The aqueous effluent from the wash cycle of a process for cleaning electronic circuit assemblies of rosin flux and other organic residues with an aqueous alkaline cleaning solution comprises treating the effluent with an alkaline earth metal compound which reacts with the rosin flux to cause precipitation of an alkaline earth metal rosinate. Alkali saponifiers such as alkali metal carbonates and bicarbonates and carboxylate organic adjuvants in the cleaning solution are also removed from the effluent by reaction with the alkaline earth metal compound to form water insoluble alkaline earth salts which are precipitated from solution.

The cleanliness of electronic circuit assemblies (ECA), such as printed circuit boards (PCB) or printed wiring boards (PWB), is generally regarded as being critical to their functional reliability. Ionic and nonionic contamination on circuit assemblies is believed to contribute to premature failures of the circuit assemblies by allowing short circuits to develop.
In the manufacture of electronic circuit assemblies, ionic and nonionic contamination can accumulate after one or more steps of the process. Circuit assembly materials are plated, etched, handled by operators in assembly, coated with corrosive or potentially corrosive fluxes and finally soldered.
In the fabrication of electronic circuit assemblies, e.g., printed circuit boards, soldering fluxes are first applied to the substrate board material to ensure firm, uniform bonding of the solder. These soldering fluxes fall into two broad categories: rosin and non-rosin, or water soluble, fluxes. The rosin fluxes, which are generally only moderately corrosive and have a much longer history of use, are still widely used throughout the electronics industry. The water soluble fluxes, which are a more recent development, are being used increasingly in consumer products applications. Because water soluble fluxes contain strong acids and/or amine hydrohalides, such fluxes are very corrosive. Unfortunately, residues of any flux can cause circuit failure if residual traces of the material are not carefully removed following soldering and thus remain on an electronic circuit assembly.
While water soluble fluxes can be easily removed with warm, soapy water, the removal of rosin flux from printed circuit boards is more difficult and has therefore traditionally been carried out with the use of chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents such as 1,1,1,-trichlorethane, trichloroethylene, trichloromonofluoromethane, methylene chloride, trichlorotrifluoroethane (CFC113), tetrachlorodifluoroethane (CFC112) or mixtures or azeotropes of these and/or other solvents. These solvents are undesirable, however, because they are toxic and when released into the environment deplete the ozone layer and/or contribute to the greenhouse global warming effect. Thus, use of such solvents is subject to close scrutiny by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and stringent containment equipment must be used. Moreover, if released into the environment these solvents are not readily biodegradable and are thus hazardous for long periods of time.
Alkaline cleaning compounds known as the alkanolamines, usually in the form of monoethanolamine, have been used for rosin flux removal as an alternative to the toxic chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents. These high pH compounds (e.g., about 12 pH), chemically react with rosin flux to form a rosin soap through the process of saponification. Unfortunately, these compounds, as well as the water soluble soldering fluxes, have a tendency to cause corrosion on the surfaces and interfaces of printed wiring boards if such compounds and fluxes are not completely and rapidly removed during the fabrication process.
Other approaches have been used including a highly caustic solution having a pH of 13 in a batch cleaning process and use of terpene compounds in combination with terpene emulsifying surfactants.
The complete removal of adhesive and other residues also poses a problem. During the manufacture of electronic circuit assemblies the components are mounted on the upper surface of the board with leads protruding downwardly through holes in the board and are secured to the bottom surface of the board by means of an adhesive. Further, it is sometimes necessary to temporarily protect certain portions of the board from processing steps such as the process of creating corrosion resistant gold connecting tabs at the board edges. This transient protection of portions of the circuit board can be achieved by the application of special adhesive tape to susceptible areas. Once such protection is no longer needed, the adhesive tape must be removed. In both instances, a residue of adhesive generally remains which, if not thoroughly removed, can cause premature board failure. Removal of this adhesive residue has traditionally been carried out by the use of chlorinated solvents which, as already described, are toxic and environmentally undesirable.
Thus, the residual contaminants which are likely to be found on electronic circuit assemblies and which must be removed include, but are not limited to, for example, rosin flux, photoresist, solder masks, adhesives, machine oils, greases, silicones, lanolin, mold release, polyglycols and plasticizers.
Instead of the toxic chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents and the highly corrosive and highly basic amine cleaning solutions and the other organic solvent cleaning systems which pose problems to the environment, an alternative aqueous alkaline cleaning solution has been developed by the assignee to remove the rosin fluxes, adhesive residues and the like from electronic circuit assemblies. These compositions are set forth in copending commonly assigned U.S. Patent Application Nos. 896,381; 896,660; 896,409; 896,365; 896,379, all filed Jun. 10, 1992 and 731,512, filed Jul. 17, 1991. These applications disclose aqueous alkaline cleaning solutions containing alkaline salts such as alkali metal carbonates and mixtures thereof with alkali metal bicarbonates and adjuvants such as alkali metal silicates to inhibit corrosion and brighten metal components, surfactants to aid in the cleaning efficacy of the cleaning solution, hydrotropes to maintain the surfactant in solution and stabilizers to maintain the alkali metal silicate in solution. These cleaning solutions have a pH ranging from about 10 to 13 and, in particular, are effective at solution pH's of less than 12 and are preferably utilized with an adequate reserve of titratable alkalinity to provide effective cleaning of the rosin fluxes and other adhesive residues and the like from the circuit assemblies.
For the removal of rosin soldering flux deposits, adhesives and the other residues during printed circuit/wiring board fabrication, the aqueous alkaline compositions are applied to the boards by immersion in dip tanks or by hand or mechanical brushing. Alternatively, the cleaning solutions can be applied by any of the commercially available printed wiring board cleaning equipment. Dishwasher size units may be employed, or much larger cleaning systems such as the "Poly-Clean +" and the various "Hydro-Station" models produced by Hollis Automation, Inc. of Nashua, N.H.
The temperature at which the flux removing compositions are applied typically range from room, or ambient, temperature (about 70.degree. F.) to about 180.degree. F., preferably, about 140.degree. to 170.degree. F. The flux removing compositions or concentrates are diluted with water to from as low as about 0.1 percent by weight (or volume) concentration and up to about 15 percent by weight.
Once the solder flux has been loosened and removed during a period of contact which typically ranges from about 1 to about 5 minutes, but may be longer up to about 10 minutes, the boards are taken from the flux removing solution. Another advantage of the aqueous alkaline cleaning solutions described previously and in the aforementioned copending assigned U.S. Applications is that these flux removing solutions need not be flushed with solvents as with the processes of the prior art. The boards are simply flushed with water for a period of up to about 2 minutes. Deionized water is preferred. The optimal rinsing time varies according to the kinds of surfactants and the concentrations of the flux removing solutions used and can easily be determined by routine experimentation.
The effluents from both the wash and rinse cycles from the cleaning process contain rosin flux residues, lead, tin and other materials removed from the electronic circuit assemblies as well as alkali metal carbonate, bicarbonate and silicate salts in addition to surfactants and other polymeric stabilizers used in the cleaning compositions. These effluents without treatment cannot be sewered and, further, cannot be recycled for use in the wash and rinse cycles. For example, in the disposal of industrial cleaning solutions, municipalities often mandate the levels of impurities which are allowable in sewage effluents. Thus, the regulations frequently mandate maximum permitted pH, maximum allowable heavy metals and maximum allowable organics measured as BOD or COD.
Accordingly, a treatment process is needed to remove the contaminants from the wash and rinse water effluents and preferably, provide sufficient removal of these materials such that the water can be directly sewered.
In copending, commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/085,005, filed Jun 29, 1993, a multistage process for treating aqueous alkaline effluents containing rosin fluxes, carbonates, heavy metals and the like is disclosed. The treatment process includes carbon absorption to remove organic residues, ion exchange to remove metals and aeration to remove dissolved CO.sub.2 formed from the carbonates during ion exchange. While the multistage process is an effective method for removing these contaminants from aqueous effluents, when the effluents are more highly concentrated in organic matter, carbonates, metal impurities and the like, passage of such effluents through carbon or ion exchange resin beds may soon overload such beds reducing the efficiency of contaminant removal and requiring substantial time and capital expense in regenerating the beds.

Method of treating aqueous alkaline effluents derived from cleaning electronic circuit assemblies


An exhaust gas oxygen sensor is used to control the air/fuel ratio of an internal combustion engine in combination with an electronic engine control. The exhaust gas oxygen sensor is positioned in the exhaust stream flow from the engine. The electronic engine control utilizes different air/fuel ratio feedback strategies depending upon whether the signal output from the exhaust gas oxygen sensor is saturated indicating a rich air/fuel ratio, saturated indicating a lean air/fuel ratio or operating in a linear region.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic engine control of internal combustion engines.
2. Prior Art
it is known to control the air/fuel ratio (A/F) of internal combustion engines using exhaust gas oxygen sensors positioned in the exhaust stream from the engine and an electronic control module coupled to the exhaust gas sensor. Because of the response time of this system and such components as catalysts in the exhaust gas stream, there are occasions when erratic low frequency oscillations occur with feedback from EGO sensors placed after the catalyst. It would be desirable to eliminate such erratic low frequency oscillations.
It is known to have A/F feedback systems for engines with exhaust gas oxygen (EGO) sensors placed behind the catalyst in an effort to achieve more precise A/F control with respect to the catalyst window. The rationale for this action is illustrated in FIG. 1A and 1B which show catalyst conversion efficiency and EGO sensor output voltage versus A/F irrespectively for sensors located both in front of and behind a typical catalyst. As this figure indicates, the switch point of the precatalyst EGO sensor does not coincide exactly with the catalyst window, whereas the switch point of the post-catalyst sensor generally does.
Unfortunately, closed-loop A/F control systems using feedback from a post-catalyst EGO sensor frequently display erratic low-frequency oscillations under certain operating conditions. Two examples of this are illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B which show plots of post-catalyst EGO sensor output voltage versus time obtained when the engine was operated under closed-loop A/F control using conventional low-gain integral feedback from the post-catalyst EGO sensor. In FIG. 2A, the EGO sensor output voltage shows an erratic low-frequency oscillation of approximately 0.024 Hertz, while in FIG. 2B, the sensor output voltage shows a well-defined oscillation of approximately 0.015 Hertz. Such low-frequency oscillations are somewhat unpredictable, and occur with certain combinations of catalysts and EGO sensors, but not with all. These low-frequency oscillations are undesirable both from an emissions standpoint (because they produce a loss of catalyst conversion efficiency) and from a catalyst monitoring standpoint (because they can cause erroneous indications from the catalyst monitoring system). These are some of the problems this invention overcomes.


Novel and non-trivial systems and methods for generating and providing alerts in a terrain awareness and warning system (“TAWS”) are disclosed. The systems could be comprised of a navigation system, an airport-related database, a terrain database, a terrain alert processor, and crew alerting system. A phase of flight and flight attitude parameter may be determined based on the location to the nearest airport or runway environment, and a terrain clearance altitude associated with the phase of flight and flight attitude parameter may be added to the highest elevation of a terrain cell over which the aircraft is projected to operate to determine a minimum operating altitude of the terrain cell. If the aircraft altitude is less than any value of minimum operating altitude along the projected flight path, an alert signal is generated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of terrain awareness and warning systems employed in aircraft.
2. Description of the Related Art
Beginning in the early 1970's, a number of studies looked at the occurrence of "controlled flight into terrain" (CFIT)-type accidents, where a properly functioning airplane under the control of a fully qualified and certificated crew is flown into terrain (or water or obstacles) with no apparent awareness on the part of the crew. Findings from these studies indicated that many such accidents could have been avoided if a warning device called a ground proximity warning system ("GPWS") was used. There have been numerous patents issued in the field of GPWS and related art. A sampling of patents issued in the art and related art include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,839,080; 6,092,009; 6,122,570; 6,138,060; 6,219,592; and 7,145,501.
Advances in technology have permitted vendors and designers of avionics equipment to develop newer type of GPWS that provides greater situational awareness for flight crews. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA") has classified such systems as Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems ("TAWS"). The advancement of technologies—more precise navigation systems, increased computer memory storage, and better display technology—have allowed further development of in the common features of TAWS: (1) use of airplane position information from the aircraft's navigation system(s), (2) an onboard terrain database, and (3) a means of displaying the surrounding terrain. Aircraft position information from the aircraft's navigation system is fed to a TAWS computer. The TAWS computer compares the airplane's current position and flight path with the terrain database associated with the system. If there is a potential threat of collision with terrain, the TAWS computer sends warning alerts to the airplane's audio system.
There are scenarios for which TAWS has been implemented. These scenarios may be categorized by the flight operations in which aircraft accidents have occurred: departure operations, enroute operations, and arrival operations. First, departure operations could include accidents in which the aircraft does not climb fast enough to clear a terrain cell of interest and in which a pilot has leveled off before the aircraft has achieved the appropriate altitude to clear the terrain. Second, enroute operations could include accidents associated with level flight into terrain and descending flight into terrain. Third, arrival operations could include accidents associated with premature descents and late level-offs in a step down arrival procedure. The embodiments disclosed herein present novel and non-trivial systems and methods which address these scenarios by generating an alert signal as a function of a phase of flight and flight attitude parameter and a required terrain clearance altitude associated with such parameter.

System and methods for generating alert signals in a terrain awareness and warning system


A laser patterning examining apparatus includes a fixing plate, a rotating plate configured to move vertically with respect to the fixing plate and to rotate, a housing connected to the rotating plate, a laser emission unit over the fixing plate and emits a laser beam, a prism unit on the housing and refracts a first portion of the laser beam received from the laser emission unit and transmits a second portion of the laser beam, and a beam profiler on the housing and analyzes the pattern of the first portion refracted by the prism unit.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a laser patterning examining apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile electronic apparatuses, including tablet personal computers and small electronic devices, e.g., mobile phones, are in wide use. To support various functions, such mobile electronic apparatuses include a display unit for providing visual information, such as an image, to users. With a recent trend toward miniaturization of other components for driving a display unit, the importance of the display unit to electronic apparatuses is gradually increasing, and a display unit which is flat, but still bendable at predetermined angles, is under development.
Such a display unit may be formed via various processes. To form this display unit, an organic electro-luminescent (EL) layer may be formed by transferring an organic material via laser transfer patterning. In this laser transfer patterning, since successful formation of an organic EL layer may be determined by the pattern of a laser beam, examination of a laser beam pattern is necessary before performing laser transfer patterning.


In an electrical connector for connecting first and a second connection objects through a plurality of contacts, a housing includes a front housing for receiving the first connection object and a rear housing coupled to the front housing in a first direction and for receiving the second connection object. The contacts include first and second signal contacts and a first and a second ground contacts. Front contacting portions of the fist signal contact and the first ground contact and front contacting portions of the second signal contact and the second ground contact are arranged on different rows in the front housing. Rear contacting portions of the fist signal contact, the second signal contact, and the first ground contact and rear contacting portion of the second ground contact are arranged on different rows in the rear housing.

This invention relates to an electrical connector for electrically connecting two connection objects and, in particular, to an electrical connector suitable for transmitting a high-frequency signal, such as a digital signal, between two connection objects.
As an electrical connector of the type, there is known an electrical connector according to the HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface, HDMI is a trademark or a trademark registration of HDMI Licensing, LLC) standard. Referring to FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 2, examples of use of conventional electrical connectors will be described.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a first example will be described. A right-angle connector 800 as a receptacle connector according to the HDMI standard (may simply be referred to as a HDMI receptacle connector) is mounted to a digital electronic apparatus 500 such as an optical disk recorder. The connector 800 serves to connect a peripheral apparatus (not shown) such as a digital display or an associated apparatus (not shown) such as a set-top box (STB) for cable television broadcasting to the digital electronic apparatus 500 through a plug harness 200 according to the HDMI standard (may simply be called a HDMI plug harness).
The electronic apparatus 500 comprises a casing 501, a main board 502, and a subsidiary board 506. The main board 502 and the subsidiary board 506 are disposed inside the casing 501. The kind of subsidiary board serves as an interface for contact pitch-converting between two electrical connectors connected to the subsidiary board.
On the main board 502 provided with a conductor having a circuit pattern, a receptacle connector 504 and various electronic devices (not shown) forming an electronic circuit and including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) are mounted.
On the subsidiary board 506 similarly provided with a conductor having a circuit pattern, the above-mentioned right-angle connector 800, various electronic devices including a digital transmission chip 503, and a receptacle connector 507 are mounted. The electronic devices are not illustrated in the figure except the digital transmission chip 503. The digital transmission chip 503 serves to perform bidirectional conversion between a signal according to a standard processed by the electronic circuit formed on the main board 502 and a signal according to the HDMI standard (may simply be called a HDMI signal).
Those elements, such as the connectors and the electronic devices, mounted on the main board 502 and the subsidiary board 506 are fixed to and electrically connected thereto by soldering leads, pins, or lands of the elements to corresponding lands formed on these boards.
The main board 502 and the subsidiary board 506 are connected to each other through a flexible flat cable (FFC) 505 having plug connectors formed at opposite ends thereof. Instead of the FFC 505, a flexible printed circuit (FPC) may be used. For convenience of assembling and maintenance of the electronic apparatus 500, the plug connector at one end of the FFC 505 is adapted to be removably fitted to the receptacle connector 504 mounted on the main board 502. Similarly, the plug connector at the other end of the FFC 505 is adapted to be removably fitted to the receptacle connector 507 mounted on the subsidiary board 506.
Referring to FIGS. 1B and 2, a second example will be described. The right-angle connector 800 as a HDMI receptacle connector is mounted to a digital electronic apparatus 600 in order to connect a peripheral apparatus (not shown) to the digital electronic apparatus 600 through the HDMI plug harness 200.
The electronic apparatus 600 comprises a casing 601, a main board 602, and a subsidiary board 606. The main board 602 and the subsidiary board 606 are disposed inside the casing 601.
On the main board 602 provided with a conductor having a circuit pattern, various electronic devices including a CPU and a digital transmission chip 603, and a receptacle connector 604 are mounted. The electronic devices are not illustrated in the figure except the digital transmission chip 603.
On the subsidiary board 606 similarly provided with a conductor having a circuit pattern, the above-mentioned right-angle connector 800 and a receptacle connector 607 are mounted.
Those elements, such as the connectors and the electronic devices, mounted on the main board 602 and the subsidiary board 606 are fixed to and electrically connected thereto by soldering leads, pins, or lands of the elements to corresponding lands formed on these boards.
The main board 602 and the subsidiary board 606 are connected to each other through a FFC 605 having plug connectors formed at opposite ends thereof. For convenience of assembling and maintenance of the electronic apparatus 600, the plug connector at one end of the FFC 605 is adapted to be removably fitted to the receptacle connector 604 mounted on the main board 602. Similarly, the plug connector at the other end of the FFC 605 is adapted to be removably fitted to the receptacle connector 607 mounted on the subsidiary board 606.
However, in various arrangements using the conventional electrical connectors of the type, including the examples illustrated in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 2, impedance mismatching is caused to occur at a portion where the connector and the subsidiary board are connected to each other. Furthermore, the conductors on the subsidiary board, including the circuit pattern and the lands, are susceptible to noise and produce a crosstalk. This results in a problem that a digital signal as a high-frequency signal transmitted between the digital transmission chip and the connector is seriously degraded.
In addition, the electronic apparatus is desired to be simplified in structure, reduced in size, decreased in weight, and lowered in cost. Accordingly, the arrangement including the electrical connector and used in the electronic apparatus is desired to be further simplified in structure, further reduced in size, further decreased in weight, and further lowered in cost.

Electrical connector suitable for transmitting a high-frequency signal

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited


The invention relates to processes for preparing, and pharmaceutical compositions of, modafinil dosage forms for oral administration. The dosage forms include a mixture of coarse and fine particles of modafinil. The process for preparing modafinil oral dosage forms includes forming a dosage form that includes about 7%–25% by weight of modafinil particles having diameters greater than 220 μm and about 75%–93% by weight of modafinil particles having diameters less than 220 μm.

Modafinil is a wakefulness-promoting agent indicated for use in narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia. It also is used for improving memory and mood. Compared to amphetamines and methylphenidate, modafinil is less likely to cause jitteriness, anxiety, or excess locomotor activity. The precise mechanism of action is not fully understood but it is thought to modulate the central postsynaptic alpha1-adrenergic receptors. However, modafinil has a different pharmacokinetic profile compared to the sympathomimetic agents, such as amphetamines and methylphenidate.
The benzhydrylsulfinyl acetamide structure of modafinil makes it insoluble in water (less than 1 mg/ml) as well as unstable at higher temperatures. These physicochemical properties decrease the drug's potential for abuse via injection or smoking, and lead to reduced cases of dependency compared to amphetamines.
Over the years, more than 40% of the potential candidates in drug discovery and research have failed to emerge as drugs due to their poor biopharmaceutic properties. Most of these are rejected due to poor solubility characteristics and further development is continued only if the new molecule has some marked advantage over the existing molecules indicated for the similar use.
The most common approach used to address the problem of insolubility is by either reducing the drug's particle size or micronizing the drug to the size of a few microns, which increases the effective exposed surface area. Dosage forms which contain micronized drug particles exhibit enhanced solubility and consequently an increase in the bioavailability of the drugs. However, technical and economical problems can arise. For example, highly micronized drug particles possess poor flow properties and an increased chance of re-agglomeration during processing. In some cases, re-agglomeration of micronized drug particles may be so problematic that the basic objective of enhancing the solubility by increasing the effective surface area may be unmet.
U.S. Pat. No. RE 37,516 discloses a method of size reduction and a pharmaceutical composition that has at least 95% of the modafinil particles having a diameter of less than 200 μm.

Processes for the preparation of oral dosage formulations of modafinil


An image stabilization or vibration reduction facility for a riflescope and firearm has a transparent optical element that refracts incoming rays passing based on motion, to provide a stabilized image, which is transmitted to a user along an optical path of a rifle scope. A feedback transducer connected an output signal from the stabilization facility indicates a characteristic of the output signal. The transducer may be a second reticle that moves based on motion of the riflescope to indicate the degree of deflection by the stabilization facility, and may illuminate when the stabilization facility is in a neutral condition without deflection. The rifle may include a trigger block the prevents trigger operation until a neutral condition is detected. A rangefinder and wind indicator input may be provided, with the stabilization facility refracting the incoming image to compensate for bullet drop at the indicated distance, and for the effects of the indicated wind speed and direction; the riflescope may omit conventional bullet drop and windage adjustment elements.

Rifles used for precision long range shooting, whether for military, law enforcement, hunting, or target shooting, often employ high power telescopic sights or riflescopes that provide a magnified image of the target, with crosshairs or another reticle at the same focal distance as the image. Other than the reticle, the riflescope provides a clear optical path that provides the shooter with a much clearer image of the target area than does the naked eye. Such riflescopes are generally elongated and compact compared to the dimensions of the rifle, so that they do not add excessive bulk and weight to the rifle. For longer ranges, higher magnifications are often employed.
A significant limitation of shooting accuracy is presented by unsteadiness of the rifle. Bench-rest competition shooters employ stable platforms for their rifles to remove this source of motion. However, most other shooters must content with imperfect supports for their rifles, with a standing shooter hand-holding a rifle being a relatively unstable condition for example. With accurate rifles capable of accuracies of better than one minute of angle or about one inch per hundred yards, even slight movements of the rifle can lead to inaccuracies far in excess of the capability of the rifle. Even a shift of only 0.01 inch by the muzzle of the rifle can generate such a significant inaccuracy. Moreover, factors such as wind and the shooter's breathing and heartbeat can generate such deviations in aim. In a combat or hunting context, the shooter's physiological responses to stress or excitement can significantly worsen the motion associated with holding an imperfectly-supported rifle.
The motion or shake that causes shooting inaccuracy also presents a visual problem. High-powered riflescopes magnify the motion, blurring the image. This makes it difficult to detect, acquire, and identify targets. A shooter might prefer a higher-powered rifle scope for accuracy, except that the shaky image in actual use makes such magnification impractical.
For weapon systems where optical acuity, bulk, weight, and power consumption do not appear to be concerns, it has been proposed to employ a gyroscopically-stabilized television image as a fire-control sighting system for a weapon on a moving platform to provide a still image. This is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,494 to Philbrick et al. The Philbrick system projects an image of the target on a photodetector, which converts the image into an electronic signal. An electron beam regenerates the image on a phosphor screen that is viewed by the user. The regenerated image is stabilized by a facility that shifts the electron beam based on gyroscopic inputs. While apparently suitable for aiming large weapon systems, it does not appear to be suitable for applications where a high quality image, and small size, low weight, low cost, and simplicity are desired. Moreover, it appears unsuited to adapt to existing rifle scopes.
The Philbrick patent further describes the system applied to a weapon with an electronic trigger system, so that the sighting system itself automatically sends an electronic signal that fires the weapon when the sight is in a neutral or "home" position in which the image is not shifted, unless the user inhibits firing by releasing pressure on a trigger solenoid. Thus, the Philbrick system is further unsuitable for adaptation to convention rifles using mechanical triggers.


The invention includes liquid formulations of botulinum toxin that are stable to storage in liquid form at standard refrigerator temperatures for at least 1–2 years and to storage at higher temperatures for at least 6 months. The invention also includes methods of treatment using such formulations for various therapeutic and cosmetic purposes.

Botulinum toxin is a polypeptide product of the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The toxin causes muscle paralysis in mammals by blocking presynaptic release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction. While the toxin has long been associated with fatal botulism, in recent years it has been used therapeutically to treat certain involuntary muscle movement disorders including focal dystonias (such as strabismus, essential blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm), as well as segmental dystonias (such as torticollis, oromandibular dystonia, and spasmodic dysphonia) and spasticity. The toxin has also found utility in various cosmetic indications, such as non-surgical reduction of "frown lines" on the face as well as in the treatment of hyperhydrosis (excessive perspiration).
Currently, there are two botulinum toxin (type A) preparations that are approved for therapeutic use in humans—"BOTOX®" (Oculinum®; Allergan Inc., Irvine, Calif.) and "DYSPORT®" (Spexwood Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.; U.K). Both these formulations are provided to clinicians in lyophilized (freeze-dried) form for reconstitution just prior to use.
Due to patient-to-patient variations in dosage requirements, the dosage needed for any individual patient may vary considerably. Moreover, for certain indications, the clinician must administer only a small fraction of the contents of a prepared vial over a protracted period of time, which may be several hours. Although one published study has indicated that liquid botulinum toxin formulations can be re-frozen and thawed with substantial retention of activity (Schantz and Kautter, 1978), more recent studies assessing the activity of the reconstituted toxin have demonstrated that "BOTOX®" loses at least 44% of its potency when it is reconstituted and stored under standard refrigerator (approximately 4° C.) for 12 hours. Moreover, when the reconstituted formulation was stored in a sub-zero freezer at −70° C., it lost about 70% of its potency after two weeks (Gartlan and Hoffman, 1993). For these reasons, it is recommended that such compositions not be used later than 4 hours after reconstitution. This can result in a significant waste of drug and cost to the patient.
There is therefore a need for a ready-to-use liquid formulation of botulinum toxin that can be conveniently shipped, stored and used as needed by the clinician. The present invention provides such a formulation.

Stable liquid formulations of botulinum toxin


A method of forming a sputter target/backing plate assembly comprises the steps of: providing a target fabricated from a first material having a coefficient of thermal expansion; providing a backing plate fabricated from a second material having a coefficient of thermal expansion; providing a block fabricated from a third material having a coefficient of thermal expansion; positioning the block on one side of the backing plate; positioning the target on the other side of the backing plate; and subjecting the target, backing plate and block to elevated temperature and pressure to bond the target, backing plate and block together. The third material is selected so as to have a coefficient of thermal expansion which counteracts the effects of the coefficients of thermal expansion of the first and second materials. The third material may be selected so as to have a coefficient of thermal expansion which is approximately the same as the coefficient of thermal expansion of the first material.

Sputtering is the deposition of a thin film of a desired material on a substrate. Sputtering is employed to manufacture semi-conductor devices such as integrated circuits. In a sputtering operation, the material to be deposited on the substrate is removed from a sputter target by bombarding the target with ions. In addition to removing material from the target for deposit on the substrate, ion bombardment transfers thermal energy to the target. It is therefore generally necessary to provide a means of cooling the target during the sputtering operation to prevent the target from overheating.
The target is traditionally mounted to a backing plate. Cooling liquid is circulated in heat transfer contact with the backing plate to remove heat transferred to the target by the bombarding ions. It is important that there be good thermal, as well as structural, bonding between the target and backing plate to ensure adequate heat transfer from target to backing plate to coolant and to ensure the structural integrity of the target/backing plate connection during sputtering.
One technique for bonding the target to the backing plate is known as diffusion bonding. In diffusion bonding the target/backing plate bond is produced by pressing the material surfaces into intimate contact while applying heat to induce metallurgical joining and diffusion to varying extent across the bond interface. Bonding aids, metal combinations which are more readily joined, are sometimes applied to one or both of the surfaces to be bonded. Such coatings may be applied by electroplating, electroless plating, sputtering, vapor deposition or other usable technique for depositing an adherent metallic film. It is also possible to incorporate a metallic foil between bonding members which foil has the ability to be more easily bonded to either of the material to be joined. The surfaces to be joined are prepared by chemical or other means to remove oxides or their chemical films which interfere with bonding.
The target/backing plate assembly may be diffusion bonded using techniques such as hot isostatic pressing ("HIPing") or uniaxial hot pressing ("UHPing"). In UHPing, the unbonded assembly is placed between a pair of plungers, platens or rams. These rams are contained within a control chamber which allows for the control of temperature, pressure and other atmospheric conditions. The controlled atmosphere is a vacuum, reducing gas or inert gas, or a combination thereof. The temperature in the uniaxial hot press control chamber is increased in order to heat the unbonded assembly. The assembly is heated to a temperature somewhat below the homologous melting point of the metal used for the backing plate. By elevating the temperature of the assembly to a temperature somewhat below the melting point of the backing plate material, the backing plate softens, and upon pressing, forms a tight interface with the treated bonding surface of the sputter target. As the assembly is heated, a compressing force is applied on the assembly by the rams in a uniaxial direction. The assembly is maintained in the control chamber under these temperature, pressure and atmospheric gas conditions for a period of time sufficient to form the bonded sputter target/backing plate assembly.
In HIPing, the treated sputter target and backing plate are oriented to form an assembly having an interface defined by the bonding surfaces, and this assembly is placed within a HIPing canister. Once the assembly is placed in the HIPing canister a vacuum is pulled on the canister and the canister is then placed within a HIPing chamber. The ambient atmosphere in the HIPing chamber is replaced with a true inert gas, such as argon or helium. In addition, the temperature and pressure in the HIPing chamber are increased as discussed above with respect to UHPing, in order to form a bonded sputter target/backing plate assembly. Again the assembly is heated to a temperature somewhat below the homologous melting point of the metal used for the backing plate, and the HIPing canister and assembly contained therein are compressed from all sides at elevated pressure. The assembly is maintained at the desired temperature, pressure and atmospheric conditions for a sufficient period to form the bonded target/backing plate assembly.
Representative times, temperatures and pressures for UHPing and HIPing are disclosed in application Ser. No. 08/426,246 filed Apr. 21, 1995, entitled Sputter Target/Backing Plate Assembly And Method Of Making Same, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference herein as fully set forth in its entirety.
Due to coefficient of thermal expansion induced shrinkage of the bonded target/backing plate during cooling subsequent to the diffusion bonding, any mismatch between the thermal expansion coefficients of the target and backing plate creates stresses in the assembly which can distort the assembly and/or crack the target.
One particular material from which targets are fabricated is tungsten-titanium. Target/backing plate assemblies wherein the target is fabricated from tungsten-titanium have typically employed titanium as the backing plate material to avoid a coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch between the target and backing plate. Titanium is expensive, however, and is thus not desirable as a material from which to fabricate backing plates. Less expensive materials, such as aluminum, have significantly different thermal expansion coefficients from that of tungsten-titanium though, resulting in target/backing plate assembly distortion and/or target cracking.
It is therefore a main objective of the present invention to provide a target/backing plate assembly and method of making same which can accommodate mismatch between target and backing plate coefficients of thermal expansion so as to not jeopardize the thermal and/or structural bond integrity between the target and backing plate.

Sputter target/backing plate assembly and method of making same


A pitching practice apparatus includes a frame unit having a rectangular frame member, X-axis and Y-axis sensor units mounted on the frame member, a control unit connected to the sensor units and to a sound generating device, and a net body provided on the frame unit. The sensor units are operable so as to form sampling regions for sensing entry of a ball into the frame member. The control unit determines position of the ball entering into the frame member, and compares the ball position with preset parameters to determine whether the ball is a good ball or a foul ball. Ball information determined by the control unit is shown on a display device. The sound generating device is used to generate a sound output corresponding to status of the ball that was thrown into the frame member as determined by the control unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a practice apparatus, more particularly to a pitching practice apparatus which permits setting of a strike zone and which is capable of indicating ball speed and generating sound effects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pitching practice apparatus for developing throwing technique are known in the art. Examples of conventional pitching practice apparatus include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,333,856 and 5,803,842.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,856, there is disclosed a pitching practice apparatus that includes a main frame member and a backstop member supported by the main frame member. A strike zone member is attached to the backstop member and forms a pouch to collect balls that are thrown toward the strike zone member.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,842, there is disclosed a collapsible pitcher's practice cage that includes a frame having pivotally coupled first and second frame portions movable to open and closed positions, and a foldable fabric enclosure coupled to the first and second frame portions and to be struck by balls thrown during practice.
The aforesaid conventional pitching practice apparatus are unsatisfactory since no means is provided for informing the pitcher as to the ball speed and as to whether or not a thrown ball fell within a strike zone.


A specialized lighting fixture, such as a framing projector provided with a plurality of adjustable framing shutters, is modified to incorporate a pair of locking rings, surrounding the body of the lighting fixture and positioned on opposite sides of outwardly projecting portions of the framing shutters. After initial adjustment of the framing shutters has been completed, the locking rings are tightly compressed together, as by locking screws positioned between adjacent pairs of framing shutters, to lock the shutters in position against unintended dislodgment. For lighting fixtures of non-uniform shape, the locking rings may be made in two parts, preferably hinged together, which are secured together after being positioned on the housing of the lighting fixture. The locking rings are particularly adapted for retrofit installation on lighting fixtures of existing design.

For theatrical lighting, and for various applications of specialized commercial lighting, it is a common practice to utilize special lighting fixtures occasionally track mounted but more frequently mounted in other ways, which can be aimed and focused on a particular area. Such lighting fixtures typically incorporate a relatively high intensity light source, one or more focusing lenses, and provisions to accommodate accessory cartridges with filters, etc. for achieving a variety of specific lighting effects. Many such lighting fixtures also incorporate adjustable framing shutters that are movable to positions partially blocking and shaping the light source. Typically, there are a plurality of such shutters, for example four, spaced around the circumference around the lighting fixture. These are adapted to be manually adjusted inward and outward with respect to the center line of the lighting fixture, and also to be tilted, all for the purpose of enabling the light discharged from the fixture to be rather precisely shaped and confined, such that it may be directed with a considerable degree of precision at a particular object area to be illuminated.
Framing shutters for lighting fixtures of the type described above advantageously can include a shutter panel, which projects more or less radially into the interior of the lamp housing. The shutter is formed of relatively thin sheet metal and typically has an integral extension arm projecting generally radially outward of the lamp housing and mounting a handle at its outer end. Friction elements act on the shutter plates, tending to hold them in any position in which they are set.
In a typical setup operation, a lighting technician will aim and focus the lighting fixture and, in conjunction therewith, will shift the framing shutters radially inward or outward, and perhaps tilt one or more of them in their planes, with the end result that the focused beam is both confined and shaped in a manner calculated to achieve a desired effect.
In many, if not most, situations, once a lighting fixture has been aimed, focused and the light beam suitably shaped and confined with the framing shutters, it may be expected to remain in that setting for an extended period of time (e.g., weeks or months). In many cases, however, the lighting fixture may be subject to bumping, jarring, vibration, etc., which can have the effect of shifting one or more of the framing shutters from its originally adjusted position. This can occur over a period of time, as where the fixture may be subject to a vibrational environment, or it may happen more abruptly if a handle of a framing shutter is accidentally bumped.

Shutter lock for specialized lighting fixtures


A superconducting magnet is accessible for ramping within a cryostat by inserting flexible current leads through openings in the cryostat and pushing and twisting these leads inward until connections are made with electrical contacts provided on the superconducting magnet. For each current lead, a permanently installed channel guides the lead as it is pushed through the external opening and extends to make contact with the magnet terminal. The guide channel extends outside of the cryostat and includes an internal or external bend, whereby the overhead space required for the cryostat/magnet assembly may be reduced. After ramping, the leads are withdrawn.

This invention relates generally to the ramping or upgrading in performance of an operating superconducting magnet, and more particularly relates to a method and apparatus providing improved high current connections to a superconducting magnet. As is known in the art, a superconducting magnet surrounded with liquid helium in an evacuated jacket, can operate with little maintenance over extended time periods when the apparatus has been constructed with high integrity to minimize heat gain and thereby to reduce consumption of helium.
Nevertheless, from time to time it becomes necessary to increase or decrease the superconductive current, that is, to charge or ramp, the superconducting magnet to restore a level of electrical performance that has slowly deteriorated, or to decrease the current to zero for service of other components. The interval between rampings in a well designed system may be a year or more. However, a need for ramping does inevitably arise.
The cryostat system including the magnet is designed with recognition that during the ramping procedure a charge of high current will be input to the magnet through connection terminals that are provided within the cryostat and are accessed, generally, through the top of the cryostat chamber. Access to the current terminals from the sides of the magnet or from below could also be provided. A fill port for helium is also generally provided at the top of the cryostat.
Desirably, permanent leads would be provided on the magnet, connected fixedly to terminals readily accessible from the outside of the cryostat for ramping purposes. However, this is an impractical concept. Such leads permanently extending from the cryogenically cold magnet towards the outer surfaces of the cryostat at room temperature would be a conduit for in-leakage of thermal energy that would result in substantially increased consumption of helium. Especially considering that ramping is a procedure that may not occur but once every year or two, it is desirable that minimization of heat in-leakage be achieved with priority over convenience in making electrical lead connections when ramping the superconducting magnet. Thus, it has become an accepted practice to use ramping leads that are connected only for actual ramping procedures, and then are removed.
A problem arises in many installations of superconducting magnets as a result of this necessity to occasionally adjust the magnet current. Namely, the requirement for access to the interior of the cryostat may affect ceiling space requirements at the installation. Clearance at the top of the cryostat/magnet assembly to permit the occasional access of ramping leads to the magnet in many installations will take away space that otherwise could be used for containing a larger cryostat/magnet assembly or a lower ceiling. In fact ceiling restrictions are an important limitation when installing magnets in a pre-existing facility. Thus the need for convenient ramping using high current carrying leads and the desire to optimize the magnet installation size are in contradiction.
What is needed is a method and apparatus for use in ramping a superconducting magnet whereby high current leads may be connected and disconnected to and from the magnet with reduced adverse effect on ceiling space requirements for the installation.

Method and apparatus for connecting high current ramping leads to a superconducting magnet


Image sensors and methods of operating image sensors. An image sensor includes an array of pixels and an array of color filters disposed over the array of pixels such that each different color filter is disposed over multiple pixels. A method of operating an image sensor including an array of two by two blocks of single color pixels includes determining a level of incident light, determining an incident light value corresponding to the level of incident light and comparing the incident light value to a predetermined threshold value. If the incident light value is less than the predetermined threshold value, a combined signal is read from the two by two blocks. If the incident light value is less than the predetermined threshold value, an individual signal is read from each pixel.

In general, the present invention relates to novel color pixel arrays for use in CMOS imagers.
Imagers, including complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imagers and charge-coupled devices (CCDs), may be used in digital imaging applications to capture scenes. An imager includes an array of pixels. Each pixel in the array includes at least a photosensitive element for outputting a signal having a magnitude proportional to the intensity of incident light contacting the photosensitive element. When exposed to incident light to capture a scene, each pixel in the array outputs a signal having a magnitude corresponding to an intensity of light at one point in the scene. The signals output from each photosensitive element may be processed to form an image representing the captured scene.
In one CMOS imager design, each pixel further includes a floating diffusion region for temporarily storing a signal from the photodiode, a reset transistor for resetting the floating diffusion region and the photodiode, a select transistor for selecting a pixel for read out and a source follower transistor for reading out the level of the pixel. Using this design, each pixel produces a signal, which is read out individually on an output line at a respective collection point. Each signal is then processed to form an image.
To capture color images, the photo sensors should be able to separately detect photons of wavelengths of light associated with different colors. For example, a photo sensor may be designed to detect first, second, and third colors (e.g., red, green and blue photons). To accomplish this, each pixel in the array of pixels may be covered with a single color filter (e.g., a red, green or blue filter). The single color filters may be arranged into a pattern to form a color filter array ("CFA") over the array of pixels such that each individual filter in the CFA is aligned with one individual pixel in the array. Accordingly, each pixel in the array may detect the single color of light corresponding to the filter aligned with it.

Color pixel arrays having common color filters for multiple adjacent pixels for use in CMOS imagers


The present invention provides a film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) filter that can keep the Q factor high. The FBAR filter comprises a first FBAR with a first resonant frequency and a second FBAR with a second resonant frequency, formed on a same substrate. The FBAR filter has such a structure that a first underlayer is formed between the substrate and a first bottom electrode layer and a second underlayer is formed between the substrate and a second bottom electrode layer, the first underlayer thickness being different from the second underlayer thickness.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to film bulk acoustic wave resonator filters employing film bulk acoustic wave resonators (hereinafter referred to as FBARs) and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the proliferation of mobile communication typified by mobile telephony, there is an increasing need for radio frequency filters for several hundred MHz to several GHz. Among many types of filter technologies, a filter that is constructed from FBARs has features of excellence in the following respects: (1) higher frequency operation, (2) smaller construction, (3) temperature characteristics, and (4) high voltage immunity.
A basic FBAR structure is as follows: a piezoelectric layer is sandwiched between a bottom electrode layer and a top electrode layer and an underlayer supports this sandwich over a cavity (for example, refer to non-patent document 1). By applying an electric signal between the two electrodes isolated by the piezoelectric layer, bulk acoustic waves are excited in the piezoelectric layer. At this time, the path of the bulk acoustic waves is a diaphragm structure consisting of the sandwich and the underlayer. Because the top and bottom of the diaphragm structure are acoustically isolated by air, the bulk acoustic waves reflect from the interfaces between the diaphragm structure and the air, which prevents the acoustic energy from leaking out of the diaphragm structure.
To facilitate fabrication of a number of FBARs with different resonant frequencies on a single substrate, the following-improved FBAR structures are known: a structure in which a loading electrode is added to the bottom surface of the bottom electrode layer (for example, refer to patent document 1); a structure in which a loading layer is added to the surface of the piezoelectric layer (for example, refer to patent document 2); and a structure in which a loading electrode is added to the surface of the top electrode layer (for example, refer to patent document 3).
An FBAR filter employing FBARs for a 5 GHz, high-speed wireless LAN has lately been made in pubic (for example, refer to non-patent document 2). In this publication, only a general description is provided as: "designed topology consists of four stages of ladder type filters in which mass loads are applied to shunt resonators only."    [Patent document 1]    JP-A No. 2002-299980    [Patent document 2]    JP-A No. 2002-299979    [Patent document 3]    JP-A No. 2002-335141    [Non-patent document 1]    1994 IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium, pp. 135-138    [Non-patent document 2]    2002 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 969-972

Film bulk acoustic wave resonator, film bulk acoustic wave resonator filter and method of manufacturing film bulk acoustic wave resonator


A system and method for verifying cache snoop logic and coherency between instruction cache and data cache using instruction stream “holes” that are created by branch instructions is presented. A test pattern generator includes instructions that load/store data into instruction stream holes. In turn, by executing the test pattern, a processor thread loads an L2 cache line into both instruction cache (icache) and data cache (dcache). The test pattern modifies the data in the dcache in response to a store instruction. In turn, the invention described herein identifies whether snoop logic detects the change and updates the icache's corresponding cache line accordingly.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system and method for verifying coherency between instruction cache and data cache. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method that test cache snoop logic and coherency between instruction cache and data cache using instruction stream "holes" that are created by test pattern branch instructions.
2. Description of the Related Art
A processor test team typically employs test patterns to verify and validate a system design. Processor testing tools exist whose goal is to generate the most stressful test pattern for a processor. In theory, the generated test pattern should provide maximum test coverage and should be interesting enough to stress various timing scenarios on the processor. The whole technology of these tools sits in the logic of building these test patterns.
When an architecture permits an application to use the same memory page for both instructions and data, a possibility exists that a particular cache line may be pulled into both instruction cache (icache) and data cache (dcache). This is especially true when the application employs self-modifying code. As a result, maintaining coherency between icache and dcache is critical in order to ensure that updated instructions are picked for execution. In order to maintain coherency, snoop logic must detect changes in L1 cache lines and update other corresponding L1 cache lines accordingly. A challenge found, however, is that test applications use different cache lines for instructions and data even when they share the same page. As a result, existing art does not test situations when a particular cache line loads into both instruction cache and data cache.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method that generates test patterns that test coherency between instruction cache and data cache.

System and method for verification of cache snoop logic and coherency between instruction & data caches for processor design verification and validation

International Business Machines Corporation


A treatment method is disclosed for treating a bodily tissue utilizing one or more steps of removal of material as well as one or more steps of energy delivery in order to effectively treat the bodily tissue. These mechanisms of treatment may beneficially be used to induce separate treatment effects, for example to treat both the symptoms and the underlying cause of a specific pathological condition. In addition, a specific application of the inventive method is described for using the inventive method to treat an intervertebral disc.

In many pathological conditions, unwanted material exists in the body. A few of the examples include: tumors growing at cancerous sites, excess fluid at a site of infection or injury, foreign biological material within a parasitic cyst, and herniation of a tissue, such as the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc. Removal of the unwanted material, which can be performed by a variety of known methods, may relieve the symptoms of the pathology, for example by reducing the pressure of inflammation, or by shrinking a herniation. Removal alone, however, may not offer any protection against recurrence of the pathology. In the intervertebral disc, for example, herniation of the nucleus pulposus may be caused by weakening of or damage to the annulus fibrosus, the ring of tissue surrounding the nucleus; removal of herniated material of the nucleus pulposus may relieve pressure within the disc, but if the annular wall remains weak, herniation may recur.
Energy delivery is used to treat various pathologies and can, among many other uses, be used to kill cells, lesion tissue, disrupt neural function, and cause collagen contraction. For example, energy delivery may be used to treat fissures and tears in the annulus fibrosus of the intervertebral disc by causing collagen contraction and remodeling to tighten, strengthen, and weld the material of the annulus fibrosus. If the disc is herniated, however, material may need to be removed from the herniation or from other areas of the disc, in order to change the profile of the disc, and reduce the disc volume, prior to heating. In some cases, following delivery of energy to the tissue, for example, to kill tumor cells, it may be desirable to remove the necrosed tissue from the treatment site. Thus, it would be beneficial to have a treatment procedure incorporating both the removal of material as well as the delivery of energy during the course of a single procedure.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A wiring substrate comprised of a substrate main body made of glass-ceramic, a pad formed on a surface of the substrate main body and a conductor pin provided in an upright position on the pad. The pad is comprised of a ceramic that is the same as the ceramic constituting the glass-ceramic, Fe converted into Fe2O3 and Cu. The Fe2O3 comprises 1 to 28 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the Cu.

A wiring substrate including a substrate main body made of low dielectric loss glass-ceramic, and a low-resistant Cu-based metal pad formed on at least one of the front surface and the back surface of the substrate main body is especially preferable for mounting thereon an electronic part which is used in high-frequency region.
Further, by soldering a conductor pin to the pad made of Cu-based metal, the resultant wiring substrate can be widely used, for example, for mounting MPU thereon and, in the optical communication field and the like, for mounting optical communication elements thereon.
On the other hand, there is suggested a metal-containing paste composition composed of a conductive first metal (for example, copper), an oxidizable second metal (for example, iron), and an organic medium, and a method for sintering the same. This metal-containing paste composition has a volume shrinking rate similar to that of glass-ceramic, and exhibits enhanced adhesion to the glass-ceramic. (See, for example, U.S. Letters Pat. No. 5,336,444).
Further, there is also suggested an electronic circuit apparatus in which a wiring conductor made of Cu-based metal and a joint electrode are formed on a substrate material made of glass-ceramic, and an Au—Ni protective film is formed on the joint electrode, and electronic parts and input/output pins are bonded on the protective film via a Au—Sn-based brazing material and the like. (See, for example, U.S. Letters Patent No. 5,731,066).
By the way, there is a case where the joint electrode (pad) made of the Cu-based metal of U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,066 is formed on the surface of the substrate main body made of glass-ceramic using the metal (copper)-containing paste composition of Patent Document 1, and a conductor pin made of copper alloy is bonded onto thus-formed electrode via Sn—Sb-based alloy soldering and the like.
However, when an external force is applied to the conductor pin along a substantially axial direction, crack generates on the interface between the electrode and the glass-ceramic material. As a result, there may arise a case where the solder, said electrode, and the glass-ceramic material adjacent to this electrode peel off from the substrate main body together with said conductor pin. For this reason, a problem arises that conduction cannot be established between the internal wiring of the wiring substrate, and the relay board and the mother board via the conductor pin.
The present invention overcomes these and other problems and provides a wiring substrate which exhibits enhanced adhesion between a substrate main body made of glass-ceramic and a pad formed thereon, and exhibits enhanced joint strength of a conductor pin which is soldered to the pad.

Wiring substrate and bonding pad composition


A non-contact probe provides information as to relative amplitudes of harmonics of a current or voltage waveform as well as total harmonic distortion. The probe includes a non-contact sensor with an amplifier coupled thereto. Output signals from the amplifier are digitized and analyzed in a programmed processor. Output from the processor provides a display of relative harmonic amplitudes as well as an indicator of total harmonic distortion.

Current measuring devices of a clamp-on or proximity-type are known. Such devices have historically been used to make current measurements in situations where it has been either impractical or undesirable for one reason or another, such as high voltage and/or high current applications, to use directly coupled current measuring instruments. Depending on the application, other parameters or total harmonic distortion (THD) may in fact be more important than amplitude of the composite current waveform.
There continues to be a need for non-contact harmonic distortion measuring instruments which provide information about the ratio of the amplitudes of harmonics present in the current or voltage waveform being measured as well as distortion information. Preferably, such instruments would use a non-contact measuring technique in combination with analysis circuitry for providing real-time read outs of relative amplitude values of harmonics present in the signal being measured along with indicia of harmonic distortion.

Current and voltage probe for measuring harmonic distortion


A liner hanger will actuate remotely in a well to support a liner in casing. A running tool is secured to drill pipe and attached to the upper end of the liner. The liner hanger mounts to the exterior of the liner and includes a pair of tapered wedge members mounted in opposition to each other. The lower wedge member is stationarily secured to the liner for movement with it. The upper wedge member is carried in an extended running-in position by a retainer. A stop member is mounted above the lower wedge member by a connector. The connector secures the stop member to the liner for movement with it while running-in. Once on bottom, the stop member is released from the connector by stroking the drill pipe. Continued upward movement of the drill pipe will be relative to the stop member because it will engage the casing to remain stationery with the casing. The wedge members will move upward, with the upper wedge member contacting the stop member and being prevented from further upward movement. The retainer shears, allowing the lower wedge member to continue upward movement, sliding and wedging against the upper wedge member to lock the liner to the casing.

In well drilling, particularly for oil or gas, casing is cemented in the well to seal off the formation. For pressure control and the protection of fresh water formations, the well will have multiple strings of casing, each string of casing being smaller in diameter than the one above. In one technique, each string of casing extends completely to the surface where it is supported at a wellhead by a casing hanger. In another technique, liners are employed. A liner is a string of casing that will overlap the next upward string of casing, but will not extend completely to the surface. This avoids additional costs of several strings of concentric casing in the shallower portions of the well.
The upper end of the liner has to be remotely attached by a liner hanger to the casing, normally near the lower end of the casing. When installing a liner, normally a special section of pipe, called a mandrel, will be attached to the upper end of the liner. The mandrel will be machined to accept the liner hanger assembly. Because the mandrel must have a performance rating equal to the pipe of the liner, normally the customer will supply for machining a section of the actual liner to be used. A running tool will engage the mandrel, and the entire assembly will be lowered into the well. After the liner reaches bottom, the operator will actuate the liner hanger to secure the mandrel to the casing.
The operator will cement the liner into the well, in some cases before actuating the liner hanger, on other cases after. Usually a cement bushing will be employed with the running tool to locate inside the mandrel. This cement bushing engages the mandrel to support the running tool and drill pipe against an upward force that occurs while pumping the cement down the drill pipe. After the cement has set and the liner hanger has been set, the operator withdraws the running tool and cement bushing. The mandrel and liner hanger assembly will remain in the well.
There are many different types of liner hangers and different techniques employed for setting liner hangers. In one technique, hydraulic force is used to set the liner hanger. The hydraulic force may be supplied by pumps on the rig pumping down the drill pipe. The flow must be diverted through a fluid port in the running tool and the mandrel to apply the fluid pressure to the liner hanger on the exterior of the mandrel. The flow is diverted by dropping a ball or dart from the surface, which opens and closes various passages once seated. A considerable amount of time is required for the ball to reach the running tool, often several hours. During this time period, the operator is normally unable to circulate fluid through the liner. If the liner has not already been cemented in place, keeping the liner stationary in an open hole without the ability to circulate can be dangerous.
In another hydraulic type, hydraulic force is supplied by a hydraulic chamber exposed to wellbore fluids. The operator must raise and lower the drill pipe to provide the increased pressure. This system may prevent the operator from raising and lowering the drill pipe prior to setting for other purposes.
Other liner hangers are operated mechanically, which involves rotating and moving the drill pipe axially to actuate the liner hanger. For example, J-pins and J-slots may be employed which, when rotated, move the liner hanger to different positions. In highly deviated wells, it is difficult to rotate the drill pipe. Other mechanical running tools do not have the ability for the operator to stroke the liner up and down after the liner reaches bottom without causing setting of the hanger. As a result, the operator may be unable to reciprocate the liner during cementing, which often is a good procedure to follow.
The requirement of specially prepared mandrels is a disadvantage. The machining is done at a shop, not in the field. Consequently, delays may occur, and it is costly to ship the liner section to a shop and back to a wellsite. Moreover, in some costly corrosion-resisting casing strings, machining may damage the properties of the mandrel. Inspections are necessary to make sure that the machining operations have not harmed the metal of the pipe.
Additionally, in very long liners it may be desired to spread the load support by the liner hanger to the casing at various points along the overlapped region. Liner hangers used, however, support the liner only at the top of the liner. Other liner hanger systems and running tools may not have the ability to automatically fill the drill pipe while the liner is being run. The customer may prefer to have the drill pipe filled while being run. If so, then the customer must manually fill it from the drill rig, which takes additionally time.

Liner hanging, sealing and cementing tool


The present invention provides a display device which forms thin film transistor circuits differing in characteristics from each other on a substrate in mixture and a fabrication method of the display device. On a glass substrate having a background layer which is formed by stacking an SiN film and an SiO2 film, a precursor film which is constituted of an a-Si layer or a fine particle crystalline p-Si layer is formed and the implantation is applied to the precursor film. Here, an acceleration voltage and a dose quantity are adjusted such that a proper quantity of dopant is dosed in the inside of the precursor film. When the precursor film is melted by laser radiation, the dopant dosed in the precursor film is activated and taken into the precursor.

The present invention relates to a fabrication method of a flat-panel-type display device, and more particularly to a display device which can form a large number of thin film transistors which differ in operational characteristics on a substrate with small number of steps and a fabrication method thereof.
Flat-panel-type display devices adopting various methods such as a display device capable of performing a high-definition color display for a notebook type computer or a display monitor, a liquid crystal display device which uses a liquid crystal panel as a display panel for a mobile phone, an organic electroluminescence display device (organic EL display device) which uses electroluminescence (particularly organic electroluminescence) elements or a field emission type display device (FED) which uses field emission elements have been already put into practice or in the process of studies for putting the display device into practice.
With respect to the flat-panel-type display device, there has been developed a so-called system-in-panel which directly builds a display region on which a large number of pixels which are constituted of a thin film transistor circuit are arranged in a matrix array and peripheral circuits (including for example, a scanning signal drive circuit, a video signal drive circuit for driving the pixels and other peripheral circuits which are arranged around the display region) and the like in an insulating substrate made of glass or the like. The transparent insulating substrate in which various kinds of thin film transistor circuits are built is also referred to as a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate or an active matrix substrate, wherein in general, the thin film transistors having various characteristics are built in the substrate using a low-temperature poly silicon semiconductor film. The substrate in which the thin film transistors are built in is also expressed as the TFT substrate or simply as the substrate in the explanation made hereinafter.
In building the pixel circuits which form the display region on the same substrate which constitutes the flat-panel-type display device and, at the same time, in building a large number of thin film transistor circuits including peripheral circuits (for example, the scanning signal drive circuit, the video signal drive circuit and other peripheral circuits) in a periphery of the substrate, channel regions which have threshold voltages which differ in response to operational performances of the respective circuits are formed on semiconductor layers of the same substrate.
As one method, there has been proposed a method in which a semiconductor layer of a thin film transistor forming portion of the circuit which does not require a high speed operation is formed of a poly silicon (p-Si) layer (having a relatively large particle size) (for example, formed by annealing using an excimer laser (ELA) using an amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer or a fine crystal poly-silicon layer as a precursor), and a channel region of the circuit which requires a high-speed operation is selectively pseudo-single-crystallized to form a pseudo-single-crystalline silicon semiconductor layer using a solid laser, a continuous oscillation laser or the like. Here, the pseudo-single-crystalline silicon semiconductor layer implies, although described in detail later, a semiconductor layer which grows relatively large crystals (having a strip-like shape, for example) compared to usual poly-silicon crystals which constitute so-called granular crystals but are not regarded as single crystals.
When the TFTs which differ in characteristics, that is, the TFTs which are built in the poly-silicon semiconductor film formed by a technique such as ELA, and the TFTs which are built in the pseudo-single-crystalline silicon semiconductor layer formed by using a solid laser, a continuous oscillation laser or the like are allowed to coexist on the same substrate, it is necessary to control the characteristics (mainly threshold voltages) of the respective TFTs.
Here, patent documents which disclose the related art on the pseudo-single-crystals, for example, J-P-A-2002-222959 (patent document 1), J-P-A-2003-124136 (patent document 2), J-P-A-2003-086505 (patent document 3) can be named.

Display device and fabrication method thereof


A baseplate for a flat panel display comprising relatively thick semiconductor substrate, wherein the semiconductor substrate is a macro-grain polycrystalline substrate, which is amorphized by ion implantation or reformed by recrystallization, to obscure the grain boundaries, thereafter redundant circuitry may be fabricated thereon to further enhance product yield.

Flat panel displays have become increasingly important in appliances requiring lightweight portable screens. Currently, such screens use electroluminescent or liquid crystal technology. A promising technology is the use of a matrix-addressable array of cold cathode emission devices to excite phosphor on a screen.
In field emission display (FED) technology, glass substrates with evaporated molybdenum tips have been fabricated according to the "Spindt" process which was disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,665,241, and 3,755,704, and 3,812,559 and 5,064,396. This process has the drawback that the integrated circuit drivers are not possible on the same substrate as the tips.
A process for constructing emitter tips of silicon, typically <100> orientation, is described in U.S. Pat. application Serial No. 837,833, entitled "Method of Creating Sharp Asperities and other Features on the Surface of a Semiconductor Substrate," having the same assignee as the present application. While this approach has merit in that it allows the formation of integrated circuits which lowers the cost of the drivers, as well as the complexity of the drivers, it also has a drawback which is the relatively high cost of the substrates currently available. Through the use of a relatively thick substrate of macro-grain polycrystalline silicon according to the present invention, the best of the low-cost and integrated drivers can be realized.
Macro-grain polysilicon is relatively easy to make. Molten silicon is simply allowed to cool. The size of the grains is dependent on the rate of cooling. The faster the silicon cools, the smaller the grains. The manufacturing process is less sensitive and less time consuming than making monocrystalline wafers, and as a result, the macro-grain wafers cost less. In fact, macro-grain polysilicon is even cheaper than using a glass substrate. This is because high temperature glass is the preferred glass for the fabrication of flat panel displays, and such glass is more costly than macro-grain polysilicon.
A great deal of research has been conducted in the area of large grain amorphous silicon substrates which are comparatively thin (i.e. less than 1 micron) for use in liquid crystal displays (LCD's). The amorphous silicon does not have a definite arrangement of the silicon atoms. A representative grain size would be in the range of 50 nm, although grain sizes used in such research do vary significantly.
In contrast, the present invention relates to macro-grain polycrystalline substrates which are relatively thick (i.e. greater than 300 microns). In such a case, the atoms are arranged in unit cells, but the unit cells are not in a regular arrangement with each other, and the cells have very large grain boundaries. Macro-grain being defined as a substrate in which less than 1% of the crystal grains are smaller than 0.5 mm.
The grain boundaries are essentially defects in the substrate, and the present invention provides a means for overcoming these substrate defects, and effectively using the substrate in a flat panel display unit. The grain boundaries represent a change in the orientation of the crystalline structure of the substrate. First quality silicon wafers have a single crystal (or monocrystalline) orientation, and are the desired substrate for integrated circuit fabrication.
One of the problems which results from the presence of grain boundaries is the unpredictability in etching steps. When the etching material hits a grain boundary, the material is hindered, and the result of the etch step is a often a defective device. On a wafer containing many integrated circuit devices, the loss of a single chip may not be a significant commercial loss. However, in the fabrication of flat panel display devices, a single defect can result in the loss of the whole wafer, since the wafer as a whole is commonly employed in the display unit. A device defect appears as a black spot or line through the screen, and thus makes the entire unit unmarketable.
One advantage of macro-grain polysilicon substrates is their availability in relatively large sizes at comparatively low costs. A further advantage is that macro-grain substrates are adaptable to high temperature processing. A still further advantage of macro-grain polysilicon substrates is that such substrates have a thermal co-efficient of expansion which matches the co-efficient of expansion of the active silicon devices which are fabricated thereon.
Another further advantage of the present invention is that the use of redundant circuitry on a macro-grain substrate will tend to improve the yield because such redundant circuitry compensates for the possibility that a device is inadvertently placed at a major grain boundary.

Field emission structures produced on macro-grain polysilicon substrates


A turbine power system that includes a compressor for compressing a first medium, and an electrochemical converter in communication with the compressor and adapted to receive the first medium and a second medium. The converter is configured to allow an electrochemical reaction between the first and second mediums, thereby generating electricity and producing exhaust having a selected elevated temperature. The power system further includes a turbine in fluid communication with the electrochemical converter and adapted to receive the converter exhaust, such that the turbine converts the electrochemical converter exhaust into rotary energy and electricity. The system can further include a steam generator and a steam turbine that produces electricity. The electrochemical converter is utilized herein as an electrochemical combustor-replacement (ECCR) or as a fuel cell for combustor-replacement (FCCR).

This invention relates to gas or steam turbines, and specifically to high performance power systems employing such devices.
Conventional high performance gas turbine power systems exist and are known. Prior gas turbine power systems include a compressor, a combustor, and a mechanical turbine, typically connected in-line, e.g., connected along the same axis. In a conventional gas turbine, air enters the compressor and exits at a desirable elevated pressure. This high-pressure air stream enters the combustor, where it reacts with fuel, and is heated to a selected elevated temperature. This heated gas stream then enters the gas turbine and expands adiabatically, thereby performing work. One deficiency of gas turbines of this general type is that the turbine typically operates at relatively low system efficiencies, for example, around 25%, with systems of megawatt capacity.
One prior art method employed to overcome this problem is to employ a recuperator for recovering heat. This recovered heat is typically used to further heat the air stream prior to the stream entering the combustor. Typically, the recuperator improves the system efficiency of the gas turbine upwards to about 30%. A drawback of this solution is that the recuperator is relatively expensive and thus greatly adds to the overall cost of the power system.
Another prior art method employed is to operate the system at a relatively high pressure and a relatively high temperature to thereby increase system efficiency. However, the actual increase in system efficiency has been nominal, while the system is subjected to the costs associated with the high temperature and pressure mechanical components.
Still another prior art method utilized by plants having power capacities above 100 MW is to thermally couple the high temperature exhaust of the turbine with a heat recovery steam generator for a combined gas turbine/steam turbine application. This combined cycle application typically improves the system operating efficiency upwards to about 55%. However, this efficiency is still relatively low.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for high performance power systems. In particular, an improved gas turbine power system that is capable of integrating and employing the desirable properties of electrochemical converters would represent a major improvement in the industry. More particularly, an integrated electrochemical converter and gas turbine system that reduces the costs associated with providing dedicated thermal processing systems while significantly increasing the overall system power efficiency would also represent a major improvement in the art.

Ultra-high efficiency turbine and cell combination


A method of displaying the probabilities associated with a Markov model as a series of interactive plots is disclosed. Three dimensions of probability data associated with a Markov model are presented to a user in a concise manner. Heat maps are used to display probability data from a Markov model so that the user can identify and understand hidden patterns and information in the data such as state and emission transitions which are not possible to see with conventional state diagram plots.

A Markov model is a common statistical tool for modeling structured processes or phenomena that include randomness in both the output and the state of the process. Such models are used in many fields including in computational biology for modeling of protein family sequences, in speech recognition and in financial modeling. Markov models are generally represented by state diagrams showing both the emission probabilities and the transition probabilities of the system being modeled. Emission probabilities show the probabilities of certain outputs. Transition probabilities are the probabilities of changing the state of the model. State diagrams are useful for visualizing the architecture of the model and for seeing how the model can transition from one state to another. If the identity of the state itself is hidden from an outside observer, the Markov model is said to be a Hidden Markov model.
Unfortunately state diagrams do not represent an ideal method of conveying probability information from a Markov model to a user. Where there are a large number of states in the system being modeled, the state diagram may become confusing. Additionally, the state diagram may become too large to quickly provide information at a glance to a user as it may require several pages/display screens to display all of the states.
FIG. 1 depicts a state diagram 1 of a Hidden Markov model being used in profile alignment of amino acid sequences from a protein family. The circles represent states and the arrows represent state transitions. As the size of the state diagram grows, the transitions become more difficult to follow and represent in a concise manner to a user. For large models with a repetitive architecture, it is less important to see the representation of the architecture than it is to understand the changes in the emission and transition probabilities throughout the model.

System and method for visualizing repetitively structured Markov models


A system and method displays a safe route from a location to a destination that avoids one or more hazards detected, such as a fire or a gas leak.

Many research and manufacturing facilities have equipment and materials that can pose a hazard to personnel during an emergency. For example, equipment can malfunction and catch on fire, and emit smoke or other dangerous gases or have other effects that can be hazardous to personnel using the manufacturing facility. Materials may be hazardous if exposed to personnel, or may be hazardous if improperly handled, for example, by mixing one harmless material with another harmless material that can produce a harmful compound.
When a hazardous condition exists in a facility, it may be desirable to direct personnel to a destination such as a nearest exit, a meeting area, or a supply of equipment that can protect personnel, address the hazard, or both. Different personnel may require different destinations when dealing with the hazard. For example, if a fire breaks out, some personnel may wish to locate the nearest exit that is safely accessible, while other personnel may wish to know where protective clothing and firefighting equipment may be located.
There have been proposed certain evacuation systems that can assist personnel in safely evacuating an area containing, or potentially containing, hazards. For example, the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,301, entitled, "Guidance Method and Apparatus in Case of Emergency Evacuation" addresses shining a laser light towards an emergency exit if a hazardous condition is detected to allow personnel to quickly locate an exit. However, such a system can actually be harmful if the emergency condition is near the emergency exit. For example, if the hazardous condition is a pending explosion that will occur near an emergency exit or a fire occurring immediately outside the exit, pointing to the exit may not be a benefit to the personnel. Even if the hazardous condition is nowhere near the emergency exit, if a hazard exists between the person and an exit, merely directing the person towards that exit can be harmful to that person because it directs him or her right into the hazard on the way to the exit. For example, a release of a cloud of odorless, colorless, poisonous gas halfway between an individual and an emergency exit is not best handled by pointing to that exit with a laser light. Furthermore, the aforementioned patent cannot respond to other information such as a suspected pattern of movement, such as the drift of a gas given the airflow patterns in a facility. Additionally, the patent addresses all hazards in exactly the same way: sending everyone to the exit, which does not assist those persons who may be able to address the hazardous condition or otherwise require a different destination.
Another system is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,499, entitled, "Emergency Guidance System", which addresses lamps embedded at the edges of an aisle in an airplane. Sensors near exit locations determine whether the exit location is safe to use and a chasing lamp pattern directs the passengers to the nearest safe exit, with detectors mounted at the exists determining which exits are safe. However, like the laser beam system above, the system does not address hazards to a user between a passenger and the exit, or suspected changes to the hazard. Furthermore, the system is expensive to install in a research, manufacturing or other facility where there are a multitude of paths one can take to reach an exit because each path must be marked. Furthermore, the user of such a system must watch the lamps constantly, because the user has no idea where the lamps will lead him or her. While this system can operate where there are few alternative paths, the paths are predictable and the paths do not cover significant distances such as in an airplane, in a research, manufacturing or other facility, if there are a multitude of alternate paths to a safe exit, and if those paths can be more than a short distance, such a system can slow the user's escape so much that it could be more dangerous to follow its direction than not to follow it. Furthermore, the system can force the user to watch the lamps so carefully, that the user would not notice subsequent hazards, like other users running into the same aisle.
It can also be desirable to predict hazardous conditions that may not be detected and to direct personnel to locations that avoid the predicted hazardous condition. For example, if smoke is detected, it can be desirable to direct personnel to exits upwind of the smoke, avoiding exits in the path of the smoke, to ensure that they are not directed into hazards not detected. None of the aforementioned patents takes into account the prediction of hazardous conditions that are not detected or directing personnel to locations that avoid the predicted hazardous conditions.
It can further be desirable to allow personnel to communicate with others such as rescue personnel so that they may request assistance or report circumstances which may not be known. None of the patents described above provides any capacity for such communication.
It can also be desirable to allow rescue personnel or others to track personnel who may be in a facility in which a hazardous condition has been detected. It can be especially helpful to inform personnel such as rescue personnel of the existence of other personnel who are stranded in a facility in which a hazardous condition exists with no means of escape that avoids all hazardous conditions. Such information can be used to allow rescue personnel to provide a means for escape for such stranded personnel. For example, if a fire is blocking the exit of a group of people with all other groups of people having a safe exit from the building, firefighters can focus their firefighting or rescue efforts on allowing the stranded group to escape.
During the occurrence of a hazardous condition, it may be desirable to optionally have access to information about the area in which the hazardous condition exists. Such information may include information about which chemicals in solid, liquid or gaseous form are in use at different areas around the area, the work in process in the area, permit information and other information to allow decisions to be made about how to respond to the hazardous condition. Such information can be used to determine not only how to escape, but also how to minimize damage from the emergency.
What is needed is a system and method that can direct a user to a destination using a safe path when a hazard exists in a facility, without requiring the user to stare at a sequence of chasing lamps to locate the safe exit, that can predict undetected hazardous conditions and direct users to the destination that avoids the predicted hazardous condition, that can allow personnel to communicate, that can track personnel and identify personnel stranded due to one or more hazardous conditions, and that can provide access to other information about the area near the one or more hazards.

System and method for displaying safe exit routes during an emergency condition

CH2M Hill Industrial Design & Construction, Inc.