Providing a recommendation for a specific item of interest using a recommendation system, by obtaining information concerning items of interest offered by multiple business places, receiving a query concerning the specific item of interest from an electronic device, obtaining objective information concerning business places offering the specific item of interest, and outputting one or more business places that offer the specific item of interest based on a function, said function receiving the objective information as input.

A content discovery platform is an implemented software recommendation platform which uses recommendation system. A recommendation system is a system that tries to predict the "rating," or "score" a user would give to an item and using the predicted score the system recommends items that are more similar to the users' preferences.
The recommendation system stores information about a plurality of items, such as goods or services and the user's opinion or feedbacks about the items. The items of interest are stored in the database of the system, and each item is associated with all metadata created by a user about the item. The user metadata may include the user's subjective opinion of the item, the time of review, and more.

Crowd-based product recommendation system


A weapon system includes a cartridge and a fire control apparatus have been developed for generating a projectile with a selectable launch velocity. The cartridge includes multiple primers and propellant chambers which may be individually selected by the fire controller so as to fire the projectile at a selected launch velocity. Additionally after firing the selected primers and propellant charges, the fire controller sends a second firing signal to all remaining primers after a suitable delay. The second firing signal ensures that all remaining propellant is initiated and consumed, thus rendering the cartridge safe to eject. The delay between the first firing signal and the second firing signal is sufficient to allow the projectile to be expelled from the cartridge so that the launch velocity is not affected by the combustion of the remaining propellant.

Both military and civilian agencies are increasingly being required to provide or restore public order or to act in peace keeping or security roles. Further many modern warfighters are being required to operate in urban environments with large resident civilian populations, whilst being on guard for possible attack by enemy combatants who may be largely indistinguishable from the local population.
To assist such agencies in providing such roles, various non lethal weapons systems and projectiles have been developed. Such systems allow the user to modify an aggressor's intent by striking them at range with a "controlled or measured" amount of kinetic energy, which is delivered to the body by the impact of a "Non Lethal" projectile. Other types of non lethal rounds include those which deliver electrical charges to the target (eg TASER™) or non lethal projectiles such as stunning (eg sound), smoke, or irritant (eg capsicum or tear gas) rounds. Generally the non lethal munitions used in 40 mm, 37 mm or 12 gauge weapons are designed to be used only within a prescribed or fixed zone of employment. In other words the weapon can only be fired safely within a certain range or distance band.
This fixed "zone of employment" results from the fact that current non lethal munitions are fired with fixed launch velocity and hence manufactures optimise their ammunition to meet a specific set of design requirements unique to that zone. For example, the M1006 point impact non lethal round used by US and Australian defence forces is designed to be fired between a minimum range and a maximum range out to 50 m. The fixed launch velocity of the round limits its use to this zone and hence the round is considered to be unsafe to employ under 10 m, and ineffective beyond 50 m. In reality, the sweet spot at which the round is safe and effective is smaller than this "optimum" zone. Such problems are typical of such systems.
The difficulty faced by the military user of non lethal weapons systems is that modern complex asymmetric type operations dictate that the scenarios are wide and varied and hence these weapon systems should be as flexible as possible to meet the changing engagement circumstances. Current approaches have consequently led to the undesirable requirement to carry multiple ammunition types (each with their own zone of employment which may or may not overlap) or to limit the employment options to a tight set of conditions which severely restricts the user's options in the field. Logistically this burdens the operation by requiring the organisation to carry and support a range of munitions options.
Some attempts have been made in the past to construct variable velocity munitions for other applications. These have typically used multiple propellant charges which are selectively ignited, however these suffer from a range of deficiencies making them unsuitable for use in the non lethal setting. For example some systems include propellant in the projectile. When the projectile is not fired to the maximum range (common in non lethal settings), not all of the propellant is consumed, leaving the projectile in an unsafe state which is undesirable in a non lethal scenario. Another system includes selectable charges located in the cartridge. However this creates safety issues for the user of the system, as when the projectile is not fired to the maximum range the ejected casing will still contain unconsumed propellant.
There is thus a need to provide a non lethal weapons system that is suitable for safe and effective use over a wider employment zone than current systems, or at least to provide users of existing systems with a useful alternative.

Cartridge and system for generating a projectile with a selectable launch velocity


A hologram recording medium, and a recording apparatus and a reproducing apparatus for the same, by which scattered beam noise is minimized and recording capacity is increased using spatial separation and polarization separation in an optical system where a reference beam and an object beam travel through the same optical path. The provided hologram recording medium includes a recording layer into which an object beam and a reference beam are radiated to record data of the object beam as interference fringes, and first and second phase difference layers arranged above and below the recording layer, respectively, to convert the polarization of an incident beam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium, and, more particularly, to a hologram recording medium on which data is recorded as interference fringes via the use of an object beam and a reference beam. The present invention also relates to a recording apparatus and a reproducing apparatus to record/reproduce data on a hologram recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hologram recording method in which data is recorded on a recording medium by using holography is performed by simultaneously irradiating an object beam and a reference beam. The object beam has image data to be recorded in a hologram recording medium. The simultaneous irradiation of these beams causes interference fringes to be written onto the hologram recording medium. When reproducing data from a hologram recording medium, the same reference beam as used in the recording operation is radiated onto the hologram recording medium and the image data recorded on the hologram recording medium is reproduced by detecting a diffraction that is caused by the interference fringes.
In another hologram recording method, the interference fringes discussed above may be three-dimensionally recorded by additionally utilizing a thickness direction of the hologram recording medium. The hologram recording medium then has a remarkably increased recording capacity compared to a surface two-dimensional recording medium, such as a CD or a DVD, due to the hologram recording medium having an ability to re-record overlapping two-dimensional image data on the same region.
A hologram recording and/or reproducing apparatus is a type of interference system using interference between an object beam and a reference beam. In such an interference system, irradiating two beams stably is difficult. This difficulty has led to various studies aimed at overcoming this drawback. One solution employs a fine step measuring apparatus in which an optical system, referred to as a common optical path-type interference system, has been used. In such an optical system, two beams are transferred along the same optical path. Thus, changes in optical path due to disturbances, such as vibration or air turbulence, affect both beams equally and thus are cancelled. Accordingly, a stable apparatus, which is not affected by changes in optical path, may be realized.
One example of such an optical system which is widely used is a Normarski interference system or a Normarski microscope. In addition, in a common optical path-type interference system, since two beams propagate through the same optical path, the optical system may be formed with a simple structure and a small size.
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of an optical system in a conventional hologram recording and/or reproducing apparatus, an example of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,110. Referring to FIG. 12, a spatial light modulator (SLM) is arranged around the center of an optical system to display recorded data, which is converted into a two-dimensional digital image. In the SLM shown in FIG. 12, the light beam's intensity is modulated to carry information and serve as an object beam.
As shown in FIG. 12, a reference beam is arranged at a position outside of the object beam. The object beam and the reference beam are irradiated in a hologram recording medium to record interference fringes. The hologram recording medium is rotated during recording so that data from the object beam is multiplex-recorded on the hologram recording medium. When reproducing data from the hologram recording medium, a beam output from the SLM is blocked and the reference beam is radiated onto the interference fringes for a two-dimensional image sensor, such as a CCD, to receive image data reproduced from the interference fringes and to reproduce data.
Since a large amount of image data is multiplex-recorded on the same region of a hologram recording medium using this hologram recording method, the capacity of the hologram recording medium may be increased by increasing a thickness thereof. However, the recording capacity of the hologram recording medium is, in fact, limited for various reasons, and if a beam emitted by an optical device is scattered, for example, by an astigmatic lens or the hologram recording medium itself, a serious problem results.
In general, as the number of multiplex images (i.e., the number of the interference fringes), increases, the diffraction efficiency of a reproduction beam, which is diffracted at each of the interference fringes, rapidly drops. On the other hand, when a beam is radiated onto an optical device, such as a lens, or a hologram recording medium, a scattered beam is generated due to the roughness of the surface or unevenness of the material of the hologram recording medium. Preventing beam scattering is therefore substantially impossible. Thus, an image sensor picks up a scattered beam mixed with a reference beam. In addition, the scattered beam is optical noise and interferes with detection of a reproduction beam whose diffraction efficiency is low. Accordingly, the maximum recording capacity of a hologram recording medium is determined by the ratio of the optical intensity of a reproduction beam to the optical intensity of a scattered beam, in other words, an S/N ratio.
Since the reference beam and the object beam are transferred along the same optical path in the conventional system of FIG. 12, the apparatus may be stable and small. However, because of the common optical path, the scattered beam may be easily input to an image sensor. Accordingly, the common optical path-type hologram recording and/or reproducing optical system of FIG. 12 cannot substantially increase a recording capacity.
FIG. 10 is a graph illustrating the relationship between numerical aperture (NA) of an objective lens and number of multiplexed holograms, when 0.2 tera-bytes, 0.5 tera-bytes, and 1 tera-bytes of data are to be recorded on a hologram recording medium having the same recording area as a CD. When the NA of a conventional objective lens is determined to be 0.5, the numbers of multiplex holograms are 400, 1,000, and 2,000 for 0.2 tera-bytes, 0.5 tera-bytes, and 1 tera-bytes of data, respectively.
FIG. 11 is a graph illustrating the relationship between diffraction efficiency and number of multiplexed holograms. Diffraction efficiency (η) is calculated by dividing an M number (M#), which denotes the characteristic of a recording material, by a hologram multiplexing number (M) and squaring the result. For example, when the M number of a conventional hologram recording material is 5 and the hologram multiplex numbers are 1,000 and 2,000, the diffraction efficiency is 2.5×10−5 and 6.3×10−6, respectively.
FIG. 9 is a graph illustrating the relationship between amount of scattered light, which is measured in a conventional hologram disk storage system of FIG. 12, and diffraction efficiency (η). Referring to FIG. 9, the minimum diffraction efficiency is 1×10−2 due to scattered beams in the conventional system, and a diffraction efficiency as small as 1×10−5, which is required to achieve tera-byte recording capacity, cannot be detected.
In the conventional system of FIG. 12, the object beam is located at the center of the optical system and the reference beam surrounds the object beam such that the two beams are separated spatially. However, in this configuration, a scattered beam may propagate in every direction. Thus, eliminating the scattered beam by simply spatially separating the reference beam and the object beam is difficult.

Hologram recording medium, and recording apparatus and reproducing apparatus for the same


A woven band for a zipper is provided. The woven band is made by a double needle bar raschel knitting machine and has a predetermined length in a warp direction. The woven band includes a convex portion formed on one side thereof for joining to a zipper and a band portion connected to the convex portion. As the convex portion has large thickness and high strength, the joint strength of the convex portion and the zipper is increased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knitted band for a zipper, and in particular relates to a knitted band having a convex portion on one side to join the zipper to enhance strength.
2. Description of the Related Art
Accordingly, a zipper comprises a pair of bands, a pair of teeth strips fixed to the band and a head engaging or releasing the teeth strips. The bands are stitched to cloth, hand bags or luggage box.
When a zipper is used, traverse force is exerted on the zipper, especially for the zipper on a hand bag or a luggage box. The teeth strips are made of material of high strength, such as Nylon or copper. The junction of the teeth strips and the knitted bands is the most weak point of the zipper. It is easily damaged by large traverse force.
To improve the strength of the junction of the teeth strips and the bands, reinforce threads having a diameter large than the threads of the band are used. In such a structure, although the strength is increased, the reinforce thread cannot be completely knitted with other threads of the bands, which causes uneven surface of the band resulting in unsmooth running of the head.


A bone clamp for securing a surgical instrument to a bone including a body on which the instrument can be mounted, a first and second contacting arms, each of which has a first end that is pivotally connected to the body, and a second end for gripping the bone, whenever the first and second contacting arms are connected to the body at or towards opposite ends thereof so that, when the body is positioned adjacent to the bone, the arms can grip the bone on opposite surfaces thereof, and an actuator which can be moved between engaged and disengaged positions. When the actuator is in its disengaged position, the contacting arms can pivot independently with respect to each other, and when the actuator is in its engaged position, the pivoting movement of one contact arm is accompanied by approximately equal pivoting movement of the other contact arm in the opposite direction.

This invention relates to a bone clamp for securing a surgical instrument to a bone.
A bone can be prepared to receive a component of an orthopaedic joint prosthesis using a surgical instrument. For example a surgical instrument can be used to resect a bone so that it is appropriately shaped to fit the prosthesis component. It can be important that the location and dimensions of the resection are controlled accurately to ensure a precise fit of the prosthesis component on the resected bone. In order to optimise the accuracy of a resection or other preparatory step, it is known to use a guide block which can be fixed relative to the bone. The guide block should be positioned accurately relative to the bone. It should also be fixed against movement during the resection or other procedure.
A guide block for a surgical instrument can be fixed to a bone using pins or screws or similar fasteners, which penetrate the bone. This can require a drilling step to prepare the bone to receive the fasteners.


A terminal rail for a passenger conveyor including an inner and outer guide rails is disclosed. According to the terminal rail, a portion on which the rear wheel roller is initially contacted with the outer guide rail includes a damper placed between an end of a straight portion of the outer guide rail and a desired position of a turning portion to damp impact produced when the rear wheel roller of the step travels from the inner guide rail to the outer guide rail of the terminal rail.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a passenger conveyor such as an escalator, and more particularly to a terminal rail for a passenger conveyor capable of reducing noises and vibrations generated due to the impact produced from the terminal rail during its operation.
2. Description of Related Art
A passenger conveyor typically includes a series of passenger platforms which are driven in an endless path between horizontally spaced landings. The most common types of passenger conveyors are escalators and horizontal walkways. In case of the escalator, the platforms are steps which are driven between an upper landing and a lower landing to facilitate the conveyance of passengers, cargo, and the like. The passenger conveyor also includes hand rails which are movable along and supported by opposite sides of a main frame of the conveyor.
The passenger platforms are normally connected in a circle by a pair of drive chains which extend along opposite sides of the passenger conveyor and which engage a powered sprocket assembly mounted on at least one end of the conveyor to effect continuous movement of the steps between the upper and lower landings. The steps extend laterally across the conveyor between the opposite sides of the main frame to define a step band that is a spatial envelope between the upper and lower landings and between the opposite handrails through which the steps travel. The steps, which convey passengers toward an off-load landing, travel above the sprocket assembly to define an upper step band, while the inverted steps which return to the on-load landing, travel below the sprocket assembly to define a lower band.
Conventional passenger conveyors as described above are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,668 issued to Datema et al. on Oct. 10, 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,875 issued to Kubota on Dec. 15, 1992, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,580 issued to Nurnberg et al. on Jul. 6, 1993.
Meanwhile, another conventional passenger conveyor is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional passenger conveyor comprises a pair of horizontally spaced circulating hand rails 1, a plurality of steps 2 which passengers get on and off, and a transmission system 3 for driving the handrails 1 and the steps 2. The transmission system 3 generally includes a motor 4 for driving the steps 2, a reduction gear for transferring the driving force between the motor and a drive sprocket 7, and drive chains 6 operatively engaged with the drive sprocket 7.
In the above passenger conveyor, the drive sprocket 7, a drive terminal gear 8, a drive shaft 12 and a terminal rail 13 constitute a drive system. And, the steps 9, endless step chains 10, and front and back wheels 14 and 15 which are engaged to the steps 9 constitute a moving system.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the terminal rail 13 having inner and outer guide rails 18 and 19, and FIG. 4 is a view illustrating an engaged state of the terminal rail 13, wherein the end of the inner guide rail 18 is engaged to a secondary rail 17.
Such a conventional terminal rail 13 performs only the role of guiding the back wheel 15 of the step 9. The terminal rail is provided with no special device or method to eliminate or constrain noises or vibrations. However, a method for accurately machining the inner and outer guide rails 18 and 19 of the terminal rail 13 along which the back wheel 15 of the step travels to reduce the clearance between them as small as possible, and to relieve the impact is mainly adopted. For instance, the Kubota patent discloses an expansion/contraction joint mechanism For adjusting the length of the guide rail.
When the electric power is supplied to the passenger conveyor as constructed above, the driving force produced from the motor 4 which is disposed in the transmission system 3 is transferred to a speed reducer 5. The driving force produced from the speed reducer 5 is transferred to the drive sprocket 7 through the drive chains 6. Accordingly, the drive terminal gear 8 engaged on the same axis of the drive sprocket 7 drives the step chains 10 connected with the steps 9, so that the steps 9 continuously move along the drive and driven terminal gears 8 and 11.
At that time, the front wheel roller 14 of the step moves along a primary rail 16, and the rear wheel roller 15 moves straight along the secondary 17 and turns along the terminal rail 13 on the upper and lower portions of the conveyor.
In particular, on the upper and lower portions of the conveyor, the front wheel roller 14 of the step rotates along the periphery of the terminal gear 8, and the rear wheel roller 15 of the step rotates along the turning section of the terminal rail 13 as shown in FIG. 4. At that time, the rear wheel roller 15 of the step 9 moves along the inner guide rail 18, and rotates along the inside of the outer guide rail 19.
When the conventional passenger conveyor with the terminal rail 13 engaged as described above operates, noises and vibrations are greatly produced due to the impact occurring near the terminal rail 13 positioned on the upper and lower portions of the conveyor.
The noises and vibrations caused by the impact have been the chronic and inherent problem of the conventional conveyor in spite of continuous efforts to solve it.
In order to examine all possible factors of the above noises and vibrations, the noise measuring test was carried out by using so-called Taguji method.
FIG. 5 is a graph showing the influence of each noise factor obtained by using the Taguji method. Referring to FIG. 5, it appears that as the inclination becomes greater, the influence of the factor for retaining the noises also becomes greater.
The testing result has revealed that the source of the noises and vibrations at the upper and lower turning sections of the conveyor is the terminal rail 13. Meanwhile, a factor "C" has been proved to have merely the relation to the increase/decrease of the noises and vibrations produced from the terminal rail.
In order to examine the mechanism of the noises and vibrations produced by the terminal rail 13 and the impact position therein, a red lead has been used. The rear wheel roller 15 of the step travels on the inner guide rail 18 of the terminal rail 13 through the trace on the terminal rail as shown in FIG. 6 and deviates from a turning section B. At the same time, the roller 15 strikes against a section A (the position at about 45 degrees counter-clockwise to the straight line of the inner guide rail of the terminal rail 13), and rotates along the inside of the inner guide rail 19 of the terminal rail 13.
The reason why the roller is not abutted against the inside of the outer guide rail 19 corresponding to the straight line of the inner guide rail 18, but rises toward the section A and impacts thereto is that the steps 9 are operated by the terminal gear 8. In view of the test results induced from the trace of the existing terminal rail 13, it has been confirmed that the outer guide rail 19 of the terminal rail 13 is applied with a lot of pressure and impact.
The trace of the rear wheel roller 15 of the step during turning is always constant, and thus the rear wheel roller 15 of the step impacts against the section A of the terminal rail 13, thereby producing the noises and vibrations; that is to say,
1. Every time the rear wheel roller 15 of the step impacts against the section A, the noises are significantly produced. PA1 2. Every time the rear wheel roller 15 of the step impacts against the section (0.8 seconds per step), the vibrations of the step 9 are increased by an increasing of the pulsating phenomenon. PA1 3. Since the rear wheel 15 of the step impacts directly upon the terminal rail 13, the life of these components is shortened. PA1 4. In case of the outer guide rail 19 of the terminal rail 13 having an interior surface with a coarse finish, the impact noises are increased.
In the structure of the conventional terminal rail, the dimensional clearance of the terminal rail 13 has to be maintained very precisely to reduce the noises and vibrations produced due to the above reason 1, thereby rising the cost and deteriorating the productivity thereof.


A Web view page is provided by a browser module operating with a dialog box of an application program. The browser module displays a Web view page in a browser window within the dialog box of the application program, enabling a user to perform browser functions and application program functions by selecting an element in the Web view page. The browser module detects whether a selected element can be processed by the browser module alone, and if not, communicates the selected element to the dialog box of the application program for processing. A server that is capable of interacting with the Web view page implements the functions requested by the user.

Current office productivity application programs, such as word processing and spreadsheet applications, can interface with servers and other remote computers via traditional network technology (e.g., using Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV)) to enable users to manage files and functions on those computers. This capability is especially useful for centrally managing files and implementing other functions among a group of users. For example, it is common for a work group to store documents on a server and for each member to use an application program, such as Microsoft Corporation's WORD™ program, which is executed on a client computer, to open and work on documents stored on the server.
A software application user interface typically includes a dialog box for opening, saving, and performing other functions related to files. The dialog box display currently used to manage files is based on a traditional directory structure view. Specifically, the dialog box displays a simple list of files and/or folders with icons and a limited amount of text, such as folder and file names. Thus, the dialog box user interface is similar to the interface provided by directory management programs, such as Microsoft Corporation's WINDOWS EXPLORER™. Like the directory management programs, the dialog box display is the same, whether managing local files stored on a user's computing device or remote files stored on a server. The functions available in the dialog box are limited to those functions built into the application program or provided by the operating system and accessed by the application program.
Web browsers, such as Microsoft Corporation's INTERNET EXPLORER™ can also display lists of files and folders on local and remote computers. However, Web browsers currently display files and folders in much the same format as an application program dialog box, or as a directory management program, i.e., as a simple list with basic icons and limited text. Like the directory management programs, a browser display includes all folders and/or files at a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address, including many system-related folders and files that are often confusing and/or irrelevant to most users.
Although general Web pages viewed through a browser can provide a rich variety of functions and display characteristics, browsers have not been adapted to provide any additional functions or display characteristics for viewing directory folders and file lists. Moreover, a browser can not currently be used to perform functions within a local application program, such as causing a local word processing program to save a document file (e.g., carry out a "Save As" operation), because a browser is a separate operating system function or a separate program that is not integral with an application program.
It would be desirable to use the capabilities of a browser to modify and customize functions and displays in application programs, particularly when accessing files. There are substantial benefits that might arise from the combination of a browser and local application program. For example, it would be desirable to change functions and display features for files in a Web page at a central location and to provide the Web page to any application program adapted to access the Web page, without having to upgrade or change the application program itself on each local client computer. Furthermore, additional file management functions, such as variable filtering, might then be provided in a file management Web page. It should also be possible to produce custom views and functions in a Web view page of the directory structure on a server without having to change the application program. For example, a Web view page can be limited to only the folders and file relevant to a specific target user and/or a specific application. Unlike the current ability to filter files only by type (e.g., list all files of the form *.doc), custom Web view pages would make it relatively easy to find specific types of files, such as WORD documents about customers in a specific geographic region when the Web view page is opened in the WORD application. Also, it should be possible to limit the type of file or folder without having to rely on long or cryptic file names. Messages and other information relevant to a target user and/or application program can be made accessible from the application program, instead of on a separate Web page accessed by a conventional separate browser. This feature should eliminate the need for users to switch between a browser and a software application to access such information.
Some application service providers (ASPs) have made attempts to utilize a browser by creating Web-based applications that emulate the functions of a traditional application program, but run entirely within the browser. However, because Web-based applications from ASPs must be downloaded and run entirely within the browser, Web-based applications often require long wait periods for the download to complete, are limited by the capabilities of the browser, and do not provide the extensive application-specific capabilities that are provided in traditional application programs, which are installed directly on a computer.

System for integrating HTML Web site views into application file dialogs


Provided is an LCD device. The LCD device includes liquid crystal panel, a mold frame, and an impact absorbing member. The liquid crystal panel has a first substrate, a second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and second substrates. The liquid crystal panel is seated on the mold frame. The impact absorbing member is formed between the liquid crystal panel and the mold frame.

CRTs among screen display devices for displaying image data on a screen have been widely used. But the CRTs have a large volume and a heavy weight compared to their display area, which have been inconvenient.
Accordingly, thin flat display devices that have a slim profile and a large display area and thus can be easily used in any place have been developed and are gradually replacing CRTs. Particularly, liquid crystal display (LCD) devices have excellent display resolution compared to other flat display device and have fast response time that can be compared to that of CRTs when realizing a moving image.
A driving principle of the LCD device uses optical anisotropy and polarization characteristic of liquid crystal. Liquid crystal has a long and thin structure. Therefore, it is possible to control an alignment direction of liquid crystal molecules by artificially applying an electric field to the liquid crystal molecules having directionality and polarization in the molecular arrangement. Accordingly, when an alignment direction is arbitrarily controlled, light can be transmitted or blocked depending on an alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules by optical anisotropy of the liquid crystal, so that color and an image can be displayed.
These LCD devices are applied to mobile communication terminals such as portable phones, camera phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). In an LCD device applied to a small-sized apparatus such as a mobile communication terminal, a thickness of a substrate constituting an LC panel is formed thin to achieve a slim profile and lightweight of an entire apparatus. For example, a substrate constituting an LC panel can be formed to have a thickness of 0.3-0.5 mm.
FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an LCD device according to a related art, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A′ of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the LC panel illustrated in FIG. 1.
The related art LCD device includes an LC panel having a first substrate 13 and a second substrate 15, and a mold frame 21. A first polarizer 11 is attached on the first substrate 13, and a second polarizer 17 is attached under the second substrate 15. The first substrate 13 is smaller than the second substrate 15. A driving integrated circuit (IC) 19 for driving the LC panel can be formed on the second substrate 15. The first polarizer 11 and the second polarizer 17 are formed in a similar size smaller than sizes of the first and second substrates 13 and 15. The first polarizer 11 and the second polarizer 17 are formed larger than an image display region of the LC panel.
The first and second substrates 13 and 15, an optical sheet 31, and a light guide plate 33 are coupled to the mold frame 21. The light guide plate 33 and the optical sheet 31 receive light emitted from a light source and provide the received light onto the LC panel.
In an LCD device having the above-described structure, an LC panel may be destroyed by mechanical twisting and impact while an apparatus is treated and carried as the apparatus has an extremely slim profile and lightweight. The arrow illustrated in FIG. 1 indicates impacts are applied to an LCD device from the outside. This external impact is applied to the mold frame 21, and the applied impact is not completely absorbed by the mold frame 21. Therefore, the impact that has not been completely absorbed by the mold frame is delivered to the LC panel.
Meanwhile, the LC panel is separated from a mother substrate through a scribing process and a breaking process during its manufacturing process. At this point, referring to FIG. 4, a fine crack origin is created in a substrate while physical scribing and breaking processes are performed. FIG. 4 is an image illustrating a crack origin is formed in a substrate of a related art LC panel.
The fine crack origin may act as a starting point from which an LCD device starts to be destroyed when twisting and impact are applied to an LC panel. Therefore, it is required that an LCD device applied to a small-sized apparatus of a slim profile and lightweight has impact resistance.

Liquid crystal display device and mobile communication terminal having the same


A DC-DC converter includes: a first series circuit in which a resonance reactor, a primary winding of a transformer, and a switching element are connected in series, the first series circuit being connected to both ends of a direct current power supply; a second series circuit in which a first rectifier, a current resonance capacitor, and a secondary winding of the transformer are connected in series, the second series circuit being connected to both ends of the direct current power supply; a rectifying/smoothing circuit having a second rectifier and a smoothing capacitor and connected to both ends of a series circuit of the current resonance capacitor and the secondary winding of the transformer; an output voltage detection circuit that detects an output voltage of the rectifying/smoothing circuit; and a control circuit that turns on and off the switching element based on an output voltage signal from the output voltage detection circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high efficiency DC-DC converter in which a switching loss of a switching element is reduced.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional DC-DC converter shown in FIG. 1 includes: a direct current power supply Vin; a first series circuit that is composed of a step-up reactor L1 and a switching element Q0 composed of a MOSFET or the like and is connected to both ends of the direct current power supply Vin; a rectifying/smoothing circuit that is composed of a rectifier (diode) D1 and a smoothing capacitor Co and is connected in parallel to the switching element Q0; an output voltage dividing series circuit that is composed of a first resistor R1 and a second resistor R2 and is connected in parallel to the smoothing capacitor Co; and a control circuit 10a that controls ON/OFF of the switching element Q0 based on a divided voltage of the first resistor R1 and the second resistor R2.
A description will be made of operations of the conventional DC-DC converter of FIG. 1 while referring to operation waveforms of the respective portions, which are shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, Vo indicates a both-end voltage of the smoothing capacitor Co, IL1 indicates a current flowing through the step-up reactor L1, ID1 indicates a current flowing through the rectifier D1, ID indicates a drain current of the switching element Q0, VDS indicates a drain-source voltage of the switching element Q0, and Vg indicates a gate drive signal of the switching element Q0.
First, in a period TM1, when the switching element Q0 turns on, the currents IL1 and ID flow through a channel of Vin (positive electrode)→L1→Q0→Vin (negative electrode).
Next, in a period TM2, when the switching element Q0 turns off, the currents IL1 and ID1 flow through a channel of Vin (positive electrode)→L1→D1→Co→Vin (negative electrode). Therefore, the drain-source voltage VDS of the switching element Q0 rises.
In the ON period TM1 of the switching element Q0, the current IL1 flowing through the step-up reactor L1 changes with time at an inclination of Vin/L1. Specifically, the current IL1 flowing through the step-up reactor L1 is the minimum immediately after the switching element Q0 turns on, and is the maximum immediately before the switching element Q0 turns off. Therefore, in the conventional DC-DC converter, a loss generated when the switching element Q0 turns off is larger than losses when the switching element Q0 turns on and remains on. In order to reduce the large loss caused when the switching element Q0 turns off, an inductance value of the step-up reactor L1 just needs to be set large, whereby the current flowing through the step-up reactor L1 when the switching element Q0 turns off just needs to be reduced.
However, when the inductance value of the step-up reactor L1 is set large, increases of an iron loss and copper loss of the step-up reactor L1 are brought about. Hence, in order not to allow the increase of either the iron loss or the copper loss, it is necessary to change the step-up reactor L1 to a larger-size one. Moreover, as a method of reducing the loss caused when the switching element Q0 turns off, it is also considered to raise a switching frequency of the switching element Q0. However, when the number of switching times increases, a switching loss also increases. Therefore, there is such a problem that heat generation of the switching element Q0 increases.
Moreover, when the inductance value of the step-up reactor L1 is set large or the switching frequency is set high, the current flowing through the step-up reactor L1 causes direct current superposition.
Then, the switching loss caused when the switching element Q0 turns on increases, and in addition, a surge current caused by a recovery current of the rectifier D1 flows through the switching element Q0. Therefore, large electric noise is generated.
Note that a DC-DC converter is known, which operates in synchronization with timing when the current flowing through the step-up reactor L1 becomes zero for the purpose of suppressing the surge current by the rectifier D1 (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-78836 (Patent Publication 1)).

High efficiency DC-DC converter for reduced switching loss


A mode decode/latch circuit decodes an input signal based on a latch timing signal to output a test mode signal to a test execution circuit. Test mode signal line includes a high-resistance portion extending from the mode decode/latch circuit toward the vicinity of the test execution circuit and a low-resistance portion connecting together the distal end of the high-resistance portion and the input of the test execution circuit. A latch circuit for latching the test mode signal based on the latch timing signal is inserted in the low-resistance portion.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device including a signal generator which delivers a fixed output signal in a specific mode, and is activated upon occurring of a timing signal to change the output signal thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Some semiconductor devices include a signal generator which operates upon occurring of a timing signal and does not deliver an active output during a period other than the period of occurring of the timing signal. Examples of such a signal generator include a test-mode signal generator which outputs a test mode signal for starting a test mode of the semiconductor device. In general, an ordinary signal line in a semiconductor device experiences a signal transition thereon along with a normal operation of a circuit component of the semiconductor device. On the other hand, the test mode signal output from the test-mode signal generator is irrelevant to the normal operation, and does not change the level thereof in the normal operation.
A normal signal line, which is active during the normal operation mode of the semiconductor device, is generally made of a low resistance material such as aluminum. On the other hand, a specific signal line, which is inactive in the normal operation mode, such as a test-mode signal line, is often made of a high resistance material such as tungsten. The specific signal line e.g., test-mode signal line may extend in a long distance between the mode-signal generation circuit and a signal receiving circuit such as a test execution circuit. The configuration wherein the specific signal line such as a test-mode signal line is made of the high resistive material is described in Patent Publications JP-1999-163065A and -1994-177251A, for example.
FIG. 3 shows a known semiconductor device including the test-mode signal generator. In this figure, a portion of the semiconductor device is expressed by an equivalent circuit including a coupling capacitance between the test-mode signal line and the normal signal line. A mode decode/latch circuit 201 decodes a code (command) input through an external signal terminal IAi for instructing start of a test mode. The mode decode/latch circuit 201 decodes the input command based on a latch timing signal TMRS occurring at the test mode, and generates a test-mode signal TEST1 based on the contents thus decoded. A signal line 204 is a normal signal line irrelevant to the test mode signal, and in this example, transmits a normal signal /SIG1, which is generated in a buffer 205 by reversing a normal signal SIG1.
A test execution circuit 202 receives the test-mode signal TEST1 output from the mode decode/latch circuit 201 and is controlled thereby. The test-mode signal TEST1 is received by a buffer 206, which outputs a test mode signal /TEST1 after reversing the test-mode signal TEST1, and is used in the test execution circuit 202. A test-mode signal line (TEST1 signal line) 203 for transmitting the test-mode signal TEST1 extends over a long distance from the mode decode/latch circuit 201 to the test execution circuit 202, which is controlled by the test-mode signal TEST1 to execute the test operation of the semiconductor device. The test-mode signal line 203 includes a first portion 203a which is made of a high-resistance material, such as tungsten, and extends over a long distance extending from the mode decode/latch circuit 201 to the vicinity of the test execution circuit 202, and a second portion 203b which is made of a low-resistance material, such as aluminum, and connects the distal end of the first portion 203a to the input of the test execution circuit 202.
Since the TEST1 signal line 203 has a higher resistance, the TEST1 signal line 203 is susceptive to a transition noise occurring on an adjacent signal line. If a normal signal line such as /SIG1 normal signal line 204 is disposed adjacent to the first portion 203a or second portion 203b of the TEST1 signal line 203, the TEST1 signal line 203 receives a transition noise from the adjacent /SIG1 normal signal line 204 upon a transition of the signal thereon and is affected by the transition noise to have a significant potential fluctuation.
FIG. 4 shows the waveform of the above situation in the semiconductor device 200 shown in FIG. 3. In the example of FIG. 3, the test-mode signals TEST1 and /TEST1 are fixed at L-level and H-level, respectively, to maintain the semiconductor device 200 in a normal mode before occurring of a signal transition of the normal signal /SIG1. When the normal signal /SIG1 rises to an H-level during the normal operation mode, the test-mode signal line 203 is affected by the signal transition of the adjacent /SIG1 normal signal line 204 in the vicinity of the distal end, i.e., node N21, of the test-mode signal line 203 due to a capacitive coupling. This causes a potential fluctuation of the test-mode signal TEST1, and if the range of potential fluctuation is large enough to cause a logical inversion of the test-mode signal TEST1 from an L-level to an H-level, as shown by a left dotted circle in FIG. 4, the test execution circuit 202 interprets the logical inversion as occurring of a test mode to control the semiconductor device 200 to operate in the test mode, thereby incurring an error.
On the other hand, if the test-mode signal TEST1 is fixed at an H-level, due to occurring a test mode, the test execution circuit 202 allows the semiconductor device 200 to operate in a test mode. When the normal signal SIG1 rises from an L-level to an H-level in the normal operation, the test-mode signal line 203 is affected by the signal transition of the adjacent /SIG1 normal signal line 204 at the distal end. This causes a potential fluctuation of the test-mode signal TEST1, and if the range of potential fluctuation is large enough to cause a logical inversion of the test-mode signal TEST1 from an H-level to an L-level, as shown by a right dotted circle in FIG. 4, the test execution circuit 202 interprets the logical inversion as occurring of a normal mode to control the semiconductor device 200 to operate in the normal mode, thereby incurring an error.
In general, a typical semiconductor device employs a design configuration wherein the test-mode signal line used for transferring a test mode signal is disposed separately from the normal signal lines, thereby preventing the influence by the operation of the normal signal lines during a normal operation mode. In an alternative or in addition thereto, a shield line is interposed between the test-mode signal line and the normal signal lines, or a buffer is interposed at the interface between the high resistance first portion 203a and the low resistance second portion 203b of the test-mode signal line 203, or the vicinity of the test executing circuit 202 to suppress the fluctuation of the potential of test-mode signal line 203.
FIG. 5 shows an example for suppressing the level fluctuation of the test-mode signal line, as described above. In a portion of the semiconductor device 200a, a shield line 207 fixed at a specific potential, e.g. ground potential, is interposed between the low resistance second portion 203b of the TEST1 signal line 203 and the /SIG1 normal signal line 204. In another portion, a buffer 208 is interposed between the high resistance first portion 203a and another low resistance second portion 203c of the TEST1 signal line 203 or the vicinity thereof FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram showing operation of the semiconductor device 200a shown in FIG. 5. If /SIG1 normal signal line 204 changes the signal level thereof in the normal operation, node N23 of the adjacent shield line 207 may change the potential thereof in response to the influence by the transition noise from /SIG1 normal signal line 204. The potential of node N21 of TEST1 signal line 203 also fluctuates due to the influence by the potential fluctuation of /SIG1 normal signal line 204 and shield line 207; however, the range of potential fluctuation of /TEST1 signal line 203 is by far lower in FIG. 5 than in the case where the shield line 207 is not interposed between /SIG1 normal signal line 204 and /TEST1 signal line 203, as shown by a left dotted circle in FIG. 6. Thus, a logical inversion of/TEST1 signal line 203 does not occur whereby an erroneous operation can be avoided.
In the vicinity of input of the test execution circuit 202b, if /SIG1 normal signal line 204 changes the potential thereof in the normal operation, the potential of node N22 of the adjacent TEST1 signal line 203 fluctuates due to the transition noise of/SIG1 normal signal line 204. However, since node N22 of the low resistance second portion 203c drives the test execution circuit 202b, the range of potential fluctuation of node N22 is smaller in FIG. 5 compared to the case where the buffer 208 is not interposed, whereby erroneous operation can be avoided, as shown in the right dotted line in FIG. 6.
In the technique wherein the test-mode signal line is disposed separately from the normal signal lines as well as the technique using a shield line between the test-mode signal line and the normal signal lines, there is a problem that the layout design of the signal lines consumes a longer time length due to the extraction of each of the test-mode signal lines. There is also a risk wherein it is difficult to correctly extract all the test mode lines from the normal signal lines.
In the technique using a buffer between the high resistance first portion and the low resistance second portion of the test-mode signal line or in the vicinity of the test execution circuit, there is a problem that it is difficult to find a space sufficient for disposing the buffer in the very vicinity of the test execution circuit.

Semiconductor device including a signal generator activated upon occurring of a timing signal


A substrate treated with a lotion including an emollient and a retention/release agent, wherein the lotion has at least one of: (a) a .DELTA.H above about 37.degree. C. of above about 10 calories/gram (and optionally, a .DELTA.H below about 37.degree. C. of above about 15 calories/gram), a total heat of melting of above about 25 calories/gram, preferably above about 30 calories/gram, and an onset of melting temperature of at least about 30.degree. C., preferably from about 30.degree. C. to about 45.degree. C.; and (b) a .DELTA.H above about 30.degree. C. of above about 15 calories/gram (and optionally, a .DELTA.H below about 30.degree. C. of above about 10 calories/gram), a total heat of melting of above about 25 calories/gram, preferably above about 30 calories/gram, and an onset of melting temperature of at least about 30.degree. C., preferably from about 30.degree. C. to about 45.degree. C. is disclosed. Preferably the lotion includes an aromatic ester or fatty alcohol ester of a non-fatty organic acid emollient or mixture thereof and a retention/release agent, and optionally, surfactant, and/or medicinal agent. The lotion has the effect of making the treated substrate, preferably tissue, towel or napkin, optionally wet-strengthened, wipe or nonwoven material, feel smooth, lubricious and nongreasy. The skin care benefits of the lotionized substrate are expressed whether the product is used dry or prewetted with water.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a substrate treated with lotion. In particular, this invention relates to a nongreasy-feeling lotionized substrate whereby the lotion transfers to the skin during use to provide a smooth, lubricious, nongreasy-feeling layer on the skin. The nongreasy-feeling lotion contains an emollient and retention/release agent. The lotion may also contain optional ingredients, including a surfactant and/or a medicinal agent.
2. Description of the Related Art
Absorbent tissue and towel products, such as facial tissue, bath tissue and paper towels, wipes and nonwoven materials have been used to absorb body fluids and cleanse and dry the skin. Absorbent products such as these have the disadvantage of abrading and drying out the skin causing uncomfortable irritation and redness. To reduce these deleterious effects, the substrate has been provided with formulations, which have lubricity thereby enabling the substrate to glide across the surface of the skin, or which become deposited on the surface of the skin in an attempt to replenish lost natural skin oils.
Examples of lotionized bathroom and facial tissue include Charmin Plus.RTM. and Puffs Plus.RTM., respectively, commercially available from the Procter & Gamble Co. These products contain a lotion based on petrolatum and mineral oil and leave a greasy feel to the skin after use.
Kleenex Ultra.RTM., made by the Kimberly-Clark Corp., is an example of a commercially available facial tissue treated with a silicone-based lotion in an effort to render the tissue smoother feeling and softer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,242 to Walter et al., discloses facial tissues containing a silicone compound represented as exhibiting improved softness and reduced linting while maintaining absorbency.
Numerous examples of premoistened wipes can be found in the marketplace. However, many of these contain volatile alcohol solutions which remove skin lipids and fats, causing dryness, and do not provide a lubricious nongreasy-feeling layer on the skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,035 to Smith relates to cosmetic applicators which include an absorbent sheet impregnated with a complex mixture of emollients, absorbent particles, fragrances and deodorizing agents. The emollients may include emollient oils, such as fatty alcohol esters of benzoic acid, col. 2, line 64, and a mixture of C.sub.12 -C.sub.15 linear primary alkyl esters of benzoic acid such as FINSOLV.RTM. TN, col. 3, lines 8-13; emollient waxes, such as C.sub.12 -C.sub.18 fatty-alcohols, col.3, line 20; cationic emollients; and nonionic emollients.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,821 to Smith et al., discloses the simultaneous moisturizing and absorbing of water from wet skin with cosmetic applicators impregnated with a water-free composition including a hydrophilic emollient oil and a hydrophobic emollient oil. The combination of benzyl alcohol ester of a C.sub.10 -C.sub.20 fatty acid with fatty alcohol esters of benzoic acid, such as C.sub.12 -C.sub.15 alkyl benzoate (FINSOLV.RTM. TN), provides a hydrophobic emollient oil. The fatty alcohol benzoates can be replaced by waxy C.sub.2 -C.sub.5 alkyl esters of fatty acids or fatty alcohol esters of C.sub.3 -C.sub.6 aliphatic carboxylic acids. A hydrophilic emollient oil is disclosed which includes a C.sub.2 -C.sub.10 polyol having 2-5 free hydroxyl groups reacted with a fatty acid, fatty alcohol or a polyoxy (lower) alcohol plus lanolin derivative of polyoxyalkylene and a polyoxyalkylene derivative of a fatty alcohol.
European Applications WO95/35411 and WO95/35412 to Klofta, et al., disclose a lotioned tissue paper represented as imparting a soft, lubricious, lotion-like feel. The lotioned tissue paper contains a lotion composition which is semi-solid or solid at 20.degree. C. The lotion composition contains a substantially water free emollient having a plastic or fluid consistency at 20.degree. C. and being a member selected from petroleum-based emollients, fatty acid ester emollients, alkyl ethoxylate emollients, fatty acid ester ethoxylates, fatty alcohol emollients, and mixtures thereof; an agent capable of immobilizing the emollient on the surface of the tissue paper, the immobilizing agent having a melting point of at least 35.degree. C. and being a member selected from C.sub.12 -C.sub.22 fatty alcohols, C.sub.12 -C.sub.22 fatty acids, C.sub.12 -C.sub.22 fatty alcohol ethoxylates, and mixtures thereof; and optionally a hydrophilic surfactant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,167 to Dake, et al., discloses an article of manufacture for cleansing the skin. A soft, flexible web having a low density wiping zone works in concert with a lipophilic cleansing emollient in an effort to remove soil from the skin with improved effectiveness. It is represented that the lipophilic cleansing emollient reduces hydration of the soil and weakens the soil-skin adhesive forces while the low density wiping zone of the web entraps and thus removes the soil from the skin.
European Application WO95/16824 to Warner et al., discloses a lotion represented as imparting a lubricious, lotion-like feel when applied to tissue paper in amounts as low as 5-15% by weight. The lotion includes plastic or fluid emollient such as petrolatum, or a mixture of petrolatum with alkyl ethoxylate emollient, and an immobilizing agent such as sorbitan stearates or N-coco, N-methyl glucamide to retain the lotion on the surface of the tissue and optionally a hydrophilic surfactant to improve wettability. Less lotion is applied than other lotionized tissue in an effort to minimize detrimental effects on tensile strength and caliper of treated tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,939 to Sugiyama et al., relates to an oil absorbing cosmetic tissue consisting of an absorbent sheet impregnated with a bactericide, such as triclosan (col. 2, line 46). This tissue is designed to absorb oil rather than to transfer a lotion to the skin.
Thus, there is a need for a lotion formulation that can be applied to a substrate which will remain readily available for transfer to the user's skin in an efficient and cost-effective manner, which provides a lubricious, nongreasy-feeling and breathable layer which maintains proper skin moisture/vapor balance, which users may find soothing to irritated skin and which may facilitate healing of chapped skin and skin suffering from discomfort, such as diaper rash or hemorrhoids.


Techniques are disclosed for designing optical transmission systems that efficiently compute cost-optimal configurations under one or more constraints. For example, in one aspect of the present invention, a technique for designing an optical transmission system comprises the following steps/operations. A set of one or more demands and a set of optical transmission system elements are obtained. Elements may be consecutively coupled via a span. At least one constraint on the design of the optical transmission system is obtained. The at least one constraint comprises: (i) a signal loss in a span should not exceed a given maximum signal loss; (ii) a signal loss in a span should not exceed a given maximum signal loss and a span should be longer than a given minimum span length; (iii) a signal loss in a span should not exceed a given first maximum signal loss and a span should be longer than a given minimum span length, however, at most one in m contiguous spans can have a loss up to a given second maximum signal loss, wherein the second maximum signal loss is greater than the first maximum signal loss; or (iv) a signal loss in a span should not exceed a given maximum signal loss and a span should be longer than a given minimum span length, and an average span loss of any m consecutive spans should not exceed a given average loss, wherein the average loss is less than the given maximum signal loss. A least-cost configuration is then computed for the optical transmission system based on at least a portion of the set of one or more demands and the set of one or more optical transmission system elements such that the at least one constraint is satisfied.

Over the last several years, there has been a tremendous growth in data traffic spurred primarily by the World Wide Web. This growth has posed a great need for large amounts of bandwidth. At the same time, revenues from the data traffic have not been growing as fast, causing carriers to look for the cheapest possible deployments. It is now clear that optical networks more than satisfactorily satisfy these needs by providing large amounts of bandwidth over a single fiber.
Since the 1980's, optical networks have been the primary point-to-point transmission links in a voice or data network. Here, traffic is converted into light at the source, transmitted through fiber over large distances, and converted back to the electrical domain at the destination. If the distance between the source and the destination is too high, the signal may have to be regenerated through an optical-electrical-optical (OEO) conversion along the way. Often, these systems are deployed as links in ring topologies carrying Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) signals, with each ring consisting of two or four fibers for protection. However, as traffic grows, a single ring quickly becomes insufficient and multiple SONET rings are stacked on top of each other to support growing traffic. This solution is not economically scalable because each ring of fibers requires its own transmission system equipment.
Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology addressed this problem by enabling the transmission of multiple wavelengths (up to 128 currently) on a single fiber. Also, new amplification technologies like Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifiers (EDFAs) and Raman pumps supported lumped amplification of a large spectrum of wavelengths and increased the reach of the signal. Together, these technologies allowed multiple traffic flows over a single strand of fiber using a common set of equipment, whether they are SONET signals or Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) channels or Multi-Protocol Label Switched (MPLS) tunnels. Further, they allowed the signal to go far without expensive OEO conversions. This dramatically reduced the costs of the networks while increasing their reach.
All of these advances in transmission technologies bring in a new set of issues. The modern transmission systems obtained high capacity and long reach by exploiting the physics of transmission media to the extreme. This has made them expensive and quite sensitive to fiber impairments. As a result, while designing an optical network for deployment, one has to select the amplification equipment carefully to guarantee error-free propagation of signal. Also, it is critical to minimize the costs associated with a transmission system deployment because these systems typically contribute the most to the overall cost of a network. Given a variety of amplifiers with varying costs and amplification strengths, the modern network designer has plenty of design choices.
Although optical network design has been an active area of research, most of the existing studies have focused on designing ring and mesh networks which contain optical transmission systems as links. They treat the links as black-boxes with simple cost functions and do not suggest the amplifiers that need to be placed on the links. Even where link cost was considered in the design, the cost was mostly a linear function of distance and was not derived from an accurate link design.
Accordingly, improved optical network design techniques are needed.

Constraint-based design of optical transmission systems


A power tool includes a housing and an electric motor assembly supported in the housing. The electric motor assembly includes a stator core and a circuit board proximate an end of the stator core. The circuit board includes a heat-generating component facing away from the stator core. The electric motor assembly also includes an end cap coupled to the stator core and in thermal contact with the heat-generating component as a heat sink to remove thermal energy from the heat-generating component.

Typical brushless direct current electric motors are electrically coupled to a printed circuit board, which includes field effect transistors (FETs) that power the electric motor. As the FETs power the electric motor, the FETs generate heat, which could increase the temperature of the printed circuit board or other components of the electric motor.

Electric motor assembly including end cap having heat sink for heat-generating electrical component


The oriented biopsy needle assembly includes a cannula hub assembly having a cannula hub fixedly attached to the proximal end of a cannula and a barrel member integral with the proximal end of the cannula hub. The barrel member and cannula hub have longitudinally coaxial bore therethrough axially aligned with and extending to the cannula. A pair of inwardly flexible finger pinching arms formed integral with and extending lengthwise over the outer surface of the barrel member are aligned opposite to each other, and each arm has an inwardly extending detent positioned to be downwardly flexed into oppositely aligned corresponding cutout slots of the barrel member. The cannula hub assembly cooperates with a stylet hub at a proximal end, a shoulder portion at a distal end of the hub, and a distal stem portion extending distally from the shoulder portion and terminating at a distal end fixedly attached to the proximal end of a sampling stylet. This distal end includes a tip member which cooperates with the walls defining the longitudinal coaxial bore of the barrel member to allow the distal end and tip member to be slidably received into the bore only when the tip member is oriented such that the sharpened distal ends of the cannula and sampling stylet are oppositely directed, and further includes a pair of oppositely aligned bi-directionally, flexible latching flanges which are received into the cutout slots of the barrel member to thereby orientate the stylet hub in a proximally retracted removably latched spaced relationship to the cannula hub. An inward flexing of the flexible finger pinching arms extends the inwardly extending detents into the cutout slots to co-act with and inwardly flex the pair of flexible latching flanges to thereby allow proximal withdrawal of the sampling stylet from the cannula so that multiple biopsies may be obtained with one insertion of the cannula.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disposable soft tissue biopsy instrument or more specifically, a cannula and stylet needle assembly. The disposable biopsy instrument of the present invention provides an oriented, spaced relationship between a hub of an inner sampling stylet and a hub of an outer cannula. The assembly is oriented such that the sharpened distal ends of the cannula and of the sampling stylet are oppositely directed and cannula and stylet hub subassemblies of the needle assembly allow for quick proximal withdraw of the sampling stylet from the cannula for inspection of the sample without removal of the cannula from the biopsy site.
More specifically, the stylet and cannula hub subassemblies are constructed: (a) to provide for smooth forward advance of the stylet hub assembly into the cannula hub assembly with minimal force forwardly when an actuating device causes relative movement between the subassemblies: (b) with flexing flanges on the stylet hub assembly and mating slots in a barrel of the cannula hub assembly which engage each other for positioning the cannula needle and stylet in a desired firing position and which prevent accidental backout of the stylet hub assembly from the cannula hub assembly; (c) to provide the flexing flanges with flexibility forwardly, rearwardly and laterally so that the flanges can absorb stress imposed thereon during forward overtravel of the cannula relative to the stylet when the actuating device is fired; and, (d) with pincher arms each having a radially inwardly facing detent which can be pushed into one of the slots to unlatch the stylet hub assembly from the cannula hub assembly to permit removal of the stylet without removing the cannula.
2. Description of the Related Art including information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97-1.99
Sampling of inner tissue on humans and animals, a so-called biopsy, has become an increasingly common procedure for the diagnosis of malignancies and for other medical uses. Typically, biopsy instruments include a needle assembly comprising a hollow outer needle (cannula) and an inner needle (sampling stylet) slideably positioned therein. The sampling stylet has a sharpened distal end and an adjacent biopsy sample-receiving notch which is telescopically disposed within the cannula and extendible from the distal end of the cannula. When so extended, the surrounding tissue expands into the sample-receiving notch of the sampling stylet. Thereafter the cannula is pushed forward to cover the stylet, thus cutting-out a tissue sample which is thereby collected in the sample-receiving notch of the sampling stylet and retained by the surrounding outer cannula When the tissue sample is taken, typically the entire needle assembly containing the collected tissue sample is withdrawn, whereupon the sample can be taken out and analyzed.
The Travenol TRU-CUTU biopsy needle available from Travenol Laboratories, Inc. of Deerfield, Ill. and the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,423 is an often used biopsy needle comprising a hollow tubular cutting cannula having a sharpened distal end attached to a plastic handle. A coaxial solid stylet telescopes within the cannula and is attached to a knob at its proximal end. The distal end of the stylet is sharpened and includes a traverse slot or specimen notch adjacent to the sharpened end. To obtain a biopsy sample using the Travenol needle, the physician positions the stylet up to or in front of the area to be biopsied, whereupon advancement of the needle assembly is halted. The stylet is then manually advanced distally of the cannula with the cannula held stationary. Upon advancement of the stylet, the specimen notch is exposed. Tissue surrounding the stylet contracts into the specimen notch and the cutting cannula is then manually advanced distally over the stylet, slowly shearing off the tissue entrapped in the stylet's specimen notch. The instrument is then withdrawn and the stylet advanced distally to expose the tissue for preparation for study. If the sampling was not successful, the stylet may be reinserted into the cannula, which remains positioned within the patient, and an attempt can be made to reposition the assembly of the stylet and the cannula to repeat sampling.
Such technique using this basic design of a biopsy instrument is referred to as a manual technique. One drawback to the manual technique is that it requires a great deal of manual dexterity and motor coordination, along with the use of both hands, to advance the stylet while maintaining the position of the cannula and then to maintain the position of the stylet while advancing the cannula.
The Beraha U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,014 discloses a transrectal prostate biopsy device which comprises a handle held in a physician's palm, and a guide tube extending forwardly of the handle. A cannula is slidably disposed within the guide tube and is movable from within the guide tube forwardly out of the distal end of the guide tube. A sampling stylet is telescopically disposed within the cannula and projects from the rear of the handle. A knob is provided at the proximal end of the stylet for extending a distal end of the stylet out of the distal end of the guide tube to expose a sampling thereon. The physician holds the handle in one hand using his index finger at the distal end of the guide tube to guide the instrument to a selected transrectal point on the prostate. Upon locating the point, one hand holds the instrument steady while the other hand pushes the stylet forward and then pushes the cannula over the stylet to sever the tissue within the sampling slot. The device is then withdrawn to gain access to the sample. In one embodiment of the device, the cannula, when in the retracted position, is spring loaded by means of a compressed spring. A release lever, which works against the compressed spring can be activated to release compression of the spring which then expands and pushes the cannula outwardly over the stylet.
A fully automatic instrument is described in the Lindgren U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,154. This instrument comprises a reusable, spring-loaded box-shaped housing or handpiece, which activates a disposable cannula and stylet set. Both the stylet and cannula are activated in rapid succession.
The instrument has the advantage of eliminating the dexterity and motor coordination necessary in use of manual device and also eliminates the slow cutting action of the manually advanced cannula and replaces it with a very quick, clean cut.
The Goto et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,215 discloses a Soft Tissue Biopsy Instrument wherein a stylet extends through a cannula mounted in a distal outer barrel member and is press-fitted into a stylet hub that is press-fitted into a locking ring that is threadably received on a mounting ring fixed in a proximal outer barrel member. The stylet hub is received in an inner proximal barrel member. To remove the stylet the proximal outer barrel member must be unthreaded from the distal outer barrel member and then the locking ring/stylet hub must be unthreaded from the mounting ring.
In the Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,551 there is disclosed a soft tissue core biopsy instrument wherein a stylet extends through a proximal outer barrel member and a distal inner barrel member, a proximal portion of which is received in the proximal outer barrel member and through a cannula mounted to a cannula hub received in the distal inner barrel member. A proximal end of the stylet is mounted to a stylet hub which has a bifurcated proximal end portion defined by two fingers. Each finger has a detent thereon which is snap-fittingly received in a recess inside a proximal end of the proximal outer barrel member. The fingers are squeezed together to release the detents from the recesses to remove the stylet. The mating recesses and detents serve to locate the stylet longitudinally and rotationally.
The oriented biopsy needle assembly of the present invention maintains the inner stylet hub and the outer cannula hub in a spaced oriented relationship whereby the user thereof may properly load or position the entire needle assembly into a reusable gun introduced without orientating the stylet hub and cannula hub into the gun individually. Alternatively, the orientation of the stylet hub and cannula hub can be maintained such that the needle assembly can be positioned into the patient without necessarily, or first, loading the needle assembly into a reusable gun. This advantageously allows a physician to pre-position the needle assembly in a patient and scan the area to be biopsied confirming the correct position of the needle with scanner techniques such as MRI, CAT, and ultrasound independent of the reusable gun which is large and heavy and requires the user to maintain control of the gun handpiece at all times. Thereafter the stylet and cannula can be either advanced manually or with the aid of the automatic gun, such as the Radiplast AB tissue sampling device described in the Lindgren U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,154. The oriented spaced relationship between the cannula hub assembly and the stylet hub assembly conforms to the loading position of the Radiplast tissue sampling device merely by establishing a conforming length between the stylet hub and the cannula hub of the needle assembly of the present invention.
Further, the needle assembly of the present invention orients the assembly such that the sharpened distal ends of the stylet and cannula are oppositely directed and are maintained free of undesirable rotation which could hinder successful biopsy collection.
Additionally, the stylet hub assembly is provided with flexing flanges and the cannula hub assembly is provided with mating slots in a barrel of the cannula hub assembly which flanges and slots engage each other for positioning the cannula needle and stylet in a desired firing position and which prevent accidental backout of the stylet hub assembly from the cannula hub assembly by reason of the flexing flanges engaging in the slots; and the flanges being flexible forwardly, rearwardly and laterally so that the flanges can absorb stress imposed thereon during forward overtravel of the cannula relative to the stylet when the actuating device is fired.
Still further, the stylet is proximally removed easily from within the cannula such that examination of the biopsy sample may be taken without removing the cannula from the biopsy site by providing pincher arms on the cannula hub assembly each having a radially inwardly facing detent which can be pushed into one of the slots to unlatch the stylet hub assembly from the cannula hub assembly to permit removal of the stylet without removing the cannula.
The above attendant advantageous features also promote the desirable goals of minimizing the time required for biopsy and providing a disposable surgical instrument adapted for biopsy procedure utilizing scanning technologies.


The present invention provides a display device substrate includes a first wiring layer formed on a substrate made of an insulating material, a second wiring layer formed to cross the first wiring layer, and an insulating film interposed between the first and second wiring layers at a cross point portion therebetween, wherein the first wiring layer is constituted by an electrode wiring layer made of a material containing aluminum as a main component and a surface covering layer formed by causing a refractory metal to denature the electrode wiring layer. The present invention also provides a method of manufacturing a display device substrate in which an electrode wiring layer made of a material containing aluminum as a main component is formed on a substrate made of an insulating material, a thin film made of a refractory metal is formed on the electrode wiring layer, and heat treatment is performed to cause the refractory metal to denature a surface portion of the electrode wiring layer, thereby forming a surface covering layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device substrate and, more particularly, to a display device substrate effectively used in a liquid crystal display device or the like having a large display screen and a method of manufacturing the display device substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, display devices represented by a liquid crystal display device and an EL (electroluminescence) display device have been used in various fields as display devices for personal computers or word processors, TV display devices, and projection type display devices because of the characteristics such as small thickness, light weight, and low power consumption of the display devices.
Of these display devices, an active-matrix display device in which switching elements are electrically connected to pixel electrodes provides a preferred display image free from crosstalk between adjacent pixels. For this reason, the active-matrix display device is extensively researched and developed.
The transmissive type active-matrix liquid crystal display device will be briefly described below with reference to its structure. This active-matrix liquid crystal display device is constructed in the following manner. Alignment films are formed on an array substrate and a counter substrate. Both the substrates are arranged to cause the alignment films to oppose each other, and a liquid crystal composition is held between the substrates. The array substrate is constructed as follows: a plurality of signal lines and a plurality of scanning lines are arranged on a glass substrate in the form of a matrix, thin-film transistors (referred to as TFTs hereinafter) serving as switching elements are arranged near cross points between the signal lines and the scanning lines, respectively, and pixel electrodes made of ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) are provided through the TFTs. In addition, storage capacitor lines are arranged on the glass substrate to be almost parallel to the scanning lines, and an insulating film is interposed between each storage capacitor line and each pixel electrode to form a storage capacitor (Cs) between the corresponding storage capacitor line and pixel electrode.
The counter substrate is arranged as follows: a matrix-like light-shielding film for shielding the TFTs and peripheral portions of pixel electrodes from light is arranged on the glass substrate, and a counter substrate made of ITO is arranged on the light-shielding film through an insulating film.
For example, the signal lines and scanning lines of the array substrate are electrically connected to a drive circuit board through an FPC (Flexible Printed Circuitboard) obtained by forming a metal wiring layer on a polyimide film, TAB (Tape Automated Bonding) obtained by arranging a drive element on a flexible wiring substrate, or the like. The counter electrode of the counter substrate is electrically connected to the array substrate through a transfer obtained by dispersing conductive particles, such as silver particles in a resin, and electrically connected to the drive circuit board through the FPC, TAB, or the like.
A liquid crystal display device or the like having the above arrangement strongly demands high definition and a large display screen. When the device is increased in size to realize a large display screen, the distortion of the waveform of a scanning pulse applied to a scanning line or a video signal voltage applied to a signal line increases as the distance between the corresponding scanning or signal line and a power supply increases. For this reason, display nonuniformity occurs in the display screen. When a drive element is directly mounted on the array substrate, display nonuniformity occurs in the display screen due to the wiring resistance of an electrode wiring layer, arranged on the array substrate, for supplying a drive signal to the drive element. In addition, when a drive circuit portion is integrally formed on the array substrate, due to the wiring resistance of an electrode wiring layer extended on the drive circuit portion, the operation frequency of the drive circuit is limited, or display nonuniformity occurs in the display screen.
In order to solve such technical problems, a structure in which scanning lines are made of a low-resistance material, such as aluminum, has been proposed. However, aluminum easily corrodes, and an uneven surface is easily formed during manufacture of the aluminum scanning lines. For this reason, an aluminum single-layer film cannot be used as the scanning lines. Therefore, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 6-120503 discloses that a multilayer film obtained by forming a metal film, such as a chromium film, a tantalum film, or a titanium film on an aluminum film is used as the scanning lines.
However, in this structure, after the aluminum is formed and patterned, forming and patterning of the other metal film is required. For this reason, in order to cover the aluminum film with the other metal film, the wiring width of the other metal film must be larger than that of the aluminum film due to patterning accuracy, and the entire wiring width of the other metal film is larger than that of the aluminum film by 6 to 7 microns.
In this manner, although aluminum is used as a wiring material, it is necessary that the wiring width be large in order to achieve a low resistance. In addition, a step difference portion along an aluminum wiring layer is formed on the surface of the wiring layer, and an insulating failure may occur at the step portion in a gate insulating film or an interlevel insulator, thereby degrading reliability of the wiring layer.

Display device substrate and method of manufacturing the same


A pad shape for a support assembly is optimized to provide universal fitting characteristics to Head-Mounted Display (HMD) devices. The pad shape enables a display of a single HMD device to be reliably aligned within multiple users' fields-of-view notwithstanding significant variations of shape and size between these users' heads. Optimal positioning of the display within the multiple users' fields-of-view may be achieved by positionally constraining the HMD device against a portion of the head that varies relatively slightly as compared to other portions of the head. The contact pad includes a curved region having a shape defined by a high order polynomial that corresponds to an empirically determined best fit surface. Empirically determining one or both of the best fit surface or the high order polynomial may include aligning a plurality of “forehead” point clouds that map the geometries of a sample set of users' foreheads.

Ensuring that a display is maintained at an optimal position with respect to a user's field-of-view poses unique challenges in the design of Head-Mounted Display (HMD) devices due to variations of shape and size between different users' heads. This is because for any particular user the optimal position of the display generally falls within a relatively narrow range of that particular user's field-of-view (e.g., due to the nature of the micro-optical systems that the display deploys to generate imagery). Unfortunately, the geometric relationships between users' fields-of-view and those surfaces of the users' heads where HMD devices are physically supported varies greatly from one user to another. Thus, a support assembly that is well suited to maintain an attached display at an optimal position within one user's field-of-view may be poorly suited to do the same for another user. This poses an ergonomic problem because attempting to view images that are generated by a display that is in-optimally placed will typically cause visual fatigue as the user's eyes work hard to focus on the images—often leading to head aches and other user discomfort issues.
Furthermore, because the shapes of users' heads vary greatly from one user to another, designers typically incorporate deformable pads for conforming to the various head shapes. Unfortunately, such deformable pads are generally made of thick materials that are easily compressed and can be worn across a wide range of positions on any given user's head—which only exacerbates the challenges of ensuring that an HMD device display will be optimally positioned with various different users' fields-of-view.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Support assembly pad shape for providing universal fitting head-mounted display devices


A method is disclosed in which fuel scrap of UO.sub.2 alone or UO.sub.2 containing an oxide of plutonium, gadolinium or erbium is recycled into the manufacture of nuclear fuel pellets. The fuel scrap consisting of defective fuel pellets is comminuted through oxidation to fuel particles of U.sub.3 O.sub.8 alone or U.sub.3 O.sub.8 containing an oxide of plutonium, gadolinium or erbium, and a sintering aid containing an element selected from the group consisting of aluminum, magnesium, niobium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, lithium, silicon, tin and mixtures thereof is added in a quantity of about 0.02% to about 2% by weight to the sintering powder which consists of said recycled fuel particles and fresh fuel powder having a composition of UO.sub.2 alone or UO.sub.2 in a mixture of PuO.sub.2, Gd.sub.2 O.sub.3 or Er.sub.2 O.sub.3. The sintering powder is then mixed uniformly, in which the amount of the recycled fuel particles is in the range of about 10% to about 100% by weight. Green pellets are made by pressing the sintering powder and then sintered at about 1500.degree. C. to about 1800.degree. C. in a reducing atmosphere to produce new fuel pellets.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the recycle of defective fuel pellets having a composition of UO.sub.2 alone or UO.sub.2 containing an oxide of plutonium, gadolinium or erbium into the manufacture of new fuel pellets. Particularly this invention relates to a method for comminuting defective fuel pellets through oxidation to fuel particles of U.sub.3 O.sub.8 alone or U.sub.3 O.sub.8 containing an oxide of plutonium, gadolinium or erbium, adding a sintering aid to the sintering powder which consists of said recycled fuel particles and fresh fuel powder of UO.sub.2 alone or UO.sub.2 in a mixture of PuO.sub.2, Gd.sub.2 O.sub.3 or Er.sub.2 O.sub.3, mixing the sintering powder uniformly, pressing the sintering powder into green pellets, and sintering green pellets in a reducing atmosphere to make new fuel pellets.
2. Description of Prior Art
The common method used to fabricate fuel pellets of UO.sub.2 alone or UO.sub.2 containing an oxide of plutonium, gadolinium or erbium consists of the following steps ; mixing or homogenizing fresh fuel powder, cold-pressing powder into green pellets, sintering green pellets in a reducing atmosphere at a temperature of at least 1500.degree. C., to achieve density of about 95% TD (theoretical density is 10.96 g/cm.sup.3), and then grinding sintered pellets to a diameter set by specification.
Nuclear fuel pellets used in nuclear power reactors must meet stringent fuel specifications in order to allow efficient and economical operation of the power reactors.
During sintering, some pellets have cracks or deform into an "hour-glass" shape having a central diameter too small for use, and sludge is also produced during grinding. Pellet chips can be produced during handling. In addition, the corresponding batch will be sometimes defective pellets if the sample representing one batch does not meet fuel specification. Since defective fuel pellets and grinding sludge are expensive and radioactive, they can not be discarded. Under a normal operation of fabrication, plant fuel scrap is recycled into the manufacture of new fuel pellets.
The art commonly used in recycling UO.sub.2 fuel scrap is known. Defective UO.sub.2 pellets are comminuted to U.sub.3 O.sub.8 particles through the oxidation at a temperature in the range of 400.degree. C. to 700.degree. C. for 2 to 4 hours under a flowing air. Recycled U.sub.3 O.sub.8 particles and grinding sludge are mixed with fresh UO.sub.2 powder, and then the mixed powder is pressed and sintered to produce new UO.sub.2 fuel pellets. However, recycled U.sub.3 O.sub.8 particles and grinding sludge are much less sinterable than fresh UO.sub.2 powder, and, in particular, especially recycled U.sub.3 O.sub.8 particles cause more complicated problem since the reduction of U.sub.3 O.sub.8 to UO.sub.2 makes pores in the fuel pellet during sintering in a reducing atmosphere. It is known that the sintered density of fuel pellet decreases with the contents of recycled U.sub.3 O.sub.8 particle and grinding sludge, so the amounts of recycled U.sub.3 O.sub.8 particle and grinding sludge which can be directly mixed with fresh UO.sub.2 powder are limited within about 7% and about 3% by weight, respectively, in order to avoid excessive density drop.
In case a large amount of defective UO.sub.2 pellets has to be recycled, the prior art described above will not be an effective method since the amount of recycled U.sub.3 O.sub.8 particle which can be directly mixed with fresh UO.sub.2 powder is restricted, which means that it will take a long time for defective pellets to be recycled. Moreover, the remaining defective pellets will have to be stored for a very long time, if new fuel pellets of which U.sup.235 enrichment is different from that of scrap material are fabricated before all the defective UO.sub.2 pellets are recycled. Recently, the amount of recycled U.sub.3 O.sub.8 particle to be added to fresh UO.sub.2 powder is much restricted since fuel density is controlled to be in a higher range within fuel specification.
The problem that the amount of fuel scrap which can be directly recycled is limited is common to the manufacture of not only UO.sub.2 fuel but also UO.sub.2 fuel containing an oxide of plutonium, gadolinium or erbium. When UO.sub.2 fuel containing an oxide of plutonium, gadolinium or erbium is produced, this problem is much aggravated since these fuels are less sinterable than UO.sub.2 fuel. Thus the amount of fuel scrap which can be directly recycled will be much smaller.
In order to overcome the above problem, the arts have been disclosed in which fuel scrap is treated entirely to be sinterable powder suitable for the manufacture of new fuel pellets. U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,419, U.S. Pat. No. 3,294,493, U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,151, U.S. Pat. No. 3,343,926, and European Pat. No. 84 129 describe methods of processing fuel scrap through oxidation and reduction in a fluidized bed; fuel scrap consisting of defective pellets and grinding sludge is oxidized to U.sub.3 O.sub.8 particle, which is then reduced to UO.sub.2 particle, and the UO.sub.2 particle so produced is subsequently oxidized and reduced up to 5 times. Particle size becomes smaller due to the repeated oxidation-reduction cycle, and thus sinterable UO.sub.2 powder can be produced in at least one oxidation-reduction cycle. Specific fluidized beds and processing variables such as temperatures for oxidation and reduction and/or gas composition are disclosed. However, disadvantages of the above art that a fluidized bed has to be additionally provided and powder treatments are hard to control. Oxidation rate of UO.sub.2 powder is much faster than that of defective UO.sub.2 pellets and thus resultant reaction heat can increase the temperature of powder above 800.degree. C. The powder so produced has unexpectedly a very low surface area and thus is poorly sinterable.

Method for recycling fuel scrap into manufacture of nuclear fuel pellets