A tent for screening the sunlight. The tent comprises a main sheet for screening the downwardly radiating sunlight, a plurality of front and rear tent poles for causing the main sheet to maintain its suspended shape, a plurality of ropes for being stretched to impart a tensile force to the main sheet, a pole support for supporting the tent poles as well as dispersing the vertical force generated in the poles and a detachable side sheet for intercepting the side radiating sunlight. The pole support comprises a base and a pair of pole support pipes which receive lower ends of the pipes. The base is embossed at its under surface with a raised figure to improve the frictional force between said pole support and the ground surface. The pole support pipes concentrate in the center of the base to have a V shape in cooperation with each other. The side sheet is provided with a plurality of connection hooks which are hooked in corresponding holes formed at predetermined positions of the poles supported by the pole support so that the side sheet occupies a part of triangular space provided between the poles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a tent, and more particularly to a sunscreen tent useful for screening the sunlight which comprises a V-shaped pole support for supporting the tent poles as well as dispersing the vertical force generated in the poles and a detachable side sheet for intercepting the side radiating sunlight.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As known to those skilled in the art, known tents are classified into various types, for example, A-shaped tents, domed tents and sunscreen tents, in accordance with their set up shapes and uses. Of the known tents, the sunscreen tent concerned with this invention is generally used out of doors for screening the sunlight and generally comprises a rectangular fabric ceiling sheet which is to be suspended by means of a plurality of tent poles and ropes, such that it is set up out of doors by erecting the tent poles corresponding to the center and the four corners of the ceiling sheet, and stretching each rope connected at an end to a corresponding corner and at the other end to a tent peg. At this time, the ropes connected at an end thereof to the corners of the tent are tightly fastened to the tent pegs simultaneously with being stretched, respectively, so that the tent maintains its tensioned shape.
However, such a sunscreen tent has a problem in setting up on a soft ground such as the lawn, the plains, or the sands while it has no problem in setting up on a hard ground such as an athletic field. In other words, in case of setting up the sunscreen tent on the soft ground, the tent poles by which the tent structure is tightly supported are gradually inserted into the ground as times goes by, so that each rope sags between the corner of the tent and the tent peg. In result, this causes the ceiling sheet to sag following suit. To solve the sagging of the ropes due to the insertion of the poles into the soft ground, the person in camping lays a flat, hard material such as a flat stone between the lowermost end of each pole and the ground surface or occasionally restretches the sagging ropes. The known sunscreen tents are, therefore, obliged to give the person in camping a burdensome caused by laying the flat stone or occasionally restretching the sagging ropes.
In addition, the main sheet of the known sunscreen tent generally consists of a rectangular-shaped fabric ceiling sheet so that the known sunscreen tent has a disadvantage in that it efficiently intercepts the downwardly radiating sunlight but can not intercept the side radiating sunlight.


A laser diode is provided. The laser diode has a structure in which reflective index of an n-cladding layer formed on a first face of the active layer is higher than that of a p-cladding layer formed on a second face. This asymmetric waveguide structure suppresses extension of field into the p-cladding layer thus reducing free carrier absorption in the p-cladding layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a long-wavelength laser diode, and more particularly, to a GaInNAs laser diode having an asymmetric waveguide structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,549 discloses a GaInAs laser diode. The GaInNAs laser diode, which is a long-wavelength laser device, has a structure as shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional GaInAs laser diode is comprised of a GaAs substrate 6, an n-AlxGa1-xAs lower cladding layer 5, a Ga1-xInxNyAs1-y active layer 4, and a p-AlxGa1-xAs upper cladding layer 3. On the upper cladding layer 3, a contact layer 2 and a p-electrode 1 are formed. An n-electrode 7 is formed on the bottom surface of the substrate 6.
The conventional laser diode has a symmetric waveguide structure in which the upper and lower cladding layers 3 and 5 are formed symmetrically with respect to the intervening active layer 4 having a high refractive index n1. In this case, the upper and lower cladding layers 3 and 5 have a refractive index n2 lower than the refractive index n1 of the active layer 4. Thus, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, FIELD is evenly distributed with respect to the p- and n-AlGaAs upper and lower cladding layers 3 and 5, and a considerable portion of the FIELD extends into the upper and lower cladding layer 3 and 5.
If this symmetric waveguide structure is applied to long-wavelength GaInNAs quantum wells on a GaAs substrate, field is densely distributed on a p-cladding layer, so free carrier absorption greatly affects the operation of the device. FIG. 3 is a graph showing free carrier absorption for each wavelength range. As evident from FIG. 3, free carrier absorption increases with an increasing wavelength and in particular absorption significantly increases in the p-cladding layer. Optical loss due to free carrier absorption in the p-cladding layer increases threshold current of a GaInNAs long-wavelength laser diode while reducing slope efficiency that is a change in output with respect to increase in current, thus degrading the performance of the device.


A vibrating member (500) for a vibrating densitometer (800) is provided. The vibrating member (500) includes an inner surface (531) with one or more arcuate portions (730). The inner surface (531) of the vibrating member (500) also includes one or more raised portions (530) sized and located to increase a frequency separation between a resonant frequency of a desired vibrational drive mode and a resonant frequency of one or more undesired vibrational modes.

Densitometers are generally known in the art and are used to measure a density of a fluid. The fluid may comprise a liquid, a gas, a liquid with suspended particulates and/or entrained gas, or a combination thereof. While there are various types of densitometers that operate according to different principles, one type of densitometer that has received great commercial success is a vibrating densitometer. Vibrating densitometers can comprise a vibrating member, such as a cylinder, a conduit, a pipe, a tube, etc. that is exposed to a fluid under test. One example of a vibrating densitometer comprises a conduit cantilever mounted with an inlet end coupled to an existing pipeline or other structure and the outlet end free to vibrate. Alternatively, both the inlet and outlet may be fixed with the portion of the conduit between the inlet and outlet vibrating. The conduit can be vibrated at resonance and the resonant frequency can be measured. As is generally known in the art, the density of the fluid under test can be determined by measuring the reduced resonant frequency of the conduit. According to well-known principles, the resonant frequency of the conduit will vary inversely with the density of the fluid that contacts the conduit. Therefore, while some vibrating densitometers are capable of measuring a density of a liquid, viscous damping caused by the liquid on the outside of the cylinder can reduce the measurement capabilities of vibrating densitometers. Liquid vibrating densitometers thus use vibrating pipes or tubes that have the fluid only on the inside, while gas vibrating densitometers typically are immersed in the fluid, having gas both on the inside and the outside of the cylinder. Therefore, typically, vibrating densitometers are used to measure a density of a gas.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art immersed densitometer 10. The prior art densitometer 10 may be configured to measure a density of a fluid, such as a liquid or a gas, for example. The densitometer 10 includes a housing 11 with a vibrating member 12 located at least partially within the housing 11. A portion of the housing 11 is cut away to show the vibrating member 12. The densitometer 10 may be placed in-line in an existing pipeline, for example. Alternatively, the housing 11 may comprise closed ends with apertures to receive a fluid sample, for example. Therefore, while flanges are not shown, in many instances, the housing 11 or the vibrating member 12 may include flanges or other members for operatively coupling the densitometer 10 to a pipeline or similar fluid delivering device in a fluid-tight manner. According to the example shown, the vibrating member 12 is cantilever mounted to the housing 11. The vibrating member 12 is shown coupled to the housing 11 at an inlet end 13 with the outlet end 14 free to vibrate.
According to the example shown, the vibrating member 12 also includes a plurality of fluid apertures 15 near the inlet end 13. The fluid apertures 15 can be provided to allow some of the fluid entering the densitometer 10 to flow between the housing 11 and the vibrating member 12. Therefore, the fluid contacts the inside as well as the outside surfaces of the vibrating member 12. This is particularly helpful when the fluid under test comprises a gas because a greater surface area is exposed to the gas. In other examples, apertures may be provided in the housing 11 to expose the fluid under test to the outer surface of the vibrating member 12 and therefore, the apertures 15 are not required in the vibrating member 12.
Further shown in FIG. 1 is a driver 16 and a vibrating sensor 17 positioned within a cylinder 50. The driver 16 and vibrating sensor 17 are shown as comprising magnet/coil combinations, which are well known in the art. If an electric current is provided to the coil, a magnetic field is induced in the vibrating member 12 causing the vibrating member 12 to vibrate. Conversely, the vibration of the vibrating member 12 induces a voltage in the vibrating sensor 17. The driver 16 receives a drive signal from a meter electronics 18 in order to vibrate the vibrating member 12 at one of its resonant frequencies in one of a plurality of vibration modes, including for example simple bending, torsional, radial, or coupled type. The vibrating sensor 17 detects the vibration of the vibrating member 12, including the frequency at which the vibrating member 12 is vibrating and sends the vibration information to the meter electronics 18 for processing. As the vibrating member 12 vibrates, the fluid contacting the vibrating member's wall vibrates along with the vibrating member 12. The added mass of the fluid contacting the vibrating member 12 lowers the resonant frequency. The new, lower, resonant frequency of the vibrating member 12 is used to determine the density of the fluid as is generally known in the art according to a previously determined correlation, for example.
As is generally known, to obtain accurate density measurements, the resonant frequency used to measure the density of the fluid must be very stable. This is particularly true when the fluid comprises a gas as the resonant frequency changes by a smaller amount compared to liquid. One prior art approach to achieve the desired stability is to vibrate the vibrating member 12 in a radial vibration mode. In contrast to a bending vibration mode, for example, where the longitudinal axis of the vibrating member translates and/or rotates away from its rest position, in a radial vibration mode, the longitudinal axis of the vibrating member remains essentially stationary while at least a part of the vibrating member's wall translates and/or rotates away from its rest position. Radial vibration modes are preferred in straight conduit densitometers, such as the prior art densitometer 10 shown in FIG. 1 because radial vibration modes are self-balancing and thus, the mounting characteristics of the vibrating member are not as critical compared to some other vibration modes. One example radial vibration mode is a three-lobed radial vibration mode. An example of the change in shape of the vibrating member's wall during a three-lobed radial vibration mode is shown in FIG. 3.
If the vibrating member 12 has a perfectly round cross-sectional shape and has a perfectly uniform wall thickness, there is only one three-lobed radial vibration mode. However, due to design tolerances, this is usually impractical. Consequently, when a manufacturer attempts to make a perfectly round vibrating member 12 with a perfectly uniform wall thickness, small imperfections result in two three-lobed radial vibrations that vibrate at two different resonant frequencies, which are very close to one another. The three-lobed radial vibrational mode with the lower resonant frequency will vibrate with the peaks and valleys as shown in FIG. 3 aligned with the thinner walled portions while the higher frequency will vibrate with the peaks and valleys at the thicker wall portions. The frequency separation between the two modes is typically very small and may be less than a hertz. With two resonant frequencies so close together, a density determination is impractical because an operator will often not be able to distinguish the vibrational frequencies to determine what mode is being driven into vibration and thus, the correct density.
In some prior art densitometers, this problem is addressed by tuning the radial mode so that it has at least a minimum frequency separation between the two three-lobed radial vibrational modes as well as from the other vibrational modes, such as the two lobed modes or the four lobed modes. While the tuning can be accomplished according to a variety of techniques, one prior art approach tuning method is by grinding the vibrating member's wall in axially aligned strips so the vibrating member has different thicknesses in different circumferential regions. This is shown in FIG. 1, and in more detail in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 shows the vibrating member 12 taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is shown with reference angles as well. The reference angles are taken where the driver 16 and the vibrating sensor 17 are positioned at 0°. However, the angles are merely shown as an example and other reference coordinate angles may be used.
As shown, the vibrating member 12 comprises varying wall thicknesses around the circumference of the conduit. For example, the vibrating member 12 may originally comprise a thickness T1. The driver 16 and the vibrating sensor 17 are centered on one of these thick walled regions. Starting at approximately 15° and spacing uniformly around the circumference of the vibrating member 12 at approximately 30° intervals, six regions of the wall of the vibrating member 12 are ground down to a thickness T2, which is less than T1. Typically, the thickness of the wall is reduced by using a mandrel that has movable segments moved into position by hydraulic pressure. When the mandrel is pressurized, the movable segments move out the required amount to contact the vibrating member 12 and the thinner regions are ground. By grinding the vibrating member wall thickness in various circumferential regions, the resonant frequencies of the two three-lobed radial vibration modes are separated from one another. With the spacing between the thin regions being approximately 30°, the higher frequency three-lobed radial mode will be offset from the lower frequency three-lobed radial mode by approximately 15°. In one example, the lower frequency three-lobed vibrational mode will vibrate with the peaks and valleys centered on the thin and thick portions while the higher frequency three-lobed vibrational radial mode will have the peaks and valleys half-way between the thin and thick regions.
The above-mentioned process has several problems. The hydraulic mandrel is at the limit of its dimensional capability. In other words, the grinding needs to be extremely precise and is often close to or even beyond the design capabilities of the hydraulically operated mandrel. Further, the repeatability of the grinding operation is nearly impossible. For example, if a customer desires to have a vibrating tube with a specified resonant frequency that is also separated from the next closest mode frequency by a predetermined amount, the manufacturer must grind down the thin areas of the vibrating tube and check the frequency. If the frequencies are not as desired, further grinding is required. This process continues until the desired frequencies are achieved. However, often, during the grinding operation, the desired frequencies are jumped over due to grinding too much of the tube. The part must then be discarded and the process starts over. As can be appreciated, the grinding operation does not provide an ideal manufacturing situation.
Therefore, there exists a need for a method and apparatus for improving vibrating densitometers. Specifically, there exists a need for a vibrating densitometer with increased resonant frequency vibration mode separation while maintaining a higher product yield. The present invention solves this and other problems and an advance in the art is achieved.

Vibrating densitometer with an improved vibrating member


The present invention relates to a system and a method for calibration between coordinate systems of a 3D camera and a medical imaging apparatus and an application thereof. The calibration system comprises: a calibration tool arranged on a scanning table, wherein the calibration tool is provided with markers and a reference point, the reference point is aligned with a center of the medical imaging apparatus to serve as an origin of the coordinate system of the medical imaging apparatus, and positions of the markers in the coordinate system of the medical imaging apparatus are calculated according to relative positions of the markers with respect to the reference point; a 3D camera for capturing images of the markers and determining positions of the markers in the coordinate system of the 3D camera based on the captured images; and a calculation device for calculating a calibration matrix using the positions of the markers in the coordinate system of the 3D camera and the positions of the markers in the coordinate system of the medical imaging apparatus, and performing calibration between the coordinate system of the 3D camera and the coordinate system of the medical imaging apparatus using the calibration matrix. The method corresponds to the aforementioned system. The present invention further relates to an application of the calibration and a computer-readable storage medium capable of implementing the method and the application.

In the conventional medical imaging process, an imaging device is scanned through a medical imaging apparatus in order to acquire image information of a patient to be scanned or a part to be scanned. However, if a user wishes to obtain more intuitive, accurate and effective feature information, a video or image-based camera needs to be further incorporated. For example, 3D cameras are incorporated in computed tomography (CT) to allow CT users to perform a variety of intuitive, accurate and effective operations, such as estimation of a scanning range, displaying and adjusting the scanning range, and estimation of a patient's body width, etc. In addition, safety-related operations, such as detection of movements of a patient as well as collision prediction prior to movement of a scanning table, can be provided to CT users.
However, the medical imaging apparatus and the camera have different coordinate systems. Accordingly, transformation needs to be implemented between the two coordinate systems. Such transformation is usually referred to in the art as calibration. Both transformation and calibration require a large number of data sets to form a calibration matrix. By means of the calibration matrix, the information acquired through the camera can then be converted to be used in the medical imaging apparatus for subsequent processing.
Existing transformation and calibration techniques both involve medical imaging scanning. A specific example would be that CT scanning is performed on a calibration object on the scanning table to obtain a set of data, and meanwhile, the calibration object is imaged through the 3D camera to obtain another set of data; afterwards, a transformation relationship is calculated based on the two sets of data. In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,633,435B2 with the publication date of Mar. 30, 2017 has disclosed a method for calibrating an RGB-D sensor and a medical imaging scanner using a transformation matrix, where the medical imaging scanner obtains a first data set through imaging scanning, while data sensed by the RGB-D sensor is used as a second data set, and the transformation matrix is obtained based on the two data sets.
The involvement of medical imaging scanning results in additional radiation in the transformation or calibration process, which is definitely undesirable from the perspective of radiation safety. The process is also inevitably made more time consuming and requires an operator to control imaging scanning on a console outside a scanning room, which is quite inconvenient. Furthermore, the introduction of a 3D camera that can enable users to implement various operations more intuitively, accurately and effectively is desired.
As a result, an urgent need exists for a new technique solution capable of conveniently and accurately implementing calibration between coordinate systems of a 3D camera and a medical imaging apparatus without radiation.

System and method for calibration between coordinate systems of 3D camera and medical imaging apparatus and application thereof


First and second robots function to hold first and second nozzles, respectively, which are supplied with respective fluid coating materials. The robots move the nozzles along respective different paths over a surface to which the fluid coating materials are to be applied. The fluid coating materials are uniformly and efficiently applied over the surface, without any irregularities, using the combination of nozzles and robots. In addition, the first robot has a nozzle transfer function to hold the second nozzle as well. As a result, the first robot may hold both nozzles for application of the coating materials.

FIG. 8 of the accompanying drawings shows, in side elevation, a color cathode-ray tube partly in cross section. As shown in FIG. 8, the color cathode-ray tube has a tube body 101 including a funnel 101f and a panel 101p which has a fluorescent inner surface coated with color fluorescent materials. The panel 101p has an open end hermetically sealed against the open end of the funnel 101f by a glass frit 102.
The glass frit 102 is in the form of a liquid, i.e., a fluid when it is applied. FIG. 9 of the accompanying drawings shows the open end of the funnel 101f. As shown in FIG. 9, the glass frit is applied to the open end of the funnel 101f by moving a nozzle for ejecting the glass frit, from a position P, as a starting point, in the direction indicated by the arrow a, e.g., clockwise in FIG. 9. When the nozzle reaches the position P as an ending point again, the nozzle is stopped, thus coating the glass frit to the entire open end of the funnel 101f. If the starting and ending points of the nozzle overlap each other in the position P, then the coated layer of the glass frit is thicker in the position P than the coated layer in the other positions on the open end. If an effort is made to prevent the glass frit from being coated in overlapping layers at the starting and ending points, then the starting and ending points tend to be spaced from each other with no sufficient coating layer of glass frit therebetween.
In the event that the panel 101p is joined to the funnel 101f, as shown in FIG. 8, with the glass frit being thus applied, the hermetic seal may be impaired in the region where the glass frit is not sufficiently coated, and tend to develop a crack after the tube body is evacuated to a high degree of vacuum. When the tube body cracks, its reliability is reduced, e.g., it may explode or the degree of vacuum therein may be lowered.
In the event that the glass frit is excessively applied in overlapping layers, the glass frit is apt to squeeze out of joint between the funnel 101f and the panel 101p. Since the squeezed glass frit is responsible for the generation of dust in the tube after it is dried, it is necessary to remove the squeezed glass frit.
If the length of the open end of the funnel 101f, i.e., the length of a distance to be coated with a frit seal, is large as with a cathode-ray tube of a 45-inch size, it is highly inefficient for the nozzle to move all the way in a loop along the open end of the funnel 101f. One solution is to move two nozzles from a starting point P.sub.1 (see FIG. 10 of the accompanying drawings) along different paths, clockwise and counterclockwise as indicated by the arrows a, b, while applying a glass frit, and to stop applying the glass frit material from the nozzles at an ending point P.sub.2 that is positioned in symmetric relationship to the starting point P.sub.1. However, this coating process also suffers the above coating irregularities at the starting and ending points P.sub.1, P.sub.2.
It has been proposed to eliminate the above drawback with first and second nozzles 103, 104 as shown in FIG. 11A of the accompanying drawings, the first and second nozzles 103, 104 being closed with their open ends mating with each other. As shown in FIG. 11B of the accompanying drawings, when the nozzles 103, 104 are spaced from each other, they are opened to allow a supplied glass frit to flow or drop downwardly therefrom. The first and second nozzles 103, 104 are moved from the starting point P; (FIG. 10) clockwise and counterclockwise as indicated by the arrows a, b, while applying the glass frit. At the ending point P.sub.2, the open ends of the nozzles 103, 104 are closed, bringing the application of the frit to an end, as shown in FIG. 11A. In reality, the first and second nozzles 103, 104 are individually moved by independent robots, respectively. Because of limited mechanical accuracy or the like, it is highly difficult to hold the nozzles in accurate alignment with each other and close them at a desired position without a positional error, as shown in FIG. 11A. Even if this process is employed, the glass frit cannot actually be coated without irregular coating layers.
According to the present invention, there is provided a device for applying a fluid coating material, such as any of various adhesives, paints, or a glass frit material, uniformly and efficiently without coating irregularities, as when the funnel and panel of a cathode-ray tube body are joined to each other through such a fluid coating material.

Device for applying fluid using robot controlled nozzles


An automatic height adjustment leg of a laundry handling apparatus according to the present invention comprises a cylinder mounted to a base of a laundry handling apparatus; a piston movably arranged inside the cylinder; a elastic member installed in the cylinder so as to elastically support the piston; and a leg penetrating the cylinder and fixed to the piston. There are provided advantages that the horizontality of the laundry handling apparatus may be automatically adjusted as the piston and leg move on and vibration may be absorbed and reduced by the elastic member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic height adjustment leg of a laundry handling apparatus capable of supporting the laundry handling apparatus and adjusting the height of the laundry handling apparatus, and the laundry handling apparatus, and more particularly to an automatic height adjustment leg of a laundry handling apparatus whose height is automatically adjusted and absorbs vibration, and the laundry handling apparatus.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
In general, a laundry handling apparatus is an apparatus to wash or dehydrate laundry contained in a drum by rotating the drum, and this may be classified depending on its function as follows: a washing machine of decontaminating dirt on clothes or bedding (hereinafter, referred to as 'laundry') by mechanical interaction together with water and detergent, a dryer of drying wet laundry from mechanical interaction and heated dry wind, and a washing machine with dryer having both of washing function and drying function.
FIG. 1 is a prospective view, whose part is cut, of illustrating an example of a general laundry handling apparatus.
In a general laundry handling apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1, a tub (not shown) for receiving washing water is shock-absorbably installed in a cabinet 2, and a drum 4 for receiving laundry is rotatably arranged in the tub.
A cabinet cover 8 formed with a laundry doorway 6 for putting laundry in or pull it out of the drum 4 is mounted on the front surface of the cabinet 2, and a door 10 for opening and closing the laundry doorway 6 is pivotably installed on the cabinet cover 8.
And, a top plate 12 and a base 14 are mounted on a top surface and a bottom surface of the cabinet 2, respectively, and a height adjustment leg 20 is installed on four edges of the base 14 so as to support the drum type washing machine 1 and adjusting the height of the drum type washing machine 1.
The height adjustment leg 20 consists of a bolt part 22 screw-connected to the base 14 and a supporting part 24 fixed to the bottom part of the bolt part 22 and attached to the floor surface where the drum type washing machine 1 is to be installed, and a height adjustment part 26 in the hexagonal shape is integrally formed with either of the bolt part 22 and supporting part 24.
On the other hand, the laundry handling apparatus 1 according to the prior art adjusts its height by combining a tool such as a spanner to the height adjustment part 26 and then rotating it in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction.
If the height adjustment part 26 is rotated, then the bolt part 22 and supporting part 24 are rotated together, and thus the bolt part 22 is inserted into the base 14 or removed from the base 14.
Accordingly, as the height of the height adjustment leg 20 installed on the base 14 becomes higher or lower, the height of the laundry handling apparatus 1 is adjusted.
However, the height of the height adjustment leg of the laundry handling apparatus 1 according to the prior art has been manually adjusted by user, and this gives rise to the lowering of workability for adjusting the height of the laundry handling apparatus 1.
Furthermore, the horizontality of the laundry handling apparatus 1 is accomplished by adjusting the height of each of four height adjustment legs 20 installed on the base 14 while the laundry handling apparatus 1 is installed, and thus this makes it inconvenient to accomplish the horizontality of the laundry handling apparatus 1 and increases the install time for the laundry handling apparatus 1.

Automatic height adjustment leg of laundry handling apparatus and laundry handling apparatus


A luminaire for below-grade use comprises three primary components: 1) a top; 2) a lamp housing; and 3) a bottom. The top comprises a lens and a lens frame, and may include additional components. The lamp housing can be molded in various depths to accommodate various lighting systems, and is frusto-conical with the outer periphery of its bottom larger than the outer periphery of its top. The bottom includes a junction box and a ballast box. The top is secured to the top of the lamp housing, and the bottom is secured to the bottom of the lamp housing, such that the top, bottom, and lamp housing form a lamp housing cavity which houses a lighting system. Both the junction box and the ballast box are covered to separate them from the lighting system. Electrical wiring connects the lighting system to the ballast assembly, and the ballast assembly to field wire splices. Electrical wiring also exits the junction box through a conduit to connect to an external power supply, and may exit through another conduit to connect to another luminaire or the like.

Below-grade luminaires have been used for lighting trees and architectural features since the 1950's. They are desirable in locations where above-grade lighting fixtures would distract from the landscape design. In areas such as paved pathways and courtyards where trees are located in wells, this is the only luminaire type that will not pose a hazard to pedestrians because the luminaire is flush with the grade level.
Early configurations included a lamp housing and integral junction box accessible at grade level. The visible junction box was not large, and generally not objectionable as seen at grade level. However, High Intensity Discharge (H.I.D.) lamps soon became the desired light source because of their efficiency and long life. But the H.I.D. lamps required a ballast assembly, and therefore a larger box was needed to house the ballast assembly. The visible above-grade footprint of those luminaires became quite large due to the elements which required access for installation and servicing: the lamp housing, the junction box, and the ballast box.
Because of the large visible footprints, below-grade luminaires were reconfigured with the junction box and ballast box located beneath the lamp housing. This solved the objection to the large visible footprints, but created other problems. First, the luminaires became much deeper creating the concern that installation too close to existing landscaping might damage roots. Second, the luminaires became difficult and more time consuming to install because the junction box was located at the bottom of the lamp housing. This was further aggravated by the inward tapering and narrowing of the luminaire toward the bottom, caused by the draft angle required to mold the luminaire in one piece. Third, the inward tapering made the luminaires more subject to rising out of the soil in cold climates where freezing and thawing cycles occurred.


An accessory for an oscillating power tool is provided. The accessory has a body having a functional portion for performing work and an attachment portion for mounting the accessory to the oscillating power tool. An arbor, defined at the attachment portion of the body, is configured to matingly engage attachment elements of a drive flange of a variety of manufacturers' oscillating power tools. The arbor comprises a plurality of openings including a primary opening comprising a central opening defining a central axis of the arbor, a first elongated opening conjoined with the central opening and extending radially from the central axis along a first radial axis and a second elongated opening conjoined with the central opening and extending radially from the central axis along a second radial axis. The plurality of openings also includes a set of secondary openings disjoined from the primary opening and positioned radially about the central axis along respective radial axes. The accessory can fit, with no loss of functionality, oscillating power tools' connectors from multiple manufacturers. The accessory may be a blade, a rasp, a sander, a scraper or any other accessory for oscillating power tools, in any material such as metal, plastic, or other.

Oscillating power tools may be used in combination with different types of accessories (e.g., blades, rasps, sanders, scrapers) in order to perform different desired tasks. The accessories are typically configured to be releasably fastened to and removed from the oscillating power tool to either replace a used accessory with a newer one and/or to attach a different type of accessory to the oscillating power tool to perform a different function. Manufacturers of these oscillating power tools often sell such accessories with the caveat that the accessories are specifically designed for exclusive use with their brand of oscillating power tool and are therefore incompatible with other manufacturers' oscillating power tools.
This may be more easily understood with reference to a specific example.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0190259 to Bohne ("Bohne"), which is part of the prior art, describes an example of a prior art accessory 14 (e.g., a blade) mountable to an oscillating power tool 28, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. More specifically, as is common for oscillating power tools, the accessory 14 is mounted to a drive flange 38 of the oscillating power tool 28 via a fastening portion 44 of the accessory 14 which has a number of form-locking elements 12′ (i.e., openings) for engaging a number of form-locking elements 12 (i.e., projections) of the drive flange 38. Once the accessory 14 is engaged with the drive flange 38 in that manner, a screw 42 is engaged with a threaded hole 10 of the drive flange 38 to clamp the accessory 14 against the drive flange 38.
In order to ensure that only their accessories are compatible with their oscillating power tools, manufacturers configure the projections on the drive flanges of their oscillating power tools (such as the form-locking elements 12 of Bohne) to have a specific pattern with which only their respective accessories are matable. As a result, users that own oscillating power tools made by different manufacturers are required to hold stock of each individual oscillating power tool's requisite replacement accessories due to the accessories' respective arbor (i.e., a fitting slot/hole—such as the form-locking elements 12′ of Bohne) that is unique to each manufacturer. This results in high inventories of blades and/or other types of accessories which can be costly to maintain, particularly since some accessories, such as blades, provided by these manufacturers are expensive. Moreover and in particular with respect to blades, due to this high associated cost, users tend to stretch the use of manufacturers' blades beyond a point of usefulness (i.e., after they've become dull).
In light of the above, it is apparent that there is a need in the industry to provide blades and other accessories for oscillating power tools which are compatible with oscillating power tools made by different manufacturers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A multi-ring gas burner for a cooktop appliance is provided. The multi-ring gas burner includes an inner burner ring, an outer burner ring, and a carryover slot that extends between about the inner burner ring and about the outer burner ring. A pair of restrictors defines a Venturi throttle therebetween. The Venturi throttle can assist with regulating a flow of gaseous fuel out of the carryover slot.

Certain cooktop appliances include multi-ring gas burners. Such burners can include a center burner surrounded by one or more concentric burner rings. Certain multi-ring gas burners ignite gaseous fuel, such as propane of natural gas, at one of the burner rings and utilize carryover slots to carry flames and ignite gaseous fuel at other burner rings.
Generally, carryover slots suffer from certain problems. In particular, flames at the carryover slot can be unsightly, e.g., due to their height, when the gas burner is operating at a high flow rate. One solution to this problem is to reduce the carryover slot's inlet size in order to restrict the flow of fuel out of the carryover slot at high flow rates. However, this solution has its own drawbacks. In such carryover slots, fuel flow through the carryover slot can insufficient for proper operation when the gas burner is operating at a low flow rate.
Accordingly, a multi-ring gas burner having a carryover slot with features for properly regulating fuel flow at both high and low flow rates would be useful. In particular, a multi-ring gas burner having a carryover slot with features for limiting flame height at high flow rates and for providing sufficient fuel at low flow rates would be useful.


A gas permeable, carbon based, nanocomposite membrane comprises a nanoporous carbon matrix comprising a pyrolyzed polymer, and a plurality of nanoparticles of carbon or an inorganic compound disposed in the matrix. The matrix is prepared by pyrolyzing a polymer, and nanoparticles of the particulate material are disposed in the polymer prior to pyrolysis. The particles may be disposed in a precursor of the polymer, which precursor is subsequently polymerized, or in the polymer itself.

Nanoporous carbon membranes are known in the art. These membranes comprise films of carbon, or carbon based materials, having a pore structure in the nanoscale range. As is understood herein, a nanoscale range generally refers to features on the submicron scale. As is known in the art, nanoporous, carbon based membranes are fabricated by pyrolyzing appropriate organic materials, typically polymers, in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The resultant membranes are comprised entirely, or primarily, of carbon and manifest an active surface and a controlled pore structure. Typically, such membranes are prepared upon a support member such as a body of stainless steel. Membranes of this type are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,104,425; 5,354,547 and 5,431,864.
Nanoporous carbon membranes have been found to have utility as molecular sieves. Owing to their controlled pore size, these membranes effectively allow for the separation or enrichment of composite gas mixtures. Nanoporous membranes are also employed in chemical reactors and in catalytic systems.
One problem that has plagued prior art nanoporous carbon membranes is the fact that their coefficient of thermal expansion frequently differs from that of a substrate upon which they are disposed. Furthermore, the carbon itself tends to be relatively brittle; hence, thermal cycling can cause cracking of these membranes. Also, in some instances, gas permeability of these membranes is undesirably low thereby limiting their utility.
As will be explained in detail hereinbelow, the present invention provides for improved nanoporous carbon membranes, and specific methods for their manufacture. The membranes of the present invention incorporate nanoscale particulate matter therein, and the presence of this material tends to relieve stresses in the membrane and hence reduces cracking during thermal cycling. Furthermore, the presence of the particulate material enhances the gas permeability of these membranes. In some instances, the particulate material may be chosen so as to actively enhance the chemical, physical or catalytic effects of the membrane material. These and other advantages will be apparent from the discussion hereinbelow.

Carbon nanocomposite membranes and methods for their fabrication


The invention relates to methods for the use of the polymerase chain reaction to amplify a segment of a cloned gene of interest in such a way as to allow a simplified introduction of alterations such as deletions, insertions, repetitions (both direct and inverted) and substitutions into the cloned gene in a specific and precise manner. The unique, amplified segment of the cloned gene so amplified is a common substrate for each of the different approaches to introducing the various alterations into the gene. Choice of the primer sites within the amplified segment coupled with choice of the orientation of the molecule once ligated to itself results in the various resulting embodiments of the invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the construction of altered DNA molecules utilizing polymerase chain reaction. The alteration may involve insertion, deletion, repetition (both direct and inverted), or substitution of DNA sequences with a high degree of precision and may be accomplished in certain instances for alterations as small as a single base pair. The invention relates as well to the construction of chimeric DNA molecules.
2. Description of the Related Art
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was conceived and developed by the Cetus Corporation to provide for specific amplification of discrete fragments of DNA in order to allow simplified detection and purification of nucleic acid fragments initially present in a particular sample in only picogram quantities (Saiki, et al., Science 230:1350-1354, 1985). The procedure mimics the natural DNA replication process in that the number of DNA molecules generated doubles after each cycle. The basic method is based on the repetition of three steps, all conducted in a successive fashion under controlled temperature conditions: (1) denaturing the double-stranded template DNA; (2) annealing the single-stranded primers to the complementary single-stranded regions on the template DNA; and, (3) synthesizing additional DNA along the templates by extension of the primer DNAs with DNA polymerase. After 4 to 25 cycles of these steps, as much as a 10.sup.5 -fold increase in the original DNA is observed (Oste, BioTechniques 6:162-167, 1988).
Initially, the PCR technique was used primarily in cloning and sequencing applications. More recently, PCR technology has been used for mutagenesis of specific DNA sequences and for other directed manipulations of DNA.
For instance, PCR technology has been used to engineer hybrid (chimeric) genes without the need to use restriction enzymes in order to segment the gene prior to hybrid formation. In this approach, fragments of the different genes that are to form the hybrid are generated in separate polymerase chain reactions. The primers used in these separate reactions are designed so that the ends of the different products of the separate reactions contain complementary sequences. When these separately produced PCR products are mixed, denatured and reannealed, the strands having matching sequences at their 3'-ends overlap and act as primers for each other. Extension of this overlap by DNA polymerase produces a molecule in which the original sequences are spliced together to form the hybrid gene. Thus, this method requires four primers to construct a deleted, hybrid DNA molecule. Likewise, the method requires six primers and three rounds of PCR in order to construct a chimeric molecule. Furthermore, it does not allow a straightforward means to generate inverted or directly repeated DNA sequences (Horton, et al., Gene 77:61-68, 1989).
Since the primer regions used for PCR need not match the template gene sequence exactly, it has been possible to incorporate restriction sites within the primers (Scharf, et al., Science 233:1076-1078, 1986). A recent application of this approach involved the cloning and expression of immunoglobulin V genes (Orlandi, et al., Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci. 86:3833-3837, 1989). In this application of PCR technology, use was made of the conserved regions at each end of the nucleotide sequences encoding the V domains of mouse immunoglobulin heavy chain (V.sub.H) and light chain (V.sub.K). Primers were designed for PCR amplification which incorporated restriction sites and which, thereby, mutated the PCR-generated fragments to allow for ease in subcloning the amplified regions into appropriate expression vectors.
In other applications, it was possible to vary the standard PCR approach (which requires oligonucleotide primers complementary to both ends of the segment to be amplified) to allow amplification of DNA flanked on only one side by a region of known DNA sequence (Silver and Keerikatte, J.Virol. 63:1924-1928, 1989). This technique requires the presence of a known restriction site within the known DNA sequence and a similar site within the unknown flanking DNA sequence which is to be amplified. After restriction and recircularization, the recircularized fragment is restricted at an unique site between the two primers and the resulting linearized fragment is used as a template for PCR amplification.
Another approach which allows the amplification of unknown sequences of DNA was developed by Triglia, et al. (Nucl.Acids Res. 16:8186, 1988). The approach requires the inversion of the sequence of interest by circularization and re-opening at a site distinct from the one of interest, and is called "inverted PCR." A fragment is first created in which two unknown sequences flank on either side a region of known DNA sequence. The fragment is then circularized and cleaved with an unique restriction endonuclease which only cuts within the known DNA sequence creating a new fragment containing all of the DNA of the original fragment but which is then inverted with regions of known sequence flanking the region of unknown sequence. This fragment is then utilized as a PCR substrate to amplify the unknown sequence.
Mutant and chimeric genes have also been produced using PCR in a specific approach which involves using a supercoiled plasmid DNA as a template for PCR and a primer bearing some sort of mutated sequence which is incorporated into the amplified product. Using this procedure, a single amino acid replacement, a sixteen amino acid deletion and a twelve amino acid substitution were introduced into the terminal signal sequence of rat hepatic cytochrome P450b (Vallette, et al., Nucl.Acids Res. 17:723-733, 1989). Using the method of this reference DNA sequences may be inserted only at the 5'-end of the DNA molecule which one wishes to alter. In addition, since the inserted sequence is part of the primer and has to be synthesized, the technique is limited to shorter DNA sequences amenable to economical DNA synthesis (synthetic DNAs over 100 bp are very expensive). It is not clear how hybrid or substituted DNA molecules can be constructed by this technique.
In a procedure similar to that of Vallette, et al. (1989), PCR was used to create deletions within existing expression plasmids (Mole, Nucl.Acids Res. 17:3319, 1989). This application of PCR technology demonstrated the advantage that the modified region need not be excised from the plasmid. However, PCR was performed around the entire plasmid (containing the fragment to be deleted) from primers whose 5'-ends defined the region to be deleted. Self-ligation of the PCR product recircularized the plasmid. Recircularization required by this method, however, is typically low efficiency and the yield of recircularized DNA is hard to control.
One of the major limitations of PCR technology as currently practiced in the construction of DNA molecules is the error-prone nature of Tag polymerase. Use of Tag polymerase results on average in one mutation per 400 base pairs polymerized per 30 PCR cycles. Thus, the higher the number of cycles used to produce the desired PCR product, the higher the probability of generating unwanted mutations. Such mutations are especially critical where functional DNA products such as protein coding regions or promoter domains are very sensitive to change.
The techniques of the prior art (supra) typically require the introduction of mutated primers or require extensive DNA duplication around the entire length of a plasmid vector in order to introduce deletions, insertions or substitutions into a specific site within a given DNA sequence. Furthermore, certain of the prior art approaches require multiple primers and multiple PCR-treatments in order to achieve the desired alteration. Some of the methods taught by the prior art are limited to alterations at the termini of a DNA molecule and others require inefficient recircularization of the vector carrying the DNA sequence to be altered. Still others are limited by the size of economical synthetic primers. None of the prior art references appear to be readily amenable to generation of repeated sequences within a DNA molecule. A universally applicable method which utilizes the advantages of PCR amplification but which is not limited in the manners outlined above is needed to make PCR-generated DNA alteration a generally useful tool.

PCR-based strategy of constructing chimeric DNA molecules

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


An apparatus for recording a signal on a disc medium driven by a servo circuit comprises, device for generating a laser beam for recording the signal on the disc medium, device for detecting a track jump of a scan of the disc medium by the laser beam, device for storing the signal during an occurrence of the track jump, and controller for controlling the laser beam generating device, track jump detecting device and storing device so that a recording operation by the laser beam is stopped during the occurrence of the track, and the signal stored in the storing device is recorded on a predetermined area of the disc medium after the record operation becomes to be possible.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disc recording apparatus, in particular, relates to a disc recording apparatus for recording data on a recording medium such as an optical disc and a photomagnetic disk.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recording apparatuses for recording data on recording media such as optical disks and photomagnetic disks record and reproduce signals to and from recording media in such a way that the heads for use do not mechanically contact with the surfaces of the recording media. Thus, this construction contributes to elongating the service lives of the pickups and to improving the reliability thereof. However, the pickups sometimes cause a track jump due to vibration, shock, and so forth applied from the outside of the apparatuses. If a track jump takes place in the record mode, data which has been recorded may be destroyed or erased. Conventionally, to prevent data which has been recorded from being destroyed and erased, when a track jump takes place in the record mode, the record operation is temporarily stopped and then the data is recorded from the beginning.
In addition, when data which has been recorded cannot be reproduced with high reliability (error free state) due to a defect on the disc surface, the data to be recorded is recorded to a so-called substitute area. This process is hereinafter called the substitute process.
When the record operation is temporarily stopped due to occurrence of a track jump or by the substitute process and then the data is recorded from the beginning, it is preferable to stop inputting the data. However, depending on the type of data, it may be very difficult or impossible to stop inputting the data. In this situation, while the record operation is stopped, the input data is not recorded, but lost. For example, since digital audio data (hereinafter referred to as audio data) is continuously input in a particular sampling period, the data cannot be stopped in the middle of the input thereof. Thus, when the record operation is temporarily stopped, audio data in this period is lost. Although the conventional disc recording apparatuses are provided with memory, this memory is used mainly for processing signals rather than for storing the audio data. This is because the memory for storing the audio data should have a large amount of storage capacity.
Even if the record operation is temporarily stopped or the substitute process is performed, so as to securely store the audio data, a disc recording apparatus which performs record operation, reproduce operation, and seek operation substantially at a very high speed than the data transfer rate may be considered. However, this apparatus is difficult to accomplish from technical and cost points of view.
The applicant of the present invention has proposed an optical disc reproducing apparatus which can obtain continuous reproducing output upon occurrence of a track jump. This apparatus has been disclosed as Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Serial No. HEI 3-3165. According to this prior art, even if an optical spot jumps to an incorrect track, digital data which has been stored in a memory means can be read in accordance with a first master clock and thereby the reproducing output can be obtained without suspension thereof. In addition, after the optical spot is returned back to the correct track, the optical disc is rotated at a second speed which is higher than the first speed in accordance with a second master clock with a frequency higher than that of the first master clock. In this state, the digital data is read from the optical disc and written to the memory means in accordance with the second master clock. Thus, the amount of digital data which is read from the memory means during the restoration from the track jump is quickly stored to the memory means.
According to the above mentioned related art, although no problem takes place in reproducing data from the optical disk, there are problems in recording data to the optical disk.
When a track jump takes place, the record operation is temporarily stopped and then resumed. However, measures for preventing audio data which has been recorded from being destroyed and lost are required. In addition, measures for securely recording data without loss in the event that the reliability of data stored for a long time is low or in the event that the surface of the optical disc has a defect should be taken.

Disc recording apparatus for recording a signal without losing the signal during an occurrence of a track jump


An inspection device for vehicle driver assistance systems (DASs) mounted on a vehicle may include: i) a frame unit including pillar frames, where vehicles forwardly enter and backwardly exit, at respective corners of a base frame, and an upper frame is coupled to upper end portions of the pillar frames; a correction unit installed at the upper frame such that it is movable in multi-axis directions so as to correct a camera measurement point of a lane departure warning system (LDWS) at a front side of the vehicle and configured to display a correction target with respect to the camera as an image; and an inspection unit installed at the upper frame such that it is movable in multi-axis directions so as to check a normal operation of the LDWS and configured to display a driving lane as an image.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inspection device of vehicle driver assistance systems, and more particularly, to an inspection device of vehicle driver assistance systems for intensively inspecting various kinds of vehicle driver assistance systems.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Recently, various kinds of vehicle driver assistance systems (DASs) have been equipped in vehicles to provide convenience and safety of driving to a driver while a vehicle is being driven.
The DASs helps drivers to keep a current driving lane, give alarms for lane departure, secure a safety distance from adjacent vehicles, prevent a collision with adjacent obstacles, and control speed depending on traffic situations or road conditions, etc. by utilizing various kinds of cameras, radar sensors, etc. without driver intervention.
These DASs have been generally applied to luxury vehicles, but recently, have been extensively applied even to compact and mid-size vehicles because interest in environmentally-friendly economical driving has increased to protect the environment and conserve energy resources.
For example, the DASs may include systems such as a smart cruise control (SCC) system, a lane departure warning system (LDWS), a blind spot detection (BSD) system, an around view monitoring (AVM) system, etc.
Meanwhile, in a vehicle inspection line during assembly processes of the vehicle, various kinds of DASs mounted on the vehicle are checked to ensure normal operation.
For example, the vehicle is moved to inspection spots for performing a wheel alignment inspection process, a roll & brake inspection process, an automatic diagnosis process, etc., so as to check normal operation of the various kinds of DASs during these processes.
However, in the related art, since inspection processes for the various kinds of DASs are separated from each other according to their functions in the vehicle inspection line, an inspection cycle time increases, and thus it is difficult to utilize inspection manpower and to control quality.
In addition, in the inspection processes of the various kinds of DASs in the vehicle inspection line, an inspection facility is exclusively manufactured for one type of vehicle, so the inspection facility should be modified or newly manufactured to be applicable to new types of vehicles, thereby requiring additional manpower and increased investment cost.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Inspection device of vehicle driver assistance systems


A semiconductor device with a plastic package molding compound, a semiconductor chip and a leadframe is disclosed. In one embodiment, the semiconductor chip is embedded in a plastic package molding compound. The upper side of the semiconductor chip and the plastic package molding compound are arranged on a leadframe. Arranged between the leadframe and the plastic package molding compound with the semiconductor chip is an elastic adhesive layer for the mechanical decoupling of an upper region from a lower region of the semiconductor device.

Such a construction of a semiconductor device is held together by the fixing plastic package molding compound, which at the same time embeds the semiconductor chip and is firmly anchored on the leadframe. The semiconductor chip is additionally fixed in its position on the leadframe by means of an adhesive layer, the adhesive layer ensuring that the semiconductor chip is neither displaced during the application of the plastic package molding compound nor lifts off from the leadframe. At the same time, the adhesive layer under the semiconductor chip acts as a stress equalizing layer when thermal stresses occur.
However, the actual equalizing effect of the adhesive layer under the semiconductor chip is not fully realized, since it is enclosed on all sides by the rigid plastic package molding compound. Consequently, the adhesive layer, which is restricted to the surface of the semiconductor chip, is also laterally fixed and cannot completely equalize the difference in stress between the leadframe and the semiconductor chip that is caused by the different coefficients of expansion. Consequently, in temperature cycle tests virtually the entire stress between the semiconductor chip and the circuit substrate is passed on to the external contacts of the semiconductor device, which can lead to considerable failures.
In spite of the equalization of thermal stresses by the adhesive layer between the semiconductor chip and the leadframe, microcracks can also occur in the case of such a construction of a semiconductor device, in particular at the boundary layer between the plastic package molding compound and the upper sides of the leadframe. It has previously been attempted to prevent such microcracks, which in an extreme case can lead to delamination, by strengthening the anchorages between the two materials. For this purpose, porous ceramic or metallic coatings have been developed for the upper side of the leadframe and deposited on the leadframe in order to improve the anchorage with the plastic package molding compound. Nevertheless, it is observed that the stronger anchorage has the effect that the formation of microcracks is shifted into regions above the anchoring layer but cannot be completely suppressed.
For these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.

Semiconductor device with plastic package molding compound, semiconductor chip and leadframe and method for producing the same


An information display apparatus is provided which has a first display means that displays a first information and a second display means that displays either the first information or second information that differs from the first information, an annunciating means which externally annunciates this condition based on a prescribed signal, when the second display means is displaying the second information, if the second information coincides with the first information being displayed by the first display means, and a switching means to enable selection of at least one of selection, changing, or repeated selection of one of the first information and the second information displayed to be displayed by the second display means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information display apparatus having a plurality of information display sections, and more specifically it relates to an electronic watch having a plurality of information display sections.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been a variety of information display apparatuses proposed for the individual for the arbitrary display of a plurality of types of information. One of these is the information display apparatus which was disclosed by the inventor himself in the form of a specific configuration in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 6-86148.
This information display device was shown as the example of an electronic watch, one time of information displayed by the watch being the current time, and another type of information being displayed by the watch being the alarm time.
The configuration and the functioning of a prior art information display apparatus will be explained below, using the example of the above-noted information display apparatus, with reference being made to FIG. 7.
FIG. 7 is a circuit block diagram of an electronic watch in the prior art having a plurality of time-displaying means, in which the reference numeral 1 denotes an oscillator circuit which generates a reference signal, 2 denoting a frequency-dividing circuit which divides the signal of the oscillator circuit 1.
In this drawing, the reference numeral 3 denotes a first wave-shaping circuit which, using the reference signal from the frequency-dividing circuit 2, generates a motor-drive signal, 4 is a first motor-driving circuit for the purpose of driving a first motor using the signal of the first wave-shaping circuit 3, 5 is a first motor which is driven by the first motor-driving circuit 4, 6 is a set of first indicating hands which is moved by the first motor 5, this set of first indicating hands corresponding to the first display means.
In this same FIG. 7, the reference numeral 7 denotes a second wave-shaping circuit which, using the reference signal from the frequency-dividing circuit 2, generates a motor-drive signal, 8 is a second motor-driving circuit for the purpose of driving a second motor using the signal of the second wave-shaping circuit 7, 9 is a second motor which is driven by the second motor-driving circuit 8, 10 is a set of second indicating hands, this set of second indicating hands corresponding to the second display means.
In the same FIG. 7, the reference numeral 11 denotes a first counter which measures a number of rotations of the first motor, 12 is a second counter which measures a number of rotations of the second motor, 13 is a first coincidence-detecting circuit for the purpose of detecting coincidence between the first counter 11 and the second counter 12, this first coincidence-detecting circuit outputting a high-level signal for the coincidence condition and a low-level signal for a different condition than coincidence.
In the same FIG. 7, reference numeral 14 denotes a first switch for the purpose of setting an alarm, 15 is a one-step advance detection circuit which detects that a one-step advance operation has been made by the first switch 14, and 16 is a fast-advance detection circuit which detects that a fast-advance operation has been made by the first switch 14.
In the same FIG. 7, reference numeral 17 denotes an alarm-control circuit which controls the setting and resetting of the alarm, and 18 denotes an alarm means which generates a sound.
Next, the operation of a prior art electronic watch having a plurality of time-displaying means will be described, with reference being made to FIG. 7, FIG. 8, and FIG. 9.
First, as an initialization, it is necessary to cause coincidence between the indication of the set of first indicating hands 6 and the set of second indicating hands.
The first set of indicating hands 6 is usually set to the time, for example, by pulling the stem 40 outward and turning it, in the same manner as with a conventional watch.
The second set of indicating hands 10 is set to the same time as the first set of indicating hands 6 by pressing the first switch 14 when the stem 40 is in the pulled-out position.
If the stem 40 is returned to its original position with the indications of the first set of indicating hands 6 and the second set of indicating hands 10 in coincidence, the first set of indicating hands 6 and the second set of indicating hands 10 begin to move as in a conventional watch.
Simultaneous with the above starting, the first counter 11 and the second counter 12 are reset, and begin to measure the number of times the indicating hands have advanced since the stem 40 was returned to its normal position.
Still simultaneously with the above starting, the coincidence-detecting circuit 13 detects coincidence between the first counter 11 and the second counter 12, and outputs a high-level signal.
The alarm-control circuit 17 is configured so as to be reset by the falling signal of the coincidence-detecting circuit 13, and further so as to drive the alarm circuit 18 in accordance with the rising signal of the coincidence-detecting circuit 13, and at this point has not yet been set, so that the alarm circuit 18 is not driven by the rising signal.
FIG. 8 is an outer view of the electronic watch in this condition. Next, the case of setting the second set of indicating hands 10 to an alarm time will be described.
When the first switch 14 is pressed for a short period of time, the one-step advance detection circuit 15 operates, a signal being output to the second wave-shaping circuit 7. The second wave-shaping circuit 7 receives the above-noted signal, thereby causing the second counter 12 to advance by one step, and outputting a pulse to the second motor-driving circuit 8. The second motor-driving circuit 8 receives this pulse and causes the second set of indicating hands 10 to move by one step, by causing the second motor 9 to rotate.
If at this point the first switch 14 is continued to be pressed, the fast-advance detection circuit 16 operates, the above-noted second set of indicating hands 10 as well as the second counter 12 being caused to fast-advance.
In this manner, it is possible to set the second set of indicating hands 10 to the alarm time.
In doing this, because the second counter 12 only is counting up, the coincidence-detecting circuit L3 does not output a coincidence detection signal.
The alarm-control circuit 17 is set by the falling signal of the coincidence-detecting circuit 13. When the alarm-control circuit 17 is set, the second wave-shaping circuit 7 stops its theretofore normal hand-driving signal output, so that the second set of indicating hands 10 stops at that position.
FIG. 9 is an outer view of the electronic watch in the above-noted condition.
After this, when time elapses so that the first set of indicating hands 6 and second set of indicating hands 10 coincide, the first counter 11 and the second counter 12 coincide, and coincidence-detecting circuit 13 detects the coincidence between these two counters and outputs a rising signal.
The alarm-control circuit 17 operates when it receives this rising signal, thereby operating the alarm circuit to sound the alarm.
When the alarm is sounded, the second wave-shaping circuit 7 starts to output a signal once again, the first set of indicating hands 6 and the second set of indicating hands 10 continuing to indicate the same time.
If it is desired to cancel an alarm from the set condition, when the first switch 14 is operated to cause coincidence between the second set of indicating hands 10 and the first set of indicating hands 6, the first counter 11 and the second counter 12 coincide, the coincidence-detecting circuit 13 detects this coincidence, so that the alarm-control circuit 17 is reset, thereby canceling the alarm.
When the alarm is canceled, the second set of indicating hands 10 and the first set of indicating hands 6 continue to indicate the same time.
In this manner, the drive of the hands is continued with coincidence between the first set of indicating hands 6 and the second set of indicating hands 10 being maintained, the first switch 14 being then used to set the second set of indicating hands 10 to a time that is different from the first set of indicating hands 6 to set the alarm, the second set of indicating hands 10 at that point stopping drive to indicate the time, after which when the indication of the first set of indicating hands 6 coincides with the indication of the second set of indicating hands 10 an alarm is sounded, after which the first set of indicating hands 6 and the second set of indicating hands 10 are driven as in the coinciding condition.
Cancellation of the alarm is done by the first switch 14, which causes coincidence between the indications of the second set of indicating hands 10 and the first set of indicating hands 6.
In the above-noted electronic watch, after the alarm is set, when the first set of indicating hands 6 and the second set of indicating hands 10 coincide and the alarm is sounded, because the second set of indicating hands 10 and the first set of indicating hands 6 thereafter both continue to indicate the current time, the alarm does not sound again, which is a very convenient feature when using the watch as a timer.
However, after this alarm is set, when the alarm should be cancelled, it was necessary to perform fast advance continuously until the second set of indicating hands 10 and first set of indicating hands 6 concides. This was not only troublesome, but was also accompanied by the risk of overrun.
Furthermore, if the same time was to be set as the alarm after it sounded, the same fast-advance operation as mentioned had to be performed.
To remedy the above-noted situation, the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 2-25791 discloses technology for stopping the alarm setting fast-advance correction during fast-advance operation when the alarm hands and the hands indicating the current time coincide, thus preventing overrun.
Further, in the above-noted patent publication, after the current time and the alarm time coincide and the alarm is sounded, there are two alarm modes, an alarm mode A in which the alarm remains in the un-set condition after the alarm has sounded, and an alarm mode B in which the alarm is not canceled even after the alarm has sounded, so that when the current time and the alarm time coincide again the alarm is sounded, these alarm modes being selectable for use by switching therebetween.
However, even in the disclosure in the above-noted patent publication, once an alarm time is set, to cancel the time it is still necessary to continuously perform a switch operation until coincidence is reached.


A dental floss applicator of this invention comprises a housing, a dental floss stick, a floss spool, a spring rack, a take-up wheel, and a rotary knob with a springy ratchet on the inside. The spring rack has a stop portion engaged with a gear wheel fastened to the floss spool to stretch the dental floss, and a press portion extending to the outside of the housing for pressing by the user to loosen the dental floss on the dental floss stick. The springy ratchet releases the stop portion of the spring rack step by step upon rotation of the rotary knob, allowing the used segment of the dental floss to be taken up.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dental floss applicator and more particularly to such a dental floss applicator, which automatically synchronously takes up and releases the dental floss and allows adjustment of the tension of the applied dental floss.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Conventional dental floss sticks are designed for single use only. These disposable dental floss sticks commonly have an F-shaped stick, which has two suspension arms arranged in parallel at one end and a pointed tip disposed at the other end for use as a toothpick, and a piece of dental floss hung between the two suspension arms. Various dental floss bobbins, dental floss dispensers, and dental floss applicators are also commercially available. However, conventional dental floss bobbins and dental floss dispensers have no means to adjust the tension for applying dental floss. When a different material of dental floss is used, the dental floss provides a different tension. It is inconvenient to manipulate a piece of dental floss for cleaning the teeth if the tension for applying piece of dental floss is not properly adjusted.


The present invention makes it possible to provide a radiation image conversion panel which can produce radiographic images having an excellent sharpness and having neither image unevenness nor line noise, while having a high scratch resistance property. The radiation image conversion panel is composed of a phosphor sheet having a stimulable phosphor layer coated on a support and a protective film designed to cover the stimulable phosphor layer and its panel having a highly improved scratch resistance property can be obtained by producing mean slope on the surface of a protective film Δa which is 0.014 or more and not more than 0.1. Sharpness of this panel can also be enhanced since a stimulating light which is scattered and reflected at the interface of a protective layer can be absorbed by preparing a stimulating light absorbing layer in the protective layer.

Although so-called radiography employing silver halide photography is conventionally used to obtain radiographic images, there also has been developed a radiographic imaging method not using silver halide photographic materials. It is the method with which radiographic images can be recorded by employing a radiation image conversion panel having a stimulable phosphor layer on a support.
In order to record a radiographic image by using a radiation image conversion panel, radiation that has been transmitted through an object is absorbed by a stimulable phosphor layer and a radiation energy depending on a radiation transmittance density on each part of the object is accumulated. A radiation energy accumulated in a stimulable phosphor can be emitted as a stimulated luminescence by irradiating the stimulable phosphor layer with electromagnetic waves (stimulating light) such as visible light and infrared radiation to excite on a time series basis. This signal based on light intensity can be reproduced as a visible image on a recording material such as a silver halide photographic sensitized material and a display apparatus such as CRT by converting this signal into an electric signal by, for example, photoelectric conversion.
It is described in JP-A No. 2003-028995 (hereinafter, the term, JP-A refers to Japanese Patent Application Publication) that a high-sensitivity radiation image conversion panel can be manufactured by using a stimulable phosphor expressed by the following formula (1), especially the stimulable phosphor exhibiting a numerical value in the range of 0.003≦e≦0.005.M1X·aM2X′2·bM3X″3:eA  (1)where M1 represents at least one alkali metal selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Rb and Cs; M2 represents at least one divalent metal selected from the group consisting of Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Zn, Cd, Cu and Ni; M3 represents at least one trivalent metal selected from the group consisting of Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Al, Ga and In; each of X, X′ and X″ represents at least one halogen selected from the group consisting of F, Cl, Br and I; A represents at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Eu, Tb, In, Ga, Cs, Ce, Tm, Dy, Pr, Ho, Nd, Yb, Er, Gd, Lu, Sm, Y, Tl, Na, Ag, Cu and Mg; and a, b and e respectively show numerical values within ranges of 0≦a<0.5, 0≦b<0.5 and 0.0001<e≦1.0.
Especially, divalent Eu activator-alkali metal fluoride type phosphor containing I, divalent Eu activator-alkali metal halide type phosphor containing I, rare earth element activator-rare earth oxyhalide type phosphor containing I, and Bi activator-alkali metal halide type phosphor containing I among stimulable phosphors mentioned above lead to a stimulated luminescence in enhanced luminance.
A radiation image conversion panel in which those stimulable phosphors are used has an advantage of accumulation of radiographic images once again after scanning and a repetitive use because an accumulated energy is released by scanning of a stimulating light after the radiographic image information is accumulated. Thus, this radiation image conversion method is of advantage from the aspect of resource conservation and economic efficiency because the radiation image conversion panel is repeatedly used, while radiographic sensitized materials are consumed for each radiographing in the case of a conventional radiographic imaging method.
Those radiation image conversion panels are used in quantities for a medical X-ray image diagnosis apparatus and so forth. In many cases, a stimulable phosphor is laminated on a support in a radiation image conversion panel and the radiation image conversion panel is often stored in a cassette for radiography to be handled.
A cassette for radiography (which is thereinafter called "cassette") is a flat enclosure which capable of storing a radiation image conversion panel which prevents not only a physical damage of a stimulable phosphor at the time of transportation or radiographing, but also an annihilation of accumulated image information caused by emitting a stimulating light to a stimulable phosphor after radiographing. As shown in FIG. 3, radiation image conversion panel 30 is stored in cassette 40 with stimulable phosphor 31 arranged to face front plane 41 of cassette 40.
Radiographing is carried out by arranging object 50 to face the outside surface of front plane 41 of cassette 40 in which radiation image conversion panel 30 is stored and by irradiating radiation transmitted through object 50 to radiation image conversion panel 30 in cassette 40. Compared with a method using silver halide, this radiography method makes it possible to obtain radiation images having sufficient amount of information, by an extremely small amount of radiation exposure.
A radiation image conversion panel in this method is used by repeating those steps of irradiation of radiation (recording a radiation image), irradiation of stimulating light (reading a radiation image recorded), and irradiation of erasure light (erasing a remaining radiation image). A conveying means such as a belt, a roller, and so forth is employed to transfer to each step.
Though a radiation image recording-reproducing method has many excellent advantages as described above, it is desired that the radiation image conversion panel used in the foregoing method is as highly sensitive as possible and it gives images having excellent image quality (sharpness, graininess, and so forth).
It has usually been thought that sharpness of an image obtained by a radiation image conversion panel becomes more enhanced with a thinner protective layer. But, a repetitive use tends to cause a degradation of durability with appearance of scratches and cracks generated on the surface of a protective layer when a protective layer is thin.
Especially in the case of a cassette type radiation image conversion panel, foreign matters sometimes adhere to a protective layer situated on the phosphor surface, when it is repeatedly transported by a conveying means. The surface of the protective layer is often scratched by scraping on the surface when those foreign matters are hard. A protective layer having a high scratch resistance property is required since it is known that occurrence of a scratched protective layer adversely affects a picture image quality.
Thus, applicable materials used for a protective layer are selected in such a way to give to the protective layer functions necessary as a protective layer such as scratch resistance and transport durability, while controlling a decline of sharpness by making the protective layer to be as thin as possible. For example, those having strength like that of polyethylene terephthalate and high light transmittance are used, several kinds of resins are combined, a layer of a resin compound containing a fluorine type resin which possesses a high scratch resistance is coated, or a protective layer itself is made to be of a multilayer structure. (Refer to JP-A No. 10-82899)
There is also present a radiation image conversion panel having enhanced sharpness, high transport durability, and at the same time a high sensitivity by employing an absorbing layer of a stimulating light in a protective layer and specifying further a surface roughness. (Refer to JP-A No. 2002-122698)


A phase control system has a stable timebase phase reference generated by an internal phase reference generator which has improved transient response in the presence of spurious noise generated by other external equipment coupled to the same voltage source. A digital phase comparator estimates a phase error between the timebase phase reference and the voltage source. The internal phase reference generator constructs the timebase using a normalized difference between the volt-time-areas between two adjacent quadrants of the internal timebase phase reference. This allows corrections to the phase reference generator to be made on the next cycle of the phase reference generator based on the error estimate of the present cycle.

Resistance welding is now widely used in most applications requiring the joining of metals, such as the steel used in the manufacturing of automobiles. With the advent of the microprocessor, weld controllers have become more sophisticated and use a variety of control techniques to ensure the quality of welds throughout the life of the contact tips as they wear out. Regardless of the process or control technique used, most weld controllers consist of several basic components. These include a weld control module, a power module, a weld transformer and the contact tips. The power module usually consists of power semiconductors such as silicon controlled rectifiers (SCRs) that switch incoming power to the weld transformer according to a preset weld program as generated by the control module. The weld transformer will transform the incoming power to a high current pulse that is coupled to the contact tips to create a weld to a workpiece that is between the contact tips. The weld control module is usually microprocessor based.
The preset weld program will use phase angle control to switch the power modules. In order to achieve accurate repeatability of the proper phase angle to fire the SCRs, a stable timebase reference is required. This timebase should be immune to the electrical noise generated by other equipment that may be coupled to the power source. The voltage source may have significant line impedance relative to the generally high currents involved with weld controllers. This will cause phase distortion in the incoming voltage that will effect the timebase reference, which, in turn, will cause the SCRs to switch at a different phase angle than the desired angle. Some type of phase distortion compensation is required to ensure that this not occur.
The traditional approach to generating a time base involves measuring the zero crossings of the voltage waveform directly, either by sampling the polarity of the input voltage waveform on a regular basis and determining where in time the input voltage waveform transitions from one polarity to another, or by developing circuitry which determines the zero crossing of the waveform and generating an interrupt to the microprocessor in response to the zero crossings. The electronic circuitry which accomplishes this is commonly referred to as a phase discriminator, and usually involves heavily amplifying the line voltage and clipping the result. The transitions of the resulting waveform are assumed to coincide with the zero crossings of the assumed sinusoid. However, line voltages in automotive welding applications are rarely pure sinusoids, as equipment drawing current from the weld bus can corrupt the line voltage, injecting noise and other distortion which severely limits the reliability of this traditional approach. As an example, weld applications in which weld transformers with full wave rectified secondaries are utilized can cause multiple zero crossings of the observed line voltage in the vicinity of the actual zero crossings of the sinusoid as generated by the power company. Additionally, the presence of line impedance causes the apparent phase of the weld voltage as seen by the weld controller to shift while welding. The impedance of the weld bus, comprising bus fusing, interconnecting wiring and other impedances affect the voltage which appears at the sensing terminals of the weld controller. It is this voltage which is sensed by the weld control electronics and used to derive the phase reference signals which form the basis for firing the solid state weld contactor. In the absence of current flow, it is identical to the bus voltage, but when the weld control switches current to the load, significant harmonic distortion can result which, without detection and appropriate compensation, can result in a degradation of the transient response of the weld control, and can cause the weld control to make errors in estimation of the load power factor. The problem is further complicated in that the weld controller does not apply current continuously, but rather switches current on and off during the cycle. The result is that the amount of phase distortion incurred at the weld control relative to the bus voltage source is dependent not only upon the line and load impedance, but also on the firing angle employed. Zero crossing based phase reference generators significantly limit the performance of the weld control in terms of noise immunity and transient response.
An early type of a phase reference generator which improves upon the traditional phase discrimminator approach above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,351 which describes an approach for developing a timing reference based on integrating the line voltage to develop a signal proportional to the volt-time area of the waveform. The voltage is sampled four times per nominal period of an internal phase reference. A signal indicative of a change in frequency or phase is generated by taking the difference between the volt-time area of two quarter cycles. In the actual implementation of this patent, all four samples of a line voltage cycle are used to develop an indication of an error in phase between the internal time base and the input line voltage. Errors are estimated based on the previous cycle of line voltage which is then used to compute a correction to the internal phase clock, which is then applied to the next cycle of line voltage. In the specification of the patent, it is indicated that this approach has the advantage of ignoring spurious noise generated on the actual power system by other equipment such as motors and other weld controls. Whereas this integral approach offered significant improvement over the more traditional derivative approach in the presence of a noisy weld bus, as it did not rely on the zero crossing directly to generate the internal phase reference, no attempt was made to quantify the phase error so conventional feedback control techniques available to persons skilled in the art could be employed. Also, the transport lag inherent in this approach due to the number of samples required resulted in the correction occurring in the next cycle, which limited the effectiveness of the approach. Furthermore, the approach described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,351 did not provide for any estimate of, or compensation for, the phase distortion inflicted upon the observed line voltage due to the weld process, which is of a more repetitive nature. It would be desirable to develop a system or method whereby this time lag is reduced and the effect of phase distortion can be compensated, resulting in an internal phase reference which more accurately tracks the actual voltage source, rather than the distorted voltage signal observed by the weld control.

Method and apparatus for estimating a phase error between two independent timebases


A required traction force determining part is configured to determine a required traction force corresponding to an output rotational speed based on a required traction force characteristic. A command torque determining part is configured to determine a command torque to be transmitted to a motor to obtain the required traction force. An opposite movement determining part is configured to determine that a vehicle is oppositely moving when a vehicle speed becomes a predetermined speed threshold or greater in a direction opposite to a moving direction corresponding to a position of a forward/rearward movement operating member. A traction force assisting part is configured to perform a traction force assisting control when it is determined that the vehicle is oppositely moving. The traction force assisting part is configured to increase the required traction force in the moving direction corresponding to the position of the forward/rearward movement operating member.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a work vehicle, particularly to a hybrid type work vehicle and a control method thereof.
Background Information
Among work vehicles, such as a wheel loader, a type of work vehicle equipped with a power transmission device including a torque converter and a multistage gearbox (hereinafter referred to as "a torque converter type transmission device") has been heretofore known. On the other hand, in recent years, a hybrid type work vehicle configured to travel by a driving force from an engine and that from a motor has been proposed as a type of work vehicle equipped with a type of power transmission device replacing the torque converter type transmission device. For example, Japan Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 2006-329244 discloses an HMT (hydraulic-mechanical transmission) or an EMT (electro-mechanical transmission) as the power transmission device for the hybrid type work vehicle.
The HMT includes a planetary gear mechanism and both of a first pump/motor and a second pump/motor that are connected to rotary elements of the planetary gear mechanism. Each of the first pump/motor and the second pump/motor is configured to function as either a hydraulic motor or a hydraulic pump in accordance with a travelling condition of the work vehicle. The HMT is configured to be capable of seamlessly changing the rotational speed of an output shaft by changing the rotational speeds of the pumps/motors.
The EMT uses electric motors instead of the hydraulic motors used in the HMT. Specifically, the EMT includes a first generator/motor and a second generator/motor. Each of the first generator/motor and the second generator/motor is configured to function as either an electric motor or a generator in accordance with a travelling condition of the work vehicle. Similarly to the HMT, the EMT is configured to be capable of seamlessly changing the rotational speed of an output shaft by changing the rotational speeds of the generators/motors.


Compositions for controlling growth of plant species, and methods for using the compositions, are disclosed. The compositions contain a single-isomer enantiomeric S-benzyl thiocarbamate and are particularly useful in controlling annual weeds associated with rice, soybeans and corn.

Weeds and other vegetation inhibit the growth of crops and other desired plants by consuming nutrients and living space which are vital to the growth of the desired plants. Attempts to solve this problem have led to the development of a wide variety of compounds which are effective as herbicides.
Thiocarbamates (alternately referred to in the chemical literature as "thiolcarbamates", the names being used interchangeably) are an important class of compounds known to be effective herbicides. In particular, S-benzyl thiocarbamates are known for control of weeds, including those weeds associated with rice crops. A number of thiocarbamates, and methods for their preparation, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,602, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The use of S-benzyl thiocarbamates, such as S-benzyl N,N-ethyliso-butylthiocarbamate, for the control of weeds associated with rice crops is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,005.
Certain thiocarbamates contain a nitrogen atom attached to a chiral carbon atom. These thiocarbamates exist as S- and R- enantiomers. One such carbamate is S-benzyl 1,2-dimethylpropyl (ethyl)thiocarbamate, available commercially as "esprocarb". Prior art disclosures of thiocarbamate compounds useful as herbicides do not discuss the separate enantiomers or suggest any potential benefits of using a single enantiomer of any of esprocarb to control plant growth.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that no single herbicide is the preferred choice for use against all unwanted plant growth. Due in part to the significant economic effect of unwanted plant growth on crop yield, research continues in efforts to identify new herbicidal compositions and methods for preparing the compositions. In particular, there is a need for herbicidal compositions showing improved effectiveness over currently used compounds against particular plant species, thereby reducing the amount of herbicidal composition needed and the concomitant expense and environmental effects. The present invention is directed to these, as well as other important ends.

Plant growth inhibition using the R-isomer of esprocarb