The method prevents oxidation or contamination phenomena of conductive interconnection structures in semiconductor devices and includes providing a layer of semiconductor or oxide base, a conductive layer or stack on the base layer, and an antireflection coating (ARC) layer on the conductive layer or stack. The method provides a thin dielectric covering layer on the antireflection coating layer to fill or cover the microfissures existing in the antireflection coating layer.

Various semiconductor devices include at least a layer of semiconductor or oxide base, a conductive layer or stack on the base layer, and an antireflection coating layer (ARC) on the conductive layer. For example, it is well known in the prior art that the aluminum oxide formed on the surface of aluminum and aluminum-alloy films, before an etching step, is particularly hard to etch with traditional metal etchers because these devices are designed to be oxide-selective.
Without limiting the scope of the invention and to simplify the explanation thereof, the following description is made with reference to the metal layers whereon photosensitive configurations are developed. Metal layers can comprise a metal stack having one or more metal or conductive metal layers (aluminum, aluminum alloys such as AlCu, AlSiCu and the like) connected by a thin upper ARC layer. As it is well known to the skilled in the semiconductor field, metal etching is used to form metal lines, particularly aluminum lines (more often aluminum alloys). These metal lines are used as interconnection structures between device structures formed in the silicon substrate.
The etching step of a metallization layer is a very important step in the semiconductor device manufacturing. In its simplest embodiment, the sequence of steps being concerned by the formation process of line or interconnection structure can be summarized as follows:    a metal layer is deposited first, the metal layer eventually comprising a metal stack having one or more conductive metal layers (aluminum, aluminum alloys such as AlCu, AlSiCu and the like);    to transfer etching configurations on metal layer or metal stack areas, a photoresist layer is applied on the metal layer and configurations are developed according to a mask layout;    according to the prior art, a traditional interconnection structure, such as an antireflection coating layer (ARC), such as TiN, TiW, etc., is often positioned on the metal layer or metal stack, before depositing the photoresist film. The ARC layer absorbs most of the radiation penetrating the photoresist during the photolithographic process when the photoresist is exposed to the radiation to reproduce mask configurations in the photoresist film.
By reducing the reflection in the underlying metal substrate and thus by reducing the standing-wave effects which can lead to a change in the desired configurations to be transferred, the photoresist layer is conveniently exposed. After the exposure, the photoresist layer is developed to realize the image, configurations or structures, which will serve as masks during the following etching process, when the designed configurations are transferred in the underlying metal layer.
Desire to increase the device density on many of the most advanced circuits are often limited by the area occupied by interconnection paths. The use of the metal layer anisotropic etching, together with an improved photoresist exposure and strict configuration definitions by inserting the antireflection coating layer (ARC), allows smaller fine metal pitches to be obtained (the pitch being the assembly of the size of a metal line and of the space between the lines, see for example the article by S. Wolf and R. N. Tauber, "Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era", Lattice Press, Vol. 1), and thus denser interconnection structures.
In the aluminum and aluminum-alloy dry etching step, one of the problems to be faced is the presence of particles or other surface imperfections which can stop or delay the etching process in the area being concerned, leaving some undesired unetched portions of the original metal layer. These unetched or remaining portions of the original metal film are residues which can short circuit adjacent metal structures. Process parameters affecting this phenomenon are for example the metal grain roughness and the photoresist type being used when preparing mask configurations before etching.
One of the causes of surface imperfections on metal films, particularly aluminum and aluminum-alloy films, is an oxidation process occurring on metal surfaces when they are exposed to humidity or to other oxidizing species during processings and/or the manufacturing steps usually following the metal film deposition. These processings and/or manufacturing steps can comprise, but they are not limited to: deposition of metal layers to form the metal stack; deposition of ARC layers; mask application with or without the following mask configuration and development; cleaning; etching, etc. In the case of aluminum and aluminum-alloy metal layers, humidity or other oxidizing species involve the formation of an aluminum oxide being very hard to etch (Al2O3).
The effect of a delay in the etching process (the so-called "starting period") of aluminum or aluminum-alloy films due to the presence of aluminum oxide on the surface is well known in the art and in literature, reference is still made to the article by S. Wolf and R. N. Tauber, "Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era", Lattice Press, Vol. 1, pp. 559-561. An aluminum or aluminum-alloy surface, not covered by aluminum oxide, spontaneously reacts with chloride and it is etched. Nevertheless, if the aluminum or aluminum-alloy surface is changed in some points or areas by the presence of aluminum oxide, these points or areas will not react with chloride.
Therefore they will not be etched and they will actually mask the underlying substrate which should be etched (micromasking effect). Therefore, the etching of aluminum or aluminum-alloy films, in the presence of aluminum oxide, requires the oxide to be removed before continuing with the underlying layer etching step and this removal can be completed by sputtering with reducing agent energetic ions. The sputtering step unfavorably affects the metal etching selectivity with respect to the masking layer material etching, in this case the photoresist mask, often leading to a loss in size and in the particular features of the original resist configurations.
Sometimes, to prevent size losses a thicker photoresist film should be used, although causing, among the other undesired effects: longer photoresist exposure and development time, thus reducing the process productive potentiality; and limitations of the ability to set smaller pitches, thus limiting the ability to increase the interconnection structure density. To prevent aluminum oxides from forming on aluminum or aluminum-alloy surfaces, much attention is drawn to avoiding exposing the metal layer to oxidizing agents (for example air humidity) after the metal deposition and before depositing the ARC layer.
Traditional methods and devices for the metal stack and ARC layer deposition provide that the metal stack and the ARC layer are deposited in succession completely under vacuum, thus drastically reducing the risk of exposing the aluminum or aluminum-alloy surface to the air preserving the vacuum integrity through the different metal stack and ARC layer deposition steps. Nevertheless, the use of the antireflection coating layer (ARC) potentially inserts another risk of contamination of the metal surface. In fact the appearance of microfissures in the antireflection coating layer (ARC) can still allow oxidizing species to infiltrate in the underlying metal layer. The oxidizing species can derive from the mask development and let in this specific case the exposed AlCu layer portions oxidize.
FIGS. 1A-1C show, by way of example, the harmful effect of oxidizing species infiltration, for example a mask developer or BARC solvents, and the following defects in a specific case. FIG. 1A shows, for example, a simplified stack for a traditional interconnection structure. A metal layer 2, for example an aluminum or aluminum-alloy film, is deposited on a semiconductor substrate 1, for example an oxide layer. An antireflection coating (ARC) film 3, for example a TiN layer, is applied on the metal layer 2. The ARC film has microfissures 9 which, as shown in FIG. 1B, can allow oxidizing species to infiltrate in the underlying aluminum or aluminum-alloy layer in some areas 7.
Oxidation occurs during the BARC (4) spinning, during the mask exposure and/or during the mask development when the photoresist 5 configuration is defined, and the oxidized aluminum (Al2O3) has been formed. Since the oxidized aluminum is very hard to etch, it generates a defect better known as micromasking, leaving a metal bridge between adjacent strips, generating the metal line short circuit, as shown in FIG. 1C.
These kind of microfissures 9, in the ARC layer 3, which can exist also in the photoresist film, are known in the prior art and they are mentioned for example in the article by E. G. Colgan and al., "Formation Mechanism of Ring Defects during Metal RIE" (1994 VMIC conference Proceedings, 7-8 Jun. 1994, p. 284-286) as well as in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,399 and in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,504.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,399 fissures are generated in the photoresist by internal stresses and they can spread in the underlying substrate. In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,504 fissures are mentioned when depositing a traditional TiN ARC. In the specific case of preferred embodiments of this application, when the metal layer is an AlCu film and the antireflection coating layer (ARC) is made of TiN, microfissures appear as a consequence of the AlCu roughness during the TiN deposition.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,399 addresses the problem of microfissures in the photoresist film by positioning a hard mask between the photoresist layer and the layer of material to be etched. In particular, the method being described in that patent attempts to prevent microfissures from propagating from the photoresist to an underlying material layer during the lithography and etching. In this case a compressed hard mask is used since fissures cannot propagate between two layers having different tension properties.
If the approach provided by the U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,399 were transferred to the case of the ARC layer failure contrast, an additional layer should be positioned between the AlCu and TiN layers. This cannot be easily performed since TiN is positioned just after the AlCu deposition in the same device without being exposed to the air, which could oxidize the AlCu layer. Alternatively, the AlCu layer should be covered by a more convenient or conformal layer. In both approaches the substrate reflecting properties could drastically change, deeply affecting the following lithographic configuration.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,504 the problem of microfissures in the TiN ARC layer is faced by replacing the traditional TiN ARC layer deposited on the metal film with a silicon oxynitride layer (SiON) serving both as ARC layer and as hard mask. The hard mask approach is fully used when manufacturing microelectronic devices and it is used where the photoresist thickness is not sufficient to support the whole etching process with the photoresist-substrate etching selectivity being used.
The photoresist becomes thinner when the configuration size is reduced. Since substrates must keep the thickness thereof for reliability reasons, to address the thinner photoresist two approaches can be undertaken:    (1) improving the photoresist-substrate selectivity; and    (2) positioning an additional layer being selective to the chemistry to be used to etch the substrate, i.e. the hard mask.
Since beyond a certain level it is difficult to improve the selectivity, the insertion of a hard mask layer can be the key. Such a hard mask layer, positioned between the substrate and the photoresist, serves as an additional photoresist layer. The thickness and the nature thereof depend on process requirements and selectivity, but it is generally higher than 1000 Å. The hard mask layer is actually a manufacture favoring the definition of more and more severe structures by using the same etching processes or at least by allowing lower process changes. The insertion of a SiON hard mask in the metal etching, as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,504, has the additional advantage of reducing the surface change caused by the developer penetration through the ARC during the metal masking, as the SiON ARC/hard mask is resistant to chemical penetration. Nevertheless, the insertion of a SiON ARC/hard mask inserts some complexities in the metal layer deposition process and in the coating process thereof with a dielectric ARC layer, rather than conductive, and in the etching process of the ARC layer and of the hard mask layer with a different chemistry from the one being used afterwards to etch the metal layer or metal stack.
Moreover for the application being described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,504 the use of a SiON ARC layer and of a hard mask layer does not solve the difficulty of carefully configuring both the photoresist material and the underlying ARC layer yet to obtain vertical profiles. In particular, as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,504 and further in detail in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,973, there are strong interactions between the chemistries of the ARC layer and of a photoresist layer, when the ARC materials comprise basic components such as the nitrogen and the resist is a traditional deep ultraviolet resist (DUV). These interactions lead to the formation of residues on the photoresist/ARC interface, near the photoresist side wall, better known as "base": the photoresist base often involves a size control lack.
The correction of the base problem identified by the U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,504 and by the U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,973 involves the deposition on the ARC comprising nitrogen of a conveniently-thick oxide film to effectively cover the ARC comprising nitrogen. Nevertheless, the traditional hard mask or "thickness" approach, as the one described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,504 and in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,973, has some drawbacks. In fact is it usually necessary to etch the hard mask in a dedicated device (for example oxide etching), since metal etchers are designed to be selective to the oxide.
Alternatively, if metal etcher performances are "prolonged" to allow the hard mask to be etched with the oxide, the dangerous mixture between etching chemistries and oxide and metal by-products can degrade the metal etcher defect and process stability. Moreover, the oxide film of the U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,504 and of the U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,973 should not comprise nitrogen or other components which, acting as bases, can interact with the photoresist negatively affecting the configuration process of the photoresist.
From the previous prior art attempts, there has not been a solution to the technical problem of microfissures in the ARC layer and to the subsequent surface alteration danger when pollutants penetrate through the microfissures into the underlying layers. Moreover, no approach has been provided that is: compatible with the traditional metal stack and ARC layer deposition; without specific requirements or limitations about the material to be used; and with a negligible influence on the metal etching and on the following steps (i.e. dielectric filling and way etching).
Therefore, in the semiconductor manufacturing field, a strong need is felt to provide a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device preventing the infiltrations through the microfissures in an underlying layer, the infiltration being capable to change the underlying layer.

Method for reducing defects after a metal etching in semiconductor devices


An electronic device includes a first body, a second body coupled to the first body, a trigger device, and a processing device. The trigger device is configured to generate a trigger instruction based on a trigger operation. The trigger device is placed in an area that is responsive to a movement of the first body relative to the second body. The processing device is configured to switch the electronic device from a first state to a second state in response to the trigger instruction. A power consumption state of the first state is different from a power consumption state of the second state.

With the development and diversification of electronic devices, more and more users use electronic devices for working and learning purposes. When using an electronic device, a user may need to switch the power consumption state of the electronic device to meet the user's demand.
Generally, before switching the power consumption state of the electronic device, the user may need to first switch a state of the electronic device. Such operations increase the wait time for the user to switch among different states of the electronic device, which makes the user experience less friendly.


The present invention relates to a system and methodology to facilitate data communications and data management between network entities operating in accordance with various data structures and operating environments. A managed class of application programming interfaces (API) are provided that support data communications between remote/local locations employing a first data structure and a second location supporting a second data structure (e.g., API for NET languages to access SQL Server via XML views). The managed class and associated APIs provide data transformations between such structures to facilitate communications and data management among various locations and architectures. In addition, the managed class and APIs facilitate operations between disparate object systems such as between managed and unmanaged object systems via interface support of a wrapper and associated marshalling technologies to bridge communications between such systems.

As computer technologies continue to push the bounds of ever increasing performance and innovation, computer system hardware and software requirements have dramatically increased in complexity and sophistication. This has become even more apparent with the growth of network technologies such as the Internet, for example, wherein ever increasing amounts of data are continually being operated upon, requested, transported, and stored. Other applications such as database managers are also being pushed to handle this increasing traffic of data. One technology that has emerged to transport and process data is XML, which is often referred to as a meta-markup language for text documents. Data can be described in XML documents as strings of text, wherein the actual data is encapsulated by text markup that describes the data. A unit of data and associated markup is defined as an element. Currently, XML defines how elements are delimited by tags, what a tag looks like, what names are acceptable for elements, and where attributes are placed, among other specifications, for example.
The markup in an XML document describes the underlying structure of the document and generally defines which elements are associated with other elements. The markup can also include document semantics. As an example, the markup can indicate that an element is a date, serial number, name or other type of code or designation. As these and other types of elements are transmitted (e.g., XML stream) between systems or databases, changes are often required to be made to existing data due to recently discovered errors in the data or due to the data having changed over time (e.g., person's name or address changing). Since XML merely indicates the most recent state of data, problems can occur as data is transported between databases and/or systems.
In addition to the rise of structured content like XML, relational databases have long been the bulwark of the information infrastructure of countless enterprises. Relational databases provide a primary tool for such enterprises to maintain, access, and analyze data. Such database technologies have evolved over many years and are optimized for accessing and manipulating large information bases. Many businesses, for example, store the majority of their critical information in relational databases. Moreover, many Internet sites manage data employing relational database technology. This approach also makes it possible to develop database search engines for sifting through the large volumes of information that "live" on the Internet. Unlike XML, relational databases are not hierarchically structured but rather are relationally structured to provide efficient management of large amounts of data.
The combination of database technology with self-describing structure of hierarchical languages such as XML opens an interesting perspective for new applications. However, the melding of the kind of tree structures supported by hierarchical languages such as XML with the form of a relational data model presents a number of issues, some of which have already been addressed and solved. One persistent problem that remains, however, relates communications between seemingly inapposite theoretical data constructs. Moreover, in addition to the complexities of communicating between different data structural concepts, new programming models and operating platforms have emerged to support such communications.
As computer science has evolved, object oriented programming has become one of many familiar models designers and programmers utilize to implement functionality within computer systems. The object model generally is defined by a class structure that includes class members providing methods and associated data elements belonging to the class. The class members thus provide/define desired functionality within a computer program, wherein an object is declared as an instance of a particular class. As is commonplace, objects often must exchange data and/or invoke other objects operating on the same platform and/or communicate with objects belonging to remote platforms. In order to communicate between objects, interface systems and standards have been developed to define how objects may communicate and/or interact with one another. A familiar system for communicating and interfacing between objects is known as the Component Object Model (COM), wherein another similar system is referred to as the Common Object Request Brokers Architecture (CORBA). Still yet other communication interfaces may be defined in languages such as JAVA within an operating framework of a Java Virtual Machine, for example. As these and other systems have been developed however, two common object architectures or models generally have emerged and may generally be defined in terms of managed and unmanaged object systems, for example.
Managed objects may be allocated from a heap within a managed software environment and are generally not responsible for managing associated object lifetimes. Managed objects may be described in terms of a data type (e.g., metadata) and automatically collected (e.g., reclaimed) by a managed environment "garbage collector" that removes the object from memory when the object is no longer being accessed. In contrast, unmanaged objects may be allocated from a standard operating system heap, wherein the object itself is responsible for freeing memory it employs when references to the object no longer exist. This may be accomplished through well-known techniques such as reference counting, for example.
As described above, managed objects may be allocated from a managed heap and automatically garbage collected. In order to achieve this, references to managed objects are traced. When a last reference to an object is removed, the garbage collector reclaims the memory occupied by the object mitigating the need to reference count managed objects. Thus, a managed environment essentially handles reference counting internally. Tracing is possible within managed code because the managed environment keeps track of outstanding references that exist on an object. As each new object reference is declared within managed code, the managed environment adds the reference to a list of live references. At any given time, the managed environment, rather than the object itself, is thus aware of live references that exist on a given object. As references fall out of scope or change value, the list of live references is updated, and as long as a reference remains within managed code, the managed environment is able to trace it.
Along with object lifetime management issues described above, managed and unmanaged object systems generally differ in many other significant ways. These differences may include how the object systems provide object interfaces within the respective object systems, how data is structured and/or defined, and how errors and exceptions are handled, for example. Due to these and other differences between managed and unmanaged object systems and the data transformation issues described above, it is presently difficult, time consuming, and expensive in terms of development costs to have objects from an unmanaged system interface and interact with objects from a managed system and visa versa. Moreover, it is generally difficult for managed objects designed according to one object system framework to communicate with objects from an architecturally different managed system framework. This also applies to unmanaged object communications between diverse unmanaged system frameworks.

System and method providing API interface between XML and SQL while interacting with a managed object environment


A method for communication in an energy automation network having a number of substations, each including energy automation component(s) and an internal communication network for message exchange. The communication networks of the substations are interconnected for message exchange via a public network without multicast support. Each energy automation component may include an application for controlling a communication unit, wherein messages according to IEC 61850 can be exchanged between applications of a common group which includes energy automation components of at least two substations. A first application of a particular group of applications transmits a message to second application(s) of the same group via the substation communication network and/or a public network. Tunnels that encapsulate GOOSE messages may be used to allow an overlay network for transmission of GOOSE messages via a public network without multicast support. The logical groupings of applications may therefore define separate, logical communication networks.

GOOSE (Generic Object Oriented Substation Events) is a real-time network protocol for controlling devices via Ethernet networks. It is specified in the standard IEC 61850. GOOSE sends messages concerning the state of a device regularly at fixed intervals, for example every second. GOOSE messages are sent by multicast, i.e. a number of receivers can be informed simultaneously about the state of a sender.
A typical application of GOOSE is the spontaneous transmission of changes in state of energy automation components, such as for example the switch position (on/off) of switching devices, or other state messages of the energy automation component to further energy automation components. The energy automation components are connected to one another via Ethernet for exchanging the GOOSE messages. The advantage of controlling the energy automation components via Ethernet as compared with a conventional, direct device-to-device interconnection lies in the free configuration of the devices connected to the network. New cables do not have to be laid for new sending and receiving relationships. The proliferation of Ethernet and the possibility of using Ethernet for further services are reasons for using this technology.
GOOSE messages are accordingly transmitted on layer 2 of the OSI reference model. In this case, a GOOSE message sets the Ethertype field in an Ethernet data packet, whereby a prioritizing of the GOOSE message over other Ethernet messages is possible. The prioritizing has the effect that GOOSE messages are treated with preference over IP packets in the network, so that the delay within the network is as small as possible and the receiver receives GOOSE messages within a time window. This protocol structure allows the real-time capability of GOOSE.
Energy automation networks have a plurality of substations, each of the substations comprising at least one automation component as described above and a generally Ethernet-based communication network, via which the energy automation components can exchange messages according to GOOSE. For controlling the energy automation network, it is sometimes necessary that the state of an energy automation component of a substation is also transmitted to energy automation components in other substations. GOOSE in the original form generally cannot be used for this, since a public network connecting the communication networks (Ethernet) of the substations generally does not have multicast support or only offers this at relatively high costs. The public network, which is typically based on the Internet protocol, is generally a WAN (Wide Area Network), in which the data transmission takes place on layer 3 of the OSI reference model by using routing algorithms.
To be able nevertheless to transfer the transmission of GOOSE messages beyond the network limits of one substation into the communication network of another substation, the infrastructure of access nodes to the public network can be adapted. As a result, it is possible that also the public network can transmit messages on layer 2 of the OSI reference model. This may be realized for example as in the specification "IEC 61850 GOOSE over WiMax for fast isolation and restoration of faults in distribution networks".
In IEC 61850-90-5, it is proposed to handle GOOSE messages via IP multicast and UDP. This is also known as "Routable GOOSE".
A further alternative would be to set up layer-2 tunnels in the access nodes to the public network, that is to say the routers of the public network.
A disadvantage of the solution possibilities proposed above is on the one hand that modified hardware is required at the access points to the public network. On the other hand, the configuration of the individual energy automation components is laborious.

Method for transmitting messages in an energy automation network, energy automation component and substation


A binding machine for gardening includes a main handle capable of drawing out a tape from a front end portion thereof, a clincher arm rotatably attached to the main handle, a tape gripping device attached to a front end portion of the clincher arm and is capable of gripping an end portion of the tape drawn from the main handle, and a bonding unit configured to bond end portions of an overlapped tape. With the clincher arm completely closed with respect to the main handle and viewed from the side, the tape gripping device has a height in a vertical direction 1.5 times or less than a width in a longitudinal direction of the handle.

In the related art, a binding machine for gardening is used for guiding/binding work at the time of cultivation of agricultural crops. Specifically, the binding machine for gardening is used to bind plant vines and stems to poles or nets in cultivation of agricultural crops such as cucumbers, grapes, or tomatoes.
For example, this type of binding machine for gardening includes a main handle capable of drawing out a tape from a front end portion and a clincher arm rotatable with respect to the main handle. When an operation handle of the binding machine for gardening is lightly gripped, the clincher arm rotates in a closing direction with respect to the main handle, and a tape gripping device provided at a front end portion of the clincher arm grips the tape drawn out from the front end portion of the main handle. When the squeezing of the handle is released in this state, the clincher arm rotates in an opening direction with respect to the main handle, and the tape is drawn out. When the tape is drawn out and the tape is stretched between the clincher arm and the main handle, the agricultural crops and poles are pressed against the drawn-out tape, and the agricultural crops and the poles are inserted between the clincher arm and the main handle. When the handle is further gripped again in this state, the clincher arm rotates in the closing direction with respect to the main handle, and a tape loop is formed. When the handle is further gripped, both end portions of the tape loop are bound by a staple, the end portions of the tape loop are cut by a cutter, and thus the binding is completed.
For example, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-224412 (FIG. 2 and the like), a tape gripping device of a binding machine for gardening according to the related art is configured to control the swinging of the traction needle of the tape gripping device in such a manner that three sheet metal members slide in a state of being overlapped and to realize an operation of holding a tape.


An amorphous silica particles, gravel, other particles and products provide a safe replacement for crystalline silica sand, gravel, or particles in consumer and industrial applications wherein dust may be produced during use or installation. The amorphous silica particles, gravel, other particles or products may comprise components that increase the density, hardness, and other properties from container glass. These components include, but are not limited to, iron oxides, aluminum oxides, and zirconium oxides.

Crystalline silica is the most abundant mineral on earth. Due to its abundance and low cost, crystalline silica sand, gravel, and rocks have been used for many industrial and consumer applications, including hydraulic fracturing sand, glass production, foundry sand, building materials, sand blasting, recreational sand, as well as other uses. Gravel or coarse aggregate shall herein be defined as any aggregate larger than about 3/16 of an inch. Sand or fine aggregate is defined as any aggregate less than about 3/16 of inch with silt being considered the smallest particles.
However, it has been found that airborne particles of crystalline silica sand may enter the lungs of people in and around any area. Crystalline silica sand in the lungs may result in the development of silicosis and a host of other illnesses. Silicosis is one of the world's oldest known occupational diseases, with reports of employees contracting the disease dating back to ancient Greece.
Airborne crystalline silica dust may be produced during the manufacturing process of the crystalline silica products and also during use or installation of the crystalline silica products. For example, crystalline silica dust becomes airborne, such as during blasting with sand and cutting concrete or bricks, for example.
Abrasive blasting uses compressed air or water to direct a high velocity stream of an abrasive material to clean an object or surface, remove burrs, apply a texture or prepare a surface for painting. Abrasive blasting is more commonly known as sandblasting since silica sand is commonly used as the abrasive, although not the only one always used. Industries that rely on sandblasting on a daily or regular basis include painting who work on large structures like bridges, granite monument makers, foundries and shipbuilders. Industries that rely on sandblasting on a daily or regular basis include any one doing surface preparation work or restoration on large structures like bridges, tanks, pipelines, heavy equipment, shipbuilders, or concrete restoration.
The term "silica" broadly refers to the mineral compound silicon dioxide (SiO2). Although silica can be crystalline or amorphous in form, only the natural crystalline form of silica is hazardous to users that may inhale crystalline silica dust. Owing to its abundance, unique physical and chemical properties, crystalline silica has many uses. Common, commercially produced silica products include quartzite, tripoli, gannister, chert, and novaculite. Crystalline silica also occurs in nature as agate, amethyst, chalcedony, cristobalite, flint, quartz, tridymite, and, in its most common form, silica sand.
Silica sand has been used for many products throughout human history, but one of its most common use is in the production of glass. Table 1-1 summarizes other uses for sand and gravel. In some instances, grinding of sand, gravel, or products containing crystalline silica sand or gravel is required, producing and increasing levels of dust containing hazardous respirable crystalline silica.
TABLE 1Typical uses of silica sand and gravelProductMajor End UseSandGlass MakingContainers, flat (plate and window), specialty, fiberglass (un-ground or ground)FoundryMolding and core, molding and core facing (ground) refractoryMetallurgicalSilicon carbide, flux for metal smeltingAbrasivesBlasting, scouring cleansers (ground), sawing and sanding, chemicals (ground and unground)FillersRubber, paints, putty, whole grain fillers/building productsCeramicPottery, brick, tile, and refractory ceramicsFiltrationWater (municipal, county, local), swimming pool, othersPetroleumHydraulic fracturing, well packing, and cementingindustryRecreationalGolf courses, baseball, volleyball, play sands, beaches, traction (engine), roofinggranules and fillers, other (ground silica or whole grain)GravelSilica, ferrosilicon, filtration, nonmetallurgical flux, other
In March 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a final rule to requiring companies to control exposure to respirable crystalline silica. The rule is comprised of two standards: one for Construction (29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1926.1153) and the other for General Industry (29 CFR 1910.1053) and Maritime (29 CFR 1915.1053). The Maritime and General Industry standards are the similar, but differ from the Construction standard. The General Industry/Maritime Standard requires the employer to perform air monitoring to determine the eight-hour average exposure level for each affected job task. Employers governed by the Construction standard can either use a control method spelled out for common construction work tasks or perform air monitoring as detailed in the General Industry/Maritime standard.
These requirements can be expensive to implement. To use crystalline silica in the workplace, worker protective measures need to be taken. Initially, airborne crystalline silica sampling needs to be conducted. Once collected, the samples are sent to a laboratory for analysis. The results of this analysis will determine if improved ventilation and/or a change in work practices or respiratory protection is needed.
The new action limit and permissible exposure limit (PEL) for crystalline silica for General Industry, Construction and Maritime are all the same and can be found in Construction (29 CFR 1926.1153), General Industry (29 CFR 1910.1053) or Maritime (29 CFR 1915.1053). The action limit is established at 25 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3) and the PEL is established at 50 ug/m3.
To help control the risk of respirable crystalline silica exposure, OSHA's "three lines of defense" philosophy is suggested. The first line of defense is to eliminate and/or engineer the crystalline silica exposure hazard out. This may be best performed by removing the crystalline silica from the workplace. When engineering/elimination controls are not feasible or practical, the second and third lines of defense can be used to help control the crystalline silica exposure hazard. The second line of defense is administrative controls, and the last line of defense to be considered is personal protective equipment (PPE).
OSHA recommends the first engineering control to consider is substitution of the crystalline silica with a nonhazardous product. OSHA suggests using a less toxic abrasive blasting media that can be delivered with water to reduce dust generation. This creates the need for a suitable substitution for the crystalline silica.
The advantages of using a silica substitute outweigh using silica in abrasive sandblasting due to the hazards and compliance with the regulations. The health issues and healthcare costs related to silica would be greatly reduced or eliminated. The time and cost of implementing and maintaining engineering controls would also be eliminated. The disadvantages are that the existing substitutes may not be as hard as a crystalline silica abrasive, nor as dense. Therefore, more of the substitute may need to be used to achieve the same result. It may also be more expensive.
There is a need for a safe substitute for crystalline silica products that do not cause silicosis and do not require strict engineering controls for safe use. There is a further need for an inexpensive, effective amorphous silica sand and amorphous silica gravel for commercial and residential products, including for use as a blasting medium. There is a further need for a water-soluble amorphous silica product.

Amorphous silica particles and methods of producing amorphous silica particles


In one aspect, adaptive replication modes in a storage system are provided. An aspect includes during an active replication session in which a first type of replication is performed at the storage system, monitoring write input/output (IO) operations, collecting data from the write IO operations, and determining, from the collected data, write IO latency. Upon determining that a threshold value has been met from the write IO latency, where the threshold value is defined for the first type of replication, an aspect includes automatically switching from the first type of replication to a second type of replication. The second type of replication is configured to compensate for operational deficiencies detected in response to the write IO latency.

Synchronous (sync) replication is a business continuity process that mirrors data updates between two systems to prevent data loss and downtime. When sync replication is turned on for a production storage object, the system mirrors the data to a target system as part of handling write requests from an initiator, and only responds to the initiator after the writes have been persisted on both the source and target systems.
In asynchronous (async) replication, once data has been written to a primary storage or production location, additional write operations to the primary storage can be performed without having to wait for the secondary or target storage site to complete its write operations.

Adaptive replication modes in a storage system


A method of determining the position of at least one magnetic field probe located within a pre-defined volume of interest within a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging or spectroscopy arrangement comprises applying a spatially and temporally variable magnetic reference field having a unique time-course at every point in said volume of interest during a preselected time window. An MR signal is ac-quired from said magnetic field probe during said time window, and the position of the probe is determined from the probe MR signal.

Monitoring of gradient waveforms concurrently with MRI scans has been shown to be an effective means of correcting image reconstruction from data acquired in the presence of gradient waveform imperfections, eddy currents and field drifts (Barmet C et al. MRM 60(1), 2008; and Barmet C. ISMRM 2010 p. 216). For this purpose, it is known to use small magnetic field detectors exploiting the magnetic field dependence of a magnetic resonance transition. In the applications described so far, these so-called MR-type magnetic field probes are rigidly mounted in the periphery of the imaging volume. To derive the global field evolution from the signals of these probes, their positions need to be measured in a calibration step. This requirement not only extends the scan protocol but also precludes field monitoring with field probes that are subject to displacements, e.g., along with surface coil arrangements.
In many circumstances it would be highly desirable to have some kind of automatic position calibration of the magnetic field probes during actual field monitoring.
EP 0 911 642 A2 discloses a method and an apparatus for determining the location of a magnetic probe within the anatomy of a patient by means of ESR. The method includes the steps of placing an electron spin resonance sample in a known position with respect to a surgical instrument, placing the sample within the imaging reason of an MR apparatus, applying at least a first gradient magnetic field in the imaging region, and determining the resonant frequency of the sample in the presence of the gradient field. Based on the resonant frequency of the sample, the position of the sample and thus also of the surgical instrument with respect to the gradient field is then determined. To carry out a 3D position measurement, it is proposed to sequentially produce three magnetic field gradients which are mutually orthogonal and linear within the imaging region.
While EP 0 911 642 A2 is generally silent about the timing relation between the actual MR imaging measurement and the probe position measurement, it mentions one embodiment according to which the sample position is determined using three gradient fields produced by the MR apparatus.
Moreover, previously described methods such as in EP 0 911 642 A2 rely on unipolar or bipolar gradient pulses in each dimension of the position determination, which in general cannot be inserted at arbitrary positions in a given MR sequence without altering and/or disturbing and/or precluding the intended spin manipulation of the actual MR sequence. Examples for this are, for instance, (1) encoding perpendicular to the read-out plane during an echo-planar-readout, and (2) position determination during a typical spectroscopy acquisition.
Therefore, there is still a need for improved methods of determining positions of a magnetic field probe in a volume of interest within a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging or spectroscopy arrangement. In particular, it would be desirable to determine the probe position with high temporal resolution throughout and independently of an MR sequence.

Determining positions of a magnetic field probe in a magnetic resonance measurement

Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH)


A passenger conveyance tread member, which may be for an escalator or a travelling road, has a tread surface with lateral edges having surfaces which slope towards skirt guards adjacent the lateral edges. The sloping surfaces and skirt guards define a downwardly narrowing gap so that the tendency of e.g. shoes to get seriously stuck in the gap is reduced. The sloping surface may be on a side-most cleat of the tread. An existing conveyance may be adapted by providing its tread members with such sloping surfaces at their edges, e.g. as an insert strip.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tread members for passenger conveyance apparatus, in particular steps of escalators and pallets of travelling roads, of the type where in operation the lateral edge of the moving tread surface is closely spaced from a stationary skirt guard. The invention also provides insert strips for such tread members, passenger conveyance apparatus having such tread members and a method of adaptation of such apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, the step of an escalator comprises a step surface that has many cleats extending in the travel direction of the step and providing the tread surface, and a riser that extends downwardly from the front edge of the tread surface. The steps are endlessly coupled together and are circulated around a continuous path, and both side edges of the step surface and the riser are opposed, across a gap, to a skirt guard that covers the side portion of the inner lower portion of a balustrade that supports the handrail. See for example Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 67068/1980. Pallets of travelling roads are similar, except that they do not have risers.
When an escalator having such steps is in operation, relative motion occurs between the steps and the skirt guard. When a passenger standing on the step brings part of his footwear in contact with the skirt guard, the footwear may be caught in the gap between the step and the skirt guard. Such an accident may develop in the gap between the tread surface of the step and the skirt guard when the escalator is in rising operation, i.e. when the steps are upwardly moving, and develops in the gap between the riser of the step and the skirt guard when the escalator is in descending operation.
In order to prevent shoes or the like from being caught in the gap between the step and the skirt guard, the steps have been provided with caution members which indicate the safe range for the feet on the steps, so that footwear will not be brought into contact with the skirt guard. This, however, is simply a warning which is far from a concrete measure to avoid or reduce the problem. Such a caution member may be an insert strip.

Tread member for escalator or travelling road


This invention relates to an antimicrobial composition, especially one which provides synergistic anti-dandruff efficacy. This is achieved through a judicious combination of anti-dandruff agent zinc pyrithione and an alcoholic compound of specific types. These compositions can be delivered through very many different types of personal care products e.g. shampoo or conditioner.

The invention relates to an anti-microbial composition useful for cleaning of any body part but especially suitable for hair and scalp. Hair care compositions generally provide cleansing or conditioning benefits or a combination of the two. Such compositions typically comprise one or more cleansing surfactants which generally aid in cleaning the hair and/or the scalp free of undesirable soil, particles, and fatty matter.
Additionally, anti-dandruff benefit has been provided through hair care compositions. Dandruff is an issue that affects many people globally. The condition is manifested by the shedding of clumps of dead skin cells from the scalp. These are white in colour and provide an aesthetically displeasing appearance. A factor that contributes to dandruff are certain members of the Malassezia yeasts. To combat these, anti-dandruff products have been developed in the form of hair cleansing shampoos. An example of a known anti-dandruff shampoo comprises sodium lauryl ether sulfate (an ethoxylated anionic surfactant) in combination with an anti-dandruff agent. Typical anti-dandruff agents used in hair care are metal pyrithione e.g. zinc pyrithione (ZPTO), octopirox (piroctone olamine), azole antimicrobials (e.g. climbazole), selenium sulfide and combinations thereof. The present inventors have carried out experiments to see if synergy could be obtained by combining the above actives. They tried a few and find that it is not straightforward to expect known actives to behave synergistically when combined for the same (anti-fungal) activity.
While the problem of dandruff is mitigated to a large extent through use of the above actives in such shampoos, there is a need for enhancing the efficacy of these actives.
The present inventors have found through a combination of exploring very many possible mechanisms by which the efficacy of one of the above actives (zinc pyrithione) can be enhanced together with extensive experiments on possible enhancer candidates that a certain class of compounds having alcoholic groups (e.g. honokiol, magnolol or paeonol) displays such enhancing properties. The synergistic antimicrobial combination of this invention can also be formulated into products for skin cleansing e.g. body and face care. So in addition to anti-fungal activity, the present invention also provides anti-bacterial efficacy against organisms like S. aureus.
WO1413119 (Johnson and Johnson) discloses compositions comprising an antimicrobial active comprising honokiol and/or magnolol and a carboxylic acid. Also provided are methods of use thereof.
US2010143515 (Mary Kay) discloses a composition comprising at least two of the following ingredients: Magnolia extract, honokiol, Humulus lupulus extract, hesperidin methyl chalcone, gotu kola, dipeptide valyl-tryptophane, palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3, corylus avellana bud extract, centella asiatica extract, cucumis sativa extract, morus alba extract, hibiscus sabdariffa flower extract, Vitis vinifera extract, ascorbyl glucoside, citrus medica limonum extract, Avena sativa kernel extract, hydrolyzed soy protein, aniseed myrtle extract, tasmania lanceolate leaf extract, artemisia abrotanum extract, or citrus grandis fruit extract or any combination thereof. Also disclosed are methods of treating skin conditions by topically applying the composition to skin.
CN 104225603 (Tianjin Bokni Technology Dev Co Ltd) discloses paeonol and glyceryl polyether complex compound that has good bactericidal effect.
The above publications do not disclose a combination of the actives of the present invention nor is there any indication that they can be combined to provide synergistic anti-microbial activity.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide for a personal care composition that exhibits synergistic antimicrobial activity as compared to the individual components.


A memory device may include a plurality of resistive elements and a control unit for controlling the memory device. The memory device is configured to program single weights of the memory device by groups of at least two resistive elements. A related method and a related computer program product may be also provided.

The present disclosure is related to a memory device comprising a plurality of resistive elements.
The present disclosure further concerns a related method and a related computer program product.
Nanoscale memory devices, whose resistance depends on the history of the electric signals applied, could become building blocks in new computing paradigms, such as brain-inspired computing and memcomputing.
One promising example for resistive memory devices is phase-change memory (PCM) devices. PCM is a non-volatile solid-state memory technology that exploits the reversible, thermally-assisted switching of phase-change materials, in particular chalcogenide compounds such as GST (Germanium-Antimony-Tellurium), between states with different electrical resistance. The fundamental storage unit (the "cell") can be programmed into a number of different states, or levels, which exhibit different resistance characteristics. The programmable cell-states can be used to represent different data values, permitting storage of information.
Reading and writing of data in PCM cells is achieved by applying appropriate voltages to the phase-change material via a pair of electrodes associated with each cell. In a write operation, the resulting programming signal causes Joule heating of the phase-change material to an appropriate temperature to induce the desired cell-state on cooling. Reading of PCM cells is performed using cell resistance as a metric for cell-state. An applied read voltage causes current to flow through the cell, this current being dependent on resistance of the cell. Measurement of the cell current therefore provides an indication of the programmed cell state. A sufficiently low read voltage is used for this resistance metric to ensure that application of the read voltage does not disturb the programmed cell state. Cell state detection can then be performed by comparing the resistance metric with predefined reference levels for the programmable cell-states.
Cognitive computing is a promising technology for deriving intelligence and knowledge from huge volumes of data. Today's cognitive computers are usually based on the Von Neumann architecture in which the computing and the memory units are separated. Cognitive computing is inherently data-centric, meaning that huge amounts of data need to be shuttled back and forth at high speeds. As the Von Neumann architecture is rather inefficient for such a task, it is becoming increasingly clear that other architectures are desired to build efficient cognitive computers, in particular architectures where memory and logic coexist in some form.
Memcomputing is a non-Von Neumann approach being researched. An element in this computing paradigm is a high-density, low-power, variable state, programmable and non-volatile memory device.
A fundamental computational primitive is a matrix-vector multiplication. This primitive is of particular interest as it forms the basis of several linear algebraic operations and it is one of the most commonly used mathematical operations in science and engineering. A matrix is usually represented by a two-dimensional array of matrix elements and a vector by a one-dimensional array of vector elements. A matrix may be considered as array of vectors. Hence a matrix-vector multiplication can be generalized to a matrix-matrix multiplication and to a vector-vector multiplication.
However, there are key challenges to overcome, such as the high programming power required, noise and resistance drift.
Accordingly there is a need for further improvements of memory devices comprising resistive elements.

Resistive memory device with scalable resistance to store weights

International Business Machines Corporation


A method produces polyamide fine particles by polymerizing a polyamide monomer (A) in the presence of a polymer (B) at a temperature equal to or higher than the crystallization temperature of a polyamide to be obtained, wherein the polyamide monomer (A) and the polymer (B) are homogeneously dissolved at the start of polymerization, and polyamide fine particles are precipitated after the polymerization. Polyamide fine particles have a number average particle size of 0.1 to 100 μm, a sphericity of 90 or more, a particle size distribution index of 3.0 or less, a linseed oil absorption of 100 mL/100 g or less, and a crystallization temperature of 150° C. or more. In particular, a polyamide having a high crystallization temperature includes fine particles having a smooth surface, a narrow particle size distribution, and high sphericity.

Polyamide fine particles are used in a variety of applications such as powder paints, taking advantage of characteristics such as high toughness, flexibility, and high heat resistance. In particular, polyamide 12 fine particles made of polyamide 12, having a true spherical shape, solid without pores inside, and having a smooth surface can give favorable touch feeling derived from a smooth surface shape in addition to the flexibility of a resin itself, and are used for high-quality cosmetics or paints.
On the other hand, since a polyamide resin with higher crystallization temperature such as polyamide 6 or polyamide 66, which has higher versatility and melting point than polyamide 12, may be widely used for higher heat-resistant applications and the like, irregular and porous fine particles or fine particles with a wide particle size distribution are produced.
Examples of a method of producing polyamide 6 fine particles include a method of dissolving porous polyamide 6 in a solvent and then adding a non-solvent and water to produce porous polyamide 6 fine particles (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-80629 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-053272). Other examples include a method in which polyamide is strongly stirred in a medium such as polyethylene glycol at a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point, and a method in which a polycondensation reaction is performed using a polyamide raw material in a silicone oil medium (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. S60-040134 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-316750). In another method, anionic polymerization is performed in a paraffin medium to provide irregular polyamide 6 fine particles (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. S61-181826). A method of producing polyamide 6 fine particles by anionic polymerization in which a medium is changed to an aromatic halogen compound and a hydrocarbon polymer solution is also disclosed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H08-073602).
However, since the techniques of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-80629 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-053272 lower the solubility in a solvent and precipitate polyamide, porous fine particles are produced.
In the techniques of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. S60-040134 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-316750, since particles are produced from raw materials that are not mixed, only fine particles having a wide particle size distribution can be produced.
Regarding the techniques of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. S61-181826 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H08-073602 by anionic polymerization, since an initiator is an ignitable and flammable medium and solvent are used, it is difficult to polymerize at a high temperature, and the solubility decreases and the polyamide precipitates in the solvent and, therefore, irregularly shaped fine particles are produced. Furthermore, to remove a variety of media, solvents, and polymers, a complicated process in which a large amount of organic solvent is necessary is required.
It could therefore be helpful to provide a method of producing polyamide fine particles by a simple method, and polyamide fine particles made of polyamide with high crystallization temperature, smooth surface, narrow particle size distribution, and high sphericity.

Method of producing polyamide fine particles, and polyamide fine particles


A method is provided for enabling gameplay with a character in a game environment on a mobile device. In the game environment, a player can play a game via a character. When there is an expectation of action from the character in the game, a touch gesture input is received on the mobile device. The fidelity of the touch gesture input is calculated with reference to an optimal gesture in a reference gesture table. If the fidelity is within a predefined range associated with the optimal gesture, the touch gesture input is matched to the optimal gesture and an associated game script is called wherein the character would be shown as having successfully completed the expectation.

A virtual world is a computer simulated environment. A virtual world may resemble the real world, with real world rules such as physical rules of gravity, geography, topography, and locomotion. A virtual world may also incorporate rules for social and economic interactions between virtual characters. Players (users) may be represented as avatars, two or three-dimensional graphical representations. Virtual worlds may be used for massively multiple online role-playing games, for social or business networking, or for participation in imaginary social universes.
Virtual objects are non-physical objects in virtual worlds, online communities or online games. Virtual objects may include but are not limited to virtual characters, avatars, digital clothing for avatars, weapons, tokens, digital gifts, etc. or any other virtual objects used for gameplay.
Traditionally, players have interacted with gaming applications using game controllers with dedicated buttons. In game controllers with dedicated buttons, one button can have different actions associated with it depending on the context. For example, the same button can pick a gun, load the gun, shoot the gun, start the car and drive away since all of these actions are sequential. When operations are parallel, classic context cannot be used to assign different operations to the same button depending on the context.
Similarly, playing the same game(s) using a touch-screen device by employing gestures lacks the accuracy that is provided by the dedicated game controllers and their many buttons. The present invention seeks to address at least some of these limitations of the prior art and provide a unique method and a system for interacting with virtual objects.


A method for constructing a network topology is applied in a streaming delivery system. The streaming delivery system includes: a center server (CS-P), an edge server (ES-P), a request scheduling server (RRS-P), and a client. The disclosed embodiments utilizes the upload capabilities of the client to transmit a part of streaming data, thus consuming fewer center server resources. By constructing the network topology, the disclosed embodiments enable the client to obtain a part of streaming data from other clients, reduces the load capability requirements for the server, and ensures that a streaming delivery network may provide streaming live services with higher bandwidths and better quality.

A content/media delivery network (CDN/MDN) has emerged in the conventional art, delivering website contents from a source node to an edge node closest to a user so that the user may obtain desired contents proximately, thus increasing the response speed when the user visits a website. For multimedia content, such as video on demand (VoD) and live video, because video contents are transmitted in real time and large volumes, delivering video content to an edge node closest to a user assures better quality of play for the user and significantly reduces impact on the backbone network.
The structure of a CDN/MDN in the conventional art is shown in FIG. 1. The CDN/MDN includes:
a global server load balancer (GSLB), adapted to schedule a media content request of a user to an edge node closest to the user;
a server load balancer (SLB), responsible for routing the content requests of local users, balancing loads, and selecting a best media server (MS) according to the content distribution and device load conditions, and
a media manager (MM), adapted to deliver media contents and schedule MSs between the center and edges, between edges and within an edge node.
In the CDN/MDN structure shown in FIG. 1, because the MS bandwidth is fixed in an edge node, the edge node may only serve a limited number of users. To satisfy users' needs, the capability of an edge node needs to increase linearly with the growth of users. Thus, for the CDN/MDN structure in the conventional art, huge investments are required in an edge node. Because service requests of a user are indefinite, even though the system capability of the edge node is increased, it is difficult to fully meet all abrupt rises of user requests. As a result, once the number of concurrent user requests in an area exceeds the maximum capacity of the network, the network may only reject the service.
At present, many pure peer to peer (P2P) steaming software systems are already available on the Internet. A common feature of these systems is that they are able to set up mutual aid relations between clients via a scheduling module in the network. Streaming servers in the network provide only a few streams and clients (peer nodes) deliver streaming data to each other by means of the above mutual aid relations so that a large number of clients may watch streaming programs at the same time. The scheduling module does not record topology relations of node networks, and the peer nodes help each other in a best-effort way. The inventor finds that the P2P streaming software system in the conventional art does not appear to consider geographic issues, which may result in a large volume of traffic across backbone networks. Moreover, because the scheduling module does not record the topology relations of node networks and does not provide unified resource scheduling, data delivery basically relies on the mutual aid of nodes. Therefore, channel switching may take a long time and programs of large streams may be difficult to support. In addition, the unsteady nodes and the best-effort help mode may also result in unstable playing of programs.
In conclusion, the streaming system based on client/server mode in the conventional art causes a heavy load on the MS, whether in center mode or center-edge distribution mode. The capability of the MS determines the number of users that are served at the same time. Thus, to meet the streaming application requirements of a large number of users, streaming service providers must pour huge investments in the server. For streaming live services based on P2P technology, because the server has limited resources and may provide only few streaming data and most of nodes rely on the upload capabilities of other nodes to watch video programs, it is difficult to guarantee the quality of service (QoS). In addition, due to limitation of upload capabilities, the P2P technology cannot provide live programs at a high bit rate.

Method for constructing network topology, and streaming delivery system


A motor vehicle has an electrical drive machine that is supplied with electrical energy by an electrical energy storage device, and has an underbody region or surface (5). The electrical energy storage device is accessible for maintenance and/or installation work via a maintenance cover (10) in the underbody surface (5) to reduce time required for maintenance and/or installation work.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a motor vehicle with an electrical drive machine that is supplied with electrical energy by an electrical energy storage device. The motor vehicle also has an underbody region.
2. Description of the Related Art
European patent application EP 1 550 574 A2 discloses a motor vehicle that has a fuel cell system box arranged on an underside of a floor of the motor vehicle. German laid-open specification DE 44 12 450 A1 discloses an electric vehicle that has a fuel cell system in an underbody that is arranged so that drive assemblies can be installed from below or through the floor of the passenger compartment. The floor of the passenger compartment or the underbody of the vehicle can have cutouts or maintenance flaps for installation or maintenance purposes.
The object of the invention is to reduce the time required to maintain or install an electrical energy storage device of a motor vehicle that has an electrical drive machine, which is supplied with electrical energy by an electrical energy storage device, particularly where the motor vehicle has an underbody region.

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft


An electronic surveillance system includes a signal generator for generating a magnetic field, a signal receiver within the influence of the magnetic field, and a ferromagnetic marker adapted to pass in the field for detection. The signal received includes an arrangement for generating a non-rotating field at a first frequency, and a rotating field at a second frequency that is lower than the first frequency.

This invention relates to electronic surveillance systems, and more in particular to an improved field generation and reception arrangement for use in such systems.
Electronic surveillance systems of the type to which the present invention is directed, are generally employed to detect the presence of a magnetic marker in a magnetic field. Such systems thus include a device for generating a magnetic field, and a receiver for detecting variations in the field resulting from passing of a marker, generally carried by an article, through the field.
Such a system is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,71C,752, Cordery. In the system disclosed in this reference, the ability of the system to detect the presence of a marker, in the presence of noise, is enhanced by forming the magnetic field of more than one frequency component. The ferromagnetic marker effects the modulation of the higher frequency component with the lower frequency component to produce output pulses at the frequency of the higher frequency field component and its harmonics that are modulated by the lower frequency component and its harmonics. The sidebands of the pulses output from the marker are readily distinguished from noise, to increase the ability of the system to distinguish the presence or absence of a marker in the field. Such a system thus enables detection of smaller tag signals and/or increased spacing between the signal generator and the receiver.
A further electronic surveillance system for generating a magnetic field and receiving signals therefrom is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,018. In this patent, the transmitter and receiver are each provided with an antenna having two pairs of twisted loops. The twists are provided in the transmitting antenna to confine the transmitted signal to an area close to the transmitter and reduce the amount of signal outside the immediate vicinity of the transmitting antenna.
In systems of the above type, a magnetic marker "switches", to provide a detectable "output", when the externally applied field passes the coercive field of the ferromagnetic marker. If the marker is biased, then the phase of the externally applied field at which the marker switches is changed.
Soft magnetic markers for electronic surveillance systems are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,631,442; 3,747,086; 3,665,449 and 3,983,552 and French Patent No. 763,681.

Field generation and reception system for electronic article surveillance


The present invention is characterized by a superconducting magnetic shield comprising a seamless, bottomless hollow body or a seamless hollow body having a bottom, the hollow body having a wall comprised of, in the thickness direction thereof, at least one laminate structure comprising a unit of two layers of an Nb--Ti-base alloy layer and a metal layer having a high conductivity or three layers of the above two layers and a barrier layer sandwiched therebetween; a process for preparing a magnetic shield which comprises subjecting the magnetic shielding material to a heat treatment after deep drawing; and a process for preparing the magnetic shielding material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Nb--Ti-base alloy superconducting magnetic shield. More particularly, the present invention relates to a seamless magnetic shield in a hollow body form comprising a multilayer composite laminate composed of an Nb--Ti-base alloy layer and a metal layer having a high conductivity.
2. Description of the Related Art
In theory, a superconductor in the form of a hollow vessel having a bottom, or a hollow body not having a bottom, can provide a good shielding of the inside thereof from a magnetic filed until the strength of an external magnetic field reaches a certain value. This is because a superconducting shielding current flows in the superconductor in a close loop and generates a magnetic flux which cancels the total amount of flux close loof coused by an external field, and thus a magnetic field in the opposite direction is formed and the inside of the vessel becomes a low filed region. Accordingly, various magnetic shields having the above-described shape have been proposed, and some are in practical use. The prior art will now be described.
(1) An Nb block is cut to form a cylinder 1 not having a bottom, as shown in FIG. 2(a), or a tetragonal hollow body 1a as shown in FIG. 2(b), and these bodies are used for a magnetic shielding of a sensor section of a AQUID magnete meter used for the measurement of a small magnetic field. For example, in this case, a superconducting shielding current 2 flows in a closed loop in a direction perpendicular to the direction of an external magnetic field 3, to thereby form a magnetic field, and thus reduce the external magnetic field.
(2) As shown in FIG. 3, a superconductor in a sheet or foil form is formed into a doughnut-like disk 4 having a hole in the center thereof, and disks having the same shape are laminated one on top of the other to form a cylinder 5. Alternatively, the lamination is conducted while sandwiching a normal conductor 6 having the same shape as the disk, to form a cylinder 7. In this case, since a superconducting shielding current 2 flows only through superconducting disks, the cylinder 7 can shield only external fields parallel to axis.
(3) As shown in FIG. 4, a superconductor 8 in a square plate or foil form is cylindrically bent, and the meeting edges are connected to each other. In this case, a superconducting shielding current 2 forms a closed loop through a seam 9. This connection is usually conducted by welding, soldering, and contact bonding.
The method shown in FIG. 2, wherein a block material of a Nb or Nb--Ti is cut into a hollow body, has a poor yield, and further, to improve the magnetic shielding property, pinning centers which prevent a movement of quantized fluxes, i.e., maintain a zero resistivity, for example, a fine precipitate of a normal conductor, or a dislocation network must be distributed in the material. Especially for Nb--Ti, this requires that a cold working be conducted with a high percentage working before and after a heat treatment, under suitable conditions, but it is difficult to subject a block material to cold working with a high percentage working, and the cold working with a high percentage becomes more difficult after the block material is cut into a hollow body. A high percentage working, makes it difficult to prepare a hollow body capable of shielding a large space, from a block material.
To stabilize the superconducting property, it is necessary to dispose a metal having a high conductivity, such as Cu or Al, in a metallically bonded state around the superconducting material, such as Nb or Nb--Ti. Further, preferably the thickness of the superconducting layer is greatly reduced to about 100 .mu.m or less, to stabilize the superconducting property. In the block material, however, a sufficient percentage working cannot be attained because of its large size, and thus a sufficient metallic bond cannot be obtained between the metal having a high conductivity and the superconducting material. Therefore, it is obvious that a formation of a multilayer with a superconducting layer having a thickness of about 100 .mu.m or less is almost impossible.
The technique shown in FIG. 3 is effective when the size of the disk is relatively small. Although the technique has no shielding effect against transverse-fields, an excellent effect can be attained against longitudinal fields, since there is no seam to cause a lowering of the property in a loop through which a superconducting shielding current flows. In this case, it is relatively easy to form a multilayer with a metal having a high conductivity, and further, the thickness of the superconducting layer can be easily reduced to about 100 .mu.m or less by deposition or sputtering. Nevertheless, since the material in the hole provided in the central portion is removed, the yield is poor when the proportion of the hole is high. Further, the size of the disk cannot be increased to more than the size of the plate used as the material. Moreover, a limitation exists in that it is relatively difficult to increase the size of the cylinder in the axial direction.
The technique shown in FIG. 4 provides an excellent yield of the material when preparing a cylinder, and further, facilitates an increase in the size of the cylinder in the axial direction. In this technique, however, a seam must appear, and this causes the superconducting property in the seam to become much lower than in the seamless portion. Bolting is unsatisfactory in the formation of a metallic bond, and welding causes a loss of pinning centers, such as precipitates and dislocations formed in the seamless portion; these bring a remarkable lowering of the property. With respect to soldering, there should exist a contact resistance which decreases the shielding effect.
Further, in the case of a multilayer sheet prepared by alternately laminating a metal having a high conductivity and a superconducting metal, it is almost impossible to conduct a satisfactory seaming.

Superconducting magnetic shield and process for preparing the same


When a package substrate with a built-in capacitor includes a first thin-film small electrode 41aa and a second thin-film small electrode 42aa that are electrically short-circuited to each other via a pinhole P in a high-dielectric layer 43, a power supply post 61a and a via hole 61b are not formed in the first thin-film small electrode 41aa, and a ground post 62a and a via hole 62b are not formed in the second thin-film small electrode 42aa, either. As a result, the short-circuited small electrodes 41aa and 42aa are electrically connected to neither a power supply line nor a ground line, and become a potential independent from a power supply potential and a ground potential. Therefore, in the thin-film capacitor 40, only the portion where the short-circuited small electrodes 41aa and 42aa sandwich the high dielectric layer 43 loses the capacitor function, and portions where other thin-film small electrodes 41a and 42a sandwich the high dielectric layer 43 maintain the capacitor function.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a package substrate with a built-in capacitor on which a semiconductor device is mounted, and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, various structures of package substrates with built-in capacitors on which semiconductor devices are mounted have been proposed. In one proposed package substrate with a built-in capacitor, a thin-film capacitor is connected between a power supply line and a ground line to decouple the lines, whereby preventing an instantaneous potential drop of the power supply line due to switching noise caused by high-speed turning on and off of the mounted semiconductor device. For example, the Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2001-68858 discloses, as shown in FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B, a package substrate 500 with a built-in capacitor in which the capacitor 550 including dielectric layers 502 mainly made of barium titanate and electrode layers 504 mainly made of palladium, are alternately laminated. The electrode layers 504 of the capacitor 550 include power supply layers 504a and ground layers 504b, and the power supply layers 504a and the ground layers 504b are alternately disposed. The power supply layers 504a are connected to each other by means of via conductors 505 and conducted to electrode pads 506 of the outermost layer, and the ground layers 504b are connected to each other by means of via conductors 507 and conducted to the ground pads 508 of the outermost layer. This capacitor 550 is disposed in a concave portion of the package substrate 500 with the built-in capacitor.

Package substrate with built-in capacitor and manufacturing method thereof


Method and arrangement for an airborne radar system particularly adapted to detect large metal targets that are concealed from the air by camouflage or natural foliage. The arrangement includes an antenna that transmits a continuous wave electromagnetic signal having a selectable frequency that preferably has a wave length generally twice the length of an anticipated target and which is carried by a flying vehicle. The frequency of the transmitted signal is chosen to provide maximum penetration of the camouflage or natural foliage and maximum re-radiation from a metal target. Receivers connected to an in-line receiving antenna and to a crossed receiving antenna carried by a flying vehicle detect the radiation that is reflected from the terrain and a target with the same polarization as that transmitted. The co-linear antenna and receiver respond to the reflected radiation while the cross-polarized antenna does not detect this reflected radiation. However, a metal object on the ground re-radiates cross polarized electromagnetic waves in proportion to their angular orientation and lateral distance to the transmitting antenna so that a metal target is detected by observing the output differences for the two receivers.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an improvement in the field of airborne metal detecting systems and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a method and arrangement for transmitting a radar signal from a flying vehicle and detecting radiation reflected from a camouflaged metal target by receivers connected to antennas carried on a flying vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the art of directing a cruise missile or a bomb from a flying vehicle a difficulty has arisen when a large metal target such as a tank or a missile launcher has been concealed from visual sight by camouflage or by natural foliage cover. When such large metal target has been so concealed the systems which have been heretofore used for the detection of targets and the direction of a cruise missile or other bomb to the target have been relatively ineffective due to the success of such concealment. Thus, a real need has existed for a system that will effectively penetrate such concealment and detect such metal targets. It is believed that the method and arrangement of the present invention provides a significant advance in the detection of metal targets and the vectoring of missiles and bombs to such targets.
The prior art patents do not reveal any methods or arrangements that appear to be of primary interest. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,823,402; 3,829,861; and 4,730,194 are interest only in the fact that they disclose trailing wire antennas employed with flying aircraft. However, such patents are only directed to communication systems and are not utilized in any respect with a airborne metal detection radar system or any method employing such. U.S. Pat. No. 3,096,515 discloses a three antenna system but such three antennas are used only in cooperation with a Doppler navigation system for controlling a moving aircraft and measuring its motion. This patent is in no respect directed to a method and arrangement for an airborne metal target detecting radar system.


A camera casing comprising at least one front face. The front face comprises a first opening and is configured to securely fit with a camera. A flexible covering is attached to a perimeter of the front face, the covering having a service opening to provide access to an interior of the camera casing. The camera casing further includes a first retaining member arranged in the interior of the camera casing, the first retaining member configured to secure the camera to the front face.

Cameras generate their own heat with high shutter speed and resolution settings. However, when exposed to external elements such as cold temperatures, wind or other weather forces, the heat is dissipated into the external environment. The dissipation of heat into the environment decreases the performance of the camera, including, but not limited to, that of battery life.
The present description illustrates a casing that improves the insulation of the camera from cold external temperature, wind and/or weather and reduces the rate at which generated heat is dissipated into the external environment while allowing a user to record and/or take photos of the external environment from within the casing.


A power supply apparatus and a method for controlling the power supply apparatus are provided. The power supply apparatus drives an electronic apparatus which may operate in a first mode or a second mode. The power supply includes an input voltage generator that generates an input voltage; an output voltage generator that generates a first output voltage by using the input voltage, and supplies the output voltage to the electronic apparatus; and a detector that determines the mode of the electronic apparatus by detecting a load of the electronic apparatus, and outputs a control signal to the output voltage generator in response to the mode of the electronic apparatus changing from the first mode to the second mode. In response to receiving the control signal, the output voltage generator generates a second output voltage that corresponds to the second mode.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a power supply apparatus and a power supply method thereof, and more particularly, to a power supply apparatus for driving an electronic apparatus and a power supply method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic apparatuses, such as monitors or televisions, may enter an operating mode and perform an operation according to the operating mode in response to an external restart signal being input in a standby mode. On other hand, when the apparatuses are in the standby mode, the apparatuses may wait until they receive the restart signal while maintaining minimum energy consumption.
The electronic apparatuses may be coupled to power supply apparatuses, such as an adaptor, and may be driven by the power received from the power supply apparatuses. The power supply apparatuses may convert the commercially available alternating current (AC) power into a voltage level necessary for the electronic apparatuses and provide the level-converted power to the electronic apparatuses.
In light of the prevalence of electronic apparatuses capable of having multiple power consumption profiles, such as the operating mode and the standby mode, there is a need for a method for efficiently supplying the power via the power supply apparatus in consideration of the power mode of a given electronic apparatus.

Power supply apparatus and power supply method thereof


An electronic device includes a solar cell, a secondary battery that is charged by the solar cell, and a control circuit that switches between a charging period during which the charging of the secondary battery from the solar cell is performed and a communication period during which an optical signal is received by the solar cell. The optical signal includes a synchronization signal indicating the transmission of data and the data, and the communication period is configured to detect the synchronization signal. The control circuit extends the communication period to enable the solar cell to receive the whole data included in the optical signal.

In the related art, in an electronic timepiece provided with a solar cell, a normal operation mode in which a secondary battery is charged by the solar cell is executed. There has been suggested a technology in which in the electronic timepiece provided with the solar cell, when a mode is switched to a predetermined operation state through the manipulation of a user, a data transmission mode is executed, an optical signal from an external device is received using the solar cell, and the received data is written in an internal data storage circuit (for example, see PTL 1).

Electronic device, communication system, and method of controlling electronic device


Disclosed is a portable cooler device comprised of recyclable materials. Some embodiments of the device comprise components constructed entirely of, or substantially of, cellulose. Other embodiments may be comprised of recyclable materials not classified as cellulose such as, but not limited to, cotton, bamboo, hemp, or other natural fibers. The specific percentages of recycled and/or recyclable content are not limiting factors for the invention; however, most embodiments have consistent materials of construction such that the entire device may be recycled in a single recycling process without the need for deconstruction. Further, if not recycled, embodiments are operable to biodegrade within a reasonable amount of time when exposed to the elements in a landfill. Typical embodiments are comprised of an inner shell, an outer shell having an integrally hinged lid, and pressed cellulose insulating boards sandwiched between the shells.

A portable icebox, or what is commonly called a "cooler," is an apparatus that has become commonplace in today's society. A cooler, generally, is any container operable to prevent, or at least substantially retard, the transfer of energy into, or out of, the contents contained within a space defined by its walls. When one thinks about it, the applications for a container having the requisite properties to keep its contents at a given temperature, especially a cold temperature, are seemingly without limit.
In years past, portable coolers often took the form of a box with a lid, hinged or otherwise, having walls comprised of tin, aluminum, or some other metallic material of construction that could be fashioned around a rigid component having some modicum of insulating value, such as wood. The result was a somewhat waterproof shell fastened around an otherwise wooden box such that ice, water, and any contents having a requirement to be kept cold could be transported or stored without spoiling.
While the basic concept, and primary purpose, of a portable cooler hasn't changed much, the construction and preferred materials of construction certainly have. With the availability of Styrofoam (i.e., expanded polystyrene), the waterproofing aspects and insulating aspects of a cooler can be had with a single material of construction. Styrofoam is easily molded and inexpensive to the point that a user doesn't think twice about discarding the cooler after its use. Of course, the lack of durability for Styrofoam coolers greatly increases the probability that a user will, in fact, discard the product after only one or two uses. Further, presumably due to cost considerations, Styrofoam coolers usually have separable tops that are not hinged to the main body of the cooler, thus having a propensity to lose their tops and, simultaneously, their usefulness. At the inevitable point that a Styrofoam cooler has outlived its short, useful life, therein lays the main problem—responsible disposal.
From a technical standpoint, Styrofoam is recyclable. From practical and economical standpoints, however, Styrofoam products cannot be recycled. With current recycling technology, the cost to recycle Styrofoam products exceeds the value of the reclaimed raw material. Further, the process of recycling some Styrofoam products may cause the environmentally detrimental release of CFCs. Consequently, very few recycling programs, municipal or private, bother to accept Styrofoam products. As a result, Styrofoam products, such as Styrofoam coolers, find their way into landfills after being discarded and such is not desirable as Styrofoam is not biodegradable. Therefore, what is needed in the art is an inexpensive portable cooler being comprised of an environmentally responsible material that is accepted in a majority of community recycling programs. Further, what is needed in the art is a portable cooler comprised of a material that is generally known to biodegrade during prolonged exposure to the elements, should the cooler not be recycled by its user.
At the price point of a Styrofoam cooler, but far more environmentally suitable for disposal, is what amounts to a basic, single walled box structure made of waxed corrugated cardboard. Comprising an inexpensive, single use cooler device out of waxed cardboard is well known in the art. Similarly, a cooler device comprising a cardboard box with a separable waterproof liner component is also well known in the art. Promotional companies seeking to provide a cooler product with customized artwork and logos for specialized events often make use of printed cardboard boxes having either a wax treatment, or some other surface treatment, or separable liner for added resistance to water egress. The problem with such products, however, is that by the virtue of their single layer cardboard walls and/or thin separable liner, they lack durability and are prone to failure when used multiple times. Also, the insulating capabilities of typical cardboard coolers are inadequate as the R-factor associated with a given cooler is limited by the cardboard used in construction. As the overall thickness and design of the corrugated cardboard used to construct the box is limited by manufacturing and cost constraints, coolers made of a single layer of cardboard can only minimally inhibit the transfer of energy. Therefore, what is needed in the art is a cooler design that employs cellulose based recyclable materials of construction, or other recyclable materials of construction, and offers a means for providing R-values that exceed that of single walled cardboard based coolers already known in the art. Further, what is needed in the art is a cooler made of recyclable, cellulose based materials of construction, or other recyclable materials of construction, having an overall durability that makes it suitable for repeated use.
At the other end of the spectrum from Styrofoam coolers and basic corrugated boxes are the more expensive, and durable, plastic coolers with foam based insulating cores. Coolers that fall into this class are generally purchased for prolonged, repeated use and are available in a range of sizes and shapes with myriad features. Consequently, plastic coolers with all the associated features and designs are predictably expensive. Also, such coolers are not practical to customize with artwork for special events or promotions as the hard plastic exteriors are not well suited for printing. Further, while some types of plastics are accepted by typical recycling programs, plastic coolers are generally comprised of plastic types that are not considered economical to recycle. Moreover, plastic coolers known in the art are not biodegradable and, even if the components comprising a plastic cooler are technically, if not practically, recyclable, doing so would require deconstruction and separation of the components prior to transferring each to disparate recycling processes. Therefore, what is needed in the art is a portable cooler comprised of materials that are not only readily accepted by recycling programs, but are also easily customizable and printable. Further, what is needed in the art is a portable cooler having all components comprised of materials that may be recycled in a single recycling process.
Prior art for portable coolers are inadequate. They do not provide for a durable product that can withstand repeated uses, substantially inhibit energy transfer, be recycled by most recycling programs, and biodegrade if exposed to the elements for a prolonged time. The cellulose based recyclable container provides for these needs in the art, as well as other needs in the art, and is described in detail herein.