An information recording device capable of preventing a deterioration of quality of a display image. Pixel counts in each of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction of an image represented by digital image data generated by a CCD, are greater than in an image for which electronic zoom has been implemented. A zoom rate of the electronic zoom to be applied to the image during execution of dubbing of an image file and/or display by an LCD of an image represented by the image file, is limited to not more than a magnification rate upper limit value, which is determined on the basis of the horizontal and vertical direction pixel counts of the image represented by the digital image data generated by the CCD and pixel counts in the horizontal and vertical directions of the image for which the electron zoom has been implemented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording device, and particularly to an information recording device which records image information obtained by image capture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there have been digital cameras, such as digital still cameras, digital video cameras and the like that are equipped with display sections such as liquid crystal displays and the like, which digital cameras are capable of magnifying and diminishing images which are represented by image data recorded by photography by electronic zooming and of displaying the magnified/diminished images at the display sections.
However, in this type of digital camera, when an image is magnified for display by the electronic zoom, in a case in which a number of pixels that structure an image region to be magnified is smaller than a number of pixels of the display section, that is, than a number of pixels after magnification, image data for pixels that are not actually present is generated by interpolation. Consequently, there is a problem in that as the magnification rate becomes large, quality of the displayed image deteriorates.
Further, for this type of digital camera, a technique of enlarging or reducing an image represented by image data by electronic zoom has been considered in which the technique of magnifying or diminishing the display image by electronic zoom is applied when image data recorded by photography is dubbed (duplicated). However, in this technique too, the problem that quality of an image represented by the image data obtained by dubbing deteriorates as the magnification rate becomes large occurs.

Information recording device implementing an electronic zoom having a limiting section


A therapeutic method for treating Alzheimer's or related disease. The method comprises administering a therapeutically-effective amount of a mammalian liver extract, the extract being characterized by being heat stable, insoluble in acetone and soluble in water, peptide or peptide fragment selected from the groups consisting of Sequence Identification Numbers 1-9.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method of treating presenile or senile dementia and to the discovery that a mammalian liver extract that is efficacious in treating such diseases. The present invention is also directed to a method of treating such diseases with this same mammalian liver extract and/or with polypeptides shown in Sequence identification numbers 1-9.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Presenile or senile dementias include Alzheimer's disease, cerebrovascular amyloidosis, dementia associated with Down's Syndrome and Familial Icelandic cerebrovascular amyloidosis.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. About 70% of all cases of dementia are due to Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is characterized by memory loss associated with neuronal degeneration in the hippocampus, generation of amyloid plaques in many areas of grey matter, death of neurons with formation of abnormal cytoskeletal structures, and profound cholinergic deficiency. Goldman et al., Aging of the Brain: Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type chapter 62, Part x. Development, Critical Periods, and the Emergence of Behavior, 976, 982 (1991). Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease include a gradual memory loss, decline in ability to perform routine tasks, impairment of judgment, disorientation, personality change, difficulty in learning, and loss of language skills. A progressive, degenerative disease, it eventually renders victims totally incapable of caring for themselves. More than three million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease--one in six over the age of sixty-five. After heart disease, cancer, and stroke, it is the fourth leading cause of death in adults.
Mammalian liver extract has been used for the treatment of a wide range of infectious and noninfectious dermatologic conditions, including acne vulgaris, Journal Invest Dermatology, 2:205-218 (1939); first and second degree burns, Mississippi Valley Medical Journey, 76:199 (1954); sunburn, Clinical Medicine, 3:245 (1956); poison ivy dermatitis, Clin. Med., 3:425 (1956) and Herpes zoster, Southern Medical Journal, 50:1524 (1957). The active principle and mechanism have not been described. Although some medical practitioners have used liver extract for the treatment of dermatologic conditions, it is not regarded as an antiviral or immune modulator agent even for skin therapy.
Mammalian liver extract has been reported to have bradykinin potentiating activity. Tewksbury et al., Arch. Biochem. Biophys. (U.S.). 112, 453 (1965); Tewksbury, Archives Int'l. de Pharmacodynamie et de Therapie, 173, 426 (1968); Tewksbury, Dissertation Abstracts International-Part II, Vol. 25/04, p. 2214 (1964). Further, one commercially-available liver extract (sold under the trademark KUTAPRESSIN by Kremers-Urban Co., Milwaukee, Wis.) exerts its action, according to product literature, only with respect to tissues that have been injured and when inflammation and edema are present.
In related patent 5,055,296, the use of a heat stable acetone-insoluble, water-soluble mammalian liver extract was shown to be effective in the treatment of mammals infected with nondermatologic viruses, in particular, in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome. It has been observed that the clinical symptomatology of chronic fatigue syndrome sometimes resembles a mild form of nonprogressive acquired Alzheimer-like disease. Thus, with this background, the inventors endeavored to discover a method to treat presenile or senile dementia diseases.

Method of treating the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease


An adjustable hinge assembly and method for using the same to adjust a cover relative to vehicle opening is disclosed. The adjustable hinge assembly includes a hinge box and an adjustable link pivotally connected to the hinge box about a first pivot axis. The adjustable link includes a mount defining a second pivot axis. The adjustable link may be pivoted relative to the hinge box to adjust the position of the second pivot axis relative to the hinge box. The hinge assembly may be used to mount a hinge strap and deck lid to a backshelf of a vehicle. Pivotally moving the adjustment link relative to the hinge box allows the deck lid to adjust relative to a deck lid opening in the vehicle.

Adjustable deck lid hinge assemblies for raising and lowering a deck lid relative to a deck lid opening in a vehicle are known. A first example is described in Saville, U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,333. A hinge strap, affixed to a deck lid, is pivotally attached to a pivot plate. The pivot plate, in turn, is threadedly engaged with a threaded nut mounted relative to a backshelf of a vehicle. By rotating the threaded nut, the pivot plate and hinge strap are axially or vertically linearly translated relative to the backshelf. Accordingly, the forward portion of a deck lid mounted by a pair of such hinge straps and hinge assemblies can be vertically adjusted to flushly mate with the surrounding surface of the vehicle body.
Another example of an adjustable deck lid hinge assembly which provides for linear translation of a hinge strap relative to a backshelf is found in Skonieczny et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,863. An eye bolt is mounted relative to a hinge box affixed to the backshelf of a vehicle. By rotating a nut on the eye bolt, the eye of the eye bolt is linearly translated along the longitudinal axis of the bolt. A pivot pin mounting a hinge strap to the eye bolt passes through the eye of the eye bolt perpendicular to the eye bolt's longitudinal axis. The hinge strap and attached deck lid are raised and lowered as the nut on the eye bolt is rotated providing for the adjustment of the deck lid relative to the deck lid opening in the vehicle.
Moving the pivot axis defined by a pair of hinge assemblies only in a vertical plane has undesirable consequences. The hinge straps and deck lid act as a link extending between the pivot axis and a latch located in the rear of the vehicle. The latch is usually disposed substantially below the height of the pivot axis. The distance is fixed between mounting apertures on the hinge straps which are coaxial with the pivot axis and a latch mechanism on the deck lid. Consequently, when the hinge assemblies' pivot axis and the hinge straps are adjusted in a vertical plane, the latch mechanism at the rear of the deck lid moves fore and aft. This fore and aft movement of the rear of deck lid makes alignment of the deck lid relative to the deck lid opening and vehicle body difficult.


A pitch training system for indicating whether a thrown baseball has passed through a strike zone includes a zone assembly for detecting a baseball passing through the zone assembly. The zone assembly indicates when the baseball passes through a strike zone as determined by the zone assembly. A backstop is aligned with and positioned a distance from the zone assembly. The backstop intercepts the baseball thrown through the zone assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pitching trainers and more particularly pertains to a new pitching trainer for indicating whether a thrown baseball has passed through an indicated strike zone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of pitching trainers is known in the prior art. The prior art commonly teaches a system for determining a placement and speed of a thrown ball but fail to provide an indicator of whether the ball passed through a predetermined area.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a system that has certain improved features that indicate to a person throwing a baseball that the baseball has passed through a strike zone. Additionally, the system collects the baseball and returns it in the general direction from which the baseball was thrown.


A method for optimizing a jitter buffer includes receiving a first request to establish a video conference communication session with a remote endpoint. The method also includes sending a second request to a first network location for latency information for packet communications sent from a second network location. The method further includes receiving from the first network location the latency information for packet communications sent from the second network location. Additionally, the method includes setting a jitter buffer for the video conference communication session based on the latency information for packet communications sent from the second network location.

As the "global economy" continues to expand, so does the need to be able to communicate over potentially long distances with other people. One area of communication that has seen steady growth and increased customer confidence is the use of the internet and other networking topographies. With the constant growth and development of networking capabilities has come the ability to implement more and better products and features. One area in particular that has seen growth and development in both quantity and quality is the area of internet enabled phone calls, using for example VoIP. By taking audio signals (the speaker's voice) and converting them into internet protocol (IP) packets, IP phones are able to send the audio signals over IP networks, such as the internet. Another technology enabled by the internet is video conferencing. Similar to internet enabled phone calls, internet enabled video conferencing is done by converting the audio and video data for the video conference into IP packets that are sent between the endpoints.
In order for video conferences or phone calls to be conducted over an IP network in real-time it is desirable to send/receive the packets in as little time as possible. Because packets may take different paths in an IP network the transit time of packets may vary and the packets may arrive in an order different than the order in which they were sent. A common device used to ensure that packets are presented smoothly despite being received at varying times and in an improper order is a jitter buffer. The jitter buffer temporarily stores the packets before they are presented to the user. Typical jitter buffers are set to hold the packets for a predetermined amount of time. The amount of time is usually based on assumptions, often worst case scenario type assumptions, as to the difference between the longest expected transit time and the shortest expected transit time. Some devices use jitter buffers that may increase the size of the jitter buffer if packets become lost because the jitter buffer is too small.

Method and system for optimizing a jitter buffer


A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for tracking a head portion of a person image in video images. Upon receiving video images, a first head tracking operation is executed for generating a first confidence value. Such first confidence value is representative of a confidence that a head portion of a person image in the video images is correctly located. Also executed is a second head tracking operation for generating a second confidence value representative of a confidence that the head portion of the person image in the video images is correctly located. The first confidence value and the second confidence value are then outputted. Subsequently, the depiction of the head portion of the person image in the video images is based on the first confidence value and the second confidence value.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to displaying video images generated by a camera on a display, and more particularly to tracking a head portion of a person image in camera-generated video images.
2. The Relevant Art
It is common for personal computers to be equipped with a camera for receiving video images as input. Conventionally, such camera is directed toward a user of the personal computer so as to allow the user to view himself or herself on a display of the personal computer during use. To this end, the user is permitted to view real-time images that can be used for various purposes.
One purpose for use of a personal computer-mounted camera is to display an interaction between camera-generated video images and objects generated by the personal computer and depicted on the associated display. In order to afford this interaction, a current position of the user image must be identified. This includes identifying a current position of the body parts of the user image, including the head. Identification of an exact current location of the user image and his or her body parts is critical for affording accurate and realistic interaction with objects in the virtual computer-generated environment. In particular, it is important to track a head portion of the user image since this specific body part is often the focus of the most attention.
Many difficulties arise, however, during the process of identifying the current position of the head portion of the user image. It is often very difficult to discern the head portion when relying on a single technique. For example, when identifying the location of a head portion using shape, color, motion etc., portions of the background image and the remaining body parts of the user image may be confused with the head. For example, a flesh coloring of a hand may be mistaken for features of the head.

System, method and article of manufacture for tracking a head of a camera-generated image of a person


A method for seasoning a process chamber is disclosed. The seasoning method includes providing a seasoning film on the interior surfaces of a process chamber, typically after cleaning of the chamber.

The fabrication of various solid state devices requires the use of planar substrates, or semiconductor wafers, on which integrated circuits are fabricated. The final number, or yield, of functional integrated circuits on a wafer at the end of the IC fabrication process is of utmost importance to semiconductor manufacturers, and increasing the yield of circuits on the wafer is the main goal of semiconductor fabrication. After packaging, the circuits on the wafers are tested, wherein non-functional dies are marked using an inking process and the functional dies on the wafer are separated and sold. IC fabricators increase the yield of dies on a wafer by exploiting economies of scale. Over 1000 dies may be formed on a single wafer which measures from six to twelve inches in diameter.
Various processing steps are used to fabricate integrated circuits on a semiconductor wafer. These steps include sequential deposition of conductive and insulative layers on the silicon wafer substrate; formation of a photoresist or other mask such as titanium oxide or silicon oxide, in the form of the desired metal interconnection pattern, using standard lithographic or photolithographic techniques; subjecting the wafer substrate to a dry etching process to remove material from one or more conducting layers from the areas not covered by the mask, thereby etching the conducting layer or layers in the form of the masked pattern on the substrate; removing or stripping the mask layer from the substrate typically using reactive plasma and chlorine gas, thereby exposing the top surface of the conductive interconnect layer; and cooling and drying the wafer substrate by applying water and nitrogen gas to the wafer substrate.
The numerous processing steps outlined above are used to cumulatively apply multiple electrically conductive and insulative layers on the wafer and pattern the layers to form the circuits. Additional techniques, such as dual damascene processes, are used to form conductive vias which establish electrical contact between vertically-spaced conductive lines or layers in the circuits. The finished semiconductor product includes microelectronic devices including transistors, capacitors and resistors that form the integrated circuits on each of multiple die on a single wafer.
In the semiconductor industry, CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) technology is extensively used in the fabrication of IC devices. CMOS technology typically involves the use of overlying layers of semiconductor material with the bottom layer being a dielectric layer and the top layer being a layer of doped silicon material that serves as a low- resistivity electrical contact gate electrode. The gate electrode, also referred to as a gate stack, typically overlies the dielectric layer.
In the semiconductor fabrication industry, silicon oxide (SiO2) is frequently used for its insulating properties as a gate oxide or dielectric. As the dimensions of device circuits on substrates become increasingly smaller, the gate dielectric thickness must decrease proportionately in field effect transistors (FETs) to approximately 3 to 3.5 nonometers. Accordingly, device performance and reliability can be adversely affected by such factors as interfacial defects, defect precursors and diffusion of dopants through gate dielectrics, as well as unintended variations in thickness in the gate oxide layer among central and peripheral regions of the layer.
Two types of CMOS device structures which are commonly fabricated in semiconductor technology include the MOSCAP (metal oxide semiconductor capacitor) structure and the MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor) structure. Both of these structures include a substrate on which is deposited a dielectric layer having a high dielectric constant (k), such as a pad oxide layer. A silicon-containing gate, or gate stack, is deposited on the dielectric layer and connects a pair of trench oxide layers (in the case of a MOSCAP structure) or source and drain regions (in the case of a MOSFET structure).
One gate stack fabrication technique involves the deposition of polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) on the high-k dielectric layers of multiple substrates simultaneously in a vertical process furnace to form the gate stack on each substrate. Such a deposition process requires a relatively high thermal budget (620 degrees C. at a process time of typically about 1.5 hours). Another technique involves the deposition of amorphous silicon on the dielectric layer in a process furnace to form the gate stack on each of the multiple substrates. Compared to the polysilicon deposition process, the deposition of amorphous silicon has a lower thermal budget (550 degrees C. at a process time of typically about 2 hours). Therefore, due to the relatively lower thermal budget of the amorphous silicon deposition process in the furnace processing of multiple substrates, amorphous silicon has a higher stability than polysilicon when deposited as a gate stack on a dielectric layer having a high dielectric constant.
Formation of a gate stack on a pad oxide layer in fabrication of both the MOSCAP and MOSFET structures is currently carried out typically on single substrates using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in a CVD process chamber. In the fabrication of MOSCAP and MOSFET structures, polysilicon or amorphous silicon is deposited on a high-k dielectric layer in a CVD process chamber. Polysilicon is deposited on the dielectric layer at a temperature of typically about 675 degrees C. for a process time of about 1 minutes. Amorphous silicon, on the other hand, is deposited on the dielectric layer at a temperature of typically about 575 degrees C. for about 10 min. This is accomplished by reacting hafnium dioxide (HfO2) with silicon (Si) to form silicon oxides (SiOx), according to the following equation:HfO2+Si-Δ→HfO2-x+SiOx
Ideally, the silicon oxides are deposited in an even layer over the high-k dielectric layer to form the high-stability gate stack structure. However, it has been found that in spite of the lower thermal budget of the amorphous silicon deposition process, the amorphous silicon is less stable than the polysilicon in single-wafer processing applications due to unintended chemical reactions between the hafnium dioxide and cleaning agent used to clean the process chamber.
During gate stack fabrication or other extended use of the CVD chamber in semiconductor fabrication, some of the silicon oxide or other high molecular weight residues accumulate on the interior surfaces of the process chamber. Because these residues are loosely attached to the chamber wall interior surfaces, the residues have a tendency to break off and contaminate device structures being fabricated on the wafer. Accordingly, at regular intervals, the CVD process chamber must be subjected to a chamber-cleaning procedure to remove the residues of silicon oxides from the interior chamber walls.
To prevent accumulation of excessive quantities of residues inside a CVD chamber, the chamber is dry-cleaned after a predetermined period of operation such that micro-particles attached to the interior sidewalls of the chamber are removed. After longer periods of operation, preventative maintenance (PM) of the chamber is carried out to restore the reaction chamber to ideal operating conditions.
Even after regular dry-cleaning and PM cleanings of the CVD chamber are carried out, some residual particles frequently remain attached to the interior surfaces of the chamber. Accordingly, a novel chamber seasoning method is needed to provide a seasoning film on the interior surfaces of a CVD chamber in order to minimize the accumulation of residual particles in the chamber during chemical vapor deposition processes.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel method for the seasoning of a process chamber in such a manner as to enhance the quality of device features fabricated on substrates in the chamber.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel chamber seasoning method which includes providing a seasoning film on the interior surfaces of a process chamber to prevent the excessive accumulation of particles in the chamber.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel chamber cleaning method which is particularly adapted for a CVD chamber but may be adapted to a variety of process chambers for a variety of semiconductor fabrication or other processes.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a novel chamber cleaning method which improves the stability of films deposited on a substrate.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novel chamber seasoning method which may be carried out after a chamber-cleaning process and includes deposition of an oxygen-rich seasoning film on the interior surfaces of a CVD chamber.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel chamber seasoning method which is effective in reducing the quantity of defects in devices fabricated on a wafer and increasing the WAT (wafer acceptance testing) yield.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A system and method of cluster debugging includes detecting debug events occurring in one or more first virtual machines, storing debug records, each of the debug records including information associated with a respective debug event selected from the debug events and a timestamp associated with the respective debug event, merging the debug records based on information associated with each timestamp, starting one or more second virtual machines, each of the one or more second virtual machines emulating a selected one of the one or more first virtual machines, synchronizing the one or more second virtual machines, retrieving the merged debug records, and playing the merged debug records back in chronological order on the one or more second virtual machines. In some examples, the method further includes collecting clock synchronization records. In some examples, merging the debug records includes altering an order of one or more of the debug records based on the clock synchronization records.

The present disclosure relates generally to computing systems, and more particularly to cluster debugging.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is a computing system. Computing systems may vary in complexity from a single processor operating in relative isolation to large networks of interconnected processors. The interconnected processors may be in close proximity to each other or separated by great distances both physically and as distance is measured in computer networking terms. The interconnected processors may also work together in a closely cooperative fashion or in a loose weakly coupled fashion. Because technology and processing needs and requirements may vary between different applications, the structure and arrangement of the computing system may vary significantly between two different computing systems. The flexibility in computing systems allows them to be configured for both specific users, specific uses, or for more general purposes. Computing system may also include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information based on the needs of the users and the applications.
Additionally, some examples of computing systems include non-transient, tangible machine-readable media that include executable code that when run by one or more processors, may cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of methods described herein. Some common forms of machine readable media include, for example, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, and/or any other medium from which a processor or computer is adapted to read.
Computing systems generally rely on one or more software components to deliver the services and information required by users and other systems. In many computing systems the one or more software components are designed to operate in a cooperative fashion among several nodes in a cluster. In some examples, one or more of the several nodes may be executing more than one of the one or more software components either in parallel and/or through the use of virtual machines. As the number of nodes in the cluster increases it may become increasingly complex to debug the one or more software components executing on each of the nodes and/or to debug the one or more software components as a whole. As the complexity of each of the one or more software components increases the complexity of the debugging is also likely to increase.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide improved methods and systems for debugging software components executing on a cluster of nodes.


The present invention discloses a process for depolymerization of lignin to yield substituted phenolic monomers using Brönsted ionic liquid as catalyst under mild reaction conditions to obtain an overall yield of monomers up to 97%.

Lignin is a complex polymer made up of several aromatic rings linked together via C—C bond or C—O—C bonds (FIG. 1). Lignin is present in lignocellulosic materials with varying quantities (15-25%) depending upon the plant species, growth conditions etc. Upon depolymerisation, lignin can yield several aromatic monomers which can be used as fuel additives and platform chemicals. Generally, there are five categories of the chemical depolymerization of lignins reported in the prior art which includes (1) base-catalyzed, (2) acid-catalyzed, (3) metallic catalyzed, (4) ionic liquids-assisted, and (5) supercritical fluids-assisted lignin depolymerizations.
Article titled, "Depolymerization of oak wood lignin under mild conditions using the acidic ionic liquid 1-H-3-methylimidazolium chloride as both solvent and catalyst" by Blair J. Cox, John G. Ekerdt in Bioresource Technology 118 (2012) 584-588 reports the Oak wood lignin, which was separated from the wood using dissolution in the ionic liquid 1-methyl-3-ethylimidazoliumacetate and subsequent precipitation, was successfully depolymerized in the acidic ionic liquid 1-H-3-methylimidazolium chloride under mild conditions (110-150° C.). Based on gel permeation chromatography results, an increase in temperature from 110 to 150° C. increased the rate of reaction, but did not significantly change the final size of the lignin fragments.
Article titled, "Electro-catalytic oxidative cleavage of lignin in a protic ionic liquid" by Elena Reichert, Reiner Wintringer, Dietrich A. Volmerb and Rolf Hempelmann in Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2012, 14, 5214-5221 reports a new approach of electro-oxidative cleavage of lignin, dissolved in a special protic ionic liquid, using an anode with particular electro-catalytic activity.
Article titled, "The effect of ionic liquid cation and anion combinations on the macromolecular structure of lignins" by Anthe George, Kim Tran, Trevor J. Morgan, Peter I. Benke, Cesar Berrueco, Esther Lorente, Ben C. Wu, Jay D. Keasling, Blake A. Simmons and Bradley M. Holmes in Green Chem., 2011, 13, 3375-3385 reports that sulfates>lactate>acetate>chlorides>phosphates in terms of the relative impact on reducing lignin molecular weight, with evidence of different anions causing cleavage of different linkages within the lignin. Of the ILs studied, sulfate based ionic liquids most comprehensively broke down the largest lignin molecules, resulting in fragments>1000-3000 u (by polysaccharide calibration). The lactate anion, while appearing less capable of breaking down the largest lignin molecules, causes the formation of significant quantities of the smallest sized fragments observed (2000-500 u).
Article titled, "Cleaving the (B—O-4) Bonds of Lignin Model Compounds in an Acidic Ionic Liquid, 1-H-3-Methylimidazolium Chloride: An Optional Strategy for the Degradation of Lignin" by Songyan Jia, Blair J. Cox, Xinwen Guo, Z. Conrad Zhang, and John G. Ekerdt in ChemSusChem 2010, 3, 1078-1084 reports The hydrolysis of B—O-4 bonds in two lignin model compounds was studied in an acidic ionic liquid, 1-H-3-methylimidazolium chloride. The B—O-4 bonds of both guaiacylglycerolb-guaiacyl ether and veratrylglycerol-b-guaiacyl ether underwent catalytic hydrolysis to produce guaiacol as the primary product with more than 70% yield at 150° C.
Article titled, "Hydrodeoxygenation of Lignin-Derived Phenols into Alkanes by Using Nanoparticle Catalysts Combined with Brønsted Acidic Ionic Liquids" by Ning Yan, Yuan Yuan, Ryan Dykeman, Yuan Kou, and Paul J. Dyson in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 5549-5553 reports the transformation of lignin-derived phenolic compounds to alkanes has been achieved in ILs. The catalytic system is composed of metal NPs and a functionalized Brønsted acidic IL immobilized in a nonfunctionalized IL, allowing hydrogenation and dehydration reactions to occur in tandem.
Depolymerization of lignin yields products like gases (CO, H2, CH4, alkanes etc.) or substituted phenolic monomer compounds. Depolymerization of lignin using soluble base (NaOH, KOH, CsOH etc.) and using supercritical water is known. However, these methods are not environmentally benign and are energy consuming. Hence it is required to develop a process which will not use soluble base, will operate at milder reaction conditions, and will be environmentally benign. Despite the fact that some ionic liquids are appropriate solvents for lignin dissolution/depolymerization, however, the high cost of the ionic liquids limited their application on large quantity of lignin depolymerization reactions. Therefore, there is need in the art for recylization/recovery of ionic liquids. However, it is reported fact that it is difficult to separate the ionic liquid with lignin-derived molecules because of the π-π interaction between ionic liquid and aromatic moieties. Also, prior art failed to teach an effective method for recylization/recovery of ionic liquids.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


An ink jet method includes feeding an ultraviolet curing type ink jet composition from a composition storing body which stores an ultraviolet curing type ink jet composition, which contains a polymerizable compound and a hindered amine compound as a polymerization inhibitor, with a storing volume of the composition of 2.5 L to 20 L to an ink jet head through a channel, deaerating the ultraviolet curing type ink jet composition in the channel, and discharging the ultraviolet curing type ink jet composition from the ink jet head, in which an amount of a dissolved gas of the ultraviolet curing type ink jet composition after the deaeration is 30 ppm or less and an amount of a dissolved gas of the ultraviolet curing type ink jet composition stored in the composition storing body is 10 ppm or more.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates an ink jet method, an ink jet apparatus, and an ink jet composition storing body.
2. Related Art
In the related art, as a method of forming an image on a recording medium such as paper based on an image data signal, various types of systems have been used. Among those, since, in an ink jet system, an ink is discharged onto only a necessary image part to directly form an image on a recording medium using a cheap apparatus, the ink can be effectively used and a running cost is cheap. Furthermore, since the noise of the ink jet system is small, the ink jet system is excellent as a recording method.
In recent year, in order to form an image having high water resistance, solvent resistance, abrasion resistance, or the like on a surface of the recording medium, in the recording method of the ink jet system, an ultraviolet curing type ink composition for ink jet recording which is cured by irradiation with an ultraviolet ray is used.
For example, an ink storing body which includes specific vinyl ether group-containing (meth)acrylic acids and a hindered amine compound and stores the ultraviolet curing type ink composition for ink jet recording in which an amount of dissolved oxygen is 20 ppm is disclosed in JP-A-2013-177525.
However, as to a recording method using the ink storing body described in JP-A-2013-177525, a recording amount in which recording can be continuously performed was small and it was necessary to frequently replace the ink storing body.

Ink jet method, ink jet apparatus, and ink jet composition storing body


A tetracycline pharmaceutical composition having a core element containing a tetracycline antibiotic and a core coating which dissolves more slowly in the stomach than in the intestine. Administration of the composition to a human results in drug concentrations in the blood which are bioequivalent to those achieved with immediate release formulations.

It is known in the prior art that there is a high incidence of gastrointestinal side effects associated with a number of known antibiotics including tetracycline antibiotics. These side effects include nausea and dyspepsia, particularly when taken on an empty stomach. Other side effects include reaction of the central nervous system leading to ataxia, lightheadedness, dizziness or vertigo. While it is known in the prior art to provide an enteric coating to reduce side effects by avoiding dissolution in the stomach, such enteric coatings may also prevent adequate absorption of the antibiotic. Accordingly, a product offering at least partial protection against these adverse reactions would have definite advantages over all the rest of the drug products in this group.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome, or at least alleviate, one or more of the difficulties related to the prior art.
Accordingly, in a first aspect according to the present invention there is provided
a pharmaceutical composition including
a core element including at least one active ingredient including at least one tetracycline antibiotic; and
a core coating for the core element which is partially soluble at an acidic pH and which, in use, generates a dissolution profile for the pellet composition which is equal to or greater than the minimum dissolution profile required to provide bioequivalence with a capsule or tablet containing an equal amount of the at least one active ingredient in an uncoated form.


A fracturing tool for connecting rods has a first and second body prepared from material with a grain direction, each body having a semi-cylindrical protuberance with an axis substantially parallel with the grain of the material. The two protuberances together define a substantially cylindrical mandrel which can be placed within the large bore of a connecting rod which is to be cracked. The bodies are mounted so that one of them is slidable toward and away from the other in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the mandrel. The method of making the tool includes mounting the bodies on a rotary table having an axis of rotation coaxial with that of the mandrel. The rotary table rotates while a grinding wheel finish grinds the mandrel surface.

Connecting rods for automobile engines have a large end with a separable cap for attachment to a crankshaft, and a small end typically with a cylindrical ring bearing assembly for connection to the piston utilizing a pin.
With the development of more powerful engines operating at higher rpm's, the connecting rods have been subjected to increased stress, calling for improvements in design.
Connecting rods were originally made by casting or forging separate attachable cap and body portions. The parts were separately machined at both joining and thrust faces, and then separately drilled with holes to accept fasteners.
An early step in the improvement of connecting rods was to cast the rod as a single piece, followed by drilling for fasteners. The single piece was then sawed to obtain cap and body portions which were separately rough-machined at the thrust and contacting surfaces. The two portions were then bolted together for finish-machining. Not only were these separate steps cumbersome and expensive, but also they did not ensure a perfectly matched cap and body under all conditions. In some cases, inherent diametrical fastener clearances permitted shifting between the cap and the body portion, which in turn shortened the bearing life.
The next step in this development was to forge a single-piece connecting rod which was subsequently split or cracked into a cap portion and a body portion, the intention being to provide non-sliding surfaces where the cap and the body portions are bolted together. The intention was that the surfaces would be properly remated, with the roughness of the cracked surface preventing any microshifting and thus assuring accurate operational alignment. To split the single piece into two portions, it was initially struck on one side with a sharp blow. However, this was unsuccessful because it was impossible to control the cracking plane and to prevent possible damage to the connecting rod.
An early attempt to solve this problem involved the insertion of a wedge-expandable mandrel into the large bore of the rod, as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,553,935, issued to Parks et al in May, 1951. The idea was that the big end of the rod would fracture at the two weak sides of the yoke. The cracking was carried out at normal temperatures even though the rod was made of a strong, non-brittle, high carbon rough steel. Radial reductions at the intended cracking plane were provided by sawing, milling, drilling or a combination of these three. This reduced the crackable section and weakened the material to assist cracking. However, this approach did not ensure distortion-free cracked surfaces.
Another approach is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,080 issued to John M. Bailey et al on Aug. 7, 1973. This patent recognizes the difficulty of fracturing strong high-carbon steels at room temperature when they were formed in large sizes. According to the patent, an electron beam is moved along a desired path in an undulating fashion which separates the rod to render a pair of rippled interfacing surfaces. It was found, however, that the electron beam imparted a deleterious effect to the material, in addition to being slow and costly.
Another approach is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,054, issued to Angus N. Cuddon-Fletcher et al on Nov. 30, 1976, in which tension forces are provided mechanically by conical pins forced into bolt holes at each side of the big end of the connecting rod. The bolt holes reduce the split plane section and the tapered pins provided a more equalized cracking impact. The technique, however, resulted in wear on the sides of the bolt openings and inhibited accurate remating.
Further approaches are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,109, issued to Mohamed A. Fetouh on Feb. 11, 1986, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,694, issued to Alroy G. Fabris on Sep. 6, 1988. This patents are directed to applying freezing or heat treatment to a rod composed of either cast iron, aluminum or steel. High impact tension forces are applied across a cracking plane defined by two notches in the internal surface of the large end bore while limiting relative movement to avoid ductile bending or incomplete fracture. It was found that embrittlement by freezing or heat treatment led to an indefiniteness in the direction of the crack, and as much as 25% of a production run had to be scrapped because of an improper placement of the final crack planes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,783, issued to Olaniran et al on Nov. 20, 1990, is directed to a method of making a connecting rod which involves treating the intended cracking locations with hydrogen to facilitate hydrogen stress cracking.
A patent of more general interest is U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,134, issued to Hoag et al on Feb. 19, 1991.

Method of making a connecting rod fracturing tool


A method of producing a Raney type catalyst, the method comprising melting together a Raney metal and aluminium to form an alloy mixture, pouring the mixture through a nozzle, directing a gas jet on to the mixture to form a spray of droplets, which droplets are directed on to a metallic substrate, the substrate material and thickness and latent heat and superheat of the sprayed material upon initial contact with the substrate being such that the temperature is sufficiently high for an exothermic reaction to take place between the alloy mixture and the substrate such that intermetallic bonds are formed therebetween, and subsequently chemically removing at least some of the aluminium from the sprayed material.

This invention concerns a method of producing Raney type catalysts, and also a catalyst made by such a method.
Raney type catalysts are made by forming an alloy of a Raney metal with aluminium, and then chemically removing at least part of the aluminium to leave a Raney metal with a microporous structure. The Raney metals are nickel, copper, cobalt, iron, silver and platinum.

Raney catalyst preparation by gas atomization of molten alloy


A cartilaginous tissue repair device with a biocompatible, bioresorbable three-dimensional silk or other fiber lay and a biocompatible, bioresorbable substantially porous silk-based or other hydrogel partially or substantially filling the interstices of the fiber lay; with or without an integral means of firmly anchoring the device to a patient's bone.

Cartilage in the adult mammalian body occurs in three principal forms: hyaline cartilage; white fibrocartilage; and yellow elastic cartilage. Hyaline cartilage is chiefly present as articular cartilage in the synovial diarthroidal joints of the hip and shoulder and between the long bones where it forms the stiff and smooth articulating surfaces. White fibrocartilage is present in the menisci of the knee and temporomandibular joint of the jaw and in the intervertebral discs. Yellow elastic cartilage gives support to the epiglottis, Eustachian tube and external ear.
Three pathological conditions involving cartilage damage are very common: osteoarthrosis of articular cartilage; injury to the fibrocartilage of the knee menisci and collapse, rupture or herniation of the intervertebral disc.
Osteoarthrosis is caused by the progressive damage and breakdown of articular cartilage most commonly in the hip and knee and is an important cause of pain and reduced mobility in old people. Injury to the fibrocartilage of the meniscus is a common sports injury and is also seen as a result of road traffic accidents.
The structure and function of articular cartilage has been reviewed by Hasler E M, Herzog W, Wu J Z, Muller W, Wyss U. 1999 in their article, "Articular cartilage biomechanics: Theoretical models, material properties, and biosynthetic response" published in Critical Reviews In Biomedical Engineering vol 27 part 6 pages 415-488. Articular cartilage is highly specialized to provide a relatively frictionless, highly lubricated, wear resistant surface between relatively rigid bones. It also functions to transmit and distribute the forces arising from loaded contact to the surrounding cartilage and underlying subchondral trabecular bone. Hyaline cartilage is not thought to act as a shock absorber limiting the forces to the bone from impacts. This is because its volume for dissipating energy is very small compared to that of bone and because it actually increases in stiffness with increasing strain rate making it an inappropriate material for use as a shock absorber. Articular cartilage is a non-vascular connective tissue largely composed of a fluid phase consisting principally of water and electrolytes interspersed in a solid phase containing type II collagen, proteo-glycan and other glycoproteins. The latter constituents surround and are secreted by highly specialized mesenchymal cells, the chondrocytes which account for some 10% of the volume of articular cartilage. Healthy articular cartilage is strong and stiff (modulus between 1 and 20 MPa). The arrangement of the collagen fibrils within articular is essential to its function. They are arranged in a complex arcade structure forming columns arranged normal to and anchored in the osteochondral junction. These columns run up through the deep layer of cartilage but the predominant fibre orientation gradually changes to form the arches of the arcade structure in the superficial cartilage.
In the superficial layer which abuts the joint space, the meshwork of collagen fibrils is much denser while the fibrils are almost entirely tangential to the cartilage surface. The orientation of collagen in articular cartilage is vital to its mechanical function.
No wholly satisfactory procedure exists for replacing damaged articular cartilage in osteoarthrosis and instead artificial prostheses are most commonly used to replace the entire hip and knee joints. While these increase mobility and reduce pain they suffer from progressive wear, mechanical failure, adverse tissue reactions and loosening at their interphase with the bone.
The menisci of the knee joint are C-shaped discs interposed between the femoral condyles and tibial plateau and have the function of compressive load spreading, shock absorption, stabilization and secretion of synovial fluid for lubrication. The structure, function and pathology of the menisci have been reviewed by S. M. Bahgia and M. Weinick, Y. Xing, and K. Gupta (2005) Meniscal Injury, E-medicine World Library, 27 Jul. 2005. The outer rim is vascular while the central part is avascular fibrocartilage. Type I collagen (non-articular cartilage fibrillar collagen) accounts for about 70% to 90% of the collagen of the menisci. Most of the collagen is arranged in rope-like circumferential fibres together with fewer radial tie fibers. As in articular cartilage, collagen orientation is extremely important for the mechanical function and fixation of this structure. Compression of the meniscus leads to tensile hoop loading of the circumferential fibres and radial loading of the radial fibres, resisting spreading and flexing of the menisici. Thus the ability of the meniscus to spread load and dissipate energy is dependent on the integrity of the collagen fibre lay. For this reason damage to these fibres increases the risk of secondary osteoarthrotic damage to the condylar cartilages as the normal load distribution and shock-absorbing functions are impaired. The meniscofemoral ligament firmly attaches the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus to the femoral condyle and the coronary ligament anchors the peripheral meniscal rim to the tibia.
Meniscal injuries are fairly common in adults and are most frequently sports-related. They are less common in children over 10 years old and rare in children under 10 with morphologically normal menisci (Iobst, C. A. and Stanitski, C. L., 2000, Acute knee injuries. Clin Sports Med. 2000 Oct.; 19 (4):621-35).
Surgical treatment of damaged menisci is often necessary. Although total or partial meniscectomy was popular some forty years ago, it is now well understood that this procedure leads to articular cartilage degeneration (King, D. Clin. Orthop. 1990, 252, 4-7; Fairbank, T. J. J. Bone Joint Surg. Br. 1948, 30, 664-670). The extent of the degeneration of the cartilage appears to depend on how much tissue has been removed. Therefore partial meniscectomy is the current procedure of choice. However, even with partial mensicectomy, secondary osteoarthrosis is still a long-term consequence. Better alternatives to partial meniscectomy are therefore being sought. Allograft transplantation is a fairly successful alternative. However there is no proof that replacement of the meniscus with an allograft can re-establish some of the important meniscal functions, and thereby prevent or reduce the development of osteoarthrosis secondary to meniscectomy (Messner, K. and Gao, J. 1998 The menisci of the knee joint. Anatomical and functional characteristics, and a rationale for clinical treatment. Journal of Anatomy, 193:161-178). The major problems are the lack of remodelling of the graft resulting in inferior structural, biochemical and mechanical properties and insufficient fixation to bone. Further disadvantages include the shortage of suitable donors, difficulties with preservation techniques, the possible transfer of diseases, difficulty in shaping the implant to fit the donor and possible immunological reactions to the implant (Stone, K. R. Clin. Sports Med. 1996, 15, 557-571).
Total knee replacement cannot be considered as treatment for uncomplicated meniscal injury. Dacron and Teflon meniscal prosthetic components may initiate severe synovial reactions (Cook, J. L., Tomlinson, J. L., Kreeger, J. M., and Cook, C. R. 1999. The American Journal of Sports Medicine 27:658-665 Induction of meniscal regeneration in dogs using a novel biomaterial) while loosening and mechanical failure are a problem (de Groot, J. H. 1995 Doctoral dissertation. University of Gronigen, Summary p 153).
Partial or total meniscal replacements made from collagen, Teflon fibre, carbon fibre, reinforced polyester, or polyurethane-coated Dacron showed high failure rates resulting from poor fixation, mechanical failure or severe inflammatory response.
Elastomers based on amphiphilic urethane block copolymers have been suggested for meniscal repair and tested in an animal model. (Heijkants, R. G. J. C. 2004 Polyurethane scaffolds as meniscus reconstruction materials, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, MSC Ph.D.-thesis series 2004-09; ISSN: 1570-1530; ISBN: 90 367 2169 5, chapter 10 pp 167-184) These materials are likely to produce less toxic degradation products than Dacron or Teflon. However, the mechanical properties of the polyurethanes tested did not match native meniscus very well and this may help to explain why only poorly orientated collagen was found in the regenerating fibro-cartilage in the implanted devices in place of the well-orientated collagen in normal meniscus. A further potential problem was that the polyurethane materials produced a Stage I inflammatory response (giant cells and some macrophages).
Recently, tissue engineering strategies for meniscal repair have been suggested including the use of biocompatible grafts as a substrate for regeneration, and cellular supplementation to promote remodeling and healing. Little is known, however, about the contributions of these novel repair strategies to restoration of normal meniscal function. (Setton, L. A., Guilak, F, Hsu, E. W. Vail, T. P. (1999) Biomechanical Factors in Tissue Engineered Meniscal Repair. Clinical Orthopaedics & Related Research. (367S) supplement:S254-S272, October 1999).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,193 (Kenny/Dow Chemical) appears to have been the first patent document to disclose the idea of a meniscal prosthesis rather than a total joint replacement endoprostheses. The meniscal prosthesis suggested is of non-reinforced silicone rubber. This material has low biocompatibility and would be likely to trigger a severe synovial reaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,161 (Wall) discloses a meniscal prosthesis of silicone rubber, rubber or polytetrafluorethylene with a reinforcing mesh of stainless steel strands, nylon or a woven fabric embedded within it. The suggested materials have low biocompatibility and would be likely to trigger a severe synovial reaction.
WO 89/00413 (Stone/Regen Biologics Inc.) discloses a prosthetic meniscus made of a three-dimensional array of collagen type I fibres interconnected via crosslinks consisting of polymerised glycosaminoglycan molecules. In vivo, the matrix has an outer surface contour substantially the same as that of a natural meniscus. The matrix provides a partially resorbable scaffold adapted for the ingrowth of meniscal fibrochondrocytes. Whilst the constructs may have a defined shape and size, the mechanical properties—in particular the compressive modulus—do not approach that of cartilage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,667 (Richmond/Stryker) discloses a meniscal prosthesis constructed from polyester bonded with polyurethane. The polyester is arranged as a felt in one or more intermediate layers sandwiched between a woven cloth top and bottom layer also of polyester. The polyester and polyurethane are likely to be more biocompatible than the materials of U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,161.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,306,169 (Lee) discloses an implant consisting of a porous macrostructure the pores of which are filled up with a hydrated gel. The macrostructure is made of a bioresorbable polymer (collagen, gelatin, poly-L-lactic acid, polycaprolactone, polyhydroxybutarate, or polyanhydrides) and the non-porous, hydrated gel consists of alginate, agarose, carrageenans, glycosaminoglycans, proteoglycans, polyethyelene oxide or collagen monomers. This structure improves on the mechanical properties of the constructs of WO 89/00413, but still struggles to reach those of cartilage.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,514,515 and 6,867,247 (Williams) discloses the use of a bioresorbable and biocompatible polymer of polyhydroxyalkanoate for tissue repair. Such polymers may be tuned to have specific mechanical properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,914 (Gabbay) discloses a meniscal prosthesis comprising a plurality of superimposed sheets of animal pericardium cross-linked by an aldehyde.
WO 00/72782 (Wolowacz/Smith & Nephew) discloses a biocompatible, resorbable implantable material for total replacement or reinforcement of connective tissue consisting of a flexible tape containing aligned fibres. The application mentions the use of a hydrogel as a 'carrier medium' by means of which cells are incorporated into the material.
The structure and function of the intervertebral disc has been reviewed by Matcher, S J, Winlove, C P and Gangnus, S V., (2004) in their article, "The collagen structure of bovine intervertebral disc studied using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography" published in Physics in Medicine and Biology, volume 49 pages 1295-1306. A disc comprises an inner region, the nucleus pulposus surrounded by the annulus fibrosus. The inner nucleus pulposus is a visco-elastic gel constructed from proteoglycans trapped in a disordered network of fine type-II collagen fibrils. In contrast, the outer annulus fibrosus consists of axially concentric lamellae, constructed from larger fibrils of type I collagen and a considerably lower concentration of proteoglycans. The fibres run parallel to each other within each lamella of the annulus fibrosus but at a constant angle to the axis of the disc. This angle alternates from lamella to lamella to give a trellis-like structure in which the fibre angle increases as the disc is axially compressed. Thus the intervertebral disc has a somewhat similar structure and function to the meniscus, acting as a fluid-filled pressure vessel, whose function is to convert axial compressive forces into tensile forces in the collagen of the concentric lamellae of the annulus fibrosus. The collagen fibres of the annulus fibrosus at top and bottom of the disc are firmly anchored to the epiphyseal bone of the centra of the adjacent vertebrae.
WO 2005/094911 (Knight/Oxford BioMaterials Ltd.) discloses a composite material comprising one or more silk elements in an acrylic or cross-linked protein matrix and its use in a wide range of implantable devices. The application teaches the use of certain Wild silks naturally decorated with the integrin-binding tripeptide RGD. This tripeptide in Wild silks facilitates the binding of mesenchymal and other cells.
Thus, there is still considerable scope for improvement in the implantable materials and devices used for the repair or replacement of articular cartilage, intervertebral discs and menisci.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an implantable cartilaginous tissue repair device with mechanical properties which are closer to the anatomical requirements of the tissue to be repaired than those of prior art devices.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a substantially bioresorbable implantable cartilaginous tissue repair device which allows and encourages the gradual infiltration and replacement of at least some parts of the device with autologous collagen and proteoglycans (i.e. collagen and proteoglycans produced by the patient's own body) more effectively than prior art devices.
In another aspect, it is an object of the present invention to provide an implantable tissue repair device which is at least partially bioresorbable and which has an effective means for being attached or anchored to a bone of a patient.

Implantable cartilaginous tissue repair device


An automatic transmission for vehicles, whose weight, length, and manufacturing cost are reduced as a consequence of simplifying a structure thereof by removing a torque converter. The automatic transmission for vehicles may include a first shift portion outputting three intermediate rotational speeds of a same rotational speed as an input rotational speed, an increased rotational speed, and a reverse rotational speed by using torque received through first and second variable input pathways, and a second shift portion including first, second, third, and fourth gears that respectively achieve first, second, third, and fourth gear ratios, changing each intermediate rotational speed received from the first shift portion into four final rotational speeds, and outputting the same.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transmission for vehicles that achieves eight forward speeds and four reverse speeds. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automatic transmission for vehicles, whose weight, length, and manufacturing cost are reduced as a consequence of simplifying a structure thereof by removing a torque converter.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A transmission of a vehicle is disposed between an engine and a drive shaft. The transmission converts engine torque into torque and speed suitable for a running state of the vehicle, and transmits the torque and speed to a driving wheel.
That is, the transmission achieves a neutral state so as to enable the engine to be started, forward speeds by suitably changing the driving torque of the engine so as to enable the vehicle to move forwardly, and reverse speeds by suitably changing the driving torque of the engine so as to enable the vehicle to move backwardly.
Transmissions for vehicles are divided largely into a manual transmission where a driver directly performs a shifting action, and an automatic transmission where a detecting means disposed at a preferable position in the vehicle detects the driving state of the vehicle and a transmission control unit (TCU) automatically performs the shifting action based on the driving state. The present invention relates to an automatic transmission.
Generally, an automatic transmission or vehicles includes a torque converter, a power train connected to the torque converter and achieving a plurality of gear ratios, and a hydraulic control system selectively operating operation members of the power train according to the driving state of the vehicle.
The automatic transmission also includes a compound planetary gear set formed by combining at least two simple planetary gear sets to achieve the required multiple speeds. The power train includes a plurality of frictional members, and the hydraulic control system selectively operates the frictional members of the power train according to the driving condition.
A variety of such power trains and hydraulic control systems have been developed by vehicle manufacturers according to their own schemes. □
Currently, four-speed and five-speed automatic transmissions are most often found on the market. However, six-speed automatic transmissions have also been realized for enhancement of performance of power transmission and for enhanced fuel mileage of a vehicle.
In spite of excellent merits, the automatic transmission has disadvantages in efficiency. Currently, automatic transmissions that have the excellent efficiency of a manual transmission as well as the convenience of an automatic transmission are under investigation through using a plurality of frictional members (i.e., clutches and brakes) and shift automation means mounted to a conventional manual transmission.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


A cap member according to a first aspect of the invention is a cap member that covers a nozzle area of an ejecting head having a plurality of nozzle openings for ejecting fluid. The cap member includes a cap member body having a bottom portion and a frame portion and an absorbing member being fixed to the bottom portion for absorbing the fluid. The bottom portion is arranged so as to oppose the nozzle area, and the frame portion is provided on a peripheral edge of the bottom portion and coming into contact with the ejecting head. An inner peripheral portion extending along the inner surface of the frame portion is a groove portion, and the height of the groove portion from the bottom portion is lower than the upper surface of the absorbing member over the entire circumference of the frame portion.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a cap member and a fluid ejecting apparatus.
2. Related Art
As an example of known fluid ejecting apparatuses which eject fluid, there is an ink jet printing apparatus. The ink jet printing apparatus is an apparatus that prints characters or images on a printing medium, and is adapted to eject ink from nozzles provided on a printhead (ejecting head) onto the printing medium. The ink jet printing apparatus includes a maintenance mechanism that maintains ejecting characteristics of the nozzles. The maintenance mechanism includes a component such as a cap member that prevents the interior of nozzles from being dried. The cap member includes a frame portion that surrounds a nozzle area of the printhead, and includes an absorbing member that absorbs ink provided on the entire surface of the frame portion.
However, in the configuration in which the absorbing member is arranged over the entire surface in the frame portion, there is a probability that ink remaining in the nozzles runs through the absorbing member and is attached to the frame portion when the cap member covers the nozzle area. When the nozzle area is covered by the cap member having the ink attached to the frame portion, the ink on the frame portion is attached to the nozzle area.


A ceramic fastener includes a ceramic body portion, and a containment layer disposed around the ceramic body portion. The containment layer retains pieces of the ceramic body portion when the ceramic body portion is subjected to a torque sufficient to fracture the ceramic body portion. The fastener can be a nut, and the containment layer can be disposed around one or more of the top, bottom and side surfaces of the nut. The containment layer can be a metal shroud having a thickness from 0.01 to 0.125 inches. The ceramic body portion can be alumina or zirconia. A thread insert may be disposed within a fastener bore of the ceramic body portion.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to fasteners in general, and in particular to a contained ceramic fastener.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Ion implantation is a process of depositing chemical species into a substrate by bombardment of the substrate with energized ions. In semiconductor manufacturing, ion implanters are used for doping processes that alter the type and level of conductivity of target materials. A precise doping profile in an integrated circuit (IC) substrate and its thin-film structure is important for proper IC performance. To achieve a desired doping profile, one or more ion species may be implanted in different doses and at different energy levels.
FIG. 1 depicts an ion implanter system 1. The ion implanter 100 includes a power source 101, an ion source 102, extraction electrodes 104, a 90° magnet analyzer 106, a first deceleration (D1) stage 108, a 70° magnet analyzer 110, and a second deceleration (D2) stage 112. The D1 and D2 deceleration stages (often referred to as "deceleration lenses") are each comprised of multiple electrodes with a defined aperture to allow an ion beam to pass therethrough. By applying different combinations of voltage potentials to the multiple electrodes, the D1 and D2 deceleration lenses may manipulate ion energies and cause the ion beam to hit a target workpiece 114 at a desired energy. A number of measurement devices 116 (e.g., a dose control Faraday cup, a traveling Faraday cup, or a setup Faraday cup) may be used to monitor and control the ion beam conditions. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the target workpiece 114 may be supported by a platen which can be used to fix and to move the workpiece during implantation.
It has been discovered that for some silicon wafer workpieces, a relatively low temperature during ion implantation can be advantageous for amorphization of the silicon wafer. For example, performing ion implantation at temperatures below −60° Celsius (C) may substantially improve ion implantation process performance. In ion implantation applications, wafers are typically cooled during the implantation process by a cryogenic liquid supplied to a cooling platen, where the cryogenic liquid has been cooled by a chiller.
In other ion implantations processes, the desired doping profile is achieved by implanting ions in the target substrate at high temperatures (e.g., between 150-600° C.) Heating the target substrate can be achieved by supporting the substrate on a heated platen during the ion implant process.
A platen is typically used to clamp the substrate during implant and provide wafer heating or cooling. As such, the platen and its associated components must be able to withstand large temperature shifts. The fasteners used to fix elements of the platen must, therefore, be able to withstand these large temperature shifts while still maintaining desired fastening forces.
Ceramic fasteners are known for use in high temperature applications. While known ceramic fasteners can withstand desired high temperatures and maintain desired fastening forces, they suffer from the problem that they have the tendency to fail in a catastrophic manner when subject to high installation torques. This failure mode is undesirable because it often results in the uncontrolled dispersal of ceramic pieces and particles in the work area. Thus, there is a need for an improved ceramic fastener design for use in coupling components of semiconductor processing platens.

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc


A method of treating Hepatitis C by administering an immune system-potentiating dose of at least one Thymosin or system-potentiating Thymosin fragment to a mammal infected with Hepatitis C virus, which Hepatitis C infection in the mammal is non-responsive to treatment with interferon alone.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the pharmacological treatment of hepatitis C virus infection in patients.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hepatitis C virus (HCV), the putative agent in the majority of post-transfusion acquired hepatitis, has been recently defined by a new serologic assay. Kuo, G., et al., Science, 244:362-4 (1989). Despite improvement in the quality of the blood-donor pool and the recent implementation of testing of donated blood, the current estimated incidence of acute infection among persons receiving transfusions is 5 to 10%. Alter, H. J., in Zuckerman, A. J., ed., Viral Hepatitis and Liver Disease, Allen K. Liss, New York, 1988, pp. 537-42. Chronic hepatitis develops in at least half the patients with acute HCV infection (representing about 90% of patients with non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANB)), and cirrhosis develops in at least 20% of this group. Thus, of the approximately 3 million persons who receive transfusions in the United States each year, acute hepatitis C will develop in about 150,000. Chronic hepatitis C will develop in at least 75,000 of these, and among them cirrhosis will develop in more than 15,000. Among patients with post-transfusion hepatitis, up to about 90% are positive for the HCV antibody. Davis, G. L., et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 321:1501-6 (1989). Patients with sporadic NANB hepatitis (no specific risk factors) are also very likely to have the anti-HCV antibody. Kuo, et al. (1989) above. While most of the patients who contract hepatitis C will have subclinical or mild disease, approximately 50% will progress to a chronic disease state characterized by fluctuating serum transaminase abnormalities and inflammatory lesions on liver biopsy. By some estimates, cirrhosis will develop in up to about 20% of this group. Koretz, R. L., et al., Gastroenterology, 88:1251-4 (1985).
With the aim of halting or slowing the progression of HCV-related diseases, a variety of drugs have been evaluated in recent years. Both acyclovir and corticosteroids (which are beneficial in autoimmune chronic active hepatitis) are ineffective. Pappas, S. C., J. Med. Virol., 15:1-9 (1985); Stokes, P., et al., Gastroenterology, 92:1783 abstract (1987).
To date, .alpha.-interferon (IFA) appears to be the most promising candidate, although not necessarily the final answer. Hoofnagle, J. H., et al., in Viral Hepatitis: 1981 International Symposium, Philadelphia, Franklin Institute Press, 1982, pp. 573-83; Hoofnagle, J. H., et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 315:1575-8 (1986); Thomson, J., Lancet, 1:539-41 (1987); Kiyosawa, K., et al., in Zuckerman, A., ed., Viral Hepatitis and Liver Disease, Allen K. Liss, New York, 1983, pp. 895-7. Hoofnagle, J. H., et al., Sem. Liver Dis., 9:259-263 (1985). The interferons are host proteins made in response to viral infections as well as other antigenic stimuli. They are classified by their cell of origin as well as their antigenicity. .alpha.-Interferon is made by lymphoblastoid cells, .beta.-interferon by fibroblasts, and .gamma.-interferon by T-cells. Subtypes in each group are based on antigenic/structural characteristics. Recombinant forms for each group have been developed and are commercially available. A pilot study utilizing IFA on ten patients with well-characterized post-transfusion NANB hepatitis was reported in 1986 by Hoofnagle et al. (Hoofnagle, J. H., et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 315:1575-8 (1986)). In this study, eight of ten patients improved their serum alanine transaminase (ALT) levels within one month of starting therapy. IFA therapy consisted of 5 million units (MU) daily in seven of the patients and one MU daily in three patients. In all subjects the dose was gradually reduced to 1 MU daily and then finally switched to an alternate day or every three day regimen. In three patients who had post-treatment liver biopsies, the specimen showed a marked improvement in the degree of portal inflammation and loss of parenchymal hepatocytic necrosis. Side effects were common at the 5 MU/day dose and virtually absent at 1 MU/day.
The effects of recombinant human interferon .alpha. in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in patients with well-documented chronic HCV infection has recently been carried out. Di Bisceglie, A. M., et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 321:1506-10 (1989). Forty-one patients were enrolled in the trial, 37 of whom were later found to have antibody to HCV. Twenty-one patients received interferon .alpha. (2 MU) subcutaneously three times weekly for six months, and twenty received placebo. The mean serum ALT and the histological features of the liver improved significantly in the patients treated with interferon, but not in the patients given placebo. Ten patients treated with interferon (48%) had a complete response, defined as a decline in mean serum ALT to the normal range during therapy; three others had a decrease in mean ALT of more than 50%. After treatment ended, however, serum ALT usually returned to pretreatment levels; six to twelve months after the discontinuation of interferon therapy, only two patients (10%) still had normal values. The authors concluded that interferon .alpha. therapy is beneficial in reducing disease activity in chronic hepatitis C; however, the beneficial responses are often transient and side effects are known to appear.
In another, broader study, chronic hepatitis C (NANB hepatitis) in 166 patients was treated with either 3 MU or 1 MU of recombinant human .alpha.-IFA three times weekly for 24 weeks or to no treatment. The serum ALT level became completely normal in 22 of the 26 patients (85%) who responded to treatment with 3 MU of interferon, and nine of the sixteen patients (56%) responded to treatment with 1 MU. The patients who received 3 MU of interferon had histologic improvement because of the regression of lobular and periportal inflammation. However, relapse within six months after the completion of treatment occurred in 51% of the patients treated with 3 MU of interferon and in 44% of those treated with 1 MU. Davis, G. L., et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 321:1501-06 (1989). These authors concluded that a 24-week course of interferon therapy is effective in controlling disease activity in many patients with hepatitis C, although relapse after the cessation of treatment is common.
A multi-center randomized control trial of recombinant human .alpha.-IFN in patients with chronic NANB hepatitis has been reported recently. Marcellin, P., et al., Hepatology, 13:393-97 (1991). Patients were randomly assigned to no treatment or to 1 to 3 MU of .alpha.-interferon given three times a week for 24 weeks. Forty-five patients (75%) were positive for antibody to HCV. During the 24 week treatment period, mean serum ALT levels decreased in both treatment groups, but the decrease was statistically significant only in the 3 MU group. However, at 24 weeks, the proportion of patients with normal ALT levels was similar in the 3 MU group (39%) and the 1 MU group (45%) and both were significantly higher than in controls (0%). Repeat liver biopsy specimens showed a significant decrease in the severity of histological changes in the higher dose group but not in the lower dose group or in controls. However, after treatment, the mean ALT levels rose in both treated groups. The proportion of patients with normal ALT levels at week 48 was 28% in the 3 MU group and 20% in the 1 MU group. The authors conclude that a dose of 3 MU was superior to 1 MU of .alpha.-interferon given three times per week for 24 weeks in inducing improvements in serum ALT levels and liver histological examinations. However, relapse in disease activity occurred in approximately half of the responders when interferon was stopped. The response to .alpha.-interferon did not correlate with the source of infection or with the presence or absence of anti-HCV antibody titres in patient sera.
It is clear, therefore, that while a-interferon has a beneficial effect on the course of HCV infection, this effect is frequently only transient. Therefore, new modalities are necessary in order permanently to eradicate the effects of hepatitis C virus on the patient.
Another class of polypeptide immune modifiers derived from the thymus gland, the thymosins, has been shown to trigger maturational events in lymphocytes, to augment T-cell function and to promote reconstitution of immune defects. Low, T. L. K., et al., "Thymosins: Structure, Function and Therapeutic Application", Thymus, 6:27-42 (1984).
Thymosin Fraction Five (TF-5), originally described by Goldstein et al. (Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. (USA), 69:1800-1803 (1972)), is a partially purified extract of bovine thymus containing at least 40 peptide components, 20 of which have been purified to homogeneity or near homogeneity; it contains about 0.6% of Thymosin .alpha.-1 (THN.alpha..sub.1). Low, 1984, above.
THN.alpha..sub.1, initially isolated from TF-5, has been sequenced and chemically synthesized. Wetzel, R., et al., Biochemistry, 19:6096-6104 (1980). Its sequence is highly homologous in mice, calves and humans. THN.alpha..sub.1 is a 28 amino acidic polypeptide with a molecular weight of 3100 that has shown activity qualitatively similar to TF-5 in modulating the immune system. Low, T. L. K., et al., J. Biol. Chem., 254:981-6 (1979). THN.alpha..sub.1 has potent immunologic activity, including stimulation of .alpha.- and .gamma.-interferon production, increasing macrophage migration inhibitory factor production, inducing expression of T-cell markers, including IL-2 receptors, and improving T-cell helper cell activity. Schulof, R. S., et al., in The Lymphocyte, Allen J. Liss Inc., New York, 1981, pp. 191-215; Low, T. L. K., et al., in "Thymosins: Structure, Function and Therapeutic Applications", Thymus, 6:27-43 (1984); Koutab, N. M., et al., Immunopharm., 16:97-105 (1988). Studies in mice have demonstrated a synergistic effect of THN.alpha..sub.1 and interferon on natural killer-cell activity in immunosuppressed mice. Favilli, C., et al., Cancer Immunol. Immunother., 20:189-92 (1985). TF-5 and THN.alpha..sub.1 can influence immunoregulatory T-cell function, promote production of interferon-.alpha., interferon-.gamma. and interleukin-2 by human lymphocytes and increase interleukin-2 receptor expression. Marshall, G. D., et al., J. Immunol., 126:741-4 (1981); Mutchnick, M. G., et al., Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol., 23:626-33 (1982); Sztein, M. B., et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. (USA), 83:6107-6111 (1986); Serrate, S. A., et al., J. Immunol., 1939:2338-43 (1987); Baxevanis, C. N., et al., Immunopharm., 13:133-41 (1987); and, Svedersky, L. P., Eur. J. Immunol., 12:244-7 (1982).
Clinical trials of TF-5 and THN.alpha..sub.1 as primary or adjunctive therapy in patients with immunodeficiency or cancer indicate that these agents enhance immune responsiveness and augment specific lymphocyte functions. Clinical trials of TF-5 and purified THN.alpha..sub.1 have been underway for a number of years. Early trials in patients with cancer or immunodeficiency states were encouraging, though not definitive. Goldstein, A. L., et al., Transp. Proc., 9:1141 (1977); Barrett, D. J., et al., J. Pediatr., 97:61 (1980); and Cohen, M. H., et al., J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 241:1813-5 (1979). THN.alpha..sub.1 use has been described in a randomized trial of patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer. Patients were treated with THN.alpha..sub.1 at a dose of 900 .mu.grams/m.sup.2 subcutaneously twice weekly or daily for two weeks and then twice weekly after completing a course of radiotherapy. The only side effect of THN.alpha..sub.1 was mild burning at the injection site in three patients. This was attributed to the drug lot and may have been due to the carrier preparation. Relapse-free survival and overall survival were greater in both THN.alpha..sub.1 treatment groups than in the placebo group; some restoration of radiation-suppressed immune function was also noticed. There was no increase in T-cell numbers associated with this. Schulof, R. S., et al. J. Biol. Response Modifiers, 4:147-58 (1985).
Recent double-blind, randomized trials with thymosins have been performed in elderly men in an effort to increase response to influenza vaccine. Gravenstein, S., et al., JAGS, 37:1-8 (1989). Patients received synthetic THN.alpha..sub.1 subcutaneously twice weekly starting at the time the influenza vaccine was given. At six weeks post-vaccine, those patients randomized to receive the drug had higher levels of antibody to influenza than controls. This difference was accentuated in the very elderly (ages 77-99). No clinical or biochemical toxicity was observed in drug recipients.
There are preliminary reports that thymosins may be effective against infections caused by hepatitis viruses other than HCV. In an animal model of viral hepatitis, the woodchuck infected with the Woodchuck Hepatitis Virus, THN.alpha..sub.1 suppressed viral DNA replication, but produced no improvement in clinical parameters. Korba, B. E., et al., Hepatology, 12:Abs. 880 (1990). In a pilot clinical trial with patients with Chronic Active Hepatitis B caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV), patients treated for a year with THN.alpha..sub.1 (5 patients) or with TF-5 (2 patients) showed a marked decrease in serum ALT; 6 of the 7 patients also showed reduced levels of serum HBV DNA, and 5 of 6 patients initially positive for serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBSAg) subsequently cleared this antigen. Mutchnick, M. C., et al., Hematology, 10:Abs. 575 (1989). No suggestion was made in these abstracts that the thymosins would be effective against any other hepatitis viruses.
There remains, therefore, an important need in the art for a new modality for the treatment of HCV infections in mammals; this modality is disclosed below.

Method of treating hepatitis C in non-responders to interferon treatment

The Board of Governors of Wayne State University


An apparatus for selection and engagement of selectable gear ratios in a change speed transmission is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a housing, a shaft mounted for relative axial and rotational movement in the housing, a plurality of shift forks, and a plurality of snap rings. Each of the shift forks includes a hub portion having a bore through which the shaft is received. Each of the snap rings is disposed about the shaft and abuts a corresponding shift fork. Each of the snap rings has a tooth which projects radially from the shaft. Each of the hub portions has a groove which is formed to receive a corresponding tooth such that when one of the grooves is not aligned with a corresponding tooth in response to rotation of the shaft, the other grooves are aligned with a corresponding tooth. Thus, only one shift fork is movable at any time.

Single shaft shifting mechanisms for selecting and engaging the selectable ratios of a multiple speed vehicular mechanical transmission are known in the prior art as may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,537 and German Patent No. 1011736, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Such mechanisms are, in certain situations, improvements relative to the multiple parallel shift rail type devices as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,445,393; 4,275,612; 4,584,895 and 4,722,237, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference, as they require fewer parts, utilize a single moving shaft making the use of improved bearings and finishes more economically feasible, require less space, allow easier control of an auxiliary transmission and/or allow easier more economical sensing of transmission neutral and transmission in-gear conditions.
While the prior art single shaft shifting mechanisms were useful in certain situations, they were not totally satisfactory as the hub or block portions of the various shift forks required multiple axially extending slots cut radially through the hub from the inner diameter to the outer diameter surfaces thereof which could weaken the hubs and which were somewhat difficult and expensive to produce.
Further, the prior art single shaft shifting mechanisms utilized rather complicated cross-shaft mechanisms which included the various detent and stop mechanisms and thus did not allow for easy conversion of the transmission for both direct and remote shifting configurations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,815 to Reynolds, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, addresses these shortcomings in the prior art. Reynolds discloses a single shaft shifting mechanism having two shift keys for contact with hubs and movement of shift forks. While Reynolds is a perfectly acceptable solution to these problems, it would be advantageous to reduce the costs and part complexity required in that design.

Snap ring actuated single shaft shifting mechanism


The present invention relates to a spirobenzylamine-phosphine, preparation method therefor and use thereof. The compound has a structure represented by formula (I), wherein n=0 to 3; R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8 and R9 having a value as defined in claim 1. Starting from the substituted 7-trifluoromesyloxy-7′-diarylphosphino-1,1′-spiro-dihydroindene, the compound is synthesized in a two-step or three-step reactions. The new spirobenzylamine-phosphine is complexed with an iridium precursor and is subjected to ion exchange, to give an Iridium/spirobenzylamine-phosphine complex comprising various anions. The spiro benzyl amine-phosphine/Iridium complex according to the present invention may be used for catalyzing asymmetry hydrogenation of a variety of alpha-substituted acrylic acids, has high activity and enantio-selectivity, and has a good prospect of industrialization.

Transition-metal-catalyzed asymmetric synthesis is an important area in modern organic chemistry study (Ohkuma, T; Kitamura, M.; Noyori, R. Catalytic Asymmetry Synthesis, Wiley, New York, 2000). The crux of the asymmetric catalytic synthesis is to synthesize the chiral catalyst. Since the asymmetric control emerged by chiral catalyst which depends on chiral ligands, for the core of the synthesis of chiral catalyst is the synthesis of chiral ligands. The motivation of the asymmetric synthesis development is to design and synthesize the new chiral ligands.
Chiral carboxylic acid, one of the important blocks for synthesis, is widely applied into synthesis of drugs and nature products. Wherein alpha-aryl substituted propionic acid, such as naproxen and ibuprofen, is widespread used in the world today as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. There is significant application value to develop the synthesis method of optical active alpha-substituted propionic acids with high efficiency and high selectivity. To obtain the compound, transition-metal-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of alpha-substituted acrylic acids is one of the most direct and effective method. In the past several decades, much research on transition-metal-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of alpha-substituted acrylic acids has been done and some valid chiral ligands and catalysts are developed. Among the research of asymmetric hydrogenation of alpha-substituted acrylic acids so far, axial chiral diphosphine ligands and the complex catalyst of ruthenium acquire the best results. Nevertheless, to maximize the catalytic effect for such catalyst requires hydrogen pressure greater than 6 MPa in general. If hydrogen pressure is reduced, the activity and enantioselectivity of reaction is lowered (1. Ohta, T.; Takaya, H.; Kitamura, M.; Nagai, K.; Noyori, R. J. Org. Chem. 1987, 52, 3174; 2. Chan, A. S. C.; Laneman, S. A. U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,050, 1992; 3. Benincori, T.; Brenna, E.; Sannicolò, F.; Trimarco, L.; Antognazza, P.; Cesarotti, E.; Demartin, F.; Pilati, T. J. Org. Chem. 1996, 61, 6244; 4. Pai, C.-C.; Lin, C.-W.; Lin, C.-C.; Chen, C.-C.; Chan, A. S. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 11513; 5. Qiu, L.; Wu, J.; Chan, S.; Au-Yeung, T. T.-L.; Ji, J.-X.; Guo, R.; Pai, C.-C.; Zhou, Z.; Li, X.; Fan, Q.-H.; Chan, A. S. C. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2004, 101, 5815). The reaction condition of high pressure has a high requirement of apparatus and causes many security problems in production. Diphosphine ligands and complex catalyst of rhodium are also used in asymmetric hydrogenation alpha-substituted acrylic acids. Although some rhodium catalysts have relatively high enantioselectivity in asymmetric hydrogenation alpha-substituted acrylic acids, the catalyst dosage is large (1 mol %) and the enantioselectivity in substrates of alpha-alkyl substituted acrylic acids is only middle class which is not adequate enough (1. Robin, F.; Mercier, F.; Ricard, L.; Mathey, F.; Spagnol, M. Chem. Eur. J. 1997, 3, 1365; 2. Hu, W.-H.; Pai, C. C.; Chen, C. C.; Xue, G.-P.; Chan, A. S. C. Tetrahedron: Asymmetry 1998, 9, 3241; 3. Zupan{hacek over (c)}i{hacek over (c)}, B.; Mohar, B.; Stephan, M. Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 3022). Recently, some phosphine-oxazoline ligand and complex of iridium are used to catalyze the asymmetric hydrogenation of alpha-substituted acrylic acids. However, since the conversion number (TON<100) and transformation frequency (TOF<13 h−1) is relative low and the highest enantioselectivity is only 88% ee, the requirement of practical application can not be fulfilled (1. Scrivanti, A.; Bovo, S.; Ciappa, A.; Matteoli, U. Tetrahedron Lett. 2006, 47, 9261; 2. Zhang, Y.; Han, Z.-B.; Li, F.-Y.; Ding, K.-L.; Zhang, A. Chem. Commun. 2010, 46, 156). In conclusion, with regard to asymmetric hydrogenation alpha-substituted acrylic acids, the existing chiral ligands and catalysts have defects of high hydrogen pressure, large catalyst dosage, long duration of reaction and limited substrates, which have negative effect on practical application. Therefore, to overcome the shortages of existing ligands and catalysts is one of the focuses of the research to develop new effective chiral ligand and corresponding catalyst.

Spirobenzylamine-phosphine, preparation method therefor and use thereof

Zhejiang Jiuzhou Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.


The present invention provides a system for activating personal assistance services. The system includes an audio data collector adapted to collect a sample of speech, a processing module, and a service activator couple to an output device. The processing module further includes an audio feature extractor that extracts a plurality of acoustic features from the sample of speech, and a classification unit that classifies a status of a user from the plurality of acoustic features. The Service activator activates a personal assistance service according to the status of the user classified by the classification unit.

Today's electronic devices are able to access a large, growing, and diverse quantity of functions, services, and information, both via the Internet and from other sources. Functionality for such devices is increasing rapidly, as many consumer devices, smartphones, tablet computers, and the like, are able to run software applications to perform various tasks and provide different types of information. Increasingly, these devices have become the hub for managing important health data. They run a range of independent health applications and interface with a range of wearable and clinical sensing devices. While these apps and devices can be important tools in systems designed to monitor and improve individual health, each one has different interfaces and interaction needs and schedules that need to be engaged regularly for maximum benefit. Many of these interactions can be burdensome and become overwhelming or frustrating for users in ways that lead to decreased utilization of the tools or lack of awareness when input is needed or helpful information is available.
In particular, individuals who are impaired or disabled in some manner, and/or are elderly, young, unfamiliar with a device, busy, distracted, and/or operating a vehicle may have difficulty interfacing with their electronic devices effectively, and/or engaging online services effectively. Such users are particularly likely to have difficulty with the large number of diverse and inconsistent health functions, applications, and websites that may be available for their use.
Additionally, individuals who consider themselves healthy may be less likely or inclined to initiate use of health monitoring and screening applications or features that could help anticipate and even prevent potential medical problems.
Existing automated assistant systems rely on linguistic cues to recognize key words or phrases to activate the device and link the speaker of the key word or phrase to predefined service domains estimated to be relevant based on the semantic content of speech subsequent to the key word or phrase. For example, the intelligent automated assistant described in Apple's Siri U.S. Pat. No. 8,670,979 B2 makes use of linguistic content of human speech to cue services and content provided to a user.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for activation of voice interactive services based on user state


A system and method involve subtracting a positive bias from a symbol timing offset estimate determined by an estimator in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) receiver. The bias may be determined based upon a channel order and/or the length of a cyclic prefix of a received OFDM symbol. If based upon the length of the cyclic prefix, the bias may be less than or equal to half the length of the cyclic prefix. The estimator may be a blind estimator, a coarse estimator, or a blind coarse estimator. The OFDM receiver may have

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a popular multicarrier modulation method that has been adopted in numerous standards such as IEEE 802.11a/g, DVB-T/T2, and LTE. Some of the key advantages of OFDM are its high spectral efficiency, robustness to inter-symbol interference (ISI) caused by multipath, and its ability to equalize wideband channels. However, OFDM is sensitive to time and frequency offsets, which need to be estimated in order to correctly demodulate the received data.
Some techniques focus on blindly estimating these offsets without the use of training data. Typically, the maximum likelihood (ML) principle has been used in these approaches because it guarantees asymptotically unbiased and consistent estimates. However, the mutual orthogonality of the OFDM subcarriers is preserved only if the estimated timing error lies in the lock-in region. The previously proposed estimators have been designed to accurately estimate the symbol time offset (STO), but not necessarily designed to lock-in with high probability.

Biased estimation of symbol timing offset in OFDM systems

Abstract: N      cp        2    +  1parallel channels, where Ncp is the number of samples of a cyclic prefix of the received OFDM symbol, where the positive bias is different for each channel.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY