A heat exchanger for fluids is disclosed in the form of a cold plate of the type utilized with ice cooled beverage dispensers. The cold plate has a heat conducting casting in which are embedded conduits for various liquids to be cooled, such as various flavored syrups, sweet water and carbonated water. One of the fluid conduits, such as that for the carbonated water, is formed of two tubular members, with a third tubular member interconnecting the first two tubular members. The first two tubular members are substantially planar with a convoluted or serpentine shape. The two tubular members are positioned as two layers, with the top layer or first tubular member adjacent to the top surface of the casting against which the ice is positioned. Carbonated water or other fluid is introduced into the bottom layer, or second tubular member, and after the carbonated water has passed through this member it is conveyed to the end of the first tubular member adjacent the end of the second tubular member into which the carbonated water was initially introduced. After passing through the first tubular member, the cooled carbonated water is removed for dispensing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a heat exchanger for fluids, and more specifically, this invention relates to a cold plate heat exchanger for cooling carbonated water in a beverage dispenser.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many locations where it is desired to dispense carbonated beverages, it is either impossible or undesirable to provide a compression-expansion refrigeration system. Examples of such locations are ball parks, circuses or carnivals, large picnic or social gatherings, and a variety of other such situations in which limited usage does not warrant the installation of a full scale mechanical refrigerating apparatus.
Carbonated beverage dispensers for such locations utilize a so-called "cold plate" heat exchanger, in which ice is located on a heat conducting medium to withdraw heat from the fluids to be cooled. The cold plate normally has tubes or coils of a suitable material, such as stainless steel, imbedded in a heat conducting casting, such as an aluminum casting. Melt water from the ice is constantly drained from the surface of the ice contacting the cold plate by a sloping depression formed in the top of the cold plate and removed by a suitable drain arrangement.
For a carbonated beverage dispenser, maximum cooling of the carbonated water is desired, since it is the major constituent of the dispensed beverage. Prior art arrangements generally use a carbonated water duct formed as a convoluted or serpentine coil located as close to the surface on which the ice is resting as is practicable. Such an arrangement has some problems. First of all, utilization of a single layer of tubing limits the amount of surface area that can be exposed to the heat exchange process. Also, the introduction of warm water close to the surface on which the ice is resting creates uneven melting of the ice and cavitation (i.e., formation of pockets or cavities so that the ice is not resting directly against the heat exchange surface). These effects limit the efficiency of the heat exchange process and can result in the dispensing of inadequately cooled beverages.
Some attempts have apparently been made to increase the cooling efficiency of the cold plate by utilizing a second layer of coiled tubing for the carbonated water. However, these prior art approaches have inserted the carbonated water to be cooled into the top layer (i.e., the layer of tubing adjacent the ice bearing surface) and then returned the carbonated water in the second layer for removal adjacent the inlet. This approach does not, of course, do anything to solve the cavitation problem. Further, by having the outlet adjacent the inlet, efficiency of the heat exchange process is reduced as a result of the cooled outlet water drawing heat from the warm inlet water.


The present invention relates to a system for inspection of stacked cargo containers. One embodiment of the invention generally comprises a plurality of stacked cargo containers arranged in rows or tiers, each container having a top, a bottom a first side, a second side, a front end, and a back end; a plurality of spacers arranged in rows or tiers; one or more mobile inspection devices for inspecting the cargo containers, wherein the one or more inspection devices are removeably disposed within the spacers, the inspection means configured to move through the spacers to detect radiation within the containers. The invented system can also be configured to inspect the cargo containers for a variety of other potentially hazardous materials including but not limited to explosive and chemical threats.

In 2006, Congress mandated the Secured Freight Initiative to test the feasibility of inspecting 100 percent of cargo containers coming from overseas for terrorist threats. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Energy (DOE), in cooperation with maritime industry and foreign government partners, have already launched Phase I of the Secure Freight Initiative (SFI) to deploy a globally integrated network of radiation detection and container imaging equipment to be operated in seaports worldwide. The purpose of the initiative is to prevent terrorists from using nuclear or other radiological materials to attack the global maritime supply chain or using cargo containers to bring the resources for such an attack to the United States. DE-FG02-06ER84516
However, for Secure Freight to succeed, it must balance enhanced container security with an imperative to facilitate efficient global trade. Such a balance in an incredible challenge given that over 20 million shipping containers enter the U.S. each year. Economic considerations require that they be quickly unloaded by crane onto trucks and trains, and only a few percent are inspected.
The risk posed by the smuggling of special nuclear material or a nuclear weapon in cargo containers is obvious. In December 2005, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) issued a Call for Proposals (CFP) that has a section on "long-dwell, in-transit radiation detection in large cargo-container ships." In the introduction, this CFP states "For example, few effective, affordable, near-term technological solutions have been identified for robust detection and verification of shielded special nuclear material at our nation's ports of entry."
The main problem with inspecting stacked cargo containers is inaccessibility; a large fraction of stacked containers cannot be inspected because they are surrounded on all sides by many tons of other containers and cargo. Inspection methods currently used or proposed involve unloading containers from ships and inspecting them individually. Most current research in this area also involves inspecting individual sealed containers using large external equipment. It is not clear whether these methods are fast enough for a sensitive inspection during container loading or unloading or whether they can permit repeated measurements without disrupting the flow of containers. These methods are extremely time-consuming, and thus, expensive, even when only a small sampling of containers is inspected. Furthermore, inspecting a small sampling is not enough to ensure that all cargo is safe. What is needed is an inspection system that can inspect every container when they are stacked, such as during the long times cargo is stacked (i.e. in a port, waiting area or while at sea).

System for inspection of stacked cargo containers

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


A hard-type high-structure carbon black capable of providing the rubber comprising the carbon black with a high modulus, superior abrasion resistance, and gripping performance, exhibiting high abrasion resistance corresponding to the modulus, and suitable for tire treads, and a rubber composition. The hard-type high-structure carbon black of the present invention having characteristics of 70.ltoreq.CTAB.ltoreq.250, 130.ltoreq.DBP, 115.ltoreq.24M4DBP, DBP-24M4DBP.ltoreq.40, .DELTA.Dst/Dst.ltoreq.0.8, and a correlation factor f calculated by the following formula (1) satisfying the following formula (2). EQU f=(Tint/CTAB).multidot.(24M4DBP/Dst)/(N.sub.2 SA/IA) (1) EQU 1.2.ltoreq.f.ltoreq.1.6 (2). The rubber composition comprising 20-150 parts by weight of the above carbon black for 100 parts by weight of natural rubbers, synthetic rubbers, or blends of these rubbers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hard-type high-structure carbon black which is capable of providing a rubber with a high modulus and excellent abrasion resistance and suitable for use in tire treads for various automobiles, and to a rubber composition comprising the carbon black.
2. Description of Background Art
Various kinds of carbon black possessing various respective characteristics have been used for rubber reinforcement. Performance of rubber compositions comprising carbon black is mainly determined by the characteristics of the carbon black. Therefore, carbon black having characteristics suitable for the purpose of the application has been selectively blended with rubbers.
In recent years, low fuel consumption tires have been developed to deal with demands for saving resources and energy. As such low fuel consumption tires, a rubber composition comprising a relatively small amount of carbon black with a large particle diameter which exhibits low heat build-up and high impact resilience is effective. However, although the blend of carbon black having a large particle diameter and a small specific surface area is effective for achieving low fuel consumption, a decrease in properties such as braking characteristics (handling stability) and abrasion resistance is unavoidable.
It is necessary to increase the hysteresis loss of the rubber composition in order to improve handling stability and provide high gripping performance. As a method of increasing the hysteresis loss of the rubber composition for tread, a method of filling a large amount of carbon black into a styrene-butadiene copolymer rubber (SBR) containing a large amount of bonded styrene has been employed. However, hardness of the rubber composition comprising a large amount of carbon black becomes so high that the frictional resistance to the road surface decreases. Moreover, such a rubber composition generates a remarkable amount of heat during travel, causing the rubber structure to deteriorate.
As described above, improvement of the gripping performance and abrasion resistance of tire tread is limited only by the amount of the rubber components and carbon black blended into the tire. Therefore, improvement of these rubber properties from the viewpoint of the characteristics of the carbon black has been attempted. Given as examples of such attempts are a radial tire for passenger cars comprising a rubber composition which comprises carbon black with a .DELTA.Dst/Dst of 0.7 or more for 100 parts by weight of a blended rubber of an SBR characterized in the amount of bonded styrene, amount of a vinyl bond at a butadiene site, and the like and other diene rubbers (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 248441/1990); hard rubber black for achieving both superior gripping performance and excellent abrasion resistance, having a nitrogen adsorption specific surface area (N.sub.2 SA) of 120-165 m.sup.2 /g and a DBP absorption number of 120 ml/100 g or more in which a characteristic relation value (G value) for controlling the degree of surface activity and reducing the particle diameter is limited (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 32137/1990); a rubber composition exhibiting superior abrasion resistance and excellent gripping performance with a small specific surface area and a small DBP absorption number, exhibiting superior abrasion resistance with a large specific surface area without either processability or abrasion resistance being impaired by mixing carbon black with a Dst of 70 or less, a nitrogen adsorption specific surface area/iodine adsorption number of 0.85-0.98, and a DBP absorption-24M4DBP of less than 20 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 174470/1991); and the like.
As a rubber composition exhibiting superior abrasion resistance and excellent gripping performance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 256577/1994 discloses a rubber composition comprising 50-180 parts by weight of carbon black having the following selective characteristics (1)-(5) for 100 parts by weight of diene rubber components.
(1) 140.ltoreq.CTAB.ltoreq.180, (2) -10.ltoreq.N.sub.2 SA-IA.ltoreq.0, PA0 (3) 110.ltoreq.24M4DBP.ltoreq.130, (4) 20.ltoreq.DBP-24M4DBP.ltoreq.40, PA0 (5) .DELTA.Dst.ltoreq.0.5Dst+23
As a method of providing high abrasion resistance in a rubber comprising carbon black, a method of increasing the structure of the carbon black has been considered to be effective. However, a sufficient increase in 24M4DBP which is an index of the structure level in the rubber cannot be achieved only by increasing the structure (increased DBP). Moreover, if the 24M4DBP value increases to a certain level, since the distribution of the aggregate tends to be broader as the 24M4DBP value increases, abrasion resistance is insufficient compared with the high 24M4DBP value.
Since abrasion resistance is generally improved in proportion to an increase in a modulus, improvement of abrasion resistance has resulted from the increase in a modulus to some extent. Rubber products are usually used by adjusting the modulus level to a predetermined level. Therefore, when the rubber is blended by being adjusted to a predetermined modulus level, improvement of abrasion resistance has been insufficient at such a modulus level.
Furthermore, a demand for low fuel consumption automobiles has become more and more important in view of environmental pollution. For example, reduction of the amount of carbon black to be included to provide lightweight tires, specifically, improvement of abrasion resistance by improving the characteristics of the carbon black has been demanded. Moreover, a higher modulus, superior abrasion resistance, and excellent gripping performance have been required for high performance tires accompanied by the development of high performance automobiles.

Hard-type high-structure carbon black and rubber composition comprising same


Methods and systems for grouping, recovering, and processing ice obtained from an ice source, i.e., a glacier, ice sheet, ice cap, etc., are described herein. In particular, the ice obtained from the ice source is separated and grouped according to common unique properties and processed as a beverage for consumption having the same unique properties.

It has been known for many years to utilize, e.g., Greenland inland ice as a drinking water resource within the field of refreshing drinks or soft drinks based on the recognition that upon melting, the inland ice may be distributed to consumers as some of the purest naturally occurring water in the world. However, known methods have been disadvantageous, because some of the natural purity of the ice has been lost in the preparation of the ice as drinking water, after ice has been taken out from its natural occurrence, such as an iceberg. It has been necessary to melt the ice and then bottle or pack the water in containers permitting transport and distribution of the water to consumers.
This type of processing has been applicable not only to inland ice as can be found in Greenland, but is also useful in harvesting water from a glacier. Inland ice and glaciers are formed by yearly snowfall. Snowfall accumulates and compresses in an ice shelves over the course of many years to depths reaching over 4,000 meters in some areas. As the ice layers are compressed, and in the course of thousands of years, the ice moves towards ice rims and glaciers or other terminal points of the ice shelves. The glaciers calve and at short intervals yield an iceberg, which floats out to sea. These icebergs have typically been "caught" shortly thereafter before they are decomposed into undrinkable seawater. The ice is processed for the production of drinking water of a very high purity.
Glacial ice advances then retreats from year to year depending upon the climate around the glacier and typical snow accumulation. Glacier movements and shape shifting occur over very long periods of time (i.e., hundreds to thousands of years), but within historic memory such transformations in fewer than 100 years are not known. Presently, about 10 percent of the land in the world is covered with glaciers or ice shelves. Glaciers, ice shelves, ice caps and ice sheets store approximately 75 percent of the world's fresh water supply and cover over 15 million square kilometers. These frozen bodies of water have existed, as mentioned above, for thousands upon thousands of years. In Washington State alone, glaciers provide 470 billion of gallons of water each summer to consumers. Most of this water is used for drinking and the like. Furthermore, the Antarctic ice sheet has an age of over 40 million years.
There are several known techniques to determine the age of glaciers and ice sheets.
Most of these methods employ drilling an ice core from the glacier or ice sheet then counting the layers inside of the ice core, much like counting rings in a tree to determine the age of a tree. A first method of dating ice cores consists of counting the annual layers. The basis of this method lies with looking for items that vary with the seasons in a consistent manner. Of these are items that depend on the temperature (colder in the winter and warmer in the summer) and solar irradiance (less irradiance in the winter and more in the summer). Once such markers of seasonal variations are found, they can be used to find the number of years that the ice core has accumulated over. Of the temperature dependent markers, the most important is the ratio of 180 to 160. The water molecules composed of H2 (180) evaporate less rapidly and condense more readily than water molecules composed of H2 (160). Thus, water evaporating from the ocean starts off as H2 (180) poor. As the water vapor travels towards the poles, it becomes increasingly poorer in H2 (180), since the heavier molecules tend to precipitate out first. This depletion is a temperature driven process, so the precipitation becomes more enriched with H2 (160), then is the case in the summer. Thus, each annual layer starts 180 rich, becomes 180 poor and ends up 180 rich.
A second method of dating ice cores is to use the age of previously determined markers to determine the age of various points in the ice core. This relies on accurately previously dated ice cores with accurately placed markers on them as a point of reference to determine the age of another ice core. Alternatively, this method can compare certain inclusions in an ice core with inclusions of another ice core that has been dated. Typically, inclusions are ash from volcanic eruptions and acidic layers from various weather anomalies.
There exist many other known methods of dating ice cores taken from a glacier or ice sheet. Furthermore, gases collected that were trapped inside of a layer of a given ice core can be dated using standard carbon 14 and/or chlorine 36 dating. The point is that there exist many known methods to date an ice core and thus date various layers in a glacier.

Method and system for recovering and preparing glacial water


A display control device for controlling the display of an image in a display device includes a decision unit configured to decide whether the state of a scaling of a moving-image portion in a display object image or an image to be displayed in the display device has changed; and a display control unit configured to select a screen mode for displaying the display object image in response to the change in the scaling state of the moving-image portion in the display object image, and to display the display object image in the screen mode in the display device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display control device, a display control method and a program and, more particularly, to a display control device, a display control method and a program, which can display an image properly.
2. Background Art
In the digital broadcasting, there are broadcast images which have different image formats such as the aspect ratios of the entire image or the aspect ratios (or the image sizes) of the effective moving-image portions in the image. In the digital broadcasting, for example, there are broadcast images having the entire aspect (horizontal to vertical) ratios of 16:9 and 4:3.
The images of the following image formats are broadcast as the image (as will be suitably called the "16:9 image") of the aspect ratio of 16:9 in the digital broadcasting.
Specifically, FIG. 1 presents the 16:9 images of three kinds of image formats.
The first one from the top of FIG. 1 presents the 16:9 image (as will be suitably called the "ordinary 16:9 image") of the image format presenting the entirely effective moving-image portion of the 16:9 image (or the image size of the effective moving-image portion in the 16:9 image is identical to that of 16:9 image). Here, the image format of the ordinary 16:9 image will be suitably called the "ordinary 16:9".
The second one from the top of FIG. 1 presents the 16:9 image (as will be suitably called the "16:9 image with side panels") of the image format, in which the image of the aspect ratio of 4:3 of the center portion excepting the right and left end portions of the 16:9 image is an effective moving-image portion.
Here in the 16:9 image with the side panels, the right and left end portions other than the effective moving-image portion are called the side panels. The image format of the 16:9 image with the side panels will be suitably called the "side panel 16:9".
Here, the 16:9 image with the side panels can be obtained by forming the side panels on the right and left of the image of the aspect ratio of 4:3 of the NTSC (National Television System Committee), for example.
The third one from the top (or the first one from the bottom) of FIG. 1 presents the 16:9 image (as will be suitably called the "letter box image") of the image format, in which the image of the aspect ratio of 16:9 of the central portion of the 16:9 image with the side panels but excepting the upper and lower end portions is the effective moving-image portion.
Here in the letter box image, the upper and lower end portions other than the effective moving-image portion is called the "letter box". The image format of the letter box image will be suitably called the "letter box 16:9".
On the other hand, there has spread the so-called "wide TV (wide television receiver)", which is equipped with a display having a display area (or a display screen) of an aspect ratio of 16:9 for displaying an image in the display area.
In the wide TV, there have been prepared screen modes for displaying the images of the aforementioned individual image formats in the display.
FIG. 2 shows display examples of images in the individual screen modes on the wide TV.
The first one from the top of FIG. 2 presents a display example of the 16:9 image, as displayed in a screen mode called the "full mode".
This "full mode" is the screen mode, in which the 16:9 image is displayed as it is, so that the 16:9 image is displayed as it is in the 16:9 display area of the display. Thus in the "full mode", the 16:9 image is displayed as it is, so that the full mode is suitable for the display of the ordinary 16:9 image, as indicated at the first position from the top of FIG. 2, for example.
The second one from the top of FIG. 2 presents a display example of the 16:9 image, as displayed in a screen mode called the "wide zoom mode".
The "wide zoom mode" is the screen mode, in which the right and left end portions of the 16:9 image are cut so that only the rightward and leftward (or horizontal) directions are enlarged and displayed. In the 16:9 display area of the display, there is displayed the central portion of the image (or the image enlarged in the rightward and leftward image size) which is obtained by enlarging the 16:9 image to the right and left. Thus in the "wide zoom mode", the image enlarged rightward and leftward from the 16:9 image is displayed so that it is suitable for the display of the 16:9 image having the side panels, for example, as indicated at the second position from the top of FIG. 2. Here, the "wide zoom mode" is also suited for the display of the image of the aspect ratio of 4:3, for example.
The third one from the top (or the first one from the bottom) of FIG. 2 presents the display example of the 16:9 image displayed in the screen mode called the "zoom mode".
The "zoom mode" is the screen mode, in which the 16:9 image is cut at its end portions in the rightward and leftward directions and the upward and downward (or vertical) directions so that it is displayed enlarged in both the horizontal and vertical directions. In the 16:9 display area of the display, there is displayed the central portion of the image which is obtained by enlarging the 16:9 image vertically and horizontally (or the image which has its sizes enlarged in the vertical directions and in the horizontal directions). Thus in the "zoom mode", the image having the 16:9 image enlarged vertically and horizontally is displayed, so that the "zoom mode" is suited for the display of the letter box image, as presented at the third position from the top of FIG. 2.
The screen mode can be selected so to speak manually by operating a remote commander attached to the wide TV, for example. Moreover, the wide TV may have a function to select the screen mode automatically and to display the image in the screen mode. This function is called the "auto-wide function".
In the wide TV having the auto-wide function, for example, the screen mode is reselected (as referred to JP-A-08-317303 (Patent Document 1)) when triggered by the switching of the voice mode of the digital broadcasting, that is, by the switching of the voice from one to the other of the stereophonic and monophonic modes.
Alternatively in the wide TV having the auto-wide function, the screen mode is reselected when triggered by the change in the size of the moving-image portion (or the aspect ratio of the moving-image portion) of the image as the television broadcasting program displayed in the display, i.e., by the change of the image format of the image as the television broadcasting program displayed in the display.
Moreover, the reselection of the screen mode is made on the basis of the image format of the image, for example. In case the image to be displayed in the display is the ordinary 16:9 image, for example, the "full mode" is reselected as the screen mode, as presented at the first position from the top of FIG. 2. In case the image to be displayed in the display is the 16:9 image having the side panels or the image having the entire aspect ratio of 4:3, for example, the "wide zoom mode" is reselected as the screen mode, as presented at the second position from the top of FIG. 2. In case the image to be displayed in the display is the letter box image, for example, the "zoom mode" is reselected as the screen mode, as presented at the third position from the top of FIG. 2.
In the wide TV of the related art, the screen mode is reselected, when triggered by the change in the image format of the image to be displayed, as described above, in case the auto-wide function is effective. As a result, the proper display may not be performed.
In the digital broadcasting, the data broadcast may be performed in addition of the TV broadcast with images and voices. In the wide TV, on the other hand, a scaling to reduce the image as the TV broadcasting program may be done to create and display the scaled image and the contents of the data broadcasting in the superposed images.
FIG. 3 shows an example of the image (as will be suitably called the "superposed image"), in which the 16:9 image as the television broadcasting program (or contents) and the contents of the data broadcasting are superposed.
In the superposed image of FIG. 3, the lefthand upper area displays the scaled image (or moving-image) which is prepared by scaling the 16:9 image having the side panels, and the righthand and lower side areas of the scaled image display letters and drawings, for example, as the contents of the data broadcasting.
Here, the data broadcasting contents to be displayed in the superposed image are called the "associated data", for example. In case the data broadcasting of the associated data is performed, whether the image as the television broadcasting program is scaled to display the superposed image of FIG. 3 or whether not the associated data but only the image as the television broadcasting program is displayed is in the wide TV. This display may be designated either by the user to operate the remote commander or with the broadcasting signal of the digital broadcast from the broadcasting station side.
On the other hand, the superposed image is exemplified not only by the superposed image, in which the scaled image of the image as the television broadcasting program and the contents of the data broadcasting are superposed, but also the superposed image, in which the image as the television broadcasting program is not scaled but in which the contents of the data broadcasting are superposed on the nonscaled image. In the following, the superposed image having the scaled image and the data broadcasting contents superposed will be called the "scaling superposed image", and the superposed image having nonscaled image and the data broadcasting contents superposed will be called the "nonscaled superposed image".
In the wide TV in the related art, the scaling superposed image may not be properly displayed, as shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5.
Specifically in case the auto-wide function is effective, as shown on the upper side of FIG. 4, if the image format of the image to be displayed in the display is the side panel 16:9, the "wide zoom mode" is selected as the screen mode on the basis of that image format.
For the side-panel 16:9 image having the image format of the side panel 16:9, therefore, the 16:9 image, in which the image (or the effective moving-image portion) having the central portion of the aspect ratio of 4:3 is expanded rightward and leftward, is displayed in the display area of 16:9 of the display.
In case the display object image or the image to be displayed entirely of the display (or the image to be displayed in the entirety of the display) is changed from the 16:9 image having the side panels to the scaling superposed image of FIG. 3, in which the scaled image scaled from the 16:9 image with the side panels and the associated data are superposed, the image as the television broadcasting program to be displayed in the display is the 16:9 image having the side panels and has its image format unchanged, no matter whether the display object image might be the 16:9 image having the side panels or the scaling superposed image of FIG. 3.
Even if, therefore, the display object image is changed from the 16:9 image having the side panels to the scaling superposed image of FIG. 3, the screen mode is unchanged in the "wide zoom mode". Therefore, the scaling superposed image is enlarged rightwardly and leftwardly and displayed, as shown on the lower side of FIG. 4. As a result, there may occur the letter missing, in which the associated data such as letters in the scaling superposed image is not displayed in the display area of the display.
Even for the ordinary 16:9 image, the user may enlarge and display a portion, that is, may display the ordinary 16:9 image in the "zoom mode", as shown on the upper side of FIG. 5. If the auto-wide function is active (or effective) on the ordinary 16:9 image, the "full mode" is displayed, as shown at the top position from the top of FIG. 2. In order that the ordinary 16:9 image may be displayed in the "zoom mode", the user need make the auto-wide function ineffective and to select the "zoom mode" manually.
In case the auto-wide function is made ineffective so that the ordinary 16:9 image is displayed in the "zoom mode", as described above, the image as the television broadcasting program to be displayed in the display remains the ordinary 16:9 image, even if the display object image is changed from the ordinary 16:9 image to the scaling superposed image, in which the scaled image scaled from the ordinary 16:9 image and the associated data are superposed. Therefore, the screen mode remains in the "zoom mode". Therefore, the scaling superposed image is enlarged vertically and horizontally and displayed, as shown on the lower side of FIG. 5. As a result, as in the case of FIG. 4, there may occur the letter missing, in which the associated data such as the letters in the scaling superposed image is not displayed in the display area of the display.
The scaling superposed image is the 16:9 image, in which the scaled image and the associated data are displayed in their entirety, and the display of the scaling superposed image is proper when it is made in the "full mode". When the scaling superposed image is to be displayed in the "full mode" in the case of FIG. 4 or FIG. 5, however, the user need switch the screen mode manually into the "full mode", thus, it is troublesome.
The present invention has been conceived in view of the situations thus far described, and contemplates to display an image properly.

Display control device, display control method, and program


Chewing gum products and other comestibles containing fructooligosaccharides and methods of making such products are disclosed. In one embodiment, the fructooligosaccharides are used in a rolling compound applied to the chewing gum product. In a second embodiment, the fructooligosaccharides are used in a coating, such as a hard-shell coating, for a pellet gum. In a third embodiment, fructooligosaccharides are used in the center fill of a chewing gum. In a fourth embodiment, aspartame is used to sweeten the gum composition and fructooligosaccharides are provided, preferably in an effective amount to stabilize the aspartame such that after eight weeks of storage at 85.degree. F., at least 5% less aspartame decomposes than would have decomposed if the fructooligosaccharides were not included. Fructooligosaccharides are also codried with other sweeteners, coevaporated to make syrups and used as an encapsulating agent for high-intensity sweeteners or flavors used in gum compositions.

The present invention relates to improved chewing gum products. More particularly, the invention relates to improving chewing gum by the use of specific bulking agents in sugar and non-sugar chewing gum products to give improved texture, moisture absorption properties, and improved shelf life properties, including aspartame stability. The improved chewing gum compositions may also be used in a variety of chewing gum products, such as confectionery coated chewing gum products.
In recent years, efforts have been devoted to replace sugar and sugar syrups normally found in chewing gum with other carbohydrates and noncarbohydrates. Non-sugar or sugar-free chewing gum, which is growing in popularity, uses sugar alcohols or polyols to replace sugar and sugar syrups. The most popular polyols are sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol. New polyols are being developed using new technology to replace these polyols. New polyols have various unique properties which can improve the taste, texture, and shelf life properties of chewing gum for consumers.
The non-sugar polyols have the advantage of not contributing to dental caries of consumers, as well as being able to be consumed by diabetics. However, all polyols have the disadvantage of causing gastro-intestinal disturbances if consumed in too great of a quantity. Therefore it would be a great advantage to be able to use a carbohydrate or carbohydrate-like food ingredient for chewing gum that would act as a bulking agent, but not contribute to dental caries nor cause gastrointestinal disturbances.
One such bulking agent comprises fructooligosaccharides (FOS). This bulking agent or bulk sweetener is not approved for use in human food products or in chewing gum in the U.S. However, a GRAS affirmation petition for FOS as a human food ingredient is currently being prepared. The bulk sweetener is approved for use in Japan and is being used in a variety of foods. Although a sugar, FOS does not contribute to dental caries, does not cause as significant of gastro-intestinal disturbances as polyols and does not significantly contribute to calories. Thus, this ingredient's use in chewing gum could be a definite improvement.
Unique types of fructose compounds were first disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,782,123. The sweetener is obtained from Jerusalem artichoke tubers which contain inulin, a carbohydrate composed of fructose and glucose. The inulin is treated by acid hydrolysis.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,146 discloses a coupling sugar called oligoglycosyl fructose derived from other sugars.
Fructosyl oligomers and oligosaccharides are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,751, EPO Patent Publication No. 0 301 628 and EPO Patent Publication No. 0 337 889.
Branched fructooligosaccharides are disclosed in PCT Publication WO 91/13076.
Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,902,674; 4,987,124; and 5,032,579 as a method and composition for inhibiting the growth of Salmonella. Fructooligosaccharides are also disclosed in EPO Patent Publication No. 0 397 027 and Japanese Patent No. 3,095,102 as a method for killing pests.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,771 discloses a low caloric, low cariogenic sweetener comprising fructooligosaccharides having from 1 to 4 molecules of fructose bound to sucrose. The use of the sweetener in chewing gum is described in Example 10. The patent is assigned to the Japanese firm of Meiji Seika Kaisha, who have joined forces with ZeaGen Inc. (formerly Coors Biotech, Inc.) to manufacture and market a FOS product under the trade name NutraFlora (sometimes called Neosugar).
FOS is used in Japan as a sweetening agent, flavor enhancer, bulking agent and humectant. The product is also added to Japanese "health foods" to promote the growth of "beneficial" bacteria in the lower gastro-intestinal tract.

Chewing gum products using fructooligosaccharides


A pavement marking eradicator (10) for removing pavement marking from pavement. The eradicator has a grinding apparatus (13) having a safety skirt (31) to which is mounted a collector (39) of a vacuum system (14). The vacuum system also has a cyclone (36) for collecting and filtering debris created by the grinding apparatus during operation.

Eradicators are commonly used to remove pavement markings such as paint, thermoplastic, tapes and coatings on roadways for the designation of lanes, crosswalks and directional indicators. These eradicators operate by grinding the surface of the pavement thereby chipping away the pavement markings thereon. These eradicators typically include a metal protective skirt and a resilient shroud both of which prevent the scattering of debris, such as particles of paint and pavement material, from beneath the eradicator as the roadway surface is ground. This debris however remains upon the surface of the pavement and therefore must be manually collected and placed in containers suitable for proper disposal. Fine debris often becomes airborne in the form of dust.
Some pavement markings used in marking roadway lines typically contain pigment of hazardous material such as lead and heavy metals or chromium in its composition. The grinding of this type of pavement marking causes the hazardous material to be released, thus creating the possibility of exposure to those operating the eradicator as well as the general public and animals within the region. As these elements are considered to be hazardous materials, their proper collection and disposal is imperative and furthermore mandated by many government agencies with regard to its special handling and disposal.
Thus, there exists a need for a pavement marking eradicator for grinding pavement marking containing potentially hazardous material without the threat of exposing workers, the general public and animals to the hazardous material. Accordingly, it is to the provision of such that the present invention is primarily directed.


A capacitor component includes a body including a plurality of dielectric layers having a stacked structure, and first and second internal electrodes which are alternately disposed while having the dielectric layer interposed therebetween; and first and second external electrodes formed on an outer surface of the body, and connected to the first and second internal electrodes, respectively, wherein the body includes an active region having capacity by the first and second internal electrodes and a cover region located above and below the active region, the cover region includes a protection pattern of a metal material connected to the first external electrode or the second external electrode, and the protection pattern does not overlap with the internal electrode having a different polarity among the first and second internal electrodes in a thickness direction of the body.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a capacitor component.
2. Description of Related Art
A multilayer ceramic capacitor, which is a capacitor component, is a chip type condenser mounted on a printed circuit board in several electronic products, such as an imaging device, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), and the like, or in a computer, a smartphone, a cellular phone, and the like, to charge or discharge electricity.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) may be used as a component in these various electronic devices because of its advantages of small size, high capacitance, and easy mountable function. The multilayer ceramic capacitor used in mobile devices, automobiles, and the like has recently been required to have a high level of mechanical strength also in order to withstand harsh environments such as external and repeated forces, vibrations, severe temperature and humidity, and the like.

Capacitor component with metallic protection pattern for improved mechanical strength and moisture proof reliability


A display device includes a display panel, a light source, and an optical component including a light guide film and an optical sheet. The optical sheet is coupled to the light guide film to control a path of a light emitted from the light guide film. The optical sheet includes a base film, main optical patterns, and sub-optical patterns. The main optical patterns are disposed between the base film and the light guide film and coupled to the base film and the light guide film. Each of the main optical patterns includes a side surface inclined with respect to the light guide film. The sub-optical patterns are disposed between the base film and the light guide film, coupled to the base film, and spaced apart from the light guide film. Each of the sub-optical patterns has a side surface inclined with respect to the light guide film.

1. Field
The disclosure relates to an optical component and a display device including the optical component. More particularly, the disclosure relates to an optical component for controlling a traveling direction of light provided from a light source and a display device including the optical component.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display device typically includes a backlight assembly and a display panel for displaying an image using a light provided from the backlight assembly. The backlight assembly may include a light emitting unit, a light guide plate, and optical sheets that control a path of the light exiting from the light guide plate.
The light guide plate guides the light generated from the light emitting unit to the display panel. The optical sheets may include a diffusion sheet and a prism sheet. The diffusion sheet diffuses the light exiting from the light guide plate, and the prism sheet condenses the light exiting from the light guide plate in a front direction of the display panel.

Optical component and display device having the same


Improved methods and articles used to fabricate flexible circuit structures are disclosed. The methods include depositing a release layer or a dielectric film on a substrate, and then forming a conductive laminate on the release layer or the dielectric film. The conductive laminate may be easily separated by the substrate to eventually form a flexible circuit structure.

Embodiments of the invention relate to methods and precursors used for forming flexible circuit structures.
Circuit structures such as circuit boards have conductive lines which are used to communicate electrical components such as integrated circuit chips. Flexible circuit structures have been of particular interest in recent years, because flexible circuit structures have many advantages over rigid circuit structures. For example, flexible circuit structures typically weigh less and can occupy less space than rigid circuit structures. The reduced space and weight provided by flexible circuit structures make them especially suitable for use in lightweight and small products such as laptop computers, cellular phones, cameras, etc.
While flexible circuit structures are highly desirable, reliable flexible circuit structures having fine line circuit patterns can be difficult to form in an efficient and cost-effective manner. For example, typical flexible circuit structure precursors typically include one or more flexible dielectric films with one or more conductive patterns on the dielectric films. Forming conductive patterns on flexible dielectric films is difficult, because they are flimsy and thin. If, for example, a flexible dielectric film wrinkles during a photolithography process, a formed photoresist image on the dielectric film may be distorted. This distortion can lead to the formation of short and/or open circuits in the subsequently formed conductive pattern.
It would be desirable to provide for improved articles and methods for fabricating flexible circuit structures.
Embodiments of the invention can be used to manufacture flexible circuit structures efficiently and less expensively.
One embodiment of the invention is directed to a method comprising: depositing a release layer on a substrate; forming a conductive laminate on the release layer; and peeling at least a portion of the conductive laminate off of the substrate.
Another embodiment of the invention is directed to a method comprising: depositing a release layer on a substrate; forming a flexible conductive laminate on the release layer; cutting the conductive laminate along a line defining a portion of the conductive laminate; and separating the cut portion of the conductive laminate from the substrate.
Another embodiment of the invention is directed to an article comprising: a substrate; a conductive laminate; and a release layer disposed between the substrate and the conductive laminate, wherein the conductive laminate is flexible and is capable of being peeled off of the substrate.
The invention also provides a method for detaching a layer from a substrate comprising depositing on a substrate a first bonding material having a first bonding strength; depositing a release layer on the first bonding material; depositing on the release layer a second bonding material having a second bonding strength less than the first bonding strength; depositing a conductive layer on the second bonding material; and removing at least a portion of the conductive layer from at least a portion of the second bonding material.
The invention further also provides a method for detaching a layer from a substrate comprising depositing on a substrate a first bonding material having a first bonding strength; depositing a release layer on the first bonding material; depositing on the release layer a second bonding material having at least one first bonding section and a second bonding section. The first bonding section includes a first bonding strength which is greater than a secondary bonding strength of the second bonding section. The method additionally comprises depositing a conductive layer on the second bonding material; removing at least a portion of the conductive layer from at least a portion of the secondary bonding section; and cutting, prior to the removing of at least a portion of the conductive layer, a plurality of openings through the conductive layer and the second bonding material. The at least one first bonding section comprises a plurality of first bonding sections. The plurality of first bonding sections include at least two first bonding sections being spaced from each other. The at least one of the openings passes between the two spaced first bonding sections.
These and other embodiments of the invention are described in further detail below.

Methods for fabricating flexible circuit structures


A radiation detection/imaging system includes a first set of radiation detectors spaced from each other in a first direction and a second set of radiation detectors spaced from each other in the first direction. The second set of radiation detectors is positioned laterally adjacent the first set of radiation detectors and the radiation detectors of the first and second sets of radiation detectors are arranged in an alternating or staggered pattern in the first direction. A composite image can be formed of the passage of radiation through an object acquired by the first and second sets of radiation detectors as the object is translated by the first and second sets of radiation detectors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to radiation detection or inspection systems and, more particularly, to radiation detector arrays and corresponding collimators for use in said inspection systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Many radiation inspection systems employ CZT, CdTe, Ge or other types of radiation-sensitive semiconductor detectors assembled into linear arrays for the purpose of converting radiation impinging on said detectors into corresponding electrical signals.
There are known inspection systems having radiation detectors where all of the pixels (or radiation detection elements) thereof are arranged in single or multiple rows and all detectors are arranged in a single line (a linear array) to cover a scanning area cross section where a radiation pattern is defined by radiation passing through a single slot collimator disposed in the path of the radiation for improving image quality and resolution.
More specifically, heretofore, radiation detectors of inspection systems were arranged into linear arrays with a single slot collimator above them. In order to keep pixel pitch constant and to allow gaps in between the detectors, the edge pixels of each detector were made undersized and a guard band was only provided along the two sides of the detector, leaving exposed unguarded edge pixels on either end of the detector. Due to differences in pixel width, electric field geometry inside the detector and pixel surrounding conditions, edge pixels exhibited different performance versus internal pixels. Edge pixels have also been observed to be prone to instability and performance degradation due to changes to the detector sides over time and increase leakage current.
Heretofore, traditional radiation detectors were placed very close to each other, e.g., end-to-end, to maintain pixel pitch across the array. This arrangement, however, often presents the technical challenge and risk of damaging adjacent detectors during installation or due to thermal expansion.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a radiation inspection system that has a new arrangement of radiation detectors that avoids the above problems and others, as well as a collimator for use with such new detector array. Still other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description.

Staggered array imaging system using pixilated radiation detectors

Endicott Interconnect Technologies, Inc.


A connection structure for a terminal fitting (20) includes the terminal fitting (20) with a pair of resilient deforming portions (22), a through hole (11) formed in a circuit board (10) as a connection target of the terminal fitting (20) and into which the pair of resilient deforming portions (22) are press-fitted while being resiliently displaced toward each other, and locking portions (28) which are formed by recessing outer edges (24) of the resilient deforming portions (22) and engaged with the inner peripheral surface of the through hole (11) when the resilient deforming portions (22) are press-fit in the through hole (11).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a terminal fitting and a connection structure for terminal fitting.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-174615 discloses a structure for press-fitting a press-fit type terminal fitting into a through hole of a busbar for connection. Two projections are formed on the outer edges of two resilient deforming portions of the terminal fitting that are deformed resiliently when the terminal fitting is press-fit into the through hole. The terminal fitting is press-fit into the through hole so that the projections engage front and rear opening edges in a pressing direction to retain the terminal fitting.
The front projection in the press-fitting direction interferes with the inner peripheral surface of the through hole as the above-described terminal fitting is press-fit into the through hole and the deforming portions displace. The deforming portions restore resiliently when the projections align with the opening edges of the through hole. Thus, the amount of resilient displacements of the deforming portions decreases. Accordingly, resilient restoring forces accumulated in the deforming portions when the terminal fitting is connected to the through hole become smaller than a maximum value in the press-fitting process. The lower resilient restoring forces accumulated in the resilient deforming portions when the terminal fitting is connected to the through hole means a reduced holding force of the terminal fitting in the through hole.
The invention was completed in view of the above situation and an object thereof is to increase a holding force of a terminal fitting in a through hole.

Terminal fitting and a connection structure for a terminal fitting


A fault-tolerant timeout protocol for distributed sensor arrays and networks in which each sensor has a plurality of backup nodes, each of which is operable to send priority information which includes the product of the time needed for the backup node to transmit sensor information to a base station and the number of tasks offered to the backup node. In another embodiment, the base station stores the two values and calculates their product. In both cases, the lowest resulting value is used by the base station to select the backup node, which then sends backup sensor information. Another aspect of the present invention is a fault-tolerant sensor integration algorithm. The algorithm creates an abstract sensor defined as an interval having values above and below the reading of an associated physical sensor, and finds a range of values common to more than half of the abstract sensors. The algorithm obtains an output value based on the common range of values, and identifies the correct sensors, possibly faulty sensors, and faulty sensors by identifying the abstract sensors that include, respectively, (a) all of the common range, (b) part of the common range, and (c) none of the common range. A further aspect of the invention is a multi-hop information forwarding method for a wireless network. According to this method, a data source node transmits a signal to neighboring nodes among a plurality of distributed nodes, and each neighboring node which receives the signal from the source node transmits a reply signal which includes a weighted sum of factors including an energy factor and a distance factor for the neighboring node, the energy factor being indicative of the neighboring node's energy level and the distance factor being indicative of its distance from the source node. A forwarding node is selected on the basis of the weighted sums, and the source node transmits a data packet to the selected forwarding node, where the data packet is received and retransmitted either to a data sink node, e.g., a base station, or to another forwarding node.

The present invention relates to sensor arrays and networks and, more particularly, to fault-tolerant communication methods for use with sensor arrays and networks.
Conventionally, single sensor systems have been used to save space and manufacturing cost. But they are not suitable for critical applications because a single sensor is inevitably affected by noise, refresh delay and other uncertainty issues and cannot guarantee to deliver accurate information all the time. Development of MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) has enabled production of relatively large number of micro sensors at a low cost. Micro flow-sensors are one of the most common MEMS devices which have been developed in recent years. Distributed micro flow-sensor arrays and networks (DMFSA/N), built from collections of cooperating intelligent micro flow-sensor nodes, can improve the accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of systems. Sensors incorporated with dedicated signal processing functions are called intelligent sensors, or smart sensors. In this context, a micro flow-sensor array refers to a group of micro flow-sensors of the same type placed close together to measure the same variable of interest. Another possibility is to combine different types of sensors to measure different variables in the same array. Different groups of micro flow-sensor arrays can be distributed widely and selectively in the flow environment to form a micro flow-sensor network.
Due to the inherent constraints of sensors and other electronic components and the effects of flow environment, however, it is unrealistic to expect sensor nodes and the communication links to function properly all the time. Therefore, fault tolerance is an important part of the design of a DMFSA/N. However, a need remains for more effective and efficient fault-tolerant methods and systems.

Fault-tolerant timeout communication protocol with sensor integration


An automotive vehicle body structure includes a rear panel arranged in a vehicle width direction in a vehicle body rear portion, a rear cross member connected to a rear surface of the rear panel, extending along the vehicle width direction, and defining a closed cross section between the rear cross member and the rear panel, and a rear bumper beam connected to a rear section of the rear cross member and extending along the vehicle width direction. The rear cross member includes an extending portion extending along the rear panel outward in the vehicle width direction from an outer end of the rear bumper beam in the vehicle width direction.

An automotive vehicle body structure known from International Publication No. WO 2011-027638 includes a rear panel defining a rear wall of a trunk in a vehicle body rear portion, a rear bumper beam arranged along a vehicle width direction behind the rear panel, and an upper member and lower member. The upper and lower members extend along the vehicle width direction, are placed vertically, and are fixed between the rear panel and rear bumper beam.
That known structure has a problem in that the effect of enhancing the rigidity of the vehicle body rear portion brought by the arrangement of the upper member and lower member is not sufficiently achieved because the end portions of the three members of the rear bumper beam, upper member, and lower member in the vehicle width direction terminate at the same location.


A motor control system is provided for compensating disturbance. The system includes a controller that supplies an input voltage to a motor based on the difference between a current command value to a motor and an actual current of the motor. A motor modeling part outputs a motor output current based on an input voltage from the controller and a disturbance observation part is formed as a reverse model of the motor modeling part to remove current noise using a current differentiation filtering method. Additionally, a disturbance compensation amount determination part determines a disturbance compensation amount based on the disturbance estimated by the disturbance observation part.

(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a motor control system and method for compensating disturbance, and more particularly, to a motor control system and method for compensating disturbance to reduce noise while providing an operation stability of a permanent magnet type synchronous motor.
(b) Background Art
The permanent magnet type synchronous motor in general may be controlled for three purposes, namely, a torque control using a current control, a speed control, and a position control. The torque control is a control procedure based on the speed control and the position control and in general is referred to as a current control since the current is in direct proportion to torque. The torque control, namely, a current control, is executed with a proportional-integral (PI) controller and a linear feedback control, but it is disadvantageous that control stability may be degraded due to disturbance such as a back-emf, etc. Any change in a magnetic flux induced by a stator when a permanent magnet rotates may interact with the current of a stator, thereby generating nonlinearity due to the back-emf. The nonlinearity may change a motor model or may be interpreted as disturbance.
The nonlinearity due to the disturbance such as the back-emf may be estimated using a parameter value of a motor circuit, the current, and a motor speed measurement, but a new design for a controller is still required for compensating disturbance. To compensate any effects of the back-emf, a feed-forward and a feedback control method are mainly being used in the conventional technology, but such a method is sensitive to any unexpected change in parameters, and requires accurate measurement of a motor speed.
The above information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Motor control system and method for compensating disturbance

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


The float valve has a water inlet, a perforated bottom surface and a lift valve mounted between the water inlet and the bottom surface. A float and a rocker arm are used to raise and lower the disc of the lift valve in response to a water level inside the housing. The valve seat has a first vertical axis and the water inlet has a second vertical axis and the first and second vertical axes are parallel to each other and are spaced apart a distance corresponding substantially to a radius of the valve seat. In another feature, a stud on the rocker arm interferes with the valve stem when the float is in a down position, for leaning the valve stem away from the axes of the valve seat and of the water inlet.

Generally, a natural Christmas tree has lower branches that extend more than an arm's length around its stand. The tree stand is often covered with decorating paper and snow-imitating wool or is hidden by a manger. Wrapped gifts are stowed around the tree stand for several days and even weeks preceding Christmas eve. Therefore, the reservoir of a tree stand is hardly accessible to add water therein.
For all these reasons, a hose and a funnel are normally used to add water into the reservoir of a tree stand to keep the tree fresh and green during the entire holiday season. In most Christmas tree watering systems, a valve is mounted inside the reservoir of the tree stand to stop the flow of water from the hose and funnel when the water has reached a predetermined level inside the reservoir. The backflow of water inside the funnel indicates a full-reservoir condition.
Numerous Christmas tree watering systems have been developed in the past and have enjoyed varying degrees of success. Some watering systems of the prior art are known to occasionally fail to indicate a full-reservoir condition. This deficiency causes an overflow of water from the reservoir of the tree stand or from the funnel above the tree stand, to the floor. An overflow of water from the reservoir of the tree stand is a particular concern because that water often contains dissolved tree sap and other tree extracts which could stain a carpet permanently.
Christmas tree watering systems of a common type are described in the following documents;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,009 issued on Dec. 31, 1991 to Michael Cibor;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,179 issued on Jun. 4, 1996 to Peter R. Hollis;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,110 issued on Nov. 19, 1996 to Luc. M. Couture;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,390 issued on Jun. 13, 2000 to Stephen R. Baudier; and
U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,303 issued on Jul. 17, 2001 to George Lewis Sappenfield.
The type of Christmas tree watering systems described in these documents generally comprises a funnel on a Christmas ornament or at other elevated location along the tree. A hose is connected to the funnel and extends to a valve mounted inside the reservoir of the tree stand. The valve has a float therein moving with the water level inside the reservoir. The float carries a valve disc which coincides with the end of the hose, and blocks the end of the hose when the water in the reservoir rises to a predetermined level.
A second type of watering system is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,443 issued on Feb. 25, 1992 to Paul S. Jacobsen. This document discloses a float valve in which the end of the water hose is laying against a float. The float moves upward in a casing with the level of water in the reservoir of the tree stand, to bend the hose and block the flow of water inside the hose.
A third type of watering system is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,574 issued on Aug. 17, 1999 to David R. Jacques. This document discloses a float valve for a Christmas tree stand in which is mounted a float on the end of a lever. The lever is pivoted on a pin through its centre. A stud on the opposite end of the lever pushes a ball away from a valve seat thereby allowing a flow of water through the valve seat. As the float rises, the stud retracts and let the ball fall into the valve seat to block the flow of water through the valve seat.
In the prior art valves of the first and second types, the head pressure from the water inside the hose and the funnel forces the valve's flap or disc to open. In this arrangement, the inertia of a rush of water in the hose, such as in the case of an unsteady filling of the funnel, tends to open the valve, even when the float is partly submerged. Therefore, in order to properly close the valve, the float must first gain sufficient buoyancy to overcome this head pressure.
In the prior art valve of the third type, the inflow of water in the hose acts directly against the ball of the valve forcing it to close unexpectedly or prematurely, thereby generating an overflow of water over the rim of the funnel.
As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a new and improved float valve which is not susceptible of slow closure because of a head pressure and is not susceptible of premature closure from a flow surge inside the inlet hose.

Float valve for a christmas tree watering system


Supported catalysts having an atomic level single atom structure are provided such that substantially all the catalyst is available for catalytic function. Processes of forming a catalyst unto a porous catalyst support is also provided.

Traditional catalyst formation and development typically uses an active metal component in which incremental loading of the metal component is conducted and evaluated so as to obtain desired activity. However, a typical metal loading levels frequently result in an over application of metal since metal atoms are frequently stacked on top of each other or agglomerated and thereby precludes a portion of the atoms from reacting with otherwise available reactive molecules. Given the structure and high cost for numerous precious metal catalysts, the cost of typical catalyst structures are higher than necessary since the catalyst deposition procedures result in catalyst structures in which not every catalyst atom is capable of interaction. Accordingly, there remains room for a variation and improvements within the art.

Highly dispersed metal catalyst and related methods


In the manufacture of a thin film metal alloy or metal oxide magnetic recording disk, a fluoroether lubricant is bonded to the carbon or hydrogenated carbon overcoat of the disk. The lubricant is applied to the carbon overcoat by dipping the disk in a solution of the lubricant. The lubricated disk is then exposed to the plasma of an inert gas, such as nitrogen. The resulting disk contains a layer of lubricant which is bonded to the disk surface so as to be resistant to spin-off and which has a relatively uniform thickness so as to substantially eliminate the problems of stiction during the operation of the disk file.

Thin film magnetic recording disks typically comprise a substrate, such as an aluminum-magnesium (AlMg) alloy with a nickel-phosphorous (NiP) surface coating, a magnetic film of either a cobalt based metal alloy or a gamma iron oxide film, and a protective overcoat, such as a sputter-deposited amorphous carbon or hydrogenated carbon film, formed over the magnetic layer. A liquid lubricant, such as a fluoroether lubricant, is often applied to the carbon or hydrogenated carbon overcoat. A general description of the structure of such thin film disks is given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,610,911 to Opfer, et al., and 4,552,820 to Lin, et al. An amorphous film for use as a protective overcoat is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,503,125 to Nelson, et al. and an amorphous hydrogenated carbon film is described in assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,582 to Howard.
There are several problems with such disks which are caused essentially by the liquid lubricant on the protective overcoat. In particular, because there is no means to specifically retain the liquid lubricant onto the overcoat, the lubricant tends to deplete due to spin-off during operation of the disk file. In addition, variations in thickness of the lubricant over the disk surface can cause problems in operation of the disk file. If the lubricant layer is too thin the air bearing slider which supports the read/write head can cause wear of the disk surface. If the lubricant layer is too thick the slider can become stuck to the disk surface when the disk file is turned off. This static friction or "stiction" is caused by a variety of factors, including viscous shear forces and surface tension created by the lubricant between the protective overcoat and the slider. This stiction can result in damage to the head or disk when the slider suddenly breaks free from the disk surface when disk rotation is initiated. Also, because the suspension which supports the slider is relatively fragile in order to permit the slider to "fly" above the disk surface, sudden rotation of the disk in the presence of stiction can also damage the suspension.

Process for bonding lubricant to a thin film magnetic recording disk

International Business Machines Corporation


A near end network optimizer receives, from a client device, a request for a network resource. Responsive to determining that a version of the network resource is stored in the near end network optimizer, a request for the network resource is transmitted to a far end network optimizer along with a version identifier that identifies that version. The near end network optimizer receives, from the far end network optimizer, a response that includes a differences file that specifies the difference(s) between the version of the network resource stored in the near end network optimizer with a most current version of the network resource. The response does not include the entire network resource. The near end network optimizer applies the specified difference(s) to the version that it has stored to generate an updated version of the network resource, and transmits the updated version of the network resource to the client device.

Network resources are commonly requested and retrieved using the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP). A common approach to improving performance is caching network resources closer to the clients (often in several different data centers are differently geographically located). For example, content delivery networks (CDNs) are commonly used to cache resources such as static resources (e.g., resources that change infrequently such as images, videos, etc.) closer to clients.
Resources that frequently change (e.g., web sites for news, sports, etc.) may not be cached since the cached version may quickly become stale. Also, other types of resources may not be cached. As an example, HTTP includes a Cache-Control header field that is used to control the caching mechanisms along the request/response chain. The Cache-Control header field includes a "no-cache" directive that can be set by an origin server to specify that a cached version of the resource is not to be used to respond to a request without successful revalidation with the origin server.
To decrease the size of transmissions of resources, whether from a cache server or from an origin server, compression is typically used. For example, gzip is a common compression algorithm used to send compressed HTTP responses to clients.
Delta encoding in HTTP has been proposed in RFC 3229, "Delta encoding in HTTP", January 2002, as a way to reduce the size of resource transmission between an origin server and the client. The delta encoding proposal described in RFC 3229 recognizes that if a web resource changes, the new version is often similar to the older version. RFC 3229 proposes that the difference between the versions be sent to the client (e.g., the browser on a client computing device such as a desktop computer, notebook, tablet, smartphone, etc.), and the client applies the delta to construct the new version. The approach described in RFC 3229 has not been widely adopted because in order to be effective for a resource that changes often, the origin server would have to store many versions of the website (e.g., an extreme would be a single version for each single client).
Another proposal for compression is the use of a shared dictionary compression over HTTP. In the shared dictionary compression, the client and server agree on a set of predefined elements that will be the same across the resources (referred to as cross-payload redundancy). For example, the header, footer, and/or other elements of the resource may be the same. With this proposal, the shared dictionary is downloaded to the client that contains strings that are likely to appear in subsequent HTTP responses. The server can then substitute those elements with a reference to the dictionary when sending the HTTP response and the client can use its dictionary to reconstruct the resource, thereby reducing the payload of the transmission. This approach has not been widely adopted in part because it is administratively difficult to maintain the dictionaries. For example, if a website is changed (e.g., it is redesigned), the references in the dictionary will likely need to be changed and disseminated to the clients. In addition, this approach requires support on the client devices.

Method and apparatus for reducing network resource transmission size using delta compression


The risk that an incoming emergency call is a prank call is presented in real-time to the called party, in the form of, e.g., an index of suspicion. An index of suspicion aggregation server quantifies, qualifies, and aggregates risks, suspicions, and/or threats relevant to a call center to formulate a scale of suspicion. Metrics are acquired (e.g., calling device location information, device configuration information, caller information, etc.) relevant to each communications request made to a call center and uses acquired metrics to rate communications requests based on a known scale of suspicion. Once a suspicion rating is determined for a communications request, the communications request is routed to a relevant call-taker terminal, as is the index of suspicion for that incoming call. Real time presentation of the index of suspicion enables call-takers to make better call-handling decisions based on risk analysis and historical call data associated with a given caller.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to telecommunications, and more particularly to public safety and commercial call centers.
2. Background of Related Art
A prank call to an emergency call center (e.g. a 911 call center) is a serious and dangerous offense. Unfortunately, as technology advances, so do the occurrences of such crimes.
Prank calls to emergency call centers range in terms of severity and motive. For instance, kids attempting to humor themselves may make seemingly harmless prank calls to emergency call centers, meanwhile holding up the time and attention of emergency dispatch personnel. More calculating prank calls to emergency call centers include swatting and diversionary calls.
A swatting prank call to an emergency call center is a call that attempts to lure emergency respondents to a fabricated emergency situation. Swatting prank calls have at times resulted in the dispatch of SWAT teams, bomb squads, and/or police personnel to unsuspecting homes and businesses and have led to numerous injuries and expenses due to road closures and property damage.
A diversionary prank call to an emergency call center is a call that attempts to lure emergency dispatch personnel to a particular location to divert police enforcement away from ongoing criminal activity. Diversionary prank calls are notably used by drug dealers.
Avoidance of prank calls, particularly to emergency call centers, is desired.

Index of suspicion determination for communications request


A small hand-held scanner that scans text in a line at a time operates in conjunction with a system that deskews images of symbols having a non-linear baseline to thereby flatten waviness of the baseline associated with such scanning. A program determines a boundary for each of the symbols, including maximum and minimum height and width positions of the symbols. Any of average height, average width, maximum height, maximum width, and average change in height of a bottom of each symbol relative to that of a neighboring symbol is also determined. A threshold is used to delineate between a change of the baseline that is due to random hand movement versus a change in the baseline that is due to a descender, where the descender generates a greater change, and all of the symbols that are to be on the baseline are shifted to a single flat baseline.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the conversion of images of symbols to an electronic format. More particularly, the invention relates to the deskewing of images of symbols, where the symbols are positioned along a baseline that is not a straight line, but rather is a wavy or a curved line.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Over the past 40 years, the nature of the work force has changed dramatically. The post-industrial era of the later 1950's paved the way for the information era of today. Although the number of manufacturing jobs has steadily decreased, there has been a significant increase in the number of information-related jobs. However, despite the widespread use of computers, a majority of this information still resides on paper. Thus, data in an electronic format still represents only a small percentage of the total amount of information used by most organizations.
Text recognition technology provides a useful tool for converting information stored on paper into an electronic format. Optical character recognition (OCR) technology typically converts the electronic output of a scanner into computer usable files through a series of complex computer algorithms. The electronic image produced by the scanner is comprised of white or black pictures elements referred to as pixels, has a desired resolution, which for text is presently 90,000 pixels per square inch. Each pixel is rendered as a digital value of 1 or 0, which represents either a white pixel or a black pixel. Before optically scanned text is actually recognized, it may be displayed and manipulated as an image on a computer monitor. At this point, the electronic information has not yet been recognized as text, but is merely an image or picture of the text.
OCR algorithms typically recognize scanned text images in two steps. First, they analyze the image of the page to determine which parts of the image are text and numeric data, and determine the structure of the page layout. For example, tables, columns, and paragraphs are identified and located. Next, the characters are examined and identified to produce a file of character data contained in words, including page formatting information, such as tables, columns, paragraphs, spacing, bold characters, italics, and underlining that are necessary to allow manipulation of the data as a text file.
Deskewing is a well understood problem in imaging, especially related to OCR technology. In page scanners, the information that is to be imaged is placed on a flat platen or fed through a set of rollers. In hand held scanners, such as the Omniscan product manufactured by Caere of Los Gatos, Calif., the user pulls the scanner vertically down the page; and the DataPen product manufactured by Primax Electronics of Taiwan, R.O.C., the user pulls the scanner horizontally across the page, typically resulting in a wavy baseline (see, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,182,450 and 5,301,243). In both cases the horizontal baseline of symbols may not be flat across the image, but may slope upwards or downwards at a constant angle. This skew confuses the OCR algorithms, and a deskewing process therefore needs to be implemented to recreate a horizontal baseline. While there are OCR algorithms that are tolerant of skew, the majority and the best of such algorithms are not tolerant of skew.
L. Barski, Rotationally Impervious Feature Extraction For Optical Character Recognition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,094 (1 Oct. 1991) discloses a method of creating rotationally impervious feature extraction for OCR. Such feature extraction is accomplished through radial intercept feature extraction, counting the number of intercepts for circles of varying radii. This technique is designed to recognize an individual character, but not a line of symbols. Thus, it does not solve the problem of displacement of a sequence of symbols from a straight the baseline.
G. Kulik, Method of Deskewing An Image, U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,168 to (3 Aug. 1993) discloses a method for derotating an image by shifting pixels. This is a computationally simple method of derotating an image. However, it does not solve the problem of recognizing a sequence of symbols that is positioned along a wavy baseline.
Y. Lee, Method of Detecting The Skew Angle Of A Printed Business Form, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,098 (1 Oct. 1991) discloses a process in which samples are taken to measure skew, and from which samples a histogram is created. The most frequently occurring skew angle is considered the skew angle for the entire document. The baseline in this technique is assumed to be a straight line.
A. L. Spitz, Determination Of Image Skew Angle From Data Including Data In Compressed Form, U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,676 (14 Sep. 1993) discloses a method of determining an image skew angle. The problem solved is one of having a baseline with a fixed angle. The method used is to select certain features on the image on which to base a skew angle and assign weights to those features.
In all of the above patents, there is a single skew angle constant for the entire image or at least the entire line of text. These patents do not attempt to deskew an image comprising a sequences of characters positioned along a wavy baseline.
It is desirable to produce a hand-held scanner that is able to scan text one line at a time, e.g. as a scanning wand or pen. The user would hold such scanner as with a pen and draw the scanner horizontally across the page to enter information into a computer one line at a time, much like a highlighting pen is used to highlight text. Such scanner scans symbols one line at a time. Because of this manual horizontal action, the image created by the scanner is not distorted or skewed in the conventional manner, where the skew is of a constant angle, but is subject to a new problem, referred to herein as baseline waviness.
The baseline waviness is created because there is no flat baseline of symbols, or even a straight, but angled baseline, when hand scanning across a page. Thus, the baseline assumes a wavy profile.
As discussed above, presently known deskewing techniques do not attempt to flatten the waviness of the baseline. Therefore, OCR cannot accurately read information scanned by such devices. Unfortunately, hand held scanners, especially scanning pens, cannot be considered sufficiently reliable for large scale adoption in the information industry until such problems as the wavy baseline produced by hand scanning are resolved.

Method and apparatus for deskewing images of symbols having a non-linear baseline

Horizon Marketing Corporation aka WordWand


A method and apparatus for applying tonal correction to images to obtain a more pleasing photographic image by redistributing low-key, mid-tone and high-key tones. Luminance is calculated by using formulas appropriate for the color space or directly inputted. Two color-difference components are computed for the original image. Luminance is subjected to a tonal correction function to obtain a tonal corrected luminance. Luminance gain is calculated and applied to the color-difference components to obtain two tonal corrected color-difference components. The tonal corrected luminance and two tonal corrected color-difference components can be directly output or used to calculate three color component signals for the desired color space.

To achieve a more realistic photographic image, captured image may be subjected to tonal correction. Tonal correction can improve image contrast, redistribute, accentuate or play down low-key, mid-key, and high-key tones. Tonal correction is a common procedure used to enhance the visual appeal of photographic images. In the world of digital photography, tonal correction operates by reshaping the image histogram to expand or compress low-key, mid-tone and high-key regions.
For example, FIG. 1 is an image which includes a person in the foreground and a background containing a bright lamp. Both the person and the bright lamp are imaged without loss of detail, however the person looks underexposed due to the brightness of the lamp which decreases the overall image exposure. Merely increasing the exposure while more correctly exposing the person would lead to brightness clipping and loss of detail of the lamp. Clipping occurs when a pixel output signal is limited in some way by the full range of an amplifier, ADC or other device within an imaging device which captures the image. When this occurs, the pixel signal is flattened at the peak values and information is lost.
Furthermore, both over-saturated and overly pale skin tones lose visual appeal, as seen in FIG. 2, which is a close up of the person in FIG. 1; the FIG. 2 image is overexposed. Human vision is very discerning about certain color tones such as skin. Therefore it is important that the tonal correction operator does not adversely affect such tones.
Conventional tonal correction methods used to alter the image in attempt to optimally expose both the lamp and the person. For example, one conventional method for tonal correction is to combine it with a gamma correction (or brightness correction) step, wherein the following equations are applied:R′=fG(fT(R), γ)=fG,T(R, γ)  (1)G′=fG(fT(G), γ)=fG,T(G, γ)  (2)B′=fG(fT(B), γ))=fG,T(B, γ)  (3)
wherein fG is the gamma correction function, fT is the tonal correction function, fG,T is the function resulting from combining gamma correction with tonal correction, γ is gamma, or the power to which R, G, B are raised in the gamma correction function. This method may save hardware and/or reduce software computational complexity, however, in doing so, output image saturation may be adversely impacted. FIG. 3 is a close up of the person's face of FIG. 1 having the above-described tonal correction applied to it. There is excessive saturation of color, and where this saturation occurs in the skin, it can also make the person look red-faced and sick.
To provide a pleasing rendering of skin tones, the tonal correction operation should be able to preserve pixel saturation while affecting only luminance. By reshaping the image histogram, the image can be altered to have both the person and the lamp exposed properly. The low-key tones where the person is imaged may be stretched and the high-key tones where the bright lamp is imaged may be compressed to have both the person and the lamp properly exposed. Therefore, it is desirable to have an apparatus and method for stretching and compressing low-key, mid-key, and high-key tones for tonal correction that preserves the original saturation of the image without loss of detail.

Method and apparatus for applying tonal correction to images


Each embodiment of the slitter includes a handle member having an arcuate section joined thereto, a knife blade, a clamp member having a lower arcuate portion, and a hinge for joining the clamp and handle members for hinged movement between catheter clamping and release positions, each of the arcuate section and arcuate portion having transversely opposite facing surface portions for clampingly engaging diametrically opposite surface portions of any one of the number of different outer diameter catheters, and at least one of the arcuate section and arcuate portion having a nose portion for entering between the clamped catheter and the introducer when the introducer is to be removed from the catheter without being moved over the proximal terminal end of the catheter. The knife blade is located radially outwardly of the surfaces that abut against the clamped cather and extends radially outwardly of the nose and is located rearward of the forwardmost part of the nose.

This invention relates to the removal of an introducer or cannula from a catheter, pacing lead, or similar item without having to pull the introducer over the proximal end of the catheter, and more particularly to a slitter device that may be used for gripping any one of multiple number of different diameter catheters while the introducer is used for slitting an introducer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,424 to Little there is disclosed an introducer slitter having an arcuate section extending arcuately through at least 180.degree. to extend partially around a catheter, a handle section joined to the arcuate section to extend away therefrom and a radially extending cutting edge for engaging the introducer tube portion as the introducer is pulled rearwardly relative to the slitter.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,901 to Pettit there is disclosed a wire stripper and cutter that includes a handle that at one end has a cutting edge and a hooked shaped work support member that is pivoted to the handle adjacent to the cutting edge for supporting a cable as the insulation thereon is slit. One embodiment is adjustable to avoid having to provide hooks of different sizes for different diameters cables.
Huff, U.S. Pat. No. 2,141,002, discloses a cable stripper having a substantially semi-cylindrical body section that mounts a knife blade and hinge pins pivotally mounting gates to the body section. The finger and thumb pressure on the gates press them to a closed overlapping position while the palm of the same hand abuts against the body portion A knife blade extends radially inwardly of an angular surface that is abuttable against the cable radial outer surface.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,059 to Wovek et al. there is disclosed a sheath remover having first and second separable body portions to form a bore to have the catheter extend therethrough and squeeze the sheath so that it extends into the path of movement of the cutting edge of the transversely extending knife blade. The two body portions are held together by a plastic hinge.
In order to provide an improved introducer slitter that may be used for slitting introducers for removing the introducers of any one of many different outer diameters catheters without initially having to be slid over the proximal end of the catheter and that is easily held while the slitter is being used, this invention has been made.


The improved photomask container which is molded and fabricated from a thermoplastic resin is characterized in that the thermoplastic resin comprises a cellulose ester and that the surface of the molded and fabricated article is saponified with an alkali. The container does not give off malodor, has electric conductivity and is free from the problem of sodium release.

This invention relates to a photomask container, more particularly to a container in which photomasks can be transported and stored without damage to their quality.
Photomasks require a very precision in definition and must be stored with utmost care. They are usually stored or transported in containers that are airtight and which feature various geometric designs that prevent photomasks from contacting each other.
Because of ease in molding and fabricating operations, styrenic or acrylic resins have conventionally been used to manufacture photomask containers. Styrenic resins are used with particular preference since they are highly transparent and can easily be formed by injection molding. On the other hand, the containers made of styrenic or acrylic resins have no electric conductivity and, during the storage or transport of photomasks, static charges will build up to increase the chance of a discharge of occurring between the container and photomasks, thereby potentially destroying the photomask pattern. As a further problem, the static charges on the container will attract suspended dust particles in air and, if the container is brought into the Si wafer preparation line, process contamination will occur.
In order to solve these problems, it has been proposed that acrylic resins such as polymethyl methacrylate be rendered conductive by dispersing a conductive acrylic rubber to produce a three-dimensional network in the resin. However, this is not a complete solution to the problems at issue. If acrylic resins are used, monomers such as methyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate will remain in the wall of the molded container and such residual monomers will be liberated from the container during storage or transport of photomasks, with the emitted odor being a potential hazard to the health of the operating personnel. Furthermore, since sodium metasilicate is used to have the conductive acrylic rubber enter into a crosslinking reaction, sodium may be released from the wall of the molded container to adhere to photomasks that are being stored or transported in the container. As a consequence, the transparency of the substrate glass will decrease to cause adverse effects not only on the efficiency of resist development in the Si wafer preparation line but also on the contact exposure of silicon wafers since the releassed sodium may be transferred to the wafers to degrade the quality of a completed IC chip product.