Methods of producing release coatings, adhesives, primers, and other polymeric coatings are described. A method for producing a release coating on a substrate comprises the steps of applying a polymerizable composition comprising a free radically polymerizable ethylenically unsaturated polysiloxane to a surface of a substrate, and exposing the polymerizable composition to a monochromatic light source having a peak intensity at a wavelength of between about 160 nanometers to 240 nanometers to form a release coating. Methods for producing a pressure sensitive adhesive and other polymeric coatings using a monochromatic light source are also described.

The free radical polymerization of ethylenically unsaturated monomers is known. Polymers formed by this mechanism from monomers or oligomers having acrylic, methacrylic, vinyl ester and styrenic functionalities are major constituents in many films and coatings, including protective coatings, release coatings, adhesives and inks. Polymerization typically involves the use of an added compound--an "initiator"--that initiates the reaction of and chain formation by such monomers. When free-radical initiators are used, the initiation step consists of two reactions. In the first reaction, the initiator undergoes cleavage or dissociation upon exposure to a source of radiation (e.g., heat, ultraviolet light, etc.), causing the formation of a radical species of the initiator. In a second step, this radical then combines with a first monomer to form a chain initiating species of the polymer. Once formed, this chain initiating radical propagates the polymerization reaction, incorporating other monomers into a growing polymer chain.
When electromagnetic radiation is the source of energy used to initiate and polymerize free radically reactive monomers, initiators that absorb light and form radical species when exposed to energy in the ultraviolet to visible range (250 to 700 nm) are typically employed. These photoinitiators may be organic, organometallic, or inorganic compounds, but are most commonly organic in nature. Examples of commonly used organic free radical photoinitiators include benzoin and its derivatives, benzil ketals, acetophenone, acetophenone derivatives, and benzophenone derivatives.
While effective in the free radical polymerization of these monomers, the use of photoinitiators can often compromise the properties and purity of the polymerized material. Determining the optimal concentration of photoinitiator, particularly in thicker coatings, often requires making concessions between critical factors such as polymerization rate, curing at the surface or the bulk curing of the coating, and/or limiting the level of unreacted or residual monomers or photoinitiators. For example, lower photoinitiator levels tend to reduce residual photoinitiator content and allow the penetration of light through the depth of the coating, but also reduce the cure rate of the coating or film. Higher photoinitiator levels promote cure rate and surface cure of photopolymerized coatings, but potentially lead to incomplete polymerization of the coating's bulk and unacceptably high levels of residual photoinitiator. The presence of such residual photoinitiators and photoinitiator by-products is known to affect both the potential commercial applications and long term stability of photopolymerized coatings made in this manner.
Alternatively, electron beam radiation may be used to induce formation of radical species which can initiate chain growth and polymer formation. While electron beam cured coatings do not require addition of photoinitiators, several disadvantages of such coatings are well known. Cost to purchase and operate an electron beam is significantly greater than an ultraviolet source. In addition, electron beams are much less selective than ultraviolet light. Whereas light must be absorbed by a species for reaction to proceed, response of a material to an electron beam is only dependent on atomic number and a multitude of reaction pathways often are available. Further, depth of cure is limited by the specific energy of the electrons, usually restricting cure to depths of less than 0.005 dm. Substrate damage is also a concern in the use of electron beams because many common substrates are adversely affected by exposure to electrons.
Most commercial and research applications using free radically photopolymerizable monomers employ mercury vapor lamps to excite photoinitiators and propagate polymer chain growth, due to the relatively high efficiency, ease of operation, universal availability, and low cost of such lamps. Commonly available medium pressure mercury vapor lamps emit a broad spectrum of radiation across the ultraviolet and visible light ranges, and peak in intensity at emission ranges of 250 to 260 nanometers (nm) and 350 to 380 nm, depending on internal pressure within the bulb. Although formulations of photoinitiator and monomers generally are tailored to polymerize at these peak emissions, radiation at other wavelengths in this emission spectrum can result in undesired and deleterious properties in films and coatings polymerized using such mercury vapor lamps.
Recently, new ultraviolet light sources have become available which can deliver a monochromatic or narrow band output based upon excimer formation that occurs in certain noble gases or noble gas/halogen mixtures when exposed to high energy. The wavelengths of the emissions from these sources depend on the gases employed. For example, excimer sources containing xenon gas emit at a wavelength of 172 nm, xenon chloride excimer sources have a narrowband emission at 308 nm, and krypton chloride excimer sources generate ultraviolet radiation at 222 nm. Descriptions of the mechanisms by which these devices operate and the configurations of these devices are reviewed in Kitamura et al., Applied Surface Science, 79/80(1984), 507-513; German Patent Appl. DE 4,302,555 A1 (Turner et al.); and Kogelschatz et al., ABB Review, 3(1991), 21-28.
Excimer lamps have been used in the modification and microstructuring of polymer surfaces and the photodeposition of various coatings on metal, dielectric and semiconductor surfaces. Examples of these applications can be found in Kogelschatz, Applied Surface Science, 54(1992), 410-423, and Zhang et al., Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 8(10)(1994), 1179-1210.
European Patent Appl. EP 604738 A1 (Nohr et al.) describes a method of preparing a laminate which involves coating a cationically curable adhesive composition onto the surface of a first sheet, exposing the adhesive composition to ultraviolet radiation form an excimer lamp having a narrow wavelength band within the range of about 260 to about 360 nm, and bringing the surface of a second sheet in contact with the adhesive composition-bearing surface of the first sheet. The adhesive composition includes about 94 to about 60 percent by weight of a cycloaliphatic diepoxide, from about 1 to about 10 percent by weight of a cationic photoinitiator, and from about 5 to about 30 percent by weight of a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate-vinyl alcohol terpolymer (based on the weight of the adhesive composition).
A process for producing coatings that improves upon mercury vapor lamp-based processes would be highly advantageous. It would be especially desirable to provide a free radical polymerization method for coatings that is initiator-free and which would thus yield coatings free of the residual initiator or initiator byproducts found in free radically polymerized materials prepared by other known methods.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A prefabricated, easily installable strain gage assembly (10) is provided which includes an elongated synthetic resin substrate (12) having adhesive (16) applied to the majority of one surface thereof while leaving a handling tab portion (18) adjacent one end of the substrate (12). A strain gage unit (28) is secured to the adhesive-bearing surface of substrate (12). A strippable protective film (56) is placed in covering, protective relationship to the strain gage (28) and the adhesive surface of substrate (12). Preferably, the substrate (12), adhesive (16) and film (56) are substantially transparent, and the substrate (12) is provided with perpendicular alignment marks (55, 55a) which are strategically located relative to the strain gage unit (28). A relatively long hold-down region (42) forming a part of the substrate (12) is provided between the handling tab portion (18) and strain gage unit (28), so that, upon initial visual alignment of the assembly (10) on a test surface ( 60), the film (56) may be partially removed to allow temporary adherence of the region (42) to the surface (62). This insures maintenance of the gage alignment and permits subsequent complete removal of film (56), application of bonding materials (68, 70, 72) to the strain gage unit (28) and surface (62), full lay-out of the substrate (12) on the surface (62), and subsequent substrate removal. Use of assemblies (10) in accordance with the invention drastically reduces strain gage installation times, and greatly minimizes inadvertent destruction of the gages owing to improper placement thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with improved, prefabricated strain gage apparatus for sensing surface conditions and strain in test bodies. More particularly, it is concerned with such strain gage devices which are especially designed to facilitate accurate alignment and attachment of relatively delicate electrical gage components onto a test surface while substantially lessening gage installation times and the incidence of gage destruction during such installations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the design, development and testing of many structural components such as airplane wings or the like, it is desirable to understand the deflection and strain which the component may undergo during use. In order to measure these forces, electrical resistance-type strain gages have long been employed, and are generally capable of providing accurate information, so long as they are properly and accurately applied to a test surface. Generally speaking, such strain gages are very delicate devices, formed with metallic foil grids having elongated, laterally spaced, series-connected grid elements and enlarged terminal regions. They are typically used in conjunction with a pair of spaced conductive metal tabs to which external leads may be attached.
In general, such strain gage and tab assemblies are individually packaged in small envelopes and sold in lots. In order to attach a strain gage/tab assembly to a test surface, a relatively complex series of time-consuming steps must generally be followed. First, the test surface is thoroughly cleaned and degreased. Then, tweezers are used to remove the gage and tab components from an envelope, and these are placed on a glass plate or gage box surface. A stretch of cellophane adhesive tape is then applied over the gage and tab assembly, taking care to center the gage on the tape. The tape is then carefully lifted at a shallow angle, bringing the gage and tab assembly up with the tape.
In the next step, the tape is applied onto the desired test surface, with an attempt being made to properly align the gage grid with the precise point on the test surface under consideration. As necessary, the tape is lifted and realigned until the most accurate possible orientation of the gage is achieved. At this point, one end of the tape is lifted from the test surface until the attached gage and tab assembly is free of the test surface; the free end of the tape is then tucked under so that the gage and tabs are supported on the tape above the test surface. Catalyst is then applied to the exposed gage and tab surfaces, while complementary adhesive is applied to the test surface along the juncture of the tape.
In the final attachment steps, the free end of tape is rotated back towards the test surface and, while holding the tape slightly taut, a wiping stroke is made over the outer surface of the tape. This serves to bring together the adhesive and catalyst and firmly bond the gage and tab to the test surface; this bonding is completed by thumb pressure over the gage and tab regions of the tape. Finally, the cellophane tape is pulled directly back over itself to slowly and steadily peel the tape off the test surface and bonded gage/tab assembly.
As can be appreciated, this installation procedure is time-consuming and requires considerable practice and skill to master. It is moreover very easy to improperly attach and/or destroy the delicate and expensive strain gage components during the course of an attempted installation. Indeed, it is estimated that as many as 20-30% of expensive strain gages are rendered useless by improper installation.
There is accordingly a real and unsatisfied need in the art for an improved strain gage assembly and installation method which overcomes the problems outlined above and materially decreases gage installation time while minimizing gage destruction owing to improper attachment techniques.

Preassembled, easily mountable strain gage

Kansas State University Research Foundation


A combination of retroviral and adenoviral vectors are used for high efficiency gene transfer into hepatocytes, resulting in long term gene expression. Hepatocytes are transduced in vivo with a recombinant adenovirus vector that expresses a molecule capable of inducing hepatocyte regeneration, such as urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) or tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), resulting in a high rate of liver regeneration. During the regenerative phase, ex vivo or in vivo retroviral-mediated gene transfer into hepatocytes results in greater transduction efficiencies. The compositions and methods thus provide new means for gene therapy, and transgenic non-human animals useful in developing new therapeutic and preventative agents.

Gene therapy involves the introduction of genetic material into the cells of an organism to treat or prevent a disease. The material transferred can be from one to a few genes in size. Since many hereditary diseases are caused by defects in single genes, there are many potential applications of this technique to the treatment of disease in humans and other animals. In addition, gene therapy is useful in the treatment and prevention of acquired diseases, such as infectious diseases and cancer.
Gene therapy can be directed to either an animal's germ line or somatic cells. For ethical and practical considerations, only somatic cell therapy is being pursued for humans. A variety of cell types have been targeted in somatic cell gene therapy systems, including hematopoietic cells, skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes, hepatocytes, endothelial cells, skeletal and smooth muscle cells, and lymphocytes, each with varying success.
The hematopoietic stem cells are a primary target for gene therapy because of well developed procedures for bone marrow transplantation, the many types and wide distribution of hematopoietic cells, and the existence of many diseases that affect hematopoietic cells. However, hematopoietic stem cells have proven difficult to infect in sufficient numbers with gene vectors, and differentiated hematopoietic cells suffer from short term expression of the gene of interest. Miller, Blood 76: 271-278 (1990), and Miller, Nature 357: 455-460 (1992). Gene transfer methods into muscle cells also demonstrate relatively short term expression and/or expression at low levels, and do not allow for efficient transport of the gene product into the bloodstream. Vascular endothelial cells have the advantage of direct access to the circulation, but are limited by the number of endothelial cells present in large vessels, since the layer of endothelial cells that line the vessels is only one cell thick. Gene transfer into lymphocytes is limited by the finite lifespan of the cells and thus requires repetitive administration to treat an ongoing disease. Gene transfer experiments into skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes have also been hampered by lack of prolonged improvement or insufficient levels of expressions.
Methods for gene therapy involving the liver have relied on gene transfer ex vivo, i.e., into hepatocytes which have been removed from a patient and are then reimplanted into the liver, or gene transfer in vivo, i.e., gene transfer directly into the liver. For ex vivo methods, gene transfer into cells must occur at high efficiency to obtain suitable numbers of cells for transplantation, because primary cultures of hepatocytes cannot be expanded.
Using the ex vivo approach, long term gene expression from transduced hepatocytes has been accomplished with retroviral vectors. The efficiency of transduction is relatively low, however, and the protein may not be expressed in therapeutically or prophylactically effective amounts. In one ex vivo method approximately 20% of a patient's liver is surgically removed, the cells are then transduced with the retroviral vector, and then implanted back into the patient. The retrovirus has been shown to infect only dividing cells. Miller et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 10:4239-4242 (1990). This approach suffers from obvious disadvantages of surgical procedures and a low efficiency of transduction and expression of the gene product of interest.
The direct in vivo approach involves performing a two-thirds partial hepatectomy followed by portal vein infusion of the vector. The removal of the majority of the liver is needed to stimulate liver regeneration so that the retrovirus will integrate into the cell's chromosome. As with the ex vivo approach, this method suffers from requiring a major surgical procedure and under the best of conditions only about 1% of the liver mass contains the genetically modified vectors.
As an alternative to retroviral-mediated hepatic gene therapy, the adenovirus presents a transfer vector that can infect nonreplicating cells at high efficiency. Unfortunately, adenoviral DNA remains extra-chromosomal and thus is slowly lost from transduced hepatocytes over a period of several months. Li et al., Human Gene Ther. 4: 403-409 (1993); Kay et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 91: 2353-2357 (1994). Additionally, a substantial portion of the adenovirus is taken up by organs and tissues other than the liver, which may raise issues of safety. (Smith et al., 1993 and Kay et al., ibid.). And, as adenovirus stimulates the production of neutralizing antibodies in an infected host, patients who have been naturally infected with adenovirus may be resistant to gene therapy using this vector, or secondary transductions may be prevented by the presence of antibodies produced in response to a primary transduction. (Smith ibid., Kay, ibid.).
The liver is a desirable target for somatic gene transfer because it is a large organ that is responsible for the synthesis, processing and secretion of many circulating proteins, including many of the plasma coagulation proteins. Because of the liver's involvement in many diseases of medical importance much effort has focused on replacing diseased livers by transplantation or, due to a severe shortage of donor livers, by implantation of healthy liver cells. Typically, however, implanted hepatocytes have made only small and temporary contributions to liver function.
Transgenic animal technology has been employed to create and analyze models of diseases affecting many organs, including the liver. A variety of transgenes have been reported to be associated with liver lesions, including urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA). In mice containing a albumin-urokinase transgene the hepatocyte-targeted expression of the uPA gene created a functional liver deficit. The uPA gene caused the fatal hemorrhaging of newborn mice, and survivors displayed hypofibrinogenemia and unclottable blood. It was thus concluded that any injury sufficient to initiate bleeding was rapidly fatal in affected mice. Heckel et al., Cell 62: 447-456 (1990). Surviving mice did show a gradual decrease in the level of plasma uPA activity, accompanied by a restoration of clotting function within one to two months. This was explained by a report that the uPA was cytotoxic for hepatocytes and that inactivation of transgene expression by DNA rearrangement in isolated hepatocytes in Alb-uPA mice was followed by repopulation of the entire liver by cells that no longer produce uPA. Sandgren et al., Cell 66: 245-256 (1991). The uPA transgene-expressing hepatocytes were at a selective disadvantage relative to hepatocytes (native or non-native) that were not expressing the transgene. Thus, production of uPA by the liver kills hepatocytes over time, and the gene encoding uPA has been used to impair native liver function and stimulate the repopulation of liver with non-native cells. See Brinster et al., PCT Publication WO 94/02601, and Rhim et al., Science 263: 1149-1152 (1994).
There remains a significant need in the art for methods of somatic gene therapy that use the liver for efficient expression of gene product in therapeutically useful quantities and duration. Desirably, these methods should (a) avoid the necessity for surgically removing a large portion of the liver, (b) enhance the yield and recovery of transduced hepatocytes without compromising viability; and (c) be independent of the particular disease being treated. Quite surprisingly, the present invention fulfills these and other related needs.

Recombinant vectors for reconstitution of liver


A method, an apparatus, and a device for identifying a cell string fault in an optoelectronic system, where the method includes obtaining at least two groups of current-voltage (I-V) values of a first cell string in the optoelectronic system, performing fitting processing according to the at least two groups of I-V values using a predetermined physical string model to obtain at least one characteristic parameter of the first cell string, and comparing the at least one characteristic parameter with a pre-obtained standard characteristic parameter to determine whether the first cell string is faulty, or performing curve fitting processing on collected data using the physical string model. Therefore, identifying the cell string fault in the optoelectronic system is not affected by inconsistency of environments, and processing efficiency and accuracy of string fault identification are effectively improved.

A solar cell module is a basic unit of an optoelectronic system (or an optoelectronic apparatus) that implements optical-to-electrical conversion, and can convert energy of sunlight into direct current electrical energy. During practical photovoltaic power station application, multiple solar cell modules are usually connected in series to form a cell string, and one or more strings connected in parallel are connected to a grid-tied inverter, and the inverter converts a direct current into an alternating current and merges the alternating current to an alternating current power network.
An output power characteristic of the solar cell module is determined by factors such as a status of the cell module, external illumination intensity, and an ambient temperature. When the cell module is operating, output power may decrease because of an internal unit fault, a light induced degradation characteristic, and the like, or intensity of received light becomes weaker because of blocking, an illumination angle, and the like, or an operating temperature of the module rises because of a poor heat dissipation condition, leading to a decrease in output power. However, a quantity of solar cell modules is extremely large, and a distribution area is relatively large. Therefore, an abnormal string in a power station is relatively difficult to identify. Currently, an output current-voltage (I-V) characteristic of a module may be scanned and tested on site using a dedicated current-voltage I-V scanner to obtain a current I-V curve of a string, and whether there is an abnormal module in the string is determined by manually observing a characteristic of the curve. Alternatively, a tangent slope of each point on the current I-V curve is determined according to the obtained I-V curve (I represents a current and V represents a voltage). A difference between slopes of two adjacent points is compared with a preset value to determine an operating status of the string and perform fault identification on the string.
However, the foregoing first manner, in which a testing time is long and a highly skilled person is required, can be used only for small-quantity sampling detection and cannot completely cover a large power station. A slope of a curve indicates only a characteristic of the curve, and cannot accurately indicate an output characteristic of a cell string. Therefore, accuracy of this fault identification manner is relatively low, and this manner requires extremely high accuracy of a detection parameter, and an error at a specific point causes erroneous determining. In addition, working conditions such as ambient temperatures and irradiance of strings in different locations inside a power station are inconsistent, further reducing the accuracy of the foregoing fault identification manner.

Method, apparatus, and device for identifying cell string fault in optoelectronic system


A hinge joint for use between the body supporting portion and the pivotable back rest of a seat has a first leaf which is affixed to the body supporting portion, a second leaf which is affixed to the back rest, and a pintle which pivotably connects the second leaf to the first leaf. In order to reduce friction during pivoting of the second leaf, the latter is provided with a sleeve-like central portion which is surrounded by an antifriction bearing installed in the cylindrical portion of a cupped motion transmitting member of the pintle. A smaller-diameter portion of the motion transmitting member is surrounded by two wedge-like arcuate sections which are biased by a torsion spring against a cylindrical internal surface of the first leaf to reduce radial play between the leaves. Friction between the external surfaces of the sections and the internal surface can be reduced by coating some or all of these surfaces with a lubricant. Such lubricant can also be used between the internal surface of the first leaf and an annular centering element which is installed within the first leaf axially adjacent the sections. In addition, friction between the centering element and the first leaf can be reduced by providing the internal surface of the first leaf and/or the external surface of the centering element with facets and/or recesses.

The invention relates to hinge joints in general, and more particularly to improvements in hinge joints which can be utilized with advantage between the adjustable back rests and the body supporting portions of seats, such as the driver's seat or the passenger seat next to the driver's seat in a motor vehicle.
A hinge joint which is used between the back rest and the body supporting portion of the seat in a motor vehicle normally comprises a first component or leaf which is affixed to the body supporting portion, a second component or leaf which is affixed to the back rest, a pintle which pivotally connects the second component with the first component, and a mechanism which can pivot the second component and the back rest relative to the first component and can maintain the back rest in a selected angular position. Reference may be had to commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,207 granted Feb. 1, 1983 to Wilking et al. for "Position adjuster for motor vehicle seats and windows". The hinge joint of this patent employs a motion transmitting member which is rigid with the pintle and is partially surrounded by two substantially wedge-like arcuate sections which, in turn, are surrounded by a cylindrical internal surface of the first component. The sections are biased by a spring which urges their external surfaces against the internal surface of the first component. These sections can be said to constitute an eccentric which serves to maintain a spur gear of the first component in partial mesh with an internal gear of the second component. The central portion of the pivotable second component is rotatably mounted on a cylindrical portion of the pintle. The hinge joint of Wilking et al. is designed to establish one or more clearances which are intended to reduce friction during adjustment of the second component and back rest relative to the first component and body supporting portion of the seat. The clearance or clearances should develop when the adjustment begins, and such clearance or clearances should disappear when the adjustment of the back rest relative to the body supporting portion of the seat is completed. Nevertheless, each adjustment of the inclination of the back rest necessitates the exertion of a rather pronounced force because the engagement between the second component and the pintle suffices to generate a substantial amount of friction which must be overcome by the person seeking to change the inclination of the back rest.

Hinge joint for use in the seats of motor vehicles and the like


Methods and systems are discussed for visually forming relationships between electronic content. Electronic content from a computing device may be received. The electronic content may be displayed on a graphical user interface. The received electronic content may be analyzed to identify characteristics of the electronic content. The received electronic content may be visually related to previously received electronic content on a graphical user interface. The received and the previously received electronic content may be visually related by applying a relationship hierarchy to the identified characteristics.

Traditional methods of organizing electronic content generally require an individual to view and manually group electronic content with other electronic content that may be similar. For example, to group photographs, an individual would manually review photographs and group the photographs based on personal criteria. The individual may decide to manually group photographs in a folder if they were taken on the same day or at the same location. However, there is no adequate mechanism to quickly and efficiently visually relate and organize electronic content based on identified characteristics of the electronic content. Further, there is not an adequate mechanism to visually relate and organize electronic content by applying a relationship hierarchy to identified characteristics of the electronic content. To that end, existing methods and applications that allow a user to visually organize electronic content are limited with respect to their intuitiveness and/or capabilities.

Methods and systems for visually forming relationships between electronic content


A new and distinct variety characterized by medium to large, red-colored seedless grapes with a very good flavor that ripen in late July, approximately two weeks later than the Flame Seedless Grape (unpatented), when grown in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California. The grapes of this new variety are produced on strong woody branches and stems and are well adapted to commercial handling.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of grape which will hereinafter be denominated as 'Sheegene-10' and more particularly as a grapevine which produces a medium to large, red-colored seedless grape that matures in late July in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California. The new invention resembles 'Flame Seedless' (unpatented) but it produces a larger grape with a very sweet flavor, and matures approximately two weeks later.


Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with defining and evaluating a project initiative are described. In one embodiment, a method includes displaying an initiative definition interface for use in defining the project initiative for an entity. The example method may also include receiving an objective definition, a capability definition, a benefit definition, and an implementation roadmap definition through the initiative definition interface. The example method may also include assigning ranks to the objective definition, the capability definition, the benefit definition, and the implementation roadmap definition based upon a definition completeness metric. The example method may also include generating an initiative viability score based upon the ranks. The example method may also include displaying an initiative redefinition suggestion for redefining the project initiative based upon the initiative viability score being below a threshold.

A business may embark on various project initiatives to improve the business, such as to reduce costs, improve operations, mitigate risk, increase revenue, etc. For example, the business can undertake a technology project initiative, such as the purchase of new accounting software to eliminate reliance on an outside accounting firm. Unfortunately, manually defining project initiatives is a time consuming process that can result in a project initiative that is rejected or one that merely gains marginal support from leadership of the business. Such an inefficient path of project initiative definition can lead to wasted computing resources and time otherwise devoted to creating effective project initiative definitions.
A user defining a project initiative can lack adequate information used to fully define the project initiative. For example, the user may lack information relating to how the project initiative achieves objectives of the business, what future capabilities are needed for the project initiative to achieve the objectives, benefits and justifications for making changes to reach the future capabilities, and/or an implementation roadmap of phases for achieving the project initiative. Thus, it is desirable to provide computer assisted and computer automated functionality for defining project initiatives, ranking project initiatives, acquiring missing information, and providing feedback on the viability of project initiatives.

Computer system and method for controlling definition interfaces of a value meter on a display


A "tower"-type computer has a metal frame or chassis enclosed in an ornamental plastic housing. One side of the plastic housing with an attached metal liner is detachable for access to the interior of the chassis. The upper front corner of the chassis is provided with a metallic subframe. The front of the chassis is substantially open in front of this subframe and is formed with ventilation holes below the subframe. A detachable main bezel, divided into three vertically separated sections, covers the front of the chassis. The upper section of the main bezel is substantially open but is provided with ears so that fasteners can connect the ears to the front of the chassis. A peripheral bezel snaps onto this upper section of the main bezel and is provided with three openings which are covered with removable fillers. When a filler is removed, a computer peripheral may be inserted through the peripheral bezel into tracks in a bracket installed in the subframe.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new and improved tower-type computer housing for peripherals wherein the front of the computer chassis is formed with apertures covered by a main bezel, the upper part of which is open and is covered by a peripheral bezel formed with apertures for insertion of various peripherals such as a 51/4" disk drive or 31/2" floppy disks. The apertures are covered by removable blanks which may be individually removed, the customer having the opportunity to customize the computer by using some of the openings and not others, depending upon needs.
2. Description of Related Art
Tower-type computers are well known in the industry. The present invention provides an ornamental bezel covering the front of the computer chassis having detachable blank covers for openings into which various peripherals may be inserted. Since the needs of customers vary, one customer may use certain peripherals and another different peripherals. The structure of the present invention permits such selection by the customer.

Toner-type computer housing for peripherals


Disclosed is a method for data transmission. The method includes: a terminal device receiving a first downlink control information (DCI) and second DCI scrambled with different radio network temporary identities (RNTIs), the first DCI comprising a first resource allocation information for a first channel, and the first resource allocation information indicating a first resource region, and the second DCI comprising a second resource allocation information for the first channel, and the second resource allocation information indicating a second resource region; and the terminal device determining that the first channel scheduled by the second DCI is transmitted in a third resource region, the third resource region being a resource region, except an overlapping resource region between the first resource region and the second resource region, in the second resource region. Further disclosed are a terminal device and a network device.

A 5th Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) system supports both an Enhance Mobile Broadband (eMBB) service and an Ultra Reliable & Low Latency Communication (URLLC) service. When resources allocated to the eMBB service and resources allocated to the URLLC service overlap in a frequency domain or in a time-frequency domain, there is yet no solution for how to allocate the overlapping resources to implement effective resource utilization and to improve an efficiency and reliability in data transmission.

Method for data transmission, terminal device and network device

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


A vacuum cleaner dust container having a dust bag, made of an air permeable material, and a connector plate, surrounding an opening in the dust bag. The connector plate is configured by the connector plate being slid into a holder of a vacuum cleaner to correctly position the opening therein. The connector plate has a central portion surrounding the opening, and an extending portion projecting from the central portion. The extending portion has a lower bending stiffness than the central portion about an axis perpendicular to the direction in which it is inserted. Thereby extending portion can be bent out of the plane of the central portion and into a curvature without bending the central portion, which facilitates fitting the connector plate in a vacuum cleaner canister with curved inner walls.

An example of such a container is disclosed for instance in WO-02/24046-A1. Thanks to the connector plate, the opening of the dust bag can be reliably positioned and oriented to receive a flow of dust laden air from the vacuum cleaner inlet. Further, the connector plate can trigger a feedback switch in the holder of the vacuum cleaner to verify that a dust container has been correctly installed in the holder, thus enabling the vacuum cleaner to prevent use in case of an absent or incorrectly installed dust container. Such use could otherwise damage the vacuum cleaner by injecting heavily dust laden air into a fan/motor arrangement.
One problem associated with dust containers of this type is how to make the dust container operable with even more efficient and compact vacuum cleaners.


Optimization of machine intelligence utilizes a systemic process through a plurality of computer architecture manipulation techniques that take unique advantage of efficiencies therein to minimize clock cycles and memory usage. The present invention is an application of machine intelligence which overcomes speed and memory issues in learning ensembles of decision trees in a single-machine environment. Such an application of machine intelligence includes inlining relevant statements by integrating function code into a caller's code, ensuring a contiguous buffering arrangement for necessary information to be compiled, and defining and enforcing type constraints on programming interfaces that access and manipulate machine learning data sets.

There are many existing implementations of machine intelligence. Learning ensembles of decision trees is a popular method of machine learning, and one such implementation, known as Random Forests, are a combination of several decision trees. Decision trees permit the use of multiple types of data that do not need to be normalized. Random Forests have been specifically defined as a combination of tree predictors such that each tree is learned on a random sample of the instances for all trees in the forest.
Despite the popularity of machine intelligence implementations such as Random Forests™, there are a number of inherent limitations which discourage practical application to very large data sets. These types of traditional analytics tools often fall flat, since they cannot function properly with large, high-dimensional, complicated data sets, particular as data sizes become very large, and also because of the frequent presence of difference data formats and types. There are many Random Forest, permutations in the existing art, but they suffer from an inability to take full advantage of intricate computer architecture environments in which they are tasked to make sense out of these immense data populations in an efficient manner.
As the global economy relies more and more on rapid data-driven analytics, there is an immediate need, unrealized by existing implementations, for fast, scalable, and easy-to-use machine intelligence that can perform accurate prediction and extract deep and meaningful insight out of large data sets. There is a further need for fast, scalable, and easy-to-use machine intelligence that can accomplish these tests with both homogeneous data sets as well as with heterogeneous data sets comprised of both numeric and non-numeric data.
It is therefore one objective of the present invention to provide a machine intelligence framework that is efficient, accurate, and fast. It is a further objective of the present invention to provide such a framework in a common, single-computer implementation in which both machine learning and machine prediction are scalable to arbitrarily large data sets. It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide such a framework for large data sets that are comprised of homogeneous and heterogeneous sets of data.

Scalable, memory-efficient machine learning and prediction for ensembles of decision trees for homogeneous and heterogeneous datasets


A pipe cutter includes a slide slideably engaged in a housing and a cutting blade secured to the slide. A hand grip may move the cutting blade forward gradually for cutting a pipe. The housing includes one or more openings for engaging with one or more fasteners and for allowing the fasteners to be engaged into the housing and to secure the cutting blade to the slide without disassembling the whole housing. A retaining plate may be secured to the slide and engaged with the cutting blade for securing the cutting blade in place. A panel includes one or more screw holes for engaging with the fastener and for allowing the fastener to further secure the cutting blade and the slide together.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pipe cutter, and more particularly to a pipe cutter having a specially designed configuration for allowing the cutting blade to be easily replaced.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical pipe cutters comprises a body and a cutting blade slidably engaged in the body. A hand grip may be actuated in a reciprocating action for moving the cutting blade toward a fixed jaw and for conducting pipe cutting operations. However, when it is required to replace the cutting blade, the whole pipe cutter should be completely disassembled for changing the cutting blade. It is inconvenient and it may take a long time to replace the cutting blade.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional pipe cutters.

Pipe cutter having a configuration for easily replacing cutter blade

No. 9, Alley 38, Lane 301, Nan Yang Road


The present invention relates to 3-demethyl-thiocolchicine derivatives of general formula (I) ##STR1## in which R can be ##STR2## to a process for the preparation thereof, to pharmaceutical compositions containing them and to the use thereof for the preparation of medicaments with muscle relaxant and antiinflammatory activities.

Muscle relaxant medicaments have the common characteristic of reducing the muscle tone, for example in muscle contractures.
Muscle contracture is a feature characterizing a number of pathologies of the locomotor apparatus, and it is one of the major factors responsible for the persistence of the painful condition related thereto. Muscle contracture also occurs in the inflammatory-rheumathic and degenerative orthopedic pathologies; when affecting an articulation, it causes, in addition to pain, a stiffening which limits the mutual mobility of the joint extremities and therefore the functionality of the part involved. Due to these reasons, there is a great interest in molecules characterized by remarkable muscle relaxant and antispastic properties.
Colchicine is known to be a pseudo-alkaloid used widely and for a very long time in therapy for the treatment of gout. Likewise widely used in therapy is of 3-demethyl-thiocolchicine glucoside, namely thiocolchicoside, as an antispastic in the inflammatory processes against skeletal muscles (Ortopedia e Traumatologia Oggi XII, n. 4, 1992). Recently, thiocolchicoside activity has been proved to be related to its interaction with strychnine-sensitive glycine receptors, therefore compounds having glycine-mimetic activity can be used in the rheumathologic-orthopedic field thanks to their muscle relaxant characteristics.

Colchicine and thiocolchicine derivatives with antiinflammatory and muscle relaxant activities


A simultaneous bidirectional port coupled to a bus includes a synchronization circuit that synchronizes the port with another simultaneous data port coupled to the same bus. The synchronization circuit includes an output driver having an imbalanced output impedance, and includes a receiver with input hysteresis. The input hysteresis of the receiver is not satisfied unless both drivers with imbalanced output impedance coupled to the bus assert an output signal. Each driver asserts a signal on the bus when initialization of the corresponding simultaneous bidirectional port is complete. When both simultaneous bidirectional ports are initialized, the hysteresis of the receivers is satisfied, and each port is notified that both have been initialized.

Integrated circuits typically communicate with other integrated circuits on wires that are part of a "bus." A typical bus includes many wires, or circuit board traces, connecting multiple integrated circuits. Some buses are "unidirectional," because signals only travel in one direction on each wire of the bus. Other buses are "bidirectional," because signals travel in more than one direction on each wire of the bus. In the past, most bidirectional buses were not "simultaneously bidirectional," because multiple signals did not travel on the same wire in opposite directions at the same time; instead, the bus was shared over time, and different signals traveled in different directions at different points in time. Some newer buses are "simultaneous bidirectional" buses. Simultaneous bidirectional buses allow data to travel in two directions on a single wire at the same time.
Before reliable communications can take place on a bus, the integrated circuits need to be ready to communicate, or be "synchonized," and each circuit on the bus should have information regarding the readiness of other circuits on the bus. Some circuits may need to be initialized, while others may need to become stabilized. In some bus applications, it can take an indeterminate amount of time for circuits to become ready to reliably communicate. It can be important to not drive data onto a bus until the intended receiver is ready to receive the data, especially in simultaneous bidirectional bus applications, where data is being driven in both directions at once.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus to provide a synchronization mechanism for simultaneous bidirectional data buses.

Simultaneous bidirectional port with synchronization circuit to synchronize the port with another port


An image processing system includes a first image processing apparatus connected to a second image processing apparatus Each apparatus includes a programmable data compressor that performs image data compression in accordance with at least two data compression programs. The first image processing apparatus is able to request the second image processing apparatus to transmit to it a compression program stored by said second processing apparatus, which the first image processing apparatus may then use in its own data compressor.

Conventional communicating apparatuses that compress data to be transmitted, e.g. image data, and transmit the compressed data to a communication partner are readily available, with facsimile apparatus being one well known example.
In such apparatuses, many different coding methods can be used for compressing the image data. For example, entropy encoding has been frequently used and, recently, variable length coding methods have been developed that are suitable for compressing multivalue image data. Two existing methods are the JPEG and MPEG methods. Digital VTRs, color copy machines, and color facsimiles all use such coding methods, with each type of apparatus using a method whose characteristics are most suited to its purpose.
However, because each type of apparatus operates best with a particular coding method, there can be problems when data encoded according to one method is sent to an apparatus best suited to another method. For example, image data generated by the color image reader of a color copying apparatus may be transmitted through a motion picture image network, e.g., a CATV network, to a digital VTR. In such case, either the encoded data is not easily decoded, or else a characteristic of the encoder in the color image reader has to be adjusted to provide the encoding method used in the digital VTR.
Such an adjustment can be troublesome and complicated, both in its technical aspects and in the burden it may place on the user of the color copying apparatus.

Image processing system providing access to data processing


A case for a product in a powdery or semi-fluid form includes a rigid body, and a flexible bottom. The rigid body and the flexible bottom define a variable volume compartment for containing the product. The case also includes a fixed screen which is capable of allowing the product to pass during simultaneous pressures on the flexible bottom and on the screen. The product can be a make-up or skin care powder. The flexible bottom can be formed by a flexible membrane, by a piston and/or a foam slab.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a case for packaging and dispensing a powdery or semi-fluid product. This product is, in particular, a powder for a care personal or make-up product for the skin or for the hair, and more especially, a powder, cheek blusher or eyeshadow, or a make-up foundation.
2. Discussion of the Background
Related cases for make-up powder comprise a rigid body closed by a lid, which case accommodates a vertically movable receptacle or rigid pan containing the powder and a screen capable of allowing the powder to pass. These cases comprise, moreover, an applicator element such as a puff disposed on the screen. A mechanical pressure exerted by the puff on the screen makes it possible to take up a certain quantity of powder.
Unfortunately, because of the uncontrolled mobility of the screen in this type of case, the powder is in permanent contact with the screen, in particular when the case is moved or shaken when in its closed position, which frequently happens when the case is carried in a handbag or in a traveling case. This permanent contact between the powder and the screen produces a considerable emergence of powder coming to impregnate or permanently overload the puff. Thus when the user opens the case to make herself up, the surplus powder deposited on the puff escapes, fouling the whole case and the surrounding space. Such a case thus has the drawback of a bad seal with respect to the powder.
Moreover, related powder compacts similar to those described above, comprise furthermore a damping and/or aerating means. Such a case is, in particular, described in FR-A-2719202. The damping and/or aerating means has the purpose of decompacting and/or aerating the powder between successive take-up operations.
In this type of case, the powder is permanently acted on by the damping and/or aerating means and remains constantly in contact with the screen, in particular, in the closed position when the case is shaken. Moreover, the forced ventilation of the powder when the case is shaken promotes its emergence from the receptacle. This case, therefore, has the same disadvantages of an imperfect seal with respect to the powder.
Furthermore, the above types of cases do not permit the storage and dispensing of semi-fluid products. Indeed, since such products readily flow out under their own weight, they would escape via the screen from the receptacle in too large a quantity. This would result in too heavy an impregnation of the applicator element by the product, rendering it unusable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,620 describes an applicator case for a powdery product wherein the emergence of the product is promoted by having a bellows-type device available beneath the reserve of the product, allowing pressurized air to be injected in contact with the powder. The powder is contained in a reservoir with a fixed volume. Such devices also pose sealing problems during their carriage, as well as problems concerning accuracy of the dosing of the powder. However, these problems are not critical for the application envisaged in that document, that is to say, the application of a charcoal or maize starch-type powder before a surface is painted.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,919,703 describes a case in which there is inserted a powder reservoir, taking the form of a deformable or pliable structure whose top forms a screen through which the product is forced to emerge under the effect of pressure exerted on the side remote from the screen with a view to its dispensing by means of a puff-type element. The drawback of such a device lies mainly in the fact that the screen is supported by a deformable or pliable structure and is therefore not mounted at a fixed height in the case. There does indeed arise the problem of the accurate dosing of the product on the puff, inasmuch as the screen could give way under the effect of pressure exerted by means of the puff. Moreover, during the carriage of such a case, the sizeable free space which may exist between the screen and the puff allows the powdery product to pass through the screen, thus unduly impregnating the applicator and producing dirty marks during the opening of the case.
Thus there remains the need for a packaging and dispensing case for a powdery or semifluid product, which allows a sufficient quantity of the product to be taken up, without an excessive emergence of the product during transport and/or storage.

Case for a cosmetic care product with a flexible bottom


Methods and apparatus for deposition of a film on a substrate in a reaction chamber by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process include providing one or more reactants, and providing a volatile neutral coordinating ligand capable of coordinating at least one selected from the following: (i) one of the reactants; (ii) a reaction by-product formed during the deposition process. The neutral coordinating ligand thus improves volatility of either reactants and/or by-products, either in the gas phase or aiding in removal of species from reaction space surfaces. The neutral coordinating ligand is provided during the deposition process, either during or after reactant supply.

In ALD and CVD deposition processes, often reactants are used that have a very low vapor pressure. First of all this is a problem as it becomes difficult to transport the reactant into the reactor. Furthermore, after the reactant exposure step it will be difficult to remove the reactant from the reaction chamber by purging of evacuation.
Slow purging of low vapor pressure reactants is particularly problematic for an ALD process where repeated and alternating pulses of at least two reactants are used and where it is important that the reactants remain separated. Exemplary processes are deposition processes for metal oxides which are going to be used as a high-k gate oxide material in MOSFET structures. ALD is a preferred technique to deposit films in a controllable manner by sequential and alternating pulses of at least two mutually reactive reactants. Metal halides are suitable metal source chemicals for ALD as they can easily be produced and are thermally stable and they tend to react strongly with water vapor at low temperatures. For HfO2, a frequently used high-k material, the best material properties are obtained with HfCl4+H2O as reactants, as compared to processes using other Hf-containing source materials such as metal-organic Hf compounds. The main drawback of many metal chlorides is their relatively low vapor pressure. Usually source temperatures around 150-200° C. are required to create sufficient vapor pressure for transportation of the reactant from the source container to the reactor. Even at these temperatures the vapor pressure is relatively low. This makes the reactor design very challenging and the removal of HfCl4 by purging and/or evacuation difficult.
The vapor pressure of molecules is affected by several different factors, such as: i) the molecular weight; ii) tendency to polymerization; and iii) intermolecular bonds. HfCl4 has a particularly low vapor pressure, particularly when its molecular weight is compared to other precursors. The molecular weight of HfCl4 is 320.5 g/mol and its vapor pressure is only 1 torr at 190° C. By way of comparison, the molecular weight of WF6 is similar to that of HfCl4, 297.8 g/mol, but WF6 has a much larger vapor pressure of 860 Torr at 21° C. The reason is that HfCl4 has a non-saturated coordination. Hafnium is a relative large metal and thus most of its compounds have a high coordination number. The most usual coordination number for Hf is eight [Chemistry of the Elements, Greenwood, N. N.; Earnshaw, A; © 1997 Elsevier]. Monomeric HfCl4 would have a coordination number of four. This is too low for hafnium and thus it will tend to make coordination bonds to other HfCl4 molecules so that the coordination sphere gets saturated. This results in a dramatic reduction in vapor pressure.
It is possible that the vapor pressure of a reactant is high but nevertheless it has a non-saturated coordination. Examples are molecules having a lone pair of electrons, such as H2O and NH3. These molecules also have a strong tendency to increase their coordination number and therefore they have a strong tendency to stick to the reactor walls. Additionally, reaction by-products generated in the film deposition process might have a non-saturated coordination and corresponding tendency to stick to the reactor wall.
Consequently, in film deposition processes using vapor phase reactants with a non-saturated coordination, or generating reaction by-products with a non-saturated coordination there is a need for a method to prevent non-saturated molecules from forming coordinating bonds by sticking to the reactor walls or by forming bonds with other molecules of the same kind to increase their coordination number.

Method for the deposition of a film by CVD or ALD


A method for locating leaks in nonmetallic pipes on the principal of measuring and graphing the intensity of electric fields. Leaks are located by creating a closed circuit with a negatively charged metallic electrode submersed in water inside a manhole connected to the nonmetallic pipe and several positively charged metallic electrodes placed in several reference holes in the ground above the nonmetallic pipe. A leak is determined by finding segments of nonmetallic pipe that corresponds with greater electric field intensity measurements.

This is a non-provisional application claiming priority to the Mexican Patent Application, Document Number NL/a/2004/000086, filed on Nov. 4, 2004.
1. Field of the Invention
Applicant's invention relates to the field of leak detection for underground pipes, and more specifically to a method for locating leaks in underground nonmetallic pipes through detection of electric field frequencies within the underground nonmetallic pipes.
2. Background Information
Pipe systems have historically been placed underground to conduct a variety of substances to and from various locations. The pipes that make up these pipe systems have typically been constructed from both metal and nonmetal materials. Inevitably, especially with nonmetallic pipes, breaks and cracks will form in the pipes over time, causing the substances they carry to leak into the surrounding ground and underground water, thereby often contaminating the soil, water, environment and ecosystem surrounding the pipes. These breaks and cracks occur as the pipes are no longer able to resist the forces exerted on them by the surrounding ground environment. The potential mess can be costly, and sometimes impossible to clean up. Furthermore the potential damage to the soil, water and surrounding environment or ecosystem can be irreversible. Thus, it is desirable to have a method for detecting and determining the location of leaks in nonmetallic pipes caused by breaks or cracks in the pipes. The present invention provides a system and method for locating leaks in nonmetallic pipes quickly and efficiently, thereby reducing or even eliminating the potential costly clean up and damage to the environment.
There exists in the prior art several related patents. U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,032 discloses protection of an inflow of either gas or liquid into a well. The detection occurs during the drilling of the well for the prevention of blowouts. The detection process involves the use of pressure mud pulses from a pair of acoustical transducers, which generate signals in the form of pressure waves, both before the drilling mud is circulated to the drill bit and after drilling mud is circulated through the drill bit. The difference, if any, in the two signals are then converted to a signal then transmitted to the surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,721 discloses a pair of acoustic detectors moving through a well to detect sound which is indicative of a through casing leak, i.e., a leak that goes through the casing. The acoustic noise generated by the noise sources is monitored at two spaced-apart locations within the borehole. The signals, representing the monitored acoustic noise at each location, are transmitted uphole.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,827 discloses the detection of leaks in an underground pipe which is made of electrically insulating material, i.e., material that does not conduct electricity. The detection process involves partially filling the pipe with an electrically conductive fluid, such as tap water, passing an electrical current through the fluid to establish a voltage gradient along the length of the fluid in the pipe, and then analyzing the gradient to determine the location of the leak. The voltage source is electronically connected to one electrode which is immersed in the liquid at one pipe end, and to a second electrode which is driven into the ground. The method disclosed in this patent involves inserting a wire inside the underground pipe in order to properly determine the potential drop and the determination of the location of the leak or leaks is done by measuring the length of wire inserted into the underground pipe at the point where there is a potential drop, i.e., the point of minimal voltage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,530 discloses a non-intrusive high-precision ultra-sonic leak detector system for pipelines for identification of the development of even very minute, i.e., millimeter size, leaks and locates them within several meters of their actual location in a segment between two site stations of the overall leak detection. Leaks are located and their locations determined by their effect on the pressure of the pipeline, and the effect of the pressure change on liquid density.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,442,999 discloses the same technology that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,530 regarding detection of leaks in an underground pipeline system. However, U.S. Pat. No. 6,442,999 adds a master station to which site stations transmit sonic wave data in order to perform calculations to determine the presence of a leak and also their location.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,263 discloses a system for finding and locating leaks in a pipeline using loggers positioned along the pipeline at spaced intervals. These loggers detect and store sound data produced within the pipeline and download the stored sound data to a computer system to determine the location of the leaks.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,595,038 discloses an apparatus for determining the position of a leak in an underground pipe for fluid or gas using two acoustic sensors. The first sensor is coupled to the pipe while the second sensor is movable above the pipe. Both sensors detect sound either carried along the walls of the pipe or along fluid in the pipe.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,619 discloses a method and apparatus for locating the source of a leak in a pipeline using match pattern filtering techniques. These match pattern filters discriminate against background noise and pressure disturbances generated by other non-leak sources. This method uses acoustic signals to determine whether a leak exists and where it is located.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,650,125 discloses locating leaks of conductive fluids, such as ionized water, from non-conductive structures, such as pipes, through the use of a charge generator employed to charge and discharge the conductive fluid, and a capacitive type detector that can detect the variable charge that is induced in the fluid. This detector is handheld and portable.
However, the current art does not disclose a system and method for locating leaks in nonmetallic pipes that does not require the insertion of a wire or device into the nonmetallic pipe itself. Furthermore, none of the references disclose a system and method for locating leaks without intrusion into the nonmetallic pipe that is simple, inexpensive and accurate. Therefore, a need exists for a cost-efficient system and method for locating leaks in nonmetallic pipes without requiring intrusion into the pipes.

Leak detection method and system in nonmetallic underground pipes