This invention relates to a process for preparing 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones comprising reacting an .alpha.-hydroxy acid oligomer or an ester of an .alpha.-hydroxy acid oligomer over a fixed bed catalyst system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for the preparation of 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones which are useful for the preparation of degradable polymers.
2. Technical Background
The present invention provides a process for the preparation of 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones, represented by Formula I, wherein each R is independently H or hydrocarbyl. These compounds are useful as precursors in the preparation of degradable polymers. ##STR1##
Compounds of Formula I are cyclic dimers of .alpha.-hydroxycarboxylic acids. In principle, two molecules of .alpha.-hydroxycarboxylic acids can condense to produce a compound of Formula I and two molecules of water. However, the direct formation of compounds of Formula I from .alpha.-hydroxycarboxylic acids is generally of limited preparative value, since it is most often the case that self-condensation of the .alpha.-hydroxycarboxylic acids forms a complex mixture of linear and cyclic oligomers resulting in poor yields. Acta Chem. Scand., Ser. B, 34, 633-6, 1980. This direct method affords poor yields of desired product even under dilute conditions where cyclization of a linear intermediate might be favored: 3,6-diphenyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione was prepared from mandelic acid and a catalytic amount of p-toluene-sulphonic acid in refluxing benzene with water removal in only 11% yield with much oligomer formation. Chem. Mater., 2, 248-54, 1990. In what must be considered an exception to the rule, 3,3,6,6-tetraphenyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione was similarly prepared from diphenylacetic acid in 93% yield. Synth. Commun., 17, 1919-28, 1987.
Compounds of Formula I have been more commonly prepared in a two-step reaction. In the first step, .alpha.-hydroxyacids are heated with the removal of water to form oligomers. In the second step, thermolysis of the oligomer is performed in the liquid phase in the presence of various catalysts at temperatures near 250.degree. C. The compound of Formula I formed by this process is generally distilled from the reaction mixture as it is formed and is then crystallized from an appropriate solvent. Prior to crystallization, the crude product typically contains a significant amount of acidic impurities. This process suffers from excessive tar formation, low yields, and slow production rates. U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,293 discloses an improvement on this method whereby an inert gas is used to carry the product from the reaction mixture to a solvent system. U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,163 discloses an improvement whereby the thermolysis is performed on a block polymer comprising a thermally-stable polyether core with an .alpha.-hydroxyacid polymerized onto the core.
An alternative method for the production of compounds of Formula I involves the reaction of a carboxylic acid salt with a halide. EP 339,882 discloses that salts of 2-halopropionic acids, when heated at ca. 200.degree. C. in organic solvents, form crude lactide from which lactide of high purity is obtained, after crystallization, in yields of approximately 15%. U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,190 discloses the preparation of 1,4-dioxane- 2,5-dione by heating sodium O-(chloroacetyl)glycolate at 125.degree.-240.degree. C. with sublimation of the products and purification by fractional vacuum sublimation at 0.03 torr and 25.degree. C. Compounds of Formula I are also prepared by distillation of the sodium salts of the appropriate 2-bromocarboxylic acids. Org. Mass Spectrom., 2, 893-900, 1969.
Compounds of Formula I have also been obtained from methylarsino-subsituted .alpha.-hydroxy carboxylate esters. Chem.-Ztg., 112, 125-7, 1988. Reaction of diphenylacetic acid in concentrated H2SO4 yields compounds of Formula I. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 108, 5237-42, 1986. Thermal or photochemical reaction of .alpha.-diazo ketones with molecular oxygen yields compounds of Formula I. J. Org. Chem., 38, 1602-5, 1973. Compounds of Formula I are obtained as a by-product in the manufacture of methacrylic acid via H.sub.2 SO.sub.4 hydrolysis of methacrylamide. Zh. Prikl. Khim. (Leningrad), 53, 423-7, 1980.
The above methods have been used for the preparation of symmetrically 3,6-substituted 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones (compounds of Formula I in which the substituents of carbon 3 are equivalent to the substituents at carbon 6). While unsymmetrically 3,6-substituted 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones (compounds of Formula I in which at least one R group on the 3-carbon is different from at least one R group on the 6-carbon) can be obtained by the processes outlined above, the reactions would be expected to lead to a mixture of different 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones. The separation of such a mixture would be difficult and would require extensive and costly purification procedures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,938 discloses that thermolytic cracking of an oligomer prepared from glycolic acid and lactic acid provided a mixture of 1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione, 3-methyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione and 3,6-dimethyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione from which pure (>99%) 3-methyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione was obtained only after repeated distillation. ##STR2##
Unsymmetrically 3,6-substituted 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones have been prepared from compounds of Formula II (X=Cl or Br; R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4, and R.sup.5 =H, alkyl or aralkyl). U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,938 discloses the production of 3-methyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione and 3,3-dimethyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione from O-(chloroacetyl) lactic acid and O-(chloroacetyl)-2-hydroxyisobutyric acid, respectively, in yields of approximately 25%. In each case, an arduous purification procedure was employed. The preparation of 3-methyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione from O-(2-bromopropionyl)glycolic acid has been reported. A. C. Ibay (Army Inst. Dent. Res., Washington, DC); Report, Order No. AD-A199413; Gov. Rep. Announce. Index (U.S.) 1989, 89 (3). More recently, a reaction of dilute O-(chloroacetyl)lactic acid in dimethylformamide (2%, w/v) and a weak base was reported to give 3-methyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione in yields as high as 87%. Chem. Express, 5, 149-52, 1990. A number of compounds of Formula II were prepared from .alpha.-bromocarboxylic acid chlorides and .alpha.-hydroxycarboxylic acids to give unsymmetrically 3,6-substituted 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones in yields of 60-85% (Angew. Chem., 91, 329-30, 1979).
There exists a need for a process capable of producing 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones cleanly, in high yield and without the necessity of extensive and costly purification procedures. In addition the process should provide unsymmetrically 3,6-substituted 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones as well as symmetrically 3,6-substituted 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones. It is the object of the present invention to provide such a process.

Process for the preparation of 1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones


A method of transferring messages between a plurality of processes that are communicating with a data storage system, wherein the plurality of processes access the data storage system by using I/O services. the method includes the steps of configuring the data storage system to provide a shared data storage area for the plurality of processes, wherein each of the processes is permitted to access the shared data storage region; when a sending process sends a new message that is intended for a recipient process, sending that new message to the data storage system; storing that new message in the shared data storage region; in response to an action initiated by the intended recipient process, retrieving that new message from the shared data storage region; and further in response to the action initiated by the intended recipient process, sending the retrieved message to the intended recipient process, wherein the sending and intended recipient processes are among the plurality of processes.

The invention relates generally to messaging between host processors and/or processes.
An increasing number of powerful data storage systems are becoming commercially available. These systems are capable of storing and rapidly accessing hundreds of gigabytes, even terabytes, of data. The Symmetrix 3XXX and 5XXX Series data storage systems that are sold by EMC, Corp. of Hopkinton, Mass. are good examples of these new, high performance data storage systems. The Symmetrix data storage systems, which are frequently used for online transaction processing and other response-intensive applications, are part of a group of data storage systems that are more generally referred to as integrated cached disk array systems. Such systems include a large array of small disk storage devices and a large cache memory. For example, in the disk array there may be as many as 128 5.24 inch disk storage devices each with its own cache buffer and the total cache can be above 4 Gigabytes. The cache is made up of high speed storage units which collectively are used as an intermediary between the host processors that are connected to the data storage system and the internal storage disks of the disk array. Internally, a plurality of microprocessors (e.g. up to 144 individual microprocessors) handle accesses to the cache and the disks of the disk array. Thus, a high degree of parallelism and thus efficiency is possible in processing I/O tasks.
These systems are based on the principle that currently active data at any given time is relatively small in comparison to the total amount of data that is stored in the system and thus the currently active data is stored in the cache where it can be accessed very quickly. Because access times for reading and writing to cache are much shorter than for disks, storing active data in cache memory results in a substantial improvement in performance.
Such systems use various other techniques to enhance performance and reliability. For example, in the Symmetrix data storage systems, the cache has a separate power supply with battery backup so that a power failure to the main system will not result in loss of data in the cache. Also those systems include a mirroring facility to generate a duplicate of all stored data. In accordance with mirroring, the data storage system generates two copies of data in the disk array, each copy on a different set of the disks. When writes occur to data in the system, both copies are updated. Thus, if one disk fails wiping out all of the data stored on that disk, a duplicate of that data can be found and accessed on another disk.
Today's data storage systems, exemplified by the Symmetrix data storage systems of EMC, Corp., make possible further advances in overall system design and performance, such as the present invention described below.

Message queuing on a data storage system utilizing message queuing in intended recipient's queue


Embodiments of the present invention provide computer-implemented methods, computer program products and systems. Embodiments of the present invention can run preemptable tasks distributed according to a distributed environment, wherein each task of a plurality of preemptable tasks has been assigned two or more of the training data samples to process during each iteration. Embodiments of the present invention can, upon verifying that a preemption condition for each iteration is satisfied: preempt any task of the preemptable tasks that have started processing training data samples assigned to it, and update the cognitive model based on outputs obtained from completed tasks, including outputs obtained from both the preempted tasks and completed tasks that have finished processing all training data samples as assigned to it.

The invention relates in general to computerized techniques for training a cognitive model based on training data samples. In particular, it is directed to methods involving iterative training algorithms run in a distributed environment, and aiming at mitigating stragglers.
As data becomes a major source of insight, machine learning (ML) grows into a dominant workload in many (public and private) cloud environments. Ever-increasing collection of data drives the development of efficient algorithms and systems for distributed ML as resource demands often exceed the capacity of single nodes. However, given the usage of cloud resources, a distributed execution poses additional challenges in terms of resource utilization. Recent efforts have aimed to improve resource utilization and flexibility of ML applications.
For example, the so-called Communication-efficient distributed dual Coordinate Ascent (CoCoA) framework was proposed for efficient, distributed training of generalized linear models (GLMs). CoCoA significantly outperforms other distributed methods, such as mini-batch versions of stochastic gradient descent (SGD) and stochastic dual coordinate ascent (SDCA) by minimizing the amount of communication necessary between the training steps.
Many iterative distributed ML training algorithms, such as CoCoA and the so-called mini-batch SGD, are implemented using a form of bulk synchronous parallel (BSP) programming model, where a set of tasks are executed on multiple compute nodes and synchronize periodically. Synchronization is typically done using a global barrier. Stragglers are tasks that run unexpectedly longer than other tasks. As all tasks need to reach a barrier in order for the application to make progress, a single straggler can prolong the training.
Current approaches to address stragglers in iterative machine learning algorithms include relaxed consistency models and worker replication.
Relaxed consistency models. The most common approach of addressing stragglers in distributed ML training, is the so-called stale synchronous parallel (SSP) method, a generalization of the BSP method, which is based on the relaxation of consistency guarantees and makes use of the auto-correcting property of ML algorithms in respect of bounded errors. Several variations of SSP are known.
SSP introduces a staleness parameter n that allows schedulers to start tasks of iteration i as soon as all tasks of iteration i−1−n have finished. This effectively allows the scheduler to execute tasks of multiple iterations in parallel, a thing that is forbidden in the BSP method. For n=0, SSP is equivalent to BSP. SSP can effectively mitigate scheduling gaps caused by stragglers. The relaxed consistency constraints of SSP introduce small errors in the computation of updates as it omits updates from slow workers in a current iteration. This, however, is corrected in subsequent iterations, by virtue of a mechanism that increases the total number of iterations (and therefore epochs) needed to converge, although this is compensated by a reduced time per iteration, to some extent. Furthermore, SSP assumes that stragglers are intermittent and occur on random workers. Thus, this approach cannot compensate for static performance differences encountered in heterogeneous systems.
Worker replication. Another approach to straggler mitigation is worker replication. Here, in addition to K regular workers, m backup workers are used during the training, which allows the system to proceed to the next iteration after any K workers out of the K+m workers have finished. This approach exploits the stochastic nature of ML training algorithms without introducing any errors in the computation of the updates. However, it comes at the cost of using additional resources, which are needed even if no stragglers occur. Thus, (K+m)/K as many resources are required during the training. As with SSP methods, this approach cannot compensate for static performance differences encountered in heterogeneous systems.

Straggler mitigation for iterative machine learning via task preemption

International Business Machines Corporation


Novel ultraviolet absorbing compounds that are liquid in nature, are low in color (and thus permit use without the concomitant necessity of adding large amounts of other coloring agents to combat such discoloring), and are highly effective in providing protection in wavelength ranges for which previous attempts at low-color ultraviolet absorbers have failed are provided herein. Such compounds provide such excellent, inexpensive, and beneficial protection from ultraviolet exposure within various media, including, but not limited to, clear thermoplastics. The particular compounds are generally polymeric in nature including various chain lengths of polyoxyalkylenes thereon and are liquid in nature to facilitate handling and introduction within the target media. In addition, such ultraviolet absorbers also exhibit extremely low migratory properties thereby providing long-term protective benefits to the target media as well. This invention also concerns the end products, specific broadly defined types of compounds providing such beneficial characteristics, methods of making such low-color compounds, and methods of producing such clear, UV protected end products.

All of the U.S. patents cited throughout this specification are hereby entirely incorporated herein.
Ultraviolet absorber compounds have been utilized for a number of protective applications, including within compositions for covering skin, on and within apparel and other types of textiles, within transparent plastic containers, and the like, to combat the harmful and degradable effects of certain wavelengths of light in the UV spectrum. The best known UV absorbers are benzotriazoles, available from Ciba under the tradename Tinuvin®, and benzophenones, available from Cytec Industries under the trademark Cyasorb™. Such compounds are highly effective in their UV absorber capacity; however, they are quite costly, can prove difficult to incorporate within different target media, and tend to migrate from within certain types of media (such as plastics). Furthermore, these two well known types of UV absorbers present handling difficulties in that they are generally produced and utilized in powder form and have relatively low melting points. Particularly, within plastic media, the powder form of these compounds is problematic; a liquid is much easier to handle, does not require melting, and provides more effective and thorough mixing throughout the target plastic. Additionally, these previously utilized UV absorbers provide UV protection over a relatively narrow range of wavelengths (λmax from about 290 to about 375 nm for benzotriazoles; from 260 to 340 nm for benzophenones), which ultimately leaves a potentially damaging range of unprotected UV exposure (to about 400 nm). Attempts to increase the amount of such UV absorber compounds in order to provide potential protection over such a broader wavelength range is ineffective, not to mention such greater amounts of UV absorbers increases the production of unwanted colorations within target clear plastics and other like applications such that masking compounds (e.g., bluing agents, for example) must be utilized in relatively high amounts to combat the discoloring effect. Thus, there exists a need to provide a highly effective, liquid ultraviolet absorber which exhibits a versatility to be incorporated within or applied to different and various media and substrates and which, alternatively, can provide protection over the range of wavelengths in the UV spectrum of from about 290 to about 400 nm (in order to provide the best overall protection from possible harm and/or degradation associated with UV exposure).
Methine-based compounds, in particular certain malonate derivatives, as in European Patent Abstract 350-386-A, to L'Oreal SA, are useful as UV absorbers in cosmetic sunscreen compositions, are generally inexpensive to make, and provide UV protection in the spectrum from about 280 to about 360 nm. However, such compounds are highly soluble in organic solvents and could therefore easily migrate from solid compositions, such as plastics, upon introduction therein. Thus, although the utilization of an effective UV absorber, such as a malonate derivative, within plastics, may be highly desirable, such has never been taught nor fairly suggested within the prior UV absorber art due to the great difficulty in producing such a stable, and thus highly effective, UV absorbing composition from such a methine-based source. There exists a need then to produce an inexpensive UV absorber which exhibits the requisite ability to remain within media such as thermoplastics and the like (as noted above), and thus provide necessary and desirable protection from degradation due to UV exposure.
Further developments for the ultraviolet protection of certain polymeric media (such as polyesters) have included methine-based compounds which, to be effective in terms of low extraction from such a thermoplastic, must be introduced during the actual polymerization reaction of the base thermoplastic polymer itself. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,374 to Pruett et al. teaches such UV absorbers for polyester end-uses. Again, however, such compounds exhibit very high extraction results unless they are added as to-be-polymerized reactants themselves with the ester monomers during the polymerization step. In such an instance, these UV absorbers are actually integrated within the polymer, and not just mixed within the thermoplastic medium. As such, although such compounds do exhibit excellent results when polymerized within the target polyester, unfortunately such compounds are limited in their versatility since the only time during which effective introduction is permitted is during the aforementioned polymerization procedure. There thus still remains a need to provide a more versatile UV absorber for thermoplastic end-uses such that the producer can introduce the UV absorber at any time during the production of the target thermoplastic such that the additive does not exhibit such high extraction and yet still provides excellent UV absorbing properties thereto.
It has now been found that through the addition of polyoxyalkylene chains onto certain ultraviolet absorber compounds, greater versatility of potential uses for the new UV absorber is provided, particularly in terms of the needed low-extraction as noted above. Therefore, it has been found that such polyoxyalkylenated compounds (such as those, without intending to limit the breadth of the invention, the methine-based compounds utilizing vanillin and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde as starting materials) provide UV absorbers which are highly effective in filtering harmful UV-A and UV-B rays over a broad spectrum (λmax from about 280 to about 400 nm, more preferably from about 320 to about 400 nm). Furthermore, it has been found that in combination with a benzotriazole and/or a hydroxybenzophenone, or other similar type of UV absorber compound, the resultant composition is accorded protection from a great amount of potentially damaging UV radiation (from approximately 250 to about 400 nm). Additionally, such a combination is highly stable within the desired media, and thus provides long-term protection to the desired sample stored within the target treated plastic article. Such compounds, when prepared in accordance with certain procedures, most notably with certain alkoxylation catalysts, including, without limitation, metal hydroxides and other bases, both alone and in the presence of amine-based alkoxylation catalysts (particularly with affinities for available protons), as well as rare earth phosphate salts, such as those taught within U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,057,627, 5,057,628, 5,059,719, 5,118,870, 5,208,199, provide the basis for effective utilization within colorless (clear and transparent) applications, such as the desired clear plastics, while simultaneously providing the necessary effective UV protection.
Although some interest has been demonstrated within the area of certain methine-based UV absorber compounds (i.e., L'Oreal's malonate derivatives), to date there has been no disclosure or fair suggestion regarding the utilization of the polyoxyalkylenated derivatives of such UV absorbers in that capacity within certain media (such as, for example, plastics), or on other surfaces (skin, textiles, for example), or in other applications (inks, and the like, for example). In particular, no disclosures exist concerning low-color, low-extraction (migration) polyoxyalkylenated UV absorber compounds that provide effective protection from UV exposure between the wavelengths of from about 320 to about 400 nm. There is thus a great need within the UV absorber market, and most particularly within the transparent plastic film and container markets (for storing and protecting food, pills, and the like) for such types of improvements associated with relatively inexpensive materials and processes provided by the inventive polyoxyalkylenated methine-based UV absorber compounds.
Other ultraviolet absorbing compounds and compositions have been developed or modified for certain plastic (thermoplastic, thermoset, etc.) applications, such as a class of compounds known by the name of Tinuvin®, available from Ciba, and noted above. Although such compounds appear to provide very good ultraviolet protection both to the plastic itself and to any stored liquids, solids, etc., within a container made therewith such plastics, unfortunately such a class of compounds exhibits undesirable or problematic deficiencies. In particular, the breadth of protection within the UV spectrum is generally limited to from about 320 to about 375 nm with such compounds. Thus, they generally do not provide adequate UV protection to contents of plastic packaging over the entire range of UV wavelengths. Also, such Tinuvin-type compounds are generally naturally solid in nature and thus are either dispensed within target resins as solid powders or must be dispersed within liquids by the end-user at time very close to dispensing in order to be effective. If any such Tinuvin-type UV absorbers are in fact liquid, they still are limited in their breadth of UV protection in terms of wavelength ranges. Lastly, such Tinuvin compounds exhibit relatively high extraction levels and migratory characteristics from within target plastic resins, particularly thermoplastics such as polyethylene terephthalates. Thus, although such compounds are effective for UV protection to a certain extent, there are a number of drawbacks for which improvements are highly desired and necessary. To date, there thus remains a great need to provide an effective UV absorber that eliminates the above-noted deficiencies.

Low-color ultraviolet absorbers for thermoplastic and thermoset high UV wavelength protection applications


A technique for operating an aerial vehicle involves enabling a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) propeller of the aerial vehicle to rotate freely. The VTOL propeller is coupled with a VTOL motor (e.g., a 3-phase brushless DC motor). The technique further involves detecting when the VTOL propeller rotates to a predefined position relative to a direction of flight for the aerial vehicle (e.g., when blades of the VTOL propeller extend along an axis that is parallel to the direction of flight). The technique further involves, in response to detecting that the VTOL propeller has rotated to the predefined position, providing a load from the VTOL motor that inhibits further rotation of the VTOL propeller. Accordingly, while the aerial vehicle is in fixed wing horizontal flight, the controller is able to align the VTOL propeller in the direction of horizontal flight to minimize drag from the VTOL propeller.

A conventional drone is capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and horizontal fixed-wing flight. For VTOL, the conventional drone operates vertically oriented rotors that provide vertical lift. For horizontal flight, the conventional drone operates one or more horizontally oriented rotors that enable fixed-wings to provide lift in the manner of a standard aircraft.
The vertically oriented rotors of such a conventional drone may include magnets that align the propellers of the vertically oriented rotors with the direction of horizontal flight. Accordingly, when the conventional drone flies horizontally, the propellers of the vertically oriented rotors provide minimal drag and interference.

Providing a load from a motor to inhibit further rotation of a propeller of an aerial vehicle while in flight


A drive disk assembly for use in a press machine is segmented into a plurality of discrete drive disk segments each having a friction pad attached thereto. The segmented drive disk permits individual disk segments and friction pads to be removed after installation without disassembling the entire arrangement. The disk segments may grow thermally without causing the flex disk being utilized to shift axially or radially. A slot formed throughout the disk segment acts as an effective heat barrier to protect sensitive parts from undue thermal exposure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanical press and, more particularly, to a drive disk assembly that is segmented in order to provide the ability to remove individual portions of the drive disk for replacement.
2. Description of the Related Art
The typical mechanical press includes a bed that is mounted to a platform or the floor of a shop, a vertically spaced crown portion in which the drive assembly for the slide is contained, and one or more uprights rigidly connecting the bed and crown and maintaining the bed and crown in vertically spaced relationship. The crown houses the drive assembly, which typically comprises a crankshaft having a plurality of eccentrics thereon and connecting rods coupled to the crankshaft eccentrics at their upper ends and to the slide at their lower ends. The slide is mounted within the uprights for reciprocating motion and is adapted to have the upper half of the die set mounted to it with the other half mounted to the bolster, which is connected to the bed.
At one end of the crankshaft or on a top or side mounted driveshaft is conventionally mounted a flywheel and clutch assembly wherein the flywheel is connected by a belt to the output pulley of a motor such that when the motor is energized, the massive flywheel rotates continuously. When the clutch is energized, the rotary motion of the flywheel is transmitted to the crankshaft, which causes the connecting rods to undergo rotary-oscillatory motion that is transmitted to the slide assembly by means of a wrist pin, for example, so that such motion is converted to rectilinear reciprocating motion of the slide. The connecting rods may be connected directly to the slide or connected by means of pistons, which in turn are slidably received within cylinders connected to the crown.
In one conventional configuration, a clutch flex plate is attached to the flywheel and includes a drive disk attached thereto. A driven disk, including a combination brake/clutch assembly, is attached to the crankshaft. The brake/clutch assembly may be selectively energized to engage the driven disk with the drive disk of the flywheel arrangement, thereby transferring rotational energy to the crankshaft, or it may be de-activated to retard and eventually brake the crankshaft movement.
An adverse operating condition experienced by such disk arrangements involves the tendency of the drive disk, which is connected to the flywheel or clutch flex plate, to heat up due to frictional contact of the drive disk with the driven disk. This frictional engagement causes the drive disk to thermally expand during the operating cycle. This expansion, if of sufficient magnitude and duration, may cause the drive disk to grow radially and displace axially, in either or both of the axial directions, into contact with one of the clutch facings of the driven disk or clutch sleeve. The contact formed by the axial movement of the drive disk under such conditions is called thermally-induced axial closeout. This unintended contact results in excessive glazing and friction between the clutch facing and drive disk, thereby causing burnout of the clutch facing and/or excessive wear. Furthermore, axial closeout prevents the drive disk from fully disengaging from the clutch facings of the driven disk.

Segmented drive disk for a mechanical press


The present invention provides an ambient temperature curable fluoroelastomer coatings and coated articles to provide improved elongation, and adhesion to substrates especially flexible elastomeric substrates. The curable coating mixture is a mixture of two parts, part A containing a solution of a fluoroelastomer containing a specified acid number, and the other part B providing a curing component which is a mono-primary amine containing silane or condensate.

There is a well-known difficulty in obtaining good adhesion between elastomeric coatings based on polar elastomers and non-polar rubber substrates. Useful elastomeric coatings have been made from such polar elastomers as carboxylated hydrogenated nitrile rubber (XHNBR) or ethylene acrylic terpolymers (AEM) in co-pending U.S. Pat. No. 6,884,412.
Common examples of nonpolar elastomers as substrates include as natural rubber (NR), polyisoprene (IR), polybutadiene (BR), styrene butadiene (SBR) and ethylene propylene (EPDM). One known method used to improve adhesion to a nonpolar elastomer substrate has been to treat the substrate with a chlorinating or oxidizing acid such as trichloroisocyanuric acid. This treatment is undesirable in many applications because the acid residue can cause corrosion to the spray equipment, dip tanks, and exhaust systems in the application lines and there is the suspicion that it may initiate corrosion of rubber to metal bonded parts that have been treated prior to coating.
Heretofore, commercial primers such as Chemlok® 254X have been used to enhance adhesion to EPDM, but is of limited use in preparing NR, BR SBR, and blends thereof for adhesion of polar overcoatings. Such nonpolar elastomers are most commonly used in dynamic applications ranging from tires to vibration isolators and dampers. Additional primers having ease of use and less corrosive are needed.
Conventional fluoroelastomers as coatings suffer from poor adhesion to many substrates and insufficient elongation when coated over flexible elastomers. Existing commercial fluoropolymer coatings delaminate and stress crack after limited flex-testing. Improved fluoroelastomer coatings are sought that provide curing in several hours and sufficient pot life to enable brushing, dipping and spray applications, and provide functional coatings on a variety of flexible elastomers, especially nonpolar elastomers.

Ambient cured flexible fluoroelastomer coatings and coated products


Compounds of the formula (I) and their salts with inorganic and organic acids, ##STR1## in which R.sub.1 is a hydrogen atom or a trimethylsilyl group, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, R.sub.4, and R.sub.5 are, independently of each other, a hydrogen atom, a (C.sub.1 -C.sub.4) alkyl group, a hydroxy-(C.sub.2 -C.sub.3) alkyl group, an alkoxy-(C.sub.2 -C.sub.3) group, an amino-(C.sub.2 -C.sub.3) group, or a 2,3-dihydroxypropyl group, and in which R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, R.sub.4 and R.sub.5 are not simultaneously hydrogen atoms, and processes for their preparation and use as hair-coloring agents.

The present invention concerns new substituted 2,4-diaminophenols, processes for their preparation, and hair coloring agents containing such compounds.
So-called oxidative dyes are used extensively to color keratinic fibers because they produce intense dyes of high stability (fastness). Under the conditions of technical application (e.g., low dyeing temperature and short duration of dyeing) they yield intense colors with good stabilities. The dyes are formed in the dyeing process by oxidative coupling of a developer component and a coupler component. Such coupler and developer components for producing quite varied color tones, called hair dye intermediates in the following, are described often in the literature (K. Venkataraman, The Chemistry of Synthetic Dyes, Vol. V, Academic Press, 1971; F. Brody and M. S. Burns, J. Soc. Cosmet. Chem. (1968), volume 19, pages 361-379; H. Husemeyer, J. Soc. Cosmet. Chem. (1974), volume 25, pages 131-138).
Although the oxidative coupling, i.e., the development of the color, can in principle be done with oxygen from the air, in practice it usually goes too slowly or produces uneven colors. As a rule, then, chemical oxidizing agents are used. Oxidizing agents based on hydrogen peroxide are preferred. Along with hydrogen peroxide itself, addition compounds with urea, melamine or alkali perborate are also used.
For practical application as hair dyes, the hair dye intermediates are processed into a suitable cosmetic base which can, depending on the nature of the end product desired, be a solution, a cream, a foam (mousse) or a gel. This preparation is mixed with the oxidizing agent immediately before application to the hair.
As noted above, the oxidizing agent for color development can in principal also be oxygen from the air. However, experience teaches that the duration of color development or the temperatures required to shorten that time are too high for cosmetic use. No commercial product which comprises oxidation catalysts is known to the inventors.
Now it has been found, surprisingly, that such a hair coloring agent can be produced, in which, based on the usual foundation, the color-producing components are new substituted 2,4-diaminophenols of the general formula (I) or known couplers which react too slowly for air oxidation, which provide useful hair dyes through air oxidation on the hair by addition of a catalyst to the coloring material.

Substituted diaminophenols, process for their preparation, and hair dyes containing such compounds


A transmission having a variator drive capable of being placed in a continuously variable operating mode or an infinitely variable operating mode, capable of having a wide ratio range, and capable of integrating a clutching capability within the transmission. The variable transmissions can be operated in at least two different operating modes, depending on an engagement status of the clutches therein. Methods of running the variable transmissions and drivelines that incorporate such variable transmissions are provided.

A vehicle having a driveline including a continuously variable transmission allows an operator of the vehicle or a control system of the vehicle to vary a drive ratio in a stepless manner, permitting a power source of the vehicle to operate at its most efficient rotational speed. Further, the continuously variable transmission may be configured to be an infinitely variable transmission, wherein the vehicle can be steplessly shifted from a forward mode to a neutral mode or even to a reverse mode. Continuously variable transmissions known in the art tend to have limited ratio ranges and typically require the use of a torque convertor or a separate clutching mechanism to facilitate stopping and starting the vehicle.

Continuously variable transmission and an infinitely variable transmission variator drive


A sensor arrangement for detecting mechanical forces (F) with at least one magnetic-field-dependent sensor element, in which the output signal of the sensor element depends on the deflection of a mechanical component in the magnetic field in response to the exertion of force. The mechanical component here is a spring, which changes its location in the magnetic field in response to the exertion of force and is a component of a brake system for a motor vehicle; the at least one sensor element being located in the force flow of the brake caliper.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sensor arrangement for force measurement, particularly in a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that in rotating parts that are guided by a roller bearing, such as on the wheel support of a motor vehicle, various measurement variables occur that are of great relevance to the driving systems and possibly also to the brake systems. The thus-supported components are often components of anti-lock brake systems, traction controls, or other control systems that favorably affect either driving performance or driving safety. It can be highly important to obtain measurement data, for instance about the rpm, the forces transmitted from the roadway to the vehicle via the wheel, or data about acceleration and braking forces.
Hydraulic brake systems in particular, or electromechanical brake systems known for instance from German Patent Disclosure DE 196 52 230 A1, and self-boosting electromechanical brake systems that are known per se can be considered as possible applications here. As a rule, such electromechanical brakes, and especially disk brakes, require information about the normal force exerted when the brake linings are pressed against the brake disk. Suitable force sensors are generally used for this purpose.
From German Patent Disclosure DE 197 53 554 A1, one such active magnetic field-force sensor is known, in which there is a magnetoelastic measuring element that is acted upon by a force to be measured and is disposed in a circular magnetic field in such a way that a change in the magnetic field caused by the force to be measured can be evaluated, for instance with an anisotropic magnetoresistive sensor (AMR sensor).

Sensor arrangement for force measurement


A cartridge rack (60) houses a plurality of data storage cartridges (62) in an automated cartridge library (30). The rack comprises four sidewalls connected to define a rectangular perimeter of the cartridge rack, a backwall, and a plurality of ribs bridging opposite ones of the sidewalls, thereby forming a plurality of cartridge-receiving slots. Ramps (164, 120) are formed on an exterior surface of at least one of the side walls. An orientation fin (172) orthogonally extends from an underside of the backwall. At least one of the ramps (164) is a scalene triangularly-shaped crown ramp which is centrally located between opposing ones of two other of the sidewalls. Others of the ramps are feet ramps (120) formed on an opposite one of the sidewalls from the sidewall upon which the crown ramp (164) is formed. Apparatus is also provided mounting a data cartridge (60) in the cartridge library (30), including a rack mount (110) having a base plate (112). The base plate (120) has an elongated orientation slot (170) formed therein through which the orientation fin (172) extends when the cartridge rack is properly mounted on the base plate of the rack mount. The base plate (120) is also provided with stabilization flanges (130) for guiding the rack (60) into the base plate (112) and maintaining the rack (60) therein.

1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to automated libraries for handling units of data storage medium, such as magnetic tape cartridges.
2. Related Art and Other Considerations
Magnetic tape cartridges have proven to be an efficient and effective medium for data storage, including computer back-up. Large computer systems can utilize numerous cartridges for storage purposes, and may require a plurality of drives for inputting/outputting data to the cartridges. To this end, automated libraries for cartridges have been proposed. The following United States patents, all commonly assigned herewith and incorporated herein by reference, disclose various configurations of automated cartridge libraries, as well as subcomponents thereof (including cartridge engagement/transport mechanisms and storage racks for housing cartridges):
U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,106 to Herger et al., entitled "CARTRIDGE LIBRARY SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOF";
U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,277 to Sills et al., entitled "CARTRIDGE TRANSPORT ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOF";
U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,772 to Younglove, entitled "READING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CARTRIDGE LIBRARY";
U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,986 to Marlowe, entitled "CARTRIDGE RACK"; and,
U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,467 to Marlowe, entitled "CARTRIDGE HANDLING APPARATUS AND METHOD WITH MOTION-RESPONSIVE EJECTION".
In general, cartridge libraries should optimize storage capacity and yet be as compact as possible. Moreover, such libraries must provide a reliable mechanism for engaging or gripping cartridges and for transporting cartridges between storage positions, the drives, and (when necessary) the user. Technical effort has been directed to developing libraries of enhanced performance.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an efficient and reliable automated cartridge library.

Cartridge rack and library for engaging same


A method and system are provided for searching and finding help files and wizards of computer operating systems and computer software applications that allow system administrators or users to quickly find the help file or wizard, invoke the help file or wizard, and execute the help file or wizard. Search keywords may be entered into a search dialog using a variety of different languages.

Since the advent of computers, a variety of computer operating systems for operating and managing computer hardware components and for operating and allowing for the use of computer software applications have been developed. A large and growing number of separate computer software applications have followed the development of computer operating systems.
The increasing use of computer networks at homes, schools, and large and small businesses has created in many instances the situation in which a system administrator of a business or institution is required to maintain and configure a number of different computer operating systems. Additionally, system administrators and users in general are required to navigate through the functionality of a number of different computer software applications.
Many operating systems have interactive help files and so called "wizards." Wizards are interactive help utilities within an application or operating system that may be used to guide the user or administrator through steps of a particular task such as starting up an operating system, configuring the user management functions of an operating system, or starting up and using a computer software application, such as a word processing application.
In many cases help files and wizards are presented by operating systems and applications as graphical user interfaces that allow the user to ask for help and that guide the user through steps in obtaining help for a given task. However, because system administrators are often required to use and configure a number of different operating systems within a single network, and because users are often required to navigate the functionality of a number of different computer software applications, the task of learning the languages and functionalities of the different help files and wizards across a variety of operating systems and computer software applications becomes difficult and often unmanageable. Additionally, if the administrator or user speaks a different language than the native language of the operating systems or computer software applications, obtaining help from help files and/or wizards may not be intuitive to the administrator or user, and therefore may not be very useful.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.

Wizard and help file search and management


The problem addressed by the present invention is to provide a method for facilitating the regenerating a waste plating solution as a plating solution. This method for regenerating an acidic waste plating solution containing, as ions, Fe and at least one plating metal element selected from the group consisting of Cu, Ni, Zn, Co, and Mn by removing Fe therefrom is characterized in having an addition step in which phytic acid is added to the waste plating solution to yield a phytic-acid-containing solution in which Fe ions are precipitated, and a removal step in which the precipitate is removed from the phytic-acid-containing solution to yield a regenerated plating solution.

One of methods for applying copper plating or bronze plating to iron and steel is immersion plating involving immersion of a member to be plated in a plating solution containing copper sulfate or containing copper sulfate and stannous sulfate. This immersion plating utilizes a difference in ionization tendency between iron and copper or tin, and iron is dissolved, in an amount depending on the amount of the plating copper or bronze, in a waste plating solution.
Since the waste plating solution contains cations such as Cu ions and Fe ions and anions such as sulfate ions, it was neutralized and then an aggregating agent was added thereto to aggregate the cations for recovery of the metals so that a clean waste solution was drained.
As a method for recovering metals from a waste plating solution, there is disclosed a method comprising passing a waste tin plating solution containing Fe ions and Sn ions through a strongly acidic cation-exchange resin to adsorb and recover cations onto the cation-exchange resin, and then passing an acid solution through the cation-exchange resin on which the cations are adsorbed to recover the cations in the acid, thereby precipitating and separating Sn (Patent Document 1).

Method for regenerating plating solution


Spaced-apart communication controllers connected to a cable-based network place a portable device in communication with the network for transfer of data packets. Each controller communicates with the portable device with packet transmissions through air, and requires registration of the portable device before offering packet transferring services. The registration process involves transmitting a packet from the portable unit requesting a response from controllers, transmitting a response packet from each controller receiving the request, selecting one of the responding controllers at the portable unit according to criteria that enhance data transfer, and transmitting from the portable unit a packet identifying the selected controller to complete registration. The selected controller transmits to other controllers via the network cable a packet confirming the registration. A controller with which the portable device was previously registered responds by de-registering the device and transmitting any stored packets addressed to the device via the cable to the newly selected controller. A power saving protocol is implemented for a battery-operated portable device and adjusted continually to accommodate the rate at which transmissions to the device occur. The power saving arrangement includes disabling the receiving section of the device.

Networks are known in which the primary transmission medium is a cable characterized by relatively high-transmission rates. Network nodes connected directly to the cable medium may typically consist of shared network resources, such as host computers, mass storage media, and communications ports. To better control data flow and allow a greater number of network users, the network may be configured as several local area networks (LAN's). Each LAN will comprise a limited number of devices that communicate directly with one another over local cables. The LAN devices may be coupled to the primary cable medium by a communication controller which is normally a router or a bridge. Although a router and a bridge operate in different ways, both ultimately enable data to be transferred between a device in a particular LAN and a device connected directly to the primary cable medium or located in another LAN.
The operation of a conventional router is well known. It will typically create and maintain a table of LAN's within the network. It is effectively unaware of the devices in the LAN it serves or in other LAN's. A device within its LAN may transmit, for example on start-up, a local packet requesting identification of a router and the router will transmit a packet identifying its address for communication. If the devices wishes to communicate with a device in another LAN, the device may transmit a packet to the router a packet containing relevant LAN and device addresses and any data required to be transmitted. The router then places the packet on the primary cable medium. A similar router serving the LAN in which the other device is located will retrieve the packet from the primary cable medium in response to the contained LAN address and transfer the packet to its LAN where the other device can receive the packet.
A conventional bridge monitors transmission of packets within individual LAN's, extracts device addresses from the packets, and builds a table of such addresses. Unlike a router, it is effectively aware of the network devices located in individual LAN's. If a particular device in a LAN served by the bridge transmits a packet addressed to a device in another LAN, the bridge relies on its table to convey the packet from the source device toward the destination LAN and ultimately the addressed device. The bridge will similarly recognize a packet addressed to the particular device and conveyed in the primary cable medium and transfer the packet to the LAN in which the device is located. The process of recognizing a device and providing packet transferring services to the device is referred to herein as "registration." A device receiving such packet transferring services is referred to herein as being "registered" with such packet transferring apparatus. The registration process associated with a conventional bridge is entirely "transparent" to the network. Although a device must be registered with the bridge to receive packet transferring services, a network device never addresses the bridge nor seeks to determine the presence of a bridge before attempting to transmit packets to a device in another LAN.
It is sometimes desirable to couple a portable device to such a network without requiring wiring to a router or to the primary cable medium. For example, it might be advantageous to permit a personal computer or terminal to be operated anywhere in an office complex to access data from a mainframe computer. In an automated system for identifying grocery prices, a battery-operated hand-held unit might be used to scan bar-codes identifying a particular product on display shelves. The scanned data can then be transmitted to a central computer that returns the price currently recorded and applied to purchase of the product at cash registers, for comparison with displayed prices. A battery-operated hand-held unit may also be used during physical inspection of inventories, allowing an individual to identify types and quantities of products and to transmit such data to a central computer that updates inventory records.
Present practices respecting coupling of portable devices generally involve multiple spaced-apart transceivers. Broadcasting regulations often restrict the transmission power of any single source. General concern regarding possible harmful effects of excessive electromagnetic radiation may itself necessitate limited transmission power. Transceiving devices may consequently be connected to the primary cable medium of the network at various spaced-apart locations, each serving portable devices in a particular limited area. Repeaters may be used to relay packets through air where direct connection of a transceiver to the primary cable medium is inconvenient. The various areas served by the transceiving devices and repeaters will be overlapped to ensure continuous communication with mobile devices throughout an office or industrial complex.
Several shortcoming exist in such conventional practices. When a packet addressed to a particular portable device is transmitted along the cable medium, each transceiving device of the network transmits the packet through air, regardless whether the portable device is within its area. If two or more transceiving devices detect a packet from a portable unit, each causes a separate copy of the packet to be conveyed along the primary cable medium. Conventional packet handling routines provide methods for eliminating duplicate packets. However, such routines require some processing time, and multiplication of packets, particularly in a large network, can have deleterious effects on the overall rate at which data is transmitted throughout the network. The problem is aggravated by conventional error checking practices that result in re-transmission of packets from an original source when transmission errors arise. Radio transmission of packets is generally subject to higher error rates than conventional transmission over cables.
Another shortcoming in conventional practices relates to operation of battery-powered portable units. Transmission or receipt of packets can place considerable current demand on a small battery and can severely shortens its useful life. It is now common to shut off the transmitter of a battery-powered unit between its transmissions. The receiver must, however, remain operative as conventional network practice assumes that a device will be continuously "listening" for packets addressed to it. With typical current drain of several hundred milliamperes, two standard AA batteries might be expected to have a life in the order of minutes. One proposed arrangement is to discontinue all network communications with a battery-operated device until certain keys associated with the device are operated. That may be effective where the device initiates all communications between itself and other network devices, but it is not a realistic solution for a large-scale network where multiple devices in remote LAN's may wish at any time to transmit packets to the portable device.
The present invention in its different aspects provides novel communication controllers and novel methods of placing portable devices in communication with networks and addresses various shortcomings associated with prior practices.

Wireless coupling of devices to wired network


An image outputting abstract has a removably mounted auxiliary memory device for prestoring control programs process print information conforming to a command system. The auxiliary memory device is capable of storing several control programs at one time and the execution of any one of the control programs stored in the auxiliary memory device can be easily selected without a cumbersome cartridge interchange process.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image outputting apparatus which outputs images on the basis of printing information input from a host, and particularly to an image outputting apparatus which outputs images on the basis of printing information input from a host in conformity with a command system memorized by a memory medium such as a cartridge.
2. Related Background Art
An apparatus of this type has heretofore been designed such that a character code and a control command output from a data supply source such as a host computer are given and received and the character code and the control command input analyzed to generate a character pattern which is an object to be printed, and the generated character pattern is developed, for example, into a frame buffer corresponding to one page and is output to the print driving circuit of a printer, whereby a desired character and an image can be output.
However, the control command system output from the data supply source such as the host computer is a command system inherent to each printer maker and therefore, usually, the printer of one maker cannot be made to function as the printer of another maker, and interchangeability is low and an improvement therein has been waited for.
For this reason, in apparatuses of this type, there has been put into practical use an emulation-corresponding printer in which when a command system inherent to a printer is the native command, there is carried an emulation program for processing the command of a command system differing from this native command so that a printing process conforming to the command of a discrete system can be executed.
However, usually in an image outputting apparatus for executing the printing process by an emulation mode of this kind, design is made such that an emulator program for executing said emulation mode is memorized by a cartridge type memory medium and image outputting in the emulation mode can be executed in accordance with the user's requirement, i.e., by the user inserting the cartridge into the mounting port of image outputting means, but usually the emulator program of one emulation mode is only memorized in said cartridge type memory medium and therefore, to enhance the printing interchangeability in the image outputting apparatus body, it has been necessary to buy a plurality of such cartridge type memory mediums and mount a cartridge type memory medium corresponding to each emulation mode each time.

Image outputting apparatus with auxiliary memory device for storing a plurality of control programs


A polymerization catalyst is formed by producing a solution of a Group IIA or Group IIB halide and an alcohol; contacting the solution with an organometallic compound to form a soluble complex; and contacting the soluble complex with a halide ion exchanging source. An ester or an anhydride can also be combined with the halide solution or the soluble complex. The catalyst thus produced can be combined with an organometallic cocatalyst.

The present invention relates to metal halide catalysts.
In the polymerization of alpha-olefins, it is known to use catalyst systems comprising a transition metal compound and an organometallic compound. It is further known that the productivity of such catalyst systems can generally be improved if the transition metal compound is employed in conjunction with a metal halide. Many of the prior art catalyst systems are relatively low in activity and, as a result, research continues in an effort to improve the catalyst systems with respect to production of olefin polymers.
In addition, these catalysts produce polymers of narrow molecular weight distribution. For many applications, such as extrusion and molding processes, it is highly desirable to have polymers which have a broad molecular weight distribution. Such polymers evidence excellent processability, i.e., they can be processed at a faster throughput rate with lower energy requirements with reduced melt flow perturbations.

Polymerization process employing metal halide catalyst and polymer produced


A multilayer integrated assembly for effecting fluid handling functions includes complementary microstructures formed by an etching or similar process in a planar foldable substrate. The complementary microstructures may be superimposed in a controlled manner by operation of micro-alignment means also formed in the foldable substrate by an etching or similar process. Microstructures are contemplated as including channels (that may be superimposed to form fluid conduits), apertures, conduit apertures, sample processing compartments, and the like. The resulting integrated assembly may be bonded and subsequently operated to implement one or more fluid-handling functions.

In sample analysis instrumentation, and especially in separation systems such as gas or liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis systems, smaller dimensions will generally result in improved performance characteristics and at the same time result in reduced production and analysis costs. In this regard, miniaturized planar devices provide more effective system design and result in lower overhead due to decreased instrumentation sizing. Additionally, miniaturized planar devices enable increased speed of analysis, decreased sample and solvent consumption and the possibility of increased detection efficiency.
Several approaches towards miniaturization have developed in the art. The conventional approach provides etched planar devices on glass, silica, metal, or ceramic substrates of moderately small size. For example, planar devices may be etched in a wafer that receives a superimposed cover plate. In some approaches, certain fluid handling functions have not been integrated in the planar device and accordingly must be effected by use of conventional devices, such as fused silica capillary tubing, that are attached to the planar device. More recent approaches have used micromachining of silicon substrates and laser ablation of organic nonmetallic substrates to provide structures of much smaller size (i.e., microstructures) on the substrate. For example, there has been a trend towards providing planar systems having capillary separation microstructures. See, for example: Karasek, U.S. Pat. No. 3,538,744; Terry et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,889; Goedert, U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,040; Sethi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,120; Shindo et al, U.S. Pat. 4,905,497; Miura et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,012. See, also, attempts at miniaturization with respect to: gas chromatography (widmer et al. (1984) Int. J. Environ. Anal. Chem. 18:1), high pressure liquid chromatography (Muller et al. (1991) J. High Resolut. Chromatogr. 14:174; Manz et al. (1990) Sensors & Actuators B1:249; Novotny et al., eds. (1985) Microcolumn Separations: Columns, Instrumentation and Ancillary Techniques (J. Chromatogr. Library, Vol. 30); Kucera, ed. (1984) Micro-Column High Performance Liquid Chromatography, Elsevier, Amsterdam; Scott, ed. (1984) Small Bore Liquid Chromatography Columns: Their Properties and Uses, Wiley, N. Y.; Jorgenson et al. (1983) J. Chromatogr. 255:335; Knox et al. (1979) J. Chromatogr. 186:405; Tsuda et al. (1978) Anal. Chem. 50:632) and capillary electrophoresis (Manz et al. (1992) J. Chromatogr. 593:253; Manz et al. Trends Anal. Chem. 10:144; Olefirowicz et al. (1990) Anal. Chem. 62:1872; Second Int'l Symp. High-Perf. Capillary Electrophoresis (1990) J. Chromatogr. 516; Ghowsi et al. (1990) Anal. Chem. 62:2714.
Micromachining techniques applied to silicon utilize a number of established techniques developed by the microelectronics industry involving micromachining of planar materials, such as silicon. Micromachining silicon substrates to form miniaturized separation systems generally involves a combination of film deposition, photolithography, etching and bonding techniques to fabricate three-dimensional microstructures. Silicon provides a useful substrate in this regard since it exhibits high strength and hardness characteristics and can be micromachined to provide structures having dimensions in the order of a few micrometers. Examples of the use of micromachining techniques to produce miniaturized separation devices on silicon or borosilicate glass chips can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,133 to Clark et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,012 to Miura et al.; in U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,112 to Pace; and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,120 to Sethi et al.; Fan et al., Anal. Chem. 66(1):177-184 (1994); Manz et al., Adv. Chrom. 33:1-66 (1993); Harrison et al., Sens. Actuators, B10 (2): 107-116 (1993); Manz et al., Trends Anal. Chem. 10 (5): 144-149 (1991); and Manz et al., Sensors and Actuators B (Chemical) B1 (1-6): 249-255 (1990).
A drawback in the silicon micromachining approach to miniaturization involves the chemical activity and chemical instability of silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2) substrates, such as silica, quartz or glass, which are commonly used in systems for both capillary electrophoresis (CE) and chromatographic analysis systems. More particularly, silicon dioxide substrates are characterized as high energy surfaces and strongly adsorb many compounds, most notably bases. The use of silicon dioxide materials in separation systems is further restricted due to the chemical instability of those substrates, as the dissolution of SiO.sub.2 materials increases in basic conditions (at pH greater than 7.0).
Accordingly, Kaltenbach et al., in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,071, and Swedberg et al., in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,410 disclose a miniaturized total analysis system comprising a miniaturized planar column device for use in a liquid phase analysis system. The miniaturized column device is provided in a substantially planar substrate, wherein the substrate is comprised of a material selected to avoid the inherent chemical activity and pH instability encountered with silicon and prior silicon dioxide-based device substrates. More specifically, a miniaturized planar column device is provided by ablating component microstructures in a substrate using laser radiation. The miniaturized column device is described as being formed by providing two substantially planar halves having microstructures thereon, which, when the two halves are folded upon each other, define a sample processing compartment featuring enhanced symmetry and axial alignment.
However, although the foregoing techniques are useful in the fabrication of miniaturized planar devices for effecting fluid handling functions in sample analysis systems, there are significant disadvantages to the prior art approaches. One significant problem remains in providing exact alignment of complementary pairs of microstructures that are respectively provided in a planar substrate and its cover plate, or in a pair of planar substrates, when such microstructures are intended to be superimposed so as to subsequently be capable of performing a fluid handling function in a unitary assembly.
For some applications, prior art planar technology has not produced a sufficient degree of alignment between the superimposed microstructures. For example, and with reference to FIG. 1A, first and second substrates 51, 52 are each shown to include spaced channels 53, 54 that are etched or otherwise formed in respective surfaces 55, 56. Superposition and appropriate bonding of the surfaces 55, 56 is intended to result in exact alignment of the channels 53, 54 such that respective fluid handling channels 61-65 are created, each of which are intended to exhibit a uniform, consistent cross-section along the major axis of the channel. However, and as illustrated, the shortcomings of the prior art result in channels on one substrate that are subject to variation in their location with respect to their complementary channels on a second, complementary substrate, thus evidencing misalignment of the channels when the substrates are superimposed. The misalignment is sufficient such that the resulting conduits (such as conduits 62-64) are subject to substantial irregularity, and in extreme cases (such as exemplified by conduit portions 65, 66) the channels are not fully integrated.
As shown in FIG. 1B, first and second substrates 71, 72 are each shown to include spaced channels 73, 74 that are etched or otherwise formed in respective surfaces 75, 76 by conventional techniques. Superimposition and appropriate bonding of the surfaces 75, 76 may succeed in adequate alignment of the channels 73, 74 such that respective fluid handling conduits 81-83 are created. However, deficiencies in many of the conventional techniques for forming the channels 73, 74 can result in edge effects and other asperities that create undesirable defects 78 in the channels 81-83. These defects 78 retard fluid flow and create localized reservoirs of fluid; accordingly, the defects 78 degrade the efficiency and uniformity of fluid flowing in the channels 81-83; the defects 78 also degrade the separation efficiency of a channel that is used to construct a separation column.
Another significant problem arises in the attempt to effect hermetic sealing of the superimposed surfaces 75, 76. This step is generally carried out using adhesives which may not fully isolate the conduits 81-83, thus resulting in cross-conduit leakage. Conventional surface bonds may be prone to failure, leakage, or to degradation induced by adverse conditions, such as high temperature environments, or by the destructive nature of certain gases or liquids that may be present in the channels.
Further, silicon substrates, and most ablatable materials such as polyimides, do not offer a sufficient combination of thermal and mechanical characteristics that otherwise would make the substrate as useful in certain applications as the named alternative materials. For instance, silicon materials are not ductile and cannot be folded, shaped, etc.; ablatable materials exhibit a low coefficient of thermal conductivity and are not susceptible to rapid and uniform heating or cooling, nor do they offer sufficient strength or ductility such that an ablatable substrate may be configured as a connecting member, housing, or support for other components in a sample analysis system. Furthermore, ablatable materials are expressly selected for their propensity to ablate upon the application of heat, and thus are not considered to be as robust and impervious to adverse (e.g., high-temperature) environments in comparison to metals and metal alloys.

Multilayer integrated assembly for effecting fluid handling functions


A nonvolatile memory (“NVM”) buffer is incorporated into an NVM system between a volatile memory buffer and an NVM to decrease the size of the volatile memory buffer and organize data for programming to the NVM. Heterogeneous data paths may be are used for write and read operations such that the nonvolatile memory buffer is used only in certain situations.

Various types of nonvolatile memory ("NVM"), such as flash memory (e.g., NAND flash memory and NOR flash memory), can be used for mass storage. For example, consumer electronics (e.g., portable media players) use flash memory to store data, including music, videos, images, and other media or types of information.
NVM systems can incorporate a volatile memory buffer (e.g., a dynamic random access memory ("DRAM") buffer) for receiving data before it is programmed to the NVM. Because volatile memory is typically faster than NVM, such a volatile memory buffer can improve NVM system latency. While system latency characteristics can generally improve with larger volatile memory buffers because more data can be transferred directly to the faster nonvolatile memory, this improved latency comes with a risk of data loss because volatile memory does not retain information upon interruption of power. Thus, the larger the volatile memory buffer used, the higher the risk of catastrophic data loss before the data is transferred from the volatile memory buffer to the NVM.

Heterogeneous data paths for systems having tiered memories


An ink jet recording apparatus performs a print operation by controlling an ink jet recording head to eject ink drops there from against front and back surfaces of a recording sheet at a print position. The apparatus includes a transporting mechanism for transporting a portion of the recording sheet to a location outside of the apparatus after a completion of the print operation on the front surface of the recording sheet and just before printing of the back surface of the recording sheet.

This invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and more particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus which is capable of performing a duplex print operation such that printing is performed on both sides of a sheet of paper.
An ink jet recording apparatus has been used widely as an image forming mechanism in printers, copying machines, and so on. Some ink jet recording apparatuses are capable of operating in a duplex print mode in which a print operation can be performed on both sides of the recording sheet. One example of such a printer is described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. JPAP08-337011 (1996). The ink jet recording apparatus according to this example is adapted to perform a duplex print operation by using two recording mechanisms which are positioned in the ink jet recording apparatus so as to be spaced apart from each other. Accordingly, the structure of the ink jet recording apparatus becomes complex and the apparatus itself becomes relatively large and expensive because of the use of two recording mechanisms, as well as, a plurality of paper transportation mechanisms required therein. As a result, the cost of manufacturing such a duplex mode printer is greatly increased.
In addition, such an apparatus may have a disadvantage with respect to the quality of a print image. This is because in the above-mentioned ink jet recording apparatus, the sheet is transported to the second recording mechanism while the printed surface of the sheet contacts or is rubbed against a surface of a guide plate connecting the first recording mechanism to the second recording mechanism. Yet, with ink jet recording, time is required to dry the printed surface and, therefore, the printed surface should be protected from contacting any material or any object that might smudge or affect the quality of the printed image on the sheet.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Ink jet recording apparatus capable of performing a duplex print operation


A current sensor that includes a pair of segments. Each of the segments includes magnetically permeable cores that can be joined together. A winding is used to substantially encircle one of the cores.

The present invention relates to a power monitoring system and, in particular, to an improved sensor for a power monitoring system.
Referring to FIG. 1, many electrical power distribution systems include a electrical panel enclosure 10 into which electric power is routed using one or more sets of wires 12. The electric power may have any voltage, any current, and any number of phases (e.g., single phase, two phases, or three phases). Each phase of the electric power is normally provided to a separate bus bar 14a, 14b, 14c which is normally an elongate conductor within the electrical panel enclosure 10. A plurality of circuit breakers 16a, 16b, 16c, etc. and branch circuit wiring electrically interconnect one or more of the bus bars 14a, 14b, and 14c to respective loads 18 that are typically located external to the panel enclosure 10. The circuit breakers 16 which are electrically connected to the bus bars 14a, 14b, 14c are commonly arranged in one or more vertically aligned rows 20 and 22 within the panel enclosure 10. Branch circuit wiring connects the circuit breaker 16 to the load 18 which commonly comprises a group of electrical loads, such as motors, lighting, heating units, cooling units, machinery, etc. The load may utilize single phase or multi-phase power. In the case of a three-phase load 18b, three wires will be used to connect a load to one or more circuit breakers. When the load 18 connected to a circuit breaker 16, shorts or otherwise draws excessive current, the circuit breaker 16 trips or otherwise disconnects the power to the load 18 to protect the wiring and the facility.
The total power usage by a facility may be readily obtained by reading the power meter provided by the power utility. The power meter is normally electrically interconnected between the electrical panel and the utility's distribution transformer. However, in many circumstances, it is desirable to monitor the power consumption of individual loads or groups of loads within a facility. Monitoring the power in a branch circuit permits effective sub-metering of different loads, buildings, or groups of loads to attribute the power usage to consumers obtaining power through the electrical distribution system. For example, power sub-metering may be used to attribute the power costs charged by the utility to different buildings, departments, or cost centers.
The traditional approach to monitoring such power usage is to install a power meter at a location proximate the load itself. To install a typical power meter on a three phase load, a current sensor is installed around each of the three wires that are connected to the load and a voltage connection is electrically interconnected to each wire. Such a power meter is available from Veris Industries, LLC under the name H8035 Power Meter. Unfortunately, it is burdensome to interconnect a significant number of power meters and in particular to make the voltage connections to the wires, especially if interconnections to the wires are not readily available. In addition, it is burdensome to interconnect the output of the power meters, if any, to a computer network because of the need to provide communication wiring or a wireless communication channel to each of the remotely located power meters. Also, installing the power meters requires significant expense for the technician to find a suitable location for the meter near each device to be monitored, in addition to the further expense of servicing the installed power meters.
Bowman et al., United States Patent Application Publication, Pub. No.: US 2003/0184280, incorporated herein by reference, disclose a branch circuit power monitoring system that can be mounted in or convenient to an electrical panel enclosure. The power monitoring system comprises a plurality of sensors connected to a power monitor that measures the voltage and phase angle at the bus bars in the electrical panel and the current in the various branch circuit wires connected to the circuit breakers. Power consumed by the load(s) attached to a branch circuit is calculated by the power monitor from the product of the current, the power factor, and the voltage.
The typical current sensor comprises a toroidal core having wire wound around the cross-section of the core over an arc of the torus. The branch circuit wiring connecting a circuit breaker to its respective load is routed through the aperture in the toroidal core of the current sensor. A varying current in the wire induces a current in the wire winding of the sensor that may be used directly or converted to a signal, for example, a voltage signal, from which the power monitor can determine the magnitude of the current flowing in the wire passing through the aperture in the sensor.
The current sensors can be individual units which are independently wired to the power monitor or individually addressable and daisy chained together to reduce the number of wires required to connect the current sensors to the power monitor. An industrial electrical panel may include eighty or more circuit breakers and a current sensor is required for each branch circuit that is to be monitored. Space is limited in an electrical panel enclosure and the circuit breakers and branch circuit wiring are closely spaced leaving little room for a large number of current sensors and the wiring necessary to connect them to a power monitor.
A plurality of current sensors can be spaced apart on a support that is easily mounted on the panel adjacent to a row of circuit breakers. Preferably, the current sensors are spatially arranged on the support so that the respective apertures in the bodies of the sensors are substantially aligned with the spaced apart connections of the branch circuit wiring to the respective circuit breakers. The sensor outputs can be conducted to the power monitor over a multi-conductor cable substantially reducing the amount of wiring necessary in the panel enclosure. However, if the electrical panel has already been wired, the branch wiring to each of the circuit breakers must be disconnected so that the sensor array can be installed in the panel enclosure and the branch circuit wires can be routed through the central apertures in the current sensors and then reconnected, increasing the time and expense of installing a branch power monitor.
What is desired, therefore, is a sensor for a power monitoring system that can be conveniently installed in a pre-wired panel enclosure.

Current sensor that includes a pair of segments


A fan assembly. The fan assembly comprises: a fan having an axis and an outer periphery; a housing about the fan; and a cutoff separating fan inflow from fan outflow. The cutoff is preferably arranged parallel to the axis and is proximal to the outer periphery. The cutoff includes first and second layers. The first layer provides structural support and has a plurality of apertures therethrough. The second layer is formed of an acoustically insulating material.

The present invention is directed to tangential fan cutoff designs that reduce blade passing, frequency tonal sound levels.
In a typical arrangement having a tangential fan wheel, a scroll housing and a cutoff, the cutoff gap between the cutoff and the fan wheel is a critical dimension relative to the fan's airflow performance capability. Smaller fan cutoff gaps yield higher airflow, while larger fan cutoff gaps yield lower airflow. However, for traditional cutoff designs such as the design shown in FIG. 1, optimum airflow performance arrangements having a smaller cutoff gap also result in a significant and objectionable blade tone. The acoustic strength of the blade tone is a function of the blade spacing, the cutoff gap size, the scroll shape, and the cutoff design. The blade tone can be reduced by increasing the cutoff gap spacing, but at the cost of reduced airflow performance. An optimum spacing of the fan cutoff gap is shown by the formula G=KD where G is the cutoff gap size, D is the fan wheel diameter, and K ranges between 0.038 and 0.055.
Another method of reducing the blade tone is to increase the number of fan blades. However, this increases fan cost and reduces airflow performance due to the increased number of blades blocking the fan flow passage.


The present invention has an object to provide a color reproduction correcting device for image input apparatus capable of excellently reproducing colors without difficulties, even when an image is reproduced under an observation light source that is different from an image pick-up light source in terms of color rendering. The present invention has white balance matrix production means 130 that receives chromaticity point data from the image input apparatus to produce a correction matrix for white balance, light source type determination means 140 that receives information on the image pick-up light source from the image input apparatus to determine the types of the image pick-up light source and an image color reproduction light source, transformation matrix production means 150 that produces a transformation matrix reflecting the optical characteristics of the picked-up object by using predetermined color matching function data, spectral characteristic data regarding the image pick-up light source and color reproduction light source, of the types determined by the light source type determination means 140, optical characteristics data on a predetermined picked-up object, and correction matrix data for white balance, and color correction processing means 170 that performs color reproduction correction with respect to the image data using the transformation matrix.

Conventionally, it is known that an image picked up by an image input apparatus such as a camera is differently viewed depending on a visual environment at the time of observation, and there are cases where images are not reproduced with desired colors. This occurs when the color rendition under a light source at the time of image pick-up (hereinafter referred to as "the image pick-up light source") and the color rendition under a light source at the time of observation (hereinafter referred to as "the observation light source") greatly differ from each other, and so on. For example, when the image picked up under a D65 light source of a sunlight type has been observed under an F5 light source of a high-efficiency fluorescent lamp type, the reproduced colors greatly differ from each other.
Further, it is known that color reproduction can be excellently made between light sources of the same type by performing correction called "white balance" to reproduce a white color of the picked-up image as it is. Here, needless to say, it is of course necessary that the image pick-up light source be estimated with high accuracy. Conventionally, the white balance technique is adopted as the color reproduction correcting method.
On the other hand, a light source of a sunlight type is known for having a high level color-rendering property and a light source of a fluorescent lamp type is known for having a low level color-rendering property. However, there is also a demand for reproducing the image picked up under a light source of a fluorescent lamp type with a color rendering property under a light source of a sunlight type.
However, the white balance is a technique which performs correction to reproduce an achromatic color as it is. Therefore, in a case where the color rendition of the image pick-up light source and that of the observation light source greatly differ, there is a problem that the chromatic colors may not be excellently reproduced by the color reproduction correcting where only the white balance is used.
Also, in a case where a correction coefficient is prepared for every image pick-up light source and observation light source to perform color reproduction correction, there is a problem that the processing must be extremely complicated.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems and an object of the invention is to provide a color reproduction correcting device and a color reproduction correcting method for an image input apparatus, in which colors are excellently reproduced without difficulties even when the image has been reproduced under an observation light source whose color rendering property is different from that of the image pick-up light source.

Color reproduction corrector for image input device and color reproduction correction method


Rubbery polymers can be formed having the general formula:R1R2N—(CH2)n—X—CH2—CHR3R4 wherein R1 and R2 are independently selected from a group consisting of alkyls, cycloalkyls, alkenyls, cycloalkenyls, aryls, phenyls, heterocycles, acyls, and silanes, or R1 in combination with R2 forms a heterocyclic ring; n is an integer from 1 to 20; X is selected from a group consisting of sulfur, a phosphorus moiety, and a silicon moiety; R3 and R4 are one of hydrogen, alkyls, alkenyls, and at least one of which includes reactive unsaturation such as an alkenyl group. Moreover, this invention discloses a process of making functionalized rubbery polymers from the functionalized monomers.

Tires require good wet skid resistance, low rolling resistance, tear strength, and good wear characteristics. It has traditionally been difficult to improve the wear characteristics of a tire without sacrificing wet skid resistance and traction characteristics. These properties depend, to a great extent, on the dynamic viscoelastic properties of the rubbery polymers utilized in making the tire.
In order to reduce the rolling resistance and to improve the treadwear characteristics of tires, rubbery polymers having a high rebound have traditionally been utilized in making tire tread rubber compounds. On the other hand, in order to increase the wet skid resistance of a tire, rubbery polymers that undergo a large energy loss have generally been utilized in the tread of the tire. In order to balance these two viscoelastically inconsistent properties, mixtures of various types of synthetic and natural rubber are normally utilized in tire treads. For instance, various mixtures of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and polybutadiene rubber are commonly used as a rubbery material for automobile tire treads.
It is desirable for synthetic rubbers to exhibit low levels of hysteresis. This is particularly important in the case of rubbery polymers that are used in tire tread compounds. Such polymers are normally compounded with sulfur, carbon black, accelerators, antidegradants and other desired rubber chemicals and are then subsequently vulcanized or cured into the form of a useful article. The physical properties of such cured rubbery polymers depend in part upon the degree to which the fillers, such as carbon black or silica, are homogeneously dispersed throughout the polydiene rubber. This is in turn related to the affinity of the carbon black or silica to the rubber.
This homogenous dispersion, which is affected by the level of affinity between the filler and the polymer, can be of practical importance in improving the physical characteristics of rubber articles that are made utilizing polydiene rubbers. For example, the rolling resistance and tread wear characteristics of tires can be improved by increasing the affinity of carbon black to the rubbery polymers utilized therein. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to improve the affinity of a given rubbery polymer for carbon black and/or silica. This is because a better dispersion of carbon black throughout polydiene rubbers, which are utilized in compounding tire tread compositions, results in a lower hysteresis value and consequently tires made therefrom have lower rolling resistance. Accordingly, improving the affinity of the rubbery polymer to the filler, such as carbon black and silica is extremely important in reducing hysteresis.
One manner to attain improved interaction of rubbery polymers with fillers is to functionalize them. Such rubbery polymers can be functionalized with various compounds, such as amines. U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,471 discloses a process for preparing a polydiene having a high level of affinity for carbon black which comprises a capping agent selected from a group consisting of (a) halogenated nitrites, (b) heterocyclic aromatic nitrogen containing compounds, and (c) alkyl benzoates. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,471 discloses that lithium amides are preferred initiators. This combination provides polymer chains with polar groups at both terminal ends of the polymer chains.
Another approach to improve the affinity of a given rubbery polymer for carbon black and/or silica would be to incorporate functional groups throughout the polymeric chain. This incorporation can be achieved by forming rubbery polymers from a mixture of monomers, of which at least one of the monomers is functionalized, for example, an amine.
Therefore, what is needed are new functionalized monomers and methods for preparing and polymerizing such functionalized monomers to produce functionalized rubbery polymers, without the requirements of masking and unmasking the functional group, or of adding the functionality only after polymerization, for example.

Functionalized monomers and functionalized rubbery polymers made therewith