Cocoa oils containing phytosterols and tocols are prepared by extracting the cocoa hulls from dried unfermented or fermented cocoa beans, micronized cocoa beans, or roasted beans with a solvent such as petroleum ether and then removing the solvent. The cocoa oils are useful in foods, dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to the extraction of valuable by-products from cocoa hulls.
2. Description of Related Art
Cocoa hulls are a waste by-product of the roasting of cocoa beans and have little value in chocolate manufacturing. Generally, the cocoa hulls are used as compost.
Seventeen Herrania and 22 Theobroma species have been described. See Schultes, R. E., J. Arnold Arb., 39:216, 1958; Cuatrescasas J., Cont. Nat. Herb. (USA), 35:379, 1964; and Wood, G. A. R. and R. A. Lass, Cocoa, 4th edn., Longman Inc., New York, 1985, pp. 11-37. Of these, Theobroma cacao is the only species of major economic importance because its fat rich seeds are the unique source of cocoa solids and cocoa butter used by the confectionery industry. Cocoa beans are produced by cocoa trees which are found in warm, moist climates in areas about 20 degrees latitude north and south of the Equator. In general, the seeds of the Theohroma cacao (of the order Sterculiacae) are known chiefly in two varieties: Criollo and Forastero, with Forastero divided into several varieties. A third group, called Trinitario, is essentially a cross between Criollo and Forastero and is not found in the wild. Criollo beans are pale brown in color while Forastero beans are a purple hue. The cocoa tree produces leaves, flowers and fruit throughout the year, and the ripe fruit or pod resembles a long cantaloupe, typically containing from about 20 to 40 almond-shaped cocoa beans.
The cocoa bean is comprised of an inner nib portion covered by an outer shell, also referred to as the hull. On a dry basis, the shell of the bean comprises about 12 to 15% of the weight of the bean, while the nib and residual moisture amounts to approximately 85 to 88%. Typical analytical data ranges for chemical components of cocoa nib are: fat content of 48 to 57%; theobromine content of 0.8 to 1.3%; caffeine content of 0.1 to 0.7%; total nitrogen content of 2.2 to 2.5%; ash content of 2.6 to 4.2%; and water content of 2.3 to 3.2% (see Pearson""s Composition and Analysis of Foods, 9th Edition, 1991).
Various processes are traditionally employed to extract cocoa butter and cocoa solids from commercial cocoa beans. Typical methods of processing cocoa beans include the steps of (a) bean cleaning; (b) bean roasting; (c) bean winnowing; (d) nib grinding; (e) liquor pressing to produce cocoa butter and cocoa cake, also referred to as partially defatted cocoa solids; (f) optionally cake alkalizing; and (d) cake milling.
The initial step of typical cocoa bean processing methods consists of cleaning the beans to remove extraneous non-cocoa materials. Conventional bean cleaning separates beans from extraneous non-cocoa materials by either size or density using a cleaning machine which is a gravity, vibratory or aspiration table (See Chocolate, Cocoa and Confectionery: Science and Technology, 3rd Ed., by Bernard W. Minifie, page 35; Chocolate Production and Use, 3rd Ed., by L. Russell Cook, page 144-146; and Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use, 2nd Ed., by S. T. Beckett, page 55.
In most conventional processes, roasting of the whole bean or nib is an essential step in the manufacture of chocolate or cocoa. Roasting develops the natural flavor and aroma of the cocoa beans, and also loosens the shell so that it can be readily removed during the winnowing process. The degree of cocoa roast is a time/temperature dependent relationship, where the time can vary from 5 to 120 minutes and the temperature of the whole bean can typically vary from 125xc2x0 C., and with respect to the roasting of nibs, an initial drying process step can be at just below 100xc2x0 C. to remove the shell, with second stage roasting of nibs alone being at elevated temperatures up to about 130xc2x0 C.; all of which depend on the construction of the machine, size of the batch and final product desired (see Chocolate, Cocoa and Confectionery: Science and Technology, 3rd Ed., by Bernard W. Minifie, especially page 37, 45-46; Chocolate Production and Use. 3rd Ed., by L. Russell Cook, page 146-152; and Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use, 2rd Ed., by S. T. Beckett, page 55-64) hereby incorporated by reference). U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,349 to Carter, Jr., hereby incorporated by reference), involves heating the bean to a temperature of about 152xc2x0 C. to 160xc2x0 C. for about 5 to 8 minutes.
An alternative method for directly processing cocoa beans to cocoa butter and partially defatted cocoa solids is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,913 (issued Jan. 18, 2000 to Kealey et al.), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The method involves heating the cocoa beans for a time and at an internal bean temperature sufficient to loosen the cocoa shell without roasting the nib, winnowing the nibs from said shells, and screw pressing the nibs to produce cocoa butter and partially defatted cocoa solids. Typically, the internal bean temperature is about 100-110xc2x0 C., preferably less than about 105xc2x0 C. and typically, the heating is carried out by infra red heating in a micronizer. The winnowing is carried out in an air fluidized bed density separator. The loss of cocoa polyphenols including cocoa procyanidins is minimized because the temperatures used are lower than those used in a process.
The winnowing operation serves to separate the beans into the desired inner portion of the bean (nib) and the outer portion of the bean (shell or hull). The principle of separation by a winnowing process depends on the difference in the apparent density of the nib and of the shell. Standard winnowing machines make use of the combined action of sieving and air aspiration. As discussed earlier, the shell is loosened during the conventional roasting step and/or other heating or drying steps. After loosening, the beans are typically broken between rollers or such devices to shatter the cocoa beans along natural fracture lines of the cocoa nib to facilitate shell removal during winnowing (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,417,078 to Jones. U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,349 to Carter, Jr., hereby incorporated by reference. Chocolate, Cocoa and Confectionery: Science and Technology, 3rd Ed., by Bernard W. Minifie. pp. 47-51; Chocolate Production and Use, 3rd Ed., by L. Russell Cook. pp. 152-153; and Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use, 2nd Ed., by S. T. Beckett, page 67-68.
Some cocoa bean processing techniques include the use of thermal pre-treatment equipment to aid in the separation of the shell from the nib. This involves giving the beans a thermal shock by hot air, steam or infra-red heat (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,444 to Zuilichem et al., and British Patent No. 1,379,116 to Newton, Chocolate, Cocoa and Confectionery: Science and Technology, 3rd Ed., by Bernard W. Minifie page 44-45; Chocolate Production and Use. 3rd Ed., by L. Russell Cook, page 155; and Industrial chocolate Manufacture and Use, 2nd Ed,. by S. T. Beckett, page 60-62, hereby incorporated by reference).
Infra-red pre-treatment uses infra-red heating to rapidly heat and expand the beans which assists in loosening the shells. The method consists of treating the beans with infra-red radiation for a period between one-half and two minutes, during which time the beans are typically heated to a temperature of about 100 to 110xc2x0 C. The infra-red radiation used has a wavelength between 2 and 6 microns which corresponds to a frequency in the range of 0.7 to 1.2xc3x97108 megacycles per second. This energy penetrates and excites the molecules of the bean which causes them to vibrate at their own frequency and results in rapid heating of the beans.
Cocoa hulls resulting from the above processes are removed from further cocoa/chocolate manufacturing steps. As such, the cocoa hulls are considered a waste by-product with little economic value, although they are used for mulching or composting applications.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cphytosterolsxe2x80x9d refers to lipid mixtures obtained from a plant source containing free or bound sterols. A cocoa oil which contains phytosterols is prepared by extracting cocoa hulls with a solvent for the phytosterols. The phytosterols are a mixture of free and bound sterols, with the free sterols being up to about 90% of the phytosterols present. The phytosterols include campesterol, xcex2-sitosterol, stigmasterol, cycloartanol, 24-methylene cycloartenol, as well as minor amounts of other phytosterols. The bound phytoserols include the fatty acid ester or ferulate derivatives of the phytosterols. The cocoa oil can further comprise tocopherols and tocotrienols which are members of the tocol family.
The process for extracting the cocoa oil comprises the steps of: a) grinding the cocoa hulls; b) extracting the ground cocoa hulls with a solvent for the phytosterols; c) removing the solvent; and d) recovering the cocoa hull oil.
The phytosterol-containing cocoa oil can be included in foods, dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.
Cocoa beans can be divided into four categories based on their color: predominately brown (fully fermented), purple/brown, purple, and slaty (unfermented). Preferably, as indicated above, the cocoa oil is prepared from underfermented cocoa beans which have a higher cocoa phytosterol content than fermented beans. Underfermented beans include slaty cocoa beans, purple cocoa beans, mixtures of slaty and purple cocoa beans, mixtures of purple and brown cocoa beans, or mixture of slaty, purple, and brown cocoa beans. More preferably, the cocoa beans are slaty and/or purple beans. Underfermented beans typically have a fermentation factor of 275 or less.
The xe2x80x9cfermentation factorxe2x80x9d is determined using a grading system for characterizing the fermentation of the cocoa beans. Slaty is designated 1, purple is 2, purple/brown is 3, and brown is 4. The percentage of beans falling within each category is multiplied by the weighted number. Thus, the xe2x80x9cfermentation factorxe2x80x9d for a sample of 100% brown beans would be 100xc3x974 or 400, whereas for a 100% sample of purple beans it would be 100xc3x972 or 200. A sample of 50% slaty beans and 50% purple beans would have a fermentation factor of 150 (50xc3x971)+(50xc3x972).
The preferred solvents are petroleum ether, hexane, pentane, and ethyl ether. The solvent is recovered by vacuum distillation or other conventional methods.
The phytosterols may be purified by preparative high pressure liquid chromatography or column chromatography.
The cocoa oil, particularly the purified cocoa oil, may be useful in foods, as a food additive, in a dietary supplement, or in a pharmaceutical. The cocoa oil may be used with a carrier, a diluent, or an excepient. The carrier, diluent, or excepient selected will depend on the particular end use, for example, for human or veterinary use, whether as a food, food additive, or dietary supplement or in a pharmaceutical.
As used herein a xe2x80x9cfoodxe2x80x9d is a material consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate and/or fat, which is used in the body of an organism to sustain growth, repair and vital processes and to furnish energy. Foods may also contain supplementary substances such as minerals, vitamins and condiments. See Merriam-Webster""s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, 1993. The term food includes a beverage adapted for human or animal consumption. As used herein a xe2x80x9cfood additivexe2x80x9d is as defined by the FDA in 21 C.F.R. 170.3(e)(1) and includes direct and indirect additives. As used herein, a xe2x80x9cpharmaceuticalxe2x80x9d is a medicinal drug. See Merriam-Webster""s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, 1993. A pharmaceutical may also be referred to as a medicament. As used herein, a xe2x80x9cdietary supplementxe2x80x9d is a product (other than tobacco) that is intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, an herb or other botanical, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total daily intake, or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract or combination of these ingredients.
The cocoa oil, particularly the purified cocoa oil, may be used in cosmetics. The cosmetics are formulated using conventional methods known in the art. Typical cosmetics include creams, lotions, gels, conditioners, shampoos, soaps. dyes, and other compositions for external use. The cocoa oils may be used with other conventional cosmetically acceptable ingredients such as moisturizers (e.g., cetyl alcohol, dimethicone silicon, isopropyl lanolate, myrisate, or palmitate, lanolin and lanolin alcohols and oils, octyl dodecanol, oleic acid, panthenol, stearic acid, and stearyl alcohol), preservatives (e.g., trisodium and tetrasodium edetate and tocopherol), antioxidants such as vitamins, antimicrobials (e.g., butyl, propyl, ethyl, and methyl parabens, DMDM hydantoin, methylisothiazolinone, phenoxyethanol, and quaternium-15), thickeners (e.g., candelilla, carnuba, and microcrystalline waxes and carbomer and polyethylene thickeness), solvents (e.g., butylene glycol and propylene glycol, cyclomethicone, ethanol, glycerin), emulsifiers (e.g., glyceryl monostearate and lauramide DEA, and polysorbates). color additives such as synthetic organic colors derived from coal and petroleum sources (e.g., DandC Red No. 7 Calcium Lakes) and inorganic pigments (e.g iron oxides and mica), hair dyes such as phenol derivatives (e.g., aminophenols), pH adjusters (e.g., ammonium hydroxide, citric acid, and triethanolamine), and other FDA approved ingredients such as magnesium aluminum silicate, silica, and talc (absorbents), sodium lauryl sulfate (a detergent), stearic acid (a cleansing emulsifier), and zinc stearate (a lubricant).
Sterols, particularly phytosterols, can be used in a variety of products including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, vitamins, foods, and dietary supplements. The ferulated polysterols are particularly useful as antioxidants.
The sterol amounts reported in the following examples were determined using the analytical procedure described in Rogers et al., xe2x80x9cIdentification and Quantitation of gamma-Oryzanol Components and Simultaneous Assessment of Tocols in Rice Bran Oilxe2x80x9d, J. Amer. Oil Chem. Soc. 70(30) 1993 and Carpenter, et al., xe2x80x9cLipid Composition of Herrania and Theobroma Seeds, J. Amer. Oil Chem. Soc. 71(8) 1994.


A magnetically releasable pin lock which comprises catch elements mounted to pivot about axes perpendicular to and displaced from the pin axis and elongated magnetizable actuation elements which extend from the catch elements along the pin axis to be acted upon by applied magnetic decoupling fields and to move in response to such fields to pivot the catch elements and release the pin.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to lock mechanisms for holding target wafers to articles of merchandise and more particularly it concerns a novel lock construction which can be manufactured easily and economically and which provides strong and reliable locking with positive release.
2. Description on the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,461 shows a lock mechanism for holding a target wafer to an article of merchandise. The target wafer is a thin flat plastic housing in which an electrical circuit is embedded. The electrical circuit is designed to produce a characteristic disturbance to an electromagnetic interrogation signal when the article of merchandise is carried past a doorway or other exit path where the interrogation signal is generated. This disturbance is detected by a monitor at the doorway and the monitor in turn actuates an audio or visual alarm. The lock mechanism is releasable by means of a special magnetic tool under the control of a sales clerk or other authorized person; and upon release of the lock mechanism, the target wafer is removed from the merchandise so that the merchandise can be carried out through the doorway without actuating the alarm. The lock mechanism shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,461 is known as a "ball clutch" type lock mechanism. This mechanism comprises a cone and an internally tapered ring arranged within the wafer housing and a spring which presses the cone into the tapered ring. The cone has an axial hole to accommodate the shank of a pin fastener and a pair of transverse holes which intersect the axial hole and which accommodate locking balls. When a fastener pin is projected into the axial hole it passes between the balls. The cone holds the balls in position between the pin shank and the tapered wall of the ring. Any axial force on the pin in the direction of pin removal causes the balls to become more tightly squeezed between the pin and the ring wall. The lock is released by application of a magnetic force to the cone to pull it against the force of the spring in a direction opposite the direction of pin removal. This cone movement brings the balls to a position along the ring wall where they are no longer wedged between the pin and wall; and the pin may then be easily removed.
The above described lock mechanism is very strong and secure and it operates very reliably to release the pin when a magnetic force is applied to the cone. The mechanism however is somewhat expensive to manufacture in that the cone and ring must be individually machined and a separate spring and balls must also be provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,119 describes another lock mechanism which comprises a one piece sheet metal element which is slit to form flange-like jaws that bend up and away from each other when the shank of a pin type fastener is pushed between them. Any axial force on the fastener in the direction of removal forces the flange jaws more tightly against the pin shank. However, when a magnetic force is applied to risers extending from the flange jaws, this force, according to the patent, pulls the jaws in a direction away from pin removal and forces them apart from each other and from the pin shank so that the pin may be removed.
The above described lock mechanism of U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,119 is of one piece construction; however, since the flanges which lock the pin must be flexed to release the pin, the device is either too rigid to permit reliable release or it is too flexible to provide secure locking.


The present invention is an electro acoustic target searching system comprising receiving transducer means capable of receiving first, second and third frequencies, signal evaluation means for producing direction signals indicative of direction of reception of acoustic signals at any of the frequencies and logic means operable to control the frequency at which the evaluation means determines the direction of reception so that if a direction signal determined from evaluation at the lowest frequency exceeds a reference magnitude, evaluation is then made at the middle frequency, and if the resulting direction signals indicate receipt of acoustic signals exceeding a predetermined magnitude from a plurality of directions, evaluation is made at the highest frequency.

The invention relates to an electro acoustic target searching system for torpedos. It is known to provide in the head of the torpedo an electro acoustic transducer. The reception diagram can be tilted mechanically or electrically and automatically with its main sensitivity axis aligns itself to a noise source, usually the propeller of a ship which has to be attacked. For accurate localization of the target and control of the torpedo, the selection of the reception frequency of the transducer is of essential importance. In order to hinder localisation of the torpedo by the enemy the transducer as far as possible only operates passively, that means it only receives noise without itself transmitting sound pulses. During determined intervals of the travel of the torpedo in many cases a temporary active operation of the transducer is favorable. The size of the transducer is limited by the dimensions of the torpedo. The selection of the reception frequency depends on the expected noise spectrum of the target which is to be attached. However, the selection process must also take into account attenuation of sound waves in water which increases rapidly with increasing frequency. For a greatest possible reception range, therefore, an as low as possible reception frequency would be favorable. For achieving a suitable angular solution, however, mechanical dimensions of the transducer would be required which because of the limitations in space within the torpedo cannot be achieved.
A further point of view for the selection of a suitable reception frequency derives from the expected combat situation in which mostly a greater number of targets and therewith a greater number of noise sources are present simultaneously which furthermore by acoustic countermeasures try to hinder localisation. It is the object of the invention therefore to provide an electro acoustic target searching system for torpedos which in optimum manner takes care of the opposing requirements.

Electro acoustic target searching system for torpedos


A system of self-sufficient isolated incarceration for housing and rehabilitating inmates comprising dwelling units, each sufficiently secured with barriers such as fences and monitored to prevent escape or injury. The dwelling includes facilities for day-to-day self-sufficiency, including such things as utilities, furniture, and utensils to enable the inmate to be responsible for such things as preparation of food, clothing needs, and the maintaining of the dwelling and the surrounding exterior area. Communication capabilities are provided, such as telephone, radio, and television to enable the inmate to participate in educational, social, entertainment and therapeutic activities.

By the 19th century, accepted methods of dealing with criminals had shifted, in this country and in much of the industrial world, from the physical tortures of medieval times to physical confinement as a mode of punishment. Early in the 19th century two distinct and competing methods of incarceration were in operation in the United States: The Pennsylvania System, developed by the Quakers many years before, involving the total isolation of prisoners in small individual cells, with occasional solitary release for exercise and hygiene, and occasional visits by clergy and such. Its competitor was the Auburn System, or congregate system, which became the forerunner of the modern penitentiary.
Not surprisingly, the Pennsylvania System, by its cruel isolation, mutilated prisoners in a way unacceptable even by 19th century standards. After much debate and experimentation, the system was discredited and abandoned by mid-19th century. Aside from its psychological cruelty, the Pennsylvania system cost, in 1833, eighteen times as much per inmate as the Auburn System.
Surprisingly, the Pennsylvania system seems to be making a small comeback in its classic form. In a desperate effort to isolate certain prisoners for their protection, or because of extreme recalcitrance, or uncontrollable gang influence, a few systems have sprung up that involve isolated cell life 24 hours a day, with occasional short periods of solitary exercise, shower, and other necessities. Two examples are at Pelican Bay in California, and the maxi-maxi facility at Elmira, N.Y., which suffered a riot in 1991. An inmate at Pelican Bay, recently interviewed on 60 Minutes, finds conditions so unbearable that he is seeking the death penalty in Texas on unrelated charges.
In fact, aside from these examples of entire facilities designed to isolate inmates, a substantial portion of inmates in standard, congregate institutions spend most or all of their terms in Protective Custody isolation. The total percentage of isolated inmates, at any given time, ranges from 4% to 17% in various states.
Isolate prisons are the exception. Most of the approximately 1.1 million state and federal prisoners in this country are in penitentiaries of the congregate form. This number represents a massive expansion of prison population from 285,000 in 1977. In addition to these 1.1 million prison inmates, over 500,000 are in jails, where they await disposition or serve short sentences. Beyond these are about three million people under probation or parole. The fact that the crime rate has reached record levels in tandem with prison population indicates that most of the people in the habit of committing serious crimes are not behind bars.
To expand prison capacity and the rest of the criminal justice system to accommodate additional millions is a financially daunting prospect. Typical costs for each additional convict-space are on the order of $100,000, and annual per capita expense is typically $20,000, with certain facilities, such as Rikers Island in New York City, running as high as $60,000 per year per inmate. It is worth keeping in mind that, very roughly, it costs the income of the average American wage earner to incarcerate the average prisoner, and each additional space runs for about the same amount as a new single family home.
Even with the massive expansion of prison capacity in recent years, the current systems seem perpetually on the verge of collapse. Most states, under court order to reduce crowding, resort to early release to a greater or lesser extent. Despite the current boom in prison construction, our 1.1 million guests are living under conditions designed for far fewer.
The "modern" penitentiary has a long and conflicted history and is a distillation of many influences: various penal theories; popular anger, compassion, neglect; wide ranges in fiscal capacity and will. The result is a high-security institution that effectively separates its dangerous population from the larger society, but cannot protect its members from each other. It is an extremely expensive and complicated institution, requiring a large cadre of corrections personnel. These guards enter into a strange and convoluted relationship with the convict population, a relationship that corrupts and brutalizes both sides. This relationship often involves the ordainment of "trusted inmates", or implicit deals with powerful gangs, resulting in hierarchies of power and favor. Extreme cycles of authority transfer, and the attendant corruption, inevitably lead to explosions. There have been about 300 prison riots in the last twenty years.
The modern penitentiary offers a host of tortures and punishments that society will readily admit it has no right to inflict on any person, regardless of his crime. The worst of these include personal and gang terrorism, extortion, rape, slavery, and murder. That society cannot, despite the unbelievable expense, guarantee the average convict against these horrors is a profound indictment. Pretending that deprivation of freedom is all there is to a prison sentence today is a dark hypocrisy. Insecurity is constant and pervasive, for strong and weak alike.
In recent decades the courts have taken an interest in prison conditions, and have mandated changes where conditions were deemed inhumane. Many of the worst systems have been improved, despite great institutional resistance, but a sense of futility has pervaded the process. There is a sense in the country, and among experts, that the courts are trying to reform a system that is fundamentally flawed.
I believe that a fresh look at penitentiary design is called for. The question I wish to pose is this: assuming that the criminal is to be confined, can we devise a system that, as its guiding principle, incorporates many of those positive aspects of confinement that contribute, in the ordinary citizen, to the improvement of his life; and conversely, can we dispense with those aspects of confinement that are pointlessly destructive of life and spirit, and in the end do not serve any of society's purposes in incarceration? In other words, can prisons be designed so that confinement leans more toward the quality of discipline rather than torture?
The system I propose, which will be referred to herein as Self Sufficient Isolation (SSI), has the following strategy:
A) To physically (but not otherwise) isolate inmates from each other.
B) To design an environment for each inmate rich, varied, and flexible enough to permit him, given will and discipline, to better himself under conditions of relative dignity.
C) To make the system affordable to construct and maintain.
The system I envision, and which I will elaborate in detail, is relatively cheap, at least as effective from a security standpoint, and infinitely more humane than present methods. It is a system that a person could leave his mother in for two months without concern (but not, perhaps, without recriminations), and yet can accommodate the most dangerous inmates.
The key to the malignancy of today's prisons lies in permitting convicts to congregate. Just as small amounts of relatively benign radioactive material become dangerous when brought together, convicts who are relatively easy to deal with individually suddenly require extraordinary precautions when massed. If congregation could be eliminated without bringing back the horrifying effects of isolation, I believe we would have the basis of a new order with unthought of benefits.

Arrangement for incarceration providing self sufficient isolation


Provided are macrocyclic compounds having a macrocyclic core which has at least one macrocyclic donor and at least one pendant group which has at least one donor group. The macrocyclic compounds can be complexed to Fe(II) and Ni(II). The macrocyclic compounds can be used in imaging methods. For example, the compounds can be used MRI paraCEST contrast agents.

One of the most powerful and non-invasive tools that clinicians utilize in order to gain insight into the structural or physiological functions of changes within an individual is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This tool that allows a specialized magnetic reader to detect and measure proton relaxation signals that can be varied by contrast agents, which have been predigested or pre-injected into the body and localized within an individual, is of interest. Such contrast agents are a key component of determining the ultimate sensitivity of the MRI image.

Imaging contrast agents and uses thereof

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York


A low-frequency treatment device and a treatment system with enhanced user convenience. An acquisition unit acquires an atmospheric pressure of a position where the low-frequency treatment device is located (step S102), a determination unit determines whether the atmospheric pressure is less than a threshold (step S104), and a treatment portion increases an intensity of low frequency treatment if the atmospheric pressure is less than the threshold (step S108).

Known low-frequency treatment devices are configured to apply electrical stimulation to an area of the user's body by outputting a low-frequency pulse to the area via an electrode pad. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a low-frequency treatment device with an output intensity that is able to be set by a user.

Low-frequency treatment device and treatment system


A primer/topcoat coil coating system employs crosslinkable branched hydroxyl-functional polyester-imide resins derived or derivable from a symmetric aromatic imide triol and a diacid or acid-producing derivative. The primer resin has a hydroxyl number greater than about 90 but not more than about 215, the topcoat resin has a hydroxyl number greater than about 100 but not more than about 215, and the primer and topcoat can each be hardened in 30 seconds or less to provide a coating having at least 0T flexibility with no tape off and at least 2H pencil hardness.

Coil products are used to coat metallic substrates. The coating protects the substrate from outdoor or indoor elements and degradation (e.g., corrosion and UV degradation) as well as providing a smooth, even and appealing appearance. Some coil products are employed to make "coil coated" sheet stock. Coil coated sheet stock typically includes a roll of metallic substrate that is unwound, coated and rerolled for storage prior to fabrication. Coil products applied to such metallic substrates desirably will withstand the fabrication conditions to which the coil coated sheet stock may subsequently be subjected while meanwhile protecting the metallic substrate. The coil product accordingly should meet unique requirements for the intended use. These requirements typically include durability, hardness, flexibility, impact resistance, and the like. Unfortunately, it is especially difficult to formulate coil product coating compositions so that they will provide both high hardness and high flexibility. Normally an increase in coating hardness will require a sacrifice in coating flexibility, and an increase in coating flexibility will require a sacrifice in coating hardness. The curing or hardening conditions employed when making coil coated sheet stock also make it difficult to attain coatings with high pencil hardness values. Commercial coil coating lines usually employ a heating cycle lasting 30 seconds or less. Longer heating cycle times might in some instances provide an improvement in pencil hardness, but owing to line speed constraints and the installed equipment base it is undesirable to extend the heating cycle past 30 seconds. It can also be difficult to attain high pencil hardness values on some substrates (e.g., hot-dipped galvanized steel) or using some pigmented coatings (e.g., high gloss black coatings). Thus it has been difficult to use existing line equipment and existing formulations to fabricate a range of coil coated sheet stock whose coatings have a 0T T-bend flexibility rating using the test described in ASTM D4145-83 and a 2H or higher pencil hardness rating using the test described in ASTM D 3363-00.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that what is needed in the art are coil coating compositions (preferably low cost coating compositions) that provide a desirable combination of flexibility and hardness when applied to a range of substrates at commercially acceptable line speeds. Such coating compositions, articles made using these coating compositions, and methods for preparing the coating compositions and articles are disclosed and claimed herein.


The air/fuel mixture ratio supplied to an internal combustion engine of a vehicle is modified to achieve a constant mass flow rate in spite of changes in atmospheric temperature and pressure conditions by employing an electronic compensation system. The system has sensors which detect air temperature and barometric pressure, from which signals are developed controlling the float bowl pressure in the engine carburettors, thus modifying the air/fuel mixture ratio as desired. The system also includes provision for enriching the fuel content of the mixture supplied to the engine to provide an oversupply of fuel in cold start situations.

A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new or improved fuel supply system for an internal combustion engine, to a manifold specifically designed for use in such system, to a kit of parts to enable retrofitting of such system in an existing engine and to a method of controlling the fuel supply to achieve the improved response to a number of environmental conditions.
B. Description of the Prior Art
In internal combustion engines having carburetor controlled fuel supplies, as is typical of engines used in vehicles such as snowmobiles and personal watercraft, it is well known that the rate of fuel flow in a fixed or variable venturi carburetor is dependent upon the pressure differential existing in the fuel system between the venturi and e.g. a fuel bowl (otherwise called a float bowl or a float chamber). In a conventional float bowl carburetor the pressure differential is measured between the pressure in the fluid float chamber (which is normally atmospheric pressure) and the pressure at the discharge orifice of the fuel metering system which is normally located in or adjacent the venturi in the induction passage.
For optimum combustion, the relationship between the mass air flow and the mass fuel flow delivered to the engine by the carburetor should be kept constant, and to achieve this the carburetor employs either a fixed or a variable venturi (or some equivalent structure) such that when air velocity in the induction passage is increased a pressure reduction (often called a vacuum) is created in the venturi zone. This pressure reduction creates a pressure differential between the induction passage and the fuel in the float chamber, causing fuel to be drawn into the induction passage at a flow rate that is proportional to the pressure differential.
The amount or level of the venturi underpressure or vacuum is mainly a function of air velocity through the induction passage, but as is well understood, at a given velocity, the mass air flow rate is affected by air density which in turn is mainly a function of barometric pressure and air temperature.
For example for a snowmobile operating at an altitude of 2000 meters, a given air velocity in the carburetor induction passage will deliver a very much reduced mass air flow to the engine as compared to the same air velocity when the snowmobile in operating at seal level, this being due to the reduced barometric pressure and air density at altitude. However since fuel flow is mostly a function of the venturi underpressure or vacuum, the engine when operating at altitude would tend to be supplied with a mixture that is over rich in fuel. This phenomenon is well understood. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,198 Bostelmann discloses a carburetor system that is designed to adjust the fuel flow to maintain the mass air fuel mixture ratio constant despite changes in altitude.


A material processing and associated additive manufacturing system and method that utilizes high intensity light to fuse an entire layer of material, at one time, to create a three-dimensional component. The system and method of the present invention allows for each layer to be created in a fraction of the time, thereby reducing the overall time for a three-dimensional component to be created, thereby increasing control over the properties achieved.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an industrial manufacturing method used to create three-dimensional components from solid digital computer models. Typically, the three-dimensional components are sliced into two-dimensional cross sections of a prescribed thickness and each two-dimensional cross section is then reproduced from the feedstock material. These two-dimensional cross sections are stacked on top of each other and fused to the layer beneath, thereby reproducing components with complex three-dimensional geometry. The layering nature of AM allows each part to be unique without requiring custom tooling, but frequently at the cost of fabrication time.
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly growing field. In addition to prototype manufacturing, the applications for additive manufacturing are expanding into the electronics, medical, aerospace, military and manufacturing industries. The numerous manufacturing requirements in these various industries results in a large variation in the manufacturing process which is dependent upon the specific application and the particular industry. Additive manufacturing is a great candidate for meeting the needs of these various industries because of it's capability to produce parts with complex geometries, utilizing many materials and providing a high degree of customization.
Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing method which produces high quality parts suitable for end-use. Similar to most other additive manufacturing technologies, SLS forms a complete three-dimensional object by fusing together multiple two-dimensional layers. To form three-dimensional objects with SLS, a focused laser is typically used to impart energy onto a preheated bed of powdered material, which is effective in fusing together the particles of the powdered material in the exposed area defined by the two-dimensional cross section. In SLS, a single area is typically exposed to the laser for milliseconds at a time as a laser scans across the two-dimensional cross section of the part to be created. A new layer of powdered material is then deposited on top of the first sintered two-dimensional cross section and the process repeats, as shown in FIG. 1.
Prior art methods known in the art for creating a component utilizing additive manufacturing, such as selective layer sintering, are time consuming.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a system and method that reduces the time required to create a component using additive manufacturing.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Projection material processing system and associated method of use


Non-transitory computer instructions to computer generate, manage, and analyze a safety instrumented model in software of safety instrumented system architecture for a safety instrumented system in a facility, with test plans. The safety instrumented system architecture comprises at least one instrumented protective function and the non-transitory computer instructions that use a software model in support of process safety lifecycle management.

A need exists for non-transitory computer instructions that can target risk reduction requirements versus achieved results from safety integrity level (SIL) calculations for a facility having a hazard and risk assessment and an associated layer of protective analysis (LOPA).
A further need exists for non-transitory computer instructions that compare test intervals assumed in safety integrity level (SIL) calculations to actual test completions being recorded.
Another need exists for non-transitory computer instructions which can compare device failure rates assumed in safety integrity level (SIL) calculations versus actual failure rates recorded.
A need exists for non-transitory computer instructions that provide a downtime estimate for repair on devices, software, or processes, or even an entire facility in safety integrity level (SIL) calculations and compares that downtime estimate to actual availability with actual time in a bypass situation.
A need exists for non-transitory computer instructions that identify demand sources and causes named in at least a layer of protective analysis (LOPA), and compares the identified demand sources to actual demands as recorded.
A need exists for non-transitory computer instructions that identify safety instrument system (SIS) lifecycle phases required for projects versus phases of completed projects on a real time dashboard for multiuser viewing.
The present embodiments meet these needs.
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.

Computer instructions to build, analyze and manage a real world model in software of a safety instrumented system architecture for safety instrumented systems in a facility


A particular method includes receiving first data via a first network at a device that is configured to receive the first data via the first network based on a first wireless communication subscription and is configured to receive second data via a second network based on a second wireless communication subscription. The method also includes while receiving the first data, determining that a tuneaway period associated with the second network has passed, where the tuneaway period is longer than a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle length associated with the second network. The method further includes tuning a receiver of the device to a paging channel of the second network in response to passing of the tuneaway period.

Advances in technology have resulted in smaller and more powerful computing devices. For example, there currently exist a variety of portable personal computing devices, including wireless computing devices, such as portable wireless telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and paging devices that are small, lightweight, and easily carried by users. More specifically, portable wireless telephones, such as cellular telephones and Internet Protocol (IP) telephones, can communicate voice and data packets over wireless networks. Many such wireless telephones incorporate additional devices to provide enhanced functionality for end users. For example, a wireless telephone can also include a digital still camera, a digital video camera, a digital recorder, and an audio file player. Also, such wireless telephones can execute software applications, such as a web browser application that can be used to access the Internet. As such, these wireless telephones can include significant computing capabilities.
Some wireless telephones may be configured to communicate via more than one network, such as multiple networks associated with multiple subscriptions. For example, each subscription may be associated with a different wireless telephone number. When a wireless telephone is configured to communicate via more than one network, the wireless telephone may occasionally tune away from a first network to listen for data that may be received on one or more second networks. Tuning away in this manner can reduce data throughput of the first network. Additionally, tuning away uses power, decreasing overall efficiency of the wireless telephone.


A process for preparation of silica xerogel catalyst support particles having high surface areas involves ageing a silica hydrogel at a pH from 3 to 5 and at a temperature of 45° C. or more. The ageing at low pH leads to a silica gel which may be converted to a xerogel having a pore volume of 1.5 cm3/g or more and a surface area of 600 m2/g or more by removal of liquid from the pore structure by solvent exchange with a liquid solvent having a surface tension of 35 mN/m or less. The resulting particles are useful for carrying catalyst metal compounds, such as a chromium compounds, in the pore structure to act as catalyst precursors. These catalyst precursors may be activated into porous catalyst particles suitable for use for olefin polymerization to provide high activity and for forming high molecular weight polymers (low MI polymers) with good crack resistance.

Typical Phillips-type activated catalysts for use in the polymerisation of olefins comprise chromium oxide carried on surfaces within the pore structure of porous inorganic support particles. For many uses, aluminium oxide, titanium oxide, or other oxides may also be present, either as part of the inorganic support itself (for instance where the support is a silica-alumina co-gel support), or also carried, along with the chromium oxide, within the pore structure of the porous inorganic support.
Typically, catalyst compounds are impregnated, in liquid form, into the pore structure of porous support particles. For instance, the catalyst compound may be impregnated into the pore structure as an organometallic compound, for instance dispersed or dissolved in a solvent. Solvent removal may be carried out by evaporation prior to activation of the catalyst compound. The impregnated support particles (i.e. inorganic porous support particles impregnated with catalysts compounds) are referred to as catalyst precursor particles and subsequently may require activation in order to make them useful as catalyst particles, for instance for olefin polymerisation.
Generally, the carrier particles, after impregnation with the catalyst compound, are supplied and transported in unactivated form (i.e. as catalyst precursor particles), and may require activation prior to being useful as catalyst particles for olefin polymerization. Activation is carried out by heating the catalyst precursor particles at a high temperature, such as from 200° C. to 1200° C., preferably from 400° C. to 1000° C. for a time, from a few seconds, but typically up to several hours, for instance from 30 minutes to 15 hours, in a non-reducing atmosphere such as nitrogen, inert gas or carbon dioxide, or preferably in an oxidising atmosphere such as air or oxygen, so that the catalyst is converted into an active state. For instance chromium is suitably converted to a chromium VI state by oxidation. Once activated, the catalyst may be used at once, or stored in a dry, inert atmosphere until it is used.
It is desirable for the support particles to have a pore structure with a high pore volume. For instance, a pore volume of 1.5 cm3/g or more is desirable. It is also desirable for the carrier particles to exhibit a high surface area, for instance 600 m2/g or more.
Mean pore diameter for the pore structure of a support particle is proportional to pore volume and inversely proportional to pore surface area. Hence, it is possible in principle for two carrier particles to have the same mean pore diameter, but with the first support particle having low pore volume and low surface area, and the second support particle having high pore volume and high surface area. It is desirable that the pore diameter for the pores making up the pore structure should be large in order to obtain an active catalyst (there is a minimum pore diameter requirement for the catalyst to be active according to prior art literature). Polymerisation processes may be targeted to produce polymer of a certain selected molecular weight. This is usually assessed by the Melt Index (MI) of the polymer, with the MI having an inverse relationship with molecular weight (high MI indicating low molecular weight, and vice versa). For a fixed MI target and a fixed catalyst pore diameter, higher pore volume is associated with higher surface area, higher activity and also with improvements in Environmental Stress Crack Resistance (ESCR) for instance as measured by NCTL (Notched Constant Tensile Loading) behaviour for the polymer generated by polymerisation using the support particles. Catalyst activity is a parameter indicating the weight of polymer generated per weight of catalyst used per hour, so a high value is desirable for reasons of efficiency.
If two catalyst particles having the same pore volumes, but differing pore diameters, and hence differing surface areas, are compared: the catalyst particle with the higher surface area will have a lower pore diameter, and for the same activation and polymerisation reactor conditions, will yield a lower MI polymer than the catalyst particle with a lower surface area. The pore volume and surface area for a catalyst are closely related to the corresponding values for the support particle used to make it (for instance, depending upon treatment conditions, the surface area may be up to say 150 m2/g lower than that of the corresponding support particle and pore volume may be reduced by up to say 0.8 cm3/g compared to the pore volume for the support particle). In other words, the provision of a support particle with a fixed pore volume and a higher surface area for its pore structure allows for the polymerisation of olefins to yield low MI polymers (high molecular weight polymers) at high activity and with good NCTL/ESCR behaviour for the resulting polymer.
High load melt index (HLMI) and melt index (MI) are polymer characteristics determined in accordance with ASTM D-1238 using loads of 21.6 kg and 2.16 kg respectively at 190° C.
In conventional manufacturing processes for preparation of carrier particles based on silica, a silica hydrogel is prepared and then water removed from the hydrogel to yield a dried gel or xerogel having a pore structure left by the removed water. For instance, a reaction between an alkali metal silicate, such as sodium silicate, and an acid may be carried out to form a hydrosol, followed by gelation of the hydrosol to yield a hydrogel. Typically, the hydrogels for use as catalyst support particles are aged at a temperature of 40° C. or more for several hours or more, and at a pH typically greater than 7. This ageing step has been considered necessary in the prior art in order to sufficiently strengthen the resultant silica hydrogel so that subsequent removal of the water from the hydrogel, to provide the pore structure, does not lead to the silica skeleton of the particles collapsing during water removal and yielding a low pore volume. However, this ageing process, when used to obtain a final pore volume of 1.5 cm3/g or more, leads to an accompanying reduction in surface area to values less than 600 m2/g.
The theoretically attainable pore volume will be determined by the solids content of the final hydrogel after washing, with water filling the pore structure, and hence the solids content of the hydrosol from which the hydrogel is formed.
In this specification, the term "solids content" as applied to hydrogel refers to the weight percentage of insoluble oxide solids in the washed hydrogel, i.e. with soluble salts substantially removed from the pore structure. For a silica hydrogel with a skeleton consisting of silica only, this will correspond to the silica content, but when other insoluble oxides such as titania or alumina are also present within the skeletal molecular structure of the silica, the total amount of insoluble oxide should be taken into account.
The theoretical maximum pore volume attainable will be determined by the volume of insoluble solids in the sol/gel. Were the solids to form a completely rigid skeletal network which did not collapse when liquid was removed from the gel, then all of the volume vacated by liquid would remain as pore volume for the resulting catalyst support particles. Typically, the theoretical maximum pore volume (TPV in cm3/g) is estimated by (100−% SiO2)/%/SiO2, for a silica gel, where % SiO2 is the percentage by weight of SiO2 in the washed silica hydrogel (i.e. with substantially no soluble salts in the pore structure of the hydrogel).
Without wishing to be bound by any theory, it is thought that the removal of water from the pore structure of a silica gel leads to forces, arising from the surface tension of the water, collapsing the pore structure at least in part as the water is removed. This effect may be reduced by solvent exchange methods, where the water within the filled hydrogel is first partially or entirely replaced by a solvent having a lower surface tension than water (such as an aliphatic alcohol, e.g. methanol or ethanol, or for instance propan-2-ol, trifluoroacetic acid or acetone). Solvent exchange methods are well known in the field and include azeotropic distillation and multiple solvent exchange processes where a first solvent exchange is carried out with a water-miscible first solvent and a subsequent exchange with a water-immiscible second solvent that is miscible with the first solvent. Although such solvent exchange processes may reduce loss in pore volume resulting from drying the hydrogel (for instance by first exchanging solvent for water and then removal of the exchanged solvent) it may not eliminate pore volume loss completely, and so strengthening of the porous silica structure is still important if pore volume is to be maintained when water is removed from the pore structure of the hydrogel. Solvent exchange processes, when used to obtain a final pore volume in excess of 1.5 cm3/g, still require ageing of the hydrogel prior to water removal which typically leads to an accompanying reduction in surface area to values less than 600 m2/g.
It is desirable for catalyst support particles to be sufficiently friable that the particles break down during olefin polymerisation processes in order to avoid a gritty texture in the resulting polyolefin. The fragments of catalyst particles are typically allowed to remain in the resulting polyolefins and so it is important that they break down into tiny particles which are dispersed throughout the polyolefin. However, catalyst support particles which are too friable may be unable to withstand the processing steps used to deposit catalyst metal into the pore structure and to form activated catalyst particle.
Ageing at pH greater than 7 has typically been the conventional method used to achieve an adequately large pore diameter for xerogel catalyst support particles. Ageing is thought to result from a strengthening of the silica matrix or skeleton to resist collapse, and it is thought that the strengthening arises from Ostwald ripening of the silica particles, so conventionally, conditions are selected (i.e. pH greater than 7) so that the silica is relatively soluble in order that such ripening may occur within reasonable times. In practice, it has been found that the increased pore volume arising from such strengthening has to be traded off against an accompanying reduction in surface area. This typically results in surface area values less than 600 m2/g for the catalyst support particles having pore volumes of 1.5 cm3/g or more and prepared by solvent exchange of hydrogel aged at pH 7 or more.
Attempts to overcome these problems in the prior art have included the use of a supercritical fluid, such as organic solvent or carbon dioxide, for replacement of water in the hydrogel. The principle underlying the use of supercritical solvent is that the surface tension vanishes for a solvent in a supercritical state and so strengthening by ageing at pH greater than 7 may be obviated. Silica gels with a surface area of 1195 m2/g and with a pore volume of 3.53 cm3/g were achieved by use of supercritical fluid as an exchange medium. See Ranliao Huaxue Xuebao 1996-24(6) 517 to 521. See also Yang Ru et al, Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 129(2010) 1 to 10. However, the use of supercritical fluids typically requires high pressure containment vessels and is a highly complex process for safe operation on an industrial scale. Furthermore, the resulting xerogels may be weaker than conventionally strengthened xerogels.
Alternatively, the surface of the silica may be treated with a silylating agent prior to formation of a xerogel. This is described for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 7,470,725 and in Microporous and Mesoporous Materials (2008) 112 (1-3), 504 to 509 or Applied Surface Science (2007), 254(2) 574 to 579. The use of a silylating agent leads to the majority of the silica carrier's surface hydroxyl groups being eliminated due to reaction with the silylating agent. Hence the dried gels typically have a high carbon content. For example, the silica carrier prepared according to U.S. Pat. No. 7,470,725 may contain as much as 12% by weight of carbon in the dried state. For many catalytic applications, the surface hydroxyl groups of the silica may have an important role to play in anchoring catalytically active species, and so their chemical inactivation by silylating agents is undesirable.
Another route which has proved effective, for giving support particles with high surface areas and high pore volumes, is freeze-drying of hydrogels. This involves freezing at a temperature sufficiently low for the water in the hydrogel pores to be maintained in a solid state, followed by vacuum sublimation of water from the hydrogel. This is disclosed, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,214 in which the resulting silica carrier has a surface area of 757 m2/g and a pore volume of 2.77 cm3/g. The freeze drying process is a slow and energy intensive process compared to solvent-exchange based formation of xerogel catalyst support particles.
Another prior art route requires the presence of a small quantity of polymerisation modifier to be present in the solution/sol from which the hydrogel is formed. This method, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,096 provided a silica carrier, after washing, with a surface area of 995 m2/g and a pore volume of 2.32 cm3/g. The polymerisation modifier may remain as an impurity in the carrier and could have a negative effect on catalyst performance if not entirely removed from the catalyst support particles.
Hence, there is a need for a process for preparation of porous xerogel catalyst support particles which have both a high surface area and a high pore volume for the pore structure. The method should also be suitable for being carried out using current processing equipment and not require the introduction of potential catalyst contaminants into the xerogel during its preparation. There is also a need for a process for preparation of such porous xerogel catalyst support particles so that the particles have suitable strength to provide resistance to transport and handling but sufficient friability to break down during use in polymerisation reactions.

Catalyst supports, catalysts and their manufacture and use


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor memory element, comprising the steps of:. forming a trench in a semiconductor substrate; PA1 forming an oxide film in a bottom and a side wall of the trench and a surface of the substrate; PA1 forming a selective deposition film on only the oxide film at the bottom of the trench, the selective deposition film being a member selected from the group consisting of a silicon film and a nitrogen-containing silicon film; and PA1 selectively growing polysilicon on only the selective deposition film, thereby forming a trench capacitor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor memory element utilizing a trench capacitor and, more particularly, to a method of easily forming a trench capacitor.
2. Related Background Art
The packing density of dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) and metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) memories has been increased year by year, and the age of 1-Mbit or 1-Gbit memories from 64- to 256-kbit memories is coming.
A conventional capacitive memory cell consists of a capacitor for storing signal charge and a MOS transistor for reading out the signal charge. In order to achieve a higher packing density, the capacitor occupying most of the cell area must be made compact because micropatterning of the MOS transistor poses limitations.
Various techniques have been proposed to reduce the size of the capacitor in the memory cell. If the size of the capacitor is simply reduced on a two-dimensional plane, the amount of signal charge is reduced. In order to compensate for this, the thickness of an insulating layer between the electrodes must be reduced or a material having a higher dielectric constant than that of SiO.sub.2 must be used. A trench capacitor type memory cell is proposed to reduce the planar area of the capacitor without using the special material described above.
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing the basic structure of a conventional trench capacitor type memory cell.
Referring to FIG. 1, the memory cell consists of a trench capacitor for storing signal charge and a MOS transistor for reading out the signal charge from the trench capacitor. The trench capacitor is formed as follows:
A deep groove or trench 2 is formed in a silicon substrate 1 by reactive ion etching (RIE) or the like. An oxide film 3 is formed on the inner wall surface of the trench 2. Polysilicon is deposited to cover the entire surface including the trench 2. The polysilicon film is etched back until the surface of the substrate 1 is exposed. In this state, polysilicon 4 is left in only the trench 2. The substrate 1 opposes the polysilicon 4 through the oxide film 3, thereby constituting a trench capacitor.
It is difficult to detect an etching end timing in the etch-back process of polysilicon deposited on the substrate surface excluding the trench 2. Therefore, the fabrication process cannot be simplified or cannot be made easy.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor memory element


A hand-held sander having inserts that interchangeably fit a holder. The inserts have an exterior surface for supporting sandpaper or the like, and that surface is contoured to match a particular surface detail of a vehicle body or other workpiece. The holder includes a shell having a somewhat U-shaped cross-section defining a slot along one edge, and the insert has a spline that slides within the slot when removing or installing the insert. Either or both ends of that slot are selectively enlarged by means of a cam attached to an end member of the holder.

Damaged body panels in automobiles and other motor vehicles typically are repaired by bending or hammering the metal to a shape which approximates the original contour of the body panel. A layer of body putty then is applied to the repaired surface of the panel, causing the putty to fill wrinkles and other minor imperfections in the exterior surface of the panel. After the body putty sets to a desired degree of hardness, the surface of the panel is restored to the original surface contour by removing body putty in excess of the surface contour. This putty removal, or at least the final finishing steps of removal, takes place by sanding the surface of the panel to remove high spots of putty and to provide a smooth overall surface finish. This sanded finish must blend with the surface on adjacent undamaged portions of the panel, and also must duplicate the original shape or contour of the panel, in order to provide a professional repaired surface that, after being painted, is visually indistinguishable from the original undamaged surface.
Body panels having only flat surfaces or rounded contours of relatively large radius, but lacking relatively sharp contours or curvilinear features, can be finished using power disk sanders or the like, as the repaired and original portions of the flat or large-radius curved surfaces are more readily blended together. However, relatively linear or elongated surface contours (as found, for example, on door panels) generally must be sanded by hand to blend the sanded finish with the original contour of the panel. This manual sanding usually requires a back-and-forth sanding movement paralleling the linear contour, and for the best result the manual sander or other repair tool should move in parallel alignment with the longitudinal extent of the body contour.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,308 discloses a contour sander maintained in linear alignment with a body panel by a tool guide while moving the contour sander back and forth to reproduce the desired contour in the panel. That apparatus is useful in many applications, particularly on relatively long panels such as vehicle doors or fenders allowing sufficient room to attach the tool guide with the suction cups provided for that purpose. However, there are instances where the contoured surface of the panel being repaired has a relatively short extent which will not easily accommodate the attachment of the tool guide, or where the worker doesn't believe a relatively small damaged area will justify the time spent in aligning and attaching the tool guide. In situations such as those, many body workers will instead turn to conventional hand-held devices for holding or supporting the sandpaper. If those devices do not support the sandpaper with a contour that closely matches the body contour being sanded, the resulting finished work is less likely to match the contour of the original undamaged panel.
Hand-held devices for supporting pieces of sandpaper are known in the art. However, those devices generally are useful only for finishing flat surfaces or contours of relatively large radius, and the art sanding devices are not widely accepted for finishing vehicle body repairs where a variety of body contours are encountered in different makes and models of vehicles.


A data shuffler apparatus shuffles input bits to perform dynamic element matching. The shuffler apparatus includes N input shufflers, each input shuffler having N input terminals and N output terminals, each input terminal of each input shuffler receiving a respective one of the input bits. The apparatus also includes N output shufflers, each output shuffler having N input terminals and N output terminals, the input and output shufflers being interconnected such that each of the N output terminals of each input shuffler is connected to a respective input terminal of a different one of the N output shufflers.

In high resolution digital-to-analog converters (DACs), performance metrics such as linearity and noise are nominally determined by the matching of parameters derived from physical quantities in the construction of the DACs on an integrated circuit (IC), such as width, length, thickness, doping, etc. As a general rule, for each additional bit of performance in the DAC, parameter matching needs to be twice as tight. This translates to an increase by a factor of four in the IC area required by the DAC. When the DAC resolution is in the 16-bit range, it is no longer practical/economical to use size alone to achieve the required matching.
Over-sampled (sigma-delta) DACs (also referred to as xe2x80x9cconvertersxe2x80x9d) alleviate the need for raw matching using single-bit conversion (so called 1-bit DACs in CD players). A single-bit DAC has only two points in a transfer function of the DAC, and thus is inherently linear. The function of a sigma-delta modulator with a one-bit quantizer is to approximate a high resolution low frequency signal with a high frequency two-level signal. The drawback here is this produces large amounts of out-of-band, for example, high frequency, noise.
One solution is to use more than two levels of quantization. For example, 17 levels may be used. However, now linearity requirements are to the full resolution of the DAC. That is, for a 16-bit DAC, the transfer function of the DAC with these quantization levels must be collinear to 1 part in 216, which is 1 part in 65,536. Such linearity is difficult to achieve with raw parameter matching of the single-bit DACs. Thus, there is need to achieve such linearity in a multi-level DAC using an alternative to raw parameter matching.
For high resolution over-sampled DACs, where the signal frequency band is much smaller than the sample rate of the DAC, there exists an opportunity to apply what is referred to as dynamic element matching to lessen the requirement for raw device matching. This is an entirely digital technique that operates on logic signals. Nominally, without dynamic element matching, mismatched single-bit DAC devices generate errors across all frequency bands, including low frequencies where the signals of interest reside. With dynamic element matching, these errors at the low frequencies (that is, in low frequency bands) are modulated to higher frequencies, outside the signal band of interest, where they can be substantially eliminated with a lowpass filter.
The present invention uses dynamic element matching of the single-bit DACs in a multi-bit DAC, to get full multi-bit (for example, 16-bit) accuracy. The main idea of dynamic element matching is to make each equally weighted unit element (that is, each single-element DAC) in the DAC perform equal work. For direct-current (DC) signals (that is, signals at zero Hz), the cancellation is perfect or nearly perfect. For low frequency signals, the errors are filtered with a 1st order highpass transfer function equal to (1xe2x88x92zxe2x88x921) in the frequency domain. In particular, the transfer function approximates sin(xcfx80 fs/2)/(xcfx80 fs/2), where fs is the sample frequency.
The higher the over-sample ratio (where the over-sample ratio is defined as the sample frequency of the sigma-delta modulator over the signal frequency), the more effectively dynamic element matching can modulate the mismatch noise to out of band frequencies, that is, to frequencies away from the frequencies of interest.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a data shuffler apparatus performs data shuffling of input bits to effect the dynamic element matching mentioned above. The data shuffler apparatus includes N input shufflers, each input shuffler having N input terminals and N output terminals, where N greater than 2, each input terminal of each input shuffler receiving a respective one of the input bits. The shuffler apparatus also includes N output shufflers, each output shuffler having N input terminals and N output terminals, the input and output shufflers being interconnected such that each of the N output terminals of each input shuffler is connected to a respective input terminal of a different one of the N output shufflers (that is, each of the N output terminals of each input shuffler is connected to a respective input terminal of a different member of the set of N output shufflers). Each input and output shuffler is configured to output shuffled bits at its output terminals based on the input bits received at its input terminals, so as to balance (that is, equalize) the number of high-level logic bits outputted from each of the output terminals over time. In an embodiment, all of the shufflers operate in a substantially identical manner to each other.
Further embodiments of the present invention are described below.

Shuffler apparatus and related dynamic element matching technique for linearization of unit-element digital-to-analog converters


An interferometric distance measurement device includes a multiple wavelength light source, supplying a light beam having at least three different wavelengths. An interferometer unit is provided, which splits the light beam into a measuring light beam and a reference light beam. The measuring and reference light beams reflected back by measuring and reference reflectors are superimposed in an interfering manner to form an interference light beam. The interference light beam is split via a detection unit such that, in each instance, a plurality of phase-shifted, partial interference signals result per wavelength. With the aid of a signal processing unit, an absolute position information item regarding the measuring reflector is determined from the partial interference signals of different wavelengths.

Certain multiple-wavelength methods for interferometrically determining absolute distances between two objects movable relative to each other are conventional. In this context, one or more beat phases, which allow an unequivocal, absolute position determination over a larger distance range, are determined from the subtraction of interference phases of different wavelengths. In this instance, corresponding devices may also be configured in a cascaded manner, and starting from a plurality of different wavelengths, the generation of a plurality of beat phases may be provided. Regarding such devices, reference is made, for example, to U.S. Pat. No. 6,496,266, which describes a system operable using three different wavelengths, a plurality of beat phases and/or synthetic wavelengths being derived from the three wavelengths, and from this, information regarding absolute position being generated.
In the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,496,266, a total of three laser light sources in the form of stabilized He—Ne lasers are provided for generating the required plurality of wavelengths, which constitutes a considerable expenditure for equipment. In addition, a complex calibration of the plurality of light sources is necessary, in order to ensure that the emitted beams of light of all of the light sources traverse the identical paths in the measuring and reference arm of the interferometer. Furthermore, the three separate laser light sources require control of each individual light source, in order to ensure that the wavelengths of the individual lasers are stable over time and have a specific value.

Device for interferometric distance measurement


An abrasive drum, suitable for polishing or sanding a workpiece, that incorporates an internal expansion member, configured so that when a belt of abrasive material fitted to the exterior cylindrical surface so that a loop of the band is disposed around the internal expansion member, expansion of the member tensions the abrasive band against the surface of the drum. The invention includes the abrasive drum, a sander or polisher that incorporates the abrasive drum, and a method of using the drum of the invention to grind, shape, polish, or sand a workpiece.

The invention relates to rotating abrasive drums used for sanding or polishing. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus for tensioning an abrasive belt against the surface of a rotatable drum so that it is securely held against the drum.
The present invention relates to an abrasive drum that carries on its outer surface a band of abrasive material, so that when the drum is rotated it is useful for sanding or polishing. Such abrasive drums are used for a variety of applications, including coarse sanding, finish sanding, grinding, rough polishing, and dry finishing.
Such drums typically retain abrasive materials in one of two ways. The first type incorporates an expandable drum onto which an abrasive sleeve is fitted. The second type of drum features a slot in the outer surface of the drum through which the ends of a sheet of abrasive paper or abrasive cloth are inserted and retained. Unfortunately, there are problems with both types of drums.
Expandable drums require the use of expensive abrasive sleeves that are sized to fit only a single size of drum. Even though the sleeves are fitted appropriately, the abrasive sleeves will still slip against the drum, particularly when the friction of the sanding or polishing exceeds the friction between the sleeve and the drum.
Drums that utilize abrasive sheets typically include an axial slot in the outer surface of the cylinder through which the two ends of the abrasive sheet are inserted. Typically some type of clamp or clip is placed within the cylinder itself to secure the ends of the abrasive sheet. However, even if the ends are securely fastened, wear and tear on the sheet result in gradual slackening of tension and slipping of the abrasive on the drum, typically resulting in tearing of the abrasive sheet.
Some abrasive drums have included elaborate internal mechanisms for tensioning the sheet of abrasive. However such tensioning apparatus are generally complicated, incorporating springs and counterweights, and often relying upon the centrifugal force that is exerted when the drum is spinning to maintain tension on the abrasive band. Such mechanisms tend to complicate the process of changing abrasive bands.
In contrast, the abrasive drum of the invention permits a wide variety of abrasive band sizes to be fitted snugly to a single size drum. Abrasive bands can be changed simply and quickly. Further, once fitted to the drum, each band is held snugly, and the appropriate band tension is maintained even when the drum is at rest.
The present invention includes a drum suitable for polishing or sanding a workpiece. The drum incorporates an internal expansion member disposed adjacent to and in communication with an axially extending slot in the cylindrical surface of the drum, configured so that when an abrasive belt is fitted to the exterior cylindrical surface so that a loop of the band is inserted through the axially extending slot and disposed around the internal expansion member, subsequent expansion of the member tensions the abrasive band against the surface of the drum, holding it securely.
The invention includes the drum of the invention, a method of applying an abrasive band to the drum of the invention, a sander or polisher that incorporates the drum of the invention, and a method of using the drum of the invention to grind, shape, polish, sand, or otherwise modify the surface of a workpiece.


A plug-in device is provided for adapting a building's electrical wiring system as an antenna for receiving radio or over-the air television signals. The device has a plug for insertion into an electrical receptacle in the building, a coaxial connector for providing the communication signal captured by the antenna to a signal receiver, and a plurality of conducting wires extending from the plug to the coaxial connector. The conducting wires comprise first and second wires, and a third wire in electrical contact with the coaxial connector. The first and second wires are electrically insulated from each other and from the third wire to prevent passage of alternating current (AC) power to the signal receiver. The wires are wound to inductively transfer the communication signal captured by the antenna to the third wire for output to the signal receiver via the coaxial connector.

With the introduction of high-definition terrestrial radio and television broadcasts, consumers are able to listen to high-fidelity audio and watch high-definition television programming without the need to pay for a music subscription or television subscription from a cable, satellite or IP (Internet Protocol) television provider. A radio or television antenna is generally needed to receive over-the-air radio or television broadcasts, especially for radio listeners or television viewers located at a distance from a broadcast tower.
Various types of antennas are available for receiving radio and television broadcasts, including, for example, indoor "rabbit ear" antennas and more elaborate outdoor antennas that are mountable on the roof or other external part of a building. An indoor antenna may not provide optimal reception because its receiving cross section is generally small, which results in a lowered antenna efficiency. Furthermore, the electromagnetic waves corresponding to radio and television signals may attenuate as they penetrate through various building materials such as concrete. Such attenuation further degrades signal quality. Outdoor antennas may address some of these identified deficiencies, although they are generally more difficult to install and maintain. Additionally, it may not be possible to install an outdoor antenna given its size and building restrictions (e.g. for residents of apartments). Therefore additional options to improve television reception are needed.


A dual-gate TFT (thin film transistor) array substrate and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. A source electrode and a drain electrode are formed on a common electrode layer; and a common electrode of the common electrode layer, the source electrode and the drain electrode can simultaneously be formed by one mask during manufacturing. Therefore, the dual-gate TFT array substrate and the manufacturing method thereof have beneficial effects to reduce the number of masks, shorten the process, and improve the manufacturing efficiency.

In traditional liquid crystal display technologies, for improving the stability of an oxide TFT (thin film transistor) in a dual-gate TFT array substrate, an etch stop layer (ESL) structure is widely adopted, and the structure can efficaciously decrease influences for back channels from external environment factors and etching damages of source and drain electrodes.
In an active array display device, a single-gate TFT is commonly adopted. But the dual-gate TFT has the advantages of: higher mobility, greater on-state current, smaller threshold swing, better threshold voltage stability, better uniformity, and has better gate bias stability.
However, in a manufacturing method of a dual-gate TFT array substrate of a traditional FFS (fringe field switching) display mode, forming a common electrode and source/drain electrodes each requires one mask (photomask), respectively. Thus, an increased number of masks is required, so that the process complexity and the manufacturing cost are increased, which is disadvantageous to improving the manufacturing efficiency.

Dual-gate TFT array substrate and manufacturing method thereof

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


The present invention provides compositions (such as pharmaceutical compositions), and commercial batches of such compositions, comprising nanoparticles comprising albumin and rapamycin. The compositions (such as pharmaceutical compositions) have specific physicochemical characteristics and are particularly suitable for use in treating diseases such as cancer. Also provided are methods of making and methods of using the compositions (such as pharmaceutical compositions).

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a conserved serine/threonine kinase that serves as a central hub of signaling in the cell to integrate intracellular and extracellular signals and to regulate cellular growth and homeostasis. Activation of the mTOR pathway is associated with cell proliferation and survival, while inhibition of mTOR signaling leads to inflammation and cell death. Dysregulation of the mTOR signaling pathway has been implicated in an increasing number of human diseases, including cancer and autoimmune disorders. Consequently, mTOR inhibitors have found wide applications in treating diverse pathological conditions such as solid tumors, hematological malignancies, organ transplantation, restenosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Rapamycin, also known as sirolimus (INN/USAN), is an immunosuppressant drug used to prevent rejection in organ transplantation; it is especially useful in kidney transplants. Rapamycin-eluting stents were approved in the United States to treat coronary restenosis. Additionally, rapamycin has been demonstrated as an effective inhibitor of tumor growth in various cell lines and animal models. Other limus drugs, such as analogs of rapamycin, have been designed to improve the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of rapamycin. For example, temsirolimus was approved in the United States and Europe for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma. Everolimus was approved in the U.S. for treatment of advanced breast cancer, pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, advanced renal cell carcinoma, and subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA) associated with Tuberous Sclerosis. The mode of action of rapamycin is to bind the cytosolic protein FK-binding protein 12 (FKBP12), and the rapamycin-FKBP12 complex in turn inhibits the mTOR pathway by directly binding to the mTOR Complex 1 (mTORC1).
Albumin-based nanoparticle compositions have been developed as a drug delivery system for delivering substantially water insoluble drugs. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,916,596, 6,506,405, 6,749,868, 6,537,579, 7,820,788, and 7,923,536. Nab-paclitaxel, sold under the trade name ABRAXANE®, an albumin stabilized nanoparticle formulation of paclitaxel, was approved in the United States and various other countries for treating metastatic breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and lung cancer.
The disclosures of all publications, patents, patent applications and published patent applications referred to herein are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Pharmaceutical compositions of albumin and rapamycin


An organic electroluminescence illuminating device (L) has a structure in which an organic electroluminescence element (10) is provided and encapsulated between a pair of substrates (20, 21). A light emitting surface of the organic electroluminescence element (10) has a portion which is not parallel to a light extraction surface of the entire illuminating device.

In recent years, these electronic devices made of organic materials have been actively studied. These electronic devices (organic electronic devices) can be mounted on flexible and large-area substrates and can be manufactured in a low-temperature process at low cost, for example. These advantages over conventional electronic devices made of inorganic materials are expected to realize, for example, practical flexible displays etc.
Examples of the organic electronic device includes organic electroluminescent (hereinafter referred to as "organic EL") device, organic photovoltaic cells, and organic field-effect transistors (organic FETs), etc.
The organic EL device includes an organic EL element in which an organic layer containing a luminescent material is interposed between a pair of electrodes. The organic EL element has characteristics, such as low voltage drive, high luminance, light emission capability, etc., and therefore, can have a smaller thickness and a lower weight. The organic EL device can be used in light source applications for optical communication and illumination applications in addition to display applications. For example, an organic EL illuminating device has many advantages, such as surface emission, smaller thickness, ease of dimming control, free of materials, such as mercury etc., which put a high load on the environment, etc.
Incidentally, when the organic EL device is used in illumination applications and optical communication applications, a higher emission luminance is required than in display applications. However, if a drive current is increased to enhance the luminance of the organic EL device, the organic EL element is more easily degraded, leading to a shorter lifetime of a device including the organic EL element.
For example, PATENT DOCUMENT 1 describes an organic EL illuminating device which includes an organic EL element including a large number of light emitting units having an emission area of 0.2 mm2 or less arranged in a matrix, and can emit light with high luminance and high illuminance.
PATENT DOCUMENT 2 describes an EL illuminating device including a lens sheet having a minute uneven structure (including protruding portions and recessed portions) formed in a surface thereof. The lens sheet is provided on a side of an EL element from which light is emitted, to change the direction of emitted light. As a result, the luminance in the front direction can be enhanced and the lifetime of the EL element can be increased.

Organic electroluminescence illuminating device and method for manufacturing the same


Managing stability of a link coupling an adapter of a computing system to a port of a networking device for in-band data communications, the adapter and the network device coupled for out-of-band data communications to a management module, where link stability is managed by: monitoring link health including retrieving adapter link statistics from the adapter and networking device link statistics from the networking device; determining, in dependence upon the adapter and networking device link statistics, whether the link health meets predefined health acceptability criteria; and if the link health does not meet predefined health acceptability criteria, instructing the adapter to execute one or more predefined corrective actions.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, apparatus, and products for managing stability of a link coupling an adapter of a computing system to a port of a networking device for in-band data communications.
2. Description of Related Art
The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely complicated devices. Today's computers are much more sophisticated than early systems such as the EDVAC. Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware and software components, application programs, operating systems, processors, buses, memory, input/output devices, and so on. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push the performance of the computer higher and higher, more sophisticated computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than just a few years ago.
In data centers today that house many computers coupled to one another for data communications, link failure between those computers can negatively impact performance of the entire data center. Such networking errors today are only reported on networking devices, such as switches and routers, coupling the computers for data centers. Such reports are gathered and monitored by management software. When the management software identifies such a network error, the management software today either disables or restarts the port of the networking device reporting the networking error or fails over to another port or networking device. By relying solely on information from the perspective of the networking device, networking errors are often diagnosed incorrectly.

International Business Machines Corporation


Methods and compositions are described for increasing and decreasing immunoglobulin production by administering to a human or other mammalian subject an appropriate dosage of amplifier. Administration of amplifier to subjects having excessive production of immunoglobulin, namely AIDS and ARC patients, is shown as decreasing such excessive immunoglobulin production in such patients.

Amplifiers of the immune system derived from white blood cells have been shown to amplify immune system response in human and animal subjects. As suggested, for example, by issued U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,616,079 and 4,468,379, and in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 183,905, now abandoned, such amplifiers appear to act on T-helper cells (T4 or T4.sup.+ or CD4 cells) in a way that causes them to produce chemical messengers whose effect is to increase the magnitude of or speed up the cell-mediated immune system response to antigens, mitogens, and other means for activating a cell-mediated immune system response. Indicia of this response include production of IL-2 and gamma-interferon, and potentiation or production of cytotoxic cells. The cited references concern the effects of amplifiers of the immune system on T cells and do not discuss B lymphocytes (B cells).
The term "amplifier of the immune system," as used in the preceding paragraph and elsewhere in this patent application (sometime termed "amplifiers" for short), is used in the same sense as that term is used in U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,380; that is a sense that corresponds to that generally understood for the term in the immunological art. The term refers to a product, which may or may not be a single molecular species, that increases (i.e., amplifies) one or more of the following aspects of an immune response in a human or other mammalian body--speed of onset, magnitude, or duration--where the response is nonspecific, the response is to one or more antigens to which the subject has hitherto or is concurrently exposed, the response is attributable to a function of the immune system rather than some other cause, and the response occurs after the introduction of such antigen.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,379 specifically refers to the use of amplifiers to augment or accelerate the formation of delayed hypersensitivity reactions to recall antigens. It is understood in the immunological art that such reactions are a reflection of the cell-mediated immunity in which the T4 (CD4) cells play a major role. Those skilled in the immunological art regard delayed hypersensitivity reactions as mediated by T cells, and not by B cells. B cells, and not T4 cells, are considered to mediate antibody (immunoglobulin) production. It is believed that there is no suggestion in the prior art that amplifiers produce results on B cells. (To be sure, it is known that certain T cells are required for the normal production of antibody, but it is generally accepted in the art that the subclass of T cells that affect antibody production are distinct from the subclass of T cells that mediate such cell-mediated immune system phenomena as delayed hypersensitivity reaction to recall antigens. It is believed also that there has been no suggestion in the prior art that a product affecting the activity of the one subclass would have any effect on the activity of the other subclass. In particular, there is no suggestion that amplification of T cell activity will have any effect on B cell activity, such as production of immunoglobulins.)
Thus, those skilled in this art consider that the production of antibodies (immunoglobulins) by B lymphocytes (B cells) in response to antigenic challenge is a separate aspect of immune system response from that aspect considered to involve T4 cells. This B-cell activity is the basis of immunization. At this time, it is common (and legally required in many or most states) routinely to immunize children against such diseases as diphtheria, pertussis, and typhoid (DPT), as well as measles, tetanus, mumps, and other diseases by administering vaccines to them. The B-cell reaction to vaccine is the production of appropriate immunoglobulins, which are intended to confer immunity against the disease. Generally speaking, a particular B cell will be differentiated to produce one particular type of antibody, and such production is caused by the presence in the body of one particular type of antigen. Hence, when a person (or other mammal) has been exposed to a number of different antigens, he, she, or it will have a number of different B cells that can produce their particular immunoglobulins when the appropriate antigen is present.
In some situations, the immune response to antigen is insufficient to confer immunity. That is, a quantity of immunoglobulins is generated (or a number of B cells are potentiated) that is insufficient to confer effective immunity. At other times, an excessive immune reaction may occur, which may be manifested at the time of immunization or later. Excess production of immunogloublins may also occur without human cause. Overproduction of immunoglobulins may cause tissue destruction and autoimmune diseases. It would be desirable to reduce excessive production of immunoglobulins so as to prevent these adverse effects. It is believed that the literature does not describe any practical means of achieving the foregoing result.
It is highly desirable from a medical standpoint to reduce overproduction of immunoglobulins in diseases where such overproduction is present. In particular, it is desirable to reduce the excessive production of immunoglobulins often associated with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-Related Complex (ARC). It is well known that such excessive immunoglobulin production can lead to kidney failure, gangrene, and other highly adverse sequelae. Therefore, lowering abnormally high levels of immunoglobulins in the blood of such patients is therapeutically useful, just as lowering cholesterol levels in the blood of patients at risk for heart attach or stroke is considered therapeutically useful. Physicians, including the first-named inventor, who treat AIDS or ARC patients with very high immunoglobulin levels consider reduction of such levels to be therapeutically useful.

Methods for modulating antibody production in treating patients with AIDS, ARC and other diseases