Process for the production of aluminium hydroxide by digesting bauxite with alkali solution and precipitating aluminium hydroxide from the digestion solution, comprising:. a combining bauxite and alkali solution having a caustic concentration of at least 180 grams per liter expressed as sodium carbonate and digesting partly the bauxite in the combined product in a first digestion step at relatively low temperature, PA1 b separating reaction product obtained in step a into a liquid phase and a solids/liquid slurry, PA1 c combining liquid phase and solids/liquid slurry obtained in step b and digesting the combined product in a second digestion step at relatively high temperature, PA1 d releasing heat from the reaction product obtained in step c to preheat liquid phase obtained in step b, PA1 e separating the reaction product obtained in step d into a supersaturated sodium aluminate solution and undissolved material, PA1 f precipitating aluminium hydroxide from the supersaturated sodium aluminate solution obtained in step e and separating aluminium hydroxide from the spent liquor, and PA1 recycling spent liquor obtained in step f to step a for use as alkali solution.

The invention relates to a process for the production of aluminium hydroxide by digesting bauxite with an alkali solution and precipitating aluminium hydroxide from the digestion solution.
The most common method for the production of aluminium hydroxide from alumina-containing ores, hereafter referred to as bauxite, is the Bayer process. The aluminium hydroxide produced is usually converted into alumina intended for the electrolytical production of aluminium.
In the Bayer process bauxite is digested with an aqueous alkali solution at elevated temperature. Spent liquor, obtained after precipitating aluminium hydroxide from the digestion solution in a later stage in the Bayer process, is used as aqueous alkali solution. After the digestion step the obtained slurry, comprising a solution of alkali aluminate in which solution the constituents of the bauxite which are insoluble in the alkali solution are suspended, is cooled. Commonly flash cooling is used. The flash steam thus produced is used for (pre)heating bauxite and spent liquor before digestion. After separation and washing of the solid phase, generally referred to as red mud, the supersaturated sodium aluminate solution is further cooled and seeded with aluminium hydroxide particles to cause precipitation of aluminium hydroxide. The precipitated aluminium hydroxide is separated, washed, dried and calcined at high temperatures to form alumina. The sodium aluminate liquor with its reduced alumina content (spent liquor) is recycled to the bauxite digestion step after concentrating, if necessary, to remove water which has been introduced into the system, for example during washing the red mud and/or the precipitated aluminium hydroxide, and recharged with sodium hydroxide to make-up for sodium hydroxide losses from the circuit.
The alumina in bauxite generally exists in the form of alumina trihydrate (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.3H.sub.2 O or Al(OH).sub.3, gibbsite) and/or alumina monohydrate (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.H.sub.2 O or AlO(OH), boehmite, diaspore). Generally, alumina trihydrate is the main alumina component. The difference in solubility between the trihydrate and the monohydrates in aqueous alkali solutions requires different conditions in the digestion process.
Alumina monohydrate is not as easily dissolved as alumina trihydrate. A higher caustic concentration and/or a higher digestion temperature and/or a lower alumina to caustic digestion ratio is required to dissolve substantially all the alumina monohydrate from the bauxite. Usually a higher digestion temperature is used to digest the monohydrate.
The bauxite for the Bayer process is usually ground before the extraction procedure. The grinding process is often a wet grinding process in which part of the spent liquor (usually between 5 and 25 per cent) is used. The other part of the spent liquor is directly used for the digestion step.
The digestion process may be classified on the basis of the preheating procedure into a one-stream process, in which the bauxite and the aqueous alkali solution necessary for the extraction are mixed together, whereafter the mixture is subjected to preheating and extraction, and a two-stream process, in which a slurry of the bauxite in a part of the aqueous alkali solution, which slurry is usually obtained in the above-mentioned wet grinding process, and the remainder of the aqueous alkali solution are preheated individually, mixed together and then subjected to extraction.
A disadvantage of the one-stream process is the severe erosion and/or scaling which may occur during the indirect heating of the caustic bauxite slurry in indirect heat exchangers. This holds especially when the digestion step has to be carried out at relatively high temperatures because of the presence of alumina monohydrate in the bauxite feed. This problem may be solved by using steam injection in direct contact heaters. However, if the entire liquor stream is heated in this manner, excessive dilution will result.
A disadvantage of the two-stream process is the severe corrosion, which may occur in the indirect heaters used for heating the spent liquor, especially when the free caustic concentration is high and/or the temperature is high. The use in the two-stream process of indirect heat exchangers manufactured from a special material which will not be attacked by the hot alkali solution is less desirable in view of the high costs.
When bauxite containing an economically winnable amount of alumina monohydrate is used in the Bayer process, it is common practice that at least part of the digestion step is carried out at high temperature, and thus also at high pressure. Two processes are in use for extracting alumina from such bauxites. In the first process the digestion of both mono- and trihydrate is carried out under digestion conditions suitable for monohydrate-containing ores. In the second process the trihydrate is first digested from the bauxite under digestion conditions suitable for trihydrate-containing ores and the resulting residue is then treated under digestion conditions suitable for monohydrate-containing ores.
In the first process the bauxite is treated in a single digestion step at severe conditions of high temperature and high pressure suitable for digestion of the monohydrate. Consequently, the capital costs of such a plant are high.
In the second process the bauxite is first digested at conditions suitable for trihydrate extraction. In the second step the residue, which includes the monohydrate, is re-digested with a second portion of spent liquor under conditions suitable for monohydrate-containing ores.
Disadvantages of these processes are the severe erosion and/or scaling which may occur in case a one stream process is used or the severe corrosion which may occur in the case that a two-stream process is used at high temperature and/or using a high free caustic concentration.
The process of the present invention especially relates to the digestion at relatively high temperatures, usually between 210.degree. and 270.degree. C., of bauxite containing alumina trihydrate together with a certain amount of alumina monohydrate.

Process for the production of aluminum hydroxide from bauxite

Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij B.V.


A corrosion resistant barrier is provided for isolated circuity. An isolated circuit (10, 12) with raised interconnection features (16, 18) having a corrosion resistant gold coating (34) is formed on a reusable stainless steel mandrel (22) which is provided with indentations to define raised features. A seed layer (32) of copper is electroplated on the mandrel in a pattern of the isolated circuit to be formed. The copper seed layer (32) is then followed by electroplated layers of gold (34), nickel (36) and copper (38) until a total desired conductor thickness is achieved. A dielectric substrate (44, 46) is laminated on the multilayer conductive traces of the circuit. After removal of the multilayer circuit from the mandrel, a predrilled dielectric coverlay (50) is laminated to the circuit with holes in the coverlay receiving the raised circuit features (52). The finished part is then etched to remove the copper seed layer from the raised features.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the manufacture of electrical circuitry and more particularly concerns the method of attaining a corrosion resistant barrier upon isolated areas of electrical circuitry by employing a reusable mandrel.
2. Description of Related Art
Many different types of printed circuits employ gold or other corrosive resistant coatings on exposed conductive surfaces, among such circuits are those having projecting connective elements. Such connective elements are used in printed circuits that are connected to one another by projecting elements in the form of metallic interconnection features that are pressed against similar projecting features or mating metallic connecting pads on the other circuit components. Flexible circuit terminations and connecting wafers of this type are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,310 to Patrick A. Reardon II, U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,517 to Selvin et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,795 to Moulin. For, many applications, whether or not projecting connective features are used it is required that exposed circuitry and, particularly the raised connection features on the circuitry be coated with a corrosion resistant material such as gold. Electroless gold plating results in a porous surface that is incapable of providing effective corrosion resistance. Additionally, the purity of the gold is inferior to electrodeposited gold due to the co-deposition of the reducing agent in the electroless solution. Accordingly, electrodeposition is employed to achieve non-porous corrosion barriers. To electroplate a raised feature an electrical connection is made to the feature, frequently by means of a lead that extends to the edge of the circuit part where plating current is provided. However, in some instances the circuit is isolated, that is, it has no electrical connection to edges of the part on which it is mounted. Accordingly, it is common, when corrosion plating isolated raised features, to form an additional conductive path from the feature to the periphery of the part to provide a path to be used solely for electroplating current. Once the gold plating is completed, this conductive path has no use. Nevertheless, after cutting the part to final dimensions, this conductive plating path remains and provides a path for possible future shorting because it forms a bare lead at the edge of the product. Another disadvantage of the use of these conductive plating paths is the fact that they require area on the surface of the part which may be more efficiently used for functional circuit traces.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a corrosion resistant coating on an isolated circuit in a manner that minimizes or avoids problems of the prior art.

Method for electrodepositing corrosion barrier on isolated circuitry


Technologies are described herein for converting a desktop application to a web application. An interface file is generated based on a user interface of the desktop application. A logic file is generated based on application executables of the desktop application. A data model is generated based on application data and states of the desktop application. The web application is generated based on the interface file, the logic file, and the data model.

Business applications have traditionally been offered as desktop applications. Desktop applications, which are typically installed on individual client machines, generally provide a rich, responsive, and available interface that includes a wide range of user interface ("UI") controls and other design elements. Also, because business applications have traditionally been offered as desktop applications, the development of desktop applications is generally known. However, some drawbacks of desktop applications include operating system ("OS") dependence, security vulnerability, and maintenance difficulty.
Regarding OS dependence, a desktop application designed for one operating system may not execute on another operation. Sometimes a desktop application designed for one version of an operating system may not even run on another version of the same operating system. Regarding security vulnerability, multiple desktop applications running on the same computer and operating system may suffer from various application conflicts, such as namespace conflicts or dependency conflicts between software components. Regarding maintenance difficulty, deploying and updating each instance of the same desktop application on multiple client machines can be tedious and time-consuming, especially for large enterprises with a substantial collection of client machines.
In contrast to desktop applications, World Wide Web ("web") applications are OS-independent. Most web applications operate on any standard web browser connected to the Internet, irrespective of the underlying operating system. Further, because web applications run in the web browser, application conflicts like namespace conflicts and dependency conflicts can be avoided. Additionally, a web application which runs in the cloud can be deployed and updated in a single instance where the web application is hosted.
The process of converting existing desktop applications into web applications usually involves a complete rewrite of the desktop application. This can be incredibly cost prohibitive and error prone. Further, some conventional web interfaces (e.g., HTML4 or earlier) do not provide adequate functionality for providing the same rich interface that the desktop application can. As a result, existing web versions of desktop applications typically provide reduced functionality in a simpler interface when compared to the installed desktop applications.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Converting desktop applications to web applications


A method for forming a capacitor in a semiconductor device comprises forming an inter-layer layer on a semi-finished substrate; etching the inter-layer insulation layer to form a plurality of first contact holes; forming a first insulation layer on sidewalls of the first contact holes; forming a plurality of storage-node contact plugs filled into the first contact holes; forming a second insulation layer with a different etch rate from the first insulation layer over the storage-node contact plugs; forming a third insulation layer on the second insulation layer; sequentially etching the third insulation layer and the second insulation layer to form a plurality of second contact holes exposing the storage-node contact plugs; and forming the storage node on each of the second contact holes.

The present invention relates to a method for forming a storage node of a capacitor in a semiconductor device; and, more particularly, to a method for forming a storage node of a capacitor in a dynamic random access memory device.
As semiconductor devices have become highly integrated, the overall unit cell size has gradually decreased. For example, in a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device, the unit cell comprises one transistor and one capacitor. Thus, as the integration scale of semiconductor devices has increased, it has become more difficult to control related processes.
FIGS. 1A to 1C relate to a method for forming a storage node of a capacitor in a DRAM device.
Referring to FIG. 1A, an inter-layer insulation layer 11 is formed on a substrate 10, where the inter-layer insulation layer 11 is patterned through a photolithography process to form a plurality of contact holes (not shown). An insulation layer and a polysilicon layer are sequentially formed inside each contact hole, and a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process is performed on the polysilicon layer and the insulation layer, thereby forming spacers 12 on sidewalls of the contact holes and a plurality of storage-node contact plugs 13 filled into the contact holes. A nitride layer 14, an oxide layer 15 and a hard mask layer 16 are sequentially formed on the above resulting substrate structure.
Referring to FIG. 1B, although not illustrated, a photoresist layer is formed on the hard mask layer 16, and a photo-exposure and developing process is performed with use of a mask, thereby forming a photoresist pattern. Then, the hard mask layer 16 is etched by using the photoresist pattern as an etch mask. After the etching of the hard mask layer 16, a hard mask pattern 16A is formed. The oxide layer 15 is then etched by using the hard mask pattern 16A as an etch barrier and this etching is stopped at the nitride layer 14. It should be appreciated that the nitride layer 14 acts as an etch stop layer. After the etching of the oxide layer 15, a plurality of first contact holes 17 exposing the nitride layer 14 are formed.
Referring to FIG. 1C, the nitride layer 14 is etched to form a plurality of second contact holes 17A exposing the storage-node contact plugs 13. Although not illustrated, a storage node layer, a dielectric layer and an upper electrode layer are sequentially formed over the second contact holes 17A and then, a CMP process is performed thereon, thereby forming capacitors.
However, as shown in FIG. 1C, there may be an incidence of misalignment between the second contact holes 17A and the storage-node contact plugs 13. Thus, when the nitride layer 14 is etched, the spacers 12 are also etched, thereby generating crevices A at sidewalls of the inter-layer insulation layer 11. Afterwards, when the storage node layer, the dielectric layer and the upper electrode layer are formed, a step coverage characteristic of the storage node layer becomes poor at the regions where the crevices A are generated. Therefore, leakage current of the capacitors increases, thereby causing defects in semiconductor devices.

Method for forming storage node of capacitor in semiconductor device


An application device and an application method are disclosed which enable a three-dimensional applying and drawing process to be performed without provision of any rotary mechanism on a discharge head. The application device comprises a discharge head that includes a discharge device having a discharge port opened in a Z direction, a stage that holds a workpiece, a set of XYZ relatively-moving devices that moves the discharge head and the stage relative to each other, an R-axis rotation device that rotates the stage about an R-axis parallel to an XY plane, a P-axis rotation device that rotates the stage about a P-axis parallel to the XY plane, the P-axis extending in a different direction from the R-axis, a control device, and a stand, wherein the P-axis rotation device is disposed under the R-axis rotation device, and the P-axis rotation device rotates the stage and the R-axis rotation device together.

There is known a liquid material application device in which a liquid material is discharged from a nozzle and the discharge liquid material is applied to a workpiece placed on a stage. The need for performing an applying and drawing process on a three-dimensional object has increased in recent years. In particular, techniques for performing the applying and drawing process on a lateral surface of the three-dimensional object have been demanded.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a liquid material application device that can simplify, by using an inclinable stage, positioning of a workpiece to which the liquid material is applied.

Liquid material application device and application method


Clock regulation apparatus for preventing a logic switching mechanism from operating incorrectly. The apparatus has a supply voltage input that receives a supply voltage, which is also applied to the logic switching mechanism, a comparison unit that outputs an error signal if the supply voltage value drops below a reference value, a clock signal input that receives a clock signal from a clock generator, and a clock suppression unit, which is coupled to the clock signal input and to the comparison unit, that has a clock output for outputting the clock signal and that suppresses or delays the clock signal for a duration of at least one clock period if the error signal exists.

In complex logic switching mechanisms such as those used in integrated circuits, for example, the current drawn is subject to severe fluctuations. The reason for this is, inter alia, that in phases when the logic switching mechanism is inactive the clock signal is supplied only to such parts of the logic switching mechanism as are necessary for subsequently reactivating the operation of the logic switching mechanism. In the reactivation phase, the current drawn by the logic switching mechanism rises greatly within a few clock periods.
Such a rise in current causes a supply voltage drop in the entire logic switching mechanism through the inductive and resistive coating of the electrical power supply on a component which comprises the logic switching mechanism, in the housing of the component, on a board which comprises the component, as far as a blocking capacitance on the power supply source.
If the supply voltage drops below a minimum permissible limit value, this may result in incorrect behavior or in operating failure of the logic switching mechanism. In particular, a combinational logic unit in the logic switching mechanism may require a long period of time in order to reach a stable operating state. When the supply voltage has dropped, the subsequent clock signal may transfer incorrect logic values into the logic switching mechanism. These result in an impermissible state of the combinational logic and subsequently in incorrect behavior from the logic switching mechanism. Such incorrect behavior can be terminated only by resetting the logic switching mechanism to an initial state. Operation of the associated component is thus temporarily unavailable.
To avoid a drop in the supply voltage in the course of various operating conditions, it is known practice for the voltage supply to be designed on a redundant basis. This is done using an additional capacitor whose capacitance is designed for the small timescales within an integrated component. This means that an additional area is required on the semiconductor component, which results in increased production costs.
JP2001125690-A has disclosed an apparatus which lowers the clock frequency of a microprocessor in the event of the supply voltage dropping. To this end, a measuring apparatus is provided which detects when the supply voltage drops below a reference value and then terminates supply of the clock signal. The microprocessor is supplied with a further clock signal having a low clock frequency from an internal clock source. As JP07264874-A also provides, this requires the microprocessor to be reset to an initial state. The two apparatuses are used to provide a clock source which outputs a clock signal having different clock frequencies. Such clock sources deliver an inaccurate clock signal during a transient period.
WO 00/26747-A1 describes a method and an apparatus for restricting the power consumption in a microprocessor. The microprocessor's power consumption is observed and a clock frequency and the microprocessor's supply voltage are regulated accordingly, so that the microprocessor's power consumption is below a prescribed limit value. The logic switching mechanism is not prevented from behaving incorrectly. In addition, they have the associated drawback that it is necessary to provide a clock source having a variably adjustable clock frequency.

Clock regulation apparatus and circuit arrangement


A collector for a heat pump installation includes a pipe to circulate a heat transfer liquid between a heat source and a heat pump. An inner surface of the pipe has an uneven surface structure that includes at least one of indentations or elevations extending helically in a longitudinal direction. The indentations or elevations are arranged to create a turbulent flow of the heat transfer liquid in the pipe.

In water, ground and down in the bedrock, there are a heat source free of cost. Use of heat from sea, surface ground heat and bedrock heat is a secure, safe and environmental heating technique. The heat energy can be transmitted to an existing, conventional waterborne heating system and also used for hot-water production.
In a geothermal heating system, the hear is extracted from a bore hole, a so called drilled energy well. The collector is the pipe, which comprises a heat transfer medium in the form of a so called heat transfer liquid, that convey heat through the heated heat transfer medium and that also convey the cooled heat transfer medium back in a closed cycle.
In a surface ground heat plant, a several hundred meter long tubing is buried to a frostproof depth and arranged in coils. The collector tubing collects the heat that occur in the ground and use it to vaporize the cooling agent of the heat pump.
Sea heat works fundamentally in the same way as surface ground heat. The energy that exists stored in the sea water and in bottom layer is utilized. The collector tubing is put on the bottom of a water course.
There are various kinds of heat pump collectors. The kind of collector, that is the most frequent today, is called U-pipe collector. According to that principle, a separate, closed pipe is arranged in a drilled hole. This is for example carried out such that a continuous elongated pipe of plastics, suitably polyethylene, is bent on the middle such that it forms a U-shape. The lowest part of the "U" of the pipe is arranged on the drilled hole, and subsequently the pipe is advanced down into the drilled hole. Thus, the U-pipe forms a single continuous line for the heat transfer liquid in a closed cycle, in direction from the heat pump down into to drilled hole and back out of the drilled hole and further back to the heat pump in the one and the same pipe.
For installations of geothermal heating there are also a so called three-pipe collector, which is a variant of a collector that comprises a pipe for conveyance of the heat transfer liquid down into the drilled hole, which pipe has a branching-off to two pipes that transports the heat transfer liquid back from the drilled hole and further to heat pump. The term "single pipe collector" in this disclosure is a common term for the coils of collectors and collector tubing mentioned above that are intended for sea heat and surface ground heat. In the single pipe collector, the heat transfer liquid can be lead in a pipe with essentially the same cross-sectional area along the whole longitudinal extension of the collector.
Another type of collector according to the prior art is the so called coaxial collector. An inner pipe is arranged in an outer pipe. The pipes are welded together to one unit that subsequently is installed in a drilled hole. The purpose with this technique, having "a pipe in a pipe" is that it is desirable to avoid mixing for too long time of the cooled heat transfer liquid, that is brought down into the bore hole, with the heated heat transfer liquid, that shall be carried up in the collector. By providing an outer pipe with large diameter, a slower flow in the outer pipe having large diameter is achieved, whereby a positive output is reached when it comes to heat absorption quality. The coaxial collector is not found in any considerable extent on the market today, since this technique involves large installation and production costs. However, the coaxial collector is generally considered to be more effective than the conventional single pipe collector.
DE 20 2004 007 567 U1 discloses a coaxial collector according to the well known kind, described above. This comprises a connecting pipe for inflow of heat transfer liquid to an outer pipe, that comprises an uneven surface structure on the inside of the outer pipe. The heated heat transfer liquid is returned via an inner pipe up through a connecting pipe.
US 2007/0023163 A1 discloses a coaxial collector according to the well known kind as described above. This comprises a connecting pipe for inflow of heat transfer liquid in an inner pipe, that ends just above the bottom of an outer pipe, arranged outside the inner pipe. The heat transfer liquid is heated during circulation in the space between the outer pipe and the inner pipe, while guided via a helical structure ("turbulence generator" or turbulence generating structure") arranged on the outside of the inner pipe and further conveyed to a heat exchanger via a pump.
The wall thickness on the collector pipe is optimized such that the heat transfer medium obtain a maximal absorption of heat, the pipes becomes easy to handle and such that the return weight strive straight down into the bore hole, in the case with a drilled energy well. The length is adapted as desired.
However, a problem with the traditional single pipe collector is that the absorption of energy from the surrounding water in the energy well is not optimal. There is a large need for a more effective utilization of the energy. This also applies to the single pipe collectors that are intended for sea systems and surface ground heat plants.


A dual clutch engine coupling damper includes a slipping ECCC clutch in series with a plurality of damper springs, and a bypass clutch in parallel with the damper springs. The ECCC is adapted for use when the vehicle engine is running and the bypass clutch is adapted for use when the vehicle engine is being started. The dual clutch engine coupling damper incorporates a single pressure plate design adapted to actuate both the ECCC clutch and the bypass clutch. The single pressure plate design is compact and minimizes axial space requirements for the apparatus. Additionally, the components of the present invention are primarily stamped parts which may be produced in an inexpensive and efficient manner.

In a standard vehicle drive system it is well known to provide a torque converter between the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine and a transmission. Typically, such torque converters include a clutch to produce a direct drive connection between the engine and the transmission. Furthermore, such torque converters generally include a damper assembly to absorb torque fluctuations.


Information generated by a terminal is delivered to an ATM transmission circuit, which assembles a cell from the information and inserts the cell into a transmission cell stream. An unassigned cell and an idle cell that do not contain information to be actually transmitted are removed from the transmission cell stream by an ineffective cell removing circuit. Only a cell which contains information to be actually transmitted is held by a FIFO memory until a transmission time. The reception by an ATM reception circuit of a cell representing a reference time is detected by a received VPI/VCI detecting circuit. The time at which to output the transmission cell from the FIFO memory to a circuit line is determined by a timer with respect to the reference time. In response to the determined time, a transmission control circuit reads the transmission cell from the FIFO memory, and delivers the transmission cell to the circuit line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a time-division multiplex communication control circuit for an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) terminal, and more particularly to a time-division multiplex communication control circuit for an ATM terminal which carries out time-division multiplex communications in a network which has no multiplexer on a circuit line.
2. Description of the Related Art
For effecting time-division multiplex communications between a plurality of terminals in a network with ATM, it is necessary to multiplex information generated by the terminals according to a time-division multiplex process in order to transmit the information over a single circuit line.
Time-division multiplex communication control circuits for controlling such time-division multiplex communications are used to transmit the multiplexed information from the terminals over the single circuit line. Conventional time-division multiplex communication control circuits require that a multiplexer be provided on the circuit line.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 114912/93 discloses a time-division multiplex communication control technique for synchronizing information generated by a plurality of mediums in a system which has a multiplexer on a circuit line.
Since the multiplexer needs to be provided on the circuit line, the conventional time-division multiplex communication control circuits cannot use a circuit line of a network which has no multiplexer on the circuit line, such as a circuit line of an existing CATV (CAble TeleVision) network, directly as an ATM circuit line, or use such a circuit line as both an ATM circuit line and a circuit line for originally intended use.
The reasons for the above problem are as follows: A plurality of terminals of a network operate independently of each other and generate their own items of information out of synchronism with each other. The items of information generated by the respective terminals overlap each other in time. If the overlapping items of information were transmitted over the circuit line without being multiplexed, then they would conflict each other on the circuit line.

Time-division multiplex communication control circuit for ATM terminal


An overhead reduction system creates a plurality of candidates of constants to be stored in one or more constant registers based on constants used in the program code of the current compilation scope, estimates, for each of the candidates of constants, an effect of overhead reduction by generation of the constant used in the program code by using the candidate of constant, determines a base constant to be loaded on the constant registers based on the estimation result, loads the base constant on the constant registers at an entry point of the program code, and generates a code for generating the constants used in the program code by using values of the constant registers.

The present invention generally relates to software development and more particularly to a technique for reducing constant loading overhead in a RISC processor.
Unlike CISC processors which may process instructions of variable lengths, RISC processors may require a fixed instruction size. As a result, a plurality of instructions may be necessary to load a long constant on a register in RISC processors. For example, in an IBM POWER™ processor, loading of a 32-bit constant 0x12345678 may be achieved by combining two instructions in the following fashion: (1) lis reg, 0x1234 and (2) on reg, reg, 0x5678.
Based on an instruction Us in item (1), a value shifting a constant 0x1234 by 16 bits to the left may be stored in a register reg. In this way, the digits of the upper half of the 32-bit constant 0x12345678 are set as upper 16 bits of the register reg. Next, based on an instruction on in item (2), a logical sum of the register reg and a constant 0x5678 may be written in the register reg. In doing so, the digits of the lower half of the 32-bit constant 0x12345678 may be set as lower 16 bits of the register reg. As a result, the 32-bit constant 0x12345678 may be loaded on the register reg.
As the number of instructions increases, execution time, cost, and pressure on an instruction cache may also increase. For example, loading of a 64-bit constant may require creating a memory region (also referred to as Table of Contents: TOC) with aligned constants during compilation. Then, one register (hereinafter "TOC register") may be allocated to hold a pointer indicating the TOC. To use a constant, the TOC register may load the constant from the memory. This may reduce the number of instructions for loading the constant but may substantially increase pressure on the data cache.


A system and method are provided for reducing film surface protrusions in the fabrication of LILAC films. The method comprises: forming an amorphous film with a first thickness; annealing the film using a LILAC process, with beamlets having a width in the range of 3 to 10 microns; in response to annealing, forming protrusions on the film surface; optionally oxidizing the film surface; thinning the film; and, in response to thinning the film, smoothing the film surface. Typically, the film surface is smoothed to a surface flatness of 300 Å, or less. In some aspects of the method, oxidizing the film surface includes oxidizing the film surface to a depth. Then, thinning the film includes thinning the film to a third thickness equal to the first thickness minus the depth.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to integrated circuit fabrication and, more particularly, to a system and method for smoothing surface protrusions in the surface of laser annealed semiconductor films.
2. Description of the Related Art
When forming thin film transistors (TFTs) for use in liquid crystal display (LCD) or other microelectronic circuits, the location of transistors channel regions, the orientation of regular structured polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) or single-grain-crystalline silicon, and the surface roughness are important issues. This poly-Si material can be used as the active layer of poly-Si TFTs in the fabrication of active-matrix (AM) backplanes. Such backplanes can be used in the fabrication of AM LCDs and can be also combined with other display technologies, such as organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays.
Poly-Si material is typically formed by the crystallization of initially deposited amorphous Si (a-Si) films. This process can be accomplished via solid-phase-crystallization (SPC), for example, by annealing the a-Si films in a furnace at appropriate temperature and for sufficiently long time. Alternatively, laser annealing can also be used to achieve the phase transformation.
Conventionally, crystallization techniques are applied to a substrate in such a manner as to yield uniform poly-Si film quality throughout the substrate area. In other words, there is no spatial quality differentiation over the area of the substrate. The most important reason for this end result is the inability of conventional methods to achieve such quality differentiation. For example, when a-Si film is annealed in a furnace or by rapid-thermal-annealing, all of the film is exposed to the same temperature, resulting in the same quality of poly-Si material. In the case of conventional laser annealing, some differentiation is possible, but the price, in terms of loss of throughput, is very high for the modest performance gains realized.
Recently, a new laser annealing technique has been developed that allows for significant flexibility in the process techniques, permitting controlled variation in resulting film microstructure. This technique relies on lateral growth of Si grains using very narrow laser beams, that are generated by passing a laser beam through a beam-shaping mask, and projecting the, image of the mask to the film that is being annealed. The method is called Laser-Induced Lateral Crystallization (LILaC), sequential lateral solidification (SLS), or SLS/LILAC. More conventional solid state or continuous laser annealing processes can be differentiated from LILAC processes by their use of relatively long pulse durations and wide beam widths (or mask apertures). The poly-Si material crystallized by the continuous laser annealing method consists of a large density of grains, and each grain is surrounded by grain boundary. The size of grains are typically ˜1 micron (μm). But the typical channel length of TFT is 2˜30 microns, so it is inevitable that channel regions of TFT contain several grain boundaries. These grain boundaries act as electron and hole traps, and degrade the TFT characteristics and reliability. The LILAC process can form larger grain lengths between grain boundaries.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the LILaC process (prior art). The initially amorphous silicon film is irradiated by a very narrow laser beamlet, with typical widths of a few microns (i.e. 3-5 μm). Such small beamlets are formed by passing the original laser beam through a mask that has open spaces or apertures (see FIG. 2), and projecting the beamlets onto the surface of the annealed Si-film.
FIG. 2 is a conventional laser annealing mask (prior art). Returning to FIG. 1, the sequence of images 1 through 4 illustrates the growth of long silicon grains. A step-and-repeat approach is used. The shaped laser "beamlet" (indicated by the 2 parallel, heavy black lines) irradiates the film and then steps by a distance smaller than half of the width of the slit. As a result of this deliberate advancement of each beamlet, grains are allowed to grow laterally from the crystal seeds of the poly-Si material formed in the previous step. This is equivalent to laterally "pulling" the crystals, as in zone-melting-crystallization (ZMR) method or other similar processes. As a result, the crystal tends to attain very high quality along the "pulling" direction, in the direction of the advancing beamlets. This process occurs simultaneously at each slit on the mask, allowing for rapid crystallization of the area covered by the projection of the mask on the substrate. Once this area is crystallized, the substrate moves to a new (unannealed) location and the process is repeated.
FIG. 3 is a pictorial representation of a system to accomplish the optical projection and the step-and repeat process (prior art). The LILaC process has the potential for creating intentional spatial variations in the quality of the poly-Si material. Such intentional variations can be beneficial for applications where multiple components are integrated on a display, where each component has different specifications and material performance requirements.
Some poly-Si materials formed through the LILaC process have a highly periodical microstructure, where crystal bands of specific width are separated by high-angle grain boundaries. Within the crystal bands, low-angle boundaries are observed with a frequency of occurrence dependent upon certain specifics of the crystallization process, such as film thickness, laser fluence (energy density), pulse duration, and the like. TFTs fabricated on such poly-Si films demonstrate very good characteristics, as long as the direction of conduction is parallel to the direction of the in-crystal low-angle boundaries.
TFTs with greater electron mobility can be fabricated if the substrate crystallization characteristics can be made more isotropic. In other words, the TFT performance depends upon the angle between the main crystalline growth direction, the direction parallel to the laser scanning axis, and the TFT channel. This is due to the formation of sub-boundaries within the crystal domains. The surface roughness at the "hard" grain boundaries, at the edges of the crystal bands/domains, can be significant. This surface roughness prohibits the reduction of the gate insulator thickness, which is one critical step for scaling down the device geometry for future applications. Further, not all of these processes can be location controlled. Therefore, by chance only, depending upon the relative size of the crystal domain and the TFT channel length, certain TFTs will not include grain-boundaries in their active area (channel), whereas other TFTs will include one or more boundaries in their active areas. This kind of non-uniformity is highly detrimental for critical-application TFTs where uniformity of characteristics is more essential than absolute performance.
FIG. 4 is partial cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 illustrating the surface topography of laser-irradiated domains (prior art). After the completion of the lateral growth, the two crystal fronts meet at the center of the domain where they form a "boundary" between the two crystal regions developing from each opposing edge of the domain. As a result of the grain boundary formation, a "ridge" develops at the surface of the film at the boundary, corresponding to the planned congruence of the two crystal fronts. Since the substrate steps under the beam a distance of d, where d is less than L/2, the ridge is irradiated is a subsequent shot. This ridge remelts and locally planarizes. However, as part of the same process, another ridge is formed at a new location. Therefore, the ridge location will "march" across the substrate in response to the scans under the beam.
For single-crystal regions or directionally solidified material, devices can be fabricated on crystallized regions that have no protrusions. But for large-grained polycrystalline SLS material (e.g., material produced via the 2-shot or 2N processes), there can be a large number of surface protrusions that can adversely affect the device performance and limit the thickness of gate insulator that can be used. Thus, it is imperative that these protrusions be eliminated for optimal device performance.
If the angle of rotation between the lattice mismatch on the two sides of the boundary is less than approximately 15 degrees, the boundary is considered to be a low-angle boundary. An angle of rotation between 15 and 90 degrees is considered to be a high-angle boundary. Electron mobility between high-angle boundaries is impaired, while mobility between low-angle boundaries is usually insignificant. The step-and-repeat annealing typically promotes low-angle boundaries. However, the film regions corresponding to the mask edges, not being subject to the step-and-repeat process, are likely to form high-angle boundaries.
One embodiment of the SLS/LILaC process involves the use of a large array of narrow slits that simultaneously melt and solidify the Si thin film in such a way as to fully crystallize the entire film after two passes that are stitched together. The drawback to such an approach is that due to volume expansion of the Si material during solidification, a large peak appears in the center of each irradiated region with a magnitude approximately equal to that of the film thickness. This peak-to-valley roughness can be detrimental to the characteristics of devices subsequently fabricated on the thin film. One way to eliminate or reduce the magnitude of this surface roughness is to partially melt the Si thin film and cause the mass to redistribute itself to reduce the surface tension of the liquid material. A mask that uses diffractive optics can be used to create a homogenous beam with a reduced transmission in the energy density at the sample plane. This homogenous beam then "flood" irradiates the sample and induces partial melting of the film.
It would be advantageous if the surface of laser annealed films could be made more smooth, so that thinner overlying films could be formed.
It would be advantageous if the post annealing surface smoothing process could be further refined to increase throughput and to reduce processing times.

Thin film structure from LILAC annealing


In a phase-change ink image producing machine, better control flow of molten solid ink may be provided by a solid ink valve system including a valve plate with one or more valve ports, an umbilical connector, and a valve positioned between the valve plate and the umbilical connector. Ink flow between the valve plate and the umbilical connector may be asynchronously regulated by actuating the valve. Such actuation may be performed by heating and cooling the valve, by applying electric current to a coil that surrounds a valve element of the valve and to a wire provided in the valve element and/or by asynchronously actuating a valve associated with the valve port.

Phase-change ink image producing machines or printers employ phase-change inks that are in the solid phase at ambient temperature, but exist in the molten or melted liquid phase at the elevated operating temperature of the machine or printer. At such an elevated operating temperature, droplets or jets of the molten or liquid phase change ink are ejected from a printhead device of the printer onto a printing media. Such ejection can be directly onto a final image receiving substrate, or indirectly onto an imaging member before transfer from it to the final image receiving media. When the ink droplets contact the surface of the printing media, the droplets quickly solidify to create an image in the form of a predetermined pattern of solidified ink drops.
An example of such a phase change ink image producing machine or printer, and the process for producing images therewith onto image receiving sheets is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,852.

Valve system for molten solid ink and method for regulating flow of molten solid ink


A sigma delta DAC using a single DAC to generate a first analog quantity portion and a second analog quantity portion, having a strength respectively proportionate to the most significant bits (MSBs) and least significant bits (LSBs) of a received digital value. The two portions are added to generate an analog output representing the strength of the digital value. In an embodiment, the single DAC contains a set of current sources, with some of the current sources (determined by the value of the MSBs) being connected to provide the corresponding output currents on a first path. Some of the other current sources, determined by a value of the LSBs, are controlled to be connected to provide the corresponding output currents on a second path. The time durations the currents are connected to the second path, are determined by the output of a sigma delta modulator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to digital to analog converters, and more specifically to a sigma delta digital to analog converter (SD-DAC) with wide output range and improved linearity.
2. Related Art
Digital to analog converters (DAC) are often implemented employing sigma delta (also known as delta sigma) modulation techniques. As is well known in the relevant arts, a sigma delta DAC is a type of DAC containing a sigma delta modulator followed by a digital-to-analog conversion stage and an analog filter, with the sigma delta modulator receiving the digital input (or at least a portion of the digital input) sought to be converted, and the analog filter providing the corresponding analog level.
As is also well known in the relevant arts, a first order sigma delta modulator may contain one summing junction, an integrator and a quantizer. The output of the quantizer (which is also the output of the sigma delta modulator) is subtracted from the input, and the resulting difference (delta value) is integrated. The integrated value (sigma value) is then quantized (converted to a nearest one of multiple predetermined discrete levels) by the quantizer. Higher order sigma delta modulators may contain further summing junctions and quantizers, as is also well known in relevant arts. Different architectures of sigma delta modulators are used to achieve different goals such as lower power, ease of implementation, etc.
Output range of a sigma delta DAC refers to the range of analog levels (e.g., −5 volts to +5 volts) that can be provided by the sigma delta DAC. Linearity, generally, is a measure of the extent of straight-line relation between the inputs and the corresponding outputs.
Several aspects of the present invention provide a sigma delta DAC with wide output range and/or improved linearity.

Sigma delta digital to analog converter with wide output range and improved linearity


An imaging system generates a gain for a component of an image format. The gain is at least partially dependent on the brightness of the light source illuminating a scene when an image of the scene was generated. The gain can be used to correct the component of the image format for the color shift in the image caused by the light source. In some instances, the imaging system generates a gain for a plurality of the components of the image format or for all of the components of the image format. The gains can be used to correct the components for the color shift in the image caused by the light source.

1. Field
The present invention relates to imaging systems and more particularly to auto white balance in imaging systems.
2. Background
Digital images are generated under different lighting conditions. Different light sources produce different color shifts in the image. Automatic white balance (AWB) techniques have been employed to correct these images for the color shift. AWB techniques generally employ formatted image data for the color gray to identify the light source for the image. The image data is then corrected for the color shift associated with the identified light source. However, current AWB techniques can be confused when identifying the light source. For instance, the color blue photographed under fluorescent light has a color signature similar to the color gray photographed under sunlight. As a result, current AWB techniques can mistake an image of blue illuminated by a fluorescent light for an image taken in the sunlight. As a result, there is a need for improvements in correction of color shift caused by light sources.


In one embodiment, a wireless mobile User Equipment (UE) device comprises a message generator configured to send a SIP request message via a first IP network and a processor configured to process a SIP response message received from a network node via the first IP network, the processor further configured to process instructions to provide a treatment for at least one message body content of the SIP response message based on a value of a content type indicator independent of at least one of an absence of a content disposition indicator, a content disposition indicator without a value and a content disposition indicator having a value. The treatment, applied by the UE device, may comprise one of: (i) performing an Emergency Services (ES) call effectuated via a CS network and (ii) performing a registration and an ES call effectuated via an IP network.

Markup languages are being used in describing information relating to messages implemented in communication protocols. In a network environment where different entities communicate with each other using message bodies in Markup languages that are extensible, it becomes important that the languages as well as any meta-structures used for understanding the language are compatible across the environment. Otherwise, significant interoperability issues leading to failure in communication, unpredictable behavior, etc., for example, may arise.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Content disposition system and method for processing message content in a distributed environment


The process for the production of form I of anhydrous terazosin monohydrochloride consists of heating terazosin suspended in a mixture made by methanol and a solvent selected from C.sub.2 to C.sub.6, straight or branched alcohols, esters of C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 aliphatic carboxylic acids with straight or branched C.sub.1 to C.sub.8 alcohols, C.sub.3 to C.sub.8 aliphatic ketones, C.sub.4 to C.sub.8 straight branched or cyclic aliphatic ethers, aliphatic amides and aliphatic nitriles with a methanol solution of hydrochloric acid.

The compound 1-(4-amino-6,7-dimethoxy-2-quinazolinyl)-4-(tetrahydro-2-furoyl)piperazine is internationally known under the name of terazosin.
This compound, together with the anhydrous monohydrochloride salt, has been described for the first time in U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,894.
In the subsequent U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,532 a crystalline dihydrate form of terazosin has been described defined more stable than the original anhydrous form. This dihydrate form of the terazosin monohydrochloride is at present marketed all over the world, for instance as HYTRIN.RTM. in USA and United Kingdom and as ITRIN.RTM. in Italy, for the treatment of the hypertension.
Recently U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,095 has described and claimed new crystalline forms of the terazosin monohydrochloride anhydrous, named FORM II and FORM III, and a new process for producing the original anhydrous monohydrochloride crystalline form described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,894 named "a posteriori" FORM I.

Process for the production of the form I of the anhydrous terazosin monohydrochloride


A rolling stock in which a streamlined cab end structure includes: a pair of corner posts having lower half portions joined respectively to a pair of corner post reinforcement member standing upright on opposite end portions of an end beam of the underframe and upper half portions inclined toward the rear of the car body; an upper reinforcement beam laid between upper end portions of the pair of corner posts; a pair of end posts having lower half portions joined respectively to a pair of end post reinforcement members, and upper half portions inclined toward the rear of the car body; and a pair of coupling member respectively coupling upper portions of the pair of end posts and a front end portion of the roof structure, and the upper reinforcement beam has such a strength that the car body can be lifted up from above by use of a crane.

A car body of a rolling stock is formed by joining side structures and end structures to four side portions of an underframe, then joining a roof structure to upper portions of the side structures and the end structures, and attaching outside plates, floor plates, interior decorative members, doors, windows, and the like to the structures. In a general rolling stock, most of the strength of the car body is provided by the underframe. For this reason, when the car body is lifted up by use of a crane, a special lifting tool is engaged with the underframe or with a truck to lift the car body (see for example Patent Document 1). In addition, it is also conducted to reinforce the cab end structure and the end structure as collision countermeasures (see for example Patent Document 2).


Wash water is used to remove impurities such as hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide from light hydrocarbons and gases derived from refinery fluid catalytic cracking operations. The present invention is a process of low pressure recirculation of wash water combined with low pressure removal of waste water which results in the efficient removal of the above impurities at significantly reduced wash water rates.

A fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is a process for the conversion of straight-run atmospheric gas oil, vacuum gas oil, certain atmospheric residues, and heavy stocks recovered from other operations into high octane gasoline, light fuel oils, and olefin-rich light gases. In simplified terms, the cracking reactions are carried out in a vertical reactor vessel in which vaporized oil rises and carries along with it, in intimate contact, small fluidized catalyst particles. The reactions are very rapid, and only a few seconds of contact time are necessary for most applications. In a petroleum refinery, the FCC unit typically processes 30-50% of the crude oil charged to the refinery and produces gasoline blending components which may account for 50 to 20% of the total motor gasoline produced in the refinery.
Every FCC unit comprises a reactor and regenerator where the feedstock is cracked into a reactor effluent containing hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbons range in composition from the lightest methane to the heaviest, highest boiling hydrocarbon component in the feedstock. The reactor effluent also includes hydrogen and impurities such as hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen cyanide, and nitrogen compounds. The reactor effluent is passed to a main fractionator which separates the reactor effluent into wide boiling ranges such as an overhead stream which includes gasoline and lighter components and liquid products such as heavy naphtha, cycle oils, and slurry. The overhead stream is passed to a gas concentration unit or to an unsaturates gas plant wherein the unstable gasoline components and lighter components are separated into a fuel gas stream, a C.sub.3 -C.sub.5 olefinic hydrocarbon stream, and a stabilized, motor fuel, or gasoline blending component. Chapter 3.3 of the "Handbook of Petroleum Refining Processes, 2.sup.nd Edition, edited by Robert A. Meyers, and published by McGraw Hill, N.Y., in 1997, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes the FCC unit and the gas concentration section. The operation of a gas concentration section for the recovery of gaseous hydrocarbons from gasoline disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,084 to Scott is hereby incorporated by reference.
Early FCC units were designed to operate on vacuum gas oils directly fractionated from crude oils. Typically, these vacuum oils came from high quality crude oils. Today, much of the high quality feedstock for FCC units has been depleted and modern FCC units process less favorable materials. These less favorable materials include a substantial amount of sulfur compounds, metal cations, and nitrogen compounds such as ammonia and nitrites. As a result, the contaminant levels in the FCC effluent have been growing, particularly in the C.sub.3 -C.sub.5 effluent fraction. Without appropriate treatment, the contaminants in the C.sub.3 -C.sub.5 FCC effluent fraction can be transmitted to sensitive downstream processes where they reduce the effectiveness of downstream catalysts and create unfavorable by-product reactions in processes such as etherification. The most important function of a water wash system in the FCC gas plant or gas concentration section is to remove solids and thereby prevent the build-up of solids in the fractionation, cooling, and rotating equipment. Solids and their deposit in the equipment lead to corrosion under these deposits. The presence of the ammonia, the hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen cyanide can lead to the formation of ammonium bisulfide and cyanide. When the concentration of cyanides is high, corrosion and hydrogen blistering may potentially occur in the gas concentration section. Some of these problems can be avoided by keeping the impurities in dilute concentrations or by purging the maximum amount of these impurities as well as any ammonium bisulfide and cyanide from the system in the water withdrawn from the gas concentration unit. However, it is also highly desirable from an environmental aspect to minimize the amount of wash water employed to purge these impurities.
One type of water wash scheme which is most favored in the industry and widely practiced commercially is known as the concurrent water circulation process. In the concurrent water wash scheme, the wash water is circulated in the direction of increasing pressure and a waste water stream is withdrawn at the highest pressure. For example, in the concurrent water wash scheme, the wash water is admixed with the overhead stream from the FCC main column at the lowest pressure in the gas concentration unit. The overhead stream is cooled and condensed to provide a low pressure water stream and a low pressure vapor stream. The low pressure vapor stream is compressed to an intermediate pressure, washed with the low pressure water stream, cooled, and flashed to provide an intermediate vapor stream and an intermediate liquid stream. The intermediate liquid stream is compressed to a high pressure, admixed with the intermediate liquid stream, cooled, and condensed to provide a high pressure liquid stream, a high pressure vapor stream and a high pressure water stream. A portion of a high pressure water stream is withdrawn as a sour water waste stream comprising ammonium bisulfides and impurities, and a portion of the high pressure water stream is recycled to be admixed with the overhead stream. This wash water cascade scheme is referred to as "Option b" in response to "Question 26" of the "1994 National Petroleum Refiners Association (NPRA) Q & A Session on Refining and Petrochemical Technology," pages 78-80, 1994, published by the NPRA, and hereby incorporated by reference. Wash water rates for this scheme range from about 1 to 25 gallons per minutes per thousand barrels of total feed to the FCC reactor.
Other wash water cascade schemes, referred to as "Option a" and "Option c" in the above mentioned NPRA reference, introduce the fresh wash water at intermediate pressure and high pressure and remove the sour water waste stream at low pressure. At high pressure, the wash water is in equilibrium with the hydrocarbons and when the sour water stream is withdrawn at high pressure as in option b, there is a small amount of hydrocarbon gas dissolved in the high pressure sour water stream. To avoid sending this gas to downstream treatment facilities which can not tolerate the presence of the hydrocarbon gas, the high pressure sour water stream is returned to main column overhead stream where the hydrocarbon gas can be flashed off at low pressure and the sour water stream is withdrawn at low pressure. However, the impurities in the water withdrawn at the high pressure are thereby reintroduced to the low pressure overhead stream. These schemes result in returning to the main column overhead stream the ammonia, H.sub.2 S, and HCN which were concentrated at the high pressure. Because hydrocarbon gases dissolved in the high pressure water stream can build up and be carried out with the sour water stream in "Option b" schemes, "Option a" schemes are favored to avoid producing a hydrocarbon gas stream in the downstream sour water treatment facilities. However, the wash water rates for the Option a and c schemes are about the same as those of the "Option b" scheme.
Water cascade schemes for FCC gas concentration units are sought which permit the operation of the gas concentration at lower water rates which produce less waste water while controlling the build-up of impurities in the gas concentration unit.

Process for improved water wash in FCC gas concentration units


The invention provides quinazoline-7-ether derivatives, particularly 4-anilinyl-6-butenamido-quinazoline-7-ether derivatives that are inhibitors of the receptor protein tyrosine kinases (RTK). The compounds are useful in the treatment of diseases and disorders where RTK activity is implicated such as a hyperproliferative diseases (e.g., cancer). Also provided are methods of preparation of the quinazoline derivatives and methods of use as therapeutic agents alone or in a drug combination.

Cellular signal transduction is a fundamental mechanism. During the signal transduction, the extracellular stimulation is transmitted intracellularly, to modulate various cellular processes including cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and cell migration. A lot of signal transductions are mediated by growth factors binding to protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) trans-membrane receptor protein tyrosine kinases (RTK).
When RTK is inappropriately or constitutively activated, abnormal RTK activity such as that caused by overexpression or mutations results in uncontrolled cell proliferation or differentiation, and leads to diseases. Known diseases caused by abnormal activity of RTKs include psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, many types of cancer, angiogenesis, atherosclerosis and so on. RTK is comprised of many families, and one of them is ErbB family which is comprised of EGFr (also named ErbB1), HER2 (ErbB2), HER3 (ErbB3) and HER4 (ErbB4). These RTKs contain an extracellular glycoxylated domain for ligand binding, a transmembrane domain, and an intracellular cytoplasma catalyticaldomain capable of phosphorylating tyrosines of proteins. HER3 does not have an intracellular cytoplasma catalyticaldomain capable of phosphorylating tyrosines of protein. The RTK catalytic activity can be activated either by receptor overexpression or by ligand mediated dimerization. The ErB family RTKs can form homodimers or heterodimers. An example of homodimerization comes from EGFr binding with EGF family ligand (including EGF, transforming growth factor, becellulin epiregulin, etc). The heterodimerization between EGFr family RTKs can be accelerated by heregulin (also named nerregulin) binding. Even though HER3 does not have receptor kinase activity, its heterodimerization with HER2 or HER4 can greatly enhance the receptor kinase dimerization and the tyrosine phosphoryzation catalytic activity. Overactivation of EGFr has been associated with proliferation diseases such as NSCLC, bladder cancer, head and neck cancer, brain cancer and other cancers, while HER2 hyperactivity has been associated with breast cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, gastric cancer, and pancreatic cancer, etc. Therefore, inhibition of ErbB family RTKs may provide a treatment of the diseases associated with characteristic abnormal erbB family RTK activities. Many publications have discussed the biological activities of erB family RTKs, and their relationship with different diseases, such as the following papers and patents: Reid, A., et al. Eur. J. Cancer, 2007, 43, 481; Doebele, R. C., et al. Lung Cancer, 2010, 69, 1-12; Ocana, A.; Amir, E. Cancer Treat. Rev. 2009, 35, 685-91; Minkovsky, N., et al. Current Opinion in Investigational Drugs 2008, 9, 1336-1346; WO2002/66445, WO1999/09016, U.S. Pat. No. 6,627,634, etc.
Many patents have revealed RTK inhibitors or quinazoline derivatives related technology, for examples: WO9630347 (Chinese patent application CN96102992.7) revealed some 4-anilinylquinazoline derivatives for the treatment of excessive proliferative diseases. WO9738973 (Chinese application CN97194458) and WO2009/140863 (Chinese application CN2009000557) disclosed the preparation and pharmaceutical application of irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitors. WO0006555 (Chinese application CN99808949) disclosed that certain quinazoline derivatives inhibited RTK activities. WO9935146 (Chinese application CN99803887) disclosed a series of fused heteryl aromatic compounds including quinazolines as active as RTK kinase inhibitors. In addition, Chinese patent applications such as CN01817895, CN93103556, CN98807303, CN96193526, CN01812051, CN99803887, CN0410089867, CN03811739; U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,884, U.S. Pat. No. 6,894,051, U.S. Pat. No. 6,958,335, U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,105, U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,582, U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,599, U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,498, U.S. Pat. No. 6,900,221, U.S. Pat. No. 6,391,874, U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,485, U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,256, U.S. Pat. No. 6,828,320, U.S. Pat. No. 7,157,466 all disclosed that various types of quinazoline derivatives could inhibit the activities of many types of RTKs. Several quinazoline based kinase inhibitors have been approved in US, Europe and many other countries for the treatment of cancer, for example, gefitinib (trade name Irresa), erlotinib (trade name Tarceva), lapatinib (trade name Tykerb), etc. With continued improvement in research of biological mechanism, diagnosis and treatment of cancer treatment of proliferative diseases, especially cancer, is becoming more precise, targeted and personalized. Therefore, there is still an urgent need for clinical applications to develop highly efficacious and highly targeted drugs against proliferative diseases and cancer.

Quinazoline-7-ether compounds and methods of use


This invention relates to the discovery of a differentiation antigen termed mesothelin which is associated with mesotheliomas and ovarian cancers. Mesothelin is about 69 kD in its full-length form. The invention includes uses for the amino acid and nucleic acid sequences for mesothelin, recombinant cells expressing it, methods for targeting and/or inhibiting the growth of cells bearing mesothelin, methods for detecting the antigen and its expression level as an indication of the presence of tumor cells, and kits for such detection.

Monoclonal antibodies are currently being used to diagnose and treat cancer (Mach, J., et al., Current Opinion Immunol. B, 685-693 (1991); Grossbard, M. L., et al., Blood 80 (4):863-878 (1992)). To be useful for therapy, the antibody should recognize an antigen that is present in large amounts on the cancer cells and in negligible amounts in normal cells. Alternatively the antigen can be present in substantial amounts on normal cells, if the normal cells are not components of an essential organ. This approach has been useful in developing new treatments for leukemias and lymphomas. Several differentiation antigens have been identified on lymphomas and leukemias which are good targets for immunotherapy, because they are not present on the stem cells which give rise to differentiated lymphocytes (Grossbard, M. L., et al., Blood 80 (4):863-878 (1992)). Thus, normal lymphocytes that are killed by immunotherapy can be regenerated. Some examples of lymphocyte antigens of this type are CD19, CD22, CD25 and CD30 (Grossbard, M. L., et al., Blood 80 (4):863-878 (1992); Engert, A., et al., Cancer Research 50, 84-88 (1990)). Clearly, it would be very useful to have antibodies that recognize differentiation antigens on solid tumors, but only a small number of these are available. One reason contributing to the paucity of such antibodies is that efforts to identify differentiation antigens on various types of epithelial cells have been relatively modest compared with the intense efforts made to identify differentiation antigens on cells of the hematopoietic system.
Ovarian cancer represents one of the diseases which could be treated by immunotherapy, because the ovaries are always removed during surgery for this disease and reactivity with normal ovarian tissue is not a problem. Several antibodies that recognize differentiation antigens on ovarian cancer cells have been generated. One of these is OC125 that recognizes the CA125 antigen (Bast, R., et al., N. Eng. J. Med. 309, 883-887 (1983)). CA125 is a high molecular weight glycoprotein that is shed by ovarian cancer cells and has been useful in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer. However, antibodies to CA125 are not useful for immunotherapy because the CA125 antigen is shed into the blood stream (Bast, R., et al., N. Eng. J. Med. 309, 883-887 (1983)). Another is MOV18 which recognizes the folate binding protein. This protein is abundant in ovarian cancers as well as in some other tumors. Unfortunately, this protein is also abundantly expressed in kidney (Campbell, I. G., et al., Cancer Res. 51, 5329-5338 (1991)). An antibody we previously isolated and termed MAb K1 reacts with many ovarian cancers and many mesotheliomas. Like OC125, the antibody also reacts with normal mesothelial cells, but it does not react with other cell types except for weak reactivity with some cells in the trachea (Chang, K., et al., Int. J. Cancer 50, 373-381 (1992); Chang, K., et al., Cancer Res. 52, 181-186 (1992), see also U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,956). The antigen recognized by MAb K1 appears to be a differentiation antigen present on mesothelium and is expressed on cancers derived from mesothelium such as epithelioid type mesotheliomas as well as on most ovarian cancers. Thus immunotherapy directed at the CAK1 antigen should take into account the potential risk of damaging normal mesothelial cells and perhaps cells of the trachea (Chang, K., et al., Int. J. Cancer 50, 373-381 (1992); Chang, K., et al., Cancer Res. 52, 181-186 (1992); Chang, K., et al., Int. J. Cancer 51, 548-554 (1992); Chang, K., et al., Am. J. Surg. Pathol. 16, 259-268 (1992)).
Using the ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR-3 as well as HeLa cells, the antigen has been shown to be an approximately 40 kD glycoprotein that is attached to the cell surface by phosphatidylinositol. The protein is released when cells are treated with phosphotidylinositol specific phospholipase C (Chang, K., et al., Cancer Res. 52, 181-186 (1992)). We had previously attempted to clone a cDNA encoding the CAK1 antigen but instead cloned cDNAs encoding two different intracellular proteins which also react with MAb K1 (Chang, K., and Pastan, I., Int. J. Cancer 57, 90-97 (1994)). Neither of these is the cell surface membrane antigen recognized by MAb K1.

Mesothelin, immunogenic peptides derived therefrom, and compositions comprising mesothelin, or immunogenic peptides thereof

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services


A wire harness includes: an electrical wire group including a main electrical wire section, a first branch electrical wire section, and a second branch electrical wire section; a small-diameter tubular exterior member configured to cover the main electrical wire section in the circumferential direction, and on whose base end section side the first branch electrical wire section is located; a large-diameter tubular exterior member configured to cover the main electrical wire section in the circumferential direction, and on whose base end section side the second branch electrical wire section is located; first and second tape-fixing sections; and twist indicator that is provided at a position at which the small-diameter tubular exterior member and the large-diameter tubular exterior member overlap each other, and is configured to indicate the degree of twist of the main electrical wire section between the first branch electrical wire section and the second branch electrical wire section.

Conventionally, as a wire harness that is arranged in an automobile, a wire harness is known that includes: an electrical wire group including a main electrical wire section and branch electrical wire sections that are branched from the main electrical wire section; and a tubular exterior member such as a corrugated tube that covers the main electrical wire section in the circumferential direction (see, for example, JP 2002-354628A).
FIG. 6 shows a wire harness disclosed in JP 2002-354628A. In FIG. 6, the wire harness 100 includes: an electrical wire group 10 that includes a main electrical wire section 11, a first branch electrical wire section 12, and a second branch electrical wire section 13; a tubular exterior member 101; a first tape-fixing section 102; and a second tape-fixing section 103. The main electrical wire section 11, the first branch electrical wire section 12, and the second branch electrical wire section 13 are bundled with adhesive tape (not shown).
The electrical wire group 10 is configured to be fixed to the vehicle body panel via clips (not shown) that are provided at predetermined positions on the main electrical wire section 11, the first branch electrical wire section 12, and the second branch electrical wire section 13, and connected to various electronic devices (not shown) and the like that are mounted in an automobile via connectors (not shown) that are provided at the ends of the main electrical wire section 11, the first branch electrical wire section 12, and the second branch electrical wire section 13.
The tubular exterior member 101 covers the portion of the main electrical wire section 11 that is located between the first branch electrical wire section 12 and the second branch electrical wire section 13.
The first tape-fixing section 102 is obtained by winding adhesive tape diagonally around the base end section of the tubular exterior member 101, the first branch electrical wire section 12, and the main electrical wire section 11 so that they are combined together. The second tape-fixing section 103 is obtained by winding adhesive tape diagonally around the other end section of the tubular exterior member 101, the second branch electrical wire section 13, and the main electrical wire section 11 so that they are combined together.
JP 2002-354628A is an example of related art.

Wire harness with two external multi-diameter tubes and twist indicator device


A bubble removal system includes an inspection cell configured to receive an ophthalmic device and a volume of working fluid. The system also includes a vacuum device configured to form a substantially fluid-tight seal with the inspection cell and to direct a negative pressure to the volume of working fluid and the ophthalmic device within the inspection cell.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to equipment used to manufacture ophthalmic devices, and, in particular, to equipment used to manufacture contact lenses.
2. Description of Related Art
Soft hydrogel contact lenses have increased in popularity since they were first introduced in the 1970s. Such contact lenses are conventionally formed through a process in which the material used to make the lenses is placed between two halves of a casting mold, and the entire assembly is then cured to form the desired contact lens shape. After the curing process, the lens is removed from the casting mold and is immersed in a series of fluids to remove impurities therefrom. While still immersed in fluid, the lens is taken to an examination station where it is inspected for foreign particles, holes, and/or deformations caused by the manufacturing process.
Existing systems for the inspection of contact lenses typically include a camera, a viewing monitor, and a computer. The computer is configured to run lens examination software which assesses images of the lens during a lens inspection process. In examining the lens, the camera and, in particular, the software, can inspect the lens for the foreign particles, holes, and deformities discussed above. Such examination is typically done while the lens is submerged in a working fluid such as water, and the software can control the inspection system to reject a lens if such deformities are found thereon.
Although existing inspection systems have some utility in a contact lens production environment, reliance on such systems can result in a large number of false lens rejections during production. For example, the camera and, in particular, the camera software may not be capable of distinguishing a hole, a foreign particle, or other lens deformities from gas bubbles entrained in the working fluid and/or adhered to the surface of the lens. Bubbles can be formed by, for example, turbulent working fluid flow within the various systems used for impurity removal. The bubbles can be carried with the lens to the inspection system. Depending on the type of contact lens being examined and the throughput of the manufacturing line, false lens rejections caused by existing camera inspection systems can dramatically increase production costs and can severely hinder manufacturing efficiency.
Accordingly, the disclosed systems and methods are directed towards overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.


A lateral MOSFET includes a back gate region, a part of its surface being a channel region. The back gate region surrounds the drain region, while being in contact with a part of the periphery of the drain region. With this configuration, when a high voltage electrostatic surge appears at the drain electrode, a surge current will disperse from the drain region toward the surrounding back gate region. As a result, a rise in the electric potential at the drain region is suppressed. Thus, the electric potential will not exceed the dielectric strength of the gate insulating film to suppress a breakdown of the gate insulating film and an electrostatic breakdown of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lateral MOSFET and a manufacturing method thereof and, more particularly, to a double diffused lateral MOSFET (insulated-gate field effect transistor) applicable to a high withstand-voltage Bi-CMOS and manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when a double diffused lateral MOSFET is composed of complementary MOS (CMOS), either a p-channel MOS transistor or an n-channel MOS transistor is formed as a lateral MOSFET.
FIG. 1A shows a pattern layout of a conventional lateral p-channel MOS transistor, and FIG. 1B is a sectional view taken along a line B--B of FIG. 1A. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, numeral 50 denotes an n.sup.- -type semiconductor substrate; 51, a p-type diffused layer for drain region; 52, a p.sup.+ -type diffused layer for drain electrode connecting layer; 53, an n-type diffused layer for channel and back gate regions; 54, a p.sup.+ -type diffused layer for source region; 55, a gate insulating film; 56, a gate electrode; 57, an interlayer insulating film; 58, a drain electrode; and 59, a source/back gate common electrode. The pattern is designed so that the gate electrode 56 may invariably exist between the contact portion 59a of the source/back gate common electrode 59 and drain contact portion 58a.
In such a conventional lateral MOSFET, when an electrostatic surge of high-voltage enters the drain electrode 58, a surge current flows in the forward direction of the parasitic diode, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 2. In other words, the surge current flows through the path from the p-type diffused layer 51 as the drain region to the n-type diffused layer 53 as the channel and back gate regions. At that time, an electric potential of the p-type diffused layer 51 increases due to the resistance R of the n-type diffused layer 53. A breakdown of the gate insulating film 55 occurs when the increased potential exceeds its dielectric strength. Thus, an electrostatic breakdown of the device also occurs.


Instruments of determined level of self-efficacy may be chosen dynamically for customized patient engagement, e.g., based on a patient's latent adherence trait estimated from lifestyle and other clinical data. Customization points in care plans may be identified, e.g., by monitoring an accumulative change in the patient's health literacy level. Clinical decision support at the point of care may be provided by adjusting patient engagement strategies and allocating resources accordingly.

Patient engagement helps patients become more informed and active in managing their personal health, and demands effective engagement measurements of patient self-efficacy and capability in various care dimensions. For example, in Diabetes Mellitus (DM) self-management, the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) has defined seven care dimensions that are important for monitoring the progress of self-management behavior: particularly, physical activity, healthy eating, medication taking, monitoring blood glucose, diabetes self-care related problem solving, reducing risks of acute and chronic complications, and psychosocial aspects of living with diabetes. Some care dimensions are more critical to certain sub-populations. For diabetic care, younger patients with unhealthy lifestyle but no complications need to adhere to healthier lifestyles; others who gave up self-management due to significant obstacles may benefit from problem solving and health coping education. In current practice, clinical nurse educators rely on standard tests, such as Mini-Nutrition Assessment (MNA) and the graphic card-based STENO tool, to determine patient self-efficacy in the different care dimensions and to generate patient engagement plans.
In the existing static instrument approaches, the often-lengthy assessment questionnaires cast substantial burden on both patients and clinicians, which could take much of the consultation time during clinical on-site visits. The static instruments also do not differentiate users with different needs. FIG. 5 illustrates an individualized engagement plan for a patient who is exposed to a multitude of co-morbid conditions but has different literacy levels across three different care dimensions—medication, exercise, and diet. While some individual diabetic needs are beginning to be addressed in guidelines, many others remain to be handled by heuristics. In turn, diabetic educators are often placed in a position of choosing education materials for individual patients intuitively. Using the static instruments, patient engagement plans are generated based on "one shot" understanding of patients at the time of initial assessment. The one shot understanding has rendered it difficult to answer questions that require temporal analysis of patient self-efficacy. For example, how is this patient's literacy level on healthy eating changing over time? What assessment items should be brought up in the next clinical encounter? What education materials to brief and what interventions to include in the follow-up stage? In the field of adherence research, a few theoretical constructs, e.g., Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (TTM), have been proposed to conceptualize the changes in patient self-efficacy as a progression through a series of stages: particularly, pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. However, no existing instruments used in current practice have accounted for either the dynamic change of patient self-efficacy or its abstraction in its design.

Dynamic and accretive composition of patient engagement instruments for personalized plan generation

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of producing dealkalized sheet glass in which sheet glass is dealkalized in stages. The method includes dealkalizing sheet glass in a first stage by exposing the sheet glass to contact with a first dealkalizing medium including at least one acid gas for a period of at least 1 minute while the sheet glass is at a temperature above 400.degree. C.; and further dealkalizing the sheet glass in a subsequent stage by exposing the sheet glass after the first stage to contact with a second dealkalizing medium including at least one acid gas for a period of at least 3 minutes while the sheet glass is at a temperature which is at least 50.degree. C. below one of the temperature of the sheet glass during the first stage and the minimum temperature of the sheet glass during the first stage, and ranges between 400.degree. C. and 250.degree. C.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to dealkalised sheet glass. The invention also relates to a method of producing dealkalised sheet glass.
2. Background of the Related Art
It is known that glass, especially ordinary soda-lime glass is apt to weather when exposed to adverse environmental conditions. In particular, when sheets of ordinary soda-lime glass are exposed to a warm, humid, calm atmosphere, sodium ions at the surface of the glass are subject to hydrolytic attack, and this leads to deterioration in the light transmitting properties of the glass. The problem is particularly acute during storage (especially in hot countries) and transport (especially by sea) of stacked sheets of glass. In some circumstances, there can even be a reaction between contacting sheets which leads to their becoming firmly bonded together. It has also recently become apparent that sodium-rich glass used for facing liquid crystal displays can cause premature deterioration of the displays due to sodium poisoning. Further, there are many coatings which may be applied to glass for various purposes, and it has become apparent that the use of sodium-rich glass in many coated glass products presents certain disadvantages. It has been found that due to the presence of high proportions of sodium ions, such as are found in ordinary soda-lime glass, such coatings are sometimes insufficiently adherent to the glass, and that the ageing properties of the coated product are not as good as they might be. It has also been found that the presence of sodium ions tends to promote haze in the coated product, and this is particularly disadvantageous for transparent products to be used for glazing purposes.
Various solutions to this problem have been proposed. The use of glass of a special low-alkali composition has been suggested. This presents inconveniences in manufacture, though it may be justified for special products. It also adds appreciably to the cost of the glass. A further suggestion has been to apply a sodium-impervious coating of silica (SiO.sub.2) to ordinary soda-lime glass, but this is also rather expensive.
It has been proposed to manufacture sheets of ordinary soda-lime glass and then to subject the sheets to a treatment which results in the production of dealkalised glass. For example, for the manufacture of mirrors, British Patent Specification No 294,391 suggests using an annealing furnace to reheat polished plate glass sheets to the annealing point and then subjecting the sheets to the action of an acid gas. In the Examples, finished glass sheets are reheated to 600.degree. C. and exposed to an atmosphere containing sulphur dioxide for about 30 minutes. Relatively low temperature treatments are also known.
Such treatments result in a depletion of the alkali ion content in a thin surface layer of the glass. Typically such treatments are performed in such a way that the sodium ion concentration at a depth of a few hundred nanometers in unaffected by the treatment. It is convenient to relate the sodium ion concentration to the sodium content of the glass before any dealkalising treatment. Thus for a typical soda-lime glass, a sodium ion concentration of 100% may correspond to a sodium content of 12 to 14% (or thereabouts) calculated as Na.sub.2 O by weight of the glass. The sodium ion concentration at various depths in the surface layer of the glass can be analysed in known manner by a proton bombardment technique which results in the conversion of .sup.23 Na to .sup.20 Ne with the evolution of an alpha particle. By monitoring proton and resonance energies and alpha particle emission it is possible to derive the sodium ion concentration at any depth beneath the surface with a resolution of 15 nm, and the results can be plotted to give a stepped line of sodium ion concentration against depth beneath the surface. When this stepped line is smoothed out (compare lines X in FIGS. 4 and 5) it will be seen that the sodium ion concentration increases with depth in almost linear fashion from an assumed zero sodium ion concentration at the surface until the 90% sodium ion concentration depth is reached, whereafter the plotted line moves up to 100% sodium ion concentration asymptotically. If that plot were strictly linear, the 50% sodium ion concentration depth would be 0.56 of the 90% depth. In fact values of 0.51 to 0.54 times the 90% sodium ion concentration depth are typical for the 50% sodium ion concentration depths of prior art dealkalised glasses, and for such known glasses, the shapes of the plots of sodium ion concentration against depth are all substantially similar.
It will be appreciated that the resulting dealkalised state of the glass surface is unstable in that there will be a tendency for sodium ions to migrate from within the depth of the glass towards the surface in order to re-establish an ionic population distribution there which is close to that of ionic equilibrium throughout the mass of glass. It will be appreciated that there are various factors which will govern the time taken for such equilibrium to be substantially re-established, and among the most important of these are the temperature of the glass and the extent to which the sodium ion concentration has been depleted in the surface layers of the glass. It will be appreciated that a given extent of surface dealkalisation can be expressed in terms of the depth at which the sodium ion concentration has a value of, for example, 50%, and that under similar conditions, because of the similar ion population distributions in previously known dealkalised glasses, as evidenced by the similar shapes of the plots of sodium ion concentration against depth, the benefit of any known dealkalised glass having a given 50% sodium ion concentration depth will be lost over a similar period of time.

Method of producing dealkalized sheet glass


A method of enhancing security in network management for SNMPv2c packet traffic over internet between a (sending) manager location and an (receiving) agent location uses a pluggable security application function. The manager location has a manager side security application (MSA) and may include one or more managers. The agent location has an agent side security application (ASA) and may include one or more agents. Upon a SNMP request from a manager to the MSA, the request is encrypted, appended with authentication digest and sent to a registered agent in ASA. The MSA receives a secured response packet back from the ASA, which after authentication decrypts and forwards it to the intended manager. Thus, an existing protocol implementation is maintained, while reducing additional network overhead. The method obviates the use of IPSec tunnels and migration to SNMPv3.

The SNMP is a widely deployed protocol that is commonly used to monitor and manage network devices. Presently, SNMP is one of the most ubiquitous services running on Internet-based hosts extensively. However, hundreds or even thousands of different devices that rely on SNMP have been found to be vulnerable to security compromises. One version of the SNMP namely SNMPv2c, has advantages over the simple SNMP.
The SNMPv2c version has enjoyed success as a management solution, but it has multiple shortcomings, the most notable of which is that it lacks strong security. Some of the security threats are:                Masquerading        Modification of Information.        Message Stream Modification.
The only security features generally used in SNMPv2c are the community strings which are sent without any encryption which could be extracted easily by intruders by sniffing the packets. It is noted that SNMPv3 offers a certain degree of privacy. SNMPv3, in order to provide enhanced privacy and security features adopts a User-Based Security Model (USM) for authentication and privacy. Two different keys are used one for privacy called encryption key or privKey and one for Authentication called authKey, but all the privacy and enhanced security is achieved at the cost of network overhead. In particular, eventhough SNMPv3 offers security it however introduces tremendous overhead into the network.
The other security alternative currently used for SNMP is IPSec. As known, IPSec is a connection oriented service. Establishing such connection oriented services for occasional UDP (User Datagram Protocol) based SNMP queries is not cost effective at times.

Security enhancement for SNMPv2c protocol