1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector assembly that engages a second connector with a first connector by inserting a second housing of the second connector into a first housing of the first connector and connects a terminal of the second housing to a terminal in the first housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has conventionally been known a connector assembly that engages a second connector with a first connector by inserting a second housing of the second connector into a first housing of the first connector and that connects a terminal of the second housing to a terminal in the first housing. A connector assembly that, by inserting a housing of a male connector into a housing of a female connector, mutually connects terminals of both the housings is an outstanding example thereof.
This kind of connector assembly is used, for example, to connect various types of electric cables with each other inside a vehicle. Because electric cables are often routed within a confined space in a vehicle, various schemes are incorporated into the connector assembly to fix the connector assembly on the vehicle side in a narrow small space of the vehicle. As an example, there is a connector assembly that is fixed on a vehicle side by forming a cassette type insertion section on a side face of a housing of a female connector and/or a male connector and inserting an end of a bracket fixed on the vehicle side into the cassette type insertion section for clamping (for example, refer to FIG. 5 in Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H08 (1996)-330026).
The connector assembly described above, in some cases, is formed with a high-voltage specification with recent widespread use of electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). The connector assembly with such a specification has a tendency of being further upsized than a conventional connector assembly with a low voltage specification. Thus, the connector assembly tends to have large vibrations thereof when vehicle vibrations propagate through a bracket. Accordingly, in a large-sized connector assembly with a high voltage specification, such as a shield connector, it is preferable that both female and male connectors are tightly coupled to each other without any looseness under an engagement state thereof.
In this view, a conventional connector assembly which is lighter and smaller than a connector assembly with a high voltage specification has a sufficient coupling force in an engagement direction sufficiently ensured to completely connect terminals mutually. However, because of no necessity of such a force in each direction within a plane intersecting with the engagement direction, the connector assembly is not structured to obtain a sufficient coupling force with an engagement force between a female connector and a male connector. Accordingly, a connector assembly with a high voltage specification having a high tendency of being upsized may require a new structure to provide enhancement of a coupling force, which a conventional connector assembly has not adopted.


Injection of a liquid such as a drug into a human patient or an agriculture animal is performed in a number of ways. One of the easiest methods for drug delivery is through the skin which is the outermost protective layer of the body. It is composed of the epidermis, including the stratum corneum, the stratum granulosum, the stratum spinosum, and the stratum basale, and the dermis, containing, among other things, the capillary layer. The stratum corneum is a tough, scaly layer made of dead cell tissue. It extends around 10-20 microns from the skin surface and has no blood supply. Because of the density of this layer of cells, moving compounds across the skin, either into or out of the body, can be very difficult.
The current technology for delivering local pharmaceuticals through the skin includes methods that use needles or other skin piercing devices. Invasive procedures, such as use of needles or lances, effectively overcome the barrier function of the stratum corneum. However, these methods suffer from several major disadvantages: local skin damage, bleeding, and risk of infection at the injection site, and creation of contaminated needles or lances that must be disposed of. Further, when these devices are used to inject drugs in agriculture animals, the needles break off from time to time and remain embedded in the animal.
Thus, it would be advantageous to be able to inject small, precise volumes of pharmaceuticals quickly through the skin without the potential of a needle breaking off in the animal.


Drill rods or pipes come in sections that are joined by male threads, tapered convergently, and female sockets, threaded and tapered internally complementarily to the male threads. The drill strings are rotated in a direction that tends to tighten the joints. That, plus the fact that the joints are liable to get gritty material between the threads, makes breaking the joints difficult. Various power mechanisms have been proposed and used (e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,345,493, 5,727,432). Where non-rotating vises have been employed, they have held the rod while a pipe wrench or the like has been used to turn the section that is not gripped by the vise. The wrench has been turned either manually or by some power mechanism. The pipe wrench type joint breakers have the disadvantage that the gripping surface is limited, putting extreme pressure in a limited area, and may not provide sufficient gripping force. Another approach to turning the free section has been to provide jaws sliding in a cradle rotated on a radius concentric with the radius of a pipe or rod clamped between the jaws. However, this construction has heretofore been subject to wear, with metal-to-metal contact, and a tendency to distortion, which leads to misalignment between the sections of the string.
One of the objects of this invention is to provide an improved open top rotating vise, in which there is substantially no wear or distortion, and in which the rotation of the rotating vice is facilitated.
Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawings.


Social media is pervasive in today's society. Friends keep in contact throughout the day on social networks. Fans can follow their favorite celebrities and interact on blogs, micro-blogs, and the like. Such media are referred to as “social media,” which can be considered media primarily, but not exclusively, for social interaction, and which can use highly accessible and scalable communication techniques. Brands and products mentioned on such sites can reflect customers' interests and feedback.
Some technologies have been developed to analyze social media. For example, some systems allow users to discover their “influence scores” on various social media. An influence score is a metric to measure a user's impact in social media.


Portable computing devices are increasingly powerful. Likewise more progress is being made towards paperless environments. Portable computing devices can support the goals of achieving paperless environments.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a controller for image processing apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to a controller which is utilized in an image processing apparatus such as a television game machine wherein it is required for an operator or player to continuously send quick and adequate reactions or responses to the television game machine while the operator or the player is watching a television screen, and outputs an electrical signal for controlling an image on the television screen according to a lean angle when an operating portion of the controller is leaned by hands of the operator or the player.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a technique for a controller device which can be utilized for a television game machine and utilizes a lean or orientation of an operating portion, for example, a Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 58-112576 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,299) for "Control-Lever for a Game" (hereinafter, called as "first prior art") is known. In the control-lever for game, a plurality of movable balls are contained in the operating portion, and when the operating portion is leaned, the balls roll toward a leaned direction, and therefore, switches provided on inner side walls of the operating portion are turned-on or -off, whereby presence or absence of the lean or orientation can be detected. Furthermore, the first prior art also discloses a technique in which mercury is used instead of the balls.
Other than the above described prior art, a technique in which the presence or absence of the lean as well as a degree of lean are somewhat considered as disclosed in "Freestanding Multidirectional Electrical Control Device" of U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,011 (hereinafter, called as "second prior art"). The second prior art utilizes mercury or electrical conductive liquid as similar to the first prior art, and the degree of lean is detected by combining contact electrodes made of material having an electrical resistance value which is changed in accordance with its length and the mercury or the electrical conductive liquid.
On the other hand, as an input device for moving a cursor on a screen of a computer video monitor, which is not for the television game machine, "Computer Input Device Using an Orientation Sensor" of U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,645 (hereinafter, called as "third prior art") is known. This device is one of a few prior arts that the device is mounted on a head of an operator such that an orientation angle of the head can be continuously detected, and used as a computer input device. The third prior art is an orientation angle detecting technique wherein a liquid is half-filled in a spherical housing, and a change of a transmission light which is outputted as a result of refraction at a boundary between the liquid and an air half-filled in an upper portion of the housing when the liquid is oriented is utilized.
The first prior art detects only whether the operating portion is leaned or not, and can not detect the lean angle. Furthermore, there is a problem in safety that the mercury is utilized for consumer products such as television game machines.
Furthermore, the second prior art utilizes the mercury or electrical conductive liquid as similar to the first prior art, and therefore, the second prior art can not be utilized for a purpose that a delicate movement of the operator is continuously detected within a wider angle range in view of utility, reliability, and operability.
The third prior art has a limit of detectable orientation angle of approximately .+-.30 degrees because of structural feature of the orientation angle detector, and therefore, the third prior art is limited to an input device which is mounted on the head of the operator. A use environment of the input device is also limited to a computer environment wherein the operator can use the input device quietly or gently because of a vibration of a surface of the liquid, responsivity and etc. If the third prior art is utilized in an environment for a television game machine wherein it is possible to presume that the operator or player moves lively, since the surface of the liquid waves, a reflection state of the light is undesirably changed, and accordingly, it is possible to consider that it is difficult to put the third prior art into practical use.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for truing a grinding wheel, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for truing a grinding wheel having a non-straight cylindrical grinding surface.
2. Prior Art of the Invention
In a numerical controlled grinding machine, a grinding wheel having a stepped peripheral shape is used for grinding a workpiece having a stepped outer surface, namely, a workpiece having plural cylindrical outer surfaces and plural shoulder end surfaces adjacent to the respective cylindrical outer surfaces. Although such grinding wheel is manufactured to have a desired stepped peripheral shape, the grinding wheel has an initial shape slightly different from the desired shape because of inaccuracy of the manufacturing process. Further, there is a case where a user wants to slightly change the peripheral shape of the grinding wheel before using the grinding wheel.
Accordingly, it is necessary to true the grinding wheels before using them, so that the grinding wheels have desired peripheral shapes.
An apparatus which can be used for the above-mentioned truing operation is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,718 which was assigned to the assignee of this application. The apparatus is provided with a contact detection sensor such as an AE (acoustic emission) sensor for outputting a contact signal when a truing tool contacts a grinding wheel. In dressing operation, the truing tool is moved relative to the grinding wheel so that the truing tool contacts each of the two inclined surface portions of the grinding wheel, and then the position of the truing tool is detected when the truing tool contact the respective surface portions. Based on these positions thus detected, it is judged which surface portion has a larger removal amount to be removed by truing operation, compared to the other. An initial truing start position of the truing tool is determined based on the radial position of the surface portion which has a larger removal amount, and the truing tool is then traversed along the outer surface of the grinding wheel while following a template. Ascertainment is made as to whether the contact sensor outputs a contact signal continuously during the traverse fed. If the continuous issue of the contact signal is not ascertained, then the truing tool is infed a predetermined amount against the grinding wheel before it is traversed. The infeed and the traverse feed of the truing tool are repeated until the continuous issuance of the contact signal during each traverse feed movement is finally ascertained.
The above-mentioned truing apparatus has a disadvantage that the mechanical structure thereof is complex, because it needs a template and a stylus, and that the template must be changed when the grinding wheel is trued in different shapes.
Further, in the conventional apparatus, it is required that the AE sensor outputs the contact signal continuously during the time period when the truing tool contacts the grinding wheel. However, it is difficult to obtain a stable contact signal from the AE sensor, because the AE sensor detects a sound wave which is generated when the truing tool contacts the grinding wheel. The level of the sound wave changes depending on the shape of a surface portion which the truing tool contacts, namely, depending on whether the surface portion has a straight shape or a curved shape. Further, the level of the sound wave changes depending on the amount of coolant supplied to the outer surface of the grinding wheel during truing operation. Therefore, it is difficult to judge whether or not the truing tool continuously contacts the grinding wheel, even though the detection sensitivity of the AE sensor is adjusted. This causes inaccuracy of truing operation.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to demodulators specifically, to a demodulator capable of avoiding phase and amplitude shifts between a first modulated signal and a second modulated signal by making the input impedance of a first matching section employed in a splitting/matching section for receiving the first modulated signal equal to the input impedance of a second matching section which is also employed in the splitting/matching section for receiving the second modulated signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, high-speed transmission technologies making use of a high-frequency band such as a millimeter-wave frequency band are being intensively and extensively researched with an aim to transmit a signal at smaller power consumption and a lower transmission cost due to a smaller circuit scale through the use of CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) technology. A signal transmission apparatus making use of a high-frequency band is configured to employ a modulator for transmitting a modulated signal of a millimeter-wave frequency band and a demodulator for receiving the modulated signal from the modulator and generating the modulated signal.
A demodulator 600 employed in the existing signal transmission apparatus is explained. As shown in FIG. 10, a modulated signal received by an antenna 510 is amplified by an amplifier 520. The amplified signal is split into a first modulated signal and a second modulated signal at a branch point Bo which is provided between the amplifier 520 and a squaring circuit 530. The squaring circuit 530 is a section for multiplying the first modulated signal by the second modulated signal in order to demodulate the modulated signal. That is to say, the squaring circuit 530 generates a demodulated signal as a result of the multiplication. The squaring circuit 530 supplies the demodulated signal to an amplifier 540 which then amplifies the demodulated signal and outputs the amplified signal.
In addition, the demodulator also referred to as a signal detection circuit can have another proposed typical configuration described as follows. In this proposed configuration, for example, a signal output by the signal detection circuit is compared with a reference voltage and a direct-current component of the result of the comparison is supplied to an IF (intermediate frequency) amplifier and fed back to the signal detection circuit. See, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Sho 57-37905 (hereinafter, as Patent Document 1). In accordance with this signal detection circuit, a direct-current voltage of the detection output can be made stable.


A gas turbine engine includes a compressor for pressurizing ambient air which is then mixed with fuel in a combustor and ignited for generating combustion gases which flow through a turbine which extracts energy therefrom. The turbine includes stator vanes which preferentially channel the combustion gases through a row of rotor blades which in turn rotate a rotor disk for providing shaft power. Since the combustion gases are hot, the stator vanes and the rotor blades are typically internally cooled using a portion of the compressed air bled from the compressor.
More specifically, the vanes and blades typically include a hollow airfoil having an internal cooling flow channel through which is channeled the cooling air bled from the compressor for internally cooling the airfoil. Convective heat transfer cooling is typically enhanced by providing a variety of techniques, including tubulators within the airfoil which have various conventional forms. The cooling air may simply be channeled through the airfoils, or the airfoils may include trailing edge discharge apertures or film cooling holes along either the pressure or suction sides of the airfoil, or both, in accordance with conventional practice. These outlets discharge the cooling air from the airfoil directly into the combustion gases and are suitably sized to provide a minimum backflow pressure margin to prevent the combustion gases from flowing into the airfoils through these outlets.
Any compressed air which is not used for generating combustion gases, such as that used for cooling the airfoils, decreases the overall operating efficiency of the engine and, therefore, increases specific fuel consumption (SFC). Accordingly, airfoils are cooled by a myriad of different arrangements which attempt to maximize the cooling thereof while minimizing the amount of cooling air bled from the compressor. This must also be done while maintaining acceptable backflow margin and without undesirable pressure losses which decrease the efficiency thereof.
One advanced concept for cooling gas turbine engine airfoils simulates the airfoils in a laboratory environment and uses a rotating chopper to provide pulsed or intermittent flow for convection cooling. The simulation demonstrates that convective heat transfer coefficients may be increased using pulsed flow over steady flow for constant airflow; however, the mechanical assembly of moving parts used in the test are clearly impractical for use in a gas turbine engine such as one used for powering an aircraft in flight.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a current sensor that detects a current flowing in a to-be-measured current path, and more particularly to a current sensor that detects a current flowing in a to-be-measured current path by using magneto-electric conversion elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
To control or monitor an electronic device, a well-known current sensor is attached to a to-be-measured current path to detect a current flowing in the current path. As this type of current sensor, a current sensor that uses magneto-electric conversion elements such as Hall elements or magneto-resistive elements is known. It is known that a plurality of elements are used to improve the sensitivity of the magneto-electric conversion elements and reduce adverse effects by external magnetic fields.
A current sensor 900, which is an proposed conventional current sensor, has a concave cut into which a to-be-measured current path (not illustrated) is interposed, as illustrated in FIG. 17 (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-066327). FIG. 17 is a perspective view that schematically illustrates the structure of the current sensor 900 described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-066327. The current sensor 900 in FIG. 17 has a case 920 that has a concave cut 911 in which a to-be-measured current path is interposed, a circuit board 910 having a cut 921, the circuit board 910 being placed in the case 920, and magneto-electric conversion elements (here, Hall elements) 930 and 931 that output electronic signals according to the intensity of a magnetic filed generated by a current flowing in a conductor placed in the vicinity of the concave cut 911. Thus, the current sensor 900 that can be made compact and easy-to-integrate can be provided.
Another known current sensor has four magnetic impedance elements that are oppositely placed, centered around an electric wire holder, which holds an electric wire (see EP1037056 A1). This current sensor has an arc-shaped opening, which works as the electric wire holder, at an engagement portion of a case having a convex part and a concave part. On the concave part side of the case, the four magnetic impedance elements are oppositely placed around the opening in its circumferential direction so as to be equally spaced.
To achieve higher measurement precision than in the above conventional technologies described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-066327 and EP1037056 A1, current sensors having more magneto-electric conversion elements can be contemplated. FIGS. 13A and 13B are plan views of current sensors in comparative examples. FIG. 13A illustrates a current sensor according to a first comparative example, in which eight magneto-electric conversion elements C15 are positioned at positions at which they surround a to-be-measured current path CB. FIG. 13B illustrates a current sensor according to a second comparative example, in which six magneto-electric conversion elements C25 are positioned at positions at which they surround the to-be-measured current path CB. To simplify an explanation, only the to-be-measured current path CB, neighboring current paths CN, and the magneto-electric conversion elements C15 and C25 are illustrated.
As illustrated in FIGS. 13A and 13B, the current sensors in the comparative examples each have a plurality of magneto-electric conversion elements (C15 or C25) positioned on a circumference centered on the center of the to-be-measured current path CB in a plan view; each two adjacent magneto-electric conversion elements (C15 or C25) are spaced at the same angular interval. Specifically, the magneto-electric conversion elements C15 of the current sensor in the first comparative example in FIG. 13A are placed at the vertexes of a regular octagon. The magneto-electric conversion elements C25 of the current sensor in the second comparative example in FIG. 13B are placed at the vertexes of a regular hexagon. Thus, even if the position of the to-be-measured current path CB is shifted a little, when detected values from the magneto-electric conversion elements (C15 and C25) are added, it is possible to prevent measurement precision from being easily lowered.


Karst topography is distributed in soluble rock areas all over the world, and has a total area of 51×106 square kilometers, accounting for about 10% of total area of the earth. A karst distribution area in China is about 0.91-1.3 million square kilometers, wherein karst mountain regions in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau under subtropical monsoon climate have the worst environment and the most prominent contradiction between people and land. Due to an unscientific production development manner of local people and factors such as centralized monsoon climate rainfall, huge mountain elevation differences and the like, as well as a particularly obvious water and soil loss phenomenon caused by unique duality and vulnerability of the karst environment, productivity and living standards of people have been severely influenced. How to simulate a karst rock desertification environment under different conditions and obtain accurate water and soil loss data to serve karst study, in order to help people understand the karst environment and an underground water and soil loss formation mechanism and to guide people to realize development according to local conditions in a special environment has become urgent problems to be solved.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recyclable formwork whose used condition can be easily known. The recyclable formwork is represented by a plastic formwork. The recyclable formwork, however, may be not only the plastic formwork but also a metal formwork, especially a formwork of aluminium, iron, or steel, as long as characteristics thereof, such as weight, price, or the like are suitable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Countermeasures against greenhouse gas represented by carbon dioxide are important subjects in which human beings should immediately aim to solve. Carbon dioxide reduction should be strongly carried out without damaging the economy. The inventors will discuss a new proposition in a field of formworks used for curing concrete.
Until now, formworks are mainly concrete panels made of tropical wood.
Instead of the concrete panels of wood, plastic formworks are developed and used. Some types of the plastic formworks can be perfectly recycled and are regarded as next-generation formworks.
There are, however, the following problems with respect to plastic formworks. First, a unit price of the plastic formworks is about five times that of concrete panels. Secondly, initial investment for the plastic formworks is extensive. Furthermore, the investment cannot be amortized in one construction site.
As for costs considering a number of repeated use times, the first number of repeated use times of the concrete panels are normally about five, and the second number of repeated use times of the plastic formworks is about fifty, that is, ten times the first number. As for costs per one time use, which is obtained by dividing the unit prices by the numbers of repeated use times, the concrete panels are almost double the plastic formworks. The plastic formworks are superior to the concrete panels with respect to not only environmental load but also the cost per one time use.
However, since there is no means for effectively managing the long use time of the plastic formworks, the plastic formworks have not been practically and widely used yet.
The formworks are brought to a construction site to be built there. Next, concrete is cast between the built formworks to be cured, the concrete is hardened and solidified, and then the formworks are released. However, curing time remarkably differs according to portions of a structure to be built, such as a wall, a beam, and a floor, or the like.
There is no technical means for managing the formworks taking the differences of curing time caused by the portions where the formworks are used into consideration. Actually, a construction supervisor of the construction site and the men use the formworks on their hunches.
In short, it is impossible to solve the above problem with conventional plastic formworks and it is necessary to add a new function to the conventional plastic formworks. Furthermore, consideration must be done such that the added new function does not spoil the other functions of the plastic formworks. A technique that satisfies such requirement has not been known yet.
[Document 1] Japanese patent application Laid-open on No. 2004-332301


Continuously running equipment is often encountered in which signals are produced in synchronism with its operation. For example, demodulation signals are often needed for modulating systems, especially for multiple-beam spectral photometers, regardless of whether the modulating systems are driven by synchronous motors, as they generally have been (e.g., DD-PS No. 65 468) or by stepping motors (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,852, DD-PS No. 228 058). In U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,852, a higher-frequency timing signal is disclosed for the purpose of producing therefrom, by means of a divider circuit, the control frequency of the stepping drive, and also for the purpose of forming a demodulation signal by means of an additional divider synchronized by the optical signal by means of a null detector.
This system, which is usable only for single-beam apparatus, also has the important disadvantage that, in the case of higher absorptions of the optical sample, the demodulation is impaired by noise.
In DD-PS 228 058, the pulses of the stepping drive control frequency are fed to the stepping drive, and are also carried through an adjustable delay circuit followed by pulse shortening. They control a counter logic such that the demodulation signals, which serve for the analog processing of the measurement, will be in phase with the electrical analog signals formed from the optical signals.
An optocoupler cooperating with the modulating mirror supplies for this purpose a synchronization signal which at the beginning of the modulation period resets the counter logic. This eliminates the disadvantages of U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,852, but since adjustment can be made with the adjustable delay circuit only within one step, it is necessary to pre-adjust the modulating mirror and optocoupler with a stepping motor energized in a defined manner, or to assemble them together in an apparatus with sufficient accuracy.
In addition to the complexity involved in the construction of the apparatus, the necessary pre-adjustment interferes with service to the modulating system including the optocoupler.
Also, in the case of aging phenomena, phasing errors occur between optical signals and analysis signals as the load torque changes at the stepping motor, and necessitate manual readjustment.
It has been proposed (GDR Pat. No. 242,089), for synchronization with respect to a given required-phasing signal, to make the stepping motor run one step per modulation cycle slower or faster by means of control frequencies differing from the synchronous frequency, until the required-phasing signal and sensor signal are sufficiently in agreement. Here the same disadvantages are encountered as in DD-PS No. 228 058.
It is furthermore generally known to operate a stepping drive not by pulses of a control frequency, but for example to produce commutator signals by means of a computer, whereby the windings of the stepping motor are switched.


The use of portable electronic devices has increased significantly in recent years, with many applications typically residing in the memory of such devices. Exemplary applications include messaging applications, calendar applications and social media applications. Electronic devices often receive communications for these applications, which contain information of importance to users. These electronic devices then often provide notifications that correspond to the received communications.
Exemplary communications include instant messages, calendar invitations, social media updates, microblog posts and news stories. Exemplary notifications associated with these communications may include digital images, video, text, icons, control elements (such as buttons) and/or other graphics to notify users of the receipt of these communications. Exemplary applications receiving communications and generating notifications include instant messaging applications (e.g., iMessage from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.), calendar applications (e.g., iCal or Calendar from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.), social networking applications, microblogging applications, and news applications.
But user interfaces for accessing notifications, and methods of navigating to and from such interfaces, are cumbersome and inefficient. For example, the notifications may be displayed in a confusing manner, and navigation to and from interfaces that contain notifications may also be confusing. These methods take longer than necessary, thereby wasting energy. This latter consideration is particularly important in battery-operated devices.


1. Field of the Invention
In at least one aspect, the present invention relates to methods of coating a substrate with a clearcoat and compositions thereof and, in particular, to methods of coating a substrate with a clearcoat by applying to the substrate a dual curable composition that is first photocurable and then thermally cured.
2. Background Art
Typically, the painted surfaces of an automobile are protected by coating with a clearcoat. Clearcoats protect the vehicle from the deleterious effects of sunlight. Accordingly, these coatings typically have light stabilizers, usually consisting of a combination of UV absorbers and free radical scavengers. The absorbers prevent the energetic rays of the sun from causing permanent damage to the polymer matrix of the clearcoat and the underlying coats, including pigments. The free radical scavengers deactivate the highly reactive species that arise as a result of unwanted breakdown processes, and act to promote further breakdown.
Currently, there are two main categories of clearcoat compositions that are used to form clear coatings. These categories are medium solid coating systems and high solid coating systems. Solid as used in this context refers to components that are not volatile organic compounds (VOC) including liquids with low vapor pressure. Medium solid coating systems typically contain volatile organic solvents in amounts over 70 weight percent. Accordingly, these systems are undesirable because of environmental and health concern. Moreover, such high solvent systems are subject to government regulations in many countries. High solid systems are more desirable because such systems contain much less volatile organic solvents. In the high solid systems, solvents are typically replaced by liquid oligomers or liquid monomers.
Although high solid coating systems are desirable because of the relatively low amounts of VOCs, coatings from such systems often produce coatings marred by sag. Sag refers to the phenomenon of runs and drips that occurs in paint coating. The tendency of a coating to sag results from several factors. For example, sag may occur from edge effects generated from localized high film build around edges, holes in the substrate, character lines, and the like. Sag may also result from the increased surface tension due to solvent evaporation on two surfaces at an edge and by Faraday's Cage effect. Moreover, sag is observed to be thickness dependent. In the absence of flow control agents, reducing the film thickness by a factor of two reduces the sag by a factor of four. Additionally, for a coating containing 3% microgel a similar reduction in coating thickness results in a 12-fold reduction in sag.
Coating reaction kinetics is another factor that needs to be considered in minimizing sag. The maximum temperature reached by a coating prior to gel is an important parameter because it essentially determines the minimum viscosity of the coating after solvent evaporation. Therefore, with respect to sag, it is desirable to utilize coatings with higher rates of reaction. These systems become cross-linked sooner, building molecular weight which increases until the coating gels, thereby avoiding or limiting sag. The temperature at gel is higher for high solids coatings versus medium solids coatings because of the higher extent of reaction at gel for high solids coatings. Accordingly, high solid systems have an increased sag potential due to this phenomenon.
Coating viscosity and cure conditions are additional important factors in controlling sag. If the viscosity is high just after and during cure, then sag may be avoided. However, for high solids coating systems, the low molecular weight resin typically used in these systems and the extent of cure at gel makes sag somewhat inevitable. A significant difference in fluidity between medium solids (“conventional”) clearcoat and high solids clearcoat has been observed. Specifically, during a thermal cure cycle the medium solids clear maintained limited fluidity over the range of heating rates, whereas the high solids clear are significantly affected by the heating rate (lower heating rates—resulting in greater fluidity). Similarly, higher molecular weight systems produce limited fluidity as compared to lower molecular weight systems.
Typically, in medium solid coating systems, sag is minimized by the use of large amounts of VOCs during the application and cure of the coating. That is, the high molecular weight resin used in these systems require large amounts of organic solvent(s) to reduce the high molecular weight resins viscosity within the wet coating. High solid coatings use lower molecular weight resins to bring down the viscosity. In doing so, thermal cure sag tolerance has been compromised. In high solids coating systems, reduction of sag depends on rheological control agents (“RCA”) to modify the flow and deformation of the liquid coating system. Key characteristics that are sought when adding Theological control agents are to limit settling within the coating, to improve atomization by shear thinning during spray application, and to avoid sag during the thermal cure cycle of the coating by quickly reestablishing a high viscosity after application.
Accordingly, there exists a need from an improved clearcoat composition that contains low amount of volatile organic solvents and produces a coating with low sag.


A Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) has recently been in the spotlight in order to maximize the performance and communication capacity of a wireless communication system. MIMO technology is a method which breaks away from technology using one transmission antenna and one reception antenna and can improve the transmission efficiency of transmission/reception data by adopting multiple transmission antennas and multiple reception antennas. An MIMO system is also called a multiple antenna system. MIMO technology is the application of technology for gathering and completing data pieces received by several antennas without being dependent on a single antenna path in order to receive one entire message. Consequently, the data transfer rate may be improved in a specific range or the range of a system for a specific data transfer rate may be increased.
MIMO technology includes a transmission diversity, spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and so on. The transmission diversity is technology for sending the same data through multiple transmission antennas in order to increase transmission reliability. The spatial multiplexing is technology for sending data at high speed without increasing the bandwidth of a system by sending different data through multiple transmission antennas at the same time. The beamforming is used to increase the Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) of a signal by applying a weight according to a channel state in multiple antennas. The weight may be represented by a weight vector or a weight matrix and called a precoding vector or a precoding matrix.
The spatial multiplexing includes spatial multiplexing for a single user and spatial multiplexing for multiple users. The spatial multiplexing for a single user is called a Single User MIMO (SU-MIMO), and the spatial multiplexing for multiple users is called Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA) or a Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO). The capacity of an MIMO channel is increased in proportion to the number of antennas. An MIMO channel may be divided into independent channels. Assuming that the number of transmission antennas is Nt and the number of reception antennas is Nr, the number of independent channels Ni is Ni≦min{Nt, Nr}. Each of the independent channels may be said to be a spatial layer. A rank is the number of non-zero eigenvalues of an MIMO channel matrix and may be defined as the number of spatial streams that can be multiplexed.
MIMO technology includes a codebook-based precoding scheme. The codebook-based precoding scheme is a method of selecting a precoding matrix which is the most similar to an MIMO channel, from among predetermined precoding matrices, and sending a Precoding Matrix Index (PMI). This method can reduce the overhead of feedback data. A codebook consists of codebook sets which can represent spatial channels. In order to increase the data transfer rate, the number of antennas has to be increased. With an increase of the number of antennas, a codebook has to consist of a more number of codebook sets. If the number of codebook sets increases according to the increased number of antennas, not only the overhead of feedback data may be increased, but also there is a difficulty in designing the codebook.
There is a need for a method to which a codebook-based precoding scheme can be efficiently applied in a multiple antenna system having an increased number of antennas as compared with the existing number of antennas.


Molecular weight distribution (MWD), or polydispersity, is a well known variable in polymers. The molecular weight distribution, sometimes described as the ratio of weight average molecular weight (M.sub.w) to number average molecular weight (M.sub.n) (i.e., M.sub.w /M.sub.n) can be measured directly, e.g., by gel permeation chromatography techniques, or more routinely, by measuring I.sub.10 /I.sub.2 ratio, as described in ASTM D-1238. For linear polyolefins, especially linear polyethylene, it is well known that as M.sub.w /M.sub.n increases, I.sub.10 /I.sub.2 also increases.
John Dealy in "Melt Rheology and Its Role in Plastics Processing" (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990) page 597 discloses that ASTM D-1238 is employed with different loads in order to obtain an estimate of the shear rate dependence of melt viscosity, which is sensitive to weight average molecular weight (M.sub.w) and number average molecular weight (M.sub.n).
Bersted in Journal of Applied Polymer Science Vol. 19, page 2167-2177 (1975) theorized the relationship between molecular weight distribution and steady shear melt viscosity for linear polymer systems. He also showed that the broader MWD material exhibits a higher shear rate or shear stress dependency.
Ramamurthy in Journal of Rheology, 30(2), 337-357 (1986), and Moynihan, Baird and Ramanathan in Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 36, 255-263 (1990), both disclose that the onset of sharkskin (i.e., melt fracture) for linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) occurs at an apparent shear stress of 1-1.4.times.10.sup.6 dyne/cm.sup.2, which was observed to be coincident with the change in slope of the flow curve. Ramamurthy also discloses that the onset of surface melt fracture or of gross melt fracture for high pressure low density polyethylene (HP-LDPE) occurs at an apparent shear stress of about 0.13 MPa (1.3.times.10.sup.6 dynes/cm.sup.2).
Kalika and Denn in Journal of Rheology, 31, 815-834 (1987) confirmed the surface defects or sharkskin phenomena for LLDPE, but the results of their work determined a critical shear stress of 2.3.times.10.sup.6 dyne/cm.sup.2, significantly higher than that found by Ramamurthy and Moynihan et al.
International Patent Application (Publication No. WO 90/03414) published Apr. 5, 1990, discloses linear ethylene interpolymer blends with narrow molecular weight distribution and narrow short chain branching distributions (SCBDs). The melt processibility of the interpolymer blends is controlled by blending different molecular weight interpolymers having different narrow molecular weight distributions and different SCBDs.
Exxon Chemical Company, in the Preprints of Polyolefins VII International Conference, page 45-66, Feb. 24-27 1991, disclose that the narrow molecular weight distribution (NMWD) resins produced by their EXXPOL.TM. technology have higher melt viscosity and lower melt strength than conventional Ziegler resins at the same melt index. In a recent publication, Exxon Chemical Company has also taught that NMWD polymers made using a single site catalyst create the potential for melt fracture ("New Specialty Linear Polymers (SLP) For Power Cables," by Monica Hendewerk and Lawrence Spenadel, presented at IEEE meeting in Dallas, Tex., September, 1991).
Previously known narrow molecular weight distribution linear polymers disadvantageously possessed low shear sensitivity or low I.sub.10 /I.sub.2 value, which limits the extrudability of such polymers. Additionally, such polymers possessed low melt elasticity, causing problems in melt fabrication such as film forming processes or blow molding processes (e.g., sustaining a bubble in the blown film process, or sag in the blow molding process etc.). Finally, such resins also experienced melt fracture surface properties at relatively low extrusion rates thereby processing unacceptably.


This invention relates to underwater signaling devices and emergency signaling devices used by scuba divers to perform multiple tasks in a diving emergency. SCUBA is an acronym referring to divers using a Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
Prior Art Underwater Signaling Devices in General.
Underwater signaling devices have been used in scuba diving for years. Some underwater signaling devices use air from the scuba tank which produces an audible low-frequency horn-like sound. Others are designed to bang against the outside of the scuba tank which produces an audible low-frequency clanking-type sound. Still others have been designed to produce a low rattle-type or clicking sound with very limited range.
A Key Need: Signaling Devices Tailored for Emergency Use.
These prior art existing signaling devices are general purpose in nature, and, without a great deal of pre-dive planning, their use in no way indicates an emergency situation in progress under water. Furthermore, they simply are not designed with the goal of effective management of an emergency situation.
To understand this, it must first be understood that sensory limitations, specifically visual and auditory limitations, make the scuba diving experience a somewhat isolating one. For example, because of the visual limitations inherent in scuba diving, divers typically pay attention only to their immediate surroundings, in a radius of ten to fifty feet around them, and their safety focus is therefore upon themselves and their diving buddy, who is ordinarily very close by.
In addition, auditory limitations, specifically the inability of other divers to hear the human voice, even when a diver is screaming or yelling for help underwater just a few feet away, force divers to rely almost entirely upon their limited sense of sight, specifically line-of-sight, to keep track of their dive buddy, and this is a serious limitation even in good visibility situations.
Studies of the nature and causes of underwater emergencies lend further support to the critical need for effective communication between and among divers during emergency situations. Statistics indicate that causes of dive emergencies fall in to several categories including: (a) separation from dive buddy (e.g., loss of visual contact due to water clarity; loss of visual contact due to obstructions and distance); (b) equipment failure; (c) underwater entrapment; (d) depletion of air supply; (e) panic; and (f) physical causes (e.g., injuries, illness, fatigue).
The situation is further complicated by the following unfortunate reality: notwithstanding the dictates of prudence, many divers simply do not carefully pre-plan audible emergency signal meanings and protocols with other divers in advance, and most carry no signaling device at all. This not only delays recognition of an emergency situation, in addition, it delays coordination of a response by the group. Group coordination is critical, because multiple divers may be necessary to address the emergency under water, and most dive boat captains are precluded from leaving the location of a dive without all divers in hand (and, yes, lives are lost due to delays in retrieving the entire starting contingent of divers).
Finally, even when an emergency is recognized, current diving emergency practices are frequently limited to the ineffectual use of underwater lights and hand signals as means of visual communication.
Against this backdrop is arrayed the current state of the art in underwater signaling devices, as described above. Tank bangers, air horns, and the like are useful, but these devices are all-purpose signaling devices which are typically used as an ad hoc means of merely attracting the casual, local, non-emergency attention of a single near-by diver. The sound produced by these all-purpose devices has no predetermined meaning to any diver in the water. As a result, other divers in the water regularly ignore these sounds, especially when they are perceived as being far away and not directed specifically to gain that specific diver's attention.
The problem, concisely stated, is this: prior art signaling devices are not specifically designed to address the signaling needs unique to underwater emergency situations. Furthermore, even among the various organizations whose missions include the development of improvements to diver safety oriented equipment and procedures, there is no standard signal, signaling protocol, or signaling device that specifically alerts divers to an underwater emergency.
After Ascent: the Need for Accurate Dive Information at the Surface.
Furthermore, emergencies don't end upon ascent. Frequently, after emergency ascents to the surface, a new problem arises. Divers forced to ascend rapidly due to an emergency may need to undergo recompression treatment, and there is therefore a critical need for comprehensive information about the diver's time under water from the onset of, during, and throughout the resolution of the emergency.
Although there is an increasing trend in diving practices towards the use of personal dive computers and electronic pressure gauges to provide the diver with normal diving information, the limitations of these systems in the face of a need for a clear, easily accessible dive record becomes acutely apparent. Prior art dive computers are simply not designed to record or log, for future use, emergency-related dive information. Also, data retrieval from these systems, in most cases, requires a working knowledge of the unit (and its proprietary user interface) and/or access to the proper hardware, software, and interfaces necessary to extract the data. Thus, valuable time is lost again as divers endeavor to extract critical information from dive computers with which they are not familiar. Finally, these devices typically stop recording data when they are brought to the surface.
It is to these underwater emergency management needs, and other circumstances in which expedited, efficient notification is required, that the instant invention is directed.


The present invention relates to a monomeric composition and a polymer obtained by the polymerization thereof or, more particularly, to a monomeric composition capable of being polymerized into a curable polymer which gives a rubbery elastomer having excellent heat and cold resistance and oil resistance as well as a polymer obtained from the monomeric composition.
So-called acrylic rubbers belong to a class of synthetic rubbers obtained by the copolymerization of an acrylic monomer such as ethyl acrylate, n-butyl acrylate, 2-methoxyethyl acrylate, 2-ethoxyethyl acrylate and the like with a comonomer which gives crosslinking points in the molecules of the copolymer. Acrylic rubbers obtained from ethyl acrylate as the principal comonomer have excellent oil resistance and heat resistance but the cold resistance thereof is poor. Acrylic rubbers obtained from n-butyl acrylate as the principal comonomer have excellent heat and cold resistance but the oil resistance thereof is poor. Further, acrylic rubbers obtained from 2-methoxyethyl or 2-ethoxyethyl acrylate as the principal comonomer have excellent cold resistance and oil resistance but they have rather poor heat resistance. Thus, none of the conventional acrylic rubbers satisfies the requirements for the oil resistance and cold resistance simultaneously.


Telephony services are offered through a variety of avenues, such as landline phones, cellular phones, and more recently, Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP). VoIP is a relatively new telephony service that provides communications using Internet protocols rather than the traditional telephone service. VoIP service allows calls to be made to, and received from, traditional phone numbers using a high-speed (broadband) Internet connection (i.e., DSL, cable modem, or broadband wireless technology) instead of using the traditional telephone communication lines. VoIP is implemented by either placing an adapter between a traditional phone and broadband connection or by using a special VoIP phone that connects to a computer or Internet connection.
Traditional wireline phone services have generally associated a particular phone number with the fixed physical location of the corresponding telephone line. Cellular telephony services determine a cellular caller's physical location by associating the cellular phone with the physical location of the cellular network antenna with which the cellular customer's radio (telephone) is communicating. VoIP services, however, enable consumers to take their home or business phone service almost anywhere because VoIP services can be used from virtually any broadband connection anywhere in the world. This portability raises a number of challenges for the emergency services community in that it makes determining the location of a VoIP caller extremely difficult, if not impossible, because the only information transmitted across the Internet from VoIP callers is the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses associated with the call traffic. Currently there is not a reliable means of mapping an IP address to a precise physical location anywhere in the world.
Emergency 911 calls from a traditional telephone are usually sent to emergency service providers who are responsible for helping people in a particular geographic area or community. These emergency service providers often can automatically identify the caller's location and direct the closest emergency personnel to that location. They also often automatically identify the caller's telephone number so that the caller can be reached in the event the emergency call is disconnected.
Consumers with VoIP telephone service have experienced problems accessing 911 emergency services in the same manner as traditional communication services due to the lack of any physical location information associated with their telephone. In some instances, these problems were caused by the consumer failing to provide certain information (such as physical location information) to their VoIP provider in order for their VoIP provider to be able to set up 911 service or the consumer moving their VoIP service to another location without updating their physical location information with the VoIP service provider.
One proposed approach for alleviating these problems involves a communication cycle between a VoIP telephone adapter and a communication network where the VoIP telephone adapter communicates with the network once every twenty-four hours. Every time the telephone adapter is disconnected from a power source and reconnected, it communicates with the network to “check in,” and the communication cycle is reset. The network then identifies that the cycle has been reset and recognizes that this could mean that the VoIP telephone adapter, and consequently the customer, has changed locations. Therefore, upon detection of a shift in the communication cycle, the network temporarily suspends the customer's service and posts a message at the customer's web portal directing the customer to confirm the existing registered physical location information or to register a new physical address. Any calls attempted before this physical location information has been confirmed or changed are intercepted and require the caller to confirm or change the physical location information before a call can be completed. This suspension of service does not affect 911 calls, which continue to be associated with the previously registered physical location information.
This approach is dependent upon the timing of the communication signal from the telephone adapter and burdens the consumer by denying phone service until the physical location information is resolved. Further, this approach is initiated, for example, every time a customer powers on/off their system, loses power, reboots the router, or loses Internet connectivity; therefore the customer loses phone service after each of these occurrences, which in many cases are not the result of a location change and instead create a “false positive” trigger. This inconveniences the customer by suspending telephone service unnecessarily.
The above and other difficulties continue to present challenges to providing effective emergency 911 telephone services and protecting the public safety.


Firearm marksmen, particularly military sharp shooters, have a need for supporting the forward end of a firearm in a stable adjustable manner. Often, a bipod support is used for such front end firearm support. Military sharp shooters have a particular need for a portable, light weight and retractable bipod which also offers significant degrees of adjustability. In particular, it would be useful to have a bipod support having pivotably mounted legs wherein the legs may be adjusted to various positions including a retracted position in which the legs are generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the firearm. It would also be useful for the legs of such a bipod to have adjustable telescoping portions for adjusting the length of the legs. Moreover, it would be useful if such a bipod support were adapted to allow pivoting adjustment about a vertical axis and a horizontal axis with respect to the legs of the bipod for aiming adjustment.


This invention relates to an improved elevator speed control apparatus for regulating the running speed of an elevator cage to accommodate load changes when passengers exit before the cage comes to a complete halt at an accessed floor.
A conventional elevator speed control system is shown in FIG. 1, wherein an electric power converter 2 which comprises a plurality of thyristors connected in a 3-phase bridge configuration, is coupled to a 3-phase AC power source 1 and generates DC power that is supplied to an armature 3 of a DC elevator drive motor through a line 2a. The field winding for the motor is not shown in the drawing.
A tachometer generator 4 driven by the armature 3 produces a speed signal on line 4a proportional to the rotation speed of the armature. A traction sheave 5 also driven by the armature 3 drives an elevator cage 7 and a counterweight 8 through a main cable 6 as is well known. A speed arithmetic circuit 10 receives the speed signal on line 4a from the tachometer generator 4 and a speed instruction signal on line 9a from a speed instruction signal generator 9 as inputs, and generates a current instruction signal on output line 10a. The speed arithmetic circuit 10 along with the speed instruction signal generator 9 and the tachometer 4 constitute a speed control system.
A current arithmetic circuit 12 receives as inputs the current instruction signal on line 10a from the speed arithmetic circuit 10 and a current signal on line 11a from a current detector 11 proportional to the current supplied to the converter 2. A phase shifter 13 receives the output signal on line 12a from the current arithmetic circuit 12 as an input, and outputs a firing control signal on line 13a for the converter 2. The current arithmetic circuit 12 along with the current detector 11 constitute a current control system.
By controlling the firing angle or phase of the thyristor converter 2 by means of both the speed control and current control systems, the voltage applied to the armature 3 is correspondingly controlled and thus the running speed of the elevator cage 7 is controlled through the traction sheave 5. In other words, the elevator cage 7 is speed controlled in accordance with the difference between the speed instruction signal on line 9a and the actual speed signal on line 4a with a high degree of accuracy.
In the aforementioned speed control system, in order to compensate for the non-linearity of the converter 2, the response time of the minor loop constituted by the current control system is set at an extremely short value, generally in the range of 0.01 to 0.03 second. On the other hand, the response time of the main loop constituted by the overall speed control system must be set at a higher value in order to avoid resonances in the suspension and traction cables. Consequently, the speed control system is generally designed so as to have a response time in the range of 0.2 to 0.33 second.
With such a conventional elevator system, in order to improve the transport efficiency and speed up the overall operation both the internal cage door and the external door on the accessed floor are sometimes controlled to be simultaneously opened just before the cage reaches the floor. A brake system (not shown) is also provided to engage the traction sheave 5, but such engagement does not occur until the cage comes to a complete stop. Passengers may thus step out of the cage before the brake system acts upon the traction sheave, and as a result an abrupt variation in torque is exerted on the sheave due to the change in the cage load or weight, as shown in FIG. 2(a).
Upon the occurrence of a torque variation, the current flowing through the armature 3 correspondingly varies in response to the output of the speed arithmetic circuit 10 due to the functioning of the current control system, as described above. In this case, however, based on the relatively slow response time characteristics of the speed control system the current flowing through the armature 3 varies or adjusts relatively slowly as shown in FIG. 2 (b). The running speed of the cage 7 therefore varies as shown in FIG. 2 (c), as a result of which the cage may overshoot or undershoot the exact position of the accessed floor, which constitutes a potentially dangerous situation. Even in the best case where the cage ultimately stops at the exact position of the floor sill, the passengers will experience a discomforting "acceleration-deceleration bump".
It will be understood that the curves of FIG. 2 have been simplified by removing or subtracting therefrom the normal transient values, to leave just the "abnormal"variants caused by a premature passenger exit (or entry).


Glycoprotein hormones, especially those synthesized and secreted by the anterior pituitary gland, play critically important roles in a variety of bodily functions including: metabolism, temperature regulation, growth, and reproduction. The pituitary glycoproteins, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) are similar in structure to the placental gonadotropin, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Each of the molecules is actually a dimer consisting of two protein chains held together by non-covalent, ionic interactions. The alpha chain for each of the hormones is identical. The beta chain is the hormone-specific portion of the dimer.
Following secretion, the hormones travel in the blood stream to the target cells which contain membrane bound receptors. The hormone binds to the receptor and stimulates the cell. Typically, such stimulation involves an increase in activity of a specific intracellular regulatory enzyme which in turn catalyzes a biochemical reaction essential to the response of the cell. In the case of hCG, binding to the hCG receptor present upon the corpus luteum (an ovarian structure), stimulates the activity of the enzyme adenylate cyclase. This enzyme catalyzes the conversion of intracellular ATP to cyclic AMP (cAMP). cAMP stimulates the activity of other enzymes involved in the production of ovarian steroid hormones, especially progesterone. hCG-stimulated progesterone secretion is essential for the maintenance of pregnancy during the first trimester of gestation.
The exact mechanism by which a dimeric glycoprotein hormone, such as hCG, stimulates post-receptor events, such as activation of adenylate cyclase activity, is unknown. By a variety of experimental manipulations, it has been shown, however, that the carbohydrate structures, each attached to the hCG molecule by a linkage at respective asparagine residues (N-linked), play important roles in this regard. Treatment of glycoprotein hormones, such as LH, FSH, or hCG with hydrogen fluoride removes approximately 70 percent of the oligosaccharide side chains. The resultant partially deglycosylated molecules retain their receptor binding activity but are unable to stimulate any post-receptor events. Thus it is clear that the sugar portion of the glycoprotein hormone, while not directly involved with receptor binding, plays a critical role in post-receptor events, and therefore, biologic activity.
It is also known that in addition to a role in the in vitro bioactivity, oligosaccharides are important components of the molecule's survival time in circulation. Indeed, plasma half-life of a glycoprotein hormone is directly related to the amount of one particular sugar molecule, sialic acid, generally present upon the most distal portion of the oligosaccharide chain. The removal of the carbohydrate portions (by hydrogen fluoride treatment) would result in the production of hormones that bind to the receptor but fail to exert the expected biologic response. In addition, these molecules would have an extremely short plasma half-life since the lack of terminal sialic acid residues would increase the binding affinity to the hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor thereby hastening clearance from the systemic circulation.
Many clinical endocrinopathies are the result of over production of stimulating hormones (e.g., excess TSH secretion resulting in hyperthyroidism). A conventional treatment for a pathologic state caused by a hormone excess would be the administration of a hormone antagonist. To be effective, an antagonist must bind with high affinity to the receptor but fail to activate post receptor events. From the earlier discussion, it can be anticipated that hydrogen fluoride treated hormones (that have had approximately 70 percent of carbohydrates removed) would be effective, competitive antagonists. Indeed, it has been shown that HF-treated hormones bind with somewhat greater affinity for the biologic receptor, compete effectively with native material, and diminish the expected biologic action of native hormone in a dose-dependent fashion.
At first glance, such a hormone preparation would appear to be a viable candidate for a competitive antagonist therapeutic agent. However, four problems are associated with large scale production of such preparations. First, all pituitary hormone preparations are generally contaminated with other hormones. Thus, while it may be possible to obtain a preparation of a hormone and partially deglycosylate it; the resultant preparation would also contain other deglycosylated hormones as contaminants which may disadvantageously produce unwanted and unacceptable side effects following administration. Secondly, preparations of partially purified hormones vary greatly in their potency, physicochemical characteristics and purity. Therefore, each batch produced would need to be analyzed carefully. The possibility of batch-to-batch variability would necessitate repeated execution of clinical trials to determine the effective dose. Thirdly, the method used to deglycosylate is incomplete and, therefore, somewhat uncontrollable. No information is available as to the variability associated with hydrogen fluoride treatment of successive batches of hormone. Potential variability in this process would also require extensive characterization of each batch produced. Fourth, carbohydrate side chains also play an important role in dictating the plasma half-life of a molecule. Partially deglycosylated hormones have been shown to be rapidly cleared from the circulation following injection. Therefore, repeated injections of large doses of deglycosylated hormones would be required to achieve a desired effect. The need for such large doses of hormone to deglycosylate and administer creates yet another problem, namely availability. Large quantities of hormones are presently unavailable and could conceivably only be made available through recombinant DNA technology.
As mentioned above, deglycosylated hormones, while exhibiting the desired competitive antagonistic properties in vitro would be of little therapeutic value in vivo due to their extremely short plasma half-life. The only potential solution to this dilemma would be to preferentially remove carbohydrate residues that are responsible for imparting the molecules' biologic action and sparing those that provided the molecules' long plasma half-life. It is, however, impossible to obtain this result with conventional chemical or enzymatic means (i.e. hydrogen fluoride treatment or enzymatic digestion) because of the non-specific nature of the chemical treatment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for preferentially removing carbohydrate residues that are responsible for imparting biologic action to molecules while sparing those associated with a long plasma half-life.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method for obtaining molecules via non-chemical treatment which have the desired antagonistic nature coupled with a long half-life.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a recombinant technique for obtaining therapeutically effective glycoprotein hormones having been partially deglycosylated by having at least one oligosaccharide chain entirely removed.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide novel hormonal competitive antagonists having therapeutic utility.
It is yet still another object of the present invention to provide competitive hormone antagonists having substantially batch-to-batch uniformity and consistent potency.


Sutures are available in a variety of materials, shapes and sizes. One such shape is a “flat” suture, where a plurality of fibers are braided such that the resulting suture is significantly wider than it is tall, resulting in a flat, or planar shape. Such sutures can be useful, for example, in increasing the contact surface area between the suture and the underlying soft tissue to help increase the contact footprint of the soft tissue against the underlying bone. This is particularly useful in, for example, rotator cuff repairs where a “suture bridge” is formed over the upper surface of the cuff to compress the cuff tissue to the underlying bone. Another advantage of such flat sutures is that the larger surface area distributes forces exerted on the tissue by the suture such that there is less of a chance the suture will cut into the tissue relative to a thinner suture (e.g., a traditional round suture).
Current flat sutures on the market, however, suffer from multiple drawbacks such that surgeons have been slow to utilize them. For example, the shape of the flat suture often times requires different instrumentation, thereby rendering much of the instrumentation on the market incompatible with such flat sutures. Commonly, surgeons have been using a particular instrument for a long time and are unwilling to change just to accommodate a differently-shaped suture. Another drawback of current flat sutures occurs when a surgeon attempts to tie the flat suture in a knot. Typically, the flat shape of the braided suture does not compress well, and thus the resulting knot easily loosens, or worse, comes completely undone.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a flat suture that is compatible with instrumentation on the market and which can be manipulated and handled effectively by traditional methods, such as when forming a secure knot.


The present, invention relates to a manufacturing method of a combination material of metal foil and ceramic by joining a metal foil onto surfaces of various types of ceramics, and also relates to a metal foil laminated ceramic substrate manufactured from said combination material of metal foil and ceramic.
Recently, a new improvement has been attempted by combining ceramics with metals in the application fields of ceramics. For example, a metal material composed of nickel alloy, titanium alloy, chromium alloy, or the like is joined to a ceramic material composed of alumina, zirconia, magnesia, or the like by using a combination technique such as diffusion combination so as to manufacture a combination material of metal and ceramic, which is used in various devices and apparatuses.
However, since such conventional combination material of metal and ceramic is manufactured by simply joining a metal material to a ceramic material under a certain pressure, when the pressure is applied, there sometimes occurs fracture of the ceramic material which is a much more brittle material as compared with the metal material, thus causing problems in productivity.
An object of the present invention is to solve the problem mentioned above and provide a manufacturing method of a combination material of metal foil and ceramic capable of completely joining a metal foil to a ceramic material even with a low pressure applied thereto and preventing the ceramic material from fracturing so as to improve the productivity of a combination material of metal foil and ceramic or a metal foil laminated ceramic substrate, and also provide such metal foil laminated ceramic substrate.
In order to achieve the object mentioned above, the manufacturing method of a combination material of metal foil and ceramic comprises the steps of ion-etching a surface of a metal foil and a ceramic material to be joined together to activate and clean the surfaces, heating said surface of the ceramic material, which is held on a holder, to a temperature range of 250 to 500xc2x0 C., pressure-welding said surface of the metal foil to said surface of the ceramic material held on the holder under a pressure not more than 1 kg/mm2, and thus heat-joining the metal foil and the ceramic material to manufacture a combination material of metal foil and ceramic.


Instrument clusters on automobiles generally include a plurality of gauges for displaying such operational information such as vehicle speed, engine RPM, engine temperature, fuel level and many other information. The gauges may include analog or digital readings for displaying the information depending on manufacturer and styling preferences. An analog gauge typically includes a faceplate having indicia thereon such as numbers and a pointer for rotating to the appropriate number.
One important design consideration for an instrument cluster and related gauges is the ability of a vehicle operator to easily view and read the gauges in all driving environments. In particular, nighttime driving requires the instrument cluster to illuminate in some fashion whereby the numbers and corresponding pointers are easily distinguishable.


1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to medical catheters, and more particularly to a urology catheter including an advantageous tip configuration and related method of manufacture.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, urinary catheters may be employed to transport urine collected in the bladder out of a patient via the urinary tract. For example, urinary catheters such as Foley catheters have a shaft including a drainage lumen that communicates with drainage eyes disposed adjacent a distal end thereof. An inflatable balloon is disposed adjacent the distal end of the shaft. During placement, the distal end of the shaft is passed through the patient's urethra until the balloon and drainage eyes are located in the patient's bladder. The balloon is inflated through an inflation lumen to retain the catheter in the bladder. Urine may drain through the drainage eyes and drainage lumen, which is in communication with a proximal end of the catheter. The proximal end of the catheter is connected to a receptacle for collection of urine.
Various known urology catheters may be produced with a liquid injection molded tip that is attached to the catheter shaft. Typically, the drain eyes of the urinary catheter are formed via a punching operation. This punching operation, however, can disadvantageously result in jagged edges around the eyes and an inconsistent eye size. Other known urinary catheters may include molded drain eyes.
These known manufacturing apparatus and techniques suffer from various drawbacks. For example, the size of the drain eye may be limited disadvantageously resulting in inferior drainage or rapid blockage due to encrustation. Alternatively, due to manufacturing constraints, the size of the drain eye may have to be increased to accommodate the manufacturing apparatus. An increase in size of the drain eye may cause the tip to become undesirably flexible, disadvantageously resulting in difficult insertion with the body due to tip deflection.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a urology catheter including an advantageous tip configuration and related method of manufacture that improves drainage characteristics, avoids encrustation and enhances stiffness to facilitate tip insertion with a patient. Desirably, a drain eye of the urology catheter is defined by an external radius and an internal radius of the tip. It would be highly desirable if the urology catheter and its constituent parts are easily and efficiently manufactured and assembled.


This invention generally relates to a garden tool, and more particularly to an improved tool for removing individual weeds and unwanted plants from the earth by directly engaging their roots without separating the roots from the stem and with minimal disturbance of surrounding earth and other plants.


Biomass thermal conversion is an attractive method for generating synthetic gas to run engines or to produce useful end products such as charcoal. Carbonaceous byproducts are typically inexpensive or free to source. Unfortunately, biomass byproducts come in a wide array of shapes and sizes, and extra machinery is usually required to pre-process the feedstock into forms acceptable to gasification or pyrolysis machines. This processing equipment is often expensive and difficult to operate, which challenges the ultimate attractiveness of biomass thermal conversion solutions.
Thus, there is a need in the field of biomass thermal conversion for system capable of utilizing a wide range of fuel shapes and sizes, without feedstock preprocessing on the front end. This invention provides such a solution through a novel “reactor-internal” fuel processing solution that reduces a wide range of input biomass feedstock to a common size of granulated char.


The present invention relates to a microfluidic device, which can be interfaced to a mass spectrometer (MS). The device comprises a microchannel structure having a first port (inlet port) and a second port (outlet port). A sample to be analysed is applied to the first port and presented to the mass spectrometer in the second port. This second port will be called an MS-port. There may be additional inlet and outlet ports. During passage through the microchannel structure the sample is prepared to make it suitable for analysis by mass spectrometry.
The sample presented in an MS-port will be called an MS-sample. An analyte in an MS-sample is an MS-analyte. xe2x80x9cSamplexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9canalytexe2x80x9d without prefix will primarily refer to a sample applied to an inlet port.
One important aspect of the present invention concerns mass spectrometry in which the MS-samples are subjected to Energy Desorption/Ionisation from a surface by input of energy. Generically this kind of process will be called EDI and the surface an EDI surface in the context of the invention. Typicallly EDIs are thermal desorption/ionisation (TDI), plasma desorption/ionisation (PDI) and various kinds of irradiation desorption/ionisation (IDI) such as by fast atom bombardment (FAB), electron impact etc. In the case a laser is used the principle is called laser desorption/ionisation (LDI). Desorption may be assisted by presenting the MS analyte together with various helper substances or functional groups on the surface. Common names are matrix assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) including surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionisation (SELDI). For MALDI see the publications discussed under Background Publications below. For SELDI see WO 0067293 (Ciphergen Biosystems).
The surface from which desorption/ionisation is intended to take place is called an EDI surface.
By microformat is meant that in least a part of the microchannel structures the depth and/or width is in the microformat range, i.e.  less than 103 xcexcm, preferably  less than 102 xcexcm. In the most typical microformat structures either the width and/or the depth are in principle within these ranges essentially everywhere between the sample inlet port and the MS-port.
For some time there has been a demand for microfluidic sample handling and preparation devices with integrated MS-ports. This kind of devices would facilitate automation and parallel experiments, reduce loss of analyte, increase reproducility and speed etc.
WO 9704297 (Karger et al) describes a microfluidic device that has an outlet port that is claimed useful when conducting electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI MS), atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation mass spectrometry (APCI MS), matrix assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry (MALDI MS) and a number of other analytical principles.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,343 (Ramsey et al) describes an electrospray interface between a microfluidic device and a mass spectrometer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,353 (Hsieh) describes an improved interface for electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The interface is in the form of an electrospray tip connected to a microchannel structure of a chip.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,185 (Yeung et al) describes a laser-induced vaporisation and ionization interface for directly coupling a microscale liquid based separation process to a mass spectrometer. A light-adsorbing component may be included in the eluting liquid in order to facilitate vaporisation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,813 (Apffel et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,825 (Hancock et al) describe a microfluidic chip containing an interface between a microfluidic device and an MALDI-TOF MS apparatus. The microfluidic device comprises
(a) an open ionisation surface that may be used as the probe surface in the vaccum gate of an MALDI-TOF MS apparatus (column 6, lines 53-58 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,813) or
(b) a pure capture/reaction surface from which the MS-analyte can be transferred to a proper probe surface for MALDI-TOF MS (column 12, lines 13-34, of U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,825).
These publications suggest that means, such as electrical connections, pumps etc, for transporting the liquid within a microchannel structure of the device are integrated with or connected to the device. This kind of transporting means imposes an extra complexity on the design and use, which in turn may negatively influence the production costs, easiness of handling etc of these devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,813 (Apffel et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,825 (Hancock et al) are scarce about
the proper fluidics around the MALDI ionisation surface,
the proper crystallisation on the MALDI ionisation surface,
the proper geometry of the port in relation to crystallisation, evaporation, the incident laser beam etc,
the proper arrangement of conductive connections to the MALDI ionisation surface for MALDI MS analysis.
WO 04297 (Karger et al) and WO 0247913 (Gyros AB) suggest to have microchannel structures in radial or spoke arrangement.
A number of publications referring to the use of centrifugal force for moving liquids within microfluidic systems have appeared during the last years. See for instance WO 9721090 (Gamera Bioscience), WO 9807019 (Gamera Bioscience) WO 9853311 (Gamera Bioscience), WO 9955827 (Gyros AD), WO 9958245 (Gyros AD), WO 0025921 (Gyros AB), WO 0040750 (Gyros AB), WO 0056808 (Gyros AB), WO 0062042 (Gyros AD) and WO 0102737 (Gyros AB) as well as WO 0147637 (Gyros AB), WO 0154810 (Gyros AB), WO 0147638 (Gyros AB), and WO 01411465.
See also Zhang et al, xe2x80x9cMicrofabricated devices for capillary electrophoresisxe2x80x94electrospray mass spectrometryxe2x80x9d, Anal. Chem. 71 (1999) 3258-3264) and references cited therein.
Kido et al., (xe2x80x9cDisc-based immunoassay microarraysxe2x80x9d, Anal. Chim. Acta 411 (2000) 1-11) has described microspot immunoassays on a compact disc (CD). The authors suggest that a CD could be used as a continuous sample collector for microbore HPLC and subsequent detection for instance by MALDI MS. In a preliminary experiment a piece of a CD manufactured in polycarbonate was covered with gold and spotted with a mixture of peptides and MALDI matrix.
A first object is to provide improved means and methods for transporting samples, analytes including fragments and derivatives, reagents etc in microfluidic devices that are capable of being interfaced with a mass spectrometer.
A second object is to provide improved microfluidic methods and means for sample handling before presentation of a sample analyte as an MS-analyte. Sub-objects are to provide an efficient concentration, purification and/or transformation of a sample within the microfluidic device while maintaining a reproducible yield/recovery, and/or minimal loss of precious material.
A third object is to provide improved microfluidic methods and means that will enable efficient and improved presentation of the MS-sample/MS-analyte. This object in particular applies to MS-samples that are presented on a surface, i.e. an EDI surface.
A fourth object is to enable reproducible mass values from an MS-sample that is presented on a surface, i.e. on an EDI surface.
A fifth object is to provide improved microfluidic means and methods for parallel sample treatment before presentation of the analyte to mass spectrometry. The improvements-of this object refer to features such as accuracy in concentrating, in chemical transformation, in required time for individual steps and for the total treatment protocol etc. By parallel sample treatment is meant that two or more sample treatments are run in parallel, for instance more than five, such as more than 10, 50, 80, 100, 200, 300 or 400 runs. Particular important numbers of parallel samples are below or equal to the standard number of wells in microtiter plates, e.g. 96 or less, 384 or less, 1536 or less, etc
A sixth object is to provide a cheap and disposable microfluidic device unit enabling parallel sample treatments and having one or more MS-ports that are adapted to a mass spectrometer.
The present inventors have recognized that several of the above-mentioned objects can be met in the case inertia force is used for transportation of a liquid within a microfluidic device of the kind discussed above. This is applicable to any liquid that is used in the microfluidic device, for instance washing liquids and liquids containing at least one of (a) the analyte including derivatives and fragments thereof, (b) a reagent used in the transformation of the sample/analyte, etc.
The present inventors have also recognized that one way of optimizing an EDI area within a microfluidic device is related to
(a) the design and/or positioning of a conducting layer in the EDI area, and/or
(b) the importance of a conductive connection to the EDI area for MS analysis.
This kind of connection supports the proper voltage and/or charge transport at the EDI area, for instance.
Improper conductive properties may interfere with the mass accuracy, sensitivity, resolution etc.
Conductive and non-conductive properties shell refer to the property of conducting electricity.
A first aspect of the invention is thus a method for transforming a liquid sample containing an analyte to an MS-sample containing an MS-analyte and presenting the MS-sample to a mass spectrometer. The method is characterized in comprising the steps of:
(a) applying the liquid sample to an inlet port of a covered microchannel structure of a microfluidic device,
(b) transforming the liquid sample to an MS-sample containing the MS-analyte within the microchannel structure, and
(c) presenting the MS-analyte to the mass spectrometer.
A further characteristic feature of this aspect is that transport of liquid within the microchannel structure is performed by the application of inertia force. Inertia force may be the driving force in only a part of the microchannel structure or the whole way from an inlet port to an MS-port and/or to any other outlet port. It is believed that the most general and significant advantages of using inertia force will be accomplished in so called transporting zones, i.e. between zones having predetermined functionalities, or for overcoming or passing through valve functions within a microchannel structure (capillary junctions, hydrophobic breaks etc). See below. The MS-port typically has a conductive connection for MS analysis.
At the priority date the most important inertia force for microfluidic devices is centrifugal force. In other words a force that causes outward radial transportation of liquid by spinning a disc in which the liquid is located within microchannel structures that are oriented radially (spinning is around an axis that is perpendicular to the plane of the disc). Inertia force caused by other changes of direction and/or magnitude of a force can be utilized.
The first aspect also includes the corresponding mass spectrometric method, i.e. the same method together with the actual collection of a mass spectrum and analysis thereof, for instance in order to gain molecular weight and structure information about the analyte.
The first aspect is further defined as discussed below for the microfluidic device as such and for the individual steps.
A second aspect of the invention is a microfluidic device containing one, two or more microchannel structures containing an inlet port, an MS-port and a flow path connected to one or both of the ports. The device may be disc-formed or otherwise provide a planar form. The characteristic feature is that the microchannel structures are oriented radially in an annular/circular arrangement. Thus each microchannel structure extends in a radial direction with an inlet port at an inner position and an outlet port such as an MS-port, at an outer peripheral position. The MS-port typically has a conductive connection as discussed above. The features discussed below further define this aspect of the invention.
A third aspect of the invention is a microfluidic device comprising a plurality of covered microchannel structures as defined herein and with each microchannel structure having an MS-port comprising an EDI area in which there is a conducting layer (layer I). This aspect of the present invention comprises a number of subaspects having the common characteristic feature that there may be a conductive connection to layer (I) of each individual EDI area, as discussed above. There are also features that are distinct for each subaspect.
A first subaspect is further characterized in that layer (I) of each EDI area is part of a continuous conducting layer that is common for two or more up to all of the EDI-areas.
A second subaspect is further characterized in that in each EDI area there is a non-conducting layer (layer II) between layer (I) and the surface of the EDI area. Layer (II) in each EDI area may be part of a continuous non-conducting layer that is common for two or more up to all of the EDI-areas.
A third subaspect is further characterised in that each MS-port has an opening that is restricted by a lid which is common for and covers a number of microchannel structures. The lid may have a conducting layer that at least embraces the openings that are present in the lid. The conducting layer may be continuous in the sense that it covers at least the areas around and between the openings of two or more up to all of the MS-ports. This layer may have a conductive connection as discussed above.
A fourth subaspect is similar to the third subaspect in the sense that there is a lid covering at least a part of each microchannel structures. In this subaspect the lid also covers or restricts the openings of the MS-ports and is removable to an extent that enables exposure of the opening in each MS-port, for instance exposing the surfaces of EDI areas. For EDI ports the removal will facilitate irradiation and the desorption/ionisation of the MS-analyte. The removal may also facilitate evaporation of volatile components.
The sample applied to an inlet port may contain one or more analytes, which may comprise lipid, carbohydrate, nucleic acid and/or peptide structure or any other inorganic or organic structure. The sample treatment protocol to take place within the microchannel structure typically means that the sample is transformed to one or more MS-samples in which
(a) the MS-analyte is a derivative of the starting analyte and/or
(b) the amount(s) of non-analyte species have been changed compared to the starting sample, and/or
(c) the relative occurrence of different MS-analytes in a sample is changed compared to the starting sample, and/or
(d) the concentration of an MS-analyte is changed relative the corresponding starting analyte in the starting sample, and/or
(e) sample constituents, such as solvents, have been changed and/or the analyte has been changed from a dissolved form to a solid form, for instance in a co-crystallized form.
Item (a) includes digestion into fragments of various sizes and/or chemical derivatization of an analyte. Digestion may be purely chemical or enzymatic. Derivatization includes so-called mass tagging of either the starting analyte or of a fragment or other derivative formed during a sample treatment protocol, which takes place in the microchannel structure. Items (b) and/or (c) include that the sample analyte has been purified and/or concentrated. Items (a)-(d), in particular, apply to analytes that are biopolymers comprising carbohydrate, nucleic acid and/or peptide structure.
The sample is typically in liquid form and may be aqueous.
The sample may also pass through the microchannel structure without being changed. In this case the structure only provide a proper form for dosing of the analyte to the mass spectrometer.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrangement on a vehicle with a rotatable crane, comprising a crane boom and associated hoist winch and rescue winch. Such vehicles are made in particular as rescue vehicles for civilian and military use, intended for rescuing vehicles--everything from lightweight automobiles to heavy tanks--which have driven off the road or become stuck in difficult terrain.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Previously known rescue vehicles are built on heavy truck chassis with drive on four or more wheels, and they are provided with cranes and winches for hoisting and hauling, and as a rule they also have support feet to improve stability and to prevent the vehicle from sinking down into the ground or surface on which it stands when said surface has less supporting capacity than, e.g., a roadway.
On previously known rescue vehicles, a rescue winch is mounted on the vehicle with its axis of revolution ordinarily transverse of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. This means that the cable can be pulled straight out from the winch along the length of the vehicle without having to pass directional pulleys, guide rolls or the like. In such conditions the fixedly mounted winch will work satisfactorily. If, however, it is necessary to haul in a tank, for example, in a direction other than lengthwise along the rescue vehicle, the cable from the winch must be guided in several rather sharp bends in order to come into the desired direction for pulling. Such sharp bends produce great wear on the cable and increase friction so that the pulling power of the winch cannot be utilized fully. Furthermore, situations may also arise in which one wishes to run the cable from the rescue winch over the crane arm or boom of the rescue vehicle, and in such situations it will be necessary, assuming it is possible at all, to apply further sharp bends on the cable.


Companies and other organizations rely on data feeds from numerous sources to obtain relevant, timely data for their businesses and operations. Such data sources, however, are commonly received in a variety of formats which requires the receiving organization to manually extract the relevant data from each type of document. Consequently, many organizations expend considerable resources to analyze incoming data and file formats, identify relevant data, and store it in a useful format in their existing databases. The extent of effort involved may consume a large amount of the organization's administrative resources. In addition, many organizations do not effectively correlate incoming data with their existing databases. Consequently, organizations frequently miss opportunities to effectively and rapidly assimilate incoming data into their operations and businesses. These and other drawbacks exist with known systems.