Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving information from a plurality of equipment that is each managed by different entities where the information includes requests for ad insertions, and adjusting the information to generate adjusted information that is compatible with a plurality of multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) advertising infrastructures and compatible with a plurality of dynamic advertising insertion (DAI) processes that are managed by different DAI entities. Access to at least one of the MVPD advertising infrastructures and access to at least one of the DAI processes to facilitate ad insertion can be provided to each of the plurality of equipment, and a change request can be determined that is associated with inventory. Access to a different one of the DAI processes can be provided to a first equipment of the plurality of equipment to facilitate at least some of the ad insertion according to the change request. Other embodiments are disclosed.

As the habits and behavior of content viewers continue to evolve, advertisers seek to reach their audiences in operationally efficient ways. Advertising can be a fragmented and inefficient process depending on the type of media service delivering the content. Advertisers often tailor their message to potential consumers and that message can appear across multiple platforms. Publishers desire to increase or maximize the yield efficiency for their ad inventory.

Method and apparatus for managing advertising insertion requests from multiple sources


The present disclosure relates an integrated chip. The integrated chip includes a polysilicon layer arranged on an upper surface of a base substrate. A dielectric layer is arranged over the polysilicon layer, and an active semiconductor layer is arranged over the dielectric layer. A semiconductor material is arranged vertically on the upper surface of the base substrate and laterally beside the active semiconductor layer.

Integrated circuits have traditionally been formed on bulk semiconductor substrates. A bulk semiconductor substrate is a substrate that comprises a free standing semiconductor material (e.g., silicon). In recent years, semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrates have emerged as an alternative to bulk semiconductor substrates. An SOI substrate comprises a handle substrate, an insulating layer (e.g., a buried oxide) over the handle substrate, and an active semiconductor layer over the insulating layer.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


The invention relates to electrophysiology catheter systems and their use, such as in an MRI environment, and in particular to analysis of electric signals from such. An electrophysiology (EP) catheter with a plurality of electrically isolated electrode segments arranged in longitudinally spaced bands around the catheter is used to detect electric signals. A workstation receives the electrical signals which are then processed by a processing unit. Electric signals from electrode segments can be used to determine roll angle information of the catheter in relation to patient anatomy by determining signals from electrode segments in contact with tissue. Also, electric signals can be used to extract a reference signal that can be used to correct for gradient induced artifacts.

Typical electrophysiology (EP) catheters have limited steering possibilities, and can usually only be bent in one direction transverse to the extent of the distal end of the catheter. Using this bending in combination with twisting or rolling the catheter to adjust a roll angle and thereby the direction of the bending, are the manoeuvres the operator uses to steer the catheter through the patient anatomy. It is therefore of importance for the operator to control the roll angle in relation to the patient anatomy, as this is needed to be able to bend the catheter tip in the right direction.
Steering catheters in patients is sometimes performed under guidance of a medical imaging modality, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but even this does not allow the operator to directly determine the catheter roll angle in relation to patient anatomy. Bending of the tip while monitoring it may give some indication, but this will only be conclusive for roll angles where the bending is transverse to the direction of imaging (i.e. in the image plane).
It is thereby a disadvantage that roll angle information is not directly available to the operator of EP catheters. Hence, an improved catheter system which could provide roll angle information would be advantageous.
Another problem when EP catheters are used in MRI environments is the presence of artefacts on the measured EP signal caused by the MR system. The switched gradient fields induce signal artefacts which contain similar frequencies as the physiological EP signal. Filtering these signals to reduce artefacts based on the gradient signal from the MRI apparatus is troublesome, as extracting and scaling an electrical signal proportional to the induced artefact is not simple. A data connection to the MR scanner has to be established and the retrieved gradient waveform has to be sampled and filtered in the same way as the EP signal. Furthermore, the relation of the gradient waveform to the actual artefact is often ambiguous.
It is thereby a disadvantage that gradient induced artefacts on signal measured by EP catheters in MRI environments cannot be efficiently filtered. Hence, an improved catheter system with improved electric signal filtering capabilities would be advantageous.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,692 discloses an EP catheter with ring electrodes that are segmented into separate electrode segments for the purpose of improving the spatial resolution of the acquired electrophysiology signals.


Needle shaped alloy pigment powders consisting essentially of iron, silicon and aluminum, with up to 1.0% by weight of chromium and one or both of cobalt or tin in amounts from 0.3 to 3% by weight of cobalt and from 0.1 to 5.0% by weight of tin, based in each case on the iron, are useful as the magnetic powders used in magnetic recording devices.

With the development of miniaturization of electronic parts, entertainment electronics and computers, magnetic information stores are increasingly required to have higher storage densities. This can only be achieved by increasing the fineness of sub-division and the coercive force of the magnetic powders used for producing the magnetic recording carriers.
According to Ullmanns Encyklopadie der technischen Chemie, Volume 16, 4th Edition, 1979, pages 361 to 367, needle shaped particles of .gamma.-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, cobalt-modified .gamma.-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4, Co-modified Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4, CrO.sub.2 and iron alloys are used for this purpose and the coercive forces obtainable with iron oxides, cobalt-modified iron oxides and CrO.sub.2 under technically practicable marginal conditions have their upper limit at about 80 kA m.sup.-1. A marked increase in the coercive forces can only be obtained with particles of iron alloys.
Extremely finely divided iron alloys with high coercive forces are used for this purpose; the profile of their requirements may be found in DE-A 3 226 937, FIG. 3.
According to DE-A 2 014 500, these powders may be prepared by isomorphic reduction of suitable starting compounds. This procedure, however, entails considerable difficulties. Thus when goethite is used as starting material, complete destruction of the desired needle shape may occur so that only insufficient coercive forces are obtained. Further, severe sintering is observed due to the fine state of subdivision, and this again results in inadequate products. Another problem lies in the pyrophoricity of the reduced alloy powders, which must be eliminated by additional measures such as surface oxidation of the particles, after-treatment or combinations of these procedures. This step is also necessary for suppressing the damage to the properties of the resulting magnetic recording carriers by corrosion.
Various attempts have been made to solve this problem. In DE-A 2 553 635, for example, the goethite compound used as starting material is covered with tin oxide and titanium oxide and products having an average needle length of from 0.3 to 1 .mu.m are obtained. According to DE-A 2 212 934, the precursor compound is coated with Co ions and/or Ni ions. Lastly, EP-A 056 257 discloses a process in which the precursor compound is treated with silicon dioxide and aluminium oxide.
The best values for coercivity are obtained from precursor compounds doped with nickel but these pigments are not ecologically harmless.
It is an object of the present invention to provide suitable alloy powders which are free from the above described disadvantages.

Needle shaped alloy powders based on iron and their use


A method of manufacturing a liquid ejection head includes the steps of (1) forming a recess in a second surface of a substrate to form a common supply port, (2) forming an etching mask, which specifies opening positions of independent supply ports, on a bottom surface of the common supply port, and (3) performing ion etching using plasma with the etching mask employed as a mask, thereby forming the independent supply ports. The etching mask has an opening pattern formed therein such that respective distances from an ejection energy generation element to openings of two independent supply ports adjacent to the ejection energy generation element on the first surface side of the substrate are equal to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid ejection head for ejecting a liquid.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ink jet recording apparatus, information is recorded on a recording medium by ejecting ink from a plurality of fine nozzles of a recording head in accordance with a recording signal. The ink jet recording apparatus is generally and widely employed because of having advantages such as high-speed recording, high resolution, high image quality, and low noise.
A recording head used in the ink jet recording apparatus is, for example, of the ink jet type recording an image with utilization of thermal energy. In the recording head of the ink jet type, information is recorded by supplying a current to a recording element to heat ink such that the ink is ejected through an ejection orifice under pressure produced upon generation of bubbles. The ink ejected through the ejection orifice is caused to fly in a direction perpendicular to a principal surface of a recording element substrate and to land at a desired position on a recording medium. As a result, the recording with high image quality and high definition is realized.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-201921 describes an ink jet recording head in which pressure chambers for ejecting ink and ink supply ports are adjacently arrayed in a direction in which nozzles are arrayed. FIG. 2 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-201921 is an enlarged view of a nozzle array. A plurality of electrothermal transducers 6 and a plurality of ink supply ports 2A are alternately arrayed in the nozzle array direction. FIG. 3 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-201921 is a sectional view taken along a line III-III in FIG. 2. An ejection orifice 7 is formed in an orifice plate 3 at a position opposed to each of the electrothermal transducers 6. In FIGS. 2 and 3 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-201921, a pressure chamber R is formed between the electrothermal transducer 6 and the orifice plate 3, and the ink supply port 2A is formed adjacent to the pressure chamber. Because the ink supply port having an opening of a larger size than the electrothermal transducer is formed near the pressure chamber, flow resistance can be reduced when the ink is refilled into the pressure chamber. As a result, high-speed printing can be performed by increasing an ink ejection frequency. Furthermore, with the arrangement that the ink supply port having the opening width set described above is arranged adjacent to the pressure chamber in the array direction of the electrothermal transducers (heating resistors), the ink supply port can effectively absorb pressure in the pressure chamber, thus reducing the so-called crosstalk between the adjacent the pressure chambers.
As a method of forming the ink supply port, which has the predetermined size, near the pressure chamber with high accuracy, U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,247 describes a two-step etching process performed on a silicon substrate. According to a method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,247 with reference to FIGS. 5a to 6c, an independent supply port (called "ink feed channel" in the U.S. patent) is first formed from a front surface of the substrate by, e.g., dry etching. Next, a recess is formed by performing wet etching, as first etching, on the silicon substrate, thus forming a liquid chamber (FIG. 5b of U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,247). Next, a slit-shaped pattern is formed in the bottom surface of the recess, and second etching is performed on the bottom surface of the recess along the slit-shaped pattern by silicon dry etching. As a result, the recess is communicated with the independent supply port, which has been formed in advance, whereby the ink jet recording head is completed (FIG. 6b of U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,247). Thus, according to the method of manufacturing an ink jet recording head, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,247, the independent supply port having the same size as a heater size is formed from the front surface of the substrate. A tilting phenomenon (i.e., a deviation in directionality) due to distortion of a plasma sheath does not occur. Moreover, in the event of the distortion of the plasma sheath when the slit-shaped pattern is formed from the rear side of the substrate, ejection characteristics of the ink jet recording head are not affected because it is just requited to establish the communication between the recess and the independent supply port. For that reason, U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,247 describes neither the influence of a plasma molding effect, nor the distortion of the plasma sheath.

Liquid ejection head and method of manufacturing same


A lifesaving device is formed of a plurality of gas charge devices, a plurality of cylindrical bodies each of which has one end connected to one of said gas charge devices corresponding thereto and the other end which is closed, each of said cylindrical body having an outer configuration of generally flat plate in deflated condition, and a cylindrical body holding member for holding said cylindrical bodies in the deflated condition to be folded therein or wound-up thereon, wherein said cylindrical bodies are inflated and deployed simultaneously in response to operation of the respective gas charge devices to the extent that a predetermined buoyancy force is obtained.

This invention relates to a lifesaving device and, more particularly, to a lifesaving device carried by a vessel or the like that can be released and floated on the surface of water in case of distress, allowing crews and passengers to be buoyed up until help arrives.
Vessels for sea or lake cruising are obliged to equip certain legal apparatus under the Ship Safety Law and life appliances are of particular importance among them. The details for the life appliances are defined by the Regulation for the Ship-borne Lifesaving Appliance. More specifically, the type(s) and the number of the appliances that should be equipped on a vessel are fully defined for the individual vessel depending on its type, purpose and capacity as well as where it travels. The life appliances can be classified generally into two groups:
(1) water-borne or floating appliances; and
(2) signal apparatus for rescue.
The floating apparatus defined by law includes lifeboats, life rafts, buoyant apparatus, life buoys and life jackets.
Typical buoyant apparatus used as a lifesaving device comprises a block-like floating buoy. The block-like floating buoy has, as a buoy body, an air-tight box made of metal plates having sufficient corrosion resistance and a life line is passed around the buoy body. The buoyant apparatus is held in a predetermined position of the deck side on a vessel and is launched into water in an emergency. Crews and passengers can float in water while holding the life line and wait for rescue with an assistance of the buoyancy force.
Specifications for the buoyant apparatus defined by the Regulation for the Ship-borne Lifesaving Appliance require that at least eight persons can be buoyed up by a single buoyant apparatus having a predetermined peripheral length and sufficient buoyancy force to buoy the victims positively. The buoyant apparatus just after being launched is ought to be linked to the vessel in distress through a painter. In addition, to equip the life line along the periphery of the buoyant apparatus is also one of the requirements obliged by the Regulation for the Ship-borne Lifesaving Appliance.
The buoyant apparatus is classified into a non-inflatable type and an inflatable type according to the structure of the buoy body. The non-inflatable buoyant apparatus may comprise the above mentioned air-tight block made of metal. Alternatively, it is made essentially of a material lighter than water including woods such as balsa and kapok and a closed cell or (expanded) vinyl sponge. On the contrary, typical inflatable buoyant apparatus is composed of a rubber bag or the like held in deflated condition in an enclosure and inflated in an emergency with injected gas.
The buoyant apparatus used as the lifesaving device should have a predetermined floating capacity to ensure the buoyancy sufficient for the victims, i.e., 14.5 kg for one person. Besides, the outer periphery of the floating buoyant apparatus should exceed a predetermined length to ensure sufficient space for the victims to hold the life line. With this respect, each vessel or ship is obliged to equip the buoyant apparatus having enough capacity to obtain sufficient buoyancy force for the maximum number of persons on board. Accordingly, the non-inflatable buoyant apparatus, if being used, occupies a large portion of the free-space on the narrow deck because it is carried in a predetermined stowed away position at the deck side. This means that the space required for the buoyant apparatus, where otherwise is used effectively for other equipment, significantly restricts a design or a layout of the vessel.
On the contrary, the inflatable buoyant apparatus has no problem regarding to the spacing. However, a bag having relatively large capacity must be inflated to the extent that a predetermined peripheral length can be obtained. The inflatable buoyant apparatus is thus normally stowed away together with a source of pressurized gas for inflating it. This source is relatively large in dimension and has a disadvantage of increasing the total weight of the inflatable buoyant apparatus.


An engine system includes an exhaust gas recirculation conduit having an inlet in fluid communication with an exhaust conduit and an outlet in fluid communication with an intake air conduit. An exhaust gas recirculation performance balancing restrictor has an uninstalled position wherein the exhaust conduit defines a first backpressure at the inlet of the exhaust gas recirculation conduit. The exhaust gas recirculation performance balancing restrictor also has an installed position in which the exhaust gas recirculation performance balancing restrictor is removably disposed within the exhaust conduit downstream from the inlet of the exhaust gas recirculation conduit. In the installed position, the exhaust gas recirculation performance balancing restrictor provides a fixed flow restriction through the exhaust conduit to generate a second backpressure at the inlet of the exhaust gas recirculation conduit that is greater than the first backpressure.

EGR is commonly used in engine systems to help reduce engine gas emissions, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx). NOx is formed at high combustion temperatures and, when combined with hydrocarbons, leads to the production of smog. In an engine system employing EGR, a portion of exhaust gases are recirculated from the exhaust system to the intake system. Since exhaust gases have already combusted, they do not burn again when they are recirculated. As such, the inert exhaust gases displace some of the intake air to effectively slow and cool the combustion process and, thus, reduce NOx formation.
Precise control of recirculation flow may be desired since, for example, too much flow may retard engine performance, while too little flow may result in increased NOx production. Backpressure within the exhaust system, particularly in the vicinity of the EGR conduit, may impact the amount of flow through the EGR system, with a relatively high backpressure resulting in too much flow through the EGR system and a relatively low backpressure resulting in too little flow through the EGR system. Tuning engines to achieve desired recirculation flow may be further complicated by the fact that, due to manufacturing tolerances, even engines of the same model may experience different pressures and, thus, may exhibit varying recirculation flow.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,672 to Roby et al. discloses the use of an EGR valve and a restrictor valve in an engine system. The EGR valve provides a means for controlling the flow of recirculated exhaust gas to be provided to an intake passageway in response to an input from a controller. The restrictor valve is positioned upstream from a turbocharger turbine and restricts the flow of exhaust gas into the turbine. This restriction results in an increase in pressure of the exhaust gas provided to the restrictor valve. The higher pressure exhaust gas is provided to the inlet of the EGR valve, which may be actuable independently of the actuation of the restrictor valve. Although potentially effective, such an arrangement employs the use of electronically controlled valves, which may be costly and complex.
The present disclosure is directed to one or more of the problems set forth above.

EGR performance balancing restrictor for an engine system


The invention relates to finishing a substrate of the semiconductor-on-insulator (SeOI) type comprising an insulator layer buried between two semiconducting material layers. The method successively comprises routing the annular periphery of the substrate so as to obtain a routed substrate, and encapsulating the routed substrate so as to cover the routed side edge of the buried insulator layer by means of a semiconducting material.

Among the different manufacturing methods used, mention may be made of those using steps for bonding and transferring layers. An example of such a method is described hereafter.
According to this method, an embrittlement area is generated within a first so-called "donor" substrate, covered with an insulating layer, for example, by implantation of atomic and/or ionic species. This substrate is then adhered by molecular adhesion to a second so-called "receiver" substrate.
Next, the donor substrate is separated into two portions, along this embrittlement area, for example, by detachment annealing ("exfoliation" or "splitting"), so that an intended thickness of the material of the donor substrate, as well as the insulator layer, are transferred onto the receiver substrate.
Reference may, for example, be made on this subject to the method known under the registered trade mark "UNIBOND®" of the applicant.
The appended FIG. 1 is a graphic illustration of a photograph taken with a scanning electron microscope, which shows a cross-sectional view of the edge of an SOI substrate immediately after its detachment annealing. This SOI substrate comprises a buried insulator layer 2 between a silicon support 1 and a surface silicon layer 3. It is clearly seen that a side edge 20 of the insulator layer 2 (here silicon oxide) is potentially widely exposed to chemical etching.
Now, additional treatments are frequently carried out on such an SOI (or SeOI) substrate notably for improving its surface condition, in particular, for reducing its roughness or for strengthening the adhesive bond between two layers. Such treatments often involve chemical etching, for example, with hydrofluoric acid (HF).
Such a treatment applied to an SOI substrate, as the one illustrated in FIG. 1, results in delamination of the substrate by side etching of the insulator layer 2.
In order to overcome this problem, a method for treating an SOI substrate with Rapid Thermal Annealing (known as "RTA" to a person skilled in the art) is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,939,783, this treatment having the effect of generating a side encapsulation of the edge of the silicon oxide layer 2 with the silicon located above.
The appended FIG. 2 is a graphic illustration of a photograph taken with a scanning electron microscope, which shows a transverse sectional view of the edge of an SOI substrate at the end of such a treatment. As this may be seen, the silicon of the surface layer 3 of the SOI is moved and covers the side edge 20 of the silicon oxide 2 by protecting the latter. This encapsulation portion is referenced as 30.
Now, the applicant carried out tests and unfortunately noticed that the expected protective beneficial effects of the encapsulation were not always obtained since the edge of the transferred silicon layer 3 may have irregularities relative to the ideal case illustrated in FIG. 2.
The applicant discovered that defects, present at the edge of an SeOI or SOI substrate and although being part of an exclusion area within which no electronic component will be produced, may perturb the encapsulation phenomenon.
Among the latter, a first type of defect designated as "flakes" is formed by pieces of the substrate that have appeared during detachment and that have been detached and then again notably adhesively bonded onto the edge of the substrate.
Such flakes 31 are visible in the appended FIG. 3, which schematically illustrates an SOI substrate seen as a transverse cross-sectional view.
A second type of defect called "jagged edge" is formed by extensions of the surface of the upper layer of silicon beyond the usual edge of the transferred surface.
Such defects 32 are visible in the aforementioned FIG. 3 and in the appended FIG. 4, which is a graphic illustration of a photograph of an SOI substrate edge as seen from above taken with a scanning electron microscope.
The applicant thus discovered that the obtained encapsulation, when it is achieved by an RTA treatment, may be perturbed, notably may be too thin at the top of the jagged edges 32. When this encapsulation is carried out by epitaxy treatment, it may also be perturbed, or even completely anarchical at the flakes 31 on which a larger amount of encapsulation material may be formed with, for example, the formation of material excrescences.
The encapsulation may not even be complete, depending on the shape of the irregularities present at the edge of the substrate (plate edge) and, consequently, certain portions of the buried insulator layer 2 may remain accessible to chemical etching, for example, with hydrofluoric acid (HF).
Moreover, certain flakes or jagged edge pieces may be detached from the receiver substrate before the encapsulation and be redeposited on the surface layer 3 of the SeOI substrate, and then be definitively sealed by the encapsulation, thereby generating defects the surface layer 3.
The appended FIG. 5 is an illustration of a photograph taken with a scanning electron microscope of a substrate of the SOI type, on which this poor quality encapsulation may be observed and, notably, the portion of the poorly encapsulated buried insulator that has undergone etching by hydrofluoric acid.

Method for finishing a substrate of the semiconductor-on-insulator type


A document or sentence processing apparatus having an input unit for inputting characters, a display unit for displaying input characters and a processing unit for converting and editing the input characters, in which the processing unit has a candidate word extraction unit which extracts candidates for the words with their characters omitted and/or omitted words themselves by referring to the vocabulary dictionary storing words and their usage frequency, to the dictionary of transition between words defining the information on the transition between words and the probability of the transition between words, and by searching the characters before and after the elliptic character included in the input sentence into the vocabulary dictionary, and a determination unit which selects a single word among the extracted candidate words by referring to the dictionary of transition between words.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for allowing a user to input long words in a sentence in terms of elliptic characters without disturbing the continuity of thought. The apparatus according to the present invention is beneficial for increasing the speed and operability of inputting characters by way of a keyboard. It is also applicable for effecting an increase in the input speed when using handwritten character recognition or speech recognition and contributes to the increase in operability of the equipment.
When inputting sentences using a word processor, it is often experienced that words related to private affairs, such as a job and a hobby and to a person's own name are repeatedly input. Especially in a case where those often-used character strings are long, it is a burden for the user to input repeatedly identical, long character strings.
When using an apparatus which allows the user to input words by handwriting with a pen and tablet, since false recognition of characters input by the user may occur, the user has an increased burden in a case in which he or she inputs those characters and long sentences repeatedly.
There is an apparatus that allows the user to input characters or sentences portions omitted partially in order to reduce the user's burden.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Number 7-191986 (1995) a technology which is disclosed which predicts an intended word and interpolates omitted characters by referring to memories storing syntax coding rules and word usage examples, when the user inputs a sentence including words with omitted characters. On the other hand, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Number 5-28180 (1993) a technology is disclosed which prepares a table storing combinations of adjacent words, such as noun class--verb class and verb class--verbal phrase, and interpolates omitted characters and predicts an intended word by using this table.
As shown in the conventional technologies described above, word-to-word relation information between adjacent words is required to interpolate a sentence including omitted characters. For example, m syntax coding rules and word usage examples are used as this information in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Number 7-191986 (1995), and combinations of adjacent words are used as this information in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Number 5-28180 (1993).
It is, however, necessary to prepare such word-to-word relation information by referring to a vast amount of reference sentences, and it is not easy to prepare this information only by manual work.
The conventional technologies described above assume that a single word or character in a sentence is omitted, and does not mention the case that a sentence with plural words and/or characters omitted is interpolated.

Sentence processing apparatus and method thereof,utilizing dictionaries to interpolate elliptic characters or symbols


The present invention relates to a nucleic acid complex having a novel structure, which can introduce a bioactive nucleic acid into cells, a composition for treating and diagnosing disease, which comprises the same, and a method of regulating expression of a target gene using the same, and more particularly to a nucleic acid complex comprising a bioactive nucleic acid complementarily bound to a carrier peptide nucleic acid modified to be generally positively charged, a composition for treating and diagnosing disease, which comprises the same, and a method of regulating expression of a target gene using the same.

Conventionally, the exploration of new drugs is based on screening various compounds through computer research, and the majority of screened compounds target proteins.
Unlike traditional drugs, nucleic acid drugs inhibit the expression of target-specific messenger RNA (mRNA), making it possible to address research areas in which diseases could not be treated by conventional drugs that target proteins (Kole R. et al., Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 2012; 11; 125-140, Wilson C. et al., Curr. Opin. Chem. Bio. 2006; 10: 607-614.).
Despite the excellent effects and various applications of gene expression regulation based on oligo-nucleic acids, there are a number of obstacles to overcome in the development of nucleic acid-based therapeutic agents. For example, oligo-nucleic acids are at risk of damage by nuclease and the like, and the passage of oligo-nucleic acids through the cell membrane by passive diffusion is impossible due to the electrical properties (charges) and size of these oligo-nucleic acids. To overcome these problems, efforts have been continuously made to ensure biological stability through nucleic acid modification. For modified artificial nucleic acids, it becomes possible to increase their affinity for target nucleic acids without loss of biological activity.
Peptide nucleic acid (PNA), a kind of modified artificial nucleic acid, is an artificial nucleic acid having a (2-aminoethyl)-glycine peptide backbone introduced therein, and has the property of strongly binding to RNA and DNA, each having a nucleotide sequence complementary thereto. In particular, the peptide nucleic acid is resistant to nuclease and has high biological stability, and thus studies on therapeutic agents based on various oligo-nucleic acids have been conducted. However, the peptide nucleic acid has a disadvantage in that it is difficult to introduce into cells, because it is electrically neutral in nature (Joergensen M. et al., Oligonucleotides 2011, 21; 29-37.).
Owing to the performance and advantages of nucleic acids as drugs, various clinical trials using nucleic acids are in progress. Despite the increasing applications of nucleic acid-based therapeutic acids, the use of carriers for intracellular introduction is extremely limited. For example, clinical trials have been performed using a strategy (method) that delivers oligo-nucleic acid-based drugs into cells or tissues by use of nanoparticles, cationic liposomes and polymeric nanoparticles. However, most of these clinical trials do not include delivery systems, and rely mainly on direct introduction of nucleic acids by parenteral administration routes, including intramuscular injection, intraocular administration, subcutaneous injection and the like.
In addition, the cell membrane permeability of oligo-nucleic acids themselves is considerably low, and in particular, DNA or RNA is negatively charged. For this reason, these oligo-nucleic acids cannot pass through the hydrophobic phospholipid bilayer of the cell membrane, and thus are difficult to deliver into cells through simple diffusion. The use of a virus carrier such as retrovirus or AAV (adeno-associated virus) makes it possible to introduce oligo-nucleic acids into cells, but has risks, such as unintended immune activity and the possible recombination of oncogenes (Couto L. B. et al., Curr. Opin. Pharmacol. 2010, 5; 534-542.).
For this reason, the development of nucleic acid carriers based on non-viral oligo-nucleic acids having low cytotoxicity and low immune activity is of increasing importance. As a result, techniques of introducing nucleic acids using cationic lipids, liposomes, stable nucleic acid lipid particles (SNALPs), polymers and cell-penetrating peptides have been developed (Zhi D. et al., Bioconjug. Chem. 2013, 24; 487-519, Buyens K. et al., J. Control Release, 2012, 158; 362-70, ROSSI, J. J. et al., Gene Ther. 2006, 13: 583-584, Yousefi A. et al., J. Control Release, 2013, 170; 209-18, Trabulo S. et al., Curr. Pharm. Des. 2013, 19; 2895-923.).
These nucleic acid delivery techniques have functional moieties by direct binding, include a complex formation step, and have problems associated with the endosomal escape efficiency of liposome structures, in vivo toxicity, and the like. Consequently, it is required to improve the function of introducing oligo-nucleic acids and overcome problems associated with production procedures and side effects.
Under this technical background, the present inventors have made extensive efforts to develop a new structure having low cytotoxicity, an ability to allow a bioactive nucleic acid to permeate into cells, and an increased ability to regulate gene expression, and as a result, have found that a nucleic acid complex comprising a bioactive nucleic acid complementarily bound to a carrier peptide nucleic acid modified to be generally positively charged has a surprisingly increased cell permeability, and expression of a target gene can be very efficiently regulated using the nucleic acid complex, thereby completing the present invention.

Peptide nucleic acid complex having improved cell permeability and pharmaceutical composition comprising same


An evaporative fuel system includes a canister connected to a fuel tank for receiving vapors therefrom and a conduit having a first end connected to the canister. A vent structure is connected to a second end of the conduit. The vent structure includes a housing, a first port formed in the housing and connected to the conduit, and a second port formed in the housing and connected to atmosphere. A chamber portion is formed by the housing and is in airflow communication with the second port. A tubular portion is formed by the housing and is in airflow communication with the first port and the chamber portion. The tubular portion extends into the chamber portion. A baffle is adjacent the second port and extends into the chamber. The baffle and the tubular portion together define a sinuous path portion of an air passageway extending between the first port and the second port.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system for fuel vapors released from a vehicle fuel tank and, more particularly, to a vent structure for admitting and exhausting air to and from a fuel canister connected to a vehicle fuel tank while preventing water, snow and the like from entering the same. The present invention finds particular application as a joint box for filter and drain tubes connected to a fuel canister and will be described with particular reference thereto. It is to be appreciated, however, that the invention may relate to other similar environments and applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that a vehicle""s fuel tank often holds fuel vapor in addition to any amount of liquid fuel stored in the fuel tank. When the fuel tank is being filled with liquid fuel, an amount of the fuel vapor may be displaced from the fuel tank. Similarly, if the temperature of the vehicle fuel tank rises, an amount of the fuel vapor may be displaced. For environmental reasons, it is undesirable to release such displaced fuel vapor into the atmosphere.
To avoid the release of displaced fuel vapor to the atmosphere, the vehicle fuel tank is typically connected to a fuel canister for venting the fuel vapor thereto. The fuel canister is adapted to temporarily retain the displaced vapor thereby preventing the displaced fuel vapor from being released into the atmosphere. More particularly, the displaced fuel vapor enters the fuel canister from the fuel tank wherein the fuel vapor is absorbed in a carbon bed contained within the fuel canister. The absorption of displaced fuel vapor within the canister displaces air within the canister. This air is vented to atmosphere.
The retention of the displaced fuel vapor within the canister is only temporary. More particularly, the fuel vapor retained in the fuel canister must be purged to allow the canister to accommodate and absorb additional displaced fuel vapor from fuel tank that may occur at a later time. To purge the absorbed fuel vapor, atmospheric air or purge air is drawn into the canister and through the carbon bed. The purge air passes a dust separator prior to entering the canister which cleans or filters the purge air. After passing through the canister, the purge air is sent to the engine for utilization. After purging, an amount of atmospheric air occupies the fuel canister until another amount of displaced fuel vapor enters the canister and forces the air therein to exit the canister.
In many prior art vehicle fuel systems, a tube or like conduit is attached at a first end to the fuel canister. The second end of the tube is secured to or within a body part or panel of the vehicle. The tube permits air to enter and exit the fuel canister as displaced fuel vapor exits and enters the fuel canister. The second end of the tube, secured to a body part or panel, is oriented such that water, snow, debris and the like are prevented from or have difficulty entering the tube and, therethrough, the canister.
In some vehicles there is not a suitable body part or panel to which the second end of the tube may be attached and oriented to discourage the entrance of water, snow, debris and the like. A vehicle body part or panel may be unsuitable because its location on the vehicle makes attaching the tube thereto impractical or it may be a part that if the tube was attached thereto, air exiting the tube could enter the passenger cabin of the vehicle. Allowing air to exit the tube into the vehicle cabin is undesirable because there is no filter to ensure that some fuel vapor does not enter the cabin with the air.
Thus, there is a need for a fuel system having a vent structure that permits atmospheric air to enter and exit a fuel canister while preventing or at least obstructing water, snow, debris and the like from entering the fuel canister when the vehicle has no suitable component for attaching a second end of a tube that communicates with the fuel canister. The present invention provides a new and improved fuel system having a vent structure that overcomes the foregoing difficulties and others and provides the aforementioned advantageous features.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a new and improved evaporative fuel system is provided. More particularly, in accordance with this aspect of the invention, the evaporative fuel system includes a canister connected to a fuel tank for receiving vapors therefrom and a conduit having a first end connected to the canister. A vent structure is connected to a second end of the conduit. The vent structure includes a housing first port formed in the housing and connected to the conduit, and a second port formed in the housing and connected to atmosphere. A chamber portion is formed by the housing and is in airflow communication with the second port. A tubular portion is formed by the housing and is in airflow communication with the first port and the chamber portion. The tubular portion extends into the chamber portion. A baffle is adjacent the second port and extends into the chamber. The baffle and the tubular portion together define a sinuous path portion of an air passageway extending between the first port and the second port.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a new and improved vent structure for an evaporative fuel canister is provided. More particularly, in accordance with this aspect of the invention, the vent structure includes a housing having a first end and a second end. A cavity is defined within the housing. A first ambient port is defined in the housing adjacent the second end and is connected to the cavity. A second ambient port is defined in the housing adjacent the second end and is connected to the cavity. The second ambient port is oriented below the first ambient port. A canister port is defined in the housing adjacent the first end and is connected to the cavity. The canister port is adapted to be connected to a port of an associated evaporative fuel canister. A fin is disposed in the cavity for directing fluid entering at least one of the first ambient port and the second ambient port to exit the cavity through at least one of the first ambient port and the second ambient port.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, a vent structure having an opening for allowing a connected fuel canister to vent airflow to atmosphere while preventing fluids from entering the canister through the opening is provided. More particularly, in accordance with this aspect of the invention, the vent structure includes a housing defining at least one air passageway therethrough. A first ambient port is defined in the housing connecting the at least one passageway to atmosphere. A second ambient port is defined in the housing connecting the at least one air passageway to atmosphere. A channel member defining a portion of the at least one air passageway is provided. The channel member has at least one canister port defined by the housing for connecting the at least one air passageway to the associated canister. A first baffle is adjacent the first ambient port. A second baffle is adjacent the second ambient port. The housing, the channel member and the first baffle together define a first air passageway of the at least one air passageway having a circuitous path between the first ambient port and the at least one canister port. The housing, the channel member and the second baffle together define a second air passageway of the at least one air passageway having a circuitous path between the second ambient port and the at least one canister port.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a new and improved canister vent is provided. More particularly, in accordance with this aspect of the invention, the canister vent includes a body having a first end and a second end. At least one canister port is defined by the body and located adjacent the first end. A cup portion is defined by the body. The cup portion has a base wall and at least one sidewall that together define a cup cavity adjacent the second end. A channel member extends into the cup cavity from the base wall. The channel member defines an opening spaced apart from the base wall. An air passageway fluidly connects the at least one canister port and the channel member opening. An end cap connects to the body for closing an open side of the cup cavity. The end cap includes at least one end cap port therethrough and at least one baffle extending into the cup cavity for obstructing direct flow between the at least one end cap port and the channel member opening.

Fuel system having a vent structure for communicating with a fuel canister


A multiple coagulation test device has a plurality of tubes, each tube having associated coagulation detection means, and containing a treatment dosage of a coagulation enhancing agent. Whole blood samples are placed in the tubes which are mixed and warmed to 37.degree. C., with the time to coagulation determined. The agent giving the lowest clotting time is selected as the most effective treatment for reducing hemorrhaging within a few minutes and the selected treatment begun. Utilizing the inventive device eliminates the need to use a multiple agent approach, by identifying the most effective course of action.

A heart-lung machine is typically used during heart surgery for coronary artery bypass, valvular replacement or proximal aortic reconstruction. Such a machine substitutes for the function of the heart muscle to pump blood throughout the body, and substitutes for lung function by removing carbon dioxide and adding oxygen to the patient's blood.
To use the heart-lung machine, full arrest of the coagulation cascade in the blood is required to prevent clot formation on the surfaces of the machine. In the coagulation cascade fibrin formation is initiated with the release from damaged cells of a complex protein known as tissue factor. This initiates the coagulation cascade which ultimately results in fibrin generation. The arrest of the cascade is accomplished typically by administering heparin to the patent. Heparin impedes coagulation by enhancing the effectiveness of anti-thrombin III, a naturally occurring inhibitor of coagulation. It does this by causing a conformational change that exposes additional binding sites on the anti-thrombin III molecule, which increases the ability of antithrombin III to bind with factors XIIa, XIa, IXa and Xa, which in turn accelerates their ability to inhibit the formation of fibrin. After the period of cardiopulmonary bypass is completed, the heparin effect is reversed by administering an antagonist agent, such as protamine.
Determining the proper number of units of heparin to be administered is not easily determined because of two phenomena. First, the amount of heparin that must be injected to achieve a certain plasma heparin concentration varies from patient to patient. Second, a given heparin level does not reflect an exact state of anticoagulation in a particular patient because of a number of factors peculiar to individual patients such as extravascular depots, hemodilution, hypothermia, heparin resistance and anti-thrombin III deficiency.
To determine whether the heparin administered has effectively reduced the ability of the blood to clot, the activated coagulation time (ACT) is measured. The ACT was introduced by Hattersley in 1966 and is a method for the rapid determination of the Lee-White whole blood clotting time. Although initially performed by manual rotation of a test tube and visual inspection for the presence of a clot, the test is typically performed via an automated method known as the HEMOCHRON (International Technidyne, Edison, N.J.). Typically, a sample containing two cc of whole blood is obtained and placed in an ACT tube and the time recorded. The tube is shaken to mix the blood with a diatomaceous powder which promotes coagulation by its high surface area. The tube is then warmed to 37.degree. C. A magnetic rod placed in the tube is observed by a magnetic detector, and when coagulation occurs, the rod is displaced, signalling completion of the test. This test typically takes about 107.+-.13 seconds in a patient with normal coagulation status.
The ACT is currently first measured to provide a baseline ACT and then is measured again after administration of heparin to document whether a safe level of anticoagulation has been attained. The ACT is also measured serially during surgery, usually about every 30 minutes, to be sure that adequate anticoagulation is maintained in the face of metabolism changes and excretion of heparin.
The ACT is also used after surgery is completed. At this time, the heart has been restarted and is pumping blood through the lungs where oxygen is added to the blood and carbon dioxide is removed. The heparin anticoagulation effect is reversed by the administration of an antagonist to heparin, such as protamine. Protamine is polycationic and forms a complex with heparin, thus reversing its effects on Anti-Thrombin III. After administering protamine, the ACT is measured to determine if the protamine has adequately reversed the effects of heparin.
Sometimes, however, the administration of protamine does not return the ACT to the baseline (normal) condition and the patient may experience bleeding. Although many clinicians associate an increased ACT with a prolonged heparin effect, the ACT is limited in that it is a test of essentially the entire coagulation system, and as such, it is affected by other changes in the coagulation cascade. Therefore, an elevated ACT after heparin reversal with protamine does not necessarily indicate that residual heparin is the cause of the elevated ACT. In addition to residual heparin, destruction of serine protease (proteins required for blood to clot, otherwise known as clotting factors) hypofibrinogenemia, fibrinolysis and platelet abnormalities, both qualitative and quantitative, can influence the ACT. Decreased levels of fibronectin, a substance which is involved in platelet adhesion, may also result in increased bleeding.
One device currently used to assist in determining protamine dose is the HEPCON (HemoTec Inc., Englewood, Colo.). The HEPCON device consists of four chambers which contain specific amounts of protamine, thromboplastin and diluent. Air bubbles percolate through a blood sample in each chamber until a photocell detects clot formation in one of the chambers. Based upon the patient's height and weight, the device computes the heparin level. In essence, this device confirms whether or not a patient's bleeding tendency is due to heparin. If protamine administration is followed by obtaining an elevated ACT and a HEPCON test produces a reading of zero, this indicates that no heparin is circulating and it is likely that one or more other etiologies may be responsible for the hemorrhaging.
Bleeding in general surgical or non-surgical patients, including those involved in cardiopulmonary bypass surgery where there is no longer any circulating heparin, could be due to a decreased level of coagulation factors such as factors V, VIII, XIII and fibrinogen, as well as thrombocytopenia, or more commonly, abnormal platelet function, decreased levels of fibronectin, complement activation and fibrinolysis. Decreased levels of serine proteases and platelets could be due to low grade coagulation during bypass with consumption of the factors and platelets, or more likely, damage and destruction sustained when exposed to the surface of the oxygenator.
The anesthesiologist and surgeon are often faced with the situation that a patient is bleeding significantly and it is not due to heparin. A similar situation may occur in patients with massive bleeding due to a medical etiology. Because of the numerous possibilities of which factor or combination of factors is needed to stem the hemorrhaging, combined with the extremely limited amount of time available, the patient is frequently treated with a shotgun therapy, for example, by administration of platelets, fresh frozen plasma, desmopressin acetate (DDAVP) and sometimes epsilo-amino caproic acid (AMICAR) and cryoprecipitate. Since the use of platelets, fresh frozen plasma and cryoprecipitate all carry the risk of disease transmission, a system to rapidly determine if one or two therapies would be sufficient would decrease the risk to the patient of contracting hepatitis, AIDS, and numerous other diseases. Furthermore, in cases where it is determined that DDAVP or AMICAR would be therapeutic, the patient would be spared transfusion of blood products altogether. An additional reason to rapidly determine the specific appropriate therapy is that as long as there is a deficiency in blood coagulation, the patient will require transfusion of packed red blood cells (PRBCs). In addition to the risk of disease transmission, transfusion of large amounts of PRBCs dilutes the coagulation factors and platelets in the blood, resulting in a "dilutional coagulopathy", thus possibly worsening the degree of hemorrhaging.
At present, complete, definitive coagulation studies can only be done in the laboratory, which takes too long to be of use in determining a specific therapy against massive hemorrhage associated with an elevated ACT, whether under operating room or non-operating room conditions. -There is a need for a method that is rapid enough to allow a doctor to determine and administer a specific therapy under the severe time constraints posed by an episode of rapid massive bleeding whether in the operating room or otherwise.

Multiple coagulation test device and method


An aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition, essentially consisting of (a) at least one aromatic dicarboxylic acid; (b) 1-3000 ppm of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of 6-formyl-2-naphthoic acid, 6-methoxycarbonyl-2-naphthoic acid and trimellitic acid; (c) 1-1000 ppm of at least one alkali metal and (d) 0-3000 ppm of at least one transition metal is provided. By employing the composition in manufacturing liquid crystalline polyester, LPCs with good coloring property and improved heat resistance as well as excellent mechanical property can be obtained. The present invention also provides a liquid crystalline polyester resin prepared by using the composition.

The present invention relates to an aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition and a liquid crystalline polyester resin made from the same.
Thermotropic liquid crystalline polyester resins (hereafter, referred as liquid crystalline polyesters or LCPs) are excellent in mechanical properties such as heat resistance and stiffness, chemical resistance and dimensional accuracy. The LCPs are used not only for molded products but also for variety of products including fibers and films. For example, parts used in personal computers and mobile phones are highly integrated and the art wishes to use downsized, thinner and smaller parts. In this field, very thin parts, as thin as 0.5 mm or less of the thickness are sometimes required. Based on the excellent molding properties of the LCPs including good flowability and less flash and warpage development compared to the other thermoplastic resins, consumption of the LCPs has been increasing.
Meanwhile, liquid crystalline polyesters still leave much to be improved in their flowability, heat resistance, and mechanical properties and a variety of proposals have been made. For example, WO 94/29366 discloses a liquid crystalline polyester resin having improved heat resistance prepared by adding alkali metal into certain monomers and polymerizing the same.
However, when colored with a colorant such as carbon black or azo pigment, it is difficult to obtain uniformly colored LCP product. Therefore, application of said LCPs in the field, where uniform solid color or clear color development is required, has been limited.
An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystalline polyester resin having an improved heat resistance and good mechanical properties as well as good colorability.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition useful for preparing a liquid crystalline polyester resin having an improved heat resistance and good mechanical properties as well as good coloring properties.
The present invention relates to a composition essentially consisting of;
(a) at least one aromatic dicarboxylic acid,
(b) 1-3000 ppm of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of 6-formyl-2-naphthoic acid, 6-methoxycarbonyl-2-naphthoic acid and trimellitic acid
(c) 1-1000 ppm of at least one alkaline metal, and
(d) 0-3000 ppm of at least one transition metal.
The composition of the present invention is used for preparing thermotropic liquid crystalline polyester resin. The liquid crystalline polyester resin prepared from the aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition and LCP constituting monomers other than the aromatic dicarboxylic acid is excellent in coloring property and has improved heat resistance as well as good mechanical properties.
The present invention also provides a liquid crystalline polyester resin comprising;
(a) at least one repeat unit derived from an aromatic dicarboxylic acid,
(b) at least one monomer unit derived from a compound selected from the group consisting of 6-formyl-2-naphthoic acid, 6-methoxycarbonyl-2-naphthoic acid and trimellitic acid in an amount of 0.1-100 mmol % based on the total monomer units constituting the polyester; and
(c) 1-100 ppm of at least one alkali metal compound.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may further comprise 1-300 ppm of at least one transition metal.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may be prepared by polymerizing the aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition of the present invention and LCP constituting monomers other than the aromatic dicarboxylic acid. Alternatively, the LCP resin of the present invention may be prepared by mixing LCP constituting monomers with the above-described additives so that the ratio of the additives are in the defined range, and polymerizing the same. Irrespective of the starting material, the liquid crystalline polyester resin comprising the above-defined components in above-defined ranges is encompassed by the present invention.
The aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition of the present invention comprises 1-3000 ppm, preferably 5-2500 ppm and more preferably 10-2000 ppm of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of 6-formyl-2-naphthoic acid, 6-methoxycarbonyl-2-naphthoic acid and trimellitic acid.
6-formyl-2-naphthoic acid can be prepared from 6-methoxycarbonyl-2-naphthoic acid by reducing the carboxyl group according to the conventional manner to give formyl group, then hydrolyzing the other methyl ester and purifying the product.
6-methoxycarbonyl-2-naphthoic acid may be prepared from 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid by dissolving the same in a solvent such as N,N-dimethylformamide, reacting the same with stoichiometrically equal amount of methyl iodide or the like under the presence of potassium carbonate or the like and purifying the reaction product.
Trimellitic acid is commercially available.
The aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition of the present invention comprises 1-1000 ppm, preferably 2-500 ppm and more preferably, 5-300 ppm of at least one alkali metal.
According to the present invention, examples of alkali metals include lithium, sodium, potassium, cesium and rubidium. Preferably, the alkali metal may be sodium, potassium or a mixture thereof, and more preferably potassium.
The aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition of the present invention may further comprise 1-3000 ppm, preferably 1-2000 ppm and more preferably 2-1000 ppm of at least one transition metal.
Examples of transition metals include cobalt, manganese, iron, zinc, nickel and copper. Among the above, cobalt, manganese and iron, and especially, cobalt and manganese are preferable.
Both of the alkali metals and the transition metals may be added to and present in the aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition or the LCP resin of the present invention in the form of compounds such as salts thereof. The metal itself may be present in the form of its cation. Examples of salts include sulfate, carbonate, bicarbonate, nitrate, carboxylate, and halogenate of the alkali metal or the transition metal. Among the above, carboxylate, sulfate and carbonate are preferable. As for carboxylates, salts of aliphatic carboxylic acid having 2-6 carbon atoms and of carboxylic acid which can be incorporated into the LCP as a monomer unit constituting the same are preferable. For example, acetate, 4-hydroxy benzoate, 6-formyl-2-naphthoate, 6-methoxycarbonyl-2-naphthoate, trimellitate, 2-hydroxy-6-naphthoate and salts of other polymerizable monomers from which aromatic carbonyl repeat units can be derived are preferably used.
The volume mean diameters of both of the alkali metal salts and the transition metal salts added to or incorporated in the aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition or the LCP of the present invention may be in the range of 0.01-500 xcexcm, preferably, 0.05-150 xcexcm.
According to the present invention, the aromatic dicarboxylic acid may be in the form of its alkyl, alkoxy or halogenated derivatives as well as their ester forming derivatives. Examples of aromatic dicarboxylic acids and their derivatives include terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, 1,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, 2,7-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid, 4,4xe2x80x2-diphenyldicarboxylic acid, bis(4-carboxyphenyl) ether, bis(4-carboxyphenoxy)butane, bis(4-carboxyphenyl) ethane, bis(3-carboxyphenyl)ether and bis(3-carboxyphenyl) ethane. Among the above, terephthalic acid and 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid, especially, 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid are preferable.
The method to prepare the aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition of the present invention is not limited. For example, the aromatic dicarboxylic acid may be prepared by, admixing the above-defined amount of components to at least one aromatic dicarboxylic acid and mixing the same uniformly.
The present invention further provides a liquid crystalline polyester resin comprising
(a) at least one repeat unit derived from an aromatic dicarboxylic acid;
(b) at least one monomer unit derived from a compound selected from the group consisting of 6-formyl-2-naphthoic acid, 6-methoxycarbonyl-2-naphthoic acid and trimellitic acid in an amount of 0.1-100 mmol % based on the total monomer units constituting the polyester; and
(c) 1-100 ppm of at least one alkali metal compound.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may be prepared by polymerizing LCP constituting monomers which comprises the aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition of the present invention instead of the aromatic dicarboxylic acid itself.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention exhibits anisotropic melt phase. The anisotropic melt phase can be confirmed by means of conventional polarized light system using orthogonal light polarizer. In more detail, the sample on the Leitz""s hot stage under nitrogen atmosphere may be observed with Leitz""s polarization microscope at 40-magunification. When a sample is optically anisotropic, the sample transmit polarized light even under static state.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may be polyester or polyester amide resin composition which exhibits anisotropic melt phase. The LCP composition is constituted of monomer units, in addition to those derived from aromatic dicarboxylic acid, those derived from the group consisting of aromatic hydroxy carboxylic acids, aromatic diols, aromatic hydroxy amines, aromatic diamines and aromatic amino carboxylic acids, especially, those selected from aromatic diols and aromatic hydroxy carboxylic acids.
As for aromatic dicarboxylic acid monomers, any of those above described aromatic dicarboxylic acid may preferably be employed.
Examples of aromatic hydroxy carboxylic acids include, for example, 4-hydroxy benzoic acid, 3-hydroxy benzoic acid, 2-hydroxy benzoic acid, 2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid, 5-hyxroxy-2-naphthoic acid, 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid, 4xe2x80x2-hydroxyphenyl-4-benzoic acid, 3xe2x80x2-hydroxyphenyl-4-benzoic acid, 4xe2x80x2-hydroxyphenyl-3-benzoic acid and alkyl, alkoxy and halogen derivatives thereof as well as ester forming derivatives thereof. Among them, 4-hydroxy benzoic acid and 2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid are preferable.
Examples of aromatic diols include hydroquinone, resorcin, 2,6-dihydroxynaphthalene, 2,7-dihydroxy naphthalene, 1,6-dihydroxynaphthalene, 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl, 3,3xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl, 3,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxy biphenyl, 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl ether, bis (4-hydroxyterphenyl)ethane and alkyl, alkoxy and halogen substituted derivatives thereof as well as ester forming derivatives thereof. Among the above, hydroquinone and 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl are preferable.
Examples of aromatic hydroxy amines include 4-aminophenol, N-methyl-4-aminophenol, 3-aminophenol, 3-methyl-4-aminophenol, 4-amino-1-naphthol, 4-amino-4xe2x80x2-hydroxybiphenyl, 4-amino-4xe2x80x2-hydroxybiphenyl ether, 4-amino-4xe2x80x2-hydroxybiphenyl methane, and 4-amino-4xe2x80x2-hydroxybiphenyl sulfide and ester forming derivatives thereof. Examples of aromatic diamines include 1,4-phenylenediamine, N-methyl-1,4-phenylenediamine, N,Nxe2x80x2-dimethyl-1,4-phenylenediamine, 4,4xe2x80x2-diaminophenylsulfide (thiodianiline), 2,5-diamino toluene, 4,4xe2x80x2-ethylenedianiline, 4,4xe2x80x2-diaminobiphenoxy ethane, 4,4xe2x80x2-diaminobiphenyl methane (methylene dianiline), 4,4xe2x80x2-diaminobiphenyl ether (oxydianiline), 4,4xe2x80x2-diaminobiphenyl sulfone and ester forming derivatives thereof. Examples of aromatic amino carboxylic acids include 4-aminobenzoic acid, 6-amino-2-naphthoic acid, 7-amino-2-naphthoic acid and ester forming derivatives thereof.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may further comprise other monomer units as long as they do not impair the object of the present invention. The other monomer units may be those derived from compounds selected from the group consisting of alicyclic dicarboxylic acids, aliphatic diols, alicyclic diols, aromatic mercaptocarboxylic acids, aromatic dithiols, aromatic mercaptophenols and a mixture thereof. The total amount of the other monomer units in the liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may preferably be less than 10 mol % of the total amount of aromatic hydroxy carboxylic acids, aromatic dicarboxylic acids and aromatic diols.
Examples of alicyclic dicarboxylic acids include hexahydrotelephthalic acid and its ester forming derivatives. Examples of alicyclic diols include trans-1,4-cyclohexanediol, cis-1,4-cycrohexanediol, trans-1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol, cis-1,4-cyclohexane dimethanol, trans-1,3-cyclohexanediol, cis-1,2-cyclohexanediol, trans-1,3-cyclohexanedimethanol and ester forming derivatives thereof. Examples of linear or branched chain aliphatic diols include ethylene glycol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,4-butanediol, neopentylglycol and ester forming derivatives thereof.
Examples of aromatic mercaptocarboxylic acids include 4-mercaptobenzoic acid, 2-mercapto-6-naphthoic acid, 2-mercapto-7-naphthoic acid and ester forming derivatives thereof. Examples of aromatic dithiols may include benzene-1,4-dithiol, benzene-1,3-dithiol, 2,6-naphthalane-dithiol, 2,7-naphthalene-dithiol and ester forming derivatives thereof. Examples of aromatic mercaptophenols may include 4-mercaptophenol, 3-mercaptophenol, 6-mercaptophenol, 7-mercaptophenol and ester forming derivatives thereof.
The preferred liquid crystalline polyester resins are those having basic monomer constitutes as follows:
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxybenzoic acid/hydroquinone copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxybenzoic acid/4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxybenzoic acid/2,6-dihydroxynaphthalene copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxybenzoic acid/4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl ether copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxybenzoic acid/ethylene glycol copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxybenzoic acid/bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethane copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxybenzoic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/hydroquinone copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/2,6-dihydroxynaphthalene copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl ether copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/ethylene glycol copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethane copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/hydroquinone copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxy benzoic acid/2-hydroxy-6-in a naphthoic acid/4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxy benzoic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/2,6-dihydroxynaphthalene copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxy benzoic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl ether copolymer;
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxy benzoic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/ethylene glycol copolymer and
2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid/4-hydroxy benzoic acid/2-hydroxy-6-naphthoic acid/bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) ethane copolymer.
Preferred examples of liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention are those comprising repeat units (I) and (II) and at least one repeat unit selected from (III) and (IV) as their principal repeat units.
wherein Ar1 represents a ring moiety selected from the group consisting of benzene, naphthalene, biphenyl, biphenyl ether and biphenyl alkane rings wherein the alkane moiety has 1-4 carbon atoms. The ring moiety may be substituted by alkyl group, alkoxy group, or halogen atom.
The repeat unit (I) may be introduced by means of 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid. More preferably, the aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition of the present invention which comprises 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid as the aromatic dicarboxylic acid component is preferably used for preparation of the liquid crystalline polyester resin.
The repeat unit (II) may be introduced by means of hydroquinone, 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl, 2,6-dihydroxynaphthalene, 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenylether, bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)alkane wherein the alkane moiety has 1-4 carbon atoms, and especially from hydroquinone and 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxybiphenyl.
The preferable molar ratio of (I):(II) in the liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention is substantially 1:1.
The preferable molar ratio of the total of (I) and (II) to the total of (III) and (IV) is from 10:90 to 70:30, preferably, from 25:75 to 50:50. The molar ratio of (III):(IV) may be from 0:100 to 100:0, preferably from 1:99 to 99:1.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin may be prepared easily from the aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition of the present invention comprising at least one aromatic dicarboxylic acid; a certain amount of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of 6-formyl-2-naphthoic acid, 6-methoxycarbonyl-2-naphthoic acid, and trimellitic acid; a certain amount of an alkali metal and optionally a certain amount of transition metal, and LCP constituting monomers other than the aromatic dicarboxylic acid. Alternatively, the liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may be prepared by adding at least one compound selected from the group consisting of 6-formyl-2-naphthoic acid, 6-methoxycarbonyl-2-naphthoic acid, and trimellitic acid; an alkali metal and optionally a transition metal to any of the above described monomer components or to the mixture thereof before or during the polymerization of the liquid crystalline polyester.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may be prepared by any method known in the art, for example, by a known polycondensation method such as molten acidlysis or slurry polymerization method from the aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition of the present invention and other monomers described as above.
The molten acidlysis method is preferably used in the present invention. In this method, the monomers are heated together to give molten solution and subsequently reacted to give molten polymer. In order to facilitate the removal of volatile materials (ex. acetic acid or water) occurs at the final stage of the condensation reaction, the reaction may be carried out under vacuum.
The slurry polymerization method is characterized in that monomers are reacted in a heatexchange fluid to give solid polymer in the form of suspension in the fluid.
In either of the molten acidlysis method or the slurry polymerization method, the monomers having hydroxyl group may be added or reacted in the form of lower acyl esters (at room temperature). The lower acyl group may be those having 2-5, preferably 2 or 3 carbon atoms. Especially, the monomer component may be subjected to the reaction in the form of acetate. In this embodiment, the hydroxy group of the monomer may be esterified separately and added to the reaction. Alternatively, an acylating agent such as acetic anhydrous may be admixed with the reaction mixture to generate the ester in the reaction.
In either of the molten acidlysis method or the slurry polymerization method, catalysts may optionally be added to the reaction.
Examples of the catalysts include organic tin compounds such as dialkyl tin oxide (ex. dibutyl tin oxide) and diaryl tin oxide; organic titanium compounds such as titanium dioxide, alkoxy titanium silicate and titanium alkoxide; antimony trioxide; alkali or alkaline earth metal salt of carboxylic acid such as potassium acetate, sodium acetate and zinc acetate; and gaseous acid catalysts such as Lewis acid (ex. BF3) and halogenated hydrogen (ex. HCl).
The amount of the catalyst added to the reaction may be 10-1000 ppm, preferably 20-200 ppm based on the total amount of the monomers in the reaction.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention is preferably be those of which logarithmic viscosity number in pentafluorophenol can be determined. Said logarithmic viscosity number at 0.1 g/dl and 60xc2x0 C. may preferably be more than 0.3 dl/g, and preferably 0.5-10 dl/g and more preferably, 1-8 dl/g.
The melt viscosity of the liquid crystalline polyester resin measured with capillary rheometer is preferably 1-1000 paxc2x7s and more preferably 50-300 Paxc2x7s.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may be admixed with, if desired, one or more fillers and/or reinforcing agents of fibrous, lamellar or particulate materials.
Examples of the fillers and/or reinforcing agents of fibrous materials include glass fiber, silica-alumina fiber, alumina fiber, carbon fiber and aramid fiber. Among them, glass fiber is preferably used.
Examples of lamellar or particulate fillers include talc, mica, graphite, wollastonite, calcium carbonate, dolomite, clay, glass flakes, glass beads, barium sulfate and titanium oxide.
The fillers and/or reinforcing agents may be used solely or in combination of the two or more. The amount of the fillers and/or reinforcing agents of fibrous, lamellar or particulate materials to be added to 100 parts by weight of the liquid crystalline polyester resin may be 0-100 parts by weight, preferably 20-70 parts by weight.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may optionally be admixed with a mold-release agent such as higher fatty acid, higher fatty acid ester, higher fatty acid amide, metal salt of higher fatty acid, polysiloxane and fluoride resin; and one or more conventional additives for example colorant such as dyes and pigments; antioxidant; thermal stabilizer; UV absorbent; antistatic agent and surface active agent.
Polymer pellets of the liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may be admixed with lubricating agent such as higher fatty acid, higher fatty acid ester, metal salt of higher fatty acid, polysiloxane and fluoride resin prior to molding the composition so that said agent covers the surface of the pellets.
The liquid crystalline polyester resin of the present invention may further be blended with one or more other resin components such as polyamide, polyester, polyphenylenesulfide, polyether ketone, polycarbonate, polyphenyleneether and modified compounds thereof, thermoplastic resins such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone and polyetherimide; thermosetting resins such as phenol resin, epoxy resin and polyimide resin.
The above filler, reinforcing agent and other resin components may be fed with the liquid crystalline polyester resin in a kneading machine such as Banbury mixer, kneader, single screw extruder, twin screw extruder or the like and kneaded at a temperature between the melting point of the polyester resin and the melting point +100xc2x0 C. to give polymer composition to be molded.
Thus obtainable liquid crystalline polyester resin and resin composition comprising the same may be molded by means of known method such as injection, compression, extrusion and blow molding. Thus obtainable molded articles, films and fibers are applied in a variety of field including electric and electronic devices, machines, motor vehicles and more.

Aromatic dicarboxylic acid composition and liquid crystalline polyester resin made from the same

Kabushiki Kaisha Ueno Seiyaku Oyo Kenkyujo


A visualization surface representative of a portion of the brain at a depth below the head surface of the subject is generated by combining an actual representation of the head surface with an idealized representation of the head surface. The combining is a function of the depth and is performed to minimize in the visualization surface any irregularities existing in the actual head surface of the subject. A display shows the visualization surface overlaid on a volumetric image of the brain, the electric field induced on a region of the visualization surface by a transcranial magnetic stimulation (“TMS”) induction coil device positioned above the head surface and the TMS coil device. By viewing the display, a user of the TMS coil device can interactively position the TMS coil device in relation to the head surface and, for a target site on the brain at a selected depth, determine the position at which the TMS coil device induces a maximum E-field on a visualization surface corresponding to the selected depth.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation ("TMS") uses an induction coil in which a time-varying magnetic field is generated to induce an electric field ("E-field") within the brain. The neurons at the locations of the brain exposed to a strong enough E-field will become activated, or stimulated. In navigated brain stimulation ("NBS"), the E-field induced in the brain by a TMS induction coil device is shown as an overlay on a graphical display of an anatomical representation of the subject's brain. By viewing the display, a user can visualize the E-field induced on the brain and, therefore, interactively position the TMS coil device, in real time, in relation to the brain to stimulate a target site on the brain.
The following data acquisition and processing steps are typically performed as part of NBS.
1. A segmented data representation of the scalp or head surface of a subject is generated from data representative of the anatomical configuration of the subject's head. Typically, data representative of two-dimensional ("2D") magnetic resonance imaging ("MRI") images of the head of the subject, which was previously obtained using conventional MRI techniques, and where the images include at least the brain, upper parts of the skull and attached tissue and cartilage, are processed, using well known software algorithms, to generate a volumetric, three-dimensional ("3D") representation of the head. The 3D representation of the head is then further processed, also using well known software algorithms, to generate a segmented data representation of the head surface of the subject.
2. Tracking elements are implemented to provide that the location and orientation of a TMS coil device with respect to a subject's head can be tracked. As conventional in the art, easily identifiable, reflective markers (trackers) are placed on selected points on the subject's head and also the TMS coil device to permit automatic recording of the coordinates of the points in 3D and six degrees of freedom. For example, the trackers on the TMS coil device may be a part of a tracking device attached to the TMS coil device, as described in U.S. patent application for TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION INDUCTION COIL DEVICE WITH ATTACHMENT PORTION FOR RECEIVING TRACKING DEVICE, Ser. No. 11/847,544 filed Aug. 30, 2007, assigned to the assignee of this application and incorporated by reference herein, and the coordinates of the trackers are recorded using a special-purpose camera, as conventional in the art.
3. A co-registration procedure is performed, which correlates data representative of the coordinates of the trackers on the TMS coil device and the subject's head (2. above) with the image data from which the 3D representation of the subject's head is generated (1. above). Typically, several landmark points on the head, such as points on each ear and the nose, are pinpointed from the 2D MRI images or, if available, the volumetric 3D image of the head. The same points are also pinpointed on the subject's head by use of a digitization pen tracker. After performing such point-to-point correspondences or point-to-point matching, a transformation is computed that aligns the coordinate system of the MRI images of the head with the coordinate system of the trackers. The quality of the transformation can be enhanced, for example, at least in the least-squares sense, by performing additional point-to-point matching, which in turn improves the accuracy of NBS.
4. On a display typically used in NBS, a graphical representation of the TMS coil device, in particular preferably only the casing of the TMS coil device in which the coil windings are contained, is shown in relation to a graphical representation of the scalp and a portion of the brain at a selected depth, and the E-field induced on the brain portion by the TMS coil device is shown as an overlay on the brain portion. The display provides a user with a visual representation of the position and orientation of the casing, and thus the coil windings, of the TMS coil device in relation to the head and the brain, and also the E-field induced in the brain, as the user navigates the TMS coil device in relation to the subject's head. The quality of the transformation computed in the co-registration (3. above) affects the accuracy of the representations shown on the display and, thus, the navigation accuracy. As well known in the art, the E-field induced by the coil windings is computed using a head shape model, e.g., a spherical model, such as described in Ravazzani, P., et al., "Magnetic stimulation of the nervous system: induced electric field in unbounded, semi-infinite, spherical, and cylindrical media," Annals of Biomedical Engineering 24: 606-616, 1996, incorporated by reference herein, and based on a model of the shape and location of the copper windings inside the casing of the TMS coil device. The E-field is then shown on the representation of the brain portion, for example, using colors to indicate E-field strength, to provide that the user can navigate the TMS coil device to stimulate target sites on the brain portion. The accuracy of the representation of the brain portion, in a large part, determines the accuracy of the representation of the E-field induced on the brain portion shown on the display and, thus, greatly impacts the accuracy with which the user can navigate the TMS coil device to stimulate target sites on the brain.
It is known that the effects of TMS depend on both the absolute strength of the E-field at a target site on the brain and the relative strength of the E-field with respect to regions neighboring the target site. Consequently, it is important that the NBS display accurately show to the user of a TMS coil device the location of the maximum E-field in a neighborhood of interest for a target site. For anatomical reasons, the relevant neighborhoods of interest on a brain portion of a selected depth usually are represented on a prior art NBS display as surfaces oriented approximately parallel to the portion of the subject's scalp above the neighborhoods. Hence, in prior art NBS, the brain has been represented using a plurality of so-called visualization surfaces, each of which represents a portion of the brain at a selected depth.
In the prior art, an NBS display usually shows a visualization surface at a depth of about 20 to 25 mm beneath the scalp. The visualization surface approximates the shape of the brain and the cortical brain structures at the selected depth. In addition, the NBS display shows the E-field induced at points along the visualization surface, including the location of the maximum E-field on the visualization surface. The E-field ordinarily is shown as a colored map, where the coloration indicates strength relative to a maximum. In addition, the NBS display typically shows the TMS coil device in color in relation to the visualization surface. In addition, the visualization surface is also shown using colored and textured surfaces of polygons that are updated in real time, for example, as the TMS coil device or the head moves. Further, the prior art NBS display provides that the TMS coil device and the visualization surfaces may be viewed from any angle and distance.
In prior art NBS, a visualization surface is derived directly from the 2D MRI image data of the head, such that any protrusions (bumps), concavities or other irregularities in the scalp are correspondingly, substantially identically reflected in the visualization surface. Ideally, it is expected that the location of the maximum E-field would move along the visualization surface on an NBS display in correspondence with the movement of the TMS coil device along the scalp.
It is has been observed, however, on prior art NBS displays showing visualization surfaces, which have significant bumps, protrusions or irregularities, in relation to a TMS coil device and the E-field induced by the TMS coil device, that when the TMS coil device is moved gradually along the scalp of a subject, the representation of the E-field on the visualization surface becomes irregular and does not directly correspond to the movement of the TMS coil device along the scalp. For example, if a stimulation target site is at the bottom of a surface concavity on the visualization surface, the strength of the E-field at the target site displayed on the visualization surface is significantly weaker than that at points surrounding the target site, even though the actual strength of the E-field at the target site may be the same or about the same as the strength of the E-field at the surrounding points. It is well known in the art that the E-field induced by a TMS coil device weakens quickly with distance from the coil windings within the TMS coil device, and for example may weaken even about 5-20% at a distance of about 2 mm from the coil windings. Therefore, if a visualization surface closely approximates the shape of the scalp, the maximum E-field likely will not be shown as being located in a concavity in the visualization surface which constitute a stimulation target site and, instead, will be shown as being located at points on the visualization surface neighboring the target site and bordering the concavity. Consequently, where the visualization surface includes concavities that correspond to target sites, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to position the TMS coil device so that the maximum E-field is located at the target site on the visualization surface.
Alternatively, if a visualization surface does not closely approximate the shape of the brain, then the regions neighboring a target site likely will not be properly oriented, such that the objective of using NBS to accurately position the TMS coil device in relation to the head, so as to induce a maximum E-field at a target site, becomes unattainable.
Therefore, there exists a need for generating a visualization surface representative of a portion of the brain at a selected depth, for use in displaying the E-field induced on the brain by a TMS coil device as part of NBS, which accurately represents the brain portion at the selected depth and avoids erroneous representations of the E-field on the visualization surface.

Method and system for displaying the electric field generated on the brain by transcranial magnetic stimulation


A system and method for creating a controlled geyser well with sustained periodical production includes a cap (16) which prevents gas from entering a well tubing (14) while allowing liquid to enter and accumulate in the tubing, means for compressing the gas, and means for injecting the gas in the annulus so that the gas enters the bottom end of the well tubing (14), thereby creating a controlled geyser effect which blows out most of the liquid residing in the well tubing (14). The gas being compressed can be a produced gas or a supplied gas.

This invention relates generally to systems, apparatuses and methods for bringing to the surface liquids contained in underground reservoirs. Specifically, the invention relates to systems, apparatuses and methods for creating a geyser-type flow and controlling it in such a way as to safely bring to the surface liquids contained in a reservoir.
A plunger pump reciprocated by a pump jack (or beam pumping unit) is the typical means used to extract liquid hydrocarbons ("oil") from an underground reservoir when the well can no longer naturally flow. However, pump jacks can have difficulty extracting oil from high gas-oil-ratio (GOR) reservoirs or from wells deeper than 10,000 ft.
Gas lift is an artificial-lift method used for high production rate wells (i.e., typically 2,000 barrels per day or greater) in which gas is injected into the well tubing to reduce the hydrostatic pressure of the liquid column, thereby permitting liquids to enter the tubing at a higher flow rate. Typically, the injected gas is conveyed down the annulus located between the tubing and the well casing and enters the tubing through a series of gas-lift valves located at different depths along the length of tubing. A packer must be positioned at the bottom of the casing-tubing annulus in order to isolate the annulus from the bottom end of the tubing. Gas injection continues as the liquids flow at the desired rate.
While gas lift is desired in certain down hole applications, "severe slugging" (or "heading") is not desired in any application. Severe slugging occurs when gas continues to accumulate in a reservoir cavity or in the casing-tubing annulus, with the liquid level rising in the well tubing. As gas pushes down the liquid level in the annulus and enters the tubing, the tubing hydrostatic pressure is reduced, thereby creating a lower downstream pressure. Expansion of the gas then provides the driving force to rapidly expel the liquid, along with the gas, out of the well.
Because catastrophic consequences to operators and severe damage to downstream facilities can occur during a severe slugging event, professionals in the field take measures to detect severe slugging and prevent it from occurring. This is one reason, for example, why gas lift makes extensive use of valves and chokes to stabilize the injection rate.
However, severe slugging has properties which can be useful for extracting oil from medium productivity wells (which can produce several hundred barrels per day) and from low productivity wells, such as those commonly labeled as stripper wells. A stripper well is usually defined as any oil or gas well which produces an average of 15 or less equivalent barrels of oil and gas per day. Therefore, a need exists for a system, apparatus and method to intentionally create, and then control in a safe manner, a severe slugging event.


An approach is provided for content aggregation in support of virtual channels. Query information and authentication information of a user are received from a media application associated with a set-top box. A query request is generated for media content from a content provider using the query information, the authentication information, and an identifier of a service provider. Transmission of the query request is initiated to the content provider system. One or more search results are received in response to the query request. Transmission of the one or more search results is initiated to the media application.

With the advent of computers, interactive electronic communications, and the Internet, as well as advances in the digital realm of consumer information, has come a reinvention of conventional entertainment and communication services to enhance programming, recording, and viewing of multimedia, such as broadcast television programs. Traditionally, broadcast media, being based on pre-computer age technology, has developed on its own path, without any regard to other media systems. With readily available, cost-effective broadband services, bandwidth intensive applications, such as audio and video streaming, have become viable mediums. Unfortunately, little or no effort has been put forth to converge these distinct paths or enable seamless integration between traditional broadcast systems and broadband data networks to provide more robust content delivery systems.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach that can efficiently and effectively provide content aggregation in support of virtual channels.

Method and apparatus for providing content aggregation in support of virtual channels