Techniques for optimizing airflow in a network device are provided. In one set of embodiments, a network device can identify one or more device components whose temperature thresholds may be adjusted to be higher (or in other words, more aggressive) than their normal values. The network device can then increase the temperature thresholds for those identified components and use the increased thresholds as static inputs to a fan control algorithm of the device. In another set of embodiments, the network device can check the current airflow within the device on a periodic basis. If the current airflow does not meet an airflow requirement, the network device can incrementally increase the temperature thresholds of the identified components, provide the increased thresholds to its fan control algorithm, and subsequently re-check the current airflow. These steps can repeat until the current airflow meets the airflow requirement.

In network devices that rely on fans for cooling, a fan control algorithm is used to regulate fan speeds. The fan control algorithm typically takes as input temperature thresholds associated with network device components and current operating temperatures of those components. Based on the temperature thresholds and current operating temperatures, the fan control algorithm determines how fast the fans should spin in order to avoid overheating.
In some cases, the temperature thresholds that are provided as input to the fan control algorithm for one or more particular components of a network device may be conservatively low. Such conservative thresholds can cause the network device's fans to spin faster than strictly necessary to keep the components within a safe temperature range, resulting in excessive airflow. This excessive airflow can be undesirable for certain device users, such as users that deploy the network device in environments with stringent airflow requirements (e.g., data centers).


By using a combination of amrubicin or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof with another medicament for treating lung cancer (irinotecan, vinorelbine, gemcitabine, etc.), it is intended to provide medicaments for treating lung cancer having an improved antitumor therapeutic effect on lung cancer and reduced side effects. Lung cancer can be effectively treated using these medicaments.

Amrubicin ((+)-(7S,9S)-9-acetyl-9-amino-7-[(2-deoxy-β-D-erythro-pentopyranosyl)oxy]-7,8,9,10-tetrahydro-6,11-dihydroxy-5,12-naphthacenedione) is an anthracycline compound represented by the following chemical structural formula (JP 3-5397B, U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,668):

Amrubicin is easily reduced in vivo to form a metabolite (amrubicinol) which is a 13-hydroxylated product. This amrubicinol has a considerably stronger inhibitory activity against growth of tumor cells than that of amrubicin. Doxorubicin and daunomycin, the other anthracycline compounds, also form reduced metabolites, which in contrast have reduced activities (Cancer Chemothr. Pharmacol., 30, 51–57 (1992)). Also for the cardiac toxicity, amrubicin is far weaker than doxorubicin in rabbit chronic experimental model (Invest. New Drug, 15, 219–225 (1997)).
It has been known that, although anthracycline compounds have similar structures, they are different in their indications, action mechanisms and so on as described below. Daunorubicin and idarubicin are approved for treatment of leukemia but are not approved for treatment of solid cancers. On the other hand, doxorubicin, epirubicin, pirarubicin and aclarubicin are approved for treatment of solid cancers. Daunorubicin and doxorubicin inhibit synthesis of DNA and synthesis of RNA in similar degrees but aclarubicin and marcellomycin inhibit synthesis of RNA more strongly than synthesis of DNA; therefore their mechanism of exerting antitumor activities are quite different (JJSHP, 27, 1087–1110 (1991)). It has been known that, in this manner, even if drugs belong to the same category of anthracycline, they have different effect depending on the kind of cancer, and the same anticancer agent has different effect depending on the kind of cancer. Consequently, it is necessary to specifically confirm by experiment whether or not a specific anticancer agent is effective against a specific tumor (cancer).
It has been described that a use of amrubicin hydrochloride in combination with cisplatin or the like exhibits an additive effect on human T-cell leukemia MOLT-3 cell strain and human osteosarcoma MG-63 cell strain (Investigational New Drugs, 14, 357–363 (1996)). Additionally, an effect has been described, in an experiment with murine leukemia P388 cell strain, for a combined use of amrubicin and cisplatin in vivo (Yoshikazu YANAGI et al., Abstracts of publications in Japanese Cancer Association, No. 2168 (1989)). No report, however, has been described for a combined use of amrubicin and another medicament for treating lung cancer against lung cancer and for side effects.


Various embodiments herein include at least one of systems, methods, and software of a cross-network listening agent for network entity monitoring. In some such embodiments, the cross-network listening agent is an element of software or a hardware device connected to a network and listens for metric data broadcast by other entities of the network. The cross-network listening agent receives the broadcast metric data and transmits the metric data to a network and system management system resident on another network. The network entities are generally any device that reports status with regard to metrics the network entity monitors with regard to its own state. In some embodiments, the network entities report their status in Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) messages that are broadcast on the network, but are unable to reach the network and system management system resident on the other network.

In today's networked computing environment, a single organization may have many networks on which many network entities, such as networked devices and systems, are connected. While many network entity monitoring tools exist, such tools need to be installed on each network to receive and monitor messages from devices on each respective network. As a result, each of many the many networks need to be monitored separately.

Cross-network listening agent for network entity monitoring


A capacity estimating apparatus for a secondary battery includes a current-detecting section configured to detect a value of current flowing in the secondary battery; a voltage-detecting section configured to detect a voltage value of the secondary battery; a first estimating section configured to calculate a first estimate value of a remaining capacity of the secondary battery on the basis of an accumulated value of the current values detected by the current-detecting section; and a second estimating section configured to calculate a second estimate value of the remaining capacity of the secondary battery on the basis of the voltage value detected by the voltage-detecting section. The first estimating section is configured to calculate a difference between the first estimate value and the second estimate value, and to correct the first estimate value by correcting the accumulated value so as to gradually reduce the difference.

As a method of estimating a remaining capacity (charging capacity) of a secondary battery, there are a method in which the remaining capacity is estimated by accumulating (integrating) electric-current values and a method in which the remaining capacity is estimated from an open-circuit voltage by using a relation between the open-circuit voltage and the remaining capacity. The former is called a current-accumulation method, and the latter is called an open-circuit voltage method. Each of these two methods has merit and demerit.
The former has a problem with a detection accuracy of current value and an accumulation accuracy of current values. The latter has a problem with a detection accuracy during a charging or discharging of the secondary battery. Hence, in order to enhance an estimation accuracy of the remaining capacity, more accurate one is selected from the these two estimating method in accordance with a state of the secondary battery.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-216403 (Patent Document 1) corresponding to US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0289454 discloses a previously-proposed remaining-capacity estimating apparatus. In this technique, a change of estimate value of the remaining capacity which is caused by the selection between the current-accumulation method and the open-circuit voltage method is restricted when the estimate value has a tendency to decrease during a charging state of the secondary battery or when the estimate value has a tendency to increase during a discharging state of the secondary battery. Thereby, a strangeness feeling of driver that is caused due to a phenomenon in which the estimate value decreases despite during the charging state or a phenomenon in which the estimate value increases despite during the discharging state can be relieved.

Capacity estimating apparatus for secondary battery


There is provided a microchip including a reaction region and a detection region connected to the reaction region by a flow passage, the detection region including copper.

The present disclosure relates to a microchip for nucleic acid analysis and more specifically to a microchip for nucleic acid analysis, in which nucleic acids are optically analyzed in a region disposed in the microchip.
In recent years, microchips for nucleic acid analysis have begun to be used in various fields such as the medical field, the drug discovery field, the clinical examination field, the food field, the agricultural field, the engineering field, the medicolegal field, and the criminal identification field. The microchips for nucleic acid analysis include a region (well) disposed therein, in which nucleic acids and, according to demand, a reagent are introduced to cause amplification reaction, electrophoresis, hybridization, staining, detection, and the like.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a microchip for nucleic acid amplification reaction including an inlet disposed to introduce a liquid, a plurality of wells therein to serve as reaction fields of nucleic acid amplification reaction, and a flow passage disposed to supply the liquid to each of the wells from the inlet. The microchip for nucleic acid amplification reaction contains substances such as a reagent and the like which are desired for reaction and which are previously fixed in each of the wells so as to permit simple analysis without the labor of introducing the substances into each of the wells. Patent Literature 2 discloses, as related art, a technique of covering a substance fixed in a well with a thin film which is melted near a reaction temperature of nucleic acid amplification reaction.
A method of staining nucleic acids with fluorescent dyes is used as a basic technique for detecting nucleic acids. As the fluorescent dyes, ethidium bromide, SYBR green, and the like are commonly used. For example, ethidium bromide is frequently used for staining nucleic acids in electrophoresis. In addition, SYBR green is used for detecting in real-time an amplification process of nucleic acids in nucleic acid amplification reaction such as polymerase chain reaction.
In connection with this technique, fluorescence generally referred to as autofluorescence shown by cells during fluorescence observation is described. One of the fluorescence is orange autofluorescence shown by cells irradiated with UV in the presence of copper. For example, it has been reported that cells in a specified portion of the larval midgut of fruit fly emit orange fluorescence when administrated with copper (refer to Non-Patent Literatures 1 to 8). The cells with which particularly strong orange fluorescence is observed in the larval midgut of fruit fly are referred to as "copper cells" or the like. Also, it has been reported that when the concentration of copper to be administered is increased, fluorescence is also observed in cells (Non-Patent Literature 4) around the copper cells and the whole body walls of larvae (Non-Patent Literature 2).
It is described that the orange fluorescence is observed in both the cytoplasm and the nuclei in cells, and particularly the orange fluorescence is significantly detected in cytoplasm granules (refer to Non-Patent Literatures 2 to 4 and 7). It is also described that a wavelength region of the fluorescence is 590 to 630 nm, a peak wavelength is 610 nm, and a maximum excitation wavelength is 340 nm (Non-Patent Literature 3).
In addition, autofluorescence having the same properties is observed in species other than fruit flies. For example, it has been reported that in an experiment with rats, orange fluorescence (peak wavelength 605 nm) is observed by UV excitation (excitation wavelength 310 nm) in the livers of individuals supplied with copper (refer to Non-Patent Literature 9). Further, it has been reported that similar fluorescence is observed in kidneys of model rats in which copper accumulates in the kidneys and livers with aging (refer to Non-Patent Literature 10). Autofluorescence having the same properties has been reported in yeasts (refer to Non-Patent Literature 11) and human hepatocytes of patients with Wilson's disease (refer to Non-Patent Literature 12). The Wilson's disease is a genetic disease that copper accumulates in hepatocytes due to a failure of the copper excretory function.
As a fluorescent material which emits the orange fluorescence, a complex (abbreviated as "Cu-MT" hereinafter) of copper with metallothionein (MT) is estimated (refer to Non-Patent Literatures 14 to 23). With respect to wavelength properties of the Cu-MT, Non-Patent Literature 13 describes an excitation wavelength of 305 nm and a fluorescence wavelength of 565 nm, and Non-Patent Literature 17 describes an excitation wavelength of 310 nm and a fluorescence wavelength of 570 nm. In addition, it is considered that copper is present in the state of monovalent ion (Cu(I)) in the Cu-MT (refer to Non-Patent Literatures 13, 15, 17, 19, and 23).
Compounds containing pyrimidine or mercaptide and emitting fluorescence by the action of pyrimidine or mercaptide with copper are widely reported as the fluorescent material containing copper (refer to Non-Patent Literatures 24 to 29).
On the other hand, interaction of nucleic acids with various metal ions has been researched from long ago. For example, with respect to interaction of nucleic acids with copper monovalent ion, it is common knowledge that copper contained in a small amount in cell nuclei stabilizes a nucleic acid structure but damages DNA in coexistence with hydrogen peroxide (refer to Non-Patent Literature 30). Also, it has been reported that absorption spectra of DNA are changed by interaction with copper (refer to Non-Patent Literatures 30 and 31). Further, it has been reported that changes in absorption spectra depend on DNA base sequences (specifically a polymer containing a GC pair and a polymer containing an AT pair) (refer to Non-Patent Literature 30).


A pressure regulating valve for regulating the pressure in a common rail with a pistonlike valve member which is guided axially displaceably in a bore and acts in the closing direction on a closing element and presses it against a valve seat; the valve member forms an armature of an electromagnet to which electrical current can be supplied. The opening cross section of the inlet of the pressure regulating valve is designed such that the pressure regulating valve cannot be opened until beyond a predetermined minimum fuel pressure greater than or equal two 250 bar. In this way, even if the electromagnetic closing force fails, a minimum pressure at the valve outlet is generated and thus makes an injection event possible.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a common rail fuel injection system for internal combustion engines, having a pressure regulating valve for regulating the pressure in a common rail, having a pistonlike valve member guided axially displaceably in a bore, which valve member acts in the closing direction on a closing element and presses it against a valve seat, and the valve member forms an armature of an electromagnet that can be supplied with electric current.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many versions of pressure regulating valves of the type with which this invention is concerned are known for regulating the pressure in a common rail, with which it communicates via an inlet. The pressure regulating valve has a pistonlike valve member, which is guided axially displaceably in a bore and can move counter to a force which is exerted on the valve member preferably by the current in the electromagnet. The force acts in the closing direction, so that the valve member is pressed against a closing element of the pressure regulating valve and against a valve seat. The valve member forms an armature of an electromagnet, which can be supplied with current to control the force.
By means of the supply of current, the closing element is pressed via the valve member against the valve seat with a certain force, whereupon as a result of the pressure acting on it the closing element is lifted from the valve seat in the common rail, if the force generated by the pressure exceeds the closing force that is exerted on the closing element via the valve member. If so, fuel flows out of the common rail into a relief chamber via the opened pressure regulating valve.
If a higher pressure is set in the common rail, the current in the electromagnet is increased, thus increasing the closing force, and accordingly only at a higher pressure in the common rail does the closing element lift from the valve seat and allow fuel to flow out of the common rail into the relief chamber.
In addition, the valve is often provided with a mechanical spring, which in its state of repose, that is, while the engine is stopped, assures that the valve is closed and fuel cannot get into the relief chamber. The mechanical spring force of this spring, however, can already easily be overcome by a slight fuel pressure. It is then impossible for a sufficiently high pressure to be built up in the common rail. The requisite minimum pressure in the common rail is assured only by the action of the electromagnetically generated closing force.
If some malfunction in supplying current to the electromagnet occurs, for instance from loosening of the plug involved, causing a failure of the electromagnetic closing force, then fuel at low pressure can get into the relief chamber and make an injection possible. The vehicle can then no longer be driven.

Pressure regulating valve for common rail fuel injection systems


The aim of the present invention is to provide a multi-branched polymer, in which branch terminals can be easily modified and which have a high degree of branching and narrow dispersion. By polymerizing a compound having 2 or more polymerization-initiation sites and polymerizable unsaturated bonds with a living radical polymerization method using a metal catalyst, it is possible to produce a multi-branched polymer with narrow dispersion and a high degree of branching and having repeating units represented by the formula (I):

Hyperbranched polymers are polymers whose structures resemble those of dendrimers. These polymers have recently attracted attention since they can be readily synthesized compared to dendrimers although they have similar chemical and physical properties to those of dendrimers.
Regarding hyperbranched polymers, there hitherto have been a few reports on hyperbranched polymers with polystyrene structures and it is known that it is possible to synthesize desired multi-branched polymers by providing a monomer with a reaction initiation point (please refer to Macromolecules, 29, 1079 (1996), J. Polym. Sci., Part A:
Polym. Chem., 36, 955 (1998)).
However, it has not been necessarily easy to control the molecular weights or degrees of dispersion of the hyperbranched polymers described in these documents and especially in the case where the degree of branching was high, only polymers with a high degree of dispersion could be obtained.
Accordingly, there has been a demand for the development of hyperbranched polymers with excellent physical properties by controlling the proportion of branching, molecular weights, shapes, and so forth.
Moreover, there is a report on a method of synthesizing hyperbranched polyacrylates using an atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method illustrating living radical polymerization of AB type acrylic monomers (please refer to Macromolecules, 30, 5192 (1997)). Although hyperbranched polymers with the AB*type acrylic monomers as the polymerization-initiation sites have been provided, the structures of the obtained hyperbranched polymers are not symmetric and the polymers are not those with so-called star polymer properties. Information on AB2 type acrylic monomers has not been disclosed.

Abstract: wherein R1 to R3 each independently represents hydrogen or a hydrocarbon group, R1 may be bonded to R3 to form a ring; X represents a connecting group having a valence of 3 or higher; Y may be the same or different and each represents a functional group which may have a halogen atom at a terminal thereof; and a is an integer of 2 or larger.


A system for producing a controllable beam of radiation is controllable electronically, and includes no parts that must move relative to one another while in operation to form the beam. The direction and cross-section of the beam may be controlled electronically by controlling an electron beam. Various embodiments provide an X-ray collimator that allows forming a scanning X-ray beam of desired size and flux independently of the aperture material thickness without requiring movement of the aperture or physical components that create the aperture. Some embodiments provide an X-ray collimator that allows forming a scanning X-ray beam of desired size and flux independently of the beam angle.

X-ray backscatter imaging relies on scanning an object with a well collimated beam, often referred to as "pencil beam". In the past these beams had also been widely used for X-ray transmission imaging, but today fan and cone beams in conjunction with pixelated detectors dominate transmission imaging.
There are two commonly used approaches for forming the collimated scanning beam. Both rely on a stationary X-ray source and a moving aperture. In both cases the radiation from a stationary X-ray source is first collimated into a fan beam by a stationary collimator. Then a moving part with an opening forms the scanning beam. This moving part is either a rotating disk with radial slits or a wheel with openings at the perimeter. The rotating disk covers the fan beam and the scanning beam is formed by the radiation emitted through the slits traversing the length of the fan beam opening. This approach is illustrated, e.g., in the 1973 U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,291 by Stein and Swift; see FIG. 1A. In the other approach a wheel with radial bores spinning around the X-ray source constitutes the moving part. If the source is placed at the center of the wheel the scanning beam is emitted in radial direction with the angular speed of the wheel.
Other approaches for forming a collimated beam from a stationary X-ray source have been proposed, for instance based on a rotating cylinder with a spiral groove as described by Annis in the 1996 U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,596.
System configurations with moving X-ray sources have been developed. The motion of the X-ray source is typically not formed by moving the X-ray tube but by moving (scanning) the electron beam along an extended anode. This produces a moving X-ray source point (focal spot of the electron beam) the location of which can be electronically controlled. A moving X-ray source point enables the formation of the scanning X-ray beam with a simple stationary aperture (pinhole) at some distance from the source point. As the X-ray source point is moved from one end of the scan path to the other the scanning X-ray beam emerging form the aperture spans an angular range. An embodiment of this concept is, e.g., part of the system described in the 1977 U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,672 by Watanabe, see also FIG. 1B.
As the X-ray beam covers the angular range the cross-sectional area of the beam varies as the cosine of the angle between the beam and the normal of the aperture plane. If the angular range is small the beam variation is limited and may be neglected. If, however, a large angular range is needed the effect becomes significant. For instance, for a 120° angular range an off-normal angle of 60° at the extremes leads to at least a 50% reduction in beam size and delivered flux, as the cosine of 60° is one half.
In reality the beam variation is even larger as the material with the pinhole has a finite thickness which leads to a further reduction in beam cross-sectional area with increasing angle. This problem becomes more serious for X-rays of higher energies which require thicker shielding material for the material with the pinhole.
To allow for thick shielding material and to avoid the angular variation it has been suggested to replace the pinhole with a rotating cylinder containing a bore perpendicular through the axis as described in the 2002 U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,620 by Rothschild and Grodzins, see also FIG. 1C. This cylinder would have to rotate synchronously with the scanning electron beam so that the moving X-ray source point is aligned with the bore at any time. This approach solves both of the problems with the simple pinhole design: It forms a beam of constant size independently of the beam angle and does not limit the thickness of the material forming the aperture. However, this active solution introduces significant cost and complexity in comparison to the passive pinhole. It also largely eliminates the great flexibility offered by the electronic control of the electron beam.


In a deposited-film formation apparatus or process having the means or steps of evacuating the inside of an inside-evacuatable chamber through an evacuation piping by an evacuation means, feeding a material gas into the chamber while evacuating the inside of the chamber, and applying a high-frequency power to form a deposited film on a substrate disposed inside the chamber, a leak is detected on the basis of a measured value of a temperature sensor which detects the heat of reaction that is generated when the material gas fed into the chamber reacts with oxygen contained in air having entered from the outside, so as to be able to stop the material gas feeding.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a deposited-film formation apparatus, a deposited-film formation process, a vacuum system, a leak judgment method, and a computer-readable recording medium with a recorded program. More particularly, this invention relates to a deposited-film formation apparatus, a deposited-film formation process, a vacuum system, a leak judgment method, and a computer-readable recording medium with a recorded leak-judgment-executable program (a recording medium any information recorded in which is readable by a computer and in which a program capable of executing the judgment of a leak of air has been recorded) which apparatus, process, system, method and medium can perform detection of any inclusion of air from the outside.
2. Related Background Art
Various proposals are conventionally made on processes for making functional deposited films for solar cells such as amorphous silicon solar cells and electrophotographic photosensitive members. Such deposited films are commonly formed by means of a vacuum system, which decomposes material gases to form deposited films. In this vacuum system, entrance (or inclusion) (hereinafter often "leak") of air from the outside must be prevented for the reasons as stated below.
One of the reasons is that the material gases which may spontaneously ignite upon self-decomposition with air are used as material gases used to form the deposited films. Hence, any air entering the vacuum system from the outside due to leak causes undesired decomposition inside a vacuum chamber of the vacuum system. The undesired decomposition is caused by self-decomposition with air. Therefore, the self-decomposition may preferably be suppressed during deposited film formation.
Incidentally, air having entered in a large quantity due to leak may cause explosion dangerously.
Another reason is that even slight leak of air (in particular, oxygen) in deposited films makes the resultant functional deposited films have greatly poor electrical properties. Hence, systems or apparatus for forming the deposited films must be provided with chambers and piping which are highly vacuum enough for the air not to enter from the outside. Also, the systems must periodically be checked so that the air do not enter from the outside.
As methods for detecting any leak to examine whether or not air has entered (leaked) the vacuum chamber or piping from the outside, the following methods are commonly used. Methods for detecting leaks are roughly grouped into a "pressure method" in which the structure to be examined is brought into a pressed condition and a "vacuum method" in which the structure to be examined is brought into a vacuum condition.
The pressure method includes a "pressure and leaving method" in which the inside of the structure to be examined is pressurized and any change in pressure after a certain time is measured with a pressure gauge, a "pressure and foaming method" in which the structure to be examined is coated with a foamable solution and any foams formed thereat are visually observed, and a "halogen leak test method" in which the structure to be examined is pressurized with a halogen gas and thereafter any gas leaking outside is detected with a halogen leak detector.
The vacuum method includes a "vacuum and leaving method" in which the inside of the structure to be examined is evacuated and any change in pressure after a certain time is measured with a vacuum gauge, a "Geissler tube method" in which after evacuation any change in color of discharge ascribable to a probe gas is visually observed, and a "helium leak test method" in which after evacuation the structure to be examined is sprayed with helium gas from the outside and any gas leaking inside is detected with a helium leak detector.
It is common to form deposited films in a state where air has been kept not entering the vacuum system while managing any of these methods. It is considered possible to form deposited films in a state free of any leak while judging the leak of air by such methods.
However, in such leak detection methods, the following problems may arise in the case of apparatus which make use of material gases in a large quantity and also are continuously operated for the purpose of mass production-of deposited films as in the case of an apparatus for forming solar cells comprised of amorphous silicon which are intended for electric power generation.
In the above leak detection methods, the apparatus must be tested in a condition different from a condition where the deposited films are being formed, e.g., the apparatus is made airtight and certain specific gases are flowed. For example, at the time of maintenance, a service person must make sure of any leak. However, even when good results are obtained on the check of leaks at a certain point of time, a leak may occur because of, e.g., looseness of flanges at a point of time where deposited films are again begun to be formed. A leak may also suddenly occur because of an earthquake or the like. Accordingly, under such situations, it is impossible to detect the leak when it occurs in the midst of formation of deposited films.
As another problem, when a deposited-film formation apparatus has a large scale, when it takes a long time to form deposited films or when material gases are used in a large quantity, the formation of deposited films may inevitably be continued as the air is kept included inside the apparatus, so that deposited films having a low quality may be produced in a large quantity. Also, the material gases used in a large quantity are spontaneously ignitable gases and, in some cases, some have a high toxicity. Hence, if the formation of deposited films is continued as the leak is left unrepaired, there is a danger of causing a fire or explosion as a result of the reaction of material gases with the air, or being exposed to gas leakage to become injured.
Under such circumstances, it is sought to make an improvement in order to form functional deposited films in a large quantity, safely and stably.

Leak judgment method, and computer-readable recording medium with recorded leak-judgment-executable program

Abstract: In deposited-film formation apparatus or processes making use of spontaneously ignitable gases, the leak can quickly be detected when air enters the chamber because of any unexpected accident such as a break of piping.


The present invention is directed to a generator apparatus for separating a daughter gallium-68 radioisotope substantially free of impurities from a parent gernanium-68 radioisotope, including a first resin-containing column containing parent gernanium-68 radioisotope and daughter gallium-68 radioisotope, a source of first eluent connected to said first resin-containing column for separating daughter gallium-68 radioisotope from the first resin-containing column, said first eluent including citrate whereby the separated gallium is in the form of gallium citrate, a mixing space connected to said first resin-containing column for admixing a source of hydrochloric acid with said separated gallium citrate whereby gallium citrate is converted to gallium tetrachloride, a second resin-containing column for retention of gallium-68 tetrachloride, and, a source of second eluent connected to said second resin-containing column for eluting the daughter gallium-68 radioisotope from said second resin-containing column.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging is a growing field in nuclear medicine due to better resolution associated with detecting the two photons produced from the annihilation reaction after positron decay. To date, most PET imaging has been conducted with F-18 FDG and a cyclotron is necessary for F-18 production. The two-hour half-life of F-18 limits the availability of the isotope to hospitals with a cyclotron or in close proximity to one.
A 68Ga generator could be prepared at any hospital or research laboratory and allow 68Ga to be produced when desired over periods of months. In the process of developing 68Ga imaging agents, in vivo studies with rats have used 15-50 microcuries (μCi) of 68Ga per rat and 25-29 millicurie (mCi) per patient. 68Ga imaging compounds could be used for staging of disease, prediction of therapeutic response, monitoring tumor response to treatment and for diagnosis of diseases. The availability of a 68Ga generator will allow for more research on new radiopharmaceuticals for imaging with 68Ga and propagate the need for more hospitals to purchase the generator system.

Method for the chemical separation of GE-68 from its daughter Ga-68


A base frame is arranged to securably mount one of a plurality of tail frames, as well as one of a plurality of corresponding head frames, to permit the snow shoes to accommodate various terrains and conditions of snow. In this manner, an individual snow shoe construction is adapted to accommodate various terrain and snow fall.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to snow shoe apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved snow shoe kit wherein the snow shoe kit includes interchangeable head and base webs to provide for reconfiguration of the associated snow shoe structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Snow shoe apparatus of various types are available in the prior art such as indicated in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,348,823; 4,213,256; and 3,555,708.
The instant invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by permitting an individual base snow shoe frame to receive various configurations and lengths of tail and head frame portions relative to the base frame to permit accommodation of various snow conditions and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A radiation shield is adapted to be disposed transversely across a subject supported on the surface of a procedure table to protect medical professionals working in front of the radiation shield from radiation being applied to the subject behind the radiation shield. The radiation shield includes a movable barrier positional to extend transversely across a subject supported on the surface of a procedure table. The barrier has a generally vertically-oriented lower section; a generally forwardly sloping intermediate section; and a generally vertically-oriented upper section, forwardly offset from the plane of the lower section. A side section extends outwardly and rearwardly from one side of the lower, intermediate, and upper sections of the barrier. There is a recess in the lower edge of the lower section for accommodating a portion of the body of the subject on the surface of the procedure table, with portions of the lower section on each side of the recess projecting downwardly below the surface of the procedure table. A plurality of flexible radiopaque flaps depending from the perimeter of the recess block radiation from penetrating the gap between the subject and the perimeter of the recess.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Radiographic equipment (e.g., x-ray equipment) is used when performing a wide variety of medical procedures. For example, radiographic equipment is used by cardiologists when positioning heart catheters in patients. Many procedures such as these require medical personnel to be in direct contact with the patient, thereby preventing the personnel from being in a separate room and potentially exposing the medical personnel to radiation. For this reason, radiation shields are used during radiographic procedures to reduce radiation exposure. Radiation shields typically are constructed of materials such as lead that significantly reduce the transmission of radiation. For example, some shields include lead plates mounted on stands that may be adjusted to position the plates between the medical personnel and sources of radiation. Despite the use of these shields, medical personnel are still exposed to radiation. Exposure comes from many radiation sources other than the primary source. For example, a significant secondary radiation source is radiation transmitted through the patient and even through the patient's extremities, to the medical personnel. Cumulative long-term radiation exposure may cause significant adverse effects to medical personnel. Medical personnel performing radiographic procedures typically spend many hours over their careers performing such procedures. Medical personnel typically wear protective clothing, including a full lead apron, a thyroid collar and leaded glasses, to reduce radiation exposure while performing the procedures. However, wearing heavy lead protective clothing may have long-term adverse effects, including disabling spinal disorders. Although there are many prior art radiation protection systems for protecting and shielding medical personnel from radiation exposure, these systems often require medical personnel to wear protective clothing. Therefore, there is a need for systems that reduce or eliminate the need for wearing protective clothing to reduce or eliminate the effects of wearing the protective clothing.


A process and hold system includes a bipolar logic section which is clocked on and off by a first field effect transistor and a bipolar latch section which is clocked on and off by a second field effect transistor. Emitter coupled logic is used in both the logic and latch sections in order to obtain high speed operation. Each of the field effect transistors is used as an on-off switches which has low impedance between the drain and source thereof when enabled and conducting. Outputs of the logic section are coupled to inputs of the latch section. Complementary clock signals are used to control the first and second field effect transistors so that one of the logic and latch section is enabled at a time. The logic section uses a two level emitter coupled tree configuration in order to increase logic capability. The use of the field effect transistors facilitates the use of a power supply having a voltage level of +3.6 volts. This is contrasted with the typical +5 volt supply used with conventional emitter coupled tree configurations. Accordingly, high speed at reduced power dissipation is achieved using the inventive process and hold system.

Since at least the 1960's bipolar transistors have been used for high speed integrated circuits such as in emitter coupled logic (ECL) circuits. A typical (basic) emitter coupled logic circuit consists of a pair of n-p-n transistors with the collectors coupled to separate first and second load resistors and the emitters coupled to a resistor or to the collector of a third n-p-n transistor whose emitter is coupled to a third resistor. Such a circuit can exhibit rise and fall times in the pico-second range. One problem with this circuit is that power dissipation is higher than is desired in some applications. One partial solution to the power dissipation problem is to stack emitter coupled pairs of n-p-n transistors on top of each other to form a tree type configuration. It is known to have two levels of emitter coupled pairs of transistors with an n-p-n transistor coupled by the collector thereof to the emitters of one of the levels. This substantially increases the amount of logic which can be used while maintaining speed and power at the same level as is used with a single pair of emitter coupled transistors. Thus the speed/power product of the resulting tree configuration is significantly improved as compared to the basic emitter coupled configuration.
One limitation on the tree configuration of emitter coupled logic circuits is that in order to operate at very high speeds, the transistors must be operated out of saturation in what is known as the linear range of operation. This requires that the voltage across the collector-emitter regions of the transistors of each level be about one volt. Typical output voltage signal levels of emitter coupled circuits have magnitude of about 0.7 volts. In addition, voltage across the constant current source which comprises the third transistor and the third resistor is typically about 2 volts or more. Accordingly, a power supply voltage of about 5 volts is needed for proper operation. The supply voltage can not be lowered much because of the need to keep the transistors out of saturation so as to insure very high speed operation. Accordingly, power dissipation is still higher than is desired in some applications.
BI-FETS use a combination of field effect and bipolar transistors. The field effect transistor's high input impedance characteristic makes it useful as an input device. The low output impedance of the bipolar transistor makes it useful as an output device.
SRAMs exist which use a mixture of bipolar and field effect transistors. A bipolar-CMOS static random access memory which includes a sense amplifier having a pair of emitter coupled n-p-n transistors and a field effect transistor (FET) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,413 (H. V. Tran). The emitters of the transistors are coupled to the drain of the FET whose source is connected to a reference potential. The FET is described as being turned on to provide a current path for the transistors. Variations in the characteristics of the FET, such as gate oxide thickness, and in the voltage level applied to the gate thereof can cause variations in the current flow through the FET. This makes this type of configuration less than ideal for use in applications in which a constant current source is desired.
Some logic applications which require constant current sources use a multi-level tree type configuation which requires multiple logic and voltage levels as inputs. The above described configuration of U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,413 is not useful in these applications.
In applications such as logic circuits, which are standardized and are known as master slice or library circuits, typically only standard logic levels are used and it becomes a problem to use multiple different voltage logic levels typically required by bipolar and field effect transistors.
It is desirable to have ECL type logic circuits which have very high speed operation with lower power dissipation than conventional ECL circuits.

High-speed bipolar-field effect transistor (BI-FET) circuit

International Business Machines Corporation


Herein disclosed is a broadcast wave receiving apparatus, comprising: first and second tuning circuits each having a resonance frequency; first controlling means for controlling one of the first and second tuning circuits to ensure that the resonance frequency of one of the first and second tuning circuits is tuned to a specific frequency before allowing one of the first and second tuning circuits to detect a broadcast wave at the specific frequency; judging means for judging whether or not to receive the broadcast wave detected by one of the first and second tuning circuits on the basis of predetermined threshold information on the broadcast waves; and second controlling means for controlling the other of the first and second tuning circuits to ensure that the resonance frequency of the other of the first and second tuning circuits is tuned to the specific frequency before allowing the other of the first and second tuning circuits to produce a broadcast signal indicative of the broadcast wave detected by one of the first and second tuning circuits in response to the judgment of the judging means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a broadcast wave receiving apparatus, and more particularly to a broadcast wave receiving apparatus for selectively receiving a plurality of broadcast waves while performing the detection of the broadcast waves.
2. Description of the Related Art
Up until now, there have been proposed a wide variety of broadcast wave receiving apparatus of this type one typical example of which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Publication No. H08-18405.
The conventional broadcast wave receiving apparatus 80 comprises an antenna 81 having passed therethrough a plurality of broadcast waves each having information on an audio wave. The broadcast waves are respectively oscillated at specific frequencies different from one another.
The conventional broadcast wave receiving apparatus 80 further comprises a tuning circuit 82 having a resonance frequency electronically tunable to each of the specific frequencies, and a microcomputer unit 86 for controlling the tuning circuit 82 to ensure that the resonance frequency of the tuning circuit 82 is tuned to the specific frequency before allowing the tuning circuit 82 to produce a broadcast signal indicative of the broadcast wave at the specific frequency.
The conventional broadcast wave receiving apparatus 80 further comprises a demodulating unit 87, a mute circuit 85, an amplifier unit 83, and a speaker unit 84. The demodulating unit 87 is adapted to produce an audio signal indicative of the audio wave from the broadcast signal produced by the tuning circuit 82. The mute circuit 85 is adapted to assume two different operation state consisting of a first operation state to have the amplifier unit 16 receive the audio signal from the tuning circuit 82, and a second operation state to have the amplifier unit 16 fail to receive the audio signal from the tuning circuit 82. The amplifier unit 83 is adapted to amplify the audio signal produced by the tuning circuit 82, while the speaker unit 84 is adapted to produce an audio sound to be represented by the audio signal produced by the tuning circuit 82.
When the microcomputer unit 86 is operated to control the tuning circuit 82 to ensure that the resonance frequency of the tuning circuit 82 is electronically and automatically tuned to each of the specific frequencies under the condition that the audio signal is produced from the broadcast wave detected at the specific frequency "f1" by the tuning circuit 82, the audio signal produced by the tuning circuit 82 firstly fails to be outputted to the amplifier unit 83 by the mute circuit 85 in the step S91.
The microcomputer unit 86 is then operated to produce information on the updated specific frequency equal to the addition of the specific frequency "f1" and the increment "f2" in the step S92. The microcomputer unit 86 is then operated to control the tuning circuit 82 to ensure that the resonance frequency of the tuning circuit 82 is tuned to the updated specific frequency "f1" before allowing the tuning circuit 82 to detect the broadcast wave which is oscillated at the updated specific frequency "f1" in the step S93.
The microcomputer unit 86 is then operated to judge whether or not the electric field intensity "Vf" of the broadcast wave detected by the tuning circuit 82 is smaller than the predetermined threshold level "V" in the step S94.
When the answer in the step S94 is affirmative "YES", i.e., the electric field intensity "Vf" of the broadcast wave detected by the tuning circuit 82 is smaller than the predetermined threshold level "V", the step S94 proceeds to the step S92. When, on the other hand, the answer in the step S94 is negative "NO", i.e., the electric field intensity "Vf" of the broadcast wave detected by the tuning circuit 82 is not smaller than the predetermined threshold level "V", the judgment is made by the microcomputer unit 86 whether or not the intermediate signal which is oscillated at the intermediate frequency exists in the broadcast signal indicative of the broadcast wave detected by the tuning circuit 82 in the step S95.
When the answer in the step S95 is affirmative "YES", i.e., the intermediate signal which is oscillated at the intermediate frequency exists in the broadcast signal, the audio signal produced from the broadcast wave is outputted to the amplifier unit 83 by the mute circuit 85. When, on the other hand, the answer in the step S95 is negative "NO", i.e., the intermediate signal which is oscillated at the intermediate frequency does not exist in the broadcast signal, the step S95 proceeds to the step S92.
The conventional broadcast wave receiving apparatus, however, encounters such a problem that the audio sound fails to be produced from the broadcast wave while the detection of the broadcast waves is performed by the microcomputer unit.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An electrode lead is applied as a part of at least one of a cathode lead and an anode lead of a secondary battery and includes a first metal plate and a second metal plate spaced apart from each other with a gap therebetween and having coating layers formed on the surfaces thereof except for surfaces of end portions thereof facing each others, and a metal bridge made of material having a lower melting point than the first metal plate and the second metal plate and buried in the gap so that the end portions are not exposed. In this case, if an overcurrent flows through the electrode lead, a portion of the metal plate at which a metal bridge is formed is rapidly broken to irreversibly interrupt the overcurrent flowing at the secondary battery without giving a substantial influence on the temperature of the secondary battery.

As portable electric products such as video cameras, portable phones and portable PC are more actively used, the importance of a secondary battery generally used as a driving source of such a portable electric product is increasing.
Different from a primary battery which may not be charged, a secondary battery allows charging and discharging and is actively studied in high-tech industries such as digital cameras, cellular phones, laptop computers, power tools, electric bicycles, electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, mass-capacity power storage device or the like.
In particular, the use of a lithium secondary battery is gaining since it has a high energy density per unit weight and allows rapid charging in comparison to other existing secondary batteries such as lead storage batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, nickel-zinc batteries or the like.
The lithium secondary battery has an operating voltage of 3.6V or above and is used as a power source of a portable electronic device. In other cases, a plurality of batteries are connected in series and/or in parallel and used for high-power electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, power tools, electric bicycles, power storage devices, UPS or the like.
The lithium secondary battery has a triple operating voltage in comparison to nickel-cadmium batteries or nickel-metal hydride batteries and is used more and more due to its high energy density per unit weight.
Depending on the kind of electrolyte, a lithium secondary battery may be classified into a lithium ion battery using a liquid electrolyte and a lithium ion polymer battery using a solid electrolyte. In addition, depending on the kind of polymer solid electrolyte, the lithium ion polymer battery may be classified into an all solid lithium ion polymer battery containing no electrolyte and a lithium ion polymer battery using a gel-type polymer electrolyte containing an electrolyte.
Lithium ion batteries using a liquid electrolyte mostly use a cylindrical or rectangular metal can as a container and are sealed therein by welding. A can type secondary battery using such a metal can as a container has a fixed shape and thus limits the design of an electric product which uses the battery as a power source. In addition, it is difficult to decrease the volume of the product. Therefore, a pouch type secondary battery prepared by putting an electrode assembly and an electrolyte into a pouch package made of a film and then sealing the same has been developed and used.
However, the lithium secondary battery may explode when being overheated, and so issues of ensuring safety is of major concern. The lithium secondary battery may be overheated due to various factors, of which an example is a case in which an overcurrent exceeding a limit flows through the lithium secondary battery. If an overcurrent flows, the lithium secondary battery generates Joule's heat and thus an internal temperature of the battery rapidly increases. In addition, the rapid increase of temperature causes a decomposition reaction of the electrolyte and thermal runaway, which may lead to explosion of the battery. An overcurrent may occur when a sharp metallic matter pierces the lithium secondary battery, when an insulation between a cathode and an anode breaks due to the shrinkage of a separator interposed between the cathode and the anode, when a rush current is applied to the battery due to an abnormal charging circuit or a load connected to the outside, or the like.
Therefore, the lithium secondary battery is coupled to a protection circuit in order to protect the battery against abnormal states such as the occurrence of an overcurrent. The protection circuit generally includes a fuse element which irreversibly disconnects a line where a charging or discharging current flows when an overcurrent occurs.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram for illustrating an arrangement and an operating mechanism of a fuse element employed in a protection circuit coupled to a battery module which includes a lithium secondary battery.
As shown in FIG. 1, a protection circuit includes a fuse element 1 for protecting a battery module when an overcurrent occurs, a sense resistor 2 for sensing an overcurrent, a microcontroller 3 for monitoring an occurrence of an overcurrent and operating the fuse element 1 when an overcurrent occurs, and a switch 4 for switching the flow of an operating current to the fuse element 1.
The fuse element 1 is installed to a main line connected to the outermost terminal of the battery module. The main line represents a wire through which a charging current or a discharging current flows. In FIG. 1, it is depicted that the fuse element 1 is installed at a high potential line (Pack+).
The fuse element 1 is a three-terminal element, in which two terminals are connected to the main line through which a charging or discharging current flows and one terminal is connected to the switch 4. In addition, the fuse element includes a fuse 1a connected to the main line in series and disconnected at a specific temperature and a resistor 1b for applying heat to the fuse 1a.
The microcontroller 3 monitors the occurrence of an overcurrent by periodically detecting voltages at both ends of the sense resistor 2, and turns on the switch 4 if it is determined that an overcurrent occurs. In this case, the current flowing through the main line flows to the fuse element 1 by bypassing and is applied to the resistor 1b. Accordingly, the Joule's heat generated at the resistor 1b is conducted to the fuse 1a to raise the temperature of the fuse 1a. If the temperature of the fuse 1a increases to a melting temperature, the fuse 1a is fused to irreversibly cut the main line. If the main line is cut, the overcurrent does not flow any more, which solves problems caused from the overcurrent.
However, the above techniques have several problems. For example, if the microcontroller 3 malfunctions, even though an overcurrent occurs, the switch 4 does not turn on. In this case, a current is not applied to the resistor 1b of the fuse element 1, and therefore the fuse element 1 does not operate. In addition, a space for disposing the fuse element 1 should be separately provided in the protection circuit, and a program algorithm for controlling operations of the fuse element 1 should be loaded on the microcontroller 3. Therefore, the spatial efficiency of the protection circuit deteriorates, and the load of the microcontroller 3 increases.

Electrode lead and secondary battery having the same


Disclosed is an etching apparatus for etching wafer W held on an electrostatic chuck 11 by using a plasma generated in a space between an upper electrode 21 and a susceptor 5 in a processing chamber 2. The plasma is generated by supplying a high frequency power from a high frequency power supply 43 via a power supply line 42. The etching apparatus includes a measuring electrode 18 made of silicon, attached to a focus-ring 17 provided around wafer W. The measuring electrode 18 can be electrically connected to a susceptor 5. A lead wire 44 is used, an end of which is connected to the power supply bar 42 and the other end of which is connected to a voltage indicator 46 for monitoring V.sub.DC via an RF filter 45. The V.sub.DC level having a constant correlation with the V.sub.DC generated on wafer W, can be detected through monitoring by the voltage indicator 46.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus for processing an object to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer by use of a plasma, more specifically, for plasma etching.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a plasma has been conventionally employed for etching the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as "wafer"). In the plasma etching, ion energy is greatly influenced by a self bias electric potential (V.sub.DC) generated on a wafer. Hence, it is quite important to measure V.sub.DC in the semiconductor manufacturing process.
V.sub.DC is measured, for example, by a V.sub.DC measuring terminal provided to a clamp when a wafer is mechanically held by the clamp. However, such a V.sub.DC measuring terminal cannot be directly used when a wafer is electrostatically held by an electrostatic chuck formed of a conductive body coated with an insulating material such as a polyimide resin, since the conductive body is not exposed to a plasma. Hitherto, V.sub.DC is measured through monitoring by an appropriate lead wire, an end of which is connected to a high-frequency power supply passage for supplying a high-frequency power from the outside to the lower electrode of a processing chamber, and the other end of which is connected to a V.sub.DC monitor via an RF (radio frequency) filter.
In this case, however, if V.sub.DC is directly obtained by monitoring from the high-frequency power supply passage, the V.sub.DC value obtained is not accurate for two reasons. First, the outer peripheral surface of the lower electrode is usually insulated with an anodized aluminum. Second, an insulated electrostatic chuck is provided to the upper surface of the lower electrode, as mentioned above.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 6-232088 discloses a technique for monitoring the V.sub.DC value by using a monitor terminal which is insulated from the power supply passage and independently provided around a substrate. However, since an independent monitor signal line must be provided in the lower electrode, the apparatus is complicated in structure. Accordingly, a simple plasma processing apparatus designed so as to obtain an accurate V.sub.DC value is desired.