A medical waste fluid kit for preparing for disposal waste fluid collected from a patient comprising a substantially rigid, fixed shaped vessel having and being closed by a rigid cap having waste fluid inlet for introducing a waste fluid into said vessel and an outlet extending from and through the rigid cap; a composition comprising at least one hydrophilic xerogel in the form of a powder which includes at least one water-insoluble hydrophilic polymer for immobilizing the waste fluid; a container, having a surface area containing the hydrophilic xerogel for placement in the vessel for disposal of the waste fluid collected therein, and the surface area of the container comprising a material which breaks up when brought into contact with the waste fluid for releasing the hydrophilic xerogel into the vessel for admixing with the waste fluid, thereby immobilizing and solidifying same within the vessel and minimizing the hazards of handling the waste fluid which may be infectious.

This invention relates to the safe disposal of aqueous fluid waste materials. More particularly, it relates to a composition for use in the disposal of aqueous waste fluids such as blood, drained from body cavities of patients pre- and post-operatively as well as during operations, said composition comprising at least one hydrophilic xerogel comprising at least one hydrophilic water-insoluble polymer. If desired, said composition further comprises materials for disinfecting said fluids.
The invention also relates to a method for preparing said fluids for disposal which comprises the addition of said composition to said fluids whereby the xerogel portion of the composition absorbs the aqueous portion of the fluids resulting in on insoluble gel in which the remainder of said fluids is absorbed and immobilized. The disinfectant, if present, destroys or, at least, deactivates infectious agents within said fluids. Thus, the immobilized waste materials are then disposed of by known methods.
The invention further relates to articles comprising containers for use in said disposal wherein said containers are placed within vessels for, and prior to commencement of, the collection of said fluids to provide for addition of the composition of the invention thereto without necessitating opening of the vessel with it concomitant risk of releasing undesirable materials contained in the fluids to the atmosphere. In the event the disinfectant and xerogel are interactive, or it is desired to effect interaction of the fluids therewith, consecutively, said containers may comprise two compartments separated from each other to allow for admixture of the components prior to addition to the fluids or for consecutive addition thereto.
Aqueous fluid waster materials, such as blood, are often drained from body cavities, such as pleurae, before, during and after surgery, for disposal. The drained fluids, which usually comprise harmful components, are collected in vessels which are sealed and discarded or emptied into sinks or toilet bowls.
Furthermore, during sealing and removing said vessels from the patient a portion of the collected fluids may escape from the vessel and contact the surrounding area and personnel proximal thereto.
If the fluids comprise infectious components, e.g., hepatitis B virus, there is also a risk of said fluids infecting said personnel and others who might subsequently come in contact with the spilled fluids.
The potential problems and risks have been reported upon by Mary M. Maijer, BN, RN in the article "Emptying and Disposing of wound Drainage . . . An infection Hazard" (in Today's OR Nurse, 9 (11), 11-16, (1987)).
Thus, post-surgical wound infection has many serious implications for society. For instance, hospital stays are increasing at an average of 3.8 to 10.1 days at a cost, for hospitalization alone, on the order of $2000. Other cost are accounted for by extra personnel required, lost employment, etc. the resultant average economic loss has been estimated to be on the order of about 9.5 billion dollars.
Many of these costs are not paid for by third parties (e.g., insurance companies and Medicare) and must be borne by the healthcare institutions themselves. Furthermore, said institutions and physicians have been subjected to an increasing number of liability suits as a result of these incidents.
One of the more significant factors influencing the incidence of such infections is the availability of means for the transfer of the infecting microorganisms.
A leading means of such transfer has been found to be carriage by healthcare personnel, such as transfer of Pseudonomas on the hand of nursing personnel.
It has been suggested that a transfer of methicillin resistant S. aureous among large medical schools and their affiliated hospitals has been effected though the patient--in house staff circuit, and the organisms for this and other infections can be found in wounds, blood and other body fluids.
It is now being recognized that healthcare personnel themselves are at increasing risk of acquiring infections from their patients by contact with such contaminated body fluids.
Thus, such personnel have acquired hepatitis B virus (HBV), AIDS and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) by exposure to the blood of patients having these diseases.
The common factor statistically associated with the acquisition of the diseases has more often been contact of the skin and clothing with blood, and other body fluids rather than accidental needle sticks, swallowing specimens or failing to wash hands and wear gloves frequently.
Thus, of six cases of AIDS infection in healthcare workers, with no know risk factors, two only had extensive contact with blood while three workers acquired HIV following non needle exposure to the blood from infected patients where the blood had either spilled or splattered on their skin or mucous membranes. In one instance the worker wore protective gloves.
An increasing prevalence of HIV has increased the potential for such exposures.
In view of the above elimination or, least, minimalization of healthcare workers exposure to such contaminated fluids must be achieved.
Major sources of such exposures are closed wound drainage devices which require frequent handling and manipulation.
Splashing and aerosolization during handling and emptying the devices, often into sinks and toilet bowls, as well as the usual practices of disposing thereof cause an increased level of infectious materials on the hands and other body parts.
For instance, in collection canisters who covers must be removed for emptying thereof the undersides of the covers as well as the lips of the canisters are covered with contaminants and the fluids may splash as the covers are snapped on and off.
Furthermore, release of the aerosolized components of the fluids contained within the canister create another hazard to the healthcare workers.
While measures are available for reducing the above factors, with a greater or lesser efficacy, it is desirable that the source of the hazards, i.e., escape of the contaminants from the canister, be eliminated and if such escape occurs the infectious character of the fluids eliminated or, at least, minimized.
Therefore, it is necessary that the closed vessels remain sealed during the handling processes.
The Surgidyne Saber and 3C System has been proposed for retaining and disposing of the body fluids without opening the collection vessel.
However, this system retains the drained fluids in their highly mobile and infectious state. Where the canister to open accidentally, e.g., by bursting upon impact the fluids would spill and perhaps splatter therefrom and aerosolization might occur thereby, again, giving rise to the problems the system was eliminate.
Furthermore, at any time during the disposal procedure, e.g., while placing vessels in canisters and transporting the canisters to disposal sites, the vessels might break open spewing their contents on, and possibly infecting, their surroundings including personnel in the proximity thereof.
It has now been found that the above problems may be obviated by use of the compositions of the instant invention in accordance with the methods and in conjunction with the articles thereof.


A semiconductor device includes a power transistor group and a signal circuit on the same substrate. The substrate is grounded at an isolation region at an end of the substrate adjacent to the power transistor group so that the grounded portion of the substrate is distant from the signal circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device for driving an inductive load, such as a motor.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a motor drive circuit 100. Referring to FIG. 13, Q1, Q2, and Q3 are power transistors connected to a power supply node VM. Q4, Q5, and Q6 are power transistors connected to the ground potential node. A motor 200 is a load. MU, MV, and MW are input terminals of the motor 200. LU, LV, and LW are coils of the respective phases of the motor 200. VM is a power supply node supplied a voltage of the power source for driving the motor 200.
The motor drive circuit 100 shown in FIG. 13 has the power transistors three-phase-connected. The transistors Q1 and Q4 are connected to each other in series, the collector of the transistor Q1 is connected to the power supply node VM, a connection point W between the transistors Q1 and Q4 is, through a terminal 23, connected to the terminal MW of W-phase coil LW of the motor 200 through a terminal 23, and the emitter of the transistor Q4 is connected to the ground potential node through a resistor 17.
The transistors Q2 and Q5 are connected to each other in series. The collector of the transistor Q2 is connected to the power supply node VM. A connection point V between the transistor Q2 and the transistor Q5 is, through a terminal 22, connected to the terminal MV of the V-phase coil LV of the motor 200. The emitter of the transistor Q5 is connected to the ground potential node through the resistor 17.
The transistors Q3 and Q6 are connected to each other in series. The collector of the transistor Q3 is connected to the power supply node VM. A connection point U between the transistors Q3 and Q6 is, through a terminal 21, connected to the terminal MU of the U-phase coil LU of the motor 200. The emitter of the transistor Q6 is connected to the ground potential node through the resistor 17.
In the described structure, a small-signal circuit 40, to be described later, turns the transistors Q3 and Q5 on and the transistors Q1, Q2, Q4, and Q6 off. Thus, a current flows from the coil LU to the coil LV. As a result, a magnetic field is generated by the coils LU and LV in a predetermined direction. A rotor comprising a permanent magnet is rotated in the direction of the generated magnetic field.
FIG. 14 shows a state shifted from the state shown in FIG. 13 with the transistor Q3 turned off and the transistor Q1 turned on. At this time, the current is switched to flow from the coil LW to the coil LV. The current that flows into the coil LU is interrupted. Inductive energy stored in the coil LU makes the voltage at the terminal 21, that is the collector (the connection point U) of the transistor Q6, negative, as shown FIG. 15. FIG. 15 is a graph showing the waveform of the output voltage from the phase U (the terminal 21) of the motor drive circuit.
FIG. 16 is a plan view showing an example of a semiconductor device for driving a motor. Referring to FIG. 16, a chip 100 of the semiconductor device includes a motor drive circuit. Q1 to Q3 are power transistors connected to the power supply node VM. Q4 to Q6 are power transistors connected to the ground potential node. The chip, i.e., semiconductor body, has an end, i.e., side surface, 3 and aluminum wiring layers 5, 6, 8, 9, and 14. Each of the power transistors Q4 to Q6 has a respective area 10 on the semiconductor body. Each of the power transistors Q1 to Q3 has a respective area 11 on the semiconductor body. The epitaxial layer includes an N-type region 12, a resistor 17, and a small-signal circuit 40. A resistor region 30 is located in the small-signal circuit 40. A transistor region 31 is located in the small-signal circuit 40. Although the small-signal circuit 40 includes various circuits, the resistor region 30 and the transistor region 31 are illustrated as examples.
FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view of the semiconductor device taken along line XVII--XVII of FIG. 16. A P-type semiconductor substrate 1 has on its surface an N-type epitaxial layer. A semiconductor body comprises the semiconductor substrate 1 and the epitaxial layer. An embedded region 2 is located between the semiconductor substrate 1 and the epitaxial layer. P-type isolation regions 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29 extend from the surface of the epitaxial layer to the surface of the semiconductor substrate 1. The isolation regions 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29 surround elements, such as transistors, Aluminum wiring layers 5 to 9 are a first level aluminum layer. A region 10 including the power transistor Q6 in the semiconductor body is surrounded by the isolation regions 25 and 26. The N-type epitaxial layer in the power transistor-forming region 10 is a collector region of the power transistor Q6. A region 11 including the power transistor Q3 is surrounded by the isolation regions 26 and 27. The N-type epitaxial layer of the power transistor-forming region 11 is a collector region of the power transistor Q3. An N-type isolation region 12 is located between the power transistors Q1 to Q6 and the small-signal circuit 40. The isolation region 12 is an N-type island of the epitaxial layer. The structure includes a glass coating 13 and an aluminum wiring layer 14 as a second level aluminum layer. An interlayer insulation layer 16 includes a through hole 15. A contact hole 17 extends through an insulation layer 18. QS is a parasitic transistor. Rcs1 to Rcs3 and Rcs are parasitic resistors. Ic1 to Ic3 and Ics are parasitic currents.
Referring to FIG. 16 and FIG. 17, the collector region of each of the power transistors Q1 to Q3 is connected to the aluminum wiring layer 8 through the through hole 15 of the insulation layer 18. The aluminum wiring layer 8 is connected to the power supply node VM. The base regions of each of the power transistors Q1 to Q6 are P-type regions on the respective collector regions. The base regions of each of the power transistors Q1 to Q6 are connected to respective aluminum wiring layers through the through hole 15 in the insulation layer 18. The aluminum wiring layer corresponding to the base regions of each of the power transistors Q1 to Q6 is connected to control signal supply circuits 45 to 50, to be described later, of the small-signal circuit. To simplify the illustration, details are omitted.
The emitter region of each of the power transistors Q1 to Q6 is an N-type region on the respective base region. The emitter regions of each of the power transistors Q4 to Q6 are connected to the aluminum wiring layer 6 through the through hole 15 of the insulation layer 18. The aluminum wiring layer 6 is connected to the ground potential node through the resistor 17. The emitter regions of each of the power transistors Q1 to Q3 and the collectors of each of the power transistors Q4 to Q6, respectively, are electrically connected to the aluminum wiring layer 14. The aluminum wiring layer 14 is connected to the corresponding terminals 21 to 23 through lead wires.
The isolation region 12 is connected to the aluminum wiring layer 9 through the through hole 15 of the insulation layer 18. The aluminum wiring layer 9 is connected to the power supply node Vcc.
The resistor region 30 in the small-signal circuit 40 is located in the epitaxial layer surrounding the isolation regions 28 and 29. A resistor is a P-type region in the resistor region 30. The P-type region for the resistor is connected to the aluminum wiring layer through the through hole 15 in the insulation layer 18. The transistor region 31 in the small-signal circuit 40 is located in the epitaxial layer surrounding the isolation region 29. The collector region of a transistor is an N-type epitaxial layer of the transistor region 31. The base region of a transistor is the P-type region on the collector region of the transistor. The emitter region of the transistor is the N-type region on the base region of the transistor. The collector, base, and emitter regions are connected to the respective aluminum wiring layers through the through hole 15 of the insulation layer 18. To simplify the illustration, a detailed description of the devices is omitted here.
Referring to FIGS. 13 to 17, the operation of the parasitic transistor QS will now be described. An assumption is made that the potential of the terminal 21 is voltage V when the power transistors Q3 and Q5 of the motor drive circuit 100 have been turned on and a current is flowing from the coil LU to the coil LV of the motor 200. If the current is switched to the direction from the coil LW to the coil LV as a result of control by the motor drive circuit 100, the flow of current in the coil LU is abruptly interrupted. Therefore, inductive energy stored in the coil LU is discharged through a parasitic diode formed between the epitaxial layer of the transistor Q6, which is the collector region, and the semiconductor substrate 1. When the state of activation is shifted from the transistor Q3 to the transistor Q1 and the direction of the current that flows in the coil is shifted as described above, the potential of the collector electrode of the transistor Q6 is transitionally changed to a negative voltage from a positive voltage, as shown in FIG. 15.
Therefore, the potential of the emitter region of the NPN parasitic transistor QS is lower than the potential of the base region of the NPN parasitic transistor QS. The NPN parasitic transistor QS is formed by the collector region of the power transistor Q6, the isolation regions 25 and 26 surrounding the transistor-forming region 10 for the power transistor Q6, and the adjacent epitaxial layer surrounded by the isolation region, such as the collector region of the transistor Q3, and the isolation region 12. The epitaxial layer is the resistor region 30 in the small-signal circuit 40, and the collector region of the transistor in the small-signal circuit 40, etc., as shown in FIG. 17. The isolation region 26 is electrically connected to the ground potential node at its surface.
Thus, the NPN parasitic transistor QS is turned on. The parasitic NPN transistor QS introduces collector current Ic from the adjacent epitaxial layer surrounded by the isolation region. The level of the collector current Ic is raised in the epitaxial layers adjacent to the collector region of the power transistor Q6 in inverse proportion to the distance to the collector region of the power transistor Q6.
In FIG. 17, the collector current Ic1 is introduced from the collector region of the power transistor Q3, the collector current Ic2 is introduced from the isolation region 12, the collector current Ic3 is introduced from the epitaxial layer of the resistor region 30 in the small-signal circuit 40, and the collector current Ics is introduced from the epitaxial layer of the transistor region 31 in the small-signal circuit 40. The total of these collector currents is Ic; that is, the collector currents satisfy the relationship Ic=Ic1+Ic2+Ic3+. . . +Ics. Note that the resistors Rcs1 to Rcs3 and Rcs, as shown in FIG. 17, are series-connected resistor components of the parasitic NPN transistor QS formed by the epitaxial layer, including the collector of the parasitic NPN transistor QS. The series resistor component Rc of the collector (the total of the series resistor components of the parasitic NPN transistor) increases in proportion to the distance from the transistor-forming region 10 for the power transistor Q6. The epitaxial layer of the transistor region 31 in the small-signal circuit 40, which is affected most considerably when the parasitic NPN transistor QS has introduced the collector current, is distant from the power transistor. Therefore, Rc is enlarged, reducing Ics.
FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a pattern of the small-signal circuit 40 on a semiconductor body including a 120.degree. -matrix circuit 41, a control amplifier circuit (CTL AMP) 42, a triple differential amplifier circuit 43, a sub-circuit TSD (terminal shut down) 44, and control signal generating circuits 45 to 48. The type and configuration of the devices may, of course, be varied arbitrarily to adapt a motor that must be controlled. The small-signal circuit 40 receives a signal Hu.sup.+, Hu.sup.-, Hv.sup.+, Hv.sup.-, Hw.sup.+, Hw.sup.-, generated by a Hall device located in the motor 200 and indicating the position of the rotor of the motor 200, to control the period during which the power transistors Q1 to Q6 in the motor drive circuit 100 are supplied with power corresponding to the detected position of the rotor.
The structure will now be described somewhat further in detail. The positional relationship among the phases as the time elapses is calculated in response to position signals Hu.sup.+, Hu.sup.-, Hv.sup.+, Hv.sup.-, Hw.sup.+, and Hw.sup.- generated by the Hall devices for the phases U, V, and W. The base electrodes of the power transistors Q1 to Q6 in the motor drive circuit 100 are controlled through the triple differential amplifier circuit 43 and the control signal generating circuits 45 to 50. The control amplifier circuit 42 is a section for controlling the triple differential amplifier circuit 43 in response to a control signal generated by a control unit, such as a computer. A portion 44 includes a variety of sub-units, for example, a TSD circuit, a constant voltage source, a power supply circuit, and the like.
As described above, the parasitic transistor QS may be turned on and affect the other circuits if the potential of the emitter region of the NPN transistor becomes lower than the ground potential. For example, the epitaxial layer of the transistor region 31 in the small-signal circuit 40 having a multiplicity of high-impedance devices raises a critical problem, contributing to malfunctioning in the control of the motor drive circuit 100. The circuit malfunctions if a current is extracted.
Accordingly, the conventional semiconductor device has an NPN transistor having a collector region connected to the power supply node and the N-type isolation region 12 is disposed between the small-signal circuit 40 and the motor drive circuit 100, so the potential of region 12 can be made lower than the ground potential.
Moreover, the inside portion of the small-signal circuit 40 has a device (such as a resistor, refer to the epitaxial layer of the resistor region 30 shown in FIG. 17) so that the N-type isolation region 12 is connected to the power supply node Vcc and disposed between the small-signal circuit 40 and the motor drive circuit 100. As described above, in this structure, the collector current Ic, required by the parasitic transistor QS, flows to the emitter region of the power transistors Q4 to Q6 from the N-type isolation region 12 connected to the power supply node Vcc to minimize the collector current Ics flowing from the collector region of the transistor in the small-signal circuit 40.
However, there arise problems. (1) The conventional semiconductor device cannot easily eliminate the influence of the collector current Ic of the parasitic transistor QS due to parasitic circuit elements. To reduce the influence, the area of, for example, the N-type isolation region 12 connected to the power supply node Vcc must be enlarged so the cost of the chip cannot be reduced. (2) A large amount of electrical power is consumed because the collector current Ic of the parasitic transistor QS flows from the power supply node Vcc to relieve the current attributable to the parasitic circuit elements.

Inductive load driving and control circuits inside isolation regions


Embodiments facilitate generation of a prediction of long-term survival (LTS) or short-term survival (STS) of Glioblastoma (GBM) patients. A first set of embodiments discussed herein relates to training of a machine learning classifier to determine a prediction for LTS or STS based on a radiographic-deformation and textural heterogeneity (r-DepTH) descriptor generated based on radiographic images of tissue demonstrating GBM. A second set of embodiments discussed herein relates to determination of a prediction of disease outcome for a GBM patient of LTS or STS based on an r-DepTH descriptor generated based on radiographic imagery of the patient.

Most aggressing tumors are systemic, implying that their impact is not localized to the tumor itself but extends well beyond the visible tumor borders. For instance, solid tumors (e.g., Glioblastoma) typically exert pressure on the surrounding normal parenchyma due to active proliferation, impacting neighboring structures and worsening survival. Existing approaches to predicting overall survival (OS) in Glioblastoma (GBM) have focused on capturing tumor heterogeneity via shape, intensity, and texture radiomic statistics within the visible surgical margins on pre-treatment scans, with the clinical purpose of improving treatment management. However, a poorly understood aspect of heterogeneity is the impact of active proliferation and tumor burden that may lead to subtle deformations in the surrounding normal parenchyma distal to the tumor.

Radiographic-deformation and textural heterogeneity (r-DepTH): an integrated descriptor for brain tumor prognosis


A clip includes an insertion member whose cross-sectional shape is in a T-shape, having a head portion and a shaft portion connected downwardly from the head portion; a latch member in a V-shape disposed on an outer side of the shaft portion; and a hinge member connecting the shaft portion and the latch member. Split flanges, mated in a flange-shape by surrounding the shaft portion when both side leg portions are closed, are provided to be continued from upper end portions of the both side leg portions. One side of an abutting surface of each split flange protrudes to form an L-shape in a plan view and abuts against a corresponding side portion of the shaft portion. A retaining protruding piece extending from a side portion opposite to a protruding portion and engaging with corresponding side portion of the shaft portion is formed on each both side leg portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clip in which an attaching hole formed in a unit to be attached is superposed on an attaching hole in an attaching unit, and the clip is inserted in these holes so as to connect the two units, thereby making it possible to fix them simply. The present invention especially relates to a clip in which an insertion member including a head portion and a shaft portion is connected to a latch member engaging on a reverse surface side of the attaching hole to be expanded in diameter by pressing the insertion member through hinge members, thereby permitting integral molding.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional clip of this type, JP-A-2002-106519 discloses a clip which has an insertion member whose cross-sectional shape is formed substantially in a T-shape by a head portion and a shaft portion connected downwardly from the head portion; a substantially V-shaped latch member disposed on the outer side of the shaft portion; and hinge members connecting the shaft portion of the insertion member and the latch member, wherein as the head portion of the insertion member is pressed, the shaft portion presses both side leg portions of the latch member outwardly of the latch member to expand in diameter, subsequently, retaining pawls provided projectingly on both side leg portions of the latch member are engaged with retaining stepped portions formed in a bulged manner on a lower portion of the shaft portion of the insertion member, so that the state of the enlarged diameter of the latch member is held.
In addition, in the above-described clip, it is disclosed that flange portions which extend outwardly are respectively provided on upper portions of both side leg portions of the latch member, and the flange portions is formed in recessed shapes so as to hold the shaft portion in their interior and to abut against each other at outer portions. As concave and convex surfaces are formed at opposing edge portions which abut against each other, the mutual vertical relative offset or relative inclination of the both side leg portions is prevented.
Further, a clip having guide grooves which vertically extend and are formed in either one of the shaft portion of the insertion member and both side leg portions, and retaining protruding pieces which are formed on the other one of shaft portion of the insertion member and both side leg portions and are engageable with the guide grooves is disclosed. The guide groove is formed with such a length that the shaft portion is capable of moving between a corresponding position for holding a state of its reduced diameter and a corresponding position for holding a state of its enlarged diameter.
JP-A-2002-106519 is referred as a related art.
However, with the conventional clip disclosed in JP-A-2002-106519, if the clip is delivered as a product in a state that both side leg portions of the latch member are open, a user has to close both side leg portions and insert the clip into an attaching hole of a panel while maintaining the closed state at the time of attachment. Therefore, there has been a problem in that the operation becomes complicated.
It is conceivable to deliver the clip in a temporarily held state the closed state is maintained by the engagement between the concave and convex portions of the flange portions as well as the engagement between the retaining protruding pieces and the guide grooves are maintained. However, if the latch member is twisted through the flange portions and the like, the aforementioned engagement is easily canceled, so that there has been a problem in that the retained state cannot be maintained.


The present invention relates to the catalytic conversion of hydrocarbons for generating a gas that is rich in hydrogen, to the use of said apparatus and to a process for generating hydrogen. The apparatus comprises a reforming catalyst (5), as well as a means (8) for supplying hydrocarbons to the catalyst. The reforming catalyst is arranged in an exhaust pipe (3) through which the exhaust gases of combustion processes are passed.

Hydrogen is an important element for many chemical processes and is used in many technical methods. Hydrogen is required, for instance, as fuel for the generation of electric energy in fuel cells on board motor vehicles. However, because of the hazards of storing hydrogen, hydrogen is typically not stored on motor vehicles. Instead, apparatuses and processes have been developed to generate hydrogen on board motor vehicles from gasoline or diesel fuel in order to form a gas stream that contains hydrogen.
In one method, for instance, steam is added to the fuel and this mixture is converted in what is referred to as a steam reforming process into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The hydrogen is used as fuel for a PEM fuel cell. This steam reforming process is endothermic and requires an additional burner for heating the reforming reactor to the required reaction temperature of from about 700 to 800° C.
Alternatively, the reforming process can be conducted auto thermally by adding a certain amount of oxygen to the mixture of steam and fuel such that first heat is generated by catalytic partial oxidation (CPO) of the fuel and then causing steam reforming to commence. According to this process, the reformate comprises about 30 to 40% by volume of hydrogen and additionally 10 to 15% by volume of carbon monoxide, which must be reduced to below 50 ppm by volume by means of subsequent purification steps (high and low temperature shift steps; HTS and LTS; preferential oxidation PROX) in order to avoid contamination of the PEM fuel cell.
A process for auto thermal steam reforming of hydrocarbons is described in US 2002/0009408 A1. This process requires heating of the reaction mixture to a pre-heating temperature and then feeding the reaction mixture to a catalytic reactor for performing the auto thermal steam reforming. In total, conventional auto thermal steam reforming is performed in a bulky and elaborate apparatus.
Since hydrogen or a gas enriched in hydrogen may be used in a vehicle for various purposes, there is a need to develop a more compact apparatus and efficient process for the generation of hydrogen on board a vehicle. The present invention provides one solution to this problem

Process and apparatus for catalytic conversion of hydrocarbons for generating a gas rich in hydrogen


The invention relates to fibers coated with a hydrophobic material based on an epoxidized polydiene oligomer. This coating results from the photopolymerization of a composition comprising at least one expoxidized polydiene oligomer, at least one photoinitiator salt and optionally a reactive diluent. The invention relates in particular to optical fibers.

The prior art has already described materials for coating optical fibers; for example, WO 91/03498 and EP 166 926 describe photocrosslinkable formulations based on modified polybutadiene oligomers.
WO 91/03498 describes a photocrosslinkable formulation based on a urethane-acrylate prepolymer which is obtained by reacting a hydrogenated hydroxytelechelic polybutadiene with a diisocyanate and then with an unsaturated hydroxyl compound, this prepolymer being subsequently mixed with a reactive diluent of the alkyl acrylate type and with photopolymerization initiators.
EP 166 926 describes the same type of formulation, which is photocrosslinkable under UV irradiation and is composed of a urethane-acrylate oligomer obtained by reaction of a hydroxytelechelic polybutadiene, which is first of all chlorinated and then reacted with a diisocyanate and, finally, with an unsaturated hydroxyl compound, of a reactive diluent of the alkyl acrylate type, and of photoinitiators.
These two references therefore claim optical fiber coating formulations which are photocrosslinkable under irradiation in a process of free-radical polymerization. This technique is known to the skilled worker to have the following disadvantages:
risk of incomplete crosslinking owing to the impossibility of "Dark Cure", therefore placing limitations on the cycle times of industrial lines PA1 the presence of odours associated with reactive diluents of the alkyl acrylate type PA1 high polymerization shrinkage, causing losses in adhesion PA1 poor peel performance PA1 inhibition of polymerization by atmospheric oxygen. PA1 compatible with short cycle times PA1 that it shows no inhibition by atmospheric oxygen PA1 that "dark cure" is a possibility PA1 that it gives flexible and adhering coatings PA1 that it is based on formulations devoid of pronounced odor. PA1 3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl 3,4,'-epoxycyclohexanecarboxylate PA1 limonene epoxide PA1 cyclohexene epoxide PA1 1,2-epoxydodecane. PA1 triethylene glycol divinyl ether PA1 1,4-butanediol monovinyl ether PA1 1,4-bisvinyloxymethylcyclohexane. PA1 solvents PA1 plasticizers PA1 surfactants for improving the wetting of the coating on the substrate PA1 spreading agents PA1 devolatilizing agents PA1 matting agents PA1 rheological agents PA1 antioxidants, UV stabilizers for protecting the photopolymerized coating but not interfering with the operation of photopolymerization. Care will be taken to exclude from the formulation any alkaline species, which are known to inhibit cationic polymerization.
A very effective coating has now been found for protecting fibers from moisture.

Fibres coated with a hydrophobic material


The present invention relates to a nectarine tree, Prunus persica, and more particularly to a new and distinct variety broadly characterized by a large size, vigorous, self-fertile, productive and regular bearing tree. The fruit matures under the ecological conditions described approximately the third week in May, with first picking on May 13, 1997. The fruit is uniformly medium in size, acidic in flavor, globose to slightly oblong in shape, clingstone in type, medium firm in texture, and dark red in skin color. The variety was a first generation cross using `Early Diamond` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,438) nectarine as the selected seed parent and an unnamed seedling as the selected pollen parent.

In a continuing effort to improve the quality of fresh market and shipping fruits, we, the inventors, typically hybridize a large number of nectarine and peach seedlings each year. The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of nectarine tree, which has been denominated varietally as `Early Juan`. The present variety was developed by us in 1988 in a cultivated area of our experimental orchard at Bradford Farms near Le Grand, Calif. in Merced County (San Joaquin Valley). It was a first generation cross using `Early Diamond` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5, 438) yellow flesh nectarine as the seed parent and an unnamed seedling as the selected pollen parent. Subsequent to origination of the present variety of nectarine tree, we asexually reproduced it by budding and grafting, and such reproduction of plant and fruit characteristics were true to the original plant in all respects. The reproduction of the variety included the use of Nemaguard Rootstock, the standard of the stone fruit industry in central California, upon which the present variety was compatible and true to type.
The fruit produced by the present variety is most similar to its seed parent, the `Early Diamond` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5, 438), by producing early maturing nectarines that are full red in skin color and yellow to the stone in flesh color, but is distinguished therefrom and an improvement thereon by producing fruit that ripens one week earlier, that is larger in size, that is less susceptible to split stones, that is clingstone instead of freestone, and that has a bitter kernel instead of sweet.


Embodiments of the present invention relate to transportation systems. More particularly, embodiments relate to methods and systems of vehicle data collection by a user having a mobile device. In a particular embodiment, vehicle movement data (also termed herein “driving data” or “data”) is collected, analyzed and transformed, and combinations of collected data and transformed data are used in different ways, including, but not limited to, reporting and display of the combinations.

For many purposes, driving behavior has been a topic of interest. Some systems have been developed to track driving behaviors including speed and trip duration. External devices have been integrated with vehicles to track driving behavior. Some companies use a device that plugs into the on-board diagnostic port of a vehicle to read data from the vehicle's computer to better model risk.
Mobile devices, including smart phones, have been utilized to provide location information to users. Mobile devices can use a number of different techniques to produce location data. One example is the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) chipsets, which are now widely available, to produce location information for a mobile device.

Methods and systems for presenting collected driving data


A glove box assembly includes a body, a first guideway fixed to a support and first pivot pin carried on the body and adapted for translation along the first guideway. The glove box assembly also includes a first rotation arm connected between the body and the support. A first biasing element biases the first rotation arm toward a position wherein the glove box assembly is open.

The legs and, more particularly, the knees of a passenger sitting in the passenger seat of a motor vehicle directly rearward of a glove box often interfere with the full opening of the glove box. This document relates to a new and improved glove box assembly that is adapted or configured to provide additional clearance for the legs and knees of an individual sitting in an adjacent seat of the motor vehicle so as to allow the glove box to be fully opened to freely access the contents therein without discomforting the passenger.

Glove box assembly providing increased leg room when opened


A semiconductor integrated circuit device includes bipolar transistors, MOS FETs and a CCD in and on only one semiconductor substrate. At least emitter electrode wiring layers of bipolar transistors and one group of transfer electrode wiring layers of the CCD have a stacked structure with a low resistivity which includes a first layer of doped polysilicon and a second layer of metal silicide. These electrodes wiring layers are provided at the same time by successively depositing first and second layers on the semiconductor substrate and patterning the deposited layers.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device, and more particularly, to the BI-CMOS-CCD techniques for providing bipolar transistors, MOS type field effect transistors (MOS FETs) and a CCD device on a single semiconductor substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
In CCD type semiconductor devices, it is easy to increase the integration density, and also it is possible to reduce power consumption. Therefore CCDs have been used as solid imagers such as line sensors and area sensors, and CCD delay line elements. For example, an IC including conventional CCD delay line elements is provided in the same semiconductor substrate together with MOS FETS. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating elements of a conventional CCD delay line IC, wherein a CCD 403 and a CMOS FET having an N-channel MOS FET 402 and a P-channel MOS FET 401 are included in a P-type silicon substrate 41, each of the devices being isolated by a field oxide film 46. A metal electrode 56 and gate electrodes 48, 52 and of the devices are interconnected to one other through electrode wiring layers, not shown, formed on an insulating film 55, thus providing a functional circuit. The CCD functions to delay signals, and the MOS FET circuits incorporated in the IC perform other associated signal processing. The capability of the MOS FET, however, is limited and signals are generally processed by an IC of another chip having bipolar transistors.
As assembly techniques, multiple chip techniques for accommodating a plurality of chips with different functions into one package to provide one functional device have been developed.
As described above, for providing a circuit system required for the signal delay function, the CCD for performing the signal delay and the bipolar IC for carrying out most signal processing cannot be formed in one chip, and must be provided by discrete ICs. Multiple chip techniques developed for this purpose employ discrete ICs in the same manner as described above and have the following problems:
(1) Since electrodes among chips are electrically connected through bonding wires and conductive layers provided on a printed circuit board, the wiring length becomes long, so that the high speed performances of discrete ICs will not be fully exhibited.
(2) Since the package becomes large, the reliability level of the device resulting from an increase in the probability of producing cracks due to an increased number of pellets, the deterioration of the humidity resisting property, etc., may be lowered.
(3) Since discrete ICs are used, it may be difficult to provide an optimum system. It may also be difficult to reduce the device size by decreasing the number of pins. In addition, there is a limit in the reduction of the power consumption of the device.
Relating to the ICs themselves, including at least one CCD type device and CMOS FETS, the MOS type transistor in general has a poor driving ability and is not good at analog signal processing. The MOS type analog circuit decreases the yield of ICs.
As has been described above, in the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit device comprised of the CCD type IC, bipolar type ICs and MOS type ICs, a plurality of discrete ICs or LSIs are combined to provide one functional system. Therefore, the prior art techniques involve a decrease in high speed performance due to bonding wires, a decrease in reliability level a difficulty in obtaining system ICs, limits in reducing device size and power consumption due to the large package size, and a decrease in yield due to MOS type analog circuits.
Further, semiconductor integrated circuit devices having multifunctions and high speed operation are generally required. Accordingly, for example, it has ordinarily been required to reduce the electrode wiring resistance and to increase the integration density of the device.

Method of making semiconductor integrated circuit device including bipolar transistors, MOS FETs and CCD


A device includes a substrate with a recess, having a bottom and sides, extending into the substrate from the substrate's upper surface. The sides include first and second sides oriented transversely to one another. A stack of alternating active and insulating layers overlie the substrate's surface and the recess. At least some of the active layers have an upper and lower portions extending along upper and lower planes over and generally parallel to the upper surface and to the bottom, respectively. The active layers have first and second upward extensions positioned along the first and second sides to extend from the lower portions of their respective active layers. Conductive strips adjoin the second upward extensions of the said active layers. The conductive strips can comprise sidewall spacers on the sides of the second upward extensions, the conductive strips connected to overlying conductors by interlayer conductors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to three-dimensional integrated circuit (3-D IC) devices of the type including at least one array area and an associated contact area, and in particular to providing enhanced electrical contact at the contact area between interlayer conductors, such as bit line plugs, and increasingly thin semiconductor or conductor active layers in a stack of alternating active and insulating layers.
2. Description of Related Art
High density memory devices are being designed that comprise arrays of flash memory cells, or other types of memory cells. In some examples, the memory cells comprise thin film transistors which can be arranged in 3D architectures.
In one example, a 3D memory device includes a plurality of stacks of NAND strings of memory cells. The stacks include semiconductor strips, also referred to as active layers, separated by insulating layers. The 3D memory device includes an array including a plurality of word lines structures, a plurality of string select structures, and ground select lines, arranged orthogonally over the plurality of stacks. Memory cells including charge storage structures are formed at cross-points between side surfaces of the semiconductor strips in the plurality of stacks and the word line structures.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

3-D IC device with enhanced contact area


Improved methods of propping a fracture in a subterranean zone whereby the subsequent flow-back of the proppant is prevented are provided. The methods basically include the steps of placing a mixture of fibrous bundles and the proppant in the fracture while maintaining the fracture open and then allowing the fracture to close on the mixture of fibrous bundles and proppant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to improved methods of preventing well fracture proppant flow-back, and more particularly, to improved methods of fracturing a subterranean zone and propping the fractures whereby proppant flow-back from the fractures is prevented.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Oil and gas wells are often stimulated by hydraulically fracturing subterranean producing zones penetrated thereby. In such hydraulic fracturing treatments, a viscous fracturing fluid is pumped into the zone to be fractured at a rate and pressure such that one or more fractures are formed and extended in the zone. A solid particulate material for propping the fractures open, referred to herein as "proppant," is suspended in a portion of the fracturing fluid so that the proppant is deposited in the fractures when the viscous fracturing fluid is caused to revert to a thin fluid and returned to the surface. The proppant functions to prevent the fractures from closing whereby conductive channels are formed through which produced fluids can readily flow.
In order to prevent the subsequent flow-back of the proppant as well as subterranean formation particulate solids with fluids produced from the fractured zone, at least a portion of the proppant has heretofore been coated with a hardenable resin composition and consolidated into a hard permeable mass. Typically, the resin composition coated proppant is deposited in the fractures after a larger quantity of uncoated proppant material has been deposited therein. That is, the last portion of the proppant deposited in each fracture, referred to in the art as the "tail-in" portion, is coated with a hardenable resin composition. Upon the hardening of the resin composition, the tail-in portion of the proppant is consolidated into a hard permeable mass having a high compressive strength whereby unconsolidated proppant and formation particulate solids are prevented from flowing out of the fractures with produced fluids. While this technique has been successful, the high costs of the hardenable resin composition and the mixing and proppant coating procedures utilized have contributed to making the cost of the fracturing procedure very high.
Recently, fibers have been mixed with the proppant and the mixture has been deposited in fractures. The fibers function to inhibit the flow-back of proppant by filling channels or void spaces in the proppant pack with fibers thereby inhibiting the movement of proppant and formation particulate solids through the propped fracture. While the presence of the fibers has successfully reduced proppant flow-back in some applications, in others both proppant as well as fibers flow out of the fractures with produced fluids causing damage and operational problems to well production and processing equipment.
Thus, there is a need for improved methods of fracturing and placing proppant in subterranean zones whereby the flow-back of proppant with produced fluids is prevented.

Preventing well fracture proppant flow-back


A method of forming a dense and crack-free hematite-containing protective layer on a metal-based substrate for use in a high temperature oxidising and/or corrosive environment comprises applying onto the substrate a particle mixture consisting of: 60 to 99 95 weight %, in particular 70 to 95 weight % such as 75 to 85 weight %, of hematite with or without iron metal and/or ferrous oxide; 1 to 25 weight %, in particular 5 8 to 20 weight % such as 8 to 15 weight %, of nitride and/or carbide particles, such as boron nitride, aluminium nitride or zirconium carbide particles; and 0 to 15 weight %, in particular 5 to 15 weight %, of one or more further constituents that consist of at least one metal or metal oxide or a heat-convertible precursor thereof. The hematite particles are then sintered by heat treating the particle mixture to form the protective layer that is made of a microporous sintered hematite matrix in which the nitride and/or carbide particles are embedded and which contains, when present, said one or more further constituents. The mechanical, electrical and electrochemical properties of the protective layer can be improved by using an oxide of titanium, zinc, zirconium or copper. Typically, the protected substrate can be used in a cell for the electrowinning of a metal such as aluminium.

Using non-carbon anodes—i.e. anodes which are not made of carbon as such, e.g. graphite, coke, etc . . . , but possibly contain carbon in a compound—for the electrowinning of aluminium should drastically improve the aluminium production process by reducing pollution and the cost of aluminium production. Many attempts have been made to use oxide anodes, cermet anodes and metal-based anodes for aluminium production, however they were never adopted by the aluminium industry.
For the dissolution of the raw material, usually alumina, a highly aggressive fluoride-based electrolyte, such as cryolite, is required.
Materials for protecting aluminium electrowinning components have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,310,476, 5,340,448, 5,364,513, 5,527,442, 5,651,874, 6,001,236, 6,287,447 and in PCT publication WO01/42531 (all assigned to MOLTECH). Such materials are predominantly made (more that 50%) of non-oxide ceramic materials, e.g. borides, carbides or nitrides, and are suitable for exposure to molten aluminium and to a molten fluoride-based electrolyte. However, these non-oxide ceramic-based materials do not resist exposure to anodically produced nascent oxygen.
The materials having the greatest resistance to oxidation are metal oxides which are all to some extent soluble in cryolite. Oxides are also poorly electrically conductive, therefore, to avoid substantial ohmic losses and high cell voltages, the use of oxides should be minimal in the manufacture of anodes. Whenever possible, a good conductive material should be utilised for the anode core, whereas the surface of the anode is preferably made of an oxide having a high electrocatalytic activity.
Several patents disclose the use of an electrically conductive metal anode core with an oxide-based active outer part, in particular U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,956,069, 4,960,494, 5,069,771 (all Nguyen/Lazouni/Doan), 6,077,415 (Duruz/de Nora), 6,103,090 (de Nora), 6,113,758 (de Nora/Duruz) and 6,248,227 (de Nora/Duruz), as well as PCT publications WO00/06803 (Duruz/de Nora/Crottaz), WO00/06804 (Crottaz/Duruz), WO00/40783 (de Nora/Duruz), WO01/42534 (de Nora/Duruz) and WO01/42536 (Nguyen/Duruz/ de Nora).
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,039,401 and 4,173,518 (both Yamada/Hashimoto/Horinouchi) disclose multiple oxides for use as electrochemically active anode material for aluminium electrowinning. The multiple oxides include inter-alia oxides of iron, nickel, titanium and yttrium, such as NiFe2O4 or TiFe2O4, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,401, and oxides of yttrium, iron, titanium and tantalum, such as Fe2O3.Ta2O5, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,518. The multiple oxides are produced by sintering their constitutive single oxides and then they are crushed and applied onto a metal substrate (titanium, nickel or copper) by spraying or dipping. Alternatively, the multiple oxides can be produced by electroplating onto the metal substrate the constitutive metals of the multiple oxides followed by an oxidation treatment.
Likewise U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,374,050 and 4,374,761 (both Ray) disclose non-stoichiometric multiple oxides for use as electrochemically active anode material for aluminium electrowinning. The multiple oxides include inter-alia oxides of nickel, titanium, tantalum, yttrium and iron, in particular nickel-iron oxides. The multiple oxides are produced by sintering their constitutive single oxides and then they can be cladded onto a metal substrate.
WO99/36591 (de Nora), WO99/36593 and WO99/36594 (both Duruz/de Nora) disclose sintered multiple oxide coatings applied onto a metal substrate from a slurry containing particulate of the multiple oxides in a colloidal and/or inorganic polymeric binder, in particular colloidal or polymeric alumina, ceria, lithia, magnesia, silica, thoria, yttria, zirconia, tin oxide or zinc oxide. The multiple oxides include ferrites of cobalt, copper, chromium, manganese, nickel and zinc. It is mentioned that the coating can be obtained by reacting precursors thereof among themselves or with constituents of the substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,372,119 and WO01/31091 (both Ray/Liu/Weirauch) disclose a cermet made from sintered particles of nickel, iron and cobalt oxides and of metallic copper and silver possibly alloyed with cobalt, nickel, iron, aluminium, tin, niobium, tantalum, chromium molybdenum or tungsten. The particles can be applied as a coating onto an anode substrate and sintered thereon to form an anode for the electrowinning of aluminium.
These non-carbon anodes have not as yet been commercially and industrially applied and there is still a need for metal-based anodes for aluminium production.

Protection of non-carbon anodes and other oxidation resistant components with iron oxide-containing coatings


An anatomic, neck-locking femoral prosthesis for use in total hip replacement is described. The asymmetric device fundamentally comprises a shell with a hollow bell-shape, which is anchored on the outside of retention neck and the trochantic bed of the femur. The prosthesis is mechanically fastened during the operation and further biologically secured by in-growing bone around the neck and trochantic bed area through the side holes on the shell and by growing into its interior porous coating surface of implant thereafter. The loading force on the femoral head would be well distributed on the shell and directly conducted into the cortex bone of the femoral shaft through the shell. The prosthesis would provide a simple and safe replacement method of hip prosthesis for most patients, particularly benefit for younger patient who has a defective head of femur. Because of less changes in term of anatomic structure of femur, new device could eliminate most of side effects and complications, which appear in regular stem type prosthesis of THA and thereafter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a femoral prosthesis to be applied in total hip arthroplasty (THA). More specifically, new femoral prosthesis is a necklocking femoral component. It is anchored on the outside of retention neck and the trochantic bed of the femur and mechanically fastened during the operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The human hip joint comprises a socket or an acetabulum and a ball or femoral head. The femoral head is attached to the femur through a neck with reduced diameter and is received within the acetabulum for universal pivotal movement. In natural femur, most of loading force of hip is located on the head and distributed through the hard cortex of the femoral neck. It would be further conducted to the femur cortical bone and the joint of knee. If the femoral head becomes diseased or damaged, it can be replaced with a prosthetic femoral component. About 40 years ago, Prof. Sir John Chamley started a revolution in total hip replacement, a stem hip prosthesis. THA has been a tremendously successful surgical invention for patients with disabling arthritis of the hip. Quality of life is predictably improved following THA.
The implantable hip prostheses used comprise, in basic design, one or two piece(s) including a replacement head and femoral neck attached to an elongated metal stem that is adapted for receipt in a cavity formed in the proximal region of the femur. In practice of THA, the natural femoral head and neck has been completely removed, in order to open a canal on the proximal femur. In that model, most of compression force applied on the prosthetic femoral head would be directly conducted into the intramedullar canal of the proximal femur. Most of them are concentrated on the certain local area of the canal. Various patents of THA have been issued around this idea during past 30-40 years. Most of them have been fused on an improvement on shape of the stem for accurately fitting into intramedullar canal of shaft and a method to form a stable, longlasting prosthesis.
In early prior art, the stem of prosthesis was cemented within the femoral medullar cavity by use of a plastic cement, such as PMMA. After decades of practice, there were several infirmities associated with this kind of prosthesis installation. Typically, the cement would be deteriorated with age. In the meanwhile, the constant cyclic loading applied to the stem of the prosthesis by the action of simple walking causes cement to fracture and break loose from the femoral cavity, thereby requiring another operation to re-fix the prosthesis. Loosening of the cemented implants from canal was a common problem in THA and was being recorded with increasing frequency, leading eventually to the description of a condition called xe2x80x9ccement diseasexe2x80x9d. This xe2x80x9cdiseasexe2x80x9d seemed to be found with any of the nearly over 100 different prostheses in use, regardless of the size of the head, the shape of stem, the cementing technique used, or their modularity.
Because of problems associated with cementing a prosthesis hip within the femur, a cementless type of implant procedure had been developed and accepted by the orthopaedic community as a replacement. The cementless hip prosthesis includes a porous coating surface or coating materials, called hydroxyapatite (HA), over the length of the stem, such that natural growing bone after surgery penetrates into the porous surface or HA of the stem, thereby firmly fixing, at least in theory, the femoral stem within the femoral cavity. In general, such procedure requires that the patient would be relatively immobile for a number of weeks following the surgery, in order to allow the bone growth occur and thereafter restrict his physical activity until a firm bound is created. The period of time may involve a full twelve months. Secondly, micro-motion of the implant cannot be avoided in the immediate and early stages after surgery, which, more or less, causes the position or orientation changes of implanted prosthesis. The outcomes from such procedure would be largely depended upon the condition of patient in term of their health condition during the surgery period and activities thereafter. Even that, in best case, this procedure can not completely avoid problems that happened in the cement procedure. In addition, it becomes very difficult to remove a firmly bonded prosthesis, if a failure of prosthesis occurs after surgery. Another downside associated with existing devices and procedures is that, in order to avoid the loosening prosthesis, in prior art, the device has to be as much as perfectly fit into the medullar cavity in term of its orientation, position and the deepness at the medullar canal. From point of view of doctor, they have to spend most time during the surgery to carefully remove bone, which mostly is healthy and functioning, and open a canal in the cancellous bone in term of the precise position, shape and size of canal. It is a time consuming and skilful part in the operation. In fact, for most patients, who needs total hip replacement, their natural neck is functioning and is still in a good shape.
In addition, because design of the stem type devices and its operating procedure of THA would partially alter the structure and functions of the natural femoral system, somehow such surgery would make a damage on proximal femur and affect the growth of bone as well as quality of intact bone. In general, this procedure could not be recommended for young patients (younger than 50 years old), who has a damage on its femoral head, because of concerns about both durability of the prosthesis and most of side-effects and complications appeared in the regular stem type prosthesis, which could lead a need for multiple revisions in their lifetime.
Several previous studies have discovered that major reasons for the vertical migration and subsidence of the femoral component in hip replacement, which causes a likelihood loosening of the device, accurately, are: 1) From point of view of material properties, the cancellous bone is very different from one of cortical bone and metal. For example, the elastic modulus of the cortical bone, cancellous bone and stem (CoCrMo) are 17.3xc3x97109, 324.6xc3x97106 and 196xc3x97109 (Pa), respectively. In principle, function of the cancellous bone is not for supporting any load at all. Once the cancellous bone contact with hard surface of metal stem and is being loaded with force beyond its physiological limits, the plastic deformation happened, which would accumulate over extended period of time and manifest itself as migration of the prosthesis. 2) There are a change and difference on model of the force loading and distribution on the proximal portion of the femur between the intact femur and implanted stem prosthesis. According to Wolff""s law, changes in stress distribution through a bone eventually cause definite alteration in its internal structure. For example, the strain applied on femoral head is transferred along the length of the stem and compression force from femoral head is only focused on a small and local area of the medullas channel, which leads a local plastic deformation of the cancellous bone. 3) The current surgery of THA has generally required removal of entire head and neck portion as well as some hard outer cortical bone, in order to open the intramedullar canal and install the prosthesis. Such surgery causes a lot of anatomical changes on natural system, in term of blood circulation and supply to this area, so that it also leads further physical changes in proximal femur with respect of the bone quality after surgery. Those problems have been recognised for quite some time by orthopaedic community. Obviously, the fact of that problems are associated with the current design of the hip prosthesis, such as aseptic loosening, fatigue fracture, postoperative infection and stress shielding, could directly or indirectly relate to the stem-style design of the prosthesis with respect of the weakness on both biomechanical and physiological outcomes from the existing THA.
There are also several patents of femoral prostheses issued, which have non-stem construction of femoral prosthesis and intended to retain the femoral neck. Most of them focus only on the replacement of the defective femoral head, which eliminates overcutting healthy bone from patient. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,769 (Wagner) teaches the cap for a femoral head, which can be imbedded without the use of cement. U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,740 (Kleiner) describes an anchored femoral dome that can be abutted with a sculpted femoral head through mechanical fastens. U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,593 (Caracciolo) describes a total anatomic hip prosthesis which applied a cap on the defective femoral head with anchorage means fitting by pressure the acetabulum in the iliac fossa. Those technologies all have its limitation and might not be widely applied. Because the size of femoral head varies a lot from patient to patient, it is difficult to have devices for matching each individual one. In most case, the femoral neck, more or less, has been damaged, so that it can not fully support the load from new head at all, even though the head has been repaired.
In point view of practice, beside diseased femoral head, most of the surface and the subsurface bone tissue around proximal femur is actually healthy, particularly neck portion of femur for many case. In these situations, it is undesirable to remove the healthy portion of the femoral neck. It has been recognised in previous studies that the femoral neck, particularly the medial neck cortex of femur, plays a very important role in both loading and conducting compression force on proximal femur. Thus, the retention of the femoral neck and conducting the load through cortical bone of femur would be a very important strategy for designing a new prosthesis hip and developing a new procedure of its implantation.
In light of foregoing problems with prior art, particularly, of the stem-type femoral components and procedures, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new anatomic, neck locking femoral component for THA, by which patient do not need the femoral neck removed anymore. A hollow neck-shell, which supports the prosthetic femoral head, would be anchored onto the outside of retention neck and the trochantic bed of the proximal femur after resecting the diseased or damaged head of femur. The shell is mechanically secured during operation and biologically fastened by in-growth bone surround the femoral neck during recovery period. It eliminates most of the complications from the installation of the existing stem-type hip prostheses.
Another object of present invention is to provide an ideal solution in both the biomechanical and physiological function to the replaced femur in the arthroplasty, in the respect of stress and strength distribution on both the implanted prosthesis and the structures of retention bone. The loading force would be well distributed on the shell and directly conducted into the cortex bone of the femoral shaft through the prosthetic hollow shell.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an ideal manner to install femoral prosthesis into human body and to eliminate the damage and change on the natural structure of human body in term of its anatomic structure and its blood flow in the proximal area of femur. The level of the resection is just bellowing the level of the femoral head osteotomy. It is an ideal solution for younger (18 years old or up) patient, who has a damaged femoral head. Because of non-stem design of the femoral prosthesis, there are no any damages on intra-medullar canal and bone marrow of proximal femur. The new device would not obstruct the bone growing in young patient, in respect of the bone growth in both the medullar and shaft of femur.
Still another object of the present invention is provide a femoral prosthesis that allows a patient to be substantially completely mobile after the operation and needs a shorter recovery period, because of a simple operative technique and a shorter period of the operation time. Furthermore, such an implanted femoral prosthesis, if necessary, may be easily removed in a number of years following the initial surgery for another surgery.

Anatomic femoral prosthesis for total hip arthroplasty


A breakaway device and method that may be used in conjunction with a door panel on an image forming device. The door panel may be a multipurpose feed door or otherwise provide access to the interior of the image forming device. The door panel may be movable between a closed position and an open position. The breakaway device may also permit door panel movement to a breakaway position that is beyond the open position. The breakaway device may include a resilient member and a deflectable stopper member. The stopper member may be biased by the resilient member into a first stopper position when the door panel is between the closed position and the open position. However, the stopper member may be displaced by the door panel against a bias force applied by the resilient member when the door panel is positioned between the open position and a breakaway position.

Image forming devices often have door panels disposed about the exterior housing of the device. These door panels may be opened and closed as needed to access the interior of the device. For example, door panels may be provided to feed specialty media sheets, clear paper jams, and replace consumable items. In the latter two examples, the door panels may be opened just long enough to perform the necessary task. That is, a user may open the door panel, clear a paper jam or replace a component such as a toner cartridge, and then close the door to resume operation.
In other instances, the door panel may remain open for extended periods. One example is a multipurpose door that may be used periodically to feed specialty media such as forms, envelopes, or transparencies into the image forming device. Certain multipurpose media door panels are designed so they do not interfere with normal operation of the image forming device and may remain open indefinitely. Thus, for users who regularly feed specialty media into the multipurpose feeder, there is no absolute need to open and close the multipurpose door panel each time the multipurpose feeder is used.
Door panels in image forming devices may be designed to open a limited amount to prevent damage to door hinges. Often, a mechanical interference such as a detent or a hard stop is used to limit door travel. Unfortunately, door panels are sometimes opened beyond their intended range of travel. Items may be dropped on an open door panel or persons may lean or bump into the open door panel. In a worst case, the door hinges are destroyed and the damaged parts must be serviced and replaced. This scenario results in unwanted downtime. Some designs use a breakaway feature that permits travel beyond the intended range. For example, plastic snaps or other integrated latches may release their hold if a sufficient force is applied to the door panel. Afterwards, the door panel may be returned to its initial state. Unfortunately, snaps, latches, and other release mechanisms are subject to cyclic fatigue and may ultimately break after a certain number of cycles.
Furthermore, certain types of breakaway mechanisms rely on a tightly controlled fit between two or more parts. Thus, the parts must be manufactured to exacting processes and material standards. Problems such as material defects, tooling errors, and poor process control may lead to high failure rates. At one extreme, the breakaway mechanism may not release as intended, resulting in damage that the mechanism was intended to prevent. At another extreme, the breakaway mechanism may release too easily and door panels may not stop at the intended limit. This latter example may be particularly problematic for multipurpose door panels as they may not be able to support the weight of specialty media.
An added problem arises as image forming devices are incorporated in smaller packages. Rigid space constraints tend to limit size and placement of door panels. In certain instances, there may be some amount of overlap between one or more door panels. In other instances, there may be door panels disposed within door panels. In these cases, one door panel may need to be closed before opening another. If these door panels are not opened or closed in the proper order, a resulting interference between the door panels may force one or more panels to open past their intended range of travel. As these types of compound door designs become more common, the importance of a robust breakaway design increases. Existing breakaway mechanisms may not provide an optimal solution for these problems.

Robust door panel breakaway mechanism for an image forming device


An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, an exposure device, a developing device, a primary transfer device, a secondary transfer device, and a control unit. The exposure device exposes the image carrier to form an electrostatic latent image on the image carrier. The developing device forms a toner image by developing the electrostatic latent image using toner. The primary transfer device primarily transfers the toner image to a transfer body. The secondary transfer device applies a transfer bias to secondarily transfer the toner image to a recording medium. The control unit applies a cleaning bias to the secondary transfer device to remove residual toner after the secondary transfer. When the control unit determines that the toner image based on the exposed electrostatic latent image is not secondarily transferred at a predetermined timing, the first cleaning processing is performed until the subsequent processing is started.

In the related art, an image forming apparatus is known in which a toner image formed by a photoconductive drum is primarily transferred onto a transfer body, and a toner image on the transfer body is secondarily transferred onto a sheet. In the secondary transfer, a predetermined bias is applied to a transfer roller, and a toner image is transferred to a sheet passing through the transfer roller. Residual toner that is not transferred to the sheet may be attached to the transfer roller. The residual toner is removed by cleaning processing. The cleaning processing is processing of applying biases having the same polarity and reverse polarity as the toner polarity to a secondary transfer roller, respectively. The cleaning processing is performed in a case where a period for performing the cleaning processing can be secured, for example, in a case where a series of printing operations are completed. For this reason, when the period for performing the cleaning processing cannot be secured, the cleaning processing is not performed. Therefore, in the related art, the residual toner on the transfer roller may not be cleaned efficiently.


A non-volatile memory array including memory units which are arranged in a row/column array is provided. Source lines are arranged in parallel in the column direction and connect to the source regions of the memory units in the same column. Bit lines are arranged in parallel in the row direction and connect to the drain regions of the memory units in the same row. Word lines are arranged in parallel in the column direction and connect to the select gates of the memory units in the same column. Control lines are arranged in parallel in the column direction and connect to the control gates of the memory units in the same column. The control lines are grouped into several groups with n control lines (n is a positive integer not less than 2) in one group, and the control lines in each group are electrically connected to each other.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a semi-conductor device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a non-volatile memory array.
2. Description of Related Art
Among various types of non-volatile memory products, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) is a memory device that has been widely used in personal computers and electronic equipment. Data can be stored, read out or erased form the EEPROM many times, and the stored data are retained in the memory even after power supplying the device is cut off.
Typical EEPROM includes a floating gate and a control gate fabricated by doped polysilicon. The non-volatile memory includes a dual-layer gate, which is hard to integrate with a regular CMOS logic process. In addition, because of the dual-layer gate, the manufacturing cost of the entire embedded non-volatile memory is high that results in less competitive in the market.
In addition, when the memory has been programmed, the electrons injected in a floating gate may be evenly distributed in the entire polysilicon floating gate layer. However, if defects exist in a tunneling oxide layer beneath the polysilicon floating gate layer, a device leaking current is likely generated, and thus the reliability of the device is affected.
To solve the problem of the EEPROM device leaking current, some may substitute the polysilicon with a charge trapping material which, for example, is silicon nitride. Since the silicon nitride is capable of catching electrons and the electrons injected into the silicon nitride layer concentrate in some local region, the defects exist in the tunneling oxide layer become less sensitive. Hence, the device leaking current phenomenon is unlikely occurred. Moreover, commonly there is a silicon oxide layer respectively on top of and beneath the silicon nitride layer to form an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) composite layer.
On the other hand, to avoid data reading error due to over-erase/write while erase or write operation is performed to the typical EEPROM, a select transistor is connected on one side of the floating gate and the control gate, so that a two-transistor (2T) structure is formed. The memory programming and reading are controlled via the select transistor.
However, during the operation of the memory unit array of non-volatile memory unit with the 2T structure, under different biases, the problems that memory unit is mis-written or mis-erased because of programming disturbance (program disturbs) or erase disturbance (erase disturbs) may happen; these problems may lead to a lower reliability of the memory units.


There is disclosed a firestarting pellet made from cedar and impregnated with an alcohol/water solution. The pellet rapidly ignites combustible fire fuels under a variety of burning conditions. A method of manufacturing the firestarting pellet is also disclosed.

The rising cost of energy has spurred many homeowners to supplement their heating needs with wood burning fireplaces and stoves. The low cost and availability of fuel renders fireplaces and stoves attractive alternatives to complete dependence on conventional energy sources including electricity, gas, and oil.
Efficient fire fuels are readily combustible, burn cleanly, and provide a maximum of heat output. However, most fuels, including wood and charcoal, require the use of ignition expedients, commonly known as firestarters.
Although firestarters may be as simple as wood kindling or paper, slightly more sophisticated products such as wax coated wood chips, pitch soaked wood cubes, fat wood, impregnated cardboard, and gelled alcohol, are common. Because of the cost to produce firestarters, they are not considered to be used as primary fire fuel. Firestarters are designed only to initiate the burn.
The effectiveness of a firestarter may be measured by efficiency in relation to the ignition of fuel in a particular setting. To be effective in a fireplace, a sufficient quantity of firestarter must be supplied to accomplish the relatively slow process of fuel ignition. A wood stove operates similarly, except that once the fuel has been ignited the combustion process may be controlled by the regulation of air intake to the stove. In either case, the quantity of firestarter must be relatively great to effect the eventual ignition of the fuel.
The "pellet" stove is a recent advancement in wood burning technology. The pellet stove was born out of concerns for efficiency and the adverse effect on air quality caused by increasing popularity of wood burning. The pellet stove was designed for efficient wood pellet burning with minimal incomplete combustion by-products. To accomplish high efficiency and complete combustion, the stove consumes a great amount of oxygen. Oxygen may be introduced into the stove with the aid of a fan which induces a draft and turbulence in the stove's burn chamber. The operation of the fan, however, often creates difficulties for firestarters. When the stove is in operation, the turbulence is such that existing firestarters are incapable of maintaining combustion sufficient to ignite the fuel pellets.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a firestarter which effects fuel ignition rapidly and efficiently under a variety of burning conditions. In addition, there is a need in the art for methods of manufacturing such effective and efficient firestarters. The present invention fulfills these needs, and provides further related advantages.


A manufacturing method and an apparatus enable high productivity. A method for manufacturing an oxidized fiber bundle includes joining an upstream precursor fiber bundle and a downstream precursor fiber bundle together with a joining fiber bundle, and oxidizing the joined precursor fiber bundles by feeding the joined precursor fiber bundles through an oxidization furnace. The joining includes applying an oiling agent to a joint area of a joining target precursor fiber bundle before joining the joining target precursor fiber bundle and the joining fiber bundle together. A quantity of the oiling agent adhering to the joint area is 0.15 to 0.85 wt %.

Carbon fiber bundles have high tensile strength, a high tensile modulus, high heat resistance, and good fatigue characteristics, and thus have various uses in fields such as sports, leisure, aviation, and aerospace.
Carbon fibers are usually produced through an oxidization process for heating bundled carbon-fiber precursor fibers such as acrylic fibers to 200 to 300° C. in an oxidizing atmosphere, and a carbonization process for carbonizing the oxidized fibers in an inert atmosphere.
Such precursor fibers are usually stored in packages such as bobbins or bags. When a package is to be replaced during continuous manufacture, the terminal end of the downstream fiber bundle being fed during the manufacturing process is joined to the start end of an upstream fiber bundle stored in a package.
Patent Literature 1 describes an example fiber bundle joining method for joining upstream and downstream precursor fiber bundles with a joining fiber bundle. However, increases in the rate of production, the linear density of the precursor fiber bundles, and the number of fiber bundles to be processed at a time may cause trouble such as fiber breakage at or near a joint during the oxidization process or the carbonization process, and the productivity is yet to be further improved.

Method for manufacturing oxidized fiber bundle, method for manufacturing carbon fiber bundle, and joining apparatus


In a process for producing a halogenated organic compound wherein a hydrogen halide is added to an organic compound having an aliphatic carbon-carbon unsaturated bond, a catalyst is used, which is an organic compound having at least two polar groups in the molecule each containing a heteroatom having an unshared electron pair, and having no aliphatic carbon-carbon unsaturated bond. A typical example of the catalyst is a polyoxyalkylene glycol or a polyol having at least 3 hydroxyl groups.

The processes for preparing a brominated hydrocarbon by adding hydrogen bromide to an alkene compound or an alkyne compound are classified into two types. The first type is a process for introducing a bromine atom to a molecular terminal by a free radical reaction effected by using a free radical initiator such as a peroxide, ultraviolet light, molecular oxygen, a metal such as iron, cobalt or nickel, or .alpha.-halo-ketone. The second type is a process for introducing a bromine atom into the inside of a molecule by an ionic reaction effected by using an ionic reaction source such as an ionic phase transfer catalyst, for example, a quaternary ammonium salt, and a Lewis acid (Shin-Jikken Kagaku Koza New Lecture on Experimental Chemistry!, p418; and J. Org. Chem., vol. 45, No. 17, 3527-3529 (1980)) and silica gel (Kagaku to Kogyo (Chem. and Ind.) vol. 45, No. 4, 134 (1992).
The first type process generally has a problem in that a radical source has poor handling properties. The second type process generally has a problem in that an ionic source is troublesome to make and the production is costly.

Process for producing halogenated organic compound


A method includes receiving a first confidence level from a first battery sensor coupled to a first battery electrically coupled to an engine; receiving a second confidence level from a second battery sensor coupled to a second battery electrically coupled to the engine; storing the first confidence level and the second confidence level prior to the engine being powered off; receiving an updated first confidence level and an updated second confidence level after the engine is powered on; comparing (i) the first confidence level to the updated first confidence level for the first battery sensor and (ii) the second confidence level to the updated second confidence level for the second battery sensor; and enabling a stop-start functionality of the engine in response to the first confidence level and the second confidence level decreasing after the engine system is powered on relative to when the engine system was powered off.

Battery sensors are often used in electric, hybrid, and internal combustion engine vehicles. Battery sensors are positioned within a vehicle to monitor operating characteristics of one or more batteries of the vehicle. In mild hybrid and internal combustion engine vehicles, data from the battery sensors may be used to make stop-start decisions. However, battery sensors in such applications traditionally have volatile memory such that a disconnect from a power source (e.g., the battery) will erase the memory of the battery sensor and any data stored thereon relating to the operating characteristics of the battery. Such a loss of data may cause a stop-start functionality of the vehicle to be disabled until the battery sensor regains confidence, thereby decreasing fuel efficiency and altering the normal operation of the vehicle until the confidence is restored.

System and methods for accommodating loss of battery charge history


A non-volatile memory device includes at least one semiconductor column having a first sidewall and a second sidewall. The device also includes at least one gate electrode is disposed on the first sidewall and at least one control gate electrode disposed on the second sidewall. The device further includes at least one charge storage layer is disposed between the second sidewall and the at least one control gate electrode. The at least one gate electrode and the at least one control gate electrode may be disposed on opposite sides of the at least one semiconductor column such that they commonly control a channel region in the semiconductor column.

The present invention relates to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to non-volatile semiconductor devices and methods of operating the same.
There is an increasing demand for semiconductor products that are smaller and have the capacity to process a large amount of data. Thus, integration of non-volatile memory devices used in semiconductor products has increased. In this regard, non-volatile semiconductor devices having a stack structure have been developed. However, it may be difficult to obtain operational reliability of such non-volatile semiconductor devices due to the scaling down of the features of the non-volatile semiconductor devices.

Columnar non-volatile memory devices with auxiliary transistors and methods of operating the same


This disclosure relates to methods, non-transitory computer readable media, and systems that, based on a sparse textual segment, can use machine learning models to generate document variants that are both conforming to digital content guidelines and uniquely tailored for distribution to client devices of specific audiences via specific delivery channels. To create such variants, in some embodiments, the methods, non-transitory computer readable media, and systems generate suggested modifications to a draft document that correspond to features of content-guideline-conforming documents. Additionally, or alternatively, in certain implementations, the disclosed methods, non-transitory computer readable media, and systems generate suggested modifications to a draft document that correspond to features of audience-channel-specific documents.

Developers have made significant advances in hardware and software platforms for digital content optimization. Indeed, textual optimization systems now exist that improve the readability and appeal of digital content distributed across computer networks to client devices. For example, some textual optimization systems operate in tandem with copywriters to produce content delivered to different client devices. For instance, some textual optimization systems improve the grammar, spelling, or other aspects of a text (e.g., identify suggested edits for misspelled words). Similarly, some textual optimization systems employ artificial intelligence to automatically summarize text or other information.
Despite some textual optimization systems advancing the accuracy of spelling, grammar, or summaries, existing systems often generate digital content with inaccurate or inflexible revisions or with inefficient use of computing resources. For instance, although conventional textual optimization systems can reduce spelling errors and generate summaries, they often result in generating inaccurate and misaligned digital content in relation to client devices and governing digital content guidelines. Indeed, conventional textual optimization systems often provide inaccurate digital content to client devices (e.g., different audiences through different digital delivery channels) that the client devices do not need or utilize. This often results in client devices and associated users leaving (or otherwise discontinuing association with) these conventional systems. For instance, client devices leave websites or abandon software subscriptions that provide inaccurate digital content, even if that digital content is grammatically correct.
In addition to these accuracy problems, some conventional textual optimization systems unnecessarily consume computing resources. For example, conventional textual optimization systems require computationally expensive processes by numerous individual computers (and the inefficient use of time from corresponding copyrighters) to draft content for different client devices. Indeed, conventional systems often require thousands of different user interactions from various different client devices to generate digital content variants for different client devices. These inefficiencies of conventional systems are particularly problematic in light of the demand for high volume digital content (at near instantaneous speed) in the current environment.
In addition to these inefficiencies, conventional systems are also inflexible. In particular, some textual optimization systems include rigid, inflexible correction tools limited to particular revisions (e.g., grammar, spelling, or syntactic correction). For example, some conventional textual optimization systems use grammatical and syntactic rules to provide edits to a text. While such correction tools may provide editing options for spelling or grammar errors, the correction tools limit suggestions to written content provided by the author or copywriter.

Automatically generating digital enterprise content variants