All The Claims

1. A process for homogenizing and pelletizing a polyethylene composition comprising the steps of:
a) providing a polyethylene composition having a density of from 0.955 gcm3 to 0.97 gcm3, a polydispersity index MwMn, in the range of from 15 to 40, and a melt flow rate MFR21.6 at 190_\xb0 C. under a load of 21.6 kg of from 5 g10 min to 25 g10 min;
b) melting the polyethylene composition;
c) passing the melt through a combination of screens consisting of a first screen having a mesh opening of 210 \u03bcm and at least five screens having a mesh opening of from 210 \u03bcm to 250 \u03bcm; and
e) pelletizing the molten polyethylene composition.
2. A process for homogenizing and pelletizing a polyethylene composition according to claim 1 further comprising one or more steps of mixing the melt of the polyethylene composition before or after passing the melt through the combination of screens.
3. A process for homogenizing and pelletizing a polyethylene composition according to claim 1, wherein the polyethylene composition is bimodal or multimodal.
4. A process for homogenizing and pelletizing a polyethylene composition according to claim 1, wherein polyethylene composition is an ethylene copolymer of ethylene with 1-butene, 1-pentene, 1-hexene andor 1-octene.
5. A process for homogenizing and pelletizing a polyethylene composition according to claim 1, wherein polyethylene composition is obtained by polymerizing in suspension or in gas-phase at temperatures in the range of from \u221220\xb0 C. to 200\xb0 C., and under pressures of from 0.1 MPa to 20 MPa.
6. A process for homogenizing and pelletizing a polyethylene composition according to claim 1, wherein the polyethylene composition is obtained by polymerizing in a cascade of at least two polymerization reactors.
7. A process for homogenizing and pelletizing a polyethylene composition according to claim 1 wherein the polyethylene composition is obtained by polymerizing using a mixed catalyst system.
8. The process of claim 1 comprising forming an article, wherein the article is a film, fiber, pipe, blow-molded article, injection molded article, compression molded article or rotomolded article comprising the polyethylene composition resulting from step e).

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 fiberoptic access network, comprising:
a central office; and
at least one end-user device in optical communication with said central office,
wherein said communications between said central office and said optical node comprise downstream video data, downstream non-video data, and upstream data, and wherein said downstream digital video is transmitted at a first wavelength;
said downstream non-video data is transmitted at a second wavelength; and
said upstream data is transmitted at a third wavelength, wherein none of said wavelengths are equal.
2. A fiberoptic, ethernet-based time division multiple access (TDMA) communications system, comprising:
a central office;
at least one end-user device in optical communication with said central office;
an aggregating optical node disposed between and in communication with said central office and said at least one end-user device,
wherein said communications between said central office and said optical node comprise downstream video data, downstream non-video data, and upstream data, and wherein said downstream digital video is transmitted at a first wavelength;
said downstream non-video data is transmitted at a second wavelength; and
said upstream data is transmitted at a third wavelength, wherein none of said wavelengths are equal.
3. A fiberoptic access network, comprising:
a central office; and
at least one end-user device in optical communication with said central office,
wherein said communications between said central and each of said at least one end-user devices is carried on a different respective frequency band.
4. A fiberoptic, ethernet-based time division multiple access (TDMA) communications system, comprising:
a central office;
at least one end-user device in optical communication with said central office;
an aggregating optical node disposed between and in communication with said central office and said at least one end-user device,
wherein said communications between said optical node and each of said at least one end-user devices is carried on a different respective frequency band.
5. A fiberoptic access network, comprising:
a central office; and
at least one end-user device in optical communication with said central office,
wherein communications to said central office from said at least one end-user device are transmitted on a plurality of subcarriers, wherein each of at least one end-user device transmits said communications to said central office on a different respective one of said subcarriers.
6. The network of claim 5, wherein said network is a fiberoptic, ethernet-based time division multiple access (TDMA) communications system, said network further comprising an aggregating optical node disposed between and in communication with said central office and said at least one end-user device.
7. A fiberoptic access network, comprising:
a central office;
at least one end-user device in optical communication with said central office; and
at least one coupler disposed between and in optical communication with said central office and said at least one end-user device,
wherein downstream communications from said central office to said at least one end-user device are transmitted on a first wavelength, and upstream communications from said at least one end-user device to said central office are transmitted on at least one upstream wavelength, wherein each end-user device transmits on its own respective wavelength.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein a first laser provides optical energy to carry communications, wherein said at least one end user device comprises a first adaptive equalizer that cancels noise generated by said first laser.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein a second laser provides optical energy to carry upstream communications, wherein said central office comprises a second adaptive equalizer that cancels noise generated by said second laser.
10. A fiberoptic, ethernet-based time division multiple access communications system, comprising:
a central office;
at least one end-user device in optical communication with said central office;
at least one coupler disposed between and in optical communication with said central office and said at least one end-user device; and
an aggregating optical node disposed between and in communication with said central office and said at least one end-user device,
wherein downstream communications from said optical node to said at least one end-user device are transmitted on a first wavelength, and upstream communications from said at least one end-user device to said optical node are transmitted on at least one upstream wavelength, wherein each end-user device transmits on its own respective wavelength.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein a first laser provides optical energy to carry communications, wherein said at least one end user device comprises a first adaptive equalizer that cancels noise generated by said first laser.
12. The system of claim 10, wherein a second laser provides optical energy to carry upstream communications, wherein said central office comprises a second adaptive equalizer that cancels noise generated by said second laser.

1. A method for manufacturing silicate-containing fiber, the method comprising:
adding silicon dioxide to viscose manufactured of cellulose;
directing the viscose and silicon dioxide via nozzles to an acidic regeneration solution, where silicate-containing fibers having a silicate concentration are formed; and
decreasing a solubility of the silicate in the fibers to the regeneration solution by adding soluble silicate to the regeneration solution.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the silicate added to the regeneration solution is dissoluble alkali metal silicate or water-soluble precipitated silicate.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein 50 to 1,000 mgl of silicate, calculated as SiO2, is added to the regeneration solution.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein 100 to 700 mgl of silicate, calculated as SiO2, is added to the regeneration solution.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the amount of silicate added to the regeneration solution is such that the regeneration solution is saturated by the soluble silicate.
6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:
removing the silicate precipitated into the regeneration solution from the regeneration solution in connection with its circulation.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein silicate is added to the regeneration solution directly to the spinning stage before the mixture of viscose and silicon dioxide is directed to the regeneration solution.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the regeneration solution also contains sulfuric acid, sodium sulfate and zinc sulfate.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein silicate is added to and removed from the regeneration solution.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein adding and removing silicate from the regeneration solution is performed in a controlled manner in such a way that the silicate concentration of the regeneration solution remains on a suitable level.
11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the silicate concentration of the silicate-containing fiber is controlled onto a desired level by controlling the amount of silicate added to the regeneration solution.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

We claim:

1. A guidewire position locator comprising:
a support assembly arranged to support an elongate workpiece having a leading end and a trailing end;
a plurality of optical sensors arranged on said support assembly; and
a light source spaced from said elongate workpiece and said plurality of optical sensors and being operative to transmit a single beam of light for detection by said plurality of optical sensors upon movement of the trailing end of the elongate workpiece past at least one of said optical sensors.
2. The guidewire position locator of claim 1 further comprising at least one mirror arranged at a selected angle with respect to said light source and at least one of said optical sensors to reflect incident light waves from said light source to be successively detected by said plurality of optical sensors.
3. The guidewire position locator of claim 2 wherein said at least one mirror comprises a plurality of mirrors arranged to reflect incident light waves from said light source to said plurality of optical sensors.
4. The guidewire position locator of claim 2 further comprising a substantially transparent plate arranged between said light source and said at least one mirror.
5. The guidewire position locator of claim 1 wherein said plurality of optical sensors comprise at least one pixel linear array (PLA) sensor.
6. The guidewire position locator of claim 5 further comprising a computer system arranged to process signals generated by said at least one optical PLA sensor in response to detection of light waves from said light source, said signals being indicative of the position of the trailing end of the elongate workpiece with respect to a reference location.
7. A guidewire position locator comprising:
a support assembly arranged to support an elongate workpiece having a leading end and a trailing end;
a plurality of optical sensors arranged on said support assembly;
a light source from said elongate workpiece and said plurality of optical sensors, and being operative to transmit a beam of light;
at least one mirror arranged to reflect incident light waves from said beam of light for detection by at least one of said optical sensors; and
circuitry associated with said optical sensors for generating a signal related to the detected light waves indicative of the position of the trailing end of the elongate workpiece.
8. The guidewire position locator of claim 7 wherein said at least one mirror comprises a plurality of mirrors arranged to reflect incident light waves to said plurality of optical sensors.
9. The guidewire position locator of claim 8 wherein said plurality of optical sensors comprise a plurality of optical PLA sensors.
10. The guidewire position locator of claim 9 further comprising a computer system including said circuitry arranged to process signals generated by said plurality of PLA sensors in response to detection of light waves, said signals being indicative of the position of the trailing end of the elongate workpiece with respect to a reference location.
11. The guidewire position locator of claim 10 wherein certain of said plurality of PLA sensors are arranged on opposing sides of the elongate workpiece from other ones of said PLA sensors.
12. The guidewire position locator of claim 7 wherein adjacent ones of said optical sensing are no further than about 0.15 inch from each other.