A horizontal continuous casting apparatus for metals, particularly steel, having a supply container in the metal outlet opening of which there is arranged a nozzle brick against which a separation ring rests in sealing manner, and having a continuous casting mold which is connected to the supply container and rests with the edge sides of its side walls in sealing manner against the separation ring. A reliable changing of the passage cross-section of the mold before, during and after the casting is possible in a structurally simple manner. The passage cross-section (A) of the continuous casting mold (30) is adjusted and displacement elements (40) are provided by means of which the position of the side walls (31 to 34) of the continuous casting mold (30) is adjusted. At least one side wall (31 to 34) is moveable parallel and transverse to the center line I of the outlet opening 11.

The present invention relates to an adjustable continuous casting mold, and a method of adjusting a casting mold prior to, during and after casting in an effective manner. More particularly, the apparatus and method of the present invention relate to a continuous casting mold, the cross-sectional area of which can be adjusted by moving at least one of the side walls forming the mold.
Adjustable continuous casting molds for vertical casting machines are known. In these continuous casting machines, however, no sealing problems arise in the region between supply container and mold which are comparable to those of horizontal continuous casting machines for metals.
From West German Patent 26 58 242 there is known a horizontal continuous casting machine for metals which has a clamping device which is connected, on the one hand, to the mold and, on the other hand, directly to a liquid-metal conduit, a device for regulating the contact pressure of the liquid-metal conduit against the mold being provided so as to assure a tight, metal-impervious joint. This patent does not teach changing the cross-section of the mold. With respect to sealing, the device known from this patent has the disadvantage that the mount which fixes the rigid mold at its one end rests at its other end on the liquid-metal conduit. In order to absorb the forces between the liquid-metal conduit and the supply container, the rigid mold is connected via an expensive arrangement, namely foundation, base plate, bearing pedestal and displacement apparatus. The multitude of elements and the great number of possible external influences do not permit the short paths and precise adjustments of force in the region of the sealing surface which are required for an adjustable mold.
Leaking liquid metal, however, could lead to the interruption of the casting. The discontinuation of the casting has the result, in the case of a rigid mold, that solidified residual pieces remain in the mold and can only be removed with great difficulty.
It is the object of the invention to avoid the above-mentioned disadvantages and to provide a method and an apparatus for an adjustable continuous casting mold which enables a reliable changing of the passage cross-section of the mold in a structurally simple manner before, during and after the casting.
This object is obtained by providing a horizontal casting apparatus for metals, in particular steel, which comprises a liquid metal supply container having a metal outlet opening therein; a continuous casting mold adjacent the outlet of the supply container, the casting mold comprising side walls having side edges and forming a conduit having an adjustable cross-sectional area for the metal to flow therethrough; and elements for adjusting the position of at least one of the side walls parallel and transverse or perpendicular to the center axis or center line of the outlet opening thereby adjusting the cross-sectional area of the casting mold. For the sealing off of the separation area between separation ring and edge surface of the mold, adjustment elements are provided which detachably connect together the mold, forming a force-locked connection facing in the direction of the center line towards the supply container. From the contact surfaces of the side walls arranged parallel to the center line an intimate or force-locked connection is provided. Depending on the number of detachable sealing surfaces, the passage cross-section can be varied in height and width or only in height or only in width.
The change in position of the displaceable side walls is so controlled with respect to time that the most strongly stressed sealing surface in the region of the separation ring is relaxed first. In order to facilitate the starting of the displacement, the displacement force is applied in pulsating manner.
For the adjustment of the mold elements are selected which provide a high degree of reliability after the adjustment process. Depending on the requirements, adjustment apparatus with energy-storing elements (for instance springs) or self-locking elements (for instance spindles) can be used.
With the horizontal continuous casting apparatus of the present invention, only a small supply of molds is required, since the adjustable mold covers entire ranges of cross-sections. Before the casting, the variation in "thickness" or "width" can be selected by a corresponding mold.
The casting of small lots or of several casting cross-sections from a large melt is rendered possible without interrupting the casting or changing of the molds.
The adjustable mold of the invention makes it possible to adapt the mold not only to a different quality of casting but also to a different speed of casting. This adaptation is possible during the casting by adjusting the passage cross-section with simultaneous adjustment of the conicity even during the casting. This is particularly important for the beginning and ending of the casting.
The method is particularly suitable for thin casting products (thickness less than 50 mm) since the start of the process is less sensitive. This is possible since, to be on the safe side, upon the starting up a larger initial thickness can be selected which can then be corrected during casting. Only a single starting head is required in this connection for different casting cross-sections. In addition, this process is made more reliable as a whole by the longer time of filling of the mold.
The already greater reliability of the tightness resulting from the use of the adjustment elements disclosed can also be increased by shaping the sealing surfaces. Excellent sealing results are obtained when the edge surface of the side walls is developed as elements which are compressible in the region of the sealing surface and have a high restoring force, such as is true of the lip-shaped development of the front surfaces. Good results are also obtained by the combination of a straight edge surface and a seal which is operatively connected therewith, for instance a squeezable metallic seal.
As a further advantageous seal there is provided a conical sealing surface of the separation ring in the region of the displaceable side wall. In this embodiment, after the relaxation of the side wall in the direction of the center line by the pressure of the liquid casting material, the side wall is pressed, as a function of the pre-established relaxation, against the "higher" located conical part of the separation ring.
Another advantage of the horizontal continuous casting mold of the present invention becomes evident when the casting process is not properly terminated. Handling and repair after a so-called mold plug or a casting frozen in the mold are considerably facilitated by the possibility of displacing the side surfaces, in contradistinction to other non-adjustable horizontal continuous casting molds.

Method and apparatus for a horizontal continuous casting apparatus for metals


A sliding seal seals an annular gap between a first member and a second member to separate a high-pressure side and a low-pressure side from each other, the first member being movable relative to the second member. The sliding seal is provided at an annular attaching groove provided at the second member. The sliding seal includes: a pressure fluid seal configured to slidingly contact a sliding surface of the first member; and a lubricant holding piece provided at the high-pressure side of the pressure fluid seal, a lubricant storage space being formed between the lubricant holding piece and the pressure fluid seal.

One example of a conventional sliding seal is a ring packing (see PTL 1, for example). This ring packing is used to appropriately manage sliding resistance between a tubular body and a shaft body. The tubular body slidably supports the shaft body which is displaced in conjunction with a diaphragm. The ring packing is attached to an outer periphery of the shaft body. The ring packing has an oval cross section. A concave groove is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the ring packing in a circumferential direction, the outer peripheral surface being opposed to an inner surface of the tubular body.
Grease is applied to an entire periphery of the ring packing, and especially, the grease is adequately applied to an inside of the concave groove. With this, even when the ring packing repeatedly slides in a vibrating manner by the vibrations of the diaphragm, the grease remains in the concave groove. Therefore, a sharp increase in the sliding resistance can be prevented.


The present invention disclosed a partial-suspended open-line resonator for parallel-coupled line filter for size shrinking and well resonant response. The partial-suspended open-line resonator comprises one open conductive line, one etched ground structure having a lattice adjacent to the conductive line, wherein the lattice is formed on a ground plane. Furthermore, a part of the conductive line is suspended over the lattice.

The present invention is related to RF circuit design, particularly to a partial-suspended open-line resonator for parallel-coupled line filter system.
Planar filters are particularly desired in the RF front-end of modern communication systems because of the easier fabrication and lower cost. One type of planar filter is the parallel-coupled line filter composed of a series of half-wavelength resonant conductive lines. Furthermore, the resonators are parallel-coupled and span the distance about a quarter of one wavelength.
FIG. 1 shows a top view of a conventional parallel-coupled line filter 10. For example, the filter 10 exhibiting a third-order filter response at 2 GHz comprises three open line resonators 11. The conventional parallel-coupled line resonators 11 are commonly used in relative applications due to their simple circuit structure. The structure of the open-line resonator 11 comprises an open conductive line without via connections to a ground plane and reduces the complexity of the circuit. However, the dimension of the conventional parallel-coupled line filter 10 can be rather large because the length of the resonator 11 is approximate to half of the wavelength at the fundamental mode.
The hairpin resonator is proposed to reduce the circuit size by folding the conventional open-line resonator. But it suffers the problem in the spurious responses occurred around the harmonics of the fundamental mode, especially for oscillator and amplifier applications.
The stepped impedance resonator is another approach to shrink the circuit size and adjust the frequency of spurious mode. The stepped impedance resonator utilizes alternating high impedance and low impedance transmission line sections rather than primarily reactive components. The conventional stepped impedance resonator is composed of the conductive lines of different width connected in series. Hence the stepped impedance resonator is easy to design and typically shorter than other types of resonator. However, the conductor loss of the resonator is increased as the total conductor area enlarged for different impedance. Moreover, the impedance ratio between high impedance and low impedance is limited because of the restriction on the line width in the fabrication.
Thus, it is desirable for a resonator to provide the advantages of easy design, simple structure and well resonant response.

Partial suspended open-line resonator for parallel coupled line filters


Content items can be viewed on an electronic device based upon a property defined for each of the content items, allowing the user to navigate through the content list and view or select content items. When navigating portions of the list where a selection has been made where no content items are associated with the properties, the result may be the presentation of no data. In order to re-orient users, the selection is modified to display at least one content item.

Devices, for example touch sensitive-display or gesture input based devices allow users to interact with graphics and/or information presented on the display. For example, content that may be presented or selected in a list format may be provided in a visual or graphic object based display format allowing a user to view and interact with content. Some lists are just based on content items, such as contact lists, item or product lists, while others may be based upon time that they are received or generated such as e-mail messages, text messages, instant messages, social updates, and communication messages which may be associated with calendars or lists of content items created over time and be presented in an info-graphic such as a chart format or graphic object based content list showing representation of the content items. Other examples of time-based content collections include digital photo collections, life logs, multimedia diaries and social network time lines. When viewing lists that use a characteristic defined for each to all the content items to sort the content items, such as time, it can be useful to zoom the list view to modify what time span is shown on the screen (for example minutes, hours, days weeks, months). However, it can often happen that a user scrolls or zooms the list to show a portion where there is no content to be displayed, resulting in a blank display.
Therefore there is a need for an improved method for displaying content items on a display of an electronic device.
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.

Method for displaying content items on an electronic device


A stent delivery catheter comprising a catheter shaft and balloon engaged thereto. The balloon being inflatable from a first inflation state to a first expanded state as well as to a second expanded state. The balloon having a stent mounting region for retaining and delivery of a stent therefrom, and at least one adjacent region. The stent mounting region having a first diameter and the at least one adjacent region having a second diameter. In the first inflation state the first diameter being less than the second diameter. In the first expanded state the first diameter being no greater than the second diameter. In the second expanded state the first diameter being greater than the second diameter. The stent being retained on the stent mounting region by engagement of the at least one adjacent portion and at least one retractable stent retaining sleeve.

Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of installing a stent utilizing a balloon catheter to perform an initial angioplasty and to seat the stent after it has been located in the vessel. The invention also relates to novel balloon structures which have particular use in the method of the invention. More specifically, this invention relates to a stent delivery system wherein at least a portion of the balloon is step compliant which provides the balloon with the ability to expand specific portions of the balloon at different times according to a variety of inflation pressures. In addition the unique shape of the balloon may be configured to engage the stent throughout the insertion as well as the delivery procedures which in turn reduces longitudinal movement of an associated medical device such as a stent, stent-graft, graft or vena cava filter mounted on the balloon both prior to and during balloon expansion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Expandable, implantable medical devices such as stents are utilized in a number of medical procedures and situations as are stent delivery assemblies. As such, their structure and function are well known. A stent is a generally cylindrical prosthesis introduced via a catheter into a lumen of a body vessel in a configuration having a generally reduced diameter and then expanded to the diameter of the vessel. The stent may be self-expanding, such as a NITINOL shape memory stent, or it may be expandable by means of an inflatable portion of the catheter, such as a balloon. In its expanded configuration, the stent supports and reinforces the vessel walls while maintaining the vessel in an open, unobstructed condition.
Self-expanding, inflation assisted expandable and inflation expandable stents are well known and widely available in a variety of designs and configurations. Inflation expandable and inflation assisted expandable stents are expanded via outward radial pressure such as that provided by a balloon disposed underneath the stent during inflation of the balloon.
Medical device delivery balloons may have a variety of shapes, sizes, inflation characteristics and a variety of other performance attributes. Some examples of balloons which may be used for the expansion and delivery of a medical device are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,556,383; 5,738,901; 6,024,752; and 6,048,350.
In advancing an inflation expandable stent through a body vessel to the deployment site, there are a number of important considerations. The stent must be able to securely maintain its axial position on the delivery catheter, without translocating proximally or distally, and especially without becoming separated from the catheter. Furthermore, it may be desirable to protect the distal and proximal ends of the stent to prevent distortion of the stent and to prevent abrasion and/or to reduce potential trauma to the vessel walls.
To address the concerns stated above, one approach has been identified which utilizes a retractable sheath or sheaths which are disposed about the distal end of the catheter and cover the stent and balloon. In such devices the sheath is retracted prior to the inflation of the balloon and subsequent delivery of the stent. Another solution involves the utilization of one or more stent retaining means such as elastomeric sleeves or socks. The socks are disposed about the ends of the stent and the respective adjacent portions of the catheter shaft. Socks may be constructed such that during balloon inflation the socks release the stent as a result of the forces and change in geometry resulting from the expanding balloon. It is also known that socks may be constructed to retract or be pulled off of the stent as a result of their construction and the expansion of the balloon.
Inflation expandable stent delivery and deployment assemblies are known which utilize restraining means that overlie the stent during delivery. U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,227 to Savin et al., relates to an inflation expandable stout delivery system in which a sleeve overlaps the distal or proximal margin (or both) of the stent during delivery. During inflation of the stent at the deployment site, the stent margins are freed of the protective sleeve(s). U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,341 to Solar, relates to a stent delivery and deployment assembly which uses retaining sheaths positioned about opposite ends of the compressed stent. The retaining sheaths of Solar are adapted to tear under pressure as the stent is radially expanded, thus releasing the stent from engagement with the sheaths. U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,416 to Ryan et al., describes a stent introducer system which uses one or two flexible end caps and an annular socket surrounding the balloon to position the stent during introduction to the deployment site. The content of all references, including patents and patent applications are respectively incorporated it their entirety heroin by reference.
Providing a means for containing and securing the stent or other medical device on the balloon catheter prior to inflation is but one problem facing stent delivery systems. An additional concern is the shifting or sliding of the stent relative to the balloon during balloon expansion. Numerous attempts have been made to reduce or prevent translocation of the stent on the balloon during balloon expansion. For example: copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/667,916, filed Sep. 22, 2000 and entitled Coated Stents with Better Gripping Ability, describes a stent coating which provides the stent with improved ability to adhere to the balloon during the expansion process. Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,965 which describes a process wherein a balloon is expanded and heat set then allowed to cool in order to adhere the balloon to the stent. Yet another example is co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/740,727, filed Nov. 1, 1996 and entitled Selective Coating Of A Balloon Catheter With Lubricous Material For Stent Deployment, which describes a balloon having a tacky coating for securing a stent to a balloon prior to delivery.
Angioplasty, an accepted and well known medical practice involves inserting a balloon catheter into the blood vessel of a patient, maneuvering and steering the catheter through the patient""s vessels to the site of the lesion with the balloon in an uninflated form. The uninflated balloon portion of the catheter is located within the blood vessel such that it crosses the lesion or reduced area. Pressurized inflation fluid is metered to the inflatable balloon through a lumen formed in the catheter to thus dilate the restricted area. The inflation fluid is generally a liquid and is applied at relatively high pressures, usually in the area of six to twenty atmospheres. As the balloon is inflated it expands and forces open the previously closed area of the blood vessel. Balloons used in angioplasty procedures such as this are generally fabricated by molding and have predetermined design dimensions such as length, wall thickness and nominal diameter. Balloon catheters are also used in other systems of the body for example the prostate and the urethra. Balloon catheters come in a large range of sizes and must be suitably dimensioned for their intended use.
Recently the use of a catheter delivered stent to prevent an opened lesion from reclosing or to reinforce a weakened vessel segment, such as an aneurism, has become a common procedure. A typical procedure for stent installation involves performing an initial angioplasty to open the vessel to a predetermined diameter sufficient to permit passage of a stent delivery catheter across the lesion, removal of the angioplasty balloon catheter, insertion of a delivery catheter carrying the stent and a stent deploying mechanism, deploying the stent across the opened lesion so as to separate the stent from the catheter and bring it into contact with the vessel wall, usually with dilation to a lager diameter using a balloon larger than the balloon of the predilation catheter, and then removing the delivery catheter (after deflating the balloon if used). In many cases it has become the practice to then xe2x80x9cretouchxe2x80x9d the dilation by deploying a third catheter carrying a balloon capable of dilating at a substantially higher pressure to drive the stent into the vessel wall, thereby to assure that there is no risk of the stent later shifting its position and to reduce occurrence of restenosis or thrombus formation. This third xe2x80x9cretouchxe2x80x9d dilation is often considered necessary when the balloon used to seat the stent is made of a compliant material because such balloons generally cannot be safely pressurized above 9-12 atm., and higher pressures are generally considered necessary to assure full uniform lesion dilation and seating of the stent.
A wide variety of stent configurations and deployment methods are known. For instance, stent configurations include various forms of bent wire devices, self-expanding stents; stents which unroll from a wrapped configuration on the catheter; and stents which are made of a deformable material so that the device may be deformed on deployment from a small diameter to a larger diameter configuration. References disclosing stent devices and deployment catheters include:
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,538, the entire contents of which being incorporated herein by reference, there is described a single layer balloon which follows a stepped compliance curve. The stepped compliance curves of these balloons has a lower pressure segment following a first generally linear profile, a transition region, typically in the 8-14 atm range, during which the balloon rapidly expands yielding in elastically, and a higher pressure region in which the balloon expands along a generally linear, low compliance curve. The stepped compliance curve allows a physician to dilate different sized lesions without using multiple balloon catheters.
Stepped compliance curve catheter balloon devices using two different coextensively mounted balloon portions of different initial inflated diameter, are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,497 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,487 to Miller. These dual layer balloons are designed with the outer balloon portion larger than the inner portion so that the compliance curve follows the inner balloon portion until it reaches burst diameter and then, after the inner balloon bursts, the outer balloon becomes inflated and can be expanded to a larger diameter than the burst diameter of the inner balloon.
A polyethylene ionomer balloon with a stepped compliance curve is disclosed in EP 540 858. The reference suggests that the balloon can be used on stent delivery catheters. The disclosed balloon material of this reference, however, yields a compliant balloon and therefore a stent delivered with such a balloon would typically require xe2x80x9cretouch.xe2x80x9d
Balloons having a stepped compliance curve have also been described for use in stent delivery. Two examples of such stent delivery balloons and methods of their use are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,851 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,532, respectively incorporated in their entirety herein by reference.
The entire content of all of the patents and patent applications listed within the present patent application are respectively incorporated in their entirety herein by reference.
The invention in one aspect is directed to a medical balloon. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a stent delivery system employing a unique stepped compliant balloon which is shaped to retain a stent about a stent mounting region of the balloon prior to and during stent delivery. The balloon is capable of providing low pressure predilation at a relatively small diameter to open the lesion sufficiently to allow insertion and deployment of the stent across the lesion and for subsequent high pressure embedding of the stent in the vessel wall. The same balloon catheter may also be employed to insert and deploy the stent. Thus at least one catheter may be eliminated from what may otherwise be a two or three catheter installation process.
In at least one embodiment of the invention, the balloon of the invention may be made by molding a balloon into a configuration in which the second portion has a larger diameter than the first portion and then shrinking the second portion to the diameter of the first portion or less than the diameter of the first portion. The method of making such balloons comprises yet another aspect of the invention.
In at least one embodiment of the invention, the balloon may be incorporated into a stent delivery catheter, wherein a stent mounting region of the balloon has a diameter less than the diameter of the balloon ends, whereby the stent is prevented from longitudinal migration relative to the catheter as a result of interference provided by the balloon ends. The balloon may be configured to expand so that the stent remains held in place during balloon expansion.
In at least one embodiment of the invention the balloon is configured to have a first inflation state, a second inflation state, and a third or fully inflated state.
In yet another embodiment of the invention the balloon may be configured to expand such that the balloon ends maintain a larger diameter than the stent mounting region until a predetermined inflation pressure is achieved, whereupon the stent mounting region may expand to a diameter greater than the diameter of the balloon ends.
In yet another aspect of the invention a stent delivery catheter may employ a stepped compliant balloon and one or more stent retaining sleeves. The balloon may be configured such that the balloon ends inflate sufficiently to cause the sleeves to retract, whereupon the stent mounting region expands to release the stent.
These and other more detailed and specific objectives and an understanding of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following Detailed Description of the Invention in view of the Drawings. Other embodiments may also be apparent, but which are not described in detail, from the following description.

Combined shaped balloon and stent protector


Systems and methods are provided for performing thermophotonic imaging using cross-correlation and subsequent time-gated truncation. Photothermal radiation is detected with an infrared camera while exciting a sample with a chirped set of incident optical pulses and time-dependent photothermal signal data is processed using a method that involves performing cross-correlation and subsequent time-gated truncation. The post-cross-correlation truncation method results in depth-resolved images with axial and lateral resolution beyond the well-known thermal-diffusion-length-limited, depth-integrated nature of conventional imaging modalities. An axially resolved photothermal image sequence can be obtained, capable of reconstructing three-dimensional visualizations of photothermal features in wide classes of materials.

The present disclosure relates to thermal imaging. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to the nondestructive characterization of objects and materials.
Laser-induced photothermal imaging (also known as "active thermography" in the field of non-destructive testing) can monitor optical absorption in light scattering tissues significantly deeper than purely optical imaging methods like optical coherence tomography (OCT). Photothermal effects use optical-to-thermal energy conversion to generate thermal images which, in principle, replicate optical absorption profiles and/or thermophysical property variations in materials and tissues. photothermal responses of non-opaque media and biological tissues probed with infrared sensors or cameras produce thermophotonic images (i.e. through thermal infrared photon emission from optical-source-irradiated targets as a result of elevated temperature due to optical absorption and non-radiative conversion to heat), with optical property (visible/near-IR absorption and mid-IR emission coefficient) contrast amplified by concurrent thermal property contrast (thermal diffusivity variations). For example, biothermophotonic images resolve minute differences in optical absorption coefficients of blood-rich oxygenated or hypoxic highly optically scattering tissues and their contrast from each other and from blood-deficient (hypoxic) surroundings.

Systems and methods for performing enhanced truncated-correlation photothermal coherence tomography


A CO sensor includes a solid electrolyte substrate, a sensing electrode, and a reference electrode, and outputs electromotive forces in accordance with CO concentrations. The sensing electrode and the reference electrode are provided on the same surface of the solid electrolyte substrate. The sensing electrode contains a metal oxide such as Bi2O3 that generates a positive electromotive force response when coming into contact with CO. The reference electrode contains a metal oxide such as CeO2 that generates a negative electromotive force response when coming into contact with CO.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a CO sensor having an electromotive force response that operates at room temperature.
Description of the Related Arts
Shimizu, Hyodo, and Takeda proposed a CO sensor in which a Pt—Bi2O3 sensing electrode and a Pt reference electrode are provided on the same surface of a solid electrolyte substrate made of NASICON (WO2015/2060A). This CO sensor outputs electromotive forces between the sensing electrode and the reference electrode, and has a significant response to CO at room temperature. Furthermore, in this CO sensor, the sensing electrode and the reference electrode can be provided on the same surface of the solid electrolyte substrate, and it is not necessary to shield the reference electrode from an atmosphere to be analyzed. Moreover, this CO sensor can operate in a dry atmosphere, and a water reservoir for supplying water vapor to the sensing electrode is not required. Accordingly, this CO sensor has a simple structure.

CO sensor having electromotive force response


One or more techniques or systems for forming a contact structure for a deep trench capacitor (DTC) are provided herein. In some embodiments, a contact structure includes a substrate region, a first region, a second region, contact landings, a first trench region, a first landing region, and a second trench region. In some embodiments, a first region is over the substrate region and a second region is over the first region. For example, the first region and the second region are in the first trench region or the second trench region. Additionally, a contact landing over the first trench region, the second trench region, or the first landing region is in contact with the first region, the second region, or the substrate region. In this manner, additional contacts are provided and landing area is reduced, thus reducing resistance of the DTC, for example.

Generally, a deep trench capacitor (DTC) is used as a capacitor, such as a replacement for a ceramic capacitor in a printed circuit board (PCB). However, a traditional DTC requires an additional landing area for a contact landing to a substrate, for example. Additionally, a traditional contact structure for a DTC is associated with a higher contact resistance.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited


Disclosed is a semiconductor device comprising an active region that protrudes upwardly from a substrate, a plurality of channel patterns that are spaced apart from each other in a first direction on the active region, and a gate electrode that extends in the first direction on the active region and covers the plurality of channel patterns. Each of the plurality of channel patterns includes a plurality of semiconductor patterns that are spaced apart from each other in a direction perpendicular to a top surface of the active region. The gate electrode covers the top surface of the active region between the plurality of channel patterns.

Inventive concepts relate to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device including a fin field effect transistor.
A semiconductor device includes an integrated circuit consisting of or including metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs). As sizes and design rules of the semiconductor device are gradually decreased, sizes of the MOSFETs are also increasingly scaled down. The decrease in size of MOSFETs may deteriorate operating/electrical characteristics of the semiconductor device. Accordingly, research has been developed to manufacture/fabricate a semiconductor device having excellent or improved performance, while overcoming limitations due to integration of the semiconductor device.

Semiconductor device with channel patterns having different widths


Devices and methods for automated collection and image analysis are disclosed that enable identification or classification of microscopic objects aligned or deposited on surfaces. Such objects, e.g. detectably labeled rare target cells, are magnetically or non-magnetically immobilized and subjected to automated laser scanning to generate sequential digitized x-y sub-images or partial images of target and non-target objects that are combined to form reconstructed full images, thereby allowing detection, enumeration, differentiation and characterization of imaged objects on the basis of size, morphology and immunophenotype.

The invention of microscopy by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek in 1674 has enabled the visualization of microscopic entities such as cells. The introduction of dyes that stained different components of cells by Paul Ehrlich some two hundred years later in combination with light microscopy can be considered as the first step in the new era of cell analysis. Improvements in cell labeling technology and instrumentation that can identify and differentiate the differentially labeled cells have significantly improved our ability to explore the world of cell biology. In the last 25 years automated blood cell counters have replaced manual examination of cytochemically stained blood smears. Criteria used for cell classification by morphometric means involved parameters such as nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio, cell and nuclear size and shape, the number and size of cytoplasmic granules. As cells gradually change their morphological appearance during maturation, it introduces more uncertainty in substantial inter-observer variations in the assignation of the cells. Morphological changes associated with malignancies can be associated with cellular appearance during maturational processes and abnormal frequencies of atypical cells are often used as criteria for assigning such cells as malignant.
Improvements in cell classification have come from identification based on immunophenotype. Early techniques such as formation of rosettes of sheep erythrocytes around T-lymphocytes have been replaced by flow cytometric analysis of cells labeled with fluorescent antibodies recognizing specific cell surface or intracellular antigens. Multi-parametric flow cytometry analysis has significantly improved the ability to enumerate and classify detected events on the basis of size and staining characteristics, but does not further discriminate detected events, for example, as cells by morphometric means. Present methods and devices using these principles are relied upon to diagnose and classify a variety of diseases such as leukemias and lymphomas, or to follow the progression of diseases such as AIDS. As technology improved, more information was obtained which in return lead to greater demands for expanding the sensitivity and specificity of detection methods for rare target species. An example of an application in need of further improvement is the identification and enumeration of circulating carcinoma cells of epithelial origin in the blood of cancer patients that may be present at frequencies of less than one carcinoma cell per ml of blood. Using a combination of epithelial cell enrichment by magnetic means in combination with analysis by multi-parametric flow cytometry, significant differences in the number of "circulating tumor cells" were found between healthy individuals and patients with breast cancer (Racila et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 95, 4589-4594, 1998). In several studies, such "circulating tumor cells" (CTC) were defined as events expressing the following characteristics: positive for the epithelial cell marker cytokeratin, negative for the leukocyte marker CD45, positive staining with a nucleic acid dye, and light scattering properties that are compatible with cells. However, morphometric confirmations of the detected events as cells and further molecular evidence is lacking in flow cytometric methods, but is clearly needed to assure that the detected rare events are indeed tumor cells derived from a primary tumor. Automated image analysis systems have been introduced to reduce subjective errors in cell classification between different operators in manual methods, but such prior art systems without preliminary cell enrichment steps still inherently lack sensitivity. Several automated cell imaging systems have been described or are commercially available for cell analysis. The system developed by Chromavision, ACIS™ or Automated Cellular Imaging System (Douglass et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,405) uses colorimetric pattern recognition by microscopic examination of prepared cells by size, shape, hue and staining intensity as observed by an automated computer controlled microscope and/or by visual examination by a health care professional. The system uses examination of cells on microscope slides and was designed for tissue sections. The SlideScan™ or MDS™ systems of Applied Imaging Corp. (Saunders et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,054) is described as an automated, intelligent microscope and imaging system that detects cells or "objects" by color, intensity, size, pattern and shape followed by visual identification and classification. In contrast to the ACIS system this system has the ability to detect fluorescent labels which provides more capability. However, these and other currently available methodologies are not sufficiently sensitive for accurate classification and typing of rare events such as circulating tumor cells in blood. Accordingly, the present invention seeks to improve upon the aforementioned methodologies, and to provide simple and efficient means and methods for automated imaging of objects that can be used, for example, in conjunction with high sensitivity immunophenotyping, to permit detection, enumeration and accurate classification of rare target species, such as CTC in blood or other fluids.


A light emitting device includes a base substrate having a recessed portion at a flat upper surface thereof. The recessed portion has an inner wall. A sealing member is provided in the recessed portion. The sealing member contains surface-treated particles, or particles coexisting with a dispersing agent. The particles have a particle diameter of 1 nm or more and 100 μm or less. The particles are made of an organic material or an inorganic material. The organic material and the inorganic material are free of a phosphor. The at least a part of an edge portion of the sealing member is a region located in the vicinity of an edge of the recessed portion which is a boundary between a surface of the inner wall and the flat upper surface. The at least one of the particles and aggregates of particles are unevenly distributed in the region.

Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to a light emitting device.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, some light emitting devices are manufactured by disposing a light emitting element in a recessed portion of a package, connecting the light emitting element to a lead frame via wires, filling a sealing resin into the recessed portion, and then curing the resin (see, for example, JP 2010-080620 A and JP 2011-222718 A).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An information processing system includes: an operation unit that receives an operational input; and an main body unit that operates depending on the operational input, wherein, the operation unit includes a first setting manager that transmits, to the main body unit, first setting information in which setting information of at least one operation unit application which is an application working in the operation unit is integrated and the main body unit includes a second setting manager that outputs second setting information in which setting information of at least one main body unit application which is an application working in the main body unit and the first setting information is integrated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for information processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an image forming device provided with, in addition to a main body unit that provides conventional functions of an image forming device, an operation unit that provides various functions using the conventional functions. The operation unit is provided with an OS (Operating System) and an application that works on this OS and realizes various functions.
Besides, there is another image forming device including a function of outputting (exporting) setting information (setting value) for each of various functions and a function of inputting setting information and performing a setting (import) with respect to various functions. These functions are used in a situation where the same setting is applied to a plurality of devices collectively and the same setting of a device before device replacement is applied to a replaced device.
There is a need for a system and a method for information processing capable of effectively managing setting information even with a configuration provided with a main body unit and an operation unit.

System and method for exporting and importing setting information


Receptor-induced binding sites (RIBS) expressed in a ligand when that ligand is bound in a complex with a receptor are disclosed, as are polypeptides that correspond in amino acid residue sequence with a RIBS expressed by a receptor-ligand complex. Particularly-preferred polypeptides correspond to a RIBS amino acid sequence of the gamma chain of human fibrinogen. Monoclonal antibodies that immunoreact with a RIBS but do not substantially immunoreact with either the ligand or the receptor when free in solution are also disclosed, as are hybridomas secreting those antibodies, and methods of making and using such antibodies.

Interactions of ligands with cell surface receptor molecules are hallmarks of biological processes. Exemplary of such interactions are the binding of the ligand formed by a portion of the envelope protein (gp140) of the AIDS virus (HIV) with the CD4 receptor on T cells, the receptors of the major histocompatibility complex that interact with numerous ligands in the processes of self/non-self discrimination in the immunological system, and the interaction of the fibrinogen ligand with the GPIIb-IIIa cellular receptor on platelets. The fibrinogen:GPIlb-IIIa ligand-receptor pair are of particular interest in blood clotting, thrombus formation, and are utilized hereinafter as exemplary of ligands and receptors.
The art has long sought immunological methods to distinguish the bound and non-bound forms of ligands and receptors because that ability would allow for a determination of the state of the physiological mechanisms mediated by receptor:ligand complex formation. Until recently, efforts to make such determinations by immunological methods have been frustrated because biological samples can contain ligands and receptors in both bound (complexed) and free forms.
For instance, the vasculature of individuals undergoing a thrombotic event contains non-bound forms of fibrinogen and GPIIb-IIIa as well as platelets having a fibrinogen:GPIIb-IIIa complex on their surface. The fibrinogen:GPIIb-IIIa complex expresses antigenic determinants common to non-bound fibrinogen and non-bound GPIIb-IIIa, thus making it difficult to identify a thrombotic condition or thrombus location by existing immunological methods.
Recently, Frelinger et al., J. Biol. Chem., 263:12397-12402 (1988) reported identifying an antigenic determinant expressed by GPIIb-IIIa only when GPIIb-IIIa was bound to a ligand. That is, the antigenic determinant described by Frelinger et al. was expressed by the receptor of the receptor:ligand complex.
Others have reported the preparation of monoclonal antibodies that immunoreact with an antigenic determinant expressed upon ligand binding to artificial, non-receptor surfaces. Sofia et al., J. Colloid Interface Sci., 107:204-208 (1985) describe a particular monoclonal antibody, referred to as DSB.sup.2, induced by immunization with cross-linked fibrin fragment which binds to plastic-adsorbed fibrinogen and also to the so-called fibrinogen D fragment adsorbed on plastic or free in solution. Reportedly, the antibody does not bind to solution phase fibrinogen or the so-called fibrinogen E fragment when in solution.
Additionally, Nilsson et al., Molec. Immunol., 24:487-94 (1987), report the preparation of monoclonal antibodies that immunoreact with complement C3 fragments particle-bound to Zymosan A, but not with soluble C3 fragments. The nature of protein binding to Zymosan A involves covalent chemical bonds.
In another report Abrams et al., Blood (Suppl. 1), 70:355a (December 1987) briefly discuss a monoclonal antibody designated 9F9 that is said in the published abstract to bind to platelet-bound fibrinogen. That brief report, however, does not characterize tile specific binding properties of monoclonal 9F9.
Numerous monoclonal antibodies that immunoreact with solubilized fibrinogen have been reported. One such report is Lindon et al., Blood, 68:355-362 (Audi. 1988). That paper reported the use of commercially available anti-human fibrinogen monoclonal antibodies as well as affinity-purified polyclonal antibodies to the D and E fragments.

Polypeptides that mimic receptor-induced binding sites, and methods of using same


Provided are compositions and methods based in part on the discovery that Enterococcus faecium heterologous secreted antigen A (SagA)-produced peptidoglycan fragments are protective against enteric bacterial infections. Modified bacteria that are engineered to express heterologous SagA are provided, and are included a nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and probiotic formulations, and as components of food products, including dairy products. The modified bacteria include modified Lactobacillus bacteria that express heterologous SagA. The disclosure includes a method that involves introducing into an individual modified bacteria of that express and secrete heterologous SagA. The disclosure provides isolated peptidoglycan fragment preparations made by a exposing a composition that contains peptidoglycan to an isolated or recombinant SagA, or to modified bacteria expressing a heterologous SagA, allowing SagA to generate the peptidoglycan fragments, and separating the peptidoglycan fragments from the composition to obtain the isolated peptidoglycan fragments or a preparation that contains them.

The intestinal microbiome mediates host resistance to enteric pathogens, but the underlying protection mechanisms of individual bacterial species have remained elusive (Buffie, C. G. & Pamer, E. G. Nat Rev Immunol 13, 790-801 (2013). For example, commensal strains of Enterococcus faecium can inhibit the virulence of several bacterial pathogens, but whether E. faecium directly targets pathogens or modulates host immunity is unknown (Tannock, G. W. & Cook, G. The Enterococci: Pathogenesis, Molecular Biology, and Antibiotic Resistance. 101-132 (ASM Press, 2002). Because enteric pathogens are responsible for gastroenteritis, but can also cause life threatening infections, there is an ongoing and unmet need for improved compositions and methods that can be used to inhibit their growth. The present disclosure meets these needs.

Modified microorganisms expressing SagA as anti-infective agents, probiotics and food components


This invention is in the general field of surgical instruments. It relates specifically to catheters which may be used in cardiovascular and endovascular procedures to deliver diagnostic, therapeutic, or vaso-occlusive agents to a target site within a human or animal body which is accessible by a system of natural passageways within that body. The catheters are coated in such a way that they are exceptionally slippery and the coating is very durable. The invention also relates to methods of coating the catheters and to methods of applying lubricious coatings.

Catheters are increasingly used to deliver diagnostic or therapeutic agents and devices to internal target sites that can be accessed through the circulatory or other system. There are a number of general approaches for placing catheters within vessels in the body to reach target sites that are difficult to access. In one technique, a torqueable guidewire is introduced into the vasculature and, using radiography to monitor its advance through the body's passageways, is rotated to allow the guidewire's bent guide tip to follow a chosen route (when a choice of pathways is found) and advanced towards the target site. At chosen intervals during the guidewire's advancement, the catheter is slid along the guidewire until the distal end of the catheter approaches the distal end of the guidewire. This procedure is repeated until the distal end of the catheter is positioned at the target site. An example of this technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,579. This is a widely accepted and respected method for approaching target sites in complicated area of the vasculature. It, however, has the drawback of being somewhat time-consuming due to the necessity of rotating and advancing the guidewire and catheter through the vasculature.
A second technique for advancing a catheter to a target site is to use the blood flow as the motive force in placing the distal end of the catheter at the desired target site. Such methods often employ a highly flexible catheter having an inflatable, but pre-punctured balloon at its distal end. In use, the balloon is partially inflated, and carried by blood flow into the target site. During placement, the balloon is continually inflated to replenish fluid leaking from the balloon. This technique, too, has drawbacks including the fact that at least the distal portion of the catheter is so floppy that it cannot be pushed without buckling. Instead the catheter must be advanced using injected fluid to inflate the balloon to propel the catheter to the target site. Additionally, there is a risk of rupture of a vessel by a balloon that has been overinflated.
In order to address some of the above described problems, another approach has involved the use of flexible catheters having extremely flexible distal portions which can be directed to a target site using the blood flowing to that site as the motive force but without the use of balloons on the distal catheter tip. These flow-directed catheters have the advantage of being quite fast in that they are able to access remote portions of the body very quickly. They carry the obvious limitation that the catheter distal tip can only go where the blood flow is the highest. Furthermore, the catheters often are limited in the size of the "load" carried to the selected site. Said another way, balloon-less flow-directed catheters may be a marginal choice if a larger embolic coil or large diameter particle is to be delivered to the select site. One aspect of this invention involves the coating of catheters such as these to further improve their access rate.
On the other hand, over-the-wire catheters having variable stiffness, although quite strong and able to deliver embolic coils and large diameter particles through their large lumen, are comparatively quite slow in time of access. Friction with the interior of the guide catheter or the vessel path considerably slows the procedure time. However, the over-the-wire catheters can be directed to portions of the vasculature inaccessible to the flow-directed catheter. Lowering the resistance of the over-the-wire catheter to improve its lubricity and allow improved access time to remote body sites forms a further aspect of this invention.
This invention is generically a coated catheter having portions of differing flexibility which is suitable for the delivery of diagnostic, therapeutic, or vaso-occlusive agents or devices to potentially remote portions of the vascular system or other systems of open lumen within the body. The coating is significantly slipperier than other known coatings and is very durable.
This invention also includes a method of coating catheters using lubricious hydrophilic polymers and a method for producing a thin layer of such polymers on polymeric substrates.
The invention also includes a method for placing the catheter at the target site and a method for delivering diagnostic, therapeutic, or vaso-occlusive agents or devices to the target site.


A chipper and apex subassembly 100 as an intermediate article of manufacture in a pneumatic tire has an apex strip 30 formed as a continuous elastomeric strip of unvulcanized material having a bottom base portion 31 and two opposing sides 33, 34 extending towards the narrow outer tip 32 and a chipper ply strip 40 reinforced with parallel cords oriented on a bias angle relative to the length of the strip cojoined to the apex 30 along the length of the strips and attached to one side of the unvulcanized apex strips on an outer surface. The chipper 40 is spaced from the bottom base portion 31 of the apex 30 and extends widthwise towards the narrow outer tip 32 to form a subassembly 100 of a chipper 40 and apex 30 as an intermediate article of manufacture. Additionally the subassembly 100 can be attached to bead core 12 to make a subassembly 200 as a further intermediate article of manufacture.

Pneumatic tires are made from rubber synthetic elastomeric components some of which are cord reinforced with synthetic textile or steel wire cords.
Typically in passenger or light truck tires the synthetic cords are used in the carcass ply fabric and the wire cords are disposed in the belt structure. Heavy duty truck tires may use steel wired cords in both the carcass ply and the belt structure.
The tire is generally mounted onto a rim secured by a pair of bead reinforcing structures each having a bead core comprised of a coil of steel wires with an elastomeric filler commonly called an apex due in part to its somewhat elongated triangular shape. Sometimes a cord reinforced flipper could be used wrapped about the bead core and the flipper with the bed core and apex components could be pre-assembled to form an intermediate article of manufacture that later could be assembled into a "green" or unvulcanized tire carcass toroidally shaped prior to applying the belt reinforcing structure and tread rubber. Thereafter the entire assembly would be placed in a heated mold and cured.
Typically a tire is formed from long strips of components that are cylindrically wound upon a tire building drum, cut to length and spliced using a lap or butt splice. Thereafter the assembly has the bead cores applied on each end and an apex positioned next to each bead core and then the ply turnup ends are folded over the bead core and apex and then stitched. After which this substantially cylindrical shaped assembly is toroidally shaped by expanding the diameter of the assembly between the beads and the beads are moved towards one another. Thereafter a belt structure and tread are applied and the green tire is then cured in a vulcanizing mold.
These methods of assembly are well known in the building art.
Due to the large number of strip components that are wound onto the building drum to form a tire carcass these strips being cut to length and spliced together at the ends in the manufacture and assembly of a tire means the assembly has to be precisely and tightly controlled to insure that a high quality finished product is produced with uniformity. Each out of place component or over or undersized part or bad splice joint can create a noticeable imbalance or ride disturbance particularly at highway speeds. It is therefore desirable to insure the tires as being manufactured have the strip components made in precisely the right size, positioned properly on assembly, cut to an exact length and properly spliced. Additionally these goals must be accomplished efficiently so the tires are affordable.
To meet these goals it is desirable to automate and in some cases form subassemblies or to make the components at the tire building machine.
The present invention described below provides a unique subassembly used as an intermediate article in the manufacture of a tire and an equally unique method in its manufacture.

Chipper and apex subassembly as an intermediate article of manufacture


Various methods, systems, and devices for flexible and accurate seed spacing control in a seed planting system. The various embodiments receive singulated seed from a metering device and control movement of the seed toward a seed spacing device that receives the seed. The seed spacing device, which is disposed near the soil surface, independently controls the ejection of the seed from the device and thus the spacing of the seed in the furrow.

As agricultural planting technologies continues to improve, high-speed precision agriculture is fast becoming the industry standard. Under these high-speed parameters, agricultural planters are required to put seeds in the ground with precise and repeatable spacing between the seeds in order to maximize crop health and yield. This seed spacing must be maintained at any ground speed, including both high speeds and slower speeds. The ability to turn off seed dispensing or change the seed dispensing rate on individual rows is also highly desirable for various reasons, including, for example, to eliminate planting overlap and to keep seed spacing consistent across all rows on a curve.
Seed singulation and spacing are controlled in most known planting technologies by the seed meter. That is, existing seed metering designs use mechanical meters to both singulate the seeds and place them in the furrow at the desired spacing. Generally, seed spacing is determined in these designs by the spacing of the seed slots/openings in the metering disc and the speed at which the meter is operated.
According to one known seed delivery technology, once the seeds exit the seed meter, seed delivery typically consists of allowing the seeds to fall to the ground as a result of gravity via an unobstructed pathway between the seed meter and the furrow such as a seed delivery tube or the like. One such example of a gravity-based seed delivery device 50 is depicted in FIG. 1C, in which a seed meter 52 singulates seed from a bulk supply (not shown), serially transfers each singulated seed to a seed tube 54, and then relies on gravity to deliver the seed to the furrow.
Reliance on gravity for seed delivery has disadvantages. One such disadvantage relates to the fact that most row crop planters have a seed singulating meter that is located at a substantial distance from the soil surface. The result is that rapid vertical movement as the planter unit follows the field terrain can affect the seed drop from the meter and result in inaccurate spacing. Another disadvantage is that the forward travel speed of the planter is limited by the reliance on gravity for seed delivery. That is, delivery of the seed via gravity means that the planter must travel in a limited speed range in order to prevent inaccurate seed spacing. More specifically, due to gravity, the seed is falling at a steady, unchangeable rate (equal to about 5.5 MPH when it contacts the soil). As a result, if the planter is traveling slower than that, the seed may roll rearward in the furrow. In contrast, if the planter is traveling faster than 5.5 MPH, the seed may roll forward in the furrow. Hence, the speed of the planter can result in inaccurate spacing, which can result in reduced yields in the field.
Newer known seed delivery technologies have included delivery mechanisms to mechanically deliver seed to a location closer to the seed furrow, thereby reducing the effects of gravity and accelerating the seed discharge velocity so the planter can be operated at faster travel speeds. An example of a mechanical seed delivery device 56 is depicted in FIG. 1D, in which a seed meter 58 singulates seed from a bulk supply (not shown), transfers each singulated seed to a mechanical conveyor 60, and then relies on that mechanical conveyor 60 to move the seeds to the seed furrow. In certain known examples, the conveyor 60 is a brush belt 60 that continually moves a brush (not shown) on the exterior of the belt (not shown) such that it transports each singulated seed from the seed meter 58 to the seed furrow. Two specific examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,686,906 and 9,578,802, both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
However, these mechanical delivery mechanisms have disadvantages as well. For example, these seed delivery devices require a specifically designed seed meter to operate in conjunction with the delivery mechanism. Also, in these mechanisms, the seed spacing is still ultimately controlled at the seed meter when the seed is transferred from the meter to the delivery mechanism. That is, the delivery mechanism cannot improve spacing errors caused by a poor transfer of the seed from the meter. A further disadvantage of these mechanical devices that utilize belts with paddles and similar configurations is a spacing accuracy limitation inherent to its design. The seeds per second delivered from the meter to the seed delivery mechanism are determined by the desired population and the travel speed. In contrast, the delivery belt speed is determined solely by the travel speed of the planter. Since the paddle spacing on the belt is fixed (approximately ⅝ inches for most such belts), the narrowest seed spacing achievable is equal to the paddle spacing (⅝″) and multiples of that. Hence, the minimum spacing that can be achieved is determined by the construction of the belt (the size of the seed chambers between the paddles) and greater seed spacings are a multiple of the spacing determined by the construction of the belt. As a result, the seeds per second singulated from the meter and the seeds per second delivered by the belt are not in synch, and this can lead to inaccurate spacing as the seed is transferred from the meter to the belt.
Another relatively new but known seed delivery technology is the use of air velocity (or pressure) to accelerate the seed from the meter to the furrow. One such example is depicted in FIG. 1E, in which the seed delivery device 62 is a pressurized air delivery device 62. In this example, a seed meter 64 singulates seed from a bulk supply (not shown), transfers each singulated seed to a seed tube 66, and pressurized air is provided in the seed tube 66 to accelerate the seeds along the tube 66 to the furrow. Examples include the systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,443,742, 8,789,483, and 9,137,941, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
However, one disadvantage of these air-based delivery mechanisms is that they are limited to only operating effectively at high speeds, not a range of speeds that will ultimately be determined by field conditions. While some known air-based delivery devices compensate for the seed velocity by delivering the seed under a press wheel that traps the seed, such wheels can cause problems by lifting seed from the soil (and leaving them on top of the soil surface, rather than beneath the surface) in poor conditions, such as wet soil.
There is a need in the art for improved systems, methods, and devices for spacing seeds during delivery to the seed furrow in both conventional and high-speed planting implements.

Seed spacing device for an agricultural planter and related systems and methods


A hydraulically set packer assembly actuated over an electronic line. The assembly includes a hydraulic packer setting mechanism that serves as an intensifier that is activated by way of an electronic trigger. As such, the trigger may be electronically coupled to an electronic line that is conventionally available for surface communications between surface equipment and a downhole gauge. The gauge generally present for monitoring well conditions such as pressure. Thus, a separate dedicated hydraulic or other powering line need not be outfitted as part of the assembly. Once more, for sake of gauge and well monitoring integrity, communications with the setting mechanism may be severed upon setting of the packer.

Exploring, drilling and completing hydrocarbon and other wells are generally complicated, time consuming, and ultimately very expensive endeavors. As a result, over the years, a significant amount of added emphasis has been placed on overall well architecture, monitoring and follow on interventional maintenance. Indeed, perhaps even more emphasis has been directed at minimizing costs associated with applications in furtherance of well construction, monitoring and maintenance. All in all, careful attention to the cost effective and reliable execution of such applications may help maximize production and extend well life. Thus, a substantial return on the investment in the completed well may be better ensured.
In line with the objectives of maximizing cost effectiveness and overall production, the well may be of a fairly sophisticated architecture. For example, the well may be tens of thousands of feet deep, traversing various formation layers, and zonally isolated throughout. That is to say, packers may be intermittently disposed about production tubing which runs through the well so as to isolate various well regions or zones from one another. Thus, production may be extracted from certain zones through the production tubing, but not others. Similarly, production tubing that terminates adjacent a production region is generally anchored or immobilized in place thereat by a mechanical packer, irrespective of any zonal isolation.
A packer, such as the noted mechanical packer, may be secured near the terminal end of the production tubing and equipped with a setting mechanism. The setting mechanism may be configured to drive the packer from a lower profile to a radially enlarged profile. Thus, the tubing may be advanced within the well and into position with the packer in a reduced or lower profile. Subsequently, the packer may be enlarged to secure the tubing in place adjacent the production region.
Once the production tubing is in place, activation of the setting mechanism is generally hydraulically triggered. More specifically, the mechanism is equipped with a trigger that is responsive to a given degree of pressure induced in the well. So, for example, surface equipment and pumps adjacent the well head at surface may be employed to induce between about 3,000 and 4,000 PSI in the well. Depending on the location of the trigger for the setting mechanism, this driving up of pressure may take place through the bore of the production tubing or through the annulus between the tubing and the wall of the well.
Unfortunately, the noted hydraulic manner of driving up pressure for triggering of the setting mechanism may place significant stress on the production tubing. For example, where the hydraulic pressure is induced through the tubing bore, the strain on the tubing may lead to ballooning. Furthermore, the strain on the tubing may have long term effects. That is to say, even long after setting the packer, strain placed on the tubing during the hydraulic setting of the packer may result in failure, for example, during production operations. To avoid such a catastrophic event, whenever pressure tolerances are detectably exceeded, the entire production tubing string and packer assembly may be removed, examined, and another deployment of production equipment undertaken. Ultimately, this may eat up a couple of days' time and upwards of $100,000 in expenses.
In order to avoid the costly scenario of having to remove and re-deploy the entire production string, other manners of packer setting are available. For example, a dedicated hydraulic control line may be run to the setting mechanism from surface. Indeed, this may already be done where the production tubing is open to the well, rendering well hydraulics unavailable for triggering of the mechanism. Regardless, a dedicated hydraulic line to the setting mechanism means that exposure of the production tubing to dramatic pressure increases for packer deployment is eliminated. Thus, the possibility of tubing failure in the future due to prior hydraulic strain is reduced.
Unfortunately, the utilization of a dedicated hydraulic line for the setting mechanism only shifts the concerns over hydraulic deployment from potential production tubing issues to issues with other downhole production equipment. For example, a dedicated hydraulic line is itself an added piece of production equipment. Thus, it comes with its own added expenses and failure modes. Indeed, due to the fact that a new piece of equipment is introduced, the possibility of defective production string equipment is inherently increased even before a setting application is run. Once more, where such defectiveness results in a failure, the same amount of time and expenses may be lost in removal and re-deployment of the production string. Thus, the advantages obtained from protecting the production tubing by utilization of a dedicated hydraulic line for the setting mechanism may be negligible at best.

Method and apparatus for setting a packer


A conductive bump structure is formed on a substrate having a plurality of bonding pads and a first insulating layer thereon. The first insulating layer has a plurality of openings formed therein for exposing the bonding pads and a conductive post is formed on the bonding pads exposed through the openings. Therein, a gap is formed between the conductive post and the wall of the opening such that no contact occurs between the conductive post and the first insulating layer, thereby preventing delamination of the conductive bump structure caused by stresses concentrating on an interface of different materials as in the prior art.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to conductive bump structures and fabrication methods thereof, and more particularly, to a conductive bump structure on a substrate and a fabrication method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A flip-chip package is characterized in that a semiconductor chip is electrically connected to a packaging substrate through a plurality of solder bumps instead of using gold wires. In recent years, in order to meet the increasing demand for high-density, high-speed semiconductor elements and meet the miniaturization trend of electronic products, a flip-chip element are generally disposed on a organic circuit boards, for example, printed circuit boards, and an underfill is filled below the chips to reduce thermal stresses caused by different coefficient of thermal expansions (CIEs) of the silicon chips and the organic circuit boards.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a semiconductor chip 1 has a plurality of bonding pads 100 and a packaging substrate 4 has a plurality of conductive pads 40 corresponding to the bonding pads 100, respectively. By disposing a plurality of solder bumps 5 or other conductive adhesive material between the bonding pads 100 and the corresponding conductive pads 40, the semiconductor chip 1 is disposed on the packaging substrate 4 in a face-down manner. Therein, the solder bumps 5 or conductive adhesive material provides electrical I/O and mechanical connection between the semiconductor chip 1 and the packaging substrate 4.
In a conventional flip-chip process, a conductive bump 13 is formed on each of the bonding pads 100 of the semiconductor chip 1 (as shown in FIG. 1B) and a pre-solder bump (not shown) is formed on each of the conductive pads 40 of the packaging substrate 4 for facilitating alignment and connection between the semiconductor chip 1 and the packaging substrate 4. Then, the conductive bumps 13 are reflowed to the corresponding pre-solder bumps to form the solder bumps 5. Thereafter, referring to FIG. 1A, an underfill 6 is provided between the semiconductor chip 1 and the packaging substrate 4 to ensure the reliability of the electrical connection between the semiconductor chip 1 and the packaging substrate 4.
Referring to FIG. 1B, to fabricate the conductive bumps 13, a second insulating layer 12 is formed to cover a wafer 10 so as to protect the wafer 10 from being adversely affected by external environment, and the bonding pads 100 of the wafer 10 are exposed from the second insulating layer 12. Further, a first insulating layer 11 is formed on the second insulating layer 12 and a plurality of openings 110 are formed in the first insulating layer 11 for exposing the bonding pads 100, respectively. Then, a UBM (Under Bump Metallization) layer 131 is formed on the exposed bonding pads 100 and a solder material 134 is formed on the UBM layer 131 so as to form the conductive bumps 13. Subsequently, the wafer 10 is cut into a plurality of semiconductor chips 1 through a singulation process.
However, when reflowing the conductive bumps 13 made of the solder material 134, it is difficult to control the average value and deviation of the volume and height of the conductive bumps 13. If the average value of the volume of the conductive bumps 13 is relatively low such that the amount of the solder material is insufficient, the bonding pads 100 may be not wetted or only partially wetted by the solder material, thereby resulting in poor solder joints and reducing the reliability. On the other hand, if the average value of the volume of the conductive bumps 13 is relatively high such that the amount of the solder material is excessive, solder bridges can easily occur between adjacent solder joints.
Therefore, the deviation of the volume and height of the conductive bumps 13 is large, which not only can easily cause defects of the solder bumps 5 so as to lead to poor electrical connection, but also can easily result in poor coplanarity between the array-arranged solder bumps 5 so as to lead to poor solder joints and product failure. Therefore, the conductive bumps 13 made of the solder material 134 cannot meet the fine-pitch requirement of the semiconductor chip 1.
Accordingly, a flip-chip bump technique is provided. Referring to FIG. 1C, a copper post 132 is formed on the UBM layer 131 and a solder material 134 is further formed on the copper post 132. Since the reflow process does not change the shape of the copper post, the height and volume of the conductive bumps 13′ can be easily controlled so as to control the collapse range of the solder bumps 5. Therefore, the semiconductor chip 1 can easily meet the fine-pitch requirement.
However, along with the miniaturization of electronic products, I/O pitches and the size of the conductive bumps 13′ are decreasing. Since the copper post 132 has a rigid structure such that stresses of the rigid structure easily concentrate on an interface S between the UBM layer 131 and the first insulating layer 11, delamination can easily occur at the interface S, thus reducing the product reliability.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a conductive bump structure and a fabrication method thereof so as to overcome the above-described drawbacks.

Conductive bump structure on substrate and fabrication method thereof

Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd.


An apparatus may include a processor component caused to: generate map entries in map data descriptive of encrypted data blocks within a data file; use first map block encryption data to encrypt a first map extension of the map data; transmit the encrypted first map extension for storage within the data file; store the first map block encryption data within the second map extension; use second map block encryption data to encrypt a second map extension of the map data after storage of the first map block encryption data therein; transmit encrypted second map extension for storage within the data file; store the second map block encryption data within the map base; use third map block encryption data to encrypt a map base of the map data after storage of the second map block encryption data therein; and transmit the encrypted map base for storage within the data file.

The performance of analyses of large data sets (e.g., what is commonly referred to as "big data") is becoming increasingly commonplace in such areas as simulations, process monitoring, decision making, behavioral modeling and making predictions. Such analysis are often performed by grids of varying quantities of available node devices, while the data sets are often stored within a separate set of storage devices. This begets the challenge of efficiently encrypting such large data sets for storage by storage devices and efficiently decrypting such large data sets for use by node devices among a grid of node devices following retrieval from storage devices.

Distributed data set encryption and decryption


Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) transmissions are described herein in which sequence collision is mitigated or eliminated by exploiting the randomness nature of user specific reference bits and data bits. Further, methods, systems, and devices that use NOMA for small data transmissions are disclosed.

In LTE, the transmission of data packets, for example small data transmission, requires an established Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection between a given UE and eNB. When an RRC connection has been established, the UE is in RRC Connected mode. After a device's inactivity period, the RRC connection is released through an S1-Release procedure, then the UE changes to RRC Idle mode. If an RRC Idle device wants to communicate with the network, it has to perform a scheduling request (SR) to establish the RRC connection and request resources again. It is recognized herein that is approach may not be efficient for small data transmission (SDT). 3GPP IoT has proposed solutions for reducing the signaling overhead required to establish and release RRC compared to conventional LTE. Two proposals are based on the Control Plane (CP), and the proposal is based on the User Plane (UP). Proposed solutions for small data transmission in LTE when UE is in the RRC idle mode are now summarized.
Service Request Signaling Messages represent the conventional data transmission procedure. FIG. 1 shows a typical sequence of signaling messages. The first four messages (messages 1-4) comprise the contention-based random access (RA) procedure. Steps 3 and 4 of the illustrated RA procedure are used as part of the RRC connection establishment. The subsequent signaling messages perform: UE's authentication in the Mobility Management Entity (MME) through Non-Access Stratum (NAS) security level (steps 6 and 7), Access Stratum (AS) security context establishment between the device and the eNB (steps 8 and 9), and RRC reconfiguration (steps 10 and 11).
Referring to FIG. 2, Control Plane (CP) Signaling Messages may use the control plane to forward the device's data packets. To do that, they may be sent through NAS messages to the MME. FIG. 2 shows a typical sequence of signaling messages. Contrary to conventional SR, the MME is responsible for the data packets' security check, and for forwarding them to the Serving Gateway (SGW) through the new S1-U bearer. The illustrated procedure does not apply AS security, and there is no RRC reconfiguration, which represents a reduction of signaling messages over the radio interface. Furthermore, the device can include in the NAS message the Release Assistance Indication (RAI) to the MME. This information can notify whether no further data transmission is expected. Then, the MME may release the connection immediately if there is no pending traffic, and the S1-U bearer (between eNB and SGW) is not established.
Referring to FIG. 3, User Plane (UP) Signaling Messages concern the transmission of data over the data plane, by means of preserving the RRC context instead of releasing it. Two control procedures are defined: Connection Resume and Suspend. Both are similar to two conventional control procedures, SR and S1-Release, respectively. However, the signaling messages slightly change. Compared with SR, the context of the RRC is stored in the UE and the network. Then, there is no need to reestablish the AS security context. FIG. 3 shows a typical sequence of UP signaling messages.
In LTE, Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) is introduced for downlink (DL) applications. LTE may support downlink intra-cell multi-user superposition transmission (MUST) for data channels with assistance information from a serving basing station (BS) to a user equipment (UE) regarding its experienced intra-cell interference. In some cases, with respect to a physical downlink shared data channel (PDSCH), MUST can increase system capacity and improve user experience in certain scenarios. MUST may be more beneficial when the network experiences higher traffic loads. MUST may be more beneficial in user perceived throughput for wideband scheduling cases, as compared to subband scheduling cases. MUST may be more beneficial in user perceived throughput for cell-edge UEs as compared to other UEs.
In some cases, a MUST UE receiver is assumed to be capable of canceling or suppressing intra-cell interference between co-scheduled MUST users for at least three categories, for example: superposition transmission with an adaptive power ratio on each component constellation and non-Gray-mapped composite constellation (Category 1); superposition transmission with an adaptive power ratio on component constellations and Gray-mapped composite constellation (Category 2); and superposition transmission with a label-bit assignment on composite constellation and Gray-mapped composite constellation (Category 3). It is recognized herein that no uplink NOMA has been discussed in Rel-14 for LTE.
Current approaches to NOMA transmissions, for example small data transmissions using NOMA, lack capabilities and efficiencies. For example, current approaches to NOMA transmissions may reduce spectral efficiency or degrade channel estimation performance.

Small data transmission with non-orthogonal multiple access


This document relates to systems and techniques for the treatment of a cardiac arrest victim via electromagnetic stimulation of physiologic tissue.

Cardiac Arrest, or Sudden Death, is a descriptor for a diverse collection of physiological abnormalities with a common cardiac etiology, wherein the patient typically presents with the symptoms of pulselessness, apnea and unconsciousness. Cardiac arrest is widespread, with an estimated 300,000 victims annually in the U.S. alone and a similar estimate of additional victims worldwide. Early defibrillation is the major factor in sudden cardiac arrest survival. There are, in fact, very few cases of cardiac arrest victims saved which were not treated with defibrillation. There are many different classes of abnormal electrocardiographic (ECG) rhythms, some of which are treatable with defibrillation and some of which are not. The standard terminology for this is "shockable" and "non-shockable" ECG rhythms, respectively. Non-shockable ECG rhythms are further classified into hemodynamically stable and hemodynamically unstable rhythms. Hemodynamically unstable rhythms are those which are incapable of supporting a patient's survival with adequate blood flow (non-viable). For example, a normal sinus rhythm is considered non-shockable and is hemodynamically stable (viable). Some common ECG rhythms encountered during cardiac arrest that are both non-shockable and hemodynamically unstable are: bradycardia, idioventricular rhythms, pulseless electrical activity (PEA) and asystole. Bradycardias, during which the heart beats too slowly, are non-shockable and also possibly non-viable. If the patient is unconscious during bradycardia, it can be helpful to perform chest compressions until pacing becomes available. Idioventricular rhythms, in which the electrical activity that initiates myocardial contraction occurs in the ventricles but not the atria, can also be non-shockable and non-viable (usually, electrical patterns begin in the atria). Idioventricular rhythms typically result in slow heart rhythms of 30 or 40 beats per minute, often causing the patient to lose consciousness. The slow heart rhythm occurs because the ventricles ordinarily respond to the activity of the atria, but when the atria stop their electrical activity, a slower, backup rhythm occurs in the ventricles. Pulseless Electrical Activity (PEA), the result of electro-mechanical dissociation (EMD), in which there is the presence of rhythmic electrical activity in the heart but the absence of myocardial contractility, is non-shockable and non-viable and would require chest compressions as a first response. Asystole, in which there is neither electrical nor mechanical activity in the heart, cannot be successfully treated with defibrillation, as is also the case for the other non-shockable, non-viable rhythms. Pacing is recommended for asystole, and there are other treatment modalities that an advanced life support team can perform to assist such patients, e.g. intubation and drugs. The primary examples of shockable rhythms that can be successfully treated with defibrillation are ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, and ventricular flutter.
Normally, electrochemical activity within a human heart causes the organ's muscle fibers to contract and relax in a synchronized manner. This synchronized action of the heart's musculature results in the effective pumping of blood from the ventricles to the body's vital organs. In the case of ventricular fibrillation (VF), however, abnormal electrical activity within the heart causes the individual muscle fibers to contract in an unsynchronized and chaotic way. As a result of this loss of synchronization, the heart loses its ability to effectively pump blood. Defibrillators produce a large current pulse that disrupts the chaotic electrical activity of the heart associated with ventricular fibrillation and provides the heart's electrochemical system with the opportunity to re-synchronize itself. Once organized electrical activity is restored, synchronized muscle contractions usually follow, leading to the restoration of effective cardiac pumping.
With the first clinical use in humans described in 1956 by Dr. Paul Zoll, transthoracic defibrillation has become the primary therapy for cardiac arrest, ventricular tachycardia (VT), and atrial fibrillation (AF). Monophasic waveforms dominated until 1996, when the first biphasic waveform became available for clinical use. Actual survival-to-hospital-discharge rates remain an abysmal ten percent or less. Survival rates from cardiac arrest remain as low as 1-3% in major U.S. cities, including those with extensive, advanced pre-hospital medical care infrastructures.
The importance of good quality, deep compressions on improving survival has recently been rediscovered by the clinical community. The American Heart Association, in their most recent 2010 Guidelines, state, "The scientists and healthcare providers participating in a comprehensive evidence evaluation process analyzed the sequence and priorities of the steps of CPR in light of current scientific advances to identify factors with the greatest potential impact on survival. On the basis of the strength of the available evidence, they developed recommendations to support the interventions that showed the most promise. There was unanimous support for continued emphasis on high-quality CPR, with compressions of adequate rate and depth, allowing complete chest recoil, minimizing interruptions in chest compressions and avoiding excessive ventilation."
In spite of the recommendations from the AHA and other recognized clinical bodies that good quality compressions with no pausing is important for cardiac arrest survival, compressions without pauses is actually very difficult to achieve, even with clinical use protocols that are specifically designed to achieve continuous compressions, with no ventilation pauses. It has been shown that CPR fraction, the percentage of time during the course of resuscitation during which compressions are present, is only 60-70% even for those systems which utilize the continuous compression approach to eliminate the ventilation pauses. The CPR fraction can be further increased to 80-85% when defibrillators are utilized that incorporate a motion sensor under the rescuers hands and provide real time feedback to the rescuer on the quality of their compressions (ReaICPRHeIp, ZOLL Medical, Chelmsford).
Devices for augmentation of circulation by pacing of asystole and bradycardia combined with defibrillation have been available for a number of years. U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,138 describes a device that automatically paces a patient either before or after a defibrillation shock when either profound bradycardia or asystole is detected.
Use of electrical stimulation of skeletal muscles to deliver blood flow similar to conventional sternal chest compressions during CPR has been described by Wang and colleagues in Crit Care Med 2008; 36[Suppl.]:S458-S466. As the authors note, however, the method is of limited value as skeletal muscle fatigue onset is fairly rapid, even under optimal lab conditions; fatigue onset was found to be less than one minute in most cases. It should be noted that a typical clinically advised interval for chest compressions is two minutes, thus efficacious stimulation will not reliably be achieved for even one full CPR interval. The technique is further elucidated, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,782,883, 6,185,457, 5,978,703, 6,314,319, and 6,567,607.
There are two primary mechanisms for generation of blood flow during chest compression in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR): the cardiac pump mechanism and the thoracic pump mechanism. "The cardiac pump hypothesis holds that blood flow is generated during closed-chest compressions when the heart is squeezed between the sternum and the vertebral column. This mechanism of flow implies that ventricular compression causes closure of the atrioventricular valves and that ejection of blood reduces ventricular volume. During chest relaxation, ventricular pressure falls below atrial pressure, allowing the atrioventricular valves to open and the ventricles to fill. This sequence of events resembles the normal cardiac cycle and occurs during cardiac compression when open-chest CPR is used." [Peter Trinkaus, Charles L. Schleien, Physiologic Foundations of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, In: Bradley P. Fuhrman, MD, and Jerry J. Zimmerman, MD, PhD, Editor(s), Pediatric Critical Care (Third Edition), Mosby, Philadelphia, 2006, Pages 1795-1823, ISBN 978-0-32-301808-1, DOI: 10.1016/B978-032301808-1.50121-8.] Trinkaus goes on to say, " During normal cardiac function, the lowest pressure in the vascular circuit occurs on the atrial side of the atrioventricular valves. This low pressure compartment is the downstream pressure for the systemic circulation, which allows venous return to the heart. Angiographic studies show that blood passes from the venae cavae through the right heart into the pulmonary artery and from the pulmonary veins through the left heart into the aorta during a single chest compression. Echocardiographic studies show that, unlike normal cardiac activity or during open chest CPR, during closed-chest CPR in both dogs and humans the atrioventricular valves are open during blood ejection and aortic diameter decreases rather than increases during blood ejection. These findings during closed-chest CPR support the thoracic pump theory and argue that the heart is a passive conduit for blood flow." (FIG. 1). In practice, the mechanism of blood flow generation during chest compressions is both cardiac and thoracic, with the relative proportion of effect being a function of the patient's individual vascular and valvular state as well as the performance parameters of the chest compression, particularly with regard to the depth, rate and release of the compression.
A typical patient will require approximately 100-200 pounds of force for the rescuer to compress the sternum to the recommended depth of 2 inches. The guidelines further recommend that the rate of compressions be at one compression every 600 milliseconds. During a normal resuscitation, as a result of this level of exertion, the rescuer responsible for performing chest compressions will fatigue from the effort even in as short a time as one minute. In response to the fatigue, the rescuer will respond by either switching roles with another rescuer, by pausing compressions, or by reducing their level of exertion which will inevitably result in insufficient compression effectiveness. In the case of switching rescuers, this procedure will result in pauses in compressions of at least 10 seconds and potentially 30 seconds if the action is performed inefficiently. During this period of pausing, the patient is of course not receiving the life-saving therapy of chest compressions, and no blood is being delivered to the heart, brain and other vital organs. It would thus be desirable to have an automatic means of delivering perfusion during periods of switching rescuers, periods of rescuer fatigue, pauses and other lapses in compression quality.
Attempts to use electrical stimulation for ventilation during CPR have also been described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,960 for electrostimulation in conjunction with a chest compression device and stimulation of nerves controlling ventilation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,463,327 and 6,234,985 also describe the use diaphragmatic stimulation by the phrenic nerve in order to augment venous return and hemodynamics during CPR. The use of phrenic stimulation for cardiac arrest victims has not been found to be particularly effective for several reasons: 1) the patient has been anoxic for an extended period during cardiac arrest prior to treatment, resulting in degraded metabolic status of the whole nervous system, including the phrenic nerve, making electrostimulation much less effective than with conscious patients; 2) non-invasive locations for stimulation electrodes on the thorax also stimulate the intercostal muscles that cause exhalation, in direct opposition to the inspiratory effect caused by phrenic stimulation and its associated diaphragmatic contraction; and 3) while the phrenic nerve in the neck can be stimulated non-invasively, is often difficult to locate, particularly in the pre-hospital environment and under the acute, emergent situation of cardiac arrest.

Coordinated resuscitation perfusion support