Multi-conductor cables for telecommunication systems include a plurality of fiber-optic conductors and/or power conductors extending within an outer jacket in a main body portion of the cable, and extending outside of the outer jacket in a break-out portion of the cable. A break-out boot may be attached to the outer jacket and may surround the conductors in a break-out portion of the cable. Potting material may be provided in the break-out boot within spaces between adjacent conductors to provide innovative sealing of the break-out portion.

Multi-conductor cables often include multiple conductors, or individual cable members, bundled together within an outer jacket. The conductors may extend outside of the outer jacket through an open end of the outer jacket at or near an end portion of the cable. The area in the vicinity of the open end of the outer jacket may be referred to as the break-out portion of the cable. In order to protect the cable from water and other environmental elements, the open end of the outer jacket is typically sealed by sealing material(s) and components at the break-out portion.
One known solution for sealing the break-out portion of a multi-conductor cable includes arranging a boot around the conductors and a portion of the outer jacket near the open end of the outer jacket. Heat shrink material of the boot is shrunk down around the end portion of the outer jacket, thereby creating a cavity into which potting material is injected or poured. However, this solution creates a problem ensuring that the potting material flows into spaces between each conductor within the boot. If any of the conductors are contacting each other side-by-side in a tangential manner within the break-out portion of the cable when the potting material is injected or poured into the boot, the potting material may not flow between the conductors properly, thereby allowing water and/or other environmental elements to wick down the interior of cable over time. This may lead to short-circuiting, corrosion and/or damage from freezing and thawing cycles.
An alternative known solution for sealing the break-out portion of a multi-conductor cable involves over-molding a boot at the break-out portion. According to this solution, the break-out portion of the cable is inserted into a two-part mold which is then injected with potting material. In order to provide reliable sealing, the length of the boot and the amount of potting material is increased. This solution requires excess potting material, increases cable size, increases manufacturing costs and is not as reliable as desired for long-term outdoor exposure of the cable.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide multi-conductor cables and methods of assembling multi-conductor cables that provide sealing at the break-out portion without requiring excessive sealing materials, excessive cost or excessive increases in cable size.

Multi-conductor cables with spacers for conductors


The present invention provides a method for fine processing of a substrate, a method for fabrication of a substrate, and a light emitting device. In the method for fine processing of a substrate, after removing a single particle layer from the substrate having the single particle layer, a hole having an inner diameter smaller than a diameter of a particle and centering on a position on the substrate where each particle constructing the single particle layer has been placed is formed by etching.

A light emitting device is widely used as a display or lighting. In recent years, the higher output of the light emitting device has been expected in terms of an improvement in the performance of the display or the like. To provide the higher output, an improvement in the light extraction efficiency of the light emitting device is required. In order to improve the light extraction efficiency, there is proposed, e.g., a method for forming roughness on the surface of the light emitting device instead of forming a planarized surface. With regard to the size of the roughness, it is known that the effect of a structure of a wavelength order is high, and the extraction efficiency is improved especially in a photonic crystal structure where a refractivity index is periodically changed by the roughness of the wavelength order (U.S. Pat. Specification No. 3,739,217, U.S. Pat. Specification No. 5,955,749). As a crystal structure where a two-dimensional photonic band gap is concurrently formed either in a TE mode or a TM mode, there is known a crystal structure of a circular-hole arrangement type. Conventionally, there has been known a method for forming the roughness using photolithography. However, it has been difficult to form fine roughness in the size of a visible light wavelength in accordance with this method. Consequently, X-ray exposure or electron beam exposure has been examined for the formation of the fine roughness. However, it is not practical to adopt the X-ray exposure or the electron beam exposure since a large size X-ray source facility is required in the X-ray exposure, and the electron beam exposure requires a very long period of time. Accordingly, as another method, there is proposed the formation of the fine roughness by performing etching using a nano-sized particle as a mask (U.S. Pat. Specification No. 4,407,695).
However, the size of the roughness depends on the size of the nano-sized particle in this method. To change the size of the roughness, the nano-sized particle needs to be changed, and therefore fine adjustment of the size of the roughness has been difficult. The configuration of the roughness to be formed is limited to a configuration where holes are formed in the gap between particles or a configuration where the portion immediately below a particle portion is left in a shape of a conical trapezoid. Therefore, the structure with a column arrangement type can be formed. However, the formation of the structure of the circular-hole arrangement type has been difficult.

Method for fine processing of substrate, method for fabrication of substrate, and light emitting device


A generalized discriminative training framework for reconciling the training and evaluation objectives for document similarity is provided. Prior information about document relations and non-relations, are used to discriminatively train an ensemble of document similarity classification models. This result is a model set that can be used to compute similarity between seen documents in the training sets and new documents. The measure of similarity forms the basis of recommending documents to a user as well as being able to obtain metadata information such as keywords and tags for new documents not having such information.

The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The World Wide Web is a large and growing source of information. Typically, information is found using one of two access modes: search and recommendation. Using a search technique, a user queries a database, receives a list of results, and selects from the list to view the information. In contrast, using a recommendation technique, a user is presented with a set of recommended documents from which they can pick the information of interest. The source of the recommended information can either be manually generated (for example, by another who likes similar information) or automatically using techniques such as user data mining, collaborative filtering or social networking.
The search technique for obtaining information is a more powerful method for finding information a user is specifically interested in. However, the recommendation technique is much more useful when the user would rather review information in a less active role. For instance, using this technique, the user may move from one topic of information to another and then to another based on recommended documents. However, the recommended documents could also include those providing yet further details about the current information being reviewed. In this manner, the user can selectively delve deeper into the current subject of information. In either case, the user is not actively searching for content using queries as described above, but rather is allowed to be "surprised" with the interesting information that is either automatically recommended or manually collated by another.

Recommending content using discriminatively trained document similarity


Financial management applications may operate according to RIB rules in which expenditure budget limits are increased as an organization or department thereof realizes revenue. When such applications operate in conjunction with complicated data structures for revenues and budget, it can become burdensome to define a plurality of RIB rules individually. A configuration system includes a RIB strategy array containing a relatively small set of meta-rules for identifiers of various portions of a revenue data structure to which they apply. An automated configuration system surveys the revenue data structure, determines which value transforms and destination addresses of a budget database apply and generate a larger set of RIB rules that will govern in the financial management application during normal system operation.

The present invention relates to configuration of an enterprise management application and, in particular, to configuration of such an application that includes budgetary control functionality based on RIB techniques.
"RIB" techniques are known per se. RIB is an acronym for "revenues increasing the budget." In many financial applications, expenditure budgets of a predetermined business unit for a given period of time are based upon revenues of that business unit during that same time period. Financial management software, therefore, tracks revenues as they are realized and determine whether the revenues cause changes to an expenditure budget for an organization.
To accomplish this, financial management applications may employ RIB rules. A RIB rule represents a transform from revenue information to expenditure budget information. Within each individual RIB rule, there may be defined one or more source addresses, representing database locations of revenue items, one or more destination addresses, representing database locations of expenditure budget items, and a transform calculation, defining how expenditure budget is derived. Commonly, the transform calculation may define a transform coefficient (e.g., $1 increase in expenditure budget for every $2 in revenue), certain thresholds that must be exceeded before any increase in expenditure budget occurs (e.g., expenditure budget increased only after revenues exceed $100,000), or certain filtering conditions that occur as part of the calculation (e.g., increased expenditure budget occurs only for realized incoming payments, as opposed to customer invoices that have not been paid).
Traditionally, RIB rules have been coded manually. Complex organizations, however, may have thousands of revenue sources and thousands of budget items that are to receive budget through application of the RIB process. During deployment of financial management software, it might become necessary to write thousands of RIB rules to cover the inter-relationships between the revenue items and budget items. This is tedious.

Automatic generation of RIB rules in computerized financial management system


The invention concerns a wig or lace wig cap, to be worn by the user underneath a wig or lace wig. The cap is comprised of a plurality of panels using stretchable and breathable material, an elasticized banding and a plurality of sew on snap fasteners affixed to, said banding to form the Press and Go Wig and Lace Wig Snap Cap. Cooperating snaps are then affixed to a wig or lace wig around the entire circumference of the outer inside wig weft, concealing the application process, thereby producing a comfortable, airy and secure fit to the user. An additional banding is included, affixed with a plurality of snap fasteners designed to fit cooperating snaps of a wig or lace wig. Also included is a tension strap affixed with two cooperating snap fasteners designed to be used as an adjustment strap to the cap banding or separate banding.

Wigs have been worn for many years by women and men. They can generally be worn for prosthetic, cosmetic, or convenient reasons. They have been popular for many years as well. People, who have lost all or part of their hair due to illness, genetics or even alopecia, tend to benefit from the use of wearing wigs. Wigs come in various styles, colors, and lengths. For The most part, they are made of natural (human hair) or synthetic fibers (acrylic, modacrylic, nylon, or polyester). Human hair is a very popular choice because it looks and feels natural. It is easily styled and can be colored as well as permanently waved. Some manufacturers tend to blend synthetic and human hair, because when combined, the wig tends to retain the desired style and natural movement.
Ready-made wigs are available in stores and by mail order. They are usually a one size fit all model, that can adjust for fit individual heads by means of a stretchy foundation or adjustable tension springs or straps that are secured around the edges of the foundation. They can be custom made or made-to-order by using different sizes and shapes of stock foundations. They can be either machine made or hand-made.
Wearing a wig cap is beneficial in that it helps to hold in place the wig that is placed upon it. The material or fabric used to construct the cap is very vital to the comfort of the wearer when the cap is applied. It doesn't matter whether the hair is long or short, a wig cap can be used. It prevents the wig from slipping, while protecting the wearer natural hair. When using a lace wig, the cap gives the appearance of a natural part when the hair is parted. The hair can be parted throughout the entire head to create a natural looking part. Wig caps can be made of different colors as well as with different fabric types. Some caps are thicker than others and can cause the wearer head to be exposed to extreme heat. Some are thin, providing airy wear, reducing the amount of moisture in heated conditions. Suitability depends upon the wearer, no two people are alike.

Press and go wig and lace wig snap cap and kit


A bowl mill for a coal pulverizer with an air mill for primary entry of air, comprising a substantially closed separator body (2) having a central axis; and a bowl-like grinding table (3) mounted on a shaft (4) rotatable about said central axis, cooperating with a plurality of grinding rolls (6). The airmill is provided with multiple entry openings (17′, 17″; 18′, 18″; 21, 25) on the outer wall of the air mill for multiple entry of hot primary air from the inlets, resulting in better uniformity in air flow around the air mil section and for minimizing formation of eddies and vortices. As a variation of the multiple entry double entry openings can be arranged for entry of hot primary air.

A variety of equipment are known suitable for grinding, i.e. pulverization of material like coal, lignite, cement etc. For the pulverization of coal used in boilers of thermal power plants, a limited number of such equipment are commonly used. For the purpose of discussion that follows, a coal fired system mainly consists of a coal feeder, equipment for pulverizing coal, a distribution system for distributing the coal after the pulverization thereof, a furnace in which the coal is to be burned, and the requisite controls for effecting the proper operation of the coal fired generation system. The equipment for pulverization of coal is of particular interest here. The coal pulverizing equipment are known to exist in prior art for more than sixty years. Many improvements in the construction and/or mode of operation of these equipment have been made during this period.
The coal pulverizing equipment is chosen based on the advantages it offers n terms of reliability, low power consumption, minimum maintenance, a wide range of capacity, low rate of wear of the replaceable grinding elements used with uniform throughput of the required range of pulverized coal fines during their useful life. In addition, it should have an integrated lubrication system, convenient adjustment and control of coal flow and fineness, ability to handle high temperature air that is required for moisture coal and quiet operation.
Bowl mill is one such equipment which is commonly used in fossil fired boilers of thermal power plant, which has the above mentioned features to different desirable degrees. The name is obviously derived from the fact that the pulverization takes place on a grinding surface which resembles a bowl. Reference can be made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,465,971 (1969) and/or U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,299 (1977) which give the nature of construction and the mode of operation of a prior art form of bowl mill that is suitable for use in a coal fired power generation system for the pulverization of the coal.
Coal fired boilers used in thermal power plants require majority of the pulverised coal in a fineness range around 75 microns size for efficient combustion. Various types of pulverisers are employed in Thermal Power Stations. Raymond Bowl mill is one commonly used pulveriser for this purpose. The main components of a bowl mill consists of a cylindrical body, usually known as separator body, within which a conical bowl like grinding table is mounted for rotation, three equally spaced grinding rollers in the shape of inverted frustum of a cone are mounted so as to interact with the rotating bowl to grind the coal lumps fed on to the centre of the bowl into fine powder like form. Three rollers are mounted on to inclined stationary axis journal shafts by berings so that the roll surface is aligned with the bowl surface and are able to rotate about the axis by the friction force derived from the rotating bowl. Preselected force can be applied between the bowl and the roll surface by means of spring or hydraulic arrangement to assist grinding. The ground particles are thrown out of the bowl by centrifugal force derived from rotation of the bowl.
The hot primary air stream enters the mill from bottom of the mill known as air mill or air inlet housing, usually in horizontal direction through a single entry of rectangular cross section, such that entry air velocity is tangential, in the horizontal plane, to the annular space of the air mill. The hot primary air moves into the annular space which is the low velocity air plenum in the air mill, and is then accelerated and oriented by a series of stationary or rotating passages in a ring that surrounds that grinding zone. These arrangements for directing the primary air through narrow annular area between the bowl rim and the housing are known as stationary or rotating vane wheel depending on their kinematic disposition. There are many relevant patents on the subject of vane wheel in which it is claimed that the vane wheel arrangement directs the air stream upward through the annular passage between the bowl rim and the housing in an efficient manner. U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,041 (year 1981) titled "Low Pressure Drop Pulverizer Throat", describes a new and improved design of pulverizer air throat for low pressure drop, reduced erosion and improved flow distribution. U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,721 (year 1985) titled "Bowl Mill with Primary Classifier Assembly", describes a rotating vane wheel arrangement for change in the direction of flow, counter clockwise to the direction of rotation of the grinding table which is helpful for primary classification of coarser coal particles. U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,145 (year 1987) titled "Roll and Race Pulverizer with rotating throat" summarises the invention as a roll and race pulverizer in which the throat vanes are mounted for rotation in the direction of rotation of the grinding ring. The rotating vanes are claimed to be spreading the ground coal spilling on to the throat area. There are other patents like U.S. Pat. No. 518,404 (year 1983), U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,734 (year 1991), U.S. Pat. No. 2,378,681 (year 1945), U.S. Pat. No. 2,545,254 (year 1951), on the subject. In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,655 (year 1993) titled Coal Pulverizer an improved annular passage arrangement for pulverizer has been advocated to reduce the pressure drop across the vane wheel and also thereby to provide means of directing passage outlet airflow away from the grinding table. It is also claimed to be improving the distribution of air velocity across the annular passage.
At the outlet of the passage near the bowl rim, the pulverized coal particles are entrained by high speed air flow. The heavier coal, stone or quartz particles fall down through the annular space between the bowl and the body on to the mill base as rejects.
The velocity of air is reduced above the bowl rim area in the main pulverizer housing causing the larger particles to be returned directly to the grinding zone for further crushing, while the smaller particles are carried up through the classifier for final sizing. The moisture present in the ground coal particles are also dried in the process of association with hot air. The ground coal particles carried to classifier, get classified and the lighter particles of desired fineness go to the different elevation of the boiler through four outlet ports and the heavier Particles fall back on to bowl for further regrinding continuing the cycle of pulverization.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,465,971 issued in 1969 titled "Deflector Arrangement for Use in a Grinding Mill", disclosed construction of a deflector for directing the air borne pulverized material leaving the grinding rind downwardly and inwardly back for better primary classification. In this patent the entry of primary air in the air mill is through a single inlet. This type of bowl mills known as Raymond Bowl Mill, have single entry of primary air.
In actual operation of this type of mills, the drawbacks encountered are dissimilar wear on the three rolls., high rate of rejects and non uniform output from the outlet ports. These drawbacks are suspected to be due to non uniform air flow inside the mill and also inadequate air velocity in certain areas inside the mill. It is also found that the clinker formation in the airmill are due to formation of eddies and vortices in the air mill.
Analytical studies using computational fluid flow software package reveals that the distribution of airflow in the air mill section is not uniform around the periphery. It is seen in such a study that with single entry of primary air into the mill only about 60 percent of the total cross sectional area has high velocity. Further away from the inlet, the velocity of air loses its magnitude to very low value compared to the velocity at the entry region. This essentially means that in abort 40 percent of peripheral area of the bowl, the coal particles will not be lifted with desired velocity and will result in falling back on the bowl for regrinding. Another effect could be heavy rates of rejects containing coal lumps and other particles through that part of the throat area where the vertical velocity component of air is less. Such a study also shows the presence of considerable eddies and vortices, specially in the last quadrant of the air mill section from the entry.
The purpose of introducing rotating vane wheel in some of the patents described in earlier paragraphs appears to be to remove the deficiency of the non-uniform distribution of air velocity around the bowl rim coming from the air mill. This is attempted by spreading the incoming air and also the falling pulverized coal, which is possible only to a limited extent by the rotating vanes attached to the bowl. This effect can only be very localized as the fanning action can not bring about a high degree of uniformity where the peripheral velocity of the bowl is much less compared to the average vertical velocity of the primary air near the bowl rim.
Considerable improvement in primary classification is possible by uniform flow distribution reducing regrinding. Similarly minimization, of eddies and vortices will lead to cutting down energy losses and also avoid accumulation of inflammable rejects which lead to clinker formation.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to achieve much better uniformity in airflow around the air mill section of a bowl mill of a coal pulverizer, for having uniform output from the outlet ports and for avoiding dissimilar wear on the rolls.
Another object of the present invention is to minimize the eddies and vortices formed by the non uniformity of flow for avoiding clinker formation.
Yet another object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of undesirable rejects from the mill.
A still further object of the present invention to reduce the overall energy consumption and make the mill operation more efficient.

Bowl mill for a coal pulverizer with an air mill for primary entry of air


This invention provides methods of identifying an Eg5 binding ligand. The ligand is identified by using the atomic coordinates of an Eg5 crystal to generate a three dimensional structure. The three dimensional structure is used in molecular modeling techniques and docking experiments to identify ligands that bind to the binding pocket of Eg5. A novel binding pocket is identified. The invention also provides a crystallized Eg5 and ligand complex.

Kinesins are motor proteins that use adenosine triphosphate to bind to microtubules and generate mechanical force. Kinesins are characterized by a motor domain having about 350 amino acid residues. The crystal structures of several kinesin motor domains have been resolved.
Currently, about one hundred kinesin-related proteins (KRP) have been identified. Kinesins are involved in a variety of cell biological processes including transport of organelles and vesicles, and maintenance of the endoplasmatic reticulum. Several KRPs interact with the microtubules of the mitotic spindle or with the chromosomes directly, and appear to play a pivotal role during the mitotic stages of the cell cycle. These mitotic KRPs are of particular interest for the development of cancer therapeutics.
Eg5 (also known as HsEg5, KNSL1, or KSP) is one of several kinesin-like motor proteins that are localized to the mitotic spindle and known to be required for formation and/or function of the bipolar mitotic spindle.
In 1995, the depletion of Eg5 using an antibody directed against the C-terminus of Eg5 was shown to arrest HeLa cells in mitosis with monoastral microtubule arrays (Blangy et al., Cell 83:1159-1169, 1995). Mutations in bimC and cut7 genes, which are considered to be homologues of Eg5, cause failure in centrosome separation in Aspergillus nidulans (Enos, A. P., and N. R. Morris, Cell 60:1019-1027, 1990) and Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Hagan, I., and M. Yanagida, Nature 347:563-566, 1990). Treatment of cells with either ATRA (all trans-retinoic acid), which reduces HsEg5 expression on protein level, or depletion of HsEg5 using antisense oligonucleotides revealed a significant growth inhibition in DAN-G pancreatic carcinoma cells indicating that HsEg5 might be involved in the antiproliferative action of all trans-retinoic acid (Kaiser, A., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 274, 18925-18931, 1999). Interestingly, the Xenopus laevis Aurora-related protein kinase pEg2 was shown to associate and phosphorylate X1Eg5 (Giet, R., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 274:15005-15013, 1999). Potential substrates of Aurora-related kinases are of particular interest for cancer drug development. For example, Aurora 1 and 2 kinases are overexpressed on protein and RNA level and the genes are amplified in colon cancer patients.
The first cell permeable small molecule inhibitor for HsEg5, "monastrol", was shown to arrest cells with monopolar spindles without affecting microtubule polymerization as do conventional chemotherapeutics such as taxanes and vinca alkaloids (Mayer, T. U., et al., Science 286:971-974, 1999). Monastrol was identified as an inhibitor in phenotype-based screens and it was suggested that this compound may serve as a lead for the development of anticancer drugs. The inhibition was determined not to be competitive in respect to adenosine triphosphate and to be rapidly reversible (DeBonis, S., et al., Biochemistry 42:338-349, 2003; Kapoor, T. M., et al., J. Cell Biol. 150:975-988, 2000).
Recently, other Eg5 kinesin inhibitors have been described. WO 02/057244 and WO 02/056880 describe phenothiazine compounds and triphenylmethane compounds, respectively, for treating proliferative diseases. WO 02/078639 describes cyano-substituted dihydropyrimidine compounds for treating proliferative diseases. U.S. Pat. No. 6,472,521 describes oligonucleotides and oligonucleotide derivatives for inhibiting human Eg5 expression.
WO 01/98278, WO 01/30768, and WO 03/039460 describe quinazolinone compounds that are useful in treating cellular proliferative diseases associated with KSP kinesin activity. The compounds described in these references are 22-aminomethyl)quinazolinone derivatives. The quinazolinone compounds described in WO 01/98278 and WO 01/30768 have 2-aminomethyl substituents that are either amine, amide, or sulfonamide substituents. The quinazolinone compounds described in WO 03/039460 have the amino group of the 2-aminomethyl substituent incorporated into a 5-12 membered nitrogen-containing heterocycle.
A crystal structure of Eg5 bound to ADP-Mg was recently determined (J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 276, No. 27, pp. 25496-25502). However, this crystal structure does not provide information with respect to the manner in which inhibitors bind Eg5. Consequently, the design of Eg5 inhibitors can be greatly facilitated if a crystal structure of an inhibitor complexed to Eg5 were to be determined.
Recently, a crystal structure of Eg5 bound to Eg 5 ligands was published (WO 2004/004652. This publication identified a binding pocket of Eg5. Nevertheless, there is a need to identify an Eg5 binding pocket that differs from the binding pocket disclosed in WO 2004/004652.


A rollable load bearing mat for protecting turf areas from damage caused by weight bearing loads, such as vehicle or pedestrian traffic, configured from a plurality of interconnected mat units having a plurality of spaced apart cell rows comprising a plurality of generally upstanding tubular cell members. The cell members comprise a series of first cell members and adjoining second cell members that, in the preferred embodiment, share a common sidewall and are axially offset. The cell rows are interconnected by a plurality of flexible strap members configured to allow the mat unit to be rolled for ease of handling and installation. The cell member sidewalls and the flexible strap members are configured to provide a substantially open cell member to facilitate plant growth through the mat unit. Connecting mechanisms at the periphery of the mat unit connect with adjacent mat units to form a unitary load bearing mat.

A. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates generally to support mats configured to allow load bearing objects, such as a vehicle or pedestrian traffic to move over turf areas without significant compaction or other damage to the turf. More particularly, the present invention relates to such support mats that comprise a plurality of upstanding, open cell members configured for turf to grow through the mat. Even more particularly the present invention relates to such support mats that are rollable for ease of storage, delivery and installation.
B. Background
As well known to those in the turf and paving industries, there are numerous circumstances when it is necessary or desirable to be able to drive vehicles over turf areas, such as grassy or like areas, instead of the typical asphalt, concrete or other solid materials normally used as the load bearing material for roadways or vehicle pathways. Driving vehicles of any substantial weight or at any speeds other than at very low speeds over a turf area can easily result in substantial damage to the turf, particularly if the turf area is wet or configured with turf that is particularly susceptible to damage. Despite the potential for damage to the turf, driving vehicles over the turf occurs out of necessity when the turf area is used for temporary or overflow parking, to temporarily connect different parking areas and to permit temporary access across the turf to facilities or for various emergency situations. Allowing vehicles to drive over turf areas is desirable when, often for aesthetic purposes or to avoid interfering with the purpose of the turf area (i.e., golf courses), the owners or operators of the turf areas prefer to not have paths made up of the typical solid roadway materials cutting across the turf area, thereby dividing the turf area into disconnected segments. Examples of turf areas where the use of standard roadway materials are often not desired include golf cart paths, service roads through or overflow parking areas in parks and other park-like areas, residential driveways, emergency vehicle access lanes, grass air strips and the like. As well known, movement of vehicles across the turf can result in ruts in the turf, tearing of the turf and undesirable compaction of the turf and/or soil underneath that can inhibit or prevent normal turf growth.
To prevent damage to the turf from the movement of vehicles, such as cars, trucks, golf carts, emergency vehicles and other such vehicles, across or through the turf area it is common to utilize load bearing mats embedded or otherwise placed in or on the turf. Commonly, these load bearing mats are made up of a plurality of individual mat units and generally configured with a plurality of connected cell or cell-like members that are of sufficient strength to support the weight of the vehicle or other load bearing traffic as it moves over the turf. Many of the load bearing mats have cell members that are configured, at least to a certain extent, to allow the turf to grow through the load bearing mat and to allow water and other nutrients to reach the roots of the turf. The load bearing mats are typically placed in the turf or soil base just below the grade level of the turf so that conventional turf equipment, including lawnmowers and the like, can move over the turf and cut or treat the turf. To allow for different sizes of areas where load bearing mats are utilized, the typical load bearing mat is provided in modular mat units that can be selectively connected together to provide the desired amount of load bearing surface (i.e., parking lot sized area). The area enclosed by the cell members are filled with soil or other materials. In turf areas, the fill material preferably comprises that which facilitates the growth of turf through the load bearing mat. To facilitate gripping of the subsurface by the load bearing mat, drainage through the turf and oxygen transfer by the turf, it is generally desirable that the base of the individual cell members have as much opening as possible.
The use of load bearing mats to provide support in turf areas is not limited to use with areas where vehicles may move across or through the turf area. In addition, load bearing mats are also utilized in areas subject to heavy pedestrian or other non-vehicle load bearing traffic, such as for walking and/or bicycle paths through a park or park-like settings. Use of load bearing mats are also beneficially utilized on campus open areas where students are likely to cut across the turf and in areas around nursing homes or hospitals where persons may want to push another person in a wheelchair or use other equipment. Use of load bearing mats to prevent damage to turf is known to be particularly advantageous in areas where water or other fluids may commonly collect after watering or rain.
Examples of load bearing mats for use in turf areas can be found in numerous prior art patents. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,942 to Hill describes a grass paving structure having a plurality of honeycombed, hexagon-shaped cells with upstanding sidewalls and a plurality of openings in the underlying base surface. In one configuration, as sold by National Diversified Sales, Inc. (the assignee of the present invention) under the name Tufftrack Grassroad Pavers, the load bearing members are sold in two foot by two foot interlocking sections that can be connected together to cover any size of area. A tongue and groove latching system provides quick and secure connections between the various sections. U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,585 to Mascaro describes a modular support mat for turfgrass areas that has a plurality of hexagonally shaped, adjoining cells that form a module of such cells. Individual modules are joined together by the use of selectively positioned integral projecting tabs having upstanding lugs thereon that are adapted to interlockingly engage a correspondingly located opening in an adjacent modular unit. U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,340 to Bohnhoff describes a mat for stabilizing particulate materials that comprises a planar quadrilateral grid formed by a plurality of intersecting struts having upstanding tubular members disposed on the grid in a rectangular array. This mat, sold as the Grasspave2 by Invisible Structures, Inc. out of Golden, Colo., utilizes perpendicularly disposed struts that intersect at the bottom center of each tubular member and a socket/pin connector system to connect mats together to form a larger mat. The use of ribs between spaced apart tubular members allows the mat, or a series of interconnected mats, to be rolled. U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,048 to Bohnhoff describes a irrigation head support that includes a circular mat having a plurality of concentric circular ribs and radially disposed ribs with a centrally located circular aperture configured to receive an irrigation head and a plurality of upstanding tubular rings on the mat around the circular aperture. The tubular rings provide support for vehicle tires and other loads so as to avoid damage to the irrigation head. Grass roots grow through the spaces in the mat to secure the mat permanently in place.
The presently available load bearing mats generally comprise a plurality of cell or tubular shaped members that are configured in a generally honeycombed fashion, such as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,585 to Mascaro set forth above. These honeycombed configured mats obtain much of their load bearing strength due to the fact that the cell members share common sidewalls or, at a minimum, abutting sidewalls. While the interconnecting or abutting cell sidewalls provide strength for somewhat significant loads, the resulting load bearing mat must be configured from a plurality of individual generally rigid panels or mat units that are not very well adapted to being rolled. These flat panels are generally stored, transported and installed in their separate panel condition instead of a preferred rolled condition. As known to those skilled in the art, handling and installation of mats or mat-like structures such as load bearing mats is generally made significantly easier, faster and less expensive if the mat is provided in a rolled condition that can be unrolled into place where needed. As also set forth above, U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,340 to Bohnhoff describes a load bearing mat that comprises a plurality of cell members placed on at planar grid, thereby making it suitable for being provided in a rolled condition. In that configuration, however, the grid members that make up the grid cross at intersections located at or near the center of the cell members. The grids and intersection thereof at the center of the cell members somewhat reduces the amount of open area in the cell member that is available for horticultural purposes, namely the growth of turf or other plant material. While the rolled ability of this grid does provide installation labor and costs savings versus rigid panels, the loss of area available for plant growth is seen by many in the industry as a limitation to this type of load bearing unit.
The area to be covered by load bearing units is generally a variable that must be addressed by those who manufacture and supply load bearing mats. The typical manner in which this is addressed is by providing the load bearing mats in individual panels or mat units. To effectively cover the desired area, it is preferred that the individual panels be configured to lock together to form a substantially integral load bearing mat. The honeycomb configured load bearing mats typically utilize connecting mechanisms that connect cells of one panel to cells of an adjacent panel in an abutting relationship. During installation, the user connects these panels together to form the desired size of load bearing mat. With regard to load bearing mats provided in a rolled condition, a series of panels can be connected together to form a roll of such panels having a specified width. However, the connecting mechanism must be configured to allow and adapt to the rolling and unrolling of the mat. The mat described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,340 and sold by Invisible Structures, Inc. utilizes a pin and socket type of connecting mechanism that is configured in a generally vertical or axial manner. In use, this type of connecting mechanism can result in dimpling of the leveled planting base during installation and tends to unsnap during and after installation due to vertically applied loads. What is needed, therefore, is a rollable load bearing mat that is configured for use as a load bearing surface in turf areas that includes the use of interconnected cell members for mat strength, the ability to provide the mat in a rolled condition for ease of handling and installation, and the use of mat unit connectors that are suitable for rolling and which do not have the problems associated with vertically or axially configured pin and socket connectors.

Rollable load bearing mat for turf areas


A pressure control device for a hydraulic braking system of an automotive vehicle is provided with a master cylinder for pressurizing hydraulic fluid according to a braking action of a driver. A wheel cylinder for applying braking force to a wheel is communicated with the master cylinder through a main passage. An accumulator is connected to the main passage. A rotating condition of the wheel is detected by a detector and is outputted as a signal indicative of the rotating condition of the wheel. A hydraulic pressure controller is arranged to control the wheel cylinder hydraulic pressure when the detector detects one of a lock condition and a slippage condition. The hydraulic pressure controller is communicated with the main passage. A switching device is arranged to stop the communication between the master cylinder and the hydraulic pressure controller, and open the communication between the accumulator and the hydraulic pressure controller when the detector detects the slippage condition in acceleration. Therefore, during the slippage control in acceleration, the hydraulic fluid stored in the hydraulic pressure controller is returned to the main passage owing to the pressure difference therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in a pressure control device for hydraulic braking system of an automotive vehicle, and more particularly to a hydraulic pressure control device for an anti-lock braking control and a slippage control in acceleration.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 58-122246 discloses a typical pressure control device applied to a hydraulic braking system which carries out the anti-lock braking control and the slippage control in acceleration. This device includes a pressure control valve which is disposed to a main passage communicating a master cylinder and a wheel cylinder in order to control a hydraulic pressure of the wheel cylinder. For carrying out the anti-lock braking control, the hydraulic fluid in the wheel cylinder is lowered in pressure by draining it to a storage chamber through the pressure control valve, and is fed to the main passage between the pressure control valve and pressure source switching valve. During the slippage in acceleration, in order to suppress the slippage of the wheels, this system operates to temporarily store a hydraulic pressure in the storage chamber through a supply pump, to stop the communication between the master cylinder and the pressure control valve, and to communicate the accumulator and the pressure control valve for supplying the hydraulic pressure of the accumulator to the wheel cylinder.
However, the conventional pressure control device performs to operate the return pump even during the slippage control in acceleration. This operation of the return pump generates noises which make passengers uncomfortable.

Pressure control device for hydraulic braking system


A vehicle has an electric drive mode, a body defining a vehicle interior, a first and second set of audio speakers positioned outside and inside of the interior, respectively, and a controller. The controller generates an acoustic signal, broadcasts the acoustic signal via the first set of speakers during an electric drive mode, and generates and broadcasts a cancelling signal via the second set of speakers. The broadcasts are coordinated to substantially cancel an attenuated portion of the acoustic signal resulting from propagation of the acoustic signal into the interior. A method cancels a synthesized sound within a vehicle interior by collecting vehicle operating values, generating an acoustic signal as the synthesized sound during an electric drive mode, and processing the acoustic signal to generate a modified acoustic signal approximating an attenuated portion of the acoustic signal propagating into the vehicle interior.

Electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) obtain optimal fuel economy largely by means of electric propulsion, wherein a high-voltage battery, working in conjunction with one or more onboard electric motor/generators and/or an offboard electrical power supply, provides the required propulsive energy. For example, a typical full HEV can selectively utilize a high-voltage battery module or energy storage system (ESS) as a propulsive energy source during conditions under which an electric motor is relatively efficient, automatically transitioning to propulsion via an internal combustion engine at higher speeds. Likewise, an extended-range EV equipped with a suitable high-voltage ESS can operate exclusively using electric power.
In addition to the distinct performance advantages of using an electric motor as a vehicular propulsion device, an electric motor can operate almost noiselessly, i.e., without the familiar combustion and fan sounds generated by a conventional gasoline-powered internal combustion engine. As a result, the relatively tranquil environment in an EV or HEV interior can be another desirable feature of such vehicle designs. However, for other drivers the familiar engine sounds can be desirable during all operating modes. Therefore, in order to optimize the driving experience some modern vehicles are adapted to synthesize or broadcast engine sounds in response to throttle and/or speed signals, such as by generating the sound of a sporty or high-performance engine during an electric drive mode.
Additionally, certain vehicles are configured to transmit or broadcast synthesized engine noises or other warning sounds outside of the vehicle when propelled via electric power in order to alert pedestrians, cyclists, and other persons or animals in the path of or in close proximity to the otherwise nearly silent vehicle. While such synthesized sounds have notable advantages, the perception of synthesized sounds within the vehicle interior may be undesirable to some drivers and passengers, particularly those who highly value the relative tranquility of electric propulsion.

Vehicle interior active noise cancellation


A novel safety device comprises a flashlight and a pyrotechnic signalling device launcher in a single unit. The device comprises an elongated body comprising two compartments; a first compartment is suitable for carrying batteries for powering the flashlight, while a second compartment is suitable for carrying pyrotechnic signalling means. In a preferred embodiment, the device further comprises a water resistant flashlight switch and a firing mechanism which includes an internal cocking mechanism which is cocked by rotating one segment of the device with respect to a second segment of the device.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates in general to safety devices and in particular to a new and useful device which combines a flashlight and a pyrotechnic signalling device, in a single unit. It also includes a novel firing mechanism particularly suitable for combining said devices in that the cocking element of the firing mechanism is completely internal, thereby allowing the device to be water resistant.

Combination flashlight-pyrotechnic signalling device launcher


An apparatus and method for automatically identifying FHR baseline includes collecting FHR data within a preset duration to obtain an FHR data sequence h′(n); preprocessing the collected FHR data sequence h′(n) to obtain a corresponding FHR data sequence during the preprocessing; selecting a primary dominant peak value according to the frequency distribution of the corresponding FHR data sequence during the preprocessing; and identifying a dynamic baseline according to the corresponding FHR data sequence and the primary dominant peak value during the preprocessing to obtain the dynamic baseline, and display and print the dynamic baseline. The apparatus and method effectively prevents the impact caused by regular change of the FHR to the baseline solution, and accurately reflects the FHR baseline and changes thereof of a fetus under different conditions.

FHR baseline is not only an important indicator which reflects the development state of a fetal central nervous system and indicates fetal safety, but also a middle parameter which shall firstly be determined by the medical staff when they analyze fetal monitoring (hereinafter referred to as fetal monitoring) diagram. Generally, the FHR baseline will gradually decrease with increasing gestational weeks, and the normal range is 110 bpm˜160 bpm. The medical staff shall attach importance to too high FHR baseline or too low FHR baseline. They shall find out the cause of the abnormality immediately, determine whether this exception has clinical significance, and provide the basis for the intervention measures. For example, during pregnancy, if the FHR baseline drops and is below 100 bpm, they shall consider that there may be congenital heart disease. However, during childbirth, FHR baseline abnormalities are warning signs of fetal distress. At this time, they shall find out the reason for the exception as soon as possible and take certain intervention measures to eliminate the abnormalities, thus ensuring safety of the fetus. Meanwhile, the FHR baseline is also the basis for the medical staff to determine other fetal intermediate physiological parameters, such as acceleration, deceleration, mutation, etc. These intermediate parameters may be determined only on the basis of the determination of the FHR baseline.
Currently, a clinical method for calculating the FHR baseline is mainly an average method. Effective FHR data of 10 minutes or more is obtained through a fetal monitoring module. After the data are processed simply, their average values are calculated. Furthermore, a straight line is drawn on a fetal monitoring drawing based on the average values and taken as the FHR baseline. However, this method is only suitable for conditions where the FHR-curve is relatively stable and there is no change in FHR baseline. Actually, due to fetal movement, uterine contractions and the impacts of various external stimuli, the FHR is accelerated and decelerated as well as has other regular changes. As the average method may not avoid the impact on the calculation results caused by these changes, the calculated FHR baseline is always deviated from actual values. Meanwhile, as the FHR baseline may vary with the changes of fetal wake cycle, as to the average method, only one value may be obtained from all of the data, and hence the changes of the FHR baseline may not be identified. Therefore, if the fetus is under different states, the FHR baseline may vary. As the FHR baseline identification method in the prior art not only cannot avoid the impact on the results caused by the FHR regular changes but also cannot vary with the different states of the fetus, the calculated FHR baseline deviates from the actual values, and regular changes of the FHR cannot be displayed in fetal monitoring diagrams. In a word, as the average method cannot process the interference data, the calculated FHR baseline is inaccurate and unstable.

Apparatus and method for automatically identifying fetal heart rate baseline


A system and method for optimizing an additive manufacturing process in which a reinforcement material is randomly introduced to a fabrication bed. An image of the fabrication bed is captured. The image is analyzed by code in a computer to identify the actual arrangement of the randomly deposited reinforcement material relative to the object being manufactured. Based on the image data showing the reinforcement material, a toolpath is dynamically determined that incorporates the random reinforcement material. Accordingly, the toolpath incorporates the reinforcement material into the structure of the object, which can result in a reduction of the total amount of raw material is fused to create the object being manufactured.

Additive manufacturing systems and processes typically involve forming a part layer-by-layer. In such systems, a tool is moved across a fabrication bed to activate (e.g., fuse, melt, harden, etc.) loose, raw material in order to form each layer. Typically, a 3D model of the part to be manufactured is created and then the model is "sliced" into layers to define a path the tool must take in order to fuse each respective layer of the part. These fused layers are added one on top of the other until the stacked individual layers together result in the fabrication of the three-dimensional object corresponding to the 3D model. While the toolpath from one layer to the next may differ according to the geometry of the object being created, these toolpaths are predefined based on the object geometry and do not change during the manufacturing process.
It has also been known to include reinforcement materials in the additive manufacturing process. A reinforcement material can be randomly added to the fabrication bed together with the raw material. However, since the reinforcement material is randomly distributed, manufacturing systems operate on the basis of an assumed average distribution of the reinforcement material in each layer of the fabrication bed. As such, a designer may be able to assume that the part will be a stronger by a certain percentage and, based on that improvement of strength, may be able to create a design having, for example, thinner walls by taking advantage of the average strength improvement. Accordingly, a predetermined toolpath can be provided for an object that has been designed assuming an average distribution of randomly deposited reinforcement. However, this type of manufacturing still relies on a predetermined toolpath.
Other additive manufacturing systems include equipment that lays down reinforcement material in a controlled manner (e.g., by laying reinforcing cord along a controlled path). While such a system offers advantages because the exact location of the reinforcement can be controlled, systems of this type which have to deposit the reinforcement in a controlled manner are complicated and their operation slows down the manufacturing process.
The present disclosure solves these and other problems with a technical solution as disclosed herein.

Fabrication of composite parts by additive manufacturing and microstructure topology optimization


An accelerator device is used for electromotive vehicles which has an electric motor adapted to cause the vehicles to move forwards and backwards. The accelerator device includes an accelerator pedal depressible to swing between a rest position and a most depressed position. Operatively connected to the pedal is an elongated pliable strip which is slidable along a predefined moving way and carries a permanent magnet. A plurality of magnetoelectric sensors are arranged along the moving way of the strip with a substantially equal spacing from one another, each of the sensors capable of generating, when left deactivated, a pedal position signal of first logic level and activatable by the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet to produce a pedal position signal of second logic level as the permanent magnet moves over and above the respective one of the sensors. Responsive to the pedal position signals, a microprocessor is adapted to control the torque and speed of the electric motor by way of regulating the amount of electric current to be supplied to the electric motor. The magnetoelectric sensors include a Hall generator that normally gives an output voltage signal of logic level one but produces an output voltage signal of logic level zero when aligned with the permanent magnet.

Electromotive vehicles such as electric passenger cars, electric golf carts and electric forklift trucks, for instance, rely on an electric drive motor to acquire the torque needed to move forwards or backwards. Taking the electric forklift truck as an example, it employs a buttery-driven electric motor which can rotate with a controlled torque and in a controlled direction. The direction of rotation of the electric motor is controlled by a direction control lever swingably mounted on one side of a truck console. The direction control lever is hand-operated to shift between a forward position, a neutral position and a reverse position. Cooperating with the direction control lever are forward and reverse microswitches coupled to a microprocessor that, in response to the electric signals supplied from the microswitches, controls the flow of electric current to the electric motor. The forward microswitch becomes active to feed forward drive signals to the microprocessor when the direction control lever is shifted into the forward position, whereas the reverse microswitch is rendered active to feed reverse drive signals to the microprocessor if the direction control lever is swung into the reverse position. The forward and reverse microswitches remain inactive, when the direction control lever is in the neutral position, to have the microprocessor cease the electricity supply to the electric motor.
In the meantime, the acceleration of the electric motor employed in the electric forklift truck depends on the swing angle of a foot-operated accelerator pedal depressibly mounted on the floor of the forklift truck. The accelerator pedal is normally biased by a tension spring into an initial position in which the electric motor produces little or no torque. As the swing angle of the accelerator pedal grows larger, the torque produced by the electric motor is progressively increased such that the forklift truck can move at an accelerated speed. Such acceleration of the electric motor is controlled by way of detecting the variation of the pedal swing angle and regulating the amount of electric current to be supplied to the electric motor. The task of detecting the swing angle variation has heretofore been carried out either by means of photoelectric sensors which are arranged to become active one by one and to generate digital signals corresponding to the pedal swing angle, or a potentiometer which is designed to measure the electromotive forces induced by the swinging movement of the pedal and to generate analog signals corresponding to the electromotive forces. The digital or analog signals are fed to the microprocessor which in turn functions to regulate the current supply amount to the electric motor to thereby control the torque and speed of the latter.
As referred to above, the direction of rotation and the acceleration of the forklift electric motor are controlled by the microprocessor in response to the input signals fed from the microswitches associated with the direction control lever and the photoelectric sensors or the potentiometer associated with the accelerator pedal. According to the prior art accelerator device, however, a drawback is noted in that the acceleration signal generator mechanism is highly susceptible to water intrusion, water damage and bearing/seal wear, which may be a major culprit of causing failure of the accelerator device. Another shortcoming of the prior art accelerator device is that the acceleration signal generator mechanism is of costly and complicated structure mainly because it lies under the vehicle floor in a position remote from the microprocessor.

Accelerator device for electromotive vehicles

Daewood Heavy Industries America Corporation


The invention utilizes the fact that anyone with normal color vision has the ability look at a scene on a video display and recognize a black area if one is present; a white area if one is present, and face or flesh areas if a person is present. It is also easy to recognize blond hair, subjects that are opaque, subjects that are semi-transparent, and subjects that are bright green. The aforesaid abilities to recognize luminance and color characteristics of elements within a video scene are used in conjunction with the invention to produce ideal composite images by utilizing of a set of equations that incorporate a knowledge of color science, of video and existing compositing techniques. These equations are used to make adjustment decisions to produce the best possible composite image. The equations are used to compute certain constant values utilized in the existing compositing techniques. The equations are also used to calculate exact values of B, G, R and gamma for balancing blacks, whites, and flesh tones as well as foreground and background video levels.

The concept of inserting a person or subject into a background scene to form a composite image has been practiced in the motion picture industry as far back as the 1930's. Over the years improvements have been made in image compositing using photo-chemical film mattes but this process is severely restricted in scope, subject matter, backing color purity, lighting tolerance and subject colors. It is a complex and difficult process.
The chroma-key method of compositing video images for television was developed by Kennedy and Gaskins of RCA and was published in the December 1959 issue of the Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, pages 804 to 812. This simple method switched between a foreground subject placed before a blue backing, and a background scene based on the presence or absence of the hue of the blue backing. Today's chroma-key systems (even with a soft edge) still switch between the foreground and background scenes.
Chroma-key is reasonably satisfactory for television newscasts when the subject is opaque and has well-defined edges. However, it is less satisfactory for television and is totally unacceptable for motion pictures when the subject includes loose hair, fog, smoke, motion blur, glassware, window reflections, out-of-focus objects, and other semi-transparent subjects. In these subjects, both the foreground and background elements occupy the same area and therefore there is no appropriate place to switch.
The proper reproduction of these semi-transparent areas requires an "AND" concept as opposed to the "OR" concept of a switch. The simulation of reality demands that everything seen by the camera, with the exception of the blue backing itself, must be reproduced in the composite, at full level, without attenuation, and at the full resolution of the camera.
A compositing method that does all of the above is based on the "AND" concept. It does not switch between the two scenes but, rather, adds the background scene to the foreground scene as a linear function of the luminance and visibility of the colored backing. The colored backing is removed by subtraction.
This compositing method was introduced to the motion picture and video industry with Vlahos U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,595,987 and 4,007,487. Subsequent improvements were added as described in Vlahos U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,100,569, 4,344,085, 4,409,611, 4,589,013, 4,625,231 and 5,032,901.
The techniques covered by the above patents form the basis for several models of compositing equipment manufactured by the Ultimatte Corporation. The current models are the Ultimatte-300, Ultimatte-45 and Ultimatte System-6.
Most recently these compositing techniques have been incorporated into a computer workstation in the form of a compositing program.
The Ultimatte compositing techniques, whether in the form of hardware or software, have achieved a level of compositing perfection such that the composite image goes undetected as a composite even under careful scrutiny. While the Ultimatte compositing techniques solve the problem of obtaining flawless undetectable composite images, its application has been limited because of its extreme complexity. Unfortunately, few operators have acquired sufficient knowledge of color science, of video and of the Ultimatte compositing techniques to achieve the image quality of which the method and equipment are capable. The complexity of the Ultimatte compositing techniques is due to the nature of color reproduction. The color spectrum is divided into three wavelength regions, designated Blue, Green and Red. All three colors are required to reproduce a full range of subject colors. One of these three colors, such as blue, must also be used for the backing but the backing must not be reproduced. This apparent contradiction requires a complex manipulation of the blue, green, red (B, G, R) color components which constitute the Ultimatte compositing techniques.
Although the Ultimatte compositing techniques are fully described in the referenced patents, a brief review will provide a basis for the invention to be described herein.
The Ultimatte process begins with the generation of a control signal E.sub.c which is used to control a number of functions. Control signal E.sub.c is proportional to the luminance and visibility of the backing. Luminance is reduced by a subject's shadow, and visibility is reduced by semi-transparent subjects and becomes zero when the subject is opaque. E.sub.c, therefore, is linearly proportional to the transparency of the subject through a range of 1.0 to 0.0. E.sub.c controls the level of the background scene video as a linear function of the luminance and visibility of the colored backing. The simplified E.sub.c equation is EQU E.sub.c =(B-K.sub.1)-K.sub.2 max (G,R)! Eq.-1
where "max" designates "the larger of".
The next step is to substitute green for blue in those areas where blue is greater than green. In such areas, the blue video channel will be carrying green video. Color substitution is achieved by causing the green video to act as a dynamic clamp so that it cannot be exceeded by blue video.
The blue backing (usually a blue paint) will have low-level green and red components. The blue clamp, keeping blue from exceeding green, causes the blue backing to become a dark gray backing, which is a necessary first step in achieving a black backing.
The color substitution of green for blue also causes color distortion. Blue eyes and green foliage become cyan colored; pink and magenta become red; and the edges of blond hair become white.
The next step is to reduce the gray backing to a black backing. If the gray backing is not reduced to black, this residual gray becomes a gray veil superimposed over the background scene.
The gray backing is reduced to black by subtracting a portion of E.sub.c, equaling the residual B, G, R video in the backing area. The four controls for this purpose are Master Veil, Blue Veil, Green Veil and Red Veil.
The above procedure reduces the blue backing to a black backing without in any way affecting the foreground subject, even when that subject is a wisp of hair, a puff of steam or a reflection from a window. Since the backing is reproduced as black there is no need to switch it off. The background scene, under control of E.sub.c, is then simply added to the foreground video to obtain the composite image. However, it is still necessary to deal with the various color distortions introduced by the blue clamp and by the blue backing. The blue clamp, while introducing certain color distortions, removes others.
A person wearing a white shirt standing in close proximity to a large expanse of blue backing receives secondary blue illumination from the backing which gives his white shirt a pronounced blue tint. Flesh tones take on a magenta tint. The field of the camera lens filled with blue light will cast a blue veil over the foreground subjects due to multiple internal reflections within the lens.
After the video is subjected to the blue clamp, all evidence that a blue backing was ever present is eliminated. White stays white, flesh colors stay flesh colored and any veiling effect of lens flare is eliminated.
The colors distorted by the blue clamp include blue eyes, pink, magenta, blond hair and green foliage. These are important colors and must be corrected. Such correction is accomplished by a series of color control gates. The color correction of these subjects is based on their unique spectral reflection. Blue eyes will have a spectral composition, for example, of 80 B, 70G and 60R. Note the linear progression of 80, 70, 60. Note that blue exceeds green by the amount that green exceeds red. This linear progression is characteristic of blue eyes and most pastel blue colors.
If the green-red difference is added to green, B.ltoreq.G+(G-R).sup.+ then the clamp will read B=70+(70-60)=80. The plus symbol ( ).sup.+ holds negative values to zero. With the clamp raised to 80 in this example, blue eyes will reproduce as blue, not cyan. The blue cast on a white shirt, however, is rejected because there is no green-red difference in white and the white shirt, therefore, returns to white.
In the case of pink, its initial B, G, R values may have been 50 B, 40 G, 80R, but the blue clamp holds blue to the level of green to become 40 B, 40 G, 80R. The red-green difference is 40, however, if the blue clamp is increased by about 1/4 of the red-green difference (B.ltoreq.G+1/4 (R-G).sup.+) it allows blue to rise to 50 which is the blue component needed to reproduce pink. The same logic applies to magenta, except that 1/2 the red-green difference is added to green.
In the case of green foliage, a typical green will contain spectral components of 20 B, 80 G, 20R. Blue light from the backing, passing through green translucent leaves, produces spectral components of 80 B, 80 G, 20R which is cyan, not green.
By limiting blue to the lower of green or red, the spectral components of foliage are returned to 20 B, 80 G, 20R. The blue clamp with the color gates becomes: EQU B.ltoreq.K G+K.sub.1 (G-R).sup.+ +K.sub.2 (R-G).sup.+ +K.sub.3 min (G,R)Eq.-2
Where
K.sub.1 =gate 1 PA1 K.sub.2 =gate 2 PA1 K.sub.3 =gate 3 PA1 1. K is nominally 1.0 for a white balance on white subjects. PA1 2. K.sub.1 (gate 1) is normally 1.0 for most scenes. PA1 3. K.sub.2 (gate 2) is normally zero which prevents flesh colors from taking on a magenta tint from blue spill light. If it is essential to reproduce pink or magenta, then K.sub.2 must be opened part way, about 1/4 for pink and about 1/2 for magenta. Opening gate 2 also permits blue flare to give flesh tones a magenta cast. It is appropriate to open gate 2 just sufficient to produce a subjectively satisfying pink or magenta and thereby minimizing the degree to which flesh tones take on a magenta tint. PA1 4. K.sub.3 (gate 3) permits blue to be limited to the lower of green or red. Since green foliage will have a high blue content due to the blue back-light, it turns cyan. Gate 3, holding blue to red, restores foliage to its natural green color. However, the use of gate 3 requires that K and K.sub.1 first be reduced to zero since either will defeat gate 3.
min means "the lower of", ( ).sup.+ plus means positive values only and the following procedures apply:
Other problems in compositing also arise and need correction. A composite, if it is not to reveal that it is a composite, must have similar elements in the two scenes match each other. For example, black areas in the foreground scene should match the color of black areas in the BG scene; white areas should match and flesh tones should match.
On the Ultimatte System-6, and its software equivalent, the foreground video and background video each have B, G, R offset controls, B, G, R gain controls and B, G, R gamma controls for a total of 18 controls. The offset, level and gamma controls are interactive and the adjustment of one may require an adjustment of the other two which, in turn, may require readjustment of the first control. Generally, an operator may go through several iterations before he is satisfied, or before he tires of trying.
A given element in two scenes may require balancing in hue-only, or in both luminance and hue. Black glossy objects reflect the blue backing and result in the background scene showing through the black object even though it is fully opaque. It is made non-transparent by means of a "Black Gloss Control".
Since E.sub.c is set to zero for gray scale subjects, light blue subjects, such as blue eyes, become transparent and must be corrected by increasing matte density. Black edging on warm colors (e.g., flesh tones) is corrected by a Matte Density Balance Control. Altogether the current Ultimatte System-6 has 98 controls consisting of 25 switches and 73 increment/decrement adjustment controls. When properly adjusted, the composite scene cannot be detected as a composite even by most video professionals.
The problem is that there are very few operators who have acquired sufficient knowledge of color science, of video, and of the Ultimatte compositing techniques, to be able to make the adjustments necessary to achieve flawless composites.
In an attempt to reduce the problem, later Ultimatte devices (U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,231, etc.) incorporate automatic circuits for setting background and foreground levels, for setting bias and for setting initial matte density. These adjustments are all subject independent. In addition, a "Reset" button returns all 98 adjustments to a default setting that will produce a good composite when the foreground and background cameras were properly balanced for white, black, and gamma and where lighting was ideal and there were no problems with the subject, wardrobe, floor glare, etc.
Such ideal conditions rarely exist. The default settings therefore provide a good starting point, but there is no way to fully automate those adjustments that are subject dependent. The automatic adjustments shorten the adjustment process but they do not substitute for a knowledgeable and skilled operator. Considering the sheer number of adjustments, and the fact that some are interactive, even a skilled operator can take up to one hour to make the necessary adjustments on a difficult scene. Operators with less expertise may never achieve a good quality composite image.
The high resolution required by the motion picture industry often utilizes non-real-time compositing. A frame of film may be scanned at resolutions up to 4000 lines in a time of 1 to many seconds. This video signal is then inputted to a computer and associated monitor for various modifications, including color correction, and is subsequently printed back to film on a second scanner. Film compositing by the computer in a workstation such as the Silicon Graphics, is made possible by expressing the equations utilized by the Ultimatte techniques in the computer language used by the workstation. Compositing is therefore one additional function of the workstation.
Substitution of the computer in place of the Ultimatte hardware increases compositing difficulties since each adjustment is delayed by the computer from about 1 second to as much as 1 minute before the operator can see the result of his adjustment. The amount of the delay depends upon the power of the computer and the pixel density (resolution) of the image.
The lack of real-time feedback makes the Ultimatte techniques almost unusable in such systems.
The Ultimatte compositing techniques utilize a series of equations using the independent variables B, G, R. These variables are scaled by constants K K.sub.1 K.sub.2 K.sub.3 K.sub.4 (1-K), etc. Scaling is achieved by an operator turning a potentiometer in analog equipment, a shaft encoder in digital equipment, or by a cursor or keyboard on a digital computer. Adjustments are intuitive and are judged to be proper as one observes the image on a video display. This is the current state of the art in video compositing.

Method and apparatus for adjusting parameters used by compositing devices


A lubricating system for a heavy-duty metal demolition shears provides lubricating lubricant to one of more wear parts. The system includes a hydraulic lubricant pump that is actuated by the main hydraulic control system that opens and closes the jaws of the shears. The lubricant pump may include a sequential valve to distribute lubricant to various wear parts in sequential fashion. As disclosed herein, wear parts that may be lubricated by a lubricating system as per the invention include (but are not limited to) lateral blade stabilizers, a guide blade, and cutting blade insert members.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, in general, a heavy-duty metal demolition shears 10 of the sort in which a lubricating system according to the invention may be incorporated has a stationary lower jaw 12 and an upper jaw 14 that pivots about a pivot structure 16 to open and close. A hydraulic cylinder 18 drives the upper jaw 14 to open and close the shears 10. The shears 10 includes upper primary and secondary blade insert members 20 and 22, respectively, attached to seating surfaces on the upper jaw 14, and lower primary and secondary blade insert members 24 and 26, respectively, attached to seating surfaces on the right-hand lower jaw side plate 12b. The blade insert members 20-26 cooperate to cut material being processed with the shears 10 in shearing fashion. The lower jaw includes tow sides and an end plate. The blade side is often referred to as the "cutting side," the opposite side, with the guide blade, is often referred to as the "guide side," and the end plate is often referred to as the "cross plate."
As the shears cut a workpiece, the upper jaw 14 may be deflected somewhat laterally due to the fact that the lines along which cutting forces are applied to a workpiece by the lower and upper jaws 12, 14 are slightly offset with respect to each other. Therefore, a heavy-duty demolition shears may include a wear guide or guide blade 28 attached to a seating surface formed along a slot-facing surface of the left-hand (guide side) lower jaw side plate 12a and a wear plate 30 that is attached to a lateral surface of a front or nose portion of the upper jaw.
Additionally, it is known in the art to provide one or more lateral blade stabilizers (not included in the prior art shears illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2) that are positioned on either side of the upper jaw, generally near the pivot structure.
As the shears 10 operates, these various wear components, which present various wear surfaces, slide past each other—blade insert members past blade insert members, the wear plate past the guide blade, and the upper jaw past the lateral blade stabilizers. As they do so, they can wear each other down. Accordingly, it is known to lubricate the various wear surfaces that make sliding contact with each other. Traditionally, such lubrication has been done manually. That, however, necessitates stopping operation of the shears, which reduces productivity.

Lubricating system for metal-demolition shears


A method of manufacturing interconnect bumps on electrical connectors is disclosed. The interconnect bumps are formed with mechanically interlocking structure which allows the bumps to reach a height substantially greater than prior art bumps, while remaining structurally intact. The interconnect bumps are formed using standard photolithography techniques to form the bumps in multiple interlocking portions to achieve a structurally superior interconnect bump.

Interconnect bumps are used primarily to make electrical connections between connectors and circuit boards. The interconnect bumps make electrical contact above the connector or board with another electrical component which could be either another connector or a circuit board. In a connector employing a densely-packed interconnect pattern the height of interconnect bumps is critical to avoid cross-talk and other unwanted electrical phenomenon associated with such patterns on electrical connectors.
The standard process to form interconnect bumps is an additive process in which the circuit traces and bumps are formed by depositing successive layers of metal on a suitable substrate by electrodeposition, sputtering, vapor deposition or other known processes. Bumps formed by this additive process are typically 0.001 to 0.0015 inches (2.54.times.10.sup.-5 to 3.81.times.10.sup.-5 meters) high and do not have any mechanical anchoring or support features other than adhesion between the layers.
The lack of height makes connectors employing such bumps in densely-packed interconnect patterns subject to cross-talk and other unwanted electrical phenomenon. The height is limited primarily by the structure of the bumps themselves, as well as the processes used to form the interconnect bumps. Attempts to form higher bumps results in bumps which delaminate or "slide" off their base structures. Once the bumps delaminate, the connectors fail to make electrical connection between their associated components.
Prior art processes used to form interconnect bumps also include etching a single layer or series of layers which were previously built up on an electrical component. Such a method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,750 to Ostman, issued Nov. 9, 1982. These methods typically start with a very thick layer of copper and use standard photolithographic methods to define the desired pattern. Typically an ammoniacal etchant is used to etch away undesired copper to form the pattern. The disadvantages to this process are the high cost of depositing a large amount of copper and then removing it in a process from which the copper may or may not be recovered. In addition, the thick electrodeposited copper base material is not suitable for dynamic flex circuit applications because it lacks flexibility, it is difficult to form bumps with straight side walls because of the etching process, and the process is not well-suited for the fabrication of highly complex, very high density printed circuits.
To solve the above-mentioned problems and others not mentioned, the present method and apparatus provide a stable, reliable interconnect bump for use on connectors having high density interconnect patterns.

Method of manufacturing interconnect bumps


An apparatus for air jet processing of threads of yarn to create fancy effects in yarn. The apparatus comprises at least one pair of reciprocally moving triangular profiles which move across the paths of moving yarn strands. Each triangular profile is separately mounted on a driving shaft and each moves opposite the other in order to create slack portions in the moving strand that are then taken up by an air jet to create slub lengths. The overall yarn processing system contemplates at least one pair of first and second feed rolls that feed lengths of yarn to air jet machines.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to the field of air texturing machines and in particular to an arrangement for producing slubbing effects in yarn through an add on apparatus that attaches to existing yarn processing machines. More specifically, the add on apparatus utilizes a pair of moving triangular profile portions each of which is mounted on a reciprocating driving rod in connection with each feed roll in order to produce special effects in yarn e.g. slub yarn and effect yarn. Special effects in yarn include variation in size and color, slub lengths are single strands that have these effects and effect yarn includes two or more colors of yarn.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While there are air jet texturizing apparatus that do exist and produce the types of special yarns described, none that applicant is aware of provide an easily attached system of mounted triangular profiles that may be retrofitted onto existing yarn processing machines in order to create slub effects. Moreover, none utilize a system of reciprocally moving mounted triangular profiles (most likely two) that move opposite one another to interact with yarn strands in order to create slub lengths.

Apparatus for producing slub effects in yarn strands


A method of producing cordierite ceramic where the degree of stacking faults and the particle diameter of kaolinite used as a component of a cordierite-forming raw material are appropriately adjusted so that microcracks having an average width of 0.3 μm or more are introduced into the resulting cordierite ceramic to produce a high-quality cordierite ceramic that includes a cordierite crystal oriented in a specific direction and has a porosity of 25% or more and a coefficient of thermal expansion of 0.30×10−6/° C. or less.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cordierite ceramic used as the main component of a honeycomb-structured catalyst carrier that supports a catalyst for purifying exhaust gas discharged from an internal combustion engine (e.g., automotive engine), and a method of producing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
A cordierite ceramic exhibits low thermal expansion properties, excellent heat resistance, and excellent thermal impact resistance, and has been widely used as a high-temperature gas filter or a catalyst carrier that supports a catalyst for purifying exhaust gas discharged from an automotive engine. A cordierite ceramic has been used as the main component of a honeycomb-shaped porous carrier used in automotive exhaust gas purification applications. Various technologies aimed at improving the heat resistance and the thermal impact resistance of a cordierite ceramic have been developed. Specifically, a relational expression based on strength, Young's modulus, thermal conductivity, coefficient of thermal expansion, or the like is used as an index of the thermal impact resistance of a cordierite ceramic. For example, when coefficient of thermal expansion is used as an index, a cordierite ceramic having a small coefficient of thermal expansion means a cordierite ceramic having a high thermal impact resistance. Various attempts have been made to produce a cordierite ceramic that exhibits low thermal expansion properties or high strength.
Specifically, technologies that focus on a cordierite-forming raw material (e.g., talc, kaolinite, silica, and alumina) aimed at producing a cordierite ceramic that exhibits low thermal expansion properties have been developed. For example, JP-A-53-082822 and JP-A-64-003067 disclose that a cordierite ceramic having a small coefficient of thermal expansion may be obtained by optimizing the particle diameter of the cordierite-forming raw material and the mixing ratio of the components of the raw material. JP-A-05-085814 discloses that the impurity content of a cordierite ceramic may be reduced by delaminating treatment of kaolinite used as the raw material. JP-A-05-085814 also discloses that a cordierite ceramic having a small coefficient of thermal expansion may be obtained by using a raw material containing a calcined delaminated kaolinite.
Technology that focuses on the degree of stacking faults of kaolinite has been disclosed. Specifically, JP-A-11-309380 discloses selecting kaolinite used as the raw material based on the Hinckley index (i.e., an index of the degree of stacking faults). More specifically, JP-A-11-309380 discloses that a cordierite ceramic produced using kaolinite having a Hinckley index of 0.5 or more has a low porosity (i.e., high density) and high strength.
Fine cracks called "microcracks" occur during cooling after firing for forming cordierite. It has been suggested that microcracks buffer thermal expansion of a cordierite ceramic. In JP-A-08-198665, the length of microcracks per unit area of an arbitrary cross section of a cordierite fired article is defined as a microcrack density, and a microcrack density appropriate for producing a cordierite ceramic having a small coefficient of thermal expansion is studied.
A honeycomb-structured catalyst carrier has been generally used as a high-temperature gas filter or a catalyst carrier that supports a catalyst for purifying exhaust gas discharged from an automotive engine. In order to provide a honeycomb-structured catalyst carrier with high thermal impact resistance, it is important to reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion in the direction parallel to the partition wall rather than the direction along the thickness of the partition wall. Therefore, attempts have been made to align (orient) the c-axis direction of a cordierite crystal in which the coefficient of thermal expansion is small with the direction parallel to the partition wall (i.e., align the a-axis direction which is perpendicular to the c-axis direction and in which the coefficient of thermal expansion is large with the direction along the thickness of the partition wall). Note that the degree of orientation of a cordierite crystal is determined based on an index calculated using an X-ray diffraction integrated peak intensity Ihkl. Various attempts have been made to produce a cordierite ceramic in which the c-axis direction of the cordierite crystal is oriented in the direction parallel to the partition wall of the honeycomb structure.
According the above-mentioned disclosed technologies, the indices such as the particle diameter of the cordierite-forming raw material, the mixing ratio of the components of the raw materials, the degree of stacking faults of kaolinite used as the raw material, the microcrack density in the cordierite sintered article, and the degree of orientation of the cordierite crystal are merely studied individually. In order to stably produce a cordierite ceramic that has lower thermal expansion properties and a higher porosity, it is necessary to develop technology that comprehensively deals with a phenomenon that involves the above-mentioned indices in a complex manner. However, since a phenomenon in which a cordierite ceramic is formed is a complex phenomenon that involves a number of reaction paths, technology that comprehensively deals with the above-mentioned indices has not been disclosed.
When optimizing the degree of stacking faults of kaolinite based on the Hinckley index, as disclosed in JP-A-11-309380, the Hinckley index may vary depending on the particle diameter of kaolinite. JP-A-11-309380 discloses that a honeycomb structure formed of a cordierite ceramic that has a porosity of 23.9% or less and a coefficient of thermal expansion as small as 0.04 to 0.3×10−6/° C. may be produced using kaolinite having a Hinckley index of 0.5 or more as a component of the raw material. According to JP-A-11-309380, even if kaolinite having a Hinckley index of 0.5 or more is used as a component of the raw material, the resulting cordierite ceramic has a coefficient of thermal expansion as large as 0.42 to 0.47×10−6/° C. when the porosity is high (i.e., 35 to 39%). The inventors of the present invention focused on this phenomenon. Specifically, when a cordierite ceramic used as the main component of a catalyst carrier that supports an exhaust gas purification catalyst has a low porosity, the exhaust gas purification performance deteriorates due to a decrease in the amount of catalyst supported on the catalyst carrier and a decrease in the surface area of the catalyst carrier. In order to produce a useful honeycomb structure using a cordierite ceramic, the cordierite ceramic must have low thermal expansion properties and a high porosity. Specifically, when setting the condition for the degree of stacking faults of kaolinite based on the Hinckley index, as disclosed in JP-A-11-309380, since the resulting cordierite ceramic has a porosity as low as 23.9% or less when the cordierite ceramic has a small coefficient of thermal expansion, a further improvement is necessary.
With regard to the disclosed technology relating to microcracks introduced into a cordierite fired article, the width of microcracks may affect the function of buffering the thermal expansion of a cordierite ceramic to a large extent as compared with the length of microcracks. However, the relationship between the width of microcracks and the thermal expansion properties of a cordierite ceramic has not been disclosed.

Cordierite ceramic and method of producing the same