A method for simulating a modular test system is disclosed. The method includes providing a controller, where the controller controls at least one vendor module and its corresponding device under test (DUT) model, creating a simulation framework for establishing standard interfaces between the at least one vendor module and its corresponding DUT model, configuring the simulation framework, and simulating the modular test system using the simulation framework.

A major cost in semiconductor production is the development and maintenance of test programs that test integrated circuits for viability and functionality. This activity usually entails many hours of work on the actual tester hardware. However, existing semiconductor testers have little or no capability for simulating test programs, except for checking the semantics of the test programming language. This limitation forces engineers to debug their test programs on the actual tester hardware. But using tester hardware for test program development is not a cost-effective use of the expensive test equipment. Besides, since a tester is usually shared among groups of engineers, the amount of time allocated to use the tester is limited, which creates a bottleneck in the development of test programs, resulting in a process where development occurs serially. Such limitations in test program development may delay production of the integrated circuits, which could delay product release and lost market opportunities.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and system for verifying test program functionality without using expensive test equipment. In particular, there is a need for a method and system for simulating a modular test system with test programs, vendor modules, and their corresponding device-under-tests (DUTs).
An objective of the present invention is to reduce the amount of use of tester hardware for test program development, thereby optimizing the use of the valuable tester equipment. Another objective of the present invention is to identify problems in the test programs, modules and DUTs before they are run on the tester equipment. Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide an environment for parallel development of test programs, modules, and DUTs, thereby reducing the overall product development time.

Method and system for simulating a modular test system


A three DOF SCARA arm, adapted for transporting semiconductor wafers, includes an end-effector assembly at a distal joint of the arm. In one configuration, the end-effector turns a workpiece over. The arm includes a support column having an open column assembly that projects above a base. Within the assembly, a Z-axis drive energizes extension and retraction of a hollow tube carried by the support column. A shaft, rotatable about the Z-axis and having a distal end furthest from the support column""s base, receives an arm assembly. An arm-assembly rotary-drive energizes the shaft""s rotation. An arm base-plate, secured to the shaft""s distal end, supports the arm assembly therefrom. The arm base-plate carries a wrist joint that is displaced from the Z-axis, and receives the end-effector whose rotation about a wrist-joint axis is energized by an end-effector rotary-drive.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to robot arms, and in particular to Selective Compliance Articulated Robot for Assembly (xe2x80x9cSCARAxe2x80x9d) arms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A truly general-purpose industrial robot arms usually provides six independently moving axes, or joints. Each joint is driven using a linear or rotary actuator, like a servomotor. This type of robot is said to have six degrees of freedom (xe2x80x9cDOFxe2x80x9d), i.e., each independently driven axis provides one DOF. Three DOF are used to position a workpiece in the Cartesian x-y-z space, and the other three DOF are used to orient the workpiece at specific pitch, roll and yaw angles with respect to the x, y, and z axis, respectively. Many industrial applications employ general-purpose robot arms because of their maximum flexibility in manipulating workpieces.
In comparison, conventional robot arms used for handling semiconductor wafers usually include at least two jointed links that move horizontally. A shoulder joint of one link, sometimes referred to as an upper arm, is supported by an elevator. A second link, sometimes referred to as the forearm, connects at an elbow joint to the distal end of the upper arm. A third link that holds semiconductor wafers, usually called and end-effector, attaches at a wrist joint to a distal end of the forearm.
One example of this second type of robot arm appears in U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,702 entitled xe2x80x9cIndustrial Robotxe2x80x9d that issued Aug. 14, 1990, (xe2x80x9cthe ""702 patentxe2x80x9d). The SCARA arm disclosed in the ""702 patent includes a base which supports an end-effector via an upper arm and a forearm. This SCARA arm includes an elevator that raises and lowers the shoulder joint of the upper arm. The upper arm and forearm are rotatably coupled to each other at an elbow joint. This SCARA arm also includes driving motors, that are located in the base body, to independently energize all motion of the upper arm, forearm, and end-effector. Mechanical transmissions, located in the base body, and in the two arms, couple the respective driving motors to each of the arms, and the end-effector.
During operation of this SCARA arm, one of the driving motors first raises or lowers the upper arm until it is at a desired height. Then, another driving motor rotates the upper arm in a horizontal plane about a shoulder joint to a desired orientation. Via a belt transmission located in the upper arm, yet another driving motor then rotates the forearm, also in a horizontal plane, about an elbow joint to a desired orientation. Finally, the end-effector of this SCARA arm rotates about a wrist joint, again in a horizontal plane, to a desired position. Including the elevator mechanism, the SCARA arm disclosed in the ""702 patent provides a total of four (4) DOF.
The ""702 patent states that locating the driving motors in the base body avoids having drive units located at the arm joints and wrist joint. Furthermore, the ""702 patent also states that locating the driving motors in the base body increases SCARA arm reliability since electrical cables connecting to its driving motor are less liable to vibrate and/or break.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,340 entitled xe2x80x9cPrecision Arm Mechanismxe2x80x9d that issued Nov. 12, 1991, (xe2x80x9cthe ""340 patentxe2x80x9d) discloses a SCARA arm similar to that of the ""702 patent with all driving motors located in a base of the robot arm below the rotating upper arm and forearm. The ""340 patent further discloses individual belt drives, located respectively in the upper arm and forearm, which produce linear motion of a wrist joint that joins the end-effector to the forearm. The ""340 patent states that this belt drive positions the end-effector more accurately than other types of transmissions, and avoids transmitting any chattering or cogging of the driving motor to the end-effector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,512 entitled xe2x80x9cPrecision Robot Apparatusxe2x80x9d that issued Jan. 12, 1993, (xe2x80x9cthe ""512 patentxe2x80x9d) discloses a SCARA arm similar to that of the ""702 patent with all driving motors located in a base of the robot arm below the rotating upper arm and forearm. Similar to the ""340 patent, the ""512 patent employs belt drive transmissions to move the wrist joint that couples between an end of the forearm and an end-effector. The ""512 patent emphasizes the importance of placing the diving motors near the bottom of the SCARA arm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,113 entitled xe2x80x9cContinuously Rotatable Multiple Link Robot Arm Mechanismxe2x80x9d that issued Apr. 21, 1998, (xe2x80x9cthe ""113 patentxe2x80x9d) discloses a SCARA arm similar to that of the ""702 patent with all driving motors located in a base of the robot arm below the rotating upper arm and forearm. The ""113 patent further discloses the use to two motors capable of synchronized operation that permits moving the end-effector along an arbitrary path without lockout spaces to virtually any location in an available work space. The SCARA arm disclosed in the ""113 patent also avoids any robot arm rewind requirement while permitting continuous rotation in one direction without kinking, twisting or breaking a conduit that delivers vacuum to the end-effector for gripping a semiconductor wafer workpiece.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,565 entitled xe2x80x9cRobotic Wafer Handlerxe2x80x9d that issued May 5, 1998, (xe2x80x9cthe ""565 patentxe2x80x9d) discloses a SCARA arm similar to that of the ""702 patent with all driving motors located in a base of the robot arm below the rotating upper arm and forearm. The ""565 patent further discloses a SCARA arm whose upper arm and forearm are independently rotatable through multiple revolutions greater than 360xc2x0. The rotation plane of the upper arm and forearm may be raised or lowered, and may also be tilted. A track disclosed in the ""565 patent permits moving horizontally back and forth the shoulder joint about which the upper arm rotates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,890 entitled xe2x80x9cRobot Having Multiple Degrees of Freedomxe2x80x9d that issued Aug. 4, 1998, (xe2x80x9cthe ""890 patentxe2x80x9d) discloses a SCARA arm similar to that of the ""702 patent with all driving motors for the upper arm and forearm being located in a base of the robot arm below the rotating upper arm and forearm. The wrist joint of the SCARA arm disclosed in the ""890 patent carries motors for energizing roll, pitch and yaw motions of the arm""s end-effector. The ""702 patent states that the roll, pitch and yaw motions-in combination with the motions provided by the upper arm and forearm permit any desired three-dimensional motion of the end-effector, i.e. provide a total of six (6) DOF.
One characteristic shared by most of the SCARA arms described thus far is that rotation about one of the arm""s joint""s induces rotation about another of the arm""s joints. The SCARA arms disclosed in the ""340 and ""890 patents exhibit this characteristic fully. That is, rotation about any of the joints of the SCARA arms disclosed in the ""340 and ""890 patents induces rotation about the arm""s other joints. The SCARA arms disclosed in the ""113, ""702 and ""512 patents also partially exhibit this characteristic. That is, for the SCARA arms disclosed in the ""113, ""702 and ""512 patents rotation about an earlier joint, e.g. the shoulder joint, induces rotation about later joints, e.g. the forearm and end-effector joints. However, these SCARA arms do not exhibit the converse of this characteristic. That is, for the SCARA arms disclosed in the ""113, ""702 and ""512 patents rotation about a later joint, e.g. the end-effector joint, does not induce rotation about an earlier joint, e.g. the forearm or shoulder joints. Clearly, controlling the position of a SCARA arm""s end-effector when rotation of an earlier joint induces rotations which displace the end effector is more complicated than controlling the end-effector""s position if all joint rotations are independent of one other.
For semiconductor manufacturing, the task of delivering wafers to manufacturing tools requires a robot that is optimized to minimize particulate contamination generated by moving joints, and to maximize reliability. To simplify mechanisms required for moving semiconductor wafers, many semiconductor tools move them parallel to the ground plane, i.e., in the x-y plane. Holding the wafers parallel to the ground plane at the load and unload locations eliminates any requirement for pitching and/or rolling wafers about the ground plane during wafer transfers. Furthermore, the yaw capability needed to place wafers in precise orientation inside process tools can also be reduced if a robot arm picks up wafers in a correct yaw angle relative to the process tools. In practice, robotic semiconductor manufacturing tools usually employ a separate device called pre-aligner to position wafers prior to transfer. The pre-aligner finds a wafer orientation and positions the wafer in an exact yaw angle relative to a robot arm""s end-effector before the robot arm picks the wafer. Using a pre-aligner, a three (3) DOF robot should be adequate for wafer-handling applications. Robot arms such as those disclosed in the ""340, ""113 and ""512 patents exhibit three (3) DOF that are adequate for most semiconductor wafer handling operations.
In addition to the minimum DOF requirement, many wafer process tools require robots that are capable of handling wafers in wet environments. Processing tools like those used for Chemical Mechanical Polishing (xe2x80x9cCMPxe2x80x9d) require wafer handling robots that operate in a dirty environment filled with water mist and sometimes polishing slurry. To provide high reliability by reducing the possible entry of liquid, a wafer-handling robot for environments such as the CMP processing environment should also have as few moving joints as practicable. Although those 3-DOF robot arms disclosed in the ""340, ""113 and ""512 patents provide only three (3) degrees of freedom, their arms still include four (4) joints which move relative to each other. In comparison, the SCARA arm disclosed in the ""565 patent combines the end-effector with the forearm to eliminate one joint. However, this robot arm exposes both joints of the upper arm to the working environment. Thus, using the SCARA arm disclosed in the ""565 patent in a wet processing environment is uninviting. In addition to exposing the SCARA arm to moisture and contamination, some wet tools used in wet processing also require turning wafers over before delivery to the next processing operation.
Traditionally, parametric data describing physical characteristics of individual SCARA arms have been stored in a separate motion controller. Thus, previously each individual SCARA arm has been paired with a properly programmed motion controller. During installation, maintenance or repair, mismatching a SCARA arm and a motion controller frequently produces operational difficulties because the mismatched motion controller applies incorrect parametric data in attempting to control SCARA arm motion.
An object of the present invention is to provide a SCARA arm adapted for use in semiconductor manufacturing that has fewer moving joints.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a SCARA arm adapted for use in semiconductor manufacturing that has fewer joints which are exposed to contaminants, such as water mist and polishing slurry, that may be present in atmosphere surrounding the SCARA arm.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a SCARA arm that permits turning a workpiece over while concurrently moving all of the arm""s joints.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a SCARA arm having a modular end-effector.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a SCARA arm for which rotation at one of the arm""s joints does not induce rotation at another of the arm""s joints.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a SCARA arm that is easier to maintain and/or repair.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a SCARA arm that eliminates complex mechanical transmissions.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a more reliable SCARA arm.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a lower cost SCARA arm.
The present invention in one embodiment is a three DOF SCARA arm adapted for handling semiconductor wafers. The SCARA arm may include a modular end-effector assembly attached to distal joint of the SCARA arm. An advantageous configuration of the SCARA arm includes an end-effector which permits turning semiconductor wafers over. This semiconductor wafer flipping mechanism moves wafers through an arc above the SCARA arm. That is, the space used in flipping a semiconductor wafer over is separate from space used in transporting semiconductor wafers by rotating about other joints of the SCARA arm.
A SCARA arm in accordance with the present invention includes a support column having a base above which projects an open column assembly. The base of the support column permits securing the SCARA arm to a mounting structure while the open column assembly includes an arm-assembly drive. The arm-assembly drive includes a hollow tube which is extendable and retractable with respect to the base of the support column parallel to a Z-axis of the support column that is oriented along the column assembly. The arm-assembly drive also includes a Z-axis drive that is coupled to the hollow tube for energizing its extension and retraction. A shaft, that is supported within the tube by bearings located near both of its ends, has a distal end, located furthest from the base of the support column, that is adapted to receive an arm assembly. Supporting the shaft on bearing within the hollow tube permits rotating the shaft about the Z-axis of the support column. The arm-assembly drive also includes an arm-assembly rotary-drive that is coupled to the shaft for energizing its rotation.
This SCARA arm also includes an arm assembly which has an arm base-plate that is secured to the shaft for supporting the arm assembly therefrom. Supporting the arm assembly from the shaft providing the arm assembly with:
1. a DOF for extending and retracting the arm assembly parallel to the Z-axis with respect to the base of the support column to any position permitted by a linear bearing included in the support column; and
2. a second DOF for rotating the arm assembly about the Z-axis of the support column.
The arm base-plate carries a wrist joint that is displaced from the Z-axis about which the arm assembly rotates. The wrist joint is adapted to have an end-effector secured thereto to be rotatable about a wrist-joint axis that passes through the wrist joint. The arm base-plate also carries an end-effector rotary-drive that is coupled to the wrist joint for energizing rotation of the end-effector about the wrist-joint axis. An end-effector, secured to the wrist joint, adapts the SCARA arm for gripping a workpiece, and provides the arm assembly of the SCARA arm with a third DOF for rotating the end-effector about the wrist-joint axis.
The wafer flipping end-effector includes an end-effector mount by which the end-effector is secured to the wrist joint. The end-effector mount includes a flipper joint which is adapted for carrying a workpiece gripper and permits rotating the workpiece gripper about a flipper-joint axis that is not oriented parallel to the wrist-joint axis of the arm assembly. The end-effector mount also includes a flipper drive that is coupled to the flipper joint for energizing rotation of a workpiece gripper about the flipper-joint axis. This particular end-effector provides the SCARA arm with a fourth DOF for turning over a semiconductor workpiece gripped by the end-effector.
The SCARA arm as described thus far is particularly suited for transporting semiconductor wafers between processing stations arranged in a circular configuration around the SCARA arm. Mounting the SCARA arm on a linear track adapts it for transporting semiconductor wafers between processing stations arranged along a linear path.
These and other features, objects and advantages will be understood or apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment as illustrated in the various drawing figures.


A dynamic constraint avoidance route system automatically analyzes routes of aircraft flying, or to be flown, in or near constraint regions and attempts to find more time and fuel efficient reroutes around current and predicted constraints. The dynamic constraint avoidance route system continuously analyzes all flight routes and provides reroute advisories that are dynamically updated in real time. The dynamic constraint avoidance route system includes a graphical user interface that allows users to visualize, evaluate, modify if necessary, and implement proposed reroutes.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of trajectory rerouting of aircraft, from pre-departure through arrival, for constraint avoidance, and more particularly, to computer automated trajectory re-routing of aircraft around constraints for more efficient time-saving and fuel saving constraint avoidance route corrections.
2. Description of Related Art
Weather is the leading cause of delay in the U.S. National Airspace System, and convective weather accounts for 60% of weather-related delays. Convective weather is common in the spring and summer months and can extend for hundreds of miles and reach altitudes well in excess of 40,000 feet. When weather is present or forecast along preferred flight routes, weather avoidance routes are planned and implemented, usually prior to take off. While aircraft are in flight, airline dispatchers and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) traffic managers and controllers review weather updates and traffic flows to determine if and how flights may be rerouted to improve flow and reduce delay. However, real-time automation that continuously searches for and proposes time- and fuel-efficient corrections to existing weather avoidance routes for in-flight aircraft does not exist. And operators are busy especially during weather events and may miss workable opportunities for more efficient flight routes around weather. It would therefore be an improvement over the prior art to provide a system that automatically analyzes in-flight aircraft in en-route airspace, and finds simple reroutes that result in more efficient flight around convective weather and potentially save substantial flying time and fuel.
The features and advantages of the present disclosure will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the present disclosure without undue experimentation. The features and advantages of the present disclosure may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Method and system for air traffic rerouting for airspace constraint resolution

The United States of America as Represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Provided are Saccharomyces cerevisiae SPC-SNU 70-1 (KCTC 12776BP) which is a novel natural Korean yeast isolated from traditional Korean nuruk, and Lactobacillus brevis SPC-SNU 70-2 (KCTC 12777BP), Lactobacillus curvatus SPC-SNU 70-3 (KCTC 12778BP) and Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis SPC-SNU 70-4 (KCTC 12779BP) which are novel natural Korean lactic acid bacteria isolated from traditional Korean nuruk.

Sourdough is also called "acid dough" and has unique flavor and taste. Fermentation using sourdough generally includes repeating a series of mixing flour, water and rye to activate microorganisms present therein, thereby preparing a sourdough starter, and using some sourdough starter for dough and storing the remaining for the subsequent use. Fermentation using sourdough includes a fermentation process in which yeast and lactic acid bacteria are mutually involved, and have several advantages associated with baking properties such as increased bread volume, improved flavor and taste, and extended expiration date.
Meanwhile, microorganisms greatly affect fermentation of sourdough. In particular, it is known that main fermentation microorganisms, i.e., lactic acid bacteria and yeast, act on fermentation alone or in combination thereof to make sourdough. The main cause of sour taste is lactic acid produced from lactic acid bacteria, which is a base of sourdough, and alcohol fermentation metabolites generated by yeast impart taste to bread and improve palatability. The genera Streptococcus, Pediococcus, Lactobacillus, Enterococcus, Leuconostoc, Weissella and the like are known lactic acid bacteria related to fermentation of sourdough.
Meanwhile, traditional sourdough bread produced by natural fermentation is mixed with a variety of yeasts and bacteria. For this reason, problems such as deterioration in flavor and taste and creation of rancid odor often result from contamination by other microorganisms under inappropriate work environments. In addition, there is difficulty in reproducing uniform quality of products due to spatial and timing differences.
In an attempt to solve these problems, in order to avoid the risk of contaminating naturally fermented bread and secure uniform quality of products, fermentation including adding microorganism starters with secured functionality and stability to dough was developed.
Some Korean baking companies use imported starters to pursue differentiation and high-quality of products. However, imported starters change strain distribution during subculture, are easy to handle in industrial bakeries and have many practical problems such as difficulty in controlling sour taste levels because they contain, as dominant species, L. sanfranciscensis strains producing a great amount of organic acid. In addition, imported starters may have quality properties unsuitable for domestic baking circumstances because they are selected in consideration of climate and baking properties of countries of origin. Accordingly, there is a need for development of starters which are suitable for Korean tastes and can be stably used in baking fields.

Natural yeast and lactic acid bacteria isolated from Korean traditional nuruk to be used for bakery


Precipitation hardening (PH) stainless steels heat treatable to yield strength levels in the range of 200 ksi with exceptionally high fracture toughness are achieved in alloys consisting essentially of 12.25-13.25% chromium, 7.5-8.5% nickel, 2.0-2.5% molybdenum, 0.8-1.35% aluminum, not over 0.05% carbon, not over 0.10% silicon, not over 0.10% manganese, not over 0.010% phosphorus and with especially critical amounts of not over 0.0020% (20 ppm) nitrogen, not over 0.0020% (20 ppm) sulfur, not over 0.0026% (26 ppm) nitrogen plus sulfur; not over 0.04% titanium, and remainder essentially Fe.

The present invention relates to stainless steels and in particular to 13-8Mo steels having significantly improved fracture toughness (K.sub.IC) over conventional 13-8Mo steels.
It is well known to those skilled in the art that fracture toughness is a measure of a material's resistance to crack propagation and catastrophic failure and is an important characteristic in the design of certain critical components. Generally for metallic alloys, toughness is inversely related to strength, i.e. the higher the strength, the lower the toughness. Within this general relationship, individual alloys and families of alloys display distinctive relationships between strength and toughness. These characteristics can be clearly seen in FIG. 1. Precipitation hardening (PH) stainless steels, as a group, tend to be found in the less desirable, low strength, low toughness portion of this figure.
It is generally well known that small amounts of certain elements or impurities, including metallics, metalloids or non-metallics, can dramatically alter the properties of all alloys. The specific elements or impurities and the amounts which result in harmful effects vary widely, depending upon the alloy, the condition and the properties of interest. For example, in 13-8Mo steels as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,776 to Clarke et al. which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference, critically low levels of manganese, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and nitrogen resulted in good ductility in combination with great strength.


In a cardiac stimulation method, device and system, a capture verification condition is determined. For this purpose, a number of pacing pulses are delivered to a heart chamber and signals are sensed within a time window following each pacing pulse. The sensed signals are stored and categorized as representing capture or non-capture. Using the stored signals, a weight vector is determined, that assigns different weights for different parts of each sensed signal within the time window. The weight vector is used for calculating a weighted area within the time window. The capture verification condition is determined by identifying whether the weighted area, calculated with the weight vector, of a sensed signal within the time window is above or below a predetermined value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heart stimulating devices and systems. In particular to such devices and systems that have the ability to detect evoked responses to stimulation pulses delivered to the heart of a patient. The invention also concerns a method of determining a capture verification condition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several different devices for stimulating a heart are known. Such devices are able to deliver stimulation pulses to one or more of the different heart chambers: the left ventricle, the left atrium, the right ventricle and the right atrium. The devices can often be implanted in a patient. The devices are normally also able to sense the electrical activity of the heart.
In connection with such devices, it is known to detect the capture of the heart, i.e. to detect whether the heart actually reacts as intended to a delivered stimulation pulse. If the heart is not captured (i.e. loss of capture) it is possible to arrange the device to deliver a back-up pulse with a higher pulse energy than the first pulse. It is also possible to increase the pulse energy in future stimulation pulses if capture is not detected. In order to save battery it is important that the stimulation pulses are not delivered with an unnecessarily high energy. By varying the energy of the stimulation pulses and by detecting the capture it is possible to find a threshold value for the stimulation pulse energy. Based on the threshold value, a suitable stimulation pulse energy can be determined.
The detection of capture, i.e. the detection of an evoked response (ER), can be done in different manners. Normally an IEGM (intracardiac electrogram) signal is detected within a time window (ER window) following a delivered stimulation pulse. The determination whether the detected signal indicates a capture can be performed in different manners. It is for example known to use the maximum amplitude of the detected signal within the ER window. It is also known to use a slope or derivative (usually the maximum slope) of the detected signal within the ER window. A third known possibility is to detect an area by integrating the detected signal in the ER window.
The detection of capture involves different problems. One problem is the electrode-polarisation. The electrode-polarisation is a residual voltage that appears at the electrode used for the stimulation. In particular if the same electrode is used for emitting the stimulation pulse and for sensing the evoked response, the electrode-polarisation can make the detection difficult.
It is also known that the delivery of stimulation pulses and the detection of the IEGM can be done either with unipolar or bipolar stimulation and detection.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,473,650 describes an ER detector. The basis for the detection is the idea that the electrode polarisation depends on the stimulation pulse amplitude, while the ER signal does not depend on this amplitude. The sensed signal is sampled and the DC level determined before the delivery of the pulse is subtracted from each sample.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,957 describes the suppression of electrode-polarisation components when detecting ER. The sensed cardiac signal is added to either a differentiated or autocorrelated sensed cardiac signal and a difference is formed between the original sensed cardiac signal and the autocorrelated or differentiated signal, thereby extracting an ER component from the sensed cardiac signal.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0083711 describes ER detection by comparing the detected signal with template wave forms. The ER is classified as representing a type of capture if the ER waveform highly correlates with a certain template waveform.
Also U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0050671 describes ER detection that involves the correlation between a sensed signal and a template waveform. The document describes in particular a method of identifying fusion beats.

Method, device, and system concerning heart stimulation


A real-time threat detection system incorporating a plurality of sensors adapted to detect radiation across the majority of the electromagnetic spectrum. The system also includes an aided or automatic target recognition module which compares the data from the sensors against known radiation signatures and issues an alert when an anomalous signature is detected. The system further includes an operator station which displays sensor information allowing the operator to intervene. The sensors detect radiation which is normally emitted by persons or other bodies and display areas to the operator where normal emissions are blocked.

1. Field
This system relates, generally, to surveillance. More particularly, it relates to the detection of concealed person-borne objects including, but not limited to, Improvised Explosive Devices ("IEDs").
2. Description of Related Art
A wide variety of security systems are employed for consumer, commercial, industrial, government and military applications. Security systems can utilize a variety of technologies, including mechanical, electrical, electromechanical, optical, laser and other techniques. Additionally, security systems can generally be separated into two classes: active and passive.
Active security systems detect disturbances in the absorption and/or reflection of a transmitted signal. Thus active security systems require a transmitter and a receiver to function. Some active security systems utilize a transceiver to accomplish both functions, while others use a possibly disparate "illuminator" separate from the receiver. A common example of an active security system is one based on radar, which uses transmitted energy or sound to illuminate an area or subject and then detect disturbances in the reflected energy or sound. In this example, sound has been explicitly mentioned since sound is debatably not a form of radiated energy but is a vibration of molecules in surrounding medium, such as water or atmosphere. Hence, sound does not propagate in a vacuum whereas typical transmitted energy does.
Passive security systems do not emit radiation or signals but simply observe/image the existing energy contained within a scene. Since there is no transmitter involved, passive security systems are particularly adept at long stand-off surveillance where the sensor and operator can be located a safe distance away from danger or at a distance amenable to interdiction. In the presently described invention, the infrared sensor element of the concealed object detection system can detect the presence of a concealed suicide bomb vest at distances exceeding 100 meters.
Typical passive security systems include visual, infrared, millimeter wave and/or terahertz imaging systems. These passive systems image different frequencies of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Infrared, millimeter wave and terahertz based security systems have the benefit of being able to image concealed objects under the clothing of subjects if properly designed. Imaging and detection of concealed objects is essential for detecting terrorist threats as well as enabling less lethal applications such as detecting contraband or stolen objects. These systems image the contrast between the human body and the concealed object that may block or otherwise attenuate the body's natural energy.
While the human body emits, absorbs and reflects infrared, millimeter wave and terahertz energy in a sensor-observable fashion, concealed objects such as explosives, weapons, contraband and the like block, absorb, reflect or otherwise attenuate the body's energy providing the imaging system with a contrasting signal or image. When considering an imaging system, these contrasts may appear as areas either darker or lighter than the body.
Most clothing is transparent to radiation in the millimeter wave and terahertz spectra, and conductive of body heat in the infrared spectrum. Objects (weapons or bomb devices) that are worn beneath one's apparel will block or attenuate the body's natural radiation and results in a signature that can be detected much as a lamp shade blocks the light from a light bulb. Under most circumstances, large objects such as bomb devices or protective vests worn under clothing present a detectable thermal signature which can be additionally detected using infrared, or thermal, sensors.
The aforementioned capability is effective for imaging suicide bombers, smugglers, and persons with concealed objects such as firearms, contraband, currency, hazardous liquids and gels, and the like. This is especially significant since some threats like plastic explosives, powders, liquids and gels cannot be detected using other forms of security devices such as metal detectors.
Contemporary sensor technology provides individual solutions for imaging in the spectra most favorable for concealed object detection. Infrared sensors produced by FLIR Systems, Inc., millimeter wave sensors produced by Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc., and terahertz sensors produced by Thruvision, Ltd. are available for imaging their respective spectra. Occasionally, these classes of sensors offer a degree of concealed object detection capability within their disparate spectra.
One disadvantage of these passive security systems, and security systems in general, is they typically image using a select subset of the electromagnetic Spectrum as defined by their respective sensor/receiver. Many such passive systems employ a single sensor imaging in the infrared, millimeter wave, terahertz or x-ray band, resulting in a reduction the effectiveness of the detection. Detection capability is reduced since a concealed object may be less observable in one spectrum versus another. Passive infrared systems may offer significant standoff distances but image thermal conduction through the clothes instead of penetrating the clothing. Passive millimeter wave systems excel at detecting metal objects but perform worse detecting liquids. Passive terahertz sensors image through clothing more readily than millimeter wave but suffer greater effects of solar loading outdoors. Here the use of a plurality of sensors imaging disparate spectra is desirable.
A second disadvantage of typical passive security systems is the lack of computer-assisted or automated detection capability. Prior art concealed object imaging and detection systems typically lack computer-assisted or automated detection, or confine such computer-assisted or automated detection to a single frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum.
A third disadvantage of typical passive security systems is they are typically engineered for a particular environment, location or use case, making these systems costly in terms of application-specific engineering, training and support. These systems typically require support infrastructure such as inspection areas/lanes, backdrops and the like to improve the "limited visibility" nature of imaging a singular spectrum, thereby limiting or eliminating their "ad hoc" or "on demand" responsiveness and capabilities.
A fourth disadvantage of typical passive concealed object detection security systems is the fixed-range imaging capability of typical infrared, millimeter wave and terahertz sensors deployed in those systems. The infrared imagers typically do not include zoom optics and millimeter wave and terahertz imagers must be custom designed for a particular narrow operating range by virtue of the aperture, feed horn and antenna design selected during their design and construction phases.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a concealed object detection security system that employs a plurality of disparate sensors imaging a scene using complimentary spectra. Such a system would leverage the spectral resolving power of each sensor cumulatively offering a "best of all worlds" solution to concealed object detection, by reinforcing the benefits and capability of each sensor while minimizing any one sensor's deficiencies. For example, the outdoor deployment deficiencies inherent in terahertz sensors can be offset by the presence of the infrared and millimeter wave sensors.
Another need exists in the art for a concealed object detection security system for concealed object detection that includes computer-assisted or automated detection capability applied in a holistic system-of-systems methodology. While this capability exists within the spectrum of some individual sensors, true multi-spectral computer-assisted or automated detection capability does not currently exist.
Another need exists in the art for automated sensor fusion capability, reducing the level of effort required by the operator in assessing the imagery of a plurality of disparate sensors. As an example, the imagery of an infrared sensor may depict brighter pixels as areas of greater thermal content while the imagery of a millimeter wave sensor may depict brighter pixels as areas of lower millimeter wave content and the imagery of a terahertz sensor may eschew bright or dark pixels in favor of a false color image. Thus requiring an operator to assess these disparate images in real time and continually is disadvantageous versus employment of automated sensor fusion.
Another need exists in the art for a concealed object detection security system that can be deployed ad hoc into multiple situations by virtue of the magnification of capability provided by a plurality of disparate spectrum sensors. This reduces or eliminates the potential incompatibility of a single sensor system operating in an environment where its efficacy is ill suited to that environment (e.g., a terahertz imager operating under a sunny sky).
Another need exists in the art for a concealed object detection security system of maximized Probability of Detection (Pd) and minimized Probability of False Alarm (Pfa) as can be achieved by imaging multiple disparate spectra and then algorithmically and holistically evaluating the results.
Another need exists in the art for a concealed object detection security system utilizing a plurality of disparate spectrum sensors to include a voting or weighting algorithm, maximizing Pd and minimizing Pfa. Such a voting or weighting algorithm would empathize detection presence when a majority of sensors detect a concealed object and de-empathize detection presence when an isolated (or no) sensor detects a concealed object.
Another need exists in the art for a concealed object detection security system that leverages multi-spectral sensor fusion and multi-sensor voting or weighting algorithms where results from one or more sensors can provide negative feedback to the voting or weighting algorithms on detection of an innocuous concealed object, thusly minimizing Pfa.
Another need exists in the art for a concealed object detection security system that leverages multi-spectral sensor fusion and multi-sensor voting or weighting algorithms to simplify operation for the operator, test and support staff, thereby reducing operator fatigue, training and operator sustaining costs.
Another need exists in the art for a concealed object detection security system that has a deep range imaging capability exceeding the imaging ranges of its individual sensors. The combination of short range millimeter wave imaging, medium range terahertz imaging and long range infrared imaging described in the current system, provides maximal coverage of a variety of ranges heretofore not obtainable from a single sensor solution.
Another need exists in the at for a concealed object detection security system that cohesively combines multi-spectral detection in a single system, providing holistic procurement, deployment, operation, training and support of the homogeneous system versus a multitude of separate systems, each with their own requirements for procurement, setup, environment, operation, training and support.
Another need exists in the art for a concealed object detection security system that is flexible enough to be employed in a wide variety of applications, locations and environments without additional engineering, site preparation, operator training or unit modifications. The system would be quickly deployable for indoor or outdoor conditions, daytime or nighttime conditions, humid or arid conditions, and the like, and exhibit a large advantage over systems that are custom tailored for a particular deployment location or use case, and thereby reduce or eliminate the costs involved in engineering and personnel training for each specific deployment.
However, in view of the prior art at the time the present system was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art how the identified needs could be fulfilled.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the system, Applicants in no way disclaim these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed system may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.
The present invention may address one or more of the problems and deficiencies of the related art discussed above. However, it is contemplated that the system may prove useful in addressing other problems and deficiencies in a number of technical areas. Therefore, the claimed system should not necessarily be construed as limited to addressing any of the particular problems or deficiencies discussed herein.
In this specification, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Real time threat detection system using integrated passive sensors


A method of determining the visual effect of lacquer coatings in which one, two or more lacquer coatings are applied to the surface of a flat substrate and are dried or hardened, wherein one or two of the lacquer coats are applied with a coat thickness gradient, and one or more surface properties which influence the visual impression are subsequently each measured on the lacquered surface thus obtained, at measuring points distributed over the surface, by means of one or more optical methods of measurement, and the respective thickness of the lacquer coat(s) applied in the form of a gradient is also measured, as well as an apparatus for carrying out the method.

The visual effect of a lacquered or multi-layer coated surface results from the interplay of various optical impressions, such as gloss and structure, and such as colour shade, which in turn is composed of colour location, brightness and colour intensity, for example. In the case of multi-layer coatings, the visual impression generally originates not only from the outer lacquer coat, but may also be influenced by one or more lacquer coats situated underneath. There is a wealth of methods which are known for the characterisation of a lacquered surface and which are suitable for describing the visual effect thereof on the eye of an observer. Examples include methods, which are known to one skilled in the art and which operate based on optical principles, of gloss measurement, of measuring gloss fogging (haze), of measuring colour shade (colorimetry) and of determining surface structures. One important influencing variable as regards the visual effect of a lacquered surface is the coat thickness at which the respective lacquer coat or respective lacquer coats have been applied. If a surface which is provided with a single-layer coating or a multi-layer coating is to be characterised as regards its visual effect as a function of the coat thickness of a specific lacquer coat or of the coat thickness of lacquer coats of particular interest, it is necessary to lacquer and measure a multiplicity of test panels. This multiplicity results firstly from the necessity of having to lacquer a plurality of test panels at different coat thicknesses, and secondly in order to obtain a statistical mean, which first ensures reproducibility of the readings obtained. The meaningfulness of readings obtained in this manner must nevertheless be considered critically, since a correlation with the visual impression is only obtained to a limited extent.

Method and an apparatus for the characterisation of lacquered surfaces


Methods and compositions for the production of ethanol from lignocellulosic starting materials are provided herein. Embodiments of the invention provide methods of manipulating the carbon flux of a host cell transformed with plasmids of the invention. Plasmids of the invention may include nucleotides that encode pyruvate decarboxylase. In one embodiment, a strain of the thermotolerant yeast Hansenula polymorpha that has been transformed with plasmids and polynucleotides of the invention is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and compositions for the fermentative production of ethanol from D-xylose using yeast.
2. Background
Metabolic engineering of microorganisms is often an effective means to produce commercially a number of chemicals that may be used for multiple applications (see, e.g., Lee, S. Y., et al. Macromol. Biosci. 4:157-164 (2004)). One chemical that has garnered much interest is ethanol. Although ethanol has a number of uses, it is most commonly used as a fuel additive. As a fuel additive, ethanol is a low value product with much of the cost of its production attributed to the cost of raw materials. It would be desirable, therefore, to develop ethanologens and fermentation processes for the production of ethanol from readily available, inexpensive starting materials. These starting materials may be, for example, lignocellulosics. These lignocellulosics may be derived from renewable biomass waste streams from food, paper pulping operations, agricultural residues and recycled paper from municipalities.
The major constituent of plant biomass is lignocellulose. Upon hydrolysis, lignocellulose yields a mixture of monomeric hexoses (glucose, mannose and galactose) and pentoses (D-xylose and L-arabinose). Among these, glucose is the most abundant, followed by xylose and mannose with other sugars present in much lower concentrations. Fermentation of both glucose and xylose is currently regarded as a high priority for economical conversion of biomass into ethanol. Most microorganisms are able to ferment glucose but few have been reported to utilize xylose efficiently and even fewer ferment this pentose to ethanol. However, the competitive process for fuel ethanol production from lignocellulosic material requires the development of microbes capable of active xylose fermentation.
Lignocellulose is approximately 30% D-xylose (see Ryabova, O. B., et al. "Xylose and Cellobiose Fermentation to Ethanol by the Thermotolerant Methylotrophic Yeast Hansenula polymorpha," FEMS Yeast Res. 4:157-164 (2003)). Xylose is a "wood sugar" with the IUPAC designation (2S,3R,4S,5R)-oxane-2,3,4,5-tetrol.
Only a relatively small number of wild type microorganisms can ferment D-xylose. These microorganisms are generally not suitable for large-scale fermentation. This unfavorability may arise, for example, as a result of unfamiliarity with the microorganisms, difficulty obtaining the microorganisms, poor productivity and/or growth on pretreated lignocellulosics or unsatisfactory yield when grown on mixed sugars derived from biomass.(C. Abbas, "Lignocellulosics to ethanol: meeting ethanol demand in the future," The Alcohol Textbook, 4th Edition. (K. A. Jacques, T. P. Lyons and D. R. Kelsall, eds). Nottingham University Press, Nottingham, UK, 2003, pp. 41-57.; C. Abbas, "Emerging biorefineries and biotechnological applications of nonconventional yeast: now and in the future," The Alcohol Textbook, 4th Edition. (K. A. Jacques, T. P. Lyons and D. R. Kelsall, eds). Nottingham University Press, Nottingham, United Kingdom, 2003, pp. 171-191).
Yeasts are considered the most promising microorganisms for alcoholic fermentation of xylose (see Ryabova, supra). They have larger cells than bacteria, are more resistant to viral infection, and tend to be more resistant to negative feedback from ethanol. Furthermore, yeast growth and metabolism have been extensively studied for a number of species.
A number of yeasts are known to naturally ferment D-xylose. These include Pichia stipitis, Candida shehatae, and Pachysolen tannophilus (see Ryabova, supra; Cite 2, C. Abbas 2003). The common brewer's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is not known to ferment D-xylose naturally, but a number of strains of metabolically engineered S. cerevisiae that do ferment D-xylose have been reported.
Numerous studies have described the metabolism of D-xylose by recombinant S. cerevisiae (see, e.g., Wahlbom, et al., "Metabolic Engineering for Improved Xylose Utilization of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae," U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2005/0153411A1 (Jul. 14, 2005); Griffin, et al., "Method of Processing Lignocellulosic Feedstock for Enhanced Xylose and Ethanol Production," U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2004/0231661A1 (Nov. 25, 2004); Gong, C-S, "Direct Fermentation of D-Xylose to Ethanol by a Xylose-Fermenting Yeast Mutant," U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,268 (Jan. 11, 1983); Hallbom, J., et al., "Production of Ethanol from Xylose" U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,944 (Jun. 24, 2003); Jeffries, T. W, et al., "Xylose-Fermenting Recombinant Yeast Strains," U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2004/0142456A1 (Jul. 22, 2004); Jeffries, T. W. & Jin, Y-S., "Metabolic Engineering for Improved Fermentation of Pentoses by Yeasts" Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 63: 495-509 (2004); Jin, Y-S. & Jeffries, T. W., "Stoichiometric Network Constraints on Xylose Metabolism by Recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae" Met. Eng. 6: 229-238 (2004); Pitkanen, J-Y., "Impact of Xylose and Mannose on Central Metabolism of Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae" Helsinki Univ. of Tech., Dept. of Chem. Tech., Technical Biochemistry Report (January 2005); Porro, D., et al., "Replacement of a Metabolic Pathway for Large-Scale Production of Lactic Acid from Engineered Yeasts" App. & Env. Microbiol. 65(9): 4211-4215 (1999); Jin, Y-S., et al., "Saccharomyces cerevisiae Engineered for Xylose Metabolism Exhibits a Respiratory Response" App. & Env. Microbiol. 70(11): 6816-6825 (2004); Sybirna, K, et al., "A New Hansenula polymorpha HAP4 Homologue which Contains Only the N-Terminal Conserved Domain of the Protein is Fully Functional Saccharomyces cerevisiae" Curr. Genetics 47(3): 172-181 (2005); Toivari, M. H., et al., "Conversion of Xylose to Ethanol by recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Importance of Xylulokinase (XKS1) and Oxygen Availability" Metabolic Eng. 3:236-249 (2001).
As shown in FIG. 1, D-Xylose metabolism in yeast proceeds along a pathway similar to that of glucose via pentose phosphate pathway. Carbon from D-xylose is processed to ethanol via the glycolytic cycle or to CO2 via respiratory TCA cycle.
Fermentation to ethanol relies in part on the metabolism of pyruvate, which is a metabolite that may be used in either respiration or fermentation (see van Hoek, P., et al., "Effects of Pyruvate Decarboxylase Overproduction on Flux Distribution at the Pyruvate Branch Point in Saccharomyces cerevisiae," Appl. & Enviro. Microbiol. 64(6); 2133-2140 (1998)). Pyruvate enters fermentation following decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetaldehyde by the enzyme pyruvate decarboxylase (E.C. 188.8.131.52). Pyruvate decarboxylase is a member of the family of biotin-dependent carboxylases. It catalyzes the decarboxylation of pyruvate to form oxaloacetate with ATP cleavage. The oxaloacetate can be used for synthesis of fat, glucose, and some amino acids or other derivatives. The enzyme is highly conserved and found in a variety of prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
Pyruvate decarboxylase was first reported by (Utter, M. F., et al., "Formation of oxaloacetate from pyruvate and CO2" J. Biol. Chem. 235:17-18 (1960)) while defining the gluconeogenic pathway in chicken liver. Attempts to overexpress the PDC1 gene in S. cerevisiae did not resulted in higher ethanol yield from glucose (Schaaff I, Heinisch J & Zimmermann F K (1989) "Overproduction of glycolytic enzymes in yeast." Yeast 5(4): 285-290; van Hoek P, Flikweert M T, van der Aart Q J, Steensma H Y, van Dijken J P & Pronk J T (1998) "Effects of pyruvate decarboxylase overproduction on flux distribution at the pyruvate branch point in Saccharomyces cerevisiae." Appl Environ Microbiol 64(6): 2133-2140.)
It has been proposed that one bottleneck involved in D-xylose fermentation is the hydrolysis of xylan, which is the major component of hemicellulose to monosaccharides (see Ryabova, supra). One approach to overcoming this bottleneck is by using "simultaneous saccharification and fermentation" (SSF). This is a process in which pretreated lignocellulose is hydrolyzed by cellulases and hemicellulases while the hexoses and pentoses produced by this hydrolysis (including xylose) are fermented to ethanol. This would allow continuous conversion of the sugars to ethanol, preventing their accumulation in the medium.
A drawback of SSF is the difference in the optimal temperature at which cellulases and hemicellulases are active (at least about 50° C.) that are compatible with the optimal temperature for yeast growth and fermentation of xylose (about 30° C.). One solution to this drawback is to perform SSF using the thermotolerant methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha (also known as Pichia angusta). This yeast has been reported to have optimum and maximum growth temperatures of 37° C. and 48° C., respectively. These temperatures are higher than those tolerated by most other ethanol producing yeasts (Ryabova, et al.). Furthermore, Ryabova, et al. reported that under some conditions H. polymorpha is able to naturally ferment D-xylose (see also Voronovsky, A. Y., et al., "Expression of xylA Genes Encoding Xylose Isomerases From Escherichia coli and Streptomyces coelicolor in the Methylotrophic Yeast Hansenula polymorpha" FEMS Yeast Res. 5(11): 1055-62 (2005)).
Therefore it would be advantageous to develop strains of H. polymorpha with an increased ability to produce ethanol from lignocellulosic starting materials, including the C5 sugar, D-xylose.

Increased ethanol production from xylose


A head-hair treatment-agent applicator (1) according to the present invention has an agent applying part (2) which has a comb part (23) formed with a plurality of annularly arranged comb teeth (22), and the comb teeth (22) each have an inversely-tapered part (22c) in which a comb tooth width W decreases from a vicinity of a tip (22a) to a base end (22e).

A technique is known for applying a head-hair treatment-agent such as a hair dye to hairs using an applicator having a comb part formed with multiple comb teeth.
For example, the applicant of the present invention proposed an applicator with comb teeth which can eject an application liquid from a center part both sides of which are sandwiched by a plurality of comb tooth rows in which comb teeth are aligned straight, and apply the application liquid to the hairs while combing the hairs by the comb tooth rows (see Patent Literature 1). This applicator with the comb teeth can eject an application liquid between the comb tooth rows, and press the applicator against the hairs in a state where the application liquid is held once between the comb tooth rows.
However, as illustrated in FIG. 2 in Patent Literature 1, when the diameters of comb teeth are equal in a virtually entire area in a height direction of the comb teeth, even if, for example, an application liquid is continuously applied to the hairs in a long range from the vicinity of the head to the neck or above the shoulders, upon the application of the application liquid from the hairs positioned above the shoulders to the tips of the hairs, the hairs are not supported by the scalp from the back side and the amount of hairs decreases toward the tips of the hairs, and therefore it is expected that the hairs slip out from between the comb teeth in some cases.
Patent Literature 2 discloses an applicator which has opening parts of drop holes for ejecting a liquid in a container, in side surfaces on the tip side of comb teeth and in which bump parts are formed closer to the tip side than the opening parts and close to the opening parts, and Patent Literature 3 discloses providing projection pieces formed in upper ends of comb teeth in a comb part in which a plurality of comb teeth are linearly arranged, such that the lower surface makes an angle which is almost the right angle with respect to the center axis of comb tooth pieces.
However, the techniques of Patent Literatures 2 and 3 are techniques of ejecting agents from comb teeth, and have difficulty in stably applying agents in a long range from a the head top side to the hair tip side of long hairs. Further, the comb teeth disclosed in Patent Literature 2 each have a tapered part from a lower end of the bump part which is a tip part of the comb tooth toward the base end side and in which a comb tooth width increases toward a base end side of the comb tooth increases, and the comb teeth disclosed in Patent Literature 3 each have a uniform comb tooth width from the lower end of a given projecting piece which is the tip part of the comb tooth to the base end of the comb tooth, and cannot evenly apply an agent to each hair placed between the comb teeth.


The invention is to a wind charging system for an automobile which includes a wind driven turbine blade that is attached to a plurality of alternators by a gearing system. The gearing system includes a large gear driving a plurality of small gears, each attached to an alternator. The system is mounted in a single frame that mount in the engine compartment of a standard automobile.

To extend the driving range of electric powered automobiles, charging systems have been devised to provide battery charging through wind driven generators as the vehicle is moving. Since speed of the vehicle is a direct factor in the amount of charge developed by the wind driven charging system, there is very little charging power being developed while a vehicle is accelerating from a stopped position, and while the vehicle is stopped at a traffic signal. Therefore, the amount of dependable charging power is very small.
Prior art air charge systems for automobiles usually require especially designed automobile bodies to accommodate the air charge system. Such system designs include special air channels to direct air to the rear of the vehicle to move fan blades which turn an electric generator or alternator. The speed of vehicles of this design is also a factor in the amount of charge being produced.
Most other charger system designs are of a size and configuration that is impractical for installing in existing engine compartments of present day automobiles.

Extended range charging system for electrical vehicle


There is provided an optical transmitter including: a demultiplexer configured to divide a data frame of a transmission signal into subframes with a predetermined length so as to form the subframes in a plurality of signal lanes; an index generator configured to generate an index for indicating an order of the signal lanes; a lane rearrangement unit configured to rearrange the order of the signal lanes according to the index; a carrier controller configured to generate a frequency offset of a carrier corresponding to the index; a mapping unit configured to map the transmission signal in the plurality of signal lanes with the rearranged order to the transmission signal with a phase corresponding to the frequency offset; and a transmitting unit configured to optically modulate the mapped transmission signal so as to transmit the modulated transmission signal.

End-to-end application via LAN (Local Area Network) or SAN (Storage Area Network) has been demanded to have high security and low latency. There is known a method by which encoding is performed while changing a synchronization bit pattern as desired in order to ensure reliability of end-to-end communication (for example, see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 9-55713). Because a receiving end receives a notification of the bit pattern from a transmitting end, the receiving end may read data in a frame-synchronous manner. Conversely, when the bit pattern is not known, frame synchronization is not achieved, and thus data may not be read.
By sending a plurality of bit patterns previously, encoding may be performed using frame synchronization according to the bit patterns. However, when the bit pattern is changed regularly, a synchronization bit pattern changing convention may be detected by monitoring the bit pattern, and thus the reliability of the encoding decreases.
When information resources are transmitted and received between data centers using an optical fiber, there is a problem in that it is difficult to increase the security level. Because a passive optical monitoring device such as an optical coupler is available at a low price, there is a concern that unauthorized branching of the fiber may be performed depending on an accessible region of the fiber. It is even difficult to detect such an unauthorized branching. Thus, it is desirable to develop a method for improving the security level other than just detecting and protecting against unauthorized branching of the fiber.
For example, there is a method utilizing an upper layer. In Internet Protocol Security Virtual Private Network (IPSec-VPN) using layer 3, data is encoded in encapsulation of a packet in VPN communication, and thus even if the communication line is wiretapped, the content or the sender of the data may not be identified. In addition, there is also a technique known as Secure Socket Layer Virtual Private Network (SSL-VAN) using layer 5.

Optical transmitter, optical receiver, and optical transmission method


This invention describes a new process for the selective isolation of through holes in the production of a multi-layer printed circuit card which allows for substantially smaller holes through reference layers to be built, leading to substantially better electrical isolation of signal traces on adjacent wiring layers, and for substantially improved current carrying capacity in the reference layers. This invention also describes a process to allow reference layers of different thickness from adjacent signal layers, even if they are part of the same `core`. Several different process flows are disclosed, leading to substantially the same structure but with varying degrees of complexity and quality of the finished product.

Multi-layer printed circuit cards are commonplace in the electronics industry. A very important aspect of these circuit cards is the construction of vias, or through-holes, which make contact to one or more of the wiring layers while not making contact to any other layer. These vias connect one layer of the card to another layer, and make possible complex 3 dimensional interconnections.
Typically in such a multi-layer card all wiring layers are patterned first either singly or as both sides of a conductor-dielectric-conductor sandwich (a `core`); the layers stacked up,and isolated from each other by dielectric layers (a `fill`), and laminated under heat and pressure into a single card; and finally the through holes drilled and then made conducting by seeding of the walls of the drilled holes and electroplating. Often the outer layers of the card are plated at this time also, so that the conductor thickness of the outer layers is equal to or greater than the thickness of the copper `barrel` that lines the sides of the drilled hole.
The process of not making contact to an internal or external wiring layer, or layer of selectively patterned electrical conductors, is relatively easy since all that is required is there be no conductor in the area of the board through which the via is to be made. However, many of the layers of a multi-layer circuit card may be almost continuous conductor, with patterned holes in the conductive layer only to avoid contact with vias. These layers are termed reference layers, and carry the constant potential voltages (for example, ground, +5 Volts, etc) that power electronics connected to these circuit cards. It is these patterned holes in reference layers, called either clearance holes or anti-pads in the industry, that is the subject of this invention.
In a densely wired circuit card it is possible to have so many holes in a reference layer in a region of circuit card that there is almost no metal left to conduct currents. For example, in a complex, high resolution circuit card it is not unusual for holes to be drilled on a 0.050 inch grid, with clearance holes of diameter 0.044" in the reference layers. On an adjacent layer, directly above or below this reference layer, there can be as many as 3 circuit lines, each 0.004 inch wide and separated by 0.004 inch, between two such vias. Thus the 0.006" conductor must serve as the reference return of a transmission line for the 3 signals. If the signals are very fast and especially if there is misalignment between the reference layer and the wiring layer, the lack of a substantial reference layer can cause the signals to couple to each other, or `cross-talk`. Similarly if the clearance holes in reference layers are too large there may not be enough copper to carry the substantial currents consumed by the devices attached to the cards. Similarly if the clearance holes in the reference layers are too large they will not serve to isolate signal wiring on a layer above the reference layer from signal wiring in a layer below, and the two signal layers can couple or `crosstalk`. Any of these conditions can cause electrical failure.
Smaller clearance holes would solve the problem, but smaller holes cannot be easily constructed due to misalignment between wiring layers, drill wander during drilling, pressure induced motion of region of the circuit card during the process of laminating the layers together, etc. Were smaller clearance holes to be made, the aforementioned errors could cause the drilled hole to contact the reference plane, causing an unwanted connection or `short` after electroplating of the vias.
A further difficulty in multi-layer circuit card construction is the inability to make circuit cards with different metal thicknesses on different layers. While it is possible to do this to a limited degree, what is generally required is to selectively etch different layers for different times, which is difficult to impossible if the two layers are part of a `core`.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printed circuit board (PCB) and a process for making the printed circuit boards with either solid filled and redrilled or electrocoated reference planes.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process for making printed circuit boards where the holes are filled by a lamination process as follows: Fill material is coated on a carrier film or foil, and dried.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process and PCB wherein a board and a mask film or foil are both drilled with the pattern of the holes to be plated through and filled.
It is another object of the present invention wherein the holes are deburred, and chemically cleaned.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process and PCB wherein holes are activated and electrolessly and/or electrolyticly plated, along with both surfaces of the board.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process and PCB wherein the drilled mask is aligned over the plated through holes in the board and a sheet coated with the fill material is placed over the mask.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process and PCB wherein the board, mask and fill sheet are placed in a laminating press and vacuum laminated with heat and pressure to force the fill material into the plated through holes, and then to cure the fill material, after which the press is cooled and pressure released.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process and PCB wherein the board is removed from the press and the mask and fill carrier sheets are peeled from the board.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process and PCB wherein the fill material nubs, and any filled material which bled between the board and mask, are removed by mechanical abrasion, and/or chemical processes.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a PCB and a processes of circuit card construction with internal reference layers whereby the internal reference layers can have thickness substantially different from the thickness of adjacent signal wiring layers, and where the clearance holes in the reference layer are substantially aligned to the drilled holes.

Method for providing a selective reference layer isolation technique for the production of printed circuit boards

International Business Machines Corporation


A power module includes a substrate having first and second main substrate surfaces; a semiconductor device disposed on the first main substrate surface, and having a first main surface on which a first main electrode is formed, and a second main surface on which a second main electrode in contact with the first main substrate surface is formed; a heat conduction portion disposed on the first main substrate surface in a residual region of a region on which the semiconductor device is disposed; and an upper cooling portion disposed on the heat conduction portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power module that converts a direct current into an alternating current, and particularly to a power module in which a semiconductor device is mounted on a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power module switches a switching device such as an insulating gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), thereby converts a direct current supplied from a direct current power supply into an alternating current, and drives an alternating-current motor or the like by the alternating current. In particular, a power module with which a control circuit for the switching device is integrated is referred to as an intelligent power module (IPM). A heating value of the IGBT or the like is large, and accordingly, in the power module, heat radiation from the device becomes a problem. Therefore, there are taken measures for cooling the power module, for example, disposition of a cooling mechanism such as a heat radiation plate that radiates heat generated by the switching device.
However, a surface of the device that composes the power module is thermally insulated by gel or the like, and accordingly, the heat generated by the device is radiated from only a back surface of the device, which is in contact with the substrate. Therefore, cooling efficiency has been low, and it has been necessary to radiate the heat by disposing a large cooling mechanism on the substrate. As a result, it has been difficult to miniaturize the power module.


An electronic component includes a body including a plurality of stacked dielectric layers and internal electrodes disposed with a corresponding dielectric layer interposed therebetween, and external electrodes disposed on the body and connected to corresponding internal electrodes. One of the internal electrodes includes a particle including Ni and Sn and a graphene layer disposed at a boundary of the particle. A ratio of an Sn content to a total content of Ni and Sn is Sn/(Ni+Sn), Sn/(Ni+Sn) of a first region located inside the particle at a first distance from a boundary between the particle and the graphene layer is A1, Sn/(Ni+Sn) of a second region located inside the particle at a second distance from a boundary between the particle and the graphene layer is A2, the second distance is smaller than the first distance, and A1 is smaller than A2.

Multilayer capacitors such as a multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) include a plurality of dielectric layers and a plurality of internal electrodes alternately disposed with the dielectric layers interposed therebetween. Sn may be used as an additive to improve characteristics of such internal electrodes. Sn added to internal electrodes may improve reliability (e.g., high temperature load life). However, as Sn diffuses from the internal electrode to the dielectric layer, a capacitance reduction phenomenon may occur.

Conductive powder particle for internal electrode and electronic component, and manufacturing method thereof


In accordance with the various embodiments disclosed herein, electrical connector footprints, such as printed circuit boards, is described comprising one or more of signal traces that each include a first section that extends parallel to the linear array direction and a second section extends in a direction that is different than the linear array direction.

Typically, a printed circuit board includes a plurality of electrically conductive layers and electrically insulative layers that are interleaved between adjacent ones of the electrically conductive layers. The electrically conductive layers can include electrically conductive ground layers and electrically conductive signal layers. Conventional printed circuit boards have an arrangement of plated through holes, or vias, that are arranged along a plurality of linear arrays that include ground vias and signal vias. The signal vias can be arranged in differential signal pairs that are separated by one or more ground vias along the respective linear array. Conventional printed circuit boards contain routing channels that each contain respective sets of differential signal traces that are electrically connected to the signal vias. The routing channels, and thus the signal traces, are normally located in a signal layer above or below the ground layer. These routing channels typically located between adjacent linear arrays and extend parallel to the linear arrays.

Printed circuit board having orthogonal signal routing


A thermal utilization system is capable of producing power, storing energy via a chemical or and a hydropower-elevation means. It also capable of transport fluid as vapor over obstacles and terrains, as well as desalinate water. It may in some embodiments do all or some of these tasks simultaneously and with the same amount of energy. It may run with any source of energy including renewable energy sources such as solar energy, and wind. The system may use that energy to run a heat engine and, at the same time, stores that energy via chemical separation. When energy is needed, the system may withdraw the chemical substances and lets them interact to claim the energy back, and then use it to run a heat engine and desalinate water. Some parts of the system can be used for cooling and heating. The system may be configured to be an air conditioner unit or a refrigerator that has an internal back up energy storage.

Thermoelectric systems, solar heat engines, and internal combustion engines yield heat as a by-product of producing mechanical or electrical power. Thermoelectric systems use cooling towers (wet) and cooling units (dry) to reject their heat. Desalination plant may couple to thermal electrical plants. Energy storage devices may couple to concentrated solar power plants.


A pocket sized weed grinder is provided herein. The weed grinder includes a single board, including at least four panels, at least one folding line disposed between adjacent panels of the at least four panels, for forming a closed flat cell between two of the adjacent panels, and two grinding plates, each grinding plate disposed on each of two of the adjacent panels. At least one of the two grinding plates is movable in linear motion with respect to the other. The weed grinder enables grinding of weed, accumulating the ground weed within the weed grinder and pouring the ground weed to a smoking paper, while avoiding the need of a mediator element to which ground weed is poured and from which ground weed is poured into a smoking paper, as in currently used weed grinders.

Personal weed grinders, used typically for smokers, are disadvantaged of being large, rather than being fitted to the pocket.
The term "smoking paper" refers to a paper for being filled with ground weed, and for then being rolled, thereby producing a cigarette.
Further, the picking of the ground weed from the weed grinder into the smoking paper, is not convenient. Currently used personal weed grinders require the use of a 'mediator' element, e.g., paper, which the ground weed is to be placed onto, and from which the ground weed is to be collected into the smoking paper.
There is a long felt need to provide a solution to the above-mentioned and other problems of the prior art.


Method and apparatus for reducing harmonic distortion. In one embodiment, the method comprises determining an inverter output current waveform; determining a plurality of harmonic components of the inverter output current waveform; determining, based on the plurality of harmonic components, a plurality of harmonic compensation components; and generating a compensating current comprising the plurality of harmonic compensation components.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to power conversion and, in particular, to reducing harmonics in output current from a power conversion module.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solar panels, or photovoltaic (PV) modules, convert energy from sunlight received into direct current (DC). The PV modules cannot store the electrical energy they produce, so the energy must either be dispersed to an energy storage system, such as a battery or pumped hydroelectricity storage, or dispersed by a load. One option to use the energy produced is to employ one or more inverters to convert the DC current into an alternating current (AC) and couple the AC current to the commercial power grid. The power produced by such a distributed generator (DG) system can then be sold to the commercial power company.
During the power conversion process, non-ideal circuit behavior may result in undesirable harmonics in the generated output current. Further, inverter output current coupled to a commercial power grid must comply with restrictions regarding harmonics as specified in relevant regulatory requirements, such as IEEE-1547-2003. One technique for reducing inverter output current harmonic distortion is to use passive filtering. Due to the relatively low frequencies of some harmonic components, the components required for the passive filters would be bulky and expensive, leading to an undesirable increase in size and cost of the inverter.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for efficiently reducing distortion in output current from a power conversion module.

Method and apparatus for inverter output current harmonic reduction


A signal driver receives an input signal and an enable signal, and generates an output signal from the input signal when the enable signal has an active state. When the enable signal has an inactive state, the signal driver draws substantially zero supply current regardless of the level of the input signal. The enable signal may be the sense-amplifier enable signal. The signal driver may also include an input circuit that receives the input signal and generates an intermediate signal from the input signal when the enable signal has the first state. An output circuit is coupled to the input circuit, receives the intermediate signal, and generates the output signal from the intermediate signal. A switch circuit is coupled to the input circuit, receives the enable signal, and cuts off substantially all supply current to the input circuit when the enable signal has the second state.

To reduce the number of internal components and the degradation of the read signal, many memory devices lack dedicated pass-gate transistors to couple and uncouple the read circuits, which each typically include a sense amplifier, equilibrate circuit, and a data-line driver, to and from the read lines during a read cycle and a write cycle respectively. Typically, in such a memory device, the column-select transistors that are used to connect the bit lines to the read lines also isolate the read circuits from the bit lines when the sense amplifier is enabled or clocked. Often, such a memory device couples both the read and the write lines to the bit lines of an addressed memory cell during both a read and a write cycle. Thus, the memory device often couples the read circuits to the write lines during a write cycle. Such coupling, however, typically does not affect the reading of data from or the writing of data to the memory cell.
A problem with such a memory device is that during a write cycle, the data-line drivers, which the memory device does not use during a write cycle, may draw a current, often called a "crowbar" current, from the power supply. A data-line driver acts as an interface between a read line and a data line of the data bus. During a read cycle, the sense amplifier amplifies the data signal from the addressed memory cell, and provides the amplified data signal on the read line. The data-line driver receives the amplified data signal on the read line and provides it to the data line. During a write cycle, the data-line driver ideally uncouples the read line from and presents a high impedance to the data line while drawing little or no supply current. During a write cycle, however, the transistor that couples the read line to the bit line of the addressed memory cell often generates on the read line a body-effected threshold voltage that is between a logic 0 (typically 0 volts) and a logic 1 (typically 5 volts). This body-effected threshold voltage is often sufficient to partially activate the input stage of the data-line driver, and thus cause the data-line driver to draw a supply current. The sum of such currents from all of the partially activated data-line drivers can be significant.
The sum of these crowbar currents may be sufficient to render such a memory device unsuitable for low-power applications, such as battery applications. Furthermore, the additional heat that these currents generate may shorten the lifetime of the memory device, or necessitate more complicated heat dissipation techniques or structures. Moreover, during stressing of the memory device, a higher-than normal power-supply voltage is applied to hasten the bum in of the memory device. For example, in a memory device that normally operates with a 5-volt supply, a 9-volt supply is used during stressing. Thus, because they may be even larger than during normal operation of the memory device, the crowbar currents may cause more severe heating problems or other problems during stress testing of the memory device.

Device and method for driving a conductive path with a signal


A lock assembly including a lock bolt, a first hub, a first electrically powered hub locker assembly and a manually driven hub locker assembly. The lock bolt is movable between a latching position and an unlatching position. The first hub is adapted to move the lock bolt in response to movement of a first handle. The first electrically powered hub locker assembly is positionable to selectively prevent or allow movement of the lock bolt in response to torque being applied to the first handle and is configurable for fail safe operation. The manually driven hub locker assembly is positionable to selectively prevent or allow movement of the lock bolt in response to torque being applied to the first handle.

Electrically controllable and/or electrically powered locks are known. A disadvantage of such locks is they can not be used to lock and unlock a door when required until door control and/or monitoring electrics are installed and fully operational. Accordingly, to provide security and access control, it is common to install a second manual lock, or post a guard, until this occurs. Such measures are both inconvenient and incur cost.
Further, such locks must also be set to operate as either fail safe or fail secure. A fail safe lock automatically reverts to an unlocked state when its power supply is interrupted, for example during a power failure or a break-in attempt. A fail secure lock automatically reverts to a locked state when its power supply is interrupted. However, a fail safe or fail secure setting is not always appropriate for all uses of the lock. As an example, a disadavantage of such a lock set to fail safe is it does not allow a door to be locked whilst the door control and/or monitoring electrics are not yet installed or fully operational. Another disadvantage of such locks is that security and access control can be lost when the control of the lock, which can be located remotely, has been compromised.

GAINSBOROUGH HARDWARE INDUSTRIES LIMITED