A non-volatile memory device includes: a semiconductor pillar stretched perpendicularly to a substrate; a plurality of memory cells stacked along the semiconductor pillar; a bit line coupled with a first end of the semiconductor pillar; a first source line coupled with one of the first end and a second end of the semiconductor pillar; a second source line disposed over the bit line and the first source line; a first switch having a first end coupled with the first source line and a second end coupled with a first voltage supplier, and controlling whether to supply a first voltage to the first source line; and a second switch having a first end coupled with the first source line and a second end coupled with the second source line, and controlling whether or not to supply a second voltage supplied from the second source line to the first source line.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a non-volatile memory device, and more particularly, to a non-volatile memory device including a plurality of memory cells that are stacked vertically from a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A non-volatile memory device retains data stored therein even though a power supply is cut off. At present, various non-volatile memory devices such as a NAND (not-and) flash memory device are widely used.
As limits in the integration degree of a two-dimensional non-volatile memory device where memory cells are formed in a single layer over a silicon substrate are reached, researchers and the industry are developing various three-dimensional non-volatile memory devices in which a plurality of memory cells are stacked vertically from a silicon substrate. Among them is a memory device having a structure in which a plurality of memory cells are stacked along U-shape channels and resulting in bit lines and source lines being disposed over the stacked memory cells.


A multilayered ceramic topcoat of a thermal barrier coating system is useful for high temperature corrosive applications such as hot section components in gas turbine engines. The ceramic topcoat includes at least two layers, each having generally columnar grain microstructures with different grain orientation directions. A preferred method of producing the multilayered ceramic topcoat includes positioning a superalloy substrate at a first angled orientation relative to a ceramic vapor cloud in an electron beam physical vapor deposition apparatus for a time sufficient to grow a first ceramic layer. The substrate is then reoriented to a second, different angled orientation for a time sufficient to grow a second ceramic layer. The ceramic layers exhibit columnar microstructures having respective grain orientation directions which are related to the first and second substrate orientations. For uniformly coating a complex contoured surface such as a turbine blade airfoil, the blade can be rotated during coating deposition at each angled orientation.

During gas turbine engine operation, hot section components such as combustors, turbine blade and vane airfoils, turbine frames, and exhaust nozzles are subject to oxidizing and corrosive, high temperature combustion effluent gas. Because these components often are subjected concurrently to high magnitude thermally and mechanically induced stress, the art has developed a variety of techniques in the design and manufacture of these components to ensure maintenance of structural and metallurgical integrity throughout the operating range of the engine. For example, components typically are manufactured from material compositions such as nickel- and cobalt-base superalloys having desirable properties at elevated, operating range temperatures. In the case of turbine airfoils, the selected alloy generally is formed by casting. For enhanced high temperature strength, grain structure advantageously may be controlled during solidification of the casting to produce a directionally solidified or single crystal structure, thereby providing greater strength for a given alloy composition.
In addition to component strength enhancement by selection of alloy composition and control of the casting process, both internal and external cooling schemes are employed extensively to maintain component temperatures below critical levels. Tailored film cooling of external surfaces and sophisticated turbulent flow cooling of serpentine shaped internal cavities in the cast airfoils are routinely utilized in advanced gas turbine engine designs respectively to decrease the thermal energy input to the component and reduce the temperature rise thereof. Despite efforts to optimize these varied approaches, both alone and in combination, advanced gas turbine engine efficiency is limited by the inability of the hot section components to achieve acceptable operating lives under increased mechanical and thermal loading.
An additional method employed by those skilled in the art of gas turbine engine design is the use of a relatively thin ceramic insulative outer layer on surfaces exposed to the effluent gas flow. The ceramic coating facilitates component operation at greater operating temperatures. This coating, generally referred to in the industry as a thermal barrier coating ("TBC"), effectively shields the metallic substrate of the component from temperature extremes. By reducing the thermal energy input to the component, higher combustion effluent gas temperatures and/or more efficient use of cooling flows are realized with a resultant increase in engine operating efficiency.
Conventional ceramic coatings are prone to delamination at or near the ceramic/substrate interface due to differences in coefficients of thermal expansion between the relatively brittle ceramic and the more ductile superalloy substrate. The ceramic may spall or separate from the component surface. This failure mechanism is aggravated and accelerated under conditions of thermal cycling inherent in gas turbine engine operation. In order to prevent premature failure of the ceramic, methods of providing strain tolerant ceramic coatings have been developed. Certain moderate service applications employ porous or pre-cracked ceramic layers. In more harsh operating environments, such as those found in advanced gas turbine engines, the art exploits strain tolerant open columnar ceramic crystal or grain microstructures, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,311 to Strangman, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. These columnar grain microstructures have a generally parallel grain orientation and are disposed in a normal direction, perpendicular to the surface of the substrate. They are considered to provide improved strain tolerance due to the segregated nature of the columnar grains which form intercolumnar gaps therebetween.
Substantial attention also has been directed to the use of an intermediate or bond coat layer disposed between the substrate and the ceramic layer. The bond coat employs a composition designed both to enhance the chemical bond strength between the ceramic topcoat and metal substrate as well as to serve as a protective coating in the event of premature ceramic topcoat loss.
There are presently two primary classes of bond coat compositions conventionally employed in multilayered TBC systems of this type. One type of metallic bond coat typically specified by gas turbine engine designers is referred to as MCrAlY alloy, where M is iron, cobalt, nickel, or mixtures thereof The other major constituents, namely chromium, aluminum and yttrium, are represented by their elemental symbols. As used herein, the chemical symbol "Y" signifies the use of yttrium as well as other related reactive elements such as zirconium, lanthanum, and mixtures thereof. A conventional MCrAlY bond coat is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,481 to Gupta et al., the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. In coating a superalloy substrate, the MCrAlY bond coat first is applied to the substrate by a method such as physical vapor deposition ("PVD") or low pressure plasma spraying.
The MCrAlY class of alloys are characteristically very resistant to oxidation at the elevated temperatures experienced by hot section components due to their ability to form a thin adherent protective external film of aluminum oxide or alumina. As used herein, the term "alumina" signifies predominantly aluminum oxide which may be altered by the presence of reactive elements to contain, for example, yttrium oxide or zirconium oxide. In addition to providing protection, the alumina film also provides a chemically compatible surface on which to grow the insulative ceramic topcoat. As known by those having skill in the art, the ceramic topcoat most commonly employed is zirconium oxide or zirconia, either partially or fully stabilized through the addition of oxides of yttrium, magnesium, or calcium. Conventional open columnar structured stabilized zirconia is grown on the alumina film by PVD in which the component to be coated is rotated at a constant rate in a ceramic vapor in a vacuum chamber. This coating system generally is considered to exhibit improved integrity under cyclic thermal conditions over ceramic coatings disposed directly on the metallic substrate, thereby providing the intended insulative protection to the underlying article over an extended period.
Another type of metallic bond coat routinely specified by those skilled in the art includes a class of materials known as aluminides. These are popular compositions for gas turbine engine components and include nickel, cobalt, and iron modified aluminides as well as platinum modified aluminides. Generally, aluminides are intermediate phases or intermetallic compounds with physical, chemical, and mechanical properties substantially different from the more conventional MCrAlY bond coats. Some aluminide compositions are known to be usefull coatings in and of themselves for protecting iron-, cobalt-, and nickel-base alloys from oxidation and corrosion; however, some aluminides may be used as bond coats for ceramic topcoats in TBC systems.
The aluminide-based TBC system is similar to the MCrAlY-based TBC system insofar as the aluminide bond coat is first formed on the substrate surface by conventional diffusion processes such as pack cementation as described by Duderstadt et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,752 and Strangman in published U.K. Patent Application GB 2,285,632A, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference. According to this method, aluminum from an aluminum halide gas in the pack mixture reacts and interdiffuses with the substrate surface over time at elevated temperature. Strangman discusses production of aluminide bond coats, for example, by reacting a nickel-, iron-, or cobalt-base superalloy article substrate with an aluminum rich vapor at elevated temperature. Strangman refers exclusively to the term "diffusion aluminide" as characteristic of the resultant bond coat. This characterization accurately corresponds to the method of aluminide bond coat production, namely by diffusion. As a result of the diffusion method, the aluminide bond coat contains nickel, iron, or cobalt from the substrate of the component being coated, depending on the primary constituent of the superalloy substrate. Further, many of the base alloying elements of the substrate are also contained in the reaction product aluminide forming on the article surface. The aluminide coated article has a surface composition which readily forms a protective alumina film when oxidized. A columnar ceramic topcoat of conventional composition and structure, as described hereinabove, completes the TBC system.
A new metallic bond coat has recently been developed which is contemplated to overcome inherent limitations of conventional MCrAlY and aluminide bond coats. An MAlY bond coat, where M is nickel, cobalt, iron, or combinations thereof and Y is yttrium or other reactive element, is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/597,841, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. A TBC system incorporating an MAlY bond coat, alumina layer, and columnar ceramic topcoat disposed on a nickel- or cobalt-base superalloy article, is considered to be less prone to degradation and failure than TBC systems utilizing the conventional bond coats discussed above. The bond strength or adherence between the MAY bond coat and alumina film is enhanced over conventional aluminide and MCrAlY bond coats by controlling the weight percent of the constituents. Further, by specifically excluding chromium from the bond coat, diffusional stability of the chromium-free MAlY bond coat is significantly improved over conventional MCrAlY bond coats. As a result, the MAlY bond coat provides a substantial reduction in diffusion of substrate alloy constituents through the MAlY bond coat, and maintenance of a strong MAlY/alumina bond resistant to degradation as a function of time at elevated temperature, with a concomitant enhancement in ceramic topcoat integrity. Yet further, the MAlY/alumina bond is stronger than that of a conventional modified aluminide/alumina bond. In addition, the growth rate of the alumina film is reduced by the presence of yttrium or other reactive element and the combined effect exhibits improvement over conventional aluminide-based TBC systems.
While conventional columnar ceramic topcoats have proven beneficial in use, they exhibit certain characteristics which inherently limit their operational performance and life regardless of the bond coat composition. For example, since conventional columnar ceramic topcoats have a grain orientation direction which extends generally perpendicularly from the underlying substrate, the grains are relatively inelastic in the normal direction and exhibit poor impact strength, resulting in chipping when contacted by high speed sand grains and other foreign particulate matter ingested or released upstream during engine operation. Erosion of the ceramic topcoat can also be a problem due to the cantilevered orientation of the columnar grains which are bonded to the alumina layer over a small surface area relative to their volume. Accordingly, the normal columnar ceramic grains are weak in a tangential or parallel direction to the substrate, resulting in brittle spalling failure of the ceramic topcoat. The underlying alumina layer, bond coat, and metallic substrate are also subject to environmental attack since the intercolumnar gaps or interstices between adjacent columnar grains afford numerous open paths for penetration of corrosive salts and other detrimental constituents of the combustion effluent. Conventional columnar ceramic topcoats also add weight to the components, which can be problematic especially for high speed rotating components such as turbine blades where overall weight and balance are critical parameters.
Service lives of the coated articles are limited by the integrity of the TBC. Any substantial chipping, spalling, erosion, or delamination of the ceramic topcoat is cause for concern. The consequences of TBC system failure are tangible and costly. Firstly, thermal operating margin must be factored into the design of the gas turbine engine to preclude overtemperature and failure of hot section components with degraded TBC. By limiting combustion parameters to less than stoichiometric, the realizable efficiency of the engine is reduced with increase in fuel consumption as well as levels of unburnt hydrocarbons and other pollutants. Further, baseline engine operating parameters are premised on the existence of uniform ceramic topcoats, and ceramic topcoat life is often significantly less than underlying component life. This means engines must be removed from service for maintenance at predetermined intervals, based, for example, on operating hours or thermal cycles. Combustor, turbine, and exhaust modules are disassembled and the coated articles removed, stripped, inspected, and recoated. Significant costs are attributable to aircraft and engine unavailability. Further, substantial direct costs are associated with labor, tooling, and materials required to remove, recoat, and reinstall the affected articles. Yet further, unscheduled engine removals are forced whenever borescope inspection of the internal configuration of the engine reveals TBC system degradation beyond predetermined field service limits, further disrupting operations and increasing support costs.

Thermal barrier coating ceramic structure


One or more methods and systems are presented for performing gain and timing acquisition of data read from one or more data sectors of a hard disk drive. The gain and timing information may be used to synchronize a read channel receiver of the hard disk drive to the data read from the data sector(s). In a representative embodiment, the one or more methods comprises determining one or more frequency and phase offsets using one or more preambles of one or more data sectors residing in a hard disk drive. In a representative embodiment, the gain of the one or more preambles may be determined. In another representative embodiment, the one or more systems used to determine one or more phase and frequency offsets, and amplitudes, comprise hardware and/or software capable of utilizing a sequence of consecutive samples provided by one or more preambles of one or more data sectors.

When data is read from a hard disk drive, the read channel must be adequately synchronized so that it may correctly read the data stored in the hard disk drive. In addition, the receiver gain must be adjusted in order to properly read the data. The presence of noise may significantly affect the ability of the data to be properly read when inadequate gain control and timing recovery mechanisms are implemented. In such an instance, the performance of the hard disk drive may be significantly affected.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Frequency, phase, and gain estimation technique for use in a read channel receiver of a hard disk drive


A gravity-driven apparatus and method control the flow order of reactants in microfluidic devices which are employed in a microfluidic chip. The gravity-driven apparatus flow order control mainly comprises a plurality of reactant chambers arranged at different heights, a plurality of flow-control microchannels, and a reaction chamber having a winding collection microchannel. Each reactant chamber has an air-in vent. Each pair of neighboring flow-control microchannels has a U-shaped structure connecting the pair of neighboring flow-control microchannels. To activate the microfluidic device, the device is placed in an inclining or standing position and the air-in vents are unsealed. This method enhances the reliability of flow order control for multiple reactants. It can be built in a microfluidic chip, and does not use any actuating power or element. Therefore, it is low in energy-consumption, low in manufacturing cost and free of pollution.

Flow order control is the basis of automatic reaction process for most biochemical analyses. The significant function requirements of flow order control include (1) the capability to switch the flow of three to five reactants, (2) correctly following the flow order of three to five reactants, (3) the capability to define and control the flow amount of three to five reactants, and (4) the capability to minimize the mixing of any two reactants with successive flow orders during the flow order control. The flow order control of multiple reactants therefore becomes the key to the automatic biochemical analysis of microfluidic chips. In the design of microfluidic chips, flow order control belongs to the high level combinational function that often requires a serial of accompanying components to perform. Thereby in a system, it may include the elements of micro electromechanical system (MEMS), such as a micropump, a plurality of microvalves, an infrastructure of microchannels, a flow amount detector, microflow switches, and a pressure differential actuator etc. The failure or defect of any element will cause the failure of the entire reaction process. Therefore, the manufacture difficulty is relatively high.
Furthermore, it requires more peripheral supporting electromechanical facilities, and such a requirement is a deviation from the design principle of an on-site, disposable and fast biomedical test kit of microfluidic chips. It is therefore necessary to develop a flow order control device which does not use any power source, movable valves, and peripheral supporting electromechanical facilities to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages.
The literature survey shows that very few elements can provide the high level flow order control function. Most of prior arts focus on changing the microfluidic direction. In 1992, Doring et. al. (Proc. IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical System Workshop, 1992) used the direction that drives the deformation of the hanging arm via thermal expansion to switch the moving fluid direction. The moving fluid would be guided along the tail of the hanging arm into one of the two outlet chambers because of the Coanda effect. This is shown in FIG. 1.
Handique et. al. (US. Patent Publication 2002/0,142,471) disclosed a method of using gas actuators to provide pressure to the moving fluid in order to generate driving force. Valves are placed inbetween two gas actuators and used to separate the gas actuators. When multiple actuators are used, an infrastructure of microchannels is constructed. Ramsey (US. Patent Publication 2003/0,150,733) disclosed a method of using electro osmotic flow or capillary electrophoresis to drive DNA, and then using the voltage change to guide the separated DNA into different channels.
Prior art related to flow order control devices are numerous. However, most of them require not only very complicate chip fabrication process but also more peripheral supporting electromechanical facilities. It is important that such a flow order control device should be low in energy-consumption, low in manufacturing cost and free-of-pollution.

Gravity-driven apparatus and method for control of microfluidic devices

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A stress testing method of a file system includes traversing local or network storage devices with a drive letter; detecting a network mapping path of the network storage devices; calculating an absolute path of all the storage devices through a mounted point and a system volume; collecting the above information to update the path information of the file system; and then calling a corresponding test algorithm and stressing strategy according to different types of storage devices, so as to perform the stress test. The stress testing method can make the file system display storage devices without a drive letter, and call appropriate testing methods and stressing strategies for different types of storage devices, so the depth and scope of the stress testing for file system are expanded, the accuracy of the test is enhanced, and the problem of occupying too many system resources is avoided.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a stress testing method, and more particularly to a stress testing method of performing file read/write on different types of system disks in a file system.
2. Related Art
"File system" refers to a management interface and a method to name a file, store a file, and organize a storage location for a file in a computer. Each operating system has a corresponding file system, for example, NTFS for Windows NT and EXT3 for LINUX. Through these file systems, users can systematically store a file into a storage device of the computer and effectively access the stored file. With the improvement of computer technology and the development of computer network technology, the storage space managed by the file system is no longer limited to devices such as hard disk of a single computer. For example, any folder can be connected to the computer through a USB hard disk or USB flash disk and mounted on the file system, so as to increase the capacity of the file system; or a remote server can be connected through network and the storage space in the server is considered as a logical disk or folder in the file system.
To build a file system, a stress testing should be performed to make sure that no data read/write error occurs due to frequent read/write of the data stored in the file system. The so-called stress testing is performing frequent read/write operations on the file system in a period of time, and recording whether there is an access error and the disk partition where the access error occurs. However, the building scope of the file system grows, the physical storage devices contained in the file system increase, and the constituted document files become more complicated, and thus the stress testing has become more complicated. At present, the stress testing of a file system generally has the following problems. The first problem is lacking of testing coverage and scope. The storage devices mounted on the computer system cannot be completely displayed on the file system due to insufficient drive letters. As some storage devices mounted on the file system cannot show their drive letters, the stress testing cannot be performed on these storage devices. The second problem is the problem of testing stress. As different types of storage devices support different read/write speeds, if storage devices of different read/write speeds are tested with equivalent testing data, for some storage devices of higher read/write speeds, their actual read/write rates may not be detected. The third problem is that a single test takes too much time and also occupies too many system resources.


A carton with a self-locking end closure includes a pair of end flaps connected by fold lines to end walls, and a pair of side flaps connected by fold lines to sidewalls. The end flaps have tapered or notched side edges and an outer edge. The outer edge of each end flap includes two symmetrically positioned notches. Each end flap also includes a pair of locking tabs. The side flaps include a pair of side edges and an outer edge and a pair of hinged locking devices which are symmetrically positioned at predetermined distances from the outer edges. The locking devices include an ear or flap, a cut line defining the ear or flap, a hinge line along which the ear or flap rotates, and a tab adjacent the ear. The end flaps are foldable against the side flaps, permitting the locking tabs of the end flaps to engage the locking devices of the side flaps to lock the end closure of the carton.

Cartons are used in a variety of industries, for example, the food industry. Cartons which may be collapsed or knocked-down are especially desirable as they may be shipped or stored in a flat configuration, thereby minimizing the amount of storage space used. Cartons which are reusable after being disassembled or knocked-down reduce both the waste and expense associated with the manufacture of new or replacement cartons.
Some cartons are assembled using glue, staples or stitching to secure the bottom flaps. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,713,454 and 2,747,788, for example, disclose cartons which close or secure the bottom flaps with glue or other adhesive materials. The glued flaps form a strong and durable seal. However, the glue also makes disassembly and reuse of the cartons difficult, if not impossible. Moreover, repeated disengagement of glued or otherwise secured bottom flaps from each other weakens the integrity of the flaps and shortens the useful life of the carton.
Other cartons utilize tabs and slots on end and side flaps to close and secure the bottoms and tops of the cartons. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 490,167 and 4,884,741 disclose cartons with top and bottom closures which are secured by inserting tabs on end flaps into slots on adjacent side flaps, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,279,379 and 4,702,408 disclose cartons with bottom flaps or panels which are locked by pushing tabs into slots to join end flaps and side flaps together. Such cartons may be disassembled and reused. However, when products or articles are placed in such cartons, the products can inadvertently disengage the inserted tabs from the slots at the bottom of the carton, thereby weakening or eliminating the bottom closure. In addition, the tabs may bend or their rigidity may be diminished by repeated assembly or disassembly of the carton.
Still other cartons, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos 5,046,662, 5,104,035 and 4,884,741 disclose self-locking cartons which utilize flaps containing fold lines and locking recesses or slots, to interlock with tabs. A fold on an end flap which parallels the outer edge of the flap permits the flap to be folded in an outwardly direction, away from the carton interior. The folding effectively shortens the end flap, thereby making it easier to insert the tabs of the end flap into the slots or locking recesses of adjacent side flaps. If locking recesses are used instead of slots, they shield the tabs in the interior of the carton and help to prevent inadvertent disengagement of the tabs. However, conventional end flap fold lines create other problems. For example, because the fold lines are biased outwardly, away from the interior of the carton, the fold lines increase the likelihood that the tabs will inadvertently disengage from the slots or locking recesses. Also, assembling and disassembling the closures of such cartons require several steps.
A need, therefore, exists for a reusable carton with a strong and positive self-locking bottom closure which is easy to lock and unlock and is not susceptible to inadvertent opening or disengagement.


A projector module adopts a structure having an optical image forming block and an optical block integrated via a locking member. The optical image forming block adopts a structure achieved by disposing an aluminum substrate at which an LED is mounted and a liquid crystal panel in a casing constituted with a plastic material having low thermal conductivity. The locking member is formed by bending a metal sheet through a sheet metal bending process and the locking member is set in surface contact with the substrate. The optical block adopts a structure achieved by disposing a PBS and a reflecting member at the casing constituted with a plastic material having low thermal conductivity with a quarter-wave plate disposed at the boundary of the two members.

1. Field
The present invention relates to an illuminating device and a projector device that use a light emitting element as a light source.
2. Description of Related Art
Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 2000-194275 discloses an image display device (projector) having a liquid crystal display (LCD) constituted with a liquid crystal panel or the like and a light source for illuminating the LCD, which projects an image formed with light (modulated light) having been transmitted through the LCD. An LED with a high level of brightness is used as the light source in this device. The device can be provided as a more compact unit since it employs an LED rather than a halogen lamp or a xenon lamp. It also achieves an advantage in that on/off control of the light source is facilitated. However, it is necessary to supply a large electrical current to the LED in order to increase the brightness with which light is emitted at the LED, and unless appropriate measures are taken against the heat generated at the LED, the LED may become damaged by its own heat.

Illuminating device and projector device to be mounted into electronic apparatus


In the radio paging receiver having an announcing arrangement for announcing reception of a radio call signal, an operable switch (16) is provided for determining a particular mode relating to an operation of the announcing arrangement. Received with the radio call signal, a receiving arrangement produces a received signal. In accordance with a state of the operable switch and with a form of the received signal, a control section (17) controls the operation of the announcing arrangement. It is preferable that the control section inhibits the operation of the announcing arrangement when a massage is absent in the radio call signal.

This invention relates to a radio paging receiver for being responsive to a radio call signal.
In a paging system including such a radio paging receiver, use can be made of a radio call signal carrying a call number and a message. A specific number is assigned to each radio paging receiver. When received with the radio call signal, the radio paging receiver carries out a judgement about whether or not the call number is coincident with the assigned specific number. When the call number is coincident with the assigned specific number, the radio paging receiver announces a call to a user of the paging receiver and makes a display unit display the message as a received message.
Recently, various proposals have been made in order to increase a function of such a radio paging receiver. One of the proposals is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 15721/1990. In this proposal, collation-is made between the received message and a specific message preliminarily memorized. With reference to a result of the collation, an announcing mode is changed, for example, to announcement by sound generation or intermittent light emission of an LED. More particularly, the announcing mode is changed in dependence upon whether or not the received message is coincident with the specific message.
It is assumed that the paging receiver receives the radio call signal carrying the call number alone. In this event, the function of the above-mentioned proposal is unavailable. This is because it is impossible to carry out the collation.

Radio paging receiver in which announcement of a call is controlled in accordance with a form of a received signal


An electrocatalyst comprising an alloy of platinum with a base metal selected from the group consisting of gallium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel and copper, having a structure of vacant lattice site type lattice defects; the alloy being supported on a conductive carbon powder. The electrocatalyst is useful as a platinum-supported catalyst for an electrode, and has a superior electrochemical oxygen reduction activity and has platinum alloy particles having less base metal component.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a catalyst for electrode (hereinafter referred to as "electrocatalyst") for acid electrolyte type fuel cells such as phosphoric acid type fuel cells or proton-exchange membrane type fuel cells.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Catalysts comprising a conductive carbon powder carrier on which platinum (Pt) is dispersedly supported and having a corrosion resistance to phosphoric acid heated at a high temperature of about 200.degree. C. are conventionally used as electrocatalysts for the phosphoric acid type fuel cells. Furthermore, in recent years, catalysts comprising a conductive carbon powder on which an alloy of platinum with a base metal element such as gallium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, iron, cobalt, nickel or copper is supported have been developed in order to improve the activity of oxygen reduction reaction in the cathode (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,186110 and 4,447,506, Japanese Pre-examination Patent Publication (kokai) Nos. 60-7941, 61-8851 and 62-163746, etc.). Meanwhile, as electrocatalysts for proton-exchange membrane type fuel cells, platinum black catalysts have been used from old times, but catalysts comprising a conductive carbon powder on which platinum is highly dispersedly supported are now put into use so that the amount of platinum used can be reduced. Also in such catalysts, researches are made on catalysts formed of an alloy with a base metal so that the oxygen reduction activity of the cathode can be improved G. Tamizhmani & G. A. Capuano, J. Electrochem. Soc., Vo.141, No.4 (1994)!.
Such platinum alloy-supported catalysts are usually produced in the following way. First, platinum is supported on a conductive carbon powder to prepare a platinum-supported carbon powder (a precursor), and then this precursor platinum-supported carbon powder is added in an aqueous solution of a compound such as a salt of base metal element to fix the base metal component on the platinum-supported carbon by the aid of an alkali such as sodium-hydroxide or ammonia or a reducing agent such as hydrazine or formalin, followed by treatment in a stream of nitrogen or in a stream of hydrogen at a high temperature of 800.degree. C. to 1,000.degree. C. to alloy the base metal and platinum.
Such platinum alloy-supported catalysts have an improved oxygen reduction activity compared with the precursor platinum-supported carbon powder and hence are known to be greatly improved in current-voltage characteristics (I-V characteristics; the same applies hereinafter) when used as cathode catalysts for phosphoric acid type fuel cells.
Japanese Pre-examination Patent Publication (kokai) No. 3-127459 reports that in the production of such an alloy-supported catalyst all the base metal used is not completely made into an alloy and is partly deposited on and adheres to the carbon surface, and it is proposed to remove free base metal by washing the catalyst with an aqueous dilute acid solution to thereby suppress the wetting of the catalyst to the electrolyte so that the cell can have a longer lifetime.
Advantages of skeleton catalysts whose representative is Raney nickel are also known from old times. Platinum skeleton catalyst electrodes prepared by dissolving the base metal component out of an electrode formed of an alloy of platinum with a base metal, not supported on a carrier, were studied in the 1960's as electrodes for fuel cells (U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,75). Meanwhile, a platinum-supported skeleton catalyst prepared by removing Fe from a Pt-Fe alloy-supported catalyst (U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,200) is known to exhibit a high activity in hydrogenation reaction, but there is no disclosure as to whether it is useful as an electrocatalyst.
Under operation conditions of fuel cells in which an acid electrolyte and oxygen are present together, not only the base metal not alloyed with platinum but also the base metal in platinum-base metal alloy crystals can not avoid gradually dissolving in the electrolyte. The base metal having dissolved in the electrolyte is either reduced at a portion having a more basic potential in the cell to become deposited there, or crystallized because of a lowering of solubility at a lower-temperature portion to become deposited, thus there is a possibility of clogging pores of a gas diffusion electrode. Especially in the case of proton-exchange membrane type fuel cells, there is also a possibility that base metal ions react with the electrolyte to cause a lowering of the conductivity of the electrolyte. Hence, in order to make fuel cells have a longer lifetime, it is desired to make the base metal less dissolve out of the alloy.
Meanwhile, in the base metal/platinum alloy-supported catalysts, it is usually indispensable to alloy the materials at a high temperature in the step of preparation. As a result of this high-temperature treatment, the platinum is alloyed with the base metal and at the same time may cause crystal growth. Hence, it is not always easy to prepare a platinum alloy catalyst having, e.g., an average crystal particle size not larger than 50 A (angstrom, 1 A=0.1 nm; the same applies hereinafter). Accordingly, it is sought to provide as an electrocatalyst for fuel cells a platinum-supported catalyst that retains crystal forms of an alloy highly active in oxygen reduction and yet has platinum alloy particles made finer and also containing less base metal component.

Platinum skeleton alloy-supported electrocatalyst, electrode using the electrocatalyst, and process for producing the electrocatalyst


Muscle fatigue measuring equipment is provided by which one can know muscle fatigue status objectively and easily. Embodiments include equipment for performing the steps of substituting a myoelectric value based on a measured myoelectric potential and a stored myoelectric value into an arithmetic expression for determining a myoelectric change; and substituting an extracellular fluid measured using biological impedance and a stored extracellular fluid value into an arithmetic expression for determining a change in extracellular fluid. The presence or absence of muscle fatigue, the equilibrium state of muscle fatigue, and the progress of muscle fatigue is determined using the determined myoelectric change and extracellular fluid change.

(i) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to muscle fatigue measuring equipment for estimating the fatigue status of a muscle.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
It is important for athletes, rehabilitants and others to know the fatigue statues of their muscles so as to build their muscular strengths. For information, the relationship between muscle fatigue and passage of time is represented by a graph shown in FIG. 8, for example. During training, muscle fatigue accumulates and increases (muscular strength lowers) as time elapses, as can be seen in an accumulation period. This occurs due to a breakage of a muscle caused by use of the muscle. Then, after the training, the muscle fatigue lowers (muscular strength recovers) as time elapses, as can be seen in a normal recovery period. This occurs due to physiological restoration of the muscle. Then, as can be seen in a super recovery period, the muscle fatigue continuously lowers as time elapses, and after it becomes slightly lower than pre-training muscle fatigue (muscular strength improves), it restores to the pre-training muscle fatigue. This occurs since the muscular strength improves once by a defense mechanism for adapting to a load given during the training but restores to original muscular strength for adapting to life strength.
Based on the relationship between muscle fatigue and passage of time as shown in FIG. 8, trainees (athletes, rehabilitants and others) have relied on subjective estimations to know what their current muscle fatigue statuses are, i.e., whether their muscle fatigues are in accumulation, in recovery or other statuses.
In other words, trainees (athletes, rehabilitants and others) have not been able to know what their current muscle fatigue statuses are, objectively and easily.


Systems and methods for movement of objects are provided. One system includes a plurality of vehicles configured to support the object, wherein each of the vehicles includes omni-directional wheels and a height adjusting device. The system also includes a control system in communication with the plurality of vehicles, wherein the control system is configured to transmit a signal to the plurality of vehicles instructing the plurality of vehicles to move the object in a predetermined direction along the floor. Each of the plurality of vehicles is configured to adjust at least one of a direction of movement using the omni-directional wheels or a height at which the object is supported while moving the part in the predetermined direction using the height adjusting device.

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods of moving objects, such as large rigid structures, over uneven surfaces.
Moving large structures (e.g., aircraft wings) over uneven surfaces is a complicated process. For example, as the size of the structure increases, such as the length and/or width, small changes in height at different locations due to the uneven surface induces unwanted load in the structure. These unwanted loads can cause wear and/or damage to the structure. Additionally, this problem becomes even more complex when trying to move the large structure using multiple movable parts and controllers. For example, if the large structure is supported in multiple locations by different movable supports, changes in the height of the surface (e.g., uneven floor) can cause the movable supports to drift in unwanted directions, which can result in unstable motion of the structure.
In the aircraft industry, such as in an aircraft wing manufacturing application, large jigs are built to support the wing. As such, when the wing size or configuration changes, different jigs have to be built or the jigs moved with respect to the wing (which may require crane assistance to reposition the wing). For example, during subassembly, parts are moved along the floor as the parts are assembled. For commercial aircraft, a part, such as a wing, is moved from station to station along the assembly line by placing the wing in a fixture (jig) and lifting the fixture with a crane. This process can be time consuming and cumbersome.
In some other systems, dedicated moving systems are designed for moving a specific aircraft part. However, different moving systems have to be provided for each different part, which adds cost and complexity, for example, to the manufacturing process.


An electronic device includes a biometric sensing device connected to a processing channel that includes at least one amplifier having a gain. One or more processing devices is operatively connected to the biometric sensing device and adapted to compensate for signal fixed pattern noise in signals received from the processing channel. The signal fixed pattern noise can include signal measurement variation noise and gain variation noise. The biometric sensing device captures a new image or data, and at least one processing device compensates for the signal fixed pattern noise in the newly captured image or data.

Biometric sensing devices are increasingly common in computer or network security applications, financial applications, surveillance applications, and system access control applications. Biometric sensing devices detect or image a unique physical or behavioral trait of a person, providing biometric data that can reliably identify the person. For example, a fingerprint includes a unique pattern of ridges and valleys that can be imaged by a fingerprint sensor. The image of the fingerprint, or the unique characteristics of the fingerprint, is compared to previously captured reference data, such as a reference fingerprint image. The identity of the person is obtained or verified when the newly captured fingerprint image matches the reference fingerprint image.
Devices that image fingerprints or other biometric data can be subject to noise and other errors. One type of noise is signal fixed pattern noise, a noise that is proportional to the signal produced by the sensors in the biometric sensing device. The signal fixed pattern noise can include two components, namely noise that is produced by variations in signal measurements between the sensors in a biometric sensing device and noise caused by variations in gain stages connected to the sensors in a biometric sensing device. Signal fixed pattern noise can be several orders of magnitude larger than the feature signal or the signal of interest. Signal fixed pattern noise can reduce the dynamic range of the biometric sensing device and produce imprecise or indefinite images or data.

Noise compensation in a biometric sensing device


A heat moldable footwear wherein the footwear is all one contiguous or uniform piece with no removable insoles or foot beds wherein only the top portion of the footwear is moldable.

The present invention relates generally to footwear and, more specifically, to customizable heat molded footwear having a heat moldable portion where the footwear is all one contiguous, monolithic uniform piece. When the heat molding takes place, it forms to the shape of one's foot through application of heat, thereafter, the user places the footwear on their feet for a predetermined period of time causing the footwear to mold to the shape of the underside and side portion of one's foot. There is nothing to be inserted or removed from the footwear in this present invention it is all one piece unlike other types of footwear wherein insoles and foot beds are removable.
The application of heat can be done using any heating device or heat application capable of sufficient temperature.
There are other footwear devices that provide for heat molding of orthopedic food beds and insoles that are removable from said footwear. While this footwear may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described. There is nothing to be inserted or removed from the footwear in this present invention it is all one piece unlike other types of footwear wherein insoles and foot beds are removable.


A photocatalytic reactor to recover precious metals, useful metals, and toxic metals from industrial waste streams using visible or ultraviolet light and semiconductor material as the photocatalyst. Seeds of metal in the same metal group as the metals being recovered are implanted in the reactor to create nucleation sites for the deposition, agglomeration, and growth of the metals being recovered. The reactor may have internally reflective surfaces to effectively multiply the light sources. The input waste stream may be mixed with reaction acceptor materials that reduce electron-hole recombination and that increase reaction rates.

The present invention relates to the use of photocatalysis, and more particularly to the use of a photocatalytic reactor to remove metals from industrial waste streams.
Using semiconductors, such as titanium dioxide (TiO.sub.2), as a catalyst when activated by light, especially ultraviolet light, is an effective advanced oxidation process that is sometimes known as photocatalysis. A semi-conductive material has a valence band filled with electrons and an empty conductive band. When semiconductors with an appropriate energy difference between the two bands are irradiated by light, electrons in the valence bands are excited to the conductive bands leaving holes behind (for TiO.sub.2 ultraviolet light will excite electrons to transfer to the conductive bands). The holes thus created can extract electrons from surrounding chemical species to form free radicals, which are strong oxidants giving photocatalytic processes the potential for fast and complete organic destruction or metal recovery. Photocatalysis is capable of destroying a wide variety of hazardous organic contaminants, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and many pesticides, and is capable of recovering many metals, such as silver, gold, copper, mercury, platinum, from waste streams.
There is increasing interest in using titanium dioxide activated by ultraviolet light to recover metals in a number of applications, such as the recovery of silver from photography processing wastes. However, there are several drawbacks in the use of titanium dioxide in colloidal form in photocatalysis for metal recovery. It is difficult to separate the recovered metal from the titanium dioxide slurry; there is low efficiency or quantum yield of the photo nucleation, deposition and growth of the metal at its reaction site; free radicals scavengers and electron-hole recombination reduce efficiency; and high concentrations of colloidal suspensions create shadow effects which reduce light intensity.
Some of the difficulties of using colloidal titanium dioxide have been relieved by the use of porous TiO.sub.2 -SiO.sub.2 glass-ceramic semiconductor material or low-reflectivity, porous, metal oxide coatings. For example, separation is easier than from a slurry. Several methods for making such a porous glass-ceramic have been developed. One method that uses heat treatment and subsequent acid leaching is taught by Kokura and Yamane in Preparation of porous Glass-Ceramics of the TiO.sub.2 System, Journal of Material Science 20, 4309 (1985). This method results in TiO.sub.2 being imbedded on a porous SiO.sub.2 skeleton. Methods of depositing transparent metal oxide coatings are discussed by S. P. Mukherjee in Ultrastructure of Ceramics, Glasses, and Composites, Hench, L. L. and D. R. Ulrich Eds., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1984. The use of porous glass-ceramic membranes in a reaction vessel for photocatalytic reactions is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,607.

Photocatalytic reactor for metal recovery from industrial waste streams


There are disclosed a secondary suspending agent for suspension polymerization of a vinyl compound (vinyl chloride, etc.) which comprises an aqueous dispersion comprising as the dispersoid, a polyvinyl ester having a degree of hydrolysis of 60 mol% or less, an average degree of polymerization of 4000 or more and an average particle diameter of 100 .mu.m or less; a suspension stabilizing agent comprising 5 to 70% by weight of the secondary suspending agent (PVA, etc.) and 30 to 95% by weight of a water-soluble high molecular compound having a degree of polymerization of 500 or more, the agent being used for suspension polymerization of a vinyl compound; and a process for producing a vinyl polymer (PVC, etc.) comprising suspension polymerizing a vinyl compound by the use of the above suspension stabilizing agent. Both the agents are well suited for producing vinyl polymer granules enhanced in absorption rate of plasticizer, bulk density, removality of residual monomer and porosity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a secondary suspension agent for suspension polymerization of a vinyl compound, a suspension stabilizing agent for suspension polymerization of a vinyl compound, and a process for producing a vinyl polymer. More particularly, it pertains to a secondary suspension agent and a suspension stabilizing agent each excellent in the capability of exhibiting a high dispersibility even by a small usage and further of rendering vinyl polymer particles porous in the case of suspension polymerization of a vinyl compound such as vinyl chloride for the production of the vinyl polymer, and a process for producing a vinyl polymer using the agents.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In industrially producing a vinyl polymer such as a vinyl chloride resin, there has heretofore been widely practiced a suspension polymerization process in which a vinyl compound such as vinyl chloride monomer is suspended in an aqueous medium in the presence of a suspension stabilizing agent and polymerized by the use of an oil-soluble catalyst. In general, the factors governing the quality of the vinyl polymer to be produced thereby include conversion to polymer, water to monomer ratio, polymerization temperature, kind and amount of catalyst, type of polymerization vessel, agitation rate, kind and amount of the suspension stabilizing agent and the like. It is known that among them, the kind of the suspension stabilizing agent produces a great influence on the aforesaid quality.
The performance required for a suspension stabilizing agent for suspension polymerization of a vinyl compound include that (i) the agent functions so as to exhibit a high dispersibility and make the granulometric distribution of the vinyl chloride polymer granules obtained as sharp as possible by the use of a small amount of the agent; (ii) the agent functions so as to make the polymer granules obtained as uniform and porous as possible to increase the absorption rate of a plasticizer for facilitating the workability and to facilitate the removal of the vinyl chloride monomer residue in the polymer granules to prevent the formation of fish eye, etc. in the molding to be obtained; (iii) the agent functions so as to produce polymer granules having a high bulk density; and the like.
As a suspension stabilizing agent for suspension polymerization of a vinyl compound, there has heretofore been employed a cellulose derivative such as menthylcellulose and carboxymethylcellulose, partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol or the like, alone or in combination. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 115890/1977 discloses a process for suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride using as the secondary suspending agent, a partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol having a saponification value of 300 to 500 (equivalent to a degree of hydrolysis of 37.3 to 69.7 mol%) and an average molecular weight of 10,000 to 30,000 (equivalent to an average degree of polymerization of 140 to 530), and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 112210/1980 discloses a process for suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride using as the secondary suspending agent, a partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol having a saponification value of 505 to 600 (equivalent to a degree of hydrolysis of 14.6 to 36.3 mol%) and a viscosity of 0.5 to 2.0 cPs as measured in 4% solution thereof in methanol (equivalent to an average molecular weight of 550 or less). However, the above-mentioned secondary suspending agents have suffered the vital disadvantage that the bulk density of the vinyl chloride polymer granules thus obtained is lowered though some effect is recongnized on the porosity thereof.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6392/1978 discloses a process for suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride using as the secondary suspending agent, a partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of hydrolysis of 40 to 55 mol% and a viscosity of 5 to 15 mPas as measured in 4% solution thereof in mixed solvents of isopropanol and water (1:1 by mixing ratio) (equivalent to an average molecular weight of 74 to 780). However, the aforesaid secondary suspending agent has suffered the drawback of low capability of making porous the vinyl chloride polymer granules obtained, low absorption rate of plasticizer, or difficulty in removing the vinyl monomer residue.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 67319/1990 discloses a suspending agent for suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride which comprises a polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of hydrolysis of 80 mol% and an average degree of polymerization of 3000 and a polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of hydrolysis of 40 mol% and an average degree of polymerization of 3000. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 167745/1981 discloses an aqueous dispersion comprising as the suspending agent, a polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of hydrolysis of 65 mol% or more and an average degree of polymerization of 100 to 3000 and, as the dispersoid, a polyvinyl ester having a degree of hydrolysis of 20 to 65 mol% and an average degree of polymerization of 1000 or less, which aqueous dispersion is usable as the secondary suspending agent for suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride. However, the use of any of the suspending agents as disclosed above can not sufficiently solve the above-stated problems such as low porosity and low bulk density of the vinyl chloride polymer granules.
Further, WO91/15518 discloses the use of an aqueous dispersion comprising as the dispersoid, a polyvinyl ester polymer having an end modified with an ionic group which polyvinyl ester having a degree of hydrolysis of 60 mol% or less and an average degree of polymerization of 50 to 3000 as the secondary suspending agent for suspension polymerization of a vinyl monomer such as vinyl chloride. Nevertheless, a number of difficult problems, especially the low bulk density of the vinyl chloride polymer to be produced remain unsolved in the use of the aforesaid agent.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 110797/1977 discloses a secondary suspending agent for suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride which comprises a partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol having a degree of hydrolysis of 30 to 65 mol% and a degree of polymerization of 60 to 6,000. However, the secondary suspending agent has suffered the defects of low bulk density of the vinyl chloride polymer granules obtained and low absorption rate of plasticizer in spite of some improvement in the porosity thereof.

Secondary suspending agent for suspension polymerization of vinyl compound


A method of producing an electronic or electro-optic device, and the devices produced, includes producing a first electrode by a solution process, producing a second electrode by a solution process, and lamination an active polymer layer between the first and second electrodes.

1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of this invention relate to polymer electronic devices and methods of producing polymer electronic devices, and more particularly to all-solution processes and polymer electronic devices made by all-solution processes.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The contents of all references referred to herein, including articles, published patent applications and patents are hereby incorporated by reference.
Electronic devices based on organic materials (small molecules and polymers) have attracted broad interest. Such devices include organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) (Tang, C. W.; VanSlyke, S. A.; Appl. Phys. Lett. 1987, 51, 913), organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) (Tang, C. W. Appl. Phys. Lett. 1986, 48, 183), transistors (Bao, Z.; Lovinger, A. J.; Dodabalapur, A. Appl. Phys. Lett. 1996, 69, 3066), bistable devices and memory devices (Ma, L. P.; Liu, J.; Yang, Y. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2002, 80, 2997), etc. Some of the most salient attributes of polymer electronics is that they can be very low-cost, flexible, operate with low-energy consumption, can be produced with high-throughput processing, and can be versatile for a range of applications (Forrest, S. R. Nature 2004, 428, 911). To achieve low cost production, solution processing is highly desirable.
Solar cells, also known as photovoltaic (PV) cells or devices, generate electrical power from incident light. The term "light" is used broadly herein to refer to electromagnetic radiation which may include visible, ultraviolet and infrared light.
Traditionally, PV cells have been constructed of a number of inorganic semiconductors, e.g., crystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous silicon, gallium arsenide, cadmium telluride and others. More recently, PV cells have been constructed using organic materials.
Solar cells are characterized by the efficiency with which they can convert incident solar power to useful electric power. Devices utilizing crystalline or amorphous silicon dominate commercial applications, and some have achieved efficiencies of 23% or greater. However, efficient crystalline-based devices, especially of large surface area, are difficult and expensive to produce due to the problems inherent in producing large crystals without significant efficiency-degrading defects. On the other hand, high efficiency amorphous silicon devices still suffer from problems with stability. Present commercially available amorphous silicon cells have stabilized efficiencies between 4 and 8%. More recent efforts have focused on the use of organic photovoltaic cells to achieve acceptable photovoltaic conversion efficiencies with economical production costs as well as other possible advantageous properties.
PV devices produce a photo-generated voltage when they are connected across a load and are irradiated by light. When irradiated without any external electronic load, a PV device generates its maximum possible voltage, V open-circuit, or VOC. If a PV device is irradiated with its electrical contacts shorted, a maximum short-circuit current, or ISC, is produced. (Current is conventionally referred to as "I" or "J".) When actually used to generate power, a PV device is connected to a finite resistive load in which the power output is given by the product of the current and voltage, I×V. The maximum total power generated by a PV device is inherently incapable of exceeding the product ISC×VOC. When the load value is optimized for maximum power extraction, the current and voltage have values, Imax and Vmax, respectively. A figure of merit for solar cells is the fill factor, ff (or FF), defined as:
  ff  =                    I        max                          V        max                            I        SC                          V        OC            where ff is always less than 1, as ISC and VOC are never achieved simultaneously in actual use. Nonetheless, as ff approaches 1, the device is more efficient.
When electromagnetic radiation of an appropriate energy is incident upon a semiconductive organic material, for example, an organic molecular crystal (OMC) material, or a polymer, a photon can be absorbed to produce an excited molecular state. This energy absorption is associated with the promotion of an electron from a bound state in the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO), or equivalently, the promotion of a hole from the LUMO to the HOMO. In organic thin-film photoconductors, the generated excited state is believed to be an exciton, i.e., an electron-hole pair in a bound state which is transported as a quasi-particle. The excitons can have an appreciable life-time before recombination. To produce a photocurrent the electron-hole pair must become separated, for example at a donor-acceptor interface between two dissimilar contacting organic thin films. The interface of these two materials is called a photovoltaic heterojunction If the charges do not separate, they can recombine with each other (known as quenching) either radiatively, by the emission of light of a lower energy than the incident light, or non-radiatively, by the production of heat. Either of these outcomes is undesirable in a PV device. In traditional semiconductor theory, materials for forming PV heterojunctions have been denoted as generally being of either n (donor) type or p (acceptor) type. Here n-type denotes that the majority carrier type is the electron. This could be viewed as the material having many electrons in relatively free energy states. The p-type denotes that the majority carrier type is the hole. Such material has many holes in relatively free energy states. The type of the background majority carrier concentration depends primarily on unintentional doping by defects or impurities. The type and concentration of impurities determine the value of the Fermi energy, or level, within the gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO), called the HOMO-LUMO gap. The Fermi energy characterizes the statistical occupation of molecular quantum energy states denoted by the value of energy for which the probability of occupation is equal to ½. A Fermi energy near the LUMO energy indicates that electrons are the predominant carrier. A Fermi energy near the HOMO energy indicates that holes are the predominant carrier. Accordingly, the Fermi energy is a primary characterizing property of traditional semiconductors and the PV heterojunction has traditionally been the p-n interface.
A significant property in organic semiconductors is carrier mobility. Mobility measures the ease with which a charge carrier can move through a conducting material in response to an electric field. As opposed to free carrier concentrations, carrier mobility is determined in large part by intrinsic properties of the organic material such as crystal symmetry and periodicity. Appropriate symmetry and periodicity can produce higher quantum wavefunction overlap of HOMO levels producing higher hole mobility, or similarly, higher overlap of LUMO levels to produce higher electron mobility. Moreover, the donor or acceptor nature of an organic semiconductor may be at odds with the higher carrier mobility. The result is that device configuration predictions from donor/acceptor criteria may not be borne out by actual device performance. Due to these electronic properties of organic materials, the nomenclature of "hole-transporting-layer" (HTL) or "electron-transporting-layer" (ETL) is often used rather than designating them as "p-type" or "acceptor-type" and "n-type" or "donor-type". In this designation scheme, an ETL will be preferentially electron conducting and an HTL will be preferentially hole transporting.
Organic PV cells have many potential advantages when compared to traditional silicon-based devices. Organic PV cells are light weight, economical with respect to the materials used, and can be deposited on low cost substrates, such as flexible plastic foils. (See, for example, J. J. M. Halls et al. Efficient photodiodes from interpenetrating polymer networks. Nature 376, 498 (1995); N. S. Sariciftci, L. Smilowitz, A. J. Heeger, and F. Wudl, Photoinduced Electron Transfer from a Conducting Polymer to Buckminsterfullerene. Science 258, 1474 (1992); C. J. Brabec, J. A. Hauch, P. Schilinsky, and C. Waldauf, Production aspects of organic photovoltaics and their impact on the commercialization of devices. MRS bulletin, 30, 50 (2005); René A. J. Janssen, Jan C. Hummelen, and N. Serdar Sariciftci, Polymer-fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells. MRS bulletin, 33, 50 (2005); C. W. Tang, Two-layer organic photovoltaic cell. Appl. Phys. Lett. 48, 183 (1986); P. Peumans, A. Yakimov, and S. R. Forrest, Small molecular weight organic thin-film photodetectors and solar cells. J. Appl. Phys. 93, 3693 (2003); and G. Li, et al. High-efficiency solution processable polymer photovoltaic cells by self-organization of polymer blends. Nat. Mater. 4, 864 (2005).) Polymer solar cells have a typical structure of anode/polymer layer/cathode. For such devices, thermal evaporation processing under ultra-high vacuum is conventionally used for the deposition of the final cathode. This conventional process uses expensive and time-consuming vacuum deposition for the metal contacts. Small molecule based organic solar cells have a particular disadvantage in that they require critical control of the thickness of the multilayer device structure over a large area. In addition, low work function metals such as calcium are typically used in order to improve the performance. The degradation of the reactive metal cathode and metal/polymer interface inevitably leads to decreased device performance and sophisticated encapsulation schemes are required to prevent reaction with moisture and oxygen in the air. Consequently, there remains a need for improved organic electronic devices.

Polymer electronic devices by all-solution process

The Regents of the University of California


A device for measuring the density of a formation uses a high-energy pulsed neutron source which induces gamma rays in the formation, and determines a gamma diffusion length of the formation based on the attenuation of gamma rays produced by inelastic scattering of fast neutrons. The borehole tool houses the neutron source along with a near gamma ray detector and a far gamma ray detector. The gamma ray detectors are located at different distances from the fast neutron source and spaced sufficiently from the fast neutron source such that dependence of inelastic gamma counts on fast neutron transport and gamma production of the formation is substantially reduced. Gamma ray events can be sorted and counted in time- and energy-dependent bins. The present invention has several advantages over gamma-gamma logging, including deeper penetration of gamma, and is also superior over systems which measure, e.g., hydrogen-based porosity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to oil and gas well (borehole) logging tools, and more particularly to an improved method of measuring the density of geologic formations using pulsed neutrons to produce gamma radiation which travels through the formation, wherein the gamma diffusion length provides a measure of density.
2. Description of the Related Art
Logging tools for measuring earth formation properties are well known, particularly those used in the location of underground petroleum products (oil and gas). Many borehole logging instruments use various techniques to determine geophysical properties such as bulk density, porosity, water saturation, and gas saturation. Among these techniques are those involving the use of radiant energy. For example, gamma rays are commonly used to measure bulk density of a formation by detecting such radiation as it passes through the formation and relating the amount of detected radiation to the electron density of the formation. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,575.
Gamma rays can be emitted continuously from a source in the borehole tool and propagate outward into the formation. A typical gamma ray source is cesium-137. The electron density of the formation is calculated based on the count rate or intensity of the backscattered gamma rays that are received at detectors located in the tool. Usually at least two detectors (far and near) are used, which allows a measure of formation density that is essentially independent of the mudcake surrounding the tool (the mudcake is the layer of solid material lining the open borehole that has consolidated from the drilling fluid). The detectors are shielded from direct radiation from the gamma ray source by high density material located in the tool body. The use of a gamma ray source and gamma ray detectors is referred to as gamma-gamma logging. See generally, "The Physical Foundations of Formation Density Logging (Gamma-Gamma)," Geophysics vol. XXX, no. 2 (April 1965).
These two-detector density logging tools are satisfactory for use with open, smooth boreholes, but they have a limited depth of investigation (-4" or 10.2 cm) and are not quantitative in cased holes. Cased-hole density logs are often needed to evaluate producing gas wells, and for environmental monitoring. While these instruments can compensate for mudcake, they are unable to accurately compensate for the borehole casing and cement. In particular, the steel casing is up to one-half inch thick and very dense, and thus very effective at blocking the passage of low-energy gamma rays. Various attempts have been made to overcome these limitations. One prior art technique, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,797, requires the use of three or more detectors, and results in improved measurements, but the need for more detectors clearly complicates the tool (and makes it more expensive). Another approach is to use a source with a higher energy level of gamma rays, such as cobalt-60 (which provides 1.173 and 1.333 MeV gamma rays instead of the 0.662 MeV gamma rays from cesium). Although this approach has some advantages, the tool will still have a relatively shallow depth of investigation.
A different approach involves detection of gamma radiation produced in the formation in response to a high-energy neutron source, referred to as induced gamma ray logging. The radiation is analyzed using one of two common techniques to determine the porosity (not density) of the formation. The two methodologies are referred to as GST (gamma spectroscopy tool) and C/O (carbon:oxygen). In the GST-type method, silica, calcium and hydrogen levels are broken out using spectral techniques, and the amount of hydrogen is compared to the combined amount of silica and calcium to determine porosity. In C/O systems, carbon and oxygen levels are determined using spectral techniques and the ratio is then related to porosity.
When the neutron source is pulsed, gamma rays are produced by one of three reactions, inelastic scattering of fast neutrons (neutrons with an energy of about one MeV or within about one order of magnitude), epithermal neutron capture (neutrons with an energy of about one eV), and thermal neutron capture (neutrons with an energy of about 0.025 eV). The fast-neutron lifetimes are very small (a few microseconds) such that during the source pulse a mixed-energy neutron field exists. Shortly after the burst, all neutrons are thermalized (slow down) and these thermal neutrons wander about until being captured, with a lifetime in the hundreds of microseconds. Gamma rays from inelastic scattering are produced in close proximity to the accelerator, and gamma rays from thermal capture are dispersed farther from the accelerator (up to tens of centimeters).
Techniques for determining porosity based on capture gammas fall into one of five basic detector types: single thermal neutron detectors; dual thermal neutron detectors; single epithermal neutron detectors; dual epithermal neutron detectors; and pulsed-neutron capture gamma-ray detectors. A single thermal neutron detector examines the slowing down lengths (amounts of hydrogen and steel in the environment) and relates the number of thermal neutrons to the amount of hydrogen, i.e., a low count rate implies more hydrogen and higher porosity. A dual thermal neutron detector is similar to a single thermal neutron detector but the former has two detectors to provide for compensation techniques for neutron absorbers and near-wellbore variations. A single epithermal neutron detector also similar to a single thermal neutron detector, but the former examines slowing down lengths to epithermal energies. A dual epithermal neutron detector again uses two detectors to provide compensation for near-wellbore variations. A pulsed-neutron capture gamma-ray detector measures the gamma rays produced by thermal neutron absorption using two detectors (far and near), and relates differences in count rates to the amount of hydrogen present.
An early GST system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,763 which uses a pulsed fast neutron source and one detector. Thermal neutron decay times are derived which characterize the formations based on ratios of elemental constituents such as hydrogen, calcium and silicon. An early C/O logging system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,226, which uses a pulsed fast neutron source and one gamma ray spectroscopy detector. Both the inelastic and capture gammas are analyzed to determine the carbon:oxygen ratio. That patent also notes that the inelastic gamma ray counting rate is to some degree dependent on the hydrogen content of the formation. Later instruments added further refinements. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,122,339 and 4,122,340 teach a method of combining the fast and epithermal neutron population measurements to provide a measurement of porosity; an organic scintillator can replace the gamma ray detector to make fast neutron measurements. The same basis for the porosity derivation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,854, but speaks in terms of the pulse height range of the fast neutron energy spectrum only. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,965, the logging tool examines the ratio of gamma ray energies in the capture signal to determine both carbon:oxygen and hydrogen:iron ratios.
Another device using a high energy neutron source is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,645,926 and 4,656,354 (and is sold under the brand name PDK-100 by Dresser Atlas, a division of Dresser Industries, Inc.). That device measures the ratio of inelastic to capture gamma rays (RIC) which is related to porosity. These patents note that heavy elements (higher density) create more inelastic gamma rays such that the higher the density, the higher the inelastic component in the ratio. The "inelastic" count rate used in actually a mix of capture and inelastic rates since no attempt is made to separate these components, so it is unclear what the basis of this porosity determination would be when the capture and inelastic gamma ray mix varies due to non-porosity factors. A method for separating the inelastic scattering events from the mixed count samples during the source pulse is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,823. A variation of the RIC is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,567, specifically involving the ratio of capture events collected after the source pulse to the mixed capture and inelastic events collected during the source pulse. The '926 and '354 patents also refer to the ratio of inelastic gamma rays measured by the near and far detectors (RIN), which is used to identify wellbore geometry variations. The RIN is also used to differentiate hydrocarbon type in shaly sands, but no attempt has been made to relate RIN to porosity.
Yet another approach involving the use of high-energy neutrons relates to inelastic porosity (IPHI) which is a logarithmic function of the near detector inelastic rate, with increasing counts equal to a higher porosity. The same measurement made at the far detector is referred to as FPHI. Recorded count rates are processed to remove the capture and background components leaving only inelastic gamma rays. these inelastic count rates are then scaled in porosity as a logarithmic function of the count rate with an offset. This response is very similar to that of an open-hole density. IPHI is mentioned in "Cased Hole Exploration: Modern Pulsed Neutron Techniques for Locating By-Passed Hydrocarbons in Old Wells," Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Permian Basin Oil & Gas Recovery Conference Proceedings, pp. 167-176 (March 1996); "A New 1.625" Diameter Pulsed Neutron Capture and Inelastic/Capture Spectral Combination System Provides Answers in Complex Reservoirs," SPWLA 35th Annual Logging Symposium (June 1994); and "Using Pulsed Neutron Decay-Spectrum Data and Multi-inflatable Packer Plugdown Assemblies Improve Oil Production Rate in a Mature CO.sub.2 Flood," SPE Permian Basin Oil & Gas Recovery Conference Proceedings, pp. 203-209 (March 1996). Near-wellbore variations and low hydrogen content formations can cause large variances in the gamma ray source size and strength, causing large uncertainties in the porosity calculations. This porosity is based on the fact that the gamma rays created by the inelastic scatter of fast neutrons are Compton-scattered as they make their way to the detectors where they are counted. As long as the transport length is sufficient for the attenuation of the gamma rays (by Compton scattering) to be the dominant component in the received signal, a density-type porosity can be computed. However, if the porosity, borehole size and content are such that Compton scattering is no longer the dominant component (i.e., the gamma ray transport length is short due to the gamma ray creation taking place "near" one or both detectors), then the sensitivity of the count rate to porosity can be diminished (or even inverted).
To summarize the foregoing, gamma-gamma logging provides a measure of formation bulk density (which is problematic with cased holes), while induced gamma ray logging provides a measure of formation porosity (which can also be problematic as noted). A further problem with hydrogen-based porosity measurement is that it rests on two important assumptions: that there is little or no hydrogen in a solid rock matrix, and that all hydrogen present is in the form of water located in the pores. These assumptions can fail, such as in a shale which has a high hydrogen level, or in a formation having a high porosity but filled with gas, not water. Therefore, extrapolating density from porosity is not necessarily accurate.
A hybrid technique may be used wherein induced gamma rays from a high-energy neutron source are analyzed to determine bulk density directly, instead of porosity. See "Bulk Density Logging With High-Energy Gammas Produced by Fast Neutron Reactions with Formation Oxygen Atoms," 1995 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium (copyright 1996). Attenuation of the high-energy neutrons as they transport into the formation, and attenuation of the gammas by the material between the detectors and the gamma sources, are the bases for the density measurement. In this system, a near detector is positioned close (22 cm) to the pulsed source for monitoring the output field and a far detector is placed at a large spacing (100 cm) for density sensitivity. The measured data are the count rates during the burst period. This logging method appears to penetrate more deeply into the formation, even in the presence of borehole casing and grout. Subsequent experiments, however, have shown anomalous behavior as the formation and borehole were filled with water, an effect of the capture counts not being removed. It would, therefore, be desirable to devise a method of using induced gamma ray logging to determine bulk density instead of porosity, but which is not subject to this deficiency. It would be further advantageous if the method were less sensitive to borehole variations.

Formation density measurement utilizing pulse neutrons


Embodiments of the present invention implement virtual transactional memory using cache line marking. The system starts by executing a starvation-avoiding transaction for a thread. While executing the starvation-avoiding transaction, the system places starvation-avoiding load-marks on cache lines which are loaded from and places starvation-avoiding store-marks on cache lines which are stored to. Next, while swapping a page out of a memory and to a disk during the starvation-avoiding transaction, the system determines if one or more cache lines in the page have a starvation-avoiding load-mark or a starvation-avoiding store-mark. If so, upon swapping the page into the memory from the disk, the system places a starvation-avoiding load-mark on each cache line that had a starvation-avoiding load-mark and places a starvation-avoiding store-mark on each cache line that had a starvation-avoiding store-mark.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to computer systems. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to techniques for implementing virtual transactional memory using cache line marking.
2. Related Art
Transactional memory is a useful programming abstraction that helps programmers write parallel programs that function correctly and helps compilers automatically parallelize sequential threads. Unfortunately, existing transactional memory systems suffer from limitations on the size of transactions that they can support. This limitation occurs because transactional memory systems use structures which are bounded in size to keep track of information which grows proportionately with the transaction size. For example, in a typical transactional memory system, the processor buffers transactional store operations in a store queue. However, if the transaction generates a large number of stores, the store queue overflows and the processor must abort the transaction.
In order to alleviate this problem, processor designers have suggested different techniques to provide both hardware-based and hybrid hardware-software based support for "unbounded" transactions. For example, the UTM transactional memory protocol proposed by Ananian et al. (see C. S. Ananian, K. Asanović, B. Kuszmaul, C. Leiserson, and S. Lie, Unbounded Transactional Memory, Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA'05), 2005), and the TCC protocol proposed by Hammond et al. (see L. Hammond, V. Wong, M. Chen, B. Carlstrom, J. Davis, B. Hertzberg, M. Prabhu, H. Wijaya, C. Kozyrakis, and K. Olukotun, Transactional Memory Coherence and Consistency, ISCA p. 102, 31st Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA'04), 2004), are both hardware-based techniques that support starvation-avoiding, unbounded transactions. Unfortunately, UTM requires complex hardware which buffers all data overwritten by transactions in memory and automatically searches through linked lists in memory to determine the value to return for loads. Moreover, TCC requires very high bandwidth, because all data stored during each transaction must be broadcast to all other processors. Furthermore, TCC requires that all other processors stop accessing memory whenever a large, starvation-avoiding transaction is being processed.
The Hybrid protocol proposed by Moir et al. (see M. Moir, P. Damron, A. Fedorova, Y. Lev, V. Luchangco, and D. Nussbaum, Hybrid Transactional Memory, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems, (San Jose 2006)), and the LogTM protocol proposed by Moore et al. (see K. Moore, J. Bobba, M. Moravan, M. Hill & D. Wood, LogTM: Log-based Transactional Memory, 12th Annual International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA-12), 2006), are hybrid hardware-software-based techniques that use hardware for certain transactions but fall back on software for other transactions. More specifically, the Hybrid protocol uses software to run transactions that cannot be completed in hardware (due, for example, to resource constraints), and thus implements a software transactional memory protocol which involves buffering store data in separate data structures until the transaction commits. In contrast, the LogTM protocol requires hardware support to copy old values of certain memory locations that are written within a transaction, and it requires software support to traverse data structures and restore old values of cache lines that were written by transactions that abort. The use of software to implement all or part of the transactional memory system can seriously degrade the performance of the transactional memory system. Furthermore, the hardware support required for LogTM is complex and difficult to implement.
The VTM protocol proposed by Rajwar et al. (see Rajwar, R., Herlihy, M., Lai, K., Virtualizing Transactional Memory, Proceedings, 32nd International Symposium on Computer Architecture 2005 (ISCA '05), 2005), is another hybrid hardware-software based technique that uses hardware to implement transactions that fit in private caches, but maintains a shared data structure with data that has overflowed the private caches in software. The VTM protocol requires that the cache-coherence protocol be modified in order to maintain coherence on virtual addresses.
Hence, what is needed is a processor that can execute unbounded transactions without the problems of the above-described transactional memory systems.

Method and apparatus for implementing virtual transactional memory using cache line marking


In furnaces for producing high purity fused silica glass boules, the refractory in the area of the burner holes reaches such elevated temperatures that cause impurities to leach out and the dissociation of the refractory, causing contamination of the silica glass. In order to reduce the temperature of the burner hole refractory, a porous insert or liner is positioned within the burner hole and a suitable gas is supplied thereto. The gas diffuses through the porous liner and not only cools the liner and refractory, but also forms a boundary layer along an inside surface of the insert that prevents particle buildup. The cooling of the insert and surrounding burner hole refractory prevents contamination of the silica glass from the refractory.

This invention relates to the production of high purity fused silica glass, and in particular, to methods and apparatus for minimizing the contamination of the silica glass from the dissociation of crown refractory.
In overview, high purity fused silica glass is made by depositing fine particles of silica in a refractory furnace at temperatures exceeding 1650xc2x0 C. The silica particles are generated in a flame when a silicon containing raw material along with natural gas is passed through a fused silica producing burner into the furnace chamber. These particles are deposited and consolidated onto a rotating body. The rotating body is in the form of a refractory cup or containment vessel, which is used to provide insulation to the glass as it builds up, and the furnace cavity formed by the cup interior and the crown of the furnace is kept at high temperatures. In the art, glass-making procedures of this type are known as vapor phase hydrolysis-oxidation processes, or simply as flame hydrolysis processes. The body formed by the deposited particles is often referred to as a xe2x80x9cboulexe2x80x9d and it is understood that this terminology includes any silica-containing body formed by a flame hydrolysis process.
A typical prior art furnace for producing fused silica glass includes an outer ring wall, which supports a refractory crown. The crown is provided with a plurality of burner holes, and each such burner hole is provided with a burner positioned there above at an inlet end for directing a flame through the burner hole into the cavity of the furnace. The furnace is provided with a rotatable base, which with the containment wall forms a cup or containment vessel. The rotatable base, forming the bottom of the cup-like containment vessel, is covered with high purity bait which collects the initial silica particles forming the boule.
The refractory crown, having the burners positioned thereon, functions to trap heat within the furnace. However, since the flame and soot from the burners pass through the burner holes in the refractory crown, the burner holes are maintained at elevated temperatures. Such elevated temperatures in the vicinity of each burner hole cause impurities to leach out of the refractory and produce undesirable dissociation of the refractory which contaminates the silica glass.
If the refractory of the burner hole could be operated at a reduced temperature, it would be possible to reduce the amount of contamination of the glass from the refractory. Also, such reduction in temperature would result in an increase in the internal transmission in the ultraviolet range ( less than 400 nm), thus reducing glass defects and/or contamination. It thus became an object of present invention to reduce the temperature of the refractory material surrounding burner holes in a flame hydrolysis furnace by creating a cooling boundary layer adjacent sidewalls of the burner holes.
The use of gaseous curtains are know for unrelated purposes, such as for preventing the contamination of wafers in semiconductor manufacturing as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,803,948 and 4,950,156; and for cooling burner nozzles with oxygen as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,303,386 and 5,567,141. Also U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,928 suggests the use of many layers of gases to provide different types of shields.
It is apparent that there is a need for not only recognizing a problem of contamination of silica glass from over-heated burner hole refractory in high purity fused silica processes, but also for a solution to such problem while maintaining high quality fused silica glass boules.
In view of the forgoing, it is an object of this invention to provide improved method and apparatus for producing silica-containing boules by flame hydrolysis. In particular, it is an object of the invention to reduce burner hole refractory temperatures and virtually prevent the contamination of the silica glass from the refractory. It is a further object of the invention to increase the transmission in the ultraviolet range within the glass and to control glass stoichiometry. These and other objects are obtained by utilizing a porous liner in the burner hole and purging the porous material with a suitable gas to not only cool the liner, but also to create a gas boundary layer that prevents particle buildup in the burner hole and maintains the burner hole at a reduced temperature.

Method and apparatus for reducing refractory contamination in fused silica processes