An apparatus and method for diagnosing a failure in a blower of a vehicle improve performance of various systems using state information of the blower. The apparatus and method include a controller that converts an operating current value supplied to the blower of the vehicle into a voltage value and diagnoses whether the blower fails based on the voltage value. The apparatus and method also include a display that displays whether the blower fails.

A thermostat is a coolant flow control device that is mounted at a coolant outlet side of an engine and that opens/closes a coolant passage depending on the temperature of coolant to facilitate warming up and cooling the engine.
The thermostat operates while wax is contracted and expanded by the coolant that is heated to a predetermined temperature (normally, about 82° C.) in the engine. The thermostat introduces the coolant into a radiator to cool the coolant. The cooled coolant is supplied to the engine to cool the engine. This is called a water-cooling cooling apparatus for the engine. When the coolant temperature is low as in the case of cold starting, the thermostat directly supplies the coolant to the engine rather than the radiator to facilitate warming up the engine.
By adjusting the flow of the coolant circulating through the engine as described above, the thermostat facilitates warming up the engine in the case of cold starting and thereafter prevents the engine from being overheated. Accordingly, the thermostat enables the engine to be always stably driven while being maintained at an appropriate temperature.
When the thermostat fails, the thermostat may be maintained in a state of being open toward the radiator (i.e., in a state in which the coolant is introduced into the radiator) or in a closed state. Due to leaking or sticking, warm-up of the engine may be significantly delayed, or overheated coolant may be directly introduced into the engine again to accelerate engine overheating, thereby causing an engine stall.
In general, a technology for diagnosing a failure in the thermostat by using only the temperature of the coolant may misdiagnose whether the thermostat fails or not because the technology does not consider whether a blower (a heater blower) affecting the temperature of the coolant operates or not.
In particular, even though whether the blower operates or not is considered, whether the blower fails or not has to be diagnosed so as not to misdiagnose a failure in the thermostat. However, specific methods have not been proposed yet.
For reference, a technology by which a controller inside the blower generates a failure diagnosis code may be used as a precondition in an embodiment of the present disclosure. However, that technology has to be distinguished from a blower failure diagnosis technology according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only to enhance understanding of the background of the present disclosure. Therefore, the Background section may contain information that does not form any part of the prior art nor what the prior art may suggest to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Apparatus and method for diagnosing failure in a blower of a vehicle


In a game bonus initiated by a base game trigger, a plurality of scripts may be chosen randomly. A select script takes a player through a predetermined bonus sequence. The bonus sequence can be located on a video screen, or on a top box. Each script may request player interaction at each let of the current step before moving on to the next step. Each step may have the same value or it may have different values, with the defining difference being on the method of awarding the sum of the values of each step of the script. With multiple scripts associated with the same sum value, it is possible to provide the appearance of luck and/or skill to a player that may never see the same bonus sequence twice and thus would be unable to predict the outcome.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electronic gaming machines and more particularly to a method and apparatus for operating a gaming machine where the results of a bonus feature operating on the gaming machine follows one of a plurality of computer selected bonus scripts progressing step-by-step through the script sequence responsive to human interaction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Casinos typically include electronic gaming machines (EGMs) such as slot machines and video poker machines. Slot machines, for example, usually include three reels that each have a plurality of symbols printed thereon. After the player applies a wager to the machine, he or she starts play by triggering a switch that starts the reels spinning. Each reel stops at a random position and thereby presents three symbols—one from each reel. Some combinations of symbols do not pay any jackpot. Others pay varying amounts according to predetermined combinations that appear in a pay table displayed on the machine and stored in the gaming machine's programmable read-on memory (PROM).
Competition for players among electronic gaming machines is tight and the industry is developing different methods for attracting and keeping players at their machines. One method for attracting players is to create linked progressive jackpot systems in which multiple gaming machines have been linked together into groups of machines that share the same bonus pool. A simple example of such a system is progressive video poker in which players play the primary poker game on one of a plurality of gaming machines grouped together on the casino floor. A coin-in counter, linked to all machines sharing the progressive pool, counts the total amount of money played in the group of machines and advances the progressive bonus pool accordingly. For instance, the casino can choose to set aside 5% of all money played on the group of video poker machines to the bonus pool. The amount of the pool is displayed on a large LED display and is incremented as money is played. This amount is awarded automatically as a bonus should a player on one of the video poker machines receive a designated winning hand such as a royal flush. After the bonus is awarded, the bonus pool is seeded with a nominal amount that is further incremented as described above.
The advantage of the progressive system is that the bonus pools from individual machines can be pooled to form larger awards that in turn attract more players. When taken to the extreme, progressive bonuses can be pooled together not only from machines in different areas of the casino, but also from different casinos in different states. More complex examples for bonusing are implemented using bonus servers over a network, such as disclosed in co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,125 (the '125 patent), which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Also incorporated herein by reference for all purposes is U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,961, assigned to the Assignee of the present application (the '961 patent), which also discloses bonuses that can be implemented by bonus servers over a network.
While these linked progressive systems have been effective at drawing additional players, there is a need for gaming machines that have additional attraction features and yet are not required to be linked to other machines. Bonus mechanisms have existed where a player is given an award in addition to the standard paytable payout. The methods for granting these additional awards has grown more sophisticated with attractive flashing lights and computer graphics. Multi-step additional awards to date, however, have been difficult to engineer and probability tables more difficult to calculate.
Accordingly, what is needed is a new method for enabling a special feature on a gaming machine and operating a bonus mechanism to attract and entertain players.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Bonus award for gaming machines using selectable scripts


A receiver receives payload data transmitted on a downstream using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) symbols via a cable network. The receiver includes circuitry configured to receive a downstream signal representing the payload data modulated onto one or more OFDM symbols, and to demodulate the OFDM symbols of each frame to detect and to recover the payload data using the physical layer signalling data. One or more of the frames of the received signal includes a preamble of the frame providing the physical layer signalling data, and in a separate media access control (MAC) signal within the frame, upstream messages relating to the transmission of data from the receiver to the transmitter. Accordingly, an arrangement is provided for a cable network communications system in which a capacity for upstream signalling messages for communicating on the downstream can be adapted to a requirement of receivers connected to the network.

There are various media via which data can be communicated including terrestrial and satellite radio frequency signals for both broadcast systems and cellular mobile communication systems where mobile terminals communicate using radio signals to a network of base stations. Another media for communicating data is a cable network which can be a coaxial cable or a fibre optic in which data is modulated and communicated through the cable. Cable systems can be used to form broadcast systems in which a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS) or head end modulates data onto signals for transmission through the cable network to a receiver which is known as a Cable Modem (CM). An example of a cable modem system which has been developed for the communicating data including television signals via a cable network is the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) system which is administered by the cable labs. DOCSIS 3.0 for example provides a physical layer and a media access layer specification for arranging for data to be communicated via a cable network. The specification provides various communication techniques between the CMTS and the CMs for efficiently using an available bandwidth within the cable network.
There are various applications for the communications of the data via a cable network. These applications increase in variety and include video transmission, voice transmission, gaming and data communications generally. In order to allow access of the CMs to the upstream communications resources it is necessary to provide an arrangement of the cable network system to the effect that the CMs can request access to upstream communications resources for communicating data from the CM to the CMTS.
It will therefore be appreciated that with respect to known cable network communication systems it is desirable to provide an improved cable network communications system which makes an efficient use of communications resources by reducing signalling overheads and optimises a round trip delay time for accessing upstream communications resources.

Receiver and method of receiving and transmitter and method of transmitting for OFDM symbols


A genetic algorithm is used to balance a line of pick and place machines. The genetic algorithm uses a modularized chromosome string having at least three parts indicating 1) a division of parts between the pick and place machines, 2) a layout of a first pick and place machine, and 3) a layout of a second pick and place machine, respectively. A heuristic layout generator cycles with the genetic algorithm to create simulated layouts from populations of chromosome strings produced by the genetic algorithm. The heuristic layout generator is also modularized, having separate modules corresponding to the three parts of the chromosome string.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of configuring lines of complex industrial robots, especially the so-called pick and place machines, using incomplete search techniques.
2. Related Art
The invention is an improvement on U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,283 (xe2x80x9c283xe2x80x9d) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,833 (xe2x80x9c833xe2x80x9d), both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Multiple head pick and place machines present a nearly intractable combinatorial problem, because there are so many layout optionsxe2x80x94what with multiple pickup nozzles, pipette modules, gripper types, feeders, trays, and so forth. It is desirable to choose the proper combination of options, so that part placement is conducted as quickly as possible, but searching all the options is impractical. Accordingly, an incomplete search of the space of layouts is undertaken.
""283 teaches creating a layout, a.k.a. configuration, for a single pick and place machine using an incomplete search technique known as a genetic algorithm (xe2x80x9cGAxe2x80x9d) in combination with a heuristic layout generator (xe2x80x9cHLGxe2x80x9d) to generate the layout. A form of GA known as CHC is preferred. The GA uses a population of chromosome strings, each containing genes that influence the HLG. The GA crosses over and mutates the population, and causes elimination of unfit individuals, in a simulation of the biological process of evolution. The HLG attempts to translate each chromosome string into an actual layout and then evaluates how good that layout or partial layout is. The quality assessment by the HLG is used in each subsequent iteration of the GA to determine which chromosome strings live or die.
The GA is a technique that generally requires a great deal of experimentation to apply to a particular problem. A chromosome string format representing a problem solution needs to be developed. Then the format must be tested by multiple applications of the GA, testing the results each time, to see if the format repeatedly results in convergence towards an improved solution. Typically several string formats must be tested prior to selection of a preferred one. It is not usually possible to predict what format will work for a given problem, especially if that problem is not simple.
""833 refines the techniques of ""283 for lines of at least two pick and place machines of different types. ""833 adopts a chromosome string which represents a unified layout for the entire line and then uses a GA and an HLG to find layout solutions for the line. ""833""s preferred embodiment shows a line of two machines of different types, a Philips FCM and a Philips ACM.
The object of the present invention is to improve the techniques of ""833.
This object is achieved by modularizing the chromosome string and the HLG. In particular, the allocation of part types to machine types is carried out in a separate step from the rest of the layout generation.

Method for optimizing a line of pick and place machines


An orientation-independent electro-hydraulic actuator that includes a housing having an interior space forming a fluid reservoir, a pump connected to the housing, an electric motor drivingly coupled to the pump; and a piston-cylinder assembly having a piston axially movable within a cylinder. The cylinder is in fluid communication with the pump to effect movement of the piston in response to fluid flow between the cylinder and the fluid reservoir. The pump has one or more inlet/outlet ports communicating with a volumetric centroid region of the fluid reservoir. The fluid reservoir includes a volume of hydraulic fluid such that when the piston is fully extended, the volume of fluid in the reservoir is at a minimum and at least one of the inlet/outlet ports is submerged in hydraulic fluid.

Self-contained power units, such as electro-hydraulic actuators, are known. A typical electro-hydraulic actuator includes an electric motor that drives a hydraulic pump to move fluid between a reservoir and a hydraulic actuator. The hydraulic actuator generally includes a tubular barrel in which a piston having a piston rod moves linearly, back and forth. The piston seals and separates the inside of the barrel into two chambers, a fluid chamber and a piston chamber. The fluid chamber generally is filled with a substantially incompressible hydraulic fluid, typically an oil.
The pressure of hydraulic fluid pumped into or out of the fluid chambers moves the piston within the barrel. In general, when the electric motor is driven in a first rotational direction, the hydraulic pump moves the fluid into the fluid chamber of the hydraulic actuator and out of the piston chamber, thereby extending a piston rod from the actuator housing. When the electric motor is driven in a second rotational direction, opposite the first rotational direction, the hydraulic pump moves the hydraulic fluid out of the fluid chamber and into the piston chamber, thereby retracting the rod.
Some electro-hydraulic actuators have a hydraulic pump with two intake ports, both located at the bottom of the fluid reservoir. Depending on the end use of the electro-hydraulic actuator and its resulting orientation, one of the intake ports typically is plugged and the other intake port provides a path for fluid flow from the reservoir to the pump. As a result, these electro-hydraulic actuators require a change of components (i.e., the plug) depending upon its orientation at its end use.
An exemplary electro-hydraulic actuator has an external reservoir, thereby allowing it to be used in any orientation without changing components. The reservoir is connected to the pump intake or inlet port through a flexible tube with an affixed weight to ensure that the fluid pick-up end of the tube is always submerged, regardless of orientation. While this design represents a simplistic approach to providing universal orientation, the requirement for an external reservoir adds to the overall space claimed by the electro-hydraulic actuator. Additionally, for electro-hydraulic actuators that change orientations during use, the continuous movement of the flexible tube due to the weight may result in wear or premature failure.

Universal orientation electro-hydraulic actuator


The invention provides neuregulin antagonists and methods of using the neuregulin antagonists in delaying the time to tumor recurrence or preventing resistance of cancer cells to treatment with a therapeutic agent.

The identity and properties of cancer stem cells (CSCs) has been a field of intense study in recent years. Evidence is accumulating that tumors are a heterogeneous mixture of cells with different biological properties. The isolation of distinct cell populations with the unique ability to initiate tumor growth has been reported for numerous hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. However, inconsistencies have emerged in the use of specific cell surface markers to prospectively identify CSCs. For example, disparate findings on stem cell phenotype have been reported for leukemias, pancreatic, colorectal, brain and breast cancers (Reviewed in Brennan and Matsui 2009). Furthermore, estimates of CSC frequency vary dramatically between tumor types and patients. The role of CSCs in maintaining the growth of an established tumor or in re-initiating a tumor after chemotherapy either at a primary or distant site, remains to be determined.
For most cancer patients, disease relapse after chemotherapy is a major cause of mortality. Accordingly, a better understanding of the tumor re-initiating cells (TRICs) responsible for relapse is needed in order to better treat patients who have experienced a recurrence of cancer after initially responding to chemotherapeutic treatment. This is particularly relevant for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) because more than two thirds of NSCLC patients are not candidates for surgical resection. Most patients present with advanced disease and are treated with chemotherapy, radiation or a combination of the two (lung cancer principles and practice). However, the 5 year survival rate for locally advanced disease remains at 23.7% and at 3.5% for advanced disease despite good initial responses to therapy (Horner et al. SEER).
Deregulation of EGFR signaling via overexpression or activating mutations has been shown to be a frequent event in NSCLC (reviewed in Dahabreh et al., 2010). EGFR is the prototypical member of the HER family of tyrosine kinases, which includes EGFR (Her1), Her2, Her3 and Her4. Her2 lacks a functional ligand binding domain (Graus-Porta 1997) and Her3 lacks tyrosine kinase activity (Guy 1994), so these receptors must act as heterodimers. Recent evidence shows that other Her family members may also play a role in NSCLC. However their contributions to the disease are less well characterized and studies have often focused on their interactions with EGFR activation (Kuyama et al. 2008, Hirsch 2009, Zhou 2006, Johnson 2006, Ding 2008).
Neuregulin is a ligand for the Her3 and Her4 receptor tyrosine kinases. There are four known members of the neuregulin family, NRG1, NRG2, NRG3, and NRG4 (Falls 2003). The NRG1 transcript undergoes extensive alternative splicing resulting in at least 15 different isoforms. All active isoforms share an EGF-like domain that is necessary and sufficient for activity (Holmes 1992, Yarden 1991). NRG1 autocrine signaling has been shown to regulate lung epithelial cell proliferation (Jinbo 2002) and to play a role in human lung development (Patel 2000) and has been implicated in insensitivity of NSCLC to EGFR inhibitors (Zhou 2006).
The need exists to provide therapeutics effective in treating resistant cancers and patients who have experienced a recurrence of cancer.

Neuregulin antagonists and use thereof in treating cancer

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


The present invention can allow an electronic catalog or other set of items to be searched and compared interactively. In one embodiment, the invention includes displaying a list of items in an electronic catalog, each item corresponding to a row of the display, each row having values corresponding to attributes of the corresponding items arranged into attribute columns, grouping some of the displayed items based on a selected attribute upon receiving a grouping command so that the grouped items are displayed in a single row, and expanding the grouped items upon receiving an expand command so that the grouped items are each displayed in a separate row. The embodiment further includes removing a row corresponding to an item or to grouped items from the display upon receiving a row remove command and removing a column corresponding to an attribute of the items from the display upon receiving a column remove command.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to retrieving, sorting, selecting and organizing items in a database, such as an electronic catalog, using comparisons. More particularly, the invention relates to grouping items in the database based on similarity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Searchable electronic catalogs (e-catalogs) are commonly used in support of various electronic commerce and purchasing functions. These catalogs typically have a user interface for selectively retrieving and displaying records as well as a system for electronically purchasing any items that are selected. A critical factor in the acceptance and success of electronic catalogs is how well they allow a user to find a desired item. As electronic catalogs grow and the number of similar items increases, it becomes increasingly harder to compare the items that are available and to find items with a set of desired features.
The conventional finding aids for an e-catalog are a taxonomical hierarchy of categories and classifications of the items and a search engine. The categories can help a user find an item if the classifications are well understood, but once the appropriate sub-grouping is found it does not help the user sort through large numbers of similar items. A search engine will typically allow a user to search for particular key words and then display the search results. The key word search, however, requires that the user know all possible key words that might be used to describe a particular item or feature of the item. If the catalog has a large number of items, it is also likely that undesired, unrelated items will also be found in the search together with the desired types of items.
Once a list of items is retrieved, it is typically displayed as rows of items. The features of the items are often aligned into tables. If the display includes a large number of items, it can still be difficult to navigate through such a table and isolate the key similarities and differences between the items. Various sorting tools have been offered to assist a user in finding a desired item from a large list. When attributes of the items are each listed in a different column, some search systems allow the user to sort the items based on their respective values in a column. Further searches within only the displayed items can be used to restrict the display list to those having only a certain value or range of values for a particular attribute. Some search engines allow for "parametric refinement" in which a particular value for an attribute can be selected. The search engine will then search within the listed items and display only items with the same value as the selected value for the attribute. For comparisons, some search engines can compare items and flag the differences in the display. This is typically applied only to compare two or three items. With a large number of items, there can be many more differences so that too many attributes are flagged to provide a useful result.

Interactively comparing records in a database


An electromagnetic ranging source includes: a tubular body having a circumference; a ferromagnetic core conforming to the tubular body and extending at least halfway around the circumference to define a gap with circumferentially-spaced poles; one or more current-carrying windings around the core to induce a magnetic field between the poles; and a downhole power source that drives the one or more current-carrying windings. A related method includes: equipping a first drill string with such an electromagnetic ranging source; extending a first borehole with the first drill string; assembling a second drill string with sensors; and drilling a second borehole while using said sensors to guide the second drill string relative to the first borehole.

Much effort has been invested in techniques for accurately tracking and drilling boreholes that are to be positioned relative to existing boreholes. Many such techniques rely on the conductivity or ferromagnetism of steel tubing in the reference borehole, yet the range at which such techniques operate has proven to be undesirably limited. In an effort to extend this range, attention has recently turned to the use of one or more beacons in the casing of a reference borehole. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,568,532 "Electromagnetically determining the relative location of a drill bit using a solenoid source installed on a steel casing" by Kuckes et al, which discloses the use of ranging for drilling parallel wells for steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), yet this solution is unsuitable for one of the more urgent applications of ranging techniques.
Before a borehole can be cased, it must be drilled. It is during the drilling process itself when well control issues, such as pressure kicks or blowouts, are most likely to be encountered. In many cases, such control issues are so severe as to merit the drilling of a relief borehole to intersect the initial borehole in order to inject a dense "kill" fluid that suppresses a further influx of formation fluid. As a general principle, it is desirable to intersect the target borehole as near to the source of the well control issue as possible, yet during the drilling process this source is most likely located in the open portion of the borehole, long before that portion of the hole can be provided with a casing beacon and a power supply line. Often the drill string remains, but as previously noted, techniques relying solely on the ferromagnetic or conductivity properties of the drill string have an undesirably limited range.
It should be understood, however, that the specific embodiments given in the drawings and detailed description thereto do not limit the disclosure. On the contrary, they provide the foundation for one of ordinary skill to discern the alternative forms, equivalents, and modifications that are encompassed together with one or more of the given embodiments in the scope of the appended claims.

Electromagnetic ranging source suitable for use in a drill string


A method for separating a water soluble noble metal catalyst from a crude reaction product of a noble metal-catalyzed process for preparing octadienol from butadiene in aqueous solution, in an aqueous emulsion or as an aqueous suspension, the crude reaction product including an aqueous phase containing a water soluble Group VIII noble metal-ligand complex catalyst, and an organic phase containing unreacted butadiene feed and an organic octadienol reaction product, which comprises: (a) contacting the crude reaction product with a hydrophobic membrane capable of allowing a substantial portion of the unreacted butadiene feed and organic octadienol reaction product to pass therethrough while retaining a substantial portion of the water soluble Group VIII noble metal-ligand complex catalyst; (b) removing unreacted butadiene feed and the organic octadienol reaction product which passes through the hydrophobic membrane as permeate; and (c) retaining the water soluble Group VIII noble metal-ligand complex catalyst as retentate.

N-octadienol is useful as an intermediate for synthetic resin modifiers, agricultural chemicals, medicines, perfumes, and the like. Particularly, n-octanol which is obtained by reduction of n-octadienol is an important starting material for the preparation of di-n-octyl phthalate which is widely used as a plasticizer for polyvinyl chloride and similar polymers. Di-n-octyl phthalate is superior in use for various basic applications when compared to the conventional dioctyl phthalate derived from 2-ethylhexanol.
It has been proposed that n-octanol can be prepared by reacting butadiene with water in the presence of a palladium catalyst to synthesize n-octadienol followed by hydrogenation of n-octadienol (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,032). However, according to the process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,032, both the rate of formation of n-octadienol and the selectivity toward it are extremely low so that the process is not suitable for the commercial production of n-octanol.
Since palladium is an extremely expensive metal, it is essential for the commercial production of n-octadienol by the reaction of butadiene with water to keep the activity of the catalyst stable for a prolonged period of time. In order to stabilize the activity of the catalyst, an addition of the phosphine in excess is necessary, but such excessive addition of the phosphine leads to unsatisfactory results in that, as mentioned above, both the rate of formation of and the selectivity toward n-octadienol are decreased.
Furthermore, in the synthesis of n-octadienol the product is generally isolated by direct distillation from the reaction mixture, and the distillation residue containing the catalyst components is recycled to the reaction system. However, the palladium catalyst has a tendency toward deterioration or metallization at distillation temperatures exceeding about 120.degree. C. The deterioration and metallization of the palladium catalyst are serious problems from a commercial point of view, since these factors not only result in a decrease in the catalyst activity, but they make substantially impossible a continuous reuse of the catalyst. In order to suppress the deterioration and metallization of the palladium catalyst, it is necessary to conduct the distillation of products from the reaction mixture at a temperature of 120.degree. C. or below, but in such cases other problems such as a build-up of high boiling by-products including octadienyl ether in the reaction system and a decrease in the distillation yield of n-octadienol may arise.
Thus, in order to achieve a truly industrial valuable method of n-octadienol synthesis by the reaction of butadiene and water in the presence of a palladium catalyst, it is essential to solve several problems which include the following: (1) the rate and the selectivity of the reaction must be improved to commercially acceptable levels, (2) catalyst life must be maintained over a prolonged period of time, and (3) the product must be isolated from the reaction mixture and the catalyst must be recycled without loss of catalyst activity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,333 (Yoshimura et al.), which issued on Oct. 26, 1982, and which is incorporated herein by reference, attempts to overcome the problems set forth above by a process which comprises: (1) conducting the reaction of butadiene and water in an aqueous sulfolane solution having a water to sulfolane weight ratio of 20:80 to 70:30 and containing carbonate and/or bicarbonate ions in the presence of a palladium or a palladium compound catalyst, a monodentate phosphine ligand, and a monodentate tertiary amine; (2) subjecting the reaction mixture to solvent extraction; and (3) recycling the extraction residue containing the catalyst components to the first step, i.e., the reaction of butadiene and water.
The aqueous sulfolane solution permits easy separation of the product from the reaction mixture by means of extraction. That is, sulfolane is chosen as a co-solvent with water to avoid a reaction mixture that would be homogeneous, thus making catalyst recovery either very difficult or impossible. By the combined use of an aqueous sulfolane solution and a monodentate phosphine the palladium catalyst and sulfolane become substantially insoluble in the extractant and losses of the palladium catalyst, phosphine, tertiary amine and sulfolane because of their dissolution into the extractant layer become negligibly small. The desired product, i.e., n-octadienol, is subsequently separated from the reaction mixture by solvent extraction wherein the octadienol is extracted into the solvent and the catalyst and ligand are left in the aqueous layer. The extraction is generally carried out under an atmosphere of carbon dioxide or an inert gas in an extraction column. In order to remove trace amounts of catalyst and phosphine from the extract layer, the extract is washed with water or aqueous sulfolane. Thereafter, the catalyst is recycled to the synthesis step after being partially re-activated.
Moreover, since the problem of deterioration and metallization of the palladium catalyst due to heat and build-up of high boiling by-products can be overcome by the adoption of an extraction method, the catalyst activity can be kept more stable. Such advantages attributable to the extraction method can not be obtained in the absence of either the aqueous sulfolane solution or the monodentate phosphine. For example, when the ligand is triphenylphosphine substantial portions of the palladium and phosphine are extracted into the extractant layer even if the n-octadienol synthesis is carried out in an aqueous sulfolane solution, and hence the extraction procedure cannot be successfully applied.
The isolation of the octadienol from the extract layer is accomplished by distillation where it is separated from unreacted starting material, by-products and the extraction solvent.
The present inventor has discovered a novel means for simplifying the n-octadienol process of U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,333, and, in turn, substantially reducing the capital cost of the method in terms of system requirements and chemical additions. The present invention utilizes a hydrophobic membrane in a perstraction mode to separate as retentate the ligand and catalyst from a permeate of n-octadienol and unreacted butadiene feed. Thus, the need for extraction columns, distillation columns for extraction solvent separation and recovery from the reaction product, the extraction solvent itself and a catalyst re-activation section are avoided.
The use of a hydrophobic membrane and butadiene as the perstraction solvent allow more optimum synthesis conditions by eliminating the need for a reaction solvent that will separate easily in the extraction column; simplify the catalyst and ligand separation and recycle step; eliminate the extraction step thereby eliminating expensive extraction columns and the need for an extraction solvent and its subsequent wash step; reduce expensive distillation requirements to separate the extraction solvent from reaction products and to further purify it for recycle; and reduce losses of palladium and phosphine.
Although the reaction rate is satisfactory using the sulfolane, the rate would be faster if solvents or surfactants that promote phase transfer of the butadiene to the aqueous layer could be used. However, when phase transfer is promoted, emulsions of the mixture often result and solvent extraction becomes difficult. Membranes may be used to conveniently separate the organic-soluble constituents from the water soluble constituents from such mixtures. Thus, using the present invention, an optimum reaction system may be chosen without regard to the difficulties normally presented by emulsified reaction products.
The present invention also simplifies the catalyst and ligand separation and recycle step. In the conventional process, as discussed above, the catalyst and ligand may be recycled only after the reaction mixture is settled such that the aqueous layer contains the ligand and catalyst, and only after the catalyst has been re-activated. In the present invention, the ligand and catalyst may be recycled directly to the reactor along with any of the butadiene feed that may have permeated the membrane into the aqueous layer. No further treatment should be required.
Since the present invention eliminates the extraction step, expensive extraction columns, an extraction solvent and its subsequent wash step are no longer required. The effect of this is to reduce capital cost for the extraction column and wash column and reduce energy and solvent costs. Other costs eliminated are the capital cost for constructing and operating the distillation towers needed to separate the extraction solvent from the reaction products and to further purify it for recycle.
Finally, it is well known that reduction of process steps reduces the loss of feed, product and other components of the mixture such as, in the present case, expensive palladium and phosphine. This invention substantially reduces the number of steps required to isolate the product and recover and recycle the catalyst thus a reduction of losses is anticipated.
The present invention also provides many additional advantages which shall become apparent as described below.

Method for producing n-octadienol from butadiene


A fastener for fastening and joining sections of composite material together is disclosed comprising a substantially cylindrical core component and substantially cylindrical hollow sleeve component, one or both of which are pre-coated with a curable organic coating, and methods of fastening aircraft components together using such fasteners.

This invention relates generally to structural fasteners for joining various types of materials including composite materials. More specifically, the present invention relates to a pre-coated and sleeved deformable-shank fastener particularly suited for fastening aircraft structural components.
In the aerospace industry today, the use of structural components made from composite materials has become increasingly widespread. The primary method of joining such materials together has been mechanical fastening. Although bonding technology is known and continues to be developed, mechanical joining continues to be the preferred assembly method for structural load-carrying joints, such as the metallic structural components of an aircraft.
When connecting structural aircraft components made from composite materials, great care must be taken not to damage the composite. At the present time, deformable-shank metallic fasteners, such as rivets, are not used to join composite components. This is because during rivet installation and assembly, each end of the rivet is compressed causing outward expansion of the rivet. Such expansion can damage composite sections and result in material fatigue. Therefore, the typical rivet installation and assembly method used, for example, in assembling aluminum aircraft components, will not work with composite structures due to the risk of composite damage caused during rivet installation.
The use of a collar or sleeve surrounding a nut and bolt assembly is known in the fastener field. However, such collars have not been practical in the field due either to the resulting poor fit or the damage caused to the composite material being joined. Further, conventional two-piece fasteners are more expensive to use and are time-consuming to install.
Further, the use of a sleeve, in combination with a rivet, until now, has created more problems in the field than it has solved. Any gaps that occur due to the non-uniform expansion of the sleeve positioned in the hole, or in the rivet within the sleeve can result in a condition known as xe2x80x9cgapping.xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cGappingxe2x80x9d refers to the creation of gaps, causing discontinuities in the structural assembly. Under high stress forces, gapping can lead to xe2x80x9cfrettingxe2x80x9d, or improper load transfer in the assembled joint, seriously affecting the integrity of the assembly and promoting fatigue. Also, moisture or other residue can collect in the gaps allowing electrical arcing to occur. This can cause, in extreme situations, small explosions that lead to material weakness in the joint resulting in a condition in which the rivet can no longer provide the intended joint integrity. As a result of these and other drawbacks in the current fastener technology, a simple and reliable installation method for metallic fasteners used in fastening or joining composite sections or components is not known.
The present invention relates to fasteners for joining a plurality of components together. In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a fastener for fastening sections of composite material together. The fastener comprises two components. The first component is a sleeve segment that is substantially cylindrical having a predetermined diameter and length. The second component is an core component, preferably solid and coated with a curable organic coating. The core component fits within the substantially cylindrical sleeve component. The sleeve component has an inner diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the core segment. The sleeve component preferably has a length that is less than the length of the core component, and has a wall thickness of from about 0.006 inch to about 0.020 inch.
In a further embodiment, the present invention relates to a fastener for fastening sections of composite material together, wherein the fastener comprises a substantially cylindrical core and a substantially cylindrical sleeve component, one or both of which are coated with a curable organic coating.
In still a further embodiment, the present invention relates to a method for fastening aircraft components together. A plurality of composite aircraft components is provided with each component having a cylindrical opening. The cylindrical openings in the component sections are aligned, and the fastener of the present invention is inserted into the component section openings. The fastener comprises a substantially cylindrical sleeve component, and a substantially cylindrical core component designed to fit within the substantially cylindrical sleeve. The substantially cylindrical core preferably is coated with a phenolic resin containing coating. Pressure is applied to the cylindrical core component deforming the core component and causing the deformed core component to exert substantially uniform radial outward force on the cylindrical sleeve. The sleeve is then deformed in substantially uniform radially outward directions to positively secure the composite sections.
Still further, an embodiment of the present invention is directed to aircraft comprising composite parts held together with two-component fasteners that comprise a coated core component that fits within a sleeve component. One or both of the core and sleeve components preferably are coated with a curable organic coating.

Fastener apparatus and method of fastening non-metallic structures


A method for detecting a pupil in an image of an eye, comprises analyzing the image, exploiting an expected shape of the pupil, to identify portions of the image that are candidate portions of the pupil. A first region of the image, which corresponds to a lower part of the pupil, is analyzed in preference to a second region of the image, which corresponds to an upper part of the pupil, so as to reduce or avoid errors arising from artifacts that tend to be present in said second region of the image. A computer or processor program and an apparatus for performing the method are also disclosed.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for detecting a pupil in an image of an eye, in particular a human eye. Such a method and system can be applied, for example, in a system for eye movement tracking.
2. Background Art
Information regarding the position and/or movement of the pupil can be used for tracking of the position and/or movement of the eye. Reliably and accurately detecting the pupil is important in several fields of medical diagnosis such as in rehabilitation, measurements of human intelligence, and diagnosis and treatment in the field of ophthalmology.
One known system for eye movement tracking comprises a grayscale camera that is used to capture an image of an eye, the captured image then being analyzed to detect the pupil position. The captured image of the eye contains objects, such as an eyelid, interfering with the image of the pupil. It is thus necessary to apply special measures to recover the image of the pupil and its center from the image of the eye.
Such a system and method is disclosed by S. I. Kim et al. in a paper entitled "A Fast Center of Pupil Detection Algorithm for VOG-Based Eye Movement Tracking" (Proc. of the IEEE 2005 Engineering in Medicine and Biology 27th Annual Conference Shanghai, China, Sep. 1-4, 2005). The captured image is initially processed in order to obtain a "binary image". Dark regions of the processed image from the camera (assumed to represent the pupil object) are distinguished from the bright regions (assumed to represent unnecessary data). In such a binary image a feature of interest such as the pupil object may be "segmented" which means that the pixels corresponding to the feature concerned are assigned one value in the binary representation, whereas other pixels not corresponding to the feature are assigned the other binary value. The system recognizes the center of the pupil by searching the largest circle from concentric circles that matches the segmented pupil object.
Unfortunately, a patient's long black eyelashes or false eyelashes can diminish the effectiveness of known pupil detection methods. Image portions representing eyelashes with mascara on the image usually overlap the pupil and are very often identified as part of the pupil. This phenomenon significantly influences the final result, i.e. calculated center is not a correct center of a pupil. That is also harmful to the pupil tracking algorithm, as pupil and eyelashes move with respect to each other.
Moreover, pupil detection based on searching for the largest circle from concentric circles cannot be applied successfully in camera systems that use prismatic split field rangefinders to determine the distance from eye to the camera. The captured image from the camera in such systems is divided into two fields. When the image is out of focus, the two fields of the image are displaced; when in focus, the fields are aligned to form a single image. Therefore, if pupil object is split, it is impossible to use the above solution to find matching circle and center of the pupil.

Method and apparatus for detecting a pupil


A clock/data recovery device 1 comprises a sampler 10, a detector 20, an offset determination part 30, a clock output part 40, and a DA converter 50. The phases of clock signals CK and CKX are adjusted so as to match with the phase of an input digital signal. An offset amount (±Voff) added in the sampler 10 is adjusted so as to match with a peak time of a data transition time distribution of a first signal in a case where a value D(n−1) is HIGH level, and is adjusted so as to match with a peak time of a data transition time distribution of a second signal in a case where the value D(n−1) is LOW level. Either of the clock signals CK and CKX is outputted as the recovered clock signal. Time series data of a digital value D(n) is outputted as the recovered data.

The waveform of a digital signal outputted from a transmitter degrades while being transmitted from the transmitter to a receiver via a transmission channel, requiring that the clock signal and data be recovered at the receiver. Clock/data recovery devices for carrying out this kind of recovery, for example, are disclosed in Patent Documents 1, 2.
The devices disclosed in these documents take into account the fact that data transition times fluctuate in the waveform-degraded digital signal, and detect each bit of data at three timings. Of the three timings when each bit of data is detected at this time, a first timing is set in proximity to the start time of the data stability period of the pertinent bit, a second timing is set in proximity to the end time of the data stability period of the pertinent bit, and a third timing is set at a middle time between the first timing and the second timing.
Then, the device disclosed in Patent Document 1 recovers the clock signal by adjusting the respective timings such that all the data detected at the three timings for each bit matches, and recovers the data at this time by detecting the data of each bit at the middle third timing.
Conversely, the device disclosed in Patent Document 2 recovers the clock signal by adjusting each timing such that the bit error rates for each of the first timing and the second timing (that is, rates at which the data detected at each of these timings differs from the data detected at the middle third timing) are equivalent to one another, and, in addition, lie within the start setting range, and recovers data by detecting the data of each bit at this time at the middle third timing.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-221800
[Patent Document 2] National Publication of Translated Version No. 2004-507963


A circuit and method protect a transistor (68, 70) from damage when controlling an input signal (V.sub.PROG) that exceeds a gate to channel stress voltage of the transistor. A small, low current protection transistor (64, 66) is serially coupled to the gate electrode of the transistor being protected. The gate of the protection transistor is biased to a voltage (V.sub.P, V.sub.N) of lower magnitude than the input signal to limit the voltage applied to the gate of the protected transistor to a value within the stress voltage of the protected transistor.

The present invention relates in general to integrated circuits, and more particularly to the protection of transistors that control signals whose voltage exceeds the transistors' breakdown potential.
Wireless communications systems are presently using digital techniques to increase functionality and noise immunity while reducing cost. For example, cellular telephones and pagers receive radio frequency carrier signals modulated with digital data. A digital signal processor (DSP) receives the digital data from a demodulator and executes a preprogrammed software algorithm to convert the data to audio and display signals.
Portable wireless communications devices typically operate from a low voltage battery, e.g., 3.0 volts. However, communication between integrated circuits often is based on 5.0 volt logic swings in order to improve noise immunity for data transfers. Moreover, the software programs to operate the DSP are typically stored in a nonvolatile memory circuit which uses programming signals as high as 18.0 volts to program the memory cells. The higher voltages typically are generated with charge pumps.
Such integrated circuits are fabricated on a low voltage transistor process because the resulting die is smaller and consumes less power for a given operating speed. However, the low voltage transistors are susceptible to breakdown when controlling the higher voltage signals.
Many prior art systems control the high voltages by fabricating integrated circuits on a high voltage transistor process whose devices have breakdowns exceeding the high voltage signals being controlled. However, such integrated circuits have larger die areas and lower speeds than circuits built on a low voltage process. Other prior art circuits add process steps to produce different gate oxide thicknesses to fabricate both low and high voltage transistors on the same die. However, the increase in processing steps adds to the cost of the integrated circuit, especially because high voltage devices are needed in relatively few portions of the circuit.
Still other prior art circuits use cascoded drivers to increase the voltage handling capability of high voltage stages implemented with low voltage transistors. A cascoded driver comprises two transistors with serial drain to source connections such that both transistors pass the full load current. The cascode configuration results in only a portion of the high voltage being applied to each transistor, but each transistor must be large enough to handle the full load current. For drivers supplying high load currents, two large transistors are needed to implement the cascode configuration, which increases die area and cost.
Hence, there is a need for an improved circuit and method of controlling high voltage signals with small, low voltage transistors, thereby reducing die size and cost and improving low voltage performance.

Transistor protection circuit and method


A drill bit with a housing and roller cones has a high-speed fluid jet erosion system utilizing dual discharge, high-velocity, jet streams that is directed at the surface to be eroded. The jet streams are developed from a dual discharge nozzle adapted to form a first, swirling liquid jet and a second, axial liquid jet in combination therewith. When used in a shale-like formation, the bit includes a nozzle in a bowl area of the housing that sends a vortex shaped spray against the roller cones.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to drilling systems and, more particularly, to a method of and apparatus for producing a combination of vortex and axially disposed erosive jet streams for cleaning, cutting, boring, combinations thereof, and the like.
2. History of the Prior Art
Drill bits for drilling bore holes for oil and/or gas production and the like will typically engage the formation and remove particles therefrom. When drilling the bore holes for well production, there are generally at least two types of formations which a drill bit will encounter: relatively soft shale and hard rock.
When the formation is relatively soft, as with shale, material removed by the drill bit will have a tendency to reconstitute onto the teeth of the drill bit. Build-up of the reconstituted formation on the drill bit is called bit balling and will reduce the depth that the teeth of the drill bit will penetrate the bottom surface of the well bore, thereby reducing the efficiency of the drill bit. Particles of a shale formation also tend to reconstitute back onto the bottom surface of the bore hole. The reconstitution of a formation back onto the bottom surface of the bore hole is called bottom balling. Bottom balling prevents the teeth of a drill bit from engaging virgin formation and spreads the impact of a tooth over a wider area, thereby reducing the efficiency of a drill bit. Higher density drilling muds that are required to maintain well bore stability or well bore pressure control exacerbate bit balling and the bottom balling problems. Therefore, there is a need for drill bits which will reduce drill bit balling and bottom balling that occurs when drilling shale-like formations.
When the formation that the drill bit is engaging is of a harder rock, the teeth of the drill bit press against the formation and densify a small area under the teeth to cause a crack in the formation. When the porosity of the formation is collapsed, or densified, in a hard rock formation below a tooth, nozzles of the conventional drill bits do not have enough hydraulic energy to remove the crushed material below the tooth pit when the tooth is removed. As a result, a cushion, or densification pad, of densified material is left on the bottom surface by the prior art drill bits. If the densification pad is left on the bottom surface, force by a tooth of the drill bit will be distributed over a larger area and reduce the effectiveness of a drill bit. Therefore, there is a need for drill bits that have sufficient hydraulic power to remove the crushed material below a tooth pit in a drill bit when the tooth is removed.

Axial-vortex jet drilling system and method

Ccore Technology & Licensing Limited, A Texas Limited Partnership


A bulk-acoustic wave resonator includes: a substrate; a seed layer disposed on the substrate, and having a hexagonal crystal structure; a bottom electrode disposed on the seed layer; a piezoelectric layer at least partially disposed on the bottom electrode; and a top electrode disposed on the piezoelectric layer, wherein either one or both of the bottom electrode and the top electrode includes a scandium (Sc)-containing aluminum alloy layer.

The following description relates to a bulk-acoustic wave resonator.
Recently, interest in fifth-generation (5G) communications technology has increased and technical developments, which may be implemented in candidate bands of 5G communications, have been made.
A frequency band that may be implemented by a film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) is about 6 GHz or less. In the case of an FBAR operating in a frequency band of 2 to 3 GHz, a suitable thickness of an electrode and a suitable thickness of a piezoelectric layer may be easily implemented. However, in the case of an FBAR operating in a 5 GHz frequency band, considerable manufacturing difficulties and deteriorations in performance may be expected to occur.
In particular, in the case of an FBAR operating in a 5 GHz frequency band, an ultra-thin film electrode needs to be implemented and the piezoelectric layer also needs to be thin. However, when an electrode material having a high degree of high acoustic impedance, such as molybdenum (Mo), is used, electrical loss may be expected to increase as the thickness of the electrode decreases. Therefore, electrical loss in the resonator and a filter device including the resonator may be expected to increase.
However, when an electrode material having low acoustic impedance, such as aluminum (Al), is used, since mechanical properties of aluminum (Al) may be poor, mechanical dynamic loss is expected to be high, and crystal orientation is deteriorated when the piezoelectric layer is formed.
For example, when an electrode material having high acoustic impedance, such as molybdenum (Mo), is used, each of a top electrode and a bottom electrode may have a thickness of 1,000 angstroms (Å) and the piezoelectric layer may have a thickness of 3,000 Å, such that the operating frequency of 5 GHz may be implemented. However, when the electrode material having low acoustic impedance, such as aluminum (Al), is used, even when each of the top electrode and the bottom electrode has a thickness of 2,000 Å and the piezoelectric layer has a thickness of is 4,000 Å, the frequency of 5 GHz may be implemented. As a result, the frequency of 5 GHz may be implemented even in a greater thickness. If a piezoelectric layer and an electrode may increase in thickness, characteristics of the filter may be maintained, even in a higher power environment.
However, in the case in which the top electrode and the bottom electrode are formed of aluminum (Al) only, mechanical properties may be deteriorated, while crystal orientation of the piezoelectric layer and performance of the resonator may be deteriorated by a hillock caused by electromigration or mechanical deformation.


A cartridge for collecting sample material may include a cartridge body, a filter, a fluid reservoir, and a fluid drive port. The cartridge body may define a capless sample well port configured to receive a sample material and a fluidic channel in fluid communication with the capless sample well port. The filter may be positioned between the capless sample well port and the fluidic channel. The fluidic channel may extend between the capless sample well port and the fluid reservoir. The fluid drive port may be in fluid communication with the fluidic channel. The fluid drive port may be configured to be operably connected to a pressure source such that a pressure is applied within the fluidic channel to direct the sample material towards the fluid reservoir.

Numerous instruments and measurement techniques exist for diagnostic testing of materials for medical, veterinary medical, environmental, biohazard, bioterrorism, agricultural, and food safety purposes. Diagnostic testing traditionally requires long response times to obtain meaningful data, involves expensive, remote, or cumbersome laboratory equipment, requires large sample size, utilizes multiple reagents, demands highly trained users, and can involve significant direct and indirect costs. For example, in both the human and veterinary diagnostic markets, most tests require that a sample be collected from a patient and then be sent to a laboratory, where the results are not available for several hours or days. As a result, the caregiver must wait to treat the patient.
Point of use (or point of care when discussing human or veterinary medicine) solutions for diagnostic testing and analysis, although capable of solving most of the noted drawbacks, remain somewhat limited. Even some of the point of use solutions that are available, are limited in sensitivity and reproducibility compared to in-laboratory testing. There are also often significant costs involved as separate systems may be needed for different point of use tests.
Further, fluidic devices or cartridges may be configured to receive a sample material and the sample material may be drawn in by capillary force through channels defined by the fluid devices or cartridges. Once the sample material is within the channels, positive or negative pressure may be used to move the sample material within the channels. Typically, the sample port through which the sample material is disposed into the cartridge must be closed (e.g., by capping the sample port). As such, the cap prevents sample material from exiting back through the sample port when pressure is applied to move the sample material within the channels. However, in some instances, attaching the cap to the sample port may apply a pressure within the channels of the cartridge, which may apply an undesired force upon the sample material. Additionally, a cap attached to the sample port may not be reliable because, e.g., the cap is an additional loose component, the cap may become damaged, etc.
It would be desirable to provide a cartridge that does not require a cap attached to the sample port after sample material is received within the cartridge.

Capless sample well port for a cartridge


In a first general aspect, a computer program product tangibly embodied in an information carrier is described. The computer program product includes instructions that, when executed, perform operations for identifying a source or destination for stock. The operations include receiving an electronic request to determine a source or destination for stock, identifying, using a primary rule, a logistic area database object that represents a storage location at one of multiple levels of a hierarchy of storage locations. The logistic area database object is associated with a value that indicates an amount of stock that is associated with the storage location. The operations also include transmitting an identifier specifying the logistic area database object if the value indicates that associated storage location is available as a source or destination. The identifier is used to assign the storage location as the source or destination for the stock.

As logistic environments, such as warehouses, become larger, management of these environments has become increasingly complex. Current systems can model the logistic environments with software to enable human managers to control execution and planning of the environments. For example, some software models may provide warehouse workers with instructions regarding where to move incoming stock based on the model's knowledge of what locations can store the stock.
Managing stock allocation for storage locations can be a function incorporated into some current software systems. Some systems allocate stock at the most basic unit of the logistic environment. For example, the system can allocate stock to be stored or removed from bins, if the bin is the most basic unit of storage for the warehouse.
Additionally, some current software systems are designed only for allocating stock in warehouse logistic environments. In these systems, the locations that are allocated can be limited to physical storage space within the warehouse, such as bins. Also, the bins can be assigned to a particular product. When that bin runs out of the product, it can remain empty for a period of time until another shipment of that product arrives.

Source and destination determination system and method


A semiconductor device includes a substrate; a semiconductor region formed on the substrate; and a silicide layer as a contact layer formed directly contacting the semiconductor region; wherein the silicide layer is made to be rich in silicon while including such a silicon amount that contact resistance is significantly lowered and a method for making a semiconductor device which has the steps of: forming selectively a given conductive type semiconductor region on a substrate; forming a Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer on the entire surface of the semiconductor region; introducing Si into the entire surface or part of the Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer; and conducting the thermal treatment of the substrate to react the introduced Si with the Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer and the Ti-included layer to form a Si-rich silicide layer including such a silicon amount that contact resistance is significantly lowered.

This invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to, a semiconductor device that uses a layer of silicide, which is an intermetallic compound of silicon and metals, as the contact layer which directly contacts a semiconductor region such as source and drain, and also relates to a method for making the semiconductor device.
In memories and LSI(large-scale integrated circuit) such as a microprocessor, which are known as the representative of semiconductor devices, the dimensions of device have been increasingly fine-structured with an increase in integration density. Also, the semiconductor region to compose the device has been formed shallower. Further, when forming a contact in semiconductor region, the size of contact hole to be formed in interlayer dielectric film has been also limited.
For example, in recent LSI that is composed of MOS (metal oxide semiconductor), when forming a contact in semiconductor region composed of a source region and a drain region, the size of the contact hole to be formed in the interlayer dielectric film is designed to be a fine value of less than 0.4 xcexcm (in diameter). As the contact hole is fine-structured like this, the kind of materials for upper wiring layer that can be formed well-adhesive to the contact hole is limited. Tungsten (W) is known as one of the excellent wiring materials applicable to such object.
Here, when forming a contact in semiconductor region, if a wiring material of tungsten is adhered directly to the semiconductor region, the contact characteristic is deteriorated due to the reaction of the semiconductor region and tungsten. To prevent this, a high-melting-point metal layer to function as the barrier layer has been laid between them. As the high-melting-point metal layer, a two-layer film of Ti/TiN with excellent barrier performance is generally used. Ti (titanium) is formed on the semiconductor region side and TiN (nitride-titanium) is formed on the tungsten side. Tungsten has a characteristic easy to adhere to TiN.
Also, in the case of forming a contact in a shallow semiconductor region, an increase in contact resistance becomes an issue. It is known that to form a silicide layer such as Coxe2x80x94Si alloy (CoSi2), a silicide compound, on the surface of the semiconductor region is effective in restraining the contact resistance from increasing.
Problems occurred when the contact resistance increases are explained below. FIG. 1 is an illustrative cross sectional view showing the electrode part of a MOS transistor composing LSI. In FIG. 1, 101 is a Si substrate, 102 is a source region, 104 is a channel region, 105 is a gate oxide film, 106 is a sidewall oxide film, 107 is a gate electrode, 108 is an interlayer dielectric film, 109 is a contact hole, 110 is a barrier layer compose of two-layer film of Ti/TiN, 111 is a wiring layer of tungsten, and 112 is an upper wiring layer of Al-system metal.
Here, the resistance parasitic to the current path when the MOS transistor is turned on is classified into components listed below.
Rc: resistance inside the contact hole (in this case, a resistivity of tungsten, which is reversely proportional to the square of the diameter of contact hole)
Rx: contact resistance of the barrier layer and the silicide layer (reversely proportional to the square of the diameter of contact hole)
Rs: resistance of the silicide layer
Rms: contact resistance of the silicide layer and the source/drain region
Rch: channel resistance
The total resistance Rt when the MOS transistor is turned on is given by expression 1:
Rt=2Rc+2Rx+2Rs+2Rms+Rchxe2x80x83xe2x80x83[1]
The contact resistance Rco is given by expression 2:
Rco=Rc+Rxxe2x80x83xe2x80x83[2]
In FIG. 1, as the dimensions of the MOS transistor decrease with an increase in integration density of LSI, especially Rx abruptly increases in reverse proportion to the square of the diameter of contact hole, and therefore the contact resistance Rco increases based on expression 2. Along with this, the total resistance Rt increases based on expression 1 and thereby on-current decreases. Therefore, a problem occurs in that the operation speed of the entire LSI is lowered. This is because the amount of electric charge supplied to the next-stage element (transistor) decreases due to the decrease in on-current.
Semiconductor devices where a silicide layer composed of Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer is formed in its semiconductor region so as to restrain the contact resistance from increasing are, for example, disclosed in Japanese patent application laid-open No.7-78788 (1995), and H. Kawaguchi et al., xe2x80x9cA Robust 0.15 xcexcm CMOS Technology with CoSi2 Salicide and Shallow Trench Isolationxe2x80x9d, 1997 Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers 9B-4 (1997) pp.125-126.
FIG. 2 shows an example of semiconductor device described in Japanese patent application laid-open No.7-78788. Between a lower conductor region 202 as source/drain region formed in a semiconductor substrate 200 and an upper wiring layer 206 formed on insulating layers 204A, 204B on a gate electrode 220 to cover the lower conductor region 202, there is provided electrical connection through a connection hole (intermediate conductor layer) 208. The connection hole 208 is composed of a monocrystal CoSi2 (Coxe2x80x94Si alloy) layer 210 formed on the surface of the lower conductor region 202, a tungsten layer 214 as a wiring material deposited (buried) in a contact hole 212 formed in the insulating layers 204A, 204B, and a monocrystal TiN layer 216 formed between the layers 210 and 214. Here, the monocrystal TiN layer 216 functions as a barrier layer to control the reaction of the lower conductor region 202 and the tungsten layer 214. Under the upper wiring layer 206, there is formed a barrier layer 218 of two-layer film of Ti, TiON from below.
However, in the conventional technique described in Japanese patent application laid-open No.7-78788, there is a problem that the silicide layer of Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer used as the contact layer does not sufficiently play a role to suppress an increase in contact resistance (Rx). This is because the Si content of the Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer or a Coxe2x80x94Sixe2x80x94Ti alloy layer to be formed through the reaction of the Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer and Ti as the component of the barrier layer formed on the Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer is small.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a semiconductor device that the contact resistance of silicide layer used as a contact layer can be sufficiently restrained from increasing, thereby restraining the on-current from reducing and enhancing the operation speed.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method for making such a semiconductor device.
According to the invention, a semiconductor device, comprising:
a substrate;
a semiconductor region formed on the substrate; and
a silicide layer as a contact layer formed directly contacting the semiconductor region;
wherein the silicide layer is made to be rich in silicon while including such a silicon amount that contact resistance is significantly lowered.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method for making a semiconductor device, comprising the steps of:
forming selectively a given conductive type semiconductor region on a substrate;
forming a Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer on the entire surface of the semiconductor region;
introducing Si into the entire surface or part of the Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer;
forming a Ti-included layer in part of the Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer; and
conducting the thermal treatment of the substrate to react the introduced Si with the Coxe2x80x94Si alloy layer and the Ti-included layer to form a Si-rich silicide layer including such a silicon amount that contact resistance is significantly lowered.

Semiconductor device having a silicide layer with silicon-rich region and method for making the same


A method for semiconductor processing provides a DSB semiconductor body having a first crystal orientation, a second crystal orientation, and a border region disposed between the first and second crystal orientations. The border region further has a defect associated with an interface of the first crystal orientation and second the second crystal orientation, wherein the defect generally extends a distance into the semiconductor body from a surface of the body. A sacrificial portion of the semiconductor body is removed from the surface thereof, wherein removing the sacrificial portion at least partially removes the defect. The sacrificial portion can be defined by oxidizing the surface at low temperature, wherein the oxidation at least partially consumes the defect. The sacrificial portion can also be removed by CMP. An STI feature may be further formed over the defect after removal of the sacrificial portion, therein consuming any remaining defect.

In the semiconductor field, performance demands on complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits continue to increase. Typically, CMOS circuits comprise n-type FETs (nFETs), which utilize electron carriers for their operation, and p-type FETs (pFETs), which utilize hole carriers for their operation. CMOS circuits are conventionally fabricated on semiconductor wafers (e.g., a silicon wafer) having a single crystal orientation. In particular, most common semiconductor devices have been previously built on silicon wafers having a (100) surface crystal orientation.
Recently, specialty semiconductor substrates have been utilized to improve the performance of the nFETs and pFETs. For example, the strong dependence of carrier mobility on silicon orientation has led to the use of hybrid orientation technology (HOT) or direct silicon bond (DSB) silicon substrates, wherein nFETs are formed in (100) crystal orientation silicon (e.g., the orientation in which electron mobility is higher) and pFETs are formed in (110)-oriented Si (the orientation in which hole mobility is higher.
HOT or DSB semiconductor processing conventionally utilizes amorphization/templated recrystallization (ATR) methods for fabricating hybrid orientation substrates, wherein a first semiconductor layer having a first crystalline orientation is directly bonded to a second semiconductor layer having a second crystalline orientation, wherein the second crystalline orientation differs from the first. Selected areas of the first semiconductor layer are amorphized by ion implantation, and then recrystallized into the orientation of the second semiconductor layer, wherein the second semiconductor layer is used as a crystal template for the recrystallization.
One problem encountered in conventional ATR methods concerns corner defects where the first crystalline orientation meets the second crystalline orientation at or near the surface of the substrate. Such corner defects are believed to be the result of the differing crystal orientations meeting at or near the surface of the substrate, wherein differing speeds of crystal growth and mismatches in lattice constants cause crystalline mismatches in the border region between the first crystalline orientation and the second crystalline orientation.
Attempts to ameliorate such corner or border defects in the past have been made by implementing a high-temperature defect-removal anneal process (e.g., ranging from 1000 C. to 1320 C. and higher), however, such high-temperature anneal processes may be incompatible with advanced lithographic techniques due to thermal stresses associated therewith. Other defect-removal techniques have involved the formation of shallow trench isolation (STI) regions over the defects, thus fully consuming the defects in the STI formation. However, as device sizes continue to become smaller and smaller, the lateral width of the defects may exceed the desired lateral width of the desired STI, thus requiring larger STI widths than desired.

Method to eliminate re-crystallization border defects generated during solid phase epitaxy of a DSB substrate


A bottle for storing a liquid and dispensing measured quantities thereof. The bottle has a large storage chamber and a small measuring chamber, each chamber including its own threaded, removable cap. The measuring chamber is adjacent and partially above the storage chamber, an opening extending and communicating therebetween. The opening opens to the top of the storage chamber and to the middle of the measuring chamber. A conduit controlled by a manually operated valve extends and communicates between the lowermost portion of the storage chamber and the lowermost portion of the measuring chamber. In a preferred embodiment, the conduit forms a loop with the remainder of the bottle, thus serving as a handle. In this embodiment, the manual valve is located such that it is operated by the hand grasping the handle. In use, the bottle is first inverted, and the valve held open, so that stored liquid fills the measuring chamber. The bottle is then righted, a quantity of liquid being retained within the measuring chamber. This quantity is selectively adjusted by opening the valve, enabling a portion of liquid to return to the storage chamber. Graduation indicia enable a user to retain a desired quantity of liquid in the measuring chamber. This liquid is dispensed by removing the measuring chamber cap and pouring out the measured liquid.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a container for holding and dispensing a measured quantity of a liquid.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Hand held squeeze bottles for dispensing measured quantities of liquid have been the subject of prior patents. In a measuring and dispensing bottle having a storage chamber, a second chamber for measuring is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,141,574, issued to Robert J. Donoghue on Jul. 21, 1964, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,897, issued to Michael Wortley on Dec. 2, 1986. Unless the bottle of Donoghue '574 is held in an inverted position, liquid can return to the storage chamber. The bottle disclosed in Wortley '897 includes a tube discharging liquid from the storage chamber to the dispensing chamber at a point high in the latter, so that a significant amount of liquid can accumulate without draining back to storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,971, issued to Mark E. Reyman on Jun. 9, 1992, shows another dispensing bottle wherein a measuring chamber is filled when the bottle is inverted, and excess liquid is returned to storage when the bottle is returned to upright. Return is automatically performed, by flow enabled when the bottle is appropriately oriented with respect to upright. Dispensing is accomplished by pressure brought to bear by squeezing the bottle.
A dispensing container having an air lock for scavenging an outlet passageway and for preventing liquid discharge from the container is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,349, issued to John G. Kaufman on Apr. 13, 1982.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,767, issued to Daniel J. Griffiths on Oct. 25, 1988, discloses a dispensing container bearing similarities to the above inventions, and further incorporating a float valve to prevent overfilling of the measuring and dispensing chamber. Another valve, in this case a sphere retained within a chamber, is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,553, issued to Jack Weinstein on Jul. 7, 1992.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,971, issued to Louis F. Kutik on Nov. 2, 1971, discloses a dispensing container featuring a propellant under pressure, and valving for measuring and dispensing a liquid.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


The size of text printed based on font data can be adjusted. A printer has: a print unit that prints an image on a recording medium; a storage unit that stores a font table containing font data for characters, and stores adjustment ratio information specifying a ratio used to scale the size of the font data stored in the font table; a first communication unit that receives print instruction data including information specifying a character; a second communication unit that receives a change instruction instructing changing a ratio specified by the adjustment ratio information; and a control unit that scales the font data of the specified character at the ratio specified by the adjustment ratio information, and controls the print unit to print the character based on the scaled font data.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a printer capable of printing images on recording media, and to a control system including the printer and an information processing device.
2. Related Art
JP-A-H08-034142 discloses a printer that stores font data internally. When a print job that specifies a particular font is received from a host computer or other control device, for example, the printer disclosed in JP-A-H08-034142 prints text using the internal font data.
When a printer prints text based on font data as described above, there is also a need to be able to adjust the size of the characters printed on the recording medium by adjusting the size of the font data without depending on control by the control device.

Method and system for configuring print character information


Locking and releasing apparatus for operating a medical device includes a handle and a lever member coupled to the handle for grasping engagement by an operator. The lever member is moveable in opposite directions relative to the handle. A locking and release mechanism operably connects the lever member to a force transmitting member for operating the medical device at a location distant from the handle. The locking and release mechanism locks movement of the force transmitting member in one direction after movement of the lever member in a locking direction. The locking and release mechanism releases movement of the force transmitting member in the one direction after opposite movement of the lever member in a releasing direction. The lever member operates the locking and release mechanism for releasing the movement of the force transmitting member in the one direction substantially upon changing movement of the lever member from the locking to the releasing direction.

1. Field of the Exemplary Embodiments
The exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a manipulating devices, and more particularly to lockable medical manipulating devices with an auto release feature.
2. Brief Description of Earlier Related Developments
Minimally invasive surgical procedures are being used with increasing regularity. These procedures are performed with minimally invasive surgical instruments which include a tool on the end of an elongated support tube opposite a handle. Access to the surgical site is provided by a trocar which is used to puncture and insert a cannula or hollow tube through the patient's skin and muscle tissue. The tool of the surgical instrument is positioned at the surgical site after being inserted through the cannula. The surgeon then manipulates a lever or other actuator on the handle to perform the surgical operation. This procedure is carried out while viewing the surgical site on a video monitor. Minimally invasive surgical procedures of this type offer substantial benefits to the patient in terms of reduced post-operative pain, reduced recovery time, and lower cost. In a variety of medical devices used for a diversity of surgical or non-surgical procedures, devices are designed with a dedicated handle or proximal end and a distal or actuation end. Typically medical device handles prescribe how they will be held in the hand by the layout of their handle shape or position of finger loops. In instruments that contain loops, such as can be found in scissors type devices or grasping type devices, the loops are used for opening and closing the end effector, whether that is a scissors, grasper, clamp or similar device. In medical devices and more specifically minimally invasive or laparoscopic devices, a wide variety of handles, levers or loops may be used in a variety of combinations. In one example, a finger-looped device may be employed as part of the instrument handle in combination with two or more finger or thumb elements that perform the same or similar functions, such as clamping and releasing jaw members of the medical device. One problem arises when the operator desires the jaw members to remain clamped while switching between instruments or between finger elements. Another problem arises when the operator desires to release the jaw members without actuating a separate element or without excessive movement of the operators fingers, as where the operator is at the extremes of motion or beyond their comfort range. Accordingly, there is a desire to provide a locking and releasing apparatus for operating medical devices that locks and releases without actuating a separate element or without excessive movement of the operators fingers.

One-hand locking and releasing handheld medical instrument


A gas delivery system in which air supplied to the internal combustion engine via a supplementary conduit is controlled. In the gas delivery system, the main conduit gas flow traveling through the throttle valve conduit is controlled by a throttle valve and the supplementary conduit gas flow flowing through the supplementary conduit is controlled by a supplementary conduit control mechanism. The throttle valve and the supplementary conduit control mechanism is adjusted jointly with one adjusting drive device. The gas delivery system is provided in particular for internal combustion engines of motor vehicles.

The invention is based on a gas delivery system of an internal combustion engine.
In internal combustion engines, usually a main conduit gas flow is supplied to the combustion chamber or chambers via a main conduit. The main conduit has a relatively large cross section so that when needed, a large main conduit gas flow can be delivered to the combustion chamber or chambers without excessive flow losses. In the course of the main conduit, there is an adjustable main conduit throttle mechanism which controls the main conduit gas flow. The main conduit throttle mechanism is adjusted with the aid of an adjusting drive. The main conduit throttle mechanism is usually a throttle valve. Depending on the type of internal combustion engine in the main conduit gas flow flowing air is supplied to the fuel in the course of the main conduit to the injection valves of each combustion chamber, or the fuel is directly injected into the combustion chamber or chambers.
Because the cross section of the main conduit is relatively large, the flow speed of the main conduit gas flow flowing into the combustion chamber or chambers is quite low under particular operating conditions of the internal combustion engine. Since this can lead to problems in the mixture production and therefore in the combustion progression in the combustion chamber, particularly in the idling range, a supplementary conduit gas flow is delivered into the combustion chamber or chambers via a supplementary conduit. Because the cross section of the supplementary conduit is quite small, the supplementary conduit gas flow in the supplementary conduit has a high flow speed in the region of the inlet conduit into the combustion chamber, even at a relatively low supplementary conduit gas flow in the supplementary conduit, by means of which the mixture production and therefore the combustion progression in the combustion chamber or chambers is improved.
In order to control the supplementary conduit gas flow in the supplementary conduit, a special supplementary conduit control mechanism is provided in the course of the supplementary conduit. In previously known embodiments, the main conduit throttle mechanism and the supplementary conduit control mechanism are each adjusted with the aid of a separate adjusting drive. The other adjusting drive for the supplementary conduit control mechanism requires a considerable expenditure on the whole and the increased costs resulting from this are of considerable disadvantage in the manufacture of gas delivery systems.

Gas delivery system of an internal combustion engine


A positive electrode used in the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery of the present invention includes a hexagonal system lithium-containing cobalt composite oxide represented by the general expression ┌LiCo1-XMXO2 (M=Zr, Mg, Al)┘ obtained by synthesizing a lithium compound as a lithium source with a cobalt compound as a cobalt source to which 0.01 mol % or more and 1.0 mol % or less of zirconium is added and magnesium and/or aluminum is added through coprecipitation, as the positive electrode active material, whereby the thermal stability, load performance and charging/discharging cycle performance characteristics of the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery are improved without lowering its capacity and charging/discharging efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery comprising a positive electrode active material capable of occluding/ejecting lithium ions, a negative electrode active material capable of occluding/ejecting lithium ions, and a non-aqueous type electrolyte, and a method of manufacturing the non-aqueous electrolyte battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as batteries used for portable electronic and communication equipment such as small-sized video cameras, portable telephones, and book-type personal computers, non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries constituted by using an alloy or a carbon material capable of occluding/ejecting lithium ions as a negative electrode active material and lithium-containing transition metal oxides such as lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2), lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO2) and lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4) as a positive electrode active material have been put to practical use as batteries with high capacity capable of charging and discharging although small in size and light in weight.
Among these lithium-containing transition metal oxides used as positive electrode active materials in the manufacture of the above-described non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries, the lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO2).is known to have high capacity, but has rather poor stability and large overvoltage. Accordingly, the lithium nickel oxide is deemed inferior to lithium cobalt oxide. On the other hand, while lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4) is rich in resources and relatively inexpensive, it is not practical to use because it has a low energy density and manganese itself is soluble at high temperature. Accordingly, manganese oxide is considered inferior to lithium cobalt oxide such that lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) is mostly used as lithium-containing transition metal oxide in the manufacturing industry.
However, since lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) is 4V vs Li/Li+ or more, when lithium cobalt oxide is used as the positive electrode active material in a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, it is dissolved in the positive electrode during each charge/discharge repeat cycle, causing the positive electrode to deteriorate, thereby affecting the capacity characteristics and load characteristics of the battery after the charge/discharge cycle is lowered. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. H4(1992)-319260, 2000-123834, 2001-319652, 2002-198051, 2001-273896, 2001-068167, and 2004-047437, lithium-containing cobalt composite oxides represented by the general expression ┌LiCo1-XMXO2┘ in which different elements M such as V, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Al, Ti and Zr are added during the synthetical preparation of the lithium cobalt oxide, have been proposed.
The dissolution of cobalt in the electrolyte in the lithium-containing cobalt composite oxides (represented by the general expression ┌LiCo1-XMXO2┘) proposed in the above-mentioned patent references, is of lesser magnitude than that which occurs in lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2). Accordingly, the load performance and charge/discharge cycle performance characteristics of the battery are improved.
However, in the lithium-containing cobalt composite oxides to which various elements were proposed to be added in the above patent references, since the different elements involved do not influence battery reaction (charge/discharge reaction), the battery capacity in effect diminishes as the amount of such elements added is increased, which in turn causes a reduction in charge/discharge efficiency. Further, since the addition of various elements lowers crystallizability, thermal stability of the battery likewise diminishes, leading to lower load performance. Additionally, there are still many possibilities of improving the charging/discharging performance ability of the battery.

Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and method of manufacturing the same