What is claimed is:
1. A process for comparative valuation of information, comprising:
providing a community of validated members, said community administered by a referee,
a member submitting the information to the community in response to a field in a standard query,
the referee validating the information and comparing the information with other validated information submitted by other members of the community, while retaining the anonymity of the other members and of the information itself, and
the member receiving from the referee the comparative valuation of the submitted information in relation to other member’s information.
2. The process of claim 1, wherein the member of the community is validated based on initial information submitted by the member to the referee.
3. The process of claim 2, wherein the initial information comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of mailing address, email address, and credit card information.
4. The process of claim 1, wherein the member submits the information by at least partially populating fields in a form.
5. The process of claim 1, wherein submitting information further includes the member providing a non-standardized input, the referee extracting the non-standardized input and, if a predetermined fraction of the other members also provide a substantially identical non-standardized input, adding a filed corresponding to the non-standardized input to the standard query.
6. The process of claim 1, wherein the referee removes a field from the standard query if a predetermined fraction of the members fails to populate the field when submitting the information.
7. The process of claim 1, wherein the member uses the comparative valuation of the submitted information to update the information submitted to the community.
8. The process of claim 1, wherein the community is selected from employment service, health service, travel and rentallease service.
9. The process of claim 8, wherein the submitted information relates to at least one of a skill, a need or requirement of the member.
10. A process for anonymously matching information meeting a criteria between members in a community, comprising:
a querying member initiating a query,
creating an Item ID for the query, which does not reveal the identity of the querying member,
creating a separate Item ID for each queried member who successfully meets the criteria,
creating a Session ID by amalgamating the Item ID of the querying member with the Item ID of the queried member meeting the criteria,
generating a metrics for the querying members and queried members meeting the criteria to indicate a degree of success of queries, and
communicating the generated metrics to the querying member.
11. The process of claim 10, wherein the query identifies new or modified fields of information and searches a community database for interest indicators related to the member’s query.
12. The process of claim 10, further comprising the querying member or a queried member meeting the criteria modifying information according to preferences on how the matching is carried out in regard to the information, and if any matches are generated against the modified information, generating a new Session ID for sending notifications to all queried members identified in the modified matching process.
13. The process of claim 10, further comprising the querying member, after receiving the results of a query, electing to contact a particular queried members meeting the criteria, the contacted member responding with an Interest or Non-interest Indicator, and if responding with an Interest Indicator, continuing the contact with the querying member using a Session ID generated for transmission of the Interest Indicator.
14. The process of claim 13, further comprising generating a message to all members who met the criteria, but were not selected to be contacted by the querying member, with the not-selected members able to request viewable information about the querying member using the Session ID.
15. The process of claim 10, further including associating a privacy tag with the information, said privacy tag determining the entitlement of viewability of the information by the members or authorized parties of the community.
16. The process of claim 1, further including associating a privacy tag with the information, said privacy tag determining how the information may be viewed by the members of the community.
17. The process of claim 1, wherein the referee is a designated member of the community or a designated proxy agent or another authorized party outside the community.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A method of treating a fiber comprising the steps of:
(a) providing a fiber; and
(b) applying an aqueous treating composition to the fiber, wherein the aqueous treating composition comprises:
(i) a fluorochemical compound;
(ii) an organosilicate compound; and
(iii) an acid to provide a pH for the aqueous treating composition of below about 3.5.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the fluorochemical compound is selected from the group consisting of telomeric and electrochemically fluorinated fluorochemicals.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the fluorochemical compound is present in the aqueous treating composition in an amount ranging from about 0.02 to about 0.1 percent by weight solids based on a total weight of the aqueous treating composition.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the organosilicate compound is present in the aqueous treating composition in an amount ranging from about 0.006 to about 1.0 percent by weight solids based on a total weight of the aqueous treating composition.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps:
(c) heating the fiber; and
(d) removing excess water from the treated fiber.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the fiber is heated at a temperature between about 160 F. (71 C.) and about 260 F. (127 C.) for between about 15 seconds and about 60 minutes.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the fiber is heated with steam.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the fiber comprises a carpet yarn, and the carpet yarn is tufted into a carpet before the aqueous treating composition is applied.
9. The method of claim 5, wherein the fiber comprises a carpet yarn, and a weight ratio of the aqueous treating composition to the carpet yarn during the heating step is at least 0.5:1.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein a weight ratio of the aqueous treating composition to the carpet yarn during the heating step is between about 2:1 and about 60:1.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the fiber comprises a carpet yarn, and the carpet yarn is immersed in the aqueous treating composition by placing the carpet yarn in a vessel containing the aqueous treating composition.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the carpet yarn is removed from the vessel before a heating step, wherein the aqueous treating composition and the carpet yarn are present at a weight ratio of at least about 0.5:1 during the heating step.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein a weight ratio of the aqueous treating composition to the carpet yarn during the heating step is between about 2:1 to about 10:1.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the carpet yarn and the aqueous treating composition are heated in the vessel.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the fiber comprises polyester, polypropylene, polyamide, or a combination thereof.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein the fiber comprises polyamide and the aqueous treating composition further comprises an anionic polymer-binding compound in an amount of up to about 4.0 percent by weight solids based on a total weight of the aqueous treating composition.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the fiber comprises polyester fibers and the aqueous treating composition further comprises a dye for the polyester fibers.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein the pH is below about 2.5.
19. The method of claim 1, wherein the pH is below about 2.0.
20. The method of claim 1, wherein the pH is between about 1.5 and about 1.8.
21. The method of claim 1, wherein the organosilicate compound is formed from (i) silanes having a first formula R-Si(OR)3 and (ii) silanes having a second formula Si(OR)4 wherein R represents a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon radical having from 1 to 7 carbon atoms with substituents selected from halogens, amino groups, mercapto groups, and epoxy groups, and R represents an alkyl radical having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms.
22. A method of treating a fiber comprising the steps of:
(a) providing a fiber, wherein the fiber is a carpet yarn comprising polymeric fibers;
(b) applying an aqueous treating composition to the carpet yarn, wherein the aqueous treating composition comprises:
(i) a fluorochemical compound;
(ii) an organosilicate compound; and
(iii) an acid to provide the aqueous treating composition with a pH of below about 2.0; and
(c) removing excess water from the treated carpet yarn.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the pH is between about 1.5 and about 1.8.
24. The method of claim 22, wherein the fluorochemical compound is present in the aqueous treating composition in an amount of up to about 2.0 percent by weight solids based on a total weight of the aqueous treating composition.
25. The method of claim 22, wherein the organosilicate compound is present in the aqueous treating composition in an amount of up to about 2.0 percent by weight solids based on a total weight of the aqueous treating composition.
26. The method of claim 25, wherein the organosilicate compound is formed from (i) silanes having a first formula R-Si(OR)3 and (ii) silanes having a second formula Si(OR)4 wherein R represents a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon radical having from 1 to 7 carbon atoms with substituents selected from halogens, amino groups, mercapto groups, and epoxy groups, and R represents an alkyl radical having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms.
27. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of applying heat to the carpet yarn after being removed from the aqueous treating composition.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein the carpet yarn is heated with steam.
29. A method of increasing fluorine exhaustion onto a fiber comprising the steps of:
(a) applying an organosilicate compound to the fiber under acidic conditions;
wherein the fluorine exhaustion efficiency of the method is greater than about 70%.
30. The method of claim 29, wherein the pH is below about 3.5.
31. The method of claim 29, wherein the fluorine exhaustion efficiency is greater than about 80%.
32. The method of claim 29, wherein the fluorine exhaustion efficiency is greater than about 90%.
33. The method of claim 29, wherein the organosilicate compounds are formed from (i) silanes having a first formula RSi(OR)3 and (ii) silanes having a second formula Si(OR)4 wherein R represents a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon radical having from 1 to 7 carbon atoms with substituents selected from halogens, amino groups, mercapto groups, and epoxy groups, and R represents an alkyl radical having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms.
34. The method of claim 29, wherein the fiber comprises polyamide, polyester, polypropylene, or a combination thereof.