A method and device for volatilizing and thereafter ionizing quantitatable femtomole and smaller amounts of molecules of nonvolatile solid oranic materials is disclosed. The method and device employ a laser pulse to desorb the organic material from a support upon which it is physisorbed. The support and the laser are related to provide a rate of heating of the support surface of at least 10.sup.6 .degree. K./sec with the support withstanding this heating rate without volatilization. Glass and similar inorganic oxidic substrates are preferred. The molecules so generated can be ionized, preferably with the use of resonance-enhanced muiltiphoton ionization. The ions so formed are characterized by a heavy predominance of ions corresponding to the molecules so as to permit their sensitive and unambiguous resolution by mass spectrometry.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a laser-based device for volatilizing quantitatable amounts of nonvolatile solid organic compounds. In a preferred embodiment, this laser volatilizing device is coupled to a second laser capable of ionizing the volatilized molecules to provide a laser-based ion source which generates reproducible bursts of ions from nonvolatile solid organic compounds with negligible fragmentation. The ions so generated can be used to accurately quantitate the organic compounds. In the present device, a pulse of energy from a first laser generates a cloud of volatilized molecules of the solid analyte off of a support selected to permit and facilitate rapid, localized heating. In the ion source a pulse of energy from a second laser reproducibly ionizes a portion of the molecules in the cloud. In preferred embodiments this ion source is used to generate ions which are resolved in a mass spectrometer apparatus. The use of this ion source permits femtomoles or less of nonvolatile molecules to be quantitated in mass spectrometers.
2. Background Information
Chemical analyses can be carried out to identify or "qualitate" materials in a sample. Analyses can also be carried out to not only identify materials in a sample but also measure the amounts of these materials. This latter type of analysis is referred to as a "quantitative" analysis or as "quantitation". To permit quantitation, an analytical technique must generate a result or signal which is reproducible in magnitude as well as in identity and which is related to the amount of analyte. The present invention provides a laser-based volatilizer and ion source which generates volatilized molecules and ions of nonvolatile solid organic compounds with such a level of precision and reproducibility that, for the first time, it is possible to base quantitative analytical methods upon the ions so generated. Because this invention involves both the field of lasers and the field of ion-based analytical methods such as mass spectrometry, in this Background section art related to laser-based analytical techniques will be presented first, followed by art related to ion-based analytical methods.
The development of laser-based analytical methods in recent years has been rapid. Recent general reviews of these advances include Hieftje, G.M., Travis, J.C., Lytle, F.E., eds., "Lasers in Chemical Analysis," The Humana Press: Clifton, NJ, 1981; Kliger, D.S., ed., "Ultrasensitive Laser Spectroscopy"; Academic Press: New York, 1983; Keller, R.A., ed., "Laser-Based Ultrasensitive Spectroscopy and Detection V," Proc. Soc. Phot-Opt. Instrum. Eng. 1983, 426; and Zare. R.N., Science 1984, 226, 298; Delgass, W.N., Cooks, R.G., Science 1987, 235, 54-5.
particularly dramatic has been the explosive growth in laser-assisted mass spectrometry. A very complete review of this area entitled "A Review of the Application to Solids of the Laser Ion Source in Mass Spectrometry" was published by Conzemius. R.J., and Capellen, J.M., in Int. J. Mass Spec. Ion Phys., 1980, 34, 197, while an equally thorough review of recent work may be found at Burlingame. A.L., Baillie, T.A., Derrick. P.J., Anal. Chem. 1986, 58(5), 165R.
Mass spectral analysis has become increasingly important as a method of identification of materials. A most severe limitation in the mass spectral analysis of thermally labile or highly polar compounds is that thermal evaporation of the sample is required. In most cases the energy needed for the evaporation step exceeds that for thermal degradation. Primarily for this reason, many biologically important substances have proven intractable in analysis by classical mass spectrometric methods. To address this problem, a number of less destructive techniques have been proposed to facilitate the introduction of these materials into mass spectrometry. These include condensed-phase ejection-ionization methods like the improved thermal desorption method (Rizzo. T.R., Park. Y.D., Peteanu. L.A., Levy, D.U., J. Chem. Phys. 1986, 84, 2534); field desorption (Beckey. H.D., "Principles of Field Ionization and Field Desorption Mass Spectrometry," Pergamon Press: New York, 1977); Plasma desorption (Benninghoven. A., ed., "Ion Formation from Organic Solids," Springer-Verlag: Berlin. 1983, part 2); sputtering of substances as secondary ions by bombardment with energetic primary ions (SIMS) (Benninghoven, A., Sichtermann, W.K., Anal. Chem. 1978, 50, 1180; Benninghoven, A., Colton, R.J., Simons, D.S., & Werner, H.W., eds., "Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry SIMS V," Springer Series in Chemical Physics 44, Springer-Verlag: Berlin, 1986); sputtering of substances as secondary ions by bombardment with atoms (FAB) (Benninghoven. A., ed., "Ion Formation from Organic Solids," Springer-Verlag: Berlin, 1983, part 3); thermospray (Blakley, C.R., Vestal, M.L., Anal. Chem. 1983. 55, 750; Vestal, M.L., Fergusson. G.J., Anal. Chem. 1985, 57, 2373); and electrospray (Whitehouse, C.M., Dreyer, R.N., Yamashita, M., Fenn, J.B., Anal. Chem. 1985, 57, 675). The general concept of using a laser to directly generate ionic species from solids also has been suggested by a number of laboratories (see, for example, Posthumus. M.A., Kistemaker, P.G., Meuzelaar, H.L.C., Anal. Chem. 1978, 50, 985; Stoll, R., Rollgen, F.W., Org. Mass Spec. 1979, 14, 642; Antonov, V.S., Letokhov. V.S., Shibanov, A.N., Appl. Phys. 1981, 25, 71; Antonov. V.S., Letokhov, V.S., Matveyets. YU.A., Shibanov, A.N., Laser Chem. 1982, 1, 37; Tabet, J.-C., Cotter, R.J., Anal. Chem. 1984, 56. 1662; Egorov, S.E., Letokhov. V.S., Shibanov. A.N., Chem. Phys. 1984, 85, 349; Deviney, M.L., Gland, J.L., eds., "Catalyst Characterization Science." American Chemical Society: Washington. D.C., 1985, pp. 238-251; Karas. M., Bahr, U., Trends in Anal. Chem. 1986, 5, 90: Sherman M.G., Kingsley, J.R., Hemminger, J.C., Mclver, R.T., Jr., Anal. Chim. Acta 1985, 178, 79; Wilkins. C.L., Weil, D.A., Yang, C.L.C., Ijames, C.F., Anal. Chem. 1985. 57. 520; Brown, R.S., Wilkins, C.L., Anal. Chem. 1986, 58. 3196; Brown, R.S., Wilkins, C.L., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1986. 108. 2447; Coates, M.L., Wilkins, C.L., Anal. Chem. 1987, 59, 197: Holm, R., Karas, M., Vogt, H., Anal. Chem. 1987, 59, 373).
All these techniques have in common that ions are created directly out of the condensed phase by the impact of the bombarding particle, i.e., the fast atoms (Benninghoven, ed., part 3), the ions (Benninghoven, Sichtermann; Benninghoven. Colton et al., eds.), or the laser light photons (Conzemius. R.J., Capellen. J.M., Int. J. Mass Spec. Ion Phys. 1980, 34, 197; Hercules. D.M., Day. R.J., Balasanmugam, K., Dant, T.A., Li, C.P., Anal. Chem. 1982, 54, 280A; Hercules, D.M., Pure & Appl. Chem. 1983, 55, 1869: as well as posthumus et al.; Stoll el al.; Anronov et al., Appl. Phys.; Antonov et al., Laser Chem.; Egorov et al.; Deviney et al., eds; Karas et al.; Sherman et al.; Wilkins et al.; Brown et al., Anal. Chem.; Brown et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc.; Coates et al.; Holm et al.). Since single-step processes all rely on a single impact to bring about desorption and ionization, there has been no ability to independently vary desorption or ionization conditions. This has led to problems with reproducibility from analysis to analysis on a given sample as well as with variation in efficiency from sample to sample. These problems interfere with the ability to carry out a quantitative analysis with this method.
One improvement in laser ion generation techniques has been to divide the process into two separate steps--a desorption step to generate gaseous particles (molecules or atoms) from the solid, followed by ionization of the gaseous particles in a second step with a separate second laser pulse. This is possible because most of the desorbed material is in the neutral rather than in the ionic state, often with an ion-to-neutral ratio in the range of 10.sup.-3 to 10.sup.-5. Descriptions of prior multistep systems can be found in Antonov, V.S., Letokhov, V.S., Matveyets, YU. A., Shibanov, A.N., Laser Chem. 1982, 1, 37; Antonov, V.S., Egorov, S.E., Letokhov, V.S., Shibanov, A.N., JETP Lett. 1983, 38, 217; Becker, C.H., Gillen, K.T., Anal. Chem. 1984, 56. 1671; Becker, C.H., Gillen, K.T., J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 1985, 2, 1438: Nogar, N.S., Estler, R.C., Miller, C.M., Anal. Chem. 1985, 57, 2441; and Tembreull, R., Lubman. D.M., Anal. Chem. 1986, 58, 1299; Frey, R., Weiss, G., Kaminski. H., Schlag, E.W., Z. Naturforsch. Teil A 1985, 40, 1349; Walter, K., Bosel, U., Schlag, E.W., Int. J. Mass Spectrom. Ion Pro. 1986, 71, 309; Grotemeyer, I., Bosel, U., Walter, K., Schlag, E.W., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1986, 108. 4233.
The Antonov et al. system employs a high power CO.sub.2 laser to desorb submolecular films of anthracene and naphthalene from a graphite surface. The desorbed aromatics are then irradiated with a pulse of light from a KrF excimer laser to give rise to a large population of ions. A problem with this system is that the fluence of the CO.sub.2 laser is very high, and contact of the laser beam with the graphite substrate gives rise to generation of C.sup.+ and C.sub.2.sup.+ ions directly from the graphite surface, even though the surface is cooled to -73.degree. C. ostensibly to prevent this.
The Becker et al. work is directed to a process referred to as surface analysis by laser ionization or "SALI". In the process an ion or laser beam sputters or desorbs material such as elemental metals or metal hydride from a surface (generally a metal surface). Next the neutral material released from the surface is irradiated with a focused high intensity burst of nonresonant multiphoton ionization energy. Then in a third step these ions are accelerated forward, focused, and allowed to drift in a field-free region for the time-of-flight detection. Again, this process has the failing that the desorption conditions are so harsh that they give rise to a background of secondary ions sputtered from the surface. In the second Becker et al. paper, resonant multiphoton ionization is compared with the nonresonant ionization which was shown in the first paper, with the results suggesting that nonresonant ionization is equal or superior to resonant multiphoton ionization. Becker et al. addresses elemental analyses and fails to demonstrate quantitation. The Nogar et al. system is also designed to address elemental detection. Tembreull et al. and Schlag and coworkers have developed methods which use laser desorption from a solid sample into a supersonic jet of a carrier gas for transport to a separate ionization zone. However, due to the increase of complexity in the passage of molecules from desorption region to ionization region, transmission efficiency of desorbed molecules significantly decreases and is not constant at a fixed experimental condition. Because of these problems, these systems do not permit quantitation.
Tembreull et al. describes an additional ion generation system which does not involve gas jet transport of desorbed molecules to the ionization zone. This system was only briefly reported. apparently being less preferred than the gas jet system. The system as described is similar to the present system in some respects but has the failing of employing a long period (200 .mu.sec) between desorption and ionization. Over this period, the cloud of desorbed molecules can disperse and cut down the number of ions generated. This system has other failings, as well. It uses a metal rod as its surface for presenting the test material. The beams of its desorption laser and ionizing laser are coaxial in the sample area. This geometry permits the ionizing laser beam to contact the solid surface carrying the sample and thus to generate additional particles which interfere with accuracy. In addition, this system uses desorption laser power levels which can fragment the molecules being examined and give rise to interferring ionic species.
While these background references represent a substantial body of progress in the field, they also reflect a need for further development. Thus further development is needed to provide a laser-based device which would generate volatilized molecules of nonvolatile materials and ionize the volatilized molecules with such reproducibility that quantitative analyses based on the ions so produced would be possible, especially at the femtomole level or lower. This represents much improved sensitivities. (For example, the SIMS method works at the 100 picomole level). It would further be desirable to have a method and apparatus which would generate quantitative amounts of ions over a substantial range and preferably with linearity over the substantial range. It would also be desirable to have a method and apparatus which would interface well with other analytical methodologies, e.g., liquid chromatography (LC) and would permit samples to be easily introduced into a laser-based ion generator so as allow analyses of the ions so formed to be carried out quickly and easily.
The present invention answers these needs by providing quantitation With high sensitivities, reproducibility and ease of sample handling in the laser-based ion generator.

Apparatus and method for laser desorption of molecules for quantitation

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior College


A detector array assembly which provides for the closing at operating temperature of normally open contacts between individual sensor contact mesas and readout pads of the respective detector and readout chips comprising a detector array assembly. One or more shape memory separator elements are used in conjunction with one or more biasing springs to control the spacing of the contacts. The force of the biasing spring becomes the dominant force as the apparatus is cooled down to near operating temperature, thus moving the chips closer together and establishing reliable electrical connection between the opposed sets of contacts. At temperatures near and above the normal operating temperature of 77 degrees K., the shape memory separator element provides the dominant force and drives the chips apart to open the contacts.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical connectors for infrared detectors and, more particularly, to arrangements for improving the reliability of connections to a plurality of sensors in a detector array assembly which is subject to thermal fatigue from temperature cycling.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the present fabrication of focal plane arrays for infrared sensing systems, the hybrid detector array assembly comprises a pair of microchips, one bearing the array of sensors and the other bearing a corresponding array of cells or diodes with associated contact pads to provide the readout of individual sensor signals. The contact pairs of the two microchips are joined together in a process called hybridization. In this process, a plurality of indium bumps on the detector chip and a corresponding plurality of indium bumps on the readout chip are cold welded together by pressure Once joined, they are no longer separable and the breaking of any weld constitutes a failure of that readout cell.
Over time an infrared detector array is repeatedly cycled between room temperature and its normal operating temperature of 77 degrees K. This repeated temperature cycling is responsible for problems relating to thermal fatigue which results from the different coefficients of thermal expansion in the different materials present in the hybrid detector assembly.
In the present (prior art) fabrication process, the indium bumps are made by vapor deposition through a photo-reduced mask pattern and have a typical height of 6-9 microns. It is not possible to deposit the indium bumps more than 10 microns high with acceptable quality and density. Over the temperature cycling range between room temperature and 77 degree K. operating temperature, the various materials present in the array account for the thermal fatigue problems. For example, the readout chip is a silicon substrate with contact pads approximately 0.00016 centimeter square on 0.0008 centimeter inch spacing. A typical array may have 128.times.128 cells. The sensors are arranged in a similar array on a cadmium telluride substrate. Because of the differences in thermal expansion and contraction between the detector chip and readout chip, repeated temperature cycling results in various failure modes: contact pads are pulled away from the substrate, pieces of contacts break off, the cold welded junctions of the indium bumps fracture and separate, the stresses induced by the differential thermal expansion or contraction of the substrates may cause warpage of the array chips, and the like.
Arrangements in accordance with the present invention incorporate a particular material known as a shape memory alloy in a novel arrangement to overcome some of the problems described hereinabove. Shape memory alloys are a unique family of metals which exhibit a temperature dependent shape change. They can be deformed from 5 to 8 percent in tension, compression or shear. Upon heating beyond a critical temperature, the metal returns to its original "memory" shape and, if resisted, can generate stresses as high as 100 kpsi. Stresses, strains, transition temperatures and other parameters of such materials can be controlled by composition and processing to tailor the material to provide particular performance characteristics in a given application.
This unusual effect of shape memory depends upon the occurrence of a specific type cf phase change known as martensitic transformation. Martensite forms on cooling from the high temperature phase, termed austenite, by a shear type of process. The curves of deformation with temperature and stress exhibit a hysteresis effect. Shape memory alloy products have been produced by Raychem Corporation, Menlo Park, Calif. The materials of interest here are sold by Raychem under the trademark Tinel.

Operating temperature hybridizing for focal plane arrays


A method to select cylinder and valve operational modes in an internal combustion engine with valves that may be deactivated. A simplified method to select cylinder and valve modes is presented.

The inventors herein have recognized that valves that may be deactivated, including electromagnetically actuated valves, present an opportunity to improve fuel economy and vehicle emissions by presenting valve control options that have not been previously available. However, since the valves may be individually controlled, configured in various patterns, and employed in various numbers per cylinder, the control possibilities and permutations seem nearly endless.
One method to control intake and exhaust valve operation during engine operation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,813. This method presents a means to control electromagnetically actuated valves to promote EGR control. The approach selects different valve modes and patterns to regulate internal EGR, i.e., EGR flow through a cylinder as opposed to EGR routed to the intake manifold. Valves are operated independently and control is based on operating conditions of the engine. Further, the disclosure also describes several valve configurations that may be operated in one or more operational modes to promote cylinder air charge swirl.
The above-mentioned method also can have several disadvantages. Namely, the approach selects valve mode based simply on engine speed, load, and desired EGR. The approach does not consider many other constraints that can affect valve mode selection. Further, the approach does not address valve selection in alternate cylinder modes, i.e., six-stroke, twelve-stroke, or cylinder deactivation. In addition, even if one of ordinary skill in the art attempted to extend the method to include additional modes, complexity would increase dramatically using the prior art approach.

Cylinder and valve mode control for an engine with valves that may be deactivated


A vigilance monitoring system to determine the alertness of a driver of a vehicle. The system uses one or multiple sensors located at the driver-vehicle interface (steering wheel, accelerator, brakes). The sensor monitors the magnitude and frequency of the force (or displacement) exerted by a driver at the driver interface. A time derivative of the force or displacement profile is created. The variability of the time derivative of the force/displacement data from the general trend of the data as obtained by an optimized moving average of the data. An intelligent control system measures the variability and compares with an alertness rating scale to determine the alertness score of the driver and issue warning signals and actions as appropriate.

Impairment of alertness in vehicle and machinery operators poses a danger not only to themselves but also often to the public at large. Thousands of deaths and injuries result each year that are fatigue related. Moreover, the financial costs as a result of the injuries and deaths are prohibitive. As a result, significant efforts have been made in the area of vigilance monitoring of the operator of a vehicle to detect the decrease in attention of the operator and to alert her/him.
Existing driver vigilance monitoring techniques fall within the following broad classes: (1) image acquisition and processing of facial features such as eye and head movements; (2) image acquisition and processing of road lane maintaining capability and (3) monitoring of the physiological responses of the body while driving.
There are several limitations with the existing technologies. Although the most accurate of the vigilance monitoring techniques, monitoring physiological responses of the body like EEG and ECG, are intrusive, expensive and can distract or cause annoyance to the driver. Moreover, lane tracking methods require visible lane markings and even if present are significantly impaired by snow, rain, hail, and/or dirt existing on the road. Nighttime and misty conditions are also impairments. Image processing techniques used to track eyes and head patterns to track lane maintaining capability necessarily require expensive (both cost and computational requirement-wise) hardware to operate and are highly dependent on factors such as, the relative position of the driver's head with respect to the sensors, illumination, and facial features and/or mental state of the driver, whether happy, anxious, or angry. Each of these indicators suffers from a relatively low probability of detecting drowsiness. Many of the measurements for indicating drowsiness do not adequately represent the responsiveness of the driver because of such influences as road conditions, patterns and vehicle type. Moreover, the cost for these techniques is often prohibitive. Even yet, more often than not, the existing techniques detect drowsiness when it may be too late for accident prevention purposes.
Therefore, there has been a longstanding and continuing need for a system and method that detects drowsiness using parameters that are independent of the driving environment, such as traffic, landscape, weather, darkness, road conditions, patterns and vehicle type. Additionally, there is also a need for a driver vigilance monitoring system and method that detects drowsiness with very low false alarm and miss-rates without being intrusive, distractive to the driver and/or prohibitive in cost.

Vigilance monitoring technique for vehicle operators


The device comprises a treatment cylinder (1) into which one extremity (E) is placed for treatment of a peripheral circulatory disorder and subjected to hyperbaric and hypobaric phases. Said treatment cylinder has one end (B) that is hermetically closed, and on the other end (A) supports a sleeve (C) that consists of a thick-walled rubber disk (4) which on its flat sides is covered by thin-walled, highly elastic rubber membranes (6, 7). The rubber disk and the rubber membranes are provided with openings (5, 8, 9), while the diameters of the openings (8, 9) of the rubber membranes (6, 7) are smaller than the diameter of the opening (5) of the rubber disk (4) so that during pressure changes in the treatment cylinder (1) the rubber membranes (6, 7) adapt so to the form of the extremity (E) to be treated that they create a sleeve effect and close off the treatment cylinder (1) at the end (A) in such a way that the intensity of the pressure variation can be achieved and kept constant during a specific time period without having to inflate the sleeve (C). This solution prevents for the entire duration of the treatment the venous return to the heart from becoming blocked.

The present invention concerns a device for the treatment of peripheral circulatory disorders that consists of at least one treatment cylinder into which a body limb to be treated can be introduced at least in part through a closing device, and in which by means of a device for the admission and evacuation of air and of control elements a compression or/and decompression can be created, and in particular the closing device for the treatment cylinder which prevents the veins from becoming obstructed when a compression or/and decompression is created in the treatment cylinder.
As early as 1834 JUNOD studied the effects of compression on the body or one of the body extremities and invented devices with which he took hyperbaric baths.
At the end of the 19th century BIER subjected arms or legs to a decompression that caused a venous congestion which he put to use as a therapeutic measure for rheumatic pain.
1932 HERRMANN studied the literature concerning hypobaric treatments and found that this method could activate arterial blood flow in the extremities. In the same year he established that the effect was enhanced when an extremity was subjected to alternating hypobaric and hyperbaric phases.
Since that time the devices subsequently built possess programmes with hyperbaric and hypobaric phases. They had a cylinder consisting of glass or Plexiglas that was closed off with a rubber hose while advantage was taken of the elasticity of the rubber for closing.
This procedure inevitably brought about an obstruction of the veins and, depending on the intensity of the decompression, an obstruction of the arteries, so that the treatment as such only made use of the venous congestion that had been applied as a therapeutic measure by Bier.
One also knows inflatable boots made of flexible material (JOBST), but these can only exert a compression on an extremity, while the effect of this compression, since it is limited to the surface, never can attain the effect exerted by direct air pressure.
1956 the VASOTRAIN device appeared on the market, where the treatment cylinder was sealed with an inflatable sleeve. Despite this improvement of the method of exerting compression and decompression on an extremity, the VASOTRAIN also produced venous congestion, and BARBEY reports that because of the appearance of petechia, treatments with the VASOTRAIN had to be discontinued.
WERDING in 1960 designed the VASCULATOR, which also had inflatable sleeves, with the new feature, however, that these sleeves always maintained their pressure on the extremities at a minimum value, i.e., their internal pressure only rose until the desired compression was attained, whereupon a certain, intended loss of compression could be, both compensated with the pump or kept constant by slight inflation of the sleeve.
During automatic changeover of the device to decompression, the sleeve emptied continuously in proportion to the intensity of the decompression.
This method very largely reduced an obstruction of the veins, but not enough, as the VASCULATOR had to place the extremity in a high position in order to aid venous return to the heart.
It is the aim of the present invention to eliminate the problems of venous congestion described above, and it is proposed to provide a closing device for treatment cylinders which is capable of keeping even the veins that are located at the surface of an extremity, as pervious as possible during a hypobaric phase.
According to the invention, this problem is resolved by the fact that the closing device is provided with a sleeve having a thick-walled disk covered on its two flat sides by thin-walled, highly elastic membranes, that the disk is provided with a first opening and the membranes are provided with second openings which are situated opposite to the first opening and have diameters smaller than that of the first opening, and that the treatment cylinder is provided with a rigid support element against which the entire sleeve is sealingly pressed with the aid of clamping means. By virtue of their elasticity, these membranes adapt to the form of the extremity so as to function as a membrane sleeve, while between the two rubber membranes an air cushion is created which also serves as a closing means that will not compress. The treatment cylinder is then closed in such a way that the intensity of the pressure variation is attained and kept constant during a specific period of time without a need for inflation of the sleeve, while an obstruction of the venous return to the heart is prevented by this solution for the entire duration of the treatment.
It is particularly advantageous to select a rubber disk, since this can be supported on an annular ridge provided at the entrance of the treatment cylinder and then pressed against this ridge with the aid of a rigid ring and clamps in such a way that the annular ridge penetrates into the rubber and thus seals the treatment cylinder hermetically.
It is advantageous, too, to provide the opening of the treatment is cylinder opposite to the closing device with an identical device which gives access to the interior of the treatment cylinder and can be provided with a heating or cooling device.
The closing device can advantageously be characterised by the fact that the treatment cylinder is axially mobile so as to facilitate introduction of an extremity.
It is particularly advantageous to continuously keep the treatment cylinder in a high position even during a hypobaric phase, while the blocking system of the high position at the same time blocks the treatment cylinder axially.
With this continuous high position of the treatment cylinder, even during the hypobaric phase, on one hand one attains a expanded state of capillaries, venules, and veins by means of the decompression, and an arteriolar dilation and thus a hyperemia by reflex action, on the other hand one attains at the same time an increased venous return to the heart, which in its volume is practically proportional to the arterial capacity of the vessels of the extremity, since the veins of the extremity remain pervious thanks to the closing device of the invention.
It is particularly advantageous that the closing device need not be inflated, which substantially simplifies the electronic controls, since these controls only regulate the hyperbaric and hypobaric phases as well as the periods of time during which they are kept constant, which largely eliminates possible breakdowns or malfunction. These features lead to a device exhibiting a precise and safe functioning.

Device for treating peripheral circulatory disorders and closing device for a treatment cylinder thereof


Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method for sequencing cost calculation. In one embodiment a processing sequence, comprising a plurality of hierarchy levels, is created for a plurality of cost groups. The processing sequence is used in an iterative process for calculating the cost of an item of the plurality of cost groups. In embodiments of the present invention, the iterative process is repeated until the costs of a plurality of items of the plurality of cost groups have been calculated.

The appropriate valuation and analysis of manufacturing costs have been for years a key factor in a successful business management. Manufacturing costs are commonly calculated on the basis of average cost, standard cost, periodic cost, last-in-first-out (LIFO) cost, or first-in-first-out (FIFO) cost. These costing methods are implemented on computer systems. Companies choose the costing method that is best suited for their business requirements, or that is required by law. It is not unusual to find companies using one method for fiscal or legal purposes and another for internal management analysis.
It is a common business scenario in some organizations to transfer products, sub-assemblies, and components among different cost groups (e.g., one or more factories, or warehouses). The cost of the goods being transferred, as well as freight and/or special charges involved in the transfer process, often impacts the average cost of the item. This is particularly true when inventory valuation is determined by the absorption costing method. In absorption costing, variable costs and some of the fixed costs are assigned to each item in the inventory.
Some scenarios for transferring materials can be defined very simply, thus simplifying the calculation of absorption costs and/or the sequence for calculating these costs. For example, FIG. 1A shows a simple transfer of an item between two cost groups. In FIG. 1A, cost group 1 typically fabricates an item B using component A. However, item B may also be transferred between cost group 1 and cost group 2, which uses item B as a component of item C.
In the scenario of FIG. 1A, the cost of item B to cost group 2 is affected by the cost of item B in cost group 1. In the same way, the cost of item B to cost group 1 is affected by the cost elements of cost group 2, thus creating a recursive process for the calculation of item B.
Other scenarios are more complex depending on the volume of the organizations and the relationships between them, thus complicating the calculation of absorption costs. For example, inter-organization transfer of goods between cost groups (e.g., warehouses, manufacturing plants, etc.) makes determining a costing sequence difficult. This is especially true in situations where an item, transferred between two or more cost groups, occupies different levels in the costing sequence of the respective cost groups.
As shown in FIG. 1B, there are transfers between cost group 1 (120), cost group 2 (130), and cost group 3 (140) and the proper sequence (110) for processing the transfer of items is not readily apparent. In cost group 1, item A3 is a component of item A2 and is in the lowest level of the costing sequence for cost group 1. In other words, the cost of item A2 is dependent upon the cost of item A3 while the cost of item A3 is not dependent upon other sub-assemblies. Item A2, which is in the middle level of the costing sequence for cost group 1, is in turn a component of item A1 which is in the highest level of the costing sequence of cost group 1. Thus, the cost of item A1 is dependent upon the cost of item A2, and in turn, item A3. In transaction 111, item A2 (122) may be transferred between cost group 1 and cost group 3.
Similarly, while item A1 is a finished product (e.g., in the highest level of the costing sequence) of cost group 1 (120), after it is transferred to cost group 2 (130) in transaction 112, it is in the lowest level of the costing sequence of cost group 2. Items A1 (121) and B3 (133) are components of item B2 (132), which is in turn a component of item B1 (131).
In cost group 3 (140), items A2 (122), B1 (131) and B3 (133) are in the lowest level of the costing sequence of the cost group and are components of item C1 (141). The problem typically encountered with an arrangement as complex as that shown in FIG. 1B is in defining where to begin the costing sequence. In other words, it is not readily apparent which cost group initiates the costing sequence to the other cost groups because the items are transferred between cost groups. In one conventional method the lowest level components for each cost group are costed simultaneously. Thus, items A3 (123), A1 (121), B3 (133), and A2 (122) are costed at the same time. Additionally, all inter-organization transfers between cost groups (e.g., transactions 111, 112, 113, and 114) are costed simultaneously. Then, a "roll-up" of the costs was performed wherein the cost for each level in the costing sequence was calculated.
Obviously, this costing sequence can be inaccurate because the cost of some components is not accurately calculated. More specifically, while the costing of items without dependencies (e.g., item A3 123) could be accurately determined, for other items it is not apparent which cost group should initiate the costing of the item. This in turn affects the calculation of the inter-organization transfers. For example questions arise such as; should item A1 (121) should be costed as an end product of cost group 1 (120) or a transfer from cost group 2 (130)? Should all of the components at the lowest level of the costing sequence (e.g., A3 (123), A1 (121), B1 (131), B3 (133), and A2 (122) be costed first? If this were the sequence, how is the cost of item A1 (121) calculated for cost group 2 (130) since its cost depends, in part, on the cost of item A3 (121) in cost group 1 (120) in which it is not a component? Should the items in cost group 1 (120) be costed first and then cost the other cost groups sequentially? If this is the sequence, how does this affect the cost of item A2 (122) for cost group 1 (120) since its cost is affected by the cost of item A2 (122) in cost group 3?

Method and system for determining a costing sequence for transfers between a plurality of cost groups


Synchronously stackable double-edge modulated pulse width modulation generators are disclosed. An example pulse width modulation generator includes a ramp generator to generate first and second ramp signals that interact to form a virtual ramp signal; and a comparator module coupled to the ramp generator configured to produce a pulse width modulated signal based on a comparison between the virtual ramp signal and an input signal.

Pulse width modulation (PWM) typically involves comparing an input signal to a single oscillating signal (ramp). This comparison results in an output signal that is a logical high when the input signal exceeds the ramp and a logical low when the ramp exceeds the input signal. The width of the output pulses vary in proportion to the level of the input signal. That is, when the input signal has a high value, it exceeds the ramp signal more frequently and, consequently, the output signal has a high duty cycle. Thus, PWM is commonly used to vary the width of pulses in a periodic signal or power source to control the duty cycle of the periodic signal or power source. However, conventional PWM systems are susceptible to noise and include limitations on a minimum/maximum controllable duty cycle due, in part, to nonlinearities caused by changing the slope of the single ramp signal. In some systems, PWM devices are combined or paralleled. However, the resulting propagation delay caused by offsets and delays of the combined comparators reduces predictability and repeatability between the PWM devices.


A hybrid vehicle operates in an electric-drive-only mode and one or more modes using an internal combustion engine. A control pedal is movable to respective positions by a driver for indicating a desired vehicle motion. A controller selectably activates the engine according to instantaneous values of a variable wheel output demand and a variable pull-up threshold. The pedal position is converted to a respective instantaneous wheel output demand in response to an initial value from a mapping relationship that is modified in response to a difference between the initial value and the variable pull-up threshold. The pull-up threshold may preferably be dynamically determined according to a state of charge of a battery for powering the electric drive. The modification to the wheel output demand preferably reduces the slope of the mapping relationship near the pull-up threshold to reduce pedal position sensitivity in a region near the dynamically varying pull-up threshold.

The present invention relates in general to hybrid gas/electric vehicles, and, more specifically, to controlling the transition from electric-only mode to modes using the gas combustion engine in a manner that avoids premature or excessive switching to a gas engine mode.
A driver-controlled "accelerator" pedal is a common input device in all types of transportation vehicles such as gas-powered cars and trucks, electric vehicles, and hybrids. The pedal is typically operated by the driver's foot but may also be controlled by hand, for example. Historically, a pedal position corresponded directly to a position of a throttle supplying fuel and air to a combustion engine. In modern vehicles having electronic controls and additional types of powertrains, the relationship between the amount of pedal depression and the powertrain response can be tuned to provide different speed and torque responses.
An approach for adjusting a pedal position map is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,654,677 to Weber et al. A powertrain controller varies the mapping of an accelerator pedal position to an electronic throttle angle based on vehicle speed in order to improve operator control over vehicle speed, torque output, and acceleration. At lower vehicle speeds, the pedal position is mapped to the electronic throttle angle with a focus on providing acceleration control. At higher vehicle speeds, the pedal position is mapped to the electronic throttle angle with a focus on controlling vehicle speed.
The map between pedal position and wheel or engine output can be dynamically adjusted in response to additional variables. In U.S. application publication 2013/0197775A1, the relationship is adjusted based on road grade.
More generally, the mapping relationship varies the sensitivity of pedal position changes to corresponding changes in wheel/engine output. For example, the driver's perception of a vehicle's capability and responsiveness may be positively impacted by a pedal mapping with a steep slope, resulting in large changes in wheel power demands at relatively small accelerator pedal position changes. A pedal mapping with a small slope can provide a higher level of controllability, requiring larger changes in accelerator pedal position to realize a significant change to the driver demanded wheel power.
With the ever increasing need to produce vehicles that are more fuel efficient, hybrid electric vehicles (HEV's) have become popular because they provide an improvement in fuel economy over many conventional vehicles that utilize only an internal combustion engine to drive the vehicle. One of the primary advantages of an HEV is that it allows the vehicle to be powered by an electric motor under certain operating conditions. For example, when the wheel output demand is relatively moderate and the battery or other electrical power source is sufficiently charged, the engine may be shut off and the vehicle driven exclusively by one or more electric motors. As operating conditions change, the engine may be started to provide additional power.
With the HEV being driven in an electric-only mode, a control system determines when to start and stop the engine based on many inputs. For example, in a power-split or parallel hybrid one of the primary inputs is the driver demanded wheel power (based on a mapping of pedal position). When the wheel power demand exceeds a threshold known as the engine pull-up threshold, the engine is started to provide propulsion for the vehicle. Other inputs which may also be used to start the engine include the state of charge (SOC) of the high voltage battery, climate control demands for power or heat, or detected engine conditions in which continued operation is needed to maintain reduced emissions.
If an accelerator pedal mapping is too sensitive to small changes in accelerator pedal position, then small or inadvertent changes in accelerator pedal position may trigger an engine start while driving at a driver demand power that is near the engine pull-up threshold. In most circumstances it is beneficial to maximize the time spent in electric mode for improved efficiency and to improve owner satisfaction with the vehicle. Thus, it is desirable to provide controllability (less sensitivity) near the pull-up threshold, as has been suggested in U.S. patent publication 2013/0024061. In this publication, a mapping for suppressing engine activation can be selected using an ECO switch. However, the selected mapping is fixed and only functions with a fixed threshold for activating the engine.
It is advantageous to employ a dynamic pull-up threshold which can change based on many different conditions, including some which do not influence the accelerator pedal map such as the battery state of charge. The prior art has failed to accomplish both an optimum responsiveness and engine start controllability because of the static pull-up threshold and accelerator pedal mapping.

Dynamic mapping of pedal position to wheel output demand in a hybrid vehicle


A heat exchanger having an active surface over which a fluid flows to affect an exchange of heat between the active surface and the fluid, the active surface having a curvature which conforms substantially with at least one logarithmic curve conforming to the Golden Section.

A considerable number of structures have been devised to aid the transfer of heat energy between a solid material and a fluid. A few examples, only, of these include heat sinks, radiant heaters, automobile radiators and air-conditioning heat exchangers. Heat sinks are commonly thought of in relation to the cooling of the solid material and comprise an array of fins associated with the solid material. The principle object of such devices has been to increase the surface area of solid material contacting the fluid to thereby increase the transfer of heat energy to the fluid. Of course, it is well known that finned arrays can also be used in heating appliances where the object is to heat a fluid. Automobile radiators are designed to disperse heat from the engine to the atmosphere by transferring heat energy from the coolant to the core of the radiator and then from the core of the radiator to the atmosphere. This latter transfer is again assisted by fins to increase surface area. Similar arrangements are found in a multitude of other applications.
Typically the design of such structures used in the transfer of heat energy between a solid and a fluid has been directed to maximising the surface area made available between the solid and the fluid. Nevertheless, the efficiency of such structures in effecting heat transfer also depends upon the flow of the fluid over the solid material. Many structures have been devised which provide considerable surface area but are not particularly efficient due to the restricted flow of the fluid past the structure. In many cases, the natural flow is supplemented by a forced fluid flow past the heat exchanger.
Nature is recognised as using the most efficient energy transfer systems known to man. Invariably, Nature propagates heat in a turbulent motion. At its most efficient, this turbulence is concentrated into a three dimensional singular vortical motion. The shape of this convectional fluid flow is expressed in equiangular logarithmic spirals, where the ratio of contraction or expansion is approximately 1:0.618, or the celebrated Golden Proportion. An example of this flow structure in a fluid is a tornado. Another example is the flame and smoke pattern arising from a fire storm. Prior technology pays little regard to such natural flow characteristics.
It has been said that nature always follows the path of least resistance. Movement and growth in nature flow in a particular specific, logarithmic geometric progression—that of the three dimensional Golden Proportion or equiangular spiral. The intention of the invention is to induce optimum energy transfer by channelling the fluids into their natural flow tendencies by full or partial adherence to Nature's equiangular, logarithmic, path of movement. The invention capitalises on natural vortical flow geometry.
Vortical structures act as 'heat pumps' i.e. they can only exist if there is a temperature differential and vice versa. The invention seeks to exploit the exceptional cooling features of vortices. Part of their effectiveness is that vortex geometry can provide high non turbulent rates of adiabatic expansion i.e. heat can be dumped or acquired in an optimum time and distance.
The simplest, essential and most common form of a vortex is a vortex ring or toroid. (FIGS. 13 and 14).
One of the interesting and exploitable properties of a vortex ring is that is has remarkably low friction and is a rapid and highly energy efficient transporter of fluids and heat.
In order to optimise the cooling efficiency of any radiator, heat exchanger, or heat sink, it is beneficial to establish, maintain, and exploit individual vortex structures. Fluid flow, both internally and externally, may be toroid in shape, Benard cells, the shape of a convection vortex, or a potential vortex. All of the above comply approximately to the three-dimensional Golden Section or equiangular spiral.
An excellent example of this in prior technology is the Ranque-Hilsch tube. (FIG. 13)
Applying the design criteria of the embodiments of this invention, wholly or in part, will improve performance of existing thermal conductor structures.


An ion thruster is provided allowing a plasma discharge to be generated and confined in an external confinement space created by an external magnetic field B.

Ion thrusters, also called plasma or electric thrusters, for space vehicles, allow fuel consumption to be significantly decreased by virtue of a high ejection speed of the latter. However, these thrusters, as opposed to chemical thrusters, have a relatively limited thrust. Thus, they must operate for a very long time, possibly for as much as several years of cumulative firing, in order to allow the space vehicle to achieve a high final speed. The lifetime of ion thrusters is therefore a criterion of primary importance. This lifetime is limited by wear of components, in particular wear of the system for generating the electric field that generates a plasma discharge and accelerates the ions of the fuel and wear of the internal space of the ion thruster in which the plasma discharge is confined. This wear of components originates from the direct interaction of said elements with the plasma discharge.
For example, the ion thrusters described in US 2015/0128560, U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,476 and US 2012/0187843 have a limited lifetime because the generated plasma discharge is confined in their internal space.
Surprisingly, the Applicant has found that it is possible to overcome these problems of wear of materials by virtue of an ion thruster that allows a plasma discharge to be created and said discharge to be confined outside the thruster.

Ion thruster with external plasma discharge

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE


A process for selecting an operating range for a narrow band KrF or ArF excimer laser. The laser is operated at a desired pulse energy until the fluorine concentration has depleted sufficiently so that the charging voltage needed for the desired pulse energy is at or near a predetermined maximum range. The average charging voltage, the average line width, and the average energy sigma are recorded; and the fluorine concentration is estimated or determined. A quantity of fluorine, at least sufficient to cause a measurable decrease in the charging voltage needed to produce the desired pulse energy, is injected; and another set of data is recorded. Another similar quantity of fluorine is injected, and another set of data is recorded. These two steps are repeated until the voltage is at or near a predetermined minimum voltage range. The recorded data are used to select an optional operating range. The data may be plotted to make the selection easier. The selection criteria may be determined based on the needs of the laser user. Normally, the selection process will involve an intelligent compromise in which minimum values of charging voltage, fluorine concentration, line width and energy sigma are desired. For most uses, the optimal operating range will be a voltage range of 20% of the total possible voltage range and not close to either the minimum operating range or the maximum operating range.

KrF excimer lasers are rapidly becoming the most important light source for integrated circuit lithography. Units currently being sold typically operate at a pulse repetition rate of about 1000 Hz, producing 10 mJ pulses at a wavelength of about 0.248 micron with a bandwidth of about 0.5 m.
Although these lasers are very complicated machines, their reliability has greatly improved during the past few years, and they are currently being integrated into fullscale integrated circuit production.
A detailed description of a KrF laser system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,840 issued Sep. 25, 1990 (incorporated herein by reference), and assigned to Applicant's employer. As explained in that patent, the excimer gain medium is produced by electric discharges between two elongated electrodes in a flowing gas medium which may be a combination of Krypton, fluorine and a buffer gas, neon. The proportions are typically 0.1 percent fluorine, 1.0 percent krypton and the rest neon. The operating pressure is about 3 atmospheres. The partial pressure of the fluorine is in the range of about 25 kPa of 1 percent F.sub.2 in a buffer gas, such as Neon.
It is known that within the normal operating range of the KrF laser, output pulse energy can be increased by increasing the pulse discharge voltage; and it can be increased by increasing the fluorine concentration. Increases or decreases in both or either of these parameters is easily accomplished with these narrow band KrF excimer lasers.
Fluorine gas is extremely reactive, and in spite of great efforts to utilize materials which are compatible with fluorine, reactions do occur in the chamber depleting the fluorine, especially during and immediately following the electrical discharges during which time the fluorine is ionized.
A typical operating plan for producing constant laser pulses is to compensate for the fluorine depletion by increases in the discharge voltage. This is accomplished with a feedback control which monitors pulse energy on a "per pulse" basis at pulse frequencies such as 1,000 Hz and controls the voltage to maintain substantially constant pulse energy as the fluorine concentration decreases over time. Normally the operating plan will encompass a voltage control range so that when the voltage increases to compensate for the depleted fluorine, reaches an "upper limit" (usually requiring a period of about two hours), a quantity of fluorine is injected during a period of a few seconds. The quantity injected is predetermined to correspond to roughly to the quantity which would have been depleted over the two-hour period. During the fluorine injection period, the automatic feed back control will force the voltage down in order to keep pulse energy substantially constant so that at the end of the injection period the voltage is approximately at the low level of the voltage operating range and fluorine pressure is approximately at its high level. During the next two hours, the process will repeat, and this general process may continue for several days. FIG. 1 shows a graph of average voltage as a function of pulse count for an operating unit. Note that at a pulse rate of 1000 Hz, 1 million pulses correspond to about 16 minutes, and that for continuous operation, the injection period would be at intervals of about 1.3 hours, corresponding to about 5,000,000 pulses. (Often these lasers run at a duty factor of about 20-60 percent. Typically, the lasers do not operate when the lithography tool is changing positions, which would increase the time interval between injections to about several hours.)
Typical KrF lasers have a fairly broad possible range of operation within which the desired pulse energy can be achieved. For example, in one such laser the charging voltage range is from 567 volts to 790 volts, with the corresponding fluorine pressure range being 36.5 kPa to 18.5 kPa. The charging voltage produces a discharge voltage between the laser electrodes which is in the range of about 14,000 volts to about 20,000 volts and approximately proportional to the charging voltage. This high discharge voltage is provided through the operation of a magnetic pulse compression circuit such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,166.
A lithographer may choose any operating range of about 40 volts within the 123-volt-charging voltage range. Prior art procedures for selecting the range were not well thought out. One manufacturer has recommended operation at 75% of the maximum voltage. Another suggested the range be determined based on pulse energy transfer efficiency. Choosing a range that is solely determined by a maximum energy transfer may severely limit the operating range of the laser. In such a case, the operating range would be based on the input voltage, pulsed power capacitances and inductances, gas pressure and gas mixture that would result in the maximum energy being transferred to the discharge from the stored energy in the pulse power system. Since the gas mixture changes (as the laser operates), the transfer of energy to the discharge changes. A simple technique to overcome this is to maintain fluorine relatively constant by injecting frequently. However, such frequent injections is, in many applications, not practical. Also; as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,166; by using energy recovery circuits, even if the laser is not operated in maximum energy transfer regime, the residue energy in the circuit can be recovered for the subsequent pulse. Choosing the correct range can be important because both the operating life of the laser is adversely affected by increased fluorine concentration and also by increased discharge voltage. What is needed is a better process of selecting an operating range for narrow band KrF excimer lasers.

Process for selecting operating range for narrow band excimer laser


There is provided improved laser sintering systems that increase the powder density and reduce anomalies of the powder layers that are sintered, that measure the laser power within the build chamber for automatic calibration during a build process, that deposit powder into the build chamber through a chute to minimize dusting, and that scrubs the air and cools the radiant heaters with recirculated scrubbed air. The improvements enable the laser sintering systems to make parts that are of higher and more consistent quality, precision, and strength, while enabling the user of the laser sintering systems to reuse greater proportions of previously used but unsintered powder.

Laser sintering is one form of additive manufacturing that fabricates three-dimensional objects from digital data. As known in the art, laser sintering heats layers of powder, typically a polymer or a metal, with a laser to cause the powder particles to fuse to one another in predetermined patterns to define the cross-sectional layers of the object being fabricated. Such techniques are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,863,538; 5,155,321; 5,252,264; 5,352,405; 6,815,636; 7,569,174; and 7,807,947, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
One problem with laser sintering is laser attenuation during the build process whereby the laser power at the image plane (the surface of the sinterable powder being exposed to the laser beam) changes (typically decreases). Such change in laser power may be due to a number of issues and can lead to parts being different colors from the bottom to the top (along the z-axis) or having different mechanical properties along the z-axis.
Another problem with laser sintering, particularly with polymers that are heated to near the melting temperature, is that the sinterable powder that is not fused can be reused only a certain number of times before the powder produces parts with undesirable quality (such as "orange peeling" on the surface), coloration, or reduced mechanical properties. The result is that operators of laser sintering machines must dispose of a certain amount of used laser sintering powder to maintain part quality.


A video correction circuit of the invention includes an detection unit for detecting the cumulative light-emission frequency data on each pixel by sampling video data supplied to a display device having a plurality of pixels; a cumulative data storage unit for storing the cumulative light-emission frequency data on each pixel; an adder for adding the cumulative light-emission frequency data on each pixel detected by the detection unit to the cumulative light-emission frequency data on each pixel stored in the cumulative data storage unit, thereby writing the result to the cumulative data storage unit as new cumulative light-emission frequency data; and a correction unit for correcting the video data based on the cumulative light-emission frequency data stored in the cumulative data storage unit, thereby outputting the corrected video data to the pixel portion. The pixels are provided with light-emitting elements of a plurality of colors. The cumulative light-emission frequency data is divided into a plurality of data fragments, each of which is stored in each of the plurality of memories for each color of the light-emitting elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device using light-emitting elements in a pixel portion, and more particularly to a display device using light-emitting elements typified by organic electroluminescence (EL) elements in a pixel portion, and is provided with a video data correction circuit for correcting video data correspondingly to the degradation of the light-emitting elements. In addition, the invention relates to a display panel where a light-emitting element such as an EL element is disposed in each pixel and a video data correction circuit for correcting the degradation of the light-emitting element is provided. Further, the invention relates to an electronic appliance provided with such a display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a display device using light-emitting elements where a semiconductor thin film is formed over an insulator such as a glass substrate, in particular an active matrix light-emitting device using TFTs (Thin Film Transistors) has been in widespread use. In the active matrix light-emitting device using TFTs, several hundred thousand to several million TFTs are disposed in a pixel portion where pixels are arranged in matrix, with which electric charge of each pixel is controlled for displaying images.
Further, in addition to the pixel TFTs which constitute the pixels, a driver circuit is simultaneously formed on the periphery of the pixel portion by using TFTs, which greatly contributes to the downsizing and lower power consumption of the device. Accordingly, the display device using light-emitting elements has become an essential device for a display portion of mobile devices and the like of which applications are increasing in recent years. In addition, by a crystallization technique for crystallizing a semiconductor film such as amorphous silicon over a glass substrate at low temperature, a high added value has been achieved such as a so-called SOG (System On Glass) in which a CPU and other modules are mounted over a glass substrate.
As an alternative display device for a liquid crystal display device (LCD), there is a display device having a display panel where a light-emitting element is disposed in each pixel and a peripheral circuit for inputting signals to the panel, which displays images by controlling the light emission of the light-emitting element.
Such a display device has a control circuit which converts a received video signal to the video data capable of displaying gray scales in the pixels of the display panel and outputs the video data to the panel together with a panel control signal. In the display panel of the display device, two or three TFTs (Thin Film Transistors) are typically disposed in each pixel, and by controlling on/off of these TFTs, current supplied to the light-emitting element in each pixel, namely the luminance and light emission/non-light emission of the light-emitting element in each pixel are controlled. Further, in the peripheral portion of the pixel portion of the panel, a driver circuit is provided for controlling on/off of the TFTs in each pixel. Such a driver circuit is constituted by TFTs which are formed simultaneously with the TFTs in the pixel portion. These TFTs may be either n-channel TFTs or p-channel TFTs.
At this time, in the case where an EL element or the like is used as the light-emitting element, current is constantly supplied and thus flows to the EL element in the period in which the EL element emits light. In the case where light emission of the EL element is performed with a current supply, luminous efficiency of R (Red), G (Green) and B (Blue) relatively to a driving current differs from each other depending on the material used for the organic EL element. Moreover, the luminous efficiency changes with time and degrades as the cumulative light-emission period (total light emission period) becomes longer, and the degradation characteristics with time differ depending on each light-emitting material. Accordingly, the property of the EL element per se degrades by the long period of light emission, which results in changes in the luminance characteristics. That is, when comparing an EL element which has degraded and an EL element which has not degraded, luminance difference occurs even when current is supplied with the same voltage from the same current supply source. In a display device using EL elements and the like, white light is expressed by the total emission state of the whole three primary colors of RGB; therefore, reddish or bluish white is displayed in accordance with changes in the light-emission state due to the degradation of each color with time. As a result, such a problem is posed that white balance is disrupted.
Therefore, among display devices using light-emitting elements such as EL elements, there is a display device provided with a video data correction circuit which regularly corrects video data signals for driving a pixel of which EL element has degraded, with which the light-emission time or the light-emission time and intensity of each EGB pixel is detected by regularly sampling video data signals, and the cumulative detected values are compared with the prestored data on changes with time of the luminance characteristics of the EL elements in order to keep uniform display screen without causing luminance unevenness even when EL elements in some pixels have degraded.
Note that sampling in this specification means the operation in which the light-emission time or the light-emission time and intensity of each color (RGB in this specification) of each pixel is regularly detected using video signals and the detected values are accumulated.
As such a video data correction circuit, for example, there is a self-luminous display device having a degradation correction function which is invented by the present applicant and disclosed in Patent Document 1. FIG. 13 shows a block diagram of such a video data correction circuit. The video data correction circuit includes I: counter unit, II: memory circuit unit and III: signal correction unit. I includes a counter 1302, II includes a volatile memory 1303 and a non-volatile memory 1304 and III includes a correction circuit 1305 and a correction data storage unit 1306. In the video data correction circuit, a first video signal 1301A as a pre-correction video data signal (video data for driving a pixel of which EL element has degraded) is corrected by the signal correction unit III, which is then supplied to a display device 1307 as a second video signal 1301B as a corrected video data signal.
In this video data correction circuit, the second video signal 1301B as a corrected video data signal which is regularly (for example, per second) supplied to the display device 1307 is sampled, and light emission/non-light emission of each pixel is counted by the counter 1302. The cumulative number and time of light emissions of each pixel counted therein are sequentially stored in the memory circuit unit II (hereinafter referred to as the cumulative time data). The memory circuit is desirably constructed using a non-volatile memory as the number of light emissions is accumulated; however, the non-volatile memory generally has a limitation in the number of data writings thereto. Thus, in the device of FIG. 13, data is stored by using the volatile memory 1303 during operation of the self-luminous device while data is written into the non-volatile memory 1304 at regular intervals (for example, every hour or at every shut down time of the power source). That is, upon the next power-on time, the light-emission time or the light-emission time and intensity of EL elements is counted again.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-175041
Here, in order to write the cumulative time data from the counter 1302 into the volatile memory 1303 in one cycle of a reception clock (which corresponds to the clock for receiving video data in the video data correction circuit in this specification), the memory is accessed at the following 4 timings: the write-in operation of the cumulative time data to the volatile memory; the readout operation for outputting the cumulative time data on R from the volatile memory to the signal correction unit; the readout operation for outputting the cumulative time data on G from the volatile memory to the signal correction unit; and the readout operation for outputting the cumulative time data on B from the volatile memory to the signal correction unit. At this time, there is only a short time between the write-in timing of the cumulative time data to the volatile memory and the output timing of the cumulative time data from the volatile memory to the signal correction unit. Thus, in order to prevent the write-in timing and the output timing form overlapping with each other, a time margin (blank period) is required to be provided for avoiding mixture of data.
As set forth above, in the case of accumulating/adding or multiplying the light-emission time of light-emitting elements, each operation timing is difficult to set in one cycle of a reception clock during which the write-in operation and the output operation of the cumulative time data are performed. Therefore, a time margin is desirably provided for preventing mixture of data. Additionally, in accordance with the enlargement of a panel in recent years, a volume of video data signals is increased, which requires a storage medium capable of high-speed operation. Thus, a time margin is still required.
In order to secure such a margin, it is required that a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory mounted on a circuit have higher capacity and operate at faster speed. However, the number of connection pins in the mounted circuit is increased as well as an area occupied by the circuit is increased in accordance with the increase in the number of bits, which obstructs the downsizing and realization of the lower manufacturing cost of a product. In addition, when the number of high-capacity RAMs is increased, lower power consumption becomes difficult to achieve.

Video data correction circuit, display device and electronic appliance

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


According to one embodiment, a temperature control device stores a fixing device temperature estimation value and a storage time obtained by WAE control in a memory at any time during operation. After an electric power supply to the temperature control device is stopped, the next time the electric power supply is started, an electric power supply stop period until the electric power supply is started is calculated. If the electric power supply stop period is shorter than a set time, the WAE control is started by using the stored fixing device temperature estimation value, and if the electric power supply stop period exceeds the set time, the WAE control is started based on an initial set value.

An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device that fixes a toner image on a recording medium by applying heat and pressure to the recording medium to which the toner image is transferred. The fixing device includes a fixing rotating body (heat roller), a pressurizing member (press roller), a heating member (lamp, IH heater, or the like), a temperature sensor, and the like. The temperature sensor detects a temperature of the surface of the heat roller. The controller that controls the fixing device controls a surface temperature of the heat roller to be a target value by increasing or decreasing an electric power amount supplied to the heating member based on a detection signal (temperature sensor signal) of the temperature sensor.
In addition, in recent years, an image forming apparatus equipped with a temperature control device that obtains an estimated temperature value of a heat roller and controls the temperature is proposed. If the image forming apparatus is restarted in a state where the temperature of the heat roller is high, the temperature estimation value generated before the stop is reset. Due to this reset, in some cases, even if the actual temperature of the heat roller is high, the temperature estimation value is estimated as the initial state, so that an error may occur. For this reason, at the time of restart, it is necessary to calculate the temperature estimation value in consideration of the actual temperature of the heat roller.

Temperature control device and image forming apparatus including temperature control device


The present invention relates to an illumination strip for illuminating a handrail recess that itself at the same time forms a handrail; to a hatrack for installation in an aircraft cabin with a correspondingly designed handrail recess that at least in sections can be illuminated; as well as to the use of an illumination strip or a hatrack in an aircraft. The illumination strip comprises a carrier module for accommodating the illumination unit and illumination units accommodated by the carrier module. The carrier module is strip shaped and includes a positive locking member to secure the carrier module of the illumination strip into the handrail in an exchangeable manner.

Passengers travelling in an ordinary large-capacity aircraft may find that it is often difficult to locate and read the seat designators that mark their allocated seat. As a rule this is because such seat designators are often located on the underside of the overhead baggage storage spaces or baggage lockers, which baggage lockers in the context of the present invention are referred to as "hatracks". From the point of view of a person of normal stature the underside of these hatracks is normally approximately at shoulder height so that it may almost be impossible to identify these seat designators while standing. Apart from this, the above-mentioned seat designators are often simple signs displaying the respective seat numbers. However, in the often unfavourable lighting conditions in the passenger cabin, these simple signs are frequently difficult to read, which may result in further problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,434 describes a proposal for an improved version, according to which the signs are affixed at the front region of a hatrack, in a recess that accommodates a handrail. This arrangement may make it possible for a standing passenger to see the seat designator almost at eye level, wherein it is further proposed that the seat designator be illuminated by a lamp that is accommodated in the handrail so that the designator can be read more easily.
However, the handrail, due to having been fitted in the recess in the hatrack, may extend only for a distance of a few seat rows, so that a passenger who is guided along by the handrail has to repeatedly let go of the handrail and then grip the following handrail again. Apart from this, when the lamps are on for an extended period of time they may heat the handrail to such an extent that due to the heat generated passengers are unable to hold the handrail for any length of time.

Illumination in the area of aircraft cabins


A vehicle includes at least one polyoxymethylene structural support member. The polyoxymethylene structural support member includes a polyoxymethylene component that is a propellant that provides thrust to the vehicle upon pyrolysis or combustion of the polyoxymethylene component of the product of pyrolysis of the polyoxymethylene component. The vehicle can be a satellite or other type of spacecraft.

Structural components in aerospace and underwater vehicle systems contain fluids or bear mechanical loads. They add mass to the vehicle, which reduces the amount of onboard propellant the vehicle is able to carry. This in turn limits the payload weight that the vehicle is able to carry as well as its endurance, range, and/or velocity.
In current aerospace and underwater vehicle systems, structural components are often sized to withstand the acceleration and vibration loads encountered during launch. After launch, the vehicle experiences relatively insignificant loads and much of the mass of the structural components is unnecessary, particularly for those vehicles which are expendable, non-serviceable, or non-reusable. In those cases, the momentum associated with the structural mass constrains maneuverability and can limit mission performance.
Past attempts at utilizing structural mass after launch include the use of thermoplastics (e.g., fluoropolymers such as polytetrafluoroethylene, which is currently used in pulsed plasma thrusters). One limitation of these past approaches is that these thermoplastic thrusters are designed for high impulse (e.g., thousands of seconds), but extremely low thrust, propulsion. Generally, such thrusters are not suited for high thrust aerospace and underwater propulsion, which require large flows of fuel to produce the thrust. Furthermore, combustion of fluoropolymers typically requires high pyrolysis temperatures (˜500° C.), and results in production of soot that is unacceptable on many missions, particularly space missions involving sensitive equipment. Combustion of polytetrafluoroethylene also tends to produce high molecular weight products that can limit propulsion performance (i.e., specific impulse).
Therefore, a need exists for a composition that overcomes or minimizes the above-referenced problems.

Polyoxymethylene as structural support member and propellant


A carrier for developing an electrostatic latent image, which carrier comprises core particles having formed thereon a resin coating layer, in which the resin coating layer comprises a fluorine-containing resin and a second resin having a softening point lower than that of the fluorine-containing resin, and the resin and the second resin each are partially exposed on the surface of said resin coating layer. The carrier may be produced by a process comprising the steps of: dry-blending core particles, a fluorine-containing resin, and a second resin having a softening point lower than that of said fluorine-containing resin; and melting the resin blend to coat said core particles. The carrier is excellent in stability with time and environmental changes, causes no adhesion, and is less consumed.

Recording systems for visualizing image information through an electrostatic latent image, such as electrophotography, are now widespread in various fields. In electrophotography, an electrophotographic photoreceptor is charged and then exposed to light to form an electrostatic latent image, the latent image is developed with a developer containing a toner, and the toner image is transferred and fixed. The developer used herein includes a two-component developer comprising a toner and a carrier and a one-component developer comprising a toner, e.g., a magnetic toner, alone.
In the two-component developer, since a carrier bears such functions as agitation, delivery and charging of the developer, the two-component developer is characterized by satisfactory controllability and largely employed for the present time. In particular, developers using a resin-coated carrier are excellent in charge controllability and are relatively easy to improve environmental dependence and stability with time.
Development was formerly carried out by cascade development, but nowadays magnetic brush development using a magnetic roll as a developer carrier is dominant.
Magnetic brush development using a two-component developer has such disadvantages as reduction of image density and considerable background stain both due to reduction in charging properties of the developer, image roughness and consumption loss of the carrier both due to adhesion of the carrier onto the image, and occurrence of unevenness of image density. It is considered that with a reduction in resistance of the carrier, the induced charges are injected into the image area, resulting in adhesion of the carrier to the image area; or it is considered that charge quantity of the carrier after development becomes excessive on account of insufficient control of the upper limit of charge quantity of the carrier, resulting in adhesion of the carrier to the edges of the image area.
In recent years, negatively chargeable organic photoreceptors have been spread, and reversal development in which an electrostatic latent image is formed by using a laser, etc. has been frequently applied to inorganic photoreceptors. Accordingly, there have been increasing demands for high quality developers using a positively chargeable toner as well as a negatively chargeable toner. To this effect, it is desirable that the carrier to be used has freely controllable charging properties in accordance with the polarity and intensity of charge of the toner.
Fluorine-containing resin-coated carriers have been proposed as carriers for positively chargeable toners. However, fluorine-containing resins such as polyvinylidene fluoride have poor adhesion to core particles and often fail to retain charging properties in long-term use. Further, the resin coat is apt to fall off to reduce electrical resistance of the carrier, causing adhesion of the carrier to image areas, black spots due to the released coating material, and unevenness of image density. It has been proposed to use an adhesion-imparting resin in combination for improving adhesion of negatively chargeable resins onto core particles as disclosed in JP-A-54-110839 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), but sufficient effects cannot always be obtained.
High temperature treatment at 200.degree. C. or higher has been adopted for improving adhesion of a coating material to core particles. However, exposure of a resin containing fluorine in high concentrations to such high temperatures is unavoidably accompanied with evolution of harmful gases such as hydrogen fluoride, which possibly causes reduction in durability of equipment, deterioration of safety and hygiene, and environmental disruption. Although it is not impossible to lower the melting point of a fluorine-containing resin by, for example, copolymerization, a drop in melting point of a coating material tends to lessen the strength of the coat and to cause reduction in retention of charging properties.
It is also known to use a solution of a fluorine-containing resin to improve adhesion to core particles (solution coating method). However, the solvents used, e.g., dimethylformamide, have a high boiling point and high toxicity. Use of solvents of relatively low toxicity, such as methyl ethyl ketone and methyl isobutyl ketone, has been proposed, but fluorine-containing resins have insufficient solubility in these solvents so that coating must be conducted over a long period of time using a large quantity of the solvent.
Further, in conventionally employed solution coating methods using a fluidized bed apparatus or a spray drier, the coated carrier particles easily agglomerate with each other irrespective of the kind of the coating resin. It is therefore necessary to conduct deagglomeration treatment or to limit the amount of the resin to be coated, thus leaving problems of production process and product quality.
Since fluorine-containing resins generally have poor solubility in organic solvents, various solventless coating methods have been proposed. For example, it has been proposed to heat a powder mixture of core particles and a coating resin above a melting point of the coating resin in a still state to form a coating layer as disclosed in JP-A-54-35735. In this method, since formation of the coating layer is largely dependent on melt rheological behavior of the coating resin, it is very difficult to use a resin having a high viscosity in a molten state. Further, being coated in a still state, the carrier particles unavoidably agglomerate and require a post-treatment, such as deagglomeration treatment, thus attaining a poor production efficiency. Moreover, it is difficult to form a continuous coating layer having a smooth surface.
It has also been proposed to dry blend core particles and coating resin particles and heat-melt the blend in a fluidized bath or a rotary furnace, followed by cooling as disclosed in JP-A-55-118047, JP-A-60-170865 and JP-A-62-106475. However, since mixing of the core particles and coating resin particles depends on gravity shearing, the shearing force acting on particles is insufficient for thorough mixing, failing to form a uniform coating layer on the carrier particles. Particularly in cases where the core particles have a small size or a small specific gravity, or where the core particles are irregular in shape, or where the amount of the coating resin is large, the same problems as encountered in the above-described coating method of JP-A-54-35735 are involved.
Further, a coating method in which an impact force is repeatedly given to a mixture of core particles and coating resin particles to spread the coating resin to thereby form a coating layer has been proposed as disclosed in JP-A-63-235963, JP-A-63-235964, and JP-A-63-298254. However, the core particles are liable to be broken by the impact force. In addition, a controllable range of the coat thickness is narrowly restricted, and the coat thickness is less controllable than the solution coating method. As a result, this method is poor in controllability of resistance and charging properties.
In order to improve adhesion of negatively chargeable resins to core particles, it has been proposed to provide an intermediate layer therebetween as disclosed in JP-A-49-51950 or to blend a fluorine-containing resin with a second resin having strong adhesiveness to core particles as disclosed in JP-A-54-110839 and JP-A-56-113146. However, since the resins proposed exhibit opposite polarity to fluorine-containing resins, a blending ratio satisfying adhesion requirements consistently with charging properties is so limited. Although methyl methacrylate copolymers, etc. as proposed are excellent in compatibility with fluorine-containing resins and effective to improve adhesion, they adversely affect the excellent properties inherent in fluorine-containing resins such as solid lubricating properties and low tackiness, resulting in interference with improvement of surface stain resistance of the carrier.

Carrier for developing electrostatic latent image and process for producing the same


Described here are a system and method for generating uniform antipodally symmetric point sets that define diffusion-weighting directions or three-dimensional radial k-space trajectories for magnetic resonance imaging. The point sets are generated robustly and efficiently using a constrained centroidal Voronoi tessellation endowed with a pseudometric. This pseudometric is derived from a measure of the electrostatic energy of points distributed on a hemispherical surface.

The field of the invention is systems and methods for magnetic resonance imaging ("MRI"). More particularly, the invention relates to systems and methods for calculating and selecting a k-space sampling pattern or diffusion gradient table.
The problem of constructing a set of uniformly-distributed points on the surface of a sphere has a long and interesting history, which dates back to J. J. Thomson in 1904, as described by J. J. Thomson in "On the Structure of the Atom: An Investigation of the Stability and Periods of Oscillation of a Number of Corpuscles Arranged at Equal Intervals Around the Circumference of a Circle; with Application of the Results to the Theory of Atomic Structure," Philosophical Magazine, 1904; 7(39):237-265. A particular variant of the Thomson problem that is of great importance to biomedical imaging is the problem of generating a nearly uniform distribution of points on the sphere via a deterministic scheme. Although the point set generated through the minimization of electrostatic potential based Coulomb's law is the gold standard, minimizing the electrostatic potential of one thousand or more points, or charges, remains a formidable task.
Therefore, a deterministic scheme capable of efficiently and accurately generating a set of uniformly-distributed points on the sphere has an important role to play in many biomedical and engineering applications, such as three-dimensional projection reconstruction of medical images, three-dimensional selective radiofrequency pulse design in MRI, and diffusion-weighting direction design and selection in diffusion MRI. Many deterministic schemes have been proposed in the past, including those described by E. Saff and A. Kuijlaars in "Distributing Many Points on a Sphere," The Mathematical Intelligencer, 1997; 19:5-11; by E. Rakhmanov, et al., in "Minimal Discrete Energy on the Sphere," Mathematical Research Letters, 1994; 1:647-662; and by R. Ahmad, et al., in "Quasi Monte Carlo-based isotropic distribution of gradient directions for improved reconstruction quality of 3D EPR imaging," Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 2007; 184(2):236-245.
The challenge remains, however, to provide a deterministic method for producing a uniform distribution of points on the surface of a sphere that is advantageous for medical imaging applications, such as those referred to above. Notably, for determining diffusion-weighting directions, the point set should present antipodal symmetry, which currently existing methods do not provide.
The importance and the effects of view-ordering on image quality in MRI has been studied extensively in many subfields, such as two-dimensional Cartesian acquisitions; radial fast spin echo ("FSE") acquisitions; and four-dimensional MR angiography with three-dimensional radial acquisitions. For example, the basic idea of FSE is to acquire multiple echoes within each excitation or within the same repetition time ("TR"). FSE acquisitions can provide for a significant reduction in scan time, which can be used to improve image resolution. However, the acquisition of multiple echoes within the same excitation comes at a cost of enhanced image artifacts, such as blurring or ringing because of T2 decay, which produces signal modulations in k-space. Therefore, different view-ordering strategies have been developed and used in an effort to make the signal modulation as incoherent as possible in k-space.
Among the many studies on the relative merits of various diffusion gradient schemes, it is well accepted that the uniformity of the diffusion gradient schemes plays an important role in the final estimate of any diffusion MRI or diffusion tensor-derived quantities. It was first suggested by D. K. Jones, et al., in "Optimal Strategies for Measuring Diffusion in Anisotropic Systems by Magnetic Resonance Imaging," Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 1999; 42(3):515-525, that the diffusion gradient vectors should be endowed with antipodal symmetry. Because diffusion MRI measurements are acquired sequentially with distinct unit gradient directions, it has been shown that different orderings, or sequences, of the gradient directions have different effects on the quality of tensor-derived quantities obtained from partial scans, or some subset of the complete measurements, as described, for example, by J. Dubois, et al., in "Optimized Diffusion Gradient Orientation Schemes for Corrupted Clinical DTI Data Sets," Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine, 2006; 19(3):134-143.
Even though several methods have been proposed to generate optimal orderings of gradient directions, the fact that these methods have not been in routine clinical use may be attributed to two major problems of computational inefficiency. The first problem is that the existing methods for generating highly uniform and antipodally symmetric points on the unit sphere are iterative and inefficient, which may take up to many minutes to several hours to complete, and yet without any clue of whether convergence has been achieved. The second problem is that previously proposed methods for generating optimal ordering of gradient directions are based upon simulated annealing, which takes on the order of 137 hours to generate the ordering for a set of 150 points, as mentioned, for example, by R. Deriche, et al., in "Optimal Real-Time Q-Ball Imaging using Regularized Kalman Filtering with Incremental Orientation Sets," Medical Image Analysis, 2009; 13(4):564-579.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a method for generating, in a computationally efficient manner, a set of points that are highly uniformly distributed on the surface of a sphere and that exhibit antipodal symmetry.

System and method for determining k-space views and diffusion weighting directions using centroidal voronoi tessellations


Dispersions of graphenic carbon particles are produced using a polymeric dispersant. The polymeric dispersant includes an anchor block comprising glycidyl (meth)acrylate, 3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl(meth)acrylate, 2-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyl(meth)acrylate, allyl glycidyl ether and mixtures thereof, reacted with a carboxylic acid comprising 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, para-nitrobenzoic acid, hexanoic acid, 2-ethyl hexanoic acid, decanoic acid and/or undecanoic acid. The polymeric dispersant also includes at least one tail block comprising at least one (meth)acrylic acid alkyl ester.

Graphenic carbon particles have many potential uses such as in inks and coatings. However, graphenic carbon particles have been found to be difficult to disperse in various media such as organic solvents and water. Ethyl cellulose has been used as a dispersion aid in attempts to improve the dispersion of graphenic carbon particles. However, the need exists for improved dispersions of graphenic carbon particles in order to improve the properties of inks and coatings and other materials containing such particles. For example, electrical conductivity properties may be improved with improved dispersions of graphenic carbon particles in various types of inks and coatings, such as clear coatings, colored coatings, primer coatings, static dissipative coatings and printed electronics, batteries, capacitors, electric traces, antennas, electrical heating coatings and the like.

Graphenic carbon particle dispersions and methods of making same