An apparatus for the distillation of air by cryogenic distillation is provided. The apparatus can include an enclosure; a first distillation column configured to operate at a first pressure; a second distillation column configured to operate at a second pressure that is lower than the first pressure, the second distillation column being placed above the first distillation column and forming therewith a double column; a subcooling heat exchanger configured to cool at least one liquid from the first distillation column upstream of the second distillation column and configured to warm a gaseous nitrogen stream from the second distillation column; and an argon column configured to separate an argon enriched stream from the second distillation column and configured to produce an argon rich stream. In certain embodiments, the first distillation column, the second distillation column, the argon column and the subcooling heat exchanger are disposed within the enclosure, and/or the subcooling heat exchanger is disposed directly underneath the first distillation column or the argon column.

It is common to separate air in a double distillation column including a first column operating at a medium pressure and a second column operating at a low pressure. A liquid enriched in oxygen is sent from the first column to the second column. A liquid enriched in nitrogen is sent from the first column to the second column. One or both of these liquids may be cooled in a heat exchanger called a subcooler by heat exchange with a gaseous nitrogen stream from the low pressure column.
The second column is placed above the first column and generally forms a common structure called the double distillation column.
Where it is required to separate argon, an argon column is provided taking an argon enriched gas from an intermediate region of the low pressure column. Pure argon can then be removed from the top of the argon column.
Each of the columns requires to be insulated in an enclosure containing an insulating material such as perlite.
Generally in the past, the subcooling heat exchanger has been provided within a separate enclosure from the columns, being contained in the same enclosure as the main heat exchanger which cools the feed air. This means that complex assembly work has to be done on site in order to connect the subcooling heat exchanger to the columns. This is expensive and time-consuming.

Apparatus for the distillation of air by cryogenic distillation

L'Air Liquide Société Anonyme Pour L'Etude Et L'Exploitation Des Procedes Georges Claude


The invention describes a method for operating a controllable electromechanical brake booster and the corresponding brake booster which, via a coupling element between the brake booster and pedal rod, is capable of applying a force in opposition to the pedal activation force of a driver, and can therefore be operated as a pedal simulator. For this purpose, a pedal opposing force can be set by a characteristic curve as a function of a pedal position which is predefined by the driver, and can give the driver a pedal sensation even if there is no reaction of, for example, a conventional brake system. In a further operating mode, the brake booster can be operated in its original form.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is based on a brake booster in a motor vehicle by means of which it is possible to boost a force that a driver exerts by means of a brake pedal. The brake booster is embodied so that a counteracting force that acts on the brake pedal is produced, which acts in opposition to the force exerted by the driver. The invention is also related to a method for how a brake booster can be operated as a pedal simulator as part of a brake system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An electromechanical brake force booster is known from DE 102007016136 A1. In it, in order to determine a pedal force exerted by a driver, an evaluation and control unit is used, which calculates the currently effective pedal force from a difference between a total brake force and an additional brake force. Pedal-travel simulators are known, for example, from the Manual of Automotive Engineering (25th edition, BOSCH, Vieweg Verlag ISBN 3528238763). In an electrohydraulic brake, they are part of an actuation unit and make it possible to implement a suitable force-travel curve and an appropriate damping of the brake pedal. Consequently, during braking with an electrohydraulic brake, the driver is given the same braking feel as in a very well-designed conventional brake system.

Operation of a brake booster as a pedal simulator


An inkjet printing apparatus includes a first stage on which a substrate is disposed, an ink storage portion including ink and a plurality of pollutant adsorption balls dispersed in the ink, a head portion including a nozzle configured to eject the ink supplied from the ink storage portion to the substrate, and a gas discharging portion disposed on a side of the ink storage portion.

The present disclosure relates to an inkjet printing apparatus, and more particularly, to an inkjet printing apparatus capable of reducing a defect rate of an organic light emitting layer in a display apparatus.
Recently, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display apparatus has been spotlighted as a next generation flat display apparatus for its excellent luminance characteristics and viewing angle characteristics without requiring an additional light source unlike a liquid crystal display apparatus. Since no additional light source is required, the OLED display apparatus may be manufactured to have a light weight and a thin-type. In addition, the OLED display apparatus has a low power consumption, a high luminance, and a high reaction speed.
The OLED display apparatus includes a plurality of light emitting elements each including an anode, an organic light emitting layer, and a cathode. A hole and an electron are injected from the anode and the cathode into the organic light emitting layer to form an exciton. While the exciton is transferred to a ground state, the light emitting element emits light.
When the light emitting element is manufactured, the organic light emitting layer may be manufactured by using an inkjet printing apparatus. The organic light emitting layer may be formed by ejecting an organic material (or ink) from the inkjet printing apparatus onto a substrate for forming the organic light emitting layer.
The ink stored in the inkjet printing apparatus may contain impurities, and an amount of the impurities may increase due to various factors such as time elapses. Since purity of the organic light emitting layer decreases as the amount of the impurities increases, a defected organic light emitting layer may be manufactured.


An adjustable shower track system which allows an user to movably position a shower head at varying locations along a longitudinal slot within a housing front wall is provided. The adjustable shower track system has a hose which has: a hose first connector attached at one distal end and is removably attachable to a standard shower spout; and a hose second connector attached at an opposite distal end. The system further comprises a shower head connector which has a connector handle holder having an internal opening substantially larger than an outer diameter of the hose and hose second connector which is movably positioned therethrough. The connector handle holder functions to removably secure the handle therein and further functions as a guide for the hose which is movably mounted therethrough. The shower head connector also comprises a connector hinge which is connected to a movable means, such as a belt, which allows a user to position the shower head at varying heights within the longitudinal slot in the front of the housing.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an adjustable shower track system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an adjustable shower track system which allows an user to movably position a shower head at varying locations along a longitudinal slot within a housing front wall.
2. Background of the Invention
Time spent in the shower seems to encourage creativity as shower heads and shower track systems have been the subject of inventions for years. The prior art, for example, discloses shower heads which are at a single fixed height and therefore do not accommodate for different sized persons. The prior art discloses ball and socket pivotal shower heads and chain adjustable shower heads, among other things. Shower heads with water flow regulators are also known.
The prior art, though, does not address the long felt need for a retrofittable shower height adjuster, which allows a user to movably position a shower head at varying locations within a longitudinal slot in the shower track housing, or to remove the shower head from the stationery position and direct the shower flow using one hand. This type of shower track system allows pressurized water to hit upper or lower extremities of the body during the shower, resulting in increased blood circulation. It also facilitates cleaning of the shower stall afterwards.


To provide a harmonic drive gearing with high degree of freedom in terms of layout. A harmonic drive gearing 10 includes a circular spline 1′, having outer teeth formed on an outer peripheral surface; an flexible spline 2, positioned at the outside of the circular spline 1′, and having inner teeth, which are engageable with the outer teeth of the circular spline 1′, formed on an inner peripheral surface; and a rotor 16 which is disposed at outside of the flexible spline 2 and serves as a wave generator, wherein the rotor 16 deflects the flexible spline 2 by minor axis portions of the inner peripheral surface of the flexible spline 2 and engages the inner teeth of the flex spline with the outer teeth of the circular spline 1′ and thereby the engagement position between the inner teeth and the outer teeth is adapted to move in a circumferential direction.

A harmonic drive gearing, which serves as a reducer to be used in a conventional drive unit, has a configuration as shown in FIG. 12 (see patent literature 1). That is, in this conventional unit, a flex spline 30 is positioned so as to surround a wave generator 40, which has an outer peripheral surface that is formed to an elliptical shape, across a flexible bearing 50. Also, a circular spline 20, which has a circular inner peripheral surface, is positioned at the outside of the flex spline 30.
Inner teeth are formed on the inner peripheral surface of the circular spline 20, outer teeth, which are engageable with the inner teeth of the circular spline 20, are formed on an outer peripheral surface of the flex spline 30, and the flex spline 30 is enabled to deflect in radial directions. The number of teeth of the flex spline 30 is set to be slightly less than the number of teeth of the circular spline 20.
At its major axis portions, the wave generator 40 deflects the flex spline 30 via the flexible bearing 50 and makes the outer teeth of the flex spline 30 engage with the inner teeth of the circular spline 20.
With a harmonic drive gearing arranged in this manner, when, for example, the wave generator 40 is rotated, the engagement points, at which the outer teeth of the flex spline 30 and the inner teeth of circular spline 20 engage, move in a circumferential direction in accordance with the variation of the positions of the major axis portions of the wave generator 40. In this process, since the number of teeth of the flex spline 30 is slightly less than that of the circular spline 20, when, for example, the wave generator 40 is rotated 360 degrees, the flex spline 30 is rotated in the circumferential direction by the difference in the number of teeth with respect to the circular spline 20.
That is, when the above-described conventional harmonic drive gearing is used as a reducer, in which the wave generator 40 and the flex spline 30 are respectively used as a reducer-input and a reducer-output, the rotation speed of the flex spline 30 is reduced greatly in accordance with the rotation speed of the wave generator 40.
A harmonic drive gearing with such a high speed reduction ratio is used, for example, for generating flexing and extending motions of a leg of a leg type mobile robot. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a joint of the leg of the leg type mobile robot.
A first link 70 and a second link 90 are joined through a rotary supporting mechanism 91 and are enabled to rotate with respect to each other. A harmonic drive gearing 60 is mounted so that the rotating shaft thereof matches with the center of rotation of first link 70 and second link 90. That is, the circular spline 20 is fixed to the second link 90. The flex spline 30 is fixed, at a first rotating shaft 30a (output shaft), to the first link 70 by means of a plurality of bolts 80.
The wave generator 40 is provided with a second rotating shaft 40a, the second rotating shaft 40a is supported in a manner enabling rotation with respect to the first rotating shaft 30a. A pulley 61, for transmitting a driving force, is fixed to the first rotating shaft 30a at the end section to which the first rotating shaft 30a is not provided.
Here, when the driving force from a motor (not shown) is transmitted to the pulley 61 via a belt 62, the wave generator 40 is driven. Then, the flex spline 30 is rotated at a reduced speed than the rotation speed of the pulley 61 in accordance with the rotation of the wave generator 40, and thus the first link 70 is rotated.
In case of the above-described harmonic drive gearing 60, however, since the position where the flex spline 30 is provided is limited to an end section of the first rotating shaft 30a, the position of the harmonic drive gearing 60 with respect to the first rotating shaft 30a is also restricted to the end section of the first rotating shaft 30a.
Thus, the harmonic drive gearing cannot be positioned between two sets of bearings, when for example the first rotating shaft 30a is supported by two sets of bearings. This provides the problem of low degree of freedom in terms of layout.
Also, since the pulley 61, which transmits a driving force to the wave generator 40 and is disposed on the second rotating shaft 40a, is positioned next to the wave generator 40, the size in a direction along the rotating shaft inevitably becomes large. This may make worse the usability depending on a usage.
Meanwhile, an apparatus, in which the wave generator is provided at an outer periphery side of the flex spline, has been known (see patent literature 2).
[Patent Literature 1]
Japanese unexamined patent publication H5-141484 (claims, claim 1, and FIG. 1).
[Patent Literature 2]
Japanese unexamined patent publication S59-9336 (FIG. 2).


The invention pertains to a method for ranking paths for power optimization of an integrated circuit design, comprising identifying a plurality of paths of the integrated circuit design, each path comprising one or more instances of electronic devices providing an instance power estimate for each instance in the identified paths providing, for each identified path, at least one weighted power estimate based on the instance power estimates for instances in the path, and providing a ranking of the paths based on the least one weighted power estimate. The invention also pertains to a corresponding computer program product.

The development of integrated circuits, in particular for microprocessors, systems on a chip, digital signal processors (DSP) and similar highly integrated devices, leads to increasingly complex designs with an increasing number of semi-conductor devices arranged on smaller and smaller surfaces. Such integrated devices are usually optimized to fulfil predefined timing requirements. However, in particular in the context of mobile devices becoming more and more ubiquitous and the drive for more efficient and cheaper use of energy in large computing centres, it has become desirable to increase the power efficiency of designs of integrated circuits. Due to the complex nature of such circuits, it is often difficult to identify structures which potentially might be power optimized.

Method for ranking paths for power optimization of an integrated circuit design and corresponding computer program product


A method for synchronous updating of multiple language web content for use in a primary server and several secondary servers. The method first employs a timer to notify the primary server. The primary server then searches for updated content in web content, composes an updated web content file, and synchronously transmits the updated web content file to the secondary servers in response to the notification. After receiving the updated web content file, the secondary server compiles the updated web content file, codes it by dynamically linking to a language code setting, transfers the updated web content file according to a specific language, and updates web content corresponding to the web content on the primary server using the updated web content file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to web content updating technology, and in particular, to an apparatus and method that synchronously updates multiple language web content.
2. Description of the Related Art
An enterprise may have several servers located in different countries, and different server may present web contents in different languages. When web content is updated on a primary server, secondary servers must synchronously update web content to prevent inconsistency. For example, an enterprise has a primary server located in Taiwan and several secondary servers located in Taiwan, China, Japan, and the United States, respectively. The primary server located in Taiwan provides an English website, and the secondary servers located in Taiwan, China, Japan and the United States may display web content in traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Japanese, and English, respectively. When a web content is updated on the primary server, the corresponding web content on different secondary servers must be synchronously updated.
Conventionally, there are two methods for updating multiple language web content. In the first method, web content is updated manually and then transferred to secondary servers. This method, while effective, is time-consuming and requires human resources. In the second method, web content is updated manually, then translated into different languages, and directly transferred to corresponding secondary servers. Both the above methods are labor intensive and place a tremendous burden on human resources, particularly for organizations with an extensive web presence spanning several countries and languages. Moreover, the above methods do not provide a method for synchronous updating of multiple language web content.

Method and apparatus for synchronous updating of multiple language web content


The method includes providing a substrate containing a dielectric layer having a recessed feature and forming a aluminum tantalum carbonitride barrier film over a surface of the recessed feature. The aluminum tantalum carbonitride barrier film is formed by depositing a plurality of tantalum carbonitride films, and depositing aluminum between each of the plurality of tantalum carbonitride films. One embodiment further comprises depositing a Ru film on the aluminum tantalum carbonitride barrier film, depositing a Cu seed layer on the Ru film, and filling the recessed feature with bulk Cu. A semiconductor device containing an aluminum tantalum carbonitride barrier film is described.

An integrated circuit contains various semiconductor devices and a plurality of conducting metal paths that provide electrical power to the semiconductor devices and allow these semiconductor devices to share and exchange information. Within a semiconductor device, metal layers are stacked on top of one another using intermetal or interlayer dielectric layers that insulate the metal layers from each other. Metal layers typically occupy etched pathways in the interlayer dielectric. Normally, each metal layer must form an electrical contact to at least one additional metal layer or conductive layer. Such electrical contact is achieved by etching a hole in the interlayer dielectric that separates the metal layers or a metal layer and a doped substrate region, and filling the resulting via with a metal (plug) to create a vertical interconnect structure. A "via" normally refers to any micro-feature such as a hole, line or other similar feature formed within a dielectric layer that provides an electrical connection through the dielectric layer to a conductive layer underlying the dielectric layer. Similarly, micro-features containing metal layers connecting two or more vias are normally referred to as trenches.
The use of a low resistivity metal such as copper (Cu) provides significant gains in switching delay (RC-delay) and power consumption of integrated circuits. Bulk Cu is surrounded by barrier films that separate the bulk Cu from dielectric materials and other materials. Cu cannot be put in direct contact with dielectric materials since Cu has poor adhesion to the dielectric materials and Cu is known to easily diffuse into common integrated circuit materials such as silicon and dielectric materials where Cu is a mid-bandgap impurity. Furthermore, oxygen can diffuse from an oxygen-containing dielectric material into Cu, thereby decreasing the electrical conductivity of the Cu metal. Therefore, a diffusion barrier material is formed on dielectric materials and other materials in the semiconductor device to surround the Cu and prevent diffusion of the Cu into the semiconductor device materials.
However, common diffusion barrier material for Cu metallization have polycrystalline or columnar micro-structures with grain boundaries through which diffusion of oxygen, Cu, and Si can occur, thereby degrading or destroying the integrated circuit. Therefore, micro-structures of diffusion barrier materials need to be controlled to provide improved barrier properties for Cu metallization.

Semiconductor device containing an aluminum tantalum carbonitride barrier film and method of forming


An improved method and associated mechanism for facilitating the transformation of digitized images intended for use in a multi-resolution, multi-application environment by performing complex transformations on low resolution image components and approximate transformations on the high level image components so as to reduce computational complexity. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the transformation operator is executed upon a relatively low spatial resolution file, thereby resulting in a substantial reduction in processing overhead. Advantage is thus taken of the availability of the reduced size of the lower spatial resolution base file within the hierarchical database, so that a relatively complex conversion may be performed on a small number of pixels within the base file, prior to up-converting the image to a relatively high spatial resolution image, such as a 2048.times.3072 pixel image for driving a high resolution digital thermal color printer.

Recent improvements in their spatial and data resolution capability have made digital image processing systems particularly attractive for multi-use environments, in which the user has the option of selecting the type of reproduction device and the desired resolution of the reproduction device. In still color image photography, for example, when an image, that has been captured on color photographic film or a high spatial resolution color digital camera, is digitized and stored in an attendant data base, it can be readily optimized for reproduction on a variety of output devices (e.g. a color video display or a digitally driven, high resolution color thermal printer) through the use of workstation-resident image processing software. In the case of a constant reproduction device, it may be desirable to uniquely modify portions of an image or the total image for desired reproduction in manner that is different than the manner used for other images.
One example of a digitized image processing system that takes advantage of this capability is the color photo-finishing system described in co-pending patent application Ser. No. 582,305, filed Sep. 14, 1990, by S. Kristy entitled "Multi-Resolution Digital Imagery Photofinishing System," assigned to the assignee of the present application and the disclosure of which is herein incorporated. As explained in that application, conventional photo-finishing of consumer-generated still color photographs (e.g. those captured on 35mm color film) customarily involves the use of an analog electro-optic system and an associated chemical-based print developing unit. The Kristy application describes a digital image-based photofinishing apparatus that enables the user to personally customize and obtain high quality prints of photographic images. It also provides for the storage and retrieval of high spatial resolution digitized color still images for playback to a variety of reproduction devices, the spatial resolution of which may vary.
FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates such an improved photofinishing apparatus as employing a high spatial resolution film scanner 32 that is used to scan an image, for example, from film strip 36. The high spatial resolution scanner 32 has built therein means for converting the scanned image into corresponding digital signals representing a pixel array that may be processed in various ways by a host computer 34. The term high spatial resolution, as applied to a pixel array from a scanner, means, a pixel array of a size and a population that is sufficient to provide a color print having a quality equal to that normally provided by analog optical systems. The host computer 34 is interfaced to monitor 39 and associated keyboard (not shown) for permitting an operator to interface with the control functions and operating programs of the host computer. The output images from the host computer 34 can be directed to a high resolution printer 38 and/or to a TV display 37. The TV display 37, with present technology, would not be able to display as finely a detailed image as is obtained on a photographic print.
The digital image signals supplied to the host computer 34 are in the form of an imaging pixel array-representative bit map, resolved to a prescribed digital code width (e.g. eight bits per color per pixel). Host computer 34 has a resident image-encoding and storage operator through which each high spatial resolution digitized image file may be stored in a multi-resolution, hierarchical format.
One example of a preferred encoding and storage operator that may be used for this purpose is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,204, entitled "A Hybrid Residual-Based Hierarchical Storage and Display Method for High Resolution Digital Images in a Multi-Use Environment," by Paul W. Melnychuck et al, which patent is assigned to the assignee of the present application and the disclosure of which is herein incorporated.
To optimize the performance of aforementioned reproduction systems in different conditions it is often necessary that modifications be made in the transform. The modification may involve anything from a single-channel independent modification to the use of a series of multi-channel color space transformations. Although a low level transform modification may not require a significant amount of additional image processing, executing a more intense transform modification in a very high spatial resolution application, such as would be needed for a 2040.times.3072 pixel array printer, can be particularly computationally intense.
Although the system described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 631,709, affords rapid access to a variety of image formats and allows the user to select the reproduction medium and spatial resolution at which the accessed image is reproduced, there still remains the problem of transforming the digitized image file in the event that a change in metric, for example, a change in color metric to accommodate a particular display option (device and/or desired color reproduction), is desired.
Based on the above, it would be advantageous to have a simplified method and apparatus for achieving high quality metric conversion (for multiple display options and/or image processing, such as color enhancement options) with less computational burden by capitalizing on the hierarchical structure and the nature of the stored (or starting) metric image that easily allows for simplified transformation of high frequency image information.

Transforms for digital images in a hierarchical environment


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for network address translation (NAT) based on pure hardware architecture. The method includes that when receiving a packet, the first MAC circuit will translate the address of the packet directly and store the address-translated packet into the storage, and that the first MAC circuit informs the second MAC circuit to access the address-translated packets from the storage so as to output. Because address translation requires lots of operating resource, the present invention using the first and the second MAC circuits instead of the CPU to obtain the aforesaid functions only needs a simple, low-speed and low-power CPU to setup the parameters of the first and the second MAC circuits or process few special packets, thus getting the biggest bandwidth under the restriction, the zero wastage of the smallest packet, followed the stipulation of IEEE802.3 in the environment of 100 MHz Ethernet.

For the rapid progress of global Internet and the increase of the population thereof, the Internet is confronting the problem of IP address shortage, so the method of Network Address Translation (NAT) is thus developed. The principle of NAT is that the packet addresses can be translated mutually between the virtual network address and the real network address so that the host possessing virtual network address can link the Wide Area Network (WAN) through such operating mechanism.
When computers in the Local Area Network (LAN) link the Wide Area Network (WAN), the virtual network address and the real network address can be translated mutually through the apparatus possessing NAT functions, such as routers. Therefore, it only requires fewer real network addresses to make all computers in the LAN be able to link the WAN so that the requirement of the real network address can thus be reduced.
The existing NAT scheme is performed by the CPU collocated with hardware circuits. Please refer to FIG. 1, showing the NAT scheme of the prior art. In FIG. 1, the NAT scheme 100 comprises a CPU (not shown in the figure), a memory 110, and a chip 130 including a LAN MAC (media access control) circuit 120 as well as a WAN MAC circuit 125.
Wherein, when receiving the packet 150 from the WAN, the WAN MAC circuit 125 will make the packet 150 be stored in the WAN RX queue 111 of the memory 110 and inform the WAN driver of the NAT scheme 100. If the packet 150 enters the WAN RX queue 111, the WAN driver will put the packet 150 from the WAN RX queue 111 into the buffer pool 113 of the memory 110. Moreover, the WAN driver can make the packet 150 in the buffer pool 113 carry out address translation as well as CRC re-calculation and transfer the address-translated packet 150 from the WAN to the LAN.
Therefore, the LAN driver of the NAT scheme 100 can fetch the address-translated packet 150 from the buffer pool 113 to the LAN TX queue 115. And the LAN driver will inform the LAN MAC circuit 120 to fetch the address-translated packet 150 from the LAN TX queue 115 so as to output.
In the NAT scheme 100 of the prior art, the operations of the WAN driver and the LAN driver both need to be executed by the CPU, which is very complex. Only the CPU possessing the excellent operation ability can reach the biggest bandwidth under the restriction, the zero wastage of the smallest packet, followed the stipulation of IEEE802.3 in the environment of 100 MHz Ethernet. Wherein, the so-called biggest bandwidth is that the interval between the packets is equal to 96 bit time.

Method and apparatus for network address translation based on pure hardware architecture


A damping device and a method of damping a structural element of a vehicle body are disclosed. The damping device generally includes a carrier material, a separating material, and a damping material disposed on the carrier material. The damping material is one of a material forming an open cell structure and a material having an absorption coefficient for sound waves greater than about 0.5. The method generally includes fixing a damping device on a structural element of a vehicle, the damping device including a carrier material, a separating material, and a damping material, and one of expanding and dilating at least one of the separating material and the damping material, the damping material having one of an open cell structure and an absorption coefficient for sound waves greater than 0.5 after expansion.

Many car body parts contain cavities that must be sealed to prevent the admission of moisture and contaminating substances, for example, because such substances, particularly moisture, may lead to corrosion of the car body parts. This applies, in particular, to one-piece structures, in which a solid frame is replaced with a unit-body construction that generally contains a multitude of cavities which may accumulate moisture and contaminating substances. These cavities also serve as passages that transmit noise during operation of the vehicle. For example, the generally upright structure of a car body that forms the window opening generally includes an elongated passage or cavity that may collect moisture and contaminating substances and can also transmit undesirable noises. Injecting a sealant into the cavity is generally not satisfactory due to the insufficient sealing and damping provided by known sealing materials, the relatively high costs of such materials, and the irregular seals which known materials provide.
Additionally, the process of injecting foams into car body cavities is generally difficult to control precisely. Typically, an excess of foam must be introduced into the body cavity to adequately prevent the admission of moisture into the cavity while the vehicle is used. Foams also have a limited service life with respect to their flexibility before coagulation, so that the time available for introducing the foam into the cavity of the vehicle is restricted. Alternatives to these foams have been developed, such as other expandable materials which may be introduced into the cavities. Such materials dilate or expand, usually under the influence of heat. A heating process of this type usually takes place during the manufacture of car bodies in an electrocoating oven after the assembly of the bodyshell and the priming of the car body. In such instances, the expandable materials are generally introduced into the cavity together with a carrier material which fixes the expandable material at a certain location in the cavity.
However, known materials that fulfill requirements with respect to stability, durability and corrosion prevention generally do not have a favorable acoustic response in vehicle applications. These materials generally provide insufficient damping of the sound energy that may occur in the cavities during vehicle operation. The users of the vehicles may perceive this as particularly annoying. Noise may be merely sealed off within vehicle cavities by such known materials and expansion-molded parts, i.e., no sound energy is absorbed. Accordingly, there is a need for a material which provides improved sealing and acoustic properties.

Damping device and method for damping sound in cavities of vehicles


A new and distinct Ilex cultivar named ‘DRO-IMT’ is disclosed, characterized by distinctive yellow-green. Foliage is elliptic in shape. Plants have a columnar habit. Plants are very well suited for performance in the landscape, including as a specimen plant or mass planting. The new cultivar is an Ilex, suitable for ornamental garden purposes.

The new cultivar is a product of chance discovery by the inventor, in his home garden in Dutton, Va. during April of 2015. This new variety, hereinafter referred to as 'DRO-IMT', was discovered as a naturally occurring, single branch mutation of the parent variety Ilex crenata, 'Sky Pencil', unpatented.
After identifying the new variety as a potentially interesting selection, the inventor first organized propagation of 'DRO-IMT' by softwood vegetative cuttings during July of 2015 at a private commercial nursery in Saluda, Va. The inventor continued controlled testing and propagation, assessing stability of the unique characteristics of this variety. Numerous generations have been reproduced and have shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.


Provided is a binder composition including polylysine and at least one reducing sugar or a derivative thereof, wherein the polylysine has, in a 1H NMR spectrum thereof, a first peak at 3.2 ppm to 3.4 ppm and a second peak at 3.8 ppm to 4.0 ppm, wherein a ratio (A:B) of an area of the first peak (A) to an area of the second peak (B) is 70:30 to 98:2.

Articles such as non-woven fiber insulation and plywood are fabricated by shaping a mixture of a binder, such as a urea-formaldehyde resin (UF resin) or a phenol-formaldehyde resin (PF resin), and a base material, such as fiber or wood powder, and thermally curing the mixture. Conventional binders are obtained from fossil fuels and emit harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde in the binder manufacturing processes and even after the manufacture of articles. Therefore, research has been conducted on binders that provide excellent physical properties without the use of fossil fuels and the release of harmful substances.

Binder composition, article, and method for manufacturing article


A water prescribing system 1 is provided with a state storage unit 21 which stores a state variable relating to a physical constitution and health condition for each of a plurality of persons including a user, and a prescription unit 22 which creates a prescription of water suitable for the user based on the state variable.

In recent years, with the increase in health consciousness, the demand for dissolved hydrogen water, in which hydrogen molecules are dissolved in water, has been increasing. The dissolved hydrogen water is produced by an electrolytic water production device that electrolyzes water, for example. The electrolytic water production device is configured to be able to produce electrolyzed water having various dissolved hydrogen concentrations and pH values by controlling an electrolytic current for electrolysis, for example (see Patent Document 1, for example).
By the way, a physical constitution, health condition, and the like of the users who use the electrolytic water production device are various, and the water suitable for each user is different. However, it has been difficult for the user to easily know the water suitable for his or her body, and it has been necessary to seek guidance from a doctor or a specialist.

Water prescribing system and water prescribing program


A method of preventing, treating and/or controlling diseases caused by dysregulation and/or dysfunction of various portions of the nervous system which comprises administering to a patient, an effective amount of a compound of the avermectin family, e.g. ivermectin, in single or multiple doses of up to 1.6 mg/kg at intervals of from 3 days to 4 months.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the use of the C-076 family of compounds, i.e. avermectins, for the prevention, treatment and control of various diseases in humans caused by dysregulation and/or dysfunction of various portions of the human nervous system. More particularly, this invention relates to the administration of the avermectin class of compounds (1) to prevent, treat, and control such diseases in humans as seizures, dystonic movements, tremors, degenerative conditions of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, spasticity of both brain and spinal cord origin, and various types of psychoses and personality disorders, (2) to increase tonic activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, as in bladder and bowel control, (3) to decrease activity of the sympathetic nervous system at cutaneous and cardiovascular levels, (4) to ameliorate depression, (5) to regularize the sleep-wake cycle, (6) to decrease addictive and abusive behavior, (7) to increase attention span and improve behavior of mentally-deficient children and adults, (8) to treat autoimmune disorders, (9) to treat malignant states, and (10) to prevent or ameliorate anoxic or ischemic damage to the nervous system, as well as specific pharmaceutical formulations and treatment regimens for such prevention, treatment and control. The preferred compound which is used to illustrate this invention is ivermectin. Ivermectin is a semi-synthetic derivative of avermectin and is generally produced as a mixture of at least 80% 22,23-dihydroavermectin B.sub.1a and less than 20% 22,23-dihydroavermectin B.sub.1b. The following structural formula represents the avermectin series of compounds, which compounds can be chemically converted to useful derivatives as discussed below. ##STR1## wherein R is the 4'-(alpha-L-oleandrosyl)-alpha-L-oleandrose group of the structure: ##STR2## and wherein the broken line indicates a single or double bond; R.sub.1 in hydroxy and in present only when said broken line indicates a double bond; R.sub.2 in isopropyl or sec-butyl; and R.sub.3 in methoxy or hydroxy.
2. Prior Art
The avermectin family, of which ivermectin, a chemically produced analog, is a member, is a series of compounds isolated from the fermentation broth of a C-076 producing strain of Streptomyces avermitillis and also chemically produced derivatives thereof. At least eight distinct but closely related compounds are produced by S. avermitillis, A.sub.1a, A.sub.1b, A.sub.2a, A.sub.2b, B.sub.1a, B.sub.1b, B.sub.2a, and B.sub.2b. Their production is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,519. The preparation of is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,569. The disclosures of each of the foregoing patents are incorporated herein by reference. The avermectin family of compounds is a series of potent antiparasitic agents known to be useful against a spectrum of endoparasites and ectoparasites in mammals arid to have agricultural uses against various nematode and insect parasites found in and on crops and in soil.
Some of the avermectins contain a 22,23-double bond. This may be selectively reduced to prepare the ivermectin compounds. In addition, the avermectins possess a disaccharide moiety at the 13-position consisting of the alpha-L-oleandrosyl-alpha-L-oleandrosyl group. One or both of these saccharide groups may be removed as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,205. The thus produced aglycone derivatives have a hydroxy group at the 13-position. This group may be removed to form the 13-deoxy compound as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,171,314 and 4,173,571; the latter patent also describes the 13-halo derivatives. The avermectin compounds and derivatives have several hydroxy groups which may be acylated as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,861. derivatives of avermectin and ivermectin are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,333,925 and 4,963,667. All the aforementioned patents are incorporated herein by reference. The compounds disclosed in the patents mentioned above share the property of antiparasitic activity with ivermectin.
Since all the compounds mentioned and referred to above share the spectrum of anti-parasitic biological activity of ivermectin, varying only in degree, it is expected they will share the activity spectrum needed to make them suitable for use in this invention. In order to establish their potency and selectivity as compared to ivermectin, other members of the avermectin class could be screened utilizing in vitro and in vivo models already known from the literature. Compounds which look promising for preventing, treating or controlling a particular indication in the in vitro screens are tested further in animal models. Those with the potency desired in the animal models are then further selected for testing in human pharmacodynamic models and clinical trials.
In vitro screens which are suitable include (1) the binding of the test compounds as radio labeled derivatives thereof to preparations of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors, subtypes A and B, (2) the displacement of the binding of other known GABA A and B receptor agonists by the avermectin compounds, (3) examination of the ability of either the avermectin compounds, or of other GABA agonists plus the avermectin compounds, to bind in the presence of GABA, and (4) effects of the avermectin compounds on the release and uptake of GABA by brain or nerve preparations. The tests described herein are disclosed in the following publications: Sigel, et al. Mol. Pharmacol., 32, 749-52 (1987); Soderlund, et al., Biochem, Biophys. Res. Comm. 146, 692-698 (1987); Kirkness, et al., Eur. J. Pharmacol., 150, 385-388 (1988) ; Robertson, Br. J. Pharmacol., 98, 167-176 (1989); Chu, et al., Neurol., 37 , 1454-1459 (1987); Bhisitkul, et al., Exp. Brain Res., 66, 659-663 ( 1987); Kerr, et al., Brain Res., 405, 150-154 (1987); Price, et al., Nature, 307, 71-74 (1984); Bowery, et al., Neuropharmacol., 23, 219-231 (1984); Olsen, et al., FASEB J., 4, 1469-1480 (1990); and Erickson, Sci. Amer., 264, (5) 124 (1991). All four types of assays can be performed using GABA preparations derived from different regions of the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and various body organs.
In vivo screens suitable for testing include using animal models for seizures and for spasticity. Suitable seizure models are disclosed in Porter, et al., Cleveland Clin. Quart.,51, 293-305 (Summer 1984); McNamara, et al., Neuropharmacol., 27, 563-568 (1988) ; and McNamara, Epilepsia, 30, suppl 513-518 (1989). Suitable spasticity models are disclosed in Coward, Triangle, 20, 151-158 (1981); Davies, Br. J. Pharmacol., 76, 473-481 (1982); Davies, et al., Br. J. Pharmacol., 78, 137-142., (1983), and Sayers, et al., Arzneimittel-Forschung, 30, 793-803 (1980).
Comparative human pharmacodynamic studies are then conducted using the compounds with the particular biological profile predicted from the in vitro and animal screens. The human tests which are suitable are disclosed in Hagbarth, J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychia., 23, 222-227 (1960); Hagbarth, et al., J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychia., 31, 207-213 (1968); Hassan, et al., J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychia., 43, 1132-1136 (1980); Knutsson, et al., Scand. J. Rehabil. Med., 12, 93-106 (1980); Knutsson, Triangle, 21, 13-20 (1982); Knutsson et al. J. Neurol. Sci., 53, 187-204 (1982); and Kugelbert, Electroenceph. Clin Neurophysiol., Suppl. 22, 103-111 (1962).
The only use for human patients described in the literature for the avermectins, and ivermectin in particular, is for treating nematode parasites, particularly onchocerciasis (river blindness) utilizing dosages of up to 150 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. No side effects of significance were reported and no teratogenic activity was found, Pacque, et al., Lancet, 335, 1377-1380 (1990) and Pacque, et al., Lancet, 336, 1486-1489 (1990).
Many members of the avermectin class, in particular ivermectin, are potent and highly selective parasiticides which are lethal for invertebrates from a variety of phyla, ranging from insects to nematode worms. Much work has been done to determine the mechanism of action and the safety for use in mammals. Many investigators conclude that ivermectin and avermectin B achieve their results in invertebrates by indirectly potentiating or mimicking the action of the neurotransmitter GABA. See Campbell, et al., Science, 221, 823-828, (1983); Campbell, et al., J. Vet. Pharmacol. Therap., 7, 1-16, (1984); Terada, et al.,Exp. Parasitol., 57, 149-157, (1984); Bennett, JAVMA, 189, 100-104, (1986); Chalmers, et al., Eur. J. Pharmacol. 129, 371-374, (1986). Some investigators find other explanations and cast doubt on the accuracy of the GABA agonist theory. See Martin, et al., Br. J. Pharmacol.98, 747-756, (1989). The parasites are believed to be killed as a consequence of centrally- or peripherally-mediated muscular paralysis. Tn the families of invertebrates affected, excessive GABA-ergic activity inhibits the process of neuromuscular transmission, see Bennett, supra.
Studies and experiments, attempting to determine if ivermectin exhibits GABA agonistic properties, have shown that ivermectin exhibits such properties in mammalian nervous tissues in vitro, at concentrations ranging from 10.sup.-7 M to 10.sup.-5 M, with levels of 10.sup.-6 M or higher generally being required to produce a 50% change in the parameters studied, Sigel, et al., (1987) supra; Soderlund, et al., (1987) supra; Kirkness, et al., (1988) supra; and Robertson, (1989) supra.
It was found by investigators that intravenous administration of 0.3 mg/kg in rats resulted in very small amounts of ivermectin entering the central nervous system. See Campbell, et al., (1983) supra; Campbell et al., (1984) supra, and Bennett, (1986) supra. Utilizing high doses in dogs and swine resulted in signs suggestive of activity at the level of the central nervous system. See Campbell et al., (1984) supra. However, in the investigations in vitro, the activity of ivermectin does not conclusively demonstrate that it acts as a GABA agonist. The results indicate it has a relatively slow onset of action, loses its activity within minutes of administration, and at times acts as a blocker rather than an activator of GABA-sensitive chloride channels, Sigel, et al., (1987) supra; and Robertson, (1989) supra; In mouse brain preparations, ivermectin may actually inhibit the channel-opening actions of GABA as noted by Soderlund, et al., ( 1987) supra. In guinea pig brain preparations, investigators found that many actions of ivermectin resemble those of the GABA antagonist picotoxin, Kirkness, et al., Turner (1988) supra.
In investigations to determine the effects of doses large enough to affect the central nervous system of mammals, the clinical signs produced indicated that the central nervous system was profoundly depressed, as evidenced by listlessness and ataxia, followed by loss of upright posture and death, Campbell et al., (1984) supra and Soderlund et al., (1987) supra, citing the unpublished paper of Bloomquist, et al.
There is nothing in the aforesaid publications which shows, speculates or predicts the effects of avermectins in general or ivermectin specifically on humans, i.e. on cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, parasympathetic or sympathetic systems, immune systems, on disease states or dysregulations of the nervous system, or on personality, mood, behavior, memory, attention span or cognitive status. Other GABA agonists known to be active in humans, such as the benzodiazepine tranquilizers, baclofen muscle relaxants and anti-convulsants such as valproic acid and gabapentin, are active to some extent in treating anxiety, as minor anesthesia agents, in treating spasticity, and for seizure control. They also have strong potential to cause cognitive changes, lethargy, somnolence, depression, psychotic behavior, respiratory depression, coma and death, particularly when taken in overdoses or for long periods of time. There is therefore a need for an active agent with GABA agonist properties that possesses all the beneficial effects of the putative GABA agonists, without the potential for toxicity of the other known members of this pharmacological class.

Treatment of human diseases involving dysregulation or dysfunction of the nervous system


Improved surface feature recognition in CT images is provided by extracting a triangulated mesh representation of the surface of interest. Shape operators are computed at each vertex of the mesh from finite differences of vertex normals. The shape operators at each vertex are smoothed according to an iterative weighted averaging procedure. Principal curvatures at each vertex are computed from the smoothed shape operators. Vertices are marked as maxima and/or minima according to the signs of the principal curvatures. Vertices marked as having the same feature type are clustered together by adjacency on the mesh to provide candidate patches. Feature scores are computed for each candidate patch and the scores are provided as output to a user or for further processing.

Automatic feature recognition in image processing has a large number of applications, and has been extensively investigated for some time. For example, as medical imaging techniques become more widely used, there is a corresponding need for automatic analysis of medical image data. This need is most pressing in applications which generate large amounts of data for analysis. For example, Computed Tomographic Colonoscopy (CTC) can provide thousands of CT images, each of which needs interpretation by a radiologist to locate polyps or other abnormal features. Colon polyps are small, inward-facing protrusions on the colon surface, and are considered to be precursors to colon cancer. Accordingly, methods for providing automatic detection of polyp features in CTC data have been investigated.
One approach is based on 3-D pattern recognition, where a system identifies a candidate location for analysis, then computes a probability measure for the candidate location to be a polyp. The computation of the probability measure is based on prior training of the system with a training set of known polyps. Such an approach is considered in US2006/0079761. However, most approaches for automatic polyp detection rely on computation of surface curvature information from the given 3-D data, which can be done in various ways.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,043,064, polyps are identified by computing surface normals and looking for intersections (or overlaps) of the surface normals. This surface normal overlap (SNO) method is based on the observation that surface normals from a polyp will tend to overlap or intersect, while surface normals from non-polyp features (e.g., haustral folds) do not tend to overlap or intersect.
Another approach for determining curvature is based on computing curvatures directly from 3-D image data (e.g., as described in US 2005/0196041, US 2005/0111713, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,112. In such approaches, voxels in the 3-D image belonging to the surface are identified by a surface locating algorithm, then the curvatures at the surface voxels are computed directly from the 3-D data.
Yet another approach for determining curvature is surface patch fitting. In these approaches, a surface is identified in the 3-D data, the surface is divided into patches, and a simple functional fit is performed to each surface patch. The curvature for each patch is determined from the fitted function for that patch. Surface patch fitting is considered in U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,112, PCT application PCT/US00/05596, and in an article by Huang et al. entitled "Surface Curvature estimation for automatic colonic polyp detection", Proc. SPIE 5746, Medical Imaging 2005, ed. Amini and Manduca, pp. 393-402, 2005).
For all of these approaches, some form of smoothing is typically required to obtain useful results in practice, since raw CT data tends to be noisy, and computing curvature from CT data tends to amplify noise because the curvature is a second derivative of the data. However, such smoothing can undesirably introduce errors and anomalies into the reported curvature results. For example, smoothing the 3-D image can result in the curvature estimates being corrupted by contributions from nearby structures in the data that are irrelevant.
Accordingly, it would be an advance in the art to provide surface feature recognition for 3-D image data having improved performance and reduced corruption during curvature computation.

Polyp detection using smoothed shape operators

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


Configurations and mounting procedures for vehicle tire chains, which enable easier mounting of the chain upon the wheel, including performing the complete installation in one stop of the vehicle, while providing strong stabilization against random high operating forces on the chain.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicle tire chains, specifically to tire chain configurations which provide easier mounting on the wheel.
2. Prior Art
It has long been an objective of the tire chain industry to make tire chains easier to mount on the wheel. Most chains use the "drive on" method because of the problem of the wheel sitting on the ground which represents an obstacle to placing the chain in that area. Many assistance devices are found in the art, such as ramps to drive the wheel onto, clips to carry the chain through the tire to ground contact area and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,574, Maresh, et al, discloses a chain which mounts in one stop, but it is not strongly stabilized, being totally stabilized by elastic, rather than steel, and thus does not meet the performance levels of the chains of the present application.
Peerless Chain Company makes a tire chain, marketed by Traction Tire Chains, which tightens two cross chains with two self tightening ratchet mechanisms, to accomplish one stop mounting. They give the chain the trademark Auto-Trac.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,933, by the present inventor, pertains to the same general tire chain category as the present application.
The basic objectives of this present application are exactly the objectives of U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,933, that is: to provide a tire chain which can be fully mounted in one stop of the vehicle and which will provide strong stabilization of the chain in resisting random high operating forces on the chain, as encountered in severe turning and braking, and in skids.
The basic mounting techniques employed in the present invention are exactly those of U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,933, namely to employ a mounting technique and configuration which imposes cross chains upon the edges of the tire to ground contact area, and which includes self actuating return of deflected cross chains to their proper, normal position in the array on the tire tread, upon operation of the vehicle.


The present invention relates to an output driver circuit which exhibits a reduced variation in the slew rate of an output signal thereof, irrespective of a variation in temperature occurring during a process carried out by a semiconductor memory device, to which the output driver circuit is applied, or a variation in temperature caused by the operation characteristics of the semiconductor memory device, while exhibiting excellent operation characteristics even in a high-speed operation mode thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an output driver circuit, and more particularly to an output driver circuit which is capable of preventing an abrupt variation in the slew rate thereof when a variation in resistance and supply voltage occurs due to a variation in process and temperature conditions, so that it is widely usable on output stages of high-speed interface circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor devices use an output driver circuit to output internal data from a chip thereof to the outside of the chip through an output terminal, that is, an output pad.
Such an output driver circuit includes a push-pull driver. One important function of such a push-pull driver is to control the slew rate of an output signal.
"Slew rate" means a variation rate of the voltage level of an output signal, so that it may be considered as a gradient of voltage to time. Such a slew rate may be a rising slew rate or a falling slew rate. The rising slew rate represents the gradient of an output voltage, the level of which is transited from a low level to a high level. On the other hand, the falling slew rate represents the gradient of an output voltage, the level of which is transited from a high level to a low level. At a higher slew rate, the gradient of the output voltage is sharper. In other words, the level of the output voltage is abruptly varied within a short time. Where an output push-pull driver exhibits a high slew rate, large noise current is generated. For this reason, such an output push-pull driver is unsuitable for the output stage of a high-speed interface circuit.
FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of a conventional output driver circuit. Operation of the conventional driver circuit and problems involved therewith will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 shows an example in which the conventional output driver circuit is applied to a DRAM. As shown in FIG. 1, the output driver circuit includes a pre-driver including a CMOS transistor composed of a PMOS transistor P1 and an NMOS transistor N1, and adapted to perform a switching operation in response to an input data signal IN, and another CMOS transistor composed of a PMOS transistor P2 and an NMOS transistor N2, and adapted to perform a switching operation in response to the input data signal IN. The output driver circuit also includes a PMOS transistor P0 serving as a pull-up element adapted to perform a switching operation in response to a signal at an output node up between the PMOS transistor P1 and the NMOS transistor N1, and an NMOS transistor N0 serving as a pull-down element adapted to perform a switching operation in response to a signal at an output node dn between the PMOS transistor P2 and the NMOS transistor N2.
The conventional output driver circuit further includes a means for controlling the slew rate of an output signal thereof. In the illustrated case, the slew rate control means comprises resistors R1 and R2 included in the pre-driver. In accordance with this configuration, when the input data signal IN has a high level, both the PMOS transistors P1 and P2 are turned off, whereas both the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 are turned on. In this state, discharging of current is carried out. As a result, the potential at the output node up, that is, voltage Vup, is lowered to a level Vss in accordance with a time constant t1 (t1=(R1+R_N1)×C_up). Here, "C_up" represents a parasitic capacitance generated at the output nod up, and "R_N1" represents an on-resistance of the NMOS transistor N1 in an ON state thereof. That is, the voltage Vup is lowered, as expressed by the following Expression:Vup=Vdd×e−t/t1  [Expression 1]
In accordance with Expression 1 associated with discharging of current, the PMOS transistor P0, which is a driving element, drives the voltage at an output terminal of the output driver circuit to a level Vdd. Thus, the resultant output signal has a certain slew rate.
Similarly, when the input data signal IN has a low level, both the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 are turned off, whereas both the PMOS transistors P1 and P2 are turned on. In this state, discharging of current is carried out. As a result, the potential at the output node dn, that is, voltage Vdn, is raised to the level Vdd in accordance with a time constant t2 (t2=(R2+R_P2)×C_dn). Here, "C_down" represents a parasitic capacitance generated at the output nod dn, and "R_P2" represents an on-resistance of the PMOS transistor P2 in an ON state thereof. That is, the voltage Vdn is raised, as expressed by the following Expression:Vdn=Vdd×(1−e−t/t2)  [Expression 2]
In accordance with the Expression associated with charging of current, the NMOS transistor N0, which is a driving element, drives the voltage at the output terminal of the output driver circuit to a level Vss. Thus, the resultant output signal has a certain slew rate.
However, the conventional output driver circuit has a problem in that the slew rate characteristics thereof are unstable. That is, the semiconductor memory device, to which the output driver circuit is applied, exhibits a high temperature variation during a process carried out thereby. In particular, the semiconductor memory device exhibits an increase in temperature during a high-speed operation thereof. In this case, the resistors included in the output driver circuit exhibit a variation in resistance because they are sensitive to a variation in temperature. For this reason, a variation in temperature causes each resistor to exhibit a variation in resistance, thereby varying the time constants t1 and t2, which are expressed in Expressions 1 and 2. As a result, respective voltages at the nodes up and dn vary. Thus; the conventional output driver circuit exhibits an abrupt variation in slew rate in accordance with a temperature variation occurring in the associated semiconductor memory device. Such a slew rate variation adversely affects the signal characteristics of the semiconductor memory device.


A laser diode includes a first n-cladding layer disposed on and lattice-matched to an n-semiconductor substrate, wherein the first n-cladding layer is n-AlGaInP or n-GaInP; a second n-cladding layer of n-AlGaAs supported by the first n-cladding layer; and an inserted layer disposed between the first n-cladding layer and the second n-cladding layer, wherein the inserted layer includes the same elements as the first n-cladding layer, the inserted layer has the same composition ratios of Al and Ga (and P) as the first n-cladding layer, and the inserted layer contains a lower composition ratio of In than the first n-cladding layer.

1 . Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and manufacturing method therefor, and more particularly to a semiconductor device in which a compound semiconductor containing In (indium) and a compound semiconductor not containing In form a heterointerface therebetween, and a manufacturing method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as broadband communications and public telecommunication networks using optical fibers have become widely used, there has been an increasing need to transmit a large amount of information at low cost. To meet such a demand, it is necessary to increase the amount of information that can be transmitted per unit time, that is, to increase the information transmission rate. Actually, the transmission rate has been progressively increased from 600 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps, to 10 Gbps.
Such an increase in the transmission rate of optical communications devices has led to an expansion in the market for optical communications networks for use not only in trunk systems but in access systems (offices, homes), requiring that the optical transceivers employ high-speed, high-efficiency, yet low-cost light emitting/receiving semiconductor devices.
A semiconductor laser (a semiconductor optical device), for example, is formed by growing a compound semiconductor in crystal form on an InP substrate or a GaN substrate or a GaAs substrate.
Typical compound semiconductors include Group III-V compound semiconductors in which Group III and Group V elements are combined together. Compound semiconductors having different composition may be produced by causing different numbers of Group III and Group V atoms to bond together.
These compound semiconductors include, for example, InGaAsP, GaAsP, GaPN, GaNAs, InGaN, AlGaN, AlGaInP, AlGaAs, AlGaInAs,and InGaP, which are formed on a compound semiconductor substrate such as that described above by a vapor phase epitaxy.
It should be noted that forming a laser diode (LD) or a light emitting diode (LED) requires forming a heterointerface at which different compound semiconductors meet.
Examples of heterointerfaces include, for example, AlGaN/InGaN (which refers to the interface between an InGaN layer and an AlGaN layer formed on the InGaN layer), AlGaAs/InGaP, and AlGaAs/GaAs.
In the case of such a heterointerface formed between two compound semiconductors, it would be ideal if the composition of the device were abruptly transitioned at the heterointerface from a first compound semiconductor to a second compound semiconductor. In reality, however, an altered layer is undesirably formed between the first and second compound semiconductors, and therefore there are two composition transitions at the heterointerface: from the first compound semiconductor to the altered layer and from the altered layer to the second compound semiconductor. The term "altered layer", as used herein, refers to a layer unintentionally formed when a second compound semiconductor is formed on a first compound semiconductor to form a heterojunction. The composition of this layer cannot be controlled.
In a semiconductor device including a heterojunction, generally, the thinner the altered layer, the better the characteristics of the device. It would be ideal if no altered layer was formed and hence there were only one composition transition at the heterointerface between the first and second compound semiconductors.
One example of a heterointerface used in an optical device is AlGaAs/GaAs. In this heterointerface (AlGaAs/GaAs), the first compound semiconductor is GaAs and the second compound semiconductor is AlGaAs. This means that the heterointerface portion includes only two Group III elements (namely, Al and Ga) and one Group V element (namely, As). When such a heterointerface portion is grown in crystal form, no altered layer is formed, or only a very thin altered layer is formed, since an abrupt transition can be made from the Group III element or elements of one compound semiconductor to those of the other compound semiconductor, eliminating the problem of degradation of the optical device due to formation of an altered layer.
However, such heterointerfaces as AlGaN/InGaN and AlGaAs/InGaP have the following problems.
(i) In these heterointerfaces, the lower layer contains In and Ga as Group III elements, while the upper layer contains Al and Ga as Group III elements. That is, there is a transition from a layer containing In (the lower layer) to a layer not containing In (the upper layer).
(ii) In the case of AlGaAs/InGaP, the lower layer contains P as a Group V element, while the upper layer contains As as a Group V element. That is, there is a transition from one Group V element (P) to another Group V element (As).
These problems (i) and (ii) prevent abrupt transition from the Group III and V elements of the lower layer to those of the upper layer at the heterointerface when the device is grown in crystal form. This is due to diffusion of In from a compound semiconductor containing In (the lower layer) to a compound semiconductor not containing In (the upper layer), segregation of In at the heterointerface, mutual diffusion of In and Group V atoms, and mutual diffusion of different Group V atoms promoted by In.
As a known example of a semiconductor device formed to prevent diffusion of In from the In-containing Group III-V compound semiconductor layer and a manufacturing method therefore, there is a disclosure in which an In diffusion blocking layer made up of a Te-containing Group II-IV compound semiconductor layer is formed on an In-containing Group III-V compound semiconductor layer, and a Group II-IV compound semiconductor layer is formed on the In diffusion blocking layer. (See, e.g., paragraph [0006] and FIG. 1 of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-91707.)
A semiconductor device, for example, a laser diode (LD), has a structure in which the following layers are laminated to one another over an n-type GaAs semiconductor substrate by a vapor phase epitaxy (n-type, p-type, and i-type (undoped) being hereinafter abbreviated as "n-", "p-", and "i-", respectively): an n-AlGaAs n-buffer layer; an n-AlGaInP n-first cladding layer; an n-AlGaAs n-second cladding layer; an i-AlGaAs n-side guiding layer; an active layer structure including an AlGaAs quantum well and a barrier layer; an i-AlGaAs p-side guiding layer; a p-AlGaAs p-first cladding layer; a p-GaInP p-second cladding layer; a p-AlGaInP p-third cladding layer; a p-InGaP p-BDR (Band Discontinuity Reduction) layer; and a p-GaAs contact layer.
In this laminated structure of the LD, the junction between the n-AlGaInP n-first cladding layer and the n-AlGaAs n-second cladding layer is a heterojunction, and the n-first cladding layer contains In as a Group III element whereas the n-second cladding layer does not contain In. Further, the n-first cladding layer contains P as a Group V element whereas the n-second cladding layer contains As as a Group V element instead of P.
An altered layer may be formed at such a heterointerface and may absorb light generated in the LD, resulting in reduced luminous efficiency. If the electrical resistance of the altered layer is high, an increased threshold current of the LD may result. Further, if the altered layer has high distortion, the LD may degrade.

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method therefor


A device and method for extending the lifetime of a battery of a tire pressure sensor disposed in a tire are described, in which the battery can be recharged through the valve stem of the tire. The device includes an electrical power source and an electrode adapted to be coupled to the valve stem and supply power from the electrical power source to the valve stem.

Various types of tire pressure sensors have been developed that are situated within tires of vehicles (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,540,092 and 5,987,980). These tire pressure sensors require electrical power to monitor and transmit information regarding the current tire pressure for display in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Typically, the tire pressure sensors are powered by long-life batteries also disposed within the tires. The lifetime of these long-life batteries, however, is five to ten years, which is less than the life span of many automobiles and trucks. The effective lifetime of these batteries may be even shorter, because it is not desirable to run the battery down to such an extent that the tire pressure sensor system fails before the battery is replaced. Furthermore, replacing a tire pressure sensor battery is a labor-intensive process, involving, e.g., the removal of the tire from the wheel.
Accordingly, some tire pressure systems attempt to extend the life of the battery by providing a centrifugal switch disposed between the tire pressure sensor and the battery. This centrifugal switch is activated only when the tires rotate beyond a certain rate. As a result, the battery is used for monitoring tire pressure only when the vehicle is in motion. Another approach to extend the life of the battery is to limit the transmission of the tire pressure information only to certain conditions, for example, if there is a drop in tire pressure or if the tire pressure information is requested by the driver.
These approaches, however, are difficult to model statistically and therefore guarantee a reliable battery lifetime that is commensurate with the life span of the vehicle under a wide range of uses. For example, vehicles in interstate trucking are in motion to a much greater extent than pleasure or commuting vehicles.
Another problem with these approaches is that the usefulness of the tire pressure sensor is curtailed. For example, when the centrifugal switch is used, the tire pressure can only be sensed when the vehicle is in motion. As another example, when the transmission of tire pressure information is limited to certain, rare conditions, the driver of the vehicle cannot be provided with real-time information on the pressure of the vehicle's tires.
Therefore, there is a need for extending the life of a battery of a tire pressure sensor and for avoid the necessity of replacing a tire pressure sensor battery. There is also need for making tire pressures useful in more situations, e.g. when the vehicle is standing still.

Device and method for extending the lifetime of a battery in a tire pressure sensor


The present invention provides a composite body having, on a porous substrate and in the interstices of the substrate that includes fibers, preferably of an electrically nonconductive material, a porous layer (1) composed of oxide particles bonded to one another and partly to the substrate that include at least one oxide selected from oxides of the elements Al, Zr, Ti and Si, preferably selected from Al2O3, ZrO2, TiO2 and SiO2, and having, at least on one side, a further porous layer (2) including oxide particles bonded to one another and partly to layer (1) that include at least one oxide selected from oxides of the elements Al, Zr, Ti and Si, preferably selected from Al2O3, ZrO2, TiO2 and SiO2, where the oxide particles present in layer (1) have a greater median particle size than the oxide particles present in layer (2), which is characterized in that the median particle size (d50) of the oxide particles in layer (1) is from 0.5 to 4 μm and the median particle size (d50) of the oxide particles in layer (2) is from 0.015 to 0.15 μm, preferably 0.04 to 0.06 μm, a process for producing corresponding composite bodies and for the use thereof, especially in gas separation.

In the production of natural gas, more and more deposits that also contain a high proportion of further accompanying substances as well as methane are also being exploited. A portion of these accompanying substances can remain in the natural gas; and another portion must be removed in the course of natural gas processing. The latter include those substances that can cause corrosion in conduits and vessels, but also substances that reduce the calorific value of the gas. Components that are removed or distinctly lowered in their concentration, if present in excess, are typically water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, mercury and hydrogen sulfide. In the context of this document, the removal of carbon dioxide is of particular relevance. The state of the art is removal by means of an amine scrubbing, by which nowadays about 90% of the natural gas is cleaned. It is to be expected that the proportion of unwanted accompanying substances in the gases produced will distinctly increase in the future. The first sources with up to 50% CO2 are being exploited, for example, in Asia.
Since, in the case of an amine scrubbing, the amine has to be regenerated again by a desorption with use of energy after sorption of the carbon dioxide, there has recently also been increasing use of membranes for removal of large proportions of these impurities. The use of membranes has the advantage that smaller plants (requiring less space), simple operation and no liquid chemicals can/must be used.
The most commonly used membranes are produced and employed as asymmetric polymer membranes in the form of hollow fiber membranes or flat membranes made of cellulose acetates. However, the separation performance of the cellulose acetate membranes in use decreases owing to various effects, and so the separation implemented in use frequently does not achieve a sufficiently large separation factor, or has a distinctly negative difference therefrom after prolonged operation. There are therefore various activities for improving the separation factor (or clean gas selectivity), for example by modifying polymers.
The decrease in the separation performance in real application can be attributed in many cases to the sorption of higher hydrocarbons (defined here as hydrocarbons of more than 5 carbon atoms) in the polymer and the associated softening of the polymers. This effect is distinctly reduced, or barely exists, in the case of perfluorinated polymers. Therefore, these polymers are of good suitability as selective material for separation tasks in which higher hydrocarbons are present in the gas in a proportion close to the dew point for these compounds.
The production of an asymmetric membrane consisting entirely of fluoropolymers is economically unviable, and so exclusively composite membranes having a minimal proportion of a fluorinated polymer are viable for the applications. However, the substructure here should be chosen such that this is also not altered by the impurities mentioned. As a result, virtually all polymers are not an option for this purpose.
In WO 2007/149640 A2, the company Porogen proposed applying a fluoropolymer layer atop a porous PEEK carrier (PEEK film). A challenge here was the binding of the fluoropolymers via functional groups to the carrier.
DE 198 38 800 proposes an electrical separator with the composite structure that comprises a two-dimensional, flexible substrate provided with a multitude of orifices and having a coating present thereon. The material of the substrate is selected from metals, alloys, plastics, glass and carbon fibers or a combination of such materials, and the coating is a two-dimensionally continuous, porous, electrically nonconductive ceramic coating. The use of the ceramic coating promises thermal and chemical stability.
The fact that such composite bodies can be modified with polymers is described, for example, by EP 1925047 A1. However, the polymers used therein are to have essentially spherical structures and to be within the composite body.
Professor James Economy's group published a report about a research project for production of thin film composite (TFC) membranes, in which a selected layer is applied to a porous support, for example a polysulfone or ceramic membrane (http://economy.matse.illinois.edu/membrane.htm).
DE 10139559 A1 describes hybrid membranes in which ceramic materials are modified with organic separation layers. These are said to have better long-term stability than membranes with carriers made of polymers, but have an uneven polymer surface. DE 10208278 A1 describes similar hybrid membranes in which, however, the ceramic membranes are based on a polymeric carrier material, especially polymer nonwoven.
Multilayer, essentially ceramic composite materials are also already known from DE 10255121 A1. The composite materials described therein are used as battery separators.


A computer-readable medium to direct a computer to function in a specified manner includes executable instructions to construct a strategy map characterizing a presumed causal link between a first business metric and a second business metric. A first pattern within data associated with the first business metric is identified; a second pattern within data associated with the second business metric is located. Any relationship between the first pattern and the second pattern is specified.

Business Intelligence (BI) generally refers to software tools used to improve business enterprise decision-making. These tools are commonly applied to financial, human resource, marketing, sales, customer and supplier analyses. More specifically, these tools can include: reporting and analysis tools to present information; content delivery infrastructure systems for delivery and management of reports and analytics; data warehousing systems for cleansing and consolidating information from disparate sources; and data management systems, such as relational databases or On Line Analytic Processing (OLAP) systems used to collect, store, and manage raw data.
There are a number of commercially available products to produce reports from stored data. For instance, Business Objects Americas of San Jose, Calif., sells a number of widely used report generation products, including Crystal Reports™, Business Objects OLAP Intelligence™, and Business Objects Enterprise™. As used herein, the term report refers to information automatically retrieved (i.e., in response to computer executable instructions) from a data source (e.g., a database, a data warehouse, and the like), where the information is structured in accordance with a report schema that specifies the form in which the information should be presented. A non-report is an electronic document that is constructed without the automatic retrieval (i.e., in response to computer executable instructions) of information from a data source. Examples of non-report electronic documents include typical business application documents, such as a word processor document, a presentation document, and the like.
A report document is generally created by a specialized tool including executable instructions to access data and format it. A report document where the content does not include external data, either saved within the report or accessed live, is a template document for a report rather than a report document. Unlike, other non-report documents that may optionally import external data within a document, a report document by design is primarily a medium for accessing, formatting, and presenting external data.
A report design tool contains executable instructions specifically designed to facilitate working with external data sources. In addition to instructions regarding external data source connection drivers, these instructions may include advanced filtering of data, instructions for combining data from different external data sources, instructions for updating join structure and relationships in report data, and instructions including logic to support a more complex internal data model (that may include additional constraints, relationships, and metadata).
In contrast to a spreadsheet type application, a report generation tool is generally not limited to a table structure but can support a range of structures. A report design tool is designed primarily to support imported external data, whereas a spreadsheet application equally facilitates manually entered data and imported data. In both cases, a spreadsheet application applies a spatial logic that is based on the table cell layout within the spreadsheet in order to interpret data and perform calculations on the data. In contrast, a report design tool is not limited to logic that is based on the display of the data, but rather can interpret the data and perform calculations based on the original (or a redefined) data structure and meaning of the imported data. Spreadsheets applications work within a looping calculation model, whereas report generation tools may support a range of calculation models. Although there may be an overlap in the function of a spreadsheet document and a report document, the applications used to generate these documents contain instructions with different assumptions concerning the existence of an external data source and different logical approaches to interpreting and manipulating imported data.
The present invention is related to the analytical and reporting aspects of BI. Establishing business strategies is an increasingly complex exercise. There are ongoing efforts to supply quantitative tools to enhance business strategy decision making. In particular, there is an increasing focus on various business metrics. A business metric is a measure of a standard associated with the performance of an enterprise (e.g., commercial, governmental, non-profit, etc.). One type of business metric is characterized as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI). While there are existing tools to identify KPIs, these tools do not rigorously analyze relationships between KPIs and the organization's strategy.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a new technique for promoting quantitative business decisions. In particular, it would be desirable to provide visual tools characterizing quantitative data analyses. More particularly, it would be desirable to provide a visual strategy map and techniques to validate relationships associated with a visual strategy map.

Apparatus and method for strategy map validation and visualization


The invention relates to methods for enzymatic, genotyping of polymorphisms on solid supports. In some aspects, the methods include ligation of allele or base specific 5′ interrogation probes to an array probe. The array probe is labeled by ligation of the interrogation probe. Ligation is dependent on the identity of the base immediately adjacent to the end of the array probe. In other aspects array bound probes are labeled by template dependent extension.

The past years have seen a dynamic change in the ability of science to comprehend vast amount of data. Pioneering technologies such as nucleic acid arrays allow scientists to delve into the world of genetics in far greater details than ever before. Exploration of genomic DNA has long been a dream of the scientific community. Held within the complex structures of genomic DNA lies the potential to identify, diagnose, or treat diseases like cancer, Alzheimer disease or alcoholism. Exploitation of genomic information from plants and animals may also provide answers to the world's food distribution problems.
Recent efforts in the scientific community, such as the publication of a haplotype map of the human genome, (IHMC, Nature 437, 1299-1320 (2005)), have changed the dream of genome exploration into a reality. Genome-wide assays, however, must contend with the complexity of genomes; the human genome for example is estimated to have a complexity of 3×109 base pairs. Because of their abundance, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have emerged as the marker of choice for genome wide association studies and genetic linkage studies. High throughput methods for determining the genotypes of millions of SNPs in an individual will provide the framework for new studies to identify the underlying genetic basis of complex diseases such as cancer, mental illness and diabetes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Enzymatic methods for genotyping on arrays


A technique provides a desired control over incremental actuation of hydraulic devices. A hydraulically actuated tool is combined with a control module. The hydraulically actuated tool has an actuator piston positioned in a piston chamber and movable between operating positions. The control module comprises a hydraulic indexing circuit arranged to enable incremental movement of the actuator piston in a first direction and full stroke movement in a second direction based on hydraulic input delivered via control lines. The hydraulic indexing circuit comprises an indexing piston system and at least one check valve working in cooperation with the indexing piston system to enable the incremental and full stroke movements.

Downhole well systems sometimes use downhole flow control valves and other devices which are hydraulically actuated by double acting hydraulic pistons. For example, a downhole control valve may employ a double acting hydraulic piston to operate a moving sleeve which, in turn, controls the inflow or outflow of fluid with respect to the surrounding borehole and formation. Actuating fluid is supplied from a surface pressure source and routed downhole through two hydraulic control lines coupled with hydraulic control chambers on opposed sides of the actuating piston. One hydraulic line provides high-pressure fluid to a hydraulic control chamber on one side of the piston while the other hydraulic line evacuates an equivalent volume of low-pressure exhaust fluid from the hydraulic control chamber on the other side of the piston. Sometimes a mechanical indexer may be combined with the flow control valve to enable indexing of the piston to several operational positions.