Curable silicone mixture containing an alkenyl-functional silicone, an Si—H functional silicone, an epoxy-functional silicone, a ferrocene, and a hydrosilylation curing catalyst, provide thermally stable silicones which are also adherent. The compositions are particularly useful for embedding power semiconductor devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a crosslinkable silicone mixture which contains a ferrocene compound and an alkoxysilane having at least one epoxide group.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic components are being operated at ever greater powers and the power density continues to increase as a result of progressive miniaturization. Power electronics in particular requires new materials which withstand a temperature of above 200° C. in the long term and afford long-term protection against environmental influences for the power semiconductors embedded therein and ensure insulation performance. The silicone gels used to date in the field of power modules do not meet this requirement since thermooxidative embrittlement occurs above about 180° C. and allows the gel to harden; in addition, delamination and bubble formation of the embedding gel from the substrate to be protected is observed.
MX 9702803 describes fluorosilicone gels which are heat-stabilized by addition of ferrocene or ferrocene derivatives, so that the mechanical properties are largely maintained under the action of heat.
Fluorosilicone gels which have been heat-stabilized by means of ferrocene or ferrocene derivatives have been described. However, pure heat stability does not suffice for protection of electronic components, i.e. the pure stability of the usually low modulus of the crosslinked silicone is not sufficient to protect the electronics to a satisfactory extent. Rather, the delamination and bubble formation of the embedding mixture which occurs at such high temperatures has to be prevented.


A mounting structure for a printed circuit board, includes a printed circuit board to which a heavy material is fixed; a fixing member fixed to the printed circuit board immediately below the heavy material; and a receiving member fixed to a main body. A bottom portion of the fixing member is disposed in the receiving member, and fixed to the receiving member by a resin adhesive.

Semiconductor devices such as power semiconductor modules and various other parts are used in power conversion systems, such as inverters and converters, and in on-board electrical circuits. These semiconductor devices and various parts are often exposed to vibration environments during their operations.
Next is described a mounting structure for a printed circuit board, in which a printed circuit board having a heavy material such as a transformer, a capacitor or other electrical circuit part thereon is mounted on a chassis (a housing) fixed with a power semiconductor module or the engine of an automobile. An object (the power semiconductor module or the automobile chassis) onto which the printed circuit board is mounted is referred to as "main body" herein.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional diagram showing substantial parts of a conventional printed circuit board mounting structure. Fixation members 2 are fixed to corners of a main body 1, and a printed circuit board 5 is disposed above the main body 1 in such a manner that corners of the printed circuit board 5 are positioned on the fixation members 2. The printed circuit board 5 is fixed to the fixation members 2 by screwing the corners of the printed circuit board 5 with screws 10.
However, when the printed circuit board 5 is larger than the main body 1, the screws 10 are placed not only on the corners of the printed circuit board 5 but also on the other parts of the printed circuit board 5 at predetermined intervals.
A heavy material 3, such as a transformer, a capacitor, or an inductor, is fixed in the central part of the printed circuit board 5. Light materials 4, such as resistors or semiconductor elements, are fixed around the heavy material 3. In other words, the heavy material 3 and the light materials 4 here are electrical parts.
This conventional mounting structure for the printed circuit board 5 in which the corners of the printed circuit board 5 are fixed by the screws 10 and the fixation members 2 is a beam model structure for supporting both ends of the printed circuit board 5. Therefore, when the main body 1 vibrates, the printed circuit board 5 consequently vibrates. The printed circuit board 5 vibrates with large amplitude with low resonance frequency because the printed circuit board 5 has the heavy material 3 fixed at its central part.
An electronic circuit device described in Patent Document 1 has a lower substrate on which a principal circuit is formed, an upper substrate on which a drive control circuit for controlling drive of the principal circuit is formed, and a resin case. This resin case has external lead terminals of the principal circuit and the drive control circuit at an external surface of a circumferential edge and has a substrate storage space on the inside of the circumferential edge. In this electronic circuit device, the upper substrate is located above the lower substrate, and the space above the lower substrate is filled with filler. In this electronic circuit device, resin is used as the filler, and a supporting material is fixed to a position above the lower substrate with the hardened resin. Fixing and supporting the upper substrate using this supporting material can enhance vibration resistance and reliability of the upper substrate. For example, four of the supporting materials (such as bolts) are disposed around a heavy material to fix the heavy material onto the upper substrate.
Patent Document 2 describes a power semiconductor device in which a power element is sealed into a package. This semiconductor device contains the package, the power element fixed into the package, bonding wires connected to the power element, and a gelled insulator covering the power element. The inside of the package is filled with a foaming material so as to fill a hollow section remaining in the package. This can prevent damage due to resonance of the components of the power semiconductor device which is caused when the power semiconductor device is used under conditions in which vibrations are applied thereto from the outside.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-166358
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-68940

Mounting structure for printed circuit board, and semiconductor device using such structure


A device for creating a reference humidity that includes a saturation chamber and a condensate cooler in fluid communication with the saturation chamber and arranged downstream of the saturation chamber, wherein the condensate cooler is a fin-type condenser whose arrangement is such that substantially horizontal gas flow through the condensation cooler results. A measuring chamber connected with the condensate cooler, in which a desired reference humidity is definitely set by varying pressures and/or temperatures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for creating a reference humidity that includes a saturation chamber, a downstream arranged condensate cooler and a measuring chamber connected with the condensate cooler, in which a desired reference humidity can be definitely set by varying pressures and/or temperatures.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Two basically different methods for calibrating humidity measuring apparatus (for example dewpoint hygrometers for measuring the dewpoint temperature or hygrometers for measuring the relative humidity) are known at the present time and are discussed below.
Comparison Method
Here, a device for creating reference humidity, or a system in general, is utilized, by which gas or air of a predetermined, as stable as possible relative humidity or dewpoint temperature is created ("humidity representation"). A reference measuring device is required in addition, which measures the actual humidity, and whose reading is compared with the test specimen.
Relatively simple systems for representing the humidity are generally considered for the comparison method, which only need to assure sufficient stability.
Reference Method
A system, or a device, which generates gas or air of a defined temperature or a defined reference humidity, is also needed with this system. However, in contrast to the comparison method, no additional reference measuring device is required, instead the system provides the humidity or the dewpoint temperature of a known value with such high accuracy (or low uncertainty) and stability that no reference measuring device is necessary. With a correct layout of the system, the stability and accuracy of the humidity representation is clearly better than that of the known reference measuring devices.
In connection with the reference method, so-called 2-pressure/2-temperature humidity generators are customarily employed as the devices for creating reference humidity, such as they are known from EP 0 989 373 A2 or from the publication entitled "The NBS Two Pressure Humidity Generator, Mark 2", by S. Hasegawa and J. W. Little, J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. 81A, No. 1, pp. 81 to 88 (1977). Their functional principle will be briefly explained in what follows.
Dry air or nitrogen at a pressure p1 is conducted here via a pressure regulator through a water bath in a saturation chamber (pre-saturating device) with the temperature ts. As a result, practically water vapor-saturated air at an approximate dewpoint temperature ˜ts at a pressure p1 is obtained.
Subsequently, the saturated air is conducted through a heated connecting line with a temperature tv1>ts into a condensate cooler. The condensate cooler is temperature-stabilized in a highly stable liquid bath and cools the inflowing air to the condenser temperature t1, wherein the entire amount of excess water appears as the condensate. As a result, air at a pressure p1 and a temperature t1 is obtained, which is completely saturated with water vapor. The pressure p1 and temperature t1 are measured directly in the condensate cooler.
The partial water vapor pressure ew′(t1, p1) of the air in the condensate cooler is obtained by means of the following equation (1)ew′(t1, p1)=ew(t1)*f(p1, t1)  Equ. (1)wherein
ew(t): saturation vapor pressure of water at the temperature t in the pure phase in accordance with the following reference: Sonntag, D., "Important New Values of the Physical Constants of the 1986 Vapour Pressure Formulations based on ITS-90 and Psychometer Formulae", Z. Meteorol70 (1990) 5, pp. 340 to 344 ("the Sonntag reference").
f(p,t): actual gas correction ("enhancement factor") of air in accordance with the following references: 1) B. Hardy, "ITS-Formulations for Vapour Pressure, Frostpoint Temperature, Dewpoint Temperature and Enhancement Factors in the Range −100 to 100° C.", Third International Symposium on Humidity and Moisture (1998), pp. 214 to 221 ("the Hardy reference") and 2) Greenspan, L., "Functional Equations for Enhancement Factors for CO2-Free Moist Air", J. Research NBS, A. Physics and Chemistry 80A (1976), pp. 41 to 44 ("the Greenspan reference").
ew′(p,t): saturated vapor pressure of the actual system in the presence of air or N2.
The saturated air is removed from the condensate cooler through a heated connecting line with a temperature tv2>t1, is relaxed to the pressure p2 via a heated needle valve with the temperature tp>tv2 and is conducted through a heated connecting line with the temperature tv3>tv2 to a consumer or measuring chamber, wherein the gas pressure p2 is measured in the measuring chamber.
The partial water vapor pressure e at the location of the consumer then results ase=(p2/p1)*ew′(p1, t1)  Equ. (2)and the dewpoint temperature td from the equation (3):e=ew′(p2, td)  Equ. (3)
The system is operated at a continuous gas flow wherein, with the right construction, the dewpoint td of the gas flow results merely from the measurement of the two pressures p1 and p2 and the condensate cooler temperature t1.
By varying the condensate cooler pressure p1 and the condensate cooler temperature t1 it is possible to obtain minimal dewpoint temperatures of −27° C. at a maximum pressure of 9400 mbar and a temperature t1=0.2° C.
Vice versa, it is possible to obtain a maximum dewpoint temperature of 90° C. at a temperature t1=100° C. and a pressure p1=1430 mbar.
By subsequently introducing the gas flow into a measuring chamber with the temperature t2 it is possible to obtain a relative humidity UwUw=(e/e′w(p2, t2))*100  Equ. (4)in it.
In this way it is possible to achieve minimal dewpoint temperatures up to approximately −27° C. for positive temperatures t1. For lower dewpoint temperatures it would be necessary to considerably increase the condensate cooler pressure p1 (p1=100 bar for td˜−50° C., p1=400 bar for td˜−60° C.), however, this results in technical problems regarding sturdiness and safety. But it is decisive that, based on the available experimental measurement data known in the literature, the applicability range of the functions of the Sonntag, Hardy and Greenspan references mentioned previously is limited to pressure ranges below p1=20 bar.
Therefore the humidity representation for low dewpoint temperatures is no longer performed by the saturation vapor pressure with respect to water, but to ice, which leads to similar functions. The humidity representation with respect to ice is customarily obtained by two known methods.
In a first variation, dry gas is saturated over an ice layer, wherein the ice layer can be embodied as a covering of ice on helical tubes, for example, which are stabilized to a temperature of t1<0° C. In connection with this, a difficulty typically arises of producing an appropriate ice layer in the helical tubes. Moreover, the life of such a system with the amounts of ice at the tube walls, problems can arise in general because of flow losses in the helical tubes in the form of pressure losses, which in turn can lead to significant measuring errors. At the end of the life of the ice layer it is necessary to thaw the system, and a fresh covering of the tube walls with ice must be provided.
In a second variation, excess moisture is removed from moist air by sublimation in a condenser. Essentially the same process is performed as in a condensate cooler wherein, however, in contrast thereto ice is precipitated. But this method has two substantial disadvantages.
The ice is mainly precipitated at the inlet side, which very quickly leads to the condensate cooler freezing up. Significant pressure losses occur very rapidly in the condensate cooler, which in turn lead to corresponding measurement errors. Furthermore, the ice customarily does not precipitate in the form of a massive smooth layer of ice, but in the form of hoarfrost, which has only slight sturdiness and mechanical stability. The ice needles being created in the course of this have a tendency to be carried along in the gas flow, which in turn leads to an erroneous representation of the humidity.
Regarding humidity representation methods by the 2-pressure/2-temperature systems, there are different variations, which substantially always aim toward a simplification of the basic principle. For example, the two temperatures t1 and t2 can be identical, and a purely 2-pressure system is obtained, wherein the relative humidity is only adjusted by the pressure. If, however, both pressures p1 and p2 are selected to be identical, a 2-temperature system results for the representation of the relative humidity. In the case of a dewpoint representation, such a system then is also called a 1-pressure generator, in which the dewpoint representation takes place only by the condenser temperature.
The systems can operate with a continuous gas flow, as described above. However, there are also systems (2-temperature generators, or 1-pressure generators), which are operated with a circulating gas flow.
Independently of the respective embodiment, all variations are however based on the same basic principle. With all systems, the construction of the condensate cooler or condenser between the saturation device and the consumer has a central importance. Although systems exist for all dewpoint ranges, which operate with great accuracy, completely different systems are customarily required for different dewpoint ranges which, moreover, can have substantial disadvantages in their operation (pressure loss, short service life, limitations at high temperatures).
Several known embodiments of the condensate cooler now exist.
Plate condensers or fin-type condensers are known, wherein the gas flow is conducted up and down in a meander shape in a plate condenser, in fact vertically. In this connection reference is made for example to the publication by A. Scholz "A Standard Calibrator for Air Hygrometers", OIML Bulletin No. 97, December 1984, pp. 18 to 27. In such condensate coolers, excess water is precipitated at the bottom of the condenser and must be removed relatively often, since too high a water level leads directly to pressure losses and therefore to measurement errors.
Condensate coolers in the form of helical tube coolers are furthermore known. Here, the gas flow is conducted in a helical tube through cooling medium, wherein the excess water is precipitated at the tube walls and flows into a water precipitator. This also must be periodically emptied.
Normally, these condenser structures can only be used for an actual condensate operation, they are only useful in a limited way for a humidity representation over ice and for a limited time, since the ice is precipitated immediately at the input side and plugs up the condenser.

Device for creating a reference humidity


A fault isolation technique for checking the accuracy of data packets transmitted between nodes of a parallel processor. An independent crc is kept of all data sent from one processor to another, and received from one processor to another. At the end of each checkpoint, the crcs are compared. If they do not match, there was an error. The crcs may be cleared and restarted at each checkpoint. In the preferred embodiment, the basic functionality is to calculate a CRC of all packet data that has been successfully transmitted across a given link. This CRC is done on both ends of the link, thereby allowing an independent check on all data believed to have been correctly transmitted. Preferably, all links have this CRC coverage, and the CRC used in this link level check is different from that used in the packet transfer protocol. This independent check, if successfully passed, virtually eliminates the possibility that any data errors were missed during the previous transfer period.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field distributed-memory message-passing parallel computer design and system software, as applied for example to computation in the field of life sciences. More specifically, it relates to system software libraries supporting global communications used by many parallel applications.
2. Background Art
Provisional patent application No. 60/271,124, titled "A Massively Parallel SuperComputer" describes a computer comprised of many computing nodes and a smaller number of I/O nodes. These nodes are connected by several networks. In particular, a dual-functional tree network that supports integer combining operations, such as integer maximums and minimums.
In parallel supercomputers, there is an enormous amount of data sent from one processor to another in the form of messages. These messages are protected from corruption by standard techniques such as parity checking, crc checking, etc where the parity of the data, or crc of the data, is included in the data sent from one processor to another, calculated by the receiving processor, and compared. However, if there is a failure in the logic used to compute the compare, or double error faults escape parity detection, etc, some message errors may propagate through the machine without detection. In the machine described in the above-mentioned provisional patent application No. 60/271,124, there are approximately 64,000 processors with about 1,000,000 links sending 256 bytes each microsecond. Even with an error rate as low as 1 in 10–15, which is an extremely low bit error rate, there would be 1 error per second. What is needed is a simple means to insure that no error has occurred in data transmission between sender and receiver, without additional computation.

Fault isolation through no-overhead link level CRC

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates generally to a cell culture stirring vessel and associated impeller. More particularly, it relates to a fully integrated, disposable spinner flask vessel having a suspended impeller assembly permanently integrated therein. The invention is particularly suitable for use in applications where cells are suspended within a liquid medium with minimal shear forces.

In various scientific fields, it is useful to grow cells in a culture media (such as a liquid suspension) over an extended period of time. However, increasing cell numbers results in the depletion of nutrients in the culture medium. When the media is allowed to stagnate, cell growth is inhibited and the cells can die.
Accordingly, the cell culture suspension must be stirred in order to effectively grow cells. A spinner flask is a type of cell culture vessel that employs a suspended impeller driven by an external rotating magnet under the base of the spinner flask to maintain the cells in suspension. However, impellers impart hydrodynamic stress on growing cells that can damage cells or alter their morphology. Impellers are usually suspended in the cell culture media and are stirred via a direct coupling to an overhead motor, or through magnetic induction from a rotating magnet in the base of the support for the culture flask. If the impeller rotation or movement is too strong or the blades are too rigid or too long, the cells may be sheared by the force of the impeller or blades. Likewise, if the impeller rotation or movement is too weak or the blades are too short, the cells may not remain suspended.
Further, care must be taken not to contaminate the culture media. Spinner flasks have typically consisted of glass and metal reusable cell culture vessels comprising an amalgam of working parts each of which requires cleaning, sterilization (usually by autoclave) and proper storage between uses. Therefore, there is a need for an inexpensive, disposable, pre-sterilized, fully integrated cell culture vessel which provides gentle stirring to prevent shearing and keep cells suspended.


Methods and apparatuses for enabling electronic communication with an audibly-impaired user are disclosed. A communication device receives a call from a video endpoint associated with a calling party, wherein the call is intended for the audibly-impaired user. If the audibly-impaired user is unavailable to receive the call, information is selected from a database with one or more entries associated with the audibly-impaired user. The one or more entries include a video greeting previously recorded by the audibly-impaired user and a text greeting previously entered by the audibly-impaired user. The video greeting and the text greeting are combined as a merged video stream. The merged video stream is then presented on the video endpoint associated with the calling party.

Traditional communication systems, such as standard and cellular telephone systems, enable verbal communications between people at different locations. Communication systems for audibly-impaired individuals (e.g., individuals with hearing impairments, speech impairments, or a combination thereof) enable non-audible communications. For example, some such communication systems enable audibly-impaired individuals to communicate using communication endpoints (e.g., video endpoints, text endpoints, etc.) configured to transmit and receive non-audible communications (e.g., video, text, etc.).
These communication endpoints are sometimes registered with entities that provide services for audibly-impaired users (e.g., communication session enabling services, user account information databases, audible to non-audible communication translation, etc.).
Some communication systems for audibly-impaired people enable communications between communication devices for audibly-impaired people and communication systems for audibly-capable users (e.g., standard telephones, cellular telephones, etc.). For example, a Video Relay Service (VRS) may provide speech to sign language translation services, and sign language to speech translation services for a communication session between a video phone for an audibly-impaired user and a traditional telephone for an audibly-capable user. In other words, the VRS may be used so an audibly-impaired user can carry on conversations with an audibly-capable person. In such systems, the audibly-impaired user will use sign language to a translator and the translator will speak what is signed to the audibly-capable user. In the other direction, the translator will listen to the audibly-capable user then sign what was spoken to the audibly-impaired user.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and apparatuses for video and text in communication greetings for the audibly-impaired


Data is transferred over a bus from one device to another, or between one device and another system resource, such as a central processor. This data is classified into one of several types. "Hard real time" data must be transferred within a specified time limit or "deadline" and it is unacceptable to miss a deadline. "Soft real time" data should be transferred before a deadline and, although some missed deadlines are tolerable, the lower the number of missed deadline the better. "Loss sensitive" data has no deadlines, but any loss of data is unacceptable. "Non-real time" data also has no deadlines, but the lower the time delay in transferring the data the better. The intelligence that controls the transfer of data and schedules access to the bus is distributed throughout the system. Part of this scheduling intelligence is included in the bus arbiter, while the remainder is incorporated in the devices themselves.

This invention pertains to computer systems and other information handling systems and, more particularly, to a computer system having a distributed scheduling algorithm for the transfer of various classes of data (e.g., real time data, loss sensitive data and non-real time data) over a bus.
Data to be transferred from one point to another can be classified into one of several categories depending on how critical it is to transfer the data within a specified time limit, and the tolerance for loss of any portion of the data. Four classifications of data are described immediately below.
"Hard real time data" is data that must be transferred within a specified time limit, i.e., before a "deadline". Failure to transfer any portion of the data before the deadline is catastrophic because critical data will be lost. Thus, the performance objective for the transfer of hard real time ("HRT") data is "no missed deadlines" and, consequently, no lost data.
"Soft real time data" is data that should be transferred within a specified deadline and failure to transfer before the deadline results in lost data, but loss of some data is tolerable. The performance objective for the transfer of soft real time ("SRT") data is "low percentage of missed deadlines" and, consequently, a low percentage of lost data.
"Loss sensitive data" is data that has no deadline within which it must be transferred. Any loss of data, however, is intolerable. Thus, the performance objective for loss sensitive ("LS") data is "minimal lost data". Note that delay is irrelevant when measuring the performance of loss sensitive data transfers. In other words, it doesn't matter how long it takes to get there, as long as all the data gets transferred.
"Non real time data" is also data that has no deadline within which it must be transferred. But the performance measurement for non-real time ("NRT") data is "low delay". In other words, less delay is better.
Devices in a computer system, such as network adapters and disk drive adapters, are usually interconnected via a bus to permit the transfer of data from one device to another, and from one device to and from other system resources, such as the central processor and memory. Each of these devices has a particular type of data that it normally transfers, such as real time, loss sensitive or non-real time data. An arbiter is usually connected to the bus to make decisions as to which device will get current access to the bus. Thus, when two or more devices need to use the bus at the same time, the arbiter decides which device gets access and when.
In one advanced system (specifically, one employing the DEC 21150 PCI to PCI bridge chip, which includes a secondary bus arbiter), the bus arbiter uses a two level priority scheme and implements "fairness" within each priority group. With fairness, if there is more than one device of the same priority level requesting bus access at the same time, the arbiter rotates bus access from one device to the next, thereby preventing one device from monopolizing the bus. Fairness, however, does not cross the boundary between one priority level and another. Therefore, even with fairness, one or more high priority devices can potentially monopolize the bus from a low priority device, causing data loss for the low priority device.
Several schemes have been described that provide a trade-off between real time, non-real time and loss sensitive data traffic. In minimum laxity threshold ("MLT") scheduling, non-real time devices are serviced first, unless the "laxity" of a soft real time device is less than a threshold ("laxity threshold"). "Laxity" is the time remaining until a deadline is reached; in other words, the time preceding a deadline. And if the deadline is reached, data will be lost. Thus, MLT provides a near optimal trade-off between soft real time and non-real time data.
In minimum buffer threshold ("MBT") scheduling, non-real time data is serviced first, unless the buffer of a loss sensitive device is within a threshold ("buffer threshold") of overflowing. And if the buffer overflows, loss sensitive data will be lost. Thus, MBT provides a near optimal trade-off between loss sensitive and non-real time data traffic.
The problem with the MLT and MBT schemes, both of which have been previously proposed and studied, is that they are not implementable on a bus because the arbiter has no knowledge of the laxity thresholds of the soft real time devices, and the buffer thresholds of loss sensitive devices. Although it would be possible to add control lines to the bus whereby threshold and other information could be conveyed to the arbiter, one object of the present invention is to provide an improved scheduling scheme that does not require additional bus lines. Another object of the invention is to provide a scheduling system for transferring data over a bus that approximates the combined performance of both MLT and MBT schemes to provide near optimal trade-off between all fours types of data; hard real time, soft real time, loss sensitive and non-real time. To accomplish these and other objectives, the present invention uses a distributed scheduling scheme that puts part of the scheduling intelligence in the arbiter, and the other part in the devices themselves.

Distributed scheduling for the transfer of real time, loss sensitive and non-real time data over a bus

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention provides a food product comprising: a formed reduced glycemic response cereal component; and a non-sticky reduced glycemic response sweetener coating over the formed cereal component, the sweetener coating comprising: a first sticky layer comprising at least about 30% fructose (of the total sweetener coating); a second less sticky layer having a DE value of about 60 or less and comprising up to about 17% fructose and at least about 1% non-fructose carbohydrates (of the total sweetener coating); and third layer comprising crystalline fructose. The present invention also provides a process for forming the sweetener coating over the formed cereal component comprising the following steps: (a) providing a formed cereal component having thereon a first sticky layer comprising fructose; (b) forming over the first sticky layer a less stick second layer comprising non-fructose carbohydrates and optionally fructose; and (c) applying crystalline fructose over the second layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a food product comprising a formed cereal component and a non-sticky reduced glycemic response sweetener coating on the formed cereal component. The present invention further relates a process for forming a non-sticky reduced glycemic response sweetener coating on the formed cereal component.
2. Related Art
If individuals are overweight or are diabetic, high post-meal blood glucose elevations and prolonged blood glucose levels may have a negative impact on health. In addition, a significant number of diabetics are known to be overweight. To avoid elevated blood glucose levels in such at-risk individuals, early dietary regimens limited the intake of dietary carbohydrate because glycemic control was generally better with this type of regimen. However, researchers found that even low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets were associated with dyslipidemias and cardiovascular disease. In 1950, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommended increasing the proportion of calories provided by carbohydrate to lower cardiovascular risk. As the medical community gained a greater understanding of diabetes, dietary recommendations continued to evolve by suggesting increased consumption of carbohydrates.
Depending on the chemical composition and the rate of digestion and absorption, carbohydrates may differ in their ability to raise blood glucose levels (i.e., may cause differing glycemic responses). Simple sugars, such as glucose, may be rapidly absorbed by a human and produce an immediate spike in the blood glucose levels of a diabetic or other individual. Even conventional complex carbohydrates may produce such an immediate spike because such carbohydrates are rapidly converted to glucose by enzymatic hydrolysis during the process of digestion. Starches which are resistant to digestion, such as cornstarch, may also be converted to a rapidly digested form upon heating. Thus, a problem to be solved is to supply complex carbohydrates, as well as sweeteners which produce a reduced or blunted glycemic response in diabetics by being gradually converted to glucose and absorbed at a reduced rate.
Having at-risk individuals, such as diabetics and those who are overweight, adhere to a diet which reduces the glycemic response may also be a challenge. Many of the foods suggested for such diets may be unappealing or unappetizing to the individual involved. The formulation of such foods may also present other problems including greatly increased cost, processing challenges, etc. Therefore, there exists a need for food products which provide: (1) a reduced glycemic response; (2) are appealing and appetizing to the individuals who need or would like to consume such products; and (3) do not create other problems such as greatly increased cost, processing challenges, etc.

Controlled glycemic response sweetened cereal product


A method for covering an inanimate object with a botanical article includes the following steps: taking a dried botanical article having at least one surface, applying an adhesive to the surface of the botanical article, affixing the botanical item to the inanimate object by applying the surface covered with the adhesive to the inanimate object, whereby a natural veining and coloring of the botanical article are preserved, and optionally, applying a sealant over the botanical articles covering the inanimate object. The inanimate object may include sculptures, vessels, carvings, and frames. The botanical article may include flower petals, leaves, skeleton leaves, plant skins, and combinations thereof.

In the artistic world, there is a striving to adorn inanimate objects with unique surfaces to enhance their aesthetic appeal.
U.S. Pat. No. 116,375 teaches a method of preserving flower petals by drying the flowers in an acid treated gravel and strengthening the dried petals with a coating of wax.
U.S. Pat. No. 996,788 teaches a method of preserving flowers by immersing fresh flowers in a mixture of flake glue, sugar, Epsom salt, and tartaric acid. Thereafter, the flower may be dipped into a coloring solution of alcohol and dye. Then, if desired, the flowers may be colored with a brush. Finally, a coating of varnish may be applied.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,779,299 teaches a method of preserving flowers by applying a waxy coating, then a binding coating, and finally a colloidal coating.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,569 teaches that flowers may be preserved with a formulation of sucrose, isoascorbic or ascorbic acid (or salts thereof), and 8-hydroxyquinoline (or sulphates or salts thereof).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,448 teaches that flowers may be preserved by contacting with an aqueous solution containing a carbamoylphosphonate compound.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,490 teaches that flowers may be preserved with a composition having an active ingredient of a naphthoquinone derivative.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,571 teaches a method of preserving a flower by immersing in an essentially water-free composition of a dehydrating alcohol, a carboxylic acid, a urea-containing compound, an alkaline citrate, and an optional dehydrating agent.
JP59-044301 teaches that flowers may be preserved with a solution of adhesive and a fade-preventing agent (alum).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,342 teaches that plants may be preserved during a drought (or it can be used to preserve cut flowers) by applying a solid water permeable film which controls water loss to the surface of the plants.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,840 teaches preserving flowers with a water-soluble solution of a polyamino organic acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,265,346 teaches a method of preserving flowers by coating the flower with beeswax and then applying a sealant of natural lacquer over the beeswax.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,395,114 teaches a method creating from a plant by coating, with at least one layer, the plant with a composition consisting of: an adhesive, a latex emulsion, and a thickener. The plant is encased and preserved under the hardened composition. This botanical sculpture consists of a plant plastered with a viscous paste composition. The plant is the armature (frame or skeleton upon which the sculpture is built). It is noted that the latex emulsion alone is not sufficient to accomplish the '114 invention because with the use of the latex emulsion alone, the plant will not hold its shape. There is no mention of affixing the plant to an inanimate object.
Most of the foregoing are directed to preserving flowers and are not directed to the invention discussed below which is a method for decorating an inanimate object with a botanical article.
It is known to cover mannequins with newspaper. These mannequins, however, do not have the esthetic quality required in the invention discussed below.
There is a need for a method for covering an inanimate object with a botanical article where the natural veining and color of the botanical article are preserved and the exterior appearance of the inanimate object is enhanced.

Method for ornamentally decorating an inanimate object


An electrode for electrolytic capacitors having a large capacitance and having excellent tan xcex4, heat resistance, humidity resistance and stability. An electrolytic capacitor using the electrode. An electrode obtained by attaching a compound having a siloxane bond onto the surface of an electrode body including a valve-acting metal having formed thereon a dielectric film. The compound having a siloxane bond is attached by coating, dipping or vapor deposition. A solid electrolytic capacitor obtained by forming an electrolyte including an electrically conducting polymer on the electrode.

The present invention relates to an electrode for electrolytic capacitors, an electrolytic capacitor using the electrode, and a manufacturing method therefor.
To keep up with the recent trend toward reduction in the size and the weight of electronic equipment, a compact capacitor showing low impedance in the high frequency region and having a large capacitance is demanded. As a capacitor for use at high frequency, mica capacitor, film capacitor, ceramic capacitor and the like have been heretofore used. These capacitors are however, not suitable for achieving a large capacitance. As a compact capacitor having a large capacitance, aluminum electrolytic capacitor and tantalum electrolytic capacitor are generally used.
The electrolyte used in these electrolytic capacitors is a liquid electrolyte or a solid manganese dioxide. In recent years, a capacitor where a TCNQ (7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane) complex salt, which is an organic semiconductor, is used as the solid electrolyte has been proposed.
This capacitor is disadvantageous in that although the TCNQ complex salt is heated/melted, impregnated into an electrode and cooled/solidified to form a solid electrolyte, the TCNQ complex salt is likely to decompose and deteriorate at the melting temperature. Therefore, the production process thereof becomes very complicated and the cost increases.
In order to solve these problems, use of a solid electrolyte comprising a polymer of 5-membered heterocyclic compound having an electrical conductivity higher than the manganese dioxide or TCNQ complex salt, such as pyrroles, thiophenes and furans, have been proposed. A solid electrolytic capacitor using such an electrically conducting polymer has superior frequency properties compared with electrolytic capacitors using an electrolytic solution, because the electrically conducting polymer exhibits high electrical conductivity.
With respect to the surface treatment of electrochemically formed film (dielectric film) of the electrode, a method of allowing silicic acid or silicate to be present on the film surface to prevent deterioration in the capacitance and dielectric loss at high temperature and high humidity is known (see, JP-A-5-234821 (the term xe2x80x9cJP-Axe2x80x9d as used herein means an xe2x80x9cunexamined published Japanese patent applicationxe2x80x9d) and JP-A-5-234822). However, this method is problematic with respect to humidity resistance.
Also, a solid electrolytic capacitor using a valve-acting metal having formed thereon a dielectric layer after surface treating the valve-acting metal by impregnating it with a silane coupling agent solution is known (JP-A-2-74021). The silane coupling agent is used in the form of an aqueous solution, and silanol is produced after hydrolysis and reacts by condensation with the hydroxyl group of the dielectric film to form a covalent bond. Therefore, heating is necessary. Furthermore, a thin film capacitor which is surface treated by dipping it in a solution of chlorosilane-based surfactant containing a fluorinated carbon chain (see, JP-A-4-36721) is known. In this technique, the chemical reaction group of the silane compound chemically bonds to the hydroxyl group of the dielectric film in a non-aqueous solvent system, and surface modification can be attained. However, HCl may be side produced to damage the dielectric film, and the reagent is expensive and readily reacts with water. As a result, this method is problematic with respect to profitability and stability of the reagent.
In the case of a solid electrolytic capacitor where the dielectric film on the valve-acting metal is an inorganic material and the electrolyte formed on the film is an electrically conducting polymer of an organic material, adhesion between the electrically conducting polymer and the dielectric film is weak and separation therebetween takes place very often at high temperatures. Accordingly, the capacitance disadvantageously decreases with time.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrode suitable for electrolytic capacitors, preferably electrolytic capacitors using an electrically conducting polymer for the electrode, where the electrolytic capacitor has a large capacitance and high stability at high temperatures.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems and fundamentally provides the following embodiments:
(1) an electrode for an electrolytic capacitor, obtained by attaching a compound having a siloxane bond onto an electrode comprising a valve-acting metal having on the surface thereof a porous dielectric film;
(2) a method for manufacturing an electrode for an electrolytic capacitor, comprising dipping an electrode comprising a valve-acting metal having on the surface thereof a porous dielectric film in a solution of a compound having a siloxane bond, or coating the solution on the electrode;
(3) a method for manufacturing an electrolytic capacitor, comprising exposing an electrode comprising a valve-acting metal having on the surface thereof a porous dielectric film to an atmosphere of a compound having a siloxane bond to attach said compound to the surface of the electrode;
(4) a solid electrolytic capacitor obtained by forming an electrolyte comprising an electrically conducting polymer on an electrode described in (1) above; and
(5) a method for manufacturing an electrolytic capacitor, comprising attaching a compound having a siloxane bond onto a dielectric film of an electrode, comprising a valve-acting metal having on the surface thereof a porous dielectric film, with the end part thereof undertaking the anode part, forming in sequence an electrode on the dielectric film and further thereon an electrically conducting layer, thereby fabricating a capacitor device using these members as the cathode part, and connecting a lead frame to the anode part and the cathode part.

Electrode for electrolytic capacitor, electrolytic capacitor, and manufacturing method therefor


A semiconductor device test circuit includes a data producing unit to produce first test data to be fed into a semiconductor device, and expected value data; a first data retaining unit to retain the first test data, and feed the first test data into the semiconductor device; a second data retaining unit to retain the expected value data; a comparison unit to compare output data outputted through the first data retaining unit and the expected value data outputted from the second data retaining unit to supply data indicating comparison result between the output data and the expected value data; and a switching unit to switch the data fed into the second data retaining unit between the expected value data and the output data, wherein the first data retaining unit and the second data retaining unit form parts of a scan chain into which second test data may externally be fed.

A method in which a BIST (Built-In Self Test) circuit is used is well known as the method for testing the semiconductor memory device, such as RAM, that is built in a semiconductor integrated circuit such as LSI (Large Scale Integration) (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open Nos. 2006-4509, 2002-32998, and 11-65872). Such method is hereinafter appropriately referred to as "BIST testing." The BIST circuit is built in the semiconductor integrated circuit in advance. The BIST circuit includes a data generation circuit that automatically produces a test pattern, and a comparison circuit that compares an expected value and an output from the semiconductor memory device. In the BIST testing, the expected value and the output data from the semiconductor memory device into which the test pattern produced by the data generation circuit are compared, and a test result indicating whether or not a defect is occurred in the semiconductor memory device is supplied to an LSI tester or the like based on a result of the comparison.
Another method in which a scan test circuit including plural scan flip-flops forming a scan path or a scan chain is used is well known as the method for testing the semiconductor memory device (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open Nos. 2006-4509 and 2002-32998). Such method is hereinafter appropriately referred to as "scan test." The scan test circuit is built in the semiconductor integrated circuit in advance. In the scan test, after the test pattern supplied from the outside of the semiconductor memory device is retained by an input-side scan flip-flop of the semiconductor memory device through the scan path, the test pattern is fed into the semiconductor memory device. Further, the output data from the semiconductor memory device is retained by an output-side scan flip-flop of the semiconductor memory device. Thus, determination whether or not the defect is generated semiconductor memory device is made by taking out the output data retained by the scan flip-flop to the outside through the scan path.
In the BIST testing, the data pattern is automatically produced by the BIST circuit, more specifically by the data generation circuit forming a part of the BIST circuit, so that the semiconductor memory device can be tested for a shorter time then that of the scan test. However, because the BIST testing is limited to a range of the test pattern automatically produced by the BIST circuit, various tests of the semiconductor memory device are hardly performed compared with the scan test, in which any test pattern can externally be fed into the semiconductor memory device.
In other words, in the scan test, although any test pattern can be fed into the semiconductor memory device from the outside, many test patterns are hardly fed into the semiconductor memory device to perform the test compared with the BIST testing in which the test pattern is automatically produced.
On the other hand, in the test circuit that is built in the semiconductor integrated circuit to test the semiconductor memory device, desirably a circuit area or a circuit size of the test circuit is reduced as much as possible.
In view of the foregoing, an object of embodiments of the invention is to provide a semiconductor device that can perform both the BIST testing and the scan test without increasing the circuit area.


An apparatus for measuring spectral components of Raman-scattered light emitted by target. The apparatus includes: pulsed laser light source to emit light; probe optics to direct light towards target and to collect light scattered by target; optical spectrometer including: input divider to divide collected light into first and second light beams; first spectrograph including input apertures for receiving said light beams and optical disperser to disperse said light beams; second spectrograph comprising input apertures and output apertures; and spatial light modulator to receive dispersed first and second light beams and to selectively provide at least part of at least one of dispersed first and second light beams to input aperture of second spectrograph which reverses dispersion of light beam and focuses light beam to output aperture; detector element to measure spectral components of light beam exiting output aperture. Optical spectrometer further includes delay line(s) line for delaying light beam(s).

Over the past few decades, Raman spectroscopy has gained popularity as a widely used spectroscopic method to characterize and identify a target material, or to distinguish the target material from other materials. Raman spectroscopy is widely used in various fields, for example, art and archaeology, chemistry (both for organic and inorganic materials), geology, life sciences, pharmaceutics, semiconductors, and the like. Typically, the Raman spectroscopy is based upon interaction of light with chemical bonds within the target material. Upon said interaction, a Raman spectrum is generated which provides a distinct chemical fingerprint (comprising information pertaining to chemical structure, phase, polymorphism, crystallinity, molecular interactions, and the like) for molecules of the target material. Typically, the Raman spectroscopy is feasible with a range of diverse techniques involving optical components, such as, an optical spectrometer.
However, existing techniques for the Raman spectroscopy are associated with several limitations. Firstly, the existing techniques are associated with undesirable pulse front tilts, when single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array detectors are employed in the optical spectrometer that uses angular dispersion. The greater the angular dispersion, the greater is the tilting of pulse front of light pulses. This broadens temporal response function of the optical spectrometer, leading to a poor time resolution. Moreover, the SPAD array detectors that are optimized for near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths are expensive to design and manufacture, thus are not available off-the-shelf. Secondly, a spatial light modulator (SLM) based spectrometer having one spectrograph and the SPAD array detectors is highly sub-optimal in nature. This is due to the fact that in such spectrometer, different wavelengths cannot be focused accurately to a same point. Thirdly, existing SLM based spectrometers having two spectrographs typically have a single channel for light propagation, and are not well suited to obtain an optimal combination of wavelength resolution, a spectral range and a large throughput. Moreover, such spectrometers are also inefficient in terms of stray light reduction, and maximizing dynamic range of single pulse (namely, a maximum number of the SPAD counts per single laser pulse). Further, the existing techniques and equipment for Raman spectroscopy are not well suited for detecting weak Raman signals combined with a strong and a short-lived photoluminescence. This leads to inaccuracies in measuring spectral components of such Raman signals.
Therefore, in light of the foregoing discussion, there exists a need to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks associated with the existing equipment and techniques for Raman spectroscopy.

Apparatus and method for measuring spectral components of Raman scattered light


A process for preparing a N-phenylisoxazolidin-5-one derivative is provided. The process for preparing the N-phenylisoxazolidin-5-one derivative comprises reacting an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde with nitrosobenzene in the presence of a N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyst. A process for preparing an N-alkoxyphenyl protected β-amino acid ester derivative is further provided. The process for preparing the N-alkoxyphenyl protected β-amino acid ester derivative comprises reacting an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde with nitrosobenzene in the presence of a N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalyst to form a N-phenylisoxazolidin-5-one derivative, and then treating the N-phenylisoxazolidin-5-one derivative with an alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst. A process for preparing an N-alkoxyphenyl protected β-amino acid ester derivative, comprising treating a N-phenylisoxazolidin-5-one derivative with an alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst, is also provided.

N-Phenylisoxazolidin-5-one derivatives may be used as intermediates in the preparation of β-amino acid esters, which can be further converted into other biologically important compounds, for example, β-amino acids. β-Amino acids possess biologically important properties, occur in natural products, and are the building blocks to several bioactive compounds.
The preparation of N-phenylisoxazolidin-5-one derivatives may involve carbon-nitrogen (C—N) bond forming reactions. Catalytic methods for C—N bond formation have been reported and have been applied in organic synthesis, including in the preparation of pharmaceuticals and natural products.
Organocatalytic reactions for forming C—N bonds are of interest, as these reactions may avoid the use of toxic and/or expensive metal catalysts. Examples of organocatalytic C—N bond formation reactions, including proline-catalyzed direct α-aminations of carbonyl compounds, have been reported. N-Nitroso aldol reaction of enamines selectively forming N-hydroxyaminoketones have also been reported (see, for example, Yamamoto, H. and Momiyama, N. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 1080; Momiyama, N.; Yamamoto, Y.; Yamamoto, H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 1190). The enantioselective conjugate addition of N-silyloxycarbamates to enals using imidazolidinone catalysts has been used to obtain enantio-enriched β-amino aldehydes. The reaction of enals and N-protected hydroxylamine in the presence of chiral pyrrolidine catalysts, forming 5-hydroxyisoxazolidines that are further converted to the corresponding β-amino acids or γ-amino alcohols, has been reported.
In addition to C—N bond formation, organocatalytic reactions for forming carbon-carbon (C—C) bonds have been reported. For example, NHC-catalyzed activation of carbonyl compounds has been reported as a potential method for metal-free C—C bond forming reactions via the nucleophilic "Breslow intermediate", or the homoenolate equivalent species (see, for example, Sohn, S. S.; Rosen, E. L.; Bode, J. F. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 14370; Burstein, C. and Glorius, F. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2004, 43, 6205). The ability of thiamine-dependent enzymes to convert aromatic nitroso compounds into hydroxamic acids has been reported.
Additional approaches to synthesizing N-phenylisoxazolidin-5-one derivatives and β-amino acid ester derivatives involving readily available reactants and catalysts are desirable.

Agency for Science, Technology and Research


The present invention relates to novel host cells and to methods of producing proteins. More specifically the invention relates to a host cell useful for the expression of heterologous proteins, which host cell has been genetically modified in order to express significantly reduced levels of a metalloprotease. Moreover the invention relates to a method of producing a heterologous protein, which method comprises cultivating the host cell in a suitable growth medium, followed by recovery of the desired protein.

The use of recombinant host cells in the expression of heterologous proteins has in recent years greatly simplified the production of large quantities of commercially valuable proteins, which otherwise are obtainable only by purification from their native sources. Currently, there is a varied selection of expression systems from which to choose for the production of any given protein, including eubacterial and eucaryotic hosts. The selection of an appropriate expression system often not only depends on the ability of the host cell to produce adequate yields of the protein in an active state, but also to a large extent may be governed by the intended end use of the protein.
One problem frequently encountered is the high level of proteolytic enzymes produced by a given host cell or in the culture medium. It has been suggested that one could provide host organism deprived of the ability of producing specific proteolytic compounds. For example, International Patent Application WO 90/00192 describes filamentous fungal hosts incapable of excreting enzymatically active aspartic proteinase, and EP 574 347 describes Aspergillus hosts defective in a serine protease of the subtilisin-type.
Metalloproteases have been isolated from a number of eucaryotic sources. Neutral metalloproteases, i.e. metalloproteases having optimal activity at neutral pH, isolated from strains of Aspergillus also have been reported. Neutral metalloproteases have been classified into two groups, NpI and NpII [Sekine; Agric. Biol. Chem. 1972 36 207-216]. Recently the nucleotide sequence of a neutral metalloprotease II cDNA from Aspergillus oryzae have been disclosed [Tatsumi H, Murakami S, Tsuji R F, Ishida Y, Murakami K, Masaki A, Kawabe H, Arimura H, Nakano E and Motai H; Mol. Gen. Genet. 1991 228 97-103]. The nucleotide sequence of a neutral metalloprotease I cDNA from Aspergillus oryzae have never been disclosed.
Although metalloproteases have been reported, their role in relation to reducing the stability of the products obtained from these organisms have never been described.

Host cell expressing reduced levels of a metalloprotease and methods using the host cell in protein production


The method includes forming a gate oxide on a substrate. A stacked-amorphous-silicon (SAS) layer is then formed on the gate oxide. An anti-reflective coating (ARC) layer is formed on the SAS layer. Next, a gate structure is patterned by etching. A silicon oxynitride layer is formed on the substrate, and covered the gate structure. A BSG sidewall spacers are formed on the side walls of the gate structure. A selective epitaxial silicon is grown on the substrate by using ultra high vacuum chemical vapor deposition. Then, an ARC layer is removed to expose the top of the SAS layer. Then, a blanket ion implantation is carried out to implant p type dopant into the SAS layer, the epitaxial silicon and silicon substrate. A SALICIDE layer, a polycide layer are respectively formed on the SAS layer and the epitaxial silicon. Further, the extended source and drain are formed in the step. A thick oxide layer is formed over the substrate and gate structure for isolation. Then, contact holes are generated in the oxide layer. Next, a metallization is carried out to form electrically connecting structure over the contact holes.

The semiconductor industry has been advanced in an ever brisk pace, recently. In order to achieve high performance integrated circuits or high package density of a wafer, the sizes of semiconductor devices have become smaller and smaller than before in the field of Ultra Large Scale Integrated (ULSI) technologies.
Integrated circuits includes more than millions devices in a specific area of a wafer and electrically connecting structure for connecting these devices to perform desired function. One of the typical devices is metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). The MOSFET has been widely, traditionally applied in the semiconductor technologies. As the trend of the integrated circuits, the fabrication of the MOSFET also meets various issues to fabricate them. The typically issue that relates to hot carriers injection is overcame by the development of lightly doped drain (LDD) structure.
Further, the requirement of the devices towards high operation speed and low operation power. For deep sub-micron meter MOS devices, the self-aligned silicide (SALICIDE) contact, ultra-shallow source and drain junction are used for improving the operation speed and short channel effect as seen in reference "Silicided Silicon-Sidewall Source and Drain (S.sup.4 D) structure for high-performance 75-nm gate length p MOSFETs, T. Yoshitomi et al., 1995, Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical papers". The highly doped silicon sidewall converted with silicide film are used as a part of source and drain. The extension of the source and drain is produced by the solid-phase diffusion of boron from the highly doped silicon sidewall. In another research by T. Yoshitomi, he develops a high performance CMOS with good control of short channel effect and silicide resistance. Please see "High Performance 0.15 .mu.m Single Gate Co Salicide CMOS, T. Yoshitomi et al., 1996, Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical papers". The CoSi.sub.2, NiSi have been used for deep sub-micron high speed CMOS due to the low sheet resistance of fine silicide line. However, it is difficult to make ultra-shallow junction and form SALICIDE contact without degrading the device performance.
The requirement of the ULSI CMOS technology is the need of devices operated at low supply voltage and they have high speed. When the supply-voltage is reduced, the threshold voltage needs to be scaled down to achieve the desired circuit switching speed. IBM has proposed that CMOS employs non-uniform channel doping profiles and ultra-shallow source and drain extensions and halos, which can be referenced in "CMOS technology scaling 0.1 .mu.m and beyond, IBM semiconductor research and development center, Bijan Davari, 1996, IEDM, 96-555". For the high performance case, the threshold voltage is scaled down less than the supply voltage in order to maintain a reasonable standby current.
Further, in order to achieve the low voltage operation with small threshold voltage, the surface channel PMOSFET with the p+ polysilicon gate has been investigated in place of the buried channel with the n+ polysilicon gate due to the superior short channel behavior. Unfortunately, the effect of boron penetration through the thin gate oxide into Si substrate will degrade the device performance. Prior art approaches to overcome these problems have resulted in the development of stacked-amorphous-silicon (SAS) film to suppress the boron penetration into ultra-thin gate oxide. As seen in "Suppression of Boron Penetration into an Ultra-Thin Gate Oxide by Using a Stacked-Amorphous-Silicon (SAS) Film, Shye Lin Wu, 1993, IEDM, p. 329". In this paper, Wu suggests that the use of stacked-amorphous-silicon (SAS) can suppress the boron penetration through an ultra-thin oxide. The SAS gate capacitor exhibits a smaller flat-band voltage shift, a less charge trapping and interface state generation rate than those of the as-deposited poly-Si gate capacitor. The main reason of the suppression of the boron or fluorine penetration by using SAS is because that the SAS structure exhibits the dopant segregation at the stacked-Si boundaries and a longer path for dopant diffusion to the interface between silicon and oxide.

Method to form stacked-Si gate pMOSFETs with elevated and extended S/D junction


For controlling a voltage generator (1), a control signal (PBM) is used, with an active part having a variable number of pulses (N) which determines the value of the output voltage of the generator. The output voltage of the generator is used to control the contrast of an LCD screen and the number of pulses in the control signal is adjusted in accordance with the temperature of the LCD screen to compensate for the effect that temperature has upon contrast.

The invention relates to a voltage generator intended to be controlled by a control signal which comprises at least an active part and an inactive part.
The invention also relates to a signal intended to be used for controlling a voltage generator and comprising at least an active part and an inactive part, a circuit for controlling the contrast of a liquid crystal display screen by varying a power supply voltage applied to said screen, and an electronic device comprising a liquid crystal display screen and such a control circuit.
The invention is notably used in the field of telephony for telephone devices with liquid crystal display screens, for example screenphones, mobile phones, etc.
Such a voltage generator is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,614 filed by the applicant on Jul. 2, 1992. This voltage generator particularly comprises a DC converter controlled by a microprocessor. The control signal supplied by this microprocessor to said converter is a pulse width-modulated signal. The output voltage of the converter thus varies with the cyclic ratio of said control signal.
Such a voltage generator behaves quite satisfactorily in the majority of cases. However, it may be insufficient when an output voltage is to be obtained which varies in a very precise way, as is, for example the case when controlling the contrast of a liquid crystal display screen.

Control signal for a voltage generator for an LCD screen control circuit


A real-time transaction processing Consumer Products Distribution System (PDMS) reduces distribution costs, facilitates the distribution of products to consumers and makes online shopping practical. The PDMS integrates Collaborative Inventory Sharing, Order Aggregation, Consumer Predictive Purchasing, Product Transport Support Service, Display Shops, Uniform Consumer Preference Codes, Integrated Virtual Technical Support Centers, and other convenient features. Consumers purchase products through web sites of local and remotely located retailers preferably using Predictive Purchasing. The items purchased from multiple retailers are aggregated at a consumer selected Order Aggregation Site (OAS) based upon a consumer specified schedule. The consumer can pick up the aggregated orders at the selected OAS or have the aggregated orders delivered to a residence. Commercial carriers process consumer parcels at OASs where they are combined with Aggregated Orders for pickup or delivery. Consumers are given incentive discounts to promote the use of Predictive Purchasing, which significantly improves supply chain productivity.

The conventional distribution of products to consumers is, and always has been, a most inefficient process. Pipeline inventories tend to be much higher than necessary to support average consumer demand. Distribution times—from manufacturer to wholesaler to distributor to retailer to consumer—tend to be significantly longer than the time necessary to transport products from the manufacturer's shipping dock to the consumer's doorstep. Products often remain in warehouses for excessive periods of time. In conventional retailing, the allocation of overhead expense to each individual product sold represents a disproportionately high percentage of the retail price. On the consumer side, there are additional distribution costs such as the value of time expended to locate and select the desired products, the expense of driving to stores, and the additional cost of time and inconvenience of waiting in line at cash registers to pay for purchases.
With advances in Internet and online retailing technology, it was expected that inefficiencies associated with conventional product distribution could be significantly reduced—or even eliminated. The expectation was that Internet customers would simply place orders with various retailers and have products shipped directly to their homes. While this is exactly how electronic commerce operates at the present time, this business model is burdened by its own set of problems and gross inefficiencies. For example:                (1) The cost of processing, packing, and shipping an individual item from a distribution center to a consumer is substantially higher than the average unit cost of shipping a comparable item, in bulk, to a retailer.        (2) The requirement that a consumer be at home to accept delivery at random times during the day—especially delivery of perishable goods or items requiring the signature of a recipient—has proven to be an unexpected, major inconvenience.        (3) In an attempt to solve the home delivery problems discussed above, many consumers have created a brand new set of problems by using their employer's address for personal deliveries during the workday. Unfortunately, this "solution" creates a new problem—for the employer—by straining corporate mail system capacity and increasing corporate operating costs. As the problem grows, more and more employers are restricting this practice.
Returning online purchases represents another major inconvenience—typically involving the following time-consuming steps the consumer must complete:                (1) Secure a return authorization from the distribution center.        (2) Follow packing instructions dictated by the distribution center.        (3) Prepare a bill of lading or other required shipping documents.        (4) Get the return shipment into the hands of a common carrier. If the distribution center elects to have the customer deliver the item to a designated common carrier facility, the customer must drive to the facility where a wait in line is almost inevitable before a carrier representative actually takes more of the customer's time to process the shipment. Alternatively, the distribution center may arrange to have a common carrier pick up the item in which case the customer is inconvenienced in a different way by being committed to be home during a time window, specified by the carrier, that may span several hours or a full day.
Online retailing has also levied a heavy toll on our fragile environment. The delivery of ever-larger numbers of small parcels as individual shipments to consumers requires more and more trucks and fuel, results in increased vehicular traffic and pollution, and uses more and more non-biodegradable packaging materials such as foam and plastic.
In summary, today's consumer product distribution—either through conventional stores or online storefronts—is plagued with inefficiencies that typically raise the retail price of products to a level many times the manufacturing cost. The lack of an appropriate business model for the distribution of products to consumers limits many of the potential benefits that online merchandising can and should bring to society. These benefits include: (1) lower costs, (2) improved shopping convenience, (3) means to quickly locate any type of product, (4) broader selection of vendors, (5) increased variety of products, (6) ease of feature and price comparison, and (7) enhanced competition.
In conclusion, there is no Internet-based business model currently in operation that supports the efficient distribution of products to consumers.


A data tracing apparatus includes a data storing unit having a first area and a second area, for storing data corresponding to a predetermined number of bus cycles, a data writing/reading controlling unit for writing data alternatively to the first area and the second area for each of the predetermined number of bus cycles and for reading data stored in an area which is not subject to writing and within first area and the second area, reading being faster than writing, a dynamic memory for successively storing data read from the data storing unit by the data writing/reading controlling unit, and a refreshing unit for refreshing the dynamic memory after reading by the data writing/reading controlling unit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is concerned with an in-circuit emulator, and especially relates to a data tracing apparatus used in an in-circuit emulator.
2. Description of the Related Art
An in-circuit emulator is used for developing programs of a system which includes a microcomputer. Such an emulator has a data tracing function to store data history of signals on the data bus for a predetermined period of time. Debugging of programs is performed with reference to the data history.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the trace function unit of a conventional in-circuit emulator. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a target Central Processing Unit (CPU) to be subjected to program developing, 2 denotes a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) for storing traced data of the bus signals of the target CPU 1, 3 denotes a counter which produces addresses for making access to the SRAM 2 based on strobe signal S1 output from the target CPU, 4 denotes a write signal generating unit which generates write signal W1 for writing data to SRAM 2 based on strobe signal S1 output from the target CPU 1.
FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing timings of the signals in the in-circuit emulator indicated in FIG. 5. In FIG. 6, reference (a) shows timing of the strobe signal S1 output from the target CPU 1 by each bus cycle, reference (b) shows timing of signal T1 to be traced such as signals on the bus of the target CPU 1 and control signals, reference (c) shows timing of address signal A1 output from counter 3 for making access to the SRAM 2, reference (d) shows timing of write signal W1 output from the write signal generating unit 4.
The target CPU 1 performs operations to memories and I/O devices by bus cycles in order to deal with a user program which is the subject of debugging. The target CPU 1 recognizes the bus cycle operations by monitoring strobe signal S1. Namely, the target CPU 1 recognizes that a bus cycle operation is performed each time strobe signal S1 becomes active. In the above configuration, the strobe signal S1 is designed to be low-active.
Strobe signal S1 output from the target CPU 1 is input to the counter 3 and the write signal generating unit 4. The counter 3 increments address signal A1 and outputs it at a trailing edge of the strobe signal S1. Namely, address signal A1 is incremented each time a bus cycle operation is performed by the target CPU 1 and address signal A1 is provided to the SRAM 2. On the other hand, the write signal generating unit 4 generates write signal W1 for writing data to the SRAM 2 based on strobe signal S1 and outputs write signal W1 to the SRAM 2. Signals indicative of the status of the target CPU 1 including address bus signals, data bus signals, and other control signals are provided to the data signal input terminal of the SRAM 2 as signals T1 to be traced. Therefore, the signals T1 to be traced are stored in the SRAM 2 successively.
The conventional in-circuit emulator is configured as explained above and it is necessary for such an emulator to include a SRAM with a large capacity, which leads to a high cost and a large size of the apparatus.

Mitsubishi Electric Semiconductor Software


A head for a riveting machine for applying shear rivets, the head comprising a plate and a body that have both a hole and are slidable relative to each other, and a sliding chuck equipped with jaws and arranged within a sliding chamber, defined inside said body, so as to engage a stem of the rivet, said chuck being capable of taking a first, engagement position and a second, disengagement position, wherein a control member controlling the sliding movement of the chuck is provided, said control member being in turn controlled by the plate sliding. The invention further concerns the method of controlling the head.

A known process in mechanics is the cold permanent deformation of one end of a fastener, such as a nail, a rivet, a pin, a stud, an eyelet and so on, in order to form a head (or a counter-head, should the member be already provided with a head at the opposite end) at that end so as to obtain a fixed and non-removable connection of the pieces, e.g. section bars, sheets, rolled sections and so on, through which the fastener is arranged.
Said process, which can be either a manual or a mechanized process, is generally referred to as "setting" and, in case of mechanized processes, the tools employed will be referred to as "riveting machines".
In bodywork construction, especially but not only in aeronautical field, use of so-called shear rivets is known for fixedly connecting sheets. An example of such rivets is disclosed in GB 2 420 835.
FIGS. 1a and 1b show a rivet of the kind mentioned above applied to a pair of sheets L1, L2, before and after riveting, respectively.
This kind of rivet is generally denoted 11 and it includes a stem or shaft 13 having a head 15 and a threaded or grooved end 17a, and a collar 19 which is set on a threaded or grooved portion 17b of stem 13, by applying a relative axial traction between end 17a of stem 13 and collar 19. Said axial force causes moreover breakage of end 17a at a fracture zone, denoted by reference numeral 21, generally coincident with a corresponding annular groove.
Riveting machines designed for setting rivets of the above kind are also known. An example of such machines is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,575.
According to the prior art, the riveting process comprises the following steps:                in a first step, rivet 11 is inserted into a hole previously formed through the pieces to be connected;        collar 19 is then fitted onto rivet 11;        rivet 11 is then inserted into the head of a riveting machine, which holds rivet stem 13 inside a chuck equipped with jaws;        the front part of the machine head, generally consisting of a moving plate, is moved away from the head body, thereby causing the setting of collar 19 and the consequent breakage of end 17a of the stem;        the front part of the machine head is then moved back against the body and the machine is ready for receiving a new rivet that, when entering the head, will cause ejection, through a rear opening provided therein, of end 17a or tail that has remained seized between the jaws.
One of the problems arising when designing a riveting machine for rivets of the above kind is related with the need of getting rid of the rivet end or tail, once the latter has been broken during the setting operation, so that the machine is ready for performing a new working cycle.
In currently employed machines, the tail is generally disposed of by exploiting the push of the tail of the subsequent rivet, which is introduced into the machine head thereby ejecting the tail of the previous rivet that has remained seized between the head jaws. Yet, this method is not suitable for use in all applications.
For instance, according to the prior art, the tail can be ejected only through the rear opening in the riveting machine head. Moreover, since ejection takes place by means of a push, jamming can frequently occur due for instance to blocking of the tail or the subsequent rivet, thereby causing machine stop.
More particularly, the known method is not suitable for applications in which the channel housing the rivet tail inside the riveting machine head is used also for the passage of a flow of cooling air.
Such an air flow is generally employed for cooling the sheet surfaces during drilling performed prior to rivet insertion.
Once drilling is completed, the rivet is inserted into the hole formed in the sheets, possibly upon application of a sealing material, and is then fixed by setting.
If, after the breakage of the tail, the latter remains seized inside the machine head until the arrival of the subsequent tail, the channel for the passage of the cooling air flow would be obstructed and the riveting machine head could not be used for cooling the surfaces when drilling the subsequent hole.
A further problem arising when using the prior art riveting machines is the impossibility of freeing the rivet from the head jaws once the rivet has been seized in order to perform the setting step.
Actually, it is clear that, if for any reason, for instance a fault in rivet manufacture or a wrong positioning of the riveting machine head, the operator realizes that the riveting operation cannot be properly performed, or that the tail did not break because of the above problems, an intervention on the riveting machine head will be necessary, in order to try to unlock the jaws for releasing the rivet.
This problem is particularly serious in case of automated, robot-controlled riveting machines. In such case indeed it would be necessary to manually operate in order to release the rivet from the head, often by disassembling part of the head, in positions which can hardly be reached by the hands of an operator and with working delays, incompatible with and automated or robotized process.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems by providing a head for a riveting machine that allows a self-release of the rivet.
It is a second object of the invention to provide a head for a riveting machine that allows ejecting the rivet tail.
It is another object of the invention to provide a head for a riveting machine that allows clearing the channel inside the machine head after setting, thereby making said channel available for the passage of a cooling air flow.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a head for a riveting machine that, besides solving the above problem, can be constructed by simple and cheap modifications of the existing heads.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a method of operating a head for a riveting machine, which method allows solving the problems mentioned above and can be applied in existing heads, with a limited number of changes

Head for riveting machine and method of controlling same


A method and apparatus for controlling the thickness of press-cured composite articles during the manufacture thereof. The method includes a preparatory or prefabrication stage wherein prepreg plies are layed up and compacted to form a plurality of laminates that define a final laminate package that defines the uncured configuration of the composite article. The final laminate package may include supplemental ply-packs layed up at the mid-plane or neutral axis of the final laminate package for the purpose of controlling the overall thickness of the final laminate package. The prepreg plies layed up in the preparatory stage have been precut to conform to the final net shape of the composite article, but include a predetermined overbuild in the width dimension to facilitate control of thickness during cure of the final laminate package. The method further includes a fabrication stage wherein a deformable, back-pressure system is abutted in combination with the final laminate package, which is then subjected to a cure cycle to form the press-cured composite article. The deformable, back-pressure system is controllably deformed during the cure cycle to control and limit the lateral expansion of the final laminate package. The deformable, back-pressure system also prevents fiber washout during the cure cycle.

There is a continuing expansion of the use of composite materials for a diverse array of applications. In particular, the use of composite materials in the aerospace field is continually expanding because of the strength-to-weight advantage provided by composite materials as opposed to metallic materials.
In using composite materials to manufacture articles, particular attention must be devoted to the design and implementation of the manufacturing process for the particular composite article to be manufactured. A primary consideration in the design and implementation of a manufacturing process for composite articles in the aerospace field is that such process must produce composite articles, on a repeatable basis, with minimal deviations with respect to the one or more of the design dimensions, i.e., thickness, width, length. Out-of-tolerance deviations with respect to one or more of the design dimensions may adversely affect the structural utility of the composite article, e.g., inability to integrate such an out-of-tolerance composite article in combination with adjacent components, but, even more importantly, out-of-tolerance deviations with respect to one or more design dimensions may adversely affect the design response characteristics of the composite article. This is a particularly important consideration with respect to the manufacture of composite articles for use in the aerospace field.
For example, the use of composite flexbeams in a helicopter main rotor assembly is becoming ever more commonplace. Representative examples of composite flexbeams are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,538 (A Hybrid Composite Flexbeam for a Helicopter Bearingless Main Rotor Assembly) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,479 (A Flexbeam for a Helicopter Bearingless Main Rotor Assembly). A composite flexbeam for use in combination with a bearingless main rotor (BMR) assembly must have design dimensions that meet demanding tolerance specifications so that the design response characteristics of such composite flexbeams accommodate the bending strain, shear stress, buckling, and frequency conditions experienced during critical loading, i.e., flapwise, chordwise, torsional, and centrifugal loads, as a result of operation of the BMR assembly. The critical loading conditions include start up and shut down, which generate low-cycle, high-strain flapwise and chordwise loads, and forward flight conditions, which can generate high-cycle, high-strain loads such as 1 cycle/rev oscillatory flap and torsional displacements.
With respect to the criticality of the design dimensions of composite flexbeams, for example, a composite flexbeam must possess a certain minimum cross section to transmit the main rotor blade centrifugal loads into the rotor hub assembly. Conversely, however, the thickness of the composite material(s) comprising the composite flexbeam must be minimized to ensure that maximum allowable torsion shear strain limits are not exceeded. Flapwise and chordwise loads require additional material in the flexbeam to accommodate bending stresses. Such additional material, however, increases flexbeam stiffness, causing increased hinge offset. For a soft inplane rotor design, the chordwise flexbeam stiffness is governed by the need to establish the rotor chordwise frequency at about 0.7 cycle/rev. If the flexbeam is too compliant in chordwise flexibility, the BMR assembly is more susceptible to aeromechanical and structural instability. If the flexbeam is too stiff, however, chordwise loads will increase because of 1 cycle/rev resonance. The torsional stiffness of the pitch section should be minimized to keep pitch actuator requirements to a minimum. In contradistinction, however, the torsional stiffness of the pitch section must be sufficiently high to ensure buckling stability under edgewise loading.
Thus, it is evident that the design response characteristics of composite flexbeams are inextricably linked to, and dependent upon, the design dimensions of such composite flexbeams. Therefore, a process for manufacturing composite flexbeams must be designed to ensure that the finished composite flexbeams meet or exceed, on a repeatable basis, the demanding tolerance specifications delimited for the design dimensions of such composite flexbeams.

Apparatus for controlling thickness during lay-up and fabrication of press-cured composite articles


Derivatives of pyrrolo[2,1-b]benzothiazepines with formula (I) where A is CH—CH2C═CH; R is hydrogen, halogen, C1-C4 alkoxy, C1-C4 alkylthio, C1-C4 alkyl, C5-C6 cycloalkyl; R1 is 1-peperazinyl, 1-homopiperazinyl and 1-piperidinyl; R2 is hydrogen, C1-C4 alkoxy, C1-C4 alkylthio, C1-C4 alkyl, CHO, CH═NOH,CH2OH. The formula (I) compounds are endowed with characteristic atypical anti-psychotic activity, and are therefore useful as medicaments, in particular for the treatment and prevention of schizophrenia, paranoid states, manic-depressive states, disorders of the affective sphere, social regression, personality regression, and hallucinations. Said compounds also present advantageous pharmacokinetic properties.

The atypical antipsychotics constitute an important class of drugs for the treatment and prevention of psychotic disorders.
Such drugs were proposed as a means for overcoming the problems arising with the use of antipsychotics of the previous generation, namely, the typical antipsychotics, associated with major and severe side effects.
An example of an atypical antipsychotic agent with a favourable therapeutic application is to be found in the class of polycondensed heterocycles with a pyrrolo[2,1-b]benzothiazepine structure described in the international patent applications WO 00/06579 and WO 02/10175, both filed in the name of the present applicant. The first of these applications describes compounds in which, in the thiazepine ring, the bond between carbons 9 and 10 is saturated; conversely, in the second application said bond is unsaturated, and this latter class of compounds is also generically called "enamines". Both classes of compounds have in common, at position 9, a group that can be selected from C1-C4 dialkylamine, 4-alkyl-1-piperazinyl, 4-hydroxyalkyl-1-piperazinyl, 4-alkyl-1-piperidinyl, and 4-alkyl-1-homopiperazinyl. Particularly preferred are compounds bearing, at position 9, one of the groups 4-alkyl-1-piperazinyl, 4-hydroxyalkyl-1-piperazinyl, 4-alkyl-1-piperidinyl, 4-alkyl-1-homopiperazinyl, all commonly characterised by an alkyl group at position 4 of the heterocyclic ring.
In particular, the compound (S)(+) 7-chloro-9-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)-9,10-dihydropyrrolo[2,1-b][1,3]benzothiazepine, described in patent application WO 00/06579 and hereinafter referred to for short as ST1460, has demonstrated atypical antipsychotic properties comparable with those of the clinical reference compounds (clozapine and olanzapine) and is associated with lower risks of occurrence of extrapyramidal and/or neuroendocrine effects, characteristic of the typical antipsychotics.
The compound 9-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)-pyrrolo[2,1-b]-[1,3]benzothiazepine, described in patent application WO 02/10175 and hereinafter referred to in short as ST1899, also presents favourable pharmacological characteristics and affords the advantage, compared to the preceding compound, of greater activity and greater simplicity of synthesis.
Though endowed with a satisfactory pharmacological profile, the compounds described in the above-mentioned patent applications present kinetics calling for some improvement, in that they are characterised by rapid clearance. It is therefore desirable to have compounds with a similar, if not better, pharmacological profile, but most certainly with an improved pharmacokinetic profile.

Dealkylated derivatives of pyrrolo[2,1-b]benzothiazepines with atypical antipsychotic activity

Sigma-Tau Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite S.p.A.


A convertible golf club comprises an elongated shaft having a club head at a distal end and an overgrip at a proximal end. Removable hand guides are secured to the overgrip with a threaded attachment fastener. The hand guides each include a positioning flange that directs a golfer's hands along the overgrip length into a location appropriate for a particular type of shot. The overgrip is tapered from a minimum diameter at a proximal end of the overgrip to a maximum diameter at a distal end of the overgrip.

Golf is a well-known sport in which a golf ball is advanced around a course using an assorted set of specialized clubs. Golfers strive to complete a given course using the fewest number of strokes. In golf, low scores are the goal.
Successful golfers typically master a wide variety of complementary skills to provide consistent results. Among the most important skills a golfer can develop is the ability to grip a golf club correctly. Without the proper gripping technique, a golfer may master other skills but perpetually achieve poor results. Hand placement is so critical that even slight oversights may ruin an otherwise perfectly-executed shot. Moreover, a golfer may vary the distance of a given shot merely by gripping the club at various distances from the end of the club. For example, relatively-short shots may be achieved merely by "choking up" on a club; that is, by gripping the club slightly closer than normal towards the club head. Proper grip technique is typically developed over a period of time through practice and discipline.
Many types of equipment have been developed to help golfers adopt a proper gripping technique. For example, some golf clubs include contoured grips. These clubs are typically used during training sessions and include valleys and protrusions around which a golfer wraps his fingers. These contoured clubs may guide some players, but have limited applicability. These clubs do not allow variable hand positioning and may not fit the hands of all golfers. Additionally, these clubs are typically not allowed during tournament play. The major governing body for golf in the United States, the USGA, prohibits the use of clubs that are molded for a particular part of the hands or that include "bulges" or "waists," as these clubs do. Those who train with contoured grip clubs often must expend additional money for non-contoured grip clubs to use during tournament play.
Other clubs seek to help golfers develop grip technique by providing a tapered grip that increases in thickness as a function of distance from the butt of the club. U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,647 provides an example of this type of club. These "reverse taper" clubs are designed to accommodate the spacing of fingers wrapped around a club. Although these clubs are ergonamically designed, they provide little guidance for players-in-training. These clubs may be comfortable, but they do not address the needs of novice golfers and do not appreciably accelerate grip technique development. Additionally, some of these clubs are not usable in tournament play; they include flared end portions and run afoul of the USGA waist and bulge guidelines.
What is needed is a golf club that includes the advantages of the prior art, while addressing the shortcomings thereof. The device should be a convertible golf club that is useable during tournament and non-tournament play. The club should have a hand placement guiding system that help golfers develop grip technique without limiting the versatility of the club. The club should guide a player's hands into various positions according to the type of shot required, without being uncomfortable to those with large or small hands. The club should also perform identically in both "training" and "tournament" modes.