Methods and systems are provided for adjusting a steering torque threshold for automatically stopping and starting a vehicle engine. In one example, a method may include, while the engine is running, determining a first steering torque threshold for inhibiting stop-start of the engine based on a steering wheel angle, and, while the engine is auto-stopped, determining a second steering torque threshold for inhibiting the stop-start based on the steering wheel angle and whether a static stop-start event is present or a rolling stop-start event is present. In this way, a non-linear hysteresis is provided for automatically stopping and starting the engine.

A vehicle may include an engine that may be automatically stopped and started to conserve fuel, such as via a stop-start system. The engine may be stopped via a controller in response to vehicle operating conditions without receiving a specific request to stop the engine from a driver or occupant of the vehicle. Further, in response to other operating conditions, the controller may inhibit engine auto-stops and, if the engine is already auto-stopped, auto-start the engine. As one example, the vehicle may include an electric steering system, which may draw power to provide steering assistance to the driver for a steering maneuver. In order to provide steering assistance by the electric steering system and avoid draining a power source of the vehicle (e.g., a battery), the controller may inhibit engine auto-stops (and initiate auto-starts) based on an ability of the controller to anticipate a demand for steering assist by the driver. Overestimating the demand for steering assist may result in inhibiting engine auto-stops and initiating engine auto-starts more than needed to meet the steering assist demand of the driver. As a result, engine idle time is increased and fuel economy is decreased. Underestimating the demand for steering assist may result in providing insufficient steering assist for the driver demand, which may result in steering system hesitation and customer dissatisfaction.
Other attempts to address steering assist-based inhibition of engine stop-start functionality include inhibiting engine auto-stops (and initiating engine auto-starts) based on an amount of steering applied torque. One example approach is shown by Khafagy et al. in U.S. 2016/0229403 A1. Therein, the engine auto-stop function is inhibited in response to the amount of steering applied torque surpassing a predetermined steering torque threshold.
However, the inventors herein have recognized potential issues with such systems. As one example, the predetermined steering torque threshold is constant for the entire steering range, but the steering assist demand may vary based on an angle of the steering wheel. As a result, the constant steering torque threshold may produce a slow restart response at higher steering wheel angles, and the engine may be restarted prematurely at lower steering wheel angles. Further still, an amount of power drawn by the electric steering system for the same steering wheel angle may change based on vehicle conditions (e.g., vehicle speed, whether the engine is on or auto-stopped). Therefore, the steering assist demand may not be fully represented by the steering applied torque alone, which is not accounted for by using a single predetermined steering torque threshold across all stop-start conditions.
In one example, the issues described above may be addressed by a method comprising: while a vehicle engine is running, applying a first steering torque threshold, based on a steering wheel angle, for inhibiting engine stop-start; and while the engine is auto-stopped, applying a second steering torque threshold for inhibiting the engine stop-start, the second steering torque threshold based on the steering wheel angle and whether the engine is auto-stopped in a static stop-start status or a rolling stop-start status. In this way, the steering torque threshold is varied based on both the steering wheel angle and engine status (e.g., running, auto-stopped in a static stop-start, or auto-stopped in a rolling stop-start).
As one example, the static stop-start status is present when the engine is auto-stopped and a speed of the vehicle is less than or equal to a first threshold speed, and the rolling stop-start status is present when the engine is auto-stopped and the speed of the vehicle is greater than the first threshold speed and less than a second, higher threshold speed. As another example, each of the first steering torque threshold and the second steering torque threshold may be determined as a function of a pre-calibrated steering torque threshold and a decay rate, the decay rate determined as a function of the steering wheel angle, with a different pre-calibrated steering torque threshold used for the first steering torque threshold and the second steering torque threshold. In this way, the effect of vehicle conditions, such as vehicle speed, steering wheel angle, and engine status, may be accounted for in determining each of the first steering torque threshold and the second steering torque threshold.
As another example, in response to a steering applied torque that is greater than the first steering torque threshold while the engine is running or greater than the second steering torque threshold while the engine is auto-stopped, the stop-start of the engine may be inhibited, and in response to a steering applied torque that is less than the first steering torque threshold while the engine is running or less than the second steering torque threshold while the engine is auto-stopped, the stop-start of the engine may be enabled. For example, inhibiting the stop-start of the engine may include maintaining the engine on (when the engine is running) or restarting the engine (when the engine is auto-stopped), and enabling the stop-start of the engine may include auto-stopping the engine (when the engine is running) or maintaining the engine auto-stopped (when the engine is auto-stopped). Further, as the steering wheel angle increases, each of the first steering torque threshold and the second steering torque threshold may decrease. In this way, less steering applied torque may result in stop-start inhibition at higher steering wheel angles, enabling faster engine restarts (or preventing the engine from auto-stopping) at higher steering wheel angles and reducing premature engine restarts (or enabling the engine to auto-stop) at lower steering wheel angles compared with using a constant steering torque threshold. By accurately anticipating steering assist demand, engine idle time may be reduced and fuel economy may be increased.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

System and method for a stop-start engine


An apparatus and method for producing a catalyst rich seawater useful to catalyze oxidation reactions in a flue gas desulfurization system seawater aeration basin to obtain a treated seawater.

In many industrial processes a process gas containing pollutants is generated. One such industrial process is the combustion of a fuel, such as coal, oil, peat, waste, and the like, in a combustion plant, such as a power plant, whereby a hot process gas is generated. This hot process gas is often referred to as a flue gas. The flue gas contains various pollutants including acid gases, such as sulphur dioxide, SO2. It is necessary to remove as much of the acid gases as possible from the flue gas before the flue gas may be emitted to the ambient air. Another example of an industrial process in which a process gas containing pollutants is generated is the electrolytic production of aluminium from alumina. In that process, a process gas containing sulphur dioxide, SO2, is generated within venting hoods of the electrolytic cells.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,535 discloses a seawater scrubber. In the seawater scrubber seawater taken from the ocean is mixed with a flue gas generated by a boiler. In the seawater scrubber, sulphur dioxide, SO2, is absorbed in the seawater and forms sulphite and/or bisulphite ions. Effluent seawater from the seawater scrubber is forwarded to an aeration pond. Air is bubbled through the effluent seawater in the aeration pond for purposes of oxidizing, by means of oxygen gas contained in the air, sulphite and/or bisulphite ions to inert sulphate ions that may be released back to the ocean together with the effluent seawater.
Certain metals may be used to catalyze the above-described oxidation reactions occurring in effluent seawater aeration systems. As such, modern aeration systems used for oxidizing effluent seawater may dose the effluent seawater with metal by placing sheets or bars of such metals, such as iron sheets or iron bars, in the aeration system. Iron sheets or iron bars are placed in the aeration systems to catalyze the oxidation reactions in the effluent seawater since such metals are usually not present in the effluent seawater in sufficient quantity for this purpose.

Method and apparatus for catalyzing seawater aeration basins


A golf bag has an extensible stand which incorporates legs having a compound bend. The legs provide increased stability when deployed, without increasing the splay angle of the leg pivots. The compound bend in the legs also permits the legs to fold compactly against the golf bag body.

This invention relates to golf equipment and, in particular, to golf bags with stands.
Golf bags with stands are well known in the art. One popular golf bag with a stand is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,235 to Solheim et al. The golf bag disclosed in the Solheim patent comprises a lightweight fabric body with rigid members at the top and bottom ends. The rigid members are connected by a rigid spine that extends longitudinally of the body. Because the spine supports only one side of the body, the diametrically opposed side of the body remains at least partially collapsible. It is this characteristic that is employed to operate the golf bag stand which is mounted on the partially collapsible side of the body and includes a pair of legs. The upper ends of the legs are pivotally attached to the rigid member at the top end of the body. An actuator rod of generally U-shaped configuration is attached to the rigid member at the bottom end of the body so that the free ends of the actuator rod may be attached to the legs at points between the upper and lower ends of the legs.
Whenever the golf bag is in its normal position, i.e., in the form of a right circular cylinder, such as when being carried, the distance between the top and bottom ends of the body will be at a maximum. This causes the legs to be retracted and held firmly against the side of the body so that the legs do not interfere with any normal activities of the golfer carrying the golf bag.
When the golfer sets the golf bag down, the simple and natural movement of resting the golf bag on its bottom end and leaning it over slightly automatically moves the legs of the stand into an extended position as the partially collapsible side of the body collapses. The pivot axes of the legs are approximately tangent to the throat of the golf bag. Accordingly, as the legs deploy they splay outward to provide a more stable tripod than could be accomplished if the pivot axes were parallel. Increasing the separation of the pivots and therefore the splay angle of the legs would increase the stability, however, would reduce the mechanical advantage of the actuator. The longer legs required by an increased splay angle would also potentially extend beyond the bottom of the bag and interfere with the automatic deployment mechanism. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a golf bag with an automatically extensible bag stand having a wider track in its deployed condition without increasing the pivot splay angle or substantially increasing the length of the retracted legs.


An irrigating cannula includes a hub having an inner passage and a side port extending through the hub and connecting to the inner passage. The inner passage is configured to receive an instrument, and a fluid passage is defined between the hub and the instrument. The fluid passage is configured to deliver a fluid through an incision in a body.

Cannula systems are used to keep an incision in a patient's body (e.g., in the eye) from closing after the incision tool (e.g., a trocar) is removed. Other surgical instruments may then be inserted through the cannula into the patient's body after removal of the trocar. Typical surgical procedures require a cannula for each surgical instrument inserted into the body. For example, a typical procedure requires one cannula for a surgical cutting instrument, another cannula for an illumination instrument, and yet another cannula for an irrigating instrument. Multiple cannulas increase surgical complexity, clutter the surgical field, and require multiple incisions that can increase pain, infection risk and recovery time. Accordingly, a cannula system that enables fewer incisions is needed.
This Background section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.


A method for treating bottom ash from a waste incineration plant. The invention relates in particular to a method for treating bottom ash from a domestic waste incineration plant. In accordance with the invention bottom ash having a size ranging up to 2 mm is treated by removing a previously determined component. The treatment comprises at least one of the following steps: the removal of organic components, the removal of heavy metals, the removal of ions and the removal of a fraction having a size of up to 50 μm. It is preferred for the nonferrous heavy metals to be removed and the ferrous metals to remain in the fraction. Most preferably at least one of the treatment steps comprises a wet treatment.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to a method for treating bottom ash from a waste incineration plant, in accordance with the preamble of claim 1.
2. Description of Related Art
The treatment of bottom ash from a waste incineration plant is known in the art. The object of this treatment is to separate the various components of which the bottom ash is comprised. A technique for treating bottom ash is, for example, described in the BAT publications (Best Available Technology, a publication of the European Union specified as Pj/EIPPCB/WI, of March 2004). It is reported that both ferrous and nonferrous metals can be separated from the bottom ash.
It is claimed in said BAT publication that the fine fraction having a size of 0-2 mm cannot be treated but has to be removed. The reason for this being that most of the leachable components are contained in this fine fraction. As a result, the remaining product fraction, having a size larger than 2 mm, leaches out less readily with respect to the total bottom ash stream. The further treatment of this remaining product fraction results in making the treated material suitable for use in a wide area.

Gemeente Amsterdam, Afval Energie Bedrijf


This SOI substrate includes a base substrate which includes a single-crystal semiconductor and an active layer which includes a single-crystal semiconductor and is bonded to the base substrate with an oxide film therebetween. The oxide film is formed only in the active layer. The active layer is formed with a thickness of 10 to 200 nm and a thickness variation throughout the active layer of 1.5 nm or less by etching a surface of the active layer while selectively using only the reactive radicals generated by a plasma etching process.

A method for manufacturing SOI wafers has hitherto been disclosed in which, first, an oxide film is formed on at least one of two silicon wafers and a microbubble layer (trap layer) is formed at the interior of one of the silicon wafers by implanting hydrogen ions or rare-gas ions from the upper surface of the wafer. Next, the ion implanted surface of this wafer is brought into contact with the other wafer such that the oxide film is disposed therebetween, then heat treatment is applied; thereby splitting the first wafer into thin films at the microbubble layer as the cleavage plane (e.g., see Patent Document 1). In this SOI wafer manufacturing process, examples of techniques for removing the defect layer at the cleavage plane in the resulting SOI wafer include chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) method, sacrificial oxidation method involving heat treatment in an oxygen atmosphere to oxidize the near-surface region, and a gas-phase etching process known as plasma-assisted chemical etching (PACE). The PACE process is carried out with a pair of electrodes arranged on either side (above and below) the SOI wafer, a radio-frequency power supply that applies radio-frequency waves between the electrodes, and a cavity which is provided on one electrode opposite the SOI wafer and is capable of traveling freely over the SOI wafer. A plasma is localized and generated within the cavity, the plasma being used to etch the active layer. In order to etch the active layer using the PACE process, first the thickness distribution of the active layer on the SOI wafer is measured, then the velocity of travel by the cavity is controlled in accordance with this thickness distribution. In this way, the length of time during the active layer is exposed to the plasma is controlled, the crystal defect layer at the surface of the active layer can be removed while making the thickness of the active layer uniform.
However, in the SOI wafer manufacturing process described in Patent Document 1, the plasma generated within the cavity contains not only reactive radicals which do not cause any damage to the active layer, but also reactive ions which damage the active layer. Because these reactive ions are used as part of the etchant for etching the surface of the active layer, they end up causing damage to the active layer.
As for the CMP method and the sacrificial oxidation method, because both processes thin the entire surface at the same time, they cannot improve the in-plane uniformity in the thickness of the active layer. Also, the amount of thinning is not everywhere uniform in-plane, there being some variation in the initial in-plane thickness, which may have the opposite effect of degrading the in-plane uniformity.
Moreover, in the SOI wafer manufacturing process described in Patent Document 1, because the wafer shape is thinner at the periphery, bonding up to the vicinity of the wafer edge does not occur; thereby, an inactive region (1 to 2 mm in width) called the "terrace region" exists. The boundary line between the inactive region and the active region is often irregular rather than smooth. In particular, very small active regions which are isolated in the manner of islands or which jut out as peninsulas in the inactive region (terrace) have been a cause of particle generation.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-102848 (Claim 1 and Paragraphs [0016], [0021] and [0030])

Silicon-on insulator substrate and method for manufacturing the same


A display mode control method includes the steps of: enabling an electronic device to determine the time of day; and enabling the electronic device to operate a display panel thereof in a first display mode when the time of day corresponds to nighttime, and in a second display mode when otherwise. The display panel shows information in a light shade against a dark background when operated in the nighttime display mode, and in a dark shade against a light background when operated in the daytime display mode.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a display mode control method, more particularly to a display mode control method for switching operation of a display panel of an electronic device between daytime and nighttime display modes automatically.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic devices employing global positioning system (GPS) technology are well known in the art. Such electronic devices are typically used in a vehicle, and include a display panel that shows navigational map information and that is operable in daytime and nighttime display modes. In the daytime display mode, the navigational map information is shown on the display panel in a dark shade against a light (such as white) background. During nighttime, since the light background can be a source of distraction and discomfort to the viewer's eye, the display panel is operated in the nighttime display mode. In this mode, the navigational map information is shown on the display panel in a light shade against a dark (such as black) background.
The aforementioned conventional electronic devices are disadvantageous in that switching operation of the display panel between the daytime and nighttime display modes is done manually, which is inconvenient on the part of the vehicle driver.

Display mode control method for an electronic device


A method of inhibiting complement activation mediated by Bb inhibitors in a subject includes administering a Bb inhibitor to the subject to inhibit at least one of Bb binding to factors B and properdin, inhibit C3 cleavage, inhibit the activation of neutrophils, monocytes, platelets, and endothelium; or inhibit the formation of C3a, C5a, and MAC.

The complement system is activated via three distinct pathways; the classical pathway, the lectin pathway and the alternative complement pathway (AP). The classical pathway is activated via antigen-antibody complexes. The lectin pathway is a variation of the classical pathway and the alternative pathway is activated by foreign material, artificial surfaces, dead tissues, bacteria, dead yeast cells.
Activation of the classical pathway generates C3a, C4a, C5a and C5b-9 molecules which activates a variety of cells in response to host defense. In pathological conditions, as a result of activation of the alternative pathway, anaphylatoxins C3a, C5a are formed which activate cells and C5b-9 molecules also known as the membrane attack complex (MAC) that damage tissues. Collectively these molecules mediate inflammation via cellular activation and release of inflammatory mediators. In addition to the role of C5b-9 as a lytic pore-forming complex, there is strong evidence that the depositing of sublytic MAC may play an important role in inflammation.
The classical complement pathway is important for host defense against pathogens. The alternative complement pathway is activated in pathological inflammation. Elevated levels of C3a, C5a, and C5b-9 have been found associated with multiple acute and chronic disease conditions. Therefore, inhibition of disease-induced AP activation is important for clinical benefit in the diseases where complement activation plays a role in disease pathology.
In addition to its essential role in immune defense, the complement system contributes to tissue damage in many clinical conditions. The activities included in the complement biochemical cascade present a potential threat to host tissue. An example includes the indiscriminate release of destructive enzymes possibly causing host cell lysis. Thus, there is a pressing need to develop therapeutically effective complement inhibitors to prevent these adverse effects.
In a disease condition where AP activation contributes to disease pathology, elevated levels of C3a, C5a and C5b-9 molecules are found in serum, plasma, blood or other body fluids representative of the disease. Production and inhibition of each of these molecules via different mechanisms is important for diseases. One possible mechanism for inhibiting the formation of the PC3bBb complex is via the use of an anti-Bb antibody. Thus blocking/inhibiting or preventing AP activation via depleting Bb, neutralizing Bb, or inactivating Bb remains an important therapeutic strategy.
The present invention relates to developed humanized and chimeric antibody sequences that are novel and provide targeted binding to factor Bb. The binding of such humanized/chimeric antibodies to factor Bb prevents activity of convertase. Such antibodies also prevent conversion of PC3bB into PC3bBb via binding the factor D cleavage site on factor B of the PC3bB complex. These antibodies do not inhibit properdin binding to C3b. Anti-factor Bb agents that bind Bb and prevent PC3bBb activity and prevent formation of new C3 convertase include, but are not limited to, monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, chimeric, humanized, fully human, and nano-antibodies, Full length and fragments thereof, including IgG, Fab, Fab′, F(ab′)2, and IgGs. The antibodies of the present invention inhibit the formation of C3a, C5a, and C5b-9 which drive inflammation and also amplify the AP activation process.
Aptamers, small molecules, and SiRNA can also neutralize Bb binding to the PC3bB complex and prevent production of AP induced production of C3a, C5a, and C5b-9. As a result, cellular activation, inflammation and release of inflammatory mediators are also prevented. Because AP activation is linked to various acute and chronic human diseases, the blockade with anti-Bb agents will also block the inflammation process providing clinical benefit to mammals treated with the anti-Bb monoclonal antibodies.
Complement is one of several factors involved in pathogenesis and could be a significant pathological mechanism that offers an effective point for clinical control. The need for effective complement inhibitory drugs is signified by growing recognition of the importance of complement-mediated tissue injury in a variety of disease states. Despite this, currently there is a complete absence of approved drugs for human use that specifically target and inhibit complement activation.
Factor B plays a key role in the amplification loop of the alternative pathway since it provides the catalytic subunit, Bb, for C3-convertase (PC3bBb). Antibodies that inhibit C3b binding to Ba have been developed but none that inhibit the activity of the Bb. Factor B by itself is a zymogen with no known catalytic activity. After binding to PC3b complex, factor B is cleaved by factor D to release Ba. It has been shown that factor B binds C3b through regions found within each of the Ba and Bb subunits Inhibitors of factor Bb binders should results of selective inhibition of factor B function, thereby preventing formation of C3a, C5a and C5b-9, which are responsible for many deleterious effects.
Based on the results described in this patent application, we developed humanized and chimeric antibodies that bind the catalytic domain of factor B and prevent the activity of the PC3bBb, bind the factor D cleavage site on Bb and prevent the formation of additional PC3bBb molecules. These antibodies do not inhibit C3b binding to factor B as such binding events are shown to be mediated via Ba domain of factor B. This application developed humanized and chimeric anti-Bb specific inhibitors or inhibition methods that (a) will prevent factor B function by blocking PC3bBb activity and/or (b) suppress factor B cleavage that prevents Bb generation. These inhibitors appear to be inactivators of the C3 convertase enzymatic activity without disrupting the factor B interaction with C3b. We have evaluated the inhibitory activity of the anti-factor Bb antibodies for their potential role in blocking the AP activation. These antibodies prevent factor B function both in vitro and in whole blood. Other anti-factor Ba monoclonal antibodies have also been developed and tested in animal models of disease but not part of the current invention. These anti-Ba antibodies prevent factor B binding to C3b and hence block the activation of the complement cascade.
This invention is designed to inhibit the functional activity of Bb and its progressive effects in pathological conditions by use of an anti-Bb antibody.

Humanized and chimeric anti-factor Bb antibodies and uses thereof


A method for obtaining a glassless image is disclosed. The image processing method comprises the steps of (a) receiving an RGB color frontal facial image; (b) extracting candidates of eye regions from the received RGB color frontal facial image; (c) determining an exact eye region out of the candidates and normalizing the received RGB color frontal facial image; (d) extracting a glasses frame region by using color information contained in the received RGB color frontal facial image and edge information of a glasses frame; (e) performing an RGB-HSI transformation on the normalized frontal facial image; (f) generating H′, S′, and I′ glassless compensated images; (g) obtaining R′, G′, and B′ compensated images by performing an HSI-RGB transformation on the H′, S′, and I′ glassless compensated images; and (h) creating a glassless final color facial image on the basis of the R′, G′, and B′ compensated images.

As an information-oriented society has been come, person identification techniques for discriminating a person from others have become more important, and, thus there have been significant number of studies in the field of personal information protection and person identification through a computer using biometrical technologies. In biometrical technologies, facial recognition technique becomes the most convenient and competitive technique since it does not require a specified action or behavior of a user and employs a non-contact manner. The facial recognition technique is widely used in various applications such as identification, human-computer interface (HCI), and access control. However, there are several drawbacks in the facial recognition technique. One of these drawbacks is deformation of facial images occurred by glasses.
To remove glasses from a facial image with the glasses, various image processing methods are proposed: an algorithm for extracting glasses from a facial image using a deformable contour to remove the extracted glasses; an algorithm for removing small occlusion regions such as certain facial regions occluded by glasses using a flexible model that is called as an active appearance model; and an image processing method using PCA algorithm.
An image processing method using PCA algorithm is now widely used. The PCA algorithm is classified into two processes. One is a training process for extracting eigenfaces from a plurality of unspecified sample glassless facial images Γ N, wherein N=1, 2, . . . ,M. The sample facial images ΓN include facial images of an individual and/or another individuals. The other is a process for obtaining glassless reconstruction images from current input facial images Γ with glasses by using the extracted eigenfaces.
Descriptions of the training process for extracting eigenfaces will be first described in detail. An average image φ are calculated from the sample facial images ΓN for use in the training process by using Equation 1 and the average image φ is subtracted from the sample facial images ΓN as expressed in Equation 2, wherein each of the sample facial images ΓN is expressed as a column vector.
                    φ        =                              1            M                                                        ∑                              N                =                1                            M                                                                  Γ                N                            .                                                          (                  Eq          .                                                    1                )                                          Φ          N                =                              Γ            N                    -                      φ            .                                              (                  Eq          .                                                    2                )
Then, a covariance matrix C with respect to the sample facial images ΓN is obtained from differential images ΦN, which is calculated by subtracting the average image φ from each of the sample facial images ΓN by using the following Equation 3.
                              C          =                                                    1                M                                                                            ∑                                      N                    =                    1                                    M                                                                                Φ                    N                                                                          Φ                    N                    T                                                                        =                          AA              T                                                                                A          =                      [                                          Φ                1                            ,                              Φ                2                            ,              ⋯                                                                        ,                              Φ                M                                      ]                                              (                  Eq          .                                                    3                )            wherein A is a matrix composed of the differential images ΦN and AT is a transpose of A.
Consequently, eigenvectors are obtained from the covariance matrix C, wherein the eigenvectors is referred to eigenfaces uk(k=1, . . . ,M). Detailed description for a process of obtaining the eigenfaces uk will be omitted because this process is well known to those skilled in the art.
Next, the input facial images Γ with glasses are expressed as glassless reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)} by using the eigenfaces uk. With the following Equation 4, the average image φ is subtracted from the input facial images Γ, and the resultant is projected to the respective eigenfaces uk.ωk=ukT(Γ−φ), k=1, . . . ,M  (Eq. 4)wherein ωk is a weight which allows the input facial images Γ to be expressed on a space consisting of the eigenfaces uk. The reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)} are also expressed in terms of the sum of weights of the eigenfaces uk extracted from the sample facial images ΓN by using the following Equation 5.
                                          Γ            ^                    =                      φ            +                                          ∑                                  k                  =                  1                                                  M                  ′                                                                                ω                  k                                                                  u                  k                                                                    ,                                                                M            ′                    ≤          M                                    (                  Eq          .                                                    5                )            wherein a number of the eigenfaces uk required is equal to M or to M′ less than M, M being a total number of the eigenfaces uk.
Where eigenfaces uk are extracted from the sample facial images ΓN as described above, the extracted eigenfaces uk include facial characteristics only so that final glassless facial images can be obtained by reconstructing the input facial images Γ on the basis of the extracted eigenfaces uk to produce the reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)}. However, the reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)} produced according to the conventional method have many errors thereon. Referring to FIG. 1, which shows that glasses are not removed completely although the reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)} are similar to the input facial images Γ, and there are numerous errors over the reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)}. In FIG. 1, "client" is a person included in a training set and "non-client" is a person excluded in the training set. Although there are numerous errors as shown in FIG. 1, the reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)} of "clients" are better than those of "non-clients" in quality since facial characteristics are reflected in the extracted eigenfaces uk.
However, there are some problems in regarding the reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)} obtained according to the conventional method as complete glassless facial images. Firstly, if the reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)} are generated with respect to the input facial images Γ on the basis of the eigenfaces uk that are extracted from the sample facial images ΓN included in the training set, particular characteristics of the input facial images Γ would not be appeared on the reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)}. Secondly, if occlusion regions due to glasses are considerable in the input facial images Γ, the reconstruction images {circumflex over (Γ)} will include many errors thereon so that these may appear to be unnatural and different from the input facial images Γ.
As described above, since problems due to glasses in the input facial images Γ are merely regarded as the matter of glasses frame, many limitations are arisen in the conventional methods so that obtaining high quality glassless facial images is very difficult.

Image processing method for removing glasses from color facial images

Korea Institute of Science and Technology


A dot sight having power saving functions and a control method thereof are disclosed. The dot sight, which includes a battery, a dot visual chart generator, and a reflector disposed therein and which is mounted on a portable gun, includes a controller which selects an operation mode in which power of the dot visual chart generator is turned on and a power saving mode in which the power of the dot visual chart generator is turned off, and a timer which measures a time from when the operation mode is started, and the controller converts a mode into the power saving mode after a predetermined time using a time measured by the timer. Accordingly, if the dot sight is not used in the operation mode, the dot sight automatically converts the operation mode into the power saving mode, and, if a movement is sensed in the power saving mode, converts the power saving mode into the operation mode, so that battery utilization efficiency can be improved. Also, if a movement is sensed by a vibration sensor when a user grips a gun or aims at a target, the power saving mode is released and thus power saving functions are achieved without any inconvenience.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dot sight having power saving functions and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a dot sight having power saving functions, which can improve battery utilization efficiency, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Characteristics of rifles depend on how rapidly the rifle can fire an aimed shot (speed) and how accurately the aimed shot hits the target (accuracy), and are directly related to aiming of the rifle. In general, the aiming of the rifle is achieved by aligning lines of a rear sight and a front sight. The aiming achieved by aligning the lines of the front sight, which is disposed at an end of a gun barrel, and the rear sight, which is disposed on a top of a main body of a gun, enables accurate firing according to skill of a user who uses the gun. However, even minor vibration or shaking makes it difficult to align the line of sight, and aligning the line of sight is unfavorable for rapid aiming which is required at a short distance or in an emergent situation. That is, such an aiming and firing method requires complicated processes such as finding and identifying a target, aligning a line of sight, and aiming, and also requires much time. Also, the front sight and the rear sight are very small and thus may respond to minor vibration very sensitively when the user aligns the line of sight. Also, if a shooter is too meticulous in aligning the line of sight, the shooter's eye focuses on the front sight and the rear sight rather than the target or front situation and thus the shooter's view field becomes narrow.
An optical sight has been suggested for the purpose of solving the difficulty in aligning the line of sight and improving accuracy. However, since the optical sight uses a telephoto lens, it may respond to minor vibration sensitively if a magnification increases. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve rapid aiming.
In order to solve the above problems, the optical sight employs a no-magnification (low magnification) lens, or a dot sight, which removes a complicated line of sight and simply uses an aiming dot, has been suggested.
The optical dot sight is characterized by a simple structure and a rapid aiming ability, and is useful when it is used in an emergent situation or at a short distance, which requires a rapid reaction. That is, much time is not required to align the line of sight and aiming is achieved simply by moving a light dot to a target rapidly. Also, a view field can be efficiently guaranteed. Therefore, the time required to aim can be reduced and things that obstruct the view field and checking of a situation due to the aiming can be reduced to the maximum.
As shown in FIG. 1, the optical dot sight is comprised of an inner body tube adjusting knob 7 which is disposed on a top of a sight housing 2 of a cylindrical shape, a fixing grill 26 which is removably connected to an upper end of a rifle rear sight assembly on a lower portion of the sight housing 2 in a rail way, a protective window 10 which is disposed on a front end of the housing, a dot visual chart generator 8 which is disposed on a predetermined location of an upper end in the housing 2, and a reflector 9 which has a specific bending modulus and is disposed behind the protective window 10 in the housing 2.
The reflector 9 allows an observer's (user's) visual line to pass through the front end of the dot sight 1, while reflecting a virtual image of a dot visual chart of the dot visual chart generator 8 on the rear end. The observer (user) fires the gun if the virtual image of the dot visual chart of the dot visual chart generator 8 is consistent with a target, so that aiming can be easily achieved.
However, if a power switch is turned on, power of the dot visual chart generator is kept being turned on regardless of whether the dot sight is used or not. If the user does not turn off the power switch and leaves it turned on, there is a problem that a battery is discharged.
In particular, if the power switch is turned on, the lifespan of the battery may be reduced. Also, if the power switch is turned off in order to save the battery, it is difficult to rapidly respond to an emergent situation since the user should turn on the power switch prior to aiming at a target.

Dot sight device having power saving functions, the control method thereof


A power control system includes a feedback loop having a power factor correction (PFC) and output voltage controller and a switching power converter. The switching power converter includes an inductor to supply charge to an output capacitor and a switch to control inductor current ramp-up times. The PFC and output voltage controller provides a control signal to the switch to control PFC and regulate output voltage of the switching power converter. During a single period of the control signal, the PFC and output voltage controller obtains the line input voltage and output voltage of the switching power converter using a single feedback signal received from the switching power converter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of signal processing, and more specifically, to power factor correction and a power factor correction controller with feedback reduction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Power control systems provide power factor corrected and regulated output voltages to many applications that utilize a regulated output voltage. FIG. 1 depicts a power control system 100, which includes a switching power converter 102. The switching power converter 102 performs power factor correction and provides constant voltage power to load 112. Voltage source 101 supplies an alternating current (AC) input voltage Vin(t) to a full, diode bridge rectifier 103. The voltage source 101 is, for example, a public utility, and the AC voltage Vin(t) is, for example, a 60 Hz/110 V line voltage or a 50 Hz/220 V line voltage in Europe. The rectifier 103 rectifies the input voltage Vin(t) and supplies a rectified, time-varying, line input voltage Vx(t) to the switching power converter.
The switch 108 of switching power converter 102 regulates the transfer of energy from the line input voltage Vx(t), through inductor 110, to capacitor 106. The inductor current iL ramps 'up' when the switch 108 conducts, i.e. is "ON". The inductor current iL ramps down when switch 108 is nonconductive, i.e. is "OFF", and supplies current iL to recharge capacitor 106. The time period during which inductor current iL ramps down is commonly referred to as the "inductor flyback time". In at least one embodiment, the switching power converter 102 operates in discontinuous current mode, i.e. the inductor current iL ramp up time plus the inductor flyback time is less than the period of switch 108. Capacitor 106 supplies stored energy to load 112 while the switch 108 conducts. The capacitor 106 is sufficiently large so as to maintain a substantially constant output voltage Vc(t), as established by a power factor correction (PFC) and output voltage controller 114 (as discussed in more detail below). The output voltage Vc(t) remains substantially constant during constant load conditions. However, as load conditions change, the output voltage Vc(t) changes. The PFC and output voltage controller 114 responds to the changes in Vc(t) and adjusts the control signal CS0 to maintain a substantially constant output voltage as quickly as possible. The output voltage controller 114 includes a small capacitor 115 to filter any high frequency signals from the line input voltage Vx(t).
The power control system 100 also includes a PFC and output voltage controller 114 to control the switch 108 and, thus control power factor correction and regulate output power of the switching power converter 102. The goal of power factor correction technology is to make the switching power converter 102 appear resistive to the voltage source 101. Thus, the PFC and output voltage controller 114 attempts to control the inductor current iL so that the average inductor current iL is linearly and directly related to the line input voltage Vx(t). Prodić, Compensator Design and Stability Assessment for Fast Voltage Loops of Power Factor Correction Rectifiers, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 22, No. 5, September 2007, pp. 1719-1729 (referred to herein as "Prodić"), describes an example of PFC and output voltage controller 114. The PFC and output voltage controller 114 supplies a pulse width modified (PWM) control signal CS0 to control the conductivity of switch 108. In at least one embodiment, switch 108 is a field effect transistor (FET), and control signal CS0 is the gate voltage of switch 108. The values of the pulse width and duty cycle of control signal CS0 depend on two feedback signals, namely, the line input voltage Vx(t) and the capacitor voltage/output voltage Vc(t).
Switching power converter 114 receives two feedback signals, the line input voltage Vx(t) and the output voltage Vc(t), via a wide bandwidth current loop 116 and a slower voltage loop 118. The current loop 116 operates at a frequency fc that is sufficient to allow the PFC and output controller 114 to respond to changes in the line input voltage Vx(t) and cause the inductor current iL to track the line input voltage to provide power factor correction. The current loop frequency is generally set to a value between 20 kHz and 150 kHz. The voltage loop 118 operates at a much slower frequency fv, typically 10-20 Hz. The capacitor voltage Vc(t) includes a ripple component having a frequency equal to twice the frequency of input voltage Vin(t), e.g. 120 Hz. Thus, by operating at 10-20 Hz, the voltage loop 118 functions as a low pass filter to filter the ripple component.
PFC and output voltage controller 114 is often implemented as an integrated circuit (IC). Thus, the PFC and output voltage controller 114 includes two respective pins to connect to the current feedback loop 118. Pins can be relatively expensive components of the IC. Additionally, high voltage components, such as high voltage resistors, in the voltage loop 118 also increase the cost of PFC and output voltage controller 114.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Power factor correction controller with feedback reduction


In a manufacturing method of a coil, a plurality of unit coil portions is placed side by side in a winding axis direction, each of the unit coil portions is formed of a plurality of unit wound portions having mutually different inner circumferential lengths, and the unit wound portion having a small inner circumferential length enters inside the unit wound portion having a large inner circumferential length. In coil winding method, a step of forming an outward wound unit coil portion formed of a plurality of unit wound portions laminated from an inner circumferential side to an outer circumferential side and forming an inward wound unit coil portion formed of a plurality of unit wound portions laminated from the outer circumferential side toward the inner circumferential side are alternately repeated. In outward wound unit coil portion, a step of forming the unit wound portion on the outer circumferential side by laminating on an outer circumferential surface of the unit wound portion on the inner circumferential side is repeated. In inward wound unit coil portion, a step of forming the unit wound portion at position spaced apart from the outward wound unit coil portion and pushing in the unit wound portion until it makes contact with a side surface of the outward wound unit coil portion is repeated.

Conventionally, as illustrated in FIG. 11, a coil is known in which unit coil portions 9 formed by spirally winding a conductive wire 94 are repeatedly placed side by side in a winding axis direction.
As a method of manufacturing such a coil, there is known a method of continuously forming a first unit wound portion 91, a second unit wound portion 92, and a third unit wound portion 93 having mutually different inner circumferential lengths in a winding axis direction by spirally winding a conductive wire as illustrated in FIG. 12A, and continuously forming unit coil portions formed of the pluralities of unit wound portions 91, 92, 93 in the winding axis direction, thereby manufacturing an interim product of an air core coil, and then, compressing the interim product in the winding axis direction, pushing in at least a part of the second unit wound portion 92 inside the third unit wound portion 93, and pushing in at least a part of the first unit wound portion 91 inside the second unit wound portion 92 as illustrated in FIG. 12B, thereby obtaining a finished product of the air core coil formed of a plurality of coil layers (three layers in the example of the figure), (Patent Document 1).
In a transformer for large power and high voltage, as illustrated in FIG. 10, a large coil 8 formed by winding a conductive wire having a coated surface and a rectangular cross-section in multiple layers or a large coil (not shown) formed by lap winding a thin resin film and a wide sheet metal in multiple layers and further increasing the number of turns per row is conventionally used as a primary winding or a secondary winding.
In manufacturing processes of such a coil, as illustrated in FIG. 10, many coil units 81 spirally wound from an inner circumferential side toward an outer circumferential side are manufactured first, and then, the coil units 81 are arrayed in a winding axis direction, and the adjacent coil units 81, 81 are connected in series to each other by a connecting wire (not shown).


A message is generated to initiate an ACH (automated clearing house) transaction to benefit a recipient account associated with a recipient token. The message includes the recipient token. After the message is transmitted, an authentication message is received. The authentication message indicates authentication of the recipient token. The ACH transaction is implemented in response to receiving the authentication message.

Automated clearing house (ACH) payment networks are configured to primarily transfer money electronically from one bank account to another, either within a single financial institution or across multiple institutions. An ACH network typically utilizes one or more computer-based systems without the direct intervention of bank staff to transfer funds, and the accounts can either be commercial accounts or consumer accounts. ACH networks are an example of electronic funds transfer (EFT) systems.
The present inventors have recognized opportunities for improving convenience of use of ACH networks, particularly for consumers, while also reducing chances for erroneous transactions.

Access to ACH transaction functionality via digital wallets


A display retract mechanism for moving a display between a retracted position and a deployed position is disclosed and explained. The display retract mechanism is useful, for example, in mounting a liquid crystal display within the cabin of a passenger vehicle, such as an aircraft or bus. A geared chain drive supplies torque necessary for rotating a pivot shaft on which the display is attached. The display is biased toward a retracted position by a gas spring with a substantially linear force curve between the retracted position and the deployed position. Also disclosed are an infrared sensor for detecting when the display is in the deployed position, a solenoid latch for holding the display in the retracted position, and an electromechanical clutch for maintaining the display in a particular position.

In a passenger vehicle it may be desirable for a display, such as a video display, to be hidden when not in use. A mechanical device is necessary for deploying and retracting the display. In most environments, the mechanical device may also be subject to additional constraints such as size, weight, and power constraints. In some environments there may be additional constraints. For example, in an aircraft environment a mechanical device used for deploying and retracting an overhead display must automatically retract in the event of power loss to the cabin, or in the event that the head of a passenger strikes the display.
Traditional methods for deploying and retracting displays in passenger vehicles include the use of linkage arms extending from a motor to a monitor to rotate the monitor to a pre-set viewing position. A slip clutch between the monitor and the motor allows for the display to retract when struck from a certain direction. A mechanical spring stores the energy for automatic retract of the monitor in an emergency situation resulting in the loss of power.
Displays have been deployed and retracted by mechanisms linking the motor to the monitor by gears. The gear and motor linkage approach wears at the pivot points and the monitor vibrates during transportation making viewing difficult. Vibrations in the display during transport may be reduced with tighter tolerance gears, but tighter tolerance gears would be ineffective from both weight and cost perspectives, and gear tolerance will be lost with time and use.
Vibrations in the display have also been reduced by using a brake and by driving a motor in reverse. The brake damps the vibrations transmitted to a display from a motor while the display is deploying, and maintains the display in a deployed position. The display is moved from the deployed to a retracted position by first releasing the brake. Vibrations are damped while the display is retracting by driving the motor in reverse. The energy necessary to move the display from the deployed to the retracted position is generally stored in a spring. Since driving the motor in reverse increases resistance to the movement of the display, a larger spring is required when this technique is used for damping vibrations. Often, larger springs create noisy whines when they are wound and unwound in this way.
In some passenger vehicles, the electromagnetic interference ("EMI") generated by a display may also be an issue. Power and video distribution systems use single stranded wires or combinations of flex and single stranded wires to distribute power. The power is distributed between the video board in the monitor assembly and the main chassis. The length of the wires, and the high frequencies of the video signals being transmitted through them, together act like an antenna. In general, any mechanical device designed for deploying and retracting an overhead display must attempt to mitigate the effects of EMI on the video signal transmitted to the display.


Class D amplifiers are used for their high efficiency, but they have some undesirable characteristics, one of these being the residual switching frequency ripple. Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and apparatuses for reducing the switching frequency ripple using a technique known herein as ripple steering. A secondary output is added to the amplifier for the purpose of steering the switching ripple away from the main output thus substantially relieving the main output from a major artifact of prior art Class D amplifiers.

High quality audio power amplifiers are traditionally large, heavy, and inefficient. Typically these equipments are capable of high power audio output with very low total harmonic distortion (THD). However, these equipments achieve only approximately 25% efficiency under normal audio operating conditions because they typically use inefficient linear or quasi-linear amplifiers (e.g. Class A, B, G, and H).
In recent years, the demand for more efficient audio power amplifiers has increased. Thus the shift from Class B to Class D amplifiers for sound reproduction.
Class D amplifiers provide high efficiency, but typically have limited bandwidths, resulting in high THD at high audio frequencies.
A Class D amplifier is basically a switch-mode power supply modified to operate in four quadrants at high frequencies (e.g. audio frequencies). A switch-mode power supply uses pulse-width modulation (PWM) to control the ON/OFF duty cycle of power switching transistor(s) that provide power to a load. The efficiency is high because the switches are not operated in their linear region.
FIG. 1 is an illustration of a simplified Class D topology. As illustrated, a comparator circuit (not shown) inside the Pulse-Width Modulator 110 compares the amplitude of incoming analog audio signal 101 to the amplitude of a reference triangular waveform operating at an intended switching frequency. The comparator circuit switches its output high or low by comparing the incoming audio's amplitude against the amplitude of the triangular waveform. When audio signal 101 is above the amplitude of the triangular waveform, the comparator switches output D+ of the PWM 110 to the ON state. Output D+ remains ON for the duration of time while the input audio signal exceeds the amplitude of the triangular waveform. Conversely, while the input audio signal is below the amplitude of the triangular waveform, the output D+ of the PWM is at the OFF state. Output D− is the inverse, i.e., complementary of output D+.
The relationship between the input audio amplitude and the pulse-width modulator outputs D+, and D− is linear to a first order. The outputs D+ and D− of the comparator drive "totem-poled" transistor switches Q1 and Q2. Each transistor switch is a MOSFET device, with a diode device 131 coupled across its terminals to enable four quadrant switching. The topology shown in FIG. 1 is an example embodiment of a class D amplifier where the same type MOSFETs is used for both switches. Alternate embodiments include using complementary transistors, e.g. one p-type and one n-type MOSFET. For this reason the MOSFET symbol used shows no polarity.
Output filter 140 is typically a second order low-pass, e.g., LC configuration filter. The output filter 140 is essential for low pass filtering, or integrating, the carrier's varying pulse width duty cycle for reproduction of the original audio content while attenuating the switching carrier frequency.
For high fidelity audio reproduction, the operating (i.e. switching) frequency of the Class D power amplifier must be significantly higher than the bandwidth of the audio being reproduced. Thus, to reproduce higher bandwidth audio with higher fidelity requires relatively high switching frequency. However, the higher the switching frequency, the more the switching losses (i.e. reduced efficiency). Thus, a prior art Class D system is limited in efficiency and output bandwidth because of the inherent efficiency loss.
As discussed above, in a Class D amplifier, the high frequency switching waveform is filtered with an LC filter, e.g., a second order LC filter. Selection of the filter component values is very important and essential to maximizing performance. For instance, the corner frequency of the LC filter is chosen between the audio bandwidth of interest and the switching frequency. As the corner frequency moves closer to the switching frequency, higher switching frequency ripple content appears at the output. And, as the corner frequency approaches the audio bandwidth of interest, distortion increases in the audio reproduction. Thus, the tradeoff in corner frequency is between higher frequency ripple, and low audio bandwidth, leading to high distortion in the reproduced audio signal.
Although the higher frequency ripple is generally inaudible to the human ear, its presence is still undesirable for several reasons: (1) it is an emissions problem, for instance, it appears as artifacts in the AM radio band and other places; (2) it influences audio measurements; (3) provides a limitation on how clean the output signal looks to the end user; and (4) puts unwanted artifacts on a feedback signal fed to the control circuit, limiting the performance.
Generally, the corner frequency of the output filter is chosen for high bandwidth and low THD thus the compromise is high frequency ripple on the output. This high frequency ripple is a market stigma for Class D amplifiers even though the ripple is outside the audio bandwidth. A detailed discussion of the ripple problem is discussed below.
FIGS. 2 and 3 present a more detailed illustration of the ripple problems associated with prior art half bridge class D amplifiers. FIG. 2 is an illustration of a typical half bridge class D amplifier configuration. The associated waveforms are shown in FIG. 3. As illustrated, the half bridge Class D amplifier configuration comprises essentially of switches Q1 and Q2, which are coupled to a modulator; inductor L1 coupled on one end to switching node 201; output capacitor C1, which is coupled to the second end of inductor L1 and across device RLOAD; and device RLOAD (i.e. representing the impedance of the loudspeaker) which is coupled to the second end of inductor L1 and in parallel with capacitor C1. Two power sources of equal voltage, VD, are needed for half bridge operation.
The LC filter (comprising essentially of inductor L1 and capacitor C1) is driven by a square wave at the switching frequency. A square wave voltage 310 is generated at the switching node 201 as a result of the modulator 110 driving the gates of transistors (MOSFETs) Q1 and Q2. Inductor L1 integrates square wave voltage 310 into a triangular wave current 320. And finally, the triangular wave current 320 is integrated into a quasi-sine wave voltage 330 by the output capacitor C1.
The ripple problem is clearly shown in waveform 330. In practice the voltage ripple on a full bandwidth class D amplifier can be on the order of one volt peak-to-peak (1 Vpp) with a fundamental of several hundred kHz, making it extremely prone to interfering with other electronic equipment, especially AM radio receivers. Modulation schemes in which the switching frequency is variable are particularly troublesome.
In order to reduce this ripple an LC series trap circuit is often used across C1. This approach has several disadvantages. First, the Q of the LC trap must be extremely high in order to effectively shunt current away from C1, whose impedance at the switching frequency is already well below an Ohm. Second, the trap is only effective at a single frequency. The higher the Q, the less effective the trap will be if the switching frequency is variable. The trap is also not very effective at attenuating harmonics of the switching frequency; although these are usually 20 dB down from the fundamental in relative terms, they can still present problems if their magnitude is too large in absolute terms.
Another standard method of reducing ripple would be to add another second order filter to the output, creating a fourth order filter. Some of the disadvantages of this method include that the inductor must be sized to handle the full output current, and the filter may add distortion due to nonlinearity in the devices used, and the filtered output is outside of the control of any feedback loop.
Another prior art method to handling the ripple problem is to add a second LC low-pass filter in the output thus effectively increasing the order of the output filter to four. However, fourth order filters pose controllability and linearity problems. In addition, the higher order filter increases the THD.
Class D amplifiers are often operated in a full bridge configuration to increase the output power without increasing the power supply voltages. Thus, for completeness, a full bridge conventional class D amplifier is shown in FIG. 4. The two inductors are shown as L1A and L1B, and these may be implemented as two discrete inductors or as a single coupled inductor so long as the dot-orientation is consistent. Inductor L1B is coupled to switching node 401 representing the output of MOSFET switches Q3 and Q4. The base of MOSFET switch Q3 is driven by signal D− from the output of the modulator and the base of MOSFET switch Q4 is driven by signal D+ from the output of the modulator. The output of the class D amplifier is shown with one side grounded, but this is not necessary for operation. The resulting waveforms are similar to that discussed above for the half bridge configuration.

Method and apparatus for reducing ripple in Class D amplifiers


The radiographic image conversion panel for mammography includes a phosphor layer formed on a rectangular substrate having first and second pairs of two parallel sides, and sealed with a moisture-proof protective film. The phosphor layer is positioned on the substrate such that a distance from at least one side of the first pair to an adjacent end of the phosphor layer is shorter than a critical bonding length being a shortest bonding length long enough to provide a predetermined level of moisture-proof effect and distances from two sides of the second pair to adjacent ends of the phosphor layer are not shorter than the critical length. A seal bonding layer is formed in areas of the second distance, and on a side surface having the at least one side or on the side surface and a rear surface of the substrate. The phosphor layer may be formed in a recess formed in the substrate.

The present invention relates to a highly productive radiographic image conversion panel for mammography that can secure a large enough image-forming area to photograph the chest wall and that avoids degradation of characteristics due to moisture absorption, and a method of manufacturing the panel.
There are known a class of phosphors which accumulate a portion of applied radiations (e.g. x-rays, α-rays, β-rays, γ-rays, electron beams, and uv (ultraviolet) radiation) and which, upon stimulation by exciting light such as visible light, give off a burst of light emission in proportion to the accumulated energy. Such phosphors called stimulable phosphors are employed in medical and various other applications.
An exemplary application is a radiographic image information recording and reproducing system which employs a radiographic image conversion panel having a film formed of the stimulable phosphor (stimulable phosphor layer). This radiographic image information recording and reproducing system has already been commercialized as FCR (Fuji Computed Radiography) from Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
In that system, a subject such as a human body is irradiated with x-rays or the like to record radiographic image information about the subject on the radiographic image conversion panel (more specifically, the stimulable phosphor layer). After the radiographic image information is thus recorded, the radiographic image conversion panel is scanned two-dimensionally with exciting light such as laser light to produce stimulated emission which, in turn, is read photoelectrically to yield an image signal. Then, an image reproduced on the basis of the read image signal is output as the radiographic image of the subject, typically to a display device such as CRT or on a recording material such as a photographic material.
The radiographic image conversion panel is typically produced by the steps of first preparing a coating solution having particles of a stimulable phosphor dispersed in a solvent containing a binder, etc., applying the coating solution to a support in panel form that is made of glass or resin, and drying the applied coating.
Phosphor panels are also known that are made by forming a stimulable phosphor layer (hereinafter also referred to as a phosphor layer) on a support through methods of vacuum film deposition (vapor-phase film formation) such as vacuum evaporation or sputtering. The phosphor layer prepared by the vacuum film deposition has excellent characteristics. First, it contains less impurities since it is formed under vacuum; further, it is substantially free of any substances other than the stimulable phosphor, as exemplified by the binder, so it has high uniformity in performance and still assures very high luminous efficiency.
One factor for deterioration of characteristics of the radiographic image conversion panel is moisture absorption by the stimulable phosphor layer.
The stimulable phosphor layer, in particular, the alkali halide-based stimulable phosphor layer having favorable characteristics, has high moisture absorption and easily absorbs moisture even in a normal environment (normal temperature/normal humidity). As a result, deterioration of sharpness of a reproduced image or the like occurs due to deterioration of photostimulated luminescence characteristics, that is, sensitivity, or deterioration of crystallinity of the stimulable phosphor (destruction of columnar crystals in the case of the alkali halide-based stimulable phosphor having a columnar structure, for example).
In order to solve such problems, the phosphor layer of the radiographic image conversion panel is sealed with a moisture-proof member (see JP 2003-248093 A, JP 2003-149396 A and JP 2002-71899 A).
JP 2003-248093 A discloses a radiographic image conversion panel including a support, a stimulable phosphor layer formed on the support, and a protective layer. In this radiographic image conversion panel, when the distance between an end face of the radiographic image conversion panel and an end face of the stimulable phosphor layer formed on the support is represented by t, t is 4 mm or less on each of the four sides of the radiographic image conversion panel.
Also disclosed in JP 2003-248093 A is a radiographic image conversion panel 100 in which, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, a polyethylene terephthalate sheet or other plastic sheet used for a protective film 106 is adhered to a rear face 102a of a glass support 102 on which a phosphor layer 104 is formed, thereby sealing the phosphor layer 104 therein. In the radiographic image conversion panel 100, a polyethylene terephthalate sheet slightly larger than the support 102 is superposed on the support 102 and the polyethylene terephthalate sheet and the support 102 are fully bonded together. Then, three of the four sides of the polyethylene terephthalate sheet are firmly bonded to the rear face 102a of the support 102 using a sealant or by heat bonding. Thereafter, the pressure is reduced through the remaining side to bring the protective film 106 into intimate contact with the phosphor layer 104 and the phosphor layer 104 is completely sealed therein using a sealant or by heat bonding.
JP 2003-248093 A also discloses a radiographic image conversion panel 110 which has, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, a spacer 116 made of glass on each of the four sides of the panel. On one of the four sides, the spacer 116 is bonded to a support 112 and to a protective layer 118 made of glass to seal a phosphor layer 114 at a position at which the distance from an end face of the phosphor layer 114 to an end face of the panel is equal to the width of the spacer 116.
In the radiographic image conversion panel 110, on one of the four sides, the distance S between an end face of the phosphor layer 114 and an end face of the radiographic image conversion panel 110 is no larger than the width of the spacer 116. If, for example, the width S of the spacer 116 is 1 mm, the photograph area starts immediately from the edge of the radiographic image conversion panel 110 on this side.
JP 2003-149396 A discloses a phosphor screen and a phosphor panel which have a support, a phosphor layer formed on the support, and a moisture-proof protective over-coating layer. The phosphor layer is smaller in surface area than the support, so that the edges of the phosphor layer do not reach the edges of the support. The over-coating layer is formed on the support to cover the phosphor layer.
JP 2002-71899 A discloses a radiographic image conversion panel in which moisture-proof protective films are used to cover the top face and bottom face of a phosphor sheet having a stimulable phosphor layer formed on a support, and which uses an impulse roller to heat seal the perimeter of the phosphor sheet.
The radiographic image conversion panels 100 and 110 disclosed in JP 2003-248093 A and shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, and FIGS. 10A and 10B both have a problem in that their manufacture processes are complicated, which leads to low productivity and high manufacture cost.
The manufacture process of the radiographic image conversion panel 100 shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B is particularly complicated, because a polyethylene terephthalate sheet has to be bonded to the rear face 102a on three sides with a sealant, by heat bonding, or the like.
In addition, the radiographic image conversion panel 110 shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B cannot obtain enough sealing effect when the width S of the spacer 116 is small, because the sealing portion is narrowed and the joining area between the spacer 116 and the protective layer 118 becomes small.
The phosphor screen and phosphor panel of JP 2003-149396 A have a problem in that no image can be formed on the perimeter of the phosphor screen or the phosphor panel, because the phosphor layer is smaller in surface area than the support. The screen or panel thus fails to secure a large enough image-forming area to photograph the chest wall required for mammography.
Further, an image cannot be formed on the perimeter of the radiographic image conversion panel of JP 2002-71899 A, in which the perimeter is heat sealed and therefore a margin for heat seal is needed. The screen or panel thus fails to secure a large enough image-forming area to photograph the chest wall required for mammography.

Radiographic image conversion panel for mammography and method of manufacturing the same


A method and apparatus that remains onboard a tractor and semi trailer vehicle for readily providing axle alignment instruction to an operator. The apparatus includes at least one indicator (28) for detecting an axle's thrust line relative to the vehicle's centerline. At least one sensor (40) for detecting the position of indicator (28) relative to the position of sensor (40). Upon axle deviation, indicator (28) position changes relative to sensor (40). Sensor (40) detect the change in the position of indicator (28). At least one signal is generated and transmitted to at least one receiver (68). Receiver (68) communicates the relation between indicator (28) and sensor (40) as alignment instruction of a particular axle (front or rear), particular side (left or right), particular direction in which to realign the axle (forward or rearward), and concludes when the axle's alignment is correct.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a method and apparatus that remains onboard a tractor and semi trailer vehicle for readily instructing axle alignment to an operator.
2. Description of Prior Art
Since the beginning of the tractor and semi trailer vehicle, alignment technicians have relied on various techniques for checking and correcting axle alignment. These techniques include using devices such as measuring tapes, strings, lasers, tram bars, devices attached to the wheels, devices attached to the kingpin, and the latest to this era, computer projecting imagery with printout capabilities. However, all of these devices depend on an operator to setup and measure the vehicle's alignment in a static position and often with the wheels elevated in order to compensate for tire and wheel run-out before anyone could diagnose axle alignment.
Fleet vehicles such as a semi trailer should seriously be maintained for proper axle alignment, especially those with tandem axles, since these vehicles are dangerously transporting the heaviest loads which can be detrimental to axle alignment through curbing and poor road conditions.
Incorrect axle alignment occurs when an axle becomes deviated from the original drive path of the vehicle. Deviation of a single rear axle will cause the tires to automatically roll to one side of the vehicle's centerline. The vehicle then appears to be rolling awry to the normal direction of travel. This alignment causes reduced fuel mileage, increased rolling resistance and driver fatigue from constant correction of the vehicle due to poor handling characteristics associated with this type of alignment.
With tandem axle combinations, both axles must be parallel to one another to minimize scrubbing between the tires and the roads surface. If one axle becomes deviated from the other, a tandem scrub angle occurs. This is the angle formed by two thrust lines of a tandem axle vehicle. The term (thrust line) used in this document represents the direction that the axle points compared to the vehicle's centerline (shown in FIG. 3).
Upon deviation of a tandem axle the driver is forced to turn the front steer axle to offset the push of the tandem axles in order to keep the vehicle moving straight ahead. This causes a constant scrubbing between each tire on the vehicle and the roads surface. The results are reduced fuel mileage, driver fatigue from poor handling of the vehicle, excessive premature tire wear, and an increase in tire temperature. Tire temperature can be a contributing factor for the rapid disintegration of the tire's tread which is hazardous and often seen laying along the roadway.
Most axle alignment problems are unseen to the eye. Because of this fact it possible to overlook alignment problems that might exist with the axles for a long period of time, since many of these problems will take several hundred to even thousands of miles to manifest themselves and become a contention to the driver.
There are several types of axle alignment devices found in prior art which include devices that are attached and removed, drive-on alignment devices, and an onboard axle misalignment monitor.
Attach and remove devices belong to U.S. Pat. No. 2,479,723 by Brown (1949), U.S. Pat. No. 2,845,718 by Keymer (1958), U.S. Pat. No. 3,279,084 by Hinden (1966), U.S. Pat. No. 3,325,905 by Hurst (1967), U.S. Pat. No. 3,566,476 by McWhorter (1971), U.S. Pat. No. 3,686,770 by Davis (1972), U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,796 by Johnston (1976), U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,668 by Johnston (1982), U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,651 by Hanlon (1989), U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,667 by Fournier (1990), U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,838 by Sims (1990), U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,576 by Campbell (2000), U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,011 by Phillips (2000), U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,837 by Hagelthorn (2001), U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,448 by Cobb (2002), U.S. Pat. No. 6,435,044 by Adolph (2002), U.S. Pat. No. 6,886,266 by Kidd (2005), U.S. pre-grant 20040163265 by Helms, and pre-grant 20050005461 by Rohrig. However, setup of the above mentioned alignment devices requires time and precision. Obtaining the same alignment results are often difficult when used by different technicians.
Drive-on alignment devices belong to U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,076 by Hurst (1964), U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,899 by Dean (1997), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,639 by Colarelli (1995). These devices are large and not easily transported, which eliminates the benefit of field alignment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,109 B1 by Kyrtsos and Huang (2002) discloses a monitoring method and system mounted onboard a vehicle which determines axle misalignment and tire wear while the vehicle is driven. Axle misalignment is determined by monitoring the lateral acceleration values on an axle over a certain amount of time, such as the distance traveled over a long trip, and monitoring the vertical acceleration values which are proportional to the ratio of the weight on each axle. Then calculating and comparing one axle's data to the other, a prediction of the amount of axle misalignment and tire wear can be made. Concluding that the final ratio calculated determines that one axle is more misaligned than the other. However, this system determines axle misalignment over a traveled period of time, delaying important alignment information which allows the continuation of premature tire wear, and further delays vehicle operating efficiency while waiting on final calculations.

Apparatus onboard a vehicle for instructing axle alignment


Various aspects provide for implementation of a cloud service for running, monitoring, and maintaining cloud distributed database deployments and in particular examples, provides cloud based services to run, monitor and maintain deployments of the known MongoDB database. Various embodiments provide services, interfaces, and manage provisioning of dedicated servers for the distributed database instances (e.g., MongoDB instances). Further aspects, including providing a database as a cloud service that eliminates the design challenges associated with many distributed database implementations, while allowing the client's input on configuration choices in building the database. In some implementations, clients can simply identity a number of database nodes, capability of the nodes, and within minutes have a fully functioning, scalable, replicated, and secure distributed database in the cloud.

A number of conventional database systems exist that implement large and scalable database architectures. A variety of database architectures can be selected and tailored to a specific data requirements (e.g., large volume reads, high data availability, no data loss, etc.). As the number of systems that support the various architectures increase, the complexity of the database system likewise increases. In some settings, management of the database system becomes as complex as the architecture itself, and can overwhelm administrators who need to make changes on large distributed databases. Further, the design phase of such implementations is rife with error, inconsistency, and conflict. As distributed databases integrate cloud services and virtual architectures, these problems are magnified.

Systems and methods for managing distributed database deployments


Provided are methods and systems for detecting a maturing arterio-venous fistula comprising a vein. An exemplary method comprises determining a wall thickness of the fistula and a lumen diameter of the fistula vein using a high frequency ultrasound imaging system. A blood pressure of the subject is determined. A circumferential vessel wall stress is determined from the measured blood pressure, the wall thickness of the fistula and a determined radius of the measured diameter of the fistula. The determined circumferential vessel stress is compared to a predetermined threshold stress to determine if the fistula is mature.

The need for access to the circulation is paramount for delivery of renal replacement therapy (RRT) by hemodialysis. The use of a native arterio-venous (AV) fistula provides access with the fewest complications of thrombosis, infection and hospitalization. The creation of the AV fistula is followed by a maturing time in which vascular remodeling occurs. The natural history of this process is not well defined. Moreover, the current challenges of vascular access are expected to increase over time as the typical incident patients are older and have more co-morbid vascular and metabolic disease.

Ultrasonic evaluation of venous structures


To provide an NiO-GDC composite powder or NiO-SDC composite powder having a uniform composition, which is suitable as an anode material for a solid oxide fuel cell.

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has attracted attention as clean energy, since SOFC is a fuel cell using a solid electrolyte having oxygen ion conductivity as an electrolyte, whereby an electrochemical reaction to generate electromotive force is an oxidation reaction of hydrogen, and carbon dioxide gas is not generated.
A solid oxide fuel cell usually has a stack structure comprising single cells each comprising a cathode as an oxide, a solid electrolyte and an anode connected by an interconnector. Its operating temperature is usually about 1,000° C., and lowering of the temperature has been attempted and practically employed by various studies, however, it is still a high temperature at a level of at least about 600° C.
As an anode material to constitute an anode, a composite powder (also called as NiO-GDC or NiO-SDC) comprising a NiO powder (NiO phase) and a ceria powder (also called as GDC or SDC) doped with gadolinium or samarium and represented by the formula (I) LnxCe1-xO2-δ (Ln is Gd or Sm) is known as one having an excellent power generation property within the above temperature range.
In general, in the case of an anode comprising GDC or SDC, and NiO, an electron conduction path is formed by an Ni phase formed by the reduction of NiO, an ion conduction path is formed by a GDC phase or an SDC phase, and at 3 type interfaces of the above two phases and a fuel pass for hydrogen, hydrocarbon or the like, an electrode reaction results. Accordingly, in order to improve the electrode property, it is preferred to form a composition in which an NiO phase and a GDC phase or an SDC phase, which are made of the above-mentioned composite powder, are uniformly incorporated (uniform composition) as far as possible at the micro level.
Heretofore, as a method for forming a composite powder (NiO-GDC or NiO-SDC), a method of mechanically mixing an NiO powder and a GDC powder or an SDC powder in a solid state (also called a solid phase method) is widely carried out as the most typical method.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an anode for an NiO-ceria type solid oxide fuel cell, and it is described to mix NiO particles, ceria coarse particles having a particle size larger than the NiO particles and ceria fine particles having a particle size smaller than the NiO particles in predetermined proportions to obtain a mixture, whereby the anode material is excellent in gas permeability, and an anode which is excellent in electrode reactivity, conductivity and durability can be formed.
Further, in order to obtain a uniform mixture of particles, a high performance mixer provided with rotating blades to be rotated at a high rate (10,000 rpm) is used. In the case of such a solid phase method, there is a problem such that it is principally difficult to obtain a uniform composition at the micro level, so long as an NiO powder and a ceria powder which are raw material element-containing particles are milled and mixed in solid phase.
Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a process for producing a ceramic powder to be used as an anode material for a solid oxide fuel cell, which comprises a first phase made of nickel oxide (NiO) and a second phase made of ceria doped with a rare earth oxide, and disclosed is a process (also called a complex polymerization method) comprising a step of preparing a raw material liquid containing a metal salt such as Ni (nickel nitrate, cerium nitrate or the like) and a chelating agent having a polymerizable functional group which can chelate a cation such as Ni and a step of forming the raw material liquid into droplets and heating the droplets. In a case where the raw material liquid is heated for polymerization, porous spherical particles are obtained, and in a case where the raw material liquid is not polymerized, hollow particles or laminate particles are formed.
The chelating agent is preferably an oxycarboxylic acid such as citric acid, a polyamine such as ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid or a polyol such as ethylene glycol or propylene glycol.
In the case of this method, the yield is poor, since an intermediate product having a high viscosity is formed by the heat-polymerization, and if a nitrate is used as a raw material, NOx is generated at the time of heating, and thereby an exhaust gas cleaning device is required for carrying out the method on an industrial scale.
Further, according to studies by the present inventors, as shown in the after-mentioned Comparative Example 1, in the case of a citrate method in which a raw material for SDC is simply added in a citric acid aqueous solution, even though a large amount of citric acid is used, the solution becomes a slurry state, and although a mixing state is slightly improved as compared with the solid phase method, there is a problem such that only an insufficient mixing state is realized.

Process for producing anode material for solid oxide fuel cell

Abstract: A process for producing an anode material for a solid oxide fuel cell, made of a composite powder comprising a composite oxide containing cerium element and gadolinium or samarium element, and oxygen element, and an oxide containing nickel element and oxygen element, which comprises a dissolving step of mixing raw material compounds containing metal elements constituting the above composite powder, at least one organic acid selected from the group consisting of maleic acid, lactic acid and malic acid, and a solvent to obtain a metal elements-containing solution, and a drying/sintering step of drying and sintering the metal elements-containing solution.


A method of forming and delivering a carbonated machining fluid to be used in a machining process, the machining process including a tool contacting a substrate, comprises supplying a pressure vessel with a non-carbonated machining fluid and non-supercritical carbon dioxide. The machining fluid and carbon dioxide are allowed to admix such that at least a portion of the carbon dioxide dissolves into the machining fluid to form the carbonated machining fluid. The carbonated machining fluid is then delivered under pressure from the vessel to an applicator and applied to the tool or the substrate to impart cooling and lubricating effects.

The present invention generally relates to machining fluids for cooling and lubricating in hard turning machining applications. More specifically, the present invention relates to carbonated machining fluids which exhibit enhanced physicochemical properties to improve several aspects of the machining operation.
Large volumes of metalworking fluids are used in manufacturing industries each year for cooling and lubricating substrate work pieces and tools during machining operations. Cooling of either a tool or a workpiece at their interface involves both macroscopic and microscopic mechanisms. Macroscopically, heat elimination is a concern and typically involves directing a machining fluid onto the tool or work piece to remove heat in the form of thermal energy caused by friction between the tool and the workpiece. Microscopically, heat management involves reactive fluid constituents entering and reacting with tool/workpiece interface to reduce friction.
Increasing either the volumetric flow rate or the impingement pressure of a metalworking fluid at the tool/substrate interface is a conventional means for improving heat removal. Increasing the volumetric flow rate of the fluid near the boundary layer beneficially increases turbulence and heat removal in this region. This is achieved through exerting higher spray pressures of the coolant within the cutting zone, typically greater than 7 MPa (1000 psi). A variety of methods are suggested in the prior art for forming and delivering high pressure and high velocity metalworking fluids including, for example, the use of supercritical fluids. However, a number of challenges are associated with using such fluids that require relatively high pressures for proper delivery into the cutting zone. These include a need for expensive high pressure pumps and machining tool seal modifications to handle the increased pressures.
In addition to fluid pressure, a number of other factors can be considered to affect boundary layer fluid velocity. Metalworking fluid properties such as viscosity, surface tension, molecular size, and reactivity predominate at the cutting surface and within capillary interfaces. These physicochemical properties can be optimized to allow the metalworking fluid to penetrate the cutting zone more efficiently and to flow along surfaces at much higher velocities. For example, lowering viscosity and surface tension of the metalworking fluid is a way of improving boundary layer velocity to enhance heat extraction.
Conventional methods for lowering viscosity and surface tension include the use of base stock fluids having low viscosities and surface tension. For example, dense fluids such as high pressure liquids or supercritical carbon dioxide can be used as bulk metalworking fluids as a solvent, into which solute lubricant additives are added to provide the necessary reactive boundary layer constituents. However, like the high pressure metalworking fluid discussed above, these approaches are particularly expensive and complicated requiring specially designed high pressure plumbing in the machining tools. For example, the fluid seals of most machining tools cannot tolerate pressures greater than about 7 MPa (1000 psi).
Another technique includes the use of high velocity solid phase carbon dioxide composite coolant-lubricant sprays. Such composite carbon dioxide sprays resolve the high pressure limitations of dense fluids by delivering the beneficial chemistry of a dense fluid within a solid phase packet which is delivered in relatively low-pressure compressed air. Examples of these can be found in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,293,570 and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/301,466. However, in such composite sprays it can be difficult to maintain an appropriate solid-gas-liquid mixture through long distances through tortuous plumbing schemes found in many existing machining tools.
Finally, metalworking fluids of the prior art eventually accumulate microbial growth during use. Even new metalworking fluids, once dumped into a machining fluids sump, rapidly begin to degrade due to the microbial growth therein. Conventional methods involving metalworking fluid curb microbial growth by using, for example, biocides which have generally been found to be ineffective. New techniques are needed to control microbial growth.
The present predominant mode of cooling and lubricating during machining involves flooded applications of metalworking fluids. There therefore exists a need to improve the performance of these fluids. As such the present invention provides a means for boosting cooling and lubrication performance of conventional metalworking fluids and delivery systems, as well as providing a means for improving coolant longevity and quality.

Method of forming and using carbonated machining fluid