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Morgan Taylor Ooh La La Spring/Summer 2015 Swatches & Review
Francophiles will want to check out the new Paris-themed colors from Morgan Taylor. The Ooh La La collection for Spring/Summer 2015 blends a bit of whimsy with classic, feminine hues. Three full-coverage polishes are paired with a sparkling, pastel party glitter.
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Essie Spring 2015 Nail Art featuring Flowerista & Garden Variety
Happy first day of Spring!! The days are getting longer, warm weather is just around the corner, and I'm kicking off the weekend with bright spring nails. Can it get any better? I mentioned in my Essie Spring 2015 review that Garden Variety and Flowerista were made to be worn together, so I used them for a scalloped nail art look.
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Essie Spring 2105 Flowerista Swatches & Review
I couldn't be more thrilled to see one of my favorite accessory designers, Rebecca Minkoff, working with one of my favorite nail polish brands. The Essie Spring 2015 Flowerista collection is the first one Minkoff had a hand in, and I'm already loving this partnership. Bright saturated shades are mixed with more neutral hues for a nice juxtaposition between bold and subdued.
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China Glaze Electric Nights Summer 2015 Swatches & Review
Calling all music fans. The festival season is coming, and whether you're heading to Bonnaroo, the Governors Ball, or just dancing it out at home, China Glaze wants to deck out your tips and toes with club-ready brights. The China Glaze Electric Nights collection for Summer 2015 introduces nine bold hues and three neon top coats!
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St Patrick's Day Nails with Morgan Taylor Later Alligator
I'm a strong believer that there is no such thing as too much green. St. Patrick's Day is the perfect time to put that theory to the test. From my bright green loafers to my pool felt colored pea-coat to my Lucky Charms tee and shamrock accessories, I'm ready to be faux-Irish for a day.
This year, instead of doing nail art, I just want to wear a glorious new green that I've never used before. A deep dive into my Helmer unearthed Morgan Taylor Later Alligator. And with the perfectly-timed arrival of the Nicole by OPI Coca-Cola collection, my St. Patrick's Day nails were born!
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Vocational education and training in Luxembourg, Volume 87
Josť Frideres-Poos, Gilbert Engel, Jerry Lenert, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training
CEDEFOP, 1999 - Vocational education - 95 pages
From inside the book
6 pages matching Chamber of Trades in this book
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Authors preface
The educational system and its development 21
The vocational education and training system 35
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Common terms and phrases
11 August administrative advanced cycle apprentices apprenticeship awarded CATP Cedefop Centre Centre universitaire certificat d'aptitude technique certificate certificat d'aptitude Chamber of Trades CITP cn cn computer science continuing training continuing vocational training cycle of technical d'etudes Diekirch diploma of completion economic education and training Education and Vocational education enseignement employers employment enterprises Esch-sur-Alzette establishing European Union examination formation professionnelle guidance higher education Higher Institute initial vocational training Institute for Educational intermediate cycle languages law of 11 Luxembourgish Lycťe technique master craftsman's diploma MENFP MENFP Ministry of Education OLAP option organised pedagogiques post-primary education pre-school primary education proficiency certificate certificat recherche Rhineland-Palatinate schools lycees techniques secondary school lycee Section social partners specialist stream subjects teachers technical and vocational technical secondary education technical secondary school technician training technique et professionnelle theoretical training courses training system unemployed University Centre Centre vocational chambers vocational education vocational proficiency certificate workplace

subset: commoncrawl


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|Reviews for Fighter II
| Poptarts-Rule-The-WORLD chapter 1 . 3/30/2013
i wish you wouldinish the story i loved it :(
| Guest chapter 1 . 5/30/2011
huurrry uuuppp aanndd wwrriittee tthhee nneexxtt cccchhhhaaaappppttteeerrr!
| Lauraa chapter 1 . 3/6/2011
This is amazingggg! I just loovee Leah and totally get ur point of viewww...even i think that everyone have been unfair towards Leah but ur "Who Knew" was soooo niiceeee! U really should continue this! Amazing star and I hope something dramatic adn unexcpected happensss...u are the best writer on Fanfiction! xx
| Ilovepeeta98 chapter 1 . 2/20/2011
update soon please
| stargategeeket chapter 1 . 11/25/2010
this is pretty good. Please keep it up.
| Alliewa17 chapter 1 . 11/1/2010
I don't think angela cheated. I thnk Emily and sue are still lunatic bitches. I also thnk Leah and Josh are gonna move to avoid Emily and sue and Sam is gong to come to protect them and the kids. :) great story! Update soon!
| DaniLautner chapter 1 . 10/30/2010
| emily007 chapter 1 . 10/16/2010
Love this story, and the first 1.
Please update soon
| NeverOkayIPromise chapter 1 . 9/3/2010
I think angela was raped and feels ashamed and that sue and emily are still crazed biatchess!
| wolfpack princess chapter 1 . 8/10/2010
yeah thanks for making a sequel can't wait for the next chapter


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little brother (1921) – norah neilson gray
i'm expanding on my daily painting posts a bit. making it more interesting for me, for you.
little brother (1921) – norah neilson gray
i'm expanding on my daily painting posts a bit. making it more interesting for me, for you.
Neither the cold of winter nor the gloom of the Great Depression kept the children of New York City from enjoying Central Park, the city's greatest green space. Artist Carl Nelson had almost as much fun as the children, drawing by the hour despite the chill of February 1934. When his hands got cold, Nelson recalled, he "would go to the monkey house in the Central Park Zoo to warm up."
"Bérangère Claire presents each season a new collection of classics and basics with refined details … all garments that are easy to wear everyday, but more than a fashion, a style, simple and chic at affordable prices."
Marie-Anne Weber au Violon Alto (1903) – Théo van Rysselberghe
i usually have a pretty tough time deciding what the daily painting is going to be (so many!) but this blue – i love this blue.
marietjie & her team at skermunkil have been churning out amazing stuff for the design indaba expo this weekend (from today the 26th till sunday the 28th). i'm so looking forward to seeing their stand (and perhaps making a sneaky purchase)
an interior (1926) – stanislav zhukovsky
i wasn' t planning on posting today because i've been sick in bed for a day and a half. however, there's only so much sleeping and tv watching a girl can do before feverish boredom sets in. so i decided to play around with my camera which hasn't got much love from me lately, and took some shots of things i own & treasure.
couch on the porch, cos cob (1917) – childe hassam
friends of mine are going to die laaitjie in robertson for a weekend away.
Die Laaitjie is so called as it nestles in the smallest and last of the Dassieshoek valleys in the Langeberg mountains. Despite being so completely remote, the farm is only 7 kilometres from the centre of Robertson. The farm is situated alone in a bowl made by the surrounding mountains. 25 Ha of the farm consists of peach, pear and apricot trees, all of which fill the valley with colourful blossoms during the spring months. The mountains themselves are criss-crossed with hiking, walking and horse-riding trails suitable for all levels of expertise. Enjoy a gentle stroll to the river before breakfast, or spend a whole day exploring the ravines.
apricot is a short film by ben briand
via lulu letty


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UAE close to Blackberry security agreement
The United Arab Emirates is optimistic about reaching an agreement with Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) over security concerns, according to a top official.
This Article Covers
The United Arab Emirates is optimistic about reaching an agreement with Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM)...
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over security concerns, according to a top official.
In July, authorities said the Blackberry smartphone is open to misuse and poses a security risk, and in August threatened to suspend RIM's Blackberry encrypted messaging services from 11 October until government security agencies get access to the messages.
But Mohammed al-Bawardi, secretary general at Abu Dhabi's executive council, said the UAE was confident the issue would be resolved before the deadline, according to Reuters.
Similar security concerns have been raised in Saudi Arabia, where the government claims to have reached a deal with RIM on access to the Blackberry Messenger service.
Other countries, including India, have raised concerns that Blackberry services could be used to co-ordinate terror attacks or stir up political instability.
At end of August, India delayed a threatened ban on Blackberry services for 60 days to extend talks with RIM on giving security services access to users' e-mails and instant messages.
RIM has issued several statements on the issue, saying some governments are finding ways to live with strong encryption, and the only way forward is to work together.
According to RIM, the use of strong encryption in wireless technology is not unique to Blackberry and is therefore an industry-wide matter.
Enjoy the benefits of CW+ membership, learn more and join.


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You can now invite anyone to meet at your favorite Starbucks.
Limited-time feature
40 year old man | Orland Park, IL, USA | Seeking women 25-50 within 50 miles of Midlothian, IL
Active within 24 hours
We're gonna get this party started...
I'm entirely friendly, sensual, and easygoing; I just want to spend time with someone wonderful who will enjoy doing fun things with me, while always communicating together harmoniously as we suck the marrow out of life. I love to get to know someone by finding out about them and bullding on common ground; let's go to the cinema and out to eat, and/or enjoy dvds at home, and/or anything else your sweet heart desires-I'm open to anything and flexible. I love warm weather, sexy and romantic hotel getaways and hottub action, the pool, snuggling in front of the fireplace (let it snow, let it snow-lol), sharing positive leadership principles with others to help them improve their lives and maximize their potential, kids, pets, family time if that's what you like, reading (let's read together), going to church each Sunday and doing nursing home & prison ministry, travelling as much as possible, coffeehouses (I drink java, tea, and cocoa every day), beer and pizza (willing to try any new beverage and food), comedies, and sunshine. Let's get to know each other at a pace that you're comfortable with, and laugh together, and let God direct us well, which He always does. I work hard at both of my jobs with my online studies, and I work just as hard in my relationship (even harder, because it's the people in our lives we care about which is our first priority and what inspires us to be all we can be). You can always depend on me to exercise love, care, patience, dependability, a yearning to find awesome stuff for us to enjoy (including impromptu road trips, and planned ones too), luscous attention to your needs and how to fulfill them, and awesome persistence toward doing whatever it takes to make you happy...
Coffee and conversation , Hobbies and crafts , Movies/Videos , Music and concerts , Exploring new areas , Religion/Spiritual , Travel/Sightseeing
I have Other
A red-eared slider turtle named Speedy
Ultra Conservative
Coffee houses and libraries
Southern travel, movies, watching old tv shows on dvds, walking, scrapbooking, anything fun
I love to go for a walk with my partner (outside and in the mall), anything she wants to do, play chess, read, watch movies, travel, eat out, watch dvds; anything fun and exhilarating.
Awaken the Giant Within
Z{{Cta}} {{#if HasMoreInfo}} ?{{CtaSecondary}} {{/if}}
|What he is looking for
|5'10" (177cms)
|5'0" (152cms) to 5'5" (165cms)
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|Dark brown
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|Less Than $25,000
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|I'll tell you later
|No preference
|Asian, Black / African descent, East Indian, Latino / Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Native American, Pacific Islander, White / Caucasian, Other
|Asian, Black / African descent, East Indian, Latino / Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Native American, Pacific Islander, White / Caucasian, Other
|Buddhist / Taoist
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text:
'Dare' Film Starring Rossum, Gasteyer, Bernhard, Huffman & Cumming to Premiere 11/13
Image Entertainment, Inc. a leading independent licensee and distributor of entertainment programming in North America, announced today that it has acquired all North American rights to "Dare," starring Emmy Rossum ("The Phantom of the Opera"), Zach Gilford ("Friday Night Lights"), Ashley Springer ("Teeth"), Ana Gasteyer ("Mean Girls"), and Rooney Mara ("Nightmare on Elm Street"), along with Sandra Bernhard, Cady Huffman and Alan Cumming. Image will release the film in theaters this Fall, starting with New York and Los Angeles on November 13, 2009.
"Dare" was written and co-produced by David Brind and directed by Adam Salky. The film was produced by Mary Jane Skalski ("Mysterious Skin," "The Station Agent," "The Visitor") and Jason Orans ("Flannel Pajamas," "Goodbye Solo"). The film features a score by Spring Awakening composer Duncan Sheik.
"Dare" follows three teenagers through the last semester of high school: Alexa (Emmy Rossum), the overachieving good girl; Ben (Ashley Springer), the melancholy outsider; and Johnny (Zach Gilford), the rich kid who has everything. The unlikely trio falls into each other's lives, making a last-ditch effort to shake things up before they actually have to start living as adults.
"Audiences will identify with this 21st-century update of the John Hughes oeuvre, as it perfectly captures this generation with nothing to rebel against except their self-imposed inhibitions," said Garrett M. Lee, Image's Senior Vice President, Theatrical. "This film continues our plans to build a portfolio of unique and entertaining films from great filmmakers," added Lee.
Image Entertainment's J. Beck negotiated the rights to the film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition this year, with Sarah Lash at Cinetic Media. The film is a co-production between Next Wednesday and Gigantic Pictures. Image Entertainment will also release the film for the home entertainment market including digital and broadcast.
Visit www.darethemovie.com for film updates, twitter, facebook and myspace links.
About Author
- Casting Roundup: Sarah Chalke, Kim Raver Headline New Pilots
- ADVENTURE TIME Headed to the Big Screen?
- Pilot Season Roundup: Colm Feore, Daniel Stern, Dave Annable to Star in New Shows
- James Franco to Star in New Fox Comedy, WHY HIM?
- Christopher Meloni to Star in WGN America's Slave Drama UNDERGROUND
- Check Out Alex Dunphy's Full College Essay from Latest MODERN FAMILY Episode
- Photo Flash: HBO Reveals Key Art for GAME OF THRONES Season 5
- Syfy to Honor Leonard Nimoy with Special Programming This Sunday
- Grammy Winner Kelly Clarkson Exclusively Premieres New Music from New Album on MTV, VH1 & CMT First
- CONSTELLATIONS' Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson Set for THEATER TALK This Weekend


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If you follow Painted Ladies on social media, you may have noticed that I was part of a fun Twitter party last week for the Glo Minerals Summer 2015 makeup collection.
It was my first Twitter party and it flew by in a snap! Glo Minerals has been a favorite beauty brand for years and I'm really loving their latest and greatest. Today I have a few products from the Summer 2015 release to share that I know you'll love as much as I do.
There are a four new single eyeshadows ($18.50) including Graphite and Dove.
These colors are smooth, pigmented, and long-wearing.
Graphite is a shimmery gunmetal grey that is so pretty worn as a smoky lid shade or used as an eyeliner.
Dove could be my new favorite grey. This is a super smooth matte shadow that blends beautifully.
It's the year of shiny, buttery lip pencils, which is why I'm reaching for Glo Minerals Cream Glaze Crayons in Bloom and Jetset ($16).
These Mango Oil and Shea Butter enhanced pencils are AWESOME!
They're the next generation of lip crayons, offering long-wearing, non-sticky, glossy color that last and fade to a stain when they've worn off.
Bloom is hot pink.
Jetset is an orange-red.
I love that these lip crayons have a sharpener in the lid, making it so easy to freshen up the color as needed.
Good sun protection is a MUST and I'm a fan of Solar Shade SPF 50 ($34). This is a lightweight lotion that provides broad spectrum coverage.
It absorbs quickly and nourishes your skin with antioxidants and conditioners.
Combined, these products make for tons of Summer beauty fun!
My Final Thoughts: Glo Minerals products are some of my favorite and I'm loving their new options for Summer 2015. The Glo Minerals Cream Glaze Crayons are truly something special and worth checking out!
Rating: A
Price: $16 – $34
Availability: Select salons and online at www.gloprofessional.com
Cruelty-free? Yes
Paraben-free? Yes


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A system for the non-contact inspection and characterization of an object in which wideband (40 kHz to approximately 2 MHz) air/gas coupled ultrasonic transducers are used. The system of the present invention enables a single set of transducers to be used in an inspection/defect detection arrangement to characterize materials having a wide range of through-thickness, and other resonances. For example, the through-thickness fundamental resonance of 11 mm thick plywood is 44 kHz, 723 kHz for 2 mm thick carbon fiber, and 1.47 kHz for 0.75 mm thick polystyrene, all of which are measurable in the same system. The system is used in a method to characterize a defect by being able to operate at or near the resonant frequency of the normal material and at or near the resonant frequency of the material in a defect region to improve the accuracy of detecting specific types of defects including inclusions, material thinning, delamination and pitting by monitoring changes of various attributes (e.g. amplitude, frequency) of the detected output signal. The system of the present invention can also be combined with laser or EMAT systems, where the means for generating ultrasonic vibrations in the object is a laser or EMAT and in pulse-echo arrangements in which a single wideband air-coupled transducer is used as the source and as the receiver/detector of ultrasound.
1. A system for the non-contact inspection and detection of a defect in an object comprising:
generating means for stimulating ultrasonic vibrations in the object, said generating means being coupled to the object by a gaseous medium;
receiving means for receiving ultrasonic energy emitted by the object, said receiving means being coupled to the object by a gaseous medium;
means for converting the ultrasonic energy received by the receiving means into an electrical signal;
processing means detecting any alteration in at least a selected portion of the electrical signal which characterizes the presence of the defect; and
wherein said receiving and generating means have wideband frequency responses and are operable at all frequencies between approximately 40 kHz and at least 1.465 MHz.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein said generating means and said receiving means comprise a single transducer, said transducer having an aperture from which ultrasonic waves propagate and to which the ultrasonic energy is received.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the generating means includes a signal generator and a source transducer, said source transducer having an aperture from which ultrasonic waves propagate, and said source transducer being operable over a range of frequencies from approximately 40 kHz to approximately 2 MHz.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the gaseous medium is ambient air.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the object is in the form of a continuous body of material, and further including means for moving the object relative to the generating means and receiving means to provide for continuous inspection of the object.
6. The system of claim 1, further including signal processing means for amplifying the electrical signal generated by the receiving means to produce a conditioned output signal.
7. The system of claim 6, further including display means for displaying the conditioned output signal from the signal processing means.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the generating means and the receiving means are positioned on opposite sides of the object.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the source transducer and the receiver transducer are located at an angle of 90� relative to a surface of the object.
10. The system of claim 8, wherein the generating means and the receiving means are located at an acute angle relative to a surface of the object.
11. The system of claim 1 wherein both the generating means and the receiving means are located on the same side of the object.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the apertures of the source transducer and the receiver transducer are located at an acute angle relative to a surface of the object.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the gaseous medium is ambient air.
14. The system of claim 1, including means for imaging a first electrical signal as a function of the position of the object so as to provide a visual representation of the defect region.
15. The system of claim 1 including means for imaging a second electrical signal as a function of the position of the object so as to provide a visual representation of the defect region.
16. The system of claim 1 wherein the electrical signal includes amplitude and attenuation characteristics.
17. The system of claim 1 wherein the electrical signal includes frequency characteristics.
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/354,561, filed 12 Dec. 1994, now abandoned, which is a divisional of Ser. No. 08/269,861, filed 30 Jun. 1994 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,624.
This invention relates to the field of ultrasonic nondestructive testing of material. More particularly, this invention relates to non-contact inspection and characterization of materials using wideband ultrasonic air coupled capacitance transducers.
Many types of basic building materials such as plastics, wood products and carbon-fibre reinforced polymers are manufactured as large sheets. During the manufacture of such material it is often required that the material be inspected to detect imperfections such as material thickness variation, delamination, pitting etc. In addition, it is also required that such material be inspected in use such as testing the composite integrity of the wing of an airplane.
Ultrasonic nondestructive testing (NDT) of material has been proposed in the prior art. Many conventional ultrasonic NDT techniques are performed by immersion of tested material in water to allow ultrasonic energy to be coupled from the transducers to the material. Alternatively, various liquid layers such as oil can be placed between the transducers and material surface to provide a type of contacting transducer. However, the use of liquid couplants is not permitted or desirable for some materials that can absorb or be contaminated by liquids. Moisture absorption may adversely affect the strength and the dimensional stability of critical components used in air and spacecraft for example.
As a result of the problems with conventional fluid immersion and contacting ultrasonic NDT techniques, non-contact systems have been proposed in the prior art. For example, electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMAT), laser pulse generation techniques, and laser interferometric detection have been used in NDT environments. These methods involve non-contact generation and reception of ultrasound at the material surface.
However, the EMAT method requires proximity of the transducer to the material being tested, and the laser method has restrictions on the types of materials that can be studied. For example, in laser methods the material being tested must absorb the laser energy for generation of ultrasound but must reflect it for detection. Further, both of these methods have poor sensitivity as receivers of ultrasound.
One alternative method proposed in the prior art involves the generation and detection of narrow band ultrasonic waves in the material through an intermediary air/gas-gap, which has been termed the air-coupled method.
Specifically, an apparatus for NDT using narrow band air coupled ultrasound has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,897 issued to Bantz on Jun. 17, 1986 titled "Inspection of the Internal Portion of Objects Using Ultrasonics". Bantz describes a configuration that uses ultrasonic transducers having a piezoelectric layer that operates at other than half-wave resonance and a first matching layer of a coupling medium which operates at other than quarter-wave resonance. Only a second matching layer of the coupling medium operates in quarter-wave resonance at the operating frequency determined by the composite of the transducer-first layer thickness and acoustic impedance.
The system described by Bantz uses piezoelectric type air coupled transducers that have the following disadvantages:
(a) The piezoelectric air coupled transducer has an inherently narrow bandwidth (for example, a maximum of 200-500 kHz) and therefore operates only about the design centre frequency i.e. basically at a single frequency.
(b) This bandwidth limitation of the transducer means that a separate transducer would have to be used for different materials, and for thickness variations of the same material, in order to properly resonate the material being tested.
(c) If a defect has been detected, the Bantz system cannot be easily adapted to resonate the material at the defect resonant frequency, which can vary significantly (i.e. 200%), in order to rescan the material to obtain improved characterization of the defect.
In summary, prior art NDT air coupled systems using narrow bandwidth transducers generate useable data only in cases where the combination of thickness and sample velocity happen to yield a resonant vibration at or near the transducer's design centre frequency. Therefore, narrow band NDT air coupled techniques are greatly limited since they must be designed for a particular sample thickness and velocity i.e. with a particular application in mind.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide an air/gas coupled system capable of operating over a wide frequency bandwidth to allow a wide range of materials to be inspected by the same system and without the need to change transducers. For example, since the resonant frequency of many building materials (wood, polystyrene etc.) will range from approximately 40 kHz to at least 2 MHz this would be a useful bandwidth. In addition, it would be desirable to provide an air coupled system which, by virtue of its wide bandwith is capable of improving the accuracy of detecting and characterizing specific types of defects including inclusions, material thinning, delamination, pitting etc.
An object of the present invention is to provide a system for the inspection and characterization of imperfections or defects in a wide range of materials having resonant frequencies ranging from approximately 40 kHz to at least 2 MHz whereby the entire range of said frequencies can be achieved without changing transducers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide wide band air-gas coupled ultrasonic system for the inspection and characterization of a defect region in an object capable of improving the accuracy of detecting specific types of defects including inclusions, material thinning, delamination, and pitting.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for the non-contact inspection and detection of a defect in an object comprising: generating means for stimulating ultrasonic vibrations in the object, said generating means being coupled to the object by a gaseous medium; receiving means for receiving ultrasonic energy emitted by the object, said receiving means being coupled to the object by a gaseous medium; means for converting the ultrasonic energy received by the receiving means into an electrical signal; processing means detecting any alteration in an attribute of the electrical signal which characterizes the presence of the defect; and wherein said receiving and generating means are operable over a wide range of frequencies from approximately 40 kHz to at least 2 MHz without the need to change transducer.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for the non-contact inspection and detection of a defect in an object comprising: a source of ultrasonic waves comprising a signal generator and a source transducer spaced from the object and coupled to the object by a gaseous layer, said source transducer having an aperture from which the ultrasonic waves propagate disposed at an angle relative to the object; a receiver transducer spaced from the object and coupled to the object by the gaseous layer to receive ultrasonic energy emitted by the object, said receiver transducer transducing the received ultrasonic energy into an electrical signal, whereby any alteration of an attribute of the electrical signal characterizes the presence of the defect; and wherein said source and receiver transducers are operable over a wide range of frequencies from approximately 40 kHz to at least 2 MHz without the need to change transducers.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for detecting and characterizing a defect region in an object comprising: (a) scanning the object using toneburst ultrasonic waves at approximately a first resonant frequency indicative of a selected characteristic frequency of the object to stimulate ultrasonic vibrations in the object; (b) detecting ultrasonic energy emitted by the object to generate a first signal; (c) monitoring an attribute of the first signal during said scanning for changes, wherein changes in the attribute of the first signal are representative of the existence of the defect region; (d) determining a second frequency based on the change in the attribute of the first signal, wherein said second frequency represents a selected other characteristic resonant frequency of the material in the defect region; (e) rescanning the object using toneburst ultrasonic waves at approximately the second frequency to stimulate ultrasonic vibrations in the object; (f) detecting ultrasonic energy emitted by the object to generate a second signal; (g) monitoring an attribute of the second signal for changes during said scanning, wherein changes in the attribute of the second signal are representative of transitions from the defect region to other regions of the object; wherein steps (a)-(c) are performed to determine if a defect region exists in the object, and steps (d)-(g) are performed to further characterize the defect region.
Embodiments of the invention will be described by way of example in conjunction with the drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic presentation of an inspection and characterization system according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 2A-2C are schematic presentations of inspection and characterization systems according to other embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a specific schematic presentation of the system of FIG. 1 used in an experimental configuration;
FIGS. 4 and 5 are graphical illustrations of response characteristics of various objects inspected in the system of FIG. 3 using pulsed excitation of the source transducer;
FIG. 6A is a graph of a frequency response characteristic curve near the fundamental through-thickness resonance for a specific sample inspected in the system of FIG. 3 using toneburst excitation of the source transducer;
FIG. 6B is a graph of two frequency response characteristic curves of the same material representing the shift into a defect region;
FIG. 7A is a graphical representation of a toneburst excitation signal applied to the source transducer;
FIG. 7B is a graphical representation of (a) receiver/detector transducer response over a non-defect region; and (b) receiver/detector transducer response over a defect region for the system of FIG. 3 with the source excitation by the toneburst of FIG. 7A; and
FIGS. 8A and 8B are graphical representations of defects in an object inspected according to system of FIG. 1.
The present invention is used for the non-contact characterization and inspection of materials that can include objects having solid plate or sheet type geometries, other regular or irregular geometries, and liquid media. In general the apparatus and method of the present invention can detect, image and characterize hidden flaws or other variations from a predetermined normal state termed the defect or defect region. The apparatus and method of the present invention can be used for on-line processing control of plastics, wood products, paper, carbon fibre reinforced composite materials, sheet metals and the like; and for non-destructive evaluations of materials employed in their respective application for example, aircraft wings, fuselages etc.
FIG. 1 illustrates a normal incident non-contact testing system 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Two wideband transducers, a source 12 and a receiver/detector 14, are aligned with their respective apertures 16 and 18 parallel, and separated by an air space 20. An object 22 is placed in the air space 20 to separate the air space 20 into two air gaps 24 and 26. A voltage is applied to the source transducer 12 by a signal generator 28 to excite the transducer 12 into generating ultrasonic waves.
The ultrasound emitted by the source transducer 12 propagates through the air gap 24 toward the object 22. Upon striking the boundary of the object 22, some of the ultrasound is transmitted into the object 22 where it travels with a higher velocity, termed the sample velocity. A fraction of the ultrasound in the object 22 will pass through the object 22 into the air gap 26 to arrive at the receiver/detector transducer 14.
In addition, a fraction of the ultrasound remains within the object 22 and undergoes multiple reflections and generates an air wave each time it strikes an air/sample boundary, which can also be detected by the receiver transducer 14. The measured first-arrival time and the frequency of air wave emission contain information (e.g. thickness, sample velocity) about the object 22 that can be used for material characterization. Specific examples relating to obtaining this information according to the present invention are detailed hereinbelow.
The receiver transducer 14 is located in a position such that the ultrasonic energy emitted from the object 22 is directed substantially normal to its aperture 18. The receiver transducer 14 transforms the airborne ultrasound into an electrical signal.
Depending on the object 22 being inspected and the desired wave propagation mode (e.g. Lamb, shear, longitudinal) the source 12 and receiver 14 transducers can be angled relative to a surface of the object 22.
The ultrasonic energy emitted by the object 22 is converted to an electrical signal by the receiver transducer 14 which is amplified and conditioned by an amplifier 30 and displayed on an oscilloscope 32. Should an imperfection be present in the object 22 between the point of entry of sound and the point at which the sound vibrations/energy are emitted, the receiver transducer 14 will respond with a change in its electrical output signal. This change in the output signal can be indicative of an imperfection or defect and is displayed by the oscilloscope 32. Changes in the output signal of the receiver 14 can be recorded as a function of the position of the object 22 to provide a representation of the defect.
The transducers 12 and 14 used in the present invention are disclosed in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,331 issued Feb. 15, 1994, titled "Air Coupled Ultrasonic Transducer", the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In general, the transducers consist of a thin metallized polymer membrane placed upon a micromachined silicon backplate. The backplate surface contains small etched pits that trap air and reduce the acoustic impedance of the backplate/membrane structure. The transducers can produce both focused and planar wavefields.
In the detection mode of transducer 14, movement of the membrane causes a change in induced charge on the backplate, to which a constant bias voltage is applied. In the generation of ultrasound by transducer 12, the applied voltage transient causes membrane motion. The response of both transducers 12 and 14 are well-damped with a bandwidth extending from approximately 40 kHz to at least 2 MHz, the upper limit depending on the thickness of the polymer film used in their construction, and the nature of the driving potentials applied during operation.
Based on the characteristics of the wideband transducers 12 and 14, the frequency (for example, from 40 kHz to at least 2 MHz) of the ultrasound generated from the source 12 can be chosen to excite the chosen resonance of the object 22 to increase transmission efficiency. In particular, the apparatus of the present invention can be used to inspect a wide range of materials having a wide range of resonance frequencies. For example, the system of FIG. 1 can inspect/characterize 11 mm thick plywood that resonates at 44 kHz, and without physically changing the transducers 12 and 14 can also inspect a polystyrene sheet of 0.75 thickness that resonates at 1.47 MHz. Further details of this wideband data range are discussed in Example 1 detailed hereinbelow.
FIG. 2A illustrates a Lamb, Rayleigh or shear wave type inspection system 40 according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Two wideband transducers, a source 42 and a receiver 44, are aligned with their respective apertures 46 and 48 at an angle α to the object 50. A voltage is applied to the source transducer 42 by a signal generator 52 to excite the transducer 42 into generating ultrasonic waves.
The ultrasound generated by the source 42 directed towards the object 50 propagates in a direction to strike the object 50 at an incident angle α. It is well known in the art that at certain values of α, Lamb,Rayleigh or shear wave modes will be generated and propagated in the object 50. The preferred magnitude of the angle of incidence α is dependent upon several factors including thickness of material, frequency of operation and the desired wave mode generated in the object 50.
An absorbing material 58 can be placed in a region between the transducers 42 and 44 to effectively block the direct air-wave that propagates directly from the source transducer 42 to the receiver transducer 44.
The generated wave mode will propagate along the object 50 and radiate from the object 50 as an ultrasonic vibration at the same angle α toward the receiver transducer 44. Specifically, the wave propagates along the object 50, emitting an amount of ultrasonic energy into the adjacent air as it propagates.
The emitted ultrasonic energy received in the transducer 44 is converted into an electrical signal which is conditioned in a amplifier 54 and displayed in an oscilloscope 56. As discussed in conjunction with FIG. 1, aspects of the electrical signal can be recorded as a function of position of the object 50 as a means of representing any internal defects.
The system 40 of the present invention can not only vary the incident angle α, but more importantly can vary the source ultrasonic frequency at any angle α, as discussed in detail in conjunction with FIG. 1, to provide improved flexibility in the inspection process. In particular, the ability to vary the frequency at any angle α allows more wave modes to be investigated compared with narrow bandwidth piezoelectric air coupled transducer based systems.
The systems 10 and 40 of FIGS. 1 and 2A uses two wideband transducers 12 and 14 to inspect the object 22 for defects; however, other configurations using only a single wideband transducer are illustrated in FIGS. 2B and 2C.
For example, FIG. 2B illustrates a hybrid system 70 in which the means for stimulating ultrasonic vibrations in the object 22 is accomplished by using a laser or EMAT 72. The EMAT 72 is connected to a signal generator 28 and is positioned adjacent a surface of the object 22 to generate ultrasonic vibrations in the object 22. This system can be applied to either systems 10 or 40. When a laser source is used for ultrasonic generation, two distinct modes are possible. The laser can provide a source through ablation or thermal expansion at the sample surface or by dielectric breakdown of the air adjacent to the surface. The ultrasonic vibrations/energy emitted by the object 22 are received by the transducer 14, conditioned by amplifier 30 and displayed by oscilloscope 32 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with FIG. 1. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the transmitted wave can alternatively be generated by an air coupled transducer and received by an EMAT or laser interferometer.
Another alternative system 80 is illustrated in FIG. 2C in which a single transducer 82 having an aperture 84 is used that operates as both a transmitter and as a receiver of ultrasound.
Using what is termed "pulse-echo" mode, the duration of the transmitted pulse from the transducer 82 must be timed to provide a quiescent period of transmission during which ultrasound reflected back to the transducer 82 may be received. The duration of the transmit pulse and quiescent period principally will be determined by the sound velocities in both air and the object 22 and the dual capability of the transducer 82. The signal generator 28, amplifier 30 and oscilloscope 32 provide the same functions as discussed in conjunction with the system 10 illustrated in FIG. 1.
The transducers 12, 14, 42, 44 and 82 are coupled to the object 22/50 by any gaseous medium at virtually any pressure. For example, ambient air is suitable for most applications; however, in certain circumstances other gases can be used at various pressures to improve coupling of the transducers to the object. For example, in some situations such as high frequency operation increasing the pressure of the coupling gas can result in improved ultrasonic coupling between the transducer(s) and the object being inspected.
The following examples illustrate a mode of operation in which the inspection system 10 of the present invention investigates the "through-thickness" resonance of the object 22, with the transducers 12, 14 at normal incidence with respect to the object 22. The examples will show that alterations of resonance amplitude will indicate flaws, and changes in frequency can be employed to characterize whether the flaws are inclusions, material thinning, backing members, delamination or the like.
The main components of an air coupled through-thickness system are shown schematically in FIG. 3. The signal generator, amplifier and oscilloscope are identical to that shown in FIG. 1 and are not represented for simplicity. The source transducer 12 and the receiver/detector transducer 14 are separated by air space 20 of length L. The object 22 having a thickness W is inserted in the air space 20. The object 22 has an ultrasonic longitudinal velocity Vs, which for most materials is much higher than the velocity of sound in air (Va ≈345 m/s). The object 22 may have a defect region 60 in which the object 22 thickness changes by .increment.W. The calculation of sample velocity and thickness changes will be discussed below for a wide range of materials.
Components and Configuration
Source Transducer
(a) Thickness of membrane: 6.3 μm
(b) Aperture: 10 mm diameter
(c) Insulator/Upper electrode: metallized Mylar
(d) Lower electrode: silicon backplate with metallized gold film; backplate pits 40 μm in diameter and approximately 30 μm deep and placed on an 80 μm square grid
Signal Generator
Source Excitation
Superposition of a 350 V DC bias voltage, and a -200 V wideband transient voltage from a standard Panametrics pulser-receiver. A capacitive decoupler was used to protect the pulser from the large DC bias applied to the source.
Receiver/Detector Transducer
(a) Thickness of membrane: 2.5 μm
(b) Aperture: 10 mm diameter
(c) Insulator/Upper electrode: metallized Mylar
(d) Lower electrode: silicon backplate with metallized gold film; backplate pits 40 μm in diameter and approximately 30 μm deep and placed on an 80 μm square grid
(a) Output of detector transducer coupled to a Cooknell CA6/C charge sensitive amplifier with the bias voltage set at 100 V; output from the charge amplifier was fed to the receiving circuitry of the Panametrics pulser for additional 40 dB gain and elimination of low frequency noise by the 30 kHz high-pass filter to generate a conditioned signal.
(a) The conditioned signal is coupled to a Tektronix 2430A digital oscilloscope, which is triggered by the synchronization signal from the pulser.
No Sample
The source and receiver apertures 16 and 18 of the transducers 12 and 14, respectively, were aligned parallel by maximizing the intensity and bandwidth of the multiple echoes in the air gap 20. This alignment step is performed to maximize the system's bandwidth.
A typical signal resulting from this arrangement is shown in FIG. 4 signal line (a). The signal line (a) has an amplitude of approximately 2 V and is well-damped.
With Sample
Table 1 summarizes the type of material and thickness used as test objects 22. An asterisk indicates that the sample includes a known thickness variation of .increment.W.
TABLE 1______________________________________Tested MaterialsSAMPLE THICKNESSObject 22 (mm)______________________________________Carbon-fibre reinforced polymer 1.96(CFRP) PlatePolystyrene 0.75Plexiglass 1.78Plexiglass 5.88Glass 5.96Masonite* 2.78Solid Pine* 13.22Particle Board* 13.2Plywood 11.13______________________________________
A pulse of ultrasound is emitted by the source transducer 12 and propagates through the air toward the object 22. When the ultrasound strikes the object 22, some of the energy is transmitted into the object 22 where it travels with a higher velocity (i.e. the sample/object longitudinal velocity Vs). A fraction of the ultrasound will be transmitted through the object 22 into the air gap 20 to arrive at the receiver/detector transducer 14. However, a portion of the ultrasound wave will remain and be reflected within the object 22. Each wave reflection generates an air wave that can also be detected by the receiver/detector transducer 14.
The sample velocities and thickness changes of the objects listed in Table 1, were calculated using the time-of-flight method (i.e. first-arrival wave) and the frequency method (i.e. resonance of sample/object), discussed in detail below.
Quantitative Analysis of Sample Velocity and Thickness Change
Sample Velocity: Time-of-flight Method
The time of flight of the wave in the absence of the plate is defined as ta =L/Va (Eq. 1). The first-arrival time with a sample inserted in the gap is defined as tw =(L-W)/Va +W/Vs (Eq. 2). The time difference can then be defined as ta -tw =W (1-Va /Vs)/Va !(Eq. 3). From Eq. 3 the sample velocity can be determined as Vs =Va / 1-Va ((ta -tw)/W)! (Eq. 4).
Sample Velocity: Frequency Method
The wave trapped within the object 22 leaks energy to the surrounding air each time it strikes an air/object boundary. This occurs on both sides of the object 22, although only the waves on the receiver 14 side will actually be observed.
In the arrangement of FIG. 3 the frequency of the signal emitted by the object 22 is related to the through-thickness round trip transit time of the longitudinal wave by fp =Vs /2 W (Eq. 5). The vibration fp is local to the region of incident ultrasound and corresponds to a free decay of the object's 22 through-thickness resonance.
Thickness Change: Time-of-flight Method
The time of arrival through the defect (thinned) region 60 of FIG. 3 is defined as tw-.increment.w (Eq. 6) with t.sub..increment.w =tw-.increment.w -tw (Eq. 7). The thickness change can be determined through Eq. 7 and Eq. 3 as .increment.W=t.sub..increment.w Va / 1-(Va /Vs)! (Eq. 8).
Thickness Change: Frequency Method
Estimation of the thickness changes is governed by the expression .increment.W=Vs /2 (fw -fw-.increment.w)/(fw fw-.increment.w)! (Eq. 9), where fw-.increment.w and fw are the frequencies of the thinned region 60 and remaining regions of object 22 respectively.
Signals arising from the insertion of the object/samples 22 of Table 1 within the gap 20 are shown in FIG. 4 waveforms (b)-(f), and in FIG. 5 waveforms (a)-(g). The sample velocity calculations for the samples of Table 1 using the two methods outlined above are summarized in Table 2.
In all of the tested samples, the time of first arrival occurred prior to the direct air wave indicated by the vertical dotted lines in FIGS. 4 and 5. The decaying oscillations after the first arrivals represent ultrasonic echoes within the object 22 samples themselves.
For example, FIG. 4 signal line (e) presents the results of the received signal in which the thickest plexiglass plate was placed in the gap 20 where the echoes within the sample are clearly separated. Where the resonance (fp) is definable at some frequency this is stated in FIGS. 4 and 5 next to the signal line.
TABLE 2______________________________________Sample Velocity Comparison Sample Velocity Vs (m/s)Sample Time-of-FlightObject 22 Method Frequency Method______________________________________CFRP plate 3928 � 2424 2834 + 57FIG. 4 signal (b)Polystyrene 2649 � 2682 (-2649) 2197 � 105FIG. 4 signal (c)Plexiglass (1.78 mm) 2232 � 1044 2737 � 103FIG. 4 signal (d)Plexiglass (5.88 mm) 2858 � 610 2670 � 62FIG. 4 signal (e)Glass 7191 � 3208 5275 � 62FIG. 4 signal (f)Masonite 1161 � 215 1307 � 64FIG. 5 signals (a)and (b)Solid Pine 2380 � 381 2379 � 89FIG. 5 signals (c)and (d)Particle Board 466 � 21FIG. 5 signals (e)and (f)Plywood 1113 � 196 977 � 71FIG. 5 signal (g)______________________________________
FIG. 5 includes two signals for each of the masonite (a)&(b)!, pine (c)&(d)!, and particle board (e)&(f)! object 22 samples. The pairing corresponds to the ultrasonic beam passing over the defect (thinned) region 60 of the object 22, and resulted in a shift of the waveforms toward the dotted line (direct air wave) and an increase in decay frequency. The thickness changes were estimated by the time-of-flight and frequency methods discussed above, and the results are summarized in Table 3. Independent measurements by vernier callipers are included for comparison.
TABLE 3______________________________________Thickness Change Comparison Thickness Change ΔW (mm) Time-of- Vernier Flight FrequencySample Calliper Method Method______________________________________Masonite 1.1 � 0.2 1.3 � 0.3 1.2 � 0.1Solid Pine 6.6 � 0.2 7.0 � 0.4 6.5 � 0.9Particle 5.9 � 0.3 6.3 � 3.6Board______________________________________
The advantages of the present invention can be seen from the wide range of information provided in the waveforms of FIGS. 4 and 5. Specifically, the resonant frequencies in the data range from 44 kHz in the FIG. 5 waveform (g) up to 1.465 MHz in the FIG. 4 waveform (c).
Toneburst Excitation at the Resonant Frequency
Components and Configuration
Same components and configuration as detailed in Example 1. However, a 30 V toneburst excitation voltage whose carrier frequency could be varied, was applied to the source transducer 12 via a Wavetek function generator. This voltage was superimposed upon a 350 V bias for linerization of the source transducer 12. The tested object 22 was a sheet of plexiglass of 1.78 mm thickness.
Determining Through-thickness Resonance
When the toneburst frequency matched the through-thickness fundamental resonance of the object 22, the signal amplitude received at the receiver/detector transducer 14 increased to approximately 140 mV, as shown in FIG. 6A.
Similar increases in amplitude can also be observed at frequencies associated with harmonics of the fundamental through-thickness resonance (i.e. often at integral multiples of the fundamental frequency), although the present example examines the variations of the output signal at the fundamental frequency.
As used herein, the term "toneburst excitation" means a finite length time window containing a single frequency sinusoid. In other applications a "chirp" may be substituted for a tone burst, in which case the frequency varies throughout the time window. To illustrate the flexibility of the inspection system of the present invention using toneburst excitation, FIG. 6B illustrates a frequency response characteristic curve i for a material having a fundamental resonance frequency (fpi) of approximately 400 kHz and a peak signal amplitude of 120 mV.
As the object 22 is scanned relative to the source 12 (by moving the transducers 12, 14 relative to the object 22 or by moving the object 22 relative to the transducers 12, 14) the source transducer 12 is excited to generate a toneburst frequency of 400 kHz. During the scan variations of signal amplitude (i.e. a deviation from the peak of 120 mV) are monitored. If there is a drop in the signal amplitude (for example to 20 mV), then it could be an indication that some type of defect has been encountered in the object 22.
In the simplest case, where the defect region 60 is a thinned region, the drop in signal amplitude at the receiver 14 is due to a shift in the curve i represented by another frequency response characteristic curve ii of the defect region 60. This occurs because the object 22 has a different through-thickness resonance in the defect region 60. Since the inspection is being conducted at 400 kHz, the ultrasound passing through the defect region 60 results in a signal amplitude of the receiver 14 of only 20 mV.
In order to better characterize the type of defect encountered in the object 22 the object 22 can be inspected again at the resonant frequency of the defect region 60 (i.e. fpii =800 kHz). This can be accomplished merely by changing the signal generator excitation of the wideband source transducer 12.
During the rescan the defect region 60 will return a high signal amplitude (120 mV) and the non-defect region of the object 22 will return a lower signal amplitude (20 mV). By monitoring and/or imaging the output signals it is possible to better characterize the defect region 60. (refer to Example 3)
Example 2 relates specifically to operating at the fundamental through-thickness resonance of the sample being inspected. However, as noted hereinabove higher harmonics of the fundamental through-thickness resonance can also be used for determining specific details relating to the defect region 60 such as depth of thinning, pitting etc. Further, using the systems 10 and 40 of the present invention other output signal characteristics, apart from signal amplitude, can be studied such as the change in shape of the characteristic curves, velocity dispersion, frequency variations and the like.
As a result, by using such methods it is possible to improve the accuracy of detecting specific types of defects including inclusions, material thinning, delamination, pitting etc.
Components and configuration similar to Example 2 with the following exceptions:
(a) Replace the low voltage function generator by a Matec gated amplifier to provide a dramatic increase in signal level.
(b) The excitation voltage applied to the source transducer 12 consists of a 600 V (p-p) toneburst as shown in FIG. 7A.
(a) 1.96 mm thick CFRP plate
(b) 16-ply quasi-isotropic plate
(c) two defects were present in the plate:
DEFECT 1: a square piece of thin Teflon tape (2.54 cm square by 125 μm thick) which had been integrated into the mid-plane of the laminate during lay up. The location of the tape was not evident by visual inspection of the plate as the tape was carefully made to replace the central fibers.
DEFECT 2: an impact damage on the external surface of the plate which produced an approximately 200 μm deep, spherical indent of approximately 5 mm in diameter.
(c) The toneburst frequency was matched to the sample's through-thickness resonance in a region where no defects were present, namely 723 kHz (see FIG. 4 waveform (b)). The sample plate could then be raster scanned between the transducers by a scanning system under computer control (not shown), with the amplitude of the received signal being recorded as a function of position.
In the region surrounding the defect 60, the signal amplitude was 1.8 V (p-p) (FIG. 7B waveform (a)) but dropped to the background noise level of approximately 80 mV (p-p) (FIG. 7B waveform (b)) at defects 1 and 2.
Scans of the two defects are shown in terms of received amplitude in the contour maps of FIG. 8A (Defect 1) and FIG. 8B (Defect 2), where their positions, shapes, and orientations are clearly visible.
Imaging example 3 illustrates the functionality of the system and method of the present invention when operating at the through-thickness resonance, but the same system can be used for samples of different material having thicknesses ranging from fractions of a millimetre and up without the need to custom design and refit the transducer arrangement. In addition, the toneburst frequency can be set at any frequency within the wideband operating range of the transducers (for example, from approximately 40 kHz to at least 2 MHz).
The contour graphs for FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate the relationship between detector signal amplitude variations as a function of object position; however, other output signal attributes or parameters can be used for imaging various aspects of the defect region 60 in the object 22. For example, feedback electrical connections can be included in systems 10 and 40 (between the amplifier output and the signal generator) to allow a feeding back of various aspects of the detected signal for control of the source transducer and its generating characteristics. Specifically, to monitor frequency variations in the output signal, as opposed to amplitude variations, the use of lock-in or phase-sensitive techniques can be used to track the resonant frequency of the sample as a function of position.
As illustrated by Examples 1-3, the system of the present invention enables improved flexibility in the inspection and characterization of materials in non-contact air coupled ultrasonic techniques.
Patent Citations
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Master navigator Nainoa Thompson was honored for Excellence in Exploration at the 2015 Peter Benchley Ocean Awards. He is one of a handful of indigenous navigators that can find islands in the open ocean without instruments, using techniques handed down through generations for over a thousand years.
My eyebrows need a good tweezing, my hair is a tangled mess of curls, and I haven't even thought about makeup. I've been wearing the same shorts for the past four days. I haven't been to the gym. Every morning I wake up in a big, overwhelming fog. And I haven't been reading. Sound like a case of depression? I understand if it does.


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This page discusses how to get the sample data for:
- Magento Community Edition (CE) 1.6, 1.7, or 1.8
- Magento Community Edition (CE) 1.9
Important: Magento CE 1.9 uses different sample data from the other versions in the preceding list. It's important to use the correct version of sample data with your version of CE.
Install Sample Data Before You Install Magento
Magento CE sample data must be installed before you install Magento CE.
Getting the Sample Data
The sample data is available from the following sources:
- Magento CE 1.6, 1.7, or 1.8: (.zip) (9.9 MB), .tar.gz (9.8 MB), and .tar.bz2 (9.7 MB) formats to download (the files contain exactly the same content inside and are provided in different formats just for your convenience).
- Magento CE 1.9: (.zip) (416.95 MB), (.tar.gz) (414.55 MB), (.tar.bz2) (317 MB)
Installing the Sample Data
Detailed instructions for installing sample data for Magento CE 1.6—1.9 can be found on the Magento Knowledge Base.


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Star Wars Kinect:
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1 dmysta30005th Mar 2012 10:24:00 AM from New York and New Jersey , Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
Didint know there was another thread alredy, delete this.
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The Message audio Bible is now available on Bible Gateway! Click to learn more.
the designation of a man named Shemaiah, a false prophet, who went with the captivity to Babylon. (Jeremiah 29:24,31,32) The name is no doubt formed from that either of Shemaiah's native place or the progenitor of his family which of the two is uncertain.


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PTGI: Liquidation Arbitrage Opportunity With Little Downside And +50% Potential Upside [View article]
I'm curious to hear everyone's take on the Harbinger announcement this week. I have to admit I'm not sure what to make of it. I believe this is either an incredible opportunity or some sort of trap. We can assume Phil Falcone sees significant upside from $4/share and so to now have the opportunity to buy shares at $3.25 suggests a tremendous opportunity. On the other hand, I'm not sure about his true motives and wonder, now that he has effective control, whether there is a way he could screw over other shareholders. I guess it's the unconventional way he acquired his position that is setting off my "Spidey senses".
In any case, I'd also like to thank the original poster for a great call. At this point, I have a mid-sized position and I'm debating whether to back up the truck or just cash out completely based on the Falcone news. It would be great to hear others' perspectives.Jan 12, 2014. 11:26 PM | 0 Likes |Link to Comment
IPO Preview: ZAIS Financial [View article]Feb 13, 2013. 02:41 AM | 0 Likes |Link to Comment
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Thanks for the writeup. I have a question on the current book value. You mentioned ZFC priced at $21.25 or 0.9x book value, which would imply book value to be $23.61 by my math (21.25 / 0.9 = 23.61). Yet when I read the S-11, book value as of 12/31/12 is listed at $21.61 (p30). Am I missing something? Could you let me know how you're deriving your book value?Feb 10, 2013. 04:20 AM | 0 Likes |Link to Comment


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text: In today's pain-free state, it doesn't begin to seem reasonable that I took a $2,200 ride in an ambulance to the hospital. But it was that bad. I'd diagnosed myself with something imminently terminal, and I wasn't going to wait around for the mister to show up and find me dead.


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The Lee Foundation Kit is made up of the Lee 100mm filter holder and a storage pouch. The holder takes both resin and glass filters (100x150mm) and attaches to the end of your lens via an adapter ring (not included, available separately). The holder can be constructed to take up to three filters (2mm thick) at any one time using the parts included in this kit (remember, though, the more filter guides added, the higher the likelihood of vignetting with wide-angle lenses). The Lee adapter rings are available in a variety of sizes and in Standard or Wide Angle (to reduce vignetting) to suit your lens. More
The Lee Foundation Kit Product Video
In order to attach the Lee Filter Holder to your lens, an adapter ring must be purchased. Adatper rings are available in a variety of thread sizes - please check the end of your lens to determine the size you need. The adaptor ring screws onto the camera's lens and, in turn, the filter holder clips onto the adaptor ring. The adaptor ring screws onto the lens with a fluid action, thanks to the sturdy construction and aluminium screw thread. Then simply slide your filter into one out of the three slots on the holder.
Adapter Rings
The adaptor ring screws onto the camera's lens and, in turn, the filter holder clips onto the adaptor ring. The adaptor ring screws onto the lens with a fluid action, thanks to the sturdy construction and aluminium screw thread.
(based on 48 reviews)
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Reviewed by 48 customers
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I would recommend this product
By Golfing ace
from Chorley
About Me Photo Enthusiast
Comments about LEE Filters Lee Foundation Kit:
Create special water effects
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
Was this review helpful? Yes / No
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Simply the best
By Rhiwderin_Ray
from Plymouth
Having tried other 100mm filter kits such as Cokin and Zomei, I was left less than impressed by fitting and retaining filters on them. I bought this kit which is solidly constructed and allows filters to be quickly fitted to the adapter plate. I found WEX to offer the best price as well, so I am very pleased.
Works as it should
By Peptrade
from Surrey
Great product shame it costs so much.
Well made and robust
By Photo Phill
from Hexham
Having previously used cheaper alternatives I took the plunge into the Lee Filters world and have not been disappointed.
(0 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
Poor packaging
By standonman
from Hertfordshire
The product is great but I was disappointed on opening the box to find that the tools provided were loose and had scratched the holder. Although this does not interfere with construction and use of the product which is excellent and also that Lee Filters had offered to exchange, I feel that for the price it is reasonable to expect that this should not occur.
Well designed
By Chris
from Wales
About Me Pro Photographer
It took a long time to invest in the Lee system, as the filters and holder stacks up the cost. It's still costly, but worth it. I was surprised to find the quality of production as high as it was and the design of the foundation kit is excellent: easy to slip off the filter ring on the lens, back and fore while moving around, and once in the hand it is easy to see where the money has been spent.
great but expensive
By Devil
from Aberdeen
good piece of kit, but is expensive and easy to scratch
My second holder
By Miker
from Cheshire
Great products from Lee but the holder can be accidentally released if spring is set too loose hence my purchase to replace the holder
The business
By Jim
from Suffolk
The location and use of the filter holder is simplicity itself, using the adaptor ring to suit your lens filter thread the location is positive and allows easy rotation to align the filters exactly where you want them to give results that are hopefully what you set out to achieve.
This product is brilliant
By TIG
from Sussex
Bought specifically to use with a wide angle adapter to avoid vignetting on my canon 10-22mm lens on a 7D Body. By far the easiest filter system I have used in terms of attachment to lens. Very solid construction and flexible upgrade path for use with multiple filters. Very pleased indeed.
Wex Photographic is a trading name of Warehouse Express Limited (registered as company no. 03366976).
Showroom: Unit B Frenbury Estate, Drayton High Road, Norwich, NR6 5DP. Registered Office: 13 Frensham Road, Sweet Briar Industrial Estate, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 2BT.
Technical specifications are for guidance only and cannot be guaranteed accurate. Errors and omissions excepted.
Warehouse Express Limited acts as a credit intermediary for a single lender, Clydesdale Financial Services Limited (trading as Barclays Partner Finance), a wholly owned subsidiary of Barclays Bank PLC. Clydesdale Financial Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Financial Services Register number: 311753) and is registered in England under company number 2901725. Its registered office is: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP. Credit is subject to application and status.
© 2015 Warehouse Express Limited


text:
Provided is a stamp having a housing defining an opening, and a printhead and ink cartridge arrangement housed within the housing. The printhead is displaceable between a protected position within the housing and a printing position in which the printhead is exposed via the opening. The stamp also includes control circuitry configured to control the printhead for printing preprogrammed indicia on a print media, the control circuitry including a memory for storing said indicia. The stamp further includes a mechanical arrangement with a governor for displacing the printhead from the protected position to the printing position, said governor regulating motion of the printhead during printing.
1. A stamp comprising:
a housing defining an opening;
a printhead and ink cartridge arrangement housed within the housing, said printhead displaceable between a protected position within the housing and a printing position in which the printhead is exposed via the opening;
a pair of rotating elements attached to the printhead, the pair of rotating elements for engaging with a slot of the housing to constrain displacement of the printhead to a linear motion across the opening;
control circuitry configured to control the printhead for printing preprogrammed indicia on a print media, the control circuitry including a memory for storing said indicia;
a mechanical arrangement for displacing the printhead from the protected position to the printing position, the mechanical arrangement regulating a motion of the printhead during printing; and
a spring attached at one end to the printhead, and attached at another end to the housing, the spring for returning the printhead from the printing position to the protected position.
2. The stamp of
3. The stamp of
4. The stamp of
5. The stamp of
6. The stamp of
This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/737,720 filed on Apr. 19, 2007, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 7,461,985, which is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/503,920 filed on Aug. 9, 2004, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 7,220,068, which is a national phase application (371) of PCT/AU03/00152 filed on Feb. 12, 2003, the entire contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a hand held stamp for printing on a stationary print medium.
Rubber stamps have been known for a long time and embody a variety of constructions including a fixed face or a movable face. In the latter the inked rubber surface is moved vertically into contact with the paper or media being stamped. The stamp is normally a fixed message and cannot be altered. In some cases, however, a series of numbers or letters can be provided on a closed loop, configured such that one of the series is presented for printing at any one time. A common example of such a stamp is an adjustable date stamp.
A number of fixed stamps are employed in office to apply short messages, frequently used messages to paperwork in a relatively permanent way (for example, "Faxed"; "Copy"; or "Confirmation" stamps). This creates considerable inventory as well as a limitation that any different message requires a new stamp to be created and, once created, the new stamp has only one functional purpose.
While rubber stamps are common in office environments there are other types of markers. Stencils are one such type and it is contemplated that the instant invention may be used in place of stencils.
Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention simultaneously with the present application:
The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated herein by cross-reference.
In accordance with the invention, there is provided a marking device for printing indicia on print media, the marking device including:
By using a compact, movable printhead, a digital stamp can print a single message or a plurality of separate messages and can be made so that the message(s) can be either pre-programmed or programmable. In the latter case, the programmability of the stamp may be done via a link to a computer system, via a separate module which can be attached to the stamp device, or by some other method within the knowledge of a person skilled in the art. Preferably, the printing means is an inkjet printhead.
Preferably, printing only occurs when said housing is in contact with print media.
Preferably, the housing has an aperture through which said printing means can print when said means for moving said printing means is operative with said housing in contact with said print media.
The means for moving the printing means may operate either manually or automatically.
Preferably, the printing mechanism includes ink supply means accommodated within said housing which are modular and may be replaceable.
Print media includes any material suitable for printing thereon such as paper products, fabric, plastics material, and metallic film or other film so treated as to allow fixing and/or absorption of the ink employed. In addition, the properties and characteristics of the ink may be adjusted to improve the fixing and/or absorption of the ink with a particular or range of print media.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with respect to the following figures in which:
Referring to
Fixed to the outside of the upper housing 10 is a slide 14 which is fixed to a printed circuit board 16 on the inside of the upper housing 10. In the lower housing 12, a printhead 30 is located at one end 32 of an opening 34 in the lower housing 12 and is supplied with ink from ink cartridge 20 via ink connector 19 and tubes 52. The printed circuit board (PCB) 16 has the necessary solid state memory 15 and processing capabilities to operate the printhead 30 and control other function within the stamp housing, such as detecting the presence or absence of an ink cartridge 20. Solid state memory includes, for example, ROM, PROM, EEPROM or low power consumption RAM such as CMOS, DRAM or SRAM devices.
Slide 14 is used to select what indicia are to be printed as stored in memory 15. The slide 14 may be a potentiometer whose resistance value is interpreted by circuitry on PCB 16 to select a print choice from memory 15, or may be a selector switch which chooses the required print by contacting conductor strips or fingers on PCB 16 which strips are coded for the desired location in memory 15. The selector switch may be a linear slide switch, as shown, or may be a rotary switch.
A battery (not shown) for operating the printhead 30 can be accommodated in or associated with the ink cartridge 20 which is supported on base moulding 22.
The printhead 30 moves across the opening 34 and in doing so prints the selected indicia 24, characteristic of the stamp, for example as illustrated in
In the embodiment shown in
A return spring 42 is fixed between a stationary part 47 of the lower housing 12 and axle 31 on printhead 30 and ensures that the printhead 30 and upper housing 10 will return to their initial starting positions as shown in
A tambour or shutter 55 covers the opening 34 when the stamp is not in use (see
A copper arm 56 extends from the lower housing 12 to cover the printhead 30 when in the "home position" as shown in
A sensor (not shown) for example, a CCD image sensor, may be provided on the side of the printhead 30 to detect the position of the printhead 30 with respect to the housing to coordinate printing by the printhead 30. Signals from the CCD image sensor are fed to circuitry on PCB (printed circuit board) 16 for processing. This circuitry controls the operations of the printhead 30. The printhead 30 is a type of electromechanically driven inkjet printhead and the circuitry provides the signals to the respective ink nozzles required to print the message stored in ROM or RAM on the PCB 16.
The ink cartridge 20 is replaceable so that the stamp can be reused once the ink supply has been exhausted. It is also contemplated that a stamp may be used once only and therefore that the ink cartridge 20 is not designed to be replaceable in some forms of the invention.
One embodiment of a replaceable cartridge 20 is shown in
Alternatively, provision for a battery pack may be provided elsewhere within the housing to fulfil these requirements or to supplement them.
The printhead 30 can be of a type of sufficient size and detail to print across and along the opening 34 but preferably involves an inkjet printhead of a type such as disclosed in the inventor's earlier applications as listed below in the Appendix.
The stamp according to the invention may be operated mechanically, as described above, or may be operated fully electrically, in which case the upper housing need not be made moveable with respect to the base housing but the two housings could be of a fixed configuration.
Other ways of moving the printhead 30 are also contemplated, including using a DC or an AC motor under internal power or through an external power connection. Regulation of the motion of the printhead 30 may be provided by a mechanical governor or by the control circuitry for the motor such as by using a stepper motor or a synchronous AC motor.
As an alternative to the CCD image sensor, positioning of the printhead 30 may be sensed by an optical quadrature wheel.
If the stamp is electrically powered, the power may be provided internally either from a separate battery pack, from a battery integral with the ink cartridge, from a generator or dynamo operated when the upper housing is moved downwardly, as described above, or by an external wired connection, for example a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection (see
Various embodiments of the stamp are contemplated and four further embodiments thereof are shown in
In the embodiment shown in
As shown in
The stamp may be used to replace the prior art rubber stamps used in office environments but may also be used in a variety of other situations, for example, to print a barcode and/or price on a tag or label with the tag or label fixed to the product or separate therefrom. In the latter case, an embodiment such as described with respect to
The foregoing description has been limited to specific embodiments of this invention. It will be apparent, however, that variations and modifications may be made to the invention, with the attainment of some or all of the advantages of the invention. For example, it will be appreciated that the invention may be embodied in hardware and/or software in a suitably programmed device, both aspects of which are readily accomplished by those of ordinary skill in the respective arts. Therefore, it is the object of the appended claims to cover all such variations and modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
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Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said, "after careful review we have determined that it is in the best interests of our member institutions, student-athletes and fans to remain a 12-team conference. While we have great respect for all of the institutions that have contacted us, and certain expansion proposals were financially attractive, we have a strong conference structure and culture of equality that we are committed to preserve. With new landmark TV agreements and plans to launch our innovative television networks, we are going to focus solely on these great assets, our strong heritage and the bright future in front of us."


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Escamilla has been living in an air-conditioned apartment that she can no longer afford. But when the lease ends in two weeks, she has to move -- a day she dreads because it means she'll have no escape from the searing temperatures.
"This is what I have to look forward to," she said. There will be no air conditioning and an unbearable number of mosquitoes at night.
With much of the nation in the grip of a broiling heat wave, few people are hit as hard as the poor, and few places are poorer than the ramshackle communities along the Texas-Mexico border known as "colonias."
The misery was widespread Monday, with the worst conditions blanketing a broad band from Texas to Minnesota and Dakotas. Seventeen states issued heat watches, warnings or advisories. And the heat index easily surpassed 100 degrees in many places: 126 in Newton, Iowa; 120 in Mitchell, S.D.; and 119 in Madison, Minn.
The high temperatures were nearly certain to persist for the entire week. Forecasters expected the extreme discomfort to spread soon to the East Coast.
In towns large and small, the withering heat was cruelest to those who could not afford air conditioning.
Built at the edge of the desert, the colonias often lack electricity and running water.
People bought the land before zoning regulations were adopted, hoping that utility services would follow.
To finance her house, Escamilla, who is 62, had to take out a loan against her funeral and buy building materials recycled from demolition sites in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso.
Norma Salazar, who shares a tiny trailer home with her husband and six children in Horizon City, on the outskirts of El Paso, has to rely on an evaporative cooler, a cheap alternative to air conditioning that sucks the hot, dry desert air through a mesh of water-soaked fibers.
But it only cools half of the trailer, and when the heat climbs above 100, not even that.
"When it gets really hot, we turn on the fans and stay inside," Salazar said.
Going to a library or a mall to keep cool is not an option because the car doesn't have air conditioning.
"So getting there is even worse than just staying inside, not moving," she added.


text:
Department of Minerals and Energy Briefing to NCOP : Finance 07 August 2008 Minerals and Petroleum Resources Amendment Bill [ B10D-2007]. Team 1. Ms N Zikalala: Deputy Director- General: Mineral Policy and Promotion 2. Ms L Mekwe: Chief Director: Mineral and Mining Policy 3. Ms Ntombi Mnyikiso: State Law Advisor Status of the Bill • PPC on Minerals and Energy adopted the Bill [ B10B-2007] on the 20th June 2007 • On the 22nd July 2007 the Bill was presented to the NCOP • NCOP referred the Bill back to the PPC to allow DEAT & LRC to make their submission • MPRDA has been amended to reflect the agreement entered and concluded by both Ministers • The Bill [B10D-2007] has been further adopted by the PPC on 24 June 2008 • The National Assembly adopted the said Bill on the 26 June 2008 Rationale for the Amendment •Technical errors in the MPRDA •Ambiguities in certain definitions and the need to define certain concepts •Separation of powers (Ministry of DME and the Finance Ministry) Rationale for the Amendment •The need to align the MPRDA with environmental principles in terms of NEMA (National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act 107 of 1998) •The need to rectify certain omissions of the existing old order rights •Problems with appeal and review of administrative decisions taken in terms of the MPRDA Amendment of section 1 • Introduced the definition of Beneficiation, Council for Geoscience, environmental authorisation, effective date •Substituted the definition of community, Mining Titles Office Amendment of Sections 16, 22, 27, 74, 76,79 and 83 the order of processing an application for a prospecting right, mining right, mining permit, reconnaissance permit, exploration right, production right or technical co-operation permit while there is an appeal pending in respect of the same mineral and land Amendment of Sections 17 and 23 If the application relates to land occupied by a community, the Minister may impose such conditions as are necessary to promote the rights and interests of the community, including conditions requiring the participation of the community Amendment of section 18,19,21,30 and 43 Empowered Council for Geoscience to be the custodian of all progress reports and data of prospecting operations gathered by the holder of a prospecting right. Amendment of sections 16,18,19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 32, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 47, 71, 74, 79, 80, 84, 93, 102, and 106 • to align the MPRDA with environmental principles in terms of the NEMA Amendment of section 40 • to enable the Regional Mining Development and Environmental Committee to make recommendations to the Minister on environmental issues. Amendment of sections 5,11,17,19,23,25,35,78,80, 82, 84,and 86 •harmonises the MPRDA with the Mining Titles Registration Act, 1967(Act 16 of 1967) as amended and compels holders of rights granted in terms of the MPRDA to register their rights (section 5). Amendment to Section 59(20)(i) •Provision for the representation of designated agency in the Board Amendments (cont.) •Change in the composition of the Mineral and Petroleum Board from the minimum of 14 members to the minimum of 17 members and from the maximum of 18 to the maximum of 20 members. Schedule II of the Transitional Chapter in the Act is amended • •to rectify certain omissions of existing old order rights, such as mynpachten, tributing agreements, old order mining rights, OP26 mining lease, OP26 sublease, OP26 right; and to rectify certain technical errors in the MPRDA. Amendment of Item 7 Insertion of 3A-3B 3A. If the applicant does not comply with the requirements of the sub-item (2) and (3), the Regional Manager must in writing request the applicant to comply within 60 days of such request. 3B. If the applicant does not comply with subitem 3A, the Minister must refuse to convert the right and must notify the applicant in writing of the decision within 30 days with reasons. Amendment of Item 7 Insertion of 3C 3C. If the application relates to land occupied by the community, the Minister may impose such conditions as are necessary to promote the rights and interests of the community, including conditions requiring the participation of the community. Amendment of Item 9 2. The holder, user or acquirer of any reservation, permission or right to use the surface of land contemplated in subitem (1) must register such reservation, permission or right in the [Mining Titles Office] Mineral and Petroleum Titles Registration Office within [one] six years from the date on which this Act took effect and if such holder, user or occupier fails to register such reservation, permission or right, the reservation, permission or right shall cease to exist.". Amendment of Item 12 addition 5 5. Despite the provisions of the Prescription Act, 1969 (Act No. 68 of 1969), prescription in respect of a claim for compensation shall only commence to run— (a) when the claimant has been informed in writing by the Director -General that he or she has denied the validity of the claim and the claimant has not appealed against such denial in terms of section 96; or (b) where a claimant decides to appeal the denial of the Director- General in terms of section 96, when the claimant has been informed in writing by the Minister of the confirmation of the said denial; or Amendment of Item 12 addition 5 5. Despite the provisions of the Prescription Act, 1969 (Act No. 68 of 1969), prescription in respect of a claim for compensation shall only commence to run— (c) 180 days after the claimant has been informed in writing that the Director- General has refused a determination and payment of compensation". Chairperson's Amendment at the National Assembly Sec 107: The principal Act as amended by this Act is amended with effect from a date 18 months after the date on which the provisions relating to prospecting mining exploration and production and related activities come into operation in terms of section 14(2) of the National Environmental Management Amendment Act, 2007, in order to revert the powers of the Minister, insofar as the issuing of environmental authorisations, the submissions of application for such authorisation and the submission of environmental reports are concerned to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism." Propose Amendments to B10D Bill 2007 Refer to word document. Conclusion Amendment will bring about • technical improvement to the MPRDA • Efficient and effective administration of the state's mineral resources • Enhancement of cooperative governance between organs of state ( Minister of DME and the Regional Mining Development and Environmental Committee) • Confirmation of one environmental system • Harmonisation of the MPRDA with other legislation ( NEMA, Mining Titles Registration Act No16 of 1967 (as amended), Diamond Amendment Act No. 30 of 2005, and the Mine Health and Safety Act No. 29 of 1996) Thank You
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Female , 56-60
I am me and you are you, if you don't bother me I will not bother you! I am a wife, a friend and a good listener. I love to have a good time, see the world and express myself. I love me some huggs and kisses!
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Back Then I can remember when my friends and i would go out we would head down the ole interstate looking for male truck drivers! We would get crazy and play truth or dare but i think it was more dare then trut… [more]


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