Phenoxyalkyl pyridinium oxime compounds for use in treating organophosphate poisoning.

Organophosphorus (OP) compounds, which have been used as chemical warfare agents (CWAs), inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in neural synapses, glands, and neuromuscular junctions. This action results in an accumulation of excess acetylcholine which, at lethal levels, will lead to death from respiratory failure (Sidell, 1997). High level OP poisoning with CWAs can result in seizures from the excessive central hyperexcitability, leading to short-term incapacitation and long-term brain damage. CWA exposure has resulted in deficits in psychomotor function and memory, as evidenced in humans exposed to sarin in the Japanese terrorist attacks (Nishiwaki et al., 2001; Miyaki et al, 2005).
Chemotherapy for OP poisoning typically involves the administration of atropine, a muscarinic receptor antagonist, and an oxime (e.g., 2-PAM), an AChE reactivator (Dunn et al., 1997). While other approaches have been investigated for the treatment of OP poisoning, oxime therapy to rescue inhibited AChE still appears to be an essential therapeutic.
AChE reactivation by oximes occurs through nucleophilic attack on the OP moiety bound to the enzyme. The administration of an oxime must occur before the inhibited AChE has "aged", a non-enzymatically mediated dealkylation reaction that renders the inhibited enzyme refractory to either spontaneous or oxime-mediated reactivation. The time course of this AChE aging is compound dependent, with a compound such as soman displaying very rapid aging. Therefore, for oxime therapy to be effective, it generally needs to be administered and delivered to the inhibited AChE quickly after CWA exposure, before appreciable proportions of the inhibited AChE ages.
A number of oximes have been synthesized and tested as AChE reactivators since the initial discovery of 2-PAM (Wilson and Ginsberg, 1955), including bis-pyridinium oximes containing at least one pyridine-2- or -4-aldoxime moiety (Worek et al., 1996; Kassa and Cabal, 1999; Chen et al., 2001; Kuca and Kassa, 2004; Kim et al., 2005; Kuca et al., 2005; Petroianu et al., 2006). Despite years of research, however, 2-PAM and obidoxime remain the most widely-used AChE reactivators (Sidell, 1997).
A significant limitation to the value of existing oximes is their lack of effectiveness in the brain. This limitation is due to the inability of large highly polar molecules to cross the blood-brain barrier. The existing oximes can allow OP poisoning victims to survive, by reactivating the phosphorylated AChE in the peripheral nervous system (e.g., in the diaphragm and lungs), while the brain AChE remains substantially inhibited for an extended period of time. A recent study used microdialysis and HPLC to detect 2-PAM in the brain of rats following intravenous administration of the oxime. However, the level found in the brain was only about 10% of that in the blood (Sakurada et al., 2003).
Due to the limited ability of 2-PAM to cross the blood brain barrier and reactivate brain AChE, a pro-drug form of 2-PAM, pro-PAM, was synthesized. Initial studies with pro-PAM suggested increased brain AChE activity (Clement, 1979); however, subsequent studies demonstrated that pro-PAM was more toxic than 2-PAM. Additionally, pro-PAM's ability to reactivate brain AChE was dependent on the rate at which the drug was transported to the CNS, with intravenous administration producing the only significant brain AChE reactivation (Kenley et al, 1982). Therefore, pro-PAM, requiring intravenous administration, is not practical for poisonings occurring on the field of battle. Additionally, a drug requiring metabolic activation in a tissue (i.e., brain) known for its low levels of drug metabolizing enzymes, is not ideal for rapid therapy against agents, such as soman, which result in rapid aging of phosphorylated AChE.
Reactivating OP-inhibited AChE in the brain is important, as OP compounds can have adverse effects on memory for years after a poisoning incident. Studies in laboratory animals have indicated that neurochemical aberrations persist well after the initial exposure to insecticidal OP's and well after the AChE activity has recovered to normal levels (Richardson and Chambers, 2003, 2004, 2005; Tang et al., 1999, 2003). Long-term memory deficits have likewise been reported in the victims of terrorist attacks with sarin in Japan (Nishiwaki et al., 2001; Miyaki et al., 2005). Such long-term effects on brain chemistry and on behavior, undoubtedly resulting from impacts of poisoning on the brain, would be expected to be exacerbated if the AChE inhibition were prolonged. Returning AChE activity to normal levels quickly, in order to rapidly return a subject's neurochemistry to normal, would be expected to reduce both short-term and long-term physiological and behavioral effects. Therefore, an antidote effective in the brain should be extremely valuable in not only survival of lethal dose exposures, but also returning a subject to normalcy as quickly as possible.

Phenoxyalkyl pyridinium oxime therapeutics for treatment of organophosphate poisoning


A substrate liquid processing apparatus A1 includes a processing tub 41 accommodating a processing liquid 43 and a substrate 8; a gas nozzle 70 discharging a gas into a lower portion within the processing tub 41; a gas supply unit 90 supplying the gas; a gas supply line 93 connecting the gas nozzle 70 with the gas supply unit 90; a decompression unit 95 introducing the processing liquid 43 within the processing tub 41 into the gas supply line 93 by decompressing the gas supply line 93; and a control unit 7 performing a first control of controlling the gas supply unit 90 to stop supply of the gas and controlling the decompression unit 95 to introduce the processing liquid 43 into the gas supply line 93 in a part of an idle period during which the substrate 8 is not accommodated in the processing tub 41.

Patent Document 1 discloses a processing apparatus equipped with an overflow tub; a pump configured to circulate an etching liquid (processing liquid) within the tub; a heater configured to heat the processing liquid within the tub to a preset temperature; a temperature controller configured to control the preset temperature; a frame configured to fix a wafer cassette to a scattering plate provided at a bottom portion within the tub; and a bubbler configured to perform bubbling of the processing liquid within the tub with nitrogen.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H07-058078

Substrate liquid processing apparatus, substrate liquid processing method and recording medium


A lens structure and method for manufacture of such a lens. A lens element has multiple sawn planar faces between image forming surfaces so the lens element has a polygonal cross section. The manufacture includes the step of utilizing oversized conventional cylindrical lens elements and other optical elements formed into lens systems. The faces are sawn to reduce the overall size. The sawing can be applied to integral lens elements or assemblies or lens arrays.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to optical devices and methods for the manufacture of such optical devices and more particularly to optical devices with lens systems of a small diameter or cross section.
2. Description of Related Art
Endoscopes are examples of optical devices that utilize optical systems characterized by an assembly of a plurality of optical elements, such as lenses, that are serially disposed along an optical axis. In an endoscope, for example, a lens system comprising multiple lens elements at a distal end constitutes an objective; a lens system at the proximal end constitutes an eyepiece; and one or more groups of intermediate lens elements define one or more relay lens systems.
Endoscopes utilizing such systems generally have working channels and lumens. Some working channels are filled with fiber to enable an external light source to illuminate a field of view. Others allow a surgeon to move instruments along the length of the endoscope to perform some function at the distal end while simultaneously viewing the area being treated. Still other working channels allow a surgeon to dispense a therapeutic, diagnostic or other material at the distal end of the endoscope, again while simultaneously viewing the area being treated.
Endoscopes and other optical devices of this nature generally are formed with cylindrical lens elements extending along a centered optical axis. The lens elements generally have concave, planar or convex image forming surfaces that are transverse to the optical axis. Multiple lens elements may be adjoined in lens systems in order to achieve particular optical characteristics, all as known in the prior art. Such lens elements and lens systems are called centered, rotationally symmetrical lens elements and systems, respectively.
Medical personnel who use these optical devices now indicate a preference for optical devices that have smaller and smaller diameters or cross sections. In fact some optical devices are now produced with an outer diameter of 1 to 2 mm using traditional lens making methods. However products that achieve these goals are difficult and expensive to manufacture with traditional lens making methods.
Traditional lens making methods include grinding and polishing operations to produce approximately spherical or other shaped image forming surfaces at the entrance and exit faces that define the optical characteristics of that lens element. Then the lens element is rotated about its geometric axis that will generally lie on the optical axis. A geometric axis is defined as a straight line locus of the centers of curvature of the refracting surfaces. The outer lens boundary then can be made essentially circular, as by abrasive grinding, such that the result is essentially a right circular cylinder with imaging forming spherical end surfaces and a cylindrically centered axis, i.e., a centered, rotationally symmetrical lens element. Individual lens elements can then be adjoined along the coincident optical and geometric axes to form a lens system.
The ability to make smaller optical devices including those with lens systems that continue to exhibit centered rotationally symmetrical characteristics, becomes more difficult as the lens diameter reduces. First, the final diameter of the lens is controlled by the location of the grinding or edging tool with respect to the optical axis including any positional variation due to tolerances in the manufacturing equipment. In conventional lenses these tolerances do not constitute a significant portion of the overall lens diameter. However, to achieve an absolute tolerance as a constant percentage of very small diameters requires extreme accuracy and tools that operate with extremely close tolerances. Machines for providing such accuracies become increasingly expensive as tolerance requirements become more stringent.
Second, in these optical devices, a lens element generally has an axial length that is several times the diameter. At small diameters it becomes difficult to support the lens element so that its optical axis remains in a single position relative to a tool reference. Moreover, as the diameter decreases the lens element becomes, in effect, more brittle and thus extremely fragile. These factors lead to an increased potential for breakage during manufacture.
Thus about 1-2 mm tends to be a practical minimum diameter for any lens element manufactured by traditional lens manufacturing methods. Lens systems in most currently commercially available endoscopes have an outer diameter of approximately 1.7 mm or greater. Endoscopes with such readily available lens elements are too big to be used in many applications including (1) medical applications such as viewing fine vascular structure, (2) minimally invasive endoscopy such as neurological and neurosurgical applications and arthoscopy, ear, nose and throat (ENT) applications, (3) cardiac surgical applications, and (4) endoscope applications that can benefit from the use of stereoscopic endoscopes.
What is needed is a method for enabling the efficient manufacture of high quality lens elements and lens systems having cross sectional dimensions that can be as little as 1 mm or less.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A control apparatus and a semiconductor apparatus of AC motors capable of reducing torque ripple with a comparatively simple circuit corresponding to a high withstand voltage and capable of driving a motor at high efficiency even when the rotational speed or load has changed. The control apparatus detects first phase signals fixed in relative phase to induced voltages of the motor and current polarity signals, recognizes phase differences between them, generates second phase signals so as to make the phase differences approach zero to drive the motor at high efficiency, generates modulation wave signals having quasi-sinusoidal waveforms or trapezoidal waveforms on the basis of the second phase signals, compares the modulation wave signals with a carrier wave signal, and conducts PWM control on an inverter.

The present invention relates to a control apparatus, a dual chip inverter and a single chip inverter for driving AC motors.
In recent years, a method for inverter-driving AC motors, particularly permanent magnet synchronous motors is spread. In the field of home electronic equipment, price competition has grown more intense and it is desired to provide inexpensive inverter drive apparatuses. In drive apparatuses for permanent magnet synchronous motors, therefore, the 120 degree energization scheme in which the circuit configuration is simple and the motor efficiency can be made comparatively high is used.
In the motor drive apparatus using the 120 degree energization scheme, magnetic pole positions of a rotor in a motor are detected by a magnetic pole position detector. At timing when the rotor magnetic flux become perpendicular to magnetic poles of a stator, switching elements of an inverter apparatus are controlled to turn on/off. As a result, currents flow through two windings among three-phase windings to drive the motor.
As for this 120 degree energization scheme, it is known that torque ripple occurs at the time of switching operation (commutation) in the energized winding, resulting in undesired sounds.
If the motor current waveform contains lots of harmonic components, typically ripple is apt to occur in the motor torque. Since the motor torque is proportional to the product of the induced voltage unique to the motor and the motor current, the motor torque greatly depends on the motor current waveform. This torque ripple vibrates the motor itself, and vibrates a frame on which the motor is mounted. This vibration causes undesired sounds.
As a method for reducing undesired sounds, there is a method of making the motor drive current sinusoidal by using the so-called PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) control. Specifically, a modulation wave signal having a sinusoidal waveform depending upon the position of the rotor is generated and compared with a carrier wave to generate a PWM signal and output a PWM voltage from the inverter. In order to generate the modulation wave signal having a sinusoidal waveform depending upon the position of the rotor, a microcomputer is used to utilize a PWM timer incorporated therein. As compared with the 120 degree energization scheme, however, the apparatus becomes complicated and expensive.
On the other hand, as a method for implementing a motor drive circuit having a comparatively simple circuit configuration and generating low undesired sounds, there is a method of using an analog circuit to generate a modulation signal having a sinusoidal waveform, smoothing a three-level modulation waveform with a filter circuit, and thereby smoothing a current waveform to reduce undesired sounds emitted from the motor (see, for example, JP-A-2001-251886).
On the other hand, for driving a motor at high efficiency, it is desired to conduct optimum control on phase relations of voltages, currents and induced voltages in the motor according to the rotational speed or the load.
As for this, there is a method of setting an angle of lead time proportionate to the rotational speed of the motor and making the voltage phase lead according to the rotational speed by using an analog circuit (see, for example, JP-A-2001-45787).
Furthermore, there is a method of controlling the phase of the motor voltage according to the load, and squaring the phase of an induced voltage generated in each phase coil with that of the phase current of the phase (see, for example, JP-A-9-215375).

Control apparatus, dual chip inverter and single chip inverter of AC motors


Described herein is a system that draws from an archive of media objects to associate appropriate media objects with current news articles. The media object archive includes an index having an entry for each media object. The index associates a set of one or more keywords with each media object, and a set of one or more search criteria with each media object. With regard to a particular news story, the system first identifies an initial group of relevant media objects having associated keywords that are contained in the news story. The system then evaluates the search criteria associated with each media object in the identified group against the news story, and limits the group by removing any media object from the group if the search criteria associated with that media object are not satisfied by the news story. A remaining media object from this limited group is then selected for association with the news story.

News wire or news feed services are used by a number of organizations to provide up-to-the-minute news stories. For example, news feeds are used to provide stories for television and radio news broadcasts, for printed news media such as newspapers and magazines, and for online news providers and clipping services. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of such news feeds are exclusively text-based, and lack any accompanying graphics, sound bites, or video clips.
In traditional news presentation environments, such as television, radio, and newspapers, this lack of accompanying illustrative content is not a severe problem. In each of these environments, only a limited number of news stories are actually used in any given period. It is not a terribly difficult task to locate audio/video clips and/or photographs to accompany individual stories.
To help in locating appropriate audio/visual items, a production facility might choose to use one of several media management systems. There are several such systems that allow users to categorize images, video, and audio files, and to access one or more files through the use of keyword searches. Some systems also categorize text. All of these systems, however, focus on the categorization and management of media. They organize information, but do not automate the editorial process.
While an existing media management system might conceivably be adequate for some types of news distribution, it is certainly not sufficient for online news providers. An online service provider might wish to distribute a large percentage of the stories received from a news feed. To find audio/visual items manually for every one of these stories, even with the help of a prior art media management system, would be very time consuming. Nevertheless, associating multimedia content with news stories would add significant value to the services of online news providers.

Automatically associating archived multimedia content with current textual content


A pressure relief valve is provided including a flapper pivotally mounted to a housing. The flapper is movable between a first position and a second position. A protrusion extends from a first surface of the flapper. A biasing mechanism is positioned near a first end of the flapper. The biasing mechanism is configured to apply a biasing force to the first surface of the flapper. A non-rotatable pin is arranged generally parallel to the first end of the flapper. A drag link is configured to pivot about the non-rotatable pin. The drag link includes a retaining feature and is substantially aligned with the protrusion on the flapper. When the flapper rotates to the second position, the retaining feature is configured to engage the protrusion to retain the flapper in the second position.

Exemplary embodiments of this invention generally relate to pressure relief valves and, more particularly, to a pressure relief valve configured to prevent damage to a fan.
An air cycle environmental control system (ECS) may be used to regulate the conditions of an enclosed environment, such as an aircraft cabin for example. An ECS generally includes a compress for pressurizing air input thereto, and a turbine for driving the compressor and for expanding and cooling the air. The ECS may be powered by the air input thereto from a compressor section of an engine, or may be powered by an auxiliary power unit (APU).
Check valves or other relief valves are commonly used in the air management circuits of the ECS to provide a bypass flow path when a ram system of the ECS is not functioning properly. Air drawn into a ram system by a fan first passes through a filter configured to prevent debris and particles from circulating through the ECS. Over time, the particles collected within the filter may form a blockage in the filter, thereby limiting the air drawn through the filter by the fan. The lack of air flowing through the filter may cause the fan to stall or operate in a surge condition which may lead to damage, or ultimately, replacement of the fan.


A system for dispensing beverages into a receptacle controls both the dispense flow rate of a carbonated beverage and also uses bottom filling of the receptacle to limit entrainment and bubble formation during the dispense process. More particularly, the present application provides for using two separate flow paths for dispensing beverage with a first path employed initially for a low flow rate and a second path employed thereafter to fill the receptacle.

Systems for dispense of beverages may be considered to consist of three main parts. The first part is a storage container or reservoir for storing the beverage. These storage containers when used in the context of alcoholic drinks, for example beer, are often referred to as a keg. These kegs are typically located in a storage area, cold room or cellar. Secondly a beverage transport system is used to convey the beverage to a dispense location, for example a bar, through pipes or lines. Thirdly, a dispenser, commonly referred to as a tap, delivers beverage from the pipes\lines into a container, e.g. a glass, for consumption. Although usage varies, pipes are generally rigid whereas lines are taken to be flexible. In practise, a system may employ a combination of both. In the present application, the term conduit is employed and may be taken to include both rigid pipework and flexible lines or hoses.
A beverage dispensing system may also have additional components for example to cool the beverage and provide insulation of the cooled beverage in the dispense lines as the beverage is conveyed to the dispenser.
Installations of beverage dispensing systems vary but a common installation might typically position the beverage storage containers in a chilled storage area or cellar. The beverage may then be additionally cooled in proximity to the storage area before being transported to the dispense location.
Alternative installations may provide the additional cooling of the beverage in proximity to the dispense location. Another possibility is to not use a chilled storage area but to transport the beverage from the storage container at ambient temperature before cooling the beverage in proximity to the dispense location.
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary beverage dispense system. The beverage dispense system comprises a plurality of beverage storage containers 1, located in a beverage storage area, cold room or cellar 2. The beverage transport system typically comprises a number of beverage conduits 5 which may be a combination of pipes or hoses, FOB detectors 3 and one or more beverage chillers 7. Each beverage conduit 5 is connected to a corresponding storage container by a connector 9, commonly referred to as a "dispense head" for carbonated beverage products. Other components may be included as required by the application or specific installation. The beverage lines\pipes may be insulated in regions 6 in order to maintain the temperature of the beverage during its time in the transport system. Beverage is served from a beverage tap 8 in a location remote to the beverage dispense system, e.g. a bar area 4.
Beverages are typically dispensed from the storage container by means of gas pressure which pushes the beverage out of the container and into the beverage dispense lines. The beverage containers are configured so that liquid is dispensed from the bottom of the container so the addition of pressurised gas above the level of the liquid forces the beverage out of the container. Gas enters the storage container through the dispense head 9 and is supplied from a source of pressurised gas 10 through a gas delivery conduit 11. Additionally pumps may be used to pump the beverage through the beverage dispense lines. Some beverages which do not use gas pressure may only use pumps to draw beer from the container to the beverage tap. The flow rate at which beverage is dispensed from the dispense systems is determined by the gas pressure or pump assistance applied, the frictional resistance of the beverage conduit and its components as well as any vertical distance between the storage area and the dispense point. As storage containers empty, gas can enter the beverage dispense line and potentially travel up the line to the dispenser. For beverages which are carbonated i.e. contain dissolved gas, this can result in loss of beer due to the formation of foam or FOB (foam on beer) when beverage is reintroduced into the dispense line. FOB is unsuitable for consumption and is therefore wasted. To stop this occurring beverage lines are typically fitted with a device 3 to stop gas ingression into the beverage dispense lines. These devices are commonly referred to as FOB detectors and typical examples include UK patents GB1,357,953 or Porter Lancastrian, GB2,286,581 of Francisco Moreno Barbosa and U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,459. They are typically configured as a liquid filled chamber that is positioned near the start of the beverage dispense line. Beverage enters the chamber near the top and exits near the bottom of the fob detector 3. A buoyant float in the chamber rises to the top when the chamber is filled with liquid and lowers as the liquid level drops when gas is introduced. As the liquid level drops the float drops into and seals a valve of the chamber preventing further gas ingress into the beverage dispense lines. When the float seals the outlet of the FOB and the dispense tap remains open, the pressure in the dispense conduit downstream of the fob drops. Other fob detectors are known which operate indirectly. These indirect fob detectors use a sensor to determine the position of the float in the chamber and actuate a separate valve in the dispense conduit, to control the flow of beverage when the position of the float has been detected as having fallen to a particular level. These are commonly referred to as electronic FOBs. UK patent GB2,404651 is an example of this system. The separate valve may by placed in proximity to the fob or at some remote location in proximity to the dispense point.
Other devices such as flow controllers may also be placed at or in the vicinity of the beverage dispense tap 8. These are used to control the maximum flow delivered through the beverage dispense conduit 5 and thus through the tap. These are typically adjustable and are set so that the flow rate from the beverage dispense tap is set to be below a speed that produces excessive bubble and foam formation.
Beverages are typically supplied in a carbonated form with a specified amount of dissolved gas in the beverage. The dissolved gas is typically Carbon Dioxide (CO2) or a mixture of CO2 and Nitrogen (N2).
Gasses can dissolve in liquids. The amount gas dissolved in a liquid is dependant on the solubility of the gas at the surface between the liquid and the gas, the pressure or partial pressure of the gas and the temperature of the liquid. The concentration of gas dissolved in a liquid is governed by Henry's law, which states that in equilibrium the partial pressure of a given gas above a solution is proportional to the concentration of the gas dissolved into the solution.
Typically the amount of gas dissolved in a beverage is referred to as carbonation even though it may refer to both CO2 and N2. Beverages are placed in storage containers in a carbonated form. The pressure level and mixture of the gas supplied to the storage containers is typically set to provide maintain a specific level of carbonation in the dispensed product. Typically in the beverage storage container any space not taken up with liquid is filled with gas at above ambient pressure. The gas dissolved in the beverage and the gas in the unfilled space of the beverage storage container is in equilibrium for a given temperature.
When the beverage storage container is connected to a dispense system, gas can enter the storage container above the level of the liquid through the dispense head. This additional gas is typically referred to as 'dispense gas'. The dispense gas is typically maintained at constant pressure known as 'top pressure'. The dispense gas has three main purposes. Firstly it provides pressure to force the beverage from the bottom of the beverage storage container up the beverage dispense system. Secondly as beverage is removed from the storage container and the liquid level drops, additional dispense gas fills the space taken up by the displaced liquid and maintains a constant beverage pressure for the dispense system. Finally the gas or gas mixture used for the dispense gas maintains the equilibrium concentrations of gas dissolved in the beverage. This is particularly important when a beverage storage container may be connected to a beverage dispense system for a prolonged period before it is emptied. The top pressure and gas mix are typically set to provide a specified level of carbonation in the beverage for given storage conditions. The beverages in the storage containers are considered to be in a supersaturated state with respect to the dispense gas.
As stated previously for carbonated beverages the dispense gas is typically CO2 or a mixture of CO2 and N2. Nitrogen has approximately 1/50th the solubility in beverages as CO2. When used in addition to CO2 it allows higher top pressures to be used with minimal additional gas becoming dissolved in the beverage. This gives greater flexibility when operating the dispense system as the minimum flow rates required for dispense can be maintained over longer distances and with narrower diameter conduits than when using only CO2 gas. In addition the need for additional pump means may also be removed. The use of mixed gas affects taste and flavour by firstly altering the level of dissolved CO2 in the beverage, which forms carbonic acid when dissolved. Secondly it affects the bubble size when beverages are dispensed.
Beverage storage containers are typically contained in a temperature controlled area or cellar. These are typically but not always at a higher temperature than the final dispense temperature. After exiting the beverage storage container the beverage is typically cooled further before final dispense. This is achieved using a cooling means placed along the beverage conduit. These typically consist of a stainless steel length of the beverage conduits submerged in ice water (0° C.) or encased in an aluminium plates cooled by a glycol/water mixture, the latter are commonly referred to as chiller plates. After cooling the beverage the gas dissolved in the beverage is in an unsaturated state for the given pressure applied to it. As mentioned previously the use of pumps to dispense the beverage along the beverage conduit also increases the pressure applied to the liquid and likewise the beverage becomes an unsaturated liquid/gas mix.
Carbonated beverages are typically dispensed with a valve means or tap placed at the outlet of the beverage conduit. When the tap is closed the entire length of volume of liquid contained in the beverage dispense conduit is subject to the dispense pressure in the beverage storage container or pump (if used). Changes in height affect this depending on the elevation of the conduit from the dispense container or pump. When the tap is opened and liquid flows the pressure applied to the liquid becomes the dynamic pressure and varies depending on the location along the beverage conduit.
When carbonated beverages are dispensed and the applied pressure above ambient is removed, the beverage becomes supersaturated with respect to the dissolved gas. The CO2 concentration in the liquid is no longer in equilibrium with the concentration in the atmosphere at the surface. The beverage enters a metastable state where the amount of CO2 is in excess of what would be expected from Henry's Law. In order to return to equilibrium the excess dissolved gas evolves from the liquid by either diffusion at the liquid/atmosphere surface or though bubble formation.
The spontaneous and homogeneous formation of bubbles is uncommon in dispensed beverages. The nucleation of bubbles that spontaneously form in the liquid or from a smooth surface and grow beyond a critical radius is energetically very unfavourable. Bubble formation actually occurs by two primary mechanisms. Firstly, bubbles form in nucleation sources in pre-existing gas cavities and secondly through entrainment during the process of dispensing the beverage into a container.
Bubble forming gas cavities must be larger than a critical radius to act as nucleation sites and they can take the form of scratches or concave imperfections in surfaces or they may also be hollows on particulates suspended in the liquid. These physical forms significantly reduce the energy required for bubble formation. In addition the critical radius for bubble formation is also dependant on the concentration of dissolved gas in the liquid, with lower concentrations requiring gas cavities with larger critical radii.
Bubbles that form at nucleation sites grow as gas diffuses into them from the surrounding liquid. When the bubble reaches a critical size its buoyancy becomes great enough to allow it to detach from the nucleation site and another bubble starts to grow. When beverage is flowing across a surface this critical size is reduced as the motion of the liquid mechanically removes the bubble at a smaller size. Higher velocities remove bubbles at smaller sizes resulting in a larger number of bubbles being created. Suspended in the liquid bubbles continue to grow until they burst when reaching a surface. This type of bubble nucleation at gas cavities is typically referred to as heterogeneous nucleation. For beverages this type of gas bubble creation can occur from the initially dry surfaces of the beverage receptacle as the beverage is dispensed and flows over it. For this reason receptacle materials such as glass or plastics are preferably smooth in order to minimize this process. Bubble formation may also occur from parts of the dispense system, including the outlet of the dispense tap and also the region upstream of the dispense tap which experiences a drop in static pressure after the dispense tap has been opened. Higher liquid velocities produce more bubbles and these effects are increased if they are high enough to produce turbulent flow within the beverage conduit.
Entrainment of bubbles occurs when liquid is dispensed into a beverage receptacle and the liquid stream contacts turbulently, and mixes with, the liquid in the container. Bubbles become entrapped and enter the liquid. In the case of beverage these entrained bubbles provide surfaces for the diffusion of gas from the liquid and growth of the bubble.
Typically beverage dispense taps are manual valves operated by means of a handle or lever. The beverage is directed into the receptacle by a spout of spout. One of the limitations of this type of dispense is that the dispense speed is constrained by the need to limit the amount of bubble formation as this can give rise to excess foam on the beverage. Typically beverage dispense taps incorporate a mechanical means to control the maximum flow of beverage through the tap. Typically these flow controllers are in proximity to the beverage tap of may be incorporated within them (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,368,205 7,513,398). These are typically only adjusted infrequently to provide a desired predetermined flow rate.
A major limitation on the speed with which beer can be dispensed is the formation of bubbles and therefore foam during the dispense process. This produces excess waste of the beverage as the foam is poured away to fill the receptacle with liquid beverage
One simple method is to further cool the beverage below its normal dispense temperature. This increases the stability of the absorbed CO2 and makes it less likely to form a large numbers of bubbles. The disadvantage is that customers may find the beverage to be too cold and with an altered flavour because of this.
A number of approaches have been used to try and address the problem of bubble and foam formation and these in practice primarily rely on two main approaches.
Firstly, by minimising entrainment and turbulence caused by the entry of the beverage stream being dispensed into the receptacle. Typically this is done by immersing the end of the dispense tap spout into the liquid being dispensed. This eliminates entrainment once the orifice in the spout has become immersed and also minimises the flow of beverage over the receptacle walls and the formation and mechanical removal of bubbles from nucleation sites on them. These arrangements are generally identified as being of the type known as bottom filling since the tap spout extends substantially into the beverage receptacle and thus the liquid flows from the bottom upwards.
In contrast, top filling is where the beverage exits from the spout and falls under gravity from the spout at or close to the top of the receptacle to the bottom.
The second method, bottom filing, actively controls the rate of flow during the dispense process. Typically these methods start the dispense process with a slower dispense speed until the spout orifice is immersed, thereafter the flow rate is increased to higher value for the rest of the dispense volume.
There are number of examples of devices that immerse the end of the spout in the dispensed beverage. Once the orifice in the end of the spout is covered in liquid no further entrainment can take place and the flow of liquid along the surface of the receptacle is eliminated. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,040,4359, 7,278,454 are examples of this approach and uses an extended spout which attaches to an existing beverage dispense tap.
Another approach is exhibited by EP2883833. In this example the valve is placed at the bottom of the spout and it is activated by pushing the valve actuator against the bottom of the beverage receptacle. One disadvantage of this approach is that the valve is a direct acting mechanism and therefor the force applied to open it is directly proportional to the size of the valve opening. This for practical purposes limits the size of the valve orifice as a larger opening or increased dispense pressure requires increased force to open the valve. Therefor the velocity of the liquid that can be delivered through it without producing excessive bubbles is also limited
More complex devices such as detailed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,833,405, 7,861,740 and EP1099661 use an adjustable flow control device along with flow measurement and a digital microcontroller to control the beverage dispense. The flow control device is positioned upstream of the dispense spout and is typically configured to move between two positions, a "slow flow" position and a "fast flow" position. The valves and flow controller are placed in series with each other and beverage flows sequentially through the different components. The beverage dispense is controlled by the digital microcontroller to dispense a predetermined portion of beverage. Though actual implementations may vary, in general these devices work by first setting the flow controller in a "slow flow" position before opening the valve at the end of a spout when it is positioned in the bottom of a beverage receptacle such as a glass. Once a predetermined volume of beverage has been dispensed (the spout becomes immersed) the flow controller is adjusted to increase the flow of beverage to a "fast flow" position. Once a portion size has been dispensed the spout valve closes and the flow controller reverts to its "slow flow" position.
Other arrangements including GB2176766, EP1138628 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,815,078 operate to initially fill a glass with beer and then switch to a second dispensing method for placing foam on top of the beer.
The present application is directed at an improved beverage dispense system. More particularly, the present is directed at providing a convenient system for dispensing beverages with an improved speed of dispensing.

Method and system for dispensing carbonated beverages at increased speed


An apparatus and method for uniformly irradiating a strand of plastic material by twisting the strand as it is advanced in a plurality of paths transverse to an electron beam. A set of pinch rolls are positioned on opposites ends of the electron beam generator to advance and twist the strand. Lift cams periodically release the twist on the strand at positions of maximum twist by forcing the pinch rolls apart. Each set of pinch rolls includes upper and lower rolls adjacent a medial roll which, in turn, is driven in alternating axial directions to impart twist to the strand. The medial rolls are driven in alternating axial directions by a cammed surface thereon and a cam follower and synchronized to move 180.degree. out of phase from each other. A series of three spaced apart idler rolls are also provided to form a tandem figure-eight pattern in side view for the strand to compensate for reel set in the strand.

For certain applications, it is often desirable to irradiate a plastic material, such as with a high-energy electron beam, to cause material changes in the plastic. For example, it is known that the cross-linking of polymer plastic material is promoted through irradiation of the material by an electron beam. The electron beam must be of high enough energy and intensity so that a sufficient quantity of electrons penetrate to a sufficient depth into the material to provide the desired radiation dosage.
Providing a controlled radiation dosage radially into a strand or tube has resulted in advantageous material properties. A special case example requiring highly controlled radial beam dosage is the radially differentially cross-linked polymer tubing of the type described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,455,337. The differentially cross-linked polymer in tubular form, such as for heat shrink tubing applications, includes a fusible noncross-linked inner concentric portion that may be used to seal an underlying electrical connection, while the outer cross-linked concentric portion acts as a conventional heat shrink tubing.
Providing a circumferentially uniform dosage of radiation to a strand is relatively difficult to achieve. In one approach, an electron beam of sufficient energy has been passed through the entire cross-sectional dimension of material which was advanced in a single pass through the electron beam. Unfortunately, for a typical application for irradiating a plastic strand to manufacture heat shrink tubing, the required radiation source must be capable of generating an electron beam of a million electron volts or more. Accordingly, such an apparatus is very large, and must be contained within an extensively shielded enclosure to protect against potentially hazardous radiation exposure.
Another single pass approach to irradiating a strand, known as the "torroid" approach, used a torroidal vacuum chamber and circular electron gun to emit a beam around 360.degree.. This approach, however, has not proven to be commercially practical or successful. Another variation similar to the torroid approach is to use three electron guns disposed about a coaxial window with 120.degree. displacement between adjacent guns. This approach has also proven to be commercially impractical.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,600, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses an apparatus for more uniformly irradiating an advancing strand in a single pass. The apparatus includes two opposing electron beam generators and respective deflector magnets and convergence magnets for causing relatively uniform radiation of the strand.
Another prior approach for irradiating plastic strands involves multiple passes of the strand in the path of the electron beam. The strand is manually threaded from a feed reel about sets of idler rolls in multiple loops and thus exposed in multiple loops to a scanned high energy electron beam. The amount and uniformity of irradiation has depended upon the scan rate of the beam and the advancement rate of the strand. The degree of uniformity of this approach is hampered because the strand often takes a particular set (reel set) when wound on a storage reel after extrusion. This reel set is maintained in the strand during the irradiation process thereby producing poor uniformity. Some improvement in uniformity for the multiple pass approach has been achieved by providing a magnet beneath the strand loops to reverse the direction of some portion of the electrons and theoretically return them to the sides of the loops for greater uniformity.
Despite numerous attempts to obtain a circumferentially uniformly irradiated strand, there still exists a need for an apparatus and method which overcome the limitations and drawbacks of the prior art.

Apparatus and method for uniformly irradiating a strand


Different kinds of air conditioning apparatus may be easily produced in accordance with specifications, even in a vehicle assembly factory, and costs of transport and administration of air conditioning units, storage space in the vehicle assembly factory and suchlike may be reduced. The air conditioning apparatus includes an expansion valve with a pressure adjustment screw and an air conditioning unit. A mounting space to which the expansion valve is mounted is provided at a unit case of the air conditioning unit, and an opening portion is formed in a wall portion around the mounting space. The opening portion is for insertion of a tool that turns the pressure adjustment screw. A setting of pressure of the expansion valve is carried out by the tool being inserted through the opening portion around the mounting space of the expansion valve and turning the pressure adjustment screw of the expansion valve.

An expansion valve for allowing a refrigerant to expand, which is used in an air conditioning apparatus or the like, has been disclosed (see Patent Document 1). in this expansion valve, a level of opening of a valve body for controlling flow volumes of the refrigerant is set by a pressure force of a spring. An adjustment screw for adjusting the pressure force of the spring (a pressure setting value) is provided at a lower end portion of a valve main body.

Air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle


A fluid-conducting swivel includes an upstream conduit, downstream conduit, and support assembly for holding the upstream and downstream conduit with their flow passageways aligned, allowing rotation of one of the upstream and downstream conduit, and maintaining a space between the adjacent ends of the conduit. The upstream conduit includes an acceleration nozzle for accelerating the velocity of the fluid flow to such a velocity that the fluid creates a substantially self-contained fluid jet. The downstream conduit includes a deceleration nozzle for decelerating the velocity of the fluid flow and a downstream throat extending between the deceleration nozzle and the end of the downstream conduit adjacent the upstream conduit. The downstream throat receives the accelerated fluid from the upstream conduit and is sized to substantially prevent expansion of the accelerated fluid and thereby prevent fluid leakage and pressure loss between the upstream and downstream conduit.

This invention relates to a fluid-conducting swivel and method for operating the same and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, relates to such a swivel which is free of friction creating seals.
Fluid-conducting swivels are known and commercially available. Typical applications include fluid-driven rotating machinery and tools and fluid-spraying rotating cleaning equipment. Shortcomings of prior fluid-conducting swivels include the use of O-rings, packing, or other friction-generating seals which make surface contact to seal and prevent fluid passage between the relatively rotating members of the swivels. The friction created by such seals reduces the efficiency of the equipment and increases the required maintenance. The physical contact between such seals and the rotating member(s) generates the friction which retards the ability of the members to rotate and which causes the seal to deteriorate relatively rapidly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,120 to Hammelmann discloses a nozzle device having a labyrinth-like sealing gap which requires close machining tolerances and appears to be relatively expensive to manufacture and assemble. Hammelmann also discloses using a vacuum created at the outlet of a pressurized orifice to draw fluid through the labyrinth-like sealing gap and improve its sealing action. This ingestion or inspiration through the gap increases the pressure lost in the nozzle device.
Therefore, there is a need for a fluid-conducting swivel and method of operating the same which does not require the use of friction-generating seals or relatively expensive labyrinth-type seals, which requires little if any pressure loss across the swivel, and which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.


A method for reducing the formation of combustion chamber deposits in an engine using a friction modifier for combustible fuels is provided. The friction modifier is prepared by combining a saturated carboxylic acid and an alkylated or alkoxylated amine. The particular selection of friction modifier enables a stable additive concentrate to be formulated providing a significant decrease in CCD without increasing the incidence of IVD deposits in combustion engines running on a fuel modified with the additive concentrate.

This invention relates to a friction modifier additive for use in fuels, particularly in gasolines for internal combustion engines. The present invention further relates to new methods for controlling, i.e., reducing or eliminating, combustion chamber deposits in engines while imparting enhanced fuel economy performance.
Over the years considerable work has been devoted to additives for controlling (preventing or reducing) deposit formation in the fuel induction systems of spark-ignition internal combustion engines. In particular, additives that can effectively control fuel injector deposits, intake valve deposits and combustion chamber deposits represent the focal point of considerable research activities in the field and despite these efforts, further improvements are desired.
The major fuel-related deposit problem areas for PFI and DIG engines are injectors, intake valves, and the combustion chamber. Additionally, engine friction between piston and cylinder, the valve train, and the fuel pump result in increasing fuel consumption. In DIG engine technology in particular there is a friction related durability issue with the high-pressure pump (up to 1500 psi pumping capacity), which break down due to the inherently low lubricity of gasolines. There is, therefore, a desire in the petroleum industry to produce a fuel suitable for use in both PFI and DIG engines, that can address the engine deposit and frictional requirements outlined above.
As discussed at some length in U.S. Pat. No. 6,277,158 to McLean, the performance of gasolines and other fuels can be improved through the use of additive technology. For instance, detergents have been used to inhibit the formation of intake system deposits, and thereby improve engine cleanliness and performance. Regulatory mandates have required the introduction of low sulfur fuels, which are known to be less lubricating and raise concerns regarding the durability of fuel pumps and injectors. Sulfur itself is not directly known to be a lubricity modifying agent. However, removal of sulfur by deep hydrotreating is known to also inadvertently remove natural lubricity components of the fuel, such as certain aromatics, carboxylic acids, and esters. Unfortunately, commercial gasoline detergents and dispersants generally show very little friction reducing characteristics until very high concentrations of them are added to the fuel. These high detergent concentrations often reach levels where no-harm effects such as CCD become unacceptable.
It has been suggested that separate friction modifiers can be added to gasoline to increase fuel economy by reducing engine friction. Fuel friction modifiers would also serve to protect high-pressure fuel pumps and injectors such as those found in DIG engines from wear caused by fuel. Worldwide regulations calling for a steep reduction in fuel sulfur levels may exacerbate this wear problem even further. In selecting suitable components for a combined detergent/friction modifier additive package it is important to ensure a balance of detergent and friction modification properties, and so forth. Ideally, the friction modifier should not adversely affect the deposit control function of the detergent. In addition the additive package should not adversely effect on engine performance. For example, the additive package should not promote valve sticking or cause other performance-reducing problems. To be suitable for commercial use, the friction modifier additive also must pass all no-harm testing required for gasoline performance additives. This is often the biggest hurdle for commercial acceptance. The no-harm testing involves 1) compatibility with gasoline and other additives likely to be in gasoline at a range of temperatures, 2) no increase in IVD and CCD, 3) no valve stick at low temperatures, and 4) no corrosion in the fuel system, cylinders, and crankcase. Developing an additive meeting all these criteria is challenging.
Most prior friction modifiers for fuels have been derivatives of natural product (plant and animal derived) fatty acids, with only a few purely synthetic products. For example, WO 01/72930 A2 describes a mechanistic proposal for delivery of a fuel born friction modifier to the upper cylinder wall and into the oil sump resulting in upper cylinder/rings and valves lubrication. The friction modifier is packaged with fuel detergent dispersants such as polyetheramines (PEAs), polyisobutene amines (PIBAs), Mannich bases, and succinimides. Fuel friction modifier prior art identified in the WO '930 reference include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,252,889, 4,185,594, 4,208,190, 4,204,481, and 4,428,182, which all describe use of fuel modifiers in diesel fuel. Chemistries covered by these patents include fatty acid esters, unsaturated dimerized fatty acids, primary aliphatic amines, fatty acid amides of diethanolamine and long-chain aliphatic monocarboxylic acids. Another specific mentioned patent therein is U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,562, which discloses a lubricant oil and fuel friction modifier made by reacting primary alkoxyalkylamines with carboxylic acids or by aminolysis of the appropriate formate ester, and also U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,769.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,769, describes a gasoline carburetor detergent for gasoline compositions derived from reaction products of a C6–C20 fatty acid ester, such as coconut oil, and a mono- or di-hydroxy hydrocarbyl amine, such as diethanolamine, as carburetor detergents. The additive in the '769 patent is described as being useful in any gasoline including leaded and those containing methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT). The fuel described in the '769 patent may contain other necessary additives such as anti-icers, and corrosion inhibitors.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,029 describes friction reducing additives for fuels and lubricants involving the reaction products of primary etheramines with hydrocarboxylic acids to give hydroxyamides that exhibit friction reduction in fuels and lubricants. Other prior patents describing friction modifiers include U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,026 (monocarboxylic acid of ester of a trihydric alcohol, glycerol monooleate as fuels and lubricant friction modifier); U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,789,493, 4,808,196, and 4,867,752 (use of fatty acid formamides); U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,916 (use of fatty acid amides); U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,803 (use of alkane 1,2-diols in lubricants to improve fuel economy); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,903 (use of amides from mono- or polyhydroxy substituted aliphatic monocarboxylic acids and amines). U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,771 discloses fuel compositions containing lubricity enhancing salt compositions made by the reaction of certain carboxylic acids with a component that is comprised of a heterocyclic aromatic amine. EP 0 798 364 discloses diesel fuel additives comprising a salt of a carboxylic acid and an aliphatic amine, or an amide obtained by dehydration-condensation between a carboxylic acid and an aliphatic amine.
EP 0 869 163 A1 describes a method for reducing engine friction by use of ethoxylated amines. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,172 (oil soluble hydroxyamines such as "ETHOMEEN 18–12™" formula C18H37N—(CH2CH2OH)2 as lubricant antioxidant); U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,508 (reaction products of succinic acid or anhydride and a polyalkylene glycol or monoether, an organic basic metal, and an alkoxylated amine as a demulsifier); U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,231,883; 4,409,000; and 4,836,829, all teach various uses of hydroxyamines in fuels and lubricants.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,277,158 describes the current practice in the supply of gasoline as generally being to pre-mix the fuel additives into a concentrate in a hydrocarbon solvent base, and then to inject the concentrate into gasoline pipelines used to fill tankers prior to delivery to the customer. To facilitate injection of the concentrate into the gasoline, it is important that the concentrate is in the form of a low viscosity, homogeneous liquid.
A friction modifier may be added to the gasoline as the lone additive or in combination with a detergent dispersant package that is fully formulated for fuel compatibility at conditions likely to be experienced by the engine. In addition, a need may exist for a detergent/friction modifier additive concentrate for gasoline that provides all of fuel economy enhancement, combustion chamber deposit control and friction reduction. In addition it should be stable over the temperature range at which the concentrate may feasibly be stored, and which does not adversely affect the performance and properties of the finished gasoline or engine in which the gasoline is used, and in particular, does not lead to increased IVD or CCD problems.

Additives for fuel compositions to reduce formation of combustion chamber deposits


A solid-state imaging device includes an imaging element having a light receiving surface, and a cover member disposed over and opposite to the light receiving surface of the imaging element with a space therebetween. The cover member has a quartz plate, and the optical axis of the crystal of the quartz plate is parallel to the light receiving surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging device using an imaging element, an imaging unit, and an imaging apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some of known imaging apparatuses have a Z-cut quartz plate formed of a single crystal containing small amounts of impurities such as heavy metals, the Z-cut quartz plate serving as a solid-state imaging element cover that seals the package (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-042797). Z-cut quartz plate is a quartz plate cut so that the normal to the major surfaces of the quartz plate is at a zero degree angle to the Z-axis, the optical axis of the quartz.
In the above-described known imaging apparatuses, at the time of reflow soldering in the mounting process or use of a camera in a high-temperature environment, the cover member glued to the package base deforms significantly, and there is a possibility that the cover member will peel or break. With the increase in deformation of the cover member, the width of separation of a ray of light obliquely incident on the quartz plate from the lens due to the double refraction property of the quartz plate increases. Because Z-cut quartz plate is a quartz plate cut perpendicularly to the Z-axis direction, ray separation occurs in directions corresponding to all of the vibration directions of incident light. As a result, the resolution of shot images decreases.

Solid-state imaging device including an imaging element and a cover member having a quartz plate


Methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating enhanced classification of network traffic that extends beyond analysis of explicitly presented packet attributes and holistically analyzes data flows, and in some implementations, related data flows against known application behavior patterns to classify the data flows. Implementations of the present invention facilitate the classification of encrypted or compressed network traffic, or where the higher layer information in the data flows are formatted according to a non-public or proprietary protocol.

Efficient allocation of network resources, such as available network bandwidth, has become critical as enterprises increase reliance on distributed computing environments and wide area computer networks to accomplish critical tasks. The widely-used Transport Control Protocol (TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP) protocol suite, which implements the world-wide data communications network environment called the Internet and is employed in many local area networks, omits any explicit supervisory function over the rate of data transport over the various devices that comprise the network. While there are certain perceived advantages, this characteristic has the consequence of juxtaposing very high-speed packets and very low-speed packets in potential conflict and produces certain inefficiencies. Certain loading conditions degrade performance of networked applications and can even cause instabilities which could lead to overloads that could stop data transfer temporarily.
In order to understand the context of certain embodiments of the invention, the following provides an explanation of certain technical aspects of a packet based telecommunications network environment. Internet/Intranet technology is based largely on the TCP/IP protocol suite. At the network level, IP provides a "datagram" delivery service—that is, IP is a protocol allowing for delivery of a datagram or packet between two hosts. By contrast, TCP provides a transport level service on top of the datagram service allowing for guaranteed delivery of a byte stream between two IP hosts. In other words, TCP is responsible for ensuring at the transmitting host that message data is divided into packets to be sent, and for reassembling, at the receiving host, the packets back into the complete message.
TCP has "flow control" mechanisms operative at the end stations only to limit the rate at which a TCP endpoint will emit data, but it does not employ explicit data rate control. The basic flow control mechanism is a "sliding window", a window which by its sliding operation essentially limits the amount of unacknowledged transmit data that a transmitter is allowed to emit. Another flow control mechanism is a congestion window, which is a refinement of the sliding window scheme involving a conservative expansion to make use of the full, allowable window.
The sliding window flow control mechanism works in conjunction with the Retransmit Timeout Mechanism (RTO), which is a timeout to prompt a retransmission of unacknowledged data. The timeout length is based on a running average of the Round Trip Time (RTT) for acknowledgment receipt, i.e. if an acknowledgment is not received within (typically) the smoothed RTT+4*mean deviation, then packet loss is inferred and the data pending acknowledgment is re-transmitted. Data rate flow control mechanisms which are operative end-to-end without explicit data rate control draw a strong inference of congestion from packet loss (inferred, typically, by RTO). TCP end systems, for example, will "back-off,"—i.e., inhibit transmission in increasing multiples of the base RTT average as a reaction to consecutive packet loss.
A crude form of bandwidth management in TCP/IP networks (that is, policies operable to allocate available bandwidth from a single logical link to network flows) is accomplished by a combination of TCP end systems and routers which queue packets and discard packets when some congestion threshold is exceeded. The discarded and therefore unacknowledged packet serves as a feedback mechanism to the TCP transmitter. Routers support various queuing options to provide for some level of bandwidth management. These options generally provide a rough ability to partition and prioritize separate classes of traffic. However, configuring these queuing options with any precision or without side effects is in fact very difficult, and in some cases, not possible. Seemingly simple things, such as the length of the queue, have a profound effect on traffic characteristics. Discarding packets as a feedback mechanism to TCP end systems may cause large, uneven delays perceptible to interactive users. Moreover, while routers can slow down inbound network traffic by dropping packets as a feedback mechanism to a TCP transmitter, this method often results in retransmission of data packets, wasting network traffic and, especially, inbound capacity of a Wide Area Network (WAN) link. In addition, routers can only explicitly control outbound traffic and cannot prevent inbound traffic from over-utilizing a WAN link. A 5% load or less on outbound traffic can correspond to a 100% load on inbound traffic, due to the typical imbalance between an outbound stream of acknowledgments and an inbound stream of data.
In response, certain data flow rate control mechanisms have been developed to provide a means to control and optimize efficiency of data transfer as well as allocate available bandwidth among a variety of business enterprise functionalities. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,216 discloses a method for explicit data rate control in a packet-based network environment without data rate supervision. Data rate control directly moderates the rate of data transmission from a sending host, resulting in just-in-time data transmission to control inbound traffic and reduce the inefficiencies associated with dropped packets. Bandwidth management devices allow for explicit data rate control for flows associated with a particular traffic classification. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,000, above, discloses automatic classification of network traffic for use in connection with bandwidth allocation mechanisms. U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,980 discloses systems and methods allowing for application layer control of bandwidth utilization in packet-based computer networks. For example, bandwidth management devices allow network administrators to specify policies operative to control and/or prioritize the bandwidth allocated to individual data lows according to traffic classifications. In addition, certain bandwidth management devices, as well as certain routers, allow network administrators to specify aggregate bandwidth utilization controls to divide available bandwidth into partitions. With some network devices, these partitions can be configured to ensure a minimum bandwidth and/or cap bandwidth as to a particular class of traffic. An administrator specifies a traffic class (such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) data, or data flows involving a specific user) and the size of the reserved virtual link—i.e., minimum guaranteed bandwidth and/or maximum bandwidth. Such partitions can be applied on a per-application basis (protecting and/or capping bandwidth for all traffic associated with an application) or a per-user basis (controlling, prioritizing, protecting and/or capping bandwidth for a particular user). In addition, certain bandwidth management devices allow administrators to define a partition hierarchy by configuring one or more partitions dividing the access link and further dividing the parent partitions into one or more child partitions. While the systems and methods discussed above that allow for traffic classification and application of bandwidth utilization controls on a per-traffic-classification basis operate effectively for their intended purposes, they possess certain limitations. As discussed more fully below, identification of traffic types associated with data flows traversing an access link involves the application of matching criteria or rules to explicitly presented or readily discoverable attributes of individual packets against an application signature which may comprise a protocol identifier (e.g., TCP, HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) types, etc.), a port number, and even an application-specific string of text in the payload of a packet. After identification of a traffic type corresponding to a data flow, a bandwidth management device associates and subsequently applies bandwidth utilization controls (e.g., a policy or partition) to the data flow corresponding to the identified traffic classification or type. Accordingly, simple changes to an application, such as a string of text appearing in the payload or the use of encryption text may allow the application to evade proper classification and corresponding bandwidth utilization controls or admission policies.
Indeed, a common use of bandwidth management devices is to limit the bandwidth being consumed by unruly, bandwidth-intensive applications, such as peer-to-peer applications (e.g., Kazaa, Napster, etc.), and/or other unauthorized applications. Indeed, the rich Layer 7 classification functionality of Packetshaper® bandwidth management devices offered by Packeteer®, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. is an attractive feature for network administrator, as it allows for accurate identification of a variety of application types. This traffic classification functionality, in many instances, uses a combination of known protocol types, port numbers and application-specific attributes to differentiate between various application traffic traversing the network. An increasing number of such peer-to-peer applications, however, employ data compression, encryption technology, and/or proprietary protocols that obscure or prevent identification of various application-specific attributes, often leaving well-known port numbers as the only basis for classification. In fact, as networked applications get increasingly complicated, data encryption has become a touted feature. Indeed, encryption addresses the concern of security and privacy issues, but it also makes it much more difficult to identify unauthorized applications using encryption, such as the peer-to-peer applications "Earthstation 5" and "Winny." In addition, traffic classification based solely on well-known port numbers can be problematic, especially where the application uses dynamic port number assignments or an application incorrectly uses a well-known port number, leading to misclassification of the data flows. In addition, classifying such encrypted network traffic as "unknown" and applying a particular rate or admission policy to unknown traffic classes undermines the granular control otherwise provided by bandwidth management devices and, further, may cause legitimate, encrypted traffic to suffer as a result.
In addition, network savvy users (such as students in a campus or university environment) have also become aware that bandwidth management devices have been deployed to limit or restrict unauthorized peer-to-peer application traffic. As a result, users often attempt to bypass or thwart the bandwidth management scheme effected by such bandwidth management devices by creating communications tunnels (proxy tunnels) through which unauthorized or restricted network traffic is sent. The attributes discernible from the content of these tunneled data flows, however, often reveal little information about its true nature. For example, commercial HTTP tunnel services (such as loopholesoftware.com, TotalRc.net, and http-tunnel.com, etc.) allow users to send all network traffic in the form of HTTP traffic through a HTTP tunnel between a tunnel client and an HTTP proxy server maintained by the tunnel services provider. FIG. 6 illustrates the functionality and operation of a typical HTTP proxy tunnel. Client device 42 includes a client application (such as a peer-to-peer application 71) and a tunnel client 72. The client application sends data to the tunnel client 72 which tunnels the data over HTTP to a tunnel proxy server 74. The tunnel proxy server 74 then forwards the data to the intended destination (here, network resource 75), and vice versa. Such HTTP tunnels typically feature encryption; accordingly, a bandwidth management device 30, encountering the tunneled traffic in this form, may not detect the exact nature of the traffic and, in fact, classify such data flows as legitimate or regular HTTP traffic. Accordingly, these tunneling mechanisms and other techniques for evading bandwidth utilization controls implemented by bandwidth management devices present new challenges to network administrators and bandwidth management device manufacturers desiring to effectively control unauthorized or restricted network traffic.
In light of the foregoing, a need in the art exists for methods, apparatuses and systems that facilitate the classification of encrypted or compressed network traffic. A need further exists for methods, apparatuses and systems that facilitate the classification of network traffic associated with a non-public, proprietary protocol or application. Embodiments of the present invention substantially fulfill these needs.

Heuristic behavior pattern matching of data flows in enhanced network traffic classification


A breathable viral barrier film, viral barrier laminate and surgical articles including the film or laminate are provided. The film has viral barrier properties in the presence of low surface tension liquids, as well as in the presence of aqueous liquids. The film includes a core layer surrounded by two skin layers. The core layer includes a polymer matrix, filler particles, and at least 0.5% by weight of a selected fluorochemical. The film is bonded to one or more nonwoven webs to provide laminates useful in surgical articles.

Surgical gowns, surgical drapes, surgical face masks, surgical scrubs, and sterile wrap and sterilization peel pouches (hereinafter collectively "surgical articles"), in order to function satisfactorily, must achieve a balance of properties, features and performance characteristics. Such surgical articles have, as a principal matter, been designed to greatly reduce, if not prevent, the transmission through the surgical article of biological liquids and/or airborne contaminates. In surgical procedure environments, such liquid sources include the gown wearer's perspiration, body fluids from the patient, such as blood, and life support liquids such as plasma and saline. Examples of airborne contaminates include, without limitation, biological contaminants, such as bacteria, viruses and fungal spores. Such contaminates may also include particulate material such as, without limitation, lint, mineral fines, dust, skin squames and respiratory droplets. A measure of the barrier fabric's ability to prevent the passage of such airborne materials is sometimes expressed in term of filtration efficiency.
Such surgical articles further should be comfortable during use, that is, while being worn. The breathability of the surgical article, that is, its rate of water vapor transmission, is an important measure of how comfortable a surgical article is to use. Other characteristics of surgical articles that impact upon the comfort of the article during use include, without limitation, the drapeability, cloth-like feel and hand and cool, dry feel of the articles.
Surgical articles also require a minimum level of strength and durability in order to provide the necessary level of safety to the user of the article, particularly during surgical procedures.
Finally, surgical articles desirably are inexpensive to manufacture, utilizing lightweight materials that enhance the comfort of the wearer during use, but also reduce the cost of such articles.
The use of liquid impervious, breathable multi-layer barrier fabrics of various constructions is known. Surgical articles formed from liquid repellent fabrics, such as fabrics formed from nonwoven webs or layers, have provided acceptable levels of liquid imperviousness, breathability, cloth-like drapeability, strength and durability, and cost. However, the need exists nonetheless for improved, cloth-like, liquid impervious, breathable barrier materials for use in forming surgical articles, as well as other garment and over-garment applications, such as personal protective equipment applications (i.e., workwear, for example), in which some or all of the above performance characteristics and features are desirable or necessary. Other personal protective equipment applications include, without limitation, laboratory applications, clean room applications, such as semiconductor manufacturing, agriculture applications, mining applications, environmental applications, and the like.
Various low surface tension liquids are used in hospitals and other sites where surgical and medical procedures are performed. Low surface tension liquids, such as isopropyl alcohol, can combine with blood and other fluids to create wettable pathways capable of carrying viruses through various surgical articles mentioned above. For instance, surgical articles formed using microporous thermoplastic polyolefin-based films and film/nonwoven laminates are inherently hydrophobic, and resist the passage of blood and other aqueous fluids which might carry viruses. However, these films and laminates are typically less resistant to the passage of low surface tension liquids. Thus, when blood or other aqueous fluid is combined with isopropyl alcohol or another low surface tension liquid, a vehicle can be formed for carrying blood-borne viruses and the like through the surgical articles.
With the foregoing in mind, there is a need or desire for improved breathable thermoplastic films and film/nonwoven laminates that prevent the passage of low surface tension liquids, such as isopropyl alcohol, as well as aqueous-based liquids.

Breathable film and fabric having liquid and viral barrier


Disclosed are methods for treating wells to form a permeable barrier around the well for consolidating unconsolidated mineral particles such as sand in a subterranean petroleum formation penetrated by a well, or for forming an impermeable barrier for fluid entry control, or for plugging the well for abandonment. A fluid containing a polymerizable resin such as furfuryl alcohol oligomer or monomer, a polar organic diluent such as butyl acetate a dense solvent having density greater than the resin density, and an oil soluble acid catalyst to cause polymerization of the resin at formation temperatures is prepared. The dense solvent is bromobutane, bromobenzene, furfural, tetrachloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, tetrabromoethane, 1,2,4 trichlorobenzene and 1,2,3 tribromopropane or mixtures thereof. The amount of dense solvent is selected to ensure that the treating fluid density is greater than the density of the formation fluid, preferably at least 10 greater than the density of the formation fluid.

Formation treating for purposes of sand consolidation, water exclusion or well plugging for abandonment are well known terms applying to procedures routinely practiced in the commercial production of petroleum. When wells are completed in petroleum-containing formations which also contain unconsolidated granular mineral material such as sand or gravel, production of fluids from the formation causes the flow of the particulate matter, e.g. sand, into the wellbore, which often leads to any of several difficult and expensive problems. Sometimes a well will "sand up", meaning the lower portion of the production well becomes filled with sand, after which further production of fluid from the formation becomes difficult or impossible. In other instances, sand production along with the fluid results in passage of granular mineral material into the pump and associated hardware of the producing well, which causes accelerated wear of the mechanical components of the producing oil well. Sustained production of sand sometimes forms a cavity in the formation which collapses and destroys the well. All of these problems are known to exist and many methods have been disclosed in the prior art and applied in oil fields in order to reduce or eliminate production of unconsolidated sand from a petroleum formation during the course of oil production.
Another problem encountered in oil production to which the present process offers an attractive solution is encountered when a well is in fluid communication with a section that includes one or more oil producing intervals and one or more water producing intervals. Production from such a zone results in production of some oil and some water. Since the viscosity of water is less than the viscosity of oil, a much larger volume of water than oil is frequently produced. There are many prior art processes for controlling fluid entry into wells, but none are entirely satisfactory.
Another problem that is frequently encountered in commercial petroleum production operations arises when it is desired to completely plug a well which is to be abandoned. The long term durability of the material used to plug wells for abandonment is of high current interest because of the danger that salt water or petroleum might enter and contaminate fresh water-containing intervals, or otherwise damage the environment.
The above-described production problems and potential solutions to the problems have been the subject of extensive research by the petroleum industry. One general approach suggested in the prior art for consolidating sand to form a fluid permeable zone around the well involves consolidating the porous but unconsolidated sand structure around the wellbore in order to cement the loose sand grains together, thereby forming a permeable mass which will allow production of fluids from the formation into the well but which will restrain the movement of sand particles into the wellbore. Another approach involves removing a portion of the formation around the well and packing specially prepared granular material into the formation around the wellbore which is subsequently caused to be cemented together in a manner which maintains fluid permeability.
It is a primary objective of any successful sand consolidation method that a barrier be formed around the wellbore which restrains the movement of sand particles into the well while offering little or no restriction to the flow of fluids, particularly oil, from the formation into the wellbore where it can be pumped to the surface of the earth. Consolidation only needs to extend into the formation to a depth of 6 to 12 inches around the periphery of the perforations or other openings in the outer casing of the production well.
The objective of a water exclusion of fluid entry control process is to form an impermeable barrier around the well to prevent the flow of sand and formation fluids into the well. A process similar to that used to control sand problems can be used for plugging formation for water exclusion, provided the process is modified to cause creation of an impermeable barrier rather than a permeable barrier.
A very important quality of a satisfactory sand consolidation method, plugging or water exclusion method is durability of the permeable or impermeable barrier formed around the wellbore. Once a permeable barrier for sand control is formed and the well is placed on production, there will be a continuing flow of fluids through the flow channels within the permeable barrier, and it is important that the barrier last for a significant period of time, e.g. several months and preferably years, without excessive abrasive wear or other deterioration of the consolidation matrix which would cause the particulate matter to flow once again into the wellbore. Similarly, it is important that impermeable barriers formed for fluid entry control, or for preparing a well for abandonment, be long lasting.
It is also important that the material injected into the formation for all of our formation treating methods described above should be essentially unreactive during the period it is inside the wellbore, i.e. while it is being pumped down the well and positioned where it is desired adjacent to the perforations of the production casing.
The processes employing the furfuryl alcohol oligomer or monomer have been used with consistently high success rates in many field applications. It has been noted, however, that the fluid density of the treating fluid, which is about 9.75 pounds per gallon, makes the process difficult to apply when the formation fluid density is equal to or greater than 9.75 pounds per gallon. There is, therefore, an unsatisfied need for a treating fluid and process which can be used to treat formations containing fluids greater than 9.75 pounds per gallon.


A rotatable gripper drum includes a seat mounted on the drum and a gripper supported on the drum for pivotal movement relative to the seat between an open position and a closed position. The seat is made from a resilient material and includes a body portion having first and second grip surfaces. The drum has a retaining pocket for receiving the body portion of the seat to secure the seat for rotation with the drum. The seat is selectively mountable in the retaining pocket with the body portion in a first orientation in which the first grip surface cooperates with the gripper to grip sheet material or in a second orientation in which the second grip surface cooperates with the gripper to grip sheet material.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a gripper seat for use in sheet material handling apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a gripper seat which is usable in two different orientations to extend the time before replacement of the gripper seat is necessary.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known sheet material handling apparatus includes a rotatable gripper drum having a gripper drum which cooperates with a gripper seat to grip sheet material. The gripper seat can become worn after a period of operation of the gripper drum. When the gripper seat becomes worn, the worn gripper seat must be replaced with a new gripper seat.


A light emitting device includes a first substrate and a second substrate. Each substrate may be subdivided into a contact region and a pixel region. Conductive elements positioned in each of the contact region and pixel region of the first substrate may be of substantially the same height.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a light emitting device and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Related Art
A light emitting device, which may be used in various flat panel displays, uses light which is emitted by electron-hole recombination. The light emitting device has advantages compared to other flat panel displays in that its response time is relatively fast and its power consumption is relatively low. Also, because the light emitting device does not require a backlight unit a light emitting device and/or devices using a light emitting device may be light weight.
An organic light emitting device (OLED) comprises an electron injection electrode, a hole injection electrode, and an emitting layer. The emitting layer may be made from an organic compound formed between the electron injection electrode and the hole injection electrode. When an injecting electron charges into the emitting layer, the injected electron and the injected hole are paired together. The extinction of the injected hole-electron pair results in electroluminescence.
Generally, in manufacturing an OLED, thin film transistors (TFT) are first formed on a substrate, and then organic light emitting diodes connected to the thin film transistors are formed on the thin film transistor. Subsequently, the substrate comprising the TFTs and the organic light emitting diodes is sealed with a sealing substrate.
In some situations, although the thin film transistors may be properly formed, the OLED may be defective if the light emitting diodes are formed with defects. In other words, the yield of the OLED depends on the yield of the emitting diodes. This increases expenses and processing time in manufacturing the OLED.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a light emitting device of a related art. In FIG. 1, a buffered layer 105 is disposed on a first substrate 100 which may include a contact region A and a pixel region B. Signal lines including a scan line (not shown), a first power line 110a, a gate electrode 110b, and a second power line 110c are disposed on the buffered layer 105.
A gate insulating layer 115 is disposed on the first substrate comprising signal lines. The gate insulating layer 115 comprises a first via-hole and a second via-hole, 135a and 135d, which expose portions of the first power line 110a and the second power line 110c.
A semiconductor layer 120 is disposed on the gate insulating layer 115 in pixel region B. At least a portion of the semiconductor corresponds to the gate electrode 110b. A drain electrode 125b and a source electrode 125c are disposed on portions of the semiconductor layer 120.
A contact layer 125a is disposed on the gate insulating layer 115 of the contact region A. The contact layer 125a connects to the first power line 10a through the first via-hole 135a. The contact layer 125a comprises the same material of the drain electrode 125b and the source electrode 125c.
A passivation layer 130 is disposed on the substrate comprising the contact layer 125a, the drain electrode and the source electrode 125b and 125c. The passivation layer 130 is formed to expose the contact layer 125a and the second via-hole 135d. A third and a fourth via-hole, 135b and 135c, are disposed in the passivation layer 130 exposing portions of the drain electrode 125b and the source electrode 125c.
The first metal line 140 is disposed on the source electrode 125c and electrically connects the source electrode 125c to the second power line 110c through the fourth via-hole 135c and the second via-hole 135d.
A first electrode 155 is disposed on the second substrate 150 opposing the first substrate 100. The first electrode 155 may be an anode. A pixel defining layer 160 is disposed on the first electrode 155. The pixel defining layer 160 comprises a first contact hole 165a on the contact region A and an opening 165b on the pixel region B exposing the first electrode 155.
A first spacer and a second spacer 175a and 175b are disposed on the contact region A and the pixel region B of the pixel defining layer 160, respectively. A second metal line 180a is disposed on the first spacer 175a connected to the first electrode 155 through the first contact hole 165a and a second electrode 180b is disposed on the second spacer 175b and emitting layer 170. The second electrode 180b may be a cathode.
The first substrate 100 is bonded with the second substrate 150 using a sealant 190. The second metal line 180a is electrically connected to the contact layer 125a and the second electrode 180b is electrically connected to the drain electrode 125b disposed on the first substrate 100.
As described above, the light emitting device is prepared as the first substrate 100 is bonded with the second substrate 150 after manufacturing them respectively. So, the first power line and the drain electrode disposed on the first substrate 100 are respectively connected to the first electrode and the second electrode using the spacers 175a and 175b.
There is a height difference between the contact region A and the pixel region B of the first substrate 100. As shown at C, in FIG. 1, it does not allow connecting the contact layer 125a of the first substrate 100 to the second metal line 180a of the second substrate 150. Therefore, a driving voltage from the first power line can not be supplied to the first electrode. This disadvantageously affects the quality of images and it may deteriorate the reliability and decrease yield of the light emitting device.

Light emitting device capable of removing height difference between contact region and pixel region and method for fabricating the same