A motor vehicle brake pad thickness detection system comprising a brake disc, a brake pad, a brake caliper and a brake pad driving means, the brake caliper having a fixing part, and the brake pad being fixed to the fixing part. A first brake pad thickness detector is provided between the brake pad and the fixing part, and a second brake pad thickness detector is provided on the brake disc in a position corresponding to the first brake pad thickness detector. The safety of the braking system is greatly improved due to the fact that the brake pad thickness detection system detects the thickness of the brake pad precisely each time braking is performed.

The present invention relates to a detection system of a motor vehicle braking system, more specifically to a motor vehicle brake pad thickness detection system.
The inability to promptly detect and ascertain the precise degree of wear of motor vehicle brake pads will inevitably cause drivers great inconvenience and put their safety at risk. Thus, the addition of a precise detection system for motor vehicle brake pads is important for improving motor vehicle safety.
Most existing motor vehicle brake pad detection methods use a displacement sensor acquisition head to detect the degree of wear of the brake pad by contact, wherein the displacement sensor acquisition head is arranged in a position where the thickness of the brake pad friction material changes. In that measurement method, only when the brake pad is worn down to a defined thickness can the acquisition head acquire a signal and send it to a data processing system for processing, in order to issue an alarm signal, so that method cannot promptly acquire accurate, quantified brake pad thickness information. Moreover, since the sensor acquisition head will be worn as the brake pad is worn, such an arrangement will result in the sensor acquisition head needing to be replaced each time that the brake pads are replaced, thereby increasing the cost of detection.

Motor vehicle brake pad thickness detection system


A Bismuth glass composition including 0.5 to 14 wt % of SiO2, 3 to 15 wt % of B2O3, 4 to 22 wt % of ZnO, 55 to 90 wt % of Bi2O3 and 4 wt % or less of Al2O3, and further including 5 wt % or less of an oxide of Group A, 12 wt % or less of an oxide of Group B and 0.1 to 10 wt % of an oxide of Group C, wherein the oxide of Group A is at least one selected from the group consisting of Li2O, Na2O and K2O, the oxide of Group B is at least one selected from the group consisting of MgO, CaO, SrO and BaO, and the oxide of Group C is at least one selected from the group consisting of Sc2O3, Y2O3, La2O3, CeO2, Pr2O3, Nd2O3, Sm2O3, Eu2O3, Gd2O3, Tb2O3, Dy2O3, Ho2O3, Er2O3, Tm2O3, Yb2O3 and Lu2O3.

Ceramics, glass and metal, for example, have been used as materials for electronic equipment and various glass compositions have been used as materials for bonding, sealing or coating them. The glass compositions have various forms such as bulk, powder, fiber and a thin film. There are also a material consisting of the glass composition only, and a composite material comprising a combination of the glass composition and other materials. Further, to give various functions depending on its applications, the glass composition may be dispersed in a vehicle together with other materials and an appropriate filler so that it can be used as a paste. The thus obtained paste may be used as a sealing member for magnetic heads, CRTs, liquid crystal display panels and plasma display panels.
Hereinafter, as a concrete example of applications of the sealing member comprising the glass composition, an explanation is given of the magnetic head and the plasma display panel.
First, a conventional magnetic head is explained.
A magnetic head is a device that performs recording and reproducing of magnetic information to and from a magnetic recording medium. The magnetic head comprises a pair of magnetic core halves, at least one of which being provided with a coil groove, and a magnetic gap member made of a non-magnetic material. The pair of magnetic core halves are abutted to each other via the magnetic gap member and bonded with a sealing member. As such a sealing member, a glass composition is used. The glass composition is an important constituent having an influence even on the properties of the magnetic head.
As a material for the magnetic core halves, ferrite has widely been used due to its excellent magnetic properties, wear resistance and machinability. A magnetic head manufactured with ferrite may be called a ferrite head.
In recent years, according to reduction in size and increase in capacity of the magnetic recording/reproducing device, a magnetic recording medium having high coercivity has come to be used. Aiming at a magnetic head for high density magnetic recording, which is highly capable of writing signals to such a medium, an extension of the ferrite head has been under development.
For example, a magnetic head called an MIG (metal in gap) head is formed by applying magnetic metal films having high saturated magnetic flux density to the surfaces of the magnetic core halves to be opposed to a magnetic gap, abutting the surfaces facing to the magnetic gap to each other via the magnetic gap member, and bonding them with a sealing member. As the magnetic metal film, for example, a thin film of a magnetic metal material such as Fe—Ta—N, Fe—Nb—N, Fe—Nb—Si—B—N, Fe—Ta—C, Co—Ta—Zr—Nb or Co—Nb—Zr—N is used.
There is also a magnetic head comprising magnetic core halves, each of which comprising a magnetic metal film sandwiched between a pair of nonmagnetic substrates. The magnetic core halves are arranged such that the magnetic metal films are abutted at their end faces and bonded with a sealing member via a magnetic gap member. Such a magnetic head is called a stacked head.
In the process of manufacturing the magnetic head, the sealing member is used by softening, liquidizing, cooling and solidifying the glass composition by an appropriate heat treatment. Therefore, to prevent deterioration of the magnetic substance composing the magnetic head by heat, a glass composition usable at a temperature as low as possible has been demanded. As such a glass composition that meets the demand, there is a so-called low softening point glass.
In general, the glass composition is apt to have a higher thermal expansion coefficient when the softening point is lower. However, in order to avoid breaking or cracking due to warpage after cooling, it is necessary to control the thermal expansion coefficient of the sealing member not to increase. Further, to exhibit optimum magnetic recording properties, it is necessary to control the warpage of the magnetic substance caused by a difference in thermal expansion coefficient from the sealing member. Therefore, there has been a demand for a sealing member having a thermal expansion coefficient suitable for the specifications of various magnetic heads.
The sealing members of the magnetic heads are required to have temperature properties and thermal expansion coefficients suitable for their applications, respectively. The sealing member used for the magnetic heads such as the ferrite head, MIG head and stacked head is required to have a working temperature of 450 to 650° C. and a thermal expansion coefficient of 70×10−7 to 130×10−7/° C. For example, as to the sealing member for the MIG head, it is preferred that the working temperature is about 500° C. and the thermal expansion coefficient is 75×10−7 to 100×10−7/° C.
The working temperature mentioned herein is a temperature at which the viscosity of the glass composition becomes 103 Pa·s. Further, the softening point is a temperature obtained by measurement based on a JIS test method R3103-1, which is determined as a temperature at which the viscosity of the glass composition becomes 106.6 Pa·s. With the exception of the case where the viscosity behavior of the glass composition is unique, a glass composition having a low softening point is apt to have a low working temperature.
Next, a common plasma display panel (hereinafter may be referred to as PDP) is explained.
FIG. 1 is an example of a partial schematic oblique view illustrating a major structure of a common PDP.
In FIG. 1, the PDP comprises a front plate 1 and a rear plate 8 bonded to each other.
The front plate 1 includes a front glass substrate 2, display electrodes 5 formed on a single surface thereof, each of which comprising a transparent conductive film 3 and a bus electrode 4, a dielectric layer 6 made of dielectric glass covering the display electrodes 5 and a dielectric layer protecting layer 7 made of magnesium oxide.
The rear plate 8 includes a rear glass substrate 9, address electrodes 10 formed on a single surface thereof, a dielectric layer 11 covering the address electrodes 10, barrier ribs 12 arranged at regular intervals on the top surface of the dielectric layer 11 to form discharge spaces 14 and fluorescent layers formed inside the discharge spaces 14 for color display. The fluorescent layers include a red fluorescent layer 13(R), a green fluorescent layer 13(G) and a blue fluorescent layer 13(B) arranged sequentially, which are excited by ultraviolet light having a short wavelength of 147 nm, for example, to emit light.
The front plate 1 and the rear plate 8 are arranged such that the lengthwise directions of the display electrodes 5 and the address electrodes 10 are orthogonal to each other, and then bonded with a sealing member comprising a glass composition. FIG. 2 shows the arrangement of the display electrodes and the address electrodes, with an illustration of a sealing part.
Referring to FIG. 2, a sealing part 15 is the periphery of an overlapped region between the stacked front plate 1 and the rear plate 8. A paste comprising the sealing member is applied to the sealing part 15 and the front plate 1 and the rear plate 8 are bonded, thereby the inside thereof is sealed. Then, the display electrodes 5 and the address electrodes 10 are connected to external driving circuits (not shown), respectively.
FIG. 3 is an example of a cross section cut along the address electrode of the PDP shown in FIG. 1 illustrating the vicinity of the sealing part.
At least one of the front plate 1 and the rear plate 8 is provided with an air hole 17 for exhausting air from the end of a glass tube 18 communicating with the air hole 17 is fixed to the periphery of the opening end of the air hole 17 with a sealing member 16. Then, while heating to a predetermined temperature, air is exhausted from the inside of the PDP. After the exhaustion is completed, the discharge gas, is introduced up to a predetermined pressure. Then, finally, a basal portion of the glass tube 18 is heat-sealed.
In the thus manufactured PDP, discharge is performed: for a predetermined time to stabilize light-emitting properties and discharge properties as required.
In the process of manufacturing the PDP, the heat treatment in the sealing step using the sealing member 16 needs to be conducted at low temperature so as not to cause any trouble to the other members. That is, since the PDP contains glass materials in the glass substrates, electrodes, dielectric layers and barrier ribs, it is necessary to prevent these glass materials from being softened or deformed by heating in the sealing step. Further, it is also necessary to prevent deterioration of the dielectric layer protecting layer 7 and the fluorescent layers 13(R), 13(G) and 13(B). In general, it is desirable to carry out the sealing step at a treatment temperature of 500° C. or lower.
Thus, in the step of sealing the magnetic head or the PDP, it is preferable to use the sealing member at low temperature. Therefore, low softening point glass is used for the glass composition.
For example, examples of the low softening point glass used for the sealing member for the magnetic head include lead glasses such as SiO2—B2O3—PbO glass (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. HEI 8-180310) and B2O3—PbO—ZnO glass. Further, as the sealing glass for the PDP, lead glass containing PbO as a main component is used. That is, it is essential to contain lead to achieve the low softening point.
Although lead is heavily used as a component of the low softening point glass, it has been pointed out that lead has toxicity to human beings and hazardous properties to environment. Further, working environment in the manufacture of the magnetic head or the PDP and influence on the environment that accompanies disposal of the products have been brought into question. Therefore, there has been a demand for a sealing member using a lead free glass composition.
As the lead free low-melting glass, phosphate glass has been developed. However, in actual use, it is not sufficiently reliable, particularly with respect to water resistance. Moreover, a sealing member comprising a glass composition having low water resistance, for example, is apt to absorb moisture in the atmosphere in the manufacturing process of the PDP and the moisture may possibly remain in the PDP to cause harmful effect on display performance. In order to prevent this, the glass composition contained in the sealing member is required to be excellent in water resistance.
Further, there has also been studied a glass composition comprising lead free, low-melting point bismuth glass (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. HEI 10-139478).

Bismuth glass composition, and magnetic head and plasma display panel including the same as sealing member

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Method and apparatus for cooling a heated mold (12, 14, 16) of a device (10) for blow-molding thermoplastic containers, the device including:                a mold (12, 14, 16) having an internal face which delimits a molding cavity (18) and which includes an external face (20, 28) which surrounds the molding cavity (18);        heating elements for heating the mold to a determined temperature and which are deactivated when the cooling method is implemented;characterized in that the mold (12, 14, 16) is cooled by circulating heat-transfer fluid directly in contact with the external face (20, 28) thereof.

In the known way, moulding devices of this type can be used to create containers, such as bottles, from thermoplastic preforms. The preforms are preheated to a glass transition temperature to make them sufficiently malleable. The preform thus heated is inserted into the moulding cavity, then a blow nozzle injects a pressurized blow-moulding fluid, generally air, into the preform so that the walls of the latter conform to the impression delimited by the moulding cavity.
When the plastic containers have to be filled with a hot liquid, a container moulded at an ambient temperature carries the risk of container shrinkage and deformation. To avoid this shrinkage phenomenon, the mould has to be heated to a determined temperature, for example between 130° C. and 180° C., during the moulding operation in order to make the plastic of which the container is made heat resistant.
Various ways of heating the mould are already known. Thus, it is known practice to heat the mould using a fluidic circuit created within the thickness of the mould. A hot heat-transfer fluid is fed into the circuit in order to heat the mould.
It is also known practice to arrange heating electrical resistances within the thickness of the mould in order to heat the mould electrically.
Certain operations require an operator to handle the mould. Such is the case for example when there is a change in format of container to be manufactured. However, the operator cannot handle the mould while it is still hot and it is not a viable option to wait for the mould to cool down passively, thus bringing the entire production line to a standstill.
In order to solve this problem, it is known practice to use mould cooling means.
Thus, when the mould is heated by a hot heat-transfer fluid circuit, it has already been proposed that the hot heat-transfer fluid be temporarily replaced with cold heat-transfer fluid. Such a method allows the mould to be cooled rapidly.
The manufacture of a mould equipped with a heat-transfer fluid circuit devoted to cooling is extremely expensive and complicated to achieve because of the presence of the heating resistances within the thickness of the mould.

Method for cooling a mould by circulating a heat-transfer fluid in contact with the external face thereof


Systems and methods are provided for treating or preventing carbon monoxide poisoning. In particular, systems and methods are provided for a phototherapy treatment or prevention system that delivers light radiation to a patient's body to photodissociate carbon monoxide from hemoglobin.

The disclosure relates generally to phototherapy and, more specifically, to systems and methods for treating or preventing carbon monoxide poisoning using phototherapy.
Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning impairs tissue oxygenation as CO avidly binds to hemoglobin (Hb) to form carboxyhemoglobin (COHb), which cannot transport oxygen. Currently, treatment of CO poisoning involves breathing 100% oxygen to attempt to rapidly remove CO. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy and/or hyperventilation therapy or exercise can further increase the rate of CO elimination but the necessary facilities and equipment may be not be readily available. Visible light is also known to photodissociate CO from Hb, with a single photon dissociating one CO molecule from Hb.
Smyczynski suggested in Unites States Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0101464 that light radiation at 540 nanometers (nm) and/or 570 nm could be used to treat CO poisoning by photodissociating COHb in blood passing through an extracorporeal gas exchanger. The treatment system of Smyczynski involves removing and recirculating anticoagulated blood from a patient through an extracorporeal oxygenator. The blood passing through the extracorporeal oxygenator is irradiated with light at either 540 nm and/or 570 nm. The extracorporeal oxygenator is designed such that the blood-light contact surface is as large as possible because the 540 nm and/or 570 nm light does not penetrate deeply into the blood stream before becoming completely absorbed.
The 540 nm and 570 nm light wavelengths are chosen by Smyczynski because these wavelengths align with peaks in the COHb absorption spectra. However, light at 540 nm and 570 nm are poorly transmitted through human tissue, which requires the treatment system of Smyczynski to remove the blood from the patient's body to perform the phototherapy.

System and method for phototherapy for preventing or treating carbon monoxide poisoning


A bending machine for helically bending an elongated workpiece (T) has at least three bending rollers (2) that, being rotatable integrally with respective supporting shafts (3) with parallel axes (y), co-operate in bending the elongated workpiece (T). Each bending roller (2) is arranged to shift along its own supporting shaft (3) by way of a prismatic coupling for a limited stroke and to swing with respect to the axis of the supporting shaft (3) by way of a partially spherical body (8) forming a rotary coupling with the supporting shaft (3) in a limited amount of angular displacement according to an arc of meridian of the partially spherical body (8), so that each bending roller (2) is orientated coplanar to the elongated workpiece (T) that takes an inclined position on the basis of a desired helix pitch.

In the present bending machines that are disposed generally horizontally, at least three rollers are rotatable together with respective supporting shafts having vertically arranged parallel axis. The vertical axis rollers co-operate in bending an elongated workpiece, such as a section or a pipe.
In these kinds of machines, the vertical axis rollers are arranged horizontally coplanar so that a workpiece helix extends in height in a cylindrical shape thanks to a horizontal axis roller being idly mounted downstream of the vertical axis third roller. Since the horizontal axis roller is height adjustably mounted so to project with respect to the vertical axis rollers, a helix pitch is obtained.
The diverging action exerted by the horizontal axis roller counteracting the action accomplished by the vertical axis rollers that would tend to maintain the elongated workpiece on the same plane of symmetry, determines a state of stress which irregularly deforms the elongated workpiece besides to wear unevenly the vertical axis rollers due to their eccentric operation.
The Chinese patent CN 2476361 describes a helical bending machine with multiple heads. In the patent drawings, bending rollers in one piece with internal helical wheels, are shown coplanar inclined according to the helix pitch of a pipe being worked with respect to respective drive shafts that the helical wheels engage by their internal toothings. However, it is not clear from the drawings how this inclined arrangement of assemblies of helical wheels and bending rollers is achieved and maintained, nor said arrangement is explained in detail in the description of the patent. If this inclined arrangement is achieved by an inclination of the internal helical wheels with respect to the rollers that are external to them, this inclination should be able to be changed depending on the helix pitch of the workpiece, or the assemblies of helical wheels and bending rollers should be changed every time a helical bending operation is decided to be performed with a different pitch.
Furthermore, since the bending machine in the above mentioned Chinese patent is not of the kind in which the bending rollers are integral with the supporting shafts like in the bending machine of the present invention, but they are moved by shafts through respective toothings, the construction of the bending machine is particularly complex and susceptible to failure and breakdown.

Bending machine for helically bending an elongated workpiece


A baggage scanning system and method employ combined angular and energy dispersive x-ray scanning to detect the presence of a contraband substance within an interrogation volume of a baggage item. The interrogation volume is illuminated with penetrating, polychromatic x-rays in a primary fan beam from a source such as a tungsten-anode x-ray tube. An energy-dependent absorption correction is determined from measurement of the attenuation of the fan beam at a plurality of different energies. Radiation coherently scattered by substances in the interrogation volume is detected by an energy-resolved x-ray detector operated at a plurality of scattering angles to form a plurality of scattering spectra. Each scattering spectrum is corrected for energy-dependent absorption and the corrected spectra are combined to produce a scattering pattern. The experimental scattering pattern is compared with reference patterns that uniquely characterize known contraband substances. The system and method can locate and identify a wide variety of contraband substances in an accurate, reliable manner. The system provides for automated screening, with the result that vagaries of human performance are virtually eliminated. False alarms and the need for hand inspection are reduced and detection efficacy is increased.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of scanner apparatus and methods; and more particularly to inspection systems that scan luggage and cargo to detect explosives or other contraband materials therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the prevalence of criminal activity that entails transportation of weapons and contraband materials has been a significant public concern. It has thus become vital to develop systems for detecting the presence of these materials, both being shipped in luggage or cargo and being carried by an individual. Of particular concern is the need to detect items used as weapons by terrorists, including ordinary firearms and knives, items such as explosive or incendiary substances, and materials which present biological, chemical or radiological hazards to people and property. The detection of illicit drugs and narcotics being transported is also of concern.
The detection of contraband in the context of air and rail transportation is especially challenging, given the need to examine large numbers of people and articles of luggage and cargo within acceptable limits on throughput and intrusiveness. Although physical inspection is a widely practiced and important technique, it is slow, cumbersome, labor intensive, and dependent on the alertness and vigilance of the inspector.
Automated systems that screen for contraband have been sought for many years. Various techniques have been proposed to detect contraband objects and materials either directly or indirectly. Magnetometry is widely used, and is sometime effective in detecting metallic objects carried by persons, but is not suited for screening cargo, which legitimately may contain large amounts of metal. Nuclear techniques, including x-ray, gamma-ray, neutron activation, and nuclear magnetic resonance methods, are applicable for screening inanimate objects. In some cases, they are able to detect metallic objects, including weapons and ancillary devices such as wires, power supplies, batteries, and triggering mechanisms for explosive devices. However, there increasingly exist threats posed by explosives associated with largely non-metallic objects, which the aforementioned methods are less able to detect. The advent of modern plastic explosives presents an especially significant threat. Even a modest, readily concealable amount of these substances can cause a substantial explosion. Moreover, miscreants have become increasingly adept at disguising weapons and explosive devices as ordinary, innocuous objects. As a result, more refined indirect methods for detection of explosives are urgently sought.
The most widely deployed methods to detect bulk quantities of explosives in luggage employ x-ray examination. The methods generally fall into two categories, viz. dual energy transmission imaging and computed tomography (CT) methods. However, both have inherent problems that limit their usefulness and effectiveness.
In the dual energy transmission method, luggage typically is scanned using a collimated x-ray fan beam of broad spectral range emanating from a Bremsstrahlung source. The x-rays transmitted through the luggage are first detected by a detector that is sensitive to low energy x-rays but passes high energy x-rays. A filter usually follows and serves to attenuate any remaining low energy x-rays. A second detector detects the transmitted high energy x-rays. Thus the data are separated into two broad energy bins. From these data it is possible to obtain an average atomic number of what is being inspected, since the relative attenuation of low and high energy x-rays depends on the atomic number of the material. For example, a low atomic number object (typically an organic substance) will have a fairly flat response to the x-ray spectrum under consideration; whereas a higher atomic number object (typically inorganic/metal) object will preferentially attenuate the low energy x-rays over high energy x-rays.
However, the dual energy transmission method has significant limitations that restrict its efficacy in detecting contraband items. These limitations include: 1) the limited accuracy with which the average atomic number can be determined; 2) the similarity in average atomic number of many common explosives and ordinarily carried, benign objects; and 3) the physical juxtaposition of materials in the luggage, which consequentially permits only an overall average atomic number to be obtained. As a result, baggage scanning systems in present use give undesirably high false alarm rates when operated with detection thresholds that are sufficiently sensitive to reliably identify actual contraband. The high false alarm rate, in turn, drives a requirement for extensive hand searching of luggage. The added scrutiny subjects passengers to discomfort and inconvenience and results in frequent passenger delays and disruption of schedules of airlines and the like. The incidence of false alarms also is likely to result in complacency and inattention on the part of security personnel.
The computed tomography method is a technique akin to methods commonly used for medical imaging. The CT method comprises collection of x-ray transmission data from a large number of angles to produce data slices of the object to be imaged. The data slices are then reconstructed, usually using a computer, to create images in which overlying objects can be distinguished. In a CT baggage scanning system the differences in measured x-ray attenuation by these different objects are used to infer their respective material densities. Upon detection of objects having densities at least similar to those of known explosive materials, security personnel are alerted to the need for follow-up inspection. Although CT theoretically can separate overlapping objects and determine their densities, a large number of benign objects ordinarily transported in luggage have densities comparable to those of common explosives. As a result, CT baggage scanning in practice also suffers from an undesirable high false alarm rate, leading to the same logistical difficulties as encountered with dual energy inspection systems. Although CT systems are billed as Explosive Detection Systems (EDS), the long inspection times and need for extensive human intervention due to the high false alarm rate compromises their efficiency and effectiveness.
The use of x-ray diffraction, also known as a form of coherent x-ray scattering, has been proposed as an alternative approach to contraband detection. Constructive interference of scattered x-rays occurs when the x-rays emerge from a target at the same angle and are in phase. This occurs when the phase lag between rays in a wave front is an integral number of wavelengths of the x-ray radiation. The condition of an integral number of wavelengths is satisfied for x-rays of wavelength λ scattered at an angle θ from the incident beam direction from a sample having a crystal lattice spacing d, in accordance with the following formula,λ=2d sin(θ/2).  (1)This equation is often known as Bragg's Law.
Most solid materials that are found in nature or are manufactured exist in polycrystalline form. That is, they comprise a large number of tiny, individual grains or crystallites. The atoms within each crystallite are located in regularly spaced positions, which are uniquely characteristic of a given material. These regularly spaced atoms, in turn, define a plurality of crystal lattice spacings uniquely associated with that material. As a result, the set of lattice spacings can serve as a unique fingerprint for that material. Such fingerprints may readily be determined for most ceramics, polymers, explosives, and metals.
The x-ray diffraction or coherent scattering technique is widely practiced for laboratory analysis for identifying unknown materials in a sample. Laboratory x-ray diffraction is most commonly implemented in an angular-resolved form. In its usual form, angular-resolved coherent scattering (AR-CS) comprises illumination of a sample with a narrowly collimated, line or pencil beam of monochromatic x-rays, i.e. x-rays having a wavelength λ within a very narrow range. Some of the x-ray flux incident on a sample is coherently scattered in accordance with Bragg's Law. The scattering for a polycrystalline sample comprising an assemblage of a large number of randomly oriented crystallites is concentrated in a series of circular cones, each cone having an apex at the sample and being centered on the incident beam direction and having a half-opening angle of θ. The intensity of this scattered radiation is determined experimentally at a series of values of angle θ. A graph of the scattered intensity versus angle is commonly termed an x-ray diffraction or scattering pattern, and is characterized by a plurality of narrow peaks seen at angles θi for a series of i values. The measured values of θi in turn allow corresponding values of di, the crystal lattice spacing which gives rise to the i-th diffraction peak, to be calculated from Equation (1). Unknown samples are identified by comparing the set of experimentally-determined lattice spacings di with the spacings of known materials. An unknown sample can be conclusively identified if its observed d-spacings match the d-spacings of a known sample with sufficient accuracy.
Less commonly, laboratory diffraction is implemented in an energy-resolved form (ER-CS), in which the sample is illuminated by polychromatic x-ray radiation. A polychromatic source, is one which emits radiation having a spread of energies and wavelengths, in contrast to a monochromatic source, which emits radiation having only a single wavelength and energy. It is known that the wavelength λ and the energy E of x-ray photons are connected by the equation:E=hc/λ,  (2)wherein h is Planck's constant and c is the speed of light. Bragg's law may thus be rewritten in a form more appropriate for ER-CS:(1/2d)=(E/hc)sin(θ/2)  (3)wherein χ=(E/hc)sin(θ/2) is a quantity conventionally termed momentum transfer. The ER-CS method normally employs an x-ray detector capable of resolving the energy of radiation incident thereon. The detector is positioned at a fixed scattering angle θ and detects coherently scattered radiation of a range of energies. Bragg's Law is satisfied for certain energies and d-spacings, so the detected radiation spectrum has peaks at these energies.
A material's x-ray diffraction pattern stems directly from its characteristic atomic structure and can thus serve as a unique fingerprint for identifying the material. Therefore, diffraction methods theoretically provide better discrimination and a dramatically lower false alarm rate than either CT or dual energy transmission screening methods. While x-ray diffraction in both forms is routinely practiced as a laboratory analysis method, known systems are complex and require skilled operators to collect and interpret the data. Moreover, the laboratory systems are incapable to carrying out analysis with the speed and reliability required for any practical baggage screening system. Accordingly, x-ray diffraction systems have not received widespread acceptance for baggage screening.
Both angular resolved coherent scatter (AR-CS) and energy resolved coherent scatter (ER-CS) systems have been proposed for baggage screening. Each has advantages and disadvantages. The AR-CS method can be implemented with a relatively simple x-ray detector, instead of a relatively complex and expensive energy-resolved detector. However, the AR-CS method requires a monochromatic x-ray beam, obtained either from the fluorescence of the source anode (most often made of tungsten) or by filtering a polychromatic beam. In either case, the number of x-ray photons available to scatter from the baggage for content analysis is severely limited. Typically, a filter is used to select x-ray photons having energy within a narrow range, e.g. an energy range encompassing the tungsten fluorescence lines near 59 keV. Unfortunately available filters are not perfect and reduce the number of photons of the desired energy. They also transmit extraneous x-rays having energies outside the desired range that muddle the resulting angular spectrum. The net effect of filtering the primary x-ray beam is to increase substantially the time needed to scan the baggage, since most of the x-rays emitted by the x-ray source are attenuated before reaching the luggage and so are not used.
On the other hand, the ER-CS method does not require a filter, and the entire x-ray spectrum potentially can be utilized. The disadvantage is that the detectors must be energy resolving, which makes the detector system more complex and costly. In addition the detector is usually positioned at a fixed angle. Bragg's Law generally is not satisfied for any x-rays in the most intense part of the spectrum, i.e. for energies near the 59 keV peak in the x-ray spectrum flux. As a result, only a small portion of the entire x-ray flux that impinges on the baggage is effectively used, likewise lengthening inspection times.
In particular, the x-ray flux spectrum typically emitted by an x-ray tube having a tungsten anode target and a 2 mm window is depicted by FIG. 10. Some 23% of the flux is contained within the tungsten fluorescence peaks near 59 keV. Additional fluorescence peaks at about 67 keV comprise about 7% of the total flux. At best, AR-CS methods rely on a small minority of the total flux, typically less than even the 23% in the 59 keV peaks. While the ER-CS method utilizes somewhat more of the x-ray flux, a large part of the intensity still cannot effectively use all the flux as a result of limitations inherent in the use of fixed scattering angles.
Methods that combine energy and angular resolution have also been proposed. However, these methods have generally entailed use of a highly collimated, pencil beam of x-rays. While such methods are suggested to be useful in locating contraband within an item, the tight collimation significantly limits the x-ray flux in both intensity and spatial extent, thus slowing the scanning to an undesirable degree.
Previous x-ray methods have also suffered from limitations that result from the techniques used to correct for the non-coherent absorption of x-ray flux traversing the item being interrogated. For example, some systems have employed a sidescattering technique that entails the complexity and expense of an additional detection system.
X-ray scattering methods that efficiently use x-ray flux from a source, while minimizing the exposure of baggage to radiation that is ineffectual in substance identification, are thus highly sought. Desirable methods also afford rapid and sensitive scanning for reliable identification of targeted substances without generation of unwarranted false alarms.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned approaches, there remains a need in the art for systems capable of reliably, accurately, and rapidly detecting the presence of contraband substances, especially explosives, accelerants, and illicit drugs. More particularly, there is need for systems that are readily automated for semi-continuous or continuous inspection and detection of the presence of such materials in luggage, cargo, vehicles, freight containers, and related items. Such systems are highly sought, especially in the context of airport screening, but would be equally valuable for courthouses, stadiums, schools, government offices, military installations, correctional institutions, and other public venues that might be targets of terrorist or similar criminal activity.

X-ray inspection system for detecting explosives and other contraband


A method and system for determining the location of miners trapped in an underground mine that includes recording a reference seismic signature for each of a plurality of underground base stations in the mine in advance of an emergency. The reference seismic signatures are created by generating first a seismic signal with a high signal-to-noise ratio at each base station, monitoring the signal with a permanent array of surface seismic sensors, and recording each unique signature on a central computer. In the event of an emergency, trapped miners can generate a second seismic signal at any of the underground base stations which can be easily identified with the central computer by using the pre-recorded reference seismic signature to overcome a weak signal-to-noise ratio.

Over the past several decades, the U.S. Government, operators of underground mines, and universities have expended considerable effort in improving mine safety. Since the 1970's these activities have included the development of seismic monitoring systems to pinpoint localized seismic events in the mine, such as rockbursts. Similar efforts have been geared toward locating trapped miners in the event of an emergency. Both types of seismic monitoring systems are related, in that they can include interconnected geophones buried near the surface level. The rockburst system generally uses more permanently installed geophones, while the emergency system generally uses portable surface geophones which can be installed and configured in a few hours.
In general, the typically permanently installed rockburst systems apply a limited number of sensors spread out over a wide area, such as over the entire footprint of the mine that can extend for miles in several directions. This widely-spaced, permanent array can provide coarse measurements suitable for monitoring large, noisy, low frequency seismic events, such as rockbursts, and pinpointing the general location of these events in the mine. Unfortunately, the signal-to-noise ratio of smaller man-made seismic events, such as a trapped miner pounding on a roof bolt with a hammer, is much lower. Due to the unique characteristics of the rock strata overlying each mine, the rapid attenuation of the high frequency noise traveling through the rock, and the long distance between sensors, it is difficult to accurately capture these less-powerful man-made seismic vibrations. Furthermore, at present day is it prohibitively expensive to install and maintain a permanent geophone network over a mine extending tens of square miles with enough sensors to accurately pinpoint a man-made seismic signal at any random location in the mine.
In an emergency, portable systems can provide a higher resolution by placing a greater number of geophones directly over the impacted area to improve sensitivity to human-caused events. Although these types of systems are never exact, rescuers can compare the general direction of man-made impact signals generated by trapped miners with a map of the mine to determine an approximate location. The disadvantages of portable systems are obvious, however. Being portable, they must be carried to the accident site and, depending upon the surface terrain, may take hours or days to set up and configure. This is a critical shortcoming in situations where time is of the essence, with trapped miners having limited quantities of air, sustenance and heat. Furthermore, since there is no opportunity to calibrate the system to the specific rock strata overlying the mine, the location solutions are only approximate at best.
What is needed is a seismic monitoring system for locating trapped miners with an improved capability to detect man-made seismic signals without a high number of seismic sensors and where the seismic vibrations emitted by a trapped miner signal-to-noise ratio is poor.

Seismic location and communication system


A heat pipe cooling device includes a heat conductor base, heat pipes and a cooling body. The heat conductor base further includes a base with multiple trenches and an upper cover. The heat pipes include a heat reception end and a cooling end. When the heat reception end of the heat pipes is contained in the trenches of the base, the bottom portion of the heat reception end tightly contacts the trenches. The upper cover includes multiple through holes and compressive portions formed between each pair of the through holes. The upper cover and the base are then tightly combined. The cooling end of the heat pipe penetrates the through hole. The compressive portion between the through holes is securely affixed above the heat reception end of the heat pipes. A cooling body is connected to the cooling end of the heat pipe, thereby forming the heat pipe cooling device.

The present invention relates generally to a cooler, and more particularly to a heat pipe cooling for dissipating heat generated from an electronic device.
The operation of all electronic devices generates heat either due to conversion efficiency or friction. In particular, the modern technology has made possible more and more miniaturized electronic products, such as integrated circuits and personal electronic devices, the heat generated therefrom thus become more and more concentrated. For example, as a result of the continuous performance enhancement of personal computers, the heat generated from a personal computer is no longer restricted to the central processing unit. Other chipsets, such as chip modules, image processing units, dynamic memories and hard disks, also contribute significantly to the overall generated heat. Therefore, an additional cooling device is needed for ensuring that the personal computer is operated within the working temperature range, thereby preventing the personal computer from malfunctioning.
Heat pipes are the mostly employed cooling device in a miniaturized electronic product. The cooling device is made of materials of high heat conductivity. The cooperation between the working fluid and the capillary structured disposed in the heat pipe renders the heat pipe to have high heat conductivity and a reduction of the weight thereof. Therefore, such a cooling device does not have the problems of noise, heavy weight, too costly and structural complexity. In addition, such a cooling device can massively transfer heat without consuming electricity. For the reasons set forth above, the heat pipe cooling device has become the standard cooling device. However, conventional heat pipe cooling device is adhered to a heat generating electronic element via a heat conductor. The heat conductor transfers the heat to the heat pipe. Then, the working fluid in the heat pipe is vaporized due to the absorbed heat, thereby transferring the heat to the cooling body. Next, the vaporized working fluid is condensed and returns to the original position along the capillary structure. Since a heat conductor is required to absorb and transfer heat to the heat pipe, the overall heat transfer process is too long. Therefore, the heat transfer speed is rather limited.
One conventional heat pipe cooling device includes a cooling body, a heat pipe and a heat conductor. The cooling body includes a plurality of cooling fins stacked with each other, each cooling fin having a through hole formed thereon. The heat pipe includes a heat reception end and a cooling end. The cooling end of the heat pipe penetrates through the through holes of the cooling fins. A plurality of concave grooves is formed on the heat conductor, which is contained in the heat reception end of the heat pipe. Before the heat reception end of the heat pipe is disposed in front of the concave groove, a metallic material of low melting point is coated on the concave groove. The heat reception end of the heat pipe is then disposed in the concave groove. Later, the combination is sent to an hot oven for securely fastening the heat pipe to the heat conductor, thereby forming a heat pipe cooling device. The surface of the heat pipe is blacken due to the heating process in the oven. Therefore, an oxidation reduction process is required for recovering the heat pipe to its original color.
The heat pipe of the heat pipe cooling device described above is disposed in the heat conductor, so as to shorten the heat transfer path and increase the heat transfer rate. However, a metallic material of low melting point is required to be coated on the concave groove of the heat conductor. In addition, a hot oven is used to securely fasten the heat pipe with the heat conductor. These processes will increase the fabrication and the material cost for coating the metallic material and for heating in the oven. Moreover, the heating process in the oven will blacken the surface of the heat pipe. An additional oxidation reduction process is thus required, which will largely increase the manufacturing cost and lower the production efficiency.

Heat pipe cooling device and method for manufacturing the same


A user directed verbal interactive method and system for requesting a evaluation and obtaining a customized verbal therapy routine based on the evaluation obtained. The method and system allow users to interact with an artificial intelligence agent by answering a series of system directed questions that guides the users through evaluation and treatment of physical pain using a customized verbal interaction and delivery regimen. Users verbally engage with the artificial intelligence agent to create respective profiles. The system develops therapies based on their current physiological state and profile. The users are then delivered verbal therapy prompts through the system to implement the developed therapy routines.

The present invention relates generally to an automated system for the delivery of personalized therapy and training sessions without any physical examination. More specifically, the present invention relates to an automated system whereby a user interacts with and is monitored by a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) agent (in form of voice only and/or avatar) and further whereby monitored responses and behaviors are analyzed by the AI system to develop, deliver and implement ongoing personalized activity, physical therapy, and/or behavior recommendations for the user.
Due to sedentary societies, and postural positions that are detrimental to the human body, there is a need for proper movement to offset negative stimulus. With proper sequenced body positions and muscular contraction of deep postural muscles, the body can readily heal itself. Without such proper movement, compensations, limitations, pain and ailments are inevitable. Unfortunately, most medical and non-medical treatments for pain and other ailments only treat the symptom, and not the underlying cause. Therefore, symptom relief is only temporary, while misalignments and dysfunctions remain.
Personal self-help systems are a fast-growing technological area. There is a critical need in society for individuals to be able to take control and initiative to proactively seek assistance with physical ailments and to improve both their physical and emotional well-being.

Conversational artificial intelligence driven methods and system for delivering personalized therapy and training sessions


A junction at which at least two conductors are connected together includes a compound region containing Cu, Sn and at least one element selected from the group consisting of Si, B, Ti, Al, Ag, Bi, In, Sb, Ga and Zn. The compound region forms a nanocomposite metal diffusion region with the conductor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a junction and electrical connection.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a means for realizing a three-dimensional circuit configuration in electronic devices such as various scales of integrated circuits, various types of semiconductor elements or chips thereof, there has been proposed a TSV (through-silicon-via) technology of providing a circuit substrate with a large number of through conductors and stacking and bonding such circuit substrates. By applying the TSV technology to the three-dimensional circuit configuration, many functions can be packed into a small footprint. Moreover, important electrical pathways between elements can be dramatically shortened to increase processing speed. Japanese Patent No. 3869859 discloses a via hole structure essential for the TSV technology.
The via hole structure disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3869859 must contain a binder and/or a reactive monomer or polymer in addition to a high melting point metal, a low melting point metal or metal alloy and a crosslinking agent. In a cured state within a via hole, a polymeric network generated by crosslinking of organic constituents of a conductive adhesive coexists with an alloyed metal network.
After the via hole structure disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3869859 is cured within the via hole, the polymeric network coexists with the alloyed metal network, as described in its specification. This degrades electrical conductivity accordingly.
Also, there is a problem inherent in diffusion bonding of metal, i.e., the formation of voids, cracks or the like due to Kirkendall voids. Kirkendall voids arise as atomic vacancies (lattice), which arise from the asymmetry of interdiffusion, accumulate without disappearing. In the case of a Sn/Cu interface, for example, since Sn diffuses less than Cu, the vacancies accumulate at the interface between the intermetallic compound and Cu, thereby forming Kirkendall voids. Such Kirkendall voids may grow into a larger void or crack, deteriorating the reliability or quality of conductors and therefore causing disconnection. Japanese Patent No. 3869859 does not disclose any countermeasure against this problem.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-261105 discloses a technology of connecting an electrode of a semiconductor device with an electrode of a mounting substrate through a junction comprising a CuSn compound including Cu6Su5 and Cu balls and also connecting the Cu balls together through the CuSn compound. However, since the electrodes and the Cu balls are connected together by the CuSn compound, Kirkendall voids may arise at the Sn/Cu interface.
A similar problem arises in forming an electrical connection with a through conductor or a planar conductor pattern on a wafer or in forming a junction at which semiconductor chips are connected to each other in an electronic device, e.g., in the form of three-dimensional system-in-package (3D-SiP).


A method of forming a composite material includes providing an uncured substrate. The method further includes applying a bond ply to the substrate and a peel ply to the bond ply. In some embodiments, the bond ply comprises a fiber veil, such as a glass fiber veil. The method further includes curing the substrate and removing the bond ply and peel ply from the cured substrate, thereby exposing an active surface on the substrate. Removing the bond ply and peel ply can create fractures in the active surface that increase the roughness and bondability of the active surface. In several embodiments, the composite materials described herein can be compatible with a wide range of adhesives, including room temperature adhesives.

Composite materials are made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties that, when combined, produce a material with characteristics different from the individual components. Composite materials are used across many industries, including aircraft manufacturing. Adhesive bonding of composite parts in aircraft structures can be more desirable than other joining methods due to higher joint stiffness and superior fatigue performance for the bonded segment.
In order to obtain high quality, strong adhesive bonds, there are two main considerations: proper surface preparation and the choice of adhesive/adherend. A freshly cleaned surface is required, as the surface may absorb gases, release agents, or other contamination that inhibit bonding. Further, the adhesive must spread out or "wet" the surface of the adherend (i.e., the composite substrate). Wetting is mostly controlled by the surface energy of the adhesive and adherend. In order for an adhesive to wet the adherend, the surface energy of the substrate must be higher than the surface energy of the adhesive. Roughness can increase the surface energy, creating a better surface for bonding. Roughness requirements can be satisfied by abrasive surface preparation techniques and proper cleaning prior to bonding. However, in order to avoid time- and labor-intensive abrasive surface preparation methods, such as sanding and grit blasting, peel ply surface preparation has become a common method of producing acceptable bonding surfaces for some applications.
A peel ply is a woven synthetic fabric that is added as a layer to an adherend substrate and cured to the substrate prior to adhesive bonding. In some peel ply methods, during curing, the viscosity of a resin (e.g., epoxy resin, polyester resin, vinyl ester resin, bismaleimides resin, etc.) in the preimpregnated ("prepreg") substrate drops and allows the resin to flow and impregnate the peel ply between the fibers and in gaps where warp and weft meet. This imprints the channeled characteristics of the peel-ply material on the composite surface. After curing, the peel ply is then removed from the substrate surface immediately before bonding or analysis. In other peel ply methods (e.g., vacuum assisted resin transfer molding), unimpregnated ("dry") fibers are infused with resin after they have been placed on the substrate. While traditional peel ply surface preparation methods leave behind traces of the peel ply fiber (e.g., polymers) on the substrate surface that inhibit adhesive bonding at room temperature, these methods have proven to be successful in achieving acceptable surface chemistries when bonding composite parts at elevated temperatures.

Bond ply for adhesive bonding of composites and associated systems and methods


A method for converting a precursor of a polypeptide that induces IFN-.gamma. production in immunocompetent cells, characterized in that it comprises a step of contacting an interleukin-1.beta. converting enzyme with the precursor to convert it into an active polypeptide that induces IFN-.gamma. production in immunocompetent cells.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a physiologically active polypeptide, more particularly, to a process for producing a polypeptide that induces interferon-.gamma. (hereinafter abbreviated as "IFN-.gamma.") production in immunocompetent cells.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present inventors succeeded in isolating a polypeptide that induces IFN-.gamma. production in immunocompetent cells and a cDNA encoding the polypeptide, and disclosed them in Japanese Patent Kokai Nos.27,189/96 and 193,098/96. The polypeptide is featured in inducing the production of IFN-.gamma. as a useful biologically active substance, enhancing the cytotoxicity by killer cells, and inducing the formation of killer cells; it can be expected for use as anti-virus agents, antiseptics, antitumor agents and anti-immunopathy agents.
It is said that, in human cells, polypeptides formed by the expression of genes may be processed by intracellular enzymes to be partially digested and to receive sugar chains. Polypeptides to be satisfactorily incorporated into pharmaceuticals may be those which were processed similarly as in human cells; such cells have a demerit that they less produce the present polypeptide as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No.269,105/96. The present inventors' energetic study revealed that the present polypeptide usually exists in human cells in the form of a precursor with a molecular weight of about 24,000 daltons and no biological activity. Although it is not restricted to the present polypeptide, it is known that most cytokines are usually produced as precursors with no biological activity, and then processed by intracellular enzymes to be converted into active polypeptides.

Kabushiki Kaisha Hayashibara Seibutsu Kagaku Kenkyujo


An absorber containing non-wood pulp with the settling velocity in water between 2 and 5 seconds, the mean fiber size of 8 to 25 μm, the apparent bulk density of 0.04 to 0.07 g/cm3, and the absorption for 0.9% physiological saline of at least 20-fold with respect to the pulp mass. The absorber has a thickness change of at least 600%, as the thickness after having absorbed 0.9% physiological saline with respect to the thickness before absorbing 0.9% physiological saline. When addition of 80 mL of 0.9% physiological saline to the absorbent article over a period of 10 seconds is performed three times every 10 minutes and the absorption rate of the absorbent article for each of the three times is evaluated as the time from addition of the 0.9% physiological saline until complete absorption, the absorption rate for each of the three times is not greater than 20 seconds.

Pulp derived from non-wood materials (non-wood pulp) has been used in the past as material for disposable absorbers to be used in diapers and sanitary articles. Bagasse, which consists of the hulls obtained after squeezing juice from sugarcane stems, has been particularly noted as a material for absorbers (PTL 1, for example). By blending pith-containing bagasse pulp and wood pulp, which differ from each other in bulk density, in a prescribed ratio, and thereby adjusting the bulk density, the water retention of the absorber is increased during pressing and compaction.


An absorbent sheet for pets which has a strong pet-excrement concealing effect, and makes it possible to recognize the time for an exchange of the pet sheet. The absorbent sheet has an excrement surface, a placement surface, a body-outer-edge section, an outside direction, an inside direction, an absorbent, an absorbent-outer-edge section, an absorbent-outer-edge region which is a region containing the absorbent-outer-edge section, an absorbent-center region formed in the inside direction in relation to the absorbent-outer-edge region, and a color-scheme region which is recognizable from the excrement-surface side. The color-scheme region has a first color-scheme region, a second color-scheme region and a third color-scheme region, and forms a color-scheme pattern from the first color-scheme region, the second color-scheme region and the third color-scheme region.

Conventionally, absorbent sheets for pets have been provided to be used particularly for disposing excrement of pets which are kept indoors. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication JP 2012-130286A discloses an absorbent sheet for pets.
In the absorbent sheet for pets according to this prior art, a liquid-permeable colored sheet containing a black component is disposed between a liquid-permeable top sheet and an absorber. Further, a liquid-permeable intermediate sheet is disposed between the colored sheet and the top sheet. The intermediate sheet has an L* value larger than the black component of the colored sheet, has a lower total light transmittance than the top sheet and has liquid retainability.
When a pet excretes on this prior art absorbent sheet for pets, excrement penetrates the top sheet and reaches the intermediate sheet. Since the intermediate sheet has liquid retainability, it retains liquid and is pressed against the colored sheet disposed under the intermediate sheet. Further, since the intermediate sheet is also liquid-permeable, excrement in the intermediate sheet transfers to the colored sheet. At this time, the black component of the colored sheet stands out compared with a portion of the colored sheet which is not wet. Due to the liquid retainability of the intermediate sheet, the black component keeps standing out for some time.
Thereafter, excrement retained by the colored sheet is retained by the absorber. In the colored sheet through which excrement has passed, the black color of a black-based deodorant is inconspicuous. Therefore, by elapse of time after urination, it is made hard to identify the sheet as a used sheet after urination.
The absorbent sheet for pets according to this prior art is thus configured such that a user can easily recognize excretion of a pet on the absorbent sheet.
Depending on an absorbent sheet for pets to be obtained, however, it may be desired to prevent the outline of excreted urine from being easily recognized from the top sheet.


The present invention is a method for semi-selectively depositing a material on a substrate by chemical vapor deposition to form continuous, void-free contact holes or vias in sub-half micron applications. An insulating layer is preferentially deposited on the field of a substrate to delay or inhibit nucleation of metal on the field. A CVD metal is then deposited onto the substrate and grows selectively in the contact hole or via where a barrier layer serves as a nucleation layer. The process is preferably carried out in a multi-chamber system that includes both PVD and CVD processing chambers so that once the substrate is introduced into a vacuum environment, the filling of contact holes and vias occurs without the formation of an oxide layer on a patterned substrate.

In integrated circuit fabrication, electrically conductive, metal-containing material is deposited onto substrates to form interconnect lines and/or fill contact holes and vias, which are used to electrically connect active devices formed on substrates. The metal-containing interconnect lines are typically formed by sequentially (I) depositing layers of electromigration, diffusion barrier, electrical conductor, and/or antireflective materials, on the substrate, (ii) forming a patterned resist layer on the deposited layers, and (iii) etching the unprotected portions of the deposited layers to form the interconnect lines. An electrical insulator layer, such as silicon dioxide, is deposited over the interconnect lines to electrically isolate the interconnect lines. Contact holes or vias are etched through the insulator layer to expose underlying interconnect lines, or to expose semiconductor devices such as gates. The contact holes or vias are filled with additional metal-containing material to form plugs that connect the devices and interconnect lines formed on the substrate.
Conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques are used to deposit electrically conductive material into the contact holes and vias formed on the substrate. One problem with conventional processes arises because the contact holes or vias often comprise high aspect ratios, i.e., the ratio of the height of the holes to their width or diameter is greater than 1. The aspect ratio of the holes increases as advances in technology yield more closely spaced features.
Referring to FIG. 1, a substrate 10 comprises a hole 11 formed within an electrically insulative or dielectric layer 12, such as for example, silicon dioxide or silicon nitride. It is difficult to deposit a uniform metal-containing layer 13 into the high aspect ratio hole 11 using chemical vapor deposition processes because the metal-containing layer 13 often preferentially deposits on the sidewalls 14 of the holes and across the width of the hole to eventually converge and form voids and discontinuities 15 within the metal-containing material 13. Thereafter, the high mobility of metal atoms, such as aluminum atoms, surrounding the voids causes the atoms to diffuse and minimize the surface area of the voids forming circular shaped voids 15 as shown in FIG. 1. These voids and discontinuities 15 result in poor and unreliable electrical contacts.
One traditional CVD method used to fill contact holes and vias is selective CVD, wherein the chemical vapor nucleates, i.e., the deposition process begins at selected nucleation sites on the wafer. The usefulness of selective chemical vapor deposition of Al or other metals is limited due to the inability to effectively clean the via interface during a pre-cleaning step. SiO.sub.2 deposited in the via bottom inhibits selective nucleation and selective CVD metal via fill. This loss of selectivity results in a corresponding formation of a void inside the via and a drop in via yield. As aspect ratios increase, the via Ar+ flux, or other pre-clean flux, reaching the via bottom decreases, thereby reducing the effectiveness of sputter etch removal of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 which typically forms on the substrate surface when the substrate is exposed to ambient conditions. To effectively remove the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, longer etch times are required which decreases throughput of substrates in the system. In addition, as the etch times are increased, the fraction of material sputtered from the via corner increases proportionally as does the resulting SiO.sub.2 sputter flux deposition onto the via interface.
Liner processes have been developed to resolve the limitations of the selective CVD process. A liner, such as titanium (Ti) or titanium nitride (TiN), is deposited on a patterned substrate to provide a nucleation layer and a wetting layer over which deposition can proceed. The liner process overcomes limitations of the selective process by reducing the oxide interface at the via bottom with a thin layer of sputtered Ti or TiN. However, selectivity is lost since the Ti or TiN is also deposited on the via sidewall and substrate field surfaces. Therefore, selective CVD cannot be used to fill the aperture, so a thin conformal CVD Al is deposited into the aperture to form a liner. The Al liner is then covered with a PVD metal layer, such as aluminum. The substrate 10 is then heated to reflow temperatures causing the deposited aluminum to flow into the bottom of the contact holes and/or vias. However, because the PVD aluminum layer is only deposited on portions of the substrate 10 due to the limitations imposed by very small geometries, the layer must be heated to temperatures of about 400.degree. C. to about 550.degree. C., in order to provide a sufficiently low viscosity metal layer that flows into the holes 11 in the substrate 10. Such high temperatures limit the PVD and reflow techniques to only those where the substrates are not damaged by the high temperatures. For example, temperatures above 400.degree. C. can cause diffusion of dopant material and/or decomposition of the substrate. New generations of ever miniaturized integrated circuits require low processing temperatures to obtain the required levels of miniaturization, and to allow use of low temperature materials that are often unstable at temperatures exceeding 400.degree. C. In addition, as the aspect ratio increases, the thermal budget and resulting throughput is decreased. While the liner integration sequence provides cost, thermal budget and throughput improvements compared to traditional hot AlCu processing, it is still expensive relative to a selective sequence.
Conventional PVD methods, such as sputtering, also have problems that result because material sputtered off a sputtering target by energetic plasma ions travels to the substrate 10 in a relatively straight-line path to deposit primarily on those portions of the substrate within line-of-sight of the target. The line-of-sight deposition makes it difficult to fill high aspect ratio contact holes or vias that have an aspect ratio exceeding 1. Often, less than 5% of the material deposited by conventional PVD processes is formed within the holes 11, the remaining deposits being formed on top of the features adjacent to the holes 11.
Another problem with conventional deposition processes arises because such methods deposit crystalline grains 16 having random crystalline orientation which negatively affect electromigration performance. Highly oriented crystals, on the other hand, can reduce electromigration of the atoms within the crystal. Electromigration is a diffusive process in which atoms diffuse from one region to another region within the deposited layer under the influence of electrical fields across the substrate, causing voids that result in "open" junctions and unreliable electrical conductivity. Conductive layers having a highly oriented crystalline structure exhibit reduced electromigration of atoms, because in certain crystallographic orientations, the conductive layers have lower diffusion coefficients. For example, deposited aluminum grains that are highly oriented in the crystallographic plane having <111> miller indices are found to exhibit excellent resistance to electromigratory diffusion. However, conventional deposition processes typically deposit more randomly oriented crystalline grains 16 on the substrate. This limits the current density that a conductive plug or interconnect line can carry to typically about 10.sup.6 A/cm.sup.2, beyond which excessive electromigration would occur.
The randomly oriented crystalline grains provided by conventional CVD and PVD processes can also result in deposition of layers having non-planar surfaces, which is undesirable for modem VLSI circuits that use multiple layers of submicron sized features to form high speed circuits. The surface 17 of the filled holes 11 in such circuits need to be planar and flat in order to accurately fabricate high density miniaturized features using conventional photolithographic processes. Conventional CVD deposition processes form a deposition layer having irregular ridges 18 on features adjacent to the holes 11 that result in an uneven and irregular surface 17, as shown in FIG. 1. The uneven deposition layers produce unfocussed or blurred resist patterns in the photo lithographic process, and on being etched, provide features having irregular line widths.
Thus, there is a need for a process for filling high aspect ratio contact holes and vias in a substrate with metal-containing material, without forming voids or defects in the deposited material. It is also desirable for the deposition process to deposit grains that are highly oriented in particular crystallographic planes.

Semi-selective chemical vapor deposition


The present invention pertains to an isolated promoter sequence from Arabidopisis thaliana BOSI gene encoding a protein for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. Also, the invention relates to recombinant vectors, expression cassettes, host cells, plants or progeny thereof comprising nucleic acid molecules operably linked to said promoter.

Improvement of the agronomic characteristics of crop plants has been ongoing since the beginning of agriculture. Most of the land suitable for crop production is currently being used. As human populations continue to increase, improved crop varieties will be required to adequately provide our food and feed (Trewavas (2001) Plant Physiol. 125: 174–179). To avoid catastrophic famines and malnutrition, future crop cultivars will need to have improved yields with equivalent farm inputs. These cultivars will need to more effectively withstand adverse conditions such as drought, soil salinity or disease, which will be especially important as marginal lands are brought into cultivation. Finally, we will need cultivars with altered nutrient composition to enhance human and animal nutrition, and to enable more efficient food and feed processing, by designing cultivars for specific end-uses. For all these traits, identification of the genes controlling phenotypic expression of traits of interest will be crucial in accelerating development of superior crop germplasm by conventional or transgenic means.
A number of highly efficient approaches are available to assist identification of genes playing key roles in expression of agronomically important traits. These include genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, and functional genomics. Genetics is the scientific study of the mechanisms of inheritance. By identifying mutations that alter the pathway or response of interest, classical (or forward) genetics can help to identify the genes involved in these pathways or responses. For example, a mutant with enhanced susceptibility to disease may identify an important component of the plant signal transduction pathway leading from pathogen recognition to disease resistance. Genetics is also the central component in improvement of germplasm by breeding. Through molecular and phenotypic analysis of genetic crosses, loci controlling traits of interest can be mapped and followed in subsequent generations. Knowledge of the genes underlying phenotypic variation between crop accessions can enable development of markers that greatly increase efficiency of the germplasm improvement process, as well as open avenues for discovery of additional superior alleles. Genomics is the system-level study of an organism's genome, including genes and corresponding gene products—RNA and proteins. At a first level, genomic approaches have provided large datasets of sequence information from diverse plant species, including full-length and partial cDNA sequences, and the complete genomic sequence of a model plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana. Recently, the first draft sequence of a crop plant's genome, that of rice (Oryza sativa), has also become available. Availability of whole genome sequence makes possible the development of tools for system-level study of other molecular complements, such as arrays and chips for use in determining the complement of expressed genes in an organism under specific conditions. Such data can be used as a first indication of the potential for certain genes to play key roles in expression of different plant phenotypes. Bioinformatics approaches interface directly with first-level genomic datasets in allowing for processing to uncover sequences of interest by annotative or other means. Using, for example, similarity searches, alignments and phylogenetic analyses, bioinformatics can often identify homologs of a gene product of interest. Very similar homologs (eg. >˜90% amino acid identity over the entire length of the protein) are very likely orthologs, i.e. share the same function in different organisms.
Functional genomics can be defined as the assignment of function to genes and their products. Functional genomics draws from genetics, genomics and bioinformatics to derive a path toward identifying genes important in a particular pathway or response of interest. Expression analysis, for example, uses high density DNA microarrays (often derived from genomic-scale organismal sequencing) to monitor the mRNA expression of thousands of genes in a single experiment. Experimental treatments can include those eliciting a response of interest, such as the disease resistance response in plants infected with a pathogen. To give additional examples of the use of microarrays, mRNA expression levels can be monitored in distinct tissues over a developmental time course, or in mutants affected in a response of interest. Proteomics can also help to assign function, by assaying the expression and post-translational modifications of hundreds of proteins in a single experiment. Proteomics approaches are in many cases analogous to the approaches taken for monitoring mRNA expression in microarray experiments. Protein-protein interactions can also help to assign proteins to a given pathway or response, by identifying proteins which interact with known components of the pathway or response. For functional genomics, protein-protein interactions are often studied using large-scale yeast two-hybrid assays. Another approach to assigning gene function is to express the corresponding protein in a heterologous host, for example the bacterium Escherichia coli, followed by purification and enzymatic assays.
Ultimately, demonstration of the ability of a gene-of-interest to control a given trait must be derived from experimental testing in plant species of interest. The generation and analysis of plants transgenic for a gene of interest can be used for plant functional genomics, with several advantages. The gene can often be both overexpressed and underexpressed ("knocked out"), thereby increasing the chances of observing a phenotype linking the gene to a pathway or response of interest. Two aspects of transgenic functional genomics help lend a high level of confidence to functional assignment by this approach. First, phenotypic observations are carried out in the context of the living plant. Second, the range of phenotypes observed can be checked and correlated with with observed expression levels of the introduced transgene. Transgenic functional genomics is especially valuable in improved cultivar development. Only genes that function in a pathway or response of interest, and that in addition are able to confer a desired trait-based phenotype, are promoted as candidate genes for crop improvement efforts. In some cases, transgenic lines developed for functional genomics studies can be directly utilized in initial stages of product development.
Another approach towards plant functional genomics involves first identifying plant lines with mutations in specific genes of interest, followed by phenotypic evaluation of the consequences of such gene knockouts on the trait under study. Such an approach reveals genes essential for expression of specific traits.
Genes identified through functional genomics can be directly employed in efforts towards germplasm improvement by transgenic means, as described above, or used to develop markers for identification of tracking of alleles-of-interest in mapping and breeding populations. Knowledge of such genes may also enable construction of superior alleles non-existent in nature, by any of a number of molecular methods.


Provided is a mobile communication system capable of reducing interference in uplinks and downlinks to achieve excellent communication quality. A mobile station receives cell selection reference signals from a first base station and a second base station to connect before and after a handover, and measures received power values of the cell selection reference signals. The mobile station acquires uplink transmitted power values from the mobile station to the first base station and to the second base station. The first base station and the second base station control a power of the cell selection reference signal so that the uplink transmitted power values from the mobile station to the first base station and to the second base station become substantially equal and so that a received power value at the mobile station of the cell selection reference signal becomes substantially equal to a predetermined reference power value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system, a base station, a mobile station, and a cell control method.
2. Related Background Art
In a mobile communication system, a plurality of base stations establish cells by broadcasting their respective cell selection reference signals. There are also cases where each base station broadcasts directional cell selection reference signals in multiple directions to establish multiple sector cells (such sector cells will also be referred to as "cells" in the present specification).
The size of each cell is determined by a transmitted power of a cell selection reference signal from a base station. Namely, the size of each cell is defined by the size of an area in which the cell selection reference signal reaches at a predetermined power value. A mobile station establishes a connection for communication with a base station from which it can receive the cell selection reference signal at maximum intensity.
When a new base station is added in such a mobile communication system, a neighboring base station notifies the new base station of a transmitted power value of the cell selection reference signal broadcast thereby. The new base station also measures a received power value of the cell selection reference signal transmitted from the neighboring base station. The new base station calculates a propagation loss of the cell selection reference signal from the neighboring base station, using the transmitted power value notified of by the neighboring base station, and the received power value measured. The new base station estimates the cell boundary of the neighboring base station from the calculated propagation loss and controls the transmitted power value of the cell selection reference signal broadcasted by itself, according to the estimated cell boundary. This permits the new base station to autonomously adjust the size of the cell established by itself (for example, reference is made to Hideki Fujibe et al., "Proposal on autonomous cell formation based on arrangement of base stations," The 2002 IEICE General Conference, B-5-70, Mar. 2002, p520).

Mobile communication system, base station, mobile station, and cell control method


A four-cycle engine including an engine case configured to accommodate a crankshaft; a pump configured to suction air from an inner space of the engine case; and an air suction passage through which the inner space inner space of the engine case and the pump communicate with each other; wherein the air suction passage extends to the pump through an upper region of the engine case.

In a four-cycle engine, a piston reciprocates in the interior of a cylinder block, and a crankshaft accommodated in the interior of an engine case converts the reciprocation of the piston into a rotation to be output to the outside. In the four-cycle engine, various mechanical losses increase with an increase in an engine speed of the engine. Among the mechanical losses, pumping loss is known. The term "pumping loss" refers to a resistance to the reciprocation of the piston, and is mainly caused by air, including a blow-by gas in the interior of the engine case.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. Hei. 5-60000 discloses a four-cycle engine devised to reduce pumping losses. This engine includes a vacuum pump operative in association with a rotation of a crankshaft accommodated in an engine case and an air chamber that is connected to the engine case and is maintained at a negative pressure by the vacuum pump. The vacuum pump operates according to an engine speed of the crankshaft to suction air from the inner space of the engine case, thereby maintaining the inner space of the engine case at a negative pressure.
In the inner space of the engine, oil droplets or oil mist exist, for example, cooling oil injected to a back surface of the piston, and oil scattered from a surface of the crankshaft during rotation. Some four-cycle engines are equipped with a breather for separating the oil from the air to suppress suctioning of the air containing the oil droplets or the oil mist. In order to suitably separate the oil from the air, it is necessary to increase a capacity of the breather or to equip a centrifugal device to separate the oil from the air. This may undesirably increase a weight, a dimension, and a manufacturing cost of the engine.

Four-cycle engine and motorcycle comprising four-cycle engine


The invention includes an electrostatic chuck having surface topography and a method of making the same including the steps of providing a first insulative layer and a conductive layer laminated thereto. The first insulative layer is secured to a pedestal. A second insulative layer is deposited over the conductive layer and the first and second insulative layer and the copper layer are laminated together by a mandrel. The mandrel has recesses formed therein to produce an electrostatic chuck having a surface topography including raised features. The mandrel may have an annular groove defined therein for producing a raised gasket defined in the second insulative layer.

An electrostatic chuck holds a semiconductor wafer onto a pedestal using electrostatic attraction inside a plasma reactor chamber. In a plasma etching apparatus, wafers are cooled so as not to be damaged due to the high temperature caused by the plasma. In this regard, it is desirable to circulate a coolant between the electrostatic chuck and the wafer. Heretofore, a variety of methods have been utilized to accomplish this. In some systems, grooves are machined into a pedestal and an insulated copper foil is placed over the same to provide channels or grooves for the flow of a gas coolant which is supplied through a port formed in the pedestal. Another method involves applying an insulated conductive element on a pedestal and etching grooves in the top surface of the insulative layer to again provide coolant grooves or channels for a gas such as helium. Yet another method is to selectively apply isolated strips of an insulative material such as polyimide on a flat pedestal and overlay a conductive foil on the same to produce a surface with raised features caused by the selectively placed insulative strips. The raised features elevate the semiconductive wafer and define a pooling area for the cooling gas. These systems are expensive and complicated to assemble.
The present invention provides advantages and alternatives to the prior art.

Creating surface topography on an electrostatic chuck with a mandrel


Navigation system errors, which result from a bias or error in a transmitter's data or timing, are detected and isolated. The transmitters may be ground based or they may be in a satellite. The least square error residual is calculated using the information received from the transmitter and the last estimate of the aircraft's position. Using Baye's Rule, the residual is used to calculate the a posteriori conditional probability of each transmitter being in error. The a posteriori conditional probabilities, and an estimate of each transmitter's error or bias are used to estimate the system loss associated with the elimination of a particular transmitter's information from the calculation of the aircraft's position. The faulty transmitter is identified by determining which transmitter's elimination will result in minimal system loss. In some instances, the system loss is minimized by eliminating no transmitters. Once the configuration that produces minimal loss is determined, the aircraft's position is calculated using the information from the transmitters that compose the minimal loss configuration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fault detection and isolation in any system whose system state is observed with an overdetermined set of measurements. More particularly, the present invention relates to fault detection and isolation in navigation systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Navigation systems, such as those used in aircraft, determine position through the use of ranging systems. Ranging systems ascertain an aircraft's position by simultaneously determining the aircraft's distance from several transmitters, where the location of each transmitter is known.
The ranging systems can be either passive or active. An active ranging system uses distance measuring equipment (DME) to determine a distance from a ground based transmitter. The DME transmits a signal to the ground station and then after a fixed delay, the ground station transmits a signal to the DME. By measuring the round trip time of the signal, the DME determines the aircraft's distance from the ground station.
An example of a passive ranging system is the global positioning system (GPS). In this system the aircraft GPS equipment passively receives transmissions from a global positioning satellite to determine the aircraft's distance from the satellite. The distance from the satellite is determined by the amount of time that it takes for the signal to travel from the satellite to the aircraft. The GPS system in the aircraft is not synchronized to the satellite, and therefore does not know precisely when the satellite transmitted its signal. As a result, the range measured by the aircraft's GPS equipment contains an offset that corresponds to the amount of time by which the satellite and aircraft GPS equipment are out of synchronization. The range measurements containing this offset are called pseudorange measurements. The offset as well as the position is determined by taking several pseudoranges and solving the resulting simultaneous algebraic equations in accordance with well known procedures.
Whether using an active or passive ranging system, the navigation system uses the range measurements to determine the aircraft's position. The range measurements are used to determine lines of position (LOP), where each LOP is a portion of a circle having the satellite or ground station at its center. In a two dimensional navigation system a LOP defines a line, and in a three dimensional navigation system a LOP defines a surface. In the case of an active system, the radius of the circle is equal to the aircraft's distance from the satellite or ground station. In a passive system the radius measurement includes the above described offset. FIG. 1 illustrates three LOPs. LOPs 2, 4 and 6 were determined by calculating the distance from the aircraft to three different transmitters. Point 8 corresponds to the intersection of the three LOPs and indicates the aircraft's position.
FIG. 2 illustrates three LOPs that do not intersect in a single point. The three LOPs do not intersect in the same point because one of the LOPs contains an error resulting from an incorrect determination of the aircraft's distance from the ground station or satellite transmitter. This error could result from an excessive delay in the retransmit from a ground based transmitter or it could result from a satellite transmitter being out of synchronization with other satellite transmitters. In reference to figure two, LOP 12, 14 or 16 could be incorrect. This results in three possible aircraft positions shown by intersecting points 18, 20 and 22. Since it is not known which LOP is incorrect, the aircraft's position is estimated to be somewhere within area 24 which is bounded by the three LOPs. The distances from the estimated position to the several LOPs are called error residuals. In the past, the integrity of this type of navigation system was monitored by measuring the size of the residuals. When the RMS (root means square) of the residuals became greater than a threshold, an integrity alarm was sent to a pilot. Unfortunately, there was no fault isolation to identify the LOP that was in error.

Integrity monitoring of navigation systems using Baye's rule


A new load balancing device for correcting a load imbalance in a rotating member such as a spin basket in a wash machine. The inventive device includes a tube member in a circular configuration with a fluid and spherical ballast members provided within the hollow interior of the tube member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to balancing devices for rotating members and more particularly pertains to a new load balancing device for correcting a load imbalance in a rotating member such as a spin basket in a wash machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of balancing devices for rotating members is known in the prior art. More specifically, balancing devices for rotating members heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art balancing devices for rotating members include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,044,626; 4,646,545; 4,388,841; 5,211,038; 4,517,695; and 5,231,857.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new load balancing device. The inventive device includes a tube member in a circular configuration with a ballast means provided within the hollow interior of the tube member. Preferably, the ballast means includes a fluid and spherical ballast members.
In these respects, the load balancing device according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of correcting a load imbalance in a rotating member such as a spin basket in a wash machine.