A fine pattern, such as a semiconductor integrated circuit (LSI), a liquid crystal panel, and a photomask (reticle) for the semiconductor or the liquid crystal panel, which are fabricated based on data for fabricating the fine pattern such as design data is inspected by a pattern inspection apparatus. The pattern inspection apparatus for inspecting a pattern to-be-inspected uses an image of the pattern to-be-inspected and data for fabricating the pattern to-be-inspected. The pattern inspection apparatus includes a reference pattern generation device configured to generate a reference pattern represented by one or more lines from the data, an image generation device configured to generate the image of the pattern to-be-inspected, a detecting device configured to detect an edge of the image of the pattern to-be-inspected, and an inspection device configured to inspect the pattern to-be-inspected by comparing edges of the image of the pattern to-be-inspected with the one or more lines of the reference pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pattern inspection apparatus and method, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for inspecting a fine pattern, such as a semiconductor integrated circuit (LSI), a liquid crystal panel, and a photomask (reticle) for the semiconductor or the liquid crystal panel, which are fabricated based on data for fabricating the fine pattern such as design data.
2. Description of the Related Art
For the pattern inspection of a wafer in a fabricating process of semiconductor integrated circuit or the pattern inspection of a photomask for pattern formation of a wafer, an optical pattern inspection apparatus that uses the die-to-die comparison method has been used. In the die-to-die comparison method, a defect is detected by comparing an image obtained from a die to-be-inspected and an image obtained from the equivalent position of a die adjacent to the die to-be-inspected. In this case, the die means a semiconductor device.
On the other hand, for the inspection of a photomask (reticle) having no adjacent die, the die-to-database comparison method has been used. In the die-to-database comparison method, mask data is converted into an image. Then the image is used for a substitution of the image of the adjacent die used in the die-to-die comparison method, and inspection is performed in the same manner as the above. Here, the mask data is data obtained by applying photomask correction to design data. The technology concerned is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,702, "Automated photomask inspection apparatus and method."
However, by using the die-to-database comparison method for wafer inspection, corner roundness of a pattern formed on a wafer is likely to be detected as a defect. In the inspection of a photomask, a pretreatment, which adds corner roundness to the image converted from the mask data by applying a smoothing filter, prevents the corner roundness of the pattern from being detected as the defect. However, in the inspection of a wafer, because the corner roundness added by the pretreatment may be different from corner roundness of each pattern actually formed on the wafer, the pretreatment may not perfectly prevent the corner roundness of the pattern from being detected as the defect. Therefore, an allowable pattern deformation quantity should be set in order to ignore the above difference. As a result, a problem in which a fine defect existing in a place except a corner cannot be detected has happened.
The above problem is not severe for the die-to-database comparison photomask inspection, because the photomask should correspond to the mask data as much as possible. Therefore, currently, the die-to-database comparison photomask inspection has been put into practical use. However, the above problem is severe for the die-to-database comparison wafer inspection, because a pattern formed on the wafer is allowed to be deformed as long as an electrical property is guaranteed. This allowable pattern deformation quantity is considerably large. Actually, pattern deformation occurs due to a difference in stepper exposure conditions, or the like. Therefore, the die-to-database comparison wafer inspection has not been put into practical use.
From a viewpoint of problems in semiconductor integrated circuit fabrication, repeated defects (systematic defects) are more important issue than a random defect caused by a particle or the like. The repeated defects are defined as defects that occur repeatedly over all dies on a wafer caused by photomask failure, or the like. Because the repeated defects occur in a die to-be-inspected and in adjacent dies that are to be compared with the die to-be-inspected, the die-to-die comparison wafer inspection cannot detect the repeated defects. Therefore, the die-to-database comparison wafer inspection has been demanded.
Although the die-to-die comparison wafer inspection has not been put into practical use because of calculation cost or the like, there have been proposed inspection methods in which design data and a wafer image are used. These inspection methods are disclosed in, for example, a literature: "Automatic failure part tracing method of a logic LSI using an electron beam tester," NEC Technical Report, vol. 50, No. 6, 1997. In this literature, the following methods are disclosed: a method in which projections of wiring edges on the X- and Y-axes are used; a method in which wiring corners are focused on; and a method in which a genetic algorithm is applied. Moreover, as a method used in this literature, a matching method in which after edges are approximated by straight lines, closed areas are extracted, and the closed areas are used for matching is described. However, these methods fail to realize an inspection speed that is usable in high-speed inspection, and fail to perform matching while detecting a pattern deformation quantity.
Further, currently, the automatic defect classification (ADC) method in which an image of a die having a defect is used has been used. However, the method cannot classify whether the defect is a killer defect or not, because the method cannot recognize which part of a circuit the defect destroys.
Moreover, a position of a defect detected by the die-to-die comparison inspection has an error caused by precision of a stage and an optical system of an inspection apparatus, and such error is approximately ten or more times larger than a line width of a pattern to-be-inspected. Due to the error, even if a defect position is related with design data, relationship between the defect position and the design data cannot be recognized.
Currently, a line width of semiconductor integrated circuits is far shorter than wavelength used in a lithography process. In the lithography process, a method of adding an OPC (Optical Proximity Correction) pattern has been used. In the method, by using a photomask fabricated by mask data that is generated by adding an OPC pattern to design data, a pattern formed on a wafer fabricated by the photomask can be consistent with the design data as much as possible. Adding an OPC pattern is one of the most important techniques for photomask correction.
If the OPC pattern does not effectively correct a pattern formed on a wafer, repeated defects occur. However, the die-to-die comparison wafer inspection cannot detect the repeated defects. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to provide a method in which a pattern formed on the wafer is inspected based on design data in consideration of an allowable pattern deformation quantity.
In addition, in a multi-product/small-volume fabricating process, e.g. a system-on-a-chip (SoC) fabricating process, a short delivery time is required. In the fabricating process, when repeated defects are detected in electric inspection as a final inspection, a short delivery time cannot be achieved. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to provide an inspection method that inspects a difference between a pattern formed on a wafer and design data for each lithography process. In the inspection method, it is necessary for an allowable pattern deformation quantity that does not affect an electrical property to be set, and a deformation quantity that exceeds the allowable pattern deformation quantity should be detected.
Further, a lithography simulator inspects a simulation pattern, which is obtained from mask data to which an OPC pattern is added, by comparing the simulation pattern with design data in order to evaluate the OPC pattern. Although the entire device can be verified by the lithography simulator, the simulation pattern cannot be necessarily the same as an actual pattern. Moreover, a defect except for a defect caused by the OPC pattern cannot be detected by the lithography simulator. A random defect existing on a photomask, a stepper aberration, or the like is an example of such defect.
Moreover, for verifying the simulation, it is necessary to provide a method in which a simulation pattern outputted from the lithography simulator is verified with an image of a pattern actually formed on a wafer. Moreover, it becomes increasingly important to improve the technology for circuit design by setting an allowable pattern deformation quantity to design data precisely and in detail.
A CD-SEM (Critical Dimension Scanning Electron Microscope) has been used for controlling a line width in a fabricating process of semiconductor integrated circuits. The CD-SEM automatically measures a line width of a line-shaped pattern in a specified position using a line profile. Several positions in several shots on several pieces of wafers for each lot are measured in order to control stepper exposure condition by using the CD-SEM.
As control items in a fabricating process of semiconductor integrated circuits, end shrinkage of a wiring, a position of an isolated pattern, and the like are also important besides the line width, but the automatic measuring function of the CD-SEM allows only one-dimensional measurement. Specifically, the CD-SEM can measure only a length such as a line width. Therefore, those two-dimensional shapes are inspected by an operator manually using an image acquired from the CD-SEM or other microscopes.
The isolated pattern includes a hole pattern or an island pattern. The island pattern may be a negative pattern of the hole pattern. The hole pattern includes a contact hole/via hole or a test pattern.
Generally, an OPC pattern plays an important role not only to guarantee a gate line width, but also to form shapes of a corner and an isolated pattern. Furthermore, because of improvement of a processor frequency, control of a shape of an end of a gate pattern, which is called an end-cap, or a base of a gate pattern, which is called a field extension, also becomes important in addition to the gate line width.
The above inspections of two-dimensional patterns are essential both in sampling inspection in a fabricating process, and in an R&D fabricating process. Especially, in the R&D fabricating process, it is necessary to inspect all patterns formed on a wafer. However, currently, the control of the two-dimensional shape is performed by a human work, and is not perfectly performed. In order to solve this problem, automated die-to-database comparison wafer inspection is required.
As concrete subjects for automatization, the following subjects are enumerated:
1. In order to detect repeated defects in each semiconductor device, it is practically difficult to check whether there are defects at the same location by checking huge defect information.
2. An end except for an end-cap and an end of a wiring pattern to be connected to a contact hole/via hole may not be corrected by an OPC pattern correctly. Even if the end is shrunken by more than an allowable pattern deformation quantity for an end-cap or an end of a wiring pattern to be connected to a contact hole/via hole, it is not necessary to recognize the shrunken end as a defect.
3. Conventionally, an overlay error is controlled by measuring limited areas in a semiconductor device. Therefore, the overlay error caused locally by a stepper aberration or the like cannot be controlled.
4. The conventional die-to-die comparison method is performed by comparing corresponding two images. In this method, because the corresponding two images to be compared have different relationship between a pattern to-be-inspected and pixel boundaries, it is necessary for luminance values of pixels to be interpolated so that the two images have the same relationship between the pattern to-be-inspected and the pixel boundaries. A problem in which inspection accuracy becomes low by the interpolation arises.
5. A contour obtained from the second edges can be used for input data of a lithography simulator or the like. In this case, it is necessary to input the contour indirectly, because lithography simulator processing is slower than contour output processing.
6. The optimal allowable pattern deformation quantity depends on a desirable electrical property. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a method of obtaining an optimal allowable pattern deformation quantity by inspecting a standard specimen, which is judged as a semiconductor device having good quality.
7. For improving quality of semiconductor device, it is necessary for all gate widths in a semiconductor device to be measured, the measured gate widths are classified based on gate lengths, the minimum distances to the nearest pattern, or the like, and the gate widths are analyzed. However, by using a conventional CD-SEM, only a limited number of gate widths in a semiconductor device can be measured and classified practically.
8. As a method of improving quality of an image of a pattern to-be-inspected, the image-accumulation method is well known. However, in the case where images of a pattern to-be-inspected on a specimen liable to cause the electrification phenomenon are acquired successively, a sharp accumulated image cannot be obtained by accumulating the acquired images simply, because the acquired images are distorted gradually.
9. In the case of large distortion quantities of the image of the pattern to-be-inspected, vectors between a reference pattern and edges of an image of a pattern to-be-inspected that exceed an allowable deformation quantity cannot be obtained, and therefore the distortion quantities of the image of the pattern to-be-inspected may not necessarily be obtained accurately.
10. In order to improve inspection speed, a method in which an image of a pattern to-be-inspected is acquired by using a continuously moving stage and a line-sensor is used. However, by using the method, an image of a pattern to-be-inspected cannot be acquired by performing interlace scan or image-accumulation scan. The image accumulation scan means scan, in which the same scanning line is scanned two or more times in order to acquire an accumulated image.
11. In the case where the conventional automatic focus adjustment used in a CD-SEM is used for the image generation device with a large field of view, it takes a long time to acquire images of a pattern to-be-inspected. In addition, because a large area is scanned repeatedly, a specimen is drastically damaged by an electron beam scanning.
12. In order to measure an FEM wafer, conventionally, several points in all semiconductor devices on a wafer are measured by a CD-SEM. The points to be measured are points suitable for measuring line widths of line parts of patterns to-be-inspected. However, a tendency for pattern deformation quantities with regard to line widths of line parts of patterns to-be-inspected, and a tendency for pattern deformation quantities with regard to space widths of the line parts or a tendency for edge placement errors of ends of the patterns to-be-inspected may be different. In such case, if a process window is obtained from the results of measurement with regard to the line widths of the line parts of the patterns to-be-inspected, a semiconductor fabricated by exposure under conditions in the process window may have a defect.
13. In order to write a photomask pattern by using an electron beam mask writer or a laser beam mask writer, there is a method in which a shaped beam such as a rectangle beam is used for exposure. The shaped beam is deformed and exposed, so that a photomask pattern may be deformed more than an allowable pattern deformation quantity. Conventionally, the shaped beam is controlled by exposing a test pattern before writing a photomask pattern of a product. However, there has not been a method in which the shaped beam, which is deformed during the exposure of the photomask pattern of the product, is controlled.


The present application provides a turbine inlet air filter system for filtering a flow of air about a compressor. The turbine inlet air filter system may include an inlet filter house and an inlet duct extending from the inlet filter house to the compressor. The inlet duct may include an air elbow with an elbow gate thereon.

Power generation equipment, such as a gas turbine engine, may use a large amount of intake air to support the combustion process. Impure air laden with dust particles, salt, and other types of contaminants, however, may damage the compressor blades and other types of power plant equipment components via corrosion, erosion, and the like. Such component damage may reduce the life expectancy and performance of the overall gas turbine engine. To avoid such a problem, inlet air filtration systems thus may be used upstream of the compressor. The inlet air flow generally passes through a series of filters and screens to assist in removing the contaminants before they can reach the compressor. Further, the velocity and pressure of the inlet air flow also may be adjusted.
During maintenance or repair of the compressor, however, known inlet air filter systems generally require disassembly in whole or in part so as to access the rotor or other components. Such a procedure requires a significant amount of time and labor costs. For example, removal of an air inlet elbow adjacent to an inlet filter house of an inlet air filter system generally requires a crane and several operators. Moreover, the procedure also may present somewhat of a safety risk for the operators given the weight and height of the components.
There is thus a desire for an improved turbine inlet air filter system. Such an improved system may provide easy access to the components of the compressor while effectively filtering the intake air of contaminates and the like for efficient, long term operation.

Turbine inlet air filter system with elbow access gate


A memory management device including a plurality of outputs, each output configured to interface to respective one of a plurality of memories; and a controller configured to cause each buffer allocated to the memories to be divided up substantially equally between each of the plurality of memories.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a memory manager for managing a plurality of memories.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Some memory system-on-chips (SoC) may integrate two or more main memory interfaces. For example, those interfaces may be DDR (double data rate) memory interfaces.
The architecture of an SoC memory subsystem is driven by bandwidth requirement considerations, availability of hardware and/or costs in terms of integrated circuit area. In some situations, the choice of memory system may be driven primarily by bandwidth considerations versus integrated circuit area costs.
Consider a scenario where DDR bandwidth consumption is considered to be about 4,500 Mb/s (megabytes per second). If a system-on-chip needs DDR controllers with a maximum DDR frequency of 1333 MHz, such a DDR may be able to deliver around 3200 MB/s. This is assuming, for example, a data efficiency of 60%. Accordingly, one DDR does not provide the requested bandwidth. As such, a two DDR based architecture can be used. Generally, systems with two DDR memory interfaces are known. However, such a system may have in some situations some disadvantages. Usually, a two DDR memory interface requires a manual buffer allocation. When the integrated circuit is programmed, the software designer is required to select in advance how the DDR memory is allocated This may result in a waste of DDR capacity or bandwidth. Further, this may complicate on-chip interconnect. Additionally, such an arrangement is not flexible if the integrated circuit has variable patterns of usage.

STMICROELECTRONICS (RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT) LIMITED


A stent with a common connection interface, and a method and platform used to create a stent with a common connection interface is described. A common connection interface used to connect a stent to a pusher is described.

Stents are used for various therapeutic purposes within the vasculature, including opening vessels, flow diversion to limit blood flow to a problematic region such as an aneurysm, or as a scaffold to retain other therapeutic material within a target region.
Delivery of stents can be difficult for several reasons. Many stents end in a looped end configuration with a plurality of loops and most stent delivery systems must connect to one or more of these loops to deliver the stents. Stent delivery systems which hold all the loops are difficult since the stents are delivered through relatively small catheters, leaving little room for a delivery design which can grip all the loops. Delivery designs or systems which hold only one loop of the several loops are problematic since the stent is only being partially controlled during delivery. Since stents generally have shape-memory and therefore adopt their expanded shapes quickly once they are released from the delivery catheter, positioning and repositioning stents after delivery is also an issue.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method comprises: formulating simulated design input and output optical signals propagating from/to respective designed optical input and output ports as optical beams substantially confined by a planar optical waveguide; computing an interference pattern between the simulated input and output signals; and computationally deriving an arrangement of diffractive elements of a diffractive element set from the computed interference pattern. When the diffractive element set is formed in the planar optical waveguide, each diffractive element routes, between corresponding input and output optical ports, a corresponding diffracted portion of an input optical signal propagating in the planar optical waveguide that is diffracted by the diffractive element set. The input optical signal is successively incident on the diffractive elements.

The field of the present invention relates to optical devices incorporating distributed optical structures. In particular, distributed optical structures designed by computed interference between simulated optical signals are disclosed herein.
One or more distributed optical structures (i.e., sets of diffractive elements) in a channel waveguide, an optical fiber, a slab waveguide, or another guided-wave optical structure may be used in a variety of devices for spectral filtering, laser frequency control, spectral multiplexing, optical sensing, or other functions. It is often desirable that such devices be optimized, or nearly so, for routing, mapping, or coupling optical signals between input and output optical ports with minimal optical loss. Distributed optical structures designed by computed interference between simulated optical signals are disclosed herein that may enable such optimized routing, coupling, or mapping.
Various embodiments, implementations, and adaptations of such diffractive element sets are disclosed in: application Ser. No. 11/021,549 filed Dec. 23, 2004; application Ser. No. 10/998,185 filed Nov. 26, 2004 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,993,223 issued Jan. 31, 2006); application Ser. No. 10/898,527 filed Jul. 22, 2004; application Ser. No. 10/989,244 filed Nov. 15, 2004 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,961,491 issued Nov. 1, 2005); application Ser. No. 10/798,089 filed Mar. 10, 2004 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,115 issued Nov. 23, 2004); and application Ser. No. 09/843,597 filed Apr. 26, 2001 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,464 issued Nov. 15, 2005). Each of said applications is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. A publication entitled "Planar holographic optical incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. processing devices" (T. W. Mossberg, Opt. Lett. 26 414 (2001)) is also incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.


An electrical connector for use with a circuit board mainly comprises an insulative housing having a bottom wall which integrally defines therein a receiving portion consisting of a first cavity and a second cavity. A board locking means received within the receiving portion of the housing, includes a base which is integrally formed with a plurality of first attachment portions for retaining the base in the second cavity in a basic status. A pair of retention portions extend downward from the base for elastically latching with the circuit board. A pair of spaced extensive arms each extending downward from the base, integrally form thereon a second attachment portion for retention within the first cavity thereby orienting and retaining the board locking means in the receiving portion of the housing in an enhancement status. A second space further separates the extensive arms from the retention portions thereby reducing a mutual effect in the spatial relationship therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector mounted on a circuit board, and particularly to an electrical connector with a board locking means for sufficient retention in an insulative housing of the electrical connector.
2. The Prior Art
Conventional electrical connector for use with a computer system is equipped with a number of board locking means to mount the electrical connector onto a circuit board in the computer system. Generally, connector manufacturers pay more attention to the structural design of a retention portion of the board locking means which is used to sufficiently latch with a corresponding hole defined in the circuit board. However, to the design of an attachment portion of the board locking means used for retaining the board locking means within an associated cavity defined in an insulative housing of the electrical connector is usually neglected. Consequently, it is usually happened that when the board locking means is improperly retained or inserted within the circuit board, or when the board locking means is inaccurately oriented in the cavity of the housing, a retention effect between the board locking means and the insulative housing may be reduced. Additionally, if the retention portion and the attachment portion both are substantially formed in a close spatial relationship, the attachment portions retained in a large area within the housing may relatively reduce the elasticity of the retention portion. The apparent example would be a pair of spring claws each formed with a plurality of barbs along opposite lateral edges thereof. Such conventional electrical connectors with board locking means are disclosed in Taiwan Application Nos. 80,207,178, 80,202,099, 80,213,095, 81,205,296, 81,201,057, 81,213,628, 81,212,824, 81,211,189, 82,204,413, 83,207,736, 82,107,923 and 83,106,349.
Accordingly, to resolve the above disadvantages, an object of the present invention is to provide a board locking means including a plurality of retention portions for latching with the circuit board, and a plurality of attachment portions for retention in an insulative housing wherein the mutual effect between the retention portions and the attachment portions through action of an external active force is sufficiently reduced.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a board locking means including a plurality of extensive arms for accurately orienting the inserted board locking means in the insulative housing, and for enhancing the retention effect between the insulative housing and the board locking means.

electrical connector with board locking means


A radiant tube burner system comprises a novel flue gas recirculating assembly for reducing nitrous oxides emissions. In the burner system, the combustion air conduit running to the radiant tube burner intersects the exhaust conduit at a location between the radiant tube and the eventual exhaust outlet. A venturi is formed at this intersection. The venturi is configured to suction a portion of the flue gas from the exhaust conduit into the combustion air flow. The assembly includes a may be interposed along the exhaust conduit mounted directly between the radiant tube and a downstream section of the exhaust conduit.

Radiant tube burner systems are well know as generally disclosed in various U.S. Patents assigned to the present assignee, Eclipse Combustion, Inc., including U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,350 to Collier; U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,022 to Collier; U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,949 to Collier; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,083 to Smirnov. The entire disclosures of all of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference. As generally disclosed in these patents, a radiant tube burner system generally comprises a burner having a combustion air inlet, a fuel inlet, and a burner head that extends into to a radiant tube (often a U-shaped or W shaped tube). The radiant tube is mounted through a furnace wall with inlet and outlet openings on the outside of the furnace. The advantage of using a radiant tube is that the internal environment of a furnace may be kept as a clean environment substantially free of products of combustion, known as flue gas. During operation, the burner convey combustion oxidant (e.g. combustion air generated by a blower) and gaseous fuel to the burner head for combustion and into the radiant tube, where heat is radiated. The products of combustion or flue gases are then conveyed to an exhaust stack for exhausting outside the factory into the ambient environment.
As with any industrial burner, the products of combustion or flue gases as they are known contain nitrous oxides (NOx) emissions, which are undesirable and regulated by regulatory agencies. As a result there is a desire (and a need in some instances where emissions are too high) to reduce nitrous oxides (NOx) emissions.
A well known method for reducing nitrous oxides (NOx) emissions in industrial burners is to recirculate a portion of the flue gas to reduce interaction between oxygen and gaseous fuel and thereby lower the temperature, which inherently lowers the nitrous oxides (NOx) emissions. Proposals for recirculating a portion of the flue gas in radiant tube burners are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,159 to Moore et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,866, and the entire disclosures of these patents is hereby incorporated by reference. These proposals appear to have several drawbacks relating to complexity and cost, and might be difficult to implement and control.

Apparatus for radiant tube exhaust gas entrainment


Systems and methods for contiguously and accurately updating target object information during an entire target engagement period are provided. The target tracking system includes a database for storing starfield information, an optical beam source configured to illuminate one or more optical beam pulses, first and second camera systems, and a processor. The processor instructs the first camera system to track the object based on recordation of the tracked object, instructs the second camera system to stabilize the tracking image based on the instructions sent to the first camera system, and determines inertial reference information of the tracked object based on the stabilized image and starfield information associated with the stabilized image.

When line of sight tracking is used to determine the inertial position of objects, accuracy and engagement, timelines may be difficult to achieve. In one approach, an inertial reference unit (IRU) star calibration update is performed before and after the engagement sequence thereby requiring a longer engagement timeline. When star calibration is performed before and after the engagement is performed, the IRU information diverges between the calibrations, thereby, resulting in degraded inaccurate target object position accuracy.
One process to generate more accurate information of the target object would be to temporarily suspend tracking of the target object during the time of engagement. While tracking is suspended, an IRU star calibration update is performed. However, suspension of tracking during an engagement period may be problematic. For example, if the target object changes course during the suspension, then reacquiring the target object may become difficult.
However, there exists an unmet need to provide contiguous, accurate target object information during an entire target engagement period.

Inertial position target measuring systems and methods


Disclosed is an electrical wiring block for an accessory. The accessory may be a switch or a receptacle. The electrical wiring block may include a base section and a wiring section positioned offset on the base section to form an overhang and an overhang seat. The base section may include a base plug and a base socket configured to fit within a base plug of an adjacent electrical wiring block. The wiring section may include wire holes, wire terminals, and wire ports positioned at an angle to the wire terminals. The wiring section may include a wiring section indent that may allow access to the wire ports on an adjacent, connected electrical wiring block. The overhang seat may cradle the overhang of an adjacent, connected electrical wiring block. The switch or receptacle may be installed in the electrical wiring block by pushing.

1. Field
The information disclosed relates to a configured block that may be utilized to provide electrical wiring connections for accessories, such as switches and receptacles.
2. Background Information
Building wiring may include conductors used to carry electricity and their accessories. For example, an installer may place toggle switches on a room wall, where they may be used to turn on and off lights in that room. Wall receptacles may provide two electric sockets as a duplex outlet into which computers, printers, and radios may be plugged to receive electricity. Typically, building wiring may be passed into a switch box mounted inside a building wall and connected to a toggle switch. The toggle switch itself then may be mounted to the switch box. A duplex wall receptacle similarly may be connected to the building wiring within an outlet box.
Initially installing or subsequently replacing either a light switch or a duplex wall receptacle typically requires the use of hand tools to manipulate small screws within the confines of an electrical box, such as a switch box or an outlet box. This is a difficult task, particularly for residential homeowners who occasionally replace a light switch or receptacle. In addition, it is a time consuming task for construction contractors. When multiple toggle switches or multiple wall receptacles are place next to each other in double and triple-gang electrical boxes, the task is even more difficult.


Optical elements and methods of forming optical elements are described. In one example, a method applies a photosensitive ink to a substrate and exposes the ink to create an optical element, such as an optical lens or holographic recording medium.

Prior art lenses are created by grinding glass into a desired shape to achieve the desired optical element. Grinding is a mechanical process which is expensive and time consuming and requires great care and precision if an optical element is to be formed within a small tolerance of certain optical properties (e.g. its focal length, etc.). It is desirable to provide alternative techniques which are potentially easier and less expensive.

Transformable, applicable material and methods for using same for optical effects


A membrane humidifier is provided for a fuel cell. The membrane humidifier of the present invention includes a hollow housing, a joint member, a plurality of internal partition modules, and a plurality of hollow fiber membrane bundles. The hollow housing has a humid air inlet formed at one end thereof and a humid air outlet formed at the other end thereof. The joint member is formed integrally with an inner circumferential surface of the hollow housing. The plurality of internal partition modules are coupled to the joint member and arranged adjacent to each other in the hollow housing, and have a plurality of humid air guiding apertures passing therethrough. The plurality of hollow fiber membrane bundles are disposed in the plurality of internal partition modules, respectively.

(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a membrane humidifier for a fuel cell. More particularly, it relates to a membrane humidifier for a fuel cell that can improve to humidification efficiency by forming a plurality of internal partition modules including a heater in the membrane humidifier and guiding humid air to the central part of a hollow fiber membrane bundle.
(b) Background Art
For the operation of a fuel cell stack, it is necessary to humidify a polymer electrolyte membrane in the fuel cell stack. Thus, a separate membrane humidifier in which exhaust gas, i.e., humid gas discharged from the fuel cell stack, and dry air, supplied from external air, exchange humidity with each other is being used.
Examples of humidifiers which are used in the present fuel cell systems include bubblers, injections, and absorbent types. Since there is a limitation in terms the size of the engine compartment in fuel cell vehicles, membrane humidifiers that have a relatively small volume and do not require a special power resources, are being utilizes in fuel cell vehicles. Particularly, membrane humidifiers using hollow fiber membranes are being suitably used because of the beneficial size and properties.
As shown in FIG. 8, in a fuel cell system, an air supply system that supplies air (oxygen) to a fuel cell stack includes a membrane humidifier. Here, a suctioning operation of an air blower 202 supplies external dry air to a membrane humidifier 100, and at the same time, exhaust gas discharged from a fuel cell stack 200 passes through the membrane humidifier 100. In this case, while humidity contained in the exhaust gas is passing through a hollow fiber membrane in the membrane humidifier 100, the dry air is humidified.
With reference to FIGS. 5 through 7, the configuration and operation of a typical membrane humidifier including a hollow fiber membrane will be described in more detail below.
Referring to FIGS. 5 through 7, a typical membrane humidifier 100 includes a housing 101. The housing 101 includes a supply port 102 for receiving dry air and a discharge port 103 for discharging humidified air. Particularly, a hollow fiber membrane bundle 107 including a plurality of hollow fiber membranes 106 is housed in the housing 101. Also, an inlet 104 for receiving humid air discharged from the fuel cell stack is formed at one side of the housing 101, and an outlet 105 for discharging humid air is formed at the opposite side of the housing 101.
Looking at the operation of a membrane humidifier using a hollow fiber membrane, when humid air, i.e., exhaust gas from a fuel cell stack is supplied from the inlet 104 of the housing 101 to the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107, humidity from the humid air is separated by a capillary action of each hollow fiber membrane 106. Here, the separated humidity is condensed while passing a capillary tube (not shown) of the hollow fiber membrane 106, and moves into the hollow fiber membrane 106. Thereafter, humidity is removed from the humid air as it moves along the outside of the hollow fiber membrane 106 to be discharged through the outlet 105 of the housing 101.
An air blower supplies external air (dry air) though the supply port 102 of the housing 101. The dry air supplied through the supply port 102 moves along the inside of the hollow fiber membrane 106. In this case, since humidity separated from the humid air has already moved to the inside of the hollow fiber membrane 106, dry air is humidified by the humidity. The humidified air is then supplied to the fuel cell stack through the discharge port 103.
However, since the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107 is a compact form of the hollow fiber membranes 106, it is difficult for the humid air introduced through the inlet 104 to penetrate into the hollow fiber membrane. Furthermore, since the diffusion speed of the humid air through the hollow fiber membrane 106 is very slow, the humid air has greater difficulty in permeating into the hollow fiber membrane 106.
Particularly, in the inside of the housing 101, the humid air passing the outside of the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107 may not permeate into the central part of the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107 that is represented as dotted lines of FIGS. 6 and 7. As shown in arrows of FIGS. 6 and 7, the humid air mostly flows along the edge of the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107. As a result, since the diffusion speed of the humid air to the central part of the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107 is very slow, the humidification efficiency with respect to dry is typically reduced. Also, since most of dry air introduced through the supply port 102 of the housing 101 flows into the central part (part represented as dotted lines of FIGS. 6 and 7) of the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107, the overall efficiency of a humidifier is even further reduced. Thus, the hollow fiber membrane 106 located at the central part of the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107 is not supplied with enough humidity, the overall efficiency of the humidifier is reduced.
This limitation can be verified in a simulation test result of FIG. 9.
That is, as shown in FIG. 9, it can be verified that most of dry air flows into only the central part of the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107.
In other words, since dry air introduced through the supply port 102 of the housing 101 mostly flows along the central part (part represented as dotted line of FIGS. 6 and 7) of the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107, and humid air introduced through the inlet 104 flows along the edge part of the hollow fiber membrane bundle 107, the humidification efficiency of the membrane humidifier is reduced. This limitation has a greater influence on the humidification efficiency of the membrane humidifier as the flow rate of the dry air increases, that is, a high power is generated from the fuel cell stack.
As describe above, the humid air supplied to the membrane humidifier is air that is discharged after a reaction in the fuel cell. Generated water as well as vapor is also supplied to the membrane humidifier together with the humid air. In cold weather, water introduced into the membrane is frozen, and thus the hollow fiber membrane fails to perform its normal function due to the freezing of water. Accordingly, the frozen water has to be melted for the operation of the membrane humidifier in cold weather. If the surface of the hollow fiber membrane is damaged by repetitive freezing and melting of the surface, the damaged hollow fiber membrane has a fatal effect on the performance of the fuel cell stack. This may incur a need of full replacement of the membrane humidifier.
The hollow fiber membrane formed of polymeric material accounts for the greatest portion of the manufacturing cost of the membrane humidifier. Since a larger amount of hollow fiber membrane bundle than is needed is used to maintain excellent humidification performance, the size of the membrane humidifier may also be relatively large compared to its actual performance.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


A catheter for retroprofusing a venous junction formed by first, second and third veins, includes an elongate tube having a plurality of channels including a through-lumen extending between a proximal end and a distal end. A proximal balloon is inflatable to partially occlude the third vein, while a distal balloon is inflatable to partially occlude the second vein. An operative region of the catheter between the first and second balloons is adapted to pressurize the venous junction with arterial blood to produce retrograde blood flow in the first vein.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to retroperfusion catheters and methods, and more specifically to such apparatus and methods particularly adapted for use in perfusing ischemic brain tissue.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Tissue of the human body is maintained viable with oxygen which is delivered to the body in blood which is pumped through a labyrinth of vessels by the heart. Initially, the blood is pumped into arteries which direct it into capillary beds throughout the tissue. Oxygen is removed from the blood by the tissue surrounding these capillary beds.
The deoxygenated blood is collected from the capillary beds and returned to the heart through veins. The blood is then reoxygenated in the lungs and pumped back out through the arteries by the heart.
In the head, the oxygenated blood is carried by the carotid and vertebral arteries which ultimately deliver the oxygenated blood to capillary beds in the brain. The deoxygenated blood is collected from the capillary beds and returned through the jugular veins to the heart.
Stroke most often occurs in a patient when an embolus is carried into one of the arteries in the head. In these narrowing arteries, the embolus becomes lodged, blocking the flow of oxygenated blood to the downstream capillary beds. Without the life-sustaining oxygen and other essential blood components, these capillary beds become ischemic and the brain tissue degenerates, causing the stroke.
For decades, medical investigators have unsuccessfully sought to develop an early treatment for ischemic brain stroke. It has been appreciated that the more quickly one addresses the lack of oxygen in the brain, the more likely it is that the degeneration of the tissue can be prevented and the stroke avoided.
A system and method of cerebral retroperfusion is disclosed and claimed in applicant's copending application, Ser. No. 08/757,303, filed on Nov. 27, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,629 and entitled, "Method for Treating Ischemic Brain Stroke." This application is incorporated herein by reference. In this document, applicant discloses a system involving multiple catheters which are used to at least partially occlude the jugular veins while continuously pumping arterial blood into one or both of the cerebral sinuses. The multiple catheters disclosed for use in this system have required separate placement and operation in order to achieve both the occlusion and retroperfusion aspects of the procedure. The retroperfusion by these catheters has been achieved by way of a through-lumen which exits the distal tip of at least one of the catheters. This through-lumen is readily available as its secondary purpose is to facilitate placement of the catheter over a guidewire. Once the guidewire is removed, the through-lumen can be used to facilitate perfusion.

Retroperfusion catheter apparatus and method


A quality assessment device provided in an electro-developing type camera th an electro-developing recording medium, to sense a resistant value of an electrostatic information recording medium provided in an electro-developing recording medium. A dark current sensing resistor is connected in series to the electrostatic information recording medium. A voltage sensing unit is connected in parallel to the dark current sensing resistor to sense a voltage generated therein. When the release switch is turned ON, a switch of a dark current sensing circuit, which includes the dark current sensing resistor and the voltage sensing unit is closed. After a predetermined time has elapsed, the dark current flowing in the dark current sensing resistor is sensed. If the dark current is greater than a threshold value, it is deemed that the electrostatic information recording medium has deteriorated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera using a recording medium in which an object image obtained through a photographing optical system is electronically developed, and more particularly, to a device for assessing the quality of the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-2280 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,156, there is known a photographic material which is directly electronically developed so that the developed visible image can be immediately obtained. In this specification, such a recording medium is referred to as an electro-developing recording medium, and an electronic still camera using the electro-developing recording medium is referred to as an electro-developing type camera.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 5-165005, 6-130347 and 7-13132 disclose an electro-developing recording medium which comprises a liquid crystal display having a memory-type liquid crystal so that an image indicated on the liquid crystal display is kept even if the electric field applied to the liquid crystal display is removed. '347 and '132 disclose an electro-developing recording medium in which the electrostatic information recording medium and the electric charge storage medium are combined to form one body. Namely, in these electro-developing recording mediums, even if an electric voltage applied thereto is removed, the image formed on the electro-developing recording medium is kept.
For recording a clear image on the electro-developing recording medium, the applied electric voltage and the voltage application period on the recording medium are important components (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-313872). These components depend upon the characteristics, i.e., the resistances and the electrostatic capacities of an electric charge storage medium and an electrostatic information recording medium which are provided in the electro-developing recording medium. Especially, the resistance of the electrostatic information recording medium is greatly affected by the environment such as temperature around the electro-developing recording medium. Namely, by detecting the resistance before the recording operation, the applied electric voltage and the voltage application period on the electro-developing recording medium can be properly controlled.
If the resistance of the electrostatic information recording medium is greatly lowered due to moisture absorption thereof, for example, the difference between an electric current generated in a portion in which the light receiving amount is large and that in a portion in which the light receiving amount is small would become small. Thus, a problem would occur in which a contrast between the bright portion and the dark portion is reduced and a clear image can not be recorded on the electro-developing recording medium.

Asaki Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki & Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.


A plurality of packets that belong to a data flow are received and are distributed to two or more packet processing elements, wherein a packet is sent to a first packet processing element. A first instance of the packet is queued at a first packet processing element according to an order of the packet within the data flow. The first instance of the packet is caused to be transmitted when processing of the first instance is completed and the first instance of the packet is at a head of a queue at the first ordering unit. A second instance of the packet is queued at a second ordering unit. The second instance of the packet is caused to be transmitted when processing of the second instance is completed and the second instance of the packet is at a head of a queue at the second ordering unit.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Some network devices, such as network switches, routers, edge devices and the like employ parallel packet processing of packet streams in which multiple packet processing elements simultaneously and in parallel perform processing of different packets. In such embodiments, it is important to efficiently utilize multiple processing elements to concurrently perform parallel processing of packets belonging to a data flow while efficiently maintaining an order of packets within the data flow.

Maintaining packet order in a parallel processing network device


A dual-slot card connector includes a flat base having a first insertion slot and a second insertion slots partly overlapping and communicating with each other for receiving different cards, and a pair of the receiving grooves and a pair of the first retaining portions; a movable plate mounted to the overlap of the first and second insertion slots and movably mounted in the receiving grooves and having a main body, a pair of receiving portions mounted to bilateral sides of the main body, a pair of second retaining portions in connection with the first retaining portions, and a plurality of terminal tunnels formed on the main body; a pair of springy strips mounted on the base and contacting against the movable plate; a cover shell covered on the base; and a plurality of contact terminals mounted on the base and partly received in the terminal tunnels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to all-in-one card connectors, and more particularly, to a dual-slot card connector capable of avoiding erroneous insertion of two cards at once.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most of the current card connectors are structurally all-in-one, having multiple receiving chambers and terminals for accommodating and electrical connection with a variety of electronic cards, such as memory stick (MS) cards, smart media (SM) cards, multimedia cards (MMC), secure digital (SD) card, and extreme digital (XD) cards.
In some of the conventional all-in-one card connectors, no mutual interference is incurred while some cards are inserted into the same card connector at the same time. It indicates that the user can insert two kinds of cards into the card connector at the same time; namely, while one card has been inserted into the card connector, another card will not fail to be inserted into the same. However, under such circumstance, if the user accidentally inserts two cards into the card connector at once while the card connector is working, reading or writing errors may happen and even the whole card connector may malfunction or be damaged.
To overcome the above problem, the inventor used to invent an all-in-one single-slot card connector compatible with a variety of cards and such invention was granted as U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,321 This all-in-one single-slot card connector includes a base, two plate members, and a plurality of contact terminals. The base has an insertion slot, two lateral sections formed at bilateral sides of the insertion slot thereof, a guide groove formed at one of the two lateral sections, a movable guide member movably mounted in the guide groove for vertical movement forced externally, a springy member mounted between the movable guide member and the base for generating resilience keeping the movable guide member moving toward a given direction. The two plate members are mounted closely to the base. The contact terminals are mounted to the two plate members, each having a body portion extending through the opening for electrical connection with contact pads of an electronic card. In light of this, the movable guide member allows the card to pass therethrough and be pushed towards a direction by the card to stop insertion of another card while the card is inserted.
However, it is difficult to reduce the size of the whole card connector and for development of miniaturization of electronic devices because the movable guide member of that all-in-one card connector is mounted at bilateral sides inside the insertion slot for stopping insertion of another card only.

Dual-slot card connector capable of avoiding erroneous insertion of two cards at once


The invention is drawn to vasodilative proteins from the salivary glands of the species, Simulium. The protein additionally has immunomodulating activities. Methods for recombinant production of the protein as well as biomedical uses are provided.

The invention relates to the production of recombinant proteins and their use in biomedical therapies.
Hypertension is the most common cardiovascular disease. Many people in the United States suffer from what is commonly referred to as xe2x80x9chigh blood pressure.xe2x80x9d That is, have a systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure above 140/90.
Elevated arterial pressure causes pathological changes in the vasculatury and hypertrophy of the left ventricle. As a consequence, hypertension has many deleterious effects on the body. For example, it is the principal cause of stroke, leads to disease of the coronary arteries with myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death, and is a major contributor to cardiac failure, renal insufficiency, and dissecting aneurism of the aorta.
Pharmacological treatment of patients with high blood pressure will reduce morbidity, disability, and mortality from cardiovascular disease. Effective antihypertensive therapy will almost completely prevent hemorrhagic strokes, cardiac failure, and renal insufficiency due to hypertension. Overall, there is a marked reduction in total strokes.
Antihypertensive drugs can be classified according to their sites or mechanisms of action. Arterial pressure is the product of cardiac output and peripheral vascular resistance. Thus, such pressure can be lowered by actions of drugs on either the peripheral resistance or the cardiac output, or both. Drugs may reduce the cardiac output by either inhibiting myocardial contractility or decreasing ventricular filling pressure. Reduction in ventricular filling pressure may be achieved by actions on the venous tone or on blood volume via renal effects. Drugs can reduce peripheral resistance by acting on smooth muscle to cause relaxation of resistance vessels or by interfering with the activity of systems that produce constriction of resistance vessels.
Vasodilators are a class of drugs which are commonly employed in the therapy of heart failure, high blood pressure, and other various conditions characterized by constricted blood vessels. Such conditions include Raynaud""s syndrome, certain post-surgical complications of brain surgery involving subarachnoid hemorrhage, heart failure, angina pectoris, and hypertension.
Proteins from biting insects, particularly blood-feeding arthropods, have been shown to contain numerous pharmacologically-active substances, including vasodilating substances. The saliva from such insects contain such substances to counteract many of the host""s hemostatic defenses. Among these secretions are the potent vasodilating substances that heighten blood flow to the feeding site.
The salivary components responsible for vasodilation are extremely varied as revealed by the recent characterization of purified factors from several genera. Of several species of ticks analyzed, the saliva of each contained a lipid-derived prostaglandin that could account for vasodilative activity. Further, vasodilators play a role in skin-associated immune response.
Specific immunity has evolved as a sophisticated defense mechanism of higher organisms. In humans, cell-mediated immunity and humoral immunity are the two major mechanisms. Both of these responses have a high level of specificity directed to antigenic epitopes expressed on molecular components of foreign agents.
There are several clinical settings where it is desirable to suppress an immune response. These situations include organ transplantation, treatment of autoimmune disorders, and prevention of Rh hemolytic disease of the newborn.
Because of the importance of providing hypertension therapies, potent vasodilators are needed. Additionally, agents which are capable of modulating the immune response and aiding in wound healing are additionally desirable.
Purified vasoactive proteins from the salivary glands of the blood-feeding black fly, Simulium sp. are provided. The proteins find use in biomedical therapies, particularly where peripheral resistance and stenoses are problems. The proteins are also useful as regulators of the immune response and as promoters of wound healing.
The nucleotide sequence encoding the proteins, as well as methods for producing recombinant protein, are additionally provided.

Recombinant vasoactive protein from salivary gland of the black fly


A solar array with successive rows of photovoltaic modules angled in opposing directions forming peaks and valleys between the rows with the valleys (i.e.: lower sides of the photovoltaic module rows) being mounted close together and the peaks (i.e.: upper sides of the photovoltaic module rows) being mounted far apart to improve system aerodynamics and permit ease of access for installers. Included is a system for connecting the upper sides of the photovoltaic modules to connectors that slide on bars extending between upper and lower mounting bases and for pivot locking the lower sides of the photovoltaic modules to the lower mounting bases.

Traditionally, solar modules have been mounted onto buildings with the modules angled to the south (when in the Northern Hemisphere). Lately, however, solar arrays have also been built with their photovoltaic modules angled in alternating rows facing to the east and west. In these "east-west" systems, the module rows are thus laid out with the array having alternating peaks and valleys (formed where the upper and lower sides of the angled modules meet one another). Surprisingly, such east-west arrays may actually generate more power over the course of the day, and also typically generate such power at more convenient times during the day. Specifically, such east-west systems lengthen power production time and eliminate traditional mid-day power spikes.
When wind passes over arrays configured with alternating peaks and valleys, low pressures are generated above the array, thereby causing lift forces on the array. Adding excessive ballast to the roof is inconvenient since the ballast must be both lifted up onto the roof and then moved around by the installers. In addition, rooftops also have weight limitations. Alternatively, fastening east-west systems directly to the roof has the disadvantage of causing roof penetrations which are expensive and potentially compromise roof integrity. Also, roofs have a maximum safe load which can limit the amount of photovoltaics used on the roof.
What is instead desired is an east-west system with improved aerodynamics (i.e.: one that generates less lift when wind passes thereover) such that excessive ballasting is not required. Preferably, such a system would also be lightweight, flexible, and fast and easy to assemble, making it easy for installers to assemble it on the roof. In addition, such a system would ideally be designed to accommodate thermal expansion and contraction of the panels themselves. In addition, such a system would ideally be designed to simplify grounding of the modules. Preferably, the system would also balance stiffness in order to get load sharing between components during wind events, yet also not be too stiff in order to accommodate roof pitch changes and mange thermal strains. To date, such a system has not been realized. As will be shown below, the present design provides such a desired system.

East-west photovoltaic array with spaced apart photovoltaic modules for improved aerodynamic efficiency


A ballast circuit for controlling preheating, ignition or performing dimming of a gas discharge lamp such as a compact fluorescent lamp is disclosed. The ballast circuit has an inverter connected to a pair of input terminals for receiving a supply voltage, a base drive transformer connected to the switching transistor inverter to provide a drive signal, a resonant circuit connected to the switching transistor inverter, and a loading circuit connected to the base drive transformer. The base drive transformer includes a primary winding and a secondary winding set. The loading circuit is adapted for at least temporarily saturating the base drive transformer and thus effecting in the resonant circuit an oscillating frequency different from a natural resonant frequency of the resonant circuit.

Gas discharge lamps are a family of artificial light sources that operate on very different physics principles than incandescent lamps. While incandescent lamps generate light by heating a metal filament until it glows white hot, gas discharge lamps send an electric current through a special gas to generate light. Depending on the type of gas or mixture used, this either generates visible light directly or first generates ultra-violet light and then converts the ultraviolet light to visible light using phosphors such as fluorescent powders or coatings. Both types of gas discharge lamps have significant commercial applications. The former (generating light directly) are commonly used as park and roadway lighting, while the latter (generating light indirectly), particularly fluorescent lamps, have even broader applications due to their better control and rendering of the light colors generated.
Compared to conventional incandescent lamps, gas discharge lamps offer long life, low tube temperature and high light efficiency. For this reason, gas discharge lamps, particularly fluorescent lamps, provide a large percentage of today's lighting needs, even though they are more complicated to manufacture and require electronics to provide the correct current flow through the gas. The compact fluorescent lamp is perhaps the best known gas discharge lamp and is becoming an increasingly significant substitute of conventional incandescent lamps in both industrial and home applications.
The operation of a standard gas discharge lamp is accomplished by ionizing the mercury vapor enclosed in the lamp by applying a high voltage between two filaments (also called cathodes or electrodes) located at each end of the lamp. During ignition, the temperature of emissive coating of the filaments is increased to an optimum level for emission of electrons and to heat the mercury vapor near the filaments. Unlike incandescent light sources, gas discharge light sources will not be able to start if directly connected to a regular voltage resource. In addition, most gas discharge lighting sources, including the fluorescent lamps, exhibit negative resistance characteristics in operation, meaning that the lamp voltage is higher and the current lower when the lamp is operating at a lower power, and conversely, the lamp voltage is lower and the current higher when the lamp is operating at a higher power. The negative resistance characteristics may result in an unstable operation if the lamp is directly connected to the voltage source.
For these reasons, a fixture called ballast is used with a gas discharge lamp to perform necessary ignition and stabilization. Among the two major types of ballasts, namely electromagnetic ballasts and electronic ballasts, electronic ballasts are of particular importance. While an electromagnetic lamp ballast uses electromagnetic induction to provide the proper starting and operating electrical condition to power gas discharge lamp, an electronic lamp ballast uses solid state electronic circuitry to do the same. Because electronic ballasts usually use inverter style power supplies to rectify the input power and then chop it at a high frequency, they can change the frequency of the power from the standard mains frequency to 20,000 Hz or higher, which significantly increases the efficiency of gas discharge lamps and substantially eliminates the stroboscopic effect associated with fluorescent or high-intensity discharge lighting. In recent years, due to the significant efficiency improvements and further support by the rapid developments of semiconductor manufacturing technology and high-frequency switching technology, electronic ballasts are becoming more and more dominant in gas discharge lamps.
A ballast performs its functions by regulating the voltage and current during various stages of the lamp operation such as preheating, ignition and normal operation. Ballasts for gas discharge lamps are often classified according to the method of creating the ignition condition. These categories include instant-start, rapid-start, preheat-start and program-start ballasts. Depending on the type of gas discharge lamps and other design requirements, one type of ballasts may be found more suitable than another.
Instant-start ballasts skip the preheating stage and go directly to ignition and normal operation. For this reason, instant-start ballasts, including some quasi instant-start circuits (further described below) commonly used in energy efficient lighting products, do not require a control circuitry for preheating. In an instant-start ballast, the increase in filament temperature necessary for ignition is accomplished by allowing a high voltage applied across the lamp and the two filaments (e.g., 1000 volts peak) to establish an arc, thereby heating the filaments with the arc current. Circuits for this type of ballasts usually have the lamp connected across (in parallel with) a high-voltage source which is commonly a resonant circuit. A current path through the filaments is generally not provided. In fact, it is common for an instant-start ballast to have only two connections to the lamp, one at each end. A quasi-instant start circuit is similar in operation to the instant start circuit except that the quasi-instant start circuit allows the resonant current of the ballast to run through the lamp filaments (typically for disabling high-voltage generation by the resonant circuit during lamp removal), but like the instant-start circuit, does not have a preheating stage and therefore has no control for performing preheating.
In contrast, preheat-start and program-start ballasts heat the filaments separately to emission temperatures by allowing current to flow through the filaments themselves for a limited period of time (e.g., one second or less) before a moderately high voltage (e.g., 500 volts RMS) is applied across the lamp to ignite the lamp. Because circuits for these ballasts provide a current path through the lamp filaments for preheating, they may require a control circuit to perform a desired preheating procedure, and often have four connections to the lamp, two at each filament end of the lamp.
There are many circuit variations and implementations for these basic starting techniques in use in the industry today. Attributes such as cost, lamp life, ballast size, application and the number of connections to the lamp all affect the starting method adopted. For example, due to their typically lower costs and higher efficiencies, instant and quasi-instant start circuits are extensively used in the low-cost and energy-saving lighting market where the low cost and high efficiency drive the selection of the ignition method. In some cases, the instant-start operation can not only lower initial product costs but also produce slightly greater energy efficiency (i.e., light output per watt), since no filament heating power is delivered to the filament during normal operation of the lamp. For this reason, instant-start ballasts are most often selected for general office space lighting where large numbers of lamps are used and the lamps are not frequently switched on and off. For other low-cost energy-efficient applications, for example where low-cost is combined with the need for lowering output voltages during lamp removal or filament failure, the user may choose a quasi-instant start circuit.
However, the short lamp life is a major drawback of energy-saving light fixtures using instant or quasi-instant ballasts, particularly when used in situations where frequent lamp starting is required (as in bathrooms or areas where motion sensors are installed). This makes ballasts that perform some sort of preheating before ignition preferred in many applications. It is generally known that the preheat-start approach can result in significantly longer lamp life due to the separate heating of the filaments before ignition, which results in reduced degradation of the lamp filament's emissive coating during the ignition sequence.
On the other hand, preheat-start approach generally requires additional circuitry in order to reduce the filament heating power used during normal operation and hence may add additional cost (as compared to instant-start and quasi-instant start circuits). The ballasts with a preheating function currently available in the market are larger in size due to a significantly more complex circuit topologies and are expensive. It is therefore desirable to introduce a low-cost simplified circuit for implementing the preheating function into a ballast circuit. In addition, even for ballasts that do not perform preheating, it is often desirable to have a low-cost solution for features such as dimming function during normal operation.

Electronic ballast with preheating and dimming control


The present disclosure is directed to a physical therapy pillow cover including: a cover made of antimicrobial water resistant fabric, one or more seams, an opening, and a loop strap.

A physical therapy clinic is a fast-paced and physically demanding environment. There are competing pressures to see ever more patients, while providing superior physical care, in a clean environment, while limiting the amount of trash and/or use of environmentally harmful cleaning agents.
Thus, the interests of patient comfort, patient safety and treatment compete with the realities of an increased number of patients per therapist, and the consequent increased number of disposable sheets, pillows, or other medical supplies have created both stresses on patient comfort and cost to the clinic. Moreover, even if disposable materials are not used, the cleaning requirements needed to maintain a safe and clean environment for the significant number of patients leads to an extensive use of laundering using large amounts of water and detergents.
Finally, due to the physical demands unique to the physical therapy clinic, any supplies used therein need to be easily storable and retrievable, quickly cleanable, resistant to physical stresses, and enhance patient comfort during manipulations of the patient during treatment.
The present covers provide a specific solution to address the particular needs of the physical therapy environment.


A system and method for biasing the outputs of a laser modulator driver while allowing for high speed operation. A differential amplifier type modulator driver is provided which uses a reduced number of components in the high speed path. Additionally, the modulator driver may be constructed with a distributed output stage.

This invention relates generally to laser modulator drivers, and more specifically to biasing the outputs of a laser modulator driver with a nearly constant output impedance.
High speed optical transmission networks often rely on pulses of light in order to transmit data. Lasers are often used to provide a light source. Rather than modulating the laser itself, a separate modulator is sometimes used. The laser is operated in continuous wave mode and the laser light is then passed into a modulator. The modulator varies the amount of light provided to an output in order to generate the pulses of light.
Modulator drivers generally provide a large voltage swing to a laser modulator in order to turn the modulator on and off completely. However, laser modulators often introduce undesirable frequency modulation, or chirp, into the output signal. In order to reduce the amount of chirp, a bias voltage is usually applied to the laser modulator. The bias voltage is often applied on top of the modulation voltage. That is, the bias voltage serves as a DC offset for the modulation voltage.
In many cases the bias voltage is applied to an output of the modulator driver. However, this may introduce additional components in a high speed path. The additional components in the high speed path often limit the maximum speed at which the modulator can operate. Additionally, bias components coupled to the output of a modulator driver often introduce parasitics, such as capacitance, to the output of the modulator driver. These parasitics often degrade the output parameters of the modulator.


A radome for a radar sensor of a motor vehicle, having at least one main body facing the radar sensor, through which main body radar beams are intended to pass and which is made of at least one optically non-transparent material, which radome has a first dielectric constant at least on a side facing away from the radar sensor, wherein the radome also has an optically transparent foil with a second dielectric constant which lies between the first dielectric constant and the dielectric constant of air, said foil being applied on the side facing away from the radar sensor and at least in the region of the main body through which the radar beams are intended to pass.

Radar sensors are often used in modern motor vehicles for detecting the surroundings. In order to protect the radar sensor and also for design reasons, it is known to conceal radar sensors behind other components of the motor vehicle, which then act as a radome for the radar sensor. For example, it is known to install at least one radar sensor within a bumper and/or behind a radar-permeable window within a door of the motor vehicle. While such components, in particular bumpers and radar-permeable windows, are mostly made of plastic, it is also known to paint the components from the outside in order to better integrate them into the overall appearance of the motor vehicle, or to treat them in other ways in terms of design. The problem herein is that the paints and/or plastics used can lead to extremely high losses in the transmission of the electromagnetic energy of the radar beams. This in turn leads to losses in the performance of the radar sensor and in vehicle functions using radar data from the radar sensor. On the other hand, if such performance limitations are not desired, this can also lead to constraints in the installation of the radar sensors behind painted surfaces or generally behind plastics or other radomes. It is also conceivable to accept constraints in the exterior design of motor vehicles.
EP 2 775 011 A1 relates to a metal coating for the transmission of electromagnetic waves and a radome for a vehicle radar device. The aim is to create a thin metal layer permeable to electromagnetic waves, for which more than 10,000 fine thin-film metal pieces per square millimeter are to be provided electrically insulated from one another on a surface of a substrate. EP 3 480 007 A1 relates to a metal component which is permeable to electromagnetic waves and which has a metal layer and a fissure layer, which have a plurality of linear refractions in their respective planes which extend essentially parallel to one another. JP 2018-154878 A also proposes a metal coating that is permeable to electromagnetic waves, which proposes a combination of micro-islands surrounded by micro-fissures.
These approaches therefore relate to the sometimes complex modification of shape-defining layers with a metallic appearance which at the same time need to be more permeable to radar beams. In other words, it is known to create layers that appear metallic and that are more transparent to radar waves than are comparable conventional layers that provide the visual appearance of a metallic surface, for example metallic paint layers.

Radome for a radar sensor of a motor vehicle and motor vehicle


The present invention provides an optical fiber for use in fiber lasers and amplifiers wherein the optical fiber has a core member surrounded by a cladding member for receiving pump energy and transferring the pump energy to the core member. The optical fiber also has an outer layer surrounding the cladding member. The cladding member has a circular exterior periphery and a predetermined refractive index (nc). The cladding member has an index modified region that directs light to the core member. The index modified region has a stress field portion with a predetermined refractive index (ns). The difference between the refractive index of the cladding member and that of the stress field portion (ncxe2x88x92ns) is within such a range that the stress field portion does not affect the polarization properties of the light traveling in the core member. Preferably, the difference between the refractive index of the cladding member and that of the stress field portion (ncxe2x88x92ns) is less than 10xe2x88x924, and more preferably 10xe2x88x925.

The present invention relates to a cladding member and, more particularly, a cladding member for double-clad fiber lasers and amplifiers. In addition, the present invention relates to an optical fiber formed with such a cladding member.
Fiber lasers and amplifiers can be made from optical fibers whose cores are doped with rare-earth materials. Optical fibers are pumped with light of a suitable wavelength to achieve laser action or signal amplification. The laser transition wavelength depends on a selection of rare-earth materials and host composition. Various rare-earth ions including Nd, Er, Yb, Ho, Tm, Pr, Eu, Ce, Dy, Sm, Tb, Gd and Pm have been used, which can provide laser action.
Based on the pumping technique, fiber lasers are classified into core-pumped fiber lasers and clad-pumped fiber lasers. In a core-pumped fiber laser, light from a pump source, such as a diode laser, is coupled directly into the fiber core which is doped with rare-earth materials. In a clad-pumped fiber laser, the single mode core doped with rare-earth materials is surrounded by an undoped multimode cladding. The pump light is launched into the cladding and guided in the cladding by a second cladding (glass or a polymer) with a lower refractive index. Cladding-pumped fiber lasers are therefore also referred to as double-clad fiber lasers. The main advantage of clad pumping over core pumping is that clad-pumped fibers are readily scalable to high output powers.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional double-clad fiber in which the core 2 and the first cladding 4 are both circular and are concentric with each other. Such a circular cladding 4 can support many modes which spiral around the core 2 without asserting any intensity on the core 2. Moreover, light launched into a circular cladding 4 will not be absorbed fully by the core 2. Thus, the circular-type double cladding 4 precludes efficient coupling of the pump light from the cladding to the core 2.
Other cladding members 4 are used to facilitate pump light rays to cross to the core 2 as they travel along the length of the fiber. FIG. 2(a) shows a double-clad fiber that has an off-centered core 2 as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,079. By off centering the core 2, skew mode light, which does not intersect the core 2 in a concentric geometry, can be made to intersect the core 2. However, an off-center-type cladding member 4 is still inefficient and impractical because a fraction of the skew mode light fails to intersect the core 2. Moreover, an off center type cladding member 4 is not amenable for use with standard fibers because it is difficult to align and line the off centered core 2 with the standard core. Any misalignment of the cores can lead to significant loss of power.
FIG. 2(b) shows another conventional double clad fiber in which a core 2 is centered in an elliptical cladding 4. This elliptical-type cladding 4 would be most efficient if the core 2 is positioned at one of the ellipse foci. However, such a cladding 4 is difficult to make, especially when the core 2 is to be positioned at an ellipse focus. Moreover, this elliptical type cladding 4 is not compatible with standard circular fibers, to which it has to be spliced.
FIG. 2(c) shows a polygon-type cladding 4 as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,163 wherein the polygons are categorized as xe2x80x9cconvex polygonsxe2x80x9d having the property that, if a plurality of such polygons are used to tile a plane surface, all of them will fit into the tiling with no spacing left between adjacent polygons. Further, all the polygons will be mirror images of one another about any common side. Accordingly, the above property limits the polygons to three (3), four (4) and six (6) sided polygons. These polygonal shapes significantly differ, in cross-section, from those of circular type fibers, which are commonly used to deliver pump power to double clad fibers. Therefore, polygon type cladding 4 results in a large mismatch area with a circular fiber causing inefficient coupling of pump light into double clad fibers.
FIG. 2(d) shows a double clad fiber with a D-shaped cladding 4 as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,645. Comparing to that of the polygon type cladding 4, a D-shaped cladding 4 has a smaller portion of cladding 4 that is removed. Therefore, a D-shape cladding 4 has a substantially circular shape that can effectively facilitate the double clad fiber to splice with a circular pump delivery fiber. However, as a general principle, a larger amount of cladding 4 is to be removed from the cladding 4 to improve the coupling efficiency. To solve the above dilemma, a much longer fiber is needed to couple the required pump light from the cladding 4 to the core 2 without losing the advantage of a substantially circular cladding 4. Such an extra coupling length is inefficient.
Therefore, it is desired to obtain a novel cladding member that facilitates both efficient coupling and effective splicing. Further, it is desired that such a novel cladding member as well as the optical fiber formed with the novel cladding member are easy to manufacture. The present invention provides a cladding member and an optical fiber that meet all the above requirements.
The present invention provides an optical fiber for use in fiber lasers and amplifiers wherein the optical fiber has a core member surrounded by a cladding member for receiving pump energy and transferring the pump energy to the core member. The optical fiber also has an outer layer surrounding the cladding member. The cladding member has a circular exterior periphery and a predetermined refractive index (nc). The cladding member has an index modified region that directs light to the core member. The index modified region has a stress field portion with a predetermined refractive index (ns). The difference between the refractive index of the cladding member and that of the stress field portion (ncxe2x88x92ns) is within such a range that the stress field portion does not affect the polarization properties of the light traveling in the core member. Preferably, the difference between the refractive index of the cladding member and that of the stress field portion (ncxe2x88x92ns) is less than 10xe2x88x924 , and more preferably 10xe2x88x925.
In a preferred embodiment, the modified index region contains one or more dopants of any combination of elements Ge, Al, P, B and F. More preferably, the modified index region contains one of the following: (1) Ge and Al; (2) Ge and P; (3) Ge and B; (4) Ge and F; (5) P and Al; (6) Ge, P and Al; (7) Ge, P and B; (8) Ge, P and F; and (9) free air space.
The present invention also relates to a clad article used in optical fibers for receiving pump energy and transferring the pump energy to a core member. The clad article has a core member. A cladding member surrounds the core member and has a polygon shape of at least eight sides. Preferably, the clad article has a polygon shape of eleven sides or more. It is preferred that the clad article has a polygon shape of twelve sides or less.
The present invention further relates to a clad article used in optical fibers for receiving pump energy and transferring the pump energy to a core member. The clad article has a core member. A first cladding member surrounds the core member and has a substantially circular exterior periphery. The first cladding member has a cut-out portion extending from the exterior periphery and terminating with a curved boundary in the first cladding member. The clad article also has a second cladding member surrounding the first cladding member. The second cladding member has an interior periphery complementary to the exterior periphery of the first cladding member. In a preferred embodiment, the curved boundary of the cut-out portion is concave in relation to the circular exterior periphery. The first cladding member has three cut-out portions evenly distributed along its circular exterior periphery.

Cladding member for optical fibers and optical fibers formed with the cladding member


A chamber for reacting exothermic material is disclosed, the chamber comprising a multilevel structure including at least: a receptacle for storing the material, corresponding to a lower level; a median level comprising a reactive load containing at least one alkaline-earth carbonate, so as to absorb heat emitted during the oxidation reaction of the material, the alkaline-earth carbonate decomposing under the effect of the heat in an endothermic reaction; an upper level comprising a cover. Optionally, the material stored is a carbide of plutonium and/or uranium.

The control of the exothermic oxidation reactions of solid materials is a real problem notably in the nuclear field, in particular in the context of processes for oxidizing nuclear fuels in the form of carbides or nitrides containing plutonium and/or uranium, before storage or stock-piling or before reprocessing by nitric dissolution, or even in the context of management of manufacturing waste produced in the cycle for producing these fuels. These unoxidized, nitride or carbide, nuclear fuels are all highly reactive with oxygen and potentially pyrophoric. Transforming them into oxides may obviate certain chemical risks.
Plutonium-containing carbide fuels (U,Pu)C have a very high affinity for oxygen, which may affect the stability of the product during various manufacturing operations, and the oxidation reaction of these fuels may lead to a highly exothermic thermal runaway according to the following highly exothermic (ΔrH≈−1250 kJ/mol) reaction:MC+O2→MO2+M3O8+CO2, where M=U, Pu.
For reasons of safety the reaction must be controlled at all times.
Pure or alloyed metallic plutonium may be the material concerned in these oxidation processes. A container allowing the oxidation of plutonium-containing metals to be controlled has already been described in French patent application FR 2 752 234. More precisely, this prior-art container is a multilayer container specifically designed to contain a reactive system that is liable to melt. The confinement chamber consists of at least one sheet made of a first material chosen from tantalum, tungsten and their alloys, this sheet being inserted between at least two sheets made of a second material that does not react with air at the temperatures of the process used; this second material may advantageously be stainless steel.
During the oxidation reaction, this multilayer chamber undergoes very little oxidation and if the plutonium melts and then accidentally spills, and the stainless steel is pierced, the tantalum retains the plutonium, and consequently the chamber produced is safe.
The same type of problem may also be encountered in fields such as the construction field or the field of industrial buildings, for example in functionalized and potentially active roofs or ceilings for warehouses or workshops or cabinets in which very inflammable chemical materials or fuels are stored or worked on.
Generally, in process management, potential runaway of a chemical reaction associated with—or a consequence of—substantial overheating is conventionally managed, manually or automatically, using a set of sensors and feedback. This type of management, although it is effective, firstly relies on a transfer of information from the reactor in which the reactive system is found to the one or more sensors in question, and then to the control/command module, so that in return one or more expected actions can be carried out. This information flow and its management, ensuring the corrective action is implemented, cannot be instantaneous. They also depend on the sensors and all the elements in the information chain operating correctly. Finally, these processes involve an electrical power supply, which even if it is advantageously separate from the power supply nominally used for the process, must be reliable and available, similarly to the system provided a priori for fail-safe management of the neutron reactivity of a nuclear reactor core in the case of runaway, namely control bars and the system allowing them to drop very rapidly so as to absorb the neutrons.

Reaction chamber for exothermic material

Commissariat A L'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives


6,7-propylene-, butylene-, or pentylene-bridged imidazopyridin-4-amines that induce interferon (.alpha.) biosynthesis in human cells. Also disclosed are pharmaceutical compositions containing such compounds and methods of inducing interferon (.alpha.) biosynthesis and treating viral infections involving the use of such compounds.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to imidazopyridine compounds and to intermediates in their preparation. In another aspect this invention relates to immunomodulator compounds and to antiviral compounds.
2. Description of the Related Art
Certain 1H-imidazo4,5-c!quinolin-4-amines and methods for their preparation are known and disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,689,338, 5,037,985, and 5,175,296, EP-A 90.301766.3, PCT/US91/06682, PCT/US92/01305, and PCT/US92/07226 (Gerster), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,815 (Andre et al). Such compounds are said to have antiviral activity and certain of them are said to induce the biosynthesis of cytokines such as interferon.
Further compounds having antiviral or immunomodulator activity may advance the fields of antiviral therapy and immunomodulator therapy.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company