The present invention provides a method of forming a thin film containing a metal oxide as the main component, the film thickness of which is relatively uniform, at a high film deposition rate over a wide area and over a long time. The present invention is a method for forming a thin film containing a metal oxide as the main component on a substrate using a mixed gas stream containing a metal chloride, an oxidizing material, and hydrogen chloride, by a thermal decomposition method at a film deposition rate of 4500 nm/min. or greater, performing at least one selected from: 1) prior to mixing the metal chloride and the oxidizing material in the mixed gas stream, contacting hydrogen chloride with at least one selected from the metal chloride and the oxidizing material, and 2) forming a buffer layer in advance on a surface of the substrate on which the thin film containing a metal oxide as the main component is to be formed.

A thin film containing a metal oxide such as tin oxide has the function of reflecting infrared rays. Since a glass sheet provided with this thin film reduces the total solar energy transmittance and does not allow the heat within rooms to escape to the outdoors, it is widely available in the market as a low-emissivity glass. This thin film also can exhibit the function of shielding electromagnetic waves. A known method for manufacturing a glass sheet of this kind is such that a thin film of a metallic compound is formed on a high temperature glass surface utilizing thermal decomposition methods, such as a chemical vapor deposition method (CVD method) and a spraying method in which a solution material or a solid material is sprayed. For example, JP 11(1999)-509895 A describes a method of forming a thin film of a tin oxide by supplying a gaseous reaction mixture containing an organic tin compound, hydrogen fluoride, oxygen, and water onto a high temperature glass surface. JP 6(1994)-47482 A describes a method of forming a thin film of tin oxide by supplying a vapor of an organic tin compound on a glass ribbon surface in a float bath in a float manufacturing process. The use of the organic tin compounds such as described in these patent publications as a raw material for a thin film has an advantage that the thickness of the thin film easily is made uniform. Nevertheless, because organic tin compounds have high environmental loads as with tributyltin compounds, the use of alternative raw materials that replace organic tin compounds has been desired in recent years. Meanwhile, tin chloride conventionally has been used widely as a raw material for a tin oxide thin film in thermal decomposition methods. For example, JP 2(1990)-175631 A describes a method of forming a coating film in which, with a CVD method, a first flow of tin tetrachloride and a second flow of water vapor are supplied onto a glass in a turbulent flow state. Also, JP 9(1997)-40442 A describes a chemical vapor deposition method of forming a tin oxide on a glass of a substrate by causing tin tetrachloride and water to react with each other, wherein tin tetrachloride and water are supplied by separate flows at temperatures in a range of 100° C. to 240° C. and a single flow is formed and directed to the substrate substantially with a laminar flow to cause them to react with each other in a substrate region, whereby the glass is coated.
Such methods of forming a thin film containing a metal oxide that utilize thermal decomposition methods are inferior to physical vapor deposition methods, such as a sputtering method, in that it is difficult to obtain a uniform film thickness; nevertheless, they are capable of forming a thin film over a wide area within a short time at a relatively uniform thickness and therefore are suitable for mass production of industrial products. With the thermal decomposition methods, generally, the higher the temperature of the reaction system is, the faster the film deposition rate, although the situations vary somewhat depending on the compositional components of the raw materials for the thin film or the like. Accordingly, it seems that higher temperatures are preferable for the formation of a thin film in industrial production processes.
In the above-described thermal decomposition methods, the use of alternative raw materials has been desired because organic tin compounds have large environmental loads. The present inventors carried out a further experiment on the method described in JP 2(1990)-175631 A, which uses tin tetrachloride, an inorganic tin compound, and as a result found that when a first flow of tin tetrachloride and a second flow of water vapor are separately supplied to react with each other on a substrate, or when a reaction gas stream is supplied with a turbulent flow, non-uniformity in film thickness is caused in the formed thin film. The present inventors also performed a further experiment on the method described in JP 9(1997)-40442 A, in which tin tetrachloride and water are mixed and supplied onto a glass substrate with a laminar flow. It was confirmed that it was true that performing a coating according to this method eliminates non-uniformity in film thickness. However, due to high reactivity of tin tetrachloride with water, even when a pipe or the like for the mixed gas was controlled at a temperature of 100° C. to 240° C. as described in JP 9(1997)-40442 A, the pipe was clogged up by the reactant that deposited inside the pipe after only about 3 hour's supplying of a mixed gas of tin tetrachloride and water, making further gas supply impossible. Then, hydrogen chloride was further added to the mixed gas of tin tetrachloride and water vapor, and the mixed gas was supplied, as described likewise in Example D of JP 9(1997)-40442 A. In this case, hydrogen chloride acted as a reaction inhibitor, so the pipe was not clogged up in a short time. Nevertheless, although the clogging of pipe did not occur when hydrogen chloride and tin tetrachloride were supplied at a mole ratio of 1:1 as in Example D of JP 9(1997)-40442 A, the film deposition rate considerably lowered to about ⅓ of that in the case in which hydrogen chloride is not mixed because hydrogen chloride served as a reaction inhibitor.

Method for forming thin film, substrate having thin film formed by the method, and photoelectric conversion device using the substrate


The present invention provides a coating composition for cans comprising 100 parts by mass of a neutralized acrylic resin-modified epoxy resin (A), and from 1 to 50 parts by mass of anionic polymer crosslinked fine particles (B), (A) and (B) being dispersed in an aqueous medium, wherein the anionic polymer fine particles (B) are polymer fine particles comprising a polymer having an acid value of from 10 to 120 mg KOH/g and being produced by polymerizing radically polymerizable unsaturated monomers comprising from 2 to 30% by mass of a carboxyl group-containing radically polymerizable unsaturated monomer (b1), from 2 to 30% by mass of a polyvinyl compound (b2) and from 40 to 96% by mass of other radically polymerizable unsaturated monomer (b3) in the presence of water.

Conventionally, a coating composition for cans such as interior or exterior surface of a can or a can lid, provided with coating film performances such as processability, adhesion and corrosion resistance has been developed as a coating composition for cans. Conventionally, an aqueous resin composition for coating metals, comprising a water-dispersible fine particle resin having a shell part formed by a carboxyl group-containing self-emulsifiable epoxy resin derived from a bisphenol A type epoxy resin and a core part formed by a conjugated diene resin is proposed (Patent Document 1).
Further, there is an invention directed to a can paint having excellent adhesion and processability by dispersing core-shell fine particles in an aqueous resin composition comprising fine particle self-emulsifiable epoxy resin dispersed in an aqueous medium, wherein adhesion and processability of a coating film is improved by considering mutual adhesion between core-shell fine particles (island) and the part (sea) formed by polymerizing the fine particle self-emulsifiable epoxy resin, present in the coating film (Patent Document 2). Further, an aqueous coating composition comprising an acrylic resin-modified epoxy resin, a resol-type phenolic resin and a styrene copolymer rubber is proposed (Patent Document 3).
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-5-9431
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-9-67543
[Patent Document 3] JP-A-11-263938


Snap cap devices configured to be inserted within an associated firearm are disclosed. The exemplary snap cap devices are made from or otherwise include a material configured to release corrosion protection molecules.

Snap caps are known devices that are shaped like a standard firearm cartridge but contain no primer, propellant, or projectile. Snap caps generally serve the same function as dummy rounds, but are different in that dummy rounds are usually made from a real cartridge having its propellant and primer removed but retaining the projectile and casing, while snap caps are designed to be 'fake' cartridges from the outset. Snap caps are known to be used to ensure that dry-firing of certain firearm designs does not cause stress and/or impact damage to the firing pin and/or the barrel breech. However, conventional snap caps, especially when fully or partially formed of a metal, can contribute to or not inhibit or prevent corrosion, rust, and/or tarnish when inserted into firearms and firearm components, which firearms and firearm components are commonly made from metal.
In view of the prior art, there remains a need for improved snap cap devices that include one or more components and/or structural features that provide a material which helps protect against rust, corrosion, and tarnishing.


A dishwasher appliance is provided with a silverware basket. The silverware basket includes a ramp that is configured for urging the silverware basket away from a door of the appliance when the silverware basket is being detached from the door. The ramp can, e.g., assist a user in removing the silverware basket.

Dishwasher appliances generally include a cabinet that defines a wash chamber. A rack assembly can be slidably received within the wash chamber and configured for receipt of articles (e.g., plates, cups, and/or bowls) for washing. A spray arm assembly configured for applying wash fluid to the articles in the rack assembly can also be mounted within the wash chamber.
Certain dishwasher appliances also include a silverware basket configured for receipt of articles (e.g., forks, knives, spoons, and/or other utensils) for washing. The silverware basket can be mounted within the wash chamber in various configurations. For example, the silverware basket can be mounted within the rack assembly, on a front of the rack assembly, and/or on a door of the appliance.
To mount the silverware basket to the door, certain dishwasher appliances include supports attached to a door of the appliance. The supports are configured for holding the silverware basket such that the silverware basket hangs on the door. The supports can be received by openings defined by the silverware basket. For example, a back wall of the silverware basket can define the openings such that the supports may be selectively inserted into the openings in order to mount the silverware basket to the door. Similar supports can be used to mount the silverware basket to the front of the rack assembly or at any other suitable location within the dishwasher appliance.
A user can pull upwardly on a handle of the silverware basket, and the supports can disengage from the silverware basket. However, during removal of the supports from the openings, certain silverware baskets catch or hang up on the supports. For example, the supports can be substantially circular supports with a circular flange. During removal of the circular supports from the openings, portions of the back wall can become lodged under the circular flange of the circular supports. When the back wall catches the circular flange, removal of the silverware basket can be impeded or obstructed.
Accordingly, a silverware basket with features for assisting removal of the silverware basket would be useful. In particular, a silverware basket with features for hindering a back wall of the silverware basket from snagging on a support would be useful.

Silverware basket with features for assisting removal of the silverware basket from a dishwasher appliance


An exposure apparatus has a projection optical system configured to project an image of a reticle pattern onto a substrate, and exposes the substrate via liquid supplied to a space between the substrate and the projection optical system. The exposure apparatus includes an oxygen removal unit configured to reduce dissolved oxygen in the liquid by bringing the liquid into contact with a gas other than oxygen, and a degassing unit configured to reduce a dissolved gas in the liquid.

The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus, an exposure method, and an exposure system.
A conventional reduction projection exposure apparatus projects a circuit pattern of a reticle (mask) onto a wafer or another substrate via a projection optical system in manufacturing fine devices, such as a semiconductor memory and a logic circuit, using the photolithography technology.
The minimum critical dimension ("CD") (or a resolution) transferable by the reduction projection exposure apparatus is proportionate to a wavelength of the light used for exposure, and inversely proportionate to the numerical aperture ("NA") of the projection optical system. The shorter the wavelength is and the higher the NA is, the smaller the resolution is. Along with the recent demand for the fine processing to a semiconductor device, use of a shorter wavelength of the exposure light is promoted. For example, use of the ultraviolet ("UV") light having a shorter wavelength is promoted from a KrF excimer laser (with a wavelength of approximately 248 nm) to an ArF excimer laser (with a wavelength of approximately 193 nm).
With this background, the immersion exposure is one attractive resolution improving technology that uses a light source, such as the ArF excimer laser. The immersion exposure increases an apparent NA of the projection optical system and improves the resolution by filling the liquid in a space between the final lens of the projection optical system and the wafer (or by replacing the medium at the wafer side of the projection optical system with the liquid) and by shortening the effective wavelength of the exposure light. The NA of the projection optical system is defined as NA=n×sin θ, where n is a refractive index of the medium. The NA increases up to n when the medium has a refractive index higher than the air's refractive index, i.e., n>1.
Since liquid having a higher refractive index is expected to provide a higher resolution, an immersion exposure apparatus that uses liquid having a high refractive index ("high refractive index ("HRI") liquid") is proposed as a successor technology of an immersion exposure apparatus. See Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-4964.
However, as a result of a comparison between pure water and the HRI liquid, this inventor has discovered that the immersion exposure apparatus that uses the HRI liquid poses the following problems different from the immersion exposure apparatus that uses the pure water:
The first problem about the immersion exposure apparatus that uses the HRI liquid is a necessity of a recycle of the liquid because the HRI liquid is more expensive than pure water and more influential to the environment.
Some immersion exposure apparatuses that circulate the liquid have already been proposed. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,164 and Japanese Patent Application, Publication No. 2005-136374.
Each of the immersion exposure apparatuses disclosed in these references removes impurities from the recovered liquid (or purifies it by the purifier), and recycles the liquid. In general, a detector that detects the purity of the purified liquid sits subsequent to the purifier. For example, Japanese Patent Application, Publication No. 2005-136374 proposes a method for detecting a particle amount and an impurity amount, and a method for measuring a physical characteristic, such as an electric resistance and a refractive index. However, studies by this inventor have revealed that this detector cannot precisely detect the purity of the liquid. In other words, the conventional immersion exposure apparatus cannot well guarantee that the circulated or recycled liquid has good quality, and may recycle liquid that is too inferior to recycle. This is a peculiar problem to the immersion exposure apparatus that uses the HRI liquid to circulate the high quality liquid, and is irrelevant to the immersion exposure apparatus that uses pure water.
The second problem that uses the HRI liquid is that the HRI liquid's transmittance is likely to degrade. Oxygen is more likely to dissolve in the HRI liquid than in the pure water, and thus the HRI liquid remarkably reduces the transmittance to the UV wavelength range when exposed to the air. Although the conventional immersion exposure apparatus includes a degassing unit that reduces all dissolved gases to restrain gas bubbles, the degassing unit cannot well eliminate dissolved oxygen, and a small amount of dissolved oxygen residue reduces the liquid's transmittance. In addition, it is feared that a reaction, such as decomposition due to the exposure light causes a drop of the transmittance. As the liquid's transmittance reduces, its temperature rises due to the absorption of the exposure light and its refractive index changes, causing the exposure aberration. Strict control over the liquid's transmittance is required to secure the exposure or imaging characteristic. In correcting an exposure aberration caused by the liquid temperature change, it is preferable to maintain the liquid's transmittance constant. When the liquid's fluctuates, an amount of aberrational correction needs to be controlled in accordance with the fluctuation.

Exposure apparatus, exposure method, and exposure system


A process for preparing N-phosphonomethylglycine or an N-phosphonomethylglycine derivative involves the hydrogenation of cyanophosphonate derivatives in the presence of a glycine derivative and a catalyst to produce N-phosphonomethylglycine.

N-phosphonomethylglycine (glyphosate) is a highly effective commercial herbicide (available under the trade name Roundup.TM.) useful for the control of a large variety of weeds.
There exists a need for improved synthetic routes towards the preparation of N-phosphonomethylglycine and its derivatives that offer fewer steps, higher yields, reduced waste materials or that avoid the use of halogenated precursors.

Hydrogenation of cyanophosphonate derivatives in the presence of a glycine derivative


A pressure switch. The switch includes a pressure sensor device adapted for receiving the input pressure and then moving the link rod due to the deformation caused by the input pressure. The switch includes a contact point fine-tuner having a first contact point controlled by the link rod, and is capable of separating or contacting a second contact point, and the contact point fine-tuner is mounted on a frame extended upwards from the pressure sensor device. The link rod of the pressure sensor device has a rotary plate, and the rotary plate includes a top leaning portion. By adjusting the position of the rotary plate on the link rod the controlling relationship between the first contact point of the contact point fine-tuner is attached to adjust different predetermined pressure values.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pressure switch, which is applicable for the control of a pressure switch of a small air compressor device, and is capable of fine-tuning the values for configuration and the pressure difference thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many conventional pressure switches and those incorporating the application of an air compressor are frequently used, which mainly use the principle for the Baton tube or membrane. When the pressure of the compressor is accumulated to a certain predetermined value, the switch will have intermittent actions and stop the air compressor from increasing its pressure. Until the pressure in the air compressor is reduced to a certain predetermined value, the switch will resume its action of continual increase of the pressure. The pressure switch of this sort has a factory default value for a maximum pressure and a minimum pressure, such as 25-35 pounds per square inch (p.s.i.) or 95-105 p.s.i. Therefore, when there is a need for several maximum and minimum pressure differences, we have to buy pressure switches having different predetermined values for the upper limit and lower limit of the pressure, and it is relatively inconvenient and more expensive. The pressure switch of some large air compressors may have the function of fine-tuning the predetermined pressure value and the pressure difference, but its application is too complicated and has a numerous and large lever mechanical structure for the control of the transmission between the pressure source and the switch, and is not applicable for the small air compressors which only allows for very small space for the control between pressure source and the switch.
The objective of this invention is to provide an improved pressure switch which comprises a pressure sensor means for receiving the input pressure and then moving the link rod due to the deformation caused by the input pressure. A contact point fine-tuner having a first contact point is controlled by the link rod and is capable of separating or contacting a second contact point, and the contact point fine-tuner is mounted on a frame that is extended upwards from the pressure sensor means. The link rod of the pressure sensor means has a rotary plate, and such rotary plate comprises a top leaning portion. By adjusting the position of the rotary plate on the link rod, this changes the controlling relation between the first contact point of the contact point fine-tuner to adjust different predetermined pressure values. The contact point fine-tuner has a fine-tuning screw set, which changes the distance between the first contact point and the second contact point by the displacement of the screw set in order to adjust different pressure differences controlled by the pressure switch.


A printed circuit board (PCB) includes a stack of core layers disposed one over another, and electrically conductive interconnects extending vertically in the stack. Each of the core layers includes a substrate having opposite major surfaces, an electrically conductive active trace extending along at least one of the major surfaces, and an indicium. The stack also has an exposed edge where the indicia of the layers are together revealed. The indicia provide identifying and/or fiducial information about the PCB.

A conventional printed circuit board (PCB) includes a substrate of insulating material having upper and lower major surfaces, and electrical conductors in the form of conductive traces and/or pads on at least one of the major surfaces of the substrate. The conductive pads provide electrical contacts for electronic components to be mounted to the PCB and the conductive traces lead to and from the conductive pads. The electrical conductors are typically formed by forming a layer of conductive material, most notably copper, over an entire surface of the substrate, forming a mask on the conductive layer and which covers some portions of the conductive layer while exposing others, and etching the conductive layer using the mask to remove the portions of the conductive layer exposed by the mask.
Electronic components that are mounted to PCBs include passive electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, and inductors, as well as active electronic components such as integrated circuits (ICs). The electronic components are mounted to the PCB as supported by the substrate and electrically conductively connected to the conductive pads. The conductive traces leading to and from the pads serve to electrically connect the electronic components to each other and constitute what may be referred to as active traces of the PCB. That is, the active traces and the conductive pads form a circuit or part of a circuit along with various ones of the electrical components.
PCBs may be classified as single layer PCBs or multi-layered PCBs. Single layer PCBs have only one core layer and typically include conductive pads and active traces on only one side of the core layer (i.e., at the top of the PCB), and only conductive pads on the other side of the core layer (i.e., at the bottom of the PCB). Both single layer and multi-layered PCBs may have electrically conductive interconnects which electrically connect the conductive pads at different levels in the PCB. Thus, in the case of the aforementioned typical single layer PCB, the interconnects electrically connect the conductive pads and hence, the active traces, on one side of the PCB to the conductive pads on the other side of the PCB. In this case, the PCB can, in turn, connect the electronic components mounted to the PCB at the top thereof to an external electronic device by means of the conductive pads at the bottom of the PCB.
Multi-layered PCBs have been developed to meet the growing demand for more highly integrated electronic devices and for devices that provide greater numbers of functions. Conventional multi-layered PCBs include a stack of core layers each having a substrate and conductive traces (which may be referred to as "active" traces) and/or pads on each of the major surfaces of the substrate, and interposers disposed between vertically adjacent ones of the core layers. The interposers serve to space the core layers from each other in the stack and thereby separate conductive traces at the bottom of one of the core layers from the conductive traces at the top of an underlying core layer in the stack. To this end, the interposer may be a layer comprising a pre-preg.
Multi-layered PCBs thus allow for the conductive traces to be embedded in the stack, i.e., allow for greater numbers of interconnections to be provided than a single layer PCB within a given footprint.
Multi-layered PCBs are generally fabricated by laminating the core layers and interposers together in a stack, and then forming the interconnects by drilling a small hole (via hole) into the stack and then plating the surface that defines the via hole or filling the via hole with conductive material to electrically connect desired ones of the conductors of the core layers to one another. An interconnect that extends through the stack may constitute what is referred to as a through-via. An interconnect that extends through one side of the stack and ends within the stack may constitute what is referred to as a blind via.
One problem that can arise in the fabrication process is that the core layers are stacked in the wrong order. This can be very difficult to troubleshoot, especially using conventional DC testing, if it occurs on a middle one of the core layers whose major surfaces are covered and hence, whose conductors are not visible. In particular, if the core layers are stacked in the wrong order, then the vias will still connect to the correct internal traces, such that DC testing indicates proper connectivity. However, having the core layers out of order can cause dramatic errors related to trace impedances and/or greatly reduce the isolation between traces.
One proposed solution to this problem of detecting improper core layer sequencing, as shown in FIG. 1, is to create a "window" through the PCB from top to bottom in the form of a region clear of all conductors (i.e., the copper traces and pads) and in which "window" each core layer has an exclusive number (1-8 in this example) that identifies it. The number is printed in copper on a surface of the substrate of the core layer by the same process used to form the conductors on the surface. Furthermore, these numbers are offset within the window such that they are viewable from top and bottom. However, as FIG. 1 shows, the numbers become progressively obscured by the material of the various layers in the depth-wise direction of the PCB to the point where it becomes difficult to read the numbers identifying lower ones of the core layers. Also, some PCB material types are completely opaque, rendering the "window" ineffective.
Another common problem that occurs during the fabricating of a multi-layered PCB is a misalignment of the core layers. If the core layers are not aligned properly relative to each other (i.e., are mis-registered), albeit even slightly, then the vias may connect to the wrong trace on one of the substrates. When this occurs at a middle core layer, it can create a fault which is quite difficult to find. In the past, X-rays have been used to find these faults, but as PCBs and their conductors have been scaled down, the attainable resolution of the X-ray process imposes limits on the ability of the process to find the defect.
It is also possible to dissect the PCB to determine how accurately the internal layers are registered, but this is a time-consuming and destructive test.
A solution that overcomes these problems, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,380, is the use of edge fiducial, reference or alignment marks associated with each of the core layers and which allow a determination to be made as to whether the core layers are registered properly and/or have been stacked in the proper order.
However, such fiducial, reference or alignment marks are still lacking in several respects and have not been used to their fullest potential in addressing some of the needs associated with PCBs and their manufacture.
What is needed, therefore, is a PCB that overcomes at least the shortcomings described above.

Multi-layered printed circuit board having core layers including indicia


A Coriolis flow meter (5) is provided according to an embodiment of the invention. The meter (5) includes one or more flow conduits (103), at least two pickoff sensors (105, 105′) affixed to the one or more flow conduits (103), a driver (104) configured to vibrate the one or more flow conduits (103), and meter electronics (20) coupled to the at least two pickoff sensors (105, 105′) and to the driver (104). The meter electronics (20) vibrate the one or more flow conduits (103) of the flow meter (5) with a first vibration frequency and in a first out-of-phase bending mode, measure a first vibrational response, with the first vibrational response being generated in response to the first vibration frequency, vibrate the one or more flow conduits (103) with at least a second vibration frequency and in the first out-of-phase bending mode, measure a second vibrational response, and determine at least a mass flow rate and a viscosity using the first and second vibrational responses.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Coriolis flow meter and method for determining flow characteristics, and more particularly, to a Coriolis flow meter and method for determining flow characteristics using two or more vibrational responses.
2. Statement of the Problem
Vibrating conduit sensors, such as Coriolis mass flow meters, typically operate by detecting motion of a vibrating conduit that contains a flowing material. Properties associated with the material in the conduit, such as mass flow, density and the like, can be determined by processing measurement signals received from motion transducers associated with the conduit. The vibration modes of the vibrating material-filled system generally are affected by the combined mass, stiffness and damping characteristics of the containing conduit and the material contained therein.
A typical Coriolis mass flow meter includes one or more conduits that are connected inline in a pipeline or other transport system and convey material, e.g., fluids, slurries and the like, in the system. Each conduit may be viewed as having a set of natural vibration modes including, for example, simple bending, torsional, radial, and coupled modes. In a typical Coriolis mass flow measurement application, a conduit is excited in one or more vibration modes as a material flows through the conduit, and motion of the conduit is measured at points spaced along the conduit. Excitation is typically provided by an actuator, e.g., an electromechanical device, such as a voice coil-type driver, that perturbs the conduit in a periodic fashion. Mass flow rate may be determined by measuring time delay or phase differences between motions at the transducer locations. Two such transducers (or pickoff sensors) are typically employed in order to measure a vibrational response of the flow conduit or conduits, and are typically located at positions upstream and downstream of the actuator. The two pickoff sensors are connected to electronic instrumentation by cabling, such as two independent pairs of wires. The instrumentation receives signals from the two pickoff sensors and processes the signals in order to derive a mass flow rate measurement.
Traditional Coriolis mass flow meters provide continuous measurement of the mass flow rate, density, and temperature of the flow medium flowing through the flow meter. However, a change in any of the flow characteristics of the flow medium can cause an increase or decrease in the mass loading on the flow meter, and hence will cause an error in the indicated density, among other things.
Designers of vibrating element transducers, such as Coriolis mass flow meters or densitometers, generally try to maximize the sensitivity of the mass, density, and temperature while minimizing the transducer sensitivity to the viscosity, VOS, shear rate, pressure, and Reynolds number. As a result, a typical prior art flow meter is capable of accurately measuring the mass, density, and temperature but is not capable of accurately measuring additional flow characteristics such as one or more of the viscosity, VOS, shear rate, pressure, and Reynolds number. There is a need in flow meter applications to measure other flow characteristics in addition to mass, density, and temperature.


A method of transferring graphene includes patterning an upper surface of a substrate to form at least one trench therein, providing a graphene layer on the substrate, the graphene layer including an adhesive liquid thereon, pressing the graphene layer with respect to the substrate, and removing the adhesive liquid by drying the substrate.

1. Field
Some example embodiments relate to methods of transferring graphene using a substrate having a trench for drying graphene.
2. Description of the Related Art
Graphene having a 2-dimensional hexagonal carbon structure is a material that may replace semiconductors. Graphene is a zero gap semiconductor. When a graphene nano-ribbon (GNR) having a graphene channel width of 10 nm or less is formed, a band gap is formed by a size effect. Accordingly, a field effect transistor that may be operated at room temperature may be manufactured using the GNR.
Also, graphene has a mobility of 100,000 cm2V−1s−1 at room temperature, which is approximately 100 times higher than that of silicon. Thus, graphene may be applied to high-frequency devices, for example, radio frequency (RF) devices. Graphene may be manufactured by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method or thermal decomposition of a silicon carbide (SiC) substrate.
In the CVD method, graphene may be grown by supplying a carbon-containing material onto a catalyst layer in a CVD chamber. Graphene manufactured in this way may be referred to as CVD graphene. In order to manufacture an electronic device using the CVD graphene, after removing the catalyst layer under the CVD graphene, the CVD graphene needs to be transferred to a substrate for receiving graphene. When the CVD graphene is transferred onto the substrate, voids may be caused between the graphene and the substrate in a drying process of the CVD graphene, and thus, the CVD graphene may be in a relatively high roughness state, that is, an uneven state with respect to the substrate. Accordingly, the CVD graphene may be difficult to apply to an electronic device.

Method of transferring graphene using trench and substrate for receiving graphene


Provided is a storage system capable of holding data by associating main data for long-term retention with sub data for maintaining its readability. The storage system: stores first data in a first location within a storage area upon reception of a storage request for the first data with a first file identifier being specified; holds information for associating the first file identifier, the first location, a retention period of the data, and first version information with one another; stores second data in a second location within the storage area upon reception of a storage request for the second data with the first file identifier and second version information being specified; holds information for associating the first file identifier, the second location, and the second version information with one another; and inhibits the first data and the second data from being changed before elapse of the retention period of the data.

This invention relates to a method of managing data for a storage system for archiving contents, in particular, unstructured fixed contents.
There are known many different data archive methods, any one of which has some shortcoming. Up until the recent past, the most commonly-used data archive method has used a tape archive. However, the tape archive is often hard to access, which prevents archived data from being retrieved quickly with ease. On this account, it becomes more common to select as an archive medium a disk array that allows access to the archived data quickly with ease.
A fixed content aware storage (FCAS) is generally defined by Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) as a storage of unchanging data (fixed contents) and metadata associated therewith based on a variety of naming schemas, and includes a content addressable storage (CAS) and global content-independent identifiers (see, for example, www.snia.org). In the storage industry, the CAS may be referred to also as "content addressed storage", "content aware storage", or "content archive storage".
In the CAS, data is handled as an object composed of a file and metadata, rather than processed as a standard file. The data (file) is appended with the metadata (attributes of the file) and assigned a unique object identifier known as an "object ID". For the data archive, the object is stored in any given location on a hard disk. U.S. Pat. No. 7,155,466 discloses a storage system and a data management method as an example of CAS implementation.


Presented is a dynamic apparatus for measuring and recording the range of angulation of an articular joint of the human body. The apparatus includes two separate assemblies for mounting on two relatively angularly articulable members on opposite sides of the joint between them. The two assemblies are interconnected across the joint in a manner to measure and record the extent of angulation of one member in relation to the other when the members are articulated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices and apparatus for assessement of the pivotal movement of joints of the human body, and particularly to a method and apparatus for toe-off assessement of the first metatarsophalangeal joint of the human foot.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Because of the wear and tear of the many joints of the human body, these joints are frequently injured and require medical attention of one form or another. The prior art is replete with devices and apparatus for assessing and assisting in the treatment of injured joints of the human body. A preliminary patentability and novelty search conducted through Classes 33, 73 and 128, including many sub-classes in these primary classes, has revealed the existence of the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ 1,590,499 3,358,373 4,416,292 4,436,099 4,771,548 4,802,494 4,804,001 4,905,560 4,986,280 ______________________________________
The patents listed above were found in a search for patent literature that relates particularly to the first metatarsophalangeal joint. Many other patents are known to exist that pertain to other joints of the human body. For instance, the following additional patents that relate to various joints of the human body and their assessement and treatment are known to exist.
______________________________________ 4,745,930 3,553,590 4,444,205 4,461,085 4,883,069 4,940,063 4,201,226 4,436,099 4,800,897 4,897,927 4,897,931 ______________________________________
In addition to the patent literature noted above, technical articles are also known to exist that relate to this subject. Two such technical articles include Goniometric Reliability in a Clinical Setting, Elbow and Knee Measurements, authored by Jules M. Rothstein et al, and published in Physical Therapy, Volume 63/Number 10, October 1983. Another technical article appeared in Clinics in Podiatric Medicine and Surgery, Volumne 3, No. 4, October 1986, and entitled Tools for Biomechanical Analysis of the Foot, written by James G. Richards, Ph.D.
One of the reasons that there is a plethora of prior art and technical articles that relate to the subject of joint movement, joint assessement and joint treatment, is that the nature of the human body requires different ranges of motion in the different joints of the human body, and these ranges vary from individual to individual. When those ranges of movement are restricted for some reason, or extended beyond their normal range, injury to the joint can and may occur, necessitating assessment of the joint to determine the existence of damage or injury, the extent thereof and the treatment options presented by the injury, if any, or an abnormality that may exist.
Of all of the joints of the human body, the first metatarsophalangeal joint is among the most frequently treated locations in the foot. Such afflictions as hallux abducto valgus, hallux limitus and rigidus osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis often affect the first metatarsophalangeal joint. In assessing the function of this joint it is important to determine its range of motion. This is conventionally accomplished by examining the patient in the non-weight bearing setting using a goniometer to measure the angulation between the first metatarsal and proximal phalanx. This method limits evaluation of the dorsiflexion and plantarflexion range of motion to a non-weight bearing situation. However, this method is unable to determine the first metatarsophalangeal joint functional range of motion during gait, as when walking, with the entire body weight imposed on the joint.
Current methods of obtaining information of this nature include electrogoniometry and high-speed cinematography. These "high-tech" methods of assessing first metatarsophalangeal joint functional range of motion require a significant financial investment on the part of the clinician or researcher seeking to utilize them because the equipment necessary to utilize these methods is very expensive. Accordingly, it is one of the important objects of the present invention to provide a system and method enabling the measurement of the first metatarsophalangeal joint functional range of motion in a more cost effective manner.
Another clinical gait parameter determined by electrogoniometry and high-speed cinematography is the quantification of the propulsive phase of gait. The propulsive phase of gait is defined as the time interval from heel lift to toe-off. It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a method of recording the time interval in which the first metatarsal is rotating over the proximal phalanx so as to correlate this time interval to the propulsive phase of gait.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a means and method for measurement of the first metatarsophalangeal joint range of motion during gait, and quantification of the propulsive phase of gait. Fulfillment of this object is accomplished by the generation of a curve that represents the angular velocity of the first metatarsal during the propulsive phase of gait. While a method has been devised to generate such curves, the clinical value of these curves is unknown at this time. It is hypothesized that these curves may provide a method for cataloging patterns that correlate with specific pathological entities. Clinical research must be conducted to investigate this possibility.
During natural gait, lift off of the heel from the supporting surface of the foot results in the development of angulation between the first metatarsal and proximal phalanx. Through conventional methods, the pivot point of the metatarsal with respect to the proximal phalanx may be located quite accurately. From such location of the pivot point, a measurement may be taken parallel to the first metatarsal and a second measurement may be taken parallel to the proximal phalanx. The distances on the foot represented by these measurements are generally variable for each individual, but for a specific individual, these measurements or distances measured on the respective portions of the foot on either side of the joint line, may be considered to be fixed distances which are correlated to two sides of a triangle converging at the joint line, the third side of the triangle being a variable measurement or distance that joins the distal ends of the two measurements on either side of the joint line or pivot point of the first metatarsophalangeal joint. It will of course be obvious that geometrically, the third side of the triangle, or length measurement of this third side of the triangle thus formed, will vary according to the degree of angulation of the first metatarsal to the proximal phalanx. Accordingly, one of the important objects of the present invention is the provision of a dynamic ambulatory method and apparatus for toe-off assessment of the first metatarsophalangeal joint during normal gait.
Still another object of the invention is the provision of a dynamic ambulatory method and apparatus for toe-off assessement of the first metatarsophalangeal joint that utilizes the Law of Cosines to calculate the angulation between the first metatarsal and proximal phalanx at toe-off.
The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be apparent from the following description and the drawings. It is to be understood however that the invention is not limited to the embodiment illustrated and described since it may be embodied in various forms within the scope of the appended claims.

Dynamic ambulatory method and apparatus for assessment of joints of the human body


Embodiments of the invention provide a computer-aided production planning method and system for accurately and quickly drafting a production plan for a given period for a production system employing a production line with a salvage process. In one embodiment, the method includes a new parts supply quantity recalculating step of recalculating the quantities Xi,j of parts to be newly supplied based on obtained actual product yields Bj, actual production process total supply quantity ratios Ci,j, actual production process salvage ratios Di,j, the requested quantities Aj of finished products, and correction parameters Fi,j for the actual production process total supply quantity ratios Ci,j; and a production process load determining step of, to draft a production plan for a given period, determining the load on each production process of the production line on each day based on the quantities Xi,j of parts to be newly supplied in such a way that the requested quantities Aj of finished products can be produced, the quantities Xi,j being recalculated at the new parts supply quantity recalculating step.

The present invention relates to a computer-aided production planning method and system for drafting a production plan for a given period for a production line including a plurality of production processes and a salvage process (or disassembly process).
The following procedure is generally used to carry out production planning for a production system employing a production line with a salvage process. First, (1) a plan is drafted. Then, (2) the process load is determined through simulation. If there is a problem with the drafted plan, the plan is modified and step (2) is repeated.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-282824 (Patent Document 1) discloses a technique which performs a backward simulation, that is, tracing back the process flow, for a production system employing a refabrication process in order to determine the equipment load.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-244716 (Patent Document 2) discloses a production line capability evaluation system applied to a production system employing a refabrication process. This evaluation system can automatically detect a bottleneck in the production line and suggest a remedial measure together with the effect of the measure.

Method and system of production planning

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A valve pin for use in a melt channel in an injection molding machine. The valve pin has a valve pin body and at least one thermocouple substantially completely inside the valve pin body.

It is well known that it is desirable to measure the temperature of the melt throughout the length of a nozzle on a hot runner injection molding machine, and at the gate into a mold cavity.
Several attempts at taking this measurement have been made. Typically, a thermocouple is included on the nozzle and is mounted to the exterior of the nozzle body. In order to take measurements that better represent the condition of the melt, the tip of the thermocouple is usually positioned within an aperture that penetrates into the nozzle body so that the tip of the thermocouple is positioned nearer to the nozzle melt channel. The accuracy of the thermocouple is hampered, however, by the proximity of the thermocouple to the nozzle heater, which is typically positioned on the exterior of the nozzle. Thus, the proximity of the thermocouple to the nozzle heater itself prevents the thermocouple from accurately measuring the temperature of the melt.
Another example of an attempt to measure the melt temperature at the gate is disclosed in European Patent Application EP 99304442.9 (Goldwin et al.). Goldwin et al. discloses the use of a conductive film to coat the outside of a valve pin that passes through the nozzle melt channel. The conductive film could be used to measure the temperature of the melt in the nozzle melt channel. However, the film is repeatedly exposed to a cycling of pressures, and is constantly abraded by the melt flowing through the nozzle into the mold cavity.
Yet another example of an attempt to measure the melt temperature at the gate is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,008 (Gellert). Gellert discloses a thermocouple, having a sensing portion that is fixed inside a valve pin guiding element in a melt channel. The guiding element divides the melt flow, however, and creates an obstruction in the melt channel. Furthermore, the thermocouple is fixed within the melt channel, and cannot therefore obtain temperatures from different positions within the melt channel.
For some applications, it may be advantageous to measure a plurality of temperatures. For example, in some co-injection applications, where there are flows of more than one melts into a mold cavity, it may be desirable to measure the temperatures of some of the melts individually, and/or some of the melts after they have combined. In order to achieve this using fixed thermocouples of the prior art, a plurality of thermocouples may be needed to be incorporated into the co-injection nozzle. In the event that one of the thermocouples fails for any reason, it can be relatively difficult to access the failed thermocouple to replace it.
Thus a need exists for new devices for the measuring of the temperature of the melt at the gate into a mold cavity in a hot runner injection molding machine.


A search engine finds patents, patent applications and related documents and presents a selection of found documents in textual formats and/or graphical formats. After executing a search, the displayed information may include a selection of results sorted by inventor name, year and other variables found within patent documents. Financial data pertaining to patent owning entities is presented along with patent portfolio analysis and estimates of financial worth.

Internet usage levels have risen dramatically over the last decade raising the demand for technical, vital, personal and even trivial information. With the rise of the Internet, almost all modern communication devices have access to number of databases. With such vast amounts of data available on the Internet, it is increasingly becoming difficult to decipher or recognize relevant information from results displayed in purely textual formats.
Patent searches have become subject of significant interest because of the increasing number of patents filed per year. Traditionally, patent search engines including USPTO and third party search engines return search queries in a text format only. The patents that match the search criteria the most are displayed at the top. For some search engines, the patents with most number of hits (views) are displayed at the top. Though the search engines retrieve relevant information most of the time, the results are text based. The user does not an option but to manually go through all the text results.
An embodiment of the disclosed graphical display of search queries eliminates any need for the user to go through all the text based results and improving the rate at which the hundreds of search pages can be analyzed in few graphs.

Patent search engine with statistical snapshots


A semiconductor laser having a buried stripe structure is provided, which comprises a first cladding layer of InP, an active layer containing at least an InGaAsP or InGaAs layer, a barrier layer of In.sub.1-x Al.sub.x As (x=0.48 to 1.00), a second cladding layer of InP, a mesa-shaped stripe portion composed of the first cladding layer, active layer, barrier layer and second cladding layer, and a pair of buried layers disposed on both sides of the stripe portion so as to bury the same therebetween formed in this order on an InP substrate. The hetero barrier of conduction band between the active and barrier layers is increased by the barrier layer when an electric current is injected, thus being capable of restricting the electrons injected into the active layer to be leaked to the second cladding layer. It is preferable that a second barrier layer of In.sub.1-x Al.sub.x As (x=0.48 to 1.00) is disposed on each side of the stripe portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor laser as a main component of optical communication systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, there is a rapidly growing tendency toward spreading the application field of optical communications from the key transmitting system to the optical communication systems including the subscriber system, local area network (LAN) system and data-link system accompanied with the progression of the optical communication technology. In order to respond to such highly advanced optical communication systems, the use of high performance optical devices unavoidably becomes a critical factor for success.
Such a semiconductor laser that has an In.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As.sub.y P.sub.1-y /InP double-hetero structure has been realized previously as a light source for the low-loss optical fiber communication purpose. However, with a p-type InP/In.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As.sub.y P.sub.1-y /n-type InP double-hetero structure semiconductor laser with a wave length band of 1 .mu.m, there arise problems that the luminous efficiency is low, the optical output is saturated with a low output and the operation at an elevated temperature is difficult because the characteristic temperature TO of oscillating threshold current is low compared with a GaAlAs/GaAs system semiconductor laser with a wavelength band of 0.8 .mu.m as pointed out by Yonezu (refer to "Optical Communication Device Technology--Light Emitting and Receiving Devices", pp. 225-243, 1984, published by Kogaku-Tosho Corp.).
One reason therefor is that the electrons injected into an active layer (light emitting layer) are re-combined with the holes without contributing to the light emission due to the leakage process of a carrier in a cladding layer, the Auger process and the like. With the InxGa.sub.1-x As.sub.y P.sub.1-y /InP system semiconductor laser, the value of .DELTA.Ec/.DELTA.Ev, which is a ratio of the amount of band discontinuity .DELTA.Ec of conduction band and the amount of discontinuity .DELTA.Ev of valence band, namely, so-called band offset ratio, is so small as 0.22/0.38 that the electrons injected into the active layer of InGaAs or InGaAsP easily pass through the hetero barrier and leak in the p-type InP cladding layer.
Particularly, in a semiconductor laser having an InGaAsP active layer, the electrons having a high kinetic energy are easily generated in the active layer through the Auger recombination process, so that the leakage of the electrons to the p-type InP cladding layer is accelerated. In addition, when operated at an elevated temperature, the electrons with a high energy will be generated into the InGaAsP active layer, so that the leakage of the electrons to the p-type InP cladding layer will be further accelerated.
Thus, an object of this invention is to provide a semiconductor laser having an InGaAsP layer or InGaAs layer as an active layer which has a high luminous efficiency and output performance as well as the capability of being operated at an elevated temperature.

Semiconductor laser with InGaAs or InGaAsP active layer


Provided herein are polypeptides that are selectively cleaved by cathepsin E. Also provided are methods of detecting cathepsin E. The methods comprise contacting cathepsin E with the polypeptides provided herein and detecting fluorescence. Further provided are methods of diagnosing cancer or pre-cancerous conditions in a subject. Also provided herein is a multilayered nanoparticle or a composition comprising the multilayer nanoparticle, wherein the multilayered nanoparticle comprises a negatively charged nanoparticle core or capsule coated with alternating positive and negative layers. Optionally, the positive layer comprises a positively charged protease degradable polypeptide. Optionally, the negative layer comprises a negatively charged therapeutic agent or a therapeutic agent and a means for providing the agent with a negative charge. For example, optionally, the therapeutic agent is linked to a negatively charged polymer. Further provided are methods of treating or preventing a disease characterized by expression of a protease in a subject using the nanoparticle.

Cathepsin E (Cath E) and Cathepsin D (Cath D), members of the aspartic proteolytic enzymes family, have very similar substrate selectivity. Unlike the relatively ubiquitous Cath D, Cath E has a limited cellular localization and tissue distribution. Cath E is contained mainly within vesicular structures associated with the endoplasmic reticulum and endosomal compartments of macrophages, gastric epithelial cells, lymphocytes, microglia, and dendritic cells. In contrast to Cath E, Cath D is known to be involved in various diseases, e.g., cancer growth, metastasis, Alzheimer's Disease, and several other diseases. Although Cath E and Cath D have different tissue localization, cellular distribution, and physiological function, they share many enzymatic characteristics including molecular weight (43 kDa), catalytic mechanism, substrate preferences, proteolytic conditions, and inhibition susceptibility. Both of them are aspartic endopeptidases, which prefer hydrophobic amino acid residues at P1 and P1′ positions of the scissile bond. Their optimal pH of proteolysis is between 3.5 and 5.0. A wide variety of peptidomimetic inhibitors are known for Cath E, but none can provide satisfactory discrimination against Cath D.
There are numerous methods of delivering therapeutics to subjects. These methods, however, are associated with multiple issues including toxicity, degradation of the therapeutic agent, and limited duration of efficacy of the therapeutic agent.

Protease degradable polypeptides and uses thereof

BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM


Automated defect sourcing system identifies root-causes of yield excursion due to contamination, process faults, equipment failure and/or handling in timely manner and provides accurate timely feedback to address and contain the sources of yield excursion. A signature bank stores known wafer surface manufacturing defects as defect signatures. The signature of a manufacturing defect pattern is associated with a type of equipment or process, and used to source the manufacturing defects and to provide process control for changing and/or stopping yield excursion during fabrication. A defect signature recognition engine matches wafer defects against the signature bank during wafer fabrication. Once the defect signature is detected during fabrication, handling and/or disposing the root-cause of the corresponding defect is facilitated using messages according to an event handling database. Optionally, a real-time process control for wafer fabrication is provided.

1. Field
Invention relates to detection of semiconductor fabrication defects, and in particular to a method and system for predictive, automatic and self-learning semiconductor fabrication defect signature recognition and defect sourcing.
2. Related Art
Conventional semiconductor fabrication systems incorporate statistical process control and impose control limits on the acceptable number of defects on a wafer, detect quantity of defects on a given wafer, and raise a flag if the quantity falls out of bounds. Defective wafers are inspected by human experts in the hope of pinpointing the fabrication process steps responsible for the defect. Drawbacks of this approach include: (a) defect signature recognition is primitive, and flags are raised too late and after yields have already dropped; (b) identification of the defect source is done by humans and represents a tedious and time consuming effort; and (c) successful defect sourcing depends on expert know-how that is difficult to capture.
Accordingly, there is need for (a) predictive, (b) automatic and (c) self-learning semiconductor fabrication defect signature recognition and sourcing for addressing the above problems.

Automated sourcing of substrate microfabrication defects using defects signatures


A dental floss apparatus generally comprising a thimble, a pair of tines extending from the top surface of the thimble and a section of dental floss suspended between the tips of the tines. To floss, a forefinger or thumb is typically inserted into the thimble, which remains relatively fixed onto the forefinger or thumb by pressing the opposing forefinger or thumb on the same hand onto the side of the thimble. The thimble is sized and configured such that insertion of the forefinger or thumb causes a suction within the thimble that further aids holding the thimble. The section of dental floss across the tips is used to floss between the teeth. In an alternate configuration, a single tine extends upward from said thimble and dental floss is suspended between the tip of the tine and the thimble. In still another configuration, a second thimble is attached in tandem onto the first thimble for additional torque control. In lieu of the second thimble, a finger holder is attached in tandem onto the first thimble for torque control.

1. Field of the Invention
This application pertains generally to dental hygiene and more particularly to a one-piece disposable apparatus for teeth flossing.
2. Description of the Background Art
Dental flossing is an often unpleasant but necessary routine for good oral hygiene. The conventional method for flossing teeth involves grasping opposite ends of a length of dental floss with each hand, and manually manipulating the floss back and forth between the teeth. Anyone who has performed this arduous, but necessary, task is well aware that the nature of dental floss inherently makes it difficult to securely grasp and tautly hold a tensioned strand while maneuvering and manipulating the suspended section between all the teeth in an effort to floss. The smoothness of the floss, in addition to the saliva, prevents the fingers and hand from getting a secure grip, so the ends of the floss are usually wrapped around the fingers to maintain tautness. Those who have flossed in this conventional manner are aware that a tightly wrapped finger is uncomfortable, if not downright painful. Often the wrapped fingers turn purplish and begin to numb due to a lack of blood flow. Such inconveniences and difficulties spurred the development of various means to hold the dental floss while teeth flossing.
To alleviate such problems, means were developed to hold the dental floss while flossing. One such means is to provide short sections of approximately 41/2 inches of floss having stub sections or gripper handles at both ends of the floss section. Dental floss having gripper handles is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,892, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Another known means developed to hold dental floss included a pair of sleeves fitted over the fingertips. One sleeve serves as the supply sleeve containing pre-wound floss, and the other sleeve serves as the take-up sleeve for receiving spent floss. To floss, both fingers are inserted into the mouth with the sleeves fitted thereon and the section of floss suspended between the sleeves is used to floss between teeth.
The problem common to both of the foregoing flossing devices is that at least two fingers must be inserted into the mouth, especially when flossing between the rear molars. This often proves to be unwieldy and cumbersome as the mouth must be opened widely to allow insertion of the fingers therein.
There are presently no known one-piece disposable dental flossers which can floss teeth using only one finger inserted into the mouth. Accordingly, there is a need for a low cost disposable dental flosser which is capable of one-finger dental flossing. The present invention satisfies this need, as well as others, and overcomes the deficiencies found in the prior art.


An Internet of Thing (IoT) device includes a transceiver coupled to a processor. Contracts can be used with the device to facilitate secure operation.

The emergence of smart devices such as Internet of Things (IOT) devices has provided intelligence to many common appliances such as mobile phones.
The Internet is rapidly becoming the number one resource for the travel consumer and on average, customers make travel related searches, visit 22 websites and take 29 days from the first time they search until they make a purchase. Forty-five percent of transactions occur four weeks or more after the first search. The time spent online is lengthy, representing a prolonged opportunity for advertisers to reach and influence consumers while they search for information.
In a parallel trend, the wealth of data generated by computers can overwhelm the Internet cloud. Moreover, fraudulent and harmful activities arising from hacked devices have potential to cause major disruptions to users of the Internet.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method of fabricating a device includes: providing a substrate having a patterned surface, depositing a first-level self-assembled material on at least a portion of the patterned surface, wherein the position and/or orientation of the first-level self-assembled material is directed by the patterned surface, to form a first nanostructure pattern, and depositing a second-level self-assembled material on at least a portion of the first nanostructure pattern to form an array of nanostructures of the second-level self-assembled material. An apparatus fabricated using the method is also provided.

This invention relates to methods of fabricating nanostructured devices and to devices fabricated using such methods.
Structures having components with dimensions on a nanometer scale are being considered for use in the areas of optics, electronics, mechanics, magnetism and so forth. Nanostructured materials differ from corresponding bulk materials and single atoms. Nanostructures encompass various structures referred to as, for example, nanoparticles, nanotubes or quantum dots, and may potentially be used as building blocks for ordered and complex materials. The fabrication of nanostructures on substrates for application in devices, however, remains as a major challenge.
Many practical applications of devices in photo-electronic, electronic, sensor, storage and display technologies require the two-dimensional or three-dimensional patterning of nanostructured materials on surfaces, in one layer or in several layer thin films.
Nanostructures having dimensions of less than, for example 10 nm are desirable for bit-patterned magnetic storage media. However, since optical lithography is limited by the diffraction limit, the resolution of conventional optical lithography is usually limited to about 50 nm half-pitch. Thus conventional optical lithography is not suitable for fabricating such nanostructures for bit-patterned magnetic storage media.

Dual-level self-assembled patterning method and apparatus fabricated using the method


Various components of a color pixel stored in an accumulation buffer and respective components of a color pixel in a frame buffer are processed substantially simultaneously in partitioned multiplication operations and partitioned addition operations. An accumulation buffer weight is substantially multiplied by each component of the buffer pixel substantially simultaneously in a partitioned multiplication operation. The weighted buffer pixel is adjusted in some embodiments to effectively increase the range of accumulation buffer weights which can be effectively processed by the processor. For example, the weighted buffer pixel is doubled to effectively extend the effective range of the accumulation buffer weight from approximately -0.5 to 0.5 to at least the range of approximately 0.0 to approximately 1.0. A separate load and store unit of the processor retrieves from the frame buffer and from the accumulation buffer a next frame pixel and a next accumulation buffer pixel, respectively, for subsequent processing in an arithmetic processing unit of the processor while the arithmetic processing unit substantially simultaneously processes a previously retrieved frame pixel and accumulation buffer pixel.

Accumulation buffers are used in graphical image processing to accomplish a number of effects, including anti-aliasing, motion blur, enhanced depth perception, and soft shading. In general, an accumulation buffer is used to combine multiple frames to produce a composite frame. Each of the multiple frames is typically combined with the accumulation buffer by calculating, for each pixel of the frame, a weighted average of the pixel with a corresponding pixel of the accumulation buffer. Each of the above-listed effects are achieved by altering a single graphical image slightly to produce a number of slightly different frames and accumulating the frames in the accumulation buffer.
Aliasing refers to jagged edges on graphical objects represented in a rasterized image. For example, a line which is slanted, i.e., neither fully horizontal nor fully vertical, appears to be jagged when displayed in a rectangular grid of pixels of a computer display device. The jagged quality is a result of rounding floating point values to integer pixel addresses. Anti-aliasing generally refers to graphical alteration of a graphical object or image to remove the appearance of jagged edges. An accumulation buffer is used to produced an anti-aliased image by "jittering" the image. In other words, the graphical image is rendered into the accumulation buffer. Then the graphical image is translated, i.e., moved, by a fraction of a pixel and is rendered again to produce a slightly translated frame. Rendering the graphical image as translated causes the jags in the various edges of the various graphical objects rendered to appear in slightly different places. The slightly translated frame is then accumulated with the previously rendered frame in the accumulation buffer and the resulting frame is stored in the accumulation buffer. The translation, rendering and accumulation of frames of the graphical image is repeated a number of times, e.g., 60 times. The result is an averaging of a number of frames in which jags in the edges of graphical objects in a graphical image are smoothed, providing the appearance of smooth edges.
An accumulation buffer is used in a similar fashion to blur graphical objects in motion. In computer generated animation, objects in motion often have no blur, i.e., appear to have very sharp edges. When an object with sharp edges moves quickly across a television or movie screen or across a computer display device in a motion video display, the appearance is very unnatural and disturbing to the viewer. To achieve a more natural blurring of the object in motion, a graphical image in which an object is in motion is repeatedly rendered with the object in different position along the path of motion of the object and the resulting frames are accumulated in the accumulation buffer. The resulting accumulated frame includes an image of the moving graphical object which is blurred along the path of motion of the graphical object and a considerably more natural and pleasing animated video display.
An accumulation buffer is also used to enhance depth perception in a three-dimensional graphical image. Depth perception is enhanced by blurring graphical objects distant from the viewer while preserving sharpness in graphical objects nearer the viewer. This result is achieved by repeatedly rendering the three-dimensional image from slightly varying perspectives. Altering the perspective of a three-dimensional graphical image results in greater movement of graphical object further from the viewer relative to movement of objects nearer the viewer. Accumulation of frames corresponding to slightly varied perspectives therefore results in blurring of graphical objects substantially proportional to the distance of the graphical objects from the viewer. Thus, depth perception in the rendered and accumulated graphical image is enhanced substantially.
An accumulation buffer is further used to soften shadows in a rendered graphical image. Because of the precision of computers in rendering three-dimensional graphical images, shadows portrayed in such rendered graphical images are particularly sharp, resulting in an unnatural, surreal appearance of the graphical image. Shadows in such a graphical image are softened by repeatedly rendering the graphical image with the respective positions of various virtual light sources, which define the lighting characteristics of the graphical image, varied slightly and the resulting frames are accumulated in the accumulation buffer. Since each frame corresponds to a slightly different light source position, shadows in each frame are in a slightly different position. The accumulated frame in the accumulation buffer therefore has softer shadows, as if from a more diffused light source. The resulting displayed graphical image is more natural and realistic.
It is common for a graphical image to be as large as a rectangular grid of one thousand rows by one thousand columns of pixels. Such a graphical image has one million pixels. If the graphical image is in color, each pixel has four components, namely, red, green, blue, and alpha. To accumulate each component of a single pixel of a graphical image with a pixel stored in the accumulation buffer typically requires two memory read operations, two multiplication operations, one addition operation, and one memory store operation. Reading the four components of a color pixel typically requires a single read of a 32-bit word from memory and execution of approximately eleven computer instructions to parse each eight-bit component from the 32-bit word. To accumulate a single graphical image having four components per pixel and one million pixels therefore requires two million read operations, execution of twenty-two million parsing computer instructions, eight million multiplication operations, four million addition operations, and four million store operations.
It is common to accumulate as many as 60 frames to produce a single anti-aliased color graphical image, requiring 120 million read operations, execution of 1.32 billion parsing computer instructions, 480 million multiplication operations, 240 million addition operations, and 240 million store operations. Image processing using accumulation buffers therefore requires substantial computer resources. Accordingly, ever increasing efficiency in accumulation buffer mechanisms for use in image processing persists as a need in the industry.

Accumulation buffer method and apparatus for graphical image processing


A semiconductor laser having a light amplifying diode heterostructure with a flared gain region in an narrow aperture end whoch may be coupled to a single mode waveguide and a wide output end. A light emitting surface of the heterostructure proximate to the wide end of the flared gain region is partially reflective and combines with an external reflector to form a resonant cavity that is effectively unstable. The intracavity light-emitting surface proximate to the narrow aperture end is antireflection coated. The external reflector may be a planar mirror or a grating reflector. A lens or an optical fiber may couple the aperture end of the flared gain region to the external reflector. Frequency-selective feedback is provided by orienting the grating reflector or providing a prism in the cavity in front of the external planar mirror. Other filtering elements may also be placed in the external cavity. The flared gain region and waveguide may be differentially pumped or modulated with current provided by separate contacts.

External-cavity semiconductor lasers, including lasers with frequency selective tuning elements in the cavity, are well known and have been extensively studied. For example, T. Fujita, et al., in Applied Physics Letters 51(6), pages 392-394 (1987), describe a laser having a buried heterostructure laser that has been antireflection (AR) coated on the intracavity facet, a collimating lens, a polarization beamsplitter, external cavity mirrors in each of the TE and TM polarization light paths, and an electro-optic modulator in the TE polarization path between the beamsplitter and cavity mirror. The configuration allows selection of either the TE or TM mode of oscillation by adjusting the modulator's bias voltage. W. Sorin, et al., in Optics Letters 13(9), pages 731-733 (1988), describe a laser having a laser diode with one of its facets AR coated to reduce its reflectivity, a lens, a single mode optical fiber and a tunable evanescent grating reflector for providing feedback. The laser is wavelength tunable by sliding the feedback grating laterally over the fiber. P. Zorabedian et al., in Optics Letters 13(10), pages 826-828 (1988), describe another wavelength tunable laser using either a rotatable interference filter in an external Fabry-Perot cavity or an external grating reflector providing frequency-selective feedback.
A problem with previously available external-cavity semiconductor lasers is their generally low output power (on the order of 10 mW cw and 200-300 mW pulsed). Further, higher output powers are associated with unstable output intensity and frequency and less than good modal quality.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,780, Scifres et al. describe semiconductor injection lasers that are provided with a stripe offset geometry in order to enhance and stabilize operation in the lowest order or fundamental transverse mode. In one configuration, the stripe geometry has a horn shaped or trapezoidal section connected to a straight section, in which the width of the horn shaped or trapezoidal section expands from 8 .mu.m at the straight section to 25 .mu.m at the cleaved end facet. In contrast to configurations in which the edges of the stripe waveguides are linear and orthogonal to the cleaved end facets of the lasers, the nonorthogonal angled or curved edges of the offset stripe geometries cause higher order modes to reflect or radiate out of the waveguide, thereby increasing the threshold of the higher order modes relative to the fundamental mode.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,084, Scifres et al. describe semiconductor lasers and laser arrays in which lenses and other optical elements have been integrated into the semiconductor bodies of the lasers by means of refractive index changes at boundaries in the light guiding region, where the boundaries are characterized by a lateral geometric contour corresponding to surfaces of selected optical elements so as to cause changes in shape of phase fronts of lightwaves propagating across the boundaries in a manner analogous to the change produced by the optical elements. In one embodiment, a biconcave or plano-concave diverging lens element is integrated within the laser in order to counteract the self-focusing that usually occurs in broad area lasers and that can lead to optical filamentation and lateral incoherence across the laser. The diverging lens in the laser allows the laser to operate as an unstable resonator, leading to high output power and good coherence across the lateral wavefront.
An object of the invention is to provide a high power, external cavity, semiconductor laser which emits a single spatial mode, diffraction-limited output beam.
Another object of the invention is to provide a wavelength tunable, high power, external cavity, semiconductor laser with a stable, single frequency, narrow linewidth light output.

Semiconductor laser with integral spatial mode filter


Glass frits, conductive inks and articles having conductive inks applied thereto are described. According to one or more embodiments, glass frits with no intentionally added lead comprise TeO2 and one or more of Bi2O3, SiO2 and combinations thereof. One embodiment of the glass frit includes B2O3, and can further include ZnO, Al2O3 and/or combinations thereof. One embodiment provides for conductive inks which include a glass frit with no intentionally added lead and comprising TeO2 and one or more of Bi2O3, SiO2 and combinations thereof. Another embodiment includes articles with substrates such as semiconductors or glass sheets, having conductive inks disposed thereto, wherein the conductive ink includes glass frits having no intentionally added lead.

Conductive inks are used to form these conductive grids or metal contacts. Conductive inks typically include a glass frit, a conductive species, such as silver particles, and an organic medium. To form the metal contacts, conductive inks are printed onto the substrate in a pattern of grid lines or other pattern by screen printing or other process. The substrate is then fired, during which electrical contact is made between the grid lines and the substrate. This contact is enhanced by the formation of individual silver crystallites at the glass-substrate interface. Without being bound by theory, it is believed that charge carriers are transferred from the substrate to the silver crystallites and then transferred to the gridline either through the glass layer by tunneling or directly to the silver of the gridline, if there is direct contact of the crystallite with both the gridline and the semiconductor. Lower firing temperatures are desirable in this process because of the lower cost involved and energy saved.
As otherwise mentioned herein, the anti-reflective coating enhances light absorption but also acts as an insulator which impairs the excited electrons from flowing from the substrate to the metal contacts. Accordingly, the conductive ink should penetrate the anti-reflective coating to form metal contacts having ohmic contact with the substrate. To accomplish this, conductive inks incorporate glass frits to aid with sintering silver particles to a substrate and to promote adhesion and ohmic contact between the formed metal contact and the substrate. When the glass frit liquefies, it tends to flow toward the interface between the silver particles and the anti-reflective coating on the substrate. The melted glass dissolves the anti-reflective coating materials as well as some of the metal particles and substrate. Once the temperature decreases, the molten silver and the melted or dissolved substrate recrystallize through the liquid phase. As a result, some of the silver crystallites are able to penetrate the antireflective layer and form ohmic contact with the substrate. This process is referred to as "fire-through" and facilitates a low contact resistance formation and a stronger bond between conductive grid or metal contact and the substrate.
The automotive, electronics and solar cell industries place greater emphasis on using environmentally-friendly components and processes. This emphasis has been further urged by the need to comply with environmental regulations. In response, the solar cell industry is moving to eliminate the use of lead in components and materials used in solar panels of cells.
Accordingly, there is a need for a lead-free glass frit which can be fired at a lower temperature and that can penetrate the anti-reflective layer and form metal contacts in ohmic contact with a substrate.


Methods and compositions are disclosed that are useful for the inhibition of glial cell proliferation by means of binding inhibiting agents to neural cell adhesion (N-CAM) molecules present on the cell surface. Such inhibiting agents can be peptides derived from the homophilic binding region of N-CAM, monoclonal antibodies, polyclonal antibodies, Fab' fragments, and the like. Exemplary N-CAM homophilic peptides are 7 to 90 amino acid residues having a positively charged amino acid residue separated from a negatively charged amino acid residue by five intervening amino acid residues.

During embryogenesis, the proliferation of glioblasts and their differentiation into several glial cell types appear to be closely coordinated with the development of neurons. During early postnatal development of the brain, glial cell proliferation continues at significant levels after neuronal proliferation has mostly ceased. In general, glial cell proliferation in the brain remains strongly inhibited throughout adult life, except in tumorigenesis and after injury.
The control of glial cell proliferation is an important factor in the regulation of neural development, regeneration, and tumorigenesis. The experiments described herein provide evidence for a new functional role of N-CAM in the control of glial cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo.
After physical injury to the central nervous system (CNS), astrocytes respond by changes in cell morphology, increased expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), hypertrophy, and rapid proliferation (Ludwin, S. K. (1984) Nature 308, 274-275). Such reactive astrocytes form glial scars in a process of gliosis that appears to interfere with neuronal regeneration in the adult CNS (Barrett, C. P. et al. (1984) Exp. Neurol. 84, 374-385; Reier, P. J. & Houle, J. D. (1988) In Advances in Neurology, (Waxman, S. G., ed.). Raven Press, New York, pp. 87-138).
Glial cell proliferation can be influenced by a variety of factors. Stimulatory effects are exerted by various growth factors (Kniss, D. A. & Burry, R. W. (1988) Brain Res. 439, 281-288), interleukin-6 (IL-6) (Selmaj, K. W. et al. (1990) J. Immunol. 144, 129-135), interleukin-1.beta. (IL-1.beta.) (Giulian, D. & Lachman, L. B. (1985) Science 228, 497-499), tumor necrosis factor (Barna, B. P. et al. (1990) J. Neuroimmunol. 30, 239-243) and .gamma.-interferon (Yong, V. et al. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 7016-7020). The mitogenic effects of several of these factors can be inhibited by transforming growth factor-.beta. (Hunter, K. E., Sporn, M. B. & Davies, A. M. (1993) Glia 7, 203-211) which is produced by neurons (Flanders, K. C. et al. (1991) Development 113, 183-191).
Further evidence points to a direct involvement of neurons in the control of glial cell proliferation. The addition of purified cerebellar granule neurons to cerebellar astrocytes (Hatten, M. E. (1987) J. Cell Biol. 104, 1353-1360) or of hippocampal neurons to glia (Gasser, U. E. & Hatten, M. E. (1990) J. Neurosci. 10, 1276-1285) resulted in a decrease in glial cell proliferation. This inhibition depends on a proper ratio of neurons to glia of about 4 to 1, ensuring that astrocytes make surface contact with the added neurons. A cell membrane preparation of cerebellar granule neurons also inhibited proliferation, while medium conditioned by such neurons did not, indicating that membrane-associated molecules might be involved in the neuronal control of glial cell proliferation.
N-CAM (Edelman, G. M. (1986) Ann. Rev. Cell Biol. 2, 81-116; Cunningham, B. A. et al. (1987) Science 236, 799-806) has an important regulatory role in the developing nervous system and is present in adult nervous tissue. While the traditional view centers in the role of N-CAM in providing adhesion to the substrate and other cells, there is evidence that N-CAM can mediate signalling across the cell membrane in N-CAM mediated neurite outgrowth (Doherty, P. & Walsh, F. S. (1994) Current Opinion in Neurobiology 4, 49-55).
Astrocytes express a variety of adhesion molecules, among them the cell adhesion molecules N-CAM, and L1, and the extracellular matrix protein laminin. N-CAM has been found in astrocytes in vivo (Bartsch, U. et al. (1989) J. Comp. Neurol. 284, 451-462) as well as in primary astrocyte cultures (Noble, M. et al. (1985) Nature (London) 316, 725-728) although normal levels of N-CAM in glia are low in comparison to those in neurons (Nybroe, O. et al. (1985) J. Cell. Biol. 101, 2310-2315). The amount of N-CAM expressed on the surface of astrocytes (Smith, G. M. et al. (1993) J. Neurochem. 60, 1453-1466) as well as in the nervous system as a whole (Chuong, C.-M. & Edelman, G. M. (1984) J. Neurosci. 4, 2354-2368; Linnemann, D. et al. (1993) Int. J. Devl. Neurosci. 11, 71-81) decreases significantly as the CNS matures as compared to the amounts seen in prenatal and early postnatal development.
Levels of N-CAM have been shown to change after injury to nervous tissue. For example, after neurotoxin-induced brain damage, glial cells re-express high levels of the highly sialylated embryonic form of N-CAM (Le Gal La Salle, G. et al. (1992) J. Neurosci. 12, 872-882). Peripheral nerve injury leads to the expression of high levels of sialic-acid rich N-CAM in both neural and glial tissue (Daniloff, J. K. et al. (1986) J. Cell Biol. 103, 929-945). The increased expression of N-CAM after injury and the presence of N-CAM on reactive astrocytes indicates that cell adhesion molecules may play a functional role in regeneration and potential healing after such insults.
Renewed glial cell proliferation and gliosis are important in the response of neural tissue to injury. A reduction in the amount of gliosis after CNS injury may be a significant factor in permitting axonal regeneration across a lesion site. Neuronal regeneration in the adult CNS can occur if regenerating axons are presented with an appropriate environment (Aguayo, A. J. (1985) In Synaptic plasticity, (Cotman, C. W., ed.). Guilford, New York, pp. 457-484). Injury to the CNS of neonatal rats results in less extensive gliosis as compared to the adult (Barrett et al. 1984) possibly facilitating neuronal regeneration. Moreover, gliosis in the adult can be reduced by transplantation of immature astrocytes into the lesion site (Smith, D. B. & Johnson, K. S. (1988) Gene 67, 31-40). Our experiments raise the possibility that this might be due to the high levels of N-CAM expressed by immature astrocytes. Further elucidation of these responses and definition of the signalling pathways that mediate the inhibition of glial cell proliferation facilitate the design of rational therapies to enhance regeneration by CNS neurons.

Inhibition of glial cell proliferation with N-CAM homophilic peptides


Unmanned aircraft have aligned forward and aft propulsion systems possessing different performance and/or noise characteristics. According to some embodiments, unmanned aircraft have a forward engine and a forward tractor propeller and an aft engine and an aft pusher propeller. Selected ones of forward and aft propulsion systems will thus be provided to have greater and lesser operational flight performance characteristics and greater and lesser noise signature characteristics, respectively, as compared to the other. For example, the forward propulsion system may be provided with the greater operational flight performance and higher signature characteristics as compared to the aft propulsion system, while conversely the aft propulsion system may be provided with a lesser flight performance and lower noise signature characteristics as compared to the forward propulsion system.

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) colloquially known as "drones" have obtained increased importance in the armed forces of many countries due to several desirable characteristics including, for example, (i) high autonomy, range and time on station abilities, (ii) advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, (iii) adequate flight envelope, reduced observability both acoustically and by radar, and (iv) systems reliability (i.e., reliability of the data links with remotely-based controllers/pilots on which the UAS depend for flight mission accomplishments).
The vast majority of conventional UAS platforms are single engine, pusher propulsive layouts. Although such a conventional solution has several advantages, most notable is that only one propulsion system is required, it has less variables for optimization and decreased reliability as compared to a multi-engine design. For example, the propeller of single engine UAS must be optimized so as to concurrently maximize performance and decrease acoustic signature. Such a design requirement may be quite challenging since conflicting requirements may appear while optimizing the propeller design, e.g., tip speed, chord distribution, activity factor, diameter, and the number of blades, among other parameters.
The single engine design for conventional UAS also reduces the design space for hybrid electric propulsion, since a greater number of hybrid propulsion architectures can be considered for a multi-engine UAS design layout.
Therefore, one significant technical problem which the embodiments describe herein address is to de-couple the design restrictions described above from the aircraft design, thereby enabling a multi-engine propulsion concept for UAS with increased performance and decreased noise signature to be realized, while also enabling the conceptualization of a quieter hybrid-electric propulsion (HEP) architecture. It is therefore towards providing solutions so such a problem that the embodiments described herein are directed.

Unmanned aircraft having reduced acoustic signatures