A device for delivery of biologic materials, comprising: a cartridge having at least two cylinder bores for fluids to be delivered, wherein each cylinder includes an exit port for a fluid, a plunger within each cylinder for pushing the fluids out of the cylinder, a housing adapted to receive the cartridge, wherein the housing or cartridge includes an adaptor to receive and lock a manifold that operably connects to the exit ports of the cartridge, at least two toothed rams, wherein each toothed ram is at least partially within a cylinder bore, a trigger connected to the housing, wherein the trigger includes a toothed drive rack, a toothed wheel assembly that cooperates with the toothed drive rack and with the toothed rams, as well as methods of making the device, methods of using the device to treat discs, kits including the device.

Fibrin sealants, and glues, are well known and are used extensively in various clinical settings. Such sealants are indicated as adjuncts to hemostasis in surgeries when control of bleeding by conventional surgical techniques, including suture, ligature, and cautery is ineffective or impractical. In these cases, the sealant was applied topically. Delivery devices have been developed for these uses. Typical fibrin sealant devices are adapted to spray the fibrin sealant.
More recently, fibrin sealant has been used to treat degenerative disc disease that leads to discogenic pain. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,527 (Austin) discloses the injection of a fibrin sealant into the intra-discal space. This patent discloses use of a dual syringe system wherein thrombin and fibrinogen initially mix in a Y-connector that attaches to a needle and to the two syringes. The fibrin sealant immediately begins clotting upon contact of the fibrinogen and the thrombin. The components continue to mix and clot as they travel down the spinal needle toward the tip of the needle that is in the disc.
However, the inventors herein have recognized that the prior delivery device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,527 is prone to clogging due to clotting of the components within the needle. In addition, the inventors have recognized that it would be desirable for a surgeon administering the sealant to know the pressure of the components being delivered so that the surgeon does not over-pressurize the disc and/or so that the surgeon can use the delivery device as a diagnostic tool to ascertain the extent of damage to the disc.

Apparatus and method for delivery of biologic sealant


A biopsy marking apparatus for placing a radiopaque marker at the location of a percutaneous biopsy. The biopsy marking apparatus comprises an introducer in combination with a radiopaque marker. The introducer ejects the radiopaque marker at the location of the biopsy. The introducer is configured to completely eject the radiopaque marker and prevent it from being subsequently drawn into the introducer as the introducer is removed from the biopsied tissue mass. The radiopaque marker has enhanced radiopaque characteristics and enhanced non-migration characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an apparatus for the percutaneous positioning of a radiopaque marker for identifying the location of a lesion in a stereotactic biopsy procedure. More particularly, the invention relates to an introducer having a hollow cannula in combination with a movable stylet and a radiopaque marker disposed within the cannula and ejected from it by movement of the stylet.
2. Related Art
Tissue biopsies are commonly performed on many areas and organs of the body where it is desirable to ascertain whether or not the biopsied tissue is cancerous. Often, a lesion or other tissue to be biopsied is identified through use of an imaging technique such as a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan, ultrasonography, and mammography.
One problem commonly encountered, especially in breast biopsies, is that the lesion is so small that the biopsy reduces its size to the extent that it is no longer visible by the imaging method employed. In such circumstances, it is desirable to place a radiopaque marker at the site of the biopsy to enable the medical practitioner subsequently to locate the lesion quickly and accurately in the event complete removal of the affected tissue is indicated. This problem is currently met by placing a radiopaque marker at the biopsy area by means of a cannula or similar device housing the marker.
More particularly, one of the markers heretofore in use is a staple-type clip. The clip is introduced through a large-diameter cannula, specifically one of 11 gauge.
Some practitioners employ an embolization coil as a marker. This requires them to find a cannula or hollow needle of a size to receive the coil and some means to force the coil through the needle, all the while trying to keep these components together and sterile.
Prior devices for marking a biopsy area have several other disadvantages. A significant disadvantage is that the marker is not always completely ejected from the cannula or can be drawn back into or toward the cannula by the vacuum created upon the withdrawal of the cannula, which results in the marker being moved from the intended site, leading to inaccurate identification of the location of the biopsy area. A second major disadvantage is that current markers have a tendency to migrate within the tissue, also causing error in determining the biopsy location.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus for the percutaneous marking of a lesion


The present invention relates to a process for producing kappa-casein macropeptides having nutraceutical properties from whey using two ion exchangers of opposite polarity in series. A hydrolyzed kappa-casein macropeptide nutraceutical food product having less than about 4% total of the hydrophobic aromatic amino acids phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine is also contemplated.

Nutraceuticals are foods that have specific medicinal as well as nutritional benefits. One nutraceutical, kappa-casein (.kappa.-casein) macropeptide comprises 15-20% of the protein in whey, making its supply plentiful. Widely differing extents of glycosylation of .kappa.-casein macropeptide (CMP) exist in whey and whey products, ranging from fully-glycosylated CMP (called .kappa.-casein glycomacropeptide, or GMP) to non-glycosylated CMP. For purposes of the present invention, CMP includes all forms of the .kappa.-casein macropeptide from the fully-glycosylated .kappa.-casein glycomacropeptide to the non-glycosylated .kappa.-casein glycomacropeptide. As discussed by Shammet et al. (1992), total CMP, which includes all degrees of glycosylation, is measured as non-protein nitrogen (NPN-2) soluble in 2% trichloroacetic acid (TCA). GMP is measured as non-protein nitrogen soluble in 12% TCA (NPN-12). The difference between NPN-2 and NPN-12 is non-glycosylated CMP.
CMP is the moiety cleaved from .kappa.-casein at the Phe.sup.105 -Met.sup.106 position by chymosin during cheese making (Dalgleish, 1982; Fox, 1989). CMP occurs at a concentration of 1.2 to 1.5 g/L in sweet whey (Cheddar cheese whey), comprising 15 to 20% of the total protein (Marshall, 1991). Kawaski et al. reviewed known biological functions of GMP as consolidated from several nutritional and biological research reports (U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,288 to Kawaski and Dosako; Kawaski et al., 1992), and Tanimoto et al. (1992) suggested the utilization of GMP in dietetic foods and pharmaceuticals. The advantage of CMP as a substrate for hydrolysis is that it does not contain the amino acids tyrosine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan. These are hydrophobic aromatic amino acids which make peptides bitter. Alternatively, Marshall (1991) suggested that CMP can be used as a protein source for the treatment of phenylketonuria, a hereditary disorder in which aromatic amino acids cannot be metabolized.
On a laboratory scale, CMP has been purified from .kappa.-casein in bovine whey using TCA precipitation (Shammet et al., 1992). GMP has been purified from bovine whey by alcohol precipitation after heat coagulation of whey protein (Saito et al., 1991). These methods are unlikely to be economical for large-scale manufacturing.
On a large scale, several methods have been developed using ultrafiltration (Kawakami et al., 1992; Kawaski et al., 1993; Tanimoto et al., 1990) and ion exchange (U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,288 to Kawaski and Dosako; U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,107 to Kawaski et al.) to purify GMP from whey or whey protein concentrate. However, the recovery of GMP using these methods is uneconomically low, at most 18% (U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,288 to Kawaski and Dosako; U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,107 to Kawaski et al.). The basis of ultrafiltration purification is that the apparent molecular weight of GMP is 10 to 30 kDa at pH 3.5 and 20 to 50 kDa at pH 7.0. At pH 3.5, GMP permeates 20 to 50 kDa molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) ultrafiltration systems while proteins are retained by the membrane. Then at pH 6.5, GMP is retained by the same MWCO membranes while small molecular weight contaminants such as peptides pass through the filter.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,278,288 and 5,280,107 to Kawasaki et al. are specifically directed to GMPs. In the '288 patent, the GMP flows through a concentrating and desalting step unadsorbed. The '107 patent requires a pH value of about 4 or lower. Neither patent mentions the hydrolysis of GMP to form a solution depleted in aromatic amino acids, the presence of which causes bitterness. Neither patent mentions the use of two ion exchangers in series for the adsorption of GMP.
GMP contains substantial amounts of covalently bound sialic acids, which strongly determine the binding behavior in ion exchange separations. For example, the '107 patent to Kawasaki et al. discloses that because the sialic acids present in GMP have a pKa value of 2.7, these moieties have a net negative charge at pH as low as 3 to 4. In non-glycosylated CMP, the potentially negatively-charged amino acid side chains (aspartic and glutamic acid) have a pKa of 3 to 5, and would have a substantial net negative charge only at pH 5 and higher. The presence of sialic acids allowed Kawasaki et al. to separate GMP from proteins which lack sialic acids, by adsorbing the GMP to an anion exchanger at pH 4 or lower, because the other proteins are neutrally or positively charged at this pH. However, the method of Kawasaki et al. would not be suitable for recovering all of the CMP from whey because non-glycosylated CMP would not bind strongly to an anion exchanger until it had a substantial net negative charge, which would occur only at pH 5 or higher. Because some of the uses for CMP are based on the absence of aromatic amino acids, a characteristic of all CMP, methods specific for the recovery of only GMP would not be suitable for the full recovery of all CMP.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,424 to Tanimoto et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,622 to Dosako et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,129 to Berrocal et al. also describe processes for producing GMPs.

Production of .kappa.-casein macropeptide for nutraceutical uses


An article of footwear that includes an upper that secures the article of footwear to a wearer. The footwear also includes a sole assembly that is operably coupled to the upper. The sole assembly includes an outsole having a plurality of cleats and a groove. The groove includes a first internal surface and a second internal surface. The first and second internal surfaces move away from each other as the sole assembly flexes in a first direction, and the first and second internal surfaces abut each other to limit movement of the sole assembly in a second direction opposite the first direction.

Articles of footwear can include an upper and a sole assembly. The upper can include layers or sections of material that wrap about and cover a substantial portion of the wearer's foot and ankle. The upper can also include laces, straps, or the like for securing the footwear to the wearer's foot. The sole assembly can include an outsole and a midsole. The outsole can be a unitary piece of relatively high-friction material that provides traction. The midsole can include foam that is disposed between the outsole and the upper for providing cushioned support for the wearer.
Moreover, people that play soccer, rugby, American football, baseball, and the like often wear shoes with cleats. The cleats act as areas of high pressure on the sole of the footwear and can sometimes penetrate the playing surface for increased traction. The sole is typically made out of a stiff material to make the sole robust and durable. The sole may also include ribs and other features that increase the stiffness of the sole assembly.
However, some cleated footwear may be too stiff and may restrict natural flexing of the foot. For instance, when the wearer is running, the forefoot of the wearer can push off the ground while the rear of the foot is bent upwards away from the ground. If the sole is too stiff, motion of the rear of the foot off the ground may be inhibited. As such, the shoe may be uncomfortable, the wearer's performance may be reduced, etc.
On the other hand, some of these cleated sole assemblies may be too flexible and may not provide sufficient support of the foot during certain activities, such as kicking an object, slide tackling, dragging the forefoot of the shoe on the ground, etc. For instance, when kicking a ball, it is desirable for the striking foot to be substantially stiff to deliver a powerful kicking force to the ball. If the shoe of the striking foot is sufficiently stiff, the shoe can help deliver a greater kicking force to the ball. However, if the shoe is too flexible, the shoe may not sufficiently support the foot, and the kicking force may be reduced.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an article of footwear that provides a sufficient balance between stiffness and flexibility such that the footwear can be useful over a wider range of activities. Furthermore, there remains a need for an article of footwear that has cleats and that provides sufficient support, for instance, while kicking a ball or other object.


A syringe assembly for a drug delivery device. The syringe assembly includes a syringe barrel having a proximal end, a distal end, and a longitudinal axis. A needle assembly is operatively coupled to the syringe barrel and includes a needle hub and a needle attached to the needle hub. A flexible connection is disposed between the syringe barrel and the needle hub and forms a fluid pathway between the syringe barrel and the needle. The flexible connection enables the needle assembly to be moveable from a filling position, in which a longitudinal axis of the needle assembly is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the syringe barrel, to an assembled position, in which the longitudinal axis of the needle assembly is not parallel to the longitudinal axis of the syringe barrel.

Drug delivery devices, such as auto-injectors and on-body injectors, may be temporarily held against or attached to a patient to deliver a drug via an injection needle or some other means over some period of time. The injector may be placed against the tissue of the patient's abdomen, thigh, arm, or some other portion of the patient's body. In some cases, an on-body injector drug delivery device may be worn by the patient for several minutes or hours while the drug is injected. In other cases, the drug delivery device, such as an auto-injector, is temporarily in contact with the patient to inject the drug or medicament.
Some drug delivery devices include a syringe with medicament to be injected. Typically, the syringes are pre-filled with the medicament before assembly into the drug delivery device for various reasons. In one example, the syringe is pre-filled before assembly because existing filling equipment is only capable of filling the syringes in a pre-assembled configuration. For example, some existing processing and filling equipment requires a linear configuration of a syringe needle and barrel of the syringe during processing. Said another way, the syringe needle and barrel of the syringe must be coaxial during many conventional filling processes. However, some conventional syringe assemblies have one or more of a subtle non-linear or asymmetrical configuration during the filling process, interfering with or making the filling process unfeasible. In addition, while other syringe assemblies may be capable of maintaining a linear configuration during the filling process, they are not capable of being easily manipulated out of the linear configuration, e.g., the required filling position, for assembly into various ergonomic designs and shapes of many drug delivery devices.

Syringe assembly for a drug delivery device and method of assembly


A magnetic memory includes a TMR element in its memory layer, wherein the TMR element in the memory layer has ferromagnetic layers which are kept in tensile strain, the ferromagnetic layers having either Fe, Co or Ni, and a wiring layer adjacent to each of the ferromagnetic layers includes either Ru, W, Ir, Os or Mo, thereby increasing the magnetization.

The present invention relates to a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM).
A magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) is expected to be a next-generation high performance memory which will substitute for DRAM and flash memory because of high speed, low power consumption, extremely high non-volatility, and rewrite resistance exhibited thereby, so that many foreign and national companies have studied and developed MRAM for practical use. The MRAM is generally a memory which makes use of the tunnel magneto-resistance (TMR) effect, and since the TMR ratio must be improved for accomplishing higher speed and higher reliability, investigations are extensively under progress for the material composition, deposition method, and the like which could result in a higher TMR ratio.
A TMR element as illustrated in FIG. 1 is used for a memory unit of MRAM. This element has a structure of sandwiching an insulating layer, called a "tunnel barrier layer," between ferromagnetic layers. As a voltage is applied to this element in the interlayer direction, a current flows due to the tunneling effect, wherein the value of the electric resistance differs depending on the magnetization directions of the two ferromagnetic layers. Generally, the resistance is smaller when the magnetization directions of the two ferromagnetic layers are parallel than when they are antiparallel. The MRAM utilizes this difference in resistance as bit information. Also, the ratio of the differences in resistance when the magnetization directions of the two ferromagnetic layers are parallel to when they are antiparallel is called the "TMR ratio." Assuming that the spin of electron is preserved during tunneling, the TMR ratio (R) is expressed by the following equation (M. Julliere: Physics Letters 54A, 225 (1975)):R=2P1·P2/(1−P1·P2)  (1)where P1, P2 are spin polarizabilities of the respective ferromagnetic layers (0<P1, P2<1). Thus, the polarizabilities P1, P2 should be increased in order to achieve a high TMR ratio. While sufficient understanding has not been acquired at present about factors which determines the polarizability P, the use of a magnetic material having larger magnetization (or magnetic moment) is deemed as a guideline for achieving a higher TMR ratio (Kouichiro Inomata, Applied Physics 69, 186 (2000), Japanese Society of Applied Physics).
On the other hand, the magnetic film may be made of Fe, Co, Ni or an alloy thereof, and it has been theoretically predicted that the magnetic moments of these materials vary due to strain applied thereto (Cerny et al., Physical Review B67, 035116 (2003)).

Magnetroresistive random access memory and method of manufacturing the same


Graphic equalizer as a cascade of equalization filters with the gain of each individual filter compensated for the gain leakage from other filters. A linear approximation allows individual filter gains to be set to give desired frequency responses.

The present invention relates to digital signal processing, and more particularly to digital filters and methods.
Recorded music playback typically includes equalization filtering which can emphasize or attenuate frequency bands in order to improve the sound. A set of tunable equalization filters, each of which modifies a frequency band while leaving frequencies outside of the band unchanged, can be cascaded to provide graphic equalization filtering with control of the gains in the individual frequency bands; FIG. 4 shows generic functional blocks. A graphic equalizer may include a display of the power (gain) in each of the frequency bands; this allows easy user adjustments of the gains.
Regalia et al, Tunable Digital Frequency Response Equalization Filters, 35 IEEE Trans. Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing 118 (1987), Fontana et al, A Digtial Bandpass/Bandstop Complementary Equalization Filter with Independent Tuning Characteristics, 10 IEEE Signal Processing Lett. 119 (2003), and Bristow-Johnson, The Equivalence of Various Methods of Computing Biquad Coefficients for Audio Parametric Equalizers, Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. Conv. (November 1994) describe designs for individual tunable equalizer filters: first-order filters can be used for the high frequency and low frequency ends (shelf filters), and second-order filters can be used for the center bands (peak/notch filters). These filters provide single parameter (gain) control for each band and are cascaded to form a graphic (parametric) equalizer.
However, there is a problem of gain leakage among the adjacent bands in cascades of such individual equalization filters. Indeed, the magnitude response of one equalization filter will affect the responses of the other filters, and this "leak gain" affects the overall cascaded filter system response.


Electric field adjusting layers each of which is different from an aligning film in at least one of a resistivity and a dielectric constant are formed in each pixel on a pixel electrode of a first substrate. An electric field applied to a liquid crystal partially changes in each pixel, and regions which are different from each other in aligned state are formed in each pixel. Therefore, a field angle is widened. A value .DELTA.n.d of the liquid crystal is preferably set to be 600 nm or more.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and, more particularly, to a liquid crystal display device which has a wide field angle and can be easily manufactured and driven.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal display device using a TN (Twisted Nematic) mode or an STN (Super Twisted Nematic) mode is generally used.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a conventional liquid crystal display device using a TN or STN mode, and FIG. 2 shows the aligned states of liquid crystal molecules in the presence of an electric field.
The liquid crystal display device in FIG. 1 is constituted by a pair of transparent substrates 1 and 2; a liquid crystal 9 held between the substrates 1 and 2; and a pair of polarizing plates 14 and 15.
Pixel electrodes 3 are formed on a surface, of the substrate 1, opposing the liquid crystal 9, and an aligning film 5 is formed on the substrate including the pixel electrodes 3.
Black masks 7 for shielding leakage light are formed on a surface, of the substrate 2, opposing the liquid crystal 9, and a transparent insulating film 8 is formed on the substrate including the black masks 7. A counter electrode 4 is formed on the transparent insulating film 8, and an aligning film 6 is formed on the counter electrode 4.
The surfaces of the aligning films 5 and 6 are subjected to an aligning process in directions offset from each other at a predetermined angle (almost 90.degree. in the TN mode, 180 to 270.degree. in the STN mode).
The liquid crystal 9 consists of a nematic liquid crystal added with a chiral agent, and, in the absence of an electric field, molecules 9a of the liquid crystal 9 are aligned in a twisted state having a predetermined pre-tilt angle. When an electric field is applied across the pixel electrodes 3 and the counter electrode 4, as shown in FIG. 2, the liquid crystal molecules 9a are aligned to be vertical to the opposite surfaces of the transparent substrates 1 and 2 in accordance with the strength of the applied electric field.
When the aligned state of the liquid crystal molecules 9a changes, the refractive anisotropy .DELTA.n of the liquid crystal 9 with respect to an incident light changes, and a value .DELTA.n.d (product between the refractive anisotropy .DELTA.n and a layer thickness d of the liquid crystal 9) changes accordingly. For this reason, the polarized state of a linearly polarized light passing through the polarizing plate 15 on the incident side changes in accordance with the value .DELTA.n.d of the liquid crystal 9, and thus the intensity of light emerging from the polarizing plate 14 on an exit side changes.
For this reason, when the aligned state of the liquid crystal molecules 9a is controlled by adjusting the applied voltage, an image can be displayed by controlling the transmission and shielding of respective pixel regions with respect to light.
In the liquid crystal display device in which liquid crystal molecules are twisted and aligned as in the TN or STN mode, the gradation level of a display image largely changes depending on an observation direction. For this reason, an angle range in which the display image can be normally observed is small. That is, a field angle is disadvantageously narrow.
A reason why the field angle is narrow will be described below in detail with reference to FIG. 2.
Referring to FIG. 2, reference symbols IA, IB, and IC denote light beams incident on the liquid crystal display device, and reference symbols OA, OB, and OC denote exit light beams corresponding to the incident beams IA, IB, and IC, respectively. When the display image of the liquid crystal display device is observed from a direction almost perpendicular to the screen of the liquid crystal display device, the pixels are displayed by the exit beam OA. When the display image of the liquid crystal display device is observed from the lower right direction of the liquid crystal display device, pixels are displayed by the exit beam OB. When the display image of the liquid crystal display device is observed from the lower left direction of the liquid crystal display device, the pixels are displayed by the exit beam OC.
The tilt angle of the parallel axis of the liquid crystal molecules 9a changes with respect to the incident beams IA, IB, and IC. Thus, different values .DELTA.n are obtained with respect to the incident beams IA, IB, and IC. Different apparent liquid crystal layer thicknesses d are obtained with respect to the incident beams IA, IB, and IC. For this reason, the value .DELTA.n.d with respect to the incident beam IA, the value .DELTA.n.d with respect to the incident beam IB, and the value .DELTA.n.d with respect to the incident beam IC, i.e., values .DELTA.n.d(IA), .DELTA.n.d(IB), and .DELTA.n.d(IC), are different from each other.
The intensity of a light beam emerging from the polarizing plate 14 on the exit side is dependent on the value .DELTA.n.d. For this reason, the brightness of each pixel changes depending on the incident angle of a beam.
As described above, in the conventional liquid crystal display device, the brightness of each pixel is dependent on an observation direction. Therefore, the observation direction in which a display image can be observed as an image having good contrast between a bright portion and a dark portion is limited, and a narrow field angle is obtained.
As liquid crystal display devices, a positive display type liquid crystal display device in which the polarizing plates 14 and 15 are formed to cause the liquid crystal molecules 9a to shield a beam when the liquid crystal molecules 9a are aligned in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surfaces; and a negative display type liquid crystal display device in which the polarizing plates 14 and 15 are formed to cause the liquid crystal molecules 9a to transmit light when the liquid crystal molecules 9a are aligned in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surfaces are known. In the positive display type liquid crystal display device, a dark portion becomes bright due to a change in incident angle of a beam, thereby degrading the contrast between the dark portion and a bright portion. In the negative display type liquid crystal display device, a bright portion becomes dark due to a change in incident angle of a beam, thereby degrading the contrast between the bright portion and a dark portion.
As a scheme for solving a problem of a narrow field angle, an alignment control scheme and a voltage control scheme are conventionally proposed.
According to the alignment control scheme, one or both of the substrates of a liquid crystal display device are subjected to an aligning process such that liquid crystal molecules are partially aligned at different pre-tilt angles. In this manner, the initial aligned states (twisted and aligned states) of the liquid crystal molecules are made different from each other in regions of each pixel.
In the voltage control scheme, the electrodes of one substrate of a liquid crystal display device are constituted by a plurality of electrodes in units of pixels. Different drive voltages are applied across a plurality of electrodes of each pixel and the electrode of the other substrate, respectively. In this manner, the strength of an electric field applied to the liquid crystal is partially changed to change the tilt angles of the liquid crystal molecules in units of the regions of each pixel.
More specifically, in each of the alignment control scheme and the voltage control scheme, the aligned states of liquid crystal molecules are partially changed in each pixel. In this manner, changes in value .DELTA.n.d with respect to a change in incident angle of a beam are different from each other in units of the regions of each pixel. For this reason, even when the incident angle of a beam changes, the average of the values .DELTA.n.d slightly changes. Therefore, dependence of pixel brightness on an observation direction is reduced, and a field angle is widened.
However, according to the alignment control scheme, an aligning process for partially aligning liquid crystal molecules at different pre-tilt angles is not easily performed. Therefore, the alignment control scheme cannot be easily utilized in practice.
According to the voltage control scheme, a conventional process may be performed as an aligning process, and a plurality of electrodes can be formed in each pixel by the present photolithographic technique. For this reason, the voltage control scheme can be utilized in practice. However, according to the voltage control scheme, since drive signals having different voltages must be supplied to divided electrodes, respectively, drive control of a liquid crystal display device becomes complex.

Liquid crystal display device having wide field angle


An ISDN terminal adapter is capable of providing both digital and analog communication connectivity between a customer's data terminal equipment (DTE) and a digital communication link. The adapter includes a digital (ISDN) communication transceiver for transmitting and receiving digital communication signals on the ISDN link. A first digital communication connector is coupled with the DTE. A second digital communication connector is coupled with the customer's modem. An analog communication connector is coupled with an analog port of the modem. An analog/digital communication interface is coupled between the analog communication connector and the digital communication transceiver. A serial communication exchange processor is coupled with the first and second digital communication connectors and the transceiver. For all-digital (ISDN) connectivity, the processor provides a first communication path, exclusive of the modem, between the first digital communication connector and the transceiver, so that digitally formatted communication may take place between the DTE and the ISDN link. For digital-analog connectivity, the processor provides a second communication path that makes use of the customer's external modem, between the first digital communication connector and the transceiver, for communications between the DTE and the ISDN link.

Over the past several decades, the telecommunications industry has witnessed the extremely rapid growth and diversification of interconnect services for a continuously expanding base of users of digital terminal equipment, such as personal computers. When initially faced with the problem of providing communication connectivity between such digital terminal equipment and the already in-place analog POTS (plain old telephone service) network, the industry began offering digital/analog interfaces, or modems, to network customers Current modem designs allow a digital terminal equipment user to choose from a variety of types and speeds, including modems that may be installed internally with the data terminal equipment, or those that are operated as external, stand-alone devices
Now, although a modem allows the digital terminal equipment user access to an analog POTS network, the signal quality and data transport speed of analog circuits are limited, making such circuits less than ideal media for digital data communications. Indeed, faced with the vigorous demand for digital communication services by effectively every business, professional, educational and social institution, communication service providers now offer dedicated digital circuits (such as integrated services digital network (ISDN) links). Since digital circuits are capable of transporting multiple time division multiplexed digital channels at very high data rates, they have become the framework for what is currently known as the "internet".
Because ISDN communications are purely digital and employ a predefined data assembly and encoding format, an ISDN line cannot be directly accessed by either the serial digital port or the analog port of a conventional modem Instead, it is necessary for a user to install an ISDN terminal adapter between the user's digital terminal equipment and the ISDN circuit/line Compounding the customer's problem is the fact that many commercial information service providers (e.g., America On Line and Compuserve) use analog circuits, which are accessed by the use of a conventional modem Thus, for the foreseeable future it is expected that digital terminal equipment users will require access to both analog and digital communication networks. One proposal to meet this two-fold need is to provide an `integrated` ISDN terminal adapter, which is selectively operative under software control to provide either conventional modem-based connectivity or all digital (ISDN-based) connectivity. For this purpose, as diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1, such an integrated ISDN terminal adapter 10 provides two data transmission paths therethrough between a user's data terminal equipment (DTE) 14 and a local subscriber loop 16. The first transmission path comprises a modem-based connectivity path 11, which is employed to provide conventional modem connectivity between the subscriber loop and the customer's data terminal equipment. The second transmission path comprises an all digital signalling path 12, which is employed to provide digital-digital connectivity between an ISDN link and the user's data terminal equipment.
For this purpose, the terminal adapter 10 includes a digital communication transceiver, for example an ISDN transceiver 30, which is externally ported (on the network side of the adapter) to the subscriber loop 16 via a connector 22, such as an RJ-45 connector, and is internally ported to a time division multiplex (TDM) digital communication bus 31. The ISDN transceiver 30 is operative to transmit digital (ISDN-formatted) communication signals onto the local loop 16 and is operative to receive ISDN-formatted communication signals from the loop. To provide modem-based connectivity through the first path 11, the TDM communication bus 31 is coupled via a coder-decoder (CODEC) 33 and an associated modulator-demodulator (modem) chipset 35 to a data bus 37 of an internal serial communication exchange processor 40. Also coupled to data bus 37 are an EPROM 36 and RAM 38 associated with the execution of the communication software that drives the operation of communication processor 40.
The serial communication exchange processor 40 is equipped with a plurality of (three) serial communication controllers (SCCs) 41, 42 and 43, which are operative, under internal processor control, to provide serial digital communication connectivity between digital signal transport devices to which the SCCs are ported. In particular, SCC 41, used for terminal data connectivity with the user's data terminal equipment 14, is coupled via a serial data (such as RS 232 digital data) communication equipment (DCE) link 51 to a digital communication connector 21, such as a DB 25 connector, to which the user's data terminal equipment 14 is connected SCC 42, used for bearer (B) channel data, and SCC 43, used for signalling (delta (D) channel) data, are coupled to the TDM bus 31. SCCs 41, 42 and 43 provide the digital-digital connectivity of the second path between the user's data terminal equipment 14 and the ISDN transceiver 30.
The terminal adapter 10 is also equipped with a third transmission path therethrough which provides analog-based signalling connectivity between subscriber loop connection port 22 an analog signal connection port 23, such as a standard RJ-11 telephone jack, to which customer analog communication equipment, shown at 15 and 17, is connected. The third transmission path includes a bidirectional analog-to-digital, digital-to-analog conversion unit (DAC) 60, such one including as a two-to-four wire hybrid 61 that is coupled to analog signalling connector 23, and an associated coder/decoder (CODEC) 63, which is coupled, to the TDM bus 31, so that it may interface digitized (bearer) channel data between the transceiver 30 and the DAC 60.
The communication control software which-directs and supervises the operation of the terminal adapter of FIG. 1 is configured to provide communication connectivity between the user's data terminal equipment 14 and the ISDN line 16, based upon the format of the data signals that are sourced from or intended for the user's equipment. Selection of the appropriate path (modem-based path 11 or ISDN-based path 12) through the integrated terminal adapter is carried out by the terminal adapter's control processor, rather than the customer, who is usually technically unsophisticated and accustomed to doing nothing more than simply installing an analog modem in the customer's premises-located equipment, and plugging in a telephone connector to a modem port.
For example, in the case of a subscriber to an all digital communication service (an internet provider) placing a digital-digital call (such as an ISDN call to an ISDN circuit employed by the internet provider), the micro-controller within the serial communication exchange processor 40 uses the SCC 43 to conduct (D) channel signalling over the TDM bus 31 to ISDN transceiver 30 to set up or establish call connectivity. Then, once call connectivity has been established, the processor provides a serial communication path between SCC 41, which is ported to the data terminal equipment 14 via connector 21, and SCC 42, which is ported to TDM bus 31 and thereby to the ISDN transceiver 30, so that serial data communication may take place over the second transmission path 12 between the data terminal equipment 14 and the subscriber loop 16 via serially connected SCCs 41 and 42.
On the other hand, when the user places a call to an analog communication service provider, (for example, the user dials a commercial internet-interface provider, such as Compuserve or America On Line), the micro-controller within the serial communication exchange processor 40 will provide modem-based connectivity between the SCC 41 and the processor's data bus 37, to which the modem chipset 35 and its associated coded 33 are coupled, so that communications will be properly formatted for transmission over the first path 11 to the analog modem-based communications provider.
Now, although such an integrated terminal adapter enables the user to access both a conventional POTS line and an ISDN line, it does so at a price, including not only the fact that the customer's modem, which had previously given the user at least POTS line connectivity, is now treated as nothing more than an unused relic, but the user must now bear the added cost of the internal modem chipset.

ISDN terminal adapter for use with external modem and employing software-based serial communication framing for ISDN `D` channel signaling


A system and method are provided for automatic gain control (AGC) using an adaptive reference and a threshold. An adaptive reference allows for adjusting the target power based on variations in operating parameters and conditions, such as a change to a modulation schemes which requires a different signal to noise ratio (SNR) to maintain performance. A gain adjustment threshold allows for rapid AGC response while reducing the potential effects of hysteresis. AGC levels may be changed during symbol prefixes or suffixes, and avoided during a data portion of a signal. Embodiments allow for symbol-by symbol AGC changes in OFDM, OFDMA, and TDD systems.

Fast fading channels can present dynamic range challenges for symbol based wireless systems, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), and time division duplex (TDD) systems with frame-based AGC. Problems exist because signal strength may fluctuate significantly during a frame which contains multiple symbols, resulting in differing signal to noise ratios (SNRs) among symbols. Further compounding the challenges are differing SNR requirements for various common modulation schemes.
For example, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16 QAM) will have poorer bit error rate (BER) performance than quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) for a given SNR. To compensate for this difference, the SNR requirement for 16 QAM is higher than it would be for QPSK. For a system that uses multiple modulation schemes, meeting a minimum performance level may require significant dynamic range in order to accommodate the differing SNR requirements over fading channels.
In order to maintain an acceptable SNR within a system's dynamic range, receivers often employ AGC. Traditionally, AGC circuits control the gain of a variable gain amplifier to maintain an amplified signal within a target power range. By comparing the amplified signal power to a reference, a determination can be made as to whether the amplifier should be adjusted to provide more gain or less gain. A control signal then causes the gain adjustment. Since the feedback loop has a time lag, if power adjustments are made too quickly, the feedback loop may become an oscillator which could introduce a ping-pong effect in the power level. To combat this, TDD-OFDM systems often adjust gain on a relatively slow, frame-by-frame basis, presenting the above-mentioned problem of differing symbol SNRs.

Automatic gain control method and apparatus for wireless communication systems


A RE-Ba-Cu-O type oxide superconducting material (RE represents Y, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu or a combination of two or more of them) having a phase structure including a REBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.y phase and a RE.sub.2 BaCuO.sub.5 phase of 20 .mu.m or less in diameter dispersed in the REBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.y phase, in which superconducting material RE consists of at least two elements selected from Y, Cl, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu. Said oxide superconducting material can be produced by melt processing.

The present invention relates to an oxide superconducting material and a process for producing said superconducting material. More particularly, the present invention relates to a REBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.y oxide superconducting material (RE represents Y, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu or a combination of two or more of them), in which superconducting material RE consists of at least two elements selected from Y, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu, and which superconducting material gives a high critical current density (Jc) even in a highly magnetic field, as well as to a process for producing said superconducting material by subjecting raw material powders containing the at least two RE elements, to melting, slow cooling and heat treatment in this order under particular conditions.
Oxide superconducting materials have high critical temperatures and vigorous research is under way in order to put them into practical use. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 291814/1988 proposes, as an oxide superconducting material, a superconducting composition containing rare earth elements (Y and Ce) in obtaining an oxide superconducting material as a bulk material, sintering has heretofore been used generally. The oxide superconducting materials obtained by sintering have such a microstructure that the grains are fine and a number of grain boundaries exist inside. In these oxide superconducting bulk materials obtained by sintering, the superconducting grains are combined with each other by a weak-link, making it impossible to obtain a high Jc.
Meanwhile, in superconducting materials of single crystal structure, it is known that no grain boundary problems as mentioned above exist and that a high Jc is obtained even in a highly magnetic field. Hence, it was investigated to allow the superconducting material of microstructure obtained by sintering to approximate a single crystal structure. Furthermore it was proposed to disperse particles of a non-superconducting phase in a single crystal phase to fix the magnetic flux line, that is, to form pinning centers. For example, melting processes represented by the MTG process (the Melt Textured Growth process) were proposed. In the MTG process, a rare earth oxide superconducting material, for example, is slowly cooled generally from the incongruent melting point of the 123 phase [REBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.y (RE is a rare earth element including Y)] to give rise to a peritectic reaction between the 211 phase (RE.sub.2 BaCuO.sub.5) and the liquid phase to cause crystal growth; the 211 phase exists as particles inside the crystals because of an incomplete peritectic reaction after growth and provides pinning centers; as a result, the rare earth oxide superconducting material obtained shows a high Jc even in a magnetic field. The oxide superconducting material obtained by the MTG process, however, has various disadvantages in that the particles of the 211 phase are large and their distribution is non-uniform and that cracks exist along the direction of crystal growth.
Also, the QMG process (the Quench and Melt Growth process) was proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 153803/1990, as an improved process for the MTG process. In the QMG process, raw materials for a rare earth oxide superconducting material are subjected to melting, quenching and solidification to obtain an intermediate comprising a Ba-Cu oxide phase and an Y.sub.2 O.sub.3 phase or the like of 50 .mu.m or less dispersed in said oxide phase, or Y.sub.2 O.sub.3 and a Ba-Cu oxide are mixed to obtain a plate-like material of 5 mm or less in thickness or a linear material; the intermediate or the plate-like or linear material is heated at the incongruent melting point of the 123 phase to convert to a semi-molten state and then is cooled slowly from that temperature at a given cooling rate to give rise to a peritectic reaction between the 211 phase and the liquid phase to grow a 123 phase in which a 211 phase of 20 .mu.m or less is finely and uniformly dispersed. According to the disclosure in the above document, the superconducting material obtained by the QMG process exhibits a very high pinning effect and gives an excellent Jc in a highly magnetic field. Further, the MPMG process (the Melt Powder and Melt Growth process) was proposed. In the MPMG process, a material obtained by melting, quenching and solidification according to the QMG process is ground for higher shapability and the obtained superconducting material is said to give the same high Jc as in the QMG process.
The QMG process and the MPMG process, as compared with the melting process, can exhibit a high pinning effect and give an excellent Jc, but require molding into a particular shape or two-stage melting (i.e. melting - quenching and solidification - semi-melting - slow cooling), making the procedure complex. Further, when the QMG process and the MPMG process are conducted via a step of a quenching and solidification to prevent the agglomeration of Y.sub.2 BaCuO.sub.5 phase to obtain a finely dispersed structure, a platinum crucible is requisite but the platinum may react with the rare earth oxide superconducting material and may invite deterioration of or variation in superconductivity of the material. Moreover, a means for enabling the high-rate quenching is required. Therefore, there is desired a process which can produce industrially in a simple procedure an oxide superconducting material exhibiting the same properties as those obtained in the QMG process or the MPMG process.

Oxide superconducting material and process for producing the same


A system and method for estimating livestock weight is described. Embodiments of the system can include a computing device and a three-dimensional tag configured to be secured to an animal. One or more images of an animal, including the three-dimensional tag, can be processed to take various measurements of the animal. A scaling factor for the measurements can be based on the three-dimensional tag. After the measurement are calibrated, a weight of the animal can be estimated based on the calibrated measurements.

Obtaining accurate weights for livestock is desirable in order to help determine, for instance, (i) successful mating outcomes, (ii) weight gain on specific food rations, (iii) weight loss due to illness, and (iv) a myriad of other prognostications that are based upon weight and adjustments to weight. The industry is primarily reliant on mechanical means to detect the weight of each individual animal. By utilizing load cells in various sorts of scales, the weight of an animal can be directly or indirectly acquired by a livestock manager. The weighing of each individual animal in a herd on a scale can be both expensive and time consuming requiring the transport of either the scale or each animal to the other. Uncooperative and lively animals can hinder accurate data gathering. Weight tapes that measure girth or other features of a particular animal are also used to estimate its weight. While less expensive, this method can be dangerous, time consuming and is not always accurate.
Other technologies have been used or proposed to estimate the weight of animals within a herd but suffer from one or more shortcomings. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDar), which uses laser imaging to scan an animal and develop a three-dimensional model that can be used to estimate animal weights has been tested. Unfortunately, LiDar devices are expensive and require technical skill to setup and operate.
Photographic systems have been proposed as well wherein an animal is photographed as it passes through the chute. Because the relative distances of the camera to the animal are known and dimensional references can be provided within the field of the photograph, data derived from the photograph can be used to determine relatively accurately an animal's dimensions, which can be used to estimate weight. This process, however, requires funneling livestock through the chute, which can be nearly as time consuming and expensive as the use of a load-cell based scale of which the scale is generally more accurate.
Another proposed system uses a hand-held three-dimensional camera system which includes the capability of calculating distances. The dimensional data from the 3D images can then be used to estimate weights. The system, however, requires a specialized camera and requires an operator to photograph all animals in a herd.
Finally, all of these systems require disturbance of the animal which can create stress and from time to time represents a potential danger to both the animal and the handler. Avoiding stressful contact and unnecessary movement is a key to good animal husbandry.
A non-disturbing system that can calculate a weight of an animal remotely from the animal with high accuracy is needed.

System and method of estimating livestock weight


A key arrangement includes a plurality of keys associated with alphabetic characters that include consonants and vowels. Each key within the plurality of keys is associated with a plurality of consonants and no more than one vowel. The plurality of keys is arranged in a grid pattern having at least five keys. The consonants are arranged in a standard keyboard format. Numbers may also be associated with the keys. A mobile communication device includes the key arrangement, a display, a processor, a housing, and a plurality of toggle switches associated with the keys. A method of using a key arrangement is also described.

Different standard English-language keyboard arrangements such as the QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY, DVORAK, and FITALY arrangements are known. The most widely used English-language alphabetic key arrangement is the QWERTY arrangement 10, as shown in FIG. 1. The QWERTY keyboard arrangement 10 is a proven industry standard, providing benefits in typing speed and accuracy.
The standard QWERTY keyboard arrangement works on typewriters, computer keyboards, electronic personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile devices where the width of the device provides sufficient area for a full sized QWERTY arrangement. FIG. 2 illustrates a mobile device 12 incorporating a standard full-sized QWERTY keyboard 14.
A standard full-sized QWERTY keyboard 14 usually includes three rows and 10 columns of keys arranged in a QWERTY layout representing all the letters of the English alphabet. Furthermore, numbers (0-9) and symbols are either positioned adjacent letters or share keys with letters via toggle keys 55 (e.g., shift, alt, etc.). Full-sized QWERTY keyboard 14 typically suits larger mobile devices with adequate space to accommodate the size of all keys. However, smaller mobile devices such as mobile phones and smart phones may not have sufficient area to accommodate a full QWERTY keyboard.
Mobile devices 12, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, pagers, and other devices, commonly incorporate alphanumeric keyboards. Numbers may share keys with alphabetic characters on the top row 16 of a QWERTY keyboard. Alternatively, alphabetic characters may be arranged in a numeric phone keypad arrangement 18, such as one consistent with ITU Standard E. 161, entitled "Arrangement of Digits, Letters, and Symbols on Telephones and Other Devices That Can Be Used for Gaining Access to a Telephone Network." This standard is also known as ANSI TI. 703-1995/1999 and ISO/IEC 9995-8:1994 and is the standard that you see on most, if not all, telephones sold in the United States today and many mobile phones.
Traditional mobile phones and smart-phones utilize either a Tegic, T9 or multi-tap technique for character input. The main drawback of Tegic, T9 and multi-tap keyboards is that they are cumbersome to use in typing. To access a specific character, a user must press a specific key numerous times. For example, for ITU Standard E. 161 keypads, to access the "C" character, a user must tap the "1" key three times. Consequently, typing on a Tegic, T9, or multi-tap keyboard proves to be slow, frustrating and burdensome.
Reduced size keyboards 20 that are arranged in a standard QWERTY format, shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, are known. This reduced QWERTY keyboard arrangement 20 utilizes the same number of rows 22 of keys, but reduces the number of columns 24 by combining multiple letters onto one key. U.S. Pat. No. 7,083,342 to Griffin describes a mobile communication device that has a reduced QWERTY keyboard of this type, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The reduced QWERTY keyboard arrangement 20 is suitable for use on medium to larger-size mobile devices that have the space to accommodate up to five columns of keys. However, slimmer phones and smart-phones that may only accommodate up to three columns of keys for a traditional number-pad may not have sufficient area to incorporate the reduced QWERTY arrangement 20. Additionally, some users may consider the reduced QWERTY keyboard arrangement 20 unstylish or unfashionable compared to the traditional, slimmer number-pad keyboard arrangement.

Modified keyboard arrangement with distinct vowel keys


According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of protecting a user from a compromised web resource. The method may include monitoring a user's requests for trusted web resources to determine one or more web resources to be checked. The method may include querying a network database based on the determined one or more web resources to obtain historical data relating to whether any of the one or more web resources has been compromised at any time during a preceding time period. The method may include providing a predetermined response to protect the user if any of the one or more web resources has been compromised.

There are a variety of online web-based services that require a user to create an individual login account in order to access the online service and to provide a level of security to information held by the provider of the service. These online services might include, for example, web-based email sites, chat forums, online payment sites, web stores, social networking sites and media sites, as well as many other online services.
Recently, attacks against such sites have become more commonplace. In many cases, attackers have been able to steal user login information, such as user account details, passwords and even credit card numbers.
In high-profile cases, the news of such attacks may be broadcast by news stations and stories may be carried in newspapers and on news websites. However, this may not always be the case and it is difficult for users to be aware of which web resources have been attacked and/or compromised.

Protecting a user from a compromised web resource


Random air flow leakage between a shroud assembly and a stator vane assembly into the gas path of a gas turbine engine due to manufacturing tolerance stack-up is reduced by providing notches to inhibit interference caused by misalignment and/or mismatch of adjacent segments.

A gas turbine engine typically includes a plurality of shroud and stator vane segments in the turbine stages. Manufacturing and/or assembly tolerance stack-ups, however, typically results in axial mismatch between adjacent shroud segments and adjacent vane segments and/or circumferential misalignment of the shroud segments with the corresponding vane segments.
An example of such mismatch or misalignment is illustrated in FIG. 1 which is a schematic top view of turbine shroud segments 11a, 11b and two stator vane segments 13a and 13b. When a sealed connection between the shroud and the stator vane assemblies is required, the abutting edges 15, 16 of the respective shroud and stator vane segments should abut each other as a seal illustrated between the segments 11b and 13b. However, manufacturing tolerance stack-up typically results in a mismatch between abutting edges 16 of the respective segments 13a, 13b, and sides 20 thus misalign with sides 22 of the segments 11a and 11b. This results in a gap 18 which allows cooling air flowing through the shroud and vane segments to leak into the gas path, thereby causing inefficiency. It is difficult to control such airflow leakage when the engine system is designed because the existence and the dimensions of the gap 18 are essentially random (as tolerances intrinsically are).
Therefore, there is a need for controlling random leakage between the shroud assembly and the stator vane assembly of a gas turbine engine caused by tolerance stack-ups.

Shroud and vane segments having edge notches


An exercise machine to stretch one or more muscle groups or joints of a body part, has at least one engagement member pivotally mounted on the frame to engage a body part associated with the muscle group or joint that is to be stretched and to position such part at a desired location. The engagement member is pivotally displaceable through a predetermined range of movement with respect to the frame. Movement in a first direction is effective to apply a stretching force to the associated muscle group. Movement of the engagement member in the first direction is done through a linear actuator. An angle indicator provides a readout of the position of said engagement member in the range. At any selected position in the range the engagement member can be blocked against movement in a direction opposite to the first direction and the force exerted by said body part upon the engagement member in the second direction is measured.

The importance of physical fitness is increasingly being stressed in today's society. However, due to time constraints imposed by today's lifestyles as well as limited space for performing outdoor activities, more and more people are turning to health facilities to exercise. These facilities usually have exercise equipment such as rowing machines, stationary bicycles, stair machines, and treadmills. The majority of equipment available is designed for strengthening muscles and for increasing aerobic capacity. Machines to stretch muscles and thus to increase flexibility are generally not well represented at most health clubs. Increasing flexibility is important to reduce injuries due to tearing of muscles tissues; to increase the range of motion when doing a specific activity; to promote muscle relaxation; and to increase metabolism in muscles, joints and associated connective tissues. Exercises to increase flexibility are also used in the treatment of paralysis, orthopaedic problems and neuromuscular disabilities.
Machines that increase flexibility in the groin and quadracept muscles are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,040 (Ehrenfried), U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,454 (Walton) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,158 (Fields). These devices are intended to improve flexibility by spreading apart the users legs into a split position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,239 (Gregario Del Rosa) describes a thigh muscle stretching device wherein the muscles are stretched by spreading apart the users legs via a pair of elongated rod members which operate using a crank and worm gear mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,936 (Mueller) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,741 (Smalanovich) describe machines for stretching the back.
These prior art devices generally apply a force to the users limbs or body parts to spread them apart, which can cause injury. Also these devices do not provide any feedback as to the position of the body part being stretched or the force exerted on the muscle so that the exercise can be accurately repeated and the degree of stretching can be safely increased.
Exercises to increase flexibility that do not require an exercise machine have been described by the present invention in "Scientific Stretching for Sport (3S) Method" Laurence E. Holt, Sports Research Limited, 1974. The 3S method involves stretching a body part, containing a muscle group to be stretched, to its maximum stretched position, and then attempting to push the body part in the opposite direction. This effort is resisted by a partner who does not permit the body part to move, thus causing an isometric contraction. After a given time interval, the isometric contraction is stopped and the opposite muscle group is contracted (concentric contraction) to stretch the body part to a position which is further than the initial starting position. However, disadvantages of this method are that a partner of equal or greater strength is required, and accurate repeatability of the exercise is difficult. If the partner does not adhere to the 3S methodology, an injury may result.


A system for cooling includes a surface to be cooled, at least one film-cooling hole within the surface for allowing a film cooling jet of coolant to reach the surface, each of the at least one film-cooling hole having a diameter and at least two spaced apart flow-aligned blockers positioned downstream of the at least one-film cooling hole, each of the flow-aligned blockers extending upwardly from the surface to assist in preventing hot-gas entrainment and increasing adiabatic effectiveness by confining coolant flow downstream of the at least one film-cooling hole between the blockers.

To increase thermal efficiency and specific thrust, advanced gas turbine stages are designed to operate at increasingly higher inlet temperatures (Suo, 1985). This increase is made possible by advances in materials such as super alloys and thermal-barrier coatings and by advances in cooling technology such as internal, film, impingement, and other techniques (Suo, 1985; Metzger, 1985; Moffat, 1987). With cooling, inlet temperatures can far exceed allowable material temperatures. Though cooling is an effective way to enable higher inlet temperatures, efficiency considerations demand effective cooling to be accomplished with minimum amount of cooling air since it takes energy to pump the cooling air through the turbine system, which operates at high pressures.
For advanced gas turbines, the first-stage stator and rotor typically require film cooling, which strives to form a blanket of cooler air next to the material surface to insulate the material from the hot gas (Golstein, 1971). Many investigators have studied the effects of design and operating parameters on film cooling. These include film-cooling hole inclinations and length-to-diameter ratios, spacing between holes, geometry of holes including shaped holes, surface curvatures, mainflow turbulence, embedded vortices in the mainflow, and unsteadiness from rotor-stator interactions (see, e.g., reviews by Han et al. (2000), Goldstein (2001), Sundén & Faghri (2001), and Shih & Sultanian (2001); in addition see the comprehensive bibliography provided by Kercher (2003 and 2005)).
Of the previous studies, Kelso & Lim (1996) and Haven et al. (1997) showed the important role played by vortices in the evolution of film-cooling jets. One pair, referred to as the counter-rotating vortices (CRVs), was found to lift the jet off the surface that it is intended to protect and to entrain hot gases underneath it. The other pair, referred to an anti-kidney pair, was shown to have a sense of rotation opposite to that of the CRVs, and so can counteract the undesirable tendencies of the CRVs. Thus, it is of interest to develop strategies to control the formation and strength of these vortices in a way that leads to more effective film cooling.
There are several ways to address this problem. One way that has been proposed by several investigators is to alter the structure of these vortices. These include alterations by using shaped-diffusion holes and slots (e.g., Haven et al. (1997), Hyams et al. (1997), and Thole et al. (1998)), by judicious placement of vortex generators (Haven & Kurosaka (1996)), by constructing tabs at hole exit (Zaman & Foss (2005) and Zaman (1998)), by inserting struts inside film-cooling holes (Shih, et al. (1999)), and by creating a trench about the exit of each film-cooling hole (Bunker (2002)). An alternative way is to prevent the CRVs from entraining hot gases by downstream treatment, and this has not been reported.
Thus, although the problems with cooling surfaces associated with gas turbines have been studied and various improvements proposed, problems remain.

Preventing hot-gas ingestion by film-cooling jet via flow-aligned blockers

Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc.


Connector (100) with locking components (107) about a peripheral section of the connector. The locking components extend in an axial direction engage with the connector (100) at a first end and engage with a connecting part (201) at an opposite locking end with a locking profile (109). A radial locking movement of the locking end is provided by an axial movement of an actuation sleeve (113). The locking components (107) are arranged to pivot in a substantially radial direction, about their section of engagement with the connector (100), into and out of a locking position. The connector (100) comprises guiding plates (111) between the locking components (107) in the area of their locking ends. The guiding plates exhibit protective faces (111a) that extend further radially inwards than the locking profile (109) of the locking components (107) when the latter are in the outwardly pivoted position.

For connections being exposed to large and continuous variations of force, it is known to provide the force-adsorbing components with a pre-tension in order to prevent play and resulting fatigue during such force variations. In the art there is a plurality of solutions for obtaining a predetermined pre-tension. One way is to simply tighten a nut on an elongated bolt with a certain torque, resulting in the bolt being tensioned with a certain force.
Other solutions involve moving inclined faces against each other along a predetermined distance, thereby stretching force-adsorbing components to which one of the faces is functionally connected a predetermined distance. One such solution is described in international patent application publication WO 2010069863. Here, the inclined faces are first made to abut each other, and then they are moved, sliding against each other along a predetermined distance. This results in a predetermined pre-tension in a connection sleeve carrying one of the inclined surfaces. A similar solution is described in WO03002845.
Furthermore, it is known to connect to tubular members, either within bores or externally, by means of locking elements that are moved in a radial direction by actuation of an actuation member. International patent application publication WO 2010081621 describes a connector assembly which is suited to connect to the external or internal locking profiles of a tubular element. This solution exhibits a plurality of locking elements which are moved radially into and out of a locking engagement by means of an activation sleeve engaging the locking elements.
Patent application publication US 20050146137 describes a connector with pivoting fingers that engages the flanges of two oppositely pipe ends. By appropriate selection of the radial size of a pre-tension ring (22) the operator may choose a predetermined amount of pretension in the fingers.
Another patent application publication, US 2005001427, describes another connector assembly where a plurality of collet fingers that engage a profile at each end of a pipe section. The collet fingers are forced into engagement with a threaded outer sleeve that is slid over the fingers and with an inclined face forces the collets into said profiles.
Publication U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,376 describes a hydraulic collet type connector adapted to lock onto a wellhead. A plurality of pivoting collet segments are arranged about the periphery of an upper body and adapted to connect to a locking groove in the wellhead.


A method of planning and fabricating a single crocheted work-piece that incorporates a meandering pattern. A special grid is constructed, the pattern placed in the grid, and the stitch combinations noted on the pattern line forming a “map”. This map of the work-piece is carefully followed in the fabrication of the first round. The work-piece is fabricated by making a central piece that is the first round containing the complete meandering pattern line. The first round is constructed in two steps, a row 1A and a row 1B. Row 1A is not visible when the first round has been completed. Thereafter, encircling additional rounds are added until the work-piece has reached the desired size. Inside seams are connected to complete the work-piece. Alternating colors are used to emphasize the meandering pattern. New stitch combinations, specifically a three-way intersection and a four-way intersection, as well as inside and outside corners make the meandering pattern possible.

Handcrafts have been known since the dawn of time. The various needlework techniques of embroidering, crocheting and knitting are centuries old and were elevated to an art form in colonial America. Crochet techniques can offer many variations which have contributed to a variety of articles from the small and lacey to the large and colorful. Different patterns have been incorporated into crocheted pieces using a number of methods often determined by the skill of the crafter. Some articles can be made by fabricating a number of small squares or other shapes and fastening them together so that the final product exhibits a desired pattern. Designs can also be accomplished by changing the stitches and stitch combinations, by the use of more than one color, or a combination of both. A decorative complex pattern may also be added to a crocheted article after its completion using embroidery techniques.
The technique of filet crochet can be used to create articles that often incorporate letters and artistic designs. Filet crochet involves a graphed design that is worked in combinations of solids and spaces. It is usually worked in a fine thread so that the finished product resembles lace. The crafter works in one direction when working the right side rows and in the opposite direction when working on the wrong side rows. All rows are straight across and the finished pieces are often squares or rectangles though other shapes are possible. Any design that can be graphed in black and white squares can be made by filet crochet but it is usually used to fabricate place mats, doilies and other relatively small delicate articles made in a single piece and usually in a single color. The technique of filet crochet is not practical for constructing larger and more substantial articles such as afghans, wall hangings and garments.
Large articles such as afghans can be made in one piece using various crochet techniques. One method utilizes a large number of stitches that are maintained on the crochet hook. The crafter works back and forth across the rows. Other methods can use one stitch throughout the work-piece or several different stitches. Patterns or designs can be incorporated using different stitches, stitch combinations, or colors and additional adornments can be added by embroidery techniques after the crocheting has been completed. Afghans can also be made in strips or in small pieces such as squares, rounds or other shapes such as hexagons. The individual pieces are sewn or crocheted together after all have been completed. The order and arrangements of attaching the squares or strips will determine the look of the finished product. The best known type of afghan made from multiple small pieces is the "granny square" afghan where each square is made by starting with a circle of chain stitches and each row is built up around the circle. One or several colors can be used and the finished product can be as elaborate as the crafter desires. The techniques used to make afghans can also be used to make sweaters, coats and hats. Such articles can be made from squares or other small pieces, or the various parts of a garment can be made to specification as in the fabrication of a knitted garment.
Another popular afghan is constructed with a zigzag pattern often referred to as a ripple afghan. These are constructed by making a long line and building up row upon row until the desired length is reached. Only one stitch is maintained on the crochet hook at a time as the rows are worked. The zigzag effect is accomplished by increasing and decreasing stitches as the crafter works across each row. This type of afghan is made all in one piece. As with other crocheted articles made by building one row upon the next, the work is performed on both the right and wrong sides of the work-piece.
More intricate crocheted articles can also be accomplished by building on the techniques discussed above or by color blocking. These methods are described in "Decorative Crochet" published bimonthly by Les Editions de Saxe, S. A. of Lyon, France and in the United States at Danbury, Conn.
A number of new and very novel needlework designs and techniques were introduced in the book "Unexpected Knitting" by Debbie New, published by Schoolhouse Press of Pittsville, Wis. in 2003. One of these is designated 'labyrinth knitting'. This technique produces a garment knitted in one piece that incorporates a labyrinth pattern involving a series of right angle turns accomplished by increasing and decreasing stitches. The pattern is fabricated by casting on thousands of stitches which are worked on several long circular needles at one time. The long row of stitches has multiple increase and decrease markers. Though the entire garment is made in a few rows, maintaining the work amounts to a Herculean task.
No such design resembling labyrinth knitting has heretofore been accomplished in crochet. The closest pattern is one described in a single page instruction sheet published by Caron International of Washington, N.C. in 1999. That pattern is made by starting with a center motif and building wavy rows around it in alternating colors.
A review of patented art in the needlework crafts reveals that few patents have issued. The ubiquitous nature of this art may offer one explanation. A patent for a method of constructing a large article, specifically an afghan, was issued to Abrahamson in 1982. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,443) The afghan was made of a number of individual crocheted squares. The corner squares and peripheral squares of the afghan were fabricated with a decorative border added to designated outer edges. When the squares were joined together in a specific order the finished afghan had a decorative border around its entire periphery and no further border had to be added. It is possible to extend this method to produce a finished article with a more complex pattern as long as each square contains an element of the pattern that can fit with another element in an adjoining square.
There is no method of constructing a single crocheted work-piece with a labyrinth or complex meandering pattern. There is a need for such a method and one that does not require thousands of stitches to be held on one needle or on multiple needles at any time during the course of the fabrication. There is a need for stitch combinations that would enable the fabrication of a crocheted work-piece incorporating a meandering pattern.

Method of making a single crocheted work-piece with an incorporated meandering pattern


According to an embodiment, a device includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry performs three-dimensional measurement of surroundings of a mobile object to obtain a three-dimensional point group. The processing circuitry calculates movement information. The processing circuitry makes a threshold value based on time series differences in the movement information. The processing circuitry extracts, from the three-dimensional group, three-dimensional points having distance to the mobile object in a moving direction of the mobile object to be equal to or smaller than the threshold value. The processing circuitry divides space, in which the three-dimensional points are present, into divided spaces in the moving direction. The processing circuitry selects a representative point for the divided space from among three-dimensional points included in the divided space. The processing circuitry estimates, as a surface for motion on which the mobile object moves, a surface which approximates the representative points.

Typically, a technology is known in which three-dimensional measurement of the surroundings of a mobile object, such as a running vehicle, is performed using a camera installed in the mobile object, and the three-dimensional measurement result is used in estimating a flat surface (for example, the surface for motion such as the road surface).


The present invention is directed to pourable fragrance-carrier compositions, and methods of preparation thereof, for use in tart candles, wherein the fragrance-carrier composition is comprised of a liquid base material of a hydrogenated polyolefin and a fragrance. The fragrance-carrier composition may be poured into the reservoir of a tart candle from which the fragrance is caused to be dispersed by the heat from a flame. More specifically, the liquid base material is comprised of a hydrogenated polyisoalkene such as hydrogenated polyisobutene.

Compositions that are used as carriers for dispensing fragrances from a heated reservoir, such as in a tart candle, are typically comprised of materials that, while they have a high throwing power for dispensing the desired fragrance, may also have certain disadvantages. In particular, though these carrier compositions are specifically intended for use in dispensing fragrances that have a pleasant or a particularly desired odor, the compositions may include base materials which themselves have a strong unpleasant odor. In such cases, the fragrance is required, in part, simply to mask the undesired odors of the base material. As a result, such masking may reduce the benefit provided by the fragrance and/or require higher levels of the fragrance than might otherwise be desired.
It would be desirable to have fragrance-carrier compositions comprised of safe odorless base materials that have a high throwing power for diffusing fragrances.
The present invention is directed toward fragrance carrier compositions that provide these advantages while not being handicapped with the above-noted disadvantages.

Fragrance-carrier compositions for use in tart candles


A cursor moving system includes a designated-area management unit for processing for display on a screen of areas to be designated by a cursor. A cursor position management unit processes movement of a cursor indication position on the screen according to a cursor moving operation by a pointing device. A cursor position determination unit searches for a designated area to which the cursor belongs now, and another designated area existing in a travelling direction of the cursor, based on information on a current position of the cursor and information on a travelling direction of the cursor received from the cursor position management unit in response to the pointing device. It also determines whether or not the nearest designated area existing in a travelling direction is separated from the current designated area. If separated, then it informs the cursor position management unit, when the cursor arrives at the boundary of the current designated area, of position information on a cursor display position, which resides within the determined nearest other designated area and is nearest from the designated area in which the cursor resides now, as the current position information of the cursor at that time. The cursor position management unit recognizes the position information communicated from the cursor position determination unit as information of the current position, and thereafter sequentially modifies such a newly recognized current position information based on the travelling direction and amount information from the pointing device, so that the cursor is sequentially moved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cursor moving system by a pointing device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A pointing device is one which permits a cursor for indicating a figure, character and etc., on a screen to freely travel on the screen, and is popular as simple pointing means of a computer system.
As such a pointing device, a so-called mouse is most broadly used. The mouse is classified roughly into two types, one of which is a mechanical type of mouse wherein a travelling distance is obtained in response to rotation of a ball contained in a mouse main body, and another of which is an optical type of mouse wherein a travelling distance is obtained in response to reflection of the light emitted from a mouse main body. To either type of mouse, however, the same cursor moving system can be applicable.
A conventional cursor moving system employed by the mouse will be explained hereinafter. A processing apparatus, to which the mouse is connected, is provided with a designated-area management unit which provides processing for display on a screen of areas to be designated such as windows and icons having figures, characters and so on which are objects to be indicated by a cursor, and a cursor position management unit which provides processing for movement of a cursor indication position on the screen according to a moving operation of the mouse main body.
In such a system, there is provided such a control that at the time of the moving operation of the mouse main body, first, the cursor position management unit recognizes the current position of the cursor on the screen, and then takes in regular intervals of time travelling direction information and travelling amount information output from the mouse main body to modify the previously recognized current position information based on those travelling direction information and travelling, amount information, so that the cursor sequentially travels to the current position after the modification. Thus, the cursor may be continuously traversed across the screen by an amount corresponding to the amount of movement provided by the mouse main body.
According to the conventional cursor moving system as stated above, however, an amount of travel of the cursor on the screen is always given by certain ratios with an amount of travel of the mouse main body. Thus, if it is desired to travel on the screen over the large distance, then the mouse main body also would be obliged to move over the large distance. Consequently, in such an environment that a large space as a moving space for the mouse main body cannot be secured, one would be obliged to repeatedly move the mouse main body, thereby increasing a time for operation of the mouse. This causes problems such as deterioration of work efficiency, and increment of an operator's load.
Further, in such a case where a cursor, which is located in a specific window on a screen, is shifted to an icon which is a great distance from the window, not only must the mouse travel a great distance in a direction coupling the window and the icon, but also it is necessary for an operator to visually confirm whether or not the cursor has properly entered within a frame of the icon. This point further augments an operator's load by requiring the operator to use great caution, and thus causes deterioration of work efficiency.

Discontinuous movement system and method for mouse cursor


An even number phase ring oscillator having at least eight, equally spaced phases. The oscillator includes at least eight stages, defining at least four pairs of stages, with each pair including a first stage and an associated second stage. The first stages are arranged such that an output of a first stage defines a primary input of another first stage, with the output of the first stage of the last pair defining the primary input of the second stage of the first pair. The second stages are arranged such that an output of a second stage defines a primary input of an another second stage, with the output of the second stage of the last pair crossing over the output of the first stage of the last pair and defining a primary input of the first stage of the first pair, thereby defining a closed loop. A first cross connection is provided between an output of each first stage of each pair and an input of each associated second stage, and a second cross connection between an input of each first stage of each pair and an output of each associated second stage, thereby ensuring that the oscillator provides an odd number inversions around the loop. A feed forward connection is provided between and input of each (n) stage and an output of each (n+2) stage, with (n) being any one of the stages, so as to provide a feed forward input to each stage to increase a speed at which an output of each stage switches.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) suitable for use in a monolithic CMOS phase lock loop that generates an even number of equally spaced phases for use with other circuitry.
2. Background Art
Most modern VLSI components have a phase lock loop (PLL) to multiply-up an external clock reference to a frequency that is used to clock the inside of the part. A component of the PLL is a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) that takes, as an input, an analog voltage that determines its output frequency. Thus, the VCO is a free running oscillator that is put in a feedback loop to control its operating frequency. Typically, the PLL is a multiplying PLL so that a low frequency external reference clock is multiplied up to some higher frequency. For example, a 200 MHz external reference clock is multiplied up to a range of 1.6 to 2.4 GHz.
A convention ring oscillator is typically employed as a VCO for CMOS technology. The conventional ring oscillator consists of a string of inverters having their supply controlled by a control voltage. The conventional ring oscillator requires an odd number of inverters that provides an odd number of phases.
If a VCO is used in a circuit to control the phase of an output signal digitally, an even number of phases is preferred that are equi-distance spaced along the period of oscillation. Since the conventional ring oscillator provides an odd number of phases, it is not suited to control the phase of an output signal digitally.
Differential ring oscillators have been built, suffer from small voltage swings and thus require level conversion and have frequency range limitations.

Poly-phase VCO with rail to rail output voltage swing and duty cycle control across tuning range


The invention relates to the field of ceramic and hard metal industries and concerns a process for manufacturing hard metal parts, in particular th having a complex geometry, such as those used for example as machining tools and wear elements. The object of the invention is to create a process which allows the manufacture of hard metal parts with a complex geometry by using a stable dispersed hard metal-binder suspension, wherein the binder is a thermoplastic binder having a viscosity of 3 to 6 mPa s, and without using an organic solvent to eliminate the binder. For that purpose, a process is disclosed wherein a hard metal powder having an average grain size smaller than 2.0 .mu.m is mixed with a liquefied thermoplastic binder, with viscosity of the mixture being set upon a value of at least 100 mPa s and up to 4,000 mPa s during the whole production and treatment process. The thus obtained stable dispersed suspension is shaped into a molded body from which the thermoplastic binder is then expelled and the binder-free shaped body is then sintered.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention refers to the field of ceramics and hard metal industry and relates to a process for the manufacture of hard metal component parts, in particular with complicated geometries, as they are for example used in machining tools and wear units.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Ceramic and powder metal parts with complicated geometries can be manufactured by performing mechanical reworking of the outer contours, beginning from raw bodies. With such materials, it is possible to execute the reworking process in a shaped state, a sintered state, or a state in between these two procedural steps. The cost of processing increases with the hardness of the material in its respective state, with the complexity of the geometry, and the number of pieces.
Large numbers of parts, composed of powder-technological or ceramic materials, are manufactured economically with the aid of end-for-like ("near net shape") thermoplastic casting processes. The injection molding of powder metal and ceramic is known, which is based on the mixing of a non-plastic powder with a thermoplastic synthetic binding agent and the occurrence of an injection molding mass, able to flow at higher temperatures and pressure, which can be processed in conventional synthetic material injection molding machines (U.S. Pat. No. 2,122,960, DE 680250).
Also known is a thermoplastic molding process that is based on the liquidization of non-plastic ceramic powders with the aid of paraffins and waxes. The molding process of thermoplastic suspensions is already possible at low pressures (SU 137807). The process is called hot casting or low pressure injection molding. Different ceramic materials, such as aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide, silicon carbide, have already been processed with this process. The material-specific characteristics are primarily based on the displacement of the thermoplastic binding agents that each consist of surface-active materials for the modification of the powder surface (SU 298566, SU 298567, DD 139397, DD 233117, DD 233119, SU 1590468). Concepts for a machine to realize the molding process are known (U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,603, DD 281913). An overview of the hot casting process is also published (Lenk, R., Technische Keramische Werkstoffe, Chapter 18.104.22.168).
Furthermore, from DD 286 311, a process is known for the manufacture of molded parts made of sintered materials using an injection molding process, whereby a plasticized mass is manufactured from a pre-treated metal powder and an organic binding agent and is then processed into molded parts after the removal of the binding agent using a subsequent injection molding process, and afterwards undergoes a sintering process. The binding agent consists of paraffin and polyethylene wax.
The powder-metallurgical injection mold process of heavy duty materials is furthermore known from Dropmann, et. al., Metall, vol. 45, no. 5, May 1991. The used binding agents thereby in essence determine whether or not an injection molding of the mass or a complete mold filling is possible. The viscosity of the masses thereby have a particular significance. Injection mold masses with a viscosity <4000 mPa s are thereby not able to be used.
Up to now it was not possible to process hard metal materials with the hot casting process, since no stable, dispersed thermoplastic suspension could be produced due to the low viscosity of the thermoplastic binding agent (3 to 6 mPa s) and the high density difference between the hard metal powder and the used binding agent (12 to 14 fold). However, the manufacture of such stable, dispersed thermoplastic suspensions is the prerequisite for the manufacture of foundations with reproducible homogeneity and density, and thereby for the transformation to serial production.
Hard metal component parts with complex geometries, even with larger numbers, essentially have, until now, been manufactured with an expensive mechanical reworking in the sintered state.
In the last couple of years an injection molding technology has been developed that combines the possibilities of large-scale fabrication with the advantages of reproducing very complex geometries (DE 3808123.7). In order to minimize the problems of this process, resulting from the high density differences between the powder and the binding agent as well as from the very high flow velocities during the form filling process (segregation of mixtures and separation), synthetic material binding agents with higher viscosity are used. These temporary synthetic binding materials are expelled by extraction in a closed release process, with the aid of organic solvents before the component parts are sintered (Graf, W, et. al., Pulvermetall in Wissenschaft und Praxis, vol. 7, VDI-Verlag, Dusseldorf, 1991, pp.275-285).
The limits of this process lie in a complicated process sequence, high equipment costs that only amortize with a very large number of pieces, and the difficulty of using large quantities of organic solvents because of environmental issues.

Process for manufacturing hard metal parts

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Angewandten Forschung E.V.