objects crosslinked by this process to about a few millimeters.
Also, crosslinking by peroxide is known, which calls for a prior mixing of the base polyethylene with a carefully selected radical initiator and possibly additives, and then transformation of the mixture in an extruder, for example at a temperature below the decomposition temperature of peroxide, and finally continuous crosslinking of the object at the peroxide decomposition temperature in an oven under nitrogen or under steam or even in a molten salt bath. This process is applied beneficially to the crosslinking of low density polyethylene which is extruded at temperatures on the order of 140.degree. C., which make it possible to avoid decomposition of the peroxide in the extruder, crosslinking at around 180.degree. C. then being fairly rapid. On the other hand, the crosslinking of high density polyethylene objects requires peroxides which are stable at around 180.degree. C. (the usual extrusion temperatures for the high-density polyethylenes), which then decompose at about 250.degree. C. to initiate crosslinking.
These higher temperatures sometimes pose problems of plant maintenance, of energy consumption and of possible deterioration of the objects when the thicknesses are substantial and require high wall temperatures in order to increase the rate of the transfer of heat necessary for decomposition of the peroxide through the thickness.
Finally, the so-called "silane" process of crosslinking is known which consists, in a first stage, in grafting vinyltriethoxysilane on polyethylene in the presence of peroxide, for example, during a granulation operation, then in shaping the polyethylene silane mixed with a hydrolytic catalyst (for example, dibutyltin dilaurate) of silanol groups, for example during an extrusion or an injection. Finally, bringing the transformed product into contact with the liquid water or steam at around 90.degree. C. results in a hydrolysis of the Si--O--CH.sub.3 groups and in a condensation according to the following reactions: ##STR1##
This process applies both to low density polyethylenes and to high density polyethylenes. The rate of crosslinking depends upon the catalyst content, the hydrolysis conditions (water content, temperature) and above all the thickness of the article.
The diffusion of water through the silane-grafted polyethylene article is slow in fact, even at 95.degree. C., and crosslinking times (as a rough approximation) vary with the square of the thickness of the article. Times on the order of a few days to 1 or 2 weeks may be necessary for crosslinking articles having thickness of 5 to 15 mm.
The products thus produced have a high permeability to hydrocarbons: it is on the same order as that of noncrosslinked polyethylenes.
To increase the rate of crosslinking of the polyethylenes grafted to silane, it is possible to increase the catalyst contents, but beyond a certain threshold the catalyst no longer has any effect on the reaction kinetics. Similarly, an increase in the temperature or the degree of moisture increases the reaction rate. That is why industrial installations for crosslinking polyethylenes grafted to silane operate at 90.degree. or 90.degree. C. with either liquid water or with saturated steam.
Under these conditions, an increase in the relative humidity is no longer possible and an increase in the temperature would require the installation of pressurized autoclaves for providing higher temperatures but, in any case not able to exceed about 110.degree. to 130.degree. C. according to the melting temperature of the polyethylene. The gain in the crosslinking reaction velocity would then be small compared to the investments required.
Increasing the rate of crosslinking can also be done by increasing the rate of diffusion of the water through the thickness of the article. For example, patent DE 2444829, which describes the incorporation in polyethylene grafted to silane of compounds able to generate water by chemical reaction of acids coming from decomposition of the peroxide over zinc oxide ZnO. Processes are likewise known in which water is incorporated directly into the composition in the form of liquid water or hydrated calcium sulfate (BE 901 442) or hydrated aluminum trihydroxide (U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,041).
These processes are generally used to produce silane-crosslinked polyethylene foams by vaporization and expansion of the water present on the hydrates.
These processes apply poorly to the production of bulky articles, because the water generated in the transformation (e.g., mixing, shaping, or forming) equipment is able to react immediately with the silane polyethylene and result in premature crosslinking in the transformation equipment, consequently producing objects of lesser quality (deterioration of the gel under shear) in transformation conditions which are difficult to control. Furthermore, the products are made fragile by the presence of inorganic heterogeneities; and, furthermore, they exhibit high permeabilities to hydrocarbons, of the same magnitude as those of a conventional crosslinked polyethylene.

Cross-linked compositions based on polyethylene and cross-linked materials derived from them


A bitumen recovery process is provided which includes the step of providing a bitumen froth or a component derived from the bitumen froth as a feed material, wherein the bitumen froth is produced in a primary separation process from a slurry comprising oil sand and water. Further, the process includes the step of subjecting the feed material to froth flotation in a column flotation cell in order to recover a bitumen product from the feed material. Preferably, the froth flotation cell includes an underwash zone, wherein a bitumen-rich fraction of the feed material is passed through the underwash zone as the bitumen-rich fraction rises within the column flotation cell.

Oil sand is essentially a matrix of bitumen, mineral matter and water. The bitumen component of oil sand consists of viscous hydrocarbons which behave much like a solid at normal in situ temperatures and which act as a binder for the other components of the oil sand matrix. The mineral matter component of oil sand typically consists largely of sand, but may also include rock, silt and clay. Sand and rock are considered to be coarse mineral matter, while clay and silt are considered to be fine mineral matter, where fines are defined as mineral matter having a particular size of less than 44 microns. The water component of oil sand consists essentially of a film of connate water surrounding the sand in the oil sand matrix, and may also contain particles of fine mineral matter within it.
A typical deposit of oil sand will contain about 10% to 12% bitumen and about 3% to 6% water, with the remainder of the oil sand being made up of solid mineral matter particles. Typically the mineral matter component in oil sand will contain about 14% to 20% fines, measured by weight of total mineral matter contained in the deposit, but the amount of fines may increase to about 30% or more for poorer quality deposits. Oil sand extracted from the Athabasca area near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, averages about 11% bitumen, 5% water and 84% mineral matter, with about 15% to 20% of the mineral matter being made up of fines.
Oil sand deposits are mined for the purpose of extracting bitumen from the oil sand, which bitumen is then upgraded to synthetic crude oil. Accordingly, various processes have been developed for extracting the bitumen from the oil sand.
For instance, conventionally, a "hot water process" is used for extracting bitumen from oil sand in which both aggressive thermal action and aggressive mechanical action are used to liberate and separate bitumen from the oil sand. The hot water process is a three step process. First, the oil sand is conditioned by mixing it with hot water at about 95° Celsius and steam in a conditioning vessel which vigorously agitates the resulting slurry in order to completely disintegrate the oil sand. Second, once the disintegration is complete, the slurry undergoes a primary separation process. The primary separation process separates the slurry by allowing the sand and rock to settle out, and the bitumen, having air entrained within it, floats to the top of the slurry and is withdrawn as a bitumen froth. Third, the remainder of the slurry, which is referred to as the middlings, is then treated further or scavenged by froth flotation techniques to recover bitumen that did not float to the top of the slurry during the primary separation process. In this case, the bitumen recovered from the middlings may be returned to the primary separation process to form or comprise a portion of the bitumen froth.
Various attempts have been made to improve upon the hot water process, such as: Canadian Patent No. 1,085,761 issued on Sep. 16, 1980 to Rendall; U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,956 issued on Apr. 23, 1985 to Robinson et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,459 issued on Aug. 6, 1985 to Dente et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,117 issued on Nov. 8, 1983 to Yong et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,225,433 issued Sep. 30, 1980 to Liu et al.
Further, Canadian Patent Application No. 2,030,934 published on May 28, 1992 by Strand and Canadian Patent Application No. 2,124,199 published on Jun. 11, 1992 by Strand, both describe an extraction apparatus and process employing a countercurrent separator vessel in which oil sand is gently rolled from one end to the other by a spiral ribbon and mixer elements while hot water, defined as having a temperature of about 50° Celsius, circulates in the opposite direction. Two streams are then removed from opposite ends of the separator vessel. One stream contains coarse mineral matter and some water, while the other stream contains a bitumen froth comprised of bitumen and dispersed fine mineral matter.
As well, Canadian Patent No. 2,123,076 issued Nov. 17, 1998 to Strand et. al. utilizes the countercurrent separator vessel of the previously noted Canadian Patent Applications in the performance of an improved oil sand extraction process. Specifically, Strand et. al. describes an overall method for processing lumps of oil sand containing bitumen to produce a bitumen product and non segregating tailings of a solid material and a sludge. The method includes depositing the lumps of oil sand into a bath of warm water. The lumps are then conditioned by gently contacting them with the warm water to liberate and separate bitumen from the oil sand while minimizing the dispersal into the bath of fine material contained in the oil sand. The conditioning step is preferably performed utilizing the previously described countercurrent separator vessel.
Following conditioning, the solid material remaining after the liberation and separation of the bitumen from the oil sand is removed from the bath and collected for further processing. The bitumen froth, comprised of the warm water containing bitumen and dispersed fine material, is also removed from the bath and collected for further processing.
In each of the previously described bitumen recovery processes, a primary separation process, being the first or initial separation process, is performed on a slurry comprised of oil sand and water in order to separate an amount of the coarse mineral matter from the bitumen and dispersed fine mineral matter in the oil sand. Thus, as indicated, this primary separation process produces a bitumen froth comprised of bitumen, water and dispersed fine mineral matter.
Further, in each of the described processes, in order to produce a desired bitumen product from the bitumen froth, the bitumen froth is typically subjected to further processing. In particular, the bitumen froth typically undergoes one or more further or subsequent separation processes in order to further separate the bitumen in the bitumen froth from the fine mineral matter.
For instance, referring to Canadian Patent No. 2,123,076 to Strand et. al., the bitumen froth produced by the primary separation process is subsequently conducted through a number of further separation vessels in sequence. First, the bitumen froth is conducted to a conventional gravity froth separator. Specifically, the bitumen is sufficiently aerated by gas inclusions or entrained air as it leaves the primary separation vessel to float to the top of the froth separator, where it may be removed and collected. The underflow from the froth separator is then conducted to a conventional froth flotation cell. The conventional froth flotation cell aerates and mechanically agitates the underflow from the froth separator. Then, the overflow from the conventional froth flotation cell is conducted to a further conventional gravity froth separator, as described previously.
The amount of bitumen separated within a conventional gravity froth separator is largely dependent upon the degree of aeration of the bitumen entering the separator. Further, although a conventional froth flotation cell aerates the bitumen within the bitumen froth, the separation process also requires the mechanical agitation of the bitumen froth. The need to mechanically agitate the bitumen froth may render the process less energy efficient and require more maintenance of the moving parts, as compared to other separation vessels.
Thus, there is a need for an improved bitumen recovery process, and specifically, for an improved process for recovering a bitumen product from a bitumen froth produced in a primary separation process from a slurry comprising oil sand and water. Preferably, the process is relatively energy and cost efficient and produces a bitumen product having desirable characteristics or qualities, as compared with known bitumen recovery processes.


Disclosed is a printing plate material comprising a support and provided thereon, a hydrophilic layer containing pigment particles having a light-to-heat conversion capability, wherein the pigment particles have an average particle diameter of from 0.15 μm to less than 1.0 μm, and the hydrophilic layer has a surface roughness Ra of from 0.2 μm to less than 1.5 μm.

The planographic printing plate material for CTP, which is inexpensive, can be easily handled, and has a printing ability comparable with that of a PS plate, is required accompanied with the digitization of printing data. Recently, a CTP system (hereinafter also referred to as thermal CTP) according to various systems employing infrared laser has been proposed.
As one embodiment of the thermal CTP, there is a process (so-called wet type thermal CTP) in which a printing plate material is developed with a liquid developer to form an image where solubility to the developer of the image formation layer of the printing plate material is varied by exposure. However, this process has problems in that an exclusive alkali developer for development is required like a conventional PS plate, developability varies due to the state (temperature or degree of fatigue) of the developer, which results in poor image reproducibility, or there are limitations to handling under room light.
A thermal processless CTP (including one capable of being developed on a press) has been developed which does not require specific development. The thermal processless CTP has been noted, since it can be applied to a printing press employing a direct imaging (DI) process in which an image is directly written on the press, followed by printing.
As one embodiment of the thermal processless CTP, there is a CTP of the ablation type. Examples of the CTP of the ablation type include those disclosed in for example, Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication Nos. 8-507727, 6-186750, 6-199064, 7-314934, 10-58636 and 10-244773.
These references disclose a printing plate material comprising a support, and provided thereon, a hydrophilic layer and a lipophilic layer, either of which is an outermost layer. When a printing plate material is imagewise exposed in which the hydrophilic layer is an outermost layer and the lipophilic layer containing a light-to-heat conversion material is under the hydrophilic layer, the hydrophilic layer is imagewise ablated by heat generated in the lipophilic layer and removed to reveal the lipophilic layer, whereby an image is formed.
A printing plate material has been developed which is capable of forming an image without ablation, and does not require development treatment employing a special developer or wiping-off treatment. There is, for example, a CTP as disclosed in Japanese Publication Nos. 2938397 and 2938397, which comprises an image formation layer containing thermoplastic particles and a water-soluble binder and which is capable of be developed with a dampening solution on a printing press (on-press development). The CTP of this type, when a grained aluminum plate is used as a hydrophilic support, needs to incorporate a light-to-heat conversion material (generally colored) in the image formation layer and has problem of contaminating a printing press during on-press-development. Further, the CTP of this type needs to increase an amount of a light-to-heat conversion material in the image formation layer for high sensitization, which is sought as a processless CTP, but the increase is more likely to contaminate a printing press.
As a method for preventing the contamination of a printing press which is caused during on-press development, a method has been proposed which employs, as a hydrophilic support, a support in which a hydrophilic layer containing a light-to-heat conversion material is provided on a substrate. Such a hydrophilic layer makes it possible to eliminate the light-to-heat conversion material from the image formation layer. Further, this method can achieve high sensitization without contaminating a printing press, since it can increase the amount of the light-to-heat conversion material in the hydrophilic layer or incorporate a slight amount of the light-to-heat conversion material in the image formation layer.
However, a material for forming an irregularity structure on the surface of the hydrophilic layer is generally contained in the hydrophilic layer besides the light-to-heat conversion material in order to improve a printing property or an image retention property. For example, the present inventor discloses, in Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 2000-225780, a hydrophilic layer containing porous inorganic fillers with a particle diameter not more than 1.0 μm for improving a printing property or an image retention property besides the light-to-heat conversion material. Further, the present inventor discloses, in Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 2002-370465, a hydrophilic layer containing plural irregularity structure-forming inorganic fillers and an inorganic binder with high porosity as well as the light-to-heat conversion material in order to improve a printing property or an image retention property.
The hydrophilic layer described above has a good printing property and good image retention property, however, the hydrophilic layer has also problem in that the layer strength is relatively low, since materials constituting the hydrophilic layer are highly porous. When the amount of the light-to-heat conversion material in the hydrophilic layer is increased in order to increase sensitivity, it is necessary to decrease material as a binder by increment of the light-to-heat conversion material, which further lowers the layer strength. This lowers abrasion resistance of the hydrophilic layer during printing, and greatly lowers printing durability, particularly when printing conditions vary during printing, for example, printing pressure or ink roller pressure increases.
As the countermeasure, there is a method which decreases the inorganic fillers etc., by the increment of the light-to-heat conversion material, however, this method has problem in that a printing property and an image retention property deteriorate.
It has been considered that in a printing plate material comprising a hydrophilic layer containing a light-to-heat conversion material, it is extremely difficult to increase sensitivity or to improve or maintain printing properties or printing durability.

Printing plate material and printing process


The present invention relates to a programmable control system for devices and appliances in a home or commercial building. The system includes a main computer connected to network wiring throughout a home or commercial structure that is connected to a number of micro-computers. The programmable control system also includes an input device that has buttons programmatically associated with selected switches and activators throughout the home or building. The input device is connected to the micro-computers which receives signals from the programmable buttons. The micro-computers then activate selected switches or activators associated with selected devices or appliances in the home or commercial structure.

This invention is directed to a control system and more particularly a programmable control system for devices in a home or commercial structure.
Systems for controlling the operation of devices in a building such as lights, speakers, thermostats, and the like are known in the art. While useful, many of these systems are unreliable as they utilize wireless transmissions. Others require excessive additional wiring where installation can be expensive. Accordingly, a need exists for a control system that addresses these deficiencies.
An objective is to provide a programmable control system for household devices.
Another objective is to provide a control system that connects household devices to a remote device.
Yet another objective is to provide a control system for household devices that has wired connections.
Another objective is to provide a control system for household devices that provides a wired connection that is less costly.
Yet another objective is to provide a control system for household devices that is less damaging to the structure of the household or building.


A method is disclosed for providing information using a navigation apparatus to guide a user in a vehicle along a determined route to a destination through a road network. The method comprises generating data indicative of a navigation map for display on a display device of a navigation apparatus showing the roads in a portion of the road network. The method further comprises generating data indicative of a first route line for display on the navigation map showing the one or more roads to be taken from a current position of the navigation apparatus to follow the determined route through the road network, and then providing the data indicative of the navigation map and the first route line to the display device for display thereon. The method further comprises generating, upon determining, while the vehicle is traveling along the determined route, that the current position of the navigation apparatus on a multi-lane roadway is approaching an associated road junction, data indicative of a lane guidance panel based on a position of the road junction in the navigation map that, when displayed on the display device, covers a portion of the navigation map. The method further comprises generating data indicative of a second route line for display at least on the lane guidance panel indicating one or more lanes in which the user should be travelling so as to follow the determined route, and then providing the data indicative of the lane guidance panel and the second route line to the display device for display thereon.

The present invention is directed to methods of providing lane information, e.g. instructions as to which lane or lanes a vehicle should be in to perform a particular manoeuvre at a junction of road network, to a user of a navigation apparatus, and to a navigation apparatus arranged for carrying out the steps of the methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention. The navigation apparatus may comprise navigation apparatus of any suitable form as discussed above, and in more detail below.
One illustrative embodiment of the apparatus is a portable navigation device. Portable navigation devices (PNDs) that include GPS (Global Positioning System) signal reception and processing functionality are well known and are widely employed as in-car or other vehicle navigation systems. In general terms, a modern PND comprises a processor, memory (at least one of volatile and non-volatile, and commonly both), and map data stored within said memory. The processor and memory cooperate to provide an execution environment in which a software operating system may be established, and additionally it is commonplace for one or more additional software programs to be provided to enable the functionality of the PND to be controlled, and to provide various other functions.
Typically these devices further comprise one or more input interfaces that allow a user to interact with and control the device, and one or more output interfaces by means of which information may be relayed to the user. Illustrative examples of output interfaces include a visual display and a speaker for audible output. Illustrative examples of input interfaces include one or more physical buttons to control on/off operation or other features of the device (which buttons need not necessarily be on the device itself but could be on a steering wheel if the device is built into a vehicle), and a microphone for detecting user speech. In a particularly preferred arrangement the output interface display may be configured as a touch sensitive display (by means of a touch sensitive overlay or otherwise) to additionally provide an input interface by means of which a user can operate the device by touch.
Devices of this type will also often include one or more physical connector interfaces by means of which power and optionally data signals can be transmitted to and received from the device, and optionally one or more wireless transmitters/receivers to allow communication over cellular telecommunications and other signal and data networks, for example Wi-Fi, Wi-Max GSM and the like. PND devices of this type also include a GPS antenna by means of which satellite-broadcast signals, including location data, can be received and subsequently processed to determine a current location of the device.
The PND device may also include electronic gyroscopes and accelerometers which produce signals that can be processed to determine the current angular and linear acceleration, and in turn, and in conjunction with location information derived from the GPS signal, velocity and relative displacement of the device and thus the vehicle in which it is mounted. Typically such features are most commonly provided in in-vehicle navigation systems, but may also be provided in PND devices if it is expedient to do so.
The utility of such PNDs is manifested primarily in their ability to determine a route between a first location (typically a start or current location) and a second location (typically a destination). These locations can be input by a user of the device, by any of a wide variety of different methods, for example by postcode, street name and house number, previously stored "well known" destinations (such as famous locations, municipal locations (such as sports grounds or swimming baths) or other points of interest), and favourite or recently visited destinations.
Typically, the PND is enabled by software for computing a "best" or "optimum" route between the start and destination address locations from the map data. A "best" or "optimum" route is determined on the basis of predetermined criteria and need not necessarily be the fastest or shortest route. The selection of the route along which to guide the driver can be very sophisticated, and the selected route may take into account existing, predicted and dynamically and/or wirelessly received traffic and road information, historical information about road speeds, and the driver's own preferences for the factors determining road choice (for example the driver may specify that the route should not include motorways or toll roads).
In addition, the device may continually monitor road and traffic conditions, and offer to or choose to change the route over which the remainder of the journey is to be made due to changed conditions. Real time traffic monitoring systems, based on various technologies (e.g. mobile phone data exchanges, fixed cameras, GPS fleet tracking) are being used to identify traffic delays and to feed the information into notification systems.
PNDs of this type may typically be mounted on the dashboard or windscreen of a vehicle, but may also be formed as part of an on-board computer of the vehicle radio or indeed as part of the control system of the vehicle itself. The navigation device may also be part of a hand-held system, such as a PDA (Portable Digital Assistant) a media player, a mobile phone or the like, and in these cases, the normal functionality of the hand-held system is extended by means of the installation of software on the device to perform both route calculation and navigation along a calculated route.
Route planning and navigation functionality may also be provided by a desktop or mobile computing resource running appropriate software. For example, TomTom International B.V. provides an on-line route planning and navigation facility at routes.tomtom.com, which facility allows a user to enter a start point and a destination whereupon the server to which the user's PC is connected calculates a route (aspects of which may be user specified) and generates a set of exhaustive navigation instructions for guiding the user from the selected start point to the selected destination.
In the context of a PND, once a route has been calculated, the user interacts with the navigation device to select the desired calculated route, optionally from a list of proposed routes. Optionally, the user may intervene in, or guide the route selection process, for example by specifying that certain routes, roads, locations or criteria are to be avoided or are mandatory for a particular journey. The route calculation aspect of the PND forms one primary function, and navigation along such a route is another primary function.
A further important function provided by the device is automatic route re-calculation in the event that: a user deviates from the previously calculated route during navigation (either by accident or intentionally); real-time traffic conditions dictate that an alternative route would be more expedient and the device is suitably enabled to recognize such conditions automatically, or if a user actively causes the device to perform route re-calculation for any reason.
It is also known to allow a route to be calculated with user defined criteria; for example, the user may prefer a scenic route to be calculated by the device, or may wish to avoid any roads on which traffic congestion is likely, expected or currently prevailing. The device software would then calculate various routes and weigh more favourably those that include along their route the highest number of points of interest (known as POIs) tagged as being for example of scenic beauty, or, using stored information indicative of prevailing traffic conditions on particular roads, order the calculated routes in terms of a level of likely congestion or delay on account thereof. Other POI-based and traffic information-based route calculation and navigation criteria are also possible.
Although the route calculation and navigation functions are fundamental to the overall utility of PNDs, it is possible to use the device purely for information display, or "free-driving", in which only map information relevant to the current device location is displayed, and in which no route has been calculated and no navigation is currently being performed by the device. Such a mode of operation is often applicable when the user already knows the route along which it is desired to travel and does not require navigation assistance.
Devices of the type described above provide a reliable means for enabling users to navigate from one position to another.
During navigation along calculated route, it is usual for such PNDs to provide visual and/or audible instructions to guide the user along a chosen route to end of that route, i.e. the desired destination. It is also usual for PNDs to display map information on-screen during the navigation, such information regularly being updated on-screen so that the map information displayed is representative of the current location of the device, and thus of the user or user's vehicle if the device is being used for in-vehicle navigation.
An icon displayed on-screen typically denotes the current device location, and is centred with the map information of the current road and surrounding roads in the vicinity of the current device location and other map features also being displayed. Additionally, navigation information may be displayed, optionally in a status bar above, below or to one side of the displayed map information, examples of navigation information include a distance to the next deviation from the current road required to be taken by the user, the nature of that deviation possibly being represented by a further icon suggestive of the particular type of deviation, for example a left or right turn. The navigation function also determines the content, duration and timing of audible instructions by means of which the user can be guided along the route. As can be appreciated a simple instruction such as "turn left in 100 m" requires significant processing and analysis. As previously mentioned, user interaction with the device may be by a touch screen, or additionally or alternately by steering column mounted remote control, by voice activation or by any other suitable method.
As mentioned above, there are a number of typical ways of providing navigation instructions to a user to allow them to follow a determined route; such navigation instructions commonly being referred to as turn-by-turn instructions. Most rely on displaying a representation of the world, and typically the road network, around the current position of the device and/or user, together with graphical icons indicating the current position of the device and/user and the route to be followed. The representation of the world will typically be a computer generated image from a particular point of view.
For example, one common representation is a two-dimensional (2D) view in which an image is generated as though from a camera (see FIG. 4C) positioned at an elevated position, in the z-direction, and with a pitch angle of 0° so as to show a bird's eye view of the area around the current position of the device. An example of such a view is shown in FIG. 4A and in which the current position of the device is shown by icon 401 and the predetermined route being followed is shown by the route line 403. In this view, the camera may move in the x-y plane (i.e. the plane perpendicular to the z-axis and thus parallel to the surface on which the device is moving) so as to track the movements of the device along the route.
Another common representation is a three-dimensional (3D) view in which an image is generated as though from a camera positioned at an elevated position, but which has a pitch angle of 30° for example (a 90° pitch angle being such that the camera is pointed parallel to the plane of the surface, see FIG. 4C) so as to show a perspective view of the area around the current position of the device. An example of such a view is shown in FIG. 4B, and wherein it will be appreciated the camera is located at a predetermined position behind the current position of the device, i.e. in the x-y plane, based on the direction of travel of the device, so that an icon 405 representative of the current position of the device can be shown in the view. In this view the camera will typically track the movements of the device along the predetermined route which is depicted by route line 407; the viewing angle of the camera thus being centred along the direction of travel of the device (or along the path of the predetermined route).
For some complex junctions, it is also known to show a combination of the 3D guidance view together with a schematic view of the approaching junction to the user showing the manoeuvre to be made in more detail. An example of such a view is shown in FIG. 5 in which the guidance view 500 is shown on the left side of the screen and the junction view 501 is shown on the right side of the screen. More specifically, the guidance view 500 displays the route to be followed by the line 502, the current position of the device by the icon 503, and the manoeuvre to be made at the next junction by the arrow 504. Meanwhile, in the junction view 501, the arrows 508 indicate which lanes of the road the user needs to be in to complete the desired manoeuvre. Despite these improvements to the standard guidance modes, e.g. as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, however the Applicant has recognised that using a static image of a junction, i.e. junction view 501, together with a moving image showing progress toward the junction, i.e. guidance view 500, can lead to confusion.
Another method of providing navigation (or guidance) instructions is to superpose the instructions over images from a camera showing the area in front of the device in order to "augment reality". Additional details about such devices can be found, for example, in WO 2006/132522 A1, of TomTom International B.V, published 14 Dec. 2006; the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. Similarly, and rather than superposing the instructions over a camera image and displaying the resultant combination on a display screen, it is also known to project the instructions, e.g. onto surface, as part of a heads-up display (HUD) such that the user can see the instructions in their field of view. As will be appreciated, however, and particularly in the case of complex junctions and intersections, displaying instructions in this manner do not always provide the user with sufficient insight as to the composition of an approaching junction or the manoeuvres that need to be made at the junction.
The Applicant has therefore realised that there remains a need for improved methods of displaying navigation instructions to a user.

Methods and systems of providing lane information using a navigation apparatus


A Delta-Sigma DAC and a digital to analog conversion method are provided. A FIR filter receives a shaped digital signal to generate a first current on a first output node, and a second current on a second output node. A current inverter is coupled to the second output node, outputting a reversed current having opposite polarity and identical magnitude of the second current. A current to voltage converter is coupled to the first output node and the output of current inverter, generating an analog signal according to the first and reversed currents. A first current source compensates DC offset for the first current, and a second current source compensates DC offset for the second current. The first and second current sources are implemented by NMOS.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to audio devices, and in particular, to a Delta-Sigma DAC outputting audio signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional Delta-Sigma DAC for converting a 16-bit digital signal to an analog audio signal Vout. The Delta-Sigma technique is popular because it achieves high resolution and quality with effective hardware implementations. A typical Delta-Sigma DAC comprises an interpolator 110, a Delta-Sigma modulator 120 and a FIR filter 130. The interpolator 110 receives an n-bit digital signal at a first sampling rate, and performs an interpolation to generate an n-bit output signal at a second, higher sampling rate. The Delta-Sigma modulator 120 receives the output signal from interpolator 110 and shapes the quantization noises therein, thereby generating a shaped signal as a substantially linear analog representation of the 16-bit digital signal within a pass band. The FIR filter 130 then filters the shaped signal to eliminate out-of-band high frequency noises, and generates the analog audio signal Vout. The FIR filter 130 typically comprises a shift register 132 comprising a plurality of delay units 134, a plurality of weighting units 136 corresponding to each delay units 134, and a summing device 138 coupled to the outputs of weighting units 136. The shaped signal is serially delayed by the delay units 134. The weighting units 136 jointly serve as a weighting function to leverage the outputs from each delay units 134, and the summing device 138 sums the outputs from weighting units 136 to generate the analog audio signal Vout.
FIG. 2 shows a conventional FIR filter 200. A plurality of current sinks 204 are provided, each providing a different current as a weighting coefficient. A plurality of switches 202 direct the currents to a node A or a node B according to corresponding values output from the delay units 134. In this way, a first current Ia and a second current Ib are respectively formed on the node A and node B, representing the audio signal as a differential current pair. The current source 206 and current source 208 compensate the current offsets on the nodes A and B, thus, the first current Ia and second current Ib are bidirectional. The current to voltage converters 210 and 220, driven by a reference voltage Vref, then convert the first current Ia and second current Ib to a first voltage Va and a second voltage Vb, and the subtracter 230 subtracts the first voltage Va and second voltage Vb to obtain the analog audio signal Vout. Conventionally, four OP amplifiers (not shown) are required to implement the reference voltage Vref, current to voltage converter 210, current to voltage converter 220 and subtracter 230. The OP amplifiers dominate area consumption in a chip, and contribute 1/f noises that induce SNR performance hits. An implementation requiring less OP amplifiers is therefore desirable.

Method and apparatus for digital to analog conversion


Architectural archway structures for aircraft. The archway structure can be positioned individually, or in pairs or other sets along the length of the interior of an aircraft, such as a commercial passenger airplane. The archways extend across the ceiling of the interior of the cabin and extend downwardly to a point adjacent the luggage bins. End caps are provided to conform the end of the archways with the interior luggage bins. The invention provides a unique “look and feel” and architectural configuration, and does not result in seat loss.

The interior configuration and architecture of aircraft have become relatively standardized today. The arrangements of the passenger seats, bulkheads, lavatories, serving areas, and the like have been developed for convenience and accommodation of both passengers and crew. The passenger compartments are typically divided into two or more sections with bulkheads and lavatories being positioned accordingly. Aisles and passageway spaces are left between sets of seats and at the access doors.
The related application Ser. No. 10/688,624, describes unique designs for architectural structures, especially archway elements which are incorporated into the interior design of an aircraft, particularly commercial passenger airplanes. The archways can be positioned individually, or in pairs or other sets along the length of the passenger cabins of the aircraft. The archways are used to run or connect various transport elements, such as electrical wiring, water lines, and environmental control system conduits, between the upper crown, lower bay, and passenger cabin of the aircraft. That invention simplifies installation complexity and eliminates the installation and variability associated with running transport elements between the various sections of the aircraft. It also provides a unique "look and feel" to passengers entering the passenger cabins of the aircraft.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a related "look and feel" of airplane passenger cabin configurations, but without the possibility of a loss of seating capacity and possible reduced revenue that would go along with it. As a result, the present invention attempts to provide a similar "look and feel" with another unique structural configuration, particularly at the entrance/exit doorway of an aircraft, without incurring any seat loss.


Disclosed herein is a curing agent for epoxy resins that is comprised of the reaction product of an amine, an epoxy resin, and an elastomer-epoxy adduct. Additionally disclosed is a process comprising agitating a solution of an amine, an epoxy resin, and an elastomer-epoxy adduct as a dispersant at an elevated temperature in an organic medium.

Epoxy adhesives have been known for over 50 years and were one of the first high temperature adhesives to become commercialized. Once cured, the material retains its adhesive properties over a large range of temperatures, has high shear strengths, and is resistant to weathering, oil, solvents, and moisture. The adhesive is available commercially as either a 1-part adhesive or 2-part adhesive and is available in several forms, such as pastes, solvent solutions, and supported films. Of the three forms, the 1-part adhesive film generally provides good adhesive strength with better thickness uniformity and has found practical use in the development of anisotropic conducting films such applications as flat panel displays.
To construct a 1-part adhesive film, one typically combines all at once, a latent hardener, multi-functional epoxy resins, phenoxy resins, additives, and optionally fillers. This composition is then cast as a film on a release layer. During the bonding process, the adhesive is transferred to one particular surface and the release layer removed. Another surface is brought into contact with the film, and the adhesive hardened or cured into a strong thermosetting adhesive through the application of heat and or pressure. In this example, the two components of the adhesive that enable the material to cure into a thermoset adhesive are the hardener and the multi-functional epoxy. It is the later, that sets up the cross-linked network, but it is the former that enables this to happen. During the curing process, the latent hardener initiates the polymerization of the multi-functional epoxy by first forming ring-opened adducts with the oxiranes of the epoxy resin. Once produced, the addition products cause a cascade of ring-opened species that propagate through the adhesive, finally producing a cross-linked thermoset material.
The active ingredient of the hardener is usually comprised of the reaction product of an amine compound, like an imidazole, and an epoxy resin. Such adducts are will known to initiate and accelerate the cure of epoxy resins (Heise, M. S.; Martin, G. C. Macromolecules, 1989, 22 99-104; Heise, M. S.; Martin, G. C. J. Poly. Sci.: Part C: Polym. Lett. 1988, 26, 153-157; Barton, J. M; Shepherd, P. M.; Die Makromolekular Chemie 1975 176, 919-930). One drawback of these however is that they are so effective as curatives they cannot be used directly into a 1-part adhesive because once added, they would start to kick-off the cure in a relative short period of time. What one would see therefore is a slow increase in the viscosity of the composition, while one is attempting to make the adhesive and its film, as the hardener continues to accelerate the ring-opening polymerization of the epoxy moieties. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as reduced workable lifetime, in other words, the time available to assemble the adhesive and make the film was dramatically reduced because of premature hardening. Therefore, to stop this from happening, one usually does not use amine-epoxy adducts themselves as hardeners, but instead what is typically done is to encapsulate or coat the amine-epoxy adduct with a protective shell of material that sequesters the amine-epoxy adduct from the adhesive environment. Once incorporated into the adhesive, the amine-epoxy adduct is released from its protective shell through the application of heat and or pressure. Such latent hardeners described here are commonly called to as a core-shell latent hardener, where the core in this case is the amine-epoxy adduct and the shell is the protective shell.
There is one significant trade-off often encountered with core-shell latent hardeners, and that is that the cure speed is often slowed and the cure temperature often increased because of the inclusion of a protective shell, which must be broken or rendered permeable in order to allow the core material to be released into the adhesive environment or matrix. Without being bound by any particular theory, it is well known that as one increases the barrier properties of the shell material by increasing the thickness, crosslinking density, or Tg of the shell, or by increasing the degree of incompatibility between the shell and the core material or the adhesive matrix, it takes more energy to release the amine-epoxy adduct, which in turn starts the cure. This typically shows up as an increase in the shelf life stability of the 1-part adhesive but with a trade-off in the increase in curing temperature or the decrease in curing speed. Therefore, it continues to be a constant balance to prepare a core-shell latent hardener that has just enough of a protective shell to protect the core material at normal storage conditions, but not too much as to slow down the cure speed of the adhesive. Also, the release of the core material may be triggered at a reasonably low temperature and completed within a narrow temperature range.
One of the most frequently used core-shell latent hardeners are those comprised of core-shell materials, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,833,226, 5,219,956, US 2006/0128835, US 2007/0010636, US 2007/0055039, US 2007/0244268, EP 1,557,438, EP 1,731,545, EP 1,852,452, and EP 1,980,580. The hardeners described here are obtained, first by the synthesis of a lump of core material, which is then pulverized into micro-sized particles that are irregular in shape. The core material is the reaction product of an amine compound and an epoxy resin and said core material functions as a hardener for epoxy compositions, such as that found in adhesives and coatings. To improve the storage stability of the core material and prevent premature curing, it is encapsulated with a shell of material that is impervious to components of the epoxy composition, such as solvent, diluent, low molecular weight epoxides and additives. To accomplish this, the pulverized solid is added to a mixture of polyfunctional isocyanate, an active hydrogen compound, like water, and an epoxy resin. The chemistry of said encapsulation procedure relies on the crosslinking reactions and/or hydrolysis of the polyisocyanate compound to form a cross-linked shell coating around the particles. Typical crosslinking structures of the shell include, but are not limited to, urea, urethane, carbamate, biuret, allophanate, etc. However, the crosslinking reactions take places randomly without discrimination in the continuous phase and at the interface. It is highly likely that some core particles are not fully encapsulated, while unwanted byproducts such as crosslinked polyurea particles are produced in the continuous phase. Moreover, the core particles prepared by this process are of irregular shape with a very broad distribution of shape and particle size, the uniformity of the thickness and crosslinking density of the shell formed thereon is very poor. As a result, the encapsulated hardener particles typically show a very broad distribution of release property and the 1-part adhesive formulated with this type of hardener capsules often shows poor shelf-life stability and a sluggish curing profile or a high curing temperature.
There is another group of inventions, namely EP 459,745, EP 552,976, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,357,008, 5,480,957, 5,548,058, 5,554,714, 5,561,204, 5,567,792, and 5,591,814, that also describe core shell latent hardeners, which unlike those above are spherical in shape. The core material is obtained as a spherical particle and is synthesized from the reaction of an amine with an active hydrogen atom (e.g., imidazole) and an epoxy resin, in an organic medium and in the presence of a dispersant. The amine, epoxy resin, and dispersant are soluble in the organic medium, while the reaction product, the core material, is not, and as a result the core particle precipitates out from solution as a stable dispersion with a relatively narrow size distribution. The most important factor to make a stable dispersion of desirable particle size with a narrow size distribution is the nature of the dispersant and the inventors show examples that use dispersants from the class of graft of polyacrylates, polyacrylamides, polyvinyl acetates, polyethylene oxides, polystyrenes, and polyvinyl chlorides. Once isolated, the spherical core material is encapsulated with an isocyanate to prepare a spherical core-shell latent hardener.
There remains a need for improved core-shell latent hardeners that are solvent resistant and for which the release of the core material may be triggered at a reasonably low temperature and completed within a narrow temperature range.


A DC electric rotating machine, such as a starter of an automotive vehicle, includes a stator with salient poles having at least four poles distributed uniformly over the circumference of the stator, a rotor disposed inside the stator, a set of brushes adapted for the electric supply of the rotor, and at least two geometrically opposed salient poles. Each pole includes at least one substantially radial slot in a plane parallel to the axis of rotation of the rotor and preferably passes through the axis of the rotor. By minimizing the reaction fields of the armature, utilization of the magnetic material of the parts of the stator is balanced and a harmful armature reaction effect, which increases saturation of the polar parts of the inductor and which leads to reduction in the driving magnetic torque, is mitigated.

Electric rotating machines comprise an armature rotor and an inductive stator mounted in coaxial fashion, the stator surrounding the rotor. The rotor is integral with a drive shaft rotating inside a yoke. The stator has a plurality of magnetic poles disposed on an internal circumferential surface of a yoke and made up of salient poles around which are wound inductive wires, the unit constituting a wire wound inductor. The rotor, placed at the centre of the stator, comprises armature wires wound in notches.
The inductive poles of the stator generally have "shoes", that is to say lateral extensions at their apex as on a capital letter T.
Wire wound inductors are particularly prone to a strong armature reaction due to their polar parts, this effect being much more pronounced than in the case of an inductor with permanent magnets. Indeed, salient poles contribute to amplifying the induction resulting from the magnetomotive force of the armature and their shoes reinforce the deformation effect of the induction lines due to the inductor, by providing a path and a material preferential for the induction lines due to the armature, these being perpendicular to those of the inductor at this point. This leads to the armature reaction effects being amplified, whereas usually the aim is to reduce them.

Electric rotating machine with salient poles


Processes for preparing 5-substituted pyrrolo2,3-d!pyrimidines which are useful as intermediates for the preparation of pyrrolo2,3-d!pyrimidine antineoplastic agents or as antineoplastic agents themselves are provided.

Compounds known to have antifolate activity are well recognized as chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer. One such agent, methotrexate, is now one of the most widely used anticancer drugs; and many other compounds in the folic acid family have been synthesized, tested and discussed in the chemical and medical literature. The compounds have various activities at the enzymatic level. In particular, they inhibit such enzymes as dihydrofolate reductase, folate polyglutamate synthetase, glycinamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase and thymidylate synthase.
More recently, a series of 4-hydroxypyrrolo-2,3-d!pyrimidine-L-glutamic acid derivatives have been disclosed and shown to be particularly useful antifolate drugs. See, e.g., Akimoto, et al., European Patent Publication 0 434 426.
5-Substituted pyrrolo2,3-d!pyrimidine compounds of the formula I ##STR1## wherein R is NHC*H (COOR.sup.1) CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 COOR.sup.1 or OR.sup.1 ;
each R.sup.1 is H or the same or different carboxy protecting group; PA1 the configuration about the carbon atom designated * is L; PA1 n is 0 or 1; and PA1 A is an aryl group which may be substituted, are useful in preparing various 5-substituted pyrrolo2,3-d!pyrimidine-based therapeutic agents or, when R is NHC*H(COOR.sup.1)CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 COOR.sup.1 and each R.sup.1 is H, or a salt thereof, are useful as therapeutic agents. PA1 each R.sup.1 is H or the same or different carboxy protecting group; PA1 the configuration about the carbon atom designated * is L; PA1 n is 0 or 1; and PA1 A is an aryl group which may be substituted; PA1 or a salt thereof, which comprises PA1 A, R, R.sup.1, A and * are as defined above; and PA1 a) reacting a halogenating agent with a compound of formula III ##STR5## wherein R, R.sup.1, A, n and * are as defined above; and PA1 R.sup.2 is a substituent of formula IV, V, or VI PA1 OHC--CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 R.sup.3 --CH.dbd.CH--CH.sub.2 ##STR6## wherein R.sup.3 is PA1 OR.sup.4, wherein R.sup.4 is a hydroxy protecting group; PA1 OCOR.sup.5, wherein R.sup.5 is C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl, phenyl, benzyl or C.sub.3 -C.sub.6 cycloalkyl; PA1 NR.sup.6 R.sup.7, wherein R.sup.6 and R.sup.7 are independently C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl, C.sub.3 -C.sub.6 cycloalkyl, or are taken together with the nitrogen atom and, optionally, an oxygen atom, to form a 5-to 6-membered saturated monocyclic group which optionally may be substituted with one or two substituents selected from the group consisting of C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl and C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkoxy; or PA1 R.sup.8 and R.sup.9 each are C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or are taken together with the oxygen atoms to form a 5- to 6-membered saturated monocyclic group which optionally may be substituted with one or two substituents selected from the group consisting of hydroxy, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, and C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkoxy; PA1 b) reacting the reaction product from step a) with 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine; and PA1 c) optionally salifying the reaction product from step b). PA1 R is OR.sup.1 ; PA1 R.sup.1 is H or a carboxy protecting group; PA1 n is 0 or 1; PA1 R.sup.3 is OR.sup.4 ; and PA1 R.sup.4 is a hydroxy protecting group, as generally described by DeGraw, supra, with a compound of formula VIII ##STR9## wherein each R.sup.1 ' is the same or different carboxy protecting group and the configuration about the carbon atom designated * is L, using conventional condensation techniques. One preferred condensation method, when R of a formula II compound is H, is taught by Taylor, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,653. Otherwise, a formula II compound should first be deprotected prior to condensation. PA1 each R.sup.1 is H or the same or different carboxy protecting group; PA1 the configuration about the carbon atom designated * is L; PA1 n is 0 or 1; and PA1 A is an aryl group which may be substituted; PA1 or a salt thereof, which comprises PA1 A, R, R.sup.1, n and * are as defined above; and PA1 a) reacting a halogenating agent with a compound of formula III ##STR12## wherein R, R.sup.1, A, n and * are as defined above; and PA1 R.sup.2 is a substituent of formula IV, V, or VI PA1 OHC--CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 R.sup.3 --CH.dbd.CH--CH.sub.2 ##STR13## wherein R.sup.3 is PA1 OR.sup.4, wherein R.sup.4 is a hydroxy protecting group; PA1 OCOR.sup.5, wherein R.sup.5 is C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl, phenyl, benzyl or C.sub.3 -C.sub.6 cycloalkyl; PA1 R.sup.8 and R.sup.9 each are C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or are taken together with the oxygen atoms to form a 5- to 6-membered saturated monocyclic group which optionally may be substituted with one or two substituents selected from the group consisting of hydroxy, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, and C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkoxy; PA1 b) reacting the reaction product from step a) with 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine; and PA1 c) optionally salifying the reaction product from step b).
The art recognizes multiple methods for the preparation of pyrrolopyrimidine derivatives. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,838; Miwa, et al., J. Med. Chem., 34: 555-560 (1991); C. W. Noell, et al., J. Heterocyclic Chem., 1: 34-41 (1964); Kandasamy Ramasamy, et al., J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 560-562 (1989); and John A. Secrist, et al., J. Ora. Chem., 43: 3937-3941 (1978).
The present invention provides regiospecific processes for preparing 5-substituted pyrrolo2,3-d!primidines which are useful as intermediates for the preparation of, inter alia, pharmaceutically active pyrrolo2,3-d!pyrimidine compounds, or as pharmaceutically active compounds.
The present invention further provides a regiospecific process for preparing 5-substituted pyrrolo2,3-d!pyrimidine compounds, wherein said process is carried out in the same vessel.

Process for preparing 5-substituted pyrrolo-2,3-d!pyrimidines