A papermaking belt. The papermaking belt has a reinforcing element comprising a surface and a plurality of irregularly shaped, discrete raised portions extending from portions of the surface of the reinforcing element. The discrete raised portions are situated in an irregular pattern, wherein each of the discrete raised portions has a major axis, A, and a minor axis, B, and wherein the length of the major axis, A, is greater than or equal to the length of the minor axis, B; and a substantially continuous deflection conduit defines at least some of the discrete raised portions.

A process for preparing a seam area for a paper machine clothing (PMC) base fabric includes the steps of: forming the PMC base fabric by flat-weaving, the PMC base fabric including warp yarns extending in machine direction and weft yarns extending in cross machine direction and interwoven with the warp yarns, the weft yarns including first weft yarns and a second weft yarn, the second weft yarn being a multifilament yarn, the warp yarns, the first weft yarns, and the multifilament yarn being woven together on a loom in an original weaving process, the multifilament yarn being positioned in an anticipated seam area; and folding over the PMC base fabric, after weaving the multifilament yarn with the warp yarns, to form a seam loop of the PMC base fabric such that the multifilament yarn is a first one of the weft yarns on a sheet side of the seam loop.

The present disclosure provides for a fibrous structure having an initial total wet tensile strength of greater than about 118 g/cm and at least one embossed ply having a surface thereof. The surface has a surface area comprising from about 10.0 percent to about 20.0 percent line embossments. Also, a fibrous structure having at least two plies is disclosed. One of the two plies has an initial total wet tensile strength of greater than about 118 g/cm and at least one embossed ply having a surface thereof. The surface has a surface area comprising from about 10.0 percent to about 20.0 percent line embossments.

A web product having at least two plies is disclosed. One of the at least two plies has a continuous pillow area disposed upon a surface thereof. A first portion of the continuous pillow area has a first width, W1, and a length, L1, and a second portion of the continuous pillow area in contacting engagement and in fluid communication with the first portion has a second width, W2, and a length, L2, wherein, W1≠W2 and L1=L2. The web product has a Basis Weight, BW, value greater than 51.6 gsm and a Dry Bulk, DB, value greater than 15.5 cc/g.

A method of making a belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet. A papermaking furnish is compactively dewatered to form a dewatered web having an apparently random distribution of papermaking fiber orientation. The dewatered web is applied to a translating transfer surface moving at a transfer surface speed. The web is belt-creped from the transfer surface utilizing a generally planar polymeric creping belt provided with a plurality of perforations through the belt, the belt-creping step occurring under pressure in a belt creping nip defined between the transfer surface and the creping belt. The belt travels at a belt speed that is slower than the transfer surface speed, and the web is creped from the transfer surface and redistributed on the creping belt to form a web. The web includes hollow domed regions, connecting regions, and transition areas. The web is dried to produce the belt-creped absorbent cellulosic sheet.

Paper coating or binding formulations are provided that comprise aqueous copolymer emulsions including copolymers derived from one or more copolymerizable surfactants of formula I and one or more monomers. The paper coating or binding formulations can include one or more mineral fillers, coating pigments, or mixtures thereof, wherein the total weight concentration of the one or more mineral fillers, coating pigments, or mixtures thereof is 65% or higher, based on the total weight of the composition. Paper products coated with the paper coating or binding formulations, methods of making the paper coating or binding formulations, and methods of making the coated paper products are also disclosed.

A pellet made of aramid pulp and filler material. The pellet has at most 90 weight percent aramid pulp and at least 10 weight percent filler material. A method for manufacturing a pellet that has at most 90 weight percent aramid pulp and at least 10 weight percent filler material.

The disclosure provides a dispersion for making décor paper having improved optical performance without negatively impacting mechanical strength comprising a TiO2 particle slurry comprising a treated TiO2 particle having a surface area of at least about 30 m2/g, and a cationic polymer; wherein the treatment comprises an oxide of silicon, aluminum, phosphorus or mixtures thereof; and the treatment is present in the amount of at least 15% based on the total weight of the treated titanium dioxide particle; paper pulp; and a cationic polymer; wherein the cationic polymer in the slurry and the cationic polymer in the dispersion are compatible; wherein for equal optical performance, the amount of treated TiO2 particle in the dispersion is reduced by about 10% when compared to a dispersion not comprising the treated TiO2 particle of (a). These dispersions are useful in making décor paper that may be used in paper laminates.

A method of production of a product from a stock pulp sheet uses conveyor rolls to convey a stock pulp sheet to a crusher. During conveyance to the crusher, a defective part in the stock pulp sheet is detected by a detector. The detected defective part is removed from the stock pulp sheet by a remover. The stock pulp sheet from which the defective part is removed is supplied to the crusher to produce crushed pulp. The produced crushed pulp is used to produce a product in a product producer.

Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, systems are described that can use feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials, to produce ethanol and/or butanol, e.g., by fermentation.

This technology relates to a method of sizing paper through the use of an aqueous solution of ketene dimer and vinylamine-containing polymers. It also relates to the stability of the ketene dimer/polyvinylamine solution.

Absorbent members, especially bulked absorbent members, and methods of making the same are disclosed. The absorbent member may be in the form of a unitary absorbent fibrous layer comprising at least some cellulose fibers. The unitary absorbent fibrous layer is at least partially stratified through its thickness. The absorbent member may also have a plurality of discrete deformations, such as depressions and/or apertures in its surfaces. The method involves subjecting a precursor web to at least one cycle (or pass) through a mechanical deformation process. The mechanical deformation process utilizes a first forming member and a second forming member that form a nip therebetween through which the precursor web is passed. The first and second forming members are moving at different speeds relative to each other when they come together to form the nip.

A method for mixing a chemical into a process liquid including: injecting the chemical into the process liquid flowing through a flow pipe; forming reaction products by a reaction involving the chemical occurring in the process flow; applying an electric field or magnetic field to a region of the flow pipe adjacent to the reaction occurring in the process flow, and suppressing the precipitation of the chemical or the reaction products on the surfaces of the pipe due to the electric or magnetic field.

A web product having a machine direction and a cross-machine direction orthogonal thereto is disclosed. The web product has at least one ply having a first plurality of pillow regions having a first total area in the machine and cross-machine directions and a second plurality of pillow regions having a second total area in the machine and cross-machine directions where the first and second total areas have a different value. The web product has a Dry Bulk, DB, value greater than 15.5 cc/g and a Total Tensile Strength, TT, value greater than 2000 g/25.4 mm.

The invention provides methods and compositions for improving the characteristics of paper substrates. The method involves adding to a paper substrate an NCC-polymer. NCC-polymers have unique chemical properties which result in improvements in wet strength, dry strength and drainage retention properties of the paper substrates.

A sheet manufacturing apparatus includes a defibrating unit configured to defibrate a defibration object including at least a fiber, in air. The sheet manufacturing apparatus forms a sheet by adding quantity of heat to a defibrated material defibrated at the defibrating unit. The sheet manufacturing apparatus includes a measuring unit configured to acquire moisture amount information of the defibrated material or the defibration object, and a controller configured to control the quantity of heat to be added to the defibrated material on the basis of the moisture amount information.

Compositions and methods related to new wet strength resins are provided. By using functionally-symmetrical cross-linkers and mono-functional modifiers, and separating the steps of reacting a prepolymer with the cross-linkers from the reaction of intermediate cross-linked prepolymer with epichlorohydrin, new wet strength resin products are provided having improved properties.

The invention relates to a method for precipitating calcium carbonate, in which method calcium hydroxide is introduced to a fiber suspension containing cellulose-containing fibers, the calcium hydroxide is allowed to attach onto the surfaces of fibers for a pre-determined time, and the aqueous suspension of calcium hydroxide and fibers is brought into contact with carbon dioxide for precipitating the calcium carbonate. The invention also relates to a corresponding system for precipitating calcium carbonate in connection with cellulose-containing fibers. In addition, the invention relates to a fibrous product, which comprises pulp material produced by said method and comprising calcium carbonate.

A pneumatic tire for improving steering stability performance on dry and wet road surfaces. The tire tread pattern has circumferential center main grooves, outside and inside main grooves, land sections demarcated by the main grooves, ground contact borders on both sides of the tire, and closed shoulder lug grooves. A ratio Wmax/Wout of a maximum main groove width Wmax and an outside main groove width Wout is at between 1.5 and 2.5 inclusive. A ratio Sin/Sout of a groove area ratio Sin of a region on a tire-widthwise second side of a tire centerline and a groove area ratio Sout of a region on a first side of the tire centerline is at least 1.10 and smaller than 1.25. A groove area ratio of a region on the second side of a tire-widthwise centerline of the intermediate land sections exceeds that of a region on the first side.

It is a problem to provide a pneumatic tire where disengagement between sipe wall surfaces is suppressed. In a sipe formed in a block of a tread portion, two ridge portions (32) and (34) are formed in one sipe wall surface (29P), and two valley portions that engage with the ridge portions (32) and (34) are formed in another sipe wall surface. The two ridge portions (32) and (34) form a merged portion (30) where they merge together in the center of a sipe lengthwise direction and at their tire radial direction outside ends, and the two ridge portions (32) and (34) extend linearly from the merged portion (30) toward both sipe-lengthwise-direction end sides (F) and (K) so as to gradually move apart inward in the tire radial direction. Because of this configuration, the contact length of the adjacent sipe wall surfaces in a sipe depth direction (R) becomes longer.

A pneumatic radial tire in which a plurality of land portion rows 2 are formed by a plurality of main grooves that extend in the circumferential direction on a tread portion of a tire, and a thin groove 3 that extends in the tire circumferential direction is formed in at least one shoulder land portion row 2A that is positioned on the tread end among the plurality of land portion rows. A land portion 5 that is positioned between, the thin groove 3 and the tread end 4 is partitioned into a plurality of blocks 5a by a lug groove 6 that extends in the tire width direction and whose maximum groove depth is set deeper than the groove depth of the thin groove, and the groove depth of the lug groove continuously changes so as to become a maximum at an intermediate position between the thin groove and the tread end. According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a pneumatic radial tire that can achieve improved drainage performance.

Tyre and rubber composition for tyre, based on at least one isoprene elastomer (for example natural rubber), an inorganic filler as reinforcing filler (for example silica) and a coupling system which provides the bonding between the said reinforcing inorganic filler and the isoprene elastomer, the said coupling system comprising, in combination: as first coupling agent, a silane sulphide compound;as second coupling agent, an at least bifunctional organosilicon compound (for example an organosilane or an organosiloxane) which can be grafted to the elastomer by means of an azodicarbonyl functional group (—CO—N═N—CO—).

A method for locking a tire to a wheel rim, includes the steps of mounting a tubular tire locking element on the wheel rim, which tubular locking member is arranged with a valve, which valve is pushed through a hole in the rim; mounting a tire on the rim such that the tire encloses the tubular tire locking element and a pressure chamber is obtained between the tire locking element and the tire; pressurizing the tubular tire locking element via the valve such that it expands, whereby the beads of the tire are pressed against the flanges of the wheel rim; inserting a hollow needle through the tire and into the pressure chamber, which hollow needle is connected to a pressurized air source; pressurizing the pressure chamber to desired pressure, removing the hollow needle; and sealing the hole caused by the needle with sealing fluid or plug.

A belt structure for a two-wheeled vehicle made by means of strip-like segments or elements, each including parallel cords embedded in an elastomeric layer, sequentially laid along the circumferential extension of a toroidal support so as to form a reinforcing layer having a continuous circumferential extension around a geometric rotation axis of the toroidal support, wherein each strip-like element is laid in a laying trajectory defining, at each point, a laying angle; at each point of the laying trajectory a laying gap is formed between adjacent strip-like elements; the laying trajectory is formed starting from preselected laying angles on the shoulder and on the crown of the tire; the laying gap between adjacent strip-like elements varies along at least one length of said laying trajectory between crown and shoulder so as to cause variation of the laying angle and obtain the preselected angles on the shoulder and on the crown.

A tire having a tread includes an outer tread layer and an inner tread layer. The inner tread layer includes one of a first elastomeric compound and a second elastomeric compound. The outer tread layer includes the other of the first and second elastomeric compounds. The second elastomeric compound has a lower rolling resistance and greater resistance to treadwear than the first elastomeric compound. The inner tread layer increases in thickness across at least a widthwise portion of the outer tread layer with a maximum thickness of one of the inner tread layer and the outer tread layer occurring near at least one of a first shoulder and a second shoulder of the tread. As the tread wears, the inner tread layer defines a greater proportion of a running surface of the tread.

A tire (10) for driving on ice, comprising: a tread (20) having a rolling surface configured to come into contact with the ground when the tire is rolling along, and two lateral faces (27), this tread comprising at least one groove (25, 26) in the rolling surface; at least one stud (30) having a longitudinal axis (33), a part (31) of the stud projecting from the rolling surface, the intersection between the stud and the plane tangential to the portion of the rolling surface around the stud forming a contour C, that part of the stud that projects from the rolling surface having a minimum cross section Sm, Sm corresponding to the smallest cross section of the said part in any plane containing the radial direction that passes through the point of intersection between the longitudinal axis of the stud and the plane tangential to the portion of the rolling surface around the stud; at least one conduit (200-205) that forms, on the rolling surface of the tire, at least two opposing edges (211, 221; 212, 222; 213, 223), the minimum distance D between the conduit and the contour C being less than or equal to 1 cm, the conduit opening into the groove and/or onto a lateral face of the tread; wherein, for each stud, the sum of the mean cross sections Sn of the conduits, each mean cross section Sn being measured at right angles to one of the opposing edges formed by the conduit, is greater than or equal to half the minimum cross section Sm of that part of the stud that projects from the tread.

The present invention provides a rubber composition that improves in terms of the fuel economy of a rubber composition containing an isoprene-based rubber and also offers favorable durability and favorable processability or adhesion to steel cords, and a pneumatic tire formed from the rubber composition. The present invention relates to a rubber composition for a bead apex, sidewall packing, base tread, or breaker cushion, including: a specific rubber component; a specific amount of a specific carbon black; a specific amount of sulfur; and a specific amount of a compound represented by formula (I) below. The present invention also relates to a rubber composition for a steel cord topping, strip adjacent to steel cords, or tie gum, including: a specific rubber component; a specific amount of a specific carbon black; a specific amount of an organic acid cobalt salt; and a specific amount of a compound represented by the formula (I).

Provided is a pneumatic tire whose braking performance on ice and partial-wear resistance can be improved. Sipes 11X provided in a rib 5 on a tire equatorial plane TE are formed in such a three-dimensional shape that the amount at which the rib 5 collapses due to an external force is smaller in the tire rotational direction than in a direction opposite to the tire rotational direction. In each block 10 in each shoulder region 1S, sipes 11Ma in a block tread-in side portion 10A are each formed in such a three-dimensional shape that the amount at which the block 10, if entirely provided with the sipes 11Ma, collapses due to an external force will be smaller in the tire rotational direction than in the direction opposite to the tire rotational direction. Sipes 11Mb in a block kick-out side portion 10B are each formed in such a three-dimensional shape that the amount at which the block 10, if entirely provided with the sipes 11Mb, collapses due to an external force will be smaller in the direction opposite to the tire rotational direction than in the tire rotational direction.

A tire containing a pair of beads, at least one carcass ply extending from one bead to the other bead forming a pair of sidewall areas of the tire and a tread area of the tire, and at least one layer of a knit fabric in the sidewall area of the tire, where the knit fabric has a warp and weft direction and is a double cord stitch knit fabric. A method of making the fabric and tire are also disclosed.

In the invention, at least a tire outer circumferential side portion of a tread portion is formed of a non-conductive rubber layer. The non-conductive rubber layer is formed by winding and laminating a non-conductive rubber ribbon along a tire circumferential direction. A conductive layer is provided on an outer circumference of the non-conductive rubber ribbon, and the conductive layer continuously and spirally extends along the tire circumferential direction, and is exposed on a tread surface from a bottom surface of the non-conductive rubber layer toward a tire outer circumferential side. Accordingly, an electricity generated in a vehicle body is discharged to a road through the conductive layer. Since the conductive layer is scattered within the non-conductive rubber layer and exposure on the tread surface is preferably secured, it is possible to achieve an excellent conductivity.

The present invention provides an adhesive composition that may improve both adhesiveness to a film layer and adhesiveness to a rubber layer, and an adhesion method using the same, as well as a laminate and a tire. The adhesive composition according to the present invention includes a rubber component, at least 80 mass % of which rubber component is an epoxidized natural rubber.

A pneumatic tire in which: a carcass layer is laid between paired bead sections; a belt layer is buried, on the outer peripheral side of the carcass layer, in a tread section; and multiple main grooves extending in a tire circumferential direction are provided in the tread section. In the pneumatic tire, a maximum groove depth of each of the main grooves is 8.5 mm to 15.0 mm, a ratio α of a section height SH of an actual tire to a section height SHstd calculated from a tire size is set in a range of 0.97≦α≦0.99, a contact area ratio is 65% to 70% under a measurement condition where an air pressure is 200 kPa and a load is 50% of a load carrying ability with the air pressure of 200 kPa, and an average contact pressure P is 300 kPa to 400 kPa under the measurement condition. The tire achieves enhanced wet performance without increasing tire weight.

A pneumatic tire comprises an annular tread portion including a plurality of circumferentially extending main grooves comprising an innermost groove, an outermost groove, and at least one middle groove arranged between the innermost groove and the outermost groove. The outermost groove comprises an inner sidewall, an outer sidewall, a groove bottom, and a groove opening opposite to the groove bottom, wherein the outermost groove has an asymmetric cross section with respect to any straight line perpendicular to the groove opening, and wherein the outer sidewall of the outermost groove is tilted by more than 20° with respect to a straight line perpendicular to the groove opening.

A tire 1 comprises rib-shaped land portions 20 extending in a tire circumferential direction TC and has a circumferential groove 30 adjacent to the land portions 20 and extending in the tire circumferential direction TC. Tread contact surfaces 10 of the land portions 20 form smooth surfaces with no gap when a normal load is applied and the tread contact surfaces are in contact with a road surface. The circumferential groove 30 includes a shallow groove portion 40 extending in the tread-width direction TW, and a deep groove portion 50 adjacent to the shallow groove portion 40 in the tire circumferential direction and extending in the tread-width direction. A deep groove portion 50 is recessed more inwardly in a tire radial direction TR than the shallow groove portion 40 with a groove bottom 40c of the shallow groove portion 40 being an upper end of the deep groove portion 50.

This invention relates to a rubber composition including a polyisoprene rubber having a very high cis-1,4-bond content and having an excellent balance between dynamic properties and processability, and more particularly to a rubber composition comprising as a rubber component (A) a synthetic polyisoprene rubber having a cis-1,4-bond content of not less than 99.0%, a 3,4-bond content of not more than 0.5% and a Mooney viscosity ML1+4 (100° C.) of 20-110 and (B) a natural rubber.

A rubber-steel hybrid cord of the present invention is characteristically formed by twisting a plurality of sheath filaments or sheath strands around a core in which a periphery of and space surrounded by one or a plurality of core filaments or a core strand are coated or filled with a filler rubber (A) containing an adhesion promoter, thereby forming a multilayer-twist steel cord or a multi-twist steel cord, and coating an outer surface of the multilayer-twist steel cord or the multi-twist steel cord with a coating rubber (C). Further, an amount of an adhesion promoter contained in the coating rubber (C) is equal to or more than an amount of the adhesion promoter contained in the filler rubber (A).

A tire with a radial carcass reinforcement made up of at least one layer of metal reinforcing elements, the tire comprising a crown reinforcement itself capped radially with a tread, the tread being connected to two beads via two sidewalls. At least 70% of the metal reinforcing elements of at least one layer of the carcass reinforcement are non wrapped cables which, in what is known as the air-wicking test, display a flow rate of less than 2 cm3/min, and at least 10% of the metal reinforcing elements of the at least one layer of the carcass reinforcement are cables which, in what is known as the air-wicking test, display a flow rate of greater than 4 cm3/min.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may comprise instructions stored thereon. When executed by at least one processor, the instructions may be configured to cause a backend server to at least receive, from an administrator webserver, an extension, store the extension and an associated timestamp in a repository, the associated timestamp indicating a time at which the extension was received from the administrator webserver, receive a request for the extension from a customer webserver, the request for the extension identifying the extension, and in response to receiving the request for the extension, fetch the extension from the repository, and send the extension to the customer webserver.

At a carousel origin server, an indication is obtained that at least one of a plurality of consumer premises equipment connected to a video content network requires a software upgrade. Responsive to obtaining the indication, the carousel origin server loads onto a carousel at least one image required for the software upgrade. The at least one image required for the software upgrade is broadcast from the carousel to the at least one of the plurality of consumer premises equipment, for a predetermined period. Subsequent to the predetermined period, the at least one image required for the software upgrade is removed from the carousel.

Interaction between development environments and runtime environments to ensure that underlying process components are in an acceptable state before deploying application updates. A deploy state monitor in a development environment interacts with runtime values in executing applications to manage deployment requests and states of executing applications.

Techniques are presented for managing a deployment pipeline using an inheritable and extensible source code template—generally referred to as a live pipeline template (LPT). As described, live pipeline templates may be used to manage deployment pipelines which, in turn, are used to launch, maintain, and update the services and systems used to host and provide computing services.

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for creating, exporting, viewing and testing, and importing custom applications in a multitenant database environment. These mechanisms and methods can enable embodiments to provide a vehicle for sharing applications across organizational boundaries. The ability to share applications across organizational boundaries can enable tenants in a multi-tenant database system, for example, to easily and efficiently import and export, and thus share, applications with other tenants in the multi-tenant environment.

A method for identifying user managed software modules includes: receiving a query that includes an input module name or an input address range. The method further includes, responsive to determining that the input module name or input address range of the received query is not stored in one or more data structures identifying one or more software modules that have been loaded into memory without a directed load, searching a data structure identifying software modules that have been loaded into memory via directed loads for the respective input module name or input address range.

An approach that analyzes and manages unresolved (i.e., pending, outgoing) change-sets is provided. Specifically, this approach parses the change-set into a plurality (i.e., one or more) of changes having interdependencies within a java class file to determine the impact each change may have. More specifically, a change-set management tool provides this capability. The change-set management tool includes a parsing module configured to receive an outgoing change-set and to parse the change-set into a plurality of changes having interdependencies within a java class file. The change-set management tool further comprises an evaluation module configured to evaluate an impact that each of the plurality of changes within the change-set has on source code external to the change-set in the java class file based on the interdependencies.

The described technology is directed towards maintaining and using a version-based hierarchy of software resources (e.g., file system files) to return version-specific responses to clients. A client sends its version information with each data request, and gets back a response based upon that version. Version changes are made by maintaining the current version of each software code resource and overriding the current version with a previous version for clients as needed. The technology allows updates (e.g., for new devices and new software resource versions) to be supported by inserting resources into the resource hierarchy and moving resources therein based upon versioning. A system based on deltas is also contemplated, in which only parts of a file may be changed relative to a different version, instead of overriding the entire file.

At least one application is received from a user. The at least one application is stored on a communication platform. A catalog is received. The catalog includes at least one service. Each service of the at least one service is associated with a platform. An indication of a selection, from the user, is received. The selection comprises a first service associated with a first platform, and a second service associated with a second platform. The first service stores the at least one application from the user. The second service runs the at least one application from the user. Responsive to receiving the indication, the at least one application is deployed to the indicated first platform. Additionally, responsive to receiving the indication, a service bridge from the communication platform to the second platform is deployed. The at least one application is run, on the first platform utilizing the service bridge.

A system and method is provided for reconstructing one or more collections of objects across platforms. More particularly, Java Annotations are used to assist a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) wizard in reconstructing a collection of objects. In implementation, the system and method parses the object types such that a wizard can recreate or reconstruct the collection of objects for use by a receiving service. The method includes reconstructing a collection using one or more annotations that document a base object of the collection.

Dynamically identifying performance anti-patterns in a software system is based on a set of documented symptoms that are evaluated in real-time. The evaluation is based on the observed system behavior and its comparison against the documented symptoms of different types of performance issues.

According to example embodiments of the present invention, an object to be monitored is determined, the object being associated with a variable in a code snippet including a plurality of statements. The object is monitored in execution of the plurality of statements. If a plurality of updates of the object are detected in the execution of the plurality of statements, a snapshot associated with each of the updates of the object is created. The snapshot includes a current value of the object and a memory address for the current value of the object.

A method includes receiving an updated application instance, a database instance, or any combination thereof, provisioning a first subset of application servers with the updated application instance or access to the updated database instance, and identifying a subset of users from a plurality of users to provide access to the updated instance for testing purposes. The method further includes authenticating users of the plurality of users, providing users of the subset of users with access to the updated instance and other users of the plurality of users with access to a production instance during a testing period, and, after the testing period, providing the other users with access to the updated instance.