Apparatus includes a conveyance device and a first shearable deployment bar connected to the conveyance device at a first distal end of the first shearable deployment bar, where the first shearable deployment bar has a deployment bar section and a shearable section. The shearable deployment bar is configured to carry a ballistic signal from an initiating charge, through the shearable deployment bar, and to a donor charge. The apparatus further includes a first set of perforating guns connected to the first shearable deployment bar at a second distal end thereof, and the first set of perforating guns are configured to receive the ballistic signal from the donor charge to ultimately fire the perforating guns at a targeted location in a wellbore. A second shearable deployment bar may be connected to the first set of perforating guns, and a second set of perforating guns connected to the second shearable deployment bar.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Coiled tubing is a technology that has been expanding its range of application since its introduction to the oil industry in the 1960's. Its ability to pass through completion tubulars and the wide array of tools and technologies that can be used in conjunction with it make it a very versatile technology.
Typical coiled tubing apparatus includes surface pumping facilities, a coiled tubing string mounted on a reel, a method to convey the coiled tubing into and out of the wellbore, such as an injector head or the like, and surface control apparatus at the wellhead. Coiled tubing has been utilized for performing well treatment and/or well intervention operations in existing wellbores such as, but not limited to, hydraulic fracturing, matrix acidizing, milling, perforating, coiled tubing drilling, and the like.
In coiled tubing, wireline, and slickline services, downhole tools are transferred from the back of a truck to inside the wellbore. This is commonly done by using a long riser with the conveyance apparatus attached to the top of the riser. In such a method, the tools are either pulled into the bottom of this riser, or are assembled into it. The riser is then attached to the well, pressure tested, and the tools are run into the well after the pressure test.
An alternative method to transfer the wellbore tools to the wellbore is to have an easier to run service place the tools in the well, then have the harder service do the running in hole. In this method, the downhole tools are provided with an additional part, a deployment bar. The deployment bar provides a surface that the blow out preventers (BOPs) of the wellsite pressure control equipment can both grip and seal on. In the case where the harder service is a coiled tubing service, a wireline service or a slickline service may be used to pre-place the tools in the coiled tubing blow out preventers with a deployment bar. In such an embodiment, the deployment bar used will match the coiled tubing diameter. As part of the contingency plans, it must always be possible to close the master valves. In order to do this while the tools are hanging in the blow out preventers, and without opening the well to atmosphere, the deployment bar must be capable of being sheared by the shear ram in the blow out preventer. Once the deployment bar is sheared, the slip and pipe rams may be opened and the tool dropped into the well. This process is identical to that used when coiled tubing must be cut and dropped.
It remains desirable to provide improvements in oilfield surface equipment and/or downhole assemblies such as, but not limited to, methods and/or systems for improvements in surface equipment for coiled tubing deployment methods, systems, and/or equipment.

Shearable deployment bar with ballistic transfer


A microneedle array module is disclosed comprising a multiplicity of microneedles affixed to and protruding outwardly from a front surface of a substrate to form the array, each microneedle of the array having a hollow section which extends through its center to an opening in the tip thereof. A method of fabricating the microneedle array module is also disclosed comprising the steps of: providing etch resistant mask layers to one and another opposite surfaces of a substrate to predetermined thicknesses; patterning the etch resistant mask layer of the one surface for outer dimensions of the microneedles of the array; patterning the etch resistant mask layer of the other surface for inner dimensions of the microneedles of the array; etching unmasked portions of the substrate from one and the other surfaces to first and second predetermined depths, respectively; and removing the mask layers from the one and the other surfaces. One embodiment of the method includes the steps of: providing an etch resistant mask layer to the other surface of the substrate to a predetermined thickness; patterning the etch resistant mask layer of the other surface to define a reservoir region in the substrate; and etching away the unmasked reservoir region of the substrate to form a reservoir well in the other surface of the substrate. A layer of material may be provided to the other surface to enclose the reservoir well and a passageway is provided through the layer to the well region.

The present invention is related to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and the fabrication thereof, in general, and more specifically, to a microneedle array module and its fabrication.
Targeted drug delivery or the application of a high concentration of one or more drugs to a specific target area within the body has become of paramount importance to the fight against tumors, restentosis and similar life threatening medical conditions. Generally, these target areas are reachable through the walls of the blood vessels of the body. Present systems use a catheter with an imaging device to locate the target area. Once located, a specific drug or drugs are delivered to the targeted vessel wall area. But, this process has posed serious problems.
One approach provides a drug inside a perforated balloon at the end of the catheter. When the balloon reaches the target area, it is inflated causing the drug to be released through the perforations of the balloon locally around the targeted walls of the vessel. This perfusion of the drug at the surface of the vessel walls relies heavily on the drug being absorbed quickly and efficiently by the vessel walls at the target area. However, in some cases the drug may not be absorbed by the vessel walls very effectively. In these cases, the drug may be caused to move downstream with the blood stream which may cause adverse medical effects to portions of the body not intended to receive the drugs, especially at such high concentrations. The drugs may also be diluted in this delivery process and lose their effectiveness. In any event, these relatively expensive drugs may not be achieving their intended purpose.
Some recent drug delivery systems, like those proposed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,112,305; 5,242,397; 5,681,281; 5,713,863 and 5,746,716, for example, provide for a studded balloon catheter. The balloon or portions thereof contain the drug or drugs to be delivered to the target area. When the balloon reaches the target area, it is inflated causing the studs to press against the vessel walls. The drug is then forced from the balloon through the studs into the surface of the vessel walls. However, the stud protrusions of the balloon are not needles and thus, are not very efficient at puncturing the vessel walls, especially at depths adequate for injecting the specific drug.
What is needed for effective drug delivery is an array of microneedles of sufficient length which may be deployed to the target site within the body and adequately penetrate the vessel walls thereat to permit the drug to effectively act on the target area at the high concentrations intended. Such an array structure may also be used transdermally for drug delivery as well.

Microneedle array module and method of fabricating the same


A computer-implemented method includes producing a unique identifier, and, assigning the unique identifier to a style sheet for web asset production.

This description relates to creating and assigning identifiers to templates that define fonts for web assets.
In the ever-expanding connectivity provided by computer networks such as the Internet, computing devices may present various types of content such as text, graphics, audio, video, etc. Websites, web pages and the like created for individuals, groups, companies, etc. convey information by being accessed by end users. To produce such web assets, stylistic formats are defined along with the content to be presented. Through careful selection, such formats may convey information to the end user that is comparable to the information conveyed by the content itself.


The external flaps (32), which contain the ram air, continue to form a conical structure during vectoring. External flaps (32) are hinged to the unison ring (30) with ejector flaps (34) hinged to the external flaps. A scissors linkage ( 48 ) joins each ejector flap (34) to the adjacent external flops. A spaced slider connection (58) guides, from the ejector flaps (34), the divergent flaps (26) which are joined to the convergent flaps (20) with a universal joint (28).

Cooling air is frequently used to cool the materials of the exhaust nozzles of gas turbine engines. Frequently, fan air is used where considerable pressure is available to direct and modulate the cooling air flow.
In engines with high fan pressure ratios the cooling air is extensively compressed and therefore has an elevated temperature. Accordingly, it is difficult to achieve adequate cooling with this higher temperature air.
It is known therefor to design the nozzle as an ejector whereby cooling air can be induced at or beyond the throat plane. Ambient air enters the ram duct and is induced from there into the nozzle, adjacent the surfaces. It can be appreciated that very little excess pressure is available with this arrangement.
When axisymmetric nozzles are used requiring pitch and yaw, appropriate flow becomes more tenuous. The external flaps which confine the ram air can skew and become difficult to seal. Ram air can then leak out, rather than passing into the nozzle flow.


A method for providing edge-side tracks of holes in a printing belt for a rotary printing machine with at least one counter pressure cylinder and at least two printing belt cylinders around which the continuous printing belt carrying printing forms or printing pictures is led, with one printing belt cylinder being provided with radial ring of pins in the region of each of its ends, wherein the pins mesh with holes of the edge-side tracks of holes of the printing belt. The printing belt is stretched with a tension corresponding to the tension with which the printing belt is led around the printing belt cylinders in printing operation. Said state of tension is maintained during the punching of the tracks of holes such that the punched holes maintain their circular shape even in the stretched state of the printing belt in a printing machine and that the distance of the spacing of the holes of the tracks of holes exactly corresponds to the spacing of the pins of the radial rings of pins. A machine frame for carrying out the method includes a clamp for holding the front end of the belt, stretching rollers for stretching the belt, a supply roller for feeding belt between stretching wheels, an upper shaft carrying a punch wheel at each end and a lower shaft carrying a die wheel at each end, sledge-like carriages mounted in tracks at each side of the frame to carry the punch and die wheels along the side-edge of the belt to punch the tracks of holes.

This invention relates to a method for providing edge-side tracks of holes at a printing belt for a rotary printing machine with at least one counter pressure cylinder and at least two printing belt cylinders around which a continuous printing belt carrying printing forms or printing pictures is led, with at least one such cylinder being provided with a radial ring of pins in the region of each of its ends, wherein pins mesh with holes of the edge-side tracks of holes of the printing belt for slip-free guiding of the belt, and also relates to an apparatus for carrying out said method.
Rotary printing machines of said kinds which are provided with continuous printing belts, by which the format length can be increased independent of the diameters of the printing belt cylinders, which form idler rollers, are known for instance from the German Utility Model G 81 22 637.3 and the German Patent 444,987.
For the preparation of a print, printing belt sections, which can e.g. be belts made of polyester film, at their side edges are provided with the tracks of holes by punching. The printing belt is then put around the printing belt cylinders such that the holes of the edge-side tracks of holes mesh with the pins of the radial rings of pins of the printing cylinder. The ends of the printing belt section are connected with each other so that the continuous printing belt is obtained. For the connection of the ends of a printing belt section they can be provided with tooth rows being undercut in a dovetailed form, which can be brought into a positive engagement with each other. The engagement of the two tooth rows can then be secured by adhesive tapes glued thereto. The printing belts carry in a usual manner the blocks which can be glued thereto.
The continuous printing belt being led in a printing machine over the printing belt cylinders is subject to a certain tension so that it is elastically stretched. Said elastic stretching has the effect that the circular holes of the edge-side perforations, punched in the slack printing belt, are ovally or elliptically deformed in longitudinal direction of the printing belt, so that between the pins of the pin rings and the holes of the edge-side perforations a backlash is obtained and a slip-free guidance of the printing belt on the printing belt cylinder is no longer guaranteed. Said backlash resulting from the elliptical deformation of the holes can lead to a blurring of the printing image. Moreover, due to a stretching of the printing belt, the spacing of the holes of the edge-side perforations no longer corresponds to the spacing of the pins of the radial pin rings so that troubles can also occur in this respect.

Method and apparatus for providing edge-side tracks of holes at a printing belt for rotary printing machines


A variable comparison voltage generation apparatus for a semiconductor memory element substitutes a variable comparison voltage amplifier for a fixed comparison voltage amplifier used for a ferroelectric substance memory. The variable comparison voltage generation apparatus according to the present invention accurately detect the data stored in the memory element with ferroelectric substance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a variable comparison voltage generation apparatus for a semiconductor memory element. More particularly, it relates to a variable comparison voltage generation apparatus for a semiconductor memory element which maintains information safely although the number of times a ferroelectric substance memory element is usae becomes increased, and thereby accurately discriminates the data value in the memory element.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a semiconductor memory element memorizes information as two states according to an electric charge quantity therein. A comparison voltage amplifier is required for discriminating between the two-states of information and transmitting it to the outside. Accordingly, a comparison voltage is needed for the comparison voltage amplifier.
However, a memory element with a ferroelectric substance has a lower electric charge quantity, as its amount of usage is increased.
If the electric charge quantity decreases, a voltage value applied to an external voltage amplifier also decreases. Accordingly, it is difficult to accurately discriminate between voltages(information) stored in the memory element, so the memory element is not reliable.
In a conventional comparison voltage generation apparatus having a fixed comparison voltage, if a ferroelectric substance memory element is used in memory device, electric charge quantity decreases because the number of times the memory element is used, increases. Therefore, the conventional comparison voltage generation apparatus cannot accurately discriminate between the two voltages stored in the memory element, thereby incorrectly transmitting the stored information to an external part.

Variable comparison voltage generation apparatus for generating a comparison voltage corresponding to a variation of electric charge quantity in a ferroelectric substance memory element

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


A first device includes: a first reference signal source; a first transmitting/receiving unit which transmits two or more first carrier signals and receives two or more second carrier signals using an output of the first reference signal source; and a calculating unit. A second device includes: a second reference signal source configured to be operated independently from the first reference signal source; and a second transmitting/receiving unit configured to transmit two or more second carrier signals and receive two or more first carrier signals using an output of the second reference signal source. A frequency group of two or more first carrier signals and a frequency group of two or more second carrier signals differ from each other. The calculating unit calculates a distance between the first device and the second device based on a phase detection result obtained by receiving the first and second carrier signals.

Recently, a keyless entry system which facilitates locking and unlocking of a vehicle has been adopted by many automobiles. With the use of such a technique, a user of the automobile can lock or unlock a door by making use of communication between a key of the automobile and the automobile. Further, recently, a smart key system has been also popularly used where a user can lock or unlock a door or start an engine without touching a key.
So many incidents, however, have occurred where an attacker who performs a so-called relay attack invades into communication between a key and an automobile, and steals the automobile or articles in a cabin of the automobile. As a countermeasure for preventing such an attack, that is, the so-called relay attack, one countermeasure has been studied where a distance between the key and the automobile is measured, and a control of the vehicle via communication is prohibited when it is determined that the distance is equal to or more than a predetermined distance.

Distance measurement device and distance measurement method

TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION


Turbo equalization is performing by using a soft output detector to perform decoding. At least a portion of a local iteration of decoding is performed using a soft output decoder. A metric associated with decoding progress is generated and it is determined whether to perform another local iteration of decoding based at least in part on the metric.

Turbo equalization is a decoding process in which two processors take turns operating on encoded information. For example, a soft output Viterbi detector may operate on the encoded data first and then a low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoder takes over using information generated by the soft output Viterbi detector. In some cases, the LDPC decoder may perform multiple (e.g., back to back) attempts before the soft output Viterbi detector takes over again, if needed. In turbo decoding, decoding ends after the second processor (e.g., a soft output Viterbi detector) has completed, not after the first processor has completed (e.g., a LDPC decoder) so that if the soft output Viterbi detector took over again, the LDPC decoder would also be used at least one more time.
It would be desirable if the overall time to convergence (e.g., related to the number of soft output Viterbi detector attempts and number of LDPC decoder attempts required to properly decode the data) could be reduced. For example, if the number of local (e.g., back to back or successive) iterations of the LDPC decoder is fixed, termination of the LDPC decoder may end too late or too early. As an example of too many local iterations of the LDPC decoder when a fixed number of local iterations is used, the noise characteristics may be such that a pass by the soft output Viterbi detector would be better than further attempts by the LDPC decoder; however, if the LDPC decoder is only on its 2nd of 10 local iterations (as an example), then the system will unnecessarily continue with LDPC decoding when it should move on to the soft output Viterbi detector. As an example of too few local iterations of LDPC decoding, suppose the LDPC decoder is on its 10th of 10 attempts. With a fixed number of local iterations, the system will switch to the soft output Viterbi detector after the 10th local iteration, but there may be only a little bit of noise and an 11th local iteration by the LDPC decoder will complete the decoding process. As described above, decoding ends after the LDPC decoder completes (not the soft output Viterbi detector) so even after the soft output Viterbi detector runs at least one more local iteration of the LDPC decoder would be performed. Since one iteration by a soft output Viterbi detector could take multiple times the processing time of one (local) iteration of a LDPC decoder, this would add noticeable and unnecessary delay. Put generally, a fixed number of local LDPC decoder iterations does not take into account individual differences due to the uniqueness of each codeword and/or the unique characteristics of noise affecting it.
New metrics for adaptive scheduling in turbo equalization are desirable. Preferably, such a metric is relatively easy to obtain or otherwise compute. For example, metrics which are mathematically intensive are unattractive because computation consumes significant processing resources and/or power.

Adaptive scheduling of turbo equalization based on a metric


A radiotherapy device includes: a linac 1 for generating an electron beam 9, and a thin guide tube 2 for guiding the electron beam from the linac 1 to the affected part 7 within the body of the patient 6. The orbit of the electron beam 9 is controlled by means of the feedback circuit 8 in response to the output of the deviation detector 6 which detects the leakage of the electron beam outside of the guide tube 2. A high-level dosage can be accomplished without incurring danger of radiation exposure on the operator.

This invention relates to radiotherapy devices for treating patients by means of radiation, and more particularly to radiotherapy devices with enhanced dosage concentration upon the affected parts of the body, by which the exposure of operators to the radiation can effectively be prevented.
In accordance with the operation principles, the conventional radiotherapy devices may be classified into two categories: the external irradiation type and the internal irradiation type. The external irradiation type devices include: medical linacs (linear accelerators), 60.degree. C. (cobalt 60) devices, microtrons, and particle beam therapeutic devices. The internal irradiation type devices include those by which the radiation source is encapsulated within a needle, a pin, or a ribbon.
In the case of the external irradiation type devices, the X-ray, the .gamma.-ray, or the electron beam or other particle beams (such as the proton beam and the neutron beam) are irradiated upon the affected part to give the radiation damage thereon so as to treat it. Among them, the proton beam device exhibits relative superiority with respect to the concentration of the radiation at the affected part. In the case of the linac, the electron beam energy level is generally from 4 MeV to 20 MeV, and the range of penetration within the body is from about 1 centimeters to 10 centimeters. In the case of the internal irradiation type, the radiation source such as 226 Ra (radium 226) is sealed within a needle, etc., and is inserted into the affected part of the body of the patient. Thus, these type of devices exhibit superior concentration to the affected part. The usual radiation species include .alpha.-rays, .beta.-rays, and .gamma.-rays.
The conventional radiotherapy devices, however, have the following disadvantage. In the case of the external irradiation type devices such as the medical linacs, 60.degree. C. (cobalt 60) devices, and microtrons, the concentration of the dosage upon the affected part is often insufficient. Further, in the case of the therapeutic devices using particle beams, the buildings for accommodating the accelerators, etc., may become extremely expensive. Thus, as shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication (Kokoku) No. 44-19999, for example, the device can hardly be used for everyday therapeutic purposes.
In the case of the internal irradiation type devices, on the other hand, the operator may be exposed to radiation upon insertion of the radiation source into the body of the patient. Further, the attenuation of radiation is rapid and it is difficult to obtain a high dosage level. Furthermore, the maintenance of the radiation source incurs trouble. For the purpose of effecting an appropriate therapy suited to the patient's conditions, a good number of radiation source species is necessary.


A method of calculating and encoding a score of semantic and spatial similarity between concepts of an ontology stored in hierarchically numbered trellis form, in which the score (NSSij) is calculated and encoded (1) for each concept (Ci) with respect to a central concept (Cj), taken two-by-two, by convergence relative to their common semantic characteristics respectively by separation according to their distance. The method is applicable to the consultation of ontologies representative of knowledge in the technical or non-technical domain.

The invention relates to a method and a device for encoding a score of semantic and spatial similarity between concepts of an ontology stored in hierarchically numbered trellis form.
An ontology, in the context of the subject of the invention, should be understood to be a set of knowledge of facts and rules conveying information relating to an area of knowledge, of a technical and/or non-technical nature.
This information is translated by predicates, logical information-conveying entities, forming a relationship for at least one fact from the area of knowledge, the arguments of these predicates being able to be instantiated by particular values of these facts. A predicate (for example: Flight, and Country are two predicates useful in the area of knowledge of a traveller) can be instantiated by instances (example: 714/Sydney" is one instance of Flight, "France" an instance of Country).
Implicit information, obtained by saturating the knowledge areas of the ontology (rules, disjunctions, inclusions, definitions) can be calculated by a reasoner, defined for a language or a determined description logic, such as the ALN description logic which can be used to express object classes, concepts, based on constructors associated with the letters A: Top (universal concept), Bottom (empty concept), for All (universal restriction on certain properties associated with certain concepts) and Not; L: And (logical And between several concepts) and N: At least and At most (cardinality restriction on certain concepts).
A concept is a unary predicate, which accepts only one argument, with which it is possible to construct logic description formulae.
With reference to FIG. 1, an ontology of concepts can be represented in trellis form. A trellis is a partial order relation for which any pair of elements (e1, e2) of the trellis has a higher element eS and a common lower element el (e1<eS and e2<eS; e1>eI and e2>eI). The order is said to be partial, because it is not defined for all the pairs of elements: with reference to the higher element eS=T, defined as the universal concept, and the lower element el=⊥, defined as the empty concept, certain elements in the direction of the abovementioned order relation are said to be smaller than others, B<C, but some elements are not comparable to others, B ? H or A ? F. An element or concept can have several higher and lower elements.
The abovementioned trellis structure is richer than a conventional tree structure, which does not allow an element or concept to have multiple parents.
An ontology which no longer contains implicit information is called a saturated ontology, in which any information is accessible in, at most, one forward linkage step. A forward linkage step or saturation step, consists in replacing, by rewriting, the left part of a rule, called condition or body, by its right part, called conclusion or head of the rule.
The exemplary trellis of concepts of FIG. 1a is described in description logic, as represented in the abovementioned figure, according to the relationship of order of subsumption, or generalization, between two concepts which comprises all the instances of the inclusion relation ⊂ between primitive concepts. This relation between two elements e1 and e2 is reduced for two primitive concepts to checking the existence of an instance of the inclusion relation e1⊂e2 or e2⊂e1. On the other hand, determining whether a defined concept generalizes another involves complex calculations on the description logic expressions.
Thus, with reference to FIG. 1,
A is the child of B and E−B is the parent of A and F−B, E, H, A, F and I are the descendents of C−B, E, C and D are the generalizers of A; T designates the universal concept; ⊥ designates the empty concept. The trellis represented in FIG. 1 incorporates two defined concepts H: =C∩G and I where H subsumes I. After these two adjunctions C, D and G subsume H and therefore I.
A process of calculating and encoding a score of semantic proximity between two concepts has been described in the thesis by Alain Bidault, Université de Paris-Sud, France, thesis entitled "Affinement de requêtes posées à un médiateur" (refining requests put to a mediator), order number 6932, July 2002.
Calculating and encoding such a proximity score is also facilitated by a process of completely numbering a trellis of concepts, which is the subject of the prior French patent application FR 05 07326 entitled "Procédé et système de codage sous forme d'un treillis d'une hièrarchie de concepts appartenant à une ontologie" (Method and system of encoding in trellis form a hierarchy of concepts belonging to an ontology), filed in the name of the applicant on Jul. 8, 2005, publicly accessible online at the Internet address:
http://priorart.ip.com/search.jsp?searchType=freetextSe arch, prior to the date of filing of the present patent application.
Such a numbering process was defined for concepts appearing in description logic in a trellis of concepts. The relationships of this trellis take the form Concept 1⊂Concept 2 where the sign ⊂designates the subsumption relation between two concepts. The empty concept ⊥ and the universal concept T do not appear explicitly in the hierarchy, but are assumed present as specializing and generalizing the most specialized concepts and the most general concepts.
The abovementioned numbering process is noteworthy in that it consists in assigning each concept an identifier consisting of one or more paths, each path consisting of a series of integers. Each path is unique on the trellis of concepts and corresponds to the existence of a succession of arcs oriented between the concept concerned and the universal concept T. T and ⊥ have no identifier.
A numbering of the trellis represented in FIG. 1 according to the abovementioned process is expressed:
D("1"); G("2"); C("11"); B("111"); E ("112"); A("1111", "1121"); F("1112", "1122"); H("21", "113"); I("211", "1131").
It can be seen in FIG. 1 that, for the concept A, there are two routes for reaching the universal concept:                ABCD and AECD,which justifies the presence of two paths in the identifier of the concept A, one route being defined as the course of a path.
A determined concept has characteristics, some of which are defined. The defined characteristics correspond to the occurrences or courses of the arcs forming a route between the determined concept concerned and the universal concept T. Each path of the identifier corresponds to a main component of the concept. The number of characteristics of a concept NC is linked to the depth Ph of the hierarchy and to the number K of paths (main components of its identifier), NC=K×Ph. The undefined characteristics are the other characteristics. The characteristics are taken into account globally over the whole of the identifier of the concept or for each of its paths taken separately.
In the example of FIG. 1, a hierarchy of depth Ph=4, the concept I("211", "1131") has K=2 main components, NC=2×4=8 characteristics, of which 3+4=7 are defined and 8−7=1 is undefined.
To proceed with calculating the paths, each node of the trellis representing a concept, the numbering process consists in assigning each node or concept an identifier, which inherits all the paths of its parents, to which, for example, the character or integer 1 for the first child of a parent node p is added to each of the paths of the parent nodes p, and so on for any successive child node of the parent node p.
The abovementioned numbering process is drawn from the topological sorting on an oriented graph. An oriented graph is a non-symmetrical binary relation in which each element of the relation is represented by a node in the graph and in which each occurrence of the relation R("n1", "n2") reveals, on the graph, an arc oriented from the node "n1" to the node "n2". The topology sorting algorithm makes it possible to apply a processing operation to a node once all its antecedents have been processed. By analogy, a concept of the trellis is numbered once all its parent concepts have been numbered. To keep the information relative to the hierarchy, a child concept Cf inherits all the paths of the identifier of each of its parent concepts Cp extended to the right, for example, by a new character or integer number. The added character or integer number is the same for all the paths from one and the same parent to one of its children.
To guarantee that a path is associated with only a single concept of the hierarchy, the added character or integer is different for each of its children.
With reference to FIG. 1, the concept A has inherited the path "111" from its parent concept B and the path "112" from its parent concept E that it has extended with the character or integer 1, which could have been different depending on the rank of the child concept A for example. The set of the extended paths, obtained from all the parent concepts of the child concept Cf constitutes the identifier of the latter.
Thus, it is possible to find:                all the generalizers and the descendents of a determined concept by working through the identifier of this concept and the list of the concepts;        the maximum and minimum numbers of arcs that separate each concept from the universal concept T and, consequently, its depth in the trellis.
The numbering process also makes it possible to easily perform a subsumption test between two concepts, even though a subsumption test is a complex calculation in an ontology described in description logic which makes it possible to determine whether the instances of a concept are included or not in those of another concept, by being based on the definition of the concepts. This test, facilitated in a saturated ontology, becomes very simple thanks to the numbering process.
In practice, with reference to FIG. 1, the concept C("11") subsumes the concept A("1111", "1121") because the path of the identifier of C is identified with, at least, one path of the identifier of A, here by prefixing one of the paths of the identifier of A.
The numbering process also makes it possible to determine their smallest common generalizers, ppcg. The set of common generalizers ξgc of two concepts C1 and C2 contains all the concepts which subsume both C1 and C2. ppcg is the greatest subset d′=ξgc (ξgc=ppcg U ξremainder) such that no concept of the ppcg subsumes another concept of the ppcg and that no concept of the ppcg subsumes a concept of the remaining set ξremainder.
The ppcg of two concepts can be directly accessible in a saturated ontology and it is easy to extend the calculation of the ppcg from 2 to n concepts. The simplicity of the calculation of the ppcg based on the numbering is all the more appreciable.
With reference to FIG. 1, the ppcg of A("1111", "1121") and F("1112", "1122") is the set of the concepts associated with the paths "111" and "112", namely the concepts B and E.
The ppcg of the concepts A, F and H is restricted to the ppcg of ("111", "112") with ("21", "113"), namely the concept C("11"). However, the concepts D and G have no ppcg, apart from the universal concept T.
For a more detailed description of the above notions, reference can usefully be made to the abovementioned French patent application 05 07526.
The abovementioned numbering method also makes it possible to calculate and encode a score of semantic proximity between two concepts, as described in the abovementioned thesis by Alain Bidault.
The abovementioned encoded score is of interest only in a classification to order the concepts relative to a central or reference concept. The closer the concept is to the head of the classification obtained, the closer it is to the reference concept. To calculate and encode the abovementioned score, it is necessary to be able to determine, for two given concepts, the ppcg given by the common defined characteristics of the latter, and their separation in terms of numbers of arcs with respect to this ppcg.
With reference to FIG. 1, the concepts A("1111", "1112") and F("1112", "1122") are both at 2 times 1 arc from their ppcg ("111", "112").
The semantic convergence of two concepts favours the descendents, which have all the defined characteristics of their ancestors, orders these descendents according to their depth, the children are closer than the other descendents, and assigns a same score to the descendents located on the same stratum or level of descendence. In practice, a parent concept makes no distinction between its child concepts, just as a grandparent concept makes none with its child concepts, nor with its grandchild concepts, and so on.
The semantic convergence score of a concept C1 centred on a concept C2 is calculated in several phases which are detailed below:    1) determination of the common characteristics: a count is made of the number of defined characteristics of each path from the ppcg on each path of the central concept C2. The paths of the concept C1 are converged with the paths of the ppcg, so that they have a maximum number of common characteristics. The size of the common part is denoted Tpc.    2) each number of characteristics is enriched by the undefined characteristics of a path of the central concept C2: in practice, by definition, the central concept C2 has its undefined characteristics in common with each of its generalizers, therefore with the ppcg. This number is then standardized over the depth of the hierarchy to obtain a proximity ratio value PR:(Tpc+Ph−|path of C2|)/Ph=PR.     3) each defined characteristic of the concept C1 absent from the ppcg is taken into account to penalize the proximity ratio PR, which makes it possible to take account of the separation from C1 to the ppcg. The penalty value retained is 0.002. The proximity score on a path PN satisfies the relation:PN=PR−0.002|other characteristics of C1|.    4) any proximity score on a negative path PN is considered as zero.    5) the semantic proximity score SPN is the average of the scores on a path PNi: SPN= PNi.            With reference to the hierarchy of concepts represented in FIG. 1, of depth Ph=4, the semantic proximity score of the concept C1=A("1111", "1121") centred on the concept C2=I("211", "1311") is calculated below:        ppcg on "211"=T and ppcg on "1131"=C("11");        length of the common characteristics 0 and 2;        proximity ratios: PR1+(0+4−3)/4=1/4 and PR2=(2+4−4) 4=1/2;        scores on a path: PN1=¼−(0.002×4)=0.242 and PN2=1/2−0.002×2=0.496;        semantic proximity score of C1 centred on C2: SPN=(0.242+0.496)/2=0.369.
The semantic proximity score of each concept of the hierarchy of concepts represented in FIG. 1, centred on the concept I is given in the table T1 below.
TABLE T1IAverage (((3 + 4 − 3)/4) − 0, ((4 + 4 − 4)/4 − 0) = 1HAverage (((2 + 4 − 3)/4) − 0, ((3 + 4 − 4)/4 − 0) = 0.75CAverage (((0 + 4 − 3)/4) − 0.004, ((2 + 4 − 4)/4 − 0) = 0.373BAverage (((0 + 4 − 3)/4) − 0.006, ((2 + 4 − 4)/4 − 0.002) = 0.371EAverage (((0 + 4 − 3)/4) − 0.006, ((2 + 4 − 4)/4 − 0.002) = 0.371AAverage (((0 + 4 − 3)/4) − 0.008, ((2 + 4 − 4)/4 − 0.004) = 0.369FAverage (((0 + 4 − 3)/4) − 0.008, ((2 + 4 − 4)/4 − 0.004) = 0.369GAverage (((1 + 4 − 3)/4) − 0,0 = 0.25DAverage (((0 + 4 − 3)/4) − 0.002, ((1 + 4 − 4)/4 − 0) = 0.249
The abovementioned semantic proximity score does not represent a distance, for example in number of arcs, between two concepts C1 and C2, because, to take account of the semantic constraints, the calculation of this score is not symmetrical but oriented to C1 or C2. For a more detailed explanation of this choice, reference can usefully be made to the abovementioned thesis.
The abovementioned numbering process does not give access to the other information of the ontology that can appear in a saturated version of the ontology. Thus, neither the exclusion constraints, nor the defined rules on the n-ary predicates, nor the typing constraints are taken into account.
Furthermore, there is currently no simple and cheap to implement way of calculating and encoding concept proximity scores that is representative both of the semantic proximity and of the spatial proximity of these concepts.
In the currently known techniques, the distance scores mainly favour the semantic aspect, which is very important for reasoning on a request, but they do not significantly take into account the spatial convergence of the concepts, within the graph of concepts, which is necessary for a better representation of the ontology. Calculating and encoding spatial distance scores currently entail expensive courses through the various concepts of the ontology.

Method and device for encoding a score of semantic and spatial similarity between concepts of an ontology stored in hierarchically numbered trellis form


3-acrylamido-3-methylbutanoic acid copolymers of acrylamide or acrylic acid are selective flocculant for coal present in coal refuse slurries.

Introduction
Typical coal refuse thickener feed to a settling tank contains considerable amounts of inorganic gangue, clays and the like. These materials have previously been pulverized and dispersed in water and present a difficult problem in regards to the recovery of coal values therefrom. In most instances, no attempt is even made to recover the coal in the refuse or reject. As a result, the coal is lost. The coal content in the refuse can range from 25 to 70% (based on the weight of refuse solids). Simply adding flocculants to this slurry provides flocculation for both coal particulate matter as well as particulate matter obtained from inorganic gangue, clays and other suspended materials present in these slurries, such that separation of the coal values is not possible.
If it would be possible to selectively flocculate the coal from such a pulverized coal refuse slurry, an advance in the art could be achieved.
We have discovered that we can selectively flocculate the coal from such a pulverized coal refuse aqueous slurry by the use of special flocculants which then cause the selective flocculation and settling of coal particles while leaving inorganic gangue, clays and like materials preferentially suspended in the aqueous phase.
Applying standard solid/liquid separation techniques in this selectively flocculated coal then provides for the recovery of a concentrated, flocculated coal slurry whose ash value is appreciable lower than the original coal refuse ash value and provides for the recovery of dispersed clays, inorganic gangues, and the like with recycle of waters possible which may derive additional economic benefit to the operator.
It is the object of this invention to selectively flocculate coal values from a dispersed pulverized coal refuse slurry which contains pulverized coal and inorganic gangue, clays and the like. A clay like inorganic gangue material dispersed in water may then be subsequently settled and collected, and the water values recycled back to the mining operations.
It is also an object of this invention to recover a low ash particulate coal from a pulverized coal refuse slurry containing high ash inorganic gangues, clays and the like.

3-acrylamido-3-methylbutanoic acid copolymers as selective coal flocculants


In a fastener for securing a weather strip to an automotive body panel provided with a cap portion for retaining the weather strip, a stem portion extending from the cap portion and adapted to be fitted into a through hole provided in the body panel, a radial flange provided in the stem portion adjacent the cap portion for abutting the outer surface of the body panel, and a plurality of engagement claws projecting radially from the stem portion for securing the stem portion in the through hole of the body panel, to reduce the force required for securing the fastener and facilitate the use of the fastener without compromising the fastening capability of the fastener, the stem portion has a substantially hollow cross section, and is provided with four axial slits at 90 degree interval. Thus, the separated parts of the stem portion are given with a sufficient yieldability without being affected by the rigidity of the radial flange, and the work of mounting the fastener is facilitated.

Conventionally, the weather strip is used to fill the gaps between a body panel and a bonnet panel or a door panel of an automobile, and is mounted on the body panel by using a fastener made of synthetic resin such as the one illustrated in FIG. 3.
Referring to FIG. 3 showing a conventional fastener of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,244 issued to Wayland on Feb. 10, 1970, to the end of retaining a weather strip 2 which serves as a first member in this case, a fastener 21 is provided with an umbrella shaped cap 3 which retains the weather strip 2 by being received therein via an engagement hole 2a provided in the weather strip 2, and a stem portion 22 which is to be passed through a through hole 4a provided in a body panel 4 of an automobile serving as a second member on which the weather strip 2 is to be mounted. The stem portion 22 has a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the through hole 4a, and is provided with three annular flanges 23a through 23c in mutually spaced relationship in the longitudinal direction. The outer diameter of these flanges 23a through 23c is slightly larger than the diameter of the through hole 4a. Therefore, when pushing the stem portion 22 into the through hole 4a, the axial force therefor causes the flanges 23b and 23c to be elastically contracted thereby allowing them to be passed through the through hole 4a to the other side of the steel panel 4 where the flange 23b restores its original condition and secures the fastener 21 to the steel panel 4.
In such a conventional fastener 21, when pushing the fastener 21 into the through hole 4a of the body panel 4, since the flanges 23b and 23c had to be compressed for insertion, a relatively large force was required for this process. Therefore, it was a problem that the work involved in the use of the fastener required more efforts than desired.

Fastener having axial slits and axially displaced engagement claws


A system for sequencing traffic for use with various types of vehicles such as air vehicles, land vehicles water vehicles, and railroad vehicles. Virtual containers may be generated that are used to sequence traffic. The virtual containers may be suitably managed to move at a predetermined rate and capacity. Vehicles may be positioned within an empty virtual container. The vehicle will then be managed to stay within the boundaries of the virtual container and thus maintain the desired sequencing of traffic.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to sequencing traffic, and more particularly, to sequencing traffic by using a production line approach for improved traffic management.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technology in transportation has evolved, the management of traffic for various modes of transportation has become increasingly complex. For example, air traffic in the United States has dramatically increased to the point where there are tens of thousands of aircraft flights in this country each day. The mandate of providing for safe air travel is charged to air traffic controllers who keep track of aircraft flying within their assigned area and instruct pilots so as to keep the aircraft safe distances apart. While air traffic controllers must direct aircraft efficiently to minimize delays, their paramount concern is safety. However, while the volume of air traffic has increased, the number of air traffic controllers has not increased at the same rate. Thus, controllers are responsible for more and more aircraft.
Air traffic controllers are situated in airport control towers, approach control centers, and enroute centers. Controllers in airport control towers sequence aircraft by guiding and separating the aircraft through landings, takeoffs, and taxiing. Controllers in approach control centers manage the flow of air traffic in the departure and approach area for an airport, while controllers in enroute centers manage the enroute traffic between airports. Control of a specific aircraft is transferred between controllers as the aircraft moves through the various phases of flight. The overall management of air traffic relies heavily on air traffic controllers, and on the instantaneous voice communications between pilots and the air traffic controllers.
Aircraft traffic controllers use radar to track the air traffic in their vicinity. The various types of radar give air traffic controllers the individual identity, location, speed, and altitude of each aircraft under their supervision. The controller will monitor each aircraft individually to ensure that the aircraft maintains a safe distance from other aircraft and obstacles in its vicinity. Frequently as the number of aircraft increases, the controllers find it necessary to use holding patterns and/or extend approach paths in order to safely manage all of the aircraft under their supervision. This creates delays for the aircraft and increases stress for the controllers.
Air traffic controllers must manage aircraft so that a safe distance is maintained between the aircraft. This is done to reduce the risk of midair collisions. Also, if an aircraft gets too close to another aircraft, then wake vortex or wake turbulence can be unsettlingly to one of the aircraft and can contribute to passenger injury or cause the pilot to lose control of the aircraft. With the capabilities of current systems, separation between aircraft is often larger than necessary. As the number of aircraft increases, this larger separation results in an inefficient utilization of runways as the runways will not be operating at full capacity.
A system is thus needed which sequences traffic to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art.
In accordance with the present invention, a system for sequencing traffic may include generating a plurality of virtual containers that move at a predetermined rate and capacity and managing the movement of the virtual containers. Vehicles, such as air, land, water, or railroad vehicles, may be positioned in one of the virtual containers. The vehicle may then be managed to stay within the virtual container and therefore maintain the desired sequencing of traffic.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the vehicle may be automatically commanded by command data sent to the vehicle by a controller or other monitoring person or application.


The present invention relates to a method for producing syringyl lignin in gymnosperms. The production of syringyl lignin in gymnosperms is accomplished by genetically transforming a gymnosperm genome, which does not normally contain genes which code for enzymes necessary for production of syringyl lignin, with DNA which codes for enzymes found in angiosperms associated with production of syringyl lignin. The expression of the inserted DNA is mediated using host promoter regions in the gymnosperm. In addition, genetic sequences which code for gymnosperm lignin anti-sense mRNA may be incorporated into the gymnosperm genome in order to suppress the formation of the less preferred forms of lignin in the gymnosperm such as guaiacyl lignin.

Lignin is a major part of the supportive structure of most woody plants including angiosperm and gymnosperm trees which in turn are the principal sources of fiber for making paper and cellulosic products. In order to liberate fibers from wood structure in a manner suitable for making many grades of paper, it is necessary to remove much of the lignin from the fiber/lignin network. Lignin is removed from wood chips by treatment of the chips in an alkaline solution at elevated temperatures and pressure in an initial step of papermaking processes. The rate of removal of lignin from wood of different tree species varies depending upon lignin structure. Three different lignin structures have been identified in trees: p-hydroxyphenyl, guaiacyl and syringyl, which are illustrated in FIG. 1.
Angiosperm species, such as Liquidambar styraciflua L. [sweetgum], have lignin composed of a mixture of guaiacyl and syringyl monomer units. In contrast, gymnosperm species such as Pinus taeda L. [loblolly pine] have lignin which is devoid of syringyl monomer units. Generally speaking, the rate of delignification in a pulping process is directly proportional to the amount of syringyl lignin present in the wood. The higher delignification rates associated with species having a greater proportion of syringyl lignin result in more efficient pulp mill operations since the mills make better use of energy and capital investment and the environmental impact is lessened due to a decrease in chemicals used for delignification.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide gymnosperm species which are easier to delignify in pulping processes.
Another object of the invention is to provide gymnosperm species such as loblolly pine which contain syringyl lignin.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a method for modifying genes involved in lignin biosynthesis in gymnosperm species so that production of syringyl lignin is increased while production of guaiacyl lignin is suppressed.
Still another object of the invention is to produce whole gymnosperm plants containing genes which increase production of syringyl lignin and repress production of guaiacyl lignin.
Yet another object of the invention is to identify, isolate and/or clone those genes in angiosperms responsible for production of syringyl lignin.
A further object of the invention is to provide, in gymnosperms, genes which produce syringyl lignin.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for making an expression cassette insertable into a gymnosperm cell for the purpose of inducing formation of syringyl lignin in a gymnosperm plant derived from the cell.

Production of syringyl lignin in gymnosperms


A nonvolatile memory cell includes a substrate comprising a source, drain, and channel between the source and the drain. A tunnel dielectric layer overlies the channel, and a localized charge storage layer is disposed between the tunnel dielectric layer and a control dielectric layer. A gate electrode has a first surface adjacent to the control dielectric layer, and the first surface includes a midsection and two edge portions. According to one embodiment, the midsection defines a plane, and at least one edge portion extends away from the plane. Preferably, the edge portion extending away from the plane converges toward an opposing second surface of the gate electrode. According to another embodiment, the gate electrode of the nonvolatile memory cell includes a first sublayer and a second sublayer of a different width on the first sublayer.

Nonvolatile memory devices, such as flash memory devices, are memory devices that can store information even when not powered. A flash memory device stores information in a charge storage layer that is separated from a "control gate." A voltage is applied to the control gate to program and erase the memory device by causing electrons to be stored in and discharged from the charge storage layer.
To reduce the dimensions of nonvolatile memory devices, the use of localized charge storage is being investigated and commercialized as a replacement for the more established contiguous floating gate technology. Localized charge storage approaches include the use of nitride films, semiconductor quantum dots, and metallic quantum dots. Localized charge storage may provide advantages over contiguous floating gate technology in several areas. For example, localized storage may provide greater immunity to cell-to-cell coupling, improved data retention, and allow further size scaling of the tunnel oxide layer.
For some types of localized charge storage memory devices, the charging and discharging of the charge storage layer is accomplished by electron (or hole) tunneling. Conventional memory cell technology includes gate electrodes and silicon channels with sharp corners. Such sharp corners can create locally enhanced electric fields and, consequently, spatial variations in the tunneling rate during charging and/or discharging of the memory device. Such variations in tunneling rate across the memory cell may be particularly problematic in memory devices that utilize localized charge storage approaches.
For example, locally increased tunneling rates may be detrimental during the cell erase process. In the erase process, a negative voltage is applied to the control gate to induce electrons to tunnel out of the charge storage layer. Due to the sharp corners of the gate electrode, however, the local electric field may be enhanced sufficiently such that electrons tunnel into the charge storage layer from the control gate at the cell edges. Consequently, during the erase process, electrons may be added at the edges of the cell as they are being removed from the center of the cell. The electrons thus stored at the edges of the cell cannot easily be removed from the charge storage layer because they are in fact caused by the erase procedure.
In view of these problems, it would be advantageous to reduce spatial variations in the tunneling rate across the memory cell, particularly for nonvolatile memory devices that store charge in discrete or localized regions within the charge storage layer.

Gate electrode for a nonvolatile memory cell


The present invention relates to hollow fiber membrane modules for use as “immersion modules” in filtration and/or dialysis methods, in particular whenever impairments due to fouling effects are expected from the use of liquids that are contaminated or lead to deposits. The hollow fiber membrane module comprises at least one housing and a plurality of tubular hollow fiber membranes which are arranged parallel to one another in and/or around the housing in a packing space, wherein the volumetric ratio of all the hollow fiber membranes arranged in the packing space to the packing space is less than 20%. Methods for producing such hollow fiber membrane modules are also provided.

The present invention relates to hollow fiber membrane modules for use as what are termed "immersion modules" in filtration and/or dialysis methods, in particular whenever impairments due to fouling effects are expected on the basis of the use of liquids that are contaminated or lead to deposits, as well as to methods for producing such hollow fiber membrane modules.
Synthetic membranes have been used for separating materials for some years in industry, for example in sewage treatment or in biotechnology. In this case, a role is played, in particular, by the processing of aqueous systems, but also by the separation of gases or mixtures of organic liquids. In addition to membranes made principally from organic materials, for example polysulfones, there are also membranes that consist of inorganic materials such as, for example, aluminum oxide, carbon fibers and zirconium oxide, and which can withstand temperatures of up to 400° C.
By using pressure or underpressure, membrane filtration methods can be applied both continuously and discontinuously as ultrafiltration or, together with a concentration difference, as diafiltration. In the case of filtration volumes <1000 ml, filter cells are frequently equipped with membrane flat filters, whereas capillary or hollow fiber systems are used for larger volumes. The term capillary or tube membrane is used where the diameter of the tubular membrane >1 mm, and the term hollow fiber membrane when the diameter <1 mm, the diameter of a dialysis membrane typically being 0.2 to 0.5 mm.
Membranes for filtration or dialysis methods constitute thin film-like, either "dense" or porous separating layers. Depending on pore size, the porous separating layers are permeable only for specific molecule or particle sizes whereas, depending on the solubility and diffusivity of the materials to be separated in the substance of the separating layers, "dense" separating layers permit the materials to permeate faster or slower and therefore lead to separation. Membranes frequently have a foam-like support structure, with 60% to 80% hollow space, which supports the actual separating layer. Asymmetrically constructed membranes consist of a highly porous support structure in the case of which the size of the cavities inside the support structure decreases toward the side which supports the actual separating layer.
In order to process relatively large volumes of solution, tube-shaped membrane bundles made from hollow fibers or capillary membranes which permit a larger passage of solutions because of a large membrane surface, are introduced directly into the solution to be processed as what are termed immersion modules. In order to protect the membrane bundles against mechanical damage, which could be effected, for example, by forces arising from the liquid flow, the membrane bundles are frequently accommodated in a housing that lends the hollow fiber membranes sufficient protection and stability toward the outside. In this case, the housing has openings that are intended to permit the exchange of solutions between the housing interior, that is to say the hollow fiber membranes, and the medium in which the hollow fiber membrane module has been immersed.
In the design normally employed for a membrane module and which cannot be designated as an immersion module, the walls of the protecting housing have no openings, that is to say they are impermeable, and instead of this the housing has two connections, specifically a feed line and a withdrawal line through which the medium to be processed is fed to the outer surfaces of the hollow fibers and then led away again from the latter.
In the case of such normally used modules, the aim is as high a packing density as possible, which means that as many hollow fiber membranes as possible are accommodated in parallel in the housing interior, and the housing therefore has a high packing density. The term "packing density" refers in percentage terms to the ratio of the volume of all the hollow fiber membranes including their wall volume to the volume of the housing in which the hollow fibers are arranged. A high packing density therefore means a low volume for the hollow or free spaces inside the housing that are formed between the tubular membrane fibers. A natural upper limit to the packing density of <100% results from the fact that it is possible to arrange in parallel inside the defined volume of the housing only a number of tubular membranes which is such that they do not exhaust the prescribed volume. The limitation arises because when the tubular membranes touch interspaces are produced that are not tubular in shape and therefore leave over a residual cavity even given the most ideal arrangement. The packing density is, however, limited in addition by two further important factors. On the one hand, when potting the hollow fiber ends it is necessary to introduce sealing material between the hollow fibers and, on the other hand, the solutions being used are also to flow around the hollow fibers at the outer surface, so that, depending on the mode of operation of the module, it is possible either to bring a solution to be filtered into contact with the membranes, or, instead, to lead off filtrate. The hollow fiber bundles must be embedded at their ends in what is termed potting material so as to produce at each end in this way, just as in the case of shell-in-tube heat exchangers, a tube sheet denoted below as a "potting". The result of this is the production, together with the housing into which the bundle is introduced, of two spaces that are separated by the membrane. The separated spaces thus produced can then respectively be provided with a feed line and a withdrawal line, in order to supply the feed to be treated to one space and to lead it therefrom as retentate, and to lead off the filtrate obtained from the feed from the other space.
The packing density of the normally used, conventional hollow fiber membrane modules is therefore approximately 25% to 30%.
Conventional hollow fiber membrane modules are designed chiefly for use in particle-free solutions, that is to say solutions or media that are not contaminated or do not tend to deposits. Such conventional, densely packed membrane modules with a perforated module housing are, however, frequently likewise used for technical processes in which particle-containing media, for example contaminated liquids in sewage treatment. Particularly in the case of such particle-containing media, what is termed fouling occurs in the course of the filtration process, that is to say in the course of time deposits that diminish ever more strongly the permeability of the membranes for the materials to be separated are increasingly formed on the membrane surfaces. This can go so far that the convective transport inside the hollow fiber membrane module, that is to say between the hollow filaments, is stopped completely, and that the transport performance of the entire module drops by orders of magnitude, since only a low percentage of the overall membrane surface area accommodated in the module still remains available for separating materials. If, for example, bundles of hollow fibers are used, it is possible, in particular, only for the hollow fibers arranged on the outer circumference of the bundle to participate in the convective transport of the exterior. In the case where the hollow fibers are arranged in the interior of the module, during the most exceptional case, it is only diffusion processes that still occur, but they are likewise greatly impaired because of the deposits.
It is normal to apply chemical or mechanical cleaning methods such as backflushing, mechanical vibration, ultrasound methods etc. in order to remove deposits from fouling processes. Apart from the fact that these cleaning methods are associated with a high outlay on energy, they always harbor the risk of mechanical damage to the hollow fiber membranes. If these customary measures can no longer be applied, the only measure remaining is a suitable incident flow onto the membrane surface through the feed solution.
In order to suppress fouling processes specifically in the case of applications in the revival pools of sewage-treatment plants, a filtration method (WO 99/29401; Zenon Environmental, Inc., Burlington, Ontario, Calif.) has been developed in which capillary membranes are introduced into the aeration tanks directly without a protective housing. In order to keep the fibers free from deposits, they are bathed with a uniform stream of air bubbles. However, these fibers have a partially substantially larger diameter than the fibers normally used, which have a diameter of less than 1 mm. They also have thick support structures. Moreover, these hollow fibers can be used only at such points in the aeration tank at which the mechanical forces induced by the flow are very small or can be kept very small. In this specific application, the spaces between the individual capillary membranes are up to several millimeters.
Also known in the art are commercially available hollow fiber systems in which several individual, tightly packed modules are accommodated in a housing, for example, with a packing density of 20 to 35%, in parallel interconnection. The result of this in principle is isolated strands between which there is sufficient space to ensure better incident flow or throughflow of the individual strands, and to minimize fouling processes. However, such systems require a technically very complicated housing whose production is correspondingly expensive.
In addition, use of what are termed spacers is known in the case of wound modules surrounding flat membranes, or electrodialysis stacks. The spacers are intended, for example, to ensure uniform spacings between the individual membranes and, on the other hand, simultaneously to distribute the flow of the solution into the respective feed-side or permeate-side compartments of the membrane module, in order thus to effect a flow over the entire membrane. The spacer materials used are reticulate structures with mesh sizes of different magnitude. However, these conventional spacer materials lead to an additional pressure drop in the liquid flow which can be equalized only by an additional expenditure of energy. Conventional modules with spacers therefore require a forced flow through their exterior.


Device configured for modifying the length of snow chains or guard chains. For this purpose, two recesses are disposed on a shaped disk and are interlinked by a sliding slot. The distance of the adjacent chain links is modified by slipping the chain links through the sliding slot into a different recess.

Closed chains, chain nets, snow chains, protective tire chains, and other chain systems are not adjustable in terms of length and width (in the case of grid or ladder chains) unless the chain is opened and/or individual chain links are opened in order to remove or add chain links. The same applies for jewelry chains.
Many variants for connecting the last links in a finite chain by way of a special connecting element are also known in the art. Such a connection becomes necessary most frequently when chains break; for example, breaks on snow chains of motor vehicles or on protective tire chains of utility vehicles operating in stone quarries and similar environments. The problem that emerges when two ends of a broken chain must be connected is the fact that, most of the time, no suitable tools are available on site where the break occurred in order to install a regular chain link that was cut open for that purpose and must be welded closed again after having been inserted. Welding on the wheel is generally not possible because this may cause damage to the tire. Any removal of the chain armor from protective chains is extremely complex and creates, moreover, costs associated with the disruption of operations during the disassembly, repair work, and new installation.
Accordingly, repair chain links are already known in the prior art that can be connected to the links of the broken chain right on the vehicle. The repair chain links are often comprised of a ring with an overlapping thread that extends over a certain area in the way of a helical line. Chain links of this type can be inserted directly on the wheel into the outermost-lying chain links and then pressed together with the assistance of a strong pair of pliers. Also known are, furthermore, repair links that feature an (open) C-form; the only way to guide them around the neighboring chain links is with a pair of pliers, and then they must be bent in a backward direction. Reconnecting a broken chain without the use of tools is not possible with any of the known prior art repair links. Moreover, the repair links are usually only a short-term solution because, since they must be bendable after installation, they may not be manufactured of a hardened material. At a later time they must be replaced at a repair shop with other durable links. This requires additional expense.

Apparatus for adjustably connecting two chain links of a closed link chain without the use of tools at varying distances and/or for repairing a broken link chain


Crystalline 2S-cis-3-[[(4-mercapto-2-pyrrolidinyl) carbonyl]-amino]benzoic acid and salts and solvates thereof are disclosed. Three different crystalline types are described.

Crystalline forms of intermediates for carbapenem antibiotics are desirable from a stability and purity standpoint. These compounds facilitate the synthesis of carbapenem antibiotics on a commercial scale.
In the present invention, crystalline forms of the compound 2S-cis-3-[[(4-mercapto-2-pyrrolidinyl)carbonyl]-amino]benzoic acid have been discovered and characterized. Crystalline 2S-cis-3-[[(4-mercapto-2-pyrrolidinyl)carbonyl]-amino]benzoic acid and pharmaceutically acceptable salts and solvates thereof are disclosed. The compounds can generally be synthesized taking into account the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,820 granted on Dec. 26, 1995. This patent does not disclose the side chain in crystalline form.

Crystalline forms of antibiotic side chain intermediates


A manufacturing method includes a process of once heating a liquid crystal material to a temperature at which an isotropic phase appears therein and then cooling the liquid crystal material, the liquid crystal material being a ferroelectric liquid crystal or antiferroelectric liquid crystal, to be performed under an applied AC electric field which generates an electroclinic effect in a temperature range of from a temperature 20.degree. C. above a phase transition temperature at which a transition in phase occurs from a smectic A phase to a chiral smectic C phase to a temperature 20.degree. C. below the phase transition temperature.

Conventional liquid crystal display elements include, for example, a TN (Twisted Nematic) liquid crystal display element and an STN (Super-Twisted Nematic) liquid crystal display element which use nematic liquid crystals. However, such liquid crystal display elements suffer a drawback of long response time (ms order) to an electro-optic effect when driven at high speed, which causes a disorder in the screen, low contrast, etc., thereby imposing limits on display capacity. To overcome such problems, a liquid crystal display element using a ferroelectric or antiferroelectric liquid crystal has been expected to enter the market for practical applications as the next liquid crystal display forward.
Such ferroelectricity in the liquid crystal is first confirmed by R. B. Meyer, et al., in 1975 by synthesizing a DOBAMBC (2-methylbutyl p-p-(decyloxybenzylidene)-amino! -cinnamate) as a result of research based on the assumption that from the symmetric property of molecules, if an optically-active molecule has a dipole moment in a direction perpendicular to a major axis of the molecule, ferroelectricity would appear in a chiral smectic C phase (SmC* phase) (see R. B. Meyer, L. Liebert, L. Strzelecki and P. Keller:J. Phys. (Paris) 36 (1975) L69).
Here, the structure of the SmC* phase having the ferroelectricity will be explained. In the SmC* phase, the center of gravity of the liquid crystal molecule in the layer is in disorder. However, as shown as cones 101 in a typical depiction of FIG. 6(a), a major axis of the liquid crystal molecule (director 102) is tilted by a prescribed angle .theta. with respect to a layer normal line z (normal line of a layer 103 dividing the smectic layer). The director 102 rotates so as to have a slightly different angle from layer to layer, and thus the liquid crystal molecules have an alignment of a helical structure. In this helical structure, a helical pitch is around 1 .mu.m which is significantly longer than a clearance between layers (around 1 nm). The phase having the described molecular alignment is confirmed not only in the ferroelectric liquid crystal but also in the antiferroelectric liquid crystal (see A. D. L. Chandani, T. Hagiwara, Y. Suzuki, Y. Ouchi, H. Takezoe and A. Fukuda: Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 27(1988)L729.).
Clark and Lagerwall discovered that such helical structure disappears when the cell thickness is less than around 1 .mu.m (approximately the same as the helical pitch), and as shown in FIG. 6(b), the molecule 104 in each layer is in either one of the bistable modes according to an applied electric field, and they proposed "the surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC)" which is disclosed by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 107216/1981 (Tokukaisho 56-107216) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,924. In FIG. 6(b), the electric field applied to the molecule 104 has a direction perpendicular to the sheet surface of the figure from the back surface side to the front surface side. An electric dipole moment of the molecule 104 is completely arranged in a direction of the applied electric field as shown in each molecule in FIG. 6(b). The above-mentioned mechanism will be explained in reference to FIG. 7. As described, the molecule 104 of the SSFLC formed as a thin cell is in either a bistable mode A or a bistable mode B according to the direction of the applied electric field as shown in FIG. 7. In the bistable mode A shown in FIG. 7, the electric field applied to the molecule 104 has a direction perpendicular to the sheet surface in the figure from the front surface side to the back surface side. While, in the bistable mode B, the electric field has a direction perpendicular to the sheet surface from the back surface side to the front surface side.
Therefore, by forming a SSFLC cell between two polalizers whose polarization axes cross at right angle, for example, in such a manner that the major axis of the molecule lies parallel to the direction of one polarizer in the bistable mode B (direction 111 shown by an arrow in the figure), a bright state appears in the bistable mode A by allowing a transmission of light, while a dark state appears in the bistable mode B by shutting off a transmission of light. Namely, by switching the direction of the applied electric field, a black-and-white display can be achieved. Here, an apparent angle formed by an optical axis in the state where the molecule is in one bistable mode (for example, the bistable mode A) and an optical axis in the state where the molecule is in the other bistable mode (for example, the bistable mode B) is referred to as "memory angle".
In the SSFLC, since a spontaneous polarization and the electric field interact directly, different from the general switching using the dielectric anisotropy in the nematic crystal, a short response time of not more than millisecond (ms) order can be achieved with respect to the electric field. Besides, the SSFLC offers a beneficial feature of memory function that once the bistable mode is achieved, the bistable mode can be maintained even with a removed electric field, thereby eliminating the necessity of applying a voltage constantly.
As described, in the SSFLC, by utilizing its advantageous characteristic of short response time and memory function, the display signal can be written per each scanning line at high speed, thereby permitting a display of a large capacity with the simple matrix drive system. For the described beneficial characteristics, the application of the SSFLC to a hung-wall type television is also expected.
The liquid crystal molecule in the described SSFLC preferably has a uniform alignment of the bookshelf structure wherein a liquid crystal layer 120 is formed perpendicularly to a glass substrate 121 as shown in FIG. 8(a). In practice, however, the liquid crystal molecule has an alignment of the chevron structure wherein a liquid crystal layer 120 is bent to the normal line of a glass substrate 121 in chevron as shown in FIG. 8(b). The liquid crystal molecule having an alignment of the chevron structure has drawbacks in that an memory angle is reduced which causes the amount of transmitted light to be reduced, or an alignment defect, called "zigzag defect" occurs between the layers which are bent in the opposite direction, resulting in low contrast.
As a solution to such problems, a method of approximating the structure of the liquid crystal layer to the quasi-bookshelf structure while applying an electric field in the SmC* phase has been proposed, for example, by Y. Sato (see "Japanese Journal of Applied Physics" Vol. 28, No. 3, March, 1989, pp.L483-L486). This method is effective in increasing the memory angle, yet has such drawbacks that the irregularity in texture tends to occur due to many line defects, or the response time to the drive electric field increases, etc. Therefore, the described method, in fact, does not provide an effective solution to the described problem.

Method of manufacturing liquid crystal display element

The Secretary of State for Defence in Her Britannic Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland


A semiconductor device includes a first MIS transistor of a non-salicide structure and a second MIS transistor of a salicide structure which are both formed on a substrate of silicon. The first MIS transistor includes a first gate electrode of silicon, first sidewalls, a first source and drain, and plasma reaction films grown in a plasma atmosphere to cover the top surfaces of the first gate electrode and first source and drain, wherein the plasma reaction film prevents silicide formation on the first MIS transistor.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor devices and methods for fabricating the same, and more particularly relates to semiconductor devices in which transistors of a salicide structure (hereinafter, referred to as "salicide transistors") and transistors of a non-salicide structure (hereinafter, referred to as "non-salicide transistors") are formed on the same substrate and methods for fabricating the same.
(2) Description of Related Art
In recent years, with increases in the degree of integration and operating speed of semiconductor integrated circuits, gate electrodes and interconnects of metal insulator semiconductor field effect transistors (MISFETs) are becoming finer.
Accordingly, there has been a demand for salicide transistors each having a low-resistance electrode. A salicide transistor is formed in the following manner: Refractory metal films are formed on source/drain diffusion regions formed in a silicon substrate and a gate electrode of polysilicon, and then the refractory metal films are subjected to heat treatment so that silicide layers of a refractory metal are formed on the respective top surfaces of the source/drain diffusion regions and gate electrode in a self-aligned manner.
However, a salicide transistor has a low resistance to application of a high voltage and a high current both caused by static electricity (surges) or the like from outside to the salicide transistor and is therefore likely to be broken. Hence, in general, in order to enhance the resistance to a high voltage and a high current both caused by surges or the like, non-salicide transistors are often used for input/output circuits of semiconductor devices.
Resistors having a desired resistance are demanded for analog circuits or other circuits. Therefore, instead of source/drain diffusion layers and a gate electrode of a salicide structure having a low resistance, source/drain diffusion layers and a gate electrode of a non-salicide structure having a fixed resistance may be required.
A semiconductor device in which salicide transistors and non-salicide transistors are both formed on the same substrate is formed in the following manner. First, a plurality of transistors are formed on a substrate, and then a protective film of silicon oxide or any other material is formed to cover the transistors. Next, parts of the protective film covering some of the transistors that will become salicide transistors are removed, and then the entire substrate area is salicided (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-144287).
For a known semiconductor device, for example, a thick silicon oxide film needs to be used as a protective film. The protective film must be formed after formation of source/drain diffusion layers. In view of the above, in order to maintain the diffusion profile of the source/drain diffusion layers, the protective film must be formed at a low temperature. Therefore, an oxide film deposited at a temperature of 750° C. or less by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is used as the protective film.
An oxide film deposited by low-temperature CVD has a lower density than a thermal oxide film formed by high-temperature heat treatment and when etched using hydrofluoric acid and a mixed solution of ammonia and a hydrogen peroxide solution (ammonium hydroxide hydrogen peroxide mixture (APM)), has a very high etch rate. In view of the above, when the protective film is thin, it becomes lost in wet cleaning carried out in a semiconductor device fabrication process. As a result, non-salicide transistors cannot be protected. As seen from the above, the protective film needs to have a thickness of 30 nm or more.
An increase in the thickness of a protective film causes the following problems. FIG. 4 illustrates a cross section of a known salicide transistor. A protective film 118 is formed on the entire surface of a substrate 111, and then a portion 122 of the protective film 118 located on a region of the substrate 111 on which the salicide transistor is to be formed is removed by dry etching. However, since the protective film for a known semiconductor device is thick, the portion 122 of the protective film 118 is left at the foot of each of sidewalls 120 as illustrated in FIG. 4. When the entire substrate area is further etched to prevent the protective film from being partially left at the foot of each sidewall, the top surfaces of a source/drain 121 and gate electrode 114 are cut away by overetching, resulting in deteriorated transistor characteristics.
When the entire substrate area is salicided with the protective film partially left at the foot of each sidewall, this makes an area in which ones of silicide layers 123 located on the source and drain are formed smaller. Miniaturization of semiconductor devices allows the distance between adjacent ones of gate electrodes to be approximately 140 nm. This increases the influence of the unintentionally left part of the protective film having a thickness of several tens of nm, leading to the increased contact resistance of a contact plug connected to the silicide layer 123.

Semiconductor device having silicide transistors and non-silicide transistors formed on the same substrate and method for fabricating the same


A metal film high in reflectivity and excellent in adhesion to a synthetic resin substrate even in the case where the metal film is sufficiently thin, is formed on a surface of the substrate by sputtering a metal target through an inert gas ion beam drawn out of an ion source in a vacuum vessel. An aluminum film coated matter formed by coating a surface of a synthetic resin substrate with an aluminum film, is characterized in that the aluminum film contains aluminum crystals at a portion in the film at a depth of not more than 600 .ANG. from a film surface thereof which contacts with the substrate. The aluminum crystals has a relation in which a crystal axis <111> perpendicular to a (111) plane is perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the film surface. Also, the aluminum crystals exhibits a diffraction X-ray spectrum of a (111) plane when measured by X-ray diffraction according to a diffractometer method under the following conditions: target: Cu, X-ray type: K.alpha. ray, measurement X-ray output: voltage 40 KeV, current 30 mA, longitudinal divergence limiting Sollar's slit: horizontal type, incident height limiting slit: 5 mm, incident slit: 0.4 mm, light-receiving Sollar's slit: vertical type, width limiting slit: 5 mm, diffraction X-ray monochromator: graphite horizontal plate, and diffraction method: .theta./2.theta. method.

The present invention relates to a process for forming a metal film on a surface of a synthetic resin substrate and to an aluminum film coated matter formed by coating a surface of a synthetic resin substrate with an aluminum film.
Heretofore, synthetic resin substrates such as acrylic resin moldings, provided with metal films formed on the respective surfaces thereof, are used in miscellaneous decoration goods, optical parts, optical recording media, etc. Particularly, optical discs such as video discs for which the demand has increased remarkably in recent years, are provided by forming metal films such as aluminum films as reflection films on the respective surfaces of transparent synthetic resin substrates having recording pits corresponding to audio signals, video signals, etc.
The metal films on this type substrates are heretofore formed mainly by a technique of vacuum evaporation. In recent years, an attempt to form the films by a technique of plasma sputtering (parallel plate plasma sputtering) has been made.
The technique of vacuum evaporation is, in general, applied to an arrangement in which an evaporation source 8 and synthetic resin substrates 6 such as acrylic resin moldings opposite to the evaporation source 8 are provided in a vacuum vessel 2 as shown in FIG. 16, and it is a technique for respectively forming films of a metal such as aluminum on the respective surfaces of the substrates 6 by depositing particles 10 of a metal such as aluminum on the respective surfaces of the substrates 6 through evaporating the metal particles 10 from the evaporation source 8 by means of electron beam heating or resistance heating. The substrates 6 may be generally mounted on rotary holders 4 as shown in FIG. 16. To increase the number of substrates to be subjected to film forming, a large number of substrates 6 may be arranged along the circumferential wall of a cylindrical vacuum vessel 2 having an evaporation source 11 in its center as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18. The evaporation source 11 has a large number of tungsten heaters 14 stretched between two props 12, and a large number of evaporation materials 16 such as aluminum attached thereto, so that the respective evaporation materials 16 are evaporated through heat generated by energizing the respective tungsten heaters 14. The reference numeral 18 designates a current input terminal. The substrates 6 are mounted on the holders 4 supported through rotary shafts 22 to holder supports 20, respectively, and they are rotated in the direction of the arrow A as shown in FIG. 17 in the vacuum vessel 2 as a whole.
The technique of plasma sputtering is, in general, applied to an arrangement in which a sputtering source (for example, magnetron type sputtering source) 24 having a metal target 28 such as aluminum attached to the upper portion of a magnet 26 and synthetic resin substrates such as acrylic resin moldings opposite to the sputtering source 24 are provided in a vacuum vessel 2 as shown in FIG. 19, and it is a technique for respectively forming films of a metal such as aluminum on the respective surfaces of the substrates 6 by depositing metal particles on the respective surfaces of the substrates 6 through sputtering the metal target 28 through plasma 30 generated between the sputtering source 24 and the respective substrates 6 by a magnetic field formed in the neighborhood of the surface of the metal target 28, an electric field applied between the respective substrates 6 (in the strict sense, holders 4 therefor) and the metal target 28, and the like, in the vacuum vessel 2 in which an argon gas is introduced.
In the case where films are formed by the conventional technique of vacuum evaporation, however, the adhesion of metal films such as aluminum films to synthetic resin substrates such as acrylic resin moldings exhibits practicable strength but varies so widely as to be deficient in stability. Further, reflectivity is proportional to film thickness when the film thickness is not more than about 600 .ANG.. There arises a problem in that sufficient reflectivity cannot be obtained stably unless each of the metal films such as aluminum films has a film thickness of about 600 .ANG. at the least. This is because the kinetic .energy of evaporated metal particles such as aluminum particles is considered to be so low as about 0.1 eV that the metal films deposited on the substrates are poor in fineness, crystalline arrangement, etc.
In the present state, metal reflection films of aluminum are most widely put into practical use in the field of optical discs such as video discs. In particular, in the case of optical discs, the characteristic (for example, S/N ratio) thereof is determined by the reflectivity of aluminum films formed on pits as well as the form of the pits with respect to signal reproduction. In general, good images cannot be reproduced unless the reflectivity is not less than about 70%. Further, it is necessary in view of the producing process that the formed aluminum films sufficiently adhere to synthetic resin substrates.
An attempt to reduce the film thickness of aluminum films to attain both material saving and reduction of film-forming time to thereby attain improvement in producing efficiency is effective for reduction in cost of optical discs. The conventional technique of vacuum evaporation, however, has a problem in that the aluminum films cannot be thinned so as to be not more than about 600 .ANG. in view of the reflectivity.
Further, the technique of vacuum evaporation requires a large number of work steps because of problems on the lifetime of the resistors (for example, tungsten heaters 14 as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18) for resistance heating in the evaporation source, and on the supply of a metal such as aluminum being an evaporation material. Accordingly, a substantial problem against reduction in cost, that is, limitation in producing efficiency and stability of production, is inherent in the technique of vacuum evaporation. Such a problem is also inherent in a recently developed technique (so-called in-line single disk production system) in which evaporation is applied to substrates one by one, as well as the aforementioned technique (so-called batch type stand alone system) in which evaporation is applied to a large number of substrates at once as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17.
On the other hand, in the technique of plasma sputtering, a continuous operation can be made until the initially arranged metal target such as aluminum is worn out. This is effective for improvement in producing efficiency. Further, sufficient reflectivity can be obtained stably if the film thickness of metal films such as aluminum films is not less than 500 .ANG.. The technique of plasma sputtering, however, has a problem in that the adhesion of metal films, especially, aluminum films, to synthetic resin substrates such as acrylic resin moldings is insufficient.
The lowering of the adhesion of aluminum films is considered to be caused by resin surface deterioration, involving in resin injury due to temperature, produced by exposing surfaces of synthetic resin substrates to high-density plasma at the film-forming time and by some interaction between the aluminum films and impurity gas released from resin surfaces by heat due to inflow of acceleration electrons accelerated to high energy in an electric field, into the substrates as the anode side.
Further, in the case where the aluminum film formed by the aforementioned technique of vacuum evaporation or plasma sputtering is used as a reflection film of an optical information recording medium, the generally obtained performance thereof is heretofore limited to a range of about 72% to about 80% as its reflectivity and a range of about 38 dB to about 41 dB as S/N ratio of the regenerative output. In the case where high picture quality is required, that is, in the case where, for example, the aluminum film is used for reproduction of high definition television images, there arises a problem in that the reproduced images are insufficient in sharpness if the reflectivity and S/N ratio is limited as described above.
In the case where the technique of vacuum evaporation is used, an aluminum film having higher reflectivity (80 to 85%) and higher S/N ratio (41 to 45 dB) can be provided by reducing the amount of oxidized aluminum in the aluminum film. The aluminum film thus provided, however, has a tendency that there occurs easily a durability problem in that both rising of noise and lowering of recording strength are brought by corrosion and the like caused by moisture absorption oxidation and chemical reaction when the aluminum film is left for a long time. Accordingly, there arises a problem in that improvement in both the performance (reflectivity and S/N ratio) of the film and durability thereof cannot be attained simultaneously.

Optical recording medium comprising (1,1,1) aluminum