An optical medium including a plurality of data layers stacked relative to each other in a dielectric medium. A respective data layer including mark and land regions for having information recorded thereon. A mark region and a land region in the respective data layer are disposed beside each other and have substantially the same optical path length across respective thicknesses of the mark region and the land region. A method and computer program product associated with forming the optical medium which determines whether an admittance curve for a material to be used as the mark region forms an intersection with a desired admittance curve based on the admittance of a land region disposed beside the mark region, and determines a thickness of the material based on the intersection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bit-wise optical data storage structure and method for writing and reading.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Capacities of commercial optical data storage systems have increased due to increasing demand. One way to increase capacity is to stack multiple layers on a single disc. Using a multiple layered-system is very attractive, because the system capacity can be increased by a factor equal to the number of layers.
Several multiple-layer data storage technologies are under investigation. For example, dual-layer recording is now at a practical engineering stage for system development in several formats, such as DVD and BD, and performance of systems using more than two conventional reflective layers for BD has been reported. Performance of systems using two-photon fluorescent media with 100's of layers is understood, but these systems exhibit low readout data rate with a single beam optical pickup. It is known that the number of layers using conventional thin-film technology is mainly limited by layer transmittance.
Conventional thin-film technology is used to optimize recording layers in single-layer and dual-layer optical discs. Extension of this technology to a many-layered disc requires special considerations. For example, each layer must reflect some amount of light in order to provide a readout signal. A deep layer suffers from decreased illumination, due to reflection losses from other layers above it. In order to write data, the layer must be exposed with at least the threshold irradiance level. Since the maximum laser power available from the source is fixed, the maximum number of layers is determined by the deepest layer that has adequate irradiance for writing. The laser power reaching the j-th layer isPj=Tj·PL  (1)where PL is total laser power incident to the disc and T is layer transmittance. In order to write data on each layer, the laser power must be greater than the threshold irradiance Ith. Thus, irradiance of the laser spot on layer j should be larger than Ith, which is mathematically expressed as
                                                        P              j                                      s              2                                ≥                      I            th                          ,                            (        2        )            where s is spot diameter,
                    s        =                              λ            NA                    .                                    (        3        )            By substituting Equation (1) into Equation (2) and using the equality, the maximum number of layers N is given as
                    N        =                                            log                                            (                                                      s                    2                                                                                I                      th                                        /                                          P                      L                                                                      )                                                    log                                                                                T                                .                                    (        4        )            A plot of the maximum number of layers N versus the transmittance T of each layer is shown in FIG. 1 for the far-field Blu-ray disc (BD) optical system parameters.
FIG. 1 shows a maximum number of layers N versus layer transmittance T for conventional thin-film multi-layer system, when no absorption is assumed. The number of layers is limited by the laser power and the threshold writing irradiance. Parameters for far-filed system are for a BD system. In FIG. 1, the laser power, threshold irradiance, and wavelength are 100 mW, 5 mW/μm2, and 405 nm, respectively (PL=100 mW, Ith=5 mW/μm2, and λ=405 nm). The near-field curve is generated using NA=1.2. For example, if each layer provides 60% transmission, the total number of layers is limited to about 10. The total capacity of a 10-layer BD would be about 250 Gbyte. Ichimura et al. ("Proposal for a multilayer read-only-memory optical disk structure," Applied Optics, 45: 1794-1803) has demonstrated an eight-layer BD-like structure by utilizing different reflectivities at each of the layers. Other considerations, like inter-layer crosstalk, which is the ratio of signal strength detected from out-of-focus layers to the signal strength detected from the in-focus (desired) layer, are also important for determining layer design of a multi-layer thin-film disc. Even if individual layers are electronically addressable, there is a residual reflection at each layer that limits the total number of layers.
To date, characteristics and limitations of extending conventional thin-film recording technology using multiple layers have not been extensively investigated and therefore are not well understood.

Optimized media structure for bit-wise multi-layer optical data storage

The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of The University of Arizona


There is disclosed a direct current motor drive system comprising a direct current motor operable in a forward motoring mode receiving current from a power source and in a reverse inversion mode providing inversion current to the power source. The drive system includes a converter for controlling motor operation. The converter converts alternating current, received from the power source, to direct current. The converter supplies direct current across terminals of the motor when operating in the forward motoring mode. The system includes an inversion fault current limiter for limiting inversion fault currents associated with motor operation in the reverse inversion mode without effecting the supply of current to the motor in the forward motoring mode. The inversion fault current limiter is electrically connected in series between the converter and one armature terminal of the motor. The inversion fault limiter includes a diode switch connected in parallel with a resistor. The diode switch conducts during the forward motoring mode to permit the flow of direct current therethrough from the converter to the motor. The diode switch does not conduct when the motor is operating in the reverse inversion mode so as to direct inversion current through the resistor and thereby limit the flow of inversion fault currents.

The present invention relates to a circuit for limiting the regenerative fault currents developed during inversion operation of a drive system for a direct current motor.
It is common practice to operate direct current motors in a forward motoring mode of operation and a reverse inversion mode of operation. For example, in operating a mine hoist, motoring current is supplied to the motor to lift a payload up from the mine while the motor is operated in a reverse inversion mode to lower a payload into the mine.
During operation of the drive system in the inversion mode, the motor acts like a generator to put energy back into the power supply which is an AC line voltage connected through an AC to DC converter across the armature terminals of the motor. When operation in the inversion mode, the drive system is prone to regenerative currents or inversion fault currents which have been known to damage various components used in the drive system including the mechanical drive train. These inversion fault currents can be caused by a number of abnormal conditions such as, for example, a dip in the AC line voltage, a commutation failure in the converter driving the motor, or a short circuit condition associated with the motor.
In order to safeguard against inversion fault currents, transformers connected between the AC line and the power converter have been designed with a voltage margin above that of the operating voltage of the motor. This however adversely affects the power factor and increases the VAR demand from the AC line.
It is also known to discharge the inversion or regenerative currents by connecting a discharge resistor at all times across the output of the supply. However, this practice results in wasted power. Further, direct current contactors and interlock networks to connect the discharge resistor across the load when required have been used to protect the motor and circuitry. This solution has proven costly due to the cost of the high speed breaker used. In Canadian Pat. No. 830,070 issued Dec. 16, 1969 to Krajewski there is disclosed an energy dissipating circuit that connects a discharge resistor across the output of the supply when the regenerative current exceeds a predetermined amount. The resistor is switched into circuit by the use of a thyristor whose gate electrode senses a voltage rise above an acceptable level.

Fault current limiter for DC motor drive system


Alkali-metal bisulfate is employed in a non-polluting and economically-feasible system for producing titanium dioxide pigment from titanium mineral or slag with recycling of alkali-metal bisulfate and ammonia.

Although systems, such as that of U.S. Pat. No. 3,057,685, which use ammonium bisulfate fusion to solubilize metal oxides are known, they are not used in practice because the ammonium bisulfate starts to decompose at a low temperature (above 250.degree. C.), at which the reaction rate is too low. The decomposition products are nitrogen, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen.

Non-polluting alkali-metal bisulfate system for producing titanium dioxide pigment


A shot shell wad may comprise a powder cup and a shot cup connected by first and second shot cup support members positioned in spaced apart relation. Both the first and second shot cup support members include deformable leg sections. A stabilizing member having a proximal end and a distal end is positioned between the first shot cup support member and the second shot cup support member. The proximal end of the stabilizing member is connected to the powder cup and the distal end of the stabilizing member is connected to the first and second shot cup support members by respective first and second transverse members.

Shot shell wads are used in shot shell cases to separate the powder or propellent charge from the shot charge and to provide a seal for the hot expanding gases produced by the burning propellent. Many early shot shell wads were made of a heavy, cardboard-like material and were installed in the shell directly over the powder charge. Such cardboard over-powder wads or card wads, stood up well to the heat of the burning propellent charge and provided a fair seal between the hot expanding gases of the burning propellent and the shot or pellet charge. Such card wads were often used in conjunction with filler wads placed between the card wad and the shot charge. The filler wads, made from a relatively soft material, such as fiber, pressed paper, or cork, absorbed the initial pressure surges caused by the rapidly expanding gases of the burning propellent. Consequently, the filler wads tended to "soften the blow" on the relatively soft lead pellets comprising the shot charge, thus reducing pellet deformation and improving their subsequent trajectory.
While such card over-powder wads and filler wads were used for a number of years, they were not without their disadvantages. For example, the inside wall of the shell case needed to be perfectly smooth and straight, otherwise leaks would develop between the burning propellent and shot, thereby reducing the muzzle velocity of the shot charge and causing other problems. Such wads also did nothing to protect the relatively soft lead pellets from contacting the inside wall of the barrel. Not only does direct contact with the barrel tend to deform the pellets, thus adversely affect the trajectory of the shot charge, it also increases barrel wear.
Another type of wad more recently developed is the plastic over-powder cup wad. While many different kinds of plastic over-powder cup wads exist and are being used, almost all include a powder cup, a collapsible mid-section, and a shot cup. The powder cup typically incorporates an obturating lip seal which provides for improved sealing under almost all conditions, especially with shell casings having tapered walls. The shot cup generally includes a plurality of thin plastic panels or petals that surround the pellets of the shot charge. The petals prevent the pellets from contacting the barrel of the gun during firing.
While such plastic over-powder cup wads are generally superior to the older style card and fiber wads and are used almost exclusively, they are still not without their drawbacks. For example, while the mid sections of many wads are intended to be collapsible, they often do not collapse by an amount sufficient to provide a significant cushion for the shot pellets. Consequently, such wads may cause significant pellet deformation with an attendant loss of ballistic consistency. Even if the collapsible mid-sections do provide sufficient cushioning, the deformation or collapse is not always uniform, which may subject the relatively soft pellets to rapidly changing acceleration loads, causing them to deform. Other types of collapsible mid-sections may collapse more on one side than the other, thus imposing side forces on the shot cup as the wad and shot charge travel down the barrel. Such side forces may cause the pellets to shift as they travel down the barrel, thus resulting in an asymmetrical shot charge and, of course, unpredictable pellet trajectories.
Another problem associated with plastic over-powder cup wads is that they can usually only be used with a specific shell and shot load. For example, a wad designed for use in a 12 gauge shell with a 1 oz. shot load usually cannot be used with a heavier shot load, such as a 11/8 oz. shot load. If such a heaver load is used, the collapsible mid section may be excessively deformed during loading and may not apply the proper pressure on the propellent charge. Consequently, a shot shell manufacturer or a shot shell re-loader must have on hand several different wads in order to produce shot shells with different shot loads.
Consequently, a need exists for a shot shell wad having an improved collapsible mid-section that can provide for more uniform deformation to avoid subjecting the shot charge to excessive or variable acceleration forces which may cause the pellets to deform and/or shift as they are accelerated down the barrel. Ideally, such a shot shell wad should be lightweight to reduce the mass that must be accelerated down the barrel. Additional advantages could be realized if such an improved shot shell wad could be used with different shot charges.


Half-baked flours for making breads, cakes, pancakes, biscuits, tortillas, muffins, cookies, patties, pizzas, nans, brioches, chapaties, nachos, bagels, rolls etc. by heat treating the grain which is dry heated for a time and duration which is then ground into flour, which can be used in flour containing products which provide a faster cooking product than using conventional flour.

A Prior Art exists in relation to this invention. JP41042778, Rodriguez ES2017138, Ab263897 and GB228829 all teach a mixture of cooked and uncooked flour to enhance the flavor of the flour. However, the problem with these resultant flours is that the precooked part tends to overcook and the raw part stills needs 100% time to cook fully. While my Half-baked flour is 100% partly cooked. Thus it requires less time to make the end product from my Half-baked flour.
The present invention relates to making available to the consumer Half-baked flours. I have discovered that any and all kinds of flours in the market can be partly precooked and made available to the consumer. Partly cooked flours have several advantages over what is available in the market today. Partly cooked flours save time, labor, fuel, money, materially enhance the quality of the environment, and enhance the flavor as well as prolong the life of the flour.
a) The grain for making the flour will be half-baked in large commercial facilities; thus the damage to the environment will be minimum, as the pollution will be controlled through efficient filters.
b) As the flour will already be half-cooked people will spend less time making bread and will have more time for their families.
c) Less work will mean less tiredness and more time for rest etc.
d) As bread tends to overcook on the outside and usually remains undercooked on the inside it will now be possible to cook the bread more evenly, enhancing the flavor of the bread. The same will happen with all other flour products.
e) As the half-cooked flour will contain less moisture, it will be more seasoned then the raw flour and will last longer.
f) Commercial quantities of half-baked flour can be made where fuel is cheap and available in large quantities.
g) People will use less fuel to cook with half-baked flour thus saving money as fuel. It will also result in savings of wood, coal and gas etc.
h) Not just bread but also everything and anything that is made with flour can be made with Half-baked flour and will have the same above advantages.


There is disclosed a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising two opposite types of MOSFETs formed on one semiconductor substrate, the method comprising: forming a portion of the MOSFET on the semiconductor substrate, said portion of said MOSFET comprising source/drains regions located in the semiconductor substrate, a dummy gate stack located between the source/drain region and above the semiconductor substrate and a gate spacer surrounding the dummy gate stack; removing the dummy gate stack of said MOSFET to form a gate opening which exposes the surface of the semiconductor substrate; forming an interfacial oxide layer on the exposed surface of the semiconductor structure; forming a high-K gate dielectric on the interfacial oxide layer within the gate opening; forming a first metal gate layer on the high-K gate dielectric; implanting doping ions in the first metal gate layer; forming a second metal gate layer on the first metal gate layer to fill up the gate opening; and annealing to diffuse and accumulate the doping ions at an upper interface between the high-K gate dielectric and the first metal gate layer and at a lower interface between the high-K gate dielectric and the interfacial oxide, and generating an electric dipole at the lower interface between the high-K gate dielectric and the interfacial oxide by interfacial reaction.

With development of the semiconductor technology, the feature size of a Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) is continuously reduced. The reduction of the size of the MOSFET may lead to a problem of current leakage. The use of a high-k dielectric enables to increase the physical thickness of the gate dielectric while keeping the equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) invariable, thereby to decrease the gate tunneling leakage current. However, the conventional poly-silicon gate is incompatible with the high-k dielectric. The use of the metal gate and the high-K dielectric together may not only avoid the depletion effect of the poly-silicon gate and reduce the gate resistance, but also may avoid penetration of boron to improve the reliability of the device. Thus, the combination of the metal gate and the high-K dielectric are widely applied in MOSFET. There are still many challenges in the integration of the metal gate with the high-K dielectric, such as thermal stability and interface state. Especially because of the Fermi Pinning effect, it is difficult for the MOSFET employing the metal gate and the high-K dielectric to obtain an appropriately low threshold voltage.
In a CMOS application integrating N type and P type MOSFETs, in order to obtain an appropriate threshold voltage, an effective work function of an NMOSFET should be near a bottom of a conduction band of Si, i.e. about 4.1 eV, and an effective work function of a PMOSFET should be near a top of a valence band of Si, i.e. about 5.2 eV. Thus, difference combinations of metal gates and high-K dielectrics may be selected for the NMOSFET and the PMOSFET respectively to implement the desired threshold voltage. As a result, it would therefore be desirable to provide the integration implementation of double metal gates and double high-K dielectrics on one chip. During manufacturing the semiconductor device, the respective photolithography and etching steps are performed for the metal gate and high-K gate dielectric for NMOSFET and PMOSFET, respectively. Thus, the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising double metal gates and double high-K dielectrics are complex and is not suitable for mass production, which may further increase the manufacturing cost.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for manufacturing semiconductor devices

Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences


A high voltage electric cable termination module that is characterized by having a gas-restricting valve mounted on it adjacent one of its ends to impede the flow of hot, ionized arc-generated gases from the module, when an arc is formed by interrupting an electrical circuit within the module. The gas restricting valve is adapted to cooperate with either a movable contact member, or an arc follower, of a second module that is adapted to cooperate with the first module to form a plug-in type connection between a pair of electrical conductors that are housed, respectively, in the two modules. By restricting the flow of ionized gas from the modules, their arc-interrupting capability is enhanced and at the same time the risk of an arc re-strike between the conductors of the separated modules is appreciably reduced.

The present invention relates generally to electrical conductor termination modules of a type commonly used in high voltage underground electric power distribution systems to connect the cables and operating components of such a system together. More specifically, the invention relates to means for controlling arc-generated gases developed in such modules when a pair of conductors housed therein are separated to create an arc.
In recent years it has become common practice to utilize plug-on type electric cable termination modules in underground power distribution systems in order to provide a convenient means for connecting and disconnecting the various components of the system. While it is generally recognized as being safe practice to de-energize any portion of an underground power distribution system in which a circuit component is to be disconnected from the system, prior to such a disconnection being effected, this practice is not always followed. In fact, due to the difficulty in ascertaining with certainty when such an electric power distribution system is energized, a pair of cable termination modules may be inadvertently disconnected when a system is energized, although the lineman making the disconnection might think the system had been previously de-energized. Also, on relatively low voltage power distribution systems, with modern loadbreak conductor termination modules, it is possible that some experienced lineman may consciously open, or disconnect, an energized circuit, relying on the arc-quenching capability of the load-break termination to extinguish any resulting arc.
Prior to the present invention, it was recognized that ionized gases generated by an arc during the separation of a pair of energized conductors, mounted respectively in a mated pair of conductor termination modules, could cause a possible re-strike of an arc after the initial arc had been extinguished by an arc-snuffing mechanism within the loadbreak modules. Various devices have been developed to deal with such arc-generated gases to reduce the risk of a re-strike arc, or the formation of an arc from one of the energized conductors to ground. One example of such a prior art device is the gas shield and flow directing means disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,035--Kotski, entitled "Gas Shield for Load-Break Cable Termination", which issued June 22, 1971 and is assigned to General Electric Company.
The type of gas flow controlling shield disclosed in the above-mentioned Kotski patent has proven to be successful in adequately containing hot ionized gases when used on cable termination modules for electric power distribution systems in the 15 KV range. However, it has been found that on higher voltage power distribution systems, such as those having a rating of 25 KV, it is desirable to provide supplementary means for preventing the escape of most arc-generated gases from loadbreak termination modules during a loadbreak operation. By thus containing the ionized gases within a loadbreak cable termination module, the normal high dielectric strength of air surrounding a pair of separated loadbreak modules is not impaired, so even relatively high line voltages do not usually cause an arc re-strike, or an arc to ground.
One prior art approach to this problem of controlling arc-generated, ionized gases within a loadbreak cable termination module was to provide a gas expansion chamber within the module, into which such gases could be vented during a loadbreak operation. In fact, such auxiliary venting chambers have been provided with pressure responsive valves to further control the flow of gases within the module. An example of such a prior art gas flow control mechanism within an electric power cable termination module is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,539,972--Ruete et al., entitled "Electrical Connector for High Voltage Electrical Systems", which issued Nov. 10, 1970 and is assigned to Amerace-ESNA Corporation. One disadvantage inherent in such prior art gas flow control mechanisms is that they do not provide a means for sealing the outermost end of the module to prevent ionized gases from escaping past it into the air surrounding the module. Accordingly, it is possible for a substantial volume of ionized gas to escape from such a loadbreak module when a separable conductor is withdrawn from the module. The ionized gases simply follow the path of the separable conductor out of the loadbreak module.
After recognizing the foregoing disadvantage of the pressure-responsive valve, auxiliary gas expansion chamber type of cable termination modules, an improved type of gas-trap valve was developed for high voltage conductor termination modules. This improved gas-trap valve mechanism was designed to retain substantially all of the arc-generated gases within a loadbreak termination module following a loadbreaking operation. One form of this improved type of gas-trap valve is disclosed in co-pending U.S. Pat. application No. 160,798 filed on July 8, 1971 (General Electric Company which was mailed to the U.S. Patent Office on July 7, 1971), entitled "Electric Cable Termination Module Having a Gas-Trap Valve". That application is assigned to General Electric Co. The gas-trap valve mechanism disclosed in that co-pending application is also described in detail below, since the present invention is ideally suited for use in combination with such a gas-trap valve.
It has been found that the arc-generated gases developed by loadbreak operations in cable termination modules designed for use on 25 KV systems develops extremely high gas pressures very rapidly. These high gas pressures, coupled with the presence of the relatively high voltages on such systems, make it difficult to insure against possible arc restrikes, or arcs to ground, when a pair of cable termination modules on such a system are opened. This problem is traceable primarily to the fact that it is difficult to manufacture a gas-trap valve that will seal a loadbreak cable termination module rapidly enough, after a separable contact is removed from the module, to prevent the escape of some ionized gas therefrom. This problem is somewhat aggravated by the common practice of providing an arc-snuffing rod or arc follower on the separable contact of conventional cable termination modules that are adapted to cooperate with a loadbreak termination module to afford a loadbreak function. Since, during a normal loadbreak operation within such a termination module, an arc is drawn along the surface of such an arc follower for an appreciable interval of time before the arc follower is sufficiently withdrawn from the loadbreak module to enable a gas trap valve to be closed thereby sealing the module, it is possible for ionized gas to escape past the valve during this interval. In addition, even after the separable contact and its arc follower are completely withdrawn from the loadbreak module so that the gas trap valve is free to close, the moment of inertia of such valves causes an inherent time delay during which additional ionized gases can escape past the valve.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved gas flow restricting means for a high voltage cable termination module in order to substantially reduce the escape of ionized, arc-generated gases from the module during, and following, a loadbreak operation within the module.
Another object of the invention is to provide a gas flow restricting valve means for a loadbreak cable termination module which is operable to cool ionized gases, thereby to increase the dielectric strength of such gases prior to their emission from the module.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a low-friction gas restricting valve means for a pair of separable connectors of the rod-and-bore type, in order to prevent the escape of ionized, arc-generated gases between the rod and bore contacts during and following an arc-interrupting separation thereof.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the description of it that is given herein, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Electric circuit interrupter having means for restricting flow or arc-generated gases therefrom


Compositions and methods for the prophylaxis and treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are disclosed herein. More specifically the present invention discloses describes an autologous dendritic cell (DC) vaccine product derived by culturing a patient's monocytes with granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interferon alpha 2b (IFN-α), loading the DC with a mixture of five lipopeptides of Gag, Nef and Pol HIV antigens, and, optionally activating the DC with lipopolysaccharide (LPS).

Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with DC vaccines.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,083,787 issued to Duke et al. (2006) discloses a vaccine that includes a dendritic cell loaded with a yeast vehicle and antigen. The Duke patent further describes methods of making the vaccine and using the vaccine to elicit cellular and humoral immune responses in a mammal. Additionally, a method to elicit an immune response by administration of a yeast vehicle and an antigen that is not complexed to the yeast vehicle is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,348,015 issued to Lawman and Lawman (2008) describes methods for treating cancers, particularly tumorigenic types. Cancer cells are modified to express highly immunogenic antigens so that the cells will generate a defensive response in a mammal that exhibits the cancer or is predisposed to cancer and prevent or ameliorate proliferation of cancer cells. The novel cancer cell vaccines are expected to be effective against a wide range of tumors and leukemias.
Finally, U.S. Patent Application No. 20090010948 (Huang et al. 2009) discloses that reducing, inhibiting or preventing the expression of immunosuppressive cytokines or tolergenic agents in antigen presenting cells improves the ability of the antigen presenting cell to promote an immune response. In one embodiment the Huang invention provides a genetically engineered antigen presenting cell that has reduced or no expression of IL-10. Preferred antigen presenting cells are dendritic cells. Expression of IL-10 can be inhibited or blocked by genetically engineering the antigen presenting cell to express inhibitory nucleic acids that inhibit or prevent the expression mRNA encoding immunosuppressive cytokines. Inhibitory nucleic acids include siRNA, antisense RNA, antisense DNA, microRNA, and enzymatic nucleic acids that target mRNA encoding immunosuppressive cytokines. Immunosuppressive cytokines include, but are not limited to IL-10, TGF-β, IL-27, IL-35, or combinations thereof. Tolerogenic agents include but are not limited to indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase.

Agence Nationale de Recherches Sur le Sida Et Les Hepatitis Virales


A method for forming a tungsten plug for wiring metal comprises the steps of: forming a first Ti film and a TiN film on the entire surface of an insulating film at respective thickness, in due order, the insulating film having been etched to form a contact hole therein; forming a TiSi.sub.2 film over the TiN film; forming a blanket tungsten film over the TiSi film; applying etch back to the tungsten film, to form a tungsten plug in the contact hole, the TiSi.sub.2 film being partially covered with tungsten residues and partially exposed; and etching the TiSi.sub.2 film with a solution having different chemical etching powers to the TiSi.sub.2 film and the TiN film, the tungsten residues being removed as the TiSi.sub.2 film is etched. The method is capable of completely removing the tungsten residues which are formed when the blanket tungsten film is subjected to etch back to form the plug for metal wiring and thus, capable of preventing the damage of the plug tungsten and the TiN film. Consequently, there is effected the improvement of semiconductor device reliability and production yield.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a construction method for the metal wiring of semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a method for forming a tungsten plug on a contact hole.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A blanket tungsten chemical vapor deposition (blanket-W CVD) for the formation of tungsten plug for metal wiring, which is to deposit tungsten entirely over a substrate, generally comprises a glue layer deposition process and an etch back process for the tungsten film entirely deposited. The tungsten etch back process is carried out by a plasma etch, a dry etch.
When the plasma etch back for the plug formation is carried out, there is often generated an imperfection, which leaves on a region some tungsten which must be removed by etch. In turn, these tungsten residues cause the bridge and short of a metal layer.
In order to prevent the formation of the tungsten residues, the etch back may be overly performed. However, this over etch causes the excess removal of the tungsten from a contact plug and has a key hole formed on the center of the contact hole, so that the metal wiring formed comes to be poor in reliability.

Method for forming tungsten plug for metal wiring

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


A method of treating peri-menopasual syndrome comprising administering to a human in need of treatment an effective amount of a compound having the formula ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.3 are independently hydrogen, --CH.sub.3, ##STR2## wherein Ar is optionally substituted phenyl; R.sup.2 is selected from the group consisting of pyrrolidine and piperidino; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of solvate thereof.

The terms peri-menopausal refers to that time in a women's life between pre-menopause (the reproductive years) and post-menopause. This time period is usually between the ages of 40-60, but more often several years on either side of 50 years of age. This period is characterized by a rapid change in the hormonal balance in a woman. Although many different hormones are subject to rapid fluctuation during this time, the most notable are sex related hormones and in particular estrogens and to a lesser extent progestins. The cause of this fluctuation is the natural and time dependent cessation of ovian function. The hallmark of the ending of the peri-menopausal period and the beginning of the post-menopausal period is the cessation of ovian function or its inability to regulate the previously normal ovulation cycle in the woman. This cessation of function is clinically marked by the cessation of mensus of a period of one year or more. The time period over which this cessation of ovian function persists, i.e., the peri-menopausal time, is usually not a sudden or rapid event. The peri-menopausal state can last from a few months to more typically a year or more.
As mentioned before the peri-menopause is marked by fluctuations in the woman's hormonal composition, and these fluctuations are marked with many sequellae. Sometimes these sequellae pass without undo problems for the woman; however, they are often a source of moderate to severe discomfort and concern and are occasionally the source of pathological or even life-threatening events.
It is these sequellae in the peri-menopause time which define the syndrome. A list of common, through highly idiosyncratic, sequellae resulting from entering the peri-menopause are: Hot flashes and sweats, atrophic vaginitis, headache, dizziness, lack of concentration, irritability, loss of libido, joint pain, sleeplessness, apathy, lassitude, muscular weakness,-and palpitations. ("The Menopause", Ed. R. J. Beard, University of Park Press, 1976, Chapter 11). In addition, there has been described a "menopausal or peri-menopausal syndrome" marked with depression. Although there is some controversy as to whether this is a true psychiatric syndrome or not, the peri-menopause is a contributing factor. ("Harrison's principles of Internal Medicine", Ed. N. J. Isselbacher, et al., 9th ed., McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1980 pp. 1782-1783). In extreme cases, some of these sequellae in some women are pathological (such as fluid retention and imbalance) and even life-threatening, especially in those women predisposed to the effects of depression. However, for most women, a major cause of discomfort and concern lies not so much in the occurrence of one of more of these events, but the length of time which they must bear them and their unpredictable nature.
Since it would be unreasonable to believe that any treatment can turn back the course of aging, the clinical approach to the treatment of peri-menopausal syndrome has been one of amelioration. Specifically, the peri-menopausal woman in need of treatment is given a deescalating protocol of exogenous estrogen. This has the effect of bringing the patient slowly to the state of post-menopause, because although the exogenous estrogen effectively treats the symptoms of peri-menopause, it does not stop the inexorable decline in ovian function. Often, this de-escalation therapy requires a protracted period of time (as much as several years, in extreme cases) in order to allow the ovian function to cease by the time the exogenous estrogen is terminated. Although this therapy is effective and approved, it does carry many side-effects.
The side-effects usually associated with estrogen therapy are due not only to the estrogen, but also with the con-combinant progestins. In most cases, women with a uterus must be given estrogen and a progestin either together or more commonly in a cyclic protocol. The reason for this co-administration is to reduce the risk of endometrial cancer which estrogen given alone posses. The effects of the progestin are often poorly tolerated by many women, causing depression or even negating the salutory effects of the estrogen. The estrogen, itself, often causes unpleasant side-effects such as water retention, weight gain, hypertension, etc. The result is often non-compliance of the patient with the therapy and the subsequent suffering of the peri-menopausal symptoms.
Ideally, an improved therapy would be an agent which would ameliorate the symptoms of peri-menopausal syndrome, but would avoid or lessen the side-effects. Additionally, this ideal therapy would also reduce the period of time to bring the woman into a stable, post-menopausal state.

Methods for the treatment of peri-menopausal syndrome


A telescoping monopod system including an image acquisition module having a field of vision, an attachment member configured to contact the image acquisition module, a body housing a processor, a memory, an electromechanical component, and a plurality of shafts. The body contacts the attachment member. The body comprises a control panel.

A telescoping monopod apparatus enables a user to capture selfie photographs by positioning a photographic instrument, e.g., smartphone, camera, etc., beyond a normal range of an arm of the user. The photographic instrument may be secured to a designated area at a first end of the telescoping monopod apparatus; a control panel of the telescoping monopod apparatus may control an operation of the telescoping monopod apparatus and the photographic instrument. The photographic instrument may be secured to a holder disposed at a second end of the telescoping monopod apparatus. The telescoping monopod apparatus generally requires the user to manually adjust a distance between the first end and the user to enable the user to capture a target image. Adjustment of the telescoping monopod apparatus may be necessary when the user decides that the target image requires adjustment. Frequent manual adjustment of the telescoping monopod apparatus may cause strain and deformity to the telescoping monopod.


A spinning system has a spinning apparatus having a longitudinal succession of spinning stations, a creel extending longitudinally above the apparatus and having respective pendant hangers above the stations and each capable of holding a respective yarn package, and a respective slide above each station supporting the respective hanger slidable between an inner position directly above the respective station and an outer position above but horizontally offset therefrom. A reloading apparatus is displaceable longitudinally along the apparatus at least generally under the hangers in the outer positions of the respective slides. A magazine holds a supply of fresh roving packages on the reloading apparatus and a device is provided on the reloading apparatus for displacing the slide between the inner and outer positions. A grab on the reloading apparatus can grab the package on the hanger in the outer position of the respective slide. The displacing device includes a roller rotatable about a longitudinal axis, a drive for rotating the roller about the axis and an actuator for engaging the roller with the slide while rotating the roller about the axis to displace the slide between the positions.

A spinning machine normally, has a longitudinally extending row of spinning stations each having a drawing frame or stretcher and a spinner, the latter normally of the ring type. A creel is provided above this machine for holding spools of yarn or roving, typically two spools for each station.
Since such machines operate at high speed, the yarn supplies are used up fairly rapidly, making it a full-time job for someone to refill the empty stations. A sensor is provided at each station to signal when it has run out of yarn or roving, and a brake is provided so that the end of the previous filament is not pulled through the spinner. Thus the operator reloads the empty spool holder and attaches the start of its filament to the end of the preceding one and restarts the station.
It is common to spin together two filaments, and in this case the machines are often loaded with two identical bobbins or spools at the same time. Since the filaments are of the same length, they will run out at the same time, necessitating replacement of both packages. In such a machine the one package is normally behind the other, so that the operator must reach around one holder to get at the other.
Although it has been suggested to automate the reloading of the yarn holders, no system has yet been proposed that was capable of doing so without requiring large-scale redesign of the spinning machine and that could replace the outside and inside packages inside a compact creel.

System for automatically changing spools of a spinning machine


A bunk for a boat lift includes a bottom portion pivotally configured to attach to one or more lifting beams of the boat lift. A top portion is positionably securable to the bottom portion wherein the top portion comprises includes a boat engaging surface having a first end and a second end wherein the first end is a first distance from a midplane of the top portion and the second end is a second distance from the midplane of the top portion. The top portion is positionable into a first position where the boat engaging surface is in a first position relative to the bottom portion and wherein the top portion is positionable into a second position by moving the top portion end for end relative to the bottom portion wherein boat engaging surface is a second position relative to the bottom portion.

The present disclosure relates to a boat lift. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a boat lift having bunks configured to be spaced apart at adjustable distances and angles.
Typical boat lifts have at least two spaced apart bunks that are configured to engage and support a hull of the boat as the boat is lifted from a body of water. Typically, the bunks are configured to engage the hull substantially parallel to a midline of the boat. The forces imparted by gravity unto the hull as the boat is lifted are dispersed along the length of the bunks, such that the hull is not damaged during the lifting process.
However, the spacing between the hull engaging surfaces on the bunks is typically fixed. As such, while the engaging surface of the bunks may properly engage the hull of a certain size, the engaging surfaces of the bunks may not properly engage the hull of a smaller boat, a larger boat and/or a hull with a different configuration. Therefore, if a boat owner purchases a boat having a different size or hull design, the boat owner may also have to purchase a different lift to accommodate the new boat, even though the lift may have the necessary lifting capacity.


Methods and apparatus for the soft start of linear regulators for controlling inrush current. In linear regulators having a pass transistor controlled by a regulator control circuit, the regulator control circuit is disabled until the regulator output reaches a predetermined threshold level. On startup, an additional transistor is coupled with a resistor and capacitor to the control terminal of the pass transistor in such a way as to provide for the slow turn-on of the pass transistor. During this time, the control circuit for the pass transistor is held inoperative. After the regulator output reaches a predetermined threshold, the pass transistor control circuit becomes operative and the slow start circuitry becomes inoperative.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of linear regulators.
2. Prior Art
Linear voltage regulators are well known in the prior art, being commonly used to receive an unregulated input voltage and to provide a regulated output voltage somewhat lower than the input voltage. Such regulators comprise a pass transistor coupled between the input to the regulator and the output of the regulator, and a pass transistor control circuit controlling the control terminal of the pass transistor based upon the comparison of a reference voltage with the output voltage of the regulator, typically as divided down by a resistor divider.
The foregoing types of linear regulators work well and are widely used. Such regulators are widely commercially available in integrated circuit form, the lower power regulators including the pass transistor as part of the integrated circuit and the higher power regulators using an external discrete pass transistor. However, unless some provision is made for the soft start of such regulators, the pass transistor will be turned on hard when power is first applied to the regulator, drawing an initial high current spike from the power supply. In that regard, substantial energy may be initially required at the output of the regulator if there is a substantial capacitive load thereon, whether because of the circuitry being driven by the regulator, or merely the presence of the typical smoothing capacitor normally provided on the output of the regulator. Substantial energy also may be initially required at the output of the regulator due to nonlinear loads where the nonlinearity is a function of voltage.
To limit the inrush current on turn-on, a resistor is commonly coupled in series with the regulator circuit, with the pass transistor control circuit sensing the voltage drop across the resistor and controlling the control terminal of the pass transistor to limit that current to a predetermined maximum value. That maximum current, of course, must be higher than the maximum expected load on the regulator in normal operation. Accordingly, when a system using such regulators is first turned on, there will be a momentary load on the power supply exceeding the largest load expected during normal operation of the system, caused by the simultaneous extraordinary inrush currents of all the circuits in the system. Further, the system itself may have various circuits, not all of which could operate at their maximum power requirements at the same time. Accordingly, the maximum normal operating power requirements from the power supply may be much less than the momentary power requirement on first turn-on of the system. Consequently, the inrush current requirements of a system can often determine the minimum power supply size, weight and cost, even though the normal operation of the system would only require a smaller, lighter and less costly supply.
In addition, in many systems it is desired to be able to replace a printed circuit board without shutting off power to the system, typically referred to as "hot swapping." In computer systems, hot swapping will allow the replacement of a board or the addition of a new board without loss of information in volatile memory, without requiring rebooting the system, etc. In systems such as communication systems and the like, wherein a plurality of boards of similar function are plugged into a motherboard, boards may be hot swapped or additional boards added without shutting down the system. This allows maintenance and upgrading without interfering with communications or other functions in channels serviced by the remaining boards in the system. In hot swapping applications, however, unless inrush currents are adequately limited, the addition of a board to a system in operation can cause a momentary power glitch which may disturb other circuits in the system.
A similar effect is encountered when a circuit is shut down. In this case, when an existing electrical load of the circuit is suddenly removed, an over-voltage condition may be imposed on the other circuits in the system, causing a temporary or permanent disruption in their operation. Also, if the load on a switching power supply if drastically reduced, the switching power supply may latch in a shutdown condition.

Methods and apparatus for soft start and soft turnoff of linear voltage regulators


A child commode seat is positioned for mounting and pivotment relative to a top surface of a commode bowl oriented interiorly and concentrically thereof, with the commode seat including a removable urine splash shield. The splash shield includes a plurality of inserts secured to the splash shield to enhance deflection of fluid spray relative to the shield.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to commode apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved child commode seat apparatus wherein the same is arranged for the accommodation and toilet training of small children.
2. Description of the prior Art
Various commode seat constructions are utilized in the prior art for use with children, such as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,279 to Block wherein a child's training seat is mounted interiorly of a commode lid utilizing a splash shield mounted thereto.
U S. Pat. No. 4,777,672 to Gebhard, et al. wherein a child's toilet apparatus of unitary construction utilizes a splash shield member secured thereto
U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,514 to Landsberger sets forth a superimposed toilet seat to include mounting to a conventional toilet seat structure.
As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a new and improved child commode seat apparatus as set forth by the instant invention which addresses both the problems of ease of use as well as effectiveness in construction in the training and proper orientation of a child in the use of a toilet structure and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A centrifugal advance mechanism has drive and driven members connected with one another to rotate about a common axis as they move toward and away from each other along the common axis. A resilient element biases the members toward each other. A ramp on one of the members has an inner end portion and an outer end portion. The inner end portion is closer to the common axis than the outer end portion, the ramp rising as it moves from the inner end portion toward the outer end portion. A ba1l contacts the ramp and the other member. The resilient element biases the ball down the ramp, the ball traveling radially outward and up the ramp as the members rotate at increasing angular velocity thereby causing the members to separate from each other against the bias of the resilient element and to rotate with respect to each other.

Operation of an internal combustion engine depends on proper timing of various events such as firing of spark plug(s) and opening and closing of various valves including intake and exhaust valves. The proper moment in the operating cycle of the engine for these events depends in part on the engine's speed. Proper timing can affect engine performance, and in certain prior art engines, mechanisms have been provided to vary the angular relationship between components that are rotating at various speeds.


Representative implementations provide devices and techniques for adding a field to a business object. One or more fields from similar business objects may be presented for selection as templates for the new field. The one or more fields and the similar business objects are determined by calculating an affinity value between the business object and other business objects.

To cover customers' business requirements to the fullest, many enterprise-level business applications, such as relational database applications for example, provide field extensibility. For example, the applications provide for users (such as business consultants or client-users, for instance) to at least partly customize the basic business objects (e.g., master data, transaction data, settings/configuration objects, etc.) of the enterprise-level application. In some cases, customization includes editing and/or adding fields to the business objects.
In some cases, the procedures for properly editing or adding fields to business objects may not be convenient or easily understood by mainstream client-users or by technical end-users. For instance, in many cases the user is prompted to enter technical meta information associated to the field during adding or editing the field, which often cannot be done without a clear understanding of the meta information. Since the meta information can define the field (including its properties and attributes) and can contribute to validation of the field, it can include complex expressions or value sets. Accordingly, entering the meta information can be tedious and error-prone even if it is well understood.


Aspects of the present invention are directed to devices, systems and methods that enable the quick and reliable detection of hemolysis in a sample such that a sample which exhibits an unacceptable level of hemolysis can be flagged or disregarded in an associated diagnostic test.

Point-of-care testing refers generally to medical testing at or near the site of patient care, such as in an emergency room. A desired outcome of such tests is often to obtain rapid and accurate lab results to determine a next course of action in patient care. A number of such point of care tests involve taking or otherwise using a blood sample from a patient. The ideal blood sample is pure plasma separated from the source whole blood sample. Hemolysis (haemolysis), however, is a common problem which may introduce undesirable components into the plasma fraction.
In particular, hemolysis refers to the rupturing of erythrocytes (red blood cells) and the release of their contents, including hemoglobin and potassium, into surrounding fluid (e.g., blood plasma). Hemolysis may occur in vivo or in vitro (inside or outside the body). During any of the collection, transportation, and handling of patient whole blood samples, there is the possibility of hemolysis. If hemolysis occurs, the resulting components in the sample may cause interference in a number of tests, thereby leading to a signal reduction, reduced measurement accuracy and precision, or to false positive results at the other end of the spectrum. Further, if hemolysis occurs, it has been found that the potassium concentration in a corresponding sample may increase significantly and cause a high risk of misdiagnosis in a diagnostic test for potassium levels. See Clinical Chemistry, December 2003, vol. 49, no. 12, 2105-2106. Current methods do not adequately and quickly determine whether an unacceptable level of hemolysis has occurred in a blood sample.

Hemolysis detection device, system and method


A fuel injector comprising a restricted opening arranged between the pressure chamber and the pressure control chamber, a check valve for permitting fuel to flow only from the pressure control chamber to the pressure chamber, and an opening and closing valve opening when the fuel pressure in the pressure control chamber becomes lower than the fuel pressure in the pressure chamber, by a predetermined pressure. The restricted opening, the check valve and the opening and closing valve are arranged in parallel to each other, and by controlling the fuel pressure in the pressure control chamber by a fuel pressure control unit, a first pattern in which the fuel injection rate is gradually raised, and a second pattern in which the fuel injection rate is quickly raised, can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel injector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel injector which is opened by moving a needle with the aid of a fuel pressure in a high pressure passageway, wherein a pressure chamber defined by the rear surface of the needle and connected to the high pressure passageway is formed in the fuel injector and a restricted opening and a check valve are arranged such that fuel easily flows in the region between the pressure chamber and the high pressure passageway but the flow out of fuel from the pressure chamber is restricted to thus raise the fuel injection pressure and maintain a good fuel injection completion is known (see Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 1-114979).
When a large quantity of fuel is supplied into each combustion chamber of a diesel engine, to be burnt therein, the fuel is quickly burnt upon the ignition thereof. Accordingly, the combustion pressure is quickly raised, and this results in a generation of noise. To prevent a sudden rise of the combustion pressure when the fuel is ignited, the ignition should occur when only a small quantity of fuel exists in each combustion chamber, the quantity of fuel to be supplied into the combustion chamber gradually increased thereafter, and the increased quantity of fuel successively burnt to thereby gradually raise the combustion pressure. Therefore, preferably a fuel injection rate of fuel from the fuel injector is gradually increased. Namely, the fuel injection rate is gradually increased with an elapse of time from the time at which the fuel injection is started. Further, when the engine operates at a high engine speed with a large torque at an engine shaft, preferably the fuel injection rate is quickly raised because a large quantity of fuel must be supplied to each combustion chamber a short time. Namely, preferably the raising of the fuel injection rate is varied in accordance with the current running state of the engine.
With the conventional fuel injector as described above, however, since a pattern representing the fuel injection rate is based on a diameter of the restricted opening, a problem arises in that the fuel injection rate pattern cannot be varied to a desired fuel injection rate pattern corresponding to the current running state of the engine.


In a Shortest Path Bridge (SPB) network comprising a plurality of backbone edge bridges (BEBs), a gateway controller of the SPB network, establishes a link using Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP) with an external network domain; discovers via the link a source of a multicast stream originating outside of the SPB network; and determines a subset of the plurality of BEBs that are able to receive the multicast stream from the source. Once that occurs, the gateway controller selects a one of the subset of the plurality of BEBs to be a sole gateway BEB for the multicast stream; and then transmits to each of the subset of the plurality of BEBs an indication of the sole gateway BEB selected for the multicast stream.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to multicast traffic in shortest path bridging networks, and, in particular, to supporting interdomain multicast routing.
PIM (Protocol Independent Multicast) can satisfy the need for multicast forwarding inside a single domain or autonomous system, which is not the case with multicast applications intended to provide services outside the boundary of a single autonomous system. For Inter Domain multicast, other protocols such as Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP) can be used.
With PIM-SM a typical multicast framework inside a single domain is composed of one or more rendezvous points (RPs), multicast sources and multicast receivers. An RP is responsible for registering sources and linking them to receivers. MSDP is designed to make multicast sources available for other domain receivers by communicating this information between RPs in different domains.
Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP) is a PIM family multicast routing protocol defined by Experimental RFC 3618. MSDP interconnects multiple PIM Sparse-Mode (PIM-SM) domains which enables PIM-SM to have Rendezvous Point (RP) redundancy and inter-domain multicasting (examples are described in RFC 4611).
MSDP typically uses TCP as its transport protocol. Each multicast tree has to have its own RP. All of the RP's are peers (directly or through other MSDP peers). Messages contain a) Source of Data, and b) Group Address The Data Source Sends To; i.e., (S,G). When an RP on its own domain receives a message, it determines if there are group members on this domain interested in a multicast. If someone is interested it triggers a join towards the data source (into the source domain) in the way of (S, G). Typically, in a peering relationship, one MSDP peer listens for new TCP connections on the well-known port 639.
An Inter Domain IP Multicast deployment consists of multiple independently operated multicast networks (domains) being able to exchange multicast traffic from one network to another. In order to provide redundancy these multicast networks are interconnected in a redundant fashion at multiple routers and interfaces.
One of these networks could be a Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) Network. SPB is a transport network protocol that provides logical Ethernet networks on native Ethernet infrastructure using a link state protocol to advertise both topology and logical network membership. Packets are encapsulated at the edge of an SPB network either in mac-in-mac 802.1ah or tagged 802.1Q/802.1ad frames and transported only to other members of the logical network. Unicast and multicast are supported and all routing is on symmetric shortest paths. Many equal cost shortest paths are supported. An SPB Multicast solution should rely on configuring the Ingress BEBs to ensure that any given multicast stream has a single entry point in the SPB Network. Also, MSDP peering to the SPB network should be accomplished in a way that does not go beyond the scaling limits of the multicast routers in the neighboring networks.

Ingress gateway selection for a shortest path bridging network to support inter domain multicast routing


A lighting circuit and a method of operating a lighting circuit are described. A rectifier 14 has an input for an alternating voltage V. At least a first and a second LED assembly 20, 22 are connected to be supplied with electrical power from the rectifier 14. The first LED assembly 20 is electrically connected to a first output 26 of the rectifier 14 and electrically connected in series with an input 36 of a switching converter circuit. The second LED assembly 22 is electrically connected to an output 48 of the switching converter circuit 44. A control assembly 30 is connected to a tap 46 in the series connection for controlling operation of the first LED assembly 20.

A known type of driver circuit for LEDs is a tapped linear driver. In a tapped linear driver (TLD) structure, LEDs are typically arranged in series and supplied with a varying operating voltage, such as a rectified mains voltage. Control assemblies, such as switches or current sources are connected to the taps, i.e. the interconnection points in the series connection. By suitable control, groups of the LED elements are operated depending on the momentarily available supply voltage.
WO 2010/027254 A1 describes an LED assembly comprising a serial connection of two or more LED units, each LED unit comprising one or more LEDs. Each LED unit is provided with a controllable switch for short-circuiting the LED unit. A converter, which may be a buck converter or boost converter, provides power to the LED units by converting an input power source to an appropriate current source for the LEDs. A control unit receives a signal representing a voltage level of the supply voltage and controls the switches in accordance with the signal.

Efficient lighting circuit for LED assemblies


Multiple lookup engines stacked upon one another in a single data communication switch. The lookup engine at the top of the stack transmits its result to the neighboring downstream lookup engine which either validates and transmits the received result or its own result based on the quality of its match. The result preferably indicates an exact match, partial match, or no match. Although several lookup engines can return a partial match, an exact match preferably occurs in only one lookup engine. The comparison, validation, and transmission steps are repeated by each downstream lookup engine, with the lookup engine at the bottom of the stack validating and returning a final result to the packet processor. The returned final result reflects a search result with the highest match quality.

High-speed data communication nodes such as routers and switches communicate with each other by transmitting and receiving data packets via communication protocols such as HTTP, TCP/IP, SMB, and the like. When a node receives a data packet, it performs address lookups to properly process the packet. In performing an address lookup, a key including information from the packet is compared against entries in a lookup table. If a match is found, the packet is processed in accordance with information associated with the matching entry.
One type of lookup is a source lookup where a source address is applied to the lookup table to identify the sender of the packet for billing and accounting, source/application policing, and source learning. A second type of lookup is destination lookup where a destination address key is applied to the lookup table to determine how and where to route the packet.
As the Internet continues to increase in size and complexity, the number of entries required to be stored in the lookup tables continue to explode. One way this explosive growth may be addressed is by introducing nodes with increasingly higher capacity databases. However, given the time delays associated with new product development and the unique requirements of each network, there is a need for a more flexible and scalable solution for supporting the expected number of entries in lookup tables.


A laser apparatus able to prevent the formation of condensation at the time of maintenance work. The laser apparatus includes a housing having an openable sealed structure, an optical system set inside the housing, a temperature regulation mechanism maintaining the optical system at a predetermined temperature, and a preparatory step controller controlling a preparatory step performed before opening the housing. The temperature regulation mechanism is configured to maintain the optical system at a first temperature during operation of the laser apparatus and to maintain the optical system at a second temperature of the first temperature or more when the preparatory step is started.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some component parts used in laser apparatuses become shorter in lifetime if used at a high temperature. Conversely, if the temperature becomes too low, the characteristics of the laser are able to change. For this reason, in general, the temperature is controlled so that the component parts are maintained at a predetermined temperature of 15° C. to 30° C. in range.
When a laser apparatus is used in a high temperature, high humidity environment, due to the temperature difference between the outside air and the component parts which are maintained at a low temperature, condensation sometimes forms. In particular, if condensation forms at an optical part, it causes the laser light to be absorbed or scattered and the desired performance can no longer be realized. Further, if dust or volatile matter or other foreign matter adheres to a location where condensation forms, after drying, the foreign matter will stick on the surface of the optical part and therefore the optical part will have to be replaced or repaired. Condensation also increases the risk of electric shock or short-circuiting, so is not desirable for electrical parts.
Known in the art are various techniques for preventing the formation of condensation at optical parts. Known in the art is a laser oscillator including a dehumidifier supplying dry air to the inside of the housing holding optical parts etc. (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 04-356981A, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2012-024778A, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 2013-239696A). Known in the art is also a laser oscillator designed to adjust the temperature of optical parts by heating the cooling water for cooling optical components in accordance with need (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 01-232779A, Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-045988A, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 04-335585A).
Also known in the art is a laser oscillator designed to stop the supply of coolant cooling an optical part at the time of stopping emission so as to prevent the formation of condensation (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-110174A).

Laser apparatus having temperature control function for maintenance work


An organic light-emitting display device includes a plurality of pixels on a substrate, and input pads coupled to the plurality of pixels through wirings, the input pads being connected to a circuit board, wherein each of the input pads includes an extension portion extending from a respective wiring, a connection portion separated from the extension portion by a predetermined distance and connected to the circuit board, a resistance portion contacting the extension portion and the connection portion, and a dummy portion on the resistance portion and contacting the connection portion, the dummy portion being insulated from the extension portion.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to an organic light-emitting display device that prevents damage caused by static electricity and an input pad used in the organic light-emitting display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organic light-emitting display devices have drawn attention as next generation display devices because they have superior characteristics, e.g., wide viewing angles, high contrast, short response times, and low power consumption, as compared to liquid crystal display (LCD) devices. In addition, the organic light-emitting display devices do not require a backlight unit, thereby having reduced weight and thickness, e.g., as compared to the LCD devices. An organic light-emitting display device includes a substrate that provides a pixel area and a non-pixel area, and a container or an encapsulation substrate that is disposed to face the substrate for encapsulation and is aligned with the substrate by a sealant, e.g., epoxy.
In the organic light-emitting display device, the substrate is formed of glass or the like. Thus, a large amount of static electricity may be generated when the organic light-emitting display device is manufactured or used.

Organic light-emitting display device and input pad thereof


A wide dynamic range charger module is configured to couple a variable power source such as a photovoltaic cell to a load. The module determines a maximum power point (MPPT) of the power source and based at least in part upon that MPPT selects one of a plurality of power converters to provide power to the load. The selection is such that the selected power converter is operating within its operating regime. The selected power converter may further be configured to a pre-determined input admittance which corresponds to the power source.

Electronic devices, such as electronic book readers ("eBook reader devices"), cellular telephones, portable media players, desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers, netbooks, personal digital assistants, and the like, rely on electrical power to function. Power sources provide electrical power to the electronic devices. Some power sources exhibit variable characteristics such as changing current and voltage output. For example, output voltage and current of a photovoltaic cell will vary as the level of light incident on the cell changes. These changing characteristics introduce difficulties in effectively transferring energy from the variable power source to a load within the electronic device.


Catalyst systems useful in addition polymerization reactions comprising a Group 4 metal complex and a silylium salt activating cocatalyst are prepared by contacting the metal complex with a silylium salt of a compatible, non-coordinating anion, optionally the silylium salt is prepared by electrochemical oxidation and splitting of the corresponding disilane compound.

This invention relates to a method for preparing compositions of matter that are useful as catalysts, and to a method of using these catalysts for polymerizing addition polymerizable monomers. More particularly the present invention relates to an improved method for preparing a class of catalysts known as cationic metallocene catalysts using a silylium salt activator.
In U.S. Ser. No. 545,403, filed Jul. 3, 1990, (published in equivalent form Mar. 13, 1991 as EP-A-416,815) there are disclosed certain constrained geometry metal complexes and catalysts derived by reacting the metal complex with activating cocatalysts. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,802 (published Mar. 20, 1991 in equivalent form as EP-A-418,044) there are further disclosed certain constrained geometry metal catalysts formed by reacting such metal complexes with salts of Bronsted acids containing a non-coordinating compatible anion. The reference discloses the fact that such complexes are usefully employed as catalysts in addition polymerizations. In U.S. Ser. No. 884,966, filed Mar. 15, 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,723, an alternative technique for preparing cationic constrained geometry catalysts using carbenium cationic activator compounds is disclosed. For the teachings contained therein, the foregoing United States patent and applications are herein incorporated by reference.
It has been previously known in the art to employ carbenium, oxonium or sulfonium ions to generate cationic Group 4 metallocene catalysts. Such a process is disclosed in EP-A2-426,637 published May 8, 1991.
J. B. Lambert, et al., Organometallics, 13, 2430-2443 (1994), disclosed a process for preparing silylium borate salts by reaction of carbenium borates with silanes. Lewis base adducts of silylium borates, especially ether and acetonitrile adducts of silylium borates, are disclosed in S. R. Bahr, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 115, 4514-4519 (1993) and in M. Kira, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 114, 6697-6700 (1992), respectively. None of the foregoing references discloses a utility for such silylium compounds in the formation of polymerization catalysts.
It would be desirable if there were provided an improved method that would allow the production of even more efficient catalysts as well as an improved addition polymerization process utilizing such catalysts.

Silylium cationic polymerization activators for metallocene complexes


A video library system capable of shortening the worst response time with respect to each video data reading request, without lowering the possible level of multiplexing. The multiplexed video data reading is achieved by distributedly storing video data divided into segments among a plurality of data storage devices, where each segment is capable of being read out in one time-slot; selectively connecting each data storage devices with one of data transfer targets by a plurality of switches provided in correspondence to the data storage devices; generating a plurality of control time-slot sequences formed by periodic time-slots in correspondence to the data storage devices with mutually displaced phases in each period of the control time-slot sequences; and controlling the data storage devices and switches such that, in response to a request for reading video data from a data transfer target, an earliest available idle time-slot is selected from the control time-slot sequences, and the segments of the requested video data are sequentially read out from the data storage devices at time-slots corresponding to the selected earliest idle time-slot in the control time-slot sequences and transmitted to the requesting data transfer target as the data storage devices are sequentially switched to the requesting data transfer target by the switches.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video library system for reading a plurality of video data simultaneously from data storage devices such as disk devices in which many video data including audio data are recorded by being compression coded, which is utilized in the video-on-demand system for providing a plurality of video data simultaneously through a network in response to requests from a plurality of user terminals.
2. Description of the Background Art
As a conventional multiplexed video data reading device for reading a plurality of video data simultaneously, there has been a proposition of a video library system as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 4-269087 (1992). FIG. 1 shows a configuration of such a conventional video library system, in which a disk device DK101 is connected with a plurality of buffer memories BM101, BM102, . . . , BM132 through a switch SW101, where all of these elements are operated under a control of a control device CN101. Here, the buffer memories BM101, BM102, . . . , BM132 are provided within terminals TE101, TE102, . . . , TE132 which also include decoders DE101, DE102, . . . , DE132, and monitors TV101, TV102, . . . , TV132, respectively.
In this conventional video library system of FIG. 1, the multiplexed reading operation is controlled according to the timing chart of FIG. 2 as follows.
The control device CN101 generates a control time-slot sequence CTS101 formed by periodic 32 time-slots TS101, TS102, . . . , TS132 constituting one period, and within each period, different video data are read out from the disk device DK101 at different time-slots in such a manner that the video data for the buffer memory BM101 of the first terminal TE101 is read out at the time-slot TS101, the video data for the buffer memory BM102 of the second terminal TE102 is read out at the time-slot TS102, and so on. Accordingly, the transfer target of the video data read out from the disk device DK101 is sequentially switched by the switch SW101 among the buffer memories BM101, BM102, . . . , BM132. The video data received at the buffer memories BM101, BM102, . . . , BM132 are then decoded into video signals by the respective decoders DE101, DE102, . . . , DE132 and displayed by the respective monitors TV101, TV102, . . . , TV132, so as to realize the multiplexed video display at a plurality of terminals TE101, TE102, . . . , TE132.
As shown in FIG. 2, in this conventional video library system, in response to the video data reading request from each terminal, an idle time-slot not occupied by the other terminals is searched out in each period of the control time-slot sequence, and thereafter the reading of the requested video data is carried out periodically by using the searched out time-slot in each period of the control time-slot sequence. Consequently, there has been a waiting period for the video data reading operation between a time at which the video data reading request has arrived and a time at which the idle time-slot is found in the control time-slot sequence. Here, the response time required from a time at which the video data reading request is made to a time at which the reading of the requested video data from the disk device DK101 is actually completed for the first time-slot part becomes worst when there is only one idle time-slot in one period of the control time-slot sequence and the video data reading request arrives immediately after that idle time-slot, in which case the waiting period is as long as the duration of one period in the control time-slot sequence.
For example, in FIG. 2, consider a case in which the n-th terminal issued the video data reading request REQ101 at a timing of the completion of the time-slot TS132. First, the idle time-slot is searched among the following time-slots for one period starting from that timing. Here, suppose that the time-slots TS101 to TS131 are already occupied and only the time-slot TS132 is idle. Then, The video data reading request REQ101 is going to be allocated to this time-slot TS132, so that the execution of the video data reading operation must wait until this time-slot TS132 in the next period. In this case, the monitor display start timing RES101 at the n-th terminal is delayed from the timing of the video data reading request REQ101 by exactly one period part as indicated in FIG. 2 as TIME101. When a number of time-slots in one period is 32 and a duration of each time-slot is 125 ms, the duration of this delay time TIME101 amounts to 4 sec.
In such a conventional multiplexed video data reading scheme, in order to shorten the worst response time, it has been necessary to shorten the duration of one period by shortening the duration of each time-slot.
On the other hand, at the boundary of the adjacent time-slots in the time division multiplexed data reading control scheme, in general, there is an overhead time required for switching the data to be read out at the data storage device side. For example, in a case of using the magnetic disk device as the data storage device, there is a need to switch the reading target block on the disk, and there is an overhead time due to the head seek and the sector search for this purpose. Consequently, when the duration of each time-slot is shortened, a rate of the actual data reading time within each time-slot is going to be relatively lowered, and this in turn reduces the effective average data reading speed at the data storage device.
For example, when the overhead time is constantly 50 ms, for the time-slot with a duration of 125 ms, the reading efficiency at the disk device is going to be 60% (=(125-50)/125), but when the duration of the time-slot is shortened to 62.5 ms, the reading efficiency at the disk device is going to be lowered to 20% (=(62.5-50)/62.5), so that the average data reading speed is going to be reduced to 1/3.
Thus, in the conventional multiplexed video data reading scheme, there has been a problem that, when each time-slot is shortened in order to shorten the worst response time, the average data reading speed at the data storage device is lowered in turn, and as a result the possible level of multiplexing is going to be lowered.
In addition, in the conventional video library system, each terminal is given no information concerning the video data contents, so that in order to distinguish the video data having similar attributes such as the video data having similar titles, it has been necessary for each terminal to carry out an operation to actually make an access to a center to read out these video data and confirm their contents.

Method and apparatus for multiplexed video data reading in video library system


A water-insoluble immunological reagent being formed from discrete particles of a latex carrier to which a water-soluble polyhydroxy compound is covalently bound having condensed thereto through a covalent link an immunologically active material; process for the manufacture of said reagent; a kit containing said reagent and the use of said reagent in immunological determinations.

The diagnosis of pathological states or other conditions in human beings as well as animals is more and more accomplished by the application of immunological principles, utilized to determine the presence of antibodies or antigens in a body fluid of the subject.
Within the various known testing procedures like the agglutinationtest, the radioimmunoassay, the enzymeimmunoassay, the immunofluorescence or the immunodiffusion, the agglutinationtest is considered as being cheapest, most simple and quick.
In an agglutinationtest, carriers are utilized in order to make it possible to visually or photometrically discern the formed antigen-antibody complexes which have very small sizes. Among the carriers which have been employed are sheep and human erythrocytes, bacterial cells, bentonite, latex particles, e.g., polystyrene, or carboxylated copolymers of styrene and butadiene, anionic phenolic resins and finely divided diazotized amino cellulose.
The known carriers are however limited in their applicability and usefulness in immunological diagnostic procedures since the corresponding immunological reagents show in many instances a lack of sensitivity and/or a poor stability.
In particular, it has not been possible to develop an agglutinationtest for the determination of myoglobin in the urine of patients with suspected myocardial infarction, because the known immunological carriers are not satisfying for attaching myoglobin under retention of its immunological properties or do not show a sufficient stability. The known methods for determining myoglobin in urine like the radial immunodiffusion are expensive and cumbersome. In particular, they do not allow a quick estimation of myoglobin in urine, which the physician could carry out at the bedside of the patient with suspected myocardial infaction.
There is thus a need for a carrier which will form, with a wide spectrum of immunologically active materials, in particular with myoglobin, a diagnostically useful reagent which is stable, specific, sensitive and provides an easily ascertainable visual or photometric evaluation in the minimum of time.


Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer program products for electronic systems with through-substrate interconnects and mems device. An interconnect formed in a substrate having a first surface and a second surface, the interconnect includes: a bulk region; a via extending from the first surface to the second surface; an insulating structure extending through the first surface into the substrate and defining a closed loop around the via, wherein the insulating structure comprises a seam portion separated by at least one solid portion; and an insulating region extending from the insulating structure toward the second surface, the insulating region separating the via from the bulk region, wherein the insulating structure and insulating region collectively provide electrical isolation between the via and the bulk region.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic systems, and more particularly to electronic systems with interconnects.
Background
A through-silicon via (TSV), also known as a through-substrate via, is an interconnect structure formed in a substrate that provides a vertical electrical connection passing completely through the substrate.
There are multiple ways to categorize a TSV architecture. One categorization is based on when TSV fabrication process is performed in relation to a CMOS or a MEMS device fabrication process. For example, in a TSV-first architecture, TSVs are completely formed in a substrate prior to forming CMOS or MEMS devices in the same substrate. In a TSV-middle architecture, TSVs are partially formed first and then completed after forming, or partially forming, CMOS or MEMS devices.
Another categorization is based on the conducting material that is used for the through-substrate conduction. In an example, holes are etched in a substrate and lined with a dielectric. The hole is filled with a conducting material, such as copper. In subsequent fabrication steps, electrical contacts are made to the top and bottom of the filled conducting TSV plug. In another example, a continuous trench is etched partially through the substrate in a closed pattern, such as an annulus. The trench is then partially filled with a dielectric material. Electrical connection is made to the surrounded silicon using a metal trace and a via opening. In subsequent fabrication steps, the substrate is flipped over; an electrical connection, such as a bond pad or solder bump, is made; and, a second trench that intersects with the continuous trench is etched, thereby removing the only remaining electrical connection between the surrounding substrate and the silicon plug inside the closed contour filled with a dielectric material. A similar process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,815,827.
In an alternative process, the silicon plug is doped to create a resistivity within the plug that is lower than that of the surrounding substrate. A similar process is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,227,213 and 6,838,362.
TSV is commonly used for 3D/2.5D integration of integrated circuits because of its ability to electrically couple two or more substrates that are stacked on top of each other and because of its superior performance compared to conventional interconnects. However, despite these benefits, it is not widely used in the field because it is currently too expensive to fabricate. Therefore, there is a need for a new TSV structure that has a lower fabrication cost than a conventional TSV structure.

Electronic systems with through-substrate interconnects and MEMS device


A method bridges gaps in a power supply for electrical, converter-fed rail vehicles having front and rear ends with front and rear current collectors, as seen in a travel direction, for making contact with the power supply. The method includes switching a traction converter from a traction mode to a regenerative braking mode, that is to say a generator operation or from a braking mode to the regenerative braking mode. The switching takes place over a period during which the rail vehicle travels a distance. If possible, the distance is only slightly shorter than a distance between the front and rear current collectors. This occurs as soon as the front current collector is not in contact with the power supply.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for bridging gaps in a power supply for electrical, converter-fed rail vehicles, wherein the rail vehicles are provided at both ends with current collectors for making contact with the power supply.
In rail vehicles being fed through a so-called third rail, that is to say a current rail, severe interruptions with respect to the power feeding occur, for example, in the area of points, crossings and joints. Apart from the unavoidable loss of traction force, that results in an interruption of the train power supply system which can be detected, for example, by a failure of illumination. When a gap occurs in the conductor rail, a fault detection system usually responds, which results in a discharge of storage capacitors of the power feeding circuit and an opening of a switch for the train power supply system. The consequence thereof is frequent start-ups of the drives and an increased failure rate of components such as motors, illumination, high-speed circuit breakers, charging circuit for storage capacitors and so forth. Furthermore, there is a disadvantageous period of time until the converters being used for feeding the drive motors are in operation again after the end of the gap in the conductor rail and the train power supply system is connected in the circuit again.

Method for providing continuous power to electrical rail vehicle systems when rail power is interrupted


A method for on-line assay in column chromatography of a property that requires appreciable time for sensitive measurement has the steps of separating the effluent into discrete fractions at equal time intervals, sequentially passing each fraction through each of a series of detectors, while preventing each fraction from mixing with another; and, for each fraction, calculating the assay from the information provided by each detector during the time interval the fraction passed through it.

The present invention relates to the on-line detection of properties of the effluent of column chromatography that require appreciable time for measurement, and more particularly to an assay of radioactivity with enhanced sensitivity and resolution.
In column chromatography, such as gas-liquid, gas-solid, liquid-liquid or liquid-solid chromatography, detection is generally accomplished by passing the column effluent through or past a detector which senses and records over time the rises and falls of a property of the effluent related to the concentration of the compounds of interest. Both identification and quantification of components of the mixture being separated depend on accurate recording of these concentration changes and the time at which they occur. In order to achieve and preserve maximal resolution, detector volumes are generally minimized and flow rates are adjusted for maximal response to rapid changes in concentration. Only small portions of the effluent are present in the detector at any given time, and the time each portion remains in the detector is minimized.
When radioactivity is to be measured, however, maximizing resolution limits sensitivity. Because of the random nature of radioactive decay, the precision of any radioassay is a function of the number of radioactive events that contribute to the measurement. In radiochromatography, each portion of the effluent must remain in the detector sufficiently long for the required number of radioactive emissions to be detected. Detector volumes and flow rates are compromises between these opposing requirements. In current high performance (or pressure) liquid chromatography (HPLC), for example, time in the detector can often be extended up to about 20 seconds without intolerable degradation of resolution, even though in other detectors much shorter times are generally thought desirable. If the sample contains less radioactivity than can be measured with acceptable precision in 20 sec., flow-through detection is generally not useful. The alternative is to fractionate the effluent for subsequent radioassay of each fraction for much longer times. To achieve the same resolution, separate fractions must be collected at least every 20 sec. Many fractions must then be assayed, and this can occupy a counting device for many hours. For this reason, most workers find flow-through detectors more convenient to use and reserve fraction-collecting for those assays involving very low levels of radioactivity and either limit the time each fraction is counted or sacrifice resolution for sensitivity by collecting fewer fractions.
Baba et al. described delivering a stream of HPLC effluent mixed with scintillation fluid, but without segmentation of the stream to achieve discrete fractionation, through five scintillation counters in series. S. Baba, et al., J. Chromatograph, 244 (1982) 57 and 392 (1987) 157. They recorded the predicted increase in precision over that from a single detector but also noted appreciable and predictable loss of resolution, manifested by an increase in peak width from the first to the fifth detector, caused by mixing of one part of the effluent with the next. This effect is particularly troublesome with detergent-containing scintillation fluids which tend to wet even polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tubing.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for the on-line assay of a property of a stream which requires appreciable time for sensitive measurement, which method combines high sensitivity and high resolution.
It is also an object to provide such a method wherein the stream is a column chromatographic effluent.
Another object is to provide such a method wherein the assay is a radioassay.
A further object is to provide such a method which is simple, easy, and economical.

Sensitive on line assay of chromatographic effluent

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University