A goose neck trailer with a pair of side rails has a goose neck hitch attached to the side rails and defined by two side members extending upwardly and forwardly therefrom and converging inwardly and forwardly to the hitch coupling with a series of cross-members interconnecting the side members to form an integral rigid structure. The side members are formed from two shaped plate elements including an inner plate element and an outer plate element both of which are bent to follow a generally parallel path with a space therebetween with each plate element being cut as an integral sheet portion from a sheet of metal and a varying space between the two plate elements being at least partly closed by a top cover plate and by a bottom plate each welded at its edges to the plate elements and leaving a bottom opening between the plates to receive the side rails.

Typically goose neck trailers include a trailer frame having two side rails which are carried on suitable ground wheels and which provide support for whatever load carrying elements are required on the trailer.
The hitch section itself comprises a welded structure attached to the side rails at the forward end and extending there from upwardly and forwardly to a central hitch coupling at a position raised above the side rails and forwardly of the side rails.
Conventionally the hitch structure itself is formed from welded rectangular tubular members including side members which extend upwardly, forwardly and then generally inwardly to the coupling together with transverse connecting beams which form the hitch into a rigid structure.
The arrangement has been used conventional and widely for many years and is widely accepted. However opportunities remain for an improved structure which has potential advantages of improved strength, improved economies of manufacture and improved aesthetic appearance.


A delivery system including a body construction (7) and at least one capsule (8) containing a pharmaceutical composition, the capsule having at least a first end and a second end. The body construction (7, 12, 34) has at least two locking parts (9, 10), each locking part (9, 10) having at least a first end and a second end, the first end of each locking part (9, 10) having a surface adapted to face and cover one of the at least first and second ends of the capsule (8). The diameter of at least one of the locking parts varies along its length between the first end and the second end, and the capsule (8) is mounted between the at least two locking parts. Also disclosed is a manufacturing process of a delivery system, the system including a body construction and at least one capsule containing a pharmaceutical composition.

The publications and other materials used herein to illuminate the background of the invention, and in particular, the cases to provide additional details respecting the practice, are incorporated by reference.
The delivery system discussed in this application mainly covers intrauterine systems (IUS), intracervical systems and intravaginal systems. The systems usually consist of a body and a capsule containing one or more pharmaceutically active agents. A commonly used intrauterine system is a T-shaped object fabricated of plastic material, which object consists of an elongate member having at one end a transverse member comprising two wings, the elongate member and the transverse member forming a substantially T-shaped piece when the system is positioned in the uterus. The elongate member has for example a copper wire wound partly around it, said wire being capable of releasing copper ions (and corresponding to the above-mentioned capsule containing the pharmaceutically active agent). Also IUS's capable of releasing hormones or other active agents exist, and they are used either for contraception or for the treatment of hormonal disorders. In addition to T-shaped IUS's also systems shaped like a ring, a "7" or an "S", for example, are known. Similar constructions are used for the intracervical and intravaginal systems.
The manufacturing process of these systems commonly consists of separate manufacturing of the body and the capsule followed by their assembly. Said assembly is usually performed simply by pulling the capsule over the body, for example over one of the wings. At the beginning of the use of the system, the capsule is tight on the body. However, at the end of the period of use, typically when the capsule has released 30-60% of its content in the active agent, it loosens up and may detach from the body either during the use or at the moment of removal of the system from the body cavity.
The systems are introduced to the appropriate body cavity usually by means of an inserter. Several types of inserters exist for the positioning of intrauterine systems. The most common inserter for T-shaped IUS's consists of a protective tube having a plunger with a handle inside it. In preparation for the positioning of the system in the uterus, the IUS, which is located at the end of the plunger, is retracted towards the handle so that the system enters the tube, and the wings of the transverse member of the system bend towards each other. Then the protecting tube with its contained IUS is introduced through the cervical canal. When the system is correctly positioned it is released by retracting the protecting tube towards the outside. The wings of the transverse member then expand, and the system assumes the shape of a "T".
A problem is associated with the inserters of T-shaped systems and other systems as described above regarding the positioning of the capsule over the body during the retraction of the protective tube towards the outside. The inner diameter of the inserter should be sufficiently larger than the outer diameter of the system to be inserted in order to avoid the shifting or complete detachment of the capsule. However, one has to take into account that the hemispherical end pieces of the wings of the transverse member are small in relation to the diameter of the protective tube. It is, therefore, extremely important that these end pieces are in the exactly correct position in relation to the edge of the protective tube at the moment of introducing the system in the uterus, and therefore the inner diameter of the protective tube cannot be considerably larger than the outer diameter of the system. The difference of the diameters is typically 0.05-0.1 mm. The system is usually sold positioned in the inserter but in the case that the physician unintentionally releases the system too early, it may be very difficult to reposition it correctly in the inserter.
The incorrect positioning of the system in the inserter may cause various problems, such as the shifting of the capsule on the body, the deformation of the capsule, the deterioration of the capsule or the detachment of the capsule.
The shifting of the capsule can for example occur in such a manner that the capsule is displaced towards the wing of the T-shaped system, thus changing the shape to Y and hindering the correct positioning of the wings thus preventing the use of the system. The deterioration or deformation of the capsule may alter the release of the active agent from the capsule.
As discussed above, essentially two problems may occur during the manufacturing of the systems, their introduction into the appropriate body cavity of a patient and their use. These problems are how to assemble the body and the capsule and how to maintain the body and the capsule together during the introduction and the period of use of the system, which may be several years, typically up to five years.
Some solutions to these problems are given in the prior art. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,728 discloses a method of making an IUS with shrinking of a medicated attachment onto a support. In said method, a mixture of silicone and a drug is injection moulded to form a sleeve, which is then swollen by immersion in a solvent and subsequently slipped onto a stem of the IUS to shrink about the stem. An outer covering may be positioned over the sleeve in a similar manner. The disadvantage of this method is the use of a solvent. Residues of solvent may remain in the sleeves and cause irritation once the IUS is placed in the patient's uterus. Furthermore, part of the drug may dissolve into the solvent used, thus causing the amount of drug in the final IUS being less than expected. This method does also not solve the problem of maintaining the capsule on the body over the whole period of use of the system.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,560 discloses an IUS consisting of a body and a copper wire, wherein the surface of said body comprises serrations that act as guides for the copper wire and maintain it in place. The disadvantage of this structure is, however, that it is not useful for delivery systems releasing hormones, since these systems do not comprise a wire but rather a tube consisting essentially of an elastomer comprising one or more active agents.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,483 discloses an IUS that consists of a perforated tube containing a supply of medications. The medication is maintained adjacent the perforations by a spring arrangement.

Delivery system and a manufacturing process of a delivery system


An apparatus for pushing in a predetermined quantity solid pulverized and/or lumpy objects forming a deposited layer to a discharge section includes: a plurality of pusher members disposed in parallel with each other; and a driving device to which the plurality of pusher members are connected so as to push the pulverized and/or lumpy objects to the discharge section as the plurality of pusher members are reciprocated by the driving device in a longitudinal direction of each of the plurality of pusher members, the driving device having a first axially supporting portion and a second axially supporting portion which are arranged at two positions in the longitudinal direction such that the driving device is angularly displaceable about an axis of the first axially supporting portion and an axis of the second axially supporting portion, the axis of the first axially supporting portion and the axis of the second axially supporting portion being in a perpendicular relationship to each other when projected on a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical field in which solid pulverized and/or lumpy objects formed in a deposited layer are pushed and moved in predetermined quantities, and more particularly to an apparatus for pushing such pulverized and/or lumpy objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
This type of apparatus is used extensively in a field in which solid pulverized and/or lumpy objects are handled, and is also used in, among others, a heating furnace apparatus such as the one shown in the appended drawing, FIG. 6.
In FIG. 6, a substantially horizontal hearth 51 having the shape of an annular plate is rotatively driven around a vertical axis 52. An outer cylinder 53 and an inner cylinder 54 which constitute parts of a furnace body are disposed above the hearth 51, and the inner cylinder 54 is connected to a furnace cover 55. An annular space 56 is formed by the hearth 51, the outer cylinder 53, and the inner cylinder 54. The pulverized and/or lumpy objects to be calcinated are supplied from the outside into the annular space 56 through supply pipes 58 provided in such a manner as to penetrate an upper wall 57 for connecting the outer cylinder 53 and the inner cylinder 54, and are stored therein, thereby forming a deposited layer 59 in the annular space 56.
A burner 60 and an air supply pipe 61 are provided through the furnace cover 55, and the deposited layer 59 is subjected to preheating on a combustion space 62 side by means of heat from combustion gases in the combustion space 62.
Rod-like pushers 63 extending toward the center are provided through the outer cylinder 53 at a plurality of circumferential positions. Each of the pushers 63 is coupled to a rod of a cylinder unit 64 provided on the outer side, and is reciprocated in the longitudinal direction of the pusher 63 while being guided by a guide portion 53A of the outer cylinder 53, and pushes the preheated pulverized and/or lumpy objects toward a drop port 51A in the hearth 51 on each occasion of its reciprocating motion. The dropped pulverized and/or lumpy objects form a deposited layer again in a vertical furnace 65 and are allowed to mature in an upper portion of the deposited layer, are then allowed to drop to a lower portion of the vertical furnace 65 while being cooled by air which is supplied from the lower portion of the vertical furnace 65 and rises through the deposited layer, and are taken out as products. The air which has undergone a temperature rise and has assumed a high temperature, after having cooled the pulverized and/or lumpy objects matured in the vertical furnace 65 and having risen through the deposited layer, contributes to the combustion in the combustion chamber 62. The exhaust gases after combustion are passed through the deposited layer 59 on the hearth 51, and are discharged from exhaust pipes 66.
With the above-described apparatus shown in FIG. 6, the pushers 62 provided at a plurality of circumferential positions above the hearth 51 are generally reciprocated with their operating timings staggered, and cause the pulverized and/or lumpy objects to drop in predetermined quantities uniformly in the circumferential direction in conjunction with the rotation of the hearth 51. As for the above-described pushers, there are cases where a single pusher or a set of two pushers are provided at each of the circumferential positions. In the case of the single pusher, since a forward end of the rod of the cylinder unit is coupled to a rear end of the pusher, the overall length becomes very long, so that, in many cases, pushers are respectively disposed on both sides of the cylinder unit and the two pushers are used as a set. In either case, the cylinder units are fixedly disposed outside the heating furnace apparatus, the positions and attitudes of the pushers 63 which are guided by the guide portions 53A in the outer cylinder 53, as well as the rods of the cylinder devices 64, are naturally determined, and therefore cannot be adjusted.
However, the pushers are elongated, so that fabrication errors, deformation during the operation, their inclination due to clearances in the guide portions, and so on are liable to occur. Consequently, the sliding in the guide portions can cease to be smooth, and excessively large loads may be applied to the rods of the cylinder units. In the case where two pushers are made as one set, a load is applied to the rod in such a manner as to bend the rod unless the loads on the respective pushers are equal. Such excessively large loads on the rods become particularly noticeable since thermal deformation occurs when the pushers are subjected to heating as in the heating furnace apparatus, so that a countermeasure thereon has been called for.

Apparatus for pushing pulverized and/or lumpy objects


A polarization mode separator separates the optical signal into a first polarized signal and a second differently polarized signal traveling along respective first and second paths. A first variable delay generator located along the first path is adapted to selectively provide a first propagation delay to the first polarized signal. The first variable delay generator includes at least two rotating micro-mirrors and one or more fixed mirrors constructed on a surface of a substrate. A controller is coupled to the first variable delay generator. The controller is adapted to monitor the polarization mode dispersion in the optical signal and to position the rotating micro-mirrors to direct the first polarized signal along one of the plurality of optical paths. A beam combiner combines the first and second signals to form an optical output signal substantially compensated for polarization mode dispersion.

The present polarization mode dispersion compensator is based on delay generators that use thermally actuated, rotating micro-mirrors to add well-defined increments of delay to polarized portions of an optical signal.
Fiber optics technology is revolutionizing the telecommunications field. The main driving force is the promise of extremely high communications bandwidth. At high bandwidths, a single beam of modulated laser light can carry vast amounts of information equal to hundreds of thousands of phone calls or hundreds of video channels. However, pulse broadening limits the effective bandwidth and propagation distance of an optical communication signal. Because of the inherent dispersive nature of an optical fiber medium, all portions of a light pulse do not travel the same distance through an optical fiber causing pulse broadening.
FIG. 1 illustrates how pulse broadening arises from varying light propagation delays, which eventually distorts light output. Digital input pulses 10 are input to an optical fiber medium 11. The amplitude-modulated pulses are generated by a modulated laser source, such as a direct-modulated laser or an externally-modulated laser.
Different portions of a light pulse encounter varying propagation delays arising from the varying lengths of reflected paths within optical fiber 11. For clarity, three paths are illustrated which correspond to a relatively straight, short path 10a, a reflected, intermediate length path 10b, and a relatively long, reflected path 10c. Due to the varying propagation delays (see, e.g., the xcex94t delay in arrival time between 10a and 10b), the combined optical output is distorted. Thus, a photoreceptor detecting the output pulses 10a-10c will generate a distorted output 12.
As shown in FIG. 2, such pulse broadening can lead to intersymbol confusion. xe2x80x9cPulse broadeningxe2x80x9d is called xe2x80x9cdispersionxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cspreadingxe2x80x9d because of the non-uniform way in which parts of the incident signal 20 propagate through a dispersive fiber medium. In a mild form of dispersion, the transitions between ON and OFF states observed at a receiver are not as abrupt and distinct as the transitions that were originated by a transmitting laser. More severe blurring in the time domain limits the useful bandwidth of the path.
In FIG. 2, dispersion effects have broadened two closely spaced pulses to the extent that they are almost indistinguishable, as indicated by a question mark in the output signal 22. This will cause an information bit to be received erroneously, with perhaps disastrous results on network communication and customer dissatisfaction.
Several refinements have been made to reduce dispersion and increase the useful bandwidth. First, single-mode fiber was developed having a slender core such that there is essentially only a single light path through the fiber. Secondly, the distributed feedback (DFB) laser was developed with an extremely narrow distribution of output wavelengths. This technique minimizes chromatic dispersion caused by the fact that different wavelengths traverse the length of the fiber over different periods of time. Finally, a dispersion-shifted fiber material was produced to minimize the increased time vs. wavelength dependency at a specific wavelength of fifteen hundred and fifty nanometers common in telecommunication applications.
Cumulatively, recent improvements in fiber materials and transmitter devices have reduced pulse dispersion and increased working bandwidth. Lightwave technology has advanced at such a pace that the bandwidth capabilities have more than doubled every two years. As a result, working bandwidths, expressed in terms of digital bit-per-second rates, have escalated from 500 Million bits per second (Mbps) to 10 Billion bits per second (Gbps).
These progressively more exotic refinements have brought the technology to a new bandwidth barrier: Polarization-Mode Dispersion (PMD). Previously, PMD was insignificant in magnitude relative to other dispersive effects, but now it is a limiting factor. It is well known that light can be polarized and that, for a given beam of light, this polarization can be expressed in terms of two orthogonal axes that are normal to the axis of propagation. As a beam of light propagates through a fiber, the light energy present along one such polarization may leak into the other polarization.
This leakage would normally be of little consequence (lightwave receivers will detect both polarizations), except that real-world fibers carry different polarizations at slightly different time delays due to reflection. This effect can be on the order of 10-20 picoseconds (ps) in a 100 km fiber and becomes important when the modulating pulses are 50-100 picoseconds in width. To complicate matters, the polarization dispersion within a given fiber changes as a function of time and temperature. Therefore, an effective PMD compensation mechanism must monitor and adapt to the changes so as to keep PMD to a minimum.
To nullify the effects of PMD, researchers have suggested application of an adaptive compensation device in an optical path at the receiving end just before the receiving transducer. These compensators typically employ a detector for analyzing the relative partitioning and delay of the incoming signal along two orthogonal polarizations. The compensators correct a data signal by purposefully adding delay selectively to one polarization or another. A controller interprets the findings of the delay analyzer and manipulates adjustable delay elements so as to compensate for the polarization-dependent delay differences caused by the imperfect fiber transmission path. However, these techniques are not practical in telecommunication applications, such as, long-haul optical fiber communication.
The variable delay elements are usually optical fibers that are either heated or squeezed to alter their propagation characteristics. While these elements are adaptable to laboratory electronic control techniques, they are inadequate in terms of reproducibility and predictability of response. They are also impractical for use in a commercial traffic-bearing fiber network wherein recovery time following an equipment or power failure should be minimized. (See, e.g., Ozeki, et al., xe2x80x9cPolarization-mode-dispersion equalization experiment using a variable equalizing optical circuit controlled by a pulse-waveform-comparison algorithm,xe2x80x9d OFC""94 Technical Digest, paper TuN4, pp. 62-64; Ono, et al., xe2x80x9cPolarization Control Method for Suppressing Polarization Mode Dispersion Influence in Optical Transmission Systemsxe2x80x9d, Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 12, No. 5, May 1994, pp. 89-91; Takahasi, et al., xe2x80x9cAutomatic Compensation Technique for Timewise Fluctuating Polarization Mode Dispersion in In-line Amplifier Systemsxe2x80x9d, Electronics Letters, Vol. 30, No. 4, February 1994, pp. 348-49; and WO 93/09454, Rockwell, Marshall A.; Liquid Crystal Optical Waveguide Display System).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,859,939 (Fee et al.) discloses a polarization beam splitter that separates the optical data signal into first and second orthogonally polarized optical signals. A first variable time delay element provides a first incremental propagation delay for the first polarized optical signal. A second variable time delay element provides a second incremental propagation delay for the second polarized optical signal. The first and second variable time delay elements consist of a series of optical switches optically interconnected by different incremental lengths of optical fiber. For example, 2xc3x972 optical switches are provided for switching between a reference fiber segment and a respective delay fiber segment to provide a relative incremental propagation delay. A controller controls optical switches in the first and second variable switching delay elements to set first and second incremental propagation delays. The transition to and from the optical switches is a source of signal loss.
What is needed is a PMD compensation method and system that is reliable, responsive, and effective in commercial telecommunication networks.
The present invention provides a system and method for compensating for polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in an optical data signal using rotating micro-mirrors to provide incremental delays between different polarization modes of the optical data signal. The PMD compensator receives a signal and breaks the signal into its various polarization modes. A variable delay generator provides an appropriate time delay to one or more of the polarization modes. A controller monitors the polarization mode dispersion and positions rotating micro-mirrors to provide the required time delay.
In one embodiment, a polarization mode separator separates the optical data signal into first and second orthogonally polarized optical signals. Rotating micro-mirrors in a variable delay generator are positioned to direct the first orthogonally polarized optical signal to optical paths of various lengths. The longer the optical path, the longer the first propagation delay for the first polarized optical signal. In another embodiment, a variable delay generator is provided for each of the first and second orthogonally polarized optical signals. Consequently, delay can be introduced into the first and/or the second polarized optical signal.
In particular, the first and second polarized optical signals are incrementally delayed relative to one another so as to compensate for polarization mode dispersion. A beam combiner then combines the first and second polarized optical signals to form an optical output data signal that can be detected accurately and reliably by a receiver without the effects of polarization mode dispersion. In this way, optical data signals can be transmitted over greater distances along a long-haul fiber optic dispersive medium at even greater bit-rates and bandwidth.
In one aspect of the present invention, a beam splitter diverts a portion of an input optical data signal to a delay detector. The delay detector detects a relative delay between orthogonal polarization modes of the optical data signal due to polarization mode dispersion. The controller then uses the detected relative delay to control the rotating micro-mirrors in the variable delay generators so as to counteract the detected relative delay.
In one embodiment, a linkage mechanism is mechanically coupled to the two rotating micro-mirrors. A plurality of thermal actuators are mechanically coupled to the linkage mechanism. The linkage mechanism can rotate the micro-mirrors simultaneously in opposite directions. The linkage mechanism can also synchronize rotation of the micro-mirrors.
The present invention is also directed to a plurality of variable delay generators on the substrate and to an optical communication system including at least one apparatus for equalizing polarization mode dispersion.
Compared to other known technologies, the present invention is more reliable and predictable in its response and is therefore more mass-producible. Furthermore, it has an extremely fast response time that is independent of the degree of delay adjustment needed. This is a particular advantage in a mission-critical high data rate optical communications network.

MEMS-based polarization mode dispersion compensator


An adjustment assembly for adjusting the reflecting surface of a glass assembly in an external rearview vehicle mirror, where two linear adjusting motors act on two points of the glass assembly, where the adjusting motors are positioned between the glass assembly and a mirror carrier in the mirror head. The adjusting motors are connected to the glass assembly and/or the mirror carrier via at least one elastomeric connecting piece.

External rearview vehicle mirrors increasingly comprise electrical means for adjusting the glass. Glass actuators in a built-in casing are used as independent components for this purpose. These glass typically actuators include two motors that drive adjustment systems. Alternatively, separate drives can be used.
In the known external vehicle mirrors that can be electrically actuated, a mirror carrier that can be tilted is attached to a housing and two drive motors are coupled with the mirror carrier. The drive motors are attached at a 90° offset with reference to the pivot points of the mirror carrier. They are designed as rotary electric motors and move the mirror via a transmission and gear racks and their counterparts are attached to the mirror carrier. The tilting motion can in principle, be implemented using a single motor, but this would require an increased mechanical effort. A simple design can be achieved using two motors.
Due to the many parts (motors, transmissions, gear racks, etc.), the assembly effort required is considerable even if two rotary electric motors are used.
DE 40 18 409 A1 describes an arrangement in which hinged linear motors are used for adjusting the mirror glass. The solution uses rotor bars on ball bearings and electric linear motors for adjusting the mirror.
A non-generic adjustment assembly without linear adjusting motors is known from WO 2005/095 159 A1 (corresponding to U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0213229 A1, published on Sep. 29, 2005).
A method for manufacturing an adjustment assembly is known from WO 03/004 245 A1 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,638,454, issued on Oct. 8, 2003).

Assembly for adjusting the outside mirror


Methods and systems for selecting routes from among multiple media and/or optimizing transmission across those media are described. A minimum data rate may be determined for transmitting a content item. Based on that minimum data rate, a device may determine whether to transmit the content item via a given medium, select a different medium for transmission, or adjust transmission to compensate for unfavorable network conditions. A device may select a medium based on ranking one or more routes from a content source to a user device. Further, a device may determine a data rate for transmission based on calculating an expected time of transmission that includes time spent performing retransmissions at a given data rate.

Improvements in network infrastructure have created new concerns for routing network traffic. Networks often have multiple paths for transmission, and applications often have requirements for both bandwidth and latency. Efficient methods and apparatus are needed for managing network traffic so that optimal routes may be selected based on those requirements.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Optimizing network efficiency for application requirements


A bag and a method of packing a bag for storing sheets of material, such as photosensitive materials, provides a light-tight environment for the photosensitive material. The bag has a rear end which has a serpentine passageway, thereby creating a light-tight end as well as allowing for entrapped air to exit the cavity of the bag.

Professional imaging systems, such as those employed for medical diagnostic (radiological) applications, having historically captured and recorded images on relatively large sized sheets of photosensitive material, using large volume wet development equipment. With the recent enactment and more rigid enforcement of environmental regulations that require safeguards against exposure to and proper disposal of chemicals used in image development equipment, image processing providers have begun the replacement of these cumbersome and expensive wet-development systems with dry silver processes. For example, in a typical dry silver imaging application for medical diagnostic applications, such as a sonogram or X-ray, the image of interest may be electro-optically captured on a 20.3 cm.times.25.4 cm (8".times.10") sheet of dry silver photosensitive medium, so that the image size is large enough to be viewed and analyzed, is readily physically accommodated within the patient's file, and may be easily handled and stored by medical personnel without exposure to wet chemicals.
In the course of operation of a dry silver process-based imaging system, just as in the use of relatively small hand-held cameras, it is necessary to store the individual frames of the photosensitive media in a light-tight housing, while affording ready access to the frames as they are needed by the imaging equipment. In hand-held cameras, the film packaging is relatively compact, with the film being configured as either a continuous multi-frame roll housed in a light-tight cylindrical canister, or as individual sheets that may be housed in an auto-feed sealed cartridge that is disposable after all of the film sheets have been used. Unfortunately, due to their configuration and small size, neither of these hand-held camera film storage and feed approaches is capable of storing larger sheets of photosensitive material and interfacing such media with the sheet or web advance mechanisms employed by the larger, diagnostic imaging equipment.
Light-tight, single-use containers or packages for larger photosensitive materials used in, for example, medical diagnostic applications are generally known. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,042, these light-tight containers can include a film bag or a tray covered by a lid. Also shown are carriages, or holders, which mate with the main body of a film loading device and removes the cover or the film bag while maintaining light-tightness.
In addition, there is disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/344,462 filed Nov. 23, 1994, entitled "Imaging Unit Container Having Shiftable Walls" a bag for storing the photosensitive sheets. The bag is sealed on three sides and has an opening through which the photosensitive sheets are placed into the bag. The open end of the bag is then rolled up and taped to the bag, thereby creating a light-tight enclosure. The bag also includes a tabbed end. However, in the process of rolling the open end to make light-tight seal, air may become entrapped within the cavity of the bag. The bag may then become bulky and later handling and shipping of the bag becomes more difficult. In a non-related field, there are bags for bulk material which include seals that are discontinuous. An example of this is shown in French patent 2,234,356. The discontinuous seal is useful in allowing air to escape from the bag so that the bags may be more easily stacked. However, this is for use in a non-analogous field as there are no provisions for providing a light-tight seal which is necessary for photosensitive materials.
The present invention addresses the drawbacks of the prior art devices and provides for a light-tight bag having a serpentine passageway at one end, thereby creating a light-tight end and also allowing for entrapped air to exit the bag.

Light-tight bag having a trapped air exit


A high-speed electrical connector is disclosed. The high-speed electrical connector connects a first electrical device having a first ground reference to a second electrical device having a second ground reference. The connector, which includes a connector housing and a signal contact, is devoid of any ground connection that is adapted to electrically connect the first ground reference and the second ground reference.

Electrical connectors provide signal connections between electronic devices using signal contacts. Often, the signal contacts are so closely spaced that undesirable interference, or "cross talk," occurs between adjacent signal contacts. Cross talk occurs when a signal on one signal contact induces electrical interference in an adjacent signal contact due to intermingling electrical fields, thereby compromising signal integrity. With electronic device miniaturization and high speed, high signal integrity electronic communications becoming more prevalent, the reduction of noise becomes a significant factor in connector design.
One known method for reducing signal interference includes the use of ground connections that connect the ground reference of a first, or "near-end," electrical device to the ground reference of a second, or "far-end," electrical device. The terms "near end" and "far end" are relative terms commonly used in the electrical connector field to refer to the ground references of the devices that the connector connects. The near-end device is the device that transmits a signal through the signal contacts; the far-end device is the device that receives the signal. The near end is the transmission side; the far end is the receiver side. The ground connections help to provide a common reference point in the electrical system such that the signal integrity of the signal passed from the near-end device through the connector to the far-end device is maintained.
Though some prior art electrical connectors do not have ground connections that connect near- and far-end ground references, such prior art electrical connectors operate at relatively slow speeds (e.g., <1 Gb/s). Such slower speed applications typically do not need a common reference point to maintain signal integrity. Some slower speed applications for electrical connectors with no connecting grounds include, for example, tip and ring on a telephone line.
There is a need, however, for a high speed electrical connector (i.e., operating above 1 Gb/s and typically in the range of about 10-20 Gb/s) that is devoid of ground connections between the ground reference of a near-end electrical device and the ground reference of a far-end electrical device to help increase density.

High speed differential transmission structures without grounds


Biaxially oriented polymeric films consisting of a core layer of pigmented, non-voided propylene homopolymer with a layer of voided propylene homopolymer on one surface of the core layer and a printable layer, for example of a polymer containing units derived from at least two of propylene, ethylene and but-1-ene, on the other surface of the core layer. Films of the present invention have been successfully used for in-mold labelling without the production of a leathery effect as has been observed with prior art films for in-mold labelling.

This invention concerns polymeric films and in particular films for forming labels for in-mold labelling.
In-mold labelling is a technique in which a pre-formed polymeric label is incorporated into a polymeric article by molding the article in a mold containing the label. This technique in general provides labelled articles having a good appearance with the advantage that the labels effectively become an integral part of the articles and are thereby difficult if not impossible to remove. However, the molding process in general involves the use of high temperatures to effect melting or softening of the polymer used to form the articles, and since the pre-formed labels are usually made from polymeric films which have been stretched in their production, the temperatures to which the labels are subjected during the molding process usually lead to their shrinkage.
Although the dimensional changes resulting from label shrinkage can often be tolerated, and indeed anticipated when the labels are produced, shrinkage can lead to the films acquiring an undesirable appearance. In particular, it has been found that labels made from polypropylene films having a voided or cavitated layer resulting from the presence of a voiding agent such as chalk acquire a non-uniform or leathery appearance when they shrink. This is particularly disadvantageous as bonding of the molded polymer to the labels is usually improved significantly if the surface of the label which contacts the polymer being molded is voided or cavitated. Furthermore, voided or cavitated films are often preferred for forming labels as they are usually opaque and provide good contrast for printed indicia on the labels.


A method of determining disease state in an individual. A portion of the tissue of the individual is illuminated with excitation light, then light emitted by the tissue due to Raman scattering of a chemical with the tissue responsive to the excitation light is detected. The detected light can be combined with a model relating Raman emission with disease state to determine a disease state of the individual. The invention can comprise single wavelength excitation light, scanning of excitation light (illuminating the tissue at a plurality of wavelengths), detection at a single wavelength, scanning of detection wavelengths (detecting emitted light at a plurality of wavelengths), and combinations thereof. The invention also can comprise correction techniques that reduce determination errors due to detection of light other than that from Raman emission of a chemical in the tissue. For example, the reflectance of the tissue can lead to errors if appropriate correction is not employed. The invention can also comprise a variety of models relating Raman emission to disease state, including a variety of methods for generating such models. Other biologic information can be used in combination with the Raman spectral properties to aid in the determination of disease state. The invention also comprises apparatuses suitable for carrying out the method, including appropriate light sources, detectors, and models (for example, implemented on computers) used to relate detected Raman emission and disease state.

Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem in the United States and throughout the world's developed and developing nations. In 2002, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) estimated that 18.2 million Americans—fully 6.4% of the citizenry—were afflicted with some form of diabetes. Of these, 90-95% suffered from type 2 diabetes, and 35%, or about 6 million individuals, were undiagnosed. See ADA Report, Diabetes Care, 2003. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 150 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes; type 2 diabetes also represents 90% of all diagnoses worldwide. Unfortunately, projections indicate that this grim situation will worsen in the next two decades. The WHO forecasts that the total number of diabetics will double before the year 2025. Similarly, the ADA estimates that by 2020, 8.0% of the US population, some 20 million individuals, will have contracted the disease. Assuming rates of detection remain static, this portends that, in less than twenty years, three of every 100 Americans will be 'silent' diabetics. It is no surprise that many have characterized the worldwide outbreak of diabetes as epidemic.
Diabetes has a significant impact on individual health and the national economy. U.S. health care costs related to diabetes exceeded $132 billion in 2002. Due to the numerous complications that result from chronic hyperglycemia, these costs were distributed over a wide array of health services. For example, between 5 and 10 percent of all U.S. expenditures in the areas of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, endocrine and metabolic complications, and ophthalmic disorders were attributable to diabetes. See ADA Report, Diabetes Care, 2003. These economic and health burdens belie the fact that most diabetes-related complications are preventable. The landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) established that a strict regimen of glucose monitoring, exercise, proper diet, and insulin Research Group, N Eng J Med, 1993. Furthermore, the ongoing Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) has already demonstrated that individuals at risk for diabetes can significantly reduce their chances of contracting the disease by implementing lifestyle changes such a weight loss and increased physical activity. See DPP Research Group, N Eng J Med, 2002. ADA has recommended that health care providers begin screening of individuals with one or more disease risk factors, observing: "If the DPP demonstrates a reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes as a result of one or more of the [tested] interventions, then more widespread screening . . . may be justified". See ADA Position Statement, Diabetes Care, 2003.
The Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG) test is one of two accepted clinical standards for the diagnosis of or screening for diabetes. See ADA Committee Report, Diabetes Care, 2003. The FPG test is a carbohydrate metabolism test that measures plasma glucose levels after a 12-14 hour fast. Fasting stimulates the release of the hormone glucagon, which in turn raises plasma glucose levels. In non-diabetic individuals, the body will produce and process insulin to counteract the rise in glucose levels. In diabetic individuals, plasma glucose levels remain elevated. The ADA recommends that the FPG test be administered in the morning because afternoon tests tend to produce lower readings. In most healthy individuals, FPG levels will fall between 70 and 100 mg/dl. Medications, exercise, and recent illnesses can impact the results of this test, so an appropriate medical history should be taken before it is performed. FPG levels of 126 mg/dl or higher indicate a need for a subsequent retest. If the same levels are reached during the retest, a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus is typically rendered. Results that measure only slightly above the normal range may require further testing, including the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) or a postprandial plasma glucose test, to confirm a diabetes diagnosis. Other conditions that can cause an elevated result include pancreatitis, Cushing's syndrome, liver or kidney disease, eclampsia, and other acute illnesses such as sepsis or myocardial infarction.
Because it is easier to perform and more convenient for patients, the FPG test is strongly recommended by the ADA and is in more widespread use than the other accepted diagnostic standard, the OGTT. The OGTT is the clinical gold standard for diagnosis of diabetes despite various drawbacks. After presenting in a fasting state, the patient is administered an oral dose of glucose solution (75 to 100 grams of dextrose) which typically causes blood glucose levels to rise in the first hour and return to baseline within three hours as the body produces insulin to normalize glucose levels. Blood glucose levels may be measured four to five times over a 3-hour OGTT administration. On average, levels typically peak at 160-180 mg/dl from 30 minutes to 1 hour after administration of the oral glucose dose, and then return to fasting levels of 140 mg/dl or less within two to three hours. Factors such as age, weight, and race can influence results, as can recent illnesses and certain medications. For example, older individuals will have an upper limit increase of 1 mg/dl in glucose tolerance for every year over age 50. Current ADA guidelines dictate a diagnosis of diabetes if the two-hour post-load blood glucose value is greater than 200 mg/dl on two separate OGTTs administered on different days.
In addition to these diagnostic criteria, the ADA also recognizes two 'pre-diabetic' conditions reflecting deviations from euglycemia that, while abnormal, are considered insufficient to merit a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. An individual is said to have 'Impaired Fasting Glucose' (IFG) when a single FPG test falls between 110 and 126 mg/dl. Similarly, when the OGTT yields 2-hour post-load glucose values between 140 and 200 mg/dl, a diagnosis of 'Impaired Glucose Tolerance' (IGT) is typically rendered. Both of these conditions are considered risk factors for diabetes, and IFG/IGT were used as entrance criteria in the Diabetes Prevention Program. IFG/IGT are also associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
The need for pre-test fasting, invasive blood draws, and repeat testing on multiple days combine to make the OGTT and FPG tests inconvenient for the patient and expensive to administer. In addition, the diagnostic accuracy of these tests leaves significant room for improvement. See, e.g., M. P. Stern, et al., Ann Intern Med, 2002, and J. S. Yudkin et al., BMJ, 1990. Various attempts have been made in the past to avoid the disadvantages of the FPG and OGTT in diabetes screening. For example, risk assessments based on patient history and paper-and-pencil tests have been attempted, but such techniques have typically resulted in lackluster diagnostic accuracy. In addition, the use of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) has been suggested for diabetes screening. However, because HbA1c is an indicator of average glycemia over a period of several weeks, its inherent variability combines with the experimental uncertainty associated with currently-available HbA1c assays to make it a rather poor indicator of diabetes. See ADA Committee Report, Diabetes Care, 2003. HbA1c levels of diabetics can overlap those of nondiabetics, making HbA1c problematic as a screening test. A reliable, convenient, and cost-effective means to screen for diabetes mellitus is needed. Also, a reliable, convenient, and cost-effective means for measuring effects of diabetes could help in treating the disease and avoiding complications from the disease.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,616 (Ham) discloses instruments and methods for noninvasive tissue glucose level monitoring via Raman spectroscopy and spectral processing by neural networks and fuzzy logic. Ham does not describe measurement of any other tissue property, or any method of screening for or monitoring diabetes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,168 (Samuels) discloses apparatus and methods for measuring characteristics of biological tissues and similar materials. These apparatus and methods are described with respect to measurements of the human eye. In addition, the correction methodologies described by these inventors involve only measurements of the elastically scattered excitation light. Samuels describes a simple linear correction technique. Samuels does not disclose noninvasive measurements that allow determination of tissue disease status.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,301 (Yoshida) discloses methods and apparatus for obtaining Raman emission from intraocular substances including advanced glycated endproducts (AGEs). Yoshida does not describe a technique for assessing AGEs in skin or for quantifying the AGE concentration as a means to determine disease status.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,285 (Chaiken) discloses a system based upon Raman spectroscopy for measuring blood glucose. The described technique relies upon an absorbing species such as hemoglobin acting as a temperature probe. Chaiken does not disclose measurement of advanced glycation endproducts or other analytes relating to disease status. In addition, Chaiken does not describe methods for correction techniques to compensate for local skin absorption or scattering.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,290 (Yang) discloses a Raman spectroscopy system for noninvasively measuring blood glucose. Yang does not disclose measurement of advanced glycation endproducts or other analytes relating to screening for or monitoring diabetes status. Furthermore, Yang does not describe methods for correction techniques to compensate for local skin absorption or scattering in order to recover the intrinsic Raman emission signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,230 (Chaiken) describes an apparatus for the non-invasive quantification of glucose via Raman spectroscopy. Chaiken does not disclose measurement of advanced glycation endproducts or other analytes relating to disease status. In addition, Chaiken does not describe methods for correction techniques to compensate for local skin absorption or scattering.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,502 (Chaiken) describes an apparatus based upon Raman spectroscopy for the noninvasive characterization of skin and detection of skin abnormalities. Chaiken does not disclose measurement of advanced glycation endproducts or other analytes relating to diabetes status. Chaiken does not describe methods to extract the intrinsic Raman emission from the detected signal nor multivariate techniques to quantitatively predict analyte concentration.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,478 (Alfano) describes an apparatus based upon Raman spectroscopy for examining biological materials. Alfano discloses that the technique can be applied for the diagnosis of disease by measuring characteristic Raman emission associated with blood glucose and other constituents. Alfano does not describe a method or technique for quantifying Advanced Glycation Endproducts as a metric for assess diabetes status. Also, Alfano does not disclose algorithms or methods for recovering intrinsic Raman emission or other techniques to compensate for local tissue variations.

Determination of disease state using raman spectroscopy of tissue


According to an aspect, there is provided a computing device for performing the following. The computing device obtains, in a code editor, one or more logical lines of code for a program. The computing device predicts, using a first prediction algorithm, one or more most probable next program instructions based on said one or more logical lines of code and displays them to the user. In response to receiving a selection of a program instruction, the computing device inserts a selected program instruction to the code editor. The computing device predicts, using a second prediction algorithm, one or more most probable sets of zero or more parameters based on a selected program instruction and said one or more logical lines of code and displays them to the user. In response to receiving a selection of a set, the computing device inserts a selected set to the code editor.

Smart code editors (or smart integrated development environments, IDEs or smart script editors) provide a variety of functionalities to facilitate the code writing. For example, one function usually provided in smart code editors is an autocomplete function (sometimes called a code completion function). The autocomplete function provides the user suggestions on how the line of code the user is currently typing should be completed based on the characters the user has already typed on said line. The prediction is often performed based on a word prediction dictionary or sometimes using more advanced solutions such as machine-learning. Several limitations, however, exist with the autocomplete solutions. Firstly, the predictions are obviously limited only to suggestions which complete a program instruction which the user has started to type. Secondly, while the training data used for training the machine-learning model may encompass large amounts of code acquired from the Internet, not all of said code is necessarily appropriate for the particular coding task of a user in a particular application area (e.g., script writing for test automation or robotic process automation). This may lead to the machine-learning algorithm based on the machine-learning model providing incorrect or at least non-optimal suggestions for the user. Therefore, there is a need for smart code editor solution which would provide more meaningful and robust predictions and thus further facilitate the task of writing code.


A velocity transducer or Velomitor® that can output electrical signals relating to vibration, despite the transducer being exposed to low levels of gamma-radiation, is disclosed. A DC feedback circuit, which sets up the input stage bias point, keeps the output bias voltage within a usable voltage range as the transducer is exposed to the gamma-radiation. An additional JFET transistor, configured as a current source, helps the DC feedback circuit compensate for increases in the offset voltage of the JFET amplifier. The value of a resistor controlling the gate current of the JFET amplifier is also reduced, such that when the leakage current increases, the offset voltage is reduced.

Serious problems with rotating industrial equipment, such as power generating equipment, can often be avoided by monitoring various parameters of the equipment to determine whether such equipment may have an operating problem. Velomitors®1 are one brand of velocity transducers that are used to provide protection of industrial machinery by measuring equipment vibration. Velomitor® is a registered trademark of Bently Nevada.
Velomitors® are used in a number of environments. One application in which these transducers are used is the monitoring of equipment in nuclear plants where the transducers are continuously exposed over time to low levels of gamma-radiation. Velomitors® used in this type of environment are typically exposed to radiation over a long period of time. The exposed Velomitors® will function in this kind of environment for a period of time, but eventually the output bias voltage of these transducers shifts as they are exposed to the radiation over an extended period of time. Ultimately, the output of a transducer will drift close to one of its supply voltage levels, whereupon the transducer stops functioning. This problem arises when a junction field effect transistor ("JFET") used in the Velomitor® to form a common source amplifier stage is irradiated by the gamma-radiation. The irradiation causes increasing current leakage into the JFET's gate over time. This increase in gate current, when coupled with a large feedback resistor in series with the gate, produces a high offset voltage at the transducer's output, driving the transducer's output toward the device's rail (supply voltage).

Feedback circuit for radiation resistant transducer


In order to perform integrated exposure control with high precision even if the wavelength of a light source is changed, an exposure apparatus includes an exposure optical system, an exposure amount control unit, a wavelength changing unit, and a correction unit. The exposure optical system has a laser as a light source to irradiate a photosensitive substrate with light from the light source. The exposure amount control unit controls an exposure amount for the photosensitive substrate. The wavelength changing unit changes an oscillation wavelength of the laser to a predetermined wavelength. The correction unit corrects a target exposure amount to irradiate the photosensitive substrate in accordance with the oscillation wavelength of the laser.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus for transferring a circuit pattern drawn on a mask onto a substrate coated with a photosensitive agent and, more particularly, to an exposure apparatus which uses a laser as a light source and with which good exposure amount control is possible when the oscillation wavelength of the laser source is to be changed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in the process of manufacturing a semiconductor element, e.g., an LSI or a VLSI, which is formed of a very fine pattern, a reduction projection exposure apparatus for reducing and projecting a circuit pattern drawn on a mask onto a substrate coated with a photosensitive agent and printing it is used. As the integration density of the semiconductor elements increases, a finer pattern is required. Along with a progress in the resist process, the exposure apparatus must cope with a finer pattern.
As a means for improving the resolving power of the exposure apparatus, a method of changing the exposure wavelength to a shorter one and a method of increasing the numerical aperture (NA) of the projection optical system are available. It is generally known that a resolving power is proportional to the exposure wavelength and inversely proportional to the NA. Attempts have been made to keep the depth of focus of the projection optical system while improving the resolving power. Generally, the depth of focus is proportional to the exposure wavelength and decreases to be in an inverse proportion to the square of the NA, and to improve the resolving power and to keep the depth of focus are contradictory issues. In order to solve this problem, the phase shift reticle method, the FLEX (Focus Latitude Enhancement Exposure) method, and the like are proposed.
Regarding the exposure wavelength, a KrF excimer laser having an oscillation wavelength near 248 nm has become the mainstream recently to replace a 365-nm i-line. As the next-generation exposure light source, an ArF excimer laser having an oscillation wavelength near 193 nm is under development.
From the viewpoint of the manufacturing cost of the semiconductor element, a further increase in throughput in the exposure apparatus has been made. For example, a method of shortening the exposure time per shot by increasing the output from the exposure light source, a method of increasing the number of elements per shot by increasing the exposure area, and the like are proposed as the attempts aiming at this increase in throughput.
In recent years, in order to cope with an increase in chip size of the semiconductor element, a step-and-repeat type, so-called stepper, which sequentially prints the mask patterns and moves them in the step manner is shifting to a step-and-scan type exposure apparatus which performs scanning and exposure while keeping the mask and wafer in the synchronized state and sequentially moves them to the following shot. This step-and-scan type exposure apparatus has a slit-like exposure field and can accordingly increase the exposure area without increasing the size of the projection optical system.
As the resolving power increases by increasing the NA of the projection optical system and decreasing the wavelength of the light source described above, an exposure amount must be given to the photosensitive material (photoresist) applied to the wafer at high precision, and an increase in precision in exposure amount control has been made.
FIG. 5 is a conceptual view of an exposure apparatus for exposing a circuit pattern image onto a wafer. Referring to FIG. 5, a beam emitted by an excimer laser 1 is shaped into a predetermined beam shape through a beam shaping optical system 2 and becomes incident on an optical integrator 3 formed by two-dimensionally aligning a plurality of small lenses. The optical integrator 3 forms a secondary source near its exit surface 3a. A light beam from the secondary source is focused by a first focusing lens 4. A blind (not shown) for regulating the illumination range is arranged near a plane perpendicularly intersecting an optical axis including a focal point 6 of the first focusing lens 4. A light beam from the first focusing lens 4 uniformly illuminates the pattern surface of a mask 8 through a second focusing lens 7. The pattern of the mask 8 is reduced and projected by a projection optical system 9 to a wafer 10 coated with a photosensitive material. A half mirror 5 is placed between the first focusing lens 4 and focal point 6 to branch part of the light. The photoelectric conversion surface of a sensor 11 is placed near a focal point 6a of the branched light. Hence, the surface of the wafer 10, the pattern surface of the mask 8, and the plane perpendicularly intersecting the optical axis including the focal point 6 are conjugate, and accordingly, the sensor 11 detects the illuminance at a position equivalent to the pattern surface of the mask 8.
A signal from the sensor 11 is amplified by an amplifier 12 and connected to an integrated exposure amount control unit 13 including a CPU (not shown). The integrated exposure amount control unit 13 is connected to the excimer laser 1 to control oscillation of the laser on the basis of the signal from the sensor 11.
Exposure amount control in the step-and-repeat method in the above arrangement will be described with reference to FIG. 6.
FIG. 6 is a flow chart of exposure amount control done by the CPU (not shown) included in the integrated exposure amount control unit 13. When exposure is started for a certain shot, in step 100, an emission pulse count m is set to 0 and a remaining exposure amount Ja(mxe2x88x921) is set to an initial value (target exposure amount Ja). In step 101, the target exposure amount Ja is divided by a standard exposure amount Js per pulse to calculate a total number P of pulses required for exposure. A remainder L of this division is a theoretical number of insufficient pulses (0xe2x89xa6L less than 1) obtained when exposure is performed under the above conditions.
In step 102, the target exposure amount Ja is divided by the total number P of pulses to calculate a preset energy Je of the first pulse. Theoretically, when exposure is performed with this preset energy Je for the number P of pulses, the target exposure amount Ja is obtained.
In step 103, the preset energy Je for one pulse is set for the excimer laser (excimer laser 1 in FIG. 5) through the integrated exposure amount control unit (integrated exposure amount control unit 13 in FIG. 5). In step 104, a 1-pulse emission instruction is made through the integrated exposure amount control unit (integrated exposure amount control unit 13 in FIG. 5).
In step 105, the emission count of the excimer laser (excimer laser 1 in FIG. 5) is incremented. In step 106, an energy Jt per pulse is detected through the sensor (sensor 11 in FIG. 5) and the amplifier (amplifier 12 in FIG. 5).
In step 107, a current remaining exposure amount Jam is calculated from the previous remaining exposure amount Ja(mxe2x88x921) and the current energy Jt per pulse.
In step 108, the preset energy Je for the next pulse is calculated from the remaining exposure amount Jam, the total number P of pulses, and the emission pulse count m from the start of exposure.
In step 109, the total number P of pulses required for exposure and the emission pulse count m from the start of exposure are compared. If P=m, the flow advances to exposure at the next shot position; if p greater than m, the flow returns to step 103.
In this manner, the steps 103 to 108 are repeated until the emission pulse count m reaches the total number P of pulses.
Regarding exposure amount control of the step-and-scan method, for example, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-254559, a method is proposed by the present applicant, in which exposure amount control is performed by adjusting the light amount of a pulse beam to irradiate next in accordance with the integrated light amount of the plurality of pulse beams irradiated already, so that the average of the light amounts of a predetermined number of consecutive pulse beams coincides with the target value. In this method, although the flow chart of the exposure amount control is different from that of FIG. 6 described above, its basic method of calculating the energy of the next pulse on the basis of the measurement value of the sensor 11 shown in FIG. 5 is the same as that of FIG. 6.
When ultraviolet radiation is used as the exposure light source, as described above, after the apparatus is used over a long period of time, ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4), silicon dioxide (SiO2), and the like attach to the surface of the optical element placed in the optical path to considerably degrade the optical characteristics. These materials are generated when ammonia (NH3), sulfurous acid (SO2), an Si compound, and the like contained in the ambient environment cause a chemical reaction upon being irradiated with the ultraviolet rays. Conventionally, in order to prevent this degradation in the optical element, the entire optical path is purged with clean dry air or an inert gas such as nitrogen.
Furthermore, it is known that, in the ArF excimer laser having a wavelength of an ultraviolet range, especially about 193 nm, a plurality of absorption bands of oxygen (O2) are present in the band near this wavelength. When oxygen absorbs light, ozone (O3) is generated to enhance absorption of light, thereby greatly decreasing the transmittance. In addition, as described above, various types of products resulting from ozone attach to the surface of the optical element to decrease the efficiency of the optical system.
Therefore, in the optical path of the exposure optical system of the projection exposure apparatus, e.g., the ArF excimer laser, using far ultraviolet radiation as the light source, a method of suppressing the concentration of oxygen present in the optical path to a low level with a purge means using an inert gas, e.g., nitrogen, is employed.
Generally, in the semiconductor element manufacturing process, a large number of circuit patterns overlap the wafer and are exposed. To form a very fine circuit pattern, as described above, the overlapping precision must also be improved. Factors that cause an overlapping error include an image forming performance including the magnification, distortion, focus, and the like of the projection optical system. Factors that change the image forming performance include a change in the surrounding atmospheric pressure or temperature, a change in temperature of the projection optical system caused by exposure, and the like. These factors cause a change in index in the projection optical system and surface distortion of the optical element to change various types of aberrations, resulting in degradation in the image forming performance.
To correct the image forming performance, a method of controlling the position of a specific lens, a method of controlling the pressure of a specific portion of the projection optical system, and the like are available. Above all, when an excimer laser is used as the illumination light source, a method of correcting the image forming performance by changing the oscillation wavelength of the laser can be employed.
The correction method of changing the oscillation wavelength is more advantageous than other correction methods in that it does not require a precision drive mechanism or mechanical control mechanism, so that it can perform correction comparatively easily.
If, however, the ArF excimer laser is used as the illumination light source, since this laser has oxygen absorption bands near 193 nm, as described above, when the oscillation wavelength is changed, the absorbance midway along the optical path undesirably changes in accordance with the wavelengths. In the optical path of the exposure optical system, the concentration of oxygen present in the optical path is suppressed to a low level with the purge means employing an inert gas, e.g., nitrogen, as described above. However, when a drive operation and wafer exchange are frequently performed, like near the wafer surface, it is very difficult to decrease the oxygen concentration to completely zero, and a certain level of oxygen remains. Other than the place near the wafer, wherever oxygen remains, when the oscillation wavelength is changed, the absorbance also changes. As described with reference to FIG. 5, the sensor 11 can detect the light amount until the half mirror 5. In the optical path after the half mirror 5 and before the wafer 10, if the optical absorbance changes, it is impossible to perform integrated exposure amount control with high precision.
The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and has as its object to enable integrated exposure amount control with high precision even when the wavelength of the light source is changed, so that a very fine circuit pattern can be transferred well.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an exposure apparatus comprising an exposure optical system having a laser as a light source to irradiate a photosensitive substrate with light from the light source, exposure amount control means for controlling an exposure amount for the photosensitive substrate, wavelength changing means for changing an oscillation wavelength of the laser to a predetermined wavelength, and correction means for correcting a target exposure amount to irradiate the photosensitive substrate in accordance with the oscillation wavelength of the laser.
As a signal representing the oscillation wavelength of the laser, for example, an input to or output from the wavelength changing means can be used.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, in an exposure apparatus comprising an illumination optical system having a laser with an oscillation wavelength of 200 nm or less as a light source to irradiate a photosensitive substrate with light from the laser source, exposure amount control means for controlling an exposure amount for the photosensitive substrate, and wavelength changing means for changing an oscillation wavelength of the laser to a predetermined wavelength, the exposure amount control means corrects the exposure amount for the photosensitive substrate on the basis of an output from the wavelength changing means.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the exposure amount control means has an integrated exposure measurement unit for integrating a light intensity signal from the light source, correction means is provided to store and correct information concerning a relationship among an output from the integrated exposure measurement unit, an illuminance of the photosensitive substrate, and the oscillation wavelength, and the output value from the integrated exposure measurement unit is corrected on the basis of an output from the wavelength changing means.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a projection exposure apparatus which comprises an illumination optical system having an ArF excimer laser with an oscillation wavelength of about 193 nm as a light source to illuminate a mask drawn with a predetermined pattern with light from the light source, and a projection optical system for reducing and projecting a pattern image on the mask onto the photosensitive substrate, and in which exposure amount control means is arranged to detect light branching midway along the optical path of the illumination optical system, wherein the exposure amount control means corrects the exposure amount for the photosensitive substrate on the basis of an output from the wavelength changing means.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect described above, a predetermined portion of an optical path, extending from an exit end of the light source to the photosensitive substrate, is divided into a plurality of blocks, and the apparatus has purge means for filling at least one optical element and the optical path accommodated in each of the blocks with an inert gas.
According to the present invention, even if the oscillation wavelength of the laser source is changed for the purpose of, e.g., correcting the image forming characteristics of the projection optical system, a detection error depending on the wavelength may not be present in the measured exposure amount. Therefore, exposure is always performed with an optimal exposure amount, and a very fine circuit pattern of a semiconductor element and the like can be formed well.


A method and apparatus utilizing automated semantic pattern recognition whereby a user of a manual enters a query regarding information in the text of the manual and the invention displays the locations in which information responsive to the query is located. The present invention includes a computer that stores a data structure representing the natural language text of a manual, the structure being a tree structure having nodes, wherein each node represents information from associated locations of the text. The nodes at higher levels of the tree represent general categories of information. Nodes at succeedingly lower levels of the tree represent succeedingly more specific categorical subsets of the general categories of information represented at the higher levels by ancestors of the lower level nodes. The query is formatted into a query data structure that is similar in format to the node structure representing the text. The query data structure is compared to each node in the tree. If the degree of similarity between the query and the node exceeds a predetermined threshold value after taking into account the degree of similarity between the ancestors of the node and the query, then the locations associated with the node are displayed on a video monitor as locations containing information responsive to the query.

The present invention is a method and apparatus utilizing automated semantic pattern recognition whereby a user of an instruction or repair manual enters a query regarding information in the text of the manual and the invention displays the locations in the text of information responsive to the query. Although the invention is described in terms of its implementation as an aid to a user of a manual, many of the most important features of the invention have general application and are not intended to be limited to text in a manual format.
Repair persons or users of a piece of equipment often turn to a manual for instructions regarding operation, maintenance of repair. The repair person or user typically must probe the table of contents and the index for relevant words that might point to relevant pages in the text. Although effective, this method is time consuming. Search time frequently is an important constraint, such as when a customer service representative needs to respond quickly to questions from customers over the telephone.
The present invention uses semantic pattern recognition to rapidly locate relevant information in the text of a user manual. Semantic pattern recognition has long been thought of as a possible solution for improving text and information retrieval. Unfortunately, most natural language understanding systems have lacked the lexical and semantic depth necessary for handling the broad range of semantic situations typically encountered as part of daily human activities. However, there are some areas where a language-oriented method of organization and comparison is quite useful. One such domain encompasses information that can be organized topically into subject categories. A prime example of topical organization is the typical user or repair manual, which is divided into sections by topic and uses terse explanations comprised of highly descriptive words and phrases.
The present invention locates information in the natural language text of a manual using a computer that includes a video monitor and a memory device for storing a data structure representing the natural language text. The data structure has the form of a tree structure having nodes arranged at different levels of the tree structure, wherein each node represents information from associated locations in the text, each location having a corresponding location identifier, such as a page or section number. Each node contains node constituents representing words or phrases from the text, and each node may be represented by a vector comprising node constituents as elements. The parsing of text into its contextually related constituents is well known in the art.
Typically, the nodes at higher levels of the tree represent general categories of information. Nodes at succeedingly lower levels in the tree usually represent succeedingly more specific categorical subsets of the general categories of information represented at the higher levels. For example, nodes at one level may represent chapter headings from a manual, while nodes at the next level may represent sections within a chapter, and nodes at the subsequent level may represent subsections thereof. Accordingly, a node at one level in the tree is referred to as a "parent" node, while a node at a level immediately below the parent node and representing a categorical subset of the information represented by the parent node is referred to as a "child" node of that parent. The parent node and other nodes at the higher levels of the tree representing more general categories of information than a particular child node are referred to as the "ancestors" of that child node.
The present invention takes advantage of contextual propagation from the ancestors of a node to determine with a given degree of certainty whether the node contains information responsive to a query. The query is entered by a user or otherwise input into the system in the hope that the natural language text contains the answer to the query. The query is formatted into a query data structure. The query data structure is compared to a node to produce a comparison value representative of the degree of similarity between the query and the information represented by the node. The comparison value is enhanced by an amount representative of the degree of similarity between the query and the information represented by ancestors of the node to produce an enhanced comparison value. If the enhanced comparison value exceeds a predetermined lower bound and the node contributes information responsive to the query, then the location identifiers associated with the node are stored in memory. The process of comparing the query data structure to a node, enhancing the comparison value and storing the location identifiers is repeated at each node in the tree structure. After these steps have been performed for the entire tree structure, the stored location identifiers are displayed on the video monitor.
Note that the present invention tests whether the node contributes information responsive to the query in addition to determining whether the enhanced comparison value exceeds a predetermined lower bound. Because the enhanced comparison value represents the inclusion of information from ancestor nodes, the enhanced comparison value may exceed the lower bound based solely on the degree of similarity between the query and the information represented by the ancestors of the node, even if there is no match at all between the current node and the query. Accordingly, it is necessary to test whether the current node contains at least some information responsive to the query.
In one embodiment, the query is formatted into a query data structure having query constituents that are similar in format to the node constituents of the text data structure. That is, each query constituent represents a word or phrase contained in the query. The query data structure is compared to a node in the tree to produce a match vector having a number of match elements, the match vector being representative of the degree of similarity between the query data structure and the node. Each match element corresponds in position to one of the query constituents and to one of the elements of a parent vector, the parent vector having been initialized to zero.
The resulting match vector is merged with the parent vector by comparing each parent vector element to each corresponding match element to produce a merge vector having a number of merge elements, each merge element corresponding in position to a parent element, and by setting each merge element to be equal to the greater of the corresponding parent element and the corresponding match element.
A contribution flag is set to true if any of the match elements is greater than zero and, at the same time, greater than or equal to the parent element corresponding to that match element. If the contribution flag has been set to true, then: (1) the merge elements are averaged to produce a merge vector average; and (2) if the merge vector average equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold value, then the location identifiers associated with the node are stored for display. Note that the terms "enhanced comparison value" and "lower bound" were used above when referring to the invention in its broadest sense. In this particular embodiment, the merge vector average serves as the enhanced companion value and the threshold value as the lower bound.
Whether the contribution flag has been set to true or not, the invention repeats the process of producing the match vector, merging the match vector with the parent vector, determining whether to set the contribution flag, and, if the contribution flag is set to true, averaging the merge elements and storing the relevant location identifiers, wherein all of these steps are performed at each node after substituting for the parent vector the merge vector that resulted from performing the merging step on the parent node of the node under examination. After these steps have been performed at each node in the data structure, then the stored location identifiers are displayed on the video monitor.
The foregoing summary demonstrates that through the merging process, the invention takes advantage of the contextual propagation of comparison properties to a node from its ancestors in the tree structure. Instead of just comparing the match value to the threshold, the invention compares a new value representative of the degree of similarity not only of the present node to the query, but also of the degree of similarity between the ancestors of the present node and the query. Thus, a node which might otherwise not pass the threshold would be counted as containing relevant information because it has inherited comparison traits from its ancestors.

Method and apparatus for semantic pattern matching for text retrieval


A system and method of selective row energization based on write data, with a selective row energization system including a storage array 102 having M rows 104 and N columns 106; an N-bit data word register 108; a uniform-detect circuit 110 responsive to a data word to generate a uniform word data bit having a first value when the data word is uniform; an M-bit uniform-detect register 112 having M uniform-detect latches 114, each being associated with one of the M rows 104 and storing the uniform word data bit for the data word stored in the associated M row 104; and an M-bit row driver device 116 responsive to the uniform word data bit for each of the M rows 104 to inhibit energization of the M rows 104 for which the uniform word data bit is the first value.

Storage arrays typically require a number of operations to read from or write to the array. One example of a storage array employs static random access memory (SRAM), which uses a group of transistors to store data. The SRAM array includes bitlines connected from column drivers to the array columns and wordlines connected from row drivers to the array rows. Each bitline can include a number of individual lines, such as true and complement lines, as required for the particular transistor configuration. In operation, the SRAM array alternates between a precharge phase and an evaluate phase. The precharge phase prepares the array for the next read or write operation by driving bitlines to a precharge value, such as high. The evaluate phase can be a read or a write operation. The evaluate phase reads or writes data values, such as "ones" or "zeroes," to storage cells in the array. The read and write operations also require a number of steps. A read operation drives the bitline to a precharge value, such as high, energizes a wordline so that the data value stored in the storage cell is readable on the bitline, and senses the stored data value on the bitline as a "zero" or a "one." A write operation drives the bitline to the data value to be stored, and then energizes the wordline to store the data in the storage cell.
The present approach presents a two-fold problem regarding energy use. First, one line of the bitline is charged unnecessarily when the precharge value would be read as the stored data value. In a read operation, both the true and complement lines are precharged to high. Either the true line or complement line discharges to low when the wordline is energized so the stored data value can be sensed. This wastes energy in unnecessarily recharging the true line or complement line after it is discharged to low when the precharge value would be read as the stored data value.
Second, the wordline is charged unnecessarily when the precharge value would be read or written as the stored data value. In a read operation, the wordline is energized to discharge the true line or complement line to low. This wastes energy when the precharge value would be read as the stored data value. For example, if the precharge value would be read as a "one" and a "one" is stored in the storage cell to be read, there is no need to energize the wordline when reading the storage cell. In a write operation, the true and complement lines are set to the values appropriate for the data value to be stored (high-low or low-high), so energy is wasted by energizing the wordline when the stored data value is the same as the value to be stored.
This two-fold problem is particularly apparent for uniform data words, i.e., data words in which the bits forming the data word are all "ones" or all "zeroes." The power usage is often substantial because of the high capacitance of the bitlines and the number of bitlines. Wasting energy limits the operating time of portable devices powered by batteries. In addition, the high information density of new storage arrays causes problems in dissipating heat from the components, resulting in operational problems and reduced component reliability.
It would be desirable to have a system and method of selective row energization based on write data that would overcome the above disadvantages.

System and method of selective row energization based on write data

Internatioanl Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is concerned with the resolution of a mixture of enantiomers of N-protected amino acids by crystallization with enantiomerically pure N-unprotected β-amino acid derivatives.

Enantiomerically enriched amino acids, especially α-amino acids, are useful in the synthesis of enantiomerically pure bio-active compounds, as intermediates for pharmaceuticals and for inclusion in infusion liquors for parenteral nutrition. Large quantities of these amino acids, especially L-lysine, are also produced for feed additive compositions.
The resolution of mixtures of enantiomers of amino acids, e.g., racemates, via classical crystallisation techniques is a common method for the generation of enantiomerically enriched amino acids. Although there have been great efforts to create new methodologies which allow the synthesis of amino acids in pure form e.g. using biotechnology, the classical pathway is still of value for special amino acids which are not, or only poorly, generated by biotechnological methods (Izumi et al., Angew. Chem. 90:187 (1978); Hoppe, et al., Chemie in unserer Zeit 18:73 (1984)).

Process for the preparation of enantiomerically enriched amino acids


Disclosed herein are devices comprising at least one flexible seal, at least one flexible complex seal having at least one closed cavity containing a fluid, or a combination thereof. The devices may comprise at least one immobile and inflexible substrate and at least one mobile and inflexible substrate capable of movement due to the flexible seal, the flexible complex seal, or both. The flexible complex seals comprise at least one closed cavity comprising a fluid, such as a gas or a liquid. As disclosed, the presence or absence of heat will cause the mobile and inflexible substrate to move. The movement will increase or decrease the fluid amount or fluid flow rate in the primary fluid layer. Also disclosed are methods for enhancing the insulating properties of insulating assemblies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to thin film channels, microfluidic devices, biosensors, electronic cooling, control of fuel flow prior combustion and insulating assemblies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thin films are used in a variety of devices, including electrical, electronic, chemical, and biological devices, for modulating or controlling flow and heat characteristics in the devices. See e.g. Vafai & Wang (1992) Internat'l J. of Heat and Mass Transfer 35:2087-2099, Vafai et al. (1995) ASME J. of Heat Transfer 117:209-218, Zhu & Vafai (1997) Internat'l J. of Heat and Mass Transfer 40:2887-2900, and Moon et al. (2000) Internat'l J. of Microcircuits and Electronic Packaging 23:488-493 for flat heat pipes; Fedorov & Viskanta (2000) Internat'l J. of Heat and Mass Transfer 43:399-415, Lee and Vafai (1999) Internat'l J. of Heat and Mass Transfer 42:1555-1568, and Vafai & Zhu (1999) Internat'l J. of Heat and Mass Transfer 42;2287-2297 for microchannel heat sinks; Lavrik et al. (2001) Biomedical Microdevices 3(1):35-44, and Xuan & Roetzel (2000) Internat'l J. of Heat and Mass Transfer 43:3701-3707 for biosensors and nanodevices.
For many of these applications, modulation and control of the flow and heat characteristics in the devices is desired. Unfortunately, the prior art methods for modulating and controlling the flow and heat are difficult or problematic. For example, a two phase flow in a microchannel is capable of removing maximum heat fluxes generated by electronic packages, but instability occurs near certain operating conditions. See Bowers & Mudwar (1994) ASME J. of Electronic Packaging 116:290-305. Further, the use of porous medium for cooling electronic devices enhances heat transfer via the increase in the effective surface area, but the porous medium results in a substantial increase in the pressure drop inside the thin film. See Huang & Vafai (1993) Internat'l J. of Heat and Mass Transfer 36:4019-4032, Huang & Vafai (1994) AIAA J. of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer 8:563-573, Huang & Vafai (1994) Internat'l J. of Heat and Fluid Flow 15:48-61, and Hadin (1994) ASME J. of Heat Transfer 116:465-472.
Therefore, a need still exists for methods of modulating or controlling heat and flow characteristics in thin films.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

Methods and devices comprising flexible seals for modulating or controlling flow and heat


The invention relates to a pumping system for applying a sufficient pressure increase to multiphase effluents for them to be conveyed from a source such as an petroleum producing well to a remote destination point. To improve pump function and render management of effluent transfers more flexible, the system has a loop (7) for recycling a fraction of the multiphase effluents leaving pump (1) to the inlet thereof, comprising preferably a tap (5) such as a T formed to decrease the volumetric ratio GLR of the recycled effluents. A regulator such as a control valve (8) and a buffer tank and an element (9) such as an ejector-mixer are interposed in the loop to use part of the energy of the effluents tapped off. The invention has application for offshore pumping facilities.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multiphase pumping system with a recycling loop.
The pumping system according to the invention is suitable for carrying, via pipes, a fluid comprised of at least one liquid phase and at least one gaseous phase, whose gas phase to liquid phase volumetric ratio (generally designated GLR) can vary widely.
Such a pumping system has applications particularly in the field of oil production for transporting, to a given destination point, petroleum effluents from an underground deposit, and particularly for working offshore deposits.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Existing multiphase pumping systems have a multiphase pump such as for example that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,296 filed by the Assignee capable of applying a high pressure to a multiphase fluid provided the GLR volume ratio does not exceed a certain maximum value. When the GLR of the fluid to be transported exceeds this maximum value, as occurs in oil production when the fluid produced by a producing well has air pockets or plugs, a regulator is associated with the pump. These regulators are designed to limit the possible range of variation of the GLR to make it compatible with that accepted by the pump.
A known regulator, as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,202 has for example a buffer tank receiving fluids produced by the deposit and having one or more perforated sampling tubes capable of automatically adjusting the phase ratio admitted at the pump inlet.
Such an arrangement gives satisfactory results but has the drawback of being bulky and relatively expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,069 teaches a pumping system with a regulating loop. The pump outlet is connected to a phase separation device designed to extract multiphase fluid having a fraction composed almost completely of liquid. This liquid fraction is recycled by a branch line to the pump inlet where it reduces the value of the GLR ratio when it becomes excessive.

Multiphase pumping system with feedback loop