Methods for separating target particles, from a test medium in which the particles are suspended. The method contemplates utilization of blocking or masking particles which block or mask unwanted biological debris which tends to interfere with formation of complexes by which the target particles can be isolated. After centrifugation, the masking particles create a barrier between unwanted debris and test medium containing the target particles which permits the particles to be manipulated or modified without removing them from the debris. In a preferred aspect, magnetic separation techniques are used. In this aspect, non-magnetic 0.04 micron carboxylated polystyrene blocking particles are employed.

Laboratory and clinical procedures involving biospecific affinity procedures have dramatically affected health care and biological research. Such procedures, which are sometimes referred to as biospecific affinity reactions, are commonly employed in testing biological samples, such as blood or urine, for the identification, quantification, or both of a wide range of target substances. Biospecific affinity reactions have been used, for example, to identify particular chemical substances which have been correlated or associated with disease conditions. Biological entities such as proteins, biomolecules, nucleic acid sequences, e.g., mRNA, and the like, are preferred "target substances" or "target particles" as those terms are used herein.
Various methods are available for identifying the presence or quantity of the above-mentioned target substances in a given medium or environment based upon formation of a complex or a binding reaction between the target substance, i.e., a ligand of interest, and a specific binding partner. The binding partner preferentially binds to the ligand and not to other constituents which may be present in the sample. In each instance, the occurrence or degree of target substance/binding partner complex formation is determinable.
Assays typically used in the art include immunoassays, hybridization assays, and protein-ligand assays. Immunoassays are based upon the specificity of an antibody for an antigen. Hybridization assays are based upon the specificity of complementary nucleic acid sequences, i.e., on the hybridization of nucleic acid probes, with target nucleic acids. Protein-ligand assays depend upon the affinity of a binding site on a protein for a specific ligand, e.g., streptavidin for biotin.
In each assay type, quantitation of the target substance requires a physical separation of bound from free unlabeled ligand or receptor.
In one approach, physical separation of bound from free ligand or receptor may be accomplished gravitationally, e.g., by settling, or, alternatively, by centrifugation, of small diameter particles or beads coupled to the target substance. If desired, such particles or beads may be or can be made magnetic to facilitate the bound/free separation step. Magnetic particles are well known in the art, as is their use in immune and other bio-specific affinity reactions. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,088 and Immunoassays for Clinical Chemistry, pp. 147-162, Hunter et al., eds., Churchill Livingston, Edinborough (1983). Generally, any material which facilitates magnetic separation may be employed for this purpose.
Small diameter or small dimensioned magnetic particles have proven to be quite useful in analyses involving biospecific affinity reactions, as they can be conveniently coated with biofunctional molecules, e.g., proteins, which have a binding site for a specific ligand and provide favorable reaction kinetics. Magnetic particles ranging in longest dimension from 3 nm to many microns (and larger) have been described in the patent literature, including, by way of example and not by way of limitation, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,970,518; 4,018,886; 4,230,685; 4,267,234; 4,452,773; 4,554,088; 4,659,678; 4,978,610; and 5,200,084.
Smaller sized magnetic particles, such as those mentioned above, generally fall into two broad categories. The first category includes particles that are permanently magnetized; and the second comprises particles that become magnetic only when subjected to a magnetic field. Permanently magnetized particles are often referred to as "ferromagnetic". The second class of particles are generally referred to as paramagnetic. For purposes of this application, both classes of particles are collectively referred to herein as "magnetically responsive" particles.
The type of magnetic separation device used for separating target substance-bearing particles from test media will depend on the chemical nature and the particle size of the magnetic particle utilized. Micron-sized paramagnetic particles are readily removed from surrounding media, e.g., a solution, by means of commercially available magnetic separation devices, employing relatively inexpensive permanent magnets. Examples of such magnetic separators are the MAIA Magnetic Separator manufactured by Serono Diagnostics, Norwell, Mass., U.S.A., the DYNAL MPC-1 manufactured by DYNAL, Inc., Great Neck, N.Y., U.S.A., and the BioMag Separator, manufactured by Advanced Magnetics, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. A similar magnetic separator, manufactured by Ciba-Corning Medical Diagnostics, Wampole, Mass., U.S.A., is provided with rows of bar magnets arranged in parallel and located at the base of the separator. The Ciba-Corning device accommodates 60 test tubes, with the closed end of each tube fitting into a recess between two of the bar magnets.
For separation of particles of smaller size, e.g., colloidal dimension and smaller, higher field strength, e.g., higher gradient field separators, may be used. The present invention can be used in the separation of target particles from a medium including such particles, regardless of particle size. The present invention also is applicable to separate target particle/ligand complexes from a medium where the target particle/ligand complex is removable from the medium by techniques other than magnetic. In essence, this invention can be used in any circumstance where a complex is created in a medium for the purpose of isolation or identification and there are substances or chemical species present in the medium which tend to interfere with the formation of the ligand/receptor complex or target particle/binding agent complex or which tend to promote complex breakdown.
In a broader sense, aspects of this invention are applicable to any situation where a suspension or a solution of a target material is to be physically separated from an interfering substance or substances which can be collected or localized, e.g., by centrifugation. This invention provides the means by which the step of separating a target material from an interfering substance, e.g., by transfer of one away from the other via pipette or other means, can be completely avoided.
The concomitant of this invention is that where interfering substances can be localized, e.g., by centrifugation, subsequent processing of the target particles or target substance solution/suspension can be accomplished in the same centrifuge sample well.
This invention results in savings of time, e.g., by eliminating transfer steps, and minimizes the quantity of expensive or potentially scarce or difficult to obtain starting materials. This invention reduces the likelihood of sample cross contamination, reduces user error, provides greater reproductability of results, and provides a significant reduction in the use of disposable pieces, e.g., micropipette tips and tubes. Reproducibility can be obtained even though very small samples of biological interest, e.g., 20 mg or less, are used. Where, for example, analysis of tissue or organ samples obtained in a biopsy, is contemplated, the ability to do reproducible, qualitative or quantitative analyses on small, biological samples can be very important to reduce patient trauma. Lastly, as is described below, this invention is particularly applicable to automated processing systems and can be used to enhance their efficiency.
This invention solves a particular problem which sometimes occurs during the formation of complexes such as receptor/ligand complexes or in the separation of such receptor/ligand complexes from the medium in which they are dispersed. Specifically, it was found that, in the isolation of mRNA, after cell disruption or homogenation, dilution and centrifugation to generate cleared cell lysates, the precipitated proteins and cellular debris in the end of the centrifuge tube (usually in the form of a pellet) would interfere with complex formation between magnetic streptavidin particles and biotinylated oligo (dT):mRNA complexes. The specific interference caused by the unwanted proteins and cellular debris was interference in the release of mRNA from magnetic streptavidin particles upon addition of distilled water to collected streptavidin particles having biotinylated oligo (dT):mRNA complexes thereon.
One approach to this problem was simply to transfer cleared lysate from the centrifuge tube into a sterile tube and to perform the mRNA purification procedure, e.g., by formation of a magnetic complex, in the absence of cell and tissue debris. This approach generally involved pipetting of cleared lysate from one tube to another. Where a limited number of samples was utilized, e.g., five or less, physical transference of cleared lysate by pipetting was and is an acceptable procedure.
However, in the context of, for example, high throughput, multiple-well (e.g., five or more) plate magnetic isolation devices, performing a physical transfer step, such as pipetting, is time consuming, prone to error, subject to sample contamination or sample loss, generates large quantities of unwanted disposables, e.g., plastic pipette tubes, and permits the undesirable transfer of interfering substances.
The present invention therefore is applicable in the circumstance where target substances are to be isolated from a medium using multiple well plates and interference with complex formation or isolation, as discussed above, is experienced. The invention provides enhanced reproducibility, even where small or very small samples are involved. A specific, preferred, multiple well plate used in a magnetic separation process is that described in applicants' commonly assigned and concurrently filed patent application referred to above.

High efficiency method for isolating target substances using a multisample separation device


A system and method of managing assets on a distributed grid enabled network. The system and method includes sending, to a content provider, a conditional request to obtain a requested asset. The system and method further includes receiving, in response to the conditional request, information to identify a most recent copy of the requested asset, and transferring the requested asset to at least one grid enabled peer for subsequent downloading to a requesting client.

Proxy servers and grid storage solutions are used to manage and distribute assets over a network. Content proxy servers often perform three key features in a network environment such as, for example, load balancing, edging or caching and centralized traffic management. By way of example, proxy servers serve as intermediaries in a network by intercepting all requests for data (e.g., assets) and determining which asset is served locally or, alternatively, which request is forwarded to a machine containing the requested asset or assets. Thus, all network traffic flows through the proxy server rendering it a network bottleneck.
More specifically, known proxy servers store a copy of requested files (assets) to reduce the amount of load presented to other network resources upstream, such as a web server. The proxy server responds to requests by first checking that it has the latest copy and then responding with the locally stored, or cached, copy. Proxy servers also move assets closer to the edge of the network, e.g., closer to the systems requesting the assets.
In one typical implementation of a proxy server deployment topology, a client connects to the proxy server through a firewall. The proxy server issues a conditional HTTP GET against a web server that stores the requested asset. The proxy server either pulls the latest copy of the asset or serves the asset directly from the local cache. However, the primary drawback for the traditional proxy server solution is that the proxy brokers all traffic. Thus, even when the web server is providing the response, the traffic flows back through the proxy server.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.

System and method for managing and distributing assets over a network

International Business Machines Corporation


Bifurcated memory management for memory elements techniques are disclosed. In one aspect, a memory element includes a self-managed portion and a portion that is managed by a remote host. Software that needs low latency access may be stored in the portion of the memory element that is managed by the remote host and other software may be stored in the portion of the memory element that is managed by the memory element. By providing such bifurcated memory management of the memory element, a relatively inexpensive memory element may be used to store software while at the same time allowing low latency (albeit at low throughputs) access to sensitive software elements with minimal bus logic.

I. Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates generally to memory elements and particularly to management of memory elements.
II. Background
Computing devices rely on memory and software stored therein to enable many functions. Mobile computing devices, such as smart phones, are one example of a computing device that uses software stored in memory to enable many functions. One such function is the control of the wireless modems that enable wireless communications. While such functionality could be enabled in strictly hardware, such an implementation may be unnecessarily complex, difficult to upgrade, hard to test and space prohibitive. Thus, some amount of functionality will be instantiated through software, and the device must have appropriate memory to store the software.
As noted above, one such function that is typically software enabled is the functionality of the wireless modem(s) of the mobile computing devices. While different portions of the industry may refer to such software by different terms, as used herein, such software is referred to as the modem subsystem (MSS) code. The MSS code is relatively large and must be accessed with some regularity with low latency. In some devices, the MSS code may be stored in direct random access memory (DRAM). However, DRAM is relatively expensive, and such expense may render the device commercially unattractive in the highly competitive mobile computing device market.
Some designers may move the MSS code to a remote memory element, such as a negative AND (NAND) storage element. However, NAND storage elements typically have too much latency to be practical. Thus, designers need improved techniques to allow low latency, relatively inexpensive access to software such as the MSS code.


Systems, apparatuses and methods for bone fusion are disclosed. In particular, a fixation screw assembly is provided that comprises a bone engagement portion including a shaft and a head member. The assembly also includes a flexible washer member that can be operably attached and secured around the head member of the bone engagement portion. The washer member is polyaxial relative to the bone engagement portion, such that it can assume a variety of angles. The washer member can help prevent back out of the bone engagement portion when the bone engagement portion is implanted into a bone member. The design of the fixation screw assembly can be used in different fusion procedures, including fusion of the sacroiliac joint.

In vertebrate anatomy, the sacrum is a large, triangular bone that lies at the bottom of the lumbar spine, where it connects with the L5 vertebra. The sacrum lies adjacent to two hip bones, known as the right ilium and left ilium. The sacrum connects with these bones via joints known as sacroiliac joints (or SI joints).
The sacroiliac joints assist in the transmission of forces from the spine to the lower extremities. Degeneration of the sacroiliac joints can occur due to diseases, such as degenerative sacroiliitis and inflammatory sacroiliitis, as well as due to normal aging and trauma. One type of treatment for a degenerated sacroiliac joint is fusion of the joint, which ultimately relieves pain.
Thus, there remains a need for improved implants that assist in the fusion of sacroiliac joints.


Techniques for estimating velocity ahead of a drill bit include generating seismic waves at a surface from at least two different source positions in the vicinity of a borehole, receiving seismic waves reflected from a reflector ahead of the drill bit at one or more locations in the borehole, determining travel times of the seismic waves received at the one or more locations in the borehole, and inverting the travel times to determine a velocity of a formation ahead of the drill bit. One embodiment includes transforming the velocity into pore pressure of the formation.

The invention relates generally to subsurface drilling operations and particularly to techniques for predicting pore pressures ahead of a drill bit while drilling a borehole through subsurface formations.
A column of drilling fluid, usually referred to as "mud," is customarily provided in a borehole while drilling the borehole through subsurface formations. Usually, the weight of the mud is carefully selected such that the hydrostatic pressure gradient in at least the uncased section of the borehole is above the pore pressure gradient and below the fracture pressure gradient in the surrounding subsurface formations. If hydrostatic pressure gradient is lower than pore pressure gradient, a kick or blowout may occur. If hydrostatic pressure gradient is higher than fracture pressure gradient, lost circulation may occur. Fracture pressure typically increases rapidly with depth so that maintaining hydrostatic pressure gradient below fracture pressure gradient after drilling an initial section of the borehole is usually less of a problem. Pore pressure on the other hand generally follows a less predictable pattern. To avoid drilling hazards, it is desirable to know the pore pressure gradient ahead of the drill bit so that the mud weight needed to provide the desired hydrostatic pressure gradient in the borehole can be determined prior to drilling an interval ahead of the drill bit.
Methods are known in the art for predicting pore pressures ahead of a drill bit using well log data and/or seismic survey data. One common method of predicting pore pressures ahead of a drill bit using well log data involves determining a normal compaction curve from a well log, e.g., a sonic log, in combination with an appropriate geological model. The normal compaction curve corresponds to the increase in formation density that would be expected as a function of depth assuming absence of abnormal pressure. During drilling, a logging-while-drilling (LWD) sonic log is obtained and compared to the normal compaction curve. A consistent slowing trend of the LWD sonic log away from the normal compaction curve is used as a likely indicator of increased pore pressures ahead of the drill bit. This expected increase in pore pressures can be estimated from the amount of departure of the LWD sonic log from the normal compaction curve. The accuracy of this method largely depends on the accuracy of the well log data used in generating the normal compaction curve. Since this method relies on well logs, the well has to be drilled into the over-pressured zone for it to be detected.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,949 (issued to Kan et al.) discloses a method of predicting pore pressures ahead of a drill bit using well log data and surface seismic data. The method involves using well log data to estimate a shale fraction for a subsurface formation as a function of depth and the derivation of a shale compaction trend as a function of depth at intervals where the estimated shale fraction exceeds a threshold. A translation curve expressing pore pressure gradient as a function of sonic interval transit time departure from the shale compaction trend is also derived using the well log data. Seismic observations are performed along a surface line, and interval transit times as a function of depth along the surface line are estimated from the seismic observations. The departures of the seismic interval transit times from the shale compaction trend as a function of depth for points along the surface line are computed. The departures are translated into pore pressure gradient predictions using the translation curve. The patent suggests improving pore pressure predictions in deviated wells by adjusting interval transit time data for the shallower portion using check-shot data and applying the adjustments to an entire seismic section to obtain better depth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,589 (issued to Hardage) discloses a method of estimating pore pressures ahead of a drill bit using drill-noise seismic. During drilling, the noise of the drill bit as it impacts the earth is used as a seismic source. Some seismic signals propagate directly from the drill bit to the surface. Some seismic signals propagate downwardly and are reflected back to the surface. The direct signals are used to determine interval velocity for each formation through which the drill bit has drilled, and the interval velocity is continuously updated as the drill bit penetrates the earth. The reflected signals are used to determine acoustic impedance for each formation ahead of the drill bit. The interval velocity data and acoustic impedance information are combined to produce a log-like impedance estimation curve, which reflects the pore pressures ahead of the drill bit. In particular, the low frequency velocity trend immediately above the drill bit is extrapolated to produce the low frequency velocity behavior for a short distance, e.g., 100 to 500 feet, below the drill bit. This low frequency behavior is then used to correct the acoustic impedance data for the formation ahead of the drill bit. Drill-noise seismic is generally inefficient in soft sediment, highly deviated boreholes, and while drilling with certain types of bits, such as polycrystalline diamond compact bits. Furthermore, estimation of acoustic impedance ahead of the bit from reflection data rarely works and is not reliable.
A new technique called seismic measurements-while-drilling (SMWD) has been applied to pore-pressure prediction ahead of a drill bit. In one implementation, a pore-pressure map is generated using surface seismic data. To obtain the map, velocities are estimated from pre-stack surface seismic data, and a velocity-to-pore-pressure transform appropriate for the area is used to convert the velocities to pore pressures. The pore-pressure map has the coordinates of the seismic shot position (horizontally) and seismic travel time (vertically). During drilling, SMWD is used to deliver real-time check-shot data. The check-shot data includes travel times of seismic waves generated at the surface as a function of depth. The check-shot data are used to place the drill bit on the pore pressure map, thereby allowing the pore pressures ahead of the drill bit to be determined. The accuracy of this method depends on the accuracy of the pore-pressure map predicted from the surface seismic data. In general, the accuracy of the pore-pressure map predicted in this manner decreases as depth increases because the velocities estimated from the surface seismic data become less accurate with increasing depth.
Thus a need remains for more robust techniques for estimating pore pressures ahead of a drill bit.

Real-time velocity and pore-pressure prediction ahead of drill bit


Methods and devices for providing a biopsy device with a modified handle and stylet that provides a vacuum to be delivered to the targeted tissue for removal. The vacuum may draw the tissue into the notch where the tissue may then be severed via the cannula. Alternatively, the tissue may be drawn into to the notch after being severed via the stylet and/or cannula. The vacuum may be used to bring a larger amount of tissue into the notch than would otherwise be brought in the notch if no vacuum was used, providing a larger sample through the same size access point.

1. Field of Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to methods and devices for performing vacuum assisted biopsies. More particularly, aspects of the current invention relate to methods and devices for performing vacuum assisted spring-loaded biopsies.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of biopsy devices having sampling needles as part of their structure are available in the medical field. Typical biopsy devices include those that are designed to obtain samples from hard tissues, such as bone, and those that are designed for sampling of softer tissues. Soft tissue biopsy devices can include a structure whereby a sampling needle resides within an outer cannula and moves relative thereto during sampling. In particular, the operation of the device involves extending the distal end of the sampling needle beyond the distal end of the outer cannula to expose and introduce a portion of the needle to the tissue sampling site.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,018,343 describes a spring-loaded biopsy device, described herein with respect to FIGS. 1A-1B. The biopsy device 20 is illustrated in FIG. 1A, the biopsy device 20 having a rapid firing mechanism within (not shown), which can include typical components that can be found in such devices, such as a handle portion 21 housing the operative mechanism components (not shown), loading and trigger component 22, outer cannula 23 and biopsy needle 2 partially residing within the outer cannula 23 with the distal end portion of the needle 2 exposed. Such biopsy devices can contain parts, e.g., the handle portion and loading and trigger component, composed of conventional materials, such as plastic or metallic materials. A profile of the needle 2 extending from the cannula 23 is illustrated in FIG. 1B, where the needle 2 includes a notch configured to collect tissue samples.
However, the samples obtained by the above devices generally do not fill the entire space enclosed in the notch within the biopsy device, and the collected samples are not as large as they could possibly be, which could sometimes lead to inaccurate diagnoses obtained from the sample.
There is a need in the art, therefore, for biopsy devices capable of obtaining samples that fill the entire space enclosed in the notch and that ensure the collected samples are as large and contiguous as possible.


Trace levels of mercury in a natural gas are reduced by scrubbing the natural gas in an absorber with an aqueous solution comprising a water-soluble sulfur compound. The water-soluble sulfur compound reacts with a least a portion of the mercury in the natural gas to produce a treated natural gas with a reduced concentration of mercury, and a mercury containing sulfur-depleted solution which can be disposed by injection into a (depleted) underground formation. The produced water extracted with the natural gas from the underground formation can be recycled for use as the scrubbing solution. In one embodiment, a fresh source of water-soluble sulfur compound as feed to the absorber can be generated on-site by reacting an elemental sulfur source with a sulfur reagent in produced water.

Mercury can be present in trace amounts in all types of hydrocarbon streams such as natural gas. The amount can range from less than 1 ppbw (parts per billion by weight) to over a thousand ppbw depending on the source. Methods have been disclosed to remove mercury from liquid hydrocarbon feed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,281,258 and 5,223,145 disclose methods of removing mercury from natural gas streams by selective adsorption in fixed adsorbent beds. U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,896 discloses using polysulfide based absorbents to remove elemental mercury (Hg0) from gaseous and liquid hydrocarbon streams.
There are also a number of commercially available processes and products for the removal of elemental mercury Hg0 from hydrocarbon streams including but not limited to ICI Synetix' Merespec™ fixed bed absorbents, UOP's HgSIV™ regenerative mercury removal adsorbents, and Johnson Matthey's Puraspec™ and Puracare™ granulated absorbents for the removal of mercury from gaseous hydrocarbon streams. Adsorption technology generates a mercury-containing spent adsorbent, which is hazardous solid waste for disposal.
Production of oil and gas is usually accompanied by the production of water. The produced water may consist of formation water (water present naturally in the reservoir), or water previously injected into the formation. As exploited reservoirs mature, the quantity of water produced increases. Produced water is the largest single fluid stream in exploration and production operations. Every day, U.S. oil and gas producers bring to the surface 60 million barrels of produced water.
There is a need for improved methods for the removal of mercury from gaseous hydrocarbon streams, and particularly methods wherein produced water can be used/recycled.

Process, method, and system for removing mercury from fluids


A hand-operated tool has a casing containing a motor for driving a tool member of the tool and a metallic tubular grip with a tube wall connected to the casing. The tube wall of the tubular grip has a profiled outer mantle surface made by deforming the tube wall. The profiled outer mantle surface has raised sections and indentations extending in the longitudinal direction of the tubular grip.

The present invention relates to a hand-operated tool, for example, a cut-off machine, a motor chainsaw etc., with a tubular grip made of metal.
In known hand-operated tools of this type the supporting tubular member of the tubular grip is made of steel or aluminium with a smooth surface. In order that the tool can be held securely this metal tube is given a coating of rubber or flexible plastic and is ribbed. However, ribbing of this type allows adequately secure handling of the tool only while the rubber coating is securely bonded to the steel tube and undamaged. Rubber is not resistant to ageing and tends in particular to become brittle at extreme temperatures whereby the secure hold on the metal tube is lost. In addition, the coating can be easily damaged or destroyed by mechanical forces making it impossible to continue to hold the tool securely.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to ensure a permanent secure handling of the tool with the tubular grip.


Output signals, representing data read out from a memory cell array comprising a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns, each cell comprising an EPROM transistor, are fed to a sense amplifier. A row of the memory cell array is selected by signals SRl-SRm coming from a row decoder. The output of the selected row is taken out by a column select transistor selected by signals SCl-SCn from a column decoder before being fed to the sense amplifier. The sense amplifier comprises a memory cell output detecting circuit having a first load transistor for receiving output read out from the memory cell array and a dummy cell output detecting circuit having a second load transistor to which dummy cell equivalent to the memory cell is connected. The circuit of the first load transistor and that of the second load transistor form a current mirror circuit. The sense amplifier also comprises a sense amplifier output evaluation circuit having differential amplifiers which transmit output voltages of the memory cell output detecting circuit and of the dummy cell output detecting circuit to reflect the respective currents running through the first and second load transistors.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sense amplifier for receiving signals of data read out from a semiconductor memory cell array and operating as a component of a read circuit for reading and transmitting data stored in a semiconductor memory such as an EPROM, EEPROM or mask ROM.
2. Description of the Related Art
Jpn. Pat. Appln. DOKAI Publication No. 58-125282 discloses a read circuit for a semiconductor memory having a configuration as illustrated in FIG. 12 of the accompanying drawings. A semiconductor memory of the type under consideration is normally provided with a memory cell array 11 comprising a number of memory cells Q5ll-Q5mn arranged in a matrix of m rows and n columns, of which a row can be selected by a corresponding signal of row select signals SRl-SRm transmitted from a row decoder 12. Output of each of the rows of the memory cell array 11 are collectively sent to column select transistors Q4l-Q4n, one of which is then selected by a corresponding signal of column section signals SCl-SCn transmitted from a column decoder 13. The output of a specific memory cell may then be selectively read out by the row decoder 12 and the column decoder 13. The signal representing the data read out from a selected one of the memory cells of the memory cell array 11 is then fed to a sense amplifier 14. The sense amplifier 14 comprises a load transistor Q1 constituted by a P-channel MOS transistor and a memory cell output detection circuit 15, which in turn is constituted by a read/write switching transistor Q2 for receiving read/write switching signal R. The output signal from the memory cell array 11 is fed to the load transistor Q1 by way of the read/write switching transistor Q2.
Output a from the output terminal of the memory cell output detection circuit 15 is then fed to both the non-inversion side input terminal of a differential amplifier 16a, and the inversion side input terminal of a differential amplifier 16b. These differential amplifiers 16a and 16b individually compare the output they receive with a reference voltage vref. Then, the properly phased output c and the inversely phased output c from the differential amplifiers 16a and 16b are compared with each other by a differential amplifier 17. Their phases are inverted by an inverter 18 before they are taken out through an output terminal O as output of the sense amplifier.
Thus, a total of three differential amplifiers need to be installed in a sense amplifier having a configuration as described above, inevitably making the size of the overall circuit rather large. Additionally, since the differential amplifiers 16a and 16b are connected to respective signal transmission paths between the output terminal of the memory cell output detection circuit 15 and the differential amplifier 17 to compare their output, the delay time in the response of the differential amplifiers 16a and 16b is added to the time required for a specific data to be read out of the memory cell array. Consequently, the overall time required for a data reading operation is increased.

Sense amplifier for receiving read outputs from a semiconductor memory array


Inorganic reinforcing fibers comprising hybrid BN--C protective coatings containing up to 12% by weight of hexagonal (graphitic) carbon dissolved in the BN matrix but being essentially free of undissolved pyrolytic and graphitic carbon secondary phases, and fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composite products incorporating the protectively-coated fibers, are disclosed. The fibers resist oxidation and provide good bonding interface characteristics when disposed in ceramic encapsulating materials, such that the composite products exhibit excellent resistance to high temperature embrittlement.

The present invention relates to inorganic composite materials of the class generally known as fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composite materials. More specifically, the invention relates to inorganic reinforcing fibers for ceramic matrix composites incorporating B--N--C.sub.x coatings, such coatings imparting improved reinforcement capability to the fibers.
Fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites comprising glass-ceramic matrices are well known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,987 discloses silicon carbide fiber reinforced glass-ceramic composites wherein the matrix consists of an alkaline earth aluminosilicate glass-ceramic composition. Similar silicon-carbide-reinforced composites wherein the matrix consists of a barium-modified magnesium aluminosilicate glass-ceramic are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,900, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,489 discloses SiC-reinforced glass-ceramics wherein the glass-ceramic matrix contains excess Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and consists predominantly of anorthite in combination with mullite or alumina.
Prospective uses for fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites such as described in these and other prior patents and literature include use as a structural element in high temperature environments such as heat engines. Thus the materials to be employed must not only exhibit good strength and toughness at ambient temperatures, but must also retain those desirable physical properties at the elevated temperatures encountered in the operating environment. Temperatures in the range of 700.degree.-1000.degree. C. and highly oxidizing conditions (due to the high-temperature activity of oxygen) are considered representative of such operating conditions.
An important problem which has been identified in silicon carbide reinforced ceramic matrix composites in this temperature regime is that of high temperature embrittlement. Hence, instead of exhibiting high toughness and strength after exposure to temperatures in the operation ranges desired, these materials become brittle and subject to sudden catastrophic breakage, rather than more gradual failure as typical of the original material. While the exact mechanism of embrittlement has not been fully explained, oxidative deterioration of the fiber-matrix interface is the probable cause. See, for example, R. L. Stewart et al., "Fracture of SiC Fiber/Glass-Ceramic Composites as a Function of Temperature," in Fracture Mechanics of Ceramics, R. C. Bradt et al. Ed., Volume 7, pages 33-51, Plenum (New York) 1986.
It is known to provide coatings on fiber reinforcement to be incorporated in composite materials in order to modify the behavior of the materials or the fibers therein. Specifically, the use of boron nitride coatings on silicon carbide fibers or other fibers to be incorporated in ceramic matrix materials such as SiO.sub.2, ZrO.sub.2, mullite, and cordierite is known in the art. Thus U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,271 suggests that the high-temperature strength and toughness of a composite comprising an SiO.sub.2 matrix and SiC reinforcing fibers may be significantly improved by coating the fibers with BN. This effect was, however, found to be dependent on the composition of both the fibers and the matrix, as the same fibers in other matrix materials did not always yield improved results. Thus, for example, BN-coated SiC fibers did not improve the characteristics of cordierite or ZrO.sub.2 composite ceramics.
Other coating systems and coating matrix combinations are also known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,804, for example, describes the application to carbon fibers of a metal oxide film intended to improve fiber adhesion and wetting by a molten metallic matrix material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,901 describes a composite article and method for making it wherein a woven or non-woven fiber substrate, typically composed of carbon fibers, is provided with successive coatings of pyrolytic carbon, diffused silicon, and silicon carbide to provide a composite article resistant to corrosive conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,685 describes a similar coating system for carbon fibers wherein an inner coating consisting of a mixture of carbon and a selected metal carbide, in combination with an outer coating consisting solely of the metal carbide, are described. This dual coating system is intended to provide enhanced fiber protection for fibers to be embedded in ceramic or particularly metal matrix materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,257 discloses silicon carbide monofilaments coated with boron or boron carbide. These filaments exhibit improved strength and bonding when used with metal or epoxy matrix materials. U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,179 describes the use, in a ceramic matrix composite comprising silicon carbide fibers, of an agent added to the matrix to reduce interaction with the silicon carbide fibers. Tantalum or niobium compounds are useful for this purpose.
While the foregoing patents and literature indicate a general interest in the development of coatings for fibers to be employed for the reinforcement of composite glass, metal and ceramic materials, the problem of embrittlement of ceramic matrix composites comprising silicon carbide or other fibers remains.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composite comprising inorganic reinforcing fibers which exhibits improved resistance to embrittlement under adverse high temperature conditions.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method for making silicon carbide-reinforced glass-ceramic matrix composites which provides products of improved strength and/or toughness at high temperatures.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description thereof.

B-N-C.sub.x hydrid coatings for inorganic fiber reinforcement materials


A silencer includes an inner cylinder that is connected to an exhaust pipe and a partition cylinder that is accommodated in a housing and that sections an expansion chamber in the housing. A group of partition-cylinder small holes is formed in the partition cylinder, and a group of inner-cylinder small holes is formed in the inner cylinder. The group of partition-cylinder small holes and the group of inner-cylinder small holes do not overlap each other in an axial direction, and are separated from each other by a predetermined distance in the axial direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silencer provided on an exhaust pipe of a vehicle engine.
2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-138608 discloses an example of a silencer provided on an exhaust pipe of a vehicle engine. This silencer includes an inner cylinder 10 disposed at an intermediate position of the exhaust pipe 3; a housing 12 that accommodates the inner cylinder 10 and defines an expansion chamber 11 between the inner cylinder 10 and the housing 12; and a partition cylinder 17 accommodated in the housing 12, the partition cylinder 17 sectioning the expansion chamber 11 in the housing 12 into an inner expansion-chamber section 11a at an inner region in a radial direction and an outer expansion-chamber section 11b at an outer region in the radial direction, the outer expansion-chamber section 11b being filled with an acoustic material 23, the partition cylinder 17 having a group of small holes 22 through which the inner expansion-chamber section 11a and the outer expansion-chamber section 11b communicate with each other. The inner cylinder 10 has a group of small holes 21 through which the inside of the inner cylinder 10 communicates with the inner expansion-chamber section 11a. The exhaust sound that travels through the exhaust pipe 3 spreads into the inner expansion-chamber section 11a through the small holes 21 in the inner cylinder 10, and then spreads into the outer expansion-chamber section 11b through the small holes 22 in the partition cylinder 17, so that the sound pressure of the exhaust sound is attenuated in the outer expansion-chamber section 11b.
In general, acoustic materials are highly effective in attenuating the sound pressure of a high-frequency component (500 Hz or more) of the exhaust sound. However, acoustic materials cannot effectively attenuate the sound pressure of a low-frequency component (100 Hz or less) of the exhaust sound. Therefore, the silencer disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-138608 has a disadvantage that although the sound pressure of the high-frequency component can be effectively attenuated, the sound pressure of the low-frequency component cannot be sufficiently attenuated.
In general, the following measures are effective in attenuating the sound pressure of the low-frequency component of the exhaust sound:
(1) to reduce the diameter of the exhaust pipe, that is, to narrow the exhaust passage;
(2) to increase the length of the exhaust pipe, that is, to increase the length of the exhaust passage; and
(3) to increase the capacity of the expansion chamber.
However, measure (1) has a problem that a back pressure, which is a pressure that obstructs the discharge of the exhaust gas, will be increased and the engine output will be reduced. In addition, measure (2) has a problem that there may be a case where the length of the exhaust pipe cannot be increased owing to the restriction on the total vehicle length or the need to avoid interference with other components under the vehicle floor. Similarly, measure (3) has a problem that there may be a case where the capacity of the expansion chamber cannot be increased owing to the need to avoid interference with other components under the vehicle floor. Thus, each of measures (1) to (3) has a problem, and is difficult to carry out.

Silencer provided on exhaust pipe of vehicle engine


An electron gun for cathode ray tube, wherein the outer beam passing holes of the anode have an elongated slot which has a pair of opposingly facing semi-circular arcs having a radius as large as the radius of the outer beam passing holes of the focus electrode, and the innermost arc portions of the outer beam passing holes of the anode correspond with the arcs of the outer beam passing holes of the focus electrode. According to the present invention, degradation of picture quality due to differences in focusing voltages is prevented, and assembly of the electron gun with precision is rendered easier.

An in-line type electron gun is constituted such that its cathode as a source of electron beams are positioned on a common plane, and a converging means is provided to converge the electron beams generated from the cathodes into a small spot on the screen of cathode ray tube. Such a converging means is provided in a main lens means which comprises a single main focus lens. Such a converging means is constituted as schematically illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, and explained in U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,554.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, such a single lens type electron gun comprises: cathodes K for emitting thermal electrons; a control grid G1 and a screen grid G2 for transforming emitted thermal electrons into electron beams; and a focus electrode G3 for focusing transformed electron beams and an anode G4 for accelerating and refocusing focused electron beams. In such an electron gun, the converging means is constituted such that outer beam passing holes 4Ha' of anode G4 are positioned outwardly enlarged relative to beam outgoing outer beam passing holes 3Ha of focus electrode G3.
Since such a converging means has upstream and downstream beam passing holes eccentrically aligned with respect to one another, there are several limitations in designing such a converging means.
As shown in FIG. 3, the diameters of outer beam passing holes 4Ha' of anode G4 are designed to be greater than those of outer beam passing holes 3Ha of focus electrode G3. However, looking from the side of the screen of cathode ray tube opposite cathodes K, outer beam passing holes 3Ha should not be hidden behind, but should be exposed in its entirety inside outer beam passing holes 4Ha'. If outer beam passing holes 3Ha of focus electrode G3 are hidden behind outer beam passing holes 4Ha' of anode G4, a straight guide rod (not shown) cannot be inserted.
Therefore, generally, as shown in FIG. 3, the innermost circumference of outer beam passing holes 4Ha' is made to be tangent with that of outer beam passing holes 3Ha. Thus, the diameters of outer beam passing holes 3Ha should be smaller than those of outer beam passing holes 4Ha'.
However, if outer beam passing holes 4Ha' are enlarged for ease of assembly of the electrodes, then there arise discrepancies between the electric fields of outer beam passing holes 3Ha and 4Ha' and middle beam passing holes 3Hb and 4Hb, resulting in differences in characteristics of the R, G, B beam between the middle electron beam and outer electron beams, which in turn result in degradations of picture quality.


A method and an apparatus are disclosed to effectively flow the fluid through the lumen device during the cleaning, disinfecting or sterilizing process, preferably with the use of two interfaces and two sources of fluid. By flowing the fluid into two adjacent compartments, the loss of the fluid due to the gap can be reduced or eliminated.

This invention relates to systems and processes for cleaning, chemical sterilizing or disinfecting medical devices. More specifically, this invention relates to method and apparatus for flowing fluid through the interior of lumen device during the process of cleaning, sterilizing, or disinfecting.
Medical instruments have traditionally been sterilized or disinfected using either heat such as is provided by steam, or a chemical in liquid, gas, or vapor state. Prior to sterilization or disinfection, the instruments to be treated are usually first cleaned and then sterilized or disinfected. After sterilization or disinfection with a liquid chemical germicide, purified water is used to rinse the instruments and then the instruments are dried. Numerous publications regarding the cleaning of medical devices and the sterilizing of medical devices are available.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,801 discloses a transportable cleaning/sterilizing apparatus and method for inside-outside washing and sterilization of medical/dental instruments. The apparatus functions in four sequential cycles: wash, rinse, sterilize, and dry. The sterilization step is conducted using ozonated and purified water, and the drying step is accomplished by injecting ozonated/deozonated sterile warm dry oxygen, or sterile inert gas into and exhausted from the wash chamber under a positive pressure relative to atmospheric. In this process, the device has to be rinsed with purified water after it is sterilized to remove sterilant residue before drying step.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,218 to Steinhauser et al. discloses a device for cleaning, disinfecting and maintaining medical or dental instruments. The device has a pot-shaped container with a multiplicity of mountings in the interior of the container each for one of tool holder, a water supply system, a compressed air supply system, and an ultrasonic transducer. The disinfection is conducted with heated water, and the drying is conducted with hot compressed air. This system is not designed for sterilization.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,799 to Moser et al. discloses apparatus for cleaning and testing endoscopes by injecting pressurized air into the sheath and pressurized air and washing liquid into the ducts. A washing chamber is provided which contains retractable cages to hold the endoscopes during cleaning and testing. This process includes washing, disinfecting, final rinsing with purified water, and air drying the ducts of a tubular article. A number of filters are involved in this system, and this system is not designed for sterilization.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,951 to Cummings et al. discloses a two-chambered system which provides hydrogen peroxide in vapor form for use in sterilization processes. The sterilant is initially vaporized in one chamber and then applied to the object to be sanitized in another single sterilizing chamber, thereby producing a concentrated hydrogen peroxide vapor which is relatively more effective. The sterilization processes are designed for furnishing concentrated hydrogen peroxide vapor to interior surfaces of articles having a tortuous or a narrow path. However, the sterilization processes are ineffective at rapidly sterilizing lumened devices, since they depend on the diffusion of the hydrogen peroxide vapor into the lumen to effect sterilization.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,688 to Schmidt et al. discloses a sterilization system consisting of a liquid hydrogen peroxide vaporization chamber and an enclosure for sterilization. The enclosure additionally may hold containers wherein the hydrogen peroxide sterilant vapor does not contact the interior of the containers. This system is designed for controlling the exposure to the hydrogen peroxide vapor. The system is not designed for sterilizing a lumen device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,414, entitled xe2x80x9cMethod for Vapor Sterilization of Articles Having Lumens,xe2x80x9d and issued to Jacobs et al., discloses a process in which a vessel containing a small amount of a vaporizable liquid sterilant solution is attached to a lumen, and the sterilant vaporizes and flows directly into the lumen of the article as the pressure is reduced during the sterilization cycle. This system has the advantage that the water and hydrogen peroxide vapor are pulled through the lumen by the pressure differential that exists, increasing the sterilization rate for lumens, but it has the disadvantage that the vessel needs to be attached to each lumen to be sterilized.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,937,046, 5,118,471 and 5,227,132 to Anderson et al. each disclose a sterilization system which uses ethylene oxide gas for sanitation purposes. The gas is initially in a small first enclosure and thereafter slowly permeates into a second enclosure where the objects to be sterilized are located. A medium is then introduced into the second enclosure to flush out the sterilizing gas into a third enclosure containing the second enclosure. An exhaust system then exhausts the sterilant gas and air from the third enclosure. These systems also have the disadvantage of relying on the diffusion of the sterilant vapor to effect sterilization and hence are not suitable for rapidly sterilizing lumened devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,344 to Schmoegner discloses a chemical sterilizer system for sterilizing items by vaporizing a liquid chemical sterilant in a sterilizing chamber. Pre-evacuation of the sterilizer chamber enhances the sterilizing activity. Sterilant is injected into the sterilizer chamber from a second prefilled shot chamber. This system also relies upon diffusion of sterilant vapor to effect sterilization and is also not suitable for rapidly sterilizing lumened devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,275 to Faddis discloses a sterilization system for disinfecting instruments. The sterilization system contains a primary sterilization chamber and a secondary safety chamber. The secondary safety chamber provides for sensing and venting to a destruction chamber any sterilization agent that is released from the primary sterilization chamber. This system, as in other systems, also relies upon diffusion of sterilant vapor to effect sterilization and is also not suitable for rapidly sterilizing lumened devices.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,672 and 5,556,607 to Childers et al, there is disclosed a process and apparatus respectively for sterilizing narrow lumens. This process and apparatus uses a multicomponent sterilant vapor and requires successive alternating periods of flow of sterilant vapor and discontinuance of such flow. A complex apparatus is used to accomplish the method. Additionally, the process and apparatus of ""672 and ""607 require maintaining the pressure in the sterilization chamber at a predetermined subatmospheric pressure.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,508 to Childers et al., a method of enhancing the penetration of low vapor pressure chemical vapor sterilants into the apertures and openings of complex objects is disclosed. The method repeatedly introduces air or an inert gas into the closed sterilization chamber in an amount effective to raise the pressure to a subatmospheric pressure to drive the diffused sterilant vapor further into the article to achieve sterilization. The ""508, ""672 and ""607 Childers inventions are similar in that all three require repeated pulsations of sterilant vapor flow and maintenance of the sterilization chamber pressure at a predetermined subatmospheric pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,801 to Langford teaches a transportable cleaning/sterilizing apparatus and a method for inside-outside sterilization of medical/dental instruments. The apparatus avoids the use of heat, pressure, severe agitation, or corrosive chemicals which might damage delicate equipment. This invention uses ozone gas or solution as sterilant. It does not involve the use of sterilant vapor or vaporizing a sterilant solution into vapor, and is not suitable for operations under vacuum because flexible bags or containers are used. Langford""s U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,921 teaches a container with a partition which divides the container into two chambers with a lumen device placed across the partition, one end of the lumen being located in one chamber and the other end in the opposite chamber. By altematingly pressurizing first one and then the other chamber fluid is caused to surge back and forth through the lumen.
Having a single partition creates an opportunity for leakage of fluid past the partition where it contacts the device rather than through the lumen, thereby reducing the amount of fluid flowing through the lumen to effect cleaning, disinfecting or sterilizing of the device.
The present invention provides a method of cleaning, disinfecting or sterilizing a device having a lumen. The method provides a container with at least two interfaces, wherein each interface has a holder for holding the device, and the at least two interfaces divide the container into at least a first compartment, a second compartment, and a third compartment, wherein the first compartment is adjacent to the second compartment. The device is placed into the container across the at least two interfaces, through the holders, wherein the device lumen has a first opening positioned in the first compartment and a second opening positioned in the third compartment. A fluid for cleaning disinfecting or sterilizing is introduced into the first compartment. At least two pressures are created in the container such that the pressure in the first compartment is higher than the pressure in the third compartment, and the pressure in the second compartment is higher than the pressure in the third compartment. The fluid is flowed through the device from the first opening to the second opening.
Preferably, fluid is also introduced into the second compartment. The fluid can be a liquid, a mist, an aerosol or a mixture of gas and liquid. To prevent portions of the device from being occluded by the holders, one or both of the holders can be opened during a portion of the process while the fluid is in the first, second and third compartments. Preferably, the pressures in said the first compartment, the second compartment, or the third compartment are monitored, and preferably controlled such that the pressure in the second compartment is equivalent to or higher than the pressure in the first compartment. More preferably, the pressure in the second compartment is higher than the pressure in the first compartment. Rather than increasing the pressure in the first chamber, the pressure in the third chamber can be reduced. To enhance especially the disinfection and sterilization, the fluid in the lumen device or in the container may be vaporized during the process.
An apparatus according to the invention flows a fluid through a device having a lumen with first and second openings into said lumen. The apparatus comprises a container with at least a first compartment connected with a first port, a second compartment connected with a second port, and a third compartment connected with a third port, wherein the first compartment is adjacent to the second compartment. A first interface separates the first and second compartments and a second interface separates the second and third compartments. Each of the first and second interfaces has a holder for holding the lumen device, with the holders adapted to hold the device with the first opening into the lumen in the first compartment and the second opening into the lumen in the third compartment. A source creates a positive pressure difference between the first compartment and the third compartment and a positive pressure difference between the second compartment and the third compartment.
Preferably, a source of fluid connects to the first port or the second port. The fluid can be a liquid, a gas, a mist, an aerosol or a mixture of gas with liquid. Preferably, at least one of the holders has a controllable opening, and more preferably each holder has a controllable opening. Pressure indicators can indicate the pressure in one or more of the first, second, and third compartments and pressure controllers can control the pressure in in one or more of the first, second, and third compartments. A pump to can be provided to evacuate the container.

Device processing apparatus and method having positive pressure with two partitions to minimize leakage


A calendar system includes a calendar requester client and a calendar owner client that couple to a calendar server via one or more networks therebetween. In one embodiment, when the calendar server denies a particular calendar requester access to the calendar owner's calendar, the calendar server transmits a denial notice to the calendar owner and allows the calendar owner to dynamically add the particular calendar requester to a list of approved requesters on the calendar server.

Calendar software tends to be very restrictive in granting access to a calendar owner's calendar. While many calendar software systems allow a calendar owner to grant full access to any requester within a business entity or organization, they may also require the calendar owner to explicitly grant access to each individual requester that desires access to the owner's calendar. The calendar owner may grant access to the owner's calendar by placing a requester's name on an approved access list that a calendar server maintains. It is up to the calendar owner to place a requester's name on the approved access list prior to an access request by a requester. In this manner, the calendar server will accept later requests by the requester to access the owners' calendar. Unfortunately, it is impossible for the typical calendar owner to know in advance everyone who may desire or need access to the owner's calendar in the future. Moreover, it is typically a cumbersome process to load a calendar application, retrieve the approved access list, update the access list with a new approved requester, save the updated list and instruct the requester that the approval process is complete.
What is needed is a method of granting or denying access to an electronic calendar that addresses the problems described above.

Method and apparatus for dynamically granting or denying access to an electronic calendar


For use in an apparatus wherein a container is supported for decorating, wherein the container has a neck and a finish with an opening formed at an angle to the axis of the container, a chuck for engaging the finish. The chuck includes a body having an axis of rotation. The body includes an annular axially facing surface having the same axis as the axis of the body. The annular surface is frustoconical and forms an angle with the axis of the body such that the finish is engaged by the surface for holding the end of the container with the neck and finish in position for decoration. The body is mounted for rotation about its axis.

In decorating hollow containers, it is common to engage the container that has a base, a hollow body and a neck with a finish and an opening and move or rotate the container for decoration such as printing or labeling. Typical apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,311,051, 3,944,058, 4,398,627, 4,848,227 and 5,137,136.
In such apparatus, the base and neck are engaged to permit the decoration of the body of the container. However, where the container has a neck and a finish that is at an angle to the axis of the container such a container must be handled in some other manner.
Among the objectives of the present invention are to provide a chuck for such a container which is readily made; which does not require orientation with respect to the bottle; and which permits the container to be delivered in an unoriented fashion with respect to the chuck; and wherein the chuck can be readily adapted to use in different decorating apparatus.
In accordance with the invention, an apparatus is provided wherein a container is supported for decorating, wherein the container has a neck and a finish with an opening formed at an angle to the axis of the container. The apparatus includes a chuck for engaging the finish that includes a body having an axis of rotation. The body includes an annular axially facing surface having the same axis as the axis of the body. The annular surface is frustoconical and forms an angle with the axis of the body such that the finish is engaged by the surface for holding the end of the container with the neck and finish in position for decoration. The body is mounted for rotation about its axis.


A semiconductor device manufacturing method has forming element isolation trenches in a semiconductor substrate, forming a silicon compound film in insides of the element isolation trenches in order to embed the element isolation trenches, conducting a first oxidation processing at a first temperature to reform a surface of the silicon compound film to a volatile matter emission preventing layer which permits passage of an oxidizing agent and impurities and which does not permit passage of a volatile matter containing silicon atoms, and conducting a second oxidation processing at a second temperature which is higher than the first temperature to form a coated silicon oxide film inside the element isolation trenches.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming a silicon oxide film in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, and a semiconductor device manufacturing method.
2. Background Art
In the semiconductor device development, it is demanded to improve the speed, reduce the power dissipation, and suppress the manufacturing cost. For satisfying these requirements, it is necessary to shrink the size of the semiconductor device and shrink the area of the semiconductor device. As one of effective means for it, it is mentioned to shrink the size of an element isolation region provided to isolate semiconductor elements included in the semiconductor device.
In recent years, the shallow trench isolation (STI) technique has been adopted as the method for manufacturing a minute element isolation region. According to the shallow trench isolation (STI) technique, an element isolation region is formed by embedding an insulation film of silicon oxide in a trench (element isolation trench) formed by using an anisotropic etching method such as the reactive ion etching (RIE).
As a method for forming the insulation film in the trench while suppressing generation of voids and seams, the spin on glass (SOG) method is known.
According to this method, an insulation film of silicon oxide is formed in the trench by coating a solution of a silicon compound (for example, polysilazane (polyperhydrosilazane) [—(SiH2NH)n-]) serving as a material of silicon oxide by using the spin coating method and oxidizing the silicon compound. The silicon oxide film (insulation film) formed by using such a method is especially called coated silicon oxide film.
In general, the coated silicon oxide film formed by using such a method has the following issues.
(1) The film density is low.
(2) There are a large number of impurities in the film.
As a method for solving these issues, there is a method for oxidizing a silicon compound to form a coated silicon oxide film and then conducting anneal processing in an atmosphere of nitrogen or the like. The bond structure of the coated silicon oxide film can be made more minute by conducting the anneal processing (heating processing). At the same time, impurities which still remain in the coated silicon oxide film can be removed. As a result, the issues of the coated silicon oxide film can be solved.
In the process for forming the coated silicon oxide film by conducting the above-described processing, however, the coated silicon oxide film contracts and film stress is generated, resulting in new issues such as occurrence of defects in the coated silicon oxide film, peeling of the coated silicon oxide film, and deformation of the element isolation region.
As the method for solving such a new issue, therefore, the following proposals have been made.
According to a proposed method, all insulation films of silicon oxide in the trench are not formed by using the SOG method, but a coated silicon oxide film is first formed on the lower half in the trench by using the SOG method, and in addition an HTO (High Temperature Oxide) film (silicon oxide film) having a bond structure which is more minute than that of the coated silicon oxide film is embedded in the upper half in the trench which is equivalent to over the coated silicon oxide film (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-114362).
According to another proposed method, a coated silicon oxide film is formed in the lower half of the trench by using the SOG method, and in addition a silicon oxide film having a bond structure which is more minute than that of the coated silicon oxide film is embedded in the upper half in the trench which is equivalent to over the coated silicon oxide film by using the high density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP-CVD) method (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-31650).
However, both proposed methods need the CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) process at least twice. In other words, a remarkable increase in the number of processes and complicated processes cause issues such as a lowered process margin.
According to another proposed method, a silicon oxide film having a bond structure which is more minute than that of a coated silicon oxide film is embedded in the lower half in the trench by using the HDP-CDV method, and in addition, a coated silicon oxide film is embedded in the upper half in the trench which is equivalent to over the silicon oxide film (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-31650).
In this method as well, however, the coated silicon oxide film is embedded in the upper half in the trench. In the coated silicon oxide film which occupies the upper half of the trench, therefore, peeling of the coated silicon oxide film or ensuing wet etching poses a issue that an abnormality of the local shape is caused in the coated silicon oxide film.
As the insulation film embedding technique for STI and PMD (Pre Metal Dielectric) advanced in size shrinking, a plurality of techniques can be mentioned. For example, a technique for embedding a film having fluidity such as a SOG film and a TEOS (Tetraethyl Orthosilicate) film formed by using the spin coating method, and a technique for combining an HDP-CVD silicon oxide film and the above-described film having fluidity and embedding a resultant film are considered to become promising.
As one of its methods, there is a method for embedding a perhydrosilazane polymer (polysilazane) solution in an STI trench formed in a semiconductor substrate, oxidizing the semiconductor substrate in a steam atmosphere in a diffusion furnace or the like, and thereby forming a silicon oxide film in the STI trench (see, for example, see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-179614 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-367980).
In the coated polysilazane film, nitrogen (N) contained in the raw material and carbon (C) contained in an organic solvent such as dibutyl ether remain in the film as impurities. For obtaining a silicon oxide film having a good film quality, therefore, it is necessary to increase the quantity of oxidation to remove these impurities.
For transforming the polysilazane film to a silicon oxide film having a good quality, annealing is conducted in an atmosphere of inert gas such as nitrogen to make the polysilazane film oxidized by, for example, steam oxidation.
At the time of this annealing, however, film contraction in the polysilazane film occurs. Stress is applied to the foundation (semiconductor substrate) by the film contraction, resulting in a cause of occurrence of crystal defects or the like in the semiconductor substrate.

Semiconductor device manufacturing method and silicon oxide film forming method


An electrode for a lithium ion secondary battery comprising a binder comprising a vinyl chloride resin (PVC) and a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), wherein the weight ratio of the PVC and the PVDF is PVC:PVDF=8:2 to 3:7, and at least one of the following (a) and (b) is satisfied: (a) the polymerization degree of the PVC is 900 or more, and (b) the polymerization degree of the PVDF is 5000 or more.

A lithium ion secondary battery is small in volume, has a large mass capacity density, and is capable of taking out a high voltage, and therefore, is widely adopted as a power source for small devices. The lithium ion secondary battery is used as, for example, a power source for mobile devices such as a cellular phone and a notebook-sized personal computer. In addition to its application to small devices, in recent years, due to concern for environmental issues and increasing awareness of energy-conservation, an application of the lithium ion secondary battery to large secondary batteries has been expected in the field where a large capacity with long life is required such as electric vehicles (EV) or electric power storage.
An electrode of a secondary battery is formed by forming an electrode mixture layer on a collector, and the electrode mixture layer is consisting of an active material, a conductive assistant, a binder, and so on. The binder has a function of adhering the active materials each other, and adhering between the active material and the collector. In view of battery performance, and easiness of compatibility with battery production process and so on, it is desired that the binder is excellent in basic properties such as electrochemical stability, resistance to electrolyte solutions, adhesiveness, and heat resistance. On the other hand, in view of the recent demand for cost reduction of large batteries, it is desired that the materials are as inexpensive as possible.
In negative electrodes of the lithium ion secondary batteries, aqueous binders using a rubber type latex such as styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and a thickener such as CMC (carboxymethyl cellulose) in combination have often been used in addition to solvent-based binders such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). On the other hand, in positive electrodes, binders other than PVDF or fluoropolymers having a composition close to that of PVDF have hardly been put into practical use.
PVDF has high performance in various properties such as oxidation resistance, heat resistance, adhesiveness and resistance to electrolyte solutions, and is excellent in balance among these properties. Moreover, when PVDF is used, it is easy to obtain electrode slurry having a good coating property. However, there have been problems that the resin price of PVDF is as high as around 2000 yen/kg which is higher than that of other resins, and PVDF has a drawback in terms of alkali resistance. On the other hand, there has yet been found no material that can substitute for PVDF in terms of properties, and PVDF has still been used for long years.
As a binder other than PVDF, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses that polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is used as a binder containing a halogen element as PVDF. Patent Literature 2 to Patent Literature 5 also disclose polyvinyl chloride as an example of the binder. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a general-purpose resin and is very inexpensive.

Electrode for lithium ion secondary battery and lithium ion secondary battery using same


There are disclosed herein various implementations of nested composite switches. In one implementation, a nested composite switch includes a normally ON primary transistor coupled to a composite switch. The composite switch includes a low voltage (LV) transistor cascoded with an intermediate transistor having a breakdown voltage greater than the LV transistor and less than the normally ON primary transistor. In one implementation, the normally on primary transistor may be a group III-V transistor and the LV transistor may be an LV group IV transistor.

I. Definitions
As used herein, the phrase "group III-V" refers to a compound semiconductor that includes a group V element and at least one group III element. Moreover, the phrase "III-Nitride or III-N" refers to a compound semiconductor that includes nitrogen (N) and at least one group III element including aluminum (Al), gallium (Ga), indium (In), and boron (B), and including but not limited to any of its alloys, such as aluminum gallium nitride (AlxGa(1-x)N), indium gallium nitride (InyGa(1-y)N), aluminum indium gallium nitride (AlxInyGa(1-x-y)N), gallium arsenide phosphide nitride (GaAsaPbN(1-a-b)), and aluminum indium gallium arsenide phosphide nitride (AlxInyGa(1-x-y)AsaPbN(1-a-b)), for example. III-Nitride also refers generally to any polarity including but not limited to Ga-polar, N-polar, semi-polar or non-polar crystal orientations. A III-Nitride material may also include either the Wurtzitic, Zincblende or mixed polytypes, and may include single-crystal, monocrystalline, polycrystalline, or amorphous structures.
Also as used herein, the phrase "group IV" refers to a semiconductor that includes at least one group four element including silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), and carbon (C), and also includes compound semiconductors such as SiGe and SiC, for example. Group IV may also refer to a semiconductor material which consists of layers of group IV elements or doping of group IV elements to produce strained silicon or other strained group IV material. In addition, group IV based composite substrates may include silicon on insulator (SOI), separation by implantation of oxygen (SIMOX) process substrates, and silicon on sapphire (SOS), for example. Moreover, a group IV device may include devices formed using standard CMOS processing, but may also include NMOS and PMOS device processing.
Furthermore, as used herein, the terms "LV device," "low voltage semiconductor device," "low voltage transistor, low voltage switch" and the like, refer to a low voltage device, with a typical breakdown voltage rating less than an "intermediate device," as described below. The LV device can include any suitable semiconductor material that forms a field-effect transistor (FET) such as an insulated-gate FET (IGFET), for example. Suitable semiconductor materials include group IV semiconductor materials such as Si, strained silicon, SiGe, SiC, and group III-V materials including III-As, III-P, III-Nitride or any of their alloys.
Additionally, the term "intermediate device, intermediate transistor and intermediate switch" refers to a device with a typical breakdown voltage greater than the LV device and less than a "primary device". The "primary device, primary transistor or primary switch" refers to a device with a typical breakdown voltage greater than both the intermediate device and the LV device.
II. Background Art
In high power and high performance switching applications, group III-V field-effect transistors (FETs) and high mobility electron transistors (HEMTs), such as III-Nitride FETs and III-Nitride HEMTs, are often desirable for their high efficiency and high-voltage operation. Moreover, it is often desirable to combine such group III-V transistors with other FETs, such as group IV FETs, to create high performance composite switches.
In power management applications where normally OFF characteristics of power devices are desirable, a depletion mode (normally ON) III-Nitride or other group III-V transistor can be cascoded with an enhancement mode (normally OFF) low-voltage (LV) group IV transistor, for example a silicon FET, to produce an enhancement mode (normally OFF) composite power switch. However, the performance of the composite switch can be limited by the on-state and voltage breakdown characteristics of the LV group IV transistor used. In particular, the breakdown voltage for a given on-state resistance of the LV group IV transistor may be insufficient to support the required pinch-off voltage required to maintain the group III-V transistor in a satisfactorily OFF condition.


An orientation sensitive light for mounting on motorcycles and the like, having a light emitter, an orientation sensitive switch, and a power source, all connected in an electric circuit. The light is mounted on the underside of the motorcycle or on a side of the motorcycle, with the light emitter pointing downwards during normal operational orientation of the motorcycle. An orientation sensitive switch has a cavity with a quantity of an electrically conductive liquid such as mercury. The switch activates the light emitter when the motorcycle changes its orientation, as when a front or a rear wheel is raised above the ground.

This invention relates to orientation sensitive light emitting devices mounted on motorcycles and the like. Specifically, the disclosed device activates a light emitter, such as a lamp, when a rider induces the motorcycle to achieve an orientation in which one of the wheels of the motorcycle is raised above the level of the other wheel.
One danger of performing various acrobatic maneuvers on a motorcycle or a bicycle is that, in the night, when the rider raises front wheel above the ground, the motorcycle becomes less visible to other drivers since motorcycle""s headlights point toward the sky and the taillights point downwards. Same problem exists when the rider performs a maneuver of raising a rear wheel above the ground. The rider becomes more vulnerable to being hit by a car since the drivers are less aware of the presence of rider on the road without seeing the motorcycle lights. Additionally, when the rider raises the front wheel, he becomes less aware of what is in front of the motorcycle since the headlight is now pointing upward as opposed to in front of the motorcycle.
In the past, a variety of light emitting devices for mounting on vehicles such as motorcycles were disclosed. In addition to well-known headlights and taillights, there exists prior art directed to lights that activate only upon existence of a certain pre-selected condition. For example, Mizrai in U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,197 discloses a vehicle mounted light which activates upon a change in the acceleration of the vehicle. Another patent by Manacci, U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,022, discloses a motorcycle turn signal which turns off when motorcycle resumes an upright orientation after completing a turn. Similarly, orientation sensitive switches have been described in prior art. Nolan, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,541, discloses a pair of angularly positioned mercury switches adapted to actuate the bicycle alarm upon unauthorized movement of the bicycle. Also, Kolb et al., in a U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,856, discloses a tilt switch made by attaching two electrically conductive members to a non-conducting tube and disposing a conductive sphere within the switch. However, none of these devices are aimed at solving the above discussed problems present when a rider performs acrobatic maneuvers in the nighttime.
The only known attempt to solve the problem faced by riders who perform acrobatic tricks on their motorcycles is a light manufactured by a company named xe2x80x9cStar Boyzxe2x80x9d. This light is mounted on a motorcycle and has a manual activation switch. When activated, the light shines in the downward direction during normal operational orientation of the motorcycle. This device has a major drawback of having a manual switch. With this device, the rider is distracted from the road and needs to remember to turn the light on prior to lifting of one wheel and to turn it off after the raised wheel returns to the ground level.
What is needed is a light emitter mounted on a motorcycle, designed to shine light behind or in front of the motorcycle when the rider performs wheel raising maneuvers without a need to manually activate the light.
The present invention represents an orientation sensitive light for mounting on motorcycles and the like, having a light emitter, an orientation sensitive switch, and a power source, all connected in an electric circuit. The light is mounted on the underside of the motorcycle or on a side of the motorcycle, with the light emitter pointing in the downward direction with respect to the horizontal plane of the vehicle. An orientation sensitive switch has a cavity with a quantity of an electrically conductive liquid such as mercury. The switch activates the light emitter when the motorcycle changes its orientation, as when a front or a rear wheel is raised above the ground. When the front wheel is raised, the horizontal plane of the vehicle is no longer substantially parallel to the ground but is at an angle, thereby shining the light ahead of the motorcycle.
In a preferred embodiment, components of the light are stored inside of a housing member.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide an orientation sensitive light for motorcycles and the like capable of activating upon raising of a front or rear wheel above the ground.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an orientation sensitive light for motorcycles and the like having an orientation sensitive switch.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an orientation sensitive light for motorcycles and the like which does not become activated during normal operational orientation of the motorcycle.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an orientation sensitive light for motorcycles and the like wherein the light alerts other drivers of presence of a motorcycle on the road when rider raises front or rear wheel.

Orientation sensitive light for mounting on motorcycles and the like


A method and apparatus for achieving tandem free operation (TFO) including bypass transcoding and cross transcoding in a communication system. The present invention provides communication of compressed voice signals, or voice signals compressed in a common format, between wireless mobile stations across a PSTN by bypassing vocoders residing in the MSC/BSC of the communication system, or between network elements of an ATM network. In a wireless network, a capability signal, preferably being a low frequency tone, is transmitted by the terminating MSC/BSC to the originating MSC/BSC to indicate that the terminating element is capable of transcoding or transcoding and cross transcoding. The originating element responsively generates an optional LF tone and a 2100 Hz tone to disable network cancellers between the originating element and the terminating element in the forward direction. The terminating element, then, responsively generates a 2100 Hz tone to disable network echo cancellers between the terminating element and the originating element in the backward direction, whereby the vocoders of the network are bypassed. Compression and decompression of voice signals is only provided by the vocoders integrated into the terminating wireless mobile stations.

The rapid growth in the diversity of communication networks and the number of users of such networks is increasing the number of instances where two vocoders are placed in tandem to serve a single connection. The name "vocoder" stems from the fact that the vocoder is a codec having applications specific to encoding and decoding, i.e. compressing and decompressing, voice signals. Vocoders provide speech compression of a digitized voice signals as well as the reverse transformation. Typically, a voice signal is digitized through one of many quantization techniques. Examples of these techniques are Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM), Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) and Delta Modulation. For purposes of this description we will refer to PCM as the input format for the vocoder although no limitation to this format is intended for use by the present invention. A vocoder includes an encoder stage that will accept as input a digitized voice signal and output a compressed signal, a possible compression ratio being 8:1. As for the reverse transformation, the vocoder is provided with a decoder stage that accepts the compressed speech signal and outputs a digitized signal, such as PCM samples.
In many wireless communication networks, a first vocoder integrated in a mobile station is used to compress the speech of a first mobile user. The compressed speech is transmitted by Radio Frequency (RF) equipment to a base station controller (BSC) and a mobile switching center (MSC) serving the local mobile station. Either the BSC or the MSC has a second vocoder, depending on the particular wireless system i.e. TDMA, GSM etc., which decompresses the received compressed signal into PCM samples. The PCM samples are transmitted over a digital trunk of the network, such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), to a second MSC and BSC serving a second mobile station. A third vocoder at the second BSC or MSC then recompresses the PCM samples for RF transmission to the second mobile station. A fourth vocoder integrated into the second mobile station then decompresses the received compressed speech signal to synthesize the original speech signal from the first mobile station. Such an arrangement of multiple vocoders is commonly referred to as tandemed vocoders which serve a single connection. A specific example of tandemed vocoders may involve a call from a wireless terminal operating according to the North American Time Division Multiplexing Access (TDMA) system to a European Standard Global System for Mobile (GSM) mobile phone.
The main advantage of compressing speech for RF transmission is that it uses less of the limited available RF channel bandwidth for transmission, while the main disadvantage is the loss of speech quality. Operating tandemed vocoders significantly degrades the voice quality of speech, thus providing the desire to limit the number of times that speech is compressed and decompressed in a single connection i.e. between two mobile users.
As disclosed in commonly assigned international application PCT 95CA704 there is disclosed a method to eliminate the condition of tandemed vocoders through a method called tandem free operation (TFO). TFO is defined as a codec bypass action if the vocoders in both mobile stations are the same, e.g. both GSM vocoders. TFO is also defined as using a common format across the transport network if the vocoders at each terminal are different e.g. GSM-CDMA. The basic idea behind this approach is the provision of a digital signal processor including a vocoder, and a bypass mechanism that is invoked when the incoming signal is in a format compatible with a downstream vocoder. Through signaling and control, the digital signal processor associated with the first BSC or MSC serving the first mobile station determines that a compatible vocoder resides at a second BSC or MSC serving a second mobile station. In such a case, the first digital signal processor associated with the first BSC or MSC, rather than converting the compressed speech signals into digital samples, i.e. using a PCM format, invokes the bypass mechanism and outputs the compressed speech to the transport network. The second digital signal processor associated with the second BSC or MSC receives the compressed speech from the transport network and also invokes the bypass mechanism. Compression of the digitized speech signal occurs only once, at the first mobile station, and decompression of the compressed speech signal occurs only once, at the second mobile station. The contents of this international application are incorporated herein by reference.
There is desired an improved mechanism for identifying the capability of wireless network equipment to facilitate TFO in a wireless communication system such as to improve voice quality.

Network element having tandem free operation capabilities


There is provided a display system which includes a first display device; a second display device; a storage device that divides work for a work object and stores a first work content and a second work content; and a control device that displays the first work content on the first display device and displays the second work content on the second display device.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technology which supports a plurality of workers who divide work for a work object.
2. Related Art
In JP-A-2005-49996, when a virtual object is displayed by Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) which are respectively mounted on two workers, a visual field area, which is viewed by one worker through the HMD, is displayed as the virtual object in the HMD of another worker. In this manner, another worker can understand the visual field area which is viewed by one worker. As a result, when an object is delivered to one worker from another worker, another worker can present the object to one worker such that the object is settled into the visual field area of one worker, thereby enabling the object to be smoothly delivered.
However, for example, in a printer, various events, such as a paper jam or low ink, are generated, and thus it is necessary for workers to appropriately perform works (to fix the paper jam, to replenish ink, and the like) corresponding to the respective events. At this time, there is a case in which division of work is performed for a work object, such as the printer, and the resulting works are performed by a plurality of workers. Here, it is suitable if work contents are displayed on a display device, such as the HMD, and the workers can support the work. However, the technology disclosed in JP-A-2005-49996 does not address a problem, at all, in that not only work contents should be displayed on display devices but also division performed by a plurality of workers should be supported by displaying the work contents on the display devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Display system, display control device, and display method