The present application relates to a method for photochlorination, and specifically to photochlorination by a photochemical reaction of an aromatic compound with gaseous chlorine so as to prepare a trichloromethyl-substituted benzene, and to a method using bis-(trichloromethyl)-benzene as the trichloromethyl-substituted benzene to prepare by further reaction bis-(chloroformyl)-benzene. Through the control of temperature, illuminance and consumption of gaseous chlorine, the method of this application can greatly improve the purity of trichloromethyl-substituted benzene and further prepare polymer-grade bis-(chloroformyl)-benzene with low cost. The present application also relates to a method for purifying trichloromethyl-substituted benzene, and specifically to a method for purifying trichloromethyl-substituted benzene via molecular distillation. The present application further relates to a photochlorination reactor for use in photochlorination reactions (such as those of the present application).

The photochlorination reactions use photons to initiate chlorination of pendant free radicals. In some reactions, a free radical photoinitiator is used alone or in combination with a free radical thermal initiator to form a composite initiation system. Sometimes, a second component and even a third component may be added to prevent chlorine substitution on the benzene ring as side-reaction. Generally, a mercury lamp is used as a light source. Because purity of trichloromethyl-substituted benzene is not ideal, there is great difficulty using this technique to realize industrial mass production.
The present inventors have recognized that the method of preparing trichloromethyl-substituted benzene via photochlorination in the prior art has drawbacks in the following ways.
1) The photochlorination reaction is a radical chain reaction and due to the side-reaction, chlorination site and chlorination depth are relatively difficult to control. In order to separate complex photochlorination products, a great number of rectification operations have to be performed in DE3146868 and JP 57-130931, which greatly increases the production cost of such products. To prevent chlorine substitution on the benzene ring, sulfur and acetyl chloride are added in U.S. Pat. No. 1,345,373, a metal carbonate is added in U.S. Pat. No. 1,384,909, phosphor and sulfur are added in U.S. Pat. No. 1,733,268, an organic base is added in U.S. Pat. No. 2,034,962, an amide is added in U.S. Pat. No. 2,695,873, amines are used in U.S. Pat. No. 2,817,632 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,844,635, and triphenyl phosphine is used in U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,013. These additional components unavoidably affect the purity and subsequent purification of trichloromethyl-substituted benzene. It is reported in U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,560 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,033 that in the chlorination, the target product is used as solvent to inhibit chlorine substitution on the benzene ring as side-reaction, and for example, in the chlorination of 1,3-dimethylbenzene, 1,3-bis-(trichloromethyl)-benzene is used as solvent, which requires a great amount of 1,3-bis-(trichloromethyl)-benzene to be used repeatedly. Thus, this method has complex process and high cost.
In summary, in order to achieve chlorination of all hydrogen atoms on pendant methyl groups without chlorination of hydrogen atoms on the benzene ring in the prior art, multiple adjuvant components need to be introduced, which will 'contaminate' the target product trichloromethyl-substituted benzene and thus are not suitable for preparation of high-purity products.
2) A free radical initiator is also required to initiate the photochlorination reaction.
Wang Lumin et al. (Journal of Tonghua Normal University, 2005, 26(4):46-47) have found that a free radical initiator is required to maintain the reaction for the photochlorination of 1,3-dimethylbenzene.
A method of preparing tetrachloro-o-xylene from o-xylene via photochlorination in three temperature stages is disclosed in CN102211975A. In this method, the photochlorination includes three temperature stages of 120-125° C., 125-130° C. and 130-135° C., which correspond to the amounts of chlorine introduced of ⅓, ½ and ⅙ of the total amount of chlorine, respectively. Similarly, benzoyl peroxide is added as a light sensitive catalyst in this reaction. After this reaction in the three temperature stages is completed, the yield of tetrachloro-o-xylene is only 65% and the yield of pentachloro-o-xylene is 10%. Because of the addition of the light sensitive catalyst in this reaction, the purity of the resulting tetrachloro-o-xylene only reaches 90% even in case of further purification.
3) A mercury lamp is generally used as a light source in a photochlorination reaction. However, the said light source has numerous disadvantages.
The present inventors have found that the short-wavelength light of a low-pressure mercury lamp can bring out other photochemical side reactions, resulting in decreased product purity, and the long wavelength light of a high-pressure or medium-pressure mercury lamp is not sufficient to give rise to a chlorine radical reaction, resulting in increased energy consumption. In addition, more heat is generated when a mercury lamp is used as a light source; and thus it is necessary to provide a corresponding cooling device, making the reactor structure complicated.
It is disclosed in CN1948245 that a light emitting diode (LED) having a wavelength range of 300-600 nm and a power range of 0.1 W-1000 W is used as a light source in a photochlorination reaction to produce benzyl chloride, where the reaction temperature is maintained at 90-150° C. It is recorded in the document that its technical problem to be solved is to provide a photochlorination method with low power consumption and low heat generation from the light source; and the utilization rate of the light source can be improved by selecting the light emitting diode as the light source. Although this document mentioned that m-dimethylbenzene may be used as a raw material, all the examples of this document do not disclose the purity and the yield of the product.
The applicant has also found that the illuminance of the light source for this reaction is not researched by the prior art.
In addition, bis-(trichloromethyl)-benzene in trichloromethyl-substituted benzene can react with water or phthalic acid to prepare an intermediate of aramid fiber, bis-(chloroformyl)-benzene. For producing aramid fiber, a high purity of bis-(chloroformyl)-benzene is needed as a starting material, otherwise the quality of aramid fiber is difficult to meet the specified requirements. Further, relevant research on the purification of bis-(trichloromethyl)-benzene has been performed by the applicant. In conventional processes, such as distillation and rectification under atmospheric pressure, separation and purification are achieved depending on the different boiling points of compounds, and it is required to remain in a high-temperature environment for a long time. In this case, partial polymerization will be generated. Thus, use of such purification processes leads to coke formation, causing damage to the apparatus which then needs to be periodically cleaned. On the other hand, the coke is harmful to the environment and needs to be properly handled, resulting in high environmental cost. For vacuum rectification, although the temperature required for separation can be reduced, the material to be separated must be maintained at a certain level in a re-boiler to generate a static pressure difference, so that the vaporizing temperature of the material in a column reactor is increased, and thus thermal decomposition of the material may be difficult to avoid in some cases. The presence of inert gases is beneficial to rectification of the heat sensitive material, but it causes problems in condensation or cooling. For recrystallization process, consumption of a substantial amount of solvent is required, which causes pollution to the environment, and impurity carried by the solvent contaminates the product.
Among the preparation methods of bis-(chloroformyl)-benzene in the prior art, the thionyl chloride method with phthalic acid as a raw material is most commonly used (for example, see CN 102516060A, CN 102344362A). However, in the process, phthalic acid having a high purity of 99.99% is required to obtain desired bis-(chloroformyl)-benzene, which results in a significant increase in the preparation cost and is a more difficult process.
In addition, relevant research on the apparatuses for photochlorination reaction has been performed by the applicant. Photochlorination reactors are widely used in the field of chemical production. Most of the existing apparatuses for photochlorination reaction compose three parts, a reactor, a light source, and jacketed condenser. For example, the photochlorination reactors disclosed in patents CN200942338Y and CN101456788B are essentially equivalent and both include a cooling jacket outside a cylinder, an anti-corrosion material lining the cylinder, a sprayer, and light sources arranged at angles. However, in the two photochlorination reactors, desired increase in illumination intensity and range is not achieved, and uneven illumination distribution exists in the reactors, which easily causes side reactions in the photochlorination. In addition, in the disclosed technological solutions, both ends of tubes in which the light sources are placed extends through the reactor cylinder; so that in actual production process, when the reaction temperature is higher, uneven heating of the tubes may easily be caused, resulting in damage to the tubes.

Method for the preparation of trichloromethyl-group-substituted benzene

Shanghai Fanglun New Material Technology Co., Ltd.


A chamber for etching substrates includes a support member therein which is suspended from a sidewall of the chamber. The support member includes multiple planar faces for receiving substrates thereon, and is rotatable about a horizontal axis to position the multiple planar faces in a horizontal position to place the substrates on the planar faces or remove the substrates from the planar faces, and a second position to place the substrates in a non-horizontal position for processing. A clamping and lifting apparatus is provided on the support member that is positionable, with respect to the support member, in an extended position to permit a substrate to be positioned between the clamping and lifting apparatus and the support member, and in a retracted position to clamp the substrate to the support member.. The chamber is especially adapted to etching substrates requiring high power densities, such as substrates having aluminum films, without causing arcing. The chamber may include: insulative members disposed between the support member and the clamping and lifting apparatus, spacers disposed in the clamping and lifting apparatus for providing a gap between the clamping and lifting apparatus and the substrates, and lift pins disposed in the support member for moving the substrates toward or away from the support member. The substrate receiving faces may be non-parallel to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of etching of film layers on substrates, including the etching of film layers formed on semiconductor substrates and on insulative substrates, such as glass substrates, to selectively remove portions of the film layer. More particularly, the present invention has application to the etching of film layers on large planar surfaces such as those encountered in the fabrication of large flat panel displays.
2. Background of the Art
Selective etching of film layers on semiconductor substrates is well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,672, Wang, et al., fully incorporated herein by reference, discloses methods of using a plasma to selectively etch holes or trenches in a film layer on a semiconductor substrate. Currently used semiconductor substrates are typically circular, having a diameter of no more than 200 mm, a thickness of less than 0.5 mm, and a mass of no more than approximately 60 g. Because of the relatively small size and weight of the semiconductor substrate, relatively straightforward etch chamber configurations may be used to provide the etch process environment to selectively etch a film layer on the substrate, and relatively straightforward wafer handling equipment may be used to load the substrates into processing chambers.
The process for manufacturing flat panel displays uses many of the same processes used to fabricate semiconductor devices. The manufacture of the flat panel display begins with a clean glass substrate. Transistors are formed on the flat panel using film deposition and selective etching techniques similar to those described in the aforementioned Wang, et al. patent. Sequential deposition, photolithography and selective etching of film layers on the substrate creates individual transistors on the substrate. These devices, as well as metallic interconnects, liquid crystal cells and other devices formed on the substrate are then used to create active matrix display screens on the substrate to create a flat panel display in which display states are electrically created in the individual pixels.
Although the flat panel display is typically manufactured using the same processes as those used in semiconductor device fabrication, the glass used as the flat panel display substrate is different than a semiconductor substrate in several important respects that affect its processing. In semiconductor fabrication, individual devices are formed on the wafer, and the wafer is diced to form multiple individual integrated circuits. Thus, the creation of some defective devices on the semiconductor wafer is tolerated, because the die bearing these defective devices are simply discarded once the substrate is sawn into individual integrated circuits. On the flat panel display, individual defective devices must not be removed. Therefore, the number of defective devices created on the flat panel substrate must approach zero. If a substrate is sufficiently large to process multiple displays on a single substrate, a defect in any one of the flat panel displays being formed on the flat panel substrate renders that display defective. Additionally, the glass substrates are typically substantially larger than the largest semiconductor wafers, and the coefficient of heat transfer of the glass substrate is approximately 100 times less than the coefficient of heat transfer of the semiconductor substrate.
In semiconductor processing, in particular etch processing, the process environment transfers substantial energy into the substrate, and this raises the temperature of the substrate if the energy is not distributed away from the surface of the substrate and/or removed from the substrate at the same rate as it enters the substrate. In semiconductor substrate processing, the substrate temperature is maintained at a desired level by balancing the energy transferred into the substrate by the process environment with the combination of the capacity of the substrate to distribute the heat away from the surface and the rate at which heat is transferred from the substrate into the substrate support member. As the substrate is heated by the process environment, the temperature of the substrate outer surface is raised by the energy transferred into the substrate. As the etch process continues, the heat conducts into the substrate to raise the temperature in the remainder of the substrate. A portion of this heat is eventually conducted into the support member. By balancing the total energy transferred into the substrate during the etch process, and the rate of energy transfer into the substrate, the temperature of the substrate surface may be maintained below the resist breakdown temperature of 120 degrees Celsius.
Where a substrate is received on a support member but not firmly chucked thereto, the rate of heat transfer from the substrate into the support member is relatively small because the vacuum process environment substantially prevents conductive heat transfer between the substrate and the support member in areas where the support member and the substrate are not in intimate contact. Therefore, where the substrate is simply mechanically coupled to the support member, the power must be maintained at relatively low levels so that the energy input into the substrate does not exceed the combination of the rate of heat transfer from the substrate into the support member and the diffusion of the heat energy within the substrate. However, because etch rate and power density are approximately directly proportional, these low energy levels limit throughput of substrates through the chamber because longer process times are required to effect a desired etch. To increase heat transfer, and thus throughput, the substrate may be clamped to the support member. This method of controlling the temperature of semiconductor substrates may also be adapted to the processing of flat panel display substrates.
In flat panel display substrate processing, the large, rectangular, glass sheet used as the substrate is heavy and bulky but nonetheless fragile, and cannot be easily manipulated between the horizontal and vertical planes. Therefore, the plasma etch processes used to selectively etch the film layer on a flat panel substrate are typically performed with the substrate located in a horizontal position, because it is easier to handle the substrate in process if it is loaded into a process chamber in the horizontal plane.
A flat panel display substrate etched in a horizontal position, however, is prone to the formation of defects. In the typical etch process for a horizontal flat panel substrate, the etch plasma is maintained within the chamber enclosure above the substrate. Therefore, as the film layer is etched, contaminants in the enclosure fall by the force of gravity onto the substrate, and contaminants may also be electrostatically attracted to the substrate. Each of these contaminants above a threshold size will produce a defect in a flat panel formed on the substrate.
The process chemistries used to create flat panel displays using amorphous silicon layers also contribute to the creation of defective displays. In flat panel display substrates, the holes or trenches etched in the film layers must typically have tapered walls. Typically, where the layer being etched is amorphous silicon, fluorine based chemistries are used for etching. To provide the tapered side walls using a fluorine based chemistry, oxygen is introduced into the etch chemistry. As the fluorine based chemistry etches the film layer, the oxygen continuously etches the edge of the resist to continuously reduce the width of the resist and thus increase the width of the area of the film being etched to create the desired tapered walls. However, the oxygen used to etch the edge of the resist also forms particle contaminants in the chamber, which, if received on the substrate, will cause a particle defect.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for substrate processing equipment that will allow etching of large substrates, such as for flat panel displays, with maximum throughput and minimal process variation.

Method and apparatus for etching film layers on large substrates


The present invention relates to a water heating apparatus having a heat exchanger that has a maximized heat transfer area between a hot water supply tube and a heater so that clean hot water is continuously fed without a time delay. To achieve these objects, a water heating apparatus comprises: a case defining a body; a hot water supply tube having an heat exchanger installed in the case; a heat storage liquid material received in the case; and a heater installed in the case, for heating the heat storage liquid material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water heating apparatus, and more particularly, to a water heating apparatus having a hot water supply tube provided with a heat exchanger having a maximized heat transfer area and a refrigerator having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hot water may be obtained from a conventional refrigerator. A method of generating hot water from the conventional refrigerator is disclosed in Korea utility model laid open publication No. 119072 (Mar. 12, 1998). In the above prior art, drinking water fed externally is heated by heat emitted from a condenser, stored in a hot storage tank and taken when necessary.
As anther method of generating hot water, there is Korea Patent laid open publication No. 199980 (Mar. 8, 1999). In the above method, heater is installed outside water supply tube, and drinking water is heated by heater, stored in a hot storage tank and taken when necessary.
However, since the refrigerators according to the related arts store hot water in hot water storage tank and then use it, it has various disadvantages in that its use is very inconvenient, sanitation is poor and maintenance and repair are difficult.
In other words, once hot water stored in the hot water storage tank is taken in excess of a predetermined amount, water is again heated to generate hot water. This is inconvenient since users have to wait for a long time until the generated hot water is stored in the hot water storage tank.
If the users use the refrigerator for a long term period, foreign material is deposited on the hot water storage tank and thus the hot water stored in the hot water storage tank is spoiled to deteriorate sanitation. To this end, it is necessary to clean up the hot water storage tank periodically to get rid of the foreign material deposited on the hot water storage tank, which provides a difficulty to maintain and repair the refrigerator.
Also, an auxiliary heat source is needed additionally so as to generate hot water due to limitations in heat capacitance and heat transfer area of condenser or heater.

Water heating apparatus and refrigerator having the same


This electrostatic acceleration column has first to fifth electrodes arranged in a traveling direction of ions, which are a kind of charged particles. Then, the second electrode divided into two electrode members, which are opposed to each other across a path of the ions, and to which different electric potentials are applied to deflect the ions. Further, the electrodes arranged on a downstream side from the electrode are arranged along an orbit of ions deflected by the electrode and having specific energy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrostatic accelerator (Hereinafter, referred to as "electrostatic acceleration column") for accelerating or decelerating charged particles, and more relates to an ion implanting apparatus provided with the electrostatic acceleration column.
2. Description of the Related Art
One example of an ion implanting apparatus provided with a conventional electrostatic accelerator (Hereinafter, referred to as "electrostatic acceleration column") for accelerating or decelerating ions (positive ions in the following, except where specifically noted), which are a kind of charged particles.
This ion implanting apparatus is constructed as follows: ions 4 (to be more specific, an ion beam) are emitted from an ion source 2. A desired kind of ions is selected by a mass separating magnet 6. Then, the ions are accelerated or decelerated by an electrostatic acceleration column 10 to have desired energy. The desired kind of ions 4 having desired energy is implanted into a target (for example, a substrate of a semiconductor wafer or the like) held by a holder 16 to perform ion implantation. The conventional electrostatic acceleration column 10 has a plurality of electrodes 11 arranged in a straight line in the traveling direction of the ions 4.
In this respect, a path of the ions 4 from an exit of the ion source 2 to the holder 16 is received in a vacuum container but the illustration thereof is omitted here. Moreover, there are cases where a scanner for scanning the ions is provided but its illustration is also omitted here. This is the same in FIG. 4.
In the ion implanting apparatus described above, while the ions 4 are traveling, for example, from the exit of the mass separating magnet 6 to the exit of the electrostatic acceleration column 10, the ions 4 emitted from the electrostatic acceleration column 10 are mixed with ions or neutral particles having energy different from desired energy by the phenomenon described below. This kind of mixing phenomenon is called "energy contamination".
(1) Part of the ions 4 are converted into neutral particles by a charge conversion caused when the ions 4 collide with residual gas including ions or neutral particles having energy different from desired energy. The neutral particles are not accelerated or decelerated by the electrostatic acceleration column 10, which is different from the ions 4. Thus, the ions 4 are mixed with the neutral particles having energy different from desired energy.
(2) Part of the ions 4 are changed in valence by the charge conversion caused when the ions 4 collide with the residual gas. When the valences of the ions 4 are changed, the ions 4 accelerated or decelerated by the electrostatic acceleration column 10 become different from each other in energy because voltage applied to the electrostatic acceleration column 10 is constant.
For example, when a divalent ion is changed into a univalent ion, the energy of the ion accelerated by the electrostatic acceleration column 10 becomes one half. In this manner, the ions 4 are mixed with ions having energy different from desired energy.
(3) In a case where the ion 4 is a molecular ion, the ion 4 is changed into an ion different from the original ion by molecular dissociation. For example, a BF2 ion is dissociated into a BF ion and a F ion, or a B ion and a F2 ion. The energy of each ion produced by the molecular dissociation becomes smaller than the energy of the original ion. This is because the sum of these energies is equal to the energy of the original ion. In this manner, the ions 4 are mixed with ions having energy different from the desired energy.
It is not desirable in a case of utilizing charged particles such as ions that the energy contamination described above occurs. For example, in the ion implanting apparatus, it is not desirable that ions having desired energy and ions having energy different from the desired energy or neutral particles are implanted into the target 14. This is because the ions having different energies change implantation depth and implantation distribution from those at an initial stage and thus degrade ion.
Then, in order to suppress the energy contamination, in a conventional technique, like the example shown in FIG. 5, an energy separating unit 12 for selecting and passing ions having specific energy (that is, having an energy separating function) is disposed on the downstream side of the electrostatic acceleration column 10 and only ions having the desired energy are selected by this energy separating unit 12. To be specific, this energy separating unit 12 is a deflecting magnet or an electrostatic deflecting unit.
When the energy separating unit 12 described above is disposed, however, it increases the transport distance of the ions 4 by the amount relating thereto and thus decreases the transport efficiency of the ions 4. This is because when the transport distance increases, divergence of the ions 4 in the transport caused by space charges increases, which results in increasing loss of the ions 4. The same holds true for a case where charged particles other than ions are transported.

Electrostatic accelerator and ion implanting apparatus with the same


The invention relates to chemically-modified group B polysaccharides of Neisseria meningitidis. The invention also provides vaccines in which the respective modified polysaccharides are conjugated to a protein carrier, and the like. More specifically, the present invention provides novel group B meningococcal unsaturated N-acyl derivative polysaccharides, novel conjugates of the group B meningococcal unsaturated N-acyl derivative polysaccharides, pharmaceutical compositions comprising conjugate molecules of group B meningococcal unsaturated N-acyl derivative polysaccharide fragments covalently bound to proteins, and the use of these compositions as vaccines.

Meningitis caused by group B N. meningitidis and E. coli K1 remain major world health problems. Group B meningitis occurs in both endemic and epidemic situations and accounts for approximately half of all recorded cases of meningococcal meningitis, while K1-positive E. coli are the leading cause of meningitis in neonates. Currently there is no vaccine commercially available against disease caused by group B meningococci and E. coli K1. This is in large part due to the fact that the group B meningococcal polysaccharide (GBMP) is only poorly immunogenic in humans. This poor inmmunogenicity of native GBMP and resulting immune tolerance has been postulated to be due to the presence of a common epitope in human and animal tissue. There are some recently reported candidate vaccines based on complexes of the GBMP with outer membrane proteins, but, as yet, there is no clear evidence of their efficacy in humans.
Recently, a new concept of a vaccine based on a synthetic chemically modified (N-propionylated) group B polysaccharide-protein (N-Pr-GBMP-protein) conjugate has been developed. The vaccine induces in mice high titers of IgG antibodies which are not only protective, but also cross-react with unmodified GBMP (i.e. N-acetyl-GBMP). This concept is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,136, issued Feb. 23, 1988 to Harold J. Jennings, et al.
It has been inferred that a vaccine which raises cross-reactive antibodies, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,136, could only be successful at the expense of breaking immune tolerance. This hypothesis is legitimized by the identification of a common epitope consisting of a chain of .alpha.-(2-8)-linked sialic acid residues (with a minimum requirement of ten residues) in both the native N-Ac-GBMP and in human and animal tissue (Jennings, Contrib. Microbiol. Immunol. Basel, Karger, 1989, Vol. 10, 151-165). These polysialosyl chains function as developmental antigens and have for the most part been associated with the fetal state in embryonic neural cell adhesion (Finne et al, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 1983, 112, 482). During post-natal maturation, this antigen is down-regulated (Friedlander et al, J. Cell Biol. 1985, 101, 412) but is expressed in mature humans during the regeneration of diseased muscles (Cashman et al, Ann. Neuron., 1987, 21, 481) in tumor cells (Roth et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 1988, 85, 299) and in natural killer (NK) and CD3.sup.+ T cells (Husmann et al, Eur. J. Immunol., 1989, 19, 1761. Although the consequences of breaking tolerance to these fetal antigens have not yet been established, it is desirable to develop vaccines which have reduced immunogenicity for human epitopes.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to develop modified group B meningococcal polysaccharides which are immunogenic yet induce antibodies which have reduced cross-reactivity with native epitopes of the host. It is another object to provide polysaccharide-protein conjugates which comprise these modified polysaccharides. Another object of this invention is to provide vaccines having immunogenic properties which exhibits substantially reduced cross-reactivity with GBMP.

Meningococcal polysaccharide conjugate vaccines


Disclosed are new compositions consisting of polyphosphonates and specific additive compositions that exhibit superior resistance to degradation due to exposure to air, high temperature and air, moisture or combinations thereof. Also disclosed are polymer mixtures or blends comprising these polyphosphonates/additive compositions and commodity and engineering plastics and articles produced therefrom. Further disclosed are articles of manufacture produced from these materials, such as fibers, films, coated substrates, moldings, foams, fiber-reinforced articles, or any combination thereof.

The production of linear, aromatic polyphosphonates by condensing aryl phosphonic acid dichlorides and aromatic diols in a solvent in the absence of a catalyst or in the presence of alkaline-earth metal halide catalysts is a known process and is described in several U.S. Patens (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,534,252; 3,946,093; 3,919,363 and 6,288210 B1). The polyphosphonates are isolated from the solutions by precipitation into methanol or by evaporation of the solvent. Polyphosphonates are known to exhibit excellent fire resistance (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,682,522, 2,891,915 and 4,331,614). It is know (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 2,682,522) that linear polyphosphonates can be produced by melt condensing a phosphonic acid diaryl ester and a bisphenol using a metal catalyst (e.g., sodium phenolate) at high temperature. This approach produced low molecular weight polyphosphonates that exhibited poor toughness.
Consequently, to improve toughness a synthetic approach to produce branched polyphosphonates by the transesterification process was developed (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,614). This approach involved the transesterification reaction of a phosphonic acid diaryl ester, a bisphenol, a branching agent (tri or tetra phenol or phosphonic acid ester), and a preferred catalyst (e.g., sodium phenolate) carried out in the melt, usually in an autoclave. Several patents have addressed the use of branching agents in polyphosphonates (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,716,101; 3,326,852; 4,328,174; 4,331,614; 4,374,971; 4,415,719; 5,216,113; 5,334,692; and 4,374,971). These approaches have met with some degree of success, however, the combination of properties exhibited by these polyphosphonates are still not sufficient for general acceptance in the marketplace. For example in branched polyphosphonates, the number average molecular weights as high as 200,000 g/mole are claimed with a minimum requirement of 11,000 g/mole (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,614) with polymer dispersities less than 2.5. Consequently these polyphosphonates exhibited high melt viscosities. This approach was successful in producing high molecular weight polyphosphonates that exhibited improved toughness, but processability was sacrificed. Another disadvantage for this process is that it requires high purity monomers, preferably greater than 99.7% (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,614) that make it expensive. Another shortcoming of both the linear and branched polyphosphonates was the lack of hydrolytic stability and haze.
Recently, the development of a method to produce branched polyphosphonates with superior combination of properties was disclosed ("Branched Polyphosphonates that Exhibit an Advantageous Combination of Properties, and Methods Related Thereto", 2004 0167284 A1, published Aug. 26, 2004, Ser. No. 10/374829, filing date Feb. 24, 2003). In practice, these materials are stable for more than 5 hours at 300° C. under vacuum (<0.5 mm Hg) but can experience degradation upon exposure to high temperature (>250° C.) and air, air (oxygen), moisture or combinations thereof. The polyphosphonates are exposed to such conditions not during the final stages of synthesis, but when melt mixing with other polymers or during molding processes. The degradation is manifested by reduction in molecular weight that in turn causes loss of mechanical properties such as strength, modulus and toughness. In addition, the fire resistance is negatively affected by this reduction in molecular weight. As the molecular weight decreases, the melt flow of the material increases so that in a flame, the material propensity to drip increases significantly. Thus, additives that can prevent any unwanted degradation of polyphosphonates during thermal treatment are needed.
A list of patents on both linear and branched polyphosphonates is provided below.
                1. U.S. Pat. No. 2,435,252 (1948 A. D. F. Toy, et al., Victor Chemical Works)        2. U.S. Pat. No. 2,682,522 (1954 H. W. Coover, et al., Eastman Kodak)        3. U.S. Pat. No. 2,716,101 (1955 H. W. Coover, et al., Eastman Kodak)        4. U.S. Pat. No. 2,891,915 (1959 W. B. McCormack, et al., DuPont)        5. U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,852 (1967 I. M. Thomas, et al., Owens Illinois, Inc)        6. U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,727 (1973 Y. Masai, et al., Toyo Spinning Co.)        7. U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,405 (1974 S. L. Cohen, et al., Fiber Industries and Celanese Corp)        8. U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,771 (1974 S. L. Cohen, et al., Fiber Industries and Celanese Corp)        9. U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,303 (1975 A. Rio, et al., Rhone-Poulec)        10. U.S. Pat. No. 3,932,351 (1976 H. L. King, et al., Monsanto)        11. U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,927 (1977 F. H. Borman, et al., General Electric)        12. U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,373 (1979 M. L. Honig, et al., Stauffer Chemical Co.)        13. U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,104 (1980 K. S. Kim, et al., Stauffer Chemical Co.)        14. U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,552 (1980 M. Shiozaki, et al., Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd.)        15. U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,530 (1982 M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        16. U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,614 (1982 M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        17. U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,921 (1982 M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        18. U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,802 (1983 M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        19. U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,033 (1983 R. E. Hefner, et al., Dow Chemical Co)        20. U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,719, (1983 M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        21. U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,937 (1984 S. E. Bales, et al., Dow Chemical Co.)        22. U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,520 (1982, M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        23. U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,174 (1982, M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        24. U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,971 (1983, M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        25. U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,350 (1984, M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        26. U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,890 (1985, M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        27. U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,279 (1988, H. Kauth, et al., Bayer AG)        28. U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,905 (1988, M. Schmidt, et al., Bayer AG)        29. U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,123 (1988, H. Kauth, et al., Bayer AG)        30. U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,694 (1994, H. Jung, et al., Bayer AG)
Additives have been designed for use with specific plastics to provide protection from degradation due to exposure to high temperature (>250° C.) and air, air (oxygen), moisture or combinations thereof. A wide variety of additives are commercially available, for example Ultranox Phosphite antioxidants, General Electric Specialty Materials, Morgantown, W. Va.; Irgafos Phosphites, and Irganox Phenolics, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, USA. However, since polyphosphonates with a desirable combination of properties were heretofor unknown materials, no additives have been specifically designed for use with these polymers. Therefore, it is not obvious which, if any, of the available additives will provide protection to polyphosphonates from degradation due to exposure to high temperature (>250° C.) and air, air (oxygen), moisture or combinations thereof.

Compositions comprising polyphosphonates and additives that exhibit an advantageous combination of properties, and methods related thereto


A method of communicating with an electronic device, comprising: providing a computer having an audible sound receiving and generating sub-system including a microphone; transmitting from a source at least one ultrasonic acoustic signal, encoded with information to the computer; and receiving said at least one signal by said microphone, to be detected by said computer. Preferably, the ultrasonic frequency used is below 50 kHz.

Computer network components that communicate using RF radiation, wires or IR radiation are well known. In addition, some home appliances are controlled using an ultrasonic remote control. Other types of dedicated ultrasonic acoustic links are also known.
However, such dedicated communication mechanics require that the computer network components have installed thereon specialized communication hardware. Installing such hardware on an existing computer may be expensive and/or problematic. Further, some electronic and/or computer embedded devices, for example cellular telephones may be "sealed" products, to which it is impossible to add internal components.
PCT publications WO96/10880, WO94/17498, WO93/21720 and WO93/11619, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, describe an electronic device which transmits coded information to a microphone of a telephone using a DTMF-like encoding scheme. A WWW page addressed "encotone.com/html/tech_def.html", available on Feb. 1, 1999 and predated, suggests using such a device to transmit audible DTMF-lice tones to a personal computer using the computer's sound card.
Two way communications using audible DTMF-like tones, between a smart card and a telephone communication system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,933, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Method to use acoustic signals for computer communications


Techniques for utilizing different versions of a same font when rendering subsequent portions of a content item. For instance, envision that a user requests to open an electronic book. In response to this request, a display controller may display the first page of the electronic book using a flashing update and, therefore, may display the text using a regular weight of a particular font. However, when the user subsequently requests to turn to the second page of the electronic book, the display controller (utilizing a non-flashing update) may update the display using a version of the same font having a lesser weight. Given that some level of bleeding with likely occur when using the non-flashing update, the lesser weight coupled with the bleeding may result in text that approximates the weight of the text of the first page of the electronic book.

A large and growing population of users is enjoying entertainment through the consumption of digital content, such as music, movies, images, electronic books, and so on. The users employ various electronic devices to consume such content. Among these electronic devices are electronic book (eBook) reader devices, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable media players, tablet computers, netbooks, and the like. As the quantity of available electronic media content continues to grow, along with increasing proliferation of devices to consume that media content, finding ways to enhance user experience continues to be a priority.

Adapting display fonts for reflective displays


The method and apparatus in accordance with the present invention provides signal-to-noise ratio improvement through noise reduction by means of spectral averaging and subcarrier based averaging techniques.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the field of digital communications. More specifically, the present invention provides a method and apparatus to reduce the signal-to-noise ratio of a communication system and a method for data rate optimization in a multicarrier modulation framework.
2. Background of Invention
Modern communication systems involve complex modulation and transmission schemes. To achieve superior performance, systems have to be robust against noise and distortion as they are the prime limiting factors. Therefore, noise reduction and compensation for channel distortion have been of principle interest. Primarily, noise reduction can provide significant performance enhancement in applications including, but not limited to, wired and wireless communications, image processing and speech processing.
Removal or suppression of noise can be accomplished using several different approaches. One of the common approaches is data averaging. As is known in the art of data averaging, a signal is transmitted repeatedly over time. The data is received at the receiver periodically. While propagating through the transmission medium, the signal is corrupted by noise. Theoretically, the corrupting noise is random and its effects can be eliminated through averaging the signal over all repetitions. This corruptive random noise, commonly referred to as Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN), is well known in the art as a means of modeling noise in communication system analysis. In the presence of AWGN it is known in the art to substantially improve the signal quality through averaging. The averaging approach can also be helpful in the detection of information in extremely noisy environments. While deploying the noise averaging technique, a trade-off should be made between the number of repetitions and the amount of noise-reduction or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement.
In a typical information transmission system where the information sent out may be in the form of data, speech, or video, an efficient mechanism is required to segregate the signal and the noise. Moreover, to improve the link quality, it is often necessary to train the receiver before actual data transmission begins. In such cases, usage of noise reduction algorithms helps further to enhance the system performance by converging equalizer weights, providing faster convergence, enabling improved channel estimation and improved timing extraction.
In a communication system known in the art, the signal is modulated at the transmitter through a pre-determined modulation scheme, and is transmitted over a medium. The signal may be up-converted to RF frequency using a high frequency carrier signal. While propagating through the medium, the transmitted signal is distorted and is subjected to interferences. The receiver receives the signal at an antenna or front-end. The received signal then may undergo some frequency down-conversion and amplification before it is converted back to the baseband. Then, the majority of signal processing and detection is accomplished to extract the information. At this point, the receiver may also use de-noising or noise-reduction algorithms to improve the signal quality or SNR. After this pre-detection processing is completed, the transmitted information is deciphered by the detection stages.
While de-noising methods are known in the art, what is needed in the art is a method and apparatus addressing the issue of signal-to-noise ratio that provides a greater noise reduction of the received signal over the noise reduction algorithms known in the art.

Method and apparatus for noise reduction by spectral and subcarrier averaging


The invention relates to a pipetting device, comprising at least two pipetting channels (50, 50′), which extend along a channel axis (K) and which each can be adjusted along the channel axis (K), wherein the pipetting device (10) has a displacement drive, by means of which each pipetting channel (50, 50′) can be displaced independently of the other pipetting channel (50, 50′) along a displacement axis (V) orthogonal to the channel axis (K) regardless of an adjustment along the channel axis (K), wherein the displacement drive comprises a linear motor, the stator of which has at least two magnet arrangements (32, 42), which comprise a row of magnets (36) on a magnet carrier (34, 44), said magnets being consecutive along the displacement axis (V) and being arranged differently with regard to the polarity (P1, P2) thereof, and the armature of which (at 38, at 38′); has at least one conductor loop arrangement (38), which comprises at least one set of three conductor loops (72, 74, 76) that are consecutive along the displacement axis (V), each of which conductor loops is or can be associated with a different phase of a three-phase supply, wherein each pipetting channel (50, 50′) has at least one conductor loop arrangement (38, 38′), wherein the armatures (at 38, at 38′) of two pipetting channels (50, 50′) directly adjacent along the displacement axis (V) are associated with different magnet arrangements (32, 42) and interact therewith.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pipetting device having at least two pipette channels which extend along a channel axis and whereof each may be adjusted along the channel axis, wherein the pipetting device has a displacement drive having a linear motor by means of which a pipette channel may be displaced along a displacement axis which is at a right angle to the channel axis, independently of adjustment along the channel axis.
2. Background of the Related Art
Pipetting devices of this kind are known from DE 10 2005 049 920 A1.
The stator of the known pipetting device has only one magnet arrangement with which a plurality of armatures interact, and each of these is itself coupled to a plurality of pipette channels. The pipette channels within a group associated with a common armature are only movable together along the displacement axis and are movable relative to one another in a direction of movement at a right angle to the displacement axis and at a right angle to the parallel channel axes, by means of spindle drives.
It is a disadvantage of the known pipetting device that the pipette channels all are associated with the same magnet arrangement and so restrict one another in their mobility, in particular in how close they may be brought to one another.


A thermal recording material having a thermally color-forming thermal recording layer and a protective layer which are formed on a substrate in this order, wherein the protective layer is a layer obtained by applying an aqueous coating liquid containing a polyvinyl alcohol, a crosslinking agent, a pigment, an Arrhenius acid and a volatile amine onto the thermal recording layer and drying the applied coating liquid.

The recording material is generally that which is obtained by forming a thermally color-forming thermal recording layer on a substrate, and when it is heated with a thermal head, a hot pen, a laser beam, etc., an electron-donating compound that is a dye precursor and an electron-accepting compound that is a color developer react instantly with each other to give a recorded image. The above thermal recording material has advantages that a recording is obtained with a relatively simple device, that the maintenance of the device is easy and that no noise is made. Such thermal recording materials are therefore used in broad fields including a measuring meter, a facsimile machine, a printer, a computer terminal, a label printing machine, a ticket or card-issuing machine, and the like.
Further, as these thermal recording materials have come to be used in a variety of fields, there are some use fields where printing is made thereon. In recent years, there is commercially strongly demanded a thermal recording material having strength suitable for printing and having a protective layer that is so excellent in a barrier property as it can keep a printing solvent from developing a color on a ground like ground fogging.
Further, due to recent developments of recording systems in particular, thermal recording materials have come to be used in more severe environments, and in particular when they are used in environments where they are exposed to adhering water, there are strongly demanded thermal recording materials having protective layers excellent in water resistance.
Protective layers having various constitutions are proposed for the purpose of imparting thermal recording materials with surface strength suitable for printing, improving the water resistance thereof and further enabling stable production. As an example of methods therefor, JP 2000-15932 proposes using a diacetone-modified polyvinyl alcohol as a binder and a hydrazine compound as a crosslinking agent in a protective layer and further adding a water-soluble organic amine for inhibiting an increase in the viscosity of a coating liquid and obtaining a highly stable coating liquid. Since, however, the presence of the organic amine also inhibits that reaction between the binder and the crosslinking agent which is necessary for attaining water resistance, the water-resistance-achieving speed of the protective layer is delayed. Further, Japanese Patent No. 3716736 proposes incorporating a diacetone-modified polyvinyl alcohol as a binder into a protective layer and incorporating a hydrazide compound as a crosslinking agent into a thermal recording layer. However, the protective layer is insufficient in attaining water resistance, and the problem is that the viscosity of a coating liquid for a thermal recording layer is increased, that the hydrazide compound inhibits the color development of the thermal recording layer, and that there is caused ground fogging which is the development of a color at the stage of the coating liquid. Further, JP 2002-283717 proposes incorporating into a protective layer a polyvinyl alcohol having a reactive carbonyl group as a binder, a hydrazide compound as a crosslinking agent and a basic filler for improving the stability of a coating liquid for the protective layer. Since, however, the basic filler has no effect on the promotion of a reaction between the polyvinyl alcohol and the crosslinking agent, the water-resistance-achieving speed of the protective layer is slow. Therefore, the present state is that there has not been obtained any thermal recording material that ensures the keeping of coating liquid stability and that exhibits sufficient surface strength, the fast speed of achieving water resistance and high water resistance.

Thermal recording material and process for the production thereof


An ink cartridge includes an ink chamber, a communication chamber that is capable of communicating with the ink chamber and an outside of the ink cartridge, a valve disposed within the communication chamber that is capable of moving from a first position where a communication between the ink chamber and the outside of the ink cartridge is blocked, to a second position where the communication is allowed, and an operation member that extends from the communication chamber to the outside of the ink cartridge and is capable of moving the valve from the first position to the second position.

This disclosure relates to an ink cartridge that is capable of being placed in an inkjet recording apparatus.
An inkjet recording apparatus, structured such that an ink container (referred to as "ink cartridge") can be attached to and detached from a holder (installation part), is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. H9-85963. A projection portion that opens an opening of the ink cartridge is formed at the installation part, and a through hole is provided at the projection portion so that ink can flow from a valve of the ink cartridge. When the ink cartridge is installed on the installation part, the valve is opened by the projection portion, and the ink in the ink cartridge flows through the opening.


A cellulase is provided having the following properties: (1) an optimum pH of from 9.5 to 10.5 as measured using carboxymethylcellulose as a substrate; (2) a stable pH of from 6 to 11 as measured using carboxymethylcellulose as a substrate after treating at 30.degree. C. and for 30 minutes; (3) an optimum temperature of about 55.degree. C. as measured using carboxymethylcellulose as a substrate; (4) influence of a surfactant being such that residual activity is 90% or more after treatment at 30.degree. C. and pH of 9.0 for 2 hours in the presence of a sodium n-alkylbenzenesulfonate; (5) a molecular weight of 52,000.+-.2,000 as measured by electrophoresis on SDS-polyacrylamide gel; and (6) an isoelectric point of 4.2.+-.0.2 as measured by isoelectric electrophoresis. The cellulase is produced by Bacillus FERM BP-3431 or a mutant strain thereof. Also disclosed is a detergent comprising the cellulase, a builder and a surfactant. A composition and a method of treating a paper pulp slurry is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel cellulase, and a method for producing the same as well as use thereof as an aid for detergents or as a paper treating agent.
2. Description of Prior Art
Development of cellulases has been carried out with view to efficient utilization of biomass resources, particularly cellulose resources. However, utilization of cellulases for biomass on an industrial scale has prevailed not so widely.
On the other hand, as a novel industrial application of cellulase, it has been known that cellulase is effective for increasing the washing power of detergents. For example, it has been confirmed that cellulase is effective for washing denim due to its ability of removing fine fiber dusts (cf. British Patent Nos. 2094826 and 2095275). There have been published many publications on the utilization of cellulase in various steps of paper making such as deinking of waste-paper, bleaching of pulp, and improvement of production processes for regenerated paper and much attention has been directed to cellulase (cf. Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open Nos. 9299/1984, 80683/1990, European patent Publications Nos. 395792 and 383999, and Tappi Journal vol. 72, No. 6, 197-201 (1989) and vol. 73, No. 12, 197-202 (1990)).
However, under ordinary washing conditions pH of washing liquor is on a higher alkalinity side, and a part of paper making steps is carried out under highly alkaline conditions, resulting in that cellulases used in washing or paper making processes must be alkaline cellulases which can function under highly alkaline conditions. Furthermore, the cellulases must be those which can function stably in the presence of detergents or anionic surfactants used in a part of paper making steps.
Alkaline cellulases produced by microorganisms include those produced by a method in which an alkalophilic bacterium belonging to the genus Bacillus is cultivated and an alkaline cellulase produced is collected (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,890), a method in which an alkalophilic bacterium belonging to the genus Cellulomonas is cultivated to produce alkaline cellulase 301-A (cf. Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 224686/1983), and a method in which an alkalophilic bacterium belonging to the genus Bacillus KSM-635 is cultivated to produce alkaline cellulase K (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,053), respectively. However, these known cellulases are not always stable enough against an anionic surfactant which is one component of detergent. Therefore, there has been a keen demand for development of cellulases which are more stable than ever against anionic surfactants.

Composition containing celluase from Bacillus Ferm BP-3431 or a mutant strain thereof, and paper pulp and method of using celluase to treat paper pulp slurry


An acoustic wave sensor apparatus is disclosed, which generally includes a piezoelectric substrate having a surface thereon. One or more interdigital transducers and a passivation layer can be formed upon the piezoelectric substrate. Additionally, an absorbent material can be formed upon the acoustic path (IDTs, electrodes, etc), such that the interdigital transducers respond to a plurality of acoustic waves propagating across the surface of the piezoelectric substrate, thereby providing data indicative of humidity in the vicinity of the piezoelectric substrate, along with the passivation layer and the interdigital transducers. Additionally, one or more heaters can be formed upon a side of the piezoelectric substrate opposite the side of the piezoelectric substrate upon which the interdigital transducers, the passivation and the absorbent material are located. The heater can be preferably configured from a material such as platinum.

Acoustic wave sensors are utilized in a number of sensing applications, such as, for example, temperature, pressure, humidity and/or gas sensing devices and systems. Examples of acoustic wave sensors include devices such as acoustic wave sensors, which can be utilized to detect the presence of substances, such as chemicals and biological materials. An acoustic wave (e.g., SAW/BAW) device acting as a sensor can provide a highly sensitive detection mechanism due to the high sensitivity to surface loading and the low noise, which results from their intrinsic high Q factor.
Surface acoustic wave devices are typically fabricated using photolithographic techniques with comb-like interdigital transducers placed on a piezoelectric material. Surface acoustic wave devices may have either a delay line or a resonator configuration. The selectivity of a surface acoustic wave chemical and/or biological sensor is generally determined by a selective coating placed on the piezoelectric material. The absorption and/or adsorption of the species to be measured into the selective coating can cause mass loading, elastic, and/or viscoelastic effects on the SAW/BAW device. The change of the acoustic property due to the absorption and/or adsorption of the species can be interpreted as a delay time shift for the delay line surface acoustic wave device or a frequency shift for the resonator (BAW/SAW) acoustic wave device.
Acoustic wave sensing devices often rely on the use of quartz crystal resonator components, such as the type adapted for use with electronic oscillators. In a typical gas-sensing application, the absorption of gas molecules in a selective thin film coating (i.e., applied to one surface of the crystal) can increase the mass of the crystal, while lowering the crystal's resonant frequency. The frequency of a thickness shear mode (TSM) crystal unit, for example, such as an AT-cut unit, is inversely proportional to the thickness of the crystal plate. For example, a typical 5-MHz 3rd overtone plate is on the order of 1 million atomic layers thick. The absorption of analyte is equivalent to the mass of one atomic layer of quartz, which changes the frequency by approximately 1 ppm.
The thickness-shear-mode resonators are therefore widely referred to as a quartz crystal microbalance. Calculations have determined that the sensitivity of a fundamental mode is approximately 9 times more sensitive than that of a 3rd overtone. A 5 MHz AT-cut TSM crystal blank, for example, is approximately 0.33 mm thick (fundamental). The thickness of the electrodes can be, for example, in a range of approximately 0.2–0.5 μm. The change in frequency due to the coating is typically: ΔF=−2.3×106 F2 (ΔM/A), where the value ΔF represents the change in frequency due to the coating (Hz), F represents the frequency of the quartz plate (Hz), ΔM represents the mass of deposited coating (g), and the value A represents the area coated (cm2).
Selective adsorbent thin film coated acoustic sensors such as, for examples, quartz crystal resonators, surface acoustic wave and quartz crystal microbalance devices are attractive to humidity, gas and chemical detection applications because of their high sensitivity, selectivity and ruggedness. The detection mechanism implemented depends on changes in the physicochemical and electrical properties of the coated piezoelectric crystal when exposed to humidity, gas and the like. Measurement results are usually obtained as the output frequency of a loop oscillator circuit, which utilizes a coated crystal as the feedback element.
When the sensor is exposed to analytes, the thin film adsorbs the analytes, and a corresponding frequency shift is measured as a result of any physicochemical and electrical changes. Factors that contribute to the coating properties include coating density, coating modulus, substrate wetting, coating morphology, electrical conductivity, capacitance and permittivity. Coating materials selection, coating structures and coating techniques affect the sensors' responses.
Conventional techniques for thin film deposition vary extensively, depending on the properties of the coating materials and substrate. Examples of such techniques include CVD, PVD, and sol-gel for most of the inorganic and composite materials. For polymeric materials, self-assembly dipping methods, casting, spray coating, and/or spin coating from a solution of the polymer in a volatile solvent are often preferred. Configurations based on these conventional techniques generally determine the properties of an acoustic wave sensor. Coating methods are also important for a sensor's repeatability. Because of their relatively short lifetimes, such sensors are replaced more often than those based on metal oxide. When sensors are replaced, they lose their memory of previously learned odors. In other words, the response curves of such devices vary, and the replacement sensors must then be retrained and/or recalibrated.
For practical reasons, zeolites are widely utilized as the physi-sorption coating materials. Zeolites are crystalline alumino-silicates of alkali or alkaline earth elements (e.g., Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Ba) with frameworks based on extensive 3-dimentional networks of AlO4 and SO4 tetrahedra. These tetrahedra are assembled into secondary polyhedral building blocks such as cubes, octahedral and hexagonal prisms. The final zeolite structure consists of assemblages of the secondary blocks into a regular, 3-dimentional crystalline framework. Each aluminum atom, for example, possesses a (−1) charge and this gives rise to an anionic charge in the network.
Cations are necessary to balance the charge and occupy non-framework positions. Typically the framework is composed of a regular structure of interconnected cages and/or channels. These devices or systems of essentially "empty" cages and/or channels provide the high storage capacities necessary for good adsorbents. Zeolite adsorbents are characterized by their uniform intra-crystalline aperture sizes. The uniformly sized apertures enable molecular discrimination on the basis of size (e.g., steric separation). Molecules larger than the maximum size that can diffuse into the crystal are excluded.
The sorption capacity and selectivity can be significantly affected by the type of cation used and the extent of ion exchange. This type of modification is important in optimizing zeolites for gas separation. The uniform pore structure, ease of aperture size modification, excellent thermal and hydrothermal stability, high sorption capacity at low partial pressures, and modest cost have made zeolites widely used in many separation application. For example, a selective adsorbent thin film coated quartz crystal microbalance chemical sensor can be utilized for the selective detection of CO. The thin coating comprises a solid non-porous inorganic matrix and porous zeolite crystals contained within the inorganic matrix, the pores of the zeolite crystals selectively adsorb chemical entities of a size less than a preselected magnitude.
The matrix can be selected from the group of sol-gel derived glasses, polymers and clay. The pores of the zeolite crystals are modified so as to be Lewis or Bronsted acidic or basic and capable of providing intrazeolite ligation by the presence of metal ions. The film can be configured from an alumina, boro-alumino-silicate, titanium, hydrolyzed diethoxydiphenyl silane, or silane rubber matrix containing zeolite crystals. The thickness of the inorganic matrix is generally about 0.001–10 μm and the diameter of the pores of the zeolite crystals is approximately 0.25–1.2 nm. The coating is a single layer of zeolite crystals protruding from an amorphous SiO2 matrix.
A polymer can be defined as a compound consisting of a large number of repeating units, called monomers. These monomers are joined together by covalent bonds to form a long chain. The degree of polymerization is defined as the number of repeating units in the chain. The properties of the polymer depend on the overall size of the polymer chain and on the inter- and intra-molecular forces that hold the polymer together. In general, the polymer properties of interest can be characterized as diffusion/permeation properties or as mechanical properties. The measurement of diffusion/permeation properties is straightforward when diffusion of a species into a polymer film produces a simple mass-loading effect. Polymers used as sensor coatings are butyl rubber, cellulose polymers, polysiloxanes, polyaniline and polyethylene, and the like.
Polymers, specifically rubbery, amorphous polymers, have several inherent advantages as chemically sensitive sensor coatings. They can be deposited as thin, adherent, continuous films of fairly uniform thickness by solvent casting or spray coating. They are nonvolatile and of homogeneous composition, and their chemical and physical properties can be modified to some extent by judicious choice of monomers and synthetic procedures. The glass transition temperature Tg is the temperature at which a polymer changes from glassy to rubbery. Above Tg, permeability is governed entirely by diffusion forces and adsorption proceeds rapidly and reversibly. One more advantage of rubbery, amorphous polymers is that their sorption isotherms are often linear over relatively large ranges in penetrant concentration.
One of the disadvantages with polymers, however, such as a polyimide film used in most humidity sensors, is that repeated heating can delaminate the polymer or polyimide film due to thermal expansion coefficient mismatch with the substrate and absorption in general. Heating therefore can cause irreversible change to the polyimide film. In high condensing applications (e.g., a fuel cell), a sensor that relies upon a polymer or polyimide film cannot meet these requirements.

Acoustic wave sensor with reduced condensation and recovery time


An electrode according to the invention can provide a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery having an ability to release a volume expansion at the time of charge and discharge as well as the time of a cycle. The electrode comprises a current collector made of a material which is not alloyed with Li, and a dot pattern 2 of a metallic material able to be alloyed with Li formed on the current collector. At the time of charge, since the volume expansion of each dot 3 is carried out so as to bury adjoining crevices 4 between the dots, a stress generated is released, thereby degradation of an electrode being avoided. Each dot may also be made into porosity.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrode used for a non-aqueous electrode secondary battery, in which the dot pattern of metallic material able to be alloyed with Li on a current collector, and the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery using said electrode for the negative electrode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Negative electrodes for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery described in JP 2001-68094-A and JP 2001-256968-A have a thin film comprising metallic materials alloyed with Li formed on a current collector of a material which is not alloyed with Li.
According to JP 2001-68094-A, a Sn thin film is formed on a current collector by an electric plating method.
According to JP 2001-256968-A, a thin film comprising a material containing Sn, Zn, Sb or the alloy as major components is formed on copper foil by an electric plating method.
Moreover, according to JP 2002-83594-A, it is described that an electrode having an active material thin film which is formed in a pattern of separated pillars made by breaks formed in the direction of thickness on a current collector and volume expansion of the active film is reduced around the breaks when the active material is intercalated by Li ions.
When the electrodes are prepared by the electric plating method, the resulting thin film can be formed by direct electrodeposition of objective metal or alloy on the current collector. Consequently, the electrodes which are excellent in the adhesion of an active material and a current collector can be obtained, compared with electrodes made by the coating method.
Also, it is more advantageous to get a cheaper manufacture cost, compared with the coating method. However, since the obtained metal-plating layer becomes very precise, an electrode tends to be influenced by volume expansion of the active material due to intercalation of Li ions, and consequently there is a fault such as a notable generation of expansion and crack in the electrode.
In the latter case, there are the following problems.
At the current collector side of the active material thin film, pillar-shaped objects are close to each other and there are not any crevices which serve as a stress relaxation place at the time of expansion of an active material.
In addition, since the diameter of each pillar-shaped object and width of the gap cannot necessarily be controlled freely, at an time of electrical charge and discharge and a cycle time, it is difficult to make the volume expansion in the active layer reduced, resulting in no sufficient utilization of the active material and no good maintenance of the active material characteristics. Therefore, it is difficult to provide an electrode which fully satisfies a load characteristic and a cycle characteristic even in the electric discharge with large electric current. Therefore, the technical establishment for controlling volume change of the active material is desired more regularly and precisely.
Accordingly, it is a first object of this invention to provide an electrode with an ability to reduce a volume expansion at the time of the electric charge and discharge and the cycle, and also to avoid the active material separation from the current collector due to the electric charge and discharge.
Further, it is another object of this invention to provide an electrode which can contribute to the improvement in characteristics of the electric charge and discharge efficiency of a battery and the rate of cycle capacity maintenance.
Also it is a further object to provide an electrode which can be charged and discharged with a large electric current and to provide a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery using said electrode for a negative electrode.

Electrode used for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery used the same for a negative electrode


The invention provides methods and systems for imaging.

Imaging of biological tissues and organs assists doctors in both diagnosis and treatment. A variety of medical techniques which are suitable for imaging biological tissues and organs are known. These include traditional x-rays, ultra-sound, as well as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computerized tomography (CT). A variety of dyes used in medical imaging have also been described including radio opaque dyes, fluorescent dyes, as well as, colormetric dyes (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,699,798; 5,279,298; 6,351,663; and 6,915,154 and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/619,548 and 10/365,028). Imaging techniques and systems using fluorescent dyes have been described for the heart, eye, and other parts of the body (see, U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,298; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/619,548, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). Some dyes can serve both an imaging function, as well as a therapeutic function (see, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,840,933).

Methods, software and systems for imaging


A substrate alignment apparatus which aligns and fixes a substrate on a substrate stage includes a chucking pad fixed on the substrate stage to chuck and fix the substrate, a moving unit which moves the substrate with respect to the substrate stage such that a mark on the substrate stage and a mark on the substrate coincide with each other, and a determination unit which evaluates and controls a relative position between the chucking pad and the substrate after movement by the moving unit and determines whether the chucking pad can normally chuck the substrate.

In the manufacture of a semiconductor device, such as an IC, LSI, or the like, a plurality of circuit patterns are overlaid on a wafer. Each circuit pattern is drawn on a reticle and is transferred onto a wafer by exposure. In an exposure apparatus which performs exposure, a reticle and a wafer are placed on a reticle stage and a wafer stage, respectively. Alignment is performed such that a circuit pattern on the reticle is transferred to a circuit formation position of the wafer. With this exposure, a new circuit pattern is overlaid on a transferred circuit pattern on the wafer. By repeating this, a circuit having a plurality of overlapping patterns can be formed on the wafer.
In an exposure apparatus, a wafer and a reticle are aligned with each other for each of a plurality of circuit formation positions on the wafer by moving the wafer, i.e., driving a wafer stage in order to transfer a circuit pattern of the reticle to each circuit formation position. To implement this alignment of the wafer and reticle, a reticle stage and the wafer stage are aligned with each other, then a reticle and the reticle stage are aligned with each other, thereby defining a relative positional relationship between the reticle and the wafer stage.
The center position of each circuit pattern drawn on the reticle shifts from the center position of the reticle itself. For this reason, to align the reticle stage and reticle with each other, a reticle alignment mark, which has been drawn on the reticle together with the circuit pattern, is detected, and the reticle is fixed on the reticle stage such that the reticle alignment mark overlaps with a reticle reference mark arranged on the reticle stage.
The reticle is arranged on a reticle chucking pad on the reticle stage and is chucked by the chucking pad, thereby fixing it on the reticle stage. To align the reticle alignment mark and reticle reference mark with each other, there are available the following two arrangements.
(1) A reticle stage, having a mechanism which enables a reticle chucking pad to move on the reticle stage, is used. The reticle chucking pad on the reticle stage is moved while chucking the reticle.
(2) A reticle stage having a fixed reticle chucking pad is used. A reticle is moved by another unit before chucking the reticle with the reticle chucking pad, and a relative position between the reticle and the reticle stage is changed, thereby aligning the reticle. After completion of the alignment, the reticle chucking pad chucks the reticle to fix it on the reticle stage.
In a scanning exposure apparatus, a reticle stage exposes a wafer while scanning it. Providing on the reticle stage a mechanism (the arrangement (1)) which allows the chucking pad to move increases the weight of the reticle stage and the complexity of the apparatus, and, thus, is hard to adopt. For this reason, a scanning exposure apparatus generally adopts an alignment method which uses the arrangement (2).
In, e.g., a reticle 100, as shown in FIG. 5, reticle alignment marks 101, as well as a circuit pattern, are drawn on a reticle pattern surface 104. The reticle 100 is placed such that the position of each of the reticle alignment marks 101 coincides with that of each of reticle reference marks 111, as shown in FIG. 6, and is fixed on a reticle stage 110 by chucking pads 112. FIGS. 5 and 6 show cases wherein a center position 102 of the reticle pattern surface 104 of the reticle 100 coincides with a center position 103 of the reticle itself.
However, if the circuit pattern drawn on the reticle largely shifts from a position where the circuit pattern is to be drawn, the position of the reticle alignment mark also shifts by the shift of the pattern. For this reason, if the reticle is positioned on the reticle stage such that the position of the reticle alignment mark coincides with that of the reticle reference mark, each chucking pad 112 may partially project from the reticle and may be unable to properly chuck or fix the reticle.
For example, if the position where the reticle pattern surface 104 is formed shifts from an intended position, as shown in FIG. 7, a shift occurs between the center 102 of the reticle pattern surface and the center 103 of the reticle 100 itself. This shift directly results in a shift of the reticle alignment mark 101. If the reticle is arranged on the reticle stage 110 such that the reticle alignment mark 101 coincides with the reticle reference mark 111, part of the chucking pad 112 may project from the reticle 100, as shown in FIG. 8.
In this case, if the reticle chucking pad 112 is movable on the reticle stage 110, the chucking pad 112 need only be moved. Otherwise, it cannot chuck the reticle. Granted that the chucking pad 112 can chuck the reticle, its chucking force decreases. The reticle may shift or may become detached from the reticle chucking pad during a reticle scan operation. Detachment of the reticle from the reticle stage or the reticle chucking pad's inability to chuck the reticle during a reticle scan operation is a serious accident for an exposure apparatus. Much labor and expense are required to recover from the accident.
In recent years, a demand for an exposure apparatus having a high throughput leads to a demand for a further increase in scan speed. The area of a reticle chucking pad is increased to augment its chucking force, thereby supporting a high-acceleration reticle stage. This increase in area of the reticle chucking pad narrows the tolerance for a shift of a drawn circuit pattern and increases the complexity of reticle manufacture and management.

Substrate alignment apparatus and method, and exposure apparatus


A heater for use with a chafing dish having water and food pans with complemental peripheral flanges is disclosed. The heater includes a spacer sized to be interposed between such flanges to maintain at least portions of the flanges in spaced relationship. An immersible heater assembly including an upstanding arm is connected to and depends from the spacer. The heater assembly includes an encased electrical resistance heater loop having end portions connected to the arm. The arm and loop are sized to position the loop near a bottom of the water pan and immersed in water when the chafing dish is in use. A temperature sensitive switch is connected to the heater unit for interrupting a power supply when the temperature of the heater unit exceeds a predetermined temperature. A power supply cord extends from the spacer outwardly from the dish when the heater is in use.

Chafing dishes are widely used for buffet type food service, serving hors d'oeuvres, and other purposes. Such chafing dishes typically include a water pan supported by a leg and a bracing structure. A heat source is used to heat the water in the water pan. A food pan is supported by the water pan above the level of the water.
In most instances flames from canned fuels are used as the heat source. Other chafing dishes have been proposed which use electrical heaters rather than flames to heat the water. But, the known electrically heated chafing dishes also have drawbacks. Some prior electric heater elements project through holes in the water pan to provide terminals for connection to a power source. These holes obviously must be sealed and are themselves a source of service trouble.
Heater elements which are physically connected to the water pan with portions of the elements projecting through holes in the water pan, are difficult to clean. Since they are difficult to clean the elements tend to suffer from scale build-up which reduces efficiency and degrades the performance of the unit.
Other prior proposals placed electric heating elements beneath the water pan. These proposals required support structure adding significantly to complexity and cost.
With canned fuels, the fuel is either an alcohol base material or an oil and wick arrangement. The alcohol materials tend to vapor lock so that flame size varies and produces uneven heat. Diaphragms are sometimes provided that are adjustable to control the size of the flame and with it hopefully the amount of heat produced. The problem with these diaphragms is that with the tendency of the alcohol type fuel to vaporize, the flame is often extinguished.
With wick and oil heat sources, the only ability to control the temperature of the flame is by spreading of the wick to increase the size of the flame. Thus, at best there is very limited control of temperature using a flame arrangement.
Canned heat sources are costly and wasteful. Typically after a food service the cans which have been used will be disposed of and new cans will be used at a subsequent service to be sure that there is adequate fuel at the subsequent service. Moreover, cans of fuel typically must be bought in quantity which ties up both capital and storage space.
The chafing dish described and claimed in Pat. No. 5,045,672 issued Sep. 3, 1991 (the Prior Patent) was very favorably received in test installations, but it had one major drawback. Specifically, it was necessary to provide either specialized water or food pans notched to receive a heating element.


An X-ray scanner comprises an array (12) of X-ray detectors (16) arranged in cylindrical configuration around an imaging volume (28), and a multi-focus X-ray source (20) which extends in a helical configuration around the outside of the detector array (12). A helical gap (24) in the detector array (12) allows X-rays from the source (20) to pass through the patient (26) in the imaging volume (28), and onto the detectors (16) on the opposite side of the scanner. The source (20) is controlled so that the X-rays are produced from a number of source points along the helical locus (23) to produce a tomographic image. As the patient is stationary and the source point varied electrically, the scanning rate is sufficient to produce a series of images which can be displayed as a real time three-dimensional video image.

The present invention relates to X-ray scanning. It has particular application in medical computed tomography (CT) scanning, although it could equally be used in other suitable applications.
X-ray computed tomography scanners have been used in medical imaging for many years. A conventional system comprises an X-ray tube that is rotated about an axis with an arcuate X-ray detector array also rotated at the same speed around the same axis. The patient is placed with their centre of gravity close to the axis of rotation, and moved along the axis as the tube is rotated. A fan-beam of X-radiation passes from the source through the patient to the X-ray detector array.
The X-ray detector array records the intensity of X-rays passed through the patient at each location along its length. From these recorded X-ray intensities, it is possible to form a tomographic (cross-sectional) image, typically by means of a filtered back projection algorithm, if one set of projection data is recorded at each source angle. In order to produce an accurate tomographic image of an object, such as a part of the patient, it can be shown to be a requirement that the X-ray source pass through every plane through the object. In the arrangement described above, this is achieved by the rotational scanning of the X-ray source and the longitudinal movement of the patient.


An injection snare is disclosed. One embodiment of the present invention includes an instrument body, an actuator slidably attached to the body, a catheter attached to and extending through the body at a proximal end of the catheter, an injection needle, and a snare. The injection needle is disposed within the catheter and has a proximal end connected to the actuator. A distal end of the injection needle contains a piercing tip. The injection needle is movable within the catheter between a first position wherein the distal end of the needle extends beyond the distal end of the catheter and a second position wherein the distal end of the needle is retracted within said catheter. The snare is attached to the distal end of the injection needle.

The present invention relates to a surgical instrument for removing tissue from a patient. More specifically, the invention provides a capability to both inject fluid into the tissue that is to be removed and to remove the tissue by utilizing a single instrument. Pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/421,409 filed Apr. 13, 1995 is a related application to this application.
During endoscopic tissue removal procedures, often referred to as polypectomy or endoscopic mucosal resection, it is often necessary to inject fluid submucosally into the tissue to be removed to raise the lesion off of the muscularis propria to prevent thermal injury of the muscle layer during excision by cautery. Large pedunculated polyps may also require an injection of fluid into the stalk, prior to cauterization, to prevent hemorrhage. Additionally, tissue that is suspected to be cancerous at the site of interest may be "tattooed" or injected using India ink. This is a permanent marker that allows for surveillance during subsequent procedures. Therefore, there are many situations where an injection needle is required in order to inject fluid into tissue that is to be removed.
Currently, in a procedure where fluid is injected into tissue and the tissue is subsequently removed from the body, separate instruments are utilized to inject the fluid and to cut and remove the tissue. The requirement to use two separate instruments to perform these tasks presents drawbacks. One of these drawbacks is the time required to perform the procedure. By requiring the surgeon to utilize two separate instruments, the time required to perform the complete procedure is increased. Additionally, when using separate instruments, the fluid which is injected into the tissue often dissipates during the time it takes to remove the injection needle from the body and insert a snare through the working channel of an endoscope and into the body. Thus, the utility of the fluid injection step may be diminished greatly. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a single instrument that could both inject fluid into the tissue to be removed and separate the tissue from the body. The use of a single device would improve the efficiency of conducting these procedures.
An additional drawback with current tissue removal devices and procedures is associated with the removal of the tissue after it has been separated from the body. Currently, retrieval devices such as baskets and webs are inserted through a lumen in an endoscope and are positioned within the body to capture the removed tissue. However, these devices require the surgeon to manipulate an additional apparatus and can be difficult to position within the body. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for capturing tissue after it has been separated from the body.


A necklace which is comprised of a plurality of soft Pom-Pom balls such that the necklace may be thrown to participants at celebrations without injury while still being very festive for the occasion.

It is a long-standing custom at various festive events, and particularly at Mardi Gras, for performers to throw brightly-colored necklaces to the audiences such as from floats in a parade, the stage or from balconies. Such necklaces must be ultra-low cost to produce since they are thrown gratis, and they must be pretty and colorful so as to become lasting and treasured souvenirs of the festive occasion. Prior necklaces have met the low-cost requirement by being composed of a plurality of cheap plastic spheres. However, such plastic spheres are not particularly memorable nor unique, and they are extremely hard and brittle such that injury may result from being struck by, or stepping upon, such plastic necklaces.


An optical code reader classifies a code depicted in input imagery, so that appropriate decoding actions can be invoked. This classification may identify, e.g., (a) whether the code is of a continuous tone or sparse mark variety, (b) which one of different reference signals it includes, and (c) which one of different protocols is used in expressing reference and payload signal components of the code. A great variety of other features and technologies are detailed as well.

As digital watermarks become more popular, their forms and formats become more diverse. An exemplary point of sale (POS) scanner in a retail store may encounter several different watermark types on product packaging, e.g., continuous-tone watermarks and sparse watermarks. Each may be printed at different resolutions, e.g., 75 watermark elements per inch (WPI) or 150 WPI. Each may include a different form of reference signal. And even for a particular type of watermark (e.g., a sparse, 150 WPI, watermark), different protocols may be in use to accommodate different application requirements. Each combination poses different detection requirements.
Attempting to exhaustively process incoming imagery to decode all possible varieties of watermarks is impractical. For example, point of sale scanners commonly have modest processors that are taxed nearly to their limits simply in decoding 1D barcodes from each frame of incoming imagery, at 60 frames per second. Watermark decoding is typically an afterthought, and allotted only a few milliseconds of the 16-millisecond budget to process each captured frame.
Certain aspects of the present technology help address this problem.
One exemplary embodiment allows a watermark detector to determine the affine presentation of (a) watermarks that use a first form of reference signal, and (b) watermarks that use a second form of reference signal, in only slightly more time than it would take to perform one operation alone. In the process, a synchronization process identifies which form of reference signal is used, which allows subsequent operations to be tailored accordingly.
Another exemplary embodiment identifies which of several different encoding protocols is employed in a watermark, by analysis of accumulated dot contribution data.
Other features and advantages will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings

Methods and arrangements for optical code classification