A confidential information bearing article comprising a cover sheet adhered to a base sheet is provided which is capable of providing hidden confidential information to a recipient. Through the use of camouflage, obscuring, and opacifying and reflectivity increasing coatings, the paper used for the mailer becomes effectively opaque, and information printed on the inside of the article is substantially unreadable from the outside. The article includes an adhesive for securing the base sheet and cover sheet and perforations along the edges to assist the recipient in opening the article.

This invention relates to a confidential information bearing article, and more particularly to a construction in which a base sheet and a cover sheet having an opacifying and light reflective coating on their outer surfaces and bearing confidential information on their inner surfaces are secured together so as to prevent reading of the confidential information until opened.
A variety of articles have been used to conceal secret or confidential information within a two or more ply construction and to prevent unauthorized viewing thereof. Such confidentiality has been needed for lottery tickets, promotional coupons or offers, game cards, pay checks and the like. Typically, the confidential information is sealed between two or more plies of paper, paper board, plastic or the like. The construction is designed to be pulled apart to reveal the confidential information.
Likewise, many other types of confidential information are transmitted through the mail in the form of checks, invoices, bank statements, and the like. Envelopes have been typically used for transmitting this type of confidential information. Postcards provide an inexpensive alternative to sending messages in envelopes, but in the past they have not been suitable for the delivery of confidential information because the information is not concealed.
However, attempts have been made to produce post card constructions which permit the obscuring of confidential information until receipt by the addressee. For example, Tanaka, U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,199, teaches a post card construction in which confidential information is preprinted on the card, and then an opaque cover member which is substantially smaller in size than the card is adhered to the card, covering the confidential information.
Shishido, U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,954, also teaches a post card construction in which preprinted confidential information may be hidden from view by a laminated cover sheet which is secured to a transparent protection film layer bonded to a base sheet. The cover sheet is delaminated from the base sheet by the addressee of the post card to reveal the confidential information.
However, the construction of Shishido comprises several layers, one of which must be laminated by a heating operation requiring a closely controlled temperature range. Shishido also requires at least two separate printing operations. Further, neither Shishido nor Tanaka describe a procedure for automating the production of a series of postal cards.
Ormond, U.S. Pat. No. 3,329,333 also teaches a post card or mailer device for checks or other confidential information which consists of a base sheet containing indicia, a cover sheet having a tacky adhesive around its periphery, and a removable intermediate sheet which is attached to the tacky undersurface of the cover sheet. The intermediate sheet is removed before mailing and the cover sheet is adhered to the base sheet and remains secure until the cover sheet is removed to reveal the intended message. In an alternative embodiment, the cover sheet is applied directly to the base sheet with a pressure sensitive tape for use in automated mailings.
Hieken, U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,211, relates to a mailer for checks, invoices, and other confidential information consisting of a base sheet bearing confidential indicia and addressee information and a cover sheet which is strippably secured to the base sheet to cover the confidential information.
Chang, U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,386, relates to a multi-sheet business form having four plies. The top ply has on its surface a spot coating which comprises chromogen-containing pressure rupturable microcapsules and a color developer material which upon impact ruptures and forms an image on the underlying plies. The second and third plies may also support the coating on all or portions of their surfaces, while the fourth ply serves as a backing sheet. This form may also be printed in a continuous form assembly.
Welsch et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,605 discusses the use of a chemically reactive printer ribbon in which the ribbon is coated with a color forming chromogenic substance in solution. Selected areas on the front of a business form are coated with a color developer material so that when impacted with the ribbon, an image is formed on the paper. However, the ribbon must be in direct contact with the underlying receiving sheet to permit transfer of the color former to the color developer for proper image formation.
A problem with previous post card or envelope mailers containing confidential information has been the lack of opacity of the paper stock used. When held up to a strong light source, the confidential information could be perceived through the cover and/or base sheets of the construction. Increasing the thickness of the paper stock used results in greater opacity, but adds material costs to the mailer construction and makes the mailer more difficult to process as a continuous form. Further, the added thickness and weight of the mailer may increase postal costs.
Other commercially-available mailers incorporate a random ink pattern on the inner surfaces of the top and bottom sheets which attempt to prevent the contents of the mailer from being readable through the mailer. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,988,971, 4,081,127, and 4,095,695 which are hereby incorporated by reference. Other mailers employ a random block out pattern on the inner surfaces of the mailer having specific areas which have been coated with carbon ink. These carbon patches correspond with areas on the outer surface of the cover sheet which have been printed with block out patterns so that confidential information may be printed on the outside of the mailer and be transferred to an insert sheet inside of the mailer without being read from the outside. This mailer also includes a tab portion which is releasably secured to one ply of the mailer for opening. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,759. However, all of these mailers require the insertion of a separate sheet containing the intended message.
In addition to the limitations of the prior art, the use of sophisticated processing equipment by the U.S. Postal Service has resulted in new restrictions on the types of paper that may be used for mailers. For example, envelopes or mailers made from coated paper or plastic cannot be properly processed when using automated equipment. Also, paper containing dark fibers or which has block out patterns printed on the interior and/or exterior surfaces thereof may interfere with the operation of the optical character readers (OCRs) and bar code sorters used by the Postal Service. As a result, the Postal Service has requested that the address-bearing surface of a mailer must have a sufficient light reflective surface so that it can be read by an OCR scanner and must have a reflected light difference between the paper and the ink of at least 30%. In addition, the paper used to construct the mailers should have sufficient opacity to prevent printing, such as block out patterns, from inside the mailer from showing through in the OCR and bar code reading areas so that such printing does not interfere with OCR scanning.
Banking institutions have also implemented new regulations in regard to checks. In May, 1988, the Federal Reserve Board issued Regulation CC to implement the Expedited Funds Availability Act to facilitate the expedited processing of checks. Many checks are printed with markings on the reverse side of the check, such as carbon bands, blocks of jumbled letters and/or numbers, random or designed backgrounds, or cross-hatching applied for security in mailers to prevent reading the check information from the reverse side or through the mailer. However, when endorsing checks of this nature, depositary banks may be unable to avoid the markings, patterns, or designs, and consequently, paying banks may not be able to read the endorsement, causing the check to be returned and resulting in an unwanted delay in payment processing. Consequently, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) which issues standard specifications for check endorsements has recommended that the check background color should be plain white, or a plain, light pastel color, and if printed patterns or designs are used as background, they should be in a muted, light color.
Accordingly, the need still exists in the art for a simple construction for concealing a wide variety of confidential information such as lottery tickets, game cards, coupons, checks, financial instruments, and other documents containing confidential information. The construction should be capable of keeping the printed information confidential until opened by the recipient or addressee and, in the case of mailer constructions, which complies with the recommended standards set by the U.S. Postal Service and banking institutions. Further, there remains a need for such a construction which can be used in an automated system for the production of a series of such confidential information bearing articles.

Confidential information bearing article


In a microwave integrated circuit, a series circuit of an inductive element and a variable capacitance element is inserted between an source of a field effect transistor of an initial stage circuit and ground. The capacitance of the variable capacitance element is controlled by an input signal applied to an external terminal so that an input impedance of the initial stage circuit is properly changed by the input signal applied to the external terminal. Thus, it is possible to set a system to an input matching characteristic which has a noise matching characteristic and a gain matching characteristic which fit to a system specification.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a low noise amplification microwave integrated circuit (hereinafter MIC) for use in a satellite broadcasting receiving converter or microwave communication, and more particularly to an improvement in an input matching characteristic thereof
2. Related Background Art
One of prior art low noise amplification MICs uses a monolithic MIC (hereinafter MMIC) which uses a field effect transistor such as a GaAs FET. A general circuit configuration of the MMIC is shown in FIG. 1 in which a source of a FET 21 is grounded, an input matching circuit 22 is connected to an input terminal of MMIC and an output matching circuit 23 is connected to an output terminal of MMIC.
In an input matching characteristic of an initial stage amplifier in a multi-stage amplification MMIC circuit, either a noise matching characteristic which requires a low noise characteristic is important or a gain matching characteristic which requires a high gain characteristic is important, depending on an application of the circuit. Constants of elements in the input matching circuit 22 are set in accordance with the characteristic.
In the prior art MMIC, the matching characteristic of the initial stage amplifier has been designed by taking primary consideration of only one of the noise matching characteristic and the gain matching characteristic, depending on the application. The circuit designed primarily for the noise matching characteristic can provide a minimum noise figure (hereinafter NF) but a gain of the initial stage amplifier is low and an input voltage standing wave ratio (hereinafter VSWR) is high.
In the circuit designed primarily for the gain matching characteristic, the gain of the initial stage
is high and the input VSWR is low, but the NF is high.


A nanopore FET sensor device and method of making. The nanopore FET sensor device includes a FET device stack of material layers including a source, channel and drain layers, and a nanoscale hole through the FET device stack to penult flow of strands of molecular material, e.g., DNA, therethrough. The perimeter of the nanoscale hole forms a FET device gate surface. The source and drain layers are provided with respective contacts for connection with measuring instruments that measure a flow of current therebetween. The molecular strands having charged portions pass from one side of a wafer substrate to the other side through the (nanopore) gate and modulate the current flow sensed at the source or drain terminals. The sensor collects real-time measurements of the current flow modulations for use in identifying the type of molecule. Multiple measurements by the same nanopore FET sensor are collected and compared for enhanced detection.

The present disclosure generally relates to nanopore devices, such as used for measuring molecular material such as DNA or chemicals, and particularly to a novel field effect based nanopore device for detecting such materials.
Many macromolecules including deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) have a shape of a linear chain where each Nucleid (AGTC) carries a different electrical charge. For example, a DNA deoxynucleotide carries an electrical charge that is unique for each base and its ability to change a MOSFET threshold voltage has been documented. An ability of a nano-channel to uncoil DNA and translocate DNA has also been demonstrated in the art.
In particular, FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art field effect based sensor device 5 in which a strand of DNA material 9 including combinations of base nucleotide materials (i.e., A (adenine), G (guanine), C (cytosine) and T (thymine) materials) each having unique charges 6 that act as a gate of a conventional planar FET sensor 5 having a planar source 7 and planar drain 8 electrode structures defining a channel there between. In such structures, the chemical nucleotide materials 9 to be sensed act as a gate, and in a detection system, are caused to pass parallel to the wafer substrate above a gate dielectric 11 (e.g., a high-k layer) for sensing action whereby a conduction between the two drain and gate electrodes passing through the chemical is detected.
Many pairs of nucleotides can be detected at once with trade off accuracy and speed, for example, with a combination of 4 nucleotides, there are about 125 possible base nucleotide material combinations in a typical DNA strand rendering just as many distinct voltage or current levels to detect in a FET sensor. FIG. 2 shows a plot 100 of example combinations of DNA base nucleotide materials and their I-V (current to voltage) characteristic as detected by a FET based sensor, and in particular, based on a detected Vt shift of the nucleotide combination.
While a nanopore sensor has been proposed in silicon compound membranes, e.g., silicon nitride, i.e., where a nanopore is a nanoscale sized hole that may, for example, be created by a pore-forming protein or as a hole in synthetic materials such as silicon or grapheme, by basing conduction between the two electrodes passing through the chemical, the measurements have been difficult to detect.

International Business Machines Corporation


A power amplifier circuit includes a power supply module and serially connected multi-stages of amplifier circuit. The multi-stages of amplifier circuit, coupled to the power supply module for amplifying an radio frequency (RF) input signal as an RF output signal, which include a driver stage of circuit and a gain stage of circuit. The driver stage of circuit receives and amplifies the RF input signal. The driver stage of circuit is powered by a first supply voltage received from the power supply module. The gain stage of circuit amplifies the signal received from previous stage of amplifier circuit and outputs the RF output signal. The gain stage of circuit is powered by a second supply voltage received from the power supply module. When the power amplifier circuit is operated in a back-off region, the first supply voltage is lower than the second supply voltage.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a power amplifier circuit and an operating method thereof.
Description of the Related Art
The power amplifier circuit has been widely used in various electronic devices for converting an input signal into an output signal with larger power for transmission purpose. Generally speaking, the power amplifier has better output efficiency when the power amplifier is operated in a saturation region. However, in order to satisfy the amplitude variation for transmitting the modulation signal or due to power saving consideration, the power amplifier is usually operated in a back-off region having a lower output power to satisfy the linearity requirement or other system requirements. However, the power amplifier efficiency will be decreased when operated in the back-off region.
Therefore, it has become a prominent task for the industries to improve the efficiency when the power amplifier circuit is operated in a back-off region.

Power amplifier circuit and operating method thereof


The present invention is a method for fabricating nitride memory cells using a floating gate fabrication process. In one embodiment of the present invention, the fabrication process of a floating gate memory cell is accessed. The floating gate memory cell fabrication process is then altered to produce an altered floating gate memory cell fabrication process. The altered floating gate memory cell fabrication process is then used to form a nitride memory cell.

The present invention relates to the fabrication of semiconductor structures. More specifically, the present invention pertains to a method for fabricating NROM cell devices using a floating gate fabrication process.
Flash memory devices have found growing commercial success in the electronic device market. This is due in part to the ability of flash memory devices to store electronic data over long periods of time without an electric power supply. Additionally, flash memory devices can be erased and programmed by an end user after they are installed in an electronic device. This combined functionality is especially useful in electronic device applications where power supply is intermittent and programmability and data retention are desired such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, computer BIOS storage, etc.
Flash memory devices are typically configured as an array of individual memory transistors that are oriented in row and columns. This array is sometimes referred to as the core, and the memory transistors are often referred to as cells, or core cells. FIG. 1 is a cross section view of an exemplary prior art NOR memory cell. NOR cell 100 is comprised of a substrate 101 having a source region 102 and a drain region 103. Typically, substrate 101 is a crystalline silicon semiconductor substrate which has undergone an N-type (electron rich) doping in source area 102 and drain area 103. In NOR cell 100, source area 102 is comprised of a Double Diffused Implant (DDI) 105 for reducing unwanted band to band tunneling current, and a Modified Drain Diffusion implant (MDD) 106 in source area 102 and a MDD implant 107 in drain area 103. The MDD implants provide definition of the source and drain areas (e.g., areas 102 and 103 respectively). NOR cell 100 further comprises a gate array 104. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, gate array 104 is comprised of a tunnel oxide layer 108, a floating gate 109, an insulating layer 110, and a control gale 111. Typically, the substrate area underlying gate array 104 (e.g., area 104a of FIG. 1) is a lightly doped P-type (electron deficient) substrate.
Typically, the control gates (e.g., control gate 111 of FIG. 1) of the memory cells in each row of the core are connected to a series of word lines, thus forming individual rows of cells that can be accessed by selecting the corresponding word line. Similarly, the drain areas of the cells (e.g., drain area 103 of FIG. 1) in each column of the core are connected to a series of bit lines, thus forming individual columns of cells that can be accessed by selecting the corresponding bit lines. Finally, the source areas of the cells (e.g., source area 102 of FIG. 1) in the array are connected to a common source line. In some flash memory devices, the array of transistors is further subdivided into sectors of separate transistor arrays to provide added flexibility for the programming and erasing operations. NOR flash memory arrays are typically connected the memory cell in parallel between bit lines and ground lines. In a typical NOR flash memory array, a common source is shared between two floating gate arrays (e.g., floating gate array 104 of FIG. 1) and a common source is shared between two floating gate arrays. NOR flash memory arrays are used when high-speed data access a critical design factor.
The data stored in each memory cell represents a binary 1 or 0. To perform a program read or erase operation on a particular cell in the array, various predetermined voltages are applied to control gate 111, drain area 103 and source area 102 of a memory cell. Thus, by applying these predetermined voltages to a particular bit line column, a particular word line row, and the common source line, an individual cell at the intersection of the bit line and word line (e.g., memory cell 100) can be selected for reading or programming.
In many flash memory devices, non-volatility of the memory cells is achieved by adding a floating gate (e.g., floating gate 109 of FIG. 1) between the control gate 111 and the substrate region 101 of the transistors. Typically, the cells of the flash memory device are programmed by applying a predetermined raised voltage to the control gate 111 and the drain area 103 of the cell and grounding the source area 102. As a result, the voltages on the control gate 111 and the drain area 103 cause the generation of hot electrons that are injected onto floating gate 109, where they become trapped. This electron transfer mechanism is often referred to as Channel Hot Electron (CHE) injection. When the programming voltages are removed, the negative charge on floating gate 109 remains, thereby raising the threshold voltage of memory cell 100. The threshold voltage is then used during reading operations to determine if memory cell 100 is in a charged or programmed state (0), or whether memory cell 100 is in an uncharged or erased state (1).
Typically, memory cells are read by applying a lower predetermined voltage to the control gate 111 and the drain area 103 and grounding the source area 102 of the memory cell. The current in the bit line is then sensed with a sense amplifier. If the cell is programmed, the threshold voltage will be relatively high and the bit line current will be zero, or at least relatively low, thus registering a binary 0. If the cell is erased, the threshold voltage will be relatively low and the bit line current will be relatively high, thus registering a binary 1.
In contrast to the programming procedure, flash memory devices can be bulk erased by simultaneously erasing all the cells in a memory sector. One procedure for erasing an entire memory sector involves applying predetermined voltages to the common source line (e.g., source area 102 of FIG. 1) and all the word lines (e.g., control gate 111 of FIG. 1) of the sector while the drain areas of the cells (e.g., drain area 103 of FIG. 1) are left to float. This causes electron tunneling from the floating gate 109 to the source area 102 through Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) tunneling, thereby removing the negative charge from the floating gate 109 of each of the cells in the memory sector being erased.
Fabricating semiconductor devices such as memory cell 100 involves multiple deposition, masking, etching, and doping steps in order to create the structures comprising the device. For example, referring to FIG. 1, cell V+ implanting is usually performed first upon substrate 101 to create a lightly doped electron deficient area (e.g., area 104a of FIG. 1) in substrate 101. Next, a tunnel oxide layer (e.g., tunnel oxide layer 108 is then deposited and is followed by a floating gate fabrication process is performed. Typically, this requires the deposition of layer of polysilicon which is doped, either during deposition of the polysilicon layer, or in subsequently a subsequent processing step. The floating gate layer then undergoes photolithography in order to pattern floating gate 109.
Photolithography techniques are often used in the fabrication of semiconductor structures. In one photolithography process, a pattern mask that defines the size and shape of a component in a semiconductor structure is positioned above a photosensitive layer (e.g., photoresist) that has been applied over a layer of material such as the polysilicon layer. A stepper holds the pattern mask over the photoresist and the pattern image is projected onto the photoresist through a lens. The pattern is then imprinted into the photoresist, for example, by hardening the portion of the photoresist that is exposed through the pattern mask, while the other (unexposed) portion of the photoresist remains relatively soft The softer portion of the photoresist is then removed, leaving only the harder portion on the layer. In this manner, the pattern is reproduced in the photoresist on the surface of the polysilicon layer. A portion of the polysilicon layer not underlying the photoresist is then removed by etching. The portion of the polysilicon layer not removed will be in the shape of floating gate 109 defined by the pattern. The photoresist is then removed and the process is repeated as needed to build each layer of the semiconductor structure.
After floating gate 109 has been formed, a fabrication process is performed to create insulating layer 110. For example, a layer of insulating material such as an oxide nitride oxide (ONO) stack is deposited and, using photolithography, etched to create insulating layer 110. Next, a control gate fabrication process is performed. A polysilicon layer is deposited, doped, and etched in a process similar to the above described process for forming floating gate 109.
Following the forming of gate array 104, a self-aligned source (SAS) etch is performed to penetrate tunnel oxide layer 107 in the region of source area 102. Referring to FIG. 1, a Double Diffusion Implanting (DDI) is performed in order to reduce unwanted band to band tunneling current. Then, a Modified Drain Diffusion implanting (MDD) is performed to define source area 102 and drain area 103. A drive/anneal process is performed to diffuse the implanted ions farther into substrate 101 and to remove damage to silicon substrate 101 which may have been incurred during the DDI and MDD implanting steps. Finally, VSS implanting is performed in source area 102.
Manufacturers are constantly trying to reduce the number of steps in their fabrication processes in order to gain a competitive advantage. Altering the fabrication process of memory cell 100 can reduce the number of fabrication steps required and significantly reduce the cost of production of the flash memory device. Fewer fabrication steps may also result in reduced resource costs, such as materials and labor, and thus further reduce production costs for the manufacturer. Additionally, with fewer steps in the fabrication process there is a reduced probability for manufacturing defects in the device which results in lower per-device production costs for the manufacturer.
However, implementing a new fabrication process requires considerable resources on the part of the manufacturer. A manufacturer may have to alter or entirely revamp the process libraries and process flows in order to implement a new fabrication process. Additionally, re-tooling the fabrication line is expensive and can result in significant down time for the manufacturing facility. As an example, when new fabrication processes are implemented, new photo-lithography masks are frequently required which can be very expensive due to their extremely precise manufacturing tolerances. Additionally, implementing new process flows necessitates testing to viability of the new process flow and to ensure that the new semiconductor device functions properly prior to commencing full scale production.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, such as a Flash memory device, which requires fewer fabrication steps. While meeting the above stated need, it is desirable to provide a method for fabricating a Flash memory device which is compatible with existing manufacturing process and equipment.
The present invention is a method for fabricating nitride memory cells using a floating gate fabrication process. In one embodiment of the present invention, the fabrication process of a floating gate memory cell is accessed. The floating gate memory cell fabrication process is then altered to produce an altered floating gate memory cell fabrication process. The altered floating gate memory cell fabrication process is then used to form a nitride memory cell.

Method for fabricating nitride memory cells using a floating gate fabrication process


An image processing apparatus and control method are provided. An image processing apparatus including: a storage configured to store data which is divided into a plurality of units of code; a random access memory (RAM) configured to be loaded with the data; a central processing unit (CPU) configured to execute the data; and a storage controller configured to read a requested unit of code from the storage in response to receiving a request from the CPU for the unit of code to be currently executed, and load the read unit of code to the RAM so that the unit of code can be processed by the CPU, wherein the storage controller performs validation with regard to the unit of code when reading the unit of code from the storage, and loads the unit of code, when the validation passes, to the RAM.

Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the exemplary embodiments relate to an image processing apparatus capable of executing various pieces of data such as image data and a control method thereof, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus and a control method thereof, which is capable of shortening time which is increased and delayed due to security checks on a data code when a secure booting is performed.
Description of the Related Art
An image processing apparatus processes an image signal and/or image data which is received externally in accordance with a variety of image processing techniques. The image processing apparatus displays the processed image data as an image on its own display panel, or outputs the processed image data to a display apparatus having a display panel so that the display apparatus can display the received image data as the image. That is, the image processing apparatus may have a display panel or may not have a display panel so long as it can process the image data. For example, an image processing apparatus with a display panel includes a television (TV), and an image processing apparatus without a display panel includes a set-top box.
When system power is on and thus the image processing apparatus is booted up, a binary code of various pieces of data such as an operating system is executed. With the development of technology, additions and extensions to various functions have been continuously reflected to the image processing apparatus, and the length of binary codes executed during the booting has also increased. The increase in the length of binary codes results in increasing the amount of time necessary during the booting process and delays the booting.
With a recent trend of taking a count of general electronic devices, the image processing apparatus performs secure booting, to which various security methods are applied, in order to prevent arbitrarily falsified data from being executed during the booting. However, the secure booting delays the booting of the image processing apparatus since security checks have to be applied to the binary code before executing the corresponding binary code.
Accordingly, it is desired to shorten the booting time while performing the secure booting when the image processing apparatus is booted up.

Image processing apparatus and control method thereof


A communication device includes a network side communication unit that receives emergency information from an information broadcasting node; and a UE side communication unit that communicates a communication signal with user equipment (UE) through a radio base station. The UE side communication unit broadcasts a Secondary Notification signal including the emergency information, subsequent to broadcasting a Primary Notification signal providing notice of broadcasting of the emergency information, and individually transmitting a command signal for transition of an RRC protocol state or switching to another cell to the UE. The transition of the RRC protocol state is from a state where reception of the emergency information is disabled to a state where reception of the emergency information is enabled, and the other cell is such that the UE can receive the Secondary Notification signal, irrespective of the RRC protocol state of the UE.

In an earthquake early warning distribution infrastructure for mobile radio communication (e.g., CBS, ETWS, and CMAS), by broadcasting information by a simultaneous broadcasting signal, a warning can be quickly made to a broad range of users, without establishing dedicated channels for corresponding users. As the simultaneous broadcasting signal, for example, a paging signal through a Common Control Channel (CCCH); a reporting signal through a Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH); or a signal (e.g., BMC) through a Common Traffic Channel (CTCH) may be considered.
Usually, broadcast information, which is broadcast during an earthquake and tsunami, for example, is transmitted by transmitting a Primary Notification signal and subsequently transmitting a Secondary Notification signal. The Primary Notification signal provides advance notice of broadcasting of emergency information by minimum information, such as "earthquake" or "tsunami." The Secondary Notification signal indicates details (emergency information), such as seismic intensity in each place and an epicenter. In this manner, by dividing information broadcasting into two steps, broadcast information can be quickly and flexibly broadcast. As an example, the Primary Notification information is transmitted through the common control channel (CCCH), and the Secondary Notification information is transmitted through the common traffic channel (CTCH).
For a case of a mobile communication system, such as based on the wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) scheme, user equipment (UE) which is in an idle (IDLE) mode (in which a connection is not established) or in a paging (Cell_PCH) mode (in which connection is not released but no user data is transmitted nor received) can properly receive the common traffic channel (CTCH). However, user equipment (UE) which transmits and receives user data (which UE is in a cell DCH (Cell_DCH) mode or in a cell FACH (Cell_FACH) mode) performs communication without referring to the common traffic channel (CTCH). Accordingly, a problem is that a user of the user equipment, whose communication mode (RRC protocol state) is the Cell_DCH mode or the Cell_FACH mode, may not quickly notice existence of broadcast information, or even if the user notices it, the user may not properly receive it. Non-Patent Document 1, for example, discloses that user equipment in a specific RRC protocol state can receive broadcast information.
To address this problem, it can be considered to design user equipment (UE), so that it can receive the common traffic channel (CTCH) even in a state (Cell_DCH) in which a dedicated channel is established, for example. However, if such a function were mandatory for user equipment (UE), the user equipment would be required to always monitor the common traffic channel (CTCH), in addition to transmission and reception of user data. Consequently, the concern would be that the battery energy would be consumed quicker, and that cost of the user equipment (UE) would be increased.

Communication device and communication method


An iron based filler wire is described for use in gas shielded arc welding and includes between about 0.05 to 0.09 weight percent carbon, 1.10 to 1.40 weight percent manganese, 0.70 to 1.00 weight percent silicon, 0.00 to 0.025 weight percent phosphorus, 0.00 to 0.225 weight percent sulfur and 0.0 to 0.3 weight percent copper. The obtained weldment produced in CO.sub.2 shielding gas possesses an average Charpy V-notch impact value of at least 45 ft.-lbs. at -20.degree. F.

The present invention relates generally to welding wires for use in gas metal arc welding of steels, and more particularly to a chemically balanced iron based welding wire which provides for increased ease of drawing the wire, improved welding productivity and improved weld deposit properties and appearance.
Two commonly utilized field welding processes are shielded metal arc which utilizes coated stick electrodes and gas metal arc which utilizes bare wires or filler wires. The present invention relates to a chemically balanced composition for the bare or filler wires containing carbon, manganese, silicon, with restricted and controlled trace amounts of such elements as phosphorus, sulfur and copper.
For at least the last twenty years, filler wires containing each of the above identified elements have been manufactured and offered for sale to the welding industry. One such filler wire, identified as ER 70S-2, is one example of such a low alloy filler wire which contains a low silicon content. Because the ER 70S-2 wires contain reduced amounts of silicon, such types of filler wires are not well suited for deoxidizing welds on oily or dirty steels unless special expensive additives (aluminum, zirconium or titanium) are added to the alloy and such wires do not optimize the weld bead contours when the appearance of the weld is important in the finished part.
Another low alloy filler wire is known as ER-70S-6 which possess improved welding characteristics such as good wetting characteristics, low spatter levels and good weld deoxidation. However, because the ER 70S-6 wires contain higher carbon and manganese ranges, the increased carbon and manganese contents result in difficulties in drawing the wire and require the additional step of patenting or heating the wire either before or during the drawing operations. Thus, such filler wires are expensive to manufacture and result in a more costly filler wire.
Finally, a European filler wire material, identified as BS2901 Code A-18, which is nearly chemically equivalent to the AWS classification ER 70S-6, contains a typical composition of 0.1 weight percent carbon, 1.5 weight percent manganese, 0.85 weight percent silicon, 0.015 weight percent sulfur and 0.015 weight percent phosphorus. Although such filler wires exhibit good wetting characteristics and low spatter levels, the higher carbon and manganese content cause difficulties during manufacturing the wire because of the additional step of patenting or heating the wire before or during the drawing process. Accordingly such wires are expensive to manufacture.


The disclosure relates to a system and method for reconstructing a PET image. The method may include: obtaining PET data relating to an object collected by a plurality of detector units; determining functional status of the plurality of detector units; generating reconstruction data based on the functional status of the respective detector units and the PET data; and reconstructing a PET image based on the reconstruction data.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine functional imaging technique that is used to observe metabolic processes in a body. A PET imaging system may include numerous detector units for detecting radiation events originating from the body. The failure of some detector units may affect acquired PET data and therefore a resultant PET image.

Systems and methods for positron emission tomography

SHANGHAI UNITED IMAGING HEALTHCARE CO., LTD.


A stepped suspension load beam is described, such as for a hard disk drive, in which the main body is composed of a proximal portion that lies in a first plane, an intermediate portion between the proximal portion and a distal portion and that lies in a second plane that angles upward from the proximal portion, and a distal portion that lies in a third plane that angles back down from the intermediate portion, thereby forming a load beam stepped in the longitudinal direction. Further, the proximal portion may be formed to taper in at a first angle, the intermediate portion formed to taper in at a second angle that is less than the first angle, and the distal portion formed to taper in at a third angle greater than the first and second angles, thereby forming a load beam stepped in the transverse direction.

A hard-disk drive (HDD) is a non-volatile storage device that is housed in a protective enclosure and stores digitally encoded data on one or more circular disks having magnetic surfaces. When an HDD is in operation, each magnetic-recording disk is rapidly rotated by a spindle system. Data is read from and written to a magnetic-recording disk using a read/write head that is positioned over a specific location of a disk by an actuator. A read/write head uses a magnetic field to read data from and write data to the surface of a magnetic-recording disk. Write heads make use of the electricity flowing through a coil, which produces a magnetic field. Electrical pulses are sent to the write head, with different patterns of positive and negative currents. The current in the coil of the write head induces a magnetic field across the gap between the head and the magnetic disk, which in turn magnetizes a small area on the recording medium.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a head gimbal assembly (HGA). An HGA may also be referred to as a flexure gimbal assembly. HGA 200 comprises a flexure 202 and a load beam 204 having a dimple 206. Based on the implementation, flexure 202 may comprise multiple assembled layers such as a stainless steel layer 202a, also referred to as a "spring layer" due to one of its functional characteristics, coupled with an insulating layer 202b. Flexure 202 may also, but need not, comprise a separate conductor layer. Flexure 202 is movably coupled to the load beam 204 via the gimbal 206 and has freedom of rotation about the dimple axis 210. Because a slider is coupled to a slider attachment platform of flexure 202, the slider likewise has freedom of rotation about dimple axis 210.
The HGA components, such as the flexure 202 and the load beam 204, interact with each other in an environment having very limited mechanical tolerances and clearances. Therefore, the static and dynamic characteristics of the HGA, such as the pitch static attitude (PSA) and the flying attitude (e.g., pitch and roll), respectively, may be mechanically limited because of the tight clearances. Furthermore, customers mandate meeting stringent performance requirements, including operational shock (or "op-shock") requirements, which generally relate to an HDD's operational resistance to or operational tolerance of a shock event. So once again the limited mechanical clearances associated with the HGA pose a challenge to meeting such requirements.
Any approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.


A semiconductor device wherein a semiconductor element made of Si or Si group material mounted on a substrate, the semiconductor element is mounted on the substrate and the semiconductor element is bonded to a silver bonding material via a oxide film formed on the semiconductor element. The bonding material comprising silver oxide particles having an average particle size of 1 nm to 50 nm and an organic reducing agent is used for bonding in air, which gives a high bonding strength to the oxide on the semiconductor element.

In bonding electronic devices, lead-free solders have been wanted, but as to high temperature solders, there have been no substitute materials so far. In encapsulating semiconductor devices, it is necessary to use hierarchical solders, and substitute for the high temperature solder materials have been demanded.
If a particle size of metal particles for substitutes of the high temperature solders becomes 100 nm or less, wherein the number of atoms is small, a specific surface area of the particle per a volume of the particles drastically increases, and it has been known that a melting point and a sintering temperature thereof will remarkably lower, compared to those of bulk materials.
By virtue of this low temperature sintering effect, a bonding material using metal particles having a particle size of 1 to 100 nm has been studied. See for example patent document No. 1: Japanese patent laid-open 2004-107728 (US 2004/024564). The patent document No. 1 discloses a bonding material wherein nuclei of metal particles having an average particle size of 100 nm or less are covered with an organic coating and the coated particles are dispersed in a liquid, and the bonding is carried out by sintering the metal particles by heating. Since in this bonding method the metal particles after bonding change into bulk metal and metallic bonding is effected at interfaces between the metal particles, the bonding gives high heat resistance and reliability and high heat dissipation efficiency. In the patent document No. 1, the above bonding materials are referred to as a substitute for the high temperature solders that do not contain lead.
However, if the paste of the sintering type, which contains the metal particles having the average particle size of 100 nm or less as a main ingredient for the bonding material is used, it has been elucidated that while a sufficient bonding strength is obtained in cases of noble metals such as Au, Ag, Pd etc, it is impossible to bond semiconductors made of Si or SiC, which have oxide films on faces for bonding. FIG. 6 shows evaluation results of bonding strengths with respect to various bonding members. A bonding temperature was 300° C. and a bonding pressure was 1.0 MPa constant, a bonding material silver particles having an average particle size of 10 nm, coated with an amine series organic material. A bonding atmosphere was air. Bonding members to be bonded were Au, Ag, Si and SiC.
The vertical line in FIG. 6 indicates a shearing strength at the bonded face, wherein a shearing strength of silver metal is one and the shear strengths at the bonding faces were a ratio to that of the silver metal. As is apparent from the results, in case of bonding in air, the sintering type bonding materials show good bonding characteristics with respect to such metals as Au, Ag, etc that are hard to be oxidized, but they do not show any bondability to Si and SiC at all. This is because an oxidation film exists on a bonding face (rear side face) of Si series semiconductor elements, and hence the oxidation film does not show the bonding characteristics at the time of sintering of the metal particles. Therefore, it has been common to form a metalized film on the rear side face of the semiconductor elements so that the bonding is effected between the semiconductor elements and supporting substrates by means of the metalized film.
Alcohol series organic materials for covering the ultra fine particles disclosed in patent document No. 1 vanish only by heating in air, which are useful for not oxidizable noble metals, but may not be useful for Si series materials having an oxide film on its surface.
In the patent document No. 1, the ultra fine metal particles are used as a starting material in a form of metal salts such as organic acid salts of metals, wherein the metal salts and organic materials such as alcohol are dispersed in an organic solvent to form a paste, and the mixture is heated to thereby form the ultra fine metal particles resulting in composite metal particles, which combine with the organic materials.
Patent document No. 2 (Japanese patent laid-open 2008-178911) discloses a bonding material comprising particles of a metal oxide, metal carbonate salt or metal carboxylic salt having an average particle size of 1 to 50 nm, and an organic reducing agent, the particles being mixed with the reducing agent, but the patent document does not disclose bonding of a substrate and a semiconductor element via an oxide film.
Although US 2009/0244868, which is not a prior art and published after the present patent application in Japan discloses a bonding structure wherein an aluminum electrode and of a semiconductor and a silver bonding layer are bonded via an amorphous layer (aluminum oxide film). The bonding layer, which comprises particles of a metal oxide, a metal acetate or a metal formic acid compound having a particle size of 1 to 50 nm and an organic reducing agent, is prepared by heating the bonding material, but it does not disclose a structure wherein a semiconductor element and a supporting substrate are bonded via a Si oxide film present in a rear face of the Si type semiconductor element.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A device (10) for suspending gas channel elements, in particular for suspending guide blades or guide blade segments or gas channel segments, on a housing of a gas turbines is provided. The device comprises first plate-shaped elements (11, 12, 13, 14) and second plate-shaped elements (15, 16, 17), whereby the first plate-shaped elements (11, 12, 13, 14) and the second plate-shaped elements (15, 16, 17) are connected together by web-like elements (18) which extend in an essentially perpendicular manner in relation to the first and second elements and form a meandering or crenelated profile.

Gas channel elements, such as guide blades, guide blade segments, gas channel plates, or gas channel plate segments, are used among other things for forming a flow channel or gas channel of the gas turbine and must be suspended or mounted on the housing of the gas turbine. The first ends of the gas channel elements, e.g., the guide blades, protrude into the gas channel and their second ends are attached to the housing of the gas turbine. The gas channel elements are attached to the housing via a device for suspending gas channel elements which may also be referred to as a suspension device or a suspension element.
The gas channel elements, in particular the guide blades protruding into the gas channel, are subjected to extreme thermal stress, in particular in the area of the high-pressure turbine of the gas turbine. The gas channel elements are thus heated to high temperatures in particular in the area of the high-pressure turbine. In contrast, the housing is relatively cold and thus has a lower temperature. The suspension elements for suspending gas channel elements on a housing of a gas turbine are therefore in contact with the relatively hot gas channel elements and with the relatively cold housing. Therefore, a high temperature gradient is formed in the suspension devices or suspension elements, thereby exposing them to extreme thermal stresses. This may result in stress cracks within the suspension devices and consequently in a reduced service life.
The devices for suspending gas channel elements on a housing of a gas turbine known from the related art can only inadequately absorb the above-mentioned thermal stresses due to the differences between the relatively cold housing of the gas turbine and the relatively hot gas channel elements. The devices for suspending gas channel elements thus have a limited service life.


Providing wear-related prognostics and diagnostics on a turbine engine includes, while operating a turbine control device, tracking a total device travel distance over time by recurrently: selectively identifying actual device movement based on device position data associated with a displacement sensor monitoring the turbine control device; and accumulating an incremental device travel distance corresponding to the identified actual device movement with the total device travel distance.

Turbine control devices such as fuel control valves and variable vane actuators include numerous components that are subject to wearout failure modes over time. For example, various seals, bearings, gears, leadscrews and other components can cumulatively sustain small, yet significant, wear damage which is proportional to usage of the device, as well as process and ambient conditions. Unforeseen wearout of such components can be highly disruptive. For example, seal wearout, a common field problem seen on turbine fuel control valves, commonly leads to valve leakage, and ultimately costly unplanned outages. Additionally, wearout of the gear train or leadscrew may prevent a valve from properly opening or closing on demand, which could result in unsafe operation. Thus, the ability to detect wearout and to predict the amount of life left in various control device components (e.g., valve seals) is desirable.


To provide an information processing method, information processing apparatus, and information processing system which are capable of achieving a high-quality content listening or viewing experience. An information processing method according to an embodiment of the present technology is executed by a computer, and includes calculating, on a basis of a beacon signal which is transmitted from a reproduction apparatus capable of reproducing a content, a distance from the computer to the reproduction apparatus. On a basis of the calculated distance, a transfer reproduction operation by the reproduction apparatus is controlled, in which a content that is being reproduced by a different reproduction apparatus is transferred and reproduced.

From the past, such a system that a home network is constructed in home, and a plurality of reproduction apparatuses connected thereto reproduces contents such as music and video has been known. For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a content reproduction system including a plurality of reproduction apparatuses disposed in each room, a content server, and a portable apparatus.
In this system, each of the reproduction apparatuses is provided with a detection apparatus capable of detecting whether a user is in a certain area with respect to the reproduction apparatuses or not. Therefore, on a basis of a detection result obtained by the detection apparatus, the reproduction apparatus in a room in which the user exists can reproduce a content. Further, also in the case where the user moves from the room, an optimal reproduction apparatus can continuously reproduce the content in accordance with the movement (paragraphs [0027] to [0040] in the description, FIG. 4, and the like of Patent Literature 1).

Information processing method, information processing apparatus, and information processing system


Morpholino-based oligomers suitable as antisense agent comprising modifications of phosphorodiamidate backbone or modification with 5-substituted pyrimidines of morpholino compound that is soluble in culture medium and sufficient for cell penetration thereby eliminating the need for injecting into the cells. Monomers comprising the said oligomers and its method of manufacture, method of manufacture of the said oligomers and its dye, fluorophore, drug, biomolecule conjugate wherein the said oligomers find different end use but not limited to regulation of gene expression, tissue culture with improved transfection efficiency and related studies on cellular transfection.

Antisense technologies are a suite of techniques that, together, form a very powerful weapon for studying gene function (functional genomics) and for discovering new and more specific treatments of diseases in humans, animals, and plants (antisense therapeutics). A conventional definition of antisense refers to the laboratory manipulation and/or modification of DNA or RNA so that its components (nucleotides) form a complementary copy of normal, or "sense," messenger RNA (mRNA). The binding, or hybridization, of antisense nucleic acid sequences to a specific mRNA target will, through a number of different mechanisms, interrupt normal cellular processing of the genetic message of a gene. This interruption, sometimes referred to as "knock-down" or "knock-out" depending upon whether or not the message is either partially or completely eliminated, allows researchers to determine the function of that gene.
One of the significant problems faced by developmental biologists, who do not work on an organism with well developed genetics and even for some who do, is how to inhibit the action of a gene of interest during its developmental process so as to learn about its normal biological functions. A widely accepted approach is to use the antisense technologies.
C. Cazenave, et al. in Nucleic Acids Res. 1989, 17, 4255 is directed to the first generation antisense oligonucleotides that were designed as short stretches of DNA (18-22mers) that form RNA-DNA hybrids with the target mRNA and act as substrates for RNase H to degrade the mRNA. The target mRNA is cleaved by RNase H and the fragments are subsequently broken down by nuclease activity. DNA oligonucleotides have had very limited applicability in developmental studies, both because they have non-specific toxic side effects and because degraded mRNAs are continually replaced by new transcription, making continued treatment with oligonucleotides a necessity.
Studies from a number of laboratories suggest that morpholino based oligonucleotides can be microinjected into zebrafish (Nasevicius, A. and Ekker, S. C. Nat. Genet. 2000, 26, 216), sea urchin (Eisen, J. S.; Smith, J. C. Development 2008, 135, 1735) or xenopus embryos (Coffman, J. A. et. al. Runx gene. BMC Biol. 2004, 2, 6), where they block gene expression and produce phenotypic effects during the early stage of embryogenesis. It is known in the art that light mediated activation of morpholino enables spatio-temporal regulation of ntl gene expression during zebrafish embryogenesis. The strengths of morpholinos as a tool for investigating vertebrate development is well described in a recent review by Ekker (Ekker, S. C. Morphants Yeast 2000, 17, 302). The greatest advantage is that phenotypes can be rapidly observed in animal models using a relatively inexpensive method. Ekker and colleagues also reported inhibition of several endogenous zebrafish gene and have compiled a database (The Morphant database) thereof detailing the phenotypes produced by morpholino oligonucleotides. Since then morpholinos have become superior agents for gene inhibition relative to other types of oligomers that might block translation, such as locked nucleic acid (LNA), peptide nucleic acid (PNA) or 2′-modified RNA.
Morpholino antisense oligomers taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,444 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,506, are chemically modified nucleotides, widely used in gene regulation studies that cost about US$500-600 for 300 nanomol. The said morpholino-based oligomers block mRNA translation in binding 5′ UTR region, overcoming many of the limitations of regular DNA oligonucleotides.
The drawbacks in employing the above said morpholino based oligomers in developmental biology lies in the chiral nature of the morpholino phosphorodiamidate backbones that complicates their synthesis and purification. Further, adding an additional hurdle to the poor Morpholino transfection properties is the neutrality of its backbone comprising of phosphorodiamidate moiety that poses a serious limitation for use of these oligomers in tissue culture as well as in vivo studies. Accordingly, the delivery of morpholino into embryos requiring microinjection procedures, PNA (peptide nucleic acid) analogs constitute an alternative approach but they also have very limited applications due to their poor solubility in water under physiological conditions as taught in K. A. Urtishak, et. al., Dev. Dynamics; 228, 405, 2003.
Again to overcome the cellular transfection property of such morpholine based oligomers, M. H. Nelson, et al. in Bioconjug. Chem. 2005, 16, 959 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,468,418 illustrates the incorporation of cationic charge onto the morpholino oligomer through the conjugation with the arginine-rich peptide to study the effects on antisense activity and specificity. Although the insertion of cationic charge into the morpholino oligomers improved the antisense efficiency, however incorporation of arginine peptides for optimized results were found to be procedurally difficult and non-reproducible to the fullest extent. Furthermore, the structure of the morpholino oligomer of the above said prior art was not structurally modified wherein the product is a just a simple conjugate comprising a carrier peptide attached to a nucleic acid analog comprising a substantially uncharged backbone and a targeting base sequence.
Reference is drawn to WO/2008/036127 that teaches a morpholino oligomer containing both uncharged and cationic intersubunit linkages. The oligomers are oligonucleotide analogs containing predetermined sequences of base-pairing moieties. The presence of the cationic intersubunit linkages in the oligomers, typically at a level of about 10-50% of total linkages, provide enhanced antisense activity, in various antisense applications, relative to the corresponding uncharged oligomers. Also provided are such oligomers conjugated to peptide transporter moieties, where the transporters are preferably composed of arginine subunits, or arginine dimers, alternating with neutral amino acid subunits. The said oligomers having an uncharged backbone, the cationic substitution takes place in the side chain associated with the phosphorodiamidate linkage, therefore the transfection efficiency is moderate and the product is costly because of the troublesome process of preparation.
J. Yuan, et al. in J. Virol. 2006, 80, 11510 illustrates peptide-conjugated morpholino oligomers targeting the internal ribosome entry site, in which morpholino have been conjugated to various cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) in order to enhance both morpholino uptake into cells and antisense efficacy (M. H. Nelson, et al. Arginine-rich peptide conjugation to morpholino oligomers: effects on antisense activity and specificity. Bioconjug. Chem. 2005, 16, 959). The conjugated morpholinos has a better binding ability to complimentary RNA in reduced length of 14 bases from 20 bases. Though Arginine peptide conjugated morpholino have demonstrated considerable efficacy against a number of RNA viruses including foot-and-mouth disease virus (A. Vagnozzi, et. al. in J. Virol. 2007, 81, 11669) in cell cultures and against Ebola virus, West Nile virus, murine corona viruses, and CVB3 in both cell culture and animal models, the limitations of such arginine rich peptide conjugated morpholino oligomers lies in its poor solubility in tissue culture media and complicated process of synthesis thereof.
It is thus clearly apparent from the above discussions that though modifications of the morpholino oligomers are known in the art, they suffer from serious drawbacks such as cumbersome synthetic procedures, poor solubility and reduced antisense efficacy.
Thus to address the need of the day there remains a long felt need in the art to bring about structural modifications in the above said morpholine oligomers through simple and cheap synthetic pathway to overcome the above said drawbacks by accomplishing improved antisense efficacy and increased solubility of such oligomers.

INDIAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE CULTIVATION OF SCIENCE


An electronic device architecture is described comprising a field effect device in an active region 22 of a substrate 10. Channel stop implant regions 28a and 28b are used as isolation structures and are spaced apart from the active region 22 by extension zones 27a and 27b. The spacing is established by using an inner mask layer 20 and an outer mask layer 26 to define the isolation structures.

This invention relates, in general, to the field of electronic devices and, more particularly, to an improved field effect transistor having improved isolation structures and a method for forming the same.
The ability to deliver higher performance for less cost in electronic devices depends on the capability of the electronic device designer to construct more active devices in a given surface area on a semiconductor substrate. As active devices are placed closer and closer to one another, the importance of isolation structures between the active devices becomes more critical. Isolation structures typically involve the formation of field oxides and implanted regions and serve to prevent the formation of parasitic devices formed from implanted regions of neighboring structures.
As the active devices themselves are placed closer and closer to the isolation structures however, a new problem has arisen. An active device can be placed in an operational mode so that a breakdown condition is reached resulting in a formation of a parasitic current path through the isolation structure itself. This condition limits the operational characteristics of field effect devices and other active devices.
Accordingly, a need has arisen for an improved field effect transistor and isolation structure architecture that prevents the formation of such parasitic current paths.
In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, an improved field effect transistor and isolation structure architectures are provided that substantially eliminate or reduce problems associated with prior art structures including the formation of unwanted parasitic current paths which serve to limit the operational characteristics of the field effect device.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a method for forming a field effect device is presented which comprises covering an active region of a semiconductor layer with a first mask layer. A first channel stop implant process is then used to form first channel stop regions abutting opposing sides of the active region. A second mask layer is then formed covering the first mask layer and portions of the outer surface of the active region and the first channel stop region on opposing sides of the first mask layer. A second channel stop implant is then performed to form second channel stop regions disposed in the outer surface of the semiconductor layer proximate the outer boundaries of the second mask layer.
According to an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the second mask layer can then be removed and field oxide structures can be created while the first mask layer is still in place.
The present invention enjoys the important technical advantage that it allows for the creation of effective channel stop isolation structures but provides for enough spacing between the isolation structures and the active region to prevent the onset of parasitic currents.

Field effect transistor with improved isolation structures


Systems and methods of script identification in audio data obtained from audio data. The audio data is segmented into a plurality of utterances. A script model representative of a script text is obtained. The plurality of utterances are decoded with the script model. A determination is made if the script text occurred in the audio data.

In an exemplary embodiment of a customer service call center, some customer service interactions between a customer and a customer service agent may require that the customer service agent convey scripted information to the customer. One non-limiting example of such a script may be a legal notice. Still other non-limiting examples of scripted information may include ordering directions, product descriptions, or a list of on sale items or current promotions.
Typically accuracy of script identification audio data is correlated to the length of the script. Namely, if a string of multiple words that make up a script can be identified in audio data, there is a strong likelihood that this is due to the delivery of a script by the agent and not organically occurring by chance. However, speech-to-text transcriptions, especially transcriptions performed as part of an initial audio data processing or used for real-time analysis of streaming audio data, have comparatively low accuracies in transcribing the audio data. In such embodiments, transcriptions may be 50-70% accurate. These inaccuracies in the transcription may result in scripts going unidentified or misidentified.

System and method for determining the compliance of agent scripts


Systems and methods for transceiver communication are discussed herein. An exemplary system comprises a first transceiver and a second transceiver. The first transceiver may comprise an I/Q module and a PHY device. The I/Q module may receive a first complex signal and transform the first complex signal into bit words of a predetermined size and framewords. The PHY device may receive the bit words, transmit the bit words and framewords over a cable, and perform adaptive cancellation. The second transceiver may comprise a PHY device, an I/Q module, an I/Q modulator, and an antenna. The PHY device may receive the bit words and the framewords from over the cable. The I/Q module may transform the bit words to a second complex signal based on the framewords. The I/Q modulator may modulate the complex signal to generate a transmit signal. The antenna may transmit the signal.

1. Field of the Invention(s)
The present invention(s) generally relate to transceiver communications. More particularly, the invention(s) relate to systems and methods for transceiver communication over using PHY Ethernet communication.
2. Description of Related Art
In microwave radio systems, a transceiver may include an indoor unit (IDU) and an outdoor unit (ODU) coupled to an antenna. In one example, the IDU may be coupled to a server or other computer over a wired network (e.g., LAN, WAN, or the Internet). Information to be wirelessly transmitted may be prepared by both the IDU and the ODU before wireless transmission. Similarly, the outdoor unit may receive signals from the antenna to provide to the server or other computer via the IDU.
The IDU and the ODU have typically been coupled to each other over a coaxial cable. An intermediate frequency (IF) may be sent from the IDU to the ODU, for example, using frequency diversity to avoid colliding with signals being provided by the ODU to the IDU. In order to maintain the signals, complex filters are required by both the IDU and the ODU to separate out the different frequencies (e.g., 125 MHz from 311 MHz). Further, filters are required to reduce or eliminate triple transit influences caused by a mismatch of cables to filters or other components. As a result of triple transit influences, data propagated up the cable from the IDU to the ODU may bounce back to the IDU causing self interference which may degrade performance of the radio.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An X-ray detector includes a directly converting semiconductor layer for converting an incident radiation into electrical signals with a band gap energy characteristic of the semiconductor layer, and at least one light source for coupling light into the semiconductor layer, wherein the generated light, for the simulation of incident X-ray quanta, has an energy above the band gap energy of the semiconductor layer. One embodiment includes at least one evaluation unit for calculating an evaluation signal from the electrical signals generated when the light is coupled into the semiconductor layer, and at least one calibration unit for calibrating at least one pulse discriminator on the basis of the evaluation signal. This provides the prerequisites for a rapidly repeatable calibration of the X-ray detector taking into account of the present polarization state without using X-ray radiation. Another embodiment additionally relates to a calibration method for such an X-ray detector.

X-ray detectors comprising a directly converting semiconductor layer enable individual X-ray quanta to be detected quantitatively and energy-selectively. In the case of this type of X-ray detectors, an incident X-ray quantum generates in the semiconductor layer, on account of in part multistage physical interaction processes with a semiconductor material, free charge carriers in the form of electron-hole pairs. By way of example, semiconductor materials in the form of CdTe, CdZnTe, CdTeSe, CdZnTeSe, CdMnTe, InP, TIBr2 or HGI2are suitable for detecting X-ray quanta since these materials have a high X-ray absorption in the energy range of medical imaging.
In order to detect the quantum absorption events corresponding to an X-ray quantum, electrodes are fitted to the two sides of the semiconductor layer, a voltage being applied to the electrodes in order to generate an electric field. For the spatially resolved detection of the absorption events, one electrode is embodied in pixelated fashion and is designated as a read-out electrode. The electrode arranged opposite it is usually embodied in planar fashion and is designated as a counterelectrode. In the electric field generated, the liberated charge carriers are accelerated depending on type of charge and polarity to the electrodes, where they induce electrical signals in the form of currents. The currents are converted, by means of an evaluation unit, into an evaluation signal, the magnitude of which is proportional to the area integral of the current curve and thus proportional to that quantity of charge which is liberated by an incident X-ray quantum. The evaluation signal thus generated is subsequently conducted to a pulse discriminator, which, in a threshold-value-based manner, detects the X-ray quanta in a counting manner and/or energy-selectively.
A prerequisite for an error-free detection of X-ray quanta is a calibration of the X-ray detector that involves defining suitable threshold values. In this case, the threshold values are chosen such that a signal generated by noise does not initiate detection of a purported X-ray quantum, and that, in the case of an energy-selective detection, an energy or an energy range can be assigned to the individual X-ray quanta. Inhomogeneities in the material of the semiconductor layer make it necessary to carry out the calibration in spatially resolved fashion. In a first known calibration method, use is made of a radioactive preparation for irradiating the X-ray detector. In this case, the radioactive preparation liberates X-ray radiation having a known defined energy. Noise and energy thresholds for the pulse discriminator are determined by means of an evaluation of the detected electrical signals and of the evaluation signals derived therefrom. On account of in part legally established stipulations for the handling of radioactive preparations, this method is suitable only for a single calibration in the laboratory prior to assembly. However, it is not practicable in the assembled X-ray apparatus.
Since the material behavior of the semiconductor layer can vary over time and under the action of X-ray radiation and it is also necessary to take account of a drift of the evaluation electronics, it is necessary to repeat the calibration at certain time intervals and in an optimum case directly before the beginning of measurement. A calibration using X-ray radiation before the beginning of measurement is not considered since the patient would in this case be exposed to an additional X-ray dose. In a second known calibration method, for the purpose of repeatedly performing the calibration without the action of X-ray radiation, electrical signals are coupled capacitively onto the read-out electrode. This is then using a pulse generator that is electrically contact-connected to the counterelectrode. The pulse generator generates variable charges on the counterelectrode in such a way that electrical signals coupled in capacitively on the read-out electrode are generated with a pulse shape such as would be expected upon the incidence of an X-ray quantum having a specific energy.
Taking this as a departure point the intention is to provide an X-ray detector comprising a directly converting semiconductor layer and a calibration method for such an X-ray detector which provide in an improved form the prerequisites for a calibration of the X-ray detector that is repeatable directly before the beginning of measurement.

X-ray detector comprising a directly converting semiconductor layer and calibration method for such an X-ray detector


The present invention provides compositions, methods, and kits comprising PUFAs produced by microalgae, in particular omega-3 and/or omega-6 fatty acids produced by members of the genus Rhodomonas, in particular Rhodomonas salina. The invention also provides compositions, methods, and kits comprising the PUFAs for the prophylactic and/or therapeutic treatment of a disease or condition, in particular a cardiovascular and/or inflammatory disease or condition.

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for normal human growth and development, and their therapeutic and preventative benefits with regard to cardiovascular disease and rheumatoid arthritis have been well documented (James et al., A. J. Clin. Nutr. 77: 1140-1145 (2003); Simopoulos, A. J. Clin, Nutr. 70: 560S-569S (1999)). Multiple studies have documented a protective role of fish oil and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) with regard to the development of cardiovascular diseases. The cardioprotective benefits of fish oil have been largely attributed to 20 and 22 carbon fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA, 22:6, n-3) whose enrichment in cells and plasma lipoproteins results in decreased inflammation, thrombosis, blood pressure, arrhythmias, endothelial activation, and plasma triglyceride (TG) concentrations.
Mammals, including humans, can synthesize saturated fatty acids and monounsaturated (n-9) fatty acids but cannot synthesize either the (n-6) or the (n-3) double bond. The (n-3) and (n-6) fatty acids are essential components in cell membrane phospholipids and as a substrate for various enzymes; thus fatty acids containing these bonds are essential fatty acids and must be obtained in the diet. The (n-6) fatty acids are consumed primarily as linoleic acid [18:2(n-6)] from vegetable oils and arachidonic acid [AA, 20:4(n6)] from meats. The (n-3) fatty acids may be consumed as y-linolenic acid [GLA, 18:3(n-3)] from some vegetable oils. Longer-chain (n-3) fatty acids, mainly EPA and docosahexaenoic acid [DHA, 22:6(n-3)], are found in fish and fish oils (Hardman, J. Nutr. 134: 3427S-3430S (2004)).
In spite of the overwhelming evidence for the beneficial effects of fish oil, the consumption of n-3 PUFAs in the North American population is very low. Since the (n-3)- and (n-6) fatty acids cannot be interconverted in humans, the balance between (n-3) and (n-6) fatty acids in humans can only be achieved through appropriate diets. However, the current Western diet contains predominantly (n-6) fatty acids with a small portion of (n-3) fatty acids. In fact, it is estimated that actual dietary intakes of fatty acid from fish oil are as low as one-tenth of the levels recommended by the American Heart Association (Ursin, J. Nutr. 133: 4271-4272 (2003)). Such an imbalance in (n-3) and (n-6) fatty acids has been linked to various diseases, including asthma, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, cancer.
Research has revealed that (n-3) and (n-6) fatty acids affect the various disease conditions through the action of two types of enzymes: cyclooxygenase (COX) and lipoxygenase (LOX). COX and LOX act on 20-carbon fatty acids to produce cell-signaling molecules. COX activity on AA or EPA produces prostaglandins or thromboxanes; LOX activity on AA or EPA produces the leukotrienes. The 2-series prostaglandins produced from AA tend to be proinflammatory and proliferative in most tissues. The 3-series prostaglandins produced from EPA tend to be less promotional for inflammation and proliferation. Thus, EPA-derived prostaglandins are less favorable for inflammation and for the development and the growth of cancer cells (Hardman, J. Nutr. 134: 3427S-3430S (2004)).
An alternative approach to affecting inflammatory diseases has been to supplement diets with the 18-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acid of the (n-6) series, y-linolenic acid [GLA, 18:3(n-6)]. This fatty acid is found primarily in the oils of the evening primrose and borage plants and to a lesser extent in meats and eggs. Animal data as well as some clinical studies suggest that dietary supplementation with GLA may attenuate the signs and symptoms of 20 chronic inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and atopic dermatitis. Echium oil, another botanical oil, which contains stearidonic acid [SDA, 18:4 (n-3)], has been shown to have protective effects in hypertriglyceridemic patients.
However, a major concern in many dietary studies to date is that various sources of the PUFAs, whether it be fish oil, borage, evening primrose or echium oil or combinations of these oils, provide active ingredients (certain PUFAs) that are anti-inflammatory, but they also provide n-6 fatty acids that are potentially pro-inflammatory or that block the anti-inflammatory effects of the active PUFAs. Two such fatty acids are AA and linoleic acid [18:2 (n-6)]. The n-6 fatty acids are consumed primarily as linoleic acid from vegetable oils and AA from meats. Linoleic acid is converted to AA by a series of desaturation and elongation steps. The high amount of dietary linoleic acid is the primary culprit that has resulted in the major imbalance in omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids observed in western nations. Diets high in linoleic acid have been demonstrated to be pro-inflammatory in several animal models.
Arachidonic acid is a twenty carbon n-6 fatty acid that is converted in mammals to products called leukotrienes, prostaglandins and thromboxanes. These products induce inflammation, and blocking their production utilizing drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen, celecoxib (Celebrex™), and montelukast sodium (Singulair™) reduces signs and symptoms of inflammatory diseases including asthma and arthritis. In addition to the importance of AA in producing pro-inflammatory products, AA also regulates gene expression in mammals through transcription factors such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR)-alpha leading to low level whole body inflammation. As indicated above, recent studies reveal that AA is present in high concentrations in many items in our food supply. Ironically, it is found in high concentrations in certain fish. AA in human diets has been correlated with increased levels of pro-inflammatory products, platelet aggregation and atherosclerosis.

Compositions, methods, and kits for polyunsaturated fatty acids from microalgae

Wake Forest University School of Medicine


Systems and methods of forming transducer diaphragms are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method of producing a transducer diaphragm includes receiving a workpiece between a first forming tool and a second forming tool. The workpiece can have an inner boundary defining a central aperture. The workpiece with the aperture is compressed between the first and second forming tools to form the transducer diaphragm.

An audio transducer includes a cone or diaphragm that moves in response to electrical signals to produce acoustic energy (e.g., sound). Diaphragms can be made of various materials such as, for example, paper, metal, ceramics, etc. A conventional metal speaker diaphragm, for example, can be made from a sheet metal blank that is stamped into a frustum or cone shape. A center hole is punched out of the stamped cone creating an inner boundary of the cone. In many instances, however, a conventional metal cone forming process can stretch and stress metal material near the center of the cone, resulting in a cone sidewall with unsuitably large thickness variations and an increased likelihood of tearing of the inner boundary.
The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating example embodiments, but it is understood that the inventions are not limited to the arrangements and instrumentality shown in the drawings.

Systems and methods of forming audio transducer diaphragms


A method of forming a gel in a subsurface formation is provided whereby a monomer is polymerized in the formation in the presence of a crosslinker by an initiator selected from azo compounds which are temperature activated over a range of temperatures. The method is particularly useful to substantially terminate or at least decrease the flow of water from a subterranean formation into a wellbore penetrating the formation.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention broadly relates to the treatment of a subsurface earth formation which is penetrated by a borehole. The invention further relates to a method of decreasing the rate of flow of water from a subterranean formation into a borehole which penetrates the formation. This invention more specifically pertains to the introduction of a polymerizable monomer and a crosslinking monomer into a water-containing subterranean formation penetrated by a wellbore and causing the monomer to form a gel in the formation. The polymerization is produced by using a temperature activated compound whereby the polymerization is predictable, reproducible and not affected by oxidation/reduction reactions.
2. Related Art and Problems Solved
When performing various types of operations below the surface of the earth a problem often encountered which interferes with the operation is the undesirable flow of water from a subsurface formation into a work space or volume which penetrates the formation. Such operations can include, but are not limited to, mining operations, foundation construction, road and bridge construction, oil production and similar operations which require excavation into or penetration of earth structures having permeabilities conducive to the flow of water.
The related problem of terminating, or at least reducing, such undersireable flow of water has been attempted to be solved by various means. The solutions attempted have involved, among other things, pumping unwanted water from the work space, erecting barriers, e.g., a casing, at the interface between the space and the formation to prevent the flow of water from the formation into the work space and decreasing the permeability of the formation itself by introducing a material, e.g., a grout, into the formation.
It is well known that both oil and water are produced during the ordinary recovery of oil from a subterranean formation. If the ratio of water to oil, i.e., the water-oil ratio or WOR, is low, then the produced water can be handled and disposed of in a manner which will not unreasonably reduce the economic benefits derived from the produced oil. In such instances, water control can simply involve pumping the water from the well and storing or otherwise disposing of it in some acceptable fashion. However, if the WOR is so high that the various costs of pumping, handling, storing and disposing of the produced water exceeds the economic benefits of the produced oil, then the well is either abandoned or an alternate water control technique is employed.
One alternate water control method is disclosed by McLaughlin in U.S. Pat. No. 3,334,689, wherein an aqueous solution of a polymerizable composition containing a monoethylenically unsaturated acrylate monomer and a crosslinking agent are injected into the formation producing the water. The monomer and crosslinking agent are caused to form a stable crosslinked gel in the formation to thus reduce the water permeability of the formation and thereby terminate or at least decrease the rate of flow of water from the formation.
McLaughlin, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,533, discloses injecting into a subterranean formation an aqueous solution of a polymerizable monomer having dissolved therein a polymerization catalyst, i.e., an initiator, having a latent period. The monomer polymerizes in the formation after the latent period of the catalyst has expired. McLaughlin describes the product of the polymerization as a viscous polymer solution. In the practice of the invention, McLaughlin discloses the use of monomers having at least one carbon-to-carbon double bond to which can be added a crosslinking monomer, such as a diallyl monomer, if polymer crosslinking is desired. McLaughlin discloses that excess crosslinking monomer causes gelation which creates a plug rather than a desired viscous, but still flowable fluid. In other words, McLaughlin discloses that a plug can be formed in the formation if a crosslinking monomer is combined with his polymerizable monomer. McLaughlin, by way of example, thus discloses that a crosslinked polymer can be produced by polymerizing acrylamide in the presence of methylene bisacrylamide or the crosslinking monomers disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,334,689 referred to above.
In each of the prior art methods referred to above, the aqueous solution of polymerizable monomer and crosslinking agent also includes a polymerization initiator. The initiators employed are disclosed to be selected from persulfates, amines and peroxides. Specific initiators known to be employed in existing polymerization systems include sodium persulfate and triethanol amine, potassium persulfate and ammonium persulfate and tertiary butyl hydroperoxide.
The initiators heretofore employed are activated by a number of mechanisms including heat and oxidation/reduction reactions and are well known to be difficult to use because their activation is difficult to control, thus rendering unpredictable the time to produce a gel from the aqueous solution containing the monomer, crosslinker and initiator.
It is thus an object of this invention to produce a crosslinked polymer in a formation by use of an initiator whose activation can be controlled in order to enable the prediction of the time required to produce a gel from an aqueous solution containing a polymerizable monomer, a crosslinking agent and an initiator.


Disclosed are methods and pharmaceutical compositions for inducing pancreatic hormone production.

The endocrine pancreas consists primarily of islet cells that synthesize and secrete the peptide hormone glucagon, insulin, somatostatin and pancreatic polypeptide. Insulin gene expression is restricted to pancreatic islet β-cells of the mammalian pancreas through control mechanisms mediated in part by specific transcription factors. In other cells the insulin, other pancreatic hormones and specific peptidases genes are trancriptionally silent. The homeodomain protein PDX-1 (Pancreatic and Duodenal Homeobox gene-1, also known as IDX-1, IPF-1, STF-1 or IUF-1) plays a central role in regulating pancreatic islet development and function. PDX-1 is either directly or indirectly involved in islet-cell-specific expression of various genes such as for example insulin, glucagon somatostatin, proinsulin convertase 1/3 (PC1/3), GLUT-2 and glucokinase. Additionally, PDX-1 mediates insulin gene transcription in response to glucose.

Methods of inducing regulated pancreatic hormone production in non-pancreatic islet tissues


A programmable buoy system having one or more buoys capable of connecting through the Internet to a buoy command server. The buoy command server relays commands to each of the one or more buoys in response to user commands sent from a buoys command interface application on a mobile device. The programmable buoy system includes one or more buoys each having a hull with two or more pontoons where the hull has a top side and bottom side. A stationary rudder extends downward from the bottom side of the hull to be positioned in a body of water when the one or more buoys are in use. A motor is pivotably connected on each one or more buoys, wherein the motor has a propeller positioned away from the bottom side of the hull. The propeller and motor move the select one of the one or more buoys in the body of water.

In the field of sailboat racing a designated course is set up prior to the race using a number of different buoys. During the course of the race the boats are expected to sail around the buoys in a particular order, concluding the rate at a finish line buoy defined by an invisible line between the finish line buoy and a race committee boat or race committee location such as a dock, if the race committee is located on land. During the process of setting up the buoys to defined the course, the buoys are often placed by using work boats that drive to a designated location and then release or anchor the racing buoy in place. As a result the buoys are often placed out on the course hours before the race starts. In the case of regattas (i.e. lengthy events where multiple races are held in a single day or days) the buoys can be out almost a half day before the final races start. Many types of races involve trying to place the buoys at a Windward and Leeward directions relative to the race committee position. However during the course of the day wind direction is constantly changing and will require the buoys to be repositioned manually by the persons on the work boats. It is desirable to reduce the time between course set up and the start of the race. It is also desirable to provide a system that will eliminate the need to manually reposition the buoys for a race.
Also in the maritime field navigational charts of bodies of water help boat operators know the approximate depth of the water at a specific latitude and longitude. However many navigational charts rely on old data, which at times can be decades if not centuries old. Also some bodies of water have never been charted and have no navigational charts. The reason for the outdated or on charted bodies of water is that it often times takes a large amount of resources to chart a body of water. Historically this was done by a charting boat surveying a body of water or a portion of a body of water, wherein the crew of the charting boat would take depth measurements a different points. More modern navigational charts are prepared using sonar technology where bodies of water are mapped by a sonar boat which requires a boat or vessel with a crew to navigate the body of water and collect the needed data from a sonar connected to the boat. For smaller bodies of water the above approaches are not always practical due to the expense and time needed to map the body of water, therefore navigational charts are sometimes unavailable. It is therefore desirable to develop new systems for charting bodies of water that do not require as many resources as the more traditional methods.


A low pressure exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooler efficiency diagnosis method for an EGR system includes measuring speed and load of an engine, setting a difference threshold between model temperature and detected temperature downstream of the low pressure EGR cooler according to speed and load of the engine, measuring a pressure difference between upstream and downstream sides of the EGR valve, calculating a mass flow rate of an exhaust gas passing through the low pressure EGR cooler based on the measured pressure difference, calculating the efficiency of the low pressure EGR cooler based on the calculated mass flow rate, calculating the model temperature downstream of the low pressure EGR cooler based on the calculated efficiency, and comparing the model temperature downstream of the low pressure EGR cooler with the detected temperature downstream of the low pressure EGR cooler. A low pressure EGR system is also disclosed.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method for diagnosing efficiency of a low pressure exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system and a low pressure EGR cooler. More particularly, the present invention relates to a temperature calculation method for a low pressure EGR cooler of a low pressure EGR system and a low pressure EGR cooler efficiency diagnosis method, which uses a low pressure EGR valve model and a low pressure EGR cooler model.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, most diesel engines are provided with an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system so as to satisfy exhaust gas regulations.
The exhaust gas recirculation system recirculates a part of the exhaust gas exhausted from the engine to an intake line to reduce the combustion temperature of the engine and to reduce the NOx generation amount.
NOx elimination has become an important factor pursuant to the exhaust gas regulations of the EU and North America, and a low pressure EGR system as well as a high pressure EGR system are used so as to efficiently control the temperature and the flow rate of the recirculated exhaust gas.
Particularly, an EGR cooler has been recently applied to meet the exhaust gas regulations for the diesel engines. However, since the EGR cooler cools the exhaust gas, smoke or particulate matters (PM) may block the inner passage of the EGR cooler. In this case, the efficiency of the EGR cooler is deteriorated.
When the efficiency of the EGR cooler is deteriorated, the exhaust gas is not normally cooled and it is hard to know whether the EGR cooler is blocked or not by appearance, and therefore it is necessary to develop a model or method to predict the efficiency of the cooler. More particularly, it is necessary to check the efficiency of the EGR cooler without disassembling the EGR cooler.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Low pressure EGR system and examining method for efficiency of low EGR cooler