Superabsorbent solid organic polymers which absorb over 100 times their weight in water are used in flowable, aquatic environment insect population control compositions of varying viscosities. Methods for using the superabsorbent polymer insecticidal delivery agents for the control of aquatic environment insect populations, including mosquito population control methods, in an area needing aquatic environment insect population control treatment, or in a dry area that is expected to need aquatic environment insect population control, are described.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a variable-viscosity, insecticidal delivery formulation composed of a liquid carrier, e.g., water or oil, and one or more solid superabsorbent polymers with one or more liquid or solid insecticidal or noninsecticidal film-forming or surface-active agents, ovicides, larvicides, pupicides, insecticides, biological control agents, pathogens, parasites, microbial control agents, insect growth regulators, conventional toxicants, pesticides, or chemosterilants, with or without herbicides or attractants, repellents, pheromones, alcohols, diluents, or other additives. The present invention also relates to a method of applying the insecticidal delivery composition with one or more active insecticidal ingredients, with or without one or more herbicides or other additives, as variable-viscosity sprays or sols to an aquatic environment having a natural population of aquatic environment insects, for the purpose of controlling that population of insects. The present invention also relates to the use of the insecticidal delivery composition for a pretreatment application to an aquatic insect dry habitat in order to control that population of aquatic insects that will breed when the insect habitat becomes flooded by rain or tides. This invention further relates to a facile method of combining two or more active insecticidal ingredients in a liquid carrier, e.g., water or oil, with one or more film-forming agents, and one or more superabsorbent polymers, with or without one or more herbicides or other additives, to formulate variable-viscosity insecticidal delivery compositions that are flowable (i.e., sprayable, pumpable, or injectable) for ground or aerial application. The application of superabsorbent polymers makes possible the mixing of active insecticidal and herbicidal ingredients that would otherwise be difficult or substantially impossible to mix homogeneously in a liquid carrier, e.g., water or oil, as joint- or multiple-action formulations for spray application. Furthermore, this invention relates to the use of one or more superabsorbent polymers in the formulation of a variety of sprayable/flowable insecticide compositions to synergize, enhance, activate, carry, disperse, release, stabilize, bind, couple, encapsulate, agglomerate, regulate, thicken, suspend, preserve, protect, etc., one or more of the active and/or inactive formulation components in the flowable formulation and/or in the target aquatic, semi-aquatic, or pretreatment environment(s) in which the formulation is applied, in a manner that will provide improved flowable formulations, more efficient formulating (mixing) procedures, more efficient application, and/or generally improve the insecticidal efficacy (performance) of the resultant formulation against the target organism(s).
2. General Background
In particular, the present invention is directed against mosquitoes that breed in permanent or semipermanent, natural or artificial, aquatic habitats. Mosquitoes of major importance to be controlled by the present invention are species of the genera of Aedes, Anopheles, Culex, Culiseta, Coquillettidia, Deinocerites, Mansonia, Orthopodomyia, Psorophora, Uranotaenia and Wyeomyia. It is the main objective of this invention to direct the use of the flowable insecticidal delivery compositions(s) for the control of the immature aquatic states of various species of mosquitoes before they become biting adults capable of being a nuisance and/or transmitting a disease. This technique is cost-effective and reduces the environmental and health hazards that can result when insecticides are extensively broadcast over large areas for the control of the adult stages.
In addition to mosquitoes, other species of aquatic environment insects such as biting and nonbiting midges, black flies, moth flies, crane flies, horse flies, deer flies, hover or flower flies can constitute a nuisance and often a health threat to humans and livestock. Thus, their growth as a population, if unchecked, can be detrimental. The medical and veterinary importance of various species of mosquitoes and other important aquatic environment insects are discussed in detail by Robert F. Harwood and Maurice T. James in, Entomology In Human and Animal Health, Seventh Edition, 1979, MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York, N.Y., which is incorporated herein by reference. Therefore, the scope of the present invention also relates to the use of the flowable insecticidal delivery composition with one or more active insecticidal ingredients, with or without one or more herbicides or other additives, for controlling various species of aquatic environment insects other than mosquitoes.
Various compositions and methods for controlling and killing insects are well known. A number of patents discuss the use of pesticides or insecticides. U.S. Pat. No. 3,535,423 discloses a wettable powder pesticide concentrate that may be dispersed in water. This is described as allowing the otherwise insoluble pesticide to become soluble in water. U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,280 discloses controlled release pesticides and their preparation. These pesticides are described as polymers with a macro-molecular backbone and pendant groups having pesticidal groups chemically linked thereto and prepared by reacting a pesticide having a replaceable hydrogen with a multifunctional isocyanate to form an adduct which is then reacted with a polyol polymer substrate. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,400,391 and 4,401,456 disclose the use of alginate gel beads to encapsulate bioactive materials to provide for their controlled release. The patents describe beads being made to either float or sink and they may contain insecticides. These beads are also described as acting as carriers to place the bioactive material near the target species, for example, a floating bead containing a herbicide releasing the herbicide in close proximity to floating aquatic weeds or the beads falling through foliage to release a herbicide into the soil. U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,857 contains a disclosure that is similar to those immediately above; however, it involves encapsulation by xanthate derivatives and does not disclose the ability to be used in conjunction with an aqueous environment.
A number of patents describe the use of substances other than pesticides to control the growth of insects. U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,627 discloses a controlled release system for juvenile hormones in aqueous environments. This is described as being accomplished with alginate gel discs comprising alginate, a solubilizing agent, and a salt which yields cations, and containing the juvenile hormone. U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,033 discloses a method for the control of mosquitoes by the use of film-forming materials. The method is disclosed as involving the use of a film of organic material which reduces the surface tension of the body of water, and subsequently causes the mosquito larvae and pupae to drown.
At the present time, ground and aerial application of non-petroleum film-forming agents such as Arosurf.RTM. MSF for mosquito control is performed mainly by spraying the technical liquid or vigorously agitated suspensions of the film-forming agent and water. However, technical film-forming agent(s) such as Arosurf.RTM. MSF applied as conventional liquid sprays are usually adversely effected by wind drift and cannot penetrate dense vegetation at the low recommended application rates. Therefore, most of the costly insecticidal film-forming agent impinges on the vegetation and does not reach the water where the mosquitoes are breeding and/or is translocated by the wind to areas not intended for application. In addition, the use of water as a diluent for application of large volumes for easier vegetative penetration without overdosing requires frequent high-speed/high-shear agitation or the use of high-pressure/high-shear, water-injection systems to adequately suspend the film-forming agent in the water for accurate application rates. Mosquitocidal film-forming agents such as Arosurf.RTM. MSF are virtually insoluble in water, and therefore require continuous or frequently repeated high-shear agitation to effectively suspend or resuspend the Arosurf.RTM. MSF in the water carrier.
The aqueous absorbency mechanism of acrylic-based superabsorbent polymers has been described by the Chemdal Corporation (Arlington Heights, Ill. 60004) in their Technical Data Sheets on Aridall.RTM. Superabsorbent Polymers. The absorbency of acrylic-based superabsorbent polymers is due to carboxylic groups located on the backbone of the superabsorbent polymer. When water contacts the superabsorbent polymer, these groups solvate rapidly and develop mutually repulsive negative charges. This causes the superabsorbent polymer to uncoil and absorb many times its weight in water. Crosslinking prevents solution of the superabsorbent polymer. The aqueous medium rapidly becomes oriented on the surface of the superabsorbent polymer by virtue of hydrogen bonding. The resulting gel has remarkable ability to hold the aqueous medium even under pressure. Superabsorbent polymers hold fluids by a physiochemical mechanism.
None of the prior art methods or compositions for controlling insect populations are without disadvantages. One major problem associated with many of the aforementioned compositions and methods of the prior art is their inability to simultaneously apply immiscible, or otherwise incompatible substances to the area to be treated. It has been found that while film-forming materials, when combined with water and ovicides, larvicides, pupicides, insecticides, pesticides, conventional toxicants, biological control agents, microbial control agents, pathogens, parasites, chemosterilants, or insect growth regulators, with or without herbicides or diluents such as attractants, repellents, pheromones, alcohols, etc., may produce improved insect controlling efficacy over single active component formulations, problems with mixing the ingredients homogeneously often result. For example, blends of Arosurf.RTM. MSF (a film-forming agent) and water or technical and/or water-base blends or Arosurf.RTM. MSF and various formulations of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (B.t.i.), or Bacillus sphaericus or Abate.RTM. 4-E do not form homogeneous and stable suspensions when casually mixed, and therefore require frequent and vigorous agitation. When allowed to stand, the components would separate into distinct layers because of the differences in their respective specific gravities, and/or the presence of incompatible active and/or inert formulation ingredients, and therefore, these joint- or multiple-action formulations would require continuous agitation and/or reagitation to effectively remix the components just prior to their application. (See Levy et al. 1984, Mosquito News 4:537-543; Levy et al. 1986. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 2:233-236.) These mixing and remixing requirements make it very difficult to apply these liquid (aqueous) formulations by conventional means.
While it may be possible to incorporate some known insecticidal components, singly, jointly or multiply as aqueous- or oil-base sprays, these formulations cannot regulate (retard) the release rate of active insecticidal components, and lack the ability to control both mosquito larvae and pupae simultaneously while effectively and spontaneously spreading the active ingredients over the target aquatic habitat.
Since other flowable insecticidal compositions do not have rapid self-spreading characteristics, they require even applications to assure that there is effective control of the target aquatic insects that may be widely dispersed in the aquatic habitat. In addition, the other flowable insecticidal components usually affect only one immature developmental stage. However, the use of insecticidal delivery compositions made with one or more superabsorbent polymers of the present invention with, for example, a pupicidal film-forming agent (e.g., Arosurf.RTM. MSF), a larvicidal agent such at B.t.i. or Bacillus sphaericus, and water, have self-spreading potential and can kill mosquito larvae, pupae, or emerging adults rapidly in areas far removed from the initial points of application, significantly better than either of the active formulation components. These formulations can also kill floating eggs and egg rafts of certain species of mosquitoes and also entrap and drown females that oviposit on the surface of the water. Although Arosurf.RTM. MSF can kill mosquito larvae and pupae, its impact on larval populations is usually very slow and requires higher application rates than for pupal control.
No single-, joint-, or multiple-action flowable, water-compatible formulations are available that claim rapid larvicidal and pupicidal action with some degree of ovicidal and adulticidal action, self-spreading characteristics, and field persistence. For example, commercial mosquitocidal preparations of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis formulated for water-base spray applications (e.g., Vectobac.RTM. -AS, Vectobac.RTM. -12AS; Teknar.RTM., Teknar.RTM. HP-D, Teknar.RTM. WDC; Bactimos.RTM. Wettable Powder; Skeetal.RTM.F), Bacillus sphaericus (BSP-1), Abate.RTM. 4-E, Dursban.RTM., Baytex.RTM. 4 and Baytex.RTM. LC, Furadan.RTM., Baygon.RTM. 70% wettable powder, Dimilin.RTM. wettable powder, Altosid.RTM. Liquid Larvicide are available that have slow or quick immature stage kill potential; however, these do not have rapid multi-developmental stage control potential, do not have self-spreading characteristics, are typically composed of only one active insecticidal ingredient that cannot be simply and rapidly detected or monitored under field conditions by insecticide applicators, and are not formulated with superabsorbent polymers.
Attempts have been made to incorporate film-forming agents such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,033 with a variety of conventional insecticides in water (See Levy et al. 1984, Mosquito News: 44 pp. 537-543, pp. 592-595; Levy et al. 1986, Journal American Mosquito Control Association 2:233-236). However, these attempts have been unsuccessful because the film-forming agent (i.e., Arosurf.RTM. MSF) would readily separate into layers even after vigorous agitation due to incompatibilities of the film-forming agent with water or other insecticides and/or inert ingredients in the formulation. Therefore, the resultant formulations could not be homogeneously mixed to assure that accurate application rates of the active components would be applied in the field against the target aquatic pest.
Specific Objects
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide flowable, aqueous- or oil-base superabsorbent polymer compositions and methods for the pretreated dry habitat control and aquatic control of a population of aquatic environment insects, particularly mosquitoes, which overcome the problems and deficiencies of the prior art.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide flowable, aqueous- or oil-base superabsorbent polymer compositions and methods which are easy to prepare (formulate) and use (apply), and which are erodible (biodegradable) and safe to the environment, but which is effective for use in controlling one, but preferably more than one immature stage of a natural population of aquatic environment insects, particularly mosquitoes.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide superabsorbent polymer compositions and methods which can incorporate a wide variety of ingredients into a single flowable, aqueous- or oil-base insecticidal delivery formulation to control a broad spectrum of aquatic environment insect populations, particularly mosquitoes, and to provide for the variable time-release of those ingredients.
These and other objects are accomplished by the compositions and methods of the present invention.
Specific Aspects
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided flowable, aqueous- or oil- base insecticidal delivery compositions for controlling a population of aquatic environment insects, the flowable delivery compositions being applied as a pretreatment before the target habitat is flooded or as a direct treatment to the aquatic habitat. The composition includes at least one superabsorbent polymer, and at least one insecticidal agent, alone or in combination with a diluent or surface-active agent, the superabsorbent polymer and insecticidal agent being present in a total amount effective to control the population of aquatic environment insects. The superabsorbent polymer(s) being present at a concentration adapted to allow satisfactory mixing of the formulation components and release modification of the insecticidal agent(s) from the flowable formulation.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided flowable, aqueous- or oil-base insecticidal delivery compositions for controlling a population of aquatic environment insects which includes at least one superabsorbent polymer, and at least one different insecticidal agent which is a film-forming agent, the superabsorbent polymer and agent being present in a total amount effective to control the population of aquatic environment insects, the delivery compositions being applied as a variable-viscosity pretreatment application before the target habitat is flooded or as a direct treatment to the aquatic habitat.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided flowable, aqueous- or oil-base insecticidal delivery compositions for controlling a population of aquatic environment insects which includes at least one superabsorbent polymer, at least one different insecticidal agent which is a film-forming agent, and at least one additional compound. The additional compound is selected from larvicides; pupicides; ovicides; insecticides; toxicants; pesticides; biological control agents; microbial control agents; pathogens; parasites; insect growth regulators; chemosterilants; and mixtures thereof, with or without herbicides; attractants; pheromones; repellents; diluents; alcohols; surface-active agents; etc. The superabsorbent polymer, agent and additional compound are present in a total amount effective to control the population of aquatic environment insects, the flowable, variable-viscosity aqueous- or oil-base delivery compositions being applied as a pretreatment before the target habitat is flooded or as a direct treatment to the aquatic habitat.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a population of aquatic environment insects which includes the steps of:
preparing flowable, variable-viscosity aqueous- or oil-base insecticidal delivery compositions which includes at least one superabsorbent polymer and at least one insecticidal agent which includes a film-forming agent, by a series of variable time/speed blending, and/or salt/electrolyte conditioning treatments;
applying said flowable, aqueous- or oil-base insecticidal delivery compositions in an amount effective to control the population of aquatic environment insects, to an aquatic area needing aquatic insect control treatment, the flowable, aqueous- or oil-base delivery compositions being applied as a pretreatment before the target habitat is flooded or as a direct treatment to the aquatic habitat.
In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a population of aquatic insects. The method includes the steps of:
preparing flowable, variable-viscosity aqueous- or oil-base insecticidal delivery compositions which includes at least one superabsorbent polymer and a least one insecticidal agent which includes a film-forming agent and at least one additional compound. The additional compound is selected from ovicides; larvicides; pupicides; insecticides; conventional toxicants; pesticides; biological control agents; microbial control agents; pathogens; parasites; insect growth regulators; chemosterilants; and mixtures thereof, with or without herbicides; attractants; repellents; pheromones; diluents; alcohols; surface-active agents; etc.; and
applying said flowable, aqueous- or oil-base insecticidal delivery compositions in an amount effective to control the population of aquatic environment insects, to an aquatic environment needing aquatic insect control treatment before the target habitat is flooded or as a direct treatment to the aquatic habitat.
The superabsorbent polymers of the present invention are synthetic organic polymers which are solid and hydrophilic absorbing over 100 times their weight in water. Generally, these superabsorbent polymers are chosen from acrylamide and acrylate polymers, co-polymers and ter-polymers. These polymers can be suitably crosslinked and/or modified. These superabsorbent polymers are typically in a power, flake, or granular form, adapted to optimize the compatibility and/or release rates of insecticidal components in water or oil and, thereby, enhance the activity of flowable insecticidal formulations against the target aquatic insect.
The acrylamide and acrylate superabsorbent polymers may be, for example, acrylamide alkali metal or alkali metal/aluminum acrylate co-polymers; propenenitrile homo-polymers, hydrolyzed, alkali metal or alkali metal/aluminum salts; polymers of propenamide and propenoic acid, alkali metal salts; hydrolyzed acrylonitrile co-polymers, and starch graft co-polymers and ter-polymers thereof. All of these are designed to be hydrophilic, absorbing over 100 times their weight in water.
The present invention has been found to be particularly effective in controlling natural populations of mosquito species such as Aedes taeniorhynchus, Aedes sollicitans, Anopheles atropos, and Culex nigripalpus that can breed in brackish/salt water habitats. The use of the invention to control species of fresh or polluted water mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, Aedes triseriatus, Anopheles quadrimaculatus, Anopheles crucians, Culex quinquefasciatus, Psorophora columbiae, Psorophora ciliata, Wyeomyia mitchellii, Wyeomyia vanduzeei, etc., in semipermanent or permanent aquatic environment areas needing mosquito control treatment is also proposed.
Specific Advantages
The present invention provides numerous advantages over prior compositions and methods to control the population of aquatic environment insects such as mosquitoes. For example, the flowable, aqueous- or oil-base superabsorbent polymer formulations of the present invention may be composed of one or more of a wide choice of either nontoxic or toxic biological or microbial control agents, pathogens, parasites, insect growth regulators, monomolecular surface films, larvicides, ovicides, pupicides, insecticides, chemosterilants, pesticides, and/or toxicants, with or without herbicides or attractants, repellents, pheromones, diluents, alcohols, etc., depending on the type or nature of the habitat to be controlled, the environmental impact, and/or the type of aquatic developmental stage or insect species to be controlled. The superabsorbent polymer formulations of the present invention are flowable (i.e., sprayable, pumpable or injectable) and are mainly based on water; however, these formulations can also be based on oil. The flowable, aqueous- or oil-base superabsorbent polymer formulations of the present invention are biodegradable. They are also storage stable, basically as stable as the individual components; however, increased stability may occur from encapsulation of the active components within the aqueous- or oil-base formulation. Aqueous- or oil-base formulations of the present invention can be of varying viscosities which may be required for a particular application. The flowable formulations of the present invention can have some variable time-release, either quick, or gradual, depending on the concentration and types of superabsorbent polymers in the aqueous- or oil-base formulation. The present invention provides a suspending/compatibility agent to assure homogeneous delivery of joint- or multiple-active, aqueous- or oil-base formulations of otherwise incompatible soluble or insoluble liquid or powdered insecticidal and/or non-insecticidal agents without the necessity of continuous or repetitive high-speed/high-shear agitation for effective spray application of the active components. Flowable, variable-viscosity aqueous- or oil-base formulations of the present invention can be used as a pretreatment application to areas that are dry but are known to breed when flooded, thereby assuring that the first broods will be controlled. Also, encapsulation of the active insecticidal agents within the variable-viscosity, flowable superabsorbent polymer formulation can protect the active components from degradation or decomposition from ultra-violet radiation, microbial action, temperature effects, run-off, etc., when the formulation is applied as a pretreatment application. The present invention is also not restricted to applications to any one type of aquatic environment.
Other objects, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following:

Flowable insecticidal delivery compositions and methods for controlling insect populations in an aquatic environment


In a cutting insert of the invention, a protruded portion formed on an upper surface lying more inward than a breaker groove along a corner comprises a breaker projection adjacentmost to the corner; a breaker wall face formed connectedly with the breaker projection so as to project more upward than the breaker projection; and a breaker side face formed connectedly with the breaker wall face. The breaker wall face is formed to have a smaller width toward the projecting direction of the breaker wall face, and inclined to have a higher position as it departs from the corner. The breaker side face is formed to have a larger width as it departs from the corner. The height of the breaker projection is not more than half of the height of the top of the breaker wall face, and is lower than the height of the cutting edge along the corner. A cutting method using a cutting tool comprising the cutting insert is also provided.

Heretofore there has been cutting inserts adapted to enhance chip discharge performance by a protruded portion protruding into a breaker groove. For example, the cutting insert described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-190612 comprises a cutting edge formed along the periphery of the upper surface, a breaker groove formed inside of the cutting edge, a middle part lying more inward than the breaker groove, and a breaker projection (a protruded portion) protruding into the breaker groove from the middle part toward a corner.
The middle part has a breaker top face having a substantially polygonal shape when viewed from above, and the side face thereof is made up of a pair of breaker side faces shaped like an inclined surface extending from a breaker bottom face to the breaker top face. The breaker projection has a substantially trapezoidal shape when viewed from side, and is formed connectedly with the middle part so that the top face thereof is lower than the breaker top face.
In the cutting insert having the above shape, the breaker projection functions as a breaker when the depth of cut is small. When the depth of cut is large, the breaker top face and the breaker side face function as a breaker. When the depth of cut is medium, the breaker projection, the breaker top face and the breaker side face respectively function as a breaker.
However, the above cutting insert has the following problems (i) and (ii).
(i) The breaker side face is divided into right and left sides by a bisector of the corner. Therefore, under conditions where the depth of cut is small (especially a range in which the depth of cut is not more than a corner R) and feed rate is large, the polygonal tip end of the breaker top face contacts with the surface of a work material, and the chip discharge direction is unstable.
(ii) There is a small level difference between the breaker top face and the breaker projection. Therefore, the chips passing through the breaker projection under the conditions where the depth of cut is small and the feed rate is large run onto the breaker top face. This leads to loss of the function as a breaker, thus discharging irregular chips.
On the other hand, the cutting insert described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-38808 comprises at the middle part. The middle part comprises a breaker top face whose corner has a substantially circular arc shape when viewed from above. The side surface of the middle part is made up of a breaker side face formed in the shape of an inclined surface extending from a breaker bottom face toward the breaker top face.
A breaker projection protruding into a breaker groove from the middle part toward the corner has an upward projecting curved surface shape and is formed connectedly with the middle part so that the top thereof is lower than the breaker top face.
In the cutting insert thus constructed, the breaker side face lying adjacent to the corner is formed in the curved surface, and hence an improvement in terms of the above problem (i) may seem to be achieved, however unsatisfactorily. Additionally, because the level difference between the breaker top face and the breaker projection is small, the same problem as the above (ii) may occur.


Methods and devices for automatically cutting hair are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an automated system for cutting hair on a subject comprises a hair cutting device, configured for manual manipulation, the hair cutting device comprising a cutting mechanism and configured to engage the cutting mechanism to cut said hair. The automated system also comprises a positioning device coupled to the subject, the positioning device configured to interact with the cutting device for determining a position of the hair cutting device relative to the subject.

A very large number of professional barbers, hair stylists, and other professionals provide hair cutting services in most countries of the world. The importance in society of having well-groomed hair is highlighted by significant sums of money and time spent for these services. The substantial cost of a haircut and the time and inconvenience associated with getting one makes the idea of automated hair cutting systems attractive. Today, there are a number of systems available that provide guides, cutters, training materials, and other approaches to make it somewhat easier to cut hair without the need for extensive training. Regrettably, these systems are difficult to use for most people and often strictly limit the number of hair styles possible. Simple hair length guides, mechanical combs mounted on cutter heads, hair cutters mounted on vacuum hoses, and other common approaches do not allow people to generate most of the stylish and well-groomed results they seek. It is therefore desirable to have a system allowing a person without extensive training to accurately cut hair.
In light of the benefits an automated hair cutting system provides, several attempts at such a system have been made. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,054,183, Zucker teaches a mechanical guide that adjusts a cutter head as it is moved across a person's scalp. The simple, mechanical design Zucker offers does not allow a wide variety of hair styles, and its rolling wheels or sliding mechanical guides may tend to smash some hair down, making it harder to access and cut properly. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,413,985, Dlouhy teaches a helmet fitted over a person's head and aligned with ear retractors that insert into the person's ears. Multiple cutter heads are used inside the helmet to cut hair. Dlouhy teaches a rigid helmet, many cutter heads and a large, heavy mechanism that would necessarily be expensive, bulky, and uncomfortable to use.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,542, Natrasevschi teaches a frame rigidly holding a person's head and a robotic arm that cuts hair. Hair length is controlled with an adjustable vacuum stretcher tube and rotary cutter tube. Such a system would be necessarily expensive, bulky, and uncomfortable. In addition, the end of Natrasevschi's hair cutter always touches the person's head so it may smash hair down and the maximum length that hair may be cut is physically limited by the length of the cutter tube and stretcher tube. Employment of longer tubes would make the hair cutter unwieldy and interchangeable tubes, while perhaps possible, would be inconvenient. In U.S. Patent Application 2004/0004559, Rast teaches a hair cutter with some features similar to Natrasevschi. Rast also suffers from limitations on hair length and the need to make physical contact with a person's head to position his hair cutter. Rast explains how position of his hair cutter may be determined using electronic sensors, but depends on his mechanical separator sleeve (similar in some sense to Natrasevschi's stretcher tube) to determine position above the scalp. Hence, hair is always potentially mashed down, and there are clear limitations on possible styles and hair length.
It is also noteworthy that the hair cutting devices of Natrasevschi and Rast, like many available on the market today, operate by continuously operating their cutter heads such that any hair that contacts the cutter heads is cut once engaged. Such approaches lead to a noisy environment as the hair cutting device will normally buzz or at least hum through the course of a haircut and the continuous operation of the cutter head leads to additional wear on moving parts and unnecessary consumption of power.

Automated hair cutting system and method of operation thereof


The present invention provides an apparatus and a method for generating vital information signals which are formed by a pulse train made up of bursts of the same width and distance, wherein each burst is made up of a given number of pulses of a specific frequency. The apparatus according to the present invention comprises a pulse signal generating means and a signal output circuit for generating pulse signals and shaping their waveforms and structures to meet specific requirements. The method of the present invention generates the above-mentioned signals by means of information recording medium and signal reproducing apparatus, and provides the same for medical or health care uses.

In recent years, basing on the field theory, the information techniques and the theory of the traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese researchers have made extensive researches and a great deal of experiments on the vital information, one of the most important vital characteristics of a living body. Particularly, by means of modern detecting equipments, measuring tests were made on "Fa Gong", an energy emitting phenomena of a "Qi Gong" expert, a deep breathing exercises expert, resulting in remarkable achievements. These research results were reported on "NATURE JOURNAL", Vol 3, No. 8, August, 1980, PP 563-566, published by Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, and "SCIENCE YEARBOOK", 1981, PP 1.34-1.41, published by Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House. The contents of these articles are incorporated herein by reference.
According to the theory of physics, the physical world manifests itself in two kinds of matter, one with static mass, the other without static mass but with energy (different kinds of field). These two kinds of matter are highly correlated and any body with static mass possesses its own natural resonance frequency. A living body can also be treated as a morphology system made up of cells, tissues and organs, as well as an information system made up of different kinds of field matter, such as cell's potential, electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram and different kinds of radiation. The two systems interact on each other and coexist within the same living body.
On the basis of the field theory and the information techniques, the present inventors made researches on the relations between the morphology system and the information system of a living body, and information exchange between the information system and the environment of the living body, so as to utilize the information of field matter to diagnose diseases and, by means of specific signals, to adjust the conditions of the information system of a living body, thus improving the conditions of the morphology system for medical and health care purposes.
In vital information science, researches have been made on the information exchange between a living body and its environment, particularly on the information exchange windows, which include:
information windows through which a living body can selectively receive and emit information signals, and which is represented by specific physical properties, frequency, waveform and strength of the information signals; and
address windows which is the capability of different positions on a living body for selectively receiving and emitting information signals, such as acupoints, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels and so on.
Since the vital information is related to the delicate structure of a living body, the vital information signals, different from those of the conventional physiotherapy, have complicated waveform containing a large quantity of information therein. If the right windows on a living body are chosen, great biological activity will be produced by the vital information signals of low power levels and good curative effects to many diseases can be achieved.
In prior art, there are some kinds of apparatus which can generate electric signals with certain waveform for medical or health care use, such as electric acupuncture apparatus, and cardiac pace-maker, etc. However, the quantity of the information contained in the signals generated by these kinds of apparatus is small since they work mainly by their direct physical effects. Yet, the signals of the present invention contain a large quantity of information at low power level, so that they have great biological activity and work through the information contained therein, thus making the present invention essentially different from the prior art.

Apparatus and method for generating vital information signals


A method for hierarchical clustering comprises multi-level partitioning of data points into non-overlapping LDFs and formation of sets of such LDFs, wherein original data points may reside in different LDFs. The sets of LDFs are then hierarchically processed into sets of super-LDFs, which are further processed up the hierarchy. In some embodiments, the further processing ends with the construction of a single super-LDF at the root of the hierarchy. The partitioning of the data points and the hierarchical processing of the sets of LDFs and super-LDFs uses respective local affinity matrices.

As commonly understood, "data" refers to a collection of organized information, the result of experience, observation or experiment, to other information within a computer system, to a set of premises that may consist of numbers, characters or images, or to measurements of observations. Its use and properties are described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/388,371, "Classification and Recognition via Diffusion and Anomaly Processing" by Amir Averbuch, Ronald R. Coifman and Gil David, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Also described and defined therein are terms used in this invention such as "diffusion maps", "affinity matrix" and "distance metric".
In many cases, the data is high-dimensional (also called multi-dimensional), with a data dimension N>3. Multi-dimensional data is a collection of data points. A "data point" (also referred to herein as "sample", "sampled data", "point", "vector of observations" and "vector of measurements") is one unit of data of the original ("source" or "raw") multi-dimensional data. A data point may be expressed by Boolean, numeric values and characters, or combinations thereof. If source data is described for example by 25 measured parameters (also referred to as "features") which are sampled (recorded, measured) in a predetermined time interval (e.g. every minute), then the data is of dimension N=25. In this case, each data point is a vector of dimension 25.
In this description, the term "feature" refers to an individual measurable property of phenomena being observed. A feature is usually numeric, but may also be structural, for example a string. "Feature" is also normally used to denote a piece of information which is relevant for solving the computational task related to a certain application. "Feature" may also refer to a specific structure, ranging from a simple structure to a more complex structure such as an object. The "feature" concept is very general and the choice of features in a particular application may be highly dependent on the specific problem at hand. In the example above in which the data is of dimension N=25, each component in the vector of dimension 25 is a feature.
"Clustering", as applied to data comprised of data points, refers to the process of finding in the data similar areas which identify common (similar) trends. These areas are called clusters. "Clustering" is also defined as the assignment of a set of observations into subsets (the clusters), such that observations in the same cluster are similar in some sense. Data clustering algorithms can be hierarchical. Hierarchical algorithms find successive clusters using previously established clusters. "Successive" refers to an operation which advances in time. Hierarchical algorithms can be either agglomerative ("bottom-up") or divisive ("top-down"). Agglomerative algorithms begin with each element as a separate cluster and merge them into successively larger clusters. Divisive algorithms begin with the whole set and proceed to divide it into successively smaller clusters. Hierarchical clustering methods are described for example in S. C. Johnson, "Hierarchical Clustering Schemes", Psychometrika, vol. 2, pages 241-254, 1967 and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,590,291 and 7,627,542, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
A distance measure is an important step in any clustering. The distance measure determines how the similarity of two data points is determined. This influences the shape of the clusters, as some data points may be close to one another according to one distance measure and far from one another according to another distance measure.
Diffusion maps were introduced in R. R. Coifman and S. Lafon, "Diffusion maps", Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, vol. 21(1), pages 5-30, 2006 (referred to hereinafter as "DM") and in US patent application 20060004753A1, both incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. A diffusion map constructs coordinates that parameterize the dataset, while a diffusion distance provides a local preserving metric for this data. Let Γ={x1, . . . xn} be a set of points in Rn. We construct the graph G (V, E),|V|=m,|E|<<m2, on Γ in order to find the intrinsic geometry of this set. A weight function W∈=w∈(xi, xj), which measures the pair-wise similarity between the points in a dataset, is introduced. For all xi, xj∈Γ, this weight function is symmetric, non-negative and positive semi-definite. A common choice for W∈ is
      w    ɛ    =      ⅇ          -                                                                                                              x                  i                                -                                  x                  j                                                                                        2                ɛ            and ∈ is a parameter determined as explained below. The non-negativity property of W∈ allows to normalize the assigned data into a Markov transition matrix P={p(xi, xj)},i,j=1, . . . , m, in which the states of the corresponding Markov process are the data points. This enables to analyze Γ as a random walk.
The construction of P is known as the normalized graph Laplacian, described in Spectral Graph Theory, Fan R. K. Chung, CBMS Regional Conference Series in Mathematics, No. 92, 1997. Formally, P={p(xi, xj)}i,j=1m is constructed as
            p                    (                              x            i                    ,                      x            j                          )              =                  w        ɛ                    d                          (                      x            i                    )                      ,                      where                                              d                          (                      x            i                    )                      =                  ∫        Γ                                                w            ɛ                                          (                                          x                i                            ,                              x                j                                      )                                                                              ⅆ                      μ                                      (                              x                j                            )                                          is the degree of xi and μ is the distribution of the points on Γ. P is a Markov matrix, since the sum of each row in P is 1 and P(xi, xj)≧0. Thus, p(xi, xj) can be viewed as the probability to move from one point xi to another xj in one time-step. By raising this quantity to a power t (advance in time), this influence is propagated to nodes in the neighborhood of xi and xj and the result is the probability for this move in t time-steps. We denote this probability by pt(xi, xj). The probabilities between all the data points (for t=1) or set of folders (for t>1) measure the connectivity among the data points within the graph G(V, E),|V|=m,|E|<<m2. The parameter t controls the scale of the neighborhood in addition to the scale control provided by ∈.
            p                    (                              x            i                    ,                      x            j                          )              =                                        ⅆ                          (                              x                i                            )                                                            ⅆ                          (                              x                j                            )                                                        p                          (                                    x              i                        ,                          x              j                                )                      ,which is a symmetric and positive definite kernel, leads to the following eigen-decomposition: p(xi, xj)=Σk>0mλkvk(xi)vk(xj). A similar eigen-decomposition is obtained from pt(xi, xj)=Σk≧0mλktvk(xi)vk(xj) after advancing t times on the graph. Here pt(xi, xj) is the probability of transition from xi to xj in t time-steps.
A fast decay of {λk} is achieved by a choice of ∈. Thus, only a few terms are required in the sum above to achieve a given relative cover δ>0. Assume η(δ) to be the number of retained terms. The diffusion maps introduced in DM include a family Φt(x)m∈ given by φt(x)=(λ0tv0(x), λ1tv1(x), . . . )T. The map Φm:Γ→lN embeds the dataset into a Euclidean space RN. The diffusion distance is defined as Dt2(xi, xj)=Σk≧0(pt(xi, xk)−pt(xk, xj))2. The diffusion distance can be expressed in terms of the right eigenvectors of P: Dt2(xi, xj)=Σk≧0λk2t(vk(xi)−vk(xj))2. It follows that in order to compute the diffusion distance, we can use the eigenvectors of {tilde over (P)}. Moreover, this facilities the embedding of the original points in a Euclidean space Rη(δ)−1 by Ξt:xi→(λ0tv0(xi),λ1tv1(xi),λ2tv2(xi), . . . , λη(δ)tvη(δ)(xi)). This also provides coordinates on the set Γ. Essentially, η(δ)<<m, due to the fast spectral decay of the spectrum of P.
P is the affinity matrix of the dataset and it is used to find the diffusion distances between data points. This distance metric can be used to cluster the data points according to the propagation of the diffusion distances that is controlled by t. In addition, it can be used to construct a bottom up hierarchical clustering of the data. For t=1, the affinity matrix reflects local and direct connections between adjacent data points. The resulting clusters preserve the local neighborhood of each point. By raising t, the affinity matrix is changed accordingly and it reflects indirect connections between data points in the graph. The diffusion distance between data points in the graph represents all possible paths between these points according to the step in time. The more we advance in time, the more we increase indirect and global connections. Therefore, by raising t we can construct the top levels of the clustering hierarchy. In each advance in time, it is possible to merge more and more bottom-level clusters since there are more and more new paths between them. The resulting clusters reflect the global neighborhood of each point, which is highly affected by the parameter t.
In known hierarchical clustering methods, the affinity matrix and the diffusion distances are global. With the advance in time, more global "rare connections" (sparse, loose data points) become part of the generated clusters. This translates into increased noise in the affinity matrix. The resulting clusters become sensitive to the parameters t and ∈ and to the geometry of the dataset. In other words, by increasing t in this global approach, the clustering noise in the affinity matrix is increased. This causes convergence of data points to only a few clusters which may be "wrong" clusters, leading to a decrease in the clustering accuracy.
Accordingly, there is a need for and it would be advantageous to have a hierarchical clustering method that uses a local instead of a global approach in order to increase the accuracy of the clustering.

Clustering and classification via localized diffusion folders


Described herein are various technologies pertaining to presenting training data for a task performed using an electronic health records application (EHR) to healthcare workers. A context for a task to be performed within the EHR is transmitted to a server from a client EHR. The context includes data indicative of or pertaining to a healthcare worker using the client EHR, an element of a graphical user interface (GUI) of the client EHR, or other data indicative of the task to be performed within the EHR. The server transmits a list of training materials to the client EHR based upon the context, where the training materials comprise data pertaining to performance of one or more tasks by way of the client EHR. Responsive to receiving the list, the client EHR displays an indication of a training material in the training materials within the GUI of the client EHR.

Electronic health record applications (EHRs) are robust applications that are utilized in medical facilities across a variety of aspects of a medical practice. EHRs are configured with functionality pertaining to patient intake, patient billing, insurance billing, prescription generation, maintaining a record of patient care over time, etc. EHRs are often used by healthcare workers at the point of care (i.e., at a time when the healthcare worker is providing care to a patient). For example, a healthcare worker may retrieve data from a patient record maintained by an EHR to relatively quickly ascertain problems being experienced by the patient, medications currently being taken by the patient, and so forth.
Despite the prevalence of EHRs in healthcare environments, many healthcare workers find EHRs difficult to use. Moreover, EHRs receive frequent version updates, which can sometimes modify the functionality of the EHR and/or the steps required to perform certain tasks within the EHR. Often, this will require a healthcare worker to exit or navigate away from an EHR client interface in order to perform an Internet search to determine how to perform a given task in the EHR. Other times, the healthcare worker will be forced to contact a service department of the provider of the EHR in order to determine how to perform a task. This results in lost productivity for the healthcare worker and the healthcare organization, as well as the provider of the EHR.

Computing system for presenting training data within an electronic health record application


There is provided a method for detecting the possibility of rollover of a vehicle, including the steps of: detecting an actual roll angular velocity of the vehicle; obtaining an actual roll angle of the vehicle; determining an actual lateral acceleration of the vehicle; providing a two-dimensional map correlating values of the roll angular velocity with values of the roll angle to define a rollover judgment threshold; changing the threshold based on the actual roll angle and the actual lateral acceleration; forming a plot of the actual roll angular velocity versus the actual roll angle on the two-dimensional map; and judging that there is a possibility that the vehicle rolls over when the plot exceeds the threshold.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for detecting the possibility of rollover of a vehicle based on a roll angular velocity and a roll angle of the vehicle.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-260786 proposes vehicle rollover detection technique, in which it is judged that there is a possibility that a vehicle rolls over when the plot of an actual roll angular velocity and an actual roll angle of the vehicle on a two-dimensional map crosses a threshold line. The threshold line is set on the map with reference to normal usage conditions of the vehicle.

Vehicle rollover detection method and apparatus


The present technology relates to a controller, a control method, and a program that enable self-localization with lower power consumption.

Conventionally, in self-localization where the location of a camera in real space is estimated on the basis of images captured by the camera, the gradient and feature points which are indices included in the images, for example, are used to estimate the self-location of the camera (for example, see Patent Document 1). Additionally, by using multiple cameras, it is possible to reduce a so-called blind spot that is an area not observed by the camera. Hence, it has also been proposed to avoid a situation in which no feature point is detected from an image.

Abstract: Provided are a selection unit that selects, from a horizontal camera mounted in a horizontal direction and a downward camera mounted in a downward direction, a camera used for self-localization depending on speed, and a self-localization unit that performs self-localization using an image obtained by imaging with the horizontal camera or the downward camera selected by the selection unit. The selection unit selects the horizontal camera in a case where the speed is equal to or higher than a predetermined speed, and selects the downward camera in a case where the speed is not equal to or higher than the predetermined speed. The present technology can be applied to a self-localization system.


A method of reducing the risk to a Vendor of a First House that the Vendor of the First House will have to pay the Monthly Carrying Costs associated with the First House in the event that the First House is not sold within an acceptable predefined or determinable period of time. The method includes, steps of calculating the Monthly Carrying Costs associated with the First House, establishing a Minimum Acceptable Price for the sale of the First House, and calculating the likelihood that the First House will not be sold at or above the Minimum Acceptable Price during the acceptable predefined or determinable period of time. The method further includes calculating the likely length of time required to sell the First House at or above the Minimum Acceptable Price, and other steps.

It is a common practice for individuals to rely on the proceeds from the sale of one house or real estate property (hereinafter a "First House") as a major source of funding toward the purchase of another house or real estate property (hereinafter a "Second House"), and, to effect this strategy, make an offer on the Second House which is conditional on the sale of the First House. In a typical real estate transaction, this type of offer may be open for a fixed period of time, such as, for example, 90 days, or less, it being understood that a wide variety of different arrangements can be devised. In such a case, in the event that the First House is not sold within the fixed period of time, the vendor of the First House can either remove the condition and proceed with the purchase of the Second House despite not having sold the First House, or alternatively, not remove the condition and permit the offer to purchase the Second House expire.
Although a conditional offer may be better than no offer at all, nevertheless, there are drawbacks presented by such a conditional offer. For example, as the vendor of the Second House does not know, with certainty, that the First House will sell, and there is no assurance that the vendor of the First House will have the funds necessary to proceed with the purchase of the Second House, in the event that the conditional offer expires (the condition having not been removed by the vendor of the First House), the vendor of the Second House cannot proceed with the sale of the Second House, and must start the cycle again of seeking out another opportunity to sell the Second House.
Furthermore, the purchaser of the Second House does not know with certainty whether or not the Second House can be purchased, or whether or not the condition can be removed, in the event that the First House is not sold during the fixed period of time in which the conditional offer is open. While the purchaser of the Second House can, of course, remove the condition at any time, and possibly, with the aid of bridge financing, proceed with the purchase of the Second House, if the purchaser's First House does not sell quickly, the purchaser of the Second House faces the risk of potentially owning two properties (which typically would require the individual to make two sets of mortgage payments, insurance payments, taxes, maintenance and other expenses on both houses), and may have great difficulty or be unable to carry both houses, putting the purchaser at risk of having to sell one of the properties at a loss or otherwise making alternative arrangements for financing.
It is desirable to have access to protection against the uncertainties of the marketplace, particularly as it relates to relatively expensive items such as homes and real estate and the length of time that may be necessary to effect the sale of a particular property, and to be able to reduce, mitigate or substantially eliminate the risks associated with a single or multiple real estate transactions in a convenient, cost effective and simple manner.

System, method and insurance product for insuring real estate transactions


In the error diffusion technique for digital halftoning the output color for a first pixel is selected by comparing an adjusted input color signal to a boundary separating output colors in a pallette for a display device. The error or difference between the selected output color and the input color signal is determined and portions of that difference are added to the input color signals for neighboring pixels diffusing the error throughout the area neighboring the first pixel. Error diffusion can create artifacts in the image as rendered by the display device. Error diffusion artifacts are reduced or eliminated by a higher order error diffusion method where the boundary separating output colors in the device""s pallette is adjusted as a function of the error in a previous pixel.

The present invention relates to digital halftoning of continuous tone images and, more particularly, to a method of error diffusion for digital halftoning.
Digital halftoning is a technique for rendering continuous tone images on display devices that are incapable of producing the number of levels of luminance or chrominance that are contained in the original image. By way of example, digital halftoning is used to print images having continuous gray levels on printers that are only capable of binary output; that is, printing (or not printing) a black dot. Likewise, digital halftoning may be used to display continuous tone color images on displays that are only capable of rendering a limited number of combinations of red, green, and blue.
To render an image with a halftoning process, the colors of the image""s picture elements or pixels are sampled and quantized. The color of a pixel may be represented by the levels of the composite luminance and chrominance signals. The luminance of the pixels of continuous tone gray images is quantized into gray levels for rendering with binary output devices. Typically, gray tones are quantized with 256 levels facilitating description of a pixel by eight data bits. For color displays, the composite luminance and chrominance signals are converted to individual xe2x80x9cred, green, and bluexe2x80x9d signals or xe2x80x9ccyan, magenta, yellow, and blackxe2x80x9d signals as required by digital color output devices.
To print or display an image with halftoning, the image is decomposed into a grid of halftone cells each containing a number of picture elements or pixels. The gray of an area of the original image is simulated by printing or displaying black pixels distributed throughout the halftone cells of the corresponding area of the rendered image. Likewise, colors not included in an output device""s color pallette are simulated by distributing pixels throughout the halftone cell printed or displayed with xe2x80x9cnearbyxe2x80x9d colors available from the pallette. Digital halftoning is effective because of the tendency of the human visual system to ignore fine detail and primarily sense the overall intensity of an area of an image.
One common technique for digital halftoning is error diffusion or spatial dithering. Error diffusion was first disclosed by Floyd and Steinberg in AN ADAPTIVE ALGORITHM FOR SPATIAL GRAYSCALE, Proceedings of the Society for Information Display, vol.17-2, pages 75-77 (1976). In the error diffusion technique the color of each pixel of the original image is measured and quantized. An input color signal representing the measured color of the pixel plus an error diffusion adjustment is compared to a preselected threshold or boundary signal that divides the signals representing the available display colors in the device""s pallette. A display color nearest the original color is selected and the output device is instructed to render the subject pixel in this display color. The error or difference between the adjusted input color signal for the subject pixel and the display color chosen from the pallette is determined. The error is divided according to a weighting function to create a plurality of diffusion adjustment factors. The diffusion adjustment factors are fed back to the input and added to the input color signals for pixels neighboring the first pixel. The adjusted input color signal is, therefore, the measured color value of the pixel plus the accumulated adjustment factors resulting from quantization errors in selecting display colors for neighboring pixels. In other words, the quantization error resulting from selecting a color for a pixel from a limited pallet is diffused over the area neighboring that pixel. The portion of the error distributed to each pixel and the dimensions and shape of the neighborhood over which the error is distributed differ for several specific variants of the error diffusion technique.
While error diffusion is one of the most effective and common techniques for digital halftoning, the signal delay of the process can generate undesirable artifacts in the output image. In highlight and shadow areas, error diffusion can produce xe2x80x9cworms,xe2x80x9d transient noise, and edge delays. In midtone areas, error diffusion can produce unpleasant patterning and pattern shifts. Adding noise to the boundary to randomize the threshold decision or utilizing multiple diffusion filters with varying adjustment factor weighting have been suggested as ways to reduce or eliminate these artifacts. However, these techniques either reduce the quality of the output image or increase the processing delay and often the cost of the halftoning processor.
What is desired, therefore, is a method for error diffusion for halftoning that significantly reduces or eliminates artifacts in the rendered image and which does not adversely impact image quality, the latency of the halftoning process, or unduly complicate the halftoning processor.
The present invention overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art by providing a method for selecting an output color for a pixel comprising comparing an input color signal to a boundary separating available output colors; both the input color signal and the boundary being adjusted to reflect, at least in part, an relationship between the output color and the input color signal for another pixel. Adjusting the boundary for the threshold decision makes it possible to neutralize the quantization error produced by application of error diffusion and, thus, eliminate artifacts which are the results of that quantization error. The higher level error diffusion method of the present invention eliminates artifacts in the displayed image without significantly increasing the latency of the error diffusion process or adversely impacting the quality of the image.
The foregoing and other objectives, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Higher order error diffusion of digital halftoning


A luminaire is provided. A main surface of a light-guiding panel included in the luminaire includes a reflecting area having a plurality of approximately conical recesses. An angle θ formed by a lateral surface of each of the recesses and the main surface of the light-guiding panel satisfies a condition defined by a distance D from a center position of a light source to a center position of the reflecting area, a distance H from an illumination target surface to the center position of the light source, an angle γ which the light-guiding panel forms with a horizontal plane, a refractive index n of the light-guiding panel, and a surface roughness Ra of the lateral surface of each of the recesses.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to luminaires using a light-guiding panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires using an LED light source are becoming popular. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-185970 (Patent Literature 1) discloses a luminaire light source using an LED module and a light guide (light-guiding panel).

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


The envelope tracking power supply includes a plurality of variable voltage supplies. A power supply controller of a power amplifier controls the plurality of variable voltage supplies so as to precisely divide the power supply voltage in a high frequency area, based on the voltage distribution of a received transmitted base band signal, in order to maximize the power added efficiency of the power amplifier. The power supply controller includes a threshold memory including a plurality of first zones, and a frequency memory including a plurality of second zones. The power supply controller changes the threshold held in the first zones so that each second zone approaches the average of the second zones.

In power amplifiers used in base stations in mobile or wireless communications, the improvement in the power added efficiency (PAE) is required in order to reduce operational costs. One of the PAE improvement technologies that have recently attracted attention is envelope tracking (hereinafter referred to as ET). In an RF power amplifier, PAE is defined as the ratio of the difference of the output and input signal power to the DC power consumed.
Before describing ET, the characteristics of the transistor used in a common power amplifier will be described. The output power and PAE characteristics with respect to the input power of the transistor will be described with reference to FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, the horizontal axis represents the input power, and the vertical axis represents the output power and PAE. As the input power increases, the output power saturates. The PAE is highest in the vicinity of the saturated output power.
Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, description will be given of the output characteristics and the PAE characteristics when the transistor power supply voltage Vdd is varied by 5 V from 50 V to 10 V. In FIG. 2A, the saturated power of the transistor varies depending on the power supply voltage. In FIG. 2B, the input power value at which the PAE is maximum is different for each power supply voltage.
Next, ET will be described. ET is a technology that improves the PAE by allowing the power supply voltage of the transistor within the power amplifier to vary according to the envelope of an input signal. The principle of ET will be described with reference to FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, essential components of ET include an envelope detection unit, an envelope tracking power supply (ET power supply), and a power amplifier.
The envelop information of the input signal that is detected by the envelope detection unit is transmitted to the ET power supply. The ET power supply outputs a voltage having a shape corresponding to the envelope information. In this way, the power amplifier (transistor) allows the power supply voltage to vary to be able to typically operate with the maximum PAE in the vicinity of the saturated power, with respect to the input power. Thus, the ET improves the PAE. FIG. 3 shows an example of operating the ET by detecting the envelope from the transmitted RF signal. However, it is also possible to control the ET operation by a discrete voltage value by using the signal amplitude obtained by digital calculation.
The PAE when the power supply voltage of the transistor is fixed and the PAE when the ET is operated will be compared with reference to FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, the horizontal axis represents the input voltage, and the vertical axis represents the PAE. The PAE when the power supply voltage is fixed is lower than the PAE when the ET is operated. The ET uses the characteristics of the transistor. The transistor allows the power supply voltage to vary to be able to typically operate with the maximum PAE in the vicinity of the saturated power, with respect to the input power. Thus, the PAE when the ET is operated is higher than when the power supply voltage is fixed in a wide input power range.
Particularly, it is possible to take advantage of the characteristics of ET that the PAE is high in a wide input power range with respect to signals with the peak power higher than the average power, as in the digitally modulated waves using modulation schemes such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), and Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) that are used in recent mobile communication.
However, when the ET is applied to the signal with the peak power higher than the average power, it is necessary to have an ET power supply with a wide dynamic range to be able to properly output any voltage.
Known examples of ET power supply are disclosed in JP-A No. 511065/2008 and JP-A No. 277806/1987. The background of the technology will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B. JP-A Nos. 511065/2008 and 277806/1987 both disclose a method for configuring an ET power supply by using a plurality of voltage supplies. In FIG. 5A, an ET power supply 1300 includes a plurality of constant voltage supplies that are provided so that the rated supply voltage Vdd of a power amplifier is equally divided. The ET power supply 1300 outputs a voltage corresponding to the envelope signal from the envelope detection unit. The output voltage of the ET power supply having a plurality of voltage supplies has a step-like shape as shown in the dashed line in FIG. 5B.
JP-A No. 136309/1998 discloses a technology called Peak Factor Reduction (hereinafter referred to as PFR) that reduces the difference between the average power and the peak power of a signal by reducing the peak power included in the signal. The PFR prevents the high power input itself. The PFR reduces the output dynamic range that is required for the power supply to allow the power supply voltage to precisely vary with respect to the input range of higher occurrence probability. Thus, the PFR improves the PAE. The PFR is the technology that allows the power amplifier operating at a fixed voltage to reduce the peak power included in the signal. This can reduce the difference between the average power and the peak power of the signal, allowing the power amplifier to operate at higher PAE. This technology is currently used by many mobile communication transmitters.
JP-A No. 198513/1991 discloses a power amplifier of a combination of ET and distortion compensation. Further, JP-A No. 336626/2004 discloses a power amplifier that makes the power supply voltage constant at low output power by changing the power supply voltage at higher output power.

Radio transmitter and envelope tracking power supply control method


A fuel nozzle assembly is provided having the capability of burning either gaseous or liquid fuel, or both simultaneously, along with steam injection. The nozzle has a nozzle body that is attached to a nozzle cap by inner, outer and middle sleeves. The sleeves form inner and outer concentric annular conduits between themselves for directing the flow of gaseous fuel and steam from the fuel and steam inlet ports to the outlet ports. In addition, the inner sleeve forms a central chamber in which an oil fuel nozzle is disposed. Radial passages in the nozzle body allow cooling air to flow over the oil nozzle and through the oil outlet port, thereby preventing coking at the nozzle tip. The fuel nozzle assembly is originally built, and the nozzle cap is replaced, by sliding the sleeves forward and aft on the assembly so as to gain access to the next innermost sleeve.

The present invention relates to fuel nozzles for gas turbines. More specifically, the present invention relates to a fuel nozzle assembly, along with a method of making and repairing same, suitable for use with liquid or gaseous fuels and having the capability for steam injection for NOx control.
Gas turbines include one or more combustors adapted to produce a hot gas by burning a fuel in compressed air. A fuel nozzle assembly is employed to introduce the fuel into the combustor. To provide maximum flexibility to the user, such fuel nozzles are often of the dual fuel type--that is, they have the capability of burning either a liquid or a gaseous fuel, or both simultaneously.
Unfortunately, combustion in gas turbine combustors results in the formation of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in the combusted gas that is considered an environmental pollutant. One method of minimizing the formation of NOx involves injecting steam, via the fuel nozzle, into the combustor along with the fuel. However, such steam injection can not be readily accomplished in a traditional dual fuel nozzle so that the flexibility of a dual fuel nozzle is lost. Another problem with steam injection via conventional fuel nozzles is that it is difficult to introduce the steam symmetrically around the longitudinal center line of the combustor so as to prevent non-uniformities in the combustion gas.
A further drawback of traditional fuel nozzles is that they are subject to deterioration of the nozzle cap due burning and erosion from exposure to the hot combustion gases. If oil fuel is being burned, such nozzles are also subject to coking at the fuel outlet port. Consequently, replacement of the nozzle is a frequent occurrence. This presents a maintenance problem for the user.
It is therefore desirable to provide a fuel nozzle for a gas turbine capable of burning gaseous or liquid fuel, or both simultaneously, along with injecting steam. It would also be desirable to provide a method of replacing the nozzle cap portion of such a fuel nozzle.

Gas turbine dual fuel nozzle assembly with steam injection capability


An error correction coding and decoding circuit for digitally coded information in which a majority difference set cyclic code is used to apply error correction coding and decoding to a data signal having data bits suitably assigned to information bits and parity bits, characterized in that a clock signal (CLKC) for the internal operation of the circuit, a data load clock signal for loading data onto the circuit, and a data read clock signal for reading data from the circuit are delivered from an external circuit provided separately from the error correction coding and decoding circuit.

1. Field of the Art
This invention relates to an error correction coding and decoding circuit for digitally coded character information or graphic information, etc., and more particularly, to the configuration of an error correcting circuit for codes which can be decoded by hard logic, i.e., majority-logic elements.
2. Prior Art
In the prior art, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 133751/84, 181841/84 and 216388/84, most error correcting coding and decoding circuits of this kind become operative after initialization by program through the CPU. In this instance, a single clock signal is used and therefore the delay in the error correcting circuit is large. For serial data, a system was adopted to use two or more error correcting circuits of the same construction, to load data alternately.
In addition, the encoding circuit has no control signal to and from an external circuit, making such a circuit difficult to use as regards timing, etc.
Conventional error correction decoding circuits have a system to connect to a CPU to set initial and other conditions by program. Thus, they were difficult to use in a circuit comprised of only hard logic elements without a CPU.

Error correction coding and decoding circuit for digitally coded information


A tire noise reduction device is applicable for a tire, and the tire including an tread, an inner surface, and a cavity defined inside the inner surface and configured to accommodate the tire cavity noise absorber. The tire cavity noise absorber contains at least one sound absorbing material, each of the at least one sound absorbing material includes an air chamber defined therein, a contacting face, and an extending face opposite to the contacting face. The contacting face is adhered on a portion of the inner surface corresponding to the tread by using adhesive material, and each sound absorbing material further includes a channel passing through the extending face, communicating with the air chamber, and facing a central direction of the tire.

A conventional tire cavity noise absorber is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,874,329 B2, disclosed is a low noise pneumatic tire in which a plurality of noise absorbing members of a porous material are attached to the tire inner peripheral surface with intervals in the tire circumferential direction. The number of the noise absorbing members is from 5 to 50. The total length obtained by integrating the lengths of the noise absorbing members in the tire circumferential direction is not less than 75% of the tire maximum inner peripheral length. The distance between each adjacent two of the noise absorbing members is equal to or more than the maximum thickness of the noise absorbing members at the end portions thereof in the tire circumferential direction, while being not more than 15% of the tire maximum inner peripheral length.
Another conventional tire cavity noise absorber is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,182,114 B2 relates to a tire noise reducing system comprising a pneumatic tire, a wheel rim on which the pneumatic tire is mounted, and a noise damper disposed in a cavity surrounded by an inner surface of the rim and an inner surface of the tire mounted thereon, wherein the noise damper has a volume V2 which is from 0.4 to 20% of the volume V1 of the cavity, and the noise damper is made of a porous material having a hardness of from 10 to 80 N, a tensile strength of not less than 70 kPa and a specific gravity of from 0.014 to 0.026.
Another conventional tire cavity noise absorber is disclosed in EP 2,397,314 B1, is directed to a method of making a tire having a foam noise damper, comprising the steps of: disposing a silicone rubber foam noise damper onto an exposed virgin surface of a green innerliner of a green tire; disposing a barrier layer over the silicone rubber foam noise damper, the silicone rubber foam noise damper being located between the virgin surface of the green tire innerliner and the barrier layer; curing the green tire; and removing the barrier layer to reveal the silicone rubber foam noise damper.
At least one sound absorbing material is made of flexible material is U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,843 disclosed a pneumatic tire, a wheel rim, and an assembly of a pneumatic tire and a wheel rim, which are provided with lawn-like materials for damping air resonance of the tire cavity are disclosed. An assembly of a pneumatic tire and a wheel rim where a foaming agent is injected into the tire cavity is also disclosed.
At least one sound absorbing material is made of fiber material is U.S. Pat. No. 9,045,006 disclosed a tire including a crown, sidewalls extending the crown on each side, these sidewalls being connected to beads intended to be in contact with a mounting rim on which the tire is mounted, this tire having an internal wall delimiting, with the mounting rim, an internal cavity to allow the tire to be inflated. This tire includes, over at least part of its internal wall delimiting the internal cavity, a plurality of protrusions of elongate shape foil ring a dense coating, this tire being characterized in that these protrusions of elongate shape include a plurality of supporting fibers and a plurality of branching fibers, the branching fibers being attached to the supporting fibers, each supporting fiber having two ends, of which at least one is attached to the internal wall of the tire.
In addition, at least one porous sound absorbing strip or flap is U.S. Pat. No. 6,533,009 disclosed a tire noise damper to be disposed in an annular tire cavity foil red between a wheel rim and a pneumatic tire mounted thereon. The damper comprises an annular band-like body which is made of an elastomeric material and provided with at least one generally U-shaped cut oriented in a circumferential direction. The cutout formed by the at least one U-shaped cut forms a flap risen by a centrifugal force during running, and the remainder forms a base band to be put around a bottom of the wheel rim in an elongated condition. In order to reduce resonance of the air in the tire cavity in not only the fundamental mode but also the higher harmonic modes, the flap may have a relatively long length such that, when risen, a radially outer end portion thereof comes into contact with the radially inside of a tread portion of the tire. Further, the flap may be made of nonwoven fabric at least partially.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.


A twin roll continuous casting apparatus for continuously casting a metal strip through a gap of a pair of internally cooled rolls rotating in the opposite direction to each other having a pair of abradable side dams disposed on both sides of the rolls wherein a vessel for a pool of molten metals provided, at least a portion of the bottom or sides of the vessel slidably contacting the circumferential surface of the lower roll.

Well known in the art is a so-called twin roll continuous casting apparatus in which a pair of internally cooled rolls having respectively horizontal axes and rotating in opposite direction to each other are disposed parallel to each other with an appropriate gap therebetween, a pool of molten metal is formed on the circumferential surfaces (the upper halves cylindrical surfaces in the axial directions) of the rolls above the gap and the molten metal is continuously cast into a metal strip through the gap while being cooled by the circumferential surfaces of the rotating rolls. There has also been proposed such a twin roll continuous apparatus applied to a case of continuous casting of steel to produce a steel strip directly from molten steel.
When a metal strip is continuosly cast through a gap between a pair of rolls, it is necessary to form a pool of molten metal on the circumferential surfaces of the pair of rolls above the gap therebetween and to maintain a level of the molten metal in the pool substantially constant by continuously pouring the molten metal into the pool. In order to form the pool of molten metal, there are required a pair of dams having their surfaces perpendicular to the roll axes which prevent an overflow of molten metal along the roll axes on the circumferential surfaces of the rolls. These dams also serve usually to regulate the width of the cast strip and are referred to herein as "side dams". In addition to the side dams disposed at the left and right sides of the rolls, a pair of front and rear dams (which may be referred to as "longitudinal dams") having their surfaces along the roll axes may be erected orthogonally to the side dams on the circumferential surfaces of the rolls so as to form a box-like pool for molten metal with the side dams and the front and rear dams.
There are known, as the pair of side dams, movable side dams which urge a pair of endless metal belts, caterpillars and the like against both edge surfaces of the rolls (side surfaces of the rolls perpendicular to the roll axes) at a location of the roll gap and move at a speed corresponding to the casting speed. With such movable side dams, however, the constitution of the apparatus becomes complicated. Also known in the art are fixed side dams which have plate-like bodies of refractories fixed to left and right side surfaces of the rolls. Since the fixed side dams undergo a great deal of friction with the rotating rolls and the ends of the strip being cast, they are generally made of heat resistant refractory materials having high strength. Never-the-less, damages of the fixed side dams are not completely avoided, may be a cause of leakage of molten metal and may invite cracks at the ends of the strip.
In Japanese Patent Application No. 62-84,555 (published as JP A-63-252,646, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,780), we have proposed a continuous casting apparatus for metal strip which may be said "abradable dam system" or "semi-movable dam system" intermediate between "movable" and "fixed" dam systems. According to our prior proposal, a refractory material capable of being well abraded is used as the material for the side dams, contrary to the prior art concept that refractory materials suitable for the side dams should have a good wear resistance and the highest possible strength. The abradable side dams are forcibly fed or moved in the casting direction during the casting while being frictionally abraded by slidably contacting surfaces of the rotating rolls and ends of the strip being cast. By this abradable dam system, the problems associated with the twin roll continuous casting apparatus, of molten metal leakage in the vicinity of the side dams, damages of the side dams and cracks of the ends of the cast strip are overcome, whereby the production of metal strips of a good quality may be stably carried out.

Apparatus for continuous casting of metal strip


A rear tow hitch assembly connectable to a work tool assembly on a first agricultural implement to tow a second agricultural implement behind the first agricultural implement is provided. The first agricultural implement can be transformable between an operating position and a transport position by pivoting the work tool assembly upwards around a first axis. The rear tow hitch assembly can be shaped to clear the work tool assembly when the first agricultural implement is transformed between the operating position and the transport position while a rear tow hitch assembly remains connected to the second agricultural implement during the transformation.

In the agricultural industry, it is sometimes desirable to tow two agricultural implements behind a tow vehicle with a first agricultural implement towed directly behind the tow vehicle and a second agricultural implement towed behind and connected to the first agricultural implement. For example, it may be desirable to tow a cultivator through a field followed by an air cart or some other finishing implement towed behind the cultivator. If the agricultural implement being towed behind the cultivator is an air cart, it may be used to direct seed or fertilizer back to the cultivator so that the seed or fertilizer could be placed in the soil using the cultivator. In the case of other finishing tools, these can be used to further prepare the soil in the field.
For the cultivation of soil, for example, various styles of cultivators and harrows are employed. In cooler climates the most common types are the disc cultivator (sometimes called a disc harrow), the chain harrow, the tine harrow or spike harrow and the spring tine harrow. Chain harrows are often used for lighter work such as leveling the tilth or covering seed, while disc cultivators are typically used for heavy work, such as following plowing to break up the sod. Tine harrows are used to refine seed-bed condition before planting, to remove small weeds in growing crops and to loosen the inter-row soils to allow for water to soak into the subsoil. All three types can be used in one pass to prepare the soil for seeding. It is also common to use any combination of two harrows for a variety of tilling processes. Where harrowing provides a very fine tilth, or the soil is very light so that it might easily be wind-blown, a roller is often added as the last of the set. The disc cultivator is an implement used primarily to break up and smooth soil in preparation for planting and for the task of preparing soil for planting including tilling and leveling of fallow soil.
Cultivators and other agricultural implements have also increased in size over the years as tractors have increased in power resulting in some cultivators being quite large. Because of this many agricultural implements have sections that can fold up to reduce the size of the agricultural implement for transport, such as between fields or along roadways. These agricultural implements can be transformed between an operating position for use in a field and then "folded up" to make transport along roadways easier and safer.
However, this "folding" that some agricultural implements are capable of in order to ease transport presents challenges for connecting a second implement behind the first agricultural implement. The "folding" of the first agricultural implement can interfere with the connection to an implement being towed behind the cultivator.

Hitch assembly for towing a second agricultural implement behind a first agricultural implement


A method and apparatus is provided for efficient computing of perspective transformation motion tracking parameters in a sequence of images. More specifically, a set of initial positions for N points defined as (xi yi) for i=1 to N corresponding to at least one input image in a sequence of images are defined. The initial positions are preferably chosen based on image features having good edge and corner definitions. A set of mapping parameters are then generated using a matrix processor to solve linearized equations that define a set of final positions. The mapping parameters are then applied to the initial positions to define the set of final positions.

The invention relates in general to a method and apparatus for tracking motion within a sequence of images. More specifically, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for efficient determination and computing of perspective transformation motion tracking parameters in a sequence of images.
A common requirement in the field of motion picture special effects is the need to track the motion of objects within a motion picture image sequence. The tracked motion of an object can be utilized, for example, to form composite image scenes in which the tracked objects are combined with other scene elements to move along with the tracked object. Alternatively, the tracking information related to a moving object can be utilized to remove unwanted motion effects from the image sequence, thereby stabilizing the image sequence to improve viewing characteristics. Still further, the tracking information may be utilized to track objects from scene to scene in a motion picture image sequence in order to apply special effects to the tracked object.
A variety of methods and devices have been proposed to detect and track movement in a sequence of images. The conventional methods and devices, however, are generally not efficient in computational requirements and speed, particularly when applied to determining and computing perspective transformation motion tracking parameters.
In view of the above, it is an object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for efficient computing of perspective transformation motion tracking parameters in a motion image sequence.
The invention provides a method and apparatus for efficient computing of perspective transformation motion tracking parameters in a sequence of images. More specifically, a set of initial positions for N points defined as (xi yi) for i=1 to N corresponding to at least one input image in a sequence of images are defined. The initial positions are preferably chosen based on image features having good edge and corner definitions. A set of mapping parameters are then generated using a matrix processor to solve linearized equations that define a set of final positions. The mapping parameters are then applied to the initial coordinate positions to determine corresponding final positions.
These and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.

Method and apparatus for computing motion tracking parameters


This invention involves skin cleaning products and tapes for removing keratotic plugs, dirt and other debris found on the skin and in skin pores and comprising a starch based remoistenable adhesive composition wherein the starch has from about 0 to 70% by weight amylose content and is converted to from about 30 WF to 20 DE.

This invention relates to the use of selected starch based adhesives in skin cleaning tapes to remove keratotic plugs as well as dirt and other matter from skin and skin pores.
Keratotic plugs are dead epidermal cells and oil which together with sebum, dirt and other skin debris can block and plug the pores of the skin. The formation of such plugs and skin build up are often conspicuous and can provide undesirable cosmetic effects. Additionally, if proper treatment is not given and these plugs and other build ups are not removed, various skin problems can arise.
Since keratotic plugs are formed deep in the skin, the use of traditional cleansers and detergents like soap, make-up removers and face masks are usually not effective in their removal. There has not been much disclosure of skin cleaning compositions or methods to alleviate this problem. One method shown to remove keratotic plugs is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,277 issued on Apr. 30, 1996 to T, Uemura et al, which discloses the use of synthetic cationic polymer compositions containing salt forming groups.
There is the need for additional skin cleaning and keratotic plug removing products particularly one which is based on the use of natural readily available materials.

Starch based adhesives for skin cleaning tape

National Starch and Chemical Investment Holding Corporation