Provides evaluating programs that enable problems to be identified in a manner that reflects actual conditions for an evaluation of contents of interest. In an example embodiment, there is provided a program for evaluating contents of interest that causes a computer to implement the functions of: performing a primary evaluation of contents of interest on the basis of one evaluation criterion; performing a primary evaluation of the contents of interest on the basis of another evaluation criterion; and performing a secondary evaluation of the contents of interest on the basis of a plurality of the first evaluations.

Greater importance is being placed on the accessibility to information today. For example, Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC), which is the organization that establishes the JIS certification mark has developed the "Guideline for older persons and persons with disabilities—information and communications equipment, software and services (JISX8341), which is Japan's first standard that specifies detailed guideline on information accessibility. It also has announced detailed guideline on web accessibility. JIS standards are said to have a great influence, close to legal power, over the government and municipal offices in Japan, and the standard is likely to be included in requirements for procurement in building systems such as Web sites. Japan's amended Basic Law for Persons with Disabilities specifies that information service providers and information and telecommunications equipment manufacturers, in addition to national and local public entities, and telecommunications and broadcasting service providers, must cater for disabled people. Globally, there are W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) guidelines on Web accessibility.
Examples of systems that use a computer to automatically evaluate Web accessibility without human operations include an accessibility checker described in Non-patent Document 1, "Bobby TM (online)" (Internet URL: http://bobby.watchfire.com/) searched on Jul. 1, 2004. The accessibility checker allows violations of standards and problems in a Web site to be detected easily.

Computer evaluation of contents of interest

International Business Machines Corporation


A semiconductor device includes: an electric fuse circuit including first electric fuses used as data bits and second electric fuses used as polarity bits; and a write circuit configured to selectively pass a current through the first electric fuses and the second electric fuses and thereby write data in the electric fuse circuit. The write circuit is configured to perform a first process when number of write bits included in write data is larger than a value obtained by dividing total number of bits in the write data by 2. The first process includes writing of inverted write data in a plurality of first electric fuses, and including writing of inversion data in one of the second electric fuses. The plurality of first electric fuses are part of the first electric fuses. The inverted write data is inverted data of the write data. The inversion data represents inversion.

The present technology relates to a semiconductor device that includes a plurality of electric fuses, and to a method of writing data in such a semiconductor device.
Recently, there has been proposed a semiconductor device that uses a plurality of electric fuses as storage elements. The electric fuse may be, for example, a semiconductor element having an MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) structure. In such a semiconductor device, application of a necessary current to the semiconductor element may cause, for example, EM (Electro Migration) of polysilicon silicide or dissolution of polysilicon. As a result, a resistance value is varied and data is thus stored in a non-volatile manner. The above-described semiconductor device stores data by irreversibly varying element characteristics of the electric fuse. Due to such properties, data is allowed to be programmed in the above-described semiconductor device only once, and the above-described semiconductor device is therefore called an OTP (One Time Programmable) memory. The OTP memory utilizing the electric fuse is typically used assuming that data of "0" is stored in the electric fuse before EM that has low resistance, and data of "1" is stored in the electric fuse after EM that has high resistance.
A memory that utilizes the irreversibility of the element characteristics as described above is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2008-84454 and 2007-323786.

Semiconductor device and method of writing data

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation


Aspects for pooling lottery winnings are disclosed. In a first aspect, a relationship structure is generated among nodes having a lineage of related nodes arranged in a hierarchy. A series of numbers are respectively assigned to a portion of nodes and a winning node is identified. Compensated nodes are then selected that include the winning node and at least one non-winning node. In another aspect, nodes are monitored over a series of lottery games in which winning nodes are tracked and compensated nodes are identified. Nodes are then valuated based on a corresponding historical winning metric according to lineage taken over the series of lottery games. In a further aspect, nodes are placed in a relationship structure and a winning node representing an actual lottery game win is identified. A distribution of a corresponding payout among compensated nodes is then ascertained.

By way of background concerning conventional lottery pooling mechanisms, it is noted that such mechanisms are often informal and lack structure. For instance, an impromptu lottery pool may be formed among co-workers, wherein winnings are distributed according to each co-worker's respective contribution. As the number of participants grows, however, managing the lottery pool becomes more difficult. Furthermore, although a level of participation in a given lottery pool often depends on the word of mouth of its participants, existing mechanisms lack a structure for compensating individuals according to their respective contributions for helping the lottery pool grow.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a lottery pooling mechanism which overcomes these limitations. To this end, it should be noted that the above-described deficiencies are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional systems, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state of the art and corresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting embodiments may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.

Method and apparatus that facilitates pooling lottery winnings via a relational structure


A mobile station positioning method for a cellular communications system includes evaluating an initial position estimate of a target mobile station having an initial area of uncertainty, evaluating a position estimate of a further mobile station of the system, estimating distance between the target and further mobile stations and using the position and distance estimates to evaluate a new position estimate of the target mobile station having a reduced area of uncertainty. Bi-circular and tri-circular methods are described.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in United States requires all network providers to be able to determine all the mobile users locations to within an accuracy of 100 meters in 67% of call measurements for network based systems. The positioning capability is 3GPP system also has become one of the requirements. This highlights the importance of the need for an accurate positioning method within mobile systems.
The positioning of the mobile user could provide a wide range of services such emergency rescues, location based service, location-sensitive billing, fraud detection, cellular system design and resource management and also intelligent transportation systems. The cellular geo-locating of a mobile station (MS) uses the existing well established infrastructure of cellular base stations (BTS) to geo-locate the MSs as they transmit over standard cellular frequencies. The advantages of using cellular positioning system over GPS is less complexity in the handset (no need for GPS transmission) and therefore lower cost. Currently, there are several techniques that could be used in mobile positioning namely, the Time Of Arrival (TOA), Time Difference Of Arrival (TDOA), Angle Of Arrival (AOA) and also hybrid techniques. All these techniques use signal strength to determine distance between the MS and BTS. The TOA, TDOA and signal strength uses range prediction to determine the distance of a MS away from the BTS, and AOA uses the direction of arrival of signals to predetermine the angular displacement of the MS from the BTS. The above-mentioned techniques except AOA need at least three BTS to geo-locate the MS, i.e. tri-circular algorithm. This is shown schematically in FIG. 1.
The Observe Time Difference (OTD) and Timing Advance (TA) methods proposed for GSM uses the timing advance measurements to determine the distances between the MS and the BTS, i.e. at least three BTS are involved to estimate the user's position. The TA mechanism has not been foreseen as a means to estimate the exact range of the MS from the BTS but to ensure that the MS data reaches the BTS at its correct time slot (TA gives the round trip propagation delay time of the signal). This method therefore, suffers from one bit resolution error. In GSM 1 bit is equivalent to 3.6923 μs. This corresponds to ±553.845 m. Hence, even under ideal conditions, i.e. line of sight, no multi-path and no multiple access interference, a positioning method based on TA and Triangle BSS will still have an inaccuracy error of approximately ±553 meters (1106 m uncertainty).

Mobile positioning using intergrated ad-hoc network


The invention provides a rotary printing machine having a form cylinder movable between an on and an off position mounted in a rotary printing machine. The form cylinder cooperates with a transfer cylinder or directly with a back-pressure cylinder (7) to print a printing material. In addition to driving gearwheels the printing machine has a positively power introducing drive band, for example a toothed belt, which transmits the drive power from the back-pressure cylinder or the transfer cylinder to the form cylinder. In the off position, the form cylinder is driven solely by the drive band.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary printing machine with a form cylinder and another cylinder each having a gearwheel. The form cylinder is movable between an on position and an off position. The gearwheel of the other cylinder engages the gearwheel of the form cylinder when the form cylinder is in the on position so that the other cylinder drives the form cylinder. The rotary printing machine also includes an imaging device for imaging the form cylinder while the form cylinder is in the off position. The gearwheels are either partially engaged or disengaged when the form cylinder is in the off position.
2. Description of the Related Art
German reference DE 43 03 872 C2 discloses a prior art rotary printing machine with a form cylinder that can be imaged within the rotary printing machine such, for example, as by a laser writing system or a thermal writing system.
In printing machines which are driven by gearwheels via a wheel train, imaging is performed on the form cylinder when the form cylinder is pivoted or otherwise positioned away from the transfer cylinder to all off position and the transfer cylinder is also pivoted or moved away from a back-pressure cylinder to an off position. The pivoting results in a gap, the order of magnitude of which is a few tenths of a millimeter or several millimeters, that is large enough so that the form cylinder and transfer cylinder and the transfer cylinder and back-pressure cylinder do not touch one another. The transfer cylinder and back-pressure cylinder must also no longer touch the printing material in the off position. In embodiments which do not include a transfer cylinder, the form cylinder is driven by the back-pressure cylinder and the back-pressure cylinder must not touch the form cylinder or the printing material when the form cylinder is in the off position.
When the form cylinder is in the on position, the necessary pressure force between the form cylinder and transfer cylinder is achieved by a rubber coating of the transfer cylinder (rubber blanket cylinder). When the form cylinder is in the on position on the back-pressure cylinder, the latter must carry a corresponding rubber coating to achieve the necessary pressure force. To achieve sufficient pressure force, the form cylinder must be pressed against the other cylinder so firmly together that a slight deformation of the cylinders occurs in the region of the contact zone. Cylinder interference is of the order of magnitude of 0.2 mm. Therefore, to achieve sufficient clearance between the cylinders when the form cylinder is moved to the off position, the form cylinder is required to move a distance of 0.2 mm plus a few tenths of a millimeter as a safety reserve.
For an optimum printing cycle, it is necessary for the gearwheels, which are arranged on a lateral side of the cylinder bodies on the form cylinder, transfer cylinder or back-pressure cylinder, to roll optimally one on the other in a fully meshed engagement when the cylinders are in the on position. When the cylinders are moved to the off position, the gearwheels are not in full meshed engagement and have increased tooth play, thereby causing the gearwheels to roll unfavorably one on the other insofar as the gearwheels still touch one another. If the gearwheels are fully disengaged when the cylinders are in the off position, the top portions of the teeth of the two gearwheels may abut one another during an attempt to return to the on position which may prevent the cylinders from fully moving to the on position or cause damage to the gearwheels. The form cylinder is normally required to be in the off position during imaging. Because of the uncontrolled movement cycles of the two adjacent gearwheels in relation to one another caused by the tooth play when the cylinders are in the off position, and because of the unfavorable rolling of the toothed flanks when the gearwheels still touch one another, rotational speed wobbles occur when the form cylinder is in the off position which impair the image quality when the form cylinder is imaged within the printing machine. Imaging operations are particularly sensitive to rotational speed fluctuations when the rotational speed fluctuations are of higher frequency such, for example, as have a frequency of more than ten Hz. The control of the imaging device cannot follow such rapid rotational speed fluctuations. At a typical circumferential speed such for example, as 0.5 m/s, these fluctuation frequencies may lead to streaking in spatial frequency ranges in which the human eye is particularly sensitive. With the circumferential speed of 0.5 m/s and a rotational speed fluctuation with a frequency of 100 Hz, the resultant imaging fluctuations would occur in a region of 5 mm in the direction of printing which would be easily detectable. Thus, even slight density fluctuations, for example of the order of magnitude of 1%, which are caused by the rotational speed fluctuations, may lead to visible streaking. In contrast, low frequency rotational speed wobbles are not critical because the imaging control can easily follow slow changes in rotational speed and density fluctuations with low spatial frequencies such, for example, as those which occur within a length of several centimeters cannot be easily detected by the human eye.
It is already known from German reference DE 28 35 960 B1 to damp oscillations which may occur in the gearwheel drive mechanism of rotary printing machines. In the drive of the impression cylinders in this reference, at least two gearwheels forming a first power transmitting drive train are connected to a second power transmitting drive train in parallel using a belt. The belt is a flat or vee belt which is capable of slipping and is therefore not a sufficient means for eliminating the undesirable tooth flank play when the cylinders are in the off position.

Form cylinder with additional toothed belt drive


This invention provides a process for obtaining propargyl bromide in high yield from propargyl alcohol and phosphorus bromide, in the form of a stable composition with alkylbromide.

Methyl bromide is an effective fumigant used in controlling a large variety of soilborne pests. As methyl bromide is an ozone depleting agent, and further it is relatively toxic for humans, its use has been gradually reduced, and the demands for alternative pesticides have been increasing. A promising alternative for methyl bromide is 3-bromopropyne, usually called propargyl bromide (PB). PB may be prepared by the reaction of propargyl alcohol with PBr3 in the presence of pyridine, but the selectivity and yield of the reaction are low. U.S. Pat. No. 6,794,551 improved the process by controlling temperature and effecting the reaction under an inert atmosphere without the presence of a base. Another problem about PB is its high flammability, and its vapors may form explosive mixtures with air. Precariously, propargyl bromide is a shock- and temperature-sensitive material that may detonate. Several techniques addressed the problem and stabilized PB by admixing a solvent forming an azeotropic mixture with the PB (see WO2004/071192; U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,375; U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,390; U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,367). It is an object of the present invention to provide an industrial process for manufacturing propargyl bromide in a stable form and in a good yield.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a composition comprising propargyl bromide in a sufficiently high concentration for intended applications but without being impact sensitive.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a composition comprising propargyl bromide which is not explosive on heating.
Other objects and advantages of present invention will appear as description proceeds.

Manufacturing of stabilized propargyl bromide


A data communications network includes a ring configured for spatial reuse, such as a resilient packet ring. A first bridge is coupled to the ring and to an end station such as an interworking bridge or router. A second bridge coupled to the ring learns an association between the first bridge and the end station by monitoring packets originated in the network by the end station and sent on the ring by the first bridge. The second bridge learns the association by obtaining an identifier of the first bridge and an address of the end station from received packets. When the second bridge receives packets destined for the end station, the packets are forwarded as broadcast transmissions on the ring if the association between the first bridge and the end station has not yet been learned, and are forwarded as unicast transmissions to the first bridge on the ring if the association between the first bridge and the end station has been learned.

The present invention is related to the field of data communications networks, and more particularly to networks employing ring architectures.
Ring architectures have been used in data communications networks to further certain operational goals such as improved availability. Ring networks have traditionally incorporated protection features that allow for continued operation even in the presence of some failures. Ring networks based on Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) standards, for example, have employed redundant, counter-rotating fiber rings along with mechanisms for routing working and protect traffic on the rings so as to enable the network to withstand some failures. More recently, a packet-based ring architecture referred to as Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) is emerging.
One desirable characteristic of RPR rings not generally found in prior rings, such as those based on SONET or the Fiber Distributed Data Interchange (FDDI) standard, is referred to as "spatial reuse". This term refers to the ability to send unicast transmissions between two distinct points on the ring, rather than requiring each transmission to circulate around the entire ring. In traditional packet rings such as FDDI rings, packets are circulated around the entire ring and stripped from the ring when received back at the source node. In contrast, RPR rings employ destination stripping, so that unicast packets generally traverse only the portion of the ring extending between source and destination nodes. This enables the use of the remaining portion of the ring for other transmissions, resulting in generally higher network performance.
It has been known to use network devices referred to as "bridges" to link together multiple subnetworks to create a larger network. One area of traditional use for bridges has been in Ethernet local area networks. It has also been known to use bridges to link different rings, such as FDDI rings, together. Bridges generally operate at layer two of the seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, which is the same layer at which many LAN and ring protocols are also defined. In particular, bridges are responsible for forwarding layer-2 data packets from one segment or subnetwork to one or more other segments or subnetworks. In some networks, such as Ethernet networks, bridges may include an address learning mechanism by which the bridge comes to know where at least some nodes are located. Packets destined for such known nodes can be forwarded using targeted "unicast" transmission. A bridge may also carry out this forwarding using "broadcast" transmission techniques, in which packets are transmitted on segments in a manner indicating that the packet should be examined by all nodes on each segment, because the location of the destination node is not known to the bridge. Transmission in FDDI rings, for example, always has a broadcast characteristic, because each packet is transmitted around the entire ring and examined at each node.
A potential problem with bridged rings is the need to transmit packets in a broadcast fashion when the destination node for a packet resides on a "remote" ring, i.e., a ring to which a bridge receiving the packet is not connected. Because broadcast transmissions must circulate entirely around a ring, they tend to reduce the degree to which spatial reuse can be exploited, and therefore tend to reduce the data-carrying capacity of the ring from what might otherwise be achieved. It would be desirable to provide for bridging of packet rings in a manner that helps preserve spatial reuse and thereby tends to maximize the data carrying capacity of the rings.

Spatial reuse and multi-point interconnection in bridge-interconnected ring networks


An apparatus includes a plurality of processing layers coupled in series. Each processing layer in the plurality of processing layers includes a Gaussian unit configured to perform a linear transformation on an input signal including a plurality of optical modes. The Gaussian unit includes a network of interconnected beamsplitters and phase shifters and a plurality of squeezers operatively coupled to the network of interconnected beamsplitters and phase shifters. Each processing layer also includes a plurality of nonlinear gates operatively coupled to the Gaussian unit and configured to perform a nonlinear transformation on the plurality of optical modes. The apparatus also includes a controller operatively coupled to the plurality of processing layers and configured to control a setting of the plurality of processing layers.

Quantum computers, which rely on quantum effects, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement, to perform computation, are a promising tool to implement certain emerging applications, including data fitting, principal component analysis, Bayesian inference, Monte Carlo methods, support vector machines, Boltzmann machines, and recommendation systems. On the classical computing side, the development of classical neural networks (CNNs), such as deep learning, also shows great potential due to new software libraries and powerful special-purpose computational hardware. Instead of bit registers in digital computing, the fundamental computational units in deep learning are continuous vectors and tensors that are transformed in high dimensional spaces. At the moment, these continuous computations are usually approximated using conventional digital computers. Quantum computers may provide an intriguing platform for exploring new types of neural networks, such as quantum neural networks (QNNs) or hybrid classical-quantum neural networks. To date, however, no known hardware platform is available to implement universal quantum computation and artificial neural networks (both classical and quantum) at the same time.

Apparatus and methods for quantum computing and machine learning


A method of lithographic defect detection and repair is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, the method of patterning a workpiece comprises receiving a mask for patterning a workpiece. The mask is inspected for defects, and a mask defect is identified that is repairable in the workpiece. The workpiece is lithographically exposed using the mask, and a defect is repaired within the workpiece based on the identified mask defect. The method can further comprise comparing defects across the workpiece to determine repeating defects and determining a spacing between the repeating defects. A distance between a first focal point and a second focal point of a lithographic system can be configured to correspond to the spacing between the repeating defects. Thus, a first repeating defect and a second repeating defect can be repaired concurrently.

The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs. Such scaling down has also increased the complexity of fabrication and verification processes for ICs, and, for improvements to be fully realized, further developments in IC manufacturing are needed.
As merely one example, advances in lithography have been important to reducing device size. In general, lithography is the transfer of a pattern onto a target such as a semiconductor substrate or mask. In one type of lithography, referred to as photolithography, radiation such as ultraviolet light passes through or reflects off a mask before striking a photoresist coating on target. The mask transfers the pattern onto the photoresist, which is then selectively removed to reveal the pattern. The target then undergoes processing steps that take advantage of the shape of the remaining photoresist to create features on the target. Another type of lithography, referred to as direct-write lithography, uses a laser, an electron beam (e-beam), ion beam, or other narrow-focused emission to expose a photoresist or other material layer of the target. E-beam lithography is one of the most common types of direct-write lithography, and, by directing a collimated stream of electrons to the area to be exposed, can be used to remove, add, or otherwise change a material layer with incredible accuracy. While precise, the narrow focus often makes direct-write lithography slower than photolithographic methods.
Accordingly, despite remarkable advances in photolithography and direct-write lithography, increasing lithographic precision has increased the cost and complexity of the lithographic process. Therefore, while existing lithographic techniques have been generally adequate, they have not proved entirely satisfactory in all respects.

Method and system for repairing wafer defects

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A stent including a plurality of loop stents connected by struts so that it bends uniformly as a whole.

There are many tubular tissues including blood vessels in a body, and blood vessels, for example, can have disorders such as stenosis, occlusion, aneurysm, and varix. In particular, the aneurysm is a serious disorder that causes massive bleeding when ruptured, for which therefore immediate treatment is necessary. Accordingly, various kinds of instruments have been developed to perform effective treatment.
Recently, a metal cylindrical instrument called stent has been often used in the treatment of a stenosis site or an aneurysm of a blood vessel. In the case of the treatment of a stenosis site, for example, a stent is conveyed to an affected area while being contained in a sheath or a catheter (hereinafter, referred to as sheath) and once the stent reaches the affected area, separated from the sheath, expanded by means of a balloon to expand the stenosis site, and indwelled to treat the stenosis site. In the case of the treatment of an aortic aneurysm, a stent graft obtained by coating a stent with an artificial blood vessel is indwelled inside of the aneurysm and opposed to the pressure of blood thereby to prevent the pressure from acting on the aneurysm for the treatment.
Examples of the stent include the one constituted solely by loop stents each formed into a cylindrical shape as a whole by folding a round bar-shaped wire into a zigzag shape and joining ends of the wire together. Another example of the stent is formed by arranging a plurality of loop stents according to the curvature of the affected area where the stent is to be indwelled, and connecting the loop stents together via a plurality of linear members called struts so as to maintain the shape of the curvature (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
The above-mentioned stents are each conveyed to the affected area while being contracted and inserted in a sheath and once the stent reaches the affected area and then is separated from the sheath, expanded by a balloon or expands by itself. In the stent formed by connecting a plurality of loop stents by struts, in particular, the arrangement of the respective loop stents along the curvature is maintained by the struts, and the loop stents expanded contact with the inner wall surface of the affected area. Thereby, the stent can treat an applicable tubular tissue, for example, a blood vessel.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 4064724

Abstract: A stent A including a plurality of loop stents 2 connected by a plurality of struts 3, the loop stents 2 each formed of a stent main wire 1 folded into a zigzag shape and joined at its ends, wherein the bending strength of each strut 3 is larger than the bending strength of the stent main wire 1.


There is provided a power supply device having a primary side and a secondary side isolated from each other. The power supply device includes: a power supply unit converting power from the primary side to output the converted power to the secondary side; a control unit located on the secondary side and acquiring control information on the power supply unit based on a voltage output from the power supply unit; and a delivery unit delivering the control information to the primary side, the delivery unit including a Y-capacitor that provides an EMI noise path between the primary side and the secondary side.

The present disclosure relates to a power supply device.
In general, a switched-mode power supply (SMPS) is frequently used as a power supply device, since it is relatively small yet has high efficiency. Such a power supply device serves to supply a direct current (DC) voltage as required by a system from mains electricity. Typically, an electronic device used in the home or the office enters a normal mode in which power is normally supplied while it is actually used, and enters a standby mode in which it waits for an operation event while it is in an idle state or is not being used.
Power consumed in the standby mode is wasteful, and thus, various approaches to reducing power consumption in the standby mode have been proposed.
On the other hand, as types of electronic devices, such as mobile devices and portable multimedia devices have recently been diversified, various types of power conversion devices are required. In addition, while existing power conversion devices only need to stably supply power to a load, recent power conversion devices have to meet various other requirements.
Accordingly, in order to adapt to ever more complicated device structures and to meet various requirements, a novel power conversion device having improved performance and efficiency, with a reduced size, and having price competitiveness is required.


A method for decreasing the incidence rate and/or recurrent rate of cancer is provided. The method comprises administering to a subject in need an effective amount of butylidenephthalide (BP).

In medicine, a tumor refers to an abnormal cytopathic effect, which is caused by a reaction of various carcinogenic factors that causes cells in the local body tissues to lose normal growth regulation at the genetic level and results in an abnormal cell proliferation. Those abnormal proliferated cells will aggregate into a mass, and this is called as a "tumor." "Cancer" is the most common type of tumor. The abnormal proliferated "cancer cells" will not only aggregate into a mass, but also spread and metastasize to other tissues or organs. Therefore, cancer is also known as a malignant tumor. The proliferation and metastasis of cancer cells will cause severe abnormalities of physiological function and is very difficult to cure; therefore, cancer is currently the first cause of death worldwide.
Traditional methods for treating cancer include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, etc. Cancer, however, cannot be cured completely by surgical excision of the mass because the cancer cells not exactly cut off may continuously grow and result in an exacerbation of the patient's condition. Therefore, surgical excision is not used alone in the therapy for cancer, and is usually combined with other therapeutic methods such as chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. In chemotherapy, chemical drugs (such as an alkylating agent) are used to kill the cancer cells having a high proliferation rate. However, most chemical drugs used in chemotherapies also act on normal cells, resulting in severe side effects (include vomiting, alopecia, fatigue, bleeding, anemia, etc.) to cancer patients. Radiation therapy (e.g., gamma knife radiosurgery) breaks down the DNA of cancer cells on the principle that rapidly dividing cancer cells are more sensitive to radiation than normal cells. However, when high-energy radiation destroys cancer cells, normal cells may also be radiated simultaneously, resulting in side effects such as a loss of leukocytes, fatigue, insomnia, pain, and poor appetite. Furthermore, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are not effective for a part of cancer patients in the late stages.
Research has shown that most cancer cells do not have the ability to induce a tumor and only few cancer cells have tumorigenicity. Those cancer cells with tumorigenicity have characteristics of stem cells (i.e., have the ability of self-renewal and differentiation), and can continuously grow and differentiate into different kinds or types of tumor cells, and thus, are called as "cancer stem cells (CSCs)" or "tumor stem cells". Research has also shown that cancer stem cells have the potential to form a tumor and develop into cancer. In particular, cancer stem cells will develop into other kinds of cancer when metastasizing to other tissues or organs of the body. Furthermore, in the tissues of such as leukemia, breast cancer, brain cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, or oral cancer, cancer stem cells are more resistant to chemotherapy or radiation therapy than other cells. Such resistance is highly correlated with the recurrence, invasion, and metastasis of the tumor and survival rate of the patient. Thus, if the growth, migration, invasion and/or metastasis of cancer stem cells can be prevented, mitigated or inhibited effectively, the success rate for treating the tumor and cancer and the survival rate of patient can be improved.
Currently, the therapeutic methods (including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, etc.) for preventing, mitigating or inhibiting the growth, migration, invasion or metastasis of cancer stem cells in clinic are all inefficient. Therefore, there is a necessity and urgency for developing a method or a drug for preventing, mitigating or inhibiting the growth, migration, invasion or metastasis of cancer stem cells effectively to decrease the incidence rate, recurrent rate, and death rate, as well as to improve the cure rate and reduce side effects.
Inventors of the present invention found that BP is effective in inhibiting the expressions of the stemness factors of cancer stem cells, especially in inhibiting the expressions of Sox-2 and Oct4, and thus, can inhibit the growth, migration and invasion of cancer stem cells and can be used to provide a medicament, a food product or a food additive for decreasing the incidence rate and/or recurrent rate of cancer.


Various embodiments provide antennas capable of receiving both left-hand circularly polarized (LHCP) signals and right-hand circularly polarized (RHCP) signals, and outputting both signals on a single feed. In one exemplary embodiment, an antenna generally includes two substantially coplanar concentric patches. The inner patch is substantially square. The outer patch has inner and outer edges both of which are substantially square. The two patches do not physically contact one another. A single feed is connected to the inner patch. The inner patch receives the LHCP signal, and the two patches operate collectively together for receiving the RHCP signal.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In an increasingly wireless world, antennas are becoming ever more prevalent. This is particularly true in automobiles, which typically include antennas for one or more of AM radio, FM radio, satellite radio, cellular phones, and GPS. These signals are of different frequencies and polarizations. For example, the signals associated with satellite radio (e.g. brand names XM and Sirius) are in the range of 2.320 to 2.345 GHz and are left hand circularly polarized (LHCP); and the signals associated with global positioning systems (GPS) are in the range of 1.574 to 1.576 GHz and are right hand circularly polarized (RHCP).
Antenna packages have been developed in which multiple antennas receive and output multiple signals on multiple feeds. However, these packages are undesirably complex and expensive, and the multiple feeds are undesirable. While these antenna packages have proven effective and popular, there is an ever increasing need for antennas of increasingly simple, compact, and low-cost design.

Single-feed multi-frequency multi-polarization antenna


An underlying Al alloy wiring 3 and an inter-layer insulation film 4 are formed sequentially on a semiconductor substrate 1 via an inter-layer insulation film 2. An inter-layer insulation film 5 highly hygroscopic and containing much moisture is made and etched back to flush depressions by the underlying Al alloy wiring 3. After an inter-layer insulation film 6 is made, a contact-hole C is made in the inter-layer insulation films 6 and 4. After that, prior to making a TiN/Ti film 7, gases are removed from the inter-layer insulation films 4 through 6 by annealing. The TiN/Ti film 7 is made as thick as 80 nm. In an alternative version, after the inter-layer insulation film is etched back, annealing is done to remove gases especially from the inter-layer insulation film 5. In another alternative version, a protective film 9 is made on the side wall of the contact-hole C, or the surface of the inter-layer insulation films 6 and 4 having formed the contact-hole or the surface of the inter-layer insulation film 5, is nitrified, to prevent degassing of the inter-layer insulation films 4 through 6.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing method especially suitable for a method using high-pressure reflow to plug contact-holes and grooves.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with high integration of very large scaled integrated circuits, micro-sized inside wiring progresses, and the aspect ratio of contact-holes increases. Therefore, technologies for plugging a wiring material into fine contact-holes having a high aspect ratio is very important.
Recently, researches of so-called plugged wiring technologies are done actively. Plugged wiring technologies pertain to a process of forming a predetermined groove in an inter-layer insulation film, then stacking a film of a wiring material, such as aluminum (Al) or copper (Cu), to plug it into the groove, and thereafter removing the wiring material from portions other than the groove by CMP (chemical mechanical polishing), so as to use the remainder of the wiring material in the groove as a wiring. In such plugged wiring technologies, the technique for plugging a wiring material into a fine groove is important.
There are researches of various techniques, such as blanket tungsten (W) chemical vapor deposition, aluminum (Al) or copper (Cu) high-temperature sputtering, reflow, and high-pressure reflow, as techniques for plugging of fine contact-holes and grooves, and some of them are used actually.
Blanket W CVD is most widely used in practice as a technique for plugging of contact-holes because of its high and stable hole-plugging ability. However, its process is complicated, requiring steps of forming a close-contact layer, forming and back-etching the W film and forming a wiring.
Al or Cu high-temperature sputtering and reflow are simpler in process than the blanket W CVD, and hence contributes to a reduction of the cost. However, they need heating the substrate as high as approximately 500 to 550.degree. C. for plugging of contact-holes, and invite a decrease in reliability of the wiring due to heating the substrate to a high temperature, among others. Moreover, high-temperature sputtering and reflow are inferior in plugging ability, and the maximum aspect ratio, in case of contact-holes, for example, is 2 to 3, approximately. Therefore, these methods are considered inapplicable to more micro-sized devices in the future.
Al or Cu high-pressure reflow is recently remarked as a technology improving the plugging ability of the ordinary reflow. The high-pressure reflow ensures plugging of contact-holes with an aspect ratio around 4 to 5 under an ideal condition, and is appreciated as a hopeful method applicable also to plugging of grooves. FIGS. 1 through 3 show a conventional method for manufacturing a semiconductor device by plugging an Al alloy into a contact-hole by the high-pressure reflow.
In the conventional semiconductor device manufacturing method, first formed, as shown in FIG. 1, is an underlying Al alloy wiring 103 made of an Al--Cu alloy on a semiconductor substrate 101, such as Si wafer, prepared by a predetermined process, via an inter-layer insulation film 102, such as SiO.sub.2 film. Next formed on the entire surface is an inter-layer insulation film 104, such as SiO.sub.2 film, by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), for example. Thereafter, a predetermined portion of the inter-layer insulation film 104 is selectively etched off by dry etching to form a contact-hole C' down to the underlying Al alloy wiring 103. Symbols x' and y' are the diameter and the depth of the contact-hole C'. Numerical values of x' and y' may be, for example, x'=0.3.mu.m and y'=1.mu.m.
Next stacked as an underlying wiring layer are a titanium (Ti) film and a titanium nitride (TiN) film, in sequence, by sputtering at the temperature of 400.degree. C. of the semiconductor substrate 101 to form a TiN/Ti film 105. The lower Ti film may be 20 nm thick and the upper TiN film 50 nm thick, for example, such that the entirety of the TiN/Ti film 105 be 70 nm thick. Next formed on the TiN/Ti film 105 is an Al alloy film 106, using an Al--Cu alloy, for example, as a wiring main material by sputtering at the temperature of, for example, 400.degree. C. of the semiconductor substrate 101. The thickness of the Al alloy film 106 is chosen to be larger than the diameter x' of the contact-hole C', so as to cover the upper end of the contact-hole C' while making a void inside the contact-hole C'. For example, thickness of the Al alloy film 106 may be 500 nm.
After the Al alloy film 106 is formed, as shown in FIG. 2, the semiconductor substrate 101 is heated to 400 to 450.degree. C. in a highly evacuated atmosphere to soften the Al alloy film 106, and a pressurized gas is introduced to make the Al alloy film 106 run into the contact-hole C' until it fully plugs the contact-hole C' as shown in FIG. 3.
In the conventional semiconductor device manufacturing method, successive steps of forming the TiN/Ti film 105, forming the Al alloy film 106 and high-pressure reflow of the Al alloy film 106 are executed continuously while transporting the semiconductor substrate 101 in a vacuum not to expose it to the atmospheric air.
In the conventional semiconductor device manufacturing method, the plugging ratio of the contact-hole or groove by the high-pressure reflow is very sensitive to the quality of the inter-layer insulation film 104 having the contact-hole or groove. Especially when a large amount of gases of water, etc., are released from the surface of the inter-layer insulation film 104, the plugging ratio decreases seriously. The problem of a gas released from the inter-layer insulation film 104 may occur, for example, in the following case. That is, as the requirement of a flatness of the underlying surface making a wiring increases along with micro-sizing and multi-layered wiring of VLSIs, insulation films excellent in flatness tend to be used frequently. More specifically, the above-explained conventional semiconductor device manufacturing method may use an insulation film with an excellent flatness to flush a step by the underlying Al alloy wiring 103. A known film usable as the insulation film for this purpose is, for example, a SiO.sub.2 film formed by atmospheric-pressure CVD using ozone (O.sub.3) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as reactive gases. Such a SiO.sub.2 film is certainly good in flatness. However, it is highly hygroscopic, and contains much moisture. If the inter-layer insulation film 104 includes a much moist portion, even when the much moist portion is not exposed to the exterior, water, etc., are released to the exterior through the inter-layer insulation film 104, and degrades the plugging ratio.
This occurs for the following reason. That is, in the conventional semiconductor device manufacturing method referred to above, a sequence of steps of forming the TiN/Ti film 105, forming the Al alloy film 106, and high-pressure reflow of the Al alloy film 106 are executed together with heating of the semiconductor substrate 101 around 400 to 450.degree. C., and gases of water, etc., are released from the inter-layer insulation film 104. Since the gases of water, etc. released from the inter-layer insulation film 104 pass through the TiN/Ti film 105 forming the side wall of the contact-hole C', water molecules reach the surface of the TiN/Ti film 105. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, the surface of the TiN/Ti film 105 is oxidized, and a Ti oxide layer 108 is formed the portion. Once the Ti oxide layer 108 is formed on the surface of the TiN/Ti film 105, the Al alloy film 106 is oxidized along the interface with the TiN/Ti film 105 as shown in FIG. 5 when the Al alloy film 106 runs into the contact-hole C' during high-pressure reflow, and an Al oxide layer 109, such as aluminum dioxide (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3) in the portion. The Al oxide layer 109 does not run smoothly, and disturbs the reflow of the Al alloy film 106. Supposedly, this is the reason of defective plugging.
This problem is salient when a wiring material is plugged into a micro-sized contact-hole or groove by high-pressure reflow, causing a decrease in reliability of the wiring and an increase of the wiring resistance due to the defective plugging. Therefore, there is a demand for an improved measure that ensures good plugging regardless of the quality of the inter-layer insulation film 104.

Semiconductor device manufacturing method


Apparatus and methods are provided for indexing electronic content to be served to users' mobile and/or stationary communications and computing devices. An index is composed of multiple slices, with each slice storing multiple entries and each entry representing one content item or one campaign or collection of content items. An entry is populated with tokens representing attribute/value pairs of a target audience of the content item and/or property/value pairs of the item or the item's campaign. A query or request to identify content items for serving to a particular user is similarly formatted with tokens representing attribute/value pairs of the user and/or item/campaign. Queries can then be executed rapidly across any or all index entries in any or all slices. Within a slice, entries may be sorted by value or score, and integer components within an individual entry may be sorted to facilitate rapid comparison with a query.

Computer systems and services that serve electronic content usually index the content using indexes that are specific to the type of content being served. Therefore, an index for a web server will be designed and optimized to locate and serve web pages (e.g., .html files), an index for an ad server will be optimized to select and serve advertisements (e.g., images), a file server may be optimized to locate and serve documents, and so on. An index designed for one type of content generally cannot be used effectively with other types of content.
Also, specialized indexes generally do not permit simultaneous reading and writing. Therefore, whenever the index must be maintained (e.g., to add or remove an entry), the entire index or a portion of the index may be temporarily locked or taken offline, and can't be used to locate and serve content during the maintenance. Depending on how long it is locked for writing, searches may be delayed for unacceptable periods of time or may not be executable against the full collection of data.
Further, maintaining a specialized index may be time-consuming if multiple operations must be applied during a maintenance cycle. For example, in between maintenance cycles multiple updates to the indexed data may be queued until the next cycle commences, at which time they are all applied in serial fashion. The duration of the maintenance (e.g., and the data's unavailability for searching) may be proportional to the number of updates that were received.
Yet further, scanning or searching a specialized index can be relatively slow when entries in the index contain some or all of the semantic content (e.g., in textual format) that must be read, parsed and compared with some target parameters in order to determine which index entries are relevant to the current search. In particular, an index entry representing a web page, an advertisement, a news story or other type of item may contain textual content of the item. When a query is executed against the index, the textual content must be compared with the query, which can involve execution of a relatively slow pattern-matching algorithm for comparing text.
Even further, a specialized index for serving just one type of content may not be optimized to find the best or most valuable content first. Instead, such indexes may be organized such that the entire index needs to be searched in order to ensure that the most valuable content is located.

Optimizing a content index for target audience queries


A housing structure is prevented from becoming complicated. A connector (A) includes: a housing (10) having a terminal accommodation chamber (11); a terminal fitting (20) inserted into the terminal accommodation chamber (11); a lance (14) which can lock the terminal fitting (20) in a detachment prevention state; a front retainer (30); a mold removal space (19) which serves to mold the lance (14); and a detection hole (35) formed in the front retainer (30), allowing insertion of a probe P from the front side and communicating with the terminal accommodation chamber (11) via the mold removal space (19).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
JP 2001-110526 A discloses a connector which accommodates a terminal fitting in a terminal accommodation chamber of a housing and which maintains the terminal fitting in a detachment prevention state by a front retainer mounted to the housing so as to cover the front surface thereof. In this connector, to perform a conduction inspection, a detection hole is formed in the front retainer, and a communication hole establishing communication between the detection hole and the terminal accommodation chamber is formed in the housing. When a probe for the conduction inspection is inserted into the detection hole from the front side of the front retainer, the probe passes the connection hole to come into contact with the terminal fitting in the terminal accommodation chamber.
In the connector disclosed in JP 2001-110526 A, a dedicated communication hole is formed in the housing in order to establish communication between the detection hole of the front retainer and the terminal accommodation chamber. Thus, the structure of the housing is rather complicated.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problem; it is an object of the present invention to prevent the housing structure from becoming complicated.


A new type of dominant negative gene-fusion acts as an antiviral agent when expressed in infected cells. The dominant negative effect is obtained by fusing a gene coding for a capsid or envelope protein of a virus to a gene coding for an enzyme (e.g., nuclease or protease) that can destructively hydrolyze or modify the encapsulated viral DNA, RNA or proteins. The fusion gene is expressed in virally infected cells; viruses assembled in these cells will then "self-destruct" because the fusion enzyme incorporated in the viral particles destroys or functionally alters essential components of the virus, thus preventing the virus from productively infecting another cell.

Viral infections continue to cause serious health problems, despite the existence of vaccines for some viruses. Vaccines have not been developed for a large number of viruses, such as those causing the common cold and AIDS. Some viruses appear to be refractory to efforts to develop vaccines, thus other approaches to anti-viral therapy and phrophylaxis are needed.
Several techniques for inducing immunity to viruses, other than traditional vaccines have been explored. In one such technique, mammalian cells are engineered in order to create cellular immunity to HIV. A DNA construct is introduced into the cells which includes an HIV promoter and the sequence of a product which is toxic to the HIV-infected cells, such as poliovirus protein 2A. The HIV-infected cells are killed by expression of the toxic product using a virus activated promoter. In another such technique, a mutant viral capsid protein is used to interfere with viable virus production. These techniques are described in International PCT Application entitled "Intracellular Method of Inhibiting HIV In Mammalian Cells" by Baltimore et al (PCT/US90/01266). An article by David Baltimore entitled "Intracellular immunization" (Nature, vol. 335, p. 395, Sep. 29, 1988) discusses the therapeutic approach for using cells engineered pursuant to Baltimore et al to be virus-resistant.
The use of a dominant negative strategy to study protein function was described by Herskowitz in an article entitled "Functional Inactivation of Genes by Dominant Negative Mutations" (Nature, Vol. 329, p. 219, 1987). Trono et al applied this strategy to the inhibition of viruses in an article entitled "HIV-I Gag Mutants Can Dominantly Interfere with the Replication of the Wild-Type Virus" (Cell, Vol. 59, pp. 113-120, 1989). See also PCT/US90/01266. These articles teach mutagenesis or truncation of a gene to create "dominant negative" mutations. The proteins expressed by the mutant genes are defective but are still capable of interacting with wild-type monomers of the protein produced by another allele. Other references teaching the dominant-negative strategy include; U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,182 entitled "Partially Detective Foreign Gene for Conferring Immunity on a Biological Host" to Szybalski; an article by Malim et al entitled "Functional Dissection of the HIV-I Rev Trans-Activator-Derivation of a Trans-Dominant Repressor of Rev. Function" (Cell, Vol. 58, pp. 205-214, 1989); an article by Chejanovsky et al entitled "Mutation of a Consensus Purine Nucleotide Binding Site in the Adeno-Associated Virus rep Gene Generates a Dominant Negative Phenotype for DNA Replication" (Journal of Virology, 1990, pp. 1764-1770); an article by Green et al "Mutational Analysis of HIV-I Tat Minimal Domain Peptides: Identification of Trans-Dominant Mutants that Suppress HIV-LTR Driven Gene Expression" (Cell, Vol. 58, pp. 215-223, 1989); and an article by Friedman et al entitled "Expression of a Truncated Viral Transactivator Selectively Impedes Lytic Infection by Cognate Virus" (Nature, Vol. 335, p. 452, 1988).
Fusions of viral core or capsid proteins to other proteins, and the assembly of the fusion proteins into virus particles has been disclosed in the art. A patent by Kingsman et al entitled "Particulate Hybrid HIV Antigens" (U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,166) and related International PCT Applications (WO 88103563 entitled "Fusion Proteins and Particles" and WO 88103662 entitled "Particulate Hybrid HIV Antigens") teach fusions of an HIV antigen to the capsid protein of a retrotransposon or retrovirus. Self-assembly of virus or virus-like particles in the presence of the capsid protein/HIV antigen fusion produces a viral structure with the fused antigen incorporated into the capsid structure. A related paper by Gilmour et al entitled "A Novel Method for the Purification of HIV-1 p24 Protein from Hybrid Ty Virus-like particles (Ty-VLPs) (AIDS 1989, Vol. 3, No. 11) shows that the HIV antigen can be cleaved from the viral-like particle using activated factor Xa. Similarly, Weldon et al., Journal of Virology, vol. 64, pp. 4169-4179, 1990, teaches the cleavage and secretion of iso-l-cytochrome C from an RSV gag fusion protein. A paper by Kingsman et al entitled "Host-vector systems" (Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B324, pp. 477-485 (1989) teaches that a capsid/antigen fusion is assembled into virus-like particles in yeast which display the HIV antigen gene on the particle surface.
Various additional references teach the use of gene constructs to produce viruses with recombinant surface proteins: U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,002 entitled "Viruses with Recombinant Surface Proteins" to Dulbecco; and, an article by Jones et al entitled "Assembly of gag-.beta.-Galactosidase Proteins into Retrovirus Particles." These references teach the formation of fusion proteins which express their non-viral portions on the virus particle surface for use as vaccines and diagnostic uses.
Despite these advances in the art, there is still a need for new methods to combat viral diseases.

Method for the inhibition and prevention of viral replication using fusions of a virus protein and a destructive enzyme


A method for driving a display apparatus having display memory property is provided. In the method, the display apparatus includes an electrode group composed of at least a first electrode and a second electrode. The method includes the steps of: applying a voltage for performing writing of an display image between the first electrode and the second electrode; and attenuating an absolute value of a potential difference between the first electrode and the second electrode in a term within a holding period of the display image. Thereby, the deterioration of a holding characteristic owing to the influence of a residual DC can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for driving a display apparatus having a display memory property.
2. Description of Related Art
As information equipment progresses, demands for display apparatus which consume low electric power and are shaped to be thin are increasing. Accordingly, research and development of display apparatus meeting the demands have been vigorously performed. In particular, a wearable personal computer (PC), an electronic organizer and the like are frequently used outdoors owing to their uses, and then they are expected to be power consumption-saving and space-saving. Accordingly, some products have been developed. Such products, for example, integrate display functions by means of thin type displays such as liquid crystal displays and coordinate inputting processing, and thereby can directly input the contents displayed on the displays by performing pressing operations with pens or fingers.
However, because many liquid crystal displays do not have the so-called display memory properties, it is required to continue to apply voltages to the liquid crystal displays during display periods. On the other hand, it is difficult for the liquid crystal displays having the display memory properties to ensure reliability in the case where uses in various environments such as a use for the wearable PC's are supposed, and consequently the liquid crystal displays having the display memory properties have not been put to practical use yet.
As one of the display systems which have the display memory properties and are formed in thin shapes and light weights, Harold D. Lees et al. proposes an electrophoresis display apparatus in their U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,758. Such a kind of the electrophoresis display apparatus utilizes an electrophoresis phenomenon in which electrophoresis particles are moved by Coulomb forces when an electric field is applied to a fluid dispersion in which the electrophoresis particles are dispersed in a dispersion medium. As one of the electrophoresis display apparatus, there is one having a configuration in which two electrodes, at least one of which is transparent, are opposed to each other with a predetermined gap between them and a fluid dispersion composed of a colored insulating liquid and a plurality of charged migration particles is sealed between the electrodes. When a voltage is applied between the electrodes, the charged migration particles are attracted to one of the electrodes according to the direction of the electric field. Then, an observer can see the color of the insulating liquid or the colors of the charged migration particles.
In such an electrophoresis display apparatus, the charged migration particles attracted to one electrode holds their spatial distribution state when the electric field in the fluid dispersion is made to be uniformly zero. Thus, a display image displayed by the spatial distribution state of the charged migration particles can be held. That is, the display device has the display memory property. Consequently, the electrophoresis display apparatus needs electric power only when display is rewritten, and the electrophoresis display apparatus is considered to be effective for reducing power consumption.
Active matrix system electrophoresis display apparatus utilizing the display memory properties are proposed in US AA2002021483 and US AA2002005832.
According to these proposals, in a reset action period, a reset voltage is written into each pixel electrode. Next, in a write period, a fixed voltage is applied to each pixel electrode for a period in proportion to a gradation value indicated by image data, or a voltage in proportion to a gradation value indicated by image data is applied to each electrode for a fixed period. After that, in a holding action period of a displayed image after a displayed sate has become a substantially desired gradation level, the potential differences between the pixel electrodes and a common electrode are turned to be zero for fixing the spatial distribution state of the electrophoresis particles by turning the electric field applied to the electrophoresis particles to be zero.
However, according to a result of research of the present inventor, in a drive of the conventional electrophoresis apparatus, when the potential differences between the pixel electrodes and the common electrode are abruptly turned to be zero as the holding action, an anti-electric field having a reversed polarity to the write voltage is generated in a liquid layer. When threshold value characteristics of the charged migration particles are insufficient, the charged migration particles are moved by the anti-electric field, and then a desired display state cannot be held. Thus, the conventional electrophoresis apparatus have a problem of an inhibition of the display memory property.
A residual direct current (DC) is regarded as one of the causes of the problem. Hereinafter, the residual DC will be described in detail. In a method of driving the electrophoresis display apparatus, as an example of the drive method is shown in a timing chart of FIG. 3, each of fields having certain time lengths is utilized to perform reset actions, write actions and holding actions for control of image display. The abscissa axis of the graph shown in FIG. 2A is a time axis, and the ordinate axis of the graph is a voltage axis. In FIG. 2A, a solid line indicates an example of a voltage to be applied to a certain pixel of the electrophoresis display apparatus from the outside, and a broken line indicates an effective voltage applied to the fluid dispersion actually at the time of the application of the voltage applied from the outside. Moreover, FIG. 2B shows an optical response at that time. In FIGS. 2A and 2B, a reference mark (A) designates a reset action period, a reference mark (B) designates a write period, and a reference mark (C) designates a holding action period. In the electrophoresis display apparatus, regions having different electrical time constants exist in the device, and electric charges are stored in interfaces between the regions. Consequently, DC components are generated. Generally, the DC components are called as the residual DC's. When the residual DC's are stored, for example, even if the application voltage to a pixel electrode is made to be zero as shown by the solid line in the holding action period as designated by (C) in FIG. 2, an anti-electric field having a reversed polarity to the applied voltage is sometimes generated in the fluid dispersion as shown by the broken line. Because a part of the charged migration particles is written back by receiving the operation of the anti-electric field, the holding of the image is not performed sufficiently.

Method for driving electrophoresis display apparatus