A method for fabricating an integrated circuit using a photo-lithographic process includes the steps of placing at least two anti-reflective coating layers between a reflective surface and another material. The indices of refraction, absorptions, and thicknesses of the at least two anti-reflective coating layers are chosen such that the amplitudes and phase differences of radiation reflected from the anti-reflective coating layers, as well as any other reflective surfaces below the anti-reflective coating layers, mutually cancel when combined. The invention may be practiced using more than two layers of anti-reflective coating. Multiple layers of anti-reflective coating may be used below an inter-level dielectric, in which case they may serve the additional purpose of functioning as an etch-stop.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of integrated circuit fabrication, and more specifically to the use of dielectric anti-reflective coatings in integrated circuit fabrication processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
The semiconductor industry's drive toward increasingly smaller integrated circuit geometries has led to the use of photolithography processes that employ radiation with increasingly shorter wavelengths. More specifically, in order to achieve sufficient resolution, deep submicron (less than approximately 0.5 micron) applications require the use of deep ultraviolet (DUV) radiation with wavelengths of, for example, approximately 248 nanometers, as compared to G-line (approximately 436 nanometers) or I-line (approximately 365 nanometers) radiation.
However, the use of DUV radiation has led to problems. In particular, reflections from underlying layers of metals, metal silicides and polysilicon during exposure has led to problems such as higher CD variances from area to area, standing wave effects and the well-documented "footing" problem. The formation of standing waves reduces critical dimension control and causes large linewidth variations over device topography. These problems are exacerbated by the increased reflectivity exhibited by many materials in the presence of DUV radiation. These problems are particularly severe in areas where the reflective surface topography is "stepped" (where the reflective surface is rising or falling, such as at the edges of a gate stack).
These problems have led to the use of anti-reflective coatings. Anti-reflective coatings are typically deposited on a substrate below a photoresist layer to control reflection of DUV radiation off of surfaces below the anti-reflective coating and thereby minimize the problems associated therewith. While helpful, known anti-reflective coatings are not completely effective in controlling undesirable reflections.
One problem with the use of anti-reflective coatings is that they are typically opaque and have a high absorption value and index of refraction, while the materials above the anti-reflective coatings are typically transparent and have a lower absorption value and lower index of refraction. For example, a thin film of opaque anti-reflective coating is often used beneath a transparent inter-level dielectric layer. A dielectric anti-reflective coating, or DARC may be used beneath inter-level dielectric layers.
The problem with using an anti-reflective coating in this manner is that the interface between the bottom surface of the dielectric and the top surface of the anti-reflective coating causes a reflection due to the index of refraction mismatch. Thus, although the DARC may be totally effective in preventing any radiation penetrating its upper surface from being reflected off of surfaces below the DARC, some radiation will be reflected off of the DARC/dielectric layer interface. This reflected radiation causes the aforementioned problems.
A second problem associated with anti-reflective coatings is that, for various reasons not of concern here, the integrated circuit fabrication process is such that the thickness of the anti-reflective coating must be thinner than the thickness required to completely prevent radiation from reflecting off surfaces below the anti-reflective coating and back.
What is needed is an anti-reflective coating that reduces reflections from surfaces beneath the anti-reflective coating as well as reflections from the upper surface of the anti-reflective coating itself.

Photolithography process using multiple anti-reflective coatings


A frame assembly for affording mechanical support and for carrying electrical conduction paths for connection to circuitry of a machine. The frame assembly includes members comprising pultrusions having an insulating body and reinforcing fibers within the insulating body, and has grooves in surface portions along an elongated dimension with conductors in the grooves. The conductors provide electrical conduction paths that are connectable to circuitry of the machine. The pultrusion may be a thermal setting polymer, for example, selected from the group consisting essentially of polyester, vinyl ester, and epoxies, and may be reinforced with fiberglass. The frame member can also have a hollow interior portion within which conductors are arranged to conduct AC power to the circuitry of the machine, and the conductors on the exterior surface of the frame member can be arranged to conduct IIOC bus signals. When a plurality of the frame members are connected together to form a frame assembly, corresponding conductors of each are interconnected to facilitate supplying and directing the electrical signals to the machine. The connections can be made to and among the electrical conductors carried by the pultrusions by blocks that are attachable to the pultrusions.

This invention relates to improvements in structural frame embers and assemblies, and more particularly to improvements in frame members and assemblies for use in conjunction with machines requiring electrical circuit interconnections, and still more particularly to improvements in frame members and assemblies of the type which are capable of conducting electrical signals, voltages, and the like, to and from the circuitry of an associated machine.
Although the invention has wide applications, as will become apparent, a preferred embodiment of the invention is particularly suitable for applications in electrostatographic reproducing machines. In a typical electrostatographic reproducing machine, a photoconductive insulating surface, often in the form of a moving belt, is uniformly charged and exposed to a light image from an original document. The light image causes the exposed or background areas to become discharged, and creates an electrostatic latent image on the surface corresponding to the image contained within the original document. Alternatively, a light beam such as a laser beam may be modulated and used to selectively discharge portions of the photoconductive surface to record the desired information thereon. The electrostatic latent image is made visible by developing the image with a developer powder, referred to in the art as toner, which may be subsequently transferred to a support surface such as paper to which it may be permanently affixed by the application of heat and/or pressure.
In these commercial applications, it is of course necessary to distribute electrical power, high voltage and/or logic signals between the various units, subsystems, customer replaceable units and/or cartridges of the machine. Traditionally, this has been accomplished utilizing conventional wires and wiring harnesses in each machine to distribute power and logic signals between, for example, the main processor and frame of the machine and a removable processing unit. For instance, conventional plug and socket arrangements have been used which can be either manually connected or joined automatically on insertion of the unit into the main processor. Such automatic joining requires precision positioning and alignment of the unit on insertion with very low tolerance for error. Typically locating members such as pins or rails are used to insure proper positioning, all of which adds to the manufacturing cost of the machine. In addition, conventional wires and wiring harnesses are flexible and therefore, do not lend themselves to automated assembly such as with the use of conventional robots further leading to increased manufacturing costs.
In many typical copier systems, flexible interconnects have been accomplished by such techniques as flexible ribbon wires with plugs that attach to mating plugs on the members to be interconnected. Such ribbon wiring arrangements, however, do not lend physical support between the interconnected members, and also often involve intensive labor fabrication requirements. Furthermore, such harnesses may have to be handled or moved several times to make all connections required. This is a highly labor intensive task, frequently requiring routing of the several harnesses through channels and around components manually with the final connections being also accomplished manually, thereby resulting in potential human error in the assembly, which might be reduced with the use of automated and in particular robotic assembly. Conventional harnesses also often require chafe protection, standoffs, and tie wraps which further add to the assembly and installation costs. In addition to the relatively high labor costs associated with electrical harness construction and installation, it is well to note that such wiring harnesses are less than totally reliable in producing their intended function. Furthermore, and with increasing sophistication of the capabilities of such products, a plurality of wiring harnesses may be required in any individual machine which can require a large volume of space thereby increasing the overall size of the machine. Accordingly, there is a desire to provide an alternative to the conventional wiring and wiring harnesses that overcomes these difficulties.
One of the considerations for the development of wiring harnesses and interconnects in electrostatic copier environments is the relatively hostile machine surroundings having surfaces possibly contaminated by dirt, toner, silicone oil, or other debris. Furthermore, metal contacts that might be used often tend to oxidize forming an insulating layer on the contact surface thereby further degrading the reliability and performance of the contact and of the machine. Such contacts, therefore, need to be either improved or minimized.
To address these and other problems, and with recent emphasis toward the goal of replacing conventional wire harnesses in copier products to achieve a so-called "wireless copier", what is needed is the incorporation of circuit functions directly into large structural machine parts. For example, the surfaces of machine covers, frames housings, support brackets, bases, and the like, can all provide vacant "real estate" for circuitization, given that the substrate materials are, or can be made, insulating and can be appropriately "circuitized".
New manufacturing processes are likely to be required for efficient and economical patterning, plating, and component loading of the large multifunctional parts envisioned for copiers of the future. Also required will be new materials and methods to construct key structural members.
What is needed is the identification of new materials and fabrication techniques by which structural frames having integrated electrical interconnect features can be provided.

Frame member and assembly for carrying electrical signals and the like


In a thermographic material comprising an organic acid silver, the organic acid silver having a half-width of up to 21.0' as measured by X-ray diffractometry is used. Then the thermographic material experiences a minimal change of photographic properties during shelf storage.

This invention relates to a thermographic material comprising organic acid silver.
Well known among thermographic materials are black-and-white thermographic materials comprising organic acid silver, which are also known as "dry silver" compositions. Their high black color development is an attractive feature whereas degradation of photographic properties, especially an increase of fog, during shelf storage is a serious problem. Mercury compounds are often used to reduce fog. The use of mercury compounds, however, is undesirable from the safety point of view. Polyhalides are proposed as a substitute, but their effect is still insufficient. There is a need for a means for reducing the fog of organic acid silver itself.


A video/audio output apparatus comprises a control unit adapted to perform screen management of output video, and generate positional relationship information for each input video data; an extraction unit adapted to generate partial image data from the each input video data; an input unit adapted to input audio source differentiated audio data; and a tile generation unit adapted to configure tile data by compiling the partial image data generated by the extraction unit and the audio source differentiated audio data for each drawing region on a screen, based on the positional relationship information generated by the control unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video/audio output apparatus, a video/audio output method, a computer program and a storage medium, and in particular to a preferred technique used for matching playback audio with playback video.
2. Description of the Related Art
In video/audio output apparatuses capable of simultaneous playback of plural pieces of video and audio data, part of one screen sometimes gets hidden by another screen. In such a case, the audio data for each screen needs to be composed using one method or another in order to output audio. Technology concerning apparatuses for performing such processing is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-19729, for example.
The "image apparatus" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-19729 refers to positional relationships including the size and overlap of images corresponding to input video signals or to the selection information of specific video. The audio signal synchronized with a large-size image, an image positioned in front of other images, or a selected specific image is set as a standard value, and processing is then automatically performed to reduce the amplitude of audio signals synchronized with other images.
This technology enables sound volume control of audio data corresponding to each screen to be performed automatically based on the configuration of the screen when simultaneously outputting a plurality screens. However, this technology is only for controlling the sound volume of audio data corresponding to each screen, and does not enable audio management of individual objects on each screen.
Thus, there are cases in which two objects A and B exist on a CH.1 screen, and a CH.2 screen newly overlaps the object B, such as shown in FIG. 3, for example. In such a case, audio management of individual objects is not possible with technology using a conventional method.
Consequently, there are disadvantageous times when an audio source B corresponding to the object B hidden by CH.2 and not displayed, as shown in FIG. 3, is actually output. Conventional technology thus does not enable output audio to be matched with the configuration of output video after a plurality of screens have been composed in a video/audio output apparatus that simultaneously outputs a plurality of screens.

Video/audio output apparatus and video/audio output method


The present invention provides novel LHRH antagonists and complexes between these antagonists and VB12. The present invention is particularly useful for the oral administration of LHRH antagonists. The antagonists of the invention are selected from the group consisting of ANTIDE-1, ANTIDE-2 and ANTIDE-3.

Hypothalamic gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH, also known as luteinizing hormone releasing hormone, LHRH) mediates the regulation of pituitary gonadotrophin synthesis and secretion. Since the initial isolation of LHRH by Schally et al. (1971) numerous analogues have been synthesized, which may be classified according to their acute effects on gonadotrophin release, as either agonists (with enhancement of release) or antagonists, (with inhibition of release). The agonists are characterised by an increase in binding affinity to pituitary LHRH receptors (Loumay et al, 1982, Perrin et al. 1980) and by increased resistance to the proteolytic degradation that rapidly removes native LHRH.
The observation that these potent analogues can induce potentially reversible medical castration has provided a new approach to the treatment of various gonadotrophin dependent disorders, particularly hormone dependent prostate and breast cancer. Two distinct phases in the induction of castration occur. Initially the analogue stimulates the pituitary-gonadal axis causing a transient increase in gonadotrophin and sex steroid secretion in the first two weeks or so. After this period there is a down regulation of pituitary LHRH receptors with subsequent decline in gonadotrophin and sex steroid secretion. The initial stimulation is a substantial drawback to the use of agonists in the treatment of prostatic malignancy as the initial stimulation of testosterone can produce a painful flare of the disease with consequent adverse clinical effects (Eisenberger and Abrams, 1988, Crawford and Davis, 1988). By contrast the first successful synthesis of LHRH antagonists should be advantageous in avoiding the initial flare. First attempts at the production of antagonists led to compounds characterised by undesirable histamine release (Karten and Rivier, 1986, Schmidt et al., 1984, Phillips et al ., 1988). However new antagonists have been developed characterised by improved potency and much less histamine releasing potential eg. Karten and Rivier, 1986. One of the most potent antagonists described to date is the analogue N-Ac-D-Nal(2), D-Phe (pCl), D-Pal(3), Ser, Lys (Nic), D-Lys(Nic), Leu, Lys(iPr), Pro, D-Ala-NH2 (ANTIDE), synthesized by Folkers and Bowers. It is highly potent in rats in inhibiting ovulation (Ljundquist et al;, 1988) and single doses have profound, long lasting inhibitory effects on serum LH concentrations in castrate female cynamologous monkeys (Leal et al, 1988). It has also been shown to be capable of inducing long term chemical castration in intact adult male rats and cynamologous monkeys, and to have an inhibitory effect on tumour growth in the Dunning R3327 prostatic carcinoma model, similar to that of castration (Habenicht et al, 1990). The new antagonist should therefore be of substantial clinical interest in all those conditions in which medical castration is desirable, particularly in the management of prostatic cancer and in various gynaecological disorders (McLachlan et al., 1986). Current administration is limited to the parenteral route. However the dose of analogue that can be delivered by this route is limited due to the poor solubility of the antagonist. Thus clinical trials of the long term effect of ANTIDE have been reduced to doses of 2.5 mg or lower.
The oral route of administration of peptides such as LHRH and its analogues as pharmaceuticals in the treatment of systemic conditions has met with little success. In general the amount of peptide required for successful oral administration has been 100 to 1000 times the dose required for parenteral deliver, thus making the administration of these agents via this route prohibitively expensive. There are two fundamental reasons for the lack of success. Firstly, the intestinal milieu has a high degree of proteolytic activity, which rapidly degrades most peptides. Secondly, while there are well defined uptake mechanisms for individual amino acids and di-peptides, there is no general mechanism for polypeptides to be transported across the membrane of the mucosal epithelium into the circulation. Rather, this membrane is designed as a general barrier prohibiting the uptake of the numerous foreign proteins encountered in this environment. Thus, although a peptide may be modified to withstand the enzymatic barrage encountered in the intestine, such modification is of little value if the peptide cannot subsequently cross the mucosal barrier and enter the systemic circulation.
Recent work by the current inventor (PCT/AU86/00299) has however provided a method to overcome the mucosal barrier. This method takes advantage of the natural intrinsic factor (IF) mediated uptake mechanism for vitamin B12 (VB12). VB12 is a naturally occurring dietary molecule which is actively taken up from the intestine. During this process it first binds to IF in the upper small intestine. The VB12-IF complex then passes down the small intestine and binds to an IF receptor located on the surface of the ileal epithelium. The whole VB12-IF-Receptor! complex is then internalized by receptor-mediated endocytosis and some time later the VB12 appears in serum.
PCT application PCT/AU86/00299 (WO87/02251) describes methods to modify chemically VB12 to provide suitable functional groups for conjugation of the VB12 to various drugs and peptide/protein pharmaceuticals. When the VB12-pharmaceutical! complex is administered orally it is possible to utilise the natural IF-mediated VB12-uptake system to deliver the pharmaceutical to the circulation.
As the oral route of administration is the most preferable means of delivering a pharmaceutically active agent, there is a large and valuable market for any process which permits the oral delivery of LHRH antagonists to humans. Such a process would be available by the formation of a complex between VB12 or analogues thereof and LHRH antagonists.


The waterproof decking is decking made from extruded panels for forming a watertight deck assembly. First side, second side, and intermediate panels are provided, each having complementary edges for mating with other corresponding panels. One edge of the first side and intermediate panels is provided with a drainage gutter and the tongue or groove of a tongue and groove connection, with mating edges of the second side and intermediate panels being provided with the mating tongue or groove configuration. The decking includes a depending drip rail which serves to wedge tightly against the opposite wall of the gutter of the adjoining panel to prevent relative motion between the two, and also to prevent capillary flow of liquid across the underside of the panel where it could leak into the area below. Additional sealing may be provided along the tongue and groove joints.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to extruded panels, and more particularly to a series of panel extrusions configured to interlock tightly and immovably with one another, and also to preclude moisture passage through the joints between panels. The present watertight decking may be installed as a deck or similar surface over a room, storage area, or other space that must be kept dry, and thereby serves dual purposes as flooring and as a waterproof roof structure over the underlying area.
2. Description of the Related Art
Decks and similar structures serving as built-up surfaces for walking thereon and/or for supporting other articles, have conventionally been constructed of wood boards or sheet material (pressboard, plywood, etc.). The use of such materials requires additional waterproofing (e.g., tarpaper, etc.) beneath the deck surface, if a truly waterproof deck is required. Moreover, wood is not particularly durable when used as a deck surface or in other areas where considerable wear and tear may occur, and at the very least must be treated in some manner (pressure treatment, paint, etc.) in order to resist deterioration due to moisture.
As a result, various manufacturers have developed extruded panels, generally of aluminum or other durable metal but also of plastic, which may be assembled to form a more durable and wear resistant deck assembly. Such decks are particularly useful in the maritime industry, where the deck material is subjected to water and moisture on a nearly constant basis. The aluminum and (to some extent) plastics used in such extruded panels provide a significant improvement in resistance to deterioration when compared to wood.
However, the fact that such panels are somewhat limited in their maximum width due to constraints involved in the extrusion process and shipping results in the need to assemble a series of such extrusions together in order to provide the desired width for most deck installations. While such an assembly can be constructed to form a structurally sound installation, the slight gaps between the assembled panels generally allow rain or other moisture to pass therethrough. Thus, such extruded panels are generally unsuitable for use as a deck or roof surface overlying a room or other area which must be kept dry, unless additional waterproofing in the form of an underlying substructure covered with tarpaper, plastic sheeting, or some other waterproof material, is provided. While some attempts have been made to form extrusions that provide a truly waterproof joint, the fact remains that none of the decking extrusions of which the present inventors are aware provide a truly waterproof surface when assembled.
The present invention responds to this need with a series of planks having specialized extruded cross sections, which assemble tightly together to substantially eliminate water or other liquid penetration therebetween. Any water or other liquid which does penetrate the tightly interlocked joints of the present decking extrusions is directed to drain channels formed integrally with the extrusions, where the liquid is drained away from the deck. The present watertight decking may be formed in a variety of different configurations, with the interlocking tongue and groove connections of adjoining panels extending from an edge adjacent or opposite the underlying drain channel, positive interlocking means between adjacent panels, different drain channel configurations, and/or additional sealing means, as desired.
A discussion of the related art of which the present inventors are aware, and its differences and distinctions from the present invention, are provided below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,632 issued on Sep. 12, 1978 to Harold G. Simpson, titled "Prefabricated Watertight Structural System," describes a complex roof panel installation having fascia, gutters, and other elements in addition to the roof panels. The panels of the Simpson system are composite, i.e., formed of thin metal sheets covered with a thin layer of Hypalon® plastic. The sheets interlock together, but require additional structure therebelow to provide sufficient support. The Simpson roof panels are so thin and light, that they cannot support the weight of a person thereon by themselves. Simpson does not provide any form of drain channels beneath his roof panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,385 issued on May 12, 1981 to James A. Oehlert, titled "Interlocking Building Panel Construction," describes paneling for roofs or walls comprising thin sheet metal units having interlocking edges. However, the interlocking portions are upstanding when the panels are used for roofing. The raised interlocked edges render the Oehlert panels unsuitable for use as a deck for walking upon. In any event, the thin sheet metal from which the Oehlert panels are formed do not provide sufficient structural strength to serve as a deck. While Oehlert does provide channels within the interlocked edges of his panels, they are not waterproof, as fasteners are driven through the floors of the channels to anchor the assembly to the underlying structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,572 issued on Jan. 3, 1984 to Edward S. Tor, titled "Water-Tight Insulated Roof Construction For House," describes another roof assembly formed of a series of interlocking thin sheet metal panels. As in the case of the panels of the Oehlert '385 U.S. patent, the Tor panels have raised interlocking joints which would preclude their use as a walking surface. Moreover, the thin sheet metal of the Tor panels do not provide sufficient structural strength for walking upon and/or supporting relatively heavy articles, e.g., outdoor furniture, etc., as would normally be found on a deck.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,599 issued on Apr. 26, 1988 to Serapio E. Lopez et al., titled "Energy Dissipation Structure For Securing Lightweight Roofing Elements," describes a roofing system utilizing a series of relatively thin paving blocks which abut one another. The blocks are secured to the underlying structure by buttons atop the blocks, with springs secured to the buttons to hold the blocks down. The blocks do not interlock, nor are their joints waterproof. Some additional waterproofing means (e.g., tarpaper, etc.) must be placed upon the underlying roof structure before the blocks are installed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,361 issued on Sep. 24, 1991 to John Hallsten, titled "Deck Structure," describes an assembly of extruded panels for constructing a floating dock or the like. The panels of the Hallsten structure interlock, but no waterproof joints are provided due to their environment as a dock overlying a body of water. Accordingly, Hallsten does not provide any form of drainage channels or gutters beneath the joints of his panels, whereas the present extruded panels include such drainage channels underlying each joint between panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,184 issued on Jul. 15, 1997 to Harry H. Davis, titled "Modular Decking Plank, And Decking Structure," describes a relatively thick extrusion having top and bottom surfaces with a series of webs or ribs therebetween. Each panel has a laterally extending tongue which engages a slot in the adjacent mating panel. The configuration of the panels is such that a gap remains between each of the adjacent panels when they are assembled, and no gutters are provided beneath the gaps. Thus, the Davis panels are not at all waterproof and cannot be installed over a room or other space which must remain dry, unless considerable waterproofing (e.g., the installation of tarpaper, etc.) is accomplished beneath the panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,467 issued on Jun. 2, 1998 to S. Clayton Snear et al., titled "Inter-Connectable Modular Deck Member," describes a deck construction formed of a series of extruded panels having configurations much like that of the panels of the Davis '184 U.S. patent, discussed immediately above. The Snear et al. panels have relatively wide and open gutters or channels disposed between each adjacent panel, rather than underlying the drainage area of the panels, as in the present invention. Moreover, Snear secures his panels to the underlying structure by means of screws or nails driven through the overlapping panel edges forming the floors of the gutters. This construction cannot provide a truly waterproof deck.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,328 issued on Jun. 16, 1998 to Grant M. Moore, titled "Drainage System For Decks," describes the installation of a series of plastic channels or gutters between the supporting joists of an overlying deck formed of spaced apart wood planks or boards. The plastic channels serve to capture any water and/or debris which passes through the gaps between the boards. The overlying deck boards are not extruded panels and do not interlock, nor do they have integral drainage channels or gutters formed therewith, as do the present extrusions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,237 issued on Aug. 25, 1998 to Donald R. Finkell, Jr., titled "Flooring System," describes flooring boards having a modified tongue and groove joint system. The base edge of each tongue includes a channel therein, with the distal edge of the mating extension which defines one side of the opposite groove having a lip which engages the channel along the tongue. This construction provides greater security for adjoining boards, but does not provide a completely watertight joint, as provided by the present invention. Also, the Finkell, Jr. flooring system is directed to wood boards; no disclosure is made of any form of extrusion, underlying drainage channels or gutters, or other key features of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,010 issued on Oct. 6, 1998 to James H. Conn, titled "Interconnecting Construction Panels," describes a series of identical extruded panels having interlocking means at their adjoining edges. A first panel edge includes a channel with an overhanging lip extending over the channel and forming a trough, with the mating second panel edge having an inverted, U-shaped hook, the free end of which forms a "contact" that is inserted into the trough of the first panel edge, although loosely, since the trough has a greater width than the "contact". The opposite wall of the channel of the first panel extends upwardly to a level even with the underside of the first panel and is used as a fulcrum during assembly of the panels. Thus, when the panels are assembled, there is an interference equal to the panel thickness as the upper edge of the second panel is captured beneath the overhanging channel lip of the first panel, while the underside of the second panel bears against the upper edge of the freestanding channel wall of the first panel.
While the Conn patent shows various shapes for the extreme edge configurations of the second panel, no resilient sealing means are provided by Conn to positively seal the joint against moisture seepage therethrough. The principle of capillary action is well known, with a thin film of water tending to seep or "wick" along a surface in defiance of gravity, particularly over smoothly contoured surfaces such as the rounded edges of the Conn panels. Conn does nothing to prevent this with seals or other means employed by the present invention to form truly waterproof panel joints. In fact, due to the very high pressure developed by the edge of the second panel bearing against the underside of the first panel, any resilient sealing means applied between these two contact lines would be quickly worn away.
Moreover, Conn specifies that the joints between his panels are relatively loose, i.e., allow a fair amount of lateral play or motion. The present inventors' experience with the Conn panels shows that this lateral motion, along with the tight interference between adjacent panels, results in squeaks, groans, and other unpleasant noises being produced by the Conn panel joints as the "contact" of the second panel rubs and bears against the underside of the first panel in the trough. In contrast, the edges of the panels of the present invention form a series of variations of the tongue and groove principle, and do not require any other support to form a tight lock with one another. Moreover, this tongue and groove principle allows for the installation of resilient seals therein, if so desired, to provide further sealing against moisture seepage. Also, the present panels include a relatively sharp edged drip rail which is suspended within the channel of the adjoining panel. The sharp edge of the drip rail precludes capillary action or "wicking" of moisture around the edge, thereby assuring that any moisture which reaches this point will drop into the underlying channel. The drip rail provides an additional benefit by wedging itself against the opposite channel wall to preclude relative motion between the two joined panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,191 issued on Dec. 12, 2000 to Charles T. Seem, titled "Roof Panel With Plow-Shaped Edge And Related Panel System," describes a series of panels formed of foam plastic core material with a very thin sheet metal upper covering. Such panels cannot support any significant weight and must be supported by some underlying structure, as is clear from the drawings of the Seem roof panel system. Seem depends upon multiple areas of resilient foam material along the edges of adjoining panels, rather than providing for the interlock of adjacent panels and drainage gutters for any residual moisture which may pass through the seals, as in the case of the present watertight decking invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,340 issued on Mar. 13, 2001 to Harry H. Davis, titled "Modular Construction Element," describes a closed box extruded structure with interconnecting edge components. The Davis '340 U.S. patent is a continuation-in-part of the '184 U.S. patent to Davis, discussed further above. The primary difference between the extrusions of the two Davis patents appears to be the rectangular edges of the extrusion of the later '340 patent, as compared to the trapezoidal edges of the extrusion of the earlier '184 patent discussed further above. The same points raised in the discussion of the earlier '184 U.S. Patent to Davis are seen to apply here as well, particularly insofar as the lack of a completely watertight joint and the need for additional waterproofing for the Davis extrusions is concerned.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,796 issued on Dec. 4, 2001 to Randall N. Heath, titled "Modular Decking Planks," describes another box structure extrusion having interlocking edges between adjacent panels. A downwardly extending male box structure locks into a mating upwardly facing channel in the adjacent panel, to join two panels together. This is not a completely watertight structure, as water can seep downwardly into the upwardly facing channels, and the channels include nail or other fastener holes in their bottom components. In contrast, the channels of the present extruded panels are unbroken, with fasteners being secured through a flange which extends externally from each channel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,395 issued on Aug. 6, 2002 to Glenn R. Elsasser et al., titled "Elongated Covering Member Of Extruded Plastic Suitable For Flooring, Decking, Seating, And Like Uses," describes various embodiments of an extrusion having opposed channels with open tops along each edge. Fasteners are driven through the floors of the channels, and the channels are covered with a plastic overlay which snaps or catches in place over the base extrusion, or into the channels. The Elsasser et al. extrusions are particularly directed to use as covers for wood stadium seating or the like. Elsasser et al. note that their extrusions may be used for roof decking or the like, but they fail to provide any means of interconnecting adjacent extrusion components to provide any sort of watertight (or other) joint between them. Thus, water and foreign matter can easily pass between adjacent panels of the Elsasser et al. extrusions.
Finally, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-108,589 published on Apr. 19, 1994, titled "Gutter-Built-In Roof Panel," describes (according to the drawings and English abstract) a composite panel having a series of ribs or support members therein that is overlaid with sheet material. The English abstract refers to "vertical gutters," by which it appears that they mean the sloped eaves of a gabled roof. The panels are laterally symmetrical, with no direct tongue-and-groove interconnection, as provided by the present extruded panels.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus, watertight decking solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A disclosed additive manufacturing machine includes a fixed platform defining a work surface for supporting fabrication of a part and a housing defining a chamber over the work surface. A material applicator is supported on the housing for depositing material onto the work surface. An energy directing device is also supported on the housing and directs energy within the chamber to form a part. The housing is movable relative to the work surface therefore moves the energy producing device relative to the work surface to maintain a distance between the energy directing device and a surface of the part during fabrication.

This disclosure generally relates to an additive manufacturing machine and process. More particularly, this disclosure relates to a configuration compensating for increased size and weight of larger parts generated in an additive manufacturing process.
Typical manufacturing methods include various methods of removing material from a starting blank of material to form a desired completed part shape. Such methods utilize cutting tools to remove material to form holes, surfaces, overall shapes and more by subtracting material from the starting material. Such subtractive manufacturing methods impart physical limits on the final shape of a completed part. Additive manufacturing methods form desired part shapes by adding one layer at a time and therefore provide for the formation of part shapes and geometries that would not be feasible in part constructed utilizing traditional subtractive manufacturing methods.
Additive manufacturing utilizes an energy source such as a laser beam to melt layers of powdered metal to form the desired part configuration layer upon layer. The laser forms a melt pool in the powdered metal that solidifies. The works surface and part are then moved downward and another layer of powdered material is then spread over the formerly solidified part and melted to the previous layer to build a desired part geometry layer upon layer. Powdered material that is applied but not melted to become a portion of the part accumulates around and within the part. For smaller parts the excess powdered material is not significant. However, as capabilities improve and larger parts are fabricated, the excess powdered metal becomes a significant consideration in both part fabrication capabilities and economic feasibility.

Additive manufacturing chamber with reduced load


Disclosed is a luggage carrier having two side panels pivoted to a horizontal bottom panel thereof between a vertical front panel and a vertical back panel, and a seat belt, wherein the side panels are respectively turned downwards and bilaterally suspended from the bottom panel for permitting a baby to be carried on the bottom panel and held steady by the seat belt; the side panels are respectively turned upwards and tied up by the seat belt to close two opposite side openings for permitting things to be held inside the luggage-carrier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates luggage carriers, and more particularly to a luggage carrier which can be conveniently fastened to a bicycle or motorcycle and then alternatively arranged into either of two different forms for carrying a baby or things.
2. Description of Prior Art
A bicycle may be fastened with a luggage-carrier above the front or rear wheel thereof for carrying things. This luggage-carrier is suitable for carrying small things. Some people may also use the luggage-carrier of a bicycle to carry a baby or young child. Because the luggage-carrier on an ordinary bicycle is designed for carrying things only, it is neither safe nor comfortable to carry a baby or child on the luggage-carrier of a bicycle.

Sec. 1, Nan Chen Village, Tien Wei Hsiang, Changhua


A drainage system for horizontally sliding closures, especially horizontally sliding closures having a solid sill such as is typical with patio doors and the like. The drainage system includes a valve assembly having a top wall, opposed end walls and a side wall that defines a drainage aperture. The drainage aperture is normally closed by a flap which permits water to drain through the valve assembly but inhibits the infiltration of outside air. The valve assembly is mounted over a drainage slot cut through the fixed rail. To ensure most efficient drainage performance, the fixed rail must be vented. This is preferably accomplished by replacing the usual end caps for the fixed rail with slotted end caps which maintain the internal air pressure in the fixed rail at substantially atmospheric pressure. The advantage is a simple, inexpensive very effective drainage system which is suitable for new product and the retrofit of installed doors and/or windows.

The drainage of rain water and condensation from the sills of windows and patio doors has long been recognized as a problem in the door and window industry. The problem is particularly acute for patio doors because the sill structure generally does not permit much latitude in designing an effective drainage system. It is well known that the sills of all sliding closure assemblies require some form of drainage to prevent rain water and/or condensation from entering the interior of a building around the movable panes. Many drainage systems designed to solve this problem have been invented. Most such drainage systems, however, require a hollow sill construction and are not adapted to the drainage of horizontally sliding closure assemblies such as patio doors which are normally constructed with a solid sill for strength and durability. The infiltration of wind driven water is also a particular problem with patio doors because it is desirable to have a sill profile that is as low and unobtrusive as possible to facilitate passage through the door with wheelchairs and the like.
Canadian Patent Application No. 2,059,505 (Heppner laid open July, 1992) discloses a sliding door sill which appears to be an aluminum extrusion having a rail for slidably supporting a movable panel of the door and a rail for supporting a fixed panel on the sill. Positioned behind the rail that supports the fixed panel is a raised platform for supporting a pile weatherstrip which prevents air and dust infiltration around the slidable panel. Provided next to the fixed panel is a drainage groove. Drainage holes are cut through the rail for supporting the fixed panel and each drainage groove is scaled with a weep seal made of a flexible rubber, such as a silicone rubber. The weep seal is provided to seal the openings against air infiltration but to yield to water pressure when water accumulates in the drainage groove. It is not clear from the disclosure of this invention, but it appears that the weep seal extends along the entire bottom edge of the fixed panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,279 (Rolscreen Company, Nov. 26, 1991) describes a door threshold for an inwardly swinging door which comprises a two-part extrusion having an interior section and an exterior section. The interior section includes a plurality of drain holes intended to drain water entering past the door. Each drain hole is provided with a silicone rubber check valve which is designed to permit water to drain outwardly but to prevent air from infiltrating from the outside. The check valve is designed to open when enough water accumulates to provide adequate pressure to open the valve. Wind pressure is said to close the valve so that water is not blown inwardly across the sill. The valve is an elongated triangular shape which is mounted inside the threshold, thus requiring the two-part construction of the extruded threshold.
British Patent No. 1,537,347 (Clive Investments Pty. Limited, Dec. 29, 1978) relates to an extruded aluminum construction for door or window sills of the horizontally sliding type. The sill includes integral hinges on either side which support hinged flaps that are intended to permit water to drain from the sill while inhibiting the intrusion of air. The hinged flaps extend the full length of the inner and outer sides of the sill. It appears that in a normal condition, the flaps are spaced away from the sill and would permit air intrusion. Only with adequate air pressure would the flaps close against stops provided in the sill. Each side of the sill forms a support rail for a sliding panel. It is not disclosed how fixed panels are secured to the rail.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,171 (Mitchell, Jan. 18, 1977) describes a hydrostatic water discharge valve for an extruded aluminum window sill which is assembled from two or more extruded components. The hydrostatic discharge valve is positioned inside the sill to cover a drainage orifice through a partition in the sill. The valve includes a flap which is hingedly connected to the sill and a horizontal actuating vane which extends into the inner chamber of the sill below a weep opening. The actuating vane is designed to exert opening pressure on the discharge valve when water seeps through the weep opening and drips onto the actuating vane. This arrangement is useful only with two part hollow extrusions because the discharge valve has to be hingedly suspended from an inner partition of the window sill.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,599 (Comalco Limited, Nov. 5, 1974) discloses a drain valve assembly for an extruded two-part window sill which is designed to permit water to drain to an outside wall, to inhibit wind-blown water from migrating inwardly across the sill. The drain valve comprises a box-shaped structure having a partition wall which divides the structure into two chambers open at the top. A cylindrical float is positioned in the rear chamber under a drain opening, Water draining into the window sill enters the drain opening and flows over the float and the partition. In calm conditions, the water flows outwardly through a drain opening and an outer surface of the window sill. If high winds force water through the drain opening, the air pressure raises the water level in the float chamber and the float rises to block the drain opening, inhibiting water migration back across the sill. Again, this particular valve design can only be used in two-part hollow window sills since the sill must be in a disassembled condition in order to install the drain valve body.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a drainage system for horizontally sliding closure assemblies such as patio doors which permits the drainage of water from the interior of the closure and minimizes the ingress of air from an exterior of a building in which the sliding closure assembly is installed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drainage system for horizontally sliding closure assemblies having solid sill constructions.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a drainage system for horizontally sliding closure assemblies which is inexpensive to construct and simple to install.
It is another object of the invention to provide a drainage system for horizontally sliding closure assemblies which is adapted to be retrofitted to an installed horizontally sliding closure assembly.

Drainage system for horizontally sliding closure assemblies


A folded cavity semiconductor optical amplifier is provided that includes a first mirror disposed on a substrate of semiconductor material and an active region formed thereon consisting of an optical cavity with a gain medium. The optical cavity being disposed adjacent the first mirror. A second mirror is formed and disposed on the active region on a surface opposite the first mirror. The active region of the amplifier includes input and output portions formed in one or both mirrors. The input and output portions formed from layers of reduced reflectivity relative to the first or second mirror and a longitudinal waveguide integral to the optical cavity connecting the input and output portions to allow for light to be amplified to enter at the input port, travel through the vertical cavity and longitudinal waveguide, and exit as amplified light at the output portion of the waveguide structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical amplifiers and more particularly to a semiconductor optical amplifier having a folded cavity with surface normal input and output.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fiber optic networks are revolutionizing communications technology. Since the hardware used to convert electrons to photons (E to O) and back again (O to E) represents one of the major costs of building and maintaining such networks, recently there has been a trend toward all-optical networks, which bypass these conversions altogether. The advent of the erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) enabled the design and practical implementation of all-optical networks. One disadvantage is that the cost of EDFAs has not fallen along with the rest of the components and sub-systems used in the network, and remain a significant fraction of the system costs.
Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) have been proposed as a means of reducing this cost in many system applications. SOAs can be fabricated similar to the fabrication of edge emitting lasers, for example, forming a waveguide by cleaving and/or etching of vertical facets in semiconductor materials to form entry and exit points for the amplifying waveguide. Due to their compact size, reduced power consumption and reduced cost of fabrication, semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) have begun to replace EDFAs in short to intermediate reach, narrow band gain applications. The disadvantages of SOAs include much narrower wavelength bands, reduced amplification, and higher noise figure than EDFAs.
One problem in the conventional SOA fabrication process is in the step of device testing. Testing is required in the manufacture of semiconductor optical amplifiers because of device defects that result from the epitaxial growth process and other fabrication process steps. Conventional SOAs require the forming of vertical facets via cleaving and/or etching in semiconductor materials to form the entry and exit points for the amplifying waveguide. Individual devices must then be placed on a submount prior to testing. This step adds expense, which is greatly multiplied by the number of discarded devices. Thus, there is a significant cost advantage for a device that can be tested at the wafer level.
Further cost reductions can be realized by implementing vertical cavity SOAs (VCSOAs). VCSOAs are cheaper to fabricate than edge emitting SOAs primarily due to the planar nature of the facets, the circular output beams and the wafer-level testability. They are also cheaper to assemble due to the relative ease of alignment and the simplicity of the external optics required. Conventional VCSOAs, however, have operational disadvantages inherent from short cavity lengths and a high reflectivity output mirror thereby producing low operation performance, including limited optical amplification, narrow amplification bandwidth and increased output noise. A significant performance advantage can be had if the length of the amplifying cavity can be extended while reducing the optical reflectivity at the entry and exit points. In short, there is a need for a SOA that provides the performance of a conventional edge-emitting SOA with the fabrication, test, assembly and cost advantages of a VCSOA. The present invention provides for all of these needs by extending the amplifying cavity, having vertical input and output, and lowering the reflectivities of the input and output facets.

Folded cavity semiconductor optical amplifier (FCSOA)


A compound of the following formula:

Dipeptidyl peptidases, enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of polypeptides to release dipeptides, play important roles in physiological and pathological processes. Dipeptidyl peptidases IV (DPP-IV) and fibroblast activation protein (FAP) are two well-known members of the dipeptidyl peptidases family.
DPP-IV degrades glucagon-like peptide-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide hormones produced by intestinal endocrine L-cells in response to nutrient ingestion. Inhibiting DPP-IV enhances insulin secretion, lowers blood sugar levels, and improves pancreatic β-cell function. Deacon C. et al., Expert Opin. Investig. Drugs 2007 16: 533-545 and Deacon C. Curr. Opin. Investig. Drugs 2008, 9: 402-413. The DPP-IV inhibition is well tolerated and does not cause hypoglycemia or increase body weight in human. Deacon C. Curr. Opin. Investig. Drugs 2008, 9: 402-413 and Rosenstock J. et al., Diabetes Obes. Metab. 2008, 10: 376-386. Thus, inhibitors of DPP-IV are potential drug candidates for type-II diabetes. See, e.g., Pederson R. et al., Diabetes 1998, 47: 1253-1258; Ahren B. et al., Diabetes Care 2002, 25: 869-875; Deacon C. et al., Expert Opin. Investig. Drugs 2004, 13:1091-1102; and Pei Z. Curr. Opin. Drug Discov. Devel. 2008, 11: 512-532.
FAP is exclusively expressed in fetal cells, wounded tissue, and stromal fibroblasts in most malignant epithelial tumors. See Scanlan M. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 1994, 91: 5657-5661; Rettig W. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 1988, 85: 3110-3114; and Huber M. et al., J. Invest. Dermatol. 200, 120: 182-188. Studies show that xenografted mice with constitutively expressed FAP were 2-4 folds more likely to develop tumors than the mock-transfection and demonstrated 10-40 fold tumor growth than the control mice. See Cheng J. et al., Cancer Res. 2002, 62: 4767-4772. When the xenografted mice were treated with anti-FAP antisera, the tumor growth was attenuated. Human clinical trials show that patients whose colon tumors had high levels of stromal FAP were more likely to have aggressive disease progression and potential development of metastases or recurrence. See Henry L. et al., Clin. Cancer Res. 2007, 13: 1736-1741. Thus, anti-FAP agents can be used to treat cancers.
In addition, FAP is also highly expressed in fibroblast-like synoviocytes from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteroarthritis (OA) patients. Bauer S. et al., Arthritis Res. Ther. 2006, 8: R171. It is therefore suggested using FAP as a therapeutic target to treat RA or OA.

Abstract: A compound of the following formula:

Abstract: wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12, X, Y, and Z are as defined herein. Also disclosed is a method for inhibiting actively of fibroblast activation protein or for treating cancer or inflammation conditions with such a compound.


The proposed retractor blade is designed to function with a number of the currently available retractor systems with only minor modifications to those systems. The retractor blade has a hinge allowing it to flex and thereby allow a lateral approach to the discs at L1-L2 and L4-L5 despite the angle to these discs caused by coming in under the ribs or over the iliac crest.

Lateral inter-body fusion has significant advantages over other approaches to the lumbar in that it allows the placement of large inter-body fusion cages that minimize subsidence and allows the correction of scoliosis because contractures of the disc annulus can be released (cut). Currently available retractors for lateral inter-body fusions use two, three or four retractor blades to expose the lateral aspect of the L1-L2, L2-L3, L3-L4 and L4-L5 discs. The L5-S1 disc cannot be currently exposed from a lateral approach. Using the currently available retractor systems, the L1-L2 and L4-L5 discs are often difficult and sometimes impossible to expose for a lateral fusion. The hinged retractor blade and associated equipment are designed to make lateral inter-body cage fusions readily doable at the L1-L2 and L4-L5 levels.


An inner glass skin structure is configured by a sashless plate glass that overcomes the difference in the coefficients of linear expansion and insufficient rigidity of aluminum and glass having a superior design, in which the four sides of each of the sashless plate glass are covered by an aluminum covering material having narrow width. The inner glass skin structure is configured by a plurality of sashless plate glasses four sides of which are covered with an aluminum covering material, a door roller and a securing foot member respectively fixed on the bottom of each plate glass on the movable side and immovable side of the plate glass of the sliding door formation, and a lower rail member arranged underneath the plate glass and an upper rail member arranged directly above each plate glass. On the top and bottom of the plate glass, the inner face of an end face cover part of the covering material is bonded to an elastic intervening piece that is fixed to the end face of the plate glass; on both the lateral sides of the plate glass, a plurality of coupling strip plates are inserted in a coupling plate retaining section on the inner face of the end face cover part of the covering material in series with a predetermined spacing therebetween; and each coupling strip plate is bonded to an elastic intervening piece that is secured to the end face of the plate glass.

In an attempt at reducing a window surface thermal load caused by sunlight in cooling a room, or at improving the room heating efficiency by heat recovery of air warmed by sunlight; or, to let a window exert its function as an insulated window and a radiation window; there are ideas of configuring openings such as windows with a double-glazed glass having necessary components. Patent literatures 1 and 2 are propositions for this kind of ideas.
Patent literature 3 describes an art as follows: An inner sash that works as an inner glass wall is installed in the indoor side of an existing mullion provided inside the existing glass curtain wall for supporting it. Thereby, the art allows a double glass skin being formed by a retrofit installation work accessing only from the indoor side to improve the room-cooling efficiency.
Therefore, the invention described in Patent literature 3 is able to form a double skin glass by arranging an inner sash inside an existing glass curtain wall by a retrofit installation. The invention however uses an inner sash (literally a frame). Therefore a plate glass without supporting frame cannot be applicable. A large sized plate glass to be used for a big opening may be reinforced by a frame against insufficiencies of its rigidity, but such frame itself may cause a problem of unsightliness in a viewpoint of design.

Inner glass skin structure for double glass skin


Methods of isolating nonsense suppressor-encoding lactic acid bacteria, cultures and compositions of lactic acid bacteria and plasmids comprising a gene coding for a nonsense suppressor, and a method of confining extrachromosomal replicons capable of replicating in lactic acid bacteria to lactic acid bacteria.

In the in vivo synthesis of proteins occurring in the ribosomes, mRNA is translated into polypeptide chains. However, the MRNA codons do not directly recognize the amino acids that they specify in the way that an enzyme recognizes a substrate. Translation uses "adaptor" molecules that recognize both an amino acid and a triplet group of nucleotide bases (a codon). These adaptors consist of a set of small RNA molecules known as transfer RNAs (or tRNAs), each of which is only 70 to 90 nucleotides in length. Such tRNA molecules contain unpaired nucleotide residues comprising a CCA triplet at one end of the molecule and, in a central loop, a triplet of varying sequence forming the so-called anticodon that can base-pair to a complementary triplet in the MRNA molecule, while the CCA triplet at the free 3' end of the molecule is attached covalently to a specific amino acid.
The three nucleotide triplets UAG (amber codon), UGA (opal codon) and UAA (ochre codon) do not code for an amino acid. These signals termed stop codons or "nonsense" codons, are involved in polypeptide chain termination. During translation, two protein factors (R1 and R2) recognize these triplets and effect release of the polypeptide chain from the ribosome-mRNA-tRNA complex.
Occasionally a mutation occurs in a cell resulting in a nonsense codon appearing in the middle of a gene, causing premature chain termination and the production of a protein fragment. Such fragments rarely have enzymatic activity.
The effect of such a nonsense mutation can be reversed or suppressed by a second mutation in a gene coding for a tRNA which results in the synthesis of an altered tRNA molecule. Such an altered tRNA recognizes a nonsense codon and inserts an amino acid at that point in the polypeptide chain. The mutated tRNA-encoding gene is termed a suppressor gene and the altered nonsense mutation-suppressing tRNA which it encodes is generally referred to as a nonsense or termination suppressor. Such termination suppressors may be derived by single, double or triple base substitutions in the anticodon region of the tRNA.
Termination suppressors were first detected in E. coli about 25 years ago and have since been extensively studied in this species. It is considered that all termination suppressors in E. coli have been identified. Recently, new suppressor tRNA genes have been synthesized in vitro and subsequently introduced into E. coli. Termination suppressors have also been identified in the E. coli bacteriophage T4 and in Salmonella typhimurium (Eggertson et al., 1988, Microbiological Reviews, 52, 354-374). Furthermore, termination suppressors have been identified in eucaryotic fungi including Neurospora spp., Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
Hitherto, nonsense or termination suppressors have not been identified in bacterial species belonging to the industrially important group of lactic acid bacteria which i.a. are commonly utilized as starter cultures in the production of a variety of food products including dairy products, meat products, vegetable products, bakery products and wine, during which production these starter cultures produce lactic acid and other organic acids and in many instances also desirable flavour-enhancing metabolites.
Furthermore, attempts by the present inventors to construct amber-suppressing strains of lactic acid bacteria by introducing cloned known suppressor genes from E. coli proved unsuccessful. Thus, it was attempted to introduce the E. coli supB gene (Thorbjarnadottir et al., 1985), the E. coli supE gene (Nakajima et al., 1981) and the E. coli supF gene (Ryan et al., 1980). These three suppressor genes were moved to pFDi3 described in the below Example 3 and analyzed for suppressor activity in Lactococcus lactis by testing for the expression of erythromycin resistance. None of the three E. coli suppressor genes expressed suppressor activity in Lactococcus lactis.
In many instances it is advantageous to use lactic acid bacterial starter cultures which are composed of two or more different species, since the metabolic activity of one species may enhance the growth of an other species or because different lactic acid bacterial species may have particularly advantageous effects on flavour development of the food product at specific stages of the food production.
Accordingly, an industrial need exists to provide mixed lactic acid bacterial starter cultures in which a particular characteristic is confined (or contained) to a particular strain. Commonly, genes coding for desired characteristics of a lactic acid bacterium are located on extrachromosomal replicons such as plasmids. It may therefore be advantageous to have such replicons contained in their original host species. As used herein, the term "contained" indicates confinement of a replicon to a specific host cell or to the stable maintenance of a replicon in a lactic acid bacterial host cell when this host cell is present in a specific environment. This stable maintenance in a particular host cell of a replicon may also be referred to as stabilization of that replicon.
The term "containment" may also as used herein as encompassing the phenomenon that the growth and/or viability of a specific lactic acid bacterial strain in a particular environment is controlled.
The known methods of stably maintaining (stabilizing) replicons to a host cell involve the insertion of relatively large DNA sequences such as a partitioning function. However, as it is well-known, the insertion of large DNA sequences involves the risk of deletion of other sequences from the replicon. It has now been found that nonsense suppressor-encoding lactic acid bacterial strains may be developed which provide the means of a novel and advantageous method of confining replicons to lactic acid bacterial strains. In contradistinction to the known methods of stabilizing (confining) replicons to host cells, the method as defined herein makes use of genes coding for suppressor TRNA which are small and may be inserted without causing deletions of desired genes.
In the production of food products where live microorganisms are used, it may be critical for the obtainment of the desired quality of the products that the microbial processes can be controlled effectively. This is particularly important when mixed starter cultures as defined above and which comprise a multiplicity of strains, are used. Such a control has hitherto been difficult to achieve since specific regulating mechanisms at the level of cell numbers and activity and at the level of gene expression in particular strains had to be selected individually for each of the strains used in the mixed culture. However, the present invention has made it possible that the same suppressor gene under the control of the same regulatory mechanism may be inserted in all of the strains of the mixed starter culture whereby the activity of the species of such a culture may be regulated concomitantly or, if different regulatory sequences are inserted in individual species members of the starter culture, the activity of the individual members may be regulated independently.

Lactic acid bacterial suppressor mutants and their use as selective markers and as means of containment in lactic acid bacteria


A vacuum hose for moving particulate materials such as grain from a storage bin is formed from separate pieces of metal tube and flexible rubber hose arranged alternately and connected end to end by hose clamps. The pieces are at least 12 inches long and less than 36 inches long to provide relatively short lengths connected end to end. A cart is provided for moving the nozzle and hose end and has a frame mounted on two pairs of ground wheels. The pipe of the nozzle extends along a center of the cart with a foot pad on each side for the operator to ride and a nozzle of the pipe projecting from the front of the cart. The cart is driven by a pair of motors extending across the cart each driving a respective pair of wheels the motors being mounted underneath the pipe with one in front of the other. A manually operable control in the form of an upstanding support bar is carried on front of the frame and operable by the operator with two switches operable to control the motors separately for forward and rearward movement of the cart and steering movements of the cart to each side for guiding the cart and the nozzle over the surface.

Vacuums are used for removing grain and other materials from a storage bin. Such vacuums necessarily include a large and heavy pipe and nozzle which must be moved over the floor of the storage bin from place to place to pick up the material to be removed.
Such vacuum hoses for transporting grain materials are necessarily relatively large diameter and therefore are relatively heavy. They must however be flexible sufficiently to allow the user to move the nozzle at the forward end of the hose to the required locations within the bin with the vacuum source located outside the bin.
Conventionally such vacuum hoses have been formed from flexible rubber or similar polymeric materials which have sufficient strength to avoid collapse under the interior vacuum and yet allow the required flexibility to curve the hose around a curvature sufficiently small to allow the nozzle to reach any location within the bin which is required. Such hoses are conventionally formed from transversely or circumferentially corrugated materials which provide the necessary hoop strength and yet allow flexing in the folding action of the corrugations in the manner of an accordion fold.
The flexible hose is connected at its forward end to a nozzle structure generally using a hose clamp for clamping the open end of the flexible hose portion around the outside of an end collar or just an end piece of the cylindrical nozzle section. Similarly the rear end of the hose is connected to an inlet duct at the vacuum source.
Various connections are known for coupling such flexible hoses and some connections are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,875 (Usui et al), issued Sep. 17th, 1991; U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,513 (Cassel), issued May 27th, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,543 (Logan et al), issued May 22nd, 2001.
However these arrangements simply provide a connection between the conventional elongate section of flexible hose and a metal section.
One problem that arise with the hoses of this type is that the flow rate can be relatively low and it is necessary in all cases to obtain the maximum flow so as to increase the rate at which the material is extracted from the storage location to minimize the amount of time required.
In addition hoses of this type wear rapidly due to the dragging of the hose from place to place so the replacement of the lengthy hose section is often necessary with relatively high cost.


Disclosed is a method for forming a capacitor of a semiconductor device, which can improve a leakage current characteristic in applying HfxAlyOz as a dielectric film. In such a method, HfxAlyOz thin films are deposited on a storage electrode to form an HfxAlyOz dielectric film and a plate electrode is formed on the dielectric film. The HfxAlyOz dielectric film consists of laminated HfxAlyOz thin films which are different in compositions of Hf and Al such that the lower HfxAlyOz thin film adjoining the storage electrode has a larger composition ratio of Al than that of Hf and the upper HfxAlyOz thin film has a larger composition ratio of Hf than that of Al, and the upper HfxAlyOz thin film is subjected to heat treatment under an oxygen atmosphere after its deposition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for forming a capacitor of a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a method for forming a capacitor of a semiconductor device, in which an excellent leakage current characteristic as well as desired charging capacity can be ensured.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, cells of a DRAM device has occupied a smaller area with increase in a degree of integration of the DRAM device, so it becomes more and more difficult to ensure charging capacity required. As is well known in the art, the charging capacity of a capacitor is proportional to an area of an electrode and a dielectric constant of a dielectric film, and is inversely proportional to a distance between electrodes, that is, a thickness of the dielectric film. For ensuring charging capacity required, therefore, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the dielectric film or to apply materials having a large dielectric constant as the dielectric film.
Thereupon, in order to ensure charging capacity required, researches are being vigorously pursued to replace the existing Oxide-Nitride-Oxide (ONO) dielectric film by a single dielectric film of Al2O3 (ε=9), a single dielectric film of HfO2 (ε=25) or a dual dielectric film of HfO2/Al2O3 in which Al2O3 and HfO2 are simply laminated.
In terms of an unit process cost, it may be profitable to employ the single dielectric film of Al2O3 or Hfo2, but Al2O3 has a restriction on ensuring charging capacity because its dielectric constant is not so different from that of the existing Si3N4 material (ε=7), and HfO2 is thermally unstable and thus has a poor leakage current characteristic due to its low crystallization temperature although it has a large dielectric constant. As a result of this, it is practically difficult to solely apply Al2O3 or HfO2 as a dielectric film.
In order to solve the problem related to HfO2, a laminated structure of HfO2/Al2O3, in which Al2O3 and HfO2 are simply laminated, has been introduced. However, the simple laminated structure of HfO2/Al2O3 causes loss in charging capacity due to a low dielectric constant of Al2O3 and has a poor thermal stability at a high temperature because HfO2 is still easy to be crystallized. That is, the laminated structure of HfO2/Al2O3 has a problem in that its leakage current characteristic is deteriorated at a high temperature.
In addition, an HfxAlyOz thin film consisting of a solid solution of Hf and Al has been proposed recently. However, when the HfxAlyOz thin film is deposited at a temperature of 300° C. or less by an Atomic Layer Deposition (hereinafter referred to as 'ALD') technique using Tri-Methyl-Aluminum (Al(CH3)3; TMA) as a source of Al and Tetrakis(ethylmethylamino)hafnium (Hf[N(CH3)C2H5]4; TEMAH), impurities existing within the film, such as C and H, incur a technical problem of deterioration in a leakage current characteristic. Of course, an attempt may be made to improve electrical characteristics by subsequently performing heat treatment under a high reactive oxygen atmosphere after the formation of the HfxAlyOz dielectric film. In spite of such an attempt, however, it has been reported that an oxidation reaction is generated at an interface between the HfxAlyOz dielectric film and a storage electrode to cause deterioration in electrical characteristics.

Method for forming capacitor of semiconductor device


A place name information extraction apparatus in which not only a place name expression appeared in a text is extracted but also the type of the extracted place name expression can be judged, and a place name information extraction method of the apparatus, and a storing medium stored place name information extraction programs of the method, and a map information retrieval apparatus used the place name information extraction apparatus are provided. The place name information extraction apparatus provides a place name expression detecting means that detects a place name expression appeared in a text and its position appeared the place name expression in the text, and a place name type judging means that judges a place name type, which signifies a meaning role of the place name expression appeared in the text, by analyzing before and after the position appeared the place name expression in the text.

The present invention relates to a place name information extraction apparatus in which place name information appeared in a text is extracted and a place name information extraction method of the apparatus and a storing medium stored place name information extraction programs of the method, and a map information retrieval apparatus used the place name information extraction apparatus.

Place name information extraction apparatus and extraction method thereof and storing medium stored extraction programs thereof and map information retrieval apparatus


A drain assembly for an industrial sink that is seamlessly attached to a basin of a sink. In one embodiment, the drain assembly comprises a drain tube, drain stopper, gasket, clamp, and lever. According to one embodiment, the drain assembly is seamlessly welded to the basin of the sink so that the drain assembly and sink form one continuous unit. The drain assembly allows for external (to the sink) operation of the drain assembly via the use of a lever that is attached to the drain stopper, wherein moving the lever seals and opens the drain assembly. In one embodiment, the drain stopper is spherically-shaped with spherical wedges cut out of the top to form a disc-shaped handle.

Industrial sinks are often extremely large and deep. These sinks, for safety and practicality reasons, require external (to the sink) manners of operating the drain so that an individual does not have to insert an arm into the sink to release the drain. Moreover, industrial sinks also are found in environments where the accumulation of bacterial, fungal, and other growth is unacceptable. For example, hospitals and cafeteria kitchens should avoid bacterial growth in their sinks to prevent cross-contamination and/or the spread of diseases. Generally, a lip or edge on an industrial sink where the drain assembly is attached to the sink accumulates bacteria, fungi, and other unwanted growths. These lips and edges require additional effort to clean and sanitize.


Refracted energy travel time can help to derive anisotropic parameters in a target layer. These anisotropic parameters allow us to both explore for new reservoirs and to understand stress and fracturing in existing reservoirs. This information can be used to i) detect oil reservoirs, ii) spot naturally fractured, hence high production zones, iii) detect dominant natural stress directions, iv) better place horizontal wells to optimize production, v) monitoring man made fractures or induced directional stress changes. The method is demonstrated using synthetic and real data.

Many reservoirs in the world are stressed and/or fractured in nature. Characterization of those stresses and/or fractures can help to detect an oilfield. Further, it can help to optimize well placement and increase productivity of existing fields. One way of characterizing stresses and fractures of the subsurface reservoirs is using well log data. But generally well log data gives limited information in a field to a region around the well and therefore has limited spatial resolution. On the other hand, seismic data samples the entire reservoir spatially. Therefore, estimation of stress and fracture parameters using seismic data is an important development.
One way of seismically characterizing stress and fractures is by detecting and analyzing seismic anisotropy. Presence of horizontal stress differential and/or vertical fractures with nearly uniform strike direction makes a medium transversely isotropic with horizontal axis of symmetry (HTI). HTI medium shows simplest form of azimuthal anisotropy with respect to seismic wave propagation. Generally, seismic waves travel faster along the fracture strike direction and slower perpendicular to the strike direction of the fractures in an HTI medium. Utilizing this property, in current practice, travel time and amplitude (separately and/or together) variation of reflected seismic energy with azimuth is used to characterize fracture property from seismic data (both travel time and amplitude).
While reflected energy only samples a small area in the Fresnel zone from the target layer, refraction energy samples significantly more area of the target layer as it travels long distances in the target layer. Therefore, effect of anisotropy is significantly more pronounced on the refracted wave than the reflected wave from the target fractured layer. Hence, one can argue that the refracted energy analysis should provide better understanding of azimuthal seismic anisotropy than reflected energy. The uses of refracted energy to characterize fractures are very uncommon and there is a need to develop a methodology to characterize seismic anisotropy using refracted seismic energy. Theoretically, Landro and Tsvankin (2007), Sil and Sen (2009) show that, some properties of the refracted energy (e.g. critical angle, critical offset etc) vary with azimuth in an azimuthally anisotropic medium. Even though most of the time reflected seismic energy is used to characterize fractures, use of refracted energy to characterize fractures is still uncommon. Previously, refraction travel time variation to determine anisotropy as discussed.
There is a need to develop a methodology to characterize seismic anisotropy using refracted seismic energy.

Fracture characterization from refraction travel time data


The present invention relates to a color cathode ray tube and electron gun, and more particularly, to a color cathode ray tube and electron gun to improve deflection aberration efficiently using magnetic material formed at the electron gun and to improve a resolution of a display screen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color cathode ray tube and an electron gun, and more particularly, to a color cathode ray tube and an electron gun in which the deflection aberration is efficiently improved by using a magnetic material formed at the electron gun, and the resolution of a display screen is also improved.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of a color cathode ray tube according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, the color cathode ray tube of the related art is a kind of vacuum tube that includes a panel 1 placed at a front glass and a funnel 2, which is a rear glass, sealed and coupled with the panel 1 so that the flat color cathode ray tube has a vacuum inside.
Red, blue and green (R, G and B) fluorescent materials are coated on an inner surface of the panel 1 to form a fluorescent screen 11. An electron gun 8 is installed at a neck portion of the funnel 2 opposite to the fluorescent screen 11.
A shadow mask 3 to select colors is installed between the fluorescent screen 11 and the electron gun 8, and spaced by a predetermined distance from the fluorescent screen 11. The shadow mask 3 is coupled with a mask frame 4, elastically supported by a spring 5, and supported on the panel 1 by a stud pin 6. In addition, the mask frame 4 is coupled with a magnetic inner shield 7 to reduce the effect of the earth magnetic field at the rear of the cathode ray tube to reduce the movement of electron beam 6 caused by external magnetic field.
Meanwhile, a convergence purity correction magnet (CPM) 10 is installed at a neck portion of the funnel 2 to control an RGB electron beam so that the electron beam is converged on one spot. In addition, a reinforcement band 12 is installed to strengthen the front glass against the internal vacuum.
The operation of the color cathode ray tube configured as described above will be described. The electron beam emitted from the electron gun 8 is deflected in vertical and horizontal directions by the deflection yoke 9. The deflected electron beam passes a beam passage hole of the shadow mask 3 and collides with the front fluorescent screen 11 to display a desired color image. Here, a convergence purity correction magnet 10 corrects the convergence and purity of the R, G and B electron beams, and an inner shield 7 shields the electron beams from the effects of the earth magnetic field at the rear of a cathode ray tube.
FIG. 2 illustrates the configuration of an electron gun according to the related art. An electron gun 8 includes three cathodes 80 independent from each other, a first electrode (GI) 81 installed separated from the cathode 80 at a predetermined distance, a second electrode (G2) 82 spaced from the first electrode (G1) 81 at a predetermined distance, a third electrode (G3) 83 spaced from the second electrode (G2) 82 with a predetermined distance, a fourth electrode (G4) 84 spaced from the third electrode (G3) 83 at a predetermined distance, a fifth electrode (G5) 85 spaced from the fourth electrode (G4) 84 at a predetermined distance, a sixth electrode (G6) 86 spaced from the fifth electrode (G5) 85 at a predetermined distance, and shield cup 87.
The deflection yoke 9 that deflects an electron beam across the entire screen is installed at an outer side of the neck portion of the funnel 2 having an electron gun 8. Here, a ground voltage is applied to the first electrode 81. A static voltage of about 600 V is applied to the second electrode 82 and the fourth electrode 84. A dynamic focus voltage is applied to the third electrode 83 and the fifth electrode 85. A static voltage of about 26000 V is applied to the sixth electrode 86.
Operation of an electron beam will be described referring to the configuration described above. The amount of hot electrons emitted from a hot heater is controlled by the first electrode 81 and the hot electrons are accelerated by the second electrode 82. The hot electrons pass through the third electrode 83, the fourth electrode 84, the fifth electrode 85 and the sixth electrode 86 in series that are converging electrodes so that the hot electrons are converged and accelerated finally to collide with the screen.
These R, G and B electron beams converge on the center of the screen by a static convergence operation of a main lens. If three electron beams are deflected away from the center of the screen using a uniform magnetic field, the three electron beams focus before they reach the screen and they deviate with each other because of the distance between the electron guns and the screen.
To overcome this problem without any additional circuitry, a self-convergence magnetic field is used. The self-convergence magnetic field is formed to be a pincushion type field horizontally and to be barrel type field vertically.
FIG. 3 illustrates a self-convergence magnetic field. The R, G and B electron beams arranged inline are converged on the screen without any additional dynamic convergence because a self-convergence magnetic field consists of a pincushion type horizontal deflection magnetic field (HB) and a barrel type vertical deflection magnetic field (VB).
However, as shown in FIG. 4, the cross-sections of R and B electron beams positioned at the ends of three electron beams arranged inline are distorted because the density of the magnetic field formed by the deflection yoke gets dense as it travels from the center portion to the peripheral portion. Accordingly, to improve the focus at the periphery of the screen, a dynamic focus voltage should be applied to each of electron beams, but the focus of the R and B electron beams deteriorates because the same dynamic focus voltage is applied to the three electron beams in an inline electron gun in which a passage hole for R, G and B three electron beams is formed from one electrode.
FIG. 5 illustrates a pincushion type horizontal deflection magnetic field. The three electron beams are deflected by a pincushion type horizontal deflection magnetic field (HB) as shown in FIG. 5 that forms a self-convergence magnetic field along with a barrel type vertical deflection magnetic field (VB) to converge to one point.
However, the electron beams are distorted by self-convergence magnetic field. Especially, the R, G and B electron beams are affected by focusing forces in different vertical directions at the left and right sides of the screen. Accordingly, on the right side of the screen, a haze in which the red electron beam gets blurry is caused, and a haze of the blue beam is caused on the left side of the screen so that the resolution degenerates on the entire screen.
FIG. 6 illustrates the pincushion magnetic field caused by a deflection yoke in a shield cup of an electron gun and the force applied to the electron beam. For example, supposing that the electron beam is emitted forward out of the figure towards the reader, if the magnetic field is directed upwards, the three electron beams are affected by the force in a direction to the right. However, as shown in FIG. 6, the red electron beam is affected by the divergent force in a direction orthogonal to the magnetic field and the blue electron beam is affected by the convergent force in a direction orthogonal to the magnetic field according to the form of the pin-cushion type horizontal deflection magnetic field so that a blooming phenomenon is caused by the red electron beam and a halo phenomenon is caused by the blue electron beam on the left side of the screen. In contrast, a halo phenomenon is caused by the red electron beam and a blooming phenomenon is caused by the blue electron beam on the right side of the screen.
FIGS. 7a, 7b, and 7c illustrate that the cross-sections of the R and B electron beams on both edges of R, G and B electron beams arranged inline are distorted.
FIG. 7a illustrates a pincushion type magnetic field of a deflection yoke when the electron beams are deflected to the left side of the screen. FIG. 7b illustrates that the B beam causes a halo phenomenon when deflected to the left of the screen. FIG. 7c illustrates that the R beam causes a blooming phenomenon when deflected to the left of the screen. In other words, as shown in FIG. 7a, the R and B electron beams undergo a force in the direction of the arrow mark on the drawing because of the pin-cushion type magnetic field of the deflection yoke. The B electron beam undergoes a force of the converging magnetic field and the R electron beam undergo a force of the diverging magnetic field.
As a result, when deflected in the left direction, the R electron beam causes a blooming phenomenon since lenses are formed as shown in FIG. 7b and the B electron beam causes a halo phenomenon since lenses are formed as shown in FIG. 7c. In contrast, the phenomena are switched when the electron beams are deflected in the right direction.
The halo phenomenon and the blooming phenomenon for the R and B electron beams increase and the size of the electron beams on the fluorescent screen vary as they scan to the periphery of the screen. This non-uniform cross-section of the electron beam deteriorates resolution of image. An electron gun that reduces coma aberration has been suggested to solve this problem.
For example, Japan Open Laid Application No. 10-116570 discloses that the deflection aberration is corrected using a magnetic piece for a portion of an electrode of the electron gun and using a separate magnetic field generating means synchronized with the deflection signal. However, this solution is more expensive, and it is difficult to manufacture because a separate magnetic field generating means is installed on the outer portion of the neck and a signal synchronized with deflection is applied to the magnetic field generating means while a magnetic piece is installed in the electron gun. Because the separate magnetic field generating means installed on the outer portion of the neck is synchronized with the deflection of the deflection yoke and is coupled with the deflection yoke, the deflection sensitivity of the deflection yoke is decreased so that power consumption is increased and additional heat is generated. So, this solution is difficult to apply.
Korean Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-0091314 discloses that a deflection aberration is improved using a magnetic field created by a magnetic piece installed at the electron gun and the deflection yoke so that it is easy to apply the magnetic field. However, leakage magnetic field is not used enough since a small magnetic piece is disposed between an outer beam passage hole and a center passage hole.
In addition, another method has been studied in which an astigmatism lens is installed in the area of the electrode that constitutes a provisional converging lens to form a uniform electron beam cross-section across the entire fluorescent screen. The aspects of the first electrode of the electron beam and the electron beam passage hole of the second electrode are formed to be different from each other to prevent the electron beam which lands on the center and the periphery of the fluorescent screen from being distorted. However, it is very difficult to manufacture and control this astigmatism lens.

Cathode ray tube having magnetic pieces at predetermined locations within the electron gun components


A tape gun is provided having a pistol-grip type handle supporting a tape dispensing roller upon which a roll of tape is mounted for rotatable dispensing. A tape pressure plate guides the dispensed tape onto a package, with a guide roller mounted in the tape path between the dispensing roller and the pressure plate. The roller is made of or incorporates a magnetic material, such as a neodymium magnet or equivalent. The packaging tape itself incorporates a magnetically attractive material, such as iron dust or wires or other magnetic metal within or on the tape backing in a manner that comes in contact with the magnetic guide roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to adhesive tape dispensers and, more particularly, to an improved packaging tape and dispensing tape gun combination.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are numerous types of adhesive tapes that have a wide variety of uses. One of the more frequently used adhesive tapes is packaging tape which is used to secure the flaps of boxes and packages for shipping. This type of tape is wide and is fairly difficult to pull off a roll by hand and maneuver into position around a package. A device was therefore developed to assist in dispensing and applying this type of tape to a package. The device is commonly known as a tape gun. While tape guns have made it easier to dispense packaging tape, they are cumbersome. However, the most common difficulties encountered in using such a device revolves around the loading of the tape, the storing of the loaded dispenser, and the handling of the dispenser after tearing off a piece of tape. In all these situations, the free, dispensed end of the tape has a tendancy to stick to itself or otherwise become entangled due to the inherent adhesive nature of such tape.
In order to overcome these disadvantages, several devices have been proposed in the prior art for dispensing packaging tape without the use of a tape gun. While these prior art devices have allowed for dispensing of tape without a tape gun, they have not always been easy to operate with one hand inasmuch as they are flimsy, difficult to grip and frequently allow the user's hand to come into contact with the rapidly rotating packaging tape, potentially causing minor injury to the user. Such devices lack the handling capability that results from a handled "gun" design, as well as the ability of these devices to apply smooth, even pressure to the tape as it is being dispensed.
Consequently, there still exists the need in the art for a simple, effective adhesive tape dispenser that is adapted to be easily gripped in one hand and allows the packaging tape to be easily dispensed therefrom with one hand, yet that protects the hand of the user during operation.

Packaging tape and dispensing tape gun system