A method for permanently dyeing hair which comprises subjecting said hair to a number of treatments, having a set time interval between each two consecutive such treatments, wherein each treatment comprises steps a.) and b.) below:

The present invention relates to a method for the permanent coloring of hair with minimized hair damage.
Most hair coloring products fall under three major groupings:
1. Temporary hair color.
2. Semi permanent hair color.
3. Permanent hair color.
Temporary hair color is a leave on product that causes minimal damage to the hair. However, temporary hair color causes stains, and leaches out under rain or with perspiration. Temporary hair color washes out with the next shampoo. Temporary hair color also does not give any control to the consumer over the amount of color deposited or the permanency of the color supplied. Temporary hair color does not result in a wide variety of colors and it has only a limited appeal.
Semi-permanent hair color comes as a rinse, and it causes minimal damage to the hair. However, semi-permanent hair color washes out to some degree with each shampoo and washes out completely within about 4 to 6 shampoos. Semi permanent hair color does not give the consumer any control regarding the amount of color deposited or the permanency of the color. Semi-permanent hair color has limited popularity with consumers.
Permanent hair color generally comes in two parts: a dye solution and a developer solution. Because of the damaging nature of conventional permanent dye or coloring treatments, most home coloring products come with a post treatment conditioner. In a permanent hair coloring treatment, the dye solution and the developer solution are mixed and then applied to the hair, which is then left for about 25 to about 35 minutes. The hair is then rinsed with water, treated with a post treatment conditioner, and then rinsed again with water.
Hair coloring products need to be applied every four to six weeks since hair grows out of the scalp at the rate of approximately one half inch per month. Each coloring application causes damage to the hair, and that damage is cumulative. Hair touch ups after the initial treatment may be needed, but these hair touch ups would also damage hair more, and so they may have to be avoided.
It would be desirable to develop a method for permanently coloring hair that minimizes the damage caused to hair by the coloring process. The present invention provides such a method.
Conventional hair coloring products cannot be used safely in the shower. It is an object of this invention to develop a method for permanently coloring hair, which can be carried out safely in the shower, for example. It is also an object of the invention to provide a method for permanently coloring hair wherein the user has control of the amount of durable color deposited without hair damage. It is also an object of the invention to provide a method for permanently coloring hair wherein the user can employ the hair coloring product as her daily or frequent hair care product to avoid new out growth of uncolored hair. It is also an object of the invention to provide a method for permanently coloring hair wherein said method involves less mess and difficulty than conventional permanent hair coloring methods. It is also an object of the invention to provide a method for permanently coloring hair wherein said method brings about gradual color changes with each application. Since gradual color changes are to occur, such a method would be virtually mistake free because the consumer could stop or alter the coloring method if she did not like the course the hair coloring was taking. It is also an object of the invention to provide a method for permanently coloring hair wherein the amount of hair coloring composition employed can be varied from application to application in order to adjust the hair coloring results.
These and other aspects of this invention will become evident by a detailed description of the invention given below.
Patents and patent applications related to the field of this invention are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,021 which discloses a process in which human hair is dyed in successive treatments at selected intervals with oxidation colors (aromatic primary amines and amino phenols) admixed in each treatment with an oxidizing agent (H2O2 or a derivative thereof)xe2x80x94the quantity of oxidation colorant applied in each treatment being substantially the same and the quantity of oxidizing agent being increased from the first to the last treatment to effect a gradual increase in depth of shadexe2x80x94the mixture being allowed to remain on the hair for substantially the same time in each treatment, followed by removal by rinsing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,404 discloses an autoxidizable hair dye preparation capable of coloring or darkening hair when applied thereto and exposed to the atmosphere comprising a mixture of (I) at least one p-phenylene diamine compound, or An acid addition salt thereof, and (II) at least one 1,2,4-benzenetriol compound, each compound optionally containing nuclearly substituted C1-4 alkyl, alkoxy, hydroxyalkyl or halogen. The preparation is preferably applied and exposed to the atmosphere repeatedly until the desired degree of darkening or color build-up is attained.
The preparations of this invention may also contain known additives or assistants such as hair grooming agents, for example quaternized vinyl pyrrolidone copolymers, carboxyvinyl polymers and the like, plasticizers, thickeners, slip and wetting agents such as polyoxyethylenated fatty (e.g. lauryl) alcohols, stearyldimethylammonium chloride, silicone copolymer, foam boosters, preservatives, perfumes and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,486 describes a shampoo composition for lightening and highlighting hair which comprises
(i) a peroxygen compound; and
(ii) an anionic sulfonate;
said composition having a pH less than 5. There is also described an invention directed to a method for lightening and highlighting hair which comprises shampooing the hair with a lightening and highlighting effective amount of a composition of the invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,274,126 discloses a hair conditioning composition for conditioning, lightening, and highlighting hair, which comprises
i) peroxygen compound, and
ii) a conditioning agent,
said composition having a pH of 5 or less.
U.S. Patent Application 2003/0051297 A1 discloses a method for permanently dyeing hair which comprises subjecting said hair to a number of treatments, having a set time interval between each two consecutive such treatments, wherein each treatment comprises steps a.) and b.) below:
a.) contacting said hair, for a period of about 5 seconds to about 5 minutes with a recently made mixture of:
i.) an alkaline composition comprising a dye intermediate in a shampoo base or in a conditioner base; and
ii.) an acidic composition comprising an oxidating compound in a shampoo base or in a conditioner base;
b.) rinsing said mixture from said hair with water;
with the proviso that when a conditioner base is present in a.) i.) above, an independently selected conditioner base is also present in a.) ii.) above; and when a shampoo base is present in a.) i.) above, an independently selected shampoo base is also present in a.) ii.) above;
and wherein said number of treatments is between about 2 to about 30; and wherein said set time interval between each two consecutive treatments is between about 8 hours and 30 days, is described.
The invention relates to a method for achieving permanent desired hair color change through the daily or frequent use of hair care compositions. The hair care compositions comprise a mixture of part ai and part aii as described just below:
Part ai: dye intermediates in water with gelling agent at alkaline pH;
Part aii: oxidizing compound in water at acidic pH.
Unless otherwise indicated, all percentages used herein are percentages by weight of active material based on the weight of the respective composition.
When used herein % refers to weight % as compared to the total weight percent of the composition that is being discussed. For example, when % is used to discuss the amount of an ingredient that is in part ai, this means weight % as compared to the total weight of part ai. When weight % of the mixture of part ai and part aii is mentioned, this means the weight % as compared to the total weight the mixture of part ai and part aii. When the ratio of part ai to part aii is discussed this means the weight to weight ratio. As used herein the term xe2x80x9crecentlyxe2x80x9d means within a very short interval of time such as within a few seconds or minutes, such as within 0.01 seconds to 120 seconds, or within 0.1 seconds to 60 seconds, or within 0.5 second to within 30 seconds or within 2 seconds to within 20 seconds. As used herein xe2x80x9cnearly simultaneouslyxe2x80x9d means within about 0.001 second to about 5 seconds, more preferably about 0.01 to about 1 second, more preferably about 0.01 to about 0.5 second. As used herein xe2x80x9cphysical proximityxe2x80x9d means within about 0.01 to about 1 cm, more preferably about 0.1 to about 0.5 cm. Compositions of the invention may be made by means which are known in the art or which are analogous to those which are known in the art. Ingredients which are included in compositions of the invention are known in the art or may be made by means which are known in the art.
Part ai can comprise from
a) about 0.1 to about 99.9% of aqueous base with a gelling agent;
b) about 0.1 to about 5% of dye intermediates or oxidation dyestuffs;
c) about 0.1 to about 5% of a coupling compound.
More preferably, part ai can comprise from
a) about 1 to about 99% of an aqueous base with a gelling agent;
b) about 0.1 to about 0.5% of oxidation dyestuffs;
c) about 0.1 to about 1% coupling compound.
Part aii can comprise from:
a) about 1 to about 99% of an aqueous base; and
b) about 1 to about 5% of an oxidizing compound.
Part aii more preferably comprises from:
c) about 2 to about 90% of an aqueous base; and
d) about 2 to about 5% of an oxidizing compound.
Aqueous compositions of the present invention can comprise a mixture of part ai and part aii wherein:
Part ai can comprise:
a) about 0.1% to about 99.9% of an aqueous base with gelling agent;
b) about 0.1% to about 1% of an oxidation dyestuff; and
c) a volatile silicone;
Part aii can comprise:
a) about 1 to about 90% of an aqueous base;
b) about 1 to about 5% of an oxidative compound.
One or both of part ai and part aii may further comprise a thickener which is a high molecular weight fatty alcohol wherein said high molecular weight fatty alcohol is selected from the group consisting of for example cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol.
Part ai and part aii can, for example, be mixed in a ratio of about 1.2:0.8 to about 0.8:1.2 respectively, more preferably at about a 1:1 ratio.
What follows is a description of the ingredients that can be included in the compositions of the present invention.
Hair Dyes and Hair Coloring Agents
The part ai compositions of the present invention include one or more oxidative hair coloring agents or oxidation dyestuffs. These hair coloring agents are present in compositions of the present invention which have an aqueous base. Such oxidative hair-coloring agents are used in combination with the oxidizing systems of the present invention to formulate permanent hair dye compositions.
Permanent hair dye compositions as defined herein are compositions, which once applied to the hair, are substantially resistant to washout.
Oxidative Dyes
The dye forming intermediates, also called dye intermediates or oxidation dyestuffs, used in oxidative dyes can be aromatic diamines, aminophenols and their derivatives. These dye forming intermediates can be classified as; primary and secondary intermediates, couplers and modifiers, and nitro dyes. Primary intermediates are chemical compounds, which by themselves will form a dye upon oxidation. The secondary intermediates, also known as color modifiers or couplers and are used with other intermediates for specific color effects or to stabilize the color. Nitro dyes are unique in that they are direct dyes, which do not require oxidation to dye the hair.
The oxidation dyestuffs or oxidation dye intermediates, which are suitable for, use in the compositions and processes herein include aromatic diamines, polyhydric phenols, aminophenols and derivatives of these aromatic compounds (e.g., N-substituted derivatives of the amines, and ethers of the phenols). Primary oxidation dye intermediates are generally colorless molecules prior to oxidation. The oxidation dye color is generated when the primary intermediate is xe2x80x98activatedxe2x80x99 and subsequently enjoined with a secondary intermediate (coupling agent), which is also generally colorless, to form a colored, conjugated molecule. In general terms, oxidation hair dye precursors or intermediates include those monomeric materials which, on oxidation, form oligomers or polymers having extended conjugated systems of electrons in their molecular structure. Because of the new electronic structure, the resultant oligomers and polymers exhibit a shift in their electronic spectra to the visible range and appear colored. For example, oxidation dye precursors capable of forming colored polymers include materials such as aniline, which has a single functional group and which, on oxidation, forms a series of conjugated imines and quinoid dimers, trimers, etc. ranging in color from green to black. Compounds such as p-phenylenediamine, which has two functional groups, are capable of oxidative polymerization to yield higher molecular weight colored materials having extended conjugated electron systems. Color modifiers (couplers), such as those detailed hereinafter, are preferably used in conjunction with the oxidation dye precursors herein and are thought to interpose themselves in the colored polymers during their formation and to cause shifts in the electronic spectra thereof, thereby resulting in slight color changes. A representative list of oxidation dye precursors suitable for use herein is found in Sagarin, xe2x80x9cCosmetic Science and Technologyxe2x80x9d, Interscience, Special Edition, Volume 2, pages 308 to 310 which is herein incorporated by reference.
It is to be understood that the oxidizing aids of the present invention are suitable for use (in combination with a source of peroxide as detailed herein) with all manner of oxidation dye precursors and color modifiers and that the precursors detailed below are only by way of example and are not intended to limit the compositions and processes herein.
The typical aromatic diamines, polyhydric phenols, aminophenols, and derivatives thereof, described above as primary dye precursors can also have additional substituents on the aromatic ring, e.g. halogen, aldehyde, carboxylic additional substituents on the amino nitrogen and on the phenolic oxygen, e.g. substituted and unsubstituted alkyl and aryl groups.
The hair coloring compositions of the present invention may, in addition to the essential oxidative hair-coloring agents, optionally include non-oxidative and other dye materials. Optional non-oxidative and other dyes suitable for use in the hair coloring compositions and processes according to the present invention include semi-permanent, temporary and other dyes. Non-oxidative dyes as defined herein include the so-called xe2x80x98direct action dyesxe2x80x99, metallic dyes, metal chelate dyes, fiber reactive dyes and other synthetic and natural xe2x80x98Chemical and Physical Behaviour of Human Hairxe2x80x99 3rd Edn. by Clarence Robbins (pp 250-259); xe2x80x98The Chemistry and Manufacture of Cosmeticsxe2x80x99. Volume IV. 2nd Edn. Maison G. De dyes. Various types of non-oxidative dyes are detailed in: xe2x80x98Navarrexe2x80x99 at chapter 45 by G. S. Kass (pp 841-920); xe2x80x98cosmetics: Science and Technologyxe2x80x99 2nd Edn, Vol II Balsam Sagarin, Chapter 23 by F. E. Wall (pp 279-343); xe2x80x98The Science of Hair Carexe2x80x99 edited by C. Zviak, Chapter 7 (pp 235-261) and xe2x80x98Hair Dyesxe2x80x99, J. C. Johnson, Noyes Data Corp., Park Ridge, U.S.A. (1973), (pp 3-91 and 113-139).
Specific hair dyes which may be included in the compositions of the invention include m-aminophenol, p-phenylene diamine, p-toluenediamine; p-phenylenediamine; 2-chloro-p-phenylenediamine; N-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine; N-2-methoxyethyl-p-phenylenediamine; N,N-bis-(hydroxyethyl)-p-phenylenediamine; 2-hydroxymethyl-p-phenylenediamine; 2-hydroxyethyl-p-phenylenediamine; 4,4xe2x80x2-diaminodiphenylamine; 2,6-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine; 2-isopropyl-p-phenylenediamine; N-(2-hydroxypropyl)-p-phenylenediamine; 2-propyl-p-phenylenediamine; 1,3-N,N-bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N,N-bis(4-aminophenyl)-2-propanol; 2-methyl-4-dimethylaminoaniline; p-aminophenol; p-methylaminophenol; 3-methyl-p-aminophenol; 2-hydroxymethyl-p-aminophenol; 2-methyl-p-aminophenol; 2-(2-hydroxyethylaminomethyl)-p-aminophenol; 2-methoxymethyl-p-aminophenol; and 5-aminosalicylic acid; catechol; pyrogallol; o-aminophenol; 2,4-diaminophenol; 2,4,5-trihydroxytoluene; 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene; 2-ethylamino-p-cresol; 2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene; 5-methyl-o-aminophenol; 6-methyl-o-aminophenol; and 2-amino-5-acetaminophenol; 2-methyl-1-naphthol; 1-acetoxy-2-methylnaphthalene; 1,7-dihydroxynaphthalene; resorcinol; 4-chlororesorcinol; 1-naphthol; 1,5-dihydroxynaphthalene; 2,7-dihydroxynaphthalene; 2-methylresorcinol; 1-hydroxy-6-aminonaphthalene-3-sulfonic acid; thymol(2-isopropyl-5-methylphenol); 1,5-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene; 2-chlororesorcinol; 2,3-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone; and 1-naphthol-4-sulfonic acid; m-phenylenediamine; 2-(2,4-diaminophenoxy)ethanol; N,N-bis(hydroxyethyl)-m-phenylenediamine; 2,6-diaminotoluene; N,N-bis(hydroxyethyl)-2,4-diaminophenetole; bis(2,4-diaminophenoxy)-1,3-propane; 1-hydroxyethyl-2,4-diaminobenzene; 2-amino-4 hydroxyethylaminoanisole; aminoethoxy-2,4-diaminobenzene; 2,4-diaminophenoxyacetic acid; 4,6-bis(hydroxyethoxy)-m-phenylenediamine; 2,4-diamino-5-methylphenetole; 2,4-diamino-5-hydroxyethoxytoluene; 2,4-dimethoxy 1,3-diaminobenzene; and 2,6-bis(hydroxyethylamino)toluene; m-aminophenol; 2-hydroxy-4-carbamoylmethylaminotoluene; m-carbamoylmethylaminophenol; 6-hydroxybenzomorpholine; 2-hydroxy-4-aminotoluene; 2-hydroxy-4-hydroxyethylaminotoluene; 4,6-dichloro-m-aminophenol; 2-methyl-m-aminophenol; 2-chloro-6-methyl-m-aminophenol; 2-hydroxyethoxy-5-aminophenol; 2-chloro-5-trifluoroethylaminophenol; 4-chloro-6-methyl-m-aminophenol; N-cyclopentyl-3-aminophenol; N-hydroxyethyl-4-methoxy-2-methyl-m-aminophenol and 5-amino-4-methoxy-2-methylpheno; 2-dimethylamino-5-aminopyridine; 2,4,5,6-tetra-aminopyrimidine; 4,5-diamino-1-methylpyrazole; 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone; 6-methoxy-8-aminoquinoline; 2,6-dihydroxy-4-methylpyridine; 5-hydroxy-1,4-benzodioxane; 3,4-methylenedioxyphenol; 4-hydroxyethylamino-1,2-methylenedioxybenzene; 2,6-dihydroxy-3,4-dimethylpyridine; 5-chloro-2,3-dihydroxypyridine; 3,5-diamino-2,6-dimethoxypyridine; 2-hydroxyethylamino-6-methoxy-3-aminopyridine; 3,4-methylenedioxyaniline; 2,6-bis-hydroxyethoxy-3,5-diaminopyridine; 4-hydroxyindole; 3-amino-5-hydroxy-2,6-dimethoxypyridine; 5,6-dihydroxyindole; 7-hydroxyindole; 5-hydroxyindole; 2-bromo-4,5-methylenedioxyphenol; 6-hydroxyindole; 3-amino-2-methylamino-6-methoxypyridine; 2-amino-3-hydroxypyridine; 2,6-diaminopyridine; 5-(3,5-diamino-2-pyridyloxy)-1,3-dihydroxypentane; 3-(3,5-diamino-2-pyridyloxy)-2-hydroxypropanol and 4-hydroxy-2,5,6-triaminopyrimidine, or combinations thereof.
Buffering Agents
The final coloring compositions of the present invention (that is after part ai and part aii have been mixed) have a preferred pH in the range of from about 7 to about 12, more preferably from about 8 to about 10.
Buffering agents may be present in part ai and part aii compositions of the present invention. Coloring compositions of the present invention may contain one or more hair swelling agents (HSAs) such as urea, to adjust the pH to the desired level. Several different pH modifiers can be used to adjust the pH of the final composition or any constituent part thereof.
Further examples of suitable buffering agents are ammonium hydroxide, urea, ethylamine, dipropylamine, triethylamine and alkanediamines such as 1,3-diaminopropane, anhydrous alkaline alkanolamines such as, mono or di-ethanolamine, preferably those which are completely substituted on the amine group such as dimethylaminoethanol, polyalkylene polyamines such as diethylenetriamine or a heterocyclic amine such as morpholine as well as the hydroxides of alkali metals, such as sodium and potassium hydroxide, hydroxides of alkali earth metals, such as magnesium and calcium hydroxide, basic amino acids such as L-alginine, lysine, oxylysine and histidine and alkanolamines such as dimethylaminoethanol and aminoalkylpropanediol and mixtures thereof. Also suitable for use herein are compounds that form HCO3xe2x80x94by dissociation in water (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x98ion forming compoundsxe2x80x99). Examples of suitable ion forming compounds are Na2CO3, NaHCO3, K2CO3, (NH4)2CO3, NH4HCO3, CaCO3 and Ca(HCO3)2 and mixtures thereof.
As herein before described certain alkaline buffering agents such as ammonium hydroxide and monoethylamine (MEA), urea and the like can also act as hair swelling agents (HSA""s).
Preferred for use as a buffering agent for the coloring compositions according to the present invention is ammonium hydroxide and/or sodium hydroxide.
In oxidizing and coloring kits comprising a portion of peroxide oxidizing agent, which may be present in either solid or liquid form, such as hydrogen peroxide, a buffering agent solution is required to stabilize hydrogen peroxide. Since hydrogen peroxide is stable in the pH range from 2 to 4, it is necessary to use a buffering agent having a pH within this range. Dilute acids are suitable hydrogen peroxide buffering agents. Phosphoric acid is a preferred agent for buffering hydrogen peroxide solutions.
This pH adjustment can be effected by using well known acidifying agents in the field of treating keratinous fibers, and in particular human hair, such as inorganic and organic acids such as hydrochloric acid, tartaric acid, citric acid, and carboxylic or sulphonic acids such as ascorbic acid, acetic acid, lactic acid, sulphuric acid, formic acid, ammonium sulphate and sodium dihydrogenphosphate/phosphoric acid, disodium hydrogen phosphate/phosphoric acid, potassium chloride/hydrochloric acid, potassium dihydrogen phthalate/hydrochloric acid, sodium citrate/hydrochloric acid, potassium dihydrogen citrate/hydrochloric acid, potassium dihydrogencitrate/citric acid, sodium citrate/citric acid, sodium tartarate/tartaric acid, sodium lactate/lactic acid, sodium acetate/acetic acid, disodium hydrogenphosphate/citric acid and sodium chloride/glycine/hydrochloric acid and mixtures thereof.
Solvents
Water is the preferred principal diluent or solvent for the compositions according to the present invention. As such, the compositions according to the present invention may include one or more solvents as additional diluent materials. Generally, the solvent is selected to be miscible with water and innocuous to the skin. Solvents suitable for use herein include C1-C20 mono- or polyhydric alcohols and their ethers, glycerine, with monohydric and dihydric alcohols and their ethers preferred. In these compounds, alcoholic residues containing 2 to 10 carbon atoms are preferred. Thus, a particularly preferred group includes ethanol, isopropanol, n-propanol, butanol, propylene glycol, ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, and mixtures thereof.
These solvents may be present in part ai and part aii of the invention.
Thickeners of Gelling Agents
Thickeners may be included in part ai and part aii of the invention. Long chain fatty alcohols having from about 11 to about 18 carbon atoms in the long fatty chain can be thickener constituents of compositions of this invention. These alcohols can be used alone, or in admixture with each other. When included in the compositions, the alcohol is preferably present at from about 0.5 to about 10 weight percent of the composition, and more preferably at from about 2 to about 5 weight percent.
Lauryl alcohol, oleyl alcohol, myristyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, and the like, and mixtures thereof are contemplated herein. In addition, mixtures of natural or synthetic fatty alcohols having fatty chain lengths of from about 11 to about 18 carbons are also useful. Several such mixtures are available commercially, and are exemplified by the material containing a mixture of synthetic alcohols with 12 to 15 carbons in the alkyl chain sold under the trademark NEODOL 25 by Shell Chemical Company, and the material containing a mixture of synthetic alcohols with chain lengths of 12 to 16 carbons sold under the trademark ALFOL 1216 Alcohol by Conoco Chemicals.
Thickening agents suitable for use in the compositions herein may also be selected from oleic acid, cetyl alcohol, oleyl alcohol, sodium chloride, cetearyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, synthetic thickeners such as Carbopol, Aculyn and Acrosyl and mixtures thereof. Preferred thickeners for use herein are Aculyn 22 (RTM), steareth-20 methacrylate copolymer; Aculyn 44 (RTM) polyurethane resin and Acusol 830 (RTM), acrylates copolymer that are available from Rohm and Haas, Philadelphia, Pa., USA. Additional thickening agents suitable for use herein include sodium alginate or gum arabic, or cellulose derivatives, such as methyl cellulose or the sodium salt of carboxymethylcellulose or acrylic polymers.
Fatty alcohols of the above discussed carbon chain lengths which are ethoxylated to contain an average of one or two moles of ethylene oxide per mole of fatty alcohol can be used in place of the fatty alcohols themselves. Examples of such useful ethoxylated fatty acids include ethylene glycol cetyl ether, polyoxyethylene (2) stearyl ether, and the like; the exemplary compounds having CTFA Dictionary names of Ceteth-1 and Steareth-2, respectively.
Volatile Silicones
Volatile silicones may also be employed in the compositions of the invention. The volatile silicone oil is often described as a volatile polyorganosiloxane, and is a liquid material having a measurable vapour pressure at ambient conditions (about 20 to 25xc2x0 C.). Typically the vapour pressure of volatile silicones lies in the range of from 1 or 10 Pa to 2 kPa at 25xc2x0 C. Volatile polyorganosiloxanes can be linear or cyclic or mixtures thereof. Preferred cyclic siloxanes include polydimethylsiloxanes and particularly those containing from 3 to 9 silicon atoms and preferably not more than 7 silicon atoms and most preferably from 4 to 6 silicon atoms, otherwise often referred to as cyclomethicones. Preferred linear siloxanes include polydimethylsiloxanes containing from 3 to 9 silicon atoms. The volatile siloxanes normally by themselves exhibit viscosities of below 1xc3x9710-5 m2/sec (10 centistokes), and particularly above 1xc3x9710-7 m 2/sec (0.1 centistokes), the linear siloxanes normally exhibiting a viscosity of below 5xc3x9710-6 m2/sec (5 centistokes). The volatile silicones can also comprise branched linear or cyclic siloxanes such as the aforementioned linear or cyclic siloxanes substituted by one or more pendant xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94Si(CH3)3 groups. Examples of commercially available silicone oils include oils having grade designations 344, 345 244, 245 and 246, (from Dow Corning Corporation) Silicone 7207 and Silicone 7158 (from Union Carbide Corporation) and SF1202 (from General Electric [US]).
The non-volatile oil can comprise non-volatile silicone oils, which include polyalkyl siloxanes, polyalkylaryl siloxanes and polyethersiloxane copolymers. These can suitably be selected from dimethicone and dimethicone copolyols. Commercially available non-volatile silicone oils include Dow Corning 556 and Dow Corning 200 series having a viscosity of at least 50 centistokes.
Non-Volatile Silcones
Non-volatile silicones may be included in compositions of the invention. Nonvolatile silicone oils include polyalkyl siloxanes, polyalkylaryl siloxanes and polyether siloxane copolymers. The essentially non-volatile polyalkyl siloxanes useful herein include, for example, polydimethyl siloxanes with viscosities of from about 5 to about 25 million centistokes at 25xc2x0 C. Among the preferred non-volatile silicones useful in the present compositions are the polydimethyl siloxanes having viscosities from about 10 to about 400 centistokes at 25xc2x0 C.
Optional Ingredients
The compositions of the present invention can comprise a wide range of optional ingredients. The ingredients can fall into the following functional classes: anticaking agents, antioxidants, binders, biological additives, bulking agents, chelating agents, chemical additives, colorants, cosmetic astringents, cosmetic biocides, denaturants, drug astringents, emulsifiers, film formers, fragrance components, humectants, opacifying agents, plasticizers, preservatives, propellants, reducing agents, solvents, foam boosters, hydrotropes, solubilizing agents, suspending agents (nonsurfactant), sunscreen agents, ultraviolet light absorbers, and viscosity increasing agents (aqueous and nonaqueous). Examples of other functional classes of materials useful herein that are well known to one of ordinary skill in the art include solubilizing agents, sequestrants, and the like.
Other optional ingredients include organic acids. A non-exclusive list of examples of organic acids which can be used as the proton donating agent are adipic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid, maleic acid, malic acid, succinic acid, glycolic acid, glutaric acid, benzoic acid, malonic acid, salicylic acid, gluconic acid, polyacrylic acid, their salts, and mixtures thereof. Non-exclusive lists of examples of mineral acid for use herein are hydrochloric, phosphoric, sulfuric and mixtures thereof.
It has been found by experimentation that hair care products used on a daily or frequent basis can achieve durable desired hair color. As noted above, the daily hair care product consists of two parts.
Part ai: dye intermediates in water with a gelling agent at alkaline pH
Part aii: an oxidizing compound such as hydrogen peroxide in water at acidic pH.
Part ai is mixed with part aii and applied to hair. The reason conventional hair coloring products come in two packages is because the mixture of the coloring component and the oxidizing component is unstable and the two components must be kept apart until just before use. Similarly part ai and part aii of the present invention must be kept apart until just before use. By varying the concentration of the actives and the treatment time, the amount of color on hair could be varied while minimizing hair damage. To make the product more convenient and fool proof, part ai and aii can be packaged in dual dispensing systems where both parts are mixed out side of the package when dispensed which is then applied to the wet hair as a hair colorant. Depending upon the amount of color desired, the treatment time could be varied from one or two minutes or longer.
Such treatments would add color to hair gradually without damage due to lower contact time. Each subsequent treatment would add color until the desired shade is obtained. Depending upon the concentration of the actives and contact time, a desired shade may be reached in about six to eight treatments. It has been found that since any one treatment does not exceed the threshold of irreversible damage, the total damage resulting from multiple treatments is lower than the damage from a single conventional treatment. Such a process gives the user control over the amount of color deposited on her hair, and also the option to discontinue further applications if the color delivered is not to her liking. She also has the option to switch to another color shade immediately without having to wait the six to eight weeks that is recommended for conventional treatments. With conventional hair color treatment, it is not recommended to perm and color hair simultaneously due to extensive damage. However, since the method of the invention colors the hair with minimum damage, perming can be done in the same time frame with this progressive coloring treatment.

Gradual permanent coloring of hair using dye intermediates dissolved in alkaline water with a gelling agent

Abstract: part ai: dye intermediates in water with a gelling agent at alkaline pH part aii an oxidizing compound such as hydrogen peroxide in water at acidic pH;

Abstract: and wherein said number of treatments is between about 2 to about 30; and wherein said set time interval between each two consecutive treatments is between about 8 hours and 30 days.

Unilever Home and Personal Care USA division of Conopco, Inc.


In various embodiments, a method of controlling a motor and motor control system may be provided. The method may include applying exciting pulse-width-modification (PWM) or continuous sinusoidal voltages to a motor. The method may further include measuring one or more the applied exciting voltages to the motor. The method may further include measuring one or more currents from the motor. The method may also include calculating one or more back electromotive force (BEMF) voltages based on the one or more currents. The method may include adjusting the exciting voltages based on the one or more back electromotive force (BEMF) voltages and the phase angle difference between the calculated back EMF voltages and the measured currents. The motor control system may include the various detecting circuits of the exciting voltages and the motor currents from the motor with low pass filters.

Constant speed control of a spindle motor is always pursued by industry. A typical application of such a speed control is hard disk drive (HDD) spindle motors. Now HDD spindle motors employ a zero-current-window (ZCW) method to detect the transient moments of zero-crossing points (ZCP) of each phase back electromotive force (BEMF) voltage. The rotor position is detected and speed can be calculated to realize a close-loop control with a speed jitter around ±0.1˜0.2%.

Motor control system and method of controlling a motor


A device for taking ultra-high frequency hydrometric measurements by generating sine wave trains of incident wave(s) at frequencies assuming several values in arithmetic progression between a few MHz and a few GHz, and has at least one ultra-high frequency cable. The cable includes at least two measuring stations (4) spaced along the cable a predetermined distance apart, each measuring station (4) having a measuring cell (14) and a separator device capable of only sampling a portion of the incident wave(s) with sufficient energy for each measuring cell to send back an echo measurable by electronic read-out device so that the sampling of the incident wave(s) by each measuring station occurs essentially simultaneously. Each measuring cell (14) consists of an ultra-high frequency line portion with its distal end terminated by a short circuit and with the line portion having a circumferential external wall which is either porous or provided with ports.

The term "ultra-high frequency cable" is herein defined as a cable for which the dimensions of the conductors and the dimensions and characteristics of the dielectric between these conductors are adequate so that this cable has a characteristic impedance of constant value in a wide frequency range extending from a few MHz to several GHz. Its structure may be coaxial, shielded bifilar or unshielded bifilar. Such a cable is used for producing the transmission line of the measuring device according to the present invention.
Here, hydrometry refers to the measurement of the humidity content of a solid substance. If the simplest method for measuring this content, consists of picking up a sample of the material, of drying it and measuring its loss of mass, it is not always feasible as it is not always possible or desirable to proceed with such samplings.
To avoid this drawback, a method has been developed for several years, consisting of sending electromagnetic waves into the test material, based on the large dependence of permittivity on humidity content of the material for high frequencies, as permittivity of water is much larger than that of bodies such as clay which it may impregnate. The scientific foundations of the method have been described in several publications, on which we shall not elaborate in detail.
Among these methods, those based on the measurement of permittivity in the high frequency domain, approaching from lower frequency values, the relaxation frequency of water, i.e., 30 GHz at room temperature, may be considered as being close to the invention. They consist of sending a ultra-high frequency signal into a coaxial line, the dielectric of which (for example air) is replaced at the transducer by a material sample (for example clay) in hydric equilibrium with material, the water content of which is intended to be measured. The results are generally provided by comparison with tables of theoretical and/or experimental results.
However a problem occurs in that it is not easy to devise in concrete terms a layout which allows the power conveyed by the incident signal to be distributed among several sensors so that each of the latter sends back a sufficient signal to be analyzed, without picking up an excessive portion of the total signal, and to our knowledge, none of the prior art achievements manages to do this. Indeed, electromagnetic properties of the material to be measured lead to reflection of the quasi-totality of the incident wave, which precludes any mounting of several transducer cells in series. Further, even if one manages to distribute the excitation energy among different transducers, it is very difficult to limit interferences between these potential transducers. This limitation is very disadvantageous, because many applications require that several simultaneous measurements be conducted in different places of a site without having to multiply the equipment used.
In the present state of the art, digitization of signals which have traveled through the ultra-high frequency cable, cannot be directly performed for frequencies ranging up to several GHz. A frequency changing step should then be performed beforehand by techniques known to one skilled in the art (multiplication of one frequency F1 by a frequency F2 and then selection of the frequency band F1-F2).
The electronic means capable of generating sine wave trains at frequencies assuming several values in an arithmetic progression between a few MHz and a few GHz, should be as stable as possible. Preferably they consist of a quartz-stabilized frequency synthesizer. They may optionally consist of a wobbulator which we shall reconsider later.
The measurement signal is applied to vector voltmeters capable of performing the change in frequency, filtering, digitizing, digital filtering, and determining the real and imaginary components of permittivity. A digital processing operation known to one skilled in the art may be added as a complement, notably for correlation with tables of pre-recorded measurements.
A simplified means for achieving excitation and read-out of the signals consists of using a network analyzer, as this will be seen in our detailed description of the operation. Such an apparatus, well known to one skilled in the art, further includes a vector voltmeter VR forming a channel for measuring a reference voltage at the output of the electronic means generating the excitation signal. With such a measurement, it is possible to standardize the signals, i.e., get rid of constant parameters which notably depend on the ultra-high frequency cable and interconnection devices. Finally, a network analyzer has digital computation possibilities.
The separator device capable of sampling from the incident wave only a portion with sufficient energy, is normally designed so as to pick up just sufficient energy so that the measuring cell sends back an echo which may be measured by the electronic read-out means, i.e., a few μW in the present state of the art of measuring apparatuses, on which comments will be made subsequently. More generally, separator devices should be designed so that the proportion of energy which they direct towards the measuring cell is at least equal to the minimum amount of energy which this cell requires.
In reality, each measuring cell does not pick up a constant amount of energy but a constant proportion. And the functional constraint to be observed is to make sure that the cell the most away from the source receives at least the minimum amount of energy ensuring measurement performances. As the ultra-high frequency wave travels through the different measuring cells, its energy decreases and the proportion of this energy picked up by each separator must be changed if an optimized hydrometric measurement system is desired which only picks up the required minimum from this wave.
Now, functionally, if the measuring device comprises many cells, it is obvious that the first cell will only pick up a very small percentage of the incident energy, while the last one may pick up the major portion of it. As the dimensional characteristics of a cell determine the energy percentage which it will pick up, an optimized hydrometric measurement line should include cells which are all slightly different.
Nevertheless, the making of the distributed hydrometric sensor may be simplified by choosing in a suboptimal way to make separator devices which pick up from the ultra-high frequency wave, an amount of energy larger than that which they are normally designed for. A restricted number of dimensional alternatives of the separator devices used or even separator devices which are all identical at each measuring station, may thereby be obtained, which lowers the cost of the whole of the distributed hydrometric sensor.
The making of this separator device may resort to all the known means in the field of ultra-high frequencies, notably to power separators with two very dissymmetrical outputs. In this case, it is sufficient to connect to the lower power output, a simple measuring cell operating as a dead end.
In the other cases, which correspond to the preferential embodiment, this separator which performs the dissymmetric sampling of energy of the ultra-high frequency wave is made by simply juxtaposing dielectric media with different characteristics, and notably of the same nature but with different sections, this for a constant characteristic impedance.
Let us explicit this in the case when the cable is coaxial. Let us call di and de the inner and outer diameters of the dielectric of the ultra-high frequency cable. Diameter di is also the diameter of the core of the cable, and diameter de is also the inner diameter of the peripheral shielding conductor. Let us call d′i and d′e the corresponding diameters of the shrinked cable, and d″i and d″e the corresponding diameters for the measuring cell placed around the shrinked cable. The necessary operating conditions may then be expressed simply by:d′i<di di<d′e<de d″i<de d″e≧de
Further, the proportion of energy entering the measuring cell will depend on the proportion of dielectric surface of the cell (or if there is a dielectric washer which precedes it, on this dielectric washer) facing the crown-shaped section of the dielectric of the ultra-high frequency power cable, i.e., as a function of the ratio:(π/4)(de2−di2)(π/4)(de2−d″i2)
Analogously, the proportion of energy entering the shrinked portion of the ultra-high frequency cable is a function of the ratio:(π/4)(de2−di2)(π/4)(d′e2−di2)
Moreover, in order to retain the same characteristic impedance, preferentially set to 50 Ohms, the ratio between diameters di and de of the ultra-high frequency cable is the same as the ratio between diameters d′i and d′e of the shrinked cable from the moment that the dielectrics have the same permittivity index.
In the case when the ultra-high frequency cable is bifilar and shielded, transposition is immediate, provided that the outer diameter of the insulator d′e of the shrinked cable is wider than the distance separating the most remote points of both conductors in a transverse cross-section of the main ultra-high frequency cable, this distance may then play the same role as di, although the calculations of the facing sections then have to be corrected accordingly.
In the case when the ultra-high frequency cable is bifilar and unshielded, transposition is immediate, relatively to the previous case. On the other hand, the metal surfaces delimiting the measuring cell remain perfectly connected to each other all around the axis of the cable, but are not electrically connected to anything else.

Sensor and assembly for hydrometric measurements


A lighting module includes a case having a main base, a first and a second extension parts extending from both sides of the main base in perpendicular direction to the surface of the main base, and a first and a second auxiliary bases extending from the first and the second extension parts respectively toward the center of the main base, a substrate seated in a cavity formed by structurally connecting the main base, the first and the second extension parts and the first and the second auxiliary bases, a plurality of light emitting devices disposed on one side of the substrate in the longitudinal direction of the substrate, and a driving driver disposed on the other side of the substrate. At least one of the first and the second extension parts has an opening such that the driving driver is inserted into the first and the second extension parts.

1. Field
Embodiment may relate to a lighting module and a lighting apparatus including the same.
2. Background
In general, an electric bulb or a fluorescent lamp is commonly used as an indoor or outdoor lighting lamp. However, the electric bulb or the fluorescent lamp has a short life span, so that it should be frequently changed. Moreover, a conventional fluorescent lamp is degraded due to elapse of time for its use. As a result, it is often that its illuminance is gradually decreased.
In order to overcome such problems, a lighting apparatus is now being developed by using a light emitting device (hereinafter, referred to as LED). The LED is easy to control and has a rapid response speed, high electro-optic conversion efficiency, a long life span, low power consumption and high luminance. The LED is also used to create emotional lighting.
Meanwhile, the shapes of most of lighting apparatus to which the LED is applied are limited in accordance with the structure of the space in which the lighting apparatus is installed. Therefore, it is required that field of use of the lighting apparatus or a kind of a space in which the lighting apparatus is used is increased.

Lighting module and lighting apparatus including the same


The present invention a provides methods for production of heterologous polypeptides using a variety recombinantly engineered secretory cell lines. The common feature of these cell lines is the absence of expression of at least one endogenous polypeptide. The host cell machinery normally used to produce the endogenous polypeptide is then usurped for the purpose of making the heterologous polypeptide. Also described are methods engineering cells for high level expression, methods of large scale protein production, and methods for treatment of disease in vivo using viral delivery systems and recombinant cell lines.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the recombinant expression of proteins from eukaryotic cells. More particularly, the invention relates to the production of recombinant proteins from genetically engineered secretory cells. Methods for use of the cells also are provided.
B. Related Art
Mammalian cells of neuroendocrine origin have been used extensively over the last fifteen years as systems for the study of pathways and mechanisms of polypeptide secretion (Burgess and Kelly, 1987 and Chavez et al., 1994). Examples of cell lines in which such studies have been carried out include the mouse pituitary line AtT-20 (ATCC CCL 89), the rat pituitary growth hormone secreting lines GH3 (ATCC CCL 82.1), the insulin secreting PTC lines derived from transgenic mice expressing SV40 T antigen (Efrat et al., 1988), radiation induced, rat islet cell tumor derived RIN lines (Gazdar, et al., 1980) and the rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cell line PC12 (ATCC CRL 1721). These cell lines maintain many of their endogenous functions, including synthesis of peptide hormones destined for the regulated secretory pathway. These cell lines also are transfectable, allowing expression of novel transgenes for studies of heterologous protein systems.
Three major areas have been studied using these heterologous systems. The first is the study of the sorting mechanism, whereby a given protein, destined for secretion, is targeted to the regulated secretory pathway or the default constitutive secretory pathway. The second relates to understanding the complex process of secretory protein maturation. This would include the specific steps of protein folding, disulfide bond formation, glycosylation, endoproteolytic processing and post-translational modifications of specific amino acids as well as understanding the enzymes involved in these processes. And the third relates to control of the regulated release of peptide hormones from secretory granules following physiological stimuli.
Neuroendocrine cell lines have been generated in which genes encoding specific peptide hormones have been stably inserted. These enzymes include insulin (Moore et al., 1983, Powell et al., 1988 and Gross et al., 1989), somatostatin (Sevarino et al., 1987), thyrotropin-releasing hormone (Sevarino et al., 1989), neuropeptide Y (Dickerson et al., 1987), insulin-like growth factor-I (Schmidt and Moore, 1994), proopiomelanocortin (Thorne et al., 1989), glucagon (Drucker et al., 1986 and Rouille et al., 1994), pancreatic polypeptide (Takeuchi et al., 1991) and growth hormone (Moore and Kelly, 1985). In general, heterologous expression of these proteins has demonstrated faithful sorting to the regulated secretory pathway, as well as maturation of the proteins in the secretory granules. However, the expression levels of the heterologous proteins have generally been low when compared to normal endogenous expression of the same proteins in a homologous system.
Neuroendocrine cell lines expressing the enzymes involved in the processing of peptide hormones in secretory granules also have been generated. These include the endoproteases PC2 and PC3 (Ohagi et al., 1992, Benjannet et al., 1993, and Rouille et al., 1995) and peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) (Milgram et al., 1992 and Yun and Eipper, 1995). Overexpression of these processing enzymes has helped dissect their relative contributions to peptide hormone processing as well as their intracellular sites of action. These studies demonstrate the academic use of neuroendocrine cells in studying the regulated secretory pathway.
A series of papers over the last five years has addressed the possibility of production of heterologous peptide hormones in neuroendocrine cells. Three of these reports (Sambanis et al., 1990 and 1991, Grampp et al., 1992) use previously established AtT-20 lines expressing either insulin (Moore et al., 1983) or growth hormone (Moore and Kelly, 1985). The highest level of secretion of insulin under stimulated conditions was in the range of 35 to 144 microunits/million cells/hour (equivalent to 1 to 5 ng insulin/million cells/hr). Growth hormone secretion under stimulated conditions was 130 to 340 ng/million cells/hour. These levels of production are well below those reported in the literature for growth hormone production from other recombinant systems (Pavlakis and Hamer, 1983 and Heartlein et al., 1994). Another study dealing with protein production from a neuroendocrine cell makes use of an insulinoma line engineered to express prolactin (Cher et al., 1995). Absolute levels of production of prolactin on a per cell basis are not reported. A neuroendocrine cell-based system for either in vitro, biologically active peptide hormone production or for in vivo, cell-based delivery of biologically active peptide hormones has not been achieved in any of these earlier studies.
At least five important features should be addressed in developing a neuroendocrine cell-based system for protein production. The first feature is the absolute level of production of the polypeptide in question. A sufficiently high level of production to make either in vitro purification or in vivo efficacy must be achieved. As stated above, while many groups have reported expression of recombinant proteins in neuroendocrine lines, the proteins are produced at very low levels.
The second feature is the need for quantitative processing of the peptide to their biologically active forms. Neuroendocrine cell lines maintain variable levels of the enzymes responsible for peptide hormone processing and in many lines the enzyme levels may be insufficient to ensure sufficient processing. This is a critical parameter, especially as attempts are made to engineer high level production of specific peptide hormone transgenes.
The third feature is the need to maintain a dynamic response of the regulated secretory pathway. For both in vivo and in vitro use of a neuroendocrine cell-based system, the ability to quickly release high concentrations of the biologically active peptide by extracellular stimuli is important. In vivo modulation of peptide hormone release is required for titrating the biological efficacy of the cell-based delivery. In vitro modulation of peptide hormone release establishes efficient production of highly enriched fractions of starting material for subsequent purification.
The fourth feature is the ability to further engineer other functions into neuroendocrine cells other than just the high-level production of a given polypeptide. This further engineering could involve augmenting the cells capabilities such that any of the three previous points are improved or stabilized (i.e., increased protein levels, increased processing efficiencies or increased dynamic regulated secretory response).
A final engineering maneuver of significance is the ability to reduce or completely ablate the endogenous expression of an unwanted gene product. Reduction or ablation may result in an improved capability to produce, process or release the heterologous polypeptide. Such maneuvers also may confer advantages by removing unwanted or contaminating biological properties of the endogenous peptide hormone. Endogenous peptide production also might counteract the biological activities of the exogenous peptide hormone being produced, resulting in unwanted immunological reactions, reducing the capacity of the engineered lines to quantitatively produce the exogenously engineered protein or complicating purification of the exogenously produced protein. Because all of the existing neuroendocrine cell lines produce endogenous secreted proteins, these concerns are significant.
Thus, despite the benefits of developing a secretory cell line in which the protein synthetic machinery has been commandeered for the production of a heterologous polypeptide, there appear to be significant technical obstacles that are not addressed by the art. As a result, there currently exist no engineered cells that address all of these problems.

Recombinant expression of proteins from secretory cell lines

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


Systems and methods are provided for implementing methods for resolution-adaptive video coding in a motion prediction coding format by obtaining a current frame of a bitstream, obtaining one or more reference pictures from a reference frame buffer, up-sampling or down-sampling the obtained one or more reference pictures that have resolutions different from a resolution of the current frame, and generating a reconstructed frame from the current frame based on the one or more reference pictures and a selected motion candidate of the current frame, thereby achieving substantial reduction of network transport costs in video coding and delivery without requiring the transport of additional data that would offset or compromise these savings.

In conventional video coding formats, such as the H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Coding) and H.265/HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) standards, video frames in a sequence have their size and resolution recorded at the sequence-level in a header. Thus, in order to change frame resolution, a new video sequence must be generated, starting with an intra-coded frame, which carries significantly larger bandwidth costs to transmit than inter-coded frames. Consequently, although it is desirable to adaptively transmit a down-sampled, low resolution video over a network when network bandwidth becomes low, reduced or throttled, it is difficult to realize bandwidth savings while using conventional video coding formats, because the bandwidth costs of adaptively down-sampling offset the bandwidth gains.
Research has been conducted into supporting resolution changing while transmitting inter-coded frames. In the implementation of the AV1 codec, developed by AOM, a new frame type called a switch_frame is provided, which may be transmitted having different resolution than that of previous frames. However, a switch_frame is restricted in its usage, as motion vector coding of a switch_frame cannot reference motion vectors of previous frames. Such references conventionally provide another way to reduce bandwidth costs, so the use of switch_frames still sustains greater bandwidth consumption which offsets bandwidth gains.
In the development of the next-generation video codec specification, VVC/H.266, several new motion prediction coding tools are provided to further support motion vector coding which references previous frames. New techniques are required in order to implement resolution change in a bitstream with regard to these new coding tools.


A storage container is carried into a nuclear-reactor containment, and then, the core structure is housed in the storage container. In this process, a bottom cover is carried to a storage-container body by using a moving device. The storage-container body and the bottom cover are positioned by adjusting the position of the bottom cover on the moving device while the bottom cover is supported by free bearings. The bottom cover is then attached to the storage-container body.

Generally, a core structure is stored in a storage container and then the storage container is carried into a nuclear-reactor storing housing. A typical storage container includes a storage-container upper cover, a storage-container body, and a storage-container bottom cover. Conventional core-structure storing methods are disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2.
The conventional core-structure storing method disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a step of craning down a storage-container upper cover above a core structure, which is inserted into a nuclear-reactor vessel in a cavity, while water in the cavity is discharged; a step of attaching the storage-container upper cover to the core structure; a step of craning down the storage-container body so that the bottom of the storage-container body is closely in contact with the top surface of the nuclear-reactor vessel; a step of craning up the core structure with the storage-container upper cover so that the core structure with the storage-container upper cover is positioned inside the storage-container body; a step of attaching the storage-container upper cover to the storage-container body; a step of craning up the storage-container body to be positioned at a certain level; a step of positioning a storage-container bottom cover under the storage-container body; and a step of attaching the storage-container bottom cover to the storage-container body by craning up the storage-container bottom cover.
In the above conventional core-structure storing method, a moving device is set in the cavity and the storage-container bottom cover is placed on the moving device. The moving device is moved such that the storage container is positioned under the storage-container body.
Because the core structure, which is stored in the storage container is highly radioactive, there is a demand for means and measures capable of further reducing irradiation on an operator.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-69354
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-215294


An apparatus including at least one of a stainer module and a coverslipper module; an imaging module; a storage module; an automated transport module for transporting at least one slide between at least one of the stainer module and the coverslipper module, the imaging module and the storage module; and a controller. A method including processing at least one slide; determining whether an imaging module is available for imaging of a biological specimen on the at least one slide; transporting the at least one slide to the imaging module using an automated transport module; and transporting the at least one slide to a storage module using the automated transport module when it is determined that the imaging module is not available. A system including a processing module for processing at least one slide including a biological specimen thereon. A machine readable medium.

1. Field
An automated system of processing biological specimens.
2. Background
In various settings, examination of biological specimens is required for diagnostic purposes. Generally speaking, pathologists and other diagnosticians collect and study samples from patients, and utilize microscopic examination, and other devices to assess the samples at cellular levels. Numerous steps typically are involved in pathology and other diagnostic process, including the collection of biological samples such as blood and tissue, processing the samples, preparation of microscope slides, staining, examination, re-testing or re-staining, collecting additional samples, re-examination of the samples, and ultimately the offering of diagnostic findings. Numerous medical or veterinary personnel may be involved in the diagnostic processes, including surgeons, phlebotomists or other operating personnel collecting samples, pathologist, histologists and other personnel processing, transporting and examining the samples and so on. The complexity of the tissue handling procedures from the operating room to the laboratory and back to the diagnosticians or surgeons have become increasingly complex in large medical environments where high volumes of samples need to be handled, processed and examined on a daily basis.
Various steps of the tissue handling procedures have been automated using instruments each of which typically are controlled by a dedicated computer or an on-board computerized controller. In some laboratories, information can be shared between automated instruments and/or a networked laboratory or hospital information system, such as to store patient or tracking data. One example of an automated instrument is an automated tissue processing system in which biological samples are fixed and infiltrated with paraffin in an automated fashion. Exemplary tissue processing systems are the TISSUE-TEK® VIP® and the TISSUE-TEK® XPRESS® processing systems available from Sakura Finetek U.S.A., Inc. of Torrance, Calif.
Another example of automation is an automated microscope slide stainer and coverslipper, which stains microscope slides and applies coverslips to the slides in an automated fashion. Examples of such automated staining and coverslipping systems are TISSUE-TEK® PRISMA® and TISSUE-TEK® FILM® combo system and TISSUE-TEK® PRISMA® and TISSUE-TEK® Glas™ g2 combo system available from Sakura Finetek U.S.A., Inc. of Torrance, Calif.
Despite the assistance of automated instruments, pathologists, other diagnosticians and laboratory personnel typically must be involved in numerous steps during the processing and examination of biological samples. For example, once a sample has been stained, the stained sample on a microscope slide may be physically examined under a microscope. This typically involves transport of the microscope slide to a diagnostician who is located outside the laboratory, or in other cases may involve a diagnostician going to the laboratory to examine the microscope slide. Alternatively, the stained sample on a microscope slide is imaged with a digital camera and the image of the sample is uploaded for examination by a diagnostician.
Following this initial examination step, the diagnostician evaluates whether additional testing is required. Such additional testing might involve collecting further samples from a patient, or further testing of samples already collected. For example, the diagnostician may require that the existing sample be sectioned further and a different staining regimen or other protocol be applied. This can result in iterations of one or more of collection, grossing, processing, infiltration, embedding, sectioning, coverslipping, staining, examination etc. In addition, different coverslipped slides may require different drying times. Accordingly, some slides may be ready for examination while others are not. All of this can result in time delays, as well as tissue impairment. Following the iterations of additional tests and procedures, the pathologist repeats the examination process, and may then request still further tests in an iterative fashion until an ultimate finding is reached. Even with automated instruments in these processes, there are numerous transport, and human interventions required.

Automated system and method of processing biological specimens


A power amplifier can amplify an input radio frequency signal to produce an output radio frequency signal in response to a bias control signal. A programmable digital control unit produces the bias control signal and to transmit the bias control signal to the power amplifier.

The present invention relates to radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers (PA) module. Portable devices such as laptop personal computers (PC), Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and cellular phones with wireless communication capability are being developed in ever decreasing size for convenience of use. Correspondingly, the electrical components thereof must also decrease in size while still providing effective radio transmission performance. However, the substantially high transmission power associated with RF communication increases the difficulty of miniaturization of the transmission components.
One important requirement for the state-of-the-art wireless devices is to provide power amplification in a plurality of frequency bands and a plurality of communication standards with different digital modulation method. The quality and power level of the amplified RF signals need to be properly controlled. For example, for high data rate wireless applications, the output signals is required to be linear over a wide signal power range in each of the plurality of frequency bands. Preferably the amplification is reduced or increased according to input RF signal, transmittance range and data rate so that power consumption can be optimized.
Furthermore, wireless communication devices are also used receive and transmit signals under different standards, protocols and frequency bands. Various standards and protocols can specify a wide range of wireless applications spanning from mobile devices, information technologies to consumer electronics. Providing users wireless communication capabilities under different standards, protocols and frequency bands has been a challenge to the wireless equipment and in particular RF power amplifiers.

Multi-mode power amplifier module for wireless communication devices


A zone selective interlocking device includes a first port, a second port, an input bus, an output bus and a query signal receiving branch. The first and second port each are switchable between two states, connected to the input bus and connected to the output bus, and the zone selective interlocking device is operable in a first mode. In the first mode, the query signal receiving branch is turned on. Within a preset timeslot, a link fault query signal is permitted to be inputted to the query signal receiving branch through the first port, while a link fault query signal is prevented from being inputted to the query signal receiving branch through the second port. Based on whether a link fault query signal is received within the timeslot, a judgment is made on whether a fault has occurred in a communication link connected to a corresponding port.

In a known power distribution system, current is distributed to different device branches or electrical devices with the aid of switches (circuit breakers) in a switch mechanism, especially low-voltage circuit breakers. These switches are each designed for a given rated current, and cut off the flow of current when a fault (such as a short circuit) occurs. Only those device branches which are affected by the fault or are closest to the fault are cut off. Such an operation is called selective breaking.
Inside each switch are provided a current transformer and a trip unit. The current transformer detects current flowing through the switch device, while the trip unit checks whether this current meets a specified condition (such as a current condition).
When selective breaking is implemented, these switches communicate with each other. When a situation occurs in which the specified current condition is met due to a short circuit, a switch located downstream in the power supply direction notifies a switch lying upstream of itself of this situation by means of a signal (e.g. a locking signal or delay signal). In this case, this upstream switch, which has similarly discovered the short circuit, temporarily refrains from tripping, instead waiting for a given delay time to observe whether the downstream switch trips. If the downstream switch has still not tripped when the delay time expires, then the upstream switch cuts off the current itself. Such a selective breaking solution is generally referred to as Zone Selective Interlocking (or ZSI for short).
Furthermore, in some power distribution systems, the power supply direction may change. For instance, if there are multiple feeder power supplies, the disconnection or connection of one power supply might cause a reversal of the direction of flow of current through one or more switches. This will cause a change in the upstream/downstream relationship amongst some of the switches in the ZSI system, so that the directions in which ZSI signals (locking signals or delay signals) are transmitted must be adjusted appropriately in order to achieve selective breaking.
Siemens has proposed a corresponding solution in which a technically simple communicative connection amongst switches, which is able to adapt to changes in the power supply direction, is realized. For convenience of description, this text refers to this type of zone selective interlocking, in which changes in power supply direction are taken into account, as directional zone selective interlocking (i.e. Directional ZSI, or DZSI for short). However, existing DZSI solutions do not take into account inspection of faults in the DZSI communication links. If a DZSI communication link fails (i.e. develops a fault) and this cannot be discovered promptly, then serious loss may result.
Furthermore, a DZSI system may comprise different types of switches. FIGS. 1 and 2 each show a typical mixed DZSI system formed by a 3WL ACB DZSI subsystem and an SnG MCCB DZSI subsystem. 3WL ACB and SnG MCCB are two typical switch types from Siemens, wherein the 3WL ACB is a frame-type circuit breaker, while the SnG MCCB is a low-voltage molded-case circuit breaker. The ZSI devices of SnG MCCBs currently on the market all lack directional selection functionality, generating and transmitting ZSI signals in accordance with old protocols and port definitions, so such a mixed DZSI system has higher requirements in terms of compatibility of inter-switch communication. A major difficulty currently faced is how to enable the ZSI device of an SnG MCCB to transmit DZSI signals (ZSI signals transmitted in a DZSI system may be referred to as DZSI signals) reliably and in an orderly way, and how to realize automatic inspection of DZSI communication link faults between switches of different types.


A digital content display system and a method for providing information during a channel zapping delay are provided. The information providing method includes receiving information to be displayed during a channel zapping delay; displaying the information during the channel zapping delay, when performing a channel switching operation to a new channel; and outputting content corresponding to the new channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to content display systems, and more particularly, to a system and method that provides information to a user during a channel zapping delay, when channel is changed in a digital broadcast.
2. Description of the Related Art
Switching channels by a receiver in a digital broadcasting system is performed by searching for a Program IDentification number (PID) of a switched to channel. However, searching for a PID causes a delay in receiving content from the switched to channel. Further, this delay increases while received data is converted to reproducible video/audio signals. Additionally, these processes are performed each time a user switches channels in a digital broadcasting system.
Consequently, channel switching is slower in digital broadcasting system than in an analog broadcasting system. It is common for a conventional digital content display device to have a delay time of approximately 2 seconds before content from the switched to channel is displayed. In digital broadcasting systems, the time required for channel switching is referred to as a "channel zapping delay".
During the channel zapping delay, conventional digital broadcast devices merely show a black screen via a display. Accordingly, viewers who are accustomed to rapid channel switching, as in an analogue broadcasting system, often feel that the zapping delay is too long and dislike the black screen state.
Additionally, a web browser may be installed in a digital broadcast receiving device, which makes it possible for a user to surf web pages mapped to web channels, similar to the switching of TV channels. However, surfing web pages via a web browser also has a zapping delay time.

Digital content display system and method for providing information during a channel zapping delay


The disclosure herein is directed to a computer mouse device, comprising: a) a base comprising a mouse device portion, front mouse pad portion, a left mouse pad portion, a right mouse pad portion, a wrist portion, one more wrist portion mounts, one or more rib mounts, a top surface and a bottom surface; b) an optical computer mouse cage comprising one or more ribs connected to the front mouse pad portion, the left mouse pad portion and/or the right mouse pad portion and traversing to the wrist portion of the base, wherein the ribs have a curved contour for accommodating an optical computer mouse positioned at the mouse pad portion grasped by a user's hand; and c) at least one wrist clamp or wrist strap connected to a left side and a right side of the wrist portion.

Continuous use of a computer mouse while operating a computer can lead to repetitive stress injuries. The position of an arm bent at the elbow at the same angle for multiple hours every day, while operating a table-top mouse, will cause the computer user to experience various degrees of discomfort and fatigue manifested by musculoskeletal stress and strain in the user's hand, wrist, arm, elbow, and shoulder, further leading to repetitive strain injuries of various degrees.
There is an unmet need for a further developed computer mouse that would permit the user to operate the computer mouse with his or her hand, wrist, elbow, shoulder and/or arm in a relaxed and/or extended position respecting the natural position of one's body. In this aspect, it also would be desirable for a user to be able to position his or her hand and arm in any position relative to their body while operating a computer mouse. As such, it would be desirable to operate the computer mouse, whereby the user's arm is in a relaxed and extended position at his or her side and/or at any angle relative to their body.
Therefore, there remains a need for a computer mouse that is more effective at limiting various musculoskeletal injuries, such as repetitive strain injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, shoulder rotator cuff injury, muscle spasm or strain, tendonitis, ligament strains and/or joint dysfunction.


A mirror apparatus includes a body, a mirror member having at opposite sides thereof a reflecting surface and a backside and positioned within the body. A vibrating member generates vibrations and is secured to the backside of the mirror member. A pressing device continually pressing the vibrating member against the backside of the mirror member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mirror apparatus with a means for removing water drops, and in particular to a mirror apparatus in which water drops on a reflecting surface of a mirror member are atomized by a vibrator so as to be removed therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional mirror apparatus of this type is shown, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 59-8548 published without examination on Jan. 17, 1984. In this mirror apparatus used as a side-mirror of a vehicle, a mirror member has secured thereto, at a backside thereof, a vibrating member. Upon actuation of the vibrating member, a high-frequency vibration is transmitted to the mirror member, thereby atomizing water drops on the mirror member. Thus, water drops are removed from the mirror member.
However, in this mirror apparatus, since the mirror member has a much greater mass than the vibrating member, vibration cannot be transmitted effectively from the latter to the former.

Mirror apparatus with vibrator for removing water drops


A graphic display method and apparatus including a plurality of virtual device coordinate systems independent of a coordinate system of a physical screen in which a graphic image to be displayed is independently drawn in a virtual device space of the corresponding virtual device coordinate system so as to map a specified area of each virtual device space onto the virtual screen at a specified position, thereby displaying a specified area of a virtual memory in a physical screen. Furthermore, code data of characters and graphics and image data are written in a logical screen buffer as drawing elements to be located at arbitrary positions of the logical screen such that a unit, specifying an area which is located at an arbitrary position and which has an arbitrary size in the logical screen causes the combining and editing of character, graphic, and image data already written in the specified area of the logical screen and the generating, as a result, of new image data. The new image data is written as a drawing element of the virtual screen in the virtual screen buffer at a specified arbitrary position.

The present invention relates to a display control system in a multiple window system, and in particular, to a graphic display control system suitable for displaying a plurality of independent characters and graphics in a virtual screen when drawing the characters, graphics, and image or picture data and to a picture display control system suitable for combining the characters, graphics, and image data so as to display edited results of the image data.
In the graphic display system, a large virtual screen space greater than a physical screen space is generally established, at least one graphic image is copied onto the virtual screen space, and a portion of the areas in the virtual screen space is specified so as to be displayed on a physical screen space of a display apparatus or the like. In such a case, according to the prior art technology, a logical coordinate space equivalent to the coordinate system associated with the physical screen space is prepared, a graphic image to be displayed is edited and is drawn by use of the logical coordinate space, and a desired area of the logical coordinate space is copied onto the virtual screen space.
Incidentally, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 59-154538 includes a description concerning the graphic display technology of this kind.
Furthermore, in the conventional display control apparatuses, for example, operating in the multiple window system, when combining characters, graphics, and picture or image data to generate a new image data, code data associated with the characters and graphics are once converted into dot images, which are then developed together with the image data into a full dot memory; thereafter, the data is sequentially transferred from the full dot memory to the display equipment.
For example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 61-39158 includes a description associated with the apparatus of this kinds.
According to the first example of the prior art technology above, since there-is provided only one logical coordinate space equivalent to the physical screen space for an application program to edit and to draw a graphic image, in a case where a plurality of graphic images are to be displayed, if it is desired to change a location or the like of a graphic image thereof, the positional relationships with respect to the other graphic images are required to be considered; furthermore, positions of other graphic images may also be required to be shifted in some cases. As a consequence, it is impossible to effect an independent editing of the graphic image in the graphic image unit, which leads to a problem that the load is accordingly burdened on the application program.
Moreover, in the second example of the prior art technology above, since the code data of the characters and graphic images are to be kept together with the image data in a form of a dot image, there arises a problem that an operation to edit the characters and the graphic data again into code data is attended with a difficulty.

Method and apparatus for display control


Polymers obtainable by subjecting at least one monomer, polymerizable by free radicals, to a free-radical emulsion polymerization in the presence of a polymer of the formulae I and/or II ##STR1## in which M, n, R, R.sup.1, R.sup.2, x and y have the meanings mentioned in the description, the use of the polymers obtained for surface-sizing of paper or paper-like materials and also novel polymers of the formulae I and/or II.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to polymers and their use, in particular, for surface-sizing of paper or paper-like materials.
2. Description of Related Art
A whole series of very effective anionic surface-sizing agents for paper which are employed not only as aqueous solutions but also in the form of aqueous emulsions have hitherto already been in use. Most of the hitherto known products have a strongly anionic character and are therefore limited to a certain degree in their range of application. To develop their full sizing effect, they require the presence of Al ions in the crude paper, that is, they can be used primarily for those types of paper which are prepared at acidic pH values. Examples of paper of thes types are alum-containing or presized papers usually containing clay as a filler. However, it is a disavantage that on alum-free and chalk-containing papers they exhibit only little or even in many cases no sizing at all. Since in recent years a trend towards production under neutral conditions, using chalk as filler, has been observed in paper production, it is important nowadays that a paper-sizing agent can be used for all customary types of paper and also shows a uni-formly good sizing effect for all those types. A surface sizing agent for paper which covers all possible production conditions under which paper is produced nowadays, would therefore be of very great interest not only for industry but also in terms of economics.
It would therefore be desirable to prepare a sizing agent which can be used no only in the acidic pH range in the case of alum-containing and presized papers but also in the neutral to weakly alkaline pH range in the case of alum-free and chalk-containing papers. In addition, the use of such a sizing agent should also give good results in the sizing of wood-containing papers.

Polymers of diisobutylene-sulfonate alkane maleic acid derivatives


The disclosure generally describes methods, software, and systems, including a method for publishing messages through a messaging client of a database server. A message to be published to one or more message brokers is received at a server and from a database client. The message is in the form of a SQL statement. The received message is processed at the server. Message broker configurations associated with the received message are determined. The message is published to the one or more message brokers by invoking a messaging client at the server and using at least the message broker configurations.

The present disclosure relates to messaging systems.
Data can originate on devices and through applications. Some of the data is stored in databases, and other data is transmitted as messages. For example, messages can originate from a mobile device, such as through a text message. Other messages can be sent through email systems, applications, and other sources.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A rolling bearing especially adapted for vehicle wheels or the like, has an inner part, an outer ring and, one or more rows of rolling elements rolling between the inner part and the outer ring. The outer ring has a bore with outer races for the rolling elements and a flange projecting radially outward, the flange having a locating face at one end thereof. The locating face contains holes for the attachment of the flange to the mating face of a connecting element by screws. In order to allow the holes of the flange of the outer ring to become distributed along an extremely small reference diameter on the locating face, they extend obliquely radially outward from the locating face at an acute angle with respect to the bearing axis.

A rolling bearing of the type with which the invention is concerned, as disclosed in DE-GM No. 7 434 724, has threaded holes in the flange of its outer ring which extend parallel to the bearing axis. A disadvantage of this rolling bearing is the fact that the threaded holes are located relatively close to the outer race or races of the outer ring so that they may weaken the outer ring considerably when the pitch diameter is greatly reduced in order to provide a compact rolling bearing, for example, for automobile wheels. During the operation of the rolling pulsating contact stress due to rolling is propagated from the rolling elements to the raceway of the outer ring and to the threads of the holes, often causing the threads to tear due to fatigue.


A discharge mechanism has a lid closing roller for closing a lid of a cassette and automatically delivering the cassette to a predetermined position upon rotation thereof, a motor for rotating the lid closing roller, and an electromagnetic clutch for transmitting rotational power from the motor to the lid closing roller and disconnecting the lid closing roller from the rotary actuator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a discharge mechanism for discharging a container having a lid for opening and closing an opening through which a sheet-like member is inserted, from a containing loading unit of a sheet-like member processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a system for recording radiation image information of a subject such as a human body with a stimulable phosphor, and reproducing the recorded radiation image information on a photosensitive medium such as a photographic film, or displaying the recorded radiation image information on a display unit such as a CRT or the like.
The stimulable phosphor is a phosphor which, when exposed to an applied radiation (X-rays, xcex1-rays, xcex3-rays, electron beams, ultraviolet radiation, or the like), stores a part of the energy of the radiation, and, when subsequently exposed to applied stimulating rays such as visible light, emits light in proportion to the stored energy of the radiation. Usually, a sheet provided with a layer of the stimulable phosphor is used as a stimulable phosphor sheet for easy handling.
The above known system employs a cassette-loading radiation image reading apparatus having a cassette loading unit for loading a cassette (container) which houses a stimulable phosphor sheet with radiation image information recorded thereon, an image reading unit for reading the radiation image information carried by the stimulable phosphor sheet which has been removed from the cassette, and an erasing unit for erasing residual radiation image information on the stimulable phosphor sheet.
In the cassette loading unit, when the stimulable phosphor sheet from which the desired radiation image information has been read and the residual radiation image information has been erased is returned into the cassette, the operator manually removes the cassette from the cassette loading unit. As the stimulable phosphor sheet is removed from the cassette loading unit, the lid of the cassette is closed by a lid closing mechanism which is operated upon removal of the cassette from the cassette loading unit.
However, since the removal of the cassette from the cassette loading unit is manually performed by the operator, if the cassette is forcibly pulled out quickly, the stimulable phosphor sheet may possibly be ejected partly or wholly from the cassette before the lid is closed. The stimulable phosphor sheet thus forced out may be damaged and introduced into the cassette-loading radiation image reading apparatus.
It is a major object of the present invention to provide a mechanism for discharging a sheet-like member container while reliably preventing a sheet-like member from being undesirably ejected the container regardless of an action to load or unload the sheet-like member container.
For a discharge mechanism to discharge a container from a container loading unit of a sheet-like member processing apparatus, rotational power from a rotary actuator is transmitted via clutch means to a lid closing roller. The lid closing roller is rotated to automatically deliver the container from the container loading unit to a predetermined position, and close a lid of the container which has opened an opening in the container. Then, the operator manually unloads the container from the container loading unit.
Since the container is delivered to the position where the sheet-like member does not jump out of the container upon rotation of the lid closing roller, the sheet-like member is reliably prevented from jumping out of the container even if the operator forcibly pulls the container quickly from the container loading unit. Therefore, when the operator pulls the container, the sheet-like member is prevented from jumping out of the container and hence being damaged, and is also effectively prevented from entering the sheet-like member processing apparatus.
The lid closing roller and the rotary actuator can be disconnected from each other by the clutch means. Consequently, when the operator manually unloads the container from the container loading unit or manually loads the container into the container loading unit, the rotation of the lid closing roller is not transmitted to the rotary actuator, and hence no excessive load is imposed on the operator.

Mechanical for discharging sheet-like member container