A combustion line, having a combustion liner body and rings welded inside the liner body, is fabricated by enlarging the diameter of each ring so that the spacing between the outer pheripheral surface of the ring and the inner peripheral surface of the liner body may fall within a predetermined range. Subsequently tacking the ring and the liner body by lap resistance welding in the state in which the diameter of the ring has been enlarged; thereafter, brazing the rings and the liner body which have been tacked.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a welding method and welding equipment for welding inner cylinders to an outer cylinder. It is applicable to, for example, the fabrication of a combustion liner.
2. Description of the Related Art
By way of example, a liner for a combustor in a gas turbine is fabricated by welding a liner body 1 forming an outer cylinder and rings 2 forming inner cylinders as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.
The combustion liner 5 of the specified type is fabricated in such a way that the rings 2 are arranged at predetermined positions in the liner body 1, and that the liner body 1 and the rings 2 are tacked by spot welding and are thereafter brazed.
In the spot welding and the brazing, a sufficient bond strength cannot be attained unless the spacing between the inner peripheral surface of the liner body 1 and the outer peripheral surface of each of the rings 2 is within a predetermined value. Especially in the brazing operation, the brazing itself cannot be effected unless the spacing is within 0.1 mm.
For these reasons, the liner body 1 and the rings 2 have heretofore been subjected to precision machining in order that the inner peripheral surface of the former and the outer peripheral surfaces of the latter may define the appropriate spacings.
Since the precision-machined liner body and rings are used for enhancing the reliability of the welding, the prior art has had the problem that the cost of fabrication is high.

Welding equipment for fabricating a combustion liner


The present invention is directed to an electrical wiring protection device that includes a housing assembly having a plurality of line terminals and a plurality of load terminals. A fault detection circuit is coupled to at least one of the plurality of line terminals and configured to generate a fault detection signal in response to detecting at least one fault condition in the electrical distribution system. A circuit interrupter is coupled to the fault detection circuit, The circuit interrupter is configured to couple the plurality of line terminals to the plurality of load terminals to form a conductive electrical path in a reset state, and decouple the plurality of line terminals from the plurality of load terminals in response to a fault detection signal in a tripped state. A voltage transient suppression circuit is coupled to at least one of the plurality of line terminals. The voltage transient suppression circuit is configured to generate a signal simulating the at least one fault condition in the event of failure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical wiring devices, and particularly to protective wiring devices.
2. Technical Background
Electrical distribution systems that provide power to structures such as residences, commercial buildings or other such facilities typically include one or more breaker panels coupled to a source of AC power. Of course, the breaker panel distributes AC power to one or more branch electric circuits installed in the structure. The electric circuits may typically include one or more receptacle outlets and may further transmit AC power to one or more electrically powered devices, commonly referred to in the art as load circuits. The receptacle outlets provide power to user-accessible loads that include a power cord and plug, the plug being insertable into the receptacle outlet. However, certain types of faults have been known to occur in various portions of the electrical distribution systems. Accordingly, electric circuit protection devices may be disposed throughout the distribution system, i.e., in the breaker panel and in protective devices having receptacle outlets. Protective devices may also be installed in the electrical load itself.
Both receptacle wiring devices and electric circuit protective wiring devices may be disposed in an electrically non-conductive housing. The housing includes electrical terminals that are electrically insulated from each other. Line terminals couple the wiring device to conductors that provides electrical power from the electrical distribution system. Load terminals are coupled to wiring that directs AC power to one or more electrical loads. Those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art will understand that the term "load" refers to an appliance, a switch, or some other electrically powered device. Load terminals may also be referred to as "feed-through" terminals because the wires connected to these terminals may be coupled to a daisy-chained configuration of receptacles or switches. The load may ultimately be connected at the far end of this arrangement. The load terminals may also be connected to an electrically conductive path that is also connected to a set of receptacle contacts. The receptacle contacts are in communication with receptacle openings disposed on the face of the housing. This arrangement allows a user to insert an appliance plug into the receptacle opening to thereby energize the device.
As noted above, there are several types of electric circuit protection devices. For example, such devices include ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs), ground-fault equipment protectors (GFEPs), and arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs). This list includes representative examples and is not meant to be exhaustive. Some devices include both GFCIs and AFCIs. As their names suggest, arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs), ground-fault equipment protectors (GFEPs) and ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) perform different functions. An arc fault typically manifests itself as a high frequency current signal. Accordingly, an AFCI may be configured to detect various high frequency signals and de-energize the electrical circuit in response thereto. A ground fault occurs when a current carrying (hot) conductor creates an unintended current path to ground. A differential current is created between the hot/neutral conductors because some of the current flowing in the circuit is diverted into the unintended current path. The unintended current path represents an electrical shock hazard. Ground faults, as well as arc faults, may also result in fire. A "grounded neutral" is another type of ground fault. This type of fault may occur when the load neutral terminal, or a conductor connected to the load neutral terminal, becomes grounded.
When a device is installed, its line terminals are connected to an AC power source, such as a single phase 120 VAC AC power source. However, transient voltages may propagate in an electrical distribution system as well as the AC power signal. Further, the amplitudes of transient voltages are typically greater than the amplitude of the source voltage by at least an order of magnitude. Transient voltage pulses may be generated by any number of events. For example, transient voltages may be introduced into the distribution system by lightning. Transient voltages may also be generated when an inductive load is turned off, when a motor with noisy brushes is operated, or by other such load situations.
Transient voltages are known to damage protective devices such that the device will cease to function as designed. This is sometimes referred to as an end of life condition. End of life failure modes include failure of device circuitry, the relay solenoid that opens the GFCI interrupting contacts, and/or the solenoid driving device, such as a silicon controlled rectifier. The damage may result in the protective device permanently denying power to the protected portion of the electric circuit. In this case, the user is forced to replace the protective device. Alternatively, the damage may result in the protective device still providing power to the load even though the device has become non-protective. In this case, the user is left unprotected after an end-of-life condition has occurred. Thus the user is either inconvenienced by having to change out the device, or even worse, he is left unprotected.
Most devices include surge protection components. However, surge protection components occupy a considerable volume within the device housing. As a result, the overall size of the device is relatively large, making it harder to install the device within a wall box. Another problem is that surge protective components themselves are known to experience an end-of-life condition. If the surge protection component fails, the device is unprotected from damages due to transient voltages.
Accordingly, a compact protective device that includes an improved space-conserving surge protection arrangement is needed that continues to afford protection after the occurrence of a voltage transient event on the electrical distribution system. The compact protective device must be configured to reliably protect the user from a fault condition in the electrical power distribution system. Further, a protective device is needed that is equipped to decouple the load terminals from the line terminals in the event of an end of life condition.

Protective device with improved surge protection


Remanufactured medical sensors and methods for remanufacturing used medical sensors are provided. Such a remanufactured sensor may include certain components from a used medical sensor and certain new components. For example, a remanufactured regional oximetry sensor may include a padding layer, an emitter and a pair of detectors, a flexible circuit coupled to the emitter and detectors, and a patient-contacting adhesive layer. The flexible circuit, the emitter, the first detector, the second detector, or any combination thereof, are from a used medical sensor, and the padding layer, the patient-contacting adhesive layer, or a combination thereof, are new.

The present disclosure relates generally to remanufacturing disposable medical sensors and, more particularly, to remanufacturing, i.e., reconstructing, used medical sensors.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
A wide variety of devices have been developed for non-invasively monitoring physiological characteristics of patients. For example, a pulse oximetry sensor system may non-invasively detect various patient blood flood characteristics, such as the blood-oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood, the volume of individual blood pulsations supply the tissue, and/or the rate of blood pulsations corresponding to each heart beat of a patient. During operation, the pulse oximeter sensor emits light and photoelectrically senses the absorption and/or scattering of the light after passage through the perfused tissue. A photo-plethysmographic waveform, which corresponds to the cyclic attenuation of optical energy through the patient's tissue, may be generated from the detected light. Additionally, one or more physiological characteristics may be calculated based upon the amount of light absorbed or scattered. More specifically, the light passed through the tissue may be selected to be of one or more wavelengths that may be absorbed or scattered by the blood in an amount correlative to the amount of the blood constituent present in the blood. The amount of light absorbed and/or scattered may then be used to estimate the amount of blood constituent in the tissue using various algorithms.
For example, a reflectance-type sensor placed on a patient's forehead may emit light into the site and detect the light that is "reflected" back after being transmitted through the forehead region. A transmission-type sensor having a bandage configuration may be placed on a finger, wherein the light waves are emitted through and detected on the opposite side of the finger. In either case, the amount of light detected may provide information that corresponds to valuable physiological patient data. The data collected by the sensor may be used to calculate one or more of the above physiological characteristics based upon the absorption or scattering of the light. For instance, the emitted light is typically selected to be of one or more wavelengths that are absorbed or scattered in an amount related to the presence of oxygenated versus de-oxygenated hemoglobin in the blood. The amount of light absorbed and/or scattered may be used to estimate the amount of the oxygen in the tissue using various algorithms.
The sensors generally include one or more emitters that emit the light and one or more detectors that detect the light. During use, the emitter and detector may be held against the patient's skin to facilitate the transmission of light through the skin of the patient. Because these sensors come into contact with patient tissues, and possibly fluids, they are either sanitized for re-use or they are discarded after use. Indeed, many pulse oximeter medical sensors may be disposable and originally intended for use on a single patient. However, even disposable sensors often include relatively expensive components that may be reused if the sensor could be refurbished.

Technique for remanufacturing a medical sensor


A light-weight utility vehicle floorboard is provided having a pair of frame channels formed in an interior portion of the floorboard. The frame channels receive a pair of vehicle frame struts therewithin. The floorboard additionally has formed therein a plurality of load dispersing structural ribs (LDSRs) between the frame channels and sides of the floorboard. The LDSRs spread a force generated by a low-speed side impact to the floorboard such that the vehicle frame struts are not damaged. The LDSRs also transfer passenger loads exerted on the outer portions of the floorboard to the DS and PS frame struts.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Generally, today's light-weight utility vehicles, e.g., maintenance vehicles, shuttle vehicles and golf cars, have a two-piece floorboard including a bottom floor portion and a front panel portion. The bottom floor portion is typically fabricated of metal and the front panel portion is usually fabricated of plastic. These two-piece floorboards are typically riveted to a metal, e.g., aluminum or steel, frame along opposing outer edges, or sides, of the floorboard portions. Light-weight utility vehicles having such floorboards so constructed are very susceptible to incurring frame damage from a low speed side impact. That is, the floorboard provides no impact protection to the frame. Thus, should a low speed side impact occur, the frame effectively directly incurs the impact and is readily damaged.
Additionally, to attach other components of the utility vehicle to the bottom floor portion, for example, a brake and accelerator assembly, a fuel tank, a battery mount, body panels and an electronic controller, requires bolt holes to be drilled into and/or welds to be made to the bottom portion. Thus, mounting such components to the floorboard is labor and cost intensive.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a light-weight utility vehicle floorboard that will provide impact protection to vehicle frame and simplify the mounting of various other vehicle components to the floorboard during assembly of the vehicle.


A presentation application is provided that displays import notifications when a slide show presentation is opened by a user and displays export notifications when a slide show presentation is exported by the user. When the user directs the presentation application to open a slide show presentation, the presentation application may determine whether one or more unsupported or unidentifiable features or objects are present in the slide show presentation. The presentation application may display a listing in a window of the presentation application for each such error. The warnings displayed in the list may be selectable, and selecting a warning may cause the presentation to display more information regarding the warning. The presentation application may include similar features when the user requests that the presentation application export a slide show presentation.

Electronic devices, including for example computers, may be used to implement presentation applications. Using presentation applications, users may create one or more slides that include some form of visual information. The user may direct the presentation application to open slide show presentations or other file types that were not originally created by the same version or type of the presentation application. When this occurs, the presentation application may not open the file requested by the user and signal a failed attempt, or the presentation application may open the file without addressing any errors due to features in the file that are unsupported by the presentation application. Similar issues may arise when the user attempts to save a slide show presentation into an older version of the presentation. Thus, a user cannot easily convert a file from one version or type of application to another.

Advanced import/export panel notifications using a presentation application


There are provided a leaf row in which a plurality of leaf plates are arranged in the thickness direction of the row in such a way that the respective one end faces of the leaf plates are trued up and a leaf plate drive mechanism that drives each of the plurality of leaf plates in such a way that the one end face approaches or departs from a beam axis. In each of the leaf plates, a facing side facing a leaf plate that is adjacent to that leaf plate in the thickness direction is formed of a plane including a first axis on the beam axis; the leaf plate drive mechanism drives the leaf plate along a circumferential orbit around the second axis, on the beam axis, that is perpendicular to the beam axis and the first axis.

In the particle beam therapy, therapy is implemented by irradiating a charged particle beam onto a diseased site, which is a therapy subject, so as to kill tissues of the diseased site; in order to deliver a sufficient dose to the tissues of the diseased site without causing damage to the peripheral tissues thereof, there is required a particle beam therapy system that can appropriately control an irradiation dose and irradiation coverage (referred to as an irradiation field, hereinafter). In a so-called broad-irradiation-type particle beam therapy system, among particle beam therapy systems, that utilizes an irradiation nozzle provided with a scanning electromagnet such as a wobbler electromagnet, the irradiation nozzle enlarges the irradiation field and a multi-leaf collimator that changes a penetration shape is disposed in the enlarged irradiation field, so that an irradiation field corresponding to the shape of a diseased site is formed.
A multi-leaf collimator, in which two leaf lines formed of leaf plates laminated in the thickness direction are arranged in such a way as to face each other and the leaf plates are driven in a direction in which they approach each other or in a direction in which they are separated from each other, forms a predetermined penetration shape. Accordingly, by controlling the respective physical positions of the leaf plates, an irradiation field can readily be formed. However, in the case of a linear-driven leaf plate, in the contour portion that is away from the center of the irradiation field, a so-called penumbra is caused in which a charged particle beam having an angle toward the spreading direction hits part of the end face of the leaf plate and hence the dose of the charged particle beam is continuously attenuated. Thus, a so-called cone-shaped multi-leaf collimator has been proposed (e.g., refer to Patent Document 1 or 2) in which the spread of a beam is taken into consideration and leaves formed in a shape obtained through division at the side surface of an arc or a cone are driven on a circular orbit.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Multi-leaf collimator, particle beam therapy system, and treatment planning apparatus


The Crowdsource and Conversational Contextual Information Injection Apparatuses, Methods and Systems (“CCCII”) transforms communication data, advertising link click request, campaign generation request, campaign search request, campaign investment request inputs via CCCII components into commission settlement, vendor ad campaign data, campaign search response, campaign investment confirmation, campaign control outputs. A tracking link request is obtained from a source communication channel. A match target for the contents is determined, and an attribution link is retrieved. A tracking link configured to identify the source channel and the attribution link is generated and provided to the source channel. A tracking link click request is obtained from the receiving user. The tracking link is analyzed to determine the source channel and the attribution link. A tracking cookie is placed on the receiving user's client. The attribution link is configured using the pixel drop data. The receiving user's client is redirected to the configured attribution link.

Technologies such as instant messaging are often uses by users to communicate with one another over the internet. Users also often use information sources, such as Google's search engine, to find information on the internet, and such search engines make use of ad networks to show users advertising. Crowd funding companies such as Kickstarter exist online allowing users to fund interesting projects and in return they often receive early versions of the funded projects.
Generally, the leading number of each citation number within the drawings indicates the figure in which that citation number is introduced and/or detailed. As such, a detailed discussion of citation number 101 would be found and/or introduced in FIG. 1. Citation number 201 is introduced in FIG. 2, etc. Any citation and/or reference numbers are not necessarily sequences but rather just example orders that may be rearranged and other orders are contemplated.

Crowdsource and conversational contextual information injection apparatuses, methods and systems


A garment hanger having a first hook, a second hook positioned below the first hook, a pair of arms extending downwardly from the hook members, and a base member arranged in a horizontal position connecting the end portion of the arms. The hook members are attached to the arms by a housing and can pivot to an angular position with respect to the housing. The top portions of the arms are integrally connected and the hook members can rotate around and translate along the top portion. Further, each hook member can spin within the housing independently of the other hook member. Additionally, the base member includes a clamp which can be rotated around the base member and translated along the base member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a garment hanger and more particularly to a garment hanger device which will adequately maintain a garment designed for the upper body such as shirts, blouses, sweaters, jackets, etc. as well as garments designed for the lower body such as pants, skirts, etc., in a secure position on the hanger and in a wrinkle free environment.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of garment hanger designs are known for hanging garments where the conventional practice is to place a single garment on a hanger. However, many garments are designed to be worn, stored and sold as coordinated outfits or sets. For example, a coordinate jacket and pant set, a coordinate skirt and blouse set, and other such coordinate combinations may be specifically manufactured to be worn, stored and sold as sets. Accordingly, it is desirable to arrange these garments together to convey that the garments are indeed a set to be worn together. Additionally, there are numerous drawbacks to placing a single garment on a hanger such as the number of hangers required for a wardrobe can become excessive, yet the space available in a closet may be scarce thereby prohibiting a large number of hangers.
Further, when the garments on separate hangers are handled together, it is often difficult to place the hanger hooks over a closet rail, which frequently results in dropping and or damage to the garments.
Hangers which are capable of supporting two or more garments, such as a top and pants combination, on a single hanger have a fixed hook portion which restricts the freedom of movement of the garments with respect to the hook, resulting in an increased likelihood of wrinkles being imparted into the garments. This occurrence is exacerbated when a plurality garments are placed on standard hanger designs and stacked or layered, for example in a travel garment bag. In such applications, the rigid hook design forces the portion of the hanger which supports the garments to be displaced, such that each successive hanger is displaced or deflected a greater distance than the preceding hanger. Consequently, the garments are often displaced in response the deflection of the hanger, resulting in wrinkles being formed or the garment being forced off of the hanger entirely.
There thus remains a need for an efficient and economic hanger device which provides an articulated or pivotable hook design in order to overcome the disadvantages of conventional hanger designs.


An improved capacitor that is less susceptible to the depletion effect and methods for providing the same. The capacitor comprises a first and second electrode and an insulating layer interposed therebetween. The first electrode includes a bulk layer comprising n-doped polysilicon. The first electrode also includes an interface layer extending from a first surface of the bulk layer to the insulating layer. The interface layer is heavily doped with phosphorus so that the depletion region of the first electrode is confined substantially within the interface layer. The method of forming the interface layer comprises depositing a layer of hexamethldisilazane (HMDS) material over the first surface of the bulk layer so that HMDS molecules of the HMDS material chemically bond to the first surface of the bulk layer. The method further comprises annealing the layer of HMDS material in a phosphine ambient so as to replace CH3 methyl groups with PH3 molecules. The interface layer is then passivated in a nitrogen ambient having a reduced temperature so as to reduce the number of dangling silicon bonds of the lower electrode in a manner that results in reduced thermal damage to neighboring circuit elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to capacitor structures used in semiconductor devices and, in particular, relates to capacitor structures used to form memory cells in Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The trend in the semiconductor processing industry has been to provide integrated circuits with increasingly higher circuit densities. Consequently, circuit components, such as capacitors and transistors, disposed within these integrated circuits are required to have reduced dimensions. However, because conventional circuit components having reduced dimensions are often unable to provide an acceptable performance, further improvements in circuit density requires the development of improved circuit components.
For example, a typical high density Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) device may include an array of hundreds of millions of memory cells. Each memory cell usually includes a charge storage capacitor such that the state of charge of the capacitor determines the binary state of the memory cell. Essentially, the capacitor comprises an insulating material interposed between first and second conducting electrodes. Typically, the insulating material is a deposited dielectric material and one or both of the electrodes comprise doped semiconductor material such as doped polysilicon.
When a voltage difference, V, is applied between the electrodes of the capacitor, each electrode develops a charge, Q, according to the linear relationship Q=CV (1), wherein C is the capacitance of the capacitor. The typical capacitor has a capacitance that is approximately proportional to a function of the design parameters of the capacitor according to
  C  ∝            κ                                      A        d  (2), wherein A is the area of each of the electrodes, d is the distance between the electrodes, and κ is the dielectric constant of the insulating material. Furthermore, each charged capacitor discharges in an exponentially decaying manner with a decay constant, τ, given by τ=RC (3), wherein R is the resistance between the electrodes.
Because capacitors have a tendency to discharge relatively quickly, DRAM devices also incorporate refresh circuitry that periodically and selectively recharges the capacitors so as to enable the DRAM device to store information for extended periods of time. However, since memory cells cannot be accessed while they are being refreshed, it is desirable to extend the time between refresh cycles so as to provide the DRAM device with increased communication speeds. Thus, storage capacitors of DRAM devices are required to have a considerable capacitance so that they can effectively store charge for longer periods of time and, thus, require only a reasonably small refresh frequency.
However, because storage capacitors of higher density DRAM devices are confined within smaller spaces, it is becoming difficult to provide them with sufficient capacitance. Most notably, smaller capacitor size translates into smaller electrode area, A, which, according to (2), results in a decreased capacitance. To provide increased capacitance, one or both electrodes of the storage capacitors can be formed with a roughened surface, such as that which is provided by hemispherical grained (HSG) polysilicon, so as to increase the area over that which is provided by electrodes having planar surfaces. Other methods of providing increased capacitance involve using an insulating material having an increased dielectric constant and reducing the thickness of the dielectric insulating layer so as to reduce the distance between the electrodes.
However, as the distance between the electrodes is reduced, storage capacitors of DRAM devices are becoming more susceptible to the "depletion effect" such that the capacitance drops off in a voltage dependent manner. In particular, when mobile charge carriers are removed from the doped semiconductor electrode in response to an applied voltage, a depletion region substantially devoid of mobile charge carriers develops within the electrode. The depletion region begins at the interface adjacent the insulating layer and progressively extends into the electrode away from the insulating layer as more charge carriers are removed from the electrode. Because the net charge of the electrode is essentially comprised of ionized dopant atoms fixedly disposed throughout the depletion region, further enlargement of the depletion region as a result of further mobile charge carriers being removed from the electrode causes the geometric center of the electrode charge to be displaced away from the interface. Consequently, since the effect of the displacement of the geometric center of charge is identical to that of increasing the separation between the electrodes, i.e., an increase in the variable d in equation (2), the capacitance decreases as the applied voltage to the capacitor is increased.
Attempts have been made to reduce the depletion effect by increasing the doping concentration of the interface region of the electrode using conventional diffusion doping techniques. For example, an N-type polysilicon electrode is usually annealed in a phosphine (PH3) ambient so as to induce phosphorus atoms to diffuse into the electrode. The conditions of this process are chosen so that the doping concentration is greatest near the interface adjacent the insulating layer. However, the maximum achievable concentration is limited by the solid solubility limit of the polysilicon electrode and, if the electrode is exposed to increased temperatures in a subsequent processing step, it is likely that a substantial portion of the dopants will continue to diffuse so as to decrease the doping concentration adjacent the interface.
Thus, known doping methods are only able to provide the interface region of semiconductor electrodes with modest increases in doping concentration. Consequently, because capacitors having reduced sizes will be required in future generation DRAM devices, the problem of carrier depletion requires a more effective solution in order to satisfactorily address the issue of voltage dependent decreases in capacitance.
From the foregoing, therefore, it will be appreciated that there is a need for a miniaturized semiconductor-based capacitor having more stable operating characteristics. In particular, there is a need for the capacitor to have a relatively large capacitance that is more stable in response to a changing applied voltage. To this end, there is a need for the interface region of the semiconductor electrodes of the capacitor to have a greater concentration of doping atoms so as to reduce the effects of charge carrier depletion.

Capacitor electrode having an interface layer of different chemical composition formed on a bulk layer


An opening-closing body structure for a vehicle can improve build state of a vehicle opening-closing body. Reinforcement beads extending in three directions from stopper contact portions are formed at an inner hood panel. The three reinforcement beads are each formed at a position that is not on the same straight line as any other reinforcement bead. The reinforcement bead extends from the stopper contact portion toward the hood front side and is connected to an outer peripheral bead. The reinforcement beads are coupled to a framework portion by coupling beads.

A vehicle hood, for example, is known as a vehicle opening-closing body. In some vehicle hoods, a portion of a hood inner panel forms a stopper contact portion that contacts a stopper rubber provided at a vehicle body opening side (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-167884). In such hoods, the stopper contact portion bears load toward the vehicle upper side from the stopper rubber when the hood is closed and a front end portion of the hood is pulled in toward the vehicle lower side and locked.

Opening-closing body structure for vehicle


The present invention relates to a system for the compact packaging of microfibrillated cellulose, which comprises a packaging, which comprises at least one polymer material. Said packaging encompasses a content that essentially consists of microfibrillated cellulose (“MFC”) that is present as a suspension in a solvent. The resulting system is of an essentially round or essentially rectangular or oval outer circumference, as defined by the dimensions of the packaging once fully filled out by the content. The system of the invention has the advantage, among others, to provide a solid and firm essentially round packaging shape. The resulting units of packaged MFC can be easily stacked on a pallet. The packaging maintains the water retention capacity of the suspension (paste). The present invention also relates to a process for making such a system.

Microfibrillated cellulose (also known as "reticulated" cellulose or as "superfine" cellulose, or as "cellulose nanofibrils", among others and also referred to as "MFC" in the following) is a cellulose-based product and is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,481,077, 4,374,702 and 4,341,807. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,702 ("Turbak"), microfibrillated cellulose has reduced length scales (diameter, fiber length) vis-à-vis cellulose, improved water retention and adjustable viscoelastic properties. MFC with further improved properties and/or properties tailor-made for specific applications is known, among others, from WO 2007/091942 and WO 2015/180844.
After manufacture, microfibrillated cellulose as ready for transportation to customers is typically present as a "paste", i.e. as a suspension of solid microfibrillated fibers in a solvent, typically in water. Dewatered microfibrillated cellulose with a dry content (solids content) of typically 8-15% is challenging to handle. The paste (suspension) is neither a liquid nor a solid, but rather is a paste and has non-Newtonian flow properties (see FIG. 1 for a photograph of non-contained microfibrillated cellulose as dewatered to a solids content of 8-12%).
WO 2014/029909 discloses a process for conditioning microfibrillated cellulose so that the microfibrillated cellulose can be more easily transported in dried form and then rewetted and further disintegrated at a different location. WO 2014/106684 discloses that pulp obtained after refining can be further dewatered e.g. for transportation and then diluted to a suitable consistency before use.
Conventional packaging, like plastic bags, buckets or drums has proven to not be ideal for containing larger volumes/quantities of microfibrillated cellulose. While microfibrillated cellulose may be filled into various kinds of containers, it is comparatively difficult and resource demanding to empty containers typically used for the transport of solids or liquids, such as bins, bags or cans.
MFC may be filled into plastic bags, in principle, which are comparatively easy to empty, but the bags are impossible to stack due to "air pockets" that typically form in the bag. The presence of such air pockets causes problems when attempting to stack filled bags on a pallet. In particular during storage and transportation, such bags will adopt different shapes, thus making transport difficult, if not impossible.
Based on the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a compact packaging specifically for microfibrillated cellulose, which is present as a "paste", wherein said packaging should avoid or minimize any or all of the disadvantages as outlined above.

Compact system for packaging microfibrillated cellulose


A semiconductor device package and a method of making the same are provided. The semiconductor device includes a package substrate, a layer of conductive material, a group of channels, and a chip. The package substrate has a top layer. The top layer has a group of conductive vias formed therethrough. The conductive material layer is formed on the top layer of the package substrate. The group of channels are formed in the conductive material layer about at least some of the vias to define a group of contact pads on the vias. The chip is electrically coupled to the package substrate through the contact pads.

Integrated circuit devices typically include a semiconductor chip that is assembled in a package. Many types of packages exist. One such package configuration is a flip-chip ball grid array.
FIGS. 1–6 illustrate the steps for forming a typical flip-chip ball grid array for a semiconductor device package. FIG. 1 shows a cross-section view of a package substrate 34 for use in assembling a packaged semiconductor device. Note that the terms "semiconductor device" and "integrated circuit device" may be used interchangeably herein. Note also that the term "chip" may be interchanged with the term "die." The package substrate 34 has multiple layers 35 laminated together with vias 36 and traces 38 routed therethrough. The layers 35 of the package substrate 34 may be made from organic materials and/or fiberglass, for example. In FIG. 2, a layer of copper 40 is formed on the top layer 42 of the package substrate 34. FIG. 3 shows a group of copper contact pads 44 formed from the copper layer 40. Between FIGS. 2 and 3 are conventional process steps not shown, which may include: applying a resist layer, exposing the resist layer through a mask, developing the resist layer, forming a pattern in the resist from the mask image, etching the copper layer in the pattern formed in the resist, and striping the remaining resist. One of ordinary skill in the art will be familiar with the conventional process steps to get from FIG. 2 to FIG. 3.
In FIG. 4, a layer of organic material 46 is applied on the top layer 42 of the package substrate over the contact pads 44. FIG. 5 shows a solder mask 46 formed from the organic material layer. Between FIGS. 4 and 5 are conventional process steps not shown, as discussed above, which one of ordinary skill in the art will be familiar with. The solder mask 46 is typically at least about 5–30 microns taller than the contact pads 44. In FIG. 6, a chip 52 having solder balls 50 deposited thereon is mated with the contact pads 44 and the solder balls 50 are soldered (e.g., by reflowing the solder) to the contact pads 44. The solder mask 46 is intended to prevent solder of the solder balls 50 from bonding to the top layer 42 of the package substrate 34 and/or flowing across to an adjacent solder ball 50.
FIG. 7 shows a chip 52 attached to the package substrate 34 via the solder balls 50 to form a packaged integrated circuit device 30. After the chip 52 is attached to the package substrate 34, an underfill material 54 is injected into the space between the chip 52 and the package substrate 34, as well as between and around the solder balls 50. After the underfill material 54 is injected as a liquid, it is then cured to form a solid layer. One of the purposes of the underfill layer 54 is form a composite of the chip 52 and package substrate 34, to mechanically couple the chip 52 to the package substrate 34, and to relieve stresses that would otherwise be exerted on the solder balls 50. The difference in the thermal expansion rates for the chip 52 and the package substrate 34 are often quite different, which may cause stress on the solder joints at the solder balls 50 as temperatures vary. Hence, some of the thermal stress can be transferred to the underfill layer 54 to relieve stress on solder joints and solder balls 50. The underfill material 54 may be epoxy, anhydride, a silicon compound, or any combination thereof, for example.
Due at least in part to the process of forming the underfill layer 54 and/or due to gas bubbles in the underfill layer 54, the underfill layer 54 typically has voids or cavities formed therein. Such voids or cavities are sources of stress concentration and may lead to the development of a crack in the underfill layer 54. The underfill material 54 is usually more brittle than that of the solder balls 50. When a crack initiates, the crack creates another location for stress concentration to arise and the crack will often have a tendency to propagate until the stress concentration is relieved. A crack 56 is shown in FIG. 7 to illustrate an example of how a crack 56 initiated in the underfill layer 54 may propagate through the solder mask 46 and into the package substrate 34. In the case of FIG. 7, the crack 56 has propagated through a via 36, which may cause an "open" or an electrical discontinuity at the via 36. With the current structure shown in FIG. 7, a crack 56 that develops in the underfill layer 54 will often propagate through the solder mask 46 and into the package substrate 34 because the solder mask 46 and the package substrate 34 are typically made from similar materials, such as organic materials for example, and/or they have similar material properties. Hence, there is a need for an improved structure for a package substrate 34 that can reduce or hinder the propagation of cracks 56 initiated in the underfill layer 54.

Semiconductor device package and method of making the same


A stress absorbing microstructure assembly including a support substrate having an accommodation layer that has plurality of motifs engraved or etched in a surface, a buffer layer and a nucleation layer. The stress absorbing microstructure assembly may also include an insulating layer between the buffer layer and the nucleation layer. This assembly can receive thick epitaxial layers thereon with concern of causing cracking of such layers.

Attempts have been made to produce epitaxial layers from materials such as GaN, GaAs, InP, GaAlAs, InGaAs, AlN, AlGaN, and even SiGe. It is known that relatively thick layers of these materials, for example, layers having a thickness greater than 1 or 2 μm, are required for good crystalline qualities. The advantages of an epitaxial layer not being stressed (or only slightly stressed), and having a low defect density, i.e., having a dislocation density of less than 106/cm2 are also known.
Techniques such as MOCVD have been utilized to obtain epitaxial growth of thick layers of GaN, for example, a layer having a thickness greater than 12 μm on a substrate for epitaxy. The epitaxial growth of such GaN layers has been essentially on the bulk substrates of sapphire, SiC, or Si materials. These three substrates are the most frequently used since they are the most readily available substrates, although a few tests have been carried out on substrates such as ZnO or LiGaO2.
Currently, epitaxial GaN layers homogeneously deposited on a substrate surface have a dislocation density in the range 108 and 1010/cm2 regardless of the nucleation surface used. Additionally, the stresses in thick GaN layers obtained by MOCVD (growth temperature 1000-1100° C.) clearly depend on the coefficient of thermal expansion of the epitaxial substrate, which determines the stresses of thermoelastic origin that are imposed on the system.
For example, GaN layers produced on sapphire are in compression, while those obtained on SiC are under slight tension, and those on silicon are under high tension. Tension stresses produce a strong tendency for cracks to form in the epitaxial film, thereby destroying it. The layers subjected to the compression stresses, however, are also problematic.
These problems are particularly true for epitaxial growth on silicon substrates. For silicon epitaxy support, the limit beyond which cracks appear is about 1 μm to 2 μm, which is a limiting factor in producing thick, good quality epitaxial layers.
Growth tests on SOI (silicon on insulator) substrates have shown that the use of that type of substrate can reduce the crystal defect density in the epitaxially grown layer because of the compliant nature of the very thin film of silicon present on the oxide. However, that system is limited in its capacity to absorb stresses, in particular for thick GaN layers (like silicon, at best a film thickness of 1 μm to 2 μm).
It appears that the crystal quality improves by growth on substrates having motifs. The dislocation densities obtained are of the order of 106/cm2. Epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) techniques exist, along with techniques known as pendeoepitaxy (PE), lateral overgrowth from trenches (LOFT), and cantilever epitaxy (CE). All of these techniques are based on lateral overgrowth and coalescence of the epitaxially grown layer to ultimately form a continuous film. The continuous films obtained have precise zones with improved crystal quality (the epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELOG) technique), or have a homogeneous film of crystal quality (LOFT technique). Those solutions have been demonstrated for sapphire, SiC, and Si (111).
Although these solutions improve the crystal quality of the epitaxially grown film, they cannot effectively solve the problem of stress in the epitaxially grown films. Thus, a need exists for a substrate or a support that can absorb high levels of stress during crystal growth, and in particular during thick epitaxial growth of a material. In particular there is a need for a support that absorb stresses when the coefficient of thermal expansion of the epitaxial growth material is different from that of the substrate. The present invention now satisfies that need

Substrate for stressed systems and method of making same

S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies


Underwater melt pelletizer dies which have a highly thermally conductive pathway from their heating source to the vicinity of the polymer exit end of their die holes and have a thermally insulating material at that end of their die holes have improved operability and can pelletize thermoplastics which are otherwise difficult or impossible to pelletize with such an apparatus.

Thermoplastics (TPs) are very important items of commerce. Typically they are formed into various parts and shapes by melt forming, that is melting of the TP, forming it while molten into a shape and then cooling the TP to a solid to "fix" it in that shape. In most melt forming machines, the TP is fed in the form of a pellet or granule, typically in the size range of 0.1 to about 0.6 cm (longest dimension). In order for most melt forming machines to work efficiently, it is preferred that the pellets or granules be free flowing and have a reasonably uniform size.
Many types of apparatuses have been developed to pelletize TPs. Such an apparatus should preferably produce uniform and readily flowing pellets, at low cost. One such type of pelletizing apparatus is the so-called "underwater melt pelletizer" (UMP) or cutter, see for instance U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,918,701 and 3,749,539. When a UMP is operating properly, it is capable of producing large amounts of TP pellets which are uniform and free flowing.
UMPs have been particularly useful for cutting TPs that have relatively low melting points and or do not otherwise freeze (solidify) readily. This is because as the molten TP exits the die plate it is exposed to liquid water, which is relatively cool. Upon contacting the water the TP tends to freeze rapidly. If the TP has a high melting point enough heat may be removed from the TP and also the face of the die plate which is in contact with water to also freeze some of the polymer which has not exited the die hole, thereby clogging that die hole (and presumably others in the die). This can be rectified to some extent by using heated water (which itself may be a burn hazard for the operators). Another method which has been used is insulating the die hole orifice from the rest of the die body, to minimize heat loss from the die body, see for instance U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,423. However these and other methods have not proved very effective for higher melting and/or fast freezing polymers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,539 describes a UMP die whose nozzles and body may be made from "nickel 200". This alloy is reported to have a thermal conductivity of about 70 W/m° K. However there is no insulating member at the end of the die hole.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,423 describes a UMP die what has nozzles which have a thermal conductivity of about 60 W/m° K or more. The thermal conductivity of the rest of the die body is not specified, the ends of the nozzles near the exit surface are thermally insulated from the rest of the die body, and the tips of the nozzles at the exit face are not insulated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,276 describes an "Underwater Pelletizer" with die holes having a reverse taper. No mention is made of the effect of such die holes on a startup.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,196 describes a UMP die having some insulation near the tips of the nozzles. However the die described does not have a relatively highly thermally conductive path from the heat source to the inner surface of the die holes, and the insulation is arranged differently than herein.
Japanese Patent Application 5-253997 describes a die whose holes have a reverse taper. The purpose of these holes appears to be minimization of die drips and their degradation, possibly with cutters which are not UMPs.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus suitable for polymer pelletization which minimizes the potential for the freezing of polymer. A feature of the present invention is the strategic incorporation of thermally conductive materials into such apparatus to facilitate polymer flow. An advantage of the present invention is the attendant savings in cost and time through more efficient and consistent operation of the UMP's equipped with such apparatus. These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention as disclosed and claimed herein will become apparent upon having reference to the following detailed description of the invention.

Polymer underwater pelletizer apparatus and process incorporating same


Delay lock loop circuits are described, which may include two or more delay stages that each includes a plurality of selectable delay elements. A reference signal drives an input of the first delay stage, which provides a first output. The first output drives an input of the second delay stage, which provides a second output. The circuits further include a first selector register that is associated with the first delay stage. A value maintained in the first selector register determines a number of the selectable delay elements utilized in the first delay stage. The circuits further include a second selector register associated with the second delay stage. A value maintained in the second selector register determines a number of the selectable delay elements utilized in the second delay stage. Modification of the values maintained in the first and second selector registers are synchronized to the first and second outputs, respectively.

The present invention is related to event synchronization, and more particularly to systems and methods for synchronizing one signal to another signal in a semiconductor device.
Synchronizing one electrical signal to another often involves applying the signal to a data input of a flip-flop, and clocking the flip-flop using a clock to which the signal is to be synchronized. The signal to be synchronized generally must be applied to the data input of the flip-flop for a defined period before the clock transitions (i.e., setup time), and must remain for a defined period after the clock transitions (i.e., hold time). By assuring that the setup and hold times are met, predictable circuit operation is achieved.
In some cases, a delay lock loop circuit has been used to delay a signal in relation to a synchronizing clock to assure that setup and hold times are met. Such delay lock loops may be iteratively updated until a desired delay is achieved. Various implementations of delay lock loop circuits, however, may incur clock glitches when an iterative update is occurring. Such glitches can at time lead to circuit errors.
Thus, for at least the aforementioned reasons, there exists a need in the art for advanced systems and devices for signal synchronization.

Glitch reduced delay lock loop circuits and methods for using such


The improved carpet cleaning machine, intended for use with "dry" carpet cleaning systems using dampened granules or particles, can be used in either of two modes. One involves carpet "brushing" for dirt removal by urging particles into the carpet and along the fibers. The other involves later vacuuming for particle removal. To facilitate the latter, one embodiment of the machine has first and second particle-removing media such as a concentrically-mounted cyclone separator and conical screen filter, respectively. The separator has air flowing through it downwardly along a vortical path and then upward, such air flow often carrying along a few particles. Such high-velocity particles impinge on the outer surface of the screen filter and many particles adhering to such filter are dislodged. The filter is said to thereby be "purged" or cleaned. There may also be a third medium and even a fourth medium to remove very fine particles before the air is expelled back into the room. Other embodiments use an automotive, resilient foam or flat-element filter medium in place of or in addition to the conical screen filter.

The three primary approaches used to clean commercial and residential carpets are steam or hot water, foam and dry systems. Dry-type carpet cleaning systems are further divided into two broad categories. One uses a dry or substantially dry powder and the other uses granules, each of which is several times larger than a powder grain. The granules are slightly moistened with cleaning solvents for dirt removal. The inventive machine has utility for both categories of dry systems but relates primarily to those using granules rather than powder. Such machine also has utility in situations where only carpet vacuuming is performed. That is, its long-bristled brushes are highly effective in removing loose sand and other soil not requiring the application of solvent-bearing material.
Of the dry granular carpet cleaning systems, the best known and most widely used is the HOST.RTM. dry extraction system offered by Racine Industries, Inc. of Racine, Wis. The HOST.RTM. system applies granules to carpet fibers using a machine as shown in Rench et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,842,788 and 2,961,673. Such machine, sold under the HOST.RTM. trademark, is devoid of vacuum capability and has a pair of spaced brushes counter-rotating at relatively low speed (about 350 rpm) to stroke the cleaning granules into, through and across the carpet and its fibers.
The granules are referred to as "dry" and are substantially so even though moistened with cleaning solvents. When stroked as described, these granules "scrub" dirt and soil from such fibers including oily and non-oily soil. The carpet is cleaned by working the HOST@ machine across it in different directions. During the cleaning process, granules migrate to the carpet backing adjacent the base of the fiber. A few granules also adhere lightly to the fibers along their lengths. Heretofore, conventional carpet vacuum machines have been used for removing these dirt-ladened granules.
S. C. Johnson Co. of Racine, Wis., sells a vacuum cleaning machine known as the VECTRON.TM.. Such machine is said to incorporate "dual cyclonic technology" which eliminates the need for a dust bag. The machine can be used for hand vacuuming using a wand. However, one must take the entire machine to the site to do so. The vacuum air stream is not required to flow through collected waste and it is not known whether such machine has a beater bar. An advertising brochure says the machine is "ideal for dry carpet cleaning systems." It is believed that this statement alludes to powder systems since the brochure goes on to say that the machine "does not exhaust powder." It is also believed that such machine is based upon one or both of the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,643,748; 4,853,008 (Dyson).
A difficulty attending the use of conventional machines for granule removal is that they perform less than optimally when vacuuming dried-out granules. Performance of such machines is even less satisfactory when vacuuming damp granules and longer carpet fibers further impair granule cleanup. Repeated passes of conventional machines over carpet surfaces are often used and, even at that, such machines fail to remove substantially all of the spent granules.
Whether damp or dry, such granules (at least those of the HOST.RTM. product) do no damage whatever to carpet even though allowed to reside in the carpet for extended periods. But, through carpet usage, granules hidden after vacuuming work their way to the top of the carpet. They are considered by a few to be somewhat unsightly. An approach used by professional cleaners to overcome this is to perform additional vacuuming on one or more successive days--worthwhile even if only to remove newly-deposited dirt--to remove particles which emerge through use.
Yet another difficulty attending the use of conventional machines is that many use only a single filter medium, often a disposable paper bag. To the extent the machine picks up granular material, such bags fill rapidly and work must be suspended during bag disposal and replacement. And many bag/machine configurations draw air through the collected dirt. Vacuum efficiency drops rapidly as the bag fills.
Another disadvantage of conventional machines is that professionals using dry granular carpet cleaning methods are virtually required to invest in two machines, one for brushing the granules into the carpet during non-vacuum cleaning and a vacuum machine for later cleanup. Pairs of machines are cumbersome to move into, around in and out of work sites and represent a significant business investment.
"Dual-mode" (cleaning and vacuum) machines are available for cleaning carpet but they use a dry powder rather than granules. One such machine is made by Clarke-Gravely Corporation of Muskegon, Mich. and sold as the CLARKE CAPTURE carpet cleaning system. Such machine distributes cleaning powder onto the carpet and works the powder into and through the carpet fibers using a round, disk-like scrubber brush, the axis of rotation of which is normal to the carpet surface. Since the machine vacuum system operates to reduce dust rather than recover dirty powder, one is still required to use a separate conventional vacuum machine to remove such powder.
Another type of system used for cleaning carpets with powder is the DRYTECH cleaning machine sold by Sears, Roebuck & Company. The machine has a self-contained vacuum capability and one beater bar with several rows of short-bristled brushes. Such bar is within a shroud which generally conforms to the shape of the bar and by which vacuum is selectively applied. As the brush alone is rotated at high speed, powder is dispensed through two slits, one on either side of the bar between the bar and the shroud. Later, the vacuum is actuated and dry powder (with dirt entrained) is said to be dislodged by the brush and drawn away by vacuum.
A failure of a machine, like the DRYTECH machine, to fully recover powdered cleaner is often not recognized by the site owner/user. This is so since such powdered cleaner is virtually invisible even if distributed on the carpet surface.
Another consideration in machine selection is whether or not the filter media are self-cleaning to any degree. Ways to accomplish forced air cleaning of filter media (although not necessarily in a carpet vacuum machine) are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,898,065 (Coffman), 2,500,747 (Ellis), 4,826,512 (Fuller), 4,261,713 (Bourdois et al.) and 3,320,726 (Black, Jr.). They describe the use of air jets or air blasts in one way or another to knock dirt off of a filter. There are several variations to this basic approach. One is simply to "pulse" the filter periodically with one or more air jets. In one such arrangement (shown in the Ellis patent), the filter media are rotated so that the air jets sweep across the media surface once for each revolution. Another variation includes backwashing the filter with air; that is, air flows through the filter in a direction opposite normal flow. The Fuller, Bourdois et al. and Black, Jr. patents illustrate this approach.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,785,123 (Leith) and 3,685,257 (Burke) describe filter cleaning using air in other ways. The Burke patent describes cleaning of the inner or outer surfaces of cylindrical filter bags using traveling vortex gas rings. Such rings appear to be donut shaped regions of high velocity air movement. The cleaning method shown in the Leith patent uses traveling turbulent air flow to "ripple" filter bags and clean particulates from the bag inner surface. The traveling turbulent air flow results from counter-rotation of inner and outer concentric cylinders.
vacuum cleaning machines using cyclone separators are shown in representative U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,826,515 (Dyson) and 3,877,902 (Eriksson et al.). Amway Corporation has a Carpet Maintenance System CMS 1000 machine which uses a conventional "beater bar" brush with spirally-arranged brush tufts. Air flow is understood to be first through a cylindrical collection chamber at high velocity, then through a cyclone separator at higher velocity and then through a "HEPA" filter located below a cylindrical collection chamber. The machine is said to have "parallel dual centrifugal separation chambers." It also has a transparent removable waste collection compartment.

Carpet cleaning machine for particulate removal


A storage medium and method for managing a defective area of the storage medium are provided. The method includes (A) identifying a defective area found during recording or reproducing of data; (B) writing the data intended for the defective area in any part of a user area that is unused, wherein the storage medium is without any pre-designated spare area so that the entire user area corresponds to an entire data area of the storage medium; and (C) writing positional information about the defective area in the user area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rewritable optical recording medium system, and more particularly, to the associated method for managing a defective area on an optical recording medium.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, in the optical recording media, there are a ROM type for read only, a WORM type for writing once, and a rewritable type for repetitive writing. In the ROM type optical recording media, there are CD-ROM (Compact and the like, and, in the WORM type optical recording medium, there are CD-R (Recordable Compact Disc) which permits one time writing, DVD-R (Recordable Digital Versatile Disc) which permits one time writing, and the like. And, in disks which are rewritable freely and repetitively, there are CD-RW (Rewritable Compact Disc), and rewritable digital versatile disc (DVD-RAM, DVD-RW).
In rewritable optical disks, information writing/reading thereto/therefrom is done repetitively. The repetitive write/read of information causes a change in a ratio of components, i.e., the mixture, that form a recording layer (provided for recording information), from an initial mixing ratio. This leads to a loss in the initial properties of the mixture, and that causes errors to occur in writing/reading information. This overall process is called degradation.
Areas of degradation are identified as defective areas when formatting, or when executing a write or read command for the optical disk. Other than by degradation, defective areas of the rewritable optical disk are caused by scratch on a surface, dust particles, and/or from production defects. To prevent writing/reading data to/from the defective areas formed by the foregoing causes, management of the defective areas is required.
As shown in FIG. 1, DMA's (Defect Management Areas) are provided in a lead-in area and in a lead-out area of the optical recording medium for managing the defective areas of the optical recording medium. Data areas are managed in zones (or groups), each having a user area for use in actual writing of data and a spare area to prove replacement capacity in the case of defects in the user area. In general, there are four DMAs provided in one disk (for example, a DVD-RAM), two in the lead-in area and the other two in the lead-out area.
As management of the DMAs is important, the same data is repeatedly written in the four DMAs for its protection. Each DMA has two blocks having 32 sectors in total, i.e., one block has 16 sectors. Each DMA has a PDL (Primary Defect List) which is a primary data storage and an SDL (Secondary Defect List) which is secondary data storage. In general, the PDL contains entries of defects that occurred during fabrication of the disk, and all defective sectors identified during formatting, i.e., initializing and re-initializing, of the disk. On the other hand, the SDL, which is organized in block units, contains entries of defective areas that occurred after the formatting, or defective areas that cannot be listed on the PDL during the formatting. The defective areas (i.e., defective sectors or defective blocks) in the data area are replaced with good areas, according to a slipping replacement algorithm or linear replacement algorithm.
FIG. 2A depicts a circumstance in which the slipping replacement algorithm is applied to a defective area listed on the PDL. If the defective sector is present in the user area on which actual data is to be written, then the defective sector is skipped. The defective sector is replaced with a good sector next to the defective sector.
FIG. 2B depicts a circumstance in which the linear replacement algorithm is applied to a defective area listed on the SDL. If the defective block is present in the user area or the spare area, then the defective block is replaced with block units of replacement areas assigned to the spare area.
FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram showing one example of a recording portion of a related art optical recording medium recording/reproduction device. It is provided with an optical pickup for writing/reading data to/from an optical recording medium, a pickup servo unit for controlling the optical pickup to maintain a distance between an objective lens in the optical pickup and the optical disk and for tracking a pertinent track, a data processor for processing and providing an input data to the optical pickup, an interface for exchanging data with an external host, and a microcomputer for controlling the above units. A host is connected to the interface of the device for recording/reproducing data to/from an optical recording medium for exchange of command and data.
Referring to FIG. 4, when data to be written is provided to the host, the host then provides the data to be written together with a write command to the device for recording/reproducing data to/from an optical recording medium. In this instance, the device for recording/reproducing data to/from an optical recording medium writes no data on defective areas utilizing the PDL and the SDL. That is, physical sectors listed on the PDL are skipped in the writing. As shown in FIG. 4, physical blocks b1kA and b1kB (listed on the SDL) are replaced with replacement blocks b1kE and b1kF assigned to the spare area in the writing. If a defect occurs again in a replacement block b1kG (that was intended to replace the defective block b1kC), a new replacement block b1kH in the spare area is assigned to the defective block b1kC for writing the data. And, during a writing or reading operation, if a defective block is discovered that is also not listed on the SDL, then a replacement block is located in the spare area, the data on the defective block is written thereon again, and positional information on the defective block are listed on the SDL entry for protection of the data. Instead of a defective block, if a block having a high possibility of causing an error is discovered during a writing or reading operation, then this block is treated as if it were a defective block in the manner just described. Thus, not only blocks with defects, but also blocks with a high possibility of causing errors, for example, blocks error thereon can be corrected are subjected to linear replacement, for protection of data.
However, the aforementioned DVD-RAM has the problem of a reduced recording capacity caused by the spare areas allocated in a disk fabrication process for protection of data. And, because the size of the spare areas are fixed in advance without regard to the actual defective state of the disk, the spare areas are used inefficiently. In most instances, the disk management technique will not use entire spare areas. Also, if the total number of defective sectors for a block is larger than the total number of spare areas, all of the defective sectors cannot be replaced. This causes the disk management technique to fail. In this instance, the system will treat the disk as fatally defective, and the disk will no longer be used.
A CD-RW is one of the rewritable optical recording media. It manages defective sectors only when the defect is fatal, but does not manage correctable errors. The data protection provided by the CD-RW is not adequate.

Method for managing defective area of optical recording medium


A power controller device which uses a voltage-to-frequency converter in conjunction with a zero crossing detector to linearly and proportionally control AC power being supplied to a load. The output of the voltage-to frequency converter controls the "reset" input of a R-S flip flop, while an "0" crossing detector controls the "set" input. The output of the flip flop triggers a monostable multivibrator controlling the SCR or TRIAC firing circuit connected to the load. Logic gates prevent the direct triggering of the multivibrator in the rare instance where the "reset" and "set" inputs of the flip flop are in coincidence. The control circuit can be supplemented with a control loop, providing compensation for line voltage variations.

This invention relates to power controllers, specifically those for use in controlling the power applied to heating elements used in annealing of very large metal objects. In particular this invention is useful in the annealing of installed and irradiated nuclear reactor pressure vessels. More particularly, this invention relates to power controller devices which provide high resolution linear power adjustment of the power applied, thereby obviating the need for measurement of power delivered to the load by the power controller for control purposes. The load may be a heating element, for example.
Many types of power controller devices are known in the prior art. The simplest power controller, known for a century or more, uses a rheostat or a variable ratio transformer to control the delivered power. For simple annealing, such as small glass kilns, such devices suffice. This approach suffers the disadvantage, however, of having non-linear control. That is, the "operator" controls current or more usually voltage approximately linearly, but the power delivered is proportional to the square of the varied quantity, so that the control (i.e., the responsiveness of the power delivered to changes in current or voltage) is inherently quadratic, not linear. Sophisticated annealing tasks, such as the annealing of nuclear reactor pressure vessels, require the accuracy of linear control, i.e., a linear variation in the power delivered in response to an operator-controlled change in current or voltage.
The standard approach to achieving linear power control has been to use systems which turn the power on for a portion of a fixed duty cycle, typically one or two seconds. Although the delivered power is quadratic in response to changes in the current or voltage, the amplitude of the AC current of the delivered power is approximately constant over the duty cycle, and hence the average power delivered over the duty cycle is linear with the proportion of time the delivered power is "on." The response time of the change in temperature of heating elements and the heated object to be annealed are such that time-varying power levels by turning the current on and off over one or two seconds has negligible effect on the temperature achieved.
Unfortunately, however, there are practical problems in using conventional systems to control heating elements used in sophisticated annealing such as that of nuclear reactor pressure vessels. The prior art linear power controller, which has been in use until the present invention, produces large step increases in power, especially at low percentages of delivered power, in reponse to changes in the controller settings, even with linear input control, because it can only add or subtract an integral cycle of the 60 Hertz (Hz) power signal, thereby producing highly discontinuous changes in delivered power level.
Increasing the length of the duty cycle helps but does not fundamentally alleviate the problem. Measurement of power delivered to the object to be annealed is therefore required to assure that actual power levels obtained are known to an acceptable accuracy.
In prior art designs using the above-described standard approach, 60 Hz power to the load is controlled using an on or off system with a fixed duty cycle such that integral numbers of complete 60 Hz sine cycles (synchronized to the line frequency) are applied to the load during the "on" portion of the controller duty cycle and no power is delivered during the "off" portion. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, at an input command of 10% power with a one second duty cycle, the controller should output to the load six complete 60 Hz cycles of power (0.1 second) every 60 cycles (1.0 second). Consequently, at low percentages of maximum deliverable power there is a significant time during which no power is applied to the load (e.g., 54 cycles at 10% power).
As described above, a problem inherent in this type of control is that large relative changes in power delivered are inherent at low absolute levels of power because the current can only change by an integral number of cycles. The control is thus grossly discontinuous in this region of operation. This problem can be referred to as granularity of control.
For example, an increase in power using this type of controller from six cycles or 10% power to seven cycles or 16% power is actually a relative change of 17% (one cycle out of six) in power being delivered. At 50% power (see FIG. 1), the load waveform for a duty cycle of one second supplies power for 30 cycles and is then off for 30 cycles. Specialty applications such as nuclear reactor annealing require not only the linearity of control offered by duty cycle systems but also precision of change of power level of one in a thousand, i.e., a resolution of 0.1% in relation to the 100% power level. With conventional controllers it has been necessary to measure load power due to the uncertainty at this level, especially at low power percentages. The added instrumentation required for feedback from the measurement of delivered power adds complexity and expense to the power controller apparatus. These measurements are also complicated due to the burst or discontinuous nature of the applied waveform.
Some improvement in resolution at low duty cycles can be achieved by increasing the total length of the duty cycle, e.g., to two seconds. In this case, a 20% power level is provided by 12 cycles out of 120 cycles; the next step increase in power is to 13 cycles or approximately 10.8% power and therefore a change of only about 8% (one cycle out of 12). Although improved, this technique still has significant granularity and still requires measurement of load power for accuracy of control.
Thus there is a need for a simple and convenient power controller providing both linearity and high resolution in power control for meeting annealing specifications. In particular, reactor vessel annealing requires a well controlled, slowly changing, uniform heat distribution to preclude thermal stresses. The accuracy and the resolution of control of input power directly affects the uniformity of temperature which in turn directly controls the likelihood of a successful annealing. Uniformity is accomplished with multiple heater banks comprising a sufficient number of well controlled electrical heating elements. Step changes in electrical power input, and thus heat input, disrupt both the uniformity and the slow rate of change, potentially causing damaging thermal stresses.
In addition, the annealing of particular interest is for an installed, previously operated nuclear reactor vessel. Installed shielding materials are subject to heat damage at temperatures only slightly above minimum annealing temperatures. The margin between acceptable minimum annealing temperatures and maximum safe temperatures for these materials is very narrow. It is therefore extremely important that vessel temperature uniformity, and thus control of electrical input to the heating elements, be as precise as is practical to assure that the entire vessel has reached the necessary annealing temperature but also stays below maximum temperature constraints.
Two other factors which affect the degree of temperature control and uniformity are variations in line voltage and the tendency of heating elements to increase resistance with increasing temperature. It would be useful to be able to feed back to the control system for adjustment of the input control voltage a signal based on changes in the amplitude of the line voltage and another signal based on the temperature of the heating element to maintain stability and control. The granularity of the prior art control system makes use of such signals for fine control problematic.
When feedback signals are used, random noise in the input channel potentially subjects the system to a well known problem with feedback loops, oscillation. Thus there is also a need in systems using feedback signals to be able to minimize susceptibility to input noise. The current invention answers all of these needs.

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


A semiconductor device with air-bridge interconnection comprises: a substrate; a plurality of mesas with distance therebetween smaller than a predetermined value; and a metal layer supported by the plurality of mesas, the metal layer having a narrow portion at the intermediate portion thereof and both ends having larger width than the narrow portion. The air-bridge interconnection is obtained by side-etching controlled during dry-etching using interconnection metal layer as an etching-mask to remove a mass of semiconductor material under the interconnection metal layer. A method of producing the semiconductor device comprises the steps of forming a semiconductor material; forming a metal layer on a portion of the semiconductor material having a narrow portion in the intermediate portion thereof; and forming the air-bridge interconnection by dry-etching with side-etching controlled to form a groove having a predetermined depth; then forming a resistive layer on the bottom of the layer; and then dry-etching the semiconductor material and the metal layers again to remove a mass of the semiconductor material under the metal layer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device with air-bridge interconnection and a method of producing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A semiconductor device with air-bridge interconnection is known. Such air-bridge interconnection interconnects electrodes formed on neighbouring mesas formed on a substrate, and particularly interconnects lines crossing each other. That is, the air-bridge interconnection isolates an interconnection line from elements, such as transistors by holes or grooves. After devices are formed on a semiconductor substrate using ion implantation, an air-bridge is built over the groove between mesas to form the interconnection line. In the normal atmosphere, the air isolates these interconnection lines or elements therebetween.
If isolation between an interconnection metal and other portion is made by a dielectric substance or insulator, line capacitance therebetween becomes larger. The air-bridge interconnection can reduce the line capacitance because the dielectric substance or the insulator is the air.
The method of producing the air-bridge interconnection is disclosed in Gallium Arsenide-Materials, Devices, and Circuits, John Wiley & Sons (1985), Chichecter, U.K., at page 485. This method will be described with reference to FIGS. 9A to 9C. FIGS. 9A to 9C are cross-sectional views of a prior art semiconductor device for explaining the method of producing the air-bridge interconnection in order of steps of processing. In FIG. 9A, a substrate 601 on which electrodes 602 are formed, is covered with a resist 603. Then the resist 603 is cured. Portions of the resist 603 on the electrodes 602 are removed. Then, on the electrodes 602 and the cured resist 603, an interconnection metal layer 604 are deposited as shown in FIG. 9B. The interconnection metal 604 is formed in a desired shape. Then, the resist 603 formed under the interconnection 604 is removed by an organic solvent. The interconnection forms a bridge over the groove between the electrodes 602, so that the line capacitance of the interconnection metal 604 is reduced.
However, there is a problem that in the semiconductor device having mesas formed by wet etching or dry etching up to the order of several micron meters, the air-bridge interconnection cannot be used.
Moreover, there is also problem that disconnection of the interconnection metal occurs because the resist 603 does not perfectly enter the isolation grove having several micron meters depth or the resist 603 formed under the interconnection metal 604 is not removed perfectly, so that the reliability of the semiconductor device decreases because the leavings of the resist 604 absorbs the humidity.
Further, the resist 603 must be removed by dry etching because if an organic solvent is used for removing the resist 603 formed on the electrodes 602 (wet etching), necessary portions of the resist 603 will be removed. The dry etching requires fine control of etching time to prevent the mesa, that is, the electrode 602, from damage, so that processing is complicated.

Method of making semiconductor device with air-bridge interconnection

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An inflatable solar oven is comprised of two sheets of flexible material which are sealed at their edges to form an enclosure. The top sheet is clear and the bottom sheet has a reflective layer. The two sheets can be inflated to form a spherical enclosure by passing air through an edge opening that is also large enough to access a water or food holding receptacle which can be placed with the inflated enclosure. Extended portions of the sheets that form the opening can be rolled up to form a closure for it. The inflated enclosure can be secured to the ground in an appropriate position to receive the sun's rays which pass through the clear sheet and reflect from the bottom sheet to heat the receptacle therein.

Although various solar devices that utilize the sun's rays to provide heat for cooking have been previously devised, most such devices were comprised of rigid reflective components which had to be assembled into a predetermined geometric shape and retained by suitable fastening means. Also, such prior devices even though portable, were bulky and relatively heavy and thus not practical for many uses. Weight and space are critical factors to hikers and backpackers and there has long been a need for an efficient solar oven device with such features which would enable the user to hike in and out of an area without the need to carry a heavy stove and fuel containers. In addition, persons in remote or underdeveloped areas such as in refugee camps or third world countries where fuel is costly or unavailable have found a need for a relative simple means for utilizing solar energy for cooking or heating food or water. Also, emergency craft such as lifeboats can readily utilize a solar device for heating food or water that can be easily stored.
An inflatable, reflective solar oven is shown in U.S. Pat. No. Design 310,657, but this patent does not disclose the present invention and appears to be impractical for the use that its title implies. For example, it fails to show or teach how a food or water holder or any form of cooker could be placed within the oven shown to provide the intended cooking or baking function. Further, this patent discloses no details of construction or procedures for using the device as a solar oven. The present invention solves these problems.


The present invention discloses a biological measuring device with auto coding capabilities. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the biological measuring device with auto coding capabilities may include a test strip associated with a code pattern; and a code reader electrically coupled to the test strip to read the code pattern, wherein the code reader is configured to read an output from the code pattern consisted of a first logical value, a second logical value, and a third logical value.

Electrochemical measuring devices have been commonly used to determine the concentration of analytes in body fluids. For example, in blood-glucose testing, a blood sample may be dropped at a measuring end of a test strip that is applied with an enzyme, and then the test strip may be inserted into a glucose meter to determine the concentration of glucose in the blood sample.
In the conventional art, the test strip is provided with a working electrode and a reference electrode to form a reaction region. The reaction region is applied with the enzyme so that when a test sample reacts with the enzyme, a chemical response is generated. When in use, the test strip is inserted in the glucose meter so that the glucose meter can read the chemical response in order to calculate the concentration of glucose in the blood sample.
However, as a result of variances in manufacturing of the test strips, calibration is needed before a particular batch of the test strips may be used with the glucose meter to obtain accurate test results. In the conventional art, the test strips are associated respective code patterns. The code patterns are normally formed by providing varying connectivities between any two contact pads provided on the test strips. The connectivities between any two contact pads will produce logic 1 or logic 0 as outputs for the glucose meter to read and to calibrate the glucose meter accordingly. As a result, the conventional glucose meter can compensate for the manufacturing variations on different batches of test strips automatically, before a user start to use the meter.
One common problem in the conventional art is the amount of coding information that can be encoded in the test strips for calibration purpose. As an example, a chip with eight pins provided within the conventional glucose meter can correspond to a test strip with eight contact pads. A common arrangement of the eight contact pads may be 2 rows of 4 contact pads at one end of any given test strip. Then, depending on the status of the electrical connectivities between one of the contact pads and a pre-defined pin, such as a ground pin, a logical value of 1 or 0 is outputted, thereby yielding a maximum of 16 codes to be used for auto-calibration purpose. Such limitation hinders the optimal use of the glucose meter and test strips.
Therefore, what is needed is a method of improving the number of auto-calibration codes that may be carried in the test strip without changing the existing structure and configuration of the glucose meter and the test strip and device for same.

Methods of improving auto-coding capabilities for biosensors and devices for same


A receive queue provided in a computer system holds work completion information and message data together. An InfiniBand hardware adapter sends a single CQE+message data to the computer system that includes the completion information and data. This information is sufficient for the computer system to receive and process the data message, thereby providing a highly scalable low latency receiving mechanism.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to computer system communication. In particular, this invention provides a solution for reducing low latency message reception receive queue latency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
I/O adapters define queue pairs (QPs), comprising receive queues (RQ) and send queues (SQ), for conveying messaging information from a software consumer to the adapter prior to transmission over a network fabric and for receiving messages by the consumer from an adapter coupled to the network fabric. Industry standards, such as the InfiniBand® (IB) Architecture Specification available from the InfiniBand Trade Association and IWarp from the RDMA Consortium, specify that the message information carded on QPs is in the form of a work queue element (WQE) that carries control information pertaining to the message. The above-identified documents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Also, one or more data descriptors point to the message data to be transmitted or the location at which received messages are to be placed.
Low latency message passing is a critical function in high performance computing applications. Typical data exchanges between system memory and InfiniBand adapters that are required to receive messages consume sizable amounts of time.
Some RQ applications have a need to reduce the latency incurred during data transfer operations. There is a need for a mechanism to enhance the standard RQ operations so that the lower latencies required by these applications can be achieved.

International Business Machines Corporation


A hand apparatus easily attaches and detaches a punch to and from a punch attaching hole of an upper turret of a turret punch press. The hand apparatus includes a vertically and horizontally movable arm, a turnable cylinder attached to an end of the movable arm, and a support cylinder disposed inside the turnable cylinder, such that the support cylinder is horizontally moved and immobilized or restrained relative to the turnable cylinder. A turnable and tiltable hand is disposed inside the support cylinder, and a clamp is disposed at a lower end of the clamp hand.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hand apparatus, and particularly, to a hand apparatus for attaching and detaching a punch (an upper mold) to and from an upper turret of a turret punch press.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A turret punch press has upper and lower turrets. A block-like punch holder holding a punch (an upper mold) and a block-like die holder holding a die (a lower mold) are attached to and detached from the upper and lower turrets, to thereby replace the punch and die.
In this sort of turret punch press, the die held by the lower turret is easily replaceable by changing the die holder that is holding the die with another one. Namely, replacing a die is achievable without largely modifying the lower turret.
Replacing a punch attached to the upper turret of the turret punch press is done by upwardly pulling the punch from a punch attaching hole of the upper turret and by inserting a new punch into the punch attaching hole.
Accordingly, a great modification must be done on the upper turret if the punch holder holding a punch is required to be freely attached to and detached from the upper turret. Namely, it is not easy to attach and detach a punch to and from an existing turret punch press.

Amada Engineering and Service Company, Inc.


The present invention relates to oripavine derivatives of formula (I),

The Great Britain patent 1136214 disclosed compounds represented by the following formula:
wherein R1 is hydrogen or methyl, R2 is cyclopropyl methyl or allyl, R3 is alkyl, phenyl or phenyl alkyl. These compounds have potent central analgesic activity and opiate antagonist activity.
Among them, buprenorphine (where R1 is hydrogen, R2 is cyclopropyl methyl, R3 is tert-butyl) has good analgesic activity and little dependence with potency 25–30 times as that of morphine and less dependence. It has now been widely used as analgesics and anti-addiction. But buprenorphine only have moderate efficacy (40% that of morphine) and low bioavailability. So it could not be administered orally.

Oripavine derivatives and their uses as pharmaceuticals

Abstract: wherein R1 is hydrogen or methyl, R2 is methyl, cyclopropyl methyl, cyclobutyl methyl or allyl, R3 is thiophenyl ethyl or cycloalkyl methyl where the cycloalkyl has 3 to 6 carbon atoms, or non-toxic pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. These compounds can be used for the preparation of analgesics or abstinence agents of opium habit-forming drugs.

Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology Academy of Military Medical Sciences, P.L.A. China

Zhejiang Xianju Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.