The present invention relates to a composition comprising as an active ingredient a strain having excellent ability to produce formic acid for preventing or treating obesity or metabolic syndromes caused by obesity; and to a food composition and a health functional food each comprising the active ingredient. The strain having excellent ability to produce formic acid according to the present invention not only has effects of reducing body weight and inhibiting fat accumulation in organs, but also has activity to effectively lower blood triglyceride and cholesterol levels, and therefore, the composition comprising the strain as an active ingredient can be favorably used as a composition capable of preventing/alleviating or treating obesity or metabolic syndromes caused by obesity. Therefore, the strain having excellent ability to produce formic acid according to the present invention can be favorably used as a material for a medical product or health food.

Recently, the improvement of living standards due to economic development has enhanced the hygiene environment, but frequent intakes of instant foods and changes of dietary life into meat-based consumption cause intake of excessive calories. However, such changes in the dietary life of modern people has resulted in a fast increase tendency of obese population since the amount of calories consumed is small due to vastly insufficient amount of exercise. Obesity not only causes external problems, but has also been reported to cause several diseases, that is, breast cancer, uterine cancer, and colorectal cancer as well as adult diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and coronary artery disease, due to the persistence of obesity, and thus obesity is now treated as one of the deadly diseases [J. Biol. Chem., 273, 32487-32490 (1998); and Nature, 404, 652-660 (2000)].
Obesity has increased by 75% globally since 1980, and in the United States, 33% and 26% of the population is reported to be overweight and obese, respectively (Ahn I S, Park K Y, Do M S. 2007. Weight control mechanisms and antiobesity functional agents. J Korean Soc Food Sci Nutr 36: 503-513). In Korea, the obesity population is also steadily increasing, and according to the 2007 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the obese population has rapidly increased from 26.3% in 1998 to 31.7% in 2005.
This obesity is caused by an imbalance of energy intake and consumption, and excess energy is converted into fat cells and stored in the body. Free fatty acids, cytokines, and the like, which are secreted from accumulated fat cells, cause insulin resistance and increase the inflammatory response, leading to direct causes of chronic disease, such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. In order to treat such obesity, the improvement of eating habits and lifestyle through exercise and diet therapy and the treatment through drug therapy and surgery are introduced, and out of these, as for the development of anti-obesity drugs to suppress obesity, more than 100 kinds of medicines are being sold or under development in the United States, and the market scale therefor is expected to gradually grow in size.
Current medicines for treating obesity may be largely classified into drugs that act on the central nervous system to affect appetite and drugs that act on the gastrointestinal tract to inhibit absorption. The drugs acting on the central nervous system include, depending on the mechanism of each drug, those inhibiting serotonin (5-HT) in the nervous system, such as fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, those acting on noradrenaline in the nervous system, such as ephedrine and caffeine, and those acting on both serotonin and noradrenaline in the nervous systems to inhibit obesity, such as sibutramine, and these drugs are available in the market. Besides, a representative example of the drugs acting on the gastrointestinal tract to inhibit obesity is orlistat, which has recently been approved as an obesity drug since orlistat inhibits lipase produced in the pancreas to reduce the absorption of fat.
However, out of conventionally used drugs, fenfluramine or the like causes sides effects, such as primary pulmonary hypertension or cardiac valve lesion and thus the use thereof has been recently prohibited; sibutramine causes side effects of increasing blood pressure; and orlistat has been reported to have side effects, such as digestive disorders, fatty stools, fecal incontinence, and the inhibition of absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Moreover, other chemically synthetic drugs cause problems, such as reduction in blood pressure or lactic acidosis, and thus could not be used for patients with cardiac insufficiency or kidney disease.
Therefore, there has been recently a growing interest in obesity medicines or anti-obesity health functional foods of natural substances having an action of inhibiting the accumulation of body fat, such as naturally-derived compounds, in order to discover an obesity treatment and prevention method causing fewer side effects and having better effects.
Meanwhile, metabolic syndrome refers to a syndrome that shows risk factors together, such as hypertriglyceridemia, hypertension, hyperglycemia, abnormal blood coagulation, and obesity. The symptoms per se are not fatal, but are likely to develop severe diseases, such as diabetes or ischemic cardiovascular diseases, resulting in a great threat to modern people.
The factors known in association with the causes and treatment of metabolic syndrome are exercise, dietary habits, weight, blood glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, insulin resistance, adiponectin, leptin, AMPK activity, sex hormones such as estrogen, genetic factors, and the malonyl-CoA concentration in the body, and these are directly or indirectly involved therein.
It is known that the best ways to alleviate these symptoms of metabolic syndrome are exercise, diet restriction, and weight loss. The common denominator in such methods having an effect on metabolic syndrome is to promote energy metabolism to consume the excess energy in the body and thus prevent the accumulation of energy. Due to the lack of exercise relative to the intake of high calorie energy, such as through processed foods and fast foods, excess energy is accumulated as fat, causing various diseases including metabolic diseases. The effective removal of such excess energy is considered to be a method for treatment of metabolic diseases. It is considered to be essential to increase metabolic activity in order to effectively remove excess energy, and for this purpose, it is considered to be necessary to activate the factors involved in the inhibition of lipogenesis, the inhibition of glucogenesis, the stimulation of glucose consumption, the promotion of lipid oxidation, and the production promotion and activation of mitochondria, the core of energy metabolism.
Therefore, the present inventors, while seeking for a substance that causes no side effects on the living body and has excellent anti-obesity activity, analyzed various organic acids, which are differently contained in the feces between a normal group and an obesity group both of Koreans in their 50s, and as a result, the present inventors confirmed that the content of formic acid was remarkably higher compared with other organic acids in the normal group compared with the obesity group. In addition, the present inventors selected strains showing excellent formic acid producing ability among various strains producing organic acids, and confirmed that experimental groups, of which obesity animal models were orally administered with the finally selected three kinds of strains, showed effects of reducing body weight, inhibiting fat accumulation in organs, and effectively lowering blood triglyceride and cholesterol levels, and thus completed the present disclosure.

Composition including, as active ingredient, strain having ability to produce formic acid for preventing or treating obesity or metabolic syndromes caused by obesity


A light emitting diode (LED) filament light bulb is disclosed. The LED filament light bulb includes a plurality of LED filaments, an RF driver, an antenna, and a cover. The antenna defines a first end portion and a second end portion, where the first end portion of the antenna is electrically connected and in signal communication with the RF driver. The cover defines an external wall and a support structure. The external wall defines an interior volume and the support structure defines an evacuation passageway and a cavity. The evacuation passageway and the antenna are both received within the cavity of the support structure and the evacuation passageway is fluidly connected to the interior volume of the cover.

Light emitting diode (LED) based lighting systems may offer several energy and reliability advantages over other types of lighting systems such as, for example, incandescent or fluorescent lighting. Thus, LED based lighting systems are increasingly being used to replace other existing lighting technologies. Although LED based lighting systems offer numerous advantages and benefits, there are still some challenges that may be faced when using this technology. For example, LED light bulbs have an unconventional appearance that is markedly different from that of an incandescent light bulb. This is because the LED chips that emit illumination are typically positioned in a horizontal orientation upon a base portion disposed within the dome of the LED light bulb. In contrast, an incandescent light bulb includes a wire filament that is suspended within the dome of the bulb and heated to glow with visible light.
Some consumers prefer the appearance of a typical incandescent light bulb when compared to an LED light bulb. Accordingly, LED filament light bulbs that mimic the appearance of an incandescent light bulb have been introduced to address this need. An LED filament light bulb includes one or more strings of LEDs that resemble a filament. Although clear filament light bulbs are popular from an aesthetic perspective, design issues may be encountered when integrating intelligent control components such as, for example, a driver board and an antenna within such bulbs. Specifically, the components that provide intelligent control are frequently located within the base of the light bulb. Since an LED filament light bulb generally includes an open base, the components may be visible to a user. In one approach to hide the components from view, an opaque dome is provided to conceal the control board and other components used for intelligent LED light bulbs. However. the opacity of the dome negates the aesthetic character sought by consumers who purchase clear filament light bulbs. Accordingly, there is a continuing need in the art for improvements that address the above-mentioned issues that conventional LED filament light bulbs may encounter.
Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

Light emitting diode (LED) filament light bulb with secured antenna


A system configuration derivation device 90 includes a storage unit 91 that stores a concretization rule in which a method is specified for concretizing abstract configuration information by confirming an unconfirmed portion of the abstract configuration information, which is information indicating configuration of a system in which the unconfirmed portion is included, and a generation unit 92 that concretizes the abstract configuration information included in configuration requirements of the system using the concretization rule stored to generate system configuration information, which is information indicating the configuration of the system in which the unconfirmed portion is not included, on the basis of the configuration requirements.

Preparatory work, that is required to be performed in advance in order to construct or update an Information and Communication Technology (ICT), includes configuration design work and procedure planning work.
The configuration design work is for designing the configuration of a system to be constructed and the configuration of a system after update. The procedure planning work is for planning the contents of the construction work for implementing the designed target configuration of the system and the contents of the update work.
When the configuration of an ICT system is designed, reusing existing development assets improves the efficiency of the design work. Non Patent Literature (NPL) 1 to NPL 3, Patent Literature (PTL) 1, and PTL 2 each disclose a technique for reusing existing development assets to design the configuration of an ICT system.
NPL 1 discloses a technique for designing according to a system to be constructed, by changing combinations of components or a value of the parameter defined for each component using the templates of the components as development assets.
NPL 2 discloses a technique for automatically designing, on the basis of the topology information about a communication network and the information regarding communication requirements, the route information setting and the like of each network device required to satisfy the communication requirements in the topology.
NPL 3 discloses a technique for designing according to a system to be constructed, by defining a change that can be executed to a base configuration represented in a graph as a graph rewriting rule and rewriting the base configuration in accordance with a selected rule.
PTL 1 discloses a design expert system construction method for automatically designing by mechanically repeating rewriting in accordance with an application procedure indicated by a rule in which an operation that applies an applicable rule among rules for rewriting a base configuration is determined in advance. The design expert system construction method disclosed in PTL 1 is a method for performing a search within a concrete area range, that is, a flat search.
PTL 2 discloses a design data automatic generation device that repeats the trial of selecting and applying an applicable rewriting rule to a base configuration including unconfirmed portions.
The design data automatic generation device disclosed in PTL 2 cancels the applied rewriting rule and tries to apply another rewriting rule when there is no applicable rewriting rule. The design data automatic generation device disclosed in PTL 2 outputs, as a design result, a configuration in which all the unconfirmed portions are determined.
PTL 3 discloses a system construction assist system intended to improve the easiness of system definition, for example, by eliminating the need to add settings according to the combination of components.

System configuration derivation device and system configuration derivation method


In some embodiments, a method includes scanning for wireless networks, where scanning includes collecting network information indicating properties of the wireless networks. The method can include analyzing the network information to determine signal data indicating signal qualities for the wireless networks. The method can include characterizing, based on the signal data, one or more wireless networks as being suitable for connection by the mobile device, where the characterizing includes determining, based on the signal data, movement of the mobile relative to one or more access points of the wireless networks. The method can include determining that one or more signals of the wireless networks are above a dwell threshold level for reliable wireless connectivity. The method can include determining that one or more signals has been dropped, and connecting to the mobile device to one of the one or more wireless networks that are suitable for connection.

Many telecommunication providers offer voice and data service to mobile phone customers. As the internet becomes more popular, mobile phone users are spending more time utilizing data services to access the internet. Data service usage consumes network bandwidth, sometimes causing reduced voice service quality. To meet demands, telecommunication providers are continuously working to expand capacity. Therefore, there is a need for technologies that provide data service to mobile phone customers.

Advanced network characterization and migration


A liquid non-aqueous dispersion including a silicone oil and a copolymer dispersed therein, the copolymer including (A) at least one radical polymerizable macromonomer containing dimethyl polysiloxane, and (B) at least one radical copolymerizable monomer with the macromonomer (A), which includes at least one (meth)acrylate monomer and optionally at least one vinyl monomer. This liquid non-aqueous dispersion has excellent water resistance, oil resistance and adhesive properties, and when used as a component of cosmetics, it can meet both requirements for long lasting make-up and good feeling of use of cosmetics.

The present invention relates to a liquid non-aqueous dispersion having a copolymer dispersed in a silicone oil, and a process for producing such a dispersion.
Various types of polymers have been used as one of base materials of cosmetics for the purpose of providing cosmetics with such functions as water resistance, oil resistance and adhesion to the skin and making cosmetics keep long. For example, high-molecular weight polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polyvinyl acetate, acrylic ester-based resins, nitrocellulose, alkyd resins, polyamide resins, methoxyethylene/maleic anhydride copolymer and alkanolamine solution of acrylic resins have been used as a base material of cosmetics such as makeup cosmetics, hair cosmetics, nail cosmetics and basic cosmetics.
Cosmetics containing these polymers are indeed improved in durability, but since the coating film formed on the human bodies by application of the cosmetics containing these polymers becomes a continuous film in which the polymer chains are intertwined with each other without a special disign, these cosmetics have the problem that they are rather awkward to be applied by users because the cosmetics give the users such an unpleasant feeling that the human bodies are pulled by the coating film formed. Thus, it was hardly possible to increase the polymer content in the cosmetic formulations, so that a cosmetic material excellent in long-keeping quality has not been obtained.
Under these circumstances, development of a polymer useful for a cosmetic material that can provide cosmetics having good feeling of use and excellent long-keeping quality has been desired.
Use of silicone-acrylic resins as such a polymer has been proposed as a solution to the above problem, and many researches have been made for the improvement of spread, removal of rough feeling and other disagreeable qualities of cosmetics by taking advantage of slip properties of the silicone component.
For instance, JP-A-2-247110 tries to satisfy both requirements for durability and good feeling of use of cosmetics by compounding a silicone-acrylic graft polymer. According to this method, however, when cosmetics blended with the polymer are applied, the coating film formed on the surface of the human body becomes a continuous film in which the polymer chains are intertwined with each other because the polymer used is the one which has been synthesized by a solution polymerization technique. Therefore, feeling of use of these cosmetics was still unsatisfactory, and there was also a restriction on the amount of polymer that can be compounded.
JP-A-8-269332 proposes to blend in cosmetics a non-aqueous resin dispersion prepared by dispersing an acrylic polymer in a hydrophobic medium such as silicone oil by using a silicone-based dispersant resin. In this case, however, as the dispersion is produced by a two-step polymerization method using a large quantity of a high-molecular weight silicone-based dispersant resin which has been previously produced by polymerization, the product assumes a state of solution in which the silicone moiety of the silicone-based dispersant resin is dissolved in a hydrophobic medium, and the obtained dispersion does not become a perfect dispersion system and is highly viscous. Further, since the coating film formed after application of cosmetics is a continuous film in which silicone segments of the silicone moiety of the silicone-based dispersant resin are similarly intertwined with each other, feeling of use of cosmetics is not improved.
Thus, for a material of cosmetics, it is desirable to blend such a polymer dispersion that polymer chains existed on the surfaces of the polymer particles are not intertwined with each other and polymer particles stand in a two dimensional array on the surface of the human body as a film when applying the cosmetics, but there has yet been available no polymer dispersion that can meet the requirement for providing cosmetics with good feeling of use.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a polymer dispersion capable of offering cosmetics which have the above-mentioned properties, good water resistance, oil resistance and adhesive qualities to help make-up last longer, can be applied with no resistance, and give good sense of use without causing a disagreeable feeling that the surface of the human body after application of cosmetics is pulled by the coating film formed.
It is also an object of the invention to provide the polymer dispersion in the form of a liquid non-aqueous preparation.

Liquid non-aqueous dispersion and process for producing the same


A processor for decontaminating devices is comprised of a chamber for holding devices and a circulation system to circulate a microbial decontamination fluid through the chamber. A water filtration system filters water used in the processor. The water filtration system has a water line connectable to a source of pressurized water. A water decontamination system fluidly communicates with the source of water and the processor. The water decontamination system has a water circulation path and a tank located within the water circulation path. Means are provided to circulate water along the water circulation path through the tank. A gas circulation path fluidly communicates with the tank. Conveying means is provided to convey gas along the gas circulation path through the tank. An ozone producing device is located along the gas circulation path to introduce ozone into gas flowing along the gas circulation path and through the tank.

Medical, dental, pharmaceutical, veterinary or mortuary instruments and devices that are exposed to blood or other body fluids require thorough cleaning and microbial decontamination or sterilization between each use. Liquid microbial decontamination systems are now widely used to clean and deactivate the microorganisms on instruments and devices that cannot withstand the high temperatures of a steam sterilization system. Liquid microbial decontamination systems typically operate by exposing the medical devices and/or instruments to a liquid disinfectant or sterilization composition, which may contain strong oxidants such as peracetic acid.
In such systems, the instruments or devices to be cleaned are typically placed within a chamber within the liquid microbial decontamination system, or in a container that is placed within the chamber. During a decontamination cycle, a liquid disinfectant is then circulated through a liquid circulation system that includes the chamber (and the container therein).
Following the decontamination cycle, a rinse solution, typically water, is circulated through the chamber to remove traces of the decontaminated microbial content and any particulate that may have accumulated on the instruments or devices during the decontamination cycle. It is important to have rinse water of high purity to ensure that the microbially decontaminated instruments and devices do not become re-contaminated during the rinse cycle.
The water used to rinse the instruments and devices generally passes through a filtration system to remove microorganism-related particulates from the water. However, filtration systems that are capable of filtering viruses are usually not used with liquid microbial decontamination systems. Thus, there is a possibility that a virus may pass through the filtration system and be introduced into the chamber during a rinse cycle.
The present invention overcomes these and other problems and provides a decontamination system for decontaminating viruses in water used in a microbial decontamination system.

Method for treating rinse water in decontamination devices


In the pneumatic radial tire of the present invention, a total strength K0 of a belt layer 20 in a circumferential direction of the tire per unit of width at a tire equator surface position P0 is set greater than a total strength of the belt layer 20 in the circumferential direction of the tire per unit of width at a width position P2 corresponding to ⅔ of a maximum width of the belt layer having the tire equator surface CL as a center.

A conventional pneumatic radial tire, especially an aircraft radial tire has a large swell of a tread surface in its radial direction by a high internal pressure and a centrifugal force caused by high speed rotation.
If the tread surface swells in the radial direction, a tread rubber is expanded in a circumferential direction of the tire.
Generally, the aircraft radial tire is used under conditions of high internal pressure and high load. Therefore, when the tire rides over foreign matter, the aircraft radial tire is poor in properties by which a tread thereof is not damaged when the entire tire rides over the foreign matter, i.e., so-called "enveloping properties". In a state in which the tread rubber of the tire is expanded in the circumferential direction of the tire, a resistance force against the foreign matter becomes weak, and there is a problem that the trampled foreign matter easily enters the tread, and the tire is prone to be damaged.
When an amount of swell of the central portion of the tire in its widthwise direction becomes greater than opposite ends of the tire in the widthwise direction, a diameter difference is generated. This diameter difference causes a drag phenomenon to the rotating tire, a shoulder portion is worn earlier than the central portion of the tire, and the lifetime of the tire is shortened. This phenomenon is called a deviated wear.
In a conventional radial tire using a relatively low elastic cord as a belt layer a width of a main portion of a crown reinforcing ply layer is equal to a ground-contacting width, and belt layers which are adjacent to each other inner side and outer side in the radial direction of the tire are laminated on one another with extremely small steps interposed therebetween in most of cases (see JP-A No. 5-193306).
In order to improve the wearing characteristics of the tread by suppressing the swelling deformation thereof, to enhance the wearing characteristics of the tread, and to enhance the enveloping properties, a pneumatic radial tire 102 shown in a transverse cross section in FIG. 22 is considered. In the pneumatic radial tire 102, a belt layer 20 disposed between a tread rubber layer 24 and a crown region of a carcass layer 16 comprises a conventional main belt layer 26 comprising wide belt ply, and an auxiliary belt layer 28 which is added on an outer periphery of the main belt layer 26 and which comprises narrow belt ply. With this structure, the belt rigidity is enhanced by the auxiliary belt layer 28 disposed on a central portion of the main belt layer 26, and especially the swelling deformation of the tread central region is restrained.
In order to suppress the swell caused by the internal pressure of the central portion in the widthwise direction of the tire, in a conventional simple method, a ply cord is replaced by a cord which has relatively high elasticity and which is made of aromatic polyamide (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (JP-A) No. 61-178204).
As compared with an aliphatic polyamide which is conventionally used for an aircraft tire, the aromatic polyamide cord exhibits high tension also in a low elongation percentage region and maintains the internal pressure. Therefore, the swell of the tire can effectively be suppressed.
As a conventional technique for enhancing an anti-cut separation performance, a pneumatic radial tire in which a narrow reinforcing layer (cord is made of steel) is additionally disposed in the belt is proposed (see JP-A No. 8-58310).
As another conventional technique, there is proposed a pneumatic radial tire in which a reinforcing layer comprising cords which are reinforced by strong cords such as glass, metal, aramid or the like is provided on an outermost layer of a belt made of organic fiber (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,813).
In these conventional techniques, a belt having higher tension is further added.
According to the conventional technique as shown in FIG. 22, however, by securing a necessary rubber thickness H (thickness of rubber only and thickness of cord is not included) in the tread central region where the total thickness of the belt layer becomes most thick, there are problems that a rubber thickness H0 of the tread side region becomes excessively thick and thus, the tire weight is increased forcibly, a heating value of the tread side region is increased and thus, the high speed endurance is lowered.
In the conventional belt structure, only by using a relatively high elastic cord in the belt ply, performance in which the cord characteristics are sufficiently exhibited can not be obtained, and it is difficult to reduce the weight of members to be used as light as possible.
First of all, the number of belts of an aircraft tire is high, and it is not preferable to further increase the number of belts, and since a centrifugal force is applied when the tire rotates, it is preferable to reduce the weight of the tread portion.
Thus, in order to meet these requirements, it is absolutely necessary to employ a belt disposition without waste and a structure in which characteristics of the cord can be utilized.
In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the invention to provide a pneumatic radial tire suitable for an aircraft in which a diameter of the tread surface is prevented from being increased, endurance against cutting occurred by foreign matter or the like is enhanced, and the weight of the tire is reduced.

Pneumatic radial tire with specified belt layer


A router template for fabricating a contoured tile from a workpiece is provided. The router template includes a body that defines a cavity in which a nest is formed for retaining a workpiece during a cutting operation. A bearing path is defined within the body that engages a bearing of the router bit to guide the workpiece relative to the router bit. A cutting path is formed within the body to provide clearance within the body for a rotary cutting portion of the router bit. The cutting path and bearing path are aligned with each other and correspond to the desired size and contour of the tile. A method of cutting a contoured tile by following a template is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to tiles, more particularly to tiles and apparatuses, systems and methods for fabricating tiles and tile patterns.
2. Background Art
Conventionally tiles are utilized on floors, walls, furniture or the like to provide an ornamental surface. Often, when tiles are utilized on surfaces such as floors or furniture tops, these surfaces experience pedestrian traffic or wear from objects placed thereupon.
Conventional flooring patterns include simplified patterns and complex patterns. The simplified patterns include wooden flooring and tiles of a uniform polygonal shape, such as rectangular tiles. Neither of which require, nor are provided with, limited tolerances. Minimal gaps are permissible in wood flooring because they generally do not upset the aesthetic appearance of the flooring and the gaps flow in the direction of the flooring and the associated grain patterns. If undesired, such gaps are typically filled with a mixture of sawdust and adhesive that is stained to match the associated flooring. Conventional simplified tiles do not require limited tolerances, because they are generally fabricated from a ceramic, stone or similar material that requires spacing between adjacent tiles and a grout or tile adhesive disposed therebetween. Therefore, variances in tolerances are unnoticed because adjacent tiles do not actually mate with one another.
Conventional semi-complicated tile patterns are typically limited to basic geometric shapes, such as lines, circle arcs and the like, and are limited in tolerances as well. Ceramic or stone tiles are conventionally spaced to receive grouting or tile adhesive therebetween and therefore the lack of precision is unnoticed. In complex wooden tile patterns, such as tiling, flooring, inlays, borders, parquetry and marquetry, tolerances are lacking thereby generating visually noticeable gaps between adjacent tiles. These conventional complex wooden tile patterns are costly and labor intensive and any gaps exacerbate these difficulties by requiring filling in the gaps. The filling is a combination of sawdust and a wood adhesive or lacquer which is stained to create nebulous feature lines. Another difficulty presented in wood tiling is that wooden tiles have a tendency to change shape and size due to humidity, drying, application of finishing materials, or the like. Therefore, when wooden tiles are fabricated by a manufacturer to specific tolerances, these tolerances may change by the time the tiles have gone through channels of distribution and finally reach the user who subsequently installs the tiles.
Other manufacturing methods include waterjet cutting or laser cutting. Such methods are typically unavailable to general public consumers. These methods are also ineffective for some tile materials. Waterjet cutting can not hold a good tolerance in most applications, (e.g., plus or minus 0.015 inches for most materials). Additionally, wood tends to absorb water thereby swelling and resulting in an inaccurately cut tile. Laser cutting can provide a tighter tolerance but is dependent on the refractive index of the materials and the thickness of the material being cut. Wood has a poor refractive index, thereby resulting in an imprecisely cut tile.
Conventional jigs for woodworking are typically limited in scope, functionality, application, quality and tolerance thereby limiting these characteristics of the resultant workpiece. Additionally, conventional woodworking jigs are limited in range of variations and styles. A woodworker must select from a predetermined variety of jigs to machine a workpiece.
Many tile patterns comprise various geometrical shapes, which are derived from mathematics. Mathematically developed patterns known as tessellations are geometric patterns formed by congruent plane figures of one or more types. Tessellations include infinite tessellations, finite tessellations and metamorphosis tessellations. Infinite tessellations also known as two dimensional tessellations because they represent a planar geometry upon a planar surface and are generally derived from Euclidean mathematics. Finite tessellations, also known as three-dimensional tessellations, provide a representation of a three dimensional object illustrated upon a two dimensional surface. Finite tessellations are derived from Euclidian mathematics or non-Euclidean mathematics, such as hyperbolic mathematics, spherical mathematics, or the like. Finite tessellations illustrate, for example, a representation of an infinite tessellation formed about a sphere, yet represented as projected upon a two dimensional planar surface. Tessellations are appreciated by both mathematicians and artists and are commonly associated with the artistry of M. C. Escher.
Due to the complexity of tessellations, they are generally only found in artwork, engravings, prints, posters or the like. Difficulties in reducing tessellated patterns into interlocking tiles is apparent in the prior art. For example, artwork of M. C. Escher has been embodied by tiles such as the glazed tiles in the column at the New Girls' School, in the Hague, circa 1959 and the Tile Mural (First) Liberal Christian Lycum, the Hague, circa 1960. Both of these tile representations do not include a single tile for each geometrical representation. Rather, the geometrical pattern is formed upon conventional rectangular tiles and individual geometrical units are separated by grouted gaps in between adjacent tiles. The prior art has further evolved by providing concrete molds for generating tessellated paver stones that are generally interlocking; however, gaps are provided between adjacent stones as well.

Tiles and apparatus, system and method for fabricating tiles and tile patterns


A GNSS ultra-tight coupling (UTC) receiver architecture applicable to space borne orbit platforms is described. A receiver in accordance with this architecture retains the rotational motion sensors typically found in an inertial measurement unit (IMU) of a conventional UTC receiver, but replaces the IMU accelerometer sensors with precise orbital dynamics models to predict the translational motion of the platform center of gravity (CG). Drag and radiation pressure may be modeled as well. The various models can be implemented in software. The IMU rotational sensors are retained for compensation of the GNSS antenna lever arm effect due to platform rotation.

A Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), typically comprises a constellation of navigation satellites in Medium Earth Orbit, a ground Control Segment that controls these satellites, and user equipment (UE). The navigation satellites broadcast precisely synchronized ranging signals. The GNSS UE acquire and lock on to the signals from multiple satellites, make precise ranging measurements to the satellites, apply corrections, and apply navigation filter algorithms to solve for the UE position, velocity and time (PVT).
GNSS UE can also operate in the space environment, such as on board satellites. The space environment often creates additional challenges to GNSS UE operation compared to terrestrial UE applications, including: continuous and wide ranges of platform rotational motions, intermittent antenna visibility to individual GNSS satellites, reduced availability of GNSS signals, weaker received GNSS signals, high relative velocities and Doppler effects, larger relativistic effects, larger signal dynamic range, and increased sensitivity to timing errors.
GPS/INS ultra-tight coupling (UTC) is a methodology of integrating GPS and inertial navigation system (INS) instruments to enhance UE robustness and anti-jam (AJ) performance. In a GPS/INS UTC implementation, all of the GPS correlator signal measurements associated with each pseudorandom (PRN) code ranging signal are provided to a UE error state Kalman navigation filter. The Kalman filter provides updates to the UE Position-Velocity-Time (PVT) state errors, and the GPS signal tracking loops are closed through the INS and Kalman filter processing.
The GPS Modernized Space Receiver (MSR) program is aimed at developing the next generation space receiver which will be capable of operating with legacy civilian coarse acquisition code (C/A-code), L2 civil code (L2C), and military encrypted precision code (P(Y)-code) GPS signals as well as the new military code (M-code), L5 civil code, and L1 civil code (L1C) GPS signals. Such a receiver must also be able to operate in the space environment for the design life of the host satellite (e.g., ten or more years), have some anti-jam capabilities and meet certain objective tracking requirements. UTC has been proposed as an MSR architecture solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,021 describes a GPS/INS ultra-tight coupling UE and assumes the use of a complete INS that includes both translational and rotational motion sensors as needed in order to sense and predict the motion of terrestrial based platforms whose acceleration or jerk and rotation are unpredictable.
The use in GPS/INS UTC space borne UE of inertial measurement unit (IMU) accelerometer instruments, such as for sensing translational motion, entails substantial costs, including the cost of space qualifying the associated electronics.
Conventional non-UTC GPS UE which implement random motion models for acceleration or jerk can introduce significant error for rotating satellites, especially if no correction is applied to relate the satellite center of gravity (CG) location to the GPS solution as computed for measurements made at the GPS antenna.
Conventional GPS UTC IMU implementations, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,021 compute a PVT solution at the location of the IMU, which is generally not at the platform CG location. The traditional UTC antenna lever arm (ALA) correction relates the GPS antenna phase center (APC) location to the IMU location. For satellite applications, however, the PVT solution of the satellite CG trajectory is required for precise orbit determination applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,381 describes the use of on-board force models to predict GPS satellite orbital CG motion. The subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,381, however, does not attempt to correct the satellite orbit prediction using state error models with GPS receiver measurements of L-band ranging signals broadcast by the GPS satellites. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,381 is specific to GPS satellite applications. The use of GPS receivers on GPS satellites is generally not practical because of the jamming of the receiver due to the proximity of the satellite transmitter and GPS radio frequency (RF) signal radiator.

Ultra-tightly coupled global navigation satellite system space borne receiver system


The present disclosure is directed to compositions and methods for treating or preventing vasomotor symptoms such as hot flashes, comprising a Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 8 (TRPM8) antagonist and administering a TRPM8 antagonist, respectively.

Vasomotor symptoms are commonly reported, e.g., symptoms of menopause. Vasomotor symptoms include night sweats, hot flashes, and flushes. The major and most common vasomotor symptoms are hot flashes. In general, hot flashes (or hot flushes or night sweats) are intermittent episodes of heat sensation. Hot flashes are the most common symptoms experienced by women who are perimenopausal or postmenopausal and are also commonly experienced by men and women who are undergoing or have undergone treatment for cancer, for example, patients receiving a breast or prostate cancer treatment that inhibits the production or activity of sex hormones. See Non-Patent Literatures 1 and 2. Studies suggest that hot flashes may be preceded by a rise in core body temperature. See Non-Patent Literature 3.
Episodes of vasomotor symptoms may also be associated with perspiration, flushing, chills, anxiety, and heart palpitations. For example, symptoms of hot flashes include a sudden sensation of warmth, often accompanied by one or more of sweating, skin reddening or flushing, and sensations of clamminess and chills. Hot flashes can be characterized by brief, mild warmth to waves of heat and profuse sweating. Typical hot flashes occur with sudden onsets of sensation of warmth in the chest, which then spreads upward to involve the neck and face and may also spread throughout the body. Others may feel a sudden onset of warmth all over the upper part of the body. Hot flashes may also be accompanied by dizziness, nausea, headaches, and palpitations. Hot flashes accompanied with sweating can also occur at night. These are called night sweats and have been linked to chronic insomnia and poor subjective sleep quality. See Non-Patent Literature 4. Recent polysomnography studies have determined that hot flashes occurring at night correlate with increased sleep fragmentation, which can result in, e.g., sleep deprivation, fatigue, and irritability. Thus, hot flashes can disrupt sleep and work and interfere with quality of life.
The severity of vasomotor symptoms varies from person to person and from time to time in the same person. For example, hot flashes can be provoked by several factors, such as hot weather, stress, eating, drinking alcohol, hormone changes, a medical condition, or medical treatment. Episodes can last from a few seconds to several minutes or in rarer cases up to an hour or more. Vasomotor symptoms can occur from several times a year to several times a week to as frequently as one or more per hour.
Hot flashes have been studied extensively in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Studies have shown that about 60% to 80% of women experience hot flashes in the period within peri- and postmenopause. Within this population, 40% to 60% report moderate-to-severe hot flashes, and 10% to 20% find them nearly intolerable. Thus, there is a need for effectively treating or preventing vasomotor symptoms (e.g., hot flashes) to maintain the quality of life of many women.
Vasomotor symptoms may also be experienced by both men and women as a symptom of a medical condition or a symptom of treatment. For example, vasomotor symptoms are experienced by many cancer patients as a symptom of the cancer or a symptom of the cancer treatment.
For instance, men with prostate cancer who undergo androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) may have hot flashes. This is a major quality of life issue for a significant proportion of men receiving ADT. It has been reported that about 40% to 80% of such men suffer hot flashes and 30% to 40% report major discomfort during such episodes. See Non-Patent Literature 5.
There are several known treatments for vasomotor symptoms; however, current treatments are not completely effective and may confer increased risk of serious complications. Although estrogen replacement therapy can effectively minimize or prevent vasomotor symptoms in women, many women are concerned about potential risks of hormone replacement therapy. This is especially true for women who suffer from breast cancer or have a family history of breast cancer, and/or a history of clotting disorders. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), gabapentin and clonidine may also be used for the treatment of vasomotor symptoms, but are not always effective at treating symptoms and many are associated with unwanted side effects.

Compositions for treating or preventing vasomotor symptoms

Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharmaceutical Company


The present invention is directed to a rehabilitation strap including a pair of handles and a strap of adjustable length and a method of using the same. The method includes rehabilitation exercises that an individual may practice after a joint replacement procedure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to rehabilitation equipment and methods. More particularly, it relates to a rehabilitation strap including a pair of handles and a strap of adjustable length and a method of using the same. The method includes rehabilitation exercises that an individual may practice after a joint replacement procedure.
2. Description of Related Art
Rehabilitation is a required but difficult process for patients trying to recover the full control of their hips, knees, or other parts of their body. Some of the most important types of rehabilitation include muscle and ligament rehabilitation for patients with one or more hip, knee, or ankle replacement surgeries.
Although procedures such as hip and knee replacement surgery can be very beneficial, the best way to maximize those benefits is through proper rehabilitation. The number of total hip and knee replacements is expected to increase substantially as populations age and individuals live longer. Physical therapy is extremely important in the overall outcome of any joint-replacement surgery. The goals of physical therapy are to prevent contractures, improve patient education, and strengthen muscles through controlled exercises. Contractures result from scarring of the tissues around the joint. Contractures do not permit full range of motion and, therefore, impede mobility of the replaced joint. Once a contracture develops it cannot be stretched or exercised away, it must be released with orthopedic surgery which is almost always very expensive and physically painful for the patient.
Many of the exercises used during rehabilitation from a joint replacement procedure require moving a patient's limbs, typically the legs, since most joint replacement procedures are for the knee or hip. Most patients do not have the needed strength and/or range of motion after a joint replacement procedure to practice these essential excises properly and frequently enough.
Therefore, there is a need for a device and method for aiding in moving a patient's leg or legs in order to most optimally rehabilitate the patient.

Joint rehabilitation strap and method of using the same


To provide an electrooptic device which can reliably suppress a substrate floating effect, such as a parasitic bipolar phenomenon, in an SOI-MIS transistor, and which has superior electrical characteristics. An electrooptic device (liquid crystal light valve) of the present invention uses, as one substrate, a composite substrate including a quartz substrate (main substrate 10A) having a first coefficient of thermal expansion, an insulating layer (insulating underlayer 12) formed on the quartz substrate, and a single-crystal silicon layer (semiconductor layer 1a) formed on the insulating layer and having a second coefficient of thermal expansion. A TFT 30 that uses the single-crystal silicon layer as a channel region 1a′ is formed on the insulating layer, and at least one line defect D exists in the single-crystal silicon layer that forms the channel region 1a′.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an electrooptic device, a liquid crystal device, and a projection display device. More particularly, the present invention is related to the configuration of an electrooptic device, represented by a liquid crystal device or the like, that can sufficiently suppress a substrate floating effect and that is suitable for use in, for example, a projection display device.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, SOI (Silicon on Insulator) technology, in which a semiconductor layer made of a single-crystal silicon layer is formed on an insulating layer and a semiconductor device, such as a transistor element, is formed on the semiconductor layer, has the advantages of, for example, providing high-speed devices, low power consumption, and high integration, and is applicable to, for example, electrooptic devices such as liquid crystal devices.
In a general type of bulk semiconductor device, since a channel region of an MIS (Metal-Insulator-Silicon) transistor can be maintained at a predetermined potential by an underlying substrate, the electrical characteristics, such as breakdown voltage, of the device will not be deteriorated by a parasitic bipolar phenomenon that is caused by a change in potential in the channel region, or the like. In contrast, in an SOI-MIS transistor, since the lower side of a channel region is completely isolated by an insulating underlayer, the channel region cannot be fixed at a predetermined potential, unlike in the above transistor, and is in an electrically floating state.
In this case, excess carriers are produced by impact ionization due to the impact of carriers accelerated by an electric field in the vicinity of a drain region on the crystal lattice, and are accumulated on the lower side of the channel region. When the channel potential is increased by such accumulation of excess carriers on the lower side of the channel region, a source-channel-drain NPN structure (in the case of an N channel type) works as an apparent bipolar element, and therefore, the electrical characteristics are deteriorated. For example, the source/drain breakdown voltage of the device is lowered by an abnormal current. A series of phenomena caused by the electrically floating state of the channel region are called substrate floating effects.
Accordingly, a technique has been adopted heretofore which suppresses substrate floating effects by forming a body contact region electrically connected to a channel region through a predetermined route and by extracting excess carriers accumulated in the channel region through the body contact region.
However, when a body contact region is formed in each of the MIS transistors used in an pixel region of an electrooptic device represented by a liquid crystal device or the like, the area occupied by the MIS transistors is increased, and this makes it difficult to increase the pixel density. In particular, in a transmissive liquid crystal device, the aperture ratio decreases. Also, in a peripheral driving circuit outside the pixel region, the body contact region makes high integration difficult, the peripheral portion (frame portion) of the device is enlarged, and consequently, size reduction is impossible.
In electrooptic devices used in electronic devices, such as a projection display device, when high-intensity light from a light source enters channel regions and LDD (Lightly Doped Drain) regions of pixel transistors, carriers are produced by optical excitation, charges leak from pixel storage capacitors, and this causes display unevenness such as flicker.

Electrooptic device, liquid crystal device, and projection display device with line defects


In certain embodiments, methods and apparatus are presented for testing a medium to determine whether it was non-commercially created involve determining if a drive comprises a recordable drive; if the drive comprises a recordable drive: determining whether a medium comprises a closed medium. If the medium does not comprise a closed medium, the medium comprises non-commercial medium. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract without departing from certain embodiments.

Much of the existing pre-recorded media used today (e.g., CD, DVD, MiniDisc™, etc.) may not contain Table of Content (TOC) information that can be used to describe the recorded content to a user. Some media may contain incorrect or no descriptive information at all. Therefore, when inserted into a playback device, the medium may not be associated with information descriptive of the pre-recorded content. A user may elect to manually enter information available on the media label, jewel case, or from prior knowledge of the content or the artist. Media identification technologies are designed to automatically identify the medium and provide accurate and descriptive information. Once the media has been identified, data such as album, artist, and track information or metadata such as cover art, artist website universal resource locator, and multimedia content related to the media may be retrieved from remote databases. This information can then be displayed to the user and can enhance usability of the media.


A method for aerobically treating water-containing organic wastes is provided. This process may be conducted in a closed reactor with suitable controls to prevent any adverse environmental impact, and involves mixing the wastes with an inert and non-friable bulking agent comprising a substantial component having a density less than water in the presence of an active biomass. An oxygen-containing gas is passed through the reaction mixture to assist in the removal of excess (free) water from the wastes to form a wetted high solids content reaction mixture containing the waste solids mixed in a bed of bulking agent. Effective aerobic reaction conditions are employed to convert the wastes to a treated waste.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for aerobically biodegrading organic wastes other than oily wastes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Historically, land farming has been widely used for the biodegradation and disposal of organic wastes and oily sludges. Land farming involves applying the waste to soil and tilling the waste into the soil to allow aerobic bacteria to convert the organic components into carbon dioxide, water and humic matter. Periodic tilling of the soil is necessary to mix the waste uniformly into the soil and to allow air to reach the bacteria and promote the reaction. The availability of the land farming technique has been sharply reduced as a result of environmental regulations and the environmental impact of the process. In particular, odor generation, the deposition of heavy metals in the soil, and the potential contamination of ground water supplies have resulted in a major reduction in the use of land farming for treating organic wastes.
In many places, composting has taken the place of land farming. Composting is a thermophilic biological process that is widely used for the treatment of municipal sludge and other organic wastes. An important aspect of composting is that the process can be conducted under controlled conditions, thus avoiding the problems inherent in open land farming. A significant use of composting relates to the treatment of municipal sludge. This process is often done by removing excess free water, mixing the municipal sludge with a bulking agent, and subjecting the mixture to forced aeration at an elevated temperature to speed up the composting process. In general, municipal sludge, as well as other types of organic waste, together contain both active microorganisms and nutrients which can initiate and maintain the biological conversion process under suitable conditions.


A vehicular steering column system includes an outer column and an inner column which fits slidably in the outer column, whereby a relative position between the inner column and the outer column is adjusted by expanding and contracting the diameter of an inner circumferential surface of the outer column. An iron bush is provided between the inner circumferential surface of the outer column and an outer circumferential surface of the inner column in such a manner as to fit in or on at least the inner circumferential surface of the outer column or the outer circumferential surface of the inner column.

In telescoping steering column systems in which the axial position of a steering wheel can be adjusted according to the body frame and driving posture of the driver, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication JP-UM-A-5-60982 and Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication JP-A-10-53144, an inner column to which a steering column is attached is provided in such a manner as to slide telescopically relative to an outer column fixed to a vehicle body.
In addition, in the JP-UM-A-5-60982 and JP-A-10-53144, a resin bush (a resin collar) is interposed between the outer column and the inner column, and the resin bush so interposed is fixed to an inner circumferential surface of the outer column via projections formed on the bush.
Consequently, when performing a telescopic adjustment, since the inner column can slide through an inner circumferential surface of the resin bush, the inner column is allowed to telescopically slide relatively smoothly.

Position adjustment type steering column device for vehicles


A projector includes a projector body that enlarges and projects image light and an image reproducing device that reproduces an image relating to the image light. The projector body and the image reproducing device are integrally arranged in a vertical direction such that the projector body is above the image reproducing device. A partition member is formed between the projector body and the image reproducing device, and the projector body is placed on the partition member.

The exemplary embodiments relate to a complex projector into which a projector body and an image reproducing device such as a digital versatile disc (hereinafter, referred to as DVD) are integrated.
In the related art, a projector modulates a light beam emitted from a light source and projects the modulated light beam via a projection lens on to a screen. This projector is widely used for presentations, in, for example, a conference, or the like, along with a personal computer (PC).
In such a projector, a color-separating optical system such as a dichroic mirror separates the light beam from a light source into three light components, and three optical modulators composed of liquid crystal panels, or the like, modulate the respective color light components according to image information thereof. Further, in the related art, a projector has a three-plate structure in which a color-combining optical device, such as a cross dichroic prism, combines the respective color components after the modulation to form an optical image, and a projection optical device such as a projection lens enlarges and projects the formed optical image.
Further, with the recent multi-functionality of a projector, the projector can output sound as well as project an image. Therefore, the number of projectors having a built-in sound reproducing device such as a speaker is increasing. With regard to the speaker, a stereo speaker is frequently used in order to give realistic sensation (for example, see JP-A-6-138433 (Paragraph [0021], FIG. 5)).
Moreover, with the recent multi-functionality of projectors, there has been widely provided with a home-theater system which can easily and conveniently reproduce pictures with the same image quality as pictures shown in theaters. Thus, a complex projector in which a projector body and an image reproducing device are integrated can be used as a home theater (for example, see JP-A-7-113996 (claim 1, FIG. 4). Although DVD players, video cassette recorders, or the like are often used as image reproducing devices, DVD players are prevailingly used because of excellent image quality or easy handling of image sources.
However, generally, the projector generates a large amount of heat. When such a projector is integrated with an image reproducing device such as the DVD player, the image reproducing device also generates heat. Therefore, there are problems in that studies on arrangements for integrating the DVD player and the image reproducing device are needed, efficient cooling cannot be performed, and the reduction in size of the projector becomes difficult.


A monitoring pattern for detecting a defect in a semiconductor device allows a voltage contrast inspection which may be verified by an electrical test where no special test pattern is required for the electrical test. The monitoring pattern includes a test pattern with line shapes arranged in parallel and spaced apart at predetermined linewidths and intervals, and an interconnection layer connected to the test pattern, where the test pattern is adapted to be charged with a specific potential to be displayed as a voltage contrast image when scanned with an electron beam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to monitoring patterns for detecting a defect in a semiconductor circuit and methods for detecting the defect. More particularly, the present invention relates to monitoring patterns for detecting a defect by electron beam scanning and method for detecting the defect.
2. Description of the Related Art
Voltage contrast inspection has been used to monitor semiconductor circuits and processes. The voltage contrast inspection may utilize the intensity of secondary electrons, released when a test pattern is exposed to electron beam, which may be represented as a voltage contrast image.
In a test pattern, a low potential state portion may be a high intensity portion of secondary electrons, while a high potential state portion may be a low intensity portion thereof. The low potential state portion may thus be brightly displayed, while the high potential state portion may be darkly displayed.
During a typical voltage contrast inspection, the low potential state portion may be designated as a grounded pattern, and the high potential state portion may be designated as a floating pattern. When defects are generated in the test pattern to cut off the grounded pattern or to connect the grounded pattern to the floating pattern, a portion cut off from the grounded pattern may be displayed as the high potential state portion, and the floating pattern short-circuited from an adjacent grounded pattern may be displayed as the low potential state portion. Accordingly, when the portion displayed on a voltage contrast image is different from the portion displayed by scanning the test pattern with an electron beam, it may be employed as a detection method to judge the type and location of the defect.
FIG. 1 illustrates an intensity graph of a test pattern for detecting a defect and a voltage contrast image. The test pattern may be made of a conductor in which grounded patterns 10 and floating patterns 12 are alternately formed. During a voltage contrast inspection, the grounded patterns 10 may be displayed as a bright image and the floating patterns 12 may be displayed as a dark image. The test pattern may be scanned using an electron microscope in an X-direction, and secondary electrons may be detected by a secondary electron detector to obtain the voltage contrast image including the bright grounded pattern 10 and the dark floating pattern 12.
The intensity of secondary electrons may be represented as a graph 14 by scanning the test pattern in the X-direction. When a defect, e.g., a short-circuit or an open-circuit, occurs in the test pattern, higher values and lower values may be alternately displayed on the graph 14.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, when a short-circuit Ax or an open-circuit Ay occurs in a circuit being tested, an intensity value displayed on the graph 14 may be different from an expectation value. For example, when a voltage contrast inspection value is obtained while scanning the test pattern in the X-direction, an intensity value at a position where the short-circuit Ax occurs in the grounded pattern 10a may be smaller than an expectation value Ex. Similarly, an intensity value of a position where the open-circuit Ay occurs in a floating pattern 12a may be larger than an expectation value Ey. The position of the defect may be detected by the scanning the test pattern with the X-direction scan and an Y-direction scan.
The voltage contrast inspection may thus be conducted to detect the position of the defect occurring in the test pattern, as well as the type of the defect. The voltage contrast inspection may therefore be advantageous to monitor a pattern and a process on a substrate inside a production line. Nonetheless, the voltage contrast inspection may be incapable of judging whether the defect detected by the voltage contrast inspection is an electrical defect causing a malfunction of a semiconductor device.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Monitoring pattern for detecting a defect in a semiconductor device and method for detecting a defect


Thermal cracking in a riser cracking, closed cyclone, fluidized catalytic cracking process is reduced. A snorkel or flow conduit having an inlet just above the catalyst stripper moves stripper vapor into the closed cyclone. The system preferably operates without a stripper cap, relying on fluid dynamics to isolate stripper vapor from upper parts of the vessel containing the riser outlet. Preferably the snorkel is at least partially supported by, and ideally is inside, the primary cyclone dipleg. Reduced residence time of stripper vapor in the vessel containing the stripper and the closed cyclone system reduces thermal cracking of stripper vapor.

The fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process has become well-established in the petroleum refining industry for converting higher boiling petroleum fractions into lower boiling products, especially gasoline.
In the FCC process, a finely divided solid cracking catalyst promotes cracking reactions. The catalyst is in a finely divided form, typical particle size of 20-100 microns with an average of about 60-75 microns. The catalyst acts like a fluid (hence the designation FCC) and circulates in a closed cycle between a cracking zone and a separate regeneration zone.
In the cracking zone, hot catalyst contacts the feed so as to effect the desired cracking reactions and coke up the catalyst. The catalyst is then separated from cracked products which are removed from the cracking reactor for further processing. The coked catalyst is stripped and then regenerated. A good overview of the importance of the FCC process, and its continuous improvement, is reported in Fluid Catalytic Cracking Report, Amos A. Avidan, Michael Edwards and Hartley Owen, in the Jan. 8, 1990 Oil & Gas Journal.
One of the most significant problems remaining is post-riser cracking. As FCC technology has improved, post riser cracking has gone from a trivial problem which was hard to find in a commercial unit to a major problem which can not be ignored.
The problem could be largely ignored when the FCC unit operated with a riser top temperature of 950° F. As catalysts became more active, and feeds heavier, riser top temperatures increased above 1,000° F. in many units. The large volume "reactor"—in which the riser reactor discharged—became a thermal cracker. Large amounts of cracked product vapor spent a significant amount of time in the vapor space above the FCC stripper, and time and high temperature predictably produced thermal cracking.
More details about the problem and the state of the art methods of minimizing such thermal cracking, are presented in FCC CLOSED CYCLONE SYSTEM ELIMINATES POST-RISER CRACKING, by Amos A. Avidan, Frederick J. Krambec, Hartley Owen, and Paul H. Schipper, presented at the 1990 NPRA Annual Meeting, Mar. 25-27, 1990.
The authors, one of whom is the present inventor, reported the dramatic decrease in thermal cracking which could be achieved using a "closed-cyclone" system to separate cracked products from spent catalyst as they are discharged from the FCC riser reactor. The paper reviewed various "rough cut" separation devices (in U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,961 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,888 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,603, which are incorporated by reference). While they are improvements over dense bed cracking units or riser cracking units with no cyclones, the rough cut devices merely separated spent catalyst from spent products. The rough cut cyclones still allowed a significant amount of hydrocarbons to remain a long time in the reactor vessel, the volume above the stripper.
The authors presented a new type of riser reactor cyclone, a "closed cyclone" which effectively separated cracked products from spent catalyst and quickly removed the cracked products from the reactor vessel. Closed cyclone designs are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,177, Haddad et al. This design, and the closed cyclone designs of other oil companies, generally did an excellent job of quickly removing from the vessel the cracked vapors recovered via the riser cyclones. This design ignored another problem, thermal cracking of stripper vapor.
A significant amount of the cracked vapor product stays with, or is entrained in, or is needed to fluidize, the spent catalyst. Those working in this field concentrated their efforts on the primary product vapor stream, the 90+ mole % of the cracked vapor recovered as a vapor phase out of the reactor vessel. They generally ignored the secondary vapor product, the modest amount of vapor product discharged with the spent catalyst from the reactor cyclone systems. This vapor product, plus additional hydrocarbons displaced or desorbed from the spent catalyst by steam stripping, was at a temperature approaching that of the riser reactor. Although small in size, the secondary product could crack thermally, and was severely over-cracked even as the primary product was removed relatively unscathed due to thermal cracking.
Thermal cracking depends on time and temperature. The net effect of getting most of the vapor out quickly (to practically eliminate thermal cracking of this material) was significantly offset by large amounts of thermal cracking of the secondary vapor product in the reactor volume above the stripper.
An order of magnitude less hydrocarbon was discharged down the riser cyclone diplegs to be recovered with stripper vapors. The reactor volume stayed the same, so as closed cyclone efficiency increased, the stripper vapor residence time increased dramatically.
Refiners reported dramatic yield benefits. The Avidan et al paper presented at the 1990 NPRA meeting reported a reduction of 40 percent in sulfur-free dry gas make. This was a significant and noteworthy accomplishment, but was actually a combination of two phenomena—an even more dramatic reduction in dry gas make in the primary product and an offsetting significant increase in thermal cracking and attendant dry gas production in the secondary, or stripper vapor product.
Another benefit of closed cyclones reported in this paper was that the production of butadiene is reduced by over 50 percent. Butadiene is a sensitive measure of thermal cracking in FCC, refiners watch it because it is a major contributor to acid consumption in downstream alkylation units.
I wanted to retain the benefits of closed cyclone FCC riser cracking, but avoid the excessive thermal cracking which occurred in the reactor volume. My goal could also be considered as a way to help solve a long standing problem, post riser thermal cracking in the vessel volume above the FCC stripper.
Four approaches have been proposed or used to reduce thermal cracking in this area: dome steam, riser quench, post-riser steam quench and a stripper cap/snorkel. To me all these are related and are attempts to reduce thermal cracking in a catalytic cracking unit. Each approach has benefits and burdens, and each is reviewed below.
Dome Steam
Refiners have known for years that thermal cracking went on in the "reactor volume" above the stripper. Thus in addition to the four kinds of coke make associated with FCC (catalytic, CCR, Pt function, and cat/oil), refiners have known about "dome coke"—a product of undesired thermal cracking in the dome of the reactor vessel, or the vessel holding the stripper. Unless this part of the vessel is continuously purged with steam, the relatively stagnant region allows thermal cracking to proceed unabated, which produces large coke deposits which can grow in size, break off, and damage vessel internals. Refiners now add 500 to 1000 #/hour of steam directly to the dome volume. This purge steam sweeps hydrocarbons out of the dome region. Refiners have practiced this for decades, but it is so well accepted and universally practiced that it is rarely discussed. I mention it to show that refiners are well aware of the problem of thermal cracking in the vessel volume.
While use of dome steam has been practiced for decades, another attempt at suppressing thermal cracking was commercialized in recent years—riser quench.
Riser Quench
Refiners have known that higher riser temperatures are beneficial in cracking heavy feeds in a short time. They have also known that higher temperatures in the riser lead to undesired thermal cracking downstream of the riser in the reactor vessel. A way to have higher temperatures in the riser than in the reactor vessel is to use riser quench. Several approaches to quench have been developed, as reported in U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,372, Mauleon et al and U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,232, Adewuyi et al, which are incorporated by reference. Basically riser quench involves cracking the feed in the base of the riser at a higher than normal temperature and injecting a cooler material, such as light cycle oil, higher up in the riser.
Some refiners quench quickly, within less than a second of residence time in the riser, while some quench higher up or even at the riser outlet. This will reduce post-riser thermal cracking. A somewhat related approach is post-riser quenching, discussed next.
Post-Riser Quenching
U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,440, Krambeck, Dec. 18, 1990, taught injecting water or steam downstream of the FCC riser. This patent is incorporated by reference.
The patentee recognized that thermal cracking occurred in the reactor vessel. Closed cyclone operation increased the residence time of the stripper vapor. The solution, adding steam to reduce the temperature in the vapor phase above the stripper, reduced thermal cracking. It also required adding a large amount of steam to the FCC unit, and this steam tied up a significant portion of the plant volume with water vapor.
Stripper Cap
A fourth approach was isolation of the stripper, a stripper cap and snorkel, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,656, VENTED STRIPPER SECTION FOR A FLUID CATALYTIC CRACKING UNIT APPARATUS, which is incorporated by reference. They proposed to isolate the stripper from the interior volume of the vessel 1 with a stripper cap 40. This vessel contained the outlet of the riser reactor, the closed cyclone separation system, and the catalyst stripper. The stripper cap was a slant tray, the slope ensured that catalyst falling on the cap would eventually fall down into the stripper. The isolated stripper vapors were removed from the under the stripper cap via a "chimney vent" line 30 passing through holes 29 in the stripper cap. The vent line tied in with the vapor line from the primary cyclone 5 to the secondary cyclone 9.
The patentees recognized the problem—thermal cracking of stripper vapor in closed cyclone FCC operation. Their solution, if implemented, would partially solve the thermal cracking problem while creating other problems.
Their solution would efficiently remove much of the stripper vapor and reduce—but not eliminate—thermal cracking of stripper vapor in the vessel 1. Thus it was at least a partial solution to the problem, with the part left unsolved being the undesired thermal cracking of stripper vapor which would pass through the holes in the cap to the interior of vessel to eventually leave via an annulus in the upper part of vessel 1.
Implementing this solution in commercial FCC units would cause some problems. First the construction and servicing of the unit are greatly complicated by the addition of stripper cap 40. It physically isolates the stripper from everything else, making it harder to inspect, work on, or repair internal stripper hardware. Second, the cap has to be mechanically strong. If any part of it falls off the operation of the catalyst stripper will suffer greatly. The cap has to be segmented, so that it can be fit through man-ways providing access to vessel 1. The cap will generally be installed around the cyclone diplegs and the riser reactor, so a complex field fabrication procedure will be required.
The support of chimney vent 30 causes significant problems, at least in the embodiment shown in the patent. The vapor inlet to the secondary cyclone, line 23, is supported entirely by the secondary cyclone. This line in turn supports stripper vent 30, while a portion of line 23 must fit loosely over the primary cyclone vapor outlet, line 21. A loose fit is necessary because the stripper cap has so many holes in it that a significant amount of stripper vapor will make its way through the reactor vessel volume and pass through annulus 27.
The mechanical design of such a system is complex and costly. The system must accommodate a significant amount of thermal expansion. Just as the SR71 Blackbird is reported to grow in length almost a foot, as it heats up during supersonic flight, an FCC riser gets longer as it heats up. The riser heats up first, followed by the cyclones, so they do not expand simultaneously. In addition to thermal stress, the FCC riser can bump and even shake at times if something goes off on cat/oil ratio or steam addition in some part of the unit.
An additional concern with the vent cap design shown is possible formation of dome coke, or perhaps "vent cap coke", in stagnant portions of the cap. Even though steam is added in large amounts to the stripper, and apparently to the stripper volume via line 44, the apex regions of the vent cap will be relatively stagnant and difficult to purge with steam. Coke formation is a distinct possibility. Once coke formation starts, it will continue. It is possible to form large pieces of coke which can fall off and impair stripper operation and may even present a safety hazard during turnarounds. It may be possible to design a vent cap purge which would be as effective as dome steam but this is not a trivial problem, as this area is so difficult to reach. If a small steam line is put in it may not be there in a few years (due to erosion), while if a large line is put in there are problems supporting it and connecting it to a "moving target", which will be the case due to thermal expansion.
The most troublesome concern is that the design seems to allow a significant amount of hydrocarbon vapor traffic from the stripper up through the reactor vessel into annulus 27. A significant amount of thermal cracking of this material as it passes through the large void volume of the reactor vessel seems likely. The patentees recognized this, and proposed adding more steam via steam spargers 34 and 36 to speed this material on its way. While this addition will mitigate the damage done to stripper vapor during its passage through the reactor vessel, it seemed more like treating the symptom rather than the disease.
I know how commercial FCC units operate. It is my belief that none achieve the full potential of riser cracking plus closed cyclone operation. Most refiners have been happy to have the benefits of high temperature riser cracking and look on the thermal cracking as a burden of higher riser temperatures.
While quenching, either in the riser or downstream, reduces thermal cracking, significant amounts of quench material are needed. Closed cyclone operation provided the most benefit with the least burden. The benefits of closed cyclones were significant, but the full potential was usually not seen because some of the improvement was masked by the significant increase in thermal cracking of stripper vapor.
I wanted a better way to reduce thermal cracking of stripper vapor in an FCC unit using a closed cyclone system on the riser outlet. I accepted that a stripper was essential for this type of FCC operation, but did not, however, believe this material had to stagnate and crack in the reactor vessel above the stripper. Vapor had to be with the catalyst flowing down the primary cyclone diplegs into the stripper, but this vapor (as well as stripping steam) did not have to pass through the vessel volume above the stripper. All the stripper vapor did in this volume was thermally crack, and I wanted to get it out, but in a way which was compatible with the unit as it stood. I wanted a complete, rather than a partial solution to the problem of thermal cracking of stripper vapor in the reactor vessel.
Refiners wanting to reduce thermal cracking in the reactor void volume had few good options. It was possible to quench, either the entire contents of the riser reactor, or just the stripper vapor, but this had drawbacks. It would be possible to reduce thermal cracking by reducing the reactor volume, but this would involve an exorbitant capital expense. It was possible to use a stripper cap but a difficult and troublesome installation was involved. The stripper cap was a good, approach, but only a partial solution. The cap had holes in it which permitted passage of some stripper vapor through the reactor vessel volume.
I wanted to remove stripper vapor promptly to reduce thermal cracking, but did not want to have to physically isolate the stripper from reactor vessel holding the riser cyclones and riser outlet. I realized it was possible to rapidly and effectively remove stripper vapor from above the stripper using fluid dynamics rather than a cap full of holes to isolate the stripper. The simplest implementation was leave the cap off and simply use a snorkel or vapor flow tube extending from slightly above the stripper to some portion of the closed cyclone system.
Preferably, the cyclones are entirely closed, with no opening into the cyclone system except for the riser outlet and my snorkel. Closing the annular cyclone openings used in the prior art turns flow in the reactor vessel upside down. Instead of hydrocarbons rising in the reactor vessel and being thermally cracked, there is vapor phase down-flow in the reactor vessel. The dome steam, preferably augmented by modest amounts of additional steam, continually forces vapor to flow down through the reactor vessel. Vapor from the riser has only two ways out of the unit—the vast majority leaves rapidly via cyclone vapor outlets while a minority (stripped hydrocarbons and stripping steam) leaves via the snorkel sealingly connected to the vapor line from the primary to the secondary cyclones.
My snorkel's function was somewhat analogous to a snorkel for a submerged submarine, with the snorkel extending just above the surface of the water, supplying air to the diesel engines. My cyclone snorkel extends down, rather than up, but its inlet should terminate just above the surface, the top level of fluidized catalyst in the FCC catalyst stripper.
I even discovered a way to support the snorkel—simply affix it to the dipleg of one or more of the primary cyclones. My snorkel is small, and handles a relatively small stream, a small amount of vapor (relative to the vapor stream discharged from the riser) with a modest amount of entrained catalyst.
Using the cyclone dipleg to support the snorkel allows the snorkel to be placed where it is needed, and supported without significantly adding "torque". There will be little or nor problem due to differential thermal expansion, the temperature of the vapor passing up the snorkel will always be about the same as the temperature of the spent catalyst phase being discharged down the primary cyclone dipleg. Ideally, the snorkel is axially aligned with the cyclone dipleg, and discharges up into the primary cyclone vapor outlet. This will add a modest amount of solids (entrained with the stripper vapor) to the vapor phase discharged from the primary cyclone, but the secondary cyclone is equipped to handle such modest amounts of solids. The snorkel may also be within the primary cyclone dipleg, attached to a sidewall thereof, or even attached to the outside of the primary cyclone dipleg for much or all of its vertical travel.
The closed cyclone snorkel provides a way for most of the stripper vapor to be removed quickly from the reactor, without passing through the large void volume of the vessel containing the riser outlet and the stripper inlet. There will still be some hydrocarbon in the void volume. The void volume will be adequately purged using the existing dome steam injection required to prevent dome coke. If desired, thermal cracking may be even further reduced by increasing the amount of dome steam, to quench to some extent the hydrocarbons present in the reactor void volume, or additional steam may be added at different elevations. I prefer to minimize this type of steam addition, and my process will work with 500 to 5000 lbs/hr of "dome steam."
In addition to discovering a simpler way to isolate stripper vapor from the reactor vessel, I discovered a mechanically superior type of snorkel arrangement which facilitates installation of the device.


A method of fabricating a patterned magnetic layer comprises sequential steps of:

Patterned magnetic recording media, such as servo-patterned media, track-patterned (i.e., discrete track) media, and bit-patterned (i.e., discrete bit) media have been fabricated by a variety of processing techniques, including etching processing such as reactive ion etching, sputter etching, ion milling, and ion irradiation to form a pattern comprising magnetic and non-magnetic surface areas in a layer of magnetic material on a media substrate. Several of the these processing techniques relied upon selective removal of portions of the layer of magnetic material to form the pattern of magnetic and non-magnetic surface areas; whereas others of the processing techniques relied upon partial removal of selected areas of the media substrate on which the magnetic layer is formed, thereby resulting in different transducer head/media surface spacings having an effect similar to formation of a pattern of magnetic and non-magnetic surface areas in the layer of magnetic material. However, a drawback associated with each of these techniques is formation of topographical patterns in the surface of the media, engendering media performance concerns such as transducer head flyability and corrosion, e.g., due to uneven lubricant thickness and adhesion.
As for formation of patterned magnetic media via ion irradiation, a drawback associated therewith is the requirement for use of a high dose of ion irradiation for sufficient suppression of the magnetic properties of the magnetic layer at the selectively irradiated surface areas. Such high dose ion irradiation typically requires an extended processing interval and removal of the ion-irradiated resist materials (utilized for defining the pattern of ion-irradiated surface areas) is difficult.
In view of the foregoing, there exists-a need for improved processing methodology and techniques which substantially eliminate the above-described disadvantages, drawbacks, and difficulties associated with the above-described methodologies and techniques for fabricating patterned magnetic media. More specifically, there exists a need for improved processing methodology and techniques for cost-effectively fabricating servo-patterned media, track-patterned (i.e., discrete track) media, and bit-patterned (i.e., discrete bit) media, particularly as utilized in hard disk data/information storage and retrieval systems.
The present invention addresses and solves the above-described problems associated with the above-described methodologies and techniques for fabricating patterned magnetic media, while maintaining full compatibility with all aspects of cost-effective, automated manufacturing processing for pattern formation in magnetic media. Further, the methodology afforded by the present invention enjoys diverse utility in the manufacture of all manner of devices and products requiring pattern formation in a layer of magnetic material.

Method for fabricating patterned magnetic recording media

Abstract: (a) providing a workpiece comprising a non-magnetic substrate, a layer of magnetic material overlying a surface of the substrate, and a layer of a non-magnetic material overlying the layer of magnetic material;

Abstract: (b) forming a layer of a mask material on the layer of non-magnetic material;

Abstract: (c) forming a topographical pattern comprising a plurality of recesses in the layer of mask material;

Abstract: (d) selectively removing portions of the layer of non-magnetic material proximate lower portions of the recesses, thereby exposing selected portions of the layer of magnetic material;

Abstract: (e) treating the exposed portions of the layer of magnetic material with a liquid for reducing the magnetic properties thereof; and

Abstract: (f) removing the topographically patterned layer of mask material.


A method for producing electronic signals representative of images on a source film includes the following steps: illuminating the film with a light source to obtain an illuminated frame; providing an electronic image sensor; providing a lens array for projecting the illuminated frame on the electronic image sensor, and providing an aperture in conjunction with the lens array for high spatial frequency cutoff in the image; and reading out image representative electronic signals from the electronic image sensor.

Eventually the cinema may become an all electronic system. Until that time, it is likely that programs will be shot on film, processed digitally, and then scanned back onto film for distribution to theaters. Scanning the film, digitizing the signal, and later scanning back onto film is now done with laser scanners. These are very expensive and slow. They typically take several seconds per frame for the scanning process. In addition to this speed problem, there is a need for an optical pre and post filter in the process. The film grain beats with the scanning pattern producing alias spatial frequencies that are more visible than the original grain. When scanning back onto film there is normally a visible pixel structure. This can make the image look like it has screen wire superimposed on the image.
It is among the objects of the present invention to provide improved techniques and apparatus for producing electronic signals representative of images on a source film, and also for recording, on an object film, images represented by electronic signals.