An apparatus, system and method for servicing a coolant system, such as, an automobile air conditioner are disclosed. In one embodiment, the apparatus may comprise a device for measuring a parameter of the coolant system; and means for selectively switching between providing: (i) communication between the coolant system and said measuring device, and (ii) communication between the coolant system and the coolant supply.

Many coolant systems, such as, automobile air conditioners, use chemicals called refrigerants to cool air. The refrigerants may be added to the coolant system as liquids, but utilized in the system as gases. These coolant systems operate based on the principle of Gay-Lussac's Law, which is:P/T=P′/T′ where V is constantand where P=pressure, T=temperature, and V=volume. In accordance with this law, as the pressure of a compressed gas increases, its temperature increases. Conversely, as the pressure of the gas decreases, the temperature of the gas decreases. Expansion of a refrigerant gas in a coolant system acts to cool the system containing the refrigerant. Air blown over the cooled system, in turn may be cooled, and provided to a vent where it can cool an interior space, such as an automobile cabin. This is the basic concept of many refrigeration and air conditioning systems.
The ability to achieve cooling by compressing and expanding a gaseous refrigerant may depend to some degree on the level of liquid refrigerant present in the system. In an automobile air conditioning system, several factors may adversely affect the level of refrigerant in the system. For example, the system may be subject to significant swings in temperature and frequent thermal cycling due to the action of the air conditioner itself and the heat produced by the automobile's engine. Under these conditions, joints and fittings may tend to expand and contract, permitting refrigerant to slowly leak out of the system. In another example, the hoses used may be slightly permeable to the refrigerant, which may also permit the refrigerant to slowly leak out of the hoses. Accordingly, maintenance of an automobile air conditioning system may require monitoring the refrigerant level or pressure and periodic re-charging of the refrigerant as indicated.
Typical automotive air conditioners are provided with at least one service port to allow for the addition of refrigerant and checking on the level of refrigerant in the system. The check of refrigerant level and the addition of refrigerant may be attended to by a professional mechanic, however, there is no requirement that a professional carry out these functions. A growing number of automobile owners choose to perform this type of routine maintenance on their vehicles. This market is commonly referred to as the "do-it-yourself" market.
A standard tool used by professionals for servicing automobile air conditioners includes a set of manifold gauges. This device usually includes three hoses and two gauges: one hose connects to a low pressure service port; one hose connects to a high pressure service port; and the third hose connects to the source of refrigerant. The two gauges may be used to measure the pressure at the high and low pressure service ports.
Although manifold gauges are the standard tool used by professional auto mechanics for air conditioner service, several disadvantages may reduce their popularity among do-it-yourself consumers. Manifold gauges can be complicated to use. One must know the approximate ambient temperature and look up the pressure readings of the gauges on a chart to determine if there is sufficient refrigerant in the system. In addition, use of manifold gauges may be dangerous. Because these devices require handling of the high pressure service port of the automobile air conditioner, their use may present a risk of injury to inexperienced consumers. Furthermore, manifold gauges may be relatively expensive for a "do-it yourself" consumer considering the relative infrequency of their use for servicing of a single automobile. Accordingly, there is a need for new methods and apparatus for servicing air conditioners, such as those used in automobiles, which do not have the same drawbacks as manifold gauges.
Various method and apparatus embodiments of the present invention may be used to service air conditioners, such as those used in automobiles. Embodiments of the present invention may allow a consumer to measure the refrigerant pressure in an automobile air conditioner, and to add refrigerant as needed. Additional advantages of embodiments of the invention are set forth, in part, in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the description and/or from the practice of the invention.

Apparatus and method for servicing a coolant system


The present invention relates to a topical composition containing human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) and polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer having a viscosity of 4-10 cps at 37xc2x0 C, 60 rpm as the base for topical formulation to improve the wound healing ability of hEGF.

The present invention relates to a topical composition containing human epidermal growth factor (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9chEGFxe2x80x9d). More specifically, the present invention relates to a topical composition which comprises a polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer (Generic name: Poloxamer) having a viscosity of 4-10 cps at 37xc2x0 C., 60 rpm as the base for topical formulation of naturally occurring HEGF or recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF). The topical composition of the present invention is useful for the treatment of cutaneous injuries including wounds, incisions, burns, etc.
hEGF is a polypeptide which consists of 53 amino acid residues with three disulfide bonds [see, Cohen, S. J. Biol. Chem., 237, 1555-1562, 1962; Savage, C. R., J. Biol. Chem. 248, 7669-7672, 1973]. It has been reported that HEGF plays a very important role in controlling the growth of epidermal and cutaneous cells in mammal [see, Sporn, M. B. et al., Nature (London) 313, 745-747, 1985; Sporn M. B. et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 303, 878-880, 1980]. It is also invloved in the process of wound healing [see, Buckley, A. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 82, 7340-7344, 1985] at a molecular level. Since then numerous studies related to the recovery of cutaneous wounds with HEGF have been conducted.
Although HEGF shows a good activity for stimulating the differentiation of epidermal cells in vitro, the development of formulations containing HEGF for the treatment of topical wound is very difficult due to disadvantage in that hEGF exhibits only a little effect in treating wounds when it is clinically applied to wounds. The reasons why hEGF does not show the desired sufficient effect in treating wounds in the living body are that HEGF as the protein is very unstable, particularly in the presence of water, at room temperature, and has less than one hour in half-life which is far shorter than the lag time required for the induction of DNA synthesis of cells in wound site, which is about 8-12 hour [see, J. Surg. Res., 43, 333, 1987]. Furthermore, when HEGF is applied to the skin, HEGF loses its biological activity due to the denaturation and decomposition of HEGF by proteolytic enzymes present in wound site.
In order to provide the desired wound healing effect of hEGF, it is required to continuously maintain the effective level of HEGF by applying hEGF to wound site at any time during initial few days which are most important for wound healing [see, J. Surg. Res., 43, 333, 1987, J. Lab. Clin. Med., 108, 103, 1986]. In this regard, studies to develop the sustained releasing formulation which can continuously deliver HEGF to wound site have been conducted.
As one of the results of such studies, US Patent Specification No. 4,944,948 discloses the hEGF/liposome gel formulation using neutral phospho- lipids, negative-charged phospholipids and cholesterol, which can continuously deliver HEGF to wound site; and EP Publication No. EP 0312208 discloses the aqueous formulation which comprises pharmaceutically acceptable various water- soluble or water-swellable polymers as the base to consistently release hEGF.
However, although the above-mentioned prior art publications disclose the formulations which can continuously release HEGF for 12 hours or more, they are unsuitable for utilizing in industry since they have disadvantage of a little wound healing effect in wound site.
Particularly, in EP Publication No. 0312208, by preparing the gel formulation using polymers, as the base for continuously releasing hEGF for 12 hours or more, at a high concentration, hEGF is slowly released from the gel and continuously delivered to the wound site, and further the gel formulation itself can provide the wound healing effect by forming the coat at the wound site to create the suitable moisture condition at wound site and to prevent the invasion of pathogenic organisms into wound site. However, since this gel formulation has a very high viscosity of 1,000-12,000,000 cps at room temperature, when it is applied to the wound site with rubbing, such rubbing may cause irritation at the wound site. It is very difficult to apply the formulation to the wound having large lesional area and suffering from severe pain, such as bum. Further, the gel formulation forms an excessive coat at wound site to physically inhibit the migration of epidermal cells by mitogenic activity of hEGF thereby retarding effect of hEGF on the wound healing. Therefore, the gel formulation of said prior art publication suffers from serious disadvantage that when it is clinically applied to the wound site, the wound healing effect of hEGF cannot be sufficiently provided.
As mentioned above, since the prior art topical formulations of hEGF do not exhibit the desired sufficient wound healing effect at the wound site, it is very desirable to develop the topical preparation which can sufficiently exhibit the wound healing effect of hEGF in the living body.
Thus, the present inventors have conducted numerous studies to develop the topical preparation which can exhibit a sufficient wound healing effect in the living body. As a result, we have identified that the topical preparation of hEGF using a polyoxyethylene-polyoxy-propylene copolymer having viscosity of 4-10 cps at 37xc2x0 C., 60 rpm can exhibit the desired good wound healing effect of hEGF, and thus completed the present invention.
Thus, the present invention relates to a composition containing hEGF for topical use.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a topical composition which comprises hEGF as the active ingredient and a polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer having viscosity of 4-10 cps at 37xc2x0 C., 60 rpm as the base for topical preparation.
In the present specification, the degree of viscosity was indicated by the dimensions of dynes/sec per cm2. This dimension referred to herein, unless otherwise indicated, is in centipose (cps) as measured using a Brookfield viscometer. All viscosity values are measured at 37xc2x0 C., 60 rpm unless otherwise indicated.
The polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer which is used as the base in the present invention has a viscosity of 4-10 cps, preferably 4-6 cps, at 37xc2x0 C., 60 rpm. When the viscosity of polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer is less than 4 cps, the physical healing effect which is inherent in polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer is lowered and the releasing rate of hEGF is excessive fast to reduce its wound healing effect. On the other hand, the viscosity of polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer greater than 10 cps is also undesirable since polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer forms an excessive coat on the wound site inhibiting the migration of epithelial cells stimulated by hEGF, thereby lowering the wound healing effect.
In the present invention, by formulating hEGF into a topical preparation for the treatment of wound using polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer having viscosity of 4-10 cps the coat formed from the polymer does not serve as the physical barrier during the wound healing process and exhibits the inherent physical healing effect and further induces a sufficient wound healing effect by hEGF. Therefore, the present topical formulation can exhibit a good wound healing effect when it is applied to the wound site.
The viscosity of polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer is determined depending on temperature and molecular weight and content of polymer. Thus, to obtain the viscosity of polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer of 4-10 cps at 37xc2x0 C., 60 rpm, it is preferable to use polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer having molecular weight of about 10,000 to 15,000 in the ratio of 5-10 wt % on the basis of a total weight of the composition or to use polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer having molecular weight of about 7,000 to 10,000 in the ratio of 7.5-15 wt % on the basis of a total weight of the composition.
More preferably, it is suitable to adjust the viscosity within the range of 4-6 cps by using polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer having molecular weight of about 10,000 to 15,000 in the ratio of 5-7.5 wt % on the basis of a total weight of the composition or by using polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer having molecular weight of about 7,000 to 10,000 in the ratio of 7.5-12.5 wt % on the basis of a total weight of the composition.
In the topical composition according to the present invention, either of naturally occurring hEGF or recombinant hEGF can be used as the active ingredient hEGF. The content of hEGF in the composition is preferably 0.01-1,000 xcexcg/ml, particularly 1-100 xcexcg/ml.
Since the topical composition of the present invention composed as mentioned above is present in a liquid state at room temperature, hEGF as the pharmacologically active ingredient can be uniformly dispersed in polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer base. Therefore, contrary to the prior art gel formulations, when the composition of the present invention is applied to the wound site, it exhibits a good permeation of active ingredient into the wound site, and can be uniformly spread on the wound site to increase the skin area contacting with HEGF, thereby providing an excellent wound healing effect. In addition, the composition of the present invention also has advantage that since it is in a liquid state having low viscosity, it can be formulated into spray preparation, which can be applied to the wound site by simply spraying, not rubbing, and therefore, does not cause a physical irritation to the wound.
The composition according to the present invention can further contain pharmaceutically acceptable additives which can be conventionally used in preparing the topical preparation, for example, stabilizer, excipient, etc., in addition to the active ingredient hEGF and polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymer as the base.
If required, the composition of the present invention can be stored in a lyophilized form and then dissolved in a suitable solvent when it is used. Therefore, the composition of the present invention can be stably stored for a long period.

Topical composition containing human epidermal growth factor


The invention relates to systems and methods of providing an integrated wagering and interactive media platform. The system may allow various types of third party interactive media providers such as video game publishers (including smartphone and tablet game publishers, console game publishers, etc.), video and other multimedia download or streaming services, and others to access outcomes of real-world wagers associated with users so that the outcomes may be revealed in association with interactive media. Other types of systems may also access the reveal mechanisms to reveal outcomes of real-world wagers such as, for example, retail systems, kiosks, vending machines, and/or other user touch points that can identify a user, obtain wager outcomes from the system, and provide the wager outcomes to the user. Furthermore, in-house developed games and other interactive media may use the reveal mechanisms described herein to reveal outcomes of real-world wagers associated with the user.

Certain wagering systems allow users to place wagers and obtain payouts. For example, using some of these wagering systems, users may place wagers on horse races. However, payouts resulting from such wagers result from the wager event without interaction by the user, making the wagering and payout process one dimensional. Interactive media allows for user interaction, which can engage the user. However, the user interaction is generally limited to the gameplay mechanic, multimedia (e.g., video) content, and other content needed to play the interactive media. Although some online interactive media allow users to place simulated wagers (e.g., online poker using virtual currency), the outcome of such simulated wagers are based solely on gameplay, and not on real-world wager outcomes.

System and method of providing an integrated wagering and interactive media platform


This invention provides a chimeric DNA molecule comprising a sequence encoding a chemokine polypeptide covalently attached to a heterologous polypeptide, the encoded chimeric polypeptide, and uses thereof.

The present invention relates generally to chimeric polypeptides containing chemokine polypeptide domains. More specifically, the invention relates to the expression in host cells of recombinant polynucleotide sequences encoding chemokine polypeptides covalently attached to heterologous polypeptides, and the use of such chimeric polypeptides as research tools for identifying chemokine receptors, as vaccine adjuvants, as agents-for the chemotactic recruitment of migratory cells, as agents for the stimulation or inhibition of angiogenesis, as agents against autoimmune diseases and inflammation, and as agents to inhibit the binding of HIV to certain receptors.
Chemokines (or chemotactic cytokines) are a class of cytokine molecules capable of chemotactically attracting migratory cells, and are involved in cell recruitment and activation in inflammation. Chemokines generally have small molecular weights in the range of 8-10 kDa and, like other small proteins such as cytokines, are believed to be rapidly inactivated in vivo, resulting in relatively short biological half-lives for these proteins. Most chemokines can be divided into two subgroups, CXC or CC, on the basis of the spacing of two highly-conserved cysteine amino acids near the amino terminus of these proteins. Within the CXC and CC subgroups, chemokines are further grouped into related families based on amino acid sequence similarity between them. CXC chemokine families include the IP-10 and Mig family; the GROα, GROβ, and GROγ family; the interleukin-8 (IL-8) family; and the PF4 family. CC chemokine families include the monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP) family; the family including macrophage inhibitory protein-1α (MIP-1α), macrophage inhibitory protein-1β (MIP-1β), and regulated on activation normal T cell expressed (RANTES); and the lymphotactin family. The chemokines stromal cell-derived factor 1α (SDF-1α) and stromal cell-derived factor 1β (SDF-1β) form a chemokine family that is approximately equally related by amino acid sequence similarity to the CXC and CC chemokine subgroups. Individual members of the chemokine families are known to be bound by at least one chemokine receptor, with CXC chemokines generally bound by members of the CXCR class of receptors, and CC chemokines by members of the CCR class of receptors. For example, SDF-1α is known to be a ligand for the CXCR receptor fusin/CXCR4, and MIP-1α is bound by the CCR receptors CCR1, CCR4, and CCR5.
The presence of a chemokine gradient attracts migratory cells such as lymphocytes, leukocytes, and antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that may participate in autoimmune reactions, inflammation, or normal immune responses, or that may release other intercellular factors to stimulate or inhibit angiogenesis or other cellular processes. For example, the initiation of autoimmune disease requires the infiltration or recruitment of lymphocytes able to respond against self proteins into the organ bearing the antigenic self proteins. Inflammatory atherosclerotic lesions are due in part to infiltration of the vascular compartment by leukocytes recruited to the site. To induce an immune response, antigenic proteins and glycoproteins must bind to the surface of B lymphocytes to stimulate antibody production, and must be taken up by antigen-presenting cells, processed, and represented to T lymphocytes to mediate a T-lymphocyte response. Migratory cells that secrete IP10 or IL-8, when attracted by a chemokine gradient to a particular site, respectively may inhibit or stimulate the formation of blood vessels at that site. Chemokines may be used to establish a chemoattractive gradient for migratory cells that are expressing the appropriate chemokine receptors, or to obscure an existing chemoattractive gradient.
Chemokine receptors are also involved in functions other than chemotaxis, such as interacting with viral proteins. HIV-1 is known to bind to certain proteins on the surface of cells in order to gain entrance into these cells and replicate or integrate the viral gene into the host DNA. The CD4 protein on T lymphocytes and other cells, including certain antigen presenting cells, has been shown to be bound by the HIV-1 viral envelope protein gp120. This is believed to induce in gp120 a conformational change that then exposes regions of gp120 and perhaps CD4 that subsequently bind to a chemokine receptor. To date CXCR4 (also known as fusin), CCR5, and several other chemokine receptors have been identified as co-receptors for HIV-1. Monocyte-tropic (M-tropic) isolates of HIV-1 require interaction with CCR5 in order to infect cells, while T-lymphocyte-tropic (T-tropic) HIV-1 isolates require another coreceptor, CXCR4, for infection. There is some evidence indicating that HIV-1 can also use other CCR receptors such as CCR2 and CCR3 to gain entry into cells expressing them. For some HIV-2 isolates, it appears that certain chemokine receptors such as fusin/CXCR4 alone can provide the cell-surface protein needed for binding and entrance into the cell.
HIV-1 infection of cells expressing CD4 and fusin/CXCR4 is greatly decreased by the addition of purified SDF-1α, which is bound by fusin/CXCR4. We have found that preincubation of cells in the presence of purified SDF-1α for a short period of time at 37° C. causes a profound down-regulation of the receptor. This down-regulation of fusin/CXCR4 correlates with a decrease in the ability of HIV-1 to infect cells.
There is a continuing requirement for new compositions that will enhance, alter, or inhibit the effects of chemokine-receptor interactions, and for methods for their use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Chimeric polypeptides containing chemokine domains


There is provided herein an application-oriented backup and restore system, which leads the user through a plurality of different selectable steps to repair specific application errors/problems. The preferred embodiment minimizes the loss of user productivity and because of its easy and accessible layout and presentation it may eliminate the need for tech-support to repair the problem. The average user can initiate the steps, wherein the restore steps are explicitly directed to secure the safe storage of user created documents and files.

In the last 20 years personal computers have undergone enormous advancements in usability. This development has resulted in substantially deeper market penetration among people who might have little or no inclination to spend time learning to use them. From a device that was routinely used by only a few highly trained professionals, it has developed into a near-essential device that enables millions of people each day to accomplish their work and leisure tasks. One side effect of this enormous growth rate is that most users know little or nothing about the inner-workings of their personal computer and, of course, also do not know the configuration settings of the applications that they use. In some ways this is comparable to the attitude many people have regarding their cars: they know how to drive them but don't know how to repair them. In the context of this application, this type of user will be called an "average" user. In some sense, this development is a good thing, because it demonstrates that the personal computer has grown into a reliable tool and that, no great amount of training is required to operate one
However, this attitude can be counterproductive when problems occur. Broadly speaking, these types of problems can be generally categorized as being either application-based problems or operating system-based problems. Even an average user can usually distinguish between these two types of problems if for no other reason than operating system—problems usually lead to a non-functioning computer. Normally when such problems occur, the user either calls for tech support (if the problem arises at work) or approaches a friend (if the problem occurs at home) to get help. Alternatively, of course, most users know that a reset or reboot of the computer solves many operating system problems. On the other hand, when an application-based problem occurs, the operating system is usually still functioning and the problems are confined to a single application. The sorts of application-based problems that users might encounter include an inability for the user to restart the application after a crash, files that cannot be opened or saved from within the application, program outputs that are inconsistent with prior results and/or expected results, etc. In case of an application-based problem, the average user usually will call tech support or a friend and ask for help in eliminating the problem. However, application specific problems may require a much greater familiarity with both user's system software and the offending application than might be readily available.
The search for the source of an application problem might take, depending on the type of the error, only a few minutes. On the other hand, it could potentially require an expert several hours to pinpoint the source of a problem with a complex computer program. Additionally, after it is identified the effort to fix the error likely will require additional time, which impacts the user's productivity and occupies tech-support resources until the problem is solved.
The cause of an application failure might be very complex. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that common sources of application problems include errors in specifying the configuration of the application, accidentally deleted support files, corrupted data and/or support files, corruption of the application by virus, application error introduced by a revision update, errors that occur after an update of the operating system, etc. Because of the multiplicity of possible causes, in some cases, tech-support will elect to re-install the offending application from a backup. However, that approach is not without its own problems.
Software to create and restore computer backups has been an integral part of computer system maintenance from the beginning. Initially backup technology was used exclusively to prevent data loss, but in recent years system administrators have come to recognize and utilize backups to fix software problems by reverting the problem application to an earlier state. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that a backup typically consists of a complete image of a particular hard disk that contains all the files that were stored on that disk at the time the backup was created. The system administrator or user is typically able to use a system backup to a) recover his or her data in case of data loss and b) re-set all of the files on the hard disk to the state they were in at some earlier point in time.
There are a number of different techniques for creating and updating backups. One of these variants is the incremental backup, wherein only data that is new or has changed since the last backup (usually the last incremental backup, or last full backup) is written to the backup media. In the case of an incremental backup, each backup is based on the previous incremental backup and in order for a successful restore to take place, at least one previous incremental backup will typically be needed. Another variant is the differential backup, wherein only the files that have been changed or that have been newly created since the last full backup are written to the backup media. Both of these variants have advantages and disadvantages. For example, with respect to the incremental backup, the backup process is typically fairly quick and the amount of data transferred is relatively small; however the effort required to restore data will likely be greater because a number of different incremental backups may have to be accessed one after another. In case of the differential backup, the effort required to restore the system to its earlier state is typically considerably smaller because only two backups (e.g., the last full backup and the last differential backup) will typically have to be accessed. The amount of data transferred during each backup, however, can be considerably higher and the time to create the backup (as compared with the incremental backup) will also be higher.
Any of the above-described backup solutions could potentially be used to revert an application to a previous state. However, these sorts of traditional approaches tend to be overkill for application-based problems as they restore or overwrite much more information than is strictly necessary, including possibly overwriting user created data items that were—created or modified since the backup and which are not associated with the problem.
Thus, the process of eliminating application-based problems by restoring a computer to a pre-problem state can be quite labor intensive, because, first, the source of the error must be found, then the correct data image will need to be selected. These steps result in lost productivity hours for the average user. Additionally, there is no guarantee that files which have been created since the last backup can be saved by using a backup to address software problems. In fact, created user documents will typically be lost if additional effort (and further loss of productivity) is not expended in specifying the exact files to be restored. For example, the user will generally need to identify the documents/files manually and these files will have to be temporarily moved after they are located, else they will be overwritten. So the above described solutions lead to loss of work hours for the user and substantial effort on the part of tech-support to fix the problem and restore the personal computer to the same state that it was in before the occurrence of the problem. Additionally, in case of the backup approach to alleviating software problems there is usually no consideration given to preservation of user-created documents and files.
Thus what is needed is a method that addresses the above-identified problems. The method should be able to reduce the time required to return an application to an operational status and should also provide the average user with an option to initiate the problem solution on his/her own. The method and system should, to the extent possible, ensure that the average user does not experience data loss.
Accordingly it should now be recognized, as was recognized by the present inventors, that there exists, and has existed for some time, a very real need for a system and method that would address and solve the above-described problems.
Before proceeding to a description of the present invention, however it should be noted and remembered that the description of the invention which follows, together with the accompanying drawings, should not be construed as limiting the invention to the examples (or preferred embodiments) shown and described. This is so because those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be able to devise other forms of the invention within the ambit of the appended claims.

Application-specific intelligent backup and restore system


The present invention relates to a process for depositing an anti-reflective layer on a transparent flat substrate comprising the steps of providing a liquid coating composition comprising at least one solvent, at least one inorganic oxide precursor, and at least one pore forming agent; applying the coating composition to the substrate; drying the applied coating layer, and curing the coating layer; wherein during drying a gas flow is provided to the substrate at a flow rate of between 0.2 and 6 m/s. The advantage of this process is that defects visible in edge areas of the coated substrate can be significantly reduced.

Anti-reflective (AR) coated substrates find use in many different applications, like cover sheets for framing art and photos, tv screens and other displays, lighting, architectural and horticultural glass, cover sheets for solar panels, etc. Numerous documents describe different processes for depositing an (AR) layer on a transparent substrate, applying various coating compositions. Especially for glass substrates, such processes often use sol-gel technology to provide a porous inorganic layer of about 80-200 nm thickness, that is about one-quarter of the wavelength of visible light. A single layer of such thickness and having a refractive index between that of the substrate (about 1.5 for glass) and air (about 1) will reduce the amount of light reflected from the substrate surface. Such anti-reflective layers may be applied to one or both sides of the substrate. An advantage of porous coating is that a single layer may suffice for reducing reflectance. In case of alternate techniques like sputtering or non-porous sol-gel layers, light reflection can be further decreased by applying multiple layers having different refractive indices.
A sol-gel process, also known as chemical solution deposition, is a wet chemical technique that is typically used for making a (porous) metal oxide layer starting from a solution or colloidal dispersion of an inorganic oxide precursor in a solvent (also called sol), which acts as precursor for an integrated network (or gel) of either discrete particles or network polymers. In such process, the sol gradually evolves to a gel-like diphasic system containing both a liquid and solid phase. Evaporation of at least part of the solvent (drying) is generally accompanied by shrinkage and densification, and affects final microstructure and porosity. Afterwards, a thermal treatment at elevated temperature is often needed to remove remaining solvent and other organics, and enhance further condensation reactions (curing) to result in mechanical and structural stability. Typical inorganic oxide precursors are metal alkoxides and metal salts, which undergo various forms of hydrolysis and condensation reactions. To increase porosity and pore size, pore forming agents may be added (in addition to solvent). In processes for making an anti-reflective layer on a substrate generally coating compositions are applied that have very low viscosity and comprise only low amounts of components that will form the final solid layer, e.g. a solids content of up to about 10 mass %. This means that in the sol-gel process significant amounts of fluid (solvent) need to be removed, which can lead to various problems; including premature evaporation.
In US2008/0241373A1 a process for making an AR coating on a substrate is described, comprising the steps of a) providing a liquid coating composition comprising a silica precursor, a polymeric glycol as pore forming agent, and at least two alcohols having different boiling points; b) applying the coating composition to the substrate; c) evaporating the alcohols from the applied layer; and d) heat curing the coating layer. It is indicated that by using a mixture of alcohols with different boiling points, solvent evaporation can be better controlled leading to improved process and product consistency.
Various known deposition techniques can be used to apply an AR layer on a substrate; including methods like spin-coating, dip-coating, spray-coating, roll-coating, slot die-coating, and the like. Both coating technique and coating composition can be fine tuned to reduce surface and other defects, and to result in a homogeneous layer of uniform thickness and properties.
A typical defect frequently observed in AR coatings is the appearance of a band along the edges of the substrate, especially in case of a flat or planar substrate like a glass or plastic plate or sheet, which band is visible as showing deviating light reflection and/or having a different hue than the remainder of the substrate's surface. In the text book "Sol-Gel Technologies for Glass Producers and Users", M. A. Aegerter and M. Mennig (Eds.), 2004, ISBN: 978-1-4020-7938-2, p. 44, it is indicated that such edge defects are process-related, and appear in a band of about 8-20 mm from the edge. This publication makes specific reference to a dip-coating process, but similar edge defects are also observed with other deposition processes. Although such edge defects appear to be common, only few publications address reducing or preventing them. Occurrence of such defects, however, does pose a problem in practice, for example in cover glass for art or picture framing, or for solar panels. Currently, it is not uncommon to cut away the edges having deviating optical properties. This is not possible, however, in case of thermally tempered glass.
There is thus a need in industry for an improved process for depositing an anti-reflective layer on a transparent flat substrate, which process results in a substrate showing a reduced area at the edges having defects, or showing less visible edge defects.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide such an improved process.
The solution to the above problem is achieved by providing the process as described herein below and as characterized in the claims.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for depositing an anti-reflective layer on a transparent flat substrate comprising the steps of    a) providing a liquid coating composition comprising at least one solvent, at least one inorganic oxide precursor, and at least one pore forming agent;    b) applying the coating composition to the substrate;    c) drying the applied coating layer; and    d) curing the coating layer to form an anti-reflective layer;wherein during drying step c) a gas flow is provided to the substrate at a flow rate of between 0.2 and 6 m/s.

Process for depositing an anti-reflective layer on a substrate


A processing system according to the present invention is provided including: an adsorption apparatus in which a volatile organic compound contained in gas to be treated is adsorbed in a predetermined absorption agent, and said volatile organic compound thus adsorbed is desorbed using steam under a pressurized environment and mixed with the steam; a gas turbine having a combustor in which the steam mixed with the volatile organic compound is burnt; and a steam generating apparatus which generates steam through the use of the heat of the combustion gas discharged from the gas turbine; and wherein, by supplying compressed air discharged from the gas turbine to the adsorption apparatus, condensation of the steam in the adsorption apparatus at the time of the desorption of the volatile organic compound is suppressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of processing and a processing system of a gaseous volatile organic compound by using a gas turbine. The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-021163, filed Jan. 30, 2006, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Factories, which use various types of volatile organic compounds such as toluene, xylene, or the like, are provided with treatment facilities for processing exhaust gases containing volatile organic compounds. As a method of processing a volatile organic compound in such treatment facilities, exhaust gas containing the volatile organic compound is firstly supplied to an adsorption apparatus, and the volatile organic compound is adsorbed in an adsorption agent such as activated carbon, and then, the volatile organic compound adsorbed in the adsorption agent is desorbed from the adsorption agent by using steam and mixed with the steam. Thereafter, the steam which has adsorbed the volatile organic compound is condensed, and the condensed water is distilled, such that the volatile organic compound and the water are separated. Then, thus separated volatile organic compound is burnt and decomposed.
In the conventional treatment method, in addition to the cost necessary for installing a treatment facility, the running cost of the facility increase. A technique has been proposed for processing and decomposing a volatile organic compound, without extra costs, by using an existing gas turbine provided in a factory (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Applications, First Publications No. 2003-322324, No. 2004-036492, and No. 2004-184003).
In the invention described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-322324, a hazardous substance is scavenged from a volatile organic compound, and supplied to an air intake port of a gas turbine, and then compressed along with air in a compressor. The compressed air containing the hazardous substance is supplied to a combustor and fuel gas is concurrently supplied thereto, and they are burnt to thereby drive a turbine. The hazardous substance is burnt in the combustor and thus rendered harmless, and then discharged into the atmosphere together with exhaust gas of the gas turbine.
In the inventions described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Applications, First Publications No. 2004-036492 and No. 2004-184003, waste fluid containing a volatile organic compound is directly supplied to a combustor and fuel gas is also supplied thereto, and then, they are burnt in the combustor to thereby drive a turbine. The waste fluid which possesses a hazardous substance is burnt in the combustor and rendered harmless, and then discharged into the atmosphere together with exhaust gas of the gas turbine.
Incidentally, in the above-described method of processing the volatile organic compound, steam is used whereby the volatile organic compound is desorbed from the adsorption agent. Therefore, at the time of desorbing, a part of steam is condensed and changed to condensed water. The condensed water is discharged as drain water from the adsorption apparatus and contains a volatile organic compound. To realize complete decomposition or processing of the volatile organic compound, it is necessary to carry out a decomposing process with respect to the volatile organic compound contained in the drain water. To carry this out, it is necessary to particularly provide wastewater-treatment equipment for decomposing the volatile organic compound contained in the drain water, and therefore, there is a concern that cost of equipment increases. Further, the larger the amount of the drain water, the larger the wastewater-treatment equipment necessary becomes. Thus, the cost of the wastewater-treatment equipment is increased.

Method of processing volatile organic compound by using gas turbine and processing system of volatile organic compound

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.


Voltage delay in an active metal anode/liquid cathode battery cell can be significantly reduced or completely alleviated by coating the active metal anode (e.g., Li) surface with a thin layer of an inorganic compound with Li-ion conductivity using chemical treatment of Li surface. Particularly, preferred examples of such compounds include lithium phosphate, lithium metaphosphate, and/or their mixtures or solid solutions with lithium sulphate. These compounds can be formed on the Li surface by treatment with diluted solutions of the following individual acids: H3PO4, HPO3 and H2SO4, their acidic salts, or their binary or ternary mixtures in a dry organic solvent compatible with Li, for instance in 1,2-DME; by various deposition techniques. Such chemical protection of the Li or other active metal electrode significantly reduces the voltage delay due to protected anode's improved stability toward the electrolyte.

This invention relates to non-aqueous, active metal-liquid depolarizer/electrolyte solvent-based primary battery cells, for example, lithium-thionyl chloride (Li—SOCl2) batteries. In particular, the invention relates to the alleviation of voltage delay upon load of such battery cells.
Much effort has been expended in the development of high energy density cell systems which provide both high voltage and total capacity. The high energy density cell systems are centered around the use of active metals (alkali and alkaline earth metals which are unstable in aqueous environments) as anodes in non-aqueous liquid depolarizer/electrolyte solvent-based (also often referred to as liquid cathode) cells. Lithium in particular has shown great promise as an anode material because of its high potential and low weight.
Various cell systems have been developed utilizing lithium as the anode electrode material. Cells having liquid cathode depolarizers, which generally serve the dual function of electrolyte salt solvent and cathode depolarizer, have shown promise in terms of voltage stability and high discharge capability. When a cell of this type is not being discharged, the liquid depolarizer/electrolyte solvent reacts with the anode metal to a limited extent resulting in a relatively thick resistive surface film being formed on the surface of the anode. In Li—SOCl2 cells this resistive surface film is composed mostly of polycrystalline LiCl. Full reaction between the anode and liquid depolarizer with which it is in contact is thereby substantially prevented and cell self discharge is limited. Such cells are nevertheless operable since the resistive LiCl film is dissipated during cell discharge. However, there is generally a lengthy "voltage delay" (defined as the length of time to attain an operating voltage after the initial load is applied) upon the onset of cell discharge as the film is dissipated.
One of the most common liquid depolarizer/electrolyte solvents is thionyl chloride (SOCl2) which, in combination with lithium, provides a cell couple having a very high voltage (about 3.65 V), discharge capability, energy density, and stability of discharge voltage. However, a limiting factor in the utility of Li—SOCl2 cells, particularly for applications requiring a high discharge rate, is the aforementioned "voltage delay" resulting from the formation of the resistive LiCl film on the anode. This negative effect is especially pronounced for aged cells discharging at low temperature.
Electrolyte salts or solutes used in thionyl chloride depolarized cells are well known, for example as described at length in U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,669. The most preferred and the most widely used electrolyte salt or solute is lithium tetrachloroaluminate (LiAlCl4). In order to alleviate the effects of voltage delays, the use of electrolyte salts other than LiAlCl4 has been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,238,552 and 4,020,240 describe the use certain halo-gallate, indate or thallate salts and chloroborate salts, respectively. Other alternative electrolyte salts have also been proposed. While advantages have been reported with the use of these alternative electrolyte salts, drawbacks have also been noted in at least some cases, including increased cost and/or decreased performance.
Accordingly, it is believed that Li—SOCl2 and like cells may be improved and such improvement would be desirable.

Alleviation of voltage delay in lithium-liquid depolarizer/electrolyte solvent battery cells


A computer system models human memory by deriving associations between objects, events, and the context of the computer user or users. These associations can be dynamically generated, changing depending on the behavior of the user and context. Examples of areas in which this system can be used include time management (e.g., a calendar that presents time-based groupings of objects), people management (e.g., use analysis of user communications to rank importance of people to the user, groupings, and associations between people/groups and other objects such as documents, email), and general computer management (e.g., use analysis of user behavior to identify important objects and objects that are related to a current focus and context of the computer user).

When they were originally designed, personal computers were commonly used for just a relatively narrow range of applications. Computers, including portable and hand-held computing devices, are now used for a wide variety of applications and communication formats. As a result, computer users currently must organize much more information, as well as different types of information, than when computers were originally designed.
Conventional computer file systems force users to use and remember arbitrary, out-of-context filing structures, including file names, hierarchical directory structures, etc. In contrast, innate human memory works by association so that events are often remembered as happening in relationship to other events. With the significant numbers of computer files and computer information that many users interact with, conventional computer filing structures and organizations can make it difficult or impossible for users to find and access computer information they previously worked with or used.
Likewise, current communication and member directory services use static, user generated information to organize contact information. People or contacts tend to be organized alphabetically or according to file hierarchies. For example, in member directory services people are commonly organized according to formal, organizational hierarchical structures. However, many relationships and groups are much more dynamic than formal, organizational hierarchical structures and people do not intuitively arrange their contacts alphabetically or according to topical hierarchies.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an automatic context association system that identifies associations between computer objects and accesses them based in accordance with user context. The context association system provides access to computer files, documents, contacts, etc. (i.e., "objects) based upon contextual associations that are determined automatically, thereby accommodating the association basis on which innate human memory works. The context association system allows a user to view and assign searchable metadata and to retrieve documents, objects or files that match selected metadata.
In one implementation, context association system includes a system database of metadata relating to computer objects accessed or activities carried out on a computer with different user-operated software applications. The metadata is analyzed to determine the extents of association between the computer objects or activities of different user-operated software applications. Based upon a context in which a computer user is using a computer, context association system provides computer objects that are associated with the user's context.
In another implementation, a calendar user interface system utilizes a calendar as a top-level user interface for accessing computer information. The context association system utilizes system-wide monitoring of the user and associations between various computer files, people, and other information related to the user. This allows a user to view and assign searchable metadata (e.g., metadata relating to associated dates) and to retrieve computer information that matches selected metadata. This implementation automatically associates and tracks time-related events, user computer activities, and information related to when the user works with documents, etc. on the computer. In another implementation, users are provided a web-based, interactive map that allows users to navigate for information using social, relational ties such as who is working with whom, who is working on which projects, and who is working in which groups.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Computer system architecture for automatic context associations


One illustrative method disclosed herein includes, among other things, forming a plurality of trenches that define a fin, performing a plurality of epitaxial deposition processes to form first, second and third layers of epi semiconductor material around an exposed portion of the fin, removing the first, second and third layers of epi semiconductor material from above an upper surface of the fin so as to thereby expose the fin, selectively removing the fin relative to the first, second and third layers of epi semiconductor material so as to thereby define two fin structures comprised of the first, second and third layers of epi semiconductor material, and forming a gate structure around a portion of at least one of the fin structures comprised of the first, second and third layers of epi semiconductor material.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present disclosure relates to the manufacture of FET semiconductor devices, and, more specifically, to various methods of forming a channel region for a semiconductor device by performing a triple cladding process, and the resulting semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fabrication of advanced integrated circuits, such as CPU's, storage devices, ASIC's (application specific integrated circuits) and the like, requires the formation of a large number of circuit elements in a given chip area according to a specified circuit layout, wherein so-called metal oxide field effect transistors (MOSFETs or FETs) represent one important type of circuit element that substantially determines performance of the integrated circuits. A conventional FET is a planar device that typically includes a source region, a drain region, a channel region that is positioned between the source region and the drain region, and a gate electrode positioned above or around the channel region. Drive current through the FET is controlled by setting the voltage applied to the gate electrode. For example, for an NMOS device, if there is no voltage applied to the gate electrode, then there is no current flow through the NMOS device (ignoring undesirable leakage currents, which are relatively small). However, when an appropriate positive voltage is applied to the gate electrode, the channel region of the NMOS device becomes conductive, and electrical current is stimulated to flow between the source region and the drain region through the conductive channel region. To improve the operating speed of conventional FETs, device designers have significantly reduced the channel length of such devices, which has resulted in improving the switching speed and in lowering operation currents and voltages of FETs. However, decreasing the channel length of a FET also makes it difficult to control the channel region of the device. This is sometimes referred to as a so-called short channel effect, wherein the characteristic of the FET as an active switch is degraded.
In contrast to a planar FET, there are so-called 3D devices, such as an illustrative FinFET device, which is a three-dimensional structure. FIG. 1A is a perspective view of an illustrative prior art FinFET semiconductor device 10 that is formed above a semiconductor substrate 12 that will be referenced so as to explain, at a very high level, some basic features of a FinFET device. In this example, the FinFET device 10 includes a plurality of trenches 14 that define three illustrative fins 16, a cladding material 17 (see FIG. 1B) formed on the fin 16, a gate structure 18, sidewall spacers 20 and a gate cap layer 22. The fins 16 have a three-dimensional configuration: a height H, a width W and an axial length L. The axial length L of the fins 16 corresponds to the direction of current travel in the device 10 when it is operational. The portions of the fins 16 covered by the gate structure 18 are the channel regions of the FinFET device 10. FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view of the FinFET device 10 taken through the gate structure 18 in a gate width direction of the device 10. The gate structure 18 is typically comprised of a layer of gate insulating material 18A (see FIG. 1B), e.g., a layer of high-k insulating material (k-value of 10 or greater) or silicon dioxide, and one or more conductive material layers (e.g., metal, metal alloy, metal stack and/or polysilicon) that serve as the gate electrode 18B (see FIG. 1B) for the device 10. In the device 10, the cladding material 17 is the primary current carrying portion of the channel region when the device 10 is operational. Typically, with respect to current day technology, the cladding material 17 may have a thickness of about 2-3 nm. The cladding material is typically an epi semiconductor material, such as silicon germanium, that is formed on the fin 16 by performing known epi deposition processes.
As shown in FIG. 1C, one process flow that is typically performed to form the illustrative FinFET device 10 with the cladding material 17 positioned on the fin 16 is as follows. First, a plurality of trenches 14 were formed in the substrate 12 to define the initial fins 16 (only one fin is shown in FIG. 1C). After the trenches 14 are formed, a layer of insulating material 24, such as silicon dioxide, was formed so as to overfill the trenches 14. Thereafter, a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process was performed to planarize the upper surface of the insulating material 24 with the top of the fins 16 (or the top of a patterned hard mask). Thereafter, a recess etching process was performed to recess the layer of insulating material 24 between adjacent fins 16 so as to thereby expose the upper portion of the fin 16. At this point, an epitaxial deposition process was performed to form the cladding material 17 on the exposed portion of the fin 16. Additional steps are then performed to complete the fabrication of the device, i.e., gate formation, sidewall spacer formation, epi material growth in the source/drain regions of the device, etc.
While the above-described process flow has worked well for current technology nodes, the use of such methodologies in future device generations is problematic. More specifically, with reference to FIG. 1B, the fin 16 may have a width 16W on the order of about 30 nm or so and it may be readily manufactured using currently available tools and techniques. If the cladding material 17 has a thickness of about 3 nm, then, in this example, the overall width 21 of the channel structure may be about 36 nm. With reference to FIG. 1C, as device dimensions are continually reduced for future technology nodes, the overall allowable width 19 of the channel structure may be limited to about 10 nm, and the height 16H of the fin 16 may need to be about 24 nm or so to provide sufficient drive current and insure high drive current densities. With the thickness 17T of the cladding material 17 being about 3 nm (or 4 nm), that means that the fin 16 will have to be initially manufactured to a thickness 16T of about 4 nm (or 2 nm) to maintain the overall target width 19 of about 10 nm. Manufacturing such a relatively tall and slender fin 16 is very difficult to do using the process flow described above. One possible solution that might help to alleviate this problem would be to decrease the thickness 17T of the cladding material 17, but that would increase the resistance in the channel region and be counter-productive to the primary purpose of forming the channel cladding material 17 in the first place.
The present disclosure is directed to various methods of forming a channel region for a semiconductor device by performing a triple cladding process, and the resulting semiconductor device, that may reduce or eliminate one or more of the problems identified above.

Methods of forming a channel region for a semiconductor device by performing a triple cladding process


The Golf Clubface Swing Trainer is a dedicated practice golf club designed exclusively to aid golfers understand and correct flaws in the concept of the clubface by helping them recognize what an open, closed and square clubface is at any point in the swing. Additionally, it is deigned to help golfers stretch, develop, and strengthen his or her muscles by swinging the trainer, which is weighted and balanced to achieve that purpose. The Golf Clubface Swing Trainer accomplishes these objectives by use of a weighted, rectangular cross section block shaped clubface orientation aid integral to and concentrically located between the grip and the shaft. The clubface orientation aid incorporates contrasting colors, lettering and indicia, all clearly visible to the golfer during the entire practice swing process, from address, backswing, downswing and follow-through, thus allowing him or her to make the necessary adjustments and corrections. As a further aid for golfers, the Golf Clubface Swing Trainer incorporates a colored grip designed to provide instruction on the proper positioning of the hands during the swing process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to golf swing training devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a golf club swing training device incorporating various features designed to help golfers practice and develop swing paths that will drive the ball in the desired line of flight.
2. Description of Related Art
The game of golf is one of the most popular, albeit frustrating sports in the world. It is played by countless individuals who continually strive to improve their scores by means of instruction, practice and by the use of teaching aids. To those familiar with the game, golf aids, attachments, books, films, and numerous miscellaneous devices are readily available to help lower one's score. As examples, the following United States patents disclose various types of golf club swing training devices: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,569,525 (Folger); 3,776,556 (McLaughlin); 5,234,217 (Johnson); 5,310,138 (Hernberg); and 5,890,977 (Taylor).
The apparatus disclosed by Folger comprises a simulated golf club that utilizes a square shaft and a pyramidal shaped indicator above the club's grip. The sides are oriented such that when the user is addressing a golf ball, he sees only one side of the shaft and one side of the indicator if and only if the club is in the correct position and attitude. Additionally, the indicator will point toward the user's middle torso if the club is in the correct position.
McLaughlin discloses use of a tear drop shaped body containing a pair of pitched whistles that are attached to the shaft of a golf club. The whistles are designed to sound when the club's swing is such that a slice or hook will result. The proper club swing is achieved when the whistles stop sounding.
Johnson's apparatus comprises a golf club shaft having a plurality of linearly extending alignment indicia located within the lower half of the shaft. In the process of the swing, the golfer views the indicia which assist him in aligning the club so as to produce shots of incremental amounts of hook and slice.
The apparatus disclosed by Hernberg comprises a finned member for securement to the shaft of a conventional golf club. Some of the fins are colored to provide a visual feedback to the golf player of his grip during the stroke so as to maintain proper alignment of the golf clubface and the golf ball while also increasing the air resistance the player encounters during the stroke.
Taylor discloses a golf club shaft which incorporates or to which is attached one or two surfaces extending normal to the clubface and including contrasting indicia on the surfaces with respect to surfaces which extend parallel to the clubface. The shaft may be circular or rectangular and may include a hand grip with a flat thumbrest surface, with contrasting indicia provided on opposite sides of the shaft and extending in a place perpendicular to the ball contact face. The contrasting indicia are then used to provide for aligning the clubface to the plane substantially perpendicular to a predetermined ball trajectory.
Although the aforementioned references appear suitable for their intended purpose, they nevertheless suffer from one or more of the following drawbacks:                All include apparatus attached or otherwise incorporated onto conventional golf clubs and thus are not designed to serve exclusively as a golf swing training aid usable anywhere.        All require a complex and instant visual, aural, or mental analysis to evaluate, identify, and attempt to act in response to apparent errors in the golf club swing process.        None include a multiplicity of readily identifiable orientation features designed to be clearly visible during the entire golf club swing process.        None incorporate a multiplicity of muscle stretching and strengthening features, provided to improve, other aspects of the golfers club swing.
As can be seen, there is a continuing need for a golf clubface swing trainer designed exclusively for and usable anywhere to aid players, in a simple and uncomplicated manner, to swing the club with the face in a position to strike the ball at right angles to the desired line of flight, while at the same time strengthening and stretching a golfer's muscles.


The present disclosure provides methods and devices of construct a candidate merge list for Intra block copy (IBC) mode, the method comprising: inserting a block vector of a left neighboring block of a current block into an initial merge list, when the left neighboring block is available and the left neighboring block is using IBC mode; inserting a block vector of an above neighboring block of the current block into the initial merge list, when the above neighboring block is available, the above neighboring block is using IBC mode and the block vector of the above neighboring block is not same as the block vector of the left neighboring block; inserting a block vector of the last candidate in a history based motion vector predictor (HMVP) into the initial merge list; obtaining a block vector of the current block according to the initial merge list.

Video coding (video encoding and decoding) is used in a wide range of digital video applications, for example broadcast digital TV, video transmission over internet and mobile networks, real-time conversational applications such as video chat, video conferencing, DVD and Blu-ray discs, video content acquisition and editing systems, and camcorders of security applications.
The amount of video data needed to depict even a relatively short video can be substantial, which may result in difficulties when the data is to be streamed or otherwise communicated across a communications network with limited bandwidth capacity. Thus, video data is generally compressed before being communicated across modern day telecommunications networks. The size of a video could also be an issue when the video is stored on a storage device because memory resources may be limited. Video compression devices often use software and/or hardware at the source to code the video data prior to transmission or storage, thereby decreasing the quantity of data needed to represent digital video images. The compressed data is then received at the destination by a video decompression device that decodes the video data. With limited network resources and ever increasing demands of higher video quality, improved compression and decompression techniques that improve compression ratio with little to no sacrifice in picture quality are desirable.

Encoder, a decoder and corresponding methods using IBC merge list


A new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea macrophylla (Thunb.) named ‘BCHY-11.033’ originated as a controlled cross between varieties. The variety ‘BCHY-11.033’ has attractive inflorescences with relatively large sepalous florets, attractive, nonuniform sepal pigmentation and good commercial characteristics. Many non-sepalous florets in the center of the inforescence make the new variety look similar to a lace-cap variety.

This invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of the Saxifragaceae family. The botanical name of the plant is Hydrangea macrophylla (Thunb.) 'BCHY-11.033'.
The new cultivar originated as a seedling from a controlled cross between the unpatented variety known as '8.1' which was the seed parent and the variety 'BC8.3' which was the pollen parent. The pollen parent, 'BC8.3', is the subject of U.S. Plant Pat. No. 25,507, filed Apr. 8, 2013. 'BC8.1' has attractive inflorescences but a growth habit that is not suitable for commercial production of ornamental potted plants. 'BC8.3' has compact, attractive inflorescences with relatively large sepalous florets that surround and almost hide all of the non-sepalous florets in the center of the panicle, attractive sepal pigmentation, and stems that branch easily and are relatively strong.
The variety 'BCHY-11.033' has relatively large sepalous florets, non-uniform sepal pigmentation at maturity and good commercial characteristics. 'BCHY-11.033' has compact, attractive inflorescences with relatively large sepalous florets that surround and almost hide all of the non-sepalous florets in the center of the panicle. The color of the sepals changes as the plant ages. Below is a table comparing the new variety to similar varieties.
TABLE 1Commericalvariety 'Venedig'NewU.S.U.S.which may beVarietyPlant Pat.Plant Pat.U.S. Plant'BCHY-No. 23,757No. 25,507Pat. No. 10,92811.033''BC6.1''BC8.3''Venice Raven'Leaf size9.5 cm 12 cm wide × 10 cm × 1611 cm wide × wide × 12.5 15 cm longcm15.5 cm long- cm longsource U.S. Plant Pat. No.10,928Plant13″ in 6″15″ in 6″ pot.15″ in 6″12″ in 6″ pot-heightpot.potobserved controlsgrown along-side 'BC6.1'.StemStrongStems areStems areStrong - strengthstrong butrelativelyobservedbenefit fromstrong.controls grownbeing stakedalongside'BC6.1'.SepalBoth sidesUpper side ofUpper sideUpper side ofPigmen-of sepals aresepals isof sepals issepals is R.H.S.tationR.H.S. 68 CR.H.S. 86 AR.H.S. 73A84 A (violet(red-purple(violet group);(red-purplegroup). Undergroup).Under side ofgroup) inside of sepals issepals iscenter, andR.H.S. 85 AR.H.S. 88 Dmargins of(violet group)(violet group)sepals areobserved R.H.S. 56 Acontrols(red group).grown alongside'BC6.1'.Sepalous70 mm70 mm50 mm to 70 mm-Floret60 mmobservedSize-controls grownDiameteralongside'BC6.1'.
The new cultivar 'BCHY-11.033' has been successfully asexually reproduced under controlled environmental conditions at a nursery in Half Moon Bay, Calif. under the direction of the inventor with its distinguishing characteristics remaining stable.
Asexual reproduction was first accomplished when vegetative cuttings were used from the initially selected plant. Examination of asexually reproduced, successive generations grown in Half Moon Bay, Calif. show that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for 'BCHY-11.033' remains firmly fixed.


A display substrate includes a circuit mounted part that has a driving IC mounted thereon. The circuit mounted part includes an input pad part connected to an input terminal of the driving IC and an output pad part connected to an output terminal of the driving IC. A flexible pad part connected to a terminal of a FPCB includes a driving pad part to receive a drive signal of the driving IC. A driving line part is connected to the driving pad part to be extended along a length direction of the circuit mounted part within the circuit mounted part. Connection lines are extended from the driving line part disposed within the circuit mounted part toward the output pad part. The connection lines are partially removed in a trimming area defined between the driving line and the output pad part.

1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a display substrate, a mother substrate for manufacturing the display substrate and a method of manufacturing the display substrate. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a display substrate capable of reducing manufacturing cost, a mother substrate for manufacturing the display substrate and a method of manufacturing the display substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display ("LCD") panel may include an array substrate, an upper substrate facing the array substrate and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the array substrate and the upper substrate. The array substrate includes a pixel area for displaying an image and a peripheral area surrounding the pixel area.
Typically, a plurality of gate lines, a plurality of data lines and a plurality of pixel electrodes may be formed on the pixel area. A plurality of pads, on which a driving chip for outputting a drive signal is mounted, are formed on the peripheral area.
When the array substrate is manufactured, an array inspection process for inspecting an electrical operation for a line formed on the array substrate and a visual inspection ("V/I") process for inspecting an electrical and optical operation of a display panel are performed.
In order to perform the array inspection process and the V/I process, a plurality of inspection lines and a plurality of inspection pads may be formed on the peripheral area. The inspection lines and the inspection pads are combined with gate lines and data lines, and then inspection signals are respectively applied to the gate lines and the data lines through the inspection lines and the inspection pads to inspect defects of the gate lines and the data lines.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach to perform the array inspection process and the V/I process without providing inspection lines.

Display substrate, mother substrate for manufacturing the same and method of manufacturing the display substrate


Systems and methods are disclosed to detect and correct errors in a flash memory by detecting in hardware an error based on one of three selectable modes of error detection and correction; and correcting the error by executing error correction software corresponding to the selected mode of error detection and correction.

The present invention relates to error correction for flash memory.
Continuous improvements in price/performance for flash electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory have enabled flash memory to become the long term storage of choice for many applications. A flash memory is typically made from an array of floating-gate metal-oxide-silicon field effect transistors arranged as memory cells in typical row and column fashion with circuitry for accessing individual cells and placing the memory transistors of those cells in different memory conditions. Such memory transistors may be programmed by storing a charge on the floating gate. This charge remains when power is removed from the array. This charge (a "zero" or programmed condition) or its absence (a "one" or erased condition) may be detected when the device is read. Flash memory arrays are especially useful in portable computers where low power consumption is mandatory, space is at a premium and weight is important.
Two common flash memory architectures are NAND-type structure (NAND-flash) and NOR-type structure (NOR-flash). The NAND-flash serially arranges its memory cells while the NOR-flash arranges memory cells in parallel. An advantage of the NAND-type structure is faster sequential accessing than the NOR-type structure. In addition, the NAND-type structure supports faster write and erase operations and permits fabrication of higher density memory chips or smaller and less expensive chips of the same density.
During fabrication, flash memory devices may contain defective areas, and more defects may appear during the device lifetime, thereby limiting their usage. To manage these defects and to achieve efficient and reliable operation, digital systems typically use techniques to control errors and to ensure reliable data reproduction. For example, if hardware error occurs in a block of the array, that block of the array can be removed from operation. Blocks of flash memory are relatively expensive compared to other forms of storage, so this technique of having redundant/spare storage blocks is undesirable. Moreover, since only a limited number of spare blocks of flash memory are available in an array, this error correction approach eventually restricts the ability of the device to function.
A typical device (for example a Samsung K9F1208U0M 64M×8 flash memory) includes 16 extra bytes per 512-byte page. Manufacturers typically recommend error protection capability to detect 2-bit errors or to correct single bit errors on each device page (4096 bits). NAND-flash devices typically ship with an additional 16-byte area for each 512-byte page, for a total of 528 bytes. Some NAND-flash manufacturers rely on external ECC in order to support an extended number of write cycles per page/block. In the past, certain standards for NAND-flash file systems have been set, which include limited data protection. One such standard is the SmartMedia™ standard, mainly targeted for removable flash memory cards. This standard includes single-bit error correcting code that can also detect (but not correct) 2-bit errors per 256 bytes. The SmartMedia™ standard allocates 6 bytes for ECC related information per page. In addition, 2 bytes are used to duplicate logical block address information already included elsewhere. Therefore, a total of 8 bytes are allocated for this information. The SmartMedia™ standard sets aside bytes 0–511 for data storage and the following as an extra storage area: byte 516 for data status, byte 517 for block status, bytes 518–519 for block address field 1, bytes 520–522 for ECC field 2, bytes 523–524 for block address field 2, and bytes 525–527 for ECC field 1. The SmartMedia™ standard proposes the use of a Hamming-like code using 6 parity bytes (actually 22×2 bits). This code is capable of detecting up 2-bit errors and of correcting a single bit error per 256 bytes. However, the SmartMedia™ specification does not provide error detection and correction for the extra storage area.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,438,706 to Brown entitled "On Chip Error Correction For Devices In A Solid State Drive" provides an error correction arrangement for a flash memory with a plurality of redundant array circuits, a circuit for sensing when a hardware error has occurred in a block of the flash array, and a circuit for replacing an array circuit with a redundant array circuit in response to detection of a hardware error. However, this approach does not correct for one, two or three bits of errors.
As high-speed digital systems employing flash memory become more widely used and integral to day-to-day activities, individuals likely will depend more upon the efficient and reliable reproduction of the data stored in the flash memory of these digital systems.


A vibration damping apparatus actively damping vibration of a vibration source by adding vibration to the vibration source includes a vibrational state detecting means and a vibrator including a magnetic pole, a coil, and a controlling means, and the vibrator adds vibration to the vibration source by controlling a current-supplied state of the coil to vibrate the coil and the magnetic pole relatively, wherein the controlling means selectively switches a vibration generating mode and a regenerative mode based on the vibrational state of the vibration source, the vibration is added to the vibration source to damp the vibration of the vibration source in the vibration generating mode, and regenerative current is caused by an electro motive force generated at the coil by the vibration of the vibration source to flow into a regenerative resistor in the regenerative mode.

When a structure vibrates, for example, machinery or a building having an engine or a motor vibrates, a vibration damping apparatus damps vibration by adding anti-phase vibration of the vibration. For example, the vibration damping apparatus disclosed in JP 2005-299832A adds anti-phase vibration of the vibration generated in an engine serving as a vibration source by use of an electromagnetic actuator. Further, the vibration damping apparatus is designed to carry out damping depending on an operation state of the engine. That is, the vibration damping apparatus drives the electromagnetic actuator based on signals, and the signals are derived from different methods which are selectively changed between the damping for low frequency vibration and the damping for high frequency vibration. More specifically, the low frequency vibration occurs when the vehicle provided with the engine is in an idle state and the high frequency vibration occurs when the vehicle is in a running state.
The vibration source such as an engine is mounted on a fixed end. For example, the vibration source is fixed to a vehicle body. Thus, a vibration system which is composed of the fixed end and the vibration source has a resonance frequency. When the vibration source vibrates at the resonance frequency or at similar frequencies, the vibration is amplified and the amplitude becomes larger. The resonance frequency changes depending on how the vibration source is connected to the fixed end (for example, the connection via springs) or mass of the vibration source. Thus, as disclosed in JP 2005-299832A, it is not possible to deal with the resonating vibration system by merely changing the control between the idle state and the running state.
If the electromagnetic actuator which generates an anti-phase vibration generating force is sized up, then it is possible to obtain output power enough to damp the amplitude of the vibration system in a resonant state. However, in that case, the cost of the apparatus increases and it would be difficult to secure a space to dispose the apparatus due to size increase of the vibration damping apparatus provided with the electromagnetic actuator. Further, if the size of the vibration damping apparatus is increased, it is not possible to adequately utilize the ability of the vibration damping apparatus when the vibration source vibrates at the frequency other than the resonance frequency and thus the amplitude of the vibration system is small.
On the other hand, the size of the vibration damping apparatus remains small, when the vibration source vibrates at the frequency other than the resonate frequency, it is possible to carry out the effective damping taking full advantage of the ability of the apparatus. However, when the vibrating source vibrates at the resonance frequency, even though the apparatus attempts to carry out the damping, it is not possible to carry out the damping effectively due to large amplitude caused by the resonance leading to loss of electric energy required for attempting the damping.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a vibration damping apparatus which is able to carry out the effective damping without the loss of the energy therefore.


A system, a non-transitory computer readable medium and a method for detecting a parameter of a pattern, the method comprises: obtaining an image of the pattern; wherein the image is generated by scanning the pattern with a charged particle beam; processing the image to provide an edge enhanced image; wherein the processing comprises computing an aggregate energy of first n spectral components of the image, wherein n exceeds two; and further processing the edge enhanced image and determining a parameter of the pattern.

In photolithography, critical dimension (CD) is the minimum features size that is to be patterned on the wafer or the minimal distance between adjacent features. The features can be lines, rectangles, elliptical or other shapes with any orientation, e.g. vertical, horizontal or other.
Critical dimension scanning electron microscopes (CD-SEM) are used to measure critical dimensions of such features by scanning an area of the wafer that includes such features with an electron beam to provide a SEM image. The SEM image is then processed by applying an edge detection process in order to detect edges of the features and to detect the distance between these edges.
Many prior art edge detection processes are based upon the assumption that the electron beam is much narrower than the width of the scanned lines therefore the interaction volume size created is such that each line should be represented by two clear edges.
Modern manufacturing process managed to shrink the dimensions of features and the electron beam is no longer much narrower than the width of the scanned lines.
There is a growing need to provide an accurate system, method and computer readable medium for edge detection.

System, method and computer readable medium for detecting edges of a pattern


A user device (e.g., voice assistant device, voice enabled device, smart device, computing device, etc.) may receive/detect audio content (e.g., speech, etc.) that includes a wake word and/or words similar to a wake word. The user device may require a wake word, a portion of the wake word, or words similar to the wake word to be detected prior to interacting with a user. The user device may, based on characteristics of the audio content, determine if the audio content originates from an authorized user. The user device may decrease and/or increase scrutiny applied to wake word detection based on whether audio content originates from an authorized user.

Homes and offices are becoming more connected with the proliferation of user devices, such as voice enabled smart devices. Users are able to interact with such user devices through natural language input such as speech. Typically, such user devices require a wake word in order to begin interacting with a user. The use of speech to interact with such user devices presents many challenges. One challenge concerns ensuring that the speech is intended to be a wake word. Another challenge is ensuring that speech that includes a wake word is recognized as originating from an authorized user, rather than from an unauthorized user or audio source (e.g., a television).

Methods and systems for determining a wake word


Hardware accelerated analytical computing apparatus, method and system includes one or more analytical processing units. Each processing unit is formed of a respective field programmable gate array (FPGA) and performs a respective analytical operation. An application interface enables use of respective desired ones of the analytical processing units by one or more computer application programs. Different computer application programs utilize different ones of the analytical processing units. Each computer application program performs a respective analytical computation. Alternatively, an application program may be programmed into one of the FPGA's.

At present, all industries utilize a variety of extremely costly computer platforms to address certain computationally-intensive solutions such as numerical analysis, monte-carlo simulations and related problems. For example Value at Risk (VaR) problems are addressed in the finance industry through deployment of very powerful (and expensive) services employing multiple CPU's and a number of multithreaded programs that utilize these CPU's. The disadvantage to this process is the fact that as the number of CPU's are increased beyond a critical number (e.g., eight), the costs of such a server and associated services increase exponentially. At the same time, the need for "number crunching" continues to increase due to (a) an increasing number of investment managers; (b) an increasing number of portfolios per investment manager; (c) the kind and the volumes of complex derivatives and (c) an increase in available historical data.
It is desirable to provide methods and systems that overcome this disadvantage, as well as a solution that can be applicable to any industry and can be utilized by accessing the computing power through widely known programming languages such as C, C++, Java, and Ruby, with potential gains of 10-200 times performance improvement for ⅓rd the cost. The details in the following sections consider Financial Industry as an example to explain the benefits of the present invention.

Methods and systems for computing platform


The present invention relates to a valve including a valve member co-operating with a seat provided with a crenellated portion disposed around the portion of the seat on which the valve member rests, said crenellated portion being constituted by teeth separated by gaps, the inside walls of the teeth being portions of a vertical axis cylinder, the width l of the gaps being less than the width b of the inside walls of the teeth, wherein the end wall of the valve member facing the crenellated portion when the valve member is in its closed position is convex in shape, co-operating with the inside wall of each tooth to form a channel that flares from top to bottom of the tooth, the point of contact C between the valve member and the seat being at a distance d from the base B of the crenellated portion lying in the range 0.25 times to 0.5 times the width l of the gap. Vibrations are eliminated at partial load and pressure fluctuations downstream from the valve are reduced.

Such valves are used for adjusting the steam flow rate admitted to the turbine. At small or intermediate lifts, the energy dissipated in such valves is very considerable. At small lifts where supersonic speeds are reached in the vicinity of the zone where the valve member comes into contact with its seat, shock waves and separations between the fluid and the walls of the valve arise and can cause the valve member to vibrate. At all lifts, the focusing of the flow sheet onto the axis of symmetry of the valve (see FIG. 1) gives rise to large pressure fluctuations that may be as great as 50% of the mean pressure, with these fluctuations propagating downstream where, under certain circumstances, they can give rise to damage in the pipework.
One solution for solving such problems consists in splitting up the flow sheet into a plurality of small jets. This can be achieved using a seat that includes a throttling collar with crenellations distributed around its periphery in the form of gaps separated from one another by teeth, as described, for example, in French utility certificate No. 76 12647, or in German laid-open application DOS-3 138 459.
Throughout the world, most large steam turbines are fitted with such valves, but it turns out that a certain level of vibration persists at partial load.


An air-compressing apparatus has four compressors individually supplying compressed air to a tank having a pressure sensor. The pressure sensor is connected to control circuits of the compressors. The control circuits compute times needed for the tank pressure to reach minimum and maximum pressures, respectively, of the tank by using the detected tank pressure and also using a tank pressure change value. The computed time values correspond to the consumption of compressed air. Thus, the control circuits can control the number of compressors to be operated according to the consumption of compressed air.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system suitable for use in an air-compressing apparatus including, for example a plurality of compressors that individually supply compressed air to a tank.
2. Description of Related Art
A generally known type of air-compressing apparatus has a plurality of compressors connected in parallel to a tank (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2003-21072 and 2003-35273). The air-compressing apparatus is provided with a pressure sensor to measure the pressure in the tank. The pressure value detected with the pressure sensor is compared with a plurality of predetermined control threshold values to perform loading/unloading control and start/stop control of each compressor. With this system, the number of compressors to be operated is varied according to the pressure in the tank to adjust the discharge flow rate of compressed air supplied to the tank.
The above-described prior art controls the number of compressors to be operated by comparing the detected value of the pressure in the tank with the control pressure values. Therefore, there are cases where an unnecessarily large number of compressors are operated because the detected tank pressure has become lower than a predetermined control threshold value despite a very low consumption of compressed air from the tank. There are also cases where a plurality of compressors are driven until the pressure in the tank reaches a maximum pressure irrespective of the consumption of compressed air. In such cases, the electric power is consumed wastefully.
It is also conceivable to provide a flow sensor in the output piping of the tank and to detect the consumption of compressed air with the flow sensor, thereby performing the compressor control according to the consumption of compressed air. In this case, however, an extra flow sensor needs to be provided, and the installation of the flow sensor increases the number of man-hours. Therefore, the production cost increases unfavorably.

Control system for air-compressing apparatus