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This invention generally relates to toolholders, and is particularly concerned with a toolholder assembly for accurately securing the shank of a punch in a compacting press of the type used to make cutting inserts.
Toolholders of the type utilizing set screws are well known in the prior art. Such toolholders generally comprise a collar having an annular wall. The inner surface of the annular wall defines a socket for receiving the end of a tool shank, while the outer surface of the wall defines the periphery of the collar. A set screw radially-oriented in the annular wall of the collar has a distal end that is extendible into and retractable from the socket recess. To secure a tool in the toolholder, one merely turns the set screw after the end of the tool shank has been inserted into the socket recess so that the tool shank is clampingly engaged between the end of the set screw and the opposing wall of the recess.
While set screw-type toolholders provide a simple and inexpensive mechanism for positively securing the end of a tool shank, the inventor has observed that such a mechanism is limited in the degree to which it can maintain an accurate alignment of the tool shank in the socket recess. Accurate alignment is necessary in many toolholder applications. One specific application involves the set screw type toolholder used to secure punches in compacting presses. These compacting presses may be used to manufacture cutting inserts. An example of such a compacting press 1 is illustrated in FIG. 1. Such presses include an upper plate assembly 3 having a set screw-type collar 5 for holding an upper punch 6. The punch 6 includes an upper ram 7 on the end of a shank 8 which may be cylindrical. The upper plate assembly 3 is reciprocally mounted with respect to a die table 13 by means of two guide rods 9a-b. The rods 9a-b are secured onto the sides of the upper plate assembly 3 by means of mounting screws 10a-b. Bottom portions of the guide rods are slidably mounted in cylindrical bushings 11a-b present in the sides of the die table 13. A forming cavity 15 is centrally disposed in the die table 13 just under the ram 7 of the upper punch 6. A stationary lower punch 17 with a lower ram 18 is located along the center line of the forming cavity 15, and extends no higher than the level of the die table 13. The lower punch 17 includes a lower ram 18 on the end of the punch. An annular die 19 circumscribes the forming cavity 15.
During the operation of the compacting press, carbide powder is loaded into the forming cavity 15, and the upper punch is forcefully pressed downwardly via a suitable hydraulic linkage (not shown) so that the carbide powder is compressed between the face of the upper ram 7, the lower ram 18 and the inner walls of the die 19. To insure the formation of a proper "green" insert (which is later further hardened by sintering), the dimensional tolerances between the outer diameter of the upper ram 7 and the inner diameter of the die 19 must be precise. Hence it is essential that the collar 5 maintain an accurate, center line alignment between the upper punch 6 and the forming cavity 15 defined by the die 19. In the past, set screw type collars have been used for this purpose. However, the applicant has observed that the deformation the set screw of the toolholder 5 causes to the collar can interfere with the accurate alignment between the upper punch and the forming cavity.
With specific reference now to FIGS. 2 and 3, such prior art toolholders 5 include a collar 23 circumscribed at its upper portion by an annular flange 25. Flange 25 facilitates the mounting of the toolholder 5 to the upper plate assembly 3 by means of bolts 27a,b (shown in FIG. 1). The collar 23 is formed in large part by an annular wall 29 whose inner surface defines a socket recess 31 for receiving the shank 8 of the upper punch 6, and an outer surface that defines the periphery 33 of the collar 23. The annular wall 29 has a radially-oriented threaded bore 35 for receiving a set screw 37. The distal end of the set screw 37 is received in an annular whistle notch 39 that circumscribes the proximal end of the punch shank 8. To minimize unwanted movement of the shank 8, the inner diameter of the socket recess 31 and the outer diameter of the shank 8 are dimensioned to very near the same size.
When the shank 8 is inserted into the recess 31 with the set screw 37 in a loosened condition, the shank 8 seats concentrically within the recess 31 as shown in FIG. 3. However, when the set screw 37 is tightened to insure that the shank 8 will not fall from the recess 31, the screw 37 applies a radial force to the annular wall 29 of the collar 23 which in turn results in an unwanted, lenticularly-shaped gap 40 as shown in FIG. 4. The gap 40 allows the shank 8 to rock about the set screw, thereby compromising the desired precise alignment between the axes of the cylindrical shank 8, and the annularly-shaped recess 31. This misalignment not only results in the manufacture of cutting inserts that are not within tolerances (which in turn necessitates a further grinding step or a complete discarding of the insert); it further can cause chipping of the edges of the upper and lower rams 7 and 18 and of the die 19, which in turn necessitates their replacement.
Clearly, there is a need for a toolholder capable of accurately mounting a punch or other tool in a desired alignment. While chuck and collet type toolholders are known which are capable of accurately aligning cutting tools, such toolholders require the precise machining of a relatively large number of parts and surfaces before such accurate alignment characteristics can be achieved. Accordingly, it would be desirable if such a toolholder were capable of achieving the same accurate tool alignment as collet and chuck-like toolholders by means of a mechanism that was far simpler in structure, and hence much easier and less expensive to manufacture. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic signal coupling and, more particularly, to a coupling device. The coupling device may be used to couple, for example, coaxial cables, tap blocks, and so forth.
2. Background of the Invention
Coaxial cable is in widespread use for distributing wide band radio frequency information, such as television and radio signals. The cable television/radio industry, which relies almost exclusively on coaxial cable, is one of the most rapidly expanding segments of the United States' economy. It is anticipated that in the very near future the amount and type of information available via coaxial cable networks will be greatly expanded beyond traditional television and radio signals. By the early part of the twenty-first century, coaxial cable networks may be the principal vehicle by which consumers obtain their daily news, access library information, do their shopping, pay their bills, and otherwise interact with much of the outside world. Maintaining and controlling the integrity of the coaxial cable distribution networks that will carry such a large amount and such a wide variety of consumer information and services is a major challenge for the cable network industry.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a coaxial cable to which the present invention may be applied, according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Coaxial cable typically includes a pair of conductors, a central axial conductor 12 and an outer conductor 15 that is disposed concentrically around the central conductor 12. A low-loss, high dielectric insulation material 13, such as plastic foam, is used to separate the two conductors. An outer insulating jacket 10 is often provided over the concentric conductor 15 to provide electrical insulation and physical protection to the cable. The concentric conductor 15 may be a single continuous element or, more commonly, it is a composite of several layered elements of conductive foil, wire braid or similar material.
For ease of initial installation and for flexibility with respect to subsequent modifications, coaxial cable networks comprise lengths of cable connected to one another by some sort of connection equipment. In most coaxial cable networks, such connection equipment takes the form of a male/female connection system wherein the male member is provided by a connection jack and the female member is provided by a threaded or friction-fit coupler dimensioned to attach over the jack. A standard connection jack comprises a cylindrical, externally threaded body. The outwardly projecting end of the jack is covered by a planar member that has a central aperture. Behind the aperture, within the confines of the body of the jack, is disposed an internal conductor which is shielded from the body. The body is electrically connected to one of the coaxial cable circuits and the inner conductor is connected to the other coaxial cable circuit.
The female member in the typical male/female connection system commonly comprises a jack connection moiety that is adapted to attach to the cable connection jack. The female member also comprises a cable connection moiety which physically attaches to the terminus of a coaxial cable in such a way that the cable connection moiety is in electrical contact with the concentric conductor of the coaxial cable. The cable connection moiety is adapted to allow the terminus of the central conductor to project through the center of the female member without contacting the female member, so that, when the jack moiety is attached to the outside of the conductor jack body, the central conductor terminus protrudes into the connection jack central aperture (without contacting the jack connection moiety of the female member or the conductor jack body) and is placed into electrical contact with the internal conductor of the connection jack.
Coaxial cable networks are traditionally distributed to individual residences using existing telephone company poles and underground conduits. A coaxial cable “trunk” is run through a neighborhood in parallel with telephone and electrical lines, and each residence to be serviced by the cable network is connected into (“tapped into”) the trunk line. The interface between the trunk line tap and the cable line running to an individual residence (the “drop line”) is traditionally called a “tap block”. A tap block traditionally is a small metal box having a flat face plate called a “tap plate”. Projecting outwardly from the tap plate are several coaxial cable connection jacks. Each cable service-subscribing residence in the immediate vicinity of the tap block is connected to one of the connection jacks on the tap plate.
Typically, all of the services provided by the cable network company are available at the tap face connection jacks. If a residence chooses not to pay for certain special cable network services (such as the HBO™ television network and the Pay-Per-View™ television network), a “signal trap”’ is interposed between the tap face connection jack and the drop line for that individual residence. A signal trap is a small electrical device having an input connector jack and an output connector jack. The signal trap is electrically configured so as to filter out or scramble the signal of a non-subscribed-to cable service.
From the tap block, a drop line is run to each individual residence and is connected to individual “receivers” (i.e., televisions or radios). Where more than one receiver is used by the residence, the drop line will terminate at a “signal splitter” having one input connection jack and two or more output connection jacks. It is common practice for many coaxial cable networks to charge an additional subscriber fee for the use of signal splitters to connect up additional receiving devices.
The problem with the use of such typical coaxial cable connection equipment is that such equipment is easy to connect, disconnect and reconnect. It is unfortunately easy for a dishonest consumer to be able to surreptitiously tap into a coaxial cable network. It is also far too easy for a dishonest consumer to reconfigure his existing coaxial cable connection system to surreptitiously connect up the cable network to additional receiving devices and to reconfigure his cable network to eliminate signal traps.
In addition to the vulnerability of typical coaxial cable connection equipment to physical tampering, typical coaxial cable network connection equipment is also vulnerable to corrosive and/or otherwise degrading conditions within the atmosphere, such as moisture, dust, and smog.
There have been many attempts to make connection equipment for coaxial cable systems more tamper resistant and more resistant to degradation from ambient- conditions. However, none of these attempts has been wholly satisfactory. Either the prior attempts relied upon connection equipment that was insufficiently resistant to tampering and/or degradation from ambient conditions or the prior attempts relied upon connection equipment which was excessively expensive to manufacture and/or awkward, complex and expensive to install in the field. Also, many prior attempts relied on connection equipment that could not be retrofit onto existing coaxial cable connection jacks.
Accordingly, there is a need for a coaxial cable coupling device that provides increased tamper resistance. There is also a need for a coaxial cable coupling device that provides increased resistance to degradation from ambient conditions. There is a still further need for a coaxial cable coupling device that, while providing adequate resistance to tampering and ambient condition degradation, is inexpensive to manufacture and is easy and inexpensive to install. Finally, there is a need for a coaxial cable coupling device that, while providing adequate resistance to tampering and ambient condition degradation, can be retrofit into existing coaxial cable network systems. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Automotive engines have been developed to obtain higher horsepower in a more compact package with reduced weight. The increased horsepower and weight reduction have been achieved simultaneously with cleaner, more efficient burn and less particulate and gaseous emissions. Lower maintenance is required with modern day automotive engines. Oil changes and spark plug changes now occur at larger mileage intervals as compared to twenty years ago. Fuel efficiency has increased to provide greater mileage per gallon.
The increased horsepower in smaller packages has made it possible to reduce engine compartment sizes in small automobiles so that comfortable and relatively spacious passenger compartments can be provided. The trend has been to make even smaller engines to complement the smaller automobiles allowing even more space for passenger compartments.
While smaller engines have been developed with sufficient horsepower for highway speeds and adequate acceleration, they are more sensitive to the power drain from accessories such as cooling fans, air conditioning, automatic transmission, oil pumps, and four wheel drive. Often the power drain is sufficiently great that the acceleration during the power drain becomes unacceptable. As a result, clutches for accessories have been developed so that the accessories are not continuously and needlessly operated. Often, the clutches are designed to disconnect accessory units during acceleration or other high load conditions to lower the maximum load or torque of the engine.
Smaller batteries have also been developed to accompany the smaller engine compartments to provide starting cranking power. Often these smaller batteries have less ampere-hours and less power than larger heavier batteries and may be more easily drained if there is a problem starting the automotive engine.
Oil pressure is provided by an oil pump to circulate the oil through the engine block to lubricate the various moving parts such as the camshaft, crankshaft, pistons, and connecting rods and other various bearings. The lubrication is necessary to prevent metal to metal contact. The oil is circulated to replace the oil that is warmed and expelled from the bearings due to the heat emanating from the bearings and lubricated surfaces. If the oil is overheated, the oil viscosity becomes very low and the oil breaks down thereby allowing metal-to-metal contact between the bearing surfaces. A gear or chain driven oil pump has been traditionally used by the engine to provide flow of the oil at all times.
When the engine is fully warmed up and is at operating temperatures, the oil is hot. Consequently, the viscosity is lower, and oil flows more freely through the various bearings. Since the necessary flow of oil depends on pressure, viscosity and clearance (i.e. passage restriction), and the clearance is virtually a constant, the flow increases as the viscosity decreases and the pressure drops as the oil is warmed. Under such conditions, in order to maintain the necessary flow of oil for keeping the bearing cool enough to establish the required hydrodynamic lubrication film thickness, the pressure must be increased. That means that the size and capacity of the oil pump must be sufficient or in excess of the maximum requirement after the engine is used and partially worn, to assure the necessary flow to keep the bearings from oil starvation and mechanical failure under the worst conditions of temperature (hot) and mechanical wear (increased clearances). The oil pressure by being dependent on the speed of the oil pump, is dependent on the engine speed up to a point where a pressure regulator valve open at or near 60 psi on many engines.
When the engine is cold such as during a cold start, the oil is cold and the viscosity is high, the oil pressure provided by the oil pump is highest. However, this high oil pressure is not desired nor is it beneficial. The high viscosity and the temperatures of the cold oil makes it unnecessary for the oil pump to circulate much oil. Secondly, the oil pressure exerted by the oil pump provides resistance to the cranking of the engine during start up which provides an unnecessary power drain on the battery, lower cranking speeds and increased fuel consumption during cold operation.
All engines use a pressure-relief valve to limit the maximum line oil pressure, for the purposes of providing excess capacity to compensate for hot-oil operating conditions, and for oil which is too thin or diluted by fuel contamination and excessive clearances in the bearings. This pressure-relief valve in many cases is not sufficiently large to handle the large pressure increases at the pump head with cold oil, i.e., when the natural flow of oil past the bearings is limited by the high viscosity of the cold oil; the efficiency of the pump itself is also increased due to the reduced internal leakage. The pressure increase is further compounded by the engine being run at a high speed to promote quick engine warm-up. The applicant is aware of cases where the pump's driving torque under such conditions has been as high as eight times the normal running torque, and where very expensive failures have occurred due to oil pumps drive failure. In such cases, it has been demonstrated that dumping as much as 75% of the pump's capacity, and dumping it at the pump head, solves the problem without other detrimental effects.
Systems have been developed to vary the oil pressure dependent on the operating temperature of the engine. Some prior art systems use two pressure-operated relief valves, one at the pump discharge. Other which use multiple oil pumps provide an electrically operated on-off solenoid valve to dump the output of one of the pumps. For the larger type of automotive engines and large truck diesels operating in very cold regions, very expensive and complicated engine cranking systems are used to generate enough speed and rapidity of compression to initiate combustion. Since the oil pump in such cases requires so much torque, and since the bearings constantly being fed cold oil also increases their own oil-shear friction, dumping the line pressure during cranking in such conditions allow more cranking torque to be used to turn the engine over (crank it) faster, greatly increasing the engine's starting ability. What is needed is a economical system that reduces the pressure and flow of oil during cold engine conditions and controls the oil pressure as the engine temperatures increase. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention concerns a novel method and apparatus for the removal of hydrocarbons from a compressed air/gas stream. Specifically, the invention utilizes a catalytic oxidation method and system to remove hydrocarbons from compressed air.
Compressed air and/or gas has a wide variety of industrial uses. For example, compressed air or gas may be utilized to transmit power, such as in a system for operating pneumatic tools. Alternatively, compressors are often utilized to provide air for combustion in various apparatus. Compressed air may also be utilized to transport and distribute material, such as in air conveying. Compressed air is also used in instrumentation systems throughout industry. Other uses for compressed air or gas include producing or creating conditions more conducive to certain chemical reactions or processes, as well as producing and maintaining desired pressure levels for many purposes. Such uses may require the removal of contaminants which have either leaked or flowed into the system, or are initially present, although unwanted.
Generally speaking, compressed air or gas may be generated by either oil-lubricated type compressors (hereinafter "lubricated compressor(s)") or oil-free, non-lubricated type compressors. The latter oil-free or non-lubricated type compressors are relatively expensive to manufacture, operate and maintain. In this regard, the initial cost of purchasing or providing such a non-lubricated compressor is higher than a comparable oil lubricated type compressor. Moreover, non-lubricated compressors generally consume significantly greater quantities of energy in operation, being typically from 3 percent to 15 percent less efficient than lubricated compressors. Hence, in general, non-lubricated compressors cost 15 percent to 100 percent more than lubricated compressors to purchase initially and require about 25 percent to 50 percent more maintenance. Heretofore, many industrial users have been willing to absorb these higher costs because of problems caused by compressor lubricants in the less expensive lubricated type of compressors.
In this latter regard, while oil-lubricated compressors are more energy efficient, cost significantly less to purchase and require less maintenance than non-lubricated compressors, lubricating oil carry-over (hydrocarbons) in the downstream compressed air causes a number of problems in practice.
Due to the relatively high temperatures and pressures utilized in the air compression process, the lubricants in the downstream air undergo several changes. The oils have in effect been fractionated and cracked and have lost, or been greatly reduced in, their lubricating properties. These oils or hydrocarbons often further mix with water and/or solid particulate matter or "dirt" present in the air/gas stream which may cause severe damage to downstream components. Such problems may include washing away of lubricants required on the downstream instruments or machinery resulting in increased wear and increased required maintenance thereof. This combination of oil, dirt and water in the downstream air can also cause automatic valves, cylinders and like equipment to operate either slowly, unreliably or not at all, as well as causing malfunctions of instrumentation in the air/gas stream. In some systems, product spoilage is caused by these unwanted contaminants, and excessive rust and/or abrasion of downstream parts or products may occur. It has also been found that these contaminants in the air/gas stream can cause outdoor air lines to freeze in cold weather.
Additionally, in an air compressor system, oxygen is always present, and where petroleum oils are used as a lubricant, there must be some concern for the potential of fire or explosion in the system. A source of energy for ignition may be provided by friction, static electricity or heat from the compressor, often in the form of hot carbon particles in the air/gas stream. Most commonly, the petroleum oils used as a lubricant, and present to some degree in the air/gas stream, decompose to form such carbon particles. These particles form deposits which tend to collect on the valves, heads, discharge ports, and in piping in delivery and utilization systems. Tests have shown that such carbon deposits absorb oxygen from the air and under certain conditions generate heat. This heat may reach a point where ignition occurs in the carbon deposits, and such ignition may cause further fire or explosion elsewhere in the system, as well.
Moreover, many treatment systems include drying devices for removing moisture from the compressed air. These drying devices generally work by heating the compressed air, which is often initially at a relatively elevated temperature from compression. In the presence of such relatively elevated temperatures and heating devices, the presence of hydrocarbons in the system can pose a danger of fire or explosion. That is, the hydrocarbon based compressor lubricant lost through bypass or thermal cracking is often transmitted into the compressed air, and the resulting hydrocarbons contaminate treatment and/or distribution systems downstream, often becoming trapped in treatment sections where they sometimes ignite or detonate. In this regard, conventional treatment sections often include mechanical oil filtering devices. While oil and cracked oil products are always present as low concentration contaminants in lubricated systems, concentration can rise over long periods of operation to a point where serious problems are caused or threatened. Such problems are particularly acute for drying systems which operate at elevated temperatures and therefore can more easily cause ignition in the presence of excess hydrocarbons.
A number of lubricants are utilized in air compressors, refined petroleum products being the most prevalent. Synthetic type lubricants are also utilized, and these latter materials are believed to provide a lesser danger of fire or explosion in a system. However, volatile pyrolysis products are often produced for such synthetics in the system which can still cause a danger of fire or explosion. Synthetic lubricants have other disadvantages as well. Due to the energy intensive manufacturing processes utilized in their production, synthetic lubricants are from five to seven times as expensive as petroleum based lubricants. Additionally, most synthetic lubricants tend to exhibit relatively low viscosity, causing low temperature handling problems. Moreover, many commonly used gasket, seal packing and lubricator materials are attacked by synthetic lubricants.
In addition to the foregoing, one particularly advantageous type of dryer, known as a regenerative heat of compression drying system generally cannot be utilized with lubricated compressors. Such heat of compression drying systems generally reuse the heat energy generated during the compression process which is otherwise lost as waste heat energy. Hence, such heat of compression type dryers are relatively inexpensive to operate. Since they utilize a source of energy already present in the system, such dryers virtually eliminate the conventional energy costs of drying air. However, these energy efficient heat of compression drying systems operate at elevated temperatures such that they are normally ruled out for use in connection with lubricated type compressors. That is, because of the presence of hydrocarbons in the downstream flow from such lubricated compressors, the relatively high temperature of operation of heat of compression drying systems is generally believed to pose too great a threat of auto ignition to justify their use.
While, as mentioned above, mechanical filters have been utilized in an effort to remove hydrocarbons from the compressed air stream from lubricated compressors, such mechanical filtering is of limited usefulness. For example, a typical filter operates in liquid phase and hence can only remove hydrocarbons in liquid phase from the air stream. However, since the air is generally at an elevated temperature leaving the compressor and can approach saturation with oil vapor, hydrocarbons or oil products still in vapor form will pass through the filter, and as the air cools downstream of the filter, will condense into the liquid state.
Moreover, conventional filters require daily draining and periodic replacement of filter cartridges, in the absence of which they rapidly become ineffective. Such maintenance procedures are of course relatively time consuming and expensive and can require system shutdown to carry out. However, as mentioned above, even properly maintained filters can collect a quantity of hydrocarbons over a period of operation, thus posing potential ignition or detonation dangers in the presence of the elevated temperatures of the compressed air and gases in the system.
The development of hydrocarbon catalysis coincides with the arrival of the petroleum age, when natural oil and gas provide most of our energy and an increasing share of raw materials for chemical industry. According to the well known principles of catalytic action, unstable species may result when a hydrocarbon molecule collides with the active center of a catalyst. The nature and reactivity of these intermediates determine the products of catalysis and the rate of reaction.
Vapor phase catalytic oxidation and reduction is used for the removal of a large variety of objectionable compounds from many types of gas streams. Catalytic oxidation is particularly suitable for removing small amounts of combustable contaminants from gas streams containing these compounds in concentrations below the flammable limit, and, therefore, has found wide application in the field of air pollution and odor control. Similar applications include automobile exhaust catalytic converters and carbon monoxide converters for breathing air in industrial compressed air systems. The catalytic oxidation apparatus and system for removal of hydrocarbons from compressed air/gas differs from these similar systems in several significant ways. Automotive exhaust systems are designed to remove trace amounts of hydrocarbons from atmospheric pressure emmission systems operated at extremely high temperatures for the protection of the environment. Carbon monoxide converters are used in industrial applications for the conversion of carbon monoxide, a potentially deadly contaminant, into harmless carbon dioxide when used in breathing air apparatus.
None of the catalysts utilized in these related applications would perform when tested in the catalytic oxidation system for removal of hydrocarbons in compressed air. The basic design considerations of the catalytic oxidation system preclude utilization of existing technology and in fact required the development of new catalysts and technology. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention pertains to the heating of a heavily cold worked metal alloy sheet to recrystallize its microstructure to a highly formable (e.g., superplastic) condition, and to raise its temperature for an immediate forming operation. More specifically, this invention pertains to a method combining infrared radiation heating with convection heating to rapidly heat the cold worked sheet under controlled conditions for such recrystallization and forming.
Body panels for automotive vehicles are currently being manufactured using a superplastic forming process applied to certain magnesium-containing aluminum alloy sheet stock. At the present time, the sheet stock is a specially prepared, fine grain microstructure aluminum alloy 5083. AA5083 has a nominal composition, by weight, of about 4 to 5 percent magnesium, 0.3 to 1 percent manganese, a maximum of 0.25 percent chromium, about 0.1 percent copper, up to about 0.3 percent iron, up to about 0.2 percent silicon, and the balance substantially all aluminum. Generally, the alloy is cast into a slab of a suitable thickness and subjected to a homogenizing heat treatment. The slab is then gradually reduced in thickness by a series of hot rolling operations to a strip in the range of twenty to forty millimeters depending somewhat on the goal for the final thickness of the sheet. The strip is then cold rolled, usually in stages with possible interposed anneals, to a final sheet thickness in the range of about one to three or four millimeters. The result of the thermomechanical processing is a coil of smooth surface aluminum sheet stock, the microstructure of which has been severely strained.
The cold rolled strip is not suitable for a high elongation forming operation. It must be reheated to recrystallize the elongated, strained grains that characterize its microstructure by the nucleation and growth of nearly strain-free grains. The goal of the recrystallizing heat treatment in the case of AA5083 sheet is to produce a very fine grained microstructure characterized by a principal phase of a solid solution of magnesium in aluminum, with well distributed, finely disbursed particles of intermetallic compounds containing minor alloying constituents such as, Al6Mn. The recrystallized grain size in the microstructure is uniformly about ten to fifteen micrometers. Because the dispersed phase is so small the material is sometimes described as xe2x80x9cpseudo single phase.xe2x80x9d The fine-grained sheet can be heated and superplastically formed into a complex part like an automotive body panel. The sheet can sustain substantial elongation at a suitable strain rate and at a temperature in the range of about 440xc2x0 C. (825xc2x0 F.) to about 550xc2x0 C. (1020xc2x0 F.).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,588 entitled xe2x80x9cQuick Plastic Forming of Aluminum Alloy Sheet Metal,xe2x80x9d by Rashid et al. and assigned to the assignee of this invention, discloses practices by which the aluminum alloy sheet metal is stretch formed at a suitable forming temperature into automotive body panels and the like. The ""588 patent describes practices for forming aluminum alloy sheet metal using a pressurized working fluid such as air. In accordance with this practice, the sheet metal blank is first placed on a pre-bending and heating tool. The heated tool heats the sheet metal blank to its forming temperature and pre-bends it, if desired, for placement on a second tool configured for stretch-forming the heated sheet into a body panel or the like. The heated blank is then clamped at its edges and gas pressure is applied which forces the sheet into the tool cavity to assume the requisite shape of the part. The preparation of the sheet material before forming is critical so that it can sustain the deformation necessary to form the part and retain a commercially acceptable surface finish.
If the sheet metal blank selected for forming has been recrystallized by the coil manufacturer (i.e., supplied in the soft, fully annealed O temper condition), the heating on the pre-heat tool may further the grain growth of its microstructure. Alternatively, if a blank is taken from a cold rolled coil supplied without heat treatment, e.g., in the H18 temper, the metal is not formable because it has experienced a cold rolling reduction of 74% or more as a last processing step. When an un-recrystallized blank is placed on the preheat and pre-bend tool of the Rashid, et al, ""588 patent disclosure, the sheet material is recrystallized as it is slowly heated to the panel forming temperature over a period of five to ten minutes. Once the sheet has been recrystallized and reaches a forming temperature, for example, in the range of 825xc2x0 F. to 845xc2x0 F. (about 441xc2x0 C. to 452xc2x0 C.), it is bent and transferred to a heated forming press in which it is stretch formed into a vehicle body panel or the like.
The prolonged preheating of the sheet metal blank to effect recrystallization of the cold-worked sheet to produce a superplastic formable microstructure has taken five to ten minutes but produced a very formable sheet. Slow recrystallization of the sheet metal on a forming tool has been used in the commercial production of body panels. However, the heating times on the open tools have not been consistent and the heating time has become rate limiting for the overall forming process described in the ""588 patent. It is now desired to start with blanks from a cold worked coil and more rapidly heat them to enable a faster rate of production. Hopefully, the more rapid heating rate will also produce an even finer recrystallized grain size and greater superplastic ductility.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method of consistently heating a cold-worked, superplastically formable, aluminum alloy sheet so as to quickly convert its highly strained microstructure into a recrystallized fine grained microstructure that is suitable for a superplastic forming operation. At the same time that the sheet is being recrystallized it is being heated to a suitable forming temperature, such as a stretch forming temperature. It is also an object of the invention to provide such a heating method applicable to other cold worked sheet metal alloys that can be recrystallized under static conditions to a highly deformable pseudo single phase material.
It has been found that it is possible and practical to rapidly recrystallize a sheet blank of cold worked, H18 temper, AA 5083 material, sized for vehicle body panel manufacture, and heat it to a suitable superplastic forming temperature. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a sheet is placed in an oven adapted for recirculating, forced flow, hot air convection heating of the sheet. However, the principal initial rapid heating of the sheet is accomplished by also using infrared heating rods suitably closely spaced to a surface of the sheet.
The infrared radiant heating rods are turned on with the cold sheet in place, for example, on a ceramic hearth of the oven. The efficient radiation heating rapidly raises the temperature of the thin metal and induces recrystallization of the cold worked strained grains of its microstructure. At the same time the forced flow of hot air is directed against and across the surface of the sheet, also heating it. The radiant heaters are turned off at a suitable, predetermined time during the heating cycle to avoid excessive heating or localized melting of the sheet. The temperature of the circulating air is controlled to limit the maximum temperature of the sheet. The circulating air flowing against the sheet serves to produce a more uniform temperature distribution in the sheet. For example, the air temperature may be controlled at about 900xc2x0 F. to limit the radiantly heated sheet to about the same temperature. The circulating air also serves to xe2x80x9ccoolxe2x80x9d and limit the temperature of the much hotter (1500 to 1700xc2x0 F.) radiant heater elements.
It is found that the sheet is suitably recrystallized to a microstructure for superplastic forming and heated to a suitable temperature for such forming within a period of, for example, sixty to one hundred fifty seconds. Advantageously, this period is comparable to the actual panel forming operation so that the heating operation no longer slows the panel manufacturing process. The hot sheet is removed from the oven and, without intentional cooling, placed on a forming tool for pre-bending and/or final part formation.
This invention is likewise applicable to the static recrystallization of other pseudo single phase alloys such as aluminum alloys of the AA 2xxx series, other alloys of the AA5xxx series, alloys of the AA7xxx series, as well as suitable magnesium, ferrous and titanium superplastic alloys.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will became apparent from a detailed description of a preferred embodiment which follows. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In accordance with a rapid spread of information relevant apparatuses and communication apparatuses such as a personal computer, a video camera and a portable telephone in recent years, the development of a battery to be utilized as a power source thereof has been emphasized. The development of a high-output and high-capacity battery for an electric automobile or a hybrid automobile has been advanced also in the automobile industry. A lithium battery has been presently noticed from the viewpoint of a high energy density among various kinds of batteries.
Liquid electrolyte containing a flammable organic solvent is used for a presently commercialized lithium battery, so that the installation of a safety device for restraining temperature rise during a short circuit and the improvement in structure and material for preventing the short circuit are necessary therefor. On the contrary, a lithium battery all-solidified by replacing the liquid electrolyte with a solid electrolyte layer is conceived to intend the simplification of the safety device and be excellent in production cost and productivity for the reason that the flammable organic solvent is not used in the battery. In addition, a sulfide solid electrolyte material has been known as a solid electrolyte material used for such a solid electrolyte layer.
The sulfide solid electrolyte material is so high in Li ion conductivity as to be useful for intending higher output of a battery, and various kinds of research have been conventionally made. For example, in Non Patent Literature 1, an LiI—Li2S—P2S5-based amorphous material obtained by a mechanical milling method is disclosed. In Non Patent Literature 2, an LiI—Li2S—P2S5-based amorphous material obtained by a mechanical milling method is disclosed. In Non Patent Literature 3, it is disclosed that an LiI—Li2S—P2S5-based sulfide solid electrolyte material is used for the anode side and another solid electrolyte material is used for the cathode side.
Also, in Patent Literature 1, Li2S—P2S5-based lithium ion conductor crystal glass and a battery using this as a solid electrolyte are disclosed. In Patent Literature 2, in order to restrain a reaction of a cathode active material and a solid electrolyte, a nonaqueous electrolyte battery selecting a combination of the solid electrolytes for a specific combination is disclosed. | {
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1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a digital moving picture encoding method and apparatus, a moving picture decoding method and apparatus and a recording medium, presupposed on transmission of moving picture signals by a transmission apparatus having variable transmission rates, such as analog or digital telephone networks or dedicated data transmission networks and recording on storage mediums having variable recording capacities, such as optical/magnetic discs or random access memories (RAMs).
2. Description of the Related Art
Among picture encoding systems, there is an encoding technique termed an object scalable encoding system. This encoding system divides a picture into groups termed objects and performs encoding from one object to another.
For example, in object-scalable encoding of a picture V1 made up of a human being and the background, the picture V1 is divided into an object representing the human being and an object representing the background. A picture V2 constituting an object representing a human being and a picture V3 constituting an object representing the background are encoded independently. This enables control such as to finely quantize the picture of the object V2 of the human being and to coarsely quantize the picture V3 of the object of the background and control of encoding all frames of the object V2 of the human being and encoding the picture V3 of the object of the background at a rate of one to a number of frames. This encoding technique has the advantage that the subjective picture quality can be improved for the same amount of generated codes or that the amount of generated codes can be decreased for the same subjective picture quality.
For realizing this object scalable encoding, it is necessary to encode the shape of an object other than the usually encoded texture image (or simply the texture) representing the brightness and color tone of the picture. The object shape is termed the shape picture or simply the shape. It is also occasionally termed key signals. In the example of FIG. 1, the picture V2 of the object of the human being is divided into a texture picture V2a and a shape picture V2b, these pictures V2a and V2b being encoded independently.
The signals representing the shape are classed into hard key signals and soft key signals. The hard key signals are bi-valued pictures representing the inside or the outside of the picture. If a pixel is indicated as being the inside of the object, the texture of the object is used as an output picture. If a pixel is indicated as being the outside of the object, the texture of the background is used as an output picture. The soft key signal is a multi-valued picture representing the ratio of synthesizing the texture inside the object and that outside the object. In a pixel the value of the soft key signal of which is maximum, the pixel value of the texture of the object is directly used as an output picture, whereas, in a pixel the value of the soft key signal of which is minimum, the pixel value of the texture of the background is directly used as an output picture. If the pixel is of an intermediate value, the pixel values of both textures are synthesized, depending on the pixel value, and the resulting synthesized pixel value is used as an output picture.
On the other hand, in a system for transmitting or storing moving picture signals, the picture signals may be compression-coded by exploiting the intra-frame or inter-frame correlation of the moving picture signals for enabling efficient utilization of the transmission channel or the storage medium. Among the techniques of compression-coding the moving picture signals, there is an encoding system standardized by the research organization for encoding the moving pictures, termed MPEG (Moving Picture Image Coding Experts Group).
As the encoding method for picture signals exploiting the above-mentioned intra-frame correlation, orthogonal transform concentrating the coefficients for encoding is frequently used as far as the texture is concerned, while a method based on the so-called MMR (modified modified read) or a method based on JBIG (Joint Bi-level Image Coding Experts Group) is conceived as far as the shape is concerned.
As a method utilizing the above-mentioned inter-frame correlation, motion compensated inter-frame prediction is frequently used. The principle of this motion compensated inter-frame prediction is now explained with reference to FIG. 2.
It is assumed that pictures P1 and P2 have been generated at time points t1 and t2, the picture P1 is already sent and the picture P2 is being newly sent, as shown in FIG. 2. At this time, the picture P2 is divided into plural blocks for each of which the amount of motion (motion vector) between it and the picture P1 is detected. The picture P1 is moved in translation in an amount equal to the motion vector to give a prediction picture for the block, and a difference picture between the prediction picture and the block of the picture P2 is found. The difference picture and the motion vector are encoded by way of the above-mentioned motion compensated inter-frame prediction.
Since the motion compensated inter-frame prediction is effective both for encoding the texture and for encoding the shape, the motion compensated inter-frame prediction is used in the object scalable encoding for these two. Since the motion vector of the texture is correlated with that of the shape, it is practised to use the motion vector for the texture for predicting the motion vector of the shape.
FIG. 3 shows an illustrative structure of an encoding device for the shape moving picture and the texture motion vector exploiting the above-mentioned motion compensated inter-frame prediction and the motion vector prediction, while FIG. 4 shows the structure of a decoding device which is a counterpart of the encoding device.
The moving picture encoding device shown in FIG. 3 encodes the shape moving picture entering a shape input terminal 101 and a texture motion vector entering a texture input terminal 108 to output the resulting encoded signals at a code output terminal 112.
The texture entering the texture input terminal 108 is sent to a texture motion detector 109 and to a texture encoder 111. The texture motion detector 109 detects the amount of motion between the input texture and the locally decoded texture picture locally decoded by the texture encoder 111 as later explained to output the texture motion vector on the block basis. In detecting the texture motion vector, a locally decoded shape picture as later explained is used. That is, since the texture motion vector is detected on the block basis, the locally decoded shape picture is used to omit the detecting operation of the background portion if the block contains an edge between the human being and the background.
The texture motion vector detected by the texture motion detector 109 is sent to a texture motion compensation unit 110 and to the texture motion vector encoder 106 for texture encoding, while also being sent to a shape motion detector 102 and to a shape motion vector encoder 105 for shape encoding. The texture motion compensation unit 110 creates a prediction texture picture from the locally decoded picture, using the texture motion vector, and enters the picture to the texture encoder 111. The texture encoder 111 encodes the input texture on the block basis. The texture motion vector encoder 106 calculates the difference between the texture motion vector and the texture motion vector of a previously encoded block to encode the resulting difference texture motion vector.
The shape entered from the shape input terminal 101 is sent to the shape motion detector 102 and to a shape encoder 104 as later explained. The shape motion detector 102 detects the amount of motion between the input shape and the locally decoded shape picture locally decoded by the shape decoder 104, on the block basis. In detecting this shape motion vector, reference is had to the texture motion vector in order to find the motion vector having a lesser difference from the texture motion vector so as not to increase the amount of generated bits at the time of encoding the shape motion vector as later explained. The detected shape motion vector is entered to a shape motion compensation unit 103 and to the shape motion vector encoder 105 for shape encoding. The shape motion vector encoder 105 calculates a difference between the shape motion vector and the texture motion vector of the previously encoded block to encode the difference shape motion vector. The shape motion compensation unit 103 generates a prediction shape picture from the locally decoded shape picture, using the shape motion vector, to enter the produced prediction shape picture in the shape encoder 104. The shape decoder 104 encodes the input shape, based on the prediction shape picture, from one block to another.
Output signals of the shape decoder 104, shape motion vector encoder 105, texture motion vector encoder 106 and the texture encoder 111 are multiplexed by a multiplexer 107 so as to be outputted as encoded data at a code output terminal 112. This encoded data is transmitted over a communication network to a receiving side, or recorded on a recording medium for later reproduction by a reproducing device.
The encoding method for the shape motion vector and the texture motion vector is summarized. The texture motion vector is encoded as a difference from the texture motion vector of the previously detected block (difference texture motion vector). The shape motion vector is encoded as a difference from the texture motion vector of the previously encoded block, that is the directly previous block (difference shape motion vector).
For texture encoding, the locally decoded shape picture must be previously found. The texture encoder 111 encodes the texture on the block basis. If this block contains an edge between the human being and the background, and the texture within the block is encoded in this state, high frequency components are produced to disable efficient data encoding. Thus, if a block contains an edge, the processing of substituting pixels of the background portion for the pixels of an edge portion with the human being is performed by exploiting the locally decoded shape picture.
The time flow of encoding of the above-mentioned shape motion vector and texture motion vector is as shown in FIG. 5. The processing of FIG. 5 is iteration from block to block. The following processing is carried out for each block.
First, at step ST101, one of the previously encoded texture motion vectors (usually, the texture motion vector lying on the left or upper side of the block being encoded) is selected, and a difference shape motion vector between the texture motion vector and the shape motion vector of the block being encoded is calculated and encoded.
Then, at step ST102, the shape is encoded, using the shape motion vector, and the resulting encoded shape is locally decoded to find the locally decoded shape picture. Then, at step ST103, the texture motion vector is found using the locally decoded shape picture. As for the texture motion vector, a difference between the texture motion vector of the block for encoding and the previously encoded texture motion vector is calculated and encoded.
Then, at step ST104, the texture is encoded, using the texture motion vector, and the resulting encoded texture is locally decoded to find the locally decoded picture. Finally, at step ST106, it is judged whether or not the processing for all blocks has come to a close. If the processing has not come to a close, processing reverts to step ST101 to repeat the above processing. If the processing has come to a close, the flow of the flowchart is terminated.
The reciprocal reference between the texture motion vector and the shape motion vector is as shown in FIG. 6, from which it is seen that, in encoding the texture motion vector and the shape motion vector of the blocks B101 to B103, reference is had to the texture motion vector of the previously detected (encoded) other blocks and the differences (residuals) is encoded.
The decoding device for the moving pictures of the shape and the texture, shown in FIG. 4, outputs the shape moving picture, decoded from code data entering a code input terminal 121, at a shape output terminal 127, while outputting the texture moving picture at a texture output terminal 130.
That is, in FIG. 4, the encoded data from a transmission network, received by a receiving device, not shown, or encoded data from a recording medium, reproduced by the reproducing device, are separated by a demultiplexer 122 into codes of the shape, shape motion vector, texture and the texture motion vector.
The separated codes are sent to associated decoders, that is a shape decoder 126, a shape motion vector decoder 123, a texture decoder 129 and to a texture motion vector decoder 124 for decoding. The texture motion vector decoder 124 decodes the input codes to generate a difference texture motion vector. The texture motion vector of the previously decoded block (texture motion vector of a block lying on the left or upper side of the block being decoded) is summed to the difference texture motion vector to decode the texture motion vector. This texture motion vector is entered to a texture motion compensation unit 128 and to a shape motion vector decoder 123.
The shape motion vector decoder 123 decodes the input code to generate the difference shape motion vector. The texture motion vector of the previously decoded block (texture motion vector of a block lying on the left or upper side of the block being decoded) is summed to the difference shape motion vector to decode the shape motion vector. This shape motion vector is entered to a shape motion compensation unit 125.
The shape motion compensation unit 125 generates a prediction shape picture, using the shape motion vector and the decoded shape picture of a shape decoder 126, as later explained, to send the generated prediction shape picture to the shape decoder 126. The shape decoder 126 decodes the codes from the demultiplexer 122 and the prediction shape picture to produce a decoded shape picture which is outputted. This decoded shape picture is sent both to a shape output terminal 127 and to the shape motion compensation unit 125.
The texture motion compensation unit 128 generates a prediction texture picture, using the texture motion vector and the decoded texture picture of a texture decoder 129, as later explained, and sends the generated prediction texture picture to the texture decoder 129. The texture decoder 129 decodes the code from the demultiplexer 122 and the prediction texture picture to produce a decoded texture picture which is outputted. This decoded texture picture is sent both to a texture output terminal 130 and to the texture motion compensation unit 128.
Although not shown, this decoded shape picture is used for synthesizing the decoded picture with the background picture, not shown, for producing a decoded reproduced picture.
With the above-described encoding method, in which, for encoding the shape motion vector, the difference between the shape motion vector of a given block and the texture motion vector of another block is encoded, the encoding efficiency is low in consideration of the encoding volume required for encoding the difference from the motion vector of the other block and the encoding volume required in encoding the difference of motion vectors of the different sorts of pictures, namely the shape and texture pictures.
Moreover, using the texture motion vector of the same block simply for encoding the shape motion vector is difficult except for the case of reversible shape encoding in consideration that a locally decoded shape picture is required in order to find the texture motion vector as described above. Moreover, the encoding efficiency cannot be increased in case of the reversible encoding, thus worsening the overall encoding efficiency.
In addition, the texture motion vector of the previous block is required in order to find the shape motion vector, and the locally decoded shape picture or decoded reproduced picture is required for encoding or decoding the texture, the relation of interdependence is complex thus complicating the control.
There is also a problem that if, when the amplitude of the texture picture is smaller than the texture noise amplitude, a motion vector with a small difference (residual) is selected, motion vectors with arbitrary directions are generated from block to block to produce a riotous state of the motion vectors to increase the code volume required in encoding the texture motion vector. | {
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The present invention relates to a locking device for preventing unauthorized insertion of a trailer king pin into a tractor fifth wheel coupling.
The conventional tractor-trailer hitch or coupling structure has been standardized so that practically any tractor can be coupled to any trailer. The conventional coupling structure includes a fifth wheel attached to the tractor and a downwardly extending king pin carried on the underside of the trailer, adjacent the front of the trailer. The fifth wheel is provided with a skid plate having an opening in which the king pin of the trailer is carried. The king pin has an annular groove which is engaged by movable jaws of the fifth wheel. The jaws on the fifth wheel engage the annular groove on the king pin of the trailer to pivotally secure the trailer to the tractor. When the king pin is locked into engagement with the fifth wheel, the trailer can be hauled by the tractor.
Often, when the destination of the trailer is reached, the trailer is uncoupled from the tractor to await unloading of its contents, reloading, storage or the like. There are thus many occasions when the trailers are left unattended. It is thus relatively simple for thieves to merely couple their own tractor to any unattended trailer and haul the trailer and its contents away. Such hijacking of trailers occurs frequently. Various locking means have been devised to prevent theft of trailers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,554,306 granted to Mack for a "Theft Prevention Device for Tractor Drawn Trailers" discloses a king pin cover which is held to the king pin by the latch arm of a locking unit. U.S. Pat. No. 2,641,124 granted to Gallagher et al. for a "Lock for Fifth Wheel King Pins" discloses a king pin cover which is held to the king pin by a conventional padlock. U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,159 granted to Young for a "Theft Prevention Device for Trailers" discloses a hinged king pin cover having two ends which lock together.
Prior king pin locks, including those disclosed above have several disadvantages. Particularly, prior lock collar designs are generally not strong enough to resist a heavy blow from a sledge, for example, without being broken and thus, rendered useless. Other designs have required costly parts or are expensive to manufacture. Still other collar designs are difficult to install and remove by the user. | {
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In audio systems, automatic echo cancellation (AEC) refers to techniques that are used to recognize when a system has recaptured sound via a microphone after some delay that the system previously output via a speaker. Systems that provide AEC subtract a delayed version of the original audio signal from the captured audio, producing a version of the captured audio that ideally eliminates the “echo” of the original audio signal, leaving only new audio information. For example, if someone were singing karaoke into a microphone while prerecorded music is output by a loudspeaker, AEC can be used to remove any of the recorded music from the audio captured by the microphone, allowing the singer's voice to be amplified and output without also reproducing a delayed “echo” the original music. As another example, a media player that accepts voice commands via a microphone can use AEC to remove reproduced sounds corresponding to output media that are captured by the microphone, making it easier to process input voice commands. | {
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In the technical field, recently, it has become more and more important to provide a wideband radio access scheme where high-speed and high-capacity communications are effectively performed. To that end, a multi-carrier system, more specifically, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system is expected to be used in downlink transmission from a viewpoint that high-speed and high-capacity communication may be performed while multi-path fading may be effectively reduced. Further, for a next-generation system, a frequency scheduling scheme is also being proposed from a viewpoint of enhancing efficiency of frequency use and throughput.
As shown in FIG. 1, a frequency band usable in a system may be divided into plural resource blocks (divided into three in the example of FIG. 1), and each resource block includes one or more sub-carriers. The resource block may be also called a “frequency chunk”, and one or more resource blocks are allocated to a terminal. In the frequency scheduling, the resource blocks may be preferentially allocated to a terminal having good channel quality in accordance with the received signal quality or a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) with respect to each resource block of the downlink pilot channel (PICH) reported from each terminal. By doing this, the transmission efficiency and the throughput of the total system are intended to be improved. In a case where the frequency scheduling is preformed, it is necessary to notify the content of the scheduling to the terminal. The content is transmitted through a control channel (CCH) (or may be called an L1/L2 control signaling channel or an associated control channel). In addition, through the control channel (CCH), a modulation method to be used in scheduled resource blocks (such as QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM), channel coding information (such as a channel coding rate), and a Hybrid Auto Repeat ReQuest (HARQ) scheme are also transmitted. The technique of dividing a frequency band into plural resource blocks and selecting a modulation method for each resource block is described in, for example, Non Patent Document 1.
Non Patent Document 1: P. Chow, J. Cioffi, J. Bingham, “A Practical Discrete Multitone Transceiver Loading Algorithm for Data Transmission over Spectrally Shaped Channel”, IEEE Trans. Commun. vol. 43, No. 2/3/4, February/March/April 1995. | {
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Information retrieval systems, such as search engines, run queries against an index of documents generated from a document corpus (e.g., the World Wide Web). A typical inverted index includes the words in each document, together with pointers to their locations within the documents. A document processing system prepares the inverted index by processing the contents of the documents, pages or sites retrieved from the document corpus using an automated or manual process. The document processing system may also store the contents of the documents, or portions of the content, in a repository for use by a query processor when responding to a query.
In some information retrieval systems, freshness of the results (i.e., the turnaround from when a document is updated to when the updated document is available to queries) is an important consideration. However, there are several obstacles to providing fresh results. One obstacle is the expense or overhead associated with rebuilding the document index each time the document repository is updated. For example, significant overhead is often associated with building small indexes from new and updated documents and periodically merging the small indexes with a main index, and furthermore such systems typically suffer long latencies between document updates and availability of those documents in the repository index. A second obstacle is the difficulty of continuously processing queries against the document repository while updating the repository, without incurring large overhead. One aspect of this second obstacle is the need to synchronize both the threads that execute queries and the threads that update the document repository with key data structures in the data repository. The need to synchronize the query threads and repository update threads can present a significant obstacle to efficient operation of the document repository if document updates are performed frequently, which in turn is a barrier to maintaining freshness of the document repository. | {
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The communication age and its appetite for increased data throughput continues to force high bandwidth designs. Technologies such as telecommunications and networking, for example, continue to fuel research and design efforts that facilitate serial data rate capabilities on the order of hundreds of gigabits per second and higher.
As the data rate capability increases, other design specifications, such as clock jitter and propagation delay, constrains the circuit designer in regard to the maximum data rate that is achievable. As the data rate increases, for example, the total jitter budget for a particular design decreases. An Optical Carrier (OC)-192 compliant transceiver, for example, having a data rate capability of 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) is allowed less than 1 picosecond (ps) of total jitter due to random noise, i.e., root mean square (rms), jitter. Further, only 10 ps is allowed for deterministic jitter. Therefore, predicting and reducing jitter induced via power supply and other sources of random noise becomes important in most applications.
High performance clock buffers are often used in communication designs for duplication, distribution, and fan-out of clock signals. Sensitivity to clock jitter is a concern in these applications. In many applications, errors resulting from the accumulation of jitter can significantly interfere with system performance and reliability.
Accumulated jitter has profound effects on systems that employ a single clock that is distributed, or fanned out, over many distribution paths, e.g., clock distribution networks. Fundamental knowledge of the requirements of each branch of a given clock tree design, therefore, can be important in understanding which type of device will perform well in a particular design or application.
Specifically, a detailed understanding of the frequency requirements of each clock branch, phase relationships between each clock branch and the reference clock, and phase relationships between each clock branch and every other clock branch is required. Accuracy requirements of the distributed clock signals for both the short term, e.g., cycle to cycle, and long term, e.g., accumulated over n cycles, should be known. Load and termination of the transmission lines used to propagate the clock signals can also be important in the preservation of waveform integrity.
A primary source of jitter is power supply noise. Power supply noise that exists, for example, at the power supply input of a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) will appear on the output of the PLL as jitter. Power supply induced jitter can be a substantial, though not always constant, contributor to jitter.
Power supply noise manifests itself in various ways, both on the top rail and bottom rail power supplies. An inverter operating from a top rail power supply, for example, may have a threshold voltage equal to half of the top rail power supply magnitude. If the top rail power supply contains a voltage ripple component, then the voltage ripple component causes a shift in the threshold voltage at the input to the inverter, which translates into jitter.
Alternately, bottom rail power supply manifestation of jitter may be caused by ground bounce. When there is a surge of current through the output drivers, for example, the inductance of the leads to the supply planes, e.g., VDD and VSS, have a voltage drop across them that is equal to the product of the inductance of the leads and the derivative of the current surge with respect to time. This raises or lowers the effective bottom rail potential of the device. Series resistance may also be a factor when considering finer geometry processes.
Hence, if the device has an output whose frequency is dependent upon supply voltage, e.g., a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), the frequency will change due to ground bounce. Additionally, any transistors operating within the device experiences a change in threshold voltage, which may also cause a frequency change. Further, if the device is providing an input to a PLL, then the PLL attempts to correct the frequency change, thus further contributing to jitter at its output.
Requirements such as power supply levels, input and output transition times, and circuit board layout often constrain the design of buffer circuits. It is not typically cost effective, however, to design a buffer circuit for each particular application, which may require specialized power supply regulation. It is desirable, rather, to design a buffer circuit that may be effective in a number of applications having varying speed and process requirements, as well as unknown system parameters, such as power supply noise characteristics. A need exists, therefore, for a buffer circuit that minimizes power supply contribution to jitter, while negating the need for customized power supply regulation.
An apparatus and method that addresses the aforementioned problems, as well as other related problems, are therefore desirable. | {
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In order to reduce costs in connection with ship transports it is of the greatest importance to reduce the periods of the boats lying still in port. Harbour dues and charges of utilized harbour equipment are very high. Thus, the cranes of the ships have tended to become ever bigger and more efficient. Nowadays they must be able to handle big standard cargoes intended to be loaded and transported on special ships with maximum stowing capacity. In this connection it may be worth mentioning that the ships are sometimes so dimensioned that they can pass the locks in certain canals only by a margin of a few centimeters along the sides and in stem and stern. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Inkjet printers operate by sweeping a pen with one or more inkjet nozzles above a print medium and applying a precision quantity of liquid ink from specified nozzles as they pass over specified pixel locations on the print medium.
The print medium becomes damper and remains damp for a longer time as more ink is applied on the same area of the print medium. As a first approximation, the drying time, before which the ink is not subject to smearing by contact with an adjacent sheet is a linear function of amount of ink applied. In certain prior art inkjet printers, a fixed delay is introduced between any physical contact between successively printed sheets, which is greater than the maximum time required to dry the densest possible image to the point that it is not susceptible to smearing. However, this unnecessarily restricts throughput when the printed images on some pages do not contain any densely inked portions and/or when large unprinted areas appear on succeeding pages which can be completely bypassed by the print head.
Thus, the prior art has failed to provide a satisfactory solution for printing a high quality graphics image at a high throughput rate, which is further exacerbated if additional dots of ink are selectively applied between adjacent pixels, thereby effectively doubling the number of dots of ink, in order to increase image density and/or to provide smoother boundaries for any curved or diagonal images ("Resolution Enhancement Technology"). | {
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In the art of cargo loading and unloading ramps for motor vehicles, such as delivery trucks, in particular, there is an ever present need for providing a ramp which is lightweight, durable and easy to manipulate when moving the ramp between a stored position on the motor vehicle and a working position for loading or unloading cargo. In order to provide a ramp with a sufficiently shallow slope in its working position, folding ramps have been developed wherein the ramp is constructed to have at least two ramp sections interconnected by a hinge joint. However, when this type of ramp is provided, it is necessary to also provide intermediate support structure generally at the hinge joint so that the hingedly interconnected ramp sections are properly supported in their working positions.
Moreover, it is also important that the intermediate support structure be movable to a retracted position out of the way when the ramp is moved to its stored position. However, this support structure must also be suitably latched in its working position to minimize the chance of collapse when the ramp is in use. It is to provide the above-mentioned desiderata in cargo vehicle loading and unloading ramps, as well as other features, that the present invention has been developed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Drill head assemblies generally used for horizontal earth and rock boring usually include a drill head body carrying a plurality of spaced bits wherein a drive shank is carried within a transverse groove in a base portion of the drill head body and welded therein. If a casing is to be inserted at the same time the hole is drilled a wing cutter assembly positionable upon the drive shank is utilized. Since the drive shank is welded to the drill head body, such may not be removed for substitution of a different size drive shank in the field. Moreover, the utilization of a wing cutter assembly is made more difficult and awkward because of the necessity of accommodating same to a drive shank which is welded in place and which may not be substituted to accommodate other equipment. A drill head assembly having a recess in a pilot bit for receiving an insert carried by a drill head body providing a connection formed by interlocking surfaces is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,886,292.
It is an important object of this invention to provide a drill head assembly having a drill head body, a wing cutter assembly and a drive shank all of which are secured together against rotation by insertable connecting means having interlocking surfaces and being axially pulled together by a longitudinal assembly screw having a head accommodated within a cylindrical opening in a forward portion of the drill head body and a threaded end secured to the drive shank.
Another important object of the invention is the provision of a drill head assembly having a drive shank which is removable for substitution of a drive shank of a different size to accommodate other equipment of varying sizes.
Another important object of the invention is the provision of a versatile drill head assembly which may be readily assembled or disassembled utilizing a socket and insertable connections having interlocking surfaces such as flats which readily receive the extensive torque incidental to rock drilling.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a drill head assembly wherein the wing cutter assembly or block can be taken out of its insertable connection relationship and a drive shank having a similar insertable connection means directly inserted into the drill head body. It is thus seen that the parts can be removed through disassembling and various parts locked into place to accommodate different sizes of equipment for drilling different size holes. Thus, various component parts can be replaced or adjusted on the job site. | {
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In a runtime environment, it is desirable to monitor and manage the executable code loaded in memory for various logical objects, because if the memory space occupied by the objects exceeds a certain threshold, system performance may suffer.
Self-healing software systems may be designed to overcome such problems and to improve overall system behavior by monitoring system performance and providing a solution to the detected problems. While the current self-healing systems can monitor certain runtime events to detect one or more problems, such systems cannot obtain sufficient information about the events or the context within which the problems arise to provide an optimized solution.
Therefore, self-healing methods and systems are needed that can overcome the aforementioned shortcomings by providing means to understand the nature of the detected events and the context in which the problems arise, so that an optimized solution can be selected. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to synthesis of hydrocarbons from a methane source. A particular application of this invention is a method for converting natural gas to a more readily transportable material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A major source of methane is natural gas. Other sources of methane have been considered for fuel supply, e.g., the methane present in coal deposits or formed during mining operations. Relatively small amounts of methane are also produced in various petroleum processes.
The composition of natural gas at the wellhead varies but the major hydrocarbon present is methane. For example, the methane content of natural gas may vary within the range from about 40 to about 95 volume percent. Other constituents of natural gas include ethane, propane, butanes, pentane (and heavier hydrocarbons), hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, helium and nitrogen.
Natural gas is classified as dry or wet depending upon the amount of condensable hydrocarbons contained in it. Condensable hydrocarbons generally comprise C.sub.3 + hydrocarbons although some ethane may be included. Gas conditioning is required to alter the composition of wellhead gas, processing facilities usually being located in or near the production fields. Conventional processing of wellhead natural gas yields processed natural gas containing at least a major amount of methane.
Large-scale use of natural gas often requires a sophisticated and extensive pipeline system. Liquefaction has also been employed as a transportation means, but processes for liquefying, transporting, and revaporizing natural gas are complex, energy-intensive and require extensive safety precautions. Transport of natural gas has been a continuing problem in the exploitation of natural gas resources. It would be extremely valuable to be able to convert methane (e.g., natural gas) to more readily handleable or transportable products. Moreover, direct conversion to olefins such as ethylene or propylene would be extremely valuable to the chemical industry.
Recently, it has been discovered that methane may be converted to higher hydrocarbons by a process which comprises contacting methane and an oxidative synthesizing agent at synthesizing conditions (e.g., at a temperature selected within the range from about 500.degree. to about 1000.degree. C.). Oxidative synthesizing agents are compositions having as a principal component at least one oxide of at least one metal which compositions produce C.sub.2 + hydrocarbon products, co-product water, and a composition comprising a reduced metal oxide when contacted with methane at synthesizing conditions. Reducible oxides of several metals have been identified which are capable of converting methane to higher hydrocarbons. In particular, oxides of manganese, tin, indium, germanium, lead, antimony and bismuth are most useful. See commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,443,649; 4,444,984; 4,443,648; 4,443,645; 4,443,647; 4,443,644; and 4,443,646.
Commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 522,935, filed Aug. 12, 1983, discloses and claims a process which comprises contacting methane with an oxidative synthesizing agent under elevated pressure (e.g., 2-100 atmospheres) to produce greater amounts of C.sub.3 + hydrocarbon products. The entire content of this application is incorporated herein by reference.
Commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 522,938, filed Aug. 12, 1983, discloses and claims a process for the conversion of methane to higher hydrocarbons which comprises contacting methane with particles comprising an oxidative synthesizing agent which particles continuously recirculate between two physically separate zones--a methane contact zone and an oxygen contact zone. The entire content of this application is incorporated herein by reference.
Commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 522,937, filed Aug. 12, 1983, discloses and claims a process for the conversion of methane to higher hydrocarbons which comprises contacting methane with an oxidative synthesizing agent containing a promoting amount of alkali metal and/or compounds thereof. The entire content of this application is incorporated herein by reference.
Commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 522,936, filed Aug. 12, 1983, discloses and claims a process for the conversion of methane to higher hydrocarbons which comprises contacting methane with an oxidative synthesizing agent containing a promoting amount of alkaline earth metal and/or compounds thereof. The entire content of this application is incorporated herein by reference. | {
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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive degenerative disease of the central nervous system characterized by progressive and increasing memory loss, followed by loss of control of limbs and bodily functions with a fatal ending. It is by far the most common cause of dementia affecting 1 to 6% of people over the age of 65 years and between 10 to 20% of those over 80.
AD is distinguished from other types of dementia by several pathological features, including the progressive appearance in the brain of the patients of senile plaques in the extracellular space between neurons. The plaques have central cores of amyloid deposits formed mainly by fibrils of a 40-42 amino acids peptide referred to β amyloid peptide (Aβ) surrounded by degenerated neurites and glial cells. This peptide results from the proteolytic processing of a precursor protein called β amyloid precursor protein (βAPP).
The National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke (NINCDS) and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association (ADRDA) established the most commonly used NINCDS-ADRDA Alzheimer's Criteria for diagnosis in 1984. According to the NINCDS/ADRDA. These criteria are the following: Definitive Alzheimer's disease: The patient meets the criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease and shows histopathologic evidence of AD via autopsy or biopsy. Probable or prodromal Alzheimer's disease: Dementia has been established by clinical and neuropsychological examination. Cognitive impairments also have to be progressive and be present in two or more areas of cognition. The onset of the deficits has been between the ages of 40 and 90 years and finally there must be an absence of other diseases capable of producing a dementia syndrome. Possible or non-prodromal Alzheimer's disease: There is a dementia syndrome with an atypical onset, presentation or progression; and without a known etiology; but no co-morbid diseases capable of producing dementia are believed to be in the origin of it. Unlikely Alzheimer's disease: The patient presents a dementia syndrome with a sudden onset, focal neurologic signs, or seizures or gait disturbance early in the course of the illness.
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI, also known as incipient dementia, or isolated memory impairment) is a diagnosis given to individuals who have cognitive impairments beyond that expected for their age and education, but that do not interfere significantly with their daily activities (Petersen R C et al. (1999) Arch. Neurol. 56 (3): 303-8). It is considered to be the boundary or transitional stage between normal aging and dementia. Although MCI can present with a variety of symptoms, when memory loss is the predominant symptom it is termed “amnestic MCI” and is frequently seen as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (Grundman M et al. (2004). Arch. Neurol. 61 (1): 59-66). Studies suggest that these individuals tend to progress to probable or prodromal Alzheimer's disease at a rate of approximately 10% to 15% per year (Grundman M et at ad supra.) Additionally, when individuals have impairments in domains other than memory it is classified as non-amnestic single- or multiple-domain MCI and these individuals are believed to be more likely to convert to other dementias (Tabert M H et al. (2006). Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 63 (8): 916-24).
The diagnosis of MCI requires considerable clinical judgement, and as such a comprehensive clinical assessment including clinical observation, neuroimaging, blood tests and neuropsychological testing are best in order to rule out an alternate diagnosis. A similar assessment is usually done for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. MCI is diagnosed when there is (Morris J C et al. (2001). Arch. Neurol. 58 (3): 397-405): Evidence of memory impairment Preservation of general cognitive and functional abilities Absence of diagnosed dementia
In the last decade, several attempts have been performed to identify peripheral markers by using plasma, serum or circulating cells. In particular, because amyloid plaques are a defining feature of Alzheimer disease neuropathology, and Aβ can be detected in plasma, its measure is a compelling candidate biomarker for Alzheimer disease.
In clinical praxis, diagnosis of AD is carried out using clinical criteria based on the presence of typical clinical hallmarks and the exclusion of other types of dementia using neuroimaging techniques and blood analysis. Using these criteria, diagnostic reliability is acceptable although, according to studies done using brain autopsy, between 10-20% of the patients diagnosed with AD suffered from a different disease. Moreover, the current diagnostic methods can only be carried out when the neurodegenerative process is so advanced that the patient suffers from severe dementia and the brain damages are so extensive that the number of therapeutic measures is limited. Definitive diagnosis requires pathologic examination of post-mortem brain tissue.
In view of the fact that Aβ accumulates in the brain of AD patients and is a central element in the pathogenesis of AD, this protein has been considered as the most suitable candidate as AD biomarker. However, the use of Aβ as plasma biomarker for AD faces the problem that the concentrations of the Aβ peptides (Aβ(1-40) and Aβ(1-42)) in serum are extremely low, so that there are no assays which are sensitive enough so as to allow reliable detection of said peptide species.
Many different assays have been used to determine levels of amyloid beta peptides in biological samples (see e.g. the methods described by Scheuner et al (Nature Med., 1996, 2:864-870); Tamaoka A et al. (J Neurol Sci., 1996, 141, 65-68); Suzuki, N. et al. (Science, 1994, 264:1336-1340); WO200722015, Vanderstichele H et al. (Amyloid, 2000, 7, 245-258); Fukomoto y col. (Arch. Neurol. 2003, 60, 958-964); Mehta et al. (Arch. Neurol. 57, 2000, 100-105); Mayeux, R. et al. (Ann Neurol. 1999, 46, 412-416); Lanz, T. A and Schacthter, J. B. (J. Neuroscience Methods, 2006, 157:71-81), WO200750359, WO0162801, WO0315617, WO0246237, WO0413172. However, all the ELISA-based assays known to date have a lower detection limit which is not in the range of single digit pg/mL at the most, which is sufficient for detecting Aβ40 and Aβ42 in CSF as well as for detecting said species in plasma in patients suffering from familiar AD, but are unsuitable for detecting Aβ42 in the plasma of patients suffering from sporadic AD, wherein the Aβ42 plasma concentration is much lower.
To date, the only Aβ peptide assays showing a lower detection limit lower than the single digit pg/mL correspond to the assays described in WO200646644 and in WO2009015696.
WO200646644 describes an electrochemiluminiscent (ECL) sandwich assay wherein the mAb 21F12 (which recognises amino acids 33-42 of Aβ42) is coupled to magnetic beads, which are then used to capture the Aβ42 peptide in the sample containing Aβ42 and further contacted with 3D6 mAb coupled to a ruthenium complex. The amount of 3D6 antibody bound is then detected by the luminescence emitted by the ruthenium complex when electrical energy is applied. Using this assay, the inventors are capable of detecting as low as 0.5 pg/mL of a Aβ42 standard. However, when the same assay is used to compare Aβ42 in plasma samples from AD patients and healthy controls, no significant differences could be observed between the two sets of patients, which led the inventors to conclude that the amount of intact Aβ42 in serum is very low due to degradation and turned to a competitive ELISA assay using 21F12 mAb which provides lower sensitivity levels in the range of ng/mL.
WO2009015696 describes a high-sensitivity ELISA sandwich assay wherein the detection antibody is contacted with a biotin-labeled reagent showing specificity for said antibody. The reagent is contacted with streptavidin which is coupled to peroxidase. Peroxidase activity is then detected by colorimetry using TMB or fluorescently using QuantaBlue.
WO2006053251 describes a method for the determination of amyloid beta peptide species in a sample comprising contacting a sample with a denaturing agent, extracting the peptide pool from the sample-denaturing agent mixture, separating the amyloid beta peptide species from the pool and determining the amount of amyloid beta peptide species. This method requires a step of separation of the peptides prior to the determination, which results in increased processing time and increased costs.
Methods are known in the prior art to diagnose AD by detecting the levels of biomarkers present in the brain or CSF of patients. Different biomarkers have been characterised whose determination is carried out in CSF. CSF reflects directly the composition of the extracellular space of the central nervous system and thus, provides higher concentrations as biomarkers. However, CSF can only be retrieved by means of lumbar punction, which is not a routine diagnostic method easily accepted by patients suffering from dementia, let alone in patients with memory disorders. Thus, there is a need for AD biomarkers which can be detected in samples which can be non-invasively retrieved from the body.
Suitable AD biomarkers described in the prior art and which can be detected in plasma include (i) markers derived from the amyloid plaque, (ii) autoantibodies against Aβ or βAPP, (iii) inflammatory markers such IL-6, its receptor or gp130, C-reactive protein or oxidative stress (isoprostanes), (iv) markers of lipidic metabolism (apoE, oxysterols) and (v) vascular disease markers (homocysteine, lipoprotein b C1q) (Scheuner D et al. (1996) Nature Med 2, 864-870).
However, in view of the fact that Aβ accumulates in the brain of AD patients and is a central element in the pathogenesis of AD, this protein has been considered as the most suitable candidate as AD biomarker. However, the use of Aβ as plasma biomarker for AD faces the problem that the concentrations of the Aβ peptides (Aβ(1-40) and Aβ(1-42)) in serum are extremely low, so that there are no assays which are sensitive enough so as to allow reliable detection of said peptide species.
Furthermore, several antibodies have been described to detect Aβ peptides and to be used in immunological assays. For example, the monoclonal anti-Aβ(1-17) (6E10) is an antibody directed to the N-terminal region of the Aβ peptide, generated against the peptide Aβ(1-17) (Kim K S, et al. Neurosci. Res. Comm. 7; 1988) and recognizing the Aβ peptides including said region or the monoclonal antibody generated against the peptide Aβ(1-28) (Pierce).
However, there is a need in the art for improved immunological assays and kits to detect Aβ-derived peptides which overcome the problems of the methods and kits known in the art, in particular, which are sensitive enough to detect Aβ peptides in a reliable manner in plasma of patients suffering from sporadic AD. There is also a need for identifying biomarkers for the early diagnosis of AD which are sensitive and specific and which allow distinguishing cognitive impairment due to age from those associated with the early symptoms of the process, as well as to distinguish changes due to AD and due to other degenerative conditions. According to Growdon et al. (Neurobiol. Aging, 1998, 19:109-116), the ideal marker for AD should meet the following requirements: It should detect a fundamental feature of the neuropathology It should be validated in neuropathologically-confirmed cases of the disease It should show a sensitivity of at least 80% for detecting AD It should show a specificity of at least 80% to distinguish AD from other types of dementia and It should be reliable, reproducible, non-invasive, simple to perform and inexpensive. | {
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The present invention relates to diffraction devices used in optical systems and devices, and more particularly to a volume-phase holographic diffraction device designed for performance in short-wavelength (i.e., ultraviolet) spectral regions.
Optical sensors often rely on information gathered from certain bands of light reflected or scattered from a material or object under investigation. In particular, energy associated with Raman scattering in the ultraviolet (UV) spectral region may be of interest in identifying certain materials. Because of the intrinsically weak nature of the signals on which these devices operate, the devices used to detect these weak signals should be as optically efficient as possible. Moreover, in a spectrograph, the light dispersion element (in many cases, a diffraction grating), is the major source of light loss. Other surfaces used to direct or otherwise modify the incoming signal add to the noise (from scattering) and attenuate the strength of the optical beam (from absorption). Thus, it is desirable to optimize the efficiency of each component in the spectrograph, and in particular the efficiency of the diffraction grating.
Another important factor in the design of an optical element, such as a diffraction grating, is its aging parameters. The materials used in fabricating the diffraction grating may break down over time from exposure to light, and may do so faster if the material interacts with the light in certain ways.
Conventional design philosophy for volume-phase holographic diffraction gratings has been that a gelatin material would not be suitable for a grating that is to operate on very short wavelengths of light. Many experts in the field believe that the gelatin material would absorb too much of the incoming light (and would thus be unsuitable in this wavelength regime) and would decay quickly. To the contrary, it has been discovered and as presented hereinafter, that a diffraction grating using a gelatin material can be optimized for operation on short wavelength light, such as light in the UV spectral region. | {
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In present day canning factories, conveyer speeds in excess of one thousand units per minute are not unusual. Not only do the high operating speeds cause occasional damage to the containers as they move along the conveyer, but the high speed also makes inspection for any damaged units extremely difficult. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,815, issued May 5, 1964 to B. B. Mathias, method and apparatus are disclosed for inspecting sealed containers by detecting a light beam reflected from a surface of the container. If the surface under inspection is of a predetermined configuration, the reflected light is focused upon a first detector. Should the surface be deformed, some light will be reflected through one or more laterally located lenses to impinge upon a second detector. Energization of the second detector generates a signal to identify the defective container. William T. Plummer et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,179, issued Sept. 25, 1973, discloses apparatus for testing a mirrored surface by detecting the light reflected from the surface. Inspections which rely on reflected light are adversely affected by the presence of dirt, foreign matter or overflow from the containers. Because foreign material cannot be completely avoided in a canning factory, inspection systems of the Plummer type will unnecessarily reject a container merely because the inspected surface is dirty; similarly, diffused surfaces will generate error signals falsely indicative of damaged or deformed containers.
It is therefore an object of our invention to inspect containers without regard to the specular reflective characteristics of the tested containers.
The testing disclosed by the Mathias apparatus is effective only after a container has been filled and sealed since the presence of a vacuum within the container is required. No provision is made for detecting defective containers prior to the filling and sealing operations. As a result, every container, whether defective or not, must be filled and sealed prior to being inspected. Any material used to fill a defective container is wasted. If defective containers were identified prior to the filling and sealing operation, contents could be saved that would otherwise be wasted by filling defective containers.
It is therefore also an object of our invention to inspect containers prior to the filling thereof to determine the presence of defects in the containers.
The patent to Shibata et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,427, issued Feb. 26, 1974, describes apparatus which employs the principles of light reflection (angle of incidence equals angle of reflection) to detect conformity of a surface under inspection with a predetermined norm. A television camera scans or views the reflection received from an illuminated object traveling in a direction transverse to the source of light. The amplitude of the signal generated by the television camera during the scan is correlated with respect to a time base and compared with the amplitude per time base of a norm. An output signal responsive to the comparison step is generated to provide an indication of conformity with the norm of the object under inspection.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an inspection system wherein the detector system does not scan the surface under inspection.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an inspection system wherein a light source and light detection system are not necessarily transverse to and at opposed sides of the object under inspection.
Dimensional inspection of objects can be accomplished optically. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,405, issued Oct. 27, 1970, to R. A. Flower, a system for inspecting the thickness of a sample is disclosed. Similarly, L. F. Flaczynski in U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,554, issued Aug. 8, 1974, discloses a method and apparatus for dimensionally inspecting conveyer goods while they move along the conveyer. The patent to Hietanen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,496, issued July 31, 1973, describes an inspection system employing a laser. The intensity of the lased surface, on comparison with a norm, provides an indication of the degree of conformity of the object under inspection. Size gauging method and apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,741, issued Feb. 12, 1974, to I. R. Brenholdt. Each of the above cited references is capable of optically inspecting a sample to determine its dimensional characteristics within a given tolerance. However, the apparatus disclosed in each of the references would be unable to detect a defect in a container shape unless that defect appeared in the specific surface being inspected and affected its size. For example, a can which had a hole in the middle of the inspected surface could pass a height and width dimensional inspection because the hole would not alter the external dimensions of the surface. However, such a defective can should be detected by a sophisticated inspection system to prevent a wasteful filling operation.
It is another object of our invention to inspect container goods simultaneously for dimensional variation and non-dimensional defects.
R. A. Webster in U.S. Pat. No. 3,222,979, issued Dec. 14, 1965, discloses an electron-optics device for dimensionally inspecting objects. The device employs a scanning electron beam to inspect the object. The electron scan is converted into a video output for determing the acceptability of the inspected object. The scanning beam is a movable source, returning periodically to some starting point for initiating the scan of a subsequent object. Because of the time required to scan a sample, such device could not be effectively employed in a conveyer system operating at the speeds previously indicated.
It is yet another object of our invention to employ a fixed position beam to inspect containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,619,578 which issued Sept. 22, 1969, to P. George and U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,771, which issued Oct. 3, 1972 to A. M. Bardos, disclose inspection equipment for detecting surface irregularities on inspected samples. Both disclosed patents are limited to determining defects in surface smoothness.
It is one of the objects of our invention to simultaneously inspect a container for dimensional conformity and surface acceptability.
All the inspection systems discussed above have been effective for inspecting a single surface of a sample. However, a container may have defects on any of its surfaces which require rejection of the container. Because the above systems cannot interpret the effect a defect in one surface has on other surfaces of a container, defects on surfaces other than the inspected surface would not be detected.
It is still another object of our invention to permit simultaneous testing of any or all surfaces of a container for the presence of defects.
An additional object of our invention is to permit the detection of defects in any surface of a container by inspecting a portion of a single surface of the container.
A further object of the present invention is to employ a gating system for initiating and terminating the inspection process.
A still further object of the present invention is to correlate the translational position of the object under inspection with the simultaneous information acquired by the inspection system.
A yet further object of the present invention is to gate an inspection system independent of the translational speed of the object under inspection. | {
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U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,261, Stark, assigned to the assignee of the present application, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, generally describes retention of a sealed light source element within a sealed outer bulb, furnished with a standard Edison E14 base, that is, with a screw-in base adapted to be received in a standard lamp socket. Connection of the electrical conductors supplying the sealed bulb element to the base is effected, for the external conductor, that is, for the screw-in terminal, by connecting one lead-in extending into the sealed element to a wire which is bent into essentially ring shape, and seated on a ring seating surface formed on a base sleeve which carries the screw-in portion of the base. This wire, typically a nickel-plated steel wire, is twisted into or connected to the interior of the outer threaded sleeve. One end is bent over and connected with the current supply lead from the sealed element, for example by welding.
The wire which is threaded into the interior of the sleeve not only provides electrical connection, but also has a holding or support function for the inner sealed light emitting element. It has been found in use that this support function may cause difficulties since forces are transferred to the pinch seal, customary in the light emitting sealed element. Vibration and shock which arise, primarily during transport, may lead to destruction of the weld between the current supply lead extending into a pinch seal formed in the inner bulb element, and a molybdenum foil sealed into the pinch seal.
European Published Application 0 435 393 A1, Damman et al, describes, a halogen incandescent lamp which is retained within a reflector supplied with a screw-in base. The halogen incandescent unit itself is held by a lamp carrier which clamps around a pinch seal of the halogen bulb. Extending flaps, tabs or tongues secure the clamping element on projections located in the neck portion of the reflector. Retaining the lamp carrier in the neck portion of the reflector increases the length of the overall lamp and, consequently, reflector lamps of this type cannot be used as direct replacements for ordinary incandescent lamps having standard screw-in sockets. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrically driven power assisting device such as a power steering device for a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, as a power steering for a vehicle, an electrically driven power steering device using an electric motor in place of a hydraulic motor is used and as the torque of a motor in the same rotational direction as the following one is required to be transmitted according to the clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of the steering of a vehicle, the prior art in which the armature of a motor is rotated according to the clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of a steering is disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. H6-316270.
However, this device has a problem that the flow of electric current to the motor is required to be switched so as to rotate the motor in the same direction as the clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of a steering wheel, measures to suppress armature reaction and spark noise generation are required because excessive current flows when the flow of current is switched, further a plurality of diodes and transistors for switching the flow direction of current are required.
In Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. H7-61362, a movable body is straight spline-coupled to either one of a stub shaft or a pinion shaft and is helical spline-coupled to the other shaft. A first or second clutch mechanism is operated by the movable body moved by the rotation of the stub shaft. The unidirectional rotation of a motor is reversed by a driving bevel gear and a pair of driven bevel gears and transmitted to the pinion shaft.
This device has a problem that the life and the precision of a torsion bar are deteriorated because torque for moving the movable body via the helical spline coupling by twisting the torsion bar provided between the stub shaft and the pinion shaft through the rotation of the motor is not required to be reversed and transmitting the rotation of the motor is directly applied to the torsion bar via the helical spline coupling.
In Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 6-293266, since a movable member is moved by the steering force of a driver to couple a clutch mechanism, in consideration of that the clutch mechanism is expected to be smoothly switched to switch the direction of the steering assistance force without giving unpleasant feeling to the driver when the rotation of a steering wheel is suddenly switched to the right or to the left, for example, if the clutch mechanism is an engagement type clutch such as a ratchet type clutch, the vibration caused when the clutch mechanism is coupled or released is directly transmitted to the steering wheel, which is not desirable. In the meantime, since the power steering device is given the steering assistance force by an electric motor such that steering can be performed by the steering force of about 5 Nm, the extent of movement of the movable member which is produced by the steering force of the driver can not be set too large. Therefore, since the pressing force for engaging the clutch plate can not be increased only by the steering force of the driver, it is necessary to use material having a large coefficient of friction or to increase the contact area by enlarging the outer diameter of the clutch plate so as to obtain the required pressing force. However, it is natural that the material having the large coefficient of friction is disadvantageous in the wear of the friction contact area and in durability. Moreover, if the outer diameter of the clutch plate is enlarged so as to increase the contact area, it is natural that the enlarged device is enlarged, which results in a problem.
In Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 62-273165, an electromagnetic clutch which is operated based on the steering torque of a driver can be used and hence the magnetic force generated by the exciting coil of the electromagnetic clutch can produce the pressing force of the clutch plate (engaging force). Therefore, the clutch corresponding to the output of the electric motor can be supplied by increasing a current supplied to the exciting coil or the number of turns of the exciting coil. However, if it is required that the engaging force of the clutch is completely supplied only by the attracting force of the electromagnetic clutch, the size of the electromagnetic clutch becomes large. | {
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An electronic trading system generally includes a trading device in communication with an electronic exchange. The electronic exchange sends information about a market, such as prices and quantities, to the trading device. The trading device sends messages, such as messages related to orders, to the electronic exchange. The electronic exchange attempts to match quantity of an order with quantity of one or more contra-side orders.
It should be understood that the trading device may be any computing device, such as a personal computer, laptop computer, hand-held computer, tablet computer, smart phone or some other device that includes a display, user interface and includes hardware for communication with the electronic exchange.
Traders often use automated or semi-automated trading tools, collectively hereinafter referred to as automated tools, that automatically or semi-automatically send orders for tradable objects to the exchange. Many different trading tools are usually provided to, among other things, facilitate fast and accurate order entry. For instance, an automated or semi-automated tool might quickly calculate one or more order parameters, such as order price or order quantity, based on market conditions, or some other reference condition, and then automatically send an order with these parameters to an exchange for matching.
Traders frequently execute trading strategies that require the constant tracking of a large amount of individual tradable objects and the need to assimilate large amounts of data in order to recognize market trends, view current market conditions, and quickly enter, cancel, update, and modify orders. Thus, traders employ specialized trading interfaces for assistance. Trading interfaces present a variety of information, which may include the status of each tradable object in a line of numeric data fields covering key variables relevant to trading, such as price, quantity available at each price, the level of inside market, and others. Traders may regularly operate many such trading interfaces in order to track market conditions for a plurality of tradable objects and execute various trading strategies simultaneously. The use of multiple interfaces can become burdensome to a trader who needs to accurately view critical changes in the market conditions of a large number of tradable objects in order to quickly execute trades. Unless accommodations are made, the interfaces that are supposed to help the trader operate more efficiently and effectively can ultimately become overwhelming and inhibit the trader instead.
Certain embodiments will be better understood when read in conjunction with the provided figures, which illustrate examples. It should be understood, however, that the embodiments are not limited to the arrangements and instrumentality shown in the attached figures. | {
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The embodiments described herein relate to apparatus, methods, and systems for retaining a cable, such as a cable having an inner conductor and an outer conductor. The inner conductor of such cables is generally surrounded by a dielectric material. The dielectric material is typically surrounded by the outer conductor, for example, a conducting braid. More specifically, some embodiments described herein are suitable for coupling, to a printed circuit board, a coaxial cable operable to transmit high- and/or radio-frequency signals.
Known methods for coupling cables to printed circuit boards include using connectors, such as a U.FL connector. Such connectors, however, typically induce discontinuities in the signal path. For example, such connectors are typically mounted at a right-angle to the printed circuit board. Such signal path discontinuities can compromise the high-frequency performance of such connectors. U.FL connectors, for example, may not be suitable for signals exceeding 3 GHz.
Alternatively, cables can be soldered directly to printed circuit boards. In the case of a radio assembly the cable becomes part of the assembly for calibration purposes. Such cables are generally prepared for shipping and/or use by cutting the cable such that a portion of the dielectric extends beyond the outer conductor, and a portion of the inner conductor extends beyond the dielectric material. Before use, the inner conductor and/or the outer conductor can be dipped in solder to prevent fraying. Traditionally, an axial length of the dielectric material provides electrical insulation between the inner conductor and the outer conductor. Without an axial length of dielectric, the solder used to prevent fraying could electrically couple the outer conductor to the inner conductor. Having a portion of dielectric material extending axially beyond the outer conductor, however, can cause series inductance and/or shunt capacitance, which can decrease high-frequency performance of the cable. A need therefore exists for apparatus, methods, and systems for retaining a coaxial cable on a printed circuit board suitable for high-frequency applications. | {
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Technical Field
This patent relates to series-fed phased array antennas and in particular to a coupler that includes a transmission line structure disposed over an adjustable dielectric substrate.
Background Art
Phased array antennas have many applications in radio broadcast, military, space, radar, sonar, weather satellite, optical and other communication systems. A phased array is an array of radiating elements where the relative phases of respective signals feeding the elements may be varied. As a result, the radiation pattern of the array can be reinforced in a desired direction and suppressed in undesired directions. The relative amplitudes of the signals radiated by the individual elements, through constructive and destructive interference effects, determines the effective radiation pattern. A phased array may be designed to point continuously in a fixed direction, or to scan rapidly in azimuth or elevation.
There are several different ways to feed the elements of a phased array. In a series-fed arrangement, the radiating elements are placed in series, progressively farther and farther away from a feed point. Series-fed arrays are thus simpler to construct than parallel arrays. On the other hand, parallel arrays typically require one feed for each element and a power dividing/combining arrangement.
However, series fed arrays are typically frequency sensitive therefore leading to bandwidth constraints. This is because when the operational frequency is changed, the phase between the radiating elements changes proportionally to the length of the feedline section. As a result the beam in a standard series-fed array tilts in a nonlinear manner. | {
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There are two basic methods of maneuvering a wheeled vehicle. One method is to turn one or more steerable wheels. The other method is to drive one or more left hand wheels independently of one or more right hand wheels. In general these two steering systems will conflict with one another when each tries to achieve a different centre of curvature for the path of the vehicle. This conflict causes a braking effect, which results in fuel wastage, scuffing of the ground traversed and associated tyre wear.
The traditional method of avoiding conflict between the two basic steering systems is to disable one system so that it cannot conflict with the remaining system. For example in a traditional road vehicle, the steering effect of driving the drive wheels at the same speed is eliminated by incorporating a differential into the drive train to the driving wheels. Conversely in a zero turn radius vehicle which is steered by driving the left hand drive wheel independently of the right hand drive wheel, the steering effect of one or more non driven wheels is eliminated by rendering the latter free to turn to any angle. That is, they are turned into castors. | {
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Although there have been many schemes for varying the torque bias ratio between drive axles connected by a differential, all of them have experienced problems; and the open differential is still the most popular one in use. This has a relatively efficient torque transmission train and a low bias ratio, which works well so long as both wheels have traction. The low bias ratio makes it easy to get stuck if one wheel loses traction, however, because not much torque can be transmitted to the opposite wheel.
The many attempts to overcome this have mostly involved reducing the efficiency of the interaxle torque transmission through the differential. This increases the bias ratio and increases the torque that can be transmitted to one wheel when another one slips. A high and constant bias ratio can cause other problems, however. Since nearly all differentials have an interaxle speed ratio of -1 (meaning that axles rotating relative to each other do so in an opposite direction at the same speed), and since all differentials have efficiencies of less than 100%, those with a -1 speed ratio always apply a proportionally larger amount of torque to the slower rotating axle on the inside of a curve. Differentials with a high bias ratio exaggerate the greater proportion of torque applied to the inside wheel and thus create an under steer moment, urging the vehicle straight ahead while it is turning.
Many proposals have also been made for differentials having interaxle drive efficiencies that can be varied during operation. Fluid couplings and friction clutches are among the possibilities. Although achieving some success in spite of complexity and reliability problems, none of these (nor any other differential with a -1 speed ratio) can apply a proportionally larger amount of torque to the faster rotating axle on the outside of a curve. This can be desirable because the vehicle weight shifts to the outside wheel on a curve, and the more heavily weighted wheel has more traction with which to exert the available torque.
It has also been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,651 (CHAMBERS) to vary speed ratios of a differential by means of multiple gear trains that can be engaged alternatively to increase the torque to a slower moving axle if necessary. This may help tractors and slow speed vehicles get a better traction grip, but it would make a high speed automobile unstable to abruptly change its axle speed ratios. Also, shifting gear trains is cumbersome and expensive and, as proposed by Chambers, is still not capable of providing more torque to a faster rotating axle traveling the outside of a curve.
Also proposed in DE, C, 222,138 (LUDWIG MARIA DIETERICH) is a continuously variable transmission which is mounted in a vehicle drive line between an input shaft and two rear drive axles. The transmission provides for controlling speed ratios between the input shaft and each of the drive axles. This effects a steering drive of the type more common in bulldozers and tanks. However, in doing so, the usual function of a differential to permit the output shafts to freely "differentiate" (i.e., rotate at any speed difference between the two which may be required to accommodate a variety of operating conditions including different size drive wheels or uneven distances of travel between drive axles) is lost. Although Dieterich also proposes to control this steering effect by special linkages to a front steering axle, many more variations in addition to the front steering axle position affect the required rotational speeds of the rear drive axles, and any resistance forces active at the rear drive wheels which tend to rotate the drive axles at a speed difference other than the exact difference being controlled would produce undesirable torque "windup" between the axles.
I have discovered a way of transmitting drive torque through a differential to a pair of drive axles in a freely variable manner that allows more of the torque to be sent to the faster rotating axle on the outside of a curve and generally allows the torque distribution to be controlled in response to vehicle driving conditions. My differential is thus able to achieve torque bias ratios not attainable with previous differentials that use torque transmission efficiencies to vary bias ratios. In creating new torque distribution possibilities, my differential allows vehicle suspension and steering design to take advantage of torque variation under different driving conditions such as turning, braking, varying weight distributions, and varying traction. Besides being usable between a pair of opposed axles, my differential can also distribute driving torque between front and rear axle pairs. | {
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It is generally understood that agricultural crops such as fruits and vegetables are most preferably cooled as quickly as possible after harvest to inhibit premature ripening and to otherwise minimize post harvest spoilage. Various methods for cooling fruits and vegetables following harvest include the use of large room coolers wherein the perishable products are placed and their temperature drawn down to a desired level and relative humidity, vacuum cooling (generally for leafy vegetables and the like), subjecting the products to a shower of relatively cold water, and forced air cooling such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,291, which issued to T. Davis et al. Generally, in these various methods for post harvest cooling, the products must be repackaged and/or otherwise removed from the cooling room or chamber for transportation and/or ripening procedures.
It has often been desirable to delay ripening of the perishable products until initial shipping had been completed, as most ripening facilities were not located in the tropics. In many cases, tropical fruit or the like was first cooled in a manner similar to that described above, then repackaged for shipment to remote markets in refrigerated shipping containers, and thereafter placed in ripening rooms for completion of the ripening process prior to final shipment to the retail market. U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,298 which issued to G. Wallace et al., illustrates a ripening room type apparatus which includes an atmosphere controlling means for applying controlled atmosphere to appropriately stacked crates of product therewithin. As discussed in this reference, economic considerations require such ripening rooms to be of relatively large size, and Wallace et al. direct their invention to the provision of a particular frame arrangement to allow selective stacking of the crates with particular interstitial volumes therebetween for facilitating air movement for ripening procedures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,958, which issued to A. Senda et al. pertains to a refrigeration chamber which is designed to remove certain atmospheric constituents such as ethylene and nitrogen triethylamine, which have been found to cause increasingly rapid maturation, ripening and aging of perishable products. It is recognized in this reference that low temperature alone cannot prevent the further ripening of products, and means must be provided to remove or absorb elements which augment the ripening process. Senda et al. contemplate the use of adsorption materials located within a filtering mechanism for removing harmful aging substances as part of the air circulation within the chamber.
Conventionally, unripened fruit and vegetables have been shipped in refrigerated containers from shipping warehouses for freshly harvested products, and, following shipment, placed in a ripening facility for holding the products until proper maturation. In addition to the references discussed above, there is a significant amount of knowledge and prior art in the industry showing the use of controlled atmosphere arrangements for delaying ripening of product from harvest to the ripening facilities. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,152,966 and 4,817,391, which issued to E. Roe et al., describe devices for producing controlled atmosphere in an area in which perishable products are held prior to desired ripening procedures. Particularly, atmospheres of reduced oxygen and lowered temperature are discussed in these references, and membrane separation technology for reducing and separating unwanted constituents of the recycled atmosphere is illustrated. U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,685, which issued to M. Bianco, similarly describes the conventional ripening rooms wherein ethylene is dispersed at a preselected time to facilitate and speed up the ripening process. This particular reference also describes a preferred frame structure arranged within a ripening chamber to enable flow of the atmosphere through interstitial volume between rows of boxed products, and to allow more freedom in the placement and removal of palletized products into and out of the ripening chamber.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,389, which issued to L. LaBarge, discusses a method of accelerating fruit ripening and respiration by providing a continuous inflow of air and ethylene gas in a ripening chamber. In the industry, the continuous flow of gases within a ripening chamber, such as contemplated in the LaBarge patent, is utilized for a variety of products and processes for accelerating the ripening process just prior to release of perishable products into the retail trade. For example, palletized ripening for bananas and other perishable products has been provided at ripening facilities for use with semi-trailer loads of products which are backed into modular ripening units. Particularly, ripening equipment of this type can be obtained from Modular Ripening Company, Inc., (Virginia Beach, Va.), wherein a modular ripening facility includes a plurality of trailer docks, whereby semi-trailer loads of products are backed into the docks (with the truck doors open), and thereafter the ripening equipment provides a continuous flow of refrigerated atmosphere to the trailer to facilitate rapid ripening of the products therewithin.
Consequently, it can be seen that many procedures and structures have been developed in an attempt to provide the ability to ship unripened perishable products from the tropics and similar harvesting locations in refrigerated and controlled atmosphere containers, thereafter unloading the containers and shipping the product to ripening facilities, implementing rapid ripening processes, and then shipping the ripe products to retail market. Problems still remain, however, in the uniform and reliable control of ripening of the products such that all products in a particular load will be delivered with consistent color, maturity, and quality. Current procedures for shipping unripened products for bulk ripening prior to retail distribution cannot provide uniform and consistent quality (e.g., fruit temperature) and ripeness (e.g., color) characteristics, and slight changes and/or problems in the transportation or delivery schedules can result in relatively costly quality control problems.
Additionally, as can be appreciated, conventional shipping, unloading, ripening, and final transportation arrangements require substantial investments of labor and capital. All of these factors also add numerous variables to the product quality control concerns, further complicating and undermining the ability to maintain consistently high quality and uniform ripeness and color characteristics of the perishable products. It often takes 10-14 days from harvest for delivery of the product to the ripener, then an additional 4-7 days for ripening and delivery of product to retail merchants. Moreover, relatively slight delays in shipping and/or delivery schedules can result in major consequences with respect to fruit quality and spoilage. | {
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Video displays such as computer monitors generate images using video signals received from a computer system, for example, a personal computer (or "PC"), or other source of video data. For many such displays, images are produced using data received from three video signals--red, green and blue--collectively referred to as RGB video data signals. In addition to the aforementioned video data signals, most video displays also receive two other signals--a horizontal synchronization (or "sync") signal and a vertical sync signal. The horizontal sync signal is used to synchronize the monitor to the video signal source. Specifically, the video signal source transmits a serial data stream to the video monitor which begins to scan from left to right across the screen using an electron beam. At the end of a line, a horizontal sync pulse indicates the end of the line. Upon receiving the horizontal sync pulse, the monitor will reposition the electron beam back to the left border of the screen and begin scanning to the right again. The vertical sync pulse, on the other hand, indicates to the video monitor to begin a new screen by repositioning the electron beam back to the top left corner of the screen.
Currently, there are three techniques by which these three video signals and two sync signals are transmitted from a video source to a video monitor. The first of these techniques may be seen by reference to FIG. 1a. Here, a video source 10 and a video monitor 12 are coupled together by first, second, third, fourth and fifth lines 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22, each of which respectively carries one of the R, G, B, horizontal sync (or "HSYNC") and vertical sync (or "VSYNC") signals from the video source 10 to the video monitor 12. While adequate for use, this configuration is considered disadvantageous in that it requires five shielded cables, together with associated connection circuitry, in order to convey the requisite signals. As a result, therefore, this configuration would be both more expensive to manufacture and less convenient for use in video applications where space is at a premium.
For these reasons, various solutions by which the five video signals are transmitted from the video source to a video monitor using a lesser number of cables have been proposed. A four line solution may be seen by reference to FIG. 1b. Here, a video source 24 is coupled to a video monitor 26 by first, second, third and fourth cables 28, 30, 32 and 34. As before, the first, second and third cables 28, 30 and 32 are used to transmit respective ones of the R, G and B video data signals. Here, however, the HSYNC and VSYNC signals are combined into a composite sync signal for transmission over a composite sync cable, for example, the fourth cable 34. While the inability of video monitors to distinguish between HSYNC and VSYNC pulses was initially considered to be an obstacle to this approach, this problem was solved relatively easily by varying the comparative duration of the HSYNC and VSYNC pulses. Thus, the video monitor 26 would distinguish between the HSYNC and VSYNC pulses based upon comparative duration, i.e., pulses having a duration in excess of a pre-selected value are classified as VSYNC pulses while pulses having a duration below the pre-selected value are classified as HSYNC pulses. While this configuration successfully reduced the number of required connections between the video source 24 and the video monitor 26 from 5 to 4 and achieved, therefore, considerable savings in both cost and consumption of space, it should be readily appreciated that further savings are possible if the number of required connections could be reduced still further.
A three line configuration is illustrated in FIG. 1c. As may now be seen, a video source 36 is coupled to a video monitor 38 by only first, second and third lines 40, 42 and 44. Similar to the systems disclosed in FIGS. 1a-b, the first and third cables 40 and 44 carry the R and B video data signals. Here, however, the second cable 42 carries both the G video data signal and the composite sync signal. Combining video data and sync signals on a single line is possible because of the characteristic of video data signals to periodically blank. Blanking intervals are those periods during which a video signal is inactive. For example, a video data signal blanks whenever the electron beam is positioned outside the active display area of the monitor, i.e., is positioned along the border or porch of the screen, or while the electron beam is repositioning itself for scanning a next line. or next screen.
While the three cable solution would appear to be the most desirable of the various configurations disclosed in FIGS. 1a-c, certain considerations have limited the use thereof. Specifically, to combine video and synchronization data into a single signal, synchronization data is inserted into the blanking intervals of the G video signal prior to transmission of the video/composite sync composite signal over the second line 42. Upon receipt by the video monitor 38, the synchronization data is stripped off before generation of an image thereby. So that the video monitor 38 can readily distinguish between the video data component and the sync component of the received video/synchronization composite signal, the video monitor 38 is instructed that the data component of the video/synchronization composite signal will always be positive while the sync component will always be negative. Such an instruction, however, presumes that all composite sync signals will be polarity insensitive, i.e., will always have the same polarity. If different sync signals had different polarities, important synchronization information could be lost when combining and/or separating the video and sync signals.
Unfortunately, this presumption is not always necessarily true. The polarity of synch pulses for RGB-type monitors is determined by the software drivers used in the computer's video boards. Thus, different computer systems may use sync signals having different polarities. In some platforms, for example, MS-DOS, HSYNC pulses are negative. In other platforms, for example, Windows, HSYNC pulses are positive. Thus, to switch between these two platforms, monitors, which are generally considered to be non-platform specific, must be sufficiently sophisticated to distinguish between the different types of sync signals and adjust their operations appropriately. If, however, the display system is configured as illustrated in FIG. 1c such that sync information is presumed negative and combined with a video signal prior to transmission from the video source 36 to the video monitor 38, the video monitor 38 would be unable to distinguish whether the sync signal, once separated from the video signal, should be positive or negative. For this reason, the three line solution illustrated in FIG. 1c is used infrequently. Instead, the four line (R, G, B, composite sync) solution illustrated in FIG. 1b, while requiring the use of additional cables and associated connection circuitry, is more commonly used since, by maintaining a dedicated sync line, the polarity information for synchronization signals is preserved. | {
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With the increasing development of the science and technology, electrically operated devices are gradually used to replace the manually operated devices. Consequently, the labor cost is reduced.
For example, an electric bed is one of the widely-used electrically operated devices. Since the angle of a bed board of the electric bed is adjustable, the bed board can be adjusted to fit the user's posture so as to provide preferred support to the user's body.
Conventionally, the electric bed is controlled by a control system. By receiving an input power from a power source (e.g., a utility power source), the control system can be normally operated. The control system comprises a first control box, a second control box and an actuator. The second control box and the actuator are electrically connected with each other, and located under the electric bed. The tilt angle of the bed board of the electric bed is adjustable through the actuator. The second control box is used for controlling the actuator. Moreover, after the second control box is paired with a remote controller, the second control box can be remotely controlled by the remote controller and thus the operation of the electric bed can be correspondingly controlled. Since the second control box is disposed under the electric bed, it is difficult to operate the second control box. The first control box is located at a position that is easily operated by the user. For example, the first control box is located at a top side of the electric bed. Moreover, the first control box is electrically connected with the second control box. When the first control box is operated by the user, the second control box is correspondingly controlled. Moreover, the first control box comprises a pairing button, a paring indicator, an emergency button and a power indicator. When the first control box receives the input power, the power status is correspondingly indicated by the power indicator. For operating the electric bed, the user may press the pairing button of the first control box to have the first control box issue a pairing signal to the second control box. After the pairing signal is received, the second control box performs a pairing process. During the pairing process, the pairing status is correspondingly indicated by the paring indicator. After a paring button of the remote controller is pressed, the pairing between the remote controller and the second control box is successfully performed. In case that the input power is interrupted and the emergency button is pressed, the control system is in an emergency mode. In the emergency mode, a backup power is transmitted from the first control box to the second control box. Consequently, the actuator of the electric bed is correspondingly controlled to continuously lower the tilt angle of the bed board until the bed board is flat.
However, the conventional control system still has some drawbacks. For example, it is necessary to install both of the pairing button and the emergency button on the first control box. By pressing the pairing button, the second control box is in the pairing mode. By pressing the emergency button, the second control box is in the emergency mode. The arrangement of both of the pairing button and the emergency button increases the cost of the control system. Moreover, it is necessary to install both of the power indicator and the pairing indicator on the first control box. The power status of the first control box is indicated by the power indicator. The paring situation of the second control box is indicated by the pairing indicator. Similarly, the arrangement of both of the power indicator and the pairing indicator increases the cost of the control system.
Therefore, there is a need of provides a control system and a control method for an electrically operated device in order to overcome the above drawbacks. | {
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The present invention relates to installation management and more particularly to collaborative installation management in a network-based supply chain environment.
The ability to quickly, easily and efficiently communicate has always been a critical component, if not a necessity, for successful business operations. Today, as the global economy continues to expand, the ability to communicate is even more important. In partial response to these demands, sophisticated telecommunications equipment has been developed that permits users to quickly and easily place, receive, transfer and switch telephone calls as well as provide advanced features such as call accounting and voice messaging functionality. As these features have become widely available in local telecommunications equipment, such as private branch exchange (PBX) telephone switches, central offices, key and hybrid telephone systems (small telecommunications switches), call accounting systems, voice messaging systems, computer telephony interface (CTI) devices, automatic call distribution (ACD) devices, internet servers, etc., the demand for and installation of these systems has continued to expand. Often, a vast number of sites have layered or xe2x80x9cintegratedxe2x80x9d two or more of the aforementioned devices and rarely are these different devices using the same operating system or of the same brand. More often, these differing devices include a mixture of operating systems and brands.
Such a mix of advanced telecommunications equipment, however, still typically relies upon a significant amount of manual human interaction to install, setup, operate, modify and maintain. Specifically, when a new telephone switch such as a PBX is to be installed at a facility, not only must the physical equipment itself be installed, but the equipment must be configured and programmed to operate as desired by the users of the facility. In fact, as more and more advanced features have become available in the equipment, the burden on the equipment installer to initially setup and configure these features for the specific needs of the end user and the burden on the technician in maintaining and modifying the equipment, the associated cable records for the equipment, and cable and service activities, has also increased.
When a telephone switch is accompanied by other telecommunications equipment, such as voice messaging systems, call accounting systems, CTI devices, wireless communication servers, or ACD devices, installation inconveniences are still further multiplied. Specifically, many of these ancillary pieces of equipment require additional entry of user information that is duplicative of information already entered into the main telephone switching equipment. In such case, not only must a technician program the main telecommunications switch, but additional time (and money) must be spent for programming ancillary equipment with similar information. Typically, these systems must be perfectly synchronized with each other or problems will occur. As a result, the total cost of the installation is greatly increased and data entry error rates are greatly increased.
To further complicate the installation and management of this equipment, each discrete change to one component of a telecommunications system often requires additional, similar changes to several other components. Furthermore, these additional changes typically must be done in a specific order and, since the operating system design of each of the telecommunications devices often changes from manufacturer to manufacturer and from device to device, by using an entirely different command structure for each different component. Therefore, when done manually, a technician must remember different command structures for each of the devices that require programming and also must remember the order in which the changes should be made and further may require different terminals, passwords, procedures, software, etc. Thus, a highly skilled technician having familiarity with all of the various types of equipment that make up the telecommunications system must perform these changes, or as is more common, multiple technicians are required. Clearly, with even a limited number of devices that require installation, maintenance, or programming, the likelihood of an error is greatly increased.
Since modem telecommunications equipment provides substantial flexibility in programming to accommodate varying preferences of different users, it is often necessary to begin the installation of such equipment by surveying users as to their desires and preferences so that these can be accurately reflected through programming of the equipment. This is typically done by distributing a questionnaire to each user to receive information sufficient to allow the equipment to be properly configured. Thus, not only is there a substantial time commitment needed to review and enter the information received on such questionnaires into the equipment, but significant effort on the part of each and every user is also required to complete the questionnaires. Typically, collection of this data and entry of it must wait until the system is installed, while in the present invention described below, this information can be stored externally, checked for omissions, checked for errors or duplications and processed months in advance.
Such disadvantages are particularly highlighted when an outdated PBX or central office system is replaced with an improved system, or a change is made in a present system. In such case each user is typically surveyed as to their preferences, as above, and this information is manually re-entered after installation of the improved PBX or central office system. Thus, since equipment upgrades impact each and every user in a facility, a significant devotion of resources is required. As a result, the benefits of advanced features provided by improved telecommunications equipment often does not outweigh the installation costs and thus many organizations either do not upgrade their equipment, or delay such upgrades as long as possible.
A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for collaborative installation management in a network-based supply chain environment. According to an embodiment of the invention, telephone calls, data and other multimedia information are routed through a network system which includes transfer of information across the internet utilizing telephony routing information and internet protocol address information. The system includes integrated Internet Protocol (IP) telephony services allowing a user of a web application to communicate in an audio fashion in-band without having to pick up another telephone. Users can click a button and go to a call center through the network using IP telephony. The system invokes an IP telephony session simultaneously with the data session, and uses an active directory lookup whenever a user uses the system. Users include service providers and manufacturers utilizing the network-based supply chain environment. | {
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The selection of needles according to a desired pattern is conventional practice on circular knitting machines and various control systems have been devised for this purpose. All such systems to applicants' knowledge have the disadvantage of requiring that the machine be shut down to provide for a new pattern of needle selection or comprising complicated and expensive apparatus to effect the desired change in needle selection. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to railway passenger cars of the rapid transit type and more specifically relates to an improved coupler arrangement therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,561,611 and 3,841,496 illustrate a railway car impact absorbing devices suitable for use with a knuckle-type car coupler. U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,089 shows a frangible shock absorbing bumper adapted for use on automotive vehicles. U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,553 illustrates an uncoupling mechanism for a knuckle-type railway coupler. The present invention is an improvement over these designs and provides a novel arrangement for coupling adjacent railcars and for protecting them from impact shocks and stresses occuring as a result of high speed impacts. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an optical disk device. More specifically, the present invention relates to an optical disk device connected to a network.
2. Background Information
Optical disk devices that reproduce content recorded to a BD (Blu-ray disc) or other such optical disk and are under a network-connected environment have become popular.
One type of such a conventional optical disk is a BD-Live compatible Blu-ray disc having prerecorded browser software. BD-Live is an advertising providing service in which a server is accessed through an optical disk device connected to a network, advertising data showing the latest movie previews, the dates when movies open at theaters, the dates Blu-ray discs go on sale, and so forth is downloaded, and advertisement is displayed on a television or the like connected to the optical disk device.
When the user launches browser software while a BD-Live compatible Blu-ray disc has been placed in the device main body of the optical disk device, the optical disk device accesses the server and downloads advertising data from the server. Consequently, the user sees the advertisement displayed on the television, etc. An information recording and reproduction device also has been proposed (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2008-204261, for example).
However, with a conventional optical disk device, the advertisement that is displayed does not necessarily match the user's preferences and interests. Accordingly, with the conventional optical disk device, advertisement that is different from the user's preferences and interests is often displayed on the television, etc. Thus, with the conventional optical disk device, it is often the case that either the user does not look at the advertisement that is displayed, or BD-Live is not utilized even though the optical disk placed in the device main body of the optical disk device is a BD-Live compatible Blu-ray disc. Therefore, with the conventional optical disk device, the advertisement provided by the optical disk that prerecords browser software is ineffective at conveying the advertising message. | {
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Vacuum insulating glass (VIG or vacuum IG) units are known in the art. Some example VIG configurations are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,657,607, 5,664,395, 5,657,607, 5,902,652, 6,506,472 and 6,383,580, the disclosures of which are all hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a typical VIG window unit 1 and elements that form the VIG window unit 1. For example, VIG unit 1 may include two spaced apart substantially parallel glass substrates 2, 3, which enclose an evacuated low-pressure space/cavity 6 therebetween. Glass sheets or substrates 2,3 are interconnected by a peripheral edge seal 4 that may be made of fused solder glass or the like, for example. An array of support pillars/spacers 5 may be included between the glass substrates 2, 3 to maintain the spacing of substrates 2, 3 of the VIG unit 1 in view of the low-pressure space/gap 6 present between the substrates 2, 3.
A pump-out tube 8 may be hermetically sealed by, for example, solder glass 9 or the like to an aperture/hole 10 that passes from an interior surface of one of the glass substrates 2 to the bottom of an optional recess 11 in the exterior surface of the glass substrate 2, or optionally to the exterior surface of the glass substrate 2. A vacuum is attached to pump-out tube 8 to evacuate the interior cavity 6 to a low pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure, for example, using a sequential pump down operation. After evacuation of the cavity 6, a portion (e.g., the tip) of the tube 8 is melted to seal the vacuum in low pressure cavity/space 6. The optional recess 11 may retain the sealed pump-out tube 8. Optionally, a chemical getter 12 may be included within a recess 13 that is disposed in an interior face of one of the glass substrates, e.g., glass substrate 2. The chemical getter 12 may be used to absorb or bind with certain residual impurities that may remain after the cavity 6 is evacuated and sealed.
VIG units with peripheral hermetic edge seals 4 (e.g., solder glass) are typically manufactured by depositing glass frit or other suitable material in a solution (e.g., frit paste) around the periphery of substrate 2 (or on substrate 3). This glass frit paste ultimately forms the edge seal 4. The other substrate (e.g., 3) is brought down on substrate 2 so as to sandwich spacers/pillars 5 and the glass frit solution between the two substrates 2, 3. The entire assembly including the glass substrates 2, 3, the spacers/pillars 5 and the seal material (e.g., glass frit in solution or paste), is then typically heated to a temperature of at least about 440° C., at which point the glass frit melts, wets the surfaces of the glass substrates 2, 3, and ultimately forms a hermetic peripheral/edge seal 4.
The composition of conventional edge seals are known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,837,866; 4,256,495; 4,743,302; 5,051,381; 5,188,990; 5,336,644; 5,534,469; 7,425,518, and U.S. Publication No. 2005/0233885, the disclosures of which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference.
After formation of the edge seal 4 between the substrates, a vacuum is drawn via the pump-out tube 8 to form low pressure space/cavity 6 between the substrates 2, 3. The pressure in space/cavity 6 may be produced by way of an evacuation process to a level below atmospheric pressure, e.g., below about 10−2 Torr. To maintain the low pressure in the space/cavity 6, substrates 2, 3 are hermetically sealed via the edge seal and sealing off of the pump-out tube. Small high strength spacers/pillars 5 are provided between the transparent glass substrates to maintain separation of the approximately parallel glass substrates against atmospheric pressure. As noted above, once the space 6 between substrates 2, 3 is evacuated, the pump-out tube 8 may be sealed, for example, by melting its tip using a laser or the like.
High-temperature bonding techniques such as, for example, glass frit bonding, as discussed above, have been widely used method for hermetically sealing (e.g., forming an edge seal) components made of silicon, ceramics, glass, or the like. The heat required for these high-temperature processes is typically in the range of about 440-600 degrees C., and oftentimes even higher. These conventional bonding techniques typically require oven-intensive bulk heating in which the entire device (including the glass and any components housed within the glass housing) comes to near thermal equilibrium with the oven for a seal to form. As a result, a relatively long period of time is required to achieve an acceptable seal. It is also the case that the most temperature sensitive component determines the maximum allowable temperature of the entire system.
Thus, high-temperature sealing processes discussed above (e.g., for glass frit bonding) unfortunately are not suitable for fabricating heat-sensitive components such as, for example, tempered VIG units. In the case of tempered VIG units, the thermally tempered glass substrates of a VIG unit would rapidly lose temper strength in the high-temperature environment. For instance, the aforesaid high temperatures and long heating times of the entire assembly utilized in the formulation of edge seal 4 are undesirable, especially when it is desired to use a heat strengthened or tempered glass substrate(s) 2, 3 in the vacuum IG unit. Moreover, such high processing temperatures may adversely affect certain low-E coating(s) that may be applied to one or both of the glass substrates in certain instances.
Tempered glass is advantageous because, when designed properly, it breaks in a fine pattern that reduces the risk of injury to persons exposed to fragments. Accordingly, measurements of fragmentation density are typically used to determine if tempered glass meets safety requirements. For example, the European standard EN 14179-1:2005 requires 4 mm tempered safety glass to break such that there are at least 40 fragments within a 50 mm×50 mm area. See FIG. 3 in this regard, which shows an example break pattern.
The correlation between heating conditions and tempering loss was established by the assignee by thermally tempering numerous 350 mm×500 mm substrates (4 mm float glass) under constant furnace conditions so as to exceed the EN 14179-1:2005 fragmentation requirement. The break pattern was measured on several substrates without further heating to ascertain the initial fragmentation density. The remaining substrates were heated at various temperatures and durations (in stacked pairs to simulate VIGs) before they were broken. The ratio of final to initial fragmentation density was taken to represent the temper loss induced by a given heating process. The results, shown in FIG. 4, demonstrate that loss of temper under the range of conditions tested is primarily driven by temperature and to a lesser degree by time. Additional experiments showed that VIGs can be made from tempered glass with sufficient residual compressive stress to tolerate 30% loss of temper and still meet the EN 14179-1:2005 fragmentation requirements. Higher levels of temper generally result in flatness issues that make it difficult to produce a continuous edge seal. As shown in FIG. 4, even very short heat exposures (<5 minutes) are limited to a maximum temperature of about 375° C. to meet this requirement. As mentioned above, glass frit bonding is typically performed in a slow process that therefore would require much lower peak temperature to meet the safety glass requirement.
One conventional solution to sealing glass substrates together is to use an epoxy. However, in the case of VIG units, epoxy compositions may be insufficient to hold a seal on a vacuum. Furthermore, epoxies may be susceptible to environmental factors that may further reduce their effectiveness when applied to VIG units.
Historically, lead-based frit has been widely used to produce hermetic seals in a variety of products, including VIGs; however, products that contain lead are being phased out due to the health consequences to the population. Accordingly, certain countries (e.g., the U.S. and at least certain countries in the European Union) may impose strict requirements on the amount of lead that can be contained in a given product. Indeed, some countries (or customers) may currently require products that are completely lead-free, while others are moving in this direction.
Thus, it will be appreciated there is a need in the art for a seal processing technique that does not involve heating the entire article to be sealed to high temperature(s), and/or articles made in such example manners.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, there is provided a method of making a vacuum insulating glass (VIG) window unit comprising first and second glass substrates, with each said substrate having first and second major surfaces. The method comprises applying a first frit material around perimeter edges of the first major surfaces of the first and second substrates; heat treating the first and second substrates with the first frit material thereon, with the first and second substrates reaching a first peak temperature; following said heat treatment, applying a second frit material on the first and/or second substrate(s) such that, for each substrate on which the second frit material is applied, the second frit material at least partially overlaps the first frit material on the respective substrate around peripheral edges thereof, the first and second frit materials having different compositions; positioning a plurality of spacers on the first surface of the first substrate; bringing together the first and second substrates such that the first major surfaces of the first and second substrates face one another, and such that a cavity is defined therebetween, in making a VIG unit subassembly; heating the subassembly in order to melt the second frit material and wet the first frit material, the heating being performed such that the first and second substrates reach a second peak temperature that is no higher than 400 degrees C. and that is at least 150 degrees C. lower than the first peak temperature; following said heating of the subassembly, cooling and/or allowing the subassembly to cool, in forming an edge seal between the first and second substrates; evacuating the cavity to a pressure less than atmospheric via a pump-out port; and sealing the pump-out port in making the VIG unit.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, there is provided a method of making a vacuum insulating glass (VIG) window unit. The method comprises having first and second articles, each said article being a glass substrate having first and second major surfaces and having a first frit material fused thereon around peripheral edges of the first major surface as a result of having been heat treated with the respective substrate; applying a second frit material on the first and/or second substrate(s) such that, for each substrate on which the second frit material is applied, the second frit material at least partially overlaps the first frit material on the respective substrate around peripheral edges thereof, the first and second frit materials having different compositions; positioning a plurality of spacers on the first surface of the first substrate; bringing together the first and second substrates such that the first major surfaces of the first and second substrates face one another, and such that a cavity is defined therebetween, in making a VIG unit subassembly; heating the subassembly in order to melt the second frit material and wet the first frit material, the heating being performed such that the first and second substrates reach a second peak temperature that is no higher than 400 degrees C. and that is at least 150 degrees C. lower than the first peak temperature; following said heating of the subassembly, cooling and/or allowing the subassembly to cool, in forming an edge seal between the first and second substrates; evacuating the cavity to a pressure less than atmospheric via a pump-out port; and sealing the pump-out port in making the VIG unit.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, a VIG window unit is provided, and it comprises first and second substantially parallel, spaced apart glass substrates. At least one of the first and second substrates is heat treated. Spacers are disposed between the first and second substrates. An edge seal is provided around the periphery of the first and/or second substrates, and the first and second substrates, together with the edge seal, define a cavity therebetween. The cavity is evacuated to a pressure less than atmospheric. The edge seal is an hermetic seal formed by heating via a low temperature process for a short duration a second frit material that is sandwiched between bands of first frit materials fused with the first and second substrates during a high temperature process, the low temperature process being performed in connection with a second peak temperature of no more than 400 degrees C. and a time of no more than 15 minutes at the second peak temperature, and the high temperature being performed at a first peak temperature that is at least 150 degrees C. higher than the second peak temperature.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, a kit comprising first and second frit materials for use in forming an edge seal for a VIG window unit is provided. The first frit material comprises at least 65% bismuth oxide, by weight, with the first frit material being fusable to glass when the glass reaches a first temperature of 550 degrees C. or higher. The second frit material comprises vanadium oxide, barium oxide, and zinc oxide, in amounts that total at least 65% by weight, with the second frit being structured to form a bond with the first frit material in making the edge seal for the VIG window unit. The second frit material is meltable when the glass reaches at a second temperature of no more than 400 degrees C., and the first frit material is wettable at the second temperature.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, a frit material for use in forming an edge seal for a VIG window unit is provided. The fit material comprises at least 65% bismuth oxide and at least 2% zinc oxide, by weight, and the frit is being designed to fuse to glass when the glass reaches a first temperature of 550 degrees C. or higher, and further is designed to wet when the glass reaches a second temperature that is at least 150 degrees C. lower than the first temperature.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, a frit material for use in forming an edge seal for a VIG window unit is provided. The fit material comprises 45-67 wt. % vanadium oxide, 7-25 wt. % barium oxide, and 4-17 wt. % zinc oxide and is designed to be meltable when a peak temperature of no greater than 360 degrees C. is maintained for a time of no more than 15 minutes (and also is potentially bondable to the frit material in the preceding paragraph under these and/or similar conditions).
In certain example embodiments of this invention, there is provided a method of making a VIG window unit comprising first and second glass substrates, with each said substrate having first and second major surfaces. A first frit material is applied around perimeter edges of the first major surfaces of the first and second substrates. The first and second substrates with the first frit material thereon are heated, with the first and second substrates reaching a first peak temperature. Following said heat treatment, a second frit material is applied on the first and/or second substrate(s) such that, for each substrate on which the second frit material is applied, the second frit material at least partially overlaps the first frit material on the respective substrate around peripheral edges thereof. The first and second frit materials have different compositions. Spacers are positioned on the first surface of the first substrate. The first and second substrates are brought together such that the first major surfaces of the first and second substrates face one another, and such that a cavity is defined therebetween, in making a VIG unit subassembly. The subassembly is heated in order to melt the second frit material and wet the first frit material, with this heating being performed such that the first and second substrates reach a second peak temperature that is no higher than 400 degrees C. and that is at least 150 degrees C. lower than the first peak temperature. Following said heating of the subassembly, the subassembly is cooled and/or allowed to cool, in forming an edge seal between the first and second substrates. The cavity is evacuated to a pressure less than atmospheric via a pump-out port. The pump-out port is sealed in making the VIG unit. At least one of the first and second substrates is thermally tempered. The second peak temperature is sufficiently low so that the tempered substrate(s) retain(s) at least about 70% of the original temper strength after the heating of the subassembly.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, there is provided a method of making a VIG window unit comprising first and second glass substrates, with each said substrate having first and second major surfaces. The second glass substrate has a hole facilitating evacuation. A first frit material is applied around perimeter edges of the first major surfaces of the first and second substrates, and in the tube seal area on the second major surface of the second substrate. The first and second substrates with the first frit material thereon are heated, with the first and second substrates reaching a first peak temperature. Following said heat treatment, a second frit material is applied on the first and/or second substrate(s) such that, for each substrate on which the second frit material is applied, the second frit material at least partially overlaps the first frit material on the respective substrate around peripheral edges thereof. The first and second frit materials have different compositions. The first frit material is also applied to a seal forming area on a pump-out tube, and the tube is then heated to fuse the first frit material onto the tube. Spacers are positioned on the first surface of the first substrate. The first and second substrates are brought together such that the first major surfaces of the first and second substrates face one another, and such that a cavity is defined there between, in making a VIG unit subassembly. The pump-out tube is inserted into the pump-out hole in the second substrate and second frit material is applied so as to overlap at least partially the first frit at the sealing area in the second substrate and to overlap at least partially the first frit on the pump-out tube. The subassembly is heated in order to melt the second frit material and wet the first frit material, with this heating being performed such that the first and second substrates reach a second peak temperature that is no higher than 400 degrees C. and that is at least 150 degrees C. lower than the first peak temperature. Following said heating of the subassembly, the subassembly is cooled and/or allowed to cool, in forming an edge seal between the first and second substrates. The cavity is evacuated to a pressure less than atmospheric via a pump-out tube. The pump-out tube is sealed in making the VIG unit. At least one of the first and second substrates is thermally tempered. The second peak temperature is sufficiently low so that the tempered substrate(s) retain(s) at least about 70% of the original temper strength after the heating of the subassembly.
One aspect of certain example embodiments relates to the use of a primer layer (e.g., a first frit) and a seal layer (e.g., a second frit, different from the first frit) in which the primer and seal layer have different functions and generally different compositions. This example aspect is different from approaches where a single seal material is heated twice, optionally with a second application between heating steps. It thus will be appreciated that the first and second frits discussed herein may in certain example instances be referred to as a primer frit or primer layer, and a top coat or seal layer.
The features, aspects, advantages, and example embodiments described herein may be combined to realize yet further embodiments. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally drawn to door mats having message or pictures therein and more particularly to such mats which provide different messages or pictures when viewed from the entrance or exit side of the mat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Floor mats are known which have pictures, logos or writing thereon. Examples of such mats are seen in U.S. Pat. No. DES. 200,152 and U.S. Pat. No. DES. 350,253. The messages include writings such as "welcome" and have surface textures varying from thick mat to slight corrugations. However, none of these mats provide one message when viewing the mat from its entrance side and a second message when viewing the mat from the exit side with the non-viewed message being hidden from view.
Door mats are also known which which have triangular, spiked and truncated triangular surfaces. Examples of such mats are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 385,044; U.S. Pat. No. DES. 187, 639; U.S. Pat. No. DES. 105,428; and U.S. Pat. No. DES. 310,460. None of these mats, however, have any teaching of how messages may be placed on such surfaces let alone how differing entrance and exit messages may be placed thereon which will allow only one message to be read while hiding the other message when viewing the mat from either the entrance or exit side.
Signs and carpets are also known which display different images or messages depending upon the angle of view of the sign or the mat angle of the carpet. Examples of such arc soon in U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,380 dealing with signs and U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,616 dealing with carpets. However, there is no teaching in either patent how a door mat may be designed to have different entrance and exit messages with variable distances of view which is needed in a welcome mat.
The sign patent has triangles of equal inclanation on which different messages are printed. Thus the differing messages would be visible from the same distances from the sides of the sign. This is unsuitable for a mat. The carpet dopends on the stroked inclanation of the carpet fibers to display different pictures. Again this is unsuitable for a mat.
Thus what was needed was a door mat having an entrance message viewable from a first distance away from the mat entrance side while hiding the mat's exit message and an exit message different from the entrance message which is viewable from a second shorter distance facing the exit side of the mat while hiding the entrance message. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to communications and statistical analysis of vehicle movement. More particularly, the invention relates to communication with vehicles for the purpose of supplying traffic condition information and analyzing data relating to traffic conditions.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional on-vehicle guidance systems are usually stand-alone applications wherein the traffic data are static and cannot be easily dynamically updated. Consequently, the proposed routes are accurate only under ideal traffic conditions. The stand-alone versions cannot take into account current traffic jam conditions or real time emergencies. Hence, even when a so-called xe2x80x9coptimal routexe2x80x9d is found, it may not be usable solution in real time situations and can only be used as a general recommendation. Other systems rely on electronic and optical sensors situated at various key locations to measure and update the current traffic loads. These systems are typically costly to install and to maintain and to be effective they must be distributed over large sectors of roads. Still other real time traffic control systems utilize real time field information typically gathered from various service vehicles such as traffic police, ambulances, road maintenance teams, etc., which is usually transmitted by radio to the control center and from there broadcasted to the public.
Use of a database for determining traffic jams and other bottleneck situations is addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,056. Data is obtained from traveling vehicles, including their IDs, positions, times, and speeds. A jam is presumed if an average speed of a block of vehicles is less than a predetermined value. This arrangement requires that data concerning relevant conditions of a large number of road sections be provided. The prior art requires evaluation of vehicle speeds and averaging them over a block. This seemingly innocuous operation may highly problematic, however, within a traffic jam as many if not all speed measurements may return zero values. In other words, speed as a function of time may be wildly discontinuous and measuring it on time grid of a minute may prove highly inaccurate. The definition of blocks is not quite clear. No technique is given for partitioning the vehicles into blocks. The number of roads or more precisely, sections of roads may be very large, say, tens of thousands. It may be difficult to cover them all, i.e. store all the relevant data, process and update it on-line. An important point in his solution is evaluating vehicle speeds and averaging them over a block. This seemingly innocuous operation may highly problematic; however, within a traffic jam as many if not all speed measurements may return zero values. In other words, speed as a function of time may be wildly discontinuous and measuring it on time grid of a minute may prove highly inaccurate.
Koutsopoulos and Xu""s paper is theoretical, and uses mathematical techniques and computer simulations for studying various methods of predicting future travel times under conditions of traffic congestion. Their results are interesting but they cover a tiny simulation model under a number of assumptions which may or may not be valid in large scale systems.
A comprehensive and obviously expensive experimental project ADVANCE is described in a series of technical reports obtainable at the Web site http://jungle.dis.anl.gov/advance. Many of their algorithmic decisions appear to be similar though not identical to ours while some of the most significant differences may be summarized as follows. They used xe2x80x9cpurexe2x80x9d GPS technology coupled with RF transmitters for transmitting location information from the equipped vehicles to the base station. Their fleet of equipped vehicles was extremely small (about 80 cars) and experimental. As opposed to this, we propose to utilize the GSM/GPS technology available from a number of telecommunications operators and quickly becoming an industry standard. As a result, our fleet of vehicles is going to be limitless for all practical purposes. Furthermore, in ADVANCE all route planning was performed in vehicles which necessitated maintenance of updated databases in all vehicles. In our system, all planning is done at the central server which greatly facilitates system""s functioning and makes vehicles""s equipment simpler and less costly.
Other proposed methods and systems for determination of dynamic traffic information and traffic events use wide coverage mobile telephone network such as GSM or CDMA. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,012 utilizes manual or remote interrogation system for storing location and other traffic related behavior and then transmit it by radio broadcast or mobile telephone system to the terminals of road users. However, this information is presented to the users in audio, visual or graphic means, and no attempt is made to provide alternative routes or navigation instructions based on this information.
The present invention contains the vehicle guidance system consisting of a plurality of vehicles equipped with MGUs, the CTU, and a communication system provided by the telecommunication service provider. By utilizing GSM/GPS technology, or GSM technology, or other wireless technology, the CTU tracks the positions of MGUs and updates in real time the database of travel times for all roads. In response to a request from a driver for a route update from his present position to a desired destination, it calculates the desired fastest route by utilizing both the regular travel times along segments of roads and predicted current travel times found by using information collected from tracking routines. Thereafter, the route is communicated to the driver. In addition to GSM it is contemplated that CDMA and other mobile telecommunications formats will be used.
The present invention, provides a real time vehicle guidance system is capable of providing optimal route from the present position of a vehicle to a desired target destination when traffic jams may be present. This reduces the burden upon the driver when the vehicle is traveling at high speeds on unfamiliar roads. Thereafter the optimal route found is communicated to the driver and displayed on the vehicle""s computer screen featuring the digital map of the relevant region and/or via audio instructions.
The travel time between two road intersections A and B is the sum of travel times for all sections of roads connecting A and B on the shortest route either by the minimal time criterion, or by some other criterion. Then in order to be able to compute a travel time between two positions on a map, we must be able to determine travel times for all sections of roads connecting those positions, or road intersections close to them. In the standard solution (an autonomous or stand-alone on-vehicle application), a route is computed by a mathematical optimization algorithm while travel times are computed as distances divided by maximal allowed speeds. While being simple, such solutions have an obvious shortcoming in that they do not take into account the real conditions on the roads and therefore can serve only as a guidance suggestion.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a true real time system is provided which collect, store and make use of the following kinds of data:
1. Temporary changes in road conditions known in advance like closed roads under construction, traffic reroutes, etc.;
2. Regular predictable changes like everyday slowdowns in rush hours;
3. Sudden unpredictable changes such traffic accidents, traffic congestion due to sudden and drastic changes in traffic arrangements because of visiting dignitaries, etc.
The system in the present invention is built around an idea of collecting and processing information that describes all those changing conditions.
The guidance system according to the present invention consists of CTU and a fleet of MGUs, i.e., traveling vehicles with mobile phones connected to the communication system. Each traveling vehicle may function both as a probe vehicle and as a client vehicle. When a phone handset unit is located in the mounting receptacle, the vehicle functions as a probe vehicle for data collection. This data collection is performed by permanent monitoring of vehicle positions by means of GSM/GPS or other wireless technology while vehicles are in motion and by concurrent measuring of their current travel times along a broad range of roads.
One goal of the invention is to provide a real time travel guidance system capable of handling a driver""s request for a fastest route to any destination. At any point of the journey the driver can enter a request for alternative route and will receive an updated route reflecting the real time traffic situation directly on his display panel. The information will also be updated by visual and audio instructions, and driver""s vehicle position will be displayed on the display unit.
Another goal is to provide the driver with a tool for strategic trip planning. By entering alternate times for future trips and comparing their travel time estimates for the same destination, the driver receives an option to select a trip proposal ideally suited for his needs. | {
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In the container industry, specialized containers have been developed for specific applications. For example, in the food packaging industry, specific package types for cereals, frozen foods, dairy products, and other types of foods have specific packaging types that have come to be identified with the specific product. Many food products come in one-time use packages that are opened once and then discarded because there is no need for closure once the package has been opened.
For some food products, it is important to have a reusable package that can be repeatedly opened and closed. For example, a traditional cereal box is opened and closed many times over its useful life. Some reusable packages use close tabs or tacky adhesives to enable the package to be re-closed once it has been opened. Such closure mechanisms have drawbacks. For example, a tab generally sticks out from a panel and is easily deformed or ripped off, with a resulting decline or loss of effectiveness for closure. Adhesives areas may be soiled over time, resulting in reduced tackiness and, therefore, reduced closing ability. Further, previous closure types do not allow for the reliable creation of a seal when closing a package. A reliable seal is beneficial in several container applications, such as a microwave cooking application where the seal is necessary to hold in steam during cooking, or refrigeration or freezing applications in which air exchange between the container and the surrounding environment is unwelcome.
It is desirable to create a convenient container having an easy-to-use closing mechanism that overcomes these and other faults of previous containers. | {
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The present invention relates to preparation of a fuel blend for use in furnace-boiler units. More particularly, the invention relates to preparation of a fuel blend comprised of treated lignite and heavy hydrocarbon oil.
The use of a blend of solid carbonaceous material and liquid hydrocarbons as a fuel for furnace-boiler units, gas manufacture, metallurgical operations and other purposes is known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 219,181 describes such a fuel blend. However, difficulties have been encountered in the use of such fuel blends due to separation of the solid fuel from the liquid.
An attempt to overcome the separation problem is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,431,225, which suggests addition of an emulsifying agent to avoid settling of the powdered solid carbonaceous material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,764,547 discloses a fuel slurry comprised of solid carbonaceous material in liquid hydrocarbon with addition of soot. Various improvements in solid-liquid fuel slurries are also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,082,516; 4,090,853; 4,101,293; and 4,147,519.
A process for producing a low-sulpur fuel by heating low-grade coal followed by pulverizing it and blending it with oil is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,932,145.
A process for upgrading lignite to increase its heating value is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,168.
Thus, it can be seen that a great deal of work has been done in an effort to utilize solid carbonaceous material as a component in a furnace fuel. Two primary problems are encountered in trying to utilize lignite as a component in a blended fuel. When particulate lignite is added to liquid, it is generally necessary to use a stabilizing agent of some sort to prevent separation and settling of the solid particles. If a stabilizing agent is not used, physical stirring is required. This problem could be avoided by blending the solid material just prior to introducing it to a burner. However, this would require storage of the solid material for a significant period of time, and dried lignite is very suscepticle to spontaneous ignition, such that it is not practical to dry lignite and store it for extended periods of time prior to blending it with a liquid fuel.
The foregoing problems are overcome by the present invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data and reproduction apparatus which is called a data streamer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a data recording method employing a magnetic tape as a recording medium, what is commonly called a non-tracking method is known.
As shown in FIG. 1, a magnetic tape T is wound around a rotating head, and tracks TK are formed obliquely with respect to the direction of the movement of tape. The non-tracking method is designed so that, by performing scanning at a density higher than that during reproduction as indicated by a solid line Pa and a dotted line Pb, all data on the tracks TK can be read without accurately tracing on the tracks, and by rearranging the read-in data by using the address recorded together with the data, a reproduction data stream can be reconstructed accurately.
FIG. 2 shows the structure of the tracks TK on a magnetic tape in the non-tracking method.
As shown in FIG. 2, one track is made up of 108 blocks, and one block is composed of 288 bits.
The 92 blocks in the central portion of the track are made to be a main data area, and an inner double recording area of 9 blocks and an outer double recording area of 7 blocks are formed on both sides of the main data area.
In the inner double recording area, data having the same content as that of the block in the main data area spaced 92 blocks away in the outward direction from the position of the inner double recording area is recorded. In the outer double recording area, data having the same content as that of the block in the main data area spaced 92 blocks away in the inward direction from the position of the inner double recording area is recorded. In other words, as shown in FIG. 2, data having the same contents as that of the leading 7 blocks (the shaded portion) of a data area 1 is recorded in the outer double recording area at a different address, and data having the same contents as that of the trailing 9 blocks (the dotted-line portion) of the data area 1 is recorded in the inner double recording area at a different address. Therefore, even if the touch position of the head is deviated due to fluctuation of tape, the data is designed to compliment each other. That is, blocks (data contents) which cannot be read, in particular, at the leading and trailing ends, will not occur for the data in the form of blocks which are recorded within the main data area.
The two central blocks of the main data area are allocated to an area for subcodes (AUX), each one block on both sides thereof is allocated to an area for IBG (Inter-Block Gap), and each four blocks on both sides thereof are allocated to an area for control codes (CTL). Further, on both sides thereof, data areas of 40 blocks are formed.
The signal format within one block is as shown in FIG. 2. The leading 11 bits are made to be a sync pattern, and an address ADRS is recorded by the subsequent 13 bits. The address ADRS is made up of a track address of 6 bits and a block address of 7 bits. Since a track address and a block address are recorded in each block in this manner, it is possible to reconstruct a data stream in an appropriate block sequence during reproduction.
In the case of a non-tracking method, since tracks TK are not always traced accurately, all blocks can be read out for each track by performing high-density scanning as shown in FIG. 1. In this case, however, the reading sequence of each block is random. The read block data is temporarily stored in a RAM. At this time, a writing address is created by using the track address and the block address in the RAM, and each block of data is written. Therefore, at the stage where all the blocks are read for a certain track, all the data of that track is arranged in the RAM. Therefore, if block data is read out in sequence from the RAM, an appropriate data stream is reconstructed.
Following the address ADRS, P and Q parities (P.sub.OD, Q.sub.OD, P.sub.EV, Q.sub.EV) each comprising 4 words are each recorded by 12 bits per word. Following the parity words, data comprising 16 words (DT.sub.1 to DT.sub.16) are each recorded by 12 bits per word. Following the 16-word data (DT.sub.1 to DT.sub.16), two CRCs (Cyclic Redundancy Check Codes) words are each recorded by 12 bits per word. An overwrite protect code (hereinafter referred to as an "OWP code") is recorded in the CRC word.
In the non-tracking method, since a deviation of a recording area is allowed, old data might be left without being erased near both ends of the track. Also, there might occur unerased portions which are not erased at overwrite time due to omission during recording or the clogging of the head. Since such unerased data is safe in terms of CRC during reproduction, the data is incorrectly recognized as correct data. Therefore, an OWP code is recorded as a code which is updated at each pause in the recording operation.
During reproduction, an OWP code is extracted from each block read out for a track to be scanned for reproduction, and a reference OWP code is set by a majority decision. In a case where an unerased portion has occurred in a certain portion within one track, the OWP code extracted from the unerased block is different from the OWP code which is extracted from the overwritten block. Therefore, when a track is reproduced, most correctly overwritten blocks can be read even if there is a partially unerased portion. Therefore, by deciding an OWP code by majority, the OWP code at the majority side can be determined as an OWP code set when it is correctly overwritten.
The above-mentioned OWP code is set as a reference OWP code. Thereafter, during reproduction for the series of records, data of the block having a different OWP code is determined to be unerased data, and the data can be nullified. Thus, it is possible to prevent erroneous data from being output.
The OWP code is recorded after Exclusive-OR is computed with the CRC of 24 bits in which the same two words are arranged. Therefore, during reproduction, it is possible to reconstruct the OWP code by computing Exclusive-OR with the CRC created from the reproduced data.
When recording data, such as computer programs, on a magnetic tape is taken into consideration, omission of data and recording of erroneous data during recording must be avoided. For this reason, the recorded data is checked after the data is recorded (check-after-write).
For this check, as heads to be disposed, for example, in a rotating drum, heads A.sub.1 and B.sub.1 are disposed, and heads A.sub.2 and B.sub.2 are disposed at positions oppositely facing the heads A.sub.1 and B.sub.1 by 180.degree.. Data is recorded in the form of tracks by the heads A.sub.1 and B.sub.1, and the data of the recorded tracks is reproduced by the heads A.sub.2 and B.sub.2 so that a check is made to determine if the data has been correctly recorded. The heads A.sub.2 and B.sub.2 trace the recorded tracks with a difference of several tracks with respect to the heads A.sub.1 and B.sub.1.
Here, when recording by the heads A.sub.1 and B.sub.1, the track address (ADA-V) is of a repeat value of 0 to 31, and the track address is incremented per one rotation of the drum, and is recorded in the address ADRS of each block of FIG. 2.
When, for example, there is a previously recorded data file on the tape T as shown in FIG. 3A, track address (ADA-V) 0 to 31 shown in FIG. 3B is repeatedly recorded for each track constituting the data file. The track address (ADA-V) also serves as an address of RAM for temporarily storing data during recording and reproduction as described above. When the RAM has a capacity for 32 tracks, a value from 0 to 31 is set in the track address (ADA-V).
It is now assumed that, for example, following the previously recorded data file, a new data file is begun to be recorded from the position indicating the start of recording as shown in FIG. 3A. If it is assumed that the track address (ADA-V) of the final track is sixteen when recording of the previously recorded data file stopped, a new data file is begun to be recorded starting at the track address (ADA-V) of 17. Then, the track address (ADA-V) is updated as 18, 19, . . . , 31, 0, 1 for each track.
In a case where recording by the heads A.sub.1 and B.sub.1 starts, the heads A.sub.2 and B.sub.2 which trace with a difference of several tracks will at first trace a previous data file. Therefore, the heads A.sub.2 and B.sub.2 trace data which is not related to the data of the track recorded by the heads A.sub.1 and B.sub.1, and thus the data read by the heads A.sub.2 and B.sub.2 is not necessary for checking data.
However, since, in practice, the point at which the tracks recorded for this time start cannot be determined from the reproduction data, a data check operation based on data read by the heads A.sub.2 and B.sub.2 must be also performed before the leading track on which recording is actually started as a data file for this time is reached. The data check operation for the previously recorded data tracks wastes electric power, and in some cases an improper check operation might be performed.
In a case where a series of data files are recorded on the magnetic tape T as described above, an OWP code is added; for example, for tracks which constitute file X as shown in FIG. 4A, an OWP code is recorded as OWP.sub.x in each block. Also, for tracks which constitute file Y, an OWP code is recorded as OWP.sub.y in each block.
When, for example, file X is reproduced, a reference OWP code is set in OWP.sub.x, the reference OWP code is compared with the OWP code for each block. When the reference OWP code matches the majority reference OWP code, the block is assumed to be valid data. Even if reproduction scanning is performed in the direction indicated by the long dashed line P in FIG. 4A and the block of file Y is read in, the block is set as OWP.sub.y and OWP.sub.y is different from the reference OWP code OWP.sub.x, and the block is not assumed to be valid data of file X. Thereafter, when the process proceeds to the reproduction of file Y, the reference OWP code is changed to OWP.sub.y because a greater number of OWP codes which become OWP.sub.y are read in, and the blocks of the file Y are assumed to be valid data.
It is now assumed that data file Z is overwritten on file X as shown in FIG. 4B and the OWP code in this case is OWP.sub.z. It is assumed that, however, an unerased portion occurs due to some reason, such as the clogging of the head, and previous data of file X is partially left as indicated by the shaded portion REC-ER in FIG. 4B.
If this data is reproduced, regarding data read out by the reproducing head from the magnetic tape T, unerased data D.sub.x which constitutes file X is contained in the middle of data D.sub.z which constitutes file Z as shown in FIG. 4C. The OWP code of the block having data Dx is OWP.sub.x as shown in FIG. 4D. Since the reference OWP code which is set during reproduction as shown in FIG. 4E is set to OWP.sub.z at first, and it is compared with the OWP code (OWP.sub.z) of the block having data D.sub.z, data D.sub.z is made to be valid reproduction output when a code match occurs.
However, when the process proceeds to the reproduction of the unerased portion, a great number of OWP.sub.x is read out, the reference OWP code is updated to OWP.sub.x as shown in FIG. 4F. After the reference OWP code is changed, the unerased data Dx which is read out is processed as valid data. Since a great number of OWP.sub.z is read out again after the unerased portion is reproduced, the reference OWP code is set to OWP.sub.z again, and data D.sub.z which is read out is made to be valid reproduction output.
With the above-described operation, in the reproduction of file Z, unnecessary data might be made to be valid data in a period ED.sub.1 as shown in FIG. 4F, and valid data which is read out in a period ED.sub.2 might be omitted, causing a serious problem that the reliability is decreased. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to vent assembly systems and, more particularly, to a vent system for the release of vapor pressure in the core support cylinder of a nuclear reactor pressure vessel.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
The conventional nuclear reactor pressure vessel generally comprises a longitudinally disposed cylindrical structure, closed at both ends by a convex base and a domed roof, and having reactor coolant inlet and outlet nozzles disposed in angular separation in a plane transverse to the longitudinal axis of the vessel and protruding therethrough. Housed within the pressure vessel structure is, among others, the nuclear reactor core ordinarily supported by a core support cylinder or shell suspended from an annular flange formed on the inner surface of the vessel. The core support cylinder comprises a distribution hoop, from which the primary coolant discharges through the outlet nozzles, and a thermal shield-skirt assembly, which supports the fuel elements in the reactor core and which in conjunction with the distribution hoop and the internal wall of the reactor pressure vessel serves as an annular hydraulic guide for the primary inlet coolant.
In operation, the fluid coolant, in forced circulation, enters the pressure vessel through the inlet nozzles, flows through the annular hydraulic guide formed between the inner surface of the pressure vessel and the core support cylinder, and rises through the reactor core whereupon it is discharged from the vessel through the outlet nozzles.
Furthermore, from a safety posture, nuclear reactor systems are generally enclosed in substantially leaktight concrete or steel containment structures to prevent radioactive materials such as gaseous, vaporized, solid or dissolved fission products from escaping from the containment in the event of a reactor accident. One such failure of the reactor system, the loss of coolant accident, or LOCA as it is commonly called in the nuclear reactor industry, results in flashing of the high pressure primary fluid, which pressurizes the containment, and rapid vaporization and therefore pressurization of the residual primary fluid remaining within the reactor vessel at the time of the LOCA. Accordingly, various safety systems have been suggested to suppress the vapor pressure build-up in the containment and, also, to provide emergency core cooling or flooding to the reactor core itself. However, in the event of accidental or catastrophic failure of the reactor system, a rapid pressure build-up in the reactor vessel, on the order of 500 pounds per square inch (psi) differential between the hoop area and the annulus in approximately one one hundredth (0.01) of a second, may occur and subsequent pressurization may prevent the emergency core coolant or flooding systems from adequately flooding the hot core with a coolant fluid. For example, during a LOCA involving the primary inlet coolant line, flow is interrupted, preventing the primary coolant from entering the core. The hot nuclear reactor core, however, continues to produce energy in the form of heat. The coolant pressure within the reactor vessel rapidly decreases to the saturation pressure, at which point coolant vapor accumulates and increases the pressure in the distribution hoop area. Moreover, a typical nuclear reactor vessel requires, during normal operation, on the order of hundreds of thousands of gallons of coolant per minute to adequately cool the reactor core and, therefore, an interruption of the primary coolant flow will allow excessive heat accumulation in the core and produce excessive heat transfer to the residual coolant within the vessel. The excessive heat transfer to the residual coolant may result in sufficient overpressurization of the coolant in the shell, such that, the decay heat removal systems or emergency core cooling systems may be prevented from flowing into and adequately cooling the core due to the over pressure of the heated residual coolant. Therefore, the performance of the emergency core cooling or flooding systems may be nullified or at least reduced resulting in a potential build-up of reactor core decay heat and a possible melt down of the core.
A simple "heavy" flapper type valve responsive to differential pressure across the valve and which will automatically open as the pressure increases in the core support cylinder has been suggested as a possible core cylinder venting means. However, since the pressure rise within the core support cylinder during, for example, a LOCA occurs almost instantaneously to hundreds of psi, the valve will "explosively" open, accelerating outwardly towards the vessel's internal wall at speeds approaching that of the sonic velocity of the vapor. Furthermore, since the dimension of the annulus between the core support cylinder and the internal wall of the reactor pressure vessel is ordinarily limited, an "explosively" opened valve of sufficient valve plate opening size for adequate pressure release will contact the reactor vessel's internal wall with sufficient force to cause severe deformation of the valve. Furthermore, in order to simplify the analytical analysis of valve plate deformation it has been suggested to incorporate into the valve system a "heavy" boss protruding outwardly from the plate into the annulus. However, since the "heavy" boss will also "explosively" contact the vessel wall there is the possibility that the "heavy" boss and valve plate will locally over stress the wall in the vicinity of the contact point. In addition, the valve-wall contact force may also substantially deform the valve hinge pin, such that the valve, if subsequently closed by incoming emergency coolant, may not reopen in responsive to a successive relatively low differential pressure build-up across the core support cylinder.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide venting means to the distribution hoop of the core support cylinder of a reactor pressure vessel which, during an accident or failure of the reactor, will relieve the pressure build-up in the core support cylinder, will not impose excessive loads upon the reactor vessel wall and which, subsequent to the initial response to a pressure build-up in the core support cylinder during, for example, a LOCA, will remain functional in response to successive relatively low differential pressure build-ups. | {
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Osteoporosis is developed as a result of an imbalance between functions of osteoblasts, which play a role in osteogenesis, and osteoclasts, which play a role in deossification. Compounds that activate osteoblasts and compounds that suppress osteoclasts are considered to be effective in treating osteoporosis. Compounds having a single function, however, cannot produce satisfactory effects. Estrogen is deduced to activate osteoblasts and to suppress osteoclasts, and it is utilized in treating osteoporosis. Since estrogen also affects cells other than bones, particularly reproductive organs, side effects, such as increased risk of uterine cancer or breast cancer, may become an issue of concern. Also, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Japan) issued safety information as of Jan. 29, 2004, to warn of the possibility of an increase in the development of breast cancer or dementia due to the prolonged ingestion of estrogen. Since estrogen has a complicated molecular structure, synthesis thereof is complicated and difficult.
Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine), which is an indole derivative represented by formula (I), is reported to act suppressively both on osteoblasts and osteoclasts:
wherein X represents a hydrogen atom; R1 represents a hydrogen atom; R2 represents methyl; R3, R5, and R6 each represent a hydrogen atom; and R4 represents methyl (N. Suzuki and A. Hattori, J. Pineal Res., 33, 253-258, 2002).
Also, it is reported that a compound represented by formula (I) wherein X represents a bromine atom; R1 represents a hydrogen atom; R2 represents methyl; R3, R5, and R6 each represent a hydrogen atom; and R4 represents methyl; a compound represented by formula (I) wherein X and R5 each represent a bromine atom; R1 represents a hydrogen atom; R2 represents methyl; R3 and R6 each represent a hydrogen atom; and R4 represents methyl; a compound represented by formula (I) wherein X and R3 each represent a bromine atom; R1 represents a hydrogen atom; R2 represents methyl; R5 and R6 each represent a hydrogen atom; and R4 represents methyl; and a compound represented by formula (I) wherein X, R3, and R5 each represent a bromine atom; R1 represents a hydrogen atom; R2 represents methyl; R6 represents a hydrogen atom; and R4 represents methyl can be obtained by brominating melatonin, although influences thereof on osteoblasts and osteoclasts have not been examined (M. Somei, Y. Fukui, M. Hasegawa, N. Oshikiri, and T. Hayashi, Heterocycles, 53, 1725-1736, 2000). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to vehicle mounted spare tire carriers and, in particular, to a compound hinged carrier requiring reduced amounts of working free space and rotating over an approximate 270 degree arc between rear and side mount positions.
Pick-up truck, van and other recreational vehicle owners have long been plagued with the problem of spare tire storage. That is, where and how-to store a full-size spare tire without taking up usable cargo space. As a consequence, a number of metal framework carrier assemblies have been developed for mounting the spare tire to the vehicle exterior which carriers may be found in many automobile stores, department stores or automotive catalogs. In particular, carriers have been developed for, among other places, supporting the tire from the vehicle undercarriage, front bumper, rear bumper, rear door and front/rear quarter panel.
The latter rear door and quarter panel assemblies, however, find particular advantage with vehicles having a hinged rear access door or gate. In some of these embodiments the tire carrier and tire are independently mounted to the vehicle body, away from the door/gate to prevent obstructing the door/gate during normal use. Such a mounting prevents damage to the door/gate which can occur over time with the tire weight producing body deformation, rust, etc. The separately mounted tire carrier, in particular is mountable to sturdier body parts, thereby being more tolerant to vehicle vibration.
An independent mounting, however, has its disadvantages in that use of the door/gate requires the operator to first disengage and rotate the tire to one side, to a temporary unrestrained position, before operating the door/gate in a conventional fashion. Thereafter, the tire must be resecured, before the vehicle can be operated.
A further shortcoming of such prior art carriers is that in cramped spaces, the radius of arc or working free space required to rotate the carrier is rather large. This is due to the rigidity of the carrier frame, which requires space for the frame as well as for the portion of the tire which extends beyond the end of the frame. Additional space is also required for the operator's movement such as is necessary to swing and walk around the carrier.
A still further shortcoming of such carriers is that to Applicant's knowledge, the frameworks provide only for a fixed vertical spacing between the vehicle pivots which requires a number of differently sized and configured carriers for different body types. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The placement of electronic components using self assembly is becoming an important approach for high-volume production of electronic assemblies. For example, it is well-known to use fluidic self assembly (SA) in the production of radio-frequency identification tags (RFIDs). In that approach, sub-millimeter integrated packages with distinct dimensions and trapezoidal shapes are dropped into an agitated fluid where they fit into specific matching depressions on a substrate. Packages that don't fall into depressions are removed and redropped until all are matched. Circuit connections are then made by masking and depositing conducting strips over the electronic packages. This approach works well at high volumes, but requires very specific geometrically-shaped components or packages and substrates which have to be specially etched to accommodate the packages.
A more general approach that has been investigated does not require specially-shaped packages and can use more standard components. In this approach, components are dropped into an agitated fluid where they find proper locations on a substrate through contact and adherence using various approaches. For example, hydrophilic and hydrophobic materials may be coated on the components and desired substrate locations, or bonding sites, such that when parts find proper locations they tend to stick when the same coatings come into contact, i.e., hydrophilic-hydrophilic or hydrophobic-hydrophobic; mixed coatings do not stick. Agitating the fluid is also necessary since it randomized the motion of the components, allowing them to make contact attempts with all regions of the substrate. Furthermore, if they don't stick on the first attempt, agitation allows the components to make many attempts until they finally find a bonding site.
One of the best ways to achieve the self assembly is by using the strong wetting effects of solder on a metal contact to “pull” components into place. Unlike other SA bonding materials, solder also has a high lubrication; this implies that once the component makes contact with the solder, the component can find the minimum energy configuration with minimal friction. This wetting effect occurs when the solder is a liquid, therefore self assembly of components must be done above the melting point of the solder. In the case of solder SA, one immerses the substrate and the electronic components in a liquid, allowing the liquid to carry components into their positions. The solder wetting effect takes over when the components come into contact with the melted solder on the substrate, pulling the components into their final position and retaining them. Note that in particular, using solder fluxes as the binding agent is not useful for SA because of their low degree of lubrication.
For solder SA, low melting temperature solder (Tm<150° C., where Tm is the melting point) is used for a variety of reasons. One reason is that simple lower viscosity non-toxic fluids such as water are easy to use, but obviously require temperatures to be below their boiling point. Furthermore, since electronic or opto-electronic components are immersed in the hot liquid on the order of one minute in typical SA runs, high temperatures may damage the components. Unfortunately, very low temperature solders (Tm<100° C.), generally require Bi which generally leads to poor bonding and therefore unreliable long term attachment of components. Solder compositions such as Sn—In can have Tm=145° C., but again reliable bonding is not acceptable for long term attachment of components. In addition, use of solders with such low melting points may be problematic for long term operation of components such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) whose operating temperatures may approach or even exceed the melting point of such low temperature solders.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0139954 to Morris et al. discloses an approach by which solder or fluid based-SA can be performed at practical temperatures while still providing a method to permanently electrical bond components with reliable higher temperature solders. The approach uses multiple sites that perform different functions. In particular, a central site on the component is used for a SA binding site while spatially separated sites closer to the part boundaries are used for electrical bonding. Generally the electrical bonding sites are solder bumps. All contacts are on the bottom of the component and are designed to mate with matching sites on the substrate. The central binding site on the substrate supports a low temperature solder (or other material) that forms a hemispherical shape when liquefied. The height of the central SA solder when liquid exceeds the height of the solid electrical solder bumps. The solder bumps melt at a higher temperature than the central binding site solder. In the embodiment described, eutectic Bi—Sn solder (Tm=138° C.) is employed for SA binding sites which bind to solder bumps on electrical components. The solder bumps are composed of eutectic Sn—Pb (Tm=183° C.) which are well known to form reliable, high conductivity electrical connections. Assembly is performed in two steps. In the first step, components and substrate are placed in a fluidic bath at a temperature above the melting point of the solder or material on the central SA biding site, but below that of the solder bumps. Self-assembly onto the central pads is performed in the liquid bath. When components contact the central SA solder that is on the substrate, the bulging profile relaxes because of the additional wetting of the component contact. The assembled substrate is cooled to fix the component locations. The substrate is then placed into a reflow oven where temperatures are above the melting point of the solder bumps which must then expand to reach the contacts on the components. While this approach permits electrical connections with more reliable and higher conductivity, components and substrates require additional contacts and pads which lead to greater fabrication complexity. More significantly, practical applications of this method require components with solder bumps and additional solder masks for coating only the SA binding sites with low temperature solder. This leads to longer overall manufacturing times and cost, both of which SA should alleviate. Other problems occur with this method because the physical height changes of the SA solders and electrical bonding solders must be compatible with the process. | {
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Ceramic materials are of critical importance for a number of high temperature, high performance applications such as gas turbines. These applications require a unique combination of properties such as high specific strength, high temperature mechanical property retention, low thermal and electrical conductivity, hardness and wear resistance, and chemical inertness. Design reliability and the need for economical fabrication of complex shapes, however, have prevented ceramic materials from fulfilling their potential in these critical high temperature, high performance applications.
The design reliability problems with ceramics, and the resultant failure under stress, are due largely to the relatively brittle nature of ceramics. This, in combination with the high cost of fabricating complex shapes, has limited the usage of ceramics.
Ceramics made from organosilicon polymers have the potential to overcome these problems. To this end, polymers based on silicon, carbon and/or nitrogen and oxygen have been developed. See, for example, "Siloxanes, Silanes and Silazanes in the Preparation of Ceramics and Glasses" by Wills et al, and "Special Heat-Resisting Materials from Organometallic Polymers" by Yajima, in Ceramic Bulletin, Vol. 62, No. 8, pp. 893-915 (1983), and the references cited therein.
The major and most critical application for ceramics based on polymer processing is high strength, high modulus, reinforcing fibers. Such fibers are spun from organosilicon preceramic polymers and are subsequently converted to ceramic materials, in particular, silicon carbide/silicon nitride bearing fibers by a two-step process of curing to render the preceramic polymeric fibers insoluble followed by pyrolyzation comprising heating the fiber in an inert atmosphere up to about 2,000.degree. C. whereupon the fibers are converted to ceramic form.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,567 is an early example of thermally treating a polysilazane resin to form ceramic articles comprising silicon carbide and/or silicon nitride. Thus, in Example 1 of the patent, a carbosilazane resin is formed, spun into filaments, the filaments rendered infusible by treating them with moist air for 20 hours at 110.degree. C. and subsequently heated over the course of 7 hours to 1,200.degree. C. in a nitrogen atmosphere and then to 1,500.degree. C. over the course of 5 minutes. A black-glistening filament which is completely insensitive to oxidation at 1,200.degree. C. and is amorphous to x-rays is disclosed as obtained. Subsequent heating to 1,800.degree. under argon produced a fiber consisting of .beta.-SiC, a little .alpha.-SiC and .beta.-SiC.sub.3 N.sub.4.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,232 discloses forming continuous inorganic fibers consisting substantially of Si, Ti and C and optionally O obtained from pyrolyzing a polycarbosilane having side chains containing titanoxane units. The polycarbosilane is spun into fibers, the resultant fibers subjected to curing and the infusible fibers pyrolyzed into inorganic fibers. Free carbon in the fibers can be removed by heating the resulting inorganic fibers in an atmosphere of at least one gas selected from the group consisting of oxygen gas, air, ozone, hydrogen gas, steam and carbon monoxide gas preferably at a temperature of 800.degree. C. to 1600.degree. C.
While ceramic fibers formed from organosilicon preceramic polymers are intended to be used in high temperature environments, it has often been found that when aged at high temperatures, i.e., 1400.degree. C. for 12 hours, these ceramic fibers are crystallized to an unusable brittle material whereby the thermal stability performance, i.e., change in weight and tensile properties, of the fiber are vastly degraded from original values. Thus, if ceramic fibers formed from organosilicon preceramic polymers are to be used to the fullest potential, there is a need for improving the thermal properties of such fibers and render them fully suitable for high temperature, high performance applications.
It is a primary object of the present invention to enhance the thermal stability performance of ceramic fibers which have been formed by the pyrolysis of organosilicon preceramic polymers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide thermally stable ceramic fibers from organosilicon preceramic polymers for use in high temperature, high performance applications.
These and other objects, aspects and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in this art upon consideration of the following description of the invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a torque-controlling wrench and, more particularly, to a torque-controlling wrench with a spring that is compressed evenly, thus elongating the life thereof.
2. Related Prior Art
A torque-controlling wrench is used to protectively exert a controllable torque on a fastener such as a threaded bolt and a nut. When the torque exerted on the fastener reaches a pre-determined value, the driving of the fastener by the torque-controlling wrench is interrupted for avoiding excessive engagement of the thread of the threaded bolt with the thread of the nut, damage of the threads of the threaded bolt and nut and/or damage of the head of the threaded bolt or the nut. Hence, the threaded bolt can be disengaged from the nut.
Referring to FIGS. 1 through 4, there is shown a conventional torque-controlling wrench. The conventional torque-controlling wrench includes a handle 10 that is hollow, a socket-driving unit 15 installed at an end of the handle 10 and a torque-controlling device 20 installed in the handle 10 and connected to the socket-driving unit 15. The torque-controlling device 20 includes a rod 21 connected to the socket-driving unit 15, a knob 23 and a spring 22 compressed between the rod 21 and the knob 23 that can be turned to adjust the force exerted on the rod 21 by the spring 22. For the stability and precision of the contact of the rod 21 with the spring 22, there is generally an intermediate mechanism 24. The intermediate mechanism 24 includes a roller 25 installed at an end of the rod 21 and a rolling gear installed at an end of the spring 22. The rolling gear includes a frame 26 installed in the handle 10, a shaft 27 installed on the frame 26, a wheel 28 installed on the shaft 27 and a roller 29 installed on the frame 26. The center of the roller 25 is located on a side of a vertical line passing the center of the shaft 27 while the center of the roller 29 is located on the other side of the vertical line. As shown in FIG. 4, when torque exerted on a fastener by the torque-controlling wrench reaches a pre-determined value, the rod 21 will be moved downwards. The movement of the rod 21 is not supposed to cause the pivoting of the frame 26 due to the use of the roller 25 and the wheel 28 both of which are expected to roll smoothly. However, the roller 25 and the wheel 28 generally do not roll as smoothly as expected. The movement of the rod 21 causes the pivoting of the frame 26 in practice. When the frame 26 is pivoted, the spring 22 will be bent instead of compressed. Hence, the driving of the fastener by the torque-controlling wrench will not be interrupted as expected.
The present invention is therefore intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in prior art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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During the operation of a storage system, data is typically stored on one or more disks of the storage system. One method by which data is stored on the disks is to initially temporarily store the data in a temporary storage location of the storage system. The temporary storage location permits high speed access to the data. Thereafter, during the operation of the storage system, the data stored in the temporary storage location is stored to the disks of the storage system. Typically, this temporary storage method is used when the disks have a slower access rate than the temporary storage location. Thus, by providing access to data quickly, the response time from data request to data delivery is short.
However, the storage system may experience downtime. For example, downtime can include situations when the storage system loses power, or perhaps, experiences a storage system failure, such as a storage system crash. Such failures result in the inability to store data to and deliver data from the storage system. Downtime can last for a few seconds or may last for longer periods of time, such as hours or days. During such downtime, data that was initially stored in the temporary storage location may not have been stored to the disks. Consequently, the data is lost. This situation may cause data inconsistencies because when the disks are accessed after the storage system recovers from the downtime, the data stored in the disks is older than the lost data stored in the temporary storage location.
In some storage systems where there is no data loss, a battery can be attached to the temporary storage location to enable the temporary storage location to continue to operate when the storage system experiences downtime. However, the downtime can last for long periods of time. During these long periods of time, the battery will discharge and the temporary storage location will once more lose data.
A solution to prevent data loss in the temporary storage location that has a discharged battery is to use a rechargeable battery to power the temporary storage location. However, although the rechargeable battery can be recharged, over time the rechargeable battery loses the ability to retain a charge. Ultimately, the storage system may operate with a temporary storage location that has a non-functioning or low performing rechargeable battery. Thus, when the storage system experiences downtime, the data stored in the temporary storage location will once more be lost.
Thus, what is needed is a method and a system to prevent losing data stored in the temporary storage location of the storage system while ensuring that the storage system does not operate with a temporary storage location that may not be able to retain data during downtime. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Orthopaedic surgical procedures often involve the use of a fixation device. Usually an access hole is produced in a bone or soft tissue wherein a suitable fixation device can be fastened. Apart from screws, expandable fixations devices can be used which are inserted into the hole in a collapsed state and transformed into an expanded state once being correctly positioned.
In one example orthopaedic surgical procedure, such as a lumbar microdiscectomy, radiculopathy is treated by surgically removing the herniated nucleus pulposus to achieve neural decompression. The lumbar microdiscectomy is one of the most common spinal surgeries performed today. Many patients find relief with this procedure, but for others, the disc could re-herniate through the opening in the annulus resulting in continuing pain and potentially requiring additional surgery. Currently, the standard microdiscectomy technique does not involve closing the annular defect and presents the surgeon with a dilemma. The surgeon may elect to remove the herniated portion of the nucleus impinging on the nerves, which treats radiculopathy, but may increase the risk of post-operative reherniation of the remaining nucleus through the existing defect of the annulus. Alternately, the surgeon may elect to perform extensive debulking, in which most of the remaining nucleus material is removed in addition to the herniated portion to minimize the risk of post-operative reherniation. However, the risk of post-operative disc height collapse and subsequent progression to lower back pain increases.
Conventional expandable implants include a sleeve with an expandable portion having plurality of fingers or expandable parts formed by intermediate slots or holes in the peripheral wall of the sleeve and a compression element extending through the central bore of the sleeve. The compression element can be coupled to the front end of the sleeve so that upon pulling said compression element towards the rear end of the sleeve said fingers or expandable parts are bent radially outwards so as to transform said expandable portion from its collapsed state to its expanded state. | {
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The invention relates to an air injection bath for therapeutic use, of a kind such as to enable the user to be massaged by turbulence produced in a bath by an injection of air.
Air injection baths for the uses specified and having a tube whose base has air injection nozzles are known. Heated and ozonised air is injected by a turbine. The box in which these various devices are disposed is placed outside the safety perimeter of the bath and has electric and electronic controls receiving air pulses from either a mobile control grip or a stationary control panel. The grip or panel are disposed near the user to give him the facility of remote control, for instance, of air injection, air heating, ozone, the duration and speed of injection and stoppage. However, a disadvantage found is that the user must get out of the bath and go to the control box to adjust the air intake and more particularly the force of air injection or starting, stopping and heating of the injected air when these controls have to be carried out on a stationary panel disposed at a distance from the bath.
It is the object of this invention to obviate these disadvantages and the invention proposes an air injection bath of use for balneotherapy or thalassotherapy with an appreciable increase in user convenience by enabling the user to control various operations without leaving the bath, the means for adjusting and controlling the bath being readily fittable and readily accessible yet very effective and without any risk for the user and not running any risk of causing overflows. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention is directed to an acoustic method and apparatus for measuring the quantity and installed density of thermal insulation and more specifically to the arrangement of one or more acoustic transducers and/or reflecting means in or adjacent the insulation for directing acoustic waves through the insulation to measure the attenuation and/ or phase shift of the acoustic waves passing through the insulation.
When a sound wave passes through a porous material, such as a loose-fill insulation, the sound wave undergoes both amplitude attenuation and a phase shift that depend on the nature of the material and the frequency of the sound. For example the sound attenuation of fibrous materials is dependent upon the material itself, the distribution of fiber diameters, the surface condition of the fiber, the binder, the bulk density, and the type and density of the gas filling the pores of the material. These same factors also affect the thermal conductivity of fibrous material.
These factors are related in the following way. The sound pressure, p, associated with a plane acoustic wave traveling in the positive x-direction in a porous medium can be expressed as EQU p(x,t)=p(O,t) exp (-.gamma.x),
where t is time and the complex propagation coefficient .gamma. can be written as EQU .gamma.=.alpha.+j.beta.,
where the real part is called the attenuation coefficient and the imaginary part .beta. is the phase coefficient. The attenuation coefficient, which is a property of the porous medium and of the frequency of the sound wave, determines the decay of the sound intensity with distance in the medium. The phase coefficient, which also is a property of the medium and the sound frequency, determines the speed of sound propagation through the medium.
If the dependence of the attenuation coefficient on the bulk density or the porosity of the medium is known, a measurement of the sound attenuation over a given distance enables calculation of the density. Similarly, if the dependence of the phase coefficient or the sound speed on the density is known, a measurement of the speed of sound enables calculation of the density of the medium.
For randomly oriented fibrous material, the attenuation coefficient is known empirically to depend upon the bulk density, .rho., of the insulation, the average fiber diameter, d, and the sound frequency, f, according to the approximate relationship ##EQU1## where .alpha..sub.0 is a reference attenuation coefficient corresponding to the values .rho.=.rho..sub.0, d=d.sub.0, and f=f.sub.0. The exponents 0.9, 1.2, and 0.4 vary somewhat and should be determined empirically for a given material. For a given type of fibrous insulation, the average fiber diameter is fixed. Since the sound frequency can also be fixed experimentally, this equation reduces to a simple relationship between the attenuation coefficient and the bulk density of the insulation. Similar types of relationships can be developed for types of thermal insulation other than fibrous materials.
For randomly oriented fibrous material, the phase coefficient is known empirically to be given approximately by ##EQU2## where .beta..sub.0 is a reference phase coefficient and c is the acoustic wave speed in air. The exponents should be confirmed experimentally. For a given material (i.e., a given fiber diameter) and sound frequency, this equation provides a simple relationship between the phase coefficient and the bulk density of the insulation.
It is well known that the effective thermal conductivity of a given loose-fill insulating material depends upon the bulk density of that material. For mineral fiber insulations, the effective thermal conductivity, of relatively thick insulation is related to the bulk density, .rho., of the material by an equation of the form ##EQU3## where A, B, and C are constants, A representing the thermal conductivity of the gas (air) filling the insulation, B.rho. representing heat conduction through the fibers and the interaction of that conduction with the surrounding gas, and C/.rho. representing the radiative heat transfer through the porous insulation. If this relationship is known for a given type of insulation, and the bulk density is determined from experimental measurements of the attenuation coefficient and/or the phase coefficient the thermal conductivity can be computed.
A method and apparatus for measuring characteristic features of fibrous materials is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,820, to Thomann, granted Nov. 15, 1984. The method disclosed in this patent relates to the measurement of fibrous materials such as slivers and rovings by ultrasonics. In a suitable arrangement of a sound source and a sound pickup with the fibrous material disposed therebetween, only those sound waves arrive at the sound pickup which have penetrated the fibrous material. All lagging disturbing signals which are generated by reflections and interferences are suppressed by a pulsed operation of the sound source and by the corresponding gating of the sound pickup, as a result of which, a value to be measured, namely, the quantity of fibers present at any time in the measuring data, is substantially free from disturbing influences. In order to accomplish this, the fibrous material, in particular a sliver or the like, is guided by lateral boundary surfaces such that all the sound waves are forced to penetrate the fibrous volume in order to arrive at the pickup from the source. The lateral boundary surfaces are preferably formed by parallel plates, the magnitude of compression being selected such that the fibrous material rests closely against the plate. Therefore such a method and apparatus would not be suitable for the measurement of the quantity and density of installed thermal insulation.
Post installation measurement of insulation layers is necessary to ascertain that the correct amount of insulation has in fact been installed. The widely used cookie cutter method has been found unsatisfactory by regulatory agencies for several reasons. This method entails measuring the thickness and cutting out samples of the insulation from representative locations in an attic or other insulated region, placing them in bags, taking them outside of the attic, weighing them and finally restoring the specimens to the places, whence they were originally removed. The weight, thickness and dimension of the removed specimens yield the volume and density of the insulation which can be used to estimate the insulating value or thermal resistance from a previously established relationship for a given insulating material. However many problems are associated with this method, such as difficulties encountered in entering the attic space through a small scuttle hole, walking over ill-defined attic wood frames which are often hidden beneath several inches of thick loose-fill insulation, and removing reproducible and well defined specimens and restoring them to the spots from which they were removed. It has been estimated that the error associated with this method is fifteen to twenty percent. | {
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Utility trailers are very useful for increasing the cargo carrying capacity of a vehicle or for transporting items that may be impractical or undesirable to carry in or on a vehicle. Trailers fill a need but they there are some significant disadvantages to the typical utility trailer. For instance, a typical utility trailer has a flat deck on a rectangular metal frame with some railings or walls around the perimeter to contain a load. A flat deck however is unsuitable for many types of cargo such as, for example, kayaks, bicycles and motorcycles. In addition, the flat deck with side rails or walls can add unnecessary weight and wind drag, resulting in decreased power and fuel economy for the towing vehicle.
Furthermore, conventional utility trailers are commonly infrequently used and spend most of the time taking up valuable space in a driveway or yard while decreasing the aesthetics value of a property as they succumb to the weather and turn to rust.
There is thus a need for a trailer system that can be easily reconfigured for a variety of different types of loads or cargo. There is also a call for a trailer system that can be stored using less space. It is also desirable for trailer systems that are easy to load and unload while being lightweight and streamlined. | {
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The new plant of this invention is the result of a unique hybridization, with the breeding achievement being evidenced in the outstanding combination of characteristics exhibited by this new and distinct hibiscus plant, which include:
(a) Refined and uniquely colored 3 to 5 lobed leaves with a "maple-cut" which have relatively smooth margins and an evenly distributed reddish-copper coloration that compliments the landscape; PA0 (b) Large flowers that are outstanding for their white, thick-textured petals with bright red centers surrounded by hot pink coloring, which streaks through the venation, to the edges of the petals; PA0 (c) The plant being very floriferous with flowers that stay open one full day; PA0 (d) The plant being medium-sized, but vigorous, with compact and uniform breaking action which gives it unique landscape utility; and PA0 (e) The plant being so hardy it can consistently withstand winter temperatures of at least -30 degrees Fahrenheit. | {
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The Internet, sometimes called simply “the Net,” is a worldwide system of computer networks in which a client at any one computer may, with permission, obtain information from any other computer. The most widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web, often abbreviated “WWW,” which is commonly referred to as “the web.” The web may be defined as all the resources (e.g., web pages and web sites) and users on the Internet that use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or variations thereof to access the resources. A web site is a related collection of web files that includes a beginning file called a home page. From the home page, the user may navigate to other web pages on the web site. A web server program is a program that, using the client/server model and HTTP, serves the files that form the web pages of a web site to the web users, whose computers contain HTTP client programs (e.g., web browsers) that forward requests and display responses. A web server program may host one or more web sites.
Web Services
Generally speaking, a Web service interface may be configured to provide a standard, cross-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for communication between a client requesting some service to be performed and the service provider. In some embodiments, a Web service interface may be configured to support the exchange of documents or messages including information describing the service request and response to that request. Such documents, or messages, may be exchanged using standardized Web protocols, such as the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), for example, and may be formatted in a platform-independent data format, such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML), for example.
Mobile Telephony
Mobile telephony has emerged alongside the Internet and the web, and the two technologies have crossed over and merged to form what is essentially a global communications and information network. Cellular telephones, for example, have become “digital”, and continue to become more sophisticated. Today, many digital cell phones are capable of web access via their cellular service providers. Similarly, many web applications are capable of telephone communications to conventional phones and to mobile telephones. In addition, other technologies such as text messaging have emerged to enhance the capabilities and uses of mobile telephones and other personal electronic devices. Further, other personal electronic devices, such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) may provide mobile telephone links to the web, and user interfaces for accessing the web, along with text messaging and other information and communications capabilities. Thus, these devices are part of the emerging global communications and information network.
SMS
SMS (Short Message Service) is a service for sending messages of up to 160 characters (224 characters if using a 5-bit mode) to mobile phones. SMS does not require the mobile phone to be active and within range. An SMS message may be held until the target phone is active and within range. SMS messages may be transmitted within the same cell, or out of the cell to phones with roaming service capability. SMS messages may also be sent to digital phones from a web site, or from one digital phone to another. An SMS gateway is a web site that accepts SMS messages for transmission to cell phones within the cell served by that gateway, or that acts as an international gateway for users with roaming capability.
Various applications of the Internet, and of the web, involve electronic transactions, such as funds transfers. These applications involve the transfer of funds from one entity to one or more other entities. These applications range from transferal of funds between financial institutions to electronic payment by individuals for purchases of goods or services from e-commerce sites. With the merging of mobile telephony and other technologies and the web into an emerging global communications and information network, these other technologies have become part of the transaction process for many such applications. Security when initiating and performing such transactions on the emerging global communications and information network is an ongoing concern. One area of concern is in authorizing transactions involving the electronic transferal of funds from one entity's account to one or more other entities.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to. | {
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A broadband wireless communication system supports the mobility of a mobile station (MS) through a handover. The MS must know information about neighbor base stations (hereinafter referred to as neighbor BS information) in order to perform a handover. Thus, a serving BS transmits neighbor BS information to the MS. For example, the serving BS collects neighbor BS information through a backbone. Thereafter, using a broadcast message, the serving BS broadcasts the neighbor BS information to mobile stations located in a coverage area.
Base stations of the broadband wireless communication system can use a plurality of frequency allocations (FAs). In this case, the BS supports the mobility of an MS through an intra-FA handover and an inter-FA handover. The intra-FA handover is a handover of an MS from an in-use FA of a serving BS to one of the frequency allocations of a neighbor BS that is identical to the in-use FA.
In order to support an intra-FA handover and an inter-FA handover, the serving BS must transmit information about all subcells of neighbor base stations to the MS. The subcell is a service area that receives a service through one of the frequency allocations used by a BS.
When a serving BS generates a broadcast message in order to transmit information about all subcells of neighbor base stations to an MS, there is an increase in overhead due to the broadcast message. For example, when M neighbor base stations use one FA in a broadband wireless communication system, the serving BS generates a broadcast message containing information about M base stations. However, when M neighbor base stations use N frequency allocations, the serving BS generates a broadcast message containing information about M×N subcells.
Moreover, because the serving BS transmits the broadcast message at the lowest data rate, the size of the broadcast message further increases, leading to a decrease in the available resources for transmission of downlink data.
The MS detects information about neighbor subcells using the broadcast message received from the serving BS. Thereafter, the MS scans subcells that use FAs different from the FA of the MS. However, if the serving BS broadcasts information about all subcells of neighbor base stations, the MS must scan too many subcells, leading to a service interruption. | {
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1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an improve structure of a heat dissipation module for BGA (Ball Grid Array) IC (Integrated Circuit) devices, and more specifically to a metal heart dissipation module design for circuit chips encapsulated in an IC device.
2. Related Art
The BGA IC device is a new generation of semiconductor device that has a small volume and many pins. It is made by mounting a cut chip on a substrate with each I/O connecting point of the chip forming electrical communications with the corresponding circuits on the substrate, followed by glue encapsulation and implanting arrayed tin balls on the bottom surface of the substrate. The arrayed tin balls implanted on the bottom of device replace conventional pins. They are formed at designated locations on a circuit board using surface mount technology.
The chip in the foregoing IC device produces a high temperature during operation. The high temperature has to be controlled so that the chip can function normally. In addition to mixing metal materials that help heat conduction into the glue material, another design, shown in FIG. 4, encapsulates a metal heat dissipation module 7, a chip 8, and a substrate 80 in glue 82. The heat dissipation module 7 has an annular base 70 installed on the substrate 80 and over the chip 8. Several supports 71 extending upward from the inner rim of the annular base 70 support a top plate 72 that is higher than wires 81 connecting the I/O connecting points on the chip 8 to those on the substrate 80. The top plate 72 is outside the glue 82 after encapsulation so that the heat produced by the operating chip 8 can be quickly released to the atmosphere through the large area top plate 72 and good heat conductivity of the metal heat dissipation module 7.
Even though the heat dissipation module 7 can provide heat conduction and dissipation for the chip 8, it is hard to make the top plate 72 of the heat dissipation module 7 totally flat as required. Therefore, the module cannot nicely match the mold. Even if the top plate 72 can be made to be exactly flat, it will also deform due to the high temperature. Thus, when the heat dissipation module 7 and the substrate 80 with the chip 8 mounted on the substrate 80 are encapsulated in the mold 83, the glue 82 is likely to flow onto the outer surface of the top plate 72, producing so-called glue overflow. This results in bad appearance of the device. If the length or area of the overflown glue exceeds an allowed range, an additional cleaning procedure is needed. This will increase machining costs and difficulty in manufacturing.
Furthermore, since the top plate 72 of the heat dissipation module 7 is simply flat, as shown in FIG. 5, the total contact surface between the top plate 72 and the air is not a very large area. Thus, the heat dissipation effect is limited.
In view of the drawbacks in the foregoing heat dissipation module for IC devices, the heat dissipation module in accordance with the present invention provides an improved structure for heat dissipation modules for BGA IC devices. The top plate dissipation can match with the mold better, thereby reducing the problem of thermal expansion. It can fully solve the glue overflow problem during encapsulation and ensures that each finished product satisfies the standards, avoiding the need for a second machining. The design can also increase the heat dissipation area for better heat dissipation.
To achieve the foregoing objective, the main technique disclosed herein is that the heat dissipation module has an annular base whose inner rim is greater than the area needed for connection between the chip and the substrate. Several supports extend from the inner rim of the annular base upwards to support a top plate. The top plate is higher than the highest point of the electrical connection between the chip and the substrate. By extending at least one protruding ring on the top surface of the top plate, the heat dissipation module can match the mold better during encapsulation, thereby avoiding the glue overflow problem and increasing the total area for heat dissipation.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the heat dissipation module in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side plan view of the heat dissipation module in FIG. 1 used with a BGA IC device;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional side plan view of the top plate of the heat dissipation module in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side plan view of a conventional heat dissipation module used with a BGA IC device; and
FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross sectional side plan view of the top plate of the conventional heat dissipation module in FIG. 4. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to tools for managing and monitoring data storage.
2. Background of the Invention
Today's enterprise organizations rely on an increasingly complex data storage infrastructure whose management has emerged as a major area of challenge. An effective set of well-integrated management tools is required to keep operational costs down and get the most out of IT investments. For example, it is not uncommon in many organizations that general storage utilization is 20-30% or less across the storage estate. The range of storage area network (SAN) and network attached storage (NAS) products offered by multiple vendors has increased the complexity of managing the storage estate. Accordingly, it may be difficult to monitor or evaluate the storage infrastructure utilization in such an environment. This is especially critical for financial organizations, such as large banking institutions. | {
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Business analyses concerning products or other items are fundamental tasks for many manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, and other enterprises. Many business analyses are based on base sales volume. For example, demand forecasting, price-demand-behavior analysis, and promotional effectiveness analysis all rely on sound base sales volume measurement. Base sales volume (sometimes referred to as base volume in the remainder of this application) for consumer packed goods (CPG) is typically defined as the portion of the sales volume that would be expected without advertising or other promotional support. In many business analyses, base volume may be used as a de-causalized factor, such that a small difference in base volume may cause large deviations in the consequent analysis. Many business analyses are frustrated by such propagation of errors in base volume estimation.
In general, base volume is an unobserved component of actual sales volume (often referred to as actual volume in the remainder of this application), which is the observed or recorded sales volume. Ideally, one could determine true base volume through observation, the accuracy being limited only by the observational error. In practice, however, one can only observe the actual volume—the true base volume cannot be directly observed. It is not difficult to show that any estimate of the true base volume based on the observed actual volume and a Lyapunov error function (estimation criteria) will be biased. For example, the most common approach for determining promotional lifts based on estimated base volume generates incorrectly negatively signed lifts as much as thirty-five percent of the time; that is, determines a negative lift (decreased sales) when the lift should actually be positive (increased sales). In addition, conventional moving average approaches for estimating base volume depend on both the number of leads and/or lags involved and weights associated with the leads and/or lags. The complexity of the resulting space significantly impedes the ability to search for globally optimal solutions, making such approaches inferior.
Many businesses lack suitable approaches for measuring base sales volume, for example, for CPG in the presence of one or more promotional activities. These businesses are therefore unable to fully understand the various demand components for their products, which detracts from their ability to effectively plan and manage important business activities. Furthermore, establishing effective approaches to the complex problem of estimating base volume has become an increasingly important pursuit, from a theoretical perspective, in the academic community. As a result of any of the above or other factors, prior techniques for estimating base volume have been inadequate to meet the needs of many business and other users. | {
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This invention relates to an apparatus for the introduction of finely divided coal solids into a vessel in a carefully controlled reliable manner.
Particulate solids material, particularly finely divided particulate solids must be frequently handled in chemical processes. For example, in coal conversion, the art is replete with examples for the conversion of finely divided coal material into a more valuable gaseous product. Traditionally, particulate solids, such as coal solids, are transferred or discharged from a storage or reaction vessel to a vertical tube called a standpipe. The solids flow rate through the standpipe is generally controlled by a slide valve, cone valve, trickle valve, screw feeder or other similar mechanical device positioned at the bottom of the standpipe. A problem commonly associated with these mechanical devices is their propensity to plug when the solid materials, i.e. coal, contained therein are exposed to moderate or high temperatures and pressures. In addition, these mechanical valve devices, when installed in an overall process, are inevitably placed in relatively inaccessible locations. Accordingly, when these mechanical devices plug, as they frequently do, they are difficult to unplug or repair because of their inaccessability. In addition, particulate solids are generally very abrasive. As a result, mechanical devices requiring movement between valve components must utilize expensive material for construction so that the mechanical valve does not become rapidly corroded.
The problems associated with mechanical errosion and valve plugging are particularly vexatious when such valves are utilized in conjunction with the high temperatures and pressures utilized in modern processes for the gasification of coal. For example, most coal has a substantial tendency to agglomerate or stick when exposed to high temperatures. As a result, coal, which has been substantially reduced in size, when exposed to high temperatures, agglomerates and becomes sticky when exposed to high temperatures. The advantages of the original comminution step used pulverizing the coal have been diminished and, just as importantly, the coal has a tendency to agglomerate or stick to the apparatus per se. In an effort to remove some of these agglomeration problems, the art has attempted to introduce the coal into the reaction bed at a point far removed from the high temperature associated with the coal gasification reaction. For example, the prior art traditionally introduces the finely divided particulate coal into the free space that is present above the fluidized bed contained in the lower portion of the reactor. This method of introduction results in diminished conversion of coal to gas products because the upward velocity of the gas emitted from the fluid gasification bed generally sweeps with it fine particles in the feed material. As a result, these fine coal particles are carried out of the reaction zone and are not converted therein to gaseous products. Although these fines can be recovered in downstream processing equipment and then returned to the reaction zone, this is not an efficient method of conversion since it increases the cost of downstream processing equipment.
Because of these problems associated with mechanical valve arrangements, the prior art has endeavored to develop improved methods of transferring solid materials in a controlled manner. For example, in Lapple, U.S. Pat. No. 2,684,869, there is described an apparatus for handling pulverulent material which comprises a vertical pipe connected to a horizontal pipe section via a standard pipe tee. According to the teachings of Lapple, gas is introduced into the bottom portion of the tee at a point which represents a discontinuity in the flow path of the solids through the apparatus. Because of the general geometry and discontinuities associated with the Lapple apparatus, high flow rates are not attainable through the Lapple apparatus. In fact, the dead spaces contained in the Lapple apparatus and adjacent in the introduction point for the gas utilized to transport the pulverulent material, when used in a coal gasification environment, can cause coal to accumulate and agglomerate therein, thus leading to unreliable control over the solids flowing through the apparatus. In addition, the Lapple apparatus requires the introduction of appreciable gas volumes to produce the desired flow rate through the apparatus.
Several "valves" are illustrated in Perry's Chemical Engineers Handbook, Fourth Edition, pages 20-47 through 20-49. For example, Perry illustrated an ICI valve which is described as serving better as a seal device than a solids control valve. As illustrated, the ICI "valve" comprises a generally vertical column. As a result, this ICI structure contains a dead spot or discontinuity in the bottom portion thereof which will interfere with efficient solids flow therethrough and, more particularly, in the case of coal processing, will produce a situs for inadvertent undesired coal agglomeration. It is clear that this ICI valve cannot reliably and efficiently and accurately control solids particularly in view of Perry's characterization of the valve as a seal device rather than a control valve. | {
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The invention relates to the use of S-ydcB and B-ydcB, which are essential bacterial genes useful for identifying antibacterial agents.
Bacterial infections may be cutaneous, subcutaneous, or systemic. Opportunistic bacterial infections proliferate, especially in patients afflicted with AIDS or other diseases that compromise the immune system. Most bacteria that are pathogenic to humans are gram positive bacteria. The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, for example, typically infects the respiratory tract and can cause lobar pneumonia, as well as meningitis, sinusitis, and other infections.
The invention is based on the discovery that the S-ydcB gene in the gram positive bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae and the B-ydcB gene in Bacillus subtilis are essential for survival. These genes are considered xe2x80x9cessentialxe2x80x9d genes, and the S-ydcB and B-ydcB polypeptides are considered xe2x80x9cessentialxe2x80x9d polypeptides. The invention features methods for using these genes and polypeptides to identify antibacterial compounds that inhibit a wide variety of bacteria (e.g., gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, such as Streptococcus, Bacillus, and E. coli). Such inhibitors attenuate bacterial growth by inhibiting the activity of an S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide (or homolog or ortholog thereof), or by inhibiting transcription of an S-ydcB or B-ydcB gene (or homolog or ortholog), or by inhibiting translation of the mRNA transcribed from an S-ydcB or B-ydcB gene (or homolog or ortholog). The S-ydcB and B-ydcB genes and polypeptides also are included within the invention and can be used in methods for identifying homologous genes and polypeptides in other bacterial strains.
The amino acid and nucleic acid sequences of S-ydcB are set forth in FIG. 1 as SEQ ID NOs:2 and 1, respectively. The amino acid and nucleic acid sequences of B-ydcB are set forth in FIG. 2 as SEQ ID NOs:4 and 3 respectively.
Now that the S-ydcB and B-ydcB genes described herein have been identified and shown to be essential for survival, these genes and polypeptides and their homologs can be used to identify antibacterial agents. xe2x80x9cHomologsxe2x80x9d are structurally similar genes contained within a species, while xe2x80x9corthologsxe2x80x9d are functionally equivalent genes in other species. The identified antibacterial agents can readily be identified with high throughput assays to detect inhibition of the S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide, or essential polypeptides with which S-ydcB and B-ydcB associate (e.g., in a pathway). This inhibition can be caused by small molecules interacting with (e.g., binding directly or indirectly to) the S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide or other essential polypeptides in that pathway.
In an exemplary assay, but not the only assay, a promoter that responds to depletion of the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide (or homolog thereof) by upregulation or downregulation is linked to. a reporter gene. To identify a promoter that is up- or down-regulated by the depletion of a B-ydcB or S-ydcB protein, the gene encoding the B-ydcB or S-ydcB protein is deleted from the genome and replaced with a version of the gene in which the sequence encoding the B-ydcB or S-ydcB protein is operably linked to a regulatable promoter. The cells containing this regulatable genetic construct are kept alive by the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide produced from the genetic construct containing the regulatable promoter. However, the regulatable promoter allows expression of the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide to be reduced to a level that causes growth inhibition. Total RNA prepared from bacteria under such growth-limiting conditions is compared with RNA from wild-type cells. Standard methods of transcriptional profiling can be used to identify mRNA species that are either more or less abundant (i.e., up- or down-regulated) when expressed under the limiting conditions. Genomic sequence information, e.g., from GenBank, can be used to identify the promoter that drives expression of the identified RNA species. Such promoters are up- or down-regulated by depletion of the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide.
Having identified a promoter(s) that is up- or down-regulated by depletion of a B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide, the promoter(s) is operably linked to a reporter gene (e.g., xcex2-galactosidase, gus, or green fluorescent protein (GFP)). A bacterial strain containing this reporter gene construct is then exposed to test compounds. Compounds that inhibit the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide (or other polypeptides in an essential pathway in which the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide participates) will cause a functional depletion of the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide and therefore lead to an upregulation or downregulation of expression of the reporter gene. Because the polypeptides described herein are essential for the survival of bacteria, compounds that inhibit the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptides in such an assay are expected to be antibacterial and can be further tested, if desired, in standard susceptibility assays.
Another suitable method for identifying antibacterial compounds involves screening for small molecules that specifically interact with (i.e., bind directly or indirectly to) the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide. A variety of suitable interaction and binding assays are known in the art as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,585,277 and 5,679,582, incorporated herein by reference. For example, in various conventional assays, test compounds can be assayed for their ability to interact with a B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide by measuring the ability of the small molecule to stabilize the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide in its folded, rather than unfolded, state. More specifically, one can measure the degree of protection from unfolding that is afforded by the test compound. Test compounds that bind the polypeptide with high affinity cause, for example, a large shift in the temperature at which the polypeptide is denatured. Test compounds that stabilize the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide in a folded state can be further tested for antibacterial activity in a standard susceptibility assay.
In a related method for identifying antibacterial compounds, the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide is used to isolate peptide or nucleic acid ligands that specifically bind the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide. These peptide or nucleic acid ligands are then used in a displacement screen to identify small molecules that interact with the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide. Such assays can be carried out essentially as described above.
Another suitable method for identifying inhibitors of the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide involves identifying a biochemical activity of the polypeptide and then screening for small molecule inhibitors of the activity using, for example, a high throughput screening method. S-ydcB and B-ydcB catalyze a reaction of CoenzymeA plus apo-Acyl Carrier Protein to produce holo-Acyl Carrier Protein and 3xe2x80x2,5xe2x80x2-ADP (PAP). Based on this activity, various biochemical assays can be set up as high throughput screens to detect compounds that inhibit the enzymatic activity of ydcB. For example, incorporation of a labelled :version of CoenzymeA into the holoACP protein can readily :be detected. The label can be fluorescent, radioactive, or any easily detectable moiety, such as biotin. The holo-ACP protein can be the Acyl Carrier Protein derived from; any of a wide variety of bacteria, or it can be a peptide fragment thereof or a fusion portein containing ACP sequences. In an alternative assay, the production of PAP from the catalytic reaction described above is detected. PAP can be detected in a calorimetric assay in which sulfotransferase uses PAP as a cofactor (Lin et al., Analytical Biochemistry).
The various B-ydcB and S-ydcB polypeptides can be used, separately or together, in assays to identify test compounds that interact with these polypeptides. Test compounds that interact with these polypeptides then can readily be tested, in conventional assays, for their ability to inhibit bacterial growth. Test compounds that interact with the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptides are candidate antibacterial agents, in contrast to compounds that do not interact with the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptides. As described herein, any of a variety of art-known methods can be used to assay for the interaction of test compounds with the B-ydcB and S-ydcB polypeptides.
The invention also includes a method for identifying an antibacterial agent where the method entails: (a) contacting an S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide, or homolog thereof, with a test compound; (b) detecting binding of the test compound to the polypeptide or homolog; and, optionally, (c) determining whether a test compound that binds to the polypeptide or homolog inhibits growth of bacteria, relative to growth of bacteria cultured in the absence of the test compound that binds to the polypeptide or homolog, as an indication that the test compound is an antibacterial agent.
In still another method, interaction of a test compound with an S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide (e.g., binding) can be detected in a conventional two-hybrid system for detecting protein/protein interactions (e.g., in yeast or mammalian cells). A test compound found to interact with the S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide can be further tested for antibacterial activity in a conventional susceptibility assay. Generally, in such two-hybrid methods, (a) the S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide is provided as a fusion protein that includes the S-ydcB or:B-ydcB polypeptide fused to (i) a transcription activation domain of a transcription factor or (ii) a DNA-binding domain of a transcription factor; (b) the test polypeptide is provided as a fusion protein that includes the test polypeptide fused to (i) a transcription activation domain of a transcription factor or (ii) a DNA-binding domain of a transcription factor; and (c) binding of the test polypeptide to the S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide is detected as a reconstitution of a transcription factor. Homologs of the S-ydcB and B-ydcB polypeptides can be used in similar methods. Reconstitution of the transcription factor can be detected, for example, by detecting transcription of a gene that is operably linked to a DNA sequence bound by the DNA-binding domain of the reconstituted transcription factor (See, for example, White, 1996, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:10001-10003 and references cited therein and Vidal et al., 1996, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:10315-10320).
In an alternative method, an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding an S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide is used to identify a compound that decreases the expression of a B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide in vivo. Such compounds can be used as antibacterial agents. To discover such compounds, cells that express an S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide are cultured, exposed to a test compound (or a mixture of test compounds), and the level of expression or activity is compared with the level of S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide expression or activity in cells that are otherwise identical but that have not been exposed to the test compound(s) Many standard quantitative assays of gene expression can be utilized in this aspect of the invention.
To identify compounds that modulate expression of an S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide (or homologous sequence), the test compound(s) can be added at varying concentrations to the culture medium of cells that express a S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide (or homolog), as described herein. Such test compounds can include small molecules (typically, non-protein, non-polysaccharide chemical entities), polypeptides, and nucleic acids. The expression of the S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide is then measured, for example, by Northern blot PCR analysis or RNAse protection analyses using a nucleic acid molecule of the invention as a probe. The level of expression in the presence of the test molecule, compared with the level of expression in its absence, will indicate whether or not the test molecule alters the expression of the S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide. Because the S-ydcB and B-ydcB polypeptides, and homologs thereof, are essential for survival, test compounds that inhibit the expression and/or function of the B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptide will inhibit growth of, or kill, the cells that express B-ydcB or S-ydcB polypeptides.
Typically, the test compound will be a small organic molecule. Alternatively, the test compound can be a test polypeptide (e.g., a polypeptide having a random or predetermined amino acid sequence; or a naturally-occurring or synthetic polypeptide) or a nucleic acid, such as a DNA or RNA molecule. The test compound can be a naturally-occurring compound or it can be synthetically produced, if desired. Synthetic libraries, chemical libraries, and the like can be screened to identify compounds that bind the S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide. More generally, binding of test a compound to the S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide or homolog can be detected either in vitro or in vivo. If desired, the above-described methods for identifying compounds that modulate the expression of the polypeptides of the invention can be combined with measuring the levels of the S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptides expressed in the cells, e.g., by performing a Western blot analysis using antibodies that bind an S-ydcB or B-ydcB polypeptide.
Regardless of the source of the test compound, the B-ydcB and S-ydcB polypeptides described herein can be used to identify compounds that inhibit the activity of an S-ydcB or B-ydcB protein or transcription of an S-ydcB or B-ydcB gene, or translation of the mRNA transcribed from such a gene. These antibacterial agents can be used to inhibit a wide spectrum of pathogenic or non-pathogenic bacterial strains, particularly gram-positive bacteria.
In other embodiments, the invention includes pharmaceutical formulations that include a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient and an antibacterial agent identified using the methods described herein. In particular, the invention includes pharmaceutical formulations that contain antibacterial agents that inhibit the growth of, or kill, pathogenic bacterial strains (e.g., pathogenic gram positive bacterial strains such as pathogenic Streptococcus strains). Such pharmaceutical formulations can be used in a method of treating a bacterial infection in an organism (e.g., a Streptococcus infection). Such a method entails administering to the organism a therapeutically effective amount of the pharmaceutical formulation, i.e., an amount sufficient to ameliorate signs and/or symptoms of the bacterial infection. In particular, such pharmaceutical formulations can be used to treat bacterial infections in mammals such as humans and domesticated mammals (e.g., cows, pigs, dogs, and cats), and in plants. The efficacy of such antibacterial agents in humans can be estimated in an animal model system well known to those of skill in the art (e.g., mouse and rabbit model systems of, for example, streptococcal pneumonia).
The invention further features methods of identifying from a large group of mutants those strains that have conditional lethal mutations. In general, the gene and corresponding gene product are subsequently identified, although the strains themselves can be used in screening or diagnostic assays. The mechanism(s) of action for the identified genes and gene products provide a rational basis for the design of antibacterial therapeutic agents. These antibacterial agents reduce the action of the gene product in a wild type strain, and therefore are useful in treating a subject with that type, or a similarly susceptible type, of infection by administering the agent to the subject in a pharmaceutically effective amount. Reduction in the action of the gene product includes competitive inhibition of the gene product for the active site of an enzyme or receptor; non-competitive inhibition; disrupting an intracellular cascade path which requires the gene product; binding to the gene product itself, before or after post-translational processing; and acting as a gene product mimetic, thereby down-regulating the activity.
Furthermore, the presence of the gene sequence in certain cells (e.g., a pathogenic bacterium of the same genus or similar species), and the absence or divergence of the sequence in host cells can be determined, if desired. Therapeutic agents directed toward genes or gene products that are not present in the host have several advantages, including fewer side effects, and lower overall dosage.
The invention also features an isolated S-ydcB polypeptide having the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2, as depicted in FIG. 1, or conservative variations 15 thereof. An isolated nucleic acid encoding S-ydcB also is included within the invention. In addition, the invention includes (a) an isolated nucleic acid having the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, as depicted in FIG. 1, or degenerate variants thereof; (b) an isolated nucleic acid having the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, or degenerate variants thereof, wherein T is replaced by U; (c) nucleic acids complementary to (a) and (b); and (d) fragments of (a), (b), and (c) that are at least 15 base pairs in length and that hybridize under stringent conditions, as described below, to genomic DNA encoding the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2.
Identification of the S-ydcB gene allows homologs of the S-ydcB gene to be found in other strains within the species Streptococcus. The S-ydcB gene has an ortholog in Bacillus subtilis, termed xe2x80x9cB-ydcB,xe2x80x9d the amino acid and nucleic acid sequences of which are set forth in FIG. 2 (SEQ ID NOs:4 and 3,; respectively). The B-ydcB gene and polypeptide also can be used to identify compounds that inhibit bacterial growth (e.g., compounds that inhibit the activity of an S-ydcB or B-ydcB protein (or homolog or ortholog), or inhibit transcription of an S-ydcB or B-ydcB gene (or homolog or ortholog thereof)).
The S-ydcB polypeptides and genes described herein include the polypeptide and gene set forth in FIG. 1 herein, as well as isozymes, variants, and conservative variations of the sequences set forth in FIG. 1. The invention includes various isozymes of S-ydcB. For example, the invention includes a gene that encodes a S-ydcB polypeptide but which gene includes one or more point mutations, deletions, or promoter variants, provided that the resulting polypeptide retains a biological function of a S-ydcB polypeptide. The S-ydcB polypeptide has structural characteristics of acyl carrier protein synthase and displays such synthase activity in vitro. Thus, the various isozymes, variants, and conservative variations of the S-ydcB sequences set forth in FIG. 1 retain a biological function of S-ydcB as determined, for example, in an assay of acyl carrier synthase activity (e.g., as described above) or in a conventional complementation assay or binding assay. Also encompassed by the term S-ydcB gene are degenerate variants of the nucleic acid sequences set forth in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1). Degenerate variants of a nucleic acid sequence exist because of the degeneracy of the amino acid code; thus, those sequences that vary from the sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1, but which nonetheless encode a polypeptide are included within the invention.
Likewise, because of the similarity in the structures of amino acids, conservative variations (as described herein) can be made in the amino acid sequence of the S-ydcB polypeptide while retaining the function of the polypeptide (e.g., as determined in a conventional complementation or binding assay). Other S-ydcB polypeptides and genes identified may be such conservative variations or degenerate variants of the particular S-ydcB polypeptide and nucleic acid set forth in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID Nos:1 and 2). Polypeptides that are substantially identical to the S-ydcB polypeptide and gene share at least 70%, e.g., 80% or 90%, sequence identity with SEQ ID Nos:2 and 1, respectively. Irrespective of the percent sequence identity between the S-ydcB sequence and the sequences represented by SEQ ID Nos:2 and 1, the S-ydcB genes and polypeptides encompassed by the invention preferably are able to complement for the lack of S-ydcB function (e.g., in a temperature-sensitive mutant) in a standard complementation assay. As described above for S-ydcB, the invention also includes various isozymes, variants, conservative variations and the like of the B. subtilis B-ydcB nucleic acid and polypeptide, which also has structural characteristics of acyl carrier protein synthases.
In various embodiments, the homologs or orthologs of the S-ydcB polypeptide used in the assays described herein is derived from a non-pathogenic or pathogenic gram positive bacterium.
The invention offers several advantages. For example, the methods for identifying antibacterial agents can be configured for high throughput screening of numerous candidate antibacterial agents. Because the B-ydcB and S-ydcB genes disclosed herein are thought to be highly conserved, antibacterial drugs targeted to these genes or their gene products are expected to have a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, suitable methods and materials are described herein. All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. In the case of a conflict, the present specification, including definitions, will control. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the claims.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, and from the claims. | {
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During residential construction and/or remodeling operations, it is typical for a contractor to provide a separate standing toilet structure for use by workmen on the job site. Such structures are well known and are offered, for example, by Port-O-Let™, Gulfport, Miss. Such structures are typically constructed of a rigid and durable plastic material configured into relatively rectangular and/or cylindrical structures of over six feet in height and approximately 3 to 4 feet in length and width dimensions. The interior of such structures is typically fitted with a toilet and/or urinal, and sometimes with hand washing facilities. Such structures have been improved over the years by having odor and sanitary concerns addressed, either through venting, plumbing systems, water reservoirs, etc. Such structures, however, remain relatively unsightly in that they are typically situated in or on the periphery of residential construction sites and thus are viewable by the passing public. Because residential remodeling and/or construction projects typically take from three months to over a year, the residential community must tolerate the undesirable aesthetic aspects of such portable toilets throughout the construction operation. Adding to the undesirable nature of such portable toilets are the typical colors of materials used in the fabrication of the plastic panels or side walls of such structures. These range from blues, oranges and greens, while even the more neutral colored beige or off-white structures still present undesirable aesthetic visual components in a construction site.
In addition to portable toilets typically found on construction sites, another typical feature of construction sites consists of one or more large waste containers or tubs. Such containers are used to temporarily store demolished building materials. In many residential renovations, however, a series of waste containers/tubs may be filled up and hauled away, with new containers taking their place, as many as ten-twenty times, depending upon the volume of materials disposed of during such remodeling/construction efforts. As most homeowners who have undergone a remodeling project come to realize, neighbors often take the opportunity presented by the presence of large waste containers in the neighborhood to contribute to such waste pile with their own large refuse items, thus adding to the number of ultimate waste containers/tubs that may be required on any given work site. The waste containers/tubs are typically of a generally rectangular or trapezoidal shape and come in a variety of colors, typically green, yellow, orange, etc. Many of such waste containers/tubs are as large as a car and often larger than a truck with dimensions as large as over forty feet long and over six feet wide. Such waste containers/tubs significantly add to the unaesthetic aspects of a construction site, further diminishing the normal serene landscaped settings of most neighborhoods. Moreover, the presence of both waste containers/tubs and Port-O-Lets is a clear indication to potential thieves that homeowners may not be present in the residence, thus inviting undesired trespasses, burglaries, etc. from such work sites.
From the perspective of a municipality, the diminution in scenic beauty of a neighborhood is severely affected by the presence of the above-described waste containers/tubs and portable toilet structures. Adjacent homeowners learn to resent the remodeling efforts of neighbors due not only to the disruption of normal neighborhood peace and quiet, but also to the unsightly nature of the waste receptacles and portable toilets, often positioned near the edge of the remodeled property and near a neighbors adjacent property. Homeowners undergoing reconstruction/remodeling projects also do not appreciate the disturbing visual aspects occasioned by the necessity of having toilet facilities for workers and receptacles to store products of demolition operations. Thus, there is a long felt, but unsolved need for a method and system for providing an aesthetically desirable covering for construction site structures such as waste containers/tubs and portable toilets. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fluorine-containing pyrimidine derivative suitable as a component of liquid crystal compositions used in liquid crystal display devices, and a liquid crystal composition containing the derivative.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known, liquid crystal materials used for liquid crystal display (hereinafter abbreviated to LCD) elements have been required to have per se not only chemical stability to air, moisture, etc., and physical stability to light, heat, electricity, etc., but LCD elements using the materials have also been required to hold well-balanced characteristics such as operation temperature range, operating voltage, response properties, etc. As electronics art advances, requirements for such liquid crystal materials have been becoming severer and severer in the aspect of these characteristics. Recently, liquid crystal materials capable of effecting LCD under lower operating voltage have been required. | {
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i) Field
This application relates to an analyzer and its components. In particular, this application relates to a clinical analyzer and system configured to ensure that an operator is qualified to use the analyzer and that the operator adheres to certain procedures while operating the analyzer.
ii) Description of the Related Art
Hematology analyzers are utilized to make various measurements of the constituents of a blood sample. Many known hematology analyzers are large cumbersome machines placed in hospitals and laboratories. Such analyzers are required to be operated by an operator officially certified to operate the analyzers.
Smaller hematology analyzers, such as the analyzers described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,772,650 and 7,013,260, are designed to be placed in a doctor's office where space is at a premium. Like the analyzers described above, a certified operator may operate these machines.
However, it is difficult to guarantee that such an operator is actually operating the analyzer. In many instances, the person operating the machine may have little or no training on the analyzer. Even when trained, the operator may not follow the various procedures required for accurate testing of a patient blood sample.
For example, performance of a quality control check of the analyzer may be required on a periodic basis to ensure that the analyzer is operating correctly. To perform the quality control check, various samples with known consistencies are inserted into the analyzer for analysis. However, in many instances the samples must be thoroughly mixed before measurement. When the operator skips this step, the samples may become unusable for future quality control checks as the consistency of the samples may change. Thus, a new sample may be required, which will necessarily increase the cost associated with operation of the analyzer.
In other instances, an operator may attempt to measure a patient blood sample that has been in storage. In this case, it may be necessary to treat the patient blood sample prior to measurement to ensure accuracy of measurement. For example, the patient blood sample may need to be mixed. When an operator fails to perform this procedure correctly, the measurement may fail or give inaccurate results.
Other problems with known analyzers will become apparent upon reading the descriptions of the various embodiments described below. | {
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Conventionally, when finger assignment for RAKE reception is performed by a path search processing section in a DS-CDMA (Direct Sequence-Code Division Multiple Access) system, a nondirectional state delay profile is created using a nondirectional received signal.
The path search processing section in a conventional radio base station apparatus will be described using FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a convention 1 radio base station apparatus.
Uplink signals received via antennas 1 are input respectively to RF circuits 2. In the RF circuits 2, the received signals are down-converted. The down-converted signals undergo A/D conversion by an A/D converter not shown in the drawing, and become baseband signals. These baseband signals undergo despreading processing by matched filters (MF) 3, and are then output to an adaptive array antenna (hereinafter abbreviated to “AAA”) reception circuit 4. In the AAA reception circuit 4, the despread signals are multiplied by a predetermined reception weight, and undergo AAA reception processing. A signal on which AAA reception processing has, been performed is sent to a demodulation circuit 5, undergoes demodulation processing, and becomes receive data.
In addition, the output of an RF circuit 2 is sent to a matched filter 6, and after despreading processing, is sent to a delay profile circuit 7. The delay profile circuit 7 creates a delay profile using the despread signal, and outputs the result to a path search processing section 8. The path search processing section performs finger assignment based on the delay profile, and detects the despreading timing for AAA reception processing. This despreading timing is output to the matched filter 3.
In the above-described method, transmission power control is performed on the premise that the SIR (Signal to Interference Ratio) is improved by AAA reception, and a nondirectional received signal (signal prior to AAA reception processing) is used for finger assignment. However, when a nondirectional received signal is used, the SIR deteriorates greatly and accurate finger assignment is not possible with a delay profile based thereon. There is consequently a problem of deterioration of demodulation capability, and as a result, high reception power is necessary to perform correct finger assignment, and adjustment is carried out by means of transmission power control. This means that, despite the use of a reception AAA, it is not possible to achieve SIR improvement effects due to its directional control. | {
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Smart utility meters are generally known. In the context of electrical consumption, smart meters have been developed as a mechanism to help match consumption with generation of electricity. Traditional electric meters only measure total consumption and fail to provide any information about when the electricity was consumed. Smart electrical meters provide an economical means for determining when the electricity was consumed thereby allowing governmental price setting organizations to set prices for consumption based upon the time of day and season.
Electrical loading usually peaks at certain predictable times of the day and season. For example, higher prices may be imposed at the start of the work day or on hot summer days when the air conditioning loading is very high. In these cases, a local electric utility may not have enough low-cost generating capacity. Prices can rise significantly during these periods both for the electric utility and consumer as more expensive sources of power are brought on-line or power is purchased from other regions with excess capacity.
In addition to pricing based upon time of day, it has also become possible for utilities to offer price reductions where consumers are willing to reduce consumption during peak periods. For example, some utilities provide automatic control systems for homes that allow the utility to temporarily deactivate heavy loads (e.g., air conditioning) for short periods.
The communication infrastructure that allows for the operation of smart meters in these cases opens up the opportunity for new ways of adding value to utility services. Accordingly, a need exists for better ways of using smart meters. | {
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Oil field operations often require the injection of a mixture of gaseous and liquid components to enhance the production of hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon-bearing formation. Wet steam, i.e., steam that has a water phase and a vapor phase, is often injected in hydrocarbon fields having heavy hydrocarbons to assist the movement of the hydrocarbons within the formation toward a production well. Typically, a 10% to 80% quality steam is injected into the formation. As the liquid and vapor phases travel down the injection tubing toward the formation, the liquid phase tends to segregate out along the walls of the tubing while the vapor phase remains within the center of the tube. In order to adequately assess the quality of steam being injected into the formation, it is necessary to have a uniform steam quality or liquid and vapor mixture as it enters the formation.
Steam flow agitators are placed in the string of injection tubing to insure the mixing of the liquid and vapor phases. Many of these flow agitators are baffles or restrictions in the tubing which cause the vapor and liquid phases to intermix. However, these baffles can cause undesirable back pressure within the injection tubing and may eventually clog unless high-purity water is used. The clogging can occur more rapidly if additives such as surfactants, foaming agents, or other chemicals are utilized along with the injected steam. More importantly, well logging survey tools, such as temperature, pressure, and spinner tools, cannot be used because of the restriction in the injection tubing.
Thus, it would be highly desirable to have an agitator which intermixes the liquid and vapor phases prior to injection but does not present a blockage within the tubing and permits the use of logging tools to pass through the flow agitators. | {
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Apparatus for cleaning feet are known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,793 to Shelton discloses a foot brush according to which one foot is placed in the cleaning device while the other foot is used to depress a button for dispensing soap.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,439 to Berst discloses a foot scrubbing device according to which soap is dispensed onto the foot to be cleaned by depressing a pump in reciprocating fashion with the other foot.
The Shelton and Berst foot scrubbers both suffer from the drawback that the user must stand on one foot while dispensing soap by means of the other foot. This is an unstable and undesirable position for a person who is physically handicapped by back problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,286 to Logan discloses a foot cleaning apparatus having a soap-filled bellows which is depressed by the foot to be cleaned. This foot controls the pivoting of a treadle, which is operatively coupled to the bellows. This system suffers from the disadvantage that, because the treadle on which one foot rests is pivotable, the user is not provided with a stable footing, which is of critical importance to a partially incapacitated person who risks further injury if he falls in a shower.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,178 to James discloses a foot washer having a hand-operated squeezable soap dispenser. Although this system provides a firm footing by securing the cleansing unit to a shower board, no means are provided for ensuring that the user maintain his balance.
All of the above disadvantages are eliminated in the foot cleansing device of the present invention. An elongated handle is attached to the housing, by which the user is able to manually maintain a stable upright position. In addition, the handle can be operated to dispense soap. Releasable suction cups are provided for securing the housing to the shower stall or bathtub. These suction cups are releasable by way of a lever located on the handle. Thus, the user can install, operate, and remove the foot cleansing device of the present invention without bending and while maintaining a stable position. | {
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As a branch of blockchain technology, consortium blockchain technology is being widely applied on an increasing basis. Blockchain nodes in a consortium blockchain network include service nodes and consensus nodes. The service node participates in a service, and the consensus node is responsible for receiving service data sent by the service node and performing consensus verification on the service data.
The previous service node is actually a service server of each institution that joins the consortium blockchain network, and the software used to communicate with another node in the consortium blockchain network is installed on the server (the software is referred to as a communication program in the present application). If two nodes have a fixed service relationship, the two nodes can separately locally store the service relationship (the service relationship is referred to as a mapping relationship in the present application).
FIG. 1 is an architectural diagram illustrating a consortium blockchain network. As shown in FIG. 1, the solid circles are consensus nodes, and the hollow circles are service nodes. Different service nodes provide services for different applications (APPs). The service node sends service data generated by the APP to the consensus node for consensus verification. Assuming that a service node is a server corresponding to a catering application, and another service node is a server corresponding to a payment application. A user can pay through the payment application after ordering through an APP corresponding to the catering application; the two service nodes participate in a same service and can register a service relationship shown in FIG. 1 with the consortium blockchain network.
In the consortium blockchain network, each service node stores service data of its participating service, and the service data usually includes the user's private data. Based on the existing technology, a more secure communication method is needed. | {
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Analytical testers, also sometimes referred to as sensors, are commonly used to monitor the level of an analyte in a body fluid. For example, diabetics use analyte testers to monitor body glucose levels.
Analyte testing may involve testing once per day, but typically should be carried out periodically throughout the day using multiple analyte testers—one tester for each test. To “read” a tester, i.e., to analyze the body fluid applied to a tester and determine one or more analyte levels, a tester reader, oftentimes referred to as a “meter”, is used. Either before or after a sample of body fluid is applied to a tester, the tester is received by the meter. The meter performs various functions and analyzes the tester-applied sample to provide an analyte level to the user.
The tester receiving area of a meter, commonly referred to as a tester “port”, is the opening in a meter that receives a tester for testing. The tester port is therefore an opening from the outside meter environment to the interior of the meter. Because the interior is exposed to the outside environment via the tester port, the potential for contaminating materials to enter the meter's interior through the port exists. For example, unintended fluid ingress into the port from blood, interstitial fluid, control solution, cleaning fluid, or other fluids may occur. This unintended fluid ingress may interfere with the readings and confound the analyte results. Given the importance of obtaining accurate analyte level readings, it is imperative that the meter does not become contaminated.
Accordingly, as meters continue to be used for analyte monitoring, there continues to be an interest in analyte monitoring devices that are protected from contamination. Of interest are port protectors that are easily removable and replaceable, e.g., disposable. | {
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A remote terminal unit (RTU) represents a device or system that provides localized control and data access at a site that is remote from a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system or other automation system. For example, multiple RTUs can be used at different sites and for different purposes in an oil and gas field. The RTUs can collect data, perform local control, record historical values using sensors and actuators at different sites (such as wells, pipelines, and compression stations), and provide live and historical data to an automation system. The automation system can execute control logic and alter the operations of actuators at the different sites via the RTUs. The RTUs themselves could also incorporate algorithms for data analytics. RTUs have increased in usage and complexity from their early designs in the 1970 s. Today, RTUs often need to reliably support a large set of application-specific network capabilities and protocols, as well as support a number of control execution models and provide smart device integration. | {
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The present invention relates to a circuit configuration for operating a household appliance as well as to a household appliance with such a circuit configuration. The invention further relates to a corresponding method.
This invention focuses on automatically switching off a household appliance. Conventional solutions for automatic switch-off currently usually operate with electronic circuits which have electronically-driven self-holding and in which the household appliance is switched on by an operator and subsequently remains in the switched-on state until a command for switching off the device is set either by the operator or by the device itself. A disadvantage of these solutions lies in the fact that electrical energy is necessary for self-holding. In addition power outages lead to the undesired switching off of the device.
Publication DE 2250674 discloses a configuration for automatic restoration of the switch-on state of a load after a short-duration outage or fall in the supply voltage in load circuits with the aid of a bridging timer defining a maximum bridging time which is started by an information provider connected to the grid power on failure of the grid power supply. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a system, apparatus and method for the non-lethal restraint of a vehicle, a person, or an animal through the use of an entanglement device that will entangle such vehicle, person or animal. The non-lethal entanglement device incorporates a plurality of tendrils, filaments, tentacles, cables, ropes or straps, or a combination there of, that are propelled from a housing by compressed gas, an explosive charge, a rocket based projectile or by pressure generated by a gas generator of the type commonly used in air bag deployment apparatus. Filaments that are launched from the device may be attached to projectiles that may carry adhesive substances, conductive substances, or barbed capture elements that will adhere, stick or hook onto to a target surface. The filaments are designed to assist in entangling a target vehicle, a target person, or a target animal and restrain the targeted element.
This invention is also directed to a system, apparatus and method for the non-lethal deterrent of a target through the use of a device that will deliver chemical agents or electric shock mechanisms for repelling persons or animals. The non-lethal device incorporates a plurality of projectiles that are propelled from a housing by compressed gas, an explosive charge or by pressure generated by a gas generator of the type commonly used in air bag deployment apparatus. Projectiles may be projectiles, in one embodiment, frangible balls, carrying chemical agents, adhesive or conductive substances or barbed capture elements or a combination thereof that will adhere or stick to a target surface. Filaments may be included to deliver electric shock mechanisms to the target.
The inventors also contemplate using the broad technology disclosed herein in an aquatic environment where the entanglement technology can be used to restrain boats, submarines and other water-borne vessels. The entanglement technology will render the propulsion mechanisms, such as, but not limited to propellers jet-pumps, and screw drives, as well as steering motors and steering equipment such as rudders, and the like of boats, submarines, hovercraft, and other water-borne vessels hydrodynamically inefficient. Such entanglement caused situations will impede the vessel's progress, and in some cases stop the vessel, by fouling propellers, jet-pumps, and other underwater or water-line control surfaces of a vessel.
A further application is to use the non-lethal restraint device as an ancillary device floated on or under the water, in a single or in an array configuration in which the systems intelligently communicate (net centric) to locate a target vessel and activate the closest device to ensnare and disable the target vessel. In another embodiment an array of multiple systems can be directed to swarm to and around a target. The devices, either above or below the surface of the water, may incorporate a propulsion device enabling the devices to be directed to a target and swarm around it.
The inventor also contemplates that the entanglement device, system and method can be used as a perimeter defense system to deter, restrain, or identify targets by marking with a trackable substance or device, for instance, a paint or fluorescent substance or an electronic tracking device.
In another embodiment the inventor contemplates that the entanglement device, system and method can be launched from a ‘launch platform’ such as a missile tube, torpedo launcher, sono-buoy launcher, pneumatic launcher, grenade launcher, mortar tube, shotgun, or the like, or by other means, such as, but not limited to, a projectile, mortar, flying disc, remote controlled aircraft, shotgun shell, launched grenade or missile.
A further embodiment is an entanglement device, system and method that is hand launched, thrown, or tossed like a projectile, hand grenade, flying disc bola device, glider or the like. Thus the entanglement device, system and method can be hand-placed, tossed, buried, submerged at a variable depth. It can be configured as a landmine, sea-borne mine, sono-buoy, claymore mine, or ‘bouncing betty’ mine. Among other configurations.
A further application is to use the non-lethal restraint device as an ancillary device mounted on a riot shield, post, wall, or mounted on crowd control vehicles so that projectiles, such as frangible balls or other such projectiles containing chemical irritants, marking paint, or adhesives, can be launched, either in volleys, in a successive “escalation of force,” or in one massive launch event where all the projectiles are launched at once at targeted aggressors.
The inventors also contemplate attaching an electric shock delivery option, such as an electric shock weapon using electro muscular disruption or shaped pulse systems launched or delivered from a protective shield or peripheral defense device. Another option is incorporate an electrically conductive adhesive to enhance the shock delivery mechanism.
Still a further option is to attach entangling fibers to the projectiles launched from the shield, post, vehicle or other mounting mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
To reduce the complexity and length of the Detailed Specification, and to fully establish the state of the art in certain areas of technology, Applicants herein expressly incorporate by reference material identified in the following publications. Greg Lucas, “Bay Area's New Efforts in the War on Terror Coast Guard Weapon: High-tech net to keep boats from off-limits areas,” San Francisco Chronicle Article, Aug. 10, 2005. (Available on the Internet.). Honeywell Spectra Technical Bulletin, HON-PF-PS10, (Available on the Internet). Steven H. Scott, “Sticky Foam as a Less-Than-Lethal Technology,” Sandia National Laboratory, US DOE Contract No DE-AC04-96AL8500, CIRCA 1994. T. D. Goolby and K. J. Padilla, “Sticky Foam Restraining Effectiveness Human Subject Tests for the Less-Than-Lethal Foam Project,” Sandia Report, Jul. 8, 1994 UNCI (Available on the Internet).
The applicants believe that the material incorporated above is “non-essential” in accordance with 37 CFR 1.57, because it is referred to for purposes of indicating the background of the invention or illustrating the state of the art. However, if the Examiner believes that any of the above-incorporated material constitutes “essential material” within the meaning of 37 CFR 1.57(c)(1)-(3), applicants will amend the specification to expressly recite the essential material that is incorporated by reference as allowed by the applicable rules. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a link layer, such as for use in a wireless communication system.
2. Related Art
Wireless communication between a sender and a receiver includes sending information using a wireless communication link, in which the sender modulates information onto a wireless communication channel (such as a frequency band reserved for wireless communication between the sender and the receiver). The receiver demodulates that information from the wireless communication channel, so as to recover the original information.
One problem with known systems is that physical characteristics of the communication link between the sender and receiver can change substantially over relatively short periods of time. For example, the distance between the sender and receiver can change. In a second example, the equipment used by the sender or receiver (that is the consumer premises equipment) can change. Moreover, these physical characteristics can change independently of each other. As a result, selection of a single set of such physical characteristics can result in relatively ineffective or inefficient communication between the sender and the receiver.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a technique for wireless communication, in which physical characteristics of the communication link between sender and receiver can be changed substantially during a single session of communication, that is not subject to the drawbacks of the known art.
The invention provides a method and system for a wireless transport layer, such as for use in a wireless communication system. In a preferred embodiment, the wireless transport layer includes the capability for instructing customer premises equipment to adjust the physical characteristics on its communication link with the base station controller, and for instructing customer premises equipment to conduct further communications using those new physical characteristics. In several aspects of the invention, as described herein, the wireless transport layer includes a number of provisions, such as adaptive link layer transport services and an advanced TDMA (time division multiple access) protocol. These work together to adjust communication between the base station controller and customer premises equipment in view of the prospect of adjusting physical characteristics for communication between the two end points. The use of a point-to-multipoint wireless channel provides services over a link whose parameters are continuously adapting to current conditions, on a per-user basis.
The invention provides an enabling technology for a wide variety of applications for communication, so as to obtain substantial advantages and capabilities that are novel and non-obvious in view of the known art. Examples described below primarily relate to a wireless communication system, but the invention is broadly applicable to many different types of communication in which characteristics of the communication link are subject to change. | {
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Wireless power transfer offers a convenient technique for conveying electrical power without the use of traditional electrical cords. Among other advantages, wireless power transfer reduces safety hazards associated with cords, such as tripping and fire hazards, and improves aesthetics by reducing cord clutter. Still further, wireless power transfer is a low-hassle and cost-effective alternative to wired charging for portable electronics. For example, for portable electronics that are charged daily, wireless power transfer reduces the likelihood of misplacing wired chargers and prevents wear-and-tear associated with repeatedly plugging and unplugging the devices.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide improved wireless power transfer systems. | {
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A process for the removal of sulfur dioxide from waste gases and recovery of the sulfur values as sulfuric acid is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,529. This patent describes a bipolar process in which an effluent vent or flue gas containing sulfur dioxide is scrubbed with an aqueous acid stream in an absorption column. The column contains an electrically conductive packing material that serves both as the gas-liquid contact surface and as the electrochemically active surface of a bipolar electrode. Thus, the sulfur dioxide is simultaneously absorbed in the acid and the dissolved sulfur dioxide is subjected to electrolysis. Byproduct sulfuric acid produced by the process is continually withdrawn from the system.
Electrical energy required for electrolysis in the bipolar process is supplied in the form of a direct current. This current, if obtained from a power grid, must first be stepped down to the necessary voltage and then rectified. A substantial investment is required in the electrical equipment to accomplish this task. Even if the process is used to scrub the flue gases from a power plant, the need for direct current is an additional cost.
Besides being concerned with the adjustment and regulation of the electrical power supply, the operator must face certain inherent inefficiencies in the bipolar process. The theoretical potential required for the electrolytic reaction is 0.2 volts. In practice, however, a minimum of 0.6 volts is needed before any reaction is obtained. This excess voltage, which is necessary, is attributed to electrode polarization caused by the irreversibility of the reactions.
The cost of electrical power consumed by the bipolar process is not inconsequential. As a result, any opportunity to reduce such cost is noteworthy. Even if the ideal case cannot be achieved, a significant improvement would greatly enhance the attractiveness of the process. Improved electrical efficiency would not only save expenses with regard to the direct power cost, but it also promises to increase the capacity of an installed scrubbing unit. Given the same electrode area, additional sulfur dioxide could be oxidized to sulfuric acid.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process which overcomes, or at least minimizes, the disadvantages of existing methods for removing sulfur dioxide from waste gases. It is an object to reduce electrical power consumption, to minimize the investment in electrical equipment, and to maximize the capacity of the process to remove sulfur dioxide.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2. | {
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The present invention relates to the field of decorative treatments for grass and, more particularly, to three-dimensional graphics made on grass using a chlorophyll-based agent.
Graphics, whether team names or sponsor logos, are commonplace on grassy sports fields. Revenues from selling this type of advertising space is a budget staple for many teams or venues. Typically, only areas of the field that are not used during play are available for advertising, in order to not distract players. However, this specialized chlorophyll-based agent is not viewable by players in close proximity, which greatly increases the area of the field where graphics can be applied.
As with conventional applications of graphics on grass using paint, application of a graphic using the chlorophyll-based agent is two-dimensional. What is needed is a means of applying the chlorophyll-based agent to create a graphic that is more noticeable and eye-catching to viewers. | {
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5-Lipoxygenase is the first dedicated enzyme in the pathway leading to the biosynthesis of leukotrienes. This important enzyme has a rather restricted distribution, being found predominantly in leukocytes and mast cells of most mammals. Normally 5-lipoxygenase is present in the cell in an inactive form; however, when leukocytes respond to external stimuli, intracellular 5-lipoxygenase can be rapidly activated. This enzyme catalyzes the addition of molecular oxygen to fatty acids with cis,cis-1,4-pentadiene structures, converting them to 1-hydroperoxy-trans,cis-2,4-pentadienes. Arachidonic acid, the 5-lipoxygenase substrate which leads to leukotriene products, is found in very low concentrations in mammalian cells and must first be hydrolyzed from membrane phospholipids through the actions of phospholipases in response to extracellular stimuli. The initial product of 5-lipoxygenase action on arachidonate is 5-HPETE which can be reduced to 5-HETE or converted to LTA.sub.4. This reactive leukotriene intermediate is enzymatically hydrated to LTB.sub.4 or conjugated to the tripeptide glutathione to produce LTC.sub.4. LTA.sub.4 can also be hydrolyzed nonenzymatically to form two isomers of LTB.sub.4. Successive proteolytic cleavage steps convert LTC.sub. 4 to LTD.sub.4 and LTE.sub.4. Other products resulting from further oxygenation steps have also been described in the literature. Products of the 5-lipoxygenase cascade are extremely potent substances which produce a wide variety of biological effects, often in the nanomolar to picomolar concentration range.
The remarkable potencies and diversity of actions of products of the 5-lipoxygenase pathway have led to the suggestion that they play important roles in a variety of diseases. Alterations in leukotriene metabolism have been demonstrated in a number of disease states including asthma, allergic rhinitis, rheumatoid arthritis and gout, psoriasis, adult respiratory distress syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, endotoxin shock syndrome, atherosclerosis, ischemia induced myocardial injury, and central nervous system pathology resulting from the formation of leukotrienes following stroke or subarachnoid hemorrhage.
The enzyme 5-lipoxygenase catalyzes the first step leading to the biosynthesis of all the leukotrienes and therefore inhibition of this enzyme provides an approach to limit the effects of all the products of this pathway. Compounds which inhibit 5-lipoxygenase are thus useful in the treatment of disease states such as those listed above in which the leukotrienes play an important role.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,986 to Kneen, et al. discloses and claims N-(3-phenoxycinnamyl)acetohydroxamic acid, its salts and related compounds having utility for inhibiting lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase enzymes.
European Patent Application 0 299 761 to Salmon, et al. discloses and claims certain (substituted phenoxy)phenylalkenyl hydroxamic acids and their salts which are useful as agents for inhibiting lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase activity. | {
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The polarizing element utilized in display devices is formed of a composite film structure of for example an iodine-dyed polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film and a protective film for protecting this film, for example, a triacetyl cellulose (TAC) film.
Recently, development of a new concept thin-film polymeric polarizing film being formed by a simple coating process has been sought as an alternative to the film type multi-layer element through the iodine dyeing. The process technology of thin-film formation of the polarizing film through such a structure simplification and low-cost manufacturing is a key technology for LCD cost saving and flexible display embodiment, where the technology for preparing the polarizing element by coating a dye layer comprising a dichroic dye and a polymeric liquid crystal compound as in Patent Document 1 (JP Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-152351) has been known.
However, to use the polarizing element in the display devices, physical properties are required, which can maintain the absorption spectrum even under severe conditions such as high temperature conditions, but since the coating type polarizing element with the dichroic dye has the lowered heat-resistant stability, there is a problem that the dye molecules are degraded in high temperature conditions to change the absorption spectrum, whereby there is a limit in using it for the display device. Therefore, recently, it is a trend in the display device field to increase studies for developing the coating type polarizing element that can ensure the heat-resistant stability. | {
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Microelectronic devices such as semiconductor chips typically require many input and output connections to other electronic components. The input and output contacts of a semiconductor chip or other comparable device are generally disposed in grid-like patterns that substantially cover a surface of the device (commonly referred to as an “area array”) or in elongated rows which may extend parallel to and adjacent each edge of the device's front surface, or in the center of the front surface. Typically, devices such as chips must be physically mounted on a substrate such as a printed circuit board, and the contacts of the device must be electrically connected to electrically conductive features of the circuit board.
Semiconductor chips are commonly provided in packages that facilitate handling of the chip during manufacture and during mounting of the chip on an external substrate such as a circuit board or other circuit panel. For example, many semiconductor chips are provided in packages suitable for surface mounting. Numerous packages of this general type have been proposed for various applications. Most commonly, such packages include a dielectric element, commonly referred to as a “chip carrier” with terminals formed as plated or etched metallic structures on the dielectric. These terminals typically are connected to the contacts of the chip itself by features such as thin traces extending along the chip carrier itself and by fine leads or wires extending between the contacts of the chip and the terminals or traces. In a surface mounting operation, the package is placed onto a circuit board so that each terminal on the package is aligned with a corresponding contact pad on the circuit board. Solder or other bonding material is provided between the terminals and the contact pads. The package can be permanently bonded in place by heating the assembly so as to melt or “reflow” the solder or otherwise activate the bonding material.
Many packages include solder masses in the form of solder balls, typically about 0.1 mm and about 0.8 mm (5 and 30 mils) in diameter, attached to the terminals of the package. A package having an array of solder balls projecting from its bottom surface is commonly referred to as a ball grid array or “BGA” package. Other packages, referred to as land grid array or “LGA” packages are secured to the substrate by thin layers or lands formed from solder. Packages of this type can be quite compact. Certain packages, commonly referred to as “chip scale packages,” occupy an area of the circuit board equal to, or only slightly larger than, the area of the device incorporated in the package. This is advantageous in that it reduces the overall size of the assembly and permits the use of short interconnections between various devices on the substrate, which in turn limits signal propagation time between devices and thus facilitates operation of the assembly at high speeds.
Packaged semiconductor chips are often provided in “stacked” arrangements, wherein one package is provided, for example, on a circuit board, and another package is mounted on top of the first package. These arrangements can allow a number of different chips to be mounted within a single footprint on a circuit board and can further facilitate high-speed operation by providing a short interconnection between packages. Often, this interconnect distance is only slightly larger than the thickness of the chip itself. For interconnection to be achieved within a stack of chip packages, it is necessary to provide structures for mechanical and electrical connection on both sides of each package (except for the topmost package). This has been done, for example, by providing contact pads or lands on both sides of the substrate to which the chip is mounted, the pads being connected through the substrate by conductive vias or the like. Solder balls or the like have been used to bridge the gap between the contacts on the top of a lower substrate to the contacts on the bottom of the next higher substrate. The solder balls must be higher than the height of the chip in order to connect the contacts. Examples of stacked chip arrangements and interconnect structures are provided in U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2010/0232129 (“the '129 Publication”), the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Microcontact elements in the form of elongated posts or pins may be used to connect microelectronic packages to circuit boards and for other connections in microelectronic packaging. In some instances, microcontacts have been formed by etching a metallic structure including one or more metallic layers to form the microcontacts. The etching process limits the size of the microcontacts. Conventional etching processes typically cannot form microcontacts with a large ratio of height to maximum width, referred to herein as “aspect ratio”. It has been difficult or impossible to form arrays of microcontacts with appreciable height and very small pitch or spacing between adjacent microcontacts. Moreover, the configurations of the microcontacts formed by conventional etching processes are limited.
Despite all of the above-described advances in the art, still further improvements in making and testing microelectronic packages would be desirable. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Glaucoma is characterized by a progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells, a characteristic optic neuropathy and patterns of visual field loss in the more advanced stages. Even though glaucoma can be caused by many different risk factors, the increased intraocular pressure (IOP) is identified as the main risk factor of glaucoma. As a result, doctors often require continuous monitoring of the IOP for effective treatment of glaucoma. The change of IOP causes a change in the radius of curvature of the cornea as the aforementioned mechanical change can be used as an indication of the IOP. Current methods to measure the radius of corneal curvature require expensive electrical components and connections. Even though most patients get tested once a year during their eye-exams, patients at risk of increase IOP require continuous monitoring of the change of IOP. The existing methods of measuring the radius of curvature require electrical connections and radio frequency components, raising safety concerns and making them uncomfortable and expensive. Additionally, the high cost of these devices does not allow long term monitoring of radius of curvature changes. Even though some existing contact lenses are able to measure the IOP through a microfluidic channel, these contact lenses lack the required lifetime, which is greater than 24 hours, to be used as a practical device. The reason that the existing contact lenses lack the required lifetime is the permeability of the Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that causes a gas leak. Another problem with the existing contact lenses is the surface energy of the sensing liquid is not taken into consideration. As a result, the high surface energy of the sensing liquid causes high capillary pressure drop that causes non-linear sensor behavior.
It is an objective of the present invention is to provide a contact lens with a microfluidic channel to monitor radius of curvature of the cornea with high sensitivity, high linearity, and with long lifetime. The present invention includes a microfluidic channel that converts the changes in the radius of corneal curvature into gas/liquid interface movement inside the microfluidic channel. Then the movement of gas/liquid interface can be optically detected by utilizing an external imaging system that includes components such as a camera, a lens, a microscope and a light source. As a result, the present invention provides a low cost contact lens that can be daily worn by the patients over the years of treatment. The present invention also greatly improves the effectiveness of glaucoma treatment which typically is for the lifetime of the patient. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Websites managers have long desired a method to provide customized content to different clients and/or users. In part, the underlying motivation is to be all things to all people, and to thereby achieve greater recognition and acclaim, increased utilization by the public and greater commercial profit. Not surprisingly, these are difficult goals.
Recognizing that customization requires information about the preferences of each user, many websites have gone directly to their users for that information. In particular, some websites have provided each individual user with opportunities to provide the website with information about one's self and to use that information to customize the presentation of the website for the individual user. A typical scenario is to ask the user to create an account, log into that account, and provide personal information. The user may provide such information because of a desire to obtain more relevant content on the website, and to save time and effort required to find such content.
Not surprisingly, many users decline to create such an account. Reasons for this include the onerous effort of providing demographic information, geographic information, interest information, and other information. Even users who do not mind the loss of privacy object to the tedious processes involved. However, a significant portion of the population is actively concerned with privacy. These concerns may be based on philosophy, or more pragmatically, on fear of a criminal scam. Accordingly, while websites attempt to personalize their content and to achieve wider popularity, such attempts have had mixed success, as people continue to protect their information. | {
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Conventional printed circuit boards (PCBs) consist of laminated non-conductive dielectric substrates that rely on drilled and plated through holes (PTHs) to form a connection between the opposite sides and/or inner layers of a board. Electroless plating is a well-known process for preparing metallic coatings on surfaces. Electroless plating of a dielectric surface requires the prior deposition of a catalyst. The most commonly used method to catalyze or activate laminated non-conductive dielectric substrate regions, prior to electroless plating, is to treat the board with an aqueous tin-palladium colloid in an acidic chloride medium. The colloid consists of a metallic palladium core surrounded by a stabilizing layer of tin(II) ions. A shell of [SnCl3]− complexes act as surface stabilizing groups to avoid agglomeration of colloids in suspension.
In the activation process, the palladium-based colloid is adsorbed onto an insulating substrate such as epoxy or polyimide to activate electroless copper deposition. Theoretically, for electroless metal deposition, the catalyst particles play roles as carriers in the path of transfer of electrons from reducing agent to metal ions in the plating bath. Although the performance of an electroless copper process is influenced by many factors such as composition of the deposition solution and choice of ligand, the activation step is the key factor for controlling the rate and mechanism of electroless deposition. Palladium/tin colloid has been commercially used as an activator for electroless metal deposition for decades, and its structure has been extensively studied. Yet, its sensitivity to air and high cost leave room for improvement or substitution.
While the colloidal palladium catalyst has given good service, it has many shortcomings which are becoming more and more pronounced as the quality of manufactured printed circuit boards increases. In recent years, along with the reduction in sizes and an increase in performance of electronic devices, the packaging density of electronic circuits has become higher and subsequently required to be defect free after electroless plating. As a result of greater demands on reliability alternative catalyst compositions are required. The stability of the colloidal palladium catalyst is also a concern. As mentioned above, the palladium/tin colloid is stabilized by a layer of tin(II) ions and its counter-ions can prevent palladium from aggregating. The tin(II) ions easily oxidizes to tin(IV) and thus the colloid cannot maintain its colloidal structure. This oxidation is promoted by increases in temperature and agitation. If the tin(II) concentration is allowed to fall close to zero, then palladium particles can grow in size, agglomerate, and precipitate.
Considerable efforts have been made to find new and better catalysts. For example, because of the high cost of palladium, much of the effort has been directed toward the development of a non-palladium or bimetallic alternative catalyst. In the past, problems have included the fact that they are not sufficiently active or reliable enough for through-hole plating. Furthermore, these catalysts typically become progressively less active upon standing, and this change in activity renders such catalysts unreliable and impractical for commercial use. Accordingly, there is still a need for a replacement catalyst for palladium/tin. | {
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The present invention relates to powder coating compositions for metal substrates that, after application, demonstrate excellent adhesion, weatherability, barrier properties, and flexibility; to a method of powder coating a metal substrate; and to a metal article, such as a metal can or container, or a material of construction, such as aluminum siding, having at least one surface coated with an adherent layer of a powder coating composition. A powder coating composition comprises: (a) a first polyester having a weight average molecular weight of about 10,000 to about 80,000 and a glass transition temperature (Tg) of greater than 45xc2x0 C. to about 100xc2x0 C., (b) a second polyester having a weight average molecular weight of about 10,000 to about 70,000 and a Tg of about xe2x88x9210xc2x0 C. to about 45xc2x0 C., and optionally, (c) a modifying resin, for example, an epoxy or phenoxy resin having an epoxy equivalent weight of about 500 to about 15,000 or an end-capped epoxy resin having a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of about 300 to about 10,000, wherein the Tg of the first and second polyester differ by about 5xc2x0 C. to about 60xc2x0 C. The powder coating composition is applied to a metal substrate as a film having a thickness of about 1 to about 200 microns.
It is well known that an aqueous solution in contact with an untreated metal substrate can result in corrosion of the untreated metal substrate. Therefore, a metal article, such as a metal container for a water-based product, like a food or beverage, is rendered corrosion resistant in order to retard or eliminate interactions between the water-based product and the metal article. Generally, corrosion resistance is imparted to the metal article, or to a metal substrate in general, by passivating the metal substrate, or by coating the metal substrate with a corrosion-inhibiting coating.
Investigators have sought improved coating compositions that reduce or eliminate corrosion of a metal article and that do not adversely affect an aqueous product packaged in the metal article. For example, investigators have sought to improve the imperviousness of the coating in order to prevent corrosion-causing ions, oxygen molecules, and water molecules from contacting and interacting with a metal substrate. Imperviousness can be improved by providing a thicker, more flexible, and more adhesive coating, but often, improving one advantageous property is achieved at the expense of a second advantageous property.
In addition, practical considerations limit the thickness, adhesive properties, and flexibility of a coating applied to a metal substrate. For example, thick coatings are expensive, require a longer cure time, can be esthetically unpleasing, and can adversely affect the process of stamping and molding the coated metal substrate into a useful metal article. Similarly, the coating should be sufficiently flexible such that the continuity of the coating is not destroyed during stamping and molding of the metal substrate into the desired shape of the metal article.
Investigators also have sought coatings that possess chemical resistance in addition to corrosion inhibition. A useful coating for the interior of a metal container is able to withstand the solvating properties of a product packaged in the metal container. If the coating does not possess sufficient chemical resistance, components of the coating can be extracted into the packaged product and adversely affect the product. Even small amounts of extracted coating components can adversely affect sensitive products, such as beer, by imparting an off-taste to the product.
Conventionally, organic solvent-based coating compositions were used to provide cured coatings having excellent chemical resistance. Such solvent-based compositions include ingredients that are inherently water insoluble, and thereby effectively resist the solvating properties of water-based products packaged in the metal container. However, because of environmental and toxicological concerns, and in order to comply with increasingly strict governmental regulations, an increasing number of coating compositions are water based. The water-based coating compositions include ingredients that are water soluble or water dispersible, and, therefore, cured coatings resulting from water-based coating compositions often are more susceptible to the solvating properties of water.
In addition, water-based coating compositions do not completely overcome the environmental and toxicological problems associated with organic solvents because water-based compositions typically contain two or more pounds of organic solvent per gallon of coating composition. The organic solvent is a necessary ingredient to dissolve and disperse composition ingredients, and to improve the flow and viscosity of the composition. Therefore, in order to entirely avoid the environmental and toxicological problems associated with organic solvents, investigators have sought solid coating compositions that can be applied to a metal substrate. In attempts to find a useful solid coating composition, investigators have tested powder coatings, laminated film coatings, radiation cure coatings, and extrusion coatings.
Solid powder coatings have been used to coat a metal substrate with a coating composition. Solid coating compositions have been extruded onto a metal substrate, for example, as disclosed in European Patent No. 0 067 060, PCT publication WO 94/01224, Smith et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,702, and Jones et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,086. The extrusion coating of a solid composition onto a metal substrate is complicated by the fact that the solid composition must be heated sufficiently to melt the composition for flow through the extrusion apparatus. The heating step either can alter the chemical make-up of the coating composition or can cause a premature cure of the coating composition, especially a thermoset composition, which changes the properties of the coating on the metal substrate or makes extrusion onto the metal substrate difficult due to crosslinking in the extruder.
In order to overcome the problem of premature curing, investigators have attempted to extrude thermoplastic coating compositions onto a metal substrate. These investigators also encountered serious problems, such as composition components having either too high of a molecular weight for easy, economical extrusion, or too low of a molecular weight thereby providing an extruded film that is too soft for many practical applications, such as on the interior or exterior of a food or beverage container.
Investigators, therefore, have sought a solid coating composition for use on the exterior and interior of food and beverage containers that exhibits the advantageous properties of adhesion, flexibility, chemical resistance, and corrosion inhibition, and that is economical and does not adversely affect the taste or other esthetic properties of sensitive foods and beverages packaged in the container. Investigators especially have sought useful powder coating compositions in order to reduce the environmental and toxicological concerns associated with organic solvents. In particular, investigators have sought a solid, powder coating composition for food and beverage containers (1) that meets increasingly strict environmental regulations, (2) has corrosion inhibition properties at least equal to existing organic solvent-based coating compositions, and (3) is easily applied onto a metal substrate, by powder coating techniques, as a thin, uniform film. Such a powder coating composition would satisfy a long-felt need in the art.
A present powder coating composition comprises: (a) a first polyester, (b) a second polyester, and optionally, (c) a modifying resin, wherein the Tg of the first polyester differs from the Tg of the second polyester by about 5xc2x0 C. to about 60xc2x0 C. A present powder coating composition is a thermoplastic composition and can be applied as a powder coating onto a metal substrate. A crosslinking step after application of the composition onto the metal substrate, or use of a crosslinking agent, is not required. A present powder coating composition is free of organic solvents, yet an applied film demonstrates excellent coating properties, such as adhesion, hardness, and flexibility.
A solid, powder coating composition of the present invention contains no organic solvents, and, therefore, overcomes the environmental and toxicological problems associated with liquid coating compositions. The present thermoplastic powder coating compositions also provide a sufficiently flexible coating such that the coated metal substrate can be deformed without destroying film continuity. In contrast, thermosetting compositions often provide a rigid cured film thereby making it difficult to impossible to coat the metal substrate prior to deforming, i.e., shaping, the metal substrate into a metal article, like a metal closure, can, or can end. Coating a metal substrate prior to shaping the metal substrate is the present standard industrial practice.
As an added advantage, it is envisioned that a present powder coating composition can be used on can ends, can bodies, and closures, thereby obviating the use of different coating compositions by container manufacturers. Furthermore, a present powder coating composition exhibits sufficient clarity, hardness, and mar resistance after application for use as a coating on the exterior of a metal container. Accordingly, a powder coating composition of the present invention has a more universal range of applications, such as for the interior coating of a metal container for food or beverage products, or for the exterior coating of a metal container or a material of construction, such as aluminum siding, and overcomes the environmental and toxicological concerns associated with a liquid coating composition.
The present invention is directed to powder coating compositions that, after application to a metal substrate, effectively inhibit corrosion of the metal substrate, do not adversely affect products packaged in a container having an interior surface coated with the composition, and exhibit excellent flexibility, barrier properties, weathering, chemical resistance, and adhesion. A powder coating composition of the present invention can be used on closures, can ends, and can and drum bodies, and on container interiors and exteriors, as well as materials of construction, like aluminum siding and gutters. A powder coating composition also can be used as a sideseam protection for three piece cans used in the food and aerosol industry. A present powder coating composition effectively inhibits corrosion of ferrous and nonferrous metal substrates when the composition is powder coated onto a surface of the metal substrate.
A present powder coating composition comprises: (a) a first thermoplastic polyester, having a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of about 10,000 to about 80,000 and a Tg of greater than 45xc2x0 C. to about 100xc2x0 C., (b) a second thermoplastic polyester having an Mw of about 10,000 to about 70,000 and a Tg of about xe2x88x9210xc2x0 C. to about 45xc2x0 C., and optionally, (c) a modifying resin, such as an epoxy or phenoxy resin having an epoxy equivalent weight (EEW) of about 500 to about 15,000 or an end-capped epoxy resin having an Mw of about 300 to about 10,000, wherein the Tg of the first and second polyesters differ by about 5xc2x0 C. to about 60xc2x0 C. The composition is free of organic solvents.
In particular, a present powder coating composition comprises: (a) about 10% to about 90%, by total weight of the composition, of a first polyester having an M, of about 10,000 to about 80,000, and preferably about 15,000 to about 60,000, (b) about 10% to about 90%, by total weight of the composition, of the second polyester having an Mw of about 10,000 to about 70,000, and preferably about 15,000 to about 50,000, and optionally, (c) 0% to about 25%, by total weight of the composition, of a modifying resin, for example, an epoxy or phenoxy resin having an EEW of about 500 to about 15,000, and preferably about 1000 to about 10,000, or an end-capped epoxy resin having an Mw of about 300 to about 10,000, or an acrylic resin having an Mw of about 15,000 to about 100,000, or a polyolefin having an Mw of about 15,000 to about 1,000,000, or a mixture thereof, wherein the Tg of the first polyester is about 5xc2x0 C. to about 60xc2x0 C., and preferably about 15xc2x0 C. to about 35xc2x0 C., greater than the Tg of the second polyester. To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, the first and second polyesters have a Tg that differ by about 20xc2x0 C. to about 30xc2x0 C. A present extrusion coating composition optionally can include: (d) 0% to about 50%, by total weight of the composition, of an inorganic filler, and (e) 0% to about 4%, by total weight of the composition, of a flow control agent.
The first and second polyesters included in a present powder coating composition are thermoplastic polyesters prepared from an acid, preferably terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, naphthalene dicarboxylic acid, or a mixture thereof, and an aliphatic diol. At least one polyester preferably is a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) or co-polyester containing terephthalic acid and isophthalic acid. Other preferred polyesters are poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT), poly(ethylene naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylate) (PEN), poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT), and poly(trimethylene naphthanate) (PTN).
The polyesters have an acid value of 0 to about 150 mg (milligram) KOH (potassium hydroxide)/g (grams), a hydroxyl value of 0 to about 150 mg KOH/g, and a softening point of about 120xc2x0 C. to about 200xc2x0 C. In addition, the polyesters have a melt viscosity of about 200 to about 3000 Pa.s (Pascal seconds), and a melt flow index (MFI) of about 800 g/10 min (minutes) at 200xc2x0 C. or about 5 g/10 min. at 280xc2x0 C. In accordance with an important feature of the present invention, the Tg of the first polyester is greater than the Tg of the second polyester by about 5xc2x0 C. to about 60xc2x0 C.
Components (a) and (b), and (c) and (d) and (e), if present, and other optional components are heated and intimately admixed to provide a homogenous powder coating composition. After cooling, the powder coating composition is comminuted into a powder having a particle size sufficient for powder coating.
As used here and hereafter, the term xe2x80x9cpowder coating compositionxe2x80x9d is defined as a solid coating composition including a first and second polyesters, an optional modifying resin, an optional filler, an optional flow control agent, and any other optional ingredients. The term xe2x80x9capplied coating compositionxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpowder coated compositionxe2x80x9d is defined as an adherent polymeric coating resulting from powder coating a powder coating composition onto a metal substrate.
Therefore, one important aspect of the present invention is to provide a powder coating composition that effectively inhibits the corrosion of ferrous and nonferrous metal substrates. A powder coating composition, after application onto a metal substrate, provides an adherent barrier layer of an applied coating composition that effectively inhibits corrosion, exhibits excellent flexibility and adhesion on the metal substrate, and does not adversely affect a product, such as a food or beverage, that contacts the applied coating composition.
Because of these advantageous properties, an applied coating composition can be used to coat the interior of food and beverage containers and overcome the disadvantages associated with conventional liquid compositions. An applied coating composition comprises the first and second polyesters, and, if present, the modifying resin, the filler, and the flow control agent, essentially in the amounts these ingredients are present in the powder coating composition.
In accordance with another important aspect of the present invention, an applied coating composition demonstrates excellent flexibility and adhesion to a metal substrate. The excellent adhesion of an applied coating composition to a metal substrate improves the barrier and corrosion-inhibiting properties of the coating composition. The excellent flexibility of an applied coating composition facilitates processing of the coated metal substrate into a coated metal article, like in molding or stamping process steps, such that the cured coating composition remains in continuous and intimate contact with the metal substrate. An applied coating composition exhibits excellent chemical resistance and does not adversely affect a food or beverage packaged in a container having an interior surface coated with the cured coating composition. An applied coating composition is sufficiently hard to resist scratching.
In accordance with another important aspect of the present invention, a powder coating composition of the present invention can be powder coated onto a metal substrate to provide a uniform film of a coating composition of about 1 to about 200 microns, and preferably about 10 to about 150 microns. In addition, a present powder coating composition can be used both on the interior and exterior of can bodies and can ends, thereby obviating the need for a container manufacturer to use multiple coating compositions.
These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.
A powder coating composition of the present invention, after application to a metal substrate, provides an applied coating composition that effectively inhibits the corrosion of metal substrates, such as, but not limited to, aluminum, iron, steel and copper. An applied coating composition also demonstrates excellent adhesion to the metal substrate, excellent chemical resistance and scratch resistance, and excellent flexibility. An applied coating composition does not impart a taste to foods or beverages that contact the applied coating composition.
In general, a present powder coating composition comprises: (a) a first polyester having an Mw of about 10,000 to about 80,000 and a Tg of greater than 45xc2x0 C. to about 100xc2x0 C., and (b) a second polyester having an Mw of about 10,000 to about 70,000 and a Tg of about xe2x88x925xc2x0 C. to about 45xc2x0 C. The first polyester has Tg that is about 5xc2x0 C. to about 60xc2x0 C. greater than the Tg of the second polyester. The powder-coating composition is a solid and is free of organic solvents.
A powder coating composition optionally can further include: (c) a modifying resin, such as an epoxy or phenoxy resin having an EEW of about 500 to about 15,000 and/or (d) a filler and/or (e) a flow control agent. In addition, a present powder coating composition can include optional ingredients that improve the esthetics of the composition, that facilitate manufacture and/or application of the composition, or that improve a functional property of the composition. The individual composition ingredients are described in more detail below.
(a) Polyesters
In accordance with an important feature of the present invention, a powder coating composition includes a first thermoplastic polyester and a second thermoplastic polyester in a total amount of about 50% to about 100%, by total weight of the composition. Preferably, a powder composition includes about 55% to about 90%, by total weight of the composition, of the first and second polyesters. To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, a powder coating composition includes about 60% to about 85% of the first and second polyesters, by total weight of the composition.
The first and second polyesters are present in the powder coating composition in a weight ratio of first polyester to second polyester of about 9 to 1 to about 1 to 9, preferably from about 6 to 1 and about 1 to 6. To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, the weight ratio of first polyester to second polyester is about 3 to 1 to about 1 to 3.
It should be understood that the first polyester can be a single polyester or a mixture of polyesters, as long as each polyester comprising the first polyester has a Tg of about 45xc2x0 C. to about 100xc2x0 C. Similarly, the second polyester can be a single polyester or a mixture of polyesters, as long as each polyester comprising the second polyester has a Tg of about xe2x88x9210xc2x0 C. to about 40xc2x0 C. Therefore, as used here and hereafter, the term xe2x80x9cfirst polyesterxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csecond polyesterxe2x80x9d refers to a single polyester or to a mixture of two or more polyesters.
Both the first and second polyesters are prepared from a dicarboxylic acid, preferably an aromatic dicarboxylic acid, and an aliphatic diol. These ingredients are interacted to provide a polyester having an MS of about 10,000 to about 80,000, preferably of about 15,000 to about 60,000, and to achieve the full advantage of the present invention, about 20,000 to about 50,000. Accordingly, the polyesters are considered high molecular weight polyesters. The polyesters have an acid number of about 0 to about 150 mg KOH/g, and preferably about 5 to about 100 mg KOH/g. The polyesters have a hydroxyl number of 0 to about 150 mg KOH/g, and preferably about 5 to about 100 mg KOH/g.
Useful polyesters also possess properties that allow the polyesters to be blended with the optional modifying resins and other composition components, to be powder coated onto a metal substrate, and to provide an applied coating composition having the necessary adhesion and flexibility to be applied to a metal substrate prior to shaping the metal substrate into a metal article. The polyesters also are sufficiently nonreactive such that, when the powder coating composition is melted or heated during preparation or application of the composition, the polyesters do not enter a crosslinking reaction with the optional modifying resin or other composition components.
A polyester used in a present powder coating composition provides an applied coating composition having good film tensile strength, good permeation resistance, retortability, and good barrier properties. The polyesters, and the powder coating composition, therefore, have a softening point of 140xc2x0 C. or greater, as measured using the procedure set forth in DIN 52011. Preferably, the polyesters and powder coating composition have a softening point of 120xc2x0 C. to about 200xc2x0 C. Within this temperature range the applied coating composition exhibited improved pasteurization/retortability resistance.
The first polyester has a Tg of greater than 45xc2x0 C. to about 100xc2x0 C., and preferably about 50xc2x0 C. to about 80xc2x0 C. To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, the first polyester has a Tg of about 55xc2x0 C. to about 75xc2x0 C.
The second polyester has a Tg of about xe2x88x9210xc2x0 C. to about 45xc2x0 C., preferably 0xc2x0 C. to about 35xc2x0 C. To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, the second polyester has a Tg of about 5xc2x0 C. to about 25xc2x0 C.
The first and second polyesters have Tg""s that differ by about 5xc2x0 C. to 60xc2x0 C., and preferably about 15xc2x0 C. to 35xc2x0 C. To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, the difference in Tg""s, or xcex94Tg, between the first and second polyesters is about 20xc2x0 C. to about 30xc2x0 C. In this xcex94Tg range, the blend of first and second polyesters is sufficiently flexible to permit deformation of an applied coating composition without forming cracks, and is sufficiently hard to exhibit excellent chemical and mar resistance. If the xcex94Tg of the first and second polyesters is less than about 5xc2x0 C., the advantages of a blend of polyesters is not fully realized.
The Tg of the first and second polyester is measured by the following procedure. The xcex94Tg is simply the difference between the Tg of the first polyester and the Tg of the second polyester.
The glass transition temperature (Tg) of a polymer is the temperature at which an amorphous material changes from a brittle vitreous state to a plastic state. The Tg of a polyester was determined using a Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) instrument in a standard mode. In particular, the method utilized a TA Instruments Model 2920 DSC instrument, with a helium flow gas of 35 cm3/minute. Data was collected on a TA Instruments 3100 Thermal Analyst Computer using an indium standard for temperature calibration.
An indium standard first was prepared in accordance with ISO9000 calibration documentation. A small piece of indium was cut from the stock standard, and placed into an aluminum DSC sample pan with cover, then crimped closed. The standard was heated from 100xc2x0 C. to 180xc2x0 C. at 20xc2x0 C. per minute. A helium gas purge at 35 cc per minute was used. The melting point and heat of melt calculations were made of the indium standard, and the results were entered into the calibration file stored in the Thermal Analyst program on the TA 3100 computer.
A sealed DSC pan containing a polyester sample was placed into the DSC instrument at room temperature. The DSC heating chamber cover was closed. The sample was cooled to xe2x88x9240xc2x0 C. using either liquid nitrogen in the cooling can or the RSC cooling system. After equilibration of the DSC was reached, the sample was heated at 20xc2x0 C. per minute through the Tg of the sample by about 10xc2x0 C. and then cooled to xe2x88x9240xc2x0 C. again. The sample was reheated at 20xc2x0 C. per minute through the glass transition temperature and the Tg was determined. The glass transition temperature was calculated at the temperature at the mid-point in the change in heat capacity.
Useful first and second polyesters also exhibit a melt viscosity of about 200 to about 3000 Pa.s (Pascal seconds), and preferably about 20 to about 1000 Pa.s, at 280xc2x0 C. The melt viscosity is measured using a cone/plate viscometer by the standard PIN ISO 1133 procedure. The melt flow index (MFI), as measured using DIN 53735, of a useful polyester is about 800 g/10 min. at 200xc2x0 C. or 5 g/10 min. at 280xc2x0 C.
The first and second polyesters typically are prepared by condensing a dicarboxylic acid with an aliphatic diol. To provide polyesters having optimum properties for an extrusion coating composition for a food or beverage container, the dicarboxylic acid preferably is an aromatic dicarboxylic acid. To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, the dicarboxylic acid comprises terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, a naphthalene dicarboxylic acid, and mixtures thereof. It is also understood that an esterifiable derivative of a dicarboxylic acid, such as a dimethyl ester or anhydride of a dicarboxylic acid, can be used to prepare the polyester.
In particular, exemplary dicarboxylic acids used to prepare the first and second polyesters include aliphatic and aromatic dicarboxylic acids, such as, but not limited to, phthalic acid, isophthalic acid, terephthalic acid, 5-tert-butyl isophthalic acid, adipic acid, malonic acid, 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, 1,5-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, hexahydroterephthalic acid, 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, sebacic acid, azeleic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, fumaric acid, and mixtures and esterifiable derivatives thereof. Substituted aliphatic and aromatic dicarboxylic acids, such as halogen or alkyl-substituted dicarboxylic acids, also are useful. Preferably, at least 60 mol % aromatic dicarboxylic acids are used to prepare the polyester.
Nonlimiting examples of diols used to prepare the first and second polyesters include ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, propylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, hexylene glycol, butylene glycol, pentylene glycol, neopentyl glycol, trimethylpropane diol, 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol, 1,10-decanediol, 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediol, 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutandiol, a polyethylene or polypropylene glycol having a molecular weight of about 500 or less, and mixtures thereof. A small amount of a triol or polyol, i.e., 0 to 3 mole % of diol, can be used to provide a partially branched, as opposed to linear, polyester.
The diol and the dicarboxylic acid, in correct proportions, are interacted under standard esterification procedures to provide a first and second polyester having the necessary Mw, Tg, molecular weight distribution, branching, crystallinity, and functionality for use in a present powder coating composition. Examples of useful polyesters can be prepared as set forth in Brunig et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,363, incorporated here by reference, and in Canadian Patent No. 2,091,875.
In addition, useful polyesters are commercially available under the tradename DYNAPOL, from Hxc3xcls AG, Berlin, Germany. Examples of specific polyesters are DYNAPOL P1500, DYNAPOL P1510, and DYNAPOL P1550, each available from Huls AG and based on terephthalic acid and/or isophthalic acid. Another useful class of polyesters is the GRILESTA polyesters, like GRILESTA V 79/20, available from EMS. Other useful commercial polyesters include, but are not limited to, SHELL CARIPAK P76, available from Shell Chemicals (Europe), Switzerland; SELAR polyesters, like SELAR PT 6129 and SELAR PT 8307, both available from DuPont Packaging and Industrial Polymers, Wilmington, Del. The CRASTIN polyesters, like CRASTIN 6129, available from DuPont also can be used. CELANEX 3100 and HOECHST 1700A also are useful polyesters.
A polyester also can be prepared by condensing a dicarboxylic acid or derivative of a dicarboxylic acid described above with a low molecular weight epoxy compound. The low molecular weight epoxy compound contains an average of abut 1.5 to about 2.5 epoxy groups per molecule and has an EEW of abut 150 to about 500. An exemplary low molecular weight epoxy compound is EPON 828, available from Shell Chemical Co., Houston, Tex.
Especially useful polyesters include polyethylene terephthalates (PET), polybutylene terephthalates (PET), polyethylene naphthalates (PEN), and polybutylene naphthalates (PBN), polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), polytrimethylene naphthanate (PTN), and mixtures thereof.
(b) Optional Modifying Resin
The powder coating composition also includes 0% to about 25%, by total weight of the composition, of an optional modifying resin. Preferably, a powder coating composition contains about 2% to about 20% of an optional modifying resin, by total weight of the composition. To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, the powder coating composition contains about 8% to about 15% of an optional modifying resin, by total weight of the composition.
The optional modifying resin does not substantially react with the polyesters during manufacture of the powder coating composition or during the powder coating process. Accordingly, after application to a metal substrate, the powder coating composition is not subjected a curing step. The modifying resin, however, improves the barrier properties of the applied coating and the adhesion of the powder coating composition to the metal substrate.
One useful modifying resin is an epoxy or phenoxy resin having an EEW of about 500 to about 15,000, and preferably about 1000 to about 10,000. To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, the epoxy or phenoxy resin has an EEW of about 2000 to about 8000. Within the above EEW range for the epoxy or phenoxy resin, the extruded coating composition is sufficiently flexible to permit deformation of an extruded coating composition without forming cracks, and is sufficiently hard to exhibit excellent chemical and mar resistance.
Preferably, the epoxy or phenoxy resin is a solid material that can be melted and admixed with a molten polyester to provide a powder coating composition of the present invention. Preferred epoxy and phenoxy resins contain an average of about 1.5 to about 2.5 epoxy groups per molecule of epoxy resin, but epoxy novolac resins containing greater than about 2.5 epoxy groups per molecule also can be used, i.e., containing about 2.5 epoxy groups to about 6 epoxy groups.
The epoxy or phenoxy resin can be an aliphatic resin or an aromatic resin. The preferred epoxy and phenoxy resins are aromatic, like epoxy and phenoxy resins based on the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A or bisphenol F. An epoxy resin can be used in its commercially available form, or can be prepared by advancing a low molecular weight epoxy compound by standard methods well known to those skilled in the art.
Exemplary epoxy resins include, but are not limited to, EPON 1004, EPON 1007, and EPON 1009, all available from Shell Chemical Co., Houston, Tex., or ARALDITE(copyright) 6099, available from CIBA-GEIGY Corp., Ardsley, N.Y.
In general, suitable epoxy and phenoxy resins are aliphatic-, cycoaliphatic-, or aromatic-based epoxy resins, such as, for example, epoxy resins represented by structural formulae I and II:
wherein each A is, independently, a divalent hydrocarbyl group having 1 to about 12, preferably 1 to about 6, and most preferably 1 to about 4, carbon atoms; each R is, independently, hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to about 3 carbon atoms; each X is, independently, hydrogen, a hydrocarbyl or hydrocarbyloxy group having 1 to about 12, preferably 1 to about 6, and most preferably 1 to about 4, carbon atoms, or a halogen atom, preferably chlorine or bromine; n is 0 or 1, and nxe2x80x2 has an average value of about 2 to about 30, and preferably 10 to about 30.
In particular, the preferred epoxy and phenoxy resins are the (diglycidyl ether/bisphenol-A) resins, i.e., polyether diepoxides prepared by the polymeric adduction of bisphenol-A (III)
and the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (IV).
In this case, the epoxy resin is a mixture including polymeric species corresponding to different values of nxe2x80x2 in the following idealized formula V:
wherein nxe2x80x2 is a number from about 2 to about 30.
In addition to bisphenol-A, useful epoxy and phenoxy resins can be prepared by advancing a diglycidyl ether of a bisphenol listed below with an exemplary, but nonlimiting, bisphenol listed below:
Presently, governmental agencies are issuing regulations directed to the amount of free epoxy groups in coatings present on food and beverage containers and closures. Therefore, for some applications, an epoxy resin is not a suitable modifying resin. In these applications, an end-capped epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, or a polyolefin resin can be used as the optional modifying resin. A mixture of an epoxy resin, an end-capped epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, and a polyolefin resin also can be used.
The end-capped epoxy resins are low-to-medium molecular resins that are based on the above-described epoxy resins and have an Mw of about 300 to about 10,000, and preferably about 600 to about 8,000. To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, the end-capped epoxy resin has an Mw of about 1,000 to about 8,000.
The end-capped epoxy resin is a reaction product between an above-described epoxy resin and a compound having an active hydrogen atom and that is capable of opening an epoxy ring. Classes of such compounds having an active hydrogen atom include alcohols, phenols, carboxylic acids, secondary amines, mercaptans, and oxo-acids of phosphorus, like phosphoric acid, phosphorous acid, and phosphonic acid.
Suitable alcohols and mercaptans include monoprotic C1-C8 alcohols and mercaptans, especially C2-C6 alcohols and mercaptans, either straight-chained or branched. Suitable phenols, and thiophenols, include all phenols having one active hydrogen. The alcohols and phenols can be substituted with various substituents, like alkyl groups and halogens, that do not react with an epoxy ring in a ring opening reaction. Compounds having more than one active hydrogen atom are avoided because such compounds can enter into crosslinking reactions.
The carboxylic acid can be an aliphatic or an aromatic carboxylic acid. The aliphatic carboxylic acids contain 1 to about 10 carbon atoms, and preferably 2 to about 8 carbon atoms. The aromatic carboxylic acids include benzoic acid and similar aromatic monocarboxylic acids. The carboxylic acids can be substituted with substituents that do not react with an epoxy ring in a ring opening reaction. The acids and substituents therein can be straight-chained or branched. Carboxylic acids like phenylacetic acid and substituted phenylacetic acid also are useful in the present invention.
Secondary amines having the formula R1R2NH also can be used to end-cap the epoxy resin. The R1 and R2 groups, independently, are an alkyl or hydroxyalkyl group containing 1 to 6 carbon atoms, or are aryl groups, like phenyl. The alkyl, hydroxyalkyl, and aryl groups can be substituted with substituents that do not react with an epoxy ring in a ring opening reaction.
Phosphorus oxo-acids, like phosphoric acid, phosphorous acid, and phosphonic acid, also can be used to end-cap the epoxy resin. Esters of phosphorus oxo-acids similarly can be used to end-cap the epoxy resin, provided the ester has at least one active hydrogen atom.
An epoxy resin is reacted with a sufficient amount of a compound having an active hydrogen atom to end-cap all the epoxy groups of the resin. Accordingly, a slight excess, in equivalents, of the compound having an active hydrogen atom preferably is used in the reaction.
The acrylic resin has an Mw of about 15,000 to about 100,000, and preferably about 20,000 to about 80,000. Acrylic resins include, but are not limited to, homopolymer and copolymers of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, esters of acrylic acid, esters of methacrylic acid, acrylamides, and methacrylamides.
The polyolefin resin has an Mw of about 15,000 to about 1,000,000, and preferably about 25,000 to about 750,000. Polyolefin resins include, but are not limited to, homopolymers and copolymers of ethylene, propylene, ethylene-propylene blends, 1-butene, and 1-pentene. The polyolefin also can contain functionalized olefins, such as an olefin functionalized with hydroxy or carboxy groups.
(c) Optional Inorganic Filler
To achieve the full advantage of the present invention, a powder coating composition includes 0% to about 50%, preferably 0% to about 30%, and most preferably 0% to about 25% by total weight of the composition, of an inorganic filler. An inorganic filler is included to improve the physical properties of an applied coating composition.
Exemplary inorganic fillers used in the powder coating composition of the present invention include, but are not limited to, clay, mica, aluminum silicate, fumed silica, magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, barium oxide, calcium sulfate, calcium oxide, aluminum oxide, magnesium aluminum oxide, zinc aluminum oxide, magnesium titanium oxide, iron titanium oxide, calcium titanium oxide, and mixtures thereof. The inorganic filler is essentially nonreactive and is incorporated into the powder coating composition in the form of a powder, generally about 10 to 200 microns in diameter, and in particular, about 50 microns to about 125 microns in diameter.
(d) Optional Flow Control Agent
A powder coating composition of the present invention also can contain a flow control agent to assist in achieving a uniform film of applied-coating composition on the metal substrate. The flow control agent is present in an amount of 0% to about 6%, and preferably 0% to about 5%, by total weight of the composition.
An exemplary, but nonlimiting, flow control agent is a polyacrylate available from Henkel Corporation, as PERENOL F 30 P. Another useful polyacrylate flow control agent is ACRYLON MFP. Numerous other compounds and other acrylic resins known to persons skilled in the art also can be used as a flow control agent.
(e) Other Optional Ingredients
A powder coating composition of the present invention also can include other optional ingredients that do not adversely affect the powder coating composition or an applied coating composition resulting therefrom. Such optional ingredients are known in the art, and are included in a powder coating composition to enhance composition esthetics, to facilitate manufacturing and application of the powder coating composition, and to further improve a particular functional property of a powder coating composition or an applied coating composition resulting therefrom.
Such optional ingredients include, for example, dyes, pigments, anticorrosion agents, antioxidants, adhesion promoters, light stabilizers, and mixtures thereof. Each optional ingredient is included in a sufficient amount to serve its intended purpose, but not in such an amount to adversely affect a powder coating composition or an extruded coating composition resulting therefrom.
For example, a pigment, in an amount of 0% to about 50% by weight of the composition, is a common optional ingredient. A typical pigment is titanium dioxide, barium sulfate, carbon black, or an iron oxide. In addition, an organic dye or pigment can be incorporated in the powder coating composition.
In addition, an additional polymer, i.e., a second modifying polymer, can be added to the powder coating composition to improve the properties of the applied coating composition. The second modifying polymer preferably is compatible with the other composition components and does not adversely affect the applied coating composition. To achieve a coated metal substrate having a nongloss finish, the second modifying polymer can be substantially incompatible with the polyesters and optional modifying polymer. The second modifying polymer can be a thermoplastic or a thermoset polymer, and is present in the powder coating composition in an amount of 0% to about 50%, and preferably 0% to about 20%, by total weight of the composition.
Nonlimiting examples of optional second modifying polymers that can be incorporated into the powder coating composition are a carboxylated polyester, a carboxylated polyolefin, a polyamide, a fluorocarbon resin, a polycarbonate, a styrene resin, an ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) resin, a chlorinated polyether, a urethane resin, and similar resins. Polyamide resins include nylon 66, nylon 6, nylon 610, and nylon 11, for example. A useful polyolefin is polyethylene or polypropylene, including homopolymers and copolymers, for example. Fluorocarbon resins include tetrafluorinated polyethylene, trifluorinated monochorinated polyethylene, hexafluorinated ethylene-propylene resin, polyvinyl fluoride, and polyvinylidene fluoride, for example. However, even if an optional second modifying polymer is added to the powder coating composition, the powder coating composition is free of a crosslinking agent and is not subjected to a curing step after extrusion onto a metal substrate.
A powder coating composition of the present invention can be prepared by methods well known in the art, such as by individually heating the first polyester, the second polyester, and the optional modifying resin to a sufficient temperature to melt each ingredient, then admixing the molten polyesters and optional modifying resin, such as in a single screw or double screw extruder, to provide a uniform powder coating composition. Optional ingredients can be added to the powder coating composition either by incorporation into one of the molten ingredients prior to admixture of the molten ingredients, or can be added to the molten powder coating composition after ingredients have been admixed. If an optional second modifying polymer is present in the composition, the second modifying polymer is melted and added to the molten powder coating composition at any convenient step of the manufacturing process. Alternatively, all composition ingredients can be admixed in the solid state, followed by melting the resulting admixture and extrusion, to provide a uniform molten composition.
After a uniform molten composition is prepared, the powder coating composition is allowed to cool and solidify. The resulting powder coating composition then is formed into a powder having a particle size diameter of about 70 to about 100 microns for use in powder coating applications. The powder is stored and kept dry until use in an extrusion process. Preferably, the powder is subjected to a heating step prior to powder coating in order to expel any water absorbed by the powder coating composition during storage.
To demonstrate the usefulness of a powder coating composition of the present invention, the following examples were prepared, then powder coated onto a metal substrate to provide a coated metal substrate. The coated metal substrates then were tested for use as a food or beverage container. The applied coatings were tested for an ability to inhibit corrosion of a metal substrate, for adhesion to the metal substrate, for chemical resistance, for flexibility, and for scratch and mar resistance. Examples 1 through 14 illustrate some important features and embodiments of a powder coating composition of the present invention, and illustrate methods of applying a powder coating composition of the present invention. | {
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Ebonite is the product of the vulcanization reaction of synthetic or natural rubber (high molecular weight cis-1,4-polyisoprene) with an excess of sulfur. Typically, the rubber vulcanization process takes place when 0.5-5 parts (by weight) of sulfur is combined under reactive conditions with 100 parts of rubber. A cross-linked network polymer structure results in which sulfur bridges link the polymeric natural rubber chains.
If vulcanization is allowed to continue until considerably more sulfur has combined with the natural rubber, a rigid, nonelastomeric plastic known as hard rubber or ebonite is formed. Ebonite is a hard, inextensible solid containing about 30-50% combined sulfur. Ebonite is long-known to the art, having been first made in the 1840s and produced on a commercial scale since about 1860, e.g., see U.S. Pat. Nos. 22,218, 46,609, 48,992, 48,993, 53,643 and 76,293.
Ebonite can be readily machined and is often produced in bar, tube or sheet stock for this purpose. Its main uses exploit its chemical inertness and corrosion resistance and its electrical and thermal insulating properties. However, the material softens at about 50.degree. C., therefore, it is not suitable for high-temperature applications. Moreover, it is difficult, if not impossible, to apply sections of bar, tube or sheet ebonite stock to small parts or to parts with complicated shapes or profiles, for example, by gluing. Furthermore, it is difficult to form thin coatings from ebonite. Therefore, a rubber product with good chemical inertness and corrosion resistance and that is easily applied, e.g., by coating, onto such small and/or intricately shaped parts is highly desirable.
The present invention, a liquid ebonite mixture or LEM, satisfies these requirements. For the main rubber component, LEM comprises not a conventional solid rubber but a liquid rubber, which will be described in greater detail below. Liquid ebonite mixture, having excellent abrasion resistance and chemical resistance, is ideally suited for coatings, such as monolithic thick-layer coatings. LEM may be used to coat such small and/or intricately-shaped articles as (1) rotors of centrifuges for filtration processes and the working wheels of pumps and fans, (2) the inside surfaces of pipelines, fittings, etc. of small diameter, i.e., less than about 32 mm inner diameter, (3) perforated elements such as screens and mesh, (4) very intricate surface parts, e.g. membrane equipment and membrane hydrolysis apparatus, (5) chemical apparatus, reactor vessels and complex air ducts up to 500 mm in diameter, such as those with joining lips, and (6) galvanic or electrolysis baths and their components. Coating with LEM eliminates the need for an additional glue layer and provides adhesion strength to steel up to 11 MPa in tear-apart tests.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,009 discloses coating systems comprising liquid rubber. However, the liquid rubber must be present in the form of hydroxy-terminated rubber, e.g., hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene, which is then reacted with a polyether triol and an isocyanate component in the presence of a mercury catalyst, carbon black, a low oil absorbency silica and a suspending agent therefore, lecithin, and a molecular sieve desiccant. U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,469 discloses a UV-curable surface protective coating comprising a liquid diene rubber of molecular weight from 1,000 to 10,000 and having one or more hydroxyl groups. Additionally, a diisocyanate component, a diol, and an ethylenically unsaturated monomer having at least one hydroxy group must be present and the composition is then screen printed and cured by UV radiation to form a coating which is easily peeled off of a printed circuit board after plating and soldering. Therefore, the coating systems disclosed in these references are based on polyurethane chemistry and not rubber vulcanization.
The highly chemically resistant rubber covering disclosed herein is provided by adding at least one powdered substance, sometimes known as an active filler, to the liquid rubber thereby creating a two phase structure or a composite. The phase comprising the filler is believed to be transformed into a new phase as a result of the interaction of the filler with an aggressive medium, such as water, aqueous acid or aqueous alkali, which penetrates the LEM rubber comprising the filler. This new filler phase is believed to comprise a high strength hydrate complex, as will be discussed in detail below. As aggressive medium penetration causes, e.g., hydrate complex formation, the volume of the filler becomes greater than the volume of the initial filler. As a result of filler particle volume growth, the free volume of the composite decreases.
Moreover, in order to further improve the properties and decrease cost, thereby expanding the range of use of these composites, organic and inorganic fillers and aggregates may also be incorporated into the LEM compositions of the invention.
Furthermore, the LEM compositions of the present invention are ideally suited for use as binders, such as are employed in pharmaceutical formulations and in rubber concrete. The conventional binders used in polymer concrete are unsaturated polyesters, epoxy resins and, to some extent, furan and acrylic resins. However, the future use of unsaturated polyesters, which comprise volatile styrene monomer, is likely to be strongly restricted by laws limiting styrene emissions. Furthermore, high strength epoxy resin-based polymer concretes are very costly, therefore, their use is limited to relatively cost-insensitive applications such as cavitation resistant materials for offshore structures, monolithic flooring and to applications in the machine-tool making industry.
Therefore, advanced rubber concretes comprising the liquid ebonite mixtures of the present invention as binders are very useful because they avoid these disadvantages of the polymers conventionally used in concrete formulations. Moreover, hydrolysis resistant LEM binders make possible the preparation of rubber concretes with high acid and alkali resistance, good toughness and excellent adhesion to the steel reinforcement typically found in reinforced structural concrete. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The literature is replete with examples of the delayed or pulsed release of active agents using polymeric materials. However, it is possible to divide these systems into two basic categories; those that depend on an environmental stimulus to induce release of the active agent from the polymeric matrix and those that are designed to release the drug after particular intervals of time have elapsed. Examples of environmental stimuli that have been used are electrical impulses, pH or temperature changes, application of magnetic fields, or ultrasound.
Those systems that are time-controlled can further be divided into those that use a barrier technology that is placed around the active agent that is designed to degrade or dissolve after a certain time interval, and those that use the degradation of the polymer itself to induce the release of the active agent.
One approach has been to prepare a polymeric hydrogel composed of derivitized dextran and to incorporate into the hydrogel, a model protein, IgG, with an enzyme, endo-dextranase that degrades the hydrogel. It was observed that without the enzyme the release of the protein was very slow. However, when the enzyme was included in the formulation, the release rate was dependent on the concentration of the enzyme. At high concentrations, the release was fast and complete. At low concentrations, the release was delayed.
Delayed release in association with hydrolytic degradation of the polymer has also been investigated. Heller's so-called “3rd generation” poly(ortho esters) are viscous ointments at room temperature and when mixed with a model protein, lysozyme, demonstrated a delayed release profile. The length of the delay time was found to correlate with polymer molecular weight and alkyl substituent of the polymer.
Ivermectin, a water insoluble antiparasitic agent for veterinary applications, was encapsulated in PLGA (50:50) microspheres and the subsequent pulsed release of this agent, in vivo, was shown to be dependant on the degradation rate of the polymer matrix. Pulsed and delayed release of active agents from PLGA microspheres was most intensely studied by Cleland et al. The PLA or PLGA microspheres were processed using a high kinematic viscosity of polymer solution and a high ratio of polymer to aqueous solution. This produced dense microspheres, which required severe bulk erosion of the polymer to release the drug. These conditions yield microspheres that have low loading (generally 1% w/w), moderate bursts, and lag times during which significant leaching of drug occurs. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Erasure channel is an important channel model. For example, when files are transmitted on the Internet, communications are based on data packets, and usually, each data packet is either received by a receiver without any mistake, or not received by the receiver at all. In the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP for short), an error-check and retransmission mechanism is used against network packet loss, i.e., a feedback channel from an input end to an output end is used to control data packets which need to be retransmitted. The receiver generates a retransmission control signal upon detecting a packet loss, until the complete data packet is received correctly; and the receiver also generates a receiving Acknowledgement (ACK) signal upon receiving a data packet. A sender also traces each data packet until it receives a feedback informing signal, otherwise, the sender starts a retransmission.
The data broadcasting service based on streaming mode and file downloading mode is a point-to-multipoint service, in which no feedback is allowed and the conventional error-check and retransmission mechanism cannot be used, and thus Forward Error Correction (FEC for short) needs to be used to ensure reliable transmission. Typical FECs in the application layer comprises RS codes (Reed-Solomon codes), Fountain codes etc. The RS codes are of high complexity in encoding and decoding, and usually are applicable only in the cases where the code length is small LT codes (Luby Transform codes) and Raptor codes are two kinds of Fountain codes applicable in practice. The LT codes have linear encoding and decoding time, and thus have substantial improvement compared to the RS codes. The Raptor codes have higher decoding efficiency because of the use of pre-coding technique. The Raptor codes are used as the FEC encoding scheme in Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS for short) and Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB for short) of 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project).
Low Density Generator matrix Codes (LDGC for short) are linear block codes, and the nonzero elements in the generator matrix thereof are usually sparse. Meanwhile, the LDGC are also systematic codes, and the square matrix composed of the front k columns of the generator matrix thereof is generally an upper triangular or lower triangular matrix, the inversion of which can be computed by iteration method. The encoding of the LDGC is to compute an intermediate variant using the corresponding relation between the information bits and the intermediate variant in the systematic codes, and then, to obtain encoded codewords by multiplying the generator matrix by the intermediate variant. The decoding process of the LDGC is to first compute an intermediate variant using the generator matrix, and then, to compute the information bits using the conversion relation between the information bits and the intermediate variant. The LDGC are much lower than the Raptor codes in encoding complexity, can support the encoding of any information block length and any code rate, and are similar to the Raptor codes in performance which can be close to the theoretical optimal performance.
Compared to the structured Low Density Generator Matrix Codes (LDGC), the LT codes do not support the encoding mode of the systematic codes. Thus, the LT codes can not satisfy some practical FEC encoding requirements. The Raptor codes support the systematic codes, however, the Raptor codes need a separate pre-coding process, i.e., a pre-coding matrix is needed, thus, the encoding complexity is high. The LDGC directly use a generator matrix for encoding, without any additional pre-coding matrix. Moreover, since the backward substitution method is used in the encoding of the LDGC to solve the upper triangular (or lower triangular) formulae, the LDGC are much lower than the Raptor codes in encoding complexity. In a word, compared to the LT codes, the advantage of the LDGC lies in that it supports the systematic codes; and compared to the Raptor codes, the advantage of the LDGC lies in that it has a lower encoding complexity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to robotics. In particular, the invention relates to a hardware abstraction layer that enhances portability of control or behavior software.
2. Description of the Related Art
Robots can be used for many purposes. For example, robots can be used in industrial applications for repetitive tasks or in hazardous environments, can be configured as toys to entertain, and the like. The hardware for robots and the control software for robots are ever increasing in sophistication. A robot can include a variety of sensors and actuators that are attached to a structure.
One drawback to existing robots and robot software is a lack of transparency for the control software. In existing robots, software is painstakingly adapted to each new robot configuration. For example, in a typical robotic software architecture, the robotic software interacts with the robotic hardware through low-level device drivers. These low-level device drivers are specific to their corresponding hardware devices, and the low-level device drivers support commands and feedback information that are typically sent and received in terms of the hardware device's physical characteristics. For example, a low-level device driver for a drive system motor can receive commands from the robotic software to spin the motor at a specified speed, such as a specified number of revolutions per minute. However, the drive system as a whole can include not only the motor, but gears and wheels as well. Thus, if a change is made to a gear ratio and/or wheel diameter, the software developer may have to revise the robotic software to change the specified number of revolutions per minute such that the robot behaves as desired.
These menial programming changes are time consuming and are inefficient to both software and hardware development of robots. Embodiments of the invention advantageously isolate the robotic software from the robotic hardware and overcome the disadvantages of the prior art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Microorganisms capable of synthesizing an aldehyde, an alcohol, or a hydrocarbon such as alkane, alkene, or alkyne, have been known. JP 2011-520455 A discloses an alkane synthase gene and an aldehyde synthase gene derived from Synechococcus elongatus, and it also discloses a method for producing an alkane or an aldehyde using such genes.
JP 2002-223788 A discloses the production of an alcohol using a transformed plant into which the acyl reductase gene has been introduced and, as a substrate, an aliphatic-acyl group bound to CoA and/or ACP. While JP 2002-223788 A describes that the acyl reductase gene is isolated from green algae, it does not disclose that a transformed plant is actually produced.
Further, JP 2013-528057 A discloses that aliphatic acyl-CoA reductase derived from Clostridium kluyveri is prepared and transformed into an E. coli strain together with another lipid synthesis-associated gene.
Furthermore, JP 2012-506715 A discloses a method for producing an aliphatic alcohol comprising expressing a gene encoding an aliphatic aldehyde biosynthetic polypeptide that reduces carboxylic acid into an aldehyde or a variant thereof in a host, so as to synthesize an aliphatic aldehyde, and producing an alcohol from an aliphatic aldehyde.
In addition, JP 2011-512848 A discloses a method for genetically engineering microorganisms capable of producing a primary alcohol using a malonyl-CoA-independent FAS metabolic pathway and an acyl reduction metabolic pathway.
Further, JP 2010-528627 A discloses a method for producing an oil component by introducing genes associated with oil and fat production into microalgae of Chlorella.
JP 2012-511928 A discloses microorganisms into which nucleic acids encoding isopropanol pathway enzymes such as succinyl-CoA:3-ketoacid-CoA transferase have been introduced and a method for producing isopropanol using such microorganisms. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to bed apparatus, and more particularly to an adjustable bed system for use in transportation equipment, such as truck-trailer arrangements. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Most computer systems include one or more associated disk drives, which may be built into or external to the computer system. Typically, disk drives have at least one rotating magnetic medium and associated head mechanisms that are carried adjacent the magnetic material. The heads are radially positionable to selectively write information to, or read information from, precise positions on the disk medium. Such disk drives may be, for example, hard disk drives, floppy drives, or the like.
Data is written to the associated data disk by applying a series of signals to a write head according to the digital information to be stored on the magnetic disk media. The write head has a coil and one or more associated pole pieces that are located in close proximity to the disk media. As signals cause the magnetic flux to change in the head, the magnetic domains of the magnetic media of the disk are aligned in predetermined directions for subsequent read operations. Typically, a small space of unaligned magnetic media separates each magnetic domain transition to enable successive transitions on the magnetic media to be distinguished from each other.
Since the disk is moving relative to the head, it can be seen that if the small space separating the magnetic domain transitions is not sufficiently wide, difficulty may be encountered in distinguishing successive magnetic transitions. This may result in errors in reading the data contained on the disk, which is, of course, undesirable.
Meanwhile, as computers are becoming faster, it is becoming increasingly important to increase the speed at which data can be written to and read from the disk media. However, since the data signals are in the form of square wave transitions, if the rise time of the leading edges of the square waves is large, the small space between magnetic media transitions also becomes large, which reduces the effective rate at which data can be accurately written and read. Since the write head assembly includes at least one coil, forcing the current to rise rapidly, or to reverse flux directions within the write head is difficult.
In the past, data writing circuits used to supply such write signals to the heads included preamplifier circuits to drive the current through selected legs of an "H-bridge" circuit, which is capable of allowing relatively fast current reversals for accurate data reproduction.
As mentioned above, as data rates increase, the rates at which the heads can accurately write the data to the magnetic media is limited by the speed at which the flux in the inductive coil of a write head (and its associated components) can be reversed. The maximum data rate is thus limited to the maximum physical flux reversal rate of the driver circuitry.
What is needed, therefore, is a method and circuit for driving an inductive load of the type used in conjunction with a write head of a disk drive with a signal that enables a maximum flux reversal rate in the driver coil. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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There has recently been a demand in medical treatment sites for trace components contained in blood, biological tissue, etc., to be analyzed quickly and accurately in small sample quantities.
Proteins, nucleic acids, polysaccharides, etc., are known as biological components contained in blood, biological tissue, etc. These components are analyzed by various methods in accordance with the purpose of medical treatment. For example, peptide hormones in blood are known to participate in various diseases, and by analyzing trace amounts of peptide hormones in blood it is possible to diagnose whether a disease is present.
A common method of analysis of peptide hormones contained in blood involves using antibodies that react specifically with peptide hormones as markers. An example of a known method by which amyloid beta proteins (referred to below as “Aβ”), which are thought to be a cause of Alzheimer's disease, are analyzed from blood is a method involving detection by ELISA using antibodies that specifically recognize Aβ (see, in particular, patent documents 1 and 2).
Methods in which Aβ is analyzed using a mass spectrometer are also known (see, in particular, patent documents 1 and 2). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Recently, public attention to the area of personal hygiene has increased for a variety of reasons. One reason is the growing awareness that a majority of microbial pathogens (bacteria, fungi, yeast, molds and viruses) that cause disease in the human body gain access through various portals of entry (e.g., eyes, ears, nose, mouth), and that these microorganisms are generally introduced into these portals by the hands. In addition to this, various types of microorganisms that cause infections of the nail and skin are also acquired by direct contact with contaminated surfaces, both organic and inorganic, in the environment. It is therefore logical to conclude that a large number of illnesses may be prevented by the decontamination of the skin and hands, and of the major portal of entry into the body--the mouth.
It has been shown that at least 18% of the world population is afflicted with a microbial infection of the nail plate. Although such infections are more prevalent in third-world countries, there is also a substantial incidence of the infections in developed countries where personal hygiene standards are already high. Research has determined that the factors that constitute a predisposition to contracting such infections include a longer lifespan, increased therapies with antineoplastic agents, and a continually growing population of immunocompromised individuals. Historic treatment of these infections has had limited success; furthermore, physicians are reluctant to treat what has been generally perceived as merely a cosmetic disfiguration with a systemic medication.
Several studies have shown that infections of the nail cause a serious emotional and psychological impact on the affected individual. Patients with onychomycosis have lower ratings for mental and physical health, self esteem, social functioning, and for work-related activities than do their healthy, unafflicted counterparts. The economic impact of nail infections is great: in the 1989 fiscal year, Medicare claims alone totaled greater than 43 million dollars. Lubeck, D. P. Patrick, D. L. McNulty, P, Fifer, S. K., and Birnbaum, J. 1993. "Quality of life of persons with onychomycosis", Quality of Life Research. 2: 341-348.
Microbial infections of the nail are caused by many types of microorganisms. Importantly, nail infections often are the result of a microbial infection of the skin of the hand or foot. Dermal infections, such as body tineas, can spread to cause the much more pernicious conditions of onychia, paronychia, and onychomycosis (nail fungus). Therefore, it has been noted that effective treatments of such infections should also include proper preventative measures, namely, thorough sanitization of the skin of the hands and feet.
Treatment of the nail plate has historically included mechanical avulsion or chemical destruction, followed by application of topical or systemic antifingal agents. Examples of these types of medicaments are listed in Table I.
TABLE I ______________________________________ Antimicrobial Agents for skin and/or nail infections Application Generic Product Manufacturer ______________________________________ A. Dermatophyte infections Topical: Amorolfine Loceryl Roche Econazole-nitrate Spectazole Ortho-McNeill Naftifine Naftin Herbert Labs Oxiconazole Oxistat Glaxo-Wellcome Sulconazole Exelderm Westwood-Squibb Terbinafine Lamisil Novartis Tolnaftate Tinactin Schering-Plough Undecylinic acid Desinex Pharmacraft Gordochrom Gordon Labs Oral: Griseofulvin Fulvicin Schering-Plough Terbinafine Lamisil Novartis B. Yeast infections Topical: Nystatin Mycostatin Westwood-Squibb C. Dermatophyte, yeast and bacterial infections Topical: Ciclopirox Loprox Hoechst-Roussel olamine Clotrimazole Lotrimin Schering-Plough Econazole-nitrate Spectazole Ortho-McNeill Haloprogin Halotex Westwood-Squibb Miconazole Micatin/ Ortho-McNeill Monistat Derm Fungoid Pedinol Tincture Benzalkonium Mycocide NS Woodward Labs cholride Mone Kenlor Industries D. (Saprophytes) Nondermatophytic filamentous opportunistic infections: cutaneous Topical: Amphotericin B Fungizone Bristol-Myers Squibb Ketoconazole Nizoral Janssen Benzalkonium Mycocide NS Woodward Labs chloride Mone Kenlor Industries Oral: Fluconazole Diflucan Roerig-Pfizer Itraconazole Sporanox Janssen E. Deep Mycotic infections: systemic Topical: Amphotericin B Fungizone Bristol-Myers Squibb Ketoconazole Nizoral Janssen Oral/IV: Fluconazole Diflucan Roerig-Pfizer Itraconazole Sporanox Janssen Amphotericin B Fungizone Bristol-Myers Squibb Ketoconazole Nizoral Janssen Flucytosine Ancobon Roche F. Actinomycetales Infections Antibacterial: Amikacin Amikin Apothecon Ampicillin Omnipen Wyeth-Ayerst Polycillin Apothecon Principen Apothecon Penicillin-G Bicillin Wyeth-Ayerst Wycillin Wyeth-Ayerst Tetracycline Doxycycline Leaderle Trimethoprim Bactrim Roche Sulfamethoxazole Septra Glaxo-Wellcome ______________________________________
Negative aspects associated with oral antifungal therapy for onychomycosis include their limited success rate, contraindications and drug interactions, toxicity, and the high cost of the medication. Furthermore, a general movement has begun in the scientific and medical communities away from the use of systemic antimicrobial therapy because the past indiscriminate and widespread use of broad-spectrum antibiotics has lead to an increase in the number of resistant strains of pathogenic microorganisms.
A variety of microorganisms are also present in the oral cavity. These range from the natural flora of the host to pathogenic species. Among these microorganisms are the gram-positive rods associated with the formation of plaque (a dense, enamel-adherant, microorganism-containing polysaccharide matrix). Even with good oral hygiene, it has been shown that microorganisms (including those responsible for plaque formation) rapidly build up in the oral cavity. Specific areas, including peridontal and subgingival spaces, and interpapillary spaces of the tongue present environments that that harbor bacteria. These species are difficult to reach by toothbrushing, and are only moderately affected by standard mouthwashes. The persistence of these microorganisms in such environments greatly increases the risk of calculus and plaque build up and carie formation, which in turn presents the danger of gingival inflammation and peridontal disease.
Although mouthwashes are standard in oral hygeine, they have generally been used to mask halitosis. Several mouthwashes that have been marketed for the reduction of bacteria and the prevention of plaque build up generally rely on a combination of alcohols (e.g. thymol, eucalyptol, ethanol; such as Listerine), or a combination of alcohols and a quaternary amine (e.g. ethanol, cetylpyridiniun chloride; such as Scope) or other oral surfactants (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,758), or of alcohol and chlorhexidine digluconate (Peridex from Proctor and Gamble). However, the use of alcohol containing formulations tends to produce unpleasant side effects including pain and stinging of the oral mucosa, foul aftertaste and discoloration of teeth. Prior art attempts to address this issue have included the development of alcohol-free formulations, the active ingredients of which vary. Compositions have included the use of a cetylpyridinium chloride in the presence of an oral surfactant (Lander Alcohol Free Mouthwash from The Lander Company, Inc.) and the use of stabilized chlorine (RetarDent from Rowpar). Because stabilized chlorine molecules are inactivated by interaction with proteins found in the mouth, they are unable to penetrate the occult, non-surface environments inhabited by microorganisms (see above) making these types of alcohol-free formulations of limited efficacy. In addition to this, these formulations sting open sores or cuts in the mouth.
Microbicidal surfactants, such as quaternary ammonium compounds, have certain advantages over other types of microbicides, including a relatively low toxicity against mammalian cells, but high toxicity against a wide spectrum of microbial pathogens when used at relatively low concentrations via the topical route of administration. Quaternary ammonium compounds possess surface-active properties, detergency, and antimicrobial properties including antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The quaternary ammonium compounds possess little, if any, odor and have little or no deleterious effects on synthetic materials, such as rubber, plastics, ceramics, and steel. Furthermore, these biocides are biodegradable, and are less tainting than phenols. They also do not present the tissue-staining problems associated with the use of iodine. These intrinsic properties of cationic surfactants (as represented by quaternary ammonium compounds) have resulted in their inclusion in a variety of applications, and in a high level of popularity among users. The largest areas of application of quaternary ammonium compounds are for sanitization, preservation and disinfection.
The antimicrobial properties and medical uses of formulations containing quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) in general, and specifically the compounds benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride, methylbenzethonium chloride, and cetylpyridinium chloride, have been the subject of lenghty study by several U.S. FDA Panels on Antimicrobials (43 FR 1210, 56 FR 33644). These studies evaluated both the safety and efficacy of the compounds. It has been theorized that the biocidal activity of QACs involves the cationic charge on the amine group. This charge is attracted to negatively-charged protein moieties on the cell membrane of the microorgansim, and facilitates the adhesion of the QACs to the surface of the microorganism. This adhesion to anionic moieties of surface proteins disrupts tertiary and quaternary protein structure, thereby inactivating the protein. Furthermore, the hydrophobic moiety or moities of the QACs are intercalated into the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane causing leakage of the intracellular fluids, eventually killing the microorganisms.
Cationic mineral and organic molecules present in hard water compete with these negatively-charged proteins and greatly limit the ability of QACs to adhere to the cell membrane. In addition to this, the chemical incompatibility of QACs with anionic soaps and anionic detergents has been noted as another limitation to the potential application of QACs. These chemical enviroments thereby reduce the overall antimicrobial efficacy of this class of compounds.
One of the most commonly used QACs is benzalkonium chloride (BAC). It exhibits in vitro and in vivo microbicidal activity across a wide range of concentrations in aqueous solution and in alcoholic solvents. Prior art formulations employ BAC (USP grade) at 0.13% concentration with water as a solvent as a disinfectant for hospital utensils, environmental surfaces, metal instrumentation, catheters, ampules and thermometers (ZEPHIRAN CHLORIDE, Winthrop-Breon Laboratories, New York, N.Y.), and in combination with anti-inflamatories and/or anesthetics, as a topical first aid antiseptic (Bactine, Johnson & Johnson), or at higher concentrations such as 1:250 (w/w; 0.4%) in applications such as disinfectant towelettes, and 1:25 (w/w; 4.0%) for certain surface cleaners.
It is known that the chemical entity known as BAC represents a mixture of N,N-dimethyl alkyl amines, which conform generally to the formula: ##STR1##
where R represents an alkyl side chain that can vary from 2 to 22 carbon atoms in length. In particular, the greatest microbicidal activity is believed to reside in the homologs with the n-alkyl side chain length in the range of 10-17 carbons. However, it is necessary to mix homologs together such that the sum of the carbon atoms in the alkyl side chains (R.sub.1 +R.sub.2 +R.sub.3 + . . . R.sub.n).gtoreq.21-22 carbons in order to circumvent the activity-reducing effects of hard (cation containing) water. Accordingly, the United States Pharmacopaeia requires that the composition of commercially available BAC must be within the parameters of:
______________________________________ N-C.sub.12 H.sub.25 .gtoreq. 40.0% of total N-C.sub.14 H.sub.25 .gtoreq. 20.0% of total N-C.sub.12 H.sub.25 + N-C.sub.14 H.sub.25 .gtoreq. 70.0% of total ______________________________________
This guideline has remained the industry standard since its inception in 1920-30, most likely due to the lack of development of an alternative system for the delivery of any single homolog as a discrete antimicrobial entity in antimicrobial applications. However, BAC mixtures of these species can contain an undefined set of BAC homologs, which may be present at concentrations as high as 30% of the total benzalkonium chloride species. Furthermore, the current methods of assay of N,N-dimethyl alkyl amines relies on the determination of the average alkyl side chain length of the mixture. Because of this, variation in lot-to-lot composition of BAC mixtures is possible, with the result that the antimicrobial effectiveness of the mixture and any reaction between the patient and the mixture may vary greatly, while the mixture still conforms to the USP specifications. From the above information it is apparent that an improvement over prior art uses of QACs, and BAC in particular, could be achieved if a delivery system could be developed that minimized the adverse effects to the activity of the QAC of hard water, anionic soaps, and anionic detergents, and dermal reactivity of susceptible patients. Likewise, all of the antimicrobial quaternary amine compositions, which, as does BAC, rely on the inclusion of inactive homologs for the preservation of activity in the presence of adverse environmental conditions, would benefit from such an invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to light-beam deflection instruments, such as refractometers, in which an electrical output is generated that is dependent upon the difference between two optical measurements.
In one class of differential refractometers, light is passed through two fluids in a measurement cell, and electrical outputs related to the apparent relative refractivities of the fluids are generated. The electrical outputs are compared, e.g., by measuring their difference. Such measurement systems can be "zeroed" by adjusting the optics at the start of each measurement (e.g., so as to make the two electrical outputs equal), and further by including in the system output an adjustable offset voltage. However, changes in light intensity during the measurement cycle can throw off the accuracy of such zeroing. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In conventional microcircuits, large numbers of electrons flow and their collective action can be characterised in terms of conventional current. However, in quantum microcircuits, the dimensions of circuit component parts are constructed to be sufficiently small that the flow of individual electrons is controlled and the behaviour of the electrons needs to be described in terms of their quantum mechanical wavefunctions.
With such very small circuits, problems arise in providing external connections for control signals that are used to perform logical switching. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Asynchronous Transfer Mode ("ATM") is an emerging packet switching network technology designed to provide service for a wide variety of applications such as voice, video and data. Originally proposed for use in the Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network ("B-ISDN") by the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee ("CCITT"), now reorganized as the Telecommunications Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunication Union ("ITU-T"), ATM is presently moving beyond the wide area network setting into the private network arena as a platform for local area networks ("LANs") with multimedia capabilities. ATM is now well known in the art and is described in various references. E.g., Martin de Prycker, Asynchronous Transfer Mode: Solution for Broadband ISDN (2nd Ed., Ellis Horwood Ltd., West Sussex, England, 1993).
In an ATM network, as defined by the CCITT standards, information is carried in packets of fixed size, specified for B-ISDN as 53 bytes or octets, called cells. These cells are individually labelled by addressing information contained in the first 5 bytes (octets) of each cell. Although ATM evolved from Time Division Multiplexing concepts, cells from multiple sources are statistically multiplexed into a single transmission facility. Cells are identified by the contents of their headers rather than by their time position in the multiplexed stream. A single ATM transmission facility may carry hundreds of thousands of ATM cells per second originating from a multiplicity of sources and travelling to a multiplicity of destinations.
ATM is a connection-oriented technology. Rather than broadcasting cells onto a shared wire or fiber for all network members to receive, a specific routing path through the network, called a virtual circuit, is set up between two end nodes before any data is transmitted. Cells identified with a particular virtual circuit are delivered to only those nodes on that virtual circuit.
The backbone of an ATM network consists of switching devices capable of handling the high-speed ATM cell streams. The switching components of these devices, commonly referred to as the switch fabric, perform the switching function required to implement a virtual circuit by receiving ATM cells from an input port, analyzing the information in the header of the incoming cells in real-time, and routing them to the appropriate destination port. Millions of cells per second need to be switched by a single device.
Importantly, this connection-oriented scheme permits an ATM network to guarantee the minimum amount of bandwidth required by each connection. Such guarantees are made when the connection is set-up. When a connection is requested, an analysis of existing connections is performed to determine if enough total bandwidth remains within the network to service the new connection at its requested capacity. If the necessary bandwidth is not available, the connection is refused.
In order to achieve efficient use of network resources, bandwidth is allocated to established connections under a statistical multiplexing scheme. Therefore, congestion conditions may occasionally occur within the ATM network resulting in cell transmission delay or even cell loss. To ensure that the burden of network congestion is placed upon those connections most able to handle it, ATM offers multiple grades of service. These grades of service support various forms of traffic requiring different levels of cell loss probability, transmission delay, and transmission delay variance, commonly known as delay jitter. It is known, for instance, that many multimedia connections, e.g., video streams, can tolerate relatively large cell losses, but are very sensitive to delay variations from one cell to the next. In contrast, traditional forms of data traffic are more tolerant of large transmission delays and delay variance, but require very low cell losses. This variation in requirements can be exploited to increase network performance.
The ATM Forum, an organization of networking vendors, has standardized four of these grades of service, or classes of virtual circuits: constant bit rate ("CBR") circuits, variable bit rate ("VBR") circuits, available bit rate ("ABR") circuits and unspecified bit rate ("UBR") circuits. These four categories define the qualities of service available to a particular connection, and are selected when a connection is established.
A CBR virtual circuit is granted a permanent allocation of bandwidth along its entire path. The sender is guaranteed a precise time interval, or fixed rate, to send data, corresponding to the needed bandwidth, and the network guarantees to transmit this data with minimal delay and delay jitter. A CBR circuit is most appropriate for real-time video and audio multimedia streams which require network service equivalent to that provided by a synchronous transmission network. From the perspective of the source and destination, it must appear as if a virtual piece of wire exists between the two points. This requires that the transmission of each cell belonging to this data stream occur at precise intervals.
A VBR virtual circuit is initially specified with an average bandwidth and a peak cell rate. This type of circuit is appropriate for high priority continuous traffic which contains some burstiness, such as compressed video streams. The network may "overbook" these connections on the assumption that not all VBR circuits will be handling traffic at a peak cell rate simultaneously. However, although the transmission rate may vary, applications employing VBR service often require low delay and delay jitter.
An ABR virtual circuit, sometimes referred to as connection-oriented data traffic, is appropriate for network connections with uncertain requirements for throughput and delay, such as general data traffic. Currently, ABR circuits are specified with a bandwidth range, defined by a minimum bandwidth and a maximum bandwidth. It is contemplated that the actual transmission bandwidth within this range will be dynamically negotiated with the network using some form of flow control. See Flavio Bonomi and Kerry W. Fendick, "The Rate-Based Flow Control Framework for the Available Bit Rate ATM Service," IEEE Network, March/April 1995, pp. 25-39.
A UBR virtual circuit, sometimes referred to as connectionless data traffic, is employed for the lowest priority data transmission; it has no specified associated bandwidth. The sender may send its data as it wishes, but the network makes no guarantee that the data will arrive at its destination within any particular time frame. This service is intended for applications with minimal service requirements, e.g., file transfers submitted in the background of a workstation.
A particular end-node on the network may have many virtual circuits of these varying classes open at any one time. The network interface at the end-node is charged with the task of scheduling the transmission of cells from each of these virtual circuits in some ordered fashion. At a minimum, this will entail pacing of cells from CBR circuits at a fixed rate to achieve virtual synchronous transmission. Additionally, some form of scheduling may be implemented within some or all of the switches which form the ATM network. Connections which have deviated from their ideal transmission profile as a result of anomalies in the network can be returned to an acceptable service grade.
At least two concerns are implicated in this scheduling. First, CBR traffic must be transferred at the necessary fixed rate with little or no delay jitter. Second, ideally VBR and ABR traffic should be transmitted in a manner as near as possible to their defined transfer patterns and no connection should be permitted to exceed its allocated bandwidth or peak cell rate. Although ATM networks possess other mechanisms for dealing with congestion control, adherence to the traffic contract by a source node is an important factor in overall network efficiency. See Dimitri Bertsekas & Robert Gallager, Data Networks, pp. 138-39 (2nd Ed., Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1992).
Prior art systems exist which handle the relatively simple task of scheduling CBR traffic for transmission onto an ATM network, but these systems typically perform no scheduling of VBR and ABR traffic. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,184 to Morris discloses a scheduling mechanism for use within an ATM switch. CBR traffic is scheduled using a circular buffer containing slots corresponding to the time to transmit a single cell. Unlike VBR or ABR circuits, the bandwidth, and thus the proper cell pacing, of CBR circuits is predefined. Therefore, slots in the circular buffer are statically reserved when a CBR connection is established. The scheduler advances through the circular buffer transmitting CBR cells when a reserved slot is detected. No scheduling of other forms of traffic is performed, rather waiting VBR/ABR/UBR cells are simply transmitting during time slots not allocated for CBR traffic. Systems such as these achieve proper pacing of synchronous data streams, but do not serve to maintain VBR/ABR data streams in compliance with their negotiated traffic contracts.
The lack of a scheduling mechanism for VBR and ABR circuits within an end-node network interface, places a burden upon applications themselves to generate data at appropriate rates for the network implementation. Requiring applications to perform pacing of VBR/ABR streams may be permissible when such applications have been designed with an ATM network connection in mind. However, such solutions are increasingly unacceptable as ATM moves into the LAN setting. Applications designed for conventional LAN technologies cannot be conveniently adapted to produce data under defined pacing conditions; rather, these applications are likely to transmit data without concern for network congestion conditions. If no pacing of these streams is performed, congestion caused by bursty VBR/ABR streams may impair network performance unless the network itself takes other measures to police transmissions. Of course, a simple method to prevent such network congestion is to request an amount of bandwidth much greater as that which can be reasonably expected to be required at any time by a particular application. This solution, however, leads to an underutilization of the network and an inefficient allocation of resources.
Therefore, there persists a need for a cell pacing mechanism capable of producing uniform transmission of ABR, VBR and UBR data streams, as well as CBR streams. Such a system would provide fixed rate pacing of CBR streams while simultaneously policing and shaping VBR, ABR and UBR data traffic. | {
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Vehicle collisions that occur at high rates of speed are deadly, resulting in approximately 43,000 lives lost every year in the United States alone. Costs associated with these vehicle fatalities run approximately $165 billion. The physics of these crashes has been well studied and has dictated many safety features deployed in vehicle design today. These features, however, are static and non-collaborative; they are deployed in the same manner in every car, regardless of the specifics of the high speed crash, and they attempt to optimize the outcome for each automobile without consideration of the outcome for the other vehicle(s).
While the known technology includes evasive and impact minimizing measures deployed upon detection of an imminent crash, we know of no technology that uses a collaborative, model-based approach to optimizing crash outcomes. | {
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Structures in contact with seawater, for example ships, oceanic constructions, fish farming nets, buoys and industrial water systems are constantly exposed to water inhabited by various organisms. Therefore, as time passes by, microorganisms such as bacteria and diatoms and, further, fouling organisms of larger size, for example such animals and plants as barnacles, mussels and sea lettuce, adhere to said structures. When the surfaces of the structures in contact with seawater are covered with such marine organisms, there take place corrosion of the covered portions, decreased marine fuel efficiency due to increased frictional resistance of the ship bottom against seawater, massive deaths of fish and shellfish due to clogging of fish farming nets, sinking of buoys due to reduced buoyancy.
To prevent these hazardous organisms from adhering, antifouling coatings have so far been applied. Typical of such antifouling coatings are those of the hydrolyzable type which contain a trialkyltin-containing polymer as an essential antifouling component. These antifouling coatings produce their effects when the trialkyltin-containing polymer is hydrolyzed in the weakly alkaline seawater environment, whereby the organotin compound is eluted and at the same time the coating vehicle becomes soluble in water, allowing elution of the antifoulant incorporated. However, the organotin compound eluted is highly toxic and harmful to the ecosystem. Ecofriendly antifouling means have therefore been required from the environmental pollution viewpoint.
Silicone rubber coating films are well known to be capable of producing an antifouling effect without elution of an antifoulant and/or some other component. The silicone rubber coating films have both water-repelling property and elasticity, together with other properties. These properties are utilized to produce the antifouling effect. However, such coating films are attacked by microorganisms in a very early phase following submersion thereof in seawater, with the result that they lose water-repelling property and allow rapid progress of adhesion of marine organisms.
Various proposals have been made to maintain water repellency and attain an improved lasting antifouling effect. Thus, for instance, Japanese Kokai publication She-53-79980 discloses a method which comprises incorporating a silicon- and metal-free organic compound, such as liquid paraffin, into a vulcanized silicone rubber. Japanese Kokoku Publication Sho-56-26272 discloses a method which comprises incorporating a silicone oil with a molecular weight of about 2,000 to 30,000 into a silicone rubber. Japanese Kokoku Publication Sho-60-3433 discloses a method which comprises adding a petroleum fraction-derived substance with a low critical surface tension, such as vaseline, to a silicone rubber. Japanese Kokai Publication Sho-54-26826 and Japanese Kokoku Publication Sho-57-16868 disclose a method which comprises incorporating various thermoplastic resins or a polyvinylbutyral resin into a silicone rubber. However, by these technologies, it is difficult to maintain the antifouling effect over a long period of time.
Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-07-328523 discloses a water-repelling coating film which comprises a resin coating film and minute particles at least the surface of which is hydrophobic and which have a mean size of 1 nm to 1 mm and are fixed on at least 20% of the coating film surface area. However, this technology still has a problem. Since the minute particles are caused to adhere to the resin in the course of coating film formation when the resin is still in the uncured or semicured state, the coating film, when used in water for a long cumulative period, allows the minute particles to come from it, whereby the water repellency of the coating film is impaired.
Therefore, there has been proposed an antifouling technology which comprises coating a substrate surface with a nonelution type coating composition comprising at least two kind of resins mutually incompatible with each other and insoluble in seawater and causing the coating composition to cure in situ to thereby form on the surface a microheterogenous coating film having a plurality of minute protrusions of silicone-grafted acrylic resin. In accordance with this technology, the size and fractional area of said minute protrusions are controlled so as to provide a coating film surface to which marine organisms can hardly attach themselves.
However, even to such a deliberately prepared coating film surface, marine organisms attach themselves after long exposure to seawater. Furthermore, unless the film structure formed is flawless or if it is impaired by chance not to mention an antifouling structure, the antifouling efficiency is lost. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Analytical chemists for many years did not use Raman spectroscopy because it failed to provide the sensitivity required for the detection of trace quantities of analytes. This was mainly because of very high background levels of fluorescence arising from either the sample or substrate which swamp the weak Raman signals. In 1974, Fleischman discovered, whilst using Raman spectroscopy to study the electrochemical reactions of pyridine on a silver electrode, that there was a tremendous enhancement of the pyridine Raman signals with the silver quenching a large amount of the background fluorescence. This surface enhancement could only be achieved if the silver surface was rough and not smooth.
Subsequently, it has been found that equal or even higher surface enhancement effects can be achieved with silver colloids. A colloid is a suspension of the metal particles in solution. In order to achieve the optimum effect, controlled aggregation of the silver colloid particles is required, typically using inorganic (e.g. chloride or nitrate) or organic (e.g. poly-L-lysine or spremine) compounds as aggregation reagents. For the majority of analytes, the colloidal silver particles should be about 20-50 nm, prior to aggregation, and have a narrow particle size distribution.
With the tremendous increase in sensitivity that can be achieved using this surface enhancement effects the analytical techniques of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy and surface enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) spectroscopy have since been developed. The growth in the use of these techniques has been exponential but the major problem is producing stable colloids with good light scattering properties and capable of quenching background fluorescence. For a stable colloid the silver particles should remain suspended indefinitely but, on many occasions, aggregation occurs and the silver falls out of solution.
Silver colloids can be prepared by chemical reduction with either sodium borohydride or sodium citrate. Citrate reduced colloids are more stable and many analysts have prepared these using a method published by P. C. Lee and O. Meisel (J. Phys. Chem., 1982, 86, 3391-3395). Batch to batch reproducibility is difficult to achieve by this method and the stability, i.e. shelf life, is variable. Preparation requires the use of ultra clean glassware and accurately controlled temperatures, stirring speed, etc.
A published modification of the original method (C. H. Munro, W. E. Smith and P. C. White, Analyst 1993, Vol. 118, 733-735) has led to some improvements in the properties of the silver colloid but long term stability can still be a problem. For a commercial product, however greater stability is still required and studies have shown that even the material used in the storage container can affect the stability of some batches of silver colloids.
Silver colloids prepared according to these known prior methods produce silver particles with a negative citrate layer on their surface, and for maximum surface enhancement effects analytes must be in close proximity to the aggregated silver surface. For cationic analytes this can be achieved as they are attracted to the negatively charged silver surface. With anionic analytes only a very weak SER(R)S effect is achieved due to repulsion from the silver surface. The authors of the modified colloid preparation method resolved this problem by using poly-L-lysine as the aggregation agent, but adding ascorbic acid to control pH and protonate the aggregating agent, which then acted as a bridge between the colloid surface and the analyte.
In the search to achieve stable silver colloids with good light scattering properties, other methods of preparation have been studied by the Applicant. As a result of these studies a novel method, based upon knowledge of the chemical properties of inorganic materials, has resulted in producing stable so silver colloid solutions which have the desired analytical properties. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The field of the invention relates generally to surface mount electronic components and their manufacture, and more specifically to magnetic components such as inductors and transformers.
With advancements in electronic packaging, the manufacture of smaller, yet powerful electronic devices, has become possible. To enable reductions in size of such devices, electronic components have been increasingly miniaturized. Manufacturing electronic components to meet such requirements presents many difficulties, thereby making the manufacturing process expensive.
Manufacturing processes for magnetic components such as inductors and transformers, like other components, have been scrutinized as a way to reduce costs in the highly competitive electronics manufacturing business. Reduction of manufacturing costs is particularly desirable when the components being manufactured are low cost, high volume components. In a high volume component, any reduction in manufacturing cost is, of course, significant. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In the oil and gas industry apparatus is typically run in downhole on strings, such as drill strings, wire strings, coil tubing strings, or the like. Many downhole operations require the actuation of equipment in downhole locations at specific phases or positions of downhole operations.
Actuation of tools downhole is commonly achieved through various means. For example, downhole actuation may occur at a predetermined location such as a depth or relative to other downhole apparatus or features, such as when a tool being run-in reaches a previously-positioned tool or feature.
Other forms of downhole actuation involve remote actuation, such as from surface. Forms of remote actuation from surface include the use of flowable objects transported by fluid in a bore, pressure pulses or variations in properties of a fluid transported in a bore, hydraulic control by hydraulic lines, or signals sent by other means from surface. Examples of flowable objects transported by a fluid in a bore include drop balls, darts, plugs, RFID tags, or the like. Such flowable objects are inserted into the bore and transported to a downhole location by a flow of fluid (and typically gravity) in the bore when it is desired to use such flowable objects to actuate a downhole tool.
Downhole actuation is used to actuate various apparatus, such as valves. The valves may be for varying restriction sizes or for opening or closing ports, such as to redirect fluid to different flow paths or to actuate other apparatus. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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