The present invention provides aqueous processes which create new chemical compositions of matter prepared by reacting, in the presence of aqueous ammonia or other source of reactive NH.sub.2 groups, an alkali metal hydroxide to raise pH above 12, and further reacting with the addition of a mineral acid. The reactants are added as quickly as possible to obtain a highly exothermic reaction which, when reacted in the described manner will then contain ammonia in solution and form new polymeric water complexes. The mineral acid can be selected from, a phosphorus species, or a halogen species, or a nitrogen species, or a sulfur species, or a carbon species, or a combination of these acid species. Chemical complexes formed by these reactions are stable over a wide pH range from 0 to 14+ and can be used to perform many functions in the metal finishing industry; for removing soils from metals; for removing rust from metals; for complexing metal ions; for reducing metallic ores; to act as buffering agents for all acids and alkalis; as broad spectrum germicidal agents; for releasing of organic matter from soils; to act as therapeutic agents for healing of cuts, wounds and burns and abrasions; for healing of topical infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites; as growth stimulators for plants; to precipitate metallic salts from saline solutions; as anti-oxidants for stabilization of free radicals.

The first electroplating patent was granted in 1842 for the deposition of silver through a cyanide medium. Cyanide then became the electrolyte of choice for many electroplating baths for depositing metals of commercial importance such as gold, silver, copper, cadmium and zinc. The stability of the cyanide compound and tolerance of the chemical to upsets have made cyanide the preferred electrolyte in many electroplating operations.
Cyanide is an extremely toxic and hazardous material, and fumes from electroplating baths have to be destroyed, and waste water containing traces of cyanide have to be extensively treated for disposal. With the nation's new found concern for toxic waste, and also the concern for workers in operations where they could be exposed to cyanide fumes, many attempts have been made to find alternative electrolytes to replace cyanide.
Only a few of the alternative plating bath formulations have been able replace cyanide. Silver, gold and copper electroplates still require cyanide for the first strike on a substrate and are a necessary requirement for all electronic electroplating applications.
With the issuance of the first patents on silver electroplating, there were many attempts made to find other nitrogen compounds which could replace cyanide. Many of early experiments were performed using ammonia as a possible candidate for complexing the silver and gold ions for deposition.
It was found that gold or silver in contact with ammonia compounds formed azides and were violently explosive. Since that time, any ammonia containing compound would not be considered for gold and silver electroplating. Other baths formulated for metals which would not explode when in contact with ammonia, such as copper, zinc and cadmium, were developed using electrolytes other than cyanide. However, cyanide remains the electroplaters electrolye of choice for its stability and efficiency in the plating baths.
Ammonia has been added in minor amounts to many electroplating baths because of its high conductivity and its metal complexing properties. The addition of ammonium hydroxide to the baths are made in such minor amounts that highly exothermic reactions would be avoided. The ammonia fumes, however are less controllable than cyanide fumes and presented strong health hazards in the workplace and in the waste waters. While ammonia is an excellent electrolyte, its uses in electroplating are severely limited in use to minor additions to some plating baths.
The applicants, in attempting to improve upon the throwing power and conductivity of an electroplating bath, found that ammonia could be absorbed into a zinc plating bath without ammonia fumes coming off during the electroplating process. This was not recognized immediately as a major event by the applicants. However, continued experimentation showed that some new, unusual and surprising phenomena were occurring. This continued experimentation led to the attempts to electroplate silver from the baths. A severe explosion occurred, which led to the temporary abandonment of the silver plating process.
Further experimentation resulted in defining that ammonia could be used provided that the ammonia was reacted in a specific way. It was found, surprisingly, that when ammonium hydroxide was contacted by a alkali metal hydroxide in an aqueous medium and then immediately reacted further by the addition of 85 Phosphoric acid (H3PO4), the ammonia was absorbed in the reaction. The solution was then further reacted to reach an end point 7 Ph or lower and become a clear stable, nitrogen containing solution. Classical chemistry teaches that ammonia cannot remain in solution with an alkali metal hydroxide. Therefore, one of the fundamental rules of chemistry apparently becomes inoperative when the elements are reacted in the manner described in this application.
It was then decided to make a further attempt to electroplate silver from the new compounds developed by the described process. Surprisingly, when silver nitrate, or silver oxide was placed in the aqueous solution, there was no azide formation, although ammonia was an essential reactant in the formation of the compounds. The silver was then deposited electrolytically on a steel substrate. This was unexpected. Gold was then electroplated using the same techniques for formulation of the electroplating solution.
The applicants then recognized that a fundamental event had occurred in which ammonia could be absorbed in a solution which contained an alkali metal hydroxide. Further, the ammonia would have to be in altered state, otherwise explosions would have occurred. It was further noted that the silver containing solutions prevented silver from becoming photo sensitive, and the silver could be contained in solution an ionic state indefinitely.
During the further experimentation, it became apparent to the applicants that several unusual new properties appeared to be resident in the solution. These included superior buffering qualities, and that any acid -- including sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids -- and any alkaline could be buffered by the phosphorus based compound. This feature was extremely important when the explosion caused by silver azide formation occurred. McCoy, one of the applicants, was standing viewing the reactor when the explosion occurred and was covered all over his eyes, face and arms with hot boiling alkalis and acids and glass shards.
He was immediately bathed using the phosphoric buffer in his eyes, on his face and arms. The buffer stopped the acid/alkali burns almost instantaneously. An immediate rush visit was made to an eye doctor where glass shards were removed. In two weeks total vision had returned with no residual damage from the acid/alkali burns. Further there was no scarring from the neutralized acid/alkali burns on the face and arms. It was then decided that major therapeutic properties were in the phosphorus compound.
Further reactions were then conducted to determine whether the ammonium hydroxide/alkali metal hydroxide aqueous solution could be absorbed through the chemical reaction with all mineral acids. The acids used were phosphorus species, all halogen species, nitrogen species, sulfur species and carbon species. It was then apparent that ammonia, when reacted in an aqueous solution with other reactants could be changed into a new nitrogen/hydrogen group which provided new chemical compounds through the reaction process. It was further discovered that all the reactants had to be added as rapidly as possible in order to obtain maximum conditions of equilibrium.
Further all of these new compounds had excellent electrolytic properties, could complex metalions, including silver, gold and copper for electroplating, but also exhibited different therapeutic properties when applied to the skin of humans and lower animals. Properties noted were stopping of bleeding from wounds and cuts, disinfections of sores, anti-inflammatory, immediate stopping of pain from cuts and burns, and acceleration of healing without scarring. Further testing showed the compounds to have anti-oxidant properties and could stabilize free radicals. 75% hydrogen peroxide, a powerful oxidant, was stabilized in the phosphorus ad sulfur containing solutions and was meta-stable in the halogen solutions. This indicated the presence of available electrons in the solutions.
Freezing studies were conducted on the compounds. All compounds had changed the freezing point of water. The sodium chloride buffer remained water clear to -23 F., the phosphorus and sulfur and carbon buffers to -10 F. The ice crystals formed by freezing were not the normal tetrahedron ice crystals, and were elongated and slushy. This indicates that a hydrogen bonding mechanism has attached other chemical elements to the water molecule to change the structure of the water. Tests were run with ethylene glycol and methanol and other aldehydes which demonstrates these chemicals were miscible in the new buffers, and could be used as anti-freeze extenders. A further surprising property was that the new compounds picked up and held an electric charge of up 500 milliamperes and 1/2 volt. When bimetallic ions of zinc and silver were added the amperage was raised to 750 milliamperes and the charges maintained. Mixtures of the same chemical ingredients which have not undergone the described reactions have much lower charges in solution. This further indicates the presence of active hydrogen and available electrons.
The compounds can complex any metal ion an ionic state. The compounds can also be formulated of fertilizer components such as phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, and then a metal ion can be further added by complexing at various parts per million, to act as growth regulators or stimulators, while simultaneously acting as a germicide, if necessary.
The compounds hydrogen ion activity and electron availabilty showed broad spectrum germicidal capabilities. In addition to disinfection on wounds and burns, these properties help augment the acceleration of healing mechanism in the body. Tests on humans and lower animals showed that any topical infection, whether caused by bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitical strains would respond very quickly to treatment with various types of these new compounds.
It was further found that when aluminum was complexed in the phosphorus solution and the Ph raised above 10, that actinic keratosis or "skin cancer" were instantaneously destroyed, and healing accelerated without scarring. The further application of the same aluminum based compounds showed great efficacy on psoriasis. It is theorized that the high electrode potential of the aluminum ion is reponsible for controlling the actinic keratosis.
It is the object of the present invention to provide new nitrogen/hydrogen bearing compounds which allow the combination of elements which could not be combined before is aqueous solutions without salt formation. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process for the preparation of these new compounds.
As will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art the advantages of these new compounds will be perceived by the following descriptions and the examples.

Method of preparing inorganic polymeric water complexes and products so produced


A method of computing swath data in response to a digital image having a plurality of rows and columns of pixels, each pixel having a multitone code value, the swath data suitable for commanding an inkjet printer containing at least one printhead having plurality of nozzles, wherein the inkjet printer is capable of ejecting ink drops in response to the swath data.

A typical inkjet printer reproduces an image by ejecting small drops of ink from a printhead containing nozzles, where the ink drops land on a receiver medium (typically paper) to form ink dots. A typical inkjet printer reproduces a color image by using a set of color inks, usually cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. It is well known in the field of inkjet printing that if ink drops placed at neighboring locations on the page are printed at the same time, then the ink drops tend to flow together on the surface of the page before they soak into the page. This can give the reproduced image an undesirable grainy or noisy appearance often referred to as "coalescence". It is known that the amount of coalescence present in the printed image is related to the amount of time that elapses between printing adjacent dots. As the time delay between printing adjacent dots increases, the amount of coalescence decreases, thereby improving the image quality. There are many techniques present in the prior art that describe methods of increasing the time delay between printing adjacent dots using methods referred to as "interlacing", "print masking", or "multipass printing". There are also techniques present in the prior art for reducing one-dimensional periodic artifacts referred to as "bands" or "banding." This is achieved by advancing the paper by an increment less than the printhead width, so that successive passes or "swaths" of the printhead overlap. The techniques of print masking and swath overlapping are typically combined. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,967,203 and 5,992,962. The term "print masking" generically means printing subsets of the image pixels in multiple partially overlapping passes of the printhead relative to a receiver medium.
Another attribute of modem inkjet printers is that they typically possess the ability to vary (over some range) the amount of each ink that is deposited at a given location on the page. Inkjet printers with this capability are referred to as "multitone" inkjet printers because they can produce multiple density tones at each location on the page. Some multitone inkjet printers achieve this by varying the volume of the ink drop produced by the nozzle by changing the electrical signals sent to the nozzle or by varying the diameter of the nozzle. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,935. Other multitone inkjet printers produce a variable number of smaller, fixed size droplets that are ejected by the nozzle, all of which are intended to merge together and land at the same location on the page. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,612. These techniques allow the printer to vary the size or optical density of a given ink dot, which produces a range of density levels at each location, thereby improving the image quality.
Another common way for a multitone inkjet printer to achieve multiple density levels is to print a small amount of ink at a given location on several different passes of the printhead over that location. This results in the ability to produce a greater number of density levels than the nozzle can fundamentally eject, due to the build up of ink at the given location over several passes. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,349.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,150, Lidke et al. disclose a method where multiple passes are made over the page before the page is advanced. In each pass, the pattern of dots in the data swath is constructed with sufficient spacing between the dots such that the printhead can be scanned across the page at a velocity that is higher than the firing frequency limit of the nozzles.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,502, Kato et al. disclose a print masking method in which nozzles at the ends of the printhead print with lower duty than nozzles near the center of the printhead, thereby reducing the possibility of banding artifacts occurring at the boundaries between successive printed swaths.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,037, Overall et al. disclose a print masking method for a multilevel inkjet printer in which the print mask contains a set of threshold values. A dot will print at a given location on a given pass if the multitone code value for that pixel is greater than the threshold for that pass. This method requires that if a dot gets printed at a given pixel on pass N, then it also must receive dots on passes 0 through N-1.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,389, Couwenhoven et al. disclose a print masking method suitable for multilevel inkjet printers that can produce multiple sized ink drops.
In all of the above mentioned inkjet printers, the designer of the printer is faced with the task of splitting the image data into multiple memory buffers corresponding to the multiple passes of the printhead. It is believed that the prior art methods are constrained so that the dot patterns printed corresponding to one multitone level are highly correlated with the dot patterns printed corresponding to another multitone level. This restriction can lead to undesirable print artifacts or excessive or unbalanced use of some nozzles. Therefore there is a need for improvement over the prior art in the area of multipass printing to support multitone ink jet printers which eject multiple drops at a given location on several different passes.


Methods for producing a radioisotope by a charged particle irradiation of a fluid target matrix are provided. A method of producing a radioisotope includes irradiating a fluid target matrix comprising a compound of a target isotope with a charged particle beam to transform at least a portion of the target isotope to the radioisotope, and isolating the radioisotope from the irradiated fluid target matrix. The target isotope may be an isotope of cadmium, an isotope of thallium, an isotope of zinc, an isotope of gallium, an isotope of tellurium, an isotope of molybdenum, an isotope of rhodium, an isotope of selenium, an isotope of nickel, an isotope of yttrium, an isotope of strontium, an isotope of bismuth, an isotope of tungsten, and an isotope of titanium, provided that the target isotope is not Mo-100.

Radioisotopes used in various medical applications are most often produced either with reactors or accelerators, and solid target systems. Most often the targets come in the form of electroplated or melted/sputtered metals deposited on a water-cooled substrate. Alternatively, foils or compacted powders can be irradiated. Examples of such are electroplated Tl-203 to produce Tl-201 and melted Bi-209 to produce At-211.
Moreover, commercial radioisotope production generally involves very labor-intensive processing and therefore is best suited to centralized production of large batch quantities. The radioisotopes produced are subsequently sent to several regional radiopharmacies for further processing and distribution to hospitals and clinics. The relatively long half-life of certain radioisotopes (several hours/days) allows for this distribution system. However, because of their inherent short half-lives (typically less than 2 hrs), the positron emission tomography (PET) isotopes such as F-18, O-15, N-13, and C-11, have to be produced on a local basis close to the hospitals and clinics administering the radiopharmaceuticals.
In order to meet this need, networks of regional production centers have emerged in practically every significant urban area in North America and Europe. These PET centers typically have a small accelerator (cyclotron) and an automated chemistry system required to manufacture a final injectable product. PET targetry only employ fluid (liquid or gas) systems that allow for rapid transfer to the automated chemistry system for processing after the irradiation is complete. Accordingly, these PET cyclotrons systems are generally fitted with commercially-available F-18 production targets and automated chemistry systems to manufacture fluorinated deoxyglucose (FDG).
The F-18 production target is a cylindrical, conical or similar hollow container filled with H218O which is irradiated with a proton beam and forms F-18 by the nuclear reaction 18O(p,n)18F. The irradiated water is transferred to the automated chemistry system, which extracts the 18F and produces the desired end product, 18FDG, in a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) environment ready for clinical use. However, viable methods that can take advantage of the foregoing attributes of PET cyclotron FDG systems to prepare other radioisotopes do not currently exist.
Accordingly, new methods of generating useful radioisotopes using a PET cyclotron (or a similar accelerator) and associated targetry and chemistry systems are needed.

General radioisotope production method employing PET-style target systems


This invention provides an isolated vertebrate nucleic acid molecule encoding F-spondin. This invention also provides a probe comprising a nucleic acid molecule of at least 15 nucleotides capable of specifically hybridizing with a sequence included within the sequence of a nucleic acid molecule encoding a F-spondin. This invention provides a host vector system for the production of a F-spondin. This invention provides purified F-spondin and the uses of compositions containing purified F-spondin. This invention further provides a method of attaching nerve cells to a matrix using purified F-spondin. This invention also provides a method of stimulating nerve cell growth using purified F-spondin. This invention further provides a method of regenerating nerve call using purified F-spondin. Finally, this invention provides a pharmaceutical composition for stimulating nerve cell growth comprising an effective amount of purified F-spondin and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

Throughout this application various references are referred to within parenthesis. Disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. Full bibliographic citation for these references may be found at the end of this application, preceding the sequence listing and the claims.
The early development of the vertebrate nervous system is controlled by local cell interactions that determine the identity of specific neural cell types and the pathways of growing axons. One of the first cell types to differentiate within the embryonic nervous system is the floor plate, a small group of epithelial cells located at the ventral midline of the neural tube (Schoenwolf and Smith, 1990). The differentiation of the floor plate is induced by local, possibly contact-dependent signals from the notochord (FIG. 1) (van Straaten et al., 1988; Placzek et al., 1990c; Hatta et al., 1991). Signals that derive from the floor plate have been implicated in the control of cell identity in the neural tube and in the guidance of axons (FIG. 1) (Jessell and Dodd, 1991).
Evidence that the floor plate is a source of polarizing signals that control cell identity and pattern in the neural tube has come from experiments in chick embryos in which floor plate cells grafted next to the neural tube of host embryos give rise to additional ectopic motor neurons and to other ventral neuronal types defined by cell specific antigenic markers (Yamada et al., 1991; Placzek et al., 1991). Inversely, preventing floor plate differentiation by removing the notochord leads to the formation of a spinal cord that is devoid of motor neurons and other ventral neurons. These grafting experiments suggest that the floor plate has a central role in establishing the identity and pattern of neuronal cell types present in the ventral spinal cord. The floor plate also has limb polarizing activity when grafted into the chick wing bud, possibly through the release of morphogenically active retinoids (Wagner et al., 1990).
After the identity of spinal cord neurons has been established, the floor plate appears to provide both long-range and local guidance cues that promote the growth of axons to and across the ventral midline of the spinal cord. First, the floor plate secretes a diffusible chemoattractant which can orient the growth of axons of commissural neuron in vitro (FIG. 1) (Tessier-Lavigne et al., 1988; Placzek et al., 1990a; Tessier-Lavigne and Placzek, 1991) and may account for the homing of these axons to the floor plate in vitro (Weber, 1938; Placzek et al., 1990b; Bovolenta and Dodd, 1991; Yaginuma and Oppenheim, 1991). Second, the floor plate may contribute to the change in trajectory of commissural axons from the transverse to the longitudinal plane that occurs immediately after crossing the ventral midline (FIG. 1) (Holley and Silver, 1987; Dodd et al., 1988; Bovolenta and Dodd, 1990). In support of this proposal, genetic mutations in mice and zebrafish that result in the absence of the floor plate during embryonic development lead to errors in the pathfinding of commissural axons at the midline of the spinal cord (Bovolenta and Dodd, 1991; Bernhardt and Kuwada, 1990). Third, the floor plate may promote the fasciculation of commissural axons that occurs after they cross the midline of the spinal cord (Holley and Silver, 1987) by regulating the expression of glycoproteins of the immunoglobulin superfamily (Dodd et al., 1988; Schachner et al., 1990; Furley et al., 1990). The specialized role of the floor plate in vertebrate neural development has parallels in invertebrate organisms in that cells at the midline of the embryonic drosophila and C. elegans central nervous systems have been implicated in neural patterning and axon guidance (Klambt et al., 1991; Nambu et al., 1991; Hedgecock and Hall, 1990).
To identify molecules that may mediate the diverse functions of the floor plate during early neural development we have used subtractive hybridization techniques to isolate cDNA clones expressed selectively by the floor plate. We describe here the characterization of cDNA clones encoding a novel secreted protein, F-spondin, that is expressed at high levels by the rat floor plate during embryonic development. The predicted amino acid sequence of F-spondin reveals that the protein contains domains similar to those present in the thrombospondin and other proteins implicated in cell adhesion and neurite outgrowth. In vitro assays show that F-spondin promotes neural cell adhesion and neurite outgrowth suggesting that the secretion of this protein by the floor plate contributes to the growth and guidance of axons in the developing CNS.
The floor plate is a transient neural cell group implicated in the control of cell pattern and axonal growth in the developing vertebrate nervous system. To identify molecules that might mediate the functions of the floor plate we have used subtractive hybridization techniques to isolated and characterize floor plate-enriched cDNA clones. One such clone encodes a novel secreted protein, F-spondin, which is expressed selectively and at very high levels in the floor plate during early spinal cord development. The F-spondin gene necodes a protein of 90,000 molecular weight. The carboxyl terminal hal of the protein contains 6 repeats identified previously in thrombospondin and other proteins that have been implicated in cell adhesion and neurite outgrowth. F-spondin is expressed in the floor plate at the time that spinal axons first extend and at a lower levels in peripheral nerve. F-spondin is secreted from transfected cos cells and is also associated with the cell surface possibly by binding to the extracellular matrix. Recombinant F-spondin promotes the attachment of spinal cord and dorsal root ganglion cells and the outgrowth of neuritis form sensory neurons in vitro. These results suggest that F-spondin may contribute to the growth and guidance of axons in both the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system.

Cloning, expression and uses of a novel secreted protein, F-spondin

The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York


The present invention is directed to a polymeric vehicle, the formulated coating composition and a coating binder made from the polymeric vehicle and a method for making the polymeric vehicle where the polymeric vehicle includes a phenolic urethane reactive diluent. The phenolic urethane reactive diluent may be made from a phenolic ester alcohol having at least one aliphatic hydroxyl group.

One of the primary components in paint is the "film former" that provides a film for the protective function of a substrate coated with paint. Film forming components of liquid paints include resins which have required organic solvents to provide the resins with suitable viscosities such that the paint can be applied by existing commercial application equipment. Use of solvents, however, raises at least two problems. First, in the past and potentially in the future, petrochemical shortages mitigate against the use of organic solvent in great volumes. Second, environmental concern mitigates against the use of organic solvents and requires such use be minimized.
Thermosetting coating compositions, particularly coating compositions which include polyester, alkyd, acrylic and epoxy polymers are often materials of choice for making film formers for various substrates to which the coating composition is applied. Coating compositions provide a protective function for the substrate. Hence, coating compositions are generally formulated to provide a balance of properties which will maximize hardness, flexibility, solvent resistance, corrosion resistance, weatherability, acid resistance, hydrolytic stability and gloss with an emphasis on certain properties depending upon the purpose for which the coating is intended.
It has been a continuing challenge to provide coating compositions which upon thermosetting provide films with desired film properties such as hardness, flexibility, solvent resistance, corrosion resistance, weatherability, acid resistance, hydrolytic stability and gloss, reduce VOCs and still retain the ability to have the viscosities of the polymeric vehicle and formulated coating composition made therefrom such that the formulated coating composition can be applied with existing commercial application equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,782 to Linden, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,836,491 and 3,789,044 to Taft et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,579 to Robbins describe phenol capped polymers which are crosslinked with polyisocyanates. They do not involve the use of a phenolic urethane reactive diluent which is cross linked or the use of such a diluent in a system which includes a polyol, diluent and crosslinking agent.

Polymeric vehicles which include a phenolic urethane reactive diluent


It is provided a laser arrangement, having an electro-absorption-modulated laser, having a laser section and an electro-absorption modulator section; a current source for supplying the laser section with current; a DC voltage source that is arranged in addition to the current source and can be used to apply DC voltage to a diode structure of the electro-absorption modulator section; a driver with which an RF signal is able to be fed to the laser; and an electrical connection via which the driver is connected to the laser. The electrical connection provides a direct current connection between the driver and the laser such, and the driver is configured such, that a photocurrent that is generated in the electrode-absorption modulator section of the laser by illumination with light of the laser section at least partially flows to the driver and at least contributes to the energy supply of the driver.

The disclosure relates to a laser arrangement and to a method for producing a laser arrangement.
Such a laser arrangement includes an electro-absorption-modulated laser (EML), that is to say a laser having a laser section for generating laser radiation and an electro-absorption modulator section for modulating the laser radiation generated in the laser section. Laser arrangement having an EML is disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 9,116,367 B2.

Laser arrangement and method for producing a laser arrangement

FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FÖRDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.


In automobiles incorporating a console-mounted shift lever assembly for an automatic transmission control, a range indicator assembly is attached to the shift lever assembly to form a subassembly. This subassembly is secured in the automobile by attaching the shift lever to the vehicle floor pan, inserting a console housing over the shift lever assembly and clipping the range indicator assembly to the console. The range indicator assembly has an indicator extension or post that mates with a shifter alignment feature or bracket on the base of the shift lever assembly. This mating establishes the fore/aft location of the range indicator assembly relative to the shift lever assembly. The clips cooperate with the console to determine vertical and transverse locations of the range indicator assembly. A trim plate is placed over the opening in the console and secured to the console by clip members. This effectively closes the opening around the range indicator assembly and the shift lever assembly. A flag driver on the range indicator assembly is operatively connected with the shift lever on the shift lever assembly at the time of subassembly to assure proper alignment of the indicator flag in the shift lever position relative to the indicia formed on the indicator assembly.

Many vehicles have a console-mounted transmission shifter consisting of a shift lever assembly, a console trim plate and a trim closing plate. The console trim plate has an opening for a lever which is a component of the shifter assembly and a transmission indicator, often termed "PRNDL" which informs the operator of the selected operating mode of the transmission. The trim plate is not located relative to the shifter assembly in either the longitudinal or transverse direction of the vehicle. This assembly generally then requires an adjustment of the PRNDL relative to the shift lever for accurate presentation of the transmission operating condition.


The invention describes a process for the preparation of polycarbonate. The process includes    (a) transesterifying at least one aromatic dihydroxyaryl compound and a diaryl carbonate in the melt in the presence of a catalyst,    (b) mixing the melt obtained in step (a) with a foaming agent    (c) passing the mixture at 250 to 340° C. through inlet openings of a separating vessel at a rate of 0.1 to 20 kg/hour, to obtain a plurality of streams of foamed polycarbonate and degassing the streams of foamed polycarbonate in the separating vessel wherein the pressure is 0.1 to 20 mbar.

The preparation of aromatic oligocarbonates/polycarbonates by the melt transesterification process is sufficiently well known and has been described, for example, in Encyclopedia of Polymer Science, Vol. 10 (1969), Chemistry and Physics of Polycarbonates, Polymer Reviews, H. Schnell, Vol. 9, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. (1964) as well as in DE-C 10 31 512.
Because of the chemical equilibrium reaction, the transesterification process always yields products having a high content of residual monomers, i.e. of monohydroxyaryl compounds, dihydroxyaryl compounds and diaryl carbonates. Thus, in the case of polycarbonates having a low content of hydroxyl end groups, a higher content of diaryl carbonates and a lower content of monohydroxyaryl and dihydroxyaryl compounds is measured than in the case of polycarbonates having a higher content of hydroxyl end groups. In the latter case, the content of diaryl carbonates is lower but the content of monohydroxyaryl and dihydroxyaryl compounds is higher. It is further observed that the residual monomer content falls as the molecular weight increases. The residual monomers are removed from the melt in particular by degassing.
A low content of residual monomers is desirable because residual monomers lead to coatings on the molds of the processing machines during the processing of the polycarbonates. Moreover, the heat stability of residual monomers is low, so that polycarbonates having a high residual monomer content exhibit poorer properties in respect of heat stability. Furthermore, residual monomers have an adverse effect on the mechanical breaking behavior of the polycarbonate. For selected applications, such as, for example, in the foodstuffs or medical sector, residual monomers are regarded as troublesome and undesirable.
In the case of polycarbonate prepared by the melt transesterification process, the greatest proportion of residual monomers is frequently the diaryl carbonate component, especially diphenyl carbonate. It is therefore desirable when removing volatile constituents to remove these components in particular. A particularly large amount of the diaryl carbonate component forms at relatively low molecular weights at relative viscosities of from 1.18 to 1.22, as are preferably used for optical data carriers.
A further problem is the re-formation of the low molecular weight constituents, such as, for example, hydroxyaryl compounds, dihydroxyaryl compounds and carbonic acid diesters, from the polycarbonate by chemical reaction during the degassing, which makes degassing considerably more difficult.
Various processes are known for preparing polycarbonate by the melt transesterification process with subsequent removal of residual monomers by means of an additional degassing step. It is preferable in these processes to reduce the residual catalyst activity in the polycarbonate before the degassing. The reduction in the activity of the catalyst is preferably effected by the addition of acidic components as inhibitors, such as, for example, phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, sulfurous acid, toluenesulfonic acid.
The addition and mixing in of such components that reduce the catalyst activity require an increased technical outlay. Furthermore, the mentioned components frequently have a highly corrosive action towards the materials from which the apparatus for carrying out the polymerization and degassing are usually produced.
In addition, the added components, such as, for example, phosphoric acid, may be separated from the polycarbonate with the other volatile constituents in the subsequent degassing step, accumulate in the installation and lead to damage to the installation as a result of corrosion. When the volatile constituents, including the catalyst-inhibiting component, that have been separated off are fed back into the circuit of the installation again, adverse effects on the implementation of the reaction are additionally to be expected, because the catalyst-inhibiting component can in this way inhibit the progress of the polymerization reaction.
A further problem in the preparation of polycarbonate by the melt transesterification process is that the residence time in the degassing stage under reduced partial pressure is too long. If the melt is sufficiently reactive, this may lead to a considerable increase in the molecular weight in the degassing step, which is undesirable for the degassing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,156 describes a process for the preparation of polycarbonate by the melt transesterification process, in which the melt is passed under a stream of nitrogen, but not with foaming, through a zone of low pressure. The residence time in this zone is increased because the melt does not fall freely but flows downwards along vertically arranged wires. A considerable increase in the molecular weight during the degassing step is observed in this process.
EP 1 095 957 A and EP 1 095 960 A describe a process similar to that of U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,156.An inert gas is dissolved in an oligomer melt. The melt is then relieved into a zone under low pressure, with foaming. The foaming effects the removal of reaction products, so that the polymerization is able to progress. The residence time is lengthened by means of vertically arranged wires, as a result of which the molecular weight increases markedly in the degassing step. Heating of the melt before it is relieved is not provided.
EP 914 355 A describes the introduction of a separating agent of limited solubility and the subsequent relieving, optionally with foaming, of the polymer solution into a separator under low pressure.

Process for the preparation of polycarbonate


Methods and devices are provided for reducing motion artifacts when measuring blood oxygen saturation. A portion of the light having the first wavelength, a portion of light having the second wavelength and a portion of the light having the third wavelength are received. A first signal is produced based on the received portion of light having the first wavelength. Similarly, a second signal is produced based on the received portion of light having the second wavelength, and a third signal is produced based on the received portion of light having the third wavelength. A difference between the second signal and the first signal is determined, wherein the difference signal is first plethysmography signal. Similarly, a difference is determined between the third signal and the first signal to produce a second plethysmography signal. Blood oxygen saturation is then estimated using the first and second plethysmography signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and devices for measuring oxygen saturation of a patient's blood, and more particularly to methods and devices for performing pulse oximetry.
2. Related Art
Plethysmography is a generic term referring to a variety of techniques for monitoring volume changes, for example, volume changes of the lungs due to respiration, or of blood vessels of a limb or tissue segment. When applied to measurements of blood volume, changes occur in a pulsatile manner with each beat of the heart as blood flows in and out of a portion of the body. The study of vascular activity by fluid displacement methods dates back to at least 1890. More contemporary techniques include strain gauge, pneumatic, impedance, doppler, and photoelectric plethysmography. A plethysmography device produces a waveform that is similar to an arterial pressure waveform. The waveform is useful in measuring pulse velocity and indicating arterial obstructions.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary plethysmograph 100, which includes a waveform 102 produced by a plethysmography device. For timing reference, an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal 104 is illustrated. Waveform 102 provides a measure of the volume of the arterial vasculature. A measure of arterial pulse amplitude is derived from it. A few tens to a few hundreds of milliseconds after the QRS complex, the plethysmography voltage reaches a minimum and starts to increase. This is due to the increasing blood volume in the arterioles as the systolic pulse reaches the periphery. The delay is influenced by the distance that the sensor is placed from the heart. It requires approximately 100 msec for the waveform to reach its maximum. The excursion from minimum to maximum represents the arterial pulse amplitude. During diastole, the recoil of the elastic arterial vessels continues to force blood through the capillaries, so that blood flows through the capillary bed throughout the entire cardiac cycle.
A photoplethysmography device (PPG) (also called a pseudoplethysmography or photoelectric plethysmography device) includes a light detector and a light source. The PPG utilizes the transmission or reflection of light to demonstrate the changes in blood perfusion. Such devices might be used in the cardiology department or intensive care department of a hospital or in a clinic for diagnostic purposes related to vascular surgery. A photoplethysmography device is also referred to, herein, simply as a plethysmography device.
An exemplary circuit 200A for a conventional photoplethysmography device is shown in FIG. 2A. An exemplary mechanical arrangement 200B for a conventional photoplethysmography device is shown in FIG. 2B. In these examples, the light source includes a light-emitting diode (LED) 202, although in alternative models an incandescent lamp can be used. The light detector in this example includes a photoresistor 204 excited by a constant current source. Changes in light intensity cause proportional changes in the resistance of photoresistor 204. Since the current through photoresistor 204 is constant in this example, the resistance changes produce varying analog voltage (Vout—analog) at the output terminal. This varying analog voltage (Vout—analog) is typically converted to a digital signal (Vout—digital) using an analog to digital converter (A/D) 206. Other known light detectors include photo diodes, photo transistors, photo darlingtons and avalanche photo diodes.
Light may be transmitted through a capillary bed such as in an ear lobe or finger tip. As arterial pulsations fill the capillary bed the changes in volume of the blood vessels modify the absorption, reflection and scattering of the light. Stated another way, an arterial pulse in, for example, a finger tip, or ear lobe, causes blood volume to change, thereby changing the optical density of the tissue. Therefore, the arterial pulse modulates the intensity of the light passing through the tissue. Light from LED 202 is reflected into photoresistor 204 by scattering and/or by direct reflection from an underlying bone structure. Such a PPG does not indicate "calibratable" value changes. Thus, its usefulness is generally limited to pulse-velocity measurements, determination of heart rate, and an indication of the existence of a pulse (e.g., in a finger). Additionally, a conventional PPG provides a poor measure of changes in volume and is very sensitive to motion artifacts.
It is noted that photoplethysmography devices may operate in either a transmission configuration or a reflection configuration. In the transmission configuration, LED 202 and the photodetector 204 face one another and a segment of the body (e.g., a finger or earlobe) is interposed between them. In the reflection configuration, LED 202 and photodetector 204 are mounted adjacent to one another, e.g., on the surface of the body, as shown in FIG. 2B.
Pulse oximetry combines the principles of optical plethysmography and spectrophotometry to determine arterial oxygen saturation values. Optical plethysmography, as just explained above, uses light absorbance technology to reproduce waveforms produced by pulsating blood. Spectrophotometry uses various wavelengths of light to perform quantitative measurements about light absorption through given substances. Using these two principles, the arterial oxygen saturation of a patient's blood can be estimated. Arterial oxygen saturation measurements can be used, for example, to monitor and assess heart failure, sleep apnea, and pulmonary function.
Conventional two wavelength pulse oximeters (which perform pulse oximetry) emit light from two LEDs into a pulsatile tissue bed and collect the transmitted light with a photodetector positioned on an opposite surface (transmission pulse oximetry), or an adjacent surface (reflectance pulse oximetry). The "pulse" in pulse oximetry comes from the time varying amount of arterial blood in the tissue during the cardiac cycle, and the processed signals from the photodetector create the familiar plethysmographic waveform due to the cycling light attenuation. For estimating oxygen saturation, at least one of the two LEDs' primary wavelength is chosen at some point in the electromagnetic spectrum where the absorption of oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) differs from the absorption of reduced hemoglobin (Hb). The second of the two LEDs' wavelength must be at a different point in the spectrum where, additionally, the absorption differences between Hb and HbO2 are different from those at the first wavelength. Commercial pulse oximeters typically utilize one wavelength in the red part of the visible spectrum near 660 nanometers (nm), and one in the near infrared part of the spectrum in the range of 880 nm-940 nm. Photocurrents generated within the photodetector are detected and processed for measuring the modulation ratio of the red to infrared signals. This modulation ratio has been observed to correlate well to arterial oxygen saturation. Pulse oximeters are empirically calibrated by measuring the modulation ratio over a range of in vivo measured arterial oxygen saturations (SaO2) on a set of patients, healthy volunteers, or animals. The observed correlation is used in an inverse manner to estimate saturation (SpO2) based on the real-time measured value of modulation ratios. (As used herein, SaO2 refers to the in vivo measured functional saturation, while SpO2 is the estimated functional saturation using pulse oximetry.)
A pulse oximeter resembles the plethysmography device shown in FIG. 2B, except two LEDs (e.g., a red (660 nm) LED and an infrared (940 nm) LED) are used to transmit light through a vascular bed to the photodetector. The difference in the intensity of transmitted light between red and infrared light is caused by the differences in the absorption of light by oxygenated (saturated) and deoxygenated (desaturated) hemoglobin. The resulting voltage difference is used to estimate the amount of oxygen saturation by, for example, comparing the voltage difference to a table.
A problem with current methods and devices for performing pulse oximetry is that they are acutely sensitive to sensor and/or tissue motion. Even rather subtle motion can (and often do) swamp the detected optical signals and render the oxygen saturation measurements unusable. For example, with pulse oximetry devices that measure blood volume changes in a fingertip or earlobe, such subtle motion may be caused by a patient's slight movement of their finger or head. Accordingly, there is a need to reduce motion-induced noise in pulse oximetry.

Methods and devices for reduction of motion-induced noise in pulse oximetry


A furniture system comprising mutually supporting components including a pair of identically configured side panels, a load supporting panels and a back panel. The back panel is engages the side panels and the load supporting panel to provide rigidity to the furniture item. A locking member is provided that holds the furniture item rigidly in an assembled condition.

The present invention relates generally to articles of furniture. More specifically, the invention concerns furniture that is "ready-to-assemble" or knockdown.
Knock-down or ready-to-assemble ("RTA") furniture is substitute for the traditional, one-piece, articles of furniture. RTA furniture is often significantly less expensive than its already assembled counterpart. Less expensive, durable and serviceable makes it an attractive alternative to already assembled furniture. Moreover, RTA furniture provides a wide range of configurations.
RTA furniture is not a new concept. RTA furniture relies upon interlocking tabs and notches and maintaining a tight fit between spliced tabs and notches to keep the article of furniture solid.

Design and assembly technique for ready to assemble furniture


Provided is a method suitable for concentrating the viruses present in the environment, food or biomaterials in fields such as inspections for ensuring public or food safety and medical examinations, and reagents used therein.

Various viruses are known to induce diarrhea in human, including norovirus, rotavirus, adenovirus, astrovirus, coronavirus and hepatitis A virus.
In the field of clinical practice, daily monitoring and vigilance against viruses are necessary for coping with the annual epidemics of influenza virus, the worldwide spread of human immunodeficiency virus, and the future pandemic risks of many viruses such as highly pathogenic influenza virus and Ebola virus.
Among the viruses causing food poisoning, norovirus (hereinafter referred to as NV) is the cause of food poisoning that frequently occur in winter and spring. NVs are classified into 7 genotypes (GI-GVII), among which GI, GII and GIV are known to infect humans to induce gastroenteritis. In recent years, GII (particularly GII.4) has caused the majority of norovirus outbreaks. In Japan about 70% of infectious food poisoning cases are caused by NV, with 10-30 thousand cases reported every year, but the actual number of NV infections is estimated to be about 100 times larger than the reported number.
The potential transmission routes of NV are: (1) sewage→shellfish→human, (2) food workers→utensils/food materials→human, (3) human→human, human→facility environment→human. The major infection route used to be (1), but most of the recent NV infections have been caused by the human-mediated routes (2) and (3).
Such high spreading potential is attributed to the following features of NV: (1) because NV is an RNA virus and has a high mutation rate, and because protection against NV infection is based on intestinal mucosal immunity, the immunity generated by the first infection is not effective against reinfection or is short-lived; (2) a large amount of NV is shed not only in the feces but also in vomit (105-109 viruses/g in patient feces, 103-107 viruses/g in patient vomit); (3) infected individuals continue to shed NV over a long period, even after their symptoms disappear (it has been reported that the virus had been shed over 3 weeks in adults and more than 1 month in infants); (4) many infected individuals do not develop any symptoms (asymptomatic infection) but still shed sufficient amount of NV in their feces to cause human infection; (5) the virus is highly contagious, showing an infection rate of 50% after exposure to 100-1,000 NVs; (6) the virus can survive for long periods in the environment (the estimated survival periods when stored in a dry state are 2 months and 1 month at 4□ and 20□, respectively).
Under these circumstances, in Japan, in the revision made in June 2008 for "Hygienic Control Manual for Large-Scale Cooking Facilities" (Appendix of Notification No. 85 of Food Sanitation Division, Environmental Health Bureau, Ministry of Health and Welfare on Mar. 24, 1997, final revision: Article 1 of Notice No. 0610 of the Department of Food Safety), which is targeted to cooking facilities preparing more than 300 dishes of a single menu at a time or more than 750 meals per day (large-scale cooking facilities), the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare additionally advised "NV stool examination" and "withdrawal of NV-infected individuals from cooking procedures".
Nevertheless, NV infection still accounts for about ⅔ of food poisoning cases and occur at a wide range of places, including facilities at which food is directly handled, e.g. restaurants, caterers, hotels and manufacturing plants, as well as offices, schools, hospitals, sales stores and home.
Therefore, for preventing NV infections, in addition to conventional NV stool examinations (individual examination), it should be extremely effective to perform NV testing at food-handling sites or places suspected of NV contamination, as well as wide-area (environmental) inspection and monitoring.
Regarding inspections conducted for preventing NV infections, in the field of food inspection, the targets of inspection are utensils used for food processing (e.g. cutting boards, knives), food handlers themselves (e.g. their clothing, hands) and food materials. Meanwhile, in the field of environmental inspection, equipment and supplies in various facilities are inspected, including toilet bowls, floors, doorknobs, handrails and slippers at toilet facilities, which are expected to be the most highly contaminated areas.
If a rapid, simple and high-sensitivity NV testing method can be established in the field of food inspection or environmental inspection, the method can also be applied to other viruses or to the clinical field. In the clinical field, the testing targets would be those related to the environment, such as medical instrument or equipment, as well as samples derived from medical staff or patients.
In the actual virus testing procedure, first, areas suspected of virus contamination are wiped with a tool such as a swab impregnated with a buffer (e.g. phosphate buffer), physiological saline or distilled water.
The collected virus is suspended in the buffer, physiological saline or distilled water that has been used to impregnate the wiping tool and subsequently concentrated either by centrifuging the virus suspension after mixing it with a concentration liquid containing polyethylene glycol (hereinafter referred to as PEG) or through direct ultracentrifugation of the virus suspension.
For example, "Detection Method for Norovirus" (Notice No. 1105001 from the Food Inspection and Safety Division, dated Nov. 5, 2003, final revision Notice No. 0514004 from the Food Inspection and Safety Division, dated May 14, 2007, www.mhlw.go.jp/topics/syokuchu/kanren/kansai/dl/031105-1a.pdf) prepared by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan, describes the concentration procedure as follows:"Concentration Method using Polyethylene Glycol(1) . . . to the centrifuged supernatant, add polyethylene glycol 6,000 and NaCl so as to give concentrations of 8% and 2.1 g/100 ml, respectively, stir gently and leave overnight at 4° C. in a refrigerator, or stir for 2 hours at room temperature.↓Perform refrigerated centrifugation at 5,000-12,000 rpm for 20 minutes.(2) Suck the supernatant with an aspirator, a syringe or the like to leave only the sediment. Remove moisture around the tube wall with a sterile filter paper. Lightly rinse the tube wall with PBS(−) twice and subsequently remove moisture completely with a filter paper.(3) Suspend the sediment in 200 μl of DDW and use this for extracting the viral RNA. If the suspension contains too much impurity, conduct refrigerated centrifugation at 10,000 rpm for 20 minutes and use the resulting supernatant for RNA extraction."
The concentrated virus can be checked by amplifying and detecting the nucleic acid in the virus (DNA or RNA) or by detecting the antigens present at the viral surface.
For detecting the nucleic acid in the virus, genetic tests are performed either by directly using the virus or extracting and purifying the nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) therefrom. Then, if the test target is DNA, the DNA is amplified by PCR or the like, and if the test target is RNA, the RNA is amplified either directly or after conversion into DNA by a reverse transcription (RT) reaction. The analysis is conducted in real time using e.g. the probe method or by melting curve analysis (MCA) or agarose electrophoresis after the amplification.
However, it was difficult to recover the virus stably at a high recovery rate by the conventional PEG precipitation method, and its long, complicated operation procedure was not suited for smooth processing of a large number of samples. On the other hand, the ultracentrifugation method required an expensive equipment and could handle only a small number of samples at a time, resulting in poor work efficiency.
Recently, attempts were made to improve the recovery rate e.g. by adding beef extract to PEG (e.g. a document provided below: IASR Vol. 32 p. 358-359: December 2011 issue), but the recovery rate was rather unstable and could only reach around 40% at maximum. Moreover, the method had a disadvantage in terms of work efficiency, such as keeping the sample in a refrigerator overnight before centrifugation.
Furthermore, in NV detection, when the samples to be used for detection are concentrated by ultracentrifugation or PEG precipitation, impurities may remain in the samples to inhibit PCR reaction and prevent norovirus detection. As examples of such impurities, saccharides such as mucus and humic acid, proteins, dyes and glycogen are exemplified (patent publication number 2011-155919).
Consequently, the conventional PEG precipitation method can only give a detection sensitivity of about 10,000 NV/swab, which is not sufficient for testing or monitoring contamination by a virus as highly contagious as NV, which is known to infect 50% of the people exposed to 100-1,000 viruses.

Abstract: By adding an optimum concentration of polysaccharide such as glycogen to polyethylene glycol (PEG) and optimizing the concentration of a salt to be added, the viruses suspended in an aqueous solution can be easily, rapidly and stably recovered at a high recovery rate.


It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing an SOI wafer at low cost and with high yield. It is another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device including also bulk type MISFETs used as high voltage regions and a method of manufacturing the same without using complicated processes and increasing the size of a semiconductor chip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods of manufacturing MISFETs having a stacked structure of a semiconductor, an insulator, and a metal and, more particularly, to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a MISFET formed on a semiconductor substrate having an SOI (Silicon-on-Insulator) structure.
2. Description of the Related Arts
With the greater integration and greater performance achieved lately in LSI technology, further miniaturization of MISFETs (metal-insulator-semiconductor field effect transistors) has been progressed. As a result, gate length is scaled to make more conspicuous the problem of a short channel effect that involves a reduced threshold voltage Vth. The short channel effect is attributable to the fact that expansion of a depletion layer in source and drain portions of the MISFET also affects a channel portion as a result of a channel length being miniaturized. One possible approach to suppress this effect is to suppress the expansion of the depletion layer in the source and drain portions by making higher impurity concentration of the channel portion. Making higher the impurity concentration of the channel portion, however, poses a problem of a deteriorated drive current caused by carrier mobility as a result of increased impurity scattering. In addition, the higher impurity concentration increases parasitic capacitance between a substrate and source or drain, thus impeding high-speed operations of the MISFET.
Conventionally, the threshold voltage Vth of the MISFET has been controlled by the impurity concentration of a channel region. The channel impurity concentration control is relatively favorably performed by making full use of ion implantation and rapid heat treatment techniques for LSIs with a design rule of about 100-hm node.
In MISFETs with 100-nm node or subsequent one, however, the technique controlling the threshold voltage Vth by impurities in the channel involves a smaller absolute number of impurities contributing to the threshold voltage Vth per MISFET with shorter channel lengths. Therefore, variations in the threshold voltage Vth caused by statistical fluctuations can no longer be disregarded (see, for example, T. Mizuno et al., "Performance Fluctuations of 0.10 μm MOSFETs—Limitation of 0.1 μm ULSIs," Symp. on VLSI Technology 1994). There is therefore a need for a process responding to micro-devices that is capable of controlling the threshold voltage Vth of the MISFET by using also a work function of a gate electrode through the impurity concentration control for the channel portion and other methods.
To solve the foregoing problem, an SOI structure are lately gaining attention. The SOI structure uses an insulating film (e.g., an oxide silicon film) to provide complete isolation between devices. This not only suppresses soft error and latch-up and achieves greater reliability even in LSIs with greater integration, but also reduces junction capacitance of a diffusion layer. As a result, discharge/recharge from switching is reduced and the structure is advantageous in terms also of high-speed and lower power consumption applications.
The SOI type MISFET is broadly classified into two operating modes. One is a full depletion SOI, in which a depletion layer induced in a body region immediately below the gate electrode reaches a bottom surface of the body region, specifically, an interface with an embedded oxide film. The other is a partial depletion SOI, in which the depletion layer does not reach the bottom surface of the body region, leaving a neutral region.
With the full depletion SOI-MISFET, the thickness of the depletion layer immediately below the gate is limited by the embedded oxide film. There is then a substantial decrease in a depletion charge amount as compared with the partial depletion SOI-MISFET, while, instead, there is an increase in movable charge contributing to a drain current. As a result, advantageously, precipitous subthreshold characteristics (S characteristics) can be obtained.
Specifically, given the precipitous S characteristics, the threshold voltage Vth can be decreased while suppressing an offleak current. As a result, the drain current is obtained even with a low operating voltage, which makes it possible to make a MISFET that operates on, for example, 1 V or less (and a threshold voltage Vth of 0.3 V or less), thus consuming an extremely low power.
A MISFET made on an ordinary substrate has the aforementioned problem of short channel effect; however, with the full depletion SOI-MISFET, the substrate and the device are separated by the oxide film and the depletion layer does not expand, allowing substrate concentration to be lowered. As a result, reduction in the carrier mobility as a result of the increased impurity scattering can be suppressed, making for a higher drive current. In addition, in contrast to the method of controlling the threshold voltage Vth using the impurity concentration, variations in the threshold voltage Vth caused by statistical fluctuations in the number of impurities relative to a single MISFET can be reduced.
Another known art relating to the SOI-MISFET is a double gate MISFET structure as proposed, for example, in JP-A-2000-208770. In this SOI-MISFET, a source diffusion layer and a drain diffusion layer are formed with a dummy gate electrode in a SOI layer in a self-aligning manner. An inverted pattern trench of the dummy gate electrode is then formed and an embedded gate is next formed by ion implantation of impurities in a support substrate from the trench. A W or other metal film is thereafter selectively embedded in the trench region to thereby produce an upper gate electrode. Realizing the double gate structure should indeed be an effective means for enhancing SOI-MISFET performance; however, it is extremely difficult to embed and form a high concentration diffusion layer or the like in the support substrate without adversely affecting the SOI layer in the double gate MISFET structure based on the currently well-known technique. The double gate MISFET structure is therefore yet to find its practical applications. When considering an essential concept of the double gate MISFET structure, while leaving its manufacturing difficult out of consideration, accurate positioning of the embedded gate relative to the upper gate is a prerequisite and it is inevitably required that the embedded gate be disposed for each individual device. There is basically no such concept of a function of the embedded gate electrode being shared among a plurality of MISFETs. In super-miniature SOI-MISFETs, positioning error of the embedded gate is fatal, and directly associated with variations in the parasitic capacitance and drive current.
Endeavor to make effective use of the parasitic capacitance for stabilization of dynamic operations would therefore prove to be impractical unless variations of the capacitance are substantially suppressed. Further, the threshold voltage of the double gate structure SOI-MISFET is determined only by the work function of each material of the upper gate and the embedded gate, if an SOI layer thickness component is excluded. Accordingly, it is substantially impossible to set a threshold voltage value for each MISFET. It is also assumed that the embedded gate electrode and the upper gate electrode are connected in any region other than a MISFET active region, that is, a device isolation region. It is thus essential to achieve alignment in consideration of layout of peripheral devices.
In the aforementioned full depletion SOI-MISFET manufactured using an SOI substrate having an embedded insulating layer of 50 nm or less, preferably 10 nm or less, and a thin layer of single crystal semiconductor of 20 nm or less, application of a gate potential to a well diffusion layer immediately below the SOI-MISFET results in following. Specifically, high potential application of the well potential via the thin embedded insulating film further accelerates a conductive state of the SOI-MISFET, resulting in a substantial increase in the drive current, specifically, generation of a large current. If a low gate potential is applied, the well potential follows to drop, allowing the SOI-MISFET to reach a nonconductive state quickly. More specifically, in the aforementioned operating mode, characteristics can be achieved of increasing the drive current further under the same leak current condition, thus enabling switching between conductive and nonconductive states at higher speeds. Insulation isolation of a side surface of the well diffusion layer contributes to a reduced parasitic capacitance, specifically, to a delay time constant of an applied signal. In addition, the thinner the embedded insulating film, the more effective in enhancing the effect of increasing the drive current. Ideally, film thickness condition should preferably be equivalent to that of the gate insulating film of the SOI-MISFET.
As described above, the application of the thin embedded insulating film to the SOI-MISFET permits utilization of substantial performance enhancement characteristics of the double gate structure SOI-MISFET. Further, the well diffusion layer immediately below the SOI-MISFET is formed under the gate electrode in the self-aligning manner. It is therefore possible to eliminate substantially the problem of variations in the drive current and the parasitic capacitance arising from positioning error of the embedded gate electrode which was a problem with the known double gate MISFET structure.
As described above, the SOI type MISFET has outstanding characteristics of low power consumption and high speed.

Manufacturing method of semiconductor device

Abstract: The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprises selectively epitaxially growing a single-crystal Si layer and continuously performing the epitaxial growth without bringing a substrate temperature increased during the growth to room temperature even once. An epitaxially grown surface is then etched and planarized. The substrate temperature is then cooled down to the room temperature.


Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatus for generating a two-tone signal for performing linearity calibration of a radio frequency (RF) circuit. One example apparatus generally includes a tone generating circuit configured to generate a first single-tone signal from a digital clock signal and a mixer connected with the tone generating circuit and configured to mix the first single-tone signal with a second single-tone signal to provide a two-tone signal having frequencies at a sum and a difference of frequencies of the first and second single-tone signals.

Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. For example, one network may be a 3G (the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology) system, which may provide network service via any one of various 3G radio access technologies (RATs) including EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized), 1xRTT (1 times Radio Transmission Technology, or simply 1x), W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), UMTS-TDD (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System—Time Division Duplexing), HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), or EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution). The 3G network is a wide area cellular telephone network that evolved to incorporate high-speed internet access and video telephony, in addition to voice calls. Furthermore, a 3G network may be more established and provide larger coverage areas than other network systems. Such multiple access networks may also include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, and Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) networks.
A wireless communication network may include a number of base stations that can support communication for a number of mobile stations. A mobile station (MS) may communicate with a base station (BS) via a downlink and an uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the mobile station, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the mobile station to the base station. A base station may transmit data and control information on the downlink to a mobile station and/or may receive data and control information on the uplink from the mobile station.

Methods and apparatus for generating two-tone calibration signals for performing linearity calibration


Interpolation processing is applied to the output of a look-up table in which a correlation between color-separation signals and density signals ideal for these color-separation signals are stored, with a quantization error produced when quantizing the color-separation signals being adopted as an interpolation coefficient. The quantization and the interpolation processing are executed in a uniform color space.

This invention relates to a color image processing apparatus and, more particularly, to a color image processing apparatus characterized by its color reproduction processing.
A method of color reproduction processing by a conventional digital color image copying apparatus using electrostatic photography or ink-jet printing includes color processing in which a color image output signal is obtained by referring to a table memory storing corresponding relationships for converting quantized color image signals of the colors red (R), green (G) and blue (B) into output printing signals of the colors cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y), respectively.
However, mn the conventional method of reproducing colors mentioned above, the following problems arise:
(1) The method requires the provision of the aforementioned table memory, which is the equivalent of color processing for applying a masking operation to RGB density signals Dr, Dg, Db consisting of eight bits per color, and obtaining Y, M, C, K output signals also consisting of eight bits per color. As a consequence, a large memory capacity is required and cost is high.
(2) Quantizing the memory input signal and reducing memory capacity means reducing the tone quality of the read image signal. As a result, the tone quality of the output image is eliminated and a false contour is produced, thereby greatly detracting from picture quality.
(3) Reducing memory capacity while maintaining tone quality in an effort to solve the foregoing problems involves narrowing the reproduction range of the read image signal. This results in greatly diminished picture quality, such as deterioration of the output image at portions where saturation is high.


The speaker recognition methods and systems of the current invention involves at least two processing units for performing the speaker recognition based upon his or her voice input. To perform the speaker recognition efficiently as well as securely, the voice input is initially processed at the input site so that intermediate voice characteristic information is extracted. The intermediate voice characteristic information is transmitted to a second location for the final determination for identifying or verifying a speaker.

The speaker recognition has certain advantages over other forms of identification or verification. The speaker recognition is a general term for voice identification and voice verification. The voice identification identifies a particular individual from a group of individuals based upon a voice input. The voice verification verifies that a voice input belongs to a particular individual. In either process, generally, an individual initially registers his or her voice by uttering words such as his or her name. To later identify or verify the individual, the individual utters the same or other words. The voice input is compared to the registered voice to determine a match. Since speaker recognition generally does not require a speaker to memorize any code such a personal identification number (PIN), the speaker recognition process is user-friendly. Furthermore, the identification information is more susceptible to theft and fraud. For example, a criminal learns a PIN for telephone calls by looking over the shoulder of a bona-fide user. Similarly, a wrong doer can steal the PIN for automatic teller machines for banking. To substantially reduce theft and fraud, the above described user friendly speaker recognition process is advantageous over the conventional PIN-based identification process.
Despite the above described advantages, the speaker recognition faces a number of difficulties in implementing a reliable system. The difficulties generally originate from the nature of the voice data. The voice data requires a large amount of memory. Furthermore, the voice input is susceptible to changes over time, due to input devices or under certain physical conditions. Human voice is not constant over a long period of time. Human voice is also affected by a speaker's physical condition such as a cold. Lastly, during the digital conversion, input devices such as a microphone and an analog-to-digital converter affect the digital voice data.
To overcome these problem, a series of voice parameters is extracted as intermediate voice characteristic information from the digitally converted voice input data, and then final voice characteristic information such as a voice characteristic pattern is generated from the extracted voice parameter values. The voice parameters include a spectrum, a cepstrum and a LPC (linear prediction coefficient). Briefly, the spectrum is obtain a Formant frequency of the voice tract based upon frequency transformed voice data. The cepstrum is a result of Fourier transform or inverse Fourier transform, and the Formant frequency reflects both the vocal tract and the vocal chord. A LPC is a coefficient obtained using the linear prediction method based upon the assumption that the vocal tract does not generate any antiresonance. Regardless of the above described parameters, five to fifteen voice parameters are determined for each time period, and the time period generally ranges from 10 to 20 millisecond. Based upon the above described voice parameters, the voice characteristic pattern is generated as final voice characteristic information to save the storage space as well as to improve the reliability of the speaker recognition process. For more detailed description of these voice parameters, "Digital Voice Processing" (in Japanese) by Sadaoki Furui (1985) is incorporated herein by external reference.
In using the above described voice recognition process in the computer or telephone network, additional concerns need to be addressed. The computer network generally includes a large number of independent processing units such as personal computers. In a commercial application, the voice recognition provider must be able to communicate to these independent processing units at remote sites. For example, in a banking transaction system, a central computer must be able to communicate to automatic teller machines and identify or verify a user based upon a voice input in a reliable and speedy manner. However, none of the relevant prior art is directed to the network application of the speaker recognition. Prior art references such as Japanese Patent 1-302297 is directed to a certain security feature of speaker recognition while Japanese Patent 57-104193 is directed to updating the previously registered voice data.
The current invention is thus directed to the method and system for recognizing a speaker based upon a voice input over a network in a reliable and efficient manner.

Voice-based verification and identification methods and systems


An intervertebral nucleus prosthesis is proposed, which is characterized in that it consists of at least one, in particular, spherical body movable in two directions of a plane and made of a rigid, non-oxidizing, biocompatible material with a diameter adapted to the biological nucleus, the spherical body being mounted non-displaceably but freely rotatably about its center in a cage and protruding at both opposite sides in the form of a spherical cap from the cage. Also proposed is a method for implanting such a prosthesis.

The invention relates to an intervertebral nucleus prosthesis for restoring mobility in the area of an intervertebral disc. This mobility is created physiologically by the nucleus, which can be seen as a mechanical joint component of the vertebral bodies.
Physiologically, the nucleus is formed by an essentially spherical, non-extendible, but deformable body inserted like a ball between two end faces of vertebrae, essentially at the center thereof, and allowing inclining, rotating and sliding movements.
The end faces of the vertebrae themselves are surrounded by concentric layers of fibers referred to as annulus and containing fibers which cross one another obliquely from one layer to the other.
In this arrangement, the nucleus, which is actually a deformable, but non-extendible capsule filled with a hydrophilic, jelly-like substance (mucopolysaccharide), itself moves backwards or forwards during forward or backward bending movement of the spinal column, and this movement of the nucleus is limited by the back and front fibers of the annulus and by different ligaments.
When the spinal column inclines to the side, the displacement of the nucleus stretches the fibers on the convex side. The displacement is limited by the intervertebral ligaments.
During a rotation of the spinal column, the intervertebral disc is acted upon by shearing forces.
The nucleus, which is a hydrophilic body, has a specific osmotic pressure in the state of rest. Under load, the nucleus loses water. The thickness of the intervertebral disc decreases. Rehydration occurs once the pressure is reduced again.
The pathological states which affect the reciprocal movements of the various vertebral bodies are essentially overloading or excessive and repeated strain or natural aging processes.
In the event of excessive, repeated or prolonged strain, rehydration does not take place, and, consequently, the pressure exerted by the nucleus on the fibers forming the various concentric layers of the annulus is unable to be built up, and this pressure, therefore, also no longer carries out its restoring function during the movements. This results in instability accompanied by arthrosis.
The object of the invention is to prevent this instability from developing by inserting a nucleus prosthesis, implantation of which can be carried out in vivo and with less traumatization than has so far been possible with known prostheses of this kind.
These known prostheses, the principles of which will be examined hereinbelow, harbor drawbacks which, with a knowledge of the reciprocal movements and the function of the nucleus during these movements, are understandable.
These drawbacks occur during both use and insertion of these known implants.
Initially, it was simply suggested that those intervertebral discs located in the traumatized area be removed. A bony graft was then inserted, partly with and partly without osteosynthesis.
The blocking of two adjacent vertebral bodies thereby obtained did, however, merely transfer the load onto the intervertebral discs of the immediately adjacent vertebral bodies, which were thereby placed under excessive strain and quickly suffered damage. The problem was only shifted without solving it.
A complete intervertebral disc prosthesis including both annulus and nucleus has also been suggested.
The main disadvantage of this practice is that it requires total removal of the damaged intervertebral disc and then insertion of the complete prosthesis between two adjacent vertebral bodies.
Each of the two phases of this operation requires severing of the common vertebral body ligaments, namely the front ligament (LVCA) and the back ligament (LVCP), which does not allow the natural movements of the spinal column to be restored again, and this, therefore, suffers a loss of reliability.
To avoid these disadvantages, the present invention is based on inserting a nucleus prosthesis without resecting the entire intervertebral disc. In this way, development of the instability, which causes the deterioration, can be limited by replacing the nucleus.
Without damaging the annulus or the ligaments (LVCA) and (LVCP), the nucleus prosthesis allows, by displacement of the substitute nucleus, pressure to be exerted on the annulus, and the annulus to thereby be placed under tension during movement of the spinal column so that it restores the balanced position.
The center of rotation, thus restored, does, in fact, remain movable and capable of adapting to the various movements of bending forwards and backwards, stretching and inclining sideways.
The nucleus prosthesis of the present invention consists of one or several balls which are hard, smooth and non-oxidizing and which are arranged so as to be freely movable inside a rigid cage which itself is non-oxidizing. This prosthesis is able to be accommodated in the volume made available by removal of the nucleus between two end faces of vertebrae.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show clearly an intervertebral plane formed by a large number of concentric layers of intersecting fibers 1 and 2, clearly apparent from FIG. 3, at the center of which the nucleus 3 is located, while the front ligament (LVCA) 4 and the back ligament (LVCP) 5 are located at the outside.
FIGS. 4 and 5 show the compression forces exerted by the nucleus 3 on the concentric layers of the annulus at the outside of the bending angle during forward or backward bending.
The nucleus 3 exerts in the same way a pressure on the rings of the annulus, at the outside of the lateral angle of inclination (FIG. 6).
Each of these displacements of the nucleus 3 ensures a return to the balanced position.
During rotation in a horizontal plane it is the joint capsules 6 lying along an imaginary circle at the outside that enable the circular displacement and limit the rotatory movement (FIG. 7), the nucleus 3 then being acted upon by shearing forces.
In all these cases, the nucleus acts as a movement buffer and during this movement ensures return to the balanced position. The consequences of the change in the nucleus are apparent from this.
It is also apparent from this that restoration of the reciprocal movements of adjacent vertebral bodies can be achieved merely by inserting a nucleus prosthesis, implantation of which offers a very great surgical advantage.
With existing operational techniques, the surgical fusion of the vertebral bodies results in a permanent fusion of adjacent vertebrae located on either side of the damaged intervertebral disc. To this end, the intervertebral disc is completely removed.
If the fusion of two vertebral bodies by arthrodesis is successful, the problems of degeneration are then transferred to the adjacent intervertebral discs (above or below), and these problems are further increased by the rigidity of the vertebral block thus created.
If, however, the fusion is unsuccessful, which is the reason for frequent failures and results in persistence of the complaints, it is often very difficult to re-operate.
In the case of implantation of a complete prosthesis of the intervertebral disc it has been found that this necessitates a complicated and difficult surgical procedure, with a large opening being required to allow removal of the natural intervertebral disc and insertion of the complete prosthesis.
This includes the necessity of severing and displacing large abdominal vessels (aorta and venae) and the bundle of nerves of the sexual organs.
This involves the risk of extensive vascular bleeding, which is very difficult to control.
This may also lead to serious sexual problems: impotence and retrograde ejaculation.
In addition, the total resection of the intervertebral disc results in destruction of the entire annulus and the front and back intervertebral ligaments 4 and 5 and thereby creates serious instability risks.
Moreover, in this case, there is no way back, there only remains the possibility of fusion of vertebrae with the disadvantages described hereinabove.
The nucleus prosthesis according to the invention does not have any of these disadvantages. It allows replacement of the damaged nucleus in both its shape and function. It is suitable for terminating the degeneration of the intervertebral disc by restabilizing it.
The surgical implantation procedure is extremely simple.
Firstly, the implantation can be carried out endoscopically. It is quick and non-aggressive.
In the event of failure, removal of the nucleus prosthesis allows recovery of the original state.
It does not involve any vascular risks or any risks for the sexual organs.
It does, in fact, suffice to endoscopically make an opening between two vertebral bodies, through the annulus, the opening being just large enough to reach and remove the damaged nucleus, and to insert in the same way the artificial nucleus, which will automatically center itself in the original cavity, and to then close the opening thus made by a suture.
Aside from the rapidity of this operation, the fibrous body which has undergone only slight damage from the incision, is able to recover spontaneously and quickly and virtually without any pain. The front and back ligaments do not undergo any traumatism, which allows the original mobility of the spinal column to be restored.
Owing to the simplicity of the implantation of this nucleus prosthesis and the absence of any risks with this operation, its use is suitable where primary or secondary intervertebral disc damage has occurred, in particular, at the onset of the illness before the occurrence of definitive damage to the bone and joints.
The nucleus prosthesis essentially consists of at least one movable body 8, made of a rigid, non-oxidizing, biocompatible material, capable of moving in two axes of a plane (for example, a stainless steel ball or a ball made of titanium), with a volume which is adapted to that of the biological nucleus. This movable body or ball 8 is mounted in a body 7 referred to hereinafter as cage, comprising a casing 14 (shown, by way of example, in FIG. 11) which is made of a light, rigid, non-oxidizing and biocompatible material (such as titanium), and this casing 14 contains a mass 15 made of a material having a minimum coefficient of friction (such as polyethylene). Inside there is a space for accommodating the movable body or ball 8, which is captured in this space, but is held so as to be freely rotatable about its center and in such a way that it emerges at each of the two opposite faces (upper and lower faces) of the cage 7 in the form of a spherical cap with a height which is approximately one tenth of the diameter of the movable body or ball 8, without this value having to be strictly adhered to.
The volume of the cage 7 accommodating the movable body 8 is itself adapted as closely as possible to the volume of the biological nucleus, but the fact that the cage 7 must serve as mounting for the ball 8 is, of course, taken into consideration. This allows the prosthesis to position itself so that it is always able to be in the anatomical position and thereby restore the natural movement between two vertebral bodies.
The cage 7 containing the ball 8 may have in a plan view (FIG. 8) a more or less curved shape, which is symmetrical in relation to a transverse center plane. In cross section (FIG. 10) the cage preferably has the shape of a trapezoid, the small end face of which contains the ends of the shape that is curved to a more or less pronounced extent.
Owing to this trapezoidal asymmetry of the cage 7, with front to back orientation, rotation thereof between the two vertebral bodies is prevented during displacement of thus constructed prosthesis accommodating the artificial nucleus (ball 8).
In a modified embodiment shown in FIGS. 12, 13 and 14, the cage 7, which in cross section has essentially the shape of an isosceles trapezoid (FIG. 13), can accommodate several identical balls 8 (FIG. 14) which at the outside touch a common imaginary plane on either side of the horizontal center plane of the cage. The balls are located on both faces of the cage 7 at the three corners of an isosceles triangle.
To enhance the comfort, the cage 7 according to the embodiments of FIGS. 15, 16 and 17 may consist of two single identical bodies 10, 11 which are rigid, unoxidizable and biocompatible and have the shape of an isosceles trapezoid. They are arranged such that their center planes extending at right angles to the parallel bases along their center lines are essentially parallel to each other and that the large bases of the single trapezoidal bodies 10 and 11 lie essentially in the same vertical plane.
The two single bodies formed in this way are connected to each other by two elastic bearing elements 12 and 13 which extend at right angles to the center planes of the single bodies 10 and 11 and are arranged close to the end of a large axis which itself forms a common tangent to the sets of balls 8 arranged on each outer face of the entire arrangement such that the balls are placed at the three corners of an isosceles triangle, which on opposite sides of the arrangement point in opposite direction.
When a prosthesis corresponding to FIGS. 8 to 17 is inserted, it will be understood that immediately after its introduction into the nucleus cavity, the prosthesis will assume the function of the biological nucleus and will place the intersecting fibers of the annulus under tension during movement sideways, forwards or backwards and thereby cause return to the balanced position. The quick operation necessary for its insertion eliminates any risk of traumatism and ensures rapid healing of the single necessary incision.
The final selection from the models proposed herein, all of which offer the same advantages in terms of insertion and physiological results, will be made in the course of time on the basis of the clinical results obtained.
Without departing from the concepts underlying the invention, the cage 7 containing a ball 8 or several balls 8, for which several embodiments have been proposed hereinabove, can, of course, also have other equivalent shapes. It is merely important that it serve as mounting for the ball or balls 8, that these be freely rotatable therein and that its volume be adapted to the volume available after removal of the biological nucleus.
With all of the above-described embodiments, the described nucleus prosthesis is able to take up its own position spontaneously in the anatomical surroundings, thus allowing all natural movements between two vertebral bodies to be restored (leaning sideways, leaning forwards and backwards, rotation). The conical shape (trapezoidal in cross section) of the cage 7 facilitates displacement in the plane of the end faces of the vertebrae and at the same time prevents rotation of the cage about its central axis as well as sinking of the implant into the end faces of the vertebrae.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Intervertebral nucleus prosthesis and surgical procedure for implanting the same


A portable inhalation device includes a medication storage component, a flow controller, an atomizer, a medication delivery component, and a pressure sensor. The medication storage component is configured to store medication. The flow controller is configured to cause a force to be applied to the medication stored by the medication storage component to transport the medication to the atomizer. The atomizer is configured to generate droplets from the medication. The medication delivery component includes a delivery channel extending from the atomizer to an outlet opening. The medication delivery component is configured to receive the medication in the delivery channel from the atomizer and dispense the medication via the opening. The pressure sensor is configured to detect a pressure corresponding to a flow rate of air in the delivery channel and output an indication of the detected pressure.

Nebulizing devices, such as inhalers, can be used to deliver therapeutic medication to a patient by inhalation. In existing devices, medication delivery may occur by manual actuation of a medication source, which may limit the ability of the device to deliver medication in a dosage targeted to the patient and the condition of the patient. Similarly, the patient may be unaware of the severity of their condition, so that even if the device is capable of dosage control, the device may be limited in effectively delivering the medication with an appropriate dosage, and the device may be incapable of providing the patient with an indication of the severity of their condition. While some existing systems implement a surface tension- or gravity-based mechanism for delivering medication, these systems are often limited in functionality because they can only be used in a single orientation (e.g., upright orientation).

Portable inhalation therapeutic and inhalation and exhalation measuring devices and related methods