A recycled cellulose pulp composition is provided which comprises recycled cellulosic fibers and cellulose ester staple fibers. The recycled cellulose pulp containing co-refined re-cycled cellulose fibers and cellulose ester staple fibers can be added to a hydropulper and fed back through a refiner to make wet laid products.

Many of the wet laid webs/sheets find application in paperboard, cardboard, food packaging, and single use container. While recycling efforts have met with considerable success, not all products find their way into the waste/recycle stream for re-use. Manufacturers and consumers continue to develop their awareness and understanding of the environmental impact of products and their use on the environment. There continues to exist a need and potential to develop wet laid products formed from sustainable materials while also exhibiting environmental non-persistence in product form, while satisfying or improving upon one or more properties for the application.
With the considerable success of waste/recycling efforts, the recycle mill market has grown considerably on a large industrial scale and utilizes many of the same unit processes as would a wet laid facility. Common elements include hydropulping, screening, cleaning, depositing pulp onto a moving wire, draining, and drying. Recycle mills have an additional process step of flotation and de-inking. The waste/recycle mills furnish bales of dried pulp to a wet laid facility, and the waste/recycle pulp is either added to a hydropulper and eventually fed to a refiner, or it is fed to a blend tank downstream of the refiner.
It would be desirable to provide a synthetic fiber that can provide beneficial properties to wet laid products but that can also be recycled back and fed through a refiner. Polyolefins and polyesters cannot be fed through a refining operation without agglomerating or compromising the operation of the refiner. Even if such synthetic fibers are added to a furnish downstream of a refiner, the wet laid products made thereby are unsuitable for recycling since recycled pulp is added to a hydropulper that feeds a refiner.
It would be desirable to make wet laid products with a synthetic fiber suitable for recycling, and to provide composition containing recycle cellulose fibers along with synthetic fibers that can be added to a hydropulper feeding a refiner.


The technology provided herein relates to novel immunoproteases suitable to induce apotosis in selected diseased target cells, comprising the serine protease granzyme M, and methods for using such cytolytic fusion proteins for the treatment of various diseases, in particular for the treatment of cancer.

In the treatment of tumors, autoimmune diseases, allergies and tissue rejection reactions, it is a disadvantage that the currently available medicaments, such as chemotherapeutic agents, corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents, have a potential of side effects which is sometimes considerable, due to their relative non-specificity. It has been attempted to moderate this by various therapeutical concepts. Especially the use of immunotherapeutic agents is an approach, which resulted in an increase of the specificity of medicaments, especially in tumor treatment.
Immunotoxins are proteins used to treat e.g. cancer that are composed of an antibody or a fragment thereof linked to a toxin. The immunotoxin binds to a surface antigen on a cancer cell, enters the cell, and kills it. The most potent immunotoxins are made from bacterial and plant toxins. Refinements over many years have produced recombinant immunotoxins; these therapeutic proteins are made using protein engineering. Individual immunotoxins are designed to treat specific cancers. To date, most success has been achieved treating hematologic tumors. Obstacles to successful treatment of solid tumors include poor penetration into tumor masses and the immune response to the toxin component of the immunotoxin, which limits the number of doses that can be given. Strategies to overcome these limitations are being pursued.
The protein-based cell toxins which have been mostly used to date and are thus best characterized, are the bacterial toxins diphtheria toxin (DT) (Beaumelle, B. et al. 1992; Chaudhary, V. et al. 1990; Kuzel, T. M. et al. 1993; LeMaistre, C. et al. 1998), Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE) (Fitz Gerald, D. J. et al. 1988; Pai, L. H. and Pastan, I. 1998), and the plant-derived ricin-A (Engert, A. et al. 1997; Matthey, B. et al. 2000; O'Hare, M. et al. 1990; Schnell, R. et al. 2000; Thorpe, P. E. et al. 1988; Youle, R. J. and Neville, D. M. J. 1980). The mechanism of cytotoxic activity is the same in all of these toxins despite of their different evolutionary backgrounds. The catalytic domain inhibits protein biosynthesis by a modification of the elongation factor EF-2, which is important to translation, or of the ribosomes directly, so that EF-2 can no longer bind (Endo, Y. et al. 1987; Iglewski, B. H. and Kabat, D. 1975).
In most of the constructs employed to date, the systemic application of immunotoxins results in more or less strong side effects. In addition to the "vascular leak" syndrome (Baluna, R. and Vitetta, E. S. 1997; Schnell, R. et al. 1998; Vitetta, E. S. 2000), thrombocytopenia, hemolysis, renal insufficiency and sickness occur, depending on the construct employed and the applied dosage. Dose-dependent and reversible liver damage could also be observed (Battelli, M. G. et al. 1996; Grossbard, M. L. et al. 1993; Harkonen, S. et al. 1987). In addition to the documented side effects, the immunogenicity of the constructs employed to be observed in the use of the immunoconjugates or immunotoxins is the key problem of immunotherapy (Khazaeli, M. B. et al. 1994). This applies, in particular, to the humoral defense against the catalytic domains employed, such as ricin (HARA) (Grossbard, M. L. et al. 1998), PE (Kreitman, R. J. et al. 2000), or DT (LeMaistre, E. F. et al. 1992). Theoretically, all non-human structures can provoke an immune response. Thus, the repeated administration of immunotoxins and immunoconjugates is subject to limitations. A logical consequence of these problems is the development of human immunotoxins, now named human cytolytic fusion proteins (Rybak, S. et al. 1992).
For example, cytotoxic lymphocyte granules contain perforin, a pore-forming protein, and a family of serine proteases, termed granzymes. Granzymes are serine proteases that are mainly expressed in cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells.
Granzymes are involved in cell death by apoptosis (Coughlin et al, 2000) but also have other functions, including the regulation of B-cell proliferation, cleavage of extracellular matrix proteins, induction of cytokine secretion, activation of cytokines, control of viral infections (Trapani, 2001). For example, the serine protease granzyme B (GrB) (Lobe et al., 1986; Schmid and Weissman, 1987; Trapani et al., 1988) is integrally involved in apoptotic cell death induced in target cells upon their exposure to the contents of lysosome-like cytoplasmic granules (or cytolytic granules) found in cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) and natural killer (NK) cells (Henkart, 1985; Young and Cohn, 1986; Smyth and Trapani, 1995).
WO 01/80880 A1 discloses the use of the serine protease granzyme B in a cytolytic fusion protein (immunoprotease). The cytotoxic lymphocyte serine proteinase granzyme B induces apoptosis of abnormal cells by cleaving intracellular proteins at sites similar to those cleaved by caspases. However, granzyme B has a number of efficient natural inhibitors like Serpin B9 that prevent granzyme B-mediated apoptosis in certain cell types.
Thus, the technical problem underlying the present invention was to provide novel and improved cytolytic fusion proteins for the treatment of a disease.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V


A process is provided for producing an alkyl aromatic compound having substituents at the 3- and 5-positions by alkylating an aromatic compound having two substituents in the meta positions with an olefin having 2 to 4 carbon atoms in the presence of a Broensted acid, followed by addition of a Lewis acid and isomerization in the copresence of the Broensted acid and the Lewis acid. According to the present invention, 3,5-dimethylethylbenzene, 3,5-dimethylcumene, etc. may be produced in a stable manner with high yield and high selectivity under mild and simple reaction conditions. The alkyl aromatic compounds having substituents at the 3- and 5-positions are useful as intermediates for functional chemicals for use in pharmaceutical, agricultural and electronic materials. With the method of the present invention, the catalyst used can be recovered and recycled. Thus, desired alkyl aromatic compounds may be obtained economically in an industrially advantageous manner while reducing the load on the environment.

As a method for the alkylation of an aromatic compound, a Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction or a gaseous phase reaction which uses a solid acid catalyst are widely known.
In alkylating an aromatic compound, the position (ortho, meta or para position) of the aromatic ring of the raw material to which an alkyl group is introduced is determined by the effect of the functional group (orientation). When the desired compound is not in accord with the substitution orientation inherent to the functional group, however, a positional isomer of the desired compound is obtained as a product. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out disproportionation called an isomerization reaction or a transalkylation reaction in order to introduce the alkyl group to the desired position.
For example, the Friedel-Crafts alkylation is a method known from the past, in which a Lewis acid catalyst such as aluminum chloride is used as a catalyst. With a method using aluminum chloride as an alkylation agent, the selectivity to a monoalkyl compound in the alkylation reaction is low. Further, the method requires complicated steps of separation of the monoalkylated product from a polyalkylated product by distillation and the subsequent transalkylation of the polyalkyl compound to the monoalkyl compound (JP-A-Sho 57-40419).
JP-A-Hei 04-346939 discloses a method in which alkylation is carried out using aluminum chloride, followed by transalkylation using a solid acid catalyst. This method, however, requires removal or separation by distillation of aluminum chloride and HCl used as a co-catalyst prior to the transalkylation and, therefore, is a complicated multi-step process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,777 discloses a process for producing 3,5-dichloroalkylbenzene in which a dichlorobenzene is subjected to an alkylation reaction using aluminum chloride as a catalyst and isopropyl bromide as an alkylating agent, followed by isomeriziation and transalkylation. This process has problems that a halogenated alkyl must be used as a raw material and that the process steps are complicated.
The Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction using aluminum chloride requires complicated steps as described above. Further, the amount of the catalyst relative to the raw material is large. Furthermore, the catalyst is apt to be inactivated because the catalyst tends to form a complex with various compounds produced by the reaction. Additionally, in order to separate the product from aluminum chloride after termination of the reaction, it is necessary to treat the reaction mixture with water. As a consequence of the treatment, aluminum chloride turns into aluminum hydroxide. Thus, the method has a defect that it is difficult to recycle the catalyst.
With regard to the alkylation reaction using other Lewis acids, U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,668 discloses an alkylation reaction of metaxylene using aluminum halide and iodine as a catalyst and an α-olefin as an alkylating agent. This method, however, has defects that iodine should be used in addition to aluminum halide and that the reaction time is as long as 2 to 7 hours. U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,248 discloses a method of alkylating an aromatic compound using titanium tetrafluoride. With this method, the selectivity to the desired product is 60 to 70% and is not satisfactory.
JP-A-Hei 06-263656 discloses a method in which a rare earth-containing catalyst using a perfluoroalkyl group-containing sulfonyl group as a counter anion is used. This method is superior in comparison with a method using an aluminum halide catalyst, since the catalyst may be recycled. However, this method has problems that the catalyst is expensive and that the selectivity is low due to accompanying polyalkylation reaction. Namely, the yield of mono-substituted products is about 30%, the yield of di-substituted products is about 10 to 30%, and the yield of tri-substituted products is about 10%. U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,677 discloses an example of dialkylating an alkylbenzene using a carboxylic acid complex of BF3 for the production of synthetic oils (lubricants). While the reaction gives a yield of the desired product of as high as about 90%, this method has problems that a long reaction time of 20 hours or more is required and that the post treatment of the reaction liquid is troublesome.
As described above, any conventional alkylation reaction using a Lewis acid as a catalyst has problems. Further, as a common problem in all manufacturing methods, the reaction requires multi-steps and complicated post treatment and, therefore, is ill-suited for industrial production.
Described in the foregoing are alkylation reactions using as a catalyst a Lewis acid represented by aluminum chloride. Also well known is an alkylation reaction using as a catalyst HF which is a Broensted acid. Further, a reaction using HF as an alkylation catalyst is disclosed. This method pertains to a process for producing gasoline having an improved octane number, wherein C2 to C20 olefins containing HF and a paraffin are passed through a column having a fixed bed of an inert support. From the object thereof, the product must be a mixture of various compounds. Thus, this method is not considered to pertain to selective alkylation. For example, in the case of trimethylpentane which is the major product, the weight proportion is about 70% and the selectivity is low (U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,567 and No. 4,891,466).
U.S. Pat. No. 2,766,307, No. 2,803,682 and No. 2,803,683 and D. A. McCaulay and A. P. Lien, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 77, 1803 (1955) disclose a method for producing alkylxylenes by ethylation or isopropylation of metaxylene. In the methods disclosed in the above patents and article, the catalyst system uses HF and BF3 at the same time. Further, HF is used in an amount of 10 to 20 moles per mole of the raw material substituted aromatic compound, which is much greater than that in the present invention. Thus, a problem is caused that the efficiency of the separation and purification of HF used as the catalyst and the desired product is low.
As an alkylation method using other acids, there may be mentioned fixed bed alkylation using a fluorinated sulfonic acid catalyst and reaction using a zeolite catalyst (JP-A-Hei 09-2982). However, in the example using a fluorinated sulfonic acid catalyst, the conversion of the raw material aromatic compound is not satisfactory (about 30%). Further, the method has a problem with respect to the selectivity, since branched alkylated products and polyalkylated products are produced. A method disclosed in JP-A-2000-297049 and JP-A-2002-20325 uses zeolite catalysts. While the method is excellent with respect to easiness in separation of the product from the catalyst, polyalkylated products are by-produced in an amount of 10% or more. Additionally, the catalyst is expensive.

Process for producing alkyl aromatic compound


The present disclosure provides an energy conversion system and method for generating electricity directly from heat by phase transformation of ferroelectric materials without any external power sources. The energy conversion system includes an electric circuit comprising a phase-changing capacitor and a charge reservoir. The phase-changing capacitor has a dielectric layer comprising a phase-transforming ferroelectric material. When the phase-changing capacitor is initialized and subjected to thermal cycles through a transformation temperature of the phase-transforming ferroelectric material, the polarization of the dielectric layer undergoes an abrupt change between a ferroelectric phase and a paraelectric phase such that a current flow between the phase-changing capacitor and the charge reservoir via a load thereby converting heat into electrical energy. The present energy conversion method does not require any external bias fields during the energy conversion.

Recycling and harvesting energy from waste heat is one of the most urgent challenges in energy science and technology. The generation of waste heat is unavoidable from fuel burn, running computers and machines, transportation and even the power generation process itself. In recent years, waste heat emission has reached about 30% of the global input energy annually. While people work on minimizing the waste heat emission, making use of it and converting it back to useful energy plays an important role in reducing waste heat and enhancing the renewable power generation. Thermoelectric devices with state-of-the-art designs are the most mature technology for this purpose, but their performance is highly hindered at low temperature regime, especially at the temperature lower than 200° C.
Materials undergoing first-order phase transformation accompanied by a sudden change in ferroelectric properties have attracted attention in recent years for energy conversion via low-grade wasted heat. An example of such materials is BaTiO3 (barium titanate) that structurally transforms from tetragonal to cubic upon heating together with abrupt change of polarization before and after the phase transformation. Many conventional energy conversion designs using such materials for electricity generation are based on Olsen cycles. However, all these designs use an external DC voltage/power source to provide a bias electric field on the transforming material during the isobaric thermodynamic process. However, an appropriate design for electricity generation should not depend on another voltage source.
Accordingly, energy conversion via phase-changing ferroelectric materials has been widely studied in many energy conversion systems. Temperature dependent polarization/capacitance is usually understood as the pyroelectric effect in conventional designs. The materials used in these systems are ferroelectric materials. These materials can be made into dielectric layers so that they become temperature dependent capacitors. These pyroelectric energy conversion designs include the external voltage source for providing the bias field during isobaric process in the Ericssion cycle. The electricity collected on the resistor is frequently confused with the electrostatic energy converted from heat. However, these two quantities are not necessarily equal. As a result, care should be taken when evaluating electricity collected on the resistor thought to be generated by ferroelectric materials. When external voltage source is connected, it will be impossible to distinguish the electrostatic energy generated from the phase transformation and the bias field of the external battery.
A need therefore exists for a new energy conversion system by phase transformation in ferroelectric materials that eliminates or at least diminishes the disadvantages and problems described above.

Energy conversion system and method by phase transforming materials

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology


A wireless security device includes a nonconductive housing, a mother circuit board, a wireless expansion card, and a metal reflector. The mother circuit board and the wireless expansion card are disposed in the nonconductive housing. The mother circuit board includes a processor. The wireless expansion card includes a dielectric substrate, a ground plane, an inverted-F antenna, and an RF (radio frequency) module. The metal reflector is positioned between the mother circuit board and the wireless expansion card, and is close to the inverted-F antenna. The metal reflector is configured to reduce EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) from the mother circuit board so as to maintain performance of the inverted-F antenna.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure generally relates to a wireless security device, and more particularly, relates to a wireless security device for reducing EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) and maintaining antenna performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) is defined as any electromagnetic occurrence which degrades performance of apparatuses, equipments and systems, or damages lives and inanimate objects. EMI may result from electromagnetic noise, useless signals, or changes in transmission media. Leakage radiation from transmission media is caused by energy of high frequency waves and signal modulation.
For example, an antenna in an electronic communication device is usually affected by electromagnetic waves from other electronic components, thereby reducing communication quality.


Improved methods for fabricating semiconductor integrated circuit devices, in particular flash EEPROM devices. According to an embodiment, the present invention provides a method of forming a semiconductor device having a gate oxide layer (120) that is thin in some regions, such as the cell region, and thicker in other regions (155), such as the periphery region. The method provides the gate oxide layer with different thicknesses without the thickness control problems of prior art methods that use contaminant-containing photoresist with an etching step. According to the present invention, the gate oxide has a first thickness that is sufficiently thin to provide high driving capability for the semiconductor device, and a second thickness that is sufficiently thick to provide high voltage reliability of the semiconductor device.

The present invention relates to semiconductor integrated circuits and their manufacture. The invention is illustrated in an example with regard to the manufacture of a read only memory ("ROM") cell, and more particularly to the manufacture of a flash electrically-erasable programmable read only memory ("Flash EEPROM") cell, but it will be recognized that the invention has a wider range of applicability. Merely by way of example, the invention may be applied in the manufacture of other semiconductor devices such as mask ROMs, microcontrollers, microprocessors ("MICROs"), digital signal processors ("DSPs"), application specific integrated circuits, among others.
Read only memories (ROMs) and various methods of their manufacture are known in the art. In the fabrication of a ROM, particularly an EEPROM, it is necessary to fabricate a storage cell that maintains data after the applied power is turned off, that is, a storage cell having almost permanent data characteristics. The storage cells are generally mass data storage files where each cell corresponds to the presence or absence of a stored charge on a "floating" gate of a storage cell transistor. Specifically, the storage cell includes at least two conducting layers--one conducting layer is the floating gate of the storage cell transistor, and another conducting layer is the control gate for control of the cell operation--which may be, for example, polysilicon. In a typical device, the floating gate is formed on a thin gate oxide formed on the substrate, and the control gate is located above the floating gate. In such a device, the control gate and floating gate are isolated each other by a thin dielectric layer known as an "interpoly oxide", which may typically be composed of oxide/nitride/oxide ("ONO"). In some typical EEPROMs, data is programmed into the cells by applying a high voltage to the control gate to inject hot electrons (or tunnel electrons in some devices) into the floating gate. The process of programming data is often called coding. In coding, the charge is transferred from the silicon substrate through the thin gate oxide layer to the floating gate.
In typical EEPROMs, especially for flash EEPROMs, two different gate oxide thicknesses are required for optimized device performance. In such devices, it is critical to grow a high-quality, thin gate oxide (used as a tunneling oxide) in the storage cell and a thick gate oxide in transistors in the periphery of the storage cell region in order to provide high driving capability for higher speed. Controlling the thickness of the thin gate oxide is crucial, especially since design rules for devices with gates are becoming increasingly smaller and require thinner gate oxides. However, because high-voltage supplies are used, thicker gate oxides at the periphery and the storage cell region are needed to maintain device quality and reliability after long-term high voltage stress from the high voltages (e.g., up to or greater than +12V) generated through a pumping circuit for the storage cell coding and/or erase. Therefore, implementing different gate oxide thicknesses in EEPROM devices is an important aspect of the fabrication of high performance devices.
Prior art methods for forming different gate oxide thicknesses in ROMs have typically involved the use of photoresist in combination with either a dry or wet etch step. First, a thick gate oxide is grown on a silicon substrate and masked with a photoresist. The photoresist used makes physical contact with and masks a portion of the thick gate oxide, while the etch step removes some of the gate oxide to provide a thinner gate oxide. Such photoresist typically contains many contaminants which degrade the ability of the thick gate oxide to resist long-term high voltage stresses. Moreover, use of a dry etch creates the possibility of over-etching in some portions of the gate oxide down to the silicon substrate to damage the substrate and degrade the quality of the gate oxide layer. Even if the dry etch does not over-etch, the use of a dry etch may also present problems for gate oxide quality and oxide thickness control.
From the above it is seen that an improved method of fabricating semiconductor ROM devices with a reliable, high-quality gate oxide having different thicknesses is often desired. Further, improved methods are needed which are able to provide with adequate thickness control high-quality gate oxides, especially for increasingly smaller device dimensions, that are sufficiently thin in certain regions such as in the cell regions and in periphery regions and thicker in other regions such as periphery regions.

Method of implementing differential gate oxide thickness for flash EEPROM


The present invention relates to a servo controlled stitching apparatus that comprises a servo controlled wire pulling means (4) for pulling the required length of wire for stitching bunch of paper sheets. Said pulling means (4) comprises pulling roller (11) having wire retaining groove (11a) for guiding wire extending from the spool (2) towards the stitching head (1). It also comprises pressure roller (13) that rotates against pulling roller (11) for pulling the wire (16) from the spool (2). The length of wire to be pulled is predefined in the controller means which is communicated with the servo motor (7) that rotates said rollers (11, 13) until the predetermined length of wire is pulled. The stitching head (1) utilize the wire (16) of pulled length without rotating the spool itself to avoid pulling load and to apply even stapling on the bunch of paper sheets.

Wire stitching apparatus are employed in book binding machine for stapling bunch of paper sheets to form a note books etc. One such conventional wire stitching machine is shown in FIG. 1. According to FIG. 1, conventional stitching machine includes the stitching head (1) that reels out a wire from the wire spool (2) and then cuts the wire (W) in a predetermined length, bends the wire into a U-shaped and drives the U-shaped wire into the set of sheets. Simultaneously when the wire (W) is driven, both ends of the U-shaped wire passed through the set of sheets are bent to staples the set of sheets.
One such wire stitcher for binding sets of sheets has been disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,919 that comprises a stitcher head having wire advancing and cutting mechanism for pulling the length of wire from the spool and applying on the paper sheets to be stitched.
However, the above set up of stitching mechanism carry difficulties leading to improper stapling of the product. In this conventional stitching machine, the stitching wire is directly pulled by the stitching head from the spool that leads towards the improper feeding of wire from the spool. Hence, the problem of uneven length of stitching pin which deteriorates the quality of product is arisen. In such machines, the stitching head is permitted to freely pull the wire from the reel with the result that the reel has unrestrained rotation in the direction of the unreeling of the wire, and this has been found to be objectionable in that the unreeled wire is too loose and is apt to become tangled or kinked, with the result that the staples formed are uneven or are improperly applied to the paper sheets. Hence, when the wire spool is fully loaded with wire, then in such situation, stitching head require more load to pull the wire due to more weight. This result in small length of pins due to slippage and also affect the life span of the stitching head due to overload. Adversely, when the spool weight is reduced, excessive length of wire is pulled out that result into the more length of pin.

Servo controlled stitching apparatus and method thereof


A method for selecting amino acid residues is disclosed which upon replacement will give rise to an enzyme with an altered pH optimum. The method is specific for metalloenzymes which are inactivated at low pH due to the dissociation of the metal ions. The method is based on altering the pK.sub.a of the metal coordinating ligands or altering the K.sub.ass for the metal binding. New glucose isomerases with an altered pH optimum are provided according to this method. These altered properties enable starch degradation to be performed at lower pH values.

Industrial application of glucose isomerase
In industrial starch degradation enzymes play an important role. The enzyme .alpha.-amylase is used for liquefaction of starch into dextrins with a polymerization degree of about 7-10. Subsequently the enzyme .alpha.-amyloglucosidase is used for saccharification which results in a syrup containing 92-96% glucose. The reversible isomerization of glucose into fructose is catalyzed by the enzyme glucose (or xylose) isomerase. The correct nomenclature of this enzyme is D-xylose-ketol-isomerase (EC 184.108.40.206) due to the enzyme's preference for xylose. However, because of the enzyme's major application in the conversion of glucose to fructose it is commonly called glucose isomerase. The equilibrium constant for this isomerization is close to unity so under optimal process conditions about 50% of the glucose is converted- The equilibrium mixture of glucose and fructose is known as high fructose syrup.
Fructose is much sweeter to the human taste than glucose or sucrose which makes it an economically competitive sugar substitute.
Many microorganisms which were found to produce glucose isomerase, have been applied industrially. A detailed review of the industrial use of glucose isomerases has been given by Wen-Pin Chen in Process Biochemistry, 15 June/July (1980) 30-41 and August/September (1980) 36-41.
The Wen-Pin Chen reference describes culture conditions for the microorganisms, as well as recovery and purification methods for the enzyme. In addition it also summarizes the properties of glucose isomerases such as the substrate specificity, temperature optima and pH optima, heat stability and metal ion requirement.
Glucose isomerase requires a bivalent cation such as Mg.sup.2+, Co.sup.2+, Mn.sup.2+ or a combination of these cations for its catalytic activity. Determination of 3D structures of different glucose isomerases has revealed the presence of two metal ions in the monomeric unit (Farber et al., Protein Eng. 1 (1987) 459-466; Rey et al., Proteins 4 (1987) 165-172; Henrick et al., Protein Eng. 1 (1987) 467-475).
Apart from a role in the catalytic mechanism, bivalent cations are also reported to increase the thermostability of some glucose isomerases (M. Callens et al. in Enzyme Microb. Technol. 1988 (10), 695-700). Furthermore, the catalytic activity of glucose isomerase is severely inhibited by Ag.sup.+, Hg.sup.2+, Ca.sup.2+, Zn.sup.2+ and Ca.sup.2+.
Glucose isomerases usually have their pH optimum between 7.0 and 9.0. There are several reasons why it would be beneficial to use glucose isomerase at a lower pH value. Three of these reasons;
a) stability of the sugar molecules,
b) adaptation both to previous and/or later process steps and
c) stability of the enzyme, will be further described below to illustrate this.
a) Under alkaline conditions and at elevated temperatures the formation of coloured by-products and the production of a non-metabolizable sugar (D-Psicose) are a problem. The desired working pH should be around 6.0. Around this pH degradation of glucose and fructose would be minimal.
b) A lowered pH optimum is also desirable for glucose isomerase when this enzyme is to be used in combination with other enzymes, or between other enzymatic steps, for example in the manufacturing of high fructose syrups. In this process one of the other enzymatic steps, the saccharification by .alpha.-glucoamylase is performed at pH 4.5.
c) Most of the known glucose isomerases are applied at pH 7.5. This pH value is a compromise between a higher initial activity at higher pH and a better stability of the immobilized enzyme at lower pH, resulting in an optimal productivity at the pH chosen (R. v. Tilburg, Thesis: "Engineering aspects of Biocatalysts in Industrial Starch Conversion Technology", Delftse Universitaire Pers, 1983). Application of glucose isomerase at a pH lower than 7.5 could benefit from the longer half-life and, combined with an improved higher specific activity, would consequently increase the productivity of the immobilized enzyme at that lower pH.
From the above it can be concluded that there is need for glucose isomerases with a higher activity at lower pH values under process conditions.
Many microorganisms were screened for a glucose isomerase with a lower pH optimum. Despite many efforts, this approach did not lead to novel commercial glucose isomerases.
In order to be able to change pH-activity profile of glucose isomerases towards lower pH by protein engineering it is important to recognize the underlying effects which give rise to the rapid decrease in catalytic performance at acidic pH.

Modified prokaryotic glucose isomerase enzymes with altered pH activity profiles


Integrated circuit multilayer integration techniques are provided. In one aspect, a method of fabricating an integrated circuit is provided. The method includes the following steps. A substrate is provided. A plurality of interconnect layers are formed on the substrate arranged in a stack, each interconnect layer comprising one or more metal lines, wherein the metal lines in a given one of the interconnect layers are larger than the metal lines in the interconnect layers, if present, above the given interconnect layer in the stack and wherein the metal lines in the given interconnect layer are smaller than the metal lines in the interconnect layers, if present, below the given interconnect layer in the stack. At least one transistor is formed on a top-most layer of the stack.

Multilayer interconnection is required for medium/large scale integrated circuits. Traditional silicon metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) integrated circuits are typically based on a structure where active transistor devices are fabricated first, followed by back-end processing including multilayer metal interconnection line deposition. This integration scheme is ideal for traditional semiconductor transistors with top-gated structures and channel material which is intrinsically grown from the substrate wafer.
However, for semiconductor materials such as graphene- or carbon nanotube-based transistors, additional factors need to be considered when developing an integration scheme. First, in most cases, the graphene or carbon nanotubes are extrinsically deposited onto the substrate, and thus a bottom-gated structure is employed to render simpler processing and higher flexibility for semiconductor-dielectric interface engineering. Second, graphene and carbon nanotubes are very susceptible to damage and contamination from exposure to further processing. Thus, with graphene- or carbon nanotube-based devices it is desirable to minimize the exposure of the devices to subsequent processing.
Therefore, MOSFET integrated circuit fabrication techniques that are suitable for use with graphene- or carbon nanotube-based transistors, i.e., are compatible with both top- and bottom-gated devices and isolate the devices from processing damage and contamination, would be desirable.

Multilayer-interconnection first integration scheme for graphene and carbon nanotube transistor based integration

International Business Machines Corporation


A fire-resistant container for use as a safe, formed of steel and lined on its inner surface with a composition comprising insulative and intumescent materials, preferably mineral wool insulation and hydrated sodium silicate fiberboard, respectively. Preferably, an air space is also provided between the fire-resistant materials and the wall. A hinged door of the container is fitted with fire-resistant materials in similar fashion to the container walls, and the door""s jamb is gasketed in intumescent material. Within the container, an inner wall is formed of a fire-resistant material such as gypsum board. The aforementioned fire-resistant container meets Underwriters Laboratories Standard 72 and is suitable for storage of paper documents, firearms, and other valuables.

The present invention relates to fire-resistant containers; more particularly, to fire-resistant safes; and most particularly, to a fire-resistant safe comprising both insulative and intumescent materials.
Containers for temporarily protecting their contents from damage from external heat sources such as fire are well known. Such containers are said in the art to be xe2x80x9cfire-resistantxe2x80x9d and typically are rated for integrity over a specific exposure temperature and/or time. Lockable fire-resistant containers are known as fire-resistant xe2x80x9csafesxe2x80x9d and are widely used for storage of documents, firearms, or other valuables which may be damaged or destroyed by exposure to high temperatures. For example, various models of fire-resistant safes are available from Sentry Group, Rochester, N.Y. 14625 USA.
A common problem encountered in some inexpensive prior art so-called fire-resistant safes is that they may include some fire-resistant or fire-rated materials such as gypsum board or drywall, but they do not pass the stringent explosion and fire endurance tests found in Underwriters Laboratories Standard 72, parts 1 and 2. Part 1 requires a container to maintain an internal temperature of less than 350xc2x0 F. while the container is thermally ramped up a prescribed time-temperature curve from room temperature to 1550xc2x0 F. over 30 minutes. Part 2 requires a container to protect paper from decomposing or igniting in a simulated explosion condition of instantaneous external temperature of 2000xc2x0 F. for 20 minutes.
One approach to meeting these requirements in the prior art is to provide a container having relatively thick walls and large mass. Such a safe is expensive to manufacture, costly to purchase, and cumbersome to transport.
What is needed is a fire-resistant safe which is inexpensive to manufacture, easy to transport, and meets the requirements of Underwriters Laboratories Standard 72.
It is the primary object of the invention to provide an improved fire-resistant safe for storage of documents, firearms, or other valuables which is inexpensive to manufacture, easy to transport, and meets the requirements of Underwriters Laboratories Standard 72.
The invention is directed to a fire-resistant container for use as a safe. The container is formed of steel and is lined on its inner surface with fire-resistant materials. The preferred fire-resistant materials include both mineral wool insulation, to retard the passage of heat into the interior of the container, and hydrated fiberboard to swell and thereby seal the container while undergoing progressive dehydration and intumescence. Preferably, an air space is also provided between the fire-resistant materials and the wall. A front wall of the container is formed with an offset jamb for receiving a safe door having a conventional combination lock controlling a plurality of livebolts which are received in bolt cups formed in the jamb. The door is fitted with fire-resistant materials in similar fashion to the container walls, and the jamb is gasketed in intumescent material. Within the container, an inner wall is formed of a fire-resistant material such as gypsum board. A fire-resistant container in accordance with the invention meets Underwriters Laboratories Standard 72 and is suitable for storage of paper documents, firearms, and other valuables.


A crosslinked copolymer composition is derived from an aliphatic polyester, a dianhydride and a diisocyanate. The copolymer membrane has high thermal stability and good aromatic/saturate selectivity and permeability.

The present invention relates to a composition of matter for the separation of aromatics from saturates.
The use of membranes to separate aromatics from saturates has long been pursued by the scientific and industrial community and is the subject of numerous patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,102 describes a general process for separating a feed into a permeate stream and a retentate stream and utilizes a sweep liquid to remove the permeate from the face of the membrane to thereby maintain the concentration gradient driving force. The process can be used to separate a wide variety of mixtures including various petroleum fractions, naphthas, oils, hydrocarbon mixtures. Expressly recited is the separation of aromatics from kerosene.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,656 teaches the separation of hydrocarbons by type, i.e., aromatic, unsaturated, saturated, by permeating a portion of the mixture through a non-porous cellulose ether membrane and removing permeate from the permeate side of the membrane using a sweep gas or liquid. Feeds include hydrocarbon mixtures, e.g., naphtha (including virgin naphtha, naphtha from thermal or catalytic cracking, etc.).
U.S. Pat. No. 2,930,754 teaches a method for separating hydrocarbons, e.g., aromatic and/or olefins from gasoline boiling range mixtures, by the selective permeation of the aromatic through certain non-porous cellulose ester membranes. The permeated hydrocarbons are continuously removed from the permeate zone using a sweep gas or liquid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,115,465 teaches the use of polyurethane membranes to selectively separate aromatics from saturates via pervaporation.
Compared to distillation, membrane permeation can lead to considerable energy savings A membrane can separate a mixture of aromatics and saturates, e.g., a heavy cat naphtha, into a high-octane, mainly aromatic permeate and a high-cetane, mainly saturated retentate. Both permeate and retentate are more valuable than the starting heavy cat naphtha.

Crosslinked copolymers of aliphatic polyester diols and dianhydrides


A sphincterotome, such as a papillotome, is disclosed for surgical cutting using an electrically conductive cutter wire. The sphincterotome includes a multi-lumen tubular member, with one lumen having an electrical conductor disposed therein, and the other lumen having a reinforcing wire disposed therein. The reinforcing wire is preferably rectangular in cross-section, providing a greater moment of inertia in a resisting axis than in a bending axis. Accordingly, the cutting edge of the cutting wire may be oriented to the 12 o'clock position of the papillary orifice to avoid injury to the duodenal wall or pancreatic duct in the patient, and to maintain the cutting edge in a predetermined cutting plane. Fluoroscopic indicating stripes may be provided at the distal end of the sphincterotome. A method of use and method of fabrication of the present invention is also disclosed.

The present invention relates generally to sphincterotomy, and more specifically to devices such as papillotomes and their method of use and fabrication to provide controlled bending during cutting to provide controlled cutting of the patient's sphincter.
In endoscopic sphincterotomy, sphincterotomes, and more specifically papillotomes, are used in conjunction with an endoscope to provide surgical cutting inside of a patient. For example, the Sphincter of Oddi opens into the duodenum at the Papilla of Vater, with the common bile duct and the pancreatic duct merging into a common channel, the Ampulla of Vater. A papillotome may be used to partially cut open the Papilla of Vater for treatment such as removal of common bile duct stones forming an obstruction.
Unfortunately, complications can arise from endoscopic sphincterotomy. For example, a survey was conducted by the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in which endoscopic sphincterotomy was attempted in 5,790 patients. Of these, 393 patients had complications, and 22 patients died. This mortality rate of about 0.04 percent is serious. Major complications from endoscopic sphincterotomy include bleeding, pancreatitis, perforation, and cholangitis, with bleeding being the most common complication. The vast majority of such bleeding typically results when the retroduodenal artery is cut. The present invention enhances the control which a physician has in performing a sphincterotomy, and provides a reduced risk of inadvertent or uncontrolled cuts which may injure the patient.
Earlier papillotomes, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,812 to Harada et al. disclose a papillotome of the general type having an electrically conductive wire exposed outside of a tube to act as a cutter. A variety of such sphincterotomes with the wire formed in a bow outside the tube are known as soma or push-type sphincterotomes, as well as traction-type sphincterotomes. These devices generally are well known, but may contribute to the problem previously described. Shortcomings of this type of papillotome are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,174 to Petruzzi, rejecting these more conventional papillotome knives as lacking precise control and providing poor control with danger to adjacent structures during cutting. Instead, the Petruzzi patent suggests an alternative approach in which, rather than having a bowed cutting wire, a pre-bent wire knife having a distal tip is advanced inside a single lumen catheter until it projects from a channel cut through the catheter wall at an angle. The wire knife is connected to a control wire which is manipulated to extend and retract the wire knife to engagement with the tissue. The control wire is fabricated from a helically twisted ribbon-shaped wire. The helically twist provides both a passage way through the lumen for the supply of contrast media, and prevents radial collapse of the catheter walls to maintain the lumen open.
Several other cutting devices have been proposed with a variety of twisted reinforcing wires or other reinforcing wires in the catheter lumen to reinforce against radial collapse to maintain the lumen open to allow fluids, such as contrast media, to be supplied to the surgical area. Such devices are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,374 to Komiya, in which a coiled spring is utilized to prevent lumen collapse; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,836 to Okada in which a reinforcing wire is disposed in a fluid lumen to prevent collapse of the lumen when the distal tip is bent. Although these various reinforcing wires may be advantageous for preventing collapse of the lumen, they are not directed to solving the problem set forth above regarding uncontrolled cutting.
One approach to this problem was conceived by Dr. Frimberger in Munich, Germany, to wedge a ribbon of spring steel into the distal 15 to 20 centimeters of the lumen of the papillotome. Unfortunately, such device presented manufacturing problems and was problematic in that the papillotome would exit the endoscope in the proper orientation only about 70 or 80 percent of the time.
The present invention overcomes the limitations of other devices and provides for a controlled, safer cutting. Furthermore, the device of the present invention exits the endoscope in the correct orientation virtually all of the time. Accordingly, the risk of complications, and the associated mortality, may be reduced. The present invention provides a specially oriented reinforcing member disposed in a second lumen in the sphincterotome. Preferably, this reinforcing member has a rectangular cross-section and runs the entire length of the lumen. Due to the rectangular cross-sectional shape, there is a greater cross-sectional moment of inertia along a bending axis than along a perpendicular axis. This provides controlled rigidity in one dimension, allowing the cutting edge of the cutter wire to be moved in a predetermined cutting plane. This cutting plane may be properly oriented with respect to the sphincter to be cut due to this controlled rigidity. Accordingly, the physician maintains a greater control during endoscopic sphincterotomy, and reduces the risk of improper cuts and the associated complications. Furthermore, the present invention is well suited for quality control manufacturing to ensure cutting in the proper plane when the device is used. Accordingly, the present invention provides a significant advance in the art.

Sphincterotomy method and device having controlled bending and orientation


This invention provides the substantially pure (R) enantiomer of a compound of the Formula II: ##STR1## The compounds of Formula II are useful in the preparation of the substantially pure (R) enantiomer of angiotensin II antagonists of Formula III: ##STR2## wherein R.sub.1, Ar, R.sub.2 and X are variables.

The hormone angiotensin II is recognized as one of the most potent vasopressor agents that produces hypertension in mammals. The action of the enzyme renin on the plasma protein substrate angiotensinogen results in production of the inactive decapeptide angiotensin I, which upon conversion by the nonselective angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) provides angiotensin II, the active hormone. See e.g. Regoli et al. , Pharm. Rev. 26: 69 (1974) .
U. S. Pat. No. 5,073,566 and U. S. patent application Ser. No. 07/892,867 disclose potent and effective 1,3 -imidazoles, as angiotensin II antagonists of the Formula I: ##STR3##
These compounds may exist in various stereoisomeric forms. In particular, the compounds exist as enantiomers due to the chiral carbon atom to which the imidazole, R.sub.1, and R.sub.2 are attached. U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,566 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/892,867 disclose the separation of the enantiomers by chromatographic separation of an intermediate or the final product. The obvious shortcomings of chromatographic separation are inefficiency and expense. The separation is particularly inefficient if the separation is performed as the final step where one-half of the final product may be discarded as the undesired enantiomer.
The present invention provides compounds that are useful as intermediates in the preparation of the substantially pure (R) enantiomer of angiotensin II antagonists of Formula I.
The compounds of the present invention are prepared by a process generally characterized as an optical resolution. See Jacques, et al., Enantiomers, Racemates, and Resolutions (John Wiley and Sons 1981). Unfortunately, when attempting to apply these general teachings to efficiently separate enantiomers, it is impossible to determine what conditions or resolving agents will be successful. In the present invention, resolving agents such as brucine, ephedrine, quinidine, cinchonine, and quinine produced unacceptable mixtures of diastereoisomeric salts. Thus, the present invention further provides a process of preparing the compounds of the present invention by disclosing a remarkably effective resolving agent that selectively crystallizes the substantially pure enantiomer.

Alkyl substituted nitroimidazole acetic acids


According to an aspect, a computer-implemented method for water volume estimation includes detecting water based at least in part on sensor-based data; determining a volume of water based at least in part on the sensor-based data; determining a location at the water for an aircraft to retrieve water via a water retrieving apparatus; and translating the location of the water into pilot inputs to guide the aircraft to the water.

Exemplary embodiments relate to computer-based detection systems, and more particularly, to automated water volume estimation.
Aerial firefighting aircraft are fitted with water storage reservoirs, including large tanks or buckets, to transport and release large quantities of water over a fire. The tanks and buckets are filled or refilled by the water in nearby lakes, rivers, streams, or other bodies of water. Once a bucket or tank is empty, the aircraft needs to be redirected from a fire to an available body of water. Vital time may be saved if aircraft systems were in place to detect water as an aircraft is headed towards a fire. Furthermore, as aircraft transition to pilot optional flight control systems, firefighting aircraft must be equipped with the operational capability to autonomously detect available water and direct the aircraft from the fire to the water.


A chromatic dispersion compensation design system includes: an input unit that inputs information of an optical network having a plurality of nodes optically coupled to each other via an optical transmission path; an allowable range determining unit that determines an allowable range of a residual chromatic dispersion with respect to every wavelength path of a plurality of signals from a starting node to a terminal node, based on the information of the optical network; and a calculation unit that calculates a wavelength path capacity in the allowable range of the residual chromatic dispersion, in view of a chromatic dispersion variability of each optical element in the optical network.

In an optical network field, an optical network having a complex topology such as a ring cross connection or a mesh is being developed with an OADM (Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer) device allowing add-drop of an optical signal by wavelength, path switching or the like, or a WXC (Wavelength Cross Connect) device that is named as an optical hub.
Chromatic dispersion is one of factors determining transmission quality of an optical signal in an optical network. There is an attempt that a chromatic dispersion compensation device on an optical transmission path is arranged appropriately so that a residual dispersion value of an optional wavelength path transmitted on the optical network is included in a desired dispersion tolerance and a chromatic dispersion is compensated, in order to restrain a wavelength degradation of an optical signal because of the chromatic dispersion.
International Publication No. WO 2005/006604 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Document 1) discloses a technology where a dispersion compensation amount of a chromatic dispersion compensation device on each wavelength path is determined so that a residual chromatic dispersion at each terminal of a plurality of wavelength paths extracted from an optical network is included in an allowable range of a residual chromatic dispersion determined with respect to each wavelength path, as a chromatic dispersion compensation design method for a ring cross connection or a mesh network.
However, Document 1 does not disclose a concrete solving method how to select a combination of the dispersion compensation amount of each chromatic dispersion compensation device.

Chromatic dispersion compensation design system and chromatic dispersion compensation design method


A semiconductor device is disclosed that includes an interposer and a semiconductor chip. The interposer includes a Si substrate; multiple through vias provided through an insulating material in corresponding through holes passing through the Si substrate; a thin film capacitor provided on a first main surface of the Si substrate so as to be electrically connected to the through vias; and multiple external connection terminals provided on a second main surface of the Si substrate so as to be electrically connected to the through vias. The second main surface faces away from the first main surface. The semiconductor chip is provided on one of the first main surface and the second main surface so as to be electrically connected to the through vias. The Si substrate has a thickness less than the diameter of the through holes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices, methods of manufacturing the same, capacitor structures, and methods of manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having a semiconductor chip and an interposer including a capacitor and a through via, a method of manufacturing the same, a capacitor structure, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic apparatuses are now becoming more sophisticated with more functions in the fields of personal computers, cellular phones, and other mobile equipment.
In order to prevent malfunction due to switching noise in a large-scale integrated circuit (LSI) that operates at high frequencies, a method of reducing source impedance by connecting a decoupling capacitor absorbing noise in parallel with a power supply is employed.
Source impedance Z is expressed by:Z(P)∝V/(nif),  (1)where V is supply voltage, n is the number of elements per LSI, i is the switching current of an element, and f is a driving frequency.
Because of lower LSI voltage, high element integrity, and higher frequencies, there has been a sharp reduction in required impedance. The impedance Z(C) of a decoupling capacitor is given by:Z(C)=[R2+{2πfL−(1/2πfC)}2]1/2,  (2)where R is resistance, L is inductance, and C is capacitance. In order to reduce the impedance of a decoupling capacitor, it is desired to increase capacitance C and reduce inductance L.
Normally, a multilayer ceramic capacitor is disposed around an LSI as a decoupling capacitor. The multilayer ceramic capacitor has electrode layers and ceramic dielectric layers stacked alternately on each other, and has a pair of surface electrodes formed on corresponding side surfaces thereof so that each surface electrode is connected to every other corresponding electrode layer. A large capacitance can be provided, but it is not easy to reduce inductance because the electrode layers are connected to the surface electrodes on the side surfaces.
As the operating frequencies of LSIs become higher, the decoupling capacitor is required to have lower inductance. However, it is difficult to meet this requirement with multilayer ceramic capacitors.
Accordingly, in order to reduce the line length between the LSI and the decoupling capacitor, a method of providing decoupling capacitors 505 formed of thin film capacitors on the surface of an interposer 502 in which through vias 508 are formed in a Si substrate 503 as illustrated in FIG. 1 is proposed (for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-193614).
This method is effective in high-performance LSIs. This is because the interposer 502 employs the Si substrate 503 formed of the same material as the LSI, so that there is no occurrence of problems resulting from stress due to a difference in thermal expansion. This is also because this method responds to an increase in LSI size, finer pitches, and a decrease in strength due to a low-k LSI interconnection insulating film.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional semiconductor device 500. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the semiconductor device 500 includes a semiconductor chip 501 that is operated at high frequencies and the interposer 502 to which the semiconductor chip 501 is connected.
The interposer 502 includes the Si substrate 503, the decoupling capacitors 505, an insulating film 507, the through vias 508, and external connection terminals 509. The decoupling capacitors 505, each formed of a lower electrode, a dielectric film, and an upper electrode, are formed on the Si substrate 503. The decoupling capacitors 505 are connected to some of the through vias 508 connected to the power supply electrode pads of the semiconductor chip 501 and the other through vias 508 connected to the ground electrode pads of the semiconductor chip 501. The decoupling capacitors 505 cancel noise generated by the semiconductor chip 501 operating at high frequencies.
Through holes 504 for forming the through vias 508 are formed in the Si substrate 503. The insulating film 507 is formed on the through holes 504. The insulating film 507 isolates the through vias 508 from the Si substrate 503. In general, a thermal oxide film is used for the insulating film 507.
The through vias 508 are formed in the through holes 504. The external connection terminals 509 for connection to a circuit board are formed at the lower end part of the through vias 508 (for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-193614).
In the case of manufacturing this semiconductor device 500, the decoupling capacitors 505 are formed on the Si substrate 503 after forming the through holes 504 and the through vias 508 in the Si substrate 503.
For related art, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. 2000-323845, 2004-71589, 2004-95638, 2003-197463, and 2004-273825 may also be referred to.
However, the thickness of the Si substrate 503 of the conventional interposer 502 is greater than or equal to 0.5 mm. Accordingly, the aspect ratio of the through holes 504, that is, the thickness of the Si substrate 503/the diameter of the through holes 504, is high. In order to form these through holes 504, it is necessary to use ICP (Induction Coupling Plasma), which causes the problem of an increasing manufacturing cost of the semiconductor device 500. If the pitch of the external connection terminals 509 of the semiconductor chip 501 becomes narrower in the future, it becomes more difficult to form the through vias 504.
Further, conventionally, the decoupling capacitors 505 formed of thin film capacitors are formed on the Si substrate 503 after forming the through holes 504. This causes a problem in that the decoupling capacitors 505 are likely to be poorly isolated, thus resulting in a reduced yield.
Further, since there is a limit to the capacitance of a thin film capacitor with a single layer structure, it is desirable to increase capacitance by providing a thin film capacitor with a multilayer structure. However, this results in the problem of higher costs because electrodes and a dielectric film are formed and patterned for each layer. Further, since the thin film capacitor is formed on a patterned uneven underlayer, there is a problem in that a poor yield rate due to unevenness of the film thickness of a dielectric film and to dust causes an increase in costs.

Semiconductor device, method of manufacturing the same, capacitor structure, and method of manufacturing the same


The invention relates to a method for post-processing a crankshaft (4), in particular in order to correct concentricity errors and/or for a length correction. Sectors (S1,S2,S3,S4,S5,S6) of the crankshaft (4) which produce and/or characterize concentricity errors are detected and/or a length deviation (ΔL1 ΔL2, ΔL3) from a target length (L1,L2, L3) is determined for at least one section of the crankshaft (4). An impact force (Fs) is then introduced into at least one defined transition radius (8) between connecting rod bearing journals (5) and crank webs (7) and/or between main bearing journals (6) and the crank webs (7) of the crankshaft (4) by means of at least one impact tool (16) in order to correct the concentricity errors and/or the length deviation (ΔL1 ΔL2, ΔL3).

The invention relates to a method for the post-processing of a crankshaft, in particular for the purposes of correcting concentricity errors and/or for the purposes of length correction, as per the preamble of claim 1.
The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the method for the post-processing of a crankshaft.
The invention also relates to a crankshaft.
Owing to the continuously progressing development and increasing performance of internal combustion engines and stringent emissions requirements placed on these, modern engines are consequently subjected to ever greater loading. For this reason, the motor industry places high demands with regard to strength inter alia on the crankshaft, which is subjected to high loading and which is important for the function of an internal combustion engine. Here, in terms of construction, there is often the demand for the crankshaft to be of low weight and for the space requirement to be small. For the design of the crankshaft, this means that an increase in the load capacity should be achieved not by increasing the cross section, that is to say by means of the section modulus of the crankshaft, but as far as possible by means of local internal compressive stress states. For this reason, modern crankshafts are produced using a wide variety of machining and heat treatment methods, such that the crankshafts can be subjected to increasingly higher levels of engine power.
Examples of such methods are thermal treatments, such as the surface hardening methods of induction and case hardening, laser hardening or nitriding, and strain hardening methods, such as deep rolling, shot peening or impact hardening. These are common and for the most part well-established methods, which are suitable for a wide variety of purposes.
With regard to examples of such methods, reference is made to the following documents: EP 1 479 480 A1, EP 0 788 419 B1, EP 1 612 290 A1, DE 10 2007 028 888 A1 and EP 1 034 314 B1.
Impact hardening in particular is an advantageous method for increasing the fatigue strength, in particular the bending fatigue strength and the torsional fatigue strength, of crankshafts. The increase in the fatigue strength is achieved here by virtue of impact forces being introduced into the crankshaft by cold working, preferably hammering by means of special impact tools, in the loaded regions at transitions in cross section and changes in cross section. As examples for such a process, reference is made to DE 34 38 742 C2 and EP 1 716 260 B1.
With the increasing demands on an internal combustion engine, the demands on dimensional and position tolerances of the crankshaft also increase. Particular attention must also be paid in this regard to the concentricity and the length specifications for the crankshaft or for portions of the crankshaft. Exact compliance with the stringent specifications proves to be difficult in practice, in particular because the concentricity can possibly also vary during the course of the tempering and/or hardening processes, and the surface treatment processes can in some cases also result in a change in length of the crankshaft or of portions of the crankshaft. For this reason, it may arise in practice that a final finish machining process, or adjustment of the crankshaft in terms of its dimensional and position tolerances, is performed for example after a mechanical work hardening process. For this purpose, the length dimensions and the concentricity must lie in the required narrow limits.
Known and conventional methods for this purpose are for example the hot pressing of the crankshaft blanks and/or the expansion of portions of the crankshaft, for example such that the crankshaft is expanded between two crank webs. Using the known methods for the post-processing of the crankshaft, optimum concentricity and compliance with dimensional tolerances cannot be ensured in every case without damage to the crankshaft.
The present invention is accordingly based on the object of providing a method for the post-processing of the crankshaft which permits a correction of concentricity errors and/or a length correction with the least possible financial and technical outlay and which does not cause adverse component damage.
Said object is achieved, for the method, by means of the features specified in claim 1 and, for the apparatus for carrying out the method, by means of the features specified in claim 13.
Finally, the invention is also based on the object of providing a crankshaft which is improved, in particular with regard to its fatigue strength and its dimensional and position specifications.
With regard to the crankshaft, the object is achieved by means of the features specified in claim 14.

Method and device for post-processing a crankshaft


The present invention relates to a non-magnetic mono-component toner comprising a toner mother particle, and a coating layer formed on the mother particle where the coating layer comprises fatty acid metal salt having average particle size of 0.05 to 3.0 μm, a first organic particle having average particle size of 0.3 to 2.0 μm, a second organic particle having average particle size of 0.05 to 0.25 μm, and silica having average particle size of 0.006 to 0.04 μm. The color toner has narrow charge distribution, high chargeability, a low environmental dependence, and excellent image quality, transfer efficiency, and long-term stability by significantly reducing the contamination of the charging elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-magnetic mono-component color toner, and more specifically to a non-magnetic mono-component color toner having a narrow charge distribution, good chargeability, good environmental independence, superior image characteristics, high transfer efficiency, and excellent long-term stability and image quality.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recent hard-copying and printing techniques using image formation methods such as electrophotographs, are rapidly moving toward full color from black and white. In particular, the color printer market is expanding very rapidly. In general, formation of color images by full color electrophotography is carried out with three colors comprising cyan, magenta, and yellow, or four colors further comprising black, to reproduce all colors. In this rapidly growing full color market, high image quality, good reliability, compactness, light-weight, low price, high speed, and furthermore environmental aspects such as low energy consumption, recyclability and so forth are strongly required. Improvement and development of image formation methods and toners to satisfy these requirements are widely in progress.
In general, image formation in electrophotography includes the steps of uniformly charging a drum surface, exposing the drum surface and forming an electrostatic latent image, developing the latent image on the drum surface using a toner formed on the surface of a developing roller and obtaining a toner image, transferring the toner image, fixing the toner image, and, a cleaning step that removes the toner remaining on the drum surface from the transfer step.
Each step of the image formation process in electrophotography requires the following basic characteristics from a toner. The developing step requires an appropriate charging of the toner, charge maintenance, and environmental independence. The transfer step requires good transfer characteristics. The settlement step requires the characteristics of low-temperature fixing and offset resistance. And lastly, the cleaning step requires good cleaning performance and contamination resistance. Recently, the above characteristics have become more important with the trend toward high resolution, high speed, and full color.
With regard to long-term maintenance of image quality for repeated printing, there is a method of mixing four colors directly in a photoconductive drum in the transfer step. And recently, indirect transfer image formation has been mainly used in full color printers because it can offer high speed and good image quality. In indirect transfer image formation, a toner image of each color on the drum surface is repeatedly transferred to an intermediate transfer belt, and then the image as a whole is transferred onto paper.
However, because indirect transfer image formation requires more toner transfer steps, charging elements can be more easily contaminated, thereby making it difficult to obtaining accurate transfer performance.
In order to obtain stable long-term and high-quality full color images, research on additives, toner shape, surface structure control, and so forth are required to obtain higher charging stability and to minimize the contamination in charging elements.
With regard to the cleaning step, reduction of remaining toner after transfer and reducing the cleaner size are important tasks for improving environmental independence.
To overcome these problems of the transfer and cleaning steps, it is important to maintain uniform electrification. One of the characteristics required for this purpose is to prevent the deterioration of electrification which is caused by contamination in charging elements. For this purpose, it is best not to use material which contaminates the charging elements, but when such material is essential, an additive can be used that makes cleaning easier by decreasing the adhesive force of the charging elements. Although the former situation is ideal, in actual toner manufacturing processes, it is not always possible to use materials with desired characteristics, so the latter is mostly the case. In addition, it is important to reduce the remaining toner amount, and thus to improve and maintain transfer efficiency of the toner.
Fine particles such as silica may be added to the toner to reduce its adhesiveness to the photoconductive drum. However, in case of using fine silica particles, it is intervened between toner and drum to reduce the toner's adhesiveness to the drum and improve its transfer efficiency, so in order to obtain good transfer efficiency, the level of cover of the toner surface by the particles has to be high. Consequently, the amount of added fine particles increases and the toner charging characteristics become poor. Moreover, the fine particles may adhere to electrostatic latent image carriers, and filming or fixing problems may occur. In particular, silica particles may cause problems of image density irregularity at low temperature and humidity, and non-image area contamination at high temperature and humidity, because they are highly environment-dependent.
Korean Patent Publication No. 1996-0024716 discloses a toner for electrophotography comprising a fine powder fatty acid metal salt the surface of which is treated with hydrophobic silica, or fine powder of a melted mixture of fatty acid metal salt the surface of which is treated with hydrophobic silica, and resin. In addition, Korean Patent Publication No. 2003-0056152 discloses the mono-component magnetic toner composition comprising a mother particle of magnetic toner, hydrophobic silica having specific surface area of 20-80 m2/g, hydrophobic silica having specific surface area of 130-230 m2/g, and metal oxide fine powder. However, the documents do not disclose the spherical organic fine powder which is an essential component of the present invention.
As a method for improving environmental independence of a toner, addition of inorganic fine particles having electric resistance lower than that of silica particles and good electrification, such as titanium oxide particles, is known. However, if inorganic fine particles having lower electric resistance are used, charge distribution of the toner may change easily. Also, it may result in poor second transfer when using an intermediate transfer belt or retransfer of wrong sign color toner during multiple transfers.
A method of increasing resistance of inorganic fine particles by treating the surface with a silane coupling agent, etc. was proposed to solve this problem. However, cohesion of the fine particles becomes so severe that their dispersibility on the toner surface decreases. Also, fluidity of the toner may decrease or blocking may occur due to free cohered particles.
Accordingly, research on a color toner having a narrow charge distribution, good charging characteristics, environmental independence, and long-term stability without contamination of the charging elements, is in much demand.

Color toner having low contamination of charging elements


Embodiments disclosed herein include multilayer films having at least an outer layer that includes 1) polyethylene elastomer and 2) ULDPE or VLDPE and that has a purge fraction greater than 20 percent as determined by Crystallization Elution Fractionation (CEF) test method. Embodiments disclosed herein also include related compositions to make such films and methods of making such films. The ULDPE or VLDPE can be made via Ziegler-Natta catalyst reaction techniques to provide the desired purge fraction.

Multilayer films can include films, such as, blown films. Exemplary multilayer blown films may include silage wrap, stretch wrap, and surface protective films. Oftentimes, such films include at least one layer (e.g., a cling layer) that has a sufficient level of tack such that the film can releasably adhere to itself and/or an article that is wrapped with the film.
Additives, such as polyisobutylene (PIB), may be incorporated into a cling layer to improve the tack of the cling layer. However, films that include such additives can have one or more drawbacks such as 1) being excessively noisy when unwound from a film-roll when utilized on a high speed wrapping machine, 2) having to be aged for a period of time so that the additive migrates to the surface of the film (i.e., blooms) during the aging period, 3) contaminating process equipment, and 4) causing two-sided cling when one-sided cling is desired. In addition, such additives can cause undue handling issues. For example, such additives can be in liquid form and drip to an undue degree from process equipment, etc.
Cling layers may also be made out of materials, such as polyethylene elastomers. While such materials can provide very desirable cling properties to a film, such materials can be relatively very expensive and/or can be difficult to process with blown film techniques when used at relatively high levels (e.g., greater than 90% by weight of a layer) because of their tackiness.
Accordingly, there is a desire to provide multilayer films having improved properties, such as, cling and/or low noise, while being cost-effective and/or relatively easy to fabricate using blown film techniques.

Multilayer film and related materials and methods


A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display element, a wiring substrate having a second terminal, and a light shielding mask. The liquid crystal display element includes a first substrate having a first terminal and a display pixel unit, and a second substrate disposed at a side where illumination light is irradiated to the first substrate. A bonding wire has an arch shape, is formed such that a top of the bonding wire is lower than an upper surface of the second substrate, is joined to the first terminal by first bonding, and is joined to the second terminal by second bonding. The light shielding mask has a light transmitting region corresponding to the display pixel unit and is disposed at a side where the illumination light is irradiated to the liquid crystal display element.

The present disclosure relates to a liquid crystal display device and a manufacturing method thereof.
A liquid crystal display device is used in a display apparatus such as a projector or a head-up display. The liquid crystal display device generates image light by photoelectrically converting irradiated illumination light with respect to each pixel. The display apparatus projects the image light generated by the liquid crystal display device onto a screen or the like, thereby displaying an image. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-267413 discloses an example of a liquid crystal display device.

Liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method thereof


A system and method is provided for supplying power to multiple outputs in a switching converter. One embodiment of the present invention includes a multiple-output switching converter that may comprise a switch arrangement operative to couple and decouple a supply voltage to an inductor, and to couple and decouple a given output of a plurality of outputs to the inductor. The multiple-output switching converter may also comprise a reference current generator operative to generate a reference current corresponding to an aggregated error of the plurality of outputs. The multiple-output switching converter may also comprise a current sensing device operative to dynamically measure the current through the inductor. The multiple-output switching converter may further comprise a controller that controls the switch arrangement to couple the supply voltage to the inductor during an inductor charge period and decouple the supply voltage from the inductor during an inductor discharge period. The inductor charge period may be based on an amount of time for the current through the inductor to be substantially equal to the reference current.

There is an ever increasing demand for power conversion and regulation circuitry to operate with increased efficiency and reduced power to accommodate the continuous reduction in size of electronic portable devices. Many times these devices are battery powered, and it is desirable to utilize as little power as possible to operate these devices so that the battery life is extended. Switching converters have been implemented as an efficient mechanism for providing a regulated output. One such type of converter is known as a switching regulator or switching converter, which controls the flow of power to a load by controlling an on and off duty-cycle of one or more switches coupled to the load. Many different classes of switching converters exist today.
One type of switching converter employs a single inductor and multiple outputs, such that energy of the inductor can be switched between the multiple outputs to regulate each of the outputs. This type of switching converter is advantageous in that multiple outputs of varying magnitudes can be provided without the need of multiple inductors. To ensure reliable performance, switching converter designers often include voltage sensing feedback to monitor the voltage output of a switching converter. Such feedback, however, can be costly and can require a number of additional circuit components, particularly for a switching converter with multiple outputs.

System and method for regulating power in a multiple-output switching converter


The present invention provides methods of preparing a population of activated T cells by co-culturing T cells with dendritic cells loaded with a plurality of tumor antigen peptides. Also provided are methods of treating cancer in an individual using the activated T cells, pharmaceutical compositions and kits for cell-based cancer immunotherapy.

The human body has an elaborate immune system to defend itself against diseases. Unleashing the body's own immunity against cancer has been a long-standing ideal in oncology. Natural immune response against a tumor is elicited by tumor antigens. Antigen presenting cells (APCs), notably dendritic cells (DCs), can process and present the tumor antigens on their cell surface. Upon maturation, DCs loaded with tumor antigens can trigger T cell response, which involves cytotoxic T cells, helper T cells, and functionally distinct effecter and memory T cells against cancer cells expressing the tumor antigens. A particularly powerful type of T cell response involves production of cytotoxic T cells that can kill cancer cells by releasing cytokines, enzymes, and cytotoxins, or by inducing pro-apoptosis signaling cascades via cell-cell interactions.
Cell-based cancer immunotherapy seeks to treat cancer by administering to patients immunity-mediating cells prepared to target tumor antigens. FDA-approved PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T) is a DC-based therapy, comprising exposing a patient's peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to a fusion protein comprising a tumor-derived antigen coupled to a cytokine, and then infusing the PBMCs, presumably containing activated DCs that can present the tumor-derived antigen to T cells, to the patient. See, U.S. Pat. No. 6,210, 662. Adoptive T-cell therapy involves isolating tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) from a patient's tumor, expanding the TILs ex vivo, and infusing the TILs back to the patient after depleting the patient's native non-myeloid lymphocytes. See, Restifo N P et al. (2012) Nat. Rev. Immunol. 12: 269-81. T cells with engineered T cell receptors (TCR-T) or chimeric antigen receptors (CAR-T) further expand the capacity of adoptive T-cell therapy methods by modifying the microenvironment of T cell-tumor interactions. Recently, a Multiple Antigen Specific Cell Therapy ("MASCT") method has been designed to harness the therapeutic capacity of both DCs and activated T cells in order to provide a safe, durable and customizable treatment to cancer patients. See, International Patent Application Publication No. WO2016145578A1.
The disclosures of all publications, patents, patent applications and published patent applications referred to herein are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Multiple antigen specific cell therapy methods


Disclosed is a method for controlling the flammability of fuel vapors in an aircraft main fuel tank that is located in whole or in part in the fuselage contour. The method comprises a fuel system architecture and fuel consumption sequencing maintaining liquid fuel in said main tanks during all normal operations. Ceasing the withdrawal of fuel from the main tank when the fuel reaches a predetermined level thereby limiting the volume and flammability exposure time of the fuel vapor ullage. Once the predetermined level is met the fuel is supplied from wing tanks throughout the remainder of the mission. The predetermined main tank fuel level at which wing tank fuel begins to be consumed is determined by the aircraft flight reserves fuel volume stored in the main tank as well as the amount necessary to continuously submerge the main tank fuel pumps during the entire mission.

The FAA requires that fuel tanks in new airplane designs have an average flammability exposure which meets established criteria. By design, conventional unheated aluminum wing tanks can satisfy the flammability exposure criteria.
The federal regulations also require that for any fuel tank other than a main tank located in whole or in part in the fuselage (any portion of the tank being located within the fuselage contour) flammability exposure must meet additional criteria, including provisions for warm day operations.
These additional criteria do not apply to tanks designated as "main tanks." Consequently, one means of compliance for tanks located in whole or in part with the fuselage contour is to establish that they are "main tanks," which continuously hold "fuel reserves" necessary for continued flight and which feed fuel directly to one or more engines.
In addition to the complexities of the fuel system noted above, the implementation and functional characteristics of an aircraft fuel system and particularly the fuel tanks play a critical role in the certification and operational aspects of aircraft. The impact of fuel system design on aircraft operational capabilities encompasses a range of technologies that are more significant than most casual observers would at first realize, particularly when considering the complexities of modern jet aircraft.
Also, since fuel tanks are located in the wings, the effect of wing sweep is to change the longitudinal center of gravity (CG) of the aircraft as fuel is consumed causing a change in aircraft static stability and hence handling characteristics. Optimizing the aircraft longitudinal CG during cruise minimizes profile drag which, in turn, maximizes the operating range of the aircraft and reduces fuel consumption.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a fuel tank system that permits consumption of main tank fuel first, except for a predetermined level of reserve fuel.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a fuel tank that permits a reduced center of gravity envelope for the aircraft and particularly for swept wing configurations.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a method to address the flammability requirements of an aircraft fuel tank that is located in whole or in part in the fuselage contour
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a fuel tank system that facilitates a reduction of horizontal trim loading.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a fuel tank configuration that permits an optimization of structural weight.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a fuel tank configuration whose benefits result in a corresponding reduction in the total quantity of fuel required to perform a given mission.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for establishing the inboard tanks as "main tanks" to demonstrate compliance with federal requirements for flammability criteria without the need of a flammability reduction means.

System and method for reduced flammability of an aircraft fuel system


Disclosed herein is a pixel unit scanning-based display apparatus, in which diffracted beams having a plurality of diffraction orders, formed from a single beam through diffraction, are used to display images in such a manner that each pixel can from a plurality of dots on a screen by vibrating the diffracted light generated in pixels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a display apparatus and, more particularly, to a pixel unit scanning-based display apparatus, in which diffracted beams having a plurality of diffraction orders, formed from a single beam through diffraction, are used to display images in such a manner that each pixel can form a plurality of dots on a screen by vibrating the diffracted light generated in pixels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, printer technology is on the expressway towards high speed, miniaturization, high resolution, and low cost. A typical laser printer employs a laser scanning scheme of scanning laser beams using a laser diode and an f-θ lens.
In order to realize a high speed printer, an image head scheme using a multibeam beamformer has been adopted. In such a scheme, high speed and high quality can be realized, but a high cost is also incurred because it requires a plurality of light sources.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example in which a conventional laser scanning scheme using a single light source and an f-θ lens is used. As shown in FIG. 1, an example of the operation of the laser scanning scheme is described below. If a light beam is generated by a laser diode (LD) 10 in response to a video signal and passes through a collimator lens 11, the light beam is collimated into parallel light and is further converged on a polygon mirror 13 by a cylinder lens 12. While passing through the cylinder lens 12, the parallel light beams are converted into linear light beams parallel to a scanning direction.
Rotating at a constant speed, the polygon mirror 13 driven by a motor deflects the linear light beams incident thereon and scans them in the direction of an f-θ lens 15.
Thereafter, the linear light, scanned at a constant angular velocity by the polygon mirror 13, is deflected by the f-θ lens 15. Simultaneously, aberrations in the deflected linear light are corrected. The linear light beams with corrected aberration are reflected by a bend-back mirror 16 and scanned over a photosensitive drum 17 at a constant velocity due to the constant rotational speed of the polygon mirror 13.
In the laser scanning scheme, it is difficult to attain a high printing speed due to problems with a low switching speed of the laser diode 10 and a low scanning speed of the polygon mirror 13.
For example, an improvement in the scanning speed of the light beam in the laser scanning scheme requires the polygon mirror to rotate at a higher speed, thus requiring a high-speed driving motor. However, a higher speed motor may increase the production cost, and the motor rotating at high speed produces heat, vibration and noise, thus degrading the operational reliability of the apparatus provided therewith.
As another approach to improving the scanning speed of an optical scanning unit, an image head printing scheme, in which a multi-beam beamformer is utilized, has been suggested.
FIG. 2 shows an image head used in a conventional laser scanning scheme. As shown in this figure, an image head 20 has an LED array 21 composed of a sufficient number of LEDs 22 to cover a scanning width of a paper to be printed. In contrast to the laser scanning scheme, this image head printing scheme uses neither a polygon mirror nor an f-θ lens and forms a multibeam which allows all of the content of a line to be printed at the same time, thereby significantly enhancing the printing speed.
However, the image head printing scheme suffers from the disadvantage of having increased production cost because there is a large number of LEDs 22 in the LED array 21 and uniform images are not obtained because of low optical uniformity among LEDs in the array.

Pixel unit scanning-based display apparatus


Metal thermal grounds are used for dissipating heat from integrated-circuit resistors. The resistors may be formed using a front end of line layer, for example, a titanium-nitride layer. A metal region (e.g., in a first metal layer) is located over the resistors to form a heat sink. An area of thermal posts connected to the metal region is also located over the resistor. The metal region can be connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit to provide a low impedance thermal path out of the integrated circuit.

Field
The present invention relates to integrated circuits and, more particularly, to a thermal metal ground for cooling integrated circuit resistors.
Background
Some integrated-circuit resistors operate with high power dissipation. This leads to heating in the area of the resistor. The resulting increased temperature can impair the reliability of circuit elements in that area. For example, metal interconnect lines that are routed over the resistors could suffer from increased electromigration. Additionally, integrated circuit fabrication processes have scaled to smaller and smaller feature sizes. This leads to the possibility of increased power density and temperature rises in localized areas.
Resistors used for on-die termination (ODT) of inputs and outputs of an integrated circuit are an example of resistors that may have a high power dissipation. Some previous designs have lessened the temperature increase by making the resistors physically larger (increasing both the width and length of the resistor so that the electrical resistance is unchanged). Some previous designs have not used the area near the resistors for routing metal interconnects. Both of these approaches are undesirable as they result in a larger integrated circuit.

Thermal metal ground for integrated circuit resistors


An opening and closing assembly for a storage compartment provided on a dashboard of a vehicle comprises a first housing, a push button including a first slider, a second housing and a second slider. The push button is movably supported on the first housing. The first slider has a first inclined face at a rear end thereof. The second housing is mounted adjacent the first housing. The second slider is movably supported on the second housing. The second slider includes at least one clip on one end for connecting the second slider to the second housing and a second inclined face on the other end. A longitudinal axis of the second slider is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the first slider such that the second inclined face faces the first inclined face of the first slider. The at least one clip of the second slider is movable toward a striker to unlock the storage compartment when the second inclined face is pressed by the first inclined face.

Exemplary embodiments herein generally relate to a push button assembly for opening and closing a storage compartment or closure, such as a receptacle or glovebox, in a vehicle.
A variety of opening and closing assemblies for a vehicle storage compartment or glovebox are known. In one known arrangement, the opening and closing assembly is located in a cutout of the glovebox door, located on an outer surface of the door, or mounted on an instrument panel or dashboard or other like vehicle structure. Sometimes an electric lock is included. A typical known assembly includes a latch mounted to either the glovebox door or the dashboard, a push button mounted to the other one of the door or the dashboard, a rack bar connected to the push button and extending inward, a pinion engaged with the rack bar, and a link having a rack gear engaged with the pinion. The link is movable to lock and unlock the latch. Because the known design typically includes the latch, which is unlocked through the rack and pinion mechanism, the assembly has complicated structures and, in certain instances, is not effective.

Push button assembly for opening and closing a glovebox for a vehicle