Provided is a diagnosis method of appropriately recognizing a state of a rolling surface of a track member of a rolling guide device or a lubrication state of rolling elements using a sensor mounted to the rolling guide device. The diagnosis method is applied to a rolling guide device including: a track member having a rolling surface extending along a longitudinal direction of the track member; and a moving member, which is assembled to the track member through intermediation of a plurality of rolling elements configured to roll on the rolling surface so that the moving member is movable along the track member, and has an endless circulation path for the rolling elements. The diagnosis method includes: detecting a moving speed of the moving member relative to the track member while detecting relative vibration displacement of the moving member relative to the track member using a vibration sensor mounted to the moving member; and diagnosing a running state of the moving member relative to the track member based on those detection results.

Hitherto, a rolling guide device of this type includes a track member and a moving member. The track member has a rolling surface for rolling elements, which extends along a longitudinal direction of the track member. The moving member is assembled to the track member through intermediation of a plurality of rolling elements which roll on the rolling surface, and is reciprocable along the track member. The moving member has a load rolling surface on which the rolling elements roll while bearing a load. The load rolling surface is opposed to the rolling surface of the track member to define a load path for the rolling elements. Further, the moving member has no-load paths for allowing the rolling elements to circulate from one end to another end of the load path. The load path and the no-load paths are continuous with one another to define an endless circulation path for the rolling elements. With such a configuration, the moving member is movable along the track member without being limited in stroke thereof.
A product lifetime of the rolling guide device mainly depends on fatigue in the rolling surface of the track member or the load rolling surface of the moving member. However, when the rolling surface and the load rolling surface as well as the rolling elements such as balls or rollers which roll thereon are not appropriately lubricated with lubricant, flaking of the rolling surface or the load rolling surface may occur early, with the result that the product lifetime of the rolling guide device is shortened. Further, rolling resistance of the rolling elements may increase, with the result that there is a fear in that, for example, acceleration of a table in motion, which is movably supported by the rolling guide device, is degraded, that is, the rolling guide device cannot exert its original performance.
Meanwhile, the rolling guide device is applicable to various uses, and a lubrication state of the rolling surface or other part is inevitably affected by, for example, a use environment and an applied load depending on the use (hereinafter referred to as "use condition"). Thus, in order to allow the rolling guide device to exert its original performance and fulfill its product lifetime, it is desired that an operation condition of the rolling guide device be continuously detected by various sensors, to thereby allow recognition of the state of the rolling guide device, which is varied from hour to hour, based on the detected contents. Further, it is desired that supply of the lubricant be controlled based on the recognized state, and that an operation of an industrial machine having the rolling guide device incorporated therein may be controlled as needed.
In Patent Literature 1, there is disclosed an example in which a sensor configured to detect presence of lubricant on the track member is mounted to the moving member. However, the sensor is mounted on an outer side of the moving member. Thus, even though the fact of whether or not the lubricant adheres to the track member can be checked, a lubrication state and a circulation state of the rolling elements in the endless circulation path of the moving member cannot be directly recognized.

Method for diagnosing state of rolling guide device


Disclosed in this invention are transistors which contain substrates that are made of liquid crystalline polymers. Such substrates are compatible with semiconducting layers especially organic semiconducting layers. This enables one to prepare all organic transistors.

Transistors are widely used components in devices and articles such as, for example, liquid crystal display devices ("LCDs"), Notebook Personal Computers (PCs), calculators, watches, liquid crystal color TVs, toys, word processors, and the like. There are several kinds of transistors such as, for example, Field Effect Transistors ("FETs"), Thin Film Transistors ("TFTs"), and the like. However, they all generally have three main elements in them: However, they all generally have three main elements in them: a substrate, a semiconductor (or semiconducting) layer and electrodes attached to the semiconducting layer.
In a common construction of a TFT/FET, the substrate, which is typically a single crystalline silicon wafer is coated with an insulating layer, typically silicon dioxide grown directly on the silicon. Generally two electrodes (the source and drain electrodes) are attached to the insulating layer. The silicon crystal acts as the gate electrode by being appropriately attached via a conducting paste to the silicon. The semiconductor layer is deposited on the insulator. Generally the semiconducting material is inorganic.
While transistors built on silicon and similar substrates have enjoyed much commercial success, there has been a perceptible move toward other substrates recently. Typically the silicon-based transistors are rigid and not flexible since they are built on rigid substrates. Therefore, where a flexible device is desired, the silicon based transistors have less utility. There are problems associated with breaking, delamination and the like. A typical example is a smart card. Smart cards are currently manufactured with silicon-based semiconductors and require substantial protection from abuse, bent, damaging of functionalities on the card and the like, thus adding significant cost to manufacture them. A flexible substrate like an organic substrate will be of substantial benefit to such devices. This is true of many toys, miniature or space saving electronic gadgets and the like.
Furthermore, orientation of the substrate is important when using thin film semiconducting materials. This is particularly true when using organic semiconducting materials (see below). The orientation of the semiconductor lo layer depends on the orientation of the substrate. In order for the semiconductor to become oriented, the substrate has to be a nearly defect free single crystal since even slight defects affect the orientation of the semiconductor layer. Otherwise expensive and generally low yielding thermal annealing process has to be used.
Attempts have been made to use organic semiconductor materials on silicon. H. Akimichi et al, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 58 (14), 1500 (1991) describe FETs containing alkyl substituted oligothiophenes as the semiconducting material. A. Dodabalapur et al, Science, Vol. 268, 270 (1995) describe organic transistors containing the oligomer, .alpha.-hexathienylene (".alpha.-6T"), as the semiconductor. F. Garnier et al, Science, Vol. 265, 1684 (1994) describe FETs containing .alpha.,.omega.-di(hexyl)sexithiophene as the semiconductor material.
However, there are other problems that occur when one uses an organic semiconductor on an inorganic substrate. The bonding between the two layers is less than desirable limiting the utility of the device. Without strong chemical interaction between the substrate and the semiconducting material, it is very difficult to deposit crystalline thin films. Organic substrates are therefore preferred for organic semiconducting materials. In the case of inorganic semiconducting materials, such as silicon-based semiconductors, generally annealing procedures are used, especially for manufacturing liquid crystal display devices ("LCDs") (such as, for example, the active matrix devices and super twisted nematic devices) because of relatively high lattice energies of such substrate materials. However, the annealing processes require over 1000.degree. C. temperatures. The use of suitable organic substrates may permit the omission of such annealing step. Furthermore, In general, due to the low lattice energies associated with many organic semiconducting materials, annealing processes do not work properly, thus resulting in low manufacturing yields. It will, therefore, be useful if suitable organic substrates are available that are sufficiently transparent, can be oriented and processed at low temperatures and thus be useful for transistor fabrication.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide transistors containing organic polymeric substrates that are transparent and can be oriented.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide devices containing transistors which contain organic polymeric substrates.
It is a further object of this invention to provide transistors containing organic polymeric substrates and organic semiconductors.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide oriented organic polymeric substrates with substantially reduced defects for transistor applications.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention shall become apparent from the accompanying summary, drawings and description.

Transistors incorporating substrates comprising liquid crystal polymers


The invention relates to a method for compensating channel errors in digital data communication in a signal in sampled data form. The method evaluates the phase error of the examined sample on the basis of the phase errors of at least two preceding samples, the estimate being used to compensate the phase error of the examined sample (y.sub.m (n)).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for compensating channel errors in digital data communication of a signal in sampled data form, such as errors, phase noise and frequency offset caused by multipath propagation in a digital data communication system, especially an OFDM system (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing).
2. Discussion of Related Prior Art
In this disclosure channel stands for a transmission path used in data transmission, which usually is a radiopath in wireless data transmission systems.
In wireless airborne data transmission, the signal will always be distorted to some extent in practice when passing from the transmitter to the receiver. Distortions are caused among other things by buildings, woods and meteorological variations. Moreover, as the receiver and/or the transmitter moves, the conditions will change constantly, thus affecting flawless signal reception. In practice, a signal reaches the receiver along a number of paths, and thus the distances covered by the signals following different paths will not be equally long, generating phase and amplitude differences between the signals. Imperfect oscillators also entail phase errors, for instance.
The OFDM system uses several subcarrier wave frequencies, allowing several signals to be transmitted at the same time. Each signal X.sub.m serves to modulate one subcarrier wave. The modulated subcarrier waves are combined and transformed into a mode suitable to be transmitted on the transmission path. In the receiver, demodulation is carried out, separating the transmitted signals to various receiving channels. One known OFDM modulator can be formed by using Inverse Discrete Fourier Transformation (IDFT), and accordingly, an OFDM demodulator can be formed with Discrete Fourier Transformation (DFT). FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of the OFDM system as a schematic block diagram. In FIG. 1 the channel block represents a transmission path, such as a radiopath, and then h(n) represents n transfer functions of the channel.
Prior art methods for compensating linear channel distortions are based on linear equalizers. In the OFDM system linear equalization is most frequently performed in the frequency domain owing to the nature of the OFDM system. Prior art methods are mainly based on minimizing the mean square error (MSE) of received and sent samples. To achieve this, adaptive algorithms are used, such as the least mean square (LMS) principle. Another option is to use a zero forcing (ZF) criterion in the frequency domain combined with a proportional algorithm (PA), which in practice provides faster convergence and also easier selection of the learning constant than adopting the MSE criterion in connection with an LMS algorithm.
Both the previously known methods mentioned above use the same type of method for compensating received and demultiplexed samples. The received samples are demultiplexed with Discrete Fourier Transformation (DFT), i.e. by transforming the received samples from time domain to the frequency domain, and subsequently the samples are multiplied with complex numbers, which are adjusted to the algorithm applied.
A known method that improves the compensation of constant phase errors uses minimum mean square error to estimate phase offset. This enables the frequency offset to be calculated and tuned to the oscillators.
The problem of LMS and PA algorithms is that when a small error is aimed at, the algorithms converge slowly. Then the algorithms are unable to follow fast variations in the channel characteristics. This causes problems especially regarding relatively long OFDM symbols, in which a phase change may be notable even during one single symbol duration.

Method for compensating channel errors in a digital data communication system


There are discolsed a pesticidal composition containing a water-insoluble alginate, which is prepared by treating a solid composition containing (a) a pesticidally active ingredient which is a pest-controlling active ingredient or a plant growth-regulating active ingredient and (b) an alginic acid or a water-soluble alginate with an aqueous solution containing a divalent or polyvalent cation which can convert said alginic acid or water-soluble alginate into a water-insoluble alginate. Also disclosed is a pesticidal composition containing a water-insoluble alginate, which is prepared by coating a solid substance containing the pesticidally active ingredient with a water-insoluble alginate. The composition of the invention has excellent sustained-release effects of the pesticidally active ingredient.

A variety of pesticides have been developed and used in many fields. Sustained release of a pesticidally active ingredient from a pesticidal composition into soil, water, or another specific environment allows sustainable effects of the pesticide on target pest and reduces the phytotoxicity of the composition on plants. Irrespective of wide researches and investigations, however, any method of realizing sufficient sustained release of a pesticidally active ingredient has not been found yet.

Sustained release, solid pesticidal compositions comprising water insoluble alginates


A lift device is provided which allows a surface-contacting feature to articulate. The device raises and lowers a squeegee regardless of its lateral location. An actuator arm is provided on one end of a pivot arm channel such that when the actuator arm fully extends it disengages from the one end of the pivot arm channel. An actuator cable remains in tension such that it may be raised or lowered regardless of whether the surface-contacting feature's lateral position.

Many industries use cleaning machines to clean a wide variety of surfaces. The sophistication of cleaning machines has evolved at a rapid pace over time. An older form of cleaning machine is the basic mop-and-bucket device, which still has viability in some contexts. However, such a device is labor-intensive and time consuming. Further, dirt cleaned from a surface accumulates in the bucket, rendering the mop-and-bucket device inefficient.
The next iteration of cleaning machine is the manually-propelled cleaning machine. This type of cleaning machine has an unspent treatment fluid reservoir and a spent treatment fluid reservoir, which solves the mop-and-bucket's problem of accumulated dirt. Also, a manually-propelled cleaning machine combines many aspects of cleaning a floor such that a user may clean a floor as he or she propels the cleaning machine forward. Thus, the manually-propelled cleaning machine is not as labor-intensive as the mop-and-bucket device. Yet, the user of a manually-propelled cleaning machine is still exerting effort to move the machine around.
Finally, the latest class of cleaning machine is the self-propelled cleaning machine, which can either be walk-behind or ride-on. The self-propulsion aspect of this type of cleaning machine offers an improvement over the more labor-intensive, manually-propelled type of cleaning machine. As a result, a self-propelled cleaning machine may clean larger surface areas more quickly.
A common component of the manually-propelled and self-propelled cleaning machines is the vacuum squeegee. The vacuum-enabled squeegee collects the spent treatment fluid and particulate matter on the floor and places them into a spent treatment fluid reservoir. The vacuum squeegee is usually affixed behind the cleaning machine such that it is the last component of the machine that contacts the surface. Usually, the vacuum squeegee is interconnected to a vacuum pump or fan in order to provide the suction necessary to remove spent treatment fluid and particulate matter off of the floor and into the spent treatment fluid reservoir.
One issue with vacuum squeegees is that they are somewhat delicate. For example, some vacuum squeegees may be damaged if the cleaning machine travels in reverse. To this point, U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,335 to Brown et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a hydraulic system which raises and lowers a vacuum squeegee. The hydraulic system will automatically raise the vacuum squeegee if the cleaning machine is traveling in reverse and lower the vacuum squeegee if the cleaning machine is traveling forward.
In a similar vein, vacuum squeegees may also be damaged by obstacles on the cleaning machine's path. A modern solution to this issue is to interconnect the vacuum squeegee to a lift device which raises and lowers the vacuum squeegee on the user's command. U.S. Pat. No. 7,448,114 to Basham et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, utilizes a lift device which comprises a lift cylinder, a pivot arm, and a cable. The lift cylinder actuates the pivot arm which is connected to the cable such that the cable raises and lowers the vacuum squeegee on the user's command.
A further issue with vacuum squeegees is performance-related. Namely, a squeegee which is in a fixed position against the floor, or even one that simply raises up and down, will miss collecting spent fluid and particulate matter when making a tight turn.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,533,435 to Pedlar et al., which is hereby incorporated by references in its entirety, discloses a device which allows a vacuum squeegee to swing out to either side of the cleaning machine as it cleaning machine executes a turn. The vacuum squeegee is interconnected to a linkage arm which is interconnected to the main body of the cleaning machine at a single point. Further, the vacuum squeegee is selectively interconnected to a roller track which allows the vacuum squeegee to swing to either side of the cleaning machine, pivoting in an arc about the point where the linkage arm interconnects to the main body of cleaning machine. When the cleaning machine turns, the friction between the vacuum squeegee and the floor pulls the vacuum squeegee to the side of the cleaning machine, and the vacuum squeegee collects more spent treatment fluid and particulate matter. However, this particular vacuum squeegee is located underneath the cleaning machine, not trailing behind. Thus, the raising and lifting capability of this particular invention is limited.
Beyond, the aforementioned references, cleaning machines still retain a litany of deficiencies. For example, some cleaning machines have a vacuum squeegee which is able to swing to either side of the cleaning machine as well a lift capability to raise and lower the vacuum squeegee. However, the squeegee must be directly behind the cleaning machine before it may be raised off of the floor. This deficiency prevents the cleaning machine from avoiding obstacles while making turns with the vacuum squeegee swung out to either side of the cleaning machine.


A manual swivel winch includes safe loading mechanism. The winch has a pair of spaced side plates, a rotating drum supported between the side plates, a drum gear coaxially mounted with the rotating drum, a pinion drive gear engaging and rotating the drum gear, and a lever supported by at least one side plate for rotating the pinion drive gear. The lever includes a selectable lever gearing assembly. The lever is selected to be operated in an initial tensioning mode for rotating the pinion drive gear, and in a final tensioning mode wherein the lever utilizes the lever gearing assembly to provide a mechanical advantage over the initial tensioning mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to manual marine winches. More specifically, the present invention relates to a compound handle providing a safety loading system for a manual marine swivel winch for barges.
2. Background Information
Winches have been used in many applications. Manual swivel and stationary marine winches have been widely used in barges, tow boats and the like. The use of barges, sometimes called lighters, to transport cargo is common in marine transportation. Barges may be used singly, or in groups generally referred to as barge trains or tows. A barge tow can have up to 40 barges therein (five wide and eight deep). The barges in a barge train carrying goods in harbors and along rivers are, usually, lashed tightly together through winches (located on opposite ends of or in the four corners of each barge) and associated cable lines, two or three (even up to five) abreast, with several successive rows of such barges in one barge train. Typically a manual swivel winch is pivotally attached to a D-ring on a barge boat deck and spools a towing cable on a rotating drum, whereas a stationary winch is welded or otherwise secured to the deck.
These marine winches must be quick and easy to use. Barge tows must be first assembled, and must disassembled for movement through locks, then reassembled on the opposite side of the locks. The marine winches are often exposed to an abrasive environment and can become immersed in coal, ore or other material being transported. Consequently, these winches also must have a sturdy construction. Examples of manual winches are sold by W. W. Patterson Company and Nashville Bridge Company. The most common type of manual winch includes a pivoting pawl, or dog, engaging a ratchet gear of a ratchet for the winch. The pawl prevents the unwinding of the reel during engagement of the pawl. W. W. Paterson manufactures a sturdy manual marine winch having an open bottom configuration that saves material and provides easy winch clean-up in U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,450 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Additionally, W. W. Patterson manufactures a sturdy manual marine winch that incorporates a safety load release mechanism improving the safety to the operator in U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,083 which is also incorporated herein by reference.
The '083 patent discloses one type of safe load release mechanism for the safety of the operators. There still is a need to address the loading operation of the winches. The loading at high tensions can provide some of the same type of dangers to the operator as the load releasing operation, particularly where additional leverage is used for loading. Additional leverage is often provided through a length (e.g. four feet) of pipe, also affectionately known as a "cheater bar", is placed over the loading lever to effectively increase the length of the loading lever. The mechanical advantage this provides is obvious. The increased in length creates additional concerns since even a small rotation of the drum, less than one gear tooth, will correspond to a noticeable movement in the end of the cheater bar. Further at high tension this can make such bar movement very rapid, such as might occur if the operator slips, or otherwise loses his grip.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a manual marine swivel winch which provides simple efficient safe loading operation. It is a further object to provide a system that can be easily retrofitted onto existing marine winches.

Manual marine winch with compound handle


A technique facilitates performance of seismic profiling, such as three-dimensional vertical seismic profiling. A downhole acquisition system is provided with acoustic receivers designed to receive acoustic source signals. The firing of acoustic source signals is synchronized with the downhole acquisition system. Additionally, the firing of two or more acoustic source signals is controlled to provide simultaneous or nearly simultaneous timing of one acoustic source signal with respect to another acoustic source signal. A processing system is used to acquire and process a data stream of the initial shot and a data stream of the additional shot occurring simultaneously or nearly simultaneously.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to methods and systems for simultaneous or near-simultaneous acquisition for borehole seismic in oilfield or related applications. However, identification of an exemplary field is for the purpose of simplifying the detailed description and should not be construed as a limitation. Various embodiments of the concepts presented herein may be applied to a wide range of applications and fields as appropriate.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Hydrocarbon fluids such as oil and natural gas are obtained from a subterranean geologic formation, referred to as a reservoir, by drilling a well that penetrates the hydrocarbon-bearing formation. Knowing where the reservoir is located or the type of geological formation containing the reservoir is valuable in determining where to drill and in deciding what well servicing treatments may be needed to efficiently produce a reservoir. One method of mapping the area around a borehole uses acoustic source signals and acoustic receivers.
As the acoustic signals travel through the geological formations, their profiles are altered and then received by the acoustic receivers. By processing the waveforms and acoustic signals detected by the receivers, a representative indication of the location, composition, and extent of various geological formations may be obtained. The acoustic signals may include both sonic and seismic signals. An example of such systems is Schlumberger's VSI (Versatile Seismic Imager).
An acoustic system comprising acoustic sources and receivers may be configured to produce a 3D VSP (three-dimensional vertical seismic profile). To produce a 3D VSP surrounding a borehole, a large number of datasets must be produced and analyzed. For example, in a marine system, a boat or other vessel towing an acoustic source array may move in proximity to a rig in an ever expanding pattern, initiating source signals as the boat travels. The acoustic receivers may be located in a borehole located below the rig. However, this technique may take days to complete. Since rig time is typically measured in hours, the costs to perform a full 3D VSP can be quite substantial.

Near-simultaneous acquisition for borehole seismic


The chemical vapor deposition of a single phase of a double metal oxide having a stoichiometric ratio results in a fully dense film. The film is deposited by polycondensation of a partially hydrolyzed precursor reacted from water vapor mixed with a volatile, metalorganic precursor having the desired stoichiometric ratio. The film may be annealed to form a perfect crystal of stoichiometric, single phase, double metal oxide having substantially improved optical characteristics for laser light transmission and other electro-optical applications.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to chemical vapor deposition. It is particularly directed to methods and apparatus for chemical vapor deposition of a metal oxide film on a substrate.
2. Background
For convenience, terms derived from or related to the word "stoichiometry" are used in this disclosure variously as nouns, adjectives or other parts of speech. While this usage may not in every instance be grammatically precise, it is in harmony with common practice in the relevant art. All such terms should be understood in context to refer to compositions or materials, such as precursors, films or crystals, in which the constituent elements or moieties are present in an essentially stoichiometric ratio. For example, a thin film of essentially perfect crystalline composition may be referred to as having the correct "stoichiometry" or as being "stoichiometric."
Vapor deposition involves the evaporation or sublimation of a precursor material, and the subsequent condensation of selected constituents of the precursor onto a substrate. The formation of metallic or metal oxide films through physical vapor deposition techniques typically requires very high temperatures, on the order of 1200.degree.-2000.degree. C., to evaporate the coating material. Low pressures, generally less than 1 mm Hg, are also required. Chemical vapor deposition techniques may be conducted at lower temperatures and higher pressures, but tend to produce non-stoichiometric films. Chemical vapor deposition involves the destructive vaporization of a metalorganic precursor material, typically by pyrolysis.
Precursors which include multiple metal constituent materials tend to decompose when pyrolyzed, thereby producing a film containing non-stoichiometric ratios of the metals. For films to be useful for optical applications, they should be characterized by an essentially perfect crystal lattice structure. Flawed double metal oxide films form imperfect crystals which render them substantially useless for optical transmission in electro-optical devices.
Impurities, voids or non-stoichiometric structure in a crystal will create color centers and other optical inhomogeneities that alter the light or scatter it, destroying the effectiveness of the transmitted light beam. Any such imperfection will typically degrade the coherency or intensity of a transmitted beam.
According to the conventional sol gel process, a precursor, such as a metalorganic compound, is coated onto a substrate, for example, by dipping. The coating must then be heated to drive off the undesired organic constituents, leaving the desired film, typically a double metal oxide. The sol gel process leaves many and large voids that must be reduced by sintering. Sintering causes substantial reductions in film thickness, thereby producing a film of uneven thickness in which voids typically remain. Impurities and non-stoichiometric species, while fewer than typically result from pyrolytic deposition techniques, are nevertheless characteristically present.
Metal oxide chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) of multicomponent oxide films has involved the use of separate metalorganic compounds containing the respective film components as precursors. The precursor compounds are ordinarily independently transformed to the vapor phase (by evaporation or other means) in a controlled manner to achieve the desired molar ratio between vapor phase species. Whether a given vapor phase composition results in the desired film composition may be determined as a practical matter only after a compositional analysis of the final film is performed. While this approach allows for convenient variation of compositions away from stoichiometric ratios, it inevitably requires a trial-and-error approach to achieve a precisely stoichiometric film composition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,844 discloses volatile alkoxide precursors for chemical vapor deposition on substrates to produce films having superconductivity properties. U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,317 discloses the use of vaporized metal precursors in chemical vapor deposition procedures to achieve molecular level uniformity of coatings. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,173,455; 5,139,976 and 4,835,298 disclose double alkoxides and their hydrolysis in the liquid state. U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,618 discloses chemical vapor deposition procedures for the growth of crystals of multi-component metal oxides on substrates. U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,676 discloses the use of precursor material containing metals in the same proportions as desired for a microwave oven metal oxide coating. U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,901 discloses metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of volatile metal precursors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,842 discloses the use of metalorganic precursors for forming metal oxide layers in electronic components. This patent also discusses known procedures for hydrolyzing double alkoxide precursors to homogeneous perovskites and spinels. U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,341 discloses the hydrolysis of double alkoxides in the formation of metal oxides. The disclosures of each of these patents are incorporated as a part of this disclosure for their teachings concerning the conventional operations incidentally involved in connection with the practice of this invention.
There has not heretofore been available any procedure for the practical application of vapor deposition techniques to metallo-organic precursors capable of crystal growth at low temperatures. It has not been known how to apply vapor deposition technology, notably vapor phase hydrolysis, to double alkoxide precursors to produce a homogeneous phase from which may be grown large crystals containing the same stoichiometric ratio of metals as exists in the precursor.
There remains a need for an improved vapor deposition technique capable of producing nearly stoichiometric metal oxide films suitable for use in optical applications. Such a technique would be expected to be useful in the production of other films useful for other applications.

Method for autostoichiometric chemical vapor deposition


A contact charging member for a triboelectric generator, comprising a contact layer with a contact side and a back side, made of a dielectric material that has a triboelectric series rating indicating a propensity to exchange electrons due to a contacting event; and an electrode layer disposed along the back side of the contact layer, wherein the contact side of the contact layer is patterned so as to show a series of circular or hexagonal cavities with a flat bottom. The invention is also directed to triboelectric generator comprising the contact charging member and a process for manufacturing the member.

The operation of a triboelectric generator is based on placing in contact of a first material and a second material of different natures, a first material having a tendency to donate electrons, the second material preferably having a tendency to capture electrons. By placing in contact materials having different triboelectric properties a transfer of charges is created between these two materials which may be reflected in the form of a difference in potentials or a current. The triboelectric effect may be increased by rubbing the materials against each other.
Prior art patent document published U.S. Pat. No. 3,086,131 discloses a triboelectric generator disclosing the principle of rubbing two different insulating materials for producing electrical power.
Prior art patent document published US 2017/0187307 A1 discloses a triboelectric generator with a first contact charging member and a second contact charging member. The first contact charging member includes a first contact layer and a conductive electrode layer. The first contact layer includes a material that has a triboelectric series rating indicating a propensity to gain electrons due to a contacting event. The conductive electrode layer is disposed along the back side of the contact layer. The second contact charging member is spaced apart from and disposed oppositely from the first contact charging member. It includes an electrically conductive material layer that has a triboelectric series rating indicating a propensity to lose electrons when contacted by the first contact layer during the contacting event. The electrically conductive material acts as an electrode. A mechanism maintains a space between the first contact charging member and the second contact charging member except when a force is applied thereto. The contact faces of the generator can be patterned or textured for enhancing the triboelectric effect. To that end the contact faces can show an array of pyramid structured or box-like structures.
Prior art patent document published US 2016/0028327 A1 discloses also a triboelectric generator where one of the contact members is provided with a rough surface comprising conical micro-tip shaped structures obtained by a heat treatment of the polymer material.
In the publication of Donghyeon Yoo, Dongwhi Choi, Dong Sung Kim, "Comb-shaped electrode-based triboelectric nanogenerators for bi-directional mechanical energy harvesting", Microelectronic Engineering 174, 46-51 (2017), it is proposed a triboelectric generator containing a comb-shaped electrode and which is fabricated with a simple thermal nanoimprinting process where a commercially-available metal mesh was used as a stamp to simply impart microtopography on the triboelectric generator to increase electrical output performance. The fabricated generator with the comb-shaped electrode enables to harvest bi-directional mechanical energy (including both lateral and vertical contact/separation), which can be a new strategy to efficiently harvest the energy from complex real mechanical motions.
The publication of Emre Iseri, Senol Mutlu, "Realization of Triboelectric Energy Harvesters Using Steel-Polymer Microfabrication Methods", Conference paper: The 30th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS 2017), At Las Vegas, USA, DOI: 10.1109/MEMSYS.2017.7863533, describes the realization of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) developed for wireless and batteryless keyboard applications, using steel-polymer microfabrication methods including lithography, electrochemical etching, hot embossing and thermo-compression bonding. Microfabricated steel electrode and polymer film (polyethylene naphthalate (PEN)) are used for the first time to implement a TENG of conductor-to-dielectric contact-mode type.
In the above cited prior art, sophisticated and potentially expensive methods are provided for patterning a contact charging member in a triboelectric generator. The need for providing a proper and adequate gap between the two contact charging members of triboelectric generators is also acknowledged. However shortcomings and improvements remain.

Triboelectric generator with embossed honeycomb pattern

LUXEMBOURG INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (LIST)


Method for carrying out the text content search of a document database utilizing multi-node nets. The nodes of these nets are associated with interactions and are loaded with initially selected criteria, whereupon a potential or distance function calculation is carried out with respect to each document of the database and those criteria containing nodes. The created nets are displayed with document symbols geometrically located with respect to the nodes and interaction lines in correspondence with the computed potentials to provide for an interactive visual evaluation of the search by the user. Such evaluations then may be employed to refine node contained criteria toward useful rule-based nodes.

The storage of textual material in memory retained databases has expanded and continues to expand to an extent wherein accessing the information content of a given data base may represent an overwhelming complexity. Historically, data base management systems have attempted to organize information into some manageable order, looking to hierarchical, networked and relational structures which hopefully are searchable with respect to some attribute or combination of attributes. Notwithstanding such efforts, as the size and complexity of the many data bases has grown, conventional search engines tend to locate either too much or too little information. For instance, employing key words at the commencement of a search may result in failure for a number of reasons. The documents representing a textual data base typically are the product of diverse individuals with their own selections and patterns, for example, as may be manifested in resume related data bases. Terms employed by practitioners in the technical world often change over time and the vocabularies involved in those endeavors will be added to. As a consequence, the text discussion concerning a technical subject in an early document may only marginally resemble the text discussion of that same subject in a later document. Groups or individuals endeavoring in a specific technical endeavor who are unaware of each other may evolve their own unique different descriptors for the same technical element. Where a search calls for a combination of attributes not present in any one document of the data base, it may fail inasmuch as conventional searching procedures generally are incapable of finding information which is "close".
Conjuring a searching rule at the outset of a search, unless profoundly simplistic, typically will be unrealistic. In this regard a workable rule must be formulated based on the content of the database draft.
In general, the more significant problem associated with obtaining desired information from a modern textual data base is not so much concerned with the search engine at hand. The problem resides in formulating the question to be asserted to the search engine to find reasonably relevant result candidates. Once those candidates are found, the searcher must be able to quickly and efficiently evaluate the various document candidates evolved in the search without undue reading efforts. Typical search systems are so question-dependant that many documents will be excluded even though they may contain at least some information sought by the searcher.

Document search method with interactively employed distance graphics display


A standard conversion table setting unit establishes a standard conversion table for converting YMCK halftone dot percentage data supplied from an image editor into color image data in a common color space for generating a predicted image under standard output conditions to produce a final image. A differential parameter setting unit establishes differences between the standard output conditions and actual output conditions as differential parameters. A differential conversion table setting unit establishes differences between the standard conversion table and a conversion table for producing a predicted image corresponding to the final image generated under the actual output conditions, as a differential conversion table based on the differential parameters. The conversion table corresponding to the actual output conditions is generated using the standard conversion table and the differential conversion table, and image data to produce the predicted image are generated with the conversion table.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for predicting an image as a visible image which corresponds to a final image produced from image data that have been processed as desired.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have widely been used printing systems for reading an image from an original document such as a photograph, a painting, or the like or processing image data supplied from an image input device and producing a printed material using a film original plate or a press plate.
Such a printed material is produced according to a number of processing steps. More specifically, color separation films of Y, M, C, K are produced on the basis of image data supplied from an image input device, and presensitized plates are exposed through each of the color separation films. Then, the presensitized plates are developed, and are set on a printing press to produce a color printed material. The quality of the printed material which is finally produced depends on various printing conditions (output conditions) including the paper, inks, and water used, the type of the printing press, and the screen ruling and dot configuration which are employed for the formation of dot-matrix images. In producing a printed image based on the above a number of processing steps and conditions, it is important to produce a predicted image in advance by outputting processed image data on a CRT, a printer, or the like, determine whether the predicted image is acceptable or not, and correct the converting or printing conditions if necessary.
The predicted image is required to have the equivalent image characteristics to those of a printed image by calorimetrically matching the individual colors of the pixels of the predicted image with those of the printed image, establishing formulas for matching output conditions such as optical characteristics depending upon the output method and resolution of output devices used, and the properties of a support layer for the printed image such as optical scattering, surface reflections, etc., and converting the image data supplied from the image input device according to the established formulas.
However, it is highly difficult to match in all the output conditions. Determining the image data of a predicted image according to the formulas which employ physical parameters related to a number of printed images is not practical as the processing operation is considerably time-consuming.

Method of and apparatus for predicting image


An approach to automatically specifying, or assisting with the specification of, a parallel computation graph involves determining data processing characteristics of the linking elements that couple data processing elements of the graph. The characteristics of the linking elements are determined according to the characteristics of the upstream and/or downstream data processing elements associated with the linking element, for example, to enable computation by the parallel computation graph that is equivalent to computation of an associated serial graph.

This invention relates to parallel processing of data and more particularly to computer-aided specification of parallel computation graphs.
Complex computations can often be expressed as a data flow through a directed graph, with components of the computation being associated with the vertices of the graph and data flows between the components corresponding to links (arcs, edges) of the graph. A system that implements such graph-based computations is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,072, EXECUTING COMPUTATIONS EXPRESSED AS GRAPHS.
Referring to FIG. 1A, an example of a computation graph 100 includes an input file 110 and an output file 140. Input file 110 is the source of a series of work elements, such as data records each associated with a separate transaction in a transaction processing system. Each work element is first processed by a component A 120, passed over a serial link 125, and then processed by a component B 130. The outputs of component B are stored in output file 140.
It can be desirable to implement a computation graph using multiple instances of individual components. For example, each instance of a component may be hosted on a different processor, thereby achieving a coarse-grain parallelism that provides an overall increase in computation capacity. Referring to FIG. 1B, a specification of a parallelized computation graph 101 includes input file 110 and output file 140 as in the serial computation graph 100. A parallel component A 121 represents m instances of component A 120 arranged in parallel, and a parallel component B 131 represents m instances of component B 130 represented in parallel. A parallel link 126 joins parallel component A 121 and parallel component B 131. In the representation of parallel computation graphs, such as the one in FIG. 1B, parallel components are indicated using bold lines, and optional indicators of the degrees of parallelism (e.g., "m" in FIG. 1B) adjacent to the components.
Referring to FIG. 1C, parallelized computation graph 101 is represented in explicit serial form, with m instances of component A 120 (labeled A1 through Am) arranged in parallel. In order to distribute work elements from input file 110, a 1:m partition element 115 is inserted between input file 110 and the m instances of component A that make parallel component A 121, which includes the m instances of component A 120. Partition element 115 takes work elements on one input, and sends each input to one of the m outputs, for example, in a round-robin manner. A m:1 gather element 135 takes the outputs of the m component Bs 130 on m input lines and merges the inputs, for example according to their arrival times, for output to output file 140. The partition element 115 and gather element 135 provide similar functionality in the example of FIG. 1B, though the multiple instances represented by the parallel components are not explicit in FIG. 1B as they are in FIG. 1C. Parallel link 126 shown in FIG. 1B is represented in this example of FIG. 1C as a parallel combination of serial links joining corresponding instances of component A and component B.

Computer-aided parallelizing of computation graphs


A vehicle has a storage bin positioned between the seat and the rear wall of an interior compartment. The storage bin includes a receiving portion and louvered portion. The receiving portion is defined by a peripheral wall and a bottom. The louvered portion is coupled with the receiving portion. The louvered portion includes at least one window. An air flow path is defined by the storage bin. The air flow path enables air to pass into and through the at least one window under the receiving portion bottom and out through an exhaust vent in the rear wall.

In a vehicle interior compartment, it is desirable to have maximum storage. In order to optimize storage, designers utilize spaces in the entire compartment. In the rear wall of a vehicle, it is difficult to provide storage due to the fact that exhaust vents or the like are present. The exhauster and exhaust vents are part of the HVAC system. They are required so that air can pass out of the interior compartment of the vehicle to ambient to ventilate the vehicle. Also, the exhausters and vents assist in the door closing efforts. Thus, storage bins or the like have not been provided to avoid exhauster and vent blockage.
The present disclosure provides the art with a storage bin positioned adjacent the rear wall of the vehicle. The storage bin provides an integrated exhauster path to exhaust air in the interior compartment to the ambient outside. The present disclosure enables enhanced door closing by providing the exhauster path. Further, the present disclosure enables the seat back to be locked in position while having the storage container between the seat back and the rear wall.

Interior trim storage bin/tray with integrated exhauster path


An apparatus to produce acoustic cavitation by controlling cavitation events in a liquid insonification medium utilizing a waveform to excite a transducer with a series of bipolar inharmonic tone bursts having medium recovery intervals between respective bursts so that the medium repeatedly recovers from cavitation events between bursts. The apparatus may be used to clean a semiconductor wafer, to de-coat a painted surface having, to induce a chemical reaction, and/or to provide recycled paper made from inked paper de-inked by cavitation. Cavitation events are generated using a transducer and a waveform generator, e.g., square wave tone bursts, to excite the transducer with a signal controlled in frequency, burst repetition rate, duty-cycle and/or amplitude, e.g., utilizing bursts having a frequency between 500 KHz and 10 MHz, and a duty cycle between 0.1% and 70%.

This invention relates to acoustic cavitation, but more specifically, to an apparatus to produce acoustic cavitation using a single transducer to subject an article or component thereof to microcavitation events generated in a liquid insonification medium.
Acoustic microcavitation, which is the inducement of micron or sub-micron size bubbles in a liquid or fluid medium that survive a few microseconds or less, is to be contrasted with ultrasonic, megasonic, and cyrogenic aerosol cleaning methods. Microcavitation has been used on a limited scale or conceived for use in microparticle or sub-nanometer particle detection in ultrapure liquids, submicron particle eviction from silicon wafers, deinking of recyclable paper, paint removal, surgical procedures, destructive and non-destruction testing and measuring, thin film processing applications, etc.
Previously, at least two transducers were required to initiate and maintain cavitation. Prior ACIM was induced using a low frequency, high intensity primary acoustic field and a higher frequency, low intensity coaxing acoustic field. To effect ACIM, the two fields were substantially simultaneously directed at a site of a workpiece or object. It was crucial that at least part of the high frequency acoustic waves in the fluid medium pass the desired ACIM site precisely when the tensile part of the low frequency waves was present at the site. In this arrangement, it sometimes became unwieldy to articulate two transducers of different frequencies to achieve the desired ACIM zone, stationary or moving, where the different acoustic fields were to be synchronized and collocated.
Therefore, a need has arisen to simplify ACIM apparatuses and techniques to make them more practical to apply to the various applications identified herein.
In general, cavitation is the formation of cavities or bubbles in a liquid where the ensuing bubble dynamics and energy concentration result in implosive collapse of bubbles that achieve unique and surprising results. In the design of mechanical systems, cavitation has known destructive effects and therefore, was avoided. Cavitation remains enigmatic today as it was when Lord Rayleigh first investigated cavitational erosion of propellers almost a century ago. Cavitation is a mature subject and an encylopedic collection of information on acoustic cavitation is compiled in "Acoustic Bubble" by Tim Leighton (1997). Hydrodynamic cavitation is discussed in "Cavitation and Multiphase Flow Phenomena" by Frederick Hammitt (1980). Whether induced acoustically or associated with hydrodynamic flows, the mechanics and effects of cavitation are essentially the same. Acoustic cavitation has was also exhaustively reviewed by Flynn (1964), Neppiras (1979), Apfel (1981) and Prosperetti (1986).
Consider, for example, a free bubble in the path of a sound wave. In response to the sound wave, the bubble expands and contracts, and the energy mechanically stored during expansion is released in a concentrated manner during implosive collapse of the bubble. Should the bubble grow to about two and a half times its nominal or equilibrium size during negative excursions of acoustic pressure, then during the following positive half cycle of pressure, its speed of collapse could become supersonic (Lauterborn, 1969) thereby releasing excess energy that catastrophically explodes the bubble. Such almost single cycle violent events are called transient or inertial cavitation, and may explain the energetic manifestations of cavitation which, among other things, are useful for surface erosion or particle eviction.
Unlike dramatic bubble growth within a single acoustic cycle seen in transient or inertial cavitation, there exists a more gradual process, termed rectified diffusion. Under favorable conditions, a small bubble exposed to a continuous sound wave tends to grow in size if rectified diffusion is dominant. According to Henry's law, for a gas soluble in liquid, the equilibrium concentration of dissolved gas in the liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of the gas above the liquid surface, the constant of proportionality being a function of temperature. When the bubble expands, the pressure extant at the bubble's interior falls and gas diffuses into the bubble from the surrounding liquid. When the bubble contracts, the pressure in the interior increases and the gas diffuses into the solution of the surrounding liquid. The area available for diffusion, however, is larger in the expansion mode than in the contraction mode. Consequently, there is a net diffusion of the gas into the bubble from the surrounding liquid over a complete cycle, which causes bubble growth due to rectified diffusion.
However, a bubble can grow only up to a critical size—to a resonance radius determined by the frequency of the impressed sound wave. For small amplitude oscillations, a bubble acts like a simple linear oscillator of mass equal to the virtual mass of a pulsating sphere, which is three times the mass of displaced fluid. Stiffness is primarily given by the internal pressure of the bubble times the ratio of specific heats. Surface tension effects are, however, significant for small bubbles. Following Minnaert (1933) and ignoring surface tension, there is a simple relation for the resonance radius of air bubbles in water:(Resonance radius in μm)×(insonification frequency in MHz)=3.2
This relation is valid within 5% even for a bubble radius of about 10 μm. Bubble response becomes increasingly vigorous at the resonance radius, and is limited by damping mechanisms in the bubble environment—e.g., viscous damping, acoustic radiation damping, and thermal damping. A post-resonance bubble may exhibit nonlinear modes of oscillations, or become transient if the applied acoustic pressure amplitude is adequately high.
The above discussion presupposes the presence of a free bubble in the path of a sound wave. Free bubbles, however, do not last long in a body of water. Larger ones are rapidly removed due to buoyancy and the smaller ones dissolve even in nearly saturated water. While a 10 μm air bubble rises in water at a terminal speed of 300 μm/s, it can survive for about five seconds before dissolving completely. Dissolution is driven essentially by the excess pressure inside the bubble due to the surface tension.
It is very difficult to cavitate clean liquids (Greenspan and Tschiegg, 1967). A pure liquid purged of particulate impurities and stored in a perfectly smooth container can attain its theoretical tensile strength before undergoing cavitation or fracture. Under ideal conditions, water can be as strong as aluminum. The tensile strength of water based on the homogeneous nucleation theory exceeds 1000 bars. In cavitation studies, tensile strength is often quoted in terms of negative pressures, and cavitation threshold is understood as the pressure amplitude at which the first occurrence of cavitation is detected. Observed strengths (thresholds) in practice, however, are very much lower, rarely exceeding a few bars for reasonably clean liquids. This is because there exist gas pockets within the liquid which provide the necessary seeding for cavitation to occur at lower pressures.
A gas or cavitation site is often stabilized in a crevice (Harvey et al., 1944), either in a container wall or on a fluid-borne particle. Incomplete wetting traps gas at the root of a sharp crevice, stabilizing it against dissolution. Unlike a free bubble, though, surface tension in this case acts on a meniscus which is concave towards the liquid. Over-pressuring the liquid for sufficient duration prior to insonification can force the meniscus further into the crevice thereby causing full wetting of the crevice, which then gives rise to increased cavitation thresholds.
Until recently most acoustically generated, cavitation employed for cleaning applications, primarily used standing waves generated in a bath of liquid in which objects to be cleaned were immersed. In such ultrasonic cleaners, acoustic frequencies used were typically between 20 kHz to 100 kHz. Some implementations used propagating pulse trains instead of standing waves to improve cleaning efficiency, to minimize hot spot damage, and to reduce power consumption. Even so, when these applications were extended to semiconductor applications, cavitation was deemed detrimental to the delicate wafer surfaces, which spawned the use of megasonic cleaning to avoid cavitation (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,337 to Bunkenburg et al., 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,994 to Dussault et al., 1990; U.S. Pat. No. to 5,247,954 to Grant et al., 1993; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,048 to Estes, 1994) thus teaching the use of frequencies in the range of high kilohertz or low megahertz (typically 1 MHz).
Such high frequencies were used because it was believed that cavitation does not occur at higher frequencies. Quoting from the recent book edited by Takeshi Hattori (1998) titled, "Ultraclean Surface Processing of Silicon Wafers—Secrets of VLSI Manufacturing;" "[w]hen the oscillation frequency is 1 MHz or above, cavitation no longer occurs." It is precisely the supposed inability of generating cavitation at low megahertz frequencies that such high frequency acoustics were used in diagnostic ultrasound for medical imaging and fetal monitoring. As a further precaution to preclude bubble growth that may occur due to continuous wave insonification, diagnostic instruments deployed short pulses at low duty cycles, e.g., 1%, which incidentally also facilitates the pulse echo method of information collection essential for their function. Therefore, prior systems rely on using high frequency tone burst acoustics, such as 1 MHz, when the explicit objective is to avoid the occurrence of cavitation.
Microcavitation, i.e., the inducement of micron or sub-micron size bubbles in a liquid or fluid medium that survive a few microseconds or less, occurs if the pressure amplitude in the acoustic beam is significantly greater than a threshold value, and if appropriate cavitation nuclei are present. In the absence of cavitation nuclei, water-like liquids cannot be fractured or cavitated by pressure amplitudes of less than 1000 bars peak negative, the threshold for homogeneous nucleation of water at standard temperature and pressure (STP), which corresponds to an atomic or molecular size vacancy or cavity in the liquid bulk caused by thermal, stochastic density fluctuations. Stronger tensile pressures are needed to cavitate smaller bubbles or cavitation nuclei. A 60-atmosphere peak negative pressure wave, for example, might cavitate a 50-nanometer bubble nucleus.
Planar piezoelectric transducers cannot generate very high pressure amplitudes with moderate power inputs. With increased power, however, cavitation might occur on the surface of the transducer crystal itself which will cause destruction of the crystal. By using focused transducers, however, it is possible to achieve additional pressure amplification by virtue of the focusing action at a particular site. Even so, high intensity acoustic waves invariably become non-linear because of inherent properties of the propagation medium. The nonlinearity in shape manifests an enhanced compressive peak and reduced tensile peak of the wave pulse. Cavitation at a nucleation site cannot occur if the tensile part of the wave is not stronger than the threshold value. If the nonlinear pulse is reflected at a pressure release boundary, then phase reversal takes place and the compressive peak reflects as a tensile peak and vice versa.
Using reflected nonlinear waves, it becomes easier to bring about cavitation because now a stronger tensile peak is available. U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,058 to Umemura et al. obviates the need for using suitable reflecting structures to achieve enhance tensile peaks by using two resonant transducers—one driven at a fundamental frequency and the second driven at a second harmonic frequency, and then superposing them in proper phase relation between the fundamental driving frequency pulse wave and its second harmonic wave to obtain a resultant pulse with enhanced tensile peak and weakened compressive peak. This method of generation, like other methods of cavitation in the past, also relies on the availability of appropriate cavitation nuclei in the insonified medium. Without the presence of appropriate nuclei the tensile peak is ineffective in causing cavitation.
Although Umemura teaches that "the efficiency of cavitation generation depends on the relative phase relation between a fundamental wave and a second harmonic" wave and he is able to access smaller bubble sizes (half the resonant bubble size corresponding to the fundamental frequency), he still relies on the availability of appropriate bubbles or bubble bearing crevice structures in the liquid host to initiate cavitation.
Further, Umemura does not use too high frequencies at which cavitation ordinarily does not occur. It is known in the art that transducers generating high pressure amplitudes at high frequencies are technologically unfeasible (high frequency resonant crystals are necessarily thin and cannot support stresses needed for generating high pressures), and yet to generate cavitation at high acoustic frequencies, the pressure amplitudes necessary are excessive.
In attempting to clean effectively throughout a cleaning tank, Honda (U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,580, 1992) uses at the bottom of the tank a Langvin type resonator with two resonating segments, and drives them alternately at the two resonance frequencies for periods of up to several milliseconds, which are adequate to setup standing wave fields in the liquid. At the lower frequency, a standing wave field causes large bubble cavitation to populate at pressure antinodes to form bubble bands at specific levels in the tank. At higher resonance frequency, Honda supposes that these bubbles cavitate and collapse to cause some measure of cleaning, but more importantly, because the standing wave pattern is broken, the previously structured bubble bands move upwards due to buoyancy and radiation forces to bring about some cleaning.
Honda suggests that these large bubbles will break down at higher frequencies and fill the tank with smaller bubbles. In actuality, the higher frequency waves merely reflect off the larger bubbles. A given frequency cannot significantly affect larger bubbles not corresponding to the characteristic resonance size. When the low frequency is again switched on, these small bubbles nucleate large bubble cavitation whose fragments will serve a next sweep by the higher frequency. Most cleaning is expected to be done by the large bubble cavitation effervescing throughout the extent of the tank. Honda does not explicitly state the frequencies he is using but the Langevin sandwich type transducer and the kind and scale of cavitation he mentions leads one to believe that he must be using acoustics in the low kilohertz range, between 20 kHz to 60 kHz.
If Honda were to use only one frequency, he would obtain a banded structure in the tank, and once the bubbles are setup in their locations, no significant cavitation would be sustained and no further cleaning effect would ensue due to occurrence of bubble effervescence. While Honda also teaches farming effectively available bubble fields for cavitation between two frequencies, Murry, before Honda taught how to cultivate bubble fields starting from the smallest of bubbles that he suggests are available in the liquid. Murry (U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,069, 1971) in his patent "Multifrequency Ultrasonic Method and Apparatus for Improved Cavitation, Emulsification and Mixing" teaches that operating on the assumption there will always be some very small bubbles in the bulk medium, insonification starts with using continuous wave insonification of a very high frequency corresponding to which the supposed pre-existing small bubbles are resonant. Near resonant bubbles exposed to continuous acoustic stimulus will respond by growing due to rectified diffusion. To continue this bubble growth they will have to be insonated by progressively decreasing the drive frequency. This downshifting insonification is achieved by using broadband transducers, not resonant transducers.
As the bubbles grow by downshifted continuous wave insonification, Murry applies a low frequency intense field to cavitate these bubbles. He upshifts or upconverts this low frequency to high intensity field so as to capture and cavitationally collapse any slightly smaller bubbles that may exist, as not all bubbles grow uniformly and simultaneously to a given size. Murry, operating on the assumption that very small bubbles exist in the liquid, concentrates on cultivating appropriate size bubbles by continuous wave insonification. Such bubbles are gas-filled as a result of rectified diffusion, they are not vacuous or nearly empty. Implosion of gas-filled bubbles is less energetic because the collapse is cushioned by the cavity contents.
Starting from a few tiny seed bubbles whose existence is assumed, Murry cultivates bubble fields with bubbles progressively growing over time in response to frequency downshifted insonification, and then violently collapsing them by applying low frequency high intensity acoustic field, the latter being subsequently upshifted in frequency to harvest all possible bubbles for cavitation. He uses two broad-band transducers to facilitate frequency shifting, and even interchanges the roles of the bubble grower and bubble exploder transducers for appropriate cycling and sustaining cavitation throughout the extent of the bulk being processed for emulsification or mixing.
In summary the prior art teaches that a perfectly clean liquid absent of bubbles or bubble-like structures cannot be easily cavitated. To bring about cavitation in ultra clean hosts, especially at high frequencies, is almost impossible primarily because the acoustic drivers, the piezoelectric transducers used to generate cavitation cannot be made to generate high pressure amplitude sound waves at high frequencies. It is possible to a limited extent to generate high tensile pulses, but only with reduced compressive pulses if one drives the transducer in both fundamental and second harmonic excitation in precise phase relationship.
To achieve this, one must use two transducers. In resonant mode excitation, the transducer can only be driven at odd harmonics of the fundamental frequency. Even if one is able to obtain high pressure amplitude at high frequency, one needs to assume that a population of small bubbles always exist in a liquid, then insonifying the liquid medium with continuous acoustic waves of appropriately high frequency, frequency specific to excite resonance in the bubbles, can grow the bubbles to a larger size through rectified diffusion, whence subsequent insonification by a lower frequency of sufficient intensity one can bring about cavitation. Being gas-filled these long-lived bubbles cannot sufficiently implode to create high energy density points in the medium, and are thus ineffective to bring about the effects of ACIM described herein.
It is known in physics of liquids that free bubbles in a liquid are unstable and do not survive for any significant duration after their creation. Larger bubbles rise and escape out of the liquid because of buoyancy, while smaller bubbles dissolve due to surface tension forces which are dominant for small bubbles. Any bubble-like structure that survives in liquid has to be anchored in a crevice like feature in a solid, e.g., a wall or liquid-borne particle. Not all liquid borne particles are capable of supporting such partially wetted crevices, particularly, smooth spherical particles cannot harbor such gas-filled cavities.
Apart from the inventor's own work, the teachings of the entire prior art appears to rely on cavitation as a chance dominated phenomenon. In addition, it is not taught or suggested in the prior art how to create cavitation nuclei when none exist a priori, and then to control such cavitation after onset.
Therefore, to achieve useful applications provided by the present invention in a practical and convenient manner, prior systems and methods do not take into account: (i) how to activate or nucleate a cavitation event from a particle, regardless of whether or not it has a gas bearing crevice, (ii) how to acoustically activate or nucleate cavitation amongst particles, however, small they may be, or whatever be their composition or surface morphology, (iii) consideration of the number of times a cavitation event ensues in relation to a given or created gas beating crevice and/or point phase boundary, or (iv) attaining vacuous cavitation to the maximum extent possible rather than gaseous cavitation.
In vacuous cavitation the cavity is nearly empty. Only transiently (or inertially) generated cavitation involves vacuous cavities. Cavitation generated by continuous waves is gaseous cavitation. Only vacuous cavitation can be imploded, unimpeded, unto a point, and hence, only vacuous cavitation can culminate in high energy density at points. To be able to implement items (i) through (iv) implies that cavitation is being constructively controlled in all phases—inception, evolution and intensity.
To the inventor's knowledge, the entire prior art concerns itself with cavitation as chance dominated phenomenon, and does not teach how to manage cavitation in a practical and efficient way to perform a useful purpose, except in the inventor's two recent U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,396 (1997) and 5,594,165 (1997), which deal with acoustic coaxing methods for constructive control of the cavitation phenomenon using confocal transducers.
ACIM methods described herein, on the other hand, employ a single transducer to more effectively control the onset, evolution and intensity of microcavitation. Generating ACIM with a single transducer enables expanded utility including, improved deinking of paper (e.g., removal of bonded, laser printed Xerox ink, i.e., toner-based ink compositions), practical depainting of surfaces (including selective removal of layers in a multi-layered painted surface (primer and/or top coat)), thin film strength testing and surface preparation prior to thin film deposition; semiconductor wafer cleaning; improved microparticle detection in clean liquids; improved particle removal for precision cleaning of delicate surfaces; and better particle size control in the preparation of nanometer particles like gold sols. In addition, improved ACIM methods and apparatuses of the present invention may be used to erode metallic surfaces, help shatter kidney stones, accelerate chemical reactions and even lead to light production, i.e., sonoluminescence.

Apparatus to produce acoustic cavitation in a liquid insonification medium


A method for simultaneously clarifying lesions on poultry paws and for blanching or whitening poultry paws is disclosed. The paws are steamed for about fifteen seconds. Next they are soaked in an aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide for about twenty minutes. The hydrogen peroxide preferably comprises about 2.0% of the solution by volume and the solution preferably has a pH of between about 9.6 and about 10.6. The solution should also preferably contain about 100 ppm of a food grade surfactant suitable for dissolving oils into water. An anti-foam agent may also be included in the solution. After soaking, the skin of the paws is preferably removed, most preferably by subjecting the paws to rotating rubber fingers. When the process is complete, the paws are substantially white, and any lesions that may have been present are substantially clear. Additionally, the process will cause the paws to absorb water which will make them heavier.

Poultry paws, the portion of the leg below the feather line, have three principal grades, condemned grade, sub-grade, and A grade. Condemned grade paws are used primarily as a component in animal feeds. Sub-grade and A grade paws are used principally for human consumption. The principal market for poultry paws for non-animal food purposes is in Asia. The difference in price per pound between condemned grade paws and sub-grade or A grade paws can range from 400 to 800%. Therefore, it is commercially advantageous to minimize the number of paws that are classed as condemned grade. Similarly, it is desirable to maximize the number of paws that are classed as A grade.
One of the principal factors which can cause a paw to be graded below A grade is the presence of dark sores on the paw. In chickens, these sores or lesions often are urea burns that arise from contact between the chicken and its own feces. In the prior art, certain methods have been used to prevent the ammonia burns from occurring, including treating the chicken houses with ammonium bisulfate or dilute phosphoric acid in order to reduce the corrosive nature of the ammonia present. Bacterial treatment of the ammonia has also been used. These methods are all preventative in nature. The inability to remove the dark clotted blood associated with these lesions after they have formed often results in the paw being ground into cat food.
Another factor which can result in the down grading of poultry paws is color. Demand for white paws far exceeds the demand for black paws because of consumer perception that is apparently not founded in any objective taste, texture or nutritional characteristic of the paw. Unfortunately for poultry processors, several commercially significant chicken varieties have black paws, substantially all of which are currently sold solely as condemned grade.
A third factor that can result in a condemned grade is deformities of the paw. Of the three factors discussed above, it is the only one which cannot be at least partially treated by the method disclosed herein. Fortunately, deformed paws comprise less than ten percent of the annual chicken paw crop.

Agent and method for treating and blanching poultry paws


A method of and system for enabling enhanced interactions with a shared screen during a virtual communication session is carried out by enabling display of gridlines on the shared screen. The method may include receiving a request via a first control of a user interface to display gridlines on a portion of the user interface, the portion of the user interface displaying a shared screen during the communication session between at least two participants in the communication session where a first participant shares the screen with a second participant, and upon receiving the request, enabling display of the gridlines on the shared screen of each of the first and the second participants. The first control of the user interface may be an option provided by a virtual communication environment via which the communication session between the first and the second participants is established.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the use of virtual communication applications that enable a person to communicate with one or more other people. This may be because more and more people work from home or collaborate with colleagues or others remotely from different locations. The use of these applications enables participants to communicate with each other, and as such, freely exchange ideas and information without the need to be in the same room, thus greatly reducing the cost and time associated with conducting in-person meetings.
As part of communicating, one or more participants may desire to present information or documents to the other participants in the group. During in-person meetings, this may be done by handing out print-outs to each participant or presenting a document via an electronic device that displays the content on a screen in the room. In a virtual communication environment, that may occur by enabling one or more participants to share content with the other participants. This is generally done by displaying the shared content on each participant's display screen. In such cases, control of the shared content remains with the presenter who can move through the document to, for example, point to a specific portion of the screen. This limits the ability of the participants to pinpoint a specific portion of the screen they would like to bring attention to.
Hence, there is a need for an improved method and system for enabling enhanced user interactions with shared content during a virtual communication session.

Method and system of enhanced interaction with a shared screen


The present invention relates to a new mucoadhesive pharmaceutical composition which makes possible the prolonged release of active pharmaceutical principles in the buccal cavity or via the transmucosal route.

The present invention relates to a new bioadhesive pharmaceutical composition which makes possible the controlled release of active principles locally in the buccal cavity or systemically through a buccal (jugal or gingival), perlingual, nasal, vaginal or rectal mucus membrane. The pharmaceutical composition according to the invention ensures a more or less rapid release of the active principle and can remain attached for a more or less lengthy period of time to the buccal (jugal and gingival mucus membrane), perlingual, nasal, vaginal and rectal mucus membrane.

Mucoadhesive pharmaceutical composition for the controlled release of active principles


A method for acquiring an image data set comprising energy integrating (EI) and energy discriminating (ED) data measurements is provided. The method comprises obtaining EI measurement data and ED measurement data during an acquisition cycle. The method then comprises combining the EI measurement data and the ED measurement data before, during or after reconstruction. Finally the method comprises performing reconstruction on the original or combined datasets to obtain one or more of an EI image and one or more ED component images.

The invention relates generally to the field of image reconstruction. In particular, the invention relates to techniques for performing image reconstruction using hybrid computed tomography (CT) detectors.
CT imaging systems measure the intensity of X-ray beams passed through a patient from numerous angles. With sufficient angular coverage around the patient, cross-sectional images can be formed revealing the inner structure of the scanned object. The images are typically displayed on a cathode ray tube or a computer screen, and may be printed or reproduced on film. A virtual 3-D image may also be produced by a CT examination.
CT scanners operate by projecting X-ray beams from an X-ray source through an attenuating object, such as a patient. The X-ray beams may be collimated between the source and the object into a fan or cone shape, depending on the configuration of the detector optimal patient exposure, or other factors. The attenuated beams are then detected by a set of detector elements. The detector element produces a signal based on the intensity of the X-ray beams. The measured data are then processed to represent the line integrals of the attenuation coefficients of the object along the ray paths. The processed data are typically called projections. By using reconstruction techniques, such as filtered backprojection, cross-sectional images are formulated from the projections. Adjacent cross-sectional images may be displayed together to render a volume representing the imaged region of the object or patient.
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the attenuation coefficient of a material is a function of two separate events that may occur when an X-ray beam passes through a given length of the material. The first event is known as Compton scatter and denotes the tendency of an X-ray photon passing through the length of the material to be scattered or diverted from the original beam path, with a resultant change in energy. The second event is known as photoelectric absorption and denotes the tendency of an X-ray photon passing through the length of the material to be absorbed by the material.
As one might expect, different materials differ in their scatter and absorption properties, resulting in different attenuation coefficients for different materials. In particular, the probability of Compton scattering depends in part on the electron density of the imaged material and the probability of photoelectric absorption depends in part on the atomic number of the imaged material, i.e., the greater the atomic number, the greater the likelihood of absorption. Furthermore, both the Compton scattering effect and photoelectric absorption depend in part on the energy of the X-ray beam. As a result, materials can be distinguished from one another based upon the relative importance of the photoelectric absorption and Compton scattering effects in X-ray attenuation by the material. In particular, measurement of the attenuation produced by a material at two or more X-ray energy levels or spectra, i.e., multi-energy or multi-spectral CT, may allow for respective Compton scattering and photoelectric absorption contributions to be quantified for a material at the X-ray energy levels employed.
Multi-energy CT scanning refers to the process of acquiring X-ray transmission measurements with two different effective X-ray energies. Often this is achieved by combining measurements at two or more tube voltages (dual kVp). Using two measurements of two different known effective energies it is possible to extract information on tissue and/or material composition. A common strategy is to separate the object into bone equivalent and soft tissue equivalent absorbers. Multi-energy scanning is based upon the principle that in the diagnostic X-ray energy range, essentially all X-ray interactions are either through photoelectric absorption or Compton scattering, which have different energy dependence. These in turn have different dependence on atomic number and electron density. As mentioned above, the probability of Compton scattering is dependent on the X-ray energy and the electron density, while the probability of photoelectric absorption increases rapidly with atomic number and decreases rapidly with increasing photon energy.
Energy discriminating (ED) detectors are generally used in multi-energy CT scanning systems to provide information regarding the energy-distribution of the detected photons, by producing two or more signals corresponding to two or more energy intervals, such as, for example a high energy signal and a low energy signal. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, ED detectors provide spatial information in conjunction with information regarding the physical density and/or effective atomic number of the material or materials within the imaging volume. Using the spatial and density and/or atomic number information, an operator may reconstruct images that predominantly display selected materials, such as bone, soft tissue, or contrast agent, which differ in their atomic number or density. In this manner, a bone image, a soft tissue image, a contrast agent image, and so forth may be reconstructed which predominantly displays the material of interest. These images may in turn be associated to form a volume rendering of the material of interest which may be useful in determining bone density or deterioration, soft tissue damage, contrast agent perfusion, and so forth. ED detectors may be used with a single source energy or with multiple source energies similar to a dual kVp CT system.
On the other hand, conventional CT detectors are referred to as Energy Integrating (EI) detectors. EI detectors produce an electronic signal that is proportional to the total amount of absorbed X-ray energy in each view. Consequently, the detector signal does not contain any information regarding the energy distribution of the individual photons.
A number of reconstruction techniques have been proposed that either use energy integrating (EI) detectors or energy discriminating (ED) detectors to reconstruct image data. Reconstruction using ED detectors comprises performing material decomposition on the projection measurements, during image reconstruction, or after image reconstruction. With the pre-reconstruction decomposition, material specific (e.g. bone and soft tissue, water and bone, water and barium or Compton scatter and Photo electric) projections are computed at each view angle and from each set, material specific images are reconstructed. An advantage of this approach is that beam hardening artifacts are prevented. With post-reconstruction multi-energy processing, each image may have beam hardening artifacts that are not removed in the material decomposition.
It would be desirable to develop a technique that combines the energy information provided by ED detector cells with the high flux capability and high signal to noise (SNR) ratio provided by EI detector cells for reconstructing image data in a CT system. In addition, it would be desirable to develop techniques for reconstructing image data comprising EI measurement data and ED measurement data using a CT detector comprising a combination of EI detector cells and ED detector cells.

Method for performing image reconstruction using hybrid computed tomography detectors


Methods and apparatuses for enabling supervision of fibers in an optical communication network, where a Central Office provides data signals to a Remote Node for distribution to Optical Network Terminals (ONTs). The Central Office generates and sends test signals of different monitoring wavelengths associated to predefined groups of said ONTs, to the Remote Node. The Remote Node routes each test signal to a corresponding associated group of ONTs according to the wavelength of the test signal. When receiving a back-scattered and back-reflected test signal caused by a faulty optical fiber, the Central Office is able to identify the faulty optical fiber based on the wavelength of the back-scattered and back-reflected signal.

A Passive Optical Network, PON, is a point-to-multipoint network architecture employing fibre cables from a central office to end-user premises. A PON can employ unpowered optical components such as splitters to enable a single optical fibre to serve multiple premises. A PON typically comprises an Optical Line Terminal, OLT, at the central office of the service provider and a remote node connecting a plurality of Optical Network Terminals, ONTs, which can be controlled and operated by end-users. A PON configuration reduces the amount of fibre and central office equipment required, as compared to point-to-point architectures. A passive optical network can be regarded as a form of fibre-optic access network.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a basic optical communication network, according to the prior art. In this example, a central office 100 comprises an OLT 100a which sends data signals on an optical feeder link 102 to a remote node 104 connecting a plurality of ONTs 106 by means of individual fibre links 108. A signal distributor 104a in remote node 104 receives the data signals on the feeder link 102 and sends each signal to a corresponding ONT 106 depending on the signal's wavelength. A component called "Arrayed Waveline Grating, AWG" may be used as signal distributor 104a in the Remote Node 104 for distributing the incoming data signals with different wavelengths over the different fibre links 108. Briefly described, the AWG is configured to route an optical signal received on an input port to a specific output port depending on the wavelength of the signal, which is a well-known technique in the art. Signals can also be transmitted over said links in the opposite direction, e.g. for signaling and data communication.
The optical feeder link 102 between central office 100 and remote node 104 in such networks is typically a single optical fibre used for transporting data signals of different dedicated wavelengths assigned to different ONTs. The feeder link 102 may be quite long, e.g. in the range of several kilometers, while the individual fibre links 108 connecting the ONTs 106 to the remote node 104 are typically shorter, typically less than one kilometer. An optical fibre in any of the links 102, 108 may be damaged at some point, for whatever reason, such that the faulty fibre causes a disturbance or break in the signal transmission. It is then naturally of interest to detect and find such a faulty fibre in order to repair the link accordingly with a minimum of impact to the network performance.
In order to supervise and monitor the performance of an optical network, Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry, OTDR, is typically used which is well-known in the field. Briefly described, an OTDR device at a central office injects a series of optical test pulses into the feeder fibre. The series of optical pulses, also called OTDR signal, travel through various network links towards the ONTs. Parts of the OTDR signals are reflected back towards the OTDR device. The back-reflected, or back-scattered, OTDR signal may be used for estimating the fibre's length and overall attenuation, including splitter losses.
A back-scattered and back-reflected OTDR signal may also be used to locate faults in fibres, such as breaks or bends, and to measure optical return loss. According to common language in this context, a "back-scattered" signal basically originates from any reflections along a fibre caused by a phenomena called Rayleigh Backscattering, whereas a "back-reflected" signal originates from a discrete event such as a fault in the fibre. In this description, the phrase "back-scattered and back-reflected" is thus used for signals caused by a faulty fibre. The above use of test signals can be initiated either at preset intervals or upon demand such as when an alarm function or the like is triggered by malfunction of the data transmission.
Generally, some requirements can be made on the performance of a monitoring or supervision system. The monitoring process should not influence regular data communication, i.e. it should be "non-invasive". This is achievable by using a dedicated optical bandwidth for the test signals which is separate from the bandwidth used for data signals. Further, the technique should be sensitive to relatively low power fluctuations detectable in on-demand or periodic modes. Still further, the network supervision should not require any high initial investment. This mainly yields that no additional monitoring functionality should be needed on the ONT side, and a common monitoring functionality should be shared over a complete optical communication network or a group of networks.
However, the known solutions of today for network supervision or monitoring are generally deemed not to fulfill the above requirements. For example, most of the existing solutions significantly increase capital expenditures because they require either a customised OTDR device, which is expensive, wavelength specific components in the fibre links (drop links) towards the ONTs, causing power budget losses, advanced OLT transmitter upgrades, e.g. light path doubling, and so forth. Further, the existing solutions are often only capable of detecting a fault in a fibre link which introduces a significant loss of more than 5 dB, which is far above an expected and wanted threshold of typically 1 dB. Significant amounts of dedicated bandwidth is also required for the test signals to accomplish accurate supervision, which may not always be available e.g. when a great number of ONTs are connected to the network all using individual wavelengths for data signals.

Methods and apparatuses for supervision of optical networks


In a force sensor abnormality detection system for a legged mobile robot having a force sensor installed between a foot and each leg and producing an output indicative of floor reaction force acting from a floor on which the foot contacts, the robot is controlled to to perform a walking-in-place motion when the robot is powered on, it is discriminated whether the output of the force sensor during the walk-in-place motion are within a predetermined range, and abnormality of the sensor is detected based on a result of the discrimination, thereby enabling detection of force sensor abnormality with high accuracy in a legged mobile robot whose feet are equipped with force sensors for detecting floor reaction forces.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a force sensor abnormality detection system for a legged mobile robot.
2. Description of the Related Art
A legged mobile robot is equipped with various sensors, including force sensors for detecting floor reaction forces, and robot motion is controlled based on the outputs of the sensors. Detection of whether or not the sensors are abnormal or faulty is therefore required. The prior art in this regard includes Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-211379 (e.g., paragraph 0072) which carries out detection of various errors (abnormalities) in a robot, and as one aspect of the detection, checks for error (abnormality) by determining whether the outputs of force sensors, specifically six-axis force sensors, are within the predetermined ranges.
The floor reaction forces acting on a legged mobile robot are indispensable parameters for controlling robot motion. Abnormality of the force sensors that detect these forces therefore needs to be appropriately detected. The prior art reference is limited to detecting sensor abnormality solely by determining whether sensor outputs are within the predetermined ranges. This is not altogether satisfactory from the viewpoint of detection accuracy because a sensor may be erroneously found not to be abnormal when a sensor output just happens to be passing through the predetermined range at the time of the determination.

Force sensor abnormality detection system for legged mobile robot