A CMOS image sensor and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed, in which a dead zone and a dark current are simultaneously reduced by selective epitaxial growth. The CMOS image sensor includes a first conductive type semiconductor substrate, a second conductive type impurity ion area, a gate electrode, an insulating film formed on an entire surface of the semiconductor substrate including the gate electrode and excluding the second conductive type impurity ion area, and a silicon epitaxial layer formed on the second conductive type impurity ion area and doped with first conductive type impurity ions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor and a method for fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a CMOS image sensor and a method for fabricating the same in which a dead zone and a dark current are simultaneously reduced.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, an image sensor is a semiconductor device that converts optical images to electrical signals. The image sensor can be classified as a charge coupled device (CCD) and a CMOS image sensor.
The CCD has drawbacks in its fabricating process because of a complicated driving mode, high power consumption, and multistage photolithographic processes. Also, it is difficult for a control circuit, a signal processing circuit, and an analog-to-digital converter to be integrated in a CCD chip. Thus, the CCD is not suitable for use in slim sized products. However, CMOS image sensors have received attention as the next generation technology for overcoming the drawbacks of CCDs.
The CMOS image sensor employs a switching mode that sequentially detects outputs of unit pixels using MOS transistors by forming the MOS transistors to correspond to the number of the unit pixels on a semiconductor substrate. CMOS technology that uses a control circuit and a signal processing circuit as peripheral circuits is employed.
The CMOS image sensor has advantages in that power consumption is low because of the CMOS technology. Also, a fabricating process is simple because of a relatively small number of photolithographic processing steps. Further, since the CMOS image sensor allows a control circuit, a signal processing circuit and an analog-to-digital converter to be integrated in its chip, it has an advantage in that a slim sized product can be obtained. Therefore, the CMOS image sensor is widely used for various application fields such as digital still cameras and digital video cameras.
A related art CMOS image sensor will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a layout illustrating a unit pixel of a 4T type CMOS image sensor including four transistors, and FIG. 2 is an equivalent circuit 100 diagram illustrating the unit pixel of the CMOS image sensor shown in FIG. 1.
In the unit pixel of the 4T type CMOS image sensor, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a photodiode (PD) 20 is formed in a wide portion of an active area 10, and gate electrodes 110, 120, 130, and 140 of four transistors, are formed to respectively overlap the other portions of the active area 10. A transfer transistor Tx, a reset transistor Rx, a drive transistor Dx, and a selection transistor Sx are respectively formed by the gate electrodes 110, 120, 130 and 140.
Impurity ions are implanted into the active area 10 of each transistor except portions below the gate electrodes 110, 120, 130 and 140, so that source and drain areas of each transistor are formed. Thus, a power voltage Vdd is applied to the source and drain areas between the reset transistor Rx and the drive transistor Dx, and a power voltage Vss is applied to the source and drain areas at one side of the selection transistor Sx.
The transfer transistor Tx transfers optical charges generated by the photodiode to a floating diffusion (FD) layer. The reset transistor Rx controls and resets the potential of the floating diffusion layer. The drive transistor Dx serves as a source follower. The selection transistor Sx serves as a switching transistor to read a signal of the unit pixel.
A method for fabricating the aforementioned related art CMOS image sensor will be described with reference to FIG. 3A to FIG. 3G. FIG. 3A to FIG. 3G are sectional views taken along line I-I′ of the unit pixel of the CMOS image sensor shown in FIG. 1.
First, as shown in FIG. 3A, a lightly doped P type (P-) epitaxial layer 2 is formed on a P type semiconductor substrate 1 defined by an active area and a device isolation area using a mask. Then, the lightly doped P type epitaxial layer 2 is etched at a predetermined depth by exposing and developing processes using the mask to form a trench. An oxide film is formed on the epitaxial layer 2. The trench is filled with the oxide film by a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process so as to form a device isolation film 3 in the device isolation area.
Impurity ions are implanted into the surface of the epitaxial layer 2 to correspond to the active area to form a P type impurity ion area 4. The P type impurity ion area 4 is used to control a threshold voltage in a channel area of the transfer transistor and to pin a surface voltage in the photodiode.
As shown in FIG. 3B, a gate insulating film and a conductive layer are sequentially formed on the entire surface of the substrate and then selectively dry-etched to form a gate insulating film 5 and a gate electrode 6 of each transistor including the transfer transistor.
As shown in FIG. 3C, an insulating film 7 such as an oxide film is formed on the entire surface of the substrate including the gate electrode 6 to recover a damaged corner of the gate insulating film 5 and protect the surface of the epitaxial layer 2 during a later ion implantation process.
As shown in FIG. 3D, a photoresist film is coated on the entire surface and then removed by exposing and developing processes to form a photoresist pattern 8 that exposes the photodiode. The photoresist pattern 8 is formed to partially cover the active area adjacent the device isolation film 3 and to partially expose the gate electrode 6. N type impurity ions are implanted into the epitaxial layer 2 of the exposed photodiode by high energy ion implantation to form a photodiode N type impurity ion area 9.
As shown in FIG. 3E, after the photoresist pattern 8 is removed, a photoresist pattern 10 is formed to expose the photodiode. P type impurity ions are implanted into the surface of the photodiode N type impurity ion area 9 to form a P type impurity ion area 11. The P type impurity ion area 11 has a doping level obtained by adding a doping level of the P type impurity ion area 4 thereto.
Instead of the process shown in FIG. 3E, as shown in FIG. 3F, an insulating film may be deposited on the entire surface and then removed by an anisotropic etching process to form spacers 12 at sidewalls of the gate electrode 6. After the photoresist pattern 10 is formed to expose the photodiode, P type impurity ions may be implanted into the surface of the photodiode N type impurity ion area 9 to form the P type impurity ion area 11.
As shown in FIG. 3G, the photoresist pattern 10 is removed, and N type impurity ions are heavily implanted into the drain area at one side of the gate electrode 6 using a mask to form a heavily doped N type impurity ion area 13.
In the related art CMOS image sensor, the photodiode converts signals of light into electrical signals to generate optical charges. The generated optical charges move to the floating diffusion layer so as to gate the drive transistor Dx if the transfer transistor Tx is turned on. However, as shown in FIG. 3E, if the P type impurity ions are implanted before the spacers are formed, the epitaxial layer below the spacers is pinned. Characteristics of a dark current may be improved but the P type impurity ion doping level increases. As the P type impurity ion doping level increases, a potential barrier of the source area of the transfer transistor increases to reduce transfer efficiency of the optical charges. A problem then occurs in that a dead zone is formed. In the dead zone no signal is generated for a certain time period after light enters the sensor.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3F, if the P type impurity ions are implanted after the spacers are formed at the sidewalls of the gate electrode, transfer efficiency of the optical charges may be improved. However, the surface of the photodiode is damaged during the dry-etching process that forms the spacers. Dark current is thereby increased.

CMOS image sensor and method for fabricating the same


Methods, systems, and apparatuses are described here that identify meeting content. A meeting content determiner in a shared computing device identifies a group including two or more participants in a meeting, where at least one participant of the group is logged into an account associated with a meeting content determiner. Further, the meeting content determiner identifies content associated with the two or more participants, and accessible by the at least one participant logged into the account and displays indications of the identified content to one or more participants of the group.

Various tools exist that enable users to collaborate and to share documents. For example, conferencing tools like Microsoft Skype® and Cisco WebEx® enable users to conduct voice and video web conferences, and to share and collaborate on documents during the web conferences. Moreover, document generation and search tools are available that enable users to create documents and search through them. For example, Microsoft Word® enables a user to generate and search word processing documents, Microsoft Outlook® enables a user to generate and search email, Dropbox® enables a user to store and search on stored documents, a file explorer tool may enable a user to search over a variety of stored document types in a directory structure, etc. During a web conference conducted by a conferencing tool, a user may use a search tool to find documents to show and/or share during the web conference.

Identification of meeting group and related content


A method and apparatus for utilizing the distortion generated within a portion of a balanced amplifier to cancel the distortion generated within the whole balanced amplifier. Samples of the signal and distortion from part of the balanced amplifier are combined with a reference signal such that the two signals destructively combine leaving the distortion from the sampled part of the balanced amplifier. The gain and phase of the distortion is then adjusted so that when it is coupled into the input of the other part of the balanced amplifier the distortion generated by both parts of the balanced amplifier are cancelled.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to radio frequency amplifiers, and more particularly, to reducing the distortion from a balanced radio frequency power amplifier.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radio frequency (RF) amplifiers are used in a wide variety of applications, including communications. Ideally the transfer function of an RF amplifier is linear, with the output of the amplifier being an amplified replica of the input to the amplifier. However, conventional RF amplifiers typically have some degree of non-linearity in their transfer function, particularly at high power levels such that different signal frequencies will be amplified by different amounts. This non-linearity in an RF amplifier produces distortion in the RF amplifier output.
Distortion in the RF amplifier output can reach levels that are unacceptable. For example, to meet the requirements of many CDMA modulation standards, power amplifier outputs need to exhibit very low distortion. If some type of linearization or distortion reduction technique is not used, the RF amplifier can have poor efficiency or require high cost components.
Many distortion reduction techniques use a distortion generator to cancel the distortion generated within a main RF power amplifier. These techniques generally assume that the low power distortion generator has a non-linear transfer function that is either similar to, or opposite from, the non-linear transfer function of the main RF amplifier. The output of the distortion generator, which exhibits the non-linear transfer function, is sampled and used to generate a signal that is combined with the output of the main RF power amplifier in an attempt to cancel the distortion present in the RF amplifier output. A drawback to this technique is that, for the signal combining to result in cancellation the non-linear transfer function of the distortion generator must match the non-linear transfer function of the main RF amplifier. This match can be difficult to achieve.
Another distortion reduction technique, the feedforward technique, overcomes the difficulty in providing a distortion generator that has a non-linear transfer function that matches the main RF amplifier. Rather, the feedforward technique samples the main RF amplifier output, which includes both the desired transmitted signal and amplifier induced distortion. The sampled output of the main RF amplifier is then combined with a sample of the amplifier input signal such that the two sampled signals destructively combine, leaving only the distortion from the main amplifier. The resulting distortion signal is then amplified using an error amplifier and is added at the output of the main RF amplifier with the gain and phase adjusted such that the error amplifier output destructively combines with the main RF amplifier output and cancels the amplifier induced distortion present in the output of the main RF amplifier. A drawback to the feedforward distortion reduction technique is that the power handling capability required of the error amplifier is based on the magnitude of the distortion. The feedforward technique can provide good performance when improving the linearity of low distortion amplifiers, however, when this technique is applied to an amplifier that is operating close to its compression point, the error amplifier power requirement may become excessively large, making this technique impractical and unsatisfactory for many applications.
From the discussion above, it should be apparent that there is a need for a system that can provide linearization of an amplifier throughout its operating range, for example when it is operating close to its compression point, without requiring excessively large error amplifier power levels.
A method and apparatus for reducing distortion in the output of a balanced RF power amplifier samples the distortion of the main RF power amplifier output and also reduces the power handling capability required for the error amplifier. A circuit that can provide these features measures the difference between the output from one portion of the balanced RF power amplifier and a sample of the amplifier input. This difference signal, which represents the amplifier distortion, can then be combined at the input to another portion of the balanced RF power amplifier. The amplitude and phase of the difference signal can be adjusted such that the distortion produced from the respective portions of the balanced RF amplifier are cancelled when the respective outputs are combined to produce the balanced RF amplifier output. Because the distortion generated in each portion of the balanced RF power amplifier should be similar, the distortion in one portion of the RF power amplifier is used to minimize the distortion in other portions of the RF power amplifier. In addition, this technique uses one portion of the balanced RF amplifier to amplify the difference signal to the desired level and thereby does not require a powerful error amplifier. Also, because the difference signal is injected into the input signal in front of the power amplifier, this technique does not require additional couplers following the main RF power amplifier output. The elimination of additional couplers after the main RF power amplifier can result in a lower cost design that provides improved efficiency.
In another aspect, the main RF power amplifier can include multiple amplifying devices that produce a combined output signal. The distortion produced in one of the amplifying devices can be sampled and used to cancel the distortion from all of the multiple amplifying devices to minimize the distortion in the main
In yet another aspect, a tone, or pilot signal, can be injected into the termination port of a balanced amplifier input splitter. The amplitude of the tone or pilot signal that is present in a balanced RF amplifier output combiner termination port can be detected and used as an input to an adaptation loop to minimize the tone, or pilot signal present in the output combiner termination port. By injecting the tone or pilot signal in the splitter termination port, the tone is isolated from the output of the balanced amplifier.
Other features and advantages of the present invention should be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment, which illustrates, by way of example, principles of the invention.


Provided is an apparatus for molding plastic preforms into plastic containers, with at least one blow molding arrangement, which includes at least a first mold carrier, a second mold carrier and a blow-molding device having at least two blow mold side parts and a base part, wherein the blow molding device can be releasably arranged on the mold carriers via a locking mechanism and forms a cavity inside which the plastic preforms can be molded into the plastic containers, wherein during the molding process, the mold carriers can be latched together by a latching device, and the apparatus includes a changeover robot which is suitable and intended for extracting the blow-molding device in an assembled state from the mold carriers.

In the conventional art (EP2080606A2), for this the mold carriers are opened by means of additional curves or a pneumatic infeed of curves, and then the blow-molding devices are extracted e.g. by a robot. For this, at least one guide or curve roller is provided on the blow-molding arrangement and guided inside the curve. Such additional guide curves however greatly increase the maintenance complexity because of the wear on these curves. Also, because of these guide curves, the apparatus takes up more space, and the curves also constitute an additional source of faults since for example there is a risk that the rollers guided inside the curves will seize therein.
Another procedure known from the conventional art for changing blow-molding devices proposes to extract these individually, and in particular manually, from the respective blow-molding arrangements or molding stations. An operator extracts the individual blow-molding devices and replaces them with new blow-molding devices which are to form the corresponding new containers. Because of this manual changeover process, changing the blow-molding devices takes a relatively long time, wherein during this time the blow-molding machine is stationary and accordingly produces no plastic containers.
It is also known to exchange blow molds not successively as individual parts, but as an entire mold set in order to significantly reduce the changeover time on conversion to another container shape (EP2698239B1, EP2475514B1). This may be done manually or automatically, for example by a robot.
Despite the use of robots, here additional mechanical, pneumatic and electrical units must be provided in order to enable the robot to exchange the blow molds (see EP2683541B1, in particular FIG. 9).

Apparatus and method for molding plastic preforms into plastic containers with changeover robot


The invention concerns a method implemented in a communication network comprising a source device including: a first symmetrical key for encrypting data to be transmitted to a display device connected to the network; and the first symmetrical key encrypted with a second symmetrical network key known only to at least one display device connected to the network. When the source device needs to renew its first symmetrical key to encrypt new data, it generates a random number, then it calculates a new symmetrical key based on the first symmetrical key and on the random number. It then encrypts the data to be transmitted with the new symmetrical key and transmits to a display device, via the network: the data encrypted with the new symmetrical key, the random number, and the first encrypted symmetrical key with the second symmetrical network key.

Such a network is comprised of a set of devices interconnected by a digital bus, for example a bus according to the standard IEEE 1394. It particularly comprises two types of devices:                Source devices capable of sending data over the network: These devices can recover the data through a "channel" external to the network.        Presentation devices adapted to receive the data circulating on the network, to process it or present it to the user.
Hence, if the example of a digital home network designed to carry audio and/or video data to the various rooms of a house is used, the source devices are for example digital decoders receiving video programs from outside the network via a satellite antenna or via a cable connection, or even optical disc drives broadcasting data (audio and/or video) in digital form, on the network, read from a disc (in this case, the disc contains data coming from outside the network). The presentation devices are for example television receivers that can display video programs received from the network or, more generally, any type of device with the capability of decrypting encrypted data.
If one considers the viewpoint of the content providers that supply data coming from outside the local network, particularly from service providers broadcasting Pay TV programs or even optical disc editors for example, it is necessary to ensure that this transmitted data cannot be copied and can freely circulate (for example by being copied onto an optical disc or any other recording support) from one local network to another.
For this, it is known that data can be transmitted in secret form by encrypting it with cryptography algorithms using keys that are known beforehand by the devices authorised to receive this data or else that are exchanged according to specific secure protocols between the content provider and these devices.
The patent application PCT WO 00/62505 in the name of THOMSON multimedia, filed on Mar. 31, 2000 and claiming the priority of a French patent application in the name of the same applicant, filed on Apr. 13, 1999 and published under the reference FR 2792482, relates to a home network in which a public key specific to the network is used to encrypt the data circulating between the devices of the network, typically from the source devices mentioned above toward presentation devices. Only the presentation devices of this network have the private key corresponding to the public key. The pair (public key, private key) being specific to the network, data encrypted within the framework of this network cannot be decrypted by the devices of another network.
The use of a pair of asymmetric keys has some advantages, but also a few disadvantages. One of the main advantages is that no secret is memorized in the source devices: these devices know the public key but not the private key. However, the implementation of asymmetric keys is relatively slow with respect to that of symmetric keys. Moreover, the lifetime of asymmetric keys is short, demanding a regular revocation and the creation of new keys. In this case, data encrypted with a key, then recorded, can suddenly no longer be decrypted on the network. In addition, a large number of asymmetric keys are required.
The use of a symmetric key to encrypt the data would be considered as attractive. However, this would require the source devices to know this key, which would impose increased security constraints on them and consequently make them more expensive.
The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems.

Simplified method for renewing symmetrical keys in a digital network


An electroconductive polyethylene resin composition comprises: a resin component comprising a polar-group-containing polyethylene resin (A) and a polyethylene resin (B); and an electroconductive filler (E) incorporated into the resin component, wherein each of the proportions of the polar-group-containing polyethylene resin (A) and the polyethylene resin (B) in the resin component is the polar-group-containing polyethylene resin (A): 0.5 wt %-80 wt % and the polyethylene resin (B): 99.5 wt %-20 wt %, and the electroconductive polyethylene resin composition satisfies the following requirement (1): (1) surface resistivity: 10Ω/□-1010Ω/□.

Polyethylene resins have high mechanical strength, are excellent in terms of chemical resistance, corrosion resistance, etc., are inexpensive, have satisfactory moldability, and are capable of conforming to environmental issues and resource recycling. Polyethylene resins are hence in extensive use as various household materials and industrial materials. For example, the resins are used in a variety of applications including products molded or formed by injection molding, extrusion molding, blow molding, etc., such as plastic bags supplied by stores on purchase, packaging materials for foods, films for agricultural uses, tubular molded articles, e.g., pipes and hoses, and containers for shampoos, liquid detergents, and edible oils.
However, polyethylene resins are prone to be electrostatically charged since the resins have no polar groups in the molecular structure. There are hence cases where molded articles of polyethylene resins, when rubbed, exposed to flows of organic solvents, etc., or placed in low-humidity environments, suffer surface charging to attract dust or soot, resulting in product surface fouling.
Techniques in which an electroconductive carbon filler or the like is added to a polyethylene resin for the purpose of imparting electrical conductivity thereto have been proposed so far. However, there is a problem in that the addition of electroconductive fillers to polyethylene resins results in decreases in mechanical property and flowability.
Polyolefin resin compositions to which electrical conductivity has been imparted by adding an electroconductive carbon filler to the polyolefin resins and processes for the production thereof have been proposed, for example, in patent document 1 to patent document 5.
Meanwhile, since polyethylene resins have no polar groups, production of layered structures using a polyethylene resin in combination with a material of a different kind, such as a synthetic resin having polar groups, a metal, or wood, encounters a problem in that adhesion between the two is exceedingly weak or the polyethylene resin does not adhere to the adherend.
Techniques for improving the extremely low adhesiveness of polyethylene resins have been disclosed. Examples thereof include: a method in which an unsaturated carboxylic acid or the like is caused to add to a high-pressure-process low-density polyethylene resin or a polyethylene resin produced by the medium- or low-pressure process, thereby imparting adhesiveness thereto (see, for example, patent document 6); and a method in which ethylene is copolymerized with a polar-group-containing vinyl monomer using a high-pressure radical polymerization process to obtain an olefin copolymer containing polar groups (see, for example, patent document 7 and patent document 8).
Although there is a desire for a polyethylene resin material in which the charging properties and the poor adhesiveness to different kinds of materials, which are drawbacks of polyethylene resins, have been improved and which retains the excellent properties originally possessed by polyethylene resins, it has been impossible to produce such a material with any prior-art technique.
Patent document 9 proposes, as a polyolefin resin which combines electrical conductivity and adhesiveness, a polypropylene resin composition obtained by compounding a polypropylene resin having specific properties with a modified polypropylene in which polar groups derived from maleic anhydride or the like have been introduced into the molecular chain and with electroconductive carbon.
Patent document 10 proposes a semiconducting mixture which exhibits excellent performance when used in PTC elements, the semiconducting mixture being obtained by adding two carbon blacks each having a specific property range to high-density polyethylene having molecular chain terminals modified with an acid anhydride, and further proposes a PTC element.

Electroconductive polyethylene resin composition, and molded article and laminate using the same


A seat frame assembly is provided for compactly folding a motor vehicle seat. The seat frame assembly includes a pair of spaced apart and parallel side frame members defining a vertical plane, and a lower cross member extending between the pair of side frame members. An actuator is pivotally secured to one of the pair of side frame members. A linkage assembly includes first and second link members, which are pivotally secured to one another. The first link member extends between the actuator and the second link member. A control arm is fixedly secured to the second link member and pivotally secured to the lower cross member. When the actuator is pivoted, the control arm moves between a support position extending away from the side frame members and a stowed position co-planar with the side frame members.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a seat frame assembly for a motor vehicle seat. More particularly, the invention relates to a seat frame assembly including adjustable side bolsters that allow for compact folding of a motor vehicle seat.
2. Description of Related Art
A motor vehicle includes one or more seat assemblies for supporting occupants within a passenger compartment. The seat assembly typically includes a seat cushion and a seat back pivotally secured to the seat cushion. The seat back is generally movable between an upright seating position and a stowed position, in which the seat back is folded against the seat cushion. When the seat back is in its stowed position, additional storage space is created within the passenger compartment above the folded seat back.
The seat cushion and the seat back each include side bolsters or side support structures for supporting a seat occupant. Such side bolsters are particularly useful in supporting the seat occupant during lateral accelerations of the motor vehicle. The side bolsters present, however, a problem during folding of the seat back into its stowed position. Specifically, the side bolsters along the seat cushion and/or seat back prevent the seat back and the seat cushion from folding completely flat against one another. As a result, an amount of space within the passenger compartment that would ideally be used for storage is instead occupied by the seat assembly.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an adjustable side bolster that allows a seat back and a seat cushion to fold completely flat against one another in order to maximize storage space within a motor vehicle passenger compartment.


The invention relates to an ultrasonic NDT sensor arrangement for inspecting surfaces of variable geometry of metal bodies. The sensor arrangement includes a housing with a hollow inner space and an opening, through which part of an incoming sound beam exits the housing to enter a metal body to be tested. An ultrasonic sensor is coupled to the housing such that it emits said incoming sound beam directly into said hollow inner space in a direction towards the opening. The said inner space of the housing is filled with a first coupling fluid which is water. The opening of the housing is closed with a closing member, which is made of a silicone material and which has a similar density and velocity of sound compared to the first coupling fluid.

FIG. 1 shows in a simplified schematic diagram an ultrasonic sensor 12 positioned above a surface 16 of variable geometry of a metal body to be tested. The sensor 12 is supported a plastic wedge 11 so that it can send a projected sound beam 19 into the metal body below it at the desired angle to the surface 16. The projected sound beam 19 is part of an incoming sound beam 17 emanating from a piezoelectric element 13 within said ultrasonic sensor 12. Another part of said incoming sound beam 17 is reflected back at the contacting surface 14 of the wedge 11 as a scattered sound beam 18.
An ultrasonic sensor 12 of this type usually operates using the ultrasonic pulse-echo technique, in which a pulse of ultrasound (usually in the range 1 to 25 MHz) is projected into the material under test. When a defect is situated in the path of the sound beam, some of the sound energy (the "echo") is reflected by the defect and returns to the sensor, with the travel time being used to give an indication of the distance of the defect from the sensor 12.
However, if the wedge 11 that supports the sensor 12 has to be machined with a fixed curvature, it is hard to fill the gap 15 between the contacting surface 14 of the plastic wedge 11 and a changing surface 16 with an acoustically compatible liquid. Thus the performance of the sensor arrangement 10 under these conditions is unpredictable.
The first attempt to improve the situation was (see FIG. 2) to manufacture a sensor arrangement 20 with a hollow housing 21 for the sensor 12, fill its inner space 22 with water and let the incoming sound beam 17 travel from the sensor 12 directly through the water into the material via surface 16. This was a definite improvement over the plastic wedge 11, but caused other problems, such as (i) the need to continuously pump water through the housing 21 to maintain the coupling and (ii) the ultrasonic noise generated by sound waves scattered from air bubbles 24 brought in by the water (scattered sound 25). So a solution had to be found to circumvent these difficulties.
In the prior art, document U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,438 discloses an ultrasonic inspection apparatus, which includes an electro-acoustic transducer, means for directing a column of water or other liquid normally to the surface of an article under inspection and at least one curved reflecting surface to reflect an ultrasonic beam emitted by the transducer and to concentrate the reflected beam on a region where the liquid column strikes the surface of the article. The apparatus is for inspecting a hot article and the liquid strikes the article at sufficient speed to prevent the liquid reaching boiling point where the column strikes the surface, while also acting as a coupling liquid. The apparatus is designed for inspection of a continuous cast billet of axisymmetric geometry, whereas the invention described here will inspect components of asymmetric geometry.
On the other hand, document U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,791, which relates to the different technical field of clinical diagnosis, discloses a portable ultrasonic scanning module, which includes a fluid-tight enclosure having a window at about the front thereof and a reflective scanner at about the rear thereof and generally facing the window. A transducer is mounted in the enclosure frontwardly of the reflective scanner with the ultrasound-emitting face of the transducer generally facing the reflective scanner and being oriented with respect to the reflective scanner at a relatively acute angle such that the beam effectively "doubles-back" past itself during its excursion through the scanning module. The module is used to produce images of the interior of the human body.
Document JP 10267903 describes a solution to reduce a multiecho and also to improve the accuracy of a flaw detection result in the inspection of a specimen with an ultrasonic wave, by forming an ultrasonic transfer part with polyethylene resin having an acoustic impedance of at most twice the acoustic impedance of an acoustic coupling medium. Within the disclosed solution water is used as an acoustic coupling medium. A longitudinal wave excited by an oscillator is propagated in a wedge, and reflected and refracted at a boundary surface. Then the transmitted longitudinal wave is propagated in the acoustic coupling medium. Where the ultrasonic wave is made incident from the water to acrylic resin, 37% of the sound pressure is reflected. In the case from the water to polyethylene resin, only 8.36% of the sound pressure is reflected, and therefore the level of the reflected wave is reduced.
Document EP 0 359 546 A2 discloses an ultrasonic scanning probe comprising a coupling fluid interposed between a transducer and a probe window, characterized in that said coupling fluid comprises a mixture of 1-Butanol and Glycerol. Document GB 2197 474 A discloses an acoustic borehole imaging tool with a lubrication fluid as internal fluid. Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,809 describes an ultrasonic probe which is used for medical diagnostic apparatus. The inner fluid is a fluorocarbon with a sound velocity of about one-third of the sound velocity of water.

Ultrasonic NDT sensor arrangement and method for inspecting surfaces of variable geometry of metal bodies


Provided is a preparation method for a cyclohexane dimethanol (CHDM), which can have a high trans content through particular conditions, additive addition, or reactant addition, which is controlled in a cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid (CHDA) hydrogenation reaction, and a cyclohexane dimethanol prepared thereby.

Cyclohexane dimethanol (CHDM, 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol) is the basic raw material for the preparation of polyester or polyamide resins. CHDM is commercially prepared in Asia by SK NJC, which is a joint-venture firm established by SK Chemicals, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Shin Nippon Rika. Indorama [old name: Eastman] is dominating the entire markets all over the world. In the CHDM market, a demand for high value-added polyester resins is increasing and is expected to increase in the future. Thus, stable supply and demand is required. Currently, Indorama produces 100 KTA of CHDM and SK NJC produces 20 KTA of CHDM. It is known that SK NJC plans to increase the production to 60 KTA by 2018. It is known that one production line has recently been expanded in two existing production lines.
According to the known documents, there are three methods for preparing a CHDM using a purified terephthalic acid (PTA). According to a first method, salt is produced by ionizing PTA of Sumitomo Seika Chemicals Co., Ltd. with NaOH in an aqueous solution to increase PTA solubility and a hydrogenation reaction is performed. This synthesis method has an advantage that lowers a hydrogenation reaction temperature as PTA solubility increases at a low temperature (40° C. to 130° C.). However, after the reaction, a process of neutralizing with HCl to recover Na+ ions is required. After the residual Na+ salt reacts, it affects PETG polymerization. Also, a brine solution containing NaCl incurs excessive wastewater treatment costs. This adversely affects the cost reduction of the production process. A second method is a preparation method used by Indorama and SK NJC. Dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) is prepared by esterifying PTA and CHDM is prepared through dimethyl cyclohexane dicarboxylate (DMCD). Since this process uses a Cu-based or Cr-based catalyst when preparing CHDM from DMCD, it is relatively inexpensive in terms of catalyst price. However, since this process is a three-step preparation process (PTA→DMT→DMCD→CHDM), it is disadvantageous in terms of process. On the other hand, a third method is a process of preparing CHDM from PTA through CHDA. Since ruthenium, which is a noble metal, is used as an active metal in a CHDA hydrogenation reaction, it is disadvantageous in terms of catalyst price. However, since the final product CHDM can be obtained through the two-step process (PTA→CHDA→CHDM), it is determined that this process is advantageous in terms of cost reduction if the product cost is reduced through a reduction in process steps and the competitiveness of process technology is secured.
However, a method of obtaining a CHDM having a high trans content even in the case of preparing a CHDM using such a conventional CHDA hydrogenation reaction has not been disclosed, and a demand for such a method is still required.

Preparation method for cyclohexane dimethanol having high trans content and cyclohexane dimethanol prepared thereby


An electronic cigarette (10) includes an atomizer (26) having a coil-less heating element (4) with a heating section (6) connected to an electrical power source and two end sections in contact with a liquid supply (34). The heating element (4) is made of one or more woven fiber tubes (2) having a hollow interior such that the liquid can be transported from the liquid supply (34) to the heating section (6) through the hollow interior along the woven fiber tubes (2) or through the fiber materials via capillary action.

An electronic smoking device, such as an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), typically has a housing accommodating an electric power source (e.g. a single use or rechargeable battery, electrical plug, or other power source), and an electrically operable atomizer. The atomizer vaporizes or atomizes liquid supplied from a liquid supply with a heating element and provides vaporized or atomized liquid as an aerosol. Control electronics control the activation of the atomizer. In some electronic cigarettes, an airflow sensor is provided within the electronic smoking device which detects a user puffing on the device (e.g., by sensing an under-pressure or an air flow pattern through the device). The airflow sensor indicates or signals the puff to the control electronics to power up the device and generate vapor. In other e-cigarettes, a switch is used to power up the e-cigarette to generate a puff of vapor.
The heating element of conventional atomizers uses metallic heating wires wrapped around porous wick materials (such as cotton or silica). Alternatively, coil-less heating elements can be used in improved atomizers. Both designs require an element to transport liquid to the heating section of the heating element. Engineering challenges accordingly remain in providing improved atomizers for electronic cigarettes.

Electronic cigarette with woven fiber tube atomizer


A reference beam type optical laser Doppler velocimeter for emitting two or more probe beams to an object to be measured at a predetermined angle to multi-dimensionally measure a velocity and/or a displacement vector of the object due to Doppler shifts of beams reflected by the object. This velocimeter includes a frequency shifting means for dividing a laser beam from a single light source into two or more beams, and shifting optical frequencies of the beams each by a predetermined shift amount, a photodetecting means for receiving the reflected and reference beams to obtain a detection current, and a bandpass filter for causing the detection current to pass therethrough to obtain a required signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser Doppler velocimeter for emitting a laser beam on an object to be measured to measure a velocity and/or a displacement of the object due to shift of a frequency of the beam, i.e., Doppler shift and, more particularly, to a measuring apparatus for causing one measuring unit to simultaneously measure a two- or three-dimensional velocity vector.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, when a two- or three-dimensional velocity vector is measured, two or three one-dimensional velocimeters are combined, and outputs from the velocimeters are calculated to obtain the velocity vector. In this case, the size and cost of each apparatus are undesirably increased in proportion to the number of dimensions, and high-precision setting of a measuring probe must be performed upon every measuring operations. For example, a multi-dimensional velocimeter using an optical fiber and a plurality of one-dimensional velocimeters is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 93258/1982. In such multi-dimensional measurement, however, the following problems are posed in practice.
In order to increase a resolution of a portion to be measured, beams from the probes in the velocimeters are focused to form a spot. Since a surface which scatters beams is a target as an object to be measured in many cases, scattered beams from a given measuring probe are focused into stray beams at another probe, thus generating crosstalk between the probes. Since this crosstalk cannot be separated from an original signal, a velocity cannot be measured in practice. This phenomenon will be described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 shows an arrangement upon measurement of a two-dimensional velocity. Referring to FIG. 1, a scattered particle 5 which is an object to be measured has a velocity vector V. The velocity vector V is divided into an X-direction velocity vector V.sub.x and a y-direction velocity vector V.sub.y. When laser beams having angular frequencies .omega..sub.1 and .omega..sub.2 are emitted from two measuring probes 1 and 2 which form an angle +.alpha. with respect to the vector V.sub.y, respectively, Doppler angular frequency shift components .DELTA..omega..sub.x and .DELTA..omega..sub.y are obtained as follows: EQU .DELTA..omega..sub.x =2.multidot.K.multidot.V.sub.x .multidot.sin.alpha. (1) EQU .DELTA..omega..sub.y =2.multidot.K.multidot.V.sub.y .multidot.cos.alpha. (2)
where K is the absolute value of a wave vector of each laser beam, and V.sub.x and V.sub.y are the absolute values of the velocity vectors respectively. A Doppler shift component .DELTA..omega..sub.151 of a signal beam which passes through a path of 1.fwdarw.5.fwdarw.1 and a Doppler shift component .DELTA..omega..sub.251 of a crosstalk beam which passes through a path of 2.fwdarw.5.fwdarw.1 are defined as follows: EQU .DELTA..omega..sub.151 =.DELTA..omega..sub.x -.DELTA..omega..sub.y ( 3) EQU .DELTA..omega..sub.251 =(.DELTA..sub.2 -.DELTA..sub.1)-.DELTA..omega..sub.y ( 4)
When independent laser beams are used as a light source for two axes, a difference between optical frequencies .omega..sub.2 -.omega..sub.1 of the two laser beams is added to a crosstalk component. In general, since the difference between optical frequencies .omega..sub.2 -.omega..sub.1 of two individual laser beams randomly and largely changes with an elapse of time, the angular frequency .DELTA..omega..sub.251 of the crosstalk component irregularly changes. Even if .omega..sub.2 =.omega..sub.1 can be realized, a relationship between the magnitudes of the two Doppler shift components .DELTA..omega..sub.151 and .DELTA..omega..sub.251 is changed in accordance with the directions of the velocity vectors, and only the original signal component .DELTA..omega..sub.151 cannot be separated. For this reason, in practice, it is impossible to combine a plurality of one-dimensional laser velocimeters, each having a laser such as an He-Ne laser which can select only one frequency as a light source, and to perform multi-dimensional measurement.
In order to prevent this, two types of lasers having apparently different frequencies have been used. In this method, however, a very large-sized and high-cost laser such as an Ar-ion laser must be used, and a drawback that cost is increased in proportion to the number of axes cannot be eliminated.

Multi-dimensional laser Doppler velocimeter


The purpose of the present invention is to provide a flow sensor that makes it possible to detect temperature abnormalities that the flow sensor has been exposed to and the time history of the flow sensor in a high-temperature environment from an externally visible cover material and that uses a cover material for which the laser welding quality can be guaranteed through visual inspection when the sensor is delivered as a product and even if the sensor is used in an abnormal state. A flow sensor provided with a housing, a cover, a circuit chamber that houses a wiring portion sealed between the housing and the cover, and an auxiliary passage through which the liquid to be sensed flows, wherein: a joint portion formed on the housing and a joint portion formed on the inner surface of the cover are joined together through the laser welding; the main material of the cover is a crystalline resin; the cover includes an amorphous alloy; and the cover is made to have a natural color.

A thermal flow sensor that measures the flow rate of a gas includes a flow rate detector to measure the flow rate and is configured to measure the flow rate of the gas by allowing thermal conduction between the flow rate detector and the gas to be measured. The flow rate measured by the thermal flow sensor is widely used as an important control parameter of various devices. The thermal flow sensor is characterized in that when compared with other types of flow sensors, the flow rate of a gas can be measured with relatively high accuracy, but in recent years, further improvements of measurement accuracy of the gas flow rate are desired. In vehicles mounted with an internal combustion engine, for example, requirements for fuel saving and requirements for exhaust gas purification are high. To meet such requirements, measurements of an intake air flow as a principal parameter of the internal combustion engine with high accuracy are demanded. A thermal flow sensor that measures an intake air flow introduced into an internal combustion engine includes a sub-passage that takes in a portion of the intake air flow and a flow rate detector arranged in the sub-passage and measures the state of a measured gas flowing through the sub-passage by heat being conducted to the measured gas by the flow rate detector to output an electric signal representing the intake air flow introduced into the internal combustion engine. Such a technology is disclosed by, for example, JP-A-2011-252796 (Patent Literature 1).
Also, a technology to weld a housing and a cover by using laser is disclosed by, for example, JP-A-2007-210165 (Patent Literature 2). Also, as an inspection method of a laser welded portion, a method of determining welding in an expanded state of the welded portion by providing an opening on a transparent resin side is disclosed by, for example, JP-A-2009-056722 (Patent Literature 3). Natural materials containing no carbon material originating from coloring are frequently used for laser welding and depending on the material of resin material or the usage environment, discoloring may occur over time and the appearance may also be important depending on the type of product. Thus, in the Munsell color system, if the lightness is V, the chroma is C, and the hue when a color circle is divided into one hundred portions and a hue 10RP is set as "0" or "100" is H, discoloring over time can be blocked by tinting in color satisfying relationships of "V≤0.229H+3.714, V≤−0.8H+24, V≥3" and "C≤−0.075H2+1.936H+1.267, C≥2", which is disclosed by JP-A-2010-090234 (Patent Literature 4).

Flow sensor and method for producing resin structure


An automated analyzer includes a container installation portion in which a container, such as a reagent container, has a protrusion and an openable and closable lid. A lid opening and closing mechanism opens and closes the lid and includes an arm portion having an arm and a horizontal driving portion which moves the arm in a first horizontal direction. The arm includes a protrusion contacting portion that includes a first surface having an angle greater than 0 degrees and less than 90 degrees when the horizontal surface is set as 0 degrees. The lid opening and closing mechanism portion opens the lid by moving the arm in the first horizontal direction, contacting the lid protrusion on the first surface of the protrusion contacting portion, and then moving the lid protrusion along a shape of the first surface in a vertical direction, until the lid is opened.

An automated analyzer has a process (hereinafter described as a dispensing process) of aspirating a reagent from a reagent bottle and expelling the reagent to a reaction container to generate a reaction liquid in which an analyte (also called a sample or a specimen) is mixed with the reagent. In the dispensing process, a reagent or the like may be agitated.
To suppress evaporation and degradation of a reagent in a reagent bottle when the reagent is unnecessary, an automated analyzer may include a lid opening and closing mechanism in which a lid of the reagent bottle is opened before dispensing and agitating the reagent and closed after dispensing and agitating the reagent.
An example of a background art of the above automated analyzer and the lid opening and closing mechanism includes No. 5726091 (Patent Literature 1). Patent Literature 1 describes a lid opening and closing mechanism that rotates a lid of a reagent container to open and close the lid as the automated analyzer. Patent Literature 1 describes that a hook is selectively engaged with or disengaged from a lid, a lid of each reagent container can be selectively opened and closed, and the opening time can be reduced.


A method of determining a transmission time of a packet in a mobile device according to the present disclosure may include: if a request for the transmission of a present packet from at least one operated application is detected, identifying whether it is possible to delay a transmission time of the present packet; when it is possible to delay the transmission time of the present packet, calculating a power gain generated as the transmission time of the present packet is delayed; and determining whether the transmission time of the present packet will be delayed according to the calculated power gain.

The present disclosure relates to a method and an apparatus for predicting a power gain generated due to a packet transmission delay and determining a packet transmission time using the predicted power gain by a mobile device.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the state of a modem of a general mobile device. Here, for the convenience of description, an example in which the mobile device is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) device will be described. However, the embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied to communication devices, to which a delay time for the following state transition may be applied.
Referring to FIG. 1, in an idle situation in which packets are neither transmitted nor received, a modem of the mobile device stays in a Radio Resource Control (RRC)_IDLE state 100, in which a communication channel with a cellular network is released. Furthermore, in order to transmit and receive the packet, the state of the modem is transitioned 105 to an RRC_CONNECTED state 110 that has a communication channel with a cellular network. During the transition 105, a considerable power overhead is generated. In order to prevent this, the modem in the RRC_CONNECTED state 110 is delayed for a predetermined time period until the modem is transitioned 120 to the RRC_IDLE state 100 after the transmission/reception of the packet is completed. The predetermined time period is generally called a tail time. If packets are not successively transmitted or received within the tail time, a lot of power is wasted.
In order to prevent the waste, when a request for the transmission of a packet that may be transmission-delayed is generated, the mobile device delays the transmission of the packet and transmits the packet together with another packet generated after in order to use a technique for reducing the power that is consumed by the modem. However, when the packet transmission delay is used, power may be wasted due to the transmission delay of the corresponding packet.

Method and apparatus for determining packet transmission time using power gain due to packet transmission delay


A method of allocating the moving area list of user equipment which relating to wireless communication technology. Interacting signaling between network and UE is reduced. The utilization efficiency of network resource is enhanced. The method includes, receiving the area ID which is pre-defined from UE, acquiring the history information of the last allocated moving area list from the mobility management entity (MME) which allocated the last moving area list, allocating new moving area list according to the history information and the received area ID. Accordingly, a MME and UE are disclosed.

In a mobile communication system, the mobility management of a User Equipment (UE) is a fundamental and necessary logical function of the mobile communication network.
For the purpose of addressing and identifying the UE in the mobility management, a Core Network (CN) divides a network into a series of areas in terms of logical architecture, and allocates a separate identity for each of the areas. Depending on the division criteria, the network is divided into different areas, including, for example, a Tracking Area (TA) and a Routing Area (RA) provided with a Tracking Area Identity (TA ID) and a Routing Area Identity (RA ID) respectively.
For the sake of simplification, the reference to an area below is made by taking the Tracking Area as an example.
The Core Network allocates a specific area (which is indicated by at least one TA ID) for a DE attached to the network, and when the DE moves from the current allocated area to an unallocated area, the UE initiates the TA Update procedure to the network.
A Mobility Management Entity (MME) in the Core Network is responsible for the mobility management of the UE, and the MME includes, but not limited to a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), and a signaling terminating node at a non-access layer of a core network of the Evolved Packet System (EPS) of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
The Core Network includes a plurality of MMEs, each of which manages a certain range of areas, that is, each MME manages a limited range of areas. It is possible for a UE to move out of an area allocated by the current MME to the UE, and further move out of the entire areas managed by the current MME.
In the traditional 3G mobile communication system, since the MME allocates to the UE a single TA ID, i.e. one TA, the UE may traverse multiple TAs within a short period of time when moving at a high speed, as a result, multiple TA update procedures are caused, signaling exchanged between the network and the UE is increased greatly, and network resources are wasted.
In view of the above, an MME allocates a TA List containing multiple TA IDs to a UE in the 3GPP EPS system. Since the TA List includes multiple TA IDs, the range of areas allocated for the UE is increased, so that the TA updates during the movement of the UE are reduced and the utilization of the network resources are improved.
To allocate a TA List for the UE, it is necessary for the MME to determine as possible the area that the UE is moving to so that an appropriate TA List is allocated to the UE in order to reduce as possible the location updates caused during the fast movement of the UE.
At present, however, the MME allocates a new TA List for the UE based on a single TA ID in the original TA List that is sent by the UE, which is insufficient for the MME to allocate a new appropriate TA List for the UE. Therefore, the areas allocated by the MME for the UE are possibly inappropriate and multiple location updates are caused during the fast movement of the UE, thus, a large amount of signaling is still exchanged between the network and the UE, and the network processing resources are still wasted.

Allocating method of moving area list of user equipment and corresponding apparatus

China Academy of Telecommunications Technology


The present invention is directed to a flame detection device comprising a flame signal receiver (1), a flame signal passage (11) and a flame signal transmitting mechanism, characterized in that, the flame signal passage (11) passes through a furnace shell (12) into inner of the furnace and comprises an outside-furnace passage portion (11a) and an inside-furnace passage portion (11b); wherein a pressure-resistant optical mechanism (10) is arranged at the outermost end of the outside-furnace passage portion, said pressure-resistant optical mechanism hermetically and transparently separate the flame signal receiver from the flame signal passage; and wherein the inside-furnace passage portion (11b) is provided with a cooling mechanism (19). Such a flame detection device is to be arranged on a furnace shell, and it could not only conduct a flame detection on the furnace under high temperature and high pressure, but also has a selection of the proper flame signal receivers installed for different stages of operation as desired.

A typical flame detection means at present includes a flame scanner or an industrial camera. Although flame scanners have advantages of high sensitivity and automaticity, there also exit several problems of "miss report, false report and peeking" or the like due to the complexity of the flame detection. Therefore, flame detection by combining an industrial camera with a flame detector could be employed on account of different conditions. A current flame scanner mainly includes an infrared flame scanner and an ultraviolet flame scanner. The infrared flame scanner is typically applied to detecting coal flame, while the ultraviolet flame scanner is typically applied to detecting gas flame and oil flame.
Most furnace burners nowadays adopt a multi-step ignition, and during different phases of the operation, the burning substance is changed. For example, some furnace burners ignite fuel gas or fuel oil and next boost pressure, and then introduce coal for normal operation. Since the characters of radiation spectrums of flames generated by burning different fuel are different, a single infrared or ultraviolet flame scanner cannot meet the requirements of flame detection as to the different operation phases of the burners. Typically, a solution to this problem is to install the infrared and ultraviolet flame scanners simultaneously. However, this will need a very large space to receive a plurality of flame detectors as well as their accessorial lines and conduits, which is rather difficult for those compact furnaces to provide such large spaces.
In addition, the currently used flame scanners and industrial cameras require relatively strict working environments on temperature and pressure. They typically require that the working temperature is below 70° C. and the working pressure is atmosphere or micro negative pressure, otherwise, failure of or damaged to the flame scanner occurs when going beyond above working environments. However, the current flame scanners have to directly face the gas environment inside the furnace chamber. For those high furnace temperature and pressure furnaces, in which the temperature could reach above 1000° C. and the furnace pressure would reach a magnitude of several MPa, the current flame scanners cannot meet the operation requirements under such a high temperature and pressure.
A flame detecting probe is disclosed in Chinese patent publication CN101398183A, which comprises a phototube, an anti-explosion junction cassette, a quartz glass sheet located between a cover for a phototube protecting sleeve and the phototube protecting sleeve, and a cooling venting passage for cooling the phototube and the quartz glass sheet. Such a flame detector probe is mounted inside the furnace chamber. Although the phototube is separated from the high temperature environment inside the furnace via the quartz glass sheet and the cooling venting passage is provided for cooling the phototube, the quartz glass sheet contacts directly with the environment inside the furnace such that the quartz glass sheet and thus the phototube is prone to be damaged by high temperature. Moreover, the furnace has to be shut down when such a flame detector probe is to be replaced.


A lawn mower includes a cutter blade rotatably disposed in a cutter housing, for cutting grass, a discharge fan rotatably disposed in the cutter housing upwardly of the cutter blade, for discharging grass clippings cut off by the cutter blade, a power source disposed outside of the cutter housing, and a speed reducer mechanism disposed outside of the cutter housing upwardly of the discharge fan, for transmitting mechanical power from the power source at a reduced speed to the discharge fan to rotate the discharge fan at a speed lower than the speed at which the cutter blade rotates. The cutter blade comprises a flat member and lies substantially horizontally.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lawn mower which includes a cutter and a discharge fan that are rotated by an engine on the lawn mower.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Some lawn mowers comprise a cutter housing, an engine mounted on the cutter housing, and a cutter blade and a discharge fan which are disposed in an inner space beneath the cutter housing and rotated by the engine. One such lawn mower is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,595, for example. The disclosed lawn mower is propelled by the hands of the user. Grass clippings cut off by the cutting blade in the cutter housing are discharged laterally out of an outlet defined in a housing side wall, by a twisted portion of the cutter blade and air streams caused by the discharge fan.
In the conventional lawn mower, the cutter blade rotates at a higher speed than the discharge fan. During rotation of the cutter blade, its twisting portion produces turbulent airflows. These turbulent airflows impinge on each other and also on the cutter blade, thereby producing wind noise. The generation of the turbulent airflows, which are primarily responsible for the wind noise, is related to the thickness of a turbulent boundary layer which is produced when air flows along the surface of the cutter blade. The thickness of the turbulent boundary layer is proportional to the distance over which the air flows along the cutter blade surface.
The present invention has been made in an effort to eliminate the aforesaid drawback of the conventional lawn mower.


The invention provides hypoallergenic variants of Bet v 2 major allergen from Betula verrucosa plant pollen and the use thereof for the preventive or therapeutic treatment of allergic diseases.

Allergies are caused by a dysfunction in the immune system, which reacts to innocuous proteins contained in pollen, mites, epithelia and certain foods by producing IgE-class antibodies.
Recent data indicate that above 10% of the population in Western countries suffer from this disease, the symptoms of which may deteriorate with time giving rise to e.g. asthma or a sensitization to other allergens thus making more difficult the choice of the appropriate therapy.
Specific hyposensitizing immunotherapy (SIT), unlike pharmacological therapy, is the only etiological treatment of allergic diseases capable of favourably changing the immunological parameters characteristic of such diseases.
The hyposensitizing immunotherapy consists in the administration of increasing doses of standardized extracts (vaccines) obtained from the same substance which causes the disease (1). In this way, a sort of immunological tolerance to said substance is gradually induced in the patient with following disappearance of the allergic symptoms.
However, the risk of eliciting serious side effects (2), although remarkably reduced with the use of either slow-release vaccines or vaccines administered through routes alternative to injection, has in fact limited the application of specific hyposensitizing immunotherapy in the treatment of allergic diseases.
In recent years, most attention has been focused on the development of effective, safer vaccines, particularly vaccines consisting of mutagenized recombinant proteins, i.e. hypoallergenic variants capable of favourably influencing the natural progression of the disease without causing undesired side effects (3).
One of the beneficial factors of SIT is the induction if IgG antibodies specific for the sensitizing allergen. These (protective) antibodies can inhibit the antigen-IgE binding, specifically the IgE binding to Bet v 2 antigen, altering the molecule's tridimensional conformation (4,5). The development of vaccines containing hypoallergenic recombinant proteins with unaltered immunogenic properties may improve the therapeutic approach to allergic diseases.
The pollen of plants taxonomically known as Fagales (birch, alder, hazel, oak, hornbeam) is one of the most important causes of allergic rhinitis and asthma in the temperate regions. The two major allergens of birch pollen. Bet v 1 (cDNA deposited at GenBank acc. No. X15877) and Bet v 2 (acc. No. M65179) are proteins with molecular weight of 17 and 14 kD, respectively (6, 7). Bet v 2 belongs to the profilin family, which are ubiquitous cytoplasmic proteins involved in the regulation of eukaryotic cell cytoskeleton. They specifically interact with at least two cellular (macro)molecules, that is, phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate, thereby preventing the hydrolysis of this fatty acid by C-γ phospholypase (8), and actin, modulating its polymerization (9). The high expression of profilins in mature and germinative pollen suggests their involvement in the regulation of the microfilament precursors which take part in the germination process (10). Profilins were identified as allergens in the pollen from many arboreous and herbaceous plants and in many fruits and vegetables and thus they were defined 'pan-allergens', despite the fact that they are found in only 20% of patients allergic to pollen (11, 12).
The high sequence homology, higher than 60% in most plant profilins of various origin, causes cross-sensitization not only with pollen from botanically correlated (13) and non-correlated (14) plants but also between pollen and plant aliments (15) or between pollen and latex (16). The homology between plant and mammalian profilins is rather low, nonetheless they proved able to bind actin from different species and showed interchangeability (17, 18, 19). An explanation is that all profilins share a similar tridimensional structure, as shown using X-ray crystallography (20, 21, 22).
Many studies confirm the immunologic equivalence of profilins. In fact it was shown that IgEs from patients sensitized to a determined profilin are able to bind profilins of different origin and that IgE binding to profilins can be mutually inhibited (16).
The high cross-reactivity between different profilins allows the use of a single profilin for allergy diagnosis and recombinant Bet v 2 is often used as the allergen of choice for profilin-specific IgE determination (23, 24).
There are many studies on the determination of profilin IgE epitopes.
Vrtala (1996) (25) mutagenized Bet v 2 at positions Phe44 and Gln47, which were changed in Tyr44, Glu47 and Asn47, according to contemporaneous studies carried out by the some group (26), where a linear epitope recognized by the monoclonal antibody 4A6 was identified. The epitope recognized by this antibody was mapped using synthetic dodecapeptides which spanned the entire amino acid sequence of Bet v2. The peptides which more efficiently bound the antibody contained the regions between amino acids 38-49 and 40-51. The importance of Gln47 residue in the IgG-peptide binding was supported by the evidence that 4A6 was not able to recognize the profilins from Nicotiana tabacum and Phleum pratense, whose sequences present a glutamate in place of Gln47 in Bet v 2. Unlike the Gln47→Glu47 mutation, the change from Phe44 to Tyr44 or from Gln47 to Asn47 did not affect the antibody binding. The same mutations (Gln47 to Glu or Asn and Phe44 to Tyr44) applied to recombinant Bet v 2 were unable to diminish the binding between profilin and IgE, as shown by immunoblotting and ELISA experiments (25).
In a subsequent study published in 1997 (22), the main IgE epitopes were identified by cloning random fragments of birch profilin cDNA from an expression library assayed with sera from patients allergic to profilins. Three regions, corresponding to the alpha helices located at the amino (aa 1-30) and carboxy (aa 106-132) termini and to a fragment comprised between residues 30 and 50, proved more reactive.
In a subsequent study (23), the search for IgE epitopes was based on the comparison between theoretical structural models for profilins from different plants and birch or latex profilin crystals. Eleven potential conformational epitopes were predicted, consisting of contiguous amino acid regions, at least 20% of which are surface-exposed. Two types of epitopes resulted from a comparison of the amino acid sequences with the conformational models: the species-specific ones, characterised by a high variability, and the highly conserved ones, which are more likely involved in the cross-reactivity between profilins from different plants. The amino acid sequence alignments reflect the results of Fedorov's study (22), evidencing two potential linear epitopes at the N-terminus, three in the region between residues 30 and 80 and additional two at the profilin C-terminus. All these regions are highly conserved in the plant profilins assessed in this study. The prediction of potential conformational epitopes was based on the analysis of a 3D model for the latex profilin Hev b 8. The analysis evidenced 12 protruding residues, selected as centres of the epitopes. Although all potential epitopes were conformational, they contained linear sequences and either conserved or variable residues. No test was reported in this study to confirm the specific IgE-binding capability of the proposed epitopes.
A more recent publication concerns the identification of IgE epitopes of Cucumis melo's profilin (27). By determining the IgE reactivity of peptides spanning the entire amino acid sequence of this protein, two linear epitopes were identified, which are strongly recognized by the serum of patients allergic to melon: E1, comprising residues 66-75 and 81-93, and E2 consisting of amino acids 95-99 and 122-131. Two additional epitopes were characterised by a weaker IgE response, namely E3 (residues 2-10) and E4 (35-45). The overlap of peptides corresponding to epitopes E1 and E2 with the melon profilin 3D model, indicates two regions with well-defined electrostatic properties: E1 and E2, which are associated with electropositive and electronegative protein domains, respectively.
The data available from the literature suggest the molecular portions where the IgE profilin epitopes are located but fail to indicate the amino acids involved in IgE binding.

Hypoallergenic variants of the major allergen from


The instant disclosure relates to a lamp having a heat dissipating lamp shell particularly suitable for housing solid state light sources. The lamp comprises a lamp shell of stamping construction and a light source unit. The lamp shell comprises an outer pot portion and an inner tray portion substantially concentrically coupled to the outer pot portion. Externally, the lamp shell forms a substantial portion of the lamp. The light source unit comprises a light module disposed on the inner tray portion of the lamp shell, a controller placed at the rear portion of the lamp shell, and an electrical connecter arranged exposedly from the rear of the lamp. The lamp shell of stamping construction is beneficially characterized by the light weight and strong structural integrity, which attribute to the work hardening property of the stamping process.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant disclosure relates generally to a lamp having a heat dissipating lamp shell of stamping structure, and pertains particularly to a lamp that utilizes a strong light weight lamp shell of stamping structure that functions as both a heat sink and a protective housing.
2. Description of Related Art
Solid state light sources generally offer superior service life and energy efficiency over traditional light sources. Modern solid stage light sources, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), are capable of generating lumen output comparable to (or even surpassing) that of the traditional light sources at only a fraction of the energy consumption. Compared to traditional lighting sources, such as incandescent or halogen lights, LED creates visible light with considerably reduced heat generation or parasitic energy dissipation. Moreover, the LED light sources are not only physically compact in size but also generally more resistant to shock and vibration. Furthermore, LEDs of different compositions are capable of offering a wide spectrum of output colors, thus conveniently eliminating the need for traditional color filters.
While LEDs offer higher energy efficiency at lower operating voltage requirements, these solid state lighting devices are inherently vulnerable to heat damage. Unfortunately, current high power LED light sources still generate significant level of heat output. Thus, the illuminating performance of these solid state lighting devices may be severely impaired by the high temperature that results from excessive waste heat.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,871,184 B2, owned by the instant Applicants, provided an effective heat dissipating structure for a LED lamp. The rather complicated shape of the heat dissipating structure disclosed therein helps to maximize surface area of the heat sink, thus effectively improves the heat removal capacity. However, the complicated shape of the heat dissipating structure requires the employment casting construction. Generally, casting process requires high initial cost for the molding equipments and significant level of energy consumption to preserve the molten materials in the working condition. Moreover, products made by casting process are inevitably heavier due to the higher casting weight requirement of the fluid materials. Furthermore, the potential porosity remained in the casted structure is inherently hazardous to the structural integrity thereof.
In comparison, stamping process (particularly cold stamping process), whose work piece is based around sheet materials, is more material conserving and energy efficient. Moreover, stamping process may yield products that are thin and light weight. Furthermore, structural integrity of the materials undergone drawing or stamping process may be enhanced through work hardening.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a light weight yet effective heat dissipating structure capable of serving as both a heat sink and a protective housing for a lighting device.


A variable magnification optical system includes a negative first lens group, a stop, and a positive second lens group. The distance in an optical axis direction between the first and the second lens groups is reduced when magnification is changed from the wide angle end to the telephoto end. The stop is fixed with respect to an image plane when magnification is changed, and the first lens group includes a positive lens, a negative lens, a negative lens, and a positive meniscus lens with a convex surface on the object side in order from the object side. The optical system satisfies predetermined conditional expressions with respect to the average Abbe number of the positive lens and the positive meniscus lens of the first lens group at the d-line, and the focal length of the entire system at the wide angle end and the focal length of the negative lens.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a variable magnification optical system and an imaging apparatus, and more specifically to a variable magnification optical system that can be used in video cameras, electronic still cameras, and particularly suitable for use as a surveillance camera application and an imaging apparatus equipped with the variable magnification optical system.
2. Background Art
As optical systems used in imaging devices, such as video cameras, electronic still cameras, surveillance cameras, and the like with image sensors such as CCD (Charge Coupled Device), CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), and the like as recording media, variable magnification optical systems for CCTV (Closed-circuit Television) have been developed. The variable magnification optical system for CCTV has an advantage that it is user friendly, for example, the focal length can be set according to the use environment, subject distance can be set on the user side, and the like. The CCTV optical system whose main purpose is surveillance needs to cover from a wide viewing area to the standard angle of view and withstand indoor and outdoor usages while being compact. For this reason, a negative-positive two-group variable magnification optical system composed of a negative first lens group and a positive second lens group which is relatively simple in configuration and satisfies these conditions is heavily used. For example, as negative-positive two-group variable magnification optical systems in which the first lens group is composed of four lenses of positive, negative, negative, and positive lenses and have a magnification ratio of about 3, those described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11 (1999)-160619, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-035537, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-330773, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-079108 are proposed.

Variable magnification optical system and imaging apparatus


The present disclosure provides chemical mechanical polishing compositions that achieve minimal dishing at reduced dishing reducer (DR) levels when compared to known CMP compositions. The compositions of the disclosure include a dynamic surface tension reducer (DSTR) which allows for lower levels of dishing reducer in the compositions. Indeed, the compositions of the disclosure allow for lower levels of dishing reducer to achieve the same dishing as known compositions having higher levels of dishing reducer. Deleterious effects of high DR levels are thereby avoided or minimized when employing the compositions of the disclosure.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to polishing compositions, and methods for polishing semiconductor substrates using the compositions described herein. More particularly, the disclosure relates to chemical mechanical polishing compositions and methods for removing copper layers from a semiconductor substrate, where the compositions include synergistic combinations of surfactants.
2. Description of the Related Art
The process known as chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) involves polishing different metal or non-metal layers on semiconductor wafers, using a polish pad and slurry. Copper is a commonly used material for forming interconnects in semiconductor manufacturing. Once a copper inlaid structure is formed by, for example, a damascene process, the isolated copper wires are made by polishing and clearing copper and barrier metal between the inlaid wires. Copper and barrier layer CMP involves polishing of copper and barrier layers. It is desired to polish the wafers at a high removal rate of material to enhance throughput, while still maintaining favorable wafer characteristics such as a low number of overall defects.
A typical copper CMP process consists of 3 process steps. First, the electro-plated copper overburden (up to 2 μm in thickness depending on technology node) is rapidly polished down at a relatively high down force, leaving some amount of copper until the deposition topography is fully planarized (see FIG. 1a). Throughput and planarization efficiency and low defects are key needs. The remaining copper overburden after full planarization during the first step is polished off at a lower down force, with a stop on the barrier layer (FIG. 1b).
In the above second polishing process, a phenomenon called dishing occurs, where the level of the top surface of the conductive film lowers. This is thought to be attributed to removal of the conductive films to an excessive degree, due to an excessively high ability of each of the first conventional polishing composition to polish the copper containing metal. The dishing reduces the cross-sectional area of the wiring, thereby causing an increase in wiring resistance. The dishing also impairs the flatness of the surface of a semiconductor device, thereby making it difficult to form multi-filmed wiring in the semiconductor device.
A goal in the CMP process is to clear all copper from the barrier metal, but achieve significantly low dishing on the inlaid copper wire, with very low defects and improved surface roughness. To this end, compounds functioning as dishing reducers (DR's) have been added to CMP compositions. Although this approach has met with some success, copper residue remaining on the wafer can be problematic when the concentration of dishing reducer is too high.

FUJIFILM ELECTRONIC MATERIALS U.S.A., INC.


A putter includes a handle (2), a putter head (1) with a striking surface, and two alignment indicia (6) symmetrically arranged relative to a vertical plane (20) which is perpendicular to the striking surface and passes through a striking line. Wherein the visible part of the alignment indicia (6) are symmetrical to the vertical plane (20) when being viewed in the vertical plane (20), while not symmetrical to the vertical plane (20) when being viewed in a plane offsetting from the vertical plane (20).

In order to have a good performance in putting the ball to hole, the player's eyes 33 are to be aligned exactly on the top of the putting line so that the player can see the ball and centre alignment mark 4 (or line) on putter (match with putting line 31) and target hole 32 to be all in one line. Otherwise the ball putted goes to the wrong direction not intended by player due to misalignment. However we can not find any suitable putter to fulfill these performances in the market.
Usually golf coaches ask golf beginners to make another ball drop from the eyes to hit the aligned ball to be put in order to find whether the player has a good alignment.


An apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a controller and a storage device. The storage device is in communication with the controller. The apparatus is configured for communication with external devices that adhere to different access protocols.

This application is related, generally and in various embodiments, to an apparatus, systems and methods for backing-up information.
For a variety of reasons, it is prudent for many entities to maintain an accessible duplicate copy of important data. One method of maintaining an accessible duplicate copy of important data is to periodically backup the data to another storage device. Although this is a common practice for many entities, the periodic nature of the backup process exposes the entity to a loss of data if a failure occurs between backup operations.
Another method of maintaining an accessible duplicate copy of data is to employ mirroring—a fault tolerance method in which a backup storage device maintains data identical to that on the primary storage device and can serve to replace the primary if the primary fails. Although this method offers a more current duplicate copy than that provided by the periodic backup method, mirroring is typically associated with a performance degradation of approximately 50% for a write operation.
Another method of maintaining an accessible duplicate copy of data is to write data to a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) such that if a disk drive fails, the data is not lost. In its most elementary form, RAID mirrors data to two disk drives having a common disk geometry. Thus, if one disk drive fails, the data can be accessed from the other disk drive. For more complex implementations, RAID writes data across a plurality of disk drives having a common disk geometry such that if one or more disk drives fail, the data can still be accessed from the remaining disk drives.
Although the above-described methods provide the ability to backup important data, the methods do not necessarily address a common problem experienced by personnel who work at more than one location. For such personnel, a common problem is the inability to easily copy data from a storage device at a first location, subsequently load the information to another storage device at a second location, then access the data at the second location. A lack of common disk geometry, a lack of portability, and a lack of compatible access protocols can all contribute to this problem.

Apparatus, systems and methods for backing-up information


Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing a container for absorbing fluid shock or mechanical shock. The method includes preparing a raw material pipe, forming a coupling pipe by reducing a diameter of at least one side of the raw material pipe, and forming an inner circumference of the coupling pipe and bending it. Accordingly, a container body and a coupling pipe coupled to at least one side of the container body are integrated together, so that an additional process for coupling the container body with the coupling pipe is not required, and thus the cost of production is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a container for absorbing fluid shock or mechanical shock, in which a container body having an enlarged diameter and a coupling pipe coupled to at least one side of the container body are manufactured through an outer-circumference reducing process and an inner-circumference cutting process, so that a process for coupling the container body with the coupling pipe can be eliminated, thus reducing manufacturing costs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a compressor of an air conditioner is driven by an engine. The compressor functions to compress low-pressure gas refrigerant fed from an evaporator and thereafter feed high-pressure refrigerant to a condenser.
The A/C compressor 1 is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 412859. As shown in FIG. 1A, the compressor 1 is connected to an air-conditioner unit (not shown) installed in a room via a refrigerant feeding means 3 which passes through a dash panel 2.
Here, the refrigerant feeding means 3 includes a coupling pipe 13 which is coupled to the A/C compressor 1, a coupling hose 23 which is coupled to the coupling pipe 13, and an air-conditioner unit pipe 33 which is coupled to the coupling hose 23 and passes through the dash panel 2 to be coupled to the air-conditioner unit installed in the room.
Further, a container 50 is provided at a predetermined position on the coupling pipe 13. Both sides of the container 50 are coupled to first and second coupling pipes 130 and 230. The container 50 functions to eliminate the noise of the refrigerant which flows through the refrigerant feeding means 3.
The coupling pipe 13 is coupled to the container 50 as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the container 50 is placed at a predetermined position on the coupling pipe 13, the first coupling pipe 130 coupled to the A/C compressor 1 is joined to an inlet flange 51 of the container 50 through welding, and the second coupling pipe 230 coupled to the coupling hose 23 is joined to an outlet flange 53 of the container 50 through welding.
Further, the container having the above-mentioned shape is applicable to an accumulator 5 for a refrigerator which is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 311465. As shown in FIG. 2, an inlet which is formed on the lower end of an accumulator body 5a to allow a refrigerant to enter the accumulator body 5a is formed vertically, and an outlet which is formed on the upper end of the accumulator body 5a to allow the refrigerant to be discharged from the accumulator body 5a is formed to be inclined relative to the inlet at a predetermined angle, thus preventing the refrigerant from flowing backwards, increasing the recovery rate of hydraulic fluid and preventing the generation of noise.
However, the container or the accumulator is coupled to the refrigerant feeding means 3 or is coupled between a compressor and an evaporator of the refrigerator through the first and second coupling pipes 130 and 230 which are provided on both sides of the coupling pipe 13. Thus, when the container or the accumulator is manufactured, a plurality of welding processes and washing operations are required, so that manufacturing costs are increased.
Further, a container manufacturing method is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-10849 dealing with the manufacture of the container. As shown in FIG. 3, the method includes an upper end forming step of reducing the diameter of the upper end of a circular hollow pipe manufactured through press extrusion, a lower end forming step of reducing the diameter of the lower end of the circular hollow pipe, and an end cutting and trimming step of cutting a pipe inlet and outlet of the circular hollow pipe which has gone through the upper and lower end forming steps to desired lengths, drilling the pipe so as to remove a burr, and rounding an end of the pipe.
However, the container manufacturing method reduces the diameter of the pipe as a result of the forming process, so that a difference in pipe thickness occurs when the first and second coupling pipes are coupled to the container, thus reducing the flow of the refrigerant. Further, noise is generated due to a difference in pressure, so that the reliability of the container is deteriorated.

Method of manufacturing container for absorbing fluid shock or mechanical shock


A technique for evaluation of various firearm and projectile wear parameters. A debris collector constructed in accordance with the invention includes a receptacle coated with a collecting medium capable of trapping the particles exhausted from a firearm. The receptacle is formed of a fairly ductile material, such as metal foil, so that it is easily penetrated when a projectile is fired into the apparatus. The preferred collecting medium is a polymer blend of white petrolatum and paraffin wax, which exhibits ideal receptivity to impinging particles, while retaining excellent solubility, temperature stability, and shelf life. An appropriate container serves to support and enclose the collecting medium.. The collecting medium is then removed from the receptacle for further analysis. It is liquefied by dissolving it in a suitable carrier fluid such as by applying heat or a solvent. The result is a clear liquid containing suspended wear particles. The clear liquid can be visually inspected. However, other techniques such as ferrography are preferred.

When a firearm is fired, minute particles are invariably worn away, from both the firearm barrel and the projectile. Some particles will adhere to the barrel, and the rest are expelled with the projectile.
For hundreds of years lead has been the most popular material for projectiles. However, in recent years, the public has become increasingly vocal about the health problems caused by poisons such as lead. Law enforcement officials and others who frequently use practice ranges run the greatest risk of direct exposure to the lead particles produced by the use of lead shot. It is thus desirable to reduce the number of particles worn from the projectile as it is expelled.
Particles worn from the barrel have historically presented a problem which is primarily manifested as loss of accuracy after many firings. Excessive wear resulting from many firings or from the use of unauthorized propellant, such as in muzzle loaders, can also present a safety hazard if failure of the forcing cone or barrel occurs.
These health and safety problems are related in that their eventual solution depends upon determining the number and type of particles expelled from a firearm. For example, analysis of the number and type of particles expelled after a single shot can be used to determine the effectiveness of treating the barrel or the projectile, such as by cladding. Statistics collected on the number and type of particles generated during a series of test firings can be used to predict the longevity of different barrel and shot material combinations.
Several techniques for analyzing barrel wear are presently in use. These include fluoroscopic examination, observation of decreasing accuracy, precision gauging, and other elaborate methods. However, because of their expense and logistic complexity, these known techniques do not easily lend themselves to obtaining relative data over many firings.
One wear analysis technique, developed for evaluating the condition of oil lubricated engines, does provide data without these disadvantages. It is based on direct examination of the quantity, size, and rate of increase of contaminants in the lubricating oil. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,887 issued to Kauffman, et al. Examination can be accomplished in several ways, such as visually, or by spectroscopy. However, a method known as ferrography is a particularly convenient and inexpensive way to determine these parameters. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,814 issued in September, 1977 to Westcott.
If ferrography could be applied to accurately determine the quantity, size, and type of wear particles from a firearm blast, an important tool for appraising various combinations of projectiles and methods of reducing barrel wear would exist. Information about the composition of the wear particles could also be used to interpret the nature of the wear process.


A contributed test management system receives a first request from a consumer system, where the first request comprises a request for a contributed test to be added to a deployment pipeline of a producer system, and where the contributed test is associated with an application component in the deployment pipeline. The contributed test management system causes the contributed test to test a code update provided by the producer system for the application component in the deployment pipeline, detects whether the first test fails during execution, and, if so indicates to the consumer system that the first test has failed.

Software applications are often developed using application components that may be shared across multiple application deployments. Some application components may be consumers of subordinate components, incorporating the features of the subordinate components. When producers of these subordinate components implement coding changes, the updated subordinate component may cause problems for consumer components if not tested thoroughly. Conventional systems can sometimes involve complex producer/consumer relationships, where a large number of systems are consumers of the producer's application. In such complex systems, it becomes nearly impossible for an application producer to create testing scenarios to adequately validate conditions for all interested consumers. Thus, in some cases a coding change to a producer's application may result in an unexpected failure in a consumer application. Embodiments discussed herein provide technical solutions to problems introduced by these types of application deployments.

Contributed test management in deployment pipelines