A fluid management system adapted to automatically supply fluid for injection into a patient is disclosed. The fluid management system includes a fluid management device, a fluid transfer system and a fluid injector. The fluid management device serves to store and administrate multi-dose containers. The fluid transfer system connects an outlet of these containers to the injector which withdraws a fluid from the containers via the fluid transfer system and injects the fluid to an administration device at the patient. The fluid management device includes at least one rotating carousel having a vertical axis of rotation, at least two container holders attached to the rotating carousel and adapted to position the container vertically with a septum covered end facing downwards, and a spike holder mounted below the rotating carousel and oriented so the spike holder axially aligns a spike connected to the spike holder with the axis of the container.

In many medical environments, a medical fluid is injected into a patient during diagnosis or treatment. One example is the injection of contrast media into a patient to improve imaging by a diagnostic imaging procedure such as computed tomography (CT), angiographic, magnetic resonance (MR) or ultrasound imaging using a powered fluid injection system.
Various manual and automated injection systems used for performing the above-referenced procedures are known in the art. In the system as disclosed in WO 2004/091688 A2 or WO 2007/033103 A1 the containers from which the fluid for injection is withdrawn have to be prepared for use manually, i.e. manually spiked and manually mounted in withdrawal position after spiking.
A typical procedure how contrast media is prepared, handled, and administered from a multi dose container is described in the following:
The multi dose containers with contrast media are pre-warmed before use via a heater normally positioned near to the diagnostic imaging instrument. Temperature of the heater is set to 37 degrees Celsius the regular body temperature. A container with contrast media is then removed from the heater by a technician. The plastic safety cap is removed from the end of the multi dose containers to expose the rubber seal. A vented spike is connected to the contrast media injector and then manually driven into the rubber seal on the multi dose container by the technician in order to feed the injector line. Due to contamination reasons the spike has to be replaced approximately every 6-8 hours. The multi dose container is then placed in a container holder suspended from an IV pole in a vertical orientation with the container neck end facing downwards. The previously described steps are then repeated for one container of saline. The technician then draws the required contrast media and saline from the multi dose containers into the injector reservoirs via the injector user interface. Protective packaging from a new patient connection tube with cannula connection is removed. A cap used to plug the connector of the injector patient supply line is manually removed. The patient connection tube and patient supply line are connected via cannula connection. Air is then expelled from the tubes by the technician manually activating the injector which then pumps both saline and contrast media into a bin. The technician examines the tubes by eye to ascertain when the lines are purged and subsequently ceases the injector pump. The packaging from a new cannula connector is then removed and the connector attached to the end of the patient tube.
The manual procedure described above is costly and not very efficient, such that it is an object of the present disclosure to achieve a higher degree of automation. The multiple drug injection apparatus disclosed in WO 2008/076631 A2 shows a somewhat higher degree of automation.
However a mere automation poses additional problems. With a multi-dose-container it is always an issue that the container is used beyond the recommended in-use time or that the containers, which had been de-spiked before, are re-used.
Therefore it is desirable to have a fluid management system that is safe and efficacious to use. In particular, it is desirable to have a system accurately and precisely control the fluid containers and the withdrawal of fluid. It is also essential that the fluid supply remains contamination-free during the whole in-use time of a container.
In addition, it is desirable to have a fluid management system that is capable of using a variety of fluids, such as contrast media, saline, flushing fluids and of container sizes.

Fluid management device having rotating carousel with container holders for vertically positioning a container during automated spiking and injection into patient


The surgical reamer has a hollow dome with apertures spaced apart arranged in arcs extending from an apex of the dome to the base portion of the dome, and removable teeth positioned in the apertures. Each cutting tooth has a flange that is aligned flush with the external surface of the dome, and a raised cutting edge extending above the flange and the external surface of the dome, and an interior passageway communicating between the outside and inside of the dome. In one embodiment, a base plate is removably secured on the base portion of the dome to provide closure of the central cavity of the dome.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to surgical devices, and more particularly concerns a rotatable surgical cutting tool for shaping a joint socket in preparation for receiving a joint prosthetic device.
2. Description of Related Art
It is now common practice in the treatment of severe cases of arthritic and other forms of degenerative joint diseases, especially the hip, to shape the hip joint socket by removing diseased and eroded bone and cartilage to conform with the shape of a prosthetic device to be implanted. Prior to installing a hip joint prosthesis, for example, articular cartilage and bone is commonly removed from the socket to reshape the acetabulum to accurately match the dimensions of the prosthetic device to be implanted. In the past, the tissue and debris removed from the hip socket was discarded; however, more recently, it has become important to capture the debris for preservation and use later in the procedure.
It is generally desirable for milling devices and reamers used in preparing a joint socket for a prosthesis to have cutting edges that can cut through a wide variety of tissue, such as joint cartilage and bone tissue, ranging in density from the soft or porous tissue to the denser bone. The surgical tools with hollow cutting heads are more widely used than other more open designs, because hollow head devices allow tissue and other debris to be captured within the cutting head.
Two distinct types of hollow dome cutting tools are currently available that capture the debris. One type employs a slotted dome with adjacent blades that are shaped to generate a socket, when rotated, conforming to the shape and dimensions of the prosthesis to be implanted. The debris cut by the blades falls through slots in the dome.
In another type of surgical milling tool, commonly called a "grater" reamer, the milling cutters are formed on the body by upsetting the body around openings in the body, and sharpening selected edges ofthe upset portions of the body. The surgical milling tool has a body with a hemispherically-shaped outer surface, an internal cavity, and milling cutters formed out of the perforations in the body at spaced-apart locations on the outer surface. The tool can be rotated in ajoint socket to mill the tissues of the joint socket, such as for preparation of the joint socket for a prosthesis. The perforations in the body communicate with the internal cavity which receives the debris. The milling cutters of the milling tool are formed as cup-shaped projections extending above the perforations that face in a direction of rotation, and are arranged in a series of arcs extending circumferentially around the body. The outer wall of the milling tool forming the cup-shaped cutting edge projections is relatively thin, resulting in reduced cutting accuracy. The milling tool and cutting edge projections are formed of sheet steel, which can become dull relatively rapidly during use. Typically, if the cutting surfaces are formed integrally with the shell, such as with raised cutting edges formed directly in the shell, the manufacturing of the devices becomes very costly. In addition, once the projections forming the cutting edges of the milling tool are dull, the entire milling tool is typically discarded.
It would be desirable to provide a reaming tool fabricated from heat treated machined metal components to provide greater cutting accuracy, and at lower manufacturing costs than conventional surgical cutters. In this regard it would be desirable to form the cutters of a hardened cutting material to provide superior cutting edges. In addition, it would be desirable to provide a reaming tool with replaceable cutting edges, so that once the cutting edges become dull, they can be removed, resharpened, and replaced, for improved economy of use and maintenance. The present invention meets these needs.


A reel type mower having a mobile structure and a ground engaging traction member rotatably coupled to the mobile structure. The ground engaging traction member imparts traction movement to the mobile structure for movement on the ground at a ground speed. A power device is supported on the mobile structure and outputs a driving force to the ground engaging traction member. A bed knife is supported by the mobile structure having a cutting edge that cooperates with a grass cutting reel rotatably supported on the mobile structure. A collection apparatus is engagable with the mobile structure or removable from the mobile structure for collecting the grass clippings. A guard device is pivotally coupled to the mobile structure and is positionable in a closed position concealing the grass cutting reel and an opened position revealing the grass cutting reel. An actuation system drives the guard device into the closed position when the collection apparatus is removed from the mobile structure and drives the guard device into the opened position when the collection apparatus is engaged with the mobile structure.

Reel type mowers are well known in the art and provide many distinct cutting advantages over conventional rotary type mowers. In particular, the mechanical cooperation between the spinning reel blade assembly and the fixed blade serves to promote a desirable cut. The spinning reel blade assembly generally includes a plurality of blade members fixedly mounted on a horizontal axis for rotation therewith.
In operation, the grass, or other vegetation, is drawn between one of the plurality of blade members and the fixed blade to produce a cutting action. The cut grass is then discharged to the ground surface for decomposition (i.e. mulching mode) or to a catch basket for disposal (i.e. bagging mode). Traditionally, reel type mowers are configurable to operate in both mulching mode or bagging mode.
Although many reel type mowers have proven themselves safe and reliable over many years of service, recently there has been a renewed interest to provide additional safety features to ensure their continued safe operation. In the context of the aforementioned reel type mower, when operating in the bagging mode, operators empty the bagging component numerous times during mowing. During this emptying procedure, the engine may continue to run and, additionally, in some cases the plurality of blade members may continue to turn. Although the operator's hands are not typically near the plurality of blade members, it is desired to have additional protection to prevent operator error and accident.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the relevant art to provide a safety guard to prevent operator error from leading to an accident or injury when using a reel type mower. Furthermore, there exists a need in the relevant art to provide a safety guard for a reel type mower that may be easily configurable for use in a bagging mode and a mulching mode. Still further, there exists a need to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.


A gate wire including a gate line, a gate pad and a gate electrode is formed on a substrate. A gate insulating layer, a semiconductor layer, a doped amorphous silicon layer and a conductive layer are deposited in sequence, and then a photoresist film pattern is formed thereon. The photoresist film pattern includes a first portion positioned between a source electrode and a drain electrode, a second portion thicker than the first portion, and the third portion with no photoresist. A data wire including a data line, a data pad, a source electrode, a drain electrode and a conductor pattern for storage capacitor, an ohmic contact layer pattern and a semiconductor pattern are formed by etching the conductive layer, the doped amorphous silicon layer and the semiconductor layer using the photoresist film pattern. A plurality of color filters of red, green and blue having apertures exposing part of the drain electrode are formed thereon. A passivation layer made of acryl-based organic material having excellent planarization characteristic is formed thereon. A pixel electrode, an auxiliary gate pad and an auxiliary data pad connected to the drain electrode, the gate pad and the data pad via contact holes, respectively, are formed on the passivation layer. The contact hole exposing the drain electrode is located within the aperture.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor array panel for a display and a manufacturing method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display ("LCD") is one of the most widely used flat panel displays. The LCD, which includes two panels with respective electrodes and a liquid crystal layer with dielectric anisotropy disposed therebetween, displays desired images by applying an electric field to the liquid crystal layer to control the amount of light passing through the panels.
The most frequently used type of LCD are those having a plurality of electrodes formed on two panels and a plurality of thin film transistors ("TFTs") for switching voltages applied to the electrodes. One of the two panels has a plurality of signal lines, such as gate lines and data lines, a plurality of pixel electrodes and the TFTs controlling image signals transmitted to the pixel electrodes. The other panel has a common electrode opposite to the pixel electrodes and an array of color filters of red R, green G and blue B.
The respective panels are normally manufactured by a photo etching process using masks. The panel with the TFTs is generally manufactured by using five or six masks and the other panel with the color filters is manufactured by using three or four masks.
In this manufacturing method of the LCD, it is preferable to decrease the number of masks so as to reduce production cost, and to simplify a manufacturing process.
In addition, it is a main task to secure high aperture ratio of the panels so as to increase the brightness of the LCD. For this, a method, which forms the color filters on the same panel together with the TFTs to minimize a process margin between the two panels for increasing the aperture ratio, has been provided, and an organic insulating layer having excellent planarization characteristics is formed on the color filters so as to improve the profile of other layers formed thereafter.
However, in this manufacturing method of the LCD, contact holes for connecting drain electrodes of the TFTs to the pixel electrodes are formed in the color filters and the organic insulating layer. Since the color filters and the organic insulating layer are all organic layers and are too thick, it is hard to obtain good profiles of contact holes during an etching process. An addition photo etching process may solve the problem, but this causes complexity.

Thin film transistor array panel for display and manufacturing method thereof


A building panel includes a polymeric block, one or more framing studs and one or more framing studs at least partially embedded in or to the polymeric block. The block includes a panel interior surface and a panel exterior surface. The panel interior surface of the polymeric block is offset from at least one of the one or more framing studs. The panel interior surface of the polymeric block includes one or more slots that can receive framing studs.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods of constructing buildings. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods of using modular building panels with framed insulating blocks.
2. Description of the Related Art
For many years, a common manner of constructing residential structures involved constructing a wood frame. One of the problems with a wood framed house is that such a house may be relatively expensive to heat in the winter and hard to cool in the summer. As the cost of energy has continued to rise, this has been a continuing concern for the homeowners and, hence, a concern for home builders.
Foam may be used for insulation purposes in residential buildings. Sometimes expanded foam is sprayed inside the walls or under the roofs of residential buildings to provide additional insulation. In recent years, insulating concrete forms (referred to as "ICF") has been used in residential structures. Many different types of methods have evolved for building ICF residential buildings.
A problem with some foam systems is that much labor is required in the shaping, cutting or modifying the foam blocks for the particular structure. A second problem is that after cutting, shaping or modifying the foam structure, the foam structure loses much of its insulating value. Third, the insulating foam may not have good structural integrity, so concrete must be used to give the strength necessary for the structure.
Some insulating modular panels have been used for building. In some cases, the panels must be held in place by braces or other temporary structural members during the construction process. Supplying and implementing such temporary bracing systems adds labor and cost to the construction process.
Custom passages, notches or other features may be added to a foam panel when it is to be installed, for example, to run electrical cables or plumbing. In many cases, making such features may require cutting into structural members associated with the panel. For example, to make passage for a conduit in an insulating panel, it may be necessary to cut a hole or notch in a metal rail supporting the panel. Such cutting adds time and complexity to the planning and construction of the building.


A method of etching capable of rapidly and flatly performing wet etching on a Si substrate using fluonitric acid represented by HF(a)HNO3(b)H2O(c) (where the unit of a, b and c is wt % and a+b+c=100). The etching rate of an SiO2 layer with the highly concentrated fluonitric acid is significantly lowered by the appropriate selection of its composition as compared with the etching rate of the Si substrate, and etch the Si substrate until the SiO2 layer is exposed. In this way, it is possible to rapidly etch the Si substrate and significantly enhance the flatness of the etched surface.

A semiconductor device using an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) substrate is advantageous over a semiconductor device using a Si substrate in an operation speed and energy saving, and, even in the field of a photoelectric conversion device such as an image sensor, it is proposed to utilize the SOI substrate. Here, the "SOI substrate" refers to a substrate in which an SiO2 layer is inserted between a Si substrate and a surface Si layer. The "surface Si layer" may contain an impurity.
An image sensor such as a CCD image sensor or a CMOS image sensor is a sensor in which photoelectric conversion elements such as photodiodes are arranged in a matrix, and each photoelectric conversion element functions as a pixel. In recent years, the opportunity of performing shooting and observing an object with high definition and high resolution has been increasing, and a high-density image sensor in which photoelectric conversion elements are arranged in high density has been increasingly proposed and developed.
As the photoelectric conversion elements are more densely arranged, the area of a light receiving surface of each photoelectric conversion element is inevitably reduced. Since as the area of the light receiving surface is reduced, the amount of light per unit time is reduced, it is necessary to increase the light sensitivity of each photoelectric conversion element. However, there is a limitation in it.
Furthermore, a major cause of the area of the light receiving surface becoming smaller beyond necessity as density increases is the area occupied by wiring for feeding signals to the individual photoelectric conversion elements and the drive elements thereof and for applying a predetermined voltage to a predetermined portion of the image sensor. In general, for ease of manufacturing, in order for the resistance of the wiring to be kept low, the width of the wiring is designed to be maximized. Hence, the ratio of the area occupied by the wiring on the surface of the image sensor is increased as the photoelectric conversion elements are more densely arranged. In order to avoid it, it is proposed not to reduce the resistance by increasing the width of the wiring but to reduce the resistance by increasing the thickness of the wiring, and it becomes commercially practical; however, this increases the number of manufacturing steps to cause cost increase.
As an example of a photoelectric conversion module on an SOI substrate, there is a photoelectric conversion module in which a second substrate where a photoelectric conversion portion having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements on the surface Si layer of the SOI substrate is provided and a drive circuit is provided is adhered to the SOI substrate such that the drive circuit and the photoelectric conversion portion face each other. In recent years, as an idea of achieving both high light sensitivity and high density on the photoelectric conversion module described above, a large number of so-called backside illumination type image sensors in which, from the opposite side of an entrance direction to the photoelectric conversion element of a general image sensor, that is, from the backside of the Si substrate, light is transmitted through an SiO2 layer to enter the photoelectric conversion element are proposed, and part of them become commercially practical.
Although backside illumination is adopted because it is possible to reduce the influence of wiring, since light is made to enter the photoelectric conversion element through the Si substrate, it is necessary to provide an idea that light of any color (wavelength) is made to efficiently enter the light receiving surface of the corresponding photoelectric conversion element. One proposal is to remove the Si substrate from the backside by CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) or wet etching, to reduce the thickness of the Si substrate as much as possible and to suppress the absorption of light by the Si substrate.
Since the Si substrate is relatively thick, it is ground to a predetermined thickness by CMP, and thereafter wet etching is performed to remove a so-called damage layer caused by CMP. Hence, a large amount of time is taken to limit the efficiency of production, and thus it becomes a cause of cost increase.
Non Patent Literature 1 discloses a Si wafer wet etching technology using highly concentrated fluonitric acid. Although fluonitric acid is strongly acid to limit the materials of a container for transportation or storage, a container at the time of use, a pipe and the like, and is currently used with its acid concentration reduced to some degree, among fluonitric acids disclosed in Non Patent Literature 1, there is a fluonitric acid that has a high etching rate of 800 μm/min for a Si wafer. When such a fluonitric acid is used, there is a possibility that the thickness of the backside can be rapidly reduced to a predetermined thickness without mechanical polishing. Then, a backside illumination type image sensor is manufactured by the wet etching technology described above, and thus it is possible to expect significant increase in production efficiency.

Method of etching backside Si substrate of SOI substrate to expose SiO


A programmable display controller allows reconfiguration of bit plane memory and video output connections based upon the type of display device employed. The display controller allows for the definition of multiple bit planes when the display device supports color or multiple gray shades. Simultaneous storage of images to all defined planes is accomplished through the use of multi-store logic. Multi-store logic transforms a data stream defining foreground and background portions of an image within a given display area into a form that can be simultaneously written to the bit planes as required to create the necessary output. Under processor control, a video palette may be loaded to ensure that display output signals are routed to the correct connector pins. The routing of particular signals to particular pins is reconfigured through the selection and loading of the applicable video palette. Video connector leads are connected to the palette generated data signals or to electrical ground by means of reconfigurable jumpers. The number of bit planes and display pages can be readily modified with a multi-mode controller translating the selected mode into the required bit plane memory control signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information handling systems, and more particularly, to the computer memory organization and memory output in graphics display devices.
2. Background Art
Graphics display systems typically receive information for presentation on a video display device in the form of encoded data. The information is stored in a bit plane memory which is organized in a manner that allows it to be scanned by the display controller and converted into control signals to create a final display image. The bit plane memory of a particular display controller is usually organized in a manner that supports the type of video display device for which the controller was designed. For example, the display controller may provide high, medium, or low resolution and support one or more "pages" of data for the display. Accordingly, bit plane data transmitted to the display controller from, for example, an application program, would be stored in the bit plane memory in the format necessary to generate signals for the particular video display.
FIG. 1 depicts a conventional display controller. The application program (running in processor 105) provides a bit plane address 102 indicative of position on the video display for which data is being transmitted. Bit plane data 104 is transmitted from the processor and contains encoded values representing the content of the display. The display controller causes the bit plane data 104 to be stored in bit plane memory 106 at the address specified by bit plane address 102. The display controller causes bit plane memory 106 to be periodically scanned, with the data being converted into serial signals for controlling the video display device by video shift registers 108. Finally, the signals are transmitted to the video display through video connector 110.
A display controller constructed according to conventional techniques is limited to use with the display devices for which it was designed. The introduction of a new, improved video display with, for example, a video connector with different pin assignments, or a different screen display size, is useless with the existing display controller.
A second problem is the need to store data into multiple planes. The display screen is generated as a plurality of scan rows each comprised of a plurality of individual picture elements referred to as pixels or pels. An image is created by having each pel be either on or off. Each pel can therefore be encoded as a single binary unit, or bit, that is either on (1) or off (0). The representation of colors or multiple shades of gray requires an encoding scheme with more than one bit per pel. The use of three bits allows the encoding of 2.sup.3 or 8 colors or shades of gray, for example. Each additional bit creates an additional "plane" of the encoded image. In the example three bit planes are used to store the encoded image.
A character may be generated based on a stored image of the character. The character image, e.g. A, is displayed in a selected foreground color and the background of the character box in a selected background color. In a monochrome, or single bit per pixel memory, the character box and image is simply copied into the bit plane with the image "on" (1) and the background "off" (0).
The use of a display device which allows colors or multiple shades of gray and thus has multiple bit planes, requires a cumbersome analysis to determine the image to be written to each bit plane. In the prior art systems each plane is then written sequentially.
The present invention is directed towards providing a programmable display controller that allows for the creation of multi-format bit planes which in turn may be transmitted to a variety of video displays through a programmable video connector. The present invention is further directed toward providing a display controller that can simultaneously store data in multiple planes of bit plane memory 106.

Programmable multi-format display controller

International Business Machines Corporation


A modality of electrical twitch obtaining intramuscular stimulation pain relief therapy utilizes a surface probe with a conductive tip to apply surface electrical stimulation of relatively high voltage locally and focally to muscle motor points and regions of adjacent motor end plate zones. The surface-applied electrical stimulation through intact skin readily facilitates the elicitation of forceful twitch responses from muscle fibers associated with the stimulated motor points and motor end plate zones, without requiring needle penetration into the patient's flesh. Rapid movement between multiple treatment sites is possible allowing treatment of a larger number of muscle motor point areas in afflicted muscles and more muscles to be treated in a single treatment session. The therapeutic effect of the twitches increases with the force and number of the twitches. In addition, since physical insertion of the needle electrode is totally unnecessary, patients experience little to no pain during and after the procedure, and the risk of repetitive stress injury to the therapist is reduced. Additionally, significantly less skill is required to effectively elicit pain relieving twitch responses, thus facilitating training of medical and para-medical personnel to perform the procedure.

Conventional pain management is directed toward treating the symptom and not the cause of pain. Conventional methods of treating pain include, as broad categories: (1) oral non-narcotic and/or narcotic medications, (2) physical therapy, (3) chiropractic manipulation, (4) epidural injections or nerve-root blocks, (5) radio-frequency denervation, (6) disc coblation, (7) Intradiscal Electrothermal Annuloplasty and last but not least (8) micro or conventional open spinal surgery. Most of these techniques can be used only for a limited number of times and are not helpful in the long-term management of chronic myofascial pain. The management of chronic pain due to repetitive strain injuries is a $120 billion dollar business in the United States, by 1994 estimates of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Low back pain alone is a leading cause for physician visits, second only to the common cold. Neurophysiologically and anatomically based pain management methods that do not use drugs are an effective alternative to conventional care.
It is well established that electrical stimulation may be used to augment needle based pain relief treatments, including acupuncture, IMS therapy, percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (PENS), transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), and use of interferential current. Surface electrical stimulation termed functional electrical stimulation (FES) is also available for stimulating muscles paralysed due to a stroke or spinal cord injury. Electrical muscle stimulators (EMS devices) and neuromuscular electrical stimulators (NMES) are also readily available commercially.
In electro-acupuncture, stainless steel acupuncture pins serving as electrode pairs are supplied with constant or pulsed direct current. The pins are placed into traditional acupuncture points along traditional imaginary meridians. Electrical stimulus parameters are similar as in percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (PENS) as described below.
The basic PENS therapy consisted of the placement of ten 32-gauge stainless steel acupuncture-like needle probes into the soft tissue and/or muscle to a 2- to 4-cm depth according to the dermatomal distribution of the pain. The needle probes connect to five bipolar leads (with each lead connected to one positive and one negative probe) from a low-output (<25 mA) electrical generator, which produced a unipolar square-wave pattern of electrical stimulation at a frequency of 4 Hz with a pulse width of 0.5 milliseconds. The intensity of the electrical stimulation is adjusted to produce the maximum tolerable "tapping" sensation without muscle contractions. (reference #2. Ghoname E A. Craig W F. White P F. Ahmed H E. Hamza M A. Henderson B N. Gajraj N M. Huber P J. Gatchel R J. Percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for low back pain: a randomized crossover study. JAMA. 281(9):818-23, 1999 Mar. 3).
Basic PENS therapy may also consist of the placement of ten 32-gauge (0.2-mm) stainless steel acupuncture-like needle probes (ITO, Tokyo, Japan) into the soft tissue or muscle in the low back region to a depth of 2-4 cm according to the dermatomal distribution of the pain. The needle probes connect to five bipolar leads (with each lead connected to one positive and one negative probe) from a low-output electrical generator, calibrated before each series of treatments. The electrical current is DC, and the duty cycle is continuous. These probes are stimulated at 4/30 Hz for 20 min. The intensity of the electrical stimulation is adjusted to produce the most intense tolerable electrical sensation without muscle contractions. (Yokoyama M. Sun X. Oku S. Taga N. Sato K. Mizobuchi S. Takahashi T. Morita K. Comparison of percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for long-term pain relief in patients with chronic low back pain. Anesthesia & Analgesia. 98(6):1552-6, 2004 June.
Surface applied electrical stimulation known as Interferential therapy (IT) is claimed to work by stimulating muscle fibers. This is presumed to improve the circulation, thus bringing about faster healing of the muscles. IT is stated to speed the healing process by delivering small pulses of electrical current to an injury through electrodes that pass current through the skin and stimulate underlying nerves producing a mild, tingling sensation to provide relief from chronic and acute pain. IF is used for very localized areas where deep current for pain control or increased circulation is needed. Traditional IT uses the principle of mixing a 4 kHz and a 4.001-4.005 kHz frequency to generate the single desired frequency of 1-1000 Hz. The therapeutic frequency moves up and down between 30-60 Hz. to 80-100 Hz [bi-pole; carrier frequency: 4 kHz; pulse duration: 125 microseconds]. (Minder P M. Noble J G. Alves-Guerreiro J. Hill I D. Lowe A S. Walsh D M. Baxter G D. Interferential therapy: lack of effect upon experimentally induced delayed onset muscle soreness. Clinical Physiology & Functional Imaging. 22(5):339-47, 2002 September; Werners R., Pynsent P B., Bulstrode C J: Randomized trial comparing interferential therapy with motorized lumbar traction and massage in the management of low back pain in a primary care setting. Spine. 24(15):1579-84, 1999 Aug. 1.
IT employs a stimulator used for muscle contraction. However as in TENS, with IT stimulation, the muscle will also contract weakly and non-specifically, rather as a muscle pumping motion, in response to the electrical stimulus given at high frequency. These are not the true active muscle contraction via a specific motor end-plate zone activation that cause the muscle to suddenly "jump," as is sought and obtainable with ATOIMS and ETOIMS (as well as the present inventive SA-ETOIMS technique). This pumping type of contraction continues until the IT unit is turned off after 20 minutes or longer according to the patient's tolerance.
Functional electrical stimulation (FES), also a surface applied method of electrical stimulation therapy, is delivered via the Compex Motion electric stimulator for stimulation of paralysed muscles due to a stroke or spinal cord injuries. The Compex Motion stimulator was designed to serve as a hardware platform for development of diverse FES systems that apply transcutaneous (surface) stimulation technology. It is a microcontroller-based system with four stimulation channels, two input channels A and B, and a special purpose port C. The stimulation channels are current regulated and have 3 μs rise time for pulses with 125 mA amplitudes (pulse amplitude range 0-125 mA, resolution 1 mA; pulse width range 0-16 ms, resolution 500 η-long pulse widths such as 16 ms may be used to stimulate denervated muscles; and stimulation frequency 1-100 Hz, resolution 1 Hz). The input channels A and B can be configured as analog or digital input channels (maximum sampling frequency 8 kHz, voltage range 0-5 V and resolution 20 mV). The special purpose port C is used to interconnect the stimulators, to serially communicate with a PC, and to trigger the stimulator using a push button. By interconnecting stimulators via port C, one can expand the number of stimulation channels from four to multiples of four channels. In such a configuration, one stimulator is designated as a master stimulator while all other stimulators are designated as slaves. The master stimulator paces the stimulation of all connected stimulators and ensures that all stimulators are synchronized and maintain the same "bus frequency" during the entire stimulation protocol. The Compex Motion has a dot matrix LED display that provides a visual interface between the user and the stimulator. (Popovic MR. Keller T. Modular transcutaneous functional electrical stimulation system. Medical Engineering & Physics. 27(1):81-92, 2005 January.)
FES surface electrical stimulation is primarily used for denervated or paralysed muscles because of loss of nerve control as from a stroke or spinal cord injury. The entire muscle contracts when stimulation occurs simultaneously at multiple motor points causing movement of a joint for functional purposes. Muscle groups can be stimulated in overlapping fashion to produce a pumping action. The stimulus frequency is high and is in the range of 1-100 Hz, with very long pulse widths of 16 ms and the stimulation may continue as much as for 6 hours, six days a week. An example would be that of stimulation of the quadriceps, a group of four muscles in the front of the thigh into contraction and to stimulate it long enough hold the contraction in order to keep the knee in extension for use in walking.
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) applied onto the skin surface for stimulation of skin nerve fibers is used also in chronic pain management. The stimulus parameters in the high frequency conventional TENS uses frequency 80 Hz, pulse duration 80 μs and patients are instructed to use TENS 4-6 times a day for 1-h periods at sensory threshold intensity. In the high frequency high-intensity TENS group (HIT; frequency 80 Hz, pulse duration 250 μs), patients are instructed to use TENS 4-6 times a day for 30-min periods at maximum tolerated intensity level. In the control TENS group (COT; frequency 30 Hz, pulse duration 250 μs) patients were free to choose stimulus duration and stimulus intensity as they preferred. Two TENS-devices were used: TWIN-STAR (van Lent Systems B.V. Netherlands), TENStem (Schwa Medico Netherlands). Koke A J. Schouten J S. Lamerichs-Geelen M J. Lipsch JS. Waltje E M. van Kleef M. Patijn J. Pain reducing effect of three types of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in patients with chronic pain: a randomized crossover trial. Pain. 108(1-2):36-42, 2004 March.
Standard TENS therapy consisted of the placement of 4 medium-sized (2.5-cm) cutaneous electrode pads in a standardized dermatomal pattern. These electrodes were also stimulated at a frequency of 4/30 Hz for 20 min. (Yokoyama M. Sun X. Oku S. Taga N. Sato K. Mizobuchi S. Takahashi T. Morita K. Comparison of percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for long-term pain relief in patients with chronic low back pain. Anesthesia & Analgesia. 98(6):1552-6, 2004 June).
Usually the stimulation is for excitation of skin receptors only, but frequently the underlying muscle will also contract weakly and non-specifically, rather as a muscle pumping motion, in response to the electrical stimulus over a superficial motor point. These are not the true muscle contractions that cause a sudden muscle "jump" needed to produce a therapeutic effect with twitches as in the present inventor's ATOIMS and ETOIMS techniques (as well as the new SA-ETOIMS technique described herein). The pumping type of contraction produced with the TENS unit continues until the TENS unit is turned off. Usually a TENS treatment lasts 20 minutes or up to a few hours according to the patient's tolerance.
Many electrical muscle stimulators (EMS), such as neuromuscular stimulators (NMS) or high voltage galvanic stimulator (HVGS) using direct or alternating currents, are commercially available. These devices are used to maintain or increase range of motion, re-educate muscles, relax spasms, and increase local blood circulation. Surface applied electrical muscle stimulators units can deliver up to 100 mamp or up to 350 volts to a very low skin impedance load (500-1000 ohms) and are thus capable of producing only non-specific superficial muscle pumping motion continuously or in trains. Additionally, the stimulus frequency in electrical muscle stimulators range from 1-5000 Hz and are designed to contract the muscle through causing a muscle spasm by using very high frequency stimulation briefly and then to allow the muscle to relax. egs. of commercially available electrical muscle stimulators are OMNISTIM® FX2, etc. If twitches are elicited at low frequencies, they are weak and non-specific electrically driven "pump" style contractions in contrast to the sudden "jump" style twitches that are elicited in ATOIMS and ETOIMS (as well as the new SA-ETOIMS technique described herein).
Nerve conduction studies (NCS) are performed by stimulating peripheral nerves through intact skin. These are diagnostic tests and are not used for pain relief. NCS uses stimulus intensities up to 300 volts (this is provided through an electromyographic (EMG) machine that provides constant voltage, maximum 300 volts). The NCS tests can also be performed with constant current stimulation strength up to 100 milliamps through using a different EMG machine that can provide constant current stimulation, with maximum output of 100 milliamp. The stimulus pulse width is 0.05-1 ms at a frequency of 1 Hz. NCS is a diagnostic test and major peripheral nerves are stimulated on the surface of the skin to determine their conductivity to the electrical stimulus. All muscles supplied by the stimulated peripheral nerve will contract and the joint moves forcibly due to contraction of muscles that cross the joint. The stimulus in nerve conduction studies is not isolated to stimulation of individual motor points on a single muscle and adjacent motor end-plate zones, as generally the case with the present inventor's ATOIMS and ETOIMS techniques (as well as the new SA-ETOIMS technique described herein).
Needle techniques used in conjunction with electrical stimulation for pain relief purposes are described below:
PENS and electrical acupuncture use low dose electrical current, and twitches if evoked are generally of relatively very small size since only a tapping motion of the needles is required and may evoke micro-twitches. The duration of the treatment session for electrical stimulation is not standardized and may vary from a few minutes to approximately twenty minutes, depending on the acupuncturist's style and subjective/empirical evaluations. In both PENS and acupuncture, the stimulus is delivered through wiry, stainless steel acupuncture needle insertion and the stimulus strength used is very small. (<25 mA, a unipolar square-wave pattern of electrical stimulation at a frequency of 4 Hz with a pulse width of 0.5 milliseconds). The electrical current is DC, and the duty cycle is continuous. These probes are stimulated at 4/30 Hz for 20 min. The intensity of the electrical stimulation is adjusted to produce the most intense tolerable electrical sensation generally without muscle contractions.
Gunn teaches in his 1996 text, supra, that electrical stimulation can be used in his IMS technique (focused on stimulation of clinical muscle motor points), in place of manual needle agitation, to hasten the release of muscle contracture (pp. 12 and 35-36). Specifically, Gunn teaches (at page 35) that a low-voltage (9-18 V) interrupted direct current may be administered for seconds or minutes to the inserted needle until muscle release is obtained. Gunn further teaches alternatively that the electrical stimulation may be applied for approximately 15-30 minutes, with the current being gradually increased until muscle contractions are visible to confirm that the needles are properly placed. The standard acupuncture pins used in electro-acupuncture and Gunn's IMS technique are conductive along their entire lengths. As a result, the electrical field that is established extends along the length of the inserted portion of the pin, and is dispersed into the skin and subcutaneous tissues, in addition to the target muscle area. The intensity of the electric field actually established at the target area is difficult to accurately calculate and control. Gunn's technique is to apply electrical stimulation for release of the tight muscle fibers in spasm. There is no mention of inducing active muscle contractions to elicit strong muscle twitches through focal muscle contractions as in ETOIMS. Given Gunn's focus on release of spasm within a given muscle, electrical stimulation is stopped once a release of spasm is obtained.
As described in the present inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,938, non-chemical, needle-applied electrical twitch obtaining intramuscular stimulation (ETOIMS) is used effectively in the management of regional and diffuse myofascial pain (fibromyalgia) of radiculopathic origin where musculoskeletal pain resulting from muscle shortening is the predominant feature. Unlike acupuncture, where many pins that remain stationary are inserted into points on imaginary meridians during a treatment session, in needle-applied ETOIMS generally only one needle (a monopolar electrode) is used at multiple muscle sites during one treatment session. The needle that is inserted into a tender muscle motor point, is used to electrically stimulate the motor end-plate zones to cause the muscle to twitch. The therapeutic effects are best obtained when twitches are forceful enough to either shake or move the joint upon which the muscle acts.
Needle-applied ETOIMS is focused on searching point by stimulated point in a muscle to elicit a strong twitch from active contraction of stimulated muscle fibers through most terminal nerve excitation. Needle-applied ETOIMS uses low frequency stimulus at 1-2 Hz with stimulus applied through a single Teflon coated monopolar needle electrode for 0.5 seconds per stimulated point. This technique is focused on evoking strong twitches. The therapeutic effect of the twitches increases with the force and number of the twitches elicited. Stimulus parameters for electrical intramuscular stimulation are 0.5-1.5 volts, pulse width 0.5 ms and frequency of 2 Hz. Each treatment point is stimulated for 0.5 seconds with fixed amplitude of the alternating current at 2 mA. Needle-applied ETOIMS stimulates the muscle at multiple points in the search for the motor end plate zone that will elicit the strongest force twitch responses at multiple (four or more) points within an afflicted muscle through a localized application of electrical stimulation to multiple motor end plate zones. The technique is applied to have a local focal exercise effect that restores muscle fiber length through a stretch effect. This helps to improve circulation to nerve and muscle in the areas stimulated.
In contrast to conventional pain management, needle-applied electrical twitch obtaining intramuscular stimulation (ETOIMS™), is an effective procedure that can be used repetitively throughout the lifetime of the chronic pain patient, without endangering the health of the patient or causing substantial adverse side effects. Needle-applied ETOIMS™ treats the cause of the muscle pain or muscle discomfort, i.e., muscles shortened or in spasm due to nerve root irritation. When the muscles are shortened due to spasm from nerve root irritation, the muscles pull or tug on adjacent structures to which they attach such as tendons, ligaments, bones, joints, and intervertebral discs. They also compress the intramuscular blood vessels and nerves. This relentless pulling or vice-like effect of the shortened muscles causes more nerve root irritation and more muscle shortening leading to a vicious cycle of acute, sub-acute or chronic nerve related muscle pain. By causing the muscles to twitch with electrical stimulation of the motor point and motor end plate zones, the shortened muscles are stretched and exercised from within the muscle leading to muscle relaxation following the twitch contraction. Muscle relaxation in turn leads to less tugging effect on the pain sensitive tendons, ligaments, bones, joints, intervertebral discs, onto which these muscles attach, and therefore pain reduction or relief of the discomfort is achieved. Successive treatments have a positive accumulative effect from active twitch-induced muscle exercise leading to progressive muscle relaxation. These twitch-induced muscle contractions and immediate relaxation effects allow the intramuscular nerves to heal when blood flow can resume into the relaxed muscle regions as opposed to those intramuscular nerves within taut and tight muscle regions.
Despite the effectiveness in ultimately providing pain relief, needle-applied ETOIMS treatments can be quite painful to the patient who is already in pain. The very nature of the procedure with its need for insertion of a needle, and then electrically stimulating the nerve to cause the muscle to twitch (contract and immediately relax with stretching effects) tends to deflect the needle causing more pain to the patient. The pain is also from the electricity that acts as an irritant to muscles when they are too tight to twitch. Multiple needle insertions are also required repeatedly into many muscles in the search for the motor endplate zones that will yield large force twitches. Oral ingestion of muscle relaxants or anti-anxiety agents, such as Valium (5-10 mgm), and a pain medication, such as 1-2 tablets of Percocet (Oxycodone 5 mg, and Tylenol, 375 mg/tablet) or Morphine Sulfate Immediate Release (MSIR), 15-30 mg, 1 hour before treatment or one unit of Actiq (transmucosal Fentanyl) 200-800 μgms at 15 minutes before treatment can be used to reduce procedural pain.
Even though needle-applied ETOIMS is performed using an automated device that inserts and immediately retracts the needle, the procedure is still laborious, tedious and time-consuming. This may lead to repetitive stress injury to the operator from the need to perform the treatment in a bi-manual fashion. One hand of the operator is used to hold and stabilize the muscle in position while the other hand is used to hold the device for accurate needle penetration into the motor end-plate zone region. The problem for the operator is particularly acute when, as is typically the case, many areas of a patient's body are to be treated in one session, and when the majority of the patients require this type of multi-area intensive treatment. Under these circumstances, the operator performing bi-manual ETOIMS on a long-term basis likely will suffer from repetitive strain injuries.
The present physician inventor has found needle-applied ETOIMS to be very effective in the acute and long-term management of nerve related muscle pain. However, due to use of an automated needling device for therapy, the training in anatomy, peripheral neurology and clinical aspects that has to be given to operators for safe application of treatments is intensive, rigorous, thorough and prolonged. This predictably limits the number of operators who can be trained in needle-applied ETOIMS method.

Intramuscular stimulation therapy using surface-applied localized electrical stimulation


A double relay is described which has two relay actuators which are inserted into a common receptacle. Each relay actuator has a first fixed contact and a movable contact. Arranged on the receptacle are two second fixed contacts, in each case a second fixed contact being associated with a movable contact of a relay actuator. The receptacle has a plurality of connection pins by way of which an electrical contact may be made with the relay actuators and the second fixed contacts. The double relay can be manufactured at low cost.

A wide variety of constructions are known for electromagnetic relays. For example, electromagnetic relays are used in automotive technology to create different switching states for the electrical lines of a motor vehicle. Relays have, for example, one or two relay actuators which are accommodated in a housing.
DE 199 17 338 C2 discloses an electromagnetic relay and a process for manufacturing the relay, in which the electromagnetic relay has a base having an electromagnet system and a coil, a core arrangement and an armature. The armature is mounted on the base by way of an armature spring. The base forms part of a switching chamber. Arranged in the switching chamber is a contact system having at least one fixed contact. Associated with the fixed contact is a movable contact which is mounted on the movable armature spring. Furthermore, a second fixed contact is arranged on the base. The movable contact is switched between the two fixed contacts as a function of the current passing through the coil of the first electromagnetic relay. The electromagnet system and the switching chamber are arranged in a housing, with the fixed parts of the electromagnet system and at least some of the base being embedded in an insulating material, with terminal conductors guided through a housing wall to the outside.
DE 103 04 638 A1 discloses a switching relay having two magnetic coils and a process for manufacturing the switching relay. The switching relay has two relay actuators which are arranged parallel to one another and whereof the armature springs are associated with one another and are brought into abutment against a first or a second fixed contact in a central region between the magnetic coils as a function of the current passing through the magnetic coils.

Electromagnetic relay having at least one relay actuator and a receptacle for relay actuators


A device for introducing a small amount of a rare earth mixture or composition in the combustion chamber of an combustion engine (1) comprises a container (4) containing a dry, air-permeable filling (5) of rare earth-containing fibers and/or powder, wherein the container (4) communicates via an opening (11) with the atmosphere and via a suction line (8) with a vacuum line (2), which is connected to the combustion chamber of the engine (1).

The present invention is directed to a device for inserting a small amount of a rare earth containing mixture or composition into a combustion chamber, particularly the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine with spark ignition or compression ignition.
Such a device is known from DE-A 29 32 603. In the known device a rare earth metal composition finely dispersed in an aqueous solution is inserted in the air intake manifold of an internal combustion engine.
The problem underlying the invention is to provide a device of simple design and structure, by which a rare earth mixture or composition may be continuously introduced in small amounts during a long operation period without or with minimum of maintenance on the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine.
The present invention includes a container, which has an air-permeable dry filling of rare earth fibers and/or rare earth powder, that communicates via an opening with the atmosphere, and that communicates via a suction connection or line with either a vacuum line, or directly with the combustion chamber of the engine.
Preferably the opening to the atmosphere is formed by one end of a tube, which communicates with the filling via at least one orifice, wherein an air filter may be arranged within the tube adjacent the opening and wherein a throttle is arranged downstream of the air filter within the tube.
In a device of the invention a pressure below the atmospheric pressure is induced by means of the vacuum line into the tube. Thereby air is sucked from the container via the orifice, which conveys a small amount of particles of the filling via the tube and the vacuum line into the combustion chamber.
A filter, which may be arranged in the flow-path between the orifice and the filling, acts as a flowbarrier to finely divide the particles to be sucked into the tube and to thereby determine an enlarged surface,--the filter surface facing the filling--for sucking in the particles into the tube. This avoids undue localizing and the risk of clogging. The filter is preferably formed as a filter screen in a cylindrical shape which is arranged transversely to the tube and communicates with its one end or "foot" with the orifice in the tube.
The container may be dimensioned for a filling which is sufficient for the whole lifetime of the internal combustion engine. Alternatively, as the space in modern automobiles is limited, a container dimensioned for a filling sufficient for a restricted operation time, e.g. corresponding to 80,000 km running distance for a passenger car, may be installed.
The container may be arranged removably in the engine compartment of an automobile to be exchanged against a fresh container in the latter case. The container may also have a refilling opening for renewal of the filling.
The device of the invention enables to add a small amount of a rare earth mixture or composition in a dry state to the air intake of an internal combustion engine avoiding the carrying and filling of a solvent, thereby avoiding the necessity of regularly refilling solvent after short time periods and/or additional space necessary for a solvent container in the automobile.
The filling is preferably in fibrous and/or powder form. The following two viewpoints should govern the selection of the filing to be used in the invention:
1. The particle size of the materials ranges from 0.25 mm (60 mesh) down to as low as 0.5 micron, with the size of 0.048 mm (300 mesh) representing a preferred size. PA1 2. In even more general terms, it should be understood that the used compositions should contain a percentage of cerium (Ce O.sub.2) as high as can readily and economically be achieved, this in view, of course, of the practical difficulties involved in separating the various rare earth oxides.
Principally the cerium content, by weight in the mixture varies from 30% up to practically 100%. Three examples for preferred compositions are given in the following specific description.
By introducing a small amount of the mixture into the air intake, the harmful pollutants, particularly that of CO, CO.sub.2, HC and NO.sub.x are reduced, and the combustion is improved so that an effect comparable to that of a controlled catalytic converter is achieved, but at much less expenditure.
It is an important advantage of a device of the invention that it can be fitted to existing automobiles even when driven by engines using unleaded fuel. Of course, the device may be used in engines driven by any other conventional fuels for internal combustion engines.
The vacuum line might be the intake manifold of the engine. It is, however, also possible to directly connect the suction line with the combustion chamber. In that case a check valve must be provided in order to ensure, that the container communicates with the combustion chamber solely during the intake period of the engine.
The device of the invention may likewise be applied in spark ignition or compression ignition engines and also in stationary internal combustion engines.
Particularly in applications for large combustion engines, like locomotive- ship- or stationary engines it is preferred to transport the rare earth particles by a motor-driven conveying means in the vicinity of a suction opening of the suction line.

Device for inserting rare earth particles into a combustion chamber


A semiconductor power module has at least one power semiconductor chip (2) which can be controlled by the field effect and has a plurality of fail-safe, small-area SiC power diodes (D1 to D8). The function of a large-area SiC power diode chip which is susceptible to failure is distributed over these small-area, parallel-connected SiC power diode chips (D1 to D8) in such a way that their total area of active SiC diode areas (F1 to F8) corresponds to an area extent of a large-area non-fail-safe SiC power diode chip.

Power diodes based on monocrystalline silicon crystals allow only a limited current load. The temperature resistance of silicon diodes is restricted, and the function of a silicon power diode changes to a permanently connected resistance at temperatures above 200° C. Since the heat dissipation measures for semiconductor power modules cannot be improved indefinitely, there is a need to increasingly replace silicon power diodes by high-temperature-resistant SiC power diodes in semiconductor power modules.
In order to increase the current-carrying capacity of SiC power diodes such as this, it is necessary to enlarge the chip areas of the corresponding semiconductor power components. However, with enlargement of the chip areas, particularly in the case of SiC crystals, the respective defect density leads to a reduced yield and thus to a higher failure rate for large-area, SiC-based power semiconductor components. By way of example, the yield of SiC monocrystalline pieces falls from 89% for a chip area of 1 mm2 to 62% when the semiconductor chip area is tripled. This is associated with the disadvantage that large-area SiC power diode chips are subject to a failure risk which is more than 10% greater.
A further disadvantage of conventional power semiconductor modules is that the power semiconductor chips and the SiC power diodes are eutectically soldered by their rear-face metallization to corresponding metal layers on a power semiconductor component housing. At the high permissible operating temperatures of SiC diodes, there is a risk of eutectic soldered joints such as these on the rear faces of the SiC diodes melting once again, so that it is not possible to guarantee the reliability of high-power components such as these.
Furthermore, the eutectic melt requires a melt pool or melt area on the metal coating of the power semiconductor component housing which is larger than the rear face, to be applied to the metal coating, of the respective power semiconductor component. This has the disadvantage that considerably larger areas must be provided for the metal layer than the total area of the rear faces of the semiconductor power chip to be arranged in a semiconductor power module.

Semiconductor power module with SiC power diodes and method for its production


A method and apparatus for automating the measurement of straightness of linear stock material produced by the operation of a mill. As the linear stock material exits from the mill, sensors acquire a sequence of image or distance measurement pairs associated with the material at discrete longitudinal points over a segment of the material. A processing system utilizes the data pairs to determine a set of centroids for a segment of the material. A virtual axis is identified between centroids associated with the segment, and the processing system determines a measure of deviation of each remaining centroid in a segment from the virtual axis to identify a degree of concavity of the material within the segment, as well as to identify a measure of the angular orientation of the concavity about the virtual axis.

This invention relates in general to the production of linear stock material such as tube stock material and round bar stock material, and more particularly to an machine vision method and apparatus for the automated determination of the straightness of linear stock material during production.
Ideally, tube stock and round bar stock materials, generally referred to herein as linear stock material, should emerge from the mills in which they are produced in a perfectly straight configuration for the entire production length. But typically some deviation from perfectly straight exists in the linear stock material, which is acceptable for most purposes so long as the deviation is within prescribed tolerances. Currently mill operators conduct visual inspections to determine if sections of the linear stock material being produced by a mill falls within the prescribed tolerances. But this leaves much of the produced material without a quantitative inspection, and fails to detect deviation trends that could be corrected by making adjustment in the operation of the mill.
The typical inspection of a length of linear stock material, which may be between 4.5 meters to 12.0 meters in length, involves removing it from the mill in which it is produced and placing it on a flat table or level rails. There, an inspector using the flat surface of the table, determines the direction of any bow present in the linear stock material, and on which side of the bow is most pronounced—that is to say, the inspector determines the angular orientation, about the circumference of the linear stock material, the bow creates the greatest concavity.
Having located the side with the greatest concavity, the inspector places a precision straight edge, which can be typically one meter in length, against that side of the linear stock material. Any deviation from straight appears as a gap between the surface of the linear stock material and the straight edge, and is usually measured with a feeler gauge between the ends of the precision straight edge. The procedure is repeated for several segments along the length of the tube stock. Tube stock material and round bar stock material undergo similar inspection procedures for determining the presence of any deviation from an ideal straightness.
If quantitative inspection results are required, the typical inspecting procedure consumes a considerable amount of time, and without incurring inordinate expense, cannot be performed on all points of the material from a full production run at a mill. Thus, quantitative inspections are performed only on linear stock material selected using a screening method from a production run of a mill.

Method and apparatus for determining the straightness of tubes and bars


A keyless entry system includes an on-vehicle unit and a mobile device, and controls on-vehicle equipment using a wakeup signal and a command signal. The on-vehicle unit radio-transmits a first transmission signal including the wakeup signal and a second transmission signal relating to the detection of an interference wave to the first transmission signal to the mobile device using radio signals having different frequencies. When the first transmission signal has been normally received, the mobile device radio-transmits a third transmission signal including the command signal to the on-vehicle unit and receives a second transmission signal. When the first transmission signal could not be normally received, the mobile device performs the detection of the interference wave to the first transmission signal and radio-transmits a fourth transmission signal for requesting the retransmission of the first transmission signal to the on-vehicle unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keyless entry system, and in particular, a keyless entry system capable of reducing the influence of an interference wave.
2. Description of the Related Art
A keyless entry system which can perform vehicle operation, such as locking and unlocking of the doors of the vehicle, through radio communication between an on-vehicle unit mounted in a vehicle and a mobile device carried by a user of the vehicle without using a mechanical key has spread.
Typically, in the keyless entry system, the on-vehicle unit transmits a radio signal having a frequency (30 kHz to 300 kHz) in a low frequency (LF) band to the mobile device, and the mobile device transmits a radio signal having a frequency (300 MHz to 3 GHz) in an ultrahigh frequency (UHF) band to the on-vehicle unit corresponding to the radio signal having a frequency in the LF band, whereby radio communication can be performed between the on-vehicle unit and the mobile device. Then, a wakeup signal for activating a predetermined function of the mobile device is radio-transmitted from the on-vehicle unit to the mobile device through radio communication between the on-vehicle unit and the mobile device, and a command signal relating to vehicle operation is radio-transmitted from the mobile device to the on-vehicle unit corresponding to the wakeup signal. In the keyless entry system, in this way, on-vehicle equipment, such as a door locking device, is controlled using the wakeup signal radio-transmitted from the on-vehicle unit to the mobile device and the command signal radio-transmitted from the mobile device to the on-vehicle unit corresponding to the wakeup signal, thereby performing vehicle operation, such as locking and unlocking of the doors of the vehicle.
On the other hand, when the mobile device of the keyless entry system is carried along with another electronic apparatus, such as a mobile information terminal, an interference wave (noise) in an LF band generated from a display device, a drive circuit, or the like of the electronic apparatus affects the mobile device, and may interfere with the reception of the radio signal in the LF band radio-transmitted from the on-vehicle unit. Then, the mobile device cannot normally receive the radio signal in the LF band due to the influence of the interference wave generated by the electronic apparatus, and the on-vehicle unit may not reliably transfer the wakeup signal to the mobile device. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the influence of the interference wave generated by another electronic apparatus.
As a keyless entry system capable of reducing the influence of the interference wave generated by another electronic apparatus, a passive keyless entry device (keyless entry system) described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-16928 or the like has been suggested. FIGS. 7A and 7B are explanatory views showing the configuration of a passive keyless entry device 100 described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-16928. FIG. 7A shows an on-vehicle transceiver 110 (on-vehicle unit) and FIG. 7B shows a mobile transceiver 120 (mobile device).
As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the passive keyless entry device 100 described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-16928 includes the on-vehicle transceiver 110 and the mobile transceiver 120. In the passive keyless entry device 100, a first transmission signal including a wakeup signal is radio-transmitted from the on-vehicle transceiver 110, if the mobile transceiver 120 receives the first transmission signal, a second transmission signal including a command signal is radio-transmitted from the mobile transceiver 120, and the on-vehicle transceiver 110 which receives the second transmission signal controls a controlled apparatus (on-vehicle equipment) based on the command signal.
The on-vehicle transceiver 110 has a low frequency signal transmitter 101, a transmission low frequency antenna 102, a high frequency signal receiver 103, a reception high frequency antenna 104, a controller 105, a low frequency oscillator 106, a drive signal transmitter 107, and a storage unit 108. The low frequency signal transmitter 101 radio-transmits the first transmission signal (low frequency signal) including the wakeup signal to the mobile transceiver 120 through the transmission low frequency antenna 102. The high frequency signal receiver 103 receives the second transmission signal from the mobile transceiver 120 through the reception high frequency antenna 104. The controller 105 controls various circuits of the on-vehicle transceiver 110.
The mobile transceiver 120 has three signal reception circuits 121 each having an antenna 127 and an amplifier 128, a pattern comparator 122, a selector circuit 123, a storage unit 124, a counter 125, an AND gate 126, an adder 129, and a detector 130. The three signal reception circuits 121 respectively receive signal components in three orthogonal directions in the first transmission signal. The adder 129 and the detector 130 output a detection signal corresponding to an output signal of each of the three signal reception circuits 121. The pattern comparator 122 and the storage unit 124 perform the detection of the wakeup signal on the detection signal corresponding to the output signal of each of the three signal reception circuits 121.
Then, when the wakeup signal is normally detected (when the first transmission signal could be normally received), the mobile transceiver 120 radio-transmits the second transmission signal including the command signal using transmission means (not shown). When the detection signal from which the wakeup signal cannot be normally detected is obtained (when the first transmission signal could not be normally received), the selector circuit 123 places the signal reception circuit 121 deriving the detection signal in a non-operation state.
In this way, in the passive keyless entry device 100, the three signal reception circuits 121 respectively receive the signal components in the three orthogonal directions in the first transmission signal, thereby receiving the first transmission signal in a direction other than the direction in which the interference wave is generated. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the influence of the influence wave. When the selector circuit 123 places the signal reception circuits 121, which cannot normally receive the signal components of the first transmission signal, in a non-operation state, thereby suppressing an increase in power consumption of the mobile transceiver 120 accompanied by reduction in the influence of the interference wave.
However, in the passive keyless entry device 100 described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-16928, a countermeasure against an interference wave is provided only based on whether or not the wakeup signal could be normally detected, that is, whether or not the first transmission signal could be normally received, and it is not necessarily true that the presence/absence of the interference wave or the incoming direction of the interference wave is detected. For this reason, when the interference wave to the first transmission signal is present around the mobile device, and all signal reception circuits 121 could not normally receive the signal components of the first transmission signal, it is not possible to provide an effective countermeasure against an interference wave, and it may not be possible to reliably transfer the wakeup signal.


A method of forming a metal film and a metal wiring pattern is described a step of forming an organic film by applying and polymerizing an undercoat composition for forming a metal film containing an addition-polymerizable monomer having an acidic group and a polymerization initiator on a substrate or film, a step of converting the acidic group into a metal (M1) salt by treating the organic film with an aqueous solution containing a metal (M1) ion, a step of converting the metal (M1) salt into a metal (M2) salt by treating the organic film with an aqueous solution containing a metal (M2) ion having an ionization tendency lower than the metal (M1) ion, and a step of forming a metal film on the organic film surface by reducing the metal (M2) ion.

Known methods of forming a metal film include so-called dry processes such as vapor deposition, sputtering, and ion plating, so-called wet processes such as electroplating and electroless plating, and the like, but the dry processes demand large facility cost, while it was difficult to prepare a metal film having a thickness of several dozen nm by such a wet process.
Thus reported is a method of forming a metal film by generating a cation-exchange group by modification of a polyimide resin, binding a metal ion to the cation-exchange group, and reducing the metal (Patent Document 1). However, such a method forms a film by modification of polyimide and does not allow use of other substrates. A method of obtaining a hardened film after application of polyimide varnish on a substrate may be possible, but it demands baking at high temperature (e.g., at 200° C. or higher) for hardening and does not allow use of a substrate lower in heat resistance because of deformation (less general-purpose properties). In addition, the polyimide resins are rather expensive. Common polyimide resins (e.g., Kapton and Upilex) are also less transparent to light in the UV light range, and transparent polyimide resins are resistant to modification. When an electric circuit is formed, for example, in a metal pattern formed through a mask by the methods above, the low transmittance to UV light, which leads to deterioration in resolution, is not suitable for fine wiring. Further, use of a heated high-concentration alkaline solution, for example at dozens of temperature, causes a problem of safety.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-73159

Method of forming metal film and metal wiring pattern, undercoat composition for forming metal film and metal wiring pattern, and metal film


An electrical discharge machining apparatus includes a work electrode adapted to support a work immersed in a working fluid, a tool electrode located opposing the work electrode with a predetermined gap therebetween, a capacitor that is connected between the work electrode and the tool electrode to provide a series of voltage pulses, a charging circuit having a power supply and a first switching element which are connected in series to the capacitor, a charge regulating circuit having a second switching element connected in series to the capacitor, and a control unit that controls the first and second switching elements, such that the first switching element turns on, and then the second switching element turns on before the first switching element turns off. Then, one voltage pulse, having a leading edge corresponding to the turning on of the first switching element and a trailing edge corresponding to the turning on of the second switching element, is generated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machining apparatus and a machining method in which a work is machined by applying voltage to a microscopic gap between a tool electrode and the work to utilize electrical discharge or an electrolytic reaction generated in the gap. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electrical discharge machining method and an electrical discharge machining apparatus that are used for fine machining for forming a microscopic pore, a microscopic hole, a microscopic slit, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the micro electrical discharge machining technology is mainly used as the method of machining a microscopic pore and a microscopic hole, for example, machining a nozzle of an inkjet printer. Recently, an ultra-fine electrical discharge machining apparatus has been developed that can make the hole have a minimum diameter up to 5 μm.
FIG. 20 is a schematic view of an electrical discharge machining apparatus 50 used for making the microscopic hole such as an ink ejection nozzle of an inkjet printer (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H10-202432). The electrical discharge machining apparatus 50 includes a tool electrode 51 and a driving device 55 that vertically moves the tool electrode 51. A work 53 is arranged directly under the tool electrode 51. A leading end of the tool electrode 51 and the work 53 are immersed in the working fluid having dielectric characteristics such as deionized water. When a potential difference and a distance between the tool electrode 51 and the work 53 do not satisfy electrical discharge conditions, the insulating characteristics of the working fluid provides the insulation between the tool electrode 51 and the work 53.
A circuit configuration of the electrical discharge machining apparatus 50 will now be described. A capacitor 58 is connected in parallel between the tool electrode 51 and the work 53, and the capacitor 58 is connected to a rectangular-pulse power supply 61 through a charging resistor 57. The rectangular-pulse power supply 61 includes a reference pulse generator 62 that can arbitrarily set a frequency and a pulse duration. The capacitor 58 is charged in each application of rectangular pulse voltage. At this point, when the driving device 55 brings the tool electrode 51 close to the work 53, the electrical discharge is generated between the tool electrode 51 and the work 53. Because a portion subjected to the electrical discharge in the work 53 is melted and removed, a concave portion having the same shape as the leading end portion of the tool electrode 51 can be formed in the work 53.
Conventionally, oil is used as the working fluid. However, a long machining time is required because the oil has high insulating characteristics and the electrical discharge is difficult to generate. There is a fear that inflammation is caused, and thus, deionized water has been used as the working fluid in recent years. Because water is separated into an H+ ion and an OH− ion through electrolysis, when the voltage is applied between the tool electrode 51 and the work 53 for a long time, ionization of the working fluid progresses to permit conduction between the tool electrode 51 and the work 53. Because the desired electrical discharge cannot be generated during the conduction, there is a problem in that the machining time becomes longer. Further, because a surface of the work is melted by heating the surface through the conduction, there is the problem in that accuracy of machining is made worse. Therefore, in the electrical discharge machining apparatus 50, the ionization of the working fluid (deionized water) is suppressed and the generation of the conduction is suppressed not by continuously applying the voltage, but by using the rectangular-pulse power supply 61 to shorten one voltage applying time.
However, in the configuration of the conventional electrical discharge machining apparatus, there are the following problems. Namely, when the electrical discharge machining is performed in the configuration shown in FIG. 20, a peak current and an electrical discharge time of the capacitor 58 are determined by the capacitance of the capacitor 58 and the resistor 57. When deionized water is used as the working fluid, because voltage is always applied between the tool electrode 51 and the work 53, the working fluid is sometimes ionized to provide the conduction before a predetermined electrical discharge voltage is applied, which results in passage of insufficient electrical discharge current. Further, the work 53 and the tool electrode 51 are reacted with each other to worsen a surface state of the work, and the accuracy of machining is not sufficiently obtained.
Conventionally, in the rectangular-pulse power supply 61, the voltage pulse is generated by turning one switching element on and off, for example as shown in FIG. 5A. However, in the conventional rectangular-pulse power supply 61, reaction speed of the switching element has a limitation. In the case of a power MOSFET, generally a time of hundreds of nanoseconds is required between turning the switching element on and off, and the voltage pulse of tens of nanoseconds cannot be formed. When the voltage pulse has a pulse duration more than hundreds of nanoseconds, as described above, the ionization of the working fluid is generated to provide the conduction, which worsens the surface state of the work. Therefore, it is necessary that ionization concentration is decreased by replenishing the working fluid, or it is necessary that the ionized working fluid is washed away by generating a flow of the working fluid to diffuse the ion and the working fluid is maintained at a non-ionized state between the tool electrode 51 and the work 53. In addition, it is necessary to perform work by temporarily stopping the rectangular-pulse power supply 61 to retract the tool electrode 51 upward. Consequently, as the number of conduction times is increased, the machining time becomes longer.
An object of the invention is therefore to provide an electrical discharge machining method and an electrical discharge machining apparatus in which the accuracy of machining and machining speed are improved.
Another object of the invention is to provide an electrical discharge machining method and an electrical discharge machining apparatus in which the ionization of the working fluid is suppressed to shorten the machining time by adjusting duty ratio of voltage applied to the tool electrode according to a generation state such as the electrical discharge the tool electrode and the work.
A further object of the invention is to provide an electrical discharge machining method and an electrical discharge machining apparatus, in which high accuracy machining of surface roughness can be provided by appropriately setting an applied voltage, a voltage pulse duration, and a number of applied times between the tool electrode and the work.

Electrical discharge machine power supply

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An automatic blood sampling device is provided with a housing (12, 14, 18, 20), a reciprocable shaft (50) disposed in the housing (12, 14, 18, 20), and a lancet (40) operatively coupled to the shaft (50). The lancet (40) is movable between a retracted position in which the lancet (40) is disposed within the housing (12, 14, 18, 20) and an extended position in which the lancet (40) extends outside of the housing (12, 14, 18, 20).. The blood sampling device includes means for retaining the lancet (40) in its retracted position, means (51) for causing the lancet (40) to automatically move from its retracted position to its extended position, and means for generating a reduced internal pressure within an area in the housing (12, 14, 18, 20) as the lancet (40) moves from its retracted position to its extended position to facilitate drawing blood from a skin puncture to be made by the lancet (40) into an interior portion of the housing (12, 14, 18, 20), the internal pressure being less than the ambient pressure outside of the housing (12, 14, 18, 20) of the sampling device.

The present invention relates to a blood sampling device that incorporates a lancet for piercing the skin and creates a partial vacuum to enhance recovery of a sample of blood.
Various types of blood sampling devices for drawing a blood sample from a skin puncture made by a lancet have been described. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,047 to Suzuki, et al. discloses a blood sampling device that has a lancet connected to a spring-loaded plunger that is reciprocable in a cylindrical housing between a retracted position and an extended position. The plunger has a gasket which makes sealing contact with the interior wall of the housing when the plunger is moved from its extended position to its retracted position.
In the operation of the Suzuki, et al. device, the plunger is pushed to its retracted position by the user and then placed against the skin from which the blood sample is to be drawn. Upon being released, the plunger is urged to travel from its retracted position to its extended position via a spring. When the plunger reaches its fully extended position, the lancet punctures the skin. After the skin is punctured, the plunger moves back to its retracted position, during which movement the pressure inside the housing is reduced due to the sliding engagement of the gasket against the interior wall of the housing. This reduced pressure, which is in contact with the skin puncture, enhances passage of blood from the puncture into the blood sampling device.


The present invention is a method for producing a 2-oxazoline analogue or a 1,3-oxazine analogue represented by the following general formula (3) by reacting a 1,2-aminoalcohol compound or a 1,2-aminothiol compound with an α,α-dihaloamine compound.

An oxazoline analogue and an oxazine analogue have broad usages including medicines, agrochemicals, optical recording materials and the like, and anticancer activity and diabetes treatment effect of an oxazoline derivative receive attention in recent years.
Various synthesis methods for an oxazoline compound have been known. An oxazoline ring has three regioisomers, and among these, a synthesis method for a 2-oxazoline compound has been best known.
Typical production methods for a 2-oxazoline compound include (1) a method of reacting an alkali, triethylamine, acetic anhydride or ethyl orthoformate to an N-(2-haloethyl)carboxylic amide derivative, (2) a method of subjecting N-(2-hydroxyethyl) carboxylic amide to dehydration ring-closing reaction by heating with concentrated sulfuric acid or thionyl chloride, (3) a method of heating a carboxylic acid and 2-aminoethanol along with an alumina catalyst, (4) a method of heating a nitrile compound and 2-aminoethanol in the presence of a strong base, such as sodium methoxide and the like, or by using calcium chloride as a base, (5) a method of heating an acid imide ester and 2-aminoethanol along with alumina, or acting an alkali or sulfuric acid to an imino ester of 2-haloethanol, and (6) a method of heating an acyl derivative of an unsaturated amine with a mineral acid, such as sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid or the like. Various modified methods can be considered for the aforementioned methods, and other raw materials may be used. For example, in the methods (1) and (2), a thiocarboxylic acid amide can be used instead of an acid amide, and a 2-thiazoline compound is obtained in this case.
The methods (1) to (6) will be described more specifically. For example, as the method (1), potassium hydroxide or acetic anhydride is reacted to 2-chloroethylformamide to provide 2-oxazoline, and the case where 2-bromoethylbenzamide is used provides 2-phenyl-2-oxazoline (see, for example Non-patent Document 1). As the method (2), thionyl chloride is reacted to 2-formamide ethanol to provide 2-oxazoline, and N-(2-hydroxyethyl)benzamide is heated with phosphorous pentoxide to provide 2-phenyl-2-oxazoline (see, for example, Non-patent Document 2). As the method (3), benzoic acid and 2-aminoethanol are heated with alumina to provide 2-phenyl-2-oxazoline (see, for example, Non-patent Document 3). As the method (4), benzonitrile and 2-aminoethanol are heated with calcium chloride at 110 to 120° C. to provide 2-phenyl-2-oxazoline (see, for example, Non-patent Document 4 and Patent Document 1). As the method (5), methyl benzimidate and 2-aminoethanol are heated with alumina to provide 2-phenyl-2-oxazoline (see, for example, Non-patent Document 5). Vinylbenzamide is simply heated to provide 2-phenyl-2-oxazoline. As the method (6), N-allylbenzamide is heated with sulfuric acid to provide 5-methyl-2-phenyl-2-oxazoline (see, for example, Non-patent Document 6).
Accordingly, various kinds of 2-oxazoline compounds can be conventionally produced, and a 2-oxazoline compound having an intended substituent can be produced by selecting a reactant having a suitable substituent. For example, reaction of a 1,2-substituted 2-aminoethanol and a carboxylic acid compound or a nitrile compound can be considered. However, there are often cases where completely no reaction proceeds or cases where severe reaction conditions are needed and unfavorable reaction results are provided, depending on the substituent. Accordingly, there is difficulty in synthesis of a compound having substituents on the 2-, 4- and 5-positions of an oxazoline ring, and it is necessary to provide another measure different from the conventional ones for obtaining a 2-oxazoline compound having an intended substituent.
There are the similar situations for a thiazoline compound, an oxazine compound, a thiazine compound and the like, which are analogue compounds thereof. Specifically, there is no versatile method found for synthesizing an oxazoline analogue or an oxazine analogue having an arbitrary substituent under mild conditions, and a simple synthesis method is being demanded.    Non-patent Document 1: Gabriel Heymann, Chem. Ber., 23, 1890, 2502    Non-patent Document 2: Wenker, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 57, 1935, 1079    Non-patent Document 3: W. Seeliger, Angev. Chem. GE, 78, 20, 1966, 913-927    Non-patent Document 4: W. O, Siegel, J. Org. Chem., EN, 42, 11, 1977, 1872-1877    Non-patent Document 5: Boualem Oussaid, et al., Synth. Commun., EN, 25, 5, 1995, 659-666    Non-patent Document 6: S. Gabriel, R. Stelzner, Chem. Ber., 28, 1895, 2929    Patent Document 1: German Patent No. 2,158,615

Method for producing 2-oxazoline analogue or 1,3-oxazine analogue

Abstract: (In the formula, n represents 0 or 1, and R represents an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom. R1, R2 and R3 each represents an atom or a group shown in Group 1 to Group 3, and R0 represents an atom or a group shown in Group 2 or Group 3. Two or more of R1, R2 and R3 may be bonded to each other to form a ring.

Abstract: Group 1: a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a nitro group, a cyano group, a formyl group, a carboxyl group, a sulfonyl group, a sulfinoyl group or a sulfenyl group;

Abstract: Group 2: an alkyl group, which may have an arbitrary substituent, an aryl group or an aralkyl group; and

Abstract: Group 3: an alkyl-substituted, aryl-substituted or aralkyl-substituted oxy group, a carbonyl group, an oxycarbonyl group, a carbonyloxy group, a thio group, a sulfonyl group, a sulfinoyl group or a sulfenyl group)

National University Corporation Hokkaido University


Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device that can take a connection between layers without giving damage to a layer, which is underlying. The semiconductor device includes forming conductive members Ms and Md at a predetermined position of a semiconductor film, forming an insulating film on a whole surface of a substrate excluding the conductive members Ms and Md, and forming a conductive film that is connected to the semiconductor film with the conductive member Ms and Md.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and electronic equipment.
In electronic devices, such as semiconductor devices, multilayer wiring structure may be adopted for the purpose of high integration. With such a structure, in order to have connection between layers, contact holes are needed. The contact holes are formed by dry etching as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-267320.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and electronic equipment


A method for producing a catalyst containing given atoms in a given atomic proportion for use in producing methacrylic acid through gas-phase catalytic oxidation of methacrolein with molecular oxygen comprising the steps of:                (i) preparing a solution or slurry containing at least molybdenum, phosphorus, and vanadium (liquid I);        (ii) preparing a solution or slurry containing ammonium radical (liquid II);        (iii) preparing a mixture of the liquid I and the liquid II by introducing one liquid (liquid PR) of the liquid I and the liquid II into a tank (tank A) and pouring the other liquid (liquid LA) on a continuous region in the surface of the liquid PR, the continuous region occupying 0.01 to 10% of the whole area of the surface of the liquid PR; and        (iv) drying and calcining the resultant solution or slurry containing a catalyst precursor comprising all the catalyst constituents.

In Patent document 1, a method for preparing a catalyst is disclosed, wherein a homogeneous solution containing at least one element selected from molybdenum, vanadium, phosphorous, antimony, copper and the like, a homogeneous solution containing at least one element selected from potassium, rubidium, cesium and thallium, a homogeneous solution containing at least one element selected from tungsten, beryllium, magnesium and the like, and ammonia if necessary are mixed and the resultant product is dried to obtain the catalyst.
Further, in Patent document 2, a method for producing a catalyst for use in producing methacrylic acid is disclosed, wherein the following step is included in which a solution or slurry containing at least molybdenum, phosphorous and vanadium and a solution or slurry containing ammonium compound are mixed and to the resultant solution or slurry a solution or slurry containing potassium and the like is added. Especially, an embodiment is disclosed in which ammonia water is dropped in a solution containing molybdenum, phosphorus and vanadium to mix both solutions.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 5-31368    Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-296336

Process for producing catalyst for methacrylic acid production, catalyst for methacrylic acid production, and process for producing methacrylic acid