A thermally-assisted magnetic recording disk drive records data by heating a small region of the magnetic layer on the disk to near or above its Curie temperature while a write field is applied by a thin film inductive write head. The thin film inductive write head includes an electrically resistive heater located in the write gap between the pole tips of the write head. The resistive heater is sandwiched between first and second spacer layers that are located between the pole tips of the write head. In a current-perpendicular-to-the plane (CPP) embodiment, the spacer layers are electrically conductive and the pole tips serve as the electrical leads to provide electrical current in a direction generally perpendicular to the layer of resistive heater material. In a current-in-the plane (CIP) embodiment, the spacer layers are formed of insulating material and electrical leads are formed as portions of a film between the spacer layers and in contact with each side of the resistive heater. The width of the resistive heater is less than the width of the pole tips. Thus since only the region of the magnetic layer on the disk that is heated by the resistive heater can be written by the pole tips of the write head, the data track width on the disk is defined by the width of the resistive heater, not by the geometry of write head pole tips.

This invention relates to digital magnetic recording, and more particularly to a magnetic recording disk drive where data is written while the magnetic recording layer is at an elevated temperature.
Magnetic recording disk drives store digital information by using a miniaturized thin film inductive write head. The write head is patterned on the trailing surface of a slider that also has an air-bearing surface (ABS) to allow the slider to ride on a thin film of air above the surface of the rotating disk. The write head is an inductive head with a thin film electrical coil located between the poles of a magnetic yoke. When write current is applied to the coil, the pole tips provide a localized magnetic field across a gap that magnetizes the recording layer on the disk into one of two distinct magnetic states (binary data bits).
The magnetic material for use as the recording layer on the disk is chosen to have sufficient coercivity such that the magnetized data bits are written precisely and retain their magnetization state until written over by new data bits. The data bits are written in a sequence of magnetization states to store binary information in the drive and the recorded information is read back with a use of a read head that senses the stray magnetic fields generated from the recorded data bits. Magnetoresistive (MR) read heads include those based on anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR), giant magnetoresistance (GMR), such as the spin-valve type of GMR head, and the more recently described magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) effect. Both the write and read heads are kept in close proximity to the disk surface by the slider""s ABS, which is designed so that the slider xe2x80x9cfliesxe2x80x9d over the disk surface as the disk rotates beneath the slider. As the recording bit size decreases to increase the data density on the disk, several problems arise with the conventional thin film inductive write head and writing process.
The first problem relates to the xe2x80x9csuperparamagneticxe2x80x9d effect. The areal data density (the number of bits that can be recorded on a unit surface area of the disk) of magnetic disk drives is now approaching the point where the data bits are so small they can be demagnetized simply from thermal agitation within the magnetized bit (the so called the xe2x80x9csuperparamagneticxe2x80x9d effect). The conventional approach to circumventing this problem is to increase the magnetic anisotropy and coercivity of the magnetic material in the recording layer on the disk to improve the thermal stability. However, this requires that the write head be made with a material with high saturation moment to increase the write field of the head so the head can write on the high coercivity media. Based on the properties of known materials, the ultimate write field of the head can only be increased by about 30%, thus severely limiting future data density growth. In addition, the increased data rate required at higher areal density requires that the magnetic properties of the materials used in the write head have to be optimized, which is very difficult to achieve if the materials suitable for use are limited to only those that have a very high saturation moment.
The second problem relates to the need for narrow track widths to increase the areal data density. As the track width gets narrower, the portion of the track width that is defined by the track edge stray or fringe fields from the write head becomes a larger portion of the track width since the spacing between the head and disk cannot be scaled due to engineering difficulties with head and disk tribology. This degrades the data quality since more and more of the written track width consists of the poorly written edge regions. In addition, to reduce the track width while still providing an adequate write field requires that one of the pole tips of the write head has a geometry in which the height of the pole is much greater than its width. A write head with such a high aspect ratio pole tip geometry is difficult to fabricate.
Since it is known that the coercivity of the magnetic media (i.e., the magnetic recording layer on the disk) is temperature dependent, one proposed solution is xe2x80x9cthermally assistedxe2x80x9d magnetic recording (TAMR), wherein the magnetic material in the media is heated locally to near or above its Curie temperature during writing so that the coercivity is low enough for writing to occur, but high enough for thermal stability of the recorded bits at ambient temperature. Several approaches to TAMR have been proposed, including use of a laser beam or ultraviolet lamp to do the localized heating, as described in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 40, No. 10, October 1997, pp. 65-66, and IBM""s U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,727. In these approaches, the heating area is typically wider than the data bit so that the data bit dimension is still determined by the size of the write head. Thus while the first problem described above is addressed by these TAMR approaches, the second problem is not addressed because the write head geometry and fringe fields still limit the reduction in track width that can be achieved.
A read/write head for use in a magneto-optic (MO) or TAMR system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,986,978, wherein a special optical channel is fabricated adjacent to the pole or within the gap of a write head for thermally assisted writing of the MO or magnetic media by directing laser light or heat down the channel. An older technology unrelated to TAMR is also known for use in a copy machine which magnetizes a film with an image that is then transferred to a paper using magnetic ink. In that technology, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,409, a ring type head uses a resistive heater in the gap between the poles to modulate heat pulses to the film while the pole piece applies a constant bias field to the film.
What is needed is a write head for a TAMR system that allows for narrow track widths to be achieved without the constraint that the track width is determined by the geometry of the write head pole tips or the fringe fields from the write head.
The invention is a thermally-assisted magnetic recording disk drive wherein the thin film inductive write head includes an electrically resistive heater located in the write gap between the pole tips of the write head. The resistive heater is sandwiched between first and second spacer layers that are located between the pole tips of the write head. In one embodiment, referred to as current-perpendicular-to-the plane (CPP), the spacer layers are electrically conductive and the pole tips serve as the electrical leads to provide electrical current in a direction generally perpendicular to the layer of resistive heater material. In a second embodiment, referred to as current-in-the plane (CIP), the spacer layers are formed of insulating material and electrical leads are formed as portions of a film between the spacer layers and in contact with each side of the resistive heater. The width of the resistive heater is less than the width of the pole tips. Thus since only the region of the magnetic layer on the disk that is heated by the resistive heater can be written by the pole tips of the write head, the data track width on the disk is defined by the width of the resistive heater, not by the geometry of write head pole tips.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken together with the accompanying figures.

Thermally-assisted magnetic recording system with head having resistive heater in write gap

International Business Machines Corporation


A technique that can update the firmware with services for clients continued on a circuit board that comprises a control unit of a storage system is provided. A plurality of blade that comprise control unit have previous BIOS on flash memory. Clusters are formed including the blade which is subject to firmware update. At the time of updating the firmware, for the update candidate substrate, the processing unit including processing to move the service provided by OS of blade to be subject to firmware update processing to OS of other blade in the cluster as well as firmware update processing for updating previous BIOS of blade which no longer provides services by the use of the BIOS update program and new BIOS image.

In the conventional storage system, and the computer system comprising the storage system, client information processing apparatus, network, etc., the hardware is initialized by the program including firmware, that is, BIOS, stored in the nonvolatile memory and activates OS (Operating System) at the activation of the circuit board that composes the control unit of the storage system. In the storage system, to update the firmware and make the update effective, the system that uses the firmware must be rebooted. Rebooting the system that uses the firmware, as is obvious, temporarily interrupts the service (process) to the client by the OS operated on the CPU of the circuit board.


The invention provides a method for producing a semiconductor device that can reduce the number of mask steps. In a CMOS production process, gate electrodes are formed in regions for forming an NMOS and a PMOS at the same time with a common mask pattern, and after the gate electrodes have been formed, a well, and source and drain regions are formed by impurity ion implantations with a common mask pattern in each region of the NMOS and the PMOS, using the gate electrode as a mask, whereby the number of mask steps is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a method for reducing a mask step in a CMOS production process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a CMOS production process, following methods have been used as a method for reducing a mask step in forming a gate electrode on a semiconductor substrate, and forming a well, and source and drain regions in the semiconductor substrate by ion implantations.
FIGS. 1A to 1C show a method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-25168 (hereinafter, referred to as Document 1). First, a P well 101 is formed in a region (NMOS region) in which an NMOS transistor is formed, and an N well 102 is formed in a region (PMOS region) in which a PMOS transistor is formed, and gate electrodes 104a and 104b are formed on a gate insulation film 103 in the NMOS region and the PMOS region, respectively (FIG. 1A). Thereafter, N-type impurity ions are implanted in a whole surface. In this manner, N-type source and drain regions 105a are formed in the P well, while at the same time, N-type impurity regions 105b are formed in a region in the N well in which source and drain regions are formed.
Then, the NMOS region is covered with a mask, and P-type impurity ions are implanted only into the PMOS region. Thus, the P-type source and drain regions 106 are formed in the P well, and as shown in FIG. 1C, the MOS transistor is formed in each of the NMOS region and the PMOS region.
Next, FIGS. 2A to 2C show a method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-188762 (hereinafter, referred to as Document 2). First, a P well 201 is formed in an NMOS region, an N well 202 is formed in a PMOS region, and a gate electrode material 204 is deposited on a whole surface of a gate insulation film 203 (FIG. 2A). Thereafter, the PMOS region, and the NMOS region in which a gate electrode is formed are covered with a mask, and a gate electrode 204a of the NMOS transistor is formed, and N-type source and drain regions 205 are formed in the P well 201 by an ion implantation of an N-type impurity with the same mask pattern (FIG. 2B).
Then, the NMOS region, and the PMOS region in which a gate electrode is formed are covered with a mask, and a gate electrode 204b of the PMOS transistor is formed, and P-type source and drain regions 206 are formed in the N well 202 by an ion implantation of a P-type impurity with the same mask pattern. In this manner, as shown in FIG. 2C, a MOS transistor is formed in each of the NMOS region and the PMOS region.
According to the production method disclosed in Document 1, among steps such as (1) the step of forming the N well, (2) the step of forming the gate electrode, and (3) the step of forming the source and drain regions, in the PMOS region, and (4) the step of forming the P well, (5) the step of forming the gate electrode, and (6) the step of forming the source and drain regions, in the NMOS region, the steps (2) and (5) of forming the gate electrodes are performed with the common mask pattern at the same time, and a mask pattern for the step (6) of forming the source and drain regions of the NMOS transistor is not necessary, so that the required number of mask steps is four.
In addition, according to the production method disclosed in Document 2, the step (2) of forming the gate electrode in the PMOS region, and the step (6) of forming the source and drain regions in the NMOS region are performed with the common mask pattern, and the step (3) of forming the source and drain regions in the PMOS region and the step (5) of forming the gate electrode in the NMOS region are performed with the common mask pattern, so that the required number of mask steps is four.

Method for producing semiconductor device


A connector for a weightlifting apparatus, the weightlifting apparatus having a sliding rail, and slots or lateral protrusions, the connector comprising a main body slidably attached to the sliding rail, a support arm having a support surface and extending outwardly from the main body, a rotational latching device having first and second opposing ends, the first opposing end for engaging the slots or lateral protrusions, and the second opposing end comprising a recess for receiving a barbell in a form-fit connection to achieve a rotationally rigid coupling such that rotation of the barbell is transferred to the rotational latching device, and a barbell lock to releasably lock the barbell in the recess. The support surface supports the barbell during free weight exercise when the barbell is not locked in the barbell lock, and when the first opposing end is engaged with the slots or lateral protrusions.

Exercise trends in weight training constantly change with time. Presently, weight training for both regular exercisers and elite athletes in all sports is dominated by training with free weights. For example, weight lifting using an Olympic size barbell is one of the fundamental features of training at gyms around the world today. Free weight lifting activates a plurality of muscle groups in that the user must stabilise the weights and keep his or her balance. As such, training with free weights also places great demands on the exerciser.
As an alternative, the Smith machine was developed in the 1950s. The Smith machine consists of a barbell that is fixed within steel rails, allowing only vertical or near-vertical movement. Behind each vertical post (runner) is a series of slots on which the barbell can be hooked. This means that unlike an ordinary barbell, the Smith machine need not be re-racked after a set of repetitions: it can be secured at any point. This supposedly makes it safer for those who lift without a spotter, as one only needs to twist the wrist in order to lock the barbell in place in the event that the weight becomes too great. On the other hand, the Smith machine requires less stabilisation and balance by the lifter since it is restrained to move only in one plane, which means that only selected muscle groups are activated during lifting.
By alternately combining both free weight training and weight lifting with a fixed path movement such as in a Smith machine, an optimal exercise regime may be achieved focusing on the advantages of both types.
There exist a number of solutions to combine Smith machine functionality with the possibility of free weight lifting. U.S. Pat. No. 7,488,277 discloses a compact weightlifting frame system including barbell holders which releasably hold the barbell such that the barbell can be removed and used freely. However, the barbell holder can only hold the barbell in a locked configuration, i.e. the exerciser wishing to rest between repetitions of free weight lifting must place the barbell in a separate rack.
As such there is currently lacking a weight training equipment that fully combines training in machine-controlled movement path with the exercise of free weights. Such tools can optimise both the rehab training, daily exercise and elite training. Thus, there is a need for a tool which conveniently and fully combines the advantages of a fixed and controlled movement path and the benefits of exercise with a free weight.


A crimping tool for crimping a metallic crimp ring. The crimping tool includes a first crimp die having a first curved contact surface and a second curved contact surface, the second curved contact surface spaced apart from the first curved contact surface, and a trench extending between the first curved contact surface and the second curved contact surface. The crimping tool also includes a second crimp die cooperatively engageable with the first crimp die having a first curved contact surface and a second curved contact surface, the second curved contact surface spaced apart from the first curved contact surface, and a trench extending between the first curved contact surface and the second curved contact surface. The trench of the first crimp die and the trench of the second crimp die forms an annular bead in a center portion of the metallic crimp ring.

In recent years polymeric pipes and tubes have displaced conventional steel pipe and copper tubing in a variety of services and applications. The polymeric pipes and tubes typically require crimp rings to hold the pipes or tubes onto fittings.
The features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which like reference characters identify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements.

Methods and apparatus for using crimp rings on flexible tubing


A lead-free composition capable of being applied as a film and hardening to form a protective layer on the back of a mirror comprises a fluid organic resin and a corrosion inhibitor selected from a compound represented by the formula: ##STR1## wherein the individual radicals R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 can be identical or different and are each hydrogen, an aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, araliphatic or aromatic radical, and can be substituted or unsubstituted; A is hydrogen or C.sub.z --CR.sup.5 R.sup.6 CN; X, Y and Z are independently selected from 0-5; and R.sup.5 and R.sup.6 are as defined for R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 above. To inhibit the corrosion of metallic film layers on mirrors, a mirror having a glass substrate layer and metallic film layer thereover should be obtained, after which the fluid organic resin coating system containing the aforementioned corrosion inhibitor is applied over the metallic film layer. The organic resin coating system is then hardened to produce the protective coating layer over the metallic layer. Other articles having metallic surfaces may also be protected by the resin system containing the novel corrosion inhibitor of the present invention.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a coating for use on mirror backs, and, in particular, to a lead-free organic coating containing a di- or tri- nitrile containing compound, preferably iminodiacetonitrile or nitrilotriacetonitrile, which coating is applied to the metallic film layer on the back of a mirror to protect the metallic layer and prevent corrosion thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Typical mirrors are made of a glass sheet and a thin layer of a metallic film applied to the back of the sheet. The metallic film layer adhered directly to the glass is usually a film of silver, although other metallic films may also be used, such as copper. When silver is used as the primary reflective layer, it is commonly protected by a second metallic film layer of copper or some other metal.
It has long been known to employ various paints and other film-forming organic resins as a further protective layer over a metallic film layer to protect the layer from corrosion and physical damage. Traditionally, these paints have included lead-based corrosion inhibitors, such as lead salts. However, in recent times, both users and producers of such paint products have sought to eliminate the use of lead and lead compounds for health and environmental reasons.
Numerous efforts have been made to eliminate lead from paints and/or otherwise increase the effectiveness and usefulness of protective coatings for mirror back metallic films. A recent effort in this direction is reflected in U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,405 to Evans et al. directed to use of cyanamide salts of non-lead metals as corrosion inhibitive pigments in mirror back coatings. This patent discloses the use of such non-lead cyanamide salts as calcium cyanamide and zinc cyanamide in various types of film-forming thermosetting or thermoplastic resins which are applied over the silver and copper layers on the backs of mirrors. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,248,331 and 5,252,402 to Sanford et al. disclose a lead-free paint or resin composition for use as a mirror back coating containing as a corrosion inhibitor dicyandiamide, metal or acid salts thereof, hydrogen cyanamide and 2-cyanoacetamide. U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,532 to Hughes et al. discloses the use of soluble salt-free contaminant-free antioxidant pigments which are cyanamide derivatives of metals and which are used in combination with organic resin polymers as protective mirror backing coatings. The patent discusses the prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,405 to Evans et al., supra, which uses the same cyanamide salts of non-lead metals as a corrosion inhibitor in organic film forming resins for mirror back coatings with the improvement being the use of "pure" salts. Accordingly, the pure salts contain less than about 0.5 percent by weight of soluble salts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,214 to Workens discloses a method for protecting silver and copper coated mirrors against oxidation and corrosion by passivating the metallic coating prior to applying a protective organic coating. The silver and copper coating is passivated by applying an effective amount of tolyltriazole to the metal surfaces before applying the protective organic coating. U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,301 to Fenzi discloses a lead-free anticorrosive resin formulation containing cyanoacetylurea for protecting mirror backs. Japanese patents 5311485, 5311492 and 5311495 show processes for treating a noble metal, including silver, by electrolyzing the metal in an aqueous solution containing an organic compound such as an imino compound or other nitrogen containing compounds such as EDTA to increase the corrosion resistance of the noble metal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,215 to Brunnmueller et al. discloses novel iminodiacetonitriles and their preparation. It is disclosed that the nitrites are useful as starting materials for the preparation of dyes, fungicides and other materials including anticorrosion agents.
The disclosures of the above patents are hereby incorporated by reference.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, and the long felt need of industry, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an effective corrosion inhibiting, lead-free coating for covering the metallic film layers on the back of a mirror and other articles of manufacture.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an organic film-forming resin which incorporates a non-lead corrosion inhibitor which can be easily applied by existing techniques to mirror backs.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lead-free paint for protecting thin silver and/or copper or other metallic film layers against corrosion.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an effective process for inhibiting corrosion of metallic film layers on mirrors and other articles of manufacture.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide mirror and other articles having effective protection of their metallic film layers against salt spray and other corrosion-causing compounds.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following description.

Iminodiacetonitrile mirror back coating corrosion inhibitor


In some examples, a system may receive location information. The system may determine at least one landmark based on the location information. In addition, the system may determine one or more current conditions for the at least one landmark. Further, the system may receive sensor configuration information. Based on the sensor configuration information and the one or more current conditions, the system may determine the detectability of the at least one landmark.

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and semi-autonomous vehicle systems, self-driving systems, or otherwise autonomous driving (AD) systems are systems that automate or otherwise enhance vehicle control for improved safety, automated navigation, and the like. Conventional navigation systems in traditional vehicles may typically provide one or more routing options for traveling from a source location to a destination location. Examples of factors considered by conventional navigation systems when determining routing options may include time to destination, traffic conditions, whether tolls are required, and the like. However, in the case of vehicles equipped with modern ADAS and AD systems, determining navigation routes using just these factors may not be sufficient for ensuring occupant safety and/or correct vehicle navigation.


The present invention provides a method of removing a hard carbon film (15) from the inner surface of a guide bush (11) through etching. The method comprises the steps of inserting an auxiliary electrode (71) in the center bore (11j) of the guide bush (11) wherein the hard carbon film (15) is formed over the inner surface thereof, in sliding contact with a workpiece, disposing the guide bush (11) with the auxiliary electrode inserted in the center bore thereof in a vacuum vessel (61) provided with an anode (79) and a filament (81) therein, grounding the auxiliary electrode (71) or applying a positive DC voltage thereto, and producing a plasma in the vacuum vessel (61) by feeding an oxygen-containing gas therein and applying a DC voltage to the anode (79) and an AC voltage to the filament (81) respectively, while applying a DC voltage to the guide bush (11) after evacuating the vacuum vessel (61).

Guide bushes mounted on a column of an automatic lathe to hold a rod-like workpiece rotatably at a position close to a cutting tool are classified into a rotary type and a stationary type. A rotary guide bush rotates together with a workpiece and holds the workpiece for axial sliding. A stationary guide bush remains stationary and holds a workpiece for rotation and axial sliding.
A guide bush of either type has a portion having a taper outer surface provided with slits to make the same portion elastic, a threaded portion to hold the guide bush on the column, and an inner surface for holding a workpiece. The inner surface always in sliding contact with a workpiece is liable to be worn and, particularly, the inner surface of a stationary guide bush is worn rapidly.
Therefore, we have already proposed a guide bush wherein a hard carbon film is formed over the inner surface thereof coming in sliding contact with a workpiece when the workpiece is rotated and slid so as to dramatically enhance wear resistance of the inner surface and prevent seizure from occurring between the inner surface and workpiece.
The hard carbon film is formed of a hydrogenated amorphous carbon closely resembling diamond in properties. Therefore, hydrogenated amorphous carbon is also called diamond-like carbon (DLC).
The hard carbon film (DLC film) has a high hardness (not lower than Vickers 3000 Hv), is excellent in wear resistance and corrosion resistance, and has a small coefficient of friction (about 1/8 that of a superhard alloy).
The guide bush having an inner surface to be in sliding contact with a workpiece, coated with the hard carbon film, has wear resistance more excellent than the conventional guide bush having an inner surface attached with a superhard alloy or a ceramic material.
Accordingly, an automatic lathe employing the stationary guide bush provided with the hard carbon film over the inner surface thereof as described above is able to achieve heavy machining, in which depth of cut is large and cutting speed is high, with high accuracy for an extended period of time without damaging the workpiece or causing seizure.
Further, the hard carbon film may preferably be formed on an intermediate layer formed over the inner surface of the guide bush to enhance adhesion between the inner surface and the hard carbon film.
When the intermediate layer is formed of a two-layer film consisting of a lower layer of titanium, chromium or a compound containing titanium or chromium, and an upper layer of silicon, germanium or a compound containing silicon or germanium, the lower layer secures adhesion to the inner surface (alloy tool steel as a substrate metal) of the guide bush, and the upper layer bonds firmly to the hard carbon film. Therefore, the hard carbon film adheres firmly to the inner surface of the guide bush with high adhesion.
The hard carbon film may be formed on a hard lining member of a superhard alloy, such as tungsten carbide (WC), or a sintered ceramic material, such as silicon carbide (SiC), formed on the inner surface of the guide bush. An intermediate layer interposed between such a hard lining member and the hard carbon film will further enhance the adhesion of the hard carbon film.
Even if the guide bush is provided with the hard carbon film over the inner surface thereof as described above, however, the necessity for removing the hard carbon film from the inner surface thereof will arise so as to render the guide bush reusable in case any defect in the hard carbon film is detected during a test after formation thereof, the hard carbon film is damaged after use over a long period of time, or any other trouble is found occurring thereto.
In such a case, it is conceivable to remove the hard carbon film formed over the inner surface of the guide bush by use of a conventional technique such as the plasma etching method.
FIG. 10 is a view for illustrating a method of removing the hard carbon film from the inner surface of a guide bush by use of the plasma etching method.
As shown in the figure, a guide bush 11 with a hard carbon film 15 formed over the inner surface thereof is disposed inside a vacuum vessel 61, having a gas inlet port 63 and an evacuation port 65, and provided with an anode 79 and a filament 81 in the upper part therein, and securely held by insulated holding members 80.
The vacuum vessel 61 is then evacuated by means for evacuation (not shown), removing air through the evacuation port 65. Thereafter, a DC voltage supplied from an anode power source 75 is applied to the anode 79 disposed opposite to the guide bush 11, and an AC voltage supplied from a filament power source 77 is applied to the filament 81 while a DC voltage supplied from a DC power source 73 is applied to the guide bush 11.
Simultaneously, an oxygen-containing gas is fed into the vacuum vessel 61 through the gas inlet port 63, causing an oxygen plasma to be produced within the vacuum vessel 61 so that the hard carbon film 15 formed over the inner surface of the guide bush 11 is removed through etching as a result of oxygen reacting with carbon in the hard carbon film.
With the use of such a method of removing as described above, however, it is impossible to completely remove the hard carbon film 15 formed over the inner surface of the guide bush 11 from the entire region of the inner surface.
This is because with the method of removing as shown in FIG. 10, the plasma entering the center bore 11j of the guide bush 11 from the open end face thereof does not sufficiently reach the innermost region in the center bore 11j, thus failing to produce a uniformly distributed plasma therein.
Consequently, the hard carbon film formed on the inner surface of the guide bush 11, in the vicinity of the open end face thereof, can be removed by etching, but same formed on the innermost side (toward the lower part in FIG. 10) of the inner surface of the guide bush 11 can not.
A method according to the invention has been developed to overcome the problem described above, and it is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method whereby the hard carbon film formed over the inner surface of the guide bush can be removed from the entire region of the inner surface thereof with certainty.

Method of removing hard carbon film formed on inner circumferential surface of guide bush


A cooling tower is disclosed that is resistant to lateral displacement while minimizing the number and type of parts, and while limiting the amount of horizontal bracing. The cooling tower has a fiber reinforced material skeletal frame. Moment-transferring connections are provided in the connections between the elements of the skeletal frame and between the skeletal frame and the base on which it sits. Further cost savings may be realized by using separable parts made of wood instead of fiber reinforced material. The moment-transferring connections between the frame members are made by bonding the joined elements to a mounting plate. The moment-transferring connections between the frame and the base are made by bonding the frame members and the base to footings. A method of constructing such a cooling tower is also disclosed. Diagonal bracing may be provided at preselected joints.

Cooling towers are used to cool liquid by contact with air. Many cooling towers are of the counter-flow type, in which the warm liquid is allowed to flow downwardly through the tower and a counter current flow of air is drawn by various means upward through the falling liquid to cool the liquid. Other designs utilize a cross-flow of air, and forced air systems. A common application for liquid cooling towers is for cooling water to dissipate waste heat in electrical generating and process plants and industrial and institutional air-conditioning systems.
Most cooling towers include a tower structure. This structural assembly is provided to support dead and live loads, including air moving equipment such as a fan, motor, gearbox, drive shaft or coupling, liquid distribution equipment such as distribution headers and spray nozzles and heat transfer surface media such as a fill assembly. The fill assembly material generally has spaces through which the liquid flows downwardly and the air flows upwardly to provide heat and mass transfer between the liquid and the air. One well-known type of fill material used by Ceramic Cooling Towers of Fort Worth, Tex. consists of stacked layers of open-celled clay tiles. This fill material can weigh 60,000 to 70,000 pounds for a conventional size air conditioning cooling tower. Structural parts of a cooling tower must not only support the weight of the fill material but must also resist wind forces or loads and should be designed to withstand earthquake loads.
Due to the corrosive nature of the great volumes of air and water drawn through such cooling towers, it has been the past practice to either assemble such cooling towers of stainless steel or galvanized and coated metal, or for larger field assembled towers, to construct such cooling towers of wood, which is chemically treated under pressure, or concrete at least for the structural parts of the tower.
Metal parts of cooling towers can be corroded by the local atmosphere or the liquid that is being cooled, depending on the actual metal used and the coating material used to protect the metal. Further, such metal towers are usually limited in size and are also somewhat expensive, especially in very large applications such as to cool water from an electric power generating station condenser.
Concrete is very durable, but towers made of concrete are expensive and heavy. Many cooling towers are located on roofs of buildings, and the weight of a concrete cooling tower can present building design problems.
Plastic parts are resistant to corrosion, but plastic parts ordinarily would not provide enough strength to support the fill material and the weight of the tower itself.
Wood has been used for the structural parts of cooling towers, but also has its disadvantages. Wood towers may require expensive fire protection systems. The wood may decay under the constant exposure not only to the environment, but also to the hot water being cooled in the tower. Wood that has been chemically treated to increase the useful life may have environmental disadvantages: the chemical treatment may leach from the wood into the water being cooled. Fiber reinforced plastic has been used as a successful design alternative to wood and metal.
To withstand expected lateral wind and seismic loads, support towers have generally been of two types: shear wall frame structures and laterally braced frame structures. Shear wall frame structures are generally of fiber reinforced plastic or concrete construction, and have a network of interconnected columns and beams. Shear walls are used to provide lateral resistance to wind and earthquake loads. In laterally braced framing structures, the cooling towers are generally made of wood or fiber reinforced plastic beams and columns, framed conventionally for dead load support; diagonal braces are used to resist lateral loads. The joints where the beams and columns meet are designed to allow for rotation between the structural elements. The joints do not provide lateral resistance to loading or racking of the structure.
Prior art solutions using fiber reinforced plastic include those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,625 to Bardo et al. (1993) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,357 (1991) to Bardo. Both patents disclose structures suitable for cooling towers, but a need remains for a mid-priced structure suitable for use as a cooling tower.
Thus, whitle prior fiber reinforced plastic tower structures have solved many of the problems associated with wood and metal cooling tower structures, many of the solutions to the problem of resistance to lateral loading have increased the costs of these units. Both the shear wall and laterally braced frames can be labor intensive to build, since there are many parts and many connections to be made. There are a large number of key structural elements, with more complex manufacturing and inventorying of parts, increasing the complexity of construction, and therefore the costs. And while the increased costs can be justified in many instances, a need remains for a lower cost cooling tower structure, and for lower cost cooling tower structures that meet less exacting design criteria where the prior structures go beyond the need.
In fiber reinforced plastic frame structures, one difficulty with the joint between the columns and beams has been that when made with conventional bolts or screws, the beams and columns can rotate with respect to each other. If tighter connections were attempted to be made with conventional bolts or screws, to limit rotation and provide lateral stability without adding diagonal bracing, the fiber reinforced plastic material could be damaged, and the problem worsened as the connecting members degrade the fiber reinforced plastic and enlarge the holes in which they are received.

Rigid cooling tower and method of constructing a cooling tower


A system and method for interfacing at least one ISA and/or PCI compliant device with a PCMCIA compliant device socket (124) on a host computer (122) is disclosed. Preferably included in the system are structures to carry out the functions of; interrupt translation between the PCMCIA port and the ISA devices; direct memory access translation between the PCMCIA port and the ISA devices; translation of bus address latch enable signal between the PCMCIA port and the ISA devices; translation between memory read and memory write signal of the PCMCIA port and a system memory read signal and a system memory write signal of the ISA devices: translation between the PCMCIA port and 8 bit ISA devices; providing a clock signal to the ISA devices; supplying power to the ISA devices; and translation of the timing between the PCMCIA port and the ISA devices.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to digital computers. More specifically, the present invention relates to devices used to expand the ability of an existing computer to utilize additional hardware and provide additional features for the user of the computer.
2. The Prior Art
The widespread use of computers in industrial societies has brought the benefits of computers to large numbers of people. In particular, the standardization and availability of personal computers has provided that each user can customize such computers with a wide variety of hardware and software. Unfortunately, some users who want to add hardware to their computer find that all available expansion slots or ports which can accommodate such hardware have already been utilized in their computer. Thus, the user must forego adding one or more hardware items.
The problem of adding hardware is particularly troublesome to users of portable computers. Such portable computers commonly are generally classified into laptop, note book, sub-note book, and palm top size classes. The small size of these computers requires that all of the components associated therewith be miniaturized. In order to allow the user to add hardware to such portable computers, an industry standard promulgated by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) has gained wide acceptance. Such hardware is commonly referred to as a PC Card or a CardBus Card and is known as "PC Card compliant," "PCMCIA compliant" or "CardBus compliant." PC cards and CardBus Cards are compact hardware devices having dimensions of about 2.1 inches by about 3.4 inches with a thickness of only 3.5 mm, 5 mm, 8 mm or some other dimensions allowed by the promulgated standard. The PC Card typically slides into a socket provided on the side of the portable computer to allow easy replacement of one PC Card with another PC Card. Increasingly, users of desktop computers, as well as other electronic devices, are also using such cards to add hardware devices to their computers.
Widely used hardware devices such as modems, random access memory, and disk drives, for example, are all available as PC cards and will soon be available as CardBus Cards. There are, however, numerous hardware devices which are not yet available, or which may never be available, in a PC Card implementation or a CardBus Card implementation. Thus, portable computer users are unable to use the myriad of hardware devices which are available to desktop computer users. Also, many portable computers do not provide additional ports for communication with hardware devices such as keyboards and pointing devices. For the foregoing reasons, portable computer users are unable to utilize many hardware devices which are utilized by other computer users.
In order to provide computer users with additional expansion capability and convenience of use for their computers, devices referred to as "port replicators" and "expansion chassis" have been provided. These devices provide additional locations for other hardware devices to interface with a computer. These other hardware devices may be stand alone, or external, devices which are commonly configured to communicate with the computer via a serial port using the widely known RS-232 communication protocol. Alternatively, these other hardware devices may be internal devices which are merely printed circuit cards adapted to be installed inside the computer case and which comply with the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) standard or the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) standard. Port replicators and expansion chassis can also be used to provide added convenience for a portable computer user by making connections to an external key board, external video monitor, and the like, simpler than if each external device needed to be connected to and disconnected from the portable computer.
The previously available port replicators and expansion chassis provide a few useful functions. Disadvantageously, such devices cannot interface with a PCMCIA socket provided in portable computers. Moreover, in many previously available port replicator devices and expansion chassis, only particular types of expansion devices and/or expansion devices which comply with only a less popular standard can be used. Alternatively, some previously available port replicators and expansion chassis utilize non-standard or proprietary connectors and protocols which seriously limits their usefulness.
In view of the foregoing, it would be a significant advance in the art to provide an improved system and method for expanding a computer which overcomes the drawbacks and disadvantages found in the previously available devices.

System and method for expansion of a computer


An apparatus and method for force sensing device having a pendulous mechanism proof mass formed in a silicon semiconductor substrate and structured for rotation about an intermediate rotational axis, the proof mass being substantially rectangular in shape with opposing first and second lateral peripheral edges and opposing first and second endwise peripheral edges. A plurality of capacitor comb teeth are formed symmetrically along the opposing first and second endwise peripheral proof mass edges and along the opposing first and second lateral peripheral proof mass edges adjacent to the first and second endwise peripheral edges, and one or more mass reduction apertures are formed in an interior portion of the proof mass on one side of the intermediate hinge axis.

MEMS is a popular acronym for Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems, of which monolithic silicon based accelerometers are a subset, of which vibration beam detection accelerometers are a further subset. MEMS vibration beam detection accelerometer devices are generally well-known.
Obtaining data from accelerometer output that has reduced non-linearity characteristics imposes significant obstacles for designs of micro-machined MEMS accelerometers. In out-of-plane accelerometers that rely upon stacked parallel capacitor plates for detection by capacitive pick-off, obtaining linear output has been difficult because the capacitance varies inversely with displacement of the out-of-plane pendulous proof mass by 1/d, where d is the distance between the capacitor plates on the pendulous proof mass and a relatively stationary frame from which the pendulous proof mass is suspended.
Therefore, devices and methods for overcoming these and other limitations of typical state of the art MEMS accelerometer and other devices are desirable.

MEMS teeter-totter accelerometer having reduced non-linearty


A memory processing approach involves implementation of memory status-driven access. According to an example embodiment, addresses received at an address buffer are processed for access to a memory relative to an active location in the memory. Addresses corresponding to an active location in the memory array are processed prior to addresses that do not correspond to an active location. Data is read from the memory to a read buffer and ordered in a manner commensurate with the order of received addresses at the address buffer (e.g., thus facilitating access to the memory in an order different from that received at the address buffer while maintaining the order from the read buffer).

Modern computer systems use dynamic memory chips that are arranged as a matrix of rows and columns. FIGS. 1–3 illustrate examples of such dynamic memory chips. FIG. 1 shows various memory cells disbursed within different banks 1–8. FIG. 2 illustrates certain of the components within a given bank of memory. Associated with the bank is a row decoder 22, a column decoder 24, a memory array 26, a sense amplifier 28 and column selection circuitry 30, also referred to herein circuitry 110.
A portion of the memory array 26 is further illustrated in FIG. 3 with a plurality of memory cells 30 attached to particular rows 32, (e.g., word lines) and columns 34 (e.g., bitlines).
Operation of memories as described above typically involves an address input to the memory array, with a memory cell associated with the input address being accessed and the data stored in that memory cell being read out. Similarly, if data needs to be written into the memory array, the data will have an associated address, and that address will be used to store the data into the memory cell associated with that particular address.
Memory chips as described above also use techniques in order to increase their speed and efficiency. Using conventional techniques, such chips can access a word of data in a different column of a pre-selected row in a very efficient manner (typically one word per cycle) but access to a word in a different (non-selected) row is relatively slow (typically ten cycles). Furthermore, since these chips are divided into banks as mentioned previously, which each include separate row/column matrices, as illustrated in FIG. 3, this allows for a row access to be performed on one bank while column accesses are being made to a different bank. While such operation improves efficiency somewhat, improvements are still needed.
Particularly, conventional memory systems process memory operations in the order they are received. If the memory system receives addresses in the same row as the previous address, it performs a column access. If an address in the same row as the previous address is not received, the memory system performs a row access. While this mode of operation yields adequate performance for access patterns with significant spatial locality, performance is degraded by almost 90% for unstructured address streams. Such unstructured address streams are typically of indirect vector or stream references.
These and other challenges to memory system operation and access have hindered certain aspects of memory and memory-related functions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for re-ordering memory references for access to memory

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


Systems and methods for clinician decision support during mechanical ventilation of a patient comprise evaluating a shape and/or characteristics of a waveform to detect an anomaly. While mechanical ventilators are equipped with a number of alarms and alerts when monitored patient data breaches various alarm thresholds, some anomalies in patient data may go unnoticed by clinicians. These anomalies, however, may provide relevant information regarding patient condition. Accordingly, in response to detecting an anomaly, the ventilator captures at least a portion of the waveform. The waveform capture, which may be annotated with various labels and educational information, may be reviewed by a clinician to obtain additional information regarding the anomaly. In this way, clinicians may be trained to recognize and address anomalies associated with waveform data and thereby be armed with information to optimize patient-ventilator interaction.

Medical ventilator systems have long been used to provide ventilatory and supplemental oxygen support to patients. These ventilators typically comprise a connection for pressurized gas (air, oxygen) that is delivered to the patient through a conduit or tubing. As each patient may require a different ventilation strategy, modern ventilators can be customized for the particular needs of an individual patient. For example, several different ventilator modes or settings have been created to provide better ventilation for patients in different scenarios, such as mandatory ventilation modes, spontaneous ventilation modes, and assist-control ventilation modes. Ventilators monitor a variety of patient parameters and are well equipped to provide reports and other information regarding a patient's condition. Unfortunately, clinicians are often unable to interpret the ventilator information in order to make educated assessments of the patient.
It is with respect to this general technical environment that aspects of the present technology disclosed herein have been contemplated. Furthermore, although a general environment has been discussed, it should be understood that the examples described herein should not be limited to the general environment identified herein.

Ventilator-initiated decision support and waveform capture during ventilation


Data for production is input by and input device 3 and stored in a data base 1 for planning. Knowledge for planning is also input by the input device 3 and stored in a knowledge base 2 for planning. An inference engine 6 automatically makes and modifies the production plan. The plan made by the inference engine 6 is stored in a data base 17 of inference result. An intelligent editor 15 makes a plan free of inconsistencies through the input device 3. The inference result of planning of the intelligent editor is also stored in the data base 17 of inference result. Data in the data base 1 and in the data base 17 of inference result is either indicated on a display 16 or printed on paper by a printer 22. As a result, it is possible to make a reliable plan and realize planning having wide extent of utilization.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inference planning system which is for making production plans, facility layouts and so on in manufacturing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with technological innovations or changes of consumer preference, rapid design changes in manufacturing have become common. That is, recently, many types of goods need to be manufactured, with relatively small quantities for each of the many types, within a short time period before an appointed date of delivery thereof. The above-mentioned manufacturing with many changes after relatively short periods of time becomes very important to keep up with quickly changing market trends. Therefore, it is desired that rapid and accurate production plans and facility layouts are made. Furthermore, quick responses to frequent changes of the plans and consecutive modifications for filling in gaps between planning and results of production are needed.
For instance, Japanese unexamined published patent application (Tokkai sho 62-52666) discloses a prior art of a planning system. An outline of the prior art will be described with reference to FIG. 33, which shows a schematic block diagram of the conventional planning system for production. Numeral 101 designates a storage device for storing basic data, e.g. types of manufacturing devices, their facilities, quantities, capacity and layout thereof. Numeral 102 designates an input device for inputting data of types of products to be produced and quantity (numbers) thereof, namely data of products. Numeral 108 designates a central processing unit (CPU) having a program 103 for production planning which makes a production plan. The program 103 uses a storage device 104 as a memory for storing many variables used in making the plan based on the above-mentioned basic data and data of products. Numeral 105 designates a display for indicating a production plan which has been made by this system. Numeral 106 is a printer for printing out the production plan. Numeral 107 designates a storage device for storing the production plan.
The CPU (central processing unit) controls the above-mentioned devices, equipments and program. In the abovementioned system, the method for making the production plan comprises the steps of: (1) inputting the above-mentioned data of products by the input device 102; (2) making or developing a production plan automatically by utilizing the program 103 for production planning and then storing the developed production plan in the storage device 104, whereby the production plan development is accomplished by combining the basic data stored in the storage device 101 with the data for products in the (CPU); (3) storing the production plan in the storage device 107; (4) displaying the production plan with the display 105; and (5) printing the production plan with the printer 106.
However, in the case that the production plan is not satisfactory or some modification of the plan is necessary due to newly requested changes in product or system specifications, the structure of the above-mentioned device needs to produce an entirely new plan for production planning from the beginning. Such modification requires additional time for processing, and results in a problem of low efficiency in planning. Therefore, because of the above-mentioned low efficiency in modification, a first problem is that the conventional method cannot update frequent modifications in planning by filling up a gap between the plan and the real data which is being sampled at every moment.
Japanese unexamined published patent application (Tokkai sho 63-291166) discloses another conventional planning system. This conventional planning system develops the production plan more easily because a planner uses an interactive method for making the operation plan of the facilities of interest. In this system, operation conditions of facilities are input by a keyboard, and the data representing these conditions are displayed on a CRT display as a table of a plan. The planner can produce the operation plan interactively by scrolling the table of the plan on the CRT display and by using a pointing device for pointing out a position on the CRT display to insert or shift select a menu list of predetermined operations.
In the above-mentioned system, although it is easy to correct the plan, all correction for change of data needs to be input interactively, and the planner must check and correct each point of planning so that the corrections will make the appropriate connections to other points of the plan. The prior art hence has the problem of inefficiency in correction and low reliability of planning.
Furthermore, there are limitations of changeable data and changeable methods in the prior art. The above-mentioned related art has no capability to change, for example, some kinds of data, methods of planning, formatting of output and so on.
Still further, the prior art has the problem of limitations in the usable area for planning.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The current invent relates to the construction and application of a three-line breeding system in the Peruvian scallop×bay scallop hybrids. The said three-line consists of a male sterile line, a maintainer line and a restorer line. A combination of male sterile line and maintainer line is obtained by continuously backcrossing the male sterile individuals selected from F1 inter-specific hybrid families with sperm of the selfing family of the sperm-providing bay scallops until the progenies are all male sterile. The restorer line is obtained by continuously backcrossing selected individuals from the male sterile line with sperm of the selfing family of a bay scallop until the progenies are all hermaphroditic and exhibit excellent production traits. Commercial male sterile brood stocks are produced by backcrossing the male sterile line with the maintainer line and commercial hybrid spats are produced by backcrossing the male sterile line and the restorer line.

The bay scallops (Argopecten irradians irradians) are native to the U.S. Atlantic coasts. The bay scallops grow fast and adapt to a wide range of temperature with high tolerance to environmental stresses, and thus are very suitable for aquaculture in China seas. The bay scallop was first introduced into China in 1982 and now accounts for more than 50% of the total production of cultured scallops in China. However, due to long-term inbreeding after its original introduction, the genetic quality of the Peruvian scallops has heavily degraded, as manifested by its ever-decreasing body size and relatively high mortality rates. Hence, the scallop aquaculture industry has an urgent need for scallop stocks with improved performance especially in growth and survival.
To find a better scallop stock for the sustainable scallop culture industry in China, the inventors introduced the Peruvian scallops (Argopecten purpuratus) into China from Peru for the first time in 2007. The Peruvian scallops, which belong to the same genus Argopecten as the bay scallops, are fast-growing, medium-sized scallops native to the South Pacific coasts. The two species of Argopecten scallops are similar in that both are hermaphroditic scallops with same chromosome number and similar karyotypes, and are thus possible to hybridize with each other. Unlike the bay scallops, culture of the Peruvian scallops in China was not successful as they could not survive the high temperature in the summer or low temperature in the winter. To utilize the genetic resources of the two Argopecten scallops, the inventors carried out the interspecific hybridization between the bay scallops and the Peruvian scallops and produced the F1 Peruvian scallop×bay scallop hybrids with superior performance especially in growth (Wang et al., 2011; Wang et al., unpublished). The F1 hybrids exhibited extraordinary high hetereosis in growth in that their whole body weight was increased by 86.7% in the A. purpuratus×A. i. irradians cohort compared with that of the bay scallops in the first year. In addition, unlike the Peruvian scallops which normally die in the following spring after spawning, the F1 hybrids could survive the summer and winter in China seas and grow to a whole body weight of up to 200 g in the following year (Chunde Wang et al., 2009. Study on interspecific hybridization of Bay scallops and Peruvian scallops. Marine Sciences, 33(10): 84-87; Chunde Wang et al., 2011. Introduction of the Bay scallop and its hybridization with the Peruvian scallop in China, Aquaculture, 2011, 310:380-387).
Despite their high hybrid vigor, the Peruvian scallop×bay scallop hybrids are hard to produce at large scales as both parent stocks are hermaphrodites which release sperm and eggs simultaneously during spawning. The released eggs are prone to being fertilized by sperm of the same scallop or from other animals of the same species, making it hard to collect unfertilized eggs for inter-specific hybridization. This greatly reduces the percentage of real hybrid progenies in the commercial spat batches and also the magnitude of the overall increases in growth of the progenies.
Studies have shown that the hermaphroditic characteristic of the two Argopecten scallops is similar to the monoecious characteristic of many agricultural crops. Normally, artificial emasculation is required to solve the problem of same-flower pollination in the breeding of the monoecious crops. Similar situation also exists in the hybridization between the Peruvian scallop and the bay scallop. In agriculture, the key to solve the problem of same-flower pollination depends on the discovery of male sterile (and yet female fertile) plants. A three-line breeding system, comprising of the male sterile line, maintainer line and the restorer line can then be obtained by continuously backcrossing the male sterile plant with pollen from an inbreeding line and can be used to produce pure hybrids at commercial scales. So far, the three-line breeding systems have been established in hundreds of agricultural crops around the world and are widely applied in the commercial production of hybrid plants in agriculture.
Up to now, in animal breeding, no male sterile and yet female fertile animals have been found and as a result, no similar three-line breeding system has been established for production of hybrids in animals so far. Obviously, establishment of such three-line breeding systems is essential for the production of inter-specific hybrids between hermaphroditic scallops at large scales and low costs, and represents a major breakthrough in animal breeding technology.

Peruvian scallop X bay scallop hybrid three-line breeding system and method


The present invention proposes a method to form a CdSeTe thin film with a defined amount of selenium and with a high quality. The method comprises the steps of providing a base substrate and of depositing a partial CdSeTe layer on a first portion of the base substrate. The step of depositing a partial CdSeTe layer is performed at least twice, wherein a predetermined time period without deposition of a partial CdSeTe layer on the first portion of the base substrate is provided between two subsequent steps of depositing a partial CdSeTe layer. The temperature of the base substrate and the CdSeTe layer already deposited on the first portion of the base substrate is controlled during the predetermined time period such that re-evaporation of Cd and/or Te from the CdSeTe layer already deposited takes place.

In the state of the art, the CdTe solar cell has the following structure, wherein the layers are arranged in the mentioned sequence: a transparent conducting oxide layer (TCO) formed as front contact layer; a layer of cadmium sulfide (CdS) formed as a n-doped window layer; a layer of cadmium telluride (CdTe) being the p-doped photoactive layer; and a back contact layer to collect the charge carriers. The CdS layer and the CdTe layer form a p-n junction. The front contact layer and the back contact layer may also be formed as a layer stack comprising different layers of different materials.
In order to reduce the energy gap of the photovoltaic layer and thereby increase the photovoltaic conversion efficiency, selenium is included into the CdTe layer. However, the electrical properties of the formed CdSeTe layer strongly depend on the amount of incorporated selenium and the electronic quality of the formed layer, the electronic quality depending on the electronic state of the incorporated selenium in the layer and the atomic ratio of the other elements in the layer.
CdSeTe layers are often formed on a substrate by evaporation or sublimation or by sputtering, wherein single vapor sources or sputter targets for each element or combined sources or targets for at least two elements, for instance CdSe and CdTe sources or targets, or even one source or target comprising a composition including all elements may be used. However, achieving a defined composition of the formed CdSeTe layer, i.e. a defined amount of selenium in it, is difficult due to different atom masses, different evaporation temperatures and/or different partial pressures of the individual elements or compositions. Thus, in evaporation or sublimation, the concentration of Se in a heated vapor source, also called crucible, comprising a CdSexTey source material increases over time due to the low vapor pressure of CdSe compared to that of CdTe. The amount of time the material within the vapor source is or was at a temperature equal to or higher than a deposition temperature at which the substrate is held is called the hot-age of the source material. Even co-evaporation of a CdTe source material and of a Se source material is difficult to control with respect to the amount of selenium incorporated within the deposited CdSeTe layer.

Method to deposit thin film high quality absorber layer

CHINA TRIUMPH INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING CO., LTD.


Partial refresh information indicating enabling/disabling of a refresh operation is set according to an external input and is output as a partial set signal. A refresh request signal is output periodically corresponding to a memory block for which a refresh operation is enabled. The partial set signal is masked so as to enable a refresh operation for all of the memory blocks during a period in which the partial refresh information is changed by the external input. Thus, it is possible to prevent disabling of a refresh operation in response to a refresh request even when timing of changing the partial refresh information and timing of occurrence of the refresh request signal overlap. Consequently, the refresh operation can be executed securely, and malfunctioning of the semiconductor memory can be prevented.

1. Field
The present embodiments relate to a semiconductor memory having dynamic memory cells and to a system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, portable equipment such as mobile phones which operate using a battery are gaining popularity. A semiconductor memory mounted in such portable equipment is required to consume low power so that the battery can be used for long time. Further, in recent portable equipment, a large amount of data of images, music files or the like is often handled. Replacing of work memories for these portable equipment are in progress from SRAMs having a small storage capacity and a high cost per bit to DRAMs having a large storage capacity and a low cost per bit. Along with this, DRAMs that consume low power are demanded for portable equipment.
For reducing the power consumption, DRAMs having a partial self-refresh mode are developed (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-68075). A DRAM of this type has a function to change the size of a partial refresh area for which a refresh operation is executed during the self refresh mode. Further, in portable equipment having various functions, the volume of retained data is different for each operating function.
The DRAMs having a self refresh mode and pseudo SRAMs which internally execute a refresh operation automatically have an oscillator which generates a refresh request periodically. For example, the partial refresh area is set by rewriting bit values in a mode register by a setting command. The refresh request occurs asynchronously with supply timing of the setting command. Accordingly, when timing of changing the partial refresh area by the setting command and the timing of occurrence of the refresh request overlap, there is a fear that the refresh operation is not executed in the area where the refresh operation should be operated. Thus, data retained in the memory cells disappear. In other words, the semiconductor memory malfunctions.

Semiconductor memory, system, and operating method of semiconductor memory


An organic electroluminescent display device of the invention includes an element substrate, an organic electroluminescent light-emitting element disposed on the element substrate, and a sealing film disposed on the organic electroluminescent light-emitting element, wherein the organic electroluminescent light-emitting element includes an anode formed of metal and disposed on the element substrate, a light-emitting layer disposed on the anode, and a transparent cathode disposed on the light-emitting layer, and the sealing film includes a light-transmittance-reducing layer colored in black.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a thin and lightweight light-emitting source, an organic light-emitting diode, that is, an organic electroluminescent light-emitting element is attracting attention, and an image display device including a number of organic electroluminescent light-emitting elements has been developed. The organic electroluminescent light-emitting element has a structure in which at least one layer of organic thin film formed of an organic material is interposed between a pixel electrode and a counter electrode. In recent years, the thinning and higher luminance of such an organic electroluminescent display device are demanded.
As an organic electroluminescent display device including an organic electroluminescent light-emitting element, a configuration including, for example, an element substrate, an organic electroluminescent light-emitting element, and a transparent sealing film covering the organic electroluminescent light-emitting element has been known, in which the organic electroluminescent light-emitting element includes an anode (pixel electrode) formed of metal, an organic thin film including a light-emitting layer, and a transparent cathode (counter electrode). JP 2002-252082 A discloses a configuration having a polarizer arranged on a sealing film, or a configuration having an antireflection film disposed on a sealing film.


A data processing system in the form of an integrated circuit includes a general purpose programmable processor and a hardware accelerator. A shared memory management unit provides memory management operations on behalf of both of the processor core and the hardware accelerator. The processor and the hardware accelerator share a memory system. A first communication channel between the processor and the hardware accelerator communicates at least control signals therebetween. A second communication channel coupling the hardware accelerator and the memory system allows the hardware accelerator to perform its own data access operations upon the memory system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, this invention relates to data processing systems including hardware accelerators and the interface used to couple such hardware accelerators to the remainder of the data processing system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide hardware accelerators of various different forms in order to increase the performance and efficiency of data processing systems. One type of hardware accelerator are large bus-based accelerators, such as video accelerators. These accelerators are usually accessed through device driver software and carry a high overhead for initiating tasks to be accelerated. Accordingly the tasks to be accelerated have to be large in order to effectively amortise this setup cost. Furthermore, the use of the device driver requires the involvement of the operating system and modification thereof, which is a disadvantage.
Another type of known hardware accelerator are coprocessors, such as the coprocessors known in conjunction with ARM general purpose processors. With such coprocessors, the general purpose processor is responsible for supplying both instructions and data to the coprocessor. This disadvantageously consumes resource of the general purpose processor thereby reducing the gain achieved. Furthermore, in order to lower the overhead associated with invoking the coprocessor activity, the coprocessor interface to the general purpose processor is closely adapted to the underlying micro-architecture of the general purpose processor. This makes it difficult to reuse coprocessor designs across multiple different general purpose processors.
It is also known to provide core extensions to the configurable processors produced by companies such as ARC and Tensilica. These configurable processors provide a mechanism for mapping hardware assistance into the instruction set of the main core. This provides access to the registers of the core by the hardware assist circuitry and may also add new registers to the core if appropriate. However, this approach requires changes to the assembler and compiler software for the core in order to support new added instructions. Such modification of the software tool chain is time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, load and store traffic to the hardware assist circuitry is normally handled by the core load-store instructions consuming resource of the general purpose processor. Some examples using FIFO interfaces to the hardware assist circuitry are known but these use a DMA unit to load them and do not integrate with the memory management functions of the system as a whole.

Data processor with hardware accelerator, accelerator interface and shared memory management unit


A cleaning implement having a liquid delivery system, includes a handle with first and second ends, a cleaning head member attached to the handle at the first end, and a sprayer nozzle preferably attached to the cleaning head member, independent of the handle, for providing increased directional control of the sprayer nozzle.

Conventional straight handled cleaning implements, such as mops, are known and typically comprise a handle attached to a substantially flat cleaning head member by a universal joint. These devices are generally controlled by applying a force to the handle which results in the cleaning head member moving in the direction of the force. Cleaning implements which utilize a universal joint have increased maneuverability by rotating the shaft of the handle. In this way, the cleaning head member moves in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction depending on the rotation of the handle.
In addition, cleaning implements are known which include a liquid delivery system to dispense cleaning fluid through a sprayer nozzle, in the vicinity of the cleaning head member. However, these cleaning implements typically utilize a sprayer nozzle attached to the handle of the cleaning, implement and not directly to the cleaning head member. As a result, there is limited ability to control the direction of the sprayer nozzle, and consequently, an inability to control the direction of the fluid which is dispensed.
Unlike the cleaning head member, a sprayer nozzle mounted on the handle will not move in the direction of the cleaning head member, but will instead, only rotate with the handle's shaft. As a result, the sprayer nozzle cannot be controlled to the same degree as the cleaning head member. Therefore, the fluid dispensed by the sprayer nozzle will be directed away from the cleaning head member, and more importantly, away from the cleaning surface. In addition, the fluid dispensed in this manner could be dispensed on objects and/or surfaces which are not intended to be cleaned. In this way, the cleaning fluid is wasted and, in some cases, may ruin items such as furniture.
Straight handled cleaning implements are also known which utilize a sprayer nozzle attached to the bottom of the cleaning surface. However, this is undesirable when using a cleaning fabric which is designed to wick the cleaning fluid from the cleaning surface as this type of system does not allow the cleaning fluid to contact the cleaning surface for a sufficient period of time to provide maximum cleaning.
Therefore, what is needed is a cleaning implement having a sprayer nozzle attached to the cleaning head member, independent of the handle, for providing increased directional control of the sprayer nozzle.

Cleaning implement having a sprayer nozzle attached to a cleaning head member


A system, device, and method for time-domain equalizer training uses a two-pass auto-regressive moving average model. A communication channel is first modeled using p1 poles and q1 zeros to form a first shortened channel impulse response having a first approximation H1(z)=B1(z)/1+A1(z), wherein q1, is greater than a predetermined cyclic prefix length. A time-mirrored image of the first shortened channel impulse response is then formed, and the resulting time-mirrored image of the first shortened channel impulse response is modeled using p2 poles and q2 zeros to form a second shortened channel impulse response having a second approximation H2(z)=B2(z)/1+A2(z), wherein q2 is less than or equal to the predetermined cyclic prefix length. The time-domain equalizer coefficients are determined by combining A1(z) and A2(1/z) with an appropriate amount of delay.

FIG. 1 shows a typical communication system 100 having a local/central unit 102 in communication with a remote unit 106 over a communication medium 104. Generally speaking, the communication medium 104 supports bi-directional communications between the local/central unit 102 and the remote unit 106. For convenience, communications from the local/central unit 102 to the remote unit 106 are said to be "downstream" communications, while communications from the remote unit 106 to the local/central unit 102 are said to be "upstream" communications. Thus, the communication medium 104 typically supports a downstream channel over which the local/central unit 102 communicates to the remote unit 106 and an upstream channel over which the remote unit 106 communicates to the local/central unit 102. The upstream channel and the downstream channel may share the same physical communication link or occupy different physical communication links. When the upstream channel and the downstream channel share the same physical communication link, the upstream channel and the downstream channel may occupy the same frequency band (e.g., analog modem channels) or different, typically non-overlapping, frequency bands (e.g., ADSL or cable modem channels). The upstream and downstream channels may be symmetric or asymmetric.
Within the communication system 100, it is common for the upstream and downstream communication channels to have dispersive characteristics. Specifically, each channel has a particular impulse response that disperses signals carried over the channel by extending the effects of each signal over a period of time. In many cases, the dispersive nature of the channel causes various distortions of the signals carried over the channel, such as Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI), Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI), and other distortions.
FIG. 2A shows a representation of an exemplary transmit signal 210 that is transmitted over a dispersive channel, for example, by the local/central unit 102. The exemplary transmit signal 210 includes two symbols, S1 (211) and S2 (212), that are transmitted over the dispersive channel with no inter-symbol delay.
FIG. 2B shows a representation of an exemplary receive signal 220 that is received over the dispersive channel, for example, by the remote unit 106, when the symbols S1 (211) and S2 (212) are transmitted over the dispersive channel with no inter-symbol delay. As shown in FIG. 2B, the transmitted symbol S1 (211) is dispersed by the dispersive channel such that the received symbol R1 (221) overlaps the beginning of the symbol S2 (212). This causes ISI between the symbols S1 (211) and S2 (212) and therefore corruption of the symbol S2 (212).
One way to avoid or reduce ISI is to add a sufficient amount of inter-symbol delay to the transmitted symbols so that the received symbols do not overlap.
FIG. 3A shows a representation of an exemplary transmit signal 310 that is transmitted over a dispersive channel, for example, by the local/central unit 102. The exemplary transmit signal 310 includes two symbols, S1 (311) and S2 (312), that are transmitted over the dispersive channel with inter-symbol delay.
FIG. 3B shows a representation of an exemplary receive signal 320 that is received over the dispersive channel, for example, by the remote unit 106, when the symbols S1 (311) and S2 (312) are transmitted over the dispersive channel with inter-symbol delay. As shown in FIG. 3B, the transmitted symbols S1 (311) and S2 (312) are dispersed by the dispersive channel. However, because of the inter-symbol delay in the transmitted signal, the received symbols R1 (321) and R2 (322) do not overlap. As a result, there is no ISI between the symbols S1 (311) and S2 (312).
While the inter-symbol delay added to the transmitted signal eliminates (or at least reduces) ISI, there are detriments to employing such inter-symbol delay. For one, the inter-symbol delay reduces the efficiency of the transmitted signal in that fewer symbols (and therefore less data) are transmitted over a particular period of time. Also, the inter-symbol delay can cause cross-talk between channels carried over a common physical communication link. Thus, inter-symbol delay may be impractical for certain applications.
Another way to avoid or reduce ISI is to "shorten" the impulse response of the channel. This is typically done using a time-domain equalizer (TEQ) at the receiving end of the communication channel. The TEQ is a short Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter that is used to time-compress (shorten) the impulse response of the communication channel. In addition to shortening the impulse response of the channel, the TEQ also tends to "flatten" the channel and amplify noise. The effectiveness of the TEQ has a direct impact on overall performance, and therefore the TEQ design and the TEQ coefficients must be carefully determined. There are typically different design considerations for time-domain equalization of the upstream and downstream channels. Also, whether the implementation platform is memory or processing power limited (or both) plays an important role in the TEQ design.
The following references are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, and may be referenced throughout the specification using the corresponding reference number. It should be noted that the reference numbers are not consecutive.    [1] John A. C. Bingham, ADSL, VDSL and Multicarrier Modulation, John Wiley & Sons, 2000.    [2]J. S. Chow, J. M. Cioffi, and J. A. C. Bingham "Equalizer Training Algorithms for Multicarrier Modulation Systems," ICC 1993, May 1993, pp. 761–765.    [3] D. D. Falconer and F. R. Magee, Jr., "Adaptive Channel Memory Truncation for maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimator," B.S.T.J. November 1973, pp. 1541–1562.    [5] D. T. Lee, B. Friedlander, and M. Morf, "Recursive Ladder Algorithms for ARMA Modeling," IEEE Trans. Automat. Contr., vol. AC-27, No. 4, August 1982.    [6] P. J. W. Melsa, R. C. Younce, C. E. Rohrs, "Impulse Response Shortening for Discrete Multitone Transceivers," IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 44, No. 12, pp. 1662–1672, December 1996.    [7] N. Al-Dhahir, A. H. Sayed, and J. M. Cioffi, "Stable pole-zero modeling of long FIR filters with application to the MMSE-DFE," IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 45, No. 5, pp. 508–513, 1997.    [8] N. Al-Dhahir, A. H. Sayed, and J. M. Cioffi, "A high-performance cost-effective pole-zero MMSE-DFE," Proc. Allerton Conf. Commun., Contr., Computing, September 1993, pp. 1166–1175.    [10] Steven M. Kay, Modern Spectral Estimation: Theory and Application, Prentice Hall, 1988.    [11] Peter E. Caines, Linear Stochastic Systems, John Wiley & Sons, 1988.    [13] N. Al-Dhahir and J. M. Cioffi, "A low complexity pole-zero MMSE Equalizer for ML Receivers," Proc. Allerton Conf. Commun., Control, Comput., pp. 623–632, 1994.

System, device, and method for time-domain equalizer training using a two-pass auto-regressive moving average model


The method of repairing in situ a damaged or malfunctioning electrical connector (10) of a safety related nuclear reactor instrument (14) and its associated sheathed cable (18) wherein the damaged or malfunctioning connector portion (20) is cut from its associated cable (18) and replaced by a new connector portion. The wires of the cut cable are connected with the replacement connector portion and are suitably insulated. The cut cable and new connector portion are then secured together by a special alloy coupling (34) which is positioned in spanning relation with the cut cable (18) and the replacement connector portion (20). This special alloy has the property that it can be expanded within limits and upon being heated above a critical temperature will return to its original dimension. The tubular coupling accordingly has an expanded diameter slightly larger than that of the replacement connector portion and the sheath of the cut cable but an original inner diameter slightly smaller. When positioned in its spanning relation with these members it is heated above its critical temperature such that it shrinks to its original shape and securely grips these members. This special alloy coupling has both circumferential and axial ridges or barbs extending inward of its inner surface to engage each of the members extending thereinto when it is shrunk into place in order to enhance the sealing and torque resistance capability of the connection.

This invention relates to electrical connectors used in nuclear power plants in the electric utility industry to electrically connect safety related reactor instrumentation with its associated mineral insulated sheathed cables. These electrical connectors are made up of a male and female portion which when connected together form a hermetic seal and electrically connect together numerous electric wire conductors. It is the normal practice to have these male and female electrical connector portions permanently attached by welding to the reactor instrumentation and the associated mineral insulated cable in the manufacture's factory at the time of initial manufacture. The purpose of the weld is to provide a hermetic seal to preclude ingress of moisture during normal operation and of containment spray during a loss of cooling accident and to provide structural support to maintain integrity of the cable and the connector during connection and torquing of the connector and also during seismic events. The electrical connectors are normally attached to the reactor instrumentation and the mineral insulated cables by using a component known as a backshell. This connector backshell is a hollow cylindrical component which is welded or threaded to the connector on one end and is welded to the instrument sheath or the sheath of the mineral insulated cable on the other end. Each of the male and female portions of the electrical connector have a cylindrical back end portion which is received within this cylindrical backshell.
Problems have been encountered in the field with these connectors typical of which problems are the breaking off of the connector from the reactor instrumentation or from the mineral insulated cable, electrical shorts or opens, bent or pushed in pins and cracked insulators.
The current options available to electric utilities experiencing these problems are to (1) scrap the instrument and/or cable and purchase new ones, (2) return the instrument and/or cable to the manufacturer for repair, or (3) have the manufacturer perform repair or replacement of connectors in the field using in-containment welding or brazing. Scrapping of the instruments and/or cables generates both high level and low level radioactive waste, and the purchase of new equipment is an unplanned expense for the utility. Returning the equipment to the manufacturer is not always feasible due to radioactive contamination. Because of the radioactive environment in which these connectors are used inside the containment structure of the nuclear reactor power plant and because of the equipment and time required, welding or brazing inside this containment is an expensive undertaking in terms of both monetary cost and radiation exposure to those performing the work. Accordingly none of these options are particularly attractive.

Method of field replacement of an electrical connector for nuclear reactor instrumentation