The present invention provides a novel process for making a radially arranged aluminum foil-filled plastic pellet for shielding against electromagnetic interference, comprising sandwiching a plastic matrix in between two layers of aluminum foil to form an aluminum/plastic/aluminum laminated sheet; slicing the laminated sheet into a plurality of aluminum/plastic/aluminum laminated strips; dividing the plurality of laminated strips into at least one group, each group containing 3 to 20 radially arranged strips; moisturizing and binding at least one group of laminated strips with a molten plastic matrix to form at least one radially arranged aluminum foil-filled plastic bar; and cutting at least one plastic bar into radially arranged aluminum foil-filled plastic pellets. By the present invention, the cost of making the conductive plastic pellets can be decreased, the amount of aluminum foil in the pellet can be greatly increased, and the breakage of the aluminum foil in the die can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel process for making aluminum foil-filled plastic pellets for shielding against electromagnetic interference (EMI), and more particularly relates to a process for making such pellets which are filled with radially arranged aluminum foil by using two aluminum foil layers and a molten plastic matrix as raw materials.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the progress of technology has led to a marked increase in the amount of sophisticated electronic equipment. However, the high-density electromagnetic waves produced from electronic equipment have the potential to damage or adversely affect the performance of other equipment or components. Also, exposure to electromagnetic waves may be harmful to the human body. Therefore, an electrically conductive outer shell is needed to shield against electromagnetic interference (EMI) produced by electronic equipment.
Heretofore, various methods have been used to shield electronic equipment. Metallic boxes and cans fabricated from steel, copper, aluminum, etc., have been used to surround high EMI emitters for the purposes of shielding. However, because shields fabricated from metal are cumbersome, heavy and costly, the electronics industry has resorted to metallized plating on plastics. However, the results obtained with metallic coatings have not always been satisfactory. In addition to being relatively uneconomical, once such metallic coatings are scratched through, they lose part of their shielding effectiveness. Unless such conductive coatings are continuous and free of voids, electromagnetic waves will be free to pass through. Frequently, it is difficult to obtain a dependable, 100% effective coating that is also resistant to peeling.
Further efforts by the electronics industry to develop more dependable light-weight materials for EMI shielding have led to a third approach, namely the use of electrically conductive component-filled plastic composites. It has been anticipated that it will be possible to mold intricate shapes from such composite materials by conventional means, yielding a finished part that promises to be more economical and dependable than metal or metal-coated plastics.
The principal factor influencing the performance of conductive component-filled plastic composites is the aspect ratio of the conductive fillers. The aspect ratio is defined as the ratio of the maximum dimension to the minimum dimension of the filler. For example, the aspect ratio of a fiber is the ratio of the length to the diameter of the fiber. According to electromagnetic wave percolation theory, if the conductive filler in the plastic retains a higher aspect ratio, the filler easily forms a conductive network; thus, the critical concentration of the conductive filler required to achieve the electromagnetic shielding effect (that is, the threshold percolation concentration) is reduced.
There are three types of methods for preparing conductive component-filled plastic composites. The first type involves compounding the conductive fillers in the form of powders, short fibers or flakes with the plastic matrix. Then, the mixture is hot-pressed molded or injection molded into various kinds of plastic products for shielding EMI.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,685 discloses a process for fabricating electromagnetic shielding products by first compounding and then moulding a molding composition including a thermosetting resin binder and an electrically conductive filler (including carbon black, graphite and conductive metal powders). However, during the compounding with the resin matrix, the conductive powders may easily cluster, and thus are not capable of dispersing in the resin matrix. Consequently, the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of the molded products can not be effectively improved. Furthermore, since the powder filler has a lower aspect ratio, according to the electromagnetic wave percolation theory as mentioned above, the amount of powder filler added (i.e., threshold percolation concentration) must be relatively high to achieve electrical conductivity. Consequently, the mechanical properties, color and other physical and chemical properties of the molded products are adversely affected.
Alternatively, if the conductive filler is in a higher aspect ratio form such as fibers or flakes, although the filler can be loaded to a lower level, clustering is still difficult to prevent. In addition, during the compounding process, in order to maintain the original aspect ratio, the conductive filler should be strong enough to prevent brittleness due to compounding. However, such a strong conductive filler is very expensive, and is thus not suitable for ordinary low-cost electronic equipment.
The second type of method for preparing conductive component-filled plastic composites involves binding a plastic layer to enclose the conductive filler by immersion or extrusion, and then cutting the conductive long fiber-filled plastic stick to a predetermined length. For example, Japanese Patent No. 60-112854 discloses a process including continuous extruding thermoplastic plastic to enclose a copper fiber so as to form a copper fiber-filled plastic round stick, and then cutting the plastic round stick into pellets of a predetermined size. In order to increase the aspect ratio of the filler, the diameter of the conductive long fiber should be as small as possible. The fibrous filler must be strong enough to prevent breakage. However, such strong fibrous filler, such as stainless steel fiber, copper fiber or metal-coated carbon fiber, is very expensive.
To decrease the total cost involved in the production of conductive component-filled plastic composites, aluminum filler which has the advantages of low price, low density, excellent electromagnetic shielding effectiveness, and ease of color matching has already been used. When aluminum flakes are applied to the first type of method for preparing aluminum-filled plastic composites, the process involves compounding aluminum flakes with plastic. However, since aluminum has low strength, many aluminum flakes break during the compounding process, resulting in a rapid decrease of the aspect ratio. Therefore, the incorporation amount (threshold percolation concentration) should be increased to a very high level (generally, as high as 30 to 40%) to achieve an acceptable electromagnetic shielding effectiveness. The result is that total costs are increased, and more seriously, the electromagnetic shielding plastic products thus obtained have poor mechanical properties. For example, elongation, tensile strength, bending strength and impact strength are all adversely affected.
When aluminum fiber is applied to the second type of method for preparing aluminum-filled plastic composites, the process involves binding a plastic layer to enclose the aluminum fiber by immersion or extrusion. Again, since the diameter of the aluminum fiber is very small and the aluminum has low strength, the aluminum fibers easily break, resulting in a rapid decrease of the aspect ratio.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, one of the inventors of the present invention has disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,851 a third type of process for making metallized plastic pellets, in which the radially arranged metal is filled. The process involves sandwiching an electrically conductive metal foil in between two plastic films to form a metallized laminated plastic sheet; slicing the plastic sheet into plastic strips; radially arranging the metallized plastic strips into a die of an extruder to be moisturized and bound by the molten plastic into a metallized plastic bar; and finally cutting the plastic bar into metallized plastic pellets of a predetermined size.
Although this third type of process has seen some improvements over the first and second type processes, still, there are some disadvantages to the third type of process, which are outlined below.
1. First, in the third type of process, two rolls of the already-formed plastic film are used, meaning that higher economic costs are incurred with regard to the raw materials.
2. Second, the plastic/metal/plastic laminated sheet obtained from sandwiching a conductive metal foil in between two plastic films is very thick. Thus, it is very difficult to slice the thick laminated sheet into laminated strips of width 1 to 2 mm, and frequently the result is separation between the plastic films and the metal foil.
3. Since the outer layers of the plastic/metal/plastic laminated strips are plastic, when the strips enter the die of the extruder, they immediately melt; thus, since the plastic layers no longer provide any reinforcement to the metal foil, the metal foil must independently take up the tensile stress in the die to a very large extent. This means that the aluminum foil, with low strength, will break easily, and thus th e whole process is interrupted.
4. In addition, due to the size of the inlet of the die of the extruder, the laminated strips that can enter the die at the same time are limited. Only one layer of aluminum foil is contained in each such plastic/metal/plastic strip. If the strip structure can be altered to increase the number of the metal layers in each plastic/metal/plastic strip, the amount of metal foil in the metallized plastic pellet can be effectively increased.
According to the above descriptions, to date, all three types of process for making aluminum-filled plastic composites suffer from some problems. Since aluminum has low strength, in the first and second types of processes, aluminum flakes and aluminum fibers easily break, resulting in a rapid decrease of the aspect ratio. Therefore, the amount of aluminum incorporated should be increased to a very high level to achieve an acceptable electromagnetic shielding effectiveness. The consequence is that total costs are increased, and more seriously, the electromagnetic shielding plastic products thus obtained have poor mechanical properties.
Although the third type of process has achieved some improvements over the first and second type of processes, it still suffers from some problems, such as higher costs with respect to raw materials, separation of the plastic films from the metal foil, easy breakage of the metal foil, and an inadequate amount of metal foil in one plastic pellet.

Process and apparatus for making radially arranged aluminum foil-filled plastic pellets to shield against electromagnetic interference


A nacelle assembly for a gas turbine engine according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a fan nacelle bounding a bypass flow path. The fan nacelle includes a first nacelle section and a second nacelle section. The second nacelle section includes a moveable portion movable relative to a forward portion to define a secondary flow passage. The first nacelle section includes an inlet lip. A thrust reverser is configured to selectively communicate a portion of bypass airflow between the bypass flow path and the secondary flow passage. A pump is configured to selectively communicate airflow between the inlet lip and the secondary flow passage. A method of flow distribution for a gas turbine engine is also disclosed.

The present disclosure relates to a propulsion system having integrated flow control assemblies for a nacelle inlet and thrust reverser.
Gas turbine engines can include a fan nacelle defining a bypass duct. An inlet lip of the fan nacelle guides incoming airflow to radially outer surfaces of the inlet lip and to a fan. The fan provides propulsion air through the bypass duct. The fan also delivers air into a core engine where it is compressed. The compressed air is then delivered into a combustion section, where it is mixed with fuel and ignited. The combustion gas expands downstream over and drives turbine blades.
Some gas turbine engines include a thrust reverser in which a translatable nacelle forms an outer wall portion of the bypass duct. The translatable nacelle is moved axially to communicate a portion of bypass airflow radially outward via a cascade to provide reverse thrust.

Combined inlet laminar and thrust reverser cascade efflux flow control system


A pulsar based timing synchronization method and system are disclosed. In one example, a method includes receiving, by a pulsar signal receiver device, a pulse signal emitted from one or more celestial objects and processing, by the pulsar signal receiver device, the pulse signal to discipline a local clock to determine an accurate time output. The method also includes generating, by the pulsar signal receiver device, a timing synchronization signal based on the determined accurate time output. The method further includes providing, by the pulsar signal receiver device, the timing synchronization signal to at least one of a local power system device and a timing distribution network server.

The modern electric power grid relies on precise timing synchronization for conducting accurate measurements, state estimation, protection and control. A phasor measurement unit (PMU), among other synchrometrology devices, relies greatly on accurate timing in order to generate synchronized data for a wide area monitoring, protection, and control (WAMPC) system. Other devices, such as traveling wave fault detection devices, differential relays, power quality meters, and digital fault recorders also require highly accurate timing information.
As such, a reliable and resilient precision timing source is a critical component for an electrical power system. At present, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as a Global Positioning System (GPS), typically serves as the main timing source for most power systems. For example, in the GNSS system, atomic clocks on GNSS satellites are configured to generate accurate timing synchronization signals. The timing synchronization signals are subsequently transmitted from the GNSS satellites to the GPS receivers. Using at least four GNSS satellites, a GPS receiver is able to obtain its own geographical coordinates and an accurate time.
Moreover, electrical power system devices can obtain synchronous timing synchronization signals either directly from a GNSS receiver or from a timing distribution system that is synchronized to and disciplined by the GNSS. The GNSS, however, is susceptible to intentional and unintentional interference due to its low power signal propagation. Furthermore, the GNSS is typically the only timing source of a power system (i.e., without a backup), thereby reducing the overall reliability of the system.
Thus, there currently exists a need in the art for an improved system and method for providing accurate timing synchronization signals using a pulsar signal receiver device.

Pulsar based timing synchronization method and system

University of Tennessee Research Foundation


The present invention is an apparatus for trimming plants, in particular, buds and flowers, to remove unwanted plant material. A typical application would be to process a plant to leave only trimmed buds and flowers for use in potpourri, fragrant sashes, or as a prelude to further processing of essential oils. The apparatus employs a combination of a slotted metal drum and a lawn mower type cutting reel that are rotated in the same direction, but at different speeds, to create a cutting interface that shears off the unwanted plant material. The apparatus further employs a vacuum manifold to collect the debris and transfer it into a waste collection device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the trimming of plants, and in particular to the trimming of plant buds and flowers.
2. Description of the Background Art
There are a multitude of machines and methods for cutting, chipping, trimming, and grinding plant materials for a variety of purposes such as for gardening, making wood products, food processing, agriculture, and composting. Although there are a number of prior art apparatuses in these related fields, there are only a couple of apparatuses that are sufficiently related in purpose and/or design to that of the present invention to bear detailed discussion.
One such prior art apparatus as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,168,643 (Mercier) describes a leaf snatcher for taking leaves and other small plant debris and putting this material into a waste container. This apparatus, which is specifically designed for yard cleanup of leaves and small plant debris, uses a round, horizontal grate with a rotating cutting blade underneath designed to create a vacuum to pull the plant material through the grate into a waste receptacle underneath. This machine is designed for coarse cutting and suction of the material and not for careful trimming of the plant material so that it can be effectively used for the preparation of potpourri, catnip, and other decorative or olfactory products. This apparatus is similar in design concept and purpose to European Patent Application No. 0004144A1 (Peck).
A very similar apparatus to that disclosed in the above-mentioned Mercier patent is published U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0069056A1 (Shouse, et al). This application describes an apparatus and method for trimming flowers and related plant material to make such things as potpourri, catnip, and other decorative or olfactory products. The apparatus, which was intended for trimming flowers, uses a simple round, horizontal grating located just above a horizontal rotating blade as disclosed in the Mercier patent to trim off unwanted parts of a flower (or other parts of a plant) that extend through the grating and are sheared by the rotating blade. The purpose of the machine is to reduce the amount of hand cutting of flowers and related plant parts, thereby lowering the cost of production. However, as pointed out in its specification, the flowers or other plant parts must still be "rolled on the machine" (i.e, around the top side of the grating) by hand. The specification admits that the machine only "reduces" the amount of labor formerly needed to perform this task.
Another example is set out in U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,844 (Nelson) which describes a specialized machine for processing dried lavender. This apparatus utilizes two vertically oriented opposing belt rollers that are placed nearly parallel to each other to form a moving wedge-shaped conveyor that take hold of the lavender and move it into an ever decreasing space between the belts. The process of crushing the lavender between the wedged belts results in the flower buds (which results mostly in chaff) separating from the stems and falling to a collection bin below the belts. At the end of the belt system, the stems and other debris are pushed out through a slot into a collection basket as waste product. The use of this apparatus has a number of drawbacks: it still requires significant hand labor to insert the lavender which must then be hand-inserted into the apparatus from the open top side in a manner that avoids jamming or overflowing of the wedge belt design. Moreover, there is consideration damage to the flower buds resulting in the creation of significant amounts of chaff and debris that must be further separated and portions collected as dust that must be discarded.
As shown above with the state of the existing art, there is still considerable hand labor required for trimming plant buds and flowers.
Perhaps even more importantly, the finished quality of flower buds is not easily controllable and desired portions of flower buds are often crushed and/or cut away. For certain types of finished products, this is a serious drawback and is the reason that most plant processing of this type is still done with hand cutting.
The above described inventions can only operate with dry plant material and can become clogged or gummed up when the particular type of plant being processed has greater amounts of natural surface oils on its stems, leaves, and flowers.
Finally, the aforementioned inventions pose a hazard for the operator or the operator's clothing because the operator has to place the leaves on the respective grill, thereby creating a possibility that hair, a piece of clothing or a small appendage (e.g., a child or animal) could get caught in the apparatus.
All of the above negative factors add to the cost of production and to non-optimal product quality and safety issues for the operator. Consequently, there is a need in this field of art for an apparatus that is less labor intensive, has superior controllability of the end-product quality, can operate with plants with varying degrees of oils, and has significantly improved safety for the operator.

Method and apparatus for trimming buds and flowers


Reflectionless low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, and band-stop filters, as well as a method for designing such filters is disclosed. The filters function by absorbing the stop-band portion of the spectrum rather than reflecting it back to the source, which has significant advantages in many different applications.

1. Field
The invention is directed toward electronic filters and methods of their use. Specifically, the invention is directed toward reflectionless electronic filters and methods of their use.
2. Background
Filters are ubiquitous components in virtually all electronic systems, from communications to radio astronomy, and arguably the fundamental principles of filter theory and optimization have been well known for the better part of a century. Nonetheless, practical filter design and implementation remains one of the most active fields of study in the electronics community today. However, reflectionless filters, in which the stop-band portion of the spectrum is absorbed rather than reflected back to the source, largely have been overlooked.
Standard reflective filters cause numerous problems in many applications, including: (1) sensitivity of mixer performance to out-of-band port terminations, (2) potential instability of integrated amplifiers with high out-of-band gain, (3) detrimental or unpredictable nonlinear effects resulting from reactive harmonic loading, (4) potential damage to high-power transmitters with large harmonic content, and (5) leakage, interference, or cross-talk resulting from trapped energy between the filter and another poorly matched component coupling into the enclosure cavity.
There are many practical situations in which the reactive termination presented by a conventional filter in its stop-band adversely affects the system performance. Mixers, for example, can be extremely sensitive to the out-of-band terminations present on any of their ports, which is precisely where a filter is most likely to be in many heterodyne applications. Wideband system designers have learned to work around this problem by routinely inserting fixed attenuators in the signal path near the mixer. Similarly, high gain amplifiers, though they may be unconditionally stable in a test fixture, can easily develop instability in a packaged environment where unintended feedback is combined with a reactive out-of-band termination on its input or output. Again, a filter is often used adjacent to the amplifier to better define the bandwidth of the system, and the stop-band impedance of the filter may need to be padded with attenuators to avoid causing stability problems.
One conventional approach to making a filter that is matched in both the pass- and stop-bands is to design a diplexer (or multiplexer) using two or more filters with complementary susceptance curves derived from singly loaded (reflective) prototypes, and terminating all but one of these filters with a matched load. This is a fairly complex procedure, requiring at least double the number of distinct elements as a conventional filter of the same order, and would be matched on only one of the two ports. An alternative design is to make a directional filter using two quadrature hybrids in a balanced configuration, or by using a directional coupling structure. However, quadrature hybrids with sufficient bandwidth can be difficult to design, and the intrinsically directional filter structures do not lend themselves to high-order implementations.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a reflectionless filter that does not reflect signals in its stop-band back to the source. Further, it would be desirable to have a reflectionless filter that is well-matched at all frequencies, and on both ports.


The present invention provides a signal transmission method, a network device, a terminal device, and a communication system. The signal transmission method comprises: a network device sends a first synchronization signal of a first cell by using a first been, the first synchronization signal carrying identifier information of the first beam; the network device sends, by using the first beam, a first broadcast message scrambled by means of the identifier information of the first beam; a terminal device receives a first synchronization signal sent by the network device, and obtaining the identifier information of the first beam carried in the first synchronization signal; and the terminal device detects the first broadcast message according to the identifier information of the first beam. The signal transmission method, the network device, the terminal device and the communication system in the present invention, signal transmission quality can be improved.

A Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology is one of the core technologies of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, which can greatly increase the transmission rate of the system. Beamforming is a signal preprocessing technology based on an antenna array. A beam with directivity is generated by adjusting the weight of a signal sent on each antenna array element.
In the related art, the transmission of a cell common signal (such as a synchronization signal and a broadcast message) can only be transmitted through at most one beam, and sufficient beamforming gains cannot be obtained, which affects the quality of signal transmission.

Signal transmission method, network device, and terminal device

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


A power system for a vehicle comprises a first power supply network configured to operate at a first voltage. The first power supply network comprises a first alternator, a starter motor, and a battery conductively connected to the first alternator and the starter motor. The system further comprises a second power supply network configured to operate at a second voltage. The second power supply network comprises a second alternator, a power supply receptacle configured to output power to an external accessory, and a capacitive energy storage device conductively connected to the second alternator and the power supply receptacle. A directional conduction device interconnects the first power supply network and the second power supply network.

The use of high power electronic accessories in mobile applications may commonly result in significant increases in weight due to the utilization of large batteries (e.g. lead-acid batteries) required to sustain operation for extended periods. The disclosure provides for a system configured to limit the weight of a mobile electrical power supply for a vehicle while providing extended operation and maintaining performance for high power applications.


A system for making a craft comprises a core and a sleeve. The core includes a molding portion. The sleeve has an exterior surface and defines an interior space. The sleeve comprises a collapsible portion that is collapsible towards the interior space. The sleeve is configured to cover the molding portion such that the molding portion of the core prevents collapsing of the collapsible portion interiorly. The core is configured to be releasable from the sleeve and when there is a layer of dried molding material on the exterior surface, the collapsible portion of the sleeve is articulable interiorly away from the layer of dried molding material to at least partially collapse the sleeve for removal from the layer of dried molding material.

Making crafts, particularly pottery or sculpting, can be messy and difficult for those with limited dexterity, like children. Many conventional pottery systems involve multiple components that can be difficult to operate and require a considerable amount of manipulation of the molding material to create even simple items, such as cups or vases.
It would be desirable to have a system and method for making a craft that may overcome at least some of these problems with conventional pottery and sculpting systems.


An illuminated vehicle display apparatus has a flexible electroluminescent panel having a front planar surface which directly generates illumination when excited by an alternating current. A thin flat flexible opaque shield has cutout areas to form designs therein and is attached over the electroluminescent panel planar surface so that portions of the panel are visible through the opaque shield so that indicia and graphic designs are defined by the visible electroluminescent light. A thin flexible magnetic sheet of material is attached over the rear surface of the electroluminescent panel for removably attaching the vehicle sign to the side of a vehicle. The electroluminescent panel has a pair of conductors coupled thereto and through a DC to AC converter and is attached to the vehicle battery, such as through the vehicle cigarette lighter. A pair of panels may be attached to both sides of the vehicle on the doors adjacent the door hinge so that the conductors pass through the hinged area and are attached to a common cigarette lighter plug for powering panels on each side of the vehicle simultaneously.

The present invention relates to an illuminated vehicle display and especially to a flexible electroluminescent panel removably attachable to the side of a vehicle.
Illuminated display panels and signs have been used for providing information and as decorative displays in advertising and are well known in the prior art. Typically, such devices include structural components used in combination with a light source such as one or more lightbulbs wherein the field of illumination covers the information or display to be illuminated and exposed for viewing. The prior art includes structures which incorporate the illumination source being directed onto the face of a display surface to facilitate viewing thereof. The source of illumination may also be built into the interior of the display structure to accomplish a form of backlighting. Electroluminescent lamps have been used and typically have an outwardly facing planar surface which directly generates and radiates illumination when excited by an alternating current at a predetermined potential. Such lamps may include a light permeable electrode layer and a rear electrode layer with a luminescent layer interposed between the light permeable electrode layer and the rear electrode so that when an alternating current is applied to the electrode layers, the entire panel produces a soft light.
Prior U.S. patents can be seen in the Barlow Pat. No. 4,637,148 for an electroluminescent light formed into a badge that a person can wear and has means for a battery operated electronic DC to AC inverter and flashing circuit. The Kanamori Patent No. 4,494,326 provides an electroluminescent display formed into a motor vehicle window to continuous illuminate a vehicle manufacturer's emblem type or model of vehicle as desired. In the Munoz Pat. No. 4,475,298, an illuminated display plate may be attached to the front of a vehicle and has an illumination source with an opaque shield forming indicia. The Phillips, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,089 is a decorative aluminum auto reflector, while the Flannery Pat. No. 3,921,324 is an illuminated license plate for vehicles which uses light tubes for rear lighting the license plate to define the indicia.
It has also been common in the past to provide a magnetic sign for attachment to the side of a vehicle and these magnetic signs are commonly made of a flexible thermoplastic polymer material which is impregnated with magnetic materials.
The present invention relates to an electroluminescent display or sign for attachment to one or both doors of the body of a vehicle for displaying advertising material or the like at night during low light periods to allow a better visibility of the advertising material. The displays can be rapidly attached and removed from the vehicle with the wiring passing inconspicuously between the edge of the door and the vehicle body and can be connected to the vehicle power through the cigarette lighter receptacle. An electroluminescent display panel and magnetic attaching means are flexible for quickly attaching to the side of a vehicle without damaging the paint or surface of the vehicle.


One embodiment provides for a method that includes performing, by a processor, active learning of large scale entity resolution using a distributed compute memoing cache to eliminate redundant computation. Link feature vector tables are determined for intermediate results of the active learning of large scale entity resolution. The link feature vector tables are managed by a two-level cache hierarchy.

Active learning of entity resolution (ER) rules eases users' burden where interactivity is essential. Current solutions do not scale well over large data sets. For data sets with millions of records, each iteration might takes several to tens of minutes on a 6-node cluster.
Matching functions are basic units composing ER rules, which are provided by a user. The active learning learns the composition of several matching functions together with thresholds and generates an ER rule. Multiple iterations of active a learning process outputs a number of ER rules, which as a whole identifies entities that belong to the same real word entity.
Blocking functions are a special type of matching functions that are incorporated into ER rules. One ER rule should have at least one blocking function. Blocking functions are used to reduce the number of pairs to be compared from two-input datasets reducing the computation cost.

Two level compute memoing for large scale entity resolution

International Business Machines Corporation


Macrolides of formula (I) and methods of treatment of resistance to transplantation, fungal infections and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis using said macrolides of formula (I), ##STR1## wherein n is 1 or 2; A and B taken together form .dbd.O or A and B taken separately are each H or A is OH and B is H; R.sup.1 is a group of the formula ##STR2## R.sup.2 is OH or a desosaminyloxy group; and R.sup.3 is an alkyl or allyl group.

This invention relates to phosphonated derivatives of macrolides. These compounds are useful as immunosuppressive agents.
The compounds of this invention are useful in preventing or treating graft rejection following skin and organ transplant surgery and in preventing or treating autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. They are also useful in preventing or treating infectious diseases caused by fungi.
Graft or organ transplant rejection following transplant surgery is a common occurrence which arises when foreign antigens are recognized by the host's immune response system. The host's immune response system, in an effort to protect itself from the foreign tissue, then releases a cellular and humoral arsenal, resulting in complications which often end in rejection of said tissue.
The occurrence of immunoregulatory irregularities in autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases is well known. Treatments which target the immune response system often result in a complete shutdown of the system, leading to a lowering of the body's ability to combat infection. This can be as dangerous as the original condition which led to the shutdown. Currently, the leading medicinal agent for the prevention or treatment of graft rejection is cyclosporin A, approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 1983. Cyclosporin can cause kidney failure, liver damage and ulcers; which in many cases can be very severe. Safer drugs that are more selective in their ability to affect the immune response system and which have fewer side effects are constantly being pursued.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,366, which issued on Jan. 16, 1990, describes the macrolides FK-506 and FK-520, inter alia, as immunosuppressants which are useful in the treatment of "resistance to transplantation," autoimmune diseases and infectious diseases.


For forming a sound absorption/insulation honeycomb panel by stacking an air-permeable material, a honeycomb material filled with a sound absorption material and a reflector, and adhesively joining these materials, it is hard to join the honeycomb material and the air-permeable material adhesively due to a thin wall surface of the honeycomb material and a resultant line to surface adhesive joint therebetween, causing a problem of low adhesive strength. By using a water absorption honeycomb material, an adhesive joint is formed with an adhesive joint area increased by dipping an end of a wall surface of a cell forming the water absorption honeycomb material into a water-soluble adhesive, making the end flexible over a fixed period of time, and then pressing the end strongly against an air-permeable material as a counterpart of the adhesive joint to deform a tip into an inverted T-shape.

Complaints against noise are on the increase resulting from change in urban environment caused by a concentration of population, development of transportation networks, electrification of houses, etc. A survey conducted in 2016 by the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications shows that noise pollution has surpassed air pollution to become the primary cause for complaints. In particular, complaints against low-frequency sound are on the increase every year. Hence, development of light-weight, thin, and easy to handle sound shielding panels has been desired strongly.
A sound absorption panel as a conventional technique has a stacked structure formed by adhesively joining multiple materials suitable for sound absorption or insulation to a honeycomb material as a core filled with a sound absorption foam material (patent literature 1). This is a satisfactory panel in terms of sound absorption and insulation properties. According to the structure of this panel, however, a wall surface forming a cell of the honeycomb material is butt-joined at a right angle to a surface of the stacked structure for adhesively joining the honeycomb material and an air-permeable surface material (hereinafter abbreviated as an air-permeable material). This has caused difficulty in ensuring an adhesive joint area due to a small thickness of the wall surface.
For adhesively joining the honeycomb material and the air-permeable material, achieving a method of obtaining maximum adhesive strength with a minimum quantity of an adhesive has been a problem to be solved. According to the foregoing conventional technique, strength is ensured by simply increasing the quantity of the adhesive to be applied to a tip and a wall surface of the honeycomb material for butt-joining the honeycomb material and adhesively joining the honeycomb material to an air-permeable surface (sound absorption surface).
However, the adhesive applied to the wall surface of the honeycomb material flows over the wall surface of the honeycomb material when the honeycomb material is butt-joined to the air-permeable material forming the sound absorption surface to enter a surface of the air-permeable material, resulting in a loss of a hole or a gap between fibers of the air-permeable material. This has caused problems such as reduction in a sound absorption area due to the loss of the gap, reduction in a commercial value due to dirt on the air-permeable surface caused by the incoming adhesive, etc.
A large quantity of an adhesive causes cost increase. Additionally, many adhesives generally used belong to Class 4 dangerous goods. This causes a problem that increased quantities of use prevents flame resistance of products.
According to a different suggested technique, by using the flexibility of each of sponge-based materials forming a sound absorption surface and a sound insulation surface, a honeycomb material is forced into the sponge-based materials to increase an area of an adhesive joint with the honeycomb material. In this way, the adhesive force of an adhesive applied to the honeycomb material is increased (patent literature 2).
According to this technique, materials for the sound absorption surface and the sound insulation surface are limited to the sponge-based material, causing a problem that sufficient sound absorption/insulation properties are not always achieved.
According to a different suggested method, by using the water absorbing properties of a felt-like fiber material forming a sound absorption surface, moisture in a water-soluble adhesive is caused to permeate into fiber to increase an area of the permeation of the adhesive. In this way, a composite structure integrated with a wall surface of a honeycomb material is formed to increase adhesive force (patent literature 3).
According to this method, a material for the sound absorption surface is also limited to the felt-like fiber material, also causing a problem that sufficient sound absorption/insulation properties are not always achieved.
A different suggestion is responsive to an issue that, for producing each type of panel by affixing a surface material to a honeycomb material as a core, a contact surface for affixation between a constituting raw material of the honeycomb material and the surface material is defined only by the thickness of the constituting raw material of the honeycomb material, so that a comparatively large quantity of an adhesive is required to obtain strength after formation of the adhesive joint. According to this suggestion, for achieving a large contact area, upper and lower contact surfaces of the constituting raw material are pressed with a roller to widen the area of each constituting raw material (patent literature 4).
This has caused a problem that equipment or effort is required for pressing the contact surface of the constituting raw material with the roller. This has caused an additional problem that, even a skilled operator may still fail to press the contact surface of the entire constituting raw material uniformly to make this work troublesome.
According to a different suggested structure, for producing a sandwich panel made of a honeycomb core material formed by tightly aligning multiple hollow polygonal columns in rows and a pair of skin plates adhesively joined to the opposite surfaces of the honeycomb core material, to prevent reduction in adhesive strength to be caused by a small area of contact between the honeycomb core material and each of the skin plates and a resultant small area of an adhesive joint between the honeycomb core material and each of the skin plates (line to surface adhesive joint), adhesive joint surfaces facing the inner surfaces of fiber reinforced resin plates (skin plates) are connected to ends of the polygonal column in the lengthwise direction thereof forming the honeycomb core material (patent literature 5).
According to one example suggested for producing the honeycomb core material, the adhesive joint surfaces are formed by processing a raw material by pressing or bending, for example. By doing so, resultant upper and lower adhesive joint surfaces facing the inner surfaces of the skin plates are mutually continuous with each other. According to a different suggested example, each of upper and lower ends of each side forming a hexagon are formed by cutout process or bending process into a T shape or an L shape in a cross section. By doing so, a resultant adhesive joint surface facing the inner surface of the skin plate has a shape straddling a peripheral edge of an opening of the hexagon at an end of the honeycomb in the lengthwise direction thereof (marginal shape). In this way, an adhesive joint surface facing the inner surface of the skin plate is given a large area. As a result, sufficient adhesive strength is expected to be achieved.
However, this manufacturing method is to lose advantage of being light weight and easy to manufacture achieved by a honeycomb core material produced by a conventional method of preparing a material by applying an adhesive in linear patterns shifted in positions to a large number of flat plates stacked on each other, cutting the material into an intended width, and expanding the material. This means that, for manufacturing sandwich panels of the same area, a material for a honeycomb core material is increased, steps become complicated, and thus manufacturing cost is unintentionally increased.

Sound absorption/insulation honeycomb panel


Wind deflector for motor vehicle roofs with a cover to close or open a roof opening. The wind deflector exhibits an air conducting profile placed on the front edge of the roof opening that can be pushed out into an operating position under the influence of spring force and actuating arms connected to it which are hinged to pivot on an integral part of the roof and which, by sliding the cover in the closing direction, lower the air conducting profile member into a nonoperating position. The air conducting profile member carries a stopping strip which extends at least almost entirely over its full length and which, in the operating position of the wind deflector, lies against a stop on the front edge of the roof opening and thus limits the pushing-out movement of the wind deflector. The spring force is coordinated to the bending strength of the assembly consisting of the air conducting profile member and the stopping strip so that this assembly, by pressing the stopping strip on the stop, is automatically forced to form a curvature in the lengthwise direction of the air conducting profile that at least approximately corresponds to the curvature of the roof.

The invention relates to a wind deflector for motor vehicle roofs With a slidable cover for selectively closing and at least partially opening a roof opening. In particular, to such a roof wherein the wind deflector has an elongated air conducting profile member that is placed on the front edge of the roof opening, so as to run crosswise relative to the roof opening, the profile member being pushed out under the influence of spring force into an operating position and being lowered back into a nonoperating position by actuating arms that are connected to it, and are placed on both sides of the roof opening. The actuating arms are hinged to a part that is integral with the fixed roof in the area of their end that is furthest from the air conducting profile member, and, by pushing the cover into the closed cover position, the arms are pivoted into a position in which they lower the air conducting profile member into the nonoperating position. The air conducting profile member, in the area of its edge lying away from the actuating arms, carries a stopping strip which extends over almost the entire width of the air conducting profile member and which, in the operating position of the wind deflector, rests on a stop on the front edge of the roof opening and thus limits the push-out movement of the wind deflector.
A wind deflector of the above type is known from German Offenlegungsschrift 34 26 998. In practice, with this deflector, as with other known wind deflectors (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,416 FIGS. 4 and 9), the spring force has been set so that, when the cover is pushed back, the wind deflector is reliably tilted into its operating position. For series production, normally based on wind tunnel tests, the dimensions and the shape of the wind deflector are specified so that, even with an open cover, the air flow is guided quietly over the roof opening and undesired draft phenomena in the motor vehicle interior are avoided. However, in individual cases, during travel, disturbing wind noises and/or drafts sometimes still occur in the passenger seating compartment. This can be attributed, in particular, to unavoidable manufacturing and assembly tolerances of the fixed roof surface as well as of the wind deflector and its support. This problem can be counteracted, to a certain extent, by adjusting the wind deflector after installation in the motor vehicle. Except for the fact that the success of such an adjustment often leaves something to be desired, the adjustment requires complicated additional structural measure and work steps.

Wind deflector for motor vehicle roofs with a slidable cover


Method for forming quantum dots using agglomeration of a conductive layer and a semiconductor device resulting therefrom are disclosed. The method includes the steps of forming a first insulating layer on a substrate, forming a conductive layer on the first insulating layer, forming a second insulating layer on the conductive layer, and annealing the conductive layer between the first, and second insulating layers to agglomerate the conductive layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming quantum dots in a semiconductor device and a semiconductor device resulting therefrom, and more particularly, to a method for forming quantum dots in a semiconductor device by utilizing agglomeration of a conductive layer or by utilizing simultaneous agglomeration and selective oxidation of the conductive layer and a semiconductor device resulting therefrom.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The MOS structure is a basic structure of a semiconductor memory device. As limitations to this structure are detected with regard to device integration, development of a new semiconductor fabrication technology is needed for increasing a semiconductor memory device integration.
Specifically, when the semiconductor memory device has the MOS structure, the conventional method of switching based on variations of gate voltage may not be available, particularly when a semiconductor memory device has a device packing density within a 4 giga DRAM range because a distance between a source and a drain is reduced to about 0.13 .mu.m (S. Wolf, "Silicon Processing; for the VLSI Era", V2, chap.8). In other words, integration of the MOS structure is typically limited to about 4 giga DRAM because, if the distance between the source and drain becomes closer, malfunctions of the device may occur due to tunneling between the source and the drain and through a gate oxide film, even in the absence of a gate voltage. Therefore, in order to fabricate a device of giga or tera class, a form of device other than the current MOS structure should be employed, a form of device that many research groups currently suggest is the SET(Single Electron Transistor)[see K. K. Likharev, IBM J. Res. Develop. 32(1) p144(1988)].
However, the following problems must be resolved for fabrication of the SET before it is used in place of a switching device such as a DRAM. First, in view of physical performance of the SET, a size of a quantum dot required for an SET cell should be below 10 nm or smaller to prevent errors caused by thermal vibration during operation of the cell. Therefore, at least a few nanometer quantum dot is required for allowing a room temperature operation of the SET.
Second, in addition to the above-described SET cell operation requirement, development of a process for forming quantum dots is required which allows an integration on a wafer of a size greater than 8 to 12 inches. Based on the results of current research, it can be known that the development is still at a stage at which the operation principle of the SET device is recognized. In other words, the development is still at a stage in which EBL(Electron Beam Lithography) and RIE(Reactive Ion Etching) are being used to form quantum dots. [K. Nakazato, T. J. Thornton, J. White, and H. Ahmed, Appl. Phys. Lett. 61(26), 3145(1992)], [D. J. Paul, J. R. A. Cleaver, H. Ahmed, and T. E. Whall, Appl. Phys. Lett. 63(5), 631(1993)], [D. Ali and H. Ahmed, Appl. Phys. Lett. 64(16) 2119(1994)], [E. Leobandung, L. Guo, Y, Wang, and S. Y. Chou, Appl. Phys. Lett. 67(7), 938(1995)], [K. Nakazato, R. J. Blankie, and H. Ahmed, J. Appl. Phys. 75(10), 5123(1992)], [Y. Takahashi, M. Nagase, H. Namatus, K. Kurihara, K. Iwadate, Y. Nakajima, S. Horiguchi, K. Murase, and M. Tabe, IEDM 1994, p936], and [E. Leobandung, L. Guo, and S. Y. Chou, IEDM 1995, p365].
Such a quantum dot may be applied in a memory device of the SET as well as in a light emitting device. The application in a light emitting device is made possible based on the principle that an energy band gap increases as a dimension of a material decreases, with subsequent decrease of a wave length of an emitted light. That is, if the same material is reduced to a nano-scale, the material emits light of a wave length different from a wave length of bulk. Utilizing the dependence of wave length of emitted light on the size of the material, a size of a quantum dot may be controlled to obtain light of a desired wave length. Such research is actively underway in III-V semiconductor fields, which are typical light emitting materials. [D. Leonard, M. Krishnamurthy, C. M. Reaves, and S. P. Denbaars, and P. M. Petroff, Appl. Phys. Lett. 63(23), 3203(1993)] and [O. I. Micic, J. Sprague, Z. Lu, and A. J. Nozik, Appl. Phys. Lett. 68(22), 3150(1996)]. For instance, there are reports that silicon Si or germanium Ge, which has an indirect gap, also emits a blue light when their size is reduced. By forming a quantum dot of such a silicon or germanium, application in a light emitting device is also possible. [Y. Kanemitsu, H. Uto, and Y. Masumoto, Appl. Phys. Lett. 61(18), 2187(1992)] and [H. Morisaki, H. Hashimoto, F. W. Ping, H. Nozawa, and H. Ono, J. Appl. Phys. 74(4), 2977(1993)].
When nano-scale quantum dots are used in the SET, the question of how the quantum dots should be distributed within a cell is basically dependent on a form of an SET structure to be used. Different forms of SET structures suggested until now may be sorted into two categories. In a first of these categories, SET structures are similar to the MOS structures in that they include a source, a drain and a gate formed together with a channel having the quantum dots which allow discrete flow of electrons. However, in this category of SET structure, the channel has an insulator and an array of multi-channel conductors(quantum dots), allowing discrete tunneling of electrons through the quantum dots, i.e., the channel has a form in which the quantum dots are embedded in the insulator[K. Nakazato, T. J. Thornton, J. White, and H. Ahmed, Appl. Phys. Lett. 61(26), 3145(1992)], [D. J. Paul, J. R. A. Cleaver, H. Ahmed, and T. E. Whall, Appl. Phys. Lett. 63(5), 631(1993)], [D. Ali and H. Ahmed, Appl. Phys. Lett. 67(7), 938(1995)], [K. Nakazato, R. J. Blankie, and H. Ahmed, J. Appl. Phys. 75(10), 5123(1992)], [Y. Takahashi, M. Nagase, H. Namatsu, K. Kurihara, K. Iwadate, Y. Nakajima, S. Horiguchi, K. Murase, and M. Tabe, IEDM 1994, p938], [E. Leobandung, L. Guo, and S. Y. Chou, IEDM 1995, p365], [O. I. Micic, H,. Sprague, Z. Lu, and A. J. Nozik, Appl. Phys. Lett. 68(22), 3150(1996)] and [D. V. Averin and K. K. Likaharev, in "Single Charging Tunneling", edited by H. Grabert and M. H. Devoret (Plenum, N.Y., 1992) p311]. This represents the simplest structure required for transferring electrons by discrete tunneling. Although research verifies that the Coulomb blockade effect required for operating an SET cell is also provided even though the channel is formed with a two dimensional continuous conductive line through which electrons transfer [M. A. Kastner, Rev. Mod. Phys. 64(3), 849(1992)] and [R. A. Smith and H. Ahmed, J. Appl. Phys. 81(6), 2699(1997)], the surest way of inducing the discrete tunneling of electrons is of course providing quantum dots in an insulator.
The other category of SET structures also has a structure similar to the MOS structure, with a floating point quantum dot for charging electrons in the channel thereto for reducing a current flowing through the channel [S. Tiwari, F. Rana, H. Hanafi, A. Hartstein, E. F. Crabbe, and K. Chan, Appl. Phys. Lett. 68(10), 1377(1994)], [K. Yano, T, Ishii, T. Hashimoto, T. Kobayashi, F. Murai, and K. Seki, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 41(9), 1628(1994)], and [A. Nakajima, T. Futatsugi, K. Kosemura, T. Fukano, and N. Yokoyama, Appl. Phys. Lett. 70(13), 1742(1997)]. This form of SET structure is similar to an EPROM(Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory) which utilizes a hot carrier effect reversely. Such a reduction of current shows a quantized change resulting from electron charging when a Coulomb blockade effect appears, where electrons that are charged in the quantum dots are used to prevent successive charging of further electrons. For this, a charging energy of a cell should be lower than a thermal energy of the cell, and a voltage drop caused by the charging should be large enough to be detected when used in a memory cell, for which a size of the quantum dot should be a few nano-meter range.
In either category of SET form, various disadvantages are experienced. First, a memory function of a device is operative only at a super low temperature, because the size of the quantum dots in the device is limited due to the technological limitation of EBL and RIE. Moreover, it is apparent that the formation of the quantum dots by EBL and RIE processes currently used is generally inappropriate for obtaining adequate through-put as well as integrating on a large sized wafer. Therefore, development of a quantum dot forming process which can be integrated on a large sized wafer and which can provide an adequate through-put, other than EBL and RIE process, is absolutely required for utilizing the SET as a next generation integrated circuit.
Second, when the quantum dots are used within a light emitting device, the size of the quantum dot should be controlled to obtain light of a desired wave length. If conditions require a size of the quantum dot in a range of a few nano-meter, that has not been developed, fabrication of product will fail.

Method for forming quantum dot in semiconductor device and a semiconductor device resulting therefrom

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


This application provides a channel state information report transmission method and a communications device. The method includes: determining N channel state information reports; and sending M of the N channel state information reports based on priorities of the N channel state information reports, where both N and M are positive integers greater than or equal to 1, and M is less than or equal to N; and a priority of a channel state information report in the N channel state information reports.

In a communications system, a network device allocates a downlink resource to a terminal device based on a channel state information report reported by the terminal device, for example, channel state information (CSI). In a 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) mobile communications system, a block error rate (BLER) that needs to be supported by some services such as an ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) service may be different from an existing BLER, and channel state information reports corresponding to different BLERs include different information. Based on this, how to transmit a channel state information report to ensure reliability of the 5G NR system is a technical problem to be urgently resolved in this application.

Channel state information report transmissions method and communications device


In a chemically amplified resist composition comprising a base resin, an acid generator, and a solvent, 1,400-5,000 pbw of the solvent is present per 100 pbw of the base resin, and the solvent comprises at least 60 wt % of PGMEA and ethyl lactate, and 0.2-20 wt % of a high-boiling solvent. A resist pattern is formed by coating the resist composition on a substrate, prebaking, patternwise exposure, post-exposure baking, development, and heat treatment.

A number of efforts are currently made to achieve a finer pattern rule in the drive for higher integration and operating speeds in LSI devices. Deep-ultraviolet lithography using KrF or ArF excimer laser has become the main stream of microfabrication technology. The deep-UV lithography combined with chemically amplified resist is capable of patterning to a feature size of 0.2 μm or less while pattern processing to a feature size of less than 0.065 μm now becomes the target. Also in the electron beam (EB) lithography, the progress of chemically amplified resist has reached a practically acceptable sensitivity to EB of higher energy, indicating possible processing to a finer size. Further in the lithography using EUV, use of chemically amplified resist is thought essential to achieve a practically acceptable sensitivity.
In the course of development of such chemically amplified positive resist compositions, the addition and modification of various resist components have been proposed in order to ameliorate the outstanding problems of resolution, sensitivity, pattern profile, post-exposure delay (PED, a change of pattern profile with standing time following exposure) and substrate dependency. Among others, the solvent is an important component to impart a uniform coating capability to coating compositions including chemically amplified resist compositions. A variety of solvents have been proposed to enable effective resist coating. An ability to form a uniform coating is indispensable to improve line edge roughness (LER) and resolution. To attain the goals of homogeneous dissolution of resist components and deposition of a uniform coating at the same time, a mixture of solvents is generally used rather than individual solvents.
One exemplary solvent mixture is proposed in JP-A 2000-267269 as comprising propylene glycol monoalkyl ether acetate and propylene glycol monoalkyl ether. This solvent mixture is useful in inhibiting formation of defects in the resist film and becomes effective when a proportion of propylene glycol monoalkyl ether exceeds 50% by weight based on the total solvent weight.
Another solvent mixture which is effective for improving LER is proposed in JP-A 2001-183837 as comprising propylene glycol monoalkyl ether acetate, propylene glycol monoalkyl ether and optionally, γ-butyrolactone. Allegedly a choice of this solvent mixture overcomes the problem of micro-grains (granular foreign matter of 100 μm or smaller) during development.
A further solvent mixture which provides a resist composition with storage stability and a good pattern profile is proposed in JP-A H07-084359 as comprising propylene glycol monoalkyl ether acetate, propylene glycol monoalkyl ether, and ethyl lactate. The solvent mixture becomes effective when a proportion of ethyl lactate is 30 to 90% by weight based on the total solvent weight.
In the foregoing proposals, line edge roughness (LER) is improved by a modification of the chemically amplified positive resist composition. LER may also be improved by a modification of the pattern forming process. The method of JP-A 2005-19969, for example, intends to improve LER by feeding a solvent gas to a resist pattern resulting from development for dissolving the resist surface and then effecting heat treatment to evaporate off the solvent and to sinter the resist film. This method, however, is undesirable in that a unit for feeding a solvent gas to the resist pattern after development and a unit for recovering the solvent must be added to the developing system, and so the overall system becomes costly.


Ornamental materials are located on hinged portions of spectacles to provide, at the temple pieces, an original, variable and beautiful design.

This invention relates to an improvement for temple ornamental mechanisms of spectacles or eyeglasses and, more particularly, to spectacles which have replaceable and freely movable temple ornaments using a hinge, which provide the spectacles with quite original designs.
As well known, spectacles are worn in front of the human eyes. When spectacled, there is a big change in one's facial appearance and image. Spectacles now have been regarded as a kind of fashionable accessory, in addition to the practical purpose of eyesight correction.
People have come to want more and more spectacles equipped with a special personality, i.e., with high fashion and with some desirable decorations. As a result, jewels or the like have been set in the front of the frame or at a temple position of the spectacles.
The conventional ornaments or decorations are incorporated in a fixed and static condition. To date the ornaments have not been manufactured as dynamic and powerful designs and the ornaments were not simply and freely replaced in a practical manner.


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor is disclosed. A mold is providing having an interior defining a planar capillary space. A measure of precursor is placed in fluid communication with the capillary space. The precursor is then melted, and the melted precursor is allowed to flow into the capillary space. The melted precursor is then allowed to cool to form a semiconductor.

1. Field of Invention
The present general inventive concept pertains to semiconductor production, and more particularly, to a method of producing a low cost, high-efficiency, high yield semiconductor useful in numerous applications, for example in a photovoltaic cell or a light-emitting diode.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of silicon and aluminum as precursors for making a variety of semiconductor members for use in products such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes, high energy energetic materials, and other semiconductor and ceramic applications, requires that such precursors be free of contamination with materials and elements with which these materials are naturally very reactive, such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and iron. Such contamination often creates undesirable effects in the resultant semiconductor member, such as low thermal conductivity, low electrical output, low strength, poor kinetics, and poor energy output or reactivity. Because the bonds created by such contaminations are typically covalent bonds, such contaminants are difficult to remove once they have joined with the precursor. In many cases, the contaminant itself is difficult to measure and the negative effects created by the contaminant, though understood and recognized, are difficult to quantify.
As an example, in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells, commonly known as "solar cells," generally the solar cells are fabricated using a semiconductor wafer substrate using semiconductor processing techniques to form a p-n junction near a surface of the substrate. Solar radiation impinging on the surface of the substrate creates electron and hole pairs in the bulk of the substrate, which migrate to p-doped and n-doped regions in the substrate, thereby generating a voltage differential between the doped regions. The doped regions are coupled to a conductor on the solar cell to direct an electrical current from the cell to an external circuit coupled thereto. Commonly, the semiconductor wafer substrate is a silicon wafer, with the n-type junction on the surface of the silicon wafer based on phosphorous doping and the p-type junction in the body of the silicon wafer based on boron doping.
In terms of desirability for producing a low cost, high-efficiency, high yield semiconductor useful in manufacturing solar cells, it is recognized that use of solar cells in electrical energy production is attractive, in part due to the inexpensive nature of solar radiation used to fuel energy production in the solar cells. As the fuel costs associated with more conventional means of electrical energy production increase, demand for solar cells for electrical energy production also increases. However, previous methods for production of semiconductors useful in manufacturing solar cells have proven to be labor intensive, energy intensive, and materials intensive, and such previous methods have often resulted in the production of solar cells having relatively low efficiency in electrical energy production. For example, in one known method of producing a solar grade semiconductor wafer, a polycrystalline silicon material is used as the substrate. In this method, the polycrystalline silicon wafer is obtained by first placing and packing essentially pure lumps of silicon in a crucible. The crucible is loaded into a vacuum furnace that has heating elements made of graphite. The vacuum furnace heats the silicon lumps, causing them to melt. Thereafter, the melted silicon is cooled to encourage the formation of a large silicon ingot defining polycrystalline crystal formations. The crucible is commonly constructed of fused silica and, because of the processing temperature of the vacuum furnace, the fused silica partially converts to crystobalite during the melting process within the vacuum furnace. Thus, the crucible is a single use and expensive tool. The melting process also produces a polycrystalline silicon ingot having a large outer volume contaminated by impurities reacted with the melted silicon. This outer volume is cut away and discarded following manufacture of the polycrystalline ingot. Thereafter, the somewhat more pure remaining inner portion of the ingot is thin-cut into discreet polycrystalline silicon wafers using a wire saw in a diamond slurry, causing a very large additional loss of silicon, and also limiting the minimum thickness the wafer can be fabricated. The resultant polycrystalline silicon wafers can then be laminated to a conductive layer, thereby forming the solar cell as described above.
The length of the heating-cooling cycle in the above-described method is often 45-60 hours. Thus, the time associated with performing the above-described heating-cooling cycle can result in significant delays in the production process. One factor in determining the length of the heating-cooling cycle is the time required to heat the silicon feedstock sufficiently to cause it to melt. As a general rule, the smaller the initial lumps of silicon to be melted, the faster the heating and melting cycle. However, it has been found that the process of diminution of the silicon lumps into silicon granules often smears undesirable contaminants onto the surface of the resulting silicon granules. Thus, the silicon lumps used are typically very coarse, having an average size of approximately thirty (30) millimeters. Use of such coarse materials helps to preserve purity in the melted silicon. However, the packing density of the above-discussed silicon lumps in the mold is approximately thirty-five (35) percent of perfect packing, which is significantly less than ideal. Consequently, heat is not conducted efficiently through such a feedstock, and additional heating time is required. Given that (1) the heating elements are on the outside of the crucible, (2) the silicon lumps have relatively little physical contact with one another, and (3) the silicon lumps often serve to "shadow" one another from thermal radiation very heavily; most of the heating occurs by thermal radiation that is accomplished in succession, wherein a relatively exposed silicon lump is heated, and that lump then radiates heat to one or more successive relatively unexposed lumps, i.e., one or more of the silicon lumps that are "shadowed." In many instances, a partial pressure of argon gas is used to assist in transferring heat to the silicon feedstock.
The above-discussed process of melting the silicon material often results in undesirable random crystal structures present in the silicon ingot, contributing to poor performance of the semiconductor polycrystalline silicon wafer.
For example, in use of the polycrystalline silicon wafer for the manufacture of solar cells, such random crystal structures often result in a low efficiency in the resulting polycrystalline silicon wafer for converting sunlight into electrical energy. Furthermore, during the heating and subsequent cooling of the silicon, two impurities, i.e., silicon carbide (SiC) and dissolved oxygen complexes (including silicon-oxygen complexes), are produced in the silicon feedstock. These impurities cause a reduction in the yield of usable silicon crystal wafers that can be as high as approximately forty (40) percent. Also, these impurities cause additional defects in the crystal structure that further reduce the efficiency and life of the semiconductor polycrystalline silicon wafer.
At least a few factors encourage the synthesis of these impurities. First, the high temperatures achieved in the furnace promote the oxidation of its graphite heating elements by reduction of the fused silica with which the graphite is in physical contact, thus creating a partial pressure of CO and CO2. Other components of the vacuum furnace may be composed of graphite as well, including the insulation material, and likewise, may too be oxidized. This oxidation-reduction reaction commonly yields two gases: carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2). These gases then react with the silicon feedstock in the mold to yield silicon carbide and dissolved-oxygen complexes. Second, although rebonded fused silica is a highly refractory substance, it is permeable by carbon oxide gases (e.g., CO and CO2). Thus, carbon oxide gases access the silicon feedstock by permeating the mold. Third, the packing density of the silicon lumps results in spaces that can be permeated and/or occupied by the carbon oxide gases. The surfaces of the silicon lumps that border these spaces serve as additional loci for the oxidation-reduction reaction that yields silicon carbide and dissolved-oxygen complexes. It has further been found that, in the above-referenced polycrystalline silicon production process, the melted silicon within the crucible contains approximately 350 ppm iron oxide (Fe2O3) in solution. At temperatures between approximately 1,100 and 1,600 degrees Centigrade of the melted silicon, crystobalite crystals precipitate within the melted silicon, thereby forcing the iron oxide into the grain boundaries of the silicon as the viscosity of the silicon lowers. Such iron oxide contaminants significantly reduce the carrier life time and efficiency of the resultant polycrystalline silicon wafer.
If a silicon wafer body is uniformly doped at low levels with phosphorous, use of boron to dope the surface of the silicon wafer to establish a p-type junction results in greatly increased efficiency in converting photons to electrons by the resultant solar cell. However, prior art doping technology makes this type of uniform doping of phosphorous in a solar grade silicon wafer impractical in a commercial setting. Specifically, because of the process time of the vacuum furnace and the size of the melted silicon ingot, it is impractical to directly "dope" the melted silicon ingot to form the body of the n-type or p-type junction. Because of the limits of the doping technology, doping of the silicon is generally limited to using boron in the body of the silicon wafer to make the p-type junction and phosphorous at the surface of the silicon wafer to make the n-type junction.
However, the methods of applying phosphorous to the surface of the silicon result in much larger coatings than are needed or can be achieved with boron. Finally, it must be acknowledged that vacuum furnaces generally do not create perfect vacuums, allowing atmospheric gases and potentially other gases to enter. Atmospheric gases include oxidizing agents that, as described previously, can result in the production of impurities.
A further yield loss is incurred by the sawing and slicing of the billet into wafers. Polycrystalline silicon is a relatively hard and brittle material, and thus, the operation of cutting the polycrystalline material is inherently difficult and labor intensive and results in a high mortality rate of the thin-cut silicon wafers due to fracture of the wafers during tooling and handling. In at least some instances, by the time the above-discussed contaminated outer layer is removed from the silicon ingot and the ingot is sliced down to silicon wafers having a thickness of approximately 150-200 microns, and by the time resultant fractured wafers are discarded, the yield of usable thin-cut silicon wafers on starting silicon can be as low as 10-30%.
In use of silicon semiconductor wafers in the manufacture of solar cells, while a silicon wafer of approximately 180 microns in thickness captures substantially all sunlight, a silicon wafer of approximately 40 microns still captures most sunlight, i.e., in excess of 96% of sunlight in normal conditions. The slight loss of light capture of the 40 micron wafer is more than compensated for in efficiency increases by decreased instances of recombination associated with a shorter path through the 40 micron silicon wafer. Thus, it is believed that a thinner wafer, perhaps 40 microns thick, would be optimal for use in solar cells. However, such a wafer cannot be made and handled by prior existing technology absent significant breakage of the wafer as discussed above. In light of the above, the low yield of usable silicon wafer material and the high costs per unit of solar conversion efficiency associated with manufacture of solar cells using the above-discussed process have made use of solar cells manufactured by the above-discussed process for electrical energy production in the residential, commercial, and utility sectors impractical in many applications from an economical point of view without large subsidies from governments and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,604,696 ("the '696 patent), which was issued to Carberry, describes one method of converting a silicon powder slurry into thinly molded solar grade silicon wafer. However, this and other known methods often lead to increased contamination of the resultant silicon wafers during the heating and cooling cycle. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for an improved method to produce a high-efficiency, solar cell.
Other uses for semiconductor members include the manufacture of light-emitting diodes ("LED's"). It is known that the lifetime of a semiconductor used in an LED is largely defined by its operating temperature. Specifically, the lower the operating temperature, the lower the rate of diffusion among the various thin layers of materials which enable the function of the semiconductor, such diffusion being the eventual failure mode of most semiconductors. Thus, high-purity aluminum nitride, which has a high thermal conductivity and a coefficient of thermal expansion similar to silicon, has been found to be beneficial in for use as a semiconductor in the manufacture of LED's. However, aluminum nitride of sufficient purity to achieve the requisite high thermal conductivity has traditionally suffered from a prohibitively high manufacture cost.
Two prior art processes for manufacturing aluminum nitride, carbo-thermal reduction and direct nitridation, each suffer from poor precursors and multiple processes that make it impossible to achieve low cost and low oxygen content of the aluminum nitride product. Aluminum precursors are commonly available in two forms, nanophase precursors and milled aluminum. Particles comprising a nanophase precursor have too high a surface area and too small a size to be easily useful for fabricating ceramic preforms directly. Milled aluminum is commonly available in five micron thick ribbons which are also difficult to work with in classic forming technologies for making ceramic performs. In both nanophase precursors and milled aluminum, and with both the nitriding and carbo-thermic reduction processes, the oxygen content of the finished aluminum nitride is too high to achieve sufficient purity of the aluminum nitride product for beneficial use in an LED. Likewise, silicon nitride suffers in its performance as a semiconductor largely from iron in the grain boundaries of the silicon nitride, which can only be eliminated by having a silicon powder sufficiently free of oxygen and iron as discussed above.
In light of the above, it is desirable to develop a method for manufacturing semiconductor members in which precursors are produced having a high surface area, nearly equaxed morphology, and low presence of contaminants such as oxygen, iron, nitrogen, carbon, and the like, and that such precursors have a particle size and particle size distribution suitable for forming and processing from an un-oxidized, uncontaminated state. It is further desirable that the method allow for manufacture of the semiconductor member while maintaining a heightened purity of the precursors, thus producing a high-purity finished semiconductor product.


The present disclosure provides a femoral cut guide for preparing a distal femur to receive a prosthetic femoral component of a knee implant. The prosthetic femoral component includes a central box. The femoral cut guide replicates the size and shape of the prosthetic femoral component, such that the femoral cut guide may serve as a trial or provisional component used to reduce and test the prepared knee joint before implanting the final prosthetic femoral component. The femoral cut guide includes a detachable box cut guide for preparing the distal femur to receive the central box of the prosthetic femoral component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to orthopedic cut guides. More particularly, the present invention relates to femoral cut guides and methods for using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a natural knee joint, the distal end of the femur articulates against the proximal end of the tibia. The knee joint is supported by various ligaments, including the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). These ligaments stabilize the knee joint and cooperate to control the complex movements of the knee joint during flexion and extension. The PCL, in particular, originates at the distal femur and attaches to the posterior side of the proximal tibia to resist posterior translation of the tibia relative to the femur.
When the natural knee joint becomes damaged, a knee arthroplasty procedure may be performed to resect the distal femur and/or the proximal tibia and to replace with resected bones with prosthetic components that are designed to simulate articulation of the natural knee joint. It may also be necessary during the knee arthroplasty procedure to sacrifice certain ligaments of the knee joint, such as the PCL. In those cases, the prosthetic knee components may also be designed to simulate the behavior of the sacrificed ligament. For example, if the PCL is sacrificed, the prosthetic femoral component and the prosthetic tibial component may be stabilized posteriorly to resist posterior translation of the prosthetic tibial component relative to the prosthetic femoral component.


A co-processor control method intended to speed up data transfer linkage between the co-processor and memory when the co-processor is activated by the main processor, in such a way that the main processor issues an active control signal to the co-processor in the cycle of reading out an operand in the memory onto the data bus by being addressed by the main processor so that the operand on the data bus is directly delivered to the co-processor.

This invention relates to the interface between a main processor and co-processor, particularly to a control method suitable for the speed-up of operand fetching from memory and also for storing the operational result in memory in executing a co-processor instruction.
A trend of computer system design, in which the main processor has basic arithmetic processing functions, is the provision of a co-processor which supports special arithmetic functions required for the system in the form of expanded main processor instructions. In the interface system for the co-processor requesting two bus cycles for fetching an operand into the co-processor, i.e., from memory to main processor, and then from main processor to co-processor, as described in the MOTOROLA 68020 User's Manual (referred to as Citation-1 hereinafter), there is a shortcoming in that a great linkage time is required for the main processor and co-processor. Although the linkage time does not appear to be critical when the memory access time is incomparably greater than the data transfer time between the main processor and co-processor, the speed-up of operation for the system with two-bus cycles is limited when a cache memory system or fast memory system is employed.
In the case of the co-processor described in the INTEL iAPX 86 REFERENCE MANUAL (referred to as Citation-2 hereinafter), the co-processor becomes the bus master occupying the bus to transfer data from the storage unit. This system allows data transfer in one bus cycle, but needs individual hardware for decoding the instruction and calculating the effective address, which could be shared with the main processor, and further needs the bus interface for the bus master. The instruction architecture of the case of Citation-1 results in double the hardware needed by the co-processor.

Method for fast establishing a co-processor to memory linkage by main processor


A drum mute that is functional in both muting and covering a drum head. A circular cut of fabric with an elastic encased outer edge is made to be fitted over an entire drum head and rim, thereby providing a muted sound while allowing the drummer to retain full drumstick rebound. Various sizes, designs, and types of fabric can be used to construct the drum mute. A drawstring, tie, or other adhesiveless means of fastening can be used in place of elastic to fasten the drum mute fabric cover to a drum.

Percussion drums are loud by design. There has always been a need to be able to practice and play drums in such a way that reduces the volume of sound so as to provide a quieter environment while playing. There is a need to maintain a realistic playing experience even while a drum is muted. I have found there is a need for a drum mute that allows full drumstick rebound while a drum is muted. I have found there is a need for a drum mute that can be quickly and easily attached, as well as quickly, easily, and completely removed. I have found there is a need for a drum mute to stay securely in place during play. I do not believe muting a drum should involve putting any type of adhesive on a drum. A drum mute should not take away from the appearance of a drum set. I believe muting a drum should not involve any disassembling of the drum.
There are several makers of drum mutes such as HQ Percussion Soundoff, Sound Percussion, and Vic Firth, that offer mutes made of a rubber/foam material constructed to sit on top of the drum head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,635 is a drum mute that attaches using an adhesive on the drumhead.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,850 is a drum muffler that is situated within the drum.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,839 is a drum mute mounted inside the drum. U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,807 is a drum mute that requires adhering Velcro to the inside of a drum rim.                The specification for U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,254 says "A number of approaches have been implemented in the prior art to lessen ringing and restore a natural sound to drum sets. In some instances, drummers place a body of cloth or other similar material against a drum to deaden the drum head action." http://www.google.com/patents?printsec=abstract&zoom=4&id=gsslAAAAEBAJ&output=text&pg=PA3        There is a YouTube video that shows the use of t-shirts laid over drums to mute them. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDQGTyv2L5Q.
The rubber or foam type drum mutes such as the ones made by HQ Percussion, Sound Percussion, and Vic Firth, drastically reduce the amount of drumstick rebound. The rubber type drum mutes can move and bounce off while drumming.
A drum mute that is attached with adhesives, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,635, can leave a sticky residue on the drumhead which can damage the drumhead and attract dirt.
Drum mutes that are mounted or situated within the drum such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,338,850 and 4,745,839 can be cumbersome and time consuming to attach, and are not easily removed.
Hook and loop type attachments such as Velcro attract dirt and debris when left on the drum as they are in U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,807.
T-shirts thrown over a drum, or simply placing a cloth on a drum, takes away from the aesthetics of a drumset. T-shirts and cloths laying over drums will bounce or slide off during drumming.


A programmable logic block for an asynchronous circuit design is disclosed. After a programmable setup, the logic block not only has the processing function of common devices, but also communicates using the asynchronous protocol so as to design an asynchronous device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a programmable logic block, and more particularly to a programmable logic block suitable for designing an asynchronous circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, due to a huge demand for electronic chips and time taken to meet the market requirement, the field programmable grate array (FPGA) has become an optimum choice for circuit design. The architecture of the FPGA is primarily categorized into the SRAM-base model and the anti-fuse model in the design. The SRAM-base is featured by rewritability, low power consumption and in-circuit configurability, but it requires download of data from the external device and an external power source to maintain data. Thus, the SRAM-base is adapted to a multiple-writing circuit design. On the other hand, the anti-fuse has a one-time programmable (OTP) feature to provide better protection for security, but it is unable to be further modified. Thus, the anti-fuse is adapted to a write-once circuit design. Nevertheless, the industry currently does not provide any FPGA system designed specifically for the asynchronous protocol because the asynchronous circuit is complex and not easy to design. The industry does not have either a comprehensive set of design flows or appropriate software for the use of engineers. As such, an asynchronous circuit system design using the FPGA system will involve a number of useless circuits, causing waste of chip area and inefficiency. Therefore, the aforementioned FPGA system has some defects in the process of asynchronous circuit design, and thus needs to be improved.

Programmable logic block for designing an asynchronous circuit