Locos

Locos: A Comedy of Gestures is the first novel of Spanish-born American writer Felipe Alfau (1902–1999), written in 1928 published in 1936. The metafictional novel remained out of print until the 1988 when it was reprinted by Dalkey Archive Press; its positive reception then led to the publication of Alfau's second novel Chromos in 1990, which he had written in 1948.

Background

Felipe Alfau was born and grew up in Spain. In 1916, the 14-year-old Alfau moved with his family to New York. He had ambitions to become a music conductor and wrote music criticism for El Diario La Prensa. By the late 1920s he had a wife and daughter and hoped to support them with his writing; he wrote Locos about 1928, and in 1929 he had a children's book Old Tales from Spain published. He had considerable difficulty finding a publisher for Locos.

Publication, reception, and legacy

Farrar & Rinehart first published the book in 1936; Alfau received $250 for the manuscript. The edition was priced $2.50 and was the first in an intended series of signed editions sold by subscription. The book had a positive critical reception, including a review by writer Mary McCarthy, and quickly disappeared. The book then stayed out of print until Dalkey Archive Press reprinted it in 1988.

LOCOS

LOCOS, short for LOCal Oxidation of Silicon, is a microfabrication process where silicon dioxide is formed in selected areas on a silicon wafer having the Si-SiO₂ interface at a lower point than the rest of the silicon surface.

This technology was developed to insulate MOS transistors from each other. The main goal is to create a silicon oxide insulating structure that penetrates under the surface of the wafer, so that the Si-SiO₂ interface occurs at a lower point than the rest of the silicon surface. This cannot be easily achieved by etching field oxide. Thermal oxidation of selected regions surrounding transistors is used instead. The oxygen penetrates in depth of the wafer, reacts with silicon and transforms it into silicon oxide. In this way, an immersed structure is formed.

The immersed insulating barrier limits the transistor cross-talk.

Process

Typical process steps are the following:

I. Preparation of silicon substrate (layer 1)
II. CVD of SiO₂, pad/buffer oxide (layer 2)
III. CVD of Si₃N₄, nitride mask (layer 3)
IV. Etching of nitride layer (layer 3) and silicon oxide layer (layer 2)
V. Thermal growth of silicon oxide (structure 4)
VI. Further growth of thermal silicon oxide (structure 4)
VII. Removal of nitride mask (layer 3)

LoCos (language)

LoCos is a pictorial developed by Yukio Ota of Japan in 1964. It was meant as communication for the deaf and mute as well as for the illiterate. It is a universal and simple language, and as Mr.Ota put it, "It should emphasize the importance of communication among all the people of all the countries of the world."

Symbols

There are 8 major symbols in LoCos. There is the Sun or day, represented by a circle. There is man, represented by a ring shape. There is a thing, represented by a square. There is thought, represented by a triangle with a slightly cut off top. There is feeling, represented by a heart. There is land or place, represented by a low straight line. There the question indicator, a question mark. There is, lastly, a point or existence, represented by a single point.

Words

Words are made by combining different symbols in different ways. For example if you put a dot inside a circle it will represent today, or if you put a fish in a ring shape it will be a fisherman. There an around 80 words that are official according to Yukio Ota. Words can be created as long as they follow the basic word syntax.