Methods for updating a 2D/3D registration between a three-dimensional image data set corresponding to a target area subjected to a movement and a plurality of two-dimensional projection images of the target area include: selecting a plurality of contour points along a contour, the contour being visible in a first projection image and a three-dimensional image data set registered therewith, the plurality of contour points being associated with a rigid object in the target area; determining a displacement of each contour point of the plurality of contour points between the first projection image and a successively captured second projection image; obtaining movement information for each contour point of the plurality of contour points based on the determined displacement, the movement information describing a movement of the rigid object; and updating the registration based on the obtained movement information.

2D/3D image fusion may be employed on a patient for radiological monitoring of interventions (e.g., treatment processes). For example, three-dimensional image data sets (e.g., CT image data sets and/or magnetic resonance image data sets) captured prior to the intervention are superimposed on two-dimensional real-time projection images (e.g., fluoroscopy images). To this end, an underlying 2D/3D registration is used. The accuracy of the superimposition directly influences the dependability of the additional information that the three-dimensional image provides.
In clinical practice, a highly accurate 2D/3D superimposition may be initially available since, for example, automatic and/or manual registration algorithms have been employed for the first projection image captured. However, there are a number of causes that may result in inaccuracies during the procedure (e.g., at least the period of time wherein projection images are captured). One of the inaccuracies relates to movement in the captured target area (e.g., the movement of a patient).
An operator involved in the process may manually initiate a new 2D/3D registration if the erroneous superimposition becomes clearly visible and affects the treatment process. The correction process that is implemented is the same registration procedure that was initially performed (e.g., using the most-recently captured projection image in order to achieve a registration with the three-dimensional image data set). However, the physician may be distracted from performing the process by the movement correction.
One solution to the problem of movement is to automatically track the movement of the patient, or at least of the captured target area, during the two-dimensional projection image capture (e.g., "on-the-fly" movement correction. Knowledge of the temporal progression of the movement may also permit predictions for further projection images. However, there is no simple solution for tracking patient movement in projection images. One reason that no such tracking is presently available is that an image datum (e.g., image value) of an X-ray projection image (e.g., a.k.a. attenuation value) is an integral of the attenuation coefficients of different depths along the path of the X-ray beam. Thus, the depth information is lost in the projection image. As a result, derivation of the three-dimensional movement from X-ray projection image sequences by tracking algorithms is difficult.
One approach is to carry out the process of 2D/3D registration as described above for each projection image captured. However, conventional methods are not sufficiently fast to permit real-time tracking of the movement and, therefore, real-time compensation for the movement. Further discussion may be found in an article by A. Kubias et al. entitled "Extended Global Optimization Strategy for Rigid 2D/3D Image Registration," in: W. G. Kropatsch, M. Kampel and A. Hanbury (Eds.): CAIP 2007, LNCS 4673, pp. 759-767, 2007.
Another approach to movement compensation involves tracking special devices (e.g., catheters) that move conjointly with an organ of a patient. In such an approach, the depth information may be obtained only when two or more projection images from different projection angles are available. Further discussion may be found in an article by P. Markelj et al. entitled "A review of 3D/2D registration methods for image-guided interventions," Medical Image Analysis, 2012, 16, pp. 642-661.
Another approach is to obtain the depth information from the initial registration. The target area is broken down into different depth layers. A standard tracking method is associated with movement estimation effective at depth. The 3D movement is automatically detected and compensated for, thereby facilitating a correct superimposition. Further discussion may be found in an article by J. Wang et al. entitled "Depth-Layer-Based Patient Motion Compensation for the Overlay of 3D Volumes onto X-Ray Sequences," in: H.-P. Meinzer et al. (publisher), Bildverarbeitung für die Medizin 2013, Informatik aktuell, Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013, pp. 128-133. However, in this approach, normal tracking algorithms are not suitable for X-ray projection images.

Methods for updating 2D/3D registration on movement and computing device


A system for producing vertical lift has a substantially rigid upper rotating disk (44) of dense solidity ratio whose discharge air flow is centrally routed via a vertical vortex shaft (24) to coact with lower coaxially rotating airfoil (34) and duct fan (36) elements. The upper disk (44) includes a spirally configured array of curved wings (40A-40D) which rotate in a first direction to produce lift and a cyclonic air discharge into an upper end of the vertical shaft (24). The lower rotating airfoil (34)/fan (36) elements are positioned at the lower end of the vertical shaft (24) and rotate in a counter direction to neutralize torques, induce downward air flow through the vertical shaft (24), and further provide lift and vertical thrust.

Conventional VTOL/STOL aircraft employ a wide range of aerodynamic approaches to produce their needed vertical lift, forward speed, and stability while providing safe and efficient operation. Invariably, the technical compromises which result from meeting these diverse requirements produce operating aircraft having less than optimum characteristics in one or more important areas. The redeeming feature of air transportation is, of course, speed. However, in the case of helicopters this major advantage is fundamentally limited because of the technical factor of retreating blade stall. This involves the significant loss of lift by the retreating blade (the one turning toward the rear of the aircraft) due to vitiated relative wind, and places a practical upper limit on helicopter speeds.
Attempts to overcome some of the many design compromises of vertical lift systems for aircraft are well represented in the prior art. As a typical example, consider U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,887 to Jordan which discloses a rotary wing craft having two rotor blades for lift and a driven coaxial propeller (fan), both disposed above an essentially vertical air channel. In operation, the air stream generated by the propeller produces torque on guide vanes connected to the main blades, thereby driving the lifting blades.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,563,497 to Holmes discloses a rotorcraft which provides lift by means of a rotor element and a pair of counterrotating secondary rotors, wherein the rotor systems are axially aligned and allow for air flow between them via a vertical air passage. In operation, the thin rotor element may be driven to provide helicopter operation; may be freewheeling to provide autogyro operation; or may be stopped to provide fixed-wing-like operation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,327 to Parry there is disclosed a somewhat similar helicopter arrangement, including an upper 2-bladed rotor and a counterrotating lower propeller which combine to produce lift and thrust. Other earlier prior art approaches to more generalized vertical lift systems are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,394,906 to Rogers (1966) and 2,980,365 to Yohe (1961).
Significant disadvantages of helicopter-like lift producing airfoils involve their typically low solidity ratios, and their low lift efficiencies for the portions of their airfoils nearest the hub. Solidity ratios (quantity of solid wing--or blade--area relative to the area swept out by the full length rotating elements) for smaller aircraft tend to be the lowest due to their use of two narrow blades. Regarding lift efficiencies, conventional rotary wing blades have maximum lift in the areas swept out by the outer blade lengths (the outer approximately 25 percent of area swept out), a median lift area in the centrally swept out areas, and a non-effective lift region in the area swept out by the shorter blade lengths. The vertical lift system approach taught in the present vector rotary wing ensemble (VRWE) invention admirably overcomes these and other disadvantages of the prior art approaches, and provides a significant improvement to the field of vertical aerodynamic lift.


The invention is directed to improvements in the indirect hydration process for the production of alcohols that enable high alcohol yield by increasing ether recycle in an olefin hydration process, such as the hydration process to produce isopropyl alcohol (IPA) from propylene or the hydration process to produce sec-butyl alcohol (SBA) from butylene.

Commercial olefin hydration processes react water with an olefin over an acid catalyst to produce alcohols. These processes also produce a co-product ether. These ethers are dialkyl ethers of the olefin being fed. By way of example, when propylene is the feed, the ether is di-isopropyl ether (IPE), and for butenes it is di-secondary butyl ether (SBE). The yield of ether produced is determined by the type of hydration process used and the process conditions. For processes that produce isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and secondary butyl alcohol (SBA), ether co-production typically ranges from about 1% to about 15% by weight. Indirect hydration processes, such as those using sulfuric acid, typically produce from about 5% to about 15% by weight ether as a co-product. Direct hydration process which use high purity olefin feeds over solid acid catalyst, such as acid resins, produce less ether but still in the 1 to 7% range. The production of ether reduces the yield of the alcohol; therefore, when alcohol is the desired product it would be advantageous to minimize the amount of ether co-product.
The reaction to produce ether is an equilibrium reaction, e.g., for C3's (Rxn I) propylene reacts with isopropyl alcohol, over an acidic catalyst, in a reversible reaction to form IPE.

However, in indirect hydrolysis systems sulfuric acid is used to provide the acidity and forms intermediate esters with the olefin and alcohols. It is also a reversible equilibrium process. Rxn 2-4 below show the reactions of C3H6 and IPA that form IPE. In order to react recycled IPE there has to be enough sulfuric acid available to reform the alkyl sulfate, the reverse of Rxn 4.

Several methods have been utilized to minimize ether co-product yield. It is possible to minimize ether by reducing the severity of the reaction or to run the reaction in a dilute environment. Another way is to utilize a production method that minimizes ether yield such as in direct hydration. Ether can also be thermally decomposed back to the olefin, it can be decomposed back to the alcohol and an olefin, and it can be recycled back to the hydration reaction step to minimize further production of ether.
The present inventors have discovered methods to maximize ether reversion when it is returned or recycled to the hydration reaction section of the process. These improvements are particularly important for hydration processes that produce >7% by weight ether co-product and/or where the economic value of the ether is lower than the olefin feed stock.
It has been observed that the amount of ether that can effectively be recycled is limited by typical olefin hydration process conditions. In indirect hydration processes conditions are usually mild, i.e., moderate temperatures and pressures, to minimize side reactions. At those conditions the rate of reversion of ether is slow and there is a limited recycling capacity that is available. In fact, only on the order of 20 to 40% can be recycled under those conditions. In a gas absorption process, when ether is fed in excess of this rate it will build up as a liquid phase in the process. This results in unsteady unit operation with ether phase accumulation and results in hydration process unit upsets. Improvements to the recycling process are therefore needed. We have found that by adopting the improvements described here it is possible to greatly increase capability for recycle of ether and hence the yield of the desired alcohol.
Recycle per se has been described in the literature for hydration processes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,984 describes a recycle process for a direct hydration process using acid catalyst where the dialkyl ether is introduced into the reaction mixture at a set distance from the outlet of the reactor.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,405,822 and 5,569,789 deal with recycling ether to an ether hydrolysis reactor to produce IPA at elevated temperatures and pressures. These are also direct hydration processes and the conditions are not similar to milder indirect hydration conditions.
Recycling ether back to a sulfuric acid system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,533,808 and more recently is mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 7,399,891. However, a recycle according to the present invention is not suggested in the prior art, as far as is known by the present inventors.
The ability to recycle ether into indirect hydration processes has been, heretofore, limited by the mild process conditions that are utilized, by the hydrophobic nature of ether, and by relatively slow absorption rates. These limitations limit the amount of ether that can be normally recycled to only 20-40% of the ether that is produced. This results in limited flexibility to control the ether yield. By careful study of the ether absorption process we have discovered methods to increase absorption of ether up to, in embodiments, 100% or near 100% of that produced. Implementation of these process configurations and conditions will improve the operational stability and yield flexibility of indirect hydration processes.
The present inventors have surprisingly discovered that providing an ether recycle that is substantially vaporized into the reaction vessel(s) substantially overcomes one or more of the aforementioned problem and improved alcohol yield.


A fuse unit including a fuse element therein includes a first resin body and a second resin body. The second resin body is connected to the first resin body by a hinge portion and configured to be bended around the hinge portion with respect to the first resin body. A pair of first side walls and a pair of second side walls are provided on the first resin body and the second resin body respectively and extend in a direction intersecting an axis of the bending of the second resin body. A pair of engaging parts are provided at the lock arms provided at the first side walls respectively respectively, and each of which has a first inclined face. A pair of engaged parts are provided at the second side walls respectively, and corresponds to the engaging parts respectively, and each of which has a second inclined face configured to contact the first inclined face in surface contact in a state that the second resin body is bended. The first inclined face and the second inclined face are formed along a direction intersecting a direction of a reaction force by springback of the fuse element caused by the bending of the second resin body.

FIG. 12 shows a conventional fuse unit 100 described in PTL 1. The fuse unit 100 is formed by building a fuse element (not shown) made of a conductive metal plate into a resin body 110. The resin body 110 is divided into forward and backward division bodies 120, 130 in a state of extending in a plane shape and in the case of being attached to a battery, the division bodies 120, 130 are bent in an L shape as shown in FIG. 12. The division bodies 120, 130 are bent about a hinge part of the fuse element exposed from the portion between the division bodies 120, 130. The fuse unit 100 is used in a state where the fuse unit 100 is bent to L shape, thus it can cope with circuit arrangement inside narrow space.
In the use state of the fuse unit as described above, it is necessary to hold a L-shaped bent state, so that the conventional fuse unit 100 is constructed as described below.
A regulation wall 140 facing an inner surface wall 121 of one division body 120 is erected in an inner surface wall 131 of the other division body 130, and an inclined wall surface 141 inclined in a direction separate from the inner surface wall 121 of one division body 120 is formed in the regulation wall 140. Also, bending rigidity of the regulation wall 140 is increased by disposing fall-prevention ribs 143 in both ends of the regulation wall 140.
Further, a lock arm 150 having a hook part 151 is disposed in one division body 120 and also a notch part 153 with which the hook part 151 engages is disposed in the regulation wall 140 of the other division body 130 and first lock means is formed. Also, a locking projection (not shown) is disposed in one division body 120 and an engaging groove 160 in which the locking projection locks is disposed in the other division body 130 and second lock means is formed. The engaging groove 160 is disposed in an extension wall 165 from side surface walls 133, 135 in the other division body 130.
When the other division body 130 is bent with respect to one division body 120 in such a structure, the regulation wall 140 of the other division body 130 abuts on the inner surface wall 121 of one division body 120. Also, by hooking the hook part 151 of the lock arm 150 in one division body 120 to the notch part 153, the lock arm 150 engages with the notch part 153 and is locked and also the locking projection of one division body 120 engages with the engaging groove 160 of the other division body 130 and is locked. Consequently, the state of bending the two division bodies in the L shape can be held.


A milking system includes a milk storage tank, a common milk line connected to the tank, at least two milking stations connected to the milk line, a milk constituent analyzing unit connected to the milk line and analyzing the milk provided from each of the stations through the milk line, with respect to a specific milk constituent, and a computer operatively connected to the analyzing unit. The computer stores milk quality information of the extracted milk and animal identity data of each of the specifically identified animals. Each station automatically identifies a specific animal, extracts milk from the animal, and transfers the milk through the common milk line to the milk storage tank. The stations, the computer, and the analyzing unit are operatively connected to allow a result of the milk analysis to be associated with the animal(s) identity specifically identified at each station from which the milk was extracted.

In the field of dairy farming, systems for regularly measuring the health of the animals and the milk quality have been developed. The results of the measurements may affect how the animals should be milked, i.e. how milking parameters such as vacuum levels and milking frequency are set, how the animals should be fed, and how the animals should otherwise be treated on an individual basis. Hereby, the animals are kept healthy and an efficient milk production is provided.
Examples of such systems include milking installations comprising automatic milking robots that identify an animal, extract milk from the animal, and transfer the milk to a milk storage tank. There also exist robots that can sample part of the milk for testing, e.g. transferring the sample part to an automatic somatic cell counter that provides the cell count. Each robot in such systems is provided with its own cell counter, which is connected to a data bus of the robot. In such a manner, the robot receives a quality indication of the milk of the animal. An example of such a milking robot is the VMS (voluntary milking system) having an OCC (online cell counter) as provided by DeLaval.
In systems having a plurality of milking robots, which all are provided with their own analysis equipment, the robots transfer the test results, in this case the cell counts, together with the animal identities to a monitoring computer so that information for a specific animal is collected in a single database, regardless of which one of the robots that was used to milk the animal. The collecting activities can be controlled by one of the robots operating as a master unit, where the others operate as slave units. Alternatively, an overall controller, such as a computer, is provided for receiving animal and milking information, such as identities, milk yields, cell counts and other milk quality or animal health indications, from the robots. Such a system having a plurality of voluntary milking systems, where each has a cell counter, is easy to use and can provide cell count data immediately. However, the cell counter makes each milking robot more expensive. Moreover, a lack of balance of the use of different milking robots leads to a lack of use of some of the sampling and analyzing devices. This may have a negative influence on the operation and reliability of such equipment.

Milking system and method for analyzing milk


A system and method for enabling reuse of a portion of a business process. An example method includes employing a business process language to facilitate accessing a definition of a subprocess characterizing the process logic, wherein the definition indicates one or more parameters to be used by the subprocess to implement a task specified by the process logic; and employing the definition to facilitate: using one or more variables of a parent process as one or more arguments that are passed to an instantiated version of the subprocess, and mapping the one or more arguments to the one or more parameters. In a more specific embodiment, the example method further includes characterizing a behavior of the subprocess via one or more dynamic scoping rules. The business process language includes a version of Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), and a BPEL extension activity facilitates defining the subprocess.

The present application relates to software and more specifically to software-based systems and methods and ontologies for facilitating development and implementation of software processes and subprocesses deployed in networked computing environments.
Software processes deployed in networked computing environments are often implemented via one or more services, such as web services. Mechanisms for facilitating development, implementation, and deployment of such processes are employed in various demanding applications, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), scientific distributed computing applications, and so on. Such applications often demand use of Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) and accompanying mechanisms and programming language features for efficiently modularizing and reusing process logic to facilitate software development, customization, deployment, and execution in various networked computing environments.
Software modularization and reuse features are particularly important in enterprise computing environments, which are often characterized by complex long-running network-distributed business processes. Web Services Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL 2.0, OASIS Standard), generically referred to as standard BPEL, facilitates implementing SOAs and accompanying software that employ web services to implement tasks or activities in a business process. The business process may be part of a larger software application specified via a process template and configuration plan file.
Such business processes may have many repeated portions of code, which may clutter the code, making it difficult to develop, read, understand, maintain, and accurately and consistently modify, update, and deploy. Mechanisms for enabling modularization and reuse of business process logic may aim to address such issues.
However, standard BPEL generally lacks explicit mechanisms for specifying tightly coupled reusable portions of computer code (i.e., reusable process logic fragments or snippets) in a business process, and instead relies upon a loosely coupled web service invocation model, whereby modularized tasks of a parent process are implemented by invoking web services, and whereby the web services are interfaced with the business process via WSDL (Web Services Description Language) interfaces.
Use of web services to modularize and reuse arbitrary portions of computer code can be particularly problematic for low-level repetitive software tasks, which may correspond to process logic fragments or snippets. Refactoring a business process to call web services, such as by replacing low-level process logic fragments with web service invocations, can be inefficient, potentially reducing software performance, increasing network resource consumption, and introducing latency and process life cycle management issues.
Standard BPEL defines a complex life cycle for each individual task within a BPEL-defined process. However, BPEL's web service invocation module generally lacks effective lifecycle management mechanisms for handling process fragments invoked as web services. Accordingly, handling faults, undoing tasks (e.g., compensation activities), canceling tasks, and so on, can be problematic, from both the perspective of a business process and the web service invoked by the business process. For example, in a standard BPEL parent process that invokes a web service, a termination of the parent process may not be communicated to the invoked web service, and termination of the invoked web service may not be communicated to the parent process. In summary, BPEL's mechanisms for handling software faults, selectively undoing certain process tasks (e.g., compensation), for canceling software tasks, and so on, do not automatically extend to invoked web services.
To address certain BPEL process modularization, reuse, and lifecycle management issues, an extension to BPEL, called BPEL-SPE (Web Services Business Process Execution Language—Subprocess Extension) may be used. BPEL-SPE is discussed in a joint white paper by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and SAP AG, entitled "WS-BPEL Extension for Subprocesses—BPEL-SPE," dated September 2005.
This BPEL-SPE extension specifies use of subprocesses to facilitate modularization and reuse of process logic fragments. However, conventional BPEL-SPE still employs a restrictive web service invocation model characterized by WSDL interfaces between the parent process and invoked subprocess. Parent processes and subprocesses are limited to single-variable exchanges via standard BPEL receive and reply activities over the WSDL interfaces. Furthermore, conventional BPEL-SPE requires an additional coordination protocol for status message exchange and life cycle management between a parent process and invoked subprocesses, which can further complicate implementation and increase runtime overhead and associated consumption of computing resources.

Subprocess definition and visualization in BPEL


The invention provides methods and compositions for evaluating modulators of the Stat6 signaling pathway; in a particular, transgenic mice comprising a transgene within a Stat6 allele locus, encoding a selectable marker and displacing the SH2-encoding domain of the Stat6 allele. More particularly, the transgene may comprise 3' and 5' regions with sufficient complementarity to the natural Stat6 allele at the locus to effect homologous recombination of the transgene with the Stat6 allele. Such mice provide useful animal models for determining the effect of candidate drugs on a host deficient in Stat6 function. The invention provides a variety of methods for making and using the subject compositions; in particular, methods for determining the effect of a candidate drug on a mouse deficient in Stat6 function and methods of evaluating the side effects of a Stat6 function inhibitor.

Signal transducers and activators of transcription (Stat) proteins are a recently identified class of transcription factors responsible for mediating may cytokine-induced responses. These proteins exist in a latent form in the cytoplasm and become phosphorylated by the Janus kinase (JAK) family of tyrosine kinases following cytokine-receptor interactions. Once phosphorylated, Stat proteins dimerize, translocate to the nucleus, and bind to specific DNA sequences to regulate gene transcription (Ihle, 1995; Schindler and Darnell, 1995). Of the presently know Stat proteins, only Stat6 is activated in response to the cytokine interleukin-4 (IL-4) (Kotanides and Reich, 1993; Hou et al, 1994; Schindler et al, 1994; Quelle et al., 1995). IL-4 is secreted by several cell types including stimulated T lymphocytes, mast cells, and basophils (Howard et al., 1982; Lee et al, 1986; Paul and Ohara, 1987; Yoshimoto and Paul, 1994; Sad et al., 1995). While initially identified by its ability to support the growth and differentiation of B lymphocytes costimulated with submitogenic doses of anti-immunoglobulin (Howard et al., 1982), IL-4 is now known to have pleiotropic effects on the immune system. IL-4 is essential for the induction of immunoglobulin E (IgE) synthesis by activated B lymphocytes and influences class switching to IgG1 as well (Vitetta et al, 1985; Coffman et al., 1986). B cells stimulated with IL-4 increase their cell surface expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules (Noelle et al., 1984), IL-4 receptor (IL-4R) (Ohara and Paul, 1988), and the low affinity IgE receptor CD23 (Conrad et al., 1987). IL-4 also induces the proliferation of T lymphocytes and is important for the differentiation of T helper 2 (Th2) cells (Le Gros et al., 1990; Swain et al., 1990). Indeed, the analysis of IL-4-deficient mice generated by gene targeting in embryonic stem (ES) cells has confirmed the importance of this cytokine in mediating many of these responses (Kuhn et al., 1991; Kopf et al., 1993).
IL-4-induced responses result from the interaction of ligand with a cell surface receptor composed of a cytokine-specific a chain and the common gc chain also used by IL-2 (Takeshita et al., 1992). IL-7 (Nognchi et al, 1993; Kondo et al, 1994), IL-9 (Russell et al., 1994) and IL-15 (Giri et al., 1994) receptors. Recent studies have shown that the a chain of the IL-4R is also a component of the high affinity IL-13 receptor (Lin et al., 1995; Zurawski et al, 1995; Hilton et al., 1996). Engagement of the IL-4R leads to the activation of at least two distinct signaling pathways. One involves the activation of Stat6 through phosphorylation by Jak1 and Jak 3 (Johnston et al., 1994; Witthuhn et al., 1994). The Stat pathway is thought to be important because the promoters of several genes know to be regulated by IL-4 contain the consensus Stat6-binding site TTCN4GAA (Schindler et al., 1995), and fragments of promoters of Ie and other genes containing this sequence bind Stat6 present in extracts from cells stimulated with IL-4 (Ichiki et al., 1993; Kotanides and Reich, 1993; Schindler et al., 1994). In addition to Stat6 activation, stimulation of the IL-4R has also been shown to induce the phosphorylation of an insulin receptor substrate (IRS) termed 4PS or IRS-2 (Keegan et al., 1994; Sun et al., 1995). Activated IRS-2 associates with phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and may be responsible for certain IL-4-induced responses. For example, cell lines transfected with an IL-4R mutant that in incapable of inducing the tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-2 have an impaired ability to proliferate in response to IL-4 (Keegan et al., 1994).

President and Fellows of Harvard College


A winch adapter including a unitary body having both a primary and a smaller secondary casing. A pair of levers, with handles, are pivotally attached to the secondary casing. A lug disposed on each lever opposite the handle is inserted through a hole in the primary casing and is maintained therein by tension from an associated elastic band against each lever, but the handle on each lever can be depressed to pull the lugs from their respective holes. The outer casing can then be inserted over a winch nipple with its own pair of holes, at which time, the handles would be released, causing the lugs to be inserted through holes on both the primary casing and the winch nipple. An air gun can then be used with the secondary casing and a drive on the secondary casing, allowing the air gun to rotate the winch adapter and the winch.

Various types of winch adapters are in use and are known in the prior art. However, what is needed is a winch adapter that is adaptable and easy to use, but at the same time, provide a strong structural connection between an item to be rotated and a hydraulic air gun, and these are characteristics that have not been utilized or conceived as shown in the present invention.


A potter's wheel for working clay and other pottery material on a turntable driven by a DC brushless motor. In order that driving speed is not affected by the load due to user's access to the work of clay, the speed of the motor detected by a speed detector is fed back to a speed control signal generator and a motor driving control signal is generated as a function of the difference between the detected motor speed and a directed speed inputted through a speed setter in response to the operation to a manipulation member. Then, a motor control generates such a motor driving signal as to make the motor driving control signal zero, with the motor driving signal being fed to the motor, thereby controlling the rotational speed of the turntable to be a directed value regardless of the load applied to the turntable via the work.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a potter's wheel for working clay and other pottery material on a turntable to make pots, bowls, plates, cups and the like, and more particularly pertains to such a potter's wheel driven by a DC brushless motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of pottery, many people use an electrically driven potter's wheel of which turntable is driven by an electric motor. Such an electrically driven potter's wheel is provided with the turntable for supporting a work of wet clay and other material, an electric motor for driving the turntable, a pedal for adjustment of the motor speed, and a speed control for controlling the rotational speed of the motor as a function of amount of operation to the pedal, i.e. how much the pedal is depressed by a foot of a user or operator. Although pottery material other than clay can be used for the pottery, explanation will be made hereinafter with reference to clay as a representative of the material for the pottery. However, it is to be noted that the present invention is also applicable to other pottery material than clay.
Upon throwing pottery, a user deposits a mass of wet clay on the turntable and hand-shape the wet clay to a desired form while turning the turntable. During that throwing process, a force is imparted to the wet clay as the user accesses the clay, and the force acts as a load to the electric motor to vary the rotational speed of the motor. Such variation of motor speed is not preferable for the formation of the pottery. In order to maintain the motor speed constant, the user has to delicately adjust the amount of operation of the pedal and such adjustment requires expertise.
Further, a conventional potter's wheel of the type driven by a DC brushless motor is constructed to detect the change or switching of magnetic pole of the rotor magnet, by means of a Hall sensor and determine the timing for switching the direction of the electric current running through coils of a stator of the DC brushless motor. However, such a construction has a limit in rotating the turntable smoothly. Especially, when the speed of the rotor of the motor is in a low range, a lug or discordance occurs in synchronization between the switching of the direction of the electric current and rotation of the motor, causing step-out and stopping the motor instantaneously. The unexpected stop of the motor during the throwing of the pottery will result in destroy of the work which has been shaped.


A lubricating oil composition including: at least one base oil selected from a mineral oil-based lubricating oil, a synthetic oil-based lubricating oil, or a mixed oil thereof, and zinc dialkyldithiophosphates X consisting of the compounds Z1 to Z3 represented by the formulae (1) to (3) are contained, in which a total content of the zinc dialkyldithiophosphates X is 0.02% by mass or more in terms of phosphorus concentration with respect to the total mass of the oil composition, and the zinc dialkyldithiophosphates X satisfy the formulae (a) to (c). In the formula (1), each of R1 to R4 independently represents a linear or branched primary alkyl group having from 10 to 20 carbon atoms. In the formula (2), each of R5 to R8 independently represents a linear or branched primary alkyl group having from 7 to 9 carbon atoms. In the formula (3), each of R9 to R12 independently represents a linear or branched primary or secondary alkyl group having from 3 to 6 carbon atoms. The formula (a) to (c) are shown in the specification.

Examples of agricultural machines include tractors as working machines for ground leveling, rice transplanters as working machines for growth management, and binders and combines as working machines for harvesting, and tractors are most widely used among agricultural machines.
Although tractors are provided with many contact spots of metals of hydraulic pump units, transmission units, power-take-off (PTO) clutch units, differential gear mechanism units, wet brake units, and the like, one kind of lubricating oil for agricultural machines is often used in such contact spots.
Thus, lubricating oils for agricultural machines are demanded to have multiple functions such as friction characteristics, wear resistance, oxidative stability, rust-inhibiting properties, and organic material compatibility.
Agricultural machines often cause incorporation of water into lubricating oils to be observed in the course of use because such machines are sometimes used in the environment in which any contact with water such as rice paddies. Therefore, functions of agricultural machines are demanded to be retained even under the environment in which incorporation of water is made.
In particular, water is easily incorporated into oil tanks in use of agricultural machines in rice paddies or due to washing of machines. In a case in which water is incorporated to thereby cause emulsions to be generated in lubricating oils, filter clogging occurs. Thus, lubricating oils are desired to be excellent in suppression of emulsion generation.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2009-144098 discloses a lubricating oil composition for agricultural machines, in which the oil composition contains a zinc dialkyldithiophosphate having a primary alkyl group (R1, R2, R3, and R4) having 8 or more carbon atoms, represented by the general formula (1), one or more metallic cleansers selected from basic calcium sulfonate or basic calcium phenate, and one or more selected from a succinimide having an polyalkenyl group having an average molecular weight of from 800 to 2600 or a boron derivative thereof, in respective predetermined amounts, and has a kinetic viscosity at 0° C., of 250 mm2/s or less, as a lubricating oil composition for agricultural machines which is also excellent in demulsification properties.
For example, JP-A No. 2010-121063 discloses a lubricating oil composition for agricultural machines, in which the oil composition contains a lubricating oil base oil, (A) a zinc dialkyldithiophosphate having a secondary alkyl group (R1 to R4) having from 3 to 6 carbon atoms, represented by the general formula (1), in an amount of from 0.1 to 0.4% by mass in terms of amount of zinc with respect to the total amount, (B) one or more selected from a calcium sulfonate having a base number of 150 mg KOH/g or more or a calcium phenate having a base number of 150 mg KOH/g or more, in an amount of from 0.1 to 0.5% by mass in terms of amount of calcium with respect to the total amount, and (C) a calcium sulfonate having a base number of 50 mg KOH/g or less, in an amount of from 0.05 to 0.3% by mass in terms of amount of calcium with respect to the total amount, as a lubricating oil composition for agricultural machines which enables emulsion generation leading to the occurrence of rust and/or poor oil pressure to be suppressed. A lubricating oil composition is disclosed.
For example, JP-A No. H03-20396 discloses a lubricating oil composition containing a reaction product of overbasic sulfonate and ethoxyphosphate, in an amount of from 0.5 to 10 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of a base oil, as a lubricating oil composition for wet brakes/clutches which does not cause any precipitate due to a reaction with water to be generated.


The method is for preparation of white liquor in a chemical recovery process of the kraft process. The green liquor separation process and the white liquor separation process are taking place in the same common filter apparatus with no dedicated green liquor separation apparatus or any dedicated white liquor separation apparatus. The white liquor separation process and the green liquor separation process are conducted in sequence in the same filter apparatus. The white liquor separation process has a part of the cycle time in the range 20-50% of the total cycle time in the same filter apparatus.

The causticizing process has conventionally used a lot of different process steps for;                reception of the green liquor;        separation of dregs from green liquor;        washing and drying dregs obtained from the previous separation step;        mixing of clear green liquor and burnt lime in order to slake lime and start the causticizing reaction;        tanks for completion of the causticizing reaction;        separation of lime mud from white liquor;        lime mud washing and drying.
A typical conventional causticizing process is shown in FIG. 1. The raw green liquor RGL is first received in an equalizing tank EQT and from there pumped to a first green liquor separation process, here shown as a green liquor pressurized disc filter GLF. The green liquor filter separates dregs from the raw green liquor and produces clear green liquor which is sent to a green liquor storage tank GLT. The clear green liquor is then sent, most often via a green liquor cooler GLC, to the slaker SL where burnt lime is mixed into the green liquor. The cooler is needed to reduce temperature ahead of the slaker to keep the slurry in the slaker under boiling point as the reactions occurring in and after the slaker are exothermic. Grits, i.e. unreacted fractions of the burnt lime, are also separated out from the slaker. After mixing in the slaker, the slurry is sent to a series of causticizing vessels CT1-CT2-CT3, often named the causticizing train, wherein the chemical causticizing reactions are completed. Once these causticizing reactions are completed, the slurry is pumped to a white liquor separation process, here shown as white liquor pressurized disc filter WLF. The white liquor filter separates lime mud from the caustiziced liquor and produces clear white liquor, which is sent to a white liquor storage tank WLT. The clear white liquor is then sent directly to be used in the kraft cooking or bleaching line, or alternatively via a polysulfide modification process to said kraft cooking. The lime mud, which still may have a residual content of alkali, is sent to a lime mud washing and drying stage, here shown as a lime mud pressurized disc filter LMF.
Once the lime mud is washed and dried it may be passed to the lime kiln in order to convert it to burnt lime to be used in the slaker again.
In these conventional causticizing processes as shown in FIG. 1, a specific start up procedure for the green liquor separation process has been used. During start up, the green liquor filter has initially been filled with causticizised liquor from the causticizing train CT1-CT2-CT3 in order to build up a precoat of lime mud on the surface of the filter cloth. The reason for this formation of lime mud precoat is that this precoat exhibit a far better separation efficiency than the cloth itself and has a better filterability than would a precoat formed by dregs from green liquor. The filterability improves by a factor of 6 if a precoat is formed by lime mud instead of green liquor mud (dregs). However, this short establishment of the precoat using causticizised liquor from the causticizing train CT1-CT2-CT3 has never been used for longer periods than about 5% of the total cycle time of the green liquor filter, and as soon as this precoat has been formed, the major part of the operating time for the green liquor filter has been used for green liquor filtering, and the main part of the white liquor produced, typically more than 90% of the total amount, is obtained from the dedicated white liquor filter.
However, usage of pressurized disc filters, one for white liquor filtration and one for green liquor filtration, are expensive as the costs for these filters are high. Filtering techniques are often better as cleaner product liquors could be obtained with small amounts of suspended solids in the product liquors, typically with content less than 20 ppm, as compared with typical green liquor having more than 1500 ppm. Another advantage is that dregs or lime mud separated from these filters could be obtained at very high dryness in the range 40-60% and 60-75% respectively. Alternative techniques has therefore been considered, and usage of conventional settling tanks for green liquor has once again been considered simply due to less investment costs, even though the amount of suspended solids often are much higher, typically four times more.
Another problem with these conventional processes is that so many different and dedicated separation apparatuses are needed, requiring a lot of free building area. This will be problematic when trying to increase capacity of the causticizing plant, as most often no available room is at hand for additional apparatuses increasing the capacity.

Method for the causticizing process for producing white liquor


A method and system of time-to-intercept determination for a radiation source using passively-sensed irradiance data. The invention provides a plurality of noise reduction features to reduce the noise present in the data and improve the accuracy of the time-to-intercept computation. The method includes reducing data noise by defining an acceptable noise level and eliminating any excessively noisy data from the time-to-intercept computation. The method further includes constantly updating the time-to-intercept computation by using irradiance values that are advanced in time. Other features of the present invention includes averaging of irradiance values over a time interval, filtering of the irradiance data received by the method, and triggering at a predetermined time-to-intercept. The invention also includes a time-to-intercept system and processor implementing the above method.

The present invention relates in general to time-to-intercept determination and more particularly to a system and a method for accurately determining a closing time between a radiation source and an object by passively sensing the irradiance of the radiation source.
Time-to-intercept determination has several important civilian and military applications. Time-to-intercept (TTI) is the amount of time remaining before an object makes contact with (xe2x80x9cinterceptsxe2x80x9d) another object. Determination of the TTI is used in civilian applications such as, for example, vehicular motion measurements, factory measurements, astronomical measurements, satellite measurements and aircraft collision avoidance systems. One military and civilian use for TTI determination is in missile warning systems (MWS). In this age of increased conflict and terrorism, both civilian and military aircraft are especially vulnerable to missile attack, particularly from infrared guided missiles. In fact, over ninety percent of military aircraft losses worldwide since 1980 have been the result of infrared guided missile attacks, and there also have been attacks on civilian aircraft. Due to the lack of missile warning, most pilots of the downed aircraft were not aware of the missile firing until the actual hit occurred, thus could not initiate evasive or protective actions. A MWS carried by an aircraft also enhances the effectiveness and the available duration of aircraft self-protection such as flares, which is most effective when used a certain time before the missile intercepts the aircraft. Therefore, in order to be useful and to ensure maximum self-protection and facilitate use of available self-protection resources, the MWS must have an accurate TTI determination.
In both civilian and military applications it is important that the TTI be determined as accurately as possible to avoid possible disaster. For example, an error in the TTI determination may result in lack of effectiveness for a self-protect system, if a flare is dispensed too late or too early. This may mean the loss of an aircraft and human lives. Thus, there exists a need for an accurate, effective and low-cost system and method for TTI determination.
One way to determine the TTI is by using a passive sensor system. This type of system is generally preferred over other types of systems because of the disadvantages associated with the other systems. For example, an active sensor system detects range by measuring pulse-doppler returns. The active sensor system, however, is relatively complex, heavy and costly because of the rangefinding equipment that must be used. Similarly, TTI determination using a triangulation system is costly, slow and requires two sensors with the same field of regard placed far enough apart to achieve the high angular accuracy.
Unlike an active sensor system that employs radar, lidar or other direct range-measuring equipment, a passive sensor system cannot directly measure the TTI and must indirectly measure the TTI. However, TTI can be determined from fundamental physical laws, if the object has a uniform radiation emission (such as thermal self-emissions, electromagnetic transmitting or reflected power). These radiation emissions may be from natural sources (such as the sun) or from artificial sources (such as laser, radar and searchlights).
For example, a passive ultraviolet sensor system indirectly measures the TTI by observing photon scattering effects that are inherent in these short ultraviolet wavelengths. As two objects approach each other this causes a noticeable xe2x80x9cdiffusionxe2x80x9d. The main disadvantage of this passive ultraviolet sensor system, however, is that it is not useful in the infrared spectrum where this scattering is virtually nonexistent. Moreover, the detection range in the ultraviolet spectrum is quite short due to the limited transmittance of the atmosphere in this spectral region.
Another type of passive sensor system indirectly measures the TTI by sensing the irradiance associated with an object. In general, this type of system measures the irradiance of the object at two instances in time and computes the TTI from an equation relating irradiance and time. This type of system can use infrared detection, which is advantageous for long-range detection (for example, at the time a missile is launched). Long-range detection is a useful feature of a TTI determination system because it gives the other object (such as a target aircraft) time to use countermeasures (such as evasive maneuvers and infrared jamming devices).
A disadvantage of this type of prior-art system is their succeptability to noise, since the initial irradiance signal measurement is measured at a long range (when the two objects are some distance away from each other, and the signal is weak) is used throughout the computation of the TTI, making the calculations inaccurate. In fact, a major deficiency of prior-art irradiance-based passive sensor systems is that they either completely ignore or inadequately compensate for the adverse effects of noise. Noise can cause significant accuracy problems in the TTI determination.
Therefore, what are needed are a system and a method for TTI determination using an irradiance-based passive sensor system that recognizes, addresses, and adequately compensates for the adverse effects of noise, thereby increasing the accuracy and efficiency of the TTI determination.
To overcome the limitations in the prior art as described above and other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the present invention includes a method and a system for accurately determining a closing time (or time-to-intercept) between a radiation source and an object. The present invention utilizes a plurality of features to reduce the noise present in the time-to-intercept computation and thus improve the accuracy of the time-to-intercept determination while still remaining relatively inexpensive and simple.
In a preferred embodiment, the invention includes a method for time-to-intercept determination that includes computing the time-to-intercept using at least three irradiance values of a radiation source and reducing noise in this computation by employing a variety of measures. For example, noise present in the irradiance data is monitored to eliminate the use of any excessively noisy data in the computation of the time-to-intercept. Preferably this is accomplished by computing a signal-to-noise ratio value for each irradiance value and comparing this value to a threshold signal-to-noise ratio value. Any signal-to-noise ratio values that do not meet this threshold criteria are rejected; only those irradiance values within an acceptable noise tolerance (threshold) are used in the time-to-intercept computation. This noise reduction helps improve the accuracy of the time-to-intercept calculation.
The method also includes an averaging feature that further enhances accuracy. For example, a minimum time interval is defined by the resolution of the computing device, to prevent singularities and to minimize sample-data noise in the time-to-intercept computation. The time interval between irradiance values having acceptable noise levels is determined. If this time interval is less than the minimum time interval this irradiance data is not directly used in the time-to-intercept computation. Instead, the irradiance data is averaged over the time interval thus providing additional noise suppression and improved accuracy in the time-to-intercept computation.
The time-to-intercept computation is constantly updated by using irradiance data that is advanced in time. This updating means that the previous time-to-intercept computation is replaced with an updated time-to-intercept computation that was computed using irradiance data taken later in time. Since interception is preceeded by closing distance, and since signal strength naturally increases significantly as distance decreases, this updating significantly enhances signal-to-noise ratio, which improves TTI accuracy. without updating, as in prior art schemes, computations are based on initial observations made when the radiation source (such as a missile) is first detected at long range and the signal is just at the acceptable level, hence the noise in the irradiance data is typically still high and the accuracy of the time-to-intercept computed using this data is accordingly low. By constantly updating the computation using irradiance data of the missile as it comes closer, the accuracy of computation is markedly improved.
The time-to-intercept is computed using equations that relate the irradiance values to the time-to-intercept. In addition, the computation uses signal-strength normalization in order to remove the effects of radiation source size (or absolute signal strength). Normalization is based upon assumptions of whether the closing rate follows a constant acceleration or a constant velocity trajectory. Equations for both constant acceleration and constant velocity assumptions have been developed.
The method can signal a warning system when a predetermined time-to-intercept is reached, which takes full advantage of the aforesaid updating process. The likelihood of false trigging, another aspect of TTI accuracy, is reduced, because the accuracy of the time-to-intercept determination is improved by the present invention. It is desirable that the warning system be triggered at a specific time-to-intercept, so that it can cue a prearranged response. For example, if a missile is approaching an aircraft and the time-to-intercept reaches a predetermined time, the warning system can cue the aircraft to release flares or other engage other protective anti-missile techniques at a time of optimum effectiveness. By releasing flares only when they are effective and necessary, limited countermeasure resources can be conserved so the usefulness of the countermeasure system can be extended.
Other features of the invention also improve the accuracy of the invention. For example, filtering of the irradiance data prior to use by the invention helps improve the accuracy of the incoming data and eliminate any extraneous signals. In addition, this filtering can be included in the detection system and can be a continuous filtering. This invention works with irradiance data that is provided as a continuous data stream, as a periodically-sampled data set, or as an aperiodically-sampled data set.
The method of the present invention can be implemented in a system for time-to-intercept determination. This system includes a detection system for providing irradiance data, a timing device for providing timing data, a time-to-intercept processor for providing time-to-intercept data, and a warning system for triggering countermeasures and warning the pilot of impending danger.
The time-to-intercept processor of the present invention includes an input module for receiving and filtering data, a noise threshold module for further reducing noise in the data, and an averaging module for averaging the data over a time interval. In addition, the processor includes a calculation module for calculating the time-to-intercept, and an update module for constantly updating the time-to-intercept using irradiance data that is advanced in time together with clock data to interpolate time-to-intercept between the times of irradiance measurements.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention as well as a more complete understanding thereof will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention. Moreover, it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited by the claims and not the preceding summary or the following detailed description.

System and method for time-to-intercept determination


To test the integrity of waterproof casings for cameras and like apparatus to be used underwater, a casing with a detector is provided. The air inside the casing is pressurized and the detector indicates leakage based on the difference between the pressurized air and atmospheric pressure. A decrease in pressure of the initial level of pressurized air implies leakage.

Airtight or waterproof cases are used to enclose cameras and other sensitive apparatus to protect them from their operating environment external thereto which may have moisture, dust, gases and other harmful elements. Cases may suffer from manufacturing defects and may consequently leak.
Detection of leaks in supposedly waterproof casings has been conventionally attempted by detecting the presence of moisture. Schwomma (U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,580) is a representative example. Not only are moisture detectors difficult and expensive to build and maintain, the detection of moisture comes often too late (e.g. moisture has already entered the casing).
As well, detection of leaks has been conventionally attempted by observing changes in the air pressure inside the casing after artificially increasing it. Hayakawa (U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,031) is a representative example. One defect of such attempts is that the means for increasing the air pressure and detecting changes, is itself a potential source of leakage in addition to possible leakage in the cases. For example, after using the Hayakawa device to test the integrity of the cases, it is neither clear that the "self-closing" seal will maintain its integrity nor how to test for that post-testing integrity.

c/o Bonica Precision (Canada) Inc., 201-2691 Viscount Way


A solid-state image pickup device includes a voltage supply circuit configured to supply a voltage to load MOS transistors provided to vertical output lines and columnar signal-processing circuits. The voltage supply circuit includes a first amplifier circuit configured to amplify a predetermined voltage supplied to an input part thereof from a voltage generator and to output an amplified voltage to a voltage supply wire, and a sample-and-hold circuit including a sampling switch provided on a path between the voltage generator and the input part and a hold capacitor configured to hold the voltage sampled by the sampling switch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solid-state image pickup devices, and more specifically to a technique of reducing noise occurring when reading is performed by a columnar signal-processing circuit provided for each pixel column of a solid-state image pickup device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known amplifier solid-state image pickup devices include amplifier transistors provided in pixels thereof. Each amplifier transistor receives at a control electrode thereof a charge generated by a photoelectric converter, amplifies the charge, and outputs the amplified charge as a signal to a vertical output line, which is provided for each pixel column.
In some cases, vertical output lines are provided with columnar signal-processing circuits that process signals. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-051989 discloses an exemplary configuration in which each columnar signal-processing circuit includes an amplifier circuit and a correlated-double-sampling (CDS) circuit. In this configuration, noise is reduced by inputting, to a differential amplifier, noise signals sequentially output from the columnar signal-processing circuits and signal components on which the noise signals are superimposed.
In CDS processing, a noise signal and a signal in which the noise signal is superimposed on an optical signal are sequentially sampled, and the difference between the two signals is calculated, whereby a signal in which the noise component is reduced is output. The circuit type varies with the finite difference method used, and the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-051989 is only exemplary.
In the foregoing case where the pixels include amplifier transistors, the columnar signal-processing circuits are often configured to operate as followers. To make the columnar signal-processing circuits to operate as followers, a constant current needs to be supplied to the amplifier transistors. In this respect, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-036916 discloses another exemplary configuration in which a constant current is supplied by providing each vertical output line with a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor configured to supply a constant current, i.e., a load MOS transistor.
The gates of the load MOS transistors provided for the respective vertical output lines are connected to a common wire. A constant voltage is supplied from a voltage supply circuit to the gates so that a desired constant current can be supplied thereto.
Referring to FIG. 6, the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-036916 including the voltage supply circuit and the load MOS transistors provided for the vertical output lines will be described.
A unit pixel 600 includes an amplifier transistor. A constant current is supplied from a load MOS transistor 602 via a vertical output line 601 to the amplifier transistor of the pixel 600. A voltage is supplied to the gate of the load MOS transistor 602 via a voltage supply wire 603. The gate and the drain of a MOS transistor 604a are connected to the voltage supply wire 603. A constant current source 604b supplies a constant current to the MOS transistor 604a. The MOS transistor 604a and the constant current source 604b constitute a voltage supply circuit 604. The load MOS transistor 602, the MOS transistor 604a, and the constant current source 604b constitute a current mirror circuit.
In this configuration, image quality may be deteriorated because of noise generated by a mechanism described below.
Noise generation in the configuration shown in FIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 7, which is a conceptual diagram showing operation timings in CDS processing. The horizontal axis represents time. The curve V603 represents the potential of the voltage supply wire 603. If the symbol "N" is used to denote a noise signal, and if the symbol "S" is used to denote a signal generated by photoelectric conversion, then FIG. 7 shows the respective timings at which the N signal and the S+N signal are sampled by a CDS circuit. For example, in the case of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-051989, hold capacitors 23 and 24 shown in FIG. 1 thereof hold signals at such timings.
Referring to FIG. 7, an examination by the present inventors has revealed that the potential of the voltage supply wire 603 shows temporal changes. This is because of noise generated by a voltage generator of the voltage supply circuit 604.
The voltage supply circuit 604 includes the transistor 604a. It is generally known that, when a transistor circuit operates, the transistor circuit generates so-called 1/f noise, whose power spectrum is proportional to the reciprocal of a frequency f, and so-called thermal noise, whose power spectrum is constant with respect to the frequency and is proportional to the output resistance. These kinds of noise cause the temporal changes in the potential of the voltage supply wire 603.
In the operation of a solid-state image pickup device, the time lag between N signal sampling and S+N signal sampling is usually about several microseconds. The frequency band of the noise described above is a band of about several thousand kilohertz. Let us suppose that the thermal noise component in the band of several thousand kilohertz ranges from a few tens of microvolts to several hundred microvolts. Even if the potential of the voltage supply wire is designed to be 800 mV, for example, the temporal change caused by the noise in the frequency band of several thousand kilohertz ranges from a few tens of microvolts to several hundred microvolts, with the average potential of 800 mV at the center of the range.
Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 7, the potential of the voltage supply wire 603 at time T1 when the N signal is sampled differs from the potential of the voltage supply wire 603 at time T2 when the S+N signal is sampled, by a level equivalent to the aforementioned range. Moreover, the potential randomly changes at every sampling. As the potential of the voltage supply wire 603 increases, the current of the load MOS transistor 602 also increases, and accordingly the output of a source-follower circuit constituted by the amplifier transistor, which is a MOS transistor, and the load MOS transistor 602 increases. Because the transistors in this case are assumed to be negative-channel MOS (NMOS) transistors, an increase in the output of the source-follower circuit means a decrease in the source potential. The relationship between the change in the amperage flowing through the load MOS transistor 602 and the gate potential is also described on the assumption that the transistors are NMOS transistors.
It is desirable that the difference between the potential of the vertical output line at the time of N signal sampling and the potential of the vertical output line at the time of S+N signal sampling becomes equal to the signal amount excluding the noise component. However, for the reason described above, a randomly changing voltage is sometimes superimposed on a signal that has undergone CDS processing. Such noise is generated separately from pixel noise attributed to the pixel, and is hereinafter called "horizontal noise."
It is known that, in an amplifier solid-state image pickup device including two-dimensionally arranged pixels, signals of the pixels are read in time series by a vertical scanning circuit for each group of pixels included in a single row of the pixel array at a time. Therefore, the above-described noise component randomly varies with pixel row. Accordingly, such a noise component, which varies from row to row, appears in a display image as a change in the image level for each horizontal row.
A restricting factor that makes it difficult to reduce the noise of the voltage generator included in the voltage supply circuit 604 shown in FIG. 6 will be described.
It is desirable to set the conductance of the load MOS transistor 602 to a small value. This is because the variation in the constant current can be made smaller than the variation among the threshold voltages of the respective load MOS transistors 602. Specifically, when the gate length and the gate width of the load MOS transistor 602 are denoted by L and W, respectively, it is only necessary to make W/L small by setting a large value for L. In this case, if the MOS transistor 604a is made to be of the same size as the load MOS transistor 602, the output resistance of the voltage supply circuit 604 becomes large. This increases the noise in the several thousand kilohertz band. To reduce the output resistance of the voltage supply circuit 604, the number of MOS transistors 604a that are connected in parallel can be increased. Such a configuration, however, requires an increase in the amperage of the current of the constant current source 604b in correspondence with the number of transistors 604a to be connected in parallel. Considering the current consumption, the number of transistors 604a to be connected in parallel cannot be increased easily.
The above description concerns a mechanism of generation of horizontal noise due to changes in the gate potential of a load MOS transistor configured to supply a current to an amplifier transistor included in a pixel. More generally speaking, the mechanism can be applied to a case where a common voltage is supplied to columnar circuits each provided for a single column or a group of columns, such as signal-processing circuits connected to respective pixel columns. This means that, if a change in the potential of the voltage supply wire changes the level of a signal that is processed by the signal-processing circuit, there is a possibility that a mechanism similar to the one described above causes horizontal noise. For example, in a case of an amplifier circuit, functioning as a signal-processing circuit, configured to amplify a pixel signal, a change in the potential of the voltage supply wire via which a reference voltage is supplied to the amplifier circuit may also cause horizontal noise.
To summarize, a known amplifier solid-state image pickup device in which CDS processing is performed has a problem in that the noise of a voltage supply circuit configured to supply a voltage to a reading circuit may cause horizontal noise. Particularly, it is difficult to reduce the noises of the voltage supply circuit and a voltage supply wire connected to the gates of load MOS transistors provided to vertical output lines.


A multi-functional, multi-compositional cosmetic applicator includes an application surface in liquid communication with a reservoir. The reservoir includes a first personal care composition and a second personal care composition stored therein, and the applicator is actuatable between a first and second functional configuration wherein the application surface of the applicator exhibits a first frictional force when in the first functional configuration and a second frictional force that is less than the first frictional force when in the second functional configuration. The applicator includes an actuatable delivery system that allows a user to selectively dispense the first and second compositions.

Personal care products are available in a wide variety of packages, including bottles, jars, tubes, and cans. However, there are relatively few personal care products on the market that include built-in applicators wherein a personal care product (e.g., liquid make-up) flows through the applicator to an applicator surface. Some products on the market, such as certain deodorants, employ a roller-ball applicator technique to deliver product. But other personal care products such as cosmetics foundations and lotions are traditionally dispensed out of a container into the hand, a sponge, or some other stand-alone applicator and then applied to the desired bodily surface. Such application methods may be unsanitary, wasteful, and/or messy, and may lead to undesirable post-application cleaning (e.g., hand washing or applicator rinsing).
Conventional applicators are typically not suitable for desirably applying personal care compositions such as cosmetic foundations or lotions to the entire face or other bodily surface. For example, at least some conventional applicators have a relatively wide applicator surface suitable for applying a composition onto the larger areas of the face such as the cheeks and forehead, but not onto smaller skin areas such as the area between the lips and nose. The applicator surface of a conventional applicator is typically not configured to enable a user to change the shape of the applicator surface and facilitate application of the personal care product to the "hard-to-reach" areas of the face and/or other portions of the body.
Further, the applicator surface of a conventional applicator is typically fixed. That is, the position of the applicator surface relative to the rest of the applicator is not intended to be changed. This is problematic because the difference in facial features from one user to another may cause varying pressure to be applied to portions of the applicator surface as it moves across the skin, which in turn may result in the uneven distribution of the composition to the target surface.
Another drawback of conventional applicators is that they are typically configured to apply only a single composition such as, for example, makeup or skin care product, or perform only a single task. Certain features of the applicator surface such as smoothness, roughness, hardness, softness, rigidity, flexibility, effusivity, abrasiveness, tackiness, etc. are tailored to facilitate the application of the single composition or performance of the single task. Prior to the application of a personal care composition (e.g., liquid foundation) to a bodily surface such as the face, is not uncommon for a user to first clean the surface where the composition is to be applied. The user's cleaning regimen may include, for example, scrubbing and/or exfoliating the target skin area to provide a smooth, clean surface for makeup application. It is well known that cleaning and/or exfoliating the skin typically involves the use of a utensil and/or composition that interacts abrasively with the skin surface. For example, some users may use a wet washcloth in combination with a mildly abrasive skin cleanser to provide the desired cleaning experience. But when applying the personal care composition, at least some users desire an applicator with a smooth surface, which may provide a comfortable feeling against the skin and/or may provide the perception of a more even application of the personal care composition. Thus, there is a need for a single utensil that can apply more than one composition and perform more than one task, for example, a utensil that can prepare a target area for application of a composition and then apply the composition.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a cosmetic applicator that delivers more than one composition to a target surface and can perform two or more different functions. It would further be desirable to provide an applicator that can apply a composition to a surface that includes a variety of surface features. It would also be desirable to provide a cosmetic applicator that includes a surface capable of changing its position relative to one or more other portions of the applicator.


An improved probe card with connector includes a probe card and a detachable ring plate that includes at least one RF coaxial connector. The ring plate is secured to the probe card, via at least one stud. To secure the stud to the ring plate and the probe card, a screw or the like may be used. The RF coaxial connector on the ring plate is electrically connected, via a coaxial cable, to a coaxial connector which is positioned on the surface of the probe card.

In recent years, with the advancements in semiconductor devices to be tested, there is an increasing demand for improvements in the performance of semiconductor test systems. Specifically, there is a need for test systems that can operate at frequencies in the RF band range (i.e., RF test signals) and perform even higher precision testing.
Conventional semi-conductor test systems generally include a test head which provides an interface between a mainframe of a testing equipment and a device under test (DUT), as well as a prober which makes positioning of the DUT. Usually, within the test head, a DUT board having a plurality of conductive pads is mounted onto the connecting surface to the prober for the electrical connection to the mainframe of the testing equipment. On the other hand, on the upper surface of the prober (the connecting surface to the test head) is mounted a connection ring through which a plurality of pogo pins pierce. A probe card having contact needles for probing the DUT is mounted on the prober side of the connection ring. The probe card is also equipped with a plurality of electrically conductive pads through which the probe card is electrically connected to the pogo pins of the connection ring.
The wafer on which the DUT is fabricated is normally located on the top of a prober chuck (wafer table). On testing, the test head and the prober are docked together, during which the pogo pins of the connection ring are compressed onto the electrically conductive pads which are arranged at predetermined places on the DUT board. In addition, the operation of the prober chuck causes the wafer to move to a position where the contact needle of the probe card makes contact with the DUT on the wafer. In this way, the test device and the DUT are electrically connected. That is to say, a reliable electrical connection can be made by using the method of pressing pogo pins against conductive pads, without utilizing a connector which has a latching mechanism such as engagement by snapping in or a screw like the SMB connector, the SMA connector or the like. The above arrangement has been indispensable in performing tests in which connection and disconnection between the test head and the prober are repeated automatically and successively.
When performing tests with DC signals and low frequency signals in a semi-conductor testing system, the testing accuracy can be maintained even with the above connection method. However, when handling RF band signals, the use of the pogo pins causes a reduction of frequency-response characteristic due to reflection loss and so forth. Accordingly, when handling RF band signals, an RF coaxial connector must be used for such connection. As is shown in FIG. 4 of the present application, RF coaxial connectors are assembled directly onto the probe card, and the operator must manually connect the connectors and the RF coaxial connectors on the test head side one by one. With this approach, a full automatic connection of the test head and the prober is impossible to accomplish, and intervention by the operator is required at the time of connection and disconnection. This causes a significant decrease in the test throughput.
Furthermore, the conventional connector is directly assembled to the conventional probe card, as shown in FIG. 4. Even when only one of the connectors breaks or becomes defective, replacement of the entire probe card or replacement of the broken connector is necessary. The replacement of the entire probe card is cost prohibitive; and the replacement of a broken connector is difficult because the connector is directly assembled to the probe card.
As shown in FIG. 6, in order to dock the test head with the prober, a hinge mechanism 603 is employed to link a test head 601 to a prober 602. However, automatic connection by way of a coaxial connector for RF band signals may not work properly. That is to say, at the moment the connector of the test head side is coupled to the connector of the prober side, if the connection surfaces are not parallel, then the central axes of the connectors of both sides are not aligned, resulting that these connectors may not connect smoothly.
One approach to remedy the above connection problem is through the use of a floating mount apparatus for the coaxial connector that is disclosed in a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/932,762 by the applicants entitled "Floating Mount Apparatus For Coaxial Connector," which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-section of such a floating mount apparatus. That is, the central axis of the connector on the prober side tilts on connection with the central axis of test head by way of the free movement in any direction of the connector on the prober side, allowing appropriate tilt of the central axis.
However, when the floating mount apparatus of the coaxial connector is directly mounted onto the probe card, a protrusion in the form of a flange nut 506 (FIG. 5) extends outwards from the wafer side of the probe card and, thus, interferes with the wafer. It is also difficult to maintain coaxial structure in the connection to a pattern of the connectors on the probe card from the connectors on the test head side. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new arrangement which can have the floating mechanism mounted onto the probe card without interfering with the wafer and can maintain a coaxial structure even in the connecting section to the trace on the probe card.
Another problem with such test systems is associated with the variation of the stroke of the probe chuck lifting depending on the models of probers. When a connection ring suited for one model of probers is used with some other model, even if the probe chuck of the other model is raised to its maximum height, the DUT still may not be able to reach the probe card. In this case, a new connection ring that matches the chuck lifting stroke of the other model of probers must be designed and manufactured. This causes the production cost of the connection ring to increase.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to remedy the problems of the aforementioned prior art in the probe card.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved probe card with an RF coaxial connector which can be used to perform full automatic connection with the connector of the test head.
Another object of the invention is to provide a probe card apparatus that has the ability to improve the throughput of the test system.


A differential assembly which has a split spacer assembly. The spacer assembly aligns a drive member with a coupler member. The coupler member may be attached to a drive wheel axle. The drive member may be coupled to a case which has an outer ring gear. The ring gear may be coupled to a drive shaft. The split spacer assembly includes a first spacer part that is attached to the coupler member and a second spacer part that is coupled to the drive member and the first spacer part. The split spacer provides clear access for machining the teeth on the coupler members with rotary cutters, and allows the design of thicker drive members for maximum structural integrity while allowing the positioning of the C clip retaining the axle as required by the particular preexisting differential.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to differential assemblies for vehicles such as automobiles.
2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Automobiles include differential assemblies to compensate for different wheel speeds when the vehicle moves in a non-linear path. For example, when an automobile is turning to the left or right, the radially inward wheels rotate at a speed that is lower than the speed of the outer wheels. The differential assembly allows different rotational speeds of the drive wheels when the vehicle is in a turn.
There have been developed various types of differential member assemblies including a product sold by Vehicular Technologies, Inc. of Costa Mesa, Calif. under the trademark "Performance Locker" for improving traction. The Performance Locker automatic positive-locking differential fits within a differential case and couples to the drive axles of the vehicle, the differential case having a ring member fastened thereto driven in rotation by a pinion member on the drive shaft of the vehicle. The Performance Locker differential includes a pair of drive members that engage a pair of coupler members through facing, inclined teeth. The coupler members are attached to the wheel axles. The drive members are coupled for rotation by the differential case by the differential pinion pin. Rotation of the vehicle drive shaft is translated to the wheel axles through the ring gear, case, pinion pin, drive members and mating coupler members.
The pinion pin loosely fits within a pair of grooves in the side of each drive member opposite the inclined teeth. The grooves have inclined sides, with a width that is greater than the diameter of the pinion pin. When the vehicle is being powered or braked by the vehicle engine, the pinion pin will be rotated about an axis perpendicular to the axis of the pinion pin to engage and drive one, or both (particularly when the drive wheels of the vehicle are on a slippery or soft surface) drive members to transfer the torque of the drive member to the respective coupler member. When the vehicle proceeds around a curve, one of the drive wheels rotates at a different speed than the other wheel. The different speed initially causes the drive member associated with the faster wheel, if the engine is powering the vehicle, or the slower wheel if the engine is retarding the vehicle, to rotate away from contact with the pinion pin. This allows the drive member to move axially away from the respective coupler member if so encouraged.
The drive and coupler members each have inclined teeth on the adjacent faces thereof. When the edges of the grooves in a drive member move away from the pinion pin within the limit of rotation of one drive member with respect to the other drive member, the drive member teeth climb and slide over the respective coupler member teeth so that the wheels can rotate at different speeds. Springs in the assembly bias each drive member into full engagement with the respective coupler member when the teeth on the drive member and coupler member realign.
Each coupler member may be attached to a respective drive wheel axle by a C clip. Each coupler member may have an annular lip that supports the C clip. The annular lip can extend away from the face of the coupler member a distance that is greater than the height of the coupler teeth. The existence of the annular lip increases the complexity and the cost of manufacture of the coupler members because it potentially interferes with use of rotary cutters cutting the coupler teeth. Also to the extent that the annular lip extends away from the face of the coupler member a distance that is greater than the height of the coupler teeth, clearance must be provided in the face of the drive members for the protrusion on the coupler member to pass during assembly, weakening the drive members and reducing their reliability. Therefore it would be desirable to provide a differential assembly that has a greater strength and lower production cost than the assembly described in the background of this application.

Split spacer for a differential assembly


A method for correcting data collected with a neutron emitting instrument, includes: obtaining characterization data for the instrument, the characterization data including inelastic background data of the instrument; and correcting the collected data according to the characterization data. A computer program product and an instrument are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed herein relates to nuclear instrumentation and, in particular, to a neutron instrument useful for geologic evaluations.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the quest for petrochemical materials, such as oil and gas, many techniques are used to evaluate sub-surface materials. Typically, the sub-surface materials are evaluated by drilling boreholes into the earth and performing measurements with various instruments. Performing measurements is commonly referred to as "well logging."
Well logging is a technique used to take measurement properties of the sub-surface materials from the boreholes. In one embodiment, a "logging instrument" is lowered on the end of a wireline into a borehole. The logging instrument sends data via the wireline to the surface for recording. In some other embodiments, logging is performed while drilling, by use of instrumentation included within a drill string.
Measuring naturally occurring gamma radiation (or gamma rays) is one way to determine characteristics of the sub-surface materials. Accordingly, a gamma radiation detector may be used as a component of the logging instrument.
Gamma rays may be emitted from various sub-surface materials. For example, gamma rays may be emitted from the various formation layers and from borehole materials such as mud. In particular, the mud may contain natural emitters of gamma radiation, such as potassium. As the gamma radiation detector moves along the borehole, gamma rays from the various sources may enter the gamma radiation detector and be detected.
The gamma radiation detector may be used to estimate the energy of each gamma ray entering the detector. The gamma ray energy levels may be used to create gamma ray energy spectra. The gamma ray energy spectra reflect types and quantities of elements (referred to as elemental yields upon separation) in the formation layers and the borehole materials.
Other techniques may take advantage of measurements of gamma rays. For example, a neutron source may be used to activate the various sub-surface materials in the environment of and surrounding the borehole. Neutron activation results in additional gamma-ray emissions. Accordingly, neutron activation of sub-surface materials is useful for generating additional data descriptive of the sub-surface materials.
One instrument useful for performing neutron activation and activation analyses is the FLEXSM instrument, commercially available from Baker Hughes Incorporated, of Houston Tex. With the FLEX instrument, in general, a pulse of neutrons is used to activate nuclei of sub-surface materials. The neutrons interact with the nuclei, which may emit characteristic gamma rays, for the most part through one of two processes, neutron inelastic scattering, and neutron capture. The gamma rays from the neutron inelastic scattering occur during, or very soon after, the pulse of neutrons. The gamma rays resulting from the neutron capture events are typically delayed. The gamma rays may be detected with various gamma radiation detectors.
The gamma rays resulting from neutron inelastic interactions are used to create "inelastic gamma ray" energy spectra while delayed gamma rays emissions generally provide "capture gamma ray" energy spectra. Data from the two types of gamma ray energy spectra are used to deduce the elemental yields of the surrounding sub-surface materials.
Unfortunately, a significant number of background gamma rays are generated from the matter within the instrument itself. These background gamma rays interfere with the collection of data signals from the sub-surface materials. Although background gamma rays resulting from neutron capture can be reduced by applying a material, such as boron, to the outside of the housing of the instrument to prevent outside thermal neutron interacting with tool materials, no known material exists for the absorption of fast neutrons that interact with tool materials. Consequently, analysis of gamma ray spectra associated with neutron inelastic scattering becomes more difficult to analyze.
What are needed are techniques for correcting measurements of gamma radiation emitted from sub-surface materials, where the gamma radiation is produced by neutron inelastic scattering. In particular, the techniques are needed to compensate for gamma radiation resulting from interfering signals, such as gamma rays from within the survey instrument itself.

Inelastic background correction for a pulsed-neutron instrument