A printer has a main body and a printer unit that is fixed to the main body. The printer unit has an upper cover and a lower cover. The lower cover is attached to the main body and the upper cover is fixed to the lower cover. A hollow space is formed between the upper and lower covers and a printing paper is set in this space. A sensor is provided in the upper cover and it detects a mark on the non-printable surface of the printing paper. One protrusion is provided in each of the upper and lower covers such that the protrusions make an electrical contact when the upper and lower covers are closed. A control unit is provided in the main body and it is electrically connected to the mark detection unit through the protrusions on the upper and lower covers and it controls various operations of the printer.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handy thermal head printer.
2) Description of the Related Art
FIG. 7 is a partially cut perspective view of a conventional printer 10. The printer 10 is handheld by a user and has the function of printing electricity bills, product sales information or the like. This printer 10 has a main body 11 that houses a printer substrate (not shown). This printer substrate holds a control unit (not shown) that controls the printing process.
The main body 11 has a clam-type printer unit 12 provided at one end 11a thereof. The printer unit 12 has a lower cover 13 and an upper cover 14. The lower cover 13 and the upper cover 14 are joined at a joint 15 so that the upper cover 14 can be freely opened and closed. As shown in FIG. 8, which is a cross sectional view of the printer 10 along the line A–A′ shown in FIG. 7, a roll paper R1 is loaded in the hollow space between the lower cover 13 and the upper cover 14, when the lower cover 13 and the upper cover 14 are closed. The roll paper R1 is ribbon-shaped thermal paper and it is wound around a shaft.
Marks are printed beforehand at predetermined intervals near at least one of the longitudinal borders of the roll paper R1 on the printable surface. The marks correspond to the positions where printing is to be started (hereinafter "printing start position") and where printing is to be stopped (hereinafter "printing end position"). From hereon, the printable surface of the roll paper R1 is the front surface on which information is printed and a non-printable surface is the backside of the roller paper R1 on which information is not printed.
As shown in FIG. 7, the upper cover 14 has a platen roller 16 provided at an end 14a thereof. This platen roller 16 can rotate freely. The main body 11 also has a thermal head 18 provided at the end 11a thereof. This thermal head 18 faces the platen roller 16. During printing, the platen roller 16 sequentially transfers the roll paper R1, held between a thermal head 18, for a distance equivalent to one line. The platen roller 16 is driven by a motor (not shown) by means of a gear (not shown).
The main body 11 further has a mark detecting sensor 17 provided at the end 11a thereof. The mark detecting sensor 17 consists of a light emitting element and a light receiving element. The mark detecting sensor 17 serves to detect the presence of the marks on the printable surface of the roll paper R1.
More specifically, an infrared light or the like is irradiated from the light emitting element towards the printable surface. The mark detecting sensor 17 detects the marks based on the amount of light received by the light receiving element. The mark detecting sensor 17 is connected to a control unit (not shown).
As shown in FIG. 8, when the upper cover 13 is closed, the thermal head 18 is pressed against the platen roller 16 with the roll paper R1 sandwiched therebetween. The thermal head 18 has a number of heating elements placed along its length. These heating elements print dots in one line on the roll paper R1. The thermal head 18 prints the data in the form of dots on the printable surface of the roll paper R1 by applying heat to the roll paper R1.
The roll paper R1 is set in the conventional printer 10 with the following procedure. The person (hereinafter "user") who is loading the roll paper upper cover 14 opens upper cover 14 and loads the roll paper R1 in the hollow space between the lower cover 13 and the upper cover 14.
Then the user passes the end of the roll paper R1 through the lower cover 13, a guide area 13a, and a mark detecting sensor 17 and, pulls the end till the thermal head 18. Then the user closes the upper cover 14. In this state, the platen roller 16 is pressed against the thermal head 18 with the roll paper R1 sandwiched therebetween, and the end of the roll paper R1 protrudes beyond an opening (hereinafter "ejection") 19 from where the roll paper R1 is ejected out.
When printing, the control unit drives the motor and rotates the platen roller 16 for a distance equivalent to one line. As a result, the roll paper R1, of length equivalent to one line, is sequentially ejected from the ejection 19.
When the marker detection sensor 17 detects a mark on the printable surface of the roll paper R1, it informs (i.e., sends a signal to) the control unit of the detection of the mark. The control unit identifies the position of the mark as the printing start position and instructs the thermal head 18 to print data on the printable surface of the roll paper R1 in an area other than the area (hereinafter "non-printable area") of the roll paper R1 from the border to where the marks are printed.
When the mark detecting sensor 17 detects the next mark, it informs the control unit of the detection of the mark. The control unit identifies the position of the mark as the printing end position and stops the motor to thereby stop the rotation of the platen roller 16. In this manner, data is printed between the marks on the printable surface of the roll paper R1.
However, as marks are printed beforehand on the printable surface of the roll paper R1, the non-printable area can not be used for printing. In other words, in this conventional printer 10 there is a problem in that the area where printing can be done is restricted to the area other than the non-printable area.
FIG. 9 shows another conventional printer 20 that solves the problems in the conventional printer 10. FIG. 9 is a partially cut perspective view of the external configuration of the conventional printer 20.
The printer 20 has a main body 21 that houses a print substrate (not shown). This print substrate further holds a control unit (not shown) that controls the printing process.
The main body 21 has a clam-type printer unit 22 provided at one end 21a thereof. The printer unit 22 has a lower cover 23 and an upper cover 25. The lower cover 23 and the upper cover 25 are joined at a joint 24 so that the upper cover 25 can be freely opened and closed.
As shown in FIG. 10, which is a cross sectional view of FIG. 9 along the line B–B′, a roll paper R2 is loaded in the space between the lower cover 23 and the upper cover 25, when the lower cover 23 and the upper cover 25 are closed. The roll paper R3 is ribbon-shaped thermal paper and it is wound around a shaft.
Marks are printed beforehand at predetermined intervals near at least one of the longitudinal borders of the roll paper R2 on the non-printable surface. Similar to the roll paper R1 shown in FIG. 8, these marks correspond to the printing start position and the printing end position.
The main body 21 has a platen roller 26 provided at the end 21a thereof, such that the platen roller 26 can rotate freely. As shown in FIG. 10, the platen roller 26 serves to transfer the roll paper R2 that is held between the thermal head 18, along a single line.
The platen roller 26 is driven by a motor (not shown) by means of a gear (not shown). A knob 27 is provided to one end of the platen roller 26 and this knob 27 is used for manually rotating the platen roller 26.
As shown in FIG. 10, the main body 21 has a mark detecting sensor 28 provided at the end 21a thereof, such that the mark detecting sensor 28 is located near the platen roller 26. The mark detecting sensor 28 detects the presence of the marks on the non-printable surface of the roll paper R2. The mark detecting sensor 28 is connected to the control unit (not shown).
The main body 21 further has a thermal head 29 near the platen roller 26. When the upper cover 25 is closed over the lower cover 23 and the roll paper R2 is loaded in the space therebetween, the thermal head 29 presses against the platen roller 26 with the roll paper R2 sandwiched therebetween. The thermal head 29 has a number of heating elements placed along its length. These heating elements print dots in one line on the roll paper R2. The thermal head 29 prints data in the form of dots on the printable surface of the roll paper R2 by applying heat to the roll paper R2.
In comparison with the printer 10 shown in FIG. 8, in the printer 20, it is possible to increase the printable area of the roll paper R2, as the marks are printed on the non-printable surface, and not on the printable surface.
The roll paper R2 is set in the conventional printer 20 with the following procedure. The user opens the upper cover 25 and loads the roll paper R2 in the hollow space between the lower cover 23 and the upper cover 25.
Then the user passes the end of the roll paper R2 through the lower cover 23, a guide screen 23a, and the mark detecting sensor 28 and pulls the end of the roll paper 20 till the roll paper R2 is sandwiched between the platen roller 26 and the thermal head 29.
Then the user rotates the knob 27 such that the roll paper R2 is transferred in the direction of the ejection 19.
When printing, the control unit drives the motor and thereby rotates the platen roller 26 for a distance equivalent to a line. As a result, the roll paper R2, of length equivalent to one line, is sequentially ejected from the ejection 19.
When the mark detecting sensor 28 detects a mark on the non-printable surface of the roll paper R2, it informs the control unit of the detection of the mark. The control unit identifies the position of the mark as printing start position and instructs the thermal head 29 to print data on the printable surface of the roll paper R2.
When the mark detecting sensor 28 detects the next mark, it informs the control unit of the detection of the mark. The control unit identifies the position of the mark as printing end position and stops the motor to thereby stop the rotation of the platen roller 26. In this manner, the data is printed on the printable surface of the roll paper R2.
However, in the conventional printer 20, as the platen roller 26 is provided at the end 21a, in comparison with the printer 10, there is a difficulty in loading the roll paper R2.
FIG. 11 shows another conventional printer 40 that solves the problems that were there in the conventional printers 10 and 20. In this printer 40, a roll paper that has the mark printed on the non-printable surface is used, moreover, the platen roller is arranged near the upper cover. FIG. 11 shows a cross sectional view of the printer 40.
The printer 40 has a main body 41 that houses a print substrate (not shown). This print substrate further holds a control unit (not shown) that controls the printing process.
The main body 41 has a clam-type printer unit 42 that has a lower outer cover 43 and an upper outer cover 44. The lower outer cover 43 and the upper outer cover 44 are connected by a joint 52 such that the upper outer cover 44 can be freely opened and closed.
A lower inner cover 45 and an upper inner cover 46 are provided on the inside of the lower outer cover 43 and the upper outer cover 44, respectively.
A roll paper R3 is loaded in the space between the lower outer cover 43 and the upper outer cover 44. The roll paper R3 is ribbon-shaped and it is wound around a shaft. One end of the roll paper R3 is R3a, the printable surface is R3b and the non-printable surface is R3c.
Marks are printed beforehand at predetermined interval near at least one of the longitudinal borders of the roll paper R3 on the non-printable surface R3c. These marks correspond to the printing start position and the printing end position.
The upper outer cover 44 is provided with a platen roller 49 attached to an end 44a thereof, such that the platen roller 49 can rotate freely. During the printing process, the platen roller 49 sequentially transfers the roll paper R3 that is held between the thermal head 51 for a length equivalent to one line. The platen roller 49 is driven by a motor (not shown) by means of a gear (not shown).
The upper outer cover 44 is provided with a mark detecting sensor 50 attached to the end 44a thereof, such that the mark detecting sensor 50 is located near the platen roller 49. The mark detecting sensor 50 detects the marks on the non-printable surface R3c. The mark detecting sensor 50 is connected to the control unit (not shown) through a cable 47. The cable 47 is placed in a space between the lower inner cover 45 and the upper inner cover 46.
The main body is provided with a thermal head 51 that faces the platen roller 49. When the lower outer cover 43 and the upper outer cover 44 are closed, the thermal head 51 presses against the platen roller 49 with the roll paper R3 sandwiched therebetween. The thermal head 51 has a number of heating elements placed along its length. These heating elements print dots in one line on the roll paper R3. The thermal head 51 prints data in the form of dots on the printable surface R3b of the roll paper R3 by applying heat to the roll paper R3.
The roll paper R3 is set in the conventional printer 40 with the following procedure. The user opens the covers 43, 44, 45, and 46 and loads the roll paper R3 in the hollow space between the lower outer cover 43 and the lower inner cover 45.
Then the user passes the end R3a of the roll paper R3 through the lower inner cover 45 and the mark detecting sensor 50 and pulls the end till the thermal head 51. Then the user closes the upper inner cover 46 and the upper outer cover 44. In this state, the platen roller 49 presses against the thermal head 51 with the roll paper R3 sandwiched therebetween and end R3a of the roll paper R3 protrudes beyond an opening from where the roll paper R3 is ejected out.
When printing, the control unit drives the motor and rotates the platen roller 49 for a distance equivalent to one line. As a result, the roll paper R3, of length equivalent to one line, is sequentially ejected.
When the mark detecting sensor 50 detects a mark on the non-printable surface R3c, it informs the control unit of the detection of the mark. The control unit identifies the position of the mark as the printing start position and instructs the thermal head 51 to print data on the printable surface R3b of the roll paper R3.
When the mark detecting sensor 50 detects the next mark, it informs the control unit of the detection of the mark. The control unit identifies the position of the mark as the printing end position and stops the motor to thereby stop the rotation of the platen roller 49. In this manner, data is printed on the printable surface R3b of the roll paper R3.
The Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publications 2000-338822 and 2002-123151 disclose other conventional printers.
In the printer 40 shown in FIG. 11, the upper outer cover 44 is provided with the platen roller 49 and the mark detecting sensor 50 attached at the end 44a thereof. As a result, in comparison with the printer 20, the printer 40 has a merit that the roll paper can be loaded easily. Moreover, the conventional printer 40 uses a roll paper that has the marks printed on the non-printable surface thereof. As a result, in comparison with the printer 20, the printer 40 has a merit that the printable area can be increased.
However, in the printer 40, since the mark detecting sensor 50 is located at the end 44a of the upper outer cover 44, the cable 47 has to be wired in a space between the inner surface and the outer surface of the printer 42. As a result in the printer 40, the printer unit 42 has to be made a twofold structure to accommodate the cable 47 and, therefore, the cost increases.
In addition, the printer unit 42 and the main body 41 are configured as a single unit. Therefore, if the printer unit 42 drops from the hand of the user, the entire unit is damaged. Hence, there is a problem that high cost is incurred as the entire unit must be replaced in case of damage.
Further, the cable 47 bends when the printer unit 42 is repeatedly opened and closed, often causing the breakage of the cable 47. Hence the printer becomes less reliable due to damage of the cable 47.


A coil comprises a set of windings with a generally annular shape and formed by a plurality of series-connected partial windings made of a superconductor with a high critical temperature, in which these partial windings are arranged next to each other in stratified form, and at least one cooling sheet which is made of thermally conductive material and arranged in contact with this set of windings and which is designed to be connected in a thermally conductive manner to a cryogenic cooling system.

The present invention relates generally to superconductive coils.
As is known, these devices require for operation a cooling system in order to keep the superconductor from which the coil is made below its critical temperature.
Conventional cooling systems use fluids which change their state, such as liquid helium, in order to reach and maintain the low temperatures needed to ensure the superconductive behaviour of the coil material. This gives rise to certain safety problems associated with the overpressures which are generated in the cryostat in the so-called "quench" condition (namely the transition from superconductor to normal conductor) together with costly maintenance due to the need to replenish the evaporating fluid.
One object of the invention is therefore to provide a coil which is able to overcome the problems associated with the use of state-changing fluids for cooling the superconductor.
This object is achieved by means of a coil as defined in the claims which follow.

Coil with superconductive windings cooled without cryogenic fluids


A process for extracting, recovering and recycling metals and materials from spent lithium ion batteries (LIB) that comprises the contacting battery waste products with a deep eutectic solvent, and leaching the metal from the battery waste product and extracting the metal into the deep eutectic solvent with heat and agitation. After the leaching and extracting, the process further includes recovering the dissolved metals ions from the deep eutectic solvent solution, followed by a step of regeneration of cathode materials.

With the ever-increasing demand for energy being fulfilled by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIB), the accelerated production of these devices will soon translate into massive amounts of waste. The development of LIB-specific recycling methods can minimize the impact of this waste and also alleviate constraints on the supply chain of battery manufacturers. Cobalt, for example, is a strategic material that typically constitutes up to 15 wt % of LIB cathodes, is relatively expensive, and is mainly sourced from potentially corrupted conflict-zones in what are not always reliable areas in the world. Cobalt in large accumulated quantities is also of health and environmental concerns. Although the efficient recovery of raw materials from spent batteries will be economically and environmentally advantageous, existing technologies still face practical problems.
Most of the recoverable value in spent batteries is in the cathode. Common approaches to extract the metal contained in the active lithium oxides are either based on pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, biometallurgy, mechanical methods or some combination of the four. Among these, pyrometallurgy is the most prevalent in industry despite the high energetic cost from the extreme temperatures (1400° C. or higher), and rampant off-gassing of harmful fumes, which require drastic safety precautions as well as scrubbing infrastructure to reduce subsequent pollution. Furthermore, the resulting mixed slag makes it nearly impossible to fully recover all the metals, such as lithium, using this method alone. Hydrometallurgy is one of the most viable options, due to its high metal leaching rate and purity of the recovered product. Unfortunately, even this technique usually involves caustic reagents.

Recycling Li-ion batteries using green chemicals and processes


A process for converting Fischer-Tropsch wax streams to lubricants by reacting said stream with a dewaxing catalyst in a reaction zone where the stream flows countercurrent to upflowing hydrogen-containing treat gas.

It is known to produce products, such as distillate fuels and lubes from waxy hydrocarbon feedstocks by catalytic hydrocracking, hydroisomerization, catalytic dewaxing, or a combination thereof. One source of waxy hydrocarbon feedstocks in the future will be from Fischer-Tropsch process units wherein a synthesis gas is reacted over a Group VI or VIII metal catalyst, then mildly hydroisomerized and/or mildly hydrocracked over a suitable catalyst to produce a distillate fuel, or refinery feedstock useful for conversion to a distillate fuel. In recently issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,348, good yields of distillate fuels with excellent cold flow properties are produced from waxy Fischer-Tropsch products via an improved fixed bed process wherein the waxy Fischer-Tropsch product is separated into 260.degree. C. minus and 260.degree. C. plus fractions and separately hydroisomerized to make middle distillates. The 260.degree. C. minus fraction, e.g., 160.degree. to 260.degree. C. fraction, is hydrotreated in a first step at mild conditions over a suitable catalyst to remove heteroatoms, then hydroisomerized is a second step over a fixed bed of a Group VIII noble metal catalyst, suitably a platinum or palladium catalyst, to yield jet fuel and a light naphtha by-product. The heavier 260.degree. C. plus fraction, on the other hand, is directly hydrocracked to produce a 160.degree. to 370.degree. C. fraction which is useful as a diesel or jet fuel, or as a blending component for diesel or jet fuel. While this process demonstrates the feasibility of producing distillates with improved cold flow properties from waxy hydrocarbons, there remains a need to provide further improvements in the hydroisomerization.
Further, when the Fischer-Tropsch waxy product is used for lubricating oils, it is necessary that substantially all of the wax be removed in order to achieve the desired low temperature properties. Catalytic and solvent dewaxing are the major processes used in the petroleum industry today for removing this wax. Catalytic dewaxing works by selectively cracking the waxy molecules over a zeolite catalyst. Presently available commercial catalytic dewaxing processes utilize a relatively small pore zeolite, such as a ZSM-5 containing catalyst. These zeolite catalysts are sensitive to water in the system which is formed from oxygenates in the feedstream. Consequently, it is preferred that the stream be first subjected to a heteroatom removal step prior to catalytic dewaxing and preferably prior to both hydroisomerization and catalytic dewaxing.
Heteroatoms such as sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen are known catalyst poisons and their removal from petroleum feedstocks is often referred to as hydrotreating. Typically, catalytic hydroprocessing, which includes hydrotreating, hydroisomerization, and hydrodewaxing, of liquid-phase petroleum feedstocks is carried out in co-current reactors in which both a preheated liquid feedstock and a hydrogen-containing treat gas are introduced to the reactor at a point, or points, above one or more fixed beds of hydroprocessing catalyst. The liquid feedstock, any vaporized hydrocarbons, and hydrogen-containing treat gas, all flow in a downward direction through the catalyst bed(s). The resulting combined vapor phase and liquid phase effluents are normally separated in a series of one or more separator vessels, or drums, downstream of the reactor. Dissolved gases are normally removed from the recovered liquid stream by gas or steam stripping in yet another downstream vessel or vessels, or in a fractionator.
Conventional co-current catalytic hydroprocessing has met with a great deal of commercial success; however, it has limitations. For example, because of hydrogen consumption and treat gas dilution by light reaction products, hydrogen partial pressure decreases between the reactor inlet and outlet. At the same time, any reactions for removing heteroatoms, such as hydrodesulfurization and hydrodenitrogenation that take place results in increased concentrations of H.sub.2 S, NH.sub.3, or oxygenates. These are all known to inhibit the activity and performance of hydroprocessing catalysts through competitive adsorption on the catalyst. Thus, the downstream portion of catalyst in a conventional co-current reactor is often limited in reactivity because of the simultaneous occurrence of multiple negative effects, such as low H.sub.2 partial pressure and the presence of high concentrations of heteroatom components. Further, liquid phase concentrations of the targeted hydrocarbon reactants are also the lowest at the downstream part of the catalyst bed. Also, because kinetic and thermodynamic limitations can be severe, particularly at deep levels of heteroatom removal, higher reaction temperatures, higher treat gas rates, higher reactor pressures, and often higher catalyst volumes are required. Multistage reactor systems with stripping of heteroatom-containing species between reactors and additional injection of fresh hydrogen-containing treat gas are often employed, but they have the disadvantage of being equipment intensive processes.
Another type of hydroprocessing is countercurrent hydroprocessing which has the potential of overcoming many of these limitations, but is presently of very limited commercial use today. U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,210 discloses a two stage process for the hydrofining-hydrogenation of high-boiling aromatic hydrocarbons. The feedstock is first subjected to catalytic hydrofining, preferably in co-current flow with hydrogen, then subjected to hydrogenation over a sulfur-sensitive noble metal hydrogenation catalyst countercurrent to the flow of a hydrogen-containing treat gas. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,767,562 and 3,775,291 disclose a countercurrent process for producing jet fuels, whereas the jet fuel is first hydrodesulfurized in a co-current mode prior to two stage countercurrent hydrogenation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,556 also discloses a two stage co-current/countercurrent process for hydrofining and hydrogenating aromatics in a diesel fuel stream.
While the state of the art relating to producing distillate fuels and lubricant products from Fischer-Tropsch waxes has advanced rapidly over the past decade, there is still a substantial need in the art for ever improved efficient processes for achieving same.

Conversion of fisher-tropsch waxes to lubricants by countercurrent processing


The present invention can provide small-diameter core material particles for electro photographic carrier, the particles that can prevent occurrences of carrier adhesions and reduce toner spent, have excellent durability and cause little fluctuations in image density with a narrow particle diameter distribution, and an efficient, cost-effective production method thereof. That is, the core material particles for electro photographic carrier are particles wherein the weight average particle diameter, Dw, is in the range of 22 μm to 32 μm, the ratio of Dw to the number average particle diameter, Dp, satisfies the condition, 1<Dw/Dp<1.20, the content of particles smaller than 20 μm in diameter is in the range of 0% by mass to 7% by mass and smaller than 36 μm is in the range of 90% by mass to 100% by mass, and the BET specific surface area is in the range of 300 cm2/g to 900 cm2/g.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrier, an electrophotographic developer using the carrier, core material particles for the carrier, a production method of the core material particles and an image forming method using the electrophotographic developer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Developing processes of electrophotography are divided into a so-called one-component developing process only using a toner as a main component, and a so-called two-component developing process using a developer that is a mixture of a toner and a carrier. In such two-component developing process, a carrier is used, and thus the developer used in the two-component developing process, or two-component developer, has a wider area frictionally charged to toner particles. In addition, the two-component developing process is more stable in charge property than the one-component developing process, is advantageous in providing high-quality images over a long period of time and has a high-ability of supplying a toner to areas to be developed. Therefore, the two-component developer has been widely used.
In recent years, developing a developing system that has the capability of developing a latent image precisely has become important in order to correspond to increasing demands for higher resolution and better highlight reproducibility and to wider colorization. Thus, there have been various proposals from the aspect of both process conditions and developers including toners and carriers. From the aspect of the process, minimizing a developing gap, thinning a photoconductor and reducing a writing beam spot diameter are effective ways to correspond to such demands, but these ways increase the production cost and still have an unsolved big issue in, for example, reliability.
That using a small diameter toner in a developer can drastically improve the dot reproducibility is commonly known, however, that developer still has unsolved disadvantages in, for example, occurrence of background smears and inadequacy of image density. And resins with a low flexibility point have been used for small diameter full color toners in order to obtain sufficient color tones, however, using the resins will cause an increase of carrier spent, deterioration of a developer, toner scattering and background smears to the full color toners compared with a black toner.
There have been many proposals on using small diameter carriers. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 58-144839 proposes a magnetic carrier that is composed of ferrite particles having spinel structures and an average particle diameter of less than 30 μm. This magnetic carrier is, however, not coated with resin and is used under a low developing electric field applied thereon, and has disadvantages in that the carrier has poor developing ability and, because the carrier is not coated with resin, has a short operating life.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-B) No. 3029180 proposes an electrophotographic carrier having carrier particles with a 50% average particle diameter (D50) in the range of 15 μm to 45 μm, and containing particles smaller than 22 μm in diameter in the range of 1% to 20%, smaller than 16 μm in the range of 3% or less, 62 μm or larger in the range of 2% to 15%, and 88 μm or larger in the range of 2% or less, and wherein the specific surface area, S1, of the carrier which is determined by an air permeability method and the specific surface area, S2, of the carrier which is calculated by the equation, S2={(6/ρ)D50}104 (ρ represents a specific gravity of the carrier), satisfy the condition, 1.2<=S1/S2<=2.0.
Those small diameter carriers are known to have following advantages;that is, (1) Because of wide surface area per unit volume, toner particles will be given sufficient frictional electrification, and thus occurrences of low charged toner particles and oppositely charged toner particles can be suppressed. And as a result, occurrence of background smears and amount of dust and occurrence of toner blur around toner dots can be suppressed, and thereby high dot reproducibility can be achieved. (2) The average charge amount of the toner particles will be lowered because the carrier has a large surface area per unit volume and less occurrence of background smear, providing sufficient image densities. Therefore, the small diameter carrier particles can cover the shortcomings of using the small diameter toner particles, and are particularly advantageous in taking advantage of the toner particles. (3) The small diameter carrier particles can form a fine magnetic brush and have less tendency of causing blush smears.
Magnetic binding force of such smaller carrier particles, however, dramatically decreases proportionally with the cube of the decrease in the particle diameter, causing many carrier adhesions wherein carrier particles adsorb in a form of cut-off magnetic brush. As a result, such conventional small diameter carriers cause flaws of a photoconductor/fixing roller, and have big issue in practical use.
From a study on carrier particles adhering to a photoconductor, that smaller diameter carrier particles occupy a much greater portion among these adhering carrier particles than larger diameter carrier particles was found. Thus, there have been various proposals on classification steps to obtain carriers having a minimized particle diameter distribution. Among those suggested methods, a classification step using a sieve can provide carriers having a narrow particle diameter distribution and efficiently produce carriers having required particle diameters compared with a centrifugal force method and an air classification method. However, it is commonly known that the sieve classification method has difficulties in producing smaller carrier particles with a narrow particle diameter distribution because of the reduction in the mass per particle. Furthermore, smaller diameter carriers tend to have higher friction between particles and cause an increase in developing sleeve driving torque, resulting in scratching a surface of the sleeve and causing more toner fixations. That increases in friction and torque cause fluctuations in supply amount of developer to the sleeve and in the image density. Carrier particles having small diameters and BET specific surface areas have characteristic that, because of the smooth surface thereof, the carrier particles have small friction between which and require less developing sleeve driving torque, and thereby occurrences of scratching and toner fixation to the sleeve surface are prevented, resulting in less fluctuations in supply amount of developer to the sleeve and in the image density. Such carries having small diameters and BET specific surface areas, however, because of the smooth surface, or higher sphericity in the shape of the carrier particles, tend to be stuck in opens of the sieve, and thus obtaining the carrier particles from the sieve classification method has been particularly difficult. For that reason, obtaining the carries having small diameters and BET specific surface areas (or composed of core material particles having smooth surfaces) and the narrow particle diameter distribution had not been realized.
One proposed method, such as one disclosed in JP-A No. 2001-209215, includes transmitting supersonic vibrations to a metal screen of a classification machine, giving vertical acceleration to particles to thereby efficiently obtain particles 22 μm in diameters or smaller with a narrow particle diameter distribution in order to solve the forementioned problems and to obtain a carrier for an electrophotographic developer that can provide high image quality and high durability, cause less occurrences of carrier adhesions and have the weight average particle diameter (Dw) of from 25 μm to 45 μm, the content of particles 44 μm in diameter or smaller in the range of 70% or more, the content of particles 1.30 μm in diameter or smaller in the range of 7% or less, and the ratio of Dw to the number average particle diameter (Dp) ranging from 1.00 to 1.
This method can efficiently pass small diameter particles through the mesh because that virtical acceleration thereto applied substantially moves the particles as if small particles were having a large mass, or having a large true specific gravity. JP-A No. 2001-209215 further discloses using an ultrasonic transducer equipped with a resonant ring to improve the efficiency of the sieve method. However, when the classification machine uses a mesh having small openings, since the mesh is made with thin material and thus strength thereof is weak (as the mesh material is made with thin threads), a part of the edge of the mesh can easily broken due to the weight of the carrier particles after being used for a long time, resulting in that unclassified fine particles are mixed into the classified carrier particles, increasing the content of the fine particles. Furthermore, maintaining the classification performance over classification processes for particles having small particle diameters and BET specific surface areas is difficult even when a vibrating screen using the ultrasonic transducer equipped with the resonant ring is in use. That is because of occurrence of mesh clogging that was particularly big issue. Particles having small BET specific surface areas increase contact areas of the particles and the mesh threads and resistance of the particles to pass through the mesh, resulting in frequent occurrences of mesh clogging. Smaller diameter particles have higher tendency to cause the mesh clogging. When the mesh is clogged, as the carrier particles hide among the openings, it is quite difficult to remove the carrier particles, requiring an exchange of the mesh.
While some meshes are woven with resin threads, stainless steel is usually used therefor. That is because the resin threads has a small stiffness, and thus ultrasonic sound cannot be effectively transmitted to the mesh and classfication may be prevented at all. On the other hand, production costs of a stainless steel mesh having small openings are extremely high, resulting in higher carrier production costs.

Electrophotographic developer and carrier therefor, core material particle for carrier for electrophotographic developer and production method thereof and image forming method


A switching gesture display device for vehicles includes a main box and a shaft rotatably mounted in the main box with opposite ends extending through and outside the main box, the shaft being rotatable between an initial position and a rotated position. Two primary indicia displays are mounted on the opposite ends of the shaft, the two primary indicia displays being displayed in a generally upright position when the shaft is in the initial position, and two secondary indicia displays are mounted on the shaft generally adjacent the two primary indicia displays, the two secondary indicia displays being displayed in a generally upright position when the shaft is in the rotated position. A shaft rotation device rotates the shaft between the initial position and the rotated position to alternatively display the two primary indicia displays in the initial position and the two secondary indicia displays in the rotated position.

1. Technical Field
A display device for selectively displaying a variety of different face and hand signals, gestures, or objects from the rear of a vehicle. The display device includes a main box that typically has an image of a face gesture with visible hands or objects. The display device is mounted in a fashion to be visible for other motorists behind such vehicle with display device. The display device is connected to some sort of power source and is provided with a control switch to allow the driver to activate the display device to reveal a second gesture, hand signal, or object.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Drivers of automobiles traveling down a road are able to see the invention from the rear of the vehicle. The vehicle displaying the invention can then use the remote feature or the installed type of power controller to display multiple gestures. These gestures typically resembling hands, along with the invention itself and the mentioned main box, will be visible and from the following automobile or visible to those within proximity. The owner of the mentioned invention may choose from a variety of display feature including but not limited to hand gestures.
It is an object of the invention to be able to display different hand gestures or to display the chosen object of the owner for view by other motorists. It is another object of the invention to be remotely controlled to produce changing gestures or objects of the owner's choice, and for the mechanics of the invention and power to be supplied to the invention for use of such display.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a display device which is easily visible to other motorists. Accordingly, the display device is preferably mounted near or at the rear of the vehicle, facing outward.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device that allows users to selectively display a variety of different gestures, hand signals, or object of choice from the rear of their vehicles. Accordingly, the present invention discloses a display device that is securely mounted at or near the rear of the vehicle. The display device is connected to a power source provided by the vehicle, and has a switch selectively mounted by the owner of the invention providing the remote control feature of the display device.
To the accomplishment of the above and related objects the invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying pictures. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the pictures are for informative purposes only. Variations are contemplated as being part of the invention.


A probe formed on a base table is detached from the base table without giving damage on the probe. The present invention provides a probe manufacturing method comprising the steps of forming on a sacrificial layer on a base table a recess exposing the sacrificial layer with a resist, depositing a probe material in the recess to form a probe and then removing the resist, leaving part of the sacrificial layer and removing the rest by an etching process, and detaching from the base table the probe held on the base table by the remaining part of the sacrificial layer. In the recess of the resist are formed a main body part corresponding to a flat surface shape of the probe and an auxiliary part continuing into the main body part. The probe is formed by deposition of the material at the main body part, and a holding portion is formed by deposition of the material at the auxiliary part. The auxiliary part is formed in a flat surface shape sufficient for a sacrificial layer part under the holding portion to remain when a sacrificial layer part under the probe is removed by the etching process. The probe is separated from the holding portion after the sacrificial layer part under the probe is removed and while the sacrificial layer part under the holding portion remains.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a probe used in an electrical test of a device under test such as a semiconductor integrated circuit (hereinafter referred to as IC).
A plurality of ICs formed on a semiconductor wafer generally undergo an electrical test before being separated into respective chips to determine whether or not they are manufactured in accordance with the specification. The electrical test of this kind can be performed by using a probe assembly comprising a probe board and a plurality of probes attached to the probe board (e.g., refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2).
The probe of such a probe assembly is formed by using a silicon wafer as a base table, taking the flat form of the probe with a photosensitive photoresist on the base table by making use of a photolithographic technique, sequentially depositing metal materials in the recess on the base table formed by the resist to form the probe, and thereafter detaching the probe from the base table, as described in Patent Document 1.
To detach the probe from the silicon base table, an etching technique is utilized. For prevention of damage on the probe caused by the etching and easy detachment of the probe, a sacrificial layer made of a metal material such as copper different from the probe material is formed on the base table, and the probe material is deposited on the sacrificial layer. Thus, by removing the sacrificial layer by means of, for example, wet etching with etchant, the probe can be detached from the silicon base table.
However, when a plurality of micro probes formed collectively on the base table are soaked in the etchant until the sacrificial layer is completely removed, the plurality of micro probes may float on the etchant by the etching, in which case it is difficult to handle them.
Accordingly, it is preferable to finish the etching process in a state where the minimum and proper amount of sacrificial layer is left between the silicon base table and the probe required to achieve easy detachment of the probe and to hold the probe on the silicon base table.
After the etching process in which the proper amount of sacrificial layer is left, the probe can be detached by an external force with use of a tool such as a cutter knife or a spatula. However, if a large amount of sacrificial layer remains due to insufficiency of the etching process time, detachment of the probe attached to the silicon base table by the remaining large amount of sacrificial layer requires a strong force, and thus such a process may deform the probe.
For these reasons, it has been necessary to keep observing the etching process for detachment of the probe from the base table for a relatively long time so that the etching process may be performed appropriately, and the manufacturing process has been complicated in some cases. Thus, a novel manufacturing method that enables time reduction and simplification of the probe manufacturing process has been desired.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Appln. Public Disclosure No. 2000-162241. Patent Document 2: International Publication WO2004/102207 Pamphlet.


A display device, which is adapted for time-division driving and is free from occurrence of crosstalk, includes a pair of substrates which are arranged to be opposite to each other and at least one of which is transparent, electrodes provided respectively on surfaces of the substrates facing each other, and a material which is sandwiched between the electrodes and the light transmitting quantity of which is changed by an electric field applied between the electrodes. The electrodes formed on the surfaces of the substrates facing each other constitute scanning electrodes and signal electrodes which intersect each other to form display portions. The signal electrodes constitutes independent electrodes formed independently of each other in units of display portions. Outside leads of the respective independent electrodes are passed through the substrate provided with the electrodes and are led out to the back surface of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dot-matrix type display device capable of performing large-scale display.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display device using field-effect liquid crystal is effective as a large-scale display device. Particularly, a display device of super-twisted nematic (STN) liquid crystal in which a structure having a large twist angle is given to the liquid crystal is known as a display device using a time-division driving characteristic. The principle of time-division driving in the above dot-matrix type display device will be described hereunder. As shown in FIG. 1, the dot-matrix type display device is provided with linear Y electrodes (signal electrodes) formed on a lower electrode substrate (not shown) and linear X electrodes (scanning electrodes) formed on an upper electrode substrate (not shown), so that display of characters, graphics, etc., is performed through an electric field applied to a field-effect liquid crystal sandwiched between the X and Y electrodes. That is, the display is performed by selective turning-on (or turning-off) of the liquid crystal at points of intersection between the X and Y electrodes.
Scanning is sequentially and repeatedly performed on the scanning electrodes X.sub.1, X.sub.2, . . . X.sub.n in FIG. 1 sequentially line by line to thereby perform timedivision driving. When, for example, the scanning electrode X.sub.3 is selected, display signals from the signal electrodes Y.sub.1, Y.sub.2, . . . Y.sub.n are applied to all pixels Z.sub.1, Z.sub.2, . . . Z.sub.n on the electrode simultaneously so as to perform selection (or non-selection). Points of intersection can be thus turned on (or turned off) by combinations of voltage pulses applied to the scanning electrodes X and to the signal electrodes Y. In this case, the number of scanning electrodes X corresponds to the number of time divisions (the number of scanning lines or the number of display lines).
The number of display lines is, however, naturally limited due to the characteristic of the liquid crystal. For the purpose of increasing the number of display lines, stripe electrodes (X, Y) may be separated into two groups to form two systems, which makes it possible to increase the number of display lines by twice, as typically shown in FIG. 2. For example, 800 display lines can be provided even in the case of a liquid crystal device having the number of scanning lines limited to 400. It is, however, apparent from FIG. 2 that the signal electrodes Y are connected to external driving circuits 2, 2'and the scanning electrodes X are connected to the external scanning circuits 3, 3'through end portions of the substrate 1. Accordingly, it has been impossible to separate the signal electrodes into three or more groups.
As a measure to solve the aforementioned problem there has been proposed a method of separating the scanning electrodes into three or more groups in which holes are formed so as to substantially perpendicularly pass through the substrate on which the signal electrodes are formed, and in which electrical conductive leads are inserted into the through holes respectively, connected to the signal electrodes and led out to the back surface side of the substrate.
According to the proposed method, the signal electrodes can be separated into a desired number of groups, so that the total number of display lines can be increased. In this method, however, occurrence of irregular display called "crosstalk" cannot be suppressed perfectly. The above "crosstalk" means a phenomenon that the display contrast ratio of the whole display screen is reduced because of occurrence of imperfect turning-on at non-display points (non-selective pixels) not to be displayed. This is a weak point of the dot-matrix display device. When, for example, a certain driving voltage is set, the liquid crystal at non-selection points responds, even through imperfectly, to the driving voltage to increase transmittivity because a bias voltage is applied also to the non-selection points. That is, the difference between the transmittivity in this state and the transmittivity in the case of attaining a perfect non-selection state is called "crosstalk". The crosstalk phenomenon changes depending on the number of time divisions, the electrode resistance and the connection resistance. Generally, crosstalk is apt to occur as the number of time divisions increases, and it becomes large as the sharpness of the threshold characteristics of the voltage and transmittivity becomes low as the electrode resistance and the connection resistance become large.


Disclosed is a method of manufacturing various alloy thin films, in which nano-scale cracks are controlled, with desired compositions using an ultrasonic pulse electroforming process. The method includes a step of forming a multilayer that includes two or more different thin metal film layers, in which nano-scale cracks due to hydrogen generation are controlled, a step of ultimately facilitating interdiffusion by controlling the thickness of the multilayer to a nano-scale thickness through pulse application and the number of layers forming the multilayer, and controlling an alloy to have a desired composition through heat treatment, and a step of thermally treating the multilayer such that interdiffusion sufficiently occurs among the two or more different thin metal film layers. The step of thermally treating may be carried out along with rolling, whereby very fine cracks may be removed by compression and, accordingly, alloy foils having various compositions may be economically produced. A layer number and thickness of the multilayer may be controlled to a nano-sized thickness by applying various types of pulses or by connecting a plurality of electrolytic cells in series and stepwise or repeatedly transferring adding an electroforming layer to the electrolytic cells under a DC application condition.

In general, metal foils are manufactured in a rolling process and a plating process. Although a rolling process is advantageous for mass production, it is difficult to obtain a uniform thickness when a metal foil having a thickness of tens of micrometers is manufactured in the rolling process, and a tip of a foil is easily damaged due to metallographic parameters, such as elongated grains, texture formation, and work hardening effect. In addition, since it is difficult to provide uniform mechanical characteristics, the thickness of a thin film is limited. In particular, since it is more difficult to produce an alloy foil with a thickness of tens of micrometers in a rolling process due to metallographic parameters, compared to mass production of a pure metal foil, more sophisticated process conditions are required, resulting in high production costs and limited thickness.
As a representative example of plating processes of manufacturing a metal foil, there is an electroforming process. An electroforming process is characterized by plating a plating solution containing a metal ion solution in a thin metal plate form to a thickness of several tens to several hundred micrometers on a surface of a rotating circular metal anode and then detaching the same, thereby continuously manufacturing a thin plate.
Due to use of such a plating solution, desorption of hydrogen gas is poor due to reduction of hydrogen ions, which causes the generation of nanometer-scale cracks inside a plating layer. In addition, since reduced metal ions in a plating solution are decreased when a thin metal plate is continuously produced, a plating solution should be supplemented with metal ions to be reduced such that concentration is constantly maintained so as to continuously produce a metal having a uniform composition. An electric potential may be relatively easily controlled and single-metal ions may be relatively easily supplemented by controlling poor desorption of hydrogen gas and the concentration of metal ions in an electroforming process to manufacture a single-metal foil. Accordingly, an electroforming process is economically advantageous in manufacturing a foil with a thickness of tens of micrometers, compared to a rolling process. However, upon production of an alloy foil in an electroforming process, it is very difficult to desorb hydrogen gas and control the composition of a solution due to different reduction potentials of metal ions. In particular, there are problems in producing a multi-component alloy foil having a desired composition in an electroforming process.

Method for manufacturing composition controlled thin alloy foil by using electro-forming


The present disclosure relates to processing operations configured to efficiently enable a client and a server to establish secure communication upon initial connection between the client and the server. Upon initial connection to with the server, the client provides an encrypted token which serves as both proof of authentication/identity and provides, in the encrypted token, an encryption key that the server can utilize to initiate secure communication with the client. The server is able to trust the encrypted token and the encryption key because the encrypted token is signed and encrypted by an authentication service that has a trusted relationship with the server and because the authentication service has pre-shared decryption and signature verification keys with the server. The server utilizes the encrypted key to secure communications with the client without requiring additional processing to lookup client identity or any further intervention from the authentication service.

Interaction between a client and an application/service is often secured using authentication, cryptography or a combination thereof. Typically, a client must be authenticated to access domain specific data of an application/service. In today's world, time is of the essence, where processing efficiency and reduction of latency are paramount when authenticating a user as well as executed operations during run-time of an application/service that may include encrypted data. This is especially true when a client is interacting with an application/service that is configured to provide a video game platform or the like, for example, that may enable users to connect to online multiplayer games. In such an environment, large amounts of data are transmitted and need to be processed instantaneously to provide a user with a best possible experience.
If a client is communicating with an application/service, the application/service needs to know the client it is dealing with. A client logs into an application/service providing client identification. Traditionally, once that client is authenticated, the application/service needs to not only execute processing to initiate connection with the client, but also execute lookup operations for client identification as well as correspond that client identification with cryptographic data. This process is cumbersome from a processing efficiency standpoint, creates latency in execution of an application/service and often requiring an identity provider and/or software platform to dedicate extra computing resources and bandwidth to managing interaction between not only the client and application/service but also with a certification authority (CA). For instance, digital certificates are often issued to enable clients to interface with an application/service once authenticated, which requires not only a trusted CA but management also requires significant computing resources such as dedicated storage.
Additional security vulnerabilities may exist in instances where digital certificates are utilized. For instance, a period of time in which a digital certificate is valid is often longer than is preferred for usage in a gaming application/service scenario. Users do not typically stay logged in for long periods of time. If a digital certificate is valid for a period of time that is longer than a users' current session, this can open up a network to vulnerabilities including spoofing. To continuously re-issue digital certificates is able cumbersome and requires more dedicated storage and computing resources to continuously manage.

Data transport of encryption key used to secure communication between computing devices


A system and method of remotely loading artifacts is disclosed. The method involves storing and indexing a plurality of artifacts in a centralized location. A query is received from a client to locate an artifact, and the artifact is located within the central location. A reply is then returned to the client, wherein the reply includes a location of the artifact. In one embodiment, the method of remotely loading artifacts further involves the artifacts being previously extracted from an application during the installation of the application.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to a method, apparatus, and computer usable code for remotely loading and managing artifacts.
2. General Background
An artifact is data that an application requests for use in running or executing a process. This data may be, for example, an entry from a database, a text file, a table, a class, a dynamically linked library (DLL) file, a value, or a like object. Artifacts are often required to be shared between one or more applications.
Some typical solutions for sharing artifacts include sharing by copy, shared library, database-artifact registry models and passing artifacts with instance data.
A shared by copy approach involves copying the artifact into each application's scope. However, there are many drawbacks to such an approach. One drawback is that version control becomes hard. When the shared artifact needs to be changed, each of the applications which uses the artifact needs to be uninstalled and redeployed. Another drawback with the shared artifact approach is that implementing dynamicity is quite difficult. For example, in the case of a generic administrative application which manages other applications on a server, each time a new application with new artifacts is installed that the administrative application needs to manage, the administrative application must be stopped and even uninstalled. The new artifacts then must be copied to the administrative application. Further, the administrative application has to be redeployed. Finally, there is a lack of proper data isolation with the shared by copy approach. For example, consider application A has artifact A which defines "customer" using a first target namespace, and application B has artifact B which defines "customer" with a different field, but using the same target namespace. For the administrative application that manages both applications A and B, copying artifacts A and B to the administrative application will cause confusion as to which "customer" to use when an instance of "customer" needs to be created.
Another well known approach is using a shared library model. For example, a shared library can be created and common java classes and artifacts can be copied to this library. This shared library can be added to an application's classpath so that the application has access to those artifacts and java classes. This approach is an improvement over the shared by copy solution. However, it still has the same drawbacks related to implementing dynamicity and data isolation as discussed above. For example, in the case of the dynamicity issue, when new artifacts are defined or created in new applications, the shared library needs to be re-deployed. In the case of data isolation, since multiple applications can see/load everything in their shared library, the issue still exists in this approach. If artifact A and artifact B define the same target namespace and type (such as "customer"), placing artifacts A and B directly into the same shared library will cause a conflict to arise. Another major drawback of this approach is the lack of remote loading. Since a shared library is local to a server or cluster, a shared library could not be used by servers on different clusters, let alone servers on different cells.
A variation of the shared library approach is using a database to store artifacts. The database in this approach is sometimes called an artifact registry. Although this approach solves the remote access/loading issue—any server/application has access to the database or artifact registry could use artifacts, this approach still does not resolve the dynamicity issue. It does not define how an application behaves when it can access conflict artifacts. Second, this approach requires database access. In Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE), integrating an application with a central database is not an easy task, as it requires extensive Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) or J2EE entity bean design and programming.
Another solution has been to pass artifacts, which can include meta-data, along with instance data. This way, when a client receives instance data, it can use the attached artifact to interpret the instance data. One example of this is a scenario supported by Microsoft .Net. In this scenario, a Web Service Definition Language ("WSDL") response generated by .Net contains a response, e.g., an instance data, along with meta-data. For example, the meta-data may be in Extensible Markup Language ("XML"), or more specifically an XML Schema Definition ("XSD") schema. .Net expects the service caller interprets response using the attached XSD schema. The biggest problem of this approach is performance. Meta-data only needs once, after it is loaded in memory, the consequent creating instance data shall be supported. By always passing schema with instance data, the same meta-data will need to be loaded again and again for handling subsequent instance data. The second issue of this solution is that it is artifact types specific and protocol specific. The .Net approach only provides a solution for XSD schema passed using web services.

System and method of remotely managing and loading artifacts

International Business Machines Corporation


Inclusion of fucose or fucose-containing bull sperm monovalent binding oligosaccharide in semen extender increases the reproductive efficiency of bull semen extended therewith, for artificial insemination of cows by increasing non-return rates for normal concentrations of sperm and providing acceptable non-return rates at sperm concentrations lower than 5 million motile sperm per insemination.

Most dairy cattle are bred by artificial insemination. Frozen semen is used by top producers to inseminate 95% of cows and 89% of heifers. Semen is extended (diluted) and frozen until thawed for use for insemination. A single ejaculate from a good bull can be used to inseminate as many as 1,000 cows. Presently, sperm dilution is normally considered to be limited to a concentration of not less than 5 million motile sperm for a 1/2 ml insemination (not less than 10 million motile sperm per milliliter). This dilution provides a "non-return" rate of 70% if conditions are optimal. The non-return rate refers to the failure of cows to return to the estrous state and therefore is directly correlated with incidence of pregnancy. Typically, 10 to 30 million bull sperm are inseminated in a volume of 0.5 ml to obtain a non-return rate of 50 to about 75%. So even if artificial insemination is used to significantly increase the reproductive efficiency of valuable bulls, millions of sperm are still needed for insemination. It is of interest to the dairy industry to be able to improve the non-return rate or reduce the number of sperm required per insemination.
We turn now to some technical background from which the invention was conceived. It has been discovered that for cows sperm become trapped in the oviduct just beyond the entrance to the oviduct by sticking (binding) to the inner surface of the wall of the oviduct (referred to hereinafter sometimes as "oviductal epithelium"). This results in formation of a sperm reservoir. As the time of ovulation approaches, sperm are released from the reservoir to fertilize the egg. Capacitation is considered to change the sperm to cause said release. It has been found that the molecules on the oviductal epithelium provide certain sugar moieties which bind to molecules on sperm and that this causes the binding of sperm to oviductal epithelium and formation of a sperm reservoir thereon. Binding of sperm to oviductal epithelium and release therefrom may serve the functions of reducing or preventing polyspermic fertilization and of prolonging the life and fertility of sperm (i.e., maintaining sperm fertilizing capacity). Thus, the binding of sperm to oviductal epithelium to form a sperm reservoir is considered a beneficial occurrence and important to fertilization. Research is and has been carried out on how sperm transport is regulated by oviductal epithelium. Fucose has been detected on the oviductal epithelial surface and sperm binding is reduced when fucose is enzymatically removed from the epithelial surface, indicating that fucose is what sperm bind to when they enter the oviduct. Furthermore, it has been discovered that the application of fucose, polymerized fucose, and fucose linked in certain linkages in oligosaccharide, inhibits the binding of the sperm to oviductal epithelium presumably by competitive inhibition of binding, i.e., by binding to sperm so fucose in oviductal epithelium cannot bind to sperm.

Increasing reproductive efficiency of bull semen using fucose or a compound with a fucose moiety


A clamp apparatus for an industrial robot includes a base unit, a first clamp unit, and a second clamp unit. The first clamp unit includes first and second claws, first and second driving sources, and first and second linear guides. The first and second driving sources move the first and second claws to the first clamp positions. The first and second linear guides movably support the first and second claws to the base unit. The second clamp unit includes third and fourth claws, third and fourth driving sources, and third and fourth linear guides. The third and fourth driving sources move the third and fourth claws to the second clamp positions. The third and fourth linear guides movably support the third and fourth claws to the base unit.

For example, in a production line of an optical disc apparatus and an electronic device having an angular velocity detecting function, an industrial robot is used in an inspection process for evaluating functionalities of the produced device. Typically, the robot includes a workbench on which devices to be inspected (hereinafter also referred to as work pieces) are mounted, a transfer robot for transferring the work pieces to the workbench, an inspection unit for inspecting the work pieces mounted on the workbench, and the like.
This sort of the transfer robot includes clamp units for holding the work pieces. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-241168 discloses a component holding apparatus including three or more holding claws for holding components, and mutually independent driving sources for driving the holding claws.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-241168


An example turbine component cooling arrangement includes a film plate having a plurality of film channels extending from film channel entrances on a first side of the film plate to corresponding film channel exits on an opposing second side of the film plate. The arrangement also includes an impingement plate establishing a plurality of impingement channels. The impingement plate is spaced a distance from the film plate. The plurality of impingement channels are configured to direct a fluid across the distance to contact the film plate between adjacent ones of the film channel entrances. In one example, the distance from the film plate to the impingement plate is between two and four times more than diameter of one of the impingement channels.

This invention relates generally to cooling a turbine engine component, and more particularly, to a relationship between channels in a film plate and channels in an impingement plate.
Gas turbine engines are known and typically include multiple sections, such as a fan section, a compression section, a combustor section, a turbine section, and an exhaust nozzle section. Blades within the compressor and turbine sections are often mounted for rotation about an axis. The blades have an airfoil profile extending radially from a mounting platform toward a blade tip. Rotating the blades compresses air in the compression section. The compressed air mixes with fuel and is combusted in the combustor section. The products of combustion expand to rotatably drive blades in the turbine section.
As known, components of the engine are often exposed to extreme temperatures and require cooling. Accordingly, some areas of the engine, such as the blade outer air seals, include impingement plates and film plates. Cooling air communicates through impingement channels established in the impingement plates and impinges on another area of the engine to facilitate removing thermal energy from the engine. Cooling air communicates through film channels established in the film plates and flows over surfaces of the engine to remove thermal energy, for example. A challenge of the designs incorporating such channels, especially film channels, is preventing clogging due to dirt and other particulate matter.

Cooling arrangement for a turbine engine component


An electronic control system may be used to control the steering angle of a vehicle wheel. The electronic control system may be used to determine that a measured speed that a steering angle of a wheel is changing exceeds a threshold speed. The electronic control system may be used to determine that a measured range of motion of the steering angle exceeds a threshold amount. The electronic control system may use an encoder to measure the position of a steering angle of a vehicle wheel.

All-wheel steering systems have been known and used for some time now. Examples of all-wheel steering systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,607,028, 5,417,299, 5,217,083, and 5,111,901, all of which are entitled "All-Wheel Steering System," and are hereby incorporated by reference. Some known all-wheel steering systems are purely mechanical, meaning that the rear wheel angle is determined by gears and gear ratios manually selected by the vehicle operator with the shift of a lever. Unfortunately, this type of all-wheel steering system adds considerable weight and complexity to the mechanical subsystem of the vehicle. Other all-wheel steering systems provide rear wheel steering independent of the front wheel angle. In this configuration, the operator steers the rear wheels independently of the front wheels. The rear wheels may be steered with a separate steering wheel, joy stick or potentiometer. This type of system is typically used on vehicles that are steered by two operators: one operator steers the front wheels and one operator steers the rear wheels. Unfortunately, the use of two operators has a number of disadvantages such as increasing the labor costs associated with operating the vehicle. Electronically controlled systems have also been employed.
All-wheel steering systems may be often used on larger vehicles such as trucks. It is desirable for these vehicles to be able to maneuver into small spaces in short periods of time. All-wheel steering provides great benefits in this regard because it provides a smaller minimum turning radius. All-wheel steering systems may also be used in other types of vehicles.
All-wheel steering systems, particularly those that are electronically controlled, typically implement steering algorithms to control steering of one or more sets of wheels. In order to provide flexibility in the types of steering algorithms that can be implemented, it is desirable to provide all-wheel steering systems with access to a variety of sources of vehicle data. It is also desirable in many instances to provide other electronic systems on-board the vehicle with access to data from the steering control system. What is needed is a control system architecture that provides an improved integration of the steering control system with other vehicle devices.
All-wheel steering systems typically have more modes of operation than a standard front wheel drive system. In order to allow a vehicle operator to use an all-wheel steer system most effectively, it is desirable to provide the operator with feedback regarding operation of the system including vehicle diagnostics. What is needed is improved systems for providing operator feedback in connection with a steering control system.
It is typically necessary to periodically calibrate the steering system of an all-wheel steering vehicle. Often these systems are difficult to calibrate and require the operator to get underneath the truck. What is needed is a steering control system that it is easier to calibrate.
Accordingly, there is an ongoing need for improvements to control systems and methods used in connection with such steering systems. It should be understood, however, that the techniques below extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims regardless of whether they meet any of the above-mentioned needs.


Disclosed and claimed are methods for producing catalytic antibodies, including human catalytic antibodies, from bacteriophage. The methods require the cloning, selection, screening, and isolation of catalytic antibodies. Also disclosed and claimed are the products themselves, the catalytic antibodies, made from the phage technology. In addition, catalytic antibodies produced from the phage technology and useful in prodrug activation are disclosed and claimed. And finally, the invention also understands the production of catalytic antibodies to phosphonates.

Monoclonal antibodies are traditionally made by establishing an immortal mammalian cell line which is derived from a single immunoglobulin producing cell secreting one form of a biologically functional antibody molecule with a particular specificity. Because the antibody-secreting mammalian cell line is immortal, the characteristics of the antibody are reproducible from batch to batch. The key proprieties of monoclonal antibodies are their specificity for a particular antigen and the reproducibility with which they can be manufactured.
Structurally, the simplest antibody (IgG) comprises four polypeptide chains, two heavy (H) chains and two light (L) chains connected by disulfide bonds. The light chains exist in two distinct forms called K (kappa) and .lambda. (lambda). Each chain has a constant region (C) and a variable region (V). Each chain is organized into a series of domains. The light chains have two domains, corresponding to the C region and the other to the V Region. The heavy chains have four domains, one corresponding to the V region and three domains (1, 2, and 3) in the C region. The antibody has two arms (each arm being a Fab region), each of which has a VL and a VH region associated with each other. It is this pair of V regions (VL and VH) that differ from one antibody to another (owing to amino acid sequence variations), and which together are responsible for recognizing the antigen and providing an antigen binding site (ABS). In even more detail, each V region is made up from three complementarily determining regions (CDR) separated by four framework regions (FR). The CDRs are the most variable part of the variable regions, and they perform the critical antigen binding function. The CDR regions are derived from many potential germ line sequences via a complex process involving recombination, mutation, and selection.
It has been shown that the function of binding antigens can be performed by fragments of a whole antibody. Example binding fragments are (i) the Fab fragment consisting of the VL, VH, CL and CH1 domains; (ii) the Fd fragment consisting of the VH and CH1 domains; (iii) the Fv fragment consisting of the VL and VH domains of a single arm of an antibody; (iv) the dAb fragment (Ward et al., Nature 341 (1989): 544-546) which consists of a VH domain; (v) isolated CDR regions; and (vi) F(ab').sub.2 fragments, a bivalent fragment comprising two Fab fragments linked by a disulfide bridge at the hinge region.
Although the two domains of the Fv fragment are coded for by separate genes, it has proved possible to make a synthetic linker that enables them to be made as a single protein chain (known as single chain Fv (scFv); Bird et al., Science 242 (1988):423-426; Huston et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 85 (1988):5879-5883); by recombinant methods. These scFv fragments were assembled from genes from monoclonals that had been previously isolated. In our earlier application, WO 92/01047, we described a process to assemble scFv fragments from VH and VL domains that were not part of a previously isolated antibody.
Although monoclonal antibodies, their fragments and derivatives have been enormously advantageous, there are nevertheless a number of limitations associated with them. First, the therapeutic applications of monoclonal antibodies produced by human immortal cell lines holds great promise for the treatment of a wide range of diseases (Lennox, Clinical Applications of Monoclonal Antibodies, British Medical Bulletin 1984). Unfortunately, immortal antibody-producing human cell lines are very difficult to establish and they give low yields of antibody (approximately 1 .mu.g/ml). In contrast, equivalent rodent cell lines yield high amounts of antibody (approximately 100 .mu.g/ml). However, the repeated administration of these foreign rodent proteins to humans can lead to harmful hypersensitivity reactions. As a result, these rodent-derived monoclonal antibodies have limited therapeutic use.
Second, a key aspect in the isolation of monoclonal antibodies is how many different clones of antibody producing cells with different specificities, can be practically established and sampled compared to how many theoretically need to be sampled in order to isolate a cell producing antibody with the desired specificity characteristics (Milstein, Royal Soc. Croonian Lecture, Proc. R. Soc. London B. 239 (1990):1-16). For example, the number of different specificities expressed at any one time by lymphocytes of the murine immune system is thought to be approximately 10.sup.7 and this is only a small proportion of the potential repertoire of specificities. However, during the isolation of a typical antibody producing cell with a desired specificity, the investigator is only able to sample 10.sup.3 to 10.sup.4 individual specificities. The problem is worse in the human, where one has approximately 10.sup.12 lymphocyte specificities with the limitation on sampling of 10.sup.3 or 10.sup.4 remaining.
This problem has been alleviated to some extent in laboratory animals by the use of immunization regimes. Thus, where one wants to produce monoclonal antibodies having a specificity against a particular epitope, an animal is immunized with an immunogen expressing that epitope. The animal will then mount an immune response against the immunogen and there will be a proliferation of lymphocytes which have specificity against the epitope. Owing to this proliferation of lymphocytes with the desired specificity, it becomes easier to detect them in the sampling procedure. However, this approach is not successful in all cases as a suitable immunogen may not be available. Furthermore, where one wants to produce human monoclonal antibodies (e.g., for therapeutic administration), such an approach is not practically or ethically feasible.
In our earlier application, WO 92/01047, we described methods of constructing a bacteriophage that expresses and displays at its surface a large biologically functional binding molecule (e.g., antibody fragments, enzymes, and receptors) and which remains intact and infectious. We called the structure which comprises a virus particle and a binding molecule displayed at the viral surface a "package". Where the binding molecule is an antibody, an antibody derivative or fragment, or a domain that is homologous to an immunoglobulin domain, we called the package a "phage antibody" (pAb). However, except where the context demanded otherwise, where the term phage antibody is used generally, it was also interpreted as referring to any package comprising a virus particle and a biologically functional binding molecule displayed at the viral surface. Since the original filing of WO 92/01047, a number of examples of functional antibody and other protein domains expressed on the surface of bacteriophage have been reported in both the literature and additional patent applications.
This simple substitution of immortalized cells with bacterial cells as the "factory", considerably simplifies procedures for preparing large amounts of binding molecules expressed on the surface of the bacteriophage. Furthermore, the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification (Saiki et al., Science 239 (1988):487-491) to isolate antibody producing sequences from cells (e.g., hybridomas and B cells) has great potential for speeding up the timescale under which binding specificities can be isolated. Phage antibody expression libraries can be easily generated by cloning the amplified VH and VL genes directly into bacteriophage expression vectors. Furthermore, a bacteriophage based recombinant production system allows scope for producing tailor-made antibodies and fragments thereof. For example, it is possible to produce chimeric molecules with new combinations of binding and effector functions, humanized antibodies (e.g., murine variable regions combined with human constant domains or murine-antibody CDRs grafted onto a human FR) and novel antigen-binding molecules. The key advantage of the phage based system being the ability to directly screen the recombinant antibodies directly for the desired binding specificities.
In creating recombinant VH and VL phage libraries several problems need to be addressed. For example, in a mouse there are approximately 10.sup.7 possible H chains and 10.sup.7 possible L chains. Therefore, there are 10.sup.14 possible combinations of H and L chains, and to test for anything like this number of combinations, one would have to create and screen a library of about 10.sup.14 clones. This had not previously been a practical possibility. PCT/GB92/00883 and PCT/GB92/01755 applications, which are herein incorporated by reference, disclose a number of approaches which ameliorate this problem. Each of these applications is a continuation-in-part of our International Application WO 92/01047.
In addition, a number of molecular biological techniques which have previously been developed for engineering of antibody active sites can be applied in combination with the phage antibody library approaches described previously. These techniques include site-directed mutagenesis of residues within a CDR, replacement of all or portions of CDR (s) with random amino acid sequence, CDR shuffling in which a CDR region is essentially replaced with a library of CDR regions. The use of pAbs may also allow the construction of entirely synthetic antibodies. Furthermore, antibodies may be made which have some synthetic sequences, for example, CDRs, and some naturally derived sequences (see for example PCT/BG92/06372). For example, V-gene repertoires could be made in vitro by combining un-rearranged V genes, with D and J segments. Libraries of pAbs could then be selected by binding to antigen, hypermutated in vitro in the antigen-binding loops or V domain framework regions, and subjected to further rounds of selection and mutagenesis.
pAbs have a range of applications in selecting antibody genes encoding antigen binding activities. One particularly exciting area of application is in the development of antibodies with catalytic properties (catalytic antibodies). Catalytic antibodies have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,888,281 to Schochetman et al.; 4,963,355 to Kim et al.; and 5,037,750 to Schochetman et al., all hereby incorporated by reference. As disclosed therein, catalytic antibodies combine the catalytic abilities of enzymes with the binding capabilities of antibodies.
All catalytic antibodies described to date have been generated using monoclonal antibody technology. The details of that process are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. A typical methodology first involves immunizing mice with an appropriate antigen. The antigen may be the desired reactant; the desired reactant bound to a peptide or other carrier molecule; a reaction intermediate or an analog of the reactant; or the product or a reaction intermediate.
"Analog" as the term is used here can encompass isomers, homologs, transition state analogs or other compounds sufficiently resembling the reactant in terms of chemical structure such that an antibody raised against the analog may participate in an immunological reaction with the reactant but will not necessarily catalyze a reaction of the analog.
Although a number of different types of antibody catalysts have been developed with this technology, the time required to establish and then screen the hybridomas for the desired specificity is of considerable importance.
If the desired specificity is sufficiently rare, it may be impractical or impossible to sample enough hybridomas cell lines to recover the desired specificity.
Additionally, there is currently no suitable hybridoma based technology for generating entirely human catalytic antibodies.
The methods of the invention can also be used to effect a cleavage that leads to the activation of some biological function.
Such reactions include the cleavage of peptide bonds, but may also include ester bonds or glycosidic bonds or other types of bonds.
One example of the cleavage of a biomolecule which leads to the activation of a biological function is the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes. Patients self-administer insulin by injection. Prior attempts to develop a formulation of insulin whose release into the circulation mimics the pharmacokinetics of the release of natural pancreatic insulin have not proved successful. Insulin exists in the pancreas in a pro-form, proinsulin, whose activity is many orders of magnitude lower than insulin itself. An antibody protease specific for the peptide bond that leads to conversion of proinsulin to insulin can be designed so that its kinetic characteristics allow release of insulin in vivo after an injection of proinsulin plus antibody protease. This is an example of prodrug activation where the drug in this instance is a natural protein hormone. Prodrugs may include many therapeutically active molecules which lead to the activation or deactivation of a biological function. The pro-form may either take advantage of a natural modification of the drug or any suitable synthetic modification thereof. Suitable drug derivatives with low activity (therapeutically beneficial or toxic), which, on modification with a suitable catalytic antibody, are converted to an active form. A particular example of this process is given in PCT/US89/01951 filed May 4, 1989, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Isolation and production of catalytic antibodies using phage technology


A zoom lens includes, arranged in order from an object side to an image plane side, a first lens group having a positive optical power, fixed with respect to an image plane; a second lens group having a negative optical power, movable in a direction parallel to an optical axis for performing a zooming action; a third lens group having a positive optical power, including a movable lens element having at least one aspherical surface and movable in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis for compensating for a blurred image; and a fourth lens group having a positive optical power, movable in the direction parallel to the optical axis for adjusting a focus, the zoom lens satisfies the predetermined conditional expression.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a zoom lens for use in video cameras, digital still cameras and the like that are provided with a blurred image compensation function for optically compensating blurring of images caused by camera shake, vibration and the like, and also to an optical apparatus such like video camera and digital still camera using such the zoom lens.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recently, the anti-shaking function of preventing vibrations such as camera shake is becoming essential for image capturing systems such as video cameras, and various types of anti-shaking optical systems have been proposed.
For example, in the video camera disclosed in JP H8-029737A, an optical system for camera shake correction constituted by two lenses is mounted at the front of a zoom lens and one of the two lenses is moved perpendicularly to the optical axis so as to compensate for fluctuation of the image caused by camera shake.
Also, in the video camera disclosed in JP H7-128619A, a four-group zoom lens is used and a portion of the third lens group constituted by a plurality of lenses is moved perpendicularly to the optical axis so as to compensate for fluctuation of the image caused by camera shake.
However, in the video camera disclosed in JP H8-029737A described above, the lens diameter of the optical system for camera shake correction is increased since the optical system for camera shake correction is mounted at the front of the zoom lens. The size of the video camera itself and the load on the actuating system are increased correspondingly, so that the system is unfavorable in order to reduce the size, weight and energy consumption.
In the video camera disclosed in JP H7-128619A above, since a part of the third lens group which is fixed with respect to the image plane is moved perpendicular to the optical axis so as to correct fluctuation of the image, this type of system is more favorable in terms of the size compared to the type in which the optical system for camera shake correction is mounted at the front of the zoom lens. However, the deterioration in chromatic aberration during camera shake correction is unavoidable because a part of the third lens group is moved.

Zoom lens, and optical apparatus using the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A pre-defined condition for a pending transaction is satisfied. In response, a real-time request for authorizing the pending transaction is sent to an interested party of the pending transaction. Based on a response received from the interested party, a notice is sent to a Point-Of-Sale (POS) terminal indicating whether the pending transaction was authorized and completed or denied.

Customers are often frustrated by fees levied by their financial institutions while at the same time these institutions rely on the fees as substantial revenue streams for maintaining their businesses. In fact, customers frequently switch financial institutions because of their displeasure with various fees.
As one example, consider bank overdraft fees where a bank levies a fee when a consumer exceeds his/her balance in an account during a transaction. There has been significant political backlash over these type of fees in the industry. As a result, laws and regulations now require banks to by default to not allow overdrafts on consumer accounts unless the consumer specifically authorizes overdrafts at the time of account creation and is properly made aware of the bank's fees. This becomes a binary choice for the consumer to either permit overdraft transactions or not permit such transactions.
The irony is that most consumers in any given transaction would probably want their transactions to be authorized at a retailer than be unable to purchase the item or service associated with the transaction. Moreover, many consumers have more than one account with their banks, such that when an account lacks sufficient funds for a given transaction, a different account by the consumer that is not tied to the consumer's debit card has sufficient funds to cover the transaction.
The real problem is that the consumers do not keep track of their account balances in real time and because the banking fees for overdrafts can be compounded as long as an account is running a negative balance, the fees at the end of a month can be devastating and shocking to the consumers. However, if consumers were provided more timely information about such transactions and given control over such transactions, consumers would likely authorize overdrafts and take care of any negative balances in a more timely fashion. In fact, the consumers would likely also not complain to the media and their political representatives over these fees. Essentially, consumers really just want control and timely information from their financial institutions with respect to their accounts and if provided the consumers would become more loyal to their banks and the banks could collect reasonable fees to sustain their revenues; win for consumers and a win for the financial institutions.


Unnatural dipeptoids of .alpha.-substituted Try-Phe derivatives are useful as agents in the treatment of panic disorders. These dipeptoids are Cholecystokinin-B Receptor (CCK.sub.B) antagonists having utility in the prevention of panic attacks in patients prone to these attacks.

The neuropeptide cholecystokinin-8 (CCK-8) is an important neuromodulator and neurotransmitter in the brain. There are two types of CCK receptor which are currently referred to as CCK.sub.A and CCK.sub.B receptors. The major of the CCK receptor types in brain is the CCK.sub.B receptor (Review by Woodruff & Hughes, Annual Review of Pharmacology Toxicology 31:469-501 (1991)).
The functional role of CCK in brain is not fully understood. Recently there has been evidence that CCK is involved in anxiety and that CCK.sub.B antagonists have an anxiolytic action in animal models of anxiety (Hughes, et al, Proc Natnl Acad Sci, USA 87:6728-6732 (1990).
It has recently been shown (de Montigny, C Arch Gen Psychiatry 46:511-517 (1989) ; Bradwejn J, Koszyckl, D, and Metesissian, G, Can J Psychiatr 35:83-85 (1990) that the injection of the tetrapeptide cholecystokinin (30-33) (CCK-4) into human volunteers or into patients suffering from panic disorder precipitates a panic attack. The tetrapeptide cholecystokinin (30-33) (CCK-4) is a substance that stimulates CCK.sub.B receptors, i.e., is a CCK.sub.B antagonist. The injection of the tetrapeptide cholecystokinin (30-33) (CCK-4) into the cerebral ventricles of the brain of rats precipitates the onset of an anxiogenic reaction. This anxiogenic response can be prevented by pretreatment of the rats with the CCK.sub.B antagonist CI-988 (Sing, et al, Proc Natnl Acad Sci USA 88:1130-1133 (1991)).
The present invention relates to compounds known as dipeptoids and/or their pharmaceutically acceptable salts for use in the prevention of panic attacks in patients prone to these attacks. Suitable compounds are cholecystokinin (CCK).sub.B antagonists such as [R-(R*,R*)]-4-[[2-[[3-(1H-indol-3-yl)-2-methyl-1-oxo-2-[[(tricyclo [126.96.36.199.sup.3,7]dec-2-yloxy)carbonyl[amino[propyl[amino]-1-phenylethyl]am ino]-4-oxobutanoic acid (CI-988).
The compounds useful in this invention are fully described in U.S. Ser. No. 07/629,809, filed Dec. 19, 1990. Methods of preparing the compounds, intermediates useful in their preparation, compositions containing the compounds, and uses of the compounds are disclosed. The uses disclosed include the treatment of obesity, hypersecretion of gastric acid in the gut, gastrin-dependent tumors, psychoses, anxiety, ulcer, depression, withdrawal response produced by chronic treatment or use followed by withdrawal from nicotine, diazepam, alcohol, cocaine, caffeine, or opioids.
The disclosure of U.S. Ser. No. 07/629,809 is incorporated herein by reference.

Cholecystokinin antagonists useful in the treatment of panic attacks