The method combines two known types of access: access by pointer and access by variable. These two types of access are made compatible by particular rules of managing the locks: "hold", "read lock", and "write lock". Application to software platforms, in particular those used for telecommunications systems.

The invention relates to managing data in a shared memory, which memory is the main memory of a computer in which a plurality of processes are executed simultaneously. Each process is itself generally made up of a plurality of elementary tasks which can be in competition to access data so as to read it or to modify it. Such a management method is implemented by software referred to as a "data manager". A computer includes a main memory which has limited capacity but in which all of the locations are accessible directly, and therefore very quickly, and a mass memory generally constituted by a hard disk having much larger capacity but offering much slower access because it is necessary to select a track, and then to wait for the desired location on a track to come to a position facing a read head. Conventionally, the operating system of the computer loads only that data which is actually necessary at a given instant into the main memory, and loading is performed via a specialized and fast small memory which is referred to as a cache memory, and which gives the impression of accelerating access to the hard disk, by means of an anticipation mechanism which uses the fact that data is generally used sequentially by applications. Conventional data managers have thus been optimized by taking into account that the data passes through a cache memory.
Progress made in semiconductor memory technology now makes it possible to provide a main memory having sufficient capacity to receive all of the data shared by all of the processes executed in a computer, even for applications handling large volumes of data. The hard disk then serves merely to back up the data by keeping an updated replica of all of the data in the main memory. Loading all of the data in the main memory is particularly advantageous for applications which do not use the data sequentially, a cache memory bringing only a small amount of benefit to such applications. This applies particularly to applications controlling telecommunications exchanges. It is therefore necessary to design data managers that are optimized to manage data entirely loaded in a main memory.
Data managers used in object-oriented data bases are known, as are data managers used in relational data bases.
There are two types of access to data: read access and write access. For each type of access, two transfer modes are known for transferring information between the data manager and an elementary task: a transfer mode by value and a transfer mode by pointer.
For read accessing or write accessing the value of a variable, the transfer mode by value consists in reading or writing a value of the variable in the memory location that contains the current value of the variable; whereas the transfer mode by pointer consists in supplying an address, referred to as a "pointer" to the task that requested the reading or writing, the pointer designating the memory location in which the value to be read is situated or the memory location in which a value is to be written, the task then being free to read or to write in this location so long as it possesses the pointer. When a task accesses a variable in the mode by pointer, it is known that a lock referred to as a "hold" can be allocated to the memory location that contains the current value of said variable, for said task, so as to maintain the consistency of the data seen by each task. The hold is an exclusive right of access to the current value of said variable, so long as the hold is not released.
Transfer mode by pointer is known in object-oriented data managers. It offers the advantage of making fast access possible. It enables data to be handled as a variable of a programming language. But object data managers suffer from the drawback either of not offering multi-task transactions (there is therefore no competition), or of not offering locking at an object (any competition results in a page being locked and causes the page to be copied in full into a log. This level of granularity thus gives rise to increased cost).
The transfer mode by value can be used without managing access competition. Access competition is managed by a "transactional" protocol which is applied by the data manager of the base.
A set of read operations and/or of write operations relating to a plurality of variables and requested by a task in the same request is referred to as a "transaction". In a transaction, each operation may be performed either with the transfer mode by value or with the transfer mode by pointer. Any transaction can be broken down into three stages:
An opening stage during which the data manager supplies a single transaction identifier to the task that has opened the transaction, which identifier designates a memory location containing a descriptor of the transaction. PA1 An access stage during which the read operations or the write operations are executed by the task that has opened the transaction, but remain invisible for users other than this transaction; and during which rights called read locks and write locks are allocated to the transaction, for the memory location in question. In one known access method, when a transaction performs write access, it temporarily enters the new value of the variable in a memory location referred to as a "log" and allocated to the transaction for said variable. This log can be accessed only by said transaction. PA1 A closing or validation stage during which the writing and reading is validated. In the above-mentioned known method, the new values (which are contained in the logs allocated to the transaction) are entered in the locations containing the respective current values, and they become visible to all of the tasks. The values to be read are actually read. PA1 A read lock allocated to a given transaction for a given memory location is a non-exclusive right allocated to the transaction, authorizing said transaction to read the value stored in the memory location and preventing any other transaction that wishes to write in the memory location from being validated. PA1 A write lock allocated to a given transaction for a given memory location is an exclusive write allocated to the transaction, authorizing said transaction and only said transaction to write a value in the memory location. PA1 If it is abortable, it is released when a transaction that is competing with the transaction possessing the abortable lock has priority thereover. The transaction possessing the lock is then aborted. PA1 If it is non-abortable, it is not released when a transaction that is competing with the transaction possessing the abortable lock has priority thereover. The transaction possessing the lock is not aborted. PA1 atomicity (all of the accesses requested by a transaction are processed or none of them are); PA1 consistency (all of the data goes from one stable state to another stable state); PA1 isolation (the new values of the variable are not visible outside the transaction, before the transaction is closed); PA1 durability (as soon as a transaction is validated, the new values of the variables withstand failure of the station on which they are stored, since said new values are backed up on a disk or on another station in working order); and PA1 serialization (if a plurality of transactions take place in parallel, their results are the same as if they were to take place successively). PA1 for each variable to be read, a read operation consists in: allocating a lock referred to as a "hold" to the variable to be read, which hold prevents any access to said variable, if there is not already a hold allocated to said variable; or in allocating a new hold to said variable, after waiting for the preceding hold to be released, if a preceding hold was allocated to said variable; and consists either in supplying a pointer designating a memory zone containing the current value of said variable to the process that requested said read operation; or else in supplying the current value of the variable and in copying it in atomic manner into a memory location that belongs to the task that requested said read operation; and then in releasing the hold; and PA1 for each variable to be written, a write operation consists in the following steps: PA1 consists either in supplying a pointer designating a memory zone containing the current value of the variable to the task that requested said read operation; or else in supplying a new value for each variable to write, then in copying the new value into said log, then in releasing the non-abortable write lock, and finally in releasing said hold; and PA1 for each variable to be read, a read operation consists in performing the following steps: PA1 consists either in supplying a pointer for each variable to be read to the task that requested said read operation, which pointer designates the log containing the value of the variable; or in supplying the value of the variable and in copying it in atomic manner into a memory zone that belongs to a process that requested said read operation; and then releasing the hold; PA1 consists either in supplying a pointer for the variable to be read to the task that requested said read operation, which pointer designates a memory zone containing the value of said variable; or in supplying a value read from the log and in copying it in atomic manner into a memory zone that belongs to a process that requested the read operation; and then in releasing the hold; PA1 for each variable to write, a write operation consists in the following steps: PA1 consists either in supplying a pointer for each variable to be written, which pointer designates the log, or in copying the new value into the log, and then in releasing the hold; PA1 consists then either in supplying a pointer designating the log; or in supplying a new value for each variable to be written, and in copying the new value into the log, then in releasing the hold.
A lock can be allocated to the memory location containing the current value or the new value of a variable so as to prevent other operations which might jeopardize the consistency of the data. A lock can be allocated to an entire table of data. There are two types of lock:
In certain systems, priority may be allocated to a variable to give priority to one type of operation (reading or writing) over the other type, when two transactions are competing to perform two different operations on the variable. The transaction that requests the higher-priority operation is said to be the "priority" transaction for said variable.
A read lock or a write lock can be either abortable or non-abortable:
An abortable lock goes to the non-abortable state when that transaction that possesses it is validated. Simultaneously, the abortable locks of the competing transactions are released, and the competing transactions are aborted.
Certain transactional protocols make it possible to perform a transaction while guaranteeing four properties referred to as "ACID":
Patent Application FR 2 727 222 describes such a transactional protocol. Known data managers guarantee the "ACID" properties but they suffer from the drawback of not offering access by pointer. The prior art thus offers no method that is entirely satisfactory.

Method of managing a shared memory using read and write locks


Systems and methods are provided for tracking sharing of an electronic content. An exemplary method may include receiving a request to access content associated with a web address by a user. Based on a unique identity assigned to the user and the web address, a unique tracking web address may be generated. This tracking web address may be shared with additional users. As other users request content associated with the tracking web address, information regarding the sharing of the electronic content may be determined and stored, allowing for tracking of sharing behavior of users.

Typically, online publishers, such as online media companies and other publishers of articles, stories, and other electronic content, provide their content on online web pages. Users often share websites and online content with other users. This sharing can be done in many forms, such as sharing of content-provider generated uniform resource locators ("URLs") or "links" based on selection of a "share" button or a simple cutting-and-pasting of a URL and then forwarding it by various messaging techniques including e-mail, online chat service, social medial platform, SMS, and MMS, etc. The prevalent way to track sharing of links is based on activity within a browser-based user interface. For example, many websites include widgets or plug-ins by which users may enter the e-mail address or other identifier of the users with whom the initial user wishes to share the content. As a result, website owners can understand which users are sharing content, and whom they are sharing the content with.
However, it can be difficult for a content provider to efficiently track sharing of links of content accurately if a user shares a link using any other method which cannot be clearly tracked in a browser-based user interface, such as by copying the link and sharing it in a text message, or by sharing it through an operating system's "share" function. This difficulty can be especially difficult in the mobile environment where users are less likely to use a widget or other means that provides website owners with access to the addresses or other identifiers of a user's sharing recipients. For example, the tracking of sharing can be especially difficult if a user simply copies a URL and pastes it into a text message or e-mail.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming the above-mentioned challenges of tracking sharing of web-based content.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for tracking sharing of web content


A state vector acquisition technique for a counter-based cryptographic data communication system is disclosed. The acquisition technique facilitates receipt of the state vector components (the short component and the long components) in any chronological order. The state vector components are saved upon receipt, and a counter for each long component is initialized upon receipt of the long component. After receipt of all components, the receiver device constructs a current state vector value based upon the received component values and the long component counter values.

The prior art is replete with data encryption techniques and data communication systems that employ encrypted data transmission. Applications typically use a counter-based cryptographic mode with a symmetric encryption algorithm when operating in environments having high transmission error rates. The counter, which is usually linear in nature, is known as the state vector. In operation, the state vector increments with each unit of data traffic (e.g., a voice frame, a TDMA payload, or the like). In order to begin decrypting traffic, the receiver device must have knowledge of the encryption/decryption key, along with the current value of the state vector.
FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a data communication system 100 that encrypts/decrypts data traffic using symmetric algorithms, a key, and a state vector. System 100 includes a transmitting device 102 and a receiving device 104. FIG. 1 assumes that transmitting device 102 and one or more receiving devices 104 have knowledge of a shared key 106 (such knowledge may be the result of an exchange or negotiation process, a key acquisition process, or any known technique). Transmitting device 102 maintains the current value of the state vector 108a, which must be acquired by receiving device 104 before receiving device 104 can decrypt the encrypted traffic (reference number 108b indicates the state vector acquired by receiving device 104). The value of state vector 108 is transmitted to receiving device 104 via cryptographic synchronization messages 110.
The number of bits in state vector 108 is selected to suit the needs of data communication system 100. The size of state vector 108 is related to the amount of traffic counted by state vector 108. For example, a 128-bit state vector will increment at least once for every 128 bits of transmitted clear traffic. System 100 encrypts and decrypts data in a known manner. The encrypt engine 112 of transmitting device 102 processes the current value of state vector 108a and the value of key 106a to generate a key stream 114. The number of bits in key stream 114 is equal to or less than the number of bits in state vector 108a, for example, 128 bits. An XOR operation is performed on the bits in key stream 114 and bits of clear traffic 116a. The encrypted traffic 117 is then transmitted to receiving device 104. Assuming that receiving device 104 has acquired state vector 108b, it can decrypt the incoming traffic to recreate clear traffic 116b.
The decryption process relies upon knowledge of the current value of state vector 108b. When state vector 108b matches state vector 108a, they are in cryptographic synchronization. In this regard, there are two states of cryptographic synchronization: acquisition and maintenance. When receiver device 104 begins to receive traffic, it must acquire state vector 108b for the first time. Once receiver device 104 has acquired state vector 108b, it must update it and/or adjust it for traffic perturbations, which cause state vector 108b to be incorrect. Such updating and adjustment is known as "maintenance." "Late entry" means that receiving device 104 has knowledge of key 106b, but has not yet acquired state vector 108b. In other words, receiving device 104 is still receiving and processing cryptographic synchronization messages from transmitting device 102. For short-burst transmission environments, a transmitter may consume 100% of the bandwidth at the beginning of each transmission to convey the entire state vector before sending the encrypted traffic. For transmissions longer than a few seconds and in poor environments, late entry becomes more common. In this context, late entry results when the initial frames that contained the entire state vector were missed. Moreover, in environments where traffic may be lost during transmission, the decrypt engine 118 may lose synchronization when the number of bits being decrypted does not equal the number of encrypted bits. In this situation, receiving device 104 performs state vector maintenance to resynchronize with transmitting device 102.
Broadcasting the entire state vector at regular intervals consumes too much bandwidth, and this can negatively impact the quality of data transmission (for example, voice communication). Consequently, conventional systems transmit state vectors as a series of subcomponents. FIG. 2 depicts a state vector 200 as a series of long components 202 and a short component 204. Short component 204 represents the least significant (and most rapidly changing) bits of state vector 200. Long components 202 represent the remainder of state vector 200 as a number of segments, which may or may not be the same length as short component 204. By reducing the size of long components 202 and increasing the number of long components 202, it becomes easier to insert them into traffic by consuming less important bits with the application stream, or by consuming unused bits in payloads. The difficulty then lies in acquiring state vector 200 from short component 204 and long components 202 while the components are changing between the broadcast of each component. The problem is exacerbated on impaired channels where some components will be lost or corrupted during transmission, resulting in disordered reception of state vector 200.
Conventional systems employ an ordered state vector acquisition technique that relies upon ordered transmission and receipt of the state vector components. Transmitting device 102 sends each component in a different message. Each long component message contains a segment ID that enables receiving device 104 to determine the relative position of each long component within state vector 200. FIG. 2 depicts a segment ID field 206 for the message corresponding to the long component labeled "L-2." The value of a given long component 202 is the current state of the respective subset of bits in state vector 200 at the time when the corresponding encrypted traffic bits were transmitted. In this regard, FIG. 2 depicts a long component value field 208 for the message corresponding to the long component labeled "L-2." Long component value field 208 contains the string of bits associated with long component L-2.
In accordance with the ordered acquisition method, long components 202 are transmitted in order from the least significant bits to the most significant bits. When capturing state vector 200, the received portion of state vector 200 is continually updated in step with received encrypted traffic, even though the traffic need not be decrypted. Changes in the least significant bits will roll over and update the more significant bits as appropriate. If one of the long components 202 is corrupted or lost during transmission, or if a component is otherwise not received in the correct order, then receiving device 104 will discard any previously received components and restart the process. Thus, acquisition of state vector 200 may take an undesirably long time in noisy environments or, in extreme environments, it may be impossible to fully acquire state vector 200. Moreover, a system using the ordered acquisition method may idle for an extended period of time while attempting to receive a specific long component. If the time period is too long, the receiving device may actually receive the next iteration of that long component, resulting in an incorrect state vector 200.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a state vector acquisition technique that does not require ordered reception of state vector components. In addition, it is desirable to have a state vector acquisition technique that facilitates rapid cryptographic synchronization during late entry over impaired communication channels, and rapid resynchronization during traffic transmission, with less impact on application bandwidth. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Rapid acquisition of state vectors in an encrypted data communication system


An imaging system is equipped with two or more exposure heads that are each able to image either a separate media sheet or a portion of a single media sheet loaded on a media carrier. The imaging time for any combination of media sheets is minimized by providing for the adjustment of the spacing between the dual exposure heads whenever the media configuration changes. In imaging a unitary image using two exposure heads to each image a sub-image, any discontinuity between the end of the first sub-image and the start of the next sub-image is reduced by changing the traversing speed of one of the exposure heads by a fractional amount.

Imaging systems that are capable of imaging films, lithographic plates, flexographic plates, proofing materials and other media types are well known in the art. In the printing industry, laser based exposure heads are commonly used to form an image on a lithographic plate for subsequent use in a printing operation on a printing press. Some imaging systems are capable of printing on multiple media formats such as plates, films, and proofing media.
A common imaging system architecture provides an exposure head which generates one or more modulated beams or channels and an imaging media carrier for securing a media sheet. The beams are scanned over the media by a scanning means which produces relative motion between the media sheet and the beams. The scanning means may comprise, for example, an external drum, internal drum, or a flatbed scanning system. In an external drum system the media is held on a rotatable drum and the beams from the exposure head are scanned over the media surface by a combination of drum rotation and translation of the exposure head.
A common problem in the design of imaging systems is providing sufficient imaging speed to meet the media preparation requirements of the industry. Particularly in the printing industry, where a large capital investment in printing press equipment dictates that presses should be kept running at high duty cycles, the time taken to prepare a plate for press may be a limiting factor in the printer's overall workflow.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,525 to Okamura et al. describes a machine for simultaneously making two printing plates for newspaper printing. The machine has two exposure sections in series to speed up the production of plates for a newspaper press. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,689 to Okamura et al. the speed of a machine for making newspaper printing plates is increased by using two exposure heads in parallel to scan different areas of a plate, thus reducing the time taken to prepare a plate for use on the press. The exposure heads may each write images that are duplicates or the image written by each exposure head may be different.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,195 to Rinke et al. describes a flatbed system that is capable of simultaneously exposing two separate single-wide plates, each having the same or a different image thereon, or a single double-wide plate, each half of which has the same or a different image thereon.
There remains a need for better methods and apparatus for imaging with multiple exposure heads.

Method and apparatus for imaging with multiple exposure heads

Kodak Graphic Communications Canada Company


A power-on reset circuit includes a power detector to generate a detect voltage by detecting an internal voltage. An output unit outputs a power-up reset signal using the detect voltage. A delay unit is configured to delay the power-up reset signal and generate a delay voltage. A switch device is configured to be controlled using the delay voltage. A discharge unit discharges the detect voltage in response to the internal voltage and the power-up reset signal.

The present invention relates to a power-on reset circuit, and more particularly, to a power-on reset circuit capable of reducing standby current.
Generally, registers in a chip maintain floating state by a device or a micro controller unit (MCU) before applying power. When the power supply is applied to the chip in the floating state, the registers in the chip set to an undesired condition. Also, when the power supply drops under a predetermined voltage, a macro block in the chip becomes unstable.
The power-on reset circuit prevents the chip from becoming unstable by generating a reset signal for itself without a separate reset circuit outside of the device, where the chip can become unstable when the power is ramped up or downed at startup. The power-on reset circuit detects whether an internal voltage drops under a predetermined level and when the voltage drops under the predetermined level, the power-on reset signal is generated so as to initialize.


A disc storage arrangement includes an enclosure in which a number of substantially flat envelopes for containing discs can be mounted. The envelopes include at least one formation in an edge portion of resiliently deformable material and which formation is arranged to be clipped onto corresponding mounting parts provided in the enclosure.

This invention relates to storage arrangements for discs such as CD's (i.e. audio and video compact discs), CD-ROMs and the like. In this specification the term "disc" is intended to cover such discs and any other device analogous to discs of this kind which are presently known or which may be developed in the future and which is suitable for storage in the arrangement of the invention.
Holders of various types are known for storing individual discs including holders which are arranged to display a label, sheet or booklet bearing information about the contents of the disc stored therein. Holders are also known for storing numbers of discs. However, the currently known arrangements for holding discs are not especially well adapted for carrying them about and it is an object of the invention to provide an arrangement which can hold a number of discs securely and neatly or at least to offer the public an alternative disc storage arrangement.
In one aspect of the invention a disc storage arrangement comprises an enclosure in which a number of substantially flat envelopes for containing discs can be mounted by mounting means formed by inter-engaging part mounting means formed in the envelopes and in the enclosure.
In one form of the invention the mounting means formed by the part mounting means are arranged to hold the envelopes face to face in a stack in the enclosure. The part mounting means in the envelope may comprise at least one formation formed in an edge portion of each envelope which edge portion is of resiliently deformable material and which formation is arranged to be clipped onto a part mounting member provided in the enclosure.
The part mounting means in the enclosure may comprise a projection which is of substantially constant cross-sectional shape along its length and is disposed athwart the envelope, the formation in the edge of the envelope comprising a recess having a shape which is substantially complemental to the cross-sectional shape of the projection and has an opening at the edge the width of which opening is less than the width of the projection so that the parts of the envelope adjacent the recess yield resiliently when the envelope is clipped over the projection and hold the envelope on the projection in use.
The projection or projections are of cylindrical cross-section.
The part mounting means in the enclosure may alternatively comprise a recess which is of constant cross-sectional shape along its length and is disposed athwart the envelope, the formation in the edge of the envelope comprising a projection having a shape which is substantially complemental to the cross-sectional shape of the recess, the recess having an opening the width of which is less than the width of the projection so that the parts of the envelope at the ends of the projection yield resiliently when the envelope is clipped into the recess and hold the envelope on the projection in use.
The mounting means may comprise two or more of such recesses and projections spaced apart from each other.
The enclosure comprises a body in which the mounting means formed in the enclosure are located, the body having a generally flat portion disposed substantially parallel to the envelopes mounted therein and has peripheral portions which arise from the flat portion to define a cavity in which at least some of the envelopes are received.
The enclosure may also comprise a lid which engages the body, the shape of the lid being substantially similar to that of the body. The lid may or may not also be provided with said mounting means for the discs.
The envelope may comprise a disc-receiving, portion which is hinged to the edge portion in which said formation is formed.
The disc-receiving portion may comprise at least one outer wall which is constructed of a translucent material to enable a label inserted in the disc-receiving portion to be read.
The disc-receiving portion may comprise a first pocket in which the disc is received and a second pocket located adjacent the first pocket and separated therefrom by an intermediate wall, the label being receivable in the second pocket which comprises said at least one outer wall.
The walls of the disc-receiving portion may be provided with slots which are in register with one another and which enable the disc and/or the label to be gripped by the tips of fingers inserted through the slots on either side of the disc or label.
The above and other aspects of the invention are further discussed with reference to the accompanying drawings in which a disc holding apparatus is shown by way of example and in which:


A ball with a foam carcass has an inner bladder, a winding layer, a foam carcass layer, a colored rubber ink layer, and a leather layer. The inner bladder is hollow. The winding layer is attached to and covers the inner bladder. The colored rubber ink is brushed on and covers the foam carcass layer. The foam carcass layer with the colored rubber ink layer with the colored rubber ink is attached to and covers the winding layer to form a foam covered carcass. The foam covered carcass is vulcanized. The colored rubber ink layer covers the uneven foam-carcass layer to form an even foam covered carcass. The leather layer is attached to the foam covered carcass.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for making a ball, especially to a method for making a ball with a foam covered carcass.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, a conventional method for making a leather laminated ball (for example: a basketball, volleyball, etc.) comprises winding a winding layer (70) on an inner bladder (60), attaching a foam rubber carcass (80) to the winding layer (70), vulcanizing a foam covered carcass and attaching a leather layer (90) to the foam covered carcass to form the ball.
The winding layer (70) is wound on and covers the inner bladder (60). The foam rubber carcass (80) is attached to and covers the winding layer (70) to form the foam covered carcass. Then the foam covered carcass is vulcanized. After vulcanizing, the leather layer (90) is laminated on and covers the foam carcass to form the ball.
However, the foam covered carcass easily forms unevenly and has a high defective ratio because of the vulcanizing speed, foaming speed and inadequate mold air exhaust during vulcanization.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an improved method for making a ball with a foam covered carcass to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Ball with a foam covered carcass and a method for making a ball with a foam covered carcass


A plasma display panel includes a first substrate, on which discharge sustain electrodes are formed, and an opposing second substrate, on which address electrodes are aligned in a first direction. Barrier ribs between the substrates define a plurality of discharge cells within which phosphor layers are formed. The display electrodes have bus electrodes, forming a corresponding pair within each of the discharge cells, and extension electrodes, extending from the bus electrodes into each of the discharge cells to form an opposing pair. A pair of the display electrodes corresponding to each of the discharge cells forms a first gap and a second gap having different distances from each other between the opposing extension electrodes, and forms a third gap between the bus electrodes. The second gap is longer than the first gap, and the third gap is longer than the second gap.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel (hereinafter, PDP), and more particularly, to a surface discharge type PDP with an electrode structure in which a pair of display electrodes are formed on one substrate and have a corresponding pair of bus electrodes within each discharge cell between two substrates to cause a display discharge.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, a plasma display panel is a display device in which ultraviolet rays generated by gas discharge excite phosphors to realize predetermined images. Such a plasma display panel is popular for wide screen display devices since it enables the manufacture of large screen sizes with high resolution.
Referring to FIG. 8, a generally known PDP is formed with address electrodes 112 along one direction (in the X-axis direction of the drawing) on a rear substrate 110, and a dielectric layer 113 is formed on an entire surface of the rear substrate 110 covering the address electrodes 112. On the dielectric layer 113, barrier ribs 115 of a stripe pattern are formed and placed between each of the address electrodes 112, and red (R), green (G), blue (B) phosphor layers 117 are formed on each of the barrier ribs 115.
In addition, display electrodes 102, 103 having a pair of transparent electrodes 102a, 103a and bus electrodes 102b, 103b are formed along the direction crossing the address electrodes 112 (in the Y-axis direction of the drawing) on a surface of a front substrate 100 opposing the rear substrate 110. A transparent dielectric layer 106 and a MgO protection film 108 are formed covering the display electrodes on a surface of the front substrate 100.
The region where the address electrodes 112 on the rear substrate 110 are intersected with the display electrodes 102, 103 on the front substrate 100 is to be a portion where discharge cells are formed.
An address voltage Va is applied between the address electrodes 112 and the display electrodes 102, 103 to cause address discharge, and a sustain voltage Vs is applied to a pair of the display electrodes 102, 103 to cause sustain discharge. Then, the generated vacuum ultraviolet rays excite phosphors so that they emit visible light through the front substrate 100 and thereby display PDP images.
However, the PDP having the discharge electrodes 102, 103 and the barrier ribs 115 in a stripe formation as shown in FIG. 8, may cause crosstalk between the discharge cells adjacent with the barrier ribs 115. In addition, it may cause the misdischarge between the adjacent discharge cells since the discharge areas are connected to one another along the direction where the barrier ribs 115 are formed. In order to prevent these problems, the distance between the display electrodes 102, 103 corresponding to the adjacent pixels needs to be over a certain level, which reduces improvements in efficiency.
To solve the above problems, PDPs having improved electrodes and barrier ribs as shown in FIG. 9 have been suggested. The PDP has a configuration such that transparent electrodes 123a of display electrodes 123 are extended from bus electrodes 123b to face each other in a pair within each of the discharge cells. For the purpose of reducing the crosstalk between the adjacent discharge cells and enhancing the emission efficiency by increasing the phosphor coated area, a PDP is suggested which has barrier ribs 125 of the matrix type formed with vertical barrier ribs 125a and horizontal barrier ribs 125b perpendicular to each other. Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 1998-149771 describes such a plasma display panel.
A PDP is a display using gas discharge, and its emission efficiency can be varied according to the amount of the excited atoms generated. The emission efficiency is known to increase with increasing total or partial pressure of sealed discharge gases.
If total or partial pressure is increased to improve the efficiency, the breakdown voltage necessarily increases and the discharge instability increases. Sometimes the discharge itself does not take place, and the use of high pressure resistant devices causes an increase in the unit cost of a circuit.
In an effort to lower the breakdown voltage in such a PDP, a gap between discharge electrodes can be decreased when designing discharge electrodes. However, simply decreasing the gap between discharge electrodes may cause several problems.
One problem arising when this gap is decreased is that the discharge path is decreased, thereby deteriorating the emission efficiency of panel. Furthermore, if the gap between discharge electrodes is decreased below a certain value, the breakdown voltage is increased. As shown in the Paschen curve of FIG. 10, if the discharge gas temperature multiplied by the distance between the electrodes (p·d value) becomes lower than a certain value (the minimum value), the Vf voltage value along the Y axis can increase. Accordingly, a decrease in breakdown voltage is needed by properly designing electrodes.
Another problem which can occur when the gap between the discharge electrodes is decreased is related to insulation resistance of dielectric substances. If the gap between the discharge electrodes is decreased, a strong magnetic field is generated between two electrodes and then the possibility of destruction of insulation between the electrodes is increased. It therefore becomes necessary to improve the insulating resistance. Accordingly, these factors must be considered when designing the discharge electrodes.
FIGS. 11a and 11b show a plan view of conventional discharge cells and a light profile graph for sustain discharge in a conventional PDP.
FIG. 11b shows the light emission from the portion within the dotted line in FIG. 11a along the vertical direction (the direction parallel to barrier ribs). Although the bus electrodes supply a voltage, they also have an adverse effect of shielding the visible light generated from a discharge space as shown in FIG. 11b, since the bus electrodes are positioned at the discharge space. Accordingly, this causes the deterioration of the brightness and the emission efficiency.

Plasma display panel comprising common barrier rib between non-discharge areas


A rebroadcasting system for retransmitting a television broadcast, which was received from a satellite, in a segment broadcasting, such as one-segment broadcasting and three-segment broadcasting, comprises: charging a solar battery during the daytime; recording broadcasts during the retransmission halt time; retransmitting television broadcasts, which are received from the satellite, in real time by use of central (one or three) segments and the charged power during any time when the output of the solar battery is low, for example, during the night, before sunset, after sunrise, or a rainy day; reproducing the recorded broadcasts; and retransmitting the reproduced recorded programs by use of any remaining segments, for example, segments adjacent to the central segments.

Here, a concept of a segment for a particular frequency in a transmission channel of digital terrestrial broadcasting ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial) is described.
As shown in FIG. 3, in a channel of digital terrestrial broadcasting (13 segments having each 6 MHz in Japan divided into 14 and each 0.5 segment at both ends used as a guard band in the shown example), a one-segment broadcast wave provides broadcasting services by emitting a broadcast wave with broadcast data such as H.264 compressed video information carried by QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) of one segment (segment number 0). Receivers of one-segment broadcasting used for broadcasting or the like for portable terminals receive the broadcast wave of the segment number 0 to receive video, audio and data. Each 6 segments (a total of 12 segments) at both sides are used to perform MPEG2 compressed HDTV (High Definition TeleVision: high definition television) broadcasting by 64QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation).
There are also SDTV (Standard Definition TeleVision) educational television broadcasting of 4 segments resulting from dividing 12 segments into three and so-called digital radio broadcasting (digital terrestrial audio broadcasting) of 3 segs (3 segments) having 12 segments divided into four.
Here, a method of broadcasting by a partial segment of the number of all segments in transmission channels of broadcasting such as one-segment broadcasting, four-segment broadcasting and three-segment broadcasting is called as a partial segment broadcasting hereinbelow.
And, the partial segment broadcasting such as one-segment broadcasting is suitable for implementation by an SFN (Single Frequency Network) system and implementation by a broadcasting system (area broadcasting) covering a relatively small area by very small transmission power, and further expansion of use in future is expected.
And, one channel is 6 MHz in Japan, 7 MHz in Brazil, and 8 MHz in Indonesia. Japan also has multimedia broadcasting that gathers much more segments.
JP-A-2010-118903 proposes a broadcasting system that can eliminate or reduce dead zones in the area broadcasting by so-called frequency diversity by simultaneously transmitting a signal with the same content in a possible transmission frequency band part other than a usable transmission frequency band to solve a problem that the dead zones are easily caused in a service area by a broadcasting system (area broadcasting) covering a particular area by very small transmission power by use of a one-segment broadcasting system.
In recent years, similar to the area one segment, it is considered to make effective use of a frequency by allotting a service to one central segment only or to individual segments. And, it is also considered overseas that the central segment only is used so to put the retransmission of television broadcasting into practical use. It is specially considered that a solar battery and a one-segment transmission apparatus are installed in combination in overseas villages where no electricity is available to provide services to areas where television broadcasting is not spread sufficiently. Specifically explaining a summary of the system, it has a structure that the solar battery is charged during the daytime, the one-segment transmission apparatus is operated by the charged power during the night, and a television broadcast received from a satellite is retransmitted in real time, so that the television broadcast is enjoyed.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a one-segment retransmission system for conventional satellite broadcasting. A program is transmitted from a television station 1, and television broadcasting waves are transmitted from an antenna 2 to a satellite 3. The received signals are retransmitted to each region by the satellite and received as television broadcasting by a shared receiving antenna 4 and a set-top box 5. Video and audio of the program obtained by the set-top box are input to an encoder 6 and converted into a signal form (broadcasting TS) conforming to the ISDB-T system by a ReMUX 7. The broadcasting TS is modulated by an ISDB-T modulator 8 and allotted to one central segment of the channel. Thus, the retransmission signal modulated to one segment is transmitted to a one-segment receiving terminal of each home or portable terminals via a power amplifier 9 and a transmitting antenna 10.
In a system for performing retransmission of broadcasting in real time by use of a one-segment transmission apparatus, retransmitting time is limited sometimes. For example, a case that the one-segment transmission apparatus is operated by the solar battery is taken as an example. There is considered a method of retransmitting television broadcasting by charging the solar battery in the daytime and using the power charged during the daytime to activate the one-segment transmission apparatus during the night. By such a retransmission system, television broadcasting cannot be watched during the daytime when the solar battery is charged, and a program was missed sometimes.


Disclosed herein are a catalyst composition, catalyst devices, and methods for removing formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, and other pollutants from an air flow stream. The catalyst composition including manganese oxide, optionally one or more of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, zinc, iron, binder, an inorganic oxide, or carbon.

Atmospheric pollution is a concern of increasing importance as the levels of various atmospheric pollutants continue to increase. One primary pollutant of concern is formaldehyde (HCOH). It is regarded as a major indoor pollutant emitted from widely used building and decorative materials. Long term exposure to formaldehyde is considered to be carcinogenic.
Several cities in China, including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chongqing, and Chengdu, were inspected in 2011 by the Indoor Environment and the Health Branch of China Environmental Science Institute with respect to the formaldehyde concentration present therein. Although the national standard sets a formaldehyde concentration limit of 0.1 mg/m3, each of the cities inspected had a formaldehyde concentration level significantly higher than the national limit. The levels ranged from 15% to 40% higher than the national standard.
There continues to be a need for devices, methods, and compositions that can effectively treat pollution from formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These devices, methods, and compositions should exhibit long term performance, efficient manufacturing operations, and reduced production costs.

Manganese oxide based catalyst and catalyst device for the removal of formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds


An elongated stripper rubber having a converging internal passage extending to a neck portion elastically expanded to snugly receive a drill string. The elongated stripper rubber is adhered to a steel core having a truncated conical load bearing surface containing an annular gasket cavity containing a truncated conical gasket. The volume of elastic material protruding from the truncated conical load bearing surface can be compressed into the gasket cavity between the steel core and a truncated conical annulus in an outer housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing a seal between a stationary housing and a stripper rubber constructed to snugly receive a drill string-passed in a well casing for a well bore, and, more particularly, to the provision of a sealing gasket constructed and arranged for compressing an elastic seal material in a truncated conical cavity between such a stationary housing and steel core secured to such a stripper rubber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Oil, water and gas wells are drilled with a drill bit attached to a hollow drill string which passes through a well casing installed in the well bore. A drilling head is usually attached to the top of the well casing where it emerges from the ground to seal the interior of the well casing from the surface and thereby permit the forced circulation of drilling fluid or gas during drilling operations. In the more commonly-used forward circulation drilling mode, the drilling fluid or gas is pumped down through the interior of the hollow drill string, out the bottom thereof, and upward through the annulus between the exterior of the drill string and the interior of the well casing. In reverse circulation, the drilling fluid or gas is pumped down the annulus between the drill string and the well casing and then upward through the hollow drill string.
The drilling head typically includes a stationary body to support a spindle that is rotated by a kelly for the rotary drilling operation. A seal often referred to as a stripper packer, is carried by the spindle to seal the periphery of the kelly or the sections of drill pipe, whichever is passing through the spindle, and thereby confine the fluid pressure in the well casing and prevent the drilling fluid, whether liquid or gas, from escaping between the rotary spindle and the drill string. The rotation of the kelly and drill string is accompanied by frequent upward and downward movement of the kelly and drill string as required for the addition of drill pipe sections. The high pressure fluid supplied to the drilling head requires that the stripper packing in the drilling head withstand continuous flexing of the rubber mass engaged with the kelly or drill string. When the drilling of a well proceeds to greater depths, and may also include the use of air as the drilling fluid, the effective sealing with long continued integrity is important to prevent unwanted release of the drilling fluid under the necessary higher pressure.
The arrangement of parts used to maintain the integrity of the sealed condition of the parts associated with the attachment of the stripper packer at the rotary spindle has been a source of problems involving the containment of drilling fluid pressure. Typically, the stripper packer includes an elongated generally cylindrical hard-rubber packer having an annular mounting collar secured to its upper end. The mounting collar, in turn, is secured onto the lower end of the rotatable spindle. Often the mounting collar is secured to the stripper packer by being molded integrally therewith. That is, the mounting collar often includes such structural expedients as a radial-projecting lip, a circumferential dovetail keyway, or a plurality of radial through openings onto or through which the stripper rubber is directly molded for a positive mechanical interlock between the mounting flange and the stripper rubber. Some such packers may have been subject to instances of tearing of the stripper rubber or breaking of the fluid seal with the mounting collar due to localized stress concentrations at the rubber to collar interface. Among the known structures are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,345,769; 3,503,617; 3,400,938; and 2,170,916.
A stripper packer assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,025 having separable mounting collar and a stripper rubber element wherein nut and bolt assemblies dispersed about a bolt circle are used to compressively clamp the stripper rubber in face sealing engagement with an extended formed sealing surface of the mounting collar. The stripper packer is used to provide a fluid pressure-tight seal and to provide for transmission of torque loads from the stripper rubber to the mounting collar.
The sealing relationship between the stripper packer and the mounting collar also includes the use of an O-ring seated in a mounting groove formed in an annular section of the mounting collar. The mounting collar must be passed into a suitably enlarged bore in the rotary spindle and in so doing the O-ring protruding from the periphery of the collar must be compressed to fit in the bore so that the operative position of the O-ring forms an elastic seal with the bore without damage to the O-ring. When the assembling operation must be accomplished at the drilling site, the working conditions are a disadvantage. The immediate area surrounding the drilling head at the drilling site presents a particularly harsh environment for carrying out the required assembly operation for the stripper packer. The ever presents of dirt and encounters with drilling slurry increase the difficult but necessary alignment of parts to form the seal in the stripper packer. These conditions are especially acute when assembling an o-ring type seal. An intended sealed relation between the parts forming the stripper packer is often discovered by the occurrence of the leakage to the site of the sealing surface only after commencing the drilling operation thus prolonging costly downtime. The art has not produced many viable alternatives to the above-described structures to provide a sealed condition between the stripper rubber and the housing of the drill head due, in part, to the difficulty of forming suitable releasable connection between a mounting collar and a stripper rubber. This has been particularly true in those cases where the frictional engagement between the stripper rubber and the drill string provides the rotary driving force for the rotary spindle in the drilling head. In such instances, the stripper rubber is under constant torque loading and this tends to accelerate wear and ultimate failure of the rubber-to-mounting collar seal.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gasket face protruding from the truncated conical load bearing surface of a steel core-used also to mount a stripper rubber thereto.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an elastic sealing gasket for compressing against a truncated conical surface disposed between a stationary housing and stripper rubber forming part of a drilling head.

Stripper rubber on a steel core with an integral sealing gasket


A pressure relief device for electrical equipment housing, includes a valve body having a pedestal that projects above a mounting flange and a table on the pedestal that supports a two-stage valve assembly that can be sized in diameter independently of the working area of the flange beneath the table. The design is particularly applicable to retrofit applications for large power distribution equipment with the footprint of the pressure relief device fixed by the design of the equipment housings. The first-stage valve opening can be sized substantially as large as vent openings in the housings and the second-stage valve openings can be sized in the desired relationship with the first-stage opening for optimizing valve performance independently of the constraints imposed by the footprint of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to pressure relief devices for large, power distribution equipment such as transformers and switches of the type that are filled with a dielectric oil or the like and which, when a fault occurs, are subject to damage caused by increased pressure.
2. Description of Related Art
Pressure relief devices, commonly referred to as PRDs, must quickly relieve the increased pressure that can accumulate in housings containing such electrical distribution equipment by allowing large quantities of potentially very hot fluids to escape from the housings in a short time. The devices must respond before the housings in which the equipment is contained rupture and in so responding allow a sufficient amount of fluid to be discharged in a sufficiently short amount of time to prevent damage, all while, preferably, discharging the fluid in a manner where it will not cause injury or damage to persons or equipment located close by.
Typically, pressure relief devices of type to which this invention is addressed have a two-stage operating characteristic. When the pressure in the housing increases to a predetermined threshold level requiring relief, a first valve opens. The release of pressure through the first valve opens a second interconnected valve, which has the effect of further opening the first valve to discharge fluid from the housing at a higher rate. The second valve, which operates once the first valve is opened, itself opens at a lower pressure than required to open the first valve. The lower pressure operating characteristic of the second valve together with its physical association with the first valve enables the second valve to open the first valve wider and to maintain the first valve open for a longer period of time until the pressure in the housing is well below the threshold required for opening the first valve.
One way in which this is accomplished is to provide two different size valve openings, a first-stage internal valve opening associated with a first seal circumscribing a first area and a second-stage external valve opening associated with a second seal circumscribing a second larger area. The first-stage internal valve opening is formed by an exit opening through a tubular collar aligned with a vent opening in the housing. The second-stage external valve opening is formed on a peripheral surface of the tubular collar. A preloaded poppet in the form of a disk engages both seals. An endface of the valve disk engages the first seal with a preload force produced by a compression spring. A depending skirt of the valve disk engages the second seal with a sliding fit. When the product of the pressure in the housing times the first area exceeds the preload force exerted by the compression spring on the valve disk, the valve disk is displaced for opening the first valve. Once the first valve is opened, an enlarged area of the valve disk corresponding to the second area is exposed to the pressure in the housing. The force generated by the product of the housing pressure times the second area is larger than the product of the housing pressure times the first area by a ratio of the two areas, which is typically around 2 to 1. The larger force further displaces the valve disk for opening the second valve and for opening the first valve even wider. Both valves are opened widely and quickly because the force generated by the application of housing pressure over the larger second area of the second valve greatly exceeds (such as by a factor of two) the preload force imparted by the compression spring at the closed positions of the valves.
PRDs are mounted onto the electrical housings using mounting flanges that are adapted by convention to fit a pattern of bolts surrounding the vent openings in the housings. The arrangement of such bolts is more or less standardized in the industry and imposes a limitation on the configuration of the PRD, which has, as will be described below, restricted the rate at which fluid may flow through the PRD.
The mounting flange has an annular working area that provides clearance for bolting the mounting flange to the housing. The working area is defined between effective inner and outer diameters that ensure a minimum clearance for bolting the mounting flange to the housing. The tubular collar, which has an inner diameter set by the first-stage internal valve opening and an outer diameter set by the second-stage external valve opening, projects from the flange within the inner diameter of the working area. Thus, the inner diameter of the working area of the flange determines the maximum size of the outer diameter of the tubular collar and the second-stage external valve opening. The first-stage internal valve opening is required to be proportionally smaller in diameter to provide the difference between the first and second areas required for the desired two-stage operation. It is the size of the first area that determines the maximum discharge rate through the PRD, and the limitations imposed upon this first area by the combination of (a) the inner diameter of the working area of the flange and (b) the further diametrical reduction required for two-stage operation significantly restricts the maximum flow rate through the PRD.
An example of a PRD representative of current designs is shown in FIG. 1. The illustrated PRD 10 is mounted over a vent opening 14 in an electrical equipment housing 12 with a flange 16 that is secured to the housing 12 by a circle of bolts 18. The flange 16 has an annular working area 20 defined between inner and outer diameters 22 and 24 occupied by the bolts 18 and any washers or other fastening elements required to attach the flange 16 to the housing 12. A tubular collar 30 formed integrally with the flange 16 has a first-stage internal valve opening 32 near an innermost diameter 34 of the tubular collar 30 and a larger second-stage external valve opening 36 on an outermost diameter 38 of the tubular collar 30. The outermost diameter 38 of the tubular collar 30, which includes the second-stage external valve opening 36, is located within (i.e., is smaller than) the inner diameter 22 of the working area 20 of the flange 16 for preserving the clearance required for mounting the PRD 10 on the housing 12 using the conventional bolt pattern. The innermost diameter 34 of the tubular collar 30 is constricted by the first-stage internal valve opening 32 that is necessarily proportionally smaller than the second-stage external valve opening 36 to support the desired two-stage operation. Flow rates through the PRD 10 are limited by the first-stage internal valve opening 32 that constricts the innermost diameter 34 of the tubular collar 30.
Within the tubular collar 30 is a throat 40 having an entrance adjacent to the vent opening 14 in the housing 12 and an exit adjacent to the first-stage internal valve opening 32. At its entrance, the throat diameter 42 is as least as large as the diameter 44 of the vent opening 14 and is limited only by the inner diameter 22 of the working area 20 of the flange 16 and the thickness of the tubular collar 30. At its exit, the throat diameter 46, which corresponds to the innermost diameter 34 of the tubular collar 30, is significantly smaller than the diameter 44 of the vent opening 14 in the housing 12 and is limited by the size of the first-stage internal valve opening 32. Potential flow rates through the tubular collar 30 are reduced by the difference between the entrance and exit diameters 42 and 46 of the throat 40 or at least by the difference between the diameter 44 of the vent opening 14 in the housing and the limited exit diameter 46 of the throat 40 (i.e., the innermost diameter of the tubular collar 30).
Although conventional PRDs have, for many years, provided effective pressure relief operations for electrical equipment housings, it can be readily be appreciated by reference to FIG. 1 that the size of the first-stage internal valve opening 32 imposes a limit on the rate at which fluid may flow through the pressure relief device and that this limit is lower than the limit imposed by the size of the vent opening 14 in the housing 12. Accordingly, to achieve higher flow rates commensurate with the size of the vent openings in electrical equipment housings, larger size PRDs have been required, which involve expensive changes to the electrical housings to accept pressure relief devices having larger footprints (i.e., flange diameters). High costs generally make such retrofits prohibitively expensive.

Pressure relief device with increased flow rate


The present invention relates to certain biologically active peptides and polypeptides which can be used as therapeutics or prophylactics against diseases or disorders linked to NGF as the causative agent. In one aspect of the present invention, pharmacologically active polypeptides comprising peptides linked to one or more Fc domains are provided.

More than two million people in the United States alone are incapacitated by chronic pain on any given day (T. M. Jessell & D. D. Kelly, Pain and Analgesia in PRINCIPLES OF NEURAL SCIENCE, third edition (E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz, T. M. Jessell, ed., (1991)). Unfortunately, current treatments for pain are only partially effective, and many also cause debilitating or dangerous side effects. For example, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ("NSAIDs") such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and indomethacin are moderately effective against inflammatory pain but they are also renal toxins, and high doses tend to cause gastrointestinal irritation, ulceration, bleeding, and confusion. Patients treated with opioids frequently experience confusion, and long-term opioid use is associated with tolerance and dependence. Local anesthetics such as lidocaine and mixelitine simultaneously inhibit pain and cause loss of normal sensation.
Pain is a perception based on signals received from the environment and transmitted and interpreted by the nervous system (for review, see Millan, M. J., The induction of pain: an integrative review. Prog Neurobiol 57:1-164 (1999)). Noxious stimuli such as heat and touch cause specialized sensory receptors in the skin to send signals to the central nervous system ("CNS"). This process is called nociception, and the peripheral sensory neurons that mediate it are nociceptors. Depending on the strength of the signal from the nociceptor(s) and the abstraction and elaboration of that signal by the CNS, a person may or may not experience a noxious stimulus as painful. When one's perception of pain is properly calibrated to the intensity of the stimulus, pain serves its intended protective function. However, certain types of tissue damage cause a phenomenon, known as hyperalgesia or pronociception, in which relatively innocuous stimuli are perceived as intensely painful because the person's pain thresholds have been lowered. Both inflammation and nerve damage can induce hyperalgesia. Thus, persons afflicted with inflammatory conditions, such as sunburn, osteoarthritis, colitis, carditis, dermatitis, myositis, neuritis, collagen vascular diseases (which include rheumatoid arthritis and lupus) and the like, often experience enhanced sensations of pain. Similarly, trauma, surgery, amputation, abscess, causalgia, collagen vascular diseases, demyelinating diseases, trigeminal neuralgia, cancer, chronic alcoholism, stroke, thalamic pain syndrome, diabetes, herpes infections, acquired immune deficiency syndrome ("AIDS"), toxins and chemotherapy cause nerve injuries that result in excessive pain.
As the mechanisms by which nociceptors transduce external signals under normal and hyperalgesic conditions become better understood, processes implicated in hyperalgesia can be targeted to inhibit the lowering of the pain threshold and thereby lessen the amount of pain experienced.
Neurotrophic factors have been shown to play significant roles in the transmission of physiologic and pathologic pain. Nerve growth factor (NGF) appears to be particularly important (for review, see McMahon, S. B., NGF as a mediator of inflammatory pain, Phil Trans R Soc Lond 351:431-40 (1996); and Apfel, S. C., Neurotrophic Factors and Pain, The Clinical Journal of Pain 16:S7-S11 (2000)). Both local and systemic administration of NGF have been shown to elicit hyperalgesia and allodynia (Lewin, et al., Peripheral and central mechanisms of NGF-induced hyperalgesia. Eur. J. Neurosci. 6:1903-1912 (1994)). Intravenous infusion of NGF in humans produces a whole body myalgia while local administration evokes injection site hyperalgesia and allodynia in addition to the systemic effects (Apfel, et al., Recombinant human nerve growth factor in the treatment of diabetic polyneuropathy. Neurology 51: 695-702 (1998)). There is also a considerable body of evidence implicating endogenous NGF in conditions in which pain is a prominent feature. For example, NGF is upregulated in DRG Schwann cells for at least 2 months following peripheral nerve injury and increased levels have been reported in the joints of animals suffering from a variety of models of arthritis (e.g., Aloe, et al., The synovium of transgenic arthritic mice expressing human tumor necrosis factor contains a high level of nerve growth factor. Growth Factors 9:149-155 (1993)). In humans, NGF levels are elevated in synovial fluid from patients with rheumatoid or other types of arthritis (e.g., Aloe et al., Nerve growth factor in the synovial fluid of patients with chronic arthritis. Arthritis and Rheumatism 35:351-355 (1992)). Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that antagonism of NGF function prevents hyperalgesia and allodynia in models of neuropathic and chronic inflammatory pain. For example, in models of neuropathic pain (e.g. nerve trunk or spinal nerve ligation) systemic injection of neutralizing antibodies to NGF prevents both allodynia and hyperalgesia (Ramer, M. S., et al., Adrenergic innervation of rat sensory ganglia following proximal or distal painful sciatic neuropathy: distinct mechanisms revealed by anti-NGF treatment. Eur J Neurosci 11:837-846 (1999); and Ro, L. S., et al., Effect of NGF and anti-NGF on neuropathic pain in rats following chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve. Pain 79: 265-274 (1999)).
Clearly, there is a need for new safe and effective treatments for pain. It is an object of the present invention to provide novel binding agents of NGF that modulate NGF activity and that are useful for managing pain. Such agents of the present invention take the form of NGF binding peptides and NGF binding modified peptides, i.e., peptides fused to other molecules such as an Fc portion of an antibody, where the peptide moiety specifically binds to NGF.

Peptides and related molecules that modulate nerve growth factor activity


A bowl liner for use in a crusher that is comprised of a support cassette and a plurality of bowl liner sections mounted to the support cassette. Each of the bowl liner sections is mounted along an inner surface of the support cassette. Once the bowl liner sections are positioned along the inner surface of the support cassette, a plurality of support plates are used to support the bowl liner sections on the support cassette. An epoxy material can be utilized to further attach the plurality of bowl liner sections to the support cassette such that the bowl liner sections are held securely in place during use. The bowl liner can be replaced in the crusher as a single unit. After use, the bowl liner sections can be removed from the support cassette and the support cassette can be reused with another set of bowl liner sections.

The present disclosure generally relates to rock crushing equipment. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a crusher that includes a wear liner having a reusable support cassette that supports a plurality of wear elements, such as bowl liner sections or concaves.
Rock crushing systems, such as those referred to as cone crushers or gyratory crushers, generally break apart rock, stone or other material in a crushing gap between a stationary element and a moving element. For example, a conical rock crusher is comprised of a head assembly including a crushing head that gyrates about a vertical axis within a stationary bowl indirectly attached to a main frame of the rock crusher. The crushing head is assembled surrounding an eccentric that rotates about a fixed shaft to impart the gyrational motion of the crushing head which crushes rock, stone or other material in a crushing gap between the crushing head and the bowl. The eccentric can be driven by a variety of power drives, such as an attached gear, driven by a pinion and countershaft assembly, and a number of mechanical power sources, such as electrical motors or combustion engines.
The exterior of the conical crushing head is covered with a protective or wear-resistant mantle that engages the material that is being crushed, such as rock, stone, ore, minerals or other substances. The bowl, which is indirectly mechanically fixed to the mainframe, is fitted with a bowl liner or, in the case of a gyratory crusher, a series of concaves. The bowl liner and bowl are stationary and spaced from the crushing head. The bowl liner provides an opposing surface from the mantle for crushing the material. The material is crushed in the crushing gap between the mantle and the bowl liner.
The gyrational motion of the crushing head with respect to the stationary bowl crushes, rock, stone or other material within the crushing gap. Generally, the rock, stone or other material is fed onto a feed plate that directs the material toward the crushing gap where the material is crushed as it travels through the crushing gap. The crushed material exits the crushing chamber through the bottom of the crushing gap. The size of the crushing gap determines the maximum size of the crushed material that exits the crushing gap.
As the cone crusher operates, the outer wear surface of the bowl liner begins to deteriorate such that the space between the crushing surfaces increases, which reduces the crusher's ability to produce the desired geometry of material leaving the crusher. As the bowl liner continues to wear, the bowl liner reaches a point where it must be removed from the cone crusher. Typically, the bowl liner is formed from austenitic manganese steel that, after being removed, is scraped and a new bowl liner is installed in the cone crusher. During the replacement process, the bowl liner is installed in the cone crusher on location, which can often result in misalignment or difficulty in placing the bowl liner in the required location in the cone crusher.

Segmented bowl liner with reusable support cassette


A luminaire arrangement for providing a luminous flux in a target direction (z) comprising a light guide (101), multiple light sources (103) arranged at said light guide for emitting light into said light guide, out coupling means (106) arranged at said light guide and adapted to direct light out from said light guide; and a cover layer (102) arranged in front of said light guide at the side where light it to be directed out, said cover layer being provided with at least one optically transparent area (104) such that light directed out from said light guide is allowed to pass said cover layer. The cover layer allows for use of the same or similar light guide, light sources and out coupling means in a number of different luminaire applications, where each application may have different requirements on e.g. appearance, and/or collimation and/or directivity of the luminous flux.

A recent trend in luminaires is to replace large conventional light sources, such as fluorescent tubes, with a plurality of smaller light sources, in combination providing the required coverage and/or luminance. Owing to previous and ongoing progress and development in the area of light emitting diodes (LEDs), LEDs are presently an advantageous choice of such a small light source, although other alternatives may be found in the future.
However, existing LED luminaries may suffer from a number of drawbacks.
For example, a requirement for a luminaire in general, including a LED based one, is that it should be able to provide a well controlled, well defined uniform luminous flux without unintentional spreading and/or obstruction of light. In particular, a luminaire should be able to comply with application specific requirements, for example regarding glare. In many applications, a glare related requirement is that the luminous flux should be uniform and not exhibit any bright spots, not even when the luminaire is viewed from certain oblique angles. This requirement, however, can be particular hard to meet when a plurality of small light sources are used, such as in LED based luminaries.
Another problem is heat dissipation, where temperatures at individual light sources often tend to be higher than what is desired.
Controlling and power supplying the plurality of light sources can also be hard to accomplish without negatively affecting the luminous flux.
Yet another problem is that that a luminaire should be able to present an appealing appearance. For example, it is often desirable that the luminaire should be able to present a discrete appearance that fits, or even is adapted to, the environment where the luminaire is used.


A compound having thioacetal skeleton, a precursor thereof, a cured product thereof, and a composition for their production are provided for the thermally dissociatable material based on the inventors' finding that a thioacetal group is thermally dissociatable. The use of the thermally dissociatable material of the invention enables softening or liquefaction at any desired timing through thermal dissociation at a temperature below the thermal decomposition temperature of the cured product. It is thus possible to disassemble the structure to which the thermally dissociatable material had been attached in a short time. The thermally dissociatable material is useful as a highly disposable plastic material and is adapted for use as a sealant, coating composition or adhesive. Such material may be used, for example, as a curing agent for urethane curable composition or epoxy curable composition, or as a self-curable material.

Plastic materials have the history that they have been developed in order to obtain highly durable materials which are hardly decomposed, and ironically, such high durability is now the cause of waste pollution, and in particular plastic pollution. To be more specific, conventional crosslinked cured products are not intended for chemical dissociation.
For example, a polysulfide polymer containing two or more thiol groups in the molecule is widely employed in sealants, coating compositions, adhesives and the like since such polysulfide polymer is capable of reacting with an epoxy, isocyanate, or the like which readily reacts with the thiol group to form a cured product with an increased molecular weight. A composition comprising a compound having hydroxyl group and a compound having two or more vinyl ether (enol ether) groups is also disclosed (EP 296507 A2), and this composition is claimed to be a curable composition which is free from substances that are toxic to human body such as an isocyanate or an aldehyde, which is safe since no toxic substance is discharged from the system, and which can be cured at a relatively low temperature into a product exhibiting excellent chemical and physical performance. These cured product, however, can not be softened or liquefied by chemical decomposition at the desired timing. With regard to the polysulfide polymer as mentioned above, cured product can be formed by using a metal oxide for the catalyst. However, the cured product is preferably free from such metal oxide in view of the safety and since inclusion of such metal oxide will necessitate further separation process.
Lately, there is a growing concern for protection of global environment including the problem of the waste pollution as mentioned above, and guidelines have been published to promote recycling by conducting the waste disposal in each industry or by item, for example, home appliance, OA equipment, and other commodities which enable efficient use of the resources. In correspondence with such situation, a strong demand exists for environmentally friendly materials which can be produced into recyclable products.
Biodegradable and photodegradable plastic materials have been developed in view of such situation. However, plastic materials should, on the other hand, perpetually retain its performance under normal conditions of use without undergoing degradation by decomposition or the like. Accordingly, there is an expectation for development of a thermally dissociatable material which thermally dissociates under temperature conditions which are different from the conditions of use and becomes liquefied or softened to enable disassembly of the structure to which this material has been adhered, and which, on the other hand, does not become degraded by decomposition while it is in use and retains its integrated (cured) conditions.
Conventional thermal dissociation technologies that have been known in the art include use of thermal dissociation in blocking technology of a curing system, and latent catalysts which become active by heat, light, moisture, oxygen, or other external stimulation, and blocking of functional group such as isocyanate group have been developed and put into practical use. For example, JP 4-175375 A discloses a one part thermosetting composition which is a composition comprising a hydroxyl group-containing compound and a vinyl ether group-containing compound further comprising a thermally latent acid catalyst.
JP 4-72324 A discloses a blocking technology of carboxyl group wherein carboxyl group in a thermosetting resin composition comprising a multifunctional vinyl (thio)ether compound having two or more vinyl (thio)ether groups and a compound having two or more carboxyl groups is blocked by monovinyl (thio)ether to form a hemi(thio)acetal ester group. However, the curing system utilizing such conventional blocking technology generally suffers from the problem after its curing that the component which is not involved in the reaction, for example, the blocking agent (protective group) either remains in the system or is discharged from the system in the thermal dissociation of the blocked compound, and such components results in the tack, toxicity, or contamination of the global environment.
Furthermore, the curing systems using the conventional blocking technology are silent about the thermal dissociation ability of the cured product obtained by such curing system.

Compound having thermally dissociatable thioacetal skeleton, precursor thereof, cured product thereof, and composition for their production


An ornamental lamp comprises a barrel holder, an LED lamp set and a lamp shade. The barrel holder includes an opening, two electric connecting ports communicating with the opening and two elastic holding struts held in the opening. The elastic holding struts and the inner edge of the opening form a housing space therebetween. The two elastic holding struts are divided by a notch in the middle. The LED lamp set has two conductive pins running through the electric connecting ports to receive electric power. The LED lamp set has a lower edge butting the elastic holding struts. The lamp shade is wedged in the housing space and pushes the elastic holding struts inwards during wedging to bend slightly towards the notch. The bent portion of the elastic holding struts generates an elastic returning force to clamp the lamp shade in a compact manner.

Special lighting colors can provide buildings or ornaments more appealing look. To meet this purpose, ornamental lamps capable of being strung together in a great number have been developed at lower cost and widely adopted. To further meet varying requirements of special occasions such as festivals or ceremonies, different types of ornamental lamps also have been designed. Due to many factors, such as producers constantly try to reduce production cost, the lamps are connected in series in a great number that causes the wires to sustain too much current, lamp quality varies widely, and bad holding and storing conditions. All these significantly reduce the life span of the ornamental lamps.
To remedy the aforesaid problems, R.O.C. patent No. M358251 entitled "Improved lamp head for LED Christmas lamp strings" discloses a Christmas lamp comprising an LED (1), a lamp stalk (2) and a lamp casing (3). The lamp stalk (2) has a holding trough (21) at an upper side and a holder (22) at a lower side. The LED (1) is held in the holding trough (21) and has two conductive pins (1111, 1121) run through the holding trough (21). Then the LED (1) and the lamp stalk (2) are wedged in the lamp casing (3) together. While it claims to provide the advantage of reducing labor and production time, the lamp stalk and lamp casing have to be fabricated separately and result in a higher material cost. Moreover, the LED is directly mounted onto the lamp stalk and packaged in a conical manner without encasing a light penetrating lamp shade outside the LED. As the main purpose of the ornamental lamp is to provide special profiles and diversified colors, to meet this purpose more diversified LED package profiles have to be provided. This requires extra production facility and higher production cost. In the event that increasing LED color variation is needed, even more costs are incurred.
Thus there is still room for improvement on the ornamental lamp, especially in terms of assembly convenience, material cost and customization capability.


An electrophotographic photosensitive member is disclosed which comprises a conductive support and a photosensitive layer provided on the conductive support. A surface layer of the electrophotographic photosensitive member contains a polycarbonate resin having a chain fluoroalkyl group having 4 or more carbon atoms. Also, an electrophotographic apparatus and a device unit are disclosed which comprise the electrophotographic photosensitive member.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrophotographic photosensitive member, and more particularly to an electrophotographic photosensitive member having a surface layer containing a resin with a specific structure. This invention also relates to an electrophotographic apparatus and an apparatus unit which have such an electrophotographic photosensitive member.
2. Related Background Art
Inorganic materials such as selenium, cadmium sulfide and zinc oxide are hitherto known as photoconductive materials used in electrophotographic photosensitive members. Organic materials including polyvinyl carbazole, phthalocyanine and azo pigments have attracted notice on the advantages that they promise a high productivity and and freedom from environmental pollution, and have been put into wide use although they tend to be inferior to the inorganic materials in respect of photoconductive performance or running performance. In recent years new materials having overcome such disadvantages have been studied, and are surpassing the inorganic materials particularly with regard to photoconductive performance.
Meanwhile, electrophotographic photosensitive members are required to have durabilities to various external forces of physical, chemical and electrical origins since they are repeatedly affected by charging, exposure, development, transfer, cleaning and charge elimination in electrophotographic processes in copying machines or laser beam printers. In particular, mechanical strength such as wear resistance or scratch resistance is one of important factors for determining the running lifetime of electrophotographic photosensitive members. Since the organic photoconductive materials have no film-forming properties by themselves, it is common for them to be formed into films with use of binders when photosensitive layers are formed. Thus, the properties of binder resins can be a factor that greatly influences the mechanical strength. Accordingly, it has been attempted to make binder resins having a higher molecular weight, to use curable resins and also to use lubricants such as Teflon.
However, the use of high-molecular weight binder resins is problematic in that it causes an increase in viscosity of layer forming coating materials. The use of curable resins may cause a deterioration of organic photoconductive materials when cured, and a deterioration of electrophotographic performance that is ascribable to the presence of unreacted functional groups or impurities such as polymerization initiators. Also, the use of lubricants cannot be well satisfactory in view of film forming properties and compatibility.
As image quality and durability have been made much higher in recent years, studies have been made on electrophotographic photosensitive members that can stably provide better images over a long period of time.

Electrophotographic photosensitive member having specified polycarbonate-containing surface layer


The invention relates to a method for separating the web rolls (2) of a roll set (1) traveling on a conveyor (3) from each other. The conveyor (3) comprises a conveyor belt or chain (12) adapted to run about driving and tail pulleys (7). In the method, the set (1) of web rolls is transported on the leg of the conveyor belt or chain (12). According to the method, onto the top surface of the conveyor belt or chain (12) is formed an elevation capable of separating the web rolls (2) apart from each other with the help of an elevating roll assembly (5) adapted to operate below the top surface of the conveyor belt or chain (12) and comprising at least one rotary elevating roll (6).

The present invention relates to a method for separating web rolls on a conveyor from each other.
The invention also relates to a roll conveyor suited for implementing the method.
Web rolls manufactured on a paper or paperboard machine are slit at a slitter-winder from a wide machine roll into rolls of narrower width according to customer order. Slitter-winders fall into two main types: shaft-supported slitter-winders, in which the slit rolls are delivered from the slitter in two different sets to both sides of the winder, and surface-driven slitter-winders, in which the slit rolls are delivered as a complete set. Since surface-driven belt-supported slitter-winders are based on the same principle as surface-driven roller-supported slitter-winders, in a general sense it is appropriate in this context to assign the term "surface driven slitter-winder" to any winder-slitter capable of delivering the rolls as a complete set.
Rolls manufactured on a surface-driven slitter-winder must be separated from each other for such reasons as, e.g., quality checks, before the slit rolls can be transferred further to a labeling and packaging station. Conventionally, the rolls of a roll set delivered by the slitter-winder are separated from each other at a transition point between two roll conveyor sections. When the separation point between the first and second roll of a roll set coincides with the transition point between the conveyor sections, the first conveyor is stopped, whereby the first roll of the set continues its travel on the second conveyor, while the other rolls of the set remain on the first conveyor. Subsequently, the separation point between the second and third roll is driven to the transition point between the conveyor sections, whereupon the first conveyor is stopped causing the second roll to continue its travel on the second conveyor, while the other rolls of the set remain on the first conveyor. The same sequence is repeated until all of the rolls of the set are separated from each other.
The rolls of a set received from a slitter-winder may stay adhered to each other due to different reasons: the core ends are not flush with the web roll ends, the sheet edges of the rolls are slit uneven leaving them interleaved with each other or slitting has been started too late whereby the core still has some layers unslit. If the rolls adhere to each other, problems may occur at the transition point between the conveyors in the case that the rolls fail to separate. To avoid such complications, full separation of rolls must be checked in a set received from a surface-driven slitter-winder. While checking the separation of rolls in a set may occur at any place along the transfer of the roll set, generally the check is performed through arching the roll set by way of elevating the middle rolls of the roll set upward so much that the roll ends separate from each other leaving a gap therebetween. At this moment, the operator checks visually that all rolls are separated from each other and, if necessary, uses a wedge to force apart any rolls adhering to each other. Although modern slitter-winders are extensively automated, monitoring the rolls in a roll set and separation of the rolls from each other in operation is still being performed manually. These worksteps prevent running a slitter-winder with lesser manpower. In addition to being monotonous and tedious, such operator tasks may be even hazardous if carried out counter to instructions or by negligence. Sufficient time must also be reserved for the operator's actions to permit his checks on the roll set to be performed safely. Due to the manual separation of rolls, the operation of the slitter-winder and the roll conveyor system is slowed down.

Method for use in a conveyor and a conveyor


An imaging apparatus is disclosed. The imaging apparatus includes an image sensor including includes a photosensitive region and an anti-shake module including a base, a carrier, a flexible connection member, and an actuator set. The base includes a cavity, a depth of the cavity is greater than or equal to a thickness of the image sensor, the carrier and the image sensor are disposed in the cavity, and the base provides support for the carrier by using the flexible connection member. The carrier includes a through hole, a size of the through hole is greater than or equal to that of the photosensitive region, the carrier is separately electrically connected to the image sensor and the base, and a bottom surface of the carrier is fastened to a top surface of the image sensor. Each actuator in the actuator set includes a fastened end and a movable end.

When a camera module of a mobile phone is stable, a clear image of a photographed object can be obtained on an image sensor. However, in a photographing process, the camera module of the mobile phone shakes due to hand trembling. As a result, an image presented by the photographed object on the image sensor is deviated. Consequently, a shot image is blurred.
In an optical image stabilization (OIS) technology, an optical method such as moving a lens group or moving an image sensor may be used to suppress imaging blur caused by hand trembling, to improve photographing quality of a camera module of a mobile phone. In the prior art, an optical image stabilizer is provided, including a fastened base and a movable carrier. The movable carrier may be pushed by an actuator, to drive an image sensor on the movable carrier to generate displacement.
However, in the technical solution, the image sensor is directly stacked on the optical image stabilizer. When a lens group remains unchanged in a camera module, a height of an imaging surface of the image sensor is raised. To be specific, a distance between the lens group and the imaging surface is shortened. To maintain an original imaging effect, the distance between the lens group and the imaging surface needs to be lengthened. This additionally causes an increase in an overall height of the camera module.

Imaging apparatus and terminal device including anti-shake compensation