Alumina/NiO/ZnO and Alumina/ZnO are synthesized via a novel modified hydrothermal method and investigated for the desulfurization activities. Sulfur compounds such as thiophene, benzothiophene (BT) and dibenzothiophene (DBT) are tested for their removal from model diesel fuel. The prepared composite materials were examined by the means of N2-adsorption, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to an alumina/NiO/ZnO and an alumina/ZnO composite, a method in which the composites are obtained, and a method in which the composites are used as adsorbents in a method of desulfurization of diesel fuel.
Description of the Related Art
The "background" description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.
The demand for transportation fuels has been increasing in most countries for the past two decades, and the diesel fuel demand is expected to increase significantly in the future (Brady, A. "Global Refining Margins Look Poor in Short Term, Buoyant Later Next Decade," Oil Gas J., 1999, 97 (46), 75-80—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). Crude oil, a complex mixture of organic liquids, is considered the largest source of energy and the major portions of the crude oils are used as transportation. Hetero atoms include sulfur (0-5%), nitrogen (0-0.2%), and other elements (e.g. oxygen, nickel, vanadium and iron) ranging from 0 to 0.1% weight and the sulfur content is expressed as a percentage of sulfur by weight based on the total weight of the crude oil and varies from less than 0.1% to greater than 5% depending on the type and source of crude oils (Gary, J. H., and Hand werk, G. E., "Petroleum Refining, Technology and Economics, Second Edition," Marcel Dekker, New York, 1998—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).
It is known that, sulfur compounds present in fuels lead to the emission of sulfur oxide gases (SOx). These gases react with water in the atmosphere to form sulfates and acid rain which damages buildings, destroys automotive paint finishes, acidifies soil, and ultimately leads to loss of forests and various other ecosystems (W. L. Fang, Inventory of U. S. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, 1990-2003," Clean Air Markets Division, 2004—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). Even traces of sulfur compounds present in diesel fuels poisons the oxidative catalyst used in the emission control system and reduces their effectiveness for the oxidation of harmful carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and volatile organic matter. Sulfur emissions also cause severe human health such as, respiratory illnesses, aggravate heart disease, trigger asthma, and contribute to formation of atmospheric particulates (Vimal Chandra Srivastava, "An evaluation of desulfurization technologies for sulfur removal from liquid Fuels," RSC Advances, 2012, 2, 759-783—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), global warming and water pollution (Venner SF, "EU environmental laws impact fuels' requirements," Hydrocarb Process 2000; 79:51-7—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). Environmental regulations have been introduced in many countries around the world to reduce the sulfur content in diesel fuel to ultra low levels of 10 ppm (US EPA, Diesel Fuel Quality: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, EPA420-F-99-011, Office of Mobile Sources, May 1999—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).
In an attempt to achieve sulfur levels less than 10 ppm, there are several emerging trends towards minimizing sulfur content in transportation fuels. In comparison to various desulfurization techniques, adsorption is considered to be an efficient and economical way for removing organosulfur compounds due to its low-energy consumption, and works at ambient conditions. Adsorption is the most common hydrodesulphurization (HDS) alternative method currently used to achieve ultra-clean fuels (Tymchyshyn M., "Deep Desulphurization of Diesel Fuels," Lakehead University, April (2008)—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).
A variety of adsorbents such as ion-exchanged zeolites, supported metals, metal oxides, activated carbons, alumina, ionic liquids (C. S. Song, "An overview of new approaches to deep desulfurization for ultra-clean gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel," Catal. Today, 86 (2003) 211-263; Y. S. Shen, et al., "Selective adsorption for removing sulfur: a potential ultra-deep desulfurization approach of jet fuels," RSC Adv., 2 (2012) 1700-1711—each incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) and other commercial adsorbents have been reported for the adsorptive desulfurization under ambient conditions. Activated alumina has a good adsorptive properties for the removal of organic compound from aqueous solutions (A. K. Bajpai, et al., "Studies on the adsorption of sulfapyridine at the solution-alumina interface, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 187 (1997) 96-104—each incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). Srivastava et al. (A. Srivastav, V. C. Srivastava, Adsorptive desulfurization by activated alumina Journal of Hazardous Materials 170 (2009) 1133-1140—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) investigated the removal of DBT dissolved in n-hexane by commercial grade activated alumina (aluminum oxide) as adsorbent. Kim et al. (J. H. Kim, et al., "Ultra-deep desulfurization and denitrogenation of diesel fuel by selective adsorption over three different adsorbents: a study on adsorptive selectivity and mechanism," Catal. Today 111 (2006) 74-83—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) studied the adsorptive desulfurization using a model diesel fuel over three typical adsorbents (activated carbon, activated alumina and nickel-based adsorbent) in a fixed-bed adsorption system.
To improve adsorption capacity of alumina for removing sulfur-containing compounds in fuels, the surface chemistry, as well as the pore structure of activated alumina, can be modified (Jeevanandam P, et al., "Adsorption of thiophenes out of hydrocarbons using metal impregnated nanocrystalline aluminum oxide.," Micropor Mesopor Mater 2005:101-10—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). Recently, Wang et al. (J. Wang, et al., "Alumina-supported manganese oxide sorbent prepared by sub-critical water impregnation for hot coal gas desulfurization," Fuel Processing Technology (2013)—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) investigated the removal of H2S from hot coal gas by Alumina-supported manganese oxide sorbents. It is reported that Nickel has an affinity to the organic sulfur compounds and it is the active sites on Ni/ZnO for desulfurization process, where the organic sulfur compounds in the diesel are decomposed on the surface Ni of Ni/ZnO to form Ni3S2(Huntley, D. R. et al., "Desulfurization of Thiophenic Compounds by Ni(111): Adsorption and Reactions of Thiophene, 3-Methylthiophene, and 2,5-Dimethylthiophene," J. Phys. Chem. 1996, 100, 19620-19627; Novochinskii, C. Song, et al., "Low-Temperature H2S Removal from Steam-Containing Gas Mixtures with ZnO for Fuel Cell Application. 1. ZnO Particles and Extrudates.", Energy Fuels 18 (2004) 584; A. Ryzhikov et al. "Reactive adsorption of thiophene on Ni/ZnO: Role of hydrogen pretreatment and nature of the rate determining step," Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 84 (2008) 766-772; L. Huang et al, "In situ XAS study on the mechanism of reactive adsorption desulfurization of oil product over Ni/ZnO," Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 106 (2011) 26-38—each incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). Zinc oxide is also reported to be one of the most practical metal species for adsorptive desulfurization because of its large interaction with sulfur impurities and it has the highest equilibrium constant for sulfidation (I. Rosso, et al., "Zinc oxide sorbents for the removal of hydrogen sulfide from syngas," Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 42 (2003) 1688-1697—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).
Ayala et al (R. E. Ayala, D. W. Marsh, Characterization and long-range reactivity of zinc ferrite in high-temperature desulfurization processes, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 30 (1991) 55-60—incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) reported that zinc oxide with a very high equilibrium constant has high precision and shows stable and reliable performance in removing H2S.
The need for cleaner burning fuels has resulted in a continuing world-wide effort to reduce sulfur levels in hydrocarbon-containing fluids such as gasoline and diesel fuels. The reduction of sulfur in such hydrocarbon-containing fluids is considered to be a means for improving air quality because of the negative impact the sulfur has on the performance of sulfur-sensitive items such as automotive catalytic converters. The presence of oxides of sulfur in automotive engine exhaust inhibits and may irreversibly poison noble metal catalysts in the converter. Emissions from an inefficient or poisoned converter contain levels of non-combusted, non-methane hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen, and carbon monoxide. Such emissions are catalyzed by sunlight to form ground level ozone, more commonly referred to as smog.
Most of the sulfur in a hydrocarbon-containing fluid such as gasoline comes from thermally processed gasolines. Thermally processed gasolines such as, for example, thermally cracked gasoline, visbreaker gasoline, coker gasoline and catalytically cracked gasoline (hereinafter collectively referred to as "cracked-gasoline") contains, in part, olefins, aromatics, sulfur, and sulfur-containing compounds.
Since most gasolines, such as for example automobile gasolines, racing gasolines, aviation gasolines, boat gasolines, and the like contain a blend of, at least in part, cracked-gasoline, reduction of sulfur in cracked-gasoline will inherently serve to reduce the sulfur levels in most gasolines such as, for example, automobile gasolines, racing gasolines, aviation gasolines, boat gasolines, and the like.
The public discussion about gasoline sulfur has not centered on whether or not sulfur levels should be reduced. A consensus has emerged that lower sulfur gasoline reduces automotive emissions and improves air quality. Thus, the real debate has focused on the required level of reduction, the geographical areas in need of lower sulfur gasoline, and the time frame for implementation.
As the concern over the impact of automotive air pollution continues, it is clear that further efforts to reduce the sulfur levels in automotive fuels will be required. While the current gasoline products contain about 330 parts per million (ppm), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently issued regulations requiring the average sulfur content in gasoline to be less than 30 ppm average with an 80 ppm cap. By 2006, the standards will effectively require every blend of gasoline sold in the United States to meet the 30 ppm level.
Desulfurization preferably has a minimal effect on the olefin content of such fuels so as to maintain the octane number (both research and motor octane number). Such a process would be desirable since saturation of olefins greatly affects the octane number. Such adverse effect on olefin content is generally due to the severe condition normally employed, such as during hydrodesulfurization, to remove thiophenic compounds (such as, for example, thiophenes, benzothiophenes, alkyl thiophenes, alkylbenzothiophenes, alkyl dibenzothiophenes and the like) which are some of the most difficult sulfur-containing compounds to be removed from cracked-gasoline. In addition, there is a need to avoid a system wherein the conditions are such that the aromatic content of the cracked-gasoline is also lost through saturation. Thus, there is a need for a process wherein desulfurization is achieved and the octane number is maintained.
There is also a need to reduce the sulfur content in diesel fuels. In removing sulfur from diesel fuels by hydrodesulfurization, the cetane is improved but there is a large cost in hydrogen consumption. Such hydrogen is consumed by both hydrodesulfurization and aromatic hydrogenation reactions.
Conventional desulfurization requires a significant consumption of hydrogen and has poor economical performance process for the treatment of cracked gasolines and diesel fuels.
As a result of the lack of success in providing a successful and economically feasible process for the reduction of sulfur levels in cracked-gasolines and diesel fuels, it is apparent that there is still a need for a better process for the desulfurization of such hydrocarbon-containing fluids which has minimal effect on octane levels while achieving high levels of sulfur removal.
The present invention addresses the deficiencies of conventional materials by providing Alumina-NiO—ZnO and Alumina-ZnO composites for the desulfurization and removal of thiophene, benzothiophene and dibenzothiophene from model diesel fuel.
Traditionally, sorbent compositions used in processes for the removal of sulfur from hydrocarbon-containing fluids have been agglomerates utilized in fixed bed applications. Because of the various process advantages of fluidized beds, hydrocarbon-containing fluids are sometimes used in fluidized bed reactors. Fluidized bed reactors have advantages over fixed bed reactors such as better heat transfer and better pressure drop. Fluidized bed reactors generally use reactants that are particulates. The size of these particulates is generally in the range of about 1 micron to about 1000 microns. However, the reactants used generally do not have sufficient attrition resistance for all applications. Consequently, finding a sorbent with sufficient attrition resistance that removes sulfur from these hydrocarbon-containing fluids and that can be used in fluidized, transport, moving, or fixed bed reactors is desirable and would be of significant contribution to the art and to the economy.

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology


The present invention involves a system for interactively designing prosthetic implants using two x-ray images, for example two femoral x-rays for designing a hip implant. The x-rays are scanned into a computer which electronically stores and displays the representations of the images. The computer allows the user to select points on the representations which relate to the location of the hip implant, particularly the medullary canal and other related points. The selected points are associated and stored along with the electronically stored representations. Based on the medullary canal definition and other parameters, an implant topology is generated which may be displayed and templated for medical evaluation. The system allows for the points and other parameters to be altered for calculating another implant topology. Also, the system provides for the automated manufacture of the implant and its corresponding rasp broach wherein the stock material of the implant is milled in an orientation which minimizes gouging, processing time, and tool damage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for designing and manufacturing individualized prosthetic implants. More particularly, the field of the invention involves interactively generating customized prosthetic implants to match specific bone shapes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical science has developed the ability to implant devices into human bodies to replace fractured or otherwise damaged or degenerated bones. The prothesis, the artificial part which replaces or supplements the body part, used in bone joint replacement is similar to the joint parts it is replacing. Usually, one part of the prothesis is made of metal and the other part is made of plastic because metal and plastic move against each other with little friction. The metals conventionally used are stainless steel, cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloy, cobalt-chromium-tungsten-nickel, and titanium alloys all of which are well tolerated by the body, are corrosion resistant, and structurally secure. The plastic conventionally used is ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene which is a smooth, sturdy material that resists cracking and wear. The prothesis is conventionally cemented in place with poly methyl-methacrylate to attach to the adjacent bone or bones.
Typically, a prosthesis replaces only the damaged part of the bone, and is attached to the healthy bone by first filing or scraping the healthy bone with a rasp broach before affixing the prosthesis. Thus, both the rasp and the prosthesis should have a contour generally matching the surface of the healthy bone. Further, portions of the damaged bone may be cut off previous to applying the rasp. For example, in replacing the upper portion of the femur, the femur head is first sawed off and a rasp the shape of the inner canal of the femur is applied to the inner surface of the bone before affixing the prosthetic femur stem.
Implants and their corresponding rasps are conventionally manufactured by milling the implant shape out of stock material. The implants and rasps are first profiled and finished by a milling machine which forms the shape of the implant or rasp by milling up and down a piece of stock material to rough out the general shape before finishing the surfaces. For rasps, the finished piece is further processed to form teeth across its outer surface. In such a manner, many implants and rasps may be mass produced.
Each bone in the human body has a particular contour, and many of their the shapes may be generalized and made for any individual. However, variations in human anatomy are not uniform and consequentially many individuals require customized shapes for their implants. This is particularly true for bones which have complex topographies, e.g., bones in the knee or hip joints.
Processes are known for designing and manufacturing customized implants for such individuals. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,822,365 and 4,936,862 (both to Walker et al. and referred to as the "Walker patents"), the disclosures of which are explicitly incorporated by reference herein, describe a method for designing an implant which utilizes a data base of implant shapes and sizes and provides a generalized implant topology which is a "best fit" for the individual requiring a customized implant. The method disclosed in the Walker patents requires the use of two x-rays of the bone being replaced, for example a femur. The x-rays are used to provide the computer with data specific to the individual, and the computer then calculates an implant topology which is used to manufacture an implant having a topography corresponding to the calculated topology.
In the femur, often the upper portion of the femur proximal to the hip requires replacement. A prosthetic upper femur stem is typically used to interfit with the internal medullary canal of the femur. Consequently, two x-rays are taken of the upper portion of the femur, a front x-ray (providing a sectional view from the medial to the lateral side) and a side x-ray (providing a sectional view from the anterior to the posterior side).
To gather the data needed for the designing process of the Walker patents, the x-rays are placed on a light board and a cursor connected to a computer is used to indicate points on the outer contour of the medullary canal of the femur. Based on the points selected on that outer contour, a computer program compares the contour of the canal, as defined by points taken from the x-rays, with a data base having contours of a random sampling of known canals. Based on the data base comparison, the program generates a three dimensional topology for a suitable replacement femur stem which matches with the contour of the canal. This computer generated topology may then be used to manufacture an implant and its corresponding rasp.
The difficulty of this method relates to the complexities and inaccuracies involved in selecting and changing the data points from the x-ray. On the first x-ray, the axial center of the femur must be vertically aligned, and points on the periphery of the medullary canal must be selected with sufficient particularity to define its contour. This requires drawing a skew line through the axial center of the femur and measuring the diameter of the femur canal, then multiplying the measured diameter by the x-ray magnification factor to enter the true diameter. The two parallel lines that are defined by the straight portion of the canal are draw out until the medullary canal opens out at the upper or proximal end of the femur. The point of divergence of the canal contour from the parallel lines must be indicated, and several subsequent points must then be indicated to define the contour of the femur extending from the straight portion of the canal. Once the first x-ray is suitably processed, a similar procedure is repeated for the second x-ray.
Once all the points from both x-rays have been selected and entered into the computer, the computer checks those points to make sure that the straight portions of the canal on both x-rays are compatible. If an incompatibility error is detected, then the entire process must be repeated. However, if no incompatibility error is detected, prints may be created which represent the topology generated by the computer program. These prints are typically sent to the physician or hospital for approval of the proposed topology. If changes are required in the proposed topology, the canal points of the x-rays must be re-entered using the procedure described above before a new topology can be generated, which allows for the possibility of human error on the second entry that may result in another rejected topology.
Another potential problem with the design of an implant by the aforementioned process involves the shape of the medullary canal. The medullary canal has a generally oval shaped cross-section, which is wider in the medial/lateral (ML) view than in the anterior/posterior (AP) view. Inconsistencies between the straight portions of the medullary canals, as defined from the AP and ML x-rays, often result in femur stem implants which are larger than the medullary canal. Thus, when the rasping device is inserted into the bone before the implant, often substantial portions of the bone are gouged which weakens the bone.
Other methods are known for determining the shape and size of an implant which utilize computerized tomographic methods. Computerized Axial Tomographic (CAT) scanners include cathode ray tube (CRT) devices, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) devices, positron emission (PET) devices, and ultrasonic radiant energy techniques may be utilized to generate a three dimensional topology for an implant. However, CAT scanners are more expensive than x-ray machines, are less commonly available, and require that the computer which generates the topology be connected to the CAT scanner. Also, CAT scan results are more difficult to compare with design topologies than x-ray images.
What is needed is an improved apparatus and method for generating implant design topographies using x-ray images.
Also needed are improved methods of manufacturing the implant and its associated devices.

Interactive prosthesis design system for implantable prosthesis


Magnetic alphanumeric characters having substantially the capability to be properly aligned to one another during display is proposed. The characters consist of magnetic materials with concentrated magnetic strength on one face. The magnetized face is glued to a thin transparent polyethelene material whose edges are cut in a zig-zag fashion. The zig-zag edges allow more than one alphanumeric character to be installed in a straight line vertically, horizontally and at an angle.

1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to alphanumeric characters made of magnetic materials. More particularly, the present invention relates to a means for properly aligning flexible magnetic alphanumeric characters including and not limited to punctuations, simple shapes and figures that could be arranged to form words, phrases, sentences, selected patterns and a combination thereof.
2. Background of The Arts
When conveying and exchanging written information, alphanumeric characters are arranged to form words, phrases, sentences, figures, patterns, etc. Often, these groups of characters need to be changed and updated. It is also often necessary to be able to continually adapt the information to particular requirements and sizes; this would require a large stock of both background and foreground materials, most of which will be discarded after each use. This use and discard approach is environmentally inefficient and it is this inefficiency that my present invention is designed to address.
It will be seen that the alphanumeric characters in my present invention can be replaced and reused as many times as desired and also form words and/or phrases while assembled in a straight line.
Several proposals for displaying magnetic alphanumeric characters have been disclosed such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,312 and 3,988,845. While the devices shown in these inventions can be used for alphanumeric character displays, they are generally designed such that one alphanumeric character is formed by several pieces of magnetic parts. A considerable amount of time is spent in getting these several parts to form one character. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,312 is suitable only for numeric characters and cannot be adequately used for alphabetic characters and punctuations.
It would therefore be highly desirable to have a set of alphanumeric characters that would properly attach to a metallic surface and also align with other characters to form words, phrases, sentences, figures, patterns, etc.

Interlocking means for magnetic alphanumeric characters


A mulch plate for mounting over the chute outlet of existing mowers to contain mower clippings so that said clippings may be drawn back under the mower for recutting by the circulation of air induced by covering the mower chute with the mulch plate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a mulching arrangement, and, in particular, to a mulch plate attachment for lawn mowers which recirculates grass clippings under the lawn mower until fine particles of mulch are deposited onto the lawn.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mulching is a process for maintaining an even soil temperature, controlling weeds, and enriching soil, whereby a mixture of organic material, such as straw, peat moss, or leaves are spread over a landscape. When grass clippings from a lawnmower are sufficiently reduced in size to small particles, they may serve as a mulching agent. Conventional mowers, however, are incapable of refining grass clippings to that desired state. The typical lawnmower propels a rotary blade to cut grass into clippings and either deposits those clippings onto the lawn or directs them into a catcher. Clippings discarded on lawn take weeks to decompose and can smother the soil rather than fertilize it, unless raked and removed. Catchers are undesirable in that mowing must be frequently interrupted to empty the contents. In either event, time is lost which could be spent cutting additional grass.
Alternatively, mulching lawnmowers can reduce expenses, increase crew efficiency, and decrease waste. Mulching lawnmowers are designed to cut grass clippings into tiny particles that decompose quickly once returned to the lawn, providing nourishment and moisture to the underlying soil. In theory, mowing time can be cut, fertilizer, trash bag, and water expenses can be reduced, and productivity can be enhanced. Unfortunately, mulching lawnmowers used today are only useful under special conditions and require constant maintenance. For example, mulching mowers normally require short, dry grass, flat landscapes, and frequently honed blades. These mowers also leave uncut strips that necessitate recutting, especially on lawns having a high moisture content, tall grass, or hills. In addition, moist grass that is cut has a tendency to stick to the underside of the conventional mulching mower, reducing the mulching capability and eventually dropping clumps of grass on the lawn.
A variety of mulching mowers are available in the prior art which have either realized the foregoing shortcomings or have been too complex to operate reliably. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,616 issued to McLane introduces a mulching lawnmower that deposits clippings in front of the mower for recirculation. The McLane mower comprises a deck which covers a rotating blade and a curved deflector which lies adjacent an opening provided in the deck between the front wheels. The deflector redirects air and grass exiting the opening downward in front of the mower. The positioning of the opening and deflector at the front of the deck allows the mower to run over grass clippings a second time, but if the grass is too wet, the opening clogs and suction under the deck becomes insufficient to lift the wet clippings off the lawn and into the cutting area. An air-floated mulch recycle system, issued to Fassauer in U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,235, employs an air-floated housing having a rotatable cutting blade, an open bottom, an air intake opening conduit and a rear discharge port. A mulch recycling system comprised of a conduit attaches to the discharge port to receive grass clippings produced by the mower for delivery to the front of the mower for recutting. An air impeller means pressurizes air to float the mower, but inhibits the mower's ability to draw grass clippings into the mulch recycling system. Moreover, dry grass is preferred for cutting, whereas wet clippings are difficult to lift into the blade, stick to the underside of the housing, and clog the tubular chute used in the mulching system. Another mulching device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,279 issued to Badawey, and is utilized as a leaf mulcher for use with a rotary blade lawnmower. The leaf mulcher comprises a rotary blade lawnmower, a grass outlet and a screen mounted on the mower over the outlet. The screen provides a cutting edge for leaves dispersed from the outlet of the mower but does not facilitate the mulching of grass clippings, is easily clogged, and is ineffective on damp lawns.
While the aforementioned devices disclose various designs for mulching debris emitted from a rotary lawnmower, no such device teaches the benefits of a low profile design that is adaptable to most mowers and capable of reducing clippings of various types, and under diversified conditions, to a mulch for discarding as a nutrient into lawns. Therefore, there exists a need for a mulching lawnmower that is able to reduce clippings from tall and wet lawns into fine particles for depositing back into the lawns as a fertilizing nutrient. This invention is intended to address and solve these problems which are not adequately resolved by the prior inventions.


The invention concerns a device for determining the temperature inside an item to be cooked (12). The invention comprises at least one temperature sensor (20) for detecting at least one surface temperature of the item to be cooked (12) and/or an ambient temperature around the item to be cooked, particularly at a measuring location inside the cooking chamber surrounding the item to be cooked, preferably with an ambient temperature sensor which is arranged at said measuring location. Furthermore, the device comprises at least one distance sensor (22) for detecting one or multiple distances between the distance sensor (22) and one or multiple distance measuring points (36) on the surface of the item to be cooked (12). In addition, the device comprises at least one time measuring device for measuring elapsed time during preparation of the item to be cooked (12) and at least one calculation device for calculating the temperature inside the item to be cooked (12) using the surface temperature of the item to be cooked (12) and/or the ambient temperature, the distance or multiple distances, elapsed time, and the start temperature of the item to be cooked (12). The invention also concerns a method for determining the temperature inside an item to be cooked (12).

The invention concerns a device for determining the temperature inside an item to be cooked. Furthermore, the invention concerns a cooking device comprising the device for determining the temperature inside an item to be cooked. Additionally, a method according to the invention is provided for determining the temperature inside an item to be cooked.
The temperature inside an item to be cooked is an indicator of the state of preparation of the item to be cooked. Particularly, the temperature of the coldest spot in the item to be cooked, which is mostly in the center of said item, is relevant to the preparation state of the item to be cooked. Also, the pasteurizing value of the item to be cooked is associated with the temperature of the coldest spot in said item.
The temperature of the item to be cooked which is located inside a cooking device can be measured with a temperature probe. The temperature sensor is designed, for example, like a meat skewer and electrically coupled to the cooking device by means of a cable. For the user, however, it is difficult to find the coldest spot in the item to be cooked. In addition, the user finds the cable troublesome.
The problem to be addressed by the invention is to present an improved device and an improved method for determining the temperature inside an item to be cooked.

Device and method for determining the temperature inside an item to be cooked

Electrolux Home Products Corporation N.V.


A flexible reclosable thermoformed thermoplastic container is disclosed which has a base with side walls and a peripheral shoulder extending from the side walls which has a downwardly depending rim. The cover of the container has peripheral edges with depending side walls and is preferably attached by an integral hinge to the base. The cover is adapted to close upon and cover the base. A locking tab with two opposed faces spaced to fit between the base rim and side walls is connected by an integral hinge to the cover. The locking tab of the cover may be rotated about the integral hinge and inserted between the side wall and rim wall of the base to close the container. Containers with depressions in the base or cover side walls to facilitate opening are also disclosed. Containers may have two locking tabs connected on opposite sides of the cover by integral hinges which permit the cover to be removed entirely from the container. By providing unclasped cover portions on such a container, a self-venting container may be formed. By providing a ridge on the base beneath the locking tab, the cover may be fixably attached to the base.

Reclosable containers are convenient and easily loadable packages which are advantageously used when it is desired to repeatedly access a product within a container, or more commonly when a package with a positive locking closure is needed which may be easily loaded and sealed without the need for adhesives or sealing tools. These containers are commonly thermoformed of thin thermoplastic material and have a bottom portion or base and a top lid or cover. To keep the container closed after initial opening, it is necessary to provide some means of interlocking the cover and the base. A common type of interlocking structure employs projections and depressions on shoulders extending from the cover and base which engage with each other in a "snap" fit. The cover and the base are thus held together during normal usage but may be pulled apart by applying sufficient force.
To avoid unwanted opening of the container, it is advantageous to have a tight seal between the cover and the base. However, if the seal is too tight it will require excessive force to reopen the container. This difficulty in opening is compounded by the fact that with a standard snap fit closure the separating force must be applied by pulling the top cover and base in opposite directions. With containers that are too large or too small to be easily grasped, even greater difficulties in opening will be encountered.
The problem of producing a container with a tight reliable seal, yet that is easy to open, is long standing in the art and has evoked many different approaches to solution. What is needed is an easily manufactured package that may be securely closed yet easily opened.


An image heating apparatus that causes a recording material carrying a fixed toner image to be in close contact with a belt and improves gloss level of an image surface is provided. A decrease in the separability of the recording material from the belt can be suppressed by control of the position on the belt in close contact with the leading edge of the recording material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image heating apparatus that can be suitably used as a gloss application apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrophotographic image forming apparatuses, such as copiers and printers, are widely known, and many full-color image forming apparatuses are commercially available, in addition to monochrome ones. As the increased use of electrophotographic image forming apparatuses in various fields, the level of requirements on image quality becomes increasingly higher. One determinant factor of image quality, in particular, the gloss level of a full-color image is smoothness of an output image.
A method for improving the smoothness of an output image by use of a recording material including a transparent thermoplastic resin layer is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 64-035452, 5-216322, and 2003-084477.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 4-216580, 4-362679, and 2004-109860 disclose a belt fuser configured to press and heat a recording material carrying an unfixed toner image by using a fixing belt including a heat-resistance film, solidify the toner image by cooling the recording material while the recording material is in close contact with the fixing belt, and then separate the recording material from the fixing belt.
When standard-sized recording materials are repeatedly used through such an image forming method, a phenomenon occurs in which foreign matter such as paper powder and a resin component drops from an end of a recording material and attaches to a surface of the fixing belt. The foreign matter may be transferred to an end of the subsequent recording material, causing image defects, and/or the accumulated foreign matter may damage the fixing belt, destroying the durability of the fixing belt.
In addition to the above problems, the inventor et al. finds that, if foreign matter such as paper powder and a resin component dropping from an end of a recording material is attached to and accumulated on the fixing belt, when the subsequent recording material is placed on the fixing belt such that the leading edge of the subsequent recording material overlaps the foreign matter, the separability of the recording material from a conveyance separation portion on the fixing belt significantly decreases.
A belt fuser discussed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-109860 uses a structure in which at least one of opposite side ends of a recording material separated from a fixing belt along the direction of conveyance of the recording material is cut and removed. Therefore, even if foreign matter such as paper powder and a resin component of a recording material attached to and accumulated on the fixing belt is then attached and transferred to an end of the subsequent recording material, the attached foreign matter does not affect an output image by cutting and removing a part of the recording material to which the foreign matter is attached.
However, no consideration is given to leading and trailing ends of the recording material, which are orthogonal to the direction of conveyance of the recording material.

Image heating apparatus controlling relative positions of fixing belt and recording material


The invention relates to the field of aerial propellers, in particular the field of variable-pitch propellers, specifically for unducted fans. More specifically, the invention relates to a pivot (15) for a blade (14) of a propeller (3a, 3b), the pivot including at least a proximal portion (15a) made of metal and suitable for being retained in a radial orifice of a propeller hub, while being capable of turning in said orifice about a longitudinal axis (Z) of the pivot (15), and a distal portion (15b) including a receptacle (20) suitable for retaining a blade root, and at least one arm (17) of organic matrix composite material extending laterally relative to said longitudinal axis (Z) and supporting a flyweight (16).

The present invention relates to the field of aerial propellers, and more particularly to a propeller blade pivot.
In the present context, the term "aerial propeller" is used broadly to cover any device having at least one profiled blade suitable for rotating about a propulsion axis in order to accelerate a mass of air along the direction of said propulsion axis so as to generate thrust in the opposite direction by reaction. The term thus covers, amongst other things, conventional aviation propellers, and also turbojet fans, including unducted or open rotor fans. Typically, such unducted fans comprise two contrarotating variable-pitch propellers.
Typically, a variable-pitch propeller includes a pivot at the base of each blade to enable the blade to turn about its longitudinal axis. The pivot may be incorporated in the root of the blade or it may be detachable from the blade, thereby making it easier to replace blades and helping to reduce repair and maintenance costs.
Ideally, variable-pitch propellers include devices that act automatically to enable them to be feathered in the event of the engine stopping. In particular, when the blades are feathered, the relative wind can still exert an aerodynamic torque on each blade about its longitudinal axis. In order to oppose that aerodynamic torque and keep the blades in a feathered orientation, one of the simplest devices known to the person skilled in the art comprises a flyweight at the end of a lever arm that extends laterally relative to said longitudinal axis, and perpendicularly to the pressure and/or suction faces of the blade. The centrifugal force exerted on each flyweight by the propeller rotating serves to maintain the blade in the feathered orientation. In order to limit their size, such flyweights and lever arms are typically incorporated in the pivot of each blade. French patent FR 2 957 329 discloses an unducted fan turbojet having two contrarotating propellers in which the pivot of each blade has a device of that type for holding the blades in the feathered position.
Aerial propellers, and more particularly unducted fan propellers that are normally driven by free turbines of the turbojet, can rotate at speeds that are very high, thereby generating large traction forces on the pivots. The pivots are typically made of metal and they are dimensioned to withstand such loads, and consequently they are of considerable weight.


A method of designing a layout, a design system and a computer program product for a multi-finger complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) inverter including a multi-finger N-type field effect transistor (NFET) and a multi-finger P-type field effect transistor (PFET) is disclosed. The design of the layout disposes a metallization wire connecting multiple drains of each type of MOS transistor. Analysis of an electric current in each segment of the metallization wire and of a total resistance of in all segments of the metallization wire provides an optimal location where the metallization wires for NFET drains and PFET drains are connected. The optimal wire connection location provides maximum drain current for the CMOS inverter along with a low wire capacitance between the wire and the gates of NFETs and PFETs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a method of designing a layout, a design system and a computer program product for a multi-finger complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) inverter including a multi-finger N-type field effect transistor (NFET) and a multi-finger P-type field effect transistor (PFET). More particularly, a selected layout of common output nodes that are formed on metallization wires, which connect the drain regions of the multi-finger NFET and the drain regions of the multi-finger PFET of the CMOS inverter, respectively, can reduce parasitic drain-node wire resistance without increasing wiring capacitance and thus, maximize output current for the CMOS inverter and to reduce the CMOS inverter's delay.
2. Description of Related Art
Inverters are widely used in circuit design. For example, inverters are used in ring oscillators to benchmark, characterize and compare circuits within an integrated circuit device. Inverters are also used in repeaters to reduce an interconnect's resistance-capacitance (RC) delay. Reducing RC delay is desirable and can be accomplished by reducing the electrical resistance to the total drain currents of the complementary transistors of a CMOS inverter.
Parasitic drain-node resistance greatly impacts semiconductor device performance. Thus, during semiconductor device layout and design, finding ways to minimize parasitic drain node resistance is very important. However, a conventional layout used to connect a multi-finger NFET and a multi-finger PFET can result in a relatively large drain-node wire resistance.
There remains a need to improve the layout design of a multi-finger CMOS inverter, which uses a multi-finger NFET and a multi-finger PFET, to reduce the parasitic drain-node wire resistance and thus, maximize current output of the multi-finger CMOS inverter.

Layout and design system for increasing electric current in CMOS inverters

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for creating large numbers of high-quality optical traps in arbitrary three-dimensional configurations and dynamically reconfiguring the traps under computer control. The method uses computer-generated diffractive optical elements to convert one or more optical tweezers into one or more optical vortices. The method involves combining the optical vortex technique with the holographic optical tweezer technique to create multiple optical vortices in arbitrary configurations. The method also involves employing the rotation induced in trapped particles by optical vortices to assemble clusters of particles into functional micromachines, to drive previously assembled micromachines, to pump fluids through microfluidics channels, to control flows of fluids through microfluidics channels, to mix fluids within microfluidics channels, to transport particles, to sort particles and to perform other related manipulations and transformations on matter over length scales

The present invention is directed generally to the field of optical trapping techniques. More particularly, the present invention relates to techniques for manipulating particles and fluids using the torques and forces exerted by optical vortex traps.
Optical tweezers use forces exerted by intensity gradients in strongly focused beams of light to trap and selectively move microscopic volumes of matter. Capable of applying precisely controlled forces to particles ranging in size from several to tens of nanometers to tens of micrometers, single optical tweezers have been adopted widely in biological and physical research. Holographic optical tweezers expand upon these capabilities by creating large numbers of optical traps in arbitrary three-dimensional configurations using a phase-modulating diffractive optical element (DOE) to craft the necessary intensity profile. Originally demonstrated with microfabricated diffractive optical elements, holographic optical tweezers have been implemented by encoding computer-designed patterns of phase modulation into the orientation of liquid crystal domains in spatial light modulators. Projecting a sequence of trapping patterns with a spatial light modulator dynamically reconfigures the traps.
Each photon absorbed by a trapped particle transfers its momentum to the particle and tends to displace it from the trap. If the trapping beam is circularly polarized, then each absorbed photon also transfers one quantum, n, of angular momentum to the absorbed particle. The transferred angular momentum causes the trapped particle to rotate in place at a frequency set by the balance between the photon absorption rate and viscous drag in the fluid medium. Laguerre-Gaussian modes of light can carry angular momentum in addition to that due to polarization. Bringing such a Laguerre-Gaussian beam to a diffraction-limited focus creates a type of optical trap known as an optical vortex. In additional to carrying angular momentum, optical vortices have other properties useful for assembling and driving micromachines, for pumping and mixing fluids, for sorting and mixing particles, and for actuating microelectromechanical systems.
The present invention describes a practical and general implementation of dynamic holographic optical tweezers capable of producing hundreds and even thousands of independent traps for all manner of materials and applications.
Unlike conventional micromanipulators, dynamic holographic optical tweezers are highly reconfigurable, operate noninvasively in both open and sealed environments, and can be coupled with computer vision technology to create fully automated systems. A single apparatus thus can be adapted to a wide range of applications without modification. Dynamic holographic optical tweezers have widespread applications in biotechnology. The availability of many independent optical manipulators offers opportunities for deeply parallel high throughput screening, surgical modifications of single cells, and fabrication of wide-spectrum sensor arrays. In materials science, the ability to organize disparate materials into three-dimensional structures with length scales ranging from tens of nanometers to hundreds of micrometers constitutes an entirely new category of fabrication processes with immediate applications to photonics and fabrication of functional nanocomposite materials.
The applications described herein take advantage of a related method for transferring angular momentum to optically trapped particles. The technique uses computer-generated diffractive optical elements to convert a single beam into multiple traps, which in turn are used to form one or more optical vortices. The present invention involves combining the optical vortex technique with the holographic optical tweezer technique to create multiple optical vortices in arbitrary configurations. The present invention also involves employing the rotation induced in trapped particles by optical vortices to assemble clusters of particles into functional micromachines, to drive previously assembled micromachines, to pump fluids through microfluidics channels, to control flows of fluids through microfluidics channels, to mix fluids within microfluidics channels, to transport particles, to sort particles and to perform other related manipulations and transformations on matter over length scales ranging from roughly 5-10 nm to roughly 100 xcexcm. Several applications and related extensions derive from the properties of optical vortices.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the present invention, are given by way of illustration and not limitation. Many changes and modifications within the scope of the present invention may be made without departing from the spirit thereof, and the invention includes all such modifications.

Use of multiple optical vortices for pumping, mixing and sorting


An imaging lens includes a first lens having positive refractive power; a second lens having negative refractive power; a third lens having positive refractive power; a fourth lens having negative refractive power; a fifth lens; a sixth lens; a seventh lens; an eighth lens; and a ninth lens having negative refractive power, arranged in this order from an object side to an image plane side. The ninth lens is formed in a shape so that a surface thereof on the image plane side has an aspherical shape having an inflection point.

The present invention relates to an imaging lens for forming an image of an object on an imaging element such as a CCD sensor and a CMOS sensor. In particular, the present invention relates to an imaging lens suitable for mounting in a relatively small camera such as a camera to be built in a portable device, e.g., a cellular phone and a portable information terminal, a digital still camera, a security camera, an onboard camera, and a network camera.
In case of a lens configuration comprised of nine lenses, since the number of lenses that compose the imaging lens is large, it has higher flexibility in designing and can satisfactorily correct aberrations that are required for an imaging lens with high resolution. For example, as the conventional imaging lens having a nine-lens configuration, an imaging lens described in Patent Reference has been known.


In example implementations, a server is provided. The server incudes a communication interface, a memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the communication interface and the memory. The communication interface is to establish a communication session with virtual reality (VR) system to receive room identification information. The memory is to store a plurality of VR boundary maps for a plurality of different rooms. The processor is to compare the room identification information to the plurality of different rooms stored in the memory to identify a room of the plurality of different rooms, identify a VR boundary map from the plurality of VR boundary maps associated with the room, and transmit the VR boundary map to the VR system via the communication session.

Virtual reality (VR) systems are used for a variety of different applications. The VR systems can be used for entertainment applications, such as video games. The VR systems can be used for educational purposes, such as training simulations. The VR systems can also be used for enterprise applications, such as providing tours, presentations, and the like.
The VR systems may include a computing system and a head mounted display (HMD). A user may wear the HMD and interact with the artificial environment generated by the computing system by viewing the artificial environment through the display in the HMD.

Boundary maps for virtual reality systems

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A papermaking additive comprising cellulose nanofibers whose aqueous solution at a concentration of 2% (w/v) has a B-type viscosity (60 rpm, 20° C.) of 500 to 7000 mPa·s, preferably 500 to 2000 mPa·s is used to prepare a paper having improved air resistance and smoothness. This additive is prepared by oxidizing a cellulosic material with an oxidizing agent in the presence of (1) N-oxyl compound(s) and (2) bromide, iodide or a mixture thereof to prepare oxidized cellulose, and finely grinding the oxidized cellulose in a wet condition to convert the oxidized cellulose into nanofibers.

Paper has voids, and the voids penetrating the paper in its thickness direction, in particular, influence barrier properties against oxygen and steam, or permeability to a coating material. Patent Literature 1 discloses use of a carboxymethylcellulose sodium salt having a degree of carboxymethyl substitution of 0.25 to 0.5 and a viscosity of 5 to 300 mPa·s as an aqueous solution at a concentration of 1%, as a permeation suppressant suppressing permeation of a paint through base paper. As a method for improving the air resistance which is an indicator of voids in paper, Patent Literature 2 discloses base paper for release paper incorporating ungelatinized granular starch. Patent Literature 3 discloses an improver for paper surface quality comprising an anionic polyacrylamide resin.    Patent Document 1: JP 2004-300624 A    Patent Document 2: JP 1992-57798 B    Patent Document 3: JP 2003-49390 A

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Papermaking additive and paper containing the same


Disclosed herein is a Chlamydia-activated B cell (CAB) platform. Also disclosed is a method of enhancing a population of B cells, comprising exposing said B cells to Chlamydia spp. under conditions suitable to enhance the population of B cells, such that expansion and differentiation of said B cells takes place, and said B cells are exposed or crosslinked to an antigen. Also disclosed are methods of producing said CABs, and treating a subject in need thereof with said CABs.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are considered potent antigen-presenting cells (APCs), and are effective inducers of protective immunity against infectious diseases and cancer. These have prompted intense interest in the use of DCs as cellular vaccines; especially DCs differentiated form peripheral blood monocytes. However, clinical trials using DCs have only demonstrated very low rates of overall clinical response, highlighting the need to improve DC-based vaccines. Particular restrictions for the success of these cellular therapies have been the limited number of DCs that can be produced from monocytes, as DC cannot be expanded ex vivo, making it difficult to generate large numbers of these cells for use in long-term, multi-administration protocol. Moreover, DCs have a significant degree of variability in their ability to prime immune responses after cryopreservation. These limitations becomes especially important because greater DC numbers and treatments have been shown to elicit more robust antitumor immunity and improve clinical responses.
B cells represent a large pool of potent APCs, and are likely the only autologous APCs alternative to DC that can be generated ex vivo for immunotherapeutic purposes. While B cells have been described to induce T cell tolerance or even to block antitumor immune responses in vivo, these reports were restricted to resting B cells lacking important accessory and costimulatory molecules expression. On the other hand, B cells can be activated to become effective APCs by cells expressing CD40L in combination with cytokines or Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands, however these approaches either did not induce optimal B cell activation (TLR ligands) or required the use of cell lines (CD40L), and these limitations make them unsuitable for clinical application.
Activated B cells have enhanced MHC and costimulatory molecules expression, and exhibit greatly improved antigen presentation capacity to fully activate naïve and memory T cells. Also of importance, activated B cells can recruit T cells through the secretion of chemokines and migrate to secondary lymphoid organs; critical requirements for in vivo induction of effective antitumor immune responses. Because B cells can be easily obtained ex vivo, they represent an attractive source of autologous APCs for immunotherapeutic applications. Moreover, activated B cells express MHC class I and II, and therefore be used with a wide range of antigens. Hence, a practical method that induces activation and proliferation of B cells is needed in the art to provide a cellular vaccine to target multiple types of tumors and infectious diseases.


A collapsible storage silo having an expanded configuration includes: (a) a shell for circumscribing storage space and comprising a plurality of concentrically nested tubular members that are collapsible; (b) a lift system operable to slidably expand the plurality of concentrically nested tubular members to place the silo in its expanded configuration; and (c) a mast operable to support the lift system, The mast is pivotable between horizontal and vertical positions relative to a frame. A winch attaches to the mast and a cable extends between the winch and an outermost tubular member to expand the silo such that inwardly and outwardly projecting lips of nested members engage each other and a conical hopper engages an innermost tubular member. A flexible inner liner attaches between an outermost tubular member and the hopper. A collapsible roof has a flexible roof membrane and a plurality of radially extending foldable rib members.

Granular material, such as sand, proppant, grain, and the like, is used in bulk quantity in several applications. For example, in hydraulic fracture drilling by oil and gas industries, fracturing fluid comprising a granular proppant material, such as sand and/or ceramics, is pumped into a drill well to create and prop open fractures in rock. Often, activities requiring large amounts of granular material are performed in a remote location, requiring granular material to be shipped to the site and stored in large quantities in a manner that makes the material reliably available in sufficient quantities as required for the particular application. Therefore, there is a need for mobile collapsible storage systems for storing and delivering large quantities of granular material at remote site operations. or other applications requiring temporary granular material storage,


A method for evaluating the firmness of the ground on which is running a vehicle equipped with at least one mounted assembly having a radial stiffness kradial comprising a tyre casing having a crown, two sidewalls and two beads, equipped with a sensor sensitive to the circumferential curvature and positioned in line with the crown, comprises the following steps: Estimating a value of the curvature ρA of the tire casing corresponding to first steady-state conditions of the tire casing in contact with the ground; and Evaluating the relative firmness of the ground with respect to the radial stiffness kradial of the mounted assembly as being a function of the value of the curvature ρA of the tire casing.

In certain application scenarios, it is of prime importance to consider the firmness of the ground on which the tyre casing is pressing in order to adapt the conditions of use of the mounted assembly to suit the parameters of the ground in order not to damage the ground and/or the mounted assembly and in particular the tyre casing. In addition, qualifying the ground and notably the firmness thereof certainly becomes important to anyone directly or indirectly exploiting this information, such as farmers for example. In the case of roads with an asphalt or concrete pavement, the structure of which rests on firm foundations in order to obtain a certain degree of stiffness, the standardized conditions of use of the mounted assembly minimize interactions between the ground and the mounted assembly. Because of this, the firmness of the ground which corresponds to the stiffness of the ground over a certain thickness with respect to the exterior surface, is only of little interest in these specific cases. By contrast, in the case of ground referred to as loose ground, the interactions between the ground and the mounted assembly are far greater, such as for example on stony tracks, sandy soil, and agricultural fields. It is important to define the firmness of such ground in order to regulate the conditions of use of the mounted assembly, such as the inflation pressure, the load carried or the running speed, in order, on the one hand, to optimize the effectiveness of the mounted assembly in its mobility function and, on the other hand, not to modify or even damage the characteristics of the ground. It is chiefly this type of application that the invention addresses.
The soil or the ground is a collection of three phases: a gas phase, a liquid phase and a solid phase in which the proportions between the three phases define the characteristics of the ground. If the soil is sensitive to water content, the soil exhibits three types of status qualified as a solid, plastic and liquid depending on its water content. The transition from one state to another determines the ease with which the soil can be worked or the ease of mobility over the soil of this ground.
Various laboratory tests make it possible to determine the water content sensitivity of soil using, for example, Atterberg limits that make it possible to define the zones of transition of soil between the three states according to the water content in accordance with standard NFP94057. Finally, other standardized tests on real soil make it possible to identify the hydrous state of a given soil such as by evaluating the optimum Proctor number in accordance with standard NFP94093, or by evaluating the IBI (which stands for "Immediate Bearing Index") in accordance with NFP94078. However, these static tests are not easy to interpret. They are dependent both on the nature of the soil and on its water content. The second parameter necessarily changes between the seasons of the year or between shorter periods. As a result, the need for an instant measurement of the firmness of the ground (soil) at the moment that the vehicle directly drives over it has been expressed. This instant information regarding the firmness of the ground allows the conditions of use of the vehicle such as, for example, the speed of running or the inflation pressure to be adapted to suit the characteristics of the ground.
Furthermore, the interactions between the ground and the tyre casing exist and can be observed directly through physical parameters of the tyre casing such as the size of the contact patch. Various measurement means carried on board inside the tyre casing have been developed in recent years in order to evaluate these physical parameters. For example, EP3031632A2 uses a motion detector to identify indirectly the circumferential azimuths of the tyre that correspond to entering and leaving the contact patch. As a result, an evaluation of the size of the contact patch is made, based on localized measurements. Thus, the use of a tyre casing as a detector of physical parameters relating to the interaction between a mounted assembly and the ground has been demonstrated. Nevertheless, no connection has been made between the firmness of the ground and the parameters concerned with the deformation of a tyre casing.
The invention seeks to propose a method for instantly measuring the firmness of the ground through a measurement on the tyre casing of a mounted assembly of a vehicle under conditions of use, intended for the driver of the vehicle, without detracting from the efficiency of his work.

Method for evaluating the firmness of a ground

COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN


An optical disc has a support base and at least one information-retrieval layer formed over the support base. The information-retrieval layer is transparent and thinner than the support base. The information-retrieval layer exhibits variation in birefringence within ±20 nmpp (nano meter peak to peak) under double-pass measurements during one rotation of the optical disc.

The present invention relates to an optical disc having an information-retrieval layer for enhanced high signal quality in recording and reproduction.
Optical discs are a storage medium having a transparent plastic support base on which information signals are recorded as minute uneven pit trains or grooves. The information signals are retrieved by emission of laser beams from the surface opposite to the information-recorded surface while intensity of the reflected laser beams is varying in accordance with the recorded information.
This type of optical disc has been widely used, one representative being compact discs (CD) usable at 780 nm-wavelength of recording and retrieving laser beams and 0.45-aperture number of optical-pickup objective lens.
The types of compact disc ranges from read-only type discs (ROM) for information retrieval only, recording type discs (CD-R) to which recording is allowed only once to recording/retrieval type discs (CD-RW) to which recording, retrieval and erasure are allowed several times. Another type is magneto-optical discs having shape similar to these compact discs.
Thanks to reasonable cost for short-wave laser devices and advanced disc-manufacturing technology, the most popular disc is a digital versatile disc (DVD) usable at 635 nm-wavelength of recording and retrieving laser beams and 0.6-aperture number of optical pickup objective lens. High disc density has been achieved thanks to short laser wavelength and high objective-lens aperture number.
Moreover, expected as the next-generation discs are optical discs more dense than DVD, usable at 400 nm-wavelength (or shorter) of recording and retrieving laser beams and 0.7-aperture number (or higher) of optical-pickup objective lens.
The thickness of transparent support base via which information signals are retrieved for optical discs, such as CD, is 1.2 mm usable at 780 nm-wavelength of recording and retrieving laser beams. Formed on the transparent support base is an information-recorded layer such as pit trains and grooves. The information on the information-recorded layer is retrieved from the rear surface. The transparent support base having the information-recorded layer is formed as a transparent retrieval layer.
Optical discs, such as DVD, more dense than CD, have a 0.6 mm-thick transparent information-retrieval support base usable at 635 nm-wavelength of recording and retrieving laser beams. Formed on this transparent support base is an information-recorded layer such as pit trains and grooves. The information on the information-recorded layer is retrieved from the rear surface. The transparent support base having the information-recorded layer is formed as a transparent retrieval layer, like CD. This type of optical discs, however, have a 0.6 mm-disc, called dummy disc for high disc strength.
The next-generation optical discs, usable at 400 nm-wavelength of recording and retrieving laser beams, have an information-recorded layer such as pit trains and grooves formed on a support base having thickness in the range from 1.1 to 1.2 mm. Stuck on the information-recorded layer is a sheet having thickness 0.2 mm or less for recording and retrieval via this sheet surface. One type of next-generation optical disc has such information-recorded layer formed on a transparent retrieval layer.
As discussed, the thickness of optical disc has become thinner as the wavelength of recording and retrieving laser beams has become shorter. In addition, increase in objective-lens aperture number in optical pickup contributes to further high density.
The next-generation discs usable at 400 nm-wavelength of recording and retrieving laser beams and 0.7 (or higher)-aperture number of optical-pickup objective lens usually have thickness of 0.2 mm or less for the information-retrieval layer from the information-recorded surface on which pits or grooves have been formed as information signals to the information-retrieval surface.
Such a thin information-retrieval layer prevents laser beams from diverging during recording and retrieving due to increase in optical aberration such as spherical aberration caused by increase in lens aperture number and coma aberration caused when the disc is bent.
The thinner the information-retrieval layer, however, the more difficult in forming an information-recorded layer on an information-retrieval layer by injection molding like DVD when the support base is 0.6 mm-thick. This is because molding resin will not be filled enough in a molding die by injection molding when a support base is too thin against its diameter, resulting in incomplete formation of information-recorded layer.
To solve such a problem, these next-generation optical discs are manufactured by forming an information-recorded layer on a support base having a thickness of 1.1 mm, for example, by injection molding, followed by forming an information-retrieval layer with an aluminum reflecting film on the information-recorded layer by sputtering, a bonding layer formed on the reflecting film and further a transparent plastic disc sheet having a thickness of 0.1 mm, for example, on the bonding layer.
Evaluation tests revealed, however, that these next-generation optical discs having a 0.1 mm-thick transparent plastic disc as the information-retrieval layer suffer from large variation in reproduced waveforms per one disc rotation. It is further revealed that one cycle of variation in reproduced waveforms mostly has two-cycle components.
An automatic gain controller suppresses such variation a little bit, but still not enough against asymmetry and degraded frequency characteristics of the varied output waveforms, thus providing no constant output.
Several sample discs suffered from peak-to-peak variation in reproduced waveforms, some reproducing output almost half of the minimum level.
The variation in reproduced output peculiar to the next generation optical discs having such thin information-retrieval layer cause increase in output errors, an inevitable halt to normal retrieval operation.


A traffic congestion prediction method including the steps of: detecting an acceleration of a vehicle; calculating a power spectrum corresponding to a frequency from a frequency analysis of the detected acceleration; calculating a simple linear regression line of the power spectrum and calculating a maximum value of an amount of change in a gradient of the simple linear regression line in a predetermined frequency range as a maximum gradient value; detecting an inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and a vehicle ahead; estimating an inter-vehicle distance distribution from the detected inter-vehicle distance by using a distribution estimation method; calculating a minimum value of covariance value from the estimated inter-vehicle distance distribution; estimating a distribution of a group of vehicles ahead from a correlation between the minimum value of covariance value and the maximum gradient value; and performing a real-time traffic congestion prediction based on the distribution of the group of vehicles.

Conventionally, traffic congestion prediction methods are proposed for a vehicle driving assist device. For example, Patent Literature 1 describes that a vehicle density of vehicles located within a predetermined distance in the front and back directions of one vehicle is calculated from a detection result of a radar device and it is determined whether or not a driving state of the one vehicle may be a cause of generation of traffic congestion by using the vehicle density.


A truck assembly for a rail vehicle includes at least one side frame including at least one lightener hole. At least one strain gage is disposed within the lightener hole(s). The strain gage(s) is configured to detect forces exerted into or onto the truck assembly. A method of detecting forces exerted into or onto a truck assembly of a rail vehicle includes disposing at least one strain gage within at least one lightener hole of at least one side frame of a truck assembly of the rail vehicle, and detecting the forces by the strain gage(s).

Rail vehicles travel along railways, which have tracks that include rails. A rail vehicle includes one or more truck assemblies that support one or more car bodies.
A truck assembly forms a bottom portion of a rail vehicle. The car body generally rides on top of two truck assemblies to form the rail vehicle or rail car. Motions created by a rail vehicle as it moves on and over a track produce measurable forces (for example, loads) that travel through the truck assemblies and into the car body. Over time, the forces that act on the rail vehicle may change.

Load sensing system for a railway truck assembly


A pass through test system for testing an electronic module includes an interface board, and test contactors movably mounted to the interface board for electrically engaging terminal contacts on the module with a zero insertion force on the modules. The interface board is configured for mounting to an automated or manual pass through test handler in electrical communication with test circuitry. In a first embodiment the interface board includes test pads in electrical communication with the test circuitry, and rotatable test contactors having spring contacts configured to simultaneously engage the test pads and the terminal contacts on the module. In a second embodiment the interface board includes test pads in electrical communication with the test circuitry, and slidable test contactors having beam leads configured to simultaneously engage the test pads and the terminal contacts on the module. In a third embodiment the test contactors are slidably mounted to the interface board, and include coiled spring contacts in electrical communication with a flex circuit. A test method includes the steps of: providing the test contactors, electrically engaging the terminal contacts on the module with a zero insertion force using the test contactors, and then applying test signals through the test contactors and the terminal contacts to the module.

Electronic modules, such as semiconductor memory modules, multi chip modules, semiconductor carriers, semiconductor packages, and microprocessors are routinely tested during manufacture. The modules include terminal contacts in electrical communication with the electronic devices contained on the modules. For performing various test procedures on the modules, temporary electrical connections are made to the terminal contacts.
One type of prior art electronic module 10, which is illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, includes a substrate 12, and multiple semiconductor packages 16 mounted to the substrate 12. The module 10 also includes a row of terminal contacts 14 on the substrate 12 in electrical communication with the integrated circuits contained on the semiconductor packages 16. The terminal contacts 14 comprise generally planar, in-line metal pads located on opposing sides of the substrate 12 along a lateral edge 18 thereof. The substrate 12 typically comprises an electrically insulating material such as a glass filled plastic (FR-4), or a ceramic. In addition, the substrate 12 includes through openings 19 which facilitate indexing and handling by automated test equipment and carriers.
For testing the electronic module 10 test systems have been developed and are commercially available from various manufacturers. These test systems are configured to make temporary electrical connections with the terminal contacts 14. In addition, the test systems are configured to apply test signals through the terminal contacts 14 to the electronic devices on the module 10, and then to analyze the response signals from the electronic devices. Often times these test systems merely test the gross functionality of the module 10, as the semiconductor packages 16 on the module 10 have been previously individually tested and burned-in.
The test systems typically include test boards and test circuitry in electrical communication with the test boards. In addition, the test boards typically include interface boards having test contactors configured to physically and electrically engage the terminal contacts 14 on either side of the module 10. In general there are two types of test systems, which are sometimes referred to as "pass through test systems", or "socket test systems".
FIG. 1C illustrates a pass through test system 11PT having an interface board 13PT, and test contactors 15PT on the interface board 13PT. The test contactors 15PT are in electrical communication with test circuitry (not shown). In addition, the test contactors 15PT are movable from an inactive (open) position in which the terminal contacts 14 on the module 10 are not engaged, to an active (closed) position in which the terminal contacts 14 on the module 10 are physically and electrically engaged.
As shown in FIG. 1C, with the test contactors 15PT in an inactive (open) position, the module 10 can be indexed into a contactor area between the test contactors 15PT, as indicated by arrow 17PT. With the module 10 located in the contactor area, the test contactors 15PT can be mechanically moved to the active (closed) position to physically and electrically engage the terminal contacts 14. The pass through test contactors 15PT are sometimes referred to as being "zero insertion force" (ZIF) contactors because temporary electrical connections can be made without an insertion force being placed on the module 10.
FIG. 1D illustrates a socket test system 11S having an interface board 13S, and test contactors 15S on the interface board 13S. In this case, the test contactors 15S are normally in an active (closed) position, but are mechanically moved to an inactive (open) position as the module 10 is inserted from above as indicated by arrow 17S. When the module 10 is in place, the test contactors 15S move back to the active (closed) position to physically and electrically engage the terminal contacts 10. The socket test contactors 15S are sometimes referred to as being "low insertion force" (LIF) contactors because an insertion force is exerted on the module 10 in making the temporary electrical connections with the test contactors 15S.
One advantage of the pass through test system 11PT (FIG. 1C) over the socket test system 11S, is that no insertion forces are exerted on the module 10 to provide electrical engagement for testing. Accordingly, less physical stress is placed on the module 10 during testing with the pass through test system 11PT. Also, as the number of terminal contacts 14 on the module 10 increases, the insertion forces exerted by the socket test system 11S increase. The socket test system 11S can therefore damage the module 10, or the terminal contacts 14 on the module 10, and can be more expensive to operate and maintain.
The present invention is directed to an improved pass through test system. In pass through test systems it is desirable to make temporary electrical connections with the terminal contacts 14 on the modules 10 that are reliable, and have low electrical resistance. This requires that the terminal contacts 14 be scrubbed, or alternately penetrated by the test contactors 15PT, such that oxide layers and surface contaminants on the terminal contacts 14 do not adversely affect the temporary electrical connections. However, in scrubbing or penetrating the terminal contacts 14, damage to the terminal contacts 14 and modules 10 must be minimized.
It is also advantageous in pass through test systems for the temporary electrical connections to provide electrical paths that are short in length to facilitate the application of high speed test signals, and to prevent capacitive coupling and the introduction of noise and spurious signals. Further, it is advantageous to make, and then break, the temporary electrical connections as quickly as possible, to facilitate a high throughput for the test procedure.
The pass through test system of the invention includes test contactors configured to make temporary electrical connections that are reliable, have low electrical resistance, and minimally damage terminal contacts on the modules. In addition, the test contactors are relatively inexpensive to make, provide a high throughput, and can be operated in a production environment with minimal maintenance. Further, the test contactors are designed to electrically engage the terminal contacts with a zero insertion force on the module, and to exert a force for retaining the module on the interface board.

Test method for electronic modules using movable test contactors


A surface maintenance vehicle having a low profile recessed cavity in the side of the vehicle beneath the driver's seat which can be used for transporting items. The vehicle includes a vehicle shroud containing operational components of the vehicle, a driver's seat, and a seat shroud. A recessed cavity is formed in the side surface of the seat shroud and includes a vertically oriented anterior surface, a vertically oriented posterior surface opposing the anterior surface, a horizontally oriented bottom surface, wherein the bottom surface is generally perpendicular to the anterior and posterior surfaces, and a vertically oriented inner surface, wherein the inner surface is generally perpendicular to the anterior surface, posterior surface and bottom surface. The recessed cavity is open on the side and the top and can be used for transporting items while not increasing the overall size or footprint of the surface maintenance machine.

Surface maintenance machines broadly encompass machines which will sweep commercial or industrial areas such as factory floors, hallways or the like, and machines which will perform a scrubbing function in that same environment. As such, surface maintenance machines include machines which are designed to perform either scrubbing or sweeping or both sweeping and scrubbing functions.
The size and dimensions of the surface maintenance machine used for a particular job relates to the type of location in which the machine will be used. However, in most cases, it is desirable for the machines to be able to clean surfaces along the edges of the floor, such as where the floors abuts with the wall, equipment, or other edges or obstructions. That is, the machine must be able to clean the entire floor surface, up to the outermost edges, without leaving any uncleaned gaps. In addition, it is desirable to clean a wide pathway with each pass of the machine. In order to perform these functions, the sweeping and scrubbing brushes of surface maintenance machines typically extend the full width of the machine. In addition, in order to allow the machines to pass directly against wall surfaces to avoid cleaning gaps, the machines typically do not include any parts which extend or project laterally beyond the sides of the machines but rather are relatively flat on their sides. In this way, the machines can run directly along a wall to clean the floor at the edges.
In addition to maintaining flat side surfaces, the width of the machine for a particular use must also take into consideration the physical space which is to be cleaned. For example, surface maintenance machines having a wider set of brushes can clean a wider pathway with each pass of the machine, allowing for fewer passes of the machine and therefore quicker cleaning. However, the machines must also be able to pass through certain narrow spaces, such as doorways or other restrictions, which may limit the width of the machines. As such, the size of the machines may be restricted due to physical requirements of the location in which they are used.
It is further desirable to for surface maintenance machines to be able to operate for as long as possible without needing to stop. For example, such machines need to periodically stop to empty their hoppers of waste, eliminate and replace water, replace cleaning solutions, and refuel the machines or recharge the batteries. In some cases, the machines may have to travel some distance from the surfaces to be cleaned to a separate area to perform these functions. As a result, time is lost in emptying and replenishing the machines as well as in travel to and from the locations to be cleaned. Therefore, to minimize this loss of time and inefficiency, surface maintenance machines attempt to maximize running time by maximizing the storage capacity of water, cleaning fluids and waste materials, as well as the fuel or battery storage, for example.
Space for the operational components of surface maintenance machines is limited by the dimensions of the machines, which are sized according to the spatial requirements of the location in which they are used. Therefore, while it is desirable for the surface maintenance machines to be continuously operable for as long as possible, the space for operational components required to extend the operation of the machines is limited by the dimensions of the machine. Surface maintenance machines therefore typically use all available space within the dimensions of the machine to maximize the running time of the machines. Typically, as much space as possible is used for the storage or water and the other components required to maximize the running time of the machines. As such, the space and volume restrictions make it difficult to incorporate other space occupying features into such machines.
One feature which is not typically provided in space limited surface maintenance machines is a storage compartment. Such compartments, if provided in the traditional manner, would occupy too much space in the machines and therefore have not been provided. Furthermore, they cannot be affixed to the outside of the machines as they would interfere with the ability of the machines to clean along floor edges directly against walls. However, it would be useful to include storage compartments for the storage or transportation of articles such a signs or for the removal of waste materials encountered by the operator while cleaning the surfaces but which cannot be removed by the machines.

Recessed side compartment for surface maintenance machines


Identifying measurement subset comprising a disturbed measurement disturbed by a magnetic disturber includes emitting and measuring magnetic fields using mono-axial source/mono-axial transducer pairs to obtain real measurements distinguished by position of a source used to emit the field, position of transducer used to measure the field, and field frequency, a source being tied to a mobile object and the transducer tied to a frame of reference in which a position of the mobile object is to be expressed (or vice versa), estimating position of the object in the reference frame based on an observer and involving only a first subset of the measurements, estimating the measurements based at least in part on the estimated position Pi and on a direct model linking the object's position to the measurements, and determining whether or not the first measurement subset comprises a disturbed measurement by comparing the estimated and real measurements.

A magnetic field disturber is here defined as being any object which alters or deforms a magnetic field emitted in proximity. For example, the disturber may be a conducting item. In this case, the alteration of the magnetic field is due to eddy current appearing in the conducting item. The conducting item is for example a metallic item. The disturber can also be a magnetic item such as a paramagnetic, ferromagnetic or diamagnetic item. In the case of ferromagnetic items, the alteration of the magnetic field is due to the fact that this item deforms the lines of the magnetic fields.
When a magnetic disturber is present in proximity to a magnetic field source and to a magnetic field transducer, the magnetic field measured by the transducer is different from that which would have been measured in the absence of this magnetic disturber. The measurement is then said to be "disturbed" by the magnetic disturber.
Here, the subsets of measurements comprising at least one measurement disturbed by a magnetic disturber are called "disturbed subset". Conversely, the subsets of measurements not comprising any measurement disturbed by a magnetic disturber are called "healthy subset" or "undisturbed subset".
Typically, the methods for identifying subsets disturbed by a magnetic disturber are used within methods for locating an object in a frame of reference.
Known methods for locating an object in a frame of reference comprise:
the emission of magnetic fields and the measurement of these magnetic fields with the aid of N monoaxial source/monoaxial transducer pairs so as to obtain a set of N real measurements, each real measurement of this set being obtained with the aid of a monoaxial source/monoaxial transducer pair being distinguished from the others by:                the position of the monoaxial source used to emit the magnetic field, or        the position of the monoaxial transducer used to measure the magnetic field emitted, or        the frequency of the magnetic field.
the location of the object in the frame of reference on the basis of the measurements carried out by the monoaxial source/monoaxial transducer pairs.
A monoaxial source of magnetic field is a source which preferably emits the magnetic field along a single axis. For example, a coil whose turns are wound around one and the same axis is a monoaxial source of magnetic field and the preferential emission axis coincides with the winding axis of the turns.
In a similar manner, a monoaxial transducer is a transducer capable of measuring the projection of the magnetic field onto a single measurement axis.
Location of the object on the basis of magnetic fields exhibits numerous advantages. However, in practice, there exist numerous magnetic disturbers in the environment of the object which are liable to disturb the measurements of the magnetic field and therefore to falsify location of the object.
To correctly locate the object despite the presence of magnetic disturbers, it has already been proposed to use redundancy of the measurements. Indeed, given the short range of the magnetic disturbances, it might be expected that the presence of a magnetic disturber disturbs only a subset of the measurements. Thus, if the measurements are redundant, there often exists at least one undisturbed subset of measurements. To obtain redundancy of the measurements, the number N of monoaxial source/monoaxial transducer pairs is greater than the minimum number Nmin of measurements necessary to compute the position of the object in the frame of reference.
Thereafter, during location of the object, more weight can be given to the undisturbed measurements than to the disturbed measurements so as to obtain correct location of the object despite the presence of the magnetic disturber. For example, the position of the object is only computed on the basis of the undisturbed subset of measurements.
However, before this, it is necessary to implement a method for identifying the disturbed subset or subsets of measurements.
Hitherto, the determination of the disturbed subsets has been carried out during a prior calibration step (see for example patent application U.S. 2008/0033282). This prior calibration step comprises the construction of an estimation Pi of the position of the object in the frame of reference on the basis of an observer Oi involving only a subset Mi of the N measurements.
The estimation Pi is then compared with the known position of the object so as to determine whether or not the subset Mi comprises disturbed measurements.
This method does not operate correctly if the magnetic disturber is present only intermittently or if it moves in the frame of reference. Moreover, recourse to a prior calibration step is irksome.

Method and device for identifying a subset of measurements, method and system for locating an object, recording medium for these methods

Commissariat a l'energie atomique et aux energies alternatives