In order to provide a new service even to a conventional mobile communication terminal without installing a new function when starting a new mobile communication service, a mobile communication terminal includes a virtual terminal server that controls the communication on behalf of the mobile communication terminal according to a request from the mobile communication terminal to realize a service function that is a communication function not included in the mobile communication terminal. The virtual terminal server processes, in accordance with the model information of the mobile communication function, information to be informed to the mobile communication terminal to realize the service function to thereby enable the mobile communication terminal to acquire and transmit information obtained by realizing the service function.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a virtual terminal server, a mobile communication terminal, a communication control system, and a communication control method for providing a communication service using a mobile communication terminal such as a communication service for providing mutual communication between a plurality of terminals in a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the mobile communication, a communication control message corresponding to a communication service (communication function) is transmitted and received between mobile communication terminals, and a communication path between the terminals is set to allow communication between the mobile communication terminals.
JP 2005-277654 A describes a communication control system between mobile communication terminals using a virtual terminal device.
The communication control system described in JP 2005-277654 A includes a mobile communication terminal connected to an audio network and the data network, a virtual terminal device connected to the audio network and the data network, and a communication partner device connected to the virtual terminal device.
The virtual terminal device includes: application processing means for interpreting user data received from the communication partner device and distributing the data into an audio signal and an image signal; virtual screen means for developing the image signal on a virtual screen; and synchronization processing means for providing a synchronization signal to the audio signal and the image signal, transmitting the audio signal to the audio network, and transmitting the image signal to the data network.
The mobile communication terminal includes synchronization processing means for synchronizing the audio signal received through the audio network and the image signal received through the data network, audio device means for producing sound of the audio signal, and image device means for displaying the image signal.
The mobile communication terminal further includes input device means for acquiring an operation of the user and input processing means for transmitting the operation to the data network as an input signal.
The virtual terminal device further includes input processing means for informing the operation that can be obtained from the input signal to the application processing means. The application processing means is designed to interpret the operation and request user data to the communication partner device.
In this way, the conventional technique is intended to suppress the processing load in the mobile communication terminal.
In the conventional technique, an application processing unit that processes an audio signal and an image signal is installed in the virtual terminal device, whereas the application processing unit is usually included in the mobile communication terminal. Instead, the synchronization processing means is installed in both of the mobile communication terminal and the virtual terminal device to allow processing of the audio signal and the image signal.
Thus, in the conventional technique, the application processing unit that processes the audio signal and the image signal and that is usually required to be installed in the mobile communication terminal is simply installed in the virtual terminal device to reduce the processing load of the mobile communication terminal. Therefore, in the conventional technique, an application for providing additional services of various communication functions is not installed in the virtual terminal.
When providing a service including a new communication function, transmission and reception of a communication control message corresponding to the service is necessary between the mobile communication terminals. A corresponding screen display format or the like also needs to be prepared in the mobile communication terminal. Therefore, in general, the new function is definitely required in the mobile communication terminal to provide the new service. The new service cannot be provided to the conventional mobile communication terminal which does not include the function.
Even in the conventional technique, an additional function of the mobile communication terminal is needed to provide a new communication service.

Virtual terminal server, mobile communication terminal, communication control system, and communication control method


A wind farm output control device includes a potential estimator estimating a maximum electrical energy outputtable by each wind power generation device, a control amount determiner determining, based on the estimated maximum power amount, a control amount for an effective power of each wind power generation device and/or a reactive power thereof in a wind farm, and a control amount distributor distributing the control amount based on an available power generation amount of each wind power generation device. The potential estimator estimates the maximum power amount based on a pitch angle of blades, an angular speed deviation of a power generator, and a conversion loss of the wind power generation device. Within the range of the estimated maximum power amount, the control amount for the output by the wind farm is distributed within a range where each wind power generation device is outputtable according to the wind condition.

In view of the depletion of fossil fuels and the prevention of a global warming, introduction of power generation systems utilizing natural energy (e.g., wind power and solar power) is advancing worldwide. A wind power generation device converts energy possessed by wind into rotation energy through a wind turbine, and transmits such energy to a power generator directly or with an increase in the rotation speed by a speed-up gear, thereby generating electrical energy. A wind farm is a system for generating large power by placing wind power generation devices of several tens to a hundred or more on a broad land or on the broad ocean.
When the scale increases, a wind farm affects a stable operation of a power system, and thus an output control performance and a system interconnection management equivalent to those of a thermal power generation plant are required. System interconnection requirements to interconnect a wind farm with a commercial system are defined by respective electric power companies and national standards which are disclosed in, for example, "System Connection Technology Requirement of Wind Power Generation Facilities (for extremely high voltage)", Dec., 2011, Tohoku-Electric Power Co., Inc.; and Standard Number IEC61400-25-2 (Wind Turbines-Part 25-2: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants-Information models) Annex C, 2006-12-14.
In a power system, a thermal power generation device or a water power generation device controls respective frequencies within a certain range, and when a wind farm that changes the frequency in accordance with wind is interconnected with the power system, the load of frequency control increases. During a night at which the thermal power generation devices and the water power generation devices in the power system are deactivated, the frequency maintaining performance decreases, and thus it may be necessary in some cases to parallel off the wind farm.
The fluctuation originating from the wind farm also causes a voltage fluctuation at a connection point, which deteriorates the power quality. The above standard IEC61400-25-2 also defines a spinning reserve to be held, i.e., a performance that can increase supplied power to a system when a disturbance like a breakdown occurs in an interconnected power system. By maintaining the spinning reserve, the wind farm can be operated as a power plant that can contribute to the system stabilization.
For a power producer possessing a wind farm, it becomes possible to increase the operating rate while avoiding unnecessary parallel off, and further to contribute to the system stabilization when a breakdown of a power system occurs by controlling the wind farm output so as to satisfy the system interconnection requirement. Hence, JP 2009-239990 A, JP 2007-32488 A, and JP 2007-37226 A disclose wind farm control technologies, but those control technologies are not made in consideration of maintaining a spinning reserve. Moreover, Japan Patent No. 4881349 discloses a wind-farm-output control technology of adjusting the output by a wind farm so as to maintain a reserved power.
There are needs for power producers to not only maintain a spinning reserve while satisfying a system interconnection requirement, but also stabilize the yieldability by maximally utilizing wind energy to perform an efficient operation. The wind farm operation technology of Japan Patent No. 4881349 enables an operation of a wind farm that maintains a reserved power while satisfying a system interconnection requirement. However, Japan Patent No. 4881349 does not explicitly describe a specific way to realize the distribution method of the outputs of respective wind power generation devices. Therefore, it cannot be always said that the efficiency of the method of Japan Patent No. 4881349 is the best. Moreover, when the frequency increases, a wind farm output can be reduced and suppressed, but when the frequency decreases, it is difficult to increase the output.

Output control device, method and program for wind farm


An endoscope using depth information and a method for detecting a polyp based on the endoscope using the depth information are provided. The endoscope using the depth information may generate an irradiated light signal including a visible light, obtain depth information based on the irradiated light signal and a reflected light signal obtained through the irradiated light signal being reflected off of an intestine wall, generate a depth image inside the intestine wall based on the depth information, and detect a polyp located on the intestine wall based on the depth image.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to an endoscope using depth information and method for detecting a polyp based on the endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
An endoscope is an apparatus for diagnosing an image frequently used during health examinations because the endoscope provides an image almost identical to an image observed by a naked eye of a human. Recently, use of the endoscope has contributed to early diagnosis and early treatment of diseases by removing a polyp upon detection of the polyp during diagnosis.
Detecting whether the polyp is located on an intestine wall may be an issue because rotating the endoscope through a range of varied angles to obtain images is difficult due to an intestine being narrower than a stomach.

Endoscope using depth information and method for detecting polyp based on endoscope using depth information


In welding optical fiber ribbons by means of an electric arc formed between electrodes the region heated by the electric arc is mapped on CCD-elements in a camera. In the obtained picture the light intensity of those portions of the picture is determined which correspond to the heated fiber portions. This light intensity is used for setting the electric current flowing between the electrodes, so that a desired welding temperature is obtained and so that also a desired, lower temperature is obtained in the fiber ends in a preparatory softening stage, which has a long durability and which is performed before the very welding stage. This determination of temperatures by means of measured light intensities gives reliable values also in the case where ambient conditions like the air pressure are changed, the state of the electrodes is changed owing to contamination, etc. During the preparatory stage the ends of the individual fibers are deformed, so that they can come in contact with each other, even if the end surfaces of the individual fibers in a fiber ribbon are not located in a plane, which extends in an angle that is exactly perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the fiber ribbon, and so that mechanical stresses obtained when pressing the fiber ends against each other are relieved.

The present invention relates to control of temperature by means of a CCD-camera when welding optical fibers, in particular optical fiber ribbons and devices for accomplishing such control, and it also relates to a method and a device adapted to weld fiber ribbons to each other.
A very important parameter when splicing optical fibers by welding is the temperature at the welding location. To be able to maintain the temperature of the fibers at a sufficiently high level and during a sufficient long time period are determining factors in order to obtain a low attenuation and a high mechanic strength in the splice produced.
A known method for an indirect control of the temperature of the fibers, which is used in some known welding devices, is called xe2x80x9cMeltbackxe2x80x9d, see the article by G. Kiss, xe2x80x9cHigh yield fusion splicing in the outside plant: using fiber meltback to monitor electrode conditionxe2x80x9d, National Fiber Operation Engineering Conference, Denver, USA, September 1996.
In Patent Abstracts of Japan, abstract of the Japanese patent application No. 2129607, a fusion splicing device is disclosed, in which the brightness of an optical fiber heated in an arc discharge is observed. The discharge heating temperature is checked from the area of the bright part of the optical fiber.
When optical fibers assembled to optical fiber ribbons are to be spliced by melting the ends of the optical fibers in an electric arc, a problem exists of making the ends of the opposite individual fibers contact each other before and/or in the very fusioning process. This is due to the fact that it is very difficult to cut off such fiber ribbons at an exactly straight angle in relation to the longitudinal direction of the respective fiber ribbon. Also, the operation of stripping the polymer protective coating of a fiber ribbon and the force then used can result in that some fibers in a fiber ribbon will be elongated more than other fibers. Hence, the end surfaces of the fiber ribbon will not even be located in a plane.
In Patent Abstracts of Japan, abstract of the Japanese patent application No. 5-142442, a fusion splicing method for xe2x80x9cmultiple fibersxe2x80x9d is disclosed, in which the connecting ends of optical fibers are preheated xe2x80x9cat a low temperature to the extent of not attaining an excess molten state. The molten end faces of the optical fibers are then pressed to each other and while the end faces are heated in the state at the temp. higher than the above-mentioned preheating temp., the optical fibers are pushed in, by which the optical fibers are fusion spliced.xe2x80x9d
It is an object of the invention to provide methods and devices for temperature control in welding optical fibers, which only use devices existing in conventional automatic welding machines, and in particular to provide methods for a simple determination of a suitable welding temperature.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method and a device which in a secure way can accomplish welded splices of fiber ribbons.
Thus the optical system and the CCD-camera, which is arranged in conventional automatic welding devices, are used for determining the light intensity in a picture of the optical fiber, when it is heated, a locked control of the CCD-camera being used, so that the automatic light intensity setting system thereof is shut off.
The light intensity in a picture captured of heated optical fibers is directly related to the fiber temperature according to Planck""s radiation law. It is used for an active control of the fiber temperature in the procedure and when in advance determining suitable welding currents.
The method makes it possible for the welding device and the user to compensate for the influence of some environmental factors such as under-atmospheric pressures and electrode condition, which often cause a lowering of the temperature during the welding process, when welding parameters are used which are programmed for normal situations.
When welding optical fibers to each other, which can be optical fibers assembled to optical fiber ribbons, the following steps are used:
a. The optical fibers are heated to a welding temperature by means of an electric arc between electrodes, between which an earlier determined electrode current passes. The electrode current has here preferably been determined to always give a not to high temperature suited for welding the fibers.
b. The intensity of light emitted by the heated optical fibers is determined and is compared to a predetermined set value.
c. Thereupon, in the case where the intensity of the emitted light has been determined to deviate from the desired value by more than a predetermined amount, the electrode current is changed, preferably increased by a predetermined step, whereby the temperature of the optical fibers is also changed by a corresponding step, and thereupon the steps b. and c. are again repeated, and in the case, where the intensity of the emitted light has been determined to deviate from the set value by less than the predetermined amount, the heating is allowed to continue at this electrode current, whereby the welding is made.
A similar procedure is as follows:
a. The optical fibers are first heated to a temperature, at which they emit visible light but which temperature is well below the temperature, at which the material of the fibers melt and at which the welding is to be made.
b. The intensity of light emitted by the heated optical fibers is determined and is compared to a predetermined set value.
c. Thereu{acute over (p)}on, in the case where the intensity of the emitted light has been determined to be less than the set value, the temperature of the optical fibers is increased by a predetermined step, and thereupon steps b. and c. are again performed, and in the case where the intensity of the emitted light has been determined to be greater than or equal to the set value or to deviate from the set value by less than some small, predetermined value, the welding is made at that temperature.
A corresponding method can preferably be used for in advance determining an electrode current, which gives a desired temperature of an optical fiber, e.g. the temperature to be used in welding the fiber to a similar fiber or a temperature to be used in a softening step. The optical fiber is as above heated in an electric arc, through which an electrode current passes. The following steps are then performed:
a. An electrode current having a first value is made to pass in the electric arc in order to heat the optical fiber to a temperature, at which it emits visible light, but which is well below the desired temperature.
b. The intensity of light emitted by the heated optical fiber is determined and is compared to a predetermined set value, which is determined depending on the desired temperature.
c. Thereupon, in the case where the intensity of the emitted light has been determined to be less than the set value or generally to deviate from the set value by not less than a small, predetermined value, the electrode current is increased by a predetermined step and thereupon steps b. and c. are again performed, and in the case where the intensity of die emitted light has been determined to be equal to or higher than the set value or generally to deviate from the set value by less than the small predetermined value respectively, the used electrode current is taken as the electrode current, which gives the desired temperature. If the desired temperature is the welding temperature, the determined electrode current can then be used for welding the fiber to another fiber, whereby a correct temperature during the welding process can be achieved. The predetermined step can e.g. be equal to the small predetermined value or a little smaller.
In the step b. of the procedures described above for determining the intensity of light emitted by a heated optical fiber this determination can be made by
capturing a picture of the heated optical fiber, and
analysing the picture to find values corresponding to the intensity of light only in regions of the pictures of the optical fiber corresponding to a portion of the optical fiber, which substantially corresponds to a central part of the optical fiber. The portion can have a width, as taken perpendicularly to a longitudinal direction of the optical fiber, which is substantially equal to half the diameter of the optical fiber. In the analysis the regions can be selected to be located at an end surface of the optical fiber. Further the picture can be analyzed only along lines which extend substantially perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber to find the values corresponding to the light intensity. These lines are preferably located near the end surface of the optical fiber.
The procedures described above are, as has already been mentioned, particularly suited to splicing optical fiber ribbons. When splicing an end of a first optical fiber ribbon to an end of a second optical fiber ribbon by means of welding, ends of optical fibers in the first optical fiber ribbon are welded to opposite ends of optical fibers in the second optical fiber ribbon. Then the following steps can be employed:
Referring to FIGS. 7a-7e, FIG. 7a shows the first 700 and second 710 optical fiber ribbons are placed and aligned with each other, so that an end surface of an optical fiber in the first optical fiber ribbon 700 is located opposite and at an end surface of an optical fiber in the second optical fiber ribbon 710.
The arrows shown in FIG. 7b indicate that the end surfaces are moved in a direction to approach each other from a first position at a small distance of each other to a second position in which an end surface of at least one optical fiber in the first optical fiber ribbon 700 is in contact with an end surface of an optical fiber in the second optical fiber ribbon 710. Then the end surfaces are moved in the same direction, as indicated by the arrows of FIG. 7c, from the second position to a third position in which the end surfaces of all optical fibers in first optical fiber ribbon 700 are pressed against end surfaces of optical fibers in the second optical fiber 710. Then, as shown in FIG. 7d, opposite fiber ends will deform, mostly elastically, allowing this contact between all opposite fibers, this step being said to produce an overlap. The end surfaces are maintained in the third position during a first time period. The ends of the optical fibers in the first 700 and second 710 optical fiber ribbon are during the movement between the first and third positions maintained at a first temperature and during the first time period at a second temperature equal to or higher than the first temperature. The first and second temperatures are selected to be sufficiently high in order that the material of the ends of the optical fibers will soften, so that the ends of the optical fibers can be somewhat deformed in the pressing operation of the end surfaces against each other, but not being sufficiently high in order that a melting or fusing of the ends or a joining of the ends of opposite optical fibers in the first and second optical fiber ribbons will take place. The first period, during which the end surfaces are pressed against each other, is taken to be so long as to achieve such deforming of the ends of opposite optical fibers, that elastic stresses in all pairs of opposite end surfaces of the optical fibers are substantially relieved or relaxed. This is particularly important for the fiber pairs, the end surfaces of which at the beginning of the pressing operation have first contacted each other and which thus have been most deformed in the pressing operation between the second and third positions.
During a second time period subsequent to the first time period the heating of the ends of the optical fibers is continued at a third temperature higher than the first and second temperatures. The third temperature is selected to be so high that a melting and thereby a joining of opposite ends of the optical fibers takes place and the length of the second time period is selected accordingly to allow the melting and joining. Owing to the previous relaxing of elastic stresses and strains the ends will during this fusioning step be minimally deformed and in particular the cores of the fibers will maintain their straight configuration and a thus the loss in the splices formed will be at a minimum.
The velocity of the movement of the opposite end surfaces between the second and third positions can preferably be lower than the velocity of the movement between the first and second positions, e.g. be substantially equal to half the latter velocity.
During a third time period which can be selected to coincide with an end period of the second time period or which starts when the ends of the optical fibers have been maintained at the second temperature during a predetermined time period, and as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 7e, the ends of opposite optical fibers can be pulled away from each other through a predetermined, short distance in order to straighten the deformed fiber ends a little. This short distance can be a little smaller than the distance used for producing the overlap, e.g. be 0.5-0.9 thereof. The velocity of the movement between the second and third positions can then be substantially equal to velocity of the movement used when the end surfaces are pulled away from each other.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the methods, processes, instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Temperature control by means of a CCD-camera in welding fiber ribbon cables


The present invention comprises methods for cancer detection involving the measurement of temporal periodic changes in blood perfusion, associated with immune response, occurring in neoplastic lesions and their surrounding tissues. Particularly, the method for cancer detection involves the detection of non-neuronal thermoregulation of blood perfusion, periodic changes in the spatial homogeneity of skin temperature, aberrant oscillations of spatial homogeneity of skin temperature and aberrant thermoregulatory frequencies associated with periodic changes in the spatial homogeneity of skin temperature.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to cancer detection involving the measurement of temporal periodic perfusion changes associated with immune response in tissue surrounding cancerous lesions. While this has applications to cancer detection throughout the human body, it is particularly applicable to a breast cancer screening test involving the measurement of temporal changes in perfusion over large areas of the breasts to identify cancer. Generally, a full work-up, such as ultrasonic scan, needle or incision biopsy, or stereotactic biopsy based on detailed mammographic image, is preceded by a positive finding on a breast cancer screening test. The present invention has many significant differences and advantages over breast cancer screening tests known in the art, as well as general cancer detection methods.
2. Prior Art
Cancerous lesions have been generally located by their space occupying properties detectable by palpation or by imaging techniques, such as X-ray radiography, X-ray computerized tomography (CT), ultrasonic imaging, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In certain cases, such as breast cancer, detection of cancer is made possible by the enhanced blood supply (hyperperfusion) associated with the neoplastic lesion. In shallow lesions, such as breast cancer, this hyperperfusion results in local hyperthermia.
Hyperthermia of cancerous breasts has been used to detect breast cancer. In classical thermal imaging (thermography) the skin temperatures of both breasts is measured either by liquid crystal contact thermography (LCCT) or by infrared imaging. The bulk temperatures of both breasts is also measured by microwave telethermometry. The difference between the temperatures of the cancerous breast and the non-cancerous breast is often not identified as a signal for further cancer testing since the temperature difference is very similar to differences between two non-cancerous breasts. Temperature differences may occur for a number of reasons unrelated to the presence of cancer. Therefore, the sensitivity and specificity of breast cancer detection by such measurements of temperature are too low to make them useful as a practical screening test. The present invention does not use differences between the temperatures of the two breasts as a diagnostic criterion.
X-ray mammography (XRM) is a widely used technique for breast cancer screening prior to full diagnostic work-ups. It uses the higher density of calcium minerals and the higher absorbance of X-rays in calcium atoms, due to the photoelectric effect, to detect microcrystals of calcium minerals, generally calcium phosphates, that deposit interstitially in cancerous tissue. The characteristic shadow of the relatively opaque microcrystals of calcium minerals on the radiograms indicates their presence in tissue. A draw-back of XRM as a breast cancer screening test is the occurrence of microcalcification or calcification in benign lesions, hence only a fraction of breasts that manifest microcalcification contain malignant tissue. False positive XRM results are common, and lead to full diagnostic work-ups which often prove to be negative for breast cancer. The present invention does not use calcification or microcalcification of tissue as a diagnostic criterion.
Since pathological microcalcification occurs subsequent to tumor formation, it occurs later than the proliferation of cancerous cells, which produce nitric oxide, and the immune response to neoplastic cells, which invokes macrophage activity that also produces nitric oxide. Therefore, breast cancer detection by XRM occurs later than detection by the present invention.
Furthermore, the present invention is significantly less expensive than XRM. The equipment needed for the present invention costs less than one third the cost of XRM equipment. The facility required for the present invention is substantially less expensive (radiation shielding is required with XRM), the personnel needed for the present invention procedure requires substantially less training and is not exposed to any professional hazard (ionizing radiation). Moreover, the present invention does not require an expert's image recognition, whereas XRM requires the expertise of a radiologist. Consequently, the actual cost of the present invention is significantly lower than the cost of XRM. A benefit/cost analysis shows that even if the sensitivity and specificity of the present invention test simply match those of XRM, the present invention is more beneficial, even on purely economic grounds.
Additionally, the present invention poses zero risk to the patient. On the contrary, even with the use of modern mammographic equipment there is a finite risk of cancer induction by XRM. The risk is at least 1 in 1,000,000 tests, and more likely substantially larger. Also, the present invention causes much less discomfort to the patient than the squeezing of the breasts that must be done in adequate mammography.
The current sensitivity and specificity of XRM are far from satisfactory, especially in flat and in dense breasts. The present invention is substantially more sensitive and specific than classical thermal imaging, (which was shown to be only slightly less effective than XRM) and, therefore, is superior to XRM in diagnostic efficiency.
Unlike XRM which is dependent uon microcalcification to make the tumor detectable, the present invention directly detects cancerous calls and the immune response to them and, therefore, detecfts breast cancer substantially earlier than XRM. Since the outcome of treatment of breast cancer is more favorable the earlier cancer is detected, the present invention has a substantial advantage over XRM in improving public heath.
I. Dynamic Area Telethermometry
Dynamic Area Telethermometry (DAT) is a known concept and described fully in the 1991 publication of Dr. Michael Anbar, Thermology 3 (4) :234-241, 1991. there is, however, no known practical application for DAT in the public domain. It is a non-invasive, functional test of the autonomic nervous system, that monitors changes in the spectral structure and spatial distribution of thermoregulatory frequencies (TRF's) over different areas of the human skin. Grounded in the science of blackbody infrared radiation as measured by infrared imaging, DAT derives information on the dynamics of heat generation, transport, and dissipation from changes in the temperature distribution over areas of interest. Changes can be detected in the average temperatures of area segments or in the variances of those averages; the variances measure the homogeneity of the temperature distribution and, therefore, the homogeneity of cutaneous perfusion. As shown by Dr. Anbar in the European J Thermology 7:105-118, 1997, under conditions of hyperperfusion the homogeneity reaches a maximum and the amplitude of its temporal modulation is at a minimum. From the periodic changes in temperature distribution over different skin areas, the thermoregulatory frequencies of the processes that control the temperature in the given areas can be derived.
From the periodic changes in the spatial homogeneity of skin temperature (HST), the processes that control the saturation of the cutaneous capillary bed can be derived. HST is the reciprocal of the spatial coefficient of variation of temperature in small ("micro") areas of skin (<100 mm.sup.2): HST=average temperature divided by the standard deviation of the average temperature (HST is a dimensionless parameter). HST is determined by the structure of cutaneous vasculature and by its heat dissipatory activity. As perfusion is enhanced, more capillaries are recruited as blood conduits and HST increases. Unlike average temperature, HST is affected mainly by the behavior of the cutaneous capillaries and to a much lesser extent by the blood flow in subcutaneous vessels. The neuronal control of HST is, therefore, different from that of skin temperature. Consequently, HST is an independent physiological hemodynamic parameter. Like the average temperature of unit areas of skin, HST oscillates as a function of the temporal behavior of perfusion. Since the rate of increase of HST with the extent of perfusion is much higher than that of temperature, the extent of its change and the amplitude of its modulation are significantly higher than those of temperature change and temperature modulation. A static image of HST is, therefore, more informative than a classical thermogram. The concept of HST has been fully described by Dr. Michael Anbar in Biomedical Thermology, 13:173-187, 1994.
Quantitative DAT requires high-precision measurement of infrared flux (corresponding to <0.01.degree. C.), low electronic and instrumental noise (<0.0005.degree. C. equivalent of electronic or thermal noise), and long-term stability (drift of <0.1.degree. C./hr). All these are attainable with current commercial equipment. The minimal resolution required for DAT is an image field of 128.times.128 pixels, which can be optically zoomed to cover an area of 10 to 10000 cm.sup.2 (0.06 mm.sup.2 to 0.6 cm.sup.2 /pixel). Current technology provides for an improved image field of 640.times.480 pixels. To guarantee correct recognition and precise location of the anatomic features studied, it is beneficial to simultaneously generate a reflective image of exactly the same body area (to precisely record the anatomic features), and superimpose the reflective image over the emissive image to assure precise registration of any thermal abnormalities found. This concept has been fully described in a publication of Dr. Michael Anbar, SPIE Proceedings 2020:510-517, 1993.
DAT is useful in the diagnosis and management of a large variety of disorders that affect neurological or vascular function. DAT is used to measure the periodicity of changes in blood perfusion over large regions of skin so as to identify a locally impaired neuronal control, thereby providing a quick and inexpensive screening test for skin cancer and for relatively shallow neoplastic lesions, such as breast cancer. The different clinical applications of DAT are fully described by Dr. Michael Anbar in 1994 in a monograph entitled "Quantitative and Dynamic Telethermometry in Medical Diagnosis and Management", CRC Press Inc. September, 1994.
The substantially lower cost of infrared equipment and the substantially lower personal training requirements make DAT tests substantially less costly than radiological, ultrasonic, or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) based computerized imaging tests, such as CT (computerized tomography), SPECT (single photon emission computerized tomography), PET (positron emission tomography), or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Being utterly non-invasive, DAT tests are risk free and cause significantly less discomfort to the patient than some of the neuromotor tests, such as EMG, or nerve conduction tests. They also take significantly less time than other scanning tests (CT, MRI, or ultrasonic tests, respectively).
II. Measurements
A. Thermoregulation
Skin, the largest organ of the human body, plays a major role in regulating the body's core temperature. In its heat dissipatory role, skin generally becomes warm when the body needs to dissipate excessive heat, and turns cold when the body must preserve heat. Under moderate environmental conditions, skin temperature depends primarily upon the blood flow in the vasculature below the skin surface. Thus, in a similar manner as other neurological or neuromuscular tests, substantial diagnostic information is embedded in the dynamic behavior of the thermoregulatory system.
Skin temperature reflects the physiological behavior of cutaneous blood flow which is modulated by the neurological control of pertinent arteries and arterioles. Observing skin temperature at any point on the skin as a function of time can provide direct information on the neurological control of the vasculature. Neurological disorders can, therefore, be associated with abnormal temporal behavior of skin temperature, in addition to changes in spatial distribution of thermoregulatory function, both of which lend themselves to quantitative assessment.
Although skin temperature may vary over a wide range, depending upon the environment and on the level of metabolic activity, it is regulated under normal conditions. This regulation may be occasionally less stringent, like during sleep but even then, some skin regulation is retained. Like any regulated parameter, including core temperature, skin temperature is expected to oscillate around a set point, even if the value of the set point does not remain constant. Even a simple thermostated system, such as a forced air heated and cooled house, will show temperature oscillations stemming from temperature over-shooting and delays due to imperfect thermostats and different rates of response and relaxation of the individual heating and cooling processes. In the human body, skin temperature maintenance is due, in substantial part to neuronal thermoregulation of vasoconstriction and vasodilation of the vasculature, thereby causing a characteristic modulation of blood perfusion, unless the neuronal thermoregulation is inhibited or taken over by a non-neuronal thermoregulatory control, such as nitric oxide (NO). In a complex regulated system, such as the human body, where there are several levels of non-linear regulatory processes interacting with each other, many thermal regulatory oscillations are superimposed on each other. To deconvolute these into systemic, regional, and local thermal regulatory processes, one has to probe different parts of the body, and different regions of organs.
In order to maintain or change skin temperature, the neuronal thermoregulatory system constricts or dilates its blood vessels to change the rate of blood flow in the vessels. As indicated above, this is not the case if the neuronal thermoregulation is inhibited in certain regions by an independently functioning agent, such as NO. That region is then under non-neuronal thermoregulatory control.
NO has been recognized as a ubiquitous vasodilatory chemical messenger. Its main role appears to be synchronization of intercellular and inter organ functions, as it diffuses freely in the interstitial space. This has been discussed extensively by Dr. Anbar in J. Pain Sympton Manage 14:225-254, 1997. It can, therefore, inhibit sympathetic vasoconstrictive control in substantial regions of the microvasculature and cause regional hyperperfusion. Subcutaneous and cutaneous hyperperfusion are manifested as hyperthermia of the overlying skin. Augmented immune response, such as encountered in local infections, autoimmune diseases, and cancer, is associated with enhanced NO production. Under certain conditions, such as in breast cancer, autocatalytic production of NO may occur, which results in oscillatory vasodilation, independent of and substantially different from the temperature oscillations of perfusion caused by the neuronal thermoregulatory system.
B. Mechanism of Local Hyperthermia of Cancerous Breasts
Cancer associated breast hyperthermia is caused by impaired neuronal thermoregulation. This impaired neuronal control is caused by excessive production of NO by breast cancer cells and by macrophages that react to the neoplastic tissue. This activity is an expression of the immune response, because NO generated by macrophages is a major factor in killing of microorganisms or of mammalian cells recognized as alien. This mechanism is described fully in a 1994 publication of Dr. Michael Anbar, Cancer Letters 84(1):23-29, 1994. The generation of NO by cancer cells increases their blood supply and enhances the probability of metastasis. The breast cancer cell and macrophage generated NO, which diffuses freely throughout the surrounding tissues, interacts with the vasoconstrictive receptors in the arterioles so as to vasodilate the vasculature. This results in enhanced perfusion of the capillary bed. As a consequence of the characteristic multiphasic synergistic action of NO, this augmented perfusion enhances the growth of breast cancer cells. The rate of production of NO is further enhanced by the presence of ferritin, the level of which is significantly elevated in breast cancerous tissue. Fe.sup.2+ released from ferritin is used to produce more NO synthase (NOS), an iron carrying enzyme which produces NO from arginine, and thus results in a further increase in the rate of production of NO.
Furthermore, NO has been shown to release Fe.sup.2+ from ferritin, by forming an NO-ferritin complex. This results in an autocatalytic production of NO. Fe.sup.2+ reacts with nitrite, the oxidation product of NO, to reform NO, and it also eliminates superoxide radicals (HO.sub.2) which are normally the major scavengers of NO. This maintains the local high level of NO, and the hypoperfusion of the capillary bed. The ferritin dependent enhancement of NO production seems to be specific to neoplastic cells and is less likely to occur in other inflammatory situations, including those induced by microorganisms.
NO diffuses readily interstitially; therefore, the volume of the capillary bed that is hyperperfused is many-fold larger than that of the tumor and its immediate surroundings. This explains the extensive regional hyperthermia associated with minuscule antigenic tumors. The rate of NO production in the cancerous breast is also amplified by the positive effect of the local temperature on NO production by the cancerous cell and by macrophages. All those autocatalytic effects overshadow the negative feedback of NO level on the rate of enzymatic NO production.
Like any autocatalytic process, the rate of NO production is expected to oscillate. The rate of NO production is expected to rise exponentially due to the positive feedback of Fe.sup.2+ and of temperature, and then fall when certain precursors, such as, arginine or oxygen, are temporarily locally depleted. A similar positive feedback, resulting in vascular oscillations, has been demonstrated for NO under ischemic conditions in the brain, where the lack of oxygen results in lower production of NO and a subsequent vasoconstriction, which further limits oxygen supply.
NO generated by the cancerous cells and by macrophages perfuse throughout the capillary bed and inhibit, or even take complete control of the modulation of blood perfusion from the neuronal system and, therefore, overshadow the neuronal thermoregulatory temperature oscillations. Since the extent of perfusion and the surface temperature of the overlying skin follow the same oscillatory behavior, the temporal behavior of skin temperature over the cancer cell region does not follow the normal neuronal thermoregulatory modulation in blood perfusion. The region, therefore, does not maintain normal temperature oscillations or thermoregulatory frequencies resulting therefrom.
The frequencies of temperature oscillations observed over the cancerous breast differ substantially from those observed over the non-cancerous (normal) breast. The oscillations over a normal breast are caused by the neuronal thermoregulatory processes, which follow several characteristic bands of frequencies. The cancerous area of the breast, on the other hand, which loses its neuronal thermoregulatory control due to the over-production of NO, is characterized by the disappearance of the neuronal oscillations and the appearance of oscillations due to the autocatalysis of NO production, with their typical frequency bands. Since the latter autocatalytic processes, which are controlled by the temporary local depletion of one of the precursors of NO, are utterly different in nature from the neurological feedback processes manifested in the neuronal frequency bands, there is no possibility of frequency overlap of these entirely different processes over all frequency bands. The disappearance of the neuronal frequencies over substantial parts of the cancerous breast is sufficient to identify pathology. Furthermore, the appearance of the autocatalytic frequencies characteristic of NO over-production is, by itself, sufficient to identify pathology. The substitution of one set of frequency bands by the other is an even more strict criterion of pathology.
Under conditions of extravascular NO overproduction and its consequent hyperperfusion, HST reaches a maximum value that oscillates at a frequency that depends on the modulated autocatalytic rate of NO production. The frequency bands of the modulation of HST can be used, therefore, as independent criteria of pathology. The combination of the temperature and HST criteria increase the sensitivity and specificity of the DAT test.
Since, unlike classical thermography of the breast, the DAT test does not use the absolute temperature or temperature differences as a diagnostic parameter, there is less need to allow the patients to reach thermal equilibrium with the environment. This means faster turnover of patients, hence lower cost per test. Moreover, the environment does not have to be strictly controlled, as long as it does not contain modulated infrared emissions in the frequency ranges of interest, that might be reflected from the skin. This lowers the cost of the installation. Since the overwhelming majority of screened subjects are free of malignancy, the administration of the test can be fully computerized and does not require medical expertise. The extensive computerization which allows the use of easily trained semi-skilled personnel, provides a substantially lower cost of this screening test, as compared with the prior art (including the classical thermological tests).
C. Alternative Methods to Measure Periodic Changes in Perfusion
As stated, DAT is the method of choice to measure modulation in blood perfusion. Microwave thermometry of the bulk tissue and thermometry of the skin using arrays of thermistors, are two alternative methods to dynamically measure temperature. Microwave thermometry has, however, a significantly lower spatial resolution (by a factor of 10,000) and lower sensitivity (by a factor of 10 to 100), and it may require direct contact of the electrodes (antennas) with the breast, which calls for skill and additional time. Area thermometry by thermistors with adequate spatial resolution requires the mounting of many hundreds or even thousands of thermistors all over the breasts, which is a prohibitively cumbersome process. Liquid crystal contact thermography (LCCT) provides inadequate low precision (>0.5.degree. C.) and too long response times to be useful in quantitative dynamic measurements.
Other methods of continuously measuring the modulation of perfusion of the capillary bed in the breast include ultrasound (measuring changes in ultrasonic impedance, because the speed of sound is temperature dependent and because of changes in the average density of hyperperfused tissue), or by measuring changes in the average velocity of erythrocytes by Doppler shift. However, ultrasonic measurement of perfusion cannot be done simultaneously on all areas of one or both breasts. It also requires a highly skilled technician to measure the changes in perfusion in different areas. Further, it is necessary to apply a coupling lotion in order to make contact with the ultrasonic probe and the breast. The application of such coupling lotion and the contact of the ultrasonic probe may alter the perfusion by affecting the thermal and tactile neuronal sensors.
Another method of measuring modulation in blood perfusion is infrared Doppler velocimetry (IRDV), which measures the Doppler shift of the near infrared radiation (about 1 .mu.m) reflected from erythrocytes. IRDV, however, cannot monitor modulation of blood perfusion over large areas in a reasonable time (it would take hours to accumulate the same information on the temporal behavior of blood perfusion that can be measured in about 30 seconds by DAT).
Another method for measuring modulation in blood perfusion is single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT), which measures the local concentration of radioactively labeled compounds in tissues inside the human body. Red blood cells can be labeled by a radioactive isotope and their concentration in a tissue of interest is a measure of perfusion. SPECT, however, does not measure concentrations with a precision that provides for monitoring small, i.e., about 1%, modulations of perfusion. Moreover, SPECT entails radiobiological risk to the patient, is more cumbersome and time consuming, and involves much more expensive instrumentation compared with DAT.
Another method of measuring modulation in blood perfusion is impedance plethysmography (because the ionic conductivity depends on the amount of plasma between the electrodes). This method, which requires the mounting of an array of electrodes on the two breasts by a skilled technician before any measurement can be done (which makes it substantially more expensive), is also less sensitive to minute oscillations; further, its spatial resolution (limited by the number of electrodes used) is significantly lower than achieved by DAT.
Yet another method of continuously measuring the modulation in perfusion of the capillary bed in the breast is MRI. MRI can be used to dynamically monitor blood perfusion and detect characteristic oscillations associated with the autocatalytic NO controlled mechanism. However, MRI requires much more expensive instrumentation than DAT (by a factor of 30 to 60), and an examination would be much more cumbersome and time consuming. MRI, more importantly, can be used to identify deeply situated cancerous lesions, ones that do not affect cutaneous or subcutaneous perfusion, and are, therefore, not amenable to DAT tests.
Since the modulation of blood perfusion of the cancerous breast is directly related to the modulation of NO in the affected tissue, measuring the concentration of NO and its modulation could be used as an alternative diagnostic method for cancer detection. The most preferred method of measuring the concentration of NO in human tissues is by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) operating in an imaging mode. Imaging EPR is conceptually very similar to MRI, however, it uses different electromagnetic frequencies. The cost of an EPR imaging test will, therefore, be comparable with an MRI test. Like MRI, EPR imaging can also be used to identify deeply situated cancerous lesions that do not affect cutaneous or subcutaneous perfusion and are, therefore, not amenable to DAT tests.

Detection of cancerous lesions by their effect on the spatial homogeneity of skin temperature


An apparatus for measuring the height and diameter of laser-zone texture bumps on a rigid magnetic disk substrate is disclosed. The apparatus has a disk holder for supporting and rotating the substrate, and an optical beam-source assembly for directing a focused laser beam on the substrate, and for shifting the position of the beam's illumination spot on the substrate in a tracking (radial) direction. An optical detection assembly in the apparatus measures the deflection of the laser beam due to specular reflection of the beam by laser-zone texture bumps, as a function of time, in both scanning (circumferential) and tracking directions. A computational device in the apparatus functions to (i) calculate scanning and tracking deflection values which characterize beam deflections in the scanning and tracking directions, respectively, for a texture bump passing through the illumination spot produced by the beam on the substrate, (ii) select for bump-height analysis, those texture bumps whose scanning deflection values are above a selected threshold value and whose tracking deflection values are below a selected threshold value, indicative of a condition in which the selected textured bumps are each in focus and centered within said illumination spot, and (iii) determine the texture bump heights and diameters of the selected bumps from the beam deflections in the scanning direction. Also disclosed is a method by which the apparatus measures the light power which is scattered by the of laser-zone texture bumps on a rigid magnetic disk substrate.

The surface of a thin-film recording disk is divided into a textured landing zone adjacent the inner-diameter, where the read-write head in a hard drive can land on the disk, and a data zone extending from the landing zone to the outer diameter of the disk.
The purpose of the texturing in the landing zone is to reduce start-stop stiction when the head lands on the disk at a start or stop condition. Without texturing, high stiction would exert occasionally catastrophic forces on the read-write head. The texturing in the landing zone must have a certain minimum roughness factor in order to avoid this type of high-stiction problem.
Typically, a thin-film media disk is textured by texturing the disk substrate, e.g., a nickel-phosphorus-coated aluminum substrate or glass or ceramic substrate, then sputtering various thin film layers on the substrate surface to form the thin-film media. Since the thin-film layers adopt the texture patterns of the underlaying substrate, the final disk has about the same texture features, i.e., roughness features, as the originally textured substrate.
With a greater emphasis on higher data density and lower flying heights in a hard disk, there is increased need for landing-zone texturing that provides adequate roughness, but with low-height surface texture features. In particular, with fly heights currently approaching less than 1.mu. in, it is important that the landing zone texture features themselves have sub-1.mu. in heights.
The need for carefully controlled surface texture roughness and feature height has encouraged the development of laser-zone texturing (LZT). By directing laser pulses of desired energy at surface areas on a spinning substrate, bumps with desired height and diameter distributions can be formed. By selecting suitable pulse frequencies and substrate rotational rates, known bump densities are achieved.
Because of the critical need to achieve laser bumps within a given height distribution, it is important to monitor laser bump characteristics, either during laser-zone texturing, to provide feedback control for laser-ablation power settings, or to examine textured substrates prior to sputtering, as part of a quality control program to ensure that finished media will have the desired bump height distribution characteristics.


A system and method for selecting a fabric master using an announce phase and a own phase. During an announce phase a candidate master interrogates its Node Path Identifier to ensure that it has not already surrendered ownership to another node. If the candidate master has won the election, it then broadcasts its EUI with an indication that it is the new fabric master.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the field of networks, including switch fabric networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Switch fabric networks are generally known to one skilled in the art. An example of one is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/152,656 filed May 21, 2002, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Generally, in a switch fabric network, a fabric master is the default destination for fabric errors and events before or in lieu of software selection. The fabric master has privileged access to the registers of all other nodes in that fabric. The fabric master also performs arbitration for shared resources in the fabric.

System and method for selecting fabric master


In one embodiment, location-based names are selected for a digital object based on a user's familiarity with the geographic location where the digital object was generated. For example, a memory stores multiple names indicative of the same geographic location. The multiple names may include a street address, a city, and a state, where each defines a different level of location specificity. The device that generates the digital object also collects familiarity data for the geographic location and calculates a familiarity score for the digital object based on the familiarity data for the user or the device. If the familiarity score is above a threshold, the user of the device is familiar with the geographic location, and a specific name is associated with the digital object. If the familiarity score is below the threshold, the user of the device is not familiar with the geographic location, and a broader name is associated with the digital object.

Digital photography has become ubiquitous. Many people carry a digital camera every day in the form of a smart phone. Smart phones include data storage sufficient for thousands of photographs. However, smart phones are particularly inconvenient for cataloging and organizing photographs. One system for cataloging photographs involves geocoding and reverse geocoding.
Geocoding is the process of finding associated geographic information, such as geographic coordinates of latitude and longitude, from geographic information of a different format, such as a query including the street address. Reverse geocoding is the process of associating textual location such as a street address, from geographic coordinates. However, geocoding and reverse geocoding are typically inflexible. The street addresses retrieved from reverse geocoding may be meaningless to some users. For example, the street address of "Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris, France" may have little meaning to Americans, but Parisians may be able to identify the address as the Eiffel Tower.

Specificity for naming based on location


A method for manufacturing a hollow instrument comprising the steps of: providing a hollow tube having a longitudinal tube axis; forming at least one opening along a shaft portion of the hollow tube following a predetermined pattern thereby defining a plurality of fingers; and deforming at least a portion of the hollow tube into a desired shape; and optionally joining at least two fingers along a portion of the opening to secure the hollow tube in the desired shape thereby forming the hollow instrument.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,713,059 discusses an instrument used for cleaning and/or shaping a channel that exists in or through a solid object. It is designed to shape the channel 3 dimensionally by having the outer contour change as a result of the forces exerted upon it. The downside to this design is that it can only be used with a motor driving the design up and down along the axis of the object. Furthermore, this design does not rotate. For endodontic applications, a majority of the motors available in the dentist office only has rotation ability. This causes the doctor to invest in a new motor. Also, the ability of this design to perform a cut is allowed by changing the surface texture (i.e. roughening the outer surface) to engage and cut into the material (e.g., shaving the root canal at a high speed as it changes shape). Lastly, the method of manufacturing this design is very similar to stents made for the cardiovascular industry where a laser cut of a cylindrical tube is created, which is a very time consuming and costly process. Therefore, the cost of the instrument is much higher than conventional rotary file instruments (approximately 7 times higher).
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,890,134 and 5,941,760 generally discuss the common process of manufacturing an endodontic rotary file through a grinding procedure. U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,107 shows a design of having a crossing pattern which is similar to the design being shown in the application but the process they have described would not allow the rotary file to change geometry as a result of the forces exerted upon it.

Endodontic rotary instruments made from hollow tubes and methods of manufacturing thereof


The present invention is directed to a sample holder that generates an intense magnetic field for inducing a signal proportional to the magnetic field in a molecular sample while enabling the simultaneous exposure of the sample to one or more measurement light beams. The body of the sample holder consists of a permanent magnet means for producing the intense magnetic field at a strength sufficient to induce the signal. The holder fits in the palm of a user's hand and enables manual manipulation of the holder by the user. A sample chamber and a beam channel are present in the sample holder. Versions of the holder are disclosed which orient the magnetic lines of flux parallel or perpendicular to the sample so as to induce MCD or MLD signals, respectively.

Exposure of molecules to intense magnetic fields will induce signals (e.g., magnetic circular dichroism, magnetic linear dichroism, magnetic optical rotatory dispersion, and the like) which may augment the information gained by their spectrometric analysis. The problem lies in providing a sample holder with means of generating a magnetic field of sufficient intensity to induce measurable signals in a sample, while simultaneously minimizing its size, weight and expense.
A magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) signal is the differential absorption of left and right circularly polarized light induced in a molecular sample by an externally applied, intense magnetic field. MCD signal can augment the information provided by the measurement of absorption of a sample using ordinary light. Many biologically important molecules exhibit particularly strong MCD signals which can be detected even when present in complex mixtures. MCD measurements require the magnetic field be oriented parallel (or anti-parallel) to the direction of the measurement light beam (or beams).
Magnetic fields oriented perpendicularly to the direction of the measurement beam may produce a magnetic linear dichroism (MLD) signal by partially aligning or orienting large macromolecules and macromolecular arrays. The MLD signal may be used to study biomembranes, phospholipid membranes and other molecular constructs.
Information relevant to attempts to provide a magnetic field capable of inducing magnetic signals in molecular samples can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,442,592 to Grosjean; U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,151 to Chaney et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,204 to Jennings et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,140 to Musha; U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,881 to Tanton et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,444 to Jo; U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,087 to Thompson et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,804 to Kawamura et al.; and, U.S. Pat. No. 6,573,817 to Gottschalk. However, each one of these references suffers from one or more disadvantages discussed as follows.
The most commonly employed types of magnets used to generate magnetic fields are electromagnets which produce up to about 1.5 T (15,000 Gauss). Electromagnets are large and heavy preventing their easy manual manipulation by a user. They also require a large power supply and water-cooling.
Because the magnetic flux must be parallel to the measurement light beam(s) (for measuring MCD or magnetic optical rotatory dispersion (MORD)), long drillings (i.e., up to 50 cm or more) must be made through the pole pieces of the electromagnet to admit the measurement light beam(s), which beam or beams must be painstakingly aligned. The resulting drillings are minimal in diameter and result in a narrow light path which is very difficult to align properly with a single light beam, and generally precludes the use of more than one light beam. These magnets are cumbersome, expensive and difficult to install in a CD, or other type of, spectrometer. Often, the CD instrument itself must be altered to reduce the effects of the stray magnetic signals which are always produced by electromagnets.
Superconducting magnets are also available. However, though they can produce magnetic fields up to 10.0 T (100,000 Gauss), they are large, expensive and require large supplies of cryogenic gases. Their use generally requires specialized laboratories and specially trained personnel to operate them.
A third type of magnet is a permanent magnet which has advantages over the prior two in not requiring a power supply or the use of specialized facilities and personnel. However, the most powerful permanent magnets available today, produce a magnetic field strength of only about 0.7 T (7,000 Gauss) or less, making them generally inadequate to the task of inducing a significant magnetic signal in a molecular sample. The signal induced by a magnetic field in a sample is directly proportional to the field strength of the magnet. Therefore, the field strength should be as high as possible, and should generally exceed 0.7 T (7,000 Gauss) in strength. Further, these other magnets are larger and heavier and therefore difficult to manipulate.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a small manually manipulatable sample holder that enables simultaneous exposure of a molecular sample to one or more beams of light and to an intense magnetic field sufficient to induce a signal in the molecular sample.

Sample holder with intense magnetic field


A solar cell comprising a conductive substrate and semiconductor layers laminated on the conductive substrate, said laminate comprising a p-type layer composed of a non-single crystal Si material, an i-type layer serving as an active layer and an n-type layer, wherein a diamond layer having an uneven surface and containing a valence electron controlling agent is interposed between the conductive substrate and the semiconductor layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high-efficiency solar cell which scatters incident light so as to increase the light absorption in an active layer.
2. Related Background Art
An example of methods of improving the efficiency of solar cells which use a light reflecting substrate is the method of forming a roughened light reflecting surface having unevenness so as to increase the length of the optical path of light having low absorption wavelengths. This method is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,150 (assignee, RCA) and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-152276 (assignee, Teijin). The optical effects of a roughened substrate are described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-104185 (assignee, Exxon Research and Engineering Company).
Methods of forming an uneven reflecting surface include the wet etching method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 54-153588 (assignee, National Patent Development Corporation), the sandblasting and co-evaporation methods disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-159383 (assignee, Energy Conversion Devices), and the DC electrolytic etching or chemical etching methods for roughening an aluminum surface disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-14682 (assignee, Denkai-haku Kogyo).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-169769 also discloses an example in which p-type, i-type, and n-type layers are laminated on a transparent electrode formed on a diamond thin film to form a solar cell.
The above-described conventional methods of forming a substrate having an uneven surface produce various problems when a solar cell is formed.
For example, in the DC electrolytic etching method or the chemical etching method using an etching solution, since etching residue is produced on the surface of a substrate, if a semiconductor layer is deposited on the substrate, the etching residue diffuses into the semiconductor layer and thus causes deterioration in the characteristics of the solar cell formed thereon. The etching method also has the problem that since the etching residue has poor adhesion to the substrate, the semiconductor layer deposited on the substrate is easily separated therefrom, and thus a solar cell having uniform characteristics cannot be easily formed.
In the sandblasting method, since the unevenness is formed by spraying fine particles on a substrate, the fine particles remain on the substrate and sometimes serve as nuclei of abnormal growth of a semiconductor layer. This method also has the problem that since the fine particles have poor adhesion to the substrate, the semiconductor layer deposited on the substrate is easily separated. The sandblasting method also produces a distortion of the substrate because unevenness is formed by spraying fine particles on the surface of the substrate. Since the distortion of the substrate is relieved with the passage of time, the semiconductor layer deposited thereon is sometimes distorted and is thus separated, resulting in deterioration of the electrical characteristics.
In addition, when unevenness is formed on the surface of a substrate by the co-evaporation method, there are the problems that nonuniformity is easily produced in the deposited film because at least two materials are simultaneously deposited, and that nonuniformity is easily produced in the characteristics of the solar cell formed by depositing a semiconductor layer on a deposited film.
In the example described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-169769 in which a diamond thin film is used as a substrate of a solar cell, a semiconductor layer is deposited on a transparent electrode formed on the diamond thin film to form a solar cell. In such a layer structure, since the diamond thin film is used as a high-resistance substrate in place of a glass substrate, the transparent electrode is provided on the diamond thin film. This conventional example does not make use of the good adhesion between the diamond thin film and the semiconductor layer and has the problem that the constituent elements of the transparent electrode diffuse into the semiconductor layer.


Aptamers, polynucleotides which participate in preventing the Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection of cells, and nucleic acid molecules, which include a polynucleotide sequence capable of specifically binding the polypeptides domain of the PRRSV that controls infection, constitute the core of the present invention. Also provided are methods of using such nucleic acid molecules, polynucleotides and synthetic antibodies directed against these, for detection, treating and neutralization of PRRSV infection.

The pork industry in US is a $97B business and is standing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in the case of mass outbreak from infectious diseases. The recent estimates of the cost of porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) to the US and Canadian swine industry have soared beyond $750M million "hard" dollars per year. When the soft costs are added, the total is near to $1.2 billion annually. Even higher costs have been found to prevail for the European swine industry[i]. The ability to detect the PRRSV is thus a fundamental issue in controlling the spread of the disease[ii]. None of the current vaccines (killed-virus and modified-live vaccines) is able to completely prevent respiratory infection, transplacental transmission, as well as pig-to-pig transmission of the virus, especially against heterologous infection[iii].
PRRSV causes a persistent and sometimes severe disease that is characterized by respiratory problems, weight loss and poor growth performance, as well as reproductive failure in pregnant sows[iv]. While the actual vaccines are ineffective against most phenotypes of the PRRS virus and are limited by severe side effects and acquired resistance, the use of Pulmotil® (Tilmicosin) is an antibiotic associated with reduced mortality due to pneumonia and improved performance despite the presence of circulating PRRS[v]. However, Pulmotil is highly priced.
Structure of the PRRS Virus
PRRSV is a member of the Arteriviridae family of enveloped viruses with positive-sense (+) RNA genomes. PRRSV is divided into two genotypes, the European, or type 1 virus, also known as Lelystad virus (LV), and the American, or type 2 virus. There is considerable sequence variability within both groups and only about 50-60% sequence identity between the two subtypes[vi]. Both subtypes now have a worldwide distribution[vii].
Recently, structures of the virion and some of the viral proteins, obtained by electron microscopy (EM) and X-ray crystallography, as well as in vitro and in vivo studies of protein-protein interactions have led to an improved understanding of PRRSV structure, assembly and infection process and shed light on the structural relationships between different nidoviruses. In particular, cryo-electron tomography reveals the pleiomorphic morphology of the PRRSV virions in greater detail and in three dimensions[viii].
FIG. 1a shows schematic view of all the main envelope proteins at the surface of the PRRSV. The envelope proteins of the PRRSV can be divided in two folds; (i) the major proteins that include the M and the GP5, and (ii) the minor proteins that include the GP2, GP3, GP4, and the E.
In FIG. 1a the stippled boxes represent predicted signal peptides while the broken lines indicate the cleavage sites. Glycosylation is indicated by hexagons with the corresponding residues numbered. The disulphide link between M and GP5 is also indicated. E forms homo-oligomers and is shown as a trimmer.
The Major Envelope Proteins M and GP5
The major components of the PRRSV envelope are GP5 and M, which together comprise at least half of the viral protein and form disulphide-linked heterodimers in the PRRS virus[iv,ix]. Deletion of either of these two ORFS from an infectious PRRSV clone led to a failure to produce viral particles, while deletion of the minor envelope proteins did not have an effect on viral production. From sequence-based topology prediction (TMHMM and HMMTOP), the non-glycosylated 174 residue M protein (173 for type 1) contains a short 16-residue N-terminal ectodomain followed by three transmembrane (TM) segments and an 84-residue C-terminal endodomain as shown in FIG. 1b. The M is the most highly conserved structural protein of PRRSV.
The glycosylated 200-residue (201 for type I) GP5 protein is the most variable protein of PRRSV, with only 51-55% sequence identity between the European and American subtypes. Hyper-variability in GP5 is responsible for the lack of immunological cross-reaction between viruses. Sequence analysis (SignalP 3.0, http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/SignalP-3.0/) have indicated that residues 1-31 constitute an N-terminal signal sequence, which is followed by a predicted ectodomain that is glycosylated on Asn 44 and Asn 51 (Asn 46 and Asn 53 in type I).
Residues 60-125 of GP5 comprise a hydrophobic region that includes either one or three transmembrane (TM) helices [iv, D.van Aken et al., Proteolytic maturation of replicase polyprotein pp1a by the nsp4 main proteinase is essential for equine arteritis virus replication and includes internal cleavage of nsp7 J. Gen. Virol. 2006,vol. 87, pp. 3473-3482.16]. Analysis of the PRRSV type 2 GP5 protein by TMHMM and HMMTOP predicts clearly only the last TM helix, between residues 107 and 125 as shown in FIG. 1b. A possible second TM helix is predicted between 63 and 82 in type 2 and, more strongly, between 68 and 90 in type 1. However, a second TM helix in this location would place the glycosylation sites of the ectodomain on the inside of the virus, an implausible arrangement. While the evidence is not conclusive, this comparison suggests that three TM helices are present in PRRSV as well. In this case, the PRRSV GP5 ectodomain is only about 30 residues long, which would explain the very smooth appearance of PRRSV virions by EM.
Given the impact of PRRSV on the porcine industry, the challenge at present is to detect airborne PRRS viruses or to generate highly potent prophylactic tools that can be used to prevent PRRSV infection in subjects that are at considerable risk of infection such as pregnant sows and young piglets.
Detecting the PRRS Virus
Detection of PRRSV is typically performed by genetic sequence analysis methods[x]. These methods employ a variety of techniques, such as reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP), or sequence analysis[xi]. However, most of the existing genome-based detection methods are limited by their high cost, time-consuming procedures, and reliance on expensive and complicated equipment. Other methods have been developed on the basis of detection and quantitative analysis of antibodies against PRRSV using serological tests, including the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test, the indirect enzyme immunoassay (EIA), and the serum virus neutralization (SVN) test[xii] However, these tests detect antibodies, and thus, they are unable to detect the PRRSV antigen itself. This means that these tests are not a direct measure of the infection level, because immunity to make antibodies against PRRSV infection typically takes several weeks and is undistinguishable from vaccination. In addition, the SVN test is expensive and time-consuming to perform. Therefore, such methods are not amenable to the early detection or control of PRRSV.
Aptamers are specific oligonucleotides composed of single stranded DNA (ssDNA) or RNA that bind to a wide range of targets specifically. Aptamers can be obtained using an in vitro selection procedure called Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment (SELEX), that starts with the incubation of random oligonucleotide libraries with the desired target molecules, followed by the separation and amplification of bound oligonucleotides[xiii]. The production of aptamers is not costly, and they are very low in batch-to-batch variation compared to the antibodies produced in vivo. In addition, aptamers can be chemically synthesized, are thermally stable, and are suitable for long-term storage[xiv]. With these advantages, aptamers with high specificity and affinity have been developed for a variety of targets, including proteins, small molecules, whole cells, and viruses. Aptamers have now been widely used in diverse fields, such as diagnostics[xv], therapeutics[xvi], and biosensors[xvii], as an alternative to antibodies.
Previously, several aptamers against viral pathogens were developed for therapeutic purposes and pathogen detection. Viral pathogen-binding aptamers have been used in the molecular analysis of virus replication or the development of antiviral agents; these aptamers showed the efficient binding affinity or antiviral ability. To develop virus-binding aptamers, viral proteins rather than whole virus particles should be primarily used for aptamer screening[xviii]. In addition, several previous studies have used RNA aptamers, which have limited use due to rapid degradation while requiring chemical modifications (such as 2′-amino- and 2′ fluoropyrimidine nucleotide) in the SELEX procedure. Chemical modifications can be introduced after the SELEX procedure only if there is no effect on the conformational structure[xix].
Development of Anti-PRRSV Agents
Modified live PRRSV vaccines (MLV) are the most effective option currently available for the control of the disease. Modified live PRRSV vaccines can confer solid protection against homologous reinfection and have significant effects in reducing viral shedding[xx]. But the vaccine efficacy varies upon heterologous challenge[xxi]. None of the current vaccines is able to completely prevent respiratory infection, transplacental transmission, as well as pig-to-pig transmission of the virus. More importantly, the intrinsic risk of MLV vaccine to revert to virulent virus under farm conditions poses a great safety concern. The lack of efficacy and safety of current PRRSV vaccines has been driven the continuous efforts of developing a new generation of vaccines.
The new experimental PRRSV vaccines that have been reported in the recent years include (a) live attenuated vaccines, (b) recombinant vectors expressing PRRSV viral proteins, (c) DNA vaccines, and (d) plant-made subunit vaccines. In parallel new aptamer-based sandwich type assays have been developed for quick detection of the PRRS viruses.
DNA Vaccines—
This approach involves the topical administration or administration via injection of plasmid DNA encoding one or more PRRSV proteins[xxii]. DNA vaccines are another strategy for PRRSV vaccine development[xxiii]. In all cases, GP5 was selected as a candidate for subunit vaccines and the efficacy of DNA vaccination by immunizing pigs with a plasmid encoding GP5 was tested. DNA-vaccinated pigs were protected from generalized viremia and typical macroscopic lung lesions. The severity of interstitial pneumonitis and broncho-alveolitis were also found to be reduced. Similar to recombinant vector-based PRRSV vaccine development, the strategy of co-expressing several viral proteins was also used to enhance the immunogenicity of the DNA vaccine candidates[xxiv]. It was reported that a DNA vaccine expressing GP5 and M proteins simultaneously could form GP5/M hetero-dimeric complex in transfected cells. The DNA vaccine induced significantly higher neutralization antibody titres and lymphocyte proliferation responses than those by DNA vaccines expressing GP5 or M individually.
Adjuvants for PRRSV Vaccines—
To date, adjuvants including cytokines, chemical reagents and bacterial products have all been examined to potentiate the immune response conferred by PRRS killed vaccines, modified live attenuated vaccines, DNA vaccines, recombinant vector-based vaccines and synthetic peptide vaccines. Some of them do increase the immunogenicity of the adjuvanted PRRS vaccines, but to date, only few of them received appreciative results of enhanced immune response or increased vaccine efficacy.

Aptamers, nucleic acid molecules, polynucleotides, synthetic antibodies compositions for detecting PRRS viruses and treating PRRS virus infection


An axle case, housing therein axles and a transmission for driving the axle, provided with a mount boss for being mounted to case mounting portions provided on a body frame of a vehicle and having insertion bores for mounting bolts, and including vibration isolating members which are each fixedly positioned on each mount boss and are provided with a portion positioned thereon and a portion extending into the insertion bore, so that, when the mount boss is coupled with the case mounting portion, the portion of the vibration isolating member positioned on the mount boss contacts with the case mounting portion. Thus, the axle case and body frame can be simply coupled with each other by using the vibration isolating members. The axle case is preferably divided vertically into an upper and a lower portion through a horizontal joint surface. When the axle case is molded, the insertion bores for the mounting bolts for mounting the mount boss can simultaneously be cast into the axle case, whereby there is no need for machining the axle case after it is molded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for mounting onto a body frame of a vehicle an axle case which houses therein axles and a transmission for changing the speed of the vehicle.
2. Related Art
In a conventional running vehicle, the axle case which houses therein the axles and the transmission for changing the vehicle's speed is provided at both sides of an axle housing portion with a mount boss so as to be directly mounted therethrough to case mounting portions provided on the body frame. However, when the axle case is directly mounted thereto, vibrations caused by the transmission are directly transmitted to the body frame and also to an operator riding on the vehicle, resulting in that the operator feels uncomfortable or uneasy when driving the vehicle.

Vibration isolating support structure for an axle case


An apparatus for forming a metal article includes a station which receives and supports a workpiece. The station has a source of electrical current and a source of a fluid. The station further includes a first and a second electrode clamp. Each clamp is in electrical communication with the source of current and in fluid communication with the source of fluid. The clamps engage a workpiece and deliver an electrical current and a fluid thereto. The system includes an actuator mechanically associated with at least one of the clamps. The actuator is operable in combination with a clamp to apply mechanical force to the workpiece. The system is operable to selectably control the temperature profile and/or ambient conditions of a workpiece during forming or processing steps. Disclosed are specific systems including modular systems. Also disclosed are methods for using the systems.

Many metal forming processes involve steps of heating a workpiece and applying a shaping force to it for the purpose of altering or maintaining a desired shape profile. Temperature control is generally quite important in such processes for the purpose of attaining or maintaining a desired metallurgical state and/or carrying out heat treatment steps such as nitriding, carburizing and the like. Resistance heating, wherein an electrical current is flowed through the workpiece so as to generate heat, is preferred in a number of metal forming processes since resistance heating is very quick and very controllable so that precise temperatures may be achieved and/or selected regions of a workpiece heated.
The prior art has implemented a number of metal forming processes in which resistance heating is combined with various shaping steps such as bending, die forming, stretching and the like. Some such systems are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,972,043; 5,737,954; 6,463,779; 6,384,388; 5,515,705; 3,933,020; 6,868,709; and 5,744,773.
In various metal working processes, it is necessary to contact a workpiece with a liquid or gaseous fluid during the course of a forming and treatment process. This fluid may comprise a quench fluid used to control the temperature of the workpiece, or it may comprise a treatment fluid such as a species which is chemically reactive with the metal of a workpiece; such treatment fluids may comprise nitriding fluids, carburizing fluids, and the like.
In those instances where the fluid is used to moderate or affect the properties of the finished article, it is very important that the fluid uniformly contact substantially all of the workpiece, so that its effect on all portions of the workpiece is equal. In this regard, it is notable that the systems and methods of the present invention are operative to deliver the fluid to substantially all of the length of the workpiece. In this regard, the system is configured and operative to deliver a flow of fluid through the interior of a hollow workpiece so as to contact substantially all of the length of the interior surface with the fluid. In the instance of a solid workpiece, the system is configured and operative to deliver a flow of the fluid along substantially all of the length of the exterior surface of the workpiece. And, in the instance of hollow workpieces, the system may operate to direct the fluid flow along substantially all of the length of the interior and exterior surfaces.
The system of the present invention is further configured so that, in particular embodiments, it includes an electrode clamp which engages the workpiece so as to deliver an electrical current thereto, while also functioning so as to direct the flow of fluid along substantially all of the length of the workpiece. The prior art, as represented by the U.S. Pat. No. 2,972,043, shows an electrode clamp which operates to engage a metal bar and deliver an electrical current thereto. The U.S. Pat. No. 2,972,043 recognizes the fact that the flow of electrical current can cause overheating of the workpiece in the region of the clamp, and therefore includes a spray nozzle for directing a flow of coolant fluid onto the clamp and associated portion of the workpiece. However, as shown, this nozzle is separate from the clamp, and even more importantly, it does not function to deliver the coolant fluid to substantially all of the length of the workpiece. In this regard, the stated object of the invention in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,972,043 is to limit the cooling to the surfaces of the workpiece which are engaged by the contacts. This is in contrast to the present invention which contacts substantially all of the length of the workpiece with a fluid.
The present invention is directed to a system which integrates heating, shaping, and fluid delivery functions into a single workpiece supporting station. The system of the present invention may be fabricated in modular form, and is amenable to being quickly reconfigured so as to allow for the manufacture of a variety of articles having different profiles and/or different metallurgical properties. As such, the system of the present invention is readily adaptable to high volume manufacturing processes. These and other advantages of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings, discussion and description hereinbelow.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Metal forming apparatus and process with resistance heating


A display device including: a first substrate having a pixel electrode; a second substrate having a common electrode; a microcapsule sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a display material changing its optical characteristic in response to an electrical stimulation, the display material being encapsulated in the microcapsule, the microcapsule being selectively disposed on a display area formed by the pixel electrode in between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a background area of one of the first substrate and the second substrate being colored with a background color, the background area serving as a background with respect to the display area.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a display device including a microcapsule and a method for manufacturing the same, and an electronic apparatus equipped with the display device.
2. Related Art
In the related art, an electrophoretic display device which has an electrophoretic dispersion liquid including a liquid dispersion medium and electrophoretic particles is known. When an electric field is applied to the electrophoretic dispersion liquid, a distribution of the electrophoretic particles is changed and an optical characteristic of the electrophoretic dispersion liquid changes. The electrophoretic display device utilizes this optical characteristic change to display. Since such electrophoretic display device does not require a backlight, it can contribute to reducing the cost and making the display device thinner. Further, because the electrophoretic display device has a memory effect of the display in addition to a wide viewing angle and a high contrast, it attracts a lot of attention as a next-generation display device.
An electrophoretic display device in which the electrophoretic dispersion liquid is encapsulated in a microcapsule is also proposed as described in a first example of related art, for example. Encapsulating the electrophoretic dispersion liquid into the microcapsule has an advantage in that the spill of the dispersion liquid during the manufacturing process of the display device can be prevented and precipitation and aggregation of the electrophoretic particles can be reduced.
In a case where an electrophoretic display device equipped with such microcapsule is manufactured, generally, the microcapsule is coated on a whole surface of a substrate on which a common electrode is formed. Then, a substrate on which a pixel electrode is formed is bonded on the coated surface of the microcapsule so as to be laminated (e.g. refer to a second, third, and fourth examples of related art).
A method is also known in which the microcapsule is discharged from the inkjet nozzle on the pixel electrode one by one using the inkjet method (e.g. refer to a fifth example of related art).
The examples of related art are as follows: Japanese Unexamined Patent No. 1-86116 is the first example; Japanese Unexamined Patent No. 2002-318396 is the second example, particularly paragraph [0004]; Japanese Unexamined Patent No. 2002-532756 is the third example, particularly FIG. 7B; SID 98 DIGEST pp. 1014-1017 is the fourth example; and Japanese Unexamined Patent No. 2000-35769 is the fifth example.
However, the method in which the microcapsule is coated on the whole surface of the substrate on which the common electrode is formed has the following disadvantages.
(1) A material is partially wasted. Because, the microcapsule is coated on the whole surface of the substrate, so that the microcapsule is also coated on an area other than a display area forming an actual display and a background area forming the background of the display area.
(2) The background is simply purposed to allow the display of the display area to be clearly observed, and originally, not required to change its display. Therefore, driving the background so as to be a background color results in waste in a circuit configuration. Additionally, coating the microcapsule on the background causes waste of the material.
(3) In a case where the display device is made by bonding each substrate, typically, a conductive part is formed on one substrate. The conductive part applies a voltage to the other substrate. Then, the substrates are bonded so that the conductive part is electrically conducted to the electrode of the other substrate. That is, in the aforementioned examples, typically, the conductive part is formed in advance on the substrate on which the pixel electrode is formed. The substrate on which the pixel electrode is formed and the substrate on which the common electrode is formed are bonded so that the conductive part is electrically conducted to the common electrode. However, the microcapsule is coated on the whole surface of the substrate on which the common electrode is formed. Thus, the microcapsule should be removed from a part that is electrically conducted to the conductive part before bonding. In order to remove the microcapsule, for example, a method that stripes it mechanically or chemically using solvents, etc., is employed. However, either method gives damages to the common electrode serving as a lower layer. As a result, display characteristics of the resulting display device are lowered. In addition, the removal of the microcapsule that has been coated results in the waste of the material.
(4) Typically, after bonding the substrates, the space between the peripheral parts of the substrates is sealed to protect the electrode and microcapsule from moisture, etc. If the microcapsule is coated to the sealed part, lowering sealing ability between the substrates. Accordingly, the microcapsule disposed at the peripheral part of the substrate is required to be removed before bonding them. However, the removal of the microcapsule causes the same disadvantage as that is described in (3).
The method in which the microcapsule is discharged from the inkjet nozzle on the pixel electrode one by one has a disadvantage in that it requires discharging a number of microcapsules for coating, lowering productivity due to the longer coating time.

Display device and method for manufacturing the same, and electronic apparatus