An ultrasonic measurement device measures a volume-related quantity of a fluid flowing from a first zone to a second zone of the device. The device includes two ultrasound transducers emitting and receiving ultrasound signals and each disposed in one of the zones to define between them an ultrasound measurement path in the fluid. The device also includes a measurement electronics block that drives emission and reception of ultrasound signals by transducers, measures a physical magnitude characteristic of the propagation speed of said signals in the fluid and deduces the volume-related quantity of the fluid from these measurements and the geometry of the device. This determines the volume-related quantity of the fluid on the basis of measurements of a physical magnitude that is characteristic of the propagation speed of ultrasound signals in the fluid. The device also includes firstly, over at least a portion of the ultrasound measurement path, two concentric ducts about the longitudinal axis (XX') defining a longitudinal space, and secondly the inner duct being obstructed by a central element subdividing the inside of said inner duct into two internal housings enabling ultrasound measurement to be performed solely in the longitudinal space.

The invention relates to a device for ultrasound measurement of a volume-related quantity of a fluid, which device makes it possible to limit the number of acoustic propagation modes, and to improve the linearity of its calibration curve.
It is widely known to use ultrasound transducers for measuring a volume-related quantity of a fluid flowing along a duct. Conventionally, the ultrasound transducers are spaced apart from each other in the fluid flow, defining between them an ultrasound measurement path, and they are disposed, for example, face to face and in alignment on the longitudinal flow direction, or else they are mounted in one of the walls of the duct.
Alternatively, the transducers emit and receive ultrasound signals propagating in the fluid flow and electronic means are provided for determining the volume-related quantity of fluid flowing along the duct on the basis of measurements of at least one physical magnitude that is characteristic of the propagation speed of ultrasound signals in the fluid flow. By way of example, one such physical magnitude is the propagation time of ultrasound signals, and another is the phase thereof.
It is also known that devices implementing this type of measurement are subject to measurement errors that show up as lack of accuracy in the measurement and as non-linearity of the calibration curve for such a device. These errors are largely attributable to ultrasound waves propagating in the fluid flow in numerous acoustic modes other than plane mode, thereby giving rise to interfering phase shifts.
International patent application WO 93/00570 proposes a method of reducing such errors based on a technique of transmitting wave packets, in which every four wave packets are inverted relative to the preceding packets so as to cancel the effects of higher propagation modes in the duct. Although that method is effective, it nevertheless suffers from the drawback of being complicated to manage from the points of view of the associated electronics and of signal processing, and it consumes a non-negligible amount of energy.
International patent application WO 94/09342 describes an ultrasound measurement device in which the two ultrasound transducers are spaced apart in the fluid flow direction from the inlet to the outlet of the device, and including means for measuring the propagation times of ultrasound signals between the two transducers. That device defines a plurality of fluid flow passages that are mutually parallel, with each passage being dimensioned so as to have a characteristic cutoff frequency for wave propagation in plane mode that is higher than the transmission frequency of the ultrasound, thereby ensuring that waves can propagate in plane mode only along said passage. Such a device does not consume additional energy but it does introduce further interfering phase shifts due to the presence of the plurality of passages, and the interfering phase shifts affect the linearity of the calibration curve.

Ultrasonic device with enhanced acoustic properties for measuring a volume amount of fluid


An image sensor having self-aligned microlenses and a method for fabricating the same. The image sensor includes a photodiode formed in a predetermined surface of a silicon substrate, a planarization layer formed above the silicon substrate, the planarization layer having a recess in correspondence to the photodiode, and a color filter layer having a plurality of color filters formed on the planarization layer by a photolithographic process, each color filter having a convex structure. An area of a focusing lens can be maximized, and a phase signal of unfocused light is absorbed to prevent its photo-electrical conversion, thereby obtaining excellent photosensitivity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image sensor having self-aligned microlenses, and more particularly, an image sensor and a method for fabricating the same that maximizes an area of focusing lenses and absorbs a phase signal of unfocused light to prevent its photo-electrical conversion, thereby obtaining excellent photosensitivity.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Resolution for an image sensors is determined by the number of photodiodes formed on the image plane that receives images. Accordingly, multi-pixel systems and miniaturization of a unit pixels are required. As the size of the unit pixel decreases, so does the area of a light-receiving portion. This requires focusing external images onto the image plane. To enhance photosensitivity, i.e., to increase the levels of sensed light, a focusing lens is used. The focusing lens is formed above or below a color filter layer formed as an array of color filters. To obtain a clear image it is necessary to have more light in focus than out of focus. Since the degree of focus of the incident light depends on the size of the sectional area of the focusing lens, clearer images are obtainable by maximizing the sectional area of focusing lens.
With the miniaturization and the multi-pixel system of the image sensor, more pixels per sectional area are formed in an on-chip type configuration. As pixel size decreases, the sizes of the filters of the color filter layer and the microlenses of a microlens layer also become smaller. As the pixel size becomes small, a photodiode area that receives light is also reduced, thereby reducing the photosensitivity. To compensate for the reduced photosensitivity, the photodiode area requires more light. To this end, a method of increasing an opening size and a method of forming focusing microlenses are provided. The openings are formed for the focusing lenses. These openings are created by forming a metal layer that serves as a wiring and as a light-shielding layer. In this manner, the light incident to the light-shielding layer is refracted toward the openings. Adhesion of the lenses varies as the size of focusing lenses is maximized. This causes image uniformity characteristics to suffer. The focusing of the lenses is also affected by the color filter layer, specifically, if the image signals of adjacent color filters are mixed they degrade the color information and contrast in the reproduced image. Additionally, it is difficult to form a precise pattern during alignment exposure due to the poor optical resolution caused by a mixture of pigment when the individual color filters of the color filter layer are formed. A planarization layer is also required because of the overlapping and gaps that occur between the color filters.

Image sensor and method for fabricating the same


A portable hand dryer (10) for drying wetness from an individual's hands as well as from the instruments or objects being held in their hands. The portable hand dryer (10) includes a casing (12) having an upper housing (16) defining a through opening (18) and a lower housing (20) defining having an interior cavity (24), an air current generator (14) disposed within the through opening (18) of the upper housing (16), a motor (13) received in the inner cavity (24) of the lower housing (20), and at least one control (28) to operated the hand dryer (10). In operation, manipulation of the control (28) activates the motor (13) to power the air current generator (14) to create an air current to dry object placed within the stream of that current.

In the field of drying appliances, it is well-known that simplicity of design, ease of use, convenience and effectiveness are among the most essential elements when considering the utility of such devices. Portability is another critical element considered when the appliances are used during an operator's travels or while the operator is engaging in an activity. Such factors are equally as important to athletes, such as golfers and tennis players, as they are to lay people.
In golf, for example, players typically play under conditions in which they are prone to perspire. They can also be exposed to weather conditions, such as high humidity or rain, which cause their hands and/or equipment to become wet. Perspiration or wetness on a golfer's hands or equipment often interferes with the effectiveness of the golfer's grip on their equipment and, consequently, the quality of their play. Common remedies for these conditions include the use of a golf glove and/or a hand towel. With time and continued use, however, the golfer is left to cope with golfing with a sweat-saturated glove, a sweat-saturated hand towel or dampened equipment. The parallels to the ways in which perspiration or wetness adversely impact a tennis player's game are equally foreseeable
In every day life, as well, people who carry items in their hands often find that their hands and the items that they are carrying are moistened over time due to natural perspiration, especially in warm weather conditions. Similarly, individuals using a public rest room often find themselves faced with ill-stocked or unsanitary areas to dry their hands. In each of these exemplary instances, the individuals faced with these conditions would be greatly convenienced by the availability of a personal, portable hand dryer to remedy their difficulties.
Other drying appliances are known in the art. Typical of the art are those appliances disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor(s) Issue Date ______________________________________ 3,495,342 A. Goldstein Feb. 28, 1968 3,667,134 T. Rockson Jun. 06, 1972 3,712,312 M. Sussman Jan. 23, 1973 3,797,475 T.B. Hughes Mar. 19, 1974 4,159,411 R.R. Ellersick Jun. 26, 1979 4,206,556 P.F. Sabo, et al. Jun. 10, 1980 4,757,183 H. Karey, et al. Jul. 12, 1988 4,890,395 Y. Yamac Jan. 02, 1990 4,934,066 C.F. Rose Jun. 19, 1990 5,168,641 H. Smal Dec. 08, 1992 5,285,050 W.G. Blackburn Feb. 08, 1994 5,351,417 R. Rubin Oct. 04, 1994 ______________________________________
Of these devices, those disclosed in the '134 patent issued to Rockson; the '475 patent to Hughes; the '312 patent issued to Sussman; the '556 patent issued to Sabo, et al.; the '183 patent to Karey, et al.; the '395 patent to Yamac; the '641 patent issued to Smal; and, the '417 patent issued to Rubin are most closely related to the present invention.
The '134 patent issued to Rockson discloses a hand dryer of specialized construction. The Rockson dryer employs sterilized air circulated in a cabinet having highly polished walls and germicidal heat lamps. The Rockson dryer is designed for continuous operation. Its specialized construction restricts its utility to hospital and related medical settings. The device is neither portable nor is it convenient to use. It requires a grounded electrical source for operation. Moreover, the specificity of its design renders it expensive and complex in construction, as well.
The '475 patent issued to Hughes discloses a portable cordless hair dryer. This device is distinguishable from the present invention in that its operation requires the creation of an exothermic reaction through the use of combustible materials such as charcoal for the production of heat. The use of such heating methods not only increases the risk of injury to the inattentive or unaware user, it also increases the likelihood of malfunction in adverse weather conditions when such heating element becomes rain soaked or moistened. The replacability of a consumed heating element for a new element increases the complexity of operation and the possibility of the malfunction of the Hughes device, as well.
The '312 patent issued to Sussman discloses a nail polishing salon which includes a lighted console; a blower behind the light bulb of the console to direct light-bulb heated air to a treatment counter; and, galleries for storage nail polishing aides. Like the device of the '134 patent, the Sussman device is of specific and limited application. It is also dependent on the presence and use of other nail polishing devices for its utility. The '312 device is also ineffectively constructed to serve as a hand dryer. It lacks convenience and portability and it relies on a solitary, grounded energy source for operability.
The '556 patent issued to Sabo, et al., discloses a nail polishing machine which is essentially identical to the Sussman device. the only distinctions are between these devices are in their configuration and the Sabo device's lack of a gallery to store nail polishing apparatus. The '556 device, otherwise, is functionally identical and subject to the same restrictions of application and use as discussed regarding the Sussman device. Consequently, the same distinctions present between the instant invention and Sussman apply equally to Sabo. The Sabo device is further distinguishable from the present invention in that it discloses and contemplates the use of only one electrical control to govern the operation of the entire device.
The '183 patent to Karey, et al., also discloses a portable hair dryer. This device is distinguishable from the present invention in that it is a non-freestanding dryer which must be stabilized by its placement in its external power source. The Karey device is also distinguishable from the present invention in that its chargeability is limited to a single type of power source and, consequently, its utility is limited to those environments in which a grounded power outlet for its power source is available. The '183 device requires that air be re-circulated for heating and it fails to provide for the removability of its power source. Karey also fails to provide for the automatic operability of the drying unit.
The '066 patent issued to Rose discloses a drying device comprising a tubular sleeve and a desiccant disposed within the tubular sleeve which engulfs and dries the grip of a wet golf club handle. In use, the desiccant is inserted into a tubular sleeve, which is configured to encase a golf club grip, and the sleeve-encased club is shaken to distribute the desiccant along the grip. A towel is then required to remove the water-laden desiccant once the sleeve is removed. The '066 device is cumbersome to use. It is ineffective in that there is no certainty of its thoroughness or uniformity in drying the grip on the golf club. Moreover, repeated use of the device likely results in granulation of the desiccant on the club grip and in the golfer's hands, all disrupting the golfer's focus on the game. The '066 device is also inefficient in the uncertainty of the time required to complete the drying process.
The '641 patent issued to Smal discloses a travel hair-drying device consisting of an internal and an external cylinder. The internal cylinder houses conventional hair dryer components and an air intake grill. The external cylinder slides over the internal cylinder and has lateral apertures which discharge air. The utility of the '641 device is restricted to hair drying. Further, it requires a grounded power source for operation.
The '417 patent issued to Rubin discloses a multi-functional hair drying device comprising a wall-mounted housing and a hand held dryer connected to the housing by an electrical cable. Like the device of the '641 patent to Smal, the utility of the '417 device is restricted to areas providing access to grounded power sources. Consequently, it lacks convenience and ease of use. The dimensions of the Rubin device also preclude its portability or use in ambient weather conditions.
The '342 patent issued to Goldstein; the '411 patent issued to Ellersick; and, the '050 patent issued to Blackburn all disclose unrelated devices. The '342 patent issued to Goldstein discloses an electromagnetic switch which controls a towel dryer and is actuated by withdrawing the towel. The '411 patent issued to Ellersick discloses an infrared radiant heating apparatus. The '050 patent issued to Blackburn discloses a battery operated cigarette lighter with a closure activated switch. None of these devices discloses a hand dryer which is portable, easy to use, is variably rechargeable and adaptable to different needs of the operator.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a means for drying moisture from a user's hands and from the instruments or devices they are holding, such as golf clubs and tennis rackets, thereby improving one's grip on the instrument or device.
It is another object of this invention to eliminate a need for supplemental drying devices, such as towels or desiccants, to be used in conjunction with the drying of one's hands and items used in one's hands.
Further, it is an object of this invention is to provide a hand dryer that is lightweight and portable so that it may be carried effortlessly, for example, on one's belt or in one's briefcase or purse.
It is another object of this invention to provide a hand dryer which is capable of being free-standing or adaptable to a fixed position.
Additionally, it is an object of this invention to provide a portable hand dryer which functions through the use of any one or more of several diverse power sources including a conventional, grounded power supply, solar power and/or rechargeable battery power packs.
It is an object of this invention to provide a portable hand dryer which has the capacity to heat the air used to dry one's hands and hand held instruments.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a portable hand dryer having automated switching, such as a sensor, to automate the operation of the device such that the need for manipulation of the switches is obviated.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a portable hand dryer which is properly sealed to preclude the entry of moisture into its electrical components and eliminate the potential for injury to the user and/or malfunction of the device.
It is another object of this invention to provide a portable hand dryer that is easy to use and is inexpensive to manufacture.


A fluid latent heat absorption electric induction heater is provided for raising the temperature of a fluid supplied to a fluid-driven turbine in a turbine-driven electric power generation system. The fluid latent heat absorption electric induction heater alternatively transfers heat to the fluid by induced susceptor heating, or a combination of inductor Joule heating and induced susceptor heating. The fluid may be water-steam for powering a steam-driven turbine or another fluid used in a phase change system for driving a fluid-driven turbine in a turbine-driven electric power generation system.

A simplified steam-driven electric power generation system diagram is illustrated in FIG. 1. Feed pump 102 supplies feed water to boiler 104 where the water is heated and processed to produce superheated steam (in a change state process) that is fed to steam turbine 106. Rotation of the turbine's output shaft 106a produces electric power from attached generator 108. The steam that turned turbine 106 is exhausted into condenser 110 where the steam is covered to condensate water and fed to boiler 104 to continue a process that can be based, for example, upon the Rankine cycle.
Boiler 104 typically transfers energy to the supplied water by the chemical reaction of burning some type of fossil fuel. Utility-size steam turbine-driven generators can range in hundreds to thousands of megawatts and require significant quantities of fossil fuels to produce the superheated steam for spinning the steam turbine.
While the working fluid in the Rankine cycle is water, alternative fluids with a liquid-vapor phase change, or boiling point, occurring at temperatures lower than the water-steam phase change can also be used in a turbine-driven electric power generation system in a similar type process. Therefore the terminology "fluid-driven," "fluid liquid state" and "fluid vapor state" is used herein to be inclusive not only of the terms "steam-driven," "water" and "steam," respectively, but also other fluids that could be used in a change state process that may be similar to a Rankine cycle-like process for producing electric power by utilizing a fluid-driven turbine as the prime mover for the electric generator.
Waste heat recovery apparatus can be used to replace some of the functions of a boiler in the above electric power generation system. However such apparatus may require a liquid input with absorbed latent heat that is greater than that normally provided in the system. Thus a source of heat is required to supply the additional latent heat to the liquid.
It is one object of the present invention to provide a fluid latent heat absorption electric induction heater for use in utility-size turbine-driven electric power generation systems without a fossil fuel boiler.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of raising the temperature of a fluid used in fluid-driven turbines for utility-size turbine-driven electric power generation systems with a fluid latent heat absorption electric induction heater.

Electric induction fluid heaters for fluids utilized in turbine-driven electric generator systems


Multiple independent displays from one graphics controller can be driven in a wide variety of modes using multiple display controllers. This invention incorporates a unique combination of enhancement building on a generic single multi-display graphics subsystem. Digital video is gaining vast popularity in the worldwide consumer, professional and commercial market. The applications of this invention cover all these market segments and include (but are not limited to) Digital Content Creation, Digital video playback, digital entertainment, DVD Authoring etc etc.

Video display controllers are known which are able to work with both RGB format video and YUV format video to combine two video surfaces from graphics memory to provide an overlay output. This is useful, for example, in the situation that a movie source in YUV format is obtained by decoding a video file from say a CD-ROM or DVD device, and written to a video surface in graphics memory. At the same time a computer environment desktop is stored in RGB format in another surface within graphics memory. These two surfaces can be combined to provide the YUV source within a window on the desktop. Because the video display controller handles the conversion, scaling and mixing of the two sources, the computer operating system or application program does not directly create the desired display, but rather instructs the display controller system to scale and combine the two sources as desired. The quality of display and efficiency of the computer system is thereby greatly enhanced. An example of such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,201 to Ranganathan.
In such displays controller systems, only one combined output of mixed format video is possible in which case the second output can only mirror what is being displayed by the first output. Furthermore, since only two surfaces (one RGB and one YUV) are being fetched one for each of only one RGB pixel path and only one YUV pixel path, the degree of flexibility is further limited, and it would be desirable to have greater control over surface selection, combination, scaling and output.

Video display system with two controllers each able to scale and blend RGB and YUV surfaces


A radiation image detector is provided. The radiation image detector is constituted by: a photoconductive layer that generates charges when electromagnetic waves are irradiated thereon; a common electrode to which a predetermined voltage is applied, provided on one side of the photoconductive layer; a plurality of divided electrodes that output signals corresponding to charges which are generated within the photoconductive layer, provided on the other side of the photoconductive layer; and protective layers that cover the edges of the divided electrodes, the edges being the side surfaces and portions of surfaces of the divided electrodes, which are continuous with the side surfaces, that face the photoconductive layer. The interfaces between the protective layers and the photoconductive layer are smooth surfaces across the entireties thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a radiation image detector that records radiation images, by generating electric charges when irradiated by radiation and accumulating the generated electric charges.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of radiation image detectors that generate electric charges when irradiated by radiation which has passed through subjects, temporarily accumulate the generated electric charges in charge accumulating sections, convert the accumulated electric charges into electrical signals, then output the electrical signals have been proposed, for use in the field of medicine and the like. Various types of radiation image detectors have been proposed. Classified based on the process which is employed to read out the accumulated electric charges, there are radiation image detectors of the optical readout type and radiation image detectors of the Thin Film Transistor type (hereinafter, referred to as "TFT type"). Radiation image detectors of the optical readout type read out the accumulated electric charges by irradiating readout light onto the detectors. Radiation image detectors of the TFT type read out the accumulated electric charges by turning electrical switches such as TFT's ON and OFF, pixel by pixel.
The aforementioned radiation image detectors are equipped with: a photoconductive layer that generates charges when radiation is irradiated thereon; a common electrode to which a predetermined voltage is applied, provided on the side of the photoconductive layer onto which the radiation is irradiated; and a plurality of divided electrodes provided on the side of the photoconductive layer opposite that of the common electrode. An electric field is formed within the photoconductive layer by applying high voltage between the common electrode and the divided electrodes. The electric charges, which are generated within the photoconductive layer due to irradiation of radiation which has passed through a subject, are caused to move to the divided electrodes by the electric field. Radiation is detected by reading out the electric charges which are collected at the divided electrodes as radiation detection signals.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-156555 discloses a radiation image detector of the TFT readout type. An insulative film, or an insulative material that includes carbon particles or metallic particles is provided to cover all pixel electrodes of this radiation image detector, in order to improve flatness and film properties.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-183670 discloses a radiation image detector of the optical readout type. Insulative films are provided at the edges of divided electrodes of this radiation image detector, in order to prevent dark current from being generated at the edges of the divided electrodes.
In the configuration disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-156555, the pixel electrodes are covered by the insulative film. However, the insulative film covers the flat electrode portions of the pixel electrodes, in addition to the edges thereof. Therefore, the charge transport properties are poor, resulting in reduced sensitivity and poor residual image characteristics.
In the configuration disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-183670, the edges of the divided electrodes are covered by the protective films. However, as illustrated in FIG. 7, simply providing the protective films results in cracking of a photoconductive layer 2 and deterioration of electrical properties (increase in dark current) at the angular portions that exist at the interface between the protective films 59 and the photoconductive layer 2. An advantageous effect that electric fields which are generated between a common electrode 1 and divided electrodes 5a and 5b are prevented from being concentrated at the edges of the divided electrodes 5a and 5b can be obtained, by providing the protective films 59 at the edges thereof. However, because the protective films 59 are of a uniform thickness, the electric fields which are formed at the divided electrodes 5a and 5b become nonuniform, for example, being greater toward positions Pb toward the edges of the divided electrodes 5a and 5b than at positions Pa at the centers thereof. Accordingly, there is a possibility that image quality will suffer.


An electrolytic capacitor according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a valve metal, a dielectric oxide film layer formed on a surface of the valve metal, a surface treatment agent layer formed on the dielectric oxide film layer, and an electrolyte layer formed on the surface treatment agent layer. The electrolyte layer includes a conductive polymer layer and an ionic liquid. For example, the conductive polymer layer is formed so that the conductive polymer layer is in contact with the surface treatment agent layer, and at least some of voids present in an interface between the conductive polymer layer and the surface treatment agent layer are filled with the ionic liquid.

The present disclosure relates to an electrolytic capacitor and a method for manufacturing an electrolytic capacitor. In particular, the present disclosure relates to an electrolytic capacitor containing an ionic liquid in an electrolyte layer and a method for manufacturing such an electrolytic capacitor.
In recent years, electrolytic capacitors have been widely used in various fields such as electronic devices. International Patent Publication No. WO 2005/012599 discloses a technique for forming an electrolytic capacitor by anodizing a surface of a metal or its alloy using a solution containing an ionic liquid and thereby forming an oxide film on the surface. In the technique disclosed in International Patent Publication No. WO 2005/012599, the oxide film is formed on the metal surface by anodizing the metal surface using the ionic liquid for the purpose of repairing the oxide film.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-181610 discloses a method for manufacturing a solid electrolytic capacitor, in which a dielectric film is formed on a surface of an anode body, and first and second conductive polymer layers are formed on the dielectric film.

Electrolytic capacitor and method for manufacturing electrolytic capacitor


Method and apparatus for retaining a tapered flitch having a veneer-producing zone on a flitch table for rotating or translational movement past a veneer-slicing knife comprises stationary dog means coupled to a flitch-carrying body for engaging the flitch and means for engaging the flitch with the stationary dog means to hold the flitch on the flitch-carrying body. The flitch-carrying body may be part of a modular flitch table assembly. In the invention, the flitch is held on the flitch table with the veneer-producing zone in a parallel relation with the veneer-slicing knife so as to minimize the amount of waste veneer taken from the veneer-producing zone.

Reciprocating flitch tables for use with veneer slicers are known. Such flitch tables hold a flitch and move relative to a slicing knife. As the flitch passes the knife, the knife slices a sheet of veneer from the flitch.
Conventional flitch tables use a plurality of dogs to hold the flitch in position against a mounting surface of the flitch table. The dogs are clamping members that extend from the mounting surface of the flitch table and are positioned on either side of the flitch along the flitch table. Typically, the dogs include a sharp-edged portion oriented parallel to the mounting surface of the flitch table to cut into the flitch and hold it in place against the flitch table. The dogs are moved toward each other to pinch the flitch therebetween.
An alternative dogging arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,746 to Weil. Weil discloses a plurality of oval-shaped rotating dogs that include a sharp-edged portion at the ends of the major axis of the oval. The dogs are arranged in parallel rows along the mounting surface of the flitch table. A plurality of axially extending grooves are cut into the mounting surface of the flitch. The grooves are cut to align with the rows of dogs and are sized to allow the dogs to fit up into the grooves when the major axis of the oval is aligned with the groove. When the flitch is mounted on the flitch table, the oval-shaped dogs extend upwardly into the grooves and are rotated to engage the sharp-edged portion of the dogs with the flitch.
Regardless of whether clamping dogs or rotating dogs are used, conventional flitch mounting techniques require that the flitch mounting surface be positioned adjacent the flitch table mounting surface. Unfortunately, these conventional mounting techniques cause some veneer on a log to be wasted. In particular, conventional dogs extend about ⅝ inch from the mounting surface of the flitch table. In order to avoid contact between the slicing knife and the dogs, the slicer must stop slicing as the knife approaches the dogs, thereby leaving a considerable amount of veneer as waste on the backing board. Also, the grooves cut in the flitch to receive the dogs remove enough wood from the flitch so as to provide a weakened area that allows the flitch to flex under pressure from the knife. The flexing of the flitch produces shim sheets that are unusable and hence waste.
When a flitch is to be sliced on a reciprocating slicer, it is typically squared off to remove most, if not all, of the natural taper of the log. The flitch is then cut down the middle along its longitudinal axis so that the plane formed by the cut defines a flitch mounting surface. Typically, the flitch is mounted with the flitch mounting surface positioned adjacent the flitch table and held in place by conventional dogs. Of course, as the veneer is sliced from the flitch, the thickness of the flitch is reduced until the dogs approach the plane of travel of the knife. In addition, the grooves cut in the flitch mounting surface result in shim sheets, thereby placing another limit on how much veneer can be removed from the flitch. Thus, there is a limit to how much veneer can be removed from a flitch in order to avoid contact between the knife and the dogs and/or to avoid shim sheets. In conventional flitch tables, the remaining flitch, or backing board, is typically on the order of 1 to 1½ inches thick. If the remaining thickness of the backing board can be reduced, a veneer producer can achieve greater productivity from the same flitch.
When a flitch is to be sliced on a rotary veneer slicer, it is typically cut in half along the longitudinal axis of the flitch and the naturally occurring taper is retained. The plane of the cut forms the flitch mounting surface which is positioned against the mounting surface of a rotary staylog. Because the tree trunk is naturally tapered, one end of the flitch is thicker than the other end, and consequently extends a greater distance from the mounting surface of the staylog. As a result, the veneer-producing zone of the flitch is frusto-conical, i.e., trapezoidal in cross-section when viewed from the side of the flitch or from the knife. As the staylog and the flitch are rotated in a rotary veneer slicer, the knife first encounters the thickest portion of the flitch. With each rotation, the knife slices a wider veneer sheet until the entire length of the flitch is exposed to the knife. Once the entire length of the flitch is being sliced, subsequent sheets are of substantially uniform width. However, the initial sheets, which are cut from the best part of the log, are too narrow to be useful, and are thrown away as wasted product. Consequently, some of the best veneer on a flitch is thrown away as waste. In addition, with the prior art methods of retention, the grooves formed along the length of the flitch remove sufficient material from the flitch that the flitch loses its rigidity and flexes in response to the pressure of the slicing knife resulting in, at best, nonuniform and unacceptable slices of veneer.
A tapered flitch can also be sliced on a reciprocating flitch table, but the same problem exists. That is, the taper of the flitch will prevent the first sheets sliced from the flitch from being used, even though the first sheets come from the best portion of the flitch. Moreover, the grooves cut in the flitch to receive the dogs result in a weakened area that allows the flitch to flex under pressure of the knife. Regardless of whether the flitch is sliced on a rotary or reciprocating slicer, the flitch would preferably be sliced so as to maximize the amount of veneer, and minimize waste, taken from the desirable veneer-producing zone of the flitch.

Method and apparatus for retaining a flitch for cutting


Valve assemblies for the color change valve arrangement of a coating plant, for example for the production coating of vehicle bodies, wherein various measures are proposed to miniaturize the needle valves forming the valve body of the color changer based on the principle of optimizing the drive device acting on the valve needles to open the valve against the force of a pressure spring.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates, in general, to a color change valve arrangement for selectively connecting an applicator of a coating plant to a plurality of supply lines for coating material of different selected colors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Valve arrangements for selectively connecting an applicator of a coating plant to a plurality of supply lines for coating material of different selected colors, which are needed in coating plants for the production coating of work pieces such as vehicle bodies, are known from DE 198 36 604 and DE 198 46 073 and others. These color change valve arrangements, or color changers for short, make it possible to switch quickly from one color to another during painting operations in paint plants and consist mainly of a plurality of controllable paint valve assemblies that are distributed along a paint passage common to all of them. To adapt to the particular plant and the number of selectable colors, they are formed in modular fashion from individual modules (connector blocks, manifold blocks, control heads) that can be stacked in rows so that a variable number of connections for paint lines, which can subsequently be enlarged or reduced, can be implemented. In addition to the paint valves there are usually additional, similarly-constructed valves for purging media such as solvent and pulse air. The valve assemblies consist for their part of pin or needle valves, whose valve needles are pressed into the closed position by a pressure spring and are opened against its force by a pneumatically-activated piston drive. The valve needles of the valve assemblies disposed next to each other along the normally straight central passage are moved in parallel planes which lie perpendicular to the axis of the central passage to improve flow characteristics but can also be disposed at an angle (DE 198 46 073, WO 02/09886). To save space, color changers are also known which in place of the customary straight central passage contain a spiral groove at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the color change block (DE 43 39 301). This, however, less conducive to flow than a straight central passage.
From EP 1 205 256 it is further known to have permanent pilot control of the paint and purging agent valves, using a pressurized air line common to all valve assemblies, and to actuate them by added electronically controlled solenoid valves. This dispenses with the required control air lines found in the normally pneumatically-controlled color changers.
In principle, color changers of the category under consideration here are distinguished by considerable advantages such as freedom from dead space, good purge capability, little dead volume, small size, low weight, modular construction, small number of different parts, ease of installation, maintenance and repair, etc. They have consequently proved their worth in practice for a long time. The disadvantage with the known color changers is their length in the longitudinal direction of the common central passage to match the number of selectable colors. As a result, the known color changers are relatively poorly suited to installation in confined areas of coating equipment, as for example painting robots, and even less suited to installation in the atomizer itself mounted on these machines, which may be desirable for the reasons explained in the co-pending application filed concurrently herewith in the name of Stefano Giuliano, which is entitled Spraying Device for Serial Spraying of Work Pieces.
An object of the invention is, therefore, to reduce the length of the color changer in the longitudinal direction of the central passage common to the valve assemblies and in particular to reduce the size of the valve assemblies perpendicular to the needle axes to a minimum without thereby prejudicing the required sealing effect of the valve needle pressed against the valve seat.

Color shuttle valve arrangement of a coating plant


A catalyst support member for a lighter and the like comprises a base made of heat-resistant material such as a nickel-chrome alloy wire or the like, and a mixed powder comprising a catalyst carrier and a strength maintaining material. The mixed powder is fusion bonded to the base with a vitreous powdered fusion bonding material. The catalyst carrier is essentially composed of metal oxide powder such as aluminum oxide powder, titanium oxide powder or the like. The strength maintaining material is essentially composed of a metal oxide powder, such as aluminum oxide powder, titanium oxide powder or the like, and has a diameter smaller than that of the catalyst carrier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a catalyst support member for a lighter for lighting up a cigarette or the like and for a torch burner used for heating processing, for re-lighting in combustion equipment, and for other purposes.
Such a lighter or torch burner as described above has been widely used. Many of such cigarette lighters in particular have been of flame combustion type wherein a liquefied gas is vaporized and released into the atmosphere through a nozzle and is burnt when secondary air is mixed, thereby forming a flame like a candle. In some cases, the flame is blown off by wind and goes off when the lighter is used outdoors. To overcome this problem, a catalyst lighter have been proposed in which a burner method allowing primary air to be mixed is employed and a catalyst component such as platinum or the like is disposed on a top end of a combustion cylinder. In the catalyst lighter of this kind, primary air is mixed with gas, inducing internal combustion within a combustion cylinder, and one part of the mixture of primary air and gas undergoes catalytic combustion and the other part is allowed to be mixed with secondary air insides and outside of the combustion cylinder, thus forming a flame to complete a burner combustion. Even if this flame coming from the burner combustion is blown off by wind, a heated catalyst component causes re-lighting due to the previous combustion, thus making a wind-resistant lighter which will not be blown off by wind and will not go out.
Thus, the present invention relates to a catalyst support member which can be substitute for conventional platinum wire and which is cost-competitive and has a high mechanical strength to suitably support a catalyst component to be used for a lighter or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60(1985)-101419 discloses a conventional catalyst lighter wherein a catalyst member has been disposed in the vicinity of a fire outlet to allow re-lighting automatically, when a flame is blown off, without a need of an additional procedure of re-lighting, with the use of a catalyst whose temperature has been risen up to at least an ignition temperature.
It is so constructed that a coiled shape platinum wire whose temperature has risen is allowed to come into contact with fuel gas even after a flame has been blown off in order to be re-lighted.
However, such a lighter or torch burner using a platinum wire as a catalyst is high-priced because platinum itself is expensive and the catalyst alone constitutes much of manufacturing cost, increasing the total cost of the lighter. Therefore, a cost-competitive catalyst member instead of a platinum wire is required for manufacturing of such catalyst lighters and catalyst torch burners.


A signal transmission bus comprising a plurality of optical transmission layers and optical isolation layers stacked alternately. Each of the optical transmission layers has signal light input thereinto and propagating the input signal light diffusedly. Each of the optical isolation layers prevents the mixing of the signal light between any two adjacent optical transmission layers. At least one of the optical isolation layers comprises electrical wiring for transmitting electrical signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal transmission bus for transmitting signals between a plurality of circuit boards and a signal processing apparatus utilizing that signal transmission bus.
2. Description of the Related Art
New developments in the art of very-large-scale integration (VLSI) have significantly enhanced the functions of daughter boards used by data processing systems. The growing capabilities of circuits requires connecting an increasing number of signals to each of configured circuit boards. The trend has entailed the adoption of a parallel architecture wherein the data bus board (i.e., mother board) for interconnecting circuit boards through a parallel bus structure comprises a large number of connectors and connecting lines. The operating speed of the parallel bus structure is boosted conventionally by installing connecting lines in a plurality of layers and by miniaturizing the wiring layer setup. In such an architecture, the line capacity of connection wiring and wiring resistance produce signal delays that determine the operating speed of the parallel bus structure. In turn, the operating speed of the parallel bus structure may constrain the processing speed of the system. Another major constraint on the efforts to increase the processing speed of the system is the problem of electromagnetic interference (EMI) stemming from the large-scale integration of the parallel bus connection wiring.
In an attempt to solve the above problems and to enhance the operating speed of the parallel bus structure, researchers have examined the use of an intra-system optical connection technique called the optical interconnection. Various applications of the optical interconnection technique varying with the system configuration have been disclosed. Some of these application are discussed illustratively by Sadaji Uchida in the paper presented to the Lecture Meeting on Circuit Implementation, 15C01, pp. 201-202, and by H. Tomimuro et al., in "Packaging Technology for Optical Interconnects," IEEE Tokyo Section, Denshi Tokyo No. 33, pp. 81-86, 1994.
One of the simplest applications is depicted illustratively by Christopher et al., in "Optical Interconnection Foundations and Applications," Artech House Inc., Boston, London, 1994. Chapter 6 of this publication describes a typical setup wherein circuit boards are interconnected by a single optical fiber cable and the interface between the boards is composed of light-emitting and light-receiving elements as well as parallel-serial conversion circuits. In this setup, the electronic circuits on the circuit boards are connected by a 32-bit parallel electrical bus structure. With the clock time assumed to be about 50 MHz, the parallel-serial conversion circuits between the parallel electric bus and the serial optical bus are required to operate approximately at 2.7 GHz.
Where parallel electrical signals are converted to serial optical signals in order to interconnect the circuit boards by the optical fiber cable, as in the above example, the data transmission rate of the bus is determined by the operating speed of the parallel-serial conversion circuits. If the bit count of the electronic circuitry is increased to 64 or to 128, it is difficult to enhance the data transmission rate correspondingly. To improve the operating speed of the parallel-serial conversion circuits for higher data transmission rates requires installing expensive electronic circuits. Furthermore, boosting the operating speed requires the parallel-serial conversion circuits to consume drastically large amounts of power.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. Hei 2-41042 discloses an example in which an optical transmission system using high-speed, high-sensitivity light-emitting/receiving devices is applied to the data bus. The proposed application involves a parallel optical data bus structure for loop transmission between contiguous circuit boards incorporated in a system frame, each circuit board carrying light-emitting and light-receiving devices on both sides, the devices being optically connected across the space.
In the system cited above, signal light sent from one circuit board is converted by the adjacent circuit board first from optical to electrical format and then from electrical to optical format before the signal light is forwarded to the next adjacent circuit board. That is, the optical-to-electrical and electrical-to-optical conversions are repeated by each of the circuit boards included in the system frame, until the signal is transmitted through all the circuit boards configured. This means that the signal transmission speed depends on and is restricted by the optical-to-electrical and electrical-to-optical conversion speeds of the light-receiving and light-transmitting devices mounted on all circuit boards. Because data is transmitted from one circuit board to another via optical connections across the free space between the light-receiving and light-emitting devices, it is required that the light-receiving and light-emitting devices mounted on both sides of each of the contiguous circuit boards be optically aligned and that all circuit boards be optically connected.
Because the circuit boards are optically connected across the free space, faulty transmission of data therebetween may result from cross talk between contiguous optical data transmission routes. Defective data transmission may also occur when the signal light is diffused by ambient factors such as dust inside the system frame. Furthermore, since the circuit boards are serially connected, dismounting any one of the boards disrupts the integral flow of data; an extra circuit board must fill the vacated board position. In other words, the number of the circuit boards configured is fixed, and none of the boards can be freely detached.
Another application of the optical interconnection is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 61-196210 regarding techniques for optical data transmission between circuit boards across the free space. What is disclosed is a system of optically connecting circuit boards via optical transmission routes across the free space, the system involving plates each having two parallel surfaces and located opposite to a light source, the plate surfaces bearing diffraction grating and reflector elements. With this system, a light beam generated from a single point is transmitted to another point that is fixed. This system is incapable of interconnecting all circuit boards in the same manner as the electrical bus structure. The use of the free space necessitates complicated optics with its optical elements difficult to align. Misalignment of optical elements can produce cross talk between contiguous optical data transmission routes, resulting in faulty data transmission. The information about the connection between the circuit boards is determined by the diffraction grating and reflector elements mounted on the plate surfaces. This makes it impossible to detach or attach circuit boards as needed, which reduces the degree of flexibility where the system configuration is desired to be altered.

Signal transmission bus and signal processing apparatus


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a leadless surface mount assembly package, an electronic device, and a method for forming a surface mount assembly package, which package comprising: a first lead; a second lead; a chip fixed on an upper surface of the first lead; a clip coupled to the second lead, a lower surface of the clip being fixed to an upper surface of the chip. The surface mount assembly package further comprises a molding compound for molding the first lead, the second lead, the chip, and the clip, wherein ends of the first lead and the second lead are only exposed from the molding compound, without outward extending from the molding compound. By using the embodiments of the present disclosure, costs can be saved and processing flow can be simplified, and a new-model leadless surface mount assembly package is obtained.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of electronic devices, and more specifically, to a surface mount assembly and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The surface mount technology (SMT) is the most prevalent technology and process in the current electronic packaging industry. Without bothering to drill plug-in holes on a circuit board, a surface mount element is directly attached or soldered by SMT to a prescribed position on the surface of the circuit board. The SMT has advantages such as high density, compact size for an electronic product, and light weight. The volume and weight of a surface mount device is only 1/10 of a traditional plug-in mounting element. Generally, with the SMT, the volume of an electronic product is reduced by 40%˜60%, while the weight may reduce by 60%˜80%. Besides, SMT further has advantages such as high reliability, strong anti-shock capability, low soldering point defect rate, and good high-frequency features; besides, it can also reduce electromagnetic and radio frequency interferences, be easily automated, promote productivity, reduce costs as high as 30%˜50%, saves materials, energy, facilities, manpower, and time, etc.
Despite the above, the surface mount technology still has room to improve, e.g., further reducing costs, simplifying production process, and the like.

Leadless surface mount assembly package and method of manufacturing the same

STMicroelectronics (Shenzhen) R&D Co., Ltd.


According to one embodiment, a semiconductor integrated circuit 1 includes a sample and hold circuit and a clock generation circuit. The sample and hold circuit has a device with a first withstand voltage and a device with a second withstand voltage that is higher than the first withstand voltage. The clock generation circuit generates a first clock signal to be supplied to the first withstand voltage device and generates a second clock signal to be supplied to the second withstand voltage device based on the first clock signal. The clock generation circuit has a delay adjustment circuit that performs adjustment to delay the second clock signal and bring a phase of the second clock signal close to a phase of the first clock signal in the generation of the second clock signal.

Conventionally, in an A/D converter, an input signal is sampled by a sample and hold circuit and held for a certain period to convert the input signal into a discrete signal. This sample and hold circuit is generally composed of a device having an electric withstand voltage equivalent to an input range of an input signal in order to satisfy an electric withstand voltage.
If a clock timing in the sample and hold circuit is inappropriate, operation accuracy of the sample and hold circuit may be reduced. For this reason, improvement in accuracy is required for the sample and hold circuit.

Semiconductor integrated circuit, A/D converter, delta sigma-type A/D converter, incremental delta sigma-type A/D converter, and switched capacitor

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation


A roll stub is rotatable relative to a stationary support and has a rotatable support fixed to the roll stub, an annular and radially directed seal surface fixed on one of the supports, and a seal ring on the other of the supports having a lip engageable with the seal surface. A support element that is substantially less stiff than the seal ring is provided between the other support and the seal ring for biasing the lip against the seal surface while permitting of the seal ring relative to the other support. A clamp body rotationally fixed to the other support directly engages the seal ring and presses the seal ring directly against an abutment. Interengaging tooth formations on the clamp body and on the seal ring arrest the seal ring on the other support against angular movement thereon while permitting relative radial movement.

Such seal assemblies have long been used in oil-film bearings. As a rule expensive seal elements are used which on the one hand prevent oil from getting from the oil-film bearing to the roll body and on the other hand prevent particle-carrying coolant and lubricant from getting from the roll body into the oil-film bearing.
As a result of the various loads encountered during rolling, the roll stub can get radially offset in its mount. In unloaded nonworking rolls the seal space between the roll-stub sleeve and the bearing sleeve is less in a lower region, whereas the gap is greater in the opposite upper region. If the roll is working and pressure is being exerted from the mount through the bearing to the roll, the bearing gap between the roll-stub sleeve and the bearing sleeve is greater in the lower region whereas in the opposite upper region it decreases. This radial offset created by different loads must be compensated out by the seal elements.
As a result when the roll is not under load the seal lips in the lower region of the seal element are pushed together, while the seal lips in the upper region barely touch the seal surface. When the roll is working the seal lips are on the contrary pushed together a great deal in the upper region of the seal element and in the lower region barely touch the seal surface.
This radial play therefore creates a considerable load and as a result wear of the seal on the one hand from being squeezed together and on the other hand from the constant load change and furthermore the danger that the sealing effectiveness is not optimal with respect to the seal surface engaged by the seal lips.

Sealing device for roll bearings with compensation for rad


In order to accurately learn a function for evaluating documents, even in the case where sample documents having missing feature values are included as training data, a document evaluation apparatus is provided with a data classification unit (3) that classifies a set of sample documents based on missing patterns of a first feature vector, a first learning unit (4) that uses feature values that are not missing in the first feature vector and evaluation values to learn a first function for calculating a first score which is a weighted evaluation value for each classification, a feature vector generation unit (5) that computes a feature value corresponding to each classification using the first score, and generates a second feature vector having the computed feature values, and a second learning unit (6) that uses the second feature vector and the evaluation values to learn a second function for calculating a second score for evaluating documents targeted for evaluation.

In a retrieval system, the ranking of search result documents is important, in order to quickly find a target document. A ranking technique that is generally known involves documents that have been favorably evaluated by a large number of evaluators being ranked higher.
Incidentally, with the abovementioned ranking technique, there is a problem in that documents that have hardly been evaluated or have yet to be evaluated, such as documents that have only recently been created, will be unfairly ranked lower (or higher). In view of this, a technique is known in which the evaluation value of documents is estimated from feature values such as the author of documents or the creation date/time of documents, through learning using a log of user evaluations of documents, and these evaluation values are used in ranking.
However, these feature values may be missing due to factors such as recording omissions. When feature values are missing in this way, learning is not possible with a normal learning algorithm. In response to such problems, Patent Document 1 describes an example of a learning system that handles training data in which feature values are missing.
As shown in FIG. 14, a learning system 10 described in this Patent Document 1 is constituted by a missing value supplementing unit 11 and a prediction model learning unit 12, and operates as follows. First, the missing value supplementing unit 11 receives input of training data containing both sample documents in which feature values are missing and sample documents in which feature values are not missing. Then, the missing value supplementing unit 11 learns a function for estimating missing feature values from other feature values, using the sample documents in which feature values are not missing as inputs.
Next, the missing feature values are supplemented using the estimated function, and a set of sample documents in which missing values have been supplemented is output to the prediction model learning unit 12. The prediction model learning unit 12 then learns a function for estimating a target variable based on feature values, using training data containing the sample documents in which missing values have been supplemented. As mentioned above, in the learning system 10 described in the abovementioned Patent Document 1, if sample documents in which feature values are missing are included in training data, a function for estimating the target variable is learned after supplementing the missing feature values.

Document evaluation apparatus, document evaluation method, and computer-readable recording medium using missing patterns


A method and an apparatus for determining the resiliency of a road surface include a vehicle (1) that is caused to move along the road surface (3) and that exerts a load on said surface with one wheel (2). A ball of plastic material (16) is shot onto the road surface (3) so as to adhere thereto in the movement path of two measuring arrangements (8, 9; 18, 19) which are separated in the direction of movement of the vehicle (1) and by means of which the vertical distance is measured between the upper side of the ball (16) adhering to the road surface (3) and a vehicle-carried reference in two positions along the vehicle. The distance between the reference and the measuring body can be established in several positions along the vehicle (1), for determining the deflection curve of the road surface.

The invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for determining the load bearing capacity of a road surface, in accordance with the preamble of the independent method claim and the independent apparatus claim respectively.
Thus, it is well known to determine the bearing capacity of a road surface by measuring its elastic resiliency, for instance by driving a vehicle along the road and loading the road surface with a specific force via a small loading area that moves with the vehicle, for instance via a vehicle rear wheel, wherewith at least two measurements are taken at each chosen measuring position on the road surface, said measurements being taken at different distances in the direction of vehicle movement. For instance, one measurement can be taken when the measuring area is located closely adjacent to the loading area, and when the measuring area is located relatively far from the loading area and the road surface is still unaffected by the load or has sprung back resiliently when the load is removed from said area. The measuring operation involves detecting the vertical distance between the measuring location and a vehicle mounted reference. The measurement is carried out suitably with the aid of some contactless process. The bearing capacity of the road surface can be determined, by measuring the elastic deformation of said surface in the area around the loading area.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,781,058, 4,571,695, 4,456,829, DE-A1-36 43 470 and WO 96/31655 are prior publications that teach the present state of techniques.
One problem with present technology is that the road surface is relatively uneven and that it is difficult to carry out the second measuring process at the same place on the road surface as that on which the first measurement was taken. It is, of course, possible to try to read the surface pattern of the road surface at the measuring location in conjunction with the first measuring process, and to try to identify this pattern in conjunction with the second measuring process and to carry out said second measuring process at the correct location. The difficulty here, however, is that the smoother the road surface, the more difficult it is to recognise the pattern.
The choice of a relatively wide measuring area carries with it a serious risk of losing valuable information. On the other hand, if it is elected to carry out the first measuring process in a very small measuring area, there is a serious danger that the process will result in erroneous measurements unless the second measuring process is carried out at precisely the same position as the first measuring process, due to the fact that the road surface will often have irregularities in the order of a millimetre whereas the elastic depression of the road surface often lies in the order of up to some millimetres.
The object of the present invention is to provide a solution to this problem. The aim of the invention is thus to provide a technique that will enable the measuring position to be re-found easily in conjunction with the second measuring process, and to provide a smooth measuring surface in said measuring location so as to avoid the drawback associated with irregularities in or the unevenness"" of the road surface.
This object is achieved by means of the invention as defined in the accompanying independent method claim.
The object is also achieved by means of the apparatus defined in the accompanying independent apparatus claim.
Other embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying dependent claims.
Basically, the invention entails placing a measuring body out on the road surface. Both the first and the second measuring processes are carried out on this measuring body. The measuring body is chosen so that it can be easily detected, so that both measuring processes can be carried out at one and the same location. The measuring body is also conveniently designed to provide an essentially smooth measuring surface.
In one embodiment of the invention, there is formed a ball of relatively soft asphalt which is projected from the vehicle onto the road surface such that the ball sticks firmly to said surface while being flattened to some extent by its impact therewith. The ball is preferably projected so that it strikes the road surface at a position that is swept by two vehicle-mounted distance detectors or sensors. Naturally, the ball may alternatively be thrown to land on the road surface at a predetermined distance from the nearest measuring apparatus, so that the time distance between projection of the ball and the time at which the ball lands on the measuring area of the measuring apparatus can be determined on the basis of the current speed of the vehicle and on other factors.
The time point at which the measuring area of the second measuring apparatus covers the measuring body can also be calculated in a corresponding manner, on the basis of knowledge of the distance between the measuring areas of the measuring apparatus over the road surface and the vehicle speed. This enables the measuring processes to be limited solely to those times at which the measuring body can be expected to be located in the measuring area of the measuring apparatus.
The physical construction of the measuring apparatus is of subordinate interest, and measuring apparatus that can be used in this respect are described in the aforesaid prior publications.

Method and an apparatus for measuring the load-bearing capacity of a road surface


A heat accumulation segment for local separation of a flow duct inside a turbo engine, from a stator housing that radially surrounds the flow duct is provided. The heat accumulation segment includes two axially opposed joining contoured elements that are engagable with two components that are axially adjacent along the flow duct. A first one of the two joining contoured elements has a radially oriented recess with a contoured surface against which a securing pin having an external contour complementary to the contoured surface acts radially under force action from a component that adjoins the first joining contoured element. The first joining contoured element has a collar portion having radially upper and lower collar surfaces, and the collar portion is connected within a counter-contoured receiving contoured element in the axially adjacent component by a joining force that acts between the securing pin and the conical contoured surface.

Heat accumulation segments of the type indicated above are parts of axial-flow turbo engines, through which there are flow working media, which are gaseous for the purpose of compression or controlled expansion, and which as a result of their high process temperatures put those system components that are directly acted upon by the hot working media under considerable thermal load. In particular in the turbine stages of gas turbine systems, the rotor blades and guide blades, which are arranged axially one behind the other in rows of rotor blades and guide blades, are directly acted upon by the combustion gases produced in the combustion chamber. To prevent the hot gases that flow through the flow duct from also reaching regions inside the turbo engine that are remotely located from the flow duct, so-called heat accumulation segments that are provided on the stator side, in each case between two rows of guide blades arranged axially adjacent to one another, ensure that there is a bridge-like seal, which is as gas-tight as possible, between the two axially adjacent rows of guide blades.
Heat accumulation segments of corresponding construction may also be provided along the rotor unit. These segments are to be mounted on the rotor side, in each case between two axially adjacent rows of rotor blades, in order to protect regions inside the rotor from excessive heat input.
Although the statements below refer exclusively to heat accumulation segments arranged between two rows of guide blades, and to this extent make it possible to separate the housing on the stator side and the components associated therewith from the flow duct, which is subject to heat load, and to protect them accordingly, it is also conceivable to provide the measures below in a heat accumulation segment that serves to protect entrained rotor components and that is intended for mounting between two rows of rotor blades arranged axially adjacent to one another.
An arrangement of guide blades that is known per se and has an integrated heat accumulation segment can be seen from the partial longitudinal sectional illustration of FIG. 2. FIG. 2 shows a partial longitudinal section through a gas turbine stage in which a flow duct K′ is delimited radially internally by a rotor unit 101 and radially externally by a stator unit 102. Rotor blades 103 project radially, in a manner rotationally fixed to the rotor unit 101, into the flow duct K′, through which moreover hot gases flow axially in a flow direction oriented as indicated by the arrow.
The flow duct K′ is delimited radially externally by guide blades 104 that are mounted on the stator side and whereof the guide blade vanes 141 project radially inward into the flow duct K′. In order to separate the flow duct K′ in gas-tight manner from the components mounted on the stator side, the guide blades 104 have a platform 142 which, in the form of a one-part component, covers the axial region directly around the guide blade vane 141 and, in the form of a balcony-like overhang 142′, covers the region that bridges two rows of guide blades and radially opposes each of the guide blade tips.
Because the guide blades 104 are arranged in the peripheral direction of the gas turbine, in respective rows of guide blades, the guide blades 104 within a guide blade row that are in each case arranged directly adjacent in the peripheral direction have to be connected to one another in gas-tight manner along their axial side edges 105. To achieve the gas-tight sealing, a tape seal 106 runs over the entire extent of the side edge 105 and opens on either side into corresponding grooves along the side edges of two adjacent guide blades. The tape seal 106 ensures in particular that no cooling air that is supplied to the platform 142 on the stator side can escape into the flow duct K′, and therefore corresponding cooling ducts inside the guide blade are available for the effective cooling of all the guide blade regions exposed to the hot gases.
However, everyday operation of gas turbine systems shows that all the components of the gas turbine stage are exposed not only to heat loads but also to mechanical vibrations, as a result of which for example the guide blades 104 are also subjected to tiny radial and axial movements and jolting, and a not inconsiderable result of this is that the tape seals mounted between the guide blades are also weakened. Thus, in the course of mechanical vibrational loads inside the tape seals, cracks and fractures are produced, as a result of which the seals start to become very crumbly. In the event of seal damage of this kind, considerable losses may occur due to leakage between the individual guide blade segments, such that the cooling of the individual guide blades that is required for safe operation cannot be sufficiently guaranteed.
To meet this need, maintenance and inspection work has to be carried out regularly on the guide blades and on the sealants provided in this region. However, this work requires complete rows of guide blades to be dismantled in order ultimately to replace tape seals that are provided between two adjacent guide blades in a guide blade row.
It can be seen, from the joining connection between a guide blade 104 and a stator-side support structure 107 supporting the latter, which can be seen from the longitudinal sectional illustration in FIG. 2, that the guide blade 104 is joined by way of in each case two collar-shaped joining contoured elements 108, 109 that are in engagement with corresponding recesses 110, 111 inside the support structure 107. The individual guide blades 104 can be inserted into the groove-shaped recesses 110, 111 and removed therefrom in the peripheral direction for the purpose of assembly and dismantling. However, if only a single guide blade within a guide blade row is to be inserted into or removed from the arrangement of guide blades, then it is usually necessary for the complete guide blade row or at least segments of the guide blade row to be dismantled.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An organized mobile multicomponent conjugate (OMMC) and method of using to enhance binding of weakly binding compounds to a target. A lamellar structure containing at least two binding compounds is assembled under conditions in which the binding compounds self-regulate in or on the lamellar structure, forming a cooperative ensemble that is capable of binding with enhanced affinity to a complementary affinity site on a target. Each binding compound is bound to the lamellar surface, and may be connected by a linker. The OMMC may contain an effector molecule, such as a diagnostic or therapeutic agent, for administration to a patent who is then diagnosed or treated using the effector molecule.

Non-covalent intermolecular forces (e.g., electrostatic, hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interactions) play a vital role in many biological processes. Examples of such processes include enzyme catalysis, drug-receptor interaction, antigen-antibody interaction, biotin-avidin interaction, DNA double helix formation, phagocytosis, pigmentation in plants and animals, and cellular transport.
Targeted delivery of medically useful molecules is well known and has been successfully applied in diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In conventional bioconjugate chemistry, almost all of the conjugates are prepared by covalent attachment of various effector molecules, such as drugs, dyes, hormones, magnetic resonance imaging agents, echogenic agents, radiopharmaceuticals, or chemotherapeutic agents, to bioactive carriers, such as antibodies, peptides and peptidomimetics, carbohydrates, or small molecule receptor agonists and antagonists. For example, in diagnostic medicine, various radionuclide and radionuclide chelates covalently attached to antibodies, hormones, peptides, peptidomimetics, and the like have been used to detect lesions such as tumors, inflammation, ischemia, and thrombi (Tenenbaum et al., Radiolabeled somatostatin analog scintigraphy in differentiated thyroid carcinoma, J. Nucl. Med., 1995, 36, 807-810; Haldemann et al., Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy in central nervous system tumors: Role of blood-brain barrier permeability. J. Nucl. Med., 1995, 36, 403-410; Babich et al., Technetium-99m-labeled chemotactic peptides: Comparison with indium-111-labeled white blood cells for localizing acute bacterial infection in the rabbit. J. Nucl. Med., 1993, 34, 2176-2181; Knight et al., Thrombus imaging with technetium-99m-labeled synthetic peptides based upon the binding domain of a monoclonal antibody to activated platelets. J. Nucl. Med., 1994, 35, 282-288). Thus, the target site may be cells such as tumor cells, platelets, erythrocytes, leukocytes, macrophages, vascular endothelial cells, myocardial cells, hepatocytes, etc., or the extracellular matrix surrounding these cells.
In addition to the direct administration of biologically active compounds into the body, molecules such as these have also been encapsulated within organized amphiphilic aggregates such as a liposome, vesicle, or other multilamellar structures. The aggregates are then delivered to the particular organs or tissues of interest (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,985,852; 5,785,969; and 5,542,935).
A requirement for targeted delivery is a strong interaction between the binding compound or targeting moiety (e.g., ligand) and the target or site of attachment (e.g., receptor) in the formation of a complex (e.g., ligand receptor complex). The dissociation constant (Kd) value of the complex should typically be in the nanomolar range. Compounds exhibiting Kd values from about 100 nM and upward are considered weak binding compounds and are not generally considered to be useful for targeted imaging and therapeutic applications. However, there are many in vivo biological processes that do operate using multiple weak-binding interactions. These include, for example, enzyme-substrate complexes and cell adhesion molecules, which operate in the micromolar binding range. Cell adhesion molecules such as E, P, and L selectins are important biological modulators implicated in inflammatory and thrombolytic processes. (McEver, Selectin-carbohydrate interactions during inflammation and metastasis, Glycoconj. J., 1997, 14(5), 585-91; McEver et al., Leukocyte trafficking mediated by selectin-carbohydrate interactions, J. Biol. Chem., 1995, 270(19), 11025-8; Bischoff, Cell adhesion and angiogenesis. J. Clin. Invest., 1997, 100 (11 Suppl), S37-39; Lesley et al., CD44 in inflammation and metastasis, Glycoconj. J., 1997, 14(5), 611-22; Siegelman et al., Activation and interaction of CD44 and hyaluronin in immunological systems. J. Leukoc. Biol., 1999, 66(2), 315-21).
Previous work in this area involved the use of only high-binding ligands (Torchilin et al., Preservation of antimyosin antibody activity after covalent coupling to liposomes, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 1979, 89(4), 1114-9; Allen et al., A new strategy for attachment of antibodies to sterically stabilized liposomes resulting in efficient targeting to cancer cells. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1995, 1237, 99-108; Zalipsky et al., Peptide attachment to extremities of liposomal surface grafted PEG chains: preparation of the long-circulating form of laminin pentapeptide, YIGSR. Bioconjug. Chem., 1995, 6(6), 705-8). Although increased binding was observed in this system, a cooperative effect was not needed because the ligand was already endowed with sufficient affinity for targeting purposes. In contrast, weakly binding ligands presented a formidable challenge.
There is considerable effort to improve the binding affinity of relatively weakly binding selectins and selectin mimics, and to attach them covalently to effector molecules for imaging and therapeutic purposes (Fukuda et al., Peptide mimic of E-selectin ligand inhibits sialyl Lewis X-dependent lung colonization of tumor cells, Cancer Research, 2000, 60, 450-456). However, such efforts usually involve synthesizing and screening large numbers of new chemical entities to discover the ones that exhibit substantially improved binding properties. Furthermore, simple conjugation of effector moieties to an already weakly binding carrier is expected to result in a bioconjugate whose bioactivity is either greatly diminished or obviated altogether. Thus, there is a need for a simple method to enhance the affinity of any weakly binding targeted molecules in order to enhance their usefulness for diagnostic and/or therapeutic purposes.

Multicomponent assemblies having enhanced binding properties for diagnosis and therapy


A barn in which dairy animals can freely move about, lie down and eat includes a floor, a light-transmitting roof construction, and a wall construction. The floor consists for the greater part of a moisture absorbing, pourable layer which is able to collect moisture from manure and urine. This moisture is removed by means of solar heat and wind drying, and if this is not sufficient, by means of a floor heating. There is thus only required a very limited stationary sub-floor with a manure collecting device, i.e. only below the milking implement.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dairy animal loose-housing barn for keeping dairy animals, and to a method of keeping animals in such a barn.
2. Description of the Related Art
In particular, the invention relates to a dairy animal loose-housing barn for keeping dairy animals, comprising a space where the dairy animals can freely move about and lie down, a light-transmitting roof construction above the space, a wall construction, controllable ventilation means, a floor below the space, comprising a liquid-tight lower layer with, provided thereon, a pourable layer of a moisture absorbing material having a thickness of at least 20 cm, and at least one milking implement on a stationary sub-floor.
From the publication "Grensverleggend huisvesten van vee" ("Accommodating cattle in a ground-breaking manner"), various barn designs are known which comprise all sorts of aspects of the above-mentioned barn, such as a barn having a space where the dairy animals can move about freely, a roof construction and a wall construction, and a milking robot.
In particular, one of the treated aspects is a loose-housing barn comprising a floor, in which case manure and urine produced by the dairy animals are not removed regularly, but are air-dried and are regularly dug in. The dried manure, whether or not partially composted, serves as a ground for the dairy animals. This principle is already applied in loose-housing barns in, for example, Israel, as known from the report "Verdamping uit ligbodems van vrijloopstallen" ("Evaporation from lying grounds of loose-housing barns"), ASG report No. 230 (May 2009).
A disadvantage of this known loose-housing barn, as mentioned in the above-mentioned report, is that the manure in such barns probably dries insufficiently under Dutch climate conditions. This could have all sorts of negative results for the dairy animals, such as strong(er) contamination of the animals, and consequently of the milk, more diseases, claw problems and the like, etcetera.


A fast shared path allocation technique is disclosed. Network nodes are pre-configured such that data from multiple data sources or multiple primary data paths may be sent via a shared secondary data path. Merge nodes merge input from a plurality of input ports onto an output port. The merge nodes implement a blocking function such that upon receipt of a signal from one of the input ports, the signals from the other input ports are blocked from reaching the output port. Upon a triggering event indicating a need to allocate the shared path, the data is first sent to the merge node where it is appropriately merged onto the output link and transmitted towards its destination. Only after the data has been sent does the merge node block the remaining input ports from reaching the output port. This blocking may be performed automatically by the merge node or by conventional network signaling.

Data traffic over existing data networks is growing at a tremendous rate. One of the current issues facing network operators is how to efficiently use network resources. One popular type of network is a synchronous optical network (SONET) which is a well known network technology. Generally, SONET networks are organized as ring networks in which the nodes are connected in a closed loop configuration. Adjacent pairs of nodes are directly connected. Other pairs of nodes are indirectly connected with the data passing through one or more intermediate nodes. SONET rings utilized in telecommunication networks have traditionally utilized what is called 1+1 protection schemes. In such a scheme, there are two disjoint optical paths between every two nodes in the network. One path is the primary data path and the other path is the backup path which is only used if the primary path fails. Such a protection scheme allows for fast recovery in case of primary path failure. This fast recovery comes at a high price, however, in that 50% of the network resources go unused most of the time. As such, this is a fairly inefficient use of network resources.
As the result of the development of optical networking technology, other types of transport networks are being developed. In particular, the use of optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs) and optical cross-connects (OXCs) in the optical transport layer now allow for Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM) optical mesh networks, in which network routers are connected directly to a switched optical core transport network consisting of OXC switches interconnected via high-speed Dense WDM (DWDM) line systems. As opposed to a ring network, in a mesh topology, each node may be directly connected to one or more (or all) others nodes. Thus, the topology of such a network resembles a mesh.
One benefit of a mesh network is its ability to share optical paths among multiple bandwidth demands. One such sharing scenario arises in the context of link failure protection schemes. In a mesh network, it is possible for two or more primary paths to share one backup path. Thus, for example, two primary data paths could share one backup path, thus making better use of network resources. In such a scheme, only approximately 33% of the network resources go unused (until a backup path is needed). More than two primary data paths could share one backup path, thus further increasing the efficiency of the network resources. Of course, this higher efficiency comes at the cost of being unable to provide a backup path in the event more than one primary path fails.
Another path sharing scenario arises in the context of bursty traffic. As is well known, internet traffic tends to be bursty with long periods of low traffic followed by sudden surges of high traffic. In such cases, it is preferable to share an optical path among multiple traffic flows. A recently proposed technique in this area is called optical burst switching, and has been proposed as a way to better utilize high capacity optical links amongst multiple IP traffic channels. The basic idea behind optical burst switching is as follows. Multiple demands share a primary path, but only one of the demands can be transmitted at any given time over the shared path. The source nodes for the traffic store the data packets in a memory buffer, and when a sufficient amount of data (i.e., "burst") has accumulated for a demand, the shared path is allocated to, and used by, that demand. Once the burst has been received at the destination, the path becomes available for other demands.
The allocation of shared data paths must occur quickly in today's high speed networks. For example, in the restoration scenario, a failed link must be restored within 50 ms. This limit is generally imposed by telephony services, which require a restore time of 50 ms or less so that any delay would be imperceptible to users. In the optical burst switching scenario, any delay in the allocation of the shared link would result in an underutilization of the shared link and the possible dropping of data packets.
Where the events triggering the allocation of a shared data path are predictable, it is possible to implement an efficient sharing scheme using scheduling and time-division-multiplexing. However, in practice, most shared data path scenarios are not predictable. For example, in the context of optical burst switching, it is not possible to predict when traffic flow will hit a peak for any given data source. Similarly, in the context of failure restoration, it is not possible to determine when a network link will fail. This unpredictability, combined with the requirement of fast link allocation, makes it difficult to implement shared data paths in mesh networks. As will be described in further detail below in the detailed description, upon detection of a triggering event indicating the need for allocation of a shared data path, existing mesh networks need to be reconfigured in order to allocate the shared data path as necessary. This reconfiguration generally requires setting up the shared path by sending appropriate signaling commands to the mesh network components, thus instructing the components to reconfigure themselves as required. This reconfiguration via signaling has heretofore been unable to comply with the 50 ms timing constraint described above. As such, optical mesh networks have not replaced the more convention SONET rings. The 1+1 protection scheme of SONET networks allow such networks to provide the required fast restoration.
What is needed is a technique for allocating shared data paths in mesh networks so that the benefits of mesh networks may be realized in high speed data networks.


A crystal oscillator with variable gain and variable output impedance inverter system includes an inverter, a variable impedance feedback circuit, connected between the output and input of the inverter, a crystal oscillator system, having a crystal with first and second electrodes connected across the input and output of the inverter; a serial variable impedance circuit connected between the inverter output and an electrode of the crystal and a control circuit for temporarily, during start up mode, increasing the impedance of the feedback circuit and decreasing the impedance of the serial circuit relative to the stationary mode impedances and then returning the feedback impedance to the lower impedance level and the serial circuit to the higher impedance level that promotes high frequency stability of the oscillator in the normal, stationary mode, of operation.

Contemporary microcontrollers and processors typically contain an inverter-amplifier that is suitable for use as a part of feedback oscillator when it is connected to an external crystal and some other components. A typical crystal oscillator system includes an inverter amplifier with two extra resistances Rf and Rs. Feedback resistance Rf is connected between the input and the output of the inverter/amplifier and provides proper DC biasing and negative feedback. Serial limiting resistance Rs is connected from the output of inverter-amplifier to one of the crystal pins and ensures proper output impedance and power for the crystal oscillator system. The other components of the crystal oscillator system are capacitors CL1 and CL2 connecting the electrodes of the crystal to ground (GND). The values of CL1 and CL2 are determined by the manufacturer's specifications according to the intended use of the crystal. There is a limited choice of component selection to provide specified crystal oscillator characteristics. It is basically limited to the choice of values of Rf and Rs. A desired characteristic of crystal oscillator systems is frequency stability in the specified range of operating voltages, temperatures and variations of parameters of crystal and inverter/amplifier. Another important characteristic of crystal oscillator systems is the ability for fast oscillation start up on power up of supply voltage. Yet another important characteristic of a crystal oscillator system is a drive level compatible with the specified power dissipation in the crystal. Usually crystal manufacturers give the operating voltage drive levels of the crystal in microwatts for specified crystal long and short term stability. Drive levels of the crystal directly effect the stability of the crystal oscillator system: frequency stable crystal oscillator system should have a drive voltage level no more than the specified drive voltage level. Unfortunately the values of Rf and Rs are very difficult to chose to satisfy all main crystal oscillator characteristics: for better frequency stability the value of Rf needs to be small and the value of Rs needs to be high; for reliable oscillation start-up the value of Rf needs to be high and the value of Rs needs to be small. That forces a compromise between the values of Rf and Rs to partly satisfy both frequency stability and reliable start-up of the crystal oscillator and results in a non-optimal operation of the crystal oscillator. The problem is exacerbated for so called "low power" crystal oscillator systems which have very small size and relatively low price compared with so called "high power" crystal oscillator systems. The majority of existing processors have been designed for "high power" crystals which make it more difficult to use them with "low power" crystals.

Crystal oscillator with variable-gain and variable-output-impedance inverter system


The present invention is aimed to provide a pliable handle, which is cost-effective, speedily assemble, to improve the stability of the central pole and to prevent the gel from leaking out. It is characteristic of a plastic cover placed over a central pole partly defined a gel containing portion for filling gel. Both of the plastic cover and the central pole have stopper flanges or annular lips at their ends to seal the gel portion. Only a set of injection through bores formed through the proximal flange and lip to fit such as a needle-like injector of syringe-like barrel to inject a gel to fill the gel-containing portion. After injection, a projected stopper spindle further presses and seals the set of injection through bores. Said central pole is passed through a proximal cap then secures a distal cap to shape a stable pliable handle.

Refer to FIG. 7 of said US20040205937, the central pole 150 is screwed into the core member 110, the threaded core member 110 is designed to secure the proximal end cap 130 to the outer sheath 120. Or refer to FIG. 20 of said US20040205938, the central pole 150 is screwed into the proximal end cap 1930, both the distal end cap 1940 and the proximal end cap 1930 are secured to the core member 1920 simultaneously, the distal end cap 1970 is secured to the distal sealer 1940 by means of screwing, thus keeps the gel from leaking out of the gel-containing portion. Such US20040205937A1 describes, as the threaded end 151 of the central pole 150 is designed for passing through proximal end cap 130 then secures the threaded bore 117, we can see the available Max screwing limit is in a reduced type by a decreased screw-in. However, while enduring an exterior force exerts pressure, the central pole 150 is easily being lost proper contact from the screwed portion. Sealed gel-containing portion of the outer sheath 120, 1950 is easily being leaked out the movement gel due to the threaded end is likely shown a decreased screw-on.
The prior art US20040205937A1 teaches that a distal end cap 140 is secured to the core member 110 by means of screwing. But the FIG. 20 of the prior art US2004205938A1 indicates that the proximal sealer 1930 is secured to the distal sealer 1940 by means of numerals 1933, 1941 indicated as screw and bore for screwing. The screwing portion is easily being lost proper contact due to long-term operation. Once a distal end cap 140 or 1970 is easily to release the capped tubing pressure leads to the containing movement of gel leaking out.
The prior art US20040205937A1 also teaches a nozzle is passed through the gel injection through bores 816a, 816b which are formed through the core member and outer sheath. After gel injection, the plugs are used to seal the gel injection through bore. They may be fabricated in a series of repeated and trivialized procedure, to invest the equipments or the labor cost of the production line is expensive than anticipated. production line is expensive than anticipated.