A battery module has a cell stack including a first battery cell and a second battery cell, which respectively have electrode leads and are stacked to face each other. A connector configured to connect the electrode leads of the pair of battery cells. A support frame provided to at least one side of the cell stack and having a pair of lead slits at which the electrode leads are drawn and an injection slit formed at a location corresponding to the connector to give a passage through which a venting gas discharged at venting of the battery cell is injected.

As portable electric products such as video cameras, cellular phones and portable PCs are used more broadly, the importance of secondary batteries mainly used as a driving power source therefor is increasing.
A secondary battery capable of charging and discharging, different from a primary battery cannot be recharged is being actively studied in high-tech fields such as digital cameras, cellular phones, laptop computers, power tools, electric bicycles, electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and mass-capacity power storage devices.
In particular, a lithium secondary battery has a high energy density per unit weight and allows rapid charging, compared to other secondary batteries such as lead storage batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries and nickel-zinc batteries, and thus it is used more and more.
The lithium secondary battery has an operating voltage of 3.6V or above. The lithium secondary battery is used as a power source for a portable electronic device, or a plurality of lithium secondary batteries are connected in series or in parallel and used for a high output electric vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle, a power tool, an electric bicycle, a power storage device or a UPS.
The lithium secondary battery has an operating voltage three times higher than that of a nickel-cadmium battery or a nickel-metal hydride battery and has a high energy density per unit weight. For this reason, the lithium secondary battery tends to be used more and more.
The lithium secondary battery may be classified into a lithium ion battery using a liquid electrolyte and a lithium ion polymer battery using a polymer solid electrolyte depending on an electrolyte type. In addition, the lithium ion polymer battery may be classified into a pure solid lithium ion polymer battery without containing any electrolyte and a lithium ion polymer battery using a gel polymer electrolyte containing an electrolytic solution, depending on a polymer solid electrolyte type.
In the lithium ion battery using a liquid electrolyte, a cylindrical or rectangular metal can is generally used as a container in a welded and sealed form. Since the can-type secondary battery using the metal can as a container has a fixed shape, there is a disadvantage that it restricts the design of an electric product using the can-type secondary battery as a power source, and it is difficult to reduce the volume. Thus, a pouch-type secondary battery prepared by putting an electrode assembly and an electrolyte in a pouch packaging material made of a film and sealing the pouch packaging material has been developed and used.
However, the lithium secondary battery has a risk of explosion when being overheated and thus it is important to secure safety. The lithium secondary battery is overheated due to various factors, one of which is an overcurrent flow above a limit through the lithium secondary battery. If the overcurrent flows, the lithium secondary battery is heated by the Joule heat, so the internal temperature of the battery rises rapidly. In addition, the rapid rise in temperature causes a decomposition reaction of the electrolyte, causing a thermal runaway, which eventually leads to the explosion of the battery. Overcurrent occurs in the case where a sharp metal object penetrates the lithium secondary battery, where the insulation between positive and negative electrodes is destroyed due to the shrinkage of a separator interposed between the positive and negative electrodes, where a rush current is applied to the battery due to abnormality of a charging circuit or a load connected to the outside, or the like.
Thus, the lithium secondary battery is used in combination with a protecting circuit in order to protect the battery against an abnormal situation such as overcurrent, and the protecting circuit generally includes a fuse element for irreversibly disconnecting a line through which a charging or discharging current flows when overcurrent occurs.
As shown in FIG. 1, in order to protect the battery pack when overcurrent occurs, the protecting circuit includes a fuse element 1, a sensing resistor 2 for sensing overcurrent, a microcontroller 3 for monitoring the occurrence of overcurrent and operating the fuse element 1 when overcurrent occurs, and a switch 4 for switching the inflow of an operating current to the fuse element 1.
The fuse element 1 is installed on a main line connected to an outermost terminal of the battery pack. The main line refers to a wiring through which a charging current or a discharging current flows. In FIG. 1, it is depicted that the fuse element 1 is installed at a high-potential line (Pack+).
The fuse element 1 is a three-terminal element, where two terminals are connected to the main line through which a charging or discharging current flows and one terminal is connected to the switch 4. In addition, the fuse element 1 includes a fuse 1a connected to the main line in series and melted and cut at a certain temperature and a resistor 1b for applying heat to the fuse 1a.
The microcontroller 3 periodically detects the voltage at both ends of the sensing resistor 2 and monitors whether overcurrent occurs. If it is determined that overcurrent occurs, the microcontroller 3 turns on the switch 4. If so, the current flowing on the main line is bypassed to the fuse element 1 and applied to the resistor 1b. Accordingly, the Joule heat generated at the resistor 1b is conducted to the fuse 1a to raise the temperature of the fuse 1a. If the temperature of the fuse 1a rises to the melting temperature, the fuse 1a is melted and broken so that the main line is irreversibly disconnected. If the main line is disconnected, the overcurrent does not flow any more, thereby overcoming the problem caused by the overcurrent.
However, the above conventional technique has several problems. In other words, if the microcontroller 3 is broken, the switch 4 does not turn on even though overcurrent occurs. In this case, a current does not flow into the resistor 1b of the fuse element 1, and thus the fuse element 1 does not operate. Also, a space for disposing the fuse element 1 is separately required inside the protecting circuit, and a program algorithm for controlling the operation of the fuse element 1 must be loaded in the microcontroller 3. Thus, it is disadvantageous that the space efficiency of the protecting circuit is deteriorated and the load of the microcontroller 3 is increased.

Battery module having structure breaking connector by using venting gas


An electrical submersible pump assembly has a centrifugal primary pump having a primary pump housing. An electrical motor is operatively coupled to the primary pump. An instrument sub has a housing secured by threaded fasteners to one end of the primary pump housing. A pump stage in the instrument sub housing is driven by the electric motor along with the primary pump, the pump stage including an impeller and a diffuser. A sensor within the instrument sub monitors parameters in the instrument sub. A sensor line port extends through a wall of the instrument sub housing. A sensor line extends sealingly through the sensor line port to the sensor for conveying sensed information from the sensor to a remote instrument panel.

Electrical submersible pump assemblies are commonly used in hydrocarbon producing wells to pump well fluid. These assemblies include a rotary pump driven by an electrical motor. A seal section coupled between the pump and motor reduces a pressure differential between well fluid and motor oil or lubricant contained in the motor and part of the seal section. Usually, a string of production tubing supports the submersible pump assembly in the well. A drive shaft extends from the motor through the seal section to the pump.
Instruments to measure various operating parameter of a submersible pump assembly are commonly used. The instruments are normally mounted in a sub attached to a lower end of the motor. In this position, electrical power for the instruments can come from an electrical lead extending to a neutral point for the three phases of windings in the motor. The signals can be superimposed on the three power conductors leading to the wellhead. These instruments measure motor parameters and only indirectly pump parameter as the pump may be some distance above the motor.
Proposals to measure parameters directly in the pump are also known, using both electrical or electronic sensors as well as fiber optic sensors. Mounting sensors within the pump, however, is a difficult task because of the length of the pump and the number of stages. Extending a sensor wire or line to the instrument sub at the bottom of the motor presents problems. The pump housing may not be thick enough for sensor wire ports and passageways to be formed in it.
Separate sensor wires or lines apart from the conductors in the power cable for sensing electrical submersible pump assembly conditions are known. It is difficult, however, to route the sensor wires to various points within a lengthy pump.

Instrument subs for centrifugal well pump assemblies


A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel having liquid crystal material sandwiched between a pair of substrates, optical components disposed behind the liquid crystal display panel, a frame-like mold which houses the liquid crystal display panel and the optical components, and a frame which houses the frame-like mold. The frame includes a bottom portion and a sidewall, and the bottom portion is provided with plural engaging through holes which are formed along the sidewall not to extend into the sidewall. The frame-like mold is provided with plural engaging protrusions which are disposed correspondingly to the engaging holes and protrude downward beyond a lower surface of the frame-like mold. The frame-like mold and the frame are fixed together by inserting each of the engaging protrusions into a corresponding one of the engaging through holes.

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and in particular to a technology useful for application to a backlight of a liquid crystal display device.
Widely used as display sections of portable equipment such as mobile phones are TFT (Thin Film Transistor) type liquid crystal display modules each provided with a small-sized color liquid crystal panel having subpixels in the order of 240×320×3 in number.
FIG. 16A is a schematic exploded perspective view illustrating a rough configuration of a conventional liquid crystal display module. As shown in FIG. 16A, in the conventional liquid crystal display module, arranged in the order shown in FIG. 16A within a metal frame 16, for example, a die cast frame made of magnesium alloy, are a liquid crystal display panel LCD, a mold 11 formed of synthetic resin, for example, and a light reflective sheet 12. Disposed within the mold 11 are a light guide 10, a group of optical sheets (upper and lower light diffusing sheets and a lens sheet) 15, and a light source (white light emitting diodes) 13.
The liquid crystal display panel LCD is fabricated by attaching together a glass substrate TFTSUB provided with thin film transistors, drain lines, gate lines and others (not shown) and a glass substrate CFSUB provided with a counter electrode, color filters and others (not shown) with a sealing agent (not shown) interposed therebetween, then filling a liquid crystal material (not shown) into a space between the two glass substrates TFTSUB, CFSUB, and sealing off the space, and then attaching polarizing sheets POL1 and PLO2 on the outer surfaces of the two glass substrates TFTSUB and CFSUB, respectively. In FIG. 16A, reference character DRV denote semiconductor chips for driving the subpixels of the liquid crystal display panel LCD
The frame 16 in FIG. 16A is required to be electro-conductive so as to prevent EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) and mechanically strong, and therefore the frame 16 is formed of a magnesium alloy die cast, for example.
FIG. 16B is a cross-sectional view of the conventional liquid crystal display module of FIG. 16A in the assembled condition taken along line XVIB-XVIB of FIG. 16A. The liquid crystal display panel LCD is attached to a recess formed in the mold 11 by using double-faced adhesive tapes 100.
FIGS. 17A and 17B are illustrations for explaining the mold 11 shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, FIG. 17A is a plan view of the mold 11, and FIG. 17B is a cross-sectional view of the mold 11 taken along line XVIIB-XVIIB of FIG. 17A. As shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B, the mold 11 shown in FIG. 16A is of the shape of a frame (or a cylinder) having a rectangular cross section, and is formed with engaging portions 1a.
FIGS. 18A-18C are illustrations for explaining the frame 16 shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, FIG. 18A is a plan view of the frame 16, and FIG. 18B is a cross-sectional view of the frame 16 taken along line XVIIIB-XVIIIB of FIG. 18A, FIG. 18C is an enlarged view of an encircled portion A of FIG. 18B, and FIG. 18D is an enlarged perspective view of the encircled portion A of FIG. 18B. As shown in FIGS. 18A-18D, the frame 16 has a bottom portion 30 and a sidewall 31 formed along the peripheries of the bottom portion 30, and the frame 16 has through holes 1b therein extending continuously from the bottom portion 30 to the sidewall 31.
FIGS. 19A-19C are illustrations for explaining a method of fixing together the mold 11 and the frame 16 shown in FIG. 16A, FIG. 19A is a plan view of an assembly of the mold 11 and the frame 16, FIG. 19B is a cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 19A taken along line XIXB-XIXB of FIG. 19A, and FIG. 19C is an enlarged view of an encircled portion B of FIG. 19B. Incidentally, the liquid crystal display panel LCD, the light guide 10, the group of optical sheets 15 or the light source 13 are not shown in FIGS. 19A-19C for the sake of simplicity.
As shown in FIGS. 19A-19C, the mold 11 is fixed to the frame 16 by inserting the engaging portions 1a formed in the sidewall of the mold 11 into the through holes 1b formed in the frame 16, and engaging tips of the engaging portions 1a with the sidewall of the frame 16 (or hooking the tips of the engaging portions 1a to the sidewall of the frame 16).
Incidentally, the shapes of the mold 11 and the frame 16 are schematically illustrated in FIGS. 16A-19C and later-explained figures for explaining the features of the present invention clearly, and therefore they do not always represent the shapes of the mold 11 and the frame 16 in practical applications.

Liquid crystal display device comprising a frame having through holes at a bottom portion and a frame-like mold having protrusions which insert into the through holes


A charger in one aspect of the present invention includes: a connecting portion, two protection devices, a charging device, a control device, and a voltage detection device. A first protection device is configured such that its power consumption in a charging inhibited state is lower than that in a charging permitted state. A second protection device is configured such that its power consumption in the permitted state is lower than that in the inhibited state. The control device is configured to respectively set, when the battery is not connected to the connecting portion, the first protection device to the inhibited state and the second protection device to the permitted state, and thereafter switch, when the voltage value of the charging path detected by the voltage detection device is equal to or greater than a predetermined specified voltage value, the second protection device to the inhibited state.

The present invention relates to a charger that includes two systems of protection circuits to inhibit charging a battery, at least when the battery is not connected to a connecting portion for charging, to thereby suppress output of a charging voltage from the connecting portion.
A charger of this type is conventionally known as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-143062. In the charger, a pulse-width modulation (PWM) output setting unit to feed back a charging current to a charging device that conducts PWM control of a charging current to a battery and a power source unit to supply a power-supply voltage to the charging device for operation thereof are provided as two systems of protection circuits.
In the charger, when the battery is not connected to a connecting portion, output of the charging voltage from the charging device to the connecting portion is inhibited by setting an output from the PWM output setting unit to a value for setting the charging current to zero and setting an output voltage from the power source unit to 0V.
According to the charger of this type, therefore, even when a malfunction or failure occurs in one of the protection circuits, it is possible to inhibit output of a charging voltage from the charging device to the connecting portion by an operation of the other of the protection circuits, and thus to achieve an enhanced safety of the charger.


Embodiments provide a modified microbe capable of growing in or fermenting a solution, or lignocellulosic hydrolysate, comprising ferulic acid and/or coniferyl aldehyde. The microbe has one or more modifications to provide: (a) a decrease in copy number or expression of a BNA7 gene; (b) an increase in copy number or expression of one or more pentose phosphate pathway genes; and/or (c) localization of one or more products of the pentose phosphate pathway genes to the mitochondria or endoplasmic reticulum. Also provided is a microbe having modified expression or copy number of BNA7 and/or one or more of the pentose phosphate pathway genes. The pentose phosphate pathway genes may in certain embodiments be selected from at least one of ZWF1, TKL1, RPE1 and GND1. Also provided is a method for fermenting a substrate comprising ferulic acid and/or coniferyl aldehyde to produce a fermentation product.

Though food crops high in starch are commonly used for biofuel production, their use as a feedstock is not ideal given multiple issues including food security and high cost. Therefore, the emerging biofuels industry has turned towards lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock such as, but not limited to, those found in agricultural and forestry residues, as well as energy crops including grasses grown on marginal lands.
The bioconversion of lignocellulose to fuels often involves the hydrolysis of the lignocellulosic biomass into simple sugars, which are subsequently converted to biofuels and other chemicals by fermentation using yeast. However, in addition to the release of sugars, the hydrolysis also generates a complex mix of biologically toxic compounds derived from lignin, including furan derivatives, organic acids and phenolic compounds.
Among these inhibitory products, phenolic compounds are generally regarded as the most toxic as they are typically capable of severely inhibiting yeast growth and fermentation at minute quantities. For example, ferulic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and coniferyl aldehyde kill the commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae ethanol red when present at 5 mM, 11 mM and 1 mM respectively (Adeboye et al., 2014, AMB Express, 4, 46-46). The concentrations of these inhibitors in sugar hydrolyzates can vary, but are often found at concentrations that can negatively impact the growth or fermentation of the yeast. Sodium hydroxide hydrolysis of rice straw yields 0.985 mM ferulic acid (Hou, J. et al., 2017, Journal of Cleaner Production, 165, 1107-1114), whereas acid treated corn stover yields 2 mM ferulic acid (Lopez et al., 2004, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 64, 125-131). While 4-hydroxybenzoic acid is present at 0.0002 mM in acid hydrolyzed corn stover (Du et al., 2010, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 107, 430-440), its concentration reaches 0.036 mM in acid hydrolyzed spruce (Larsson et al., 1999, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 77, 91-103).
Given the fact that the concentrations of these phenolics found in typical hydrolysates are often toxic, mitigation strategies are required for efficient microbial-based fermentation to occur. To limit the effect of phenolic inhibitors on microbial growth and fermentation, different strategies are under development. One approach is to remove the compounds from the hydrolysate as they form. However, this remains a very expensive and time consuming approach.
The following disclosure seeks to address this and/or to provide useful alternatives to known approaches to reduce the impact of these molecules on microbial growth and fermentation.

Microbe having increased tolerance to phenolic fermentation inhibitors


A brake control system for a vehicle in which a brake pressure is generated in accordance with a signal from an electronic control unit for applying the brake pressure to vehicle wheels, characterized in that a mechanical brake system is automatically actuated when an unexpected electrical fault has occurred in an electrical brake system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a fail-safe system and brake actuating apparatus for a vehicular brake control apparatus, and particularly to a fail-safe system for a vehicular brake control apparatus having both an electric brake system so-called "by wire" type brake apparatus and an auxiliary mechanical brake system, capable of immediately actuating the mechanical brake system even when an unexpected fault was occurred in the electrical brake apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to a brake actuating apparatus to which the above fail-safe system is applied.
2. Related Art
A conventional power brake control apparatus in which electric signals are employed for actuating the brake system is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,562 and Unexamined Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. Hei. 2-267056. In these conventional brake apparatus of the by-wire type, a depressing force applied to or stroke of a brake pedal is detected by a sensor, and an electric control device controls a brake actuating apparatus in accordance with an output signal of the sensor, so that wheel cylinders disposed at vehicle wheels are supplied with a desired brake pressure.
The by-wire system of the brake apparatus as described, above is in fact advantageous in that it is readily applied to an anti-skid brake system and/or traction control system since the electric signals are applicable to various kinds of controls. Further, since the brake force control structure is relatively simple compared to the other brake control apparatus, the demand for this type of brake control apparatus will likely increase in future.
However, this type of brake control apparatus suffers from a problem that control is lost when an unexpected electrical defect occurs due to a fault of the sensor or a breakdown of electric wires, since the by-wire system brake apparatus electrically controls the whole the operational force for the brake control apparatus in accordance with the electric signal supplied from the sensor detecting the depressing force applied to or stroke of the brake pedal. This is different from the former conventional mechanical brake operating structure which does not depend on electrical signals. Accordingly, the conventional electrical brake actuating apparatus raises a serious problem in safety.
Further, in the brake actuating apparatus to which the by-wire type brake apparatus is applied, as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,562 and Unexamined Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. Hei. 2-267056, a spool valve or the like performs an initial operation and then the other piston is actuated to generate brake pressure. Accordingly, the structure is quite intricate.

Fail-safe system and brake actuating apparatus for a vehicular brake control apparatus

Akebono Research and Development Centre Ltd.


A method of packaging a particulate material is provided. The method includes the steps of providing a flexible plastic bag having an opening at one end, placing the bag in a mold which generally takes the form of an open-topped box, introducing the material into the bag through the opening, creating a vacuum in the bag and sealing the bag to close the opening while maintaining the vacuum in the bag.

This invention relates to a method of packing a particulate material.
Nuts such as cashew nuts are generally packed in metal drums for transport around the world. The nuts are introduced into the drums through an opening. The opening is closed and the nuts then purged with a gas such as carbon dioxide. Although the drums are robust, this method of packing nuts does give rise to several problems. There is inevitably some ullage space in the drum allowing the nuts to move during transport and this movement can cause attrition of the nuts. The shelf-life of the nuts packed in this way is, at best, six to eight months. Metal containers are expensive and relatively heavy.

Process for vacuum packaging of materials

Van Leer South Africa (Proprietary) Limited


A static random access memory (SRAM) cell having increased cell capacitance at the storage nodes utilizes a capacitive structure disposed in a trench. The capacitive structure includes an oxide liner disposed underneath a polysilicon or tungsten plug. The polysilicon plugs are each isolated from the drains of lateral transistors associated with the SRAM cell. The capacitive structure is provided between first and second N-channel pull down transistors associated with the SRAM cell. The polysilicon plug can be provided during the formation of local interconnects for the cell. The polysilicon material or plug can be coupled to the semiconductor substrate.

Semiconductor memory devices such as random access memory (RAM) devices typically include a number of memory cells coupled to at least one bit line. The memory cells often include at least one storage device, storage node, and pass gate transistor. Generally, in a static random access memory (SRAM) cell, two storage devices such as drive transistors are coupled between two pass gate transistors, and a bit line is coupled to each of the pass gate transistors. Thus, each memory cell is often located between two bit lines.
The pass gate transistors (e.g., transfer gates) have gate electrodes which are coupled to word lines. A signal such as an address or select signal is provided on the word line associated with the memory cell to select or access a particular memory cell. Once the memory cell is selected via the word line, the memory cell can be read or written to through the pass gate transistors via the bit lines.
The memory cell of the SRAM often contains two inverters connected in anti-parallel. Basically, each cell is a flip-flop which has two stable states (e.g., a logic 1 or a logic 0). The memory cell is generally made of four or six transistors. In a four transistor SRAM cell, a first resistor is coupled in series with a first pull down (e.g., storage or drive) transistor at a first storage node, and a second resistor is coupled in series with a second pull down transistor at a second storage node. A first pass gate is coupled between a first bit line and the first storage node, and a second pass gate is coupled between a second bit line and a second storage node.
In a six transistor memory cell, the first and second resistors are replaced by first and second load transistors. The load transistors can be P-channel transistors or depletion mode N-channel transistors. The pull down transistors and pass gate transistors for both four transistor cells and six transistor cells are usually N-channel enhancement mode transistors.
As technology advances, memory cell size has steadily decreased so more memory cells can be located on a single semiconductor substrate. Additionally, power supply has decreased. The decreased memory cell size and power supply reduces the amount of charge stored at each of the storage nodes. The trend of decreasing charge storage per node makes the memory cell more susceptible to charge loss due to parasitic leakage problems.
Thus, there is a need for a memory cell with enhanced charge storage capacity. Further, there is a need for a memory cell of minimal size which can store and retain logic signals for an extended period of time. Further still, there is a need for a stable memory cell of small size which is relatively immune to noise and which does not require a significant number of additional fabrication steps.

Method of making static random access memory cell having a trench field plate for increased capacitance


The present invention relates to a treatment method of spent uranium catalyst, and more specifically, to a method which can considerably reduce the volume of the spent uranium catalyst to be disposed of and simultaneously minimize secondary wastes that can be generated during the process of treating the spent uranium catalyst.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a treatment method of spent uranium catalyst, and more specifically, to a method which can considerably reduce the volume of the spent uranium catalyst to be disposed of and simultaneously minimize secondary wastes that can be generated during the process of treating the spent uranium catalyst.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the 1970s, U—SbOx/SiO2 catalyst which is supported by USbO5 or USb3O10, complex compounds of uranium (U) and antimony (Sb), on a porous silicon (support: SiO2), or UwSbxFeaAlbMocVdOz/SiO2 catalyst in which iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), molybdenum (Mo), vanadium (V), bismuth (Bi), as well as U and Sb are mixed have been developed in order to produce acrylonitrile (CH2═CHCN), a base material of synthetic fiber. These uranium catalysts use only depleted uranium having U-238 with U-235 mostly eliminated.
These uranium catalysts, which were used by Du Pont, or Union Carbide in U.S.A., or Sohio of Japan, etc. until approximately 2000, have been replaced by nonradioactive catalysts which are free of uranium since 2000. A South Korean private company had produced acrylic synthetic fiber using the uranium catalyst until 2004 and since then has used the nonradioactive catalyst, and consequently, approximately 7,100 drums (one drum is 200 liters) of spent uranium catalysts, which had been generated until the use of nonradioactive catalysts, are stored at the site. Although not accurate, the amount of the stored uranium waste at the acrylonitrile production sites in foreign countries, is also expected to be voluminous.
In regard to a domestic regulation on disposal of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes, Notification No. 205˜18 published by Korean Ministry of Science and Technology regulates alpha radioactivity of a solid radioactive waste to be 3,700 Bq/g or below, which corresponds to 14.6 wt % U for natural uranium and 25.2 wt % for depleted uranium. In order to discharge the radioactive wastes at the same level as the nonradioactive wastes into the environment, as exempt waste, the solid wastes need to have very low concentration of U, which is approximately 0.005 wt % or less.
Currently, the radioactivity of the spent uranium catalyst using the depleted uranium generated within South Korea conforms with the standards for transferring radioactive wastes to a radioactive waste disposal site to be operated in Gyeongju area in the future. Although the current disposal of the wastes costs approximately KRW 8.5 million per 200 L drum, the cost is expected to reach nearly KRW 10 million per the same-volume drum. Moreover, given that the volume increases due to additives added in the process of preparing the solid form for the disposal of the spent uranium catalyst, the final wastes to be disposed of add up to nearly 10,000 drums and thus the direct disposal cost can amount to KRW 100 billion.
The U used for the spent uranium catalyst is depleted uranium, which has little economic value, and therefore, if the U from the spent uranium catalyst is selectively and completely disposed of at a radioactive waste disposal site, the volume of the wastes to be disposed of can be reduced by up to 95% theoretically, and the disposal cost for the separated U can be approximately KRW 5 billion. As a means to use effectively the domestic radioactive waste disposal facilities to be constructed in the future and to minimize the secondary wastes for the reduction of the disposal cost for the spent uranium catalyst, an effective technology is needed for reducing the volume of the spent uranium catalyst by separating U exclusively from the spent uranium catalyst as much as possible while reducing the disposal cost.
Another concern is that, if acidic or alkaline solutions used to eliminate metals or Si, a supporter material, which are included in the spent uranium catalyst, are left after treatment of the spent uranium catalyst, much amount of secondary wastes to be disposed of can be generated due to the left acidic or alkaline solutions.
Therefore, a technology is necessary, to eliminate dissolved metal materials including uranium from the acidic and alkaline solutions after the process of eliminating uranium by using the acidic and alkaline solutions and then recover the acidic and alkaline solution by using electrodialysis from the mixture of several inorganic solutions used in the treatment process for the volume reduction of spent uranium catalyst.
Conventional technologies for reducing the volume of spent uranium catalyst for disposal and for preventing secondary wastes from being generated are introduced in the after-mentioned documents. Patent Document 1 introduces a method in which sodium carbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is mixed with the spent catalyst to dissolve Si, a main component of spent uranium catalyst; the mixture is reacted at a high temperature (1,000˜1,600° C.) to produce sodium silicate; water is added to the sodium silicate under 1˜10 atm and at a temperature of 10˜200° C. to create liquid sodium silicate; and the liquid sodium silicate and undissolved solid materials are separated by a solid-liquid separator. However, the method above focuses on how to separate the Si from the spent uranium catalyst, and therefore can overlook a point that part of U can be dissolved together in the alkali carbonate solution and then the U can remain in the secondary liquid waste generated from the process of treating the spent uranium catalyst. And since the method does not provide a measure of treating secondary liquid waste, reducing the volume of the spent uranium catalyst can be limited.
Patent Document 2 introduces a method in which, as a dry process, alkali carbonate is added to the spent uranium catalyst and stirred to react at a temperature of 1,000 to 1,600° C. in order to change the components of the spent catalyst into the form of alkali salt; or as a wet process, alkali hydroxide is dissolved in water and the spent uranium catalyst powder is mixed uniformly with the aqueous solution to react under the condition of 1 to 20 atm and at a temperature of 10 to 300° C. in order to change the components of the spent uranium catalyst into the form of alkali salt. However, this method overlooks the fact that uranium can be dissolved together with other components including Si in carbonate solution or alkali hydroxide solution and it can be intermixed with the dissolved Si solution. Consequently, the method above is practically limited in treating the spent uranium catalyst as it does not present an alternative to handling the Si precipitate contaminated with uranium and the uranium-bearing solution.
Patent Document 3 suggests a method in which spent uranium catalyst is heated at a temperature of 1,200 to 1,800° C. to separate and cool antimony oxide, molybdenum oxide, or volatile materials of the mixture of antimony oxide and molybdenum oxide, and to collect the powder, and remaining wastes from which the volatile material is separated and eliminated are heated at a reduced temperature of 600 to 1,300° C., and then a vitrifying agent is added to vitrify the remaining wastes in order to treat the spent uranium catalyst. But, the method above cannot be effective in reducing the volume due to a small content of the volatile materials in the spent uranium catalyst and in reducing the processing cost due to a larger amount of economic costs for the high-temperature treatment and the collection of the volatilized materials, compared with direct disposal cost of the spent uranium catalyst.
As stated above, technologies for treating the sparingly-soluble spent uranium catalyst have not been significantly developed. Referring to the Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3 mentioned above, dissolving the spent catalyst in the alkaline conditions at a high temperature/pressure causes weakness in the operating stability.
Accordingly, in the conventional technologies, the economic costs can increase and treating the uranium remaining in the secondary waste solutions can be challenging to be overcome.
In light of the situation above, there is an urgent need to develop environmentally-friendly technologies that can minimize the generation of secondary wastes and reduce the volume and weight of the spent uranium catalyst to be disposed effectively.

Treatment method of spent uranium catalyst


A creeper having a base and an inclinable back portion and an apparatus for inclining the back, the apparatus including lever arms, pull bars, a sliding member, rocker arms and a sprocket wheel about which a length of chain attached the lever arm rolls. A point of target contact between the chain and sprocket wheel moves along the length of the lever arm resulting in a variable mechanical advantage for a force applied to the lever arm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to creepers used by mechanics, and, more particularly, to a creeper having a base and an inclinable back portion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Creepers having back portions which are inclinable relative to a base portion are well known in the art. Such creepers often incorporate mechanisms which use springs as a source of stored energy to drive the inclination of the back portion, as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,051,563 to Mance and U.S. Pat. No. 2,703,717 to Miller. While these spring type mechanisms offer the desirability of an automatic lifting of the back portion, safety concerns require greater reliability and integrity of locking mechanisms which maintain a selected position of inclination of the back relative to the base. Given that the work environment of a user of a creeper may place the user near high temperature components or machinery in motion, an inadvertent release of the back portion could lead to injury of a user of such a creeper if the spring force causes further inclination of the back portion towards the work object.
Prior art creepers have also incorporated mechanisms for inclining a back portion which include lever arms extending from an edge of the creeper for application of force by the user to incline the back portion. This is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,054,598 to Goldenberg and U.S. Pat. No. 2,564,323 to Brown. These types of mechanisms avoid the safety concerns involved with the spring type mechanisms discussed previously, in that a release of the locking mechanism will result in travel of the user towards a prone position, and away from the work object, due to gravity forces. However, without the stored energy of the spring, all of the energy required for the inclination of the back portion must come from the force applied to the lever arms by the user of the creeper. As the inclination of the back increases, the force which must be applied to the back portion to gain additional inclination decreases. Therefore, the force necessary for inclination will be at a maximum when the user is in a nearly prone position and would approach zero if inclination were to be continued to a nearly vertical position, since the gravity forces which the user would apply to the back portion would approach zero. Therefore, the mechanical advantage of the lever used to incline the back portion should be maximized during the inclination nearest to the prone position when the required force is at a maximum. None of the prior art which utilizes a lever system incorporates a system in which the mechanical advantage is at a maximum during the initial inclination nearest to the prone position.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a creeper having an inclinable back portion in which the mechanism which provides the inclination utilizes a levered mechanism for which the mechanical advantage for the lever is at a maximum during the portion of the inclination nearest to the prone position when the gravity forces on the back portion will be at a maximum.

Creeper having lever arms providing variable mechanical advantage for inclining a back portion


An image pickup apparatus such as a video camera has the capability of automatic white balance control whereby the white balance is quickly adjusted for any object even just after an operator has turned on a power supply. An image pickup element converts an optical image of an object into an electrical image signal. The image signal is applied to a signal processing circuit and separated into a luminance signal and color signals. The separated color signals or the R and B signals are amplified by gain control circuits under the control of the correction signals supplied by a correction signal computing part, and then applied to a color-difference signal forming circuit which in turn produces color-difference signals (R-Y) and (B-Y). An encoder circuit generates a television signal in the standard form from the above color-difference signals and the luminance signal. In this processing, the white balance is adjusted according to a white balance control signal generated on the basis of information about a state of illuminance onto an object picked up last time and stored in a data storing part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus such as a video camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional image pickup apparatus such as video cameras, one known technique of automatic white balance adjustment is to perform feedback control such that, for example, color-difference signals become zero.
Under usual conditions where the image of an object is being picked up continuously, a state of illumination onto the object correctly reflects the image pickup operation. However, in some cases, a state of illumination onto an object cannot be identified. Such a problem occurs for example in a certain time period just after the power has been turned on. In this case, the white extraction should be performed over a wide range since there are various possibilities regarding the type of light source illuminating the object. The expansion of the white extracting range for a certain time period after an image pickup operation has been started causes an increase in time required to correctly adjust the white balance.


An invented image forming apparatus includes a fixing unit for fixing a developer image transferred onto a conveyed medium; a temperature detecting unit for detecting a temperature of said fixing unit, a first power supply controller for controlling power supply to said fixing unit based on the detected result of the temperature detecting unit, a second power supply controller for controlling power supply to said fixing unit based on a preset value, a medium detection unit for detecting a medium to be conveyed, and a power supply operation controller for switching control done between said first power supply controller and said second power supply controller based on a position of the medium detected with said medium detection unit. The image forming apparatus can reduce impairment of settling rate of the developer images at the second half of the recording paper during the fixing process.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a fixing unit.
2. Description of Related Art
Prior art image forming apparatuses such as electrophotographic printers heat a heating roller by generating heat at the heater equipped inside the heat roller, and fix the transferred developer image onto a medium such as recording paper using the heat. Such an image forming apparatus having the fixing unit generally includes a temperature control unit to keep the surface temperature of the heat roller at a prescribed temperature. Such a temperature control unit controls the heater based on detected results of the surface temperature with a proper temperature detection unit such as, e.g., thermistor and keeps the surface temperature of the heat roller at the prescribed temperature. Japanese Unexamined patent publication Heisei No. 11-327350 discloses such an art.
In this prior art, the temperature control unit makes the heater generate heats by turning on power supply to the heater where the temperature detection unit detects that the surface temperature of the heat roller is at a fixable temperature or below. The temperature control unit halts heat generation with the heater by turning off the power supply to the heater where the temperature detection unit detects that the surface temperature of the heat roller is at a fixable temperature or above.
Referring to FIG. 17, the prior art temperature control unit operates a feedback control entering heater #1 signal at a time when the temperature detection unit detects the lowered surface temperature of the heat roller constituting the fixing unit, or namely, at timings B1, B3, B5.
As shown in FIG. 17, where continuing printing is operated at the prior art image forming apparatus, however, the surface temperature of a backup roller is increased because the heat retained at the heat roller is transmitted to the backup roller by direct contacting the heat roller heated by the heater with the backup roller until an Nth page of the recording paper reaches the nipping portion after the N−1 page of the recording paper passes by the nipping portion formed with the contacting surface between the heat roller and the backup roller. The heat retained at the heat roller and the backup roller dissipates to the recording paper where the first half of the Nth page of the recording paper passes through the nipping portion, so that the surface temperature of the heat roller and the backup roller decreases. Therefore, this operation surely secures the first half of the Nth page of the recording paper, but brings a result that the second half of the Nth page of the recording paper is not fixed adequately. In addition, the second half of the Nth page of the recording paper is still not fixed well even where the temperature control unit outputs the heat #1 signal at the timings B1, B3, B5, because time lag exists before the heat roller is actually heated.
It is an object of the invention to provide an image forming apparatus reducing occurrences of impaired fixing of developer images at the second half of the recording paper during a fixing step done by a fixing unit.

Information forming apparatus having a variable power fixing unit


A gas turbine engine rotor blade includes an airfoil joined to a dovetail. The dovetail includes a shank from which extends two pairs of dovetail tangs being defined by a bifurcating slot disposed therebetween. The dovetail is configured for retention in a complementary dovetail groove in a rotor disk with the bifurcating slot remaining empty for reducing weight of the blade while transferring centrifugal loads from the blade to the rotor disk.

A gas turbine engine such as that used for powering an aircraft includes rotor blades such as those found in a compressor thereof which are suitably fixedly joined to a rotor disk for accommodating centrifugal and aerodynamic loads generated during operation. As the rotor disk rotates during operation, the blades joined thereto are centrifuged radially outwardly, with the centrifugal loads generated thereby being suitably channeled to the rotor disk at stresses below predetermined stress limits for ensuring an effective useful life of the bladed disk combination.
More specifically, the blade includes a dovetail which is retained in a complementary dovetail groove in the perimeter of the motor disk for retaining the blade thereto during operation. The blade dovetail may either be an axial-entry type which is disposed in a complementary axially extending dovetail groove in the rotor disk, or may be a circumferential-entry type disposed in a complementary circumferentially extending groove in the perimeter of the rotor disk. In the latter case, for example, the blade dovetail has a width extending in the circumferential direction which is suitably large to provide a broad support for stabilizing the blade in the disk during operation and for obtaining acceptable stress levels therein. As the dovetail width is made larger, the stresses therein due to centrifugal force acting on the blade airfoil typically decrease, but, however, the centrifugal loads from the dovetail itself will increase which typically requires a larger disk perimeter for accommodating all of the centrifugally induced loads of the dovetail and airfoil while maintaining acceptable levels of stress therein.
The width of a circumferential entry dovetail is conventionally determined in one design as approximately equal to the rotor disk circumference divided by twice the total blade count minus twice the corner radius of the loading slot through which each of the dovetails is initially radially inserted into the rotor disk prior to being circumferentially positioned along the circumference of the dovetail groove. As the diameter of the rotor disk increases for larger engine designs relative to the number of blades used in a blade row, the resulting width of each dovetail in accordance with this conventional practice is more than that required to meet acceptable stress levels. In other words, the dovetail width becomes larger and, therefore, the shank reaction stresses therein become substantially small. However, the relatively large dovetail itself increases centrifugal loads which must be carried by the rotor disk, which, therefore, requires a larger disk to accommodate the centrifugal loads within acceptable stress limits. Accordingly, a lightweight dovetail is desired for this large diameter rotor disk application wherein the conventional dovetail width may be maintained, but with reduced weight thereof and acceptable reaction stresses therein for obtaining a useful life in a gas turbine engine application.


Estimating Remaining Useful Life (RUL) from multi-sensor time series data is difficult through manual inspection. Current machine learning and data analytics methods, for RUL estimation require large number of failed instances for training, which are rarely available in practice, and these methods cannot use information from currently operational censored instances since their failure time is unknown. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for estimating RUL using time series data by implementing an LSTM-RNN based ordinal regression technique, wherein during training RUL value of failed instance(s) is encoded into a vector which is given as a target to the model. Unlike a failed instance, the exact RUL for a censored instance is unknown. For using the censored instances, target vectors are generated and the objective function is modified for training wherein the trained LSTM-RNN based ordinal regression is applied on an input test time series for RUL estimation.

In the current Digital Era, streaming data is ubiquitous, and various original equipment manufacturers are taking a keen interest in Industrial Internet of Things-enabled remote health monitoring services to provide operational support, ensure high reliability and availability, and reduce operational cost of equipment. A large number of sensors are being installed to capture the operational behavior of equipment. Data-driven remaining useful life (RUL) estimation module is a key component of such health monitoring applications.
Recently, deep learning approaches have been proposed for various sensor data-driven health monitoring tasks including anomaly detection and prognostics, yielding state-of-the-art results for RUL estimation using Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). However, deep learning approaches for health monitoring have certain limitations. One such limitation is wherein Deep Neural Networks (DNN) require a large number of labeled training instances to avoid overfitting. However, such instances are often not available as failures are rare. If failure time for an instance is known, a target RUL can be obtained at any time before the failure time.
Deep RNNs and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have been proposed for RUL estimation. Most of these approaches consider RUL estimation to be a metric regression (MR) problem where a normalized estimate of RUL is obtained given time series of sensor data via a non-linear regression metric function learned from the data. It is noted that MR formulation of RUL estimation cannot directly leverage censored data typically encountered in RUL estimation scenarios and lead to inaccurate prediction of RUL.

Failed and censored instances based remaining useful life (RUL) estimation of entities


An audio system for user hearing assessment includes one or more audio capture devices, and processing circuitry. The one or more audio capture devices are configured to capture audio of a conversation of a user and convert the audio to audio signals. The processing circuitry is configured to use the audio signals to identify multiple conditions associated with user hearing difficulty. The conditions include any of words, phrases, frequencies, or phonemes, and environmental audio conditions that are followed by an indication of user hearing difficulty. The processing circuitry is configured to generate a hearing profile for the user based on the identified conditions associated with user hearing difficulty. The processing circuitry is configured to adjust an operation of an audio output device using the hearing profile to reduce a frequency of user hearing difficulty if the user requires audio enhancement.

Hearing assessment is typically required to obtain a characterization of an individual's hearing ability. An understanding of an individual's hearing ability may be crucial for enhancing the individual's ability. Audio systems typically do not take into account the individual's hearing ability, but rather produce sound for the user without accounting for hearing difficulties that the user may experience across various frequencies. Hearing assessment for an individual is typically performed in a controlled lab setting.

Systems and methods for hearing assessment and audio adjustment

Haytham Mohamed Fayek Abdallah Abdelrehim


A child safety seat pad having a bottom seat portion and a back portion is configured to cover the exposed child contact areas of a safety seat and is releasably secured to the seat by fasteners. Perforation lines or slits in the seat back portion connect to perforations lines or slits in the bottom seat portion of the pad. These may be opened to provide apertures for connecting safety harness webbing to safety seat anchor points. A smaller pad is provided for inclusion in the bottom seat portion.

The employment of restraints for children riding in vehicles has become mandatory throughout the United States. Among the types of restraints available are infant carrier/car seats, which have been designed for transporting infants from birth up to approximately one year of age. Infant carrier/car seats are required to be installed only in the rear seat of a vehicle and include a harness having shoulder straps that are engaged through the rear of the safety seat back and a chest clip for gathering and positioning the shoulder straps. The harness additionally includes lap straps and a center crotch buckle.
Further child restraints have been categorized as convertible car seats, which are employed in both rear-facing and forward-facing positions for children exceeding certain weights, but who are within the weight, height, or age requirements for mandatory usage of child restraints.
A third category of child restraints are booster seats, which elevate a child to a level for use of a conventional seat belt and shoulder restraint. Booster seats are available with a unitary seat and back as well as with a seat bottom only.
As used hereinafter, the term "safety seat" shall be interpreted as to include all of the foregoing child restraints.
Virtually all safety seats include cushions covering child contact surfaces, e.g., the back-, bottom-, and inwardly-facing contoured sides of the seat, so as to provide comfort and a harness having three- or five-point anchor contacts with the seat frame. Openings are formed in the seat cushions through which the harness webbing passes at each of the three or five contact points, as well as additional sets of openings for the seat back contact points to enable adjustment of the shoulder webbing portions of the harness.
Children using safety seats are prone to soiling the seat cushions, often because of spilling or dripping liquid or due to diaper leakage. While some cushions include a liquid-impervious outer layer, so that they may be wiped, such cushions are generally uncomfortable for children, since the cushion's contact surface does not allow air or liquids to pass through. Further, since the spilled liquids are not absorbed in the cushion, they tend to migrate beyond the cushion, wetting the child's clothing, as well as the safety seat frame and the vehicle upholstery.
Additionally, the removal of soiled cushions for washing proved to be a difficult and time consuming task.
Previous attempts to provide linings for safety seats have been rather complex to install and to remove and are not designed to be used with shoulder straps that protrude from the safety seat at non-traditional locations. Additionally, the complexity of prior linings has made disposal of the linings after a soiling impractical.
For example, the seat cover disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,926,359, facilitates installation and removal of the lining from a safety seat having shoulder straps that coordinate with one of three side slots. Removal requires removing each strap from one of the side slots. Further, the cover is not readily disposable, due to cost considerations.
Likewise the infant car seat liner disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,701 utilizes side slots for installing and removing the liner around shoulder straps. Again, the shoulder straps of the safety seat must coordinate with these side slots for the liner to fit properly on the safety seat. Further, the entire seat liner must be disposed of in the event of a soiling.
The disposable seat liner disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,200, like the covers and liners described in the aforementioned patents, uses side slots for installing and removing the liner around the shoulder straps, which limits the should-strap configurations with which the liner will fit properly. Also, the entire liner must be disposed in the event of a soiling.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A winding assembly includes: slot-housed portions housed inside each of the slots of the stator core so as to form pairs that line up in an inner layer and an outer layer relative to a slot depth direction; first return portions at a first axial end of the stator core that link end portions of the slot-housed portions housed in the inner layer inside each of the slots and end portions of the slot-housed portions housed in the outer layer inside the slots that are (N−M) slots away; and second return portions at a second axial end of the stator core that link end portions of the slot-housed portions housed in the outer layer inside each of the slots and end portions of the slot-housed portions housed in the inner layer inside the slots that are (N+M) slots away.

In conventional automotive alternators, stator windings are configured by wye-connecting three phase windings that have a phase difference of 120 electrical degrees (see Patent Literature 1, for example).
However, because the stator windings are configured by wye-connecting the three phase windings that have a phase difference of 120 electrical degrees, a line voltage that is only √3 times a single phase induced voltage is generated, and one problem has been that electric power generating requirements cannot be met at low rotational speeds.
In order to solve this, it has been proposed that each of the phase windings be configured by connecting in series two windings that have a phase difference of 120 electrical degrees, also called a "zigzag connection" (see Patent Literature 2, for example).
According to Patent Literature 2, it is claimed that electric power generating requirements can be met at low rotational speeds because a line voltage that is twice the single phase induced voltage is generated by configuring each of the phase windings using the zigzag connection, increasing no-load electromotive forces increase, and enabling power generation start-up speed to be lowered.
However, in Patent Literature 2, because it is necessary to connect together end portions of two windings that are mounted into different slot groups, one problem has been that connection points are increased.
Now, conventionally, winding constructions have been proposed in which windings that are electrically equivalent to zigzag connections can be configured using single conductor wires (see Patent Literature 3, for example). According to Patent Literature 3, because windings that are electrically equivalent to zigzag connections can be configured using single conductor wires by disposing the single conductor wires such that short-pitch windings and the long-pitch windings alternate, increases in the number of connection points can be suppressed.

Automotive rotary electric machine and winding assembly manufacturing method that is used therefor


A wiring substrate includes a core layer having a hole penetrating therethrough in a thickness direction thereof, and having a projecting part projecting from an inner wall of the hole toward an inner space of the hole, the projecting part being situated at a border that divides a plurality of areas in the hole, a plurality of electronic components disposed in the areas, respectively, the electronic components being arranged at a spaced interval with the projecting part therebetween, and a resin layer filling the hole and supporting the electronic components, wherein a thickness of the projecting part in the thickness direction of the core layer decreases toward a tip of the projecting part.

A certain type of wiring board is known in the art that has a substrate having a cavity formed therein and an electronic component disposed in the cavity. The wiring board further includes an insulating layer formed to cover the opening of the cavity (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-216740, for example).
As described above, a related-art wiring board has a single electronic component disposed in a single cavity.
Placing a plurality of electronic components in a single cavity may give rise to a risk of causing the electronic components to be displaced at the time of filling an insulating layer in the cavity. Such displacement of the electronic components is associated with a risk of having short-circuit caused by physical contact or a risk of having a failure to secure connection with a wiring layer, thereby creating a problem regarding electrical reliability.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide a wiring substrate and a method of making the wiring substrate that ensure improved electrical reliability with respect to a plurality of electronic components disposed in a single penetrating hole.

Wiring substrate and method of making wiring substrate


Integrated circuits having metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) contact structures and methods for fabricating integrated circuits having metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) contact structures are provided. In an embodiment, a method for fabricating an integrated circuit includes providing a fin structure formed from semiconductor material overlying a semiconductor substrate. The method includes depositing a layer of high-k dielectric material over the fin structure. Further, the method includes forming a metal layer or layers over the layer of high-k dielectric material to provide the fin structure with a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) contact structure.

The majority of present day integrated circuits are implemented by using a plurality of interconnected field effect transistors (FETs). Typical transistor devices include gate electrodes as control electrodes that are formed overlying a semiconductor substrate, and spaced-apart source and drain regions that are formed within the semiconductor substrate and between which currents can flow. For a transistor device, a control voltage may be applied to the gate electrode and control the flow of current through a channel in the semiconductor substrate between the source and drain regions and beneath the gate electrode.
A transistor device is accessed via conductive contacts typically formed on the source/drain regions. Each conductive contact is usually formed by siliciding a metal on the source/drain regions and then depositing a dielectric layer over the silicided source/drain regions and etching a contact opening in the dielectric layer. Metal is then deposited in the contact opening to form the contact structure. At reduced technology nodes, more and more circuitry is incorporated on a single integrated circuit chip and the sizes of each individual device in the circuit and the spacing between device elements decreases. However, one of the limiting factors in the continued shrinking of integrated semiconductor devices is the resistance of contacts to doped regions such as the source and drain regions. As device sizes decrease, the width of contacts decreases. As the width of the contacts decreases, the resistance of the contacts becomes increasingly larger. In turn, as the resistance of the contacts increases, the drive current of the devices decreases, thus adversely affecting device performance. Therefore, the importance of reducing contact resistance at source/drain regions is amplified at reduced technology nodes.
Metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) contact structures may provide reduced contact resistance. MIS contact structures include a thin dielectric insulator layer that is positioned between semiconductor material, such as the semiconductor material of a source/drain region, and metal contact material. MIS contact structure may reduce the barrier height between the semiconductor and the metal contact structures, leading to lower contact resistance despite the additional resistance presented by the thin dielectric insulator layer.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide integrated circuits and methods for fabricating integrated circuits having metal-insulator-semiconductor contacts. In addition, it is desirable to provide integrated circuits and methods for fabricating integrated circuits that utilize common metal layers to form contact interfaces with source/drain regions in both PFET areas and NFET areas. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Integrated circuits with metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) contact structures and methods for fabricating same


A well (50) comprising a side wall (10), a sealing ring (40), a rib arrangement (5), and a filter (20), for use in processing a fluid, e.g., by microtitration or microfiltration, is disclosed.

Multiple well test devices are used in a variety of microtitration and/or microfiltration protocols. Typically, the devices have a standard number of wells, e.g., 96 wells, or 384 wells (arranged in four blocks of 96 wells each), and the wells include a filter arranged such that application of a vacuum or air pressure to one side of the device causes the fluid in each well to pass through the filter.
When the device is used in for microtitration, e.g., for an immunoassay or a hybridization assay, the filter is generally used to support one or more components of the assay, such as an antigen, antibody, nucleic acid probe or nucleic acid sample. A supported component (e.g., a specific binding agent) binds to an unsupported component in a fluid sample. At least one component can be contained in, on, and/or through the filter, e.g., by physical entrapment, chemical binding and/or adsorption.
When used for microfiltration the filter is generally used to remove one or more components from solutions passed through it, e.g., on the basis of physical, biological and/or chemical interactions in or on the filter. The interactions can be, for example, between the filter and the component to be retained, or between one or more materials retained in or on the filter and the component to be retained.
Accordingly, the devices can be utilized to remove one or more undesirable and/or desirable materials from a fluid. For example, the devices can be used to remove particulates from a sample before further processing (e.g., analysis) of the sample and/or to retain a desired ligand for later recovery and further processing.
Some conventional devices are labor intensive to manufacture and/or are not adapted for use with a variety of filters. Additionally, the seal of the filter in the device can be adversely affected by handling and/or fluid processing conditions.
The present invention provides for ameliorating at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art. These and other advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the description as set forth below.


Conventional matching approaches to virus detection are ineffective pending deployment of a signature to match a newly discovered virus. In contrast, a behavioral based (subject) approach addresses the so-called “day zero” problem of object matching approaches. An integrated approach combines the behavioral remedy against unknown transmissions with the signature matching of known harmful transmission to provide the reliability and stability of signature based approaches with the real time responsiveness of the behavioral approach. A behavior monitoring module analyzes actions via behavioral heuristics indicative of actions performed by known harmful transmissions. The behavioral monitoring correlates the actions performed to determine an undesirable object. A signature generator computes a realtime signature on the suspect object. The signature generator accumulates successive realtime signatures in this manner for comparison with subsequent incoming transmissions, thus combining the subject based behavioral aspects of virus detection with the deterministic aspects of the object approach.

Conventional Anti-Virus (AV) applications attempt to prevent harmful or malicious transmissions such as viruses and worms from infiltrating a computer system. Typically, such applications operate on a network gateway or host and monitor incoming traffic. Host based applications monitor traffic into a particular computer system, or node, while server based applications monitor a physical or logical gateway point such as a firewall or mail server. Server based applications may provide broader protection by consolidating incoming traffic sooner, however may encounter difficulty with end-to-end encrypted transmissions to a host. Host based applications may have access to encrypted and/or obfuscated parts of a message, yet may be limited by the resources that can be devoted to the AV application, such as the ability to provide a large database (DB) of known harmful transmissions.
Conventional AV applications, whether server or host based, however, typically rely on a so-called fingerprint matching implementation. Such a fingerprint matching mechanism aggregates a set of unique indicators, or signatures, exhibited by known malicious transmissions. The unique indicators typically represent portions of files which a particular AV vendor has previously identified as malicious, such as a signature extracted from a particular byte range in the file, or a hash computed over a predetermined portion of a file. The result is a signature value substantially shorter that the entity (file) it represents yet which has a high likelihood of matching a signature computed from another similar instance of the file. A set of signatures of known malicious transmissions is readily comparable to an incoming transmission to determine malicious content in the incoming transmission. Typically, the AV application vendors regularly update and propagate such signature lists to subscribers to maintain the AV application against newly developed viruses and worms.

System and methods for integration of behavioral and signature based security


An improved synchronization system and method for copies of data in a computer system. The computer system comprises a cluster, wherein each computer in the cluster may store a local copy of a data set along with a validity flag for the local copy. The computer system further comprises a coupling system which is connected to each of the computers in the cluster through a coupling system interface program, wherein the coupling system is configured to coordinate the data sharing and workload of the cluster. The computer system also comprises an external data storage shared by the computers in the cluster. One of the computers may read a first copy of the data set from a primary data set on the external data storage. The computer may then store the first copy locally and set a first validity flag to indicate that the first copy is valid. Another computer, server, or application program may make a second copy of the primary data set and set a second validity flag to valid. If the first copy is modified, then the second validity flag is set to invalid. The second copy may then be replaced with the modified copy, and the second validity flag may be set to valid again. A coupling system interface program may comprise an application programming interface for data synchronization, wherein the application programming interface is accessible by a plurality of application programs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the synchronization of multiple copies of data in a computer system. More particularly, the present invention relates to the synchronization of copies of data stored on several computer systems linked together in a cluster.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a computer program that accesses various forms of data stored on disk or other non-volatile memory, it is often advantageous to store copies of high use data in volatile memory. Accessing data from volatile memory is typically much faster than accessing data from non-volatile memory. The process of storing high use data in volatile memory is commonly called caching.
Large-scale computer applications such as transactional applications used in the financial industry often make use of caching for performance reasons. As used herein, a "transaction" is a series of instructions executed by a computer system for carrying out a financial operation. A transaction may include multiple steps. Examples of transactions include, but are not limited to, financial transactions such as deposits, withdrawals, and funds transfers between accounts. These large-scale applications have increasingly demanded more processing power. Early mainframe computer systems typically contained one processor, one volatile memory, and arrays of non-volatile memory such as disk and tape. Later, multiple-processor systems were introduced which provide a significant performance boost over single-processor systems.
One type of multiple-processor system is a Symmetric Multiprocessor system (SMP). An SMP comprises a set of processors that shares a number of common components, including volatile memory. SMPs offer significant performance advantages over single-CPU systems, and SMPs are scalable by adding additional processors. A major disadvantage of SMPs, however, is that significant resources must be dedicated to synchronizing the activities of the processors. A point may be reached at which adding additional processors actually decreases overall performance. Furthermore, in addition to the processing and scalability limitations, multiple-processor systems share a weakness with single-processor systems: when the system experiences planned or unplanned downtime, the processing services provided by the system are unavailable.
The demand for processing performance and scalability greater than that provided by multiple-processor systems and the demand for increased availability led to the development of clusters. In general, a cluster is a group of servers that can share resources and cooperate in processing.
Clusters may be categorized into three general types. The first type is a high-availability cluster. In a high-availability cluster, one server is typically the primary server and a second server is typically the backup server. If the primary server becomes unavailable due to failure or other reasons, processing is transferred to the backup server. In order to provide as seamless a transition as possible, the backup server is commonly kept in an idle state, negatively impacting the price-performance ratio of the system. High-availability clusters increase the availability of computing resources, but they do not provide significantly greater performance than earlier systems.
A second cluster type is the parallel cluster. Parallel clusters include two or more servers that share some resources; work may be split among the servers and performed in parallel. The servers in the cluster appear as multiple logical systems to the client. During processing, programs and data may be partitioned among the servers. The partitioning of program workload and data among the servers is difficult to manage. No single server has access to all of the data. Adding additional servers to the cluster requires repartitioning of the workload and data. Unbalanced workloads or data may overload one or more servers while other servers are underutilized. If a server fails, its workload must be passed to a backup server to maintain availability. This can be detrimental to performance if the backup server has a workload of its own or has a slow access path to the failed server's data.
The third cluster type is the single-system image cluster. The servers in a single-system image cluster appear as one logical system to clients and to application programs running on the cluster, hence the name "single-system." All servers in the cluster have access to all of the data, and any server in the cluster may run any transaction. Copies of a program may run concurrently on several servers in the cluster. The workload may be dynamically distributed among the servers. The single-system image cluster solves the availability and scalability problems and adds a level of stability by the use of redundant systems with no single points of failure. Effectively, the one logical system may be available year-round to clients and application programs without any outages. Hardware and software maintenance and upgrades may be performed without the loss of availability of the cluster and with little or no impact to active programs. The combination of availability, scalability, processing capability, and the logical system image make the single-system image cluster a powerful environment on which to base a large-scale transaction-based enterprise server.
Single-system image clusters typically share external non-volatile data storage, such as disk drives. Databases and other types of data permanently reside on the external storage. The servers, however, do not generally share volatile memory. Each server in the cluster operates in a dedicated local memory space.
As mentioned above, copies of a program may reside on several servers, and the programs may appear as one program to the client. Workload is distributed among the copies of the program. The programs may access shared data from external storage. For performance advantages, each program may cache high-use data in local memory space.
A single-system image cluster may include at least one Coupling Facility (CF) which provides hardware and software support for the cluster's data sharing functions. Typically, a CF may provide data synchronization for proprietary database architectures such as VSAM, IMS, and DB2, but a CF usually does not provide an application programming interface (API) to allow third-party application programs to directly access the data synchronization functions of the CF. Because of the lack of an API, the CF's data synchronization capabilities cannot be easily applied to data architectures other than the a handful of proprietary architectures listed above.
The single-system image cluster may also provide a timer facility to maintain time synchronization among the servers. On a single-system image cluster, several operating system images such as MVS images may be running on at least one computer system. MVS and OS/390 are examples of mainframe operating systems. OS/390 is a newer version of the MVS operating system, and the terms OS/390 and MVS are used interchangeably herein. "MVS image" is used synonymously with "server" herein. Operating systems other than MVS may also run as servers on a single-system image cluster. Each server is allocated its own local memory space. The servers appear as one logical server to a client. Programs may be duplicated in the memory space of several servers. The workload of a program may be divided among several copies of the program running on different servers. The data required by the program is stored on shared non-volatile memory. A copy of the program may cache frequently used portions of the shared data in a local memory space. As in the case with the multiple servers appearing as one logical server, multiple copies of a program running on a single-system image cluster may appear as one logical program to the client.
The caching of copies of data in local memory areas by programs running on servers in a cluster may lead to a problem in a single-system image cluster environment. If copies of a program require the same data, each may cache a copy in local memory. If one copy of the program modifies a local copy of the data and, optionally, the base data on the external storage, copies of the data cached on other servers are no longer concurrent with the modified copy. It is therefore desirable to provide a method of efficient, timely, and reliable synchronization of data in a single-system image cluster environment. It is also desirable to provide an API to the coupling facility to allow software developers to make source code calls to the functions of the coupling facility, and to enforce data synchronization for data architectures other than proprietary datbases.
The problem of data synchronization may also occur in computer systems in general where a program or programs make copies of shared data. Therefore, a solution to the data synchronization problem should preferably be applicable to computer systems in general as well as specifically to single-system image cluster systems.

System and method for synchronizing copies of data in a computer system


A system and method relate to receiving, by a processing device, a plurality of sound signals captured at a plurality of microphone sensors, wherein the plurality of sound signals are from a sound source, and wherein a number (M) of the plurality of microphone sensors is greater than three, determining a number (K) of layers for a multistage minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamformer based on the number (M) of the plurality of microphone sensors, wherein the number (K) of layers is greater than one, and wherein each layer of the multistage MVDR beamformer comprises one or more mini-length MVDR beamformers, and executing the multistage MVDR beamformer to the plurality of sound signals to calculate an estimate of the sound source.

Each sensor in a sensor array may receive a copy of a signal emitted from a source. The sensor can be a suitable type of sensor such as, for example, a microphone sensor to capture sound. For example, each microphone sensor in a microphone array may receive a respective version of a sound signal emitted from a sound source at a distance from the microphone array. The microphone array may include a number of geographically arranged microphone sensors for receiving the sound signals (e.g., speech signals) and converting the sound signals into electronic signals. The electronic signals may be converted using analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) into digital signals which may be further processed by a processing device (e.g., a digital signal processor). Compared with a single microphone, the sound signals received at microphone arrays include redundancy that may be explored to calculate an estimate of the sound source to achieve noise reduction/speech enhancement, sound source separation, de-reverberation, spatial sound recording, and source localization and tracking. The processed digital signals may be packaged for transmission over communication channels or converted back to analog signals using a digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
The microphone array can be coupled to a beamformer, or directional sound signal receptor, which is configured to calculate the estimate of the sound source. The sound signal received at any microphone of the microphone array may include a noise component and a delayed component with respect to the sound signal received at a reference microphone sensor (e.g., a first microphone sensor in a microphone array). A beamformer is a spatial filter that uses the multiple copies of the sound signal received at the microphone array to identify the sound source according to certain optimization rules.
A minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamformer is a type of beamformers that is obtained by minimizing the variance (or power) of noise at the beamformer while ensuring the distortionless response of the beamformer towards the direction of the desired source. The MVDR beamformer is commonly used in the context of noise reduction and speech enhancement using microphone arrays.

Multistage minimum variance distortionless response beamformer


The present invention relates to a dielectric composition which can be densified at a temperature no higher than 1000.degree. C. and can provide ceramic products with a dielectric constant of 35 to 40 and a quality constant of 1000 to 5000 at 7 GHz. The dielectric composition comprises 0.1 to 50 wt % BaCuO.sub.2 --CuO and 99.9 to 50 wt % ZrO.sub.2 --SnO.sub.2 --TiO.sub.2. Multilayered microwave dielectric ceramic elements can be prepared by mixing the composition of the present invention with an organic solvent, a polymer binder and a plasticizer, forming a green sheet from the mixture by tape casting, screen-printing and laminating the green sheet, and then co-firing the ceramic laminate with a metal that is high in electrical conductivity such as Au, Cu and Ag.

In view of the high growth of wireless communication systems such as cellular mobile phones, portable wireless phones and global satellite position systems, the development of small and light portable mobile phones is a natural trend. Therefore, small microwave elements are highly desired in the industry.
Therefore, various multi-layered electronic devices have been developed to increase the volume efficiency to meet the above requirements. Also, it is desired that high frequency ceramic filters are multilayered and small in size. For the preparation of multilayered ceramic filters, the devices have to be cofired with low loss conductors such as silver and copper. Therefore, the development of materials which can be sintered at low temperatures into microwave ceramic devices with a high dielectric constant is highly desired.
In view of the trend for the miniaturization and modulization of high frequency microwave communication devices, it is very important to obtain materials which can be sintered at low temperatures into ceramics with a high dielectric constant. A microwave ceramic material has to have a high dielectric constant in order to meet the requirements for miniaturization, a high quality factor (i.e. low dielectric loss) to provide high-quality high-frequency signals.
The frequency of microwaves ranges from 0.9 to 300 GHz. The properties of selected microwave ceramic materials must meet the following requirements for miniaturization:
K: 10-90; PA1 Tan .delta.: <10.sup.-3 ; PA1 TC.sub.f : .sup.- 10-10 MK.sup.-1 PA1 Sintering Temperature: 1360.degree. C.; PA1 Dielectric Constant (@ 7 GHz): 38; PA1 Quality Factor (@ 7 GHz): 7000; PA1 Temperature Coefficient: 0 ppm/.degree.C.
wherein K is the dielectric constant; Tan .delta. is the dielectric loss and TC.sub.f is the temperature coefficient. The size of ceramic filters decreases with increasing its dielectric constant. Furthermore, the less the dielectric loss, the better the quality factor and thus, the better the high-frequency signals. Moreover, the temperature coefficient should be close to zero so as to ensure that the change of resonance frequency with temperature is negligible.
There are various microwave ceramic materials such as CaZr.sub.0.985 Ti.sub.0.015 O.sub.3, BaTi.sub.4 O.sub.9, ZrO.sub.2 --SnO.sub.2 --TiO.sub.2 and (Ba, Pb)Nd.sub.2 Ti.sub.5 O.sub.4. However, all these materials have sintering temperatures above 1300.degree. C. which is too high to cofire with highly conductive metals such as Ag and Cu. Approaches taken to reducing the sintering temperature to 1000.degree. C. or less include using fine powders prepared by chemical processes, adding glass into microwave ceramic materials, or using sintering flux.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,652 describes a microwave dielectric ceramic composition comprising Bi.sub.(2-x) (Zn.sub.(2+y)/3 Nb.sub.(4/3))O.sub.(7-3x/2+y/3) wherein 0.24<x<0.333, 0.120<y<0.3; and Bi.sub.(1-z) Ca.sub.(z) (Zn.sub.(2+y)/3 Nb.sub.(4/3))O.sub.(7-3x/2+y/3+xz/-z) wherein 0<x<0.667, 0<y<0.30, 0<z<0.2. The properties of the microwave dielectric ceramic composition are as follows: dielectric constant >100; quality factor (@ 7 GHz)=7000; temperature coefficient=10 ppm/.degree.C.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,152 describes a ceramic composition with a low sintering temperature and a low dielectric constant which comprises 50-95 wt % crystallizable glass and 5-50 wt % ceramic filler. The dielectric system has a dielectric constant of 5.1-6.0. The crystallizable glass consists of 5-20 wt % lithium oxide, 60-90 wt % silicon dioxide, 1-10 wt % aluminum oxide, and 1-5 wt % alkaline metal oxide other than lithium oxide. The ceramic filler includes silicon dioxide and aluminum oxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,490 describes a ceramic composition with a low sintering temperature and a low dielectric constant which comprises 10-50 wt % alumina, 0-30 wt % fused silica, and 50-60 wt % of a frit comprised of 4 wt % CaO, 12 wt % MgO, 29 wt % B.sub.2 O.sub.3 and 42 wt % SiO.sub.2. The dielectric composition has a sintering temperature below 1000.degree. C., a dielectric constant of 4.5-6.1, and a linear thermal expansion coefficient of 3.9-4.2.times.10.sup.-6 K.sup.-1.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,945 describes a ceramic composition with a low sintering temperature and a high dielectric constant which comprises 75-85 mol % Pb(Ni.sub.1/3 Nb.sub.2/3)O.sub.3 +0-15 mol % PbTiO.sub.3 +5-16.5 mol % Pb(Zn.sub.1/2 W.sub.1/2)O.sub.3 +Pb(Cu.sub.1/3 Nb.sub.2/3)O.sub.3. The composition has a sintering temperature of 1000.degree. C. and a dielectric constant of 1000-4000.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,368 describes a ceramic composition with a low sintering temperature and a high dielectric constant which comprises BaTiO.sub.3, BaCuO.sub.2, WO.sub.3 and MoO.sub.3. The system has a sintering temperature of 1150.degree. C., a dielectric constant of 2000-3000 (1 KHz) and a dielectric loss of 2.5%-16% (1 KHz).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,014 describes a ceramic composition with a low sintering temperature and a high dielectric constant which comprises Pb(Mg.sub.1/3 Nb.sub.2/3)O.sub.3 and BaCuO.sub.2. The system has a sintering temperature of 1050.degree. C., a dielectric constant of 7000-8000 (1 KHz) and a dielectric loss less than 3%.
ROC Patent Publication No. 159830 describes a ceramic composition with a high dielectric ceramic composition which is comprises Pb(Mg.sub.1/3 Nb.sub.2/3)O.sub.3 --PbTiO.sub.3 --Pb(Zn.sub.1/3 Nb.sub.2/3)O.sub.3. The system has a sintering temperature of less than 1000.degree. C. and a dielectric constant of 8000-10000.
In view of the above, it is obvious that ceramic materials which have a low sintering temperature, a high dielectric constant and a high quality factor (i.e. low loss) are needed in the industry. The present invention provides a way to meet this requirement.

Low-fire dielectric composition and its use in laminated microwave dielectric ceramic elements


A tunable high-frequency device using a superconductive thin layer with a thickness smaller than the thickness of penetration of a magnetic field is positioned on a dielectric layer. Also included is a means for varying the density of the Cooper pairs of the superconductive thin layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to tunable high-frequency devices based on superconductive materials.
2. Discussion of Background
A device for the processing of electromagnetic waves may be formed by an element made of a superconductive material as well as a dielectric element associated with this superconductive element.
Since the thickness of an element made of superconductive material is smaller than the length of penetration .lambda..sub.L of the magnetic field, the device has an additional inductance, known as a kinetic inductance, due to the superconductive element, and this kinetic inductance gets added to the ordinary magnetic inductance.
This inductance takes account of the kinetic energy of the superconductive electrons. For very thin layers, it is proportional to the square of the depth of penetration .lambda..sub.L of the magnetic field and hence inversely proportional to the Cooper pairs density.
For a determined Cooper pairs density, the kinetic inductance is fixed.
The invention provides for means enabling the modification, at will, of the additional kinetic inductance. For this purpose, these means are such that they enable the modification of the Cooper pairs density.
This Cooper pairs density may be changed by:
the variation of the temperature; PA0 the application of a polarization current; PA0 the application of a magnetic field; PA0 the illumination of the superconductor by a radiation.