A collapsible cargo carrying enclosure including a plurality of panels, each exhibiting a specified two-dimensional shape and thickness and which are interconnected along adjoining edges. Each of the panels exhibits a structural substrate, over which is molded a plasticized material. The structural substrate typically includes a network of elongated and interconnecting bamboo, steel or aluminum members, the plasticized material further including a powder impression material filling said mold within which an aggregate is entrained including at least one of glass, pebbles/rocks, ceramics, steel rerods and wood. The panels are interconnected together and collapsible in a stacked manner to provide the advantages of lightweight and ease of shipment. The assembled container further defines a waterproof and floatable/towable cargo holding enclosure, such as for use offshore offloading and transport of cargo shipments.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention discloses a freight container and, more particularly, a collapsible cargo container constructed of a series of interconnected and powder impression molded panels. Each of the panels are formed about an interlocking skeletal structure associated with a side, end, top or bottom panel. The panels are typically hinged together and are collapsible in a stacked manner which provides the advantages of lightweight and ease of shipment. The assembled container further defines a waterproof and floatable/towable cargo holding enclosure, such as for use offshore offloading and transport of cargo shipments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is well documented with various examples of shipping container devices. These typically exhibit a standardized, six-sided configuration and, in a number of variants, are capable of being collapsed or reduced in size when not in use and in a desire to provide desired space savings during transport or storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,602, issued to Clark, teaches a collapsible container with improved fastener assemblies and which is formed from a plurality of lightweight, insulating panel members each detachably secured together along their respective edges by fastener assemblies, such further including a stud formed of a synthetic plastic material and a stud receiving element formed of a softer synthetic plastic material to lock the stud in a fully fastened condition. A pallet, associated with a fully loaded container, serves as a skid in receiving the disassembled panel members in a knocked down, nested condition.
A further example is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,334, issued to Ruiz et al., and which teaches a self-contained, six-sided, reusable container for goods and including both an assembled form and a collapsed form. In the collapsed configuration, the ends and sides are stored between a sandwiching top and bottom. In the preferred embodiment, the ends are hinged to the bottom and fold inwardly thereupon. The sides and ends are interconnected while the container is in its assembled form, such as by utilizing an attachable corner hook latching mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,179, issued to Richter, teaches a collapsible box-type, waterproof shipping container including pivoting end walls and bi-folding side walls. The end walls pivot inwardly of the container to lie on its base, the side walls folding longitudinally to lie upon the end walls. In this fashion, the side and end walls are enclosed within the base structure when collapsed, and the top wall completely seals the side and end walls from the exterior.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,669, issued to McQuiston, teaches an elongated and box-like cargo container and by which its end walls can be pivoted longitudinally inwardly and downwardly to collapsed horizontal positions atop the bottom walls. The side walls each include hingedly connected upper and lower panels and are likewise capable of being pivoted inwardly to horizontally collapsed positions relative to a base and between the top wall and end walls.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,698, issued to Dougherty, teaches a collapsible rectangular shipping container having opposed horizontally-hinged sidewalls which can be collapsed or folded inwardly and downwardly to allow the top and bottom walls to sandwich together. Further included are folding ends which fold over in order to cover the collapsed structure.
Additional references of note include Hughes, U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,386, which teaches a collapsible shipping container having a rectangular base and four side walls pivotally attached thereto and foldable from an erect configuration to a collapsed condition. Captive fastener means on the walls are operated to interconnect in the erected condition. The entire shipping container is constructed of plastic material without the inclusion of any metal parts.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,202, issued to Meachem et al., teaches a transport container having a base and a plurality of side walls perpendicularly connected to form a container having an inner cavity. The side walls are formed of first and second wall panels hingedly connected so that first or upper wall panels may fold down relative to second or lower wall panels to collapse the transport container after use. The first and second wall panels are hingedly connected by an elongated flexible hinge. Edge portions of the first walls panels further include coupling assemblies that are designed to selectively connect and disconnect adjacent first wall panels.

Collapsible freight container incorporating powder impression molded panels formed about a three-dimensional and interlocking skeletal structure and a mold process for creating the same


The present invention relates to a method of screening for a host cell gene products which are useful as therapeutics for an infective disease. This method comprises identifying genes which are differentially expressed in infected cells, and screening the differentially expressed gene products for immunogenicity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of identifying therapeutics useful for infectious diseases. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods of identifying antigens which are produced by infected cells, and the use of such antigens in immunogenic compositions or vaccines to treat or prevent infection.
2. Related Art
The immune system is the primary biological defense of the host (self) against potentially pernicious agents (non-self). These agents may be pathogens, such as bacteria or viruses, as well as modified self cells, including virus-infected cells, tumor cells or other abnormal cells of the host. Collectively, these targets of the immune system are referred to as antigens. The recognition of antigen by the immune system rapidly mobilizes immune mechanisms to destroy that antigen, thus preserving the sanctity of the host environment.
Antigens may provoke antibody-mediated responses and/or cell-mediated responses. Cells of the immune system termed B lymphocytes, or B cells, produce antibodies that specifically recognize and bind to the foreign substance. Other lymphocytes termed T lymphocytes, or T cells, both effect and regulate the cell-mediated response resulting eventually in the elimination of the antigen.
A variety of T cells are involved in the cell-mediated response. Some induce particular B cell clones to proliferate and to produce antibodies specific for the antigen. Others recognize and destroy cells that present foreign antigens on their surfaces. Certain T cells regulate the response by either stimulating or suppressing other cells.
Prospects for development of broadly effective tumor vaccines have been advanced by evidence that several self-proteins can be recognized as tumor antigens by immune T cells (Van den Eynde et al., J. Exp. Med. 173:1373 (1991); Bloom et al., J. Exp. Med. 185:453 (1997); Van Der Bruggen et al., Science 254:1643 (1991); Gaugler et al., J. Exp. Med. 179:921 (1994); Boel et al., Immunity 2:167 (1995); Van Den Eynde et al., J. Exp. Med. 182:689 (1995); Kawakami et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91:3515 (1994); Kawakami et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91:6458 (1994); Brichard et al., J. Exp. Med. 178:489 (1993)). Several genes and gene families that are expressed in melanoma and a fraction of tumors of other types but are silent in normal adult tissues except testis have been identified: MAGE-1 (van Der Bruggen, P., C. Traversari, P. Chomez, C. Lurguin, E. De Plaen, B. Van Den Eynde, A. Knuth, and T. Boon. 1991. Science 254: 1643–1647); MAGE-3 (Gaugler, B., B. Van den Eynde, P. van der Bruggen, P. Romero, J. J. Gaforio, E. De Plaen, B. Lethe, F. Brasseur, and T. Boon. 1994. J. Exp. Med. 179:921–930); BAGE (Boel, P., C. Wildman, M. L. Sensi, R. Brausseur, J. C. Renauld, P. Coulie, T. Boon and P. van der Bruggen. 1995. Immunity 2: 167–175); and GAGE (Van den Eynde, B., O. Peeters, O. De Backer, B. Gaugler, S. Lucas, and T. Boon. 1995. J. Exp. Med. 182: 689–698). In each case these gene products were identified by isolation of melanoma specific cytotoxic T cells from patients, and demonstration that the corresponding gene products are immunogenic.
Infected cells sometimes express self-proteins that are not expressed in uninfected cells. Geiss et al., Virology 266:8–16 (2000); Scheuring et al., AIDS 12:563–570 (1998).

Method of screening for therapeutics for infectious diseases


The invention relates to a dosing system comprising a dosing means for metering a liquid, especially an aqueous urea solution used for the after treatment of exhaust gases generated by combustion engines. The liquid can be conveyed from a reservoir into an exhaust manifold through the dosing means in a normally operating conveying device. According to the invention, at least one area that is located between a dosing point and the reservoir and is impinged upon by the liquid can be emptied counter to a normal transport direction of the liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to an improved metering system and to a method for operating the metering system, for metering a treatment liquid into an exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To reduce the nitrogen oxides contained in an exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine, for those engines that are operated with air excess, a method for selective catalytic reduction has proved advantageous. In this method, the nitrogen oxides are converted together with ammonia into nitrogen and water in a selective catalytic converter. The reducing agent, required for the catalytic conversion of the nitrogen oxides, is carried along instead of ammonia in the vehicle, in the form of an aqueous urea solution from which the ammonia can be released by hydrolysis of the urea solution in whatever amount is needed for the conversion. It is known to inject the urea solution into an exhaust manifold downstream of a mixing chamber, by means of an aerosol formation that occurs in the mixing chamber. The alternative of metering the urea solution directly into the exhaust gas without air reinforcement is also known. In each case, it is problematic that depending on the urea concentration, there is the risk that the aqueous urea solution will freeze at certain temperatures. The expansion behavior of the urea solution is similar to that of water. If the freezing urea solution is unable to expand, impermissibly high pressures can occur in the interior of components that are filled with the urea solution, and this can lead to the destruction of the components. To avoid this, it is known to provide walls that at least partially yield under pressure in the work chamber of a metering valve, or to provide elements there that can compensate reversibly for a pressure in the work chamber that occurs when ice forms. It is also known to use metering pumps instead of metering valves for metering the urea solution.

Metering system and method for operating a metering system


A method and apparatus for generating and using immutable records generated from transaction records maintained at a cloud storage system for transaction ledger generation are described. The method may include accessing transaction records in a transaction record data store maintained by a cloud services provider system, where each transaction record generated by the commerce platform in response to the commerce platform processing a transaction. The method further includes accessing a plurality of revenue records, each having a unique key. The method may also include generating a plurality of candidate ledger entries, each candidate ledger entry comprises at least a subset of the plurality of data fields from the revenue record data object, and determining whether a revenue record matches a candidate ledger entry based on a comparison of the unique key. Furthermore, when the comparison results in a match, a final ledger entry is generated from the candidate ledger entry for a period of time in which the revenue record was generated.

Merchants, such as grocers, car services, dry cleaning services, etc., provide their products and services to consumers. Such merchants often employ agents to deliver their products and/or provide the actual services. For example, a person acting on the merchant's behalf will drive a consumer in their own car, deliver food ordered through a merchant website, pick up and/or drop off clothes dry cleaned by the merchant, etc.
These merchants, although providing a system for supplying products and/or services to consumers through their agents, often do not perform the financial processing associated with the merchant transactions. Instead, merchants utilize commerce systems to process financial transactions for the products and/or services provided to consumers through their agents. This may include the merchant, agent, and other users establishing accounts with the commerce system. Once the accounts are established, merchants can run financial transactions using the services of the commerce system, the agents can accept payments from customers on behalf of the merchant for provided products and/or services, and the commerce system processes the accepted payments, performs payouts for services rendered, as well as other financial processing services. This processing may include running credit cards, crediting a merchant account for the transaction, crediting the agent responsible for the transaction, debiting a commerce system fee for processing the transaction on behalf of the merchant, interacting with authorization network systems (e.g., bank systems, credit card issuing systems, etc.), as well as performing other commerce related transactions for the merchant and/or agent such as providing payouts for products/services rendered on behalf of a merchant. Transaction records are created by the commerce system for each of these transactions defining aspects of the transaction, such as when the transaction occurred, an amount of the transaction, and what accounts are effected.
Merchant systems can then access a status of their account at the commerce platform, such as by requesting and obtaining a report of their account status for one or more periods of time, where the report details various account aspects including credits, debits, a beginning balance, and an ending balance. Such a report is similar to a ledge of transactions over the period of time associated with the requested report. Furthermore, such reports are typically used by the merchant systems to manage their financial accounting systems. Following traditional accounting principles and expectations of merchants for which a reports are created, a report for a period of time generated by commerce platform should not change no matter when the report for that period is generated (e.g., a ledger report for July 2020 should not change whether generated in August 2020, September 2020, August 2021, etc.).
However, modern distributed processing systems, such as the commerce system, often rely on external data storage solutions, such as cloud storage systems, to store transaction records and perform real time streaming and processing of transactions. Furthermore, some events have an impact on historic records (e.g. reversals, corrections, etc. of past transactions). Thus, when transaction records from which a status of a merchant account can be generated at the commerce platform are accessed periodically (e.g., hourly, daily, weekly, etc.), and historic transaction records are impacted by a future event (e.g., a correction, reversal, etc. of a past transaction record), it would be error to edit the transaction in the prior period which typically occurs using modern streaming transaction processing approaches. That is, the editing, changing, removal, etc. of a transaction record in a prior period due to a correction, edit, reversal, etc. in a later period would cause a potential mismatch in reports generated for a merchant (e.g. the Q1 2020 books generated at Period x and Period Y could be different) which is counter to the merchant's expectation. However, it is difficult to perform transaction record disambiguation given the cloud storage model (e.g. an original historic record may be identical to a future record referencing and impacting the historic record), and thus the future changes may inadvertently impact a prior reporting. Furthermore, given the volume of transactions from which transaction records are accessed for generating reporting, computing resource preservation is a vital concern.

Systems and methods for immutable historic records from cloud storage systems


A robot simulation device for automatically generating a practical interference avoiding motion path, regardless of the level of skill of an operator. The device includes: a motion path obtaining part which obtains a first motion path by simulating a robot motion program; a teaching point specifying part which detects whether a robot interferes with a peripheral object on the first path, and specifies first and second teaching points immediately before and after the interference occurs, respectively; a motion path generating part which automatically inserts a third teaching point between the first and second points and generates second motion paths for avoiding the interference, based on a search direction and distance determined by a random number; an evaluating part which evaluates each second path based on a predetermined parameter; and a motion path selecting part which selects an optimum motion path from the second paths based on an evaluation result.

1. Field of the Invention
The preset invention relates to a robot simulation device for executing simulation of a robot, and in particular, relates to a simulation device for generating a motion path by which the robot can be prevented from interfering with peripheral equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, a simulation device has been proposed, wherein a motion path of a robot is generated so that the robot can carry out a predetermined operation while avoiding interference with peripheral equipment. For example, JP 2003-091303 A discloses a method and a device for automatically setting a narrow area motion path along for pulling an end effector of a multi-joint robot from a working point on a workpiece, and a wide area motion path for moving between the working points.
Further, JP 2000-020117 A discloses a method and a device for planning a motion path of a multi-joint manipulator (robot), wherein an orientation path of a robot hand is calculated by using a potential field method.
The potential method as described in JP 2000-020117 is a known algorithm used to generate a robot path, etc. Concretely, in the method, the space where the robot is operated is divided into grids, and the energy of each grid is determined so that a grid where an obstacle exists has high energy, and energy of the grid is lowered as the obstacle moves away from. Then, by moving the robot from the current position to a grid having low energy, a path, by which the robot can avoid interference with the obstacle, is generated.
However, in general, when a complicated motion path (or a path for avoiding interference) is calculated by using the potential method, calculation for generating the path may be trapped in an endless loop, or an optimum solution may not be obtained due to a local solution. In such a case, an operator must change a calculation condition or adjust a generated motion path, which is cumbersome and requires a high level of skill.

Robot simulation device for generating motion path of robot


Disclosed is a driver-assistance vehicle including one or more lighting members which are placed within peripheral vision of a driver and which are arranged on respective sides of the vehicle. Furthermore, the driver-assistance vehicle includes a vehicle behavior sensing unit for predicting or sensing a state of the vehicle, and a light controller for controlling the lighting members, based on the sensed state. With this driver-assistance vehicle, the driver can be assisted in distributing his attention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driver-assistance vehicle which allows a driver to distribute his attention to several areas while driving.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, while driving a vehicle, the driver must pay attention not only to his front area but also to surrounding areas. Specifically, the driver needs to distribute his attention to several areas appropriately in response to the action of the vehicle. To demonstrate, when trying to turn left at an intersection, the driver is required to pay attention to other vehicles approaching behind the left side and pedestrians walking across the intersection. Moreover, when trying to change lane, the driver needs to sufficiently pay attention to other vehicles on the lane which the vehicle will enter, mostly vehicles within his blind space.
Accordingly, when changing direction or lane, it is preferable that the driver surely checks the state on the road while facing in the direction where the vehicle will head, rather than glances on the road. However, some drivers, mostly beginner drivers intend to neglect this check.
Conventionally, in order to assist a driver in distributing his attention, a system disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2004-178367 has been presented. This system determines a preferable area for paying attention, based on its surroundings. Subsequently, the system senses the location where the driver currently pays attention. Finally, the system informs the driver if the determined area and the sensed location differ.
While this system employs an advanced sensing process technique, it does not specify a way to inform a driver clearly. Take this disadvantage into account, the present invention has been conceived. An object of the present invention is to provide a driver-assistance vehicle with a simple structure which assists a driver in distributing his attention by attracting his awareness.


A lamp appliance for emitting UVC light for disinfection is shown and described. The appliance includes timing controls settable by the user to control time of UVC emission and to provide a delay feature enabling a user to set the controls and exit a vicinity being treated by the lamp prior to UVC being emitted. Manual controls are redundant, including a first general power switch for bringing power to control electronics, and also a second switch initiating UVC emission. The appliance includes an illuminated display to annunciate time settings. The UVC element is pivotal on the chassis, to adjust direction of UVC emission. In one position, the UVC element is shielded to limit UVC emission to a limited size target. A remote controller is provided. The appliance is arranged with its length vertically oriented, to occupy minimal floor space.

This invention relates in general to disinfection via propagation of UVC light, and more particularly, to a lamp appliance for propagating UVC light.
Disinfection, or destruction of microbes, can be accomplished by application of appropriate chemicals or by destructive radiated energy. Chemicals can entail certain drawbacks, such as leaving objectionable residues, requiring expensive or inconvenient replenishment, and damaging environmental objects by chemical reaction therewith.
It is preferable to utilize radiated energy, especially where that can be accomplished using ordinary household electrical power.
In particular, there exists a need for a practical lamp appliance for consumers.


The method is used for controlling an actuating mechanism of a prosthesis provided on one side of the lower body of an individual, the individual having a healthy leg on the other side. Accordingly, the method comprises providing a plurality of artificial proprioceptors, at least one of the artificial proprioceptors being on the side of the healthy leg, and at least one of the artificial proprioceptors being on provided with the prosthesis, generating data signals in real time at the artificial proprioceptors, and generating control signals in real time for controlling the actuating mechanism in response to the data signals.

As is well known to control engineers, the automation of complex mechanical systems is not something easy to achieve. Among such systems, conventional powered artificial limbs are notorious for having control problems. These conventional prostheses are equipped with basic controllers that artificially mobilize the joints without any interaction from the amputee and are only capable of generating basic motions. Such basic controllers do not take into consideration the dynamic conditions of the working environment, regardless the fact that the prosthesis is required to generate appropriate control within a practical application. They are generally lacking in predictive control strategies necessary to anticipate the artificial limb's response as well as lacking in adaptive regulation enabling the adjustment of the control parameters to the dynamics of the prosthesis. Because human limb mobility is a complex process including voluntary, reflex and random events at the same time, conventional prostheses do not have the capability to interact simultaneously with the human body and the external environment in order to have minimal appropriate functioning.
Considering this background, it clearly appears that there was a need to provide the capability to interact simultaneously with the human body and the external environment to a control system and/or methods for controlling a dynamic prosthesis in order to fulfill the needs of amputees, in particular those of above-knee amputees.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Positioning of lower extremities artificial proprioceptors


A semiconductor device includes an encapsulating resin encapsulating a semiconductor substrate, a lead pattern or a laminated wiring layers transferred or secured on the lower surface of the encapsulating resin and a plurality of external electrode disposed on the lower surface of the lead pattern. The device may be manufactured by bonding a semiconductor substrate on a transferring substrate to which a lead pattern is formed, resin encapsulating an upper portion of the transferring substrate to cover the semiconductor substrate, and removing only the transferring substrate with the lead pattern left bonded to the encapsulating resin and the semiconductor substrate.

This invention relates to a semiconductor device capable of being made thin and having a high reliability and a manufacturing method therefor.
In recent years, semiconductor devices are being made small-sized and multi-pin in order to be miniaturized and multi-functioned. FIG. 26a is a perspective view of a semiconductor device proposed for realizing the miniaturization, and FIG. 26b is a fragmental sectional view of a portion around an external connection electrode of this semiconductor device. In FIGS. 26a and 26b, on a surface of a semiconductor substrate 1 on which an electrical circuit (not shown) is formed, a bonding pad 2 made of an aluminum alloy or the like for an external connection and an electrically insulating film 3 made of SiN, SiO or like for the electrical circuit protection are formed. On the bonding pad 2 on the semiconductor substrate 1, an intimate contact layer and a diffusion protection layer are provided. Also provided in this semiconductor device are substrate metal layer 4 composed of a plurality of metal layers, a protective layer 5 made of polyimide or the like and having an opening at a region corresponding to the substrate metal layer 4 for external connection, transfer bumps 7 formed by transferring electrodes formed on the substrate (not shown), encapsulating resin 8 encapsulating all of the above-mentioned components 1 to 7, and external electrodes 9 for external connection.
Since the external electrodes 9 are provided on the semiconductor substrate 1 in the above semiconductor device 1, a very small semiconductor device in which only the thickness of the encapsulating resin 8 is increased can be realized on the semiconductor substrate 1.
FIGS. 27a to 27e are sectional views illustrating the steps of a semiconductor device manufacturing method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-179334. The manufacturing steps will now be described in conjunction with these FIGS. 27a to 27e. First, as shown in FIG. 27a, a resist 11 with a pattern therein is formed on a transferring substrate 10 made of copper, aluminum, stainless steel or the like and having a thickness of the order of 0.1 mm to 3 mm, and a lead pattern 12 made of copper, aluminum or the like having a thickness of the order of 5 .mu.m to 50 .mu.m is formed in the openings by electrolytic plating, for example. Then, as shown in FIG. 27b the semiconductor substrate 1 is bonded on the lead pattern 12 by means of an electrically conductive bonding material 13, such as solder, an electrically conductive paste or the like. This is further entirely covered by the encapsulating resin 8 as shown in FIG. 27c. Then, by removing the transferring substrate 10, the semiconductor device shown in FIG. 27d is obtained. If desired, as shown in FIG. 27e, the lead pattern 12 may be extended outwardly of the encapsulating resin 8 so as to be adapted to the bonding position on the circuit board on which the semiconductor device is to be mounted.
FIG. 28 is a sectional view of the semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-283460. In this semiconductor device, a lead pattern 12 is disposed on an electrically insulating base film 14 and a semiconductor substrate 1 is encapsulated on the base film 14 with an encapsulating resin 8. The lead pattern 12 is exposed at the openings of the base film 14 at which an external connection electrodes 15 are formed.
Further, when high density wiring and good electrical characteristics (a low dielectric factor) are required in packages such as a pin grid array (PGA), ball grid array (BGA) or the like, a thin film, multi-layered laminated substrate has been used. FIG. 29 is a sectional view of a semiconductor device utilizing a conventional organic material multi-layered laminated substrate. In the figure, the reference numeral 31 is a semiconductor element, 32 are projection electrodes of the semiconductor element 31, 33 is a core substrate, 34 are laminated wiring layers, and 35 are internal electrode pads on the surface layer of the laminated wiring layers 34 connected to the projection electrodes. The reference numeral 36 is a wiring inside of the laminated wiring layers 34, 37 is an electrically insulating layer made for example, of polyimide, 38 is a through hole for electrically connecting the obverse and the reverse surfaces of the core substrate 33 made for example, of glass epoxy, 39 are external electrode pads, 40 are solder balls attached to the external electrode pads 39, 41 is a mold resin for encapsulating the semiconductor element 31 and 42 is a solder resist covering the wiring on the surface layer with the internal electrode pads 35 exposed.
The operation of the above conventional device will now be described. The electrical power and the external signals are supplied from the land of the mounting board on which the semiconductor device is mounted to the external electrode pads 39 through the solder balls 40, and transmitted to the wiring 36 of the laminated wiring layer 34 on the reverse side of the core substrate 33 and further through the through holes 38 of the core substrate 33 to the wiring 36 of the laminated wiring layer 34 on the obverse side of the core substrate 33. The signals are further transmitted from the wiring 36 to the semiconductor element 31 through the internal electrode pads 35 and the projection electrode 32. The outputs from the semiconductor element 31 are transmitted to the external circuit through the same passage in the reverse order.
FIG. 30 is a sectional view showing a conventional semiconductor device, in which the reference numeral 61 is a semiconductor substrate, 62 is a wiring, 63 are metal wires connecting the semiconductor substrate 61 and the wiring 62, 64 is a core substrate, 65 are through holes provided in the core substrate 64, 66 are solder balls attached to the bottom surface of the core substrate 64 through external electrode lands 67 and 68 is an encapsulating resin. In the conventional semiconductor device shown in FIG. 26, similar to the device shown in FIG. 27, there is a problem in that not very many external electrodes can be provided on the semiconductor device because the external electrodes can be attached only to the bottom surface of the semiconductor substrate.
Also, in the conventional semiconductor device shown in FIG. 27, the lead pattern 12 is formed on the transferring substrate 10, and the lead pattern 12 and the semiconductor substrate 1 are bonded to transfer the lead pattern 12 to the semiconductor substrate 1 which then is covered and encapsulated with the resin. However, in this device, since the section to which the external electrodes are to be formed is provided only on the bottom surface of the semiconductor substrate 1, it is not possible to provide a large number of external electrodes.
In the example shown in FIG. 28, the lead pattern 12 is provided on the base film 14, so that the thickness of the base film 14 may raise a problem in decreasing the overall thickness of the semiconductor device.
Further, in the package shown in FIG. 29 in which the conventional multi-layered laminated substrate made of an organic material is used, the semiconductor element is mounted to the substrate having a laminated wiring layer on either or both surfaces of the core substrate and is provided with external electrode pads on the surface of the substrate opposite to the surface on which the semiconductor element is mounted and resin coated. The signal from the semiconductor element is transmitted to an external electrode through the through holes in the core substrate. With such a structure, since the through holes are not flat at their top portions, the formation of the wiring on the through hole is difficult and discontinuous or narrowed sections may be formed. Therefore, in the usual design, the wiring is not formed on the through holes, so that the wiring density becomes low and impedes the miniaturization of the package.
Also in the device shown in FIG. 29, the core substrate or the substrate of the organic material such as glass epoxy has a structure of resin-impregnated woven glass fiber for mechanical strength, so that the migration of wiring material, Cu can take place along the interface between the glass fiber and the resin, causing leakage between the through holes. Therefore, a quad flat pack (QFP) type package, in which the external leads extend only from the outer periphery of the substrate instead of providing the external electrodes on the bottom surface of the substrate, is generally used. In order to cope with this problem. A ceramic substrate may not need through holes in the core substrate. However, with the ceramic substrate, the thermal expansion coefficient does not match with the plastic mounting substrate such as glass epoxy which is commonly used in electronic devices causing stresses to be applied to the solder balls of the external electrodes, decreasing the reliability of the mounting and packaging.
A laminated substrate which does not use a core substrate can be obtained In accordance with the manufacturing method of a laminated substrate in which a plurality of wired films of an organic material is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-250649 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-226509. However, since the device does not have a sufficient rigidity because there is no core substrate, errors may occur during the package manufacturing process in the wire bonding step in which the rigidity of the substrate is required and in the flip chip bonding step in which flatness of the substrate is required. Also, the internal electrode pads may become displaced from the designed pitch due to the dimensional instability of the film of the organic material. Further, in the manufacturing method of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-250649 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-226509, since the film of each layer does not include reinforcing material for providing mechanical strength, such as woven glass fiber, woven carbon fiber or the like, the film can be easily deformed so that it is necessary to have a thickness of at least several tens .mu.m or more, whereby a thin substrate cannot be obtained.
Also, in the conventional device shown in FIG. 30, the core substrate 64 is provided for package rigidity for forming wiring 64, so that the thickness of the package is increased by the thickness of the core substrate 64, preventing decrease of the thickness. Further, while the core substrate 64 has formed therein through holes 65 for the electrical connection between the wiring 62 and the external electrodes, the problem of leakage between the through holes 65 may occur and reliability decreased.

Substrateless resin encapsulated semiconductor device


The present invention provides mutants of PmST1 for the preparation of sialyl-Lewisx oligosaccharides, and other sialosides with decreased sialidase activity.

Glycosyltransferase-catalyzed reactions have gained increasing attention and application for the synthesis of complex carbohydrates and glycoconjugates. Most mammalian glycosyltransferases suffer from no or low expression in E. coli systems and more restricted substrate specificity. In comparison, bacterial glycosyltransferases are generally easier to access using E. coli expression systems and have more promiscuous substrate flexibility. Nevertheless, despite the discovery of many bacterial glycosyltransferases which have promiscuities for both donor and acceptor substrates, the application of glycosyltransferases in the synthesis of carbohydrate-containing structures is limited by the availability and the substrate specificity of wild-type enzymes.
For example, sialyltransferases, the key enzymes that catalyze the transfer of a sialic acid residue from cytidine 5′-monophosphate-sialic acid (CMP-sialic acid) to an acceptor, have been commonly used for the synthesis of sialic acid-containing structures. Sialyl Lewisx [SLex, Siaα2-3Galβ1-4(Fucα1-3)GlcNAcβOR] is an important carbohydrate epitope involved in inflammation as well as adhesion and metastasis of cancer cells. It is a well-known tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen and has been used as a candidate for cancer vaccine. The biosynthesis of SLex involves the formation of Siaα2-3Galβ1-4GlcNAcβOR catalyzed by an α2-3-sialyltransferase followed by an α1-3-fucosyltransferase-catalyzed fucosylation. This biosynthetic sequence usually cannot be altered as common α2-3-sialyltransferases do not use fucose-containing Lewisx [Lex, Galβ1-4(Fucα1-3)GlcNAcβOR] as a substrate.
As common terminal monosaccharides, sialic acids constitute a family of great structural diversity. So far, more than 50 structurally distinct sialic acid forms have been identified in nature. To obtain SLex with different sialic acid forms to elucidate the biological significance of naturally occurring sialic acid modifications, an efficient enzymatic approach is to use Lex [Galβ1-4(Fucα1-3)GlcNAcβOR] as a fucose-containing acceptor to add different sialic acid forms by a suitable α2-3-sialyltransferase. This process of introducing different forms of sialic acid onto the common fucosylated acceptor Lex in the last step has significant advantages compared to the normal SLex biosynthetic pathway in which fucosylation is the last glycosylation process. It not only simplifies the synthetic scheme as a less number of reactions are needed, but also makes the purification process much easier as negatively charged SLex product is separated from neutral Lex oligosaccharide instead of separating both negatively charged oligosaccharides SLex and non-fucosylated sialosides if fucosylation occurs in the last step.
We and others have demonstrated that a myxoma virus α2-3-sialyltransferase can use Lex as an acceptor substrate for synthesizing SLex. Nevertheless, the low expression level of the enzyme in E. coli (<0.1 mg L−1 culture) limits its application in preparative and large-scale synthesis of SLex.
We have previously shown that a multifunctional α2-3-sialyltransferase from Pasteurella multocida (PmST1) has a good expression level in E. coli (100 mg L−1 culture) (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 17618-17619.). It can use Lex as an acceptor for the synthesis of SLex but the yields are poor (<20%) in spite of different conditions tested. What is needed, therefore, are α2-3-sialyltransferases having good α2-3-sialyltransferase activity with good expression levels, and lowered α2-3-sialidase or donor substrate hydrolysis activity. Surprisingly, the present invention meets this and other needs.

PmST1 mutants for chemoenzymatic synthesis of sialyl lewis X compounds

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA


A lithographic apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes an illumination system to provide a beam of radiation, and a support structure for supporting a patterning device. The patterning device serves to impart the beam with a pattern in its cross-section. The apparatus also includes a gas flushing device for flushing a substantially laminar flow of gas across the beam of radiation and/or along a surface of an optical component. The gas flushing device includes a single gas outlet that has an inner rim at a downstream end of the gas outlet. The inner rim defines a total gas outlet area. The gas outlet is provided with a laminator that has an effective area out of which, in use, the substantially laminar flow of gas flows. The laminator effective area includes material that has laminator openings and is at least as large as the total gas outlet area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lithographic apparatus having a gas flushing device and relates to a gas flushing device for flushing a substantially laminar flow of gas across a predetermined space in, for example, a lithographic apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a target portion of a substrate. Lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that circumstance, a patterning device, such as a mask, may be used to generate a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target portion (including, for example, one or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer) that has a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively exposed. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion in one go, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through the projection beam in a given direction (the "scanning"-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti parallel to this direction.
More particularly, the invention relates to a lithographic apparatus that includes: an illumination system for providing a projection beam of radiation, and a support structure for supporting a patterning device. The patterning device serves to impart the projection beam with a pattern in its cross-section. The apparatus also includes a substrate table for holding a substrate, a projection system for projecting the patterned beam onto a target portion of the substrate.
The projection system usually includes an optical component such as a lens for focusing the beam onto the target portion of the substrate. It is, however, as will be pointed out in slightly more detail further on in this specification, also possible to direct the beam via reflective components such as mirrors. The surfaces of these optical components may interact with gaseous contaminants in such a way that the transmission of light or the reflection of light occurs in a less accurate manner than would be the case had the surfaces of the optical components not interacted with these gaseous contaminants.
The result of the interaction may result in a hindrance of the transmission or reflection of light via these optical components. That is, due to the interaction, a layer may be formed on or into the surface of the optical opponent, changing the transmission coefficient or reflection coefficient of the optical component. This change may have a permanent nature. As the optical components are usually very expensive components of the apparatus, a reduction of the lifetime of these components due to interaction with these particles is highly undesirable. In this document often the term "particles" is used as part of contaminating gases. It should be understood that these particles may have molecular dimensions.
The gaseous contaminants interacting with these optical components may be released by the wafer substrate, for example, before exposure of the substrate to the beam as a result of, for example, outgassing, during exposure of the substrate to the beam as a result of the removal of material from the substrate, or after exposure of the substrate to the beam as a result of for example baking out the substrate. These gaseous contaminants may also be present in the lithographic apparatus. Particles which may interact with the surface of an optical component may also be formed during for example production of UV radiation. The interaction with the optical components may occur under the influence of the radiation. Most often though, gases from the wafer or from elsewhere present in the lithographic apparatus interact under the influence of the radiation with a coating on the surface of an optical component. Due to a chemical reaction, crystals are formed, which negatively affect the performance of the optical component. To remove these crystals, the apparatus has to be opened up, which results in down time and hence expenses. Sometimes the crystals cannot be cleaned away and the optical element has to be replaced by a new one.
One way of preventing the interaction of the gaseous contaminants with a surface of an optical component is carried out by flushing a flow of gas along a surface of an optical component to drag away, within the flow of gas, contaminating particles which were about to approach the surface of the optical component. It may also be useful to provide the flow of gas across the patterned projection beam in order to prevent particles traveling along a path followed by the patterned projection beam from reaching a surface of the optical components. A flow of gas may also be provided both across the patterned projection beam and along a surface of an optical component. If the flow of gas is provided across the patterned projection beam, or any other beam of radiation for that matter, the flushing gas is preferred to be substantially non-absorbent of the radiation used in the projection system. The flow of gas is also strongly preferred to be a substantially laminar flow of gas in order to improve the shielding effect of the flow of gas.
EP 1098226 A2 describes a lithographic apparatus with a gas flushing device. The device includes a number of spaces, stacked in a parallel fashion on top of each other. In use, gas flows along the parallel direction through each of these spaces. To ensure laminar flow and minimize turbulence, the various spaces are spatially separated from one another. Although this system provides, in many situations, a useful way of flushing a laminar flow of gas across the patterned projection beam and/or along a surface of an optical component, the system disadvantageously occupies too much space, as determined by the minimum distance between, for example, a surface of an optical component and a source for particles. In fact, due to the presence of a gas flushing device as described in this prior art, the distance between a bottom of the projection system and the substrate table has to be undesirably large.
In this context, it is worth noting that in the field of projecting a beam onto a target portion of the substrate, the current tendency is aimed at more accurate projections, demanding a higher numerical aperture number NA. Between the substrate and the bottom of, for example, a final lens element of the projection system, there needs to be a distance for allowing flushing away the gaseous contaminants. If the distance needs to be large and the NA number needs to be high, the bottom of the lens has to be relatively large.
As fabrication, machining etc. of the bottom of this lens is a very expensive process, it is preferred that the bottom of the lens be much smaller. With the high NA number, the distance between the substrate and the bottom of the lens is preferably as small as possible; and is large enough to just be able to transport the wafer without hitting the lens.

Lithographic apparatus having a gas flushing device


A solid polymer electrolyte according to the present invention comprises a polymer (A), and a liquid electrolyte (B) composed of a lithium salt and an aprotic solvent, optionally and a ceramic filler (C). The polymer (A) is poly(acrylonitrile-methyl methacrylate), poly(acrylonitrile-methyl methacrylate-oligooxyethylene ethylether methacrylate) or poly(acrylonitrilc-methyl methacrylate-styrene). The polymer (A) is poly(acrylonitrile methyl methacrylate) containing acrylonitrile of 10.about.90 mol %, preferably 26.about.46 mol %, poly(acrylonitrile-methyl methacrylate-oligooxyethylene ethylether methacrylate) containing acrylonitrile of 20.about.80 mol %, methyl methacrylate of 20.about.80 mol % and oligooxyethylene ethylether methacrylate of 5.about.20 mol %, and poly(acrylonitrile-methyl methacrylate-styrene) containing acrylonitrile of 10.about.80 mol %, methyl methacrylate of 10.about.60 mol % and styrene of 5.about.50 mol %.

The development of a secondary battery is among the main concerns of modern industry and society due to the fast development of electronic industry, computer architecture and telecommunication. Especially, electronic goods are becoming smaller and more portable so that a secondary battery which is a part thereof also requires to be thinner and smaller. The most interested battery is a lithium polymer secondary battery which can remove the disadvantages of a lithium ion battery using a liquid electrolyte. The lithium polymer secondary battery has advantages in safety, low cost for preparation, manufacture of a large scale of battery, no limitations to the size or shape of battery, etc. Accordingly, a solid polymer electrolyte for a lithium polymer secondary battery has been researched and developed. Generally, the solid polymer electrolyte has excellent characteristics of a low electron conductivity, a low self-discharge, a high admissibility between electrode and electrolyte, and a coating ability of a large surface area.
Recently, most of researches are related to a plastized polymer electrolyte which is prepared by adding a liquid electrolyte to a polymer matrix. Polymers used for the polymer matrix are poly(ethylene oxide), polyacrylonitrile, poly(vinylidene fluoride), poly(vinyl chloride), etc.
European Patent Publication No. 0279554A2 discloses a polymer electrolyte comprising a complex of a solid polymer and an alkali metal salt, which polymer is capable of forming donor acceptor type bonds with alkali metal ions and is capable of conducting alkali metal ions, characterized in that the complex is associated with a mixture of more than one substituted or unsubstituted 1,3-dioxolane-2-ones. In the patent, poly(ethylene oxide) or poly(propylene oxide) is used as a solid polymer. However, as the glass transition temperature of poly(ethylene oxide) used as a solid polymer is low, the polymer electrolyte film is sticky and therefore it is difficult to handle the film.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,679 discloses solid electrolytes composed of solutions of alkali metal salts in a plurality of mixible aprotic organic liquids immobilized in an organic solid polymer matrix which itself can complex with said alkali metal salts, wherein said liquids are ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate and said polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyacrylonitrile and poly-N-vinyl-2-pyrolidinone. The polymer electrolyte shows a high ionic conductivity of the order of 10.sup.-3 S/cm. However, as polyacrylonitrile is insoluble in an organic solvent, the solid polymer electrolyte should be prepared at a high temperature over 10.degree. C. Also, the polymer matrix has a poor compatibility with the liquid electrolyte so as to occur a phase separation phenomenon which will cause leak out the organic solvent, so called "exudation". The exudation of an organic solvent will result in a serious problem of safety.
Japanese Patent Laid open No. 07-331019 discloses a polymer electrolyte comprising a polymer matrix containing polyacrylonitrile, polybutadiene or polystyrene, such as styrene butadiene rubber polymer, acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer and acrylonitrile styrene copolymer; a lithium salt such as lithium perchlorate; and an aprotic solvent such as ethylene carbonate and diethyl carbonate. The polymer electrolyte has a high ionic conductivity over 4.0.times.10.sup.-3 S/cm at 25.degree. C., when the polymer electrolyte contains 90% or more of the liquid electrolyte. The polymer matrix has a poor compatibility with the aprotic solvent so as to occur a phase separation phenomenon. Addition of a liquid electrolyte to the polymer matrix in order to obtain a high conductivity over 10.sup.-3 S/cm will cause a poor physical property not so as to prepare an electrolyte film having 100 .mu.m or less.
Accordingly, the present inventors have developed a solid polymer electrolyte having excellent physical properties for preparing a thin electrolyte film and an excellent ionic conductivity, which comprises a polymer complex of poly(acrylonitrile-methyl methacrylate), an aprotic solvent and a lithium salt.
Also, the present inventors have developed a polymer matrix whose polymer is poly(acrylonitrile methyl methacrylate oligooxyethylene ethylether methacrylate), or poly(acrylonitrile methylmethacrylate styrene).


A synchronous double-data-rate semiconductor memory device is adapted to receive write data on both the rising and falling edges of a data strobe signal derived from an externally-applied system clock. In the write path circuitry for each data pin of the device, adjustable delay elements are provided to enable the adjustment of the setup and hold times of write data applied to the data pin relative to the data strobe signal. The delays are separately adjustable for data present during the rising edge of the data strobe signal and for data present during the falling edge of the data strobe signal. The setup and hold window for write data is thus optimizable on a per-bit basis rather than a per-cycle basis. In one embodiment, a delay circuit is provided for generating delaying the rising edge data and the falling edge data by different delay intervals.

The field of semiconductor memory devices is enormously active and rapidly developing. Various categories and sub-categories of semiconductor devices are known and commercially available. The ever-increasing popularity and ubiquity of computers and computer-based devices, both in the consumer and industrial realms, is such that the demand for semiconductor memory devices of a variety of different types will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
One of the more common categories of semiconductor memory devices used today is the dynamic random access memory, or DRAM. Among the desirable characteristics of any DRAM are a high storage capacity per unit area of semiconductor die area, fast access speeds, low power consumption, and low cost.
One approach that has been used to optimize the desirable properties of DRAMs has been to design such devices such that they are accessible synchronously. A synchronous DRAM typically requires an externally-applied clocking signal, as well as other externally-applied control signals whose timing must bear certain predetermined relationships with the clock signal. Likewise, digital data is read from and written to a synchronous memory device in a synchronous relationship to the externally-applied clock signal. Synchronous DRAM technologies have been under development for many years, and synchronous DRAMs (frequently referred to as "SDRAMs") are used in a broad spectrum of commercial and industrial applications, including the personal computer industry.
In typical implementations, the external clock signal CLK comprises a simple, periodic "square" wave oscillating with reasonably uniform periodicity between a logical high voltage level (for example, 3.3V) and a logical low level (typically 0V) with a duty cycle of 50% (meaning that the signal is at a logical "high" level the same amount of time that it is at a logical "low" level during each complete clock cycle). In present state-of-the-art semiconductor devices, the clock signal may have a frequency on the order of hundreds of megahertz.
A synchronous semiconductor device such as a SDRAM will typically require an external input signal such as a clock signal to be provided to several (or even numerous) separate but interrelated functional subcircuits of the device. As a matter of ordinary semiconductor device layout, it is typical for each of the separate subcircuits of an overall device to be physically disposed at different and perhaps distributed locations throughout the substrate as a whole. This means that the conductive lengths, and hence such characteristics as capacitive and complex impedance loads of the various conductive traces which carry electrical signals throughout the substrate, will vary from signal to signal. Hence, for example, the propagation delay of a clock signal from a clock signal input pin to one functional subcircuit may be different than the propagation delay to another functional subcircuit; such differences can be critical for devices operating at very high clock rates, on the order of 100 MHz or so (and perhaps less).
To address such considerations, an approach referred to as "delay-locked loop" or "DLL" can be employed. In a simple example of DLL implementation, an externally-applied clock signal CLK is applied to an input pin of a memory device, and ultimately is applied to a DLL block. The DLL block operates to derive a plurality of separate internal clock signals which are then provided to the various subcircuits of memory device on various lines. The function of DLL block (which may be distributed throughout the area of the substrate) is to adjust the relative timing of the clock signals provided on the lines to the various distributed subcircuits of the device such that overall synchronous operation of the device can be achieved.
DLL blocks may utilize some type of loop-back operation, whereby the DLL block is provided with feedback for comparing the timing of the clock signal supplied to a command block with the timing of the external clock signal CLK. Since a command input buffer and a data input buffer on the memory device each receive and operate based on a clock signal, the command input pins and data input pins are said to be synchronous inputs. As such, binary data applied to such input pins will only be stored in respective buffers (a process sometimes referred to as "signal capture") upon a rising or falling edge of the corresponding internal clock signal.
As a result of the functionality of a typical DLL circuit, if the propagation and loading characteristics of the lines varies significantly, the DLL circuit can account for such differences to ensure that proper device operation can be maintained. Internally to the DLL circuit, separate delays and skews (programmable, or automatically adjusted) may be introduced into the externally-applied clock signal to ensure that each of the other functional blocks in the device receives clock signals that are substantially synchronized with the others. The delays and skews introduced by a DLL may be miniscule, on the order of picoseconds, but may be nonetheless critical to the proper operation of a semiconductor device.
The functionality of DLLs can be thought of generally as a process of internal clock signal generation, and those of ordinary skill in the art will doubtless be familiar at least generally with the concept of DLLs in semiconductor devices. Various examples of DLL implementations for synchronous memory devices are proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,518 to Harrison et al., entitled "Synchronous Clock Generator Including Delay-Locked Loop;" U.S. Pat. No. 6,201,424 to Harrison, entitled "Synchronous Clock Generator including a Delay-Locked Loop Signal-Loss Detector;" and U.S. Pat. No. 6,130,856 to McLaury, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Multiple Latency Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory." The aforementioned '518, '424, and '856 patents are each commonly assigned to the Assignee of the present invention and each are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their respective entireties.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that in conventional synchronous DRAMs, data presented to the data input/output (DQ) pins are written into a data buffer during either the rising or falling edge of the external clock signal. On the other hand, a recent development in the evolution of synchronous DRAM technology is the so-called "double data rate (DDR) DRAM. In DDR DRAMs, data is written into data buffers on both the rising and falling edges of each clock cycle, thus providing twice as much data as a conventional SDRAM for a given system clock speed. One example of a DDR SDRAM is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,418 to Li, entitled "Write Scheme for a Double Data Rate SDRAM," which is commonly assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Due to the high speed data transfers, DDR SDRAMs use a bi-directional data strobe signal (DQS) to register the data being input or output on both edges (rising and falling) of a system clock. According to industry standards, when data is being received by a DDR SDRAM, the DQS has a known latency which can vary between ¾ of a system clock cycle (minimum latency) to 5/4 of the clock cycle (maximum latency). When data is being received by a DDR SDRAM, the system clock cannot be properly synchronized with the DQS because of the latency variation and thus, the system clock cannot be properly synchronized with the input data.
Two parameters of significance to the process of writing data to a DDR DRAM are the setup and hold times specified for the data that is presented to the input buffer. The setup time (DS) is the minimum time in advance of the latching clock (data strobe) edge that valid data must be present at the input buffer's input. The hold time (DH) is the minimum time following the latching clock edge that the data must be present at the input buffer's input. Together, the setup and hold times define a "window" surrounding the data clock edge (rising or falling) during which the data on the data line (DQ) must be valid.
One scheme for clocking data into a DDR DRAM uses a delay element in the write data path to internally delay data relative to the data strobe. By making the delay element variable, the input setup and hold times can be adjusted to ensure that specified setup and hold times are achieved. However, experimental data shows that the setup and hold window can be different for the data clocked in on the rising edge than for the data clocked in on the falling edge. The net effect of this phenomenon is that the total setup and hold window for the input pin is the overlap of the windows for the two clock edges, which can be larger than permissible according to the memory device's specification. Adjustments to the single delay element can help the worst-case setup or hold, but improvement to one (setup or hold) can only be achieved to the detriment of the other.
Thus, it is believed that there remains a need for an improved method and apparatus by which data is clocked in to a DDR DRAM.

Per-bit set-up and hold time adjustment for double-data rate synchronous DRAM


Disclosed is a method of crystallizing coupler crystals, the method comprising the steps of dissolving crude crystals of a coupler in a first solvent having a first solubility parameter to obtain a coupler solution; and adding to the solution a second solvent having a second solubility parameter different from the first solubility parameter, when the crystallization rate in the solution is 5 to 30 weight % of crystals having a BET value of 10 m.sup.2 /g or less.

Medicines, synthesis reagents, food additives and the like are synthesized through several reaction processes. During the reaction processes, by-products and decomposed products are formed. In order to remove those, crystallization is carried out in the final process. However, when the content of the impurities is large, or the properties of the impurities are similar to those of a desired chemical compound, sometimes it is impossible to remove the impurities by one crystallization process. Accordingly, methods have been known wherein prior to the crystallization, the chemical compound solution undergoes activated carbon treatment or activated clay treatment. However, depending on the kind of the chemical compound and the amount of the impurities, the impurities have not been sufficiently removed and loss has been caused because the desired chemical compound is adsorbed.
Furthermore, in the crystallization, the filterability of slurry as well as the purification efficiency is important in terms of the ease of process operation. As crystallization methods which aim at the improvement in the filterability, have been known one method wherein seed crystals are added and another wherein at the initial stage of crystallization, a small amount of crystals are produced and are employed as crystal seeds. However, depending on chemical compounds, no improvement in the filterability has been obtained and sometimes the quality has been degraded. Furthermore, there have been methods wherein by the addition of a poor solvent or cooling operation, crystal size and shape are controlled. According to this method, depending on chemical compounds, no effect has been obtained and sometimes, the quality has been degraded.
As mentioned above, various crystallization methods have been used in regard to the improvement in quality, filterability and yield. However, it has been difficult to meet all the requirements for quality, yield and filterability at the same time.


A catheter includes a proximal shaft having a relatively high rigidity, a distal shaft provided on a front portion of the proximal shaft so as to be in fluid communication with proximal shaft and having a rigidity lower than that of the proximal shaft, a hub mounted to the vicinity of a rear end of the proximal shaft and configured to allow a pressure applying apparatus to be mounted to the hub, and a balloon provided on a front portion of the distal shaft so as to be in fluid communication with the distal shaft and configured to receive pressure applied from the hub. The catheter also includes a guide wire lumen. In this catheter, at least a front portion of the distal shaft is configured as a grooved portion having a groove or grooves.

The present invention relates to a diagnostic or therapeutic catheter for performing various treatments in blood vessels and a medical tube used for endoscopes and the like. In particular, the present invention relates to a dilatation balloon catheter used for treating a stricture generated in a lumen such as a blood vessel by dilating the stricture, thereby improving the flow of blood in a peripheral side of the stricture, and a living organ dilatation catheter capable of delivering a living organ dilatation stent to a target living organ cite with a safety and a smooth operationality.
In recent years, functions of medical tubes have been significantly enhanced. Examples of such high function medical tubes include a vasodilatation balloon catheter used for percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for dilating a stricture in a blood vessel; a living organ dilatation catheter capable of delivering a living organ dilatation stent to a target living organ cite with a safety and a smooth operationality; a cerebrovascular catheter for injecting an embolizing material or a coil in an aneurysm or arteriovenous malformation caused in a cerebral blood vessel; an ultrasonic catheter capable of performing accurate observation or diagnosis for the inside of a blood vessel using ultrasonic diagnostic equipment; and an endoscope capable of performing accurate observation or diagnosis for the inside of a blood vessel, a bile duct, or a pancreatic duct using an image diagnostic equipment.
Such a high function medical tube has been required to have not only durability but also operationality allowing the tube to be inserted in a fine, complicated blood vessel rapidly, highly selectively. Specific examples of these requirements include (1) "pushability" allowing a catheter to be easily pushed by an operator so as to be inserted in a blood vessel; (2) "trackability" allowing a catheter to be smoothly advanced in a complicated meandering blood vessel along a previously inserted guide wire without damaging the inner wall of the blood vessel; (3) "torque transmission performance" allowing a rotational force applied on the proximal side of a catheter tube to be certainly transmitted to the distal end; and (4) "kink resistance" capable of suppressing occurrence of kink upon handling of a catheter before treatment, upon pushing the catheter, and upon pulling off a guide wire. Examples of the requirements for the high function medical tubes further include (1) "low-profile characteristics" realized by making the outer diameter of the tube as fine as possible for thinning a guiding wire adapted to guide the catheter to a target cite in order to reduce the physical or mental burden of a patient or for reducing a friction resistance with the wall of a blood vessel; (2) "thin-wall characteristic" realized by sufficiently ensuring the lumen of the tube so as to keep good operationality of a guide wire; and (3) "flexibility of the front portion of the catheter" for reducing damage of the wall of a blood vessel caused by the front portion of the catheter.
In this way, the high function medical tube is required to have not only the fineness and torque transmission performance but also the incompatible characteristics such as hardness and softness, and thin wall and resistance against breaking. Also, the ultrasonic catheter must satisfy a requirement to partially harden the tube. To produce catheter tubes satisfying these requirements, various techniques have been developed.
For example, most of vasodilatation balloon catheters commercially available at present have a basic structure including a shaft main body including a balloon inflation lumen and a guide wire lumen, and a balloon provided at a front portion of the shaft main body, wherein the shaft main body has a distal portion having a relatively low rigidity and a proximal portion having a relatively high rigidity. According to these balloon catheters, in a rigidity transition region positioned between the distal portion and the proximal portion of the shaft main body, shaft portions having different rigidities are connected to each other or the outer diameter or wall thickness is changed in order to smoothly change the rigidity or to prevent occurrence of kink due to stress concentration when a sharp bending force is applied thereto.
In the case of connecting the shaft portions having different rigidities, however, it fails to obtain a smooth change in rigidity, and therefore, there occurs a problem that stress is concentrated at the boundary (interface) of the connection portion, thereby tending to cause kink.
Also, there occurs a problem that in the case of advancing a vasodilatation balloon catheter along a meandering blood vessel to a stricture generated in a peripheral vascular vessel such as a coronary artery, kink is liable to occur at a front portion, adjacent to the balloon, of the shaft main body. The occurrence of such kink makes it difficult to smoothly transmit a pushing force given at the proximal end of the catheter to the distal end of the catheter and hence to push the catheter to a more peripheral vascular vessel.
To smoothly change the rigidity at the front portion, adjacent to the balloon, of a shaft main body for preventing occurrence of kink, some of commercially available vasodilatation balloon catheters are configured to gradually reduce the outer diameter or wall thickness of the front portion of the shaft main body in the direction toward the distal end. However, since the shaft is generally produced by extrusion molding, there arises a problem that an extrusion speed upon extrusion from a die, an extruded amount of a resin material, and the like must be accurately controlled to change the outer diameter or wall thickness of the shaft by extrusion molding, and therefore, the skillful technique is required for production of the shaft. Additionally, in the case of preventing occurrence of kink only by changing the outer diameter or wall thickness of the shaft, the effect of preventing occurrence of kink has a limitation.


The invention provides an ebullition cooling device 1 for a heat generating component B which device comprises a boiling unit 2 for boiling a refrigerant A contained therein with the heat generated by the heat generating component B as attached to an outer surface of the unit, a condensing unit 3 disposed above the boiling unit 2 for condensing a refrigerant vapor A1 flowing thereinto from the boiling unit 2 by heat exchange with an external fluid C, and a communication pipe 4 interconnecting the units 2, 3 and having a refrigerant vapor channel 41 and a refrigerant condensate channel 42 therein. The cooling device 1 can be designed with greater freedom, and is therefore fully useful for electronic devices which are compacted or higher in complexity, smaller in the amount of refrigerant to be enclosed therein and outstanding in heat dissipating performance.

Ebullition cooling devices are adapted to cool heat generating components by heat transport due to the boiling and condensation of refrigerant, and are used in various electronic devices for cooling heat generating components, such as diodes and transistors, incorporated in the device.
Refrigerants of low boiling point for use in ebullition cooling devices are generally fluorocarbons and like expensive refrigerants. Preferably, therefore, ebullition cooling devices have such a construction that the amount of refrigerant to be enclosed therein can be smaller to the greatest possible extent.
Ebullition cooling devices already known for use with heat generating components include the device disclosed, for example, in JP-A No. 8-204075(1996). The disclosed device comprises a boiling unit in the form of a hollow planar plate having a multiplicity of hollow channels in its interior and a side wall outer surface with a heat generating component attached thereto, and a condensing unit in the form of a heat exchanger having plate fins. The hollow planar plate constituting the boiling unit is connected directly to the heat exchanger constituting the condensing unit so as to hold the hollow channels of the former in communication with a header tank of the latter.
The cooling device described above has the boiling unit provided by a hollow planar plate, so that the amount of refrigerant enclosed need not be very great, whereas the arrangement wherein the hollow planar plate is connected directly to the heat exchanger results in a low degree of freedom in designing the device. Accordingly, the device is not fully useful for electronic devices which are compacted or higher in complexity and can not always be installed within such electronic devices.
When the heat receiving position (e.g., the location where a heat generating component is installed) of an electronic device is a large distance away from the heat dissipating position thereof (e.g., the location where a vent is provided), the ebullition cooling device described must be made usable in the electronic device, for example, by giving an increased size to the hollow planar plate. This entails a corresponding increase in the amount of refrigerant enclosed.
Further with the ebullition cooling device described, the heat generating component is attached to the side wall outer surface of the hollow planar plate which has a relatively small thickness, so that increased contact thermal resistance between the plate and the component due to insufficient rigidity of the side wall is likely to result in lower heat dissipating performance.
The above device further has the problem that the refrigerant vapor flowing upward from the boiling unit toward the condensing unit and the refrigerant condensate flowing down from the condensing unit toward the boiling unit interfere with each other at the connection between the two units, i.e., the problem of so-called flooding. This flooding phenomenon degrades the spontaneous circulation of the refrigerant, reducing the maximum amount of heat transport and entailing lower heat dissipating performance, and therefore needs to be prevent to the greatest possible extent.
An object of the present invention is to provide an ebullition cooling device for a heat generating component which device can be designed with increased freedom so as to be fully useful in compacted or complex electronic devices or the like and is reduced in the amount of refrigerant to be enclosed therein and outstanding in heat dissipating performance.

Ebullition cooling device for heat generating component


A diamond drag bit is disclosed with a plurality of radially disposed raised rib portions formed in a cutting end of the bit body. One or more nozzles formed in the cutting end directs drilling fluid through the valleys formed by the ribs and over the ribs during operation of the bit in an earthen formation. Diamond cutters are strategically positioned in an outer face of the ribs. A multiplicity of diamond segments forming at least one flat surface thereon are strategically positioned and secured flush with the outer surface of the raised rib both rearwardly and laterally of each of the diamond cutters. The flush segments serve to protect a trailing edge of the raised ribs during drag bit operation.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to drag bits having diamond or other hard cutter inserts. More specifically, this invention is directed to tungsten carbide matrix type blade drag bits incorporating polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutters when drilling very elastic or plastic abrasive earthen formations. Under such conditions of drilling, the elastic rebound and/or plastic deformation of the rock being drilled causes the abrasive rock to bear on and wear away the bit face blade material circumferentially rearward of the PDC cutters mounted in sockets on the blades. When significant wear occurs, the PDC cutters have insufficient back support to maintain the cutters in place. It is an object of this invention to prevent or minimize the wear of the bit body material behind the PDC cutters to maintain the back support of the cutters thereby preventing catastrophic cutter loss and the subsequent termination of bit life.
II. Description of the Prior Art
There are a number of diamond drag bit patents that appear to be somewhat similar in construction to the present invention, but are designed to serve a different function.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,505 describes a steel body drag bit having stud type polycrystalline diamond cutters (PDC) affixed to essentially radial raised rib portions of the bit cutting face with drilling fluid channels formed between the ribs. Spaced essentially rearward from each cutting element is a separate abrasion element comprising a cylindrical tungsten carbide stud impregnated at the lower end with diamond particles. This abrasion element is mounted in a socket on a raised portion of the bit cutting face and protrudes a significant amount from the rib outer surface, but a lesser amount than does the PDC cutting element. This abrading element may be located rearwardly behind the PDC cutter element on the same raised rib portion or on a separate rib with a fluid channel therebetween. This separate abrading element is intended to act as a back-up cutter in the event of the leading PDC cutter wear or breakage.
While bits built by the teaching of this patent have proven to be satisfactory in increasing bit life, the drilling rates are considerably slower when the abrading elements take over the drilling function because they are much less aggressive than sharp PDC cutters.
Another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,017, assigned to the same assignee as the foregoing patent, describes a polycrystalline diamond drag bit with the cutting head fabricated from a powdered tungsten carbide matrix material. The overall geometry of this bit type is essentially the same as described in the previous patent except for the method in which the abrading elements are formed. The tungsten carbide matrix head is cast in a refractory mold, such as graphite, by methods well known to those skilled in the art. The protruding abrading elements impregnated with diamond particles are formed as an integral part of finished cast cutting head. Bits made according to the teachings of this patent also offer additional bit life after the primary PDC cutters are worn out or broken, but the drilling rates are significantly slower than bits with intact primary cutters. Such bits also sustain breakage of the rearward edge of the raised rib with subsequent loss of primary PDC cutters because of the rearward tensile and shear forces imposed by the overturning movement of the protruding abrading element.
Still another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,670 is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,017, therefore the same advantages and disadvantages are applicable.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the foregoing prior art patents by providing a single layer of diamond or other ultra-hard and abrasion resistant pieces imbedded in the tungsten carbide matrix ribs rearward of the PDC cutters. The ultra-hard pieces have at least one flat surface which is positioned with the flat surfaces flush with the outer surface of the bit body raised ribs. This provides an excellent wear or abrasion resistant surface having a very low coefficient of friction. Being flush set, the ultra-hard pieces do not engage the rock formations as cutting elements, therefore very low tensile and shear stresses are imposed on the rearward edge of the brittle raised ribs, thereby eliminating or minimizing wear and breakage of the trailing rib surface.


A photoelectric conversion element includes a first electrode, a ferroelectric layer provided on the first electrode, and a second electrode provided on the ferroelectric layer, the second electrode being a transparent electrode, and a pn junction being formed between the ferroelectric layer and the first electrode or the second electrode.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a photoelectric conversion element and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
In the related art, it is known that it is possible to obtain a current (a photoelectric current) due to excitation of electrons (an internal photoelectric effect) when light is irradiated onto a semiconductor layer where a plurality of semiconductors with different carrier types are bonded. As elements which use this effect, there are photoelectric conversion elements, which are widely used in photovoltaics including solar power generation, optical sensing systems which use optical detectors, and the like. As representative examples of photoelectric conversion elements, there are pn junction photodiodes which bond a p-type semiconductor and an n-type semiconductor, and these are used as solar panels which use silicon (Si) substrates as the n-type semiconductor, optical detectors in CMOS image sensors which are a type of MOS structure semiconductor, and the like.
There are times when a reverse bias is applied in such photoelectric conversion elements in order to improve responsiveness with respect to the illuminance of light. Due to this, capacitance is reduced by a depletion layer, which is formed in the vicinity of the pn junction, expanding and electrical output with high linearity is obtained with respect to the illuminance of light; however, it is known that it is easy for a current (a dark current), which leaks under conditions where light is not irradiated, to increase under the operation conditions of reverse bias. In such a case, since noise which is caused by the dark current is generated and the lower limit of the minimum value of the output signal is within the noise, the range of the detection values which are able to be distinguished is narrowed and efficient photoelectric conversion is difficult.
In order to suppress the dark current, there is proposed a back-illuminated type solid-state imaging apparatus which has a wiring layer which is formed on a semiconductor substrate and a light receiving section which photoelectrically converts incident light from the opposite side to the wiring layer, where a spontaneous polarization film formed of a material which polarizes spontaneously is formed on a light receiving surface of the light receiving section formed of a pn junction photodiode or the like (for example, refer to JP-A-2011-100845). In this apparatus, it is possible to suppress noise current by polarizing the spontaneous polarization film and forming a hole accumulation layer where positive holes are induced in the light receiving surface side.
However, in JP-A-2011-100845, the light receiving section is merely a typical electron element which has a photoelectric conversion function and does not have any special characteristics. Then, since the configuration where a spontaneous polarization film is provided on the light receiving section or a series of processes are necessary, it is difficult to achieve diversification and it is difficult to use the apparatus in a wide range of applications.

Photoelectric conversion element and method of manufacturing the same


A thermodynamic closed cycle power and cryogenic refrigeration apparatus which simultaneously produces power and refrigeration. A mixture of a non-condensable first gas such as helium or hydrogen that is in state far from its saturation point and a condensable second gas such as nitrogen or ammonia that is capable of condensing during a working process but non-freezable is isothermally compressed in a sliding-blade gas/liquid compressor then the liquid content that absorbed adiabatic heat during compression of the gas/liquid mixture is separated from the mixture in a vortex separator. The cool non-condensable first gas is supplied to a heat exchanger and isobarically heated using heat of the ambient air or other low-temperature heat source to produce cool refrigerated air. The heated and compressed first gas enters a sliding-blade gas expander and adiabatic expanded and cooled while performing useful work by causing simultaneous rotation of the gas/liquid compressor rotor and gas expander rotor. The adiabatically expanded cool first gas enters a vortex ejector/mixer and is mixed with the separated liquified second gas to serve as a coolant and facilitate rejection of adiabatic heat and supplement the cool gas/liquid mixture which is being fed to the gas/liquid compressor and isothermally compressed to complete the cycle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to heat engines and refrigeration apparatus and more particularly to a combination heat engine and cryogenic refrigeration apparatus that utilizes a low temperature heat source and a mixture of a non-condensable gas and a condensable gas to produce power and refrigeration simultaneously.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The development of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is based primarily on heat engine analysis. The gist of Kelvin's statement of the 2nd Law Of Thermodynamics is that no cylic process is possible whose sole result is a flow of heat from a single reservoir and the performance of equivalent work.
It is known that any system operating on a cycle and receiving heat while doing work must also have a heat-rejection process as part of the cycle. A heat-rejection or heat-recuperation process may be make up in closed cycles with only a single external heat reservoir provided that the work medium is a combined mixture of a non-condensable first gas and a condensable second gas, wherein the condensable second gas is used as an internal cold reservoir to carry out the heat-rejection process and the non-condensable first is isothermally compressed and adiabatically expanded performing useful work. Therefore, it is possible to construct a heat engine which will do work and exchange heat with a single external heat reservoir.
The present invention employs a sliding-blade gas/liquid compressor operating in a closed cyle which effectively isothermally compresses a two-phase working medium mixture of gas and fine dispersed liquid (heat capacitance phase) which absorbs adiabatic heat in the compression process.
Most conventional high speed gas turbine compressor are not able to operate utilizing a two-phase gas/liquid medium since a liquid of the mixture produces destructive erosion of blades. In the present invention the liquid phase is not a destructive factor for the sliding-blade gas/liquid compressor, but instead, improves the compression process by providing the means for hydraulically packing the clearances.
Sliding-vane pumps are known in the art which are designed for performing a plurality of function in which vane radial travel is accomplished by the interaction between vane tips with the internal body bore. Ruzic, U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,802 discloses such a rotary fluid apparatus having pairs of connected vanes.
The principle disadvantage of such apparatus is that their design does not allow inlet and outlet channels at the full width of operating chambers which lowers its filling coefficient and leads to elevated hydrodynamic losses and also causes intensive wear of the vane tips. Moreover, lubricant is, present in the operating chamber which excludes it's application as a gas/liquid compressor.
Hiroshi et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,910 discloses a vane pump with rotatable drive means for vanes wherein the vane tips are prevented from contacting the internal body bore. However, in this type of pump, the vane movement control means are positioned in the operating chambers and are not protected from interaction with the working medium. Moreover, the short vanes extend maximally in rotor slots and are subjected to large bending loads that subject the slot area to distortion and results in increased resistance as they slide in the slots.
Vane-type rotary pumps are also known in the art wherein the vanes are prevented from contacting the internal bore of the body. Chi, U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,458 discloses a vane-type rotary compressor. Eckharolt, U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,456 discloses a slide vane machine. Clerc, U.S. Pat. No. 2,562,698 discloses a rotary compressor having short vanes resting on rollers. Because of the large bending moment, such short vanes do not give full value positive effect.
One of the main disadvantages of the aforementioned apparatus is their intolerance of small amounts of liquids, because the critical surfaces of the structures requiring lubrication are not isolated from the working medium. For example, vane tips sliding over the fixed wall, vane movement control means and the like.
The sliding-blade gas/liquid compressor of the present invention overcomes the above described problems.

Thermodynamic closed cycle power and cryogenic refrigeration apparatus using combined work medium


A pressure regulator includes a housing, a divider including a first valve member, and a second valve member. The housing includes an inlet and an outlet, and defines an interior volume. The divider separates the interior volume into first and second chambers, and included the first valve member, a diaphragm, and a retainer. The diaphragm extends between the housing and the first valve member. Fluid communication between the first and second chambers through the diaphragm being prevented. The retainer secures the diaphragm relative to the first valve member, and the retainer is press-fitted with respect to the first valve member. The second valve member is arranged between first and second configurations relative to the first valve member. The first configuration substantially prevents fluid communication between the inlet and the outlet, and the second configuration permits fluid communication between the inlet and the outlet.

Most modern automotive fuel systems utilize fuel injectors to deliver fuel to the engine cylinders for combustion. The fuel injectors are mounted on a fuel rail to which fuel is supplied by a pump. The pressure at which the fuel is supplied to the fuel rail must be metered to ensure the proper operation of the fuel injectors. Metering is carried out using pressure regulators that control the pressure of the fuel in the system at all engine r.p.m. levels.
Referring to FIG. 5, there is illustrated a known flow-through type pressure regulator 10 having a first cup shaped cover 12 and a second cup shaped cover 14 that are crimped together to form an unitary hollow member. In the axially aligned center of the enclosed end 16 of the first cover 12 is an outlet port 18 wherein fuel flows out of the regulator 10. Around the bottom 20 of the enclosed end 22 of the second cover 14 is located at least one fuel inlet aperture 24 for receiving fuel into the regulator 10.
The known flow-through type pressure regulator includes a bias means such as a spring 30 that functions to bias a valve seat member 36 of the regulator 10 at a predetermined amount of pressure that relates to the pressure desired by the regulator. One end of the spring 30 is located in a spring retainer 34 that is secured to a portion of the valve seat member 36 that extends through a central aperture 38 in a diaphragm 40. The diaphragm 40 is supported around its circumference on a circumferential flange 42 radially extending from the open end 44 of the second cover 14 and is crimped between a circumferential flange 46 extending radially outward of the open end 48 of the first cover 12. At the enclosed end 22 of the second cover 14 is a valve 50 that is secured to the second cover 14.
According to the known flow-through pressure regulator, the spring retainer is staked to the valve seat member 36. It is believed that the known flow-through type pressure regulator, as well as other types of pressure regulators, suffer from a number of disadvantages including a manufacturing process that requires additional assembly operations as well as tooling to perform the staking.
Thus, it is believed that there is a need to provide pressure regulators, e.g., of the flow-through and by-pass valve types, that overcome the disadvantages of the known pressure regulators.

Pressure regulator including a press-fit spring retainer