A method is disclosed for determining the position of an RFID transponder. Separate signals of at least two electromagnetic alternating fields are emitted from at least two antenna to one RFID transponder. The antenna are spaced at a distance from each other so that the two electromagnetic alternating fields are emitted at a distance from one another. The emitted electromagnetic alternating fields to the one RFID transponder are reflected so that the reflected electromagnetic alternating fields are sent back to the antenna. The transit times of the electromagnetic alternating fields are determined from emission to receiving back at the antenna. The distances between the antenna and the RFID transponder are determined, and the position of the RFID transponder from the at least two distances is determined relative to the at least two antenna.

A fill level measurement device for determining a topology of a filling material surface in a container including an antenna apparatus, a receiver and control circuitry. An emission angle of the antenna apparatus and a spatial position of the antenna apparatus relative to the filling material surface is settable by the control circuitry. A resultant emission direction of the fill level measurement device is changeable by the control circuitry by controlling a position of the antenna apparatus and by controlling an emission and/or receiving angle of the antenna apparatus.

A system for efficient transportation and display of plants or flowers has been designed that contains two or more trays and a container. The first tray and alternative tray house the plants or flowers. The second tray, in which the first tray and alternative tray nest, allows for easy movement of the first tray, the alternative tray and the supply of water or nutrients. The container is designed to serve two functions, shipping and displaying.

The present invention relates to a composition comprising a neonicotinoid-based compound having a high degree of insecticidal activity, a surfactant, and an organic solvent, which is capable of demonstrating stable effects and in which the types and amounts of surfactant and organic solvent are adjusted so as to prevent chemical damage in numerous types of trees. In addition, the present invention relates to a method for preventing damage to trees by harmful insects of numerous types of trees by injecting this composition into a tree trunk and allowing the chemical to circulate within the tree body.

A plant cultivation apparatus including: a guide rail disposed above a cultivation bed and extending along the length direction of the cultivation bed; a movable unit configured to move along the guide rail; an arm unit having a first end that is coupled to the movable unit, and a second end that is telescopically extendable from the movable unit toward the cultivation bed; and a UV radiation unit coupled to the second end of the arm unit and configured to irradiate the cultivation bed with a set amount of UV light.

The present invention relates to substituted cellulose acetates and methods of use thereof. One embodiment of the present invention provides a coating having a substituted cellulose acetate having a polar substituent that has an oxygen atom covalently bonded to a nonmetal selected from the group of sulfur, phosphorus, and boron; wherein the nonmetal is present in at least about 0.01% by weight of the substituted cellulose acetate.

The present invention provides spray devices for plumbing fixture fittings and unitarily formed components thereof having complex flow paths, made of multiple materials, and/or that are movable.

In a piezoelectric ejector assembly, a piezoelectric actuator is attached to an ejector mechanism, while a drive signal generator and a controller are coupled to the actuator. The drive signal generator is configured to generate a drive signal for driving the actuator to oscillate the ejector assembly. The controller is configured to control the drive signal generator to drive the actuator at a resonant frequency of the ejector assembly, and an auto-tuning circuit is provided to define the optimum drive signal frequency.

Quartet's formidable live performance at Zellerbach was nonetheless upstaged by the work of its collaborators. That's probably how the members wanted it. Without disrespecting the formidable prowess of the Kronos Quartet, the contemporary string quartet was upstaged in its live performance last Thursday at Zellerbach Hall by a guy at a piano and the filmed performance of an Inuk throat singer and a pipa player. The ambitious two-part program An Evening With Kronos Quartet began with celebrated minimalist composer and keyboard player Terry Riley performing a solo piano set.…

(P.S.: No birds were harmed in the making of this album.) Vocalist and songwriter Marica Petrey is too young to have experienced mind-blowing Bay Area art-rock bands like Idiot Flesh and Sleepytime Gorrila Museum, but she's working in a grand tradition that turns concerts into gothic, theatrical extravaganzas. Far more than a recording, her new album Shapeshifter by her band Girl Swallows Nightingale features an impressive cast of collaborators who help her summon weird and wondrous sights, sounds, textures, and even tastes. …

A method of forming a material for reversible hydrogen storage within a storage tank includes charging a mixture of a metal amide and a metal hydride to the storage tank, and chemically reacting the mixture at a reaction condition within the storage tank to form a thermally conducting composite material situated in the storage tank and for reversibly storing hydrogen. The composite material includes a three-dimensional and interconnected framework including a conductive metal. A method for reversibly storing hydrogen includes providing a storage tank and in situ chemically forming a composite material by charging a mixture of a metal amide and a metal hydride to the storage tank and chemically reacting the mixture at a reaction condition to form a thermally conducting composite material including a metal hydride and a substantially unreactive elemental metal framework. Hydrogen is absorbed into the composite material and is desorbed from the composite material.

A tool for the removal of connectors from pipes is disclosed that, in one embodiment, enables the removal of connectors from large pipes and in another embodiment from a size range of pipes. Movable and stationary gripping and pushing elements are affixed to handles to enable a pipe to be firmly gripped between a movable gripping jaw and a stationary gripping jaw and the connector prevented from movement by the movable pusher jaw and the stationary pusher jaw. The handles can compress around a pivot point or slide on a bar. In another embodiment the movable and stationary gripping and pushing elements are removable from the body of the tool.

An amino-containing silica particle is provided. The amino-containing silica particle is obtained by hydrolysis-condensation reaction of an alkoxy silane represented by formula (I), an alkoxy silane represented by formula (II) and a catalyst: Si(OR1)4 formula (I) (NH2—Y)m—Si(OR2)4-m formula (II) wherein in formula (I), R1 is a C1-C10 alkyl group, and in formula (II), Y is a C1-C10 alkyl group or a C2-C10 alkenyl group, R2 is a C1-C10 alkyl group, and m is an integer of 1 to 3.

Provided are a propylene homopolymer composition for a capacitor film, which can provide a film with excellent high-temperature voltage resistance and excellent thin-film stretchability, a method for producing the same, and a capacitor film. The propylene homopolymer composition for a capacitor film contains 50 to 99% by mass of a propylene homopolymer (A1) having predetermined characteristics and 1 to 50% by mass of a propylene homopolymer (B1) having predetermined characteristics, and has (i) a melt flow rate (MFR) of 1.0 to 10.0 g/10 min and (ii) a chlorine content of 2 ppm by mass or less.

The invention relates to a method for obtaining a magnesium fluoride (MgF2) sol solution, comprising the steps of providing a magnesium alkoxide precursor in a non-aqueous solvent and adding 1.85 to 2.05 molar equivalents of non-aqueous hydrofluoric acid to said magnesium precursor, characterized in that the reaction proceeds in the presence of carbon dioxide. The invention further relates to sol solutions, method of applying the sol solutions of the invention to surfaces as a coating, and to antireflective coatings obtained thereby.

Method for the manufacture of a formulation comprising the steps of: i) providing a metal in liquid form; ii) spraying the metal or metal alloy of step i) through a stream of gas under pressure to obtain substantially spherical solid metal particles; iii) mixing the solid metal particles of step ii) and at least a fluoropolymer to obtain said formulation; iv) optionally applying the formulation of step iii) to a surface to obtain a coating, or optionally shaping said formulation to obtain a shaped material. The present invention further relates to a formulation, a coating or a shaped material, preferably obtained through the method described.

A polyurethane adhesive is formulated using a modified polyurethane copolymer, a curing agent and an antistatic agent, and the modified polyurethane copolymer is grafted a polysiloxane compound to a polyurethane polymer and made by esterifying a polyol, a hydroxyl-containing polysiloxane compound, a multi-functional isocyanate compound and a fatty acid ester; since the polyurethane adhesive is not yellowish and easy to dry as well as has excellent fabricability, air bleeding performance and transparency, when attached to surfaces of an optical or electronic device, the protective film leaves no residue and protects the surface of the device keeping no flaws.

An aromatic printed object containing a film-like substrate and a printing section formed on the film-like substrate using a perfume microcapsule-containing toner. The aromatic printed object is an adhesive sheet wherein the printing section is adherend surface. A protective layer is pressed with the adherend surface. A fragrance diverges by peeling off the protective layer of the film-like substrates.

This invention relates to thermal spray coatings and processes onto non-smooth surfaces. The coating and processes can coat non-smooth surfaces without substantial degradation of the underlying surface texture or profile of the non-smooth surfaces so as to sufficiently preserve the underlying surface texture or profile. The ability for coating fractional coverage to maintain the surface profile while maintaining wear resistance is unprecedented by conventional thermal spray processes

A coated substrate is provided that can include a substrate defining a surface, and an abradable coating on the surface of the substrate. The abradable coating can comprise La2-xAxMo2-y-y' WyBy'O9-δ forming a crystalline structure, where A comprises Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Sc, Y, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Th, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Cu, Bi, Cd, Zn, Ag, Au, Pt, Ir, Rh, Ru, Pd, or combinations thereof; 0

The present invention provides an artificial leather including an entangled fiber mass of ultrafine fibers having a monofilament fineness of 0.01 dtex or more and 0.50 dtex or less and a polymeric elastomer; wherein at least one surface is napped; the cross-sectional profile curve of the napped surface has an arithmetic mean height Pa of 26 μm or more and 100 μm or less; the arithmetic mean height Pa of the cross-sectional profile curve of the opposite surface is 20% or more and 80% or less of the cross-sectional roughness Pa of the napped side; the existence frequency of asperity peaks found in the cross-sectional profile curve of the napped surface is 1.8 or more and 20 or less per 1.0 mm; and a woven or knitted fabric lamination is present near the opposite surface at a depth position of 10% or more and 50% or less.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing an ultrafine fiber-containing sheet with suppressed yellowing. Another object of the present invention is to provide an efficient method for eliminating an introduced substituent, and a composite sheet comprising an organic layer and/or an inorganic layer laminated on the obtained sheet. The present invention provides a method for producing an ultrafine fiber-containing sheet, comprising (a) introducing a substituent having electrostatic and/or steric functionality to a fiber raw material to obtain substituent-introduced fiber; (b) machine-processing the substituent-introduced fiber obtained in the step (a) to obtain substituent-introduced ultrafine fiber; (c) preparing a sheet from the substituent-introduced ultrafine fiber obtained in the step (b); and (d) eliminating at least a portion of introduced substituents from the sheet obtained in the step (c). In a preferred aspect, the substituent having electrostatic and/or steric functionality is a phosphoric acid-derived group, and the method may further comprise, after the step (a) and before the step (c), the step of (e) changing the degree of neutralization of the substituent-introduced fiber or the substituent-introduced ultrafine fiber.

A lightweight construction element (1) comprises at least one lightweight panel (2) and a layer of insulating material (4) associated with the lightweight panel (2), wherein the at least one lightweight panel (2) comprises boards (6), which, on at least one of the main surfaces (8) thereof, have a group of grooves (9) running parallel and which boards (6) are arranged in at least one layer (5) and are connected to one another via adhesive bonds. The layer of insulating material (4) comprises wood chips (19), which are removed from starting boards during the manufacture of boards (6) for the lightweight panels (2). These lightweight construction elements have good load and thermal insulation properties. The material used originates from one source and achieves a large overall volume after processing.

The invention provides a high strength stone plastic floor and manufacturing method thereof. The stone plastic floor comprises a PVC substrate and a surface layer on a surface of the PVC substrate. Compositions of PVC substrate comprise: PVC powder from 20 to 35 weight percent, calcium carbonate from 60 to 70 weight percent, stabilizer from 1 to 3 weight percent, flexibilizer from 1 to 3 weight percent, lubricants from 0.4 to 1 weight percent, and colorant from 0.4 to 1 weight percent. The high strength stone plastic floor does not contain plasticizer so environmental risks are completely avoided. The contractility is good. The high strength stone plastic floor is resistant to high temperature and direct sunlight. Compared with conventional stone plastic floor, lifespan of the present invention is prolonged. The PVC substrate of the floor can be combined with different layers and can integrate different advantages of other floors.

A cover glass includes a glass substrate and an antireflection film disposed on at least one of main surfaces of the glass substrate, and the at least one of main surfaces of the glass substrate has one or more cracks formed therein, the crack(s) each having a length of 5 μm or less, and a difference Δa* in a* value between any two points within a surface of the cover glass on the side where the antireflection film has been disposed and a difference Δb* in b* value between any two points within the surface of the cover glass on the side where the antireflection film has been disposed satisfy the following expression: √{(Δa*)2+(Δb*)2}≦4.

The magnetic tape has a nonmagnetic layer containing nonmagnetic powder and binder on a nonmagnetic support and a magnetic layer containing ferromagnetic powder and binder on the nonmagnetic layer, wherein a fatty acid ester is contained in at least the magnetic layer, the ferromagnetic powder is ferromagnetic hexagonal ferrite powder, the ferromagnetic hexagonal ferrite powder has a crystallite volume as determined by X-ray diffraction analysis ranges from 1,000 nm3 to 2,400 nm3, and a ratio of the crystallite size Dx(107) obtained from a diffraction peak of a (107) plane to a particle size in a direction of an easy axis of magnetization DTEM as determined by observation with a transmission electron microscope, Dx(107)/DTEM, is greater than or equal to 1.1, and ΔSFD in a longitudinal direction of the magnetic tape as calculated with Equation 1: ΔSFD=SFD25° C.−SFD−190° C., ranges from 0.50 to 1.60.

The present invention relates to an electrode having a multilayer nanomesh structure using single-crystalline copper and a method for manufacturing same, the electrode comprising: a substrate; a single-crystalline copper electrode layer formed on the substrate and having a hive-shaped pattern with a nano-sized line width; and a metal oxide layer formed on the single-crystalline copper electrode layer, this providing an electrode having excellent optical transmittance, low electrical sheet resistance, and excellent mechanical stability. The present invention is technically characterized by an electrode having a multilayer nanomesh structure using single-crystalline copper, the electrode comprising: a substrate; a single-crystalline copper electrode layer formed on the substrate and having a hive-shaped pattern with a nano-sized line width; and a metal oxide layer formed on the single-crystalline copper electrode layer.

A sintered magnet body (RaT1bMcBd) coated with a powder mixture of an intermetallic compound (R1iM1j, R1xT2yM1z, R1iM1jHk), alloy (M1dM2e) or metal (M1) powder and a rare earth (R2) oxide is diffusion treated. The R2 oxide is partially reduced during the diffusion treatment, so a significant amount of R2 can be introduced near interfaces of primary phase grains within the magnet through the passages in the form of grain boundaries. The coercive force is increased while minimizing a decline of remanence.

Game systems and methods of use thereof. Such a game system includes a pair of game boards each having a platform that defines an inclined surface, a pair of stakes each configured to protrude from one of the surfaces of the game boards, and at least two sets of game pieces, each game piece having two weighted tossable objects tethered to one another by a connecting member, each set of game pieces being readily identifiable from the other. A game may be played by tossing the game pieces towards the surfaces of the platforms and calculating a score based on the interaction between the game pieces and the stakes of the game boards and their surfaces, wherein the game ends when a predetermined total score is reached.

The present invention board relates to a game system using a portable terminals and a game board therefor. According to the present invention, there is provided a board game system, including: one or more pieces configured to correspond to respective game players; a game board configured to display a path through which the pieces move, and to detect a changed location of each of the pieces on the path; and one or more personal portable terminals each configured to check the changed location of the piece detected by the game board while communicating with the game board, and to output information about operations, which will be performed by each of the game players, or options, which can be selected by each of the game players based on a location of one of the pieces corresponding to each of the game players.

The present invention provides shuffled playing cards which eliminate the need for a game host to shuffle cards before games by taking a lot of time as well as eliminate the possibility of cheating. A shuffled playing cards (1) obtained by shuffling a predetermined number of decks of playing cards (12) using a shuffling machine is packaged as an individual pack. The shuffled playing cards (1) is individually packaged and sealed with an adhesive label (13). A bar code (13a) which represents a unique shuffled card ID has been printed on the adhesive label (13). The shuffled card ID is registered in a database by being associated with information which allows identification of a shuffling machine used to shuffle the playing card set.

A kit and a method of playing a game with a kit having: (a) a plurality of stackable objects including one or more images thereon; (b) one or more target selectors including one or more images thereon which correspond to the one or more images of the plurality of stackable objects; and (c) one or more aiming objects.

The present invention mainly provides a novel microchannel structure comprising a plurality of first fluid-guiding channels, a plurality of micro fluid-guiding channels and a plurality of second fluid-guiding channels. Particularly, the first fluid-guiding channel has an arc-shaped fluid-guiding end corner communicating with a first channel opening of the micro fluid-guiding channel, and the second fluid-guiding channel has an arc-shaped fluid-guiding start corner communicating with a second channel opening of the micro fluid-guiding channel. Therefore, when a refrigerant fluid flows in the heat sink, the flow speed of the refrigerant fluid would be changed because the cross sectional area of an U-shaped fluid-guiding channel constructed by the arc-shaped fluid-guiding end corner, the micro fluid-guiding channel and the arc-shaped fluid-guiding start corner varies along the flow direction of the refrigerant fluid, such that the heat dissipating ability of the heat sink is enhanced without increasing the power of circulation pump.

A motor interface assembly configured to be operably coupled to a blower assembly, wherein the motor interface assembly is configured to measure a discharge air temperature, determine a difference between the discharge air temperature and a predetermined temperature, and operate the blower assembly based in part on the difference between the discharge air temperature and a predetermined temperature.

A heat sink adapted to dissipate heat from a heat source includes a heat dissipating unit that includes at least one deformation portion protruding toward the heat source, and a reflective surface formed on the deformation portion and facing the heat source for reflecting radiant heat from the heat source. A case including the heat sink is also disclosed.

Generally discussed herein are devices and methods for thermal management of a component. An apparatus can include a phase change material substantially at a phase transition temperature of the phase change material, a component near, on, or at least partially in the phase change material, and a heat removal device to transfer heat energy away from the phase change material and maintain the phase change material substantially at the phase transition temperature.

Provided are a heat recovery apparatus based on a fuel cell and an operating method thereof. In the fuel cell-based heat recovery apparatus and the operating method thereof, hot water and steam may be generated by using heat generated while a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) operates to supply the generated hot water or steam to buildings, thereby reducing a rate of operation in cooling/heating equipment using electricity so as to reduce air-conditioning costs.

A swing structure of a heat dissipating device includes an elongated blade and a magnetic actuation disposed on the blade. The blade has a loading segment and a heat dissipating segment, two opposite end portions of the loading segment are respectively defined as a mounting end portion and a connecting end portion, and two opposite end portions of the heat dissipating segment are respectively defined as a positioning end portion and a free end portion. The connecting end portion is connected to the positioning end portion. A thickness of the loading segment is greater than that of the heat dissipating segment. When the magnetic actuation is driven by a magnetic field to swing the blade, a swing angle of the free end portion of the heat dissipating segment is greater than that of the connecting end portion of the loading segment.

A heat sink includes a cooling module and an installing assembly for fixing the heat sink on a housing. The installing assembly includes a case, a handle rotatablely fixed in the case and a support including a fixing board with blocks and two brackets. The handle is actively connected with the support. The fixing board is fixed on a bottom plate of the case. The handle includes two bulges. The brackets include two slide openings for receiving the bulges. When the heat sink is installed, the handle is rotated to be vertical, the bulges are out of the slide openings, and the blocks are stuck on the housing. When the heat sink is dismantled, the handle is rotated to be horizontal and the bulges are stuck into the slide openings to resist the brackets, thereof the fixing board being uplifted and the blocks being pushed away from the housing.

A switch-scanning circuit includes a chip and switching units. The chip includes pins having an output operation mode and an input operation mode, and a processing unit. The processing unit sets one of the pins as an input pin and the rest of the pins as output pins sequentially according to a clock signal, uses a scan signal to provide different voltages to the output pins, and then determines states of button switches according to a voltage of the input pin. The switching unit includes a power source resistance, switches and resistors. A first terminal and a second terminal of the power source resistance are electrically connected to a power source and a first pin respectively. The resistors have terminals electrically connected the first pin and terminals of the switches. The other terminals of the switches are connected to the pins other than the first pin.

A level shifter circuit includes a level shifting unit configured to receive signals that may vary in a first range via a positive input terminal and a negative input terminal, respectively and to output signals that may vary in a second range to a positive output terminal and a negative output terminal, respectively, where the second range is larger than the first range, a first pre-charging unit configured to pre-charge the positive output terminal to a predetermined level when a clock is in a first level, and a second pre-charging unit configured to pre-charge the negative output terminal to the predetermined level when the clock is in the first level.

A method for adaptively regulating a coding mode and a digital correction circuit thereof are provided. The method is for a successive-approximation-register analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC). In the method, whether to regulate a binary weight corresponding to each of digital bits is determined according to the number of completed comparison cycles to provide a first coding sequence. The first coding sequence is directly compensated according to uncompleted comparison cycles to provide a correct digital output code.

A converter includes: a terminal that receives code-modulated power that has been generated with a modulation code; and a circuit that intermittently converts the code-modulated power with a conversion code based on the modulation code. The code-modulated power is alternating-current power.

An electronic apparatus and a method for detecting status of keys thereof are provided. The electronic apparatus comprises a key module, a key control circuit, a conversion circuit with calibration mechanism and a processor. The key control circuit detects whether any of keys in the key module is pressed. If the detection result is affirmative, the press status of each of the keys is scanned by the key control circuit to obtain a coarse scan result. The conversion circuit with calibration mechanism is configured to perform the other system function of the electronic apparatus. When the processor determines that at least one of the keys is not pressed according the coarse scan result, the conversion circuit with calibration mechanism is switched to assist a re-scan operation of the press status of the at least one of the keys.

An analog to digital converter includes an error integration circuit configured to receive an input charge from a detector and to integrate a difference between the input charge and one or more feedback charge pulses to create an error voltage. A quantizer is in operable communication with the error integration circuit and is responsive to the created error voltage. An accumulator having a mantissa component and a radix component is in operable communication with the quantizer. A charge feedback device in operable communication with the quantizer and the radix component of the accumulator. The charge feedback device is configured to generate the one or more feedback charge pulses proportional to the radix component of the accumulator and an output of the quantizer. Digital focal plane read out integrated circuits including the analog to digital converter are also disclosed.

For continuous-time multi-stage noise shaping analog to digital converters (CT MASH ADCs), quantization noise cancellation often requires estimation of transfer functions, e.g., a noise transfer function of the front end modulator. To estimate the noise transfer function, a dither signal can be injected in the front end modulator. However, it is not trivial how the dither signal can be injected, since the dither signal can potentially leak to the back end modulator and cause overall noise degradation. To address some of these issues, the dither signal is injected post the flash analog to digital converter (ADC) of the front end modulator. Furthermore, dummy comparator structures can be used to synchronize the dither with the quantization noise of the targeted flash ADC.

The present invention relates to a process for the wet production of granules from powdered materials, in particular raw materials for the production of glass. The process of the invention comprises the following successive steps: (i) the powdered materials to be granulated are divided into at least two portions: a first portion and a second portion; (ii) a binder liquid is added to the first portion of powdered materials; (iii) the first mixture thus obtained is agglomerated in the granulator in order to obtain granules (a); (iv) the second portion of powdered materials is added to the granulator; and (v) the new mixture obtained is agglomerated in the granulator in order to obtain granules (b). This sequenced granulation process allows granules to be obtained that have a degree of moisture that assures their stability and their ease of handling eliminating the drying step.

Method for the production of a coarse-grained ammonium sulphate product by crystallization and installation for carrying out the method from an ammonium sulphate solution in a DTB type crystallizer having an internal suspension circuit and a clarifying zone, from which a clarified partial flow of solution is constantly drawn off into an external circuit, is heated in a heat exchanger to dissolve the solids contained therein and is guided back as a clear solution into the lower region of the crystallizer. A fine crystal suspension flow is drawn off from the clarifying zone as a further partial flow and guided back into the internal circuit of the crystallization stage without any previous dissolution of the solid proportion contained therein.

A method of producing a titanium dioxide pigment is provided. Also provided is a method of improving the processability of titanium dioxide particles without adversely affecting the rheological properties of the titanium dioxide particles.

Method and apparatus for limiting absorption of food products in specific parts of the digestive system is presented. A gastrointestinal implant device is anchored in the pyloric portion of the gastrointestinal system and extends beyond the ligament of Treitz. All food exiting the stomach is funneled through the device. The gastrointestinal device includes an anchor for anchoring the device in the pyloric portion and a flexible sleeve that extents into the duodenum. The anchor is collapsible for endoscopic delivery and removal.