A radiation curable composition comprising a curable compound, a photo-initiator and a co-initiator, wherein said co-initiator has a structure according to Formula IA-L-B  Formula Iwherein                A represents a structural moiety comprising an aromatic tertiary amine;        B represents a structural moiety comprising at least one aliphatic tertiary amine;        L represents a divalent linking group positioning the nitrogen atom of the aromatic amine of the structural moiety A and the nitrogen of at least one aliphatic amine of the structural moiety B in a 1-3 to 1-23 position;        with the proviso that at least one aromatic and at least one aliphatic amine each have at least one alfa-hydrogen.

A radiation curable composition, e.g. a radiation curable inkjet ink, typically comprises a photo-initiator. Upon exposure of said composition, the photo-initiator initiates the curing, i.e. the polymerization, of said composition.
Free radical photo-initiators can be classified as Norrish Type I or Norrish Type II photo-initiators. A Type I photo-initiator undergoes photo-cleavage to yield free radicals while a Type II photo-initiator produces free radicals through an abstraction process, in most cases hydrogen-abstraction. While a Type I photo-initiator produces free radicals through an unimolecular bond cleavage reaction, a Type II photo-initiator forms free radicals in the presence of a second molecule, the so called co-initiator also referred to as polymerization synergist.
A first problem for free-radical polymerization processes, especially with Type I photo-initiating systems, is the inhibition of the polymerization, i.e. decrease of the curing speed, by oxygen. Inhibition by oxygen results not only in a decreased overall curing speed, but can also result in an inhomogeneous curing, e.g. poor surface curing resulting in tacky surfaces.
Amines are known in the art as co-initiators for Type II photo-initiators and to suppress oxygen inhibition of free radical polymerization processes. The role of amines in curing systems has been reviewed, for example by R. S. Davidson in "Radiation Curing in Polymer Science and Technology, Volume III", edited by J. P. Fouassier et al., Elsevier Applied Science, 1993, pages 153-176.
According to WO 02/46323 ethyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate or an acryl amine may serve as oxygen scavengers in UV curable inks for printing on Printed Circuit Boards.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,771 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,416 disclose amine acrylates produced by the reaction of a polyacrylate ester, preferably a diacrylate ester, with an amine having at least one hydrogen attached to the nitrogen atom. Said amine acrylates provide a fast curing speed to radiation curable coating compositions.
In the radiation curable coating compositions of U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,024 and US 2004/0254293 (a) tertiary aliphatic amines, e.g. diethanol amine, (b) aromatic amines, e.g. ethyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate, (c) (meth)acrylated amines and (d) amino-functional (meth)acrylate resin or oligomer blends may be used as co-initiators.
According to WO 06/041289 Type-II photo-initiators are used in combination with (a) a monomer tertiary amine compound, (b) an oligomer or polymer tertiary amine compound, (c) a polymerizable amino acrylate compound or (d) a polymerized amino acrylate compound or mixtures thereof, in radiation curable compositions suitable for use as coating layers in optical fibre technology.
WO 99/03930 discloses a radiation curable coating composition containing an aliphatic maleimide as photo-active component and a tertiary amine, said amine providing a higher curing speed to the composition. The tertiary amine may be aliphatic (e.g. triethyl-amine) or aromatic (e.g. ethyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate).
A second problem, associated with co-initiators, e.g. amines, present in a radiation curable composition, may arise when unreacted co-initiator remains in the cured composition. Hydrogen transfer from an amine co-initiator to a Type II photo-initiator is rarely quantitative. The unreacted co-initiator remains mobile in the cured composition and may adversely affect the physical properties of the cured composition or may diffuse out of the cured composition. If the radiation curable composition is printed upon food packaging, extraction of the unreacted co-initiator, also referred to as "extractables", into the food may cause health risks.
In WO 03/091288 a new class of amine co-initiators, in combination with Type I and/or Type II photo-initiators, is disclosed, said amine co-initiators being trialkylamines having a total of 10 to about 36 carbon atoms, wherein at least one alkyl group has a chain length of at least 8 carbon atoms. According to WO 03/091288 said amine co-initiators, when used in combination with a Type II photo-initiator, provide less "extractables" after curing compared to conventional amines as e.g. N-methyl-N,N-diethanolamine.
WO 99/07746 discloses a radiation curable composition containing a radiation curable resin, a photo-initiator and an amine as co-initiator, characterized in that said amine is a compound containing at least one tertiary amino group and wherein at least one substituent of the tertiary amino group is an aliphatic chain containing at least one electron-withdrawing group. Said amine compound is preferably a branched, highly branched or star-shaped dendrimer comprising at least one tertiary amino group. Said co-initiators, in combination with Type II photo-initiators, provide a higher curing speed and less "extractables".
EP-A 1 616 922 discloses a radiation curable composition containing a radiation curable resin, a photo-initiator and a co-initiator characterized in that said co-initiator comprises a dendritic polymer core with at least one co-initiating functional group, e.g. aliphatic or aromatic amines, as an end group on the polymer core. The radiation curable compositions according to EP-A 1 616 922 are characterized by a high curing speed and a low amount of "extractables".
EP-A 1 147 094 discloses multi-functional reactive amine acrylates having a low viscosity, prepared by the reaction of multifunctional (meth)acrylates with cyclic secondary amines. These amine acrylates provide a good curing speed, a higher thermal stability and less "extractables" to radiation curable compositions.


Methods of treatment in subjects suffering from diabetes mellitus or obesity are provided. The methods comprise the step of administering an active agent directly to the small intestine in the subject. In particular, the active agent may be administered directly to the duodenum in the subject. The active agents useful in the treatments described herein include analgesic agents and, in particular, antinociceptive agents such as capsaicin, resiniferatoxin, and their analogs.

Diabetes mellitus, or simply diabetes, is a metabolic condition, or combination of conditions, in which an individual displays high concentrations of blood glucose. The condition is caused either by insufficient production of insulin within the body or by the failure of cells to respond properly to the insulin that is produced.
Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States and in other developed countries. Diabetes is associated with long-term complications affecting almost every part of the body. For example, the disease can lead to blindness, heart and blood vessel disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputations, and nerve damage. Diabetes affects approximately 8 percent of the United States population, and the total cost of diabetes in the United States alone is estimated to approach $200 billion.
Diabetes is most typically classified as either type 1 diabetes (also referred to as insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes), wherein the subject fails to produce sufficient insulin, type 2 diabetes (also referred to as non-insulin-dependent diabetes, adult-onset diabetes, or obesity-related diabetes), wherein the subject fails to respond properly to insulin, or gestational diabetes, wherein the condition develops in women late in pregnancy.
Type 1 diabetes results from the loss of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, generally due to an autoimmune response against the beta cells. The cause of the autoimmune response is not known, but it is believed that genetic and environmental factors, including the possible involvement of viruses, could be involved. Symptoms of type 1 diabetes include increased thirst and urination, hunger, weight loss, blurred vision, and extreme fatigue. Although it can appear at any age, type 1 diabetes most frequently develops in children and young adults. Roughly 5 to 10 percent of all diabetes cases are considered type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for 90 to 95 percent of all cases of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is generally associated with older age, obesity, family history, previous history with gestational diabetes, and physical inactivity. It is also more prevalent in certain ethnicities. Type 2 diabetes is also referred to as insulin-resistant diabetes because the pancreas is usually able to produce sufficient amounts of insulin, but the body fails to respond properly to that insulin. As with type 1 diabetes, blood glucose levels in individuals suffering from type 2 diabetes increase, and the body is unable to metabolize the blood glucose efficiently. The symptoms of type 2 diabetes generally develop more slowly than those of type 1 diabetes. The symptoms include fatigue, frequent urination, increased thirst and hunger, weight loss, blurred vision, and slow healing of wounds or sores. In some cases, no symptoms are evident.
Gestational diabetes occurs in approximately 3 to 8 percent of pregnant women in the United States, generally developing late in the pregnancy. The disease typically disappears after birth of the baby, but women who have experienced gestational diabetes are significantly more likely to develop type 2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years than those who have not. Women who maintain reasonable body weight and are physically active after suffering from gestational diabetes may be less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who do not. As with type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes occurs more frequently among women with a family history of diabetes and also in certain ethnic groups.
Since the discovery of insulin over 80 years ago, diabetes, particularly type 1, or insulin-dependent diabetes, has been a somewhat treatable condition. The combination of a proper diet, physical activity, and insulin injection, together with the monitoring of blood glucose levels using portable meters, allows the management of type 1 diabetes. For type 2 diabetics, healthy eating, physical activity, and monitoring blood glucose levels are also important. In some cases, drug therapies can be used to control blood glucose levels in these patients.
Other approaches to the treatment of diabetes are also desirable. For example, it has been shown that bariatric surgery for the treatment of gross obesity may also cure obesity-related diabetes. It is thought that this surgery, which involves bypass of at least a portion of the small intestine, could cause the surgical ablation of gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP)-secreting intestinal K cells. Flatt (2007) Diab. Vasc. Dis. Res. 4, 150. As a result, circulating levels of GIP, which is thought to play a key role in lipid metabolism and fat deposition, are decreased.
Furthermore, although the underlying cause of type 1 diabetes remains unknown, a defect in a subset of sensory neurons that innervate the pancreas may play a role in initiating a series of events leading to local inflammation, destruction of islet cells in the pancreas, and autoimmune (type 1) diabetes. Razavi et al. (2006) Cell 127, 1123. In individuals with the defect, insulin secretion by beta cells fails to properly stimulate sensory neurons expressing a hypofunctional, polymorphic capsaicin receptor (TRPV-1=transient receptor potential vanilloid-1) to release neuropeptides. Suboptimal local levels of neuropeptides lead to insulin resistance and beta cell stress and ultimately an autoimmune response against the beta cells. Identifying methods to control these pathways could thus provide novel approaches for treating or preventing diabetes.
Another health problem of major importance, particularly in the developed world, is obesity. Obesity is a complex, multifactorial and chronic condition characterized by excess body fat. Obesity results from an imbalance between energy expenditure and caloric intake. Although the causes of this imbalance are not completely understood, genetic and/or acquired physiologic events and environmental factors are important. The adverse health effects of obesity, and more particularly morbid obesity, have become well-known in recent years. Such adverse health effects include, but are not limited to, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, and sleep apnea. Generally, as a patient's body mass index (BMI) rises, the likelihood of suffering the adverse health effects of obesity also rises.
Often, surgery has been the only therapy that ensures real results in patients who have BMI values close to, or in excess of, 40 kg/m2. Modern surgical procedures generally entail either (1) the reduction of gastric compliance, with the aim of limiting the subject's ability to ingest food, or (2) the reduction of the food absorption surface by shortening or bypassing part of the digestive canal. In some cases, both aims are sought through the same surgical procedure. The risk and invasiveness factors of currently available surgeries are often too great for a patient to accept to undergo surgical treatment for treatment of obesity. Accordingly, there is a need for less invasive, yet effective treatment procedures for the morbidly obese. Also, since the current surgical procedures are currently indicated only for those patients having a BMI of 40 or greater, or 35 or greater, when co-morbidities are present, it would be desirable to provide a less invasive procedure that would be available for slightly less obese patients, e.g., patients having a BMI of 30 to 35 who are not indicated for the currently available surgical procedures.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0275445 reports devices for use in ablating tissue in the wall of luminal organs of the gastrointestinal tract. See also U.S. Pat. No. 7,326,207. Such devices are purportedly useful in the treatment of pathophysiological metabolic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity, and metabolic syndrome, but the effectiveness of such treatments has not been demonstrated.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0089313 reports systems and methods for treating obesity and other gastrointestinal conditions by targeting the stomach. In particular, the methods purportedly cause tightening of the pyloric sphincter or alteration of the receptive relaxation of stomach muscles. The treatments include ablation of stomach tissue and, in some cases, injection of a cytokine or a vanilloid-containing compound into stomach tissue. The effectiveness of these treatments has not, however, been reported.
Given the widespread and growing significance of diabetes and obesity throughout the population, there is clearly a strong need for additional methods of treating and preventing these diseases.

Treatments for diabetes mellitus and obesity

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A power consumption control circuit for CMOS circuit for achieving a constant signal propagation delay time in the CMOS circuit by maintaining the same power consumption all the time. A leading edge heater and a trailing edge heater are provided in close proximity to the CMOS circuit. During a time period for a leading edge of an input pulse propagates through the CMOS circuit, the leading edge heater is turned off. During a time period for a trailing edge of the input pulse propagates through the CMOS circuit, the trailing edge heater is turned off. As result, an overall current flowing in the CMOS circuit, leading and trailing edge heaters is unchanged regardless of the repetition rate of the input pulse provided to the CMOS circuit.

It is known that, in a logic circuit such as an IC device circuit using CMOS gates or other types of gates, the amount of heat dissipation will change with the change of the number of pulses applied thereto, i.e., a frequency of an input pulse signal. This is because, in such an IC device circuit, current flows only at the signal transition edges, i.e., rising (leading) and falling (trailing) edges. Thus, the number of pulses or frequency of the input pulse signal is large, the number of occasions for current flowing in the CMOS circuit increases, resulting in the increase in the heat dissipation and the rise of the temperature in the CMOS circuit. The present invention is directed to a power consumption control circuit which regulates the CMOS logic circuit in such a way to maintain the amount of overall current (power consumption or heat dissipation) constant even though the number of pulses propagating through the CMOS logic circuit vary.
More detailed description regarding the heat dissipation by a CMOS circuit is provided in the following with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4A shows an example of CMOS component such as an inverter circuit formed by CMOS transistors. A transistor MP is a P-channel MOS transistor and a transistor NP is an N-channel MOS transistor, which are connected complimentarily with each other. An input terminal 1 is commonly connected to gates of both of the transistors MP and NP, and an output terminal 2 is provided at a connection point of the transistors MP and NP. An example of FIG. 4B shows two pairs of transistors MP and NP to achieve a larger capacity of output current to increase a fanout (a number of output lines that can be fed by the output terminal).
In FIGS. 4A and 4B, VDD designates a high supply voltage (high voltage H) such as 4 V while VSS designates a low supply voltage (low voltage L) such as 0 V or ground. When the low voltage L is provided to the input terminal 1, the transistor MP is on (conductive) and the transistor NP is off (nonconductive), resulting in an output voltage of high voltage H at the output terminal. Conversely, when the high voltage H is provided to the input terminal 1, the transistor MP is off (nonconductive) and the transistor NP is on (conductive), resulting in an output voltage of low voltage L at the output terminal.
In the CMOS logic circuit such as shown in FIG. 4, in response to signal transition edges, i.e., rising and falling edges of an input pulse signal P of FIG. 5A, both transistors MP and NP become temporarily active. Thus, as shown in FIG. 5B, current flows during these transition periods. The amount of current during this period ranges from several ten micro amperes (.mu.A) to several milliamperes (mA). The current flow during this period affects a signal propagation delay time in the CMOS circuit as well as the amount of supply voltages. Other than the transition period noted above, only one of the transistors MP and NP is active in which the amount of current flowing in the active transistor is very small.
FIG. 6A shows an example in which a CMOS circuit is affected by such changes in the supply voltages. In this example, a large number of CMOS components such as inverters or buffers are aligned like a manner of matrix on an IC substrate. Main voltage lines are also provided on the substrate to surround the matrix of the CMOS components for providing supply voltages VDD and VSS. A number of fine lines are running from the main voltage lines to the CMOS components. Thus, each of the CMOS components is provided with supply voltages through fine voltage lines connected to the main voltage lines.
FIG. 6B shows an equivalent circuit of the CMOS circuit of FIG. 6A in which reference R designates resistance in each of the fine voltage lines connected to the CMOS components 10. Because the combinations of resistance R vary depending on the physical locations CMOS components 10 or numbers of CMOS components 10 driven at that time, actual amounts of supply voltages to the CMOS components 10 vary by the voltage drops across the resistance R. For example, the voltage V of the source voltage VDD at a specific CMOS component can be V=4.0-2iR or V=4.0-8iR, where i is a current flowing through the fine voltage line.
In the following, it is considered the relationship between the signal propagation delay time in a CMOS circuit 11 and inner current waveforms (power consumption) in the CMOS circuit 11 with reference to FIG. 7. In the example of FIG. 7 and within the context of this specification, the CMOS circuit 11 is a circuit having a large number of CMOS components, such as several ten to a hundred CMOS inverters, buffers or gates or the like, connected in series.
In FIG. 7, a pulse signal P propagates through the CMOS circuit 11 having a large number of CMOS components 10 therein. The pulse signal at an input terminal 3 is designated by an input pulse PI and the pulse signal at an output terminal 4 is designated by an output pulse PO. FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing the waveforms associated with the example of FIG. 7. The input pulse PI shown in FIG. 8A at the input terminal 3 propagates through the CMOS circuit 11 and the output pulse PO comes out at the output terminal 4 after a signal propagation delay time Td of the CMOS circuit 11 as shown in FIG. 8B.
Typically, a signal propagation delay time of each CMOS component is about 10 ps (picosecond), although it varies depending on the supply voltage, the number of stages or temperature. Since the large number of CMOS components, such as several ten to a hundred, are connected in series, an overall propagation delay time between the input terminal 3 and the output terminal 4 of the CMOS circuit 11 may amount to several nanoseconds.
The current waveforms in the CMOS circuit 11 are shown in FIG. 8C. Each of the current waveforms in FIG. 8C is considered with respect to time periods 1, 2 and 3 of FIG. 8D. The current waveform in the time period 1 represents a current i flowing in the CMOS circuit 11 caused by the rising (leading) edge of the pulse signal. The current waveform in the time period 2 represents a current 2i flowing in the CMOS circuit 11 caused by both the rising (leading) edge and the falling (trailing) edge of the pulse signal. The current waveform in the time period 3 represents a current i flowing in the CMOS circuit 11 caused by the falling (trailing) edge of the pulse signal.
As can be seen in FIG. 8C, an overall current flowing in the CMOS circuit, i.e., power consumption therein, depends on whether a pulse signal is applied to the circuit, and the repetition rate (frequency) of the pulse signal. Therefore, the temperature of the CMOS circuit varies depending on the pulse signal supplied thereto and its repetition rate. As noted above, the supply voltages to the CMOS components also vary depending on the voltage drops across the resistance in the fine voltage lines.
In a CMOS circuit, it is known that the delay time Td for a pulse signal P to propagate therethrough is dependent upon the temperature and supply voltages of the CMOS components. The signal propagation delay time Td increases in a manner of second order curve with the increase of the temperature. Further, the signal propagation delay time Td increases in a manner of second order curve with the decrease of the supply voltage. Therefore, a built-in temperature compensation circuit is frequently used in a CMOS circuit which requires high timing resolution and accuracy such as a delay circuit. Typically, such a temperature compensation circuit in a delay circuit includes one or more dummy circuits or heaters.
One of the examples of such temperature compensation circuits is disclosed by an assignee of this invention in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 8-330920 "Temperature Balance Circuit", a schematic structure of which is shown in FIG. 9. In the example of FIG. 9, a dummy CMOS circuit 12 is provided in close proximity to the CMOS circuit 11 to be compensated. The dummy CMOS circuit 12 has CMOS components whose number is substantially the same as that of the CMOS circuit 11. Basically, the dummy circuit 12 receives pulse signals in such a manner that an overall number of pulses propagating through both the CMOS circuit 11 and the dummy circuit 12 is constant.
FIG. 10 is a timing chart showing an operation of the temperature compensation circuit of FIG. 9. An input terminal 3 of the CMOS circuit 11 receives a pulse signal PI as shown in FIG. 10A and outputs an pulse PO at an output terminal 4 as shown in FIG. 10C. For a time cycle where the input pulse PI is absent, a pulse signal is provided at an input terminal 3n of the dummy circuit 12 as shown in FIG. 10B which is output at an output terminal 4n as shown in FIG. 10D. Thus, an overall number of pulses propagating through both the CMOS circuit 11 and the dummy circuit 12 is constant.
In other words, the overall number of pulses is set to the maximum, i.e., the highest possible frequency of the input pulse signal. If the number of input pulses to the CMOS circuit 11 is lower than the maximum rate, the difference is supplemented in the dummy CMOS circuit 12. Thus, the sum of currents flowing in the CMOS circuit 11 and the dummy circuit 12 is unchanged at all times as shown in FIG. 8E, resulting in the constant temperature (power consumption) even when the pulse repetition rate of the input pulse signal for the CMOS circuit 11 changes.
To make the overall number of pulses constant, in the conventional example of FIG. 9, a pulse counter and calculation means (not shown) interact to count the number of pulses supplied to the CMOS circuit 11 and to determine a difference between the counted number and the predetermined maximum number. Then the number of dummy pulses which satisfy the difference is input to the dummy CMOS circuit 12, resulting in the total number of pulses which is always equal to the maximum number.
This conventional temperature compensated logic circuit in the above is effective in regulating the temperature of the CMOS logic circuit unchanged without regard to the repetition rate of the pulse signal passing therethrough. However, this example has a disadvantage in that it requires the dummy circuit 12 having a number of components which is comparable to the CMOS logic circuit 11 to be compensated. Thus, an overall circuit size may be about two times as large as the CMOS circuit 11.
Moreover, since the input pulse PI propagating through the CMOS circuit and the pulse signal supplemented in the dummy circuit 12 are asynchronouse with one another, the voltage drops in the supply voltage lines of the CMOS components noted above vary with the types of input pulse signals supplied thereto or combinations of CMOS components receiving the input pulses. This uneven voltage drops in the supply voltages also cause fluctuations in the signal propagation delay time in the CMOS circuit.

Power consumption control circuit for CMOS circuit


Provided is a highly palatable and safe glucosyltransferase inhibitor or anti-dental caries agent. A glucosyltransferase inhibitor or anti-dental caries agent having an epigallocatechin gallate polymer or a salt thereof. Particularly, the above agent containing an epigallocatechin gallate polymer, which is a compound in which chroman rings are bonded at position 6 and/or 8 via a methylene group.

Although various hypotheses were proposed as to a cause of dental caries in the past, at present, dental caries is recognized as a bacterial infectious disease based on the chemo-microbial theory of Miller. According to the theory, dental caries developmental mechanism is as follows: glucosyltransferase (GTF), which is produced by oral streptococcus, particularly, Streptococcus mutans (hereinafter simply referred to as "S. mutans"), produces sticky and insoluble polysaccharide (glucan) from sucrose in the mouth as a substrate. Bacterial cells of S. mutans adhere onto a tooth surface with the aid of glucan thus produced to form plaque. In the plaque, various microorganisms including S. mutans live together and propagate. An organic acid is produced by metabolism of these microorganisms, acts to reduce the pH within the plaque and decalcifies tooth enamel surface. In this manner dental caries develops and progresses. Furthermore, plaque formation is said to be a cause of not only dental caries but also periodontal disease and bad breath.
As described above, since plaque formed by oral streptococcus primarily including S. mutans is a cause of dental caries, suppressing plaque formation can be eventually an effective means for preventing development of dental caries.
Recently, as a substance having anti-dental caries action, catechins contained in plants have attracted attention. Patent Literature 1 reports that a flavonoid polymer having a molecular weight of 800 to 5000 produced by treating a flavonoid (a catechin) with peroxidase has stronger glucosyltransferase inhibitory action compared to before the treatment.
Non Patent Literature 1 reports that a flavonoid polymer inhibits the activity of glucosyltransferase derived from Streptococcus sobrinus by 50% in an amount of 2.5 μg/mL.
Patent Literature 2 reports that a flavonoid polymer having a molecular weight of 1000 to 10000 and produced by condensing a reduced product of a flavanone/flavanol or a leucocyanidin with a catechin is found to have glucosyltransferase inhibitory activity.
However, these flavonoid polymers are a mixture of flavonoid trimer to pentamer or a mixture of a dimer and a trimer thereof. The compounds contained in the mixture have not yet been isolated. Therefore, the glucosyltransferase inhibitory activity of each of the compounds has not yet been elucidated.
Of the tea daily taken, a mixture of catechins derived from non-fermented tea, i.e., green tea, has been reported to have a glucosyltransferase inhibitory activity (Non Patent Literature 2). However, it has been also reported that a sufficient anti-dental caries action was not obtained in a test using rats.
It has been reported that semi-fermented tea, i.e., oolong tea and their purified products have glucosyltransferase inhibitory activity (Patent Literature 3, Non Patent Literature 3, Non Patent Literature 4 and Non Patent Literature 5). It is also known that glucosyltransferase inhibitory activity is enhanced by treating green tea, oolong tea and black tea with heat (Patent Literature 4) and that glucosyltransferase inhibitory activity is enhanced by treating a catechin with heat (Patent Literature 5).
However, in any case, it has not been elucidated as to which compound in the mixture derived from tea has the activity.

Glucosyltransferase inhibitor containing epigallocatechin gallate polymer as active ingredient


A system and method recognizes and tracks human motion from different motion classes. In a learning stage, a discriminative model is learned to project motion data from a high dimensional space to a low dimensional space while enforcing discriminance between motions of different motion classes in the low dimensional space. Additionally, low dimensional data may be clustered into motion segments and motion dynamics learned for each motion segment. In a tracking stage, a representation of human motion is received comprising at least one class of motion. The tracker recognizes and tracks the motion based on the learned discriminative model and the learned dynamics.

Many applications in computer vision involve motion analysis and modeling, such as motion tracking and action recognition. Most conventional methods for motion modeling are largely limited to simple motions. A comprehensive analytical model for complex motions, such as biological motion or human motion, is a challenging problem. One of the difficulties in motion modeling stems from the high dimensionality of the complex motion, which demands great descriptive power from the model itself. Without any constraint, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to model arbitrary motions. Fortunately, in practice, the motions of interest are more or less constrained due to physical or biological reasons. Although these constraints can be highly nonlinear, they largely reduce the intrinsic complexity of the motion. For example, human motions cannot be arbitrary but must be confined by anthropologically feasible joint angles, e.g., the upper arm and the lower arm cannot move independently.
Thus, one issue in motion tracking is to characterize and take advantage of these constraints. Since it is generally difficult to explicitly describe motion constraints, a plausible alternative is to learn them from training data. Human motion, although complex, resides in a space whose dimensionality is significantly lower than its joint angle space. Thus, dimensionality reduction is a significant step of learning to help reduce the problem complexity and build a motion model.
Many conventional techniques are available for dimensionality reduction in human motion tracking. One conventional technique is to reduce the dimensionality using ISOMAPS and learn a Gaussian mixture model in the low-dimensional space as described in Tenenbaum, J. B., et al., A Global Geometric Framework For Nonlinear Dimensionality Reduction, Science, 2000, vol. 290 pp. 2319-2323 which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Another conventional technique is to use Laplacian eigenmaps for dimensionality reduction, and employ continuity interpolation when modeling dynamics as described in Sminchisescu, C., and A. Jepson, Generative Modeling for Continuous Non-Linearity Embedded Visual Inference, ICML, 2004 which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In yet another conventional technique, K-means clustering is used to partition the state space first, and then Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used to reduce the dimensionality.
These conventional methods are suitable when the motion is short, uniform and continuous, but are inappropriate for recognizing and tracking different motion patterns. These techniques may introduce confusion among different motion classes due to the compactness in the low-dimensional space and prevent accurate tracking.
There have been several previous attempts to deal with training data comprising multiple classes of motion. For example, a transition probability matrix may be learned as described in Wang, Q., et al., Learning Object Intrinsic Structure for Robust Visual Tracking, Proc. IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, 2003, pp. 227-233 and North, B., et al.,Learning and Classification of Complex Dynamics,IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 2000, pp. 1016-1034 which are both incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. An alternative to the transition matrix is to apply the training algorithm repeatedly for each individual motion. A problem that confronts these two methods is that it is possible that the different motions to be tracked may have some similar human poses, and these poses may be even closer when the dimensionality of the data is reduced. When the tracker is approaching these confusion areas caused by these similar poses, the tracker can be distracted since there is no discriminance enforced among those possible motion patterns. When motion segments with different characteristics are intermingled together, the accuracy of motion modeling may deteriorate.
Due to the problems above, the preservation of differences between motion patterns in the training set is a significant property when tracking multiple classes of motion. Therefore, it is also preferable to maintain the discriminance between motions in the lower dimensional space. Traditional discriminative models such as Linear Discriminative Analysis (LDA) are inappropriate for this problem because the motions to be modeled are generally non-linear and non-Gaussian.
What is needed as a system for discriminative motion modeling that can recognize and track a variety of human motion patterns in a reduced dimensionality space.

Discriminative motion modeling for human motion tracking


An apparatus for use with a percussion instrument assembly includes a base unit for positioning on a preselected surface. A first instrument pedal includes a first connecting linkage having a first end and a second end. The first end of the first connecting linkage is linked to the base unit so that the first instrument pedal may be utilized to operated a first percussion instrument. A second instrument pedal is positioned adjacent the first instrument pedal. The second instrument pedal includes a second connecting linkage having a first end and a second end. The first end of the second connecting linkage is linked to the base unit so that the second instrument pedal may be utilized to operate a second percussion instrument in a manner such that the first and second pedals are capable of being alternately actuated independently and simultaneously by the foot of an operator to respectively activate one or both the first and second percussion instruments. A quick release mechanism is provided so that the first instrument pedal may be rapidly engaged and disengaged, respectively, with a third instrument pedal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field of musical instruments and, in particular, to percussion instruments such as drums and cymbals. More specifically, but without restriction to the particular embodiments hereinafter described in accordance with the best mode of practice, this invention relates to the instrument pedals used by musicians to operate percussion instruments.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Music and musical instruments have been a companion part of human existence for virtually thousands of years. A parallel development in the design and manufacturing techniques for making musical instruments has accompanied the historical development of musical composition. This parallel development may generally be divided into two main functional categories including the design of new musical instruments and the redesign or improvement of known musical instruments.
For example, in regard to the design of new musical instruments, the first known harpsicord was designed and made by Gerolamo Bolognese in Rome in 1521. The popularity of this new instrument increased rapidity due to the pleasing musical tone which prior thereto had not been experienced by humankind. With the popularity of the harpsicord in Europe, national schools of construction were established principally in Italy, Flanders, France, England, and Germany. The craftsman in these national schools of construction perfected the mechanical design of the harpsicord during the 16th-18th until it became one of the most popular musical instruments in Europe. Indeed, most of the great Baroque composers played and wrote for the harpsicord. Thus, the harpsicord may be considered the musical instrument responsible for creating the Baroque genre of music.
A well known example of the redesign or improvement of a known musical instrument may be seen in the modern double-neck electric guitar. Prior thereto, two or three musicians were required to play lead, rhythm, and bass guitar. With the advent of the double-neck electric guitar, one musician could play both lead and rhythm, or rhythm and bass guitar. This design enabled the guitarist to expand the scope of his musical skills and musical repertoire.
Another important area relating to the creation of musical instruments is the craftsmanship and expert skills required for instruments made by hand. Before the advent of modern manufacturing methods, virtually all musical instruments were made by hand. Thus, metal workers became specialized and expert in hand manufacturing brass instruments such as the trumpet, French horn, and more recently, the saxiphone. Since the 16th century, guitar makers endeavered in the evolution of the acoustic guitar developing expert craftsman techniques which lead to the establishment of the "Master Lutist", who was recognized as possessing the highest level of craftsmanship and technical skills for making acoustic guitars. Similarly, the stringed instruments such as the violin, viola, cello, and bass were the object of a developing school of craftsmanship. For both the acoustic guitar and stringed instruments, wood workers developed specialized skills in making the instruments of their craft. The selection and drying of woods, along with grain patterns, bending, joining techniques, gluing, finishing, and varnishing all played an important role in producing musical instruments with improved sound quality or better tonality. For example, the family Stradivari, headed by Antonio Stradivari from the Duchy of Milan, b.1644-d.1737, is well noted for bringing violin-making to its highest level of perfection. Indeed, the Stradivarius violin to this day, commands the highest price due to the beauty of the violin's tone which resulted from the expertly optimized factors involved in its design and making.
With the advent of modern manufacturing techniques, the importance of hand-craftsmanship has been replaced by the need for precision machining and optimized mechanical design as the means for improving existing musical instruments and expanding the musical repertoire of musicians of all types. One of the most important elements of contemporary music includes percussion instruments and principally the modern drum set with related elements such as cymbal stands and base drums.
Since the first drums which included hollowed logs, many improvements in drums and other percussion instruments have been made. As time has past, music and concerts have become increasingly sophisticated. This sophistication has led musicians to require help in setting up the musician's complex instruments and stages. Thus, stage-hands or roadies need to spend hours and sometimes days working on the setup for a concert. Further, in concerts with multiple bands it is often necessary to quickly assemble and disassemble new equipment for each performing band. This is necessary because musicians rarely share equipment. Drums and percussion instruments represent one of the greatest challenges. The present invention seeks to aid the compactness, assembly, and disassembly of drums and percussion instruments. The present invention is also directed to increasing the musical repertoire of percussion musicians by allowing them to create musical beats and rhythms previously unattainable with prior art equipment.

Dual foot pedal assembly and related quick release mechanism


A connector for stretch straps of a chair is mounted on the chair to hold and stretch a stretch strap with an opposite connector mounted on the chair and has a receiving recess formed inside the connector and a connecting slot formed through the top of the connector and communicating with the receiving recess. One end of the stretch strap extends through the connecting slot to be held by a binder in the receiving recesses. A bottom of the stretch strap is propped out by a top edge of the connecting slot so that a top of the stretch strap is protrudent relative to the top of the connector and a sharp edge formed between the top and the front end of the connector. Thus, a user's body is prevented from contacting with the rigid top and the sharp edge of the connector to comfortably sit on the chair.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for stretch straps of a chair, and more particularly to a connector that is used in pair to hold one end of a stretch strap and to prop out a bottom of the stretch strap to keep human bodies from a sharp edge of the connector.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIGS. 15 and 16, a conventional chair has a frame and multiple stretch strap assemblies (91). The frame has a U-shape bar (93) and two L-shape bars (92). The U-shape bar (93) has a back rail (931) and two legs (932). The back rail (931) has two ends. The legs (932) respectively extend downward from the ends of the back rail (931) and each leg (932) has a middle. The L-shape bars (92) are respectively attached to the legs (932) of the U-shape bar (93) and each L-shape bar (92) has a seat support (921) and a foot (922). The seat support (921) has a proximal end and a distal end. The distal end of the seat support (921) is attached to the middle of a corresponding leg (932) of the U-shape bar (93). The foot (922) extends downward from the proximal end of the seat support (921).
The stretch strap assemblies (91) are respectively connected between the seat supports (921) of the L-shape bars (92) and between the legs (932) of the U-shape bar (93) in juxtaposition for supporting a user's buttocks and back. Each stretch strap assembly (91) has two connectors (911) a stretch strap (912) and a binder (914).
The connectors (911) are respectively mounted securely on the seat supports (921) of the L-shape bars (92) and the legs (932) of the U-shape bar (93). Each connector (911) has a top, a front end, a rear end, a receiving recess (9111), two connecting holes (9112), a mounting ear (9113), multiple mounting holes (9114) and multiple fasteners (9115). The receiving recess (9111) is formed inside the connector (911). The connecting holes (9112) are formed in the front end of the connector (911) and communicate with the receiving recess (911). The mounting ear (9113) is formed on and protrudes from the rear end of the connector (911) and is mounted securely on the seat support (921) of a corresponding L-shape bar (92) or the leg (932) of a corresponding U-shape bar (93). The mounting holes (9114) are formed through the mounting ear (9113) of the connector (911). The fasteners (9115) are mounted through the mounting holes (9114) and penetrate into the seat support (921) of the corresponding L-shape bar (92) or into the leg (932) of the corresponding U-shape bar (93) to secure the connector (911) on the seat support (921) of the L-shape bar (92) or on the leg (932) of the U-shape bar (93).
The stretch strap (912) is elastic, is connected between the connectors (911), extends through the connecting holes (9112) in the connectors (911) to form a loop and has a top and two ends. The ends of the stretch strap (912) are overlapped and bound together in the receiving recess (9111) of one of the connectors (911) of the stretch strap assembly (91). The juxtaposed loops formed by the stretch straps (912) of the stretch strap assemblies (91) form an elastic seat and an elastic seat back for a user's buttocks and back to comfortably sit on and recline on.
The binder (914) is mounted around the overlapped ends of the stretch strap (912) to bind the ends together and is larger than the connecting holes to prevent the stretch strap (912) from detaching from the connecting slots (9112) in the connector (911).
However, a sharp edge is formed between the front end and the top of the connector (911). Because the sharp edge and the top of the connector (911) are protrudent relative to the top of the stretch strap (912), when the user sits on the chair, the user's buttocks and back may contact with the sharp edge and the rigid top of the connectors (911) and causes unease tactile feeling. Furthermore, the sharp edge may rub and fray the user's clothes.


Audio equalizer circuit for adjusting the amount of boost and cut. The circuit uses a combination negative feedback, positive feedback, negative feed-forward and positive feed-forward resulting in boost and cut characteristics which are entirely reciprocal and which, nonetheless provides an infinite-depth notch. The equalizer is fabricated with an ordinary band pass filter, resistors, potentiometer and operational amplifiers.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of audio equalizers and tone control.
2. Prior Art
Audio equalizers are well-known in the art for boosting and cutting predetermined frequency ranges or bands. Ideally, an equalizer should have reciprocal, mirror image characteristics for boosting when compared to cutting. Moreover, an ideal equalizer should provide an infinite-depth notch.
Ideal equalizers, if connected in cascade, should be capable of providing a flat, a overall complex gain response since the boosting of one equalizer should exactly cancel the cutting of the other. Looked at in another way, the first equalizer's frequency response precisely complements the second's, and cancels out the effect of the first equalizer. To have this reciprocity, the zeros of one equalizer must equal the poles of the other equalizer and vice-versa. (The complex gain is generally described as a function of the Laplace transform complex variable "s", as is well-known in the art. In the description which follows, the "poles" and "zeros" refer to the poles and zeros of transmission, respectively.)
Many equalizers well-known in the art achieve equalization by combining the output of a filter with the filter's input to amplify or attenuate signals in a frequency-selective way. If the filter is a first-order low-pass filter [having a complex gain function of the form p/(s+p)], it produces a so-called "low-pass shelving" characteristic. If the filter is a first-order high pass filter [having a complex gain function of the form s/(s+p)], it produces a so-called "high-pass shelving" characteristic. If the filter is a second-order band-pass filter [having a complex gain function of the form Qs/(s.sup.2 .degree.Qs+.omega..sub.o)], it produces a so-called "peaking" or "dipping" characteristic, with associated bell-shaped curves of gain versus frequency.
There are two widely used circuits for combining the output of the filter with its input to achieve the equalization. These circuits are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and are subsequently discussed in conjunction with these figures.
As will be seen, the present invention provides improved characteristics in that the boosting and cutting are reciprocal and since an infinite-depth cut is obtained.

Audio equalizer providing reciprocal equalization plus infinite-depth notch


Provided is a coupling structure for vacuum exhaust devices each including a pump chamber and a casing that demarcates the pump chamber. The coupling structure includes a first end surface formed on a first side of the casing, and a second end surface formed on the second side of the casing, the second side being the opposite side of the first side. The casing of a first vacuum exhaust device and the casing of a second vacuum exhaust device among a plurality of vacuum exhaust devices are arranged to be directly superposed on each other such that the first end surface provided to the first vacuum exhaust device and the second end surface provided to the second vacuum exhaust device come into contact with each other. By fastening the first end surface and the second end surface, the first vacuum exhaust device and the second vacuum exhaust device are connected to each other such that gas can flow between the casing of the first vacuum exhaust device and the casing of the second vacuum exhaust device.

In a vacuum exhaust device (vacuum pump) used for depressurizing and exhausting a device to be exhausted such as a vacuum chamber, it is general to connect a plurality of vacuum exhaust devices, which are different depending on the intended use, to one another in series such that gas can flow, thus achieving target performance. For example, a mechanical booster pump is adopted as a main pump for exhausting a device to be exhausted to an operating pressure and maintaining the pressure, and an oil rotary pump or a dry pump is adopted as a roughing pump for exhausting a vacuum system from an, atmospheric pressure to a pressure at which the main pump is capable of operating. Those vacuum pumps are used in combination, thus establishing a vacuum exhaust system with which target performance is achieved. The combination of vacuum pumps is not limited thereto and is diverse. There is a case where three or more vacuum pumps are combined.
In the case where such a plurality of vacuum pumps are combined, the respective vacuum pumps are generally arranged at proper positions and then connected to one another by a connection pipe or the like. For example, a connection structure in which each vacuum pump is fixed to a predetermined frame (installation base) and an exhaust port of the main pump and an intake port of the roughing pump are connected to each other with use of a pipe is generally used.
For example, Non-patent Document 1 below describes a vacuum exhaust system in which an exhaust port of an upper pump and an intake port of a lower pump are connected to each other with use of a pipe. Further, Non-patent Document 2 below describes a vacuum exhaust system in which vacuum pumps are installed on and within a frame and an exhaust port and an intake port of upper and lower vacuum pumps are connected to each other with use of a pipe.
Further, for vacuum pumps connected by the method as described above, widely used is a multistage roots vacuum pump having a multistage structure in which a space formed within a single casing is partitioned to form a plurality of pump chambers. In the multistage roots vacuum pump, it is general to connect pump chambers at respective stages in series (see Patent Document 1 below).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No 2002-364569    Non-patent Document 1: "Edwards vacuum product catalog Revision 3". Edwards Japan Limited, p. 54    Non-patent Document 2: "Vacuum Technology and Innovative Ideas (ULVAC): Oil Rotary Vacuum Pump System, YM-VD/YM-VS Series (1580 L/min to 20000 L/min)", [online], ULVAC, Inc., [retrieved on Apr. 16, 2010], Internet <URL: http://www.ulvac.co.jp/products/compo/F020006.html>

Coupling structure for vacuum exhaust device and vacuum exhaust system


Provided is a method of preparing a proliferation-regulated recombinant adenoviral vector effectively, comprising preparing a proliferation-regulated vector plasmid by preparing a restriction enzyme-recognizing sequence in a vector plasmid having a proliferation-regulating unit and having an E1A region, a protein-coding region in a E1B region, a poly(A) signal sequence, and a recombinase-recognizing sequence in that order from upstream, by deleting an endogenous promoter in the E1A region or an endogenous promoter regulating expression of the protein-coding gene in one protein-coding region of the E1B region thereof and inserting the restriction enzyme-recognizing sequences in the deficient site, and introducing a promoter expressing specifically in a target organ in the restriction enzyme-recognizing sequence in the restriction enzyme-recognizing sequence; and additionally, integrating the proliferation-regulated vector plasmid into a vector plasmid having a adenoviral genome prepared by deleting the E1 region.

Currently, the primary cause of death in Japan is cancer. In particular, it is quite difficult to prevent cancer metastasis completely with preexisting operational therapy, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy; thus, there is a need for research on newer therapies; and in particular, gene therapy is attracting attention and intensively studied. Based on basic studies, clinical tests on cancer gene therapy have been practiced frequently over past decades or so mainly in the United States as well as in Japan and other advanced countries, and the number of such patients is increasing year by year. However, there is no report that a patient was cured completely by the gene therapy. The biggest cause thereof is that most of the gene-introducing vectors currently used are nonproliferating viral vectors designed only to introduce a therapeutic gene after viral infection and not to proliferate, from the genetic engineering point of view, for safety. The nonproliferating viral vectors are indeed safer, but such a viral vector does not, of course, introduce the gene into the regions other than those into which the liquid containing the vector penetrates by in-vivo administration in actual clinical settings, even if the viral vector shows an excellent transferring efficiency in an in-vitro test using cultured cell. When a nonproliferating vector is used, it is not possible to overcome the problem of the recurrence of cancer from cancer cells in the organs where no gene is introduced, and that is the biggest cause for the gene therapy not giving expected clinical results.
There is a report of a variant adenovirus (ADV) that lacks a region in E1B that proliferates specifically in a p53 function-deficient cancer cell, which is often in the incompetent state, as an adenoviral vector (hereinafter, referred to as ADV) overcoming such a problem (Bischoff J. R., et all., Science. 1996 Oct. 18; 274 (5286): 373-376). Since then, such proliferation-regulated viral vectors, which proliferate specifically in cancer cell and do not proliferated in normal cell, have been studied. For example, an attempt was made to proliferate an adenovirus specifically in prostatic cancer cells by expressing the adenoviral E1A gene with a prostatic cancer-specific PSA promoter (Rodruguez, R., et al., Cancer Res, 57, 2559-2563, 1997).
However, proliferation-regulated viral vectors hitherto reported were designed to be regulated by a single factor, or the vectors were designed to proliferate only in cancer cells in response to a single factor by using the difference in expression of the factor in cancer cells and normal cells, to make the vectors specific to cancer. However, the difference between cancer and normal cells is not specified definitely only by a single factor, and thus, conventional proliferation-regulated viral vectors were far from specifically targeted to cancer. It would be necessary to use multiple factors different in properties simultaneously, to make the vector more specifically targeted to cancer, but there is no such a report so far. In addition, each of the traditional proliferation-regulated viral vectors should be prepared one by one separately in gene recombination. Adenovirus is a long DNA virus of 36 kB in length and thus, there are many restrictions in gene recombination thereof; for example, the number of the restriction enzymes for use in recombination of a plasmid vector containing the same is limited; and thus, it was impossible to perform the recombination efficiently. Thus, it was technically impossible to produce great amounts of proliferation-regulated adenoviral vectors rapidly and to prepare and evaluate a lot of proliferation-regulated viral vectors rapidly for use in screening vectors specifically targeted to cancer.

Method of preparing a proliferation-regulated recombinant adenoviral vector efficiently and kit for preparing the same

Nagoya Industrial Science Research Institute


The present invention provide nucleic acids encoding polypeptides which confer salt tolerance and plants an other organisms. The nucleic acids can be used to produce transgenic cultivars suitable for growth under saline conditions.

Because of limited water supplies and the widespread use of irrigation, the soils of many cultivated areas have become increasingly salinized. In particular, modern agricultural practices such as irrigation impart increasing salt concentrations when the available irrigation water evaporates and leaves previously dissolved salts behind. As a result, the development of salt tolerant cultivars of agronomically important crops has become important in many parts of the world.
Dissolved salts in the soil increase the osmotic pressure of the solution in the soil and tend to decrease the rate at which water from the soil will enter the roots. If the solution in the soil becomes too saturated with dissolved salts, the water may actually be withdrawn from the plant roots. Thus the plants slowly starve though the supply of water and dissolved nutrients may be more than ample. Also, elements such as sodium are known to be toxic to plants when they are taken up by the plants.
Salt tolerant plants can facilitate use of marginal areas for crop production, or allow a wider range of sources of irrigation water. Traditional plant breeding methods have, thus far, not yielded substantial improvements in salt tolerance and growth of crop plants. In addition, such methods require long term selection and testing before new cultivars can be identified.
Genetic engineering and other methods have been used in attempts to improve crop plants by understanding the genetic basis for salt tolerance. For instance, considerable effort has been directed to the selection of salt tolerant plant cells and callus in vitro (see, e.g., Dix The Plant Journal 3:309-313 (1993)). A major barrier in the improvement of salt tolerance in crops is the poor understanding of the specific genes that have the potential of increasing salt tolerance (reviewed in Serrano et al., Crit. Rev. Plant Sci. 13:121-138 (1994)).
Genes associated with adaptation to salt stress have been identified in yeast. Serrano and coworkers have identified two genes, HAL1 (Gaxiola et al. EMBO J. 11:3157-3164 (1992)) and HAL2 (Glaser et al. EMBO J. 12:3105-3110 (1993)) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by selecting for genes whose overexpression leads to improved growth on salt. A HAL1 homolog is present in plants where it is induced by NaCl and abscisic acid, a plant hormone known to mediate adaptation of plants to osmotic stress Murguia et al., Science 267:232-234 (1995)).
Another gene, calcineurin, or phosphoprotein phosphatase type 2B (PP2B), is a calmodulin-regulated enzyme found in many organisms including yeast. Although its physiological functions are not well understood, it is known that yeast strains which do not contain active calcineurin proteins are more sensitive to growth inhibition by salt than are wild-type strains. Bacterial genes associated with salt tolerance have also been identified. Tarczynski et al., Science 259:508-510 (1993)).
Despite the efforts toward cloning genes conferring tolerance to saline conditions, no single salt tolerance plant gene has been identified. The present invention addresses these and other needs.

Genes conferring salt tolerance and their uses

The Regents of the University of California


The present disclosure includes systems and techniques relating to online information analysis. In general, in one implementation, a system includes a collection engine configured to accumulate document information retrieved from publicly accessible network resources according to predefined subjects, and an analysis engine configured to analyze the accumulated document information to identify change over a time period in general discussion of a topic within a selected subject of the predefined subjects, the analysis engine further configured to normalize the identified change over the time period based on change in a total number of documents found for the selected subject during the time period.

Traditional public opinion discovery can be a time consuming and expensive process. To understand how one's brand, company or product is perceived, one would typically pay for polls, interviews, market surveys or focus groups. With the rise of the Internet, customer preferences and marketplace perceptions are discussed globally every day in publicly accessible online resources, such as online newspapers, magazines and forums, newsgroups, Usenet/Google groups, discussion boards and blogs. It's estimated that 10 million new pages are added everyday to the Internet. Thus, newly available machine-readable commentary on particular companies and products (including commentary from professional company analysts) are frequently added to the Web each day.
This publicly available information can be mined for information that may be useful for companies. For example, Intelliseek offers marketing activity monitoring to companies, where consumer generated information on the Web is analyzed to determine the effectiveness of a company's marketing. In addition, Sentiment Monitoring Service (SMS) is a Web analysis tool offered by Accenture, in which human experts provided a list of keywords used to pull information from the Web, where some of the keywords indicated topic relevance, and the remaining keywords indicated either positive or negative sentiments in relation to the topic.

System and method for online information analysis


In view of realizing a lithographic process which makes it possible to estimate and correct flare with an extremely high accuracy, and causes only an extremely small dimensional variation in width, over the entire portion not only of a single shot region, but also of a single chip region, a mask pattern correction device of the present invention has a numerical aperture calculation unit calculating, for every single shot region, flare energy for a mask pattern corresponding to a transferred pattern, based on an exposure layout of a plurality of shot regions, or more specifically, while considering flare from a plurality of shot regions located around every single shot region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and method for correcting mask pattern which can correct flare generated in lithographic process, one of a process step in fabrication of semiconductor devices, and also to a device and method for correcting light exposure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent pattern formation of semiconductor devices adopts projection exposure apparatuses based on dioptric system or cata-dioptric system. In this sort of projection exposure apparatus, light ascribable to some optical routes not intended on the design basis, tends to generate due to reflection and scattering on the surface or inside of lenses in the lighting optical system, photomask, projection lens and so forth, or due to non-uniformity in refractive index of lens materials. The light is generally referred to as "flare", and is causative of variation in a pattern to be transferred or in line width.
FIG. 25 is a drawing schematically showing a mode of flare generation.
In a unit shot region 121 for a single time of light exposure, a transferred pattern formed by light exposure through a mask pattern on a photomask is irradiated also by flare of the exposure light, which has come through arbitrary regions B, C away from point A. It is known that distance over which the flare can affect reaches as long as several millimeters on the basis of distance transferred on a wafer, a target object for the pattern transfer. A flare affective to as far as several millimeters is referred to as "long-range flare", a flare of several micrometer affective to as far as several tens of micrometers is referred to as "midrange flare", and a flare affective to as far as several micrometers or less is referred to as "short-range" flare.
In recent years, as typically described in Patent Document 1, there is proposed a technique by which the midrange and short-range flares (local flares) are estimated by using a test pattern composed of a line pattern and an annular pattern surrounding thereof, and width of the transferred pattern is corrected based on the estimation.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-126486
The above-described conventional technique could certainly estimate the local flares, which have never been even noticed as a problem to a reasonable degree, with a high accuracy, but it has been found that the method was suffering from difference in the correction accuracy locally in a single shot region, and could not be said as having reached a satisfactory accuracy yet. This applies not only the midrange and short-range flares, but also to the long-range flare, and this creates the present situation in need of development of a dimensional correction technique with a higher accuracy.
The present invention is conceived after considering the above-described subjects, and an objects thereof is to provide a device and method for correcting a mask pattern, and a device and method for correcting light exposure, all of which make it possible to estimate and correct flare with an extremely high accuracy, over the entire portion not only of a single shot region, but also of a single chip region, to thereby realize a lithographic process causative of only an extremely small dimensional variation in line width, and further to thereby realize highly-reliable semiconductor devices.

Mask pattern correction device, method of correcting mask pattern, light exposure correction device, and method of correcting light exposure


There is disclosed an image display displaying a multicolor image by using image data expressing color components of a first color specification system. The image display is provided with a display unit displaying an image by a second color specification system which is different from the first color specification system, and displaying each of colors included in the second color specification system per pixel in correspondence to input device data, a basic color computing unit (46) determining basic data expressing each of the color components in the second color specification system by using the input image data of the first color specification system, a specific color computing unit (48) determining specific data expressing each of color components in a third color specification system by using the input image data of the first color specification system, a combining unit (54, 56, 58) combining each of reference data of the base color computing unit and each of specific data of the specific color computing unit so as to determine combined data of each of the colors, and an output data computing unit (60) determining device data of each of the colors of the display unit on the basis of the combined data.

When displaying a multicolor image, image display has generally been performed with each of a red color, a green color and a blue color as reference colors. In the image display mentioned above, when displaying a white color, the image display is carried out by exhibiting each of the red color, the green color and the blue color at a certain amount, but, there has been a case in which a reproducibility of the white color is not good in a combination of the three colors.
In order to dissolve this problem, there has been proposed an image display in which white color is added as the reference color to each of red, green and blue colors (for example, refer to Patent Document 1). In this technique, there has been proposed a four-color display displaying an image by using a white color luminance which is in proportion to a luminance of each of pixels of RGB and a luminance of the white color by itself.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2004-286814

National University Corporation Shizuoka University


A direct ink supply writing implement according to the present invention is provided with an ink reservoir made of a porous material disposed between a nib and an ink tank; a partition wall disposed between the ink reservoir and the ink tank and arranged to partition the ink reservoir and the ink tank from each other; a communication hole formed in the partition wall for establishing communication between the ink reservoir and the ink tank; a rod-shape ink guiding member which penetrates the partition wall and with which ink is supplied from the ink tank to the nib; and a compressed portion formed at a rear end of the ink reservoir and arranged to enhance capillary force as compared with other portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a direct ink supply writing implement. More particularly, the present invention relates to a direct ink supply writing implement arranged to directly accumulate ink in an ink tank and having an ink reservoir made of a porous material and disposed between a nib and the ink tank so that ink discharged when the pressure in the ink tank has been raised is temporarily stored in the ink reservoir. In the present invention, note that the expression "front" means a portion adjacent to the nib and the expression "rear" means a portion adjacent to the ink tank.
2. Description of the Related Art
(a) Examined Japanese Utility-Model Publication No. 56-33739
In the publication (a), an implement for writing has been disclosed which incorporates a nib secured to the leading end of a barrel. Moreover, an ink reservoir disposed in contact with the rear end of the nib and having a capillary action is inserted into the inner surface of the barrel such that a ventilation passage connected to the outside air exists from the inner surface of the barrel. In addition, a compressed member is joined to the rear end of the ink reservoir to raise the density of the capillary spaces in the ink reservoir at the foregoing joint portion. Moreover, the rear end of the ink reservoir and the ink tank formed in the rear portion of the barrel are connected to each other through a communication hole.
However, the implement for writing in the publication (a) is an implement for writing of a type having a structure that ink supplied from the ink tank is temporarily absorbed by the ink reservoir so as to consume absorbed ink from the nib. Therefore, in the implement for writing in the publication (a), ink in the ink tank is not directly supplied to the Nib through an ink guide member or the like. Therefore, the quantity of ink which is discharged from the nib is insufficient. Thus, script becomes too light and faint and patchy. Therefore, smooth writing for a long time is not permitted.
Although the implement for writing in the publication (a) has the close capillary spaces in the rear end portion of the ink reservoir because of the compression, the other main portion has straight capillary spaces. Therefore, the widths of the capillary spaces (that is, the capillary forces) are substantially uniform. It leads to a fact that a major portion of ink stored in the ink reservoir can easily be concentrated to a lower portion of the ink reservoir (that is, a front portion of the ink reservoir) when downward attribute of the nib is maintained. As a result, there is apprehension that ink reservoir leaks outwards by dint of an impact which is made when the implement for writing is dropped or when a cap is removed.
Since the implement for writing in the publication (a) easily encounters concentration of ink in the front portion of the ink reservoir, ink in the front portion of the ink reservoir cannot smoothly be returned into the ink tank when the pressure in the ink tank is reduced owning to change in the temperature. Therefore, air can easily be introduced into the ink tank in a state in which ink is retained in the front portion of the ink reservoir. It leads to a fact that ink left in the front portion of the ink reservoir is gradually increased if expansion and contraction of air in the ink tank are repeated. Thus, there is apprehension that ink leaks through the leading end of the nib.
What is worse, the implement for writing in the publication (a) has the arrangement that a major portion of accumulated ink is distributed in the front portion of the ink reservoir and air can easily be introduced into the rear portion of the ink reservoir. Therefore, an air duct connected to the outer air must be formed between the outer surface of the ink reservoir and the inner surface of the barrel. If the air duct is omitted, there is apprehension that ink is undesirably discharged to the outside when air in the rear portion of the ink reservoir is expanded by dint of, for example, rise in the temperature. Therefore, the implement for writing in the publication (a) has the above-mentioned air duct to prevent a fact that air is confined in the rear portion of the ink reservoir. Thus, leakage of ink is prevented.
However, the air dust cannot easily be formed between the inner surface of the barrel and the outer surface of the ink reservoir. Thus, the manufacturing cost is enlarged. If the members including the barrel are made of molded synthetic resin, making of an air duct groove and rib causes surface sink to take place on the outer surface of the barrel. Thus, there is apprehension that the quality of the appearance deteriorates and airtightness which is realized when the cap is put becomes unsatisfactory.
(b) Unexamined Japanese Utility-Model publication No. 2-48377
In the publication (b), an implement for writing having an ink guiding member disposed between an ink tank and the nib has been disclosed. According to the foregoing disclosure, a porous member for adjusting ink in an implement for writing is arranged such that the capillary force of the porous member (corresponding to the ink reservoir according to the present invention) disposed in contact with the ink guiding member and arranged to surround the same is enlarged in a portion adjacent to the ink guiding member. Moreover, the capillary force is reduced in the outer portion.
In the implement for writing in the publication (b), even if the capillary force of the ink reservoir is changed in the radial direction such that it is enlarged in the portion adjacent to the ink guiding member and the same is reduced in the outer portion, the capillary force is uniform in the axial direction. Therefore, if the downward attitude of the nib is maintained, ink is concentrated to the front portion of the ink reservoir similarly to the implement for writing in the publication (a). Thus, there is apprehension that ink is leaked when an impact is made because of drop of the implement for writing or when the cap is removed.
(c) Examined Japanese Utility-Model Publication No. 37-12939
In the foregoing publication (c), a fountain pen type felt pen has been disclosed which incorporates an ink cylinder which includes an ink tank, an ink reservoir disposed in front of the ink tank and formed by felt chips or cotton and a partition wall arranged to insulate the ink reservoir and the ink tank from each other and having a small communication hole. Moreover, an ink guiding member made of elongated felt subject to a resin process penetrates the partition wall and the ink reservoir.
In the direct ink supply writing implement in the publication (c), the overall capillary force in the ink reservoir is uniform. Therefore, if the foregoing implement for writing is stored for a long time in a state in which the nib faces downwards, ink can easily be concentrated to the front portion of the ink reservoir. Therefore, there is apprehension that ink leaks by dint of an impact which is made when the implement for writing is dropped or when the cap is removed.
What is worse, in the direct ink supply writing implement in the publication (c), ink can easily be concentrated to the front portion of the ink reservoir. Moreover, contact between the outer surface of the ink guiding member and the inner surface of the ink reservoir is instable, causing smooth return of ink in the front portion of the ink reservoir into the ink tank to be inhibited when the pressure in the ink tank has been reduced because, for example, the temperature has been changed. Therefore, air can easily be introduced into the ink tank in a state in which ink is left in the front portion of the ink reservoir. If expansion and contraction of air in the ink tank are repeated, residual ink in the front portion of the ink reservoir is gradually increased. As a result, ink leaks through the leading end of the nib.
The direct ink supply writing implement in the publication (c) is a direct ink supply writing implement having the structure that the ink tank and the nib are directly connected to each other through the ink guiding member without the ink reservoir. Therefore, satisfactory ink discharging characteristic can be realized as compared with a type in which the ink guiding member does not penetrate the ink reservoir. However, the realized ink discharging characteristic is insufficient to realize satisfactory ink leakage preventing characteristic.
The reason for this lies in that accurate and uniform capillary space size cannot easily be realized if uniform distribution of capillary space sizes is required. Therefore, the capillary space sizes easily vary. Capillary spaces having large sizes cannot serve as the portion for temporarily store ink. The excessively large capillary spaces deteriorate the overall performance of the ink reservoir for storing ink. Thus, undesirable ink leakage easily takes place. To form an effective ink storage portion in the overall body of the ink reservoir, dense capillary spaces are required. Therefore, the direct ink supply writing implement in the publication (c) inevitably has the structure having the dense capillary spaces in the ink reservoir in order to realize a satisfactory ink leakage preventive characteristic. As a result, air cannot smoothly be introduced into the ink tank, the pressure of which has been reduced. As a result, the ink discharging characteristic from the nib deteriorates. Thus, script becomes too light and faint and patchy.
What is worse, the direct ink supply writing implement in the publication (c) incorporates the ink guiding member which has a simple structure made of the porous material. Therefore, a limit is imposed to quickly and sufficiently supply ink from the ink tank to the nib.
(d) Toku Hyo Hei. No. 6-510491
In the publication (d), a direct ink supply writing implement has been disclosed which has a structure that an ink guiding member is in contact with an ink reservoir in a direct manner. Moreover, the ink guiding member is received in a central hole of a partition wall to close the central hole. A gap (corresponding to the communication hole according to the present invention) exhibiting capillary force superior to that of the ink reservoir and having a function of exchanging air and ink is formed.
In general, the gap limits communication of ink and air between the ink tank and the ink reservoir by dint of the size of the gap. Therefore, a significant accuracy is required for the gap to exchange air and ink.
If the size of the gap is too large, the capillary force is weakened. Thus, smooth return of ink from the ink reservoir to the ink tank is inhibited when the pressure in the ink tank has been reduced. Thus, outer air is introduced into the ink tank in a state in which ink is left in the ink reservoir, causing the state in which the pressure in the ink tank has been reduced to be canceled. If the internal pressure in the ink tank is raised, the ink storage portion cannot satisfactorily store overflowed ink. Thus, there is apprehension that ink leaks from the nib.
If the size of the gap is too small, the capillary force is strengthened. Thus, introduction of air into the ink tank in a pressure reduced state is prevented, causing smooth exchange of air to be prevented. As a result, the pressure reduced state in the ink tank cannot be canceled. Therefore, the quantity of ink which is discharged from the nib is gradually reduced after consumption of ink has been started. It leads to a fact that script becomes too light and faint and patchy.
Since the direct ink supply writing implement in the publication (d) incorporates the ink guiding member which is made of the porous material, such as a fibrous material, the sizes of the plural gaps in the ink guiding member received in the central hole in the partition wall considerably vary. Among the gaps, a largest gap serves as the communication hole for air duct according to the present invention.
To prevent undesirable leakage of ink from the nib because ink is left in the ink reservoir, the largest gap which serves as the communication hole, must have a small size. In consideration of the variation of the gap sizes, the capillary spaces in the ink guiding member which is received in the central hole must considerably be made densely. As a result, the capillary force of the communication hole is enlarged excessively. Thus, outer air cannot easily be introduced into the ink tank in the pressure reduced state. Therefore, the pressure reduced state in the ink tank cannot sufficiently be canceled. Thus, the ink discharging characteristic from the nib gradually deteriorates after consumption of ink has been started.
Since the ink guiding member of the direct ink supply writing implement in the publication (d) is made of the porous material, such as the fibrous material, the overall body has great capillary force. Therefore, a satisfactory large quantity of ink cannot quickly be supplied to the nib. Thus, script becomes too light and faint and patchy.
(e) Examined Japanese Utility-Model Publication No. 55-32787
In the publication (e), a structure has been disclosed in which a communication hole is formed between the outer surface of an ink guiding member. (specifically, a pen member made of a fiber bundle core or an open-cell plastic core) and the inner surface of a central hole of a partition wall having an axial groove.
In the above-mentioned structure (that is, the communication hole is formed between the outer surface of the ink guiding member and the inner surface of the central hole in the partition wall), the ink guiding member is made of fiber or a porous material, such as the open-cell synthetic resin member. Therefore, when the ink guiding member is disposed and secured in the central hole in the partition wall, the outer surface of the ink guiding member is expanded in the groove in the inner surface of the central hole in the partition wall. Therefore, there is apprehension that the communication hole is closed or the communication hole is reduced. Thus, appropriate gap size in the communication hole cannot be realized.


The present invention provides a switching method of the different display windows of a TV. Before the switching, the TV displays the TV programs, received from the broadcast system and a server, in a main window and a sub-display window respectively, and the switching method includes the following steps that: the TV and the server determine the channel identifiers of the TV programs displayed by each other; the TV displays the TV programs, received from the broadcast system and the server, with the channel identifiers of each other using the first display window and the second display window respectively. By the present invention, the sources of the contents displayed respectively in the first display window and second display window do not change, thereby maintaining the respective display quality (including resolution and picture size) of the two display windows unchangeable before and after the switching.

Currently, most smart TVs support that multiple display windows display different contents (e.g. Picture In Picture (PIP) or Picture Out Picture (POP)) in their screens, when switching between a main display window and a sub-display window, the TV mainly has the following switching methods:
In the case that two different TV programs are received from the same program source (e.g. all parsed from the TV program stream of the broadcast system), before switching, the TV parses, from the received TV program streams, the TV programs of the corresponding channels displayed in the main display window and the sub-display window respectively, and displays the respective contents through the main display window and the sub-display window, when the switching is executed, the TV operates the two parsed contents displayed by the windows of each other. Currently, in the case that two different programs are received from different program sources, such as receiving the TV program stream from the broadcast system and also receiving the programs from the server of the Internet, before switching, the TV parses, from the received TV program signals, the program displayed in the main window, and receives, from the server, the program data displayed in the sub-display window, and then displays the respective contents through the main display window and the sub-display window. When the switching is executed, the TV controls the two content portions to be displayed using the windows of the other party.
The said switching process of the TV display windows is achieved by the TV device, and it does not need to make any change to the process of receiving signals. For example, the description of China patent application No. CN200880016617 publicizes that the display is capable of receiving one or more TV channels and an independent designated application channel and having at least a first display window and a second display window. The information sent by the designated application channel is displayed on the first display window while simultaneously one of the TV channels is displayed on the second display window, and the information received from the designated application channel is allowed to switch between the first display window and the second display window.
As the first display window and the second display window normally corresponds to the main display window with big size and the sub-display window with small size, and after switching, if the low resolution content displayed in the sub-display window originally is enlarged to be displayed in the main display window, the display quality will be reduced significantly as a result.

Switching method of different display windows of a TV


Disclosed is a nematic liquid crystal mixture having a positive dielectric anisotropy .DELTA..epsilon. of at least +4 and a birefringence .DELTA.n of at least 0.18, said mixture comprising at least one fluorinated chloroterphenyl compound of formula I EQU R--E--Cl I. wherein. R is an alkyl or alkenyl radical having up to 15 C atoms, said radical being unsubstituted or substituted by halogen, one or more CH.sub.2 groups in the radical optionally being replaced, in each case independently of one another, by --O--, ##STR1## in such a manner that oxygen atoms are not linked directly to one another, and PA0 is ##STR2## or the mirror image thereof, and wherein the benzene rings can be optionally further substituted by fluorine.

The invention relates to nematic liquid crystal mixtures having a positive dielectric anisotropy and an optical birefringence of at least 0.18, said mixtures being useful for an active matrix liquid crystal display (AMD) being operated in the second or a higher transmission minimum of the Gooch-Tarry curve and to novel fluorinated chloroterphenyls.
Active matrix displays (AMD) are highly favored for commercially interesting displays with a high information content. Such AMDs are used for TV application (e.g. for projection systems) and also for displays for e.g. laptops, automobiles and airplanes.
AMDs have non-linear electrical switching elements which are integrated at each picture element. As non-linear driving elements thin film transistors (TFT) [Okubo, U., et al., 1982, SID 82 Digest, pp. 40-41] or diodes (e.g.: metal insulator metal: MIM) [Niwa, K., et al., 1984, SID 84, Digest, pp. 304-307] can be applied. These non-linear driving elements allow use of an electro-optical effect with a rather flat electro-optical characteristic if a good viewing angle characteristic can be obtained. So a TN-type LC cell [Schadt, M. and Helfrich, W., 1971, Appl. Phys. Lett., 18, 127] with a twist angle of 90.degree. can be used. To provide good contrast over a wide viewing angle, operation in the first minimum of transmission [Pohl, L., Eidenschink, R., Pino, F. del., and Weber, G., 1980, German Pat., DBP 30 22 818, and 1981, U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,803; Pohl, L. Weber, G., Eidenschink, R., Baur, G., and Fehrenbach, W., 1981, App1. Phys. Lett., 38, 497; Weber, G., Finkenzeller, U., Geelhaar, T., Plach, H. J., Rieger, B., and Pohl, L., 1988, Int. Syrup. on Liq. Cryst., Freiburg, Liq. Crys. 1989, Vol. 5 pp. 1381-1388] is required. These AMDs are very well suited for TV applications and consequently are of high commercial interest. For these applications some physical properties of the liquid crystals become more important than for passive TN displays. Some of the decisive properties for the performance of an AMD are resistivity and stability of the liquid crystal [Togashi, S., Sekiguchi, K., Tanabe, H., Yamamoto, E., Sorimachi, K., Kajima, E., Watanabe, H., Shimuzu, H., Proc. Eurodisplay 84, September, 1984: A 210-288 Matrix LCD Controlled by Double Stage Diode Rings, p. 144 ff, Paris; Stromer, M., Proc. Eurodisplay 84, September 1984: Design of Thin Film Transistors for Matrix Addressing of Television Liquid Crystal Displays, p. 145 ff, Paris]. A problem often encountered is the adverse influence of UV-illumination on the resistivity and therefore on the general performance of the liquid crystal mixture in the display.
In an AMD the non-linear switching elements are addressed in a multiplex scheme, and charge the electrodes of a pixel in the limited time they are active. Then they become inactive until they are addressed again in the next cycle. Consequently the change of the voltage on an activated (charged) pixel is a nondesired but a very decisive feature of such a display. The discharge of a pixel is determined by two factors. These are the capacity of the pixel element including liquid crystal and resistivity of the dielectric material between the electrodes, namely the liquid crystal. The characteristic time constant of the decay of the voltage at a pixel (RC-time) has to be significantly bigger than the time between two adressing cycles (t.sub.adr.). A parameter frequently used to describe the performance of an AMD is the voltage holding ratio HR of a picture element: ##EQU1## As the voltage at a pixel decays exponentially an increase of the holding ratio necessitates liquid crystal materials with exceptionally high resistivities.
There are several points of importance for the resistivity of the liquid crystal inside a display, e.g. orientation layers, curing condition of the orientation material. But by no means less important are the electrical properties of the liquid crystal used. Especially the resistivity of the liquid crystal in the display determines the magnitude of the voltage drop at the pixel.
Earlier investigations with low-.DELTA.n materials have shown, that the requirements with regard to resistivity and UV-stability and temperature dependence of the resistivity for TFT-applications cannot be met with materials containing cyano moieties as terminal groups. Non-cyano materials containing halogenated terminal groups can show for better resistivity values and UV-stability as well as superior viscosity values than conventionally used cyano materials. However, in general these non-cyano materials unfortunately show a strong tendency towards forming crystalline and/or smectic phases, especially at low temperatures. Also the clearing points and the dielectric anisotropy values of non-cyano materials with halogenated terminal groups are much lower.
Modern commercial mixtures have to operate over a wide temperature range; therefore, crystallization or formation of smectic phases at low temperatures has to be excluded. Good solubility is one of the most important preconditions for the usability of liquid crystalline materials in the development of nematic mixtures. Compounds with high melting temperatures or a tendency to form smectic phases are for this reason not suitable.
By very careful selection of the components and an appropriate mixture design it was possible to find low birefringence non-cyano mixtures having a broad nematic temperature range for first minimum application [B. Rieger et al., Proc. 18. Freiburger Arbeitstagung Flussigkristalle, Freiburg 1989, 16 (1989)]. Non-cyano materials with high birefringence, which are essential for the mixture concept of this invention unfortunately show in many cases even more unfavorable properties such as high melting points and/or strongly smectogenic behavior than similar materials with lower birefringence:
______________________________________ No. Chemical structure .DELTA.n Mesophases (.degree.C.) ______________________________________ ##STR3## 0.126 K 70 S 79 N 193 I 2 ##STR4## 0.199 K 142 N 192 I 3 ##STR5## n.m. K 105 S 245 I ______________________________________
Mixtures of the state of the art with a birefringence suited for operation in the second or a higher transmission minimum of the Gooch-Tarry curve are not acceptable for active matrix application.
There is thus still a great need for liquid-crystal composition having a high resistivity and other suitable material properties for use in AMDs.
The chloroterphenyls No. 3 as shown above are known from JP 60-056 932-A. As outlined above these compounds do not allow meeting the severe specifications from the electronic industry, especially in view of their limited solubility in other LC materials, their high melting points and their pronounced smectogenity. Accordingly there is also a need in the art for improved non-cyano high birefringence LC compounds.

Nematic liquid crystal mixtures and fluorinated chloroterphenyls


A system and method is directed to managing media access in a controlled media system. The method includes communicating usage reports that are based on usage information from local usage records associated with one or more user devices controlled by each local control unit to a system control unit from one or more local control units, update global usage records that associate device usage with one or more user accounts based on the usage reports, transmitting the updated global usage records to each local control unit, and updating the local usage records responsive to receipt of the updated global usage records and causing each local control unit to selectively enable and disable each user device based on the updated local usage records, and, when updated global usage records are not received causing each local control unit to selectively enable and disable each user device based on local usage records.

Electronic devices have become more and more a part of everyday life. Electronic devices provide a positive influence on life in many ways, such as, for example being utilized to improving living conditions, enhance learning development, increase entertainment value, and the like.
Access control of electronic devices can allow supervision of electronic devices, such as, for example parents monitoring media or length of time a child spends utilizing electronic devices, teachers monitoring media or length of time a student spends utilizing electronic devices, correctional facilities officers monitoring media or length of time an inmate spends utilizing electronic devices, and the like. Supervised monitoring of electronic devices can provide a more disciplined and stable environment for the subject of the supervision.
Unfortunately, existing electronic device management systems do not address many issues relating to access control of electronic devices. The present invention advances the state of the art in the areas of access control of electronic devices.

System and methods for controlled device access