A lithographic apparatus, includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam, a first support constructed to support a first patterning device and a second support to support a second patterning device, the first and second patterning device being capable of imparting the radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam, a substrate table constructed to hold a substrate, and a projection system configured to project the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of the substrate. The first support and second support are movable in a scanning direction and in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the scanning direction. By movement of the first support and second support in the second direction the first support and second support can selectively be aligned with the projection system.

A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In such a case, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to be formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g. including part of, one, or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively patterned. Conventional lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at once, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through a radiation beam in a given direction (the "scanning"-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. It is also possible to transfer the pattern from the patterning device to the substrate by imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.
In order to make use of a lithographic apparatus as efficiently as possible, it is desirable to achieve a high throughput of the lithographic apparatus, so that a large amount of substrates can be processed by the lithographic apparatus in the shortest possible time.
In a scanning mode of a scanning-type lithographic apparatus, the substrate table is moved with a substrate table scanning movement, i.e. a movement with a substantially constant speed, across a projection system. At the same time as the scanning movement of the substrate table, a support supporting a patterning device is scanned also with a scanning movement, i.e. a movement with substantially constant speed across the projection system to impart a pattern in a radiation beam of the lithographic apparatus. Since during projection the support of the patterning device is moved from a starting position to an end position, the patterning device support has to be moved back to the start position before the patterning device support is ready for a new scanning movement in the same direction.
Therefore, the lithographic apparatus may be configured to make a meandering pattern of substrate table scanning movements over the substrate. The subsequent scanning movements of the patterning device support may then be in opposite directions, since the direction of the subsequent substrate scanning movements is also in opposite directions. For each substrate table scanning movement, the substrate table has to be decelerated and accelerated to obtain the desired speed and direction. Such deceleration and acceleration to a substantially constant speed takes considerable time.
In an alternative scanning trajectory, a substrate table scanning movement is made across multiple dies arranged in a row or column on the substrate, for example over the length of the substrate, while the patterned radiation beam is only projected on a part of the dies. For example, during a single substrate table scanning movement the patterned radiation beam is projected only on the dies at uneven locations of the row or column of dies. The time required for passing the dies at even locations is used to bring the patterning device support back from the end position to the start position.

Lithographic apparatus and lithographic projection method


A kick start switch modification kit and method for modifying an electric starter system on a motorcycle to a foot-operated electric starter simulating the classic foot operated kick start mechanism. Novel components which are contained in the modification kit include a foot pedal assembly, a rotating shaft, a switch engaging cam, a limit switch and a cover body having screw holes through which fasteners can pass which fasteners are in turn screwed into the cycle body where the classic kick start mechanism would be located.

Electric starters for initiating internal combustion engines are well known, and primarily consist of an electrically powered motor which through gearing mechanisms rotate the crankshaft of an engine from rest up to a rate of revolution at which the engine will commence to operate on its own. The power for the starter is supplied by the vehicle battery. The starter is designed to produce a high power output or torque over a short period of time without exceeding a specified temperature, so that the static inertia and friction inherent in the engine are quickly overcome. Most vehicles with internal combustion engines, such as automobiles, trucks and motorcycles, are provided with starters so that manual starting is not necessary.
Many vintage motorcycles, however, were not built with electric starters. To crank the engine, a kick pedal was provided which the rider had to forcibly move over a partial rotation path. The kick pedal was connected to the kick shaft which was connected through a clutch and gearing or chain mechanisms to the crankshaft. When the rider forced the kick pedal downward, the crankshaft was rotated and the pistons were moved causing the engine to start.
Kits have been provided to modify systems or relocate controls on motorcycles. One such kit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,121. This kit allows a kick start only starter system to be modified to an electric starter system with the addition of an electric motor. Another kit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,495 which adds a kick start foot pedal assembly to an existing motor drive shaft. This foot pedal assembly assists in the start of an engine having an electric starting motor. Because it must be fixed to the motor drive shaft, attaching this device to the motorcycle is somewhat complicated. Still another kit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,195 which modifies a foot operated shift mechanism and a hand operated clutch to a foot operated clutch and a hand operated shift mechanism. All of these kits, although claiming to be simple to install, are in fact very complicated because of their being integrated into the basic elements of each system.
Currently, there is a desire by motorcycle owners, particularly the owners of Harley Davidson motorcycles, to modify their current model motorcycles to resemble the older model Harley Davidson motorcycles with simulated foot operated kick start mechanisms where the installation of a modification kit that is very simple. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a kit that will allow the simple installation of a foot operated electric switch assembly for an electric motorcycle starter, where the starter switch assembly simulates the feel and appearance of the classic kick starter and can be easily mounted onto the motorcycle in a generally unobtrusive manner without requiring any major readjustment or alteration of the structure of the motorcycle. This assembly can be easy enough to install by the average motorcycle enthusiast or installed during manufacture by the factory

Foot operated electric starter modification kit


A conveyor for transferring articles off the end of a conveyor belt onto a discharge conveyor. The conveyor comprises a conveyor belt overlain by belt strands along a carryway. The belt strands are received in recesses below the conveying surface of the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt travels an inner circuit inside an outer circuit encircled by the belt strands. The outer circuit diverges from the inner circuit at an end of the carryway. The belt strands extend the carryway and strip articles from the conveyor belt to transfer them to a downstream discharge conveyor or receive articles from an upstream infeed conveyor.

The invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and more particularly to conveyors having transfer belts stripping articles from a conveyor belt.
When a conveyor belt is used to discharge articles off its end and onto a discharge conveyor, a stationary transfer plate positioned in the gap between the two conveyors is commonly used. Belt articles can become stranded on the transfer plate when the conveyor belt stops or has no articles to discharge. Sometimes it is possible to discharge articles from a conveyor belt directly to a downstream conveyor without an intervening transfer plate in the gap. But the gap has to be small enough to accommodate the footprints of the articles being discharged without tripping them. When the conveyor belt has a long pitch or has to negotiate large-diameter sprockets at its discharge end, the gap is correspondingly large and can cause articles with small footprints or small bottom features to trip, skew, or strand.


An accessor moveably disposed within a data storage and retrieval system, where that accessor includes an information input/output device and a power supply connector disposed on a gripper mechanism such that the information input/output device and the power supply connector can be releaseably coupled/connected to an information input/output port and a power port, respectively, disposed on a hard disk drive unit disposed in a storage slot within the data storage and retrieval system. A data storage and retrieval system which includes one or more of Applicants' accessors, one or more hard disk disposed in one or more hard disk drive units each of which includes an information input/output port in communication with that hard disk, and an information transfer station in communication with a host computer, wherein that information transfer station can communicate with Applicants' accessor(s).

Automated media storage libraries are known for providing cost effective access to large quantities of stored media. Generally, media storage libraries include a large number of storage slots on which are stored data storage media. Such data storage media may include one or more hard disks disposed in one or more hard disk drive units. One (or more) accessor typically accesses the hard disk drive units, and transports those units to a facility wherein information can be read from, or written to, the hard disks disposed in those hard disk drive units. Suitable electronics operate the accessor(s) and operate the data storage and retrieve system in order to transmit data to, and/or to receive data from, an attached on-line host computer system.
What is needed, however, is an apparatus and method that allows an accessor to transfer information from/to a host computer and to/from one or more hard disks disposed within a data information and retrieval system without removing the hard disk drive units containing those hard disks from their respective storage slots.

Method and apparatus to transfer information between a host computer and one or more hard disks disposed in a data storage and retrieval system

Abstract: A method to transfer information between one or more hard disks disposed in Applicants' data storage and retrieval system and a host computer using a memory device disposed on one or more accessors moveably disposed within Applicants' data storage and retrieval system. Applicants' data storage and retrieval system includes computer useable medium having computer readable program code disposed therein, where that computer readable program code comprises a series of computer readable program steps to implement Applicants' method.


An RF coil includes two coil portions that are spaced apart to define a slab therebetween. Each coil portion is a microstrip transmission line formed as a loop wherein the microstrip includes a conductive strip disposed on one side of a dielectric material and a ground plane disposed on the other side of the dielectric material. When energized, a uniform RF field is produced in the slab. An array of such RF coils arranged back to back can be formed to allow for the selective excitation of a desired slab.

When a substance such as human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field (polarizing field B0), the individual magnetic moments of the spins in the tissue attempt to align with this polarizing field, but precess about it in random order at their characteristic Larmor frequency. If the substance, or tissue, is subjected to a radio frequency (RF) magnetic field (excitation field B1) which is in the x-y plane and which is near the Larmor frequency, the net aligned moment may be rotated, or "tipped", into the x-y plane to produce a net transverse magnetic moment. A signal is emitted by the excited spins after the excitation signal B1 is terminated, this signal may be received and processed to form an image (MRI) or produce a spectrum (MRS).
Radio frequency antennas or coils are used to produce the excitation field B1 and other RF magnetic fields in the subject being examined. Such coils are also used to receive the very weak NMR signals that are produced in the subject. Various types of coils are known, including large, whole-body RF coils which are built in to the MR system and produce a uniform RF field throughout a large region. Even though MR data may be acquired only from a small volume or slice in a subject placed in the MR system bore, the RF field from a whole-body RF coil permeates throughout the subject. The advantage of the whole-body coil is that the region of interest being imaged can be shifted to any location in the patient by changing the pulse sequence. Other known coils include various types of smaller "local" coils that are designed for specific clinical applications such as head imaging, knee imaging, wrist imaging, etc. Local coils may be either volume coils or surface coils. While local coils do limit the region that is subject to RF excitation fields during a scan, the shape and homogeneity of their fields is often not appropriate for a particular application.
The most common whole body coil found in commercial MRI systems is the so-called "birdcage" coil first disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,692,705; 4,694,255; and 4,680,548. A birdcage coil has a pair of circular end rings which are bridged by a plurality (typically 8 to 24) of equi-spaced longitudinal straight segments. In a primary mode, currents in the straight segments are sinusoidally distributed which results in good B1 field uniformity across the axis of the coil. Birdcage coils are the structure of choice in horizontal field MRI systems because they produce a homogeneous magnetic field in the bore of the magnet and they have a high SNR which enables them to pick up the small NMR signals emanating from the examined subject.
An issue with all RF coils used to generate the B1 field is the level of electromagnetic energy which can be absorbed by a human subject during a scan. The FDA has imposed limits on such Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). Some pulse sequences employ RF excitation pulses of long duration which may expose the subject to excessive RF radiation. This is particularly problematic at high polarizing magnetic field strengths where SAR limits are easily exceeded. In these applications it is particularly desirable to limit the RF radiation as much as possible to the region of interest from which MR data is to be acquired.
There are a number of clinical applications where MR images are acquired at different Larmor frequencies. Hydrogen (1H) is the spin species of choice for most MR imaging applications, but other paramagnetic spin species such as phosphorus (31P), fluorine (19F), carbon (13C), sodium (23Na), helium (3He) and xenon (129Xe) are also of interest.


Systems and methods used for font filtering may also be used to perform texture blits. Texture data is read in blocks that are coarsely aligned. Font engines may be used to align the texture data as specified by a copy (blit) instruction to provide a finely aligned region of the texture data within a font filter footprint. The finely aligned region is then bilinearly filtered using a “nearest” mode to provide the bit aligned region of the texture map specified by the copy instruction.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to copying bit aligned texture data and, more specifically, to using font processing engines to read and align the texture data to perform a blit operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional systems for performing font filtering are configured to filter a region of a bitmap and produce a coverage value. In those conventional systems texture blit operations are typically performed by a graphics engine configured to process two-dimensional data.
Accordingly, it is desirable to reuse font filtering engines to perform bitmap blit operations in order to conserve die area.

Using font filtering engines for texture blitting


Disclosed are a system for controlling an ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymerization process and a method of controlling the same. The system for controlling the EVA copolymerization process may include a database for analysis configured to store analysis data obtained by matching processing conditions with measured data for first EVAs produced under the processing conditions, a computer programmed to estimate a VA content with respect to second EVA using the analysis data, a computer programmed to estimate a molecular weight distribution of the second EVA using the VA content estimated in the VA content estimation unit and processing factors corresponding thereto, and a computer programmed to estimate a recovery system blockage phenomenon using the VA content estimated and the molecular weight distribution estimated.

Generally, EVA is a thermoplastic material produced by copolymerizing ethylene and vinyl acetate (hereinafter, abbreviated to VA).
EVA supplements shortcomings of preexisting ethylene by utilizing the high elasticity, adhesion and transparency of VA.
In a process of producing such EVA, due to a low conversion rate resulting from the low reactivity of VA, it is necessary to recover a large amount of unreacted raw materials. Incidentally, due to the high adhesion of VA, a recovery system blockage phenomenon frequently occurs in a process of recovering raw materials, and thus there is difficulty in continuous production, resulting in degradation of the quality of a finished product (EVA).

System for controlling ethylene vinyl acetate copolymerization process and method of controlling the same


Disclosed herein is a multifunctional broadhead and universal ferrule for an archery arrow that has both mechanical and fixed configurations. The disclosure is directed to multifunctional mechanical arrow broadheads that deploy blades upon contact with a target and the ability to transition to a broadhead configured with the blades in a deployed and fixed position prior to target contact.

An arrow launched from a bow typically includes a shaft, stabilizers or fins known as fletchings and an arrowhead. Various types of arrowheads exist such as a broadhead used by hunters. A broadhead typically includes two to four sharp cutting-blades to injure or kill a target. Bow hunters typically use two main types of broadheads and include fixed-blade broadheads and mechanical broadheads. Fixed-blade broadheads maintain blades in a rigid, extended, and immovable position, and a mechanical broadhead deploys its blades from a retracted or stored position, to an extended or deployed position upon contact with the target. In most cases, the arrow with the mechanical broadhead flies better because it is more aerodynamic due to the retracted blades, but has less penetration compared to the fixed-blade broadhead since the mechanical broadhead uses some of the kinetic energy in the arrow to deploy its blades upon target impact.
Thus, all broadheads fall under two classifications as recognized by the archery industry: 1) fixed; and 2) mechanical. Hybrid variations exist, but all hybrids fall in the mechanical classification according to state hunting regulations. The present disclosure describes a universal or multipurpose broadhead with a universal ferrule (i.e., broadhead body) with the ability to transition back and forth between a mechanical mode and a fixed mode, according to the user's requirements and desires, while still maintaining superior dynamic flight characteristics across all modes. And maintaining the same grain weight. One skilled in the art of designing and manufacturing of broadheads will understand that the weight variations can fluctuate with the material batches and machining practices, but within the accepted weight tolerances and within industry standards.
Historically, bow hunters have chosen either fixed or mechanical based upon mandated state hunting regulations. However, using a mechanical broadhead for certain game species, and using a fixed broadhead for other game species results in different dynamic flight characteristics due to vastly different broadheads with a different ferrule designs. Such a limitation results in unpredictable accuracy and poor training habits. The broadhead disclosed herein, however, minimizes such shortfalls by allowing an archer to easily transition between interchangeable mechanical blades and fixed blades. Such a capability also provides a flexible broadhead that is legal and in accordance with the hunting regulations of all 50 states.
Currently, no such multifunctional broadhead exists to allow an archer to use a broadhead with a single universal ferrule that can transition back and forth between fixed and mechanical configurations. Most broadhead manufacturers understand that the ferrule is typically the strongest part of the broadhead. Thus, replacement blades are sold, but only for configurations that the broadhead was originally available. The broadhead, blade configurations, and related ferrule disclosed herein provide an archer with greater cost savings, enhanced accuracy in both fixed and mechanical broadhead configurations that are suitable for a wide range of hunting needs.

Multi-functional broadhead fixed and mechanical


A process is disclosed for fabricating a metal aluminide composite which comprises providing a metal aluminide, such as titanium aluminide, or a titanium aluminide alloy, and a reinforcing fiber material, such as silicon carbide fiber, and placing an interlayer or diffusion barrier layer in the form of a metal selected from the group consisting of silver, copper and gold, and alloys thereof, between the metal aluminide and the reinforcing fiber material. The interlayer metal can be a foil of the metal or in the form of a coating, such as a silver coating, on the reinforcing fiber material. The metal aluminide, the reinforcing fiber material, and the metal interlayer, e.g., in the form of a packet of a plurality of alternate layers of metal aluminide alloy and reinforcing fiber material, each layer being separated by the metal interlayer, is pressed and heated at an elevated temperature, e.g., ranging from about 900.degree. to about 1200.degree. C., at which diffusion bonding occurs. The diffusion barrier metal, e.g., silver, dissolves in the metal aluminide during consolidation of the metal aluminide matrix with the reinforcing fiber material. A layer of tantalum on silver can be employed as a second diffusion barrier layer, and a third layer, such as titanium alloy, can be applied over the tantalum layer, for increased effectiveness of the diffusion barrier, and preventing crack initiation.

This invention relates to the field of composite structural materials and is particularly directed to metal aluminide fiber reinforced composite materials.
Performance requirement goals for future advanced airframe structures and gas turbine engines exceed the capabilities and limits of currently available materials and manufacturing technologies. Improvements in lightweight, high temperature materials and processes are required to meet the challenging goals. Metal aluminides, particularly titanium aluminide base alloys, offer opportunities for weight reduction compared to nickel base superalloys. To achieve the ambitious high temperature capability goal in a light and stiff material, it has been proposed to fabricate fiber reinforced composites using titanium aluminide base alloys as the matrix. However, as high strength and high temperature matrix materials are selected to provide high performance composites, it becomes more difficult to fabricate the composites because the temperatures and pressures required to consolidate the materials also increase.
Composites can be fabricated by placing a reinforcing material, such as silicon carbide fibers, between layers of a matrix material, such as a metal alloy. These ingredients are then consolidated into a composite by pressing them together at a temperature and pressure which will cause the matrix to flow around the reinforcing fibers and diffusion bond the matrix together.
At present, there is a great deal of interest in consolidating fiber composites with high temperature metallic matrices, such as titanium and nickel intermetallics (Ti.sub.3 Al, TiAl, Ni.sub.3 Al, NiAl). These alloys are being produced currently with several alloying additions in powder form via rapid solidification processing (RSP) technology. While the structural properties of the RSP powder alloys are desirable as matrix, powder consolidation directly with reinforcing fibers, e.g., SiC, causes several difficulties. At lower consolidation temperatures, the hard metallic particles can crack or mechanically damage fibers during hot pressing and hot isostatic pressing operations. At high consolidation temperatures, the reactive powder alloys can chemically react and degrade fibers. An additional problem is presented that if the powder particles surrounding the fibers are not well bonded or are too brittle, during cooldown from the fabrication temperature or subsequent thermal cycling in service, tensile stresses induced in the matrix can cause cracking of the matrix, e.g., typical mid-plane cracking between fibers.
Thus, in summary, the problems presented are (1) interfacial reaction between the metal alloy particles and the fiber materials leading to brittle reaction products formed near the interface, (2) there is a CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) difference between the metal alloy and the reinforcing fibers which causes large tensile stresses in the metal alloy matrix, thereby tending to cause cracks, and (3) the metal matrix itself, that is, the metal aluminide, is a relatively brittle material and tends to crack easily.
In Applicant's copending U.S. application Ser. No. 182,676, filed Apr. 18, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,044, titled "A Method of Fabricating a Metal Aluminide Composite" and assigned to the same Assignee as the present application, there is disclosed adding to a metal aluminide composite during fabrication a soft metal phase, such as aluminum, or a metal forming a metal aluminide, or an alloy containing these metals, to promote consolidation of the metal aluminide matrix with the reinforcing phase. The softer metal, the metal aluminide matrix, e.g., titanium aluminide, and the reinforcing phase are pressed together at a temperature above the softening temperature of the softer metal. The softened metal promotes flow and consolidation of the matrix and the reinforcement at relatively low temperatures. The composite is held at an elevated temperature to diffuse and convert the soft metal phase into the metal aluminide matrix.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method of fabricating a metal aluminide composite by consolidation of a metal aluminide alloy and fibrous reinforcing material under conditions to produce a metal aluminide matrix composite having improved structural properties.
Another object is the provision of a method of fabricating a metal aluminide matrix composite without damaging the reinforcing fibrous material during hot pressing operations.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method of fabricating a metal aluminide matrix while minimizing or avoiding chemical reaction between the metal aluminide and the fibrous reinforcing material, to thereby avoid degradation of the fibers.
Yet another object of the invention is the provision of procedure for fabricating a metal aluminide matrix composite while reducing tensile stresses induced in the matrix during cooldown and subsequent thermal cycling, and avoiding cracking of the metal aluminide matrix under such conditions.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a method of fabricating a metal aluminide matrix composite formed between a metal aluminide matrix and a fibrous reinforcing material while enhancing the ductility of the matrix alloy.
Yet a further object of the invention is the provision of a method of fabricating a metal aluminide matrix composite by consolidation of a metal aluminide alloy, such as titanium aluminide, and a reinforcing fibrous material, such as silicon carbide fibers, by the addition of an element which achieves the aforementioned objects, and which also particuarly reduces the CTE mismatch between the metal aluminide matrix and the reinforcement fibers, thus minimizing crack formation in the metal matrix.

Consolidation of fiber materials with particulate metal aluminide alloys


Various improvements to inflatable membranes are disclosed. These improvements include, among other things, features on the membrane that can mitigate hazards such as bubble formation or frictional damage during inflation of the membrane.

Techniques have been disclosed for capturing thickness measurements inside an inflated membrane, as described for example in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 8,107,086 and reconstructing three-dimensional images from these measurements.
While these techniques are generally useful for measuring interior cavities, there remains a need for improved inflatable membranes adapted to capturing such data in particular environments such as within a human ear canal.

Inflatable membrane with hazard mitigation


The present invention relates to a method for preparing a solid catalyst for ethylene polymerization and/or copolymerization. More specifically, the present invention relates to a solid titanium catalyst supported in a magnesium support which has an extremely high catalytic activity, advantageous catalyst shape and a simple preparation process, capable of producing a polymer with a high bulk density, a narrow and uniform particle size distribution and a broad molecular weight distribution, and a method for preparation of the same. A silicon-containing magnesium compound is prepared by reacting an electron donor such as a silicon compound containing an alkoxy group of Formula 1, a silicon compound containing an alkoxy group of Formula 2, or a mixture thereof in a magnesium compound solution, and reacted with a titanium compound to obtain the solid catalyst of the present invention.Si(R1)(R2)(OR3)2  [Formula 1]                wherein R1 is trimethylsilylmethyl or 2-phenylpropyl;        R2 is linear, cyclic or branched alkyl of C3-C6 such as 1-hexyl, cyclohexyl, cyclopentyl, n-butyl, iso-butyl or propyl; and        R3 is alkyl of C1-C3.R1aR2bSi(OR3)4−(a+b)  [Formula 2]        wherein R1 and R2 are individually hydrocarbon of C1-C12;        R3 is hydrocarbon of C1-C5; and        a=0 or 1, b=0 or 1.

In general, a catalyst for ethylene polymerization and copolymerization containing magnesium has been known to have an extremely high activity, serve to prepare a polymer with a high bulk density, and be suitable for liquid and gaseous polymerization.
Ethylene liquid polymerization refers to a polymerization process performed in the medium such as bulk ethylene, hexane or iso-pentane. Catalysts used in this process feature the high activity, the bulk density of the prepared polymer and the content of the low molecular weight soluble in the medium. Of these features, the activity of catalysts is one of the most important characteristics. Moreover, the molecular weight distribution is an important variable to determine the property of the ethylene polymer, and the broad molecular weight distribution is an important characteristic depending on use of the polymer.
As the prior art, a catalyst for olefin polymerization based on titanium containing magnesium and a process for preparing the same have been reported. A method using a magnesium solution has been well known as the process for preparing olefin polymerization catalysts to obtain a polymer having a high bulk density.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,649 discloses a method for obtaining a magnesium solution by the contact reaction of a magnesium compound with an electron donor such as alcohol, amine, organic carboxylic acid and aldehyde under the presence of a hydrocarbon solution. Also, a method for preparing a magnesium-supported catalyst by reacting the liquid magnesium solution with a titanium compound containing halogen such as titanium tetrachloride and electron donors such as organic acid ester, organic acid halide, anhydrous organic acid has been well known. Although the above-described catalyst provides a high bulk density, it has disadvantage that its catalytic activity is required to be improved, and the process for preparing it is performed through many steps.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,116 discloses a method for preparing a supported titanium catalyst by the contact reaction of a titanium compound with a magnesium solution containing ester having not a silicon compound but at least one hydroxyl group as an electron donor. The polymer by the catalyst has a high bulk density and an ultra high molecular weight, but the activity of the catalyst is required to be improved.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,049 discloses a method for preparing a catalyst having a high titanium content by reacting titanium alkoxides with magnesium chloride-ethanol support manufactured by a spray drying method and then reacting diethylaluminum chloride or ethylaluminum sesquichloride. The method provides a high bulk density, and the activity of the catalyst increases as the titanium content becomes higher. However, the catalytic activity is extremely low so that it is required to be improved.
The U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,847,227, 4,816,433 and 4,829,037 disclose a method for preparing a catalyst by reacting a titanium chloride compound with electron donors such as magnesium alkoxide, dialkyl phthalate, dialkyl terephthalate under the presence of aromatic hydrocarbon solvent.
The U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,970,186 and 5,130,284 disclose a method for preparing a catalyst for olefin polymerization providing an advantageous polymerization activity and an improved bulk density of an obtained polymer by reacting a titanium chloride compound with electron donors such as magnesium alkoxide and phthaloyl chloride.

Method for preparing solid catalysts for ethylene polymerization and copolymerization


A vessel includes a hull with a turret, a cavity in the turret and a mooring buoy releasably attached in the cavity, the buoy including a buoyant body and carrying a number of risers, extending to a subsea hydrocarbon well and a number of anchor lines connected to the sea bed, wherein upon connection of the buoy to the cavity, the buoy is attached to a pulling member connected to a winch on the vessel for lifting of the buoy. Each anchor line and/or riser at its upper end is connected to a stopper member, the stopper member being attached to the pulling member, wherein during lifting, each anchor line and/or riser and the stopper member are movable relative to the buoyant body in a length direction of the anchor lines and/or risers, and wherein after connection of the buoyant body to the cavity, the stopper member is engaged with an abutment member on the buoyant body to support the anchor line and/or riser weight off the body.

Such a disconnectable mooring system is disclosed in U.S. patent application US2007/155259. The known system includes a buoy that is provided with a conical outer casing and a corresponding conical cavity or receptacle on the vessel's turret structure, which cavity has a cone shape corresponding to the conical outer casing of the buoy member. The turret structure includes a turntable carrying conduits to be connected to the risers, wherein the turntable is supported on a bearing assembly in a manner allowing rotation with respect to the turret structure to align the conduits with the risers on the buoy only after the buoy is received and locked in the cavity of the turret structure. In this publication it is shown that only a main turret upper roller ball bearing assembly supports the turntable; this assembly includes three mutually movable parts that are directly interconnected to each other. In fact, this upper turret bearing assembly consists of 2 roller ball bearings that are directly placed on top of each other and interconnected via one common inner bearing housing member. This upper bearing assembly has therefore become a very critical and essential part of a weathervaning system. A disadvantage of this combined and interconnected roller ball bearing assembly is that if one or more roller balls fails, the complete assemble has to be changed out, meaning that the turret system cannot function anymore as a weathervaning system. This change out cannot be done offshore.
The known combined roller bearing system, due to the fabrication limitations, is limited to about only 8 meters, so that it not suitable for large disconnectable turret-buoy systems with for example 20 or more risers connected to the buoy.
Another patent publication that describes a disconnectable mooring system that is provided with two separate bearing systems, one of which is used only for rotating a turntable in order to align the manifold pipe ends with the riser ends of a connected buoy, is U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,708. This patent shows a disconnectable buoy that is provided with a bearing system that stays with the boy when disconnected. The buoy is rotatable connected to the moonpool of a vessel under the waterline without the use of a turret. An additional upper bearing system is disclosed at deck level, which supports a turntable with manifold, so that after the buoy is connected directly to the moonpool of the vessel, the turntable can be aligned with the risers of the connected buoy. The turntable is supported by the bearing system, so that even during production when hydrocarbons are received through the flexible piping connecting the manifold and the buoy, the turntable can be rotated at all times and be aligned with the buoy. When the twisting angle in the flexible piping between the buoy and the turntable is exceeded, the turntable is rotated by means of a connected motor driven pinion to a new position neutralizing the twisting. This system is therefore not advantageous for disconnectable turret-buoys systems sized to receive numerous of risers, and of course is not possible when using only hard piping.
Another disconnectable mooring system is described in U.S. patent publication US5823131. This patent discloses a disconnectable riser buoy for supporting only risers or riser lines, but with no mooring lines attached to it.
This riser buoy can be docked within a rotatable turret placed in a moonpool of a floating vessel and carries risers that are connected to flow paths, which are removably coupled to vessel product lines at a position above sea level. When the riser buoy is disconnected from the turret, it is maintained at a submerged depth in the sea by a weight attached to a buoy anchor leg that can be lowered down to the sea floor or raised within the turret. The turret is directly anchored to the sea floor via multiple mooring lines that are connected to the lower turret. When the riser buoy is released, the weight connected to the riser buoy, once resting on the sea floor, will moor the riser buoy and as such limit the excursions of the risers within acceptable limits. Further, as the mooring legs are directly connected to the turret, the riser buoy has only sufficient buoyancy to support the risers.
Another major aspect of this concept is that in order to dock the riser buoy, a retrieval line is pulled upwardly via a winch until the weight contacts the buoy. Then, buoy and weight are hooked up together, the weight being in contact with the bottom of the riser buoy and both riser buoy and weight are placed within the moonpool of the vessel. The main purpose of this system is to allow for hook-up of a pre-installed riser buoy before installation of the vessel and prior to connecting the mooring lines to the turret takes. The known mooring system does not function as a quick disconnectable system that is suitable to be used in cyclone areas or ice infested waters as the mooring legs stays connected to the turret. Also hook-up of both the riser supporting buoy and the weight together is only possible for relatively small buoys and weights and not for large buoys with large connected weights, as this would require a winch capacity exceeding the capacity of winches available in the field and involving the danger of creating large snap-loads in the hauling-in line that connects the buoy and the winch. This results in large winches that are designed to withstand such snatch loads.
In these known systems the capability to reconnect a buoy to a turret is mainly limited by the sea state and winch capacity. When the buoy is brought upwards to the turret for reconnection purposes, the heave motions of the buoy are coupled to those of the vessel when the buoy approaches its connect position. If the sea states are too large, snatch loads and buoy acceleration forces are exerted on the connection lines that exceed the strength of available reconnection lines. This is especially the case for large size buoys, for instance carrying 20 risers or more.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a disconnectable turret-mooring buoy design having an increased reconnection capability even in severe sea states of for example up to 6 m significant wave height.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a quick disconnectable and easy connectable mooring buoy system for a large numbers of risers and mooring legs, in which snatch loads on the pull-in line are reduced.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a disconnectable mooring buoy system, which can operate with winches or reconnection chain jacks of reduced size.
The system according to the invention should readily connect and disconnect even in very severe environmental conditions to a floating vessel, for example a floating production unit (FPU or FPSO), using a conventional pull-in line, such as a chain. The buoy should provide accommodation for a large number of risers, for example at least 20 risers and 10 umbilicals, in a turret to which the mooring buoy can be connected. The system according to the present invention should ensure a high availably of the system under all weather conditions and minimize the down time before reconnection even considering the constant severity of the environment.

Mooring system with decoupled mooring lines and/or riser system


Systems and methods for enhanced object detection are provided in this disclosure. One embodiment of a method includes providing front side illumination of an object, capturing a first image of the object, and providing backside illumination of the object. Some embodiments include capturing a second image of the object, and determining an edge of the platform area assembly. Similarly, some embodiments include aligning the object from the second image with the edge of the platform area assembly to determine a location of the object, determining based on the location of the object, a pixel in the first image that does not belong to the object, and modify the pixel from the first image that does not belong to the object to create an altered image.

Image scanning devices, such as scanners, are currently used for scanning information on objects such as sheets of paper, transparencies, picture negatives, three dimensional objects, and the like. Scanning the information provided on an object, such as a media sheet or three dimensional object includes converting the image information of the object into a digital image.
These image scanning devices may include a platen, a scan bar with a light source, and a lid with a backer material for scanning media sheets or objects. The object is placed on the platen such that a side of the object including the information to be scanned faces the platen. The lid with a backer material that is often white presses the object flat or holds the object stationary, when it is closed.
When scanning on these conventional devices, the lid of the scanner is closed and outputs a digital image that contains the image of the objects being scanned plus a full image of the white backer material. While the object may be adequately scanned, the white backer material may be difficult to remove from the scanned image. This can be difficult because, depending on the particular object and/or scan, the white backer material can be very close to the same color as the primary portions of the scan. Accordingly, a need in the industry exists.


A composite natural tissue heart valve prosthesis which may be mounted in a cloth-covered, generally anatomical stent is disclosed. The prosthesis includes three adjacent tanned heart valve leaflets of generally similar size, shape and symmetry that are attached to adjacent leaflets along their respective valve wall side edges such that there is substantial coaptation between said cusps.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a heart valve apparatus and method of making the heart valve apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved heart valve prosthesis of natural tissue cardiac valves that have been properly fixed in a solution and that may be mounted to an appropriate stent structure prior to implantation into the recipient.
2. Background of the Invention
It is well known to utilize mechanical heart valves, such as the ball check valve, and natural tissue cardiac valves to replace defective aortic and mitral valves in human patients. Referring to the natural tissue heart valves, porcine valves typically are utilized for implantation in humans, because they are very similar to human valves of appropriate size and generally are easy to procure. Prior art teaches the concept of removing an aortic heart valve from a pig, treating it with a glutaraldehyde solution and mounting it into a stent, which may then be implanted into a patient for a heart valve replacement. FIG. 1 illustrates such a prior art heart valve prosthesis, generally indicated as 2, that includes a porcine cardiac valve 4 with a conventional stent construction 6, such as described and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,581 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,849 both owned by William W. Angell, the inventor of the present invention.
While anatomically configured, natural tissue heart valve prostheses are well known in the art. Conventional valves often are unable to achieve a completely adequate level of coaptation between the leaflets. In addition, due to the configuration of such heart valve prostheses, there tends to be a significant amount of abrasion between the leaflets of the porcine valve and the conventional stent structures, which generally further decreases the longevity of the valve apparatus. Conventional stent structures are generally formed of a relatively rigid material that tends to be inflexible and difficult to manage by a surgeon during the implant procedure.
Conventional prostheses are typically constructed with a ring of radio-opaque material affixed prosthesis within an implantation flange circumferentially positioned proximal the inflow side of the valve. While the addition of such material, which may be viewed through fluoroscopy, may be beneficial during the post-implantation monitoring of the valve, it generally increases the outer diameter of the entire valve prosthesis and, thus, reduces the inner diameter to outer diameter ratio. U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,621 to Jose A. Navia discloses an unstented heart valve prosthesis that includes a suture ring having a continuous annular cord at the inflow side for implantation and a layer of a textile material covering the exterior of the entire structure. U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,758 to Gabbay discloses a heart valve prosthesis that includes a generally right-circular, cylindrical stent in which a single cusp formed of double over pericardium is mounted. The exterior of the Gabbay prosthesis is completely covered with a biological tissue layer, such as pericardium. A study of this and other such prior art heart valve prostheses readily leads one to the conclusion that such prior art generally fails to completely address the needs of a heart valve prosthesis.

Natural tissue heart valve and stent prosthesis and method for making the same


A pacemaker with patient effort-controlled stimulation frequency that responds to a control parameter. Accelerometers (1) with capacity variation are placed on a substratum. Each of the accelerometers is sensitive in one direction of a Cartesian coordinate system. The output of the accelerometers are combined and integrated over a small time constant to produce a signal representative of the patient's metabolic power exerted. The signal is then used to control the stimulation frequency of the pacemaker. The integration may be based on the sum of the absolute value of the acceleration signals or the square root of the sum of the squares of the acceleration signals.

This invention relates to a pacemaker with patient effort-controlled frequency, more particularly to a rate adaptive pacemaker that adjusts the stimulating frequency in accordance with the patient's physical effort.
It is known that the effort exerted by a patient can be monitored based on a measure of acceleration along an axis, e.g., a vertical or antero-posterior axis. An accelerometer placed on the patient's trunk provides a signal that enables one to obtain an approximation of the energy expended for the patient's dynamic efforts. There is a good correlation between the integral of the absolute value of the signal of acceleration along the vertical axis, for instance, and the energy expended by the patient. Computation of this integral for set periods of time provides an image of the power supplied by the patient in dynamic efforts, which can be selected as a control parameter for controlling the heart rate. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,863, which describes a rate-responsive cardiac pacemaker with the pacing frequency controlled based on acceleration measured along an antero-posterior axis.

Pacemaker with patient effort-controlled frequency


In a troubleshooting method, a controller first determines that a fault occurs on a first multi-layer link passing through a first port on a first network device, where the first multi-layer link is a link in a link aggregation group between the first network device and a second network device. The controller then releases an optical layer resource of the first multi-layer link, and deletes the first multi-layer link from the link aggregation group. The controller further establishes, a second multi-layer link for restoration of the first multi-layer link, based on a first idle port on the first network device and a second idle port on a target network device, and adds the second multi-layer link to a target link aggregation group between the first network device and the target network device.

Link aggregation is a method for bundling a group of physical interfaces together into a logical interface, and this method can increase bandwidth and reliability. The logical link formed by bundling the plurality of physical links together is referred to as a link aggregation group (LAG) or a trunk. If all these bundled links are Ethernet links, the aggregation group is referred to as an Ethernet link aggregation group and may be an Eth-trunk for short. An interface of the aggregation group is referred to as an Eth-trunk interface, and a plurality of interfaces in the Eth-trunk are referred to as a plurality of member interfaces. The Eth-trunk interface may be used as a common Ethernet interface. A difference between the Eth-trunk interface and the common Ethernet interface only lies in that: The Eth-trunk needs to select one or more interfaces from the member interfaces during forwarding. Therefore, an Eth-trunk logical interface may be configured in the same way as the common Ethernet interface, except for some features that must be configured only on a physical Ethernet interface. When a fault occurs on a physical link of an Eth-trunk, the faulty physical link needs to be restored. Otherwise, network performance deteriorates or data transmission in a network fails.

Faulty multi-layer link restoration method and controller


A cereal bar and its method of production is provided, in which the cereal bar comprises a pressed mixture including (I) a cereal mixture including ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal pieces and a first binder, (ii) a filler comprising a plurality of discrete agglomerates in which the agglomerates individually comprise a plurality of particles comprising milk protein product joined together with a second binder, and the first binder binds the cereal pieces and the agglomerates together. The cereal bars of the present invention provide nutritional value without sacrificing taste and flavor, as well as possess a reasonable shelf life during which the texture remains chewy without being sticky, hard, or crumbly.

Hand-held cereal bars are well known in the art. These portable foods are consumed as a meal substitute or snack. These cereal bars ideally would provide nutritional value without sacrificing taste and flavor, as well as possess a reasonable shelf life during which the texture remains chewy without being sticky, hard, or crumbly. However, achieving all of these goals has been problematic in the prior cereal bars.
For instance, a protein source is usually included in the cereal bars for nutritional value. However, the use of large amounts of soy proteins in cereal bars tends to impart an undesirable off-flavor. Milk protein products generally are more organoleptically acceptable if not beneficial flavor imparting. On the other hand, many useful milk protein products are water-soluble. Water absorption by or dissolution into water by the milk proteins over an extended period before consumption can lead to moisture migration, protein hydration problems, and hardness over time. The prior art has not satisfactorily proposed how to incorporate milk protein products into cereal bars.
Cereal bars have been known which can contain a dairy protein product in a binder system used as a matrix to form the bar. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,112 to Durst describes a food bar using a binder providing a structural matrix for discrete edible particles described as cereal particles, in which the binder is obtained as a water-based dispersion including a film-forming ingredient described as nonfat milk solids (e.g., sodium caseinate, among others) that is solubilized in the aqueous binder dispersion that is used in that form or in a spray dried form thereof, in which the binder is then mixed with cereal flakes from which food bars are formed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,669 to Kelly et al. describes high protein fat-occluded food compositions used as a binder to bind together cereal particles in a food or breakfast bar product. The binder composition includes protein, fat, and carbohydrate ingredients in which the protein ingredient preferably is either a dairy protein product (e.g., nonfat milk solids or sodium caseinate) or a vegetable protein product. The binder composition is prepared by initially preparing a dry blend of the carbohydrate and protein, which is mixed with molten fat at elevated temperature with mixing, and the resulting binder composition is then blended with cereal particles at a blending temperature above the crystallization temperature df the fat in the range of 100–140° F., and the resulting cereal-binder mixture is formed into bar shapes. In a preferred embodiment, the resulting crude mixture of molten fat and the dry blend of the carbohydrate and protein is milled to reduce the protein and carbohydrate particle sizes; the milled binder composition is then reheated and subjected to further mixing to enhance the fluidity of the mixture, before it is combined with the cereal pieces at the blending temperature above the crystallization temperature of the fat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,238 to Hitchner describes a composite food product comprising a dual-texture, low water activity binder having at least one-food flavoring material distributed therein, and comprising two binder materials. A crisp binder material comprising a whipped protein foam and a protein foam stabilizer and a chewy binder material comprising a gelled solution of gelatin in glycerol were used. The crisp binder material is a whipped aqueous solution containing sodium caseinate, soy protein isolate, gelatin, or other proteins that can be foamed from an aqueous solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,308 to Ode describes a food bar made by distributing a sweetened low-moisture whole milk product as a binder over a cereal layer of toasted granola cereal. The milk product is described as sweetened condensed milk. U.S. Pat. No. 3,582,336 to Rasmussen describes cereal particles encapsulated with an oil-milk-sugar mixture in which sufficient cladding constituent can be applied to render the product in fixed bar-like form.
Cereal and milk bars also are known that have included milk powder as a protein source in a cereal layer or a filling layer. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,861 to Viera et al. describes a laminated, multi-phase food bar including a cereal-binder mixture forming a cereal layer on at least one side of a filling layer. The cereal-binder mixture has cereal particles bonded together by a fat-based binder system consisting essentially of a triglyceride-sugar matrix and colloidal silicon dioxide particles used as a fat gelling agent. The cereal layer is laminated on one or both sides of a filling layer that contains triglyceride-hydrogenated vegetable oil, colloidal silicon dioxide, and sugar. A protein source, such as soy protein isolate or extract and egg whites may be included in the cereal and/or filling layers for nutritional balance. The '861 patent describes a bar including 5 and 20 parts by weight dry milk solids, sodium caseinate and/or soy bean extract.
WO 0122835 A1 to Froseth et al. describes a cereal bar that includes two outer cereal layers, and an inner milk filling layer including milk powder as an ingredient. Protein nuggets are dispersed with RTE cereal pieces in the cereal layers. The nuggets are described as high protein rice pieces and texturized vegetable protein made from soybeans.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,262 to Michnowski describes a high protein, low or no lactose snack bar having a core composed of a corn syrup, a confectioner's coating material which is normally solid at room temperature, a wetting agent, a vitamin and mineral premix, at least one high carbohydrate content source, and at least one high protein content source such as caseinate, soy protein, and others. A chocolate surface coating and a granular granola topping are then applied.
Cereal bars are also known that are made without milk products. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,443 to Halladay et al. describes a cereal bar containing at least one filling layer composed of an oil normally liquid at body temperature, sugar, and a synergistic combination of protein source, such as soy protein and egg white solids.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,488 to Cook et al. describes a food bar combining at least two different polyhydric alcohols in varying ratios comprising a sugar alcohol and either glycerol or propylene glycol with dry ingredients, shortening, and sugar.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,303,163 to Wu describes a process for preparing a hand-held snack item in which a first edible, heat-sensitive food material to an initial formed hand-held food item selected from a granola bar, cereal bar, grain cake, or breakfast bar, to form a preliminarily coated food item, to which a second edible food coating material is applied which protects the first edible, heat sensitive material during a subsequent heat treatment conducted at from about 35–350° C.
None of the above-listed references describes cereal and milk bars that include a system for confining moisture migration and protein hydration to discrete sites distributed throughout the bar.
The present inventive method and product thereof significantly reduces, and in some cases essentially eliminates, the problems and shortcomings of the prior practice by including particulates within a cereal bar that effectively confine moisture migration and protein hydration so that the bar retains a more desirable texture over time, among other benefits.

Cereal bars and methods of their manufacture


Provided is a composition comprising a nonmicellar twisted nematic liquid crystal having cholesteric near infrared-reflecting properties and at least one near infrared absorptive material. This composition reduces the transmission of near infrared radiation. The composition can be used as a layer, optionally in conjunction with polymeric films, polymeric sheets, rigid sheets, and the like, to form multilayer laminates. In some embodiments these multilayer laminates are useful as solar control windows or window films to reduce energy consumption necessary to cool the interior of a structure such as an automobile or building.

Several patents and publications are cited in this description in order to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. The entire disclosure of each of these patents and publications is incorporated by reference herein.
Glass laminated products have contributed to society for almost a century. Beyond the well known, every day automotive safety glass used in windshields, laminated glass is used as windows for trains, airplanes, ships, and nearly every other mode of transportation. Safety glass is characterized by high impact and penetration resistance and does not scatter glass shards and debris when shattered.
Safety glass typically consists of a sandwich of two glass sheets or panels bonded together with an interlayer of a polymeric film or sheet, which is placed between the two glass sheets. One or both of the glass sheets may be replaced with optically clear rigid polymeric sheets, such as sheets of polycarbonate materials. Safety glass has further evolved to include multiple layers of glass and polymeric sheets bonded together with interlayers of polymeric films or sheets.
A more recent trend has been the use of glass-laminated products in the construction of homes and office structures. The use of architectural glass has expanded rapidly over the years as designers incorporated more glass surfaces into buildings. Threat resistance has become an ever-increasing requirement for architectural glass laminated products. These newer products are designed to resist both natural and man-made disasters. Examples of these needs include the recent developments of hurricane resistant glass, now mandated in hurricane susceptible areas, theft resistant glazings, and the more recent blast resistant glass-laminated products designed to protect buildings and their occupants. Some of these products have great enough strength to resist intrusion even after the glass laminate has been broken. For example, when a glass laminate is subjected to high force winds and impacts of flying debris as occur in a hurricane or where there are repeated impacts on a window by a criminal attempting to break into a vehicle or structure.
Society continues to demand more functionality from laminated glass products beyond the safety characteristics described above. One area of need is to reduce the energy consumption within the structure, such as an automobile or building to which the laminated glass is applied. The sun's energy strikes the earth over a wide spectral range from 350 nm to 2,100 nm. Nearly half the energy is within the near infrared region of 750 nm to 2,100 nm. Removing the energy from the visible region would sacrifice visual transparency through windows and, therefore, detract from one of the advantages of windows. However, since the human eye does not sense the near infrared region, attempts have been made to prevent the transmission of the energy from the near infrared region through glass laminates by modifying the glass and/or the polymeric interlayer, by the addition of further layers or combinations thereof.
Liquid crystals are known to appear in many different forms, including the smectic, nematic and twisted nematic (or cholesteric or chiral nematic) forms. A comprehensive description of the structure of liquid crystals in general, and twisted nematic liquid crystals in particular is given in "The Physics of Liquid Crystals," P. G. de Gennes and J. Prost, Oxford University Press, 1995. Twisted nematic liquid crystalline materials are also disclosed in, for example; U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,679,290, 4,637,896, 6,300,454, 6,417,902 and 6,486,338 references disclosed therein. The chirality of the liquid crystalline material determines the existence of twisted nematic phases. The presence of a chiral moiety within the liquid crystalline material induces the existence of twisted nematic phases.
Liquid crystalline materials have been considered for use in glazings to control solar radiation. Devices that incorporate micellar liquid crystal materials (discrete particles of liquid crystal materials), within matrix materials generally exhibit haze at unacceptable levels for a transparent glazing. Continuous coatings and films of liquid crystalline materials (nonmicellar liquid crystalline materials), have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,679,290; 5,731,886; 5,506,704; 5,793,456; 6,831,720; 6,630,974; 6,661,486; 6,710,823; 6,656,543; and 6,800,337. Liquid crystalline materials have also been used in window glazing units, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,156,452; 5,285,299; 5,940,150; 6,072,549; 6,369,868; 6,473,143; and 6,633,354, for example.
It is desirable to have a composition that reduces the transmission of near infrared radiation and that can be used in a low-haze glazing unit that is also an effective safety glass unit.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Composition for reducing the transmission of infrared radiation


A method for producing acetylide polymers substantially without charring or decomposition comprises heating a mixture comprising an acetylene terminated monomer and a prepolymer of said monomer, resulting in a lower reaction exotherm.

This invention relates to a method of controlling the reaction exotherm in the polymerization of acetylene terminated compounds. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for preventing charring and decomposition during polymerization by heating a mixture of an acetylene terminated monomer and its corresponding prepolymer.
Conjugated aromatic acetylene terminated Schiff's bases can be thermally polymerized into thermosets, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,430 to Bilow. These polymers are of particular interest because the extended conjugated pi electron system presents the possibility of electrically conducting polymers. The polymers also show the capacity to withstand harsh environmental conditions.
The acetylene end groups polymerize thermally. Heat treatment must be carefully controlled in order to prevent charring, foaming and decomposition. This control is difficult to achieve due to self-heating and poor heat dissipation in the bulk sample. Heating slowly may not guarantee good results, as the heat is internally generated. One previous attempt to solve this problem is described in Walton, Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 37, pp. 1921-1929 (1989), who partially b-staged the resins,, thereby lowering the recrystallization temperature and allowing curing at lower temperatures. Although this technique slightly improved the window of processability for these polymers, it did not successfully control the reaction exotherm. Until now, good heat dissipation has required limiting the size or thickness of the sample. A method of controlling the reaction exotherm f or these polymers is currently greatly needed.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a method for controlling the reaction exotherm of acetylene terminated monomers.

Method of lowering the reaction exotherm in thermally polymerized acetylene terminated resins

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


The test method for a semiconductor integrated circuit includes a multi-cycle test step and a single-cycle test step. In the multi-cycle test step, a data-read side flipflop holds data according to a clock enable signal to test a multi-cycle path. In the single-cycle test step, no data is captured for the multi-cycle path.

The present invention relates to testing of a semiconductor integrated circuit with a built-in self-test, and more particularly, to testing of a circuit having a multi-cycle path.
In conventional testing of a semiconductor integrated circuit having a multi-cycle path, a scan flipflop (hereinafter, abbreviated as an "SFF") is allowed to hold the value thereof with a clock enable signal so that the held value is captured. U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,105 (FIGS. 3c, 4 and 5d) describes semiconductor integrated circuits having a multi-cycle path and test methods therefor.
FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram of a conventional semiconductor integrated circuit having a multi-cycle path, and FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram of this semiconductor integrated circuit. In this circuit, capture, hold and shift operations are implemented with SFFs as shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C. For example, an SFF 700 of FIG. 7A includes a selector 720 connected to a data input D of a data flipflop (hereinafter, abbreviated as a "DFF") 710 and a selector 730 connected to the selector 720. The DFF 710 has a clock input CK and a data output Q. The selector 720 selects either input data d or an output signal 733 of the selector 730 according to a scan enable signal se. The selector 730 selects either a scan input signal si or an output signal 713 of the DFF 710 according to a clock enable signal ce. Whether the DFF 710 operates shift or hold is determined with the value of the clock enable signal ce. By holding the value of the SFF with the clock enable signal ce, the operation of the SFF during the test can be made slower than the clock rate in the actual operation. The above operation implemented by the SFF 700 of FIG. 7A can also be implemented by SFFs 740 and 750 of FIGS. 7B and 7C. FIG. 7D illustrates any of the SFFs shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C, and FIG. 7E illustrates an SFF receiving no clock enable signal.
The operation of the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit having a multi-cycle path and a test method thereof will be described with reference to the circuit diagram of FIG. 8 and the waveform diagram of FIG. 9.
In FIG. 8, a first SFF 11 has a data output q, from which paths extend through a logic circuit 40 to a data input d of a second SFF 22 and also to a data input d of a third SFF 31. A BIST controller 100 includes a controller 102, a scan enable generation section 103, a clock enable generation section 104, a random pattern generator (PRPG) 105 and a data compressor (MISR) 106. The scan enable generation section 103 supplies a scan enable signal se1 to a terminal se of the SFF 11 and a scan enable signal se2 to terminals se of the SFFs 22 and 31. The clock enable generation section 104 supplies a clock enable signal ce1 to a terminal ce of the SFF 11. The random pattern generator 105 supplies a signal si1 to a scan input terminal si of the SFF 11 and a signal si2 to a scan input terminal si of the SFF 22. The data compressor 106 receives the outputs q of the SFFs 11 and 31 at inputs so1 and so2, respectively.
The SFF 11 operates shift and hold repeatedly according to the value of the clock enable signal ce1 as shown in the waveform in FIG. 9. In the illustrated example, the clock enable signal ce1 goes Low and High every cycle of the clock signal ck. Therefore, data is held for the duration of one clock cycle after each shift operation. The SFFs 22 and 31, receiving no clock enable signal, do not hold data. In the SFF 11, shift is done at time t0, hold comes at time t1, and then capture is done at time t2. Therefore, the shift at the time t0 is the last shift for the SFF 11 before the capture. In the SFFs 22 and 31, shift is done at time t0, shift, not hold, continues at time t1, and capture is done at time t2. Therefore, the shift at the time t1 is the last shift for the SFFs 22 and 31 before the capture. The value at the output q of the SFF 11 immediately before the capture is that held at the time t0, and the capture is done at the time t2, two clocks after the time t0, in the SFFs 22 and 31 that receive the data from the SFF 11 via the logic circuit 40. Thus, testing for the paths from the SFF 11 to the SFFs 22 and 31 receiving the data via the logic circuit 40 is performed at multi-cycle timing. In this way, the time length from the last shift to capture is extended to more than one clock cycle by providing hold for the SFF 11 during shift and immediately before capture using the clock enable signal ce and the scan enable signal se.
However, by holding the value of the SFF 11 with the clock enable signal ce as described above, data is captured at multi-cycle timing for all the paths from the output q of the SFF 11 to the data inputs d of the SFFs 22 and 31 for receiving data via the logic circuit 40. Therefore, even for a normally non-multi-cycle (single-cycle) path among the paths from the data output q of the SFF 11 to the SFFs 22 and 31 for receiving data via the logic circuit 40, data is captured at multi-cycle timing. For example, when the path from the data output q of the SFF 11 to the input d of the SFF 22 via the logic circuit 40 normally operates at multi-cycle timing while the path from the data output q of the SFF 11 to the input d of the SFF 31 via the logic circuit 40 normally operates at single-cycle timing, even the latter path to the SFF 31 that normally operates at single-cycle timing will be tested only at the multi-cycle timing. As a result, while the multi-cycled path can be tested in the actually used state, no actual operation speed check is available for the path normally operating at single-cycle timing.

Test method for a semiconductor integrated circuit having a multi-cycle path and a semiconductor integrated circuit

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A production device for performing a blow molding, charging, and sealing process for plastic containers has a first type of molding device (10) into which a tube of plasticized plastic material may be introduced. The molding device (10) of the first type may be rotated to individual spatially separate stations (22, 24, 26) about an axis (20). One station (24) performs the function of blow molding of the container. Another station (26) charges and seals the blow molded container. Simultaneously a tube of plasticized plastic material can be blow molded for production of the plastic container and a corresponding container produced in this manner at the other station can be charged with the medium, in particular one in the form of a fluid, and to seal it. The cycle times may be reduced in comparison to cycle times of production devices of the state of the art so that the rates of output of charged containers sealed under sterile conditions to be produced may be significantly increased.

Generic processes and devices for production of plastic containers are known in the state of the art (e.g., DE 199 26 329 A1). A tube of plasticized plastic material is extruded into a molding device with one end of the tube is sealed by bonding. This tube is expanded by generation of a pneumatic pressure gradient which acts on the tube and is applied for the purpose of formation of the container to the molding wall of the molding device having two opposite molding tools. The plastic container is charged under sterile conditions inside the molding device, by a suitable charging mandrel. After the charging mandrel has been removed, the plastic container is then hermetically sealed and a predetermined head geometry is formed by two container shaping jaws movable toward each other by hydraulic drive means to a closed position and away from each other over the same path in the opposite direction to an open position for formation of the plastic container itself for subsequent storage of the fluid.
The head geometries generated by the two controlled head jaws also regularly comprise the neck component of the plastic container, including ampules. The containers may be opened by a point of separation closed by a head piece for a fluid removal process as soon as the head piece is separated by a toggle component at the point of separation. Thus, the headpiece is removed from the plastic container itself.
Processes such as these have been disclosed in a number of embodiments, and are widely employed in packaging systems for liquid or paste products.
The hydraulic drive systems regularly used in practical applications for the respective movement of the shaping tools create problems in that any leakage may result in fouling by the stored fluid. Such fouling leads to problems, particularly when the shaping machines are used for plastic containers in pharmaceutical applications, in the area of foods and in medical technology in general. The maintenance effort is also increased. The hydraulic drive systems often do not reach the cycle times desired or low cycle times work to the detriment of precise positioning of the shaping tools for container shaping. In the case of the known production devices, the blow molding, charging and sealing process are carried out stationarily in temporal sequence in one production machine, so that correspondingly long production times are required for the entire production process.
Conventional rotation plastic blow molding machines (see e.g., EP-B-0 921 932, and EP-B-0 858 878) customarily have a wheel mounted on a base frame for rotation about a horizontal axis of rotation. They are employed to overcome the disadvantage indicated, and in particular, to achieve faster cycle times in production of plastic containers. The wheel contains a frame which supports several molding stations, each station having a pair of mold frames for mounting of a pair on molding halves. The mold frames may be moved between a mold opening point at which the mold halves are positioned a certain distance from each other to receive an extruded plastic parison and a mold closing position in which the mold halves form a closed cavity in which the parison is blow molded. However, the blow-molded containers can neither be charged nor sealed in a sterile manner by these rotation plastic blow molding machines of the state of the art. Accordingly, they are suitable only for production of empty containers which are provided at another site with a beverage content or the like outside the rotation molding machine, and are also provided with a suitable seal such as a screw-type cap.

Device for blow moulding, filling and closing plastic containers


The invention provides protein scaffolds and methods of preparing, screening, engineering and using such protein scaffolds.

This invention relates to protein scaffolds useful, for example, for the generation of products having novel binding characteristics.
Proteins having relatively defined three-dimensional structures, commonly referred to as protein scaffolds, may be used as reagents for the design of engineered products. These scaffolds typically contain one or more regions which are amenable to specific or random sequence variation, and such sequence randomization is often carried out to produce libraries of proteins from which desired products may be selected. One particular area in which such scaffolds are useful is the field of antibody mimetic design.
While therapeutic antibodies are known with some successful examples on the market (HERCEPTIN®, AVASTIN®, SYNAGIS®), there is a growing interest in generating antibody fragments as therapeutic proteins. The advantages are the ease of manipulation by molecular biology techniques in order to obtain desired binding characteristics, the ability to express such fragments in microbial systems, and the expectation that antibody fragments will have better tissue penetration than full-length antibodies. One example is REOPRO®.
In addition, there have been efforts to develop small, non-antibody therapeutics, i.e., antibody mimetics, in order to capitalize on the advantages of antibodies and antibody fragments, such as high affinity binding of targets and low immunogenicity and toxicity, while avoiding some of the shortfalls, such as the requirement for intradomain disulfide bonds which require proper refolding, and the tendency for antibody fragments to aggregate and be less stable than full-length IgGs. One example is a "minibody" scaffold, which is related to the immunoglobulin fold, which is designed by deleting three beta strands from a heavy chain variable domain of a monoclonal antibody (Tramontano et al., J. Mol. Recognit. 7:9, 1994). This protein includes 61 residues and can be used to present two hypervariable loops, much like complementarity determining regions (CDRs) in antibodies. These two loops have been randomized and products selected for antigen binding, but thus far the framework appears to have somewhat limited utility due to solubility problems. Another framework used to display loops has been tendamistat, a small protein inhibitor of α-amylase, which contains a 74 residue, six-strand beta sheet sandwich held together by two disulfide bonds and forms 3 CDR-like loops (McConnell and Hoess, J. Mol. Biol. 250:460, 1995).
Other proteins have been tested as frameworks and have been used to display randomized residues on alpha helical surfaces (Nord et al., Nat. Biotechnol. 15:772, 1997; Nord et al., Protein Eng. 8:601, 1995), loops between alpha helices in alpha helix bundles (Ku and Schultz, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:6552, 1995), and loops constrained by disulfide bridges, such as those of the small protease inhibitors (Markland et al., Biochemistry 35:8045, 1996; Markland et al., Biochemistry 35:8058, 1996; Rottgen and Collins, Gene 164:243, 1995; Wang et al., J. Biol. Chem. 270:12250, 1995).
Thus, there is a need to develop small, stable, artificial antibody-like molecules for a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic applications.
Citation or discussion of a reference herein shall not be construed as an admission that such is prior art to the present invention.


A global positioning system receiver with a system and method for parallel synchronization. The novel receiver includes a correlator having plural demodulator channels for receiving a signal from a first satellite, and a processor for processing the signal from the first satellite using a plurality of the channels. The processor includes a parallel synchronization process for synchronizing the receiver with the signal. In an illustrative embodiment, the processor is adapted to instruct the plurality of channels to track the signal from the first satellite in parallel, each channel using a different timing hypothesis. Only the channel determined to have the correct timing is retained for tracking the satellite. For the first satellite only, the processor also demodulates the hand-over word and determines a GPS transmit time. The parallel synchronization process is then repeated for subsequent satellites in turn.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronics and electrical systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to GPS (global positioning system) receivers.
2. Description of the Related Art
The primary function of a GPS receiver is to determine the position and velocity of its antenna and GPS system time from signals transmitted by a constellation of satellites. To achieve this end, a GPS receiver must first acquire a coarse/acquisition (C/A) signal when the receiver's initial position, velocity, and estimate of GPS time are not known sufficiently well. After the C/A code signal is acquired, the receiver must perform a number of steps to correctly estimate the transmit time of the signal, which is necessary to compute a navigation fix. These steps require a certain amount of time that add to the receiver's time-to-first-fix (TTFF). A fast TTFF is crucial to many military as well as commercial applications.
The most time consuming steps that contribute to a receiver's TTFF are bit synchronization, frame synchronization, and demodulating the hand-over word (HOW) from the signals transmitted by the satellites. These steps are typically performed independently and in parallel for each satellite being tracked, using one demodulator channel per satellite. Thus for a particular satellite, bit synchronization must be achieved by successively trying different channel timing setups until the correct one is found. Prior art methods ordinarily used to determine the correct timing tend to be sensitive to the frequency of bit transitions during the data collection process and are also susceptible to the effects of interference or low signal strength. Consequently, if there are too few bit transitions while a given timing setup is being tested, or the signal strength fluctuates, the wrong timing hypothesis may be accepted. When this happens, the TTFF may be extended by a considerable amount of time.
Following bit synchronization; the receiver must determine where individual words and frames start within the navigation message. The data bits transmitted by each satellite are grouped into 30-bit words, which in turn are organized into a ten-word subframe. The first word of every subframe contains a pattern that allows the receiver to verify that it has correctly determined the beginning of words and subframes. The process of locating this pattern is generally referred to as frame synchronization, and since the data bits are transmitted at a 50 Hz rate, this operation can take up to six seconds to complete.
Demodulating the HOW is usually accomplished after the frame synchronization process completes. The HOW contains a 17-bit quantity called the time-of-week (TOW) count, which corresponds to the time of the week at the start of the next subframe. Once the receiver obtains the TOW count, it is able to determine the time of the week associated with every C/A chip. The time associated with any given chip of the C/A code sequence is referred to as transmit time and is heeded to compute a navigation fix.
Bit synchronization, frame synchronization, and obtaining the time-of-week count from the HOW are necessary because the C/A sequence repeats once per millisecond. When tracking the C/A code phase, the receiver can very accurately estimate the transmit time within a particular millisecond, however, it cannot determine which millisecond relative to a certain epoch. By performing the steps described previously, this ambiguity can be resolved by the receiver. As stated earlier, in the prior art, these steps (among others) are performed in parallel for each satellite being tracked and therefore require one demodulator channel per satellite. While straightforward in concept, this approach does not make the most efficient use of available channel resources to minimize TTFF.
Hence, a need exists in the art for an improved GPS receiver that offers a shorter TTFF than conventional GPS receivers.

Global positioning receiver with system and method for parallel synchronization for reducing time to first navigation fix


A thermosensitive recording material composed of a support, and a thermosensitive recording layer formed on the support, containing a leuco dye, a color developer capable of inducing color formation in the leuco dye upon application of heat thereto, and a thermofusible material including p'-methylphenyl p-chlorobenzoate serving as a thermosensitivity-improving agent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermosensitive recording material comprising as the main components a leuco dye serving as a coloring agent and a color developer capable of inducing color formation in the leuco dye upon application of heat thereto, and a particular thermosensitivity improving agent.
2. Discussion of Background
There are conventionally proposed various recording materials which utilize the coloring reaction between a colorless or light-colored leuco dye and a color developer capable of inducing color formation in the leuco dye upon application of heat or pressure thereto when brought into contact with the leuco dye.
A thermosensitive recording material, one of the above-mentioned recording materials, is usable as a recording material for an electronic computer, facsimile apparatus, ticket vending apparatus, label printer, and recorder because it has the advantages that complicated processes such as development and image-fixing are not required, recording can be achieved for a short period of time using a relatively simple apparatus, there is no noise development, and the manufacturing cost is low.
In such a thermosensitive recording material, colorless or light-colored leuco dyes having a lactone, lactam, or a spiropyran ring are used as coloring dyes, and organic acids or phenols are conventionally employed as color developers. The thermosensitive recording material using the above-mentioned leuco dye and color developer is widely used for practical use because the produced images have high density, with the whiteness of the background maintained high.
In line with the increase of demands for the thermo-sensitive recording system, the requirements for high speed recording are increasing. Therefore, not only the development of a high-speed recording apparatus, but also the development of a recording material capable of coping with the above-mentioned high-speed recording apparatus is intensively desired.
To cope with the high-speed recording system, it is proposed to use p-hydroxybenzoate and hydroxynaphthoate as the color developers with high sensitivity, as respectively disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications 56-144193 and 59-22793. However, the recording materials comprising the above color developers have a shortcoming in the preservability of the obtained images therein.
In addition, the use of a thioester compound as a color developer is proposed, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 59-165680; and phenolsulfonic acid and derivatives thereof are used as the color developers, as in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications 58-82788 and 60-13852. When the aforementioned compounds are used as the color developers, however, the sensitivity of the obtained thermosensitive recording materials is insufficient although image areas obtained in the recording materials are fast to fats and oils.
Furthermore, the addition of various thermofusible materials is proposed to increase the thermal sensitivity, for example, benzoate compounds in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 57-128592; phenylether derivatives in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications 58-57989, 58-87088 and 61-31287; naphthol derivatives in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 58-87064; and benzylbiphenyl in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 60-82382.
The thermosensitive recording materials comprising the above-mentioned color developers or thermofusible materials are not satisfactory from the viewpoints of the thermal coloring sensitivity, the whiteness degree of the background, and the preservability of the obtained images such as fading of the images and deposition of white dust on the recording material.
The use of a phenyl benzoate as a thermosensitivity-improving agent is proposed, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications 57-128592 and 58-59894. However, the thermosensitive recording materials comprising the phenyl benzoate as disclosed in the above applications are still insufficient in the thermal coloring sensitivity, and the preservability of the recording materials in terms of the image fading, deposition of white dust and coloring of the background.
The formation of an intermediate layer is proposed to increase the recording sensitivity without decreasing the whiteness degree of the background. For instance, there are proposed an intermediate layer mainly comprising minute void particles, as in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications 59-5093 and 59-225987; and an intermediate layer comprising non-expandable void particles, as in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 62-5886. However, these recording materials have the shortcomings that the thermal coloring sensitivity is insufficient and the recording properties are poor.


Disclosed is a touch panel. The touch panel includes a substrate including a view area and a dead area; a bridge electrode on the view area of the substrate; a print part on the dead area of the substrate; a wire electrode formed on the printed part to make direct contact with the print part; and an insulation pattern on the bridge electrode and the wire electrode.

A touch panel, which is installed on a display surface of an image display device such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a field emission display (FED), a plasma display panel (PDP), and an electro-luminescence device (ELD), serves a device for allowing a user to input predetermined information to a computer while the user views the image display device. Recently, the touch panel has been widely used for a communication terminal such as a smart phone or a touch phone.
FIGS. 1 to 4 are sectional views illustrating a method of fabricating a touch panel according to the related art.
According to the related art, as shown in FIG. 1, a bridge electrode 120 including ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) is formed on a transparent window 110 in order to fabricate the touch panel. The bridge electrode 120 is formed on a view area through which a touch instruction is input on the transparent window 110 of the touch panel. A deco print part 130 is formed on a dead area.
Then, as shown in FIG. 2, an insulation material is coated on the bridge electrode 120 and the deco print part 130 such that insulation patterns 125 and 135 are formed, respectively.
An Rx and Tx sensing electrodes pattern 140 formed of an ITO material and a metal wire 150 are formed on the insulation patterns 125 and 135 describe above, respectively.
Then, a second insulation pattern 160 for protecting the metal wire 150 is formed such that the metal wire 150 is prevented from being open circuited and oxidized.
However, according to the related art, an additional process is required for forming the second insulation pattern 160 for protecting the metal wire 150, so that the production cost is increased.
To solve the above-described problems, there is a need of a touch panel having a new structure.


A helicopter may include a hybrid engine system including an internal combustion engine (e.g., a turbine engine) and an electric engine. The internal combustion engine and the electric engine being coupled to the rotor system and configured to separately or collectively operate the rotor system in response to a triggering event. In one aspect, a method for operating a rotor system of a helicopter may include receiving an indicator of a triggering event and actuating a non-active engine, one of the internal combustion engine or the electric engine, in response to receiving the triggering event.

A traditional helicopter vehicle may include one or more rotor systems for providing lift or thrust to allow the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to fly, and to hover in the air. The ability of a helicopter to hover and travel vertically may make helicopters preferable to other aircrafts (e.g., airplanes) as minimal space is required for taking off and landing the helicopter. For example, buildings such as hospitals, skyscrapers, and residential homes, may include heliports or other landing platforms for helicopters.
A helicopter may be powered by an engine that drives the rotor systems. For example, a helicopter may include a turbine engine or other internal combustion engine. The turbine engine may drive a rotor system, causing rotor blades attached to the rotor system to rotate and provide the lift or thrust needed to operate the helicopter. However, the noise generated by turbine engines during operation of a helicopter may make their use undesirable or prohibited in certain environments.