A capacitor including a capacitor lower electrode, a capacitor dielectric film of a highly dielectric film or a ferroelectric film and a capacitor upper electrode is formed on a semiconductor substrate. A protection film is formed on the semiconductor substrate so as to cover the capacitor. A first TEOS film having a relatively large water content is formed on the protection film through first TEOS-O3 CVD where an ozone concentration is relatively low. A second TEOS-O3 film having a relatively small water content is formed on the first TEOS-O3 film through second TEOS-O3 CVD where the ozone concentration is relatively high.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device equipped with a capacitor including a capacitor dielectric film made from a dielectric film with a large dielectric constant (hereinafter referred to as a highly dielectric film) or a ferroelectric film, and method and system for fabricating the same.
In accordance with recent trend toward a high operation speed and small power consumption of microcomputers and the like, consumer electronic equipment are highly developed, and semiconductor elements included in semiconductor devices used in the consumer electronic equipment have been rapidly refined.
As a result, unwanted radiation, that is, electromagnetic wave noise caused in electronic equipment, has become a serious problem. As means for reducing the unwanted radiation, attention is paid to a technique to involve, in a semiconductor integrated circuit device, a capacitor having large capacity and including a capacitor dielectric film of a highly dielectric film or a ferroelectric film.
Furthermore, in accordance with development of higher integration of a dynamic RAM, a technique to use a highly dielectric film or a ferroelectric film as a capacitor dielectric film of a capacitor instead of a conventionally used oxide or nitride of silicon is now widely studied.
Moreover, for the purpose of realizing practical use of a nonvolatile RAM capable of operating at a low voltage and reading or writing at a high speed, a ferroelectric film with a spontaneous polarization characteristic is now earnestly studied and developed.
Accordingly, it is significant to develop a method for realizing higher integration of a semiconductor device without degrading characteristics of a capacitor.
Now, a conventional method of fabricating a semiconductor device will be described with reference to FIGS. 11A through 11C, 12A and 12B.
First, as is shown in FIG. 11A, after forming an isolation region 11 and a gate electrode 12 of an FET on a semiconductor substrate 10, impurity diffusion layers and the like (not shown) of the FET are formed in a surface portion of the semiconductor substrate 10, and an insulating film 13 is deposited to cover the isolation region 11 and the gate electrode 12. Thereafter, on a portion of the insulating film 13 above the isolation region 11, a capacitor lower electrode 14 of a platinum film or the like, a capacitor dielectric film 15 of a highly dielectric film or a ferroelectric film and a capacitor upper electrode 16 of a platinum film or the like are formed. The capacitor lower electrode 14, the capacitor dielectric film 15 and the capacitor upper electrode 16 together form a capacitor.
Next, as is shown in FIG. 11B, after forming a first protection film 17 for covering the capacitor, a contact hole 18 of the FET is formed in the insulating film 13 and a contact hole 19 of the capacitor is formed in the first protection film 17. Then, a metal film such as a titanium film and an aluminum alloy film is deposited over the insulating film 13 and the first protection film 17, and the metal film is patterned into a first interconnection layer 20 connected to the impurity diffusion layer of the FET or the capacitor upper electrode 16. Thereafter, the first interconnection layer 20 is subjected to a heat treatment.
Then, as is shown in FIG. 11C, by plasma tetraethylorthosilicate (hereinafter referred to as TEOS) CVD, an interlayer insulating film (plasma TEOS film) 21 of a silicon oxide film is deposited over the first interconnection layer 20 and the capacitor. In consideration of planarization by reflow, the interlayer insulating film 21 is formed so as to have a thickness of approximately 1 xcexcm or more in a portion above the first interconnection layer 20 on the capacitor upper electrode 16.
Next, after planarizing the interlayer insulating film 21, a contact hole is formed in the interlayer insulating film 21, and a second interconnection layer 22 connected to the first interconnection layer 20 is formed on the interlayer insulating film 21 as is shown in FIG. 12A.
Then, as is shown in FIG. 12B, a second protection film 23 is deposited on the interlayer insulating film 21 so as to cover the second interconnection layer 22.
However, since the interlayer insulating film 21 is formed from the plasma TEOS film in the conventional structure, the interlayer insulating film 21 applies merely small stress to the capacitor and tends to be compressive. Accordingly, there arises a problem that the capacitor dielectric film 15 cannot sufficiently attain spontaneous planarization, and hence, the capacitor cannot attain good characteristics.
Therefore, the present inventors have proposed, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2846310, a technique to use, instead of the plasma TEOS film, a silicon oxide film formed by TEOS-O3 CVD (hereinafter referred to as the TEOS-O3 film) as the interlayer insulating film 21.
When the TEOS-O3 film is used as the interlayer insulating film 21, stress applied to the capacitor can be increased, so as to improve the characteristics of the capacitor.
The use of the TEOS-O3 film as the interlayer insulating film, however, causes other problems as follows: Defects such as holes are locally formed in the interlayer insulating film of the TEOS-O3 film; and the growth rate of the TEOS-O3 film is varied depending upon the kind of underlying film.
Such problems lead to quality degradation of a semiconductor integrated circuit device, and in addition, the characteristics of the capacitor cannot be improved because stress cannot be uniformly applied to the capacitor.
In consideration of the aforementioned problems, an object of the invention is improving the characteristics of a TEOS-O3 film formed on a capacitor.
In order to achieve the object, the first semiconductor device of this invention comprises a capacitor including a capacitor lower electrode, a capacitor dielectric film of a highly dielectric film or a ferroelectric film and a capacitor upper electrode successively formed on a semiconductor substrate; a protection film formed on the semiconductor substrate over the capacitor; a first TEOS-O3 film having a relatively large water content formed on the protection film through first TEOS-O3 CVD where an ozone concentration is relatively low; and a second TEOS-O3 CVD film having a relatively small water content formed on the first TEOS-O3 film through second TEOS-O3 CVD where the ozone concentration is relatively high.
In the first semiconductor device, the first TEOS-O3 film formed on the protection film covering the capacitor is formed through the first TEOS-O3 CVD where the ozone concentration is relatively low. Therefore, the first TEOS-O3 film can attain good film quality with no defects such as holes and can be improved in its adhesion to the protection film due to its large water content. Also, since the second TEOS-O3 film is formed through the second TEOS-O3 CVD where the ozone concentration is relatively high, it can apply large stress to the capacitor dielectric film of the capacitor due to its small water content. Accordingly, the spontaneous polarization characteristic of the capacitor dielectric film can be improved, resulting in improving the characteristics of the capacitor. As a result, a semiconductor device including a highly reliable capacitor can be realized.
The first semiconductor device preferably further comprises a hydrophobic primer layer formed on a surface of the protection film.
Thus, the first TEOS-O3 film is formed on the protection film having a hydrophobic surface and hence can be satisfactorily grown to attain good step coverage. Accordingly, the step coverage of an interlayer insulating film formed on the capacitor can be improved, so as to improve the insulating property and the surface planeness of the interlayer insulating film.
The first semiconductor device preferably further comprises an underlying oxide film formed, between the protection film and the first TEOS-O3 film, from a silicon oxide film including no impurity or a silicon oxide film including at least one of boron and phosphorus.
Thus, the first TEOS-O3 film is formed on the underlying oxide film having no dependency on an underlying film and good conformability with a TEOS-O3 film. Therefore, even when underlying films of different materials, such as an interconnection layer and a protection film, are present below the first TEOS-O3 film, the first TEOS-O3 film can be satisfactorily grown without being affected by these underlying films, resulting in attaining a uniform thickness.
When the first semiconductor device includes the underlying oxide film, it preferably further comprises a hydrophobic primer layer formed on a surface of the underlying oxide film.
Thus, the first TEOS-O3 film is formed on the underlying oxide film having a hydrophobic surface, and hence, it can be satisfactorily grown to attain good step coverage. Accordingly, the step coverage of an interlayer insulating film formed on the capacitor can be improved, so as to improve the insulating property and the surface planeness of the interlayer insulating film.
The second semiconductor device of this invention comprises a capacitor including a capacitor lower electrode, a capacitor dielectric film of a highly dielectric film or a ferroelectric film and a capacitor upper electrode successively formed on a semiconductor substrate; a protection film formed on the semiconductor substrate over the capacitor; an underlying oxide film formed, on the protection film, from a silicon oxide film including no impurity or a silicon oxide film including at least one of boron and phosphorus; and a TEOS-O3 film formed on the underlying oxide film.
In the second semiconductor device, the TEOS-O3 film is formed on the underlying oxide film having no dependency on an underlying film and good conformability with a TEOS-O3 film. Therefore, even when underlying films of different materials, such as an interconnection layer and a protection film, are present below the TEOS-O3 film, it can be satisfactorily grown without being affected by these underlying films. As a result, an interlayer insulating film can be formed in a uniform thickness. Accordingly, a semiconductor device including a stable and long-lived capacitor can be realized.
The second semiconductor device preferably further comprises a hydrophobic primer layer formed on a surface of the underlying oxide film.
Thus, the TEOS-O3 film is formed on the underlying oxide film with a hydrophobic surface, and hence, it can be satisfactorily grown to attain good step coverage. Accordingly, the step coverage of an interlayer insulating film formed on the capacitor can be improved, so as to improve the insulating property and the surface planeness of the interlayer insulating film.
The first method of fabricating a semiconductor device of this invention comprises the steps of forming, on a semiconductor substrate, a capacitor including a capacitor lower electrode, a capacitor dielectric film of a highly dielectric film or a ferroelectric film and a capacitor upper electrode; forming, on the semiconductor substrate, a protection film over the capacitor; forming, on the protection film, a first TEOS-O3 film through first TEOS-O3 CVD where an ozone concentration is relatively low; and forming, on the first TEOS-O3 film, a second TEOS-O3 film through second TEOS-O3 CVD where the ozone concentration is relatively high.
In the first method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the first TEOS-O3 film is formed on the protection film covering the capacitor through the first TEOS-O3 CVD where the ozone concentration is relatively low. Therefore, the first TEOS-O3 film can attain good film quality with no defects such as holes and good adhesion to the protection film due to its large water content. Also, since the second TEOS-O3 film is formed through the second TEOS-O3 CVD where the ozone concentration is relatively high, it can apply large stress to the capacitor dielectric film of the capacitor due to its small water content. Accordingly, the spontaneous polarization characteristic of the capacitor dielectric film can be improved, so as to improve the characteristics of the capacitor. As a result, a semiconductor device including a highly reliable capacitor can be fabricated.
The first method of fabricating a semiconductor device preferably further comprises, between the step of forming the protection film and the step of forming the first TEOS-O3 film, a step of forming a hydrophobic primer layer on a surface of the protection film by supplying a hydrophobic primer agent onto the protection film.
Thus, the first TEOS-O3 film is formed on the protection film having a hydrophobic surface, and hence, it can be satisfactorily grown to attain good step coverage. Accordingly, the step coverage of an interlayer insulating film formed on the capacitor can be improved, so as to improve the insulating property and the surface planeness of the interlayer insulating film.
The first method of fabricating a semiconductor device preferably further comprises, between the step of forming the protection film and the step of forming the first TEOS-O3 film, a step of forming, on the protection film, an underlying oxide film from a silicon oxide film including no impurity or a silicon oxide film including at least one of boron and phosphorus.
Thus, the first TEOS-O3 film is formed on the underlying oxide film having no dependency on underlying films and good conformability with a TEOS-O3 film. Therefore, even when underlying films of different materials, such as an interconnection layer and a protection film, are present below the first TEOS-O3 film, it can be satisfactorily grown without being affected by these underlying films, resulting in attaining a uniform thickness.
When the first method of fabricating a semiconductor device includes the step of forming the underlying oxide film, it preferably further comprises, between the step of forming the underlying oxide film and the step of forming the first TEOS-O3 film, a step of forming a hydrophobic primer layer on a surface of the underlying oxide film by supplying a hydrophobic primer agent onto the underlying oxide film.
Thus, the first TEOS-O3 film is formed on the underlying oxide film having a hydrophobic surface, and hence, it can be satisfactorily grown to attain good step coverage. Accordingly, the step coverage of an interlayer insulating film formed on the capacitor can be improved, so as to improve the insulating property and the surface planeness of the interlayer insulating film.
In the first method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the ozone concentration in the first TEOS-O3 CVD is preferably 25 g/m3 or less and the ozone concentration in the second TEOS-O3 CVD is preferably 130 g/m3 or more.
In this manner, the first TEOS-O3 film formed through the first TEOS-O3 CVD can attain a good self-reflow characteristic, and hence can be free from imperfections such as defects. Accordingly, the first TEOS-O3 film can attain good film quality. Also, the second TEOS-O3 film formed through the second TEOS-O3 CVD can apply sufficient stress to the capacitor dielectric film of the capacitor and prevent cracks derived from its small water content from being caused therein during a heat treatment.
In the first method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the first TEOS-O3 CVD is preferably carried out with a value of (a flow rate of ozone/a flow rate of TEOS) set to 3 or less, and the second TEOS-O3 CVD is preferably carried out with the value of (a flow rate of ozone/a flow rate of TEOS) set to 15 or more.
In this manner, the first TEOS-O3 film formed through the first TEOS-O3 CVD can attain a good self-reflow characteristic, and hence can be free from imperfections such as defects. Accordingly, the first TEOS-O3 film can attain good film quality. Also, the second TEOS-O3 film formed through the second TEOS-O3 CVD can apply sufficient stress to the capacitor dielectric film of the capacitor and prevent cracks derived from its small water content from being caused therein during a heat treatment.
In the first method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the second TEOS-O3 film preferably has tensile stress of 1xc3x97102 N/cm2 through 4xc3x97104 N/cm2.
Thus, the second TEOS-O3 film can apply sufficient stress to the capacitor dielectric film of the capacitor, so as to improve the spontaneous polarization characteristic of the capacitor dielectric film. As a result, the characteristics of the capacitor can be improved.
In the first method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the second TEOS-O3 CVD is preferably carried out at a temperature of 350xc2x0 C. through 450xc2x0 C.
Thus, the second TEOS-O3 film can be subjected to a heat treatment carried out at a high temperature. Therefore, the stress of the second TEOS-O3 film can be increased and the density of the second TEOS-O3 film can be increased through the heat treatment carried out at a high temperature. As a result, the characteristics of the capacitor can be further improved.
The first method of fabricating a semiconductor device preferably further comprises a step of conducting a plasma treatment on a surface of the second TEOS-O3 film.
Thus, a hardening layer with a thickness of approximately several nm can be formed on a surface of the second TEOS-O3 film, so as to improve the ability to disperse the water content of the second TEOS-O3 film.
In this case, the plasma treatment is preferably plasma coating or plasma sputtering etching using plasma of a gas including at least one of a N2 gas, a NH3 gas, a N2O gas, an O2 gas, an Ar gas, a Cl2 gas and a C2F6 gas.
Thus, a hardening layer with a thickness of approximately several nm can be definitely formed on a surface of the second TEOS-O3 film.
The first method of fabricating a semiconductor device preferably further comprises a step of forming a silicon nitride layer on a surface of the second TEOS-O3 film by conducting a plasma treatment on the second TEOS-O3 film.
Thus, the water content of the second TEOS-O3 film can be prevented from diffusing into the capacitor dielectric film and the water content in the air can be prevented from diffusing into the second TEOS-O3 film because the silicon nitride film has high ability to prevent diffusion of water content.
The second method of fabricating a semiconductor device of this invention comprises the steps of forming, on a semiconductor substrate, a capacitor including a capacitor lower electrode, a capacitor dielectric film of a highly dielectric film or a ferroelectric film and a capacitor upper electrode; forming a protection film on the semiconductor substrate over the capacitor; forming, on the protection film, an underlying oxide film from a silicon oxide film including no impurity or a silicon oxide film including at least one of boron and phosphorus; and forming a TEOS-O3 film on the underlying oxide film.
In the second method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the TEOS-O3 film is formed on the underlying oxide film having no dependency on underlying films and good conformability with a TEOS-O3 film. Therefore, even when underlying films of different materials, such as an interconnection layer and a protection film, are present below the TEOS-O3 film, it can be satisfactorily grown without being affected by the underlying films. As a result, an interlayer insulating film can be formed in a uniform thickness. Accordingly, a semiconductor device including a stable and long-lived capacitor can be fabricated.
In the second method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the protection film is preferably a silicon oxide film including no impurity or a silicon oxide film including at least one of boron and phosphorus formed by TEOS-O3 CVD.
Thus, the protection film can attain tensile stress, and hence, the spontaneous polarization of the capacitor dielectric film of the capacitor formed on the protection film can be further accelerated and the surface planeness of the protection film can be improved. Accordingly, the capacitor can attain stability and a long life.
The second method of fabricating a semiconductor device preferably further comprises, between the step of forming the underlying oxide film and the step of forming the TEOS-O3 film, a step of forming a hydrophobic primer layer on a surface of the underlying oxide film by supplying a hydrophobic primer agent onto the underlying oxide film.
Thus, the TEOS-O3 film is formed on the underlying oxide film having a hydrophobic surface, and hence, it can be satisfactorily grown to attain good step coverage. Accordingly, the step coverage of an interlayer insulating film formed on the capacitor can be improved, so as to improve the insulating property and the surface planeness of the interlayer insulating film.
When the first or second method of fabricating a semiconductor device includes the step of forming the hydrophobic primer layer, the primer agent is preferably hexamethyldisilazane.
Thus, the surface of the protection film or the underlying oxide film can be definitely made hydrophobic.
In the second method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the TEOS-O3 film is preferably formed through TEOS-O3 CVD where an ozone concentration is 130 g/m3 or more.
Thus, the TEOS-O3 film can attain a good self-reflow characteristics, so as to be free from imperfections such as defects. Therefore, the TEOS-O3 film can attain good film quality.
In the second method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the TEOS-O3 film is preferably formed through TEOS-O3 CVD where a value of (a flow rate of ozone/a flow rate of TEOS) is set to 15 or more.
Thus, the TEOS-O3 film can apply sufficient stress to the capacitor dielectric film of the capacitor and can prevent cracks derived from its small water content from being caused therein during a heat treatment.
The second method of fabricating a semiconductor device preferably further comprises a step of conducting a plasma treatment on a surface of the TEOS-O3 film.
Thus, a hardening layer with a thickness of approximately several nm is formed on a surface of the TEOS-O3 film, so as to improve the ability to prevent diffusion of the water content of the TEOS-O3 film.
In this case, the plasma treatment is preferably plasma coating or plasma sputtering etching using plasma of a gas including at least one of a N2 gas, a NH3 gas, a N2O gas, an O2 gas, an Ar gas, a Cl2 gas and a C2F6 gas.
Thus, a hardening layer with a thickness of approximately several nm can be definitely formed on a surface of the TEOS-O3 film.
The second method of fabricating a semiconductor device preferably further comprises a step of forming a silicon nitride layer on a surface of the TEOS-O3 film by conducting a plasma treatment on the TEOS-O3 film.
Thus, the water content of the TEOS-O3 film can be prevented from diffusing into the capacitor dielectric film and the water content in the air can be prevented from diffusing into the TEOS-O3 film because the silicon nitride film has high ability to prevent diffusion of the water content.
The system for fabricating a semiconductor device of this invention comprises a chamber including a substrate holder for holding a semiconductor substrate; TEOS-O3 supply means for supplying, to the inside of the chamber, a mixture of gaseous TEOS and an ozone gas; and primer agent supply means for supplying, to the inside of the chamber, a hydrophobic gaseous primer agent.
The system for fabricating a semiconductor device of this invention thus includes the primer agent supply means for supplying the hydrophobic gaseous primer agent to the inside of the chamber. Therefore, a hydrophobic primer layer can be formed on a surface of an underlying film, such as a protection film or an underlying oxide film, formed below a TEOS-O3 film. Accordingly, a TEOS-O3 film with good step coverage can be grown.
In the system for fabricating a semiconductor device, the primer agent is preferably hexamethyldisilazane.
Thus, the surface of the underlying film such as a protection film or an underlying oxide film can be definitely made hydrophobic.
The system for fabricating a semiconductor device preferably further comprises means for supplying, to the inside of the chamber, a mixture obtained by mixing the mixture supplied from the TEOS-O3 supply means with the primer agent supplied from the primer agent supply means.
Thus, after forming a hydrophobic primer layer on a surface of the underlying film such as a protection film or an underlying oxide film, a TEOS-O3 film can be grown on the primer layer. Therefore, a TEOS-O3 film with good step coverage can be formed with high mass-productivity.
In the system for fabricating a semiconductor device, the TEOS-O3 supply means preferably has means for changing the gaseous TEOS into mist and mixing the mist with the ozone gas.
Thus, even when the ozone concentration in TEOS-O3 CVD is low, a TEOS-O3 film can be grown. Therefore, a TEOS-O3 film having good film quality free from defects such as holes and having a large water content can be formed.
In the system for fabricating a semiconductor device, the TEOS-O3 supply means preferably has means for charging the mist obtained from the gaseous TEOS with electricity.
Thus, the mist obtained from the TEOS can be charged with electricity, and hence, the growth rate of the TEOS-O3 film can be improved and the thickness of the TEOS-O3 film can be increased.
In this case, the substrate holder preferably has means for applying, to the semiconductor substrate, a polarity reverse to a polarity of electricity with which the mist is charged.
Thus, the charged TEOS mist can be electrostatically adsorbed onto the surface of the semiconductor substrate, and hence, the growth rate and the thickness of the TEOS-O3 film can be further increased.

Semiconductor device and method and system for fabricating the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


One of the aspects of the present invention relates to a method for the treatment of retinal detachments utilizing a transparent liquid or gel retina reattachment enhancing material preferably perfluorotri-n-propylamine for long-term but not permanent replacement in the eye for effecting a retinal reattachment of a retinal tear. A sufficient amount of a gas is first injected into the vitreous cavity of a patient's eye having a first gel or liquid material therein and a retinal tear so that the gas expands, compresses, and displaces an amount of the first gel or liquid to provide a space for receipt of a sufficient amount of the retina reattachment enhancing material. Once sufficient space is provided in the vitreous cavity, the retina reattachment enhancing material is injected into the eye. Once the retinal tear is visible and lies flat upon the underlying tissue, the retina is tacked down around the retinal tear so as to form a retinal scar. The enhancing material is left in the eye until the retinal tear is fixedly reattached to the underlying tissue. The enhancing material which is preferably a liquid perfluorocarbon material should not remain indefinitely in the eye and is removed and replaced with a replacement material that can be left in the eye indefinitely. Outpatient procedures are emphasized.

Retinal detachment is a pathological disorder that occurs when there is a separation of two layers (the neurosensory retina and the retinal pigment epithelium) within the eye that normally remain in apposition. This disorder, if not detected early and treated, results in partial or total blindness. The causes of retinal detachment are myriad.
In a healthy individual, the vitreous gel functions to give shape to the eye, aids in the transmission of light from the lens to the retina, and may provide support to maintain the retina against the underlying retinal pigment epithelial layer. When an individual ages, the vitreous gel may become liquefied at the retina-vitreal layer interface, and subsequently pulls away from the retina with sufficient retinal traction resulting in a retinal break or tear. Continued traction upon the retinal break can result in the passage of vitreous fluid through the retinal break or tear and under the retina, resulting in retinal detachment.
Accepted methods for the treatment of retinal detachments are known in the prior art. Such methods include the removal of the vitreous gel from the eye in an operating room and/or the injection of a gas to seal a retinal break or tear in the upper region of the eye where the gas is used to engage the retina. The gas could only contact the bottom portion of the eye if the patient stood on his or her head. These methods result in sealing a retinal break in order to prevent further retinal detachment. If detachment has occurred, the pressure and surface tension of the gas can hold the retina against the subjacent or underlying tissue and foster a reattachment of the retina to the subjacent tissue. Generally, one of several possible treatment modalities is then used to create a scar between the retinal tear and the underlying tissue to assist in a more permanent reattachment process which progresses with time. These possible modalities include laser photocoagulation, freezing treatment (cryotherapy), diathermy, and microwaves (under investigation). However, none of these retina reattachment procedures, taken alone, incorporate all of the advantages of the various aspects of the present invention to be described.
The use of liquid perfluorocarbons have heretofore been advocated for the treatment of complex retinal detachments. These liquid perfluorocarbons have a low viscosity, high density, and desirable interfacial tension properties which make them ideal compounds for use in treating retinal detachments. The liquid perfluorocarbon materials all share the characteristic of being optically clear and having a higher specific gravity than water, which allows the fluid to hydraulically push the retina back into place and to displace the subretinal fluid anteriorly through preexisting retinal breaks. The low viscosity of these fluids allows for easy injection into the eye and removal from the eye through microsurgical instruments useable outside of an operating room. The liquids are immiscible with water and blood and provide a clear optical pathway during intraoperative bleeding. In addition, their interfacial tension properties prevent the displacement of fluid through small retinal tears into the subretinal space.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,351 to Clark, Jr. discloses surgical, operating room methods of treating eye disorders with liquid perfluorocarbons which are either withdrawn immediately during or at the end of the surgical procedure or left in the eye indefinitely. Clark, Jr.'s main use of these liquid perfluorocarbons and substituted derivatives thereof is as fluid substitutes for the vitreous or the aqueous of the eye. Clark, Jr. also recommends the use of liquid perfluorocarbons to transparentize the cornea or lens when either becomes opacified due to degeneration or cataract formation. Clark, Jr. further recommends the use of liquid perfluorocarbon as a method for treating retinal detachments. However, the method used is distinguishable from even the broad aspects of the present invention, as it appears that the vitreous gel is replaced with the liquid perfluorocarbons. This procedure requires the expense of an operating room. It also appears that the perfluorocarbon material is either removed immediately at the end of the operating room procedure or is left as a permanent replacement for the removed vitreous gel. However, in contrast to Clark's disclosure, the permanent use of these materials is believed to cause an undue risk of damage to the eye.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,384 to Chang discloses a method and apparatus for the treatment of complicated retinal detachments only, those retinal detachments requiring an operating room. Chang's method uses perfluorocarbon material for hydrokinetic manipulation and as an adjunct to surgical manipulation during vitrectomy. However, Chang discloses a method that involves removing at least a portion of the vitreous gel from the eye and replacing it with an amount of liquid perfluorocarbon sufficient to provide for intraoperative hydrokinetic manipulation of the retina by a surgeon. To avoid what Chang believes to be an undue risk of damage to the eye, the liquid perfluorocarbon is removed at the end of surgery and replaced by a long-term vitreous substitute chosen by a surgeon. Thus, Chang does not consider the use of liquid perfluorocarbons, such as perfluorotri-n-propylamine, the most preferred material of the present invention, for longer term (1-3 or more days) use in the eye.
A preferred specific aspect of the invention is the initial use of a gas in a manner to be described, before use of a transparent liquid or gel retinal reattachment enhancing material. This is in contrast to prior art which has not been applied clinically to human patients, nor applied to retinal detachments. This prior art includes the use of intravitreal gas injections to compress the vitreous gel of the eye of an animal as a preliminary procedure for toxicity tests. This has allowed room for insertion of different materials only to test toxicity within the animal's vitreous cavity and obviate the need for surgical vitrectomy (vitreous removal) in animals.

Method for the treatment of retinal detachments


A handheld touch apparatus for providing a variety of tactile sensations to the fingers and thumb of a hand of a user. The touch apparatus includes a cubic body having an outer surface defined by a plurality of faces that are planar and orthogonal to one another and joined together by radiused edges that meet together to form rounded corners. The cubic body is sized for holding within the palm of the user's hand and for being supported, rotated and manipulated by the fingers and thumb of the same hand. The touch apparatus further includes tactile features extending from the faces of the cubic body and that are selectively movable relative to their associated faces. The tactile features are contained within the volume of an imaginary sphere defined by the rounded corners and isolated from the tactile features on adjacent faces by the radiused edges of the cubic body.

In the modern lifestyle people have become accustomed to being busy and occupied for much of the time. This can be exacerbated by devices such as cell phones and other electronic devices and the widespread availability and access to the Internet. As a result, some people have as yet attained only a limited capacity for occupying themselves in a passive manner, e.g. by observing the world around them and engaging in thought, and may tend to fidget and get restless when they are not otherwise occupied. This fidgeting and restlessness can lead, in some circumstances, to activities and overt behaviors may be distracting or annoying to others in their immediate surrounds. In addition, even people with the capacity for passive self-occupation may nevertheless experience periods of stress and excess emotional energy that make it difficult to properly focus on the task at hand. In both situations it may be considered desirable or beneficial to devise alternative methods or means for releasing this built-up stress energy, for occupying a minor portion of one's mind so as to allow the remainder to better focus and concentrate on one or more tacks, or for redirecting this modern restlessness habit for fidgeting into outlets having less socially-obtrusive characteristics.
Consequently, a need exists for a method, device or apparatus that can address at least some of the needs described above or provide the public with a useful alternative. It is toward such an apparatus that the present disclosure is directed.

Handheld touch apparatus with movable tactile features


A drywall reveal and retaining clip for assuring proper alignment of abutting drywall reveal sections. The retaining clip comprises a generally U-shaped channel that engages the rear of two abutting ends of similarly shaped drywall reveal and by engagement of longitudinal ribs on the retaining clip with mating longitudinal channels on the drywall reveal provides a joint that aligns the abutting drywall reveal ends and inhibits any relative movement therebetween.

Drywall, direct applied and exterior insulation systems reveal is often used for decorative purposes or to achieve a wall break. In such situations, a U-shaped channel is inserted horizontally or vertically along the edge of the drywall between two drywall sections at the desired location to provide a recess. The U-shaped channel has opposing flanges running along its external longitudinal edges for engagement with the abutting drywall sections being separated by the reveal.
While such installations are relatively common, the problem often exists that when two sections of reveal are juxtaposed by butting their ends together there is an overlap of the two reveal ends. In such a case, subsequent finishing of the drywall surface leaves an unsightly irregularity on the finished surface.


A ride-on snow blower is described that includes a cab for housing and protecting a rider of the snow blower from the elements, a seat, a door, cab windows, a front frame section, an adjustable snow chute operable for flexible snow disposal, a motor, a motor powered auger for transporting snow to the snow chute, rear wheels located generally under the seat, front wheels located in general proximity to the motor, rear wheel steering mechanisms, drive mechanisms for locomotion of the snow blower in a desired direction, and a power source to power electrical components of the snow blower.

Traditional means for the removal of snow include, without limitation, walk-behind snow blowers and shoveling. These methods are work intensive and can be very time consuming. Also, with walk-behind snow blowers, there is the risk that the operator may be injured by flying debris from the snow blower or may obtain other injuries such as, but not limited to, back injuries, exposure to harsh weather, and slipping and falling.
Another known method for snow removal is to use a garden tractor with a snow blower attachment. However, a garden tractor with a snow blower attachment may be hard to maneuver, and is difficult to turn in tight areas.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for an improved means of snow removal that is less work intensive, reduces the risk of injury to the operator, and is easy to maneuver, even in tight areas.
Unless otherwise indicated illustrations in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.


A fruit wine aroma enhancement brewing technology using cutinase belongs to the technical field of fruit wine brewing. According to the present disclosure, in order to solve the problem that fruit wine prepared through an existing fruit wine fermentation technology is poor in quality such as aroma and taste, Muscat grapes or apples are adopted as raw materials, and after crushing, separating peel residue, performing peel residue heat treatment and enzyme treatment, mixing the treated peel residue and clear juice, adding auxiliary materials (potassium metabisulfite, pectinase and β-glucosidase), adjusting a sugar degree, inoculating a high-glycerol-field yeast and fermenting with temperature controlled, inoculating an active dry yeast and fermenting with the temperature controlled until fermentation is finished, separating and removing the peel residue, fining, filtering to remove residue, performing stabilizing treatment and performing filtration sterilization, dry grape wine or cider is obtained. The present disclosure can be used in large-scale production of dry fruit wine.

Aroma substances, such as terpene substances, forming typical flavor of fruit wine (especially grape wine, cider and the like) mainly come from berries themselves. Most of these substances exist in the form of odorless glycosides (aroma glycosides). A yeast can secrete some glycosidases to hydrolyze the aroma glycosides, so that free-state aroma substances capable of generating the flavor are generated. Different yeasts have the glycosidases different in type and activity, and the glycosidases have different hydrolysis effects on the aroma glycosides, so that the released aroma substances are different in type and content ratio. In current fruit wine brewing, an active dry yeast is used as a leavening agent, but the activity of a glycosidase of the active dry yeast is often low, and the active dry yeast is mostly imported, and is limited in variety. That is why fruit wine in China, especially grape wine and cider, is seriously homogenized, is boring and odorless in aroma, and lacks variety characteristics. According to an existing brewing process, aroma enhancement is achieved mainly by adding exogenous β-glucosidase or active non-Saccharomyces cerevisiae with high yield of β-glucosidase, a certain aroma enhancement effect is achieved, but the aroma enhancement effect is limited.
Cutin is an important component of a surface layer of a plant aerial part, and in some fruits, the thickness of a cuticle is 1-40 μm. The cuticle is mainly composed of the cutin, and in addition, the cuticle also contains about 0.6% of wax, 0.9% of pectin, 1.3% of protein, 2.0% of non-fiber polysaccharide, dust, impurities and other components. Cuticles, pectin substances and epidermal cell walls are mutually mixed and bonded to form epidermal layers of stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and the like of plants. Cutinase is a kind of hydrolase capable of degrading the cutin and generating a large number of fatty acid monomers, belongs to serine esterase, can catalytically hydrolyze ester bonds of insoluble polymer cutin, and can also act on other long-chain and short-chain fatty acid esters, emulsified triglyceride and the like. The cutinase has wide application potentials in industrial production. However, no cutinase is reported to be used for aroma enhancement of grape wine and other fruit wines so far.

Fruit wine aroma enhancement brewing technology using cutinase

Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology


The present invention relates to a method for monitoring the operation of a medication delivery device. In particular, the present invention relates to a method comprising the steps of arranging an electronic module in the vicinity of the medication delivery device, detecting, using the electronic module, measurable signals generated in response to an action occurring within the associated medication delivery device, and storing, using storage means of the electronic module, information associated with or representing the measured signals. The present invention further relates to an electronic module capable of performing the above-mentioned method.

For the users of medication delivery devices it is a cumbersome process to keep track of the amount of doses being expelled from the medication delivery device. This process is being further complicated if the time of injection, date of injection etc. are also to be monitored.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,185 discloses an external display apparatus for pen-like injection devices. For people with an impaired vision, the setting of a dose on a pen-like injection device may be difficult. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,185 an external display apparatus is provided. This display apparatus may be attached to the pen. Via contacts and counter contacts information about the dose is transmitted to the display apparatus and shown on a large display. The display apparatus suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,185 may also comprise some sort of storage arrangement which allows storage or recording of a set dose of medicament together with associated data like time, date and the kind of medicament (e.g. insulin preparation).
It is a disadvantage of the display apparatus suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,185 that it requires that the pen-like injection device to which it is intended to be attached to undergoes severe modifications in that special communication arrangements, such as electrical contacts, optical ports, gear wheels etc. are required in order to transfer information from the pen-like injection device to the display apparatus.
WO 2004/110528 relates to a device for examination of a medical device. The device suggested in WO 2004/110528 comprises an acoustic receiver which is capable of detecting sounds emitted by the medical device in order to examine the medical device for errors. WO 2004/110528 further relates to a method for examining a medical device whereby sound emitted by the medical device is detected and analysed.
The device suggested in WO 2004/110528 is intended for detecting and localising errors in medical devices. Thus, the device suggested in WO 2004/110528 forms part of a test facility for testing medical devices. The device suggested in WO 2004/110528 is unsuitable for mapping the manner of use of a medical device, such as a medication delivery device capable of delivering set doses of insulin, over a given period of time. In order to obtain reliable mapping results, such given period of time may for example be several months. The reasons why the device according to WO 2004/110528 is unsuitable for mapping the manner of use of a medical device are many. For example, the device suggested in WO 2004/110528 does not facilitate time stamping of events occurring in a medical device. This lack of time stamping makes it impossible to arrange detected events in a chronological correct order.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable electronic module being capable of monitoring the overall operation of standard, and thereby non-modified, medication delivery devices.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a portable electronic module adapted to be attached to a medication delivery device without influencing or affecting daily use of the medication delivery device.
According to the present invention an electronic module capable of measuring externally accessible acoustical and/or vibrational signals generated under normal operation, such as during setting and expelling of a set dose of medicament, of a pen-like medication delivery device is suggested.
It is an advantage of the present invention that data relating to corresponding values of time/date and the amount of injected medicament may easily be transferred from the electronic module to for example a computer for further processing. In this way, traditional paper-based diary's can be avoided. In addition, the present invention can be used as an electronic logbook for conventional medication delivery devices.

Electronic module for mechanical medication delivery devices


Glucose is separated from mixtures with mannose and other saccharides by adsorption on low aluminum Y-type zeolites, i.e., having up to about 50 atoms of aluminum per unit cell and desorbing the adsorbate with water. Glucose is removed from the adsorption process in the raffinate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the separation of L-glucose and L-mannose from mixtures of the two and other sugar mixtures. Also, this invention relates to the separation by selective adsorption of L-glucose and L-mannose with certain crystalline aluminosilicate zeolitic molecular sieves.
2. Background of the Invention
Artificial sweeteners recently have seen increased use as a replacement for the "natural" sugars, including sucrose and fructose. Such artificial sweeteners have been under continual review for possible adverse long term physiological affects, yet their demand has grown unabated. Accompanying their growth as a commercial area with substantial economic impact has been a renewed emphasis on discovering and supplying new artificial sweeteners, particularly in pure form rather than as mixtures of different products.
The ideal artificial sweetener would be noncaloric, noncariogenic, without detrimental physiological effects, and usable by diabetics. All these requirements would be met if a sweetener were not metabolized by humans and by flora which are found in the mouth and intestinal tract, and if the sweetener were either not absorbed by humans, or absorbed without effect on any internal organ. That is, the ideal sweetener should be excreted in the same form as when ingested. Another desirable feature is that it have bulk properties and texture similar to sucrose so that it can be substituted for table sugar in many formulations. Recently, and perhaps belatedly, attention has turned toward the L-sugars as desirable artificial sweeteners. It has been known since at least 1946 that L-fructose is sweet (M. L. Wolfrom and A. Thompson, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 68, 791,793 (1946)), and since at least 1890 that L-fructose is nonfermentable (E. Fischer, Ber. Deutsch. Chem. Ges., 23 370,389 (1890)), hence not metabolized by microorganisms generally metabolizing D-sugars. A reasonable, although not necessarily correct, inference is that it also is not metabolized by humans. Assuming that L-glucose is a sweet nonmetabolite (Chemtech, Aug. 1979, pp 501,511), it becomes desirable to isolate it from the reaction mixture in which it is normally found and use it as a noncaloric sweetener in many formulations. L-glucose is quite often found in admixture with L-mannose and often with L-mannose in preponderance. More recently Shallenberger and coworkers have demonstrated that many L-sugars have a sweetness comparable to their L-enantiomorphs. Nature, 221, 555 (1969). Cf. R. S. Shallenberger, "The Theory of Sweetness," in Sweeteners and Sweetness, pp 42-50, Edited by G. G. Birch and coworkers; R. S. Shallenberger and T. E. Acree in "The Handbook of Sensory Physiology," Vol. 4, pp 241-5, Edited by L. M. Beider (Springer Verlag, 1971).
Exploitation of the favorable properties of L-sugars is hindered by their relative unavailability. L-glucose for example, is not found to any significant extent in nature. This unavailability has spurred recent efforts in developing commercially feasible methods for preparing L-sugars in amounts necessary for their use as a staple of commerce. Although the preparation of a number of L-sugars is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,032 the focus seems to be on typical laboratory methods wholly unsuited for economical industrial production, in contrast to the process herein.
Glucose can be prepared in several other ways, but usually the product is mixed with mannose. According to Bilik (Czech. Patent No. 149,463 dated July 15, 1973) L-mannose may be epimerized catalytically to L-glucose and L-mannose in 3:1 ratio. Then, L-glucose can be separated by crystallization and the syrup recycled. L-mannose is also produced, along with L-glucose, from L-arabinose by cyanide addition and hydrogenation, according to Arena et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,447. Using L-arabinose at 95% purity or greater, a mixture of L-glucose and L-mannose is produced in almost a 2:1 ratio with about 1% arabinose as an impurity. L-arabinose is one of the few L-sugars available freely in nature, such as from sugar beet pulp and rice hulls. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,566, L-arabinose may be obtained from different sources of cellulose, e.g., beet pulp, wood, along with other saccharides in the product mixtures depending upon the source of cellulose (U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,566 at column I, lines 53-58). Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,855 discloses two other methods for deriving L-glucose and L-mannose from L-arabinose: The Sowden-Fischer conversion (J.A.C.S. Vol. 69 (1947) pp 1963-65) and the Kiliani-Fischer synthesis (Organic Chemistry, Morrison and Boyd (3rd. Ed. 1973) pp 1078-9).
It is known from Sherman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,114 that mannose and glucose can be separated from a solution of the same by selective adsorption on only certain cation-exchanged type X or type Y zeolitic molecular sieves. Specifically, Ba-exchanged X- or Y-type and Sr-, Na- and Ca-exchanged Y-type zeolites will selectively adsorb mannose thereon. In other words, the separation by this particular zeolite is ion-specific. The nonadsorbed portion is removed from contact with the zeolite. The mannose can be desorbed from the zeolite with a desorbent and recovered.
It is also known from British Patent No. 1,540,556 to separate mannose from glucose with a cationic exchange resin, such as Amberlite XE 200. It has been reported, however, that a two-stage separation, using the identical column in each stage, is required to produce a 98% mannose product. Such a process is inefficient and prohibitively expensive.
The separation of certain specific carbohydrates with dealuminated Y zeolites is also known e.g., Chao et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,178, but there is no disclosure therein of my novel process for separating glucose from mannose and, further, the separation disclosed in Chao et al is also ion-specific in that only a very limited number of exchange ions are effective.

Process for separating glucose and mannose with dealuminated Y zeolites


An electronic mail communication system enables a user to create an email message from system supplied content and user supplied content. The system may be configured in accordance with an electronic mail communication program participant hierarchy. Each system user within the communication program is affiliated with a participant, and each participant has access to a respective set of system tools used in the creation of an email message that incorporates system content and user content. Each system user further has a respective level of authority in accordance with the use of system tools based on its participant affiliation.

1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to electronic mail communication systems and methods, and, in particular embodiments, to electronic mail communication in multilevel communication programs.
2. Background Technology
Electronic mail (email) is rapidly becoming a significant tool for communication within organizations and between organizations and outside parties such as their customers. One application of electronic mail communication is the electronic newsletter, which typically includes promotional material, advertising, event related information and articles on subjects of interest to a target audience such as customers or employees.
Conventionally the development of an electronic newsletter is handled by the company itself, while distribution is performed by the company using its own email server or by an external hosted service. A number of tasks are involved in creating and distributing an electronic newsletter, including writing articles to be included in the newsletter, writing promotional messages or event invitations to be included in the newsletter, entering the aforementioned information into a mailing program, distributing the newsletter electronically at an appropriate time and date, gathering and entering email addresses of recipients, removing email addresses of recipients who do not want to receive mailings in the future, removing invalid email addresses, and resending to email addresses where there is a temporary problem at the time of the initial mailing.
One approach to simplifying the production of electronic newsletters is to utilize a third party solution that enables the company to delegate newsletter production responsibilities to a third party whose economies of scale allow it to perform the same tasks at lower cost. Current examples of such solutions are the iMakeNews service, which is provided through a web site of the same name operated by eLetra Corporation, and the Constant Contact service provided by Roving Software Inc. and described at the website roving.com. These services provide web based electronic newsletter templates that allow a user to manually enter desired content and to format that content in accordance with various predefined layouts. The iMakeNews service also enables the user to select reprints of syndicated preexisting content from commercial databases for inclusion in their newsletter. Both third party services further provide distribution and mailing list management.
Despite these features, presently available electronic newsletter services are not adaptable to the types of marketing program management structures typically employed by multilevel business organizations. The presently available electronic newsletter services are based on a one-to-one paradigm, in which the newsletter reflects the message of a single participant who chooses all of its content. Thus these services do not address the marketing needs of multilevel organizations, in which, for example, it may be desirable for a high level organization such as a manufacturer to coordinate its marketing efforts with lower level organizations such as regional distributors or individual dealers. In addition, the presently available electronic newsletter services are based on a single user model, in which all newsletter creation functions are performed by a single user. Thus these services do not address the needs of larger marketing programs, in which several people may be involved in different phases of the newsletter creation process.
Various embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for providing electronic mail communication services. Various embodiments of the invention provide a variety of features not afforded by the conventional electronic mail communication services such as the conventional newsletter services.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, an electronic mail communication system may be configured in accordance with a communication program comprising a hierarchy of participants, with each participant having a relative level of authority within the communication program for using system tools to create email messages. This may be employed, for example, to enable higher level participants to mandate the types of content and specific pieces of content that will be included in email messages sent on behalf of lower level affiliated participants within the hierarchy. In another example, this may be employed to enable a participant at a given level to generate system reports reflecting system information directly related to that participant""s level, or to generate reports reflecting an aggregate of system information related to that participant""s level and to participants at lower affiliated levels.
In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, an electronic mail communication system may include an email list manager that enables the creation of multiple email lists that may be affiliated with participants within the communication program. This may be employed, for example, to enable a low level participant to use only its affiliated lists, and to enable a higher level participant to use lists comprising the lists of affiliated lower level participants, or to use its own list.
In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, an electronic mail communication system may include tools requiring varying user access levels for their use. This may be employed to enable the creation of different types of system users wherein some users have access to all tools including critical administrator level tools, while other users have limited access to a subset of noncritical general level tools, or to low level data entry tools. For example, administrator level users may be granted exclusive use of tools such as an email approval tool to restrict authority for email approval to a select group of users.
In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, an electronic mail communication system may include system supplied content that a user is enabled to select for inclusion in an email message. The system content is organized by subject so that the user can easily locate content that will be of interest to a particular interest group to whom the email message will be distributed. This frees the user from needing to generate all newsletter content itself.
In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, an electronic mail communication system may include system supplied third party advertisements that a user is enabled to select for inclusion in an email message such as an email newsletter.
In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, an electronic mail communication system may include tools for defining various types of user supplied content. These tools may be used, for example, to define a user content type such as a promotion, which in turn enables users to supply specific promotions that may then be included in email messages created using the system.
In accordance with a further embodiment, a system may include a system content database storing system content items of predefined types such as those discussed above, and a user content database storing user content items of predefined types such as those discussed above. The system may further include a plurality of system tools for creating an email message from system content and user content.
In accordance with a further embodiment, a system may include a system content manager such as described above that is accessible to third party system content suppliers. Thus third party content suppliers are enabled to supply original content such as articles or advertisements that may then be used by the communication program participants in their messages. The system may further include a user content manager such as described above, an email manager such as described above, and an email list manager such as described above.
In accordance with another embodiment, a system may comprise at least one processor and computer readable storage media coupled to the at least one processor. The computer readable storage media may store programming instructions that cause the system to provide tools for creating electronic mail messages, to create an electronic mail message in accordance with input provided by system users, and to distribute the electronic mail message on behalf of a participant. The system may be configured so that respective sets of said tools are accessible to respective participants. Therefore, a message may be created based on input received from system users affiliated with different participants within the communication program. Each system user may have access to a set of the tools based on the user""s participant affiliation.
In accordance with a further embodiment, an electronic mail communication system may be implemented by providing a plurality of tools for creating an electronic mail message. A hierarchy of participants within a communication program to be serviced by the system may then be defined. The system is thereafter configured to make respective sets of the tools accessible to the users affiliated with each participant. Relationships among related tools are also defined. The relationships allow the use of a given tool on behalf of a given participant to control the uses of tools related to that tool by lower affiliated participants. This implements hierarchical authority among the communication program participants in the creation of messages.
The following description of preferred embodiments discloses a variety of additional features that may be implemented in conjunction with the various embodiments summarized above and in further combinations that will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art.

System and methods for multilevel electronic mail communication programs


A hypervisor is operated while an I/O device is not controlled by the hypervisor performs a process operation. A result of the process of the I/O device which is being concurrently operated is recorded to be capable of being reflected to the operation of the hypervisor. Therefore, a hypervisor which assigns a computer including an I/O control device controlling an I/O device, a main storage device, and a CPU as resources to each of one or more logical partitions (LPAR) and performs control, and a logging circuit recording data transmission from the I/O device to the main storage device, which is uncontrolled by the hypervisor, in response to an instruction from the hypervisor, are provided. It is possible to shorten a halt time period of an LPAR.

The present invention relates to a virtual computer system and a method of controlling the same. In particular, the present invention relates to a control technique that moves an operating system (virtual computer) operating on a virtual computer system on a physical computer to a virtual computer system on another physical computer.
As the number of servers increases, the complexity related to the operation of a computer system increases and the operational cost becomes an issue. Server integration, which integrates plural servers into one, has recently been focused on as a technology for reducing operational cost. Virtual computers, in which one computer is logically divided by an arbitrary ratio, are known as a technology for achieving server integration. A physical computer is divided into plural logical partitions (hereinafter, referred to as LPAR) by firmware such as a hypervisor (or middleware), and computer resources (a CPU, a main storage device, and an I/O device) are assigned to each of the LPARs, thereby realizing virtual computers which each operate a corresponding operating system on a corresponding LPAR. As a result, a CPU is time-divided, which makes flexible server integration possible. An example of such a virtual computer is disclosed in JP-A-2005-309553.
Further, in order to allow for an increase in a usage rate of physical computer resources, maintenance of physical computer hardware, etc., an operating system (virtual computer), which is operating, can be moved between plural virtual computer systems on a physical computer, which improves the flexibility of a system operation. An example of such a virtual-computer moving method is disclosed in JP-A-1998-283210.

Virtual computer system and a method of controlling a virtual computer system on movement of a virtual computer


A method of estimating signal-to-noise ratio at an output of an adaptive decision feedback equalizer receiving an input signal. The method of SNR estimation includes (a) calculating an average output error of the equalizer; and (b) estimating the signal-to-noise ratio (SNRest=k.sub.n -20 log.sub.10 (Eavg)) where k.sub.n is a constant based on a QAM index n and Eavg is the average output error of the equalizer. The estimated SNR can be used to detect proper equalizer convergence by comparing the estimated SNR to an SNR threshold (e.g. lowest SNR for a 4QAM signal), wherein the equalizer is not properly converged when the estimated SNR is lower than the SNR threshold. The estimated SNR can also be used to adjust the operating QAM index of the equalizer by comparing the estimated SNR to an ideal SNR based on an objective bit error rate for a prescribed QAM index, and reconverging the equalizer at a QAM index lower than the prescribed QAM index when the estimated SNR is lower than the ideal SNR.

In communication systems a modem is used to convert (modulate) digital signals generated by a computer into analog signals suitable for transmission over telephone lines. Another modem, located at the receiving end of the transmission, converts (demodulates) the analog signals back into digital form. In a particular modulation transmission scheme, the phase and amplitude of a signal are shifted to various combinations of values, each combination indicating a different set of transmitted bits. At the receiver, proper decoding includes detecting the various phase and amplitude combinations.
In a two dimensional modulation scheme, the signal can be represented mathematically with an I (in-phase) component and a Q (quadrature-phase) component of the signal, each of which is .pi./2 out of phase with respect to the other. The plot of these two components on a two dimensional graph for a set of received symbols results in a pattern referred to as a constellation.
Proper detection of the I and Q components of the signal is hampered by various sources of signal degradation. One such source is intersymbol interference where consecutive transmitted symbols interfere with each other. Other sources of signal degradation include the transmission media (i.e. wire) and analog filters. These factors produce large amplitude and group delay distortion in the signal that need compensation.
To compensate for intersymbol interference (ISI) and other sources of signal degradation and distortion, best performance is achieved by implementing an equalizer as a fractionally spaced adaptive filter. An adaptive filter can modify from time instant to time instant, the coefficients, also referred to as tap weights, used in the filter to remove ISI and to compensate for amplitude and group delay distortions. The update of the tap weights is done to minimize the error between the output of the filter and its sliced value (i.e. the nearest constellation point). This error is effectively a measure of the difference between the actual output of the filter and the expected output. The adaptive process continues until the error is at a minimum (i.e. the filter converges).
The quality of convergence of an equalizer depends on many factors including the number of taps, initial tap weights, desired convergence rate, signal to noise ratio (SNR) at the input and phase changes caused by a timing recovery circuit at the receiver, and can be accomplished with various adaptive algorithms.
The adaptation of the tap weights in adaptive equalizers is based on an assumed correct decision about which symbol was received. This assumption is valid for equalizers with a training sequence for which the received symbol is in fact known in advance. Equalizers, however, are also used without the benefit of a training sequence, in which case the decision is not necessarily correct. These equalizers are referred to as blind equalizers. The term blind refers to trying to find the correct equalizer coefficients without a reference training sequence, therefore during convergence the decisions may be incorrect and the coefficients (weights) erroneously updated. Although the possibility of a mistake misconvergence exists, if the blind equalizer makes correct decisions for a sufficiently large set of received symbols, the equalizer will converge correctly.
Traditionally, SNR is measured at the receiver input by measuring the power spectral density in-band versus the power spectral density out-of-band to give an estimate of SNR in-band. This is normally performed at a particular point in the receive path before the equalizer. The problem, however, is that traditional SNR estimation does not accurately predict the noise in-band. In addition, the signal presents typically a slope within its bandwidth. After the equalizer, the slope gets compensated, but the noise within the signal bandwidth gets enhanced, thereby decreasing the SNR. As a result, traditional SNR estimation methods cannot be used to accurately detect misconvergence or to predict the output SNR of an equalizer.

Method and apparatus for operating an adaptive decision feedback equalizer


A damaged screw removing screwdriver includes a handle and a shank extending from the handle. The shank has a distal end for being engaged with slots in the head of a bolt. A plurality of blade portions extend radially outward from the distal end of the shank and each blade portion has a cutting edge and a corner. The handle has a plate attached to the distal end thereof so that the blade portions cut into the material of the head of the bolt by impacting the plate on the handle. By the screwdriver, the bolt having rounded slots in the head can still be rotated.

A conventional screwdriver as shown in FIG. 9 generally includes a shank 100 and a handle (not shown) from which the shank 100 extends. The tip of the shank 100 has a special designed shape such as grooves 101 so as to engage with slots 200 in the head 300 of a bolt so that when the tip is engaged with the slots 200 in the head 300 of a bolt, the bolt can be rotated to be tightened or loosened by rotating the screwdriver. The function is well known in the art. However, the material of the head 300 of the bolt could be softer than the material of the screwdriver so that when rotating the screwdriver, the slots 200 in the head 300 of the bolt could be rounded or damaged. Once the slots 200 in the head 300 of the bolt is rounded, the screwdriver cannot be engaged with the slots 200 properly and the bolt will not be rotated when rotating the screwdriver. Two special designed damaged screw removing screwdrivers known to applicant are respectively illustrated in U.S. Design Pat. No. 371,946, which is issued on Jul. 23, 1996 and U.S. Design Pat. No. 405,672 which is issued on Feb. 16, 1999. Both of the two patented damaged screw removing screwdrivers have a tip portion so as to engage with the bottom of the damaged head of a bolt so as to tighten or loosen the bolt having the damaged head. Nevertheless, a drill is required to drill a notch in the damaged head of a bolt so that the tip portion of the damaged screw removing screwdriver can easily engage with the head of the bolt. In other words, the user has to prepare a drilling tool to drill a notch in the damaged head of the bolt.
The present invention intends to provide a damaged screw removing screwdriver to rotate a bolt wherein the slots in the head of the bolt are rounded or damaged. The screwdriver has a plurality of blade portions which extend radially outward from the tip of the screwdriver so that the blade portions cut into the bottom of the rounded slots in the head of he bolt by pressing the screwdriver toward the head of the bolt.

F. 1, No.27, Lane 35 Chia-Ho Rd., Ta-Chia Chen


The present disclosure relates to a system which includes a memory controller interface, a memory unit interface, and a correction block. The memory controller interface includes a digitally-controlled delay line (DCDL). The memory unit interface is coupled to the memory controller interface, and is configured to communicate with the memory controller interface through a first signal and a second signal. The correction block is configured to determine a result of alignment between the first signal and the second signal, and to provide a correction signal configured to align the first signal to the second signal. Other systems, devices and methods are disclosed.

Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) systems within three-dimensional (3D) chip architectures comprise one or more DRAM cells which communicate with a memory controller by means of a data bus formed within an interface comprising a silicon interposer (SII) or through silicon vias (TSVs). The wider data bus of the 3D chip architecture is subject to increased variation compared to the data bus of a two-dimensional (2D) chip architecture due to routing mismatch within an SII or TSV balance variation due to differing TSV numbers along different paths.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Data sampling alignment method for memory interface

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A new variety of yellow raspberry having a deeper yellow color than `Fall Gold`. The variety is further characterized by its habit of flowering and fruiting about the same time as `Heritage` and a better flavor than `Fall Gold`. Also, the new variety has a greater yield than `Fall Gold` in that it produces two to three times the number of berries per panicle. The berry of the new variety has a greater firmness than that of `Fall Gold`.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of yellow raspberry named `Graton Gold`.
`Graton Gold` was discovered on my farm in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, Calif., in 1987. From a field of raspberries of the `Heritage` variety which had been planted in March 1985, I noticed occasional yellow berries appearing in the production from this field. The `Heritage` plants were obtained from the certified nursery in Oregon, which does not propagate yellow raspberries. The cane bearing the yellow fruit which I observed was marked to identify it. In the following season four canes grew in the same place which had produced this yellow fruit. In the winter of 1988/89 the plant was dug up and was asexually reproduced by root division. Five new plants were propagated and each of the five plants were true to the mother plant and produced yellow fruit on the primocanes in the summer of 1989.


A hinge for a notebook computer has a pivotal bearing seat with one or two springs received therein, a limit plate and a pivot, wherein the pivotal bearing is securely attached to the main body of the computer and defines a bearing hole therein with a transversal groove defined to communicate with the bearing hole to hold the springs. The pivot has one end securely attached to the screen of the computer and the other end forms a spindle with lubricating slots defined thereon. The spindle is inserted through the limit plate and into the bearing hole of the springs, whereby the screen of the notebook computer can be held at any angle with respect to the main body when open.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge for a notebook computer, particularly to a hinge comprising a pivotal bearing seat with a set of spring devices received therein, a limit plate and a pivot, which is either rotatable or fixable reversibly in a position in a pivot socket defined in the spring devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Because the notebook computers are highly mobile and efficient in handling business matters, the number of people who use notebook computers is increased. Furthermore, the development of internet even promotes the use of notebook computers. In order to meet the requirements under all circumstances, a hinge device pivotally connected between the screen and the body is necessary to provide substantial and suitable support to the screen, such that the screen is able to be opened from the body at any desired angle hinge device. However, the conventional hinge devices for notebook computers generally comprise a pivotal bearing seat with a transversal or a longitudinal spring piece provided therein, which incurs drawbacks:
1 The structure of the conventional hinge devices using two different spring pieces are complex and the fabrication cost is high; PA1 2 The support provided by the spring pieces to the screen is not strong enough. Therefore, the screen may not be securely fixed at a desired angle.


A humid air stream generator is disclosed. The humid air stream generator comprises a hollow cylindrical chamber (2) with a mist generator (21) placed inside at the bottom of the hollow cylindrical chamber (2) for generating a continuous stream of humid air, an inlet tubing (22) attached to the hollow cylindrical chamber (2) for feeding a stream of incoming air, an outlet tubing (8) attached to the hollow cylindrical chamber (2), a suction fan (4) placed between the outlet tubing (8) and the mist generator (21) for forming the continuous stream of humid air with the stream of incoming air into a cyclonic air flow which spiral upward towards the outlet tubing (8), so as to eliminate accumulation of water droplets or condensation at an outlet region of the hollow cylindrical chamber (2).

In static charge reduction technical field, a humid air stream generator is used to increase the humidity of the air for reducing static charge. In a known air stream controller, the humid air stream for static charge reduction after released from the outlet tubing for use in static charge mitigation is channeled as a returned loop back into the humidifier chamber of the humid air stream generator for re-circulation to achieve better air flow control for optimum output. This closed-loop system not only helps to prevent or minimize the leakage of the humid air into the surrounding ambient environment, it also cuts the wastage of humid air and contributes to an optimum amount of humid air to be produced economically.
FIG. 1 comprises shown a common known humid air stream generator 1 having a main chamber attached with an inlet tubing 12 for feeding dry air and an outlet tubing 19 for outputting moist air. A mist generator 11 is arranged at the bottom of the chamber.
However, during the running of the air stream controller at a relative humidity (RH) especially at above 80%, water condensation was seen on the walls 14 of the chamber and on the inner walls of the outlet tubing 19 as illustrate in FIG. 1.
These tiny droplets accumulate to form bigger drops 13 and subsequently dripping down the walls 14 causing accumulation of water, especially inside the outlet tubing 19 causing unwanted trapping and retention of water inside the tubing. This is undesirable in the management and control of humid air for static charge mitigation in the air flow control system.
It is interesting to discover that putting a mini heater in the air flow path at the region above the mist generator 11 helps to minimize or eliminate such unwanted condensation especially at a level above 80% RH. In fact, up to the 85% to 90% RH range, there is no condensation being seen both at the walls of the outlet air flow region as well as at the inner circular wall of the air circulation tube when the mini heater is switched on. The higher the heater temperature, the lesser the condensation is seen on the walls.
However, careful analysis reveals that the heater not only involves installation work, close monitoring, safety issue and additional cost to the system, it also cause contamination issue after long period of uses due to the oxidation or corrosion, pre-matured wear and tear and dirt accumulation issues using such heater system.
Therefore further research and development work is needed to search for a better and easier way to overcome such condensation problem without design pitfalls and shortcomings.

ESD TECHNOLOGY CONSULTING & LICENSING CO., LTD


A method for obtaining a contact resistance of a planar device includes: obtaining a contact resistance of a planar device by using a potential measurement method, in the measurement of the surface potential distribution, the planar device is in a state of current flowing, a certain voltage drop is formed at a junction area of the device; extracting the voltage drop measured through the Kelvin microscope by using a linear fitting method; and dividing the measured voltage drop by the current flowing through the device, thereby accurately calculating the magnitude of the contact resistance at the junction area of the planar device. With the present invention, the contact resistance of the planar device can be precisely measured, which is suitable for the contact resistance measurement experiments of devices such as thin film transistors and diodes. The invention has the advantages of reasonable theory, accurate result, simple and easy operation, and is favorable for optimizing the device performance and establishing a complete electrical model of the device.

An organic, oxide, grapheme, MoS2, LTPS and other disordered semiconductor device with advantages, such as low-cost, flexible, transparent, large-area manufacturing, etc., has broad application prospects. After several years of development, theory of an organic and oxide semiconductor device has gradually become mature. And as the device performance continues to improve, a low-end application product such as a flexible, transparent, printable RFID tag, a radio frequency identification card and a flat panel display driver has entered the domestic and international markets. An organic, oxide, MoS2, LTPS and grapheme thin-film transistors and diodes are core components of a flexible, transparent electronic circuit. Their device performance is constantly improved and their device mobility can reach 0.1˜150 cm2/Vs. However, impact of a contact resistance has been to restrict their performance to further improve. Therefore, it is important to accurately measure the contact resistance of the device.
The impact of the contact resistance to the device performance and the circuit performance must be considered when designing the thin film transistor and the diode based integrated circuit. In addition, a process condition must be considered in a device fabrication procedure to optimize the device's contact resistance. Therefore, for a laboratory worker, how to achieve an accurate measurement of the device contact resistance is of great significance.

Method for obtaining a contact resistance of a planar device

INSTITUTE OF MICROELECTRONICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


A cleaning apparatus of a blanket of a printing press has a cleaning cloth, a take-up roller of the cleaning cloth, a press device for pressing the cleaning cloth to the surface of a blanket cylinder to be cleaned, and rewinding device for rewinding the used cleaning cloth from the take-up roller to the supply roll for use in the following cleaning cycle. Cleaning is carried out while the cleaning cloth is being supplied from the supply roll to the take-up roller, and part of the used cleaning cloth is rewound after this cleaning cycle is completed by rotating reversely the supply roll and is used again during part of the next cleaning cycle.

The present invention relates to a technique of cleaning automatically a blanket cylinder of a printing press by pressing a cleaning cloth to the blanket cylinder. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automatic blanket cleaning technique of a printing press which also has an automatic rewinding mechanism on the side of a supply roll of a cleaning cloth and rewinds part of the used cleaning cloth after one cleaning cycle is completed in order to use it once again during part of the next cleaning cycle.
A cleaning technique is heretofore known which has the fundamental structure wherein a cleaning cloth supplied from a supply roll is taken up by a take-up roller through a press member and is pressed to a blanket cylinder by the press member to clean the blanket cylinder.
Various structures have been developed and proposed for the press member. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 51-56306/1976 teaches the use of a press roller while Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-148164/1980 discloses the press member of the type wherein a rubber tube is inflated by air.
A non-woven fabric or the like has been used as the cleaning cloth. Generally, the non-woven fabric is supplied from a manufacturer under the state where a predetermined length of the non-woven fabric is wound on a paper bobbin. After the roll of non-woven fabric is set as a supply roll to a cleaning apparatus, the tip of the non-woven fabric is fitted to a take-up roller for use.
Cleaning is made by transferring the non-woven fabric either intermittently or continuously from the supply roll to the take-up roller and pressing the cleaning cloth to the surface of the blanket cylinder to be cleaned by the press member during this transfer process. At this time the cleaning cycle is employed wherein the cleaning cloth is dampened appropriately by a cleaning liquid such as a solvent or water to dissolve ink components or the like that adhere to the blanket cylinder and they are then wiped away by the portions of the cleaning cloth that are not dampened by the cleaning liquid. Accordingly, in accordance with the prior art technique, the cleaning cloth has been supplied always unidirectionally from the supply roll to the take-up roller.
As described above, the non-woven fabric as the cleaning cloth is generally supplied under the state where the non-woven fabric of about 10 to 12 m is wound onto one paper bobbin. About 40 cm of non-woven fabric is used in one cleaning cycle in a newspaper offset press while about 15 to about 20 cm of non-woven fabric is used in a sheet offset press and the cleaning liquid is sprayed once or several times to dampen the non-woven fabric for cleaning. The portions of the non-woven fabric dampened by the cleaning liquid are used for dissolving the ink adhering to the blanket cylinder while its dry portions are used for wiping.
Cleaning is made twice or thrice a day in the case of newspaper printing, for example. Therefore, one roll of non-woven fabric is used up within eight to ten days and must be replaced by a new one.
Since the blanket cleaning apparatus of the printing press is the one that is directed to save labor, it is desired to reduce the frequency of replacement of expendables as much as possible and to reduce the cost of operation.

Cleaning apparatus and cleaning method of blanket of printing press


A series of new non-stick ceramic coating materials prepared from organic-inorganic hybrid materials, including silica sol, MTMS, FAS and PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) using the sol-gel process. The hybrid materials have good mechanical properties and are fashioned into a main ceramic network and good non-stick properties from organic non-stick compounds. The non-stick ceramic coating consists of two layers applied to cookware and for other applications.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to non-stick ceramic coating compositions and methods for making same, and for coating utensils or cookware made of stainless steel, aluminum, aluminum alloy, cast iron or steel.
2. Prior Art
Considerable effort has been directed at producing an effective, non-stick and non-wetting coating on a substrate that constitutes the surface of cookware for preparing food. The term "non-stick" signifies a surface that resists adherence of substances, such as oils, greases, or other food items. This property permits easy cleaning of dishes in which foods are prepared by heating. The term "non-wetting" indicates a surface that repels liquids such as water. The property is evidenced by a large contact angle between a drop of water and the surface on which the drop rests. An advancing angle of at least 90°, is considered as representative of a non-wettable surface.
Non-stick, non-wetting articles are commonly produced by coating article surfaces with a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) layer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,168 (Hares et al.) describes a process for coating glass or glass-ceramic articles with such a layer to produce non-stick cooking utensils. However, PTFE coatings exhibit the disadvantage of being opaque. Also, they require a thermal sintering process at 350-400° C. for their production, are relatively expensive to produce, and do not provide a desired degree of abrasion resistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,118 to Baney et al. describes a coating composition comprising an acidic dispersion of colloidal silica in an alcohol-water medium which produces a hard, abrasion-resistant coating.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,522 to Alain et al. discloses a protective coating which imparts non-stick, abrasion and hydrophobic properties with an inorganic network from metal alkoxides and an organic network from silanes via a sol-gel process. But this coating is very thin, which is not good as a protective coating, and also, has no color. These PTFE coatings have a finite life due to their organic makeup. Over time, these coatings dry out and lose their lubricity.
Various processes and materials have been proposed to create a non-stick coating. However, a problem persists regarding wear during use, in particular, scratching by cleaning agents.

Non-stick ceramic coating composition and process


Disclosed is a marker for observing an effect of a compound or a drug on cells in real time. The marker is: 1) an amino acid sequence shown in SEQ No. 1 and/or SEQ No. 2; or 2) an amino acid sequence having a function for observing an effect of a compound or a drug on cells in real time and having at least more than 80%, preferably more than 85%, more preferably 90%, further preferably 95%, and most preferably 99% homology with the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ No. 1 and/or SEQ No. 2. Also disclosed is a method and a kit for observing an effect of a compound or a drug on cells in real time and use thereof.

In the process of drug development and biological research, it is very important to study the effect of a molecule or a drug on cells. This is usually realized by observing the overall healthy condition of the cells, such as death or replication rate. The study on the effect of a molecule or a drug in this way only estimates a final result using the molecule or the drug, which may miss the effect of the molecule or the drug on the cells in a continuous process. In reality, a molecule or a drug is usually used for treating an aspect of cells or life, which is a continuous process before death or replication. Therefore, current methods for studying the effect of a molecule or a drug on cells are non-real-time, indirect or inaccurate. So far, there is no method for studying the real-time effect of a molecule or a drug on cells.
For any useful molecules, such as drugs, to be commercialized, side effects or toxicity must be tested. Generally, the tests can be conducted on animals, which can be very expensive and time consuming. In addition, people advocating animal rights also object to the drug tests on animals. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a sensitive method that can quickly provide a result without using animals to test the real-time effect.

Marker, method and kit for observing effect of compound or drug on cells in real time, and use thereof


Multiple pixels within a pixel array share a common output line. Each output line from the array is connected to one or more storage elements. Each of the storage elements receives a counter signal corresponding to levels of a reference voltage within each of the pixels. When an output line signal reaches a predetermined value, a storage element receiving that predetermined value latches the current value of the counter signal. Outputs from pixels of multiple columns in the array may be time-multiplexed onto the output lines or may form a serial scan chain connected to a single output line.

Photo-sensitive electronic components can be used to create electronic imaging systems. These imaging systems can then be employed in a variety of applications. In some applications (e.g., digital photography), creating an image may be the ultimate goal. In other applications, data generated by the imaging system is analyzed for other purposes. As but one illustration, data collected by an imaging array can be used to detect and/or measure motion. Computer pointing or input devices (such as computer mice) are examples of devices that use imaging array data in such a manner.
When designing an imaging array, there is often a trade-off between the photosensing area in each element (or pixel) of the array and the speed with which the array can collect images (or "frames"). At a given illumination intensity, more time is needed to collect sufficient light if the photosensing area is reduced. Conversely, increasing the amount of photosensitive area within array pixels allows faster frame rates. In some applications (e.g., motion-sensing in a computer mouse), the frame rate is quite high (on the order of thousands of frames per second) and light levels may be very low. It is thus beneficial to maximize fill-factor when designing arrays for such applications. Fill-factor (i.e., the ratio within each pixel of light-sensing region to total pixel area) is reduced by elements such as power supply lines and lines carrying signals between the pixels and elements outside the array. The problem becomes more acute as the number of pixels increases. As more and more pixels are added to an array design, there are more and more power and signal lines that must cross over other pixels.

Pixel array with shared pixel output lines


A method for collecting and processing user input. In some embodiments the method includes presenting a first user with a prompt for eliciting a first response, the first response including a numerical portion including one or more numbers, and an explanatory portion; receiving, from the first user, the first response; receiving from each of a plurality of other users, a respective response of a plurality of other responses; and displaying, to the first user, an ordered list of other responses. Within the ordered list, a second response, of the plurality of other responses, may be earlier than a third response, of the plurality of other responses, the second response being, according to a measure of distance, more distant, than the third response, from the first response.

Related art on-line message boards are on occasion used, by users of such message boards, to solicit advice or opinions that may be helpful to such users. For example, a user who may want to buy or sell a certain commodity may solicit opinions regarding the likely future price of the commodity. The user may then analyze and aggregate the received responses in an ad-hoc manner, endeavoring to assess the expertise of those who posted responses, and to distill from the responses a forecast of the future price.
Such an approach may have various shortcomings. On a message board, a user may start a discussion in a "thread" and other users may comment on the original post or the posts that others make in response to the original post. This type of discussion may lack any type of discernable structure, though sometimes the responses to posts are displayed as a tree for contextual understanding. Regardless of how the structure is handled, such interfaces may do little to guide the discussion, which may be left entirely to the participants. Consequently, discussions may become derailed due to drifting off-topic, failures to cite sources to back up a given opinion, or the citing of sources that do not support the argument being made.
Another potential shortcoming relates to the participants themselves. The users may be victims of their biases and their initial arguments and opinions. For example, users may be influenced by a type of bias called "anchoring", in which a user may be strongly influenced by the first external opinion she or he sees or hears. Another potential bias is called "confirmation bias", a type of logical failure in which a person creates an opinion and then validates it by only selecting sources and other methods of validation that agree with it, ignoring any opinions or resources that might dissent.
Further, it may be difficult or impossible for participants to arrive at any type of consensus, even when building consensus and arriving at a conclusion is the primary objective of the discussion.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method for facilitating productive interactions between on-line users.

System of structured argumentation for asynchronous collaboration and machine-based arbitration