The invention relates to virus-like particles of bacteriophage MS2 (MS2 VLPs) displaying peptide epitopes or peptide mimics of epitopes of Nipah Virus envelope glycoprotein that elicit an immune response against Nipah Virus upon vaccination of humans or animals. Affinity selection on Nipah Virus-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies using random sequence peptide libraries on MS2 VLPs selected peptides with sequence similarity to peptide sequences found within the envelope glycoprotein of Nipah itself, thus identifying the epitopes the antibodies recognize. The selected peptide sequences themselves are not necessarily identical in all respects to a sequence within Nipah Virus glycoprotein, and therefore may be referred to as epitope mimics VLPs displaying these epitope mimics can serve as vaccine. On the other hand, display of the corresponding wild-type sequence derived from Nipah Virus and corresponding to the epitope mapped by affinity selection, may also be used as a vaccine.

Nipah virus (NiV), a highly pathogenic member of the Paramyxoviridae family, was first isolated and identified after a 1998-1999 outbreak of fatal encephalitis among pig farmers and abattoir workers in Southeast Asia. NiV and its close relative, Hendra virus, have been classified as Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) select agents due to their broad host range, their numerous routes of transmission, and the high rates of mortality associated with infection. Despite recent advances in understanding the cellular tropism of NiV, there is currently no prophylaxis available for animals or humans, and treatment remains primarily supportive. Several DNA and virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines are under development and have been demonstrated to induce high-titer (103) antibody responses that protect various animal models against live NiV challenge. As an alternative approach, we are employing antibodies against NiV glycoprotein (NiV-G) to affinity-select peptide mimotopes from a complex random sequence library displayed on VLPs of MS2 bacteriophage.
Virus-like particles (VLPs) are derived from self-assembly of the structural proteins of a virus. Vaccines can be made from VLPs in two different ways. First, a vaccine against a given virus can be made from the structural proteins of that virus. In such cases, the VLP serves as a non-infectious version of the virus itself, and is utilized to safely elicit an antibody response to the virus from which it is derived. The existing vaccines for hepatitis B virus and human papilloma virus are examples. Second, VLPs can serve as scaffolds for the immunogenic presentation of epitopes derived from other sources (from whatever source, viral or not). The VLP-based vaccines described in this application are in this second category. There are made by the immunogenic presentation of Nipah Virus-derived epitopes on the surface of a VLP made by self-assembly of the coat protein of bacteriphage MS2 expressed from a plasmid in E. coli. In this case the VLP merely serves as a carrier to present a NiV epitope (or epitope mimic) to the immune system in an immunogenic format.
Because VLPs are structurally repetitious, linking target antigens, either genetically or chemically, to the VLP surface causes them to be displayed at high densities. Such densely-spaced repetitive elements provoke efficient oligomerization of the membrane-associated immunoglobulin (Ig) molecules that constitute the B cell receptor (BCR), which in turn promotes increased stimulation of the B cell. Thus, a normally non-immunogenic substance (e.g. a peptide) becomes strongly immunogenic when displayed as a dense repetitive array on a VLP. MS2 VLPs self-assemble from 180 copies of a single coat protein into a 28-nm icosahedron. The vaccines described here use a VLP assembled from a single-chain coat protein dimer, and can display up to 90 peptides per particle in a highly accessible surface loop. Thus presented, peptide epitopes, are able to elicit high titer antibody responses in immunized animals or humans, even though they are very poorly immunogenic on their own. MS2 VLPs are, furthermore, highly tolerant of random peptide insertions and encapsidate the mRNA that encodes the coat protein-random peptide fusion, enabling their development as a display platform for a wide range of different peptide sequences, and enabling the construction of random peptide libraries from which specific epitope mimics can be isolated by affinity-selection on antibody targets. In addition to its dependence on the ability to tolerate a wide variety of different peptide insertions, affinity-selection also takes advantage of the fact that the VLP encapsidates the mRNA that encodes it and any guest peptide it carries, thus allowing the recovery of affinity-selected sequences by reverse transcription and PCR amplification.
We have employed complex (˜1010 members), random peptide (10 amino acids in length) libraries to affinity-select MS2 VLPs that bind to neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against NiV-G. After two rounds of selection at high valency (90 peptides/VLP) and two rounds at low valency (˜3 peptides/VLP), we obtained peptides for each antibody that map directly onto the NiV-G sequence. VLPs that display a high density (90 copies/VLP) of these peptides bind to their respective antibodies with high affinity (Kd=1-20 nM). Immunization of mice with the resulting VLPs elicits antibodies that neutralize infection by a Nipah G-protein pseudotyped vesicular stomatitis virus (a surrogate for Nipah Virus itself).

Affinity selection of Nipah and Hendra virus-related vaccine candidates from a complex random peptide library displayed on bacteriophage virus-like particles


In order to provide a general-purpose aqueous primer composition requiring no organic solvent and capable of improving adhesive strength and durability while ensuring an adequate application life required for the work of primer coating process, a primer composition according to the present invention contains (a) a modified polyisocyanate obtained by reaction of polyisocyanate; an emulsifying agent having an active hydrogen group reactable to an isocyanate group; and a silane coupling agent having an active hydrogen group reactable to an isocyanate group and (b) a core shell emulsion having a core layer of a rubbery polymer and a shell layer of a glassy polymer and having an active hydrogen group reactable to an isocyanate group in the core layer and/or the shell layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a primer composition and, more particularly, to a primer composition for use in a priming process applied when an adhesive such as a sealant and adherends such as concrete, woods, metals, plastics and others are adhesive bonded together.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When an adhesive such as a sealant used mainly for building constructions is filled into joints of adherends including concrete, woods, metals and plastics, the priming process is often applied to the adherend, for the purpose of increasing adhesive strength and adhesive durability.
A primer composition usable for the purpose of this kind is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 3(1991)-6274, which discloses a primer composition comprising a reactant of a trimer of isophorone diisocyanate with an active-hydrogen-group-containing resin; a silane coupling agent; and a curing-catalyst-containing organic solvent solution. Also, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 6(1994)-329925 discloses a primer composition comprising polyisocyanate modified by mercapto silane having an alkoxy group; polyisocyanate having one or more isocyanurate rings and two or more isocyanate groups; at least one of alkoxy silane and .gamma.-chloropropyl trimethoxy silane; and chlorinated polymer dissolved in an inert organic solvent.
However, any of these known primer compositions contain an organic solvent. An aqueous primer composition containing no organic solvent for purposes of this kind has not been known so far.
On the other hand, from the viewpoints of global environment, safety, hygiene and the like, reduction of the amount of use of the organic solvent has recently come to be urgently necessary, for the reason of which development of an aqueous primer composition has been being strongly desired for a primer composition for use in the priming process for the adhesive such as a sealant.


A microlithography optical system includes a projection objective and an illumination system that includes a temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element. The temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element includes a first polarization-modulating optical element of optically active material, the first polarization-modulating optical element having a first specific rotation with a sign. The temperature compensated polarization-modulating optical element includes also includes a second polarization-modulating optical element of optically active material, the second polarization-modulating optical element having a second specific rotation with a sign opposite to the sign of the first specific rotation.

In the continuing effort to achieve structures of finer resolution in the field of microlithography, there is a parallel pursuit of substantially three guiding concepts. The first of these is to provide projection objectives of very high numerical aperture. Second is the constant trend towards shorter wavelengths, for example 248 nm, 193 nm, or 157 nm. Finally, there is the concept of increasing the achievable resolution by introducing an immersion medium of a high refractive index into the space between the last optical element of the projection objective and the light-sensitive substrate. The latter technique is referred to as immersion lithography.
In an optical system that is illuminated with light of a defined polarization, the s- and p-component of the electrical field vector, in accordance with Fresnel's equations, are subject to respectively different degrees of reflection and refraction at the interface of two media with different refractive indices. In this context and hereinafter, the polarization component that oscillates parallel to the plane of incidence of a light ray is referred to as p-component, while the polarization component that oscillates perpendicular to the plane of incidence of a light ray is referred to as s-component. The different degrees of reflection and refraction that occur in the s-component in comparison to the p-component have a significant detrimental effect on the imaging process.
This problem can be avoided with a special distribution of the polarization where the planes of oscillation of the electrical field vectors of individual linearly polarized light rays in a pupil plane of the optical system have an approximately radial orientation relative to the optical axis. A polarization distribution of this kind will hereinafter be referred to as radial polarization. If a bundle of light rays that are radially polarized in accordance with the foregoing definition meets an interface between two media of different refractive indices in a field plane of an objective, only the p-component of the electrical field vector will be present, so that the aforementioned detrimental effect on the imaging quality is reduced considerably.
In analogy to the foregoing concept, one could also choose a polarization distribution where the planes of oscillation of the electrical field vectors of individual linearly polarized light rays in a pupil plane of the system have an orientation that is perpendicular to the radius originating from the optical axis. A polarization distribution of this type will hereinafter be referred to as tangential polarization. If a bundle of light rays that are tangentially polarized in accordance with this definition meets an interface between two media of different refractive indices, only the s-component of the electrical field vector will be present so that, as in the preceding case, there will be uniformity in the reflection and refraction occurring in a field plane.
Providing an illumination with either tangential or radial polarization in a pupil plane is of high importance in particular when putting the aforementioned concept of immersion lithography into practice, because of the considerable negative effects on the state of polarization that are to be expected based on the differences in the refractive index and the strongly oblique angles of incidence at the respective interfaces from the last optical element of the projection objective to the immersion medium and from the immersion medium to the coated light-sensitive substrate.


A car defogging system reduces energy required to defog a windshield glass of the car. A temperature sensor mounted at the windshield glass detects the glass surface temperature, Ts. A humidity sensor spaced from the windshield glass by a predetermined distance detects the humidity, H, around the windshield glass. A temperature sensor mounted inside the windshield glass detects peripheral temperature Te around the glass. A system controller determines if fog is or is not present by comparing the dew point temperature Td with the surface temperature Ts. Dew point temperature Td is derived by the combining values of H and a temperature Tc based on a combination of Ts and Te.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fogging detecting system for an automotive vehicle and a method for controlling the system, which is adapted to be able to secure the view of a driver by removing the fog formed on a wind shield glass of the automotive vehicle, more in particular, to a defogging system for an automotive vehicle and a method for controlling the same, which can prevent the excessive loss of power by expecting the time when the fog will occur approximately to the actual condition in consideration of the temperature distribution around the wind shield glass.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, a fogging phenomenon of forming dewdrops at the wind shield glass is produced when the humidity at the inside of the automotive vehicle is high and exterior temperature is low. In other words, as shown in FIG. 1, fog is produced when the surface temperature Ts of the wind shield glass is lower than the dew point temperature Td determined by the humidity around the wind shield glass, to thereby veil the view of the driver. Accordingly, most of the automotive vehicles are provided with the defogging system for removing the fog by using air discharged through a defrost duct of an air conditioning system at the time of the occurrence of the fog.
The defogging system not only accomplishes the safety of the driver by securing good view of the driver but improves the pleasant atmosphere, by early detecting the occurrence of the fog at the wind shield glass to thereby suppress the occurrence of the fog and remove it early. Accordingly, most of the defogging system detects the occurrence of the fog by using a fog sensor mounted to the wind shield glass, and if the occurrence of the fog is expected, the defogging system is operated to suppress the occurrence of the fog and remove the fog occurred previously.
The fog sensor is comprised of a temperature sensor for detecting the surface temperature of the wind shield glass and a humidity sensor for detecting the humidity around the wind shield glass, and obtains the dew point temperature by using the function of the temperature and the humidity. Accordingly, the accuracy of the fog sensor is determined by how accurately it expects the dew point temperature, and is designed in various shapes to obtain the optimum dew point temperature.
As a result, it is most important to calculate the dew point temperature to expect the occurrence of the fog accurately. However, most of the fog sensors calculate the dew point temperature only on the basis of the surface temperature of the wind shield glass, or only on the basis of the peripheral temperature of the wind shield glass, so that the accuracy of the calculation of the dew point temperature is doubted.
FIG. 9 shows a graph expecting the occurrence of the fog on the basis of the surface temperature of the wind shield glass or the peripheral temperature. In this regard, a deviation between the dew point temperature and the surface temperature of the glass, which varies along with the lapse of time, are shown, after the dew point temperature is calculated on the basis of the surface temperature of the glass or the peripheral temperature of the glass.
As a result of the expectation of the time when the fog is occurred on the basis of the surface temperature of the glass, it is expected that the fog will be occurred at about nine minutes after the start up of the automotive vehicle. However, the fog was actually occurred at twenty seven minutes after the start up of the automotive vehicle, so there was a difference of about eighteen minutes. That is, the defogging system was operated at about eighteen minutes faster than the time actually required, to thereby dissipate the energy.
Further, as a result of the expectation of the time of the fog occurrence on the basis of the peripheral temperature, it is expected that the fog will occur at about seven minutes after the start up of the automotive vehicle. However, the fog was actually occurred at about twenty seven minutes after the start up, to thereby produce a difference of about twenty minutes. That is, the defogging system was operated at about twenty seven minutes faster than the time actually required, to thereby dissipate the energy.
After all, it is an important point to calculate the dew point temperature more accurately to reduce the consumption of the energy. Accordingly, several methods have been devised to calculate the accurate dew point temperature, and the following US patent discloses one of those methods.
With regard to a fog sensor unit disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,062B1, it comprises in a protection dome a glass temperature sensor mounted to the wind shield glass, an air temperature sensor for sensing the temperature of the air, which is positioned a predetermined distance apart from the wind shield glass, and a humidity sensor for sensing the humidity of the air, whose temperature is sensed by the air temperature sensor.
The fog sensor unit determines whether there occurs a fog or not by comparing the glass temperature sensed by the glass temperature sensor with the dew point temperature, after confirming the dew point temperature of a position isolated a predetermined distance from the wind shield glass by sensing the temperature and the humidity of the position by using the air temperature sensor and the humidity sensor.
However, the fog sensor unit calculates the dew point temperature by measuring the temperature with the air temperature sensor only, and the glass temperature sensed by the glass temperature sensor is not used in the calculation of the dew point temperature. Accordingly, it is impossible to know the temperature distribution depending on the air conditioning and the state of the vehicle, so that the accuracy and the responsive property were decreased at the time of expecting the occurrence of the fog, when the fluctuation of the temperature is serious due to outer disturbances such as the air fluctuation at the inside of the vehicle, and the like.

Fogging detecting system for an automotive vehicle and method for controlling the system


The invention provides a handheld, manually operable fluid applicator, particularly suited to the needs of surgeons, which can dispense multiple medically useful fluids, for example fibrin and thrombin components of a tissue adhesive, and which has a smooth feel and action. The applicator has a novel actuator mechanism providing a comparatively higher mechanical advantage in a commencement phase of the actuator stroke and a comparatively lower mechanical advantage in a completion phase of the actuator stroke.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a controlled action, manually operable fluid applicator of the type in which a user, while holding the applicator in one hand, operates a fluid dispensing actuator to drive fluid from a reservoir and out of the applicator, through an applicator tip. Such applicators have many different uses and are particularly well suited for dispensing glues and adhesives and indeed are common household items for applying epoxy glues, viscous carpentry glues and caulks and so on. More specialized uses with greater performance requirements, as will be described herein, are for applying tissue adhesives in a surgical context to repair tissues damage, and for equivalent professional, medical, veterinary or biological uses.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
The above described fluid applicators provide better control over the fluid emerging from the applicator than is possible by simply squeezing a deformable tube of glue to expel the glue from a nozzle attached to the tube. Nevertheless, the control achievable with known applicators is insufficiently precise for many applications. In particular, in surgical applications, there is a need for a fluid dispenser to dispense tissue adhesive which can be precisely and predictably controlled by the user to dispense and apply small quantities of adhesive to target locations. Furthermore, there is a need for an applicator that can be held in a number of different ergonomically desirable configurations. There are a number of teachings in the literature of specialized applicator constructions including those of the present inventor, which have been designed to meet the particular needs of tissue adhesive application, but none is wholly satisfactory owing to deficiencies in the drive mechanism which translates manual force applied to the actuator into movement of the fluid out of the applicator.
In an important optional construction, multiple fluids are held in multiple reservoirs may be dispensed with or without mixing within the applicator. Common household epoxy glue applicators dispense parallel streams of resin and hardener for external mixing and teach that mixing within the applicator, or on its external surfaces, should be avoided to prevent bonding and blockage of its fluid passageways. In contrast, a tissue adhesive applicator, such for example as disclosed in Epstein U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,226,877 and 5,405,607 has reservoirs for two fluids, for example a fibrinogen-containing phase and a thrombin-containing phase, a mixing chamber and a single outlet port for the mixed fluids.
In the described applicators, manual effort provides the necessary drive force and typically, but not necessarily, the applicator has a barrel which can be comfortably held while leaving the thumb free to operate the dispensing actuator which is conveniently positioned for the purpose. An extended applicator tip, which may have a variety of conformations, enables skilled users to apply the dispensed fluid to a target location with considerable precision. Preferably, the applicator is neutral to handedness, being equally amenable to left-hand or right-hand operation. A well known fluid applicator construction comprises a barrel-like body intended to be gripped in the user's hand, which body incorporates a fluid reservoir, and a trigger-like, spring-return fluid-dispensing actuator, manually applied pressure on which drives fluid out of the reservoir through an applicator tip. The drive mechanism comprises a toothed rack extending the length of the reservoir to be discharged, a plunger and a drive pawl, the plunger and drive pawl being coupled with the trigger actuator via pivot means so that operation of the actuator causes the drive pawl to engage the rack teeth, to pivot and index the plunger into the reservoir. On the return path, the drive pawl rides back over the rack while engagement of a second, locking pawl with the toothed rack prevents drawback. Such applicators are commonly available in hardware stores and are standard issue for dispensing and applying caulking, construction adhesive and the like. Generally, they provide an increasing mechanical advantage as the trigger is squeezed, making steady controlled application of fluid difficult to achieve. For this and other reasons, such hardware store applicators are not suited to medical and surgical uses.
Laghi, U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,459, addresses the need for generating high pressures to produce low flow rates when dispensing thixotropic or non-Newtonian fluids. Laghi employs small electric motors, preferably stepper motors, for providing high torque when driving a dispenser which expensive and cumbersome remedy does not solve the problems faced by surgeons wishing to apply one or more medically useful fluids to patients during surgery.
Rowe et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,050, discloses an applicator which employs a trigger-actuated compression spring to provide a driving force for dispensing polymeric fluids to a site on the tissue of a patient. The trigger 182 includes a cam surface 180 which increases the mechanical advantage on a compression link 158 as the squeezing of the trigger progresses providing the user with an unbalanced response, making it difficult adequately to control the discharge of fluid.
There is accordingly a need for a manually operable fluid applicator that has a controlled action suiting it to precision applications such, for example, as dispensing and applying medically useful fluids during surgery.

Controlled action, manually operable fluid application


An optical resolution agent which is prepared by polymerizing a polysaccharide derivative having vinyl groups introduced into the hydroxyl groups thereof through an ester or urethane linkage on the surface of a porous support or by copolymerizing such a polysaccharide derivative having vinyl groups introduced thereinto with a porous support having vinyl groups introduced thereinto and which enables an efficient optical resolution of a racemic modification by chromatography.

It has been well known that a polysaccharide such as starch, dextran, cellulose, cellulose derivatives and the like exhibit respective unique optical resolving powers. Particularly, it has already been found that cellulose derivatives prepared by esterifying the hydroxyl groups of cellulose, i.e., chemically modified celluloses such as cellulose triacetate and the like are superior to cellulose itself in respect of optical resolving power.
When a substance as described above having an optical resolving power is as such used as a packing for liquid chromatography in the direct resolution of an optical isomer mixture by liquid chromatography, the service conditions of the column are disadvantageously narrowed, because the packing composed of the substance is poor in pressure resistance and is swollen or shrunken with the solvent used. In order to overcome this advantage, it is generally thought a means that the substance is supported on a support free from such problematic properties and the product is used.
Under these circumstances, the impregnation-adsorption process, i.e., a physical process which comprises dipping a support in a solution of the above substance, recovering the support and drying it occurs to us as one of the easiest processes for supporting the substance. However, the disadvantage still remains that only few kinds of solvents are usable when a measurement and an operation is conducted with a chromatograph, because it is undesirable to use a solvent which dissolves the substance. This disadvantage is generally more significant when a chemically modified polysaccharide is used. That is, the developer to be used in the chromatography using the modified polysaccharide must be one which does not dissolve the modified polysaccharide, because of the high solubility of the modified polysaccharide in an organic solvent, which restricts the selection of the resolution conditions severely. Further, there is also a limitation in the selection of the solvent to be used for dissolving a sample, because a chemically modified polysaccharide has a problem that the number of theoretical plates thereof is remarkably lowered even by the injection of only several microliters of a good solvent therefor.
Although the chemical bonding of a polysaccharide derivative as described above to a support may be thought to be effective in overcoming the above disadvantage of the physical process, no specific means have been proposed as yet on how to chemically bond the polysaccharide derivative to a support while maintaining the excellent optical resolving power of the polysaccharide derivative. For example, although Japanese Patent Publication-A No. 82858/1985 discloses that a chemical process as well as a physical one can be employed in supporting a polysaccharide derivative on a support, no specific description on the chemical process is found in this patent document.

Optical resolution agent and process for the preparation of the same


This invention relates to hand-held light weapon firing devices. To resolve the present problem of the excessive length of the work travel of the firing device trigger, with large frictional surface resistance between the blocking iron and the track, thus directly affecting the precision of firing. It is characterized in that it has a rotating blocking iron, which is fixed to the firing mount by the rotating blocking iron shaft; the rotating blocking iron shaft, the rotating blocking iron shaft hole and the hole in the frame for the rotating blocking iron shaft together forming a rotating assembly. This converts the translational friction of the original blocking iron on the track into rotational friction, the linear translational motion of the original blocking iron becoming the eccentric rotational motion of the rotating blocking iron, reducing the length of travel of the trigger from 6.about.7 mm to 2.about.2.5 mm, reducing frictional resistance and making it easy to operate during firing, thus creating the conditions for improvement in and guarantee of precision in firing.

In existing hand-held light weapon firing devices, such as the 7.62 mm automatic rifle; there are structural defects such as: a groove formed in the blocking iron or sear of the firing device has a groove, and a guide track which forms a sliding assembly with the aforesaid groove formed on the firing mount. During firing, the blocking iron or sear, performs translational motion on the guide-track of the firing mount. The results of this are, firstly, that the work travel of the trigger is excessively long; and, secondly, the surface friction between the guide-track and the groove sliding assembly is considerable, so that it is hard for the gunner to carry out control operations, and it directly affects the precision of the firing. The literature most closely corresponding to this invention is the design material for the SKS semiautomatic rifle linear motion blocking iron firing device, pages as discussed at 306-307 of the `Firearms Handbook` published by the Defense Industry Publishing House.
The aim of this invention is to improve upon the structure of the firing device described above. The design of the linear-motion blocking iron or sear is changed to enable the iron or sear, thus overcoming the structural defects of the above described existing firing devices.


A compact water treatment plant has at least one vertical stack of dissolved air flotation (DAF) type clarifiers. Raw water is directed first to a single stage clarifier with a shallow tank. Its output is fed to an underlying two stage clarifier, preferably one with tall, mutually isolated cells, inclined baffles over a filtration medium in each cell, a cell-by-cell backwash capability, and an arrangement for isolating the first filtrate from the clarified water. Preferably, there are two such stacks in side-by-side array to provide a peak-load capacity, redundancy, and extreme compactness. Also preferably, clarified water from the single stage clarifier flows to the two stage clarifier via a bioreactor and an associated DAF clarifier. A source of aeration defines an upper, aerobic zone in the reactor where bacteria act on organic contaminants (COD's and BOD's). Strips of a deep pile, woven textile form a biocarrier. The strips oscillate in the tank. A portion of the bioliquor and sludge from the bioreactor-dedicated clarifier recirculate through a lower, anoxic zone of the bioreactor for denitrification.

This invention relates in general to dissolved air flotation ("DAF") clarification of water. More specifically, it relates to a highly compact, variable capacity apparatus for treating municipal waste water to remove standard pollutants to within environmentally safe levels.
Water clarification is the removal of particulate contaminants suspended in water. Water clarification to remove total suspended solids ("TSS") is essential in any municipal water treatment system, as well as in sewage treatment. The water can be clarified by sedimentation or flotation of the particles.
Sedimentation facilities are in wide use, but their efficiency is relatively low. Their theoretical peak capacity is 0.5 gallons per minute per square foot. To handle large volumes of raw input water, treatment facilities using sedimentation tanks must be large and deep. There are obvious disadvantages in construction cost and land use. To increase capacity, a large area is covered with multiple, large concrete tanks arrayed side-by-side across a site. The weight of the tanks and the water they hold requires that they be set into the ground. Odors are usually open to atmosphere, increasing difficulty in siting a treatment plant.
Flotation techniques dissolve a few percent of air by volume in pressurized water, and then release the air in the form of microscopic bubbles that attach to the suspended particles. The bubbles carry the particles upwardly where they form a floating sludge. The particles are usually coagulated and flocculated by alum and polymers before the air bubbles are introduced. Flotation techniques are theoretically capable of clarification rates of 7.5 gallons per minute per square foot of flotation area, fifteen times the maximum theoretical rate for sedimentation techniques. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,022,696; 4,377,485; 4,625,345; 4,184,967 and 4,931,175 to Milos Krofta describe earlier DAF type clarifiers operating in this general manner.
In the '696 clarifier, sold under the trade designations "SPC" and "Supracell", the flotation occurs in a circular tank. The raw water is fed into the tank via a central pipe to multiple outlets immersed in the tank which rotate about the tank. The inlet flow is oriented opposite to the direction of rotation of the inlet pipe and is at a velocity with respect to the rotation rate such that the raw water has a net zero velocity as it enters the tank. The raw water inlet flow assembly and a scoop for removing the floated sludge are mounted on a carriage that rotates about the tank. The scoop is preferably of the type described in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,967. The rate of rotation is set so that the floated particles will reach the surface of the water held in the tank in the time of one rotation. A good degree of clarification can be achieved with each rotation of the carriage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,485 discloses a later clarifier of the present application sold under the trade designations "SAF" and "Sandfloat", which utilizes the basic approach of the '696 invention, also operating with the net zero velocity principle, but also adding a second filtration stage with a set of wedge-shaped sand beds covering the bottom of the flotation tank. The water clarified by the flotation process flows through the underlying sand beds into a clarified water collecting chamber. A suction apparatus mounted on the carriage periodically backwashes each section of the filter in combination with a flow of backwash water introduced through the collection chamber. During clarification, when the flocs are formed, pressurized, aerated water is introduced to the open, lower end of the flocculation chamber via a manifold with multiple outlets. The bubbles carry the flocced particulates upwardly to form a floated sludge layer. The clarification rate is comparable to that of the '696 "Supracell" clarifier.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,345 discloses a clarifier, sold under the trade designations "SASF" and "Sandfloat-Sedifloat". It does not utilize the net zero velocity principle, but does employ a sand bed for two stage clarification. In this apparatus, the raw water enters a central cylindrical compartment, which acts as a hydraulic flocculator, and then flows over a dividing wall into a surrounding circular flotation tank. Aerated water is added via a fixed manifold. Rotating elements include a scoop remover for the floated sludge and a suction hopper that cleans the filter beds. The scoop is the same general type as used with the Supracell and Sandfloat units described above. This '345 SASF apparatus offers two stage clarification with a more compact unit and at a lower cost than the SAF clarifier.
While water clarification in the past has focussed primarily on the removal of suspended solids, in municipal waste water treatment it is also necessary to remove dissolved and colloidal organic particles as well as certain inorganic chemicals, particularly nitrogen and phosphorous-bearing compounds such as nitrites, nitrates and phosphates associated with organic waste, fertilizers and detergents. The organic particulates, if not treated, become septic and produce strong odors. They are controlled by biological oxidation. Their presence is usually expressed in terms of a biological oxygen demand ("BOD"). Other suspended contaminants are neutralized using chemical oxidation. Their presence is usually expressed in terms of a chemical oxygen demand ("COD"). Excess nitrates and phosphates are also a problem, among other reasons, because they stimulate the growth of algae in bodies of water that ultimately receive the treated effluent. Current U.S. Government standards require there be less than 30 mg/l of BOD's in the treated effluent, less than 30 mg/l of total suspended solids (TSS), and that the total of the TSS and BOD concentrations in the treated effluent be less than 15% of their initial concentration in the raw waste water.
Heretofore a variety of arrangements have been used to reduce the levels of these pollutants. One has been to add reactors in line with sedimentation tanks to reduce the BOD'S. The reactor can be as simple as a tank where air is added for bacteria to react with the organics. Suitable aerobic bacteria are fixed on a carrier immersed in aerated waste water. Known carriers include foams, plastics and sand. The LINPOR system is one example of this approach. It uses small cubes of a plastic foam material as the carrier. The cubes are added to an aeration tank where they tend to float. A large quantity (20% to 30% of the tank volume) must be used in order to get a good immersion and therefore a reliable interaction with the waste water. This approach increases the efficiency of the treatment system with no physical increase in its size, but it is very expensive. More generally, treatment with bioreactors is slow, costly, and requires additional treatments to control TSS and nitrogen and phosphorous-bearing compounds.
DAF clarifiers alone are excellent at removing TSS in a cost effective manner, but heretofore they have not been able to meet the aforementioned Government standards for BOD and combined BOD and TSS. For example, Supracell clarifiers are very efficient for removing TSS at a low cost, but Supracell units in general remove 40% to 60% of the BOD in the raw input water with the use of flocculation chemicals.
Known two stage clarifiers could also be used, but they also do not increase the clarification efficiency to a level that meets the Government standards. Moreover, any increased filtration due to a chemically enhanced removal of BOD's would add an extra load to the filter medium which would plug it, and in turn, would require increased backwashing. Further, two stage units are, in general, smaller, slower, and more costly to install and operate than single stage units such as the Supracell clarifier.
With a few notable exceptions, in conventional municipal waste water treatment to date DAF clarifiers have had a limited role, chiefly to remove TSS as part of treatment for peak flows such as storm sewer overflows during and immediately after a rainstorm.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a highly compact DAF clarifier system that is effective in lowering TSS and BOD.
A further object is to provide this advantage at a substantial cost savings, capital and operational, as compared to conventional sedimentation treatment facilities of comparable treatment efficiency and capacity.
Another object is to provide a biological treatment apparatus and method that can be used in conjunction with clarification to meet all U.S. Government clean waste water standards.
Still another object is to provide these advantages while also providing a capacity to handle peak flows as during rain storms or seasonal population increases.
Yet another object is to provide the foregoing advantages while also controlling odor and noise pollution.
A still further object is to provide these advantages while also producing a comparatively dry sludge output that can be readily handled among and/or further processed to control biological and heavy metal contaminants.

Compact clarifier system for municipal waste water treatment

Lenox Institute of Water Technology, Inc.


Provided is an aerosol generating device distributing and transmitting power from a battery to two heaters, wherein the aerosol generating device includes the battery, a first heater heating a first aerosol generating substrate, a second heater heating a second aerosol generating substrate, and a controller controlling power supplied from the battery to the first heater and the second heater, wherein the controller controls power to be supplied from the battery to the first heater and the second heater at different times.

Recently, the demand for alternative methods to overcome the shortcomings of general cigarettes has increased. For example, there is growing demand for a method of generating aerosol by heating an aerosol generating material in cigarettes, rather than by combusting cigarettes. Accordingly, studies on a heating-type cigarette or a heating-type aerosol generating device have been actively conducted.
An aerosol generating device may include two heaters. One heater may be used to heat a cigarette including nicotine, and the other one heater may be used to heat a cartridge including a liquid substrate. Also, the aerosol generating device may include a battery to be used while moving.
Since the battery has limited power, when power is supplied to satisfy all of power needed by two heaters, the aerosol generating device may malfunction due to an instantaneous voltage drop or the like. Therefore, studies have been conducted to properly distribute and transmit power from a battery to two heaters.

Aerosol generating device supplying power to two heaters by using one battery


A method for designing a mistuned rotor with improved stability and forced response.

A rotor in its simplest form includes two primary parts, a rotatable disk and multiple blades mounted on the disk in a certain pattern with respect to the disk center. Rotors are used in two configurations in many machines: using the rotation of blades of a powered rotor to propel a gas or liquid and using a moving gas or liquid to rotate the rotor which in turn generates driving power. For example, a fan uses the rotation of blades of an electrically driven rotor to cause air circulation; a motor boat uses the rotation of blades of a fuel-powered rotor to propel water, thus causing the boat to move; a turbine engine implements complex rotors to compress inlet air to generate a high-pressure air flow to a combustion chamber and to use a portion of the static and kinetic energy of the air flow from the combustion chamber for driving an air compressor.
However implemented, blades of a rotor interact with a fluid in gaseous or aqueous form and exhibit complex dynamic behaviors. There have been tremendous efforts in researching the aerodynamic and mechanical properties of blades and the blade spatial distribution around the center disk. The blade design and blade spatial distribution for rotors used in air compressors and turbines for aircraft engines are particularly critical because these rotors operate at high rotational speeds (e.g., up to 8000 rpm or higher) in gas flows of high pressure variations, high-temperature (e.g., up to 2000.degree. F. or higher), and high fluid speeds (e.g., up to 2000 ft/sec or higher).
One technical issue in designing a rotor is the blade spatial distribution. Blades of a rotor not only interact with the surrounding fluid but also are dynamically coupled to one another through their interaction with the fluid. This dynamic interaction results in complex dynamic behaviors of the blades. A properly designed blade spatial distribution can prolong the lifetime of blades and reduce failure of blades.
Ideal blades in a rotor are identical to one another in all respects of a blade, such as shape, dimension, material composition, and material uniformity, etc. In this ideal case, any blade behaves exactly like any other blade. Such an ideal rotor is said to be "tuned".
However, manufacturing processes inherently produce is small variations in blades. This causes mistuning of the blades. Variations from one blade to another in a rotor may also be caused by wear through a period of operation. It has been recognized that such mistuned blades, even if within the manufacturing tolerances, can cause instabilities in the rotor operation and introduce adverse forced responses of the blades with associated high cycle fatigue. Both instabilities and high cycle fatigue can ultimately lead to failure of a turbine engine.
Many techniques have been used to analyze the effects of mistuned turbomachines. See, for example, Bendiksen, "Flutter of mistuned turbomachinery rotors," ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines & Power, vol. 106, pp. 25-33 (1984); Dye and Henry, "Vibration amplitudes of compressor blades resulting from scatter in blade natural frequencies," ASME Journal Engineering for Power, Vol. 91, pp. 182-188 (1969); Srinivasan and Frye, "Effects of mistuning on resonant stresses of turbine blades," in Structural Dynamic Aspects of Bladed Disk Assemblies, 1976; and Whitehead, "Effect of mistuning on the vibration of turbomachine blades induced by wakes," Journal Mechanical Engineering Science, Vol. 8, pp. 15-21 (1966).


A method of bending glass sheets, the method including the steps of gravity bending a glass sheet at elevated temperature on a gravity bending mould in a gravity bending zone of a furnace, press bending the gravity bent glass sheet to a desired shape with an upper mould while the glass sheet is supported by the gravity bending mould as a lower mould in a press bending zone of the furnace and controlling the ambient temperature in the press bending zone thereby to control the cooling rate of the glass sheet in the press bending zone. The invention also provides a method of press bending glass sheets, the method including providing an initially bent glass sheet carried on an articulated gravity bending mould and press bending the glass sheet to a final bent shape by an upper press bending mould which is lowered onto the upper surface of the glass sheet, the upper press bending mould having a net weight of from 50 to 150 kg.

The present invention relates to a method of bending glass sheets and more particularly to the bending of glass sheets in which there is an initial gravity bending step and a subsequent press bending step. The method is particularly useful for bending automotive glass for subsequent laminating, for example to manufacture vehicle windshields.


A structured material is disclosed with magneto-gyrotropic characteristics including at least one continuous structurally-chiral material. The structured material has an electric permittivity and a magnetic permeability at least one of which varies within the structured material along a first direction in a repetitious fashion wherein a repetition unit includes a chiral component and is at least 25 nm in length. The structured material exhibits non-reciprocal electromagnetic wave propagation velocity characteristics along a second direction that includes a non-zero component along the first direction.

The invention relates to materials and devices for use with electromagnetic fields and relates in particular to materials and devices through which electromagnetic fields may propagate in unconventional ways. The ability of such devices to propagate electromagnetic fields in unconventional ways permits the materials to be used for a variety of known and yet unknown applications.
For example, U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2001/0038325 discloses a left-handed composite media for use at microwave frequencies in which negative effective electrical permittivity and negative effective magnetic permeability are simultaneously provided. Such materials with negative effective electrical and magnetic permeability are disclosed to be suitable for use as microwave lenses, beam steering elements, and prisms.
A negative index of refraction for incident radiation at the frequency of light has been demonstrated using photonic crystals in Superprism Phenomena in Photonic Crystals, by H. Kosaka, T. Kawashime, A. Tomita, M. Notomi, T. Tamamura, T. Sato and S. Kawakami, PHYSICAL REVIEW B, vol. 58, No. 16 (October 1998). Such materials are disclosed to provide a propagation beam swing of ±90 degrees responsive to a ±12 degrees shift in the angle of incident radiation by modifying the group velocity of the incident radiation. A negative index of refraction has also been demonstrated in the vicinity of the photonic band gap in Theory of Light Propagation in Strongly Modulated Photonic Crystals: Refractionlike Behavior in the Vicinity of the Photonic Band Gap, by M. Notomi, PHYSICAL REVIEW B, vol. 62, No. 16 (October 2000). In particular, this article discloses that negative refraction is possible in regimes of negative group velocity and negative effective index above the first photonic band near the Brillouin zone center (Γ).
Other types of devices have been disclosed to be suitable for propagating light in one direction only. For example, U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2002/0162988 discloses a unidirectional gyrotropic photonic crystal that is disclosed to permit electromagnetic wave propagation of a certain frequency in one direction while impeding the electromagnetic wave propagation in the opposite direction.
Certain further materials are known to affect the circular polarization and amplitude of light. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,411,635 discloses a composite for use in selective single-mode lasing that includes a doped chiral medium. The selection is disclosed to be accomplished by producing an appropriate spatial gain distribution inside the chiral laser medium. U.S. Pat. No. 6,396,859 discloses a chiral structure that includes a defect in the form of a twist, and is disclosed to be used for filters, lasers and detectors. International PCT Publication WO 02/073247 discloses chiral substrate that is formed as a fiber to provide a fiber Bragg grating.
There continues to be a need however, for further materials and devices that provide unconventional electromagnetic field propagation characteristics, such as for example, slowing down light in one direction only, and that may provide directionality characteristics in two or three dimensions.

Structurally chiral materials exhibiting magneto-gyrotropy


A wireless charging apparatus provided in an electronic device is provided. The wireless charging apparatus includes a charging resonance unit for wireless charging; a driving circuit unit to which the charging resonance unit is connected and to which an internal circuitry is mounted; a shield member mounted to a rear surface of the charging resonance unit; and a heat dispersion member mounted to the driving circuit unit and the shield member to disperse heat generated by the driving circuit unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a wireless charging apparatus and a portable terminal including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, portable electronic devices include portable terminals, MP3 players, portable multimedia players (PMPs), and electronic books, and refer to devices by which users can access various contents while carrying them. In particular, various functions have recently been integrated in portable terminals, specifically, smart phones. The portable terminals have a near field communication (NFC) function for payment or user verification through security cards for verifying incoming and outgoing people, traffic cards, credit cards, and the like. Such a portable terminal includes a separate antenna to perform the NFC function such as that described in Korean Patent Publication No. 2009-126323 (published on Dec. 8, 2009).
The portable terminal includes a detachable or embedded battery to supply electric power to the portable terminal. A user can charge the battery according to a battery level of the battery. Charging of batteries may be generally classified into wired charging and wireless charging. Wired charging is generally widely distributed, but various technologies for wireless charging are currently being developed. The wireless charging technologies include an inductive coupling type using magnetic fields, a capacitive coupling type using electric fields, and a radio frequency radiation method. The inductive coupling type is suitable for wireless charging in the aspect of power efficiency. In the inductive coupling type wireless charging, a primary coil provided in a charger and a secondary coil provided in a terminal are arranged such that the terminal can be charged. Such wireless charging technology is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 2008-32519 (published on Apr. 15, 2008) and the like.
FIG. 1 is a view schematically illustrating a wireless charging apparatus mounted to a terminal for wireless charging according to the prior art. FIG. 2 is a view schematically illustrating the rear side of a shield member to which a secondary coil is mounted and a driving circuit unit according to the prior art. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an NFC antenna element substantially in the form of a loop antenna and a secondary coil for wireless charging are mounted to one terminal to provide the terminal with the NFC function and the wireless charging function. The driving circuit unit connected to the NFC antenna element and the secondary coil for wireless charging is provided at one side of an upper end thereof. The shield member is used to interrupt the antenna element and the secondary coil from interfering with each other and to prevent an operation of the secondary coil from influencing the other circuit units in the terminal when the antenna element and the secondary coil are operated, respectively.
In the case of the wireless charging apparatus, heat is generated in the driving circuit unit during charging. FIG. 3 is a view obtained by measuring a temperature distribution of heat generated after wireless charging according to the prior art. Referring to FIG. 3, since the heat generated by the driving circuit unit cannot be dispersed to the outside, heat is concentrated only at a local portion such as a hotspot to be emitted. Since an antenna for communications of the portable terminal, a loop antenna, and an NFC antenna element are provided at a peripheral portion of the heated driving circuit unit, they are influenced by the generated heat, and since the generated heat cannot be dispersed, the performance of the driving circuit unit deteriorates due to the heat.
A material such as graphite may be applied to the driving circuit unit to disperse the emitted heat, but, as a result, the NFC antenna element may deteriorate or the wireless charging efficiency may be lowered, causing various problems such as a charging defect. Further, the wireless charging apparatus has many restrictions in realizing a heat dispersing structure at points other than the driving circuit unit due to mounting of the antennas.

Wireless charging apparatus and portable terminal including the same


An apparatus for rendering safe unexploded military ordnance items found on land by use of a portable apparatus employing entrainment waterjet technology. The portable apparatus includes a tool package containing a plurality of tools designed for accessing the interior of a unexploded ordnance item. The interior of the ordnance item is accessed, and its internal contents, which it typically an energetic material is washed-out and recovered.

According to US Environmental Protection Agency documents, unexploded ordnance (UXO), also sometimes referred to as unexploded "munitions", at some domestic inactive military training ranges pose an "imminent and substantial" risk to the public. The cleanup of such ordnance is estimated to cost billions of dollars. Bringing unexploded munitions, over land, to a facility that has the capacity to demilitarized them using waterjet technology would be too hazardous because of the potential for unintended detonation.
In the past, unexploded ordnance was rendered safe (demilitarized) by detonating them, or by cutting them open and recovering the internal material. Unfortunately, such methods are considered either too dangerous, or environmentally unfriendly and are no longer allowed. Abrasive entrainment waterjet technology has the potential of providing a safe and environmentally acceptable way of rendering safe unexploded military ordnance.
Therefore, there is need in the art for a portable system, that can be transported virtually anywhere on land to a location where one or more unexploded pieces of military ordnance is located.

Apparatus for use in rendering safe unexploded ordnance


A method and an arrangement are provided for actuating and operating a heterogeneous transport network which includes connection elements, such as ATM and Ethernet connections, by controlling a TDM-based switching system. In the area of the transport network, there are gateways and routers which are actuated by the central control device for the purposes of setting up and clearing down a connection. Information relating to the accessibility of specific communications subscribers by a communication medium and communications protocol is either stored in the area of a central control mechanism or is available locally in the area of local access devices for subscriber terminals.

The rising volume of communication, as a result of an increasing number of communications subscribers and rising demands on the volume of data to be transmitted, places greater and greater demands on switching centers, in particular on private branch exchanges, with regard to the volume of data to be transmitted for each communications link and the number of communications terminals which are to be connected to one another.
Current devices are based, by way of example, on the TDM method (Time Division Multiplexing), in which communications data on different connections are transmitted in respectively defined timeslots. A connection between different communication parties is set up by a switching matrix which assigns incoming timeslots on an incoming connection outgoing timeslots to an outgoing connection on the basis of a control information item. Such switching matrices are generally of fixed proportions and can set up only a defined number of connections, which often makes it difficult to match exchanges to requirements. Another problem with such devices is that the timeslots are able to hold only a limited amount of data.
On account of different strengths and weaknesses of networks when transporting voice and data in the local domain, various communications networks have become established for specific purposes of use.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a known private branch exchange 150 with two peripheral devices P1 and P2 to which a communications terminal KE1 and KE2 operating on a digital or analog basis is respectively connected. These peripheral devices P1 and P2 are accommodated in the same physical area as the central device ZE1. By way of example, they are in the same room or in the same cabinet as it. The terminals occupy defined timeslots in the PCM data stream (Pulse Code Modulation) with communication data. The digital or analog communications terminals KE1 and KE2 are respectively connected to subscriber line modules SLMO1 and SLMO2 which supply or take digital data, intended for the respective terminals or coming from the respective terminals, to/from the PCM data stream using timeslots stipulated by signaling. These PCM data streams are denoted by 100 and 200 in FIG. 1. In addition, signaling connections are shown which are represented by 110 and 210. It should be noted that these involve a logical representation and not a physical representation. In reality, however, the transport data and the signaling data are transmitted in the same connecting cable.
This figure also shows peripheral devices P1 and P2 and supply modules LTUC1 and LTUC2 which regulate the data traffic to the subscriber line modules of the respective peripheral devices. The peripheral device P1 is supplied with signaling data via the line 110, and the peripheral device P2 is supplied with signaling data via the signaling line 210.
As can clearly be seen here, this arrangement involves both the information to be transported and the signaling information being supplied to a central device ZE1. In this context, a messaging device DCL collects and distributes messages 2 which are interchanged between the central device ZE1 and the peripheral devices P1, P2. The call processing section CP controls the setup and clear-down of connections and, to this end, uses equipment-specific interface functions DH, inter alia, which are in the form of program modules, for example. This involves producing setting instructions 1 for the switching matrix MTS. These setting instructions essentially indicate which input of the switching matrix is to be connected to which output in order to provide a communications link. Control and connection functions are thus performed by a single physically incorporated functional unit in the communications network.
Problems arise with such configurations because the data to be transported need to be supplied to the central device ZE1. This is the case even if, by way of example, two communications terminals which are connected to the same peripheral device P1 need to communicate with one another. The wiring complexity required for such devices increases with increasing distance between the terminals and the central device ZE1, which means that this type of arrangement restricts the extent of a private branch exchange or makes installation much more expensive when covering relatively large areas.
In such devices, problems likewise arise with regard to modular extendibility both in terms of the number of connections and in terms of the volume of data to be transmitted. This type of embodiment does not allow different data rates for each individual communications link.
Alignment and/or transparent integration of different network infrastructures is likewise not possible.


A device capable of preventing deformation of an inflating valve on an inflatable article, includes a solid plug member for press-fitting into an air inlet of the inflating valve, a protective ring to be sleeved on a flexible plug unit of the inflating valve, and a connecting section which is disposed between the solid plug member and the protective ring. The connecting section has a length sufficient to straighten a connecting portion of the inflating valve between a flexible valve body and the flexible plug unit once the solid plug member is press-fitted into the air inlet and the protective ring is sleeved on the flexible plug unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a deformation preventing device, more particularly to a device for preventing deformation of an inflating valve disposed on an inflatable article.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an inflating valve 20 includes a flexible valve body 21 that is integrally formed with an inflatable article 10 and that defines an air inlet 22 in fluid communication with an interior of the inflatable article 10, a flexible plug unit 24 for plugging into the air inlet 22 so as to prevent the escape of air from the inflatable article 10, and a connecting portion 23 interposed between the flexible plug unit 24 and the valve body 21.
Since the inflatable article 10 is bulky in dimension when inflated, the inflatable article 10 is generally deflated so that a plurality of inflatable articles 10 can be stacked one over the other to facilitate storage and transport. As such, the inflating valves 20 are compressed due to stacking of the inflatable articles 10 so as to result in undesired deformation of the valve bodies 21 as well as the plug units 24.

Device for preventing deformation of an inflating valve disposed on an inflatable article


The invention is directed to an electrophotographic toner or developer, powder coating, ink jet ink or an electronic media having an azo colorant prepared by conducting the diazotization of aromatic or hetaromatic amines or the azo coupling reaction or the diazotization and the azo coupling reaction in a microreactor.

The present invention relates to the field of azo colorants. Azo colorants are customarily produced in industry in batch operations in reaction vessels by mixing the starting materials together in aqueous phase (Fisher, Organische Chemie, Verlag Chemie, Weinheim/Bergstraβe, 1965, p. 890 ff., 1431, 1796 ff.).
Another way is the continuous mixing of equivalent amounts of the starting materials in the form of aqueous acidic or aqueous alkaline solutions in, for example, mixing nozzles and continuous flow reactors with or without a postreaction phase in a reaction vessel (azo coupling: DE 1 544 453, EP 244 686; diazotization: EP-A-0 006 190).
The principal process operations involved are the diazotization of aromatic or hetaromatic amines and the azo coupling reaction. Certain azo pigments may subsequently require a metal exchange reaction (laking) and/or an aftertreatment in water/solvents to obtain the desired crystal properties. In the case of some azo dyes, a reaction is subsequently carried out to form metal complexes.
In all these processes, it is essential that the process parameters, such as temperature, time and (in the case of azo pigments) also in particular the degree of mixing, be controlled, if the products are to be pure and of high and consistent quality. One problem with these processes is the scaleup of new products from the laboratory scale to the large industrial scale.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a process for preparing azo colorants that provides optimal control of the process parameters, ensures improved mixing of the reactants and simplifies scaleup.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide azo colorants having improved coloristic properties for use in electrophotographic toners and developers, powder coatings, ink jet inks and electronic medias.
DD 246 257 A1 discloses the possibility of using miniaturized apparatuses for chemical reactions where the chemical entities to be treated are only available in small quantities or are very costly, so that large dead spaces in the equipment become unaffordable. DE 3 926 466 C2 describes strong exothermic chemical reactions of two chemical entities in a microreactor.
Microreactors for chemical reactions are constructed from stacks of grooved plates and are described in DE 39 26 466 C2 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,328. It is pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,811,062 that microchannel reactors are preferably used for reactions that do not require or produce materials or solids that would clog the microchannels.

Preparation of azo colorants in microreactors and their use in electrophotographic toners and developers, powder coatings, ink jet inks and electronic medias


The invention relates to an expansible fixing plug (10) having an expansion region. To achieve a high anchoring force, the invention proposes constructing the expansible fixing plug (10) in the expansion region with two circumferential wall portions (18) arranged lying opposite one another, each of which extends over about 180xc2x0 and from the insides of which expansion ribs (20) project inwards, the inner edges (22) of which expansion ribs form a semicircular arc and by which an expansion channel (24) that is continuous in the lengthwise direction of the expansible fixing plug (10) is constricted to a lens shape. By screwing an expansion screw into the expansion channel (24), the expansible fixing plug (10) is expanded.

The invention relates to an expansible fixing plug.
Such an expansible fixing plug is known from DE 43 17 039 A1. The known expansible fixing plug has disc-shaped expansion elements in an expansion region extending over part of the length of the expansible fixing plug, the disc-shaped expansion elements being arranged perpendicularly to the lengthwise direction of the expansible fixing plug. The expansion elements are provided with an expansion hole passing through them in the lengthwise direction of the expansible fixing plug, the expansion hole being arranged eccentrically in the disc-shaped expansion elements. In this connection, the expansion holes of adjacent expansion elements are arranged offset in opposing directions in the expansion elements. The expansion holes in the expansion elements form in the expansion region of the expansible fixing plug an expansion channel, which is constricted by the expansion holes arranged eccentrically alternately in opposite directions. To expand the known expansible fixing plug, a pin-shaped expansion element, for example, an expansion nail or an expansion screw, is inserted in the expansion channel of the expansible fixing plug. The pin-shaped expansion element aligns the expansion holes in the expansion elements so that they lie on the same axis as one another, the disc-shaped expansion elements being displaced in the radial direction of the expansible fixing plug. In the process, adjacent expansion elements are displaced in opposite directions. The expansible fixing plug is consequently expanded and anchored in a drilled hole.
For fixing the expansion elements, in its expansion region the known expansible fixing plug has two longitudinally extending fixing webs, which are arranged opposite one another at the circumference of the expansible fixing plug. The disc-shaped expansion elements are each connected to a fixing web, from which they project at right angles towards the other fixing web. In this connection, every other expansion element is connected to one fixing web and the expansion element in between is connected to the other fixing web, so that the disc-shaped expansion elements are interleaved. The fixing webs are arranged at right angles to the direction in which the expansion holes are arranged eccentrically in the expansion elements. As the expansible fixing plug is expanded, the fixing webs are displaced parallel to one another in opposite directions and are not expanded radially apart. As the expansible fixing plug is expanded, the expansion elements, not the fixing webs, are therefore pressed directly with their circumferential edge against the wall of a drilled hole.
The invention is based on the problem of proposing an expansible fixing plug of the kind mentioned in the introduction having increased anchoring force (withdrawal force) in a hole drilled in masonry.
That problem is solved in accordance with the present invention. The expansible fixing plug according to the invention has expansion ribs as expansion elements, which are arranged approximately in radial planes of the expansible fixing plug and which enclose the expansion channel for part of the circumference of the expansible fixing plug. In this connection, expansion ribs adjacent to one another in the lengthwise direction of the expansible fixing plug are arranged at different points on the circumference, for example, opposite one another. Inner edges of the expansible ribs define the expansion channel at the circumference thereof and constrict the expansion channel. By inserting a pin-shaped expansion element, the expansion ribs are pressed radially apart in different directions and hence the expansible fixing plug is expanded. Constriction within the meaning of the invention shall be understood to mean that the expansion channel defined by the inner edges of the expansion ribs has a smaller inside width than a transverse dimension or diameter of the pin-shaped expansion element that is used to expand the expansible fixing plug.
The expansion ribs are fixed to circumferential wall portions, each of which extends only for part of the circumference of the expansible fixing plug and which together at least approximately completely close the expansible fixing plug circumferentially in the unexpanded state of the expansible fixing plug. The expansion ribs project inwards from the inner sides of the circumferential wall portions, adjacent expansion ribs being disposed on different circumferential wall portions. The expansion ribs are interleaved, to the extent that they overlap one another viewed in the lengthwise direction of the expansible fixing plug.
To expand the expansible fixing plug according to the invention, a pin-shaped expansion element is introduced into the expansion channel of the expansible fixing plug. This expansion element presses the expansion elements radially apart in different directions, with the result that the circumferential wall portions, from which the expansion ribs project inwards, are likewise pressed apart, that is, are expanded. By inserting the expansion element into the expansion channel, the circumferential wall portions are pressed radially apart. In a drilled hole, the circumferential wall portions are pressed against a wall of the drilled hole and the expansible fixing plug is consequently wedged and anchored in the drilled hole. Since the expanded circumferential wall portions abut the wall of the drilled hole virtually over the entire circumference and over the entire length, the result is a large-area, virtually full-face contact with the wall of the drilled hole, which produces a high holding and anchoring force. In porous building materials, such as gas concrete, or in hollow building materials, such as cavity blocks, the large-area contact with the wall of the drilled hole leads to a low load per area unit and hence also to a high holding and anchoring force.
A further advantage of the expansible fixing plug according to the invention is that its expansion ribs abut the pin-shaped expansion element only for part of the circumference and do not completely surround the pin-shaped expansion element. This leads to reduced resistance to driving in, in the case of an expansion screw as the expansion element, to a reduced driving-in torque for the same expansion of the expansible fixing plug.
The expansible fixing plug according to the invention is preferably divided in the expansion region into two circumferential wall portions, from which the expansion ribs project inwards. The circumferential wall portions and the expansion ribs encircle the expansion element that can be inserted between them to an angle of contact of about 180xc2x0. It is nevertheless possible for the expansible fixing plug to be constructed in the expansion region with more than two circumferential wall portions. To guide the pin-shaped expansion element, in one construction of the invention the expansible fixing plug comprises a shank barrel closed all round, which guides the pin-shaped expansion element axially. For pre-assembly, the pin-shaped expansion element can be introduced at little way into the shank barrel and be held there by positive and/or non-positive engagement. The pre-inserted expansion element does not extend into the expansion region, so that the expansible fixing plug is not expanded. The already pre-inserted expansion element simplifies manipulation of the expansible fixing plug.
To enable the expansible fixing plug according to the invention to be manufactured from plastics material as an injection-moulded part, one construction of the invention provides for the circumferential wall portions to be joined to one another so as to articulate by means of a film hinge. The film hinge is a thin plastics material skin, which joins the circumferential wall portions to one another and which acts a hinge by virtue of its thin construction and the flexibility of the plastics material and allows the circumferential wall portions to articulate. The circumferential wall portions can be injection moulded arranged in a line one behind the other or laterally next to one another and after removal from the mould are closed together so that their expansion ribs become interleaved. One circumferential wall portion is preferably directly integrally connected with the shank barrel, and the other circumferential wall portion is indirectly connected to the shank barrel by means of the film hinge and the other circumferential wall portion. After being dosed together, the other circumferential wall portion can be connected to the shank barrel, for example, by ultrasonic welding.
In another construction of the invention, in a starting or original state of the expansible fixing plug following injection moulding, the circumferential wall portions, on the inner sides of which the expansion ribs are mounted, are arranged spaced from one another by a distance such that the expansion ribs are not, or only slightly, interleaved. Between the circumferential wall portions and passing transversely right through the expansible fixing plug there is therefore between the expansion ribs an uninterrupted space, which allows an injection moulding tool to be opened and the expansible fixing plug according to the invention to be removed after injection moulding. The circumferential wall portions can be arranged parallel to one another. Following removal from the mould, the circumferential wall portions can be pressed so far together that the expansion ribs become interleaved and the expansible fixing plug can be inserted in a drilled hole. This construction of the invention enables the expansible fixing plug to be injection moulded in one piece in a single operation. After injection moulding, the circumferential wall portions need merely to be pressed together, which can possibly be effected by insertion of the expansible fixing plug in the drilled hole. The circumferential wall portions do not need to be closed together. Another advantage of this construction of the invention is that the circumferential wall portions do not have to be joined at their ends to one another or to a shank barrel or the like, for example, by ultrasonic welding.
To be able to join the circumferential wall portions together so that they can be pressed together, that is, so that they are movable, one construction of the invention comprises movable connecting elements at one end of the circumferential wall portions, by means of which the circumferential wall portions are connected in one piece with a shank barrel of the expansible fixing plug. The connecting elements can be webs or the like, which have the required mobility by virtue of their resilience.
In one construction of the invention, the circumferential wall portions comprise snap-fit or locking elements, with which the circumferential wall portions can be connected to one another in the pressed-together state. The snap-fit or locking elements are preferably arranged on the leading or insertion end of the expansible fixing plug remote from the shank barrel. In this construction of the invention, after removal of the expansible fixing plug from an injection moulding tool, the circumferential wall portions are pressed together at the leading end of the expansible fixing plug, so that they interlock with one another there. Towards the rear in the direction of the shank barrel, the circumferential wall portions stand obliquely apart. With the circumferential wall portions held together at its leading end by the snap-fit or locking elements, the expansible fixing plug can be introduced into a drilled hole, the circumferential wall portions being pressed together by the drilled hole for their entire length so that the expansion ribs become interleaved. This construction of the invention has the advantage that, after removal of the expansible fixing plug from the mould and before insertion in a drilled hole, only the circumferential wall portions at the leading end of the expansible fixing plug are pressed together until the snap-fit or locking elements engage, and the expansible fixing plug is then ready for use.
In one construction of the invention the circumferential wall portions are connected to one another via a film hinge.

fischerwerke Artur Fischer GmbH and Co. KG


Techniques for enforcing policies. A set of data is stored in one or more data stores. A plurality of semantic concepts for an ontology are defined and a map is constructed from the set of data to the concepts. The map is executed in order to transform data from the set of data to a second set of data. The second set of data is stored according to the ontology. The second set of data is reasoned in order to determine compliance with one or more policies.

Many business applications, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications, generate and manage large amounts of business transaction data which are stored in many different formats (e.g. RDBMs, LDAP directories, flat files, etc.), and which use a plethora of different schema or data models.
In addition, governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) concerns often lead businesses to have internal business policies intended to address a wide range of issues such as security, privacy, trade secrets, criminal activity of employees or others with access to the business, and many others. These business policies address various aspects of a business, such as purchasing, selling, marketing, and internal administration. Because of the large number of activities occurring during the course of running a business, which may have various entities located in a variety of geographical locations, it is often impractical to manually monitor all activities in which improper behavior or mistakes may occur. Thus, GRC concerns often require that dynamic, legislative, and trend-driven policies be enforced against business transaction data which may span multiple business applications and, therefore, potentially a set of disparate, yet related, data sources.
Moreover, users of business applications typically prefer to interact with applications that assist in policy enforcement using relevant business semantics as opposed to application-specific or storage-specific semantics.
On approach to monitoring and controlling a business' computer systems involves storing business data in one or more ontologies. With the advent of semantic technologies, the importance of ontologies and semantic query languages has grown manifold. An ontology is a formal representation of knowledge, specifically a formal representation of a set of concepts within a domain and relationships between the concepts. Ontologies are used in several different areas including business analytics, enterprise systems, artificial intelligence and the like, and have and the potential to be used in several other fields and applications.
An ontology is typically encoded using an ontology language. Several ontology languages are available. The OWL Web Ontology Language has become the industry standard for representing web ontologies. OWL can be used to explicitly represent the meaning of terms in vocabularies and the relationships between the terms. OWL thus provides facilities for expressing meaning and semantics that goes far beyond the capabilities of languages such as XML. OWL is being developed by the Web Ontology Working Group as part of the W3C Semantic Web Activity.
An ontology may be persisted in memory such as in a database or other data store. There are several standard ways of querying and manipulating the data in an ontology using query languages such as RDQL (Resource Description Format Query Language), OWL-QL, SPARQL (SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language), and others. Among the ontology query languages, SPARQL is considered by many to be the de facto industry standard.
In the context of a business, data from one or more data stores may be periodically compiled in an ontology, such as in a batch process occurring at times when there is less use of the business' computer systems, such as at night when most employees are not present. Once compiled in an ontology, an ontology reasoner can be used to make logical inferences from the ontology. Generally, an ontology reasoner is a module implemented in hardware or software executed by a processor, configured to infer logical consequences from a set of facts or axioms stored in an ontology. This process is often referred to as "reasoning." Data from an ontology may be converted into a form convenient for processing by the reasoner, such as in a manner described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/576,176, entitled "Techniques for Processing Ontologies," filed on Oct. 8, 2009, and which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Ontology reasoners are also known as reasoning engines, rules engines, or simply reasoners. Examples include RETE-based rules engines such as JESS, a rules engine for the Java platform, and probabilistic description logic reasoners such as Pronto, available from Clark & Parsia LLC, located at 926 N St. NW Rear, Studio #1, Washington, DC 20001. Ontology reasoners typically incorporate algorithms that, if possible, avoid analyzing complete data sets, and instead analyze only relevant data.
Traditional approaches to business policy enforcement have several shortcomings. For instance, typically business applications create and store very large amounts of data to satisfy various needs of the business. The physical and logical data stores for these applications are typically designed by and organized for use by technical users, not for business users. For instance, types and degree of normalization in Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMSs) are tuned for functionality and performance as opposed to ease of semantic understanding by business users. Thus, the applications operate and store data using terminology that is often meaningless to business analysts. Performing policy analysis using transactional data may involve, for instance, using Structured Query Language (SQL), which is verbose and overly complex for typical business users and whose complexity grows as the complexity of the analysis grows. In addition, with RDBMSs, certain types of queries, such as those containing sliding time-windows, are difficult to accommodate. Complicating matters, each business application may store data differently, often for convenience for each application.
As another example, many business applications hold mission critical data and, therefore, do not expose transactional data, but use datamarts for external analysis to avoid performance loss. This and other data are constantly updated by business systems, making snap-shot techniques difficult to perform and potentially inconsistent in the resulting analysis.

Techniques for extracting semantic data stores


A method for managing keys and encrypting data is provided. The method includes receiving data to be written to a logical disk, generating an encryption table indicating one or more locations on the logical disk for storing the data and indicating a key used for encrypting the data, encrypting the data to be written to the logical disk, and transmitting the encrypted data and the encryption table to a storage array.

Cyber-attacks continue to grow more sophisticated and persistent. To combat threats and keep data safe, information technology (IT) teams have to employ robust encryption, key management, and access controls. This is especially true for information held in storage environments, which can contain an organization's most vital assets. To secure storage, many organizations have been leveraging native encryption offerings from their storage vendors. The growing trend with "all flash" storage array deployments in enterprises pose particular challenges when encrypted data from host servers are stored in these arrays. Flash storage arrays offer high performance and capabilities like compression and de-duplication for storage efficiency. With sophisticated encryption algorithms that extend beyond simple substitution ciphers, encrypted data tends not to compress as much, and tends to not yield as much reduction in storage, as when deduplication and/or compression are applied to unencrypted data. Many storage systems are available with deduplication and/or compression, for example in network attached storage (NAS or SAN). Yet, to supply unencrypted or plaintext data over a network to such a storage system is risky, and can result in a security breach. It is within this context that the embodiments arise.

Management of encryption agents in data storage systems


Method and apparatus for reducing the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere from carbothermic processes producing metals are described. The method involves rejecting carbon from the process system or using carbon as a reagent to be recycled within the boundaries of the process system as a result of reactions of hydrogen with the carbon monoxide produced by the carbothermic process. Examples of the application of the method are given for the production of aluminum and for the production of a portion of the iron content of steel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the carbothermic production of metals, such as aluminum and silicon, which employ carbonaceous reducing agents under thermal reduction conditions.
2. Description of Prior Art
Silicon metal has been produced commercially for many years by the thermal reaction of carbon with oxides of silicon to produce silicon metal and carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide, is then further oxidized by contact with air and emitted to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
Ferroalloys, iron and steel are also produced by the thermal reaction of carbonaceous reductants with oxides of the metals to be produced, emitting carbon oxide gases to the atmosphere.
Aluminum metal has been and is presently being produced commercially by the electrolysis of a fluoride bearing molten salt. This process also emits carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Public concern is increasing over the environmental effects of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, and especially over the emissions of fluorocarbon gases. It is therefore understandable that interest is increasing in finding processes for producing metals which do not emit carbon oxide gases to the atmosphere, and especially for finding a process for producing aluminum which does not emit carbon dioxide, and one which does not use fluoride bearing materials.
Electrolysis processes for the production of aluminum are being investigated in a cooperative effort of industry and the U.S. Department of Energy. These processes employ inert anodes and, in principle, could emit oxygen instead of carbon dioxide. However the processes presently being studied still employ fluoride bearing electrolytes.
An electrolysis process for producing aluminum employing a chloride electrolyte has been proposed. However this process would emit carbon dioxide, and, because of reported problems with various chlorine based compounds as by-products, the work on this process has not resulted in significant production of aluminum.
Production of aluminum by carbothermic reduction can be performed without the involvement of fluorine or chlorine based compounds, except for the use of chlorine based gases as are currently used in remelting aluminum and preparing it for commercial use. Carbothermic production of aluminum therefore offers an important relief from the problem of fluorocarbon gas emissions from aluminum production facilities. However, carbothermic production of aluminum produces approximately twice the carbon dioxide per pound of aluminum produced as the currently used electrolytic process produces. Consideration of this fact has had the effect of retarding progress toward the proof of a commercial process which would eliminate the fluorocarbon emission problem in the production of aluminum.

Carbothermic reduction product gas treatment


A method for mounting semiconductor chips onto a substrate with which substrate places are arranged in columns, whereby the semiconductor chips adhering to a foil are presented on a wafer table, whereby the detachment of a semiconductor chip from the foil is supported by means of a die ejector and whereby a pick and place device picks the semiconductor chip presented above the die ejector and deposits it onto the substrate comprises:                Forward feeding the substrate along a transport direction designated as x direction,        Equipping a predetermined number of columns with semiconductor chips in accordance with the steps:        Moving the pick and place device to an x position corresponding to the column to be equipped,        Moving the die ejector to this x position, and        Equipping the substrate places of the column.

Different types of automatic assembly machines are known for mounting semiconductor chips onto a substrate. At one end of the spectrum one finds the so-called Die Bonders that are used in order to mount semiconductor chips onto a substrate at high speed and with great accuracy. Such Die Bonders are known for example from the patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,815, and the patent publications EP 991 110, US 2005-0011067 and US 2004-0246794. The semiconductor chips are presented on a wafer table. The substrates to be equipped are supplied one after the other in cycles whereby one substrate at a time is fixed to a substrate table and presented for equipping with semiconductor chips. Mounting of the semiconductor chips is done by means of a bondhead driven by a pick and place device. Die Bonders marketed by the applicant contain a pick and place device with a first fast axis that enables the transport of the semiconductor chips from the wafer table to the substrate at high speed and with a second axis running orthogonally to the first axis that allows shifting of the semiconductor chip in the range of several tens of micrometers so that any deviation of the actual position from the set position can be corrected. This concept enables a simple and favourable method of construction however limits the Die Bonder to the effect that each time only one specific semiconductor chip can be mounted onto the substrate. At the other end of the spectrum one finds so-called automatic placement machines that have two fast axes running orthogonally to each other that cover a large working area. The advantage of this concept is that several different types of semiconductors as well as other components can be mounted one after the other onto the same substrate. The disadvantage is that the assembly time is much greater than with a Die Bonder.
With the Die Bonder, the substrates are pushed forward in cycles by a transport device and, with substrates having several substrate places lying next to each other in columns, are processed column by column. The substrate is only pushed forward when a column is fully equipped with semiconductor chips. There are also applications with which several columns are combined into a block. Because the forward feed with the transport device during equipping of a block for various reasons is often undesired, Die Bonders have been developed with which the substrate table can be shifted in transport direction together with the substrate fixed to the substrate table so that the columns of a block can be equipped without having to release the fixing of the substrate to the substrate table.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,519,840 a semiconductor mounting apparatus is known with which the position of the semiconductor chip presented on the wafer table is measured by a camera before it is picked and a correction of any positional deviation of the semiconductor chip from its set position is done in that the foil is held by the die ejector by means of vacuum and then at least the upper surface of the die ejector facing towards the foil is shifted in the plane running parallel to the underside of the foil. The movement range of this die ejector is comparatively small, as it only has to enable small correction movements.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,047 a semiconductor mounting apparatus is known with which the wafer table, the pick and place device and the die ejector can be moved in two horizontal directions so that the semiconductor mounting apparatus has room in the smallest possible space despite the increasing size of the wafers. The disadvantage is the distinct slowing down of the assembly process.

Method and apparatus for mounting semiconductor chips