A device for the transnasal or oral administration of drugs or similar media, comprising a finger-like applicator (3) which has a spray nozzle (6) disposed at its free end and includes a cylinder unit (1) for accommodating the medium to be administered. The medium is applied by moving a piston (7) into the cylinder unit (1). A membrane-like seal (4) is located between the cylinder unit and spray nozzle and is slotted to open and form a fluid passage under pressure. The cylinder unit may be built into the applicator or may include a separate cartridge releasably mounted in the applicator. The piston may be activated in steps or in a continuous motion. A second applicator may be attached to the side of the first applicator with the spray nozzles located generally in accordance with spacing of human nose nostrils.

The invention is concerned with a device for the transnasal or oral administration of drugs or similar media.
A device of the specified kind is known. It was developed with a view to the fact that the nasal mucous membrane or the throat are ideal areas of application for drugs. The technical design of such devices is subject to the most stringent requirements, because the question as to what drugs may be used in this way is governed by the dosing accuracy. Moreover, it is essential that handling should be convenient to the user. These two prerequisites must be satisfied so as to ensure a sufficiently high operativeness which is of the utmost importance for the application of highly effective drugs.
One of the problems arising with the known devices is the risk of contamination. No device-integrated measures have been provided to ensure that the content does not come into contact with air and hence with the environment.
Also, there is a basic risk of leakage when the spray nozzle is improperly closed. Finally, the known device is composed of a relatively large number of parts, resulting in a correspondingly high expense in respect of manufacture, material and assembly time, whereby the mechanical operativeness may also be deteriorated.
The present invention is based on the object of providing a device of the kind specified above, which is of simple structure while it is highly reliable in operation and safe from contamination.

Device for the transnasal or oral administration of drugs or the like


A system and method of providing an at least two color image with a system where the system has at least two contiguous imaged light print sheets. Each imaged light print sheet has a white light translucent sheet having a volume and a first and second print sheet having pixels within the volume which alter direction of white light transmission through the volume such that at least some light intersecting the pixel is directed towards the first viewable surface. The first and second at least two imaged light prints overlain with respective pixels of a single composite image in registry. A light emitter of a first visible color is positioned to edge-light the first imaged light print sheet and a second light emitter of a second visible color different from the first visible color, is positioned to edge light the second imaged light print sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of color images, color image media and color image processes using light emitted into a media to provide light intensity.
2. Background of the Art
There are many imaging technologies that provide color images or color viewable material with the light energy illuminating, highlighting or energizing distributed image content. The simplest such image displays are arrays of lights in patterns (especially of colors) that provide an image when viewed from an appropriate distance. Shaped neon light displays are an example of that technology. Motion pictures and slide shows are merely reflective surfaces onto which patterns of colors are projected and reflected off the surfaces for viewing. Cathode ray tubes are distributions of phosphors that emit specific wavelengths of light when irradiated (e.g., with electron beams) such that when a screen containing arrays of phosphors is irradiated in predetermined patterns, individual patterns of colors combine to form a relatively full color image that is emitted from the screen.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,860 (Brady) describes sheet articles having on one surface thereof a linear prism array and a diffraction grating on the opposite surface. These arrays of prisms are deformable and the sheet articles are suitable for the preparation of projection transparencies. By local deformation of the prism, the transmittance properties of the sheet articles are altered, providing differentiation in image density with transmitted (e.g., from back lighting) light.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,906,070 and 5,056,892 (Cobb) describes a thin, flexible film made of a transparent polymeric material including a structured surface and an opposite smooth surface, wherein light striking either surface, within certain angular ranges, is totally internally reflected. The structured surface includes a linear array of miniature, substantially right-angled isosceles prisms arranged side-by-side to form a plurality of peaks and grooves. In addition, the perpendicular sides of the prisms make an angle of approximately 45° with the smooth surface, and when the film is curled the smooth surface lies in a smooth continuous arcuate curve without materially affecting the performance of the film. Because of the film's flexibility and its ability to totally internally reflect light, it may be utilized in a variety of ways, for example, as a collector of solar energy or as a light conduit. The performance of the film may be manipulated to permit controlled light leakage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,551 (Cobb et L.) describes a structured optical film with variable pitch peaks and/or grooves to reduce the visibility of moire interference patterns and optical displays incorporating one or more layers of the film. The pitch variations can be over groups of adjacent peaks and/or valleys or between adjacent pairs of peaks and/or valleys.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,346 (Suzuki) describes an LED display device with an indicator having a housing. The housing has at least one incident portion that receives light from at least one LED. The incident portion has a reflection surface at its inside surface. LEDs emit light from one side or one longitudinal end of the incident portion. A refraction-plate may be provided to direct emission of the incident light for viewing by a user.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,389 (Nilsen et al.) describes a light collimating film having a first side and a second side, wherein the first side includes a series of prisms, and the second side includes a plurality of sub-wavelength optical microstructures. Another embodiment includes a back-lighting display device having a lighting means, a display print, and a sheeting having a first side and a second side, wherein the first side includes a series of prisms, and the second side includes a plurality of sub-wavelength optical microstructures. A preferred embodiment includes a back-lighting display device having a collimating film with a first surface having a sub-wavelength optical microstructure thereon and a second surface with linear prisms having an included angle of greater than about 95°, and a second collimating film having a first surface with a sub-wavelength optical microstructure thereon and a second surface with linear prisms having an included angle of less than about 85°.
Alternative imaging structures and technology are still desired. All disclosures cited in this patent are incorporated in their entirety herein.


The present invention pertains to a siliconized polyester resin that has a sufficiently high Tg that the siliconized polyester is a solid at room temperature. The silicone polyester preferably has a Tg of 30° C. or greater. The silicone polyester can be produced as a particulate and remain stable at room temperature. The particulate silicone polyester is suitable for use in coating compositions, including powder coating compositions. The coating can be clear or pigmented, and thus optionally can include pigment. The coating composition also includes a crosslinker. The coating composition can be ground into a powder. The powder is stable at room temperature. The powder is then capable of being coated on a suitable substrate and then baked to form a coated metal object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solid siliconized polyester resins, coating compositions containing the resin, coatings made from the coating composition, products coated by the coatings, and methods for making the same.
2. Background Art
Polyester resins have been used in industry for years as a binder for making conventional baking enamels and thermoset powder coatings for industrial, architectural, and maintenance coatings. Polyester resins with hydroxy functional groups lend themselves to being used in combination with crosslinkers such as melamine or isocyanates.
The incorporation of silicone into the backbone of the polyester polymer increases the heat resistance and UV resistance of the polymer, which moves the conventional polyester from low durability to high durability. Incorporating silicone into the backbone of the polyester increases the heat resistance of the resulting polymer makes it more suitable for use in coatings for mufflers, cookware and bakeware products, automotive products, architectural products. Coatings currently utilizing this approach are liquid silicone modified polyester and are generally in solution containing between 50-70% solids.
The current trend is to move to low VOC coatings, and therefore a solid version of silicone modified polyester (SMP) would be ideal for powder coatings applications. The conventional technology utilizes liquid or flake silicone intermediates, which have low glass transition temperatures (Tg) and will not form stable SMP flakes. The use of the low Tg intermediate forms a SMP, which will re-agglomerate over time forming large lumps, which renders the resulting SMP unsuitable for use in power coatings.
Accordingly, it will be desirable to provide a suitable solid silicone modified polyester and coating that overcomes at least one problem in the prior art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Solid siliconized polyester resin for powder coating


The disclosed retractable arms clothes hanger is designed to allow it to be easily inserted into and removed from the neck opening of a tee shirt, pullover, buttoned down shirt, or turtleneck sweater when its arms are retracted in the down position. Once inserted, the turning knob of the retractable arms clothes hanger can be rotated so the arms can be extended into their rigid, upwardly extended position thereby preventing unnecessary garment stretching. By rotating the turning knob of the retractable arms clothes hanger in the opposite direction, the arms of the retractable arms clothes hanger can be retracted back to its down position. The retractable arms clothes hanger with its arms in the down position can be easily and conveniently stored when not in use. The arms of the retractable arms clothes hanger can be fully adjusted to correspond to the proper angle of any type of garment.

The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
U.S. PatentsPatent NumberIssue DatePatentee5,480,076Jan. 2, 1996Siegel/Ganaja8,235,261Aug. 7, 2012Park/Kim8,459,514Jun. 11, 2013Lagzdins8,517,232Aug. 27, 2013Geltzer/Ciaglia
Conventional clothes hangers are generally designed with a center section having rigid arms that extend outward and are angled downward from the center section. Projecting upwardly from the center section is a suspension hook that allows the hanger to be hung from a horizontal pole or other protuberance. The conventional clothes hangers are suited for hanging most garments that have a large neck opening such as on front opening coats and shirts. However, when a narrow necked garment, such as a tee shirt, pullover, buttoned down shirt, or turtleneck sweater, is to be hung on a conventional clothes hanger, it is necessary to insert the hanger up through the bottom opening of the lower portion of the garment and into the garment's shoulder section to prevent the stretching of the collar area. In addition to conventional clothes hangers, the disclosed prior art also discloses several designs of retractable clothes hangers that have rigid arms that retract upwardly or downwardly. However, the disclosed invention differentiates itself from the disclosed prior art as it is the first type of retractable hanger that uses a turning knob that when rotated clockwise or counter-clockwise causes its hanger arms to move to an up position or down position.
The disclosed retractable arms clothes hanger is designed to allow it to be easily inserted into and removed from the neck opening of a tee shirt, pullover, buttoned down shirt, or turtleneck sweater when its hanger arms are retracted in the down position. Once inserted, the turning knob of the retractable arms clothes hanger can be rotated so its arms can be extended into their rigid, upwardly extended position thereby preventing unnecessary garment stretching. By rotating the turning knob in the opposite direction, the arms of the retractable arms clothes hanger can be retracted back to its down position. The retractable arms clothes hanger with its arms in the down position can be easily and conveniently stored when not in use, unlike conventional clothes hangers that take up more space and get easily tangled. Not all garments have the same shoulder angle, so the arms of the retractable arms clothes hanger can be fully adjusted to correspond to the proper angle of any type of garment.


A high performance computer system has compute nodes interconnected by an inter-node communication network. The compute nodes include local packetized interconnects. Shared memory between compute nodes is emulated by tunneling packetized interconnect packets between the compute nodes. A memory region on one of the compute nodes is used as a window into a memory region in another compute node. Special registers may be provided to expedite remote operations on small amounts of data.

Multiprocessor, high performance computers (e.g. supercomputers) are often used to solve large complex problems. FIG. 1 shows schematically a multiprocessor computer 10 having compute nodes 12 connected by an inter-node communication network 14. Each node 12 has a network interface 16, which provides a data connection to inter-node communication network 14, at least one processor 18, and a memory 20. In FIG. 1, the network interface 16, processor 18 and memory 20 are shown explicitly for only two of the illustrated nodes. Processors 18 may conveniently comprise microprocessors. One example microprocessor which is currently available is the AMD Opteron™ microprocessor.
Software applications running on such computers split large problems up into smaller sub-problems. Each sub-problem is assigned to one of compute nodes 12. A program is executed on one or more processors of each compute node 12 to solve the sub-problem assigned to that compute node 12. The program run on each compute node 12 has one or more processes. Executing each process involves executing a sequence of software instructions. All of the processes execute concurrently and may communicate with each other.
Some problems cannot be split up into sub-problems which are independent of other sub-problems. In such cases, to solve at least some of the sub-problems, an application process must communicate with other application processes that are solving related sub-problems to exchange intermediate results. The application processes cooperate with each other to obtain a solution to the problem.
Communication between processes solving related sub-problems often requires the repeated exchange of data. Such data exchanges occur frequently in high performance computers. Communication performance in terms of bandwidth, and especially latency, are a concern. Overall application performance is, in many cases, strongly dependent on communication latency.
Communication latency has three major components:                the latency to transfer a data packet from a CPU or other device in a sending compute node to a communication network;        the latency to transfer a data packet across the communication network; and,        the latency to transfer a data packet from the communication network to a device such as a CPU in a receiving compute node.
In attempts to reduce latency, various topologies (e.g. hypercube, mesh, toroid, fat tree) have been proposed and/or used for interconnecting compute nodes in multi-node computer systems. These topologies may be selected to take advantage of communication patterns expected for certain types of high performance applications. These topologies often require that individual compute nodes be directly connected to multiple other compute nodes.
Low latency communication between processors in multiprocessor computers can be implemented using one of two paradigms: messaging and shared memory. Messages are used to communicate between nodes in distributed memory systems where each node has its own separate memory and a communication network connects the nodes together. For example, multiprocessor computer 10 in FIG. 1 is a distributed memory system.
If the nodes of a multiprocessor computer directly implement or emulate the sharing of memory, data can be communicated through the shared memory. One node can write into a shared data structure in the shared memory data to be read by one or more other nodes. Some computers directly implement shared memory in hardware. Hardware-based shared memory is very difficult to implement in computers having more than about 64 processors, because the performance of existing cache coherency technologies does not scale well.
Larger computers of hundreds and thousands of processors almost exclusively use distributed memory. Messaging is used to implement low latency communication between processors. In these systems, shared memory is sometimes emulated on top of messaging to provide an alternative for applications that were developed to use shared memory for communication.
One issue in emulating shared memory concerns the addressability of memory. High performance multiprocessor computer systems can incorporate large amounts of physical memory. For example, the inventors have designed a computer system which can incorporate 96 TB of physical memory. Memory density is anticipated to grow and costs will decrease. In the next few years, similar computer systems will probably incorporate in excess of 256 TB of physical memory. Directly addressing such large amounts of memory requires long addresses. For example, 48 bit addresses would be needed to directly address 256 TB of memory.
Unfortunately, some addressing systems which might be convenient to use within nodes of a computer 10 do not permit such long addresses. CPUs vary in their ability to support large address spaces. 32 bit CPUs only support 32 bit addressing. Some 64 bit CPUs (e.g. the AMD Opteron™) support 64 bit addressing inside the CPU, but only 40 bit addressing on the address bus external to the CPU. These CPUs are not capable of directly addressing 256 TB of physical memory.
Another issue is that of access rights to memory. In a 12,000 processor system, more than one application may be executing simultaneously. The ability of one application to access the memory assigned to another application must be carefully controlled. Applications must be prevented from accessing memory used by an operating system.
Another issue relates to control over communications used to emulate shared memory. Unless the system provides a global address space that spans all nodes, implementing shared memory may involve mapping memory from one node into the address space of another node. Since operating systems normally manage memory resources and the mapping of virtual addresses to physical addresses, it would be natural to make the operating system responsible for the communications that implements shared memory. This may have the undesirable side effect of making it practically necessary for the operating system to have a role in all communications, including supporting message-based communication. In this case, an application would have to make a system call to the operating system to send or receive a message.
Unfortunately, system calls significantly increase latency. A system call causes a software interrupt CPU instruction. When the software interrupt instruction is executed, the CPU is forced to execute an interrupt routine. To execute the interrupt routine, a typical CPU must switch to privileged execution mode. The memory management unit in the CPU must be flushed and reloaded with the virtual address to physical address mappings for operating system memory. The CPU caches will be invalidated and flushed, because operating system code is now executing. The interrupt routine must determine which system call was made. If the system call is simple, the interrupt routine may execute the necessary code and return the results directly. If not (message sending and receiving is typically not simple), the interrupt routine adds the system call parameters to an internal work queue to be processed at some later time when the kernel acquires extended use of the CPU.
All of this complexity leads to excessive latency. Current practice in high performance computing is to bypass the operating system for message sending and receiving. This exacerbates the previous access privileges issue, because now applications are directly accessing memory to send and receive messages. This potentially allows applications to interfere with the operating system messages that implement shared memory.
There is a need for multi-node computer systems which have mechanisms for providing low-latency messaging between nodes and which address some or all of the above-noted problems.

Low latency communication via memory windows


The disclosure relates to a hockey stick comprising a shaft and a blade, the shaft including a top side, a bottom side, a front side, a back side, an upper end, a lower end, and a length extending between the upper end and the lower end, the shaft including a first straight section and a second section. The first section extends from the lower end of the shaft to the second section and the second section extends from the first section to the upper end of the shaft. The second section is disposed at an angle relative to the first section, the angle being defined generally along a plane extending from the top side of the shaft to the bottom side of the shaft, wherein the second section starts at about ½ to about ⅘ of the length of the shaft from the lower end of the shaft.

Hockey is a popular sport played by many from young children to professional athletes. Hockey sticks have an overall shape which has changed very little since the game was first played. A conventional hockey stick includes a blade mounted to the lower end of an elongated, straight shaft. A grip is usually-formed at the upper end of the shaft, which is typically provided by wrapping the upper end of the shaft with tape. Players may hold the shaft by the grip with one hand, but usually grasp the shaft with both hands, one hand grasping the grip which can be referred to as the dominant control hand and the other hand grasping the shaft further down from the grip. Passing and shooting the puck usually requires holding the stick with both hands.
Although the overall shape of a hockey stick has changed very little over time, the materials from which the sticks are made tend to vary considerably. The blade portion of the stick is usually formed of wood and may be reinforced with a fiber and epoxy matrix. The blade is also sometimes formed from a plastic material. The shaft portion is also usually formed of wood and may also be reinforced with a fiber and epoxy material. Alternative materials to wood such as carbon fiber materials, certain metals including aluminum, or composite materials offering a variety of shaft stiffness and weight are becoming popular among many players. The shaft may be formed as a solid piece or be formed as a hollow tubular structure. The hockey stick is typically provided as an integral unit, with the blade either integrally formed with the shaft or otherwise permanently fastened to the shaft.
Accurately passing or shooting the puck with the stick requires a great deal of skill. Therefore, it is important for the player's hockey stick to enhance the player's skill or at least not unduly interfere or impede the player's ability. A player can select a stick from a variety of sticks offering a range of shaft stiffness, blade curvature, blade to shaft angles, etc.
Although the variety of materials from which hockey sticks are made have provided players with choices to enhance their skill level, there has been very little improvement to the overall shape of the hockey stick shaft. What is needed is an improved hockey stick shaft that provides a more natural/ergonomically correct alignment between the forearm and the hand while keeping the blade of the stick in the correct alignment on the ice for optimal control of the puck. What is needed is a shaft design that allows the muscles in the forearm (which drive the controlling hand), the muscles in the wrist, and the muscles in the hand to function in a more ergonomically correct manner to increase strength, control and mobility of the controlling hand on the stick during shooting, passing, and stick handling.


A fuel feed system of an engine is provided with a gas-fuel separating unit for separating oil mist generated in an engine case from air with a labyrinth, and an auto fuel cock is operated by pressure pulsation of the air from which the oil mist is separated by the gas-liquid separating unit. Thus, infiltration of the oil mist into the auto fuel cock is suppressed to the minimum, and a malfunction of the auto fuel cock caused by accumulation of the oil can be prevented. Additionally, a breather passage for feeding the air, from which the oil mist is separated by the gas-liquid separating unit, to a breathing unit is connected the auto fuel cock via a negative pressure tube. Thus, it is unnecessary to provide a specific passage for transmitting the pressure pulsation of the air in the engine case to the auto fuel cock.

Disclosed in JP-A-2003-171910 is an apparatus in which an auto fuel cock for controlling fuel feed from a fuel tank to an engine is connected to a crank case of the engine via a feed tube, and the auto fuel cock is operated by pressure pulsation generated in the crank case.
Disclosed in JP-U-61-097577 is an apparatus in which a tip of a communicating tube extended from an auto fuel cock for controlling fuel feed from a fuel tank to an engine is opened in oil accumulating at a bottom part of a crank case, and the auto fuel cock is operated by pressure pulsation generated in the crank case.
Additionally, disclosed in JP-Y-59-013336 is a apparatus in which an suction part of a fuel cock is inserted into a discharge cylinder provided on a fuel tank via an oil seal constituted by an elastic material so that the fuel cock is attached to the bottom part of the fuel tank, and in which a cylindrical lock body constituted by an elastic body fitted onto the outer circumferences of the discharge cylinder and the suction part is tightened and fixed with a fixing instrument.
In an apparatus of JP-A-2003-171910, there is a possibility that a malfunction of an auto fuel cock is caused by accumulation of oil generated by condensation of oil mist which is generated in the crank case of the engine and infiltrates into the auto fuel cock through a feed tube.
Additionally, in an apparatus of JP-U-61-097577, since a tip of a communicating tube is opened in oil accumulating at the bottom part of a crank case, there is no possibility that oil mist infiltrates into the auto fuel cock through the communicating tube. However, there is a possibility that the oil in the crank case directly infiltrates into the auto fuel cock through the communicating tube when the engine is tilted.
On the other hand, when an auto fuel cock is arranged between an engine case and a fuel tank fixed above the engine case and the inside of the engine case is connected to the auto fuel cock via a negative pressure tube, there is a problem that work for connecting a lower end of the negative pressure tube to the inside of the engine case and for connecting an upper end of the negative pressure tube to the auto fuel cock is necessary and therefore much labor and time are required for the work. In particular, the above work becomes more difficult in a case where a working space between the fuel tank and the engine case is small. The distance between the engine case and the fuel tank increases when sufficient space is ensured, and thus there exists a problem the whole engine enlarges.
Additionally, it is conceived that a negative pressure introduction joint of the auto fuel cock fixed to a lower surface of the fuel tank to a negative pressure introduction joint of the engine case via an approximate crank-shaped is a bent negative pressure tube so that the whole engine is miniaturized by shortening the distance between the engine case and the fuel tank fixed above the engine case. However, this causes a possibility that oil which infiltrates from the engine case accumulates at a bent part of the negative pressure tube when the engine is tilted. When a tip of the negative pressure introduction joint of the auto fuel cock is soaked into the oil, there is a possibility that the operation of the auto fuel cock, of which the communication with the inside of the engine case is cut off, becomes impossible.


For computing nodes having a first programmable and comprising a first node and a second node, an update of the first node from the first programmable to a second programmable across an external network is initiated. In response to the update being interrupted, the first programmable is automatically reinstated on the first node by retrieving the first programmable from the second node across an internal network. The second node is automatically updated to the second programmable by retrieving the second programmable from the first node across the internal network in response to completion of the update of the first node to the second programmable.

Some computing systems may employ multiple independent processors that independently operate using a programmable. Updating the programmable used by each of the independent processors is subject to corrupt updates and unintended interruptions. Such corrupt updates or unintended interruptions may result in one or more of the processors being disabled until a technician initiated recovery is completed.

Update of programmable for computing nodes

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


This invention relates to the use of short nucleic acid molecules that modulate Aurora-B kinase (AurkB) expression. The invention includes compounds, compositions and methods useful for the modulation of expression and activity of genes involved in the AurkB pathway. In one embodiment, the present invention provides short nucleic acid molecules, such as siRNA, which can be used in treating, preventing, or inhibiting cancer, and any other proliferative disease, trait or condition, which respond to a reduction in AurkB expression in a cell or tissue. Such short nucleic acid molecules can be used alone or in combination with other treatments or therapies, including short nucleic acid molecules that modulate expression of EGFR.

The Aurora kinases are a family of serine/threonine kinases. Aurora A and B kinase are associated with mitotic events of cell cycle, while Aurora C kinase is expressed only in testis (Sasai K, Katayama H, Stenoien D L, Fujii S, Honda R, Kimura M, et al, Aurora-C kinase is a novel chromosomal passenger protein that can complement Aurora-B kinase function in mitotic cells. Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton, 2004; 59:249-263). Aurora-A kinases, also called Aurora-2, STK6, ARK1 and Aurora/IPL-1 related kinase, associates with centrosomes and microtubules during mitosis. Aurora A kinase (hereinafter "Aurora A") localizes to centrosomes and regulates the association between cell cycle machinery and centrosomes (Hirota T, Kunitoku N, Sasayama T, Marumoto T, Zhang D, Nitta M. Aurora-A and an Interacting Activator, the LIM Protein Ajuba, Are Required for Mitotic Commitment in Human Cells. Cell 2003; 114: 585-598; Dutertre S, Cazales M, Quaranta M, Froment, C, Trabut, V, Dozier, C. et al. Phosphorylation of CDC25B by Aurora-A at the centrosome contributes to the G2-M transition. J. Cell. Sci. 2004; 117: 2523-2531).
Aurora B kinases, also known as Aurorakinase B, Aurora B, Aurora-1, and hereinafter "AurkB", localizes to the kinetochores from prophase to metaphase and to the central spindle and the midbody in cytokinesis (Carmena M. and Earnshaw W C. The cellular geography of aurora Kinases. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol 2003; 4: 842-854). AurkB associates with chromosome passenger proteins, inner centromere protein (INCENP), Survivin and Borealin protein to form a quaternary chromosome passenger complex which, along with its sub complexes (AurkB and INCENP) are thought to be required for spindle check point, cytokinesis and phosphorylation of Histone H3, respectively. (Schumacher J M, Golden A, and Donovan P. AIR-2: An Aurora/Ip11-related protein Kinase associated with chromosomes and midbody microtubules is required for polar body extrusion and cytokinesis in Caneorhabditis elegans embryos. J. Cell. Biol. 1998; 143: 1635-1646; Terada Y, Tatsuka M, Suzuki F, Yasuda Y, Fujita S, and Otsu M. AIM-1: a mammalian midbody-associated protein required for cytokinesis. EMBO J. 1998; 17: 667-676; Giet R and Glover D M. Drosophilia aurora B Kinase is required for histone H3 phosphorylation and condensing recruitment during chromosome condensation and to organize the central spindle during cytokinasis. J. Cell Biol 2001; 152: 669-682). AurkB phosphorylates MCAK and thus plays a vital role in regulation of bi-orientation during mitosis (Giet R, Petretti C and Prigent C. Aurora Kinases, aneuploidy and cancer, a coincidence or a real link? Trends. Cell Biol. 2005; 5: 241-250).
Any discrepancy in functioning of Aurora kinases can lead to mitotic catastrophe resulting in anueploidy or polyploidy, a hallmark of cancer. Indeed, chromosomal instability cause cancer and is clearly associated with cancer evolution and thus resistance to treatment (Duesberg P et al., "The chromosomal basis of cancer" Cell Oncol. 2005; 27(5-6):293-318; Duesberg P et al., "Cancer drug resistance: The central role of the karyotype." Drug Resist Updat. 2007 Mar. 26). Aurora kinases have been linked to the chromosomal instability. In addition, malfunctions of Aurora kinases are found in a number of cancers, such as non-small cell lung cancer, epidermal, prostate, colon, pancreatic, ovary, breast and oral cancers including all head and neck cancers. (Keen N. and Taylor S. Aurora-kinase inhibitors as anticancer agents. Nature Rev 2004; 4: 927-936). Inhibition of AurkB leads to improper segregation of sister chromatids and failure of cytokinesis. Over-expression of AurkB has been linked to cell proliferation and development of aggressive tumors leading to malignancy. (Ota T, Suto S, Katayama H, Han Z, Suzuki F, Maeda M et al. Increased mitotic phosphorylation of histone H3 attributable to AIM-1/Aurora-B over expression contributes to chromosome number instability. Cancer Res 2002; 62: 5168-5177; Vischioni B, Oudejans J J, Vos W, Rodriguez J A and Giaccone G. Frequent overexpression of aurora B Kinase, a novel drug target, in non-small cell lung carcinoma patients. Mol. Cancer Ther. 2006; 5: 2905-2913; Smith S L, Bowers N L, Betticher D C, Gautschi O, Ratschiller D, Hoban P R. Overexpression of aurora B Kinase (AURKB) in primary non-small cell lung carcinoma is frequent, generally driven from one allele, and correlates with the level of genetic instability. Br. J. Cancer 2005; 19:719-29). Studies so far have not indicated whether the malfunctioning of Aurora is a cause or consequence of cancers. AurkB is intimately involved in preventing chromosomal instability. (Liu Q, Kaneko S, Yang L, Feldman R I, Nicosia S V, Chen J et al. Aurora-A Abrogation of p53 DNA binding and transactivation activity by phosphorylation of serine 215. J Biol Chem. 2004; 279: 52175-52182; Katayama H, Sasai K, Kawai H, Yuan Z, Bondaruk J et al. BRCAI phosphorylation by aurora kinase A induces Mdm2-mediated destabilization and inhibition of p53. Nat. Genetics 2004; 36: 55-62; Ouchi M, Fujiuchi N, Sasai K, Katayama H, Minamishima Y A et al. BRCAI phosphorylation by Aurora-A in the regulation of G2 to M transition. J Biol. Chem 2004; 279:19643-19648). Survivin, part of AurkB complex, is a key protector against apoptosis and/or mitotic catastrophe (Andrews P D. Aurora Kinases: shining lights on the therapeutic horizon? Oncogene 2005; 24: 5005-5015). AurkB therefore appears to have a direct role in tumorigenesis.
Aurora inhibitors have been reported several authors (Ditchfield C, Johnson V L, Tighe A, Ellston R, Haworth C, Johnson T et al. Aurora B couples chromosome alignment with anaphase by targeting BubR1, Mad2 and Cenp-E to kinetochores. J Cell Biol 2004; 161: 267-280; Hauf S, Cole R W, Terra S, Zimmer C, Schnapp G, Walter Ret al. The small molecule Hesperadin reveals a role for Aurora B in correcting kinetochore-microtubule attachment and in maintaining the spindle assembly checkpoint. J Cell Biol 2003; 161: 281-294 and Harrington E A, Bebbington D, Moore J, Rasmussen R K, Ajose-Adeogun A O, Nakayama, T. VX-680, a potent and selective small-molecule inhibitor of the Aurora kinases, suppresses tumor growth in vivo. Nat. Med 2004; 10:262-267). These inhibitors include ZM447439 (by AstraZeneca) which shows inhibition of 13 other kinases apart from Aurora. AZD 1152 (AstraZeneca) has been shown to inhibit spindle aggregation at the time of mitosis and is being evaluated to determine its effect as a specific inhibitor of Aurora kinase and its impact on cell division in proliferating tumors. Hesperadin (by Boehringer Ingelheim) inhibits AurkB and 25 other kinases, but not Aurora A or C, and causes only polyploidy with no apparent loss to cell viability.
VX-680 (Vertex) inhibits all three Aurora and, in a panel of cancer cells, was found to inhibit proliferation, increase apoptosis induction, and induce tumor cell death. Merck is presently conducting three clinical studies of VX-680 in patients with hematologic cancers, recurrent or non-responsive solid tumors, or cancers for which standard therapy does not currently exist. In these studies, the safety and tolerability of VX-680 are being evaluated when administered as either a 24-hour continuous infusion or as a 5-day continuous infusion. Of the Aurora inhibitors in clinical trials, only VX-680 is highly specific for Aurora, but is associated with toxic bone marrow side effects, and the mechanism of tumor cell death is not completely understood (Giet R, Petretti C and Prigent C. Aurora Kinases, aneuploidy and cancer, a coincidence or a real link? Trends. Cell Biol 2005; 5: 241-250).
Additional Aurora inhibitors have been described. Japanese patent application JP 2005-278472 describes a peptide that inhibits activities of AurkB in the inner centromere protein, specifically bonding to the Aurora protein; and also describes a medicinal composition, screening methods, and kits. Japanese patent application JP 2005-320351 describes a process for preparing tri- and tetra-substituted pyrimidines, the use in preparing Aurora kinase inhibitors, and methods of treatment. US patent application 20050267065 describes compositions and methods for modulating the expression of AurkB, including using chemically modified nucleotides, including small interfering nucleotides. The use of chemically modified nucleotides poses a potential risk of unwanted side effects.
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR, also known as ErbB-1, or HER1 in humans) is a protein tyrosine kinase. Activation of EGFR leads to transmission of proliferative signals to the nucleus and, via activation of transcription factors, leads to increased proliferation, increased migration, increased adhesion, increased angiogenesis and inhibition of programmed cell death pathways (Bundy, L., Wells, S., Sealy, L. "C/EBPbeta-2 confers EGF-independent growth and disrupts the normal acinar architecture of human mammary epithelial cells," Mol. Cancer. 2005; 4: 43). EGFR is over-expressed in a number of cancers such as head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), prostate, gastric, epidermal and skin cancers. EGFR is expressed constitutively in many highly aggressive tumors (Rusch V, Mendelsohn J, Dmitrovsky E. "The epidermal growth factor receptor and its ligands as therapeutic targets in human tumors." Cytokine Growth Factor Rev 1996; 7: 133-41; Salomon D S, Brandt R, Ciardiello F, Normanno N. "Epidermal growth factor related peptides and their receptors in human malignancies." Crit Rev Oncol Hematol 1995; 19: 183-232) and tumors showing over expression of EGFR are often found to be resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs (James H. Doroshow "Targeting EGFR in Non-Small Lung cancer." N. Engl. J. Med. 2005; 353(2):200-2002).
EGFR inhibitors such as cetuximab, erbolitin, etc, are known. To enhance the tumoricidal affects of EGFR inhibitors, therapeutic treatments often include use of cytotoxic chemotherapeutic drugs such as cisplatin, foldfox, etc. However, in randomized clinical trials EGFR inhibitors when combined with cytotoxic chemotherapy, no advantage was demonstrated over standard chemotherapy alone (Sui G., Soohoo C., el Affar B., Gay F., Shi Y., Forrester W. C. & Shi Y. A DNA vector-based RNAi technology to suppress gene expression in mammalian cells. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 2002; 99, 5515-5520). Accordingly, there is also a need for improved EGFR inhibitors.
Chemically synthesized short nucleic acid molecules, such as siNAs, can specifically and effectively direct homology-specific post transcriptional gene silencing, and therefore may be used as highly effective, selective and potent therapeutics, with minimal side effects. A molecule that specifically inhibits AurkB can block the mechanics of cell division, and therefore is very useful in combination therapy. Similarly, siNA may be used to block EGFR expression.
The present invention provides potent short nucleic acid molecules without any chemical modification having high stability and specificity for AurkB and or EGFR, and are useful as therapeutics alone, or in combination with other therapies for cancer.

Short nucleic acid molecule-mediated modulation of Aurora B kinase expression and combinations for use in anticancer therapy


A distributed database architecture stores medical information in a self-updating system that employs point-of-service stations disposed at convenient medical service locations. Each patient carries a portable data carrier such as a smart card that contains the patient's complete medical history. Interaction between the portable data carriers and the point-of-service stations effects a virtual communication link that ties the distributed databases together without the need for online or live data connections. The point-of-service stations are also interconnected over a communications network through a switching station that likewise does not rely on online, live communication. The database system uses an object-oriented update object to distribute data that has been generated when a portable data carrier is not physically present and to automatically distribute data without the necessity of accessing a masterfile.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computerized medical information systems. More specifically, it relates to maintaining and updating computerized medical records.
The invention is based on a distributed database network architecture, in which a plurality of portable data carriers (PDCs) and point-of-service (POS) stations interact to maintain the currency of the medical records of a plurality of patients. Each PDC contains the medical record of an individual patient. Each POS station contains a system for generating and propagating medical data specific to that medical care site.
The PDCs and POS stations contain independent, but interrelated, databases; and a major function of the presently described invention is to keep the information in these databases current.
In addition to serving as one of the database repositories in this network, each PDC also serves as a communication link between the POS stations. Each patient carries their own medical record from one station to another on their own PDC.
Furthermore, the invention utilizes object-oriented tools and structures that include: (1) dynamic objects called "update objects" and (2) data processing "rule sets" which are stored throughout the above described network, working together, these update objects and rule sets establish, route, organize, store and update the medical information of a plurality of patients.
B. Description of Related Art
The healthcare industry has long recognized the need for a computerized medical information system that can maintain a comprehensive and current record of each patient's medical status over space and time.
Although keeping such information in computerized databases might seem simple, providing efficient and cost-effective access to those databases and keeping all data in the databases current, are daunting tasks due to some technical inefficiencies in traditional distributed database systems, and due to the size and mobility of patient populations.
Whereas, it has been possible to successfully implement traditional centralized on-line computer information systems for geographically limited populations, such as within hospitals, it has not been possible to simply scale-up these systems to accommodate larger, more disperse patient populations in the outpatient setting.
The complex, wide-spread interactions of medical outpatient care require a wide area network architecture. However, available distributed database networks exhibit significant shortcomings when they are applied to electronic data interchange applications that entail complex independent transactions at numerous disparate point-of-service locations.
The major problems that make traditional network models unsuitable for many point-of-service applications, such as outpatient medical care, are: (1) inefficient access to needed data, (2) difficulty in maintaining data currency throughout the system and (3) cost.
From the data access standpoint, traditional transaction-oriented networks define a master data file which must be coordinated and updated at one main site and then must be made available, in whole or in part, to peripheral dependent locations.
In order to have access to current data, these traditional systems must be continuously available on-line; and as the complexity of the transaction-based application increases, overload and bottleneck problems ensue; and the communication channels become more complicated and costly. Furthermore, the integrity of the whole network continuously and precariously depends on the reliability of these physical communication channels.
To date, accessing a central file, at some point, is the only networking solution that allows for the coordination of data updates that have been generated at geographically distinct locations. And unfortunately, all of these network systems experience overload, bottleneck, service interruption or coordination delay problems, because of their need to update and then redistribute, data from a masterfile.
Outpatient medical transactions are so diverse, as well as being so geographically and temporally complex, that the anticipated problems of data access, data currency and cost of the traditional centralized systems, become prohibitive. These are the primary reasons that, currently, there are no successful, broad-based computerized outpatient medical record systems.

Method and system for maintaining and updating computerized medical records


Self-synchronizing techniques for checking the accuracy of a pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) are provided. The PRBS being checked may be generated by a device (e.g., a device under test) in response to a PRBS received by the device (e.g., from a PRBS generator). In an aspect of the invention, a PRBS checking technique includes the following steps/operations. For a given clock cycle, the presence of an error bit in the PRBS generated by the device is detected. The error bit represents a mismatch between the PRBS input to the device and the PRBS output from the device. Then, propagation of the error bit is prohibited for subsequent clock cycles. The prohibition step/operation may serve to avoid multiple errors being counted for a single error occurrence and/or masking errors in the PRBS output by the device.

The ongoing development of communication circuits and channels for the synchronous transport module (STM), the 10 Gigabit Ethernet (IEEE 802.3ae) and several other applications require the use of pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) generators and PRBS checkers to test communication circuits and/or channels.
There are two major types of conventional PRBS checkers. The first type of PRBS checker requires a synchronizing circuit. Various implementations of this type of checker are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,648,237, 5,283,831, 4,771,463, 5,321,754, 3,694,757, 4,639,548 and 5,392,289, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
The second type of PRBS checker uses a self-synchronizing technique. This technique is disclosed in U.K. Patent No. 1,281,390 to R. Westcott entitled "Testing Digital Data Transmission Systems," 1972; and in "A 10-Gb/s Silicon Bipolar IC for PRBS Testing," IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, vol. 33, no. 1, January 1998, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.

Self-synchronizing pseudorandom bit sequence checker

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed is a semiconductor device 1 comprising: a semiconductor chip 10; a multilayer wiring structure 30 stacked on the semiconductor chip 10; and an electronic component 60,80 embedded in the multilayer wiring structure 30.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a multilayer wiring structure, and to a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-047734 describes a System In Package (SIP)-type semiconductor package (semiconductor device) in which a plurality of semiconductor chips are embedded. As described in No. 2008-047734, two insulating layers (6, 7) are stacked on a substrate (1) on which a circuit is not formed, wires (9, 13) are patterned on the individual insulating layers (6, 7), a bare chip (5) is embedded in the insulating layer (6) as a lower layer, further, a thick buffer layer (17) is stacked on the insulating layers (6, 7) as upper layers, and another bare chip (16) protected only by a silicon oxide film (16d) is embedded in the buffer layer (17).
In such a technology described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-047734, the chips (5, 13) are embedded in the insulating layer (6) and the buffer layer (17), which are stacked on the substrate (1). Accordingly, the semiconductor package is thickened.
Moreover, the substrate (1) is a substrate obtained by cutting a wafer into pieces. After the chip (5) is mounted on the wafer, the wafer is finally cut. Accordingly, a size of the substrate (1) as the cut piece becomes larger than a size of the chip (5). Therefore, a size of the semiconductor package is enlarged.

Semiconductor device having multilayer wiring structure and manufacturing method of the same


Heat-resistant bonding materials are composed of a polyimide precursor end-capped at molecule ends thereof and/or an imide compound formed from the polyimide precursor. They may also contain fine particles of at least one material selected from metals, metal oxides, metal carbides and metal nitrides.

1) Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to heat-resistant bonding materials suitable for use in die-bonding of pellets for IC (an integrated circuit) and LSI (a large-scale integration).
2) Description of the Related Art:
In a semiconductor device, a semiconductor chip is bonded to an insulating substrate or to a metal frame which serves as a support. Further, the semiconductor pellet is electrically connected to leads formed on the substrate, for example, by way of wires. The resulting assembly is then hermetically sealed with a metal, ceramic cap, molding resin or the like.
As a bonding method for semiconductor pellets, it has been the practice to use an epoxy resin as a bonding layer, to form an Au--Si eutectic by heat treatment with an Au foil and then to use the same as a bonding layer, or to employ glass as a bonding layer. These methods are described in detail in Publication of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application (Kokai) No. 54-69065 and E.C.C. Proceedings, 37, 96-109 (1987).
There is a strong demand for ceramic CMOS packages for large computers in recent years. Their developments are now under way. Large chips of 10 mm.times.10 mm or greater are used in such ceramic packages. These large chips have however developed inter alia the following problems:
(1) Chipping or breakage of pellets due to the concentration of stresses in bonding layers upon their bonding; and
(2) Deterioration of the bonding layers because of the thermal history upon glass sealing.
The problem (1) tends to take place especially when an Au-Si eutectic or glass layer, which forms a rigid bonding layer, is used. The problem (2) tends to occur when an epoxy resin is used as a bonding layer.
As adhesive materials which may be able to overcome these problems, the high heat-resistance polyimide resins disclosed in Publication of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application (Kokai) Nos. 61-264023 and 62-199674 have attracted attention.
To obtain desired bonding strength, these polyimide resins require the application of a pressure of 2.0-3.9 MPa upon bonding. Application of such a large compression bonding force upon die bonding of a pellet however results in deleterious effects, such as chipping or breakage, cracking of passivation film or disconnection a device.
With a view toward avoiding this problem, pellets are bonded by potting using a polyimide resin in the form of a varnish. This method has however found to involve the problem that the bonding material adversely affect the quality of devices by (1) an overflow of the varnish to the wire bonding areas of package bases and (2) an increase of thermal resistance due to the occurrence of voids within the bonding layer as a result of evaporation of the solvent upon heat setting of the varnish.


Existing measurements of an input component (such as voltage or current) in a three phase power supply system are decomposed into a negative sequence component. The negative sequence component, which is significantly higher when a rectifier fuse is blown, is compared to a threshold and a determination made that a rectifier fuse is blown when the negative component exceeds the threshold. In an aspect, an adaptive algorithm is used to make the detection work better in the range of the nominal frequency of the input voltage. In an aspect, the negative sequence is determined indirectly from the existing measurements.

The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses.
In certain power supply systems, such as UPS systems, there is no direct measurement available to determine the status of rectifier fuses, whether blown or normal. In order to ensure safe, reliable and proper operation, the status of the rectifier fuses must be determined correctly and efficiently. FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic of such a prior art UPS system 100.
UPS system 100 includes an AC/DC converter 102, a DC/AC converter 104, and a DC back-up power source 106. UPS system 100 provides uninterruptible power at a load voltage (such as 480 VAC) to a load. The load may illustratively be equipment in a facility or part of a facility, such as computer systems in a data room. UPS system 100 may further include a bypass switch (not shown) which may be used to couple input power to UPS system 100 to the load bypassing the AC/DC converter 102 and the DC/AC converter 104.
UPS system 100 may illustratively be a three-phase UPS system. The input AC power is three phase AC with three legs V_ac-in_A, V_ac-in_B, V-ac-in-C of the power feed, such as from a power feed from a utility company, coupled through three poles of circuit breaker 112 to filter inductors Lin1-3 and input fuses F1-3 to an input 120 of AC/DC converter 102. Fuses F1-3 may be referred to herein as "rectifier fuses" as AC/DC converter 102 is typically a rectifier, such as described below. Illustratively, the three phase input AC power is 480 VAC.
AC/DC converter 102 converts the AC power to DC that is provided to a DC bus 118 at an output 122 of AC/DC converter 102. An input 124 of a DC/AC converter 104 is coupled to DC bus 118. DC/AC converter 104 converts the DC on DC bus 118 to AC at an output 126 of UPS system 100. Back-up DC power source 106 is also coupled to DC bus 118. A filter inductor LDC may illustratively couple a negative side of output 122 of AC/DC converter 102 to a negative side of DC bus 118.
UPS system 100 includes a control module 132 that controls UPS system 100. Control module 132 has inputs 134 and outputs 136 coupled to various elements of UPS system 100, as described in more detail below. Control module 132 may illustratively be a computer, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, or other programmable device that is programmed with software to control UPS system 100.
UPS system 100 illustratively has the following measurements available: two current transformers CT1 and CT2 at the output side of circuit breaker 112 on two of the three legs of the three phase AC input power, three phase input voltage measurements, such as at the poles of circuit breaker 112. Optionally, there may be a third current transformer CT3 as shown in phantom FIG. 1 In this regard, the current transformers and other sensors are coupled to respective inputs 134 of control module 132. But UPS system 100 does not have any existing measurements of the voltage differences across the fuses F1, F2 and F3 from which the status of these fuses can be directly determined.
AC/DC converter 102 and DC/AC converter 104 illustratively include switched semiconductor devices as described in more detail below. These devices have gate inputs coupled to respective outputs 136 of control module 132. Control module 132 gates the switched devices of AC/DC converter 102 and DC/AC converter 104 in known fashion to control UPS system 100.
FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic showing AC/DC converter 102 and DC/AC converter 104 in more detail. AC/DC converter 102 may illustratively be a rectifier and illustratively include three complementary pairs of switched semiconductor devices 200, one pair for each phase, that provide rectification. Respective junctions 2081-3 of the complementary pairs provide power inputs for each of the three phases, thus providing AC/DC converter 102 with a three phase power input 209. Each of rectifier fuses F1-3 is coupled to a respective one of the junctions 2081-3. Switched semiconductor devices 200 may be silicon controlled rectifiers, MOSFETs, thyristors, IGBTs, or other switched semiconductor devices that provide rectification. Gates 202 (only two of which are identified by reference number 202 in FIG. 2) of switched semiconductor devices 200 are coupled to outputs 136 of control module 132.
DC/AC converter 104 may illustratively be an inverter and where UPS system 100 has a three phase output, include three complementary pairs of switched semiconductor devices 204, one pair for each phase. Switched semiconductor devices 204 may illustrative be IGBTs, MOSFETS, SCRs, thyristors, or other switched semiconductor devices. Gates 206 (only two of which are identified by reference number 206 in FIG. 2) of switched semiconductor devices 204 are coupled to outputs 136 of control module 132.
It should be understood that the power supply system can be other than a UPS system. For example, the power supply system can be a power conditioning system 900 having AC/DC converter 102, DC/AC converter 104, but without back-up DC power source 106 as shown in FIG. 9. Alternatively, power supply system 1000 may have the DC bus 118 coupled to a DC/DC converter 1002 as shown in FIG. 10. In an aspect, power supply system 1000 can be an uninterruptible power supply system, in which case it would have a back-up DC power source, such as back-up DC power source 106 (shown in phantom in FIG. 10), coupled to DC bus 118. Alternatively, power supply system 1100 may have DC bus 118 coupled directly to output 1102 of power supply system 1100, so that DC bus 118 is coupled directly to a DC load 1104, as shown in FIG. 11.

Power supply system with adaptive blown fuse detection using negative sequence component


This invention relates to a lead-free glass coating made by firing a lead-free glass enamel composition comprising a glass frit having by weight from about 20% to about 40% zinc oxide, from about 20% to about 32% boron oxide, and from about 10% to about 30% silicon dioxide, from about 0% to about 12% titanium dioxide, from about 4% to about 12% sodium oxide, from about 0% to about 10% potassium oxide, from about 0% to about 12% zirconia, up to about 4% alumina, up to about 5% lithium and up to about 5% fluorine. The lead-free glass coating exhibits excellent adhesion and improved acid resistance.

Lead containing glazes and enamels for glass substrates are well-known in the ceramic art. A glaze is typically thought of as a clear glass coating, whereas an enamel is a glaze which contains a pigment or other particles in suspension. Such glazes and enamels often are applied to glass surfaces in the form of a paste, the paste containing finely ground particles of glassy material, commonly called "frit" and a vehicle. After application of the glaze or enamel to the glass surface by silk screening or other techniques, the glass is fired to volatilize and/or thermally decompose and drive off the vehicle, fuse the frit, and bond the glaze or enamel to the glass surface.
In the past, the use of lead oxide in the frit served to lower the melting point of the frit. Recently, efforts have been made to retain the low melt temperature of the glazes and enamels without the use of lead.
An example of a prior art lead-free glass enamel may be found in Roberts, U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,637. Roberts discloses a lead-free glass enamel including a frit having in weight percent 19-45% SiO.sub.2, 20-33% B.sub.2 O.sub.3, 8-15% alkali metal oxide, 0-35% ZnO, 0-10% ZrO.sub.2, 0-6% Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, 0-3% BaO, 0-8% P.sub.2 O.sub.5, 0-6% La.sub.2 O.sub.3, 2-10% F.sub.2, and 2-25% of a U.V. additive.
Another example of a prior art lead-free glass enamel may be found in Francel et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,862. Francel et al. discloses a glass enamel including a frit comprising by weight 25-32% SiO.sub.2, 25-32% B.sub.2 O.sub.3, 10-18% ZrO.sub.2, 0-9% Na.sub.2 O, 0-5% K.sub.2 O, 0-9% Li.sub.2 O, 0-2% SnO.sub.2, 0-3% F.sub.2, 0-3% CaO, 0-6% SrO, and 10-18% rare earth oxide wherein the ratio of ZrO.sub.2 to rare earth oxide is about 1:1 to 1.4:1, the amount of ZrO.sub.2 plus rare earth oxide is about 20% to 33% and the amount of Li.sub.2 O, K.sub.2 O and Na.sub.2 O is about 1 to 10.


A cable having conductors that may be easily exposed in preparation for electrical connection, without requiring the use of tools, is provided. The insulating layer of the cable has at least one relatively weak portion extending along the length of the cable that is configured to allow the insulating layer to split, thereby exposing the wire without the use of tools.

Existing electrical wires and cable and their associated methods of installation require the use of tools, such as wire strippers and cutters, to expose the conductive elements of the wires in preparation for their connection to an electrical system. This process takes both time and skill and can be time consuming, even for experienced installers, especially when the time consumed is considered over the course of a project. Errors during this operation may also result in the insulation surrounding the conductor being compromised or the wire being severed, requiring additional time to be spent on repair before the work can proceed.
In addition to time and skill requirements, this seemingly simple task also occasionally results in workplace injuries. This is, in part, because the preferred industry tool for stripping such a cable is a utility knife. According to the Massachusetts governmental website, the second most likely reason for an 18-24 year old male to visit the emergency room with a work related injury is being cut or pierced. Notably, 15,154 or 28.1% of visits in Massachusetts emergency rooms result from such injuries annually in Massachusetts alone. Nationally, emergency rooms treat over 750,000 patients annually with work-related cut or pierce injuries. A wire that omitted the use of a utility knife from the stripping operation would inevitably lead to a reduction in such injuries and would help to save millions of dollars annually.
Cables, which contain a plurality of individually-sheathed wires, present an even larger challenge to installers and a significantly larger risk of costly and/or time consuming errors being made. With cables, the outer sheathing must be cut away to expose the jacketing of individual wires for stripping, further increasing the time an electrician, HVAC tech, professional installer, homeowner or other person installing the wiring must spend preparing the wires for installation and the risk of damage to the underlying conductor from accidental puncture of the protective jacket during sheathing removal.
A somewhat related problem involves ductless mini-split A/C systems. In recent years, mini-split ductless AC systems have become popular. These systems are similar to traditional central air conditioning systems in that they locate the noisiest part of the system, the compressor and associated hardware, outdoors. Such systems, however, do not require extensive ductwork to be installed within the home, thus making them a reasonable and cost-effective upgrade to an existing structure.
While the systems themselves are relatively easy to install, relative to traditional centralized air conditioning systems, the cabling for such systems is relatively complicated, requiring AC power wires, DC signal or communications conductors and non-current carrying ground wires to function, each of which must be separated by sheathing in addition to that of the individual wires. There is currently no cable that can provide ease of use, durability and the required connectors for installation of such a system, while meeting code requirements.
What is needed, therefore, are wires and cables that do not require the use of tools to expose the conductors within, enabling their tool-less installation, particularly wires and cables suitable for use in the installation of mini-split ductless AC systems.


The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a SrTiO3 series varistor using grain boundary segregation, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a SrTiO3 series varistor by sintering a powdered composition in which acceptors such as Al and Fe are added in powdered form and then sintered under a reducing atmosphere and heat-treated them in the air to selectively form electrical conduction barriers at grain boundaries in a process for manufacturing SrTiO3 series varistor having an excellent non-linear coefficient and a breakdown voltage suitable for use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for manufacturing a SrTiO3 series varistor, the method comprising sintering in a reducing atmosphere a SrTiO3 composition having at least one of a donor impurity such as Niobium and an acceptor impurity such as aluminum or iron, and selectively oxidizing grain boundaries present in the composition.
2. Background of the Invention
Strontium Titanium Oxide (SrTiO3) series variable resistors ("varistors") have higher dielectric constants than previously examined Zinc oxide (ZnO) varistors, and also exhibiting low loss coefficients. It has been shown that SrTiO3 varistors exhibit usable non-linear current-voltage characteristics when the interior grain of the SrTiO3 compositions are conductive and grain boundaries within the SrTiO3 compositions display an electrical conduction barrier (Clark, D. R., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 82:485 (1999)). The conductivity of the SrTiO3 grain can be improved by doping with donor impurities SrTiO3 followed by sintering the doped SrTiO3 under a reducing atmosphere to make an n-type semiconductor (Gupta. K., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 73:1871 (1990)). When doped SrTiO3 is sintered under a reducing atmosphere, donor impurities such as Niobium (Nb) are present in the grain (Chung, S.-Y. et al., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 85: 2805, (2002)), whereas acceptor impurities such as Aluminum (Al) are present on the grain boundary. Grain boundaries present within the doped SrTiO3 compositions can function as acceptor states within the compositions or as non-conducting materials present at the grain boundary or diffused within the solid (Gupta. K., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 73:1871 (1990)).
A general method for forming an acceptor state on a grain boundary is by applying an oxide such as Lead (PbO), Bismuth (Bi2O3) or Lithium (Li2O3) to the surface of a composition followed by sintering under a mixed atmosphere and heat-treating in air. This process forms a liquid oxide that can infiltrate the grain boundary (see, e.g., Korean Patent Application No. 10-1999-0002445 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,160). However, this method is complicated and is difficult to control the diffusion depth of the oxide solute source. Additionally, a diffusion-induced grain boundary migration can be formed during the second heat treatment that results in widening of the grain boundary, and formation of a conductive barrier having a thickness of several microns so that the composition cannot function as a varistor (Jeon, J.-H. and Kang, S.-J. L., J. Am Ceram. Soc. 77:1688 (1994)). Other researchers have demonstrated a method whereby the composition is doped with an acceptor impurity followed by sintering under an oxidizing atmosphere to form a grain that operates as an acceptor state, and which results in non-linear current-voltage characteristics (Korean Patent Application No. 10-1999-0057370). However, this process can result in a non-uniform microstructure comprising large grains (>10 microns (μm) in size) that result from abnormal grain growth during the oxidative sintering process. It has been shown that non-linear current-voltage characteristics of the compositions increase as the grain size is decreased (see Gupta. K., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 73:1871 (1990)). Thus, the non-uniformity of the microstructure should be controlled and grain growth should be deterred during the manufacturing process.
The grain conductivity of SrTiO3 varistor compositions can be enhanced by sintering under a mixed atmosphere of 95% N2/5% H2 or in air (Korean Patent Application No. 10-1999-0057370; Kutty, T. R. N. and Philip, S., Mater. Sci. Eng. B33:58 (1995); and Kuwabara, M., and Matsuda, H., J. Mater. Sci. 34:2653 (1999)). However, these processes can also result in abnormal grain growth within the SrTiO3 (see Chung, S.-Y. et al., Acta Mater. 50:3361 (2002). What is needed is a method of sintering SrTiO3 compositions in which abnormal growth of the grains is deterred, in order to obtain a SrTiO3 composition having a uniform microstructure and electrical properties.

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


A method for identifying a candidate drug includes administering a test compound to test subjects and having the test subjects perform a sustained task. A first evolution of neural activity in the test subjects is then determined and compared with a second evolution of neural activity. This second evolution of neural activity is obtained from control subjects performing the sustained task in the absence of the test compound. The test compound is then designated to be a candidate drug when a difference between the first and second evolutions of neural activity is above a difference threshold.

The process of discovering new drugs for treatment of medical disorders often requires administering hundreds of test compounds to human volunteers. If the test compound relieves the manifestations of the disorder, it is considered to be a candidate drug and subjected to further testing.
For many disorders, the manifestations of the disorder are readily observable. However, in the case of neurological disorders, the manifestations are more difficult to quantify. For example, if one were to give a test compound to a volunteer afflicted with Alzheimer's, one would want to test the effect on that volunteer's short term memory. Each such test is a time-consuming proposition. Adding to this difficulty is the need to test enough volunteers to ensure that the conclusions drawn from these tests merit statistical significance.
Other neurological disorders, for example epilepsy, are characterized by transient episodes. The search for drugs having therapeutic value in treatment of epilepsy thus requires long periods of time during which one must somehow monitor the frequency, duration, and severity of seizures. The search for drugs effective in suppressing symptoms of schizophrenia requires somehow determining the extent to which a volunteer's perception of reality differs from reality, a measure that is fraught with subjective uncertainties.


It is herein described a contact probe of a testing head of an apparatus for testing electronic devices comprising a probe body being essentially extended in a longitudinal direction between respective end portions adapted to realize a contact with respective contact pads, at least one end portion having transverse dimensions greater than the probe body and comprising an enlarged portion, projecting only in correspondence of a first side wall of the contact probe. Suitably, the at least one end portion further comprises at least one protrusion projecting from a second side wall, opposite to the first side wall and substantially extending toward the second and opposite wall along a longitudinal axis of the contact probe starting from the enlarged portion.

As it is well known, a probe head is essentially a device adapted to put into electrical connection a plurality of contact lands or pads of a microstructure, in particular an electronic device integrated on a wafer, with corresponding channels of a testing apparatus that performs its functionality check, in particular the electrical one, i.e. the testing.
The test performed on integrated devices is particularly useful to detect and isolate flawed devices already in the manufacturing phase. Usually, the probe cards are thus used for electrically testing wafer integrated devices before their cutting and assembling in a chip containment package.
A testing head comprises essentially a plurality of substantially rod-like contact elements or contact probes equipped with at least one contact end adapted to abut onto a contact pad of the integrated device under test.
Widely used in the field are the so-called vertical probe heads, which comprise a plurality of contact probes retained by at least one pair of plates or guides being substantially plate-shaped and parallel one another. Such guides are provided with suitable holes and placed at a certain distance to each other, in order to leave a free zone or air space for the movement and the possible deformation of the contact probes. The pair of guides comprises in particular an upper die and a lower die, both equipped with guide holes wherein the contact probes slide axially, normally formed by wires of special alloys having good electrical and mechanical properties.
The terms "upper" and "lower", commonly used in the field, have also been used in the present description for reasons of clarity, with reference to a local reference system of the FIG., and without meaning them as limitative in any way.
The good connection between the testing probes and the contact pads of the device under test is assured by the pressure of the testing head on the device itself, the contact probes, movable within the guide holes made in the upper and lower guide, being subjected to a bending in occasion of such pressing contact, within the free zone between the two guides and a sliding within such guide holes.
In particular, FIG. 1A schematically shows a testing head 10 comprising at least one lower plate-shaped support or guide 2 and an upper plate-shaped support or guide 3, having respective guide holes 2A and 3A within which at least one contact probe 1 slides.
The contact probe 1 has at least one end portion or contact tip 1A meant to abut onto a contact land or pad 4A of a device under test 4, so as to make the mechanical and electrical contact between such device under test 4 and a testing device (not represented) whose such testing head 10 forms a terminal element.
With the term "contact tip" it is indicated here and beyond an end zone or region meant for the contact with lands or contact pads, such contact zone or region being non-necessarily sharp.
In some cases, the contact probes are bound to the testing head itself in correspondence of the upper guide in a fixed manner: this is the case of blocked probe head.
More frequently, however, testing heads are used with probes that are not bound in a fixed manner, but held interfaced to a board by means of a microcontacter: this is the case of unblocked probe head. The microcontacter is usually called "space transformer" since, besides the contact with the probes, it also allows to spatially redistribute the contact pads realized on it, with respect to the contact pads being on the device under test, in particular with a loosening of the requirements on the distance between the centers of the pads themselves.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 1A, the contact probe 1 has an additional end portion or contact head 1B towards a contact pad 5A of such a space transformer 5. The good electrical contact between the probes 1 and the space transformer 5 is assured in a similar manner to the contact with the device under test 4 by means of the abutting in pression of the contact heads 1B of the contact probes 1 onto the contact pads 5A of the space transformer 5.
The lower guide 2 and the upper guide 3 are suitably distanced by a free zone 6 that allows the deformation of the contact probes 1. Finally, the guide holes 2A and 3A are sized in such way to allow a sliding of the contact probe 1 within them.
In the case of a testing head realized in the technology so-called "with shifted plates", it is also known to contemplate a shift between the lower and upper guides 2, 3 in order to cause a deformation of the body of the probes, in a substantially central position, as in the example shown in FIG. 1A.
A critical parameter in the manufacturing of a testing head is the distance (the so-called pitch) between the centers of the contact pads of the device under test. The pitch of the integrated electronic devices, with the progress of the corresponding fabrication technologies, has indeed become increasingly smaller, forcing to a high packing of the contact probes in the testing head, and causing problems of positioning when the avoidance of the reciprocal contact between the probes is wanted.
In the most recent technologies, the distance between the centers of the contact pads on the integrated devices, i.e. the pitch, has diminished down to values comprised between 30 μm e 80 μm. This pitch diminution relates more strictly to pad configurations of the matrix type. In this case, both distances between the centers of the contact pads on a same line or on a same column have values comprised between 30 μm e 80 μm.
This diminution of the pitch value introduces problems bound to the contact between adjacent probes, between the projecting portions thereof.
It is indeed known, as shown in FIG. 1A, to realize the contact probes 1 so as to have at least one enlarged portion, in particular flattened, in correspondence of an end portion, in particular of the contact head 1B. Such enlarged portions of the contact probes are in particular used to ensure that the probes cannot slip out from the corresponding guide holes made in the upper or lower guides of the testing head and have then major dimensions with respect to the rest of the contact probe, in particular at least a diameter larger than the diameter of the probe body, meaning by diameter the dimension of greater extension of such sections; such enlarged portions of the contact probes moreover have a diameter larger than the diameter of the guide hole made in the upper guide.
Precisely the oversized dimensions of the enlarged portions of the contact probes exacerbate the above mentioned packing problems, drastically limiting the possibility to draw adjacent probes closer, in particular in correspondence of such portions, where the contact between adjacent probes is more likely and, in the planning of the contact probes and of the testing head which comprises them, it should also be contemplated a minimum distance value to be kept between the adjacent probes, in particular in correspondence with their enlarged portions, such as the portions of the contact heads. Such minimum distance, which is adapted to prevent the contact between adjacent probes, surely has an influence on the distance or pitch of the centers of the contact pads of a device that the testing head is capable of measuring.
It is also known to realize contact probes having an end portion, in particular a contact head, with asymmetrical side dimension, as schematically shown in FIG. 1B: this is the case of asymmetrical contact head. Such asymmetrical contact head is indeed able to ensure a grip of the probe within the corresponding guide hole, reducing the risk of contact of the probes between them and thus allowing to draw them closer, with a diminution of the distance (pitch) of the centers of the contact pads of the device that can be tested by a testing head that comprises such probes. Such a contact probe with asymmetrical head is described for example in the Italian patent application N. MI2015A000390 filed on Mar. 13, 2015 on behalf of the Applicant.
More in particular, the contact head 1B comprises an enlarged portion 12, projecting only in correspondence of a side wall of the contact probe 1, in the example shown in correspondence of a first side wall 11a of the contact probe 1, arranged on the right of the probe itself, in the local reference of the FIG. On the contrary, in correspondence of a second and opposed side wall 11b, the contact head 1B does not have any enlarged and projecting portions. This way, the contact head 1B has an asymmetrical configuration.
It should be mentioned that the contact head 1B of the contact probe 1 thus has an undercut wall 12a, in correspondence of the enlarged portion 12, adapted to abut onto a corresponding face of a guide, in particular an upper guide 3, preventing the contact probe 1 from slipping out from the guide and thus from the testing head 10, for example when the contact probe 1 is not abutting onto a corresponding contact pad and tends to slide down, considering the local reference of the FIG.
In practice, however, it happens that the probes are floating when the testing head 10 is not abutting onto on a device under test 4, the contact probes 1 can move, in particular in a direction transversal with respect to the guides and the guide holes, the enlarged portion 12 and the corresponding undercut wall 12a moving with respect to the upper face of the guide on which they should abut onto to ensure the correct holding of the probe.
It is thus immediately evident that the need to reduce to the minimum the dimension of the contact head 1B of the contact probe 1, and in particular of its enlarged portion 12, collides with the certainty to ensure the correct retaining of the probes in the testing head 10 even in absence of a device under test on which the testing head abuts onto, as happens during the normal working of the testing head 10.
This problematic is further sharpened during the assembly operation and the cleaning operations of the testing head 10 and the contact probes 1 contained by it, the latter involving the use of powerful jets of air that cause undesired floating of the contact probes 1 and thus the undesired positioning of the undercut wall 12a of the enlarged portion 12 of the corresponding contact heads 1B in correspondence of the guide holes that house the probes in the guides of the testing head, no retaining of the contact probes 1 being in this case possible to be realized by such projecting portion 12 that is not able to abut onto a underlying face of the guide anymore, especially when the length of the projecting portion 12 is particularly contained and in particular when the dimension of the contact head 1B in correspondence of such projecting portion 12 is smaller than the diameter of the guide hole 3A realized in the upper guide 3.
US Patent Publication No. US 2010/231249 on Sep. 16, 2010 in the name of DANG SON et al. describes a probe head assembly for testing a device under test includes a plurality of test probes having a tip portion with a tip end for making electrical contact with the device under test, a curved compliant body portion and a tail portion with a tail end for making electrical contact with another element in the probe head assembly, for example a space transformer. More particularly, the described test probes include a hard stop feature attached to the tip portion so as to limit the amount of downward travel of test probe when the same makes contact with an upper surface of a guide plate housing the test probes.
Similarly, European Patent Application published under No. EP2110673 (A1) on Oct. 21, 2009 in the name of Technoprobe S.p.A. discloses a testing head including a plurality of vertical contact probes comprising stopping means formed on their rod-shaped bodies and adapted to abut against a lower plate-shaped support and an upper plate-shaped support following a predetermined upward sliding of the rod-shaped body, thus preventing the upward exit of the contact probes from the corresponding guide holes, for instance preventing the drop by gravity of the contact probes.

Contact probe and corresponding testing head of an apparatus for testing electronic devices


Molten metal (e.g., on its way to a continuous casting machine for forming a bar that will be rolled into a rod to be drawn down to wire) is filtered to remove particulate impurities by passing it through at least one and preferably several ceramic filters. In addition, the molten metal is degassed by injecting a flushing gas into the metal through one or more porous plugs in the bottom of the chamber through which the molten metal flows. A partial vacuum column above each porous plug is used to help pull gas up through and out of the metal.

This invention relates to methods and apparatus for degassing and filtering molten metals such as copper, particularly for use in a continuous casting process.
It is important in some metal casting processes to remove gaseous and particulate impurities from the molten metal to be cast. Copper wire, for example, is typically made by drawing down copper rod that has been rolled from a continuously cast copper bar. Gas that is not removed from the copper prior to casting may result in voids that increase the difficulty of satisfactorily drawing the wire and/or that lead to more wire breakage. Particulate impurities that are not removed prior to casting may also increase the difficulty of drawing the wire, decrease conductivity and ductility, and increase wire breakage.
Various molten metal degassing and filtering techniques are known in the art, but each of the known techniques is believed to have certain shortcomings. For example, some of the known techniques involve introducing flushing gas into the molten metal through apertured pipes. Bubbles of the flushing gas are intended to join and/or react with gas already present in the molten metal and thereby carry the pre-existing gas out of the metal. However, for a given quantity of flushing gas, the use of apertured pipes tends to produce relatively small numbers of relatively large flushing gas bubbles. It would be preferable, for more complete dispersion of the flushing gas throughout the molten metal, as well as for better utilization of the flushing gas, to have larger numbers of smaller bubbles.
As another example of shortcomings of the known molten metal degassing and filtering techniques, it is known to apply varying degrees of vacuum to the molten metal to suction or vacuum gas impurities out of the metal. The known techniques for applying relatively high vacuum necessitate expensive and complicated vessels for holding the metal being vacuumed so that excessive ambient air does not inadvertently leak into the vessel. High vacuum has also tended to be associated with batch processing of molten metal. It is difficult to subject a continuous flow of molten metal to a high vacuum because the vacuum tends to work against the molten metal flow. Low vacuum, on the other hand, tends to be of less benefit. It may also be desirable to protect the free surface of the molten metal with a gaseous atmosphere having a particular composition. The difficulty of doing this can be increased if the protective atmosphere must be maintained at a pressure below ambient atmospheric pressure (e.g., as part of a system for subjecting the molten metal to vacuum conditions as mentioned above). Any leakage into the system contaminates the protective atmosphere. And if the entire protective atmosphere must be maintained at a vacuum, the vacuum system may have to handle a relatively large volume of gas, which increases the expense of providing and operating the vacuum.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide improved and simplified molten metal degassing and filtering methods and apparatus.
It is a more particular object of this invention to provide molten metal degassing methods and apparatus which are capable of dispersing flushing gas more thoroughly in the molten metal.
It is still another object of this invention to provide molten metal degassing methods and apparatus which allow both a protective atmosphere and relatively high partial vacuum to be employed with greater economy and efficiency.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide molten metal degassing and filtering apparatus which can be readily applied to a continuous flow of molten metal, as is generally desirable for a continuous costing operation.

Molten metal degassing and filtering methods


A process for the discharge of melted liquid material, heated to a high temperature, which occurs during the thermal treatment of waste by direct melting or the melting down of residues. The liquid melted phases are sprayed into a jet of cooling agent with a high rate of flow and cooled until they solidify and are then passed into a water bath as a granulate. The temperature of the water bath is stabilized by the circulation of liquid, the residual heat given off, the result of further cooling of the granulate, being recovered.

In thermal waste treatment by direct melting or during the melting down of residues such as, for example, ashes, cinders, contaminated metals, general firing residues, gasification residues, filter dusts and precipitation products, a highly heated, liquid melted phase occurs whose quantity, composition and viscosity depends upon the heterogeneous, continuously added refuse and cannot be predicted in advance.
The meltings are usually passed directly into a water bath for cooling, flowing out of a container for receiving the liquid melting into a lower water barrel, preferably as a thin stream of liquid.
The melting stream is burst apart on being dipped into the water tank by the heat energy contained in the melting, water being trapped in the particles which form. The outer parts of the particle become solid, forming a gas-impermeable isolating layer. But inside the particle the temperature is still so high that hydrogen and thus the cause of an oxyhydrogen gas explosion can form. If the melting additionally contains carbonaceous components which were not gasified, these can gasify in the melt particles. Further cooling of the particle compresses the gas trapped inside even more. Additional pressure can result in the explosion of oxyhydrogen gas.
If metals and mineral substances are present in the liquid melted phase, their separation on entering the water tank is incomplete, because other phases may also become entrapped in the irregular particles of varying size forming in the water tank. This mutual "phase contamination" also makes the intended recycling of the melted-down substances particularly difficult.

Process for cooling liquid melt during thermal waste treatment