Abstract: An acoustic transducer, is provided that comprises a piezo-electric layer that is arranged between a first electrode and a second electrode and that has a pair of mutually opposite main surfaces. At least one of the first electrode and the second electrode is mechanically decoupled from the main surfaces of the piezo-electric layer. Therewith the acoustic transducer can be driven at substantially higher frequencies. The improved acoustic transducer is particularly suitable for acoustic microscopy applications.

Abstract: An embedding component is described which embeds information in a scanned document. The embedding component includes a document acquisition component, which acquires a scanned document from an associated scanning device. An information acquisition component acquires variable information associated with the scanned document. An encoding component generates a machine-readable representation of the variable information. A pattern insertion component uses the machine-readable representation to insert at least one machine readable pattern in the scanned document, to generate a modified document. An output component outputs the modified document to an associated output device, such that when the modified document is rendered on print media, the machine-readable pattern is not noticeable to the unaided eye of a person. A processor implements the document acquisition component, information acquisition component, encoding component, pattern insertion component, and output component.