A lighting unit according to the invention comprises an electrodeless low-pressure discharge lamp 20 provided with a discharge vessel 20 enclosing a discharge space 20 with an ionizable filling in a gastight manner. The discharge vessel 20 has a recessed portion 23 and an enveloping portion 23 which transmits radiation generated in the discharge vessel. Means are present in the recessed portion for initiating and maintaining an electric discharge in the discharge space. The means comprise a member for generating an electric field in the discharge space. The recessed portion is provided with a luminescent layer, which is subdivided into mutually separated regions, at a surface facing the discharge space. The lighting unit further comprises a supply unit for supplying the means. The lamp of the lighting unit according to the invention has a comparatively low ignition voltage.

The invention relates to a lighting unit comprising an electrodeless low-pressure discharge lamp provided with a discharge vessel which encloses a discharge space containing an ionizable filling in a gastight manner and which has a recessed potion and an enveloping portion which is permeable to radiation generated in the discharge vessel, while the recessed portion is provided with a luminescent layer at a surface facing towards the discharge space and means are present in the recessed portion for achieving and maintaining an electric discharge in the discharge space, which means comprise a member for generating an electric field in the discharge space, and the lighting unit in addition has a supply unit for supplying said means.
The invention also relates to an electrodeless low-pressure discharge lamp for use in the lighting unit.
The invention also relates to a discharge vessel for use in the lighting unit.
The term "electrodeless low-pressure discharge lamp", also referred to as lamp hereinafter, in the present description and claims is understood to mean a low-pressure discharge lamp in which electrodes in the discharge space are absent. It is possible, however, for electrodes to be present outside the discharge space.
A lighting unit as described above is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,678. In the known lighting unit, a supply unit is accommodated in a housing fastened to the discharge vessel of the lamp. The discharge vessel is entirely coated with a luminescent layer at a surface facing towards the discharge space and is provided with a filling comprising mercury. A coil having a primary winding and a secondary winding around a core of soft magnetic material forms means for achieving and maintaining an electric discharge. When the lighting unit is switched on, an ignition voltage is applied across the primary winding of the coil so as to generate an electric field which initiates a discharge. The magnetic field of the coil maintains the discharge during nominal operation. Electromagnetic interference in the surroundings and in the power mains is counteracted by the secondary winding.
A disadvantage of the known lighting unit is that a comparatively high ignition voltage is required for starting a discharge, especially when the unit has been out of operation for a comparatively long time. The requirements to be imposed on the supply unit and the electrical insulation of lamp components are accordingly comparatively high.

Lighting unit having electrodeless low-pressure discharge lamp with a luminescent layer


A driving rod lock for a sliding door, with a lock housing (2) which is arranged to the rear of a cuff plate (1) and which comprises a driving member for a driving rod (3) for driving bolt elements (4), which driving rod is displacable between a blocked position and an open position of the lock by actuation of the driving member along the rear side of the cuff plate, with a tracer (5) which extends through an opening of the cuff plate (1) and which, with a blocking section (6) arranged in the lock housing (2), blocks displacement of the driving rod (2) from the open into the closed position and releases displacement in a position pressed in against the force of a return spring (7). Improving a such sliding door lock with respect to handling, the driving member is a latch nut (8).

The invention concerns a driving rod lock for a sliding door, with a lock housing which is arranged to the rear of a cuff plate and which comprises a driving member for a driving rod for driving bolt elements, which driving rod is displaceable between a blocked position and an open position of the lock by actuation of the driving member along the rear side of the cuff plate, with a tracer which extends through an opening of the cuff plate and which, with a blocking section arranged in the lock housing, blocks displacement of the driving rod from the open into the closed position.
A lock of this kind is known from EP 0 757 146 A1. The lock described there has a driving rod which is located to the rear of a cuff plate. Through openings of the cuff plate extend hooked catches which together with the driving rod are displaceable from an open position into a blocked position in which the hooked catches enter corresponding catch entry openings of a striking plate and latch there. Out of an opening of the cuff plate extends a tracer which is acted upon by the striking plate when the door is closed. The tracer has a blocking section with which in its advanced position it blocks displacement of the driving rod, so that the latter is displaceable from the open to the blocked position only when the tracer is pressed in. The driving rod is driven with a driving member. The driving member there is a slide.


There is provided a heat collector for solar thermal power generation that suppresses oxidization using a silicon-carbide ceramic sintered body as a base body. The heat collector includes the base body made of a silicon-carbide ceramic sintered body in which channels (cells) for passing through a heat medium are formed, a first glass layer of silicate glass that coats at least a part of surfaces of the base body and contains an alkali metal constituent and/or an alkaline-earth metal constituent, and a second glass layer of silicate glass that coats the first glass layer and has a sum of contents of an alkali metal constituent and an alkaline-earth metal constituent, which is smaller than a sum of contents of the alkali metal constituent and the alkaline-earth metal constituent in the first glass layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat collector for solar thermal power generation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solar thermal power generation is a technique of collecting solar light into a heat collector using a mirror and a lens, heating a heat medium in the heat collector, and rotating a turbine with steam generated by thermal exchange with the heated heat medium so as to generate power. Conventionally, a heat collector for solar thermal power generation using silicon carbide ceramics has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2012-92688). The heat collector made of ceramics has an advantage that it is excellent in heat resistance in comparison with a heat collector made of a metal. In particular, silicon carbide ceramics has a high heat conductivity and a low thermal expansion coefficient. Therefore, the silicon carbide ceramics is excellent in thermal shock resistance and is appropriate as a heat collector the temperature of which becomes extremely high with light collection of solar light.
There is, however, a problem that silicon carbide is oxidized when heated to a high temperature under presence of oxygen. It is said that when the surface of silicon carbide is covered by a film of silicon dioxide generated by oxidation of silicon carbide, further oxidation is suppressed to some extent. However, the suppression of oxidation with the film of silicon dioxide is insufficient in fact.

Heat collector for solar thermal power generation


A process for etching a PPMS layer that increases the etch selectivity of PPMS relative to PPMSO from an initial low etch selectivity to a higher etch selectivity at a later stage of the etching process. In some embodiments, the etch selectivity used during a first etching step of the process is less than 4:1 and the etch selectivity used during a second etching step, subsequent to the first step, is greater than 5:1. In some other embodiments, the etch selectivity of the first step is between 2-3:1 and the etch selectivity of the second step is greater than 8:1. Optionally, in still other embodiments a third etching step, performed between the first and second etching steps may be employed where the etch selectivity is between 3-8:1.

The present invention relates generally to photolithographic semiconductor processing techniques and more particular to a method and apparatus for depositing and developing a photoresist film.
The patterning of various deposited layers using photolithography techniques are common steps in the formation of today""s integrated circuits. Over the years a variety of photolithographic processes have been developed. One of the more common of these processes includes the deposition of an initial antireflective coating (ARC layer) under a spin-on resist layer. The spin-on resist layer is a light-sensitive material and is therefore referred to as a photoresist layer. After deposition of the photoresist, a photomask (also known simply as a mask) having transparent and opaque regions that embody a desired pattern is used to pattern the photoresist. When the mask is exposed to light (e.g., ultraviolet light), the transparent portions permit the exposure of the photoresist in those regions, but not in the regions where the mask is opaque. The light causes a chemical reaction in exposed portions of the photoresist. A suitable chemical solution, chemical vapor or plasma process is then used to selectively attack (etch away) either the reacted or unreacted portions of the photoresist. This process is known as developing the photoresist. With the remaining photoresist acting as a mask, the underlying layer may then undergo further processing. For example, material may be deposited, the underlying layer may be etched or other processing carried out.
The deposition of such spin-on resist layers is a wet chemical process that has limitations that make the process undesirable for some applications.
Newer photolithography techniques include the deposition of a plasma polymerized methylsilane (PPMS) photoresist layer from a chemical vapor deposition process. PPMS is an amorphous methyl silicon polymer, and PPMS deposition techniques have been previously described in an article by Weidman et al., entitled xe2x80x9cNew Photodefinable Glass Etch Masks for Entirely Dry Photolithography: Plasma Deposited Organosilicon Hydride Polymers,xe2x80x9d published in Applied Physics Letters, vol. 62, no. 4, Jan. 25, 1993, pgs. 372-374; U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,780 to Joshi et al.; and an article by Weidman et al. entitled xe2x80x9cAll Dry Lithography: Applications of Plasma Polymerized Methylsilane as a Single Layer Resist and Silicon Dioxide Precursor,xe2x80x9d published in Journal of Photopolymer Science and Technology, vol. 8, no. 4, (1995), pgs. 679-686. Additionally, a commercially viable PPMS photolithography technique in which a deposited PPMS film has good stability, high photosensitivity and a high deposition rate is described in U.S. Ser. No. 08/745,565, filed Nov. 8, 1996, entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Depositing Deep UV Photoresist Film,xe2x80x9d and having Timothy Weidman and Dian Sugiarto listed as co-inventors. The Ser. No. 08/745,565 application is assigned to Applied Materials, an applicant for the present patent, and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
As described in these references, a PPMS film having an amorphous organosilicon hydride network structure is deposited by plasma polymerization of a methylsilane precursor gas. When the PPMS film is exposed to deep UV radiation in the presence of an oxidant such as ambient air, exposed portions of the PPMS film undergo photo-oxidation to form a glass-like, siloxane network material, plasma polymerized methylsilicon oxide (PPMSO). The resulting patterns can be developed to provide either negative tone or positive tone patterns. Negative tone patterns are generally formed using a chlorine-based plasma etch. Positive tone patterns can be formed using an HF vapor or buffered oxide etch. In either case, the developed pattern may optionally be further oxidized and annealed to convert the remaining material to a hard oxide suitable for further processing. Such PPMS photolithography techniques are advantageous in that the deposition, development, patterning, and etching steps may all be performed in the gas phase, i.e., using dry plasma processing techniques, providing very high resolution.
The process described in the Ser. No. 08/745,565 application described above is useful for a variety of photolithography applications. Despite this, improvements to these known PPMS deposition processes are desirable.
The present invention provides an improved photolithography process that enables definition of patterns that have improved line roughness, resolution and critical dimension uniformity and control as compared to previously known PPMS processes.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a process for patterning a feature on a substrate using a plasma polymerized methylsilane (PPMS) photoresist layer or similar organosilicon film. The process includes the step of depositing a PPMS film having upper and lower strata such that the upper stratum is more photosensitive to ultraviolet radiation than is the lower stratum. In one version of this embodiment, the upper and lower strata are formed in a multistep deposition process that, preferably, takes place in a single deposition chamber. In another version of this embodiment, the upper and lower strata are formed by a process in which deposition parameters are modified to deposit a PPMS layer having a photosensitivity gradient between the upper and lower strata. In still another version of this embodiment, various intermediate strata are formed. Preferably, each intermediate stratum has a photosensitivity that is higher than the stratum directly beneath it.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a multistep process for etching a PPMS layer that increases the etch selectivity (the etch ratio of an unoxidized PPMS film relative to an oxidized PPMSO film) from an initial low etch selectivity to a higher etch selectivity at a later stage of the etching process. In one currently preferred version of this embodiment, the etch selectivity used during a first etching step of the process is about 4:1 or less and the etch selectivity used during a second etching step, subsequent to the first step, is about 5:1 or more. In an even more preferred version of this embodiment, the etch selectivity of the first step is between 2-3:1 and the etch selectivity of the second step is greater than 5:1. Optionally, a third etching step, performed between the first and second etching steps, may be employed where the etch selectivity is between 3-4:1. In another version of this embodiment, the etch selectivity is varied along a gradient, e.g., linearly, throughout the etching process from a low etch selectivity to a higher etch selectivity.
These and other embodiments of the present invention, as well as its advantages and features, are described in more detail in conjunction with the text below and attached figures.

Process for depositing and developing a plasma polymerized organosilicon photoresist film


Maintaining client version affinity during a rolling server cluster upgrade includes a server in the server cluster receiving a request from a client and checking the request for a version cookie indicating a software version that the client is running. Responsive to a determination that the server is running the same software version as the client, the server serves the request. Responsive to a determination that the client is running a software version matching a previous software version of the server, the server initiates a software upgrade on the client instead of servicing the request. Responsive to a determination that the server is not running the same software version as the client, the server forwards the request to one of the other servers in the server cluster that is running the same software version as the client.

Version management refers to formal processes for making information technology (IT) changes, such as installations, upgrades, patching and migrations of a server cluster, in conjunction with corresponding updates to dependent thick clients (i.e., a client that incorporates proprietary software to communicate with an application executed by a server), while reducing negative impacts to service levels. Two examples of configuration management processes are sticky sessions and Blue-Green deployment.
Sticky sessions are used with load balancing during an upgrade of the server cluster to achieve server affinity where a router or load balancer with sticky sessions support assigns a single server to a particular client/user based on their HTTP session or IP address. While this solution eliminates constant client re-download and hanging requests, it has drawbacks. Sticky sessions tie a client to a specific server which leads to uneven load distribution in the cluster, thus defeating the purpose of any load balancer to equally distribute client load. Another drawback is defining the rules for sticky sessions—the rules must enumerate all possible uniform resource identifiers (URIs) that need to be made sticky, which is a maintenance problem as URIs change and the new ones are added in the course of application development.
Blue-Green deployment is a change management technique for releasing software code that reduces downtime and risk by running two identical server production environments called Blue and Green. At any time, only one of the environments is live, with the live environment serving all production traffic, while new code is released in the inactive environment. Blue-green deployments need two identical sets of hardware, and that hardware carries added costs and overhead without actually adding capacity or improving utilization.

Maintaining client version affinity during a server cluster upgrade


New hybrid or chimeric fusion polypeptide transcription regulators which induce interferon target gene expression are provided for use in anti-viral and anti-proliferative applications. The hybrid fusion proteins comprise the p48 interferon regulatory factor protein, or a functional portion thereof, fused to a transcriptional activation domain (TAD), or a functional portion thereof. More specifically, the p48 interferon regulatory factor protein is fused to a STAT transcriptional activation do main (TAD) (p48-STAT TAD). A particular p48-STAT TAD is p48-S2C, in which S2C is the TAD of STAT2. Another p48-TAD is p48-VP16 TAD, in which p48 is fused to the transcriptional activation domain of the VP16 protein of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV). The p48-TAD nucleic acid sequences and encoded polypeptides can be employed for anti-viral treatment and for the treatment of cancers, tumors and neoplastic diseases.

Interferons (IFNS) are cytokine proteins that are produced by cells infected with viruses and that induce potent anti-viral activities via the immediate induction of gene expression following binding to cell surface receptors. Thus, interferons are not direct anti-viral agents, but induce one or several anti-viral mechanisms. In addition, interferons act on viruses other than the specific virus inducing the interferon.
The principal innate anti-viral mechanism for most cells involves the actions of Type I interferons (IFNα and IFNβ), leading to the induction of interferon responsive gene expression. Two families of transcriptional regulators, i.e., members of the "signal transducers and activators of transcription" (STAT) and "interferon regulatory factor" (IRF) families, work in conjunction to establish a cascade of gene regulation and signal transduction events that lead to transcriptional activation of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). Proteins encoded by such ISGs have potent anti-viral properties, which include disruption of the viral replicative life cycle, blockage of cell cycle progression, and apoptosis.
A trimeric complex, IFN Stimulated Gene Factor 3 (ISGF3), is formed following IFN binding to cell surface receptors and is comprised of (i) STAT1, (ii) STAT2, and (iii) p48/ISGF3γ/IRF9 (FIG. 3). The STAT family members are proteins of 100 kDa molecular weight containing highly conserved SH2 domains, SH3-like domains, and unique regions which serve as sites of interaction with other proteins involved in signal transduction. The STATs also contain general characteristics of transcription factors including a conserved DNA binding domain, a COOH-terminal transcriptional activation domain, and regions to contact other transcriptional regulators. The p48/ISGF3γ/IRF9 protein, herein referred to as p48, is not a STAT factor, but is a member of the IRF (Interferon Regulatory Factor) family. In addition, the p48 protein is an essential component of ISGF3 that contributes DNA binding specificity and provides specific protein binding sites for the recruitment of STAT1 and STAT2 proteins to the promoter, but is otherwise transcriptionally inert.
Genes that are transcriptionally activated by IFNs share a common promoter element called the IFN stimulated gene response element (ISRE); (AGTTTN3TTTCC, SEQ ID NO: 3). The trimeric protein complex, ISGF3, binds with high affinity to the ISRE following IFN treatment (Fu et al., 1990, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 87: 8555-8559; Fu et al., 1992, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89: 7840-7843; Schindler et al., 1992, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89: 7836-7839).
The general mechanism for activation of transcription by ISGF3 can be viewed as a two-phase process: As depicted in FIG. 4, the first phase (signaling phase) involves receptor-mediated signal transduction to generate a nuclear transcription complex; the second phase (transcription phase) involves the initiation of activation of target genes by the complex. The first phase has been well characterized. Binding of IFN to its receptor activates the tyrosine kinases JAK1 and TYK2 to phosphorylate the IFN receptor cytoplasmic domain, providing a docking site for STAT2. STAT2 phosphorylation provides a docking site for STAT1. Following STAT1 phosphorylation, the two STATs heterodimerize to form STAT1:2 heterodimer. Thereafter, the STAT1:2 heterodimer associates with p48 to form the trimeric ISGF3 complex. This trimeric complex represents an elaborate scheme to target the STAT2 C-terminus, which contains the essential transcriptional activation domain of ISGF3, to the appropriate promoters for participation in transcriptional activation.
Most transcription activating proteins contain a sequence-specific DNA binding domain linked to a transcriptional activation domain. Therefore, this modular nature of transcription factors is the basis of "two hybrid systems" for screening libraries for protein interaction partners. Indeed, it has been well documented that many protein regions can act as transcriptional activation domains (TADs) when fused to DNA binding domains, regardless of their original cellular function (see, e.g., Brent and Ptashne, 1985, Cell: 43: 729-36; Ma and Ptashne, 1987, Cell 51: 113-9; Ma and Ptashne, 1988, Cell 55: 443-6). While such TADs differ in the ability to mediate precise protein:protein contacts with transcriptional machinery, the TADs function similarly as activators of RNA polymerase.
IFNs are the principle innate anti-viral and anti-tumor cytokines and are also potent immuno-modulators that participate in the regulation of the functions of T-cells, B-cells, natural killer cells, and macrophages. Moreover, IFNs possess direct anti-proliferative activities and are cytostatic or cytotoxic for a number of different tumor and cancer cell types. Therefore, IFNs are involved in both anti-viral and anti-neoplastic (e.g., cancer and tumor) responses.
IFN genes were first cloned in 1979 and have been approved since 1991 for the treatment of hepatitis C infection. IFNs have been associated with the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases because of their roles in both the innate and adaptive immune systems. Specifically, IFNs have been employed for therapeutic use against hairy-cell leukemia, chronic hepatitis B, a major cause of liver cancer and cirrhosis, as well as for treatment of genital warts and some rarer cancers of the blood and bone marrow. Nasal sprays containing alpha interferon also provide some protection against colds caused by rhinoviruses.
However, as the IFN system represents an early and crucial step in anti-viral immunity, it is not surprising to find that many viruses have evolved strategies to block the actions of IFN. The ability of a virus to antagonize the IFN pathway can have dramatic consequences for the success of infection. The virulence of a specific virus strain can be determined largely by susceptibility to the anti-viral effects of IFN. Furthermore, the mutations which enhance IFN resistance can lead to highly infectious and persistent infections. The ability of a wide variety of viruses to fight the IFN system is illustrated by the diverse strategies used to overcome the effects of IFN (Bergmann et al., 2000, Journal of Virology; 74(13): 6203-6206 and Kitajewski et al., 1986, Cell; 45(2): 195-200). The viral proteins block a variety of steps in the IFN signaling system, in many cases at an early point upstream of gene activation.
Accordingly, there exists a need to activate interferon stimulated gene expression directly by bypassing the normal interferon induced pathway for the transcription of ISGs. Consequently, the virus families which have evolved strategies to block the actions of IFN will not have the ability to hinder the IFN pathway, since the interferon stimulated genes will be activated directly even in the absence of IFN binding to its receptor. In addition, cancer cells and tumor cells which have developed mechanisms to evade IFN action may also benefit by the direct activation of interferon stimulated genes. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing fusion protein transcription regulators which provide effective gene therapy strategies for virus infections as a result of activating transcription of interferon stimulated genes directly, thus bypassing the need of IFN for ISG-gene expression.

Hybrid fusion protein transcription regulator to induce interferon target gene expression

Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University


A turbomachine with a shaft supporting a turbine wheel is supported for rotation in a housing. The shaft extends through a bore in the housing and a bearing assembly is disposed in the bore. The turbomachine has a first lubricating fluid slinger comprising a screw thread that is engageable with a threaded section of the shaft such that the first lubricating fluid slinger is screwable along the threaded section of the shaft so as to apply a compressive preload to the bearing assembly.

Turbochargers are well known devices for supplying air to the intake of an internal combustion engine at pressures above atmospheric (boost pressures). A conventional turbocharger essentially comprises an exhaust gas driven turbine wheel mounted on a rotatable shaft within a turbine housing. Rotation of the turbine wheel rotates a compressor wheel mounted on the other end of the shaft within a compressor housing. The compressor wheel delivers compressed air to the intake manifold of the engine, thereby increasing engine power.
The turbocharger shaft is supported by a central bearing housing disposed between the turbine and compressor wheels. The turbocharger shaft rotates within a bearing cartridge housed in an axial bore of the bearing housing.
The bearing cartridge has inner and outer races radially separated by bearing elements in the form of rollers, ball bearings, etc. The outer race is received in the axial bore of the bearing housing and is fixed against rotation, typically by means of a pin. The inner race is fixed to the turbocharger shaft by an interference fit.
In order to free the bearing cartridge, during disassembly of the turbocharger, the turbocharger shaft and the turbine wheel must first be removed from the bearing housing, specifically by pulling the shaft through the axial bore in the bearing housing.
Due to the interference fit of the shaft and bearing cartridge, this tends to pull the inner race with the shaft and so strip the inner race away from the rest of the bearing cartridge, resulting in damage to the cartridge. It is considerably expensive to replace a damaged bearing cartridge.
The same problem occurs with bearing assemblies that do not comprise a bearing cartridge but simply have inner and outer races radially separated by bearing elements.
A further problem is that some bearing assemblies, for example rolling element bearing (REB) assemblies, need to be preloaded in order to function and take any thrust loading. The compressor wheel is axially fixed along the turbocharger shaft by a compressor nut received on a threaded end of the shaft that extends beyond a hub of the compressor wheel. Preloading of the bearing elements is obtained by tightening the compressor nut on the shaft.
However, tightening the compressor nut also produces a tensile axial force on the turbocharger shaft, which acts to extend the shaft. This can result in increased axial slip of the compressor wheel during operation of the turbocharger. This can also result in rotation of the compressor wheel relative to the shaft, as the shaft rotates, resulting in a loss of useful work done and thereby a reduction in efficiency.
Whereas the turbine of a turbocharger drives a compressor, in a power turbine the end of the turbine shaft remote from the turbine wheel transmits power via a mechanical coupling. In a turbocompound engine two turbines are provide in series, with a power turbine connected in series with the turbine of a turbocharger. The power turbine is used to generate additional power and a gear wheel may be fixed to the end of the power turbine shaft in order to transmit that power to the crankshaft of the engine via an appropriate coupling (such as for example a fluid coupling or a gear or other drive mechanism), hydraulically, mechanically or electrically. As with a turbocharger, the shaft of a power turbine is supported on bearing assemblies. The bearing arrangement at the turbine end of the shaft may be substantially the same as that found in a turbocharger, although the bearing arrangement at the drive end of the shaft may be a ball bearing assembly.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Turbomachine bearing assembly preloading arrangement


When a top surface area for a plurality of dummy patterns 13 and a width for a plurality of trenches 12 are set on the basis of a ratio (an occupation density of the film for polishing in an adjacent region 10) of a total top surface area for raised sections of the film for polishing to a horizontally projected area of the adjacent region 10, it is possible to suppress dishing and erosion and thereby attain a high planarity when a film for polishing is formed on a semiconductor substrate, wherein dummy patterns 13 partitioned by a plurality of trenches 12 are disposed in an element isolation region 11, and planarization by the CMP is applied thereto.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing and a method of designing a semiconductor device which provide chemical mechanical polishing capable to attain an excellent planarity for the polished surface, and more particularly to a method of fabricating a buried trench structure.
For the purpose of achieving a higher integration in a semiconductor device, a conventional method such as the LOCOS (LOCal Oxidation of Silicon) method is often applied to the formation of an element isolation region. However, there are known instances where such a method cannot achieve satisfactory electrical isolation between elements. As a method of fabricating an element isolation region to replace the LOCOS method, the Shallow Trench Isolation method (referred to as the STI hereinafter) has been, thereupon, put into practical use.
In the STI, a trench is formed in a semiconductor substrate and then an insulating material film is grown so as to fill up the trench. Subsequently, by the chemical mechanical polishing (referred to as the CMP hereinafter) method, the insulating material film present in the area other than the inside of the trench is removed and thereby a buried trench structure filled up with the insulating material is fabricated.
FIG. 6 shows an example of a layout in which a memory cell region 75 which is provided with a plurality of memory cell formation regions 77 partitioned by a plurality of trenches and an adjacent region 70 which is provided with adjacent element formation regions 74. partitioned by an element isolation region 71 are disposed. Further, FIG. 7 illustrates a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having such a layout as shown in FIG. 6. First, s shown in FIG. 7(a), a trench 79 with a large width is formed in the element isolation region 71. Next, as shown in FIG. 7(b), a film for polishing 78 is grown from an isolating material to fill up the trench 79. The film for polishing present in the area other than the inside of the trench 79 is then removed by the CMP, and thereby an element isolation region made of a buried trench structure with a large width, being filled up with an insulating material, is formed.
However, with the layout shown in FIG. 6, when the growth of the film for polishing 78 is completed and the CMP starts, although, in the memory cell region 75, the film for polishing comes into contact with a polishing pad with a large area, in the adjacent region 70, a contact area between the film for polishing and the polishing pad is small. Since the polishing rate becomes low for the section where a large area of the film for polishing is in contact with the polishing pad, and high for the section where only a small area thereof is in contact therewith, the difference between the polishing rates may cause a considerable deviation in polishing. Because of this, after the completion of the CMP, dishing, erosion and the like may be left on the substrate surface, as shown in FIG. 7(c), unable to attain satisfactory planarity. Dishing, as used herein, indicates a state that the insulating material in the trench becomes polished so that the center of the insulating material within the trench falls in. On the other hand, erosion, as used herein, indicates a state that the polishing over the entire region proceeds excessively and the surface of the entire region falls in.
To avoid these adverse effects, various investigations have been made so far and, for example, formation of a dummy pattern in the element formation region has been proposed.
For instance, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 107028/1997, it is disclosed that dishing can be prevented by setting a layout such as a dummy pattern that is identical to a pattern formed in a cell site is inserted into a field region with a wide trench, within the limit of not affecting the transistor performance, and making the height of the major part of the dummy pattern equal to that in the cell site immediately before the CMP. However, the method described in this publication is not very practical, because the pattern in the cell site is minutely formed and, thus, the insertion of a dummy pattern that is identical to that pattern into the field region greatly increases the amount of data in reticle fabrication.
Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 107028/1997, there is described a case in which a dummy pattern is not identical to a pattern in a cell region but comprising a line/space pattern that can diminish a difference in level between the cell site and dummy pattern site from the viewpoint of the CMP. Nevertheless, therein, it is not specifically described how to set a dummy pattern if the dummy pattern is not identical to the pattern in the cell region.
Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 92921/1998, it is disclosed that, by forming a pattern of dummy structure in a second region, a polishing rate of the second region is adjusted to become almost the same as a polishing rate of a first region, whereby dishing is prevented from occurring. In particular, an occupation density is defined as a ratio of an area occupied by the dummy structure in the first region to a total surface area of the first region therein. Further, it is described that the occupation density of the dummy structure should be adjusted to coincide well with the density of the structure which is present in the second region and preferably set to be 5-40%.
In effect, it is proposed, in this publication, that, as shown in FIG. 8, when a plurality of dummy patterns 83 partitioned by a plurality of trenches 82 are formed in an element isolation region 81, dummy patterns are designed on the basis of a ratio (referred to as an occupation density of dummy patterns hereinafter) of a total sum of top surface areas for a plurality of dummy patterns 83 to a horizontally projected area of an adjacent region 80. Presumably, such a designing method can, while preventing the amount of data from increasing unduly by setting the occupation density of dummy patterns within an appropriate range, fabricate dummy patterns 83 having an occupation density different from the one for a memory cell region 85, and thereby suppress dishing and erosion well.
However, there are instances where the substrate surface cannot attain satisfactory planarity even though dummy patterns having a prescribed occupation density are formed in the element isolation region.
Such a state is described, with reference to FIG. 9. First, as shown in FIG. 9(a), dummy patterns 83 partitioned by a plurality of first trenches 82 are fabricated in an element isolation region 81 within an adjacent region 80. Hereat, taking occupation densities of respective patterns for memory cell regions 87 and adjacent element formation regions 84 into consideration, an occupation density of dummy patterns 83 is made to have a prescribed value within the limit the resulting increase in amount of data is well controllable. Further, the occupation density of dummy patterns 83 can differ from the occupation density of memory cell formation regions 87, if required.
Next, as shown in FIG. 9(b), a film for polishing 88 is formed from an insulating material to fill up first trenches 82 and second trenches 86. However, since the film for polishing 88, in forming, grows not only on the top surfaces of the dummy patterns 83 but also on the sidewalls inside of first trenches 82, respective depositions for the film to lie on the dummy patterns 83 spread out horizontally to cover wider areas than underlying top surface areas of the dummy patterns. Therefore, even if the occupation density of the dummy patterns 83 has a prescribed value, a ratio (referred to as an occupation density of the film for polishing hereinafter) at which a total top surface area for raised sections of the film for polishing occupies the adjacent region 80 becomes different from the occupation density of the dummy patterns 83.
As a result, when the CMP starts, the occupation density of the film for polishing coming into contact with a polishing pad for the CMP differs from the occupation density of the dummy patterns and, thus, it becomes difficult to control the polishing manner such as the polishing rates of respective regions and the polishing rate ratios between regions in the CMP through the occupation density of the dummy patterns. In consequence, satisfactory planarity may not be attained, with dishing and erosion appearing, in completion of the CMP, on the substrate surface, as shown in FIG. 9(c), although dummy patterns 83 with a prescribed occupation density are formed in the element isolation region 81.
In spite of various investigations made to achieve a better planarity in the CMP by forming dummy patterns in the element isolation region, there still remains much room for improvement, as described above.
An object of the present invention is to create a novel method of designing dummy patterns that are to be formed in the element isolation region, and thereby suppress dishing and erosion in the CMP to attain a high planarity.
In light of the above problems, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device; which comprises the steps of:
forming a plurality of first trenches in a first region on a semiconductor substrate and thereby forming a plurality of dummy patterns that are partitioned by a plurality of said first trenches;
forming a film for polishing at least on said first region so as to provide raised sections above a plurality of said dummy patterns and sunken sections above a plurality of said first trenches; and
removing said film for polishing that overlies a plurality of said dummy patterns by means of polishing so that said film for polishing may remain inside of a plurality of said first trenches; wherein:
a top surface area for a plurality of said dummy patterns and a width for a plurality of said first trenches are set on the basis of a ratio of a total top surface area for raised sections of said film for polishing to a horizontally projected area of said first region.
Further, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising a memory cell region and an adjacent region which has an adjacent element formation region partitioned by an element isolation region; which comprises the steps of:
forming a plurality of dummy patterns partitioned by a plurality of first trenches and a plurality of memory cell formation regions partitioned by a plurality of second trenches with a smaller width than a plurality of said first trenches, in said element isolation region and in said memory cell region, respectively;
forming a film for polishing on said adjacent region and said memory cell region so as to provide raised sections above a plurality of said dummy patterns as well as said adjacent element formation region, and provide sunken sections above a plurality of said first trenches; and
removing said film for polishing that overlies said adjacent region and said memory cell region by means of polishing so that said film for polishing may remain inside of a plurality of said first trenches as well as inside of a plurality of said second trenches; wherein:
a top surface area for a plurality of said dummy patterns and a width for a plurality of said first trenches are set on the basis of a ratio of a total top surface area for raised sections of said film for polishing above a plurality of dummy patterns as well as raised sections thereof above said adjacent element formation region to a horizontally projected area of said adjacent region.
Further, the present invention provides a method of designing a semiconductor device; which is manufactured by a method comprising the steps of:
forming a plurality of first trenches in a first region on a semiconductor substrate and thereby forming a plurality of dummy patterns that are partitioned by a plurality of said first trenches;
forming a film for polishing at least on said first region so as to provide raised sections above a plurality of said dummy patterns and sunken sections above a plurality of said first trenches; and
removing said film for polishing that overlies a plurality of said dummy patterns by means of polishing so that said film for polishing may remain inside of a plurality of said first trenches; wherein:
a top surface area for a plurality of said dummy patterns and a width for a plurality of said first trenches are set on the basis of a ratio of a total top surface area for raised sections of said film for polishing to a horizontally projected area of said first region.
In the above-methods, dummy patterns are designed, taking account of not only the occupation density of dummy patterns but also, for the occupation density of the film for polishing, the actual shape of the film for polishing when polished. With this, it becomes possible to control the polishing manner such as the polishing rates of respective regions and the polishing rate ratios between regions in the CMP with high accuracy, and prevent dishing and erosion from occurring in the CMP. Accordingly, after completion of the CMP, a highly flat polishing surface can be obtained.
A trench with a large width, as used herein, refers to a trench in shape, viewed from the cross-section of the semiconductor substrate, and includes a trench having a large horizontally projected area as a plane figure.
As set for the above, when a film for polishing is formed on a semiconductor substrate wherein dummy patterns partitioned by a plurality of trenches are disposed in an element isolation region, and planarization by the CMP is applied thereto, a top surface area for a plurality of dummy patterns and a width for a plurality of trenches are set on the basis of a ratio (an occupation density of the film for polishing) of a total top surface area for raised sections of the film for polishing to a horizontally projected area of a first region, whereby dishing and erosion can be suppressed and a high planarity can be attained.

Manufacturing method of semiconductor device and designing method of semiconductor device


A directional drilling system includes a rotary steerable tool. The rotary steerable tool includes an extendable member configured to extend outwardly from the rotary steerable tool upon actuation, and a geolocation electronics device configured to track a position of the rotary steerable tool and the extendable member and control actuation of the extendable member. The geolocation electronics device and extendable member are configured to rotate with the rotary steerable tool.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the presently described embodiments. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the described embodiments. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light and not as admissions of prior art.
Directional drilling is commonly used to drill any type of well profile where active control of the well bore trajectory is required to achieve the intended well profile. For example, a directional drilling operation may be conducted when the target pay zone cannot be reached from a land site vertically above it. Directional drilling operations involve varying or controlling the direction of a downhole tool (e.g., a drill bit) in a wellbore to direct the tool towards the desired target destination. Examples of directional drilling systems include point-the-bit rotary steerable drilling systems and push-the-bit rotary steerable drilling systems. In both systems, the drilling direction is changed by repositioning the bit position or angle with respect to the well bore. Push-the-bit tools use pads on the outside of the tool which press against the well bore thereby causing the bit to press on the opposite side causing a direction change. Point-the-bit technologies cause the direction of the bit to change relative to the rest of the tool.
Many directional drilling systems and techniques are based on rotary steerable systems, which allow the drill string to rotate while changing the direction of the borehole. However, these systems typically require a physical geostationary component near the drill bit which does not rotate with the drill bit in order to keep track of the position of the system.

Rotary steerable drilling tool and method


The following description is directed to decompression using cascaded history buffers. In one example, an apparatus can include a decompression pipeline configured to decompress compressed data comprising code words that reference a history of decompressed data generated from the compressed data. The apparatus can include a first-level history buffer configured to store a more recent history of the decompressed data received from the decompression pipeline. The apparatus can include a second-level history buffer configured to store a less recent history of the decompressed data received from the first-level history buffer.

Computer systems can process, store, and transfer information to accomplish computing tasks of a user. A computer system may use increased bandwidth when transferring larger amounts of information and may require increased storage resources when storing larger amounts of information. The increased bandwidth and storage requirements can potentially add cost to the computer system. However, bandwidth and storage requirements can potentially be reduced when the information is compressed prior to storing and/or transferring the information. When the information is to be processed, the compressed information can be decompressed to recover the original information. Increasing a speed of decompression can potentially increase overall system performance.

Decompression using cascaded history windows


In a method for slicing food products, a cutting blade carries out a primary movement defining a cutting plane and a product to be sliced is supplied to the cutting blade by means of a conveying device to bring the product into engagement with the cutting blade. The cutting blade moved is from time to time at a speed different from the speed of the primary movement while it is in engagement with the product.

Food products such as meat, sausage or cheese have to be sliced in various manners in the food processing industry. Cutting apparatuses such as high-performance slicers serve, for example, to cut off product slices from a product loaf or a product bar at a high cutting frequency. The individual slices cut off can be supplied in stacked or overlapping form to a subsequent processing device, for example to a packaging machine. It is desired in specific applications to divide the product slice stacks before the further processing, that is to cut through them in the stack direction.
There is in particular a problem with such a dividing of stacks of individual product slices that individual product slices are displaced or raised due to an adhesive effect between the cutting blade surface and the product and the predefined shape of the stack is thus impaired. This problem of the part co-moving of individual product slices in accordance with the primary movement of the cutting blade occurs in pronounced form when film layers or paper layers are located between the product slices. Product parts can also be displaced in an unwanted manner in ultrasound cutting.
It is a feature of the invention to achieve a higher cutting quality on the slicing of food products and to prevent an unwanted co-movement of product parts with the cutting blade.


A block of a video frame may be predicted and decoded using a local affine motion prediction scheme. At least three points within the video frame are selected, each point being adjacent to a respective corner of the current block to be encoded. For each point, a motion search is performed for a template block centered about the point within a reference frame to find a template reference block. The template reference block has a center point that forms an anchor point pair with the corresponding point adjacent to the current block. Using coordinates of the anchor point pairs, affine coefficients for an affine transformation are generated. Using the affine transformation, a prediction block for the current block is generated and used to encode the current block within a bitstream. Providing the local affine motion prediction scheme can improve the prediction of certain blocks with complex motion, increasing compression.

Digital video streams typically represent video using a sequence of frames or still images. Each frame can include a number of blocks, which in turn may contain information describing the value of color, brightness or other attributes for pixels. The amount of data in a typical video stream is large, and transmission and storage of video can use significant computing or communications resources. Various approaches have been proposed to reduce the amount of data in video streams, including compression and other encoding techniques. Real-time video streaming, multi-point video conferencing or video broadcasting are examples of applications that employ video stream encoding including compression.

Affine motion prediction in video coding


A heuristic finger detection method based on a depth image is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: acquiring a hand connected region from a user's depth image; calculating the central point of the hand connected region; calculating a plurality of extremely far points in the hand connected region that have extremum 3D geodesic distances from the central point; detecting fingertips and finger regions from the plurality of calculated extremely far points; and outputting fingertip positions and the finger regions. The method calculates and detects fingertips of users by means of 3D geodesic distance, without extracting boundary contours of hand regions, which improves robustness of gesture detection and reduces detection error rates. The method has the advantages of higher finger detection accuracy and fast computing speed.

With the rapid development of human-computer interaction technology, there are more and more human-computer interaction means. Human-computer interaction between human and computer devices is realized by keyboards and mice at the very beginning, then by writing pads and touch screens and now by gestures. Human-computer interaction is becoming more and more intuitive and convenient, and increasingly conforms to people's natural habits.
In many intelligent device systems, such as AR (augmented reality) glasses, VR (virtual reality) head-mounted displays and smart TVs, there is a need for automatic detection of finger movements so as to realize interaction with devices by means of finger movements. In the course of interaction, a common RGB camera is usually used to acquire images and detect finger movements in order to implement the gestures based interaction with devices.

Heuristic finger detection method based on depth image


A seismic type electrical multiconductor cable. It is made up with a predetermined length of cable, and has a number of geophone takeout connectors spaced along that length of cable. These takeouts are electrically connected to individual geophone circuits. Half go to pig-tail connected plugs at each end, and there are program circuits that may be plugged into the pig-tail plugs.. By arranging the takeouts in pairs, physically on the same conductor but electrically isolated, only half the number of conductors are needed. There are additional conductors in the cable with multi-circuit connectors at each end. The cables are symmetrical and may be laid out end-to-end. A spread of cables would be made with connection to a recording station centrally of the spread.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical conductor cables, in general, and particularly is concerned with a seismic type of electrical multiconductor cable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past it has been the practice in seismic operations, to make up a different set of cables for each different manner of connecting geophones to a recording station. It depended upon the spacing and particular grouping of geophones in the spread of a seismic layout.
A single cable according to this invention permits the use of a multi-purpose set of cables each cable of which may be very simply changed from time to time in order to provide different groups of geophones for individual channels of data that are connected to the recording station. This is done by merely plugging into each end of a given cable of a program wired connector for the particular grouping desired.
There is a patent which describes a system that can switch geophone circuits in order to change location of groupings along a spread. However, that system involves a single switch board to which all of the geophones on a spread are individually connected. Such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,000, issued Nov. 2, 1971, to Henry T. Carruth, Jr.
It is an object of this invention to provide a special seismic cable structure which enables programmable changes in group spacing of geophone connections.


A precision positioning device with a pair of relatively movable plates defining a carriage for four relatively movable guides. A centering port having a rectangular profile is formed by the guides which are constrained for mutually coating movement on the plates. The relative positions of the movable plates define the geometric shape of the centering port and the relative locations of the guides determine the size of the centering port. A pedestal configured to carry the article to be centered is positioned at the center of the centering port. A driver momentarily moves the guides and opens the centering port for reception of the article. Bias elements urge the guides against the item for centering the article on the collet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to positioning devices and, more particularly, is directed towards precision positioning devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the manufacturing industry, often times it is necessary to precisely position articles of manufacture during production. For example, during the production of semiconductor devices, semiconductor chips are separated from a monolithic wafer and precisely positioned for processing. Vacuum collets and reciprocating needles have been used for separating semiconductor chips from the monolithic wafer. The separated chips are carried to various stations for further processing such as wire bonding, packaging and the like. During processing, it is essential that the semiconductor chips are positioned precisely on the center of the vacuum collet. Various devices for positioning the chips on the collet have been met with limited success due to the time consuming readjustments that are required to ensure proper chip location. A need has arisen for a precise positioning devices which does not suffer from the foregoing disadvantages and limitations.


An optical fiber test apparatus includes an optical power meter operable to detect light at a predetermined wavelength, and a laser source operable to generate a visible laser beam. The optical fiber test apparatus further includes an optical fiber extending between a first end and a second end, and a diplexer which includes a first optical connector and is coupled to the optical power meter, the laser source, and the first end of the optical fiber. The optical fiber test apparatus further includes a second optical connector coupled to the second end of the optical fiber and including a test port. The diplexer is operable to transmit light at the predetermined wavelength from the second optical connector to the optical power meter and transmit the visible laser beam from the laser source to the second optical connector.

At present it requires three separate instruments to test and troubleshoot a failed/failing fiber span to determine where the problem may lie. The first two instruments are an optical power meter (OPM) and a matching optical light source, 'matching' defined as the light source operating on wavelengths the OPM is designed to detect and measure. The third instrument is a visual fault indicator (VFI) embodied as a visible light source, typically a laser emitting in the visible spectrum. If a fiber span fails the loss test, one of the two testing instruments must he removed and replaced with the visual fault indicator in order to locate the fault causing the loss test failure.
The use of these separate test instruments is time consuming, cumbersome, and can result in damage to the optical connector on the fiber span under test and/or the test port optical connector.
Accordingly, improved testing apparatus for optical fibers is desired. In particular, testing apparatus that reduce or eliminate the requirement for multiple separate instruments, and that thus reduce the associated time and risk involved in such testing, would be advantageous.

Optical fiber test apparatus with combined light measurement and fault detection


A process for producing a fiber reinforced, staged resin composite or repair patch containing a staged and cobonded adhesive, comprises providing a composite or patch formed of one or more layers of a fiber reinforced thermosetting resin such as a graphite-epoxy material and applying a layer of a thermosetting resin adhesive, e.g. an epoxy adhesive, to a surface of the fiber reinforced resin material. The arrangement is then placed in a vacuum environment such as a nonautoclave tool, to draw off volatiles from the resin, and the temperature is raised under conditions to stage the thermosetting resin of the adhesive and of the composite or patch, and cobonding the staged adhesive to the staged composite or patch. The resulting cobonded and staged composite-adhesive can be stored until ready for use, e.g. in repairing a damaged substrate. For this purpose the repair patch formed of the staged composite-adhesive is placed with the adhesive layer in contact with the damaged substrate surface, and the arrangement heated at elevated temperature to cure the resin and bond the repair patch to the substrate surface.

This invention relates to a process for producing composites cobonded with a staged adhesive, and is particularly concerned with a process for cobonding and staging together a composite in the form of a repair patch and an adhesive applied directly thereto, to form a staged laminate which can be applied to a damaged area of a substrate, e.g. a damaged aircraft component, and the laminate cured by elevated temperature heating to bond the repair patch or laminate to the substrate.
A system and method for producing a composite particularly applicable for repairing damage to a structural component such as an aircraft component, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,428 to Sherrick, et al. According to the patent, a patch to be integrally connected to the parent material and comprising a fiber reinforced component such as graphite impregnated with a thermosetting resin such as an epoxy resin, is partially cured, e.g. "B" staged. A layer or film of heat bondable adhesive such as a "B" staged epoxy resin adhesive, is placed between the patch and the parent material to be repaired. The entire assembly is then cured, e.g. employing a vacuum bag cure cycle, to cure the staged epoxy resin of the patch and of the adhesive layer to effect integral bonding of the patch to the parent material.
One disadvantage of this prior art method is that the staged adhesive as well as the staged composite or patch require storage separately prior to use, usually at reduced temperature, to avoid further reaction of the staged resin. Further, the stored adhesive usually requires defrosting and trimming prior to use and it is also necessary to prepare the patch surface for bonding with the adhesive. Another disadvantage is that if the staged adhesive employed in the above patent process is not devolatilized, the volatiles from the adhesive can penetrate back into the patched material during curing, and create a porous laminate. Another problem is maintaining bondline thickness during cure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,193 to McGann, et al discloses a method of fabricating a composite wherein a laminate comprising a plurality of plies of fibrous material in an uncured resin such as graphite-epoxy is placed in a vacuum chamber and a partial vacuum is created in the chamber. The laminate is heated to within a temperature range wherein the resin matrix exhibits a viscosity which allows air migration through the resin matrix. The laminate is maintained within such temperature range for a time sufficient to expel entrapped air in the laminate.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a process which results in a high strength adhesive which in the staged condition exhibits prolonged room temperature storability, and which is an integral part of the secondarily bonded element, e.g. a repair patch.
Another object is to develop a process of the above type wherein the adhesive is devolatilized prior to bonding to a composite element, such as a repair patch.
A still further object is the provision of a staged laminate having a staged adhesive bonded thereto, and which is storable and ready for use to repair a damaged substrate, by curing.

Process for bonding staged composites with a cobonded staged adhesive and article


An at least two layer rotomolded article is described herein which may include a layer A and a layer B. Layer A can include an aliphatic polyester, a polyolefin, or a co- or ter-polymer that includes ethylene or styrene monomer, an unsaturated anhydride-containing monomer, epoxide-containing monomer, or carboxylic acid-containing monomer, and a (meth)acrylic ester monomer. Layer B can include a polyolefin and a polyester, or a co- or ter-polymer that includes an ethylene or a styrene monomer, an unsaturated anhydride-containing monomer, epoxide-containing monomer, or carboxylic acid-containing monomer, and a (meth)acrylic ester monomer.

Japanese patent application published on 29 Sep. 2005 under the No JP 2005-264086 describes blends of polystyrene (PS) and PLA in which PLA is the major part.
Japanese patent application published on 18 Jan. 2000 under the No JP 2000-017038 describes an expandable resin having biodegradability. This composition is made essentially of PLA and comprises 25% or less by weight of PS.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,948 in example 1 describes a composition as follows: 26.3% by weight of polylactic acid, 26.3% by weight of polymethyl methacrylate, 11.6% by weight of polyolefin and 35.8% by weight of a block copolymer of methyl methacrylate and styrene, said block copolymer comprising 30% of PS. This means clearly that the polystyrene is not the major part of the composition.
Japanese patent application published on 8 Dec. 2005 under the No JP 2005-336666 describes lactic acid fibers containing by weight 3 to 15% of syndiotactic polystyrene.
WO 92-04413 describes blends of PLA and general purpose polystyrene comprising by weight 10 to 25% of PLA. These blends are made by compounding PLA and PS.
WO 2007015448 describes a resin composition reduced in environmental burden which is excellent in strength, impact resistance, heat resistance, and moldability and which can be produced while attaining a reduction in CO2 discharge amount. The resin composition comprises (A) a styrene resin, (B) an aliphatic polyester, and at least one member selected between (C) a compatibilizing agent and (D) a dicarboxylic anhydride. The compatibilizing agent (C) preferably comprises one or more of the following. (C-1) A polymethyl methacrylate polymer (C-2) A vinyl polymer obtained by copolymerization with an epoxy or an acid anhydride (C-3) A graft polymer obtained by graft-polymerizing methyl methacrylate with a rubbery polymer (C-4) A block copolymer comprising a polylactic acid segment and a vinyl polymer segment bonded thereto. Said composition is made by compounding.
WO2006097979 describes a vegetable resin composition comprising polylactic acid, a thermoplastic resin, and a compatibilizing agent, wherein the compatibilizing agent is a polymeric material formed from a monomer ingredient comprising at least one alkyl methacrylate and has a weight-average molecular weight of 950,000 to 4,100,000. The alkyl methacrylate preferably is at least one member selected among methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, propyl methacrylate, and butyl methacrylate. When this vegetable resin composition is used to form a molded vegetable resin, this molded vegetable resin can have improved impact resistance and improved heat resistance. Said composition is made by compounding.
JP200632831 A published on Dec. 7, 2006 provides a foamed sheet of a thermoplastic resin, having excellent extrusion characteristics at production of the foamed sheet, also having excellent rigidity, modulus, heat insulation, cold resistance, cushioning characteristics and the like, and capable of being secondarily processed to various kinds of containers or the like; and to provide a method for producing the container having excellent heat resistance. The foamed sheet is obtained by using a resin composition as a raw material, obtained by compounding (D) a compatibilizer of 1-20 pts·wt. with the total of 100 pts·wt. of three components consisting of (A) a polylactic acid of 20-90 wt. %, (B) a polystyrene-based resin of 5-65 wt. % and (C) a polypropylene-based resin of 5-40 wt. %, and has 1.1-5.0 expansion ratio and 0.5-3.0 mm thickness.
It has now been discovered a very simple process to make a composition comprising a monovinylaromatic polymer and one or more dispersed phase(s) made of one or more bio-sourced polymer(s) such as poly(hydroxy carboxylic acids) and/or cyclic carbonates, possibly incorporating an epoxide and carbon dioxide. The monovinylaromatic monomer is preferably styrene and the bio-sourced polymer is preferably lactic acid or lactide, its cyclic dimer (3,6-dimethyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione).

Process to make a composition comprising a monovinylaromatic polymer and a polymer made from renewable resources


A handheld tool used for conditioning and sharpening the blade of a scraping tool or like tool. The present invention tool includes a tool body that supports a file, a sharpening stone, a conditioning pin and a burnishing element. A plurality of slots are disposed within the tool, wherein each of the slots intersect the burnishing element at a different angle between 90.degree. and 75.degree.. The tool provides guiding surfaces that enable a blade to be properly worked against the file, the sharpening stone, and the conditioning pin. The step of burnishing the blade is accomplished by passing the blade through one of the slots formed in the tool. As a result, the labor and time needed to sharpen a blade is greatly reduced and the quality of the blade point is made more consistent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to handheld tools that can be used to condition and sharpen the cutting edge of a cabinet scraper blade or like tool blade. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tool that embodies a file and a sharpening stone for conditioning the edge of a blade and a consolidating pin and burnishing rod for creating a desired hooked configuration to the edge of the blade.
2. Prior Art Statement
Tools such as cabinet scrapers, hide scrapers and the like use planar blades wherein the sharpened edge of the blade is slightly hooked so as to cut into the material over which the tool is drawn. Forming the proper hook onto the sharpened edge of such a tool is traditionally a difficult and time consuming task that takes a great degree of skill. The task is complicated by the fact that the degree of the hook is changed depending upon the task being preformed with the tool. For instance, with cabinet scrapers, a large hook would be used for paint or varnish stripping, while a much smaller hook would be used for marquetry or cleaning raised grain for finishing.
Traditionally, the conditioning and sharpening of a scraper tool blade is a four step process that requires four separate tools. The first step in conditioning a scraper blade is to square the blade edge by passing the cutting edge of the blade over a fine tooth file. This step is traditionally called jointing and is performed until the scraper edge is flat with no discernable nicks or shear marks. Next, the edge of the scraper blade is passed over a sharpening stone which removes any roughness from the edge left by the file during jointing. In both the jointing step and the sharpening stone step, it is very important that the plane of the scraper is perpendicular to the plane of the file or sharpening stone. As such, great care is taken in mounting the file, stone or blade in a jig or vice to ensure the proper orientational configurations. This adds greatly to the time it takes to condition such a blade.
After the cutting edge of a scraper blade is conditioned on the sharpening stone, a consolidating pin is passed over the now flat edge of the blade. This causes the edge of the blade to become work hardened to a predetermined degree depending upon both how firmly the blade is biased against the consolidating pin, and how many times the conditioning pin is passed over the blade. Once the edge is work hardened to a desired degree, a burnishing rod is stroked along the hardened edge of the blade at an angle between 0.degree. and 25.degree.. The burnishing rod hones an edge, thereby creating the desired hook-shaped configuration. The degree in size of the hook is dependent upon the angle of the burnishing rod in forming the hook.
In the prior art there are many devices that assist a person in forming the desired hooked edge on a scraper blade. Such prior art is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 102,994 to Webster, entitled SHARPENING MACHINE and U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,722 to LEE, entitled CABINET SCRAPER BURNISHING TOOL. In both references a tool is shown that helps perform the burnishing step of the before described traditional blade conditioning technique. However, these prior art tools require that a scraper blade first be jointed, stone stroked and conditioning pin stroked before these tools can be used to burnish an edge. Consequently, the quality of the burnished edge is high but there is little reduction in the time and labor needed to obtain such a burnished edge.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a single tool that can perform all of the steps required in conditioning and sharpening a scraper blade. Such a tool will eliminate the cost of multiple tools and the skills need to handle those tools, thereby producing considerable cost and labor savings.

Device for conditioning and sharpening the blade of a scraper tool


A driver operates a car by watching an intersection number and an arrow which indicate direction by reflecting the information in the front windshield. The indicated arrow direction shows the direction in which the car is advancing. Accordingly, the driver does not need to observe the indicator displayed on the dashboard during operation and can drive more safely by concentrating his energy on operating the car. In the navigation system for cars, the advancing direction of the car at an intersection is previously designated by the driver, information regarding driving straight or turning is projected by a projector which includes an LCD or a fluorescent indicator tube whenever the car approaches the intersection based on the information, the above projected light is projected on a half-mirror provided at the front windshield of the car and an imaginary image is reflected before the front glass.

This invention relates to a navigation system for cars which provides an indication for guiding a car to a destination.
In the conventional navigation system generally used for cars, a liquid crystal display or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube Display) is used as an indicator in which a map representing the car's present position is shown. Accordingly, the driver inputs the present position and the destination using a position input key such as a cursor key or the like while observing an indicator. Then, an internal arithmetic unit calculates the shortest course automatically and shows the course on the indicator. The driver can then manually change the course, partially or totally. In addition, a different course can also be selected from the first.
In this state, when the car starts, the arithmetic unit calculates the present position to indicate the position on the map. The driver observes the indication to drive the car toward the destination.
Further, roughly classified, there are two detecting means for detecting the above present driving position. One is to perform it with a direction sensor which detects the driving direction of the car and a distance sensor which detects the driving distance of the car. Another is to detect the driving position by receiving a signal from an artificial satellite by both sides of the car.


A fluid-film foil bearing has a resilient bearing insert assembly disposed between a rotatable and a stationary member. The insert assembly comprises a plurality of resilient corrugated spring pad supports separated from each other to provide a series of spaces and a compliant, unitary foil mounted on the pad supports, the foil having a plurality of perforations aligned across its entire width and over the spaces which are operative under dynamic conditions both to initiate foil deflection and to cause uniform replenishment of fluid lost through side leakage.

The present invention relates to fluid-film bearings for rotating machinery and more particularly to bearings which include unique resilient load-supporting foil bearing insert assemblies.
Hydrodynamic bearings are well known and have been used effectively as supports for rotating machinery, including high speed applications. The term hydrodynamic bearing, as used herein, defines that class of fluid-film bearings which has its surfaces separated by a thin layer of either liquid or gas, the film being established and the pressure generated therein by the relative motion between the bearing surfaces. This is distinguished from bearings of the hydrostatic type which require feed of pressurized fluid from an external source.
Although many past hydrodynamic bearings have been rigid and rigidly mounted and thus not self-aligning unless provided with complex, expensive and frequently troublesome gimbal and pivot supports, recent advances have resulted in compliant hydrodynamic bearings equipped with foil-insert assemblies designed to generate lubricating films and to support loads.
Some, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,375,046; 3,382,014 and 4,082,375 may employ a plurality of bearing foils and some, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,747,997 and 3,809,443 may use a unitary solid bearing foil. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,534, both types are disclosed. All, however, rely on the hydrodynamic formation of a plurality of lubricating fluid wedges which, due to side leakage and an inability to uniformly replenish the fluid thus lost, lose film thickness.


A system for locking the radial extremity of vanes, wherein the extremities include heels situated behind a ring for delimiting the flow of gases, the heels including hooks between which extend other hooks of the ring. Bolts are disposed in the notches of both types of hooks and fasteners are used to secure the bolts. The assembly obtained is compact, rigid and able to be embodied easily and effectively. It is also virtually free of clearances and vibrations.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a vane extremity locking system.
2. Discussion of the Background
Turbo-engines include a certain number of vane stages, each stage possessing one radial extremity rigidly attached to the rotor or stator, and one opposing extremity bearing a ring whose main function is to delimit the longitudinal vein or path for the flow of gases. Thus, it is necessary to provide means to accurately and safely connect the ring to the extremities of the vanes to limit clearances and vibrations.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,812,159 describes a technical solution where the ring is provided with holes allowing for passage of the extremities of the vanes. On the side of the ring opposite the vein, springs in the shape of folded back plates are disposed around the extremities of the vanes and pins traverse perforations situated at the end of the extremities so that the springs are compressed between the ring and the pins. It then becomes impossible to extract the vane extremities from the ring. As the vanes widen at the step on the side of the flow vein, it is no longer possible to drive them inside the ring. The springs are unable to slide over the ring as they fully surround the vane extremities, and finally the pins are retained in the reinforcements of the springs. Any accidental movement likely to disconnect the elements of the system is thus excluded. However, it is possible that in this technique vibrations do not appear during operation as the assemblies obtained are not particularly rigid. If it is intended to combat this drawback by using a more rigid spring, mounting shall be more difficult and it shall be necessary to overcome a higher spring elasticity force so as to be able to place the pins, this proving to be more awkward when the pins are introduced tangentially to the springs, that is with less space to work with.

Societe Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation "SNECMA"


In an automatic feeder and an image acquiring apparatus, a cover is rotatably connected to a body through a first pin and openable and closable with respect to the body. A roller gear rotates a transporting roller to transport a sheet. An actuating member is attached to the first pin and driven by rotation of the first pin. A middle gear, displaceable by the actuating member, is selectively engaged with a power-output gear and the roller gear so as to transmit a power to the roller gear. An actuating member moves the middle gear to be engaged with the power-output gear and the roller gear when the cover is closed upon the body, and moves the middle gear to be disengaged from at least one of the power-output gear and roller gear when the cover is opened.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic feeder and an image acquiring apparatus, and more particularly to an automatic feeder with separable transmission gears and an image acquiring apparatus using such automatic feeder.
2. Related Art
In a conventional automatic feeder, a force for disengaging a motor gear from a transporting roller gear is typically provided by a spring. When a cover is opened with respect to a body, the spring pushes the gear away. In this mechanism, a downward pressing force has to be additionally provided to overcome the force of the spring and to thus close the cover upon the body. Hence, the user often encounters the problem in closing the cover upon the body. If the downward pressing force of the cover exerted on the body is insufficient, the poor gear meshing between the motor gear and the transporting roller gear may cause the gear slippage. Also, the cover closing upon the body may produce an abrupt shock on the internal components of the feeder, thereby causing, eventually, shift of the mounting positions of these components and negative impact on the scan quality or the print quality.

Automatic feeder with separable transmission gears and image acquiring apparatus


This electrical conduit end seal includes a cylindrical walled member having an opening at one end dimensioned to receive the conduit. The end opening terminates in a first partition having at least one aperture through which a cable in the conduit may pass in a friction fit. A second partition is parallel to and spaced apart from the first partition and has at least one corresponding aperture through which the cable may pass in a friction fit. The first and second partitions form, together with the cylinder wall, a sealing chamber. The sealing chamber has first and second openings communicating from the chamber to the exterior of the end seal. In use, the end seal is fastened to the conduit with the cable extending through the partition apertures. A caulking gun or other suitable dispenser is used to inject a curable resinous material or other sealing material through one of the chamber openings. The other chamber opening allows escape of air while the material is filling the chamber. In use, it is preferred to inject a silicone resin through the first opening until resin begins to come out the second opening. The second opening is then blocked and injection continued until the resin is exuded around the apertures through which the cable passes to form a bead, then allowed to cure. The resulting hermetic seal will prevent both moisture and gases from entering the conduit, even under pressure.

1. Field of the invention.
This invention relates to an improved end seal for an electrical conduit and method for installing the end seal. More particularly, it relates to a low cost end seal which may be provided as a standardized fitting for plastic electrical conduits which may be reliably installed under field conditions by contractor or utility personnel without specialized training.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The necessity for providing an end seal for electrical cables or conduits to prevent moisture and gases from entering the cables or conduits from their ends has long been recognized. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,109,726 and 1,115,447 disclose end seals particularly adapted for a lead sheath cable employed at that time. A further refinement in an end seal for such lead sheath cable is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,247,671.
Somewhat similar considerations apply when it is desired to splice cable together. Various housing structures are disclosed for this purpose, as disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,569,608 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,254. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 3,569,608 discloses the concept of compressing an elastomeric member in a cable splicing housing in order to form a reliable seal. U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,907 discloses the application of that approach to a conduit cable end seal. Various end seals are commercially available which employ the compression of a rubber or similar member to produce the seal. However, such end seals consist of at least several separate parts which must be carefully installed, and they are sufficiently expensive so that they are usually only employed for specialized applications.
At the present time, the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic pipe for electrical conduits, particularly in residental hook-ups, has achieved wide usage. As underground electrical distribution lines become more popular the usage of these conduits should become even more widespread. Although the compressed resilient member type of end seal can be employed with PVC conduit, the high cost and difficulty of installing such seal has meant that PVC conduits are usually installed with no end seals. A need therefore remains for a conduit end seal especially adapted for use with PVC and other plastic pipe conduit.


An insect storage and shipping container which takes the form of a transparent vessel within which is mounted a pair of spaced apart panels. The panels can be used to hold food in cake form. The panels also include roughened surfaces in order to increase the amount of available space within the vessel for the insects to maneuver about. The lid of the vessel includes spacers which permit stacking of the containers in a manner to keep the air holes contained within the lid open. A grate may be installed in conjunction with the panels with the grate normally located a short distance from the floor of the vessel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to storage and shipping containers and more particularly to a storage and shipping container for insects where the insects are to be used for food or bait.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some insects are genetically bred to be used as food or bait. Some insects are fed to fish, frogs, other amphibians, tarantulas, praying mantises, scorpions, spiders, and so forth. Common insects that are produced and sold as food and bait for fish are grey crickets and fruit flies. Fruit flies are used as food for invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians.
From where the crickets and fruit flies are produced, such needs to be made available to the consumer. There are aquarium businesses and bait shops that sell both crickets and fruit flies. It is common for the crickets and fruit flies to be sent in mass in some type of shipping container. The retail merchant is to extract an approximate number of the crickets and place such in some kind of container, usually a paper pot, for the consumer to take such to his home, business or fishing area to thereby utilize the insects.
Food and water have to be included with the insects as they are shipped or, of course, the insects will die. It is common that, in conjunction with crickets, a small quantity of a vegetable is placed within the shipping container. The crickets walk all over the food leaving feci deposits which is undesirable for the health of the crickets and can actually result in the crickets dying prematurely.
It is normal that when shipping crickets to a destination about ten percent die. This is undesirable as dead crickets are not saleable. It is desirable to utilize some form of shipping container where it is normal that less than five percent of the crickets die.
The overall normal procedure for selling of insects requires direct involvement by the retail merchant in order to obtain a desired quantity of insects placed within a box-type container and given to the consumer. It would be desirable to have some kind of container that could be manufactured with this container being designed to hold an approximate number of insects and utilized for shipping to the retail merchant. Then the container only needs to be purchased by the user with the user then dispensing the insects directly from the container. No contact by any human being with the insects is required.
An insect storage and shipping container which comprises a vessel which has an internal chamber with the vessel having a floor and an enclosing sidewall. Also, there is an open top edge. There is mounted within the internal chamber of the vessel a panel mounting means which is mounted on both sidewall and the floor. Spaced-apart panels are removably mounted in conjunction with the panel mounting means with each of the panels having a vertical groove. A food cake is designed to be placed between the vertical grooves which functions as a secure location mount for the food cake.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the basic embodiment is modified by the vessel being cylindrical.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the first basic embodiment is modified by the sidewall of the vessel being transparent.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the first basic embodiment is modified by each of the panels including a mass of ridges in order to provide surfaces upon which the insects can walk.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the first basic embodiment is modified by there being incorporated a separate grate in conjunction with the panels. The grate is to be slidingly mounted on the panels.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the first basic embodiment is modified by there being included a lid which includes air holes, with the lid to be mounted on the vessel and function to close the access opening into the internal chamber at the top edge. Exteriorly mounted on the lid are a series of spacers which permits stacking of the containers and not closing of the air holes when they are stacked.


The invention generally provides processes for the production of buprenophine and derivatives of buprenorphine. In particular, the process may encompass synthetic routes for the production of buprenorphine or derivatives of buprenorphine from norhydromorphone or derivatives of norhydromorphone.

Opiate compounds such as (−)-naltrexone, (−)-naloxone, (−)-nalbuphene, (−)-nalmefene, and (−)-buprenorphine have been used for addiction therapy. (−)-Buprenorphine, in particular, is increasingly being used for the treatment of heroin addiction. Recently, the (+)-opiate enantiomers have been shown to have important bioactivities that differ from their (−) counter parts. Because of the exceptional opiate medicinal activity of (−)-buprenorphine, there is great interest in the therapeutic efficacy of (+)-buprenorphine. In order to explore the possible benefits of this compound, there is a need in the art for synthetic routes to produce (+)-buprenorphine or its derivatives in an efficient and cost effective manner that generates a high yield of product having a high degree of purity.

Process for the preparation of buprenorphine and derivatives for buprenorphine


A closure for a tubular administration port is formed by inner and outer members having upper ends joined together in sealing relationship. The inner member has a sealed bottom end and is configured to fit within the administration port. The outer member is configured to engage about an exterior of the tubular port. The inner member includes radially outwardly extending ribs that engage against the interior of the administration port in an interference fit relationship.

The present invention generally relates to closures for containers. More specifically, the invention relates to steam sterilizable closures or port protectors for medical containers.
In certain packaging arts, it is desirable to provide the user with a port through which he can access the contents of a package. For example, in the medical field, ports function as a means for allowing one to access the contents within the container so that they can be infused into a patient, compounded into a second package, or mixed with additional components. To this end, the ports provide a means for receiving a spike or other piercing means. An example of such a container with a port is the VIAFLEX.RTM. container, manufactured by Baxter Healthcare Corporation of Deerfield, Ill. U.S.A.
Especially in the medical field, it is necessary to maintain a portion of the port, specifically the area of the port that receives the spike or piercing means, in a sterile condition. Failure to maintain this internal portion of the port in a sterile condition can result in contamination of the contents of the container that could prove hazardous if the contents are infused into a patient. Accordingly, ports typically include a closure member that is designed to removably seal the port until the port is to be utilized.
Typically, the closure member includes a handle member, a sleeve member, and a guide member. The guide member is received within an internal channel defined by the port and the sleeve member circumstances at least a portion of the exterior of the port when the closure seals the port. A handle member is provided to allow the user to remove the closure from the port. To this end, the handle member is gripped by the user and pulled causing the closure to be removed from the port so that the port can be accessed.
A number of variations of closures and ports are known and used. An example of a port and closure is U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,980 that discloses a closure for a container having an elastic port protector for closing the end of a tubular port, for example, on a solution bag. The port protector defines an outer tubular section having inner and outer ends, and with an inner diameter which is less than the outer diameter of the tubular port on which it is intended to reside. An inner tubular section is connected to the outer tubular section at the outer end and is capable of occupying the bore of the outer tubular end in telescoping relation thereto. The inner tubular section has an outer diameter greater than the inner diameter of the tubular port, to fit into the bore of a tubular port in sealing relation. Handle means is carried on the outer tubular section to aid in removal of the port protector.
Closures for ports must meet a variety of requirements. They must provide protection to the port to maintain sterility. In this regard, they cannot fall off the port and must remain securely attached until removed by the user. They must provide a gripping surface on outer means for allowing the user to remove the port.
Closures or port protectors for steam sterilizable containers typically are difficult to design due to the effect of the extreme temperatures to which they are subjected during autoclave cycles. One solution to this problem has been to gamma-sterilize, i.e. pre-sterilize, a closure before autoclaving the container and closure assembly. This approach, however, is costly, and therefore not suitable for products the market for which is price sensitive.