This invention relates to stable aromatic amine compositions. These compositions comprise a) a compound selected from the group consisting of aldehydes, ketones, acetals and ketals, and b) an aromatic amine. This invention also relates to a process for stabilizing the color of aromatic amines, and to the use of these aromatic amines as initiators for the preparation of polyether polyols.

This invention relates to a composition comprising an aromatic amine compound and a small quantity of a compound selected from the group consisting of aldehydes, ketones, acetals and ketals. The present invention also relates to a method for preventing the discoloration of aromatic amines, and to a process for the production of light colored aromatic amine based polyether polyols.
One of the problems or disadvantages associated with amine group containing compounds is the tendency of these compounds to discolor. Discoloration of some amine group containing compounds such as, for example, ortho-toluenediamine (o-TDA), darken immediately upon exposure to air, while others such as, for example, aniline, are more stable and darken slower over time. The aliphatic amine group containing compounds also discolor over time at room temperature, but generally speaking, these discolor at a much slower rate than the aromatic amine group containing compounds.
Amine group containing compounds are known to be suitable initiators for preparing polyether polyols. Various amine initiated polyether polyols and the process for their production are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,264,268, 3,314,995, 3,446,848, 3,462,492, 3,499,009, 4,209,609, 4,391,728, 4,421,871 and 4,562,290, and as described in British Patents 1,073,664, 1,311,095 and 1,398,185.
The use of discolored amine group containing compounds as initiators in the production of polyether polyols results in the polyether polyols also being discolored. The dark color of the resultant polyether polyols is irreversible. Therefore, a means of preventing discoloration of amine group containing compounds and/or reducing the color of polyether polyols started from amine group containing compounds are commercially desirable.
One way of avoiding/preventing discoloration of these amine group containing compounds and polyether polyols prepared from these compounds, is to immediately form polyether polyols from the amine group containing compounds after distillation, before they come into contact with air. This, however, requires that the amine group containing compounds and the resultant polyether polyols be produced in the same plant, with no time lapse between the point of distilling the amine containing compounds and when these are used as initiators to form polyether polyols. Otherwise, stringent engineering measures are required to ensure that the amine compounds are oxygen-free at all points in the process between the time they are purified and used. Currently, it is necessary to keep the entire process totally under nitrogen to prevent and/or minimize this discoloration.
In accordance with the present invention, it was found that the addition of a relatively small quantity of certain groups of compounds to aromatic amine compounds surprisingly formed compositions which are stable against discoloration. This is true even after storing the treated aromatic amine compositions in a 100.degree. C. oven for 4 weeks. Polyether polyols can then be produced from these treated aromatic amine compounds, without the derogatory color effects one would normally expect.

Stable aromatic amine composition, a process for preparing color stable aromatic amines, and the production of light colored aromatic amine-based polyether polyols


To enable satisfactory simultaneous and widely varied pictures to be obtained, for example, by allowing a common user to obtain an overall picture while the common user performing desired image capturing, or the like. A first image capturing device image-captures a subject to record this image, and also transmits a trigger signal to a second image capturing device. The second image capturing device image-captures an image to record this image in accordance with the trigger signal. Thus, the first and second image capturing devices enable both of an overall image and a zoomed image to be obtained with simultaneous timing.

In recent years, for example, small video cameras for recording image-captured pictures in disc media or tape media have been widely used, thereby providing a situation wherein a user can readily perform video shooting for enjoyment.
For example, many people perform image capturing using video cameras at athletic meets, various types of events, amusement parks, holiday resorts, and so forth.
Also, as the environment in which a common user can readily enjoy still images and moving-images picture at home or the like is being developed, various types of services such as distribution services of moving images and still images, shooting services at amusement parks, and so forth, have been proposed or realized. For example, with Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-148822, technology for performing a shooting service has been disclosed.

Image capturing system, image capturing device, and image capturing method


A method of measuring surface roughness is provided in which a video image f a surface area is formed and partitioned into a set of regions that cover the video image. Each region is of equal size. A fractal dimension value is calculated for each region. The fractal dimension values for the regions are averaged to form an average fractal dimension value associated with the particular region size. The steps of partitioning, calculating and averaging are repeated for additional set(s) of regions with each region from an additional set being of an equal and unique size. When all average fractal dimension values are plotted as a function of region size, a best-fit straight line is defined. A combination of the slope and y-intercept of the straight line is indicative of surface roughness of the surface area.

The complexity and precision requirements of mechanical products require improved methods of determining, producing and controlling the surface finish of both cast and machined items. Furthermore, increased production efficiency requirements and increasing rework costs demand accurate and consistent assessment of product quality. Surface roughness, or texture, is an important characteristic of both cast and machined products that describes the extent and average size of surface irregularities. Commonly expressed in micro inches, surface roughness is a measure of the arithmetical average deviation of surface irregularities from a hypothetical perfectly smooth surface and is typically denoted by .mu.AA. Increasing manpower costs, increasingly competitive commercial environments and other cost saving measures, are challenging many traditional methods of evaluating surface roughness.
When a precise surface roughness measurement is required, the physical dimensions of surface irregularities can be measured using a profilometer, a device in which the deflection of a diamond tipped stylus is measured as it moves over a surface. The profilometer provides very accurate measurement of surface feature height, but only along a narrow sample of the surface. Thus, many measurements must be taken and averaged together to provide an assessment of surface roughness over an area. Such a procedure can be very time consuming and consequently prohibitively expensive in mass production applications. Finally, any physical contact device is impractical or impossible to use in applications where the product is made of soft materials that might be damaged by the stylus or where the geometry of the product prohibits its use.
Although surface roughness can be precisely measured using a profilometer, it is more common in many applications to determine surface texture by visually comparing the product surface with a known surface roughness standard. A commonly used standard is the Fowler Casting 52-725-334, which has casting samples of roughness measures from 32 to 2000 .mu.AA. Visual comparison of a manufactured surface to a surface standard is a subjective human operation requiring trained experts to assess surface roughness. This approach produces inconsistent results that are dependent upon the experience, knowledge, fatigue level, etc., of the expert.
To save money, surface roughness evaluation often involves only a statistical sampling of a number of parts from a particular lot of manufactured parts. These samples are visually inspected by experts who have been trained to assess the surface finish and the occurrence of various abnormalities, such as porosity and voids, in the exposed surfaces. Such visual inspection is time consuming and can require destruction of the part in order for the inspector to view all critical surfaces. In addition, statistical sampling of casted lots does not provide a representative measure of an entire lot because there is no correlation between the casting process and various molds. Therefore, statistical independence can only be assumed as numerous external factors that affect the quality of the casting have not yet been controlled in such a fashion as to be correlated among the many separate molds that might be used in the manufacturing process. The inability to statistically predict the production quality of castings precipitates the requirement of 100% testing thereby ruling out any destructive test processes.
Surface roughness measurement devices based on the physical theories of light relating the angular distribution of scattered light to the topography of the surface (diffraction theory) do exist. However, this approach is useful only where the average roughness of the surface is much less than the wavelength of the incident radiation. Other optical and image processing methods that correlate the angular diffraction of scattered light and polarity changes of incident light to surface topography have been proposed but require the use of large and expensive optics.

Method and system for measuring surface roughness using fractal dimension values

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


Due to an ever growing shortage of conventional energy sources, there is an increasingly intense interest in harnessing solar energy. This invention deals with method and apparatus for the direct conversion of solar energy to alternating current power by an active spinning mini-optics system. A limiting factor in the utilization of solar energy in the past has been the high cost of power conversion from dc to ac. By directly producing alternating current power, this invention substantially reduces the cost of generating photovoltaic electricity. This system utilizes a dynamic spinning ensemble of mini-mirrors to both concentrate and modulate rays from the sun onto a photovoltaic collector array. The focusing with superimposed spinning action produces single phase and multiphase alternating current (ac) with substantially higher power output than the direct current (dc) power resulting from the direct incidence of sunlight on the photovoltaic collector.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to method and apparatus for the direct conversion of solar energy to alternating current power by an active spinning mini-optics system. This system utilizes a dynamic spinning ensemble of mini-mirrors to both concentrate and modulate rays from the sun onto a photovoltaic collector array. The spinning of mini-reflectors with superimposed dc bias produces alternating current (ac) with substantially higher power output than the direct current (dc) power resulting from the direct incidence of sunlight on the photovoltaic collector. Due to an ever growing shortage of conventional energy sources, there is an increasingly intense interest in harnessing solar energy. A limiting factor in the utilization of solar energy has been the high cost of power conversion from dc to ac.
This invention provides a low cost means for achieving affordable solar energy by greatly reducing the cost of solar concentrators which increase (concentrate) the density of solar energy incident on the solar energy converter and concurrently produce ac. For example, for the purpose of generating electricity, a large area of expensive solar cells and their dc to ac conversion equipment may be replaced by a small area of high-grade photovoltaic solar cells operating in conjunction with the inexpensive intelligent spinning mini-optics concentrator of this invention. Thus the instant invention can contribute to the goal of achieving environmentally clean energy on a large enough scale to be competitive with conventional energy sources.
This invention is less expensive than conventional solar photovoltaic systems for three reasons. First it produces ac directly without the need for expensive auxiliary dc to ac conversion equipment. Second due to miniaturization, the amount of material needed for the concentrating optical system is much less. Third, because the mini-optical solar concentrator is light-weight and flexible, it can easily be attached to existing structures. This is a great economic advantage over all existing solar concentrators which require the construction of a separate structure and large guidance system to support and orient them to intercept and properly reflect sunlight. Such separate structures must be able to survive gusts, windstorms, earthquakes, etc. The instant invention utilizes existing structures which are already capable of withstanding such inclement vicissitudes of nature.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The inventor of this instant invention is the co-inventor of the patent application entitled, "Mini-Optics Solar Energy Concentrator" which was allowed for U.S. Patent on Apr. 22, 2003, but which has not issued as yet. This prior art application does not in any way deal with the production of alternating current power.
There are many prior art patents that deal with twisting balls (gyricon) displays or separable particle displays. These may be broadly catagorized as permanently pre-formed, and formable surface balls. Electric or magnetic fields are used to orient or move these polarized or charged balls. None of the prior art utilizes the balls to optically concentrate (focus) and modulate light as in the instant invention. Furthermore the prior art neither teaches nor anticipates application of the conversion of solar energy to electricity (ac or dc) or any other form of energy. These verities are evident from an examination of the prior art. A large representative sample of the prior art will now be enumerated and described. This together with the references contained therein constitutes a comprehensive compendium of the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,332 issued to J. M. Crowley on May 19, 1998 deals with gyricon bi-colored balls whose reflectance is comparable with white paper. The object is to produce a monolayer gyricon display.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,783 issued to J. M. Crowley on Sep. 15, 1998 deals with gyricon bi-colored balls "having superior reflectance characteristics comparing favorably with those of white paper." Again the objective is a display application.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,805 issued to J. M. Crowley on Jun. 22, 1999 utilizes two sets of gyricon bi-colored balls "having superior reflectance characteristics comparing favorably with those of white paper" for display purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,091 issued to N. K. Sheridon and J. M. Crowley on Apr. 25, 2000 utilizes gyricon bi-colored cylinders. Again the objective is a display application.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,621 issued to E. Kishi, T. Yagi and T. Ikeda on Jun. 6, 2000 utilizes sets of different mono-colored polarized balls which are separable for a display device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,531 issued to N. K. Sheridon on Aug. 1, 2000 teaches a method for making magnetized elements (balls or cylinders) for a gyricon display.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,588 issued to J. M. Jacobson on Sep. 19, 2000 describes a display device which uses mono-colored elements that are electronically addressable to change the pattern of the display.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,153 issued to N. K. Sheridon on Jan. 16, 2001 teaches apparatus for the purpose of a gyricon display.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,192.890 B1 issued to D. H. Levy and J. -P. F. Cherry on Feb. 27, 2001 is for a changeable tattoo display using magnetic or electric fields to manipulate particles in the display.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,998 B1 issued to N. K. Sheridon on Apr. 3, 2001 teaches a method of addressing a display by a combination of magnetic and electric means. U.S. Pat. No. 6,262,707 B1 issued to N. K. Sheridon on Jul. 17, 2001 has a similar teaching for a gyricon display.
A large number of prior art devices have been described, all of which are directed at addressing and changing the pattern of a display device. While there are other such prior art teachings, none of them teaches or anticipates the instant invention.

Spinning concentrator enhanced solar energy alternating current production


A water-dilutable polyester resin ABCD having a mass fraction of from 1 to 10% of units derived from unsaturated cocondensed building blocks, an olefinic double bond content of from 10 to 2 000 mmol/kg, and a sulfonic acid group content of from 20 to 300 mmol/kg, modified if desired by copolymerizing olefinically unsaturated monomers in the presence of the polyester resin, a process for preparing them, and their use in particular in one-component coating compositions in combination with amino resin curatives.

Binders for coating materials can be provided in water-dilutable form by adequately stabilizing the disperse phase of binder droplets in a continuous phase of water. This can be achieved by adding an emulsifier (external emulsification, externally emulsified resins) or by chemically modifying the binder such that it contains ionic or other hydrophilic groups in sufficient quantity (internal emulsification, self-emulsifying resins).
One known way to water-dilutable binders based on polyester resins is the polycondensation of polyols, preferably diols, with polybasic, especially dibasic, acids, where a defined excess of acid groups remains in the polyester. After at least some of the acid groups have been neutralized, the resulting polyester resin can be emulsified in water to give stable dispersions. The polybasic acids can in particular be tribasic acids having acid groups differing in reactivity, such as citric acid or sulfoisophthalic acid, for example. Polyester resins containing moieties of sulfoisophthalic acid are known from, for example, EP-B 0 649 439.
Binders comprising polyester resins of this kind are crosslinked using crosslinking agents which react with hydroxyl groups of the binders. Suitable crosslinking agents are polyfunctional isocyanates, which in unblocked form are reactive even at room temperature, or in blocked form, which are reactive only at an elevated temperature above 80° C., preferably above 100° C., or etherified or unetherified amino resins. Polyesters of sufficiently high molar mass are also physically drying; that is, after the dispersant has evaporated, the binder droplets coalesce and form a film.
From EP-B 0 649 439 aqueous dispersions of linear polyesters and vinyl resins are known which include mass fractions of from 5 to 40% of the polyester and from 95 to 60% of a vinyl polymer including a mass fraction of at least 20% of repeating units derived from styrene or a styrene derivative. These dispersions are still amenable to improvement with respect to the following performance properties: more rapid (physical) drying, particularly in the case of highly pigmented coating materials (masonry paints, road marking paints) is desirable; crosslinking with amino resins (melamine resins) requires relatively high temperatures; in clearcoat materials pops are formed even at low film thicknesses, and wrinkles are formed in the dried coating film; the resistance to solvents and aqueous solutions is in need of improvement.


Injector device, and method for its operation, for containers of syringe type, comprising a barrel of axially roughly constant cross-section, a front opening and at least one movable wall inserted in the barrel for displacement of a container content, the injector comprising a) a housing or housing part arranged to receive the container at least axially stationary, b) an integral or composite piston rod arrangement operable to displace the container movable wall at least in the forward direction and c) a track system for controlling or sequencing the piston rod movements, the track system comprising at least one cooperating track and follower, the cooperating track and follower being arranged stationary with respect to the housing and the piston rod respectively, or vice versa, and in cooperation allowing at least one forward for the piston rod. The track system comprises arrangements initiation, dose setting and expulsion of container content.

Although simple in principle injection procedures based on syringe type devices with injection needles require mastering of several discrete steps. Before the mere injection procedure some initiation actions may be required. Filling the syringe with medication withdrawn from a reservoir such as a vial may be needed, taking into account the proper dose to be administered. In order to avoid this step in the actual treatment situation it is common to provide pre-filled syringes, in which case, however, a dose setting or selecting step may be needed. In its first movement the syringe piston may need an extraordinary break-loose force after storage to overcome both internal reshaping resistance and an increased wall friction due to adherence or depletion of lubricant in contact points. For storage and shelf life reasons pre-filled syringes sometimes are delivered in dual or multiple-chamber form, requiring an additional mixing step immediately before treatment. De-aeration and pre-ejection are generally needed to remove gas in the vessel compartment and fill out spaces for example at the front sealing, outlet attachments and the interior of the outlet devices or needles. Syringes containing multiple doses further requires repeated ejection of predetermined volumes under avoidance of both over and under dosing, overdosing generally being irreversible and under-dosing often being undetected or unavoidable when ejecting an insufficient last dose from the syringe. Proper sequencing of all these steps are crucial to a safe and non-traumatic treatment.
These demands can be met also when using the simplest injection devices, such as the common hypodermic syringe, when in the hands of a skilled operator who also may initiate medically relevant corrective measures in case of accidents and malfunction. However, a general treatment trend is to place administration responsibility on the patients themselves, also in the case of child, elderly and disabled persons. In long-term treatment the patient often develop a certain skill but less frequent administration schemes also exist, often including situations of emergency or patient imbalance. Other unique problems in patient selfadministration, as compared to assistant operated administration, is that less suitable and often strained body positions are required and that apprehended or experienced pain or discomfort may interfere with the medically desirable action pattern. In summary, especially the selfadministration requires more sophisticated devices to facilitate the injection procedure and avoid or reduce risks for mistakes. Patients dependent on daily or occasional administrations also have a legitimate need for convenience and devices discrete enough to be brought around in daily life. Yet it is desirable that such sophistication and convenience is kept simple and inexpensive to allow for widespread distribution and inclusion also in disposable devices.
Various proposals have been put forward for injector devices assisting the user in many of the steps outlined. While meritorious in some respects none seem to deal with more than part of the total sequence. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,465 patent specification describes limiting arrangements for securing a single ejection of one of several selectable dose volumes. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,459, GB 1230522 and DE G8509572 specifications describe various trail for securing repeated multiple equal doses of predetermined volume. The U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,517,668 and 5,807,346 patent specifications and the PCT/CH96/00115 application describe arrangements for multiple ejections of selectable dose volumes. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,694 specification describes a trail arrangement for a single aspiration and ejection cycle under prevention of any reverse movement. The specifications referred to do not give any solutions to the earlier phases in injection sequence or how to integrate such phases. The U.S. Pat. Nos. specifications 4,968,299, 4,874,381, 5,080,649 and 5,728,075 and WO 93/14799 all relates to arrangements for securing mixing of contents in two chamber syringes followed by injection, utilizing a screw-threaded mechanism for the mixing phase. Again these suggestions only relate to a part of the overall operation.
Accordingly there is a continuing need for simple and inexpensive injection devices able to assist the user in the various handling steps involved, preventing or ameliorating mistakes and offering an ergonomic, convenient and non-traumatic product, especially useful for patients under self-administration. Although the present invention may have a more general utility, it will mainly be described against this background.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Injector device and method for its operation


A plug device for fitting into a country specific electrical wall socket comprises a base part and at least one country specific electrical plug adapter, able to be secured to the base part, for fitting into the country specific line socket. The at least one plug adapter may be locked without using tools in an assembled state with a locking means and released from the base part after unlocking the locking means.

The invention relates to a plug device for plugging into a country specific electrical plug receiving socket comprising a base part and at least one country specific electrical plug adapter, adapted to be secured to the base part, for insertion of the plug device into the country specific line socket.


A snow plow includes a control unit for raising an auger housing to a predetermined upper limit angle when travel device is reversing, and an acceleration sensor for detecting acceleration produced in the auger housing. The control unit determines an angle of inclination of the auger housing on the basis of the acceleration. When the travel device starts moving forward after having temporarily moved in reverse, the control unit sets an intermediate lowering target angle of inclination, which is in the lowering path of the auger housing from the upper limit angle to a pre-reversing angle of inclination, in accordance with the forward acceleration; lowers the auger housing at a given lowering speed from the upper limit angle to the intermediate lowering target angle of inclination; and lowers the auger housing at a gradually decreasing lowering speed from the intermediate lowering target angle of inclination to the pre-reversing angle of inclination.

In auger-type snow plows, an auger housing is mounted to a vehicle body frame including travel device, such that the auger housing can be raised and lowered and made to roll. The auger housing includes an auger. An auger snow plow can scrape up snow by means of a front auger while traveling forward, and can disperse the scraped up snow far away by means of a blower via a shooter.
A snow plow including an auger employs a system for varying the height of the auger housing in accordance with the conditions of the snow plowing work. It is more efficient to move the snow plow when the bottom surface of the auger housing has been raised. It is more efficient to plow snow when the bottom surface of the auger housing has been lowered. The height of the auger housing is also often varied according to unevenness in the road surface when snow is plowed.
It is highly inconvenient for a worker to make these variations to the height of the auger housing through manual labor. To alleviate the burden on the worker, the bottom surface of the auger housing can be raised and lowered with a power assist. This feature is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. 63-136012 (JP-U S63-136012) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-032218 (JP-A 2007-032218).
In the snow plow disclosed in JP-U S63-136012, the auger housing angle is used to control an angle of inclination detector provided to the auger housing to detect the angle of the auger housing relative to the direction of gravity.
In the snow plow disclosed in JP-A 2007-032218, the raised/lowered angle and the rolling angle of the auger housing are controlled by using a height position sensor to detect the raised/lowered position of the auger housing and using a rolling position sensor to detect the tilt position of the auger housing control.
When an auger snow plow is doing snow plowing work, it is common for the travel device to be temporarily put in reverse and then again be put in forward. When the travel device is put in reverse, the auger housing is preferably automatically raised to a certain height so as not to catch on the road surface. When the travel device is then again put in forward, the auger housing may be automatically lowered to the tilt angle immediately before the travel device was put in reverse, in which case considerations relating to work efficiency make it preferable to be able to stop the auger housing quickly and precisely at the original tilt angle.
A demand thus exists for a feature whereby the auger housing can be stopped quickly and precisely in the pre-reversing tilt angle position.


An eyebrow pencil making machine includes a trough disposed on a table for receiving pen containers, a board having a number of depressions to support the pen containers which may be fed along the board step by step, and two tool devices each having a tool member moveable to machine ends of the pen containers. A reservoir may supply a eyebrow material into bores of the pen containers via an outlet nozzle. A presser may engage with and retain the pen containers on the board. Two vibrator receptacles may receive and supply rear caps and front covers onto ends of the pen containers. A gilding may be applied onto the pen containers with a die member and a foil.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an eyebrow pencil or lip pencil making machine having a series of worming or machining stations to make the eyebrow pencils in series, and to allowing the eyebrow pencils to be easily and quickly made automatically or in mass production.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical eyebrow pencils comprise an eyebrow materials to be filled or engaged into a pen container, and two caps to be attached to the front and the rear portions of the pen container, to suitably receive or retain the eyebrow materials within the pen container, and to prevent the eyebrow materials from being scraped or damaged by other objects.
However, a lot of machining or working processes are required to manufacture the eyebrow pencils, and include drilling holes in the pen containers, machining or cutting tapered surfaces in the ends of the pen containers, filling the eyebrow materials into the pen containers, attaching end caps or covers onto the ends of the pen containers, and applying or printing words or marks or other information onto the pen containers.
Each of the machining or working processes may require a number of workers and working machines or machine tools to manufacture the eyebrow pencils, such that the eyebrow pencils are required to be made by a lot of man powers, and such that the manufacturing cost for making the eyebrow pencils is greatly increased.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional eyebrow pencil making machines.


Disclosed are embodiments of a method of attaching a die to a substrate and a heat spreader to the die in a single heating operation. A number of conductive bumps extending from the die may also be reflowed during this heating operation. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

An integrated circuit (IC) device may include a semiconductor die upon which integrated circuitry has been formed, and this die may be mounted on a package substrate or other die carrier. The die may be both electrically and mechanically coupled to the package substrate. By way of example, an array of solder bumps (or other electrical leads) extending from the die may be coupled (e.g., by a reflow process) to a corresponding array of lands (or other electrical leads) on the substrate to form electrical connections between the die and substrate. In addition, an underfill material may be disposed between the die and substrate to secure the die onto the substrate, as well as to protect the electrical connections extending between the die and substrate. The use of an array of solder bumps to provide electrical connections, as described above, is often referred to as Controlled Collapse Chip Connect (or "C4").
The IC device may further include one or more thermal components coupled with the die, these thermal components functioning to transfer away or otherwise dissipate heat generated by the integrated circuitry during operation. For example, a heat spreader may be thermally coupled with the die, and a heat sink may, in turn, be thermally coupled with the heat spreader. Typically, a first thermal interface is disposed between the die and heat spreader, and a second thermal interface is disposed between the heat spreader and heat sink. The first thermal interface mechanically and thermally couples the die with the heat spreader, with the second thermal interface performing a similar role between the heat spreader and heat sink. The thermal interfaces may comprise any thermally conductive material capable of providing the requisite mechanical attachment, such as a solder material.
The assembly of the above-described IC device may require multiple heating, or reflow, operations. For example, a first heating process may be performed to both cure (or at least partially cure) the underfill material and reflow the C4 solder bumps, this first heating operation mechanically and electrically coupled with die with the package substrate. A second heating step may then be performed to reflow a solder thermal interface material disposed between the die and heat spreader, this second heating step reflowing the solder thermal interface material and forming a mechanical connection between the die and heat spreader. Each heating operation can increase manufacturing time and reduce through-put, while also increasing costs.

Method for attaching a semiconductor die to a substrate and heat spreader


Provided is a method and structure for utilizing advance channel substrate materials in semiconductor manufacturing. Advanced channel substrate materials such as germanium and Group III-V channel substrate materials, are advantageously utilized. One or more capping films including at least a nitride layer are formed over the channel substrate prior to patterning, ion implantation and the subsequent stripping and wet cleaning operations. With the capping layers intact during these operations, attack of the channel substrate material is prevented and the protective films are easily removed subsequently. The films are dimensioned in conjunction with the ion implantation operation to enable the desired dopant profile and concentration to be formed in the channel substrate material.

In the advancing semiconductor manufacturing industry, new substrate materials are being developed in response to the demand for greater electron and hole mobility and work function tuning. Materials such as germanium, SiGe and Group III-V materials such GaAs, InP and InGaAs are being proposed because of their lattice structures and inherent stresses which have been found to enhance electron and hole mobility in integrated circuit and other semiconductor devices. The use of these materials is particularly advantageous as device processing technologies continue to advance and devices are formed in the 10 nanometer regime.
A challenge faced in the development of these new materials as channel substrate materials lies in the incompatibility between the new channel substrate materials and conventional wet chemical processes used in semiconductor manufacturing. Wet chemical cleaning operations are commonly used in semiconductor manufacturing for various purposes including the cleaning operations that follow dry photoresist stripping operations. Wet chemical operations are also used to remove oxide layers and for other purposes. Wet chemical operations are typically used multiple times in the sequence of processing operations used to manufacture a semiconductor device. Commonly used chemicals used for wet chemical processing operations include HCl, HF, HNO3, H2SO4, NH4OH, APM, HPM and Caros acid (SPM). Additional chemicals are also used in other conventional wet chemical processing operations.
The new substrate materials such as Ge, SiGe and Group III-V materials are susceptible to attack by these wet chemicals used in semiconductor manufacturing. The wet chemical processing operations induce a significant amount of substrate film loss and also damage the substrate materials by roughening the surfaces to unacceptable levels. This undesirable surface morphology adversely affects subsequent processing operations.
It would therefore be desirable to formulate processing operations that are compatible with the new substrate materials that provide the aforementioned advantages.

Method and structure for advanced semiconductor channel substrate materials

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


Methods and apparatus are provided for efficient video encoding and decoding of intra prediction mode. An apparatus includes a video encoder for encoding picture data for at least a block in a picture by determining a spatial pattern for a decoded intra prediction mode residue used to reconstruct the picture at the video encoder. The decoded intra prediction mode residue is obtained by inverse quantizing and inverse transforming a transformed and quantized difference between an original version of the block and at least one reference block. The spatial pattern is used to determine an intra prediction mode for encoding the block.

The International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) Moving Picture Experts Group-4 (MPEG-4) Part 10 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) Standard/International Telecommunication Union, Telecommunication Sector (ITU-T) H.264 Recommendation (hereinafter the "MPEG-4 AVC Standard") is the first video coding standard that employs spatial directional prediction for intra coding. Spatial directional prediction for intra coding provides a more flexible prediction framework, thus the coding efficiency is greatly improved over previous standards where intra prediction was done only in the transform domain. In accordance with the MPEG-4 AVC Standard, spatial intra prediction is performed using the surrounding available samples, which are the previously reconstructed samples available at the decoder within the same slice. For luma samples, intra prediction can be done on a 4×4 block basis (denoted as Intra—4×4), an 8×8 block basis (denoted as Intra—8×8) and on a 16×16 macroblock basis (denoted as Intra—16×16). Turning to FIG. 1, MPEG-4 AVC Standard directional intra prediction with respect to a 4×4 block basis (Intra—4×4) is indicated generally by the reference numeral 100. Prediction directions are generally indicated by the reference numeral 110, image blocks are generally indicated by the reference numeral 120, and a current block is indicated by the reference numeral 130. In addition to luma prediction, a separate chroma prediction is performed. There are a total of nine prediction modes for Intra—4×4 and Intra—8×8, four modes for Intra—16×16 and four modes for the chroma component. The encoder typically selects the prediction mode that minimizes the difference between the prediction and original block to be coded. A further intra coding mode, denoted I_PCM, allows the encoder to simply bypass the prediction and transform coding processes. It allows the encoder to precisely represent the values of the samples and place an absolute limit on the number of bits that may be contained in a coded macroblock without constraining decoded image quality.
Turning to FIG. 2, labeling of prediction samples for the Intra—4×4 mode of the MPEG-4 AVC Standard is indicated generally by the reference numeral 200. FIG. 2 shows the samples (in capital letters A-M) above and to the left of the current blocks which have been previously coded and reconstructed and are therefore available at the encoder and decoder to form the prediction.
Turning to FIGS. 3B-J, Intra—4×4 luma prediction modes of the MPEG-4 AVC Standard are indicated generally by the reference numeral 300. The samples a, b, c, p of the prediction block are calculated based on the samples A-M using the Intra—4×4 luma prediction modes 300. The arrows in FIGS. 3B-J indicate the direction of prediction for each of the Intra—4×4 modes 300. The Intra—4×4 luma prediction modes 300 include modes 0-8, with mode 0 (FIG. 3B, indicated by reference numeral 310) corresponding to a vertical prediction mode, mode 1 (FIG. 3C, indicated by reference numeral 311) corresponding to a horizontal prediction mode, mode 2 (FIG. 3D, indicated by reference numeral 312) corresponding to a DC mode, mode 3 (FIG. 3E, indicated by reference numeral 313) corresponding to a diagonal down-left mode, mode 4 (FIG. 3F, indicated by reference numeral 314) corresponding to a diagonal down-right mode, mode 5 (FIG. 3G, indicated by reference numeral 315) corresponding to a vertical-right mode, mode 6 (FIG. 3H, indicated by reference numeral 316) corresponding to a horizontal-down mode, mode 7 (FIG. 3I, indicated by reference numeral 317) corresponding to a vertical-left mode, and mode 8 (FIG. 3J, indicated by reference numeral 318) corresponding to a horizontal-up mode. FIG. 3A shows the general prediction directions 330 corresponding to each of the Intra—4×4 modes 300.
In modes 3-8, the predicted samples are formed from a weighted average of the prediction samples A-M. Intra—8×8 uses basically the same concepts as the 4×4 predictions, but with a block size 8×8 and with low-pass filtering of the predictors to improve prediction performance.
Turning to FIGS. 4A-D, four Intra—16×16 modes corresponding to the MPEG-4 AVC Standard are indicated generally by the reference numeral 400. The four Intra—16×16 modes 400 includes modes 0-3, with mode 0 (FIG. 4A, indicated by reference numeral 411) corresponding to a vertical prediction mode, mode 1 (FIG. 4B, indicated by reference numeral 412) corresponding to a horizontal prediction mode, mode 2 (FIG. 4C, indicated by reference numeral 413) corresponding to a DC prediction mode, and mode 3 (FIG. 4D, indicated by reference numeral 414) corresponding to a plane prediction mode. Each 8×8 chroma component of an intra coded macroblock is predicted from previously encoded chroma samples above and/or to the left and both chroma components use the same prediction mode. The four prediction modes are very similar to the Intra—16×16, except that the numbering of the modes is different. The modes are DC (mode 0), horizontal (mode 1), vertical (mode 2) and plane (mode 3).
The choice of intra prediction mode for each 4×4/8×8/16×16 block must be signaled to the decoder and this could potentially require a large number of bits. H.264/AVC has a particular method to signal the intra mode in order to avoid the use of a large number of bits. Taken Intra—4×4 as an example, intra modes for neighboring 4×4 blocks are often correlated. To take advantage of this correlation, predictive coding is used in H.264/AVC to signal 4×4 intra modes. Turning to FIG. 5, a current block E and its neighboring blocks A, B, and C are indicated generally by the reference numeral 500. For each current block (such as block E in FIG. 5), the encoder and decoder calculate the most probable prediction mode, which is the minimum of the prediction modes of block A and block B. If either of these neighboring blocks is not available (e.g., outside the current slice or not coded in Intra4×4 mode), the corresponding mode value for the missing block (A or B) is set to 2 (DC prediction mode).
The encoder sends a flag for each 4×4 block, pre_intra4×4_pred_mode. If the flag is equal to "1", then the most probable prediction mode is used. If the flag is equal to "0", then another parameter rem_intra4×4_pred_mode is sent to indicate a change of mode.
If rem_intra4×4_pred_mode is smaller than the current most probable mode, then the prediction mode is set to rem_intra4×4_pred_mode, otherwise the prediction mode is set to (rem_intra4×4_pred_mode+1).
In this way, only eight values (0 to 7) are required to transmit the chosen rem_intra4×4_pred_mode to signal the current intra mode (0 to 8).
The signaling of Intra8×8 is the same as that of Intra4×4. The prediction mode for luma coded in Intral6×16 mode or chroma coded in intra mode is signaled in the macroblock header and predictive coding of the mode is not used in these cases.
Although the most probable mode in the MPEG-4 AVC Standard is simple to compute and reduces the number of bits required for coding the prediction modes, it is based on the spatial characteristics of the neighboring blocks, not that of the current block to be coded. As a result, it is not optimal in catching the local spatial characteristics of the current block.
How to signal intra prediction mode is fundamental to the efficiency of current video encoders for intra coding. It has been observed that intra prediction may not be able to perfectly eliminate the spatial correlation of video signals, as the decoded (reconstructed) intra prediction residues tend to exhibit some spatial pattern which is highly correlated to the selected intra prediction mode. For example, for images with vertical patterns, vertical intra prediction mode tends to be selected. We have observed that the decoded residues also have vertical patterns. As previously mentioned, this is because the vertical correlation in the original signal cannot be perfectly removed by the vertical intra prediction. However, none of the existing technologies took advantage of this correlation for intra prediction mode coding.

Methods and apparatus for efficient video encoding and decoding of intra prediction mode


According to one embodiment, an absorbent article includes a moisture-impervious outer layer, an inner layer substantially co-extensive with the outer layer, and an absorbent layer interposed between the outer layer and the inner layer. The inner layer is treated with at least one antimicrobial booster. The absorbent layer is treated with at least one antimicrobial agent.

Millions of Americans of all ages suffer from incontinence of the bowel or bladder. Whether an infant, adult, or elderly person, the underlying cause of incontinence varies but the method of treatment typically involves absorbent article products. Adult incontinent briefs, disposable diapers and underpads can alleviate some of the emotional and physical discomfort of incontinence by absorbing and containing liquid and other discharges from the human body to prevent body and clothing soiling.
However, the moisture-impervious layer that typically prevents absorbent articles from leaking also prevents air circulation, thus creating a warm, moist environment where bacteria and fungi can thrive. When fluids and discharge are introduced to the diaper, various bacteria from the wearer's digestive system are also present. Most bacteria are harmless or even beneficial to the wearer while in the digestive system; however, after urination or defecation, some bacteria (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus) are dangerous microbial pathogens that can cause infectious diseases. Yet even benign bacteria can cause unpleasant odors or lead to urinary tract, bladder, or kidney infections. Moreover, prolonged exposure to urine and/or feces allows yeast-like fungi (e.g., Candida albicans) to develop and cause uncomfortable diaper rashes.
Accordingly, a need exists for absorbent articles that can prevent or inhibit the growth of microbes in or on absorbent articles.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Absorbent articles having antimicrobial properties and methods of manufacturing the same


Transition metal precursors are disclosed herein along with methods of using these precursors to deposit metal thin films. Advantageous properties of these precursors and methods are also disclosed, as well as superior films that can be achieved with the precursors and methods.

Various organometallic precursors are used to form thin metal films. A variety of techniques have been used for the deposition of thin films. These include reactive sputtering, ion-assisted deposition, sol-gel deposition, CVD (also known as metalorganic CVD or MOCVD), and ALD (also known as atomic layer epitaxy). The CVD and ALD processes are being increasingly used as they have the advantages of good compositional control, high film uniformity, good control of doping, and, significantly, they give excellent conformal step coverage on highly non-planar microelectronics device geometries.
CVD is a chemical process whereby precursors are used to form a thin film on a substrate. In a typical CVD process, the precursors are passed over a substrate (e.g., wafer) in a low pressure or ambient pressure reaction chamber. The precursors react and/or decompose on the substrate surface creating a thin film of deposited material. Volatile by-products are removed by gas flow through the reaction chamber. The deposited film thickness can be difficult to control because it depends on coordination of many parameters such as temperature, pressure, gas flow volumes and uniformity, chemical depletion effects, and time.
ALD is also a method for the deposition of thin films. It is a self-limiting, sequential, unique film growth technique based on surface reactions that can provide precise thickness control and deposit conformal thin films of materials provided by precursors onto substrates of varying compositions. In ALD, the precursors are separated during the reaction. The first precursor is passed over the substrate producing a monolayer on the substrate. Any excess unreacted precursor is pumped out of the reaction chamber. A second precursor is then passed over the substrate and reacts with the first precursor, forming a second monolayer of film over the first-formed monolayer of film on the substrate surface. This cycle is repeated to create a film of desired thickness. ALD film growth is self-limiting and based on surface reactions, creating uniform depositions that can be controlled at the nanometer-thickness scale.
Thin films have a variety of important applications, such as nanotechnology and fabrication of semiconductor devices. Examples of such applications include conductive films, high-refractive index optical coatings, corrosion-protection coatings, photocatalytic self-cleaning glass coatings, biocompatible coatings, dielectric capacitor layers and gate dielectric insulating films in field-effect transistors (FET), capacitor electrodes, gate electrodes, adhesive diffusion barriers, and integrated circuits. Thin films are also used in microelectronics applications, such as the high-κ dielectric oxide for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) applications and the ferroelectric perovskites used in infra-red detectors and non-volatile ferroelectric random access memories (NV-FeRAMs). The continual decrease in the size of microelectronics components has increased the need for the use of such dielectric thin films.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,780 to Thompson reports molybdenum carbonyl derivatives useful for making hydrogenation catalysts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,708 to Carver reports thin films produced by deposition with molybdenum hexacarbonyl precursors.
Gesheva et al. (1991) Journal de Physique IV 2(C2):865-71 (DOI: 10.1051/jp4:19912103) also report thin films produced by deposition with molybdenum hexacarbonyl precursors.
WO 2013/112383 to Sigma-Aldrich Co. reports molybdenum allyl complexes and uses thereof in thin film deposition.
Many current molybdenum complexes for use in CVD and ALD do not provide the required performance to implement new processes for fabrication of next generation devices, such as semiconductors. More complexes with improved thermal stability, higher volatility, increased vapor pressures, and increased deposition rates are needed.

Deposition of molybdenum thin films using a molybdenum carbonyl precursor


A process for producing a medical guide wire comprising a step S2, S5 for inserting the core wire and coil into a tubular die having the desired curved form, a step S3, S6 for heat-treating the core wire and coil in the die, a step 7 for removing oxide skin or films from the heat-treated core wire, a step S8 for assembling the obtained coil to the core wire, a step S9 for brazing or soldering an end of the coil to the core wire, a step S10 for grinding or sandering the obtained guide wire, and then a step for washing the guide wire.

[Prior Art]
[Patent Reference 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 108456/1992A (Tokkai-hei 4-108456)
[Patent Reference 2] Japanese Patent publication No.3300155 B
A guide wire is generally inserted into a blood vessel proceeding catheter in order to guide the catheter to a target point. And the tip is formed into a J-shape or loop-shape so that the tip can be inserted smoothly into the blood vessel which might wind hard. Such a guide wire has a core tapered toward the tip end, and a coil attached on the core wire whole or at the tip end potion partially. The core wire has a suitable strength or rigidity so that the core wire can be remotely controlled from user's hand side, and has flexibility so as not to injury the vein or blood vessel.
A typical prior art of guide wire is shown in FIG. 11. The guide wire 100 has a core 101 made of stainless steel, carbon steel, Ti—Ni wire, and the like, and a coil 102 made of stainless steel, platinum, platinum alloy, tungsten, and the like, and has a flexible carved tip end 100a.
In the Patent reference 1, as shown in FIG. 12a there is described a process for producing a guide wire by curling the tip end 101a of a core 101 into J shape previously, curling the corresponding portion 102a coil (spring member) 102 into J-shape, and thereafter combining those members (see page 2, left upper column of the publication). Further, there is proposed another producing process, as shown in FIG. 12b, by curl-forming a coil into J-shape previously only and, then combining a straight coil 102.
In Patent Reference 1, it is stated that the former process is troublesome since curvature of the core 101 and coil 102 are not precisely accorded, and the latter process can not produce a guide wire with precisely curved shape. And Patent reference 1 proposes to form the coil 102 with a sparse portion in number of turns in a portion corresponding to the curved portion 101a of the core 101, with keeping the latter process basically. And by using the producing process, an elastic deformation of the J-shaped portion 101a due to the elastic force of the coil 102 can be controlled. As material of the core 101 and the coil 102, superelastic metal such as Ni—Ti alloy is mentioned other than stainless steel.
Besides, Patent Reference 2, as shown in FIG. 13 discloses a producing process by combining a straight core 101 and a straight coil 102 previously, inserting the combination 103 into a die 105 having J-shaped groove 104, attaching a lid 106 on the die, and performing heat-treatment to form a curved shape. In this producing process, the material of the core 101 is stainless steel or carbon steel, and the material of the coil 102 is stainless steel, platinum, platinum, gold or tungsten.

Process for producing a medical guide wire


The invention provides a biochemical method for visualizing cellular organelles (such as centrosome) and/or cytoskeletons (such as microtubules) through the use of crystallizing agents (such as tetrazolium salts), a kit containing crystallizing agents adapted for such uses, and to methods particularly for detecting neoplastic cells in a tissue sample, suspension, or a fluid sample by examining the cells for abnormalities of cellular organelles (such as centrosome) and/or cytoskeletons (such as microtubules) in the number and shapes.

The characteristics and functions of cells are determined and maintained by cellular organelles and the cellular cytoskeleton. Cellular organelles include, but are not limited to, nucleus, mitochondria, peroxisomes, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, centrosome, and vacuoles. The term cytoskeleton (cytoskeletal structures) refers to an extensive scaffolding of fibrillar elements, including the three filamentous systems: microfilaments (or actin filaments), microtubules, and intermediate filaments. It may also include linin filaments. The components of the cytoskeleton are involved in diverse cellular functions ranging from mitosis to cell motility to signal transduction. Among these organelles and cytoskeletal structures, centrosome, microtubules, mitochondrion, endoplasmic reticulum lysosomes, and nuclear envelope are most important.
The centrosome, a central body (or the major microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) of the cell) plays a key role in the temporal and spatial distribution of the interphasic and mitotic microtubule network. Therefore, the centrosome could be considered a major determinant of the overall organization of the cytoplasm and of the fidelity of cell division (Hsu, L. C. and White, R. L. (1998) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 27;95(22):12983-8). Cytoplasmic organization, cell polarity and the equal partition of chromosomes into daughter cells at the time of cell division, once and only once in each cell cycle, are all ensured through the actions of tightly regulated centrosomal function (Tanaka, T., et al., (1999) Cancer Res 59(9): 2041-4). Centrosome association occurs throughout the mammalian cell cycle, including all stages of mitosis, and determines the number, polarity, and organization of interphase and mitotic microtubules (Tanaka, T., et al., (1999) Cancer Res 59(9): 2041≧4; Pihan, G. A., et al., (1998) Cancer Res 58(17):3974-85). The main function of the centrosome is the nucleation of microtubules, and the controlled cycle of its duplication, the two duplicated entities functioning as mitotic spindle poles during subsequent cell division. Centrosomes and their associated microtubules direct events during mitosis and control the organization of animal cell structures and movement during interphase. Although the precise mechanisms by which duplicated chromosomes are equally segregated during mitosis are largely unknown, the centrosome is believed to play an important role(s) in the formation of bipolar spindles (Tanaka, T., et al., (1999) Cancer Res 58(17):3974-85). The microtubule nucleating ability of centrosomes of tissue sections is retained even after several years of storage as frozen tissue blocks (Salisbury, J. L., et al., (1999) J. Histochem. Cytochem. 47(10):1265-74).
In animal cells, the centrosome is composed of two centrioles surrounded by the so-called pericentriolar material (PCM), which consists of a complex thin filament network and two sets of appendages.
Malignant tumors generally display abnormal centrosome profiles, characterized by an increase in size and number of centrosomes, by their irregular distribution, abnormal structure, aberrant protein phosphorylation, and by increased microtubule nucleating capacity in comparison to centrosomes of normal tissues (Lingle, W. L. et al., (1998) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95(6): 2950-5; Xu, X., et al., (1999) Mol Cell 3(3):389-95; Brinkley, B. R., et al., (1998) Cell Motil Cytoskeleton 41(4):281-8; Doxsey, S. (1998) Nat Genet 20(2):104-6; Kuo, K. K., et al., (2000) Hepatology 31(1):59-64). Among the abnormalities, centrosome hyperamplification is found to be more frequent in a variety of tumor types (Carroll, P. E., et al., (1999) Oncogene 18;18(11):1935-44; Hinchcliffe, E. H., et al., (1999) Science 283(5403):851-4; Xu, X., et al., (1999) Mol Cell 3(3):389-95).
Centrosome consists of many key proteins such as, SKP1p, cyclin-dependent kinase 2-cyclin E (Cdk2-E) (Hinchcliffe, E. H., et al., (1999) Science 283(5403): 851-4), kendrin (Flory, M. R., et al., (2000) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 23;97(11):5919-23), Protein kinase C-theta (Passalacqua, M., et al., (1999) Biochem J 337(Pt 1): 113-8), EB1 protein. Recently, a variety of cell cycle-regulated kinases or tumor suppressor genes are located in or are core components of the centrosome. They include Nek2 (Fry, A. M., et al., (1999) J Biol Chem 274(23): 1304-10), protein kinase A type II isozymes (Keryer, G., et al., (1999) Exp Cell Res 249(1):131-146), heat shock Cognate 70 (HSC70) (Bakkenist, C. J., et al., (1999) Cancer Res 59(17):4219-21), PH33 (Nakadai, T., et al., (1999) J Cell Sci 112 (Pt9):1353-64), AIKs (Kimura, M., et al., (1999) J Biol Chem 274(11)7334-40), human SCF(SKP2) subunit p19(SKP1) (Gstaiger, M., et al., (1999) Exp Cell Res 247(2)554-62), STK15/BTAK (Zhou, H., et al., (1998) Nat Genet 20(2): 189-93), C-Nap1 (Fry, A. M., et al., (1998) J Cell Biol 274(23): 1304-10), Tau-like proteins (Cross, D., et al., (1996) Exp Cell Res 229(2):378-87), cyclin E (Carroll, P. E., et al., (1999; Mussman, J. G., et al., (2000) Oncogene 23;19(13):1635-46), p53, retinoblastoma protein pRB and BRCA1(Hsu, L. C., et al., (1998) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95(22):12983-8). These proteins are required in the initiation of DNA replication and mitotic progression (Gstaiger, M., et al., (1999) Exp Cell Res 15;247(2):554-62).
Microtubules, a filamentous system, are linear polymers of alpha- and beta (the beta1, beta2, and beta4 isotypes)-tubulin heterodimers. Except for being a frame of cellular membrane and organelles, microtubules may play an important role in other aspects. Microtubules are involved in diverse cellular functions ranging from mitosis to cell motility to signal transduction. Microtubules are the major constituents of mitotic spindles, which are essential for the separation of chromosomes during mitosis (Shan, B., et al., (1999) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96(10):5686-5691). They are nucleated by centrosome through the kinetochores of the centrosome. The spindle is a microtublule-based superstructure that assembles during mitosis to separate replicated DNA. Chromosome attachment to and movement on the spindle is intimately tied to the dynamics of microtubule polymerization and depolymerization. The sister chromatid pairs must maintain a stable attachment to spindle microtubules as the microtubules interconvert between growing and shrinking states. Drugs that are currently used in cancer therapy were designed to perturb microtubule shortening (depolymerization) or lengthening (polymerization) (Compton, D. A., et al., (1999) Science 286:913-914).
Other cytoskeletons such as membrane skeleton, microvilli, cilia, flagella, microfilaments, actin filaments, contractile ring, and intermediate filaments are all important in the organization of the cytoplasm and of the fidelity of cell division.
In addition to the centrosome and microtubules, other cellular organelles or cellular sub organelles such as mitochondrion, chromosomes, chromatin, nuclei, nuclear matrix, nuclear lamina, core filaments, nuclear envelope (NEs), nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), nuclear membrane, centrioles, pericentriolar material (PCM), mitotic spindle, spindle pole bodies (SPBs), contractile rings, proteasomes, telomere, plasma membranes, Golgi complexes, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum (ER), endosomes, peroxisomes, proteasomes, phagosomes, ribosomes, are all important in maintaining a cell's life. Endoplasmic reticulum, e.g. is the site of synthesis and maturation of proteins.
Therefore, identification of a novel less-costing, simple, and effective method for the visualization of cellular organelles and/or cytoskeleton is indeed necessary in cell biology, cell cycle, signal transduction, development biology, and cancer research.
However, most available methods for the visualization of the centrosome and other important cellular organelles and/or cytoskeleton are based on the antigen-antibody reaction (Lingle, W. L. et al., (1998) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95(6): 2950-5; Xu, X., et al., (1999) Mol Cell 3(3):389-95; Brinkley, B. R., et al., (1998) Cell Motil Cytoskeleton 41(4):281-8; Doxsey, S. (1998) Nat Genet 20(2):104-6; Carroll, P. E., et al., (1999) Oncogene 18;18(11):1935-44; Hinchcliffe, E. H., et al., (1999) Science 283(5403):851-4; Xu, X., et al., (1999) Mol Cell 3(3):389-95). These techniques have been proved to be very costly, poorly reproducible, time consuming, and requiring of very strict conditions. Particularly, these methods can not be used to demonstrate the dynamic states of cells.
It is against this background, this invention provides a biochemical method for visualizing cellular organelles and/or cytoskeletons, by treating tissues or cells with crystallizing agents. The crystallizing agents or compounds used in this invention are a variety of tetrazolium salts. The cell-mediated reduction of some tetrazolium salts has long been used as a cell number-counting method (Berridge, M V, and Tan, A S., (1993) Arch Biochem Biophys 303(2): 474-482; Bernas, T., et al., (1999) Biochim Biophys Acta 12;1451(1):73-81; Abe, K., and Saito, H., (1999) Brain Res 29;830(1):146-54; Liu, Y., et al., (1997). J Neurochem 69(2):581-93; Abe, K., and Saito, H., (1998) Neuroscience Res 31:29-305). In the visualization of cellular organelles and/or cytoskeletons, the application of tetrazolium salts has never been mentioned. The inventor of this invention has found that tetrazolium salts can specifically concentrate on cellular organelles and/or cytoskeletons of a variety of cells and tissues, with the formation of visible crystals in these places. The visualization of cellular organelles and/or cytoskeletons using a biochemical approach instead of the complicated immune methods provides a less costly, very simple, quick, and effective method for the visualization of cellular organelles and/or cytoskeleton. It provides a tool with great potential in studying cell biology, structural biology, cell cycle, signal transduction, development biology, and oncology.

Methods and compositions for the visualization of cellular organelles using tetrazolium salts


Radiance efficiency measurement. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium includes executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to calculate, based on input radiation data, which is based on radiation from a radiation source, a difference of a radiance of the radiation source and a radiance of a background to the radiation source. The one or more processors are further caused to calculate, based on the difference, a transmissivity of the radiation source such that the calculated transmissivity of the radiation source is defined for flare combustion temperatures. The one or more processors are further caused to output the transmissivity of the radiation source.

Emission, combustion, and efficiency estimates for flares are in need of improvement. Current estimates are based on factors gleaned from limited data, and environmental factors during flare operation are rarely taken into account. Extractive sampling methods generally collect an aliquot of the pollutant gases or species of interest from within a well-mixed exhaust stack prior to release into the atmosphere. In most cases, these exhaust stacks are equipped with platforms and sampling ports to permit easy access for the sampling equipment and personnel. As such, a variety of continuous or integrated measurement techniques can be used to quantify the emissions from these sources. Because the combustion of flares occurs at the flare tip, and the exhaust gases are emitted directly to the atmosphere at a height of several hundred feet, use of stack sampling methods for characterizing flare emissions are not practical.

Systems and methods for radiance efficiency measurement


A non-volatile semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell configured to allow electrical writing and erasing, a bit line configured to transmit a potential corresponding to data stored in the memory cell in a column direction, a sense amplifier circuit configured to detect a potential of the bit line, and a bit line coupling circuit coupled between the bit line and the sense amplifier circuit. The bit line coupling circuit includes a first bit line coupling transistor in an outer layout area of the bit line coupling circuit and a second bit line coupling transistor in an inner layout area of the bit line coupling circuit. The first bit line coupling transistor has a longer distance in a channel length direction or in a channel width direction between an impurity diffused layer coupled to the bit line and an element isolation area than the second bit line coupling transistor.

A non-volatile semiconductor memory device includes a sense amplifier circuit to sense data read from a memory cell to a bit line. Since there is demand for high-speed sense amplifier circuit, a gate insulating film of the sense amplifier circuit is getting thinner. Meanwhile, a high voltage is applied to the memory cell during writing and erasing data. In view of this, a bit line coupling transistor is disposed between the memory cell and the sense amplifier circuit such that a high voltage applied to the memory cell is not applied to the sense amplifier circuit.

Non-volatile semiconductor memory device


The present invention relates to an optical filter, a solid-state imaging element and an imaging device lens which contain a near infrared ray absorbing layer having a specific near infrared ray absorbing dye dispersed in a transparent resin having a refractive index of 1.54 or more, and also relates to an imaging device containing the solid-state imaging element or the imaging device lens. The near infrared ray absorbing layer has a transmittance of visible light of from 450 to 600 nm of 70% or more, a transmittance of light in a wavelength region of from 695 to 720 nm of not more than 10%, and an amount of change of transmittance of not more than −0.8.

In recent years, optical filters that sufficiently transmit light in a visible wavelength region therethrough but shield light in a near infrared wavelength region are used for various applications.
For example, in imaging devices using a solid-state imaging element (e.g., CCD, CMOS, etc.), such as a digital still camera, a digital video camera, etc., or in display devices using a light receiving element, such as an automatic exposure meter, etc., in order to approximate the sensitivity of the solid-state imaging element or light receiving element to the luminosity factor of a human being, such an optical filter is disposed between an imaging lens and the solid-state imaging element or light receiving element. In addition, in PDP (plasma display panel), in order to prevent malfunction of a household electrical appliance remote controller operating at a near infrared ray from occurring, the optical filter is disposed on the front (viewing side) thereof.
Among them, as an optical filter for imaging device, glass filters in which CuO or the like is added to a fluorophosphate-based glass or a phosphate-based glass so as to selectively absorb light in a near infrared wavelength region are known. However, light absorption type glass filters involved such a problem that not only they are expensive, but also they are difficult to achieve slimming, so that they may be impossible to sufficiently respond to downsizing and slimming requirements for imaging devices of recent years.
Then, in order to solve the foregoing problem, there have been developed a reflection type interference filter in which, for example, a silicon oxide (SiO2) layer and a titanium oxide (TiO2) layer are stacked alternately on a substrate and which reflects light in a near infrared wavelength region due to the interference of light to shield the light; a film containing a dye that absorbs light in a near infrared wavelength region in a transparent resin; and the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, there has also been developed an optical filter composed of a combination of the foregoing, in which a resin layer containing a dye that absorbs a near infrared ray and a layer that reflects a near infrared ray are stacked (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Furthermore, the resin layer containing a dye that absorbs a near infrared ray is described in, for example, Patent Document 3.
However, in these conventional optical filters for imaging device, the performance for shielding light of a wavelength in a near infrared region and the transmission properties in a wavelength band (630 to 700 nm) required for taking a picture of a dark portion more bright are not sufficient, and furthermore, the layer formation is restricted such that the functions of a solid-state imaging element are not hindered. Therefore, it is the present state that no optical filter having a sufficient near infrared ray cut filter function is obtainable.
On the other hand, a near infrared ray absorbing dye which exhibits a maximum absorption wavelength in the vicinity of from 700 to 750 nm and in which the inclination of an absorption curve of light having a wavelength of from 630 to 700 nm is steep, is used in a near infrared ray cut filter as a resin layer in which it is dispersed in a transparent resin, for example, a cycloolefin resin, in view of the matter that when used in combination with other shielding component or shielding member, good near infrared ray shielding properties are obtainable. However, such a near infrared ray absorbing dye involved such problems that its near infrared ray absorbing wavelength region is narrow, so that in many cases, even when combined with other shielding member, a wavelength region in which the absorption is not sufficient appears.

Optical filter, solid-state imaging element, imaging device lens and imaging device


A device for holding a surgical tool comprising a base extending along a longitudinal axis between a proximal end and a distal end. The distal end is configured for engagement with a body of a patient to stabilize the device. A retaining portion is disposed at a fixed angle relative to the longitudinal axis and includes an inner surface defining a passageway configured to receive the surgical tool and hold the surgical tool at the fixed angle. A locking element is configured to apply a clamping force to the retaining element such that translation of the surgical tool is prevented in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis.

Fractures, lesions and collapsing of bone structure can occur in humans due to age, disease or trauma. There are many areas of bone that are prone to collapsing/depression, such as vertebra, the proximal humerus, the tibial plateau, the distal radius and the calcaneus. A surgical tool, such as, for example, an inflatable bone tamp (IBT) may be used to create voids for bone void filler (BVF) material. The IBT or a separate tool is then used to deliver BVF to a bone defect to restore collapsed bone and re-align bone fragments caused by fractures. That is, the bone void filler may be used to fill any voids in the bone, such as, for example, fractures, after the inflatable bone tamp is removed. Precise positioning of the inflatable bone tamp adjacent to the bone defect is essential to properly restore the alignment of the bone. If the inflatable bone tamp is improperly placed, misalignment of the bone can occur. The anatomy of the patient often provides little assistance in maintaining the inflatable bone tamp in a position that places the inflatable bone tamp in a desired position adjacent the bone void, making it difficult to achieve proper placement of the inflatable bone tamp and to hold the tool for delivering BVF. This disclosure provides an improvement over prior art technologies.


A multilayered frequency separator comprising a plurality of insulating layers, and having at least two notch circuits. The notch circuit is constituted by pattern electrodes formed on interfaces of each of the insulating layers which construct the multilayer structure, and comprises a capacitor component connected to an inductance component. The multilayered frequency separator is suitably used for branching the frequency bands for dual-band handy phone.

The present invention relates to a frequency separator for use in branching microwaves, specifically relates to a frequency separator for use in branching bands for dual-band handy phones.
FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a circuit of a conventional frequency separator which comprises a low-pass filter and a high-pass filter. FIGS. 11 and 12 are block diagrams showing other conventional frequency separators disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-216002. The frequency separator of FIG. 11 corresponds to that of FIG. 10 which has an additional low-pass filter connected to the high-pass filter. The frequency separator of FIG. 12 corresponds to that of FIG. 11 in which a rejection filter is added to each of the low-pass filter and the high-pass filter.
Generally, these frequency separators have a dielectric coaxial resonator which comprises a dielectric ceramic cylinder having electrodes formed on both the inner and outer surface of the cylinder. Due to this structure, it has been difficult to reduce the size of the frequency separator.
The recent spread of the handy phone is striking, and many efforts are directed to improve the performance of portable terminal equipment. For example, a dual-band handy phone, which enables speech in two different frequency bands, has been proposed. The dual-band handy phone must have a device for selecting one from the two frequency bands, i.e., a frequency separator. Also, such a frequency separator must be small in size to be mounted in a portable terminal equipment.
FIG. 13 is a graph showing insertion loss of a frequency separator, having a conventional branching circuit shown in FIG. 10, for use in a dual-band telephone using two bands of f1=824 to 894 MHz and f2=1850 to 1990 MHz. As seen from FIG. 13, the attenuation is as small as 5 to 10 dB in both bands, and therefore, little amount of one band signal does not run around into the other band. Thus, the conventional frequency separator has been insufficient in branching one band signal f1 and the other band signal f2.
By the constructions shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the insertion loss can be decreased with respect to each of the f1 and f2 bands. However, these constructions are rather complicated, and therefore, frequency separators having such constructions are inevitably large in size. Since the frequency separator to be mounted in a handy phone is required to be as small in size as possible and be of high performance, the conventional frequency separator of large size is apparently not suitable for a handy phone.


A gauge and method of use. The gauge includes a body configured to removeably mount to substrate chuck of a spin apply coating tool, the body rotatable about an axis passing through a center of the chuck; an extendable arm having a first end mounted to the body, the extendable arm having a retracted position and a deployed position, a second end of the arm including an upper finger and a lower finger, the upper finger configured to be positioned above a rim of the coat apply bowl and the lower finger positioned below the rim of the coat apply bowl in the deployed position when the coat apply bowl is mounted in the spin apply tool; and wherein the gauge provides an error indication when the gauge is rotated about the axis and the coat apply bowl is not installed in the spin apply coating tool correctly.

The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor fabrication; more specifically, it relates to an apparatus (gauge) for checking for proper installation of liner components in a substrate coating tool and the method of using said apparatus (gauge).
Substrate spin coating tool employ liners to protect the tools from the material being applied. However, if the components of the liner are not installed in the tool correctly or if the components are misaligned to each other a range of coating defects often result. Currently there is no known reliable solution to this problem. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to mitigate the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.

Gauge for installation of liners in substrate spin coating tools

International Business Machines Corporation


In one embodiment, a node in a multicast label distribution protocol (mLDP) network determines a remote protecting node for a particular root node in the mLDP network. In addition, the node determines a protecting node address of the remote protecting node and a root node address of the particular root node, and establishes an mLDP label-switched path (LSP) via the remote protecting node by using the protecting node address as a root of an outer forwarding equivalent class (FEC) of a recursive FEC, and using the root node address as an inner FEC of the recursive FEC for the mLDP LSP. As such, when the remote protecting node is reached, the outer FEC is stripped and the remote protecting node continues establishing the mLDP LSP toward the particular root node.

When using multicast label distribution protocol (mLDP) multicast only fast reroute (MoFRR), such as described in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Internet Draft by Karan et al., entitled "Multicast only Fast Re-Route" <draft-karan-mofrr>, two upstream candidate label distribution protocol (LDP) neighbors are chosen for forwarding packets down a label-switched path (LSP). Only one of the neighbors is allowed to be accepting packets at the same time, such that the other one is blocking. It is typical that with MoFRR the candidate upstream LSRs are learned from equal cost multipath (ECMP) or loop-free alternate (LFA) routes. If there is a remote LFA, it cannot currently be used because the directly connected upstream LDP neighbor is likely not an LFA for reaching a corresponding root node.

Multicast label distribution protocol over a remote loop-free alternative


A diaper construction is provided with an external porous reinforcement strip at the front part of the outside of the diaper, which strip provides reinforcement against an adhesive fastening tab and provides an oil-contamination tolerant adhesion surface.

The present invention relates to improved disposable articles such as diapers, incontinent products, disposable garments, feminine hygiene products, and the like.
Disposable baby diapers are often used in conjunction with powders or oils applied by the parent onto the baby. Quite often, the powder or oil contaminates the outer backsheet portion of the diaper. Typically, the powder or oil is transferred to the diaper backsheet by the parent's hands or from the baby. A persistent problem with such powder and oil contamination is that conventional adhesive tab closures used with diapers are adhered onto the outer backsheet portion of the diaper and do not adequately adhere to surfaces contaminated with talc or particularly oil.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,077 proposes a diaper closure system wherein the adhesive used on the fastening tab is a particular blend of a synthetic block copolymer and a blend of solid and liquid polyterpene type tackifiers. This adhesive provides a limited ability to adhere to talc or powder contaminated diaper surfaces, such as polyethylene backsheets typically employed in commercial diaper constructions. However, this adhesive composition does not address the problems of adhering to an oil-contaminated diaper substrate.
The problem of adhering to oil-contaminated surfaces with conventional pressure-sensitive adhesives is addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,002, which describes a method for improving the adhesion of normal pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes to oily or greasy substrates by treating the oil-contaminated substrate with a primer. This primer comprises a rubbery phase of a A-B-A triblock copolymer, such as a styrene-butadiene or styrene-isoprene block copolymer, and a resin phase comprised of a resin compatible with the conjugated diene portion of the block copolymer and a resin compatible with the monovinyl aromatic hydrocarbon portion of the block copolymer (i.e., styrene). These components are placed in a solution, then applied as an aerosol to render the oil-contaminated surface stable for subsequent adhesion. This patent states that the conventional approach to adhering to oil-contaminated surfaces is a complicated and time-consuming clean-up procedure. However, the primer solution proposed in this patent is still impractical for most consumer applications and particularly in a diaper being applied to a baby.
The present invention is addressed at solving the problems identified above. Particularly, the invention is directed at providing a diaper construction provided with a reinforced tape adhesion zone that has the property of oil-contamination tolerance.


A circuit is disclosed that comprises a capacitor gain-boost circuit and an amplifier coupled to capacitor gain-boost circuit. A capacitor gain-boost circuit comprises of capacitor, gain-boost amplifier and biasing circuit. The gain-boost amplifier and capacitor provides optimum biasing operation and performance. Accordingly, through the use of capacitor gain-boost circuit, the supply voltage range and power consumption of an amplifier is optimized while the gain of amplifier is improved.

The invention relates to analog amplifiers. Since the introduction of transistors and integrated circuits, analog amplifiers have been used in many applications Example applications range from video processing, audio processing, radio-frequency circuits, networking and sensor related fields. Amplifiers are often the fundamental building block of many analog systems. These systems include signal amplification, digital-to-analog converter, analog-to-digital converter, output drivers and sensor interfacing circuits, and they require amplifiers.
In these systems or applications, the overall performance is highly dependent on the performance capability of the individual amplifiers. Often, the system performance is limited by the amplifiers. Therefore, it is important to maximize the amplifier performance, and one of the critical performance factors is the gain.
Various amplifier designs have been developed in an attempt to meet high performance requirements. These include folded-cascode amplifiers, which are known in the art, and need not be described here. The closest prior art is thought to be represented by U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,688, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,828,856, both disclose prior gain boosting circuitry. Yet, such designs have not been addressing the increasing demand for high performance with flexible operating supply voltages and biasing conditions. Thus there is a need for a gain-boosting amplifier that requires simple configuration and offers wide range of supply voltage and biasing condition. The present invention addresses such a need.


The present invention relates to a dynamo-electric machine rotating by electromagnetic induction such as it acts on linear electric motors. It possesses a ring-shaped rotor (1) and an inductance coil stator (2) interacting at least with a part of said rotor (1).

The present application is the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371 of PCT/IT98/00155, filed Jun. 11, 1998.
The present invention relates to a dynamo-electric machine rotating by electromagnetic induction such as it acts in linear electric motors.
As is well known, the linear electric motor can be thought of as being derived from a normal asynchronous motor by longitudinally sectioning and rectifying both the stator and the rotor.
The operating principle is based on the generation of a magnetic field which varies spatially with uniform rectilinear motion instead of with rotatory motion as occurs in the normal asynchronous motor.
In the asynchronous linear motor, the inductor generates currents on the armature and the interaction between such currents and the inducting field gives rise to an inducting force directed longitudinally.
It is already known that in linear motors there is no dimensional constraint between inductor and armature.
The present invention aims to overcome also the constraint of the extended shape which is the basis for the linear motor.
An example of a linear motor is disclosed in the patent DE 2217466A. The patent discloses an induction motor comprising a disc of electrical conductor and a 3-element stator, each element comprising a core and windings. Another example of a linear motor can be found in GB1282485 A that discloses a ring-shaped rotor carried by fan blades, which extend radially outward from a hub mounted on a central shaft. In any of these documents , the rotor is mounted on a central shaft. An example of a motor having a rotor in the form of a hoop can be found in the document GB2103768A. In this document the stator and the hoop are of semi-cylindrical section and are thus semi-tiroidal in shape.
The main object of the present invention is to realise a dynamo-electric machine, i.e. one operating both as a motor and as a generator, which employs the technology of the linear electric motor to allow realisations not effected so far on a rotating machine.
The invention, as it is characterised by the claims that follow, solves the problem of providing a dynamo-electric machine rotating by electromagnetic induction such as it acts in linear electric motors, which from a general standpoint is characterized in that it possesses a ring-shaped rotor in the form of a flattened annulus, being fitted with at least one circumferential rail engaged with sliding guides, and an inductance coil stator interacting at least with one part of said rotor.
In other words, the present invention allows to realise a linear electric machine which, functioning for instance as a motor, has a linear armature closed in a loop at its ends to serve as a rotor, and a related stator, at least one fixed inductor, interacting with said armature at least on a part of its said loop.
One of the advantages obtained through the present invention essentially consists of the fact that, when said rotor is mounted for rotation on sliding guides, the structure of the machine is essentially hollow, and inside it may be housed various contrivances for the direct integration of the machine itself with systems for the utilisation of mechanical or electrical energy, or both, depending on whether the dynamo-electric machine functions as a motor or as a generator, or as both at subsequent times.
Another advantage is represented by the fact that the rotor of this machine can have a moment of inertia which can be easily modified by varying its radius. Hence it is possible to modify the torque produced for equal amounts of power supplied to the induction coil, in case of operation as a motor, with the consequent optimisation in the various applications. In addition, the need for gears or other reduction and indirect transmission means normally required to adapt the torque produced by the motors to the user is eliminated. In the absence of such reduction and transmission organs, the cost normally required for the utilisation of the mechanical energy is reduced, thanks to a lower number of necessary components, and the final mechanical efficiency is also increased.
With the use of a variable number of modular inductors, the power of the machine can be modified consequently. The invention can have various types of power supply and efficiency, depending on whether it functions as a motor or as a generator.
Yet another advantage of the invention is to allow large efficiencies simply by increasing the scale factor of the embodiments.
Thanks to the simplicity of construction, provided by the modular structure of the machine, its reliability is high, and its maintenance is made easier and does not require the intervention of particularly specialised personnel.
Given its flat and essentially compact structure, the machine according to the invention is easily and conveniently integrated in all its applications, in particular in those having internal spaces with particular volumes and shapes.
Overall, with respect to prior art electric machines, improvements are obtained in all mechanical characteristics, in adaptability, in dimensional and mechanical terms for the applications, in reliability and in servicing.

Dynamo-electric machine rotating by electromagnetic induction such as it acts in linear electric motors


The invention relates to a fuel injector (1) having a high pressure region (32) which contains fuel that is under high pressure during operation, and a low pressure region (38) in which a lower pressure is present during operation than in the high pressure region (32). A sensor (12) is located in the low pressure region (38) and a transmission means (9) is arranged such that a force which is equal to the pressure of the fuel in the high pressure region (32) is exerted on the sensor (12) at least some of the time.

Pressure sensors in fuel injection systems for measuring the fuel pressure are known in the state of the art. Such known pressure sensors are generally arranged in a central pressure accumulator of the injection system where they are subjected to the high pressure of the fuel in the injection system. In modern common rail systems the fuel pressure may be a few thousand bar. The pressure sensors therefore have to be sealed off from the high pressure of the fuel in the injection system and thus constitute an elaborate and cost-intensive component. Furthermore, finding a suitable location at which to fit the pressure sensor is something of a problem in systems having no central pressure accumulator.


A patient medical tubing and catheter anchor and support for permanently, securely anchoring and supporting medical tubing to a patient's body including a longitudinally extending conformable base having a non-adhesive upper surface and a lower surface including a medical grade adhesive thereon. An attachment member is connected to the upper surface of the base to provide a supporting surface for receiving and supporting the tubing. The attachment member includes a center portion and at least one longitudinally extending locking strip extending from one end of the center portion and at least one other longitudinally extending locking strip extending from the other end of the center portion. The locking strips are foldable over the center portion to encapsulate a portion of the tubing between the upper surface of the locking strips and the upper surface of the center portion.

Certain medical treatments require the use of percutaneously inserted catheters to direct fluids, such as parenteral liquid or medication directly into a patient's blood stream. After a catheter is percutaneously inserted into a patient at a desired location, the catheter is commonly anchored to the patient by a health care provider, such as, a nurse or a doctor. A common method of anchoring a catheter or medical tubing to a patient's skin includes applying surgical tape over an exposed portion of the catheter or tubing and the patient's skin, or forming a safety loop in tubing, connected to the catheter, and taping the looped tubing to the skin of the patient.
Such taping of a catheter and/or medical tubing to a patient is often ineffective to permanently, securely anchor and support the catheter and/or medical tubing to a patient's skin. Also, the taped down tubing is in direct contact with the patient's skin, which is often reported as being uncomfortable.
Other known anchor devices releasably secure a catheter and/or medical tubing to a patient and these too are often ineffective to permanently, securely anchor and support the catheter and/or medical tubing to a patient's skin.

Patient medical tubing and catheter anchor and support