The present invention provides physicians access to formulary data as well as important clinical and practice management information at the point of care on easy-to-use handheld electronic devices. The invention also provides a method for distributing medical data to medical personnel. The method comprises the steps of storing medical data in a database and periodically communicating selected medical data between the database and an electronic device to establish a medical data distribution system subsidized by sponsoring entities. The invention also provides a computer readable memory storing executable instructions for execution by a computer system such that the computer system functions in a specified manner. The instructions comprise instructions for storing medical data in a database, and instructions for periodically communicating selected medical data between the database and an electronic device to establish a medical data distribution system subsidized by sponsoring entities.

The health care industry is an extraordinarily large and information intensive sector of the United State's economy. Many different participants in the health care industry constantly rely on a vast amount of data-intensive information. Physicians, for example, rely on information to make decisions which influence a disproportionately large portion of all spending in the health care sector. Over the years, a robust health care information system (HIS) industry has developed, in part to provide physicians with the data they need to make informed-decisions. Despite the growth of the health care sector in general and the HIS industry in particular, an information system infrastructure which satisfies the needs and wants of physicians has not yet been developed.
Numerous problems exist with today's health care information systems. A few of the more important parties will now be examined in terms of the problems they are facing.
Health Care Insurance
Health care insurance is an enormous industry, typically focused on generating revenue through increased contracts and by controlling costs through the management of claims reimbursement. One of the larger components of the insurance cost structure is derived from prescription medication, the cost of which rises significantly each year. The majority of the insurance industry has attempted to lower these costs by outsourcing the management of prescription medication reimbursement to intermediaries known as Pharmacy Benefit Management organizations (PBMs).
PBMs are companies who track all prescriptions written by physicians in a health plan the physician has contracted with. They administer prescription drug claims, establish formularies, track physician prescribing patterns, provide education to improve their efficiency and cost effectiveness, and provide disease management programs. The main function of PBMs, however, is to control the cost of prescription drugs.
To lower costs of prescription drugs, PBMs negotiate prices on medications with pharmaceutical companies. They then attempt to determine the price-performance profile of all the drugs on the market. As different pharmaceutical companies negotiate different prices, these profiles will vary according to payer. At the end of this evaluation, the PBMs create a "formulary" which is a list of medications that the PBM will cover. A formulary may contain either brand name drugs or generic drugs. Generic drugs have the same active ingredients, strength, and dosage form and are therapeutically equivalent to their brand-name counterparts. Many health plans revise their formulary lists frequently, resulting in changes that the patient and his or her physician may not be aware of. Patients often learn of the change only when their pharmacist informs them, or when they collect their prescription medication and notice a difference, which leaves insufficient time to appeal the change. Some health plans provide physicians with a monthly drug budget, financially penalizing physicians if they go over budget and rewarding them if they stay below budget. This is commonly referred to as "risk sharing" or "risk pooling". Most medication on the market has a status within the formulary. The status of any medication may therefore be preferred, approved, approved with prior authorization by the payer, available only as a generic, or not approved. Medications that are on-formulary have therefore been approved by a particular health plan, and medications that are off formulary have not been approved.
The PBMs communicate this formulary to physicians by mailing them binders containing formulary information every three to six months. Each health plan has its own formulary so a physician may receive as many as 100 different booklets, though 20-30 is more typical. The content of the formulary is reinforced by a PBM "detail" force of PBM representatives who visit the physician periodically. Despite the above, physicians typically have a low compliance with these formularies.
PBMs typically enforce the formulary at the pharmacy. When a patient submits a prescription, the pharmacist enters an on-line system which checks the medication against a specific health plan's formulary. If the medication is on-formulary, it is dispensed, generally with a co-payment by the patient. If it is off-formulary and a generic substitute has not been authorized, the patient either pays for the medication himself or the pharmacist calls the doctor's office to request an alternative. This process can be time consuming, requiring the patient to either wait in the pharmacy or return at a later time.
PBMs exist to manage and enforce these formularies. PBMs are therefore constantly seeking ways to increase physician compliance without incurring significant financial and/or political costs. Mailing the binders and using detail forces are costly. Rejecting prescriptions at the pharmacy level generates significant animosity among the physician community and does little to encourage higher compliance with the formularies. Prescribing off-formulary medication and the lack of communication between PBM's and physicians results in higher transaction costs for the patient.
PBMs, consequently, need a solution at the point-of-care to help reduce their cost of operations and minimize the burden their formularies impose on physicians and patients.
Furthermore, patients referred to specialists by physicians, can often only see specialists specific to their particular health plan. Physicians typically have difficulty in determining which specialists are on a particular health plan, particularly specialists in the patients' geographical area.
Some health plans also incorporate an exacting list of billing codes for different medical procedures. When submitting a claim on behalf of a patient, a physician will typically need to submit these codes in order to be paid. Some physicians have prepared a form listing the more common procedures, next to which they can check a box, to facilitate the task of submitting claims. Unfortunately not all types of procedures can be listed, which leads to the physician checking a box which is closest to the completed procedure. This leads to inaccuracies and non compliance with the specific health plans rules. The most common systems of billing codes are ICD9, CPT4 and E&M. ICD9 is an international classification of disease that assigns a unique number to each different diagnosis. CPT4 codes are procedure codes, so for example, a left main artery bypass would have a certain code associated with it. E&M codes are similar to CPT4 codes. Presently physicians use a form called a "superbill" which lists approximately 90 different codes (charge capture). As there are thousands of codes, and only so many on the superbill, a physician tends to be non-specific when completing the form. If more specificity could be provided, physicians may be able to charge more accurately.
Certain health plans have also adopted specific clinical protocols that physicians contracted to the plan must follow. There are typically vast amounts of clinical protocols contained in books which the physician does not always have the time to consult. A technical solution at the point-of-care could alleviate this problem.
Physicians
Physicians are under increasing pressure to see more patients per day. Moreover, they are subject to an ever-increasing number of rules which require a significant amount of time to comply with.
The above-mentioned formulary represents one of these restrictions. Currently, physicians have one copy of each formulary for each health plan with which their practice contracts. Typically, a high-volume physician will contract with 20-30 plans, depending on the region in which he works, so there will be 20-30 formulary booklets in a common area of his or her office. It is simply impossible for the physician to remember which medications are on which plans. Consequently, when a physician writes a prescription, he has two choices. He can leave the patient in the exam room for about two minutes while he looks up the formulary status of the drug he wishes to use and select an alternative if necessary or he can simply prescribe without knowing the medication's formulary status. In the latter scenario, there is a significant chance that the medication will be off-formulary and his office will receive a call from the pharmacy. The staff will have to pull the patient's chart at an additional cost and ask the physicians to authorize the substitution. The patient, meanwhile, must wait at the pharmacy until the substitution is made. If the physician's compliance rate is low enough and he operates under a risk sharing contract with the insurance company for pharmaceutical costs, failure to comply can actually carry a direct financial penalty. In either scenario, the physician has spent a fair amount of time complying with insurance rules and not treating patients. It is estimated that as much as 20% of all prescriptions are still written off-formulary.
The problem of complying with formularies has grown worse in recent years due to the proliferation of contracted health plans and the fact that formularies are becoming increasingly restrictive.
The problem physicians face with formularies can be extended to the higher order problem they face of inadequate access to information in general. This problem is well-known and ranges from missing charts to inaccessible lab reports and unknown medical records. The results are increased incidence of disease and mortality, higher costs, and wasted resources. Recent studies show that approximately 100 000 deaths a year occur due to medication errors. Physicians may also have poor access to up-to-date clinical information and/or drug prices. Clinical information may include pharmacopeia which describes drugs, chemicals, and medicinal preparations and is typically issued by officially recognized authorities to serve as a standard. Furthermore, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has introduced a faster process for approving drugs, leading to a increase in the number of drugs available each year.
Information technology has been employed to address these problems with limited success. A problem encountered has been getting the physician, the key decision-maker, to use such technologies.
Every day, hundreds of thousands of physicians treat millions of patients using a combination of experience, judgment and data. When this data is missing or inadequate, treatment is impaired. The impact, which depends on the nature of the information and the condition of the patient, can for example include: patients suffering complications, including death, from contraindicated medications; doctors spending significant time looking for information and making inappropriate clinical decisions when on call; and insurers incurring the cost of extra nights of expensive hospitalization due to "missing" lab results.
The applications developed for physicians to date have been excessively ambitious, requiring the doctor to change his or her practice patterns to conform to new technology. Such applications have also been cumbersome, inefficient, and rigid, slowing the physician down at a time when he or she is being forced to see more patients per hour. Moreover, most applications have been designed for desktop or tablet computers. This fails to recognize that physicians are not desk-bound and do not have wireless systems in their offices. The inadequacies of these applications and their hardware platforms has restricted their use by physicians which, in turn, has prevented the population of clinical databases which could be used for clinical decision support.
Access to electronic databases containing medical information has typically been a complicated process at an added expense to the physician, a cost which is ultimately passed on to the patient.
Furthermore, physicians have typically not obtained much training in the areas of business and practice management. Information and advice in these areas would therefore be appreciated by many practicing physicians.
Pharmaceutical Companies
A large portion of pharmaceutical companies revenues are derived from prescriptions written by physicians. Physicians who prescribe more medication are of heightened interest to the pharmaceutical industry because they generate a disproportionately large percentage of a pharmaceutical company's revenue.
As industry revenues have grown, so has the proliferation of new products. While there has been much innovation, many of these new medications are little different from other drugs in the same therapeutic category. The pharmaceutical industry is highly leveraged operationally. Most research and development expenditures are fixed and sunk. Manufacturing, however, has minimal fixed costs. The result is that pharmaceutical companies operate with large gross margins and therefore any incremental sale affects their profits. The result is an intense pressure to increase sales and to capture market share. Consequently, pharmaceutical companies spend an extraordinary amount of money on marketing, particularly to physicians, to accentuate the minimal differences between medications.
In health care, the end user has little influence on the purchasing decision and drug selection remains to a large extent the choice of the physician. Consequently, pharmaceutical companies spend an inordinate amount of money trying to influence the behavior of physicians. Pharmaceutical sales forces comprise a large component of this spending. The problem for pharmaceutical companies is that their sales forces are not able to spend as much time with the high-value, top percentage of physicians as they would like; instead they visit less valuable physicians who have fewer pharmaceutical company representatives calling on them and more time to spend with each. Pharmaceutical companies therefore need a means for giving their representatives access to these high-value physicians.
Furthermore, insurance companies create a barrier for the pharmaceutical companies through their formularies. These lists of approved medications are extremely difficult to memorize. Often, given the similarity between drugs of a therapeutic class, physicians simply prescribe the drug which appears to be on most formularies to minimize the chance of their guess being incorrect.
In addition, pharmaceutical companies typically also have a poor and ineffective Internet presence which does not attract physicians to their Web sites to, for example, familiarize themselves with current developments.
Contract Research Organizations
Contract Research Organizations (CROs) conduct clinical trials on new and existing medications and devices to gain more information about them. Development of new drugs is a long and complex process. Prior to any exposure to humans, a drug must be shown to be safe and non-toxic in extensive animal studies. Once this safety is proven, the drug is first given to normal, healthy volunteers (Phase I trials). Once safety is shown in healthy volunteers, the drug is given to patients with the specific medical conditions that the drug was designed to treat (Phase II & III studies). If the drug appears safe and effective, then application is made to the regulatory authorities to grant approval to market the medication to the public. Often, once the medication is on the market, additional studies are performed. These studies are called Phase IV studies.
CROs often have difficulty acquiring principal investigators (Medical Doctors) to undertake clinical trials of new drugs on their patients for Phases I to IV. Furthermore Contract Research Organizations may have difficulty enrolling patients into their clinical trials.
A technology that could help alleviate these problems would accelerate drug approval and ultimately lower drug costs.
Managed Care Organizations
A managed care organization is a health care provider (or group of medical service providers) who contracts to provide a wide variety of healthcare services to enrolled members through participating providers. These organizations typically do not have a means of communicating with physicians to, for example, inform them of changes in the industry. Managed Care Organizations also have difficulty enforcing compliance with their rules and regulations.
A widespread means of communicating with physicians and assisting their compliance with the rules could reduce overall health care costs.
Healthcare Information Systems Developers
Healthcare information systems companies (HIS) sell complex solutions to the health care industry. Some of their applications are for nurses, others for administrators, and still others for physicians. Physicians are particularly influential, even though they do not use these applications as much as others, and applications supplied to physicians are currently not widespread. The various platforms which currently exist for supplying physicians with different types of information do not aggregate a multitude of healthcare information. In order to access a large number of healthcare professionals, healthcare information developers need to sell their product to an Integrated Delivery Network of doctors, hospitals and clinics (IDNs). There is no current effective means for supplying these applications directly to physicians on a wide scale basis.
Medical Web Sites
Another means of supplying physicians with healthcare information is via healthcare dedicated Web sites on the Internet. Typically however such sites experience low Web traffic with physicians. Studies have shown that non-medical Web sites also experience low Web traffic with valuable physicians.
The present invention attempts to address the above-mentioned problems which have not significantly been dealt with by the health care or information technology industries.
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association's ethical opinion 8.061 deals with "Gifts to Physicians from Industry". Many gifts given to physicians by companies in the pharmaceutical, device, and medical equipment industries serve an important and socially beneficial function. However, any gifts accepted by physicians individually should primarily entail a benefit to patients and should not be of substantial value. Accordingly, textbooks, modest meals, and other gifts are appropriate if they serve a genuine educational function. Furthermore, no gifts should be accepted if there are strings attached. For example, physicians should not accept gifts if they are given in relation to the physician's prescribing practices. Therefore gifts which influence a physician's prescribing practices may be unethical. A need therefore exists for an outside party, not dictated to by industry, to supply up-to-date information to physicians.
In order for new technology to be accepted by physicians, the technology utilized should be mobile, intuitive, and fast, with little or no training required. The system should fit the physician's workflow and not require physicians to leave the examination room or otherwise disrupt their interaction with patients. There should be little or no data entry required, simple point-and-click navigation, rapid response times, and one-touch "transparent" data updates from Web-accessible desktops. The invention should improve patient care, be easy for the physician to use, and be provided to the physician at no expense. It should also influence the existing and developing infrastructure and include the major industry participants in order to accelerate implementation and gain support.

Method and system for providing current industry specific data to physicians


Liquid light duty cleaning compositions comprise an organic base (such as amines), a zinc salt (such as zinc halides or zinc citrate), and a complexing agent (such as EDTA). The compositions are useful in cleaning both at full strength and when diluted and do not cause staining of treated aluminum utensils.

It has been known that certain types of alkaline cleaners are effective compositions for "pretreating" soiled pots, pans, plates and other eating utensils. These cleaners are applied to the utensils after use and allowed to remain on the utensils for from 5, preferably from 10 minutes, to about 1 hour. After this pretreatment, food soils are easily removed by light washing from the utensils: little scrubbing is required as mere rinsing or light rubbing with a sponge or cloth removes all food soil. These pretreating compositions even loosen and remove burned-on, dried or cooled food substances, including those such as chocolate and tomato sauce that are known as difficult to remove.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,574 (Culmone) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,788 (Lancz) describe "grill" and "oven" cleaners based on monoethanolamine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,113 (Johnson et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,406 (O'Brien et al.) describe liquid dishwashing detergent compositions containing free monoethanolamine and which are noted to be particularly suited for removing cooked-on foods from cooking utensils.
These compositions are usually applied directly to the soiled area of the utensil without dilution. Filling a pot or pan with water before or after adding the pretreater will usually reduce the effectiveness of the cleaner.
A common problem with these pretreating products, however, is that they stain cooking and eating utensils which contain aluminum. It has been estimated that 10% of flatware and around 50% of pots and pans contain aluminum. The usefulness of these pretreating compositions is reduced by the large black expanses, the numerous irregular black patches or the many tiny black dots with which pretreaters may stain a utensil.
The alkalinity of the pretreating compositions causes the stains or discoloring. Alkalinity though is very desirable in these products for soaking into burned-on or dried food and loosening the same from pans or utensils.
To preserve the alkalinity of pretreating products but avoid staining utensils, several anti-stain agents such as colloidal and fumed silicas have been tried. Colloidal silicas did not prevent staining by the high electrolyte pretreating composition because they caused agglomeration and instability. Various fumed silicas were more successful: low levels of fumed silicas did prevent staining at full strength but these silicas were of limited usefulness. Diluted to less than 10% strength, the composition with fumed silica no longer prevented staining. This is deemed a serious defect due to the practice of many consumers of mixing pretreating compositions with liberal amounts of water. Further work with fumed silicas failed to overcome the problem of aluminum staining from dilute solutions. Silicates are not generally effective in formulations and conditions of medium alkalinity (pH <11) due to tendency to deposit hard-to-remove silica-containing precipitates.

Alkaline light duty liquid detergents that are non-staining to aluminum

Lever Brothers Company, Division of Conopco, Inc.


Large-scale advanced database models, systems, and methods provide a responsive, scalable data storage solution which is ripe for use in data warehousing and analytics environments. These advanced database models, systems, and methods provide for dramatically increased performance in accessing data as well as increased storage capabilities in the data set.

As technology continues to advance, more methods of tracking nearly every aspect of a business are developed. Customers' interactions on websites can be tracked. Users' posts to social networks can be tracked. Detailed sales, logistics, and marketing effectiveness data is collected and analyzed. Data sets will continue to grow in size and complexity because they are increasingly being gathered by ubiquitous information-sensing mobile devices, remote sensing technologies, software logs, cameras, microphones, radio-frequency identification technology, and a plethora of other sensor networks and tracking systems which exist all around us. In sum, about 90% of the data in the history of the world today was created within the past two years. With the advances in the collection of data hitting the market with such force, businesses are facing the ever-daunting challenge of figuring out how to most effectively manage these petabytes of information to achieve their business goals.
Currently, businesses have multiple off-the-shelf options for implementing database systems to store their valuable customer data, however, none of these systems are directed to use in an application service provider (ASP) environment. Some systems, such as those based on the Shared Nothing concept, are created to quickly access data across the database by using independent memory and processors at each node. Such systems may be useful for a small number of individual users and teams, but experience scalability issues in a high-volume multitenant environment. Other forms of databases are designed to compress and store as much information as possible. These platforms are slow and have a high transaction cost due to compressing and linking amongst data elements.
There exists a need for an improved method of storing business intelligence wherein the overall cost of ownership and burden of management is reduced in a high-volume multi-tenant environment. There further exists a need for a storage platform wherein data can be quickly and efficiently stored, as well as accessed at a high rate of speed in order to provide on-the-fly information to multiple data owners.
Other problems and drawbacks also exist.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Advanced database systems and methods for use in a multi-tenant system


A crystalline carbon material with controlled interlayer spacing and a method of manufacturing the crystalline carbon material are disclosed. The crystalline carbon material has peaks of a (002) plane at 2θ=23°±5.0° and 2θ=26.5°±1.0° when X-ray diffraction is measured using a CuKα ray. The peak height at 2θ=23°±5.0° is higher than the one at 2θ=26.5°±1.0°.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a crystalline carbonaceous material with a controlled interlayer spacing and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An energy storage device based on electrochemical reaction includes two electrodes, an electrolyte that transfers ions, and a separation film.
The electrochemical reaction of the energy storage device is mostly a surface reaction occurring on the surface of an electrode, and is mostly a non-uniform reaction.
The reaction may be categorized as a mass transfer reaction where chemical species dissociated from the electrolyte are transferred to the surface of an electrode; a non-faradaic reaction, which is an adsorption/desorption reaction where the transferred chemical species form a layer called as an electric double layer on the surface of an electrode; or a faradaic reaction, which is an electron transfer reaction where electrons are directly received and oxidized (or reduced).

Crystalline carbonaceous material with controlled interlayer spacing and method of preparing same


A device is provided for pivoting at least one pivotable element in a gas turbine engine between a first and a second position in order to influence a gas flow in an annular gas duct in at least one of the positions. The device includes a moveable annular member which is arranged externally around the gas duct and is connected to the pivotable element in order to effect the pivoting of the pivotable element. The annular member is more specifically arranged to be displaced in a substantially axial direction and arranged to pivot the pivotable element when it is displaced axially.

The present invention relates to a device for pivoting at least one pivotable element in a gas turbine engine between a first and a second position in order to influence a gas flow in an annular gas duct in at least one of said positions, the device comprising a moveable annular member, which is arranged externally around the gas duct and is connected to the pivotable element in order to effect the pivoting of the pivotable element. The invention also relates to a gas turbine engine comprising the device.
The device can be used in order to regulate the tapping (bleeding) of air. The device will be described below for opening and closing an opening in a wall, which defines a gas duct for bleeding air. Multiple bleed openings are conventionally spaced at intervals from one another in a circumferential direction around the gas duct and through the gas duct wall. A corresponding number of pivotable elements are correspondingly spaced at intervals from one another in a circumferential direction and form doors, or hatches, designed to control the degree of opening of the openings.
The device will be described for a jet engine in an aircraft. In known aircraft engines a bleed line extends between a primary gas duct and a secondary gas duct for bleeding off air from the primary gas duct to the secondary gas duct. In certain operating situations compressed air is bled off from the primary gas duct via the bleed line and is introduced into a high-velocity flow in the secondary gas duct.
The term jet engine is intended to encompass different types of engines which draw in air at relatively low velocity, heat this up by through combustion, and expel it at a much higher velocity. The term jet engine includes turbojet engines and turbofan engines, for example. The invention will be described below for a turbofan engine, but can obviously also be used for other types of engines.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,742,324 shows a valve system for the variable control of a gas bypass. The system comprises a unison ring, which is arranged radially outside a gas duct wall. The ring is connected to a bypass hatch, which covers an opening through the wall via a bell-crank lever. The ring is arranged to pivot in a circumferential direction and the hatch is opened and closed when the ring is pivoted in its circumferential direction.
It is desirable to provide a device for pivoting at least one pivotable element in a gas turbine engine, especially a bleed hatch, which represents an alternative to known solutions. It is also desirable to achieve a longer service life than such devices hitherto known.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the annular member is arranged to be displaced in a substantially axial direction and is arranged to pivot the pivotable element when it is displaced axially.
Such an axial, straight movement creates the prerequisites for a more reliable functioning in operation. Furthermore, fewer friction losses occur. In addition, the device is less sensitive to problems associated with the different rates of expansion of the constituent components, which can occur owing to thermal loads.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the pivotable element forms a hatch, which is arranged to open and close an opening in a wall, which defines the gas duct for the purpose of bleeding gas. In this case the pivotable element influences the gas flow when it is disposed in a open position, whereas the gas flow passes the pivotable element unaffected when the pivotable element is in a closed position. Multiple doors are preferably arranged at intervals from one another in a circumferential direction and each door is positioned in order to open and close one opening in the wall.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the pivotable element forms a guide vane which is arranged in the gas duct, the guide vane being arranged to be positioned in at least two different angular positions. Multiple guide vanes are preferably spaced at intervals from one another in a circumferential direction. The guide vanes are arranged in a fixed part of the gas turbine and the gas flow passes the guide vanes in the space between these. In this case the guide vanes influence the passing gas flow to a different extent depending on their angular setting.
According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the device comprises at least one motion-transmitting member, which mechanically connects the axially displaceable annular member and the pivotable element. An axial displacement of the annular member will thereby be transmitted to the pivotable element via an at least substantially axial displacement of the motion-transmitting member, which creates the prerequisites for reliable functioning in operation.
According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the device comprises a linkage mechanism, which supports the axially displaceable annular member in relation to a fixed part and is arranged to control the axial movement of the annular member.
According to a more detailed design of the last aforementioned embodiment, the linkage mechanism comprises at least two parallel stabilizer bars, a first stabilizer bar being pivotably connected to the annular member at two separate positions in a circumferential direction, and a second stabilizer bar being pivotably connected to the fixed part at two separate positions in a circumferential direction. The stabilizer bars mean that the movement can be controlled so that all pivotable elements are pivoted in the same way and equally far.
Further advantageous embodiments and further advantages of the invention are set forth in the detailed description below, in the drawings.

Device for pivoting at least one pivotable element in a gas turbine engine


An optical element is produced by introducing a first liquid and a second liquid into respective inlets of a mold. The inlets are connected to a channel that extends to an outlet of the mold, the channel being tapered towards the outlet. The first and second liquids have different refractive indices and partially diffuse into each other inside the channel to form a multi-layer structure. The multi-layer structure is extruded through the outlet, onto a substrate. Curing the first and second liquids forms a solid optical element having a spatially varying refractive index profile in at least one dimension.

The present disclosure generally relates to formation of optical elements with refractive indices that vary spatially in at least one dimension. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method and system for producing an optical waveguide, also known as a light guide, that has a smoothly varying refractive index. Optical waveguides have many uses. One type of optical waveguide is a graded index lens, which is commonly used for transferring an image or a beam of light from one location to another. Graded index lenses generally have an index that is highest in the center of the lens, and then gradually decreases radially outwards. Thus, the change in index occurs along two dimensions. For example, if the lens lies along the x-y plane of an x-y-z coordinate system, the index might vary in both the x and y directions. Besides graded index lenses, optical waveguides that vary in only one dimension also have many practical applications. However, conventional methods for manufacturing graded index lenses tend to be complicated and are not particularly suited for producing an index profile that varies in only one dimension. Additionally, these conventional methods tend to produce lenses that are poor at guiding light along the thickness direction. For example, graded index lenses produced by co-extrusion of polymer layers have much less scatter for light propagating at near-perpendicular angles to the plane of the layers, but very high scatter for light propagating along the layers. Accordingly, there is a need for techniques for reliably producing optical waveguides with refractive index profiles that vary in one dimension.

Fabrication of graded index light guides


A small radio-frequency hybrid switch module is provided for switching between transmitted signals and received signals in plural frequency bands. This module includes: a laminated body including a dielectric layer; a diplexer; a switching circuit; a low pass filter (LPF); a conductive pattern provided on the dielectric layer for forming at least one of the diplexer, the switching circuit and the LPF; a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter mounted on the laminated body; a cover provided on the SAW filter for forming a cavity which allows surface acoustic wave vibration and for hermetically sealing the cavity; and a semiconductor switching device mounted on the laminated body for forming a part of the switching circuit.

The present invention relates to a radio-frequency hybrid switch module for use in mobile communications equipment including a mobile phone.
FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of an antenna duplexer used in a GSM/DCS dual-band mobile phone conforming to European standards for mobile communications based on a Time Division Multiple Access system. The antenna duplexer includes antenna terminal 1, GSM-band transmitting (GSM-TX) terminal 2, GSM-band receiving (GSM-RX) terminal 3, DCS-band transmitting (DCS-TX) terminal 4, DCS-band receiving (DCS-RX) terminal 5, diplexer 6 for separating and combining frequency components in GSM and DCS bands, switches 7, 8 for switching between transmission and reception, low pass filters (LPFs) 9, 11 for removing unwanted harmonic signals, and surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters 10, 12 for allowing a band of received frequencies to pass.
FIG. 10 shows a structure of a conventional antenna duplexer. This antenna duplexer includes ceramic multi-layer substrate 18, alumina package 19, SAW device chip 20, bonding wire 21, lid 22 of alumina package 19, diodes 23 functioning as switching devices, chip devices 24, pad 25 formed on the alumina package for wire bonding, and metal cap 26. Ceramic multi-layer substrate 18 includes a LPF and a diplexer formed therein.
In the duplexer described above, SAW chip 20 is put in alumina package 19 and mounted over ceramic multi-layer substrate 18. Alumina package 19, for being sealed hermetically with lid 22, needs to has a wall thickness 19a ranging from about 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm, Thus hardly having a reduced size.
A small radio-frequency (RF) hybrid switch module is provided for switching between transmit-signals and receive-signals in plural frequency bands.
This module includes: a laminated body having a dielectric layer; a diplexer; a switching circuit; a low pass filter (LPF); a conductive pattern on the dielectric layer for forming at least one of the diplexer, the switching circuit and the LPF; a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter mounted on the laminated body; a cover on the SAW filter for forming a cavity which allows surface acoustic wave vibration and hermetically sealing the cavity, and a semiconductor switching device mounted on the laminated body for forming a part of the switching circuit.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A flowable triethylenediamine composition containing 200 to 1,000 ppm zinc stearate. Aqueous solutions containing such flowable triethylenediamine in amounts suitable for making polyurethane foam are clear and colorless without foam formation on the solution surface.

Triethylenediamine (TEDA), also known as 1,4-diazabicyclo(2.2.2)-octane, is well known in the commercial market as a catalyst or co-catalyst in the production of polyurethane plastics, elastomers and foams. A number of methods are known in the art for preparing and isolating this compound as a product of commercially acceptable purity.
Typically, the TEDA is isolated from the reaction mixture as a white crystalline hygroscopic product containing a small amount of by-product amine compounds. The TEDA product is generally placed on the market for commercial users in drums of about 25 kg capacity.
With improved purification the synthesized TEDA product is recovered having less than about 500 ppm by-product organic amine impurities. It was found, however, that the purified commercial powdery crystalline TEDA product of this desired low content of organic amine impurities, when stored in commercial size drums for even short periods, particularly in a moderately warm environment, tended to develop a caking, or blocking problem. This bulk aggregation of the powdery crystals is believed the result of two factors, namely. (1) sublimation and crystallization of the TEDA molecules forming a bridge between adjacent particles and (2) hygroscopicity which also results in agglomeration of adjacent particles. This stored powdery product becomes very difficult to remove from the drum by pouring or scooping.
EP 0 209 720 A1 discloses that the flowability of stored TEDA is improved by admixing with a flow promoting amount of a salt, amide or ester derivative of a C.sub.8 -C.sub.22 fatty acid. Especially suitable flow promoting additives for TEDA are salts of stearic acid, particularly sodium stearate.
However, it has been discovered that such TEDA compositions containing sodium stearate at flow promoting levels (250 ppm), when dissolved in water with agitation, yield a foam on the solution surface.
Since the most common means of using TEDA as a catalyst in polyurethane and/or polyisocyanurate formulations is as a solution in water which is a blowing agent, it is of critical importance for customer acceptance of the TEDA product, that the resulting aqueous solution be a substantially clear, colorless solution. Since TEDA by itself will yield a clear, colorless. foamless solution, the customer will accept nothing less from a TEDA product containing a flow promoting additive. Foam on the surface of an aqueous TEDA solution may indicate to customers that the TEDA composition may adversely affect the polyurethane reaction or the final product.

Zinc stearate as a flow promoting additive for triethylenediamine


A method of treating a seed for sowing is provided for improving subsequent plant performance comprising the step of treating the seed for sowing with UV-B irradiation.

This invention relates to methods of seed treatment and resulting products.
There is an important societal and commercial impetus to find ways of improving yield and quality of crops primarily for human consumption, and doing so in a safe and sustainable manner. Of course, there has been a long felt need and motivation to do so over most of our agricultural history. Yet over the past two centuries it has become even more pressing due to the rapid expansion of the human population, and there is a need to be as efficient as possible with the arable land available for crop production. To put this into context, the United Nations estimated the world's human population stood at one billion in about 1800, three billion in 1960, seven billion in 2011, and expects it to rise to over nine billion by 2050.
With a substantial increase in scientific understanding of plant genetics and biology over the past few decades, substantial research has focused on methods to improve quality and yield of crops, both from academic and commercial viewpoints. The main focus has been to develop new ways to improve resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses including drought, high visible light stress, insect pest damage, and fungal pathogen infection, to name a few. The commonly accepted theory is, if the seed and/or resulting plant has suitable defences in place, overall plant performance will be improved, and the downstream result should be an increased yield and/or quality of crops. However, unfortunately, in practice what often happens is that if one beneficial trait is gained (e.g. stress resilience), it can be at the expense of another trait (e.g. crop yield or quality).
A number of approaches and developments are highlighted below.
Pesticides (e.g. insecticides, fungicides and bactericides) are commonly used agents to protect seeds or plants from pests and/or diseases. They typically act through toxicity to the pest or disease, and in theory are not intended to harm the host seed or plant. Yet there are clear problems with pesticides including toxicity to non-target insects, fungi or bacteria. Therefore, their use can damage the overall ecosystem, much of which is symbiotically beneficial for general plant life. Effectiveness of pesticides can also diminish over time due to a build up of resistance from the pest/disease. Additionally, consumers are becoming less tolerant with the use of pesticides because of potential harmful effects to people.
Genetic modification has also been employed to improve genotype and resulting phenotypic traits of plants, particularly through transgenic insertion of a pest resistance-associated gene(s) into a plant genome. Whilst some studies and commercial products have shown promise, there are still many unknowns and there is an overwhelming distrust from the public. Selective breeding is a form of genetic modification, and this has been used for centuries to identify and select for beneficial plant traits for subsequent breeding purposes. Whilst this has generally worked well, and the public, generally speaking, considers this to be an acceptable form of manipulation, it also can have its downfalls, including duration of time required to see beneficial results, loss of other phenotypic traits, and so forth.
With a greater understanding of plant biochemistry and genetics in the past few decades, researchers have turned to boosting the plant's own defence mechanisms, primarily through triggering or providing the plant with signalling molecules. By inducing or providing the signalling molecule, this can then result in triggering a natural cascade reaction in a plant, leading to a desirable trait. A good example of this is jasmonic acid, which has been used as an external foliar spray or root drench to induce pest resistance in crops. Yet, due to the high cost of the compound it is not commercially viable.
More-so, adding chemical agents can sometimes be deleterious on another biochemical pathway or cause a negative phenotype, much the same way as a therapeutic drug given a human almost will always has a negative side effect. To use the same example of jasmonic acid, it was found to damage the crop. A further disadvantage is that some signalling molecules can be genus- or species-specific, so although a trait can sometimes be improved in a certain plant, it may not be applicable to other plants. Furthermore, there still can be a negative public perception of chemical agents added to seeds or plants.
Other studies have focused on physical treatments on seeds or plants to improve plant performance and subsequent yield/quality of crops. The aim here has been to move away from chemical agents or pesticides for many of the reasons outlined above.
As outlined in U.S. Pat. No. 8,001,722, physical treatments of seeds have included application of hot water, hot air, UV-C, X-rays, gamma rays, and electron beam irradiation. Yet, these have been primarily used simply to disinfect seeds from plant pathogens and insects, not to improve a seed or plant's systemic stress resilience and overall plant performance over time.
To elaborate on UV-C irradiation (the focus of U.S. Pat. No. 8,001,722) the patent discusses that, conventionally, UV-C irradiation has been shown to elicit resistance of various fruits and vegetables to post-harvest decay, delay of ripening, and enhance plant pest resistance through the Systemically Acquired Resistance (SAR) pathway in the plant. Yet, although pest resistance can be improved to some degree, it was found in other reported studies that UV-C results in a decrease in plant performance (fewer shoots and ears, and lower seed production).
The discussion in U.S. Pat. No. 8,001,722 then shifts to the apparent invention as was claimed, which was the ability for UV-C treatment of the seed for sowing to be used to increase yield of harvested seed when the UV-C treatment is combined with chemical pesticides (Maxim XL, Apron XL and Trilex). However, this does not overcome a primary issue of using pesticides. Furthermore, in assessing the results of this patent, it is clear from Example 3 that UV-C irradiation alone has substantially no beneficial effect on plant yield. In fact, in two of the three varieties tested, there was an overall negative effect on yield due to the administration of UV-C to the seeds. This is in agreement with conventional wisdom that UV-C treatment can be damaging and is viewed consistently as a typical germicidal, DNA damaging stimuli, and does not lead to improved yield and/or quality.
It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words "comprise", "comprising", and the like, are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense, that is to say, in the sense of "including, but not limited to".
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.

Methods of seed treatment and resulting products


A transport system includes a main cable, a track assembly, and a conveyance assembly, wherein the track assembly is suspended from the main cable to allow unimpeded translational movement of the conveyance assembly along the track assembly. In another aspect according to the present invention, the track assembly has a track changing assembly that includes a track changing section rotatably coupled to a primary track section for selective alignment of the track changing section to any one of a plurality of exit track sections. A method of conveyance along a suspended track includes suspending a main cable between natural or artificial support structures, suspending a track assembly from the main cable, and mounting a conveyance assembly on the suspended track assembly to provide unimpeded translational movement of the conveyance assembly along the track assembly.

1. Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a track system, including the devices and structures incorporated therein, and the installation and methods of use thereof, for the movement of persons and/or payloads over a specified course.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many track systems exist for the transport of people and/or payloads for recreation, science and/or commercial endeavors. In particular, track systems, such as roller coasters, mountain coasters, and tramways, for example, and cable systems such as zip lines, ski lifts, and rope pulleys, exist for moving people and/or payloads over distinct distances and terrains.
Although the track systems may be designed to be multidirectional, the infrastructure required to support the rigid installation is often costly and has a significant impact on the environment. On the other hand, although cable systems may be cheaper to install, maintain and operate, cable systems lack the ability to be completely multidirectional, wherein a user may experience ascents, descents, and/or left and right turns in any combination without having to disengage from the main cable system. For example, the cables in such cable systems, such as those typically used in recreational canopy tours and rope courses, often have to be set at an angle so there is a level difference between the start and end points so that the body weight of the user under the effect of gravity serves as the driving force. The user often hangs from the cable through a pulley to which he is attached using straps, hooks and a harness. These methods are inconvenient because they can only be used one way (i.e., downwards) and there may be no real control of the speed. In addition, the cables are limited to the length of distance between two tie-off points and/or the limits of safe cable spans. As such, the user must stop at various points of cable anchorage, which may be fitted with a platform, for example, remove his weight from the cable, separate himself from the pulley and/or cable, and then re-attach again to another pulley and/or cable in order to be able to continue on his descending tour.
There exists a need for a transport system that provides the benefits of a cable system with the multidirectional aspects of a track system, one which does not require the rigid infrastructure of conventional track systems yet permits ascending, descending, leftward and/or rightward movement along a predesigned pathway without having to disengage the user and/or payload from the cable or track in order to do so. Furthermore, there is a need to provide a track system that allows users the ability to switch unassisted and safely between a choice of different track pathways while remaining continuously connected to the track system.


A doctor for a suction roll in a paper machine is intended to remove water from a suction roll. The doctor includes a doctor slat fitted against the surface of suction roll extending essentially over the entire width of the suction roll, as well as the doctor slat holder and loading devices. In the direction of rotation of the suction roll, there is a doctor blade, with a blade holder fitted to the doctor after the doctor slat. The doctor blade is arranged to remove the water lifted off the suction roll by the doctor slat.

The present invention relates to a doctor for a suction roll particularly in paper machines, which doctor is intended to remove water from the suction roll, and which doctor includes a doctor slat arranged against the surface of the suction roll and essentially extending over the entire length of the suction roll, together with the doctor slat""s retaining and loading members.
A suction roll doctor, which removes water from the suction roll, is known from FI patent application number 902910. The blade used in the doctor is a doctor slat, which scrapes the film of water off the surface of the suction roll. In addition, the doctor slat creates a suction zone behind itself, which also removes the water that has collected in the drill holes and grooves of the suction roll. Part of the water raised by as the suction flows into a drainage tank beneath the suction roll, but the rotation of the suction roll causes part of the moisture to travel back into the felt or similar. This causes the web or felt to become soaked, or at least causes unevenness in the moisture profile of the web, felt, or paper.
A double doctor, in which an attempt has been made to improve the water removal capacity of the doctor by using two doctor blades, has also been manufactured for similar use. However, a conventional doctor blade cannot be used to achieve the suction effect of a doctor slat according to the invention, which can also suck the water out of the holes of the suction roll. In addition, doctor blades operate in the desired manner only over a certain part of the circumferential speed range of the suction roll. In this case, when the speed of the paper machine increases, both the water removal capacity of the doctor in question and the result of the doctoring diminish substantially.
The invention is intended to create a new kind of doctor for a suction roll particularly in paper machines, by means of which water can be removed from the suction roll more effectively than previously.
A doctor for removing water from a suction roll in a paper machine includes a doctor slat fitted against the surface of the suction roll extending essentially over the entire width of the suction roll, as well as its holder and loading devices. In the direction of the rotation of the suction roll, there is a doctor blade and a blade holder fitted to the doctor after the doctor slat and arranged to remove the water lifted off the suction roll by the doctor slat. The angle between the lines of contact of the doctor slat and the doctor blade in relation to the imagined axis of rotation of the suction roll is 15-70xc2x0, preferably 20-40xc2x0.
The doctor has a frame construction, to which holders of both the doctor slat and the doctor blade are fitted. The holder of the doctor slat is fitted detachably to the frame construction. The frame construction includes attachments corresponding to the blade holder of the doctor blade in the vicinity of the holder of the doctor slat.
The combination construction of a doctor according to the invention actualizes the advantageous properties of the doctor, in practice creating an excellent doctoring result. Simultaneously, a significant increase in the total solids content is achieved. Besides water, fibres and filler substances are also removed from the holes in the suction roll. This reduces the amount of loose material rotating with the suction roll and also helps the suction roll""s holes to remain clean. The doctor also evens the humidity in the area around the suction roll, as most of the water is recovered in a controlled manner. Thus, the web, felt, or similar do not become soaked, instead an even moisture profile is maintained. A doctor according to the invention can be used in all suction roll positions. In addition, only small alterations are required to adapt the doctor to a very broad area of the auction roll""s speed range.
In the following, the invention is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, depicting some embodiments of the invention, in which drawings

Doctor for a suction roll particularly in paper machines


A stent graft for deployment into the aorta of a patient has a tubular body with a proximal portion of a selected diameter; preferably a reduced diameter portion, distal of the proximal portion, having a diameter less than the selected diameter; a tapered portion, extending between the proximal portion and the reduced diameter portion; and optionally a distal portion, distal of the reduced diameter portion. At least three, preferably four or five, low profile side arms are provided, preferably in the reduced diameter portion and/or the tapered portion, for connection of an arm extension to an aortic branch vessel. All but one of the side arms are to be connected at the physician's choice, depending on the anatomy of the patient. One side arm is to provide temporary perfusion to external of the stent graft after deployment of the stent graft into the aorta, and is subsequently blocked.

This invention will be discussed in general with respect to aortic aneurysms and the use of an implantable device such as a stent graft to bridge an aneurysm and in particular in the descending aorta, but the invention is not so limited and may be used for any region of the human or animal body and any type of implantable device.
An aortic aneurysm can be abdominal (occurring in the abdomen) or thoracoabdominal (a single aneurysm occurring partially in the thorax and partially in the abdomen). Abdominal aortic aneurysms are sometimes referred to as "AAA"; while thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms are sometimes referred to as "TAAA". A stent graft can be used to bridge an aortic aneurysm, but where there are side branch arteries from the aorta it may be desirable to have side branches extending from the stent graft to give a blood supply to as many side branch arteries as possible.
After an endovascular operation to place a stent graft into the descending aorta, the human or animal body can in time adapt to lack of blood supply from some arteries which are excluded by the stent graft. For instance, blood supply via the intercostal arteries to the spinal cord can be alternatively achieved via other arteries, such as for instance the celiac artery, the superior mesenteric artery, lumbar and internal iliac arteries.
There can be a problem, however, of blood supply immediately after an operation, at least in part relating to blood pressure. Furthermore, patients with thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms may have upward-facing renal arteries. It may be difficult to cannulate an upward-facing renal artery, as tracking a stiff bridging stent out of the branch and into the artery may pull the wire out of the branch.


A method for mapping a plurality of input channels of an input channel configuration to output channels of an output channel configuration includes providing a set of rules associated with each input channel of the plurality of input channels, wherein the rules define different mappings between the associated input channel and a set of output channels. For each input channel of the plurality of input channels, a rule associated with the input channel is accessed, determination is made whether the set of output channels defined in the accessed rule is present in the output channel configuration, and the accessed rule is selected if the set of output channels defined in the accessed rule is present in the output channel configuration. The input channels are mapped to the output channels according to the selected rule.

Spatial audio coding tools are well-known in the art and are standardized, for example, in the MPEG-surround standard. Spatial audio coding starts from a plurality of original input, e.g., five or seven input channels, which are identified by their placement in a reproduction setup, e.g., as a left channel, a center channel, a right channel, a left surround channel, a right surround channel and a low frequency enhancement (LFE) channel. A spatial audio encoder may derive one or more downmix channels from the original channels and, additionally, may derive parametric data relating to spatial cues such as interchannel level differences in the channel coherence values, interchannel phase differences, interchannel time differences, etc. The one or more downmix channels are transmitted together with the parametric side information indicating the spatial cues to a spatial audio decoder for decoding the downmix channels and the associated parametric data in order to finally obtain output channels which are an approximated version of the original input channels. The placement of the channels in the output setup may be fixed, e.g., a 5.1 format, a 7.1 format, etc.
Also, spatial audio object coding tools are well-known in the art and are standardized, for example, in the MPEG SAOC standard (SAOC=spatial audio object coding). In contrast to spatial audio coding starting from original channels, spatial audio object coding starts from audio objects which are not automatically dedicated for a certain rendering reproduction setup. Rather, the placement of the audio objects in the reproduction scene is flexible and may be set by a user, e.g., by inputting certain rendering information into a spatial audio object coding decoder. Alternatively or additionally, rendering information may be transmitted as additional side information or metadata; rendering information may include information at which position in the reproduction setup a certain audio object is to be placed (e.g. over time). In order to obtain a certain data compression, a number of audio objects is encoded using an SAOC encoder which calculates, from the input objects, one or more transport channels by downmixing the objects in accordance with certain downmixing information. Furthermore, the SAOC encoder calculates parametric side information representing inter-object cues such as object level differences (OLD), object coherence values, etc. As in SAC (SAC=Spatial Audio Coding), the inter object parametric data is calculated for individual time/frequency tiles. For a certain frame (for example, 1024 or 2048 samples) of the audio signal a plurality of frequency bands (for example 24, 32, or 64 bands) are considered so that parametric data is provided for each frame and each frequency band. For example, when an audio piece has 20 frames and when each frame is subdivided into 32 frequency bands, the number of time/frequency tiles is 640.
A desired reproduction format, i.e. an output channel configuration (output loudspeaker configuration) may differ from an input channel configuration, wherein the number of output channels is generally different from the number of input channels. Thus, a format conversion may be used for mapping the input channels of the input channel configuration to the output channels of the output channel configuration.

Method and signal processing unit for mapping a plurality of input channels of an input channel configuration to output channels of an output channel configuration

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.


A method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head includes a transferring step of transferring a dry film supported by a supporting member to a substrate having a hole, and a peeling step of peeling the supporting member off the dry film on the substrate. In the peeling step, the dry film is in contact with a wall surface defining the hole in the substrate.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head.
Description of the Related Art
A liquid discharge head is used in a liquid discharge apparatus, such as an inkjet recording apparatus. The liquid discharge head includes a flow-passage forming member and a substrate. The flow-passage forming member is disposed on the substrate and may form discharge ports as well as liquid flow passages. The substrate has a liquid supply port. A liquid supplied from the liquid supply port into the liquid flow passages is discharged from the discharge ports onto a recording medium, such as paper.
As part of a method for manufacturing such a liquid discharge head, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-137065 describes a method for forming a flow-passage forming member from a dry film transferred to a substrate. Before being transferred, the dry film is supported by a supporting member. After the dry film is transferred, the supporting member is peeled off the dry film. The flow-passage forming member is formed by leaving the dry film on the substrate and patterning the dry film using photolithography or the like.

Method for manufacturing liquid discharge head


A rodent trap operates by electrocuting the animal as it moves to steal the bait from a space above a depressible platform. The platform includes a downwardly swingable plate that is covered by a woven fabric panel. Edge areas of the fabric panel hang downwardly into a water bath located below the platform; water is drawn upwardly by wick action so that the platform fabric surface is wet. As the animal moves along the platform its feet and body become wet due to contact with the wet platform surface. The weight of the animal depresses the platform, which activates a hidden switch, thereby completing an electric circuit which electrocutes the animal while it is on the platform. The wetting of the platform surface facilitates the electrocution process.

This invention relates to a rodent trap that utilizes electricity to kill the rodent. The trap is especially design to trap and kill rats and mice.
Various trap devices have been proposed for trapping and killing rats and mice. Some of the proposed devices utilize electricity to kill the trapped animal.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,471,640, issued to L. McFadden on May 31, 1949, discloses a rodent trap that includes a dome-shaped cage having a top access opening for entry of the rodent into the cage interior space. The floor of the cage has a second opening that overlies a fluid container equipped with two vertically-extending electrodes. When the rodent falls through the second opening into the fluid it is electrocuted by current flowing across the water through the fluid body.
One problem with the McFadden device is that the rodent is required to travel a circuitous path (route) in order to be trapped in the fluid. There is some question whether, in actual practice, rodents would take the path described in the patent.
Another problem with the McFadden device is that the electrodes are continually energized. The fluid is subject to electrolytic decomposition due to current flow across the electrodes.
U. S. Pat. No. 1,115,695, issued to S. Leyson on Nov. 3, 1914, shows an electric animal trap that includes two swingable trap doors communicating with an acid bath; a stationary platform is associated with each trap door. Each platform and trap door are connected to an electric current source, so that when a rodent is straddling one of the trap doors and the associated platform an electric circuit is completed through the rodent's body, thereby electrocuting the rodent. The weight of the body causes the trap door to swing down for discharging the body into the acid bath.
One problem with the device shown in the Leyson patent is that the rodent is required to straddle a stationary platform and the associated trap door. If the rodent jumps from the platform onto the trap door the device will not operate.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,218,403 to R. McKee, shows a trap for mice and rats, wherein a trap door is arranged to send a mouse or rat down into a receptacle containing water. Two electrically-charged electrodes have their lower ends extending into the receptacle so that when the mouse or rat enters the water it is electrocuted.
One problem with the device of U. S. Pat. No. 2,218,403 is that the device has a relatively large vertical dimension. The mouse or rat rat has to climb up an inclined ramp in order to reach an area in near proximity to the bait. Also, the rodent is required to advance along a narrow tunnel in order to get to the bait. There is some doubt that a rodent would actually climb the ramp and go through a tunnel in the manner described in the patent.


An input device includes one or more pressure detectors. Each of the one or more pressure detectors includes an electrode, an elastic body on the electrode, a pressing member disposed on an opposite side of the elastic body from the electrode, and a protective member. The protection member is disposed between the elastic body and the pressing member and has higher strength than the elastic body.

Patent Literature 1 discloses a touch panel (an input device) including a plurality of pressure sensing elements (pressure detectors). Each pressure sensing element includes: a substrate; a conductive structure member (a pressing member) extending from the substrate; an elastic electrode part (elastic body) facing a tip end of the conductive structure member; and an electrode support member facing the substrate via the conductive structure member and the elastic electrode part, supporting the elastic electrode part, and being flexible. In the pressure sensing element, as pressing force that presses the electrode support member to the substrate increases, a contact area between the conductive structure member of a conductive structure and the elastic electrode part increases. This increases a resistance value between the elastic electrode part and a conductor layer of the conductive structure. Based on a change in the resistance value, a change in the pressing force, which acts on the pressure sensing element is detectable.
In Patent Literature 1, when the contact area between the conductive structure member of the conductive structure and the elastic electrode part increases, the conductive structure may locally apply pressing force to the elastic electrode part. This may cause plastic deformation and/or deterioration of electrical characteristics of the elastic electrode part, which may cause deterioration of the performance of the input device.

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A method and system for generating dynamic, interactive visual representations of information structures within a computer which enable humans to efficiently process vast amounts of information. The boundaries of the information system containing the information to be processed are established and a set of mathematical relationships is provided which indicates the degree of correlation between parameters of interest to a user and segments of information contained within the boundaries. A visual display is generated for the user which has a plurality of different iconic representations and visual features corresponding to the parameters defined by the mathematical relationships. The iconic representations and visual features of the visual display change with the movement of the mathematical relationships within the boundaries of the information system according to the degree of correlation between the parameters of interest and the segment of information through which the mathematical relationships are passing.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to human interface with information systems, and, more particularly, to a computer system for inspecting and modifying data contained within an information system.
2. History of the Prior Art
Two results of the rapid increase in available facilities with huge capacities for data storage and with enhanced speeds for manipulating data are the accumulation of vast complexes of information spaces and the interconnection of networks of such spaces. The term "semantic network" is used herein for a set of information organized along a particular conceptual line, while the term "cyberspace" is used herein for a large pool of complex information organized along virtually every conceptual line that can be thought of. One of the problems associated with such huge cyberspaces is how to determine optimum ways for human operators to interact with meaningful subsets of information contained within a cyberspace. Although humans are wonderful cognitive processors of information, they rapidly become saturated and ineffectual when confronted with too much information at one time.
In the management and use of large cyberspaces of information, the principal human problem is how to enable people to navigate through the information space focusing on specific information without losing their awareness of information at the global level. More particularly, there is the problem of how to enable a user to interact efficiently with the information contained in a large information system. A user must be able to rapidly inspect, select, and modify data within a system if this data is to be widely and effectively used.
While highly skilled programmers and other such users may be able to meaningfully interpret lines of code on a display screen, most users cannot. For this reason, application programs have often incorporated various types of graphical displays to communicate information about the internal condition and operation of the information system. Such graphical display interface systems enable the user to make program selections and provide other input related to the information processing activity. One particularly useful tool for interfacing with an information system has been the graphical symbols called "icons."
An icon is a small pictorial representation of some larger set of information. Icons have been used for many years as a way to graphically indicate certain information about the contents of a system or state of operation. Generally, icons fit into one of two categories:static or dynamic. A static icon is simply a picture of something that indicates a condition within a computer system. For example, it could be an image of a window within a windowing system, which has been closed down and put into the background of the display. Alternatively, it could be a picture of an unopened document in a word processor type of information system. Overall, it is a simple, static picture on a display screen, connoting certain encoded information in the mind of a human operator.
A second kind of icon employed in the past is also in the static category, although it incorporates a certain amount of dynamism. This dynamism reflects a certain activity in the information or in the condition of the system represented by the icon. For example, one icon employed in a windowing system appears when a window is closed as a shrunken representation of the window. If some new text appears in the window while it is closed down, the text is also represented in the icon, but in a proportionally smaller size. That is, some additional information appears in the icon when changes occur in the system, but that information is treated as a change going on in the background, to which the operator is paying little attention.
A related type of icon, which is basically static but which incorporates a certain amount of dynamism, is the animated icon. For example, in one application program, a trash can grows in size as the user discards files without emptying the trashcan's contents. While only three actual sizes of icons are used--a normal slim size, an intermediate size, and a very full size--they are displayed sequentially to connote growth to the user. Each of the individual graphical images comprising the animated icon is static in that it is fixed in size; the composite appears to move only as the result of an animated illusion.
Highly sophisticated animated icons have also been used to provide graphical interfaces for computer simulations of complex physical systems. By way of illustration, numerous editorially selectable animated icons are used in the interactive, inspectable, simulation-based instructional steam power plant system described in "Graphic Interfaces for Simulation," Advances in Man-Machine Systems Research, Vol. 3, pp. 129-163 (JAI Press, Inc. 1987). Each of these icons is directly connected to respond to an associated variable within the mathematical simulation algorithm to indicate the existence of particular conditions within the simulated physical system.
The icon is an extremely useful tool because it is designed to trigger within the mind of the human operator concepts that quickly communicate the contents or operation of the information system. Most icons are either static or animated and are connected so that they respond directly to either an information system condition or a variable within a simulation algorithm. If an icon could instead be coupled to a means for moving through and inspecting the contents of an information system and graphically depicting the results of that inspection, it could be used to great advantage in communicating information about large cyberspaces of information. The present invention proposes such an automatically generated icon system for enabling a user to interface with data contained within an information system.

Method and system for generating dynamic, interactive visual representations of information structures within a computer

Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation


An illuminated vehicle signaling glazing unit, including: a first transparent sheet made of mineral glass including a first main face configured to be directed toward outside the vehicle, a second main face configured to be directed toward inside the vehicle, and an edge face; one or more light sources, or light-emitting diodes, each including a light-emission face opposite the edge face, light emitted by the light sources being guided into the first sheet between the first and the second main faces thereof; a mechanism extracting light in at least one region of the first or second main faces of the first sheet or within a thickness of the first sheet; and an opaque layer formed from ink or from enamel, situated toward the inside of the vehicle with respect to the extraction mechanism and totally masking the extraction mechanism of the light to render it invisible from inside the vehicle.

The present invention relates to an illuminated signaling glazing unit for a vehicle, preferably for an automobile vehicle, comprising a system for illuminating via the edge face of the glazing unit and means for rendering opaque preventing the emission of the light toward the inside of the vehicle.
In the field of automobile vehicles, doubling up certain signaling lights such as the rear lights, direction indicator lights, stop lights or reversing lights, with light sources that are synchronized with these signaling lights and have the same color as the latter is a known technique. These light sources may be placed on the vehicle body, on the wing mirror (indicator light flasher) or else inside the passenger compartment, generally near the rear window, as described for example in the application EP 1 234 752. In the glazing unit described in this document, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are placed in a unit situated around the periphery of the glazing unit on the inside face of the latter. These LEDs are therefore facing a main face of the glazing unit and are visible through an clear opening left in the surrounding enamel.
Such a doubling up of the signaling lights involves one or more additional components to be managed in the production line and, as a result, increases the costs of production. Furthermore, these additional, "displaced", signaling lights are not always totally satisfactory from an aesthetic point of view. The present invention is based on the idea of integrating the additional signaling function directly into one or more glazing units of the vehicle, for example into the rear window or the front or rear fixed side windows of the vehicle.
Such an integration of additional light sources, which could be flashing, into the windows of a car poses however serious problems of road safety. This is because no red light must be emitted toward the front of the vehicle, nor any white light, with the exception of the reversing lights, toward the rear of the vehicle.
Furthermore, the light emitted by the direction indicator lights (indicators and indicator flashers) must only be visible from the side where the direction indicator light in question is situated. If light were emitted by windows toward the inside of the vehicle, there is a risk that it could, by transparency, also be visible on the outside of the latter. The flashing of the left indicator light flasher, for example, could then be interpreted, in certain situations, by the driver of another vehicle, as coming from the right side, and vice versa.
It will also be understood that the visibility, by the driver, of the direction indicator lights of his own car could be very distracting in certain situations, notably while driving at night or when this light is reflected on glazing units or other reflecting surfaces inside of the vehicle.
In order to be certified, such illuminated signaling glazing units must therefore comprise masking elements preventing the light from penetrating into the interior of the passenger compartment, preferably without reducing excessively or undesirably the glass clarity.


An apparatus for applying a thermoplastic high-polymer material, in particular an adhesive, to a substrate, comprising an application head having at least one feed passage for the liquefied material in the application head, a nozzle-like outlet opening at the end of the feed passage and a valve arrangement for opening and closing the feed passage or the outlet opening, respectively, includes a rotatable rotation element provided in the application head and having a passage which aligns with the feed passage and merges into the outlet opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for applying a thermoplastic high-polymer material, in particular an adhesive, to a substrate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The basic construction of such an apparatus can be seen, for example, from German utility model No. 8,534,594 and comprises an application head, a feed passage for the liquefied material in the application head, a nozzle-like outlet opening at the end of the feed passage and a valve arrangement for opening and closing the feed passage or the outlet opening, respectively. Not only the liquefied material is supplied to the application head but at the same time also a gas, generally air which is under pressure, so that the emerging material is atomized by the pressure gas and is applied in the form of a spray curtain or mist to the substrate to be coated.
With the apparatus according to German utility model No. 8,534,594 specific coating patterns can be produced by additional gas, in particular air streams, as are necessary for some purposes. However, in this case the outlet openings for the additional gas streams must be positioned and adjusted very exactly to obtain the desired patterns. Furthermore, it is not readily possible to deviate from a coating or spray pattern once it is set. Finally, a very complicated construction results with the external, additional outlet nozzles for the additional air flow.

Apparatus for applying a thermoplastic high-polymer material, in particular an adhesive, to a substrate


The methyl ester of .alpha.-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine may be obtained in high yields directly from a reaction solution which contains N-protected- or unprotected-.alpha.-L-aspartyl-D-phenylalanine (or its methyl ester derivative), and .alpha.-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester by selective crystallization of the .alpha.-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester hydrochloride from an aqueous solution containing N-protected- or unprotected-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine and/or its methyl ester derivative and N-protected- or unprotected-L-aspartyl-D-phenylalanine and/or its methyl ester derivative, hydrochloric acid, and methanol, with or without stirring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing .alpha.-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester hydrochloride (abbreviated as .alpha.-L-L-APM.HCl hereafter) by crystallizing .alpha.-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester hydrochloride from an aqueous solution of L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine and/or the methyl ester derivative thereof (including an N-protected type) and L-aspartyl-D-phenylalanine and/or the methyl ester derivative thereof (including an N-protected type) which contains hydrochloric acid and methanol, with or without stirring.
2. Discussion of the Background
.alpha.-L-L-APM is a low calorie sweetener of high quality, while .alpha.-L-aspartyl-D-phenylalanine methyl ester hydrochloride (abbreviated as .alpha.-L-D-APM.HCl hereafter) is tasteless and, thus, has no use as a sweetener. A variety of methods are known for the production of .alpha.-L-L-APM.
For example, hitherto known methods include: (a) the condensation of a N-protected-L-aspartic anhydride and the methyl ester of L-phenylalanine, followed by elimination of the N-protecting group according to a conventional method (U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,039); (b) the condensation of a N-protected-L-aspartic anhydride and L-phenylalanine, elimination of the N-protecting group according to a conventional method, followed by crystallization of .alpha.-L-L-APM.HCl in an aqueous solution of methanol (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication SHO 49-41425); (c) the direct condensation of the methyl ester of L-phenylalanine with a strong acid addition salt of L-aspartic anhydride (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication SHO 49-14217); (d) the condensation of a N-protected L-aspartic acid and the methyl ester of L-phenylalanine in the presence of an enzyme, followed by conventional elimination of the N-protecting group (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication SHO 55-135595), etc.
The starting materials for these production methods are L-aspartic acid (abbreviated as L-Asp hereafter) and L-phenylalanine (abbreviated as L-Phe hereafter). L-Asp is easily produced by an enzymatic reaction of the substrates fumaric acid and ammonia and is available at a low cost. On the other hand, regarding L-Phe, although DL-phenylalanine (abbreviated as DL-Phe hereafter) may be synthesized cheaply, the cost for the requisite optical resolution is high, and the production of L-Phe by fermentation requires expensive purification for the removal of the by-products, resulting in a very costly method for producing .alpha.-L-L-APM.HCl, due to the use of the starting material, L-Phe. If DL-Phe were suitable for use in a method for producing of .alpha.-L-L-APM, then the method would be expected to be an advantageous one from an industrial viewpoint.
In this regard, production methods are already known which use L-Asp and DL-Phe as the starting materials. For example, a report has been made of a method where a N-protected-L-Asp and DL-Phe are condensed conventionally to produce N-Protected-.alpha.-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine (abbreviated as N-protected-.alpha.-L-L-AP hereafter) and N-protected-.alpha.-L-aspartyl-D-phenylalanine (abbreviated as N-protected-.alpha.-L-D-AP hereafter), after which the N-protected-.alpha.-L-L-AP is separated by crystallization (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication SHO 63-445945), then the N-protecting group is eliminated in a conventional manner, thereby leading to .alpha.-L-L-APM. This production method, however, has a fatal drawback in that reliance on the difference in solubility between N-protected-.alpha.-L-L-AP and N-protected-.alpha.-L-D-AP prevents the obtaining of N-protected-.alpha.-L-L-AP in high yields.
Needless to say, the above drawback of the N-protected-AP cannot be overcome even if the N-protecting group is first eliminated from the N-protected-.alpha.-L-L-AP and N-protected-.alpha.-L-D-AP in the solution to yield a solution containing .alpha.-L-L-AP and .alpha.-L-D-AP, after which .alpha.-L-L-AP is subjected to conventional dissolution followed by cooling to crystallization. In other words, the isomers must be separated before removal of the N-protecting group, thus presenting industrial problems such as low yields and complicated operations for crystallization and separation.
Thus, there remains a need for a method for producing .alpha.-L-L-APM whereby a decrease in the yield of the desired .alpha.-L-L-APM due to the formation or presence of the byproduct L-D-AP (or its methyl ester derivative) is prevented and .alpha.-L-L-APM.HCl is crystallized directly from a reaction mixture which contains N-protected- or unprotected-L-D-AP (or its methyl ester derivative), selectively and in high yield, in the case where L-Phe containing DL-Phe and D-phenylalanine (abbreviated as D-Phe hereafter) is used as the starting material for production of the .alpha.-L-L-APM.

Method for production of .alpha.-L-aspartyl-L phenylalanine methyl ester hydrochloride


A workflow system includes: a workflow storage that stores workflows built by connecting a plurality of tasks assigned to persons in charge, respectively; a task extracting unit that extracts at least one task from each of two or more of the workflows stored in the workflow storage; a site creation unit that creates a conference site of which an access authority is given to the persons in charge of the tasks extracted by the task extracting unit and in which electronic information is shared; and an access controller that controls access to the conference site created by the site creation unit in accordance with the authority.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a workflow system and a computer readable medium.
2. Related Art
Generally, there has been a workflow system for managing various business processes such as a circulation, a request for decision, and a consensual decision. As exemplarily shown in FIG. 12, a workflow is made by connecting tasks to each other such as 'purchase request entry', 'purchase request approval', and 'purchase acceptance' in a process of purchasing articles in accordance with business flow and is established in accordance with business contents. In addition, in the tasks constituting the workflow, at least one person in charge is assigned, and when a task is accomplished, an instruction for starting the next task is notified to a person in charge of the next task in the current workflow. As described above, the workflow system is configured to be able to effectively manage business progress in accordance with the established workflow.

Workflow system and computer readable medium