The present invention relates to the identification of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) within the bovine CAST locus encoding the calpastatin protein, wherein the allelic variation of the SNP is a G/C transversion associated with post-mortem muscle tenderness. The invention further relates to oligonucleotides useful in identifying the genotype of bovines as it relates to the CAST locus polymorphic site. The invention also encompasses computer-assisted methods and systems for improving the production efficiency for livestock having marketably tender meat using multiple data, and in particular the genotype of the animals as it relates to the CAST SNP. These methods of the invention encompass obtaining a genetic sample from each animal in a herd of livestock, determining the genotype of each animal with respect to specific quality traits as defined by a panel of at least two single polynucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), one SNP corresponding to a site between exons 5 and 6 of the bovine CAST locus, grouping animals with like genotypes, and optionally, further sub-grouping animals based on like phenotypes.

Meat tenderness is an important issue in production of beef cattle, because it has a major impact on consumer's satisfaction. Consumers consider tenderness to be the single most important component of meat quality (Miller, (1992) Beef Today 8:40). The physiological change in muscle structure leading to increased tenderness during the postmortem period is complex (Koohmaraie, M. (1994) Meat Sci. 36: 93). The calpain/calpastatin system is an endogenous, calcium-dependent proteinase system, theorized to mediate the proteolysis of key myofibrillar proteins during postmortem storage of carcass and cuts of meat at refrigerated temperatures. Calpain is involved in the breakdown of myofibril protein, which is closely related to meat tenderness (Wheeler and Koohmaraie, 1994). Calpastatin inhibits μ- and m-calpain activity and, therefore, regulates postmortem proteolysis in part.
Many known non-genetic sources of variation may affect postmortem meat tenderization, including, for instance, the age of the cattle, deeding management, degree of stress prior to slaughter, and postmortem aging time (Tatum et al. 2000). However, approximately 30% of the variation in tenderness of meat can be explained by additive gene effects within a single breed (Koch et al. (1982) J. Anim. Sci. 1319-1329), which is greater than variation found among breeds (Wheeler et al. (1996) J. Anim. Sci. 74: 1023-1035).
An increase in postmortem calpastatin activity has been correlated to reduced meat tenderness (e.g., Koohmaraie et al. 1995 in: Ouali et al. (eds.) Expression of Muscle Proteinases and Regulation of Protein Degradation as Related to Meat Quality. Audet Tijdschrifren b.v., Nijmegen, The Netherlands pp 395-412; Pingle et al. 1997). The calpastatin (CAST) gene, mapped to bovine chromosome 7 (Bishop et al., J Anim Sci. 1993 August; 71(8):2277), is considered a candidate gene for beef tenderness. Initial studies, however, did not find significant association of CAST polymorphisms with tenderness. For instance, Lonergan et al. (1995) (J. Anim. Sci. 73: 3608-3612) did not find a significant association of restriction fragment length polymorphisms in the CAST gene with calpastatin activity or tenderness in crossbred offspring of sires from eight breeds. Chung et al. (1999) (J. Anim. Sci. 77 (Suppl 1): 31) investigated the association of PCR single strand conformation polymorphisms in the CAST gene with calapastatin activity, Warner-Bratzler shear force and myofibril fragmentation index in forty-seven purebred Angus bulls and concluded that the polymorphisms were not useful for prediction of calpastatin activity, myofibril fragmentation index or meat tenderness.
More recently two genetic tests for meat tenderness in beef have become available. The TenderGENE™ test (Merial Limited) is based on two markers (polymorphisms) in the Calpain gene. The GeneStar® Tenderness 2 (Genetic Solutions) is based on a marker in the CAST gene and one marker in the Calpain gene.
"Body condition" as understood in the livestock industry is the state of development of an animal as a function of frame type or size, and overall health and, in the case of non-poultry animals, the amount of intramuscular fat and back fat exhibited by an animal. The body condition of animals is a determinant of market readiness in commercial livestock breeding, feeding and finishing operations. Body condition is typically determined subjectively and through experienced visual appraisal of live animals. The fat deposition, or the amount of intramuscular fat and back fat on a non-poultry animal carcass, is important to industry participants because carcasses exhibiting desired amounts and proportions of such fats can often be sold for higher prices than carcasses that exhibit different amounts and proportions of fat. Furthermore, the desired carcass fat deposition often varies among different markets and buyers with time within single markets and among particular buyers in response to public demand trends with respect to desired fat and marbling in meats. Predictable and consistent body weight or carcass characteristics are also preferred.
Presently, cattle entering a feedlot are divided into groups according to estimated age, frame size, breed, weight, and so forth. By making such a division, the feedlot owner is attempting to group the animals so that a group can be penned together, fed the same diet and slaughtered at the same time. Weight and visual cues are one means possible to sort cattle for feedlot grouping.
The greater the production expectations, the greater the price realized by the feed operator. Regardless of the particular market preference at a given time, the feed lot operator will be trying to tailor his animals to meet some similar standard that will cause a meat packer or commercial purchaser to pay the highest price in accordance with currently prevailing market preferences.
While the cost of acquiring each animal in a group can vary somewhat, the feedlot operator's costs would be the same for each animal in a group since they would have access to the same amount of feed and occupy space in the feedlot for the same amount of time (not considering health costs due to sickness). Thus, the price reductions for animals falling outside the desirable range fall directly to the feedlot operator's bottom line, resulting in reduced profits. One way to reduce costs and increase profits is to minimize the time an animal spends at the feedlot, thereby reducing feed costs. Thus, longer residence times are usually only profitable if the result is an animal with a more profitable grade. The capability of predicting when an animal is ready for a market is also desirable.
There remains a need for methods that allow relatively easy and more efficient selection and breeding of farm animals with an advantage for an inheritable trait of growth rate, body weight, carcass merit, feed intake and milk yield and composition. The economic benefits of the use of genetic markers that are associated with specific economically important traits (especially traits with low heritability) in livestock through marker-assisted selection are significant.
Polymorphisms in the coding regions of the leptin gene in cattle have been associated with milk yield and composition (Liefers et al. (2002) J. Dairy Sci. 85: 1633-1638; Buchanan et al (2003) Dairy Sci. 86: 3164-3166), feed intake (Liefers et al. (2002); Lagonigro et al. (2003) Anim. Genet. 34: 371-374), and body fat (Buchanan et al. (2002) Genet. Sel Evol. 34: 105-116; Lagonigro et al., Anim Genet. 2003 October; 34(5):371-4. However, polymorphisms located in the promoter region of the leptin gene (i.e. the region of the gene that regulates the level of leptin expression through its associated enhancer and silencer elements) may have a stronger effect on the regulation of these economically important traits, and therefore be of greater predictive value.
Other SNPs identified with phenotypes of interest to the animal breeder or rearer are, for example, within the m-calpain (CAPN1) gene (Juszczuk-Kubiak et al. (2004) J. Appl. Genet. 45: 457-460. An SNP in the DGAT1 gene affects milk yield and composition (Grisar et al. (2004) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101: 2398-2403; Thaller et al. (2003) Anim. Genet. 34: 354-357; Kuhn et al. (2004) Genetics 167: 1873-1881). SNPs in the growth hormone receptor gene GHR may have significant effects on milk yield in particular breeds of cattle (Spelman et al. (2002) J. Dairy Sci. 85: 3514-3517; Blott et al. (2003) Genetics 163: 253-266).
Because of these deficiencies and others inherent in the prior art, it is still advantageous to provide further SNPs that may more accurately predict the meat quality phenotype of an animal and also a business method that provides for increased production efficiencies in livestock cattle, as well as providing access to various records of the animals and allows comparisons with expected or desired goals with regard to the quality and quantity of animals produced.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.

Bovine CAST gene SNP and meat tenderness


A display device includes a first touch panel on which a first touch sensing unit including a plurality of coils is disposed, a second touch panel on which a second touch sensing unit including a plurality of sensing nodes coupled to the plurality of coils in a coupling manner with a one-to-one correspondence, and a display panel disposed between the first and second touch panels and displays an image, and the plurality of sensing nodes is formed in a divided structure grouped into first and second node groups based on a touch event detected by the first touch sensing unit.

Embodiments of the inventive concept described herein relate to a touch sensor with a modular shape and a display device including the same.
In general, a touch panel in which a user touches a screen with a hand or a pen to input information is used for an input device such as a personal computer, a portable communication device, or other personal information processing devices.
The touch panel is simple, less malfunction, easy to carry, capable of entering a text without any other input device, and easy for the user to recognize how to use, thereby being applied to various information processing devices. For example, the touch panel may be classified into an ultrasonic type, an electrostatic capacitive type, a resistive type, an electromagnetic type, an optical sensor type, and the like based on a method of sensing a part touched by the user.
The touch panel is generally provided with a touch sensor in which a heterogeneous coupling, such as, IC or FPCB bonding, interfering with touch is not provided on a touched surface. In particular, it is common not to mount a structure of a touch sensor which is not visually uniform to stand out or covers pixels in a display area of the touch panel.
Therefore, because a capacitive touch sensor mainly used as the touch screen is required to be wired with IC, a touch screen may be configured as a screen divided into up to four touch units (horizontally divided by two, vertically divided by two). Accordingly, a size of one touch unit is limited due to cut-off frequency and noise, and thus an overall size of the touch panel including the four touch units is also limited.

Touch sensor with modular shape and display device including the same

Korea University Research and Business Foundation


The instrument for an endoscope is an instrument for an endoscope is able to move reciprocally in the channel of the endoscope along a guide wire, and includes: a sheath portion having a guide lumen into which the guide wire is inserted and another lumen disposed along the guide lumen. The proximal end of the sheath portion is bifurcated into the first sheath portion having the guide lumen and the second sheath portion having the other lumen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an instrument for an endoscope.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, cases in which an endoscopy procedure is employed have increased for affections in the alimentary tract system, and the pancreatic and bile duct systems. Treatments of the pancreatic and bile duct systems employing current endoscopes include a treatment for therapy for taking out a gallstone existing in the bile duct, etc., by using a balloon and holding device in addition to a diagnostic treatment for endoscopically contrasting the pancreatic duct and the bile duct.
Also, with respect to an endoscopy procedure for the pancreatic duct, the bile duct and the hepatic duct, etc., the distal end of an insertion portion of an endoscope is inserted into the vicinity of papilla of the duct, and an instrument such as a papilotomy knife or balloon is inserted from the endoscope into the pancreatic duct or the bile duct, using a guide wire as a guide under X-ray fluoroscopy. In a case where the instrument is inserted through a channel provided at the insertion portion of the endoscope, the instrument is inserted while inserting a guide wire, which is inserted into the channel in advance, into a guide wire lumen secured at the insertion portion of the instrument.
It has been proposed that an instrument operating portion for carrying out operation of an instrument be connected to the vicinity of the forceps port of an endoscope and be fixed thereat so that, when operating an instrument such as a papilotomy knife, a balloon or the like the operator can carry out operation of the instrument alone along with the endoscope operation (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-49891). Thereby, even where there is a lone operator, the operator is able to easily and quickly carry out endoscope operation and instrument operation.


A method of treating tissue within a body includes directing an ultrasound transducer having a plurality of transducer elements towards target body tissue, and delivering ultrasound energy towards the target tissue from the transducer elements such that an energy intensity at the target tissue is at or above a prescribed treatment level, while an energy intensity at tissue to be protected in the ultrasound energy path of the transducer elements is at or below a prescribed safety level.

Devices and systems using acoustic energy, particularly within the ultrasonic range, i.e., acoustic waves with a frequency greater than about twenty kilohertz (20 kHz), and more typically between fifty kiloHertz and ten MegaHertz (0.05-10 MHz), have been used to diagnose and treat patients. Ultrasonic energy may be employed to obtain images of a patient during a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. In addition, ultrasound systems have been used for treating tissue, e.g., by directing acoustic energy towards a target tissue region within a patient, such as a cancerous or benign tumor, to coagulate, necrose, generate mechanical damage (by cavitation) or otherwise heat the tissue region. For example, one or more piezoelectric transducers may be disposed adjacent a patient's body and used to deliver high intensity acoustic waves, such as ultrasonic waves, at an internal tissue region of a patient to treat the tissue region. An exemplary focused ultrasound system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,042 issued to Umemura et al. The acoustic energy emitted from such a system may be focused at a desired focal zone to deliver thermal energy to the target tissue region.
Focused ultrasound procedures may allow a patient to be treated while avoiding invasive surgery. For example, a focused ultrasound system that includes a single concave transducer has been used to treat breast, uterine and other tumors. Such transducer transmits an acoustic beam, which converges into a focus in target tissue to treat tissue. However, the acoustic beam may transverse through an organ, such as a breast nipple, or other sensitive areas, either before the beam converges into the focus (i.e., in a near field) or beyond the target tissue (i.e., in a far field). These areas have a high absorption coefficient compared to regular tissue, thereby risking damage to non targeted tissue at the near field and/or the far field. Also, in some cases, the acoustic beam may impinge on a tissue (e.g., bone tissue) that would not allow the beam to pass through by reflecting and/or absorbing most of the impinging energy. As a result, the acoustic beam may not reach the target tissue, and may generate undesired heating at the tissue surface that is blocking or interfering the acoustic beam. In some cases, the heating of bone tissue may also heat, and adversely affect, a nerve that is adjacent the bone tissue. A similar situation could happen with volumes in the body that are filled with air acting as total reflector for acoustic beam, thereby blocking the beam from propagating to the target tissue region.
A transducer can sometimes be positioned in a way so that the acoustic beam can reach target tissue, while reducing a risk of passing through tissues that have a high risk for damage. However, positioning the transducer in a way that will avoid tissue damage at tissue desired to be protected may complicate treatment planning and treatment procedure. Further, positioning the transducer to treat target tissue, while avoiding passage of the acoustic wave energy through tissue desired to be protected may not be practical or possible in some cases. For example, when treating a liver or a kidney, it may be necessary to deliver acoustic energy between the ribs. In such cases, moving the transducer away from the ribs, e.g., and positioning it below the ribs, may render the treatment ineffective.

Focused ultrasound system with adaptive anatomical aperture shaping


When plasma ashing is performed on a resist on a wafer, deposit gas containing at least one type of deposit component to be generated from a resist by ashing is added to a gas for plasma generation supplied from a gas supply system for plasma generation, by a deposit gas supply system. By this, the deposit component is actively deposited on the inner surface of a wafer processing chamber so as to protect the inner face of the wafer processing chamber from plasma. As a result, damage of the wafer processing chamber during ashing and particle generation due to the damage are prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma processing method and plasma processing device for fabricating semiconductor devices, and more particularly to a plasma processing method and plasma processing device for ashing in a preprocess of wafer processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently such a technology as ESC (Electro-Static Chack) is being used for ashing, which tends to jump up equipment cost. And since high throughput is demanded, a 2000 W or higher microwave is sometimes used to increase the ashing speed. Also Cu is more frequently used for the wiring of semiconductor devices, and decreasing the temperature of ashing is demanded more to prevent the oxidation of Cu. For example, conventionally ashing is performed in a 200° C. or higher stage temperature area, but now it is required to be performed in a 100° C. or less temperature area to use Cu. In a low temperature area, the ashing speed tends to drop, so the power of the microwave must be increased to increase the ashing speed.
Generally in a plasma processing device, which performs the etching and ashing (hereafter simply called ashing), the inner face of the wafer processing chamber is damaged by being exposed to plasma, and particles are generated. In some recent cases ashing is performed with adding fluorine gas to O2 plasma (e.g. see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-12521) where the wafer processing chamber is easily damaged. Therefore it is proposed to use alumite for parts of the chamber so as to prevent the generation of particles (e.g. see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-50663).
However even if the inner face of the wafer processing chamber are coated with alumite, the alumite coating itself is damaged by being continuously exposed to plasma, where aluminum on the under-layer is exposed to plasma, and particles are generated. O radicals in the plasma collide with the alumite coating and causes cracks, opens generated cracks and causes the stripping of the exposed aluminum under-layer and the alumite coating.
If ashing is performed by adding fluorine gas to O2 plasma, the damage of alumite coating tends to progress even more easily. In the case of a wafer processing chamber that is used in a high microwave area, the energy of the O radicals increases and damage increases particularly in a high plasma density area. Also in the case of a surface wave plasma type wafer processing chamber, the plasma density increases and damage increases in the upper area of the chamber.
The resist on the wafer, for which ashing is performed, is comprised of such elements as carbon (C) and hydrogen (H), so during ashing the deposit components such as C and H are supplied from the resist to the plasma, and are deposited onto the inner face of the wafer processing chamber to protect it from plasma. However when the resist decreases as ashing progresses, the supply of the deposit components to the plasma decreases, the deposit amount on the inner face of the wafer processing chamber decreases, the wafer processing chamber is damaged, and particles are generated.
In the fabrication of semiconductor devices, particles are one of the major obstruction factors which drop yield, so the prevention of particle generation remains a problems.

Plasma processing method and plasma processing device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The invention relates to fluid washing or cleaning products which are present as combination products comprising a packaging means and at least two fluid washing or cleaning compositions A and B that are located in said packaging means and that are separate from each other, wherein the two compositions A and B comprise A: 10 to 75 wt % of builder material(s); 0.1 to 10 wt % of enzyme preparation; 24.9 to 89.9 wt % of water; and B: less than 0.1 wt % of enzyme preparation; 0.5 to 90 wt % of water and at least one further ingredient of washing or cleaning products, and which fluid washing or cleaning products have an improved stability if the viscosity of the compositions A and B is above 1500 mPas.

Detergent compositions and cleaning agents for hard surfaces, as well as dishwasher detergents, are available to the consumer in numerous forms. In addition to the traditional solid agents, free-flowing and in particular liquid to gel-type detergents or cleaning agents have become increasingly important in recent times. To improve the cleaning performance of free-flowing detergent or cleaning agents, combination products have been proposed in the prior art which include a packaging means and two free-flowing detergents or cleaning agents that are situated in this packaging means and separate from one another. International Patent Application WO 2007/025665 discloses a packaging means and two free-flowing detergents or cleaning agents A and B that are situated in this packaging means and separate from one another, wherein composition A contains enzymes, and composition B contains no enzymes, or at least few enzymes. The spatial separation of these two compositions makes it possible for additional ingredients and characteristics of detergent or cleaning agents which could impair the stability of the enzymes to be kept separated from these enzymes, or also for other ingredients which could adversely affect one another to be kept separated, thus increasing the stability of the free-flowing agents during storage. For this reason, composition A, which contains enzymes, and composition B, which does not contain enzymes or contains enzymes only in small quantities, generally have different pH values. High pH values of, for example, pH 10, 11, or greater destabilize or inactivate enzymes, but are advantageous for removing stubborn soils.
Although in the prior art the problem of destabilization of enzymes during storage of free-flowing detergent or cleaning compositions has been solved by the above-mentioned combination products, there is the continuing problem of destabilization of enzymes during dosing of these agents. Regardless of whether dosing takes place via a dispensing drawer of an automatic washing machine, or a dispensing compartment of an automatic dishwasher, or a dosing ball or some other dosing device, the two phases intermix in the dosing device, or at the latest, in the first phase of the washing or cleaning operation, so that an average pH results which is lower than the pH of agent B but higher than that of agent A, and therefore the enzymes are exposed to a higher pH than originally intended.
To solve this problem, combination products are proposed which contain a packaging means and two free-flowing detergent or cleaning compositions A and B that are situated in this packaging means and separate from one another, wherein composition A contains 10 to 75% by weight builder(s), 0.1 to 10% by weight enzyme preparation, and 24.9 to 89.9% by weight water, and composition B contains less than 0.1% by weight enzyme preparation, 0.5 to 90% by weight water, and at least one further ingredient of detergent or cleaning agents, wherein the two compositions A and B each have a viscosity of greater than 1500 mPas. It is immaterial whether composition A and composition B have the same viscosity or different viscosities. No special requirements are imposed on the upper limit of the viscosity. However, both compositions should remain free-flowing.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Combination product having two separate cleaning compositions, both having a high viscosity


A magnetic head having an air bearing surface is used to reduce thermal pole tip protrusion and recession. The magnetic head includes a substrate and a data transducer positioned upon the substrate adjacent the air bearing surface. The data transducer is comprised of a plurality of metallic layers. A compensation structure is positioned adjacent to at least one of the plurality of metallic layers, is exposed at the air bearing surface or recessed at the ABS and extends substantially perpendicular from the air bearing surface. The compensation structure is formed of a material having a coefficient of thermal expansion less than a coefficient of thermal expansion of a material forming the substrate.

The present invention relates generally to the field of magnetic data storage and retrieval systems. In particular, the present invention relates to a thin film transducing head having improved performance due to a reduced thermal pole-tip protrusion and recession.
In a magnetic data storage and retrieval system, a thin film transducing head typically includes a transducer, a substrate upon which the transducer is built, and an overcoat deposited over the transducer. The transducer, which typically includes a writer portion for recording magnetically-encoded information on a magnetic media and a reader portion for retrieving that magnetically-encoded information from the magnetic media, is formed of multiple patterned layers successively stacked upon the substrate. The volume of the transducer is typically much smaller than both the volume of the substrate and the volume of the overcoat.
The layers of the transducer, which include both metallic and insulating layers, all have different mechanical and chemical properties than the substrate. These differences in properties affect several aspects of the transducer. First the layers of the transducing head will be lapped at different rates. Thus, when an air bearing surface (ABS) of the transducing head is lapped during its fabrication, different amounts of the layers will be removed, resulting in the transducing head having an uneven ABS. Commonly, a greater amount of the metallic layers of the transducer will be removed during the lapping process than will be removed from the substrate. Thus, this lapping process results in a pole tip recession (PTR) of the metallic layers of the transducer with respect to the substrate. The PTR of a particular layer is defined as the distance between the air bearing surface of the substrate and the air bearing surface of that layer.
The differing mechanical and chemical properties of the substrate and transducer layers affect the air bearing surface during operation of the transducing head. As the magnetic data storage and retrieval system is operated, the transducing head is subjected to increased temperatures within the magnetic data storage and retrieval system. In addition, a temperature of the transducing head itself, or a part thereof, may be significantly higher than the temperature within the magnetic data storage and retrieval system due to heat dissipation caused by electrical currents in the transducer.
The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of materials used in forming the substrate is typically much smaller than the CTE of materials used in forming the metallic layers of the transducer. Due to the large CTE of the transducer's metallic layers, those layers tend to expand a greater amount in response to high temperatures than the substrate. Thus, when the transducing head is subjected to high operating temperatures, the metallic layers tend to protrude closer to the magnetic disc than the substrate, thereby affecting the PTR of the transducer. This change in PTR caused by temperature is referred to as the Thermal PTR (TPTR).
During operation of the magnetic data storage and retrieval system, the transducing head is positioned in close proximity to the magnetic media. The distance between the transducer and the media is preferably small enough to allow for writing to and reading from the magnetic media with a large areal density, and great enough to prevent contact between the magnetic media and the transducing head. Performance of the transducer depends primarily upon the distance between the media and the transducing head.
To keep the distance between the transducing head and the magnetic media constant, PTR should not change significantly with temperature. If TPTR is large, then the spacing between the transducer and the media will change significantly with temperature, thereby requiring that the low temperature fly height be enough to accommodate the higher operating temperatures. On the other hand, if TPTR is close to zero, the low temperature fly height can be reduced.
TPTR has become an increasingly significant problem as head-media spacing (HMS) continuously decreases for higher density magnetic recording. The specified operating temperature range for drives is excess of 50° C. and the transducer temperature varies linearly with and is higher than the ambient air temperature inside the drive by 10° C. or more. Long write operations also raise head temperatures significantly by joule heating of coils. Current transducing heads contain many materials with a higher CTE than the substrate, commonly made of AlTiC. The materials of the transducing heads include permalloy, CoNiFe, gold, copper, and photo resist. Relative to the AlTiC substrate, these high CTE materials cause transducing head structures to protrude when the temperature rises and recess when the temperature drops. A common definition of TPTR is protrusion/recession distance per unit temperature change, generally in n″/° C.
TPTR affects magnetic transducer performance primarily in two ways. First, pole-tip protrusion at elevated temperatures increases the possibility of head disc contact. TPTR has proven to be a significant contributor to trailing edge wear of a slider. Mechanical reliability risk caused by large TPTR prohibits a low fly height and reduction in pole-tip recession. Low TPTR is one of the enablers for continuous HMS reduction, critical to higher recording areal density. Second, TPTR contributes to the cold write problem. Pole-tip recession at cold temperatures increases HMS. This degrades writablility, signal-to-noise ratio, and bit error rate at cold temperatures.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Magnetic transducers with reduced thermal pole-tip protrusion/recession


Embodiments for manipulating an object, such as an image, are described. For example, a content application renders the object and supports multiple manipulation modes. A GUI of the application is available at a touch screen of a computing device. A mapping of standard touch screen gestures and object manipulations are defined for each manipulation mode. One of the modes is a standard manipulation mode that supports standard object manipulations. At least one other mode is a special manipulation mode. In this special mode, the standard user gestures are mapped to application-defined manipulations that are different from the standard object manipulations. Based on a user selection of one of the manipulation modes, the selected mode is activated. While in the activated manipulation mode, a standard user gesture is received and the relevant object manipulation is applied to the object.

Many content applications render objects, such as images, graphics, text, and other multimedia components. Some of the content applications also enable the manipulation of objects via their GUIs. For example, a GUI can support different types of user interactions to edit the properties of a rendered object and change its look and feel.
Interaction with a content application can occur via a device that supports touch screen technology. Typically in this case, the content application supports a touch screen GUI. Objects are manipulated using different natural touch screen gestures, such as a tap, a hold, a drag, or another touch screen gesture to perform various screen or object manipulation tasks. The mapping between the natural touch screen gesture of a user and the underlying manipulation of an object by an application is typically defined by the operating system and has been popularized to be a de facto standard for interacting with the device. In other words, users expect that certain natural touch screen gestures will result in particular manipulations. For this reason, applications will typically reuse the same mapping such that these gestures result in the same manipulations, thereby avoiding user confusion. For instance, the content application renders a canvas that includes an image. In response to a tap-and-hold interaction at the proper GUI location, the image is selected. Upon a drag to the right, the image is moved in that direction on the canvas. This interaction is consistent with the user expectation of how to use a tap and hold gesture and a drag gesture.
However, while limiting the mapping of the natural touch screen gestures to specific manipulations avoids user confusion, this forces an application provider to define new touch screen gestures in order provide touch controls over different manipulations. These new gestures may not be natural or intuitive.
Rather than defining new gestures, providers and users may create new systems of using the existing gestures and their common interactions to achieve the same end. However, this can limit the accuracy, repeatability, and efficiency of particular object manipulations. In an example involving horizontal movement of the image, whether the drag results in the correct horizontal movement or in an incorrect angled movement depends on the precision of the drag gesture. A user may avoid this challenge by zooming onto the image and performing a series of smaller drags. However, this approach increases the number of touch screen gestures. As this number increases, the utilization of the underlying computing resources (e.g., processor and memory) involved in this interaction and, conversely, the efficiency of performing the interaction decreases.
The size of the object or the size of the touch screen also limit the accuracy, repeatability, and efficiency of performing the manipulation. Generally, the smaller the object, the less accurate the manipulation becomes. Similarly, the device sensitivity for measuring the touch screen gesture decreases with a decrease in the size of the touch screen. In turn, the room for error increases. As in the previous example, to improve the accuracy, a single touch screen gesture can be divided into multiple, smaller touch screen gestures. However, this accuracy improvement penalizes the computational efficiency of manipulating the object.

Smart multi-touch layout control for mobile devices


A method of making an array (18) of aberrated optical elements (20). The method comprises the steps of providing a substrate having a first surface with forming elements thereon, and controlled working a localized region on the first surface of the substrate. The controlled working is of a magnitude sufficient to aberrate one or more of the forming elements in an affected site surrounding the localized region.

Retroreflective sheeting is used to reflect light from a source point back to an observation point. For example, in a highway safety application (e.g., a highway sign, a pavement marker), light from a vehicle headlight is reflected back to the eyes of the driver of the vehicle. When the light is reflected back to the observation point, the divergence angle α can range from 0° to more than 3° at any given rotational angle ϵ.
The value of the divergence angle α and the rotational angle ϵ in any given situation depends on the geometry of the source (e.g., the headlight) and the observer (e.g., the driver), and the distance from source/observer (e.g., the vehicle) to the retroreflective sheeting. For example, the divergence angle α for a large truck's right headlight and its driver at a distance of about 40 meters from a road sign will be approximately 3°, while the divergence angle α for an automobile's left headlight and its driver at a distance of about 600 meters from a road sign will be approximately 0.05°. The value of the rotational angle ϵ will be different for left and right headlights of a vehicle, and will also depend on the vehicle and driver geometry and the position of the road sign.
Ideally, retroreflective sheeting used in road signs will produce a pattern of retroreflected light having sufficient intensity over an adequate range of divergence angles α and a wide range of rotation angles ϵ. For example, even a non-urban retroreflective highway sign should retroreflect light through a divergence angle α of about 1° which corresponds to the value of the divergence angle α from a large truck's right headlight back to its driver at a distance of about 120 meters from the road sign. Also, if the sheeting is in random orientation on a road sign, retroreflectance is required at every value of the rotational angle ϵ.
To increase the mean geometric divergence of a retroreflective material, it is known to introduce intentional aberrations into the retroreflective elements. For example, with microcubes, aberrations can be introduced which result in dihedral angles deviating slightly from 90°. Historically, these aberrations have stemmed from geometries introduced into the master substrate during tooling. (See e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,712,706, 4,775,219, 4,938,563, 6,015,214, US2003/007815A1, etc.). U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,966 discloses a method of introducing aberration-producing geometries by controlled working of the master substrate after tooling or by controlled working of copy substrates made from the master substrate. (This patent is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and its entire disclosure is hereby incorporated by reference.) Specifically, the substrate is worked at localized regions on its non-element-carrying surface (i.e., the surface opposite the surface on which the forming elements are carried) at a magnitude sufficient to change the geometry of the optical elements on the opposite element-carrying surface.

Method of making an array of aberrated optical elements


A method and apparatus are provided for operating a flash memory (24) as a client memory, wherein the flash memory comprises a partition (28) of physical data storage locations. The partition is divided into a plurality of units (30). Each unit is organized into a plurality of allocations (60) where each allocation includes a plurality of blocks (58) of physical data storage locations. The partition is organized into a plurality of regions (46) which define a client address space such that each region represents a portion of the client address space. Interfacing the client address space with the physical address space requires maintaining an allocation list (56) for each unit that includes an allocation (68) entry describing each allocation in the unit. Each allocation entry includes a first field (70) storing a client start address for the allocation in the client address space and a second field (72) storing an allocation length indicating the number of blocks of data in that allocation. A third field (74) stores a status of the allocation, i.e., either valid, pending, bad or discarded, and a fourth field (76) stores a physical start address for the allocation in the partition.

Client memory arrangements have been provided which conceptually expand the amount of secondary storage, i.e., the number of addressable storage locations that are available in secondary storage of a typical computer system. The typical computer system includes a processor, a memory and an input/output system. Information including data and instructions for processing data are stored in memory in a plurality of addressable storage locations. The processor stores data to and retrieves data from memory and processes the data accordingly. The main, physical memory of the computer system will normally include a primary, volatile storage memory, such as a random access memory (RAM) and a secondary, multiple read/write, nonvolatile storage medium, such as a tape or disk. The storage capability of the computer system is typically limited to the amount of physical data storage locations available in such memory.
Client memory permits processing of an application by providing an auxiliary storage medium that can be addressed as though it were part of the physical secondary memory. Flash memories can be used as such auxiliary storage mediums. Flash memories are nonvolatile memories similar in functionality and performance to an electronically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). Consequently, they are write once, read many type memories. However, flash memories allow an in-circuit, programmable, operation to erase only certain blocks of memory at a time or the entire memory at once.
In a client memory arrangement, a client address space having a plurality of client addressable locations, each identified by a client address, is provided in an auxiliary storage medium. The client addresses in the client address space can be translated into physical addresses of physical storage locations in the auxiliary storage medium. When flash memory is used as the auxiliary storage medium, the client address space is maintained on the flash memory device. Data can then be transferred to the flash memory device under control of an operating system program from storage locations in the physical secondary memory, and vice versa. However, flash memories are not compatible with typical existing operating system programs, because flash memories are not multiple read/write memories, i.e., data cannot be written to an area of flash memory in which data has previously been written, unless a larger area is first erased.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for allocating client memory storage using a flash memory that is addressed as though it were a secondary, multiple read/write, non-volatile storage medium. Such a method and apparatus should permit flash memory to be written and read multiple times during client memory allocation without any knowledge of or intervention by a user. In addition, the method and apparatus should permit large portions of data to be written and read from flash memory at one time. The present invention is directed to providing such a method and apparatus.

Method and apparatus for allocating storage in a flash memory


Content is selectively provided to users of mobile devices within a venue including an on-site wireless network. User authorization requests and/or user account registration data are transmitted to the on-site wireless network from mobile devices within the venue. Attributes such as user interests and professions, which comprise inferred user profiles, are obtained using the network traffic data. Identities of mobile devices are established based on a combination including two or more of network identifiers, mobile device signatures, and browser signatures. The inferred user profiles are correlated with the mobile device identities. The inferred user profiles are aggregated into user profile groups and then matched with a content provider's intended target profiles. Content is transmitted to the mobile devices corresponding to the intended target profiles and based on correlation of the inferred user profiles with identities of the devices. Inferred user profiles may be verified using social and/or geographical data.

Mobile communications and supporting networks have become widespread. In mobile communications, a variety of devices, such as cell phones, smart phones, and personal digital assistants, are used to receive many types of content including music and video programs. Mobile communications often involve three parties—the user of the mobile communications device, the operator of the mobile communications network, and a third party that provides the content. In this operation, the mobile communications network operator may have information, such as the location of the user of the communications device that might be useful to the content provider. The content providers might find this information useful for a number of reasons. For instance, this information might allow the content providers to better target content to particular users—that is, to send specific content to users that have a particular interest in that content. Targeting content is useful in a number of contexts such as mobile marketing. In mobile marketing, as with marketing in general, a population may be segmented into groups, and each person receives advertisements and other marketing information based on which segment of the population that person is in. Geographic segmentation is one common way of segmenting a market for targeted marketing. (Others include demographic and psychographic segmentation). Mobile marketing is a term applied to marketing via handheld devices such as cellphones, iPADs® (registered mark of Apple Inc. Cupertino, Calif., US) and other tablets, ebook readers, etc. For mobile marketing, in addition to the traditional geographic information (e.g. home address), the current and past locations of the user also are important for targeted marketing since these locations hint at demographic and psychographic segmentation of the user, in addition to indicating proximity of users to nearby business opportunities (e.g., a shopping mall or a boutique shop). User profiles, which comprise information about particular users, have been employed for customizing content presented to persons associated with the user profiles. User profiles have, for example, been used by content providers for identifying and presenting content deemed relevant to the users whereby the relevant content may be presented to the users and/or whereby a session where the content is presented may be tailored to the particular user (or group of users) in a manner that enhances the user experience. Group profiles can be obtained through the analysis of user profile attributes (e.g. demographics, user preferences).
In a Wi-Fi network, service providers can filter data by using contextual information and intelligence to provide analytics to enterprises. Since Wi-Fi networks are connected to mobile devices, location-based analytics can be used to deliver historical, real-time and predictive analytics about user behavior from devices and machine-to-machine communications. When gathered over time and combined with opt-in subscriber profile information, this data can uncover behaviors and provide context for each customer's current location and movement.
Stadiums, arenas, malls and other congested venues are often Wi-Fi enabled to facilitate consumer access to content providers. Network traffic carried on venue networks is vast and contains valuable information. Existing efforts in network analytics focus primarily on geolocation and aggregating baseline network data (e.g. traffic volume, types of mobile devices, website visited (if HTTP)). FIG. 5 shows an exemplary approach that includes data aggregation 520, IP reverse lookup 522, and deep packet inspection (DPI) 524. The examination of the payload during deep packet inspection is a relatively difficult process that is not conducive to providing results in real time or close to real time.

User/group servicing based on deep network analysis

International Business Machines Corporation


Scale deposition on a heat transfer surface in a liquid system such as a heat exchanger is estimated by directing of small portion of the liquid flow through a test cell, consisting of a sensor positioned on and projecting through a conduit wall. The sensor consists of a conductive block containing a heater and having a heated wetted test surface that is flush with the inside of the conduit wall and in contact with the flow through the conduit. Within the conductive block are two temperature sensors which are at different distances from the heated wetted test surface and the heater. The periphery of the apparatus is designed to reduce heat flow through the periphery and allow greater heat flow through the heated wetted test surface. By comparing the temperature differential between the two temperature sensors to the differential when no scale is present, the presence of and amount of scale can be determined, based on reduced heat transfer through the heated wetted surface caused by the accumulated scale. The change in the temperature differential is directly proportional to the scale thickness for a given type of scale. When the thickness of the scale is determined by another means, the nature of the scale can be implied. The sensitivity of the measurement can be adjusted to accommodate a very wide range of bulk liquid or ambient temperature via adjustment of the heat flux through the provided secondary heat flux path.

Industrial plants, such as power plants, steel mills, pulp or paper making plants, have relatively complex water/fluid systems. Organic and inorganic matter deposits on the inner walls of these systems forming an accumulation of fouling or scaling deposits which interfere with the proper operation of the system. This is particularly severe on heated surfaces such as heat exchanger surfaces. This is an unwanted occurrence that causes a number of operational problems such as inadequate heat exchange, plugging of equipment, inefficient usage of chemicals, increased utility costs, lost production due to downtime, corrosion, and downgraded products from increased dirt counts.
In principle, one can distinguish between fouling deposits on the one hand and scaling deposits on the other hand. Fouling deposits are organic deposits which often occur in the form of biofilms in aqueous systems. Such biofilms substantially consist of micro-organisms, e.g. bacteria, algae, fungi and protozoa. Scale is formed from inorganic matter such as complexes of calcium (carbonate, oxalate, sulfate, silicates), aluminum (silicates, hydroxides, phosphates), barium sulfate, radioactive radium sulfate, and silicates of magnesium.
In order to avoid the accumulation of fouling deposits and in particular the growth of biofilms, biocides are added into the fluid concerned as countermeasures. Scale deposits can be removed or prevented by adding chemical deposit control agents based on homopolymers, copolymers and terpolymers of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid and aspartic acid. Chemical deposit control agents include organic phosphonates and their derivatives, as well as polyphosphates. The dosage of these biocides and chemical deposit control agents should be controlled very carefully because they are very expensive.
In line sensors are particularly useful in detecting and quantifying scale for controlling the addition of scale treatment additives. High temperature scaling conditions present a significant challenge to developing an in line scale sensor. Such flows generally preclude the use of most non-metal materials for any surface that is in contact with the flow, and also can be challenging environments for proper operation of electronic components. In addition, the liquid comprising the flow may have other properties that make sensor development difficult; the flow can contain particulates, be toxic, be corrosive to some material, not have constant density, etc. For example, cooling water may have a significant content of dissolved salts, but it is still called water. In many industries, water with a high content of dissolved salts may be called brine, although that term is usually applied to solutions of highly soluble salts. In pulp producing mills, water with certain dissolved salts and dissolved lignin may be called black liquor. Even solutions of highly soluble salts can accumulate troublesome amounts of inverse soluble salts that accumulate in the water for various reasons. Since the most common scale type is inverse soluble scale, the sensor needs to have a surface exposed to the flow that is at a higher temperature than the bulk liquid flow. This requires some form of heating, to produce a heated wetted test surface that is predisposed for the accumulation of scale. The heating must be accomplished in a manner that allows the accumulation to be quantified. This quantification may be a measurement of the reduced heat transfer capabilities resulting from the accumulation, or of the thickness of the accumulation, or both.

Method and apparatus for estimating fouling factor and/or inverse soluble scale thickness in heat transfer equipment


A magnetic unit 12 having yokes 15 made of magnetic material, with a permanent magnet on one end and a magnet treatment part 14 contacting a conduit 11 through which fluids move on the other end, is utilized for the purpose of treating fluids by exposure to the line of magnetic force. A plurality of the magnetic units 12 are arranged such that the N and S magnetic poles generated at the magnetic treatment parts 14 alternate along the flow path of the fluids.

The present invention relates to a method for using an apparatus for the magnetic treatment of fluids through the application of magnetic field to the fluid flowing through conduits.
Alkaline-developing photoresists are used for patterning, for example, chemical-milling and the production of printed wiring boards. As foaming during production is detrimental to the production of printed wiring boards, measures have conventionally been taken to suppress foaming through the addition of antifoaming agents. The ingredients of certain antifoaming agents, such as polyoxyalkylene ethers, glycerol monostearate, polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate, and coconut alcohol, are themselves contaminants in developers and the products of these printed wiring boards.
On the other hand, some ingredients of photoresists, such as polymers having a structure unit of styrenes, methyl methacrylate, ethyl acrylate, and methacrylic acid, are separated and deposited on the wall of conduits. The deposits are also contaminants in developers and the products. In order to remove the separated materials described above, 3% aqueous hydrochloric-acid solution and commercial cleaning solution; some cleaning solution containing caustic soda, sodium acetate, butyldiglycol, or surfactants; and those including hydrochloric acid or hydroxycarboxylic acid, as have conventionally been used. However, these methods involve the high costs of chemical cleansing and waste treatment, and are may not be sufficiently effective, depending on the photoresist ingredients.
In this technological environment, a magnetic water-treatment apparatus is publicly known. As the apparatus separates the association of clustered water molecules in order to reactivate them, it may also be utilized to perform defoaming in the development step described above if it functions as expected. However, as the fluid to be treated is exposed to magnetic flux generated between a pair of magnets positioned on opposite ends of a flow of water in the case of the water-treatment apparatus described above, the pair of magnets must be positioned so as to face each other. Therefore, a strong magnetic field also exists in regions other than the area under examination, resulting in the problems of a low efficiency in magnetic-field utilization and a significant loss in magnetic force. In addition, utilization of a water-treatment apparatus such as that described above, comprising a uniform magnetic field only, cannot be expected to have a significant effect.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,998 is an exemplary invention intended to prevent the deposition of scale inside conduits. The invention has a constitution in which solenoid-type electric coils are positioned alongside and outside or inside the conduit, a magnetic field, generated by charging the electric coils, is applied to the fluid in the conduit. Control of the strength of this magnetic field is also described in the invention. This is done by adjusting the amplifying-signal electric current of the coil to the characteristic frequency of the scale-forming substance. The fluid is exposed to a magnetic field only once while it flows through a conduit utilizing an apparatus of the invention described above.
The present invention was developed in view of the above-mentioned points, and its object is to enable magnetic-force-based kinetic energy to affect fluids flowing through conduits.
Another object of the present invention is to facilitate the removal of contaminants such as scale-forming substances existing in the fluid, by changing the coarseness (structural coarseness) of the contaminants, and to change the magnetic-force-based kinetic energy acting on the fluid in order to improve the characteristics of the fluid.
Another object of the present invention is to solve the problem of contamination of the developer and the developed products by controlling and removing foams that are detrimental to the development process without using conventional antifoaming agents, and to effectively remove insoluble substances in the development process that could not be removed by conventional methods.
Another object of the present invention is to enable stable product control in chemical milling and the production of printed wiring boards.
Another object of the present invention is to prevent so called scale that is deposited on the wall of conduits, etc. of photoresist developers such as in the development process, making it easier to clean the alkaline developer.
These and other objects have been attained by using magnetic units in which the ends of each of the yokes are arranged alternately at the N and S poles, and the other ends of said yokes being arranged so as to face each other, in order to form magnetic circuits in which magnetic flux can circulate, resulting in the positioning of the magnetic treatment part of fluids between said other ends of said yokes, with a plurality of said magnetic units being arranged such that the directions of magnetic flux generated at said parts for magnetic treatment change along the flow path of said fluids.
Thus, the present invention is characterized by the inverse application of a magnetic field to a fluid. The inverse application of a magnetic field in the present invention means switching the polarity of magnetic fields in certain regions. As a result, for example, the magnetic flux may point downward in a certain region, while it points upward in adjacent regions. Therefore, when a fluid such as developing solution passes through regions with different magnetic-flux directions, as described above, it is affected by changes in kinetic energy due to the 180-degree changes in the magnetic flux resulting from the polarity change in the magnetic fields. A magnetic field with magnetic flux having alternating directions will be referred to as an alternating magnetic field in the present invention. To form the 180 degree changes in the magnetic flux, it is desirable to insert non-magnetic spacer between adjacent magnetic units to generate an alternative magnetic field stably.
Although the present invention is common to the conventional magnet-type water-treatment apparatus, it also utilizes the effect of the changes in kinetic energy accompanying the inversion of magnetic polarity. Thus, according to the present invention, both the changing magnetic energy and kinetic energy may be applied to water molecules and the like in the developing solution.
The magnetic circuit described above contains blocks of magnetic material polarized to the N pole and the S pole on its largest face, and a yoke with its end magnetically attracted to said polarized surface and other parts arranged so as to surround the flow of the developing solution, and this magnetic circuit configured so that the magnetic flux circulates. The strength of the magnetic flux per unit area is maximized by polarizing the N pole and the S pole in the largest area of the blocks of strongly magnetized magnetic material (permanent magnet), enabling efficient magnetization of fluids or of other objects such as solvents, solutes, dispersion, etc.
The present invention is also applicable to the removing of scale containing components such as polymeric polymerizing binders, polymerizable substances, and additives deposited on the flow paths and the tank of developing solutions in the developer, wherein it is desirable to use as cleaning liquid aqueous solutions containing one or more than one ingredient of the components polyearboxylic acid, malic acid, EDTA, and saponin, and to remove the insoluble deposits by exposing said aqueous solution to an alternating magnetic field and then flowing it onto the flow paths and into the developing-solution tank.
The scale formed by deposition due to the use of developers mainly contain one or more than one ingredient of the following: polymeric binders, polymerizable substances, and additives. The polymeric binder used is typically an acrylic ester copolymer, styrene-methyl methacrylate copolymer, or ethyl methacrylate- methacrylic acid copolymer. The polymerizable substances used include photo-cross-linking monomers such as ethylene diacrylate, diethyleneglycol diacrylate, trimethylolpropane triacrylate, bismethacrylate of polyethyleneglycol, ethoxylated alcohol, or phenol (such as 2,2xe2x80x2-bis [4-(methacrylxydiethoxy) phenyl]propane), and methylenebismethacrylamide. These substances also contain polymerization initiators as additives. Examples of them are 1-chloroanthraquinone, 2,2xe2x80x2-methylenebis (4-ethyl-6-tert-butylphenol), 4,4xe2x80x2-bis (dimethylamino) benzophenone, and benzotriazole.
Said specific cleaning liquid is used to remove scale containing such ingredients. It is necessary to subject this cleaning liquid to magnetic treatment by exposing it to the alternating magnetic field. Among the ingredients of said cleaning liquid, polycarboxylic acid contains one or more than one ingredient of the following: malic acid, citric acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, succinic acid, oxalic acid, tartaric acid, phthalic acid, fumaric acid, and malonic acid. In addition to polyearboxylic acids, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (2 sodium salt, EDTA) may also be used. These are used as aqueous solutions. Among said acids, an aqueous solution of polycarboxylic acid such as malic acid and EDTA is desirable.
In the case of malic acid and EDTA, for example, the EDTA content is desirably 3-7 wt parts. A cleaning liquid within said range of EDTA content can achieve its purpose through the synergistic effect of the magnetic treatment to be described below. On the other hand, cleaning liquid outside of this range of EDTA content cannot fully achieve its purpose even with magnetic treatment.
When 5-15 wt parts of cations such as silicon, barium, and magnesium are included in the scale, a mixed aqueous solution of one or more than one ingredient from among tetramethylammonium hydroxide, triethanolamine, and monoethanolamine, and either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, are used as the cleaning liquid. Through the use of this mixed aqueous solution following magnetic treatment, effective cleaning can be performed in a single-liquid process.
The magnetic treatment described above is conducted by exposing the cleaning liquid comprised of said aqueous solution to an alternating magnetic field, or by applying the alternating magnetic field to the cleaning liquid. As described above, the alternating magnetic field contains multiple magnetic fields formed fully across the flow path of fluids such as cleaning liquids, developing solution, and the like, with the direction of the magnetic flux of adjacent magnetic fields being opposite and in alternation. The direction of said magnetic flux will cross the flow of fluids at nearly right angles. Though the alternating magnetic field is applied at the top of the highest stream and any required positions downstream from that point, if the fluid is circulable it may be applied anywhere within the circulation, upstream or downstream.
It is desirable to form magnetic fields that fully cross the flow path of the fluid by using a magnetic treatment apparatus with which yokes are polarized into N and S poles by positioning the ends of the magnetic yokes at the N-pole side and the S-pole side of a magnetic body, and in which the flow path is located between the other ends of the yokes. See FIG. 2. The change in kinetic energy accompanying the inversion of magnetic polarity in such magnetic fields can produce highly active water by disrupting the association of water molecules that may have occurred in the flowing water, as if a vibration had been applied.
According to the present invention, substances that cause foaming are dispersed through the application of an alternating magnetic field to the aqueous solution that flows through a developer, so that scale may be prevented from developing even when the apparatus is not being cleaned. Thus, cleaning efficiency is significantly improved through the application of an alternating magnetic field together with cleaning liquid, while the cleaning process may be significantly simplified through the application of an alternating magnetic field to the developing solution during the developing process, due to the reduction in the amount of scale deposition.
Water can be activated by the magnetic treatment exposing cleaning liquid to an alternating magnetic field. At the same time, nucleophilic/electrophilic and positive/negative bipolar water-soluble substances can be produced within the molecules of the components of the aqueous solution, and insoluble monomers are added to the bipolar water-soluble substances through reactions to turn them into water-soluble scale. The mechanism in the present invention may be best explained in this manner.

Method for using a magnetic treatment apparatus for fluids


A scanning differential mobility analysis system having a charging device, a scanning differential mobility analyzer, a flow control, and a particle detector. The charging probability and the flow rates can be dynamically adjusted according to the instant size of the particles under measurement.

Differential mobility analysis is a technique for measuring the size distribution of submicron particles i.e., particles smaller than 1.0 .mu.m in diameter. Particles in an aerosol sample are first charged, preferably with a single electron charge, by using a charging device. The charged particles are then fed into an external electrical field between two parallel electrode plates by an accompanying gas flow. The direction of the gas flow is substantially parallel to the electrode plates. Hence, the charged aerosol particles experience two substantially perpendicular motions, one in a direction perpendicular to the electrode plates due to the force by the electrical field and another in a direction parallel to the electrode plates due to the "dragging" of the gas flow. Therefore, the particles can be classified according to their mobilities or migration velocities within discrete mobility ranges by sampling these particles after traveling a specific distance along the gas flow. This mobility classification allows for determination of the size of the classified particles if each particle is charged with only one elementary charge. Differential mobility analysis technique is known in the art. See, for example, Knutson and Whitby, in "aerosol classification by electrical mobility", J. Aerosol Sci., vol.6, p.453, 1975, which is incorporated herein by reference.
A typical differential mobility analyzer ("DMA") has a configuration of two electrodes with opposite electrical potentials. A small aerosol flow is introduced from an aerosol inlet near a first electrode and a larger particle-free sheath flow is simultaneously introduced from a sheath inlet to separate the aerosol flow from reaching a second electrode. An electrical potential drives particles of appropriate polarity across the sheath flow toward the opposite electrode. At a location downstream from the aerosol inlet, a portion of the sheath flow, which is usually small and referred to as monodisperse flow, is extracted while the remaining flow is discharged to an exhaust of the instrument ("excess flow"). Specifically, particles that migrate within a narrow range of velocities are included in the classified aerosol sample flow ("monodisperse"). Particles with higher migration velocities deposit on the second electrode while those with lower migration velocities are discharged with the exhaust flow.
Next, the classified aerosol particles are transported to a detector for counting. Any of a number of particle counting techniques may be used. For example, optical particle sizing can provide some information on relatively large particles, i.e., from 1.0 .mu.m to as small as 0.1 or 0.05 .mu.m in diameter. Information on the refractive index of the particulate material and the particle morphology is needed to interpret the measured data.
For submicron particles, the optical detection may be inefficient. Condensation nucleus counters (CNCs) have been developed to detect small size particles. In a CNC, small particles are grown by vapor condensation. Since a CNC can achieve high counting efficiency, rapid response, and continuous-flow, it has been widely used in combination with a DMA in an aerosol detection system.
FIG. 1 shows functional blocks of a typical aerosol detection system 100 based on differential mobility analysis. Three basic elements are shown: a charging device 110, a DMA 120, and a particle counter 130.
The particle size is inferred from the migration velocity based on the relationship between particle size and the electrical mobility of the particles. This is described by Flagan and Seinfeld in "Fundamentals of Air Pollution Engineering", Prentice-Hall, 1988. The electrical mobility, Z, is defined as the ratio of the migration velocity .upsilon..sub.m to the strength of the applied electrical field, E, ##EQU1## For spherical particles carrying .nu. electrical charges, the mobility Z can be written as ##EQU2## where .mu. is the gas viscosity, D.sub.p is the particle diameter, C.sub.c is an empirically-determined slip correction factor that accounts for noncontinuous aerodynamic effects, and e is the elementary unit of change. Noncontinuous aerodynamic effects may become important if the particle diameter is comparable to or smaller than the mean-free-path .lambda. of the gas molecules. One commonly employed form for this slip correction factor C.sub.c is ##EQU3## where ##EQU4## is known as Knudsen number.
Under typical operating conditions in most practical systems, only a fraction of the particles are charged, and a majority of those charged particles carry single charge, i.e., .nu.=1. Most mobility classifications are performed with positively charged particles. However, negatively charged particles may also be used.
The migration velocity required for a particle to be transmitted from the aerosol inlet flow to the classified aerosol outlet flow of the differential mobility analyzers depends on the geometry of the classifier and on the four flow rates, i.e., an input sample flow rate, an input sheath flow rate, an output classified sample flow rate, and an output excess flow rate. The size of the particles to be classified is selected by adjusting the voltage such that particles with the mobility of particles of the desired size will migrate at the velocity required for transmission. The size distribution of the aerosol is determined by making measurements of the concentrations at a number of sizes spanning the size range of interest.
One critical parameter of a DMA is the size resolution, which is defined as the ratio of the mobility at which the transmission efficiency is the highest to the full width at the half value of the maximum of the DMA transfer function. A number of factors may affect the DMA resolution, including the voltage on the DMA, the diffusion of the particles as they migrate through the DMA, the particle losses to the walls of the DMA, the percentage of the particles with two or more elementary charges in the charged aerosol flow, and others.
Differential mobility analysis has traditionally been performed by making a sequence of measurements at different electric field strengths, i.e., at different voltages applied across the two electrodes of the classifier. Although this method is effective, it is usually slow. Depending on the size range and the desired resolution, the operation time may range from several minutes to more than an hour to measure a size distribution. Wang and Flagan accelerated the measurements dramatically by exponentially ramping the voltage and counting the particles continuously, thereby eliminating the delays between successive measurements that are needed to ensure representative data at each mobility with the stepping-mode of differential mobility analysis. A complete size distribution can be measured in less than one minute with this accelerated scanning-mode of differential mobility analysis. See, Wang and Flagan, "Scanning electrical mobility spectrometer" in Aerosol Sci. Technol., 13, pp.230-240, 1990.
A fully automated version of the scanning mode differential mobility analyzer system has been developed for use aboard the University of Washington C-131 during the Monterey Area Ship Track experiment. See, Russell et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/730,037, "Automated Mobility-Classified-Aerosol Detector". That instrument employed a radial differential mobility analyzer ("RDMA") in a feedback controlled system that maintained stable flows through continuous pressure variations as the aircraft altitude varied and made size distribution measurements in about 45 s. An enhanced condensation nucleus counter, produced based upon one of the commercial TSI models through collaboration with TSI, and the high transmission efficiency of the RDMA extended the sizing range of this instrument below 5 nm. The integrated system, which was termed the Radial Automated Classified Aerosol Detector (RCAD) incorporated a double bag sampler so that size distributions could be made on air drawn from discrete locations separated in flight time by only 45 s.

Enhanced automated classified aerosol detector


A bra measurement system includes a left bra wing, a right bra wing, a breast plate, a left bra strap, and a right bra strap. The left bra wing and the right bra wing are connected with the breast plate opposite of each other so that the bra measurement system can be attached around the wearer body. The left bra strap and the right bra strap connect between the left bra wing and the breast plate and the right bra wing and the breast plate respectively. A plurality of fitting zippers of the left bra wing and the right bra wing allows a bra fitting specialist to get the correct girth measurements of the wearer while a plurality of additional zippers of the breast plate enables the bra fitting specialist to get the correct measurement of the cup sized and the cleavage of the breasts. Then the measurements can be used to create a customized bra that fits the respective individual.

Obtaining a correct bra size is often difficult for a majority of women whose breasts are asymmetrical to some degree. Generally, it is recommended that women should wear a bra fitted to the larger breast and use padding for the smaller or shorten breast to avoid gapping. This method can be useful to overcome slight differences in the breasts. However, this is not a practicable solution for women who display a persistent and visible breast asymmetry that is defined as differing in size by at least one cup size. In order to overcome this problem, some bras are made with different cup sizes, where the first cup may be larger or smaller in size compared to the second cup. However, different cup sized bras still are not able to fully solve this problem as they only correspond with the industry standard measurements. In other words, these bras do not provide a customized fitting for the user. Additionally, women with large breasts also have difficulties finding the correct bra that fits. These problems in relation to the garment industry create a need for a measurement system so that the correct fitting for a bra can be created with individual customization.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bra measurement system that allows an individual to measure any imperfection related to breasts. More specifically, the present invention is an undergarment and utilizes a plurality of zippers that is placed adjacent to the breasts and the ribcage so that the correct measurements can be taken with respect to the breasts of the wearer. Then the measurements are used to create a customized bra for the respective individual.


A string guide comprising an upper mandrel, a lower muleshoe guide concentric to a lower portion of the upper mandrel, and an annular fastener internal to the lower muleshoe guide that fastens the lower muleshoe guide to the upper mandrel. When the guide encounters an obstruction (e.g., a packer bore or liner top), the weight of equipment above the lower muleshoe guide elastically deforms the annular fastener which drives the lower muleshoe guide up the upper mandrel. As the lower muleshoe guide travels up the upper mandrel, internal lugs of the muleshoe guide ride a spiral groove on the upper mandrel to rotate the lower muleshoe guide around the upper mandrel.

Traditional well construction, such as drilling of an oil or gas well, consists of three phases: drilling, lining with casing, and production with tubing. In the drilling phase, rock is cut away until a deposit is reached. This establishes a wellbore or borehole through a series of formations. Each formation through which the well passes must be sealed so as to avoid an undesirable passage of formation fluids, gases, or materials out of the formation and into the borehole or from the borehole into the formation. In addition, it is often desired to isolate both producing and non-producing formations from each other to avoid contaminating one formation with fluids from another formation.
Lining the wellbore with casing protects the formation layers and stabilizes the wellbore. Packers and liners are often used in lining the wellbore to separate fluid types. Packers are tools used to form an annular seal between two concentric strings of pipe or between the pipe and the wall of the open hole and are usually set just above the producing zone to isolate the producing interval from the casing annulus or from producing zones elsewhere in the wellbore. At times, it is not desired for the casing to extend all the way to the surface of the wellbore, in which case a liner is used. A liner is a casing string that does not extend to the top of the wellbore, but instead is anchored or suspended from inside the bottom of the previous casing string.
Production tubing is run into a drilled well after the casing is run and set in place. Production tubing protects the wellbore casing from wear, tear, and corrosion while providing a continuous bore from the producing zone to the wellhead. When sections of production tubing are run into a wellbore, they often run through a packer or liner top to interconnect them. However, packer bores and liner tops are substantially centered in the wellbore. If the wellbore is deviated, the production tubing will tend to engage the edge of the packer bore or liner top instead of entering it. In order to correct this issue, the production tubing is maneuvered to enter the packer bore or liner top. A guide is attached to the lower end of the production tubing to facilitate entering a packer bore or maneuvering past downhole obstructions. The guide typically includes a muleshoe geometry such that rotation of the muleshoe will allow the end of the guide to bypass the top of a packer or obstruction. This rotation may be accomplished by rotating the entire production tubing from the surface. However, when running the production tubing string into a wellbore, the ability to rotate the tubing string to enter into packer bores or liner tops may be prevented due to control lines attached to the tubing and/or extreme hole angles. When rotation of the production tubing is not feasible, there are self-aligning muleshoe guides available that will rotate as the weight of the production tubing string applied to the guide increases due to the guide setting down on a packer bore or liner top. A guide with a muleshoe geometry will enter the packer bore or liner top after sufficient rotation. After the guide enters the packer or liner top, the bottom end of the guide will typically move back to the original position with the assistance of a spring. In addition, the spring designed for use in the guide is designed for the harsh downhole environment, which incurs a significant cost in material and design.


The present provides a polynucleotide which identifies and encodes a novel human kallikrein (HKLP). The invention provides for genetically engineered expression vectors and host cells comprising the nucleic acid sequence encoding HKLP. The invention also provides for the use of substantially purified HKLP and its agonists, antagonists, or inhibitors in the commercial production of recombinant proteins and in pharmaceutical compositions for the treatment of diseases associated with the expression of HKLP. Additionally, the invention provides for the use of antisense molecules to HKLP in pharmaceutical compositions for treatment of diseases associated with the expression of HKLP. The invention also describes diagnostic assays which utilize diagnostic compositions comprising the polynucleotide, fragments or the complement thereof, which hybridize with the genomic sequence or the transcript of polynucleotides encoding HKLP or anti-HKLP antibodies which specifically bind to HKLP.

Kallikreins are a large family of homologous serine proteases that act in a variety of circulatory and immune system functions (MacDonald R J et al (1988) Biochem J 253: 313-321; Murray S R et al (1990) J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 15 Suppl 6: S7-16). They may exist in blood plasma or be associated with the cell membrane. Kallikreins act both locally and systemically to regulate blood flow and pressure. They are capable of specifically cleaving low molecular weight kininogen to generate vasoactive kinin peptides, such as the potent vasodialator, bradykinin (Pisano J J (1979) Handb Exp Pharmacol 25: suppl 273-285; Schachter M (1979) Pharmacol Rev 31: 1-17). Genetic and transgenic studies have also indicated that kallikreins play a role in blood pressure regulation (Berry T D et al (1989) Hypertension 13: 3-8; Woodley-Miller et al 1989; Pravenac M et al (1991) Hypertension 17: 242-246; Wang J et al (1994) Hypertension 23: 236-243).
Kallikrein has a dual function in the blood coagulation cascade. Kallikrein can promote blood clot formation by activating factor XI, an early component of the cascade (Griffin J H et al (1976) Proc Natl Acad Sci 73: 2554-2558) and in an existing blood clot can stimulate the formation of plasmin, which will lyse the clot and destroy clotting factors (Heimark R L et al (1980) Nature 286: 456-460).
Kallikrein has important immunological functions. Plasma kallikrein can stimulate human neutrophils to aggregate and degranulate, releasing their lysosomal contents (Schapira M et al (1982) J Clin Invest 69: 1199-1202). In addition, plasma kallikrein incubated with the complement component C5 generates immunologically active fragments of C5 (Wiggins R C et al (1981) J Exp Med 153: 1391-1404). Several investigators have found evidence for a kallikrein role in the inflammatory response. In one study, Clements J A et al (1995, Endocrinology 136: 1137-1144) reported tissue kallikrein expression and activity in the periovalatory period in the gonadotropin-primed immature female ovary suggesting a role in the inflammatory-like response at ovulation.
The greatest nucleotide differences among the kallikreins are in the 5' end of the mRNA. The regulation of the mRNA stability and/or turnover rate of kallikrein may be affected by its 5' end in a species-dependent manner (Seidah N G et al (1990) DNA Cell Biol 9: 737-748). In addition, researchers speculate that small sequence differences among kallikrein genes play a role in generating diverse patterns of tissue-specific expression and function (Wines D R et al (1991) J Mol Evol 32: 476-492).
A local kallikrein-kinin system is present in rat hearts (Nolly N et al (1994) Hypertension 23: 919-923). Evidence was found for kallikrein activity and gene expression in rat heart tissues. Kinins mediate part of the beneficial cardiac effects induced by treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in ischemia-reperfusion injury, myocardial infarction, and cardiac hypertrophy. Researchers did not determine whether the rat heart kallikrein-kinin system acts independently of the kallikrein-kinin systems of other tissues or blood plasma.
Kallikreins and Disease
Cardiopulmonary bypass can cause severe hemorrhagic complications by initiating a biochemical and cellular inflammatory response. It has been suggested that selective inhibitors of kallikrein may be effective in the attenuation of the contact-mediated inflammatory response in cardiopulmonary bypass (Wachtfogel Y T et al (1995) Am J Physiol 268: H1352-1357).
The selective tissue kallikrein inhibitor CH-694 caused highly significant decrease in kallikrein activity and in airway resistance when administered intraperitoneally before or after challenge in ovalbumin-sensitized guinea pigs (Szelke M et al (1994) Braz J Med Biol Res 27: 1943-1947). Thus, inhibitors of tissue kallikrein may prove effective in the treatment of allergic inflammation.
Specific kallikrein inhibitors decrease joint swelling and anemia in a rat model for arthritis, perhaps by interfering with kallikrein induced inflammatory reactions (Dela Cadena R A et al (1995) FASEB J 9: 446-452). Thus, specific kallikrein inhibitors may have therapeutic potential for arthritis patients.
The potential for using kallikrein gene therapy for the treatment of high blood pressure was investigated in rats. Human kallikrein gene delivered intravenously to spontaneously hypertensive rats caused a significant and sustained reduction in systemic blood pressure (Wang C et al (1995) J Clin Invest 95: 1710-1716). Therefore, kallikrein gene therapy may one day become a treatment option for the approximately 25% of the population afflicted with hypertension.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) are widely used in the treatment of hypertension and heart failure. Evidence suggests that kinins mediate some of the effects of ACEi in treatments for ischemia-reperfusion injury, myocardial infarction, and cardiac hypertrophy (Nolly et al, supra). Involvement of kinins in the cardiac effects of ACEi suggests the presence of an independent cardiac kallikrein-kinin system. Whereas, 14 kallikrein gene family members have been characterized in mice, only 3 have been discovered to date in humans, none of which are localized to the heart (Wines et al, supra). Discovery of a kallikrein active in the heart is very desirable, as it provides the possibility of new treatments for hypertension, heart failure, inflammation, and blood clotting disorders.


A method for mapping a two-dimensional image of a physical object onto a computer generated three-dimensional surface defined by a plurality of surface points in a CAD space has the steps of creating a two-dimensional texture image plane of the physical object by taking a photograph of the physical object with a photographic device and converting the photograph into a texture image plane having a plurality of texture image plane points, determining a physical position of the photographic device with respect to the physical object, and transferring the texture image plane onto the three-dimensional surface. The transfer is accomplished by positioning a synthetic camera in the CAD space with respect to the three-dimensional surface according to the physical position of the photographic device, mapping each of the plurality of surface points viewable by the synthetic camera to a corresponding texture image point in the texture image plane, and assigning texture coordinates to each of the plurality of surface points from the corresponding texture image plane point.

Texture mapping is the process of transferring a two-dimensional image onto a three-dimensional computer generated surface. For example, photographic pictures of gauges, dials and controls can be texture mapped onto a simple three-dimensional foundation surface to give a sophisticated rendering of an instrument panel without the need to geometrically model these details. Many automotive applications make use of this technique because it provides photo-realistic images at high frame rates in a cost-effective manner. Particular applications include, but are not limited to, concept vehicle design, product testing in a virtual environment and market evaluation studies.
Many commercial CAD systems are capable of creating and rendering texture maps. However, existing texture map techniques are only effective on planar or near planar surfaces. The mapped images tend to warp and distort when applied to free-form surface geometries common in automotive CAD applications. An example of such distortion is seen by comparing FIG. 1, a photograph of a vehicle tail lamp, with FIG. 2, a texture mapped CAD surface of the same tail lamp. The anomalies apparent in FIG. 2 can be corrected by a commercial artist, but this approach is both expensive and non-deterministic.
The warping and distortion seen in FIG. 2 can be traced to the transfer functions used by the texture mapping technique, which is similar to those used in most current texture mapping techniques. These techniques use a transfer function which relates the surface points of a three-dimensional object to locations in a two-dimensional image space. The function can be defined in either direction; that is, the object can be mapped to the image space or the image space can be mapped to the object. Typically, mapping from the image space to the object is done geometrically by projecting a two-dimensional algebraic surface, such as a plane or sphere representing the image space, onto the object. Any mismatch between the algebraic surface and the three-dimensional surface results in an image distortion (FIG. 2). Mapping from the object to image space must be procedural and can, therefore, be non-deterministic. Various procedures include node-relaxation and surface distance and direction methods, which still introduce image warping. Furthermore, to be computationally feasible these transfer functions are of low order, resulting in discontinuities in the mapped image.
Other existing methods can provide better results by splitting individual details into many small components, each relatively flat and with a separate texture map. However, this reduces flexibility and requires a significant amount of time and effort to produce a finished model. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,352, the problem of texture mapping two-dimensional texture images onto developable surfaces, that is, surfaces which can be made solely from flat panels, is addressed. This method is not applicable to free-form surfaces, however, and thus not of practical importance for the automotive industry or other industries desiring a more robust procedure. Another procedure utilizes a polygon fragmentation method of distortion correction for computer image generating systems, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,744. This method tries to solve the distortion problem by pre-distorting the texture image. The method, however, does not take into account the distortion due to the perspective model used to capture the original texture image. Furthermore, the pre-distortion technique introduces several discontinuities into the mapped image.
Thus, a method is needed to efficiently texture map photographs of large sections of vehicle components onto the surface of a three-dimensional CAD object without distortion.

Texture mapping of photographic images to CAD surfaces


Disclosed herein is a reception apparatus including: a reception portion configured to receive AV content being transmitted; a command execution portion configured to execute a first application program in response to a first command for controlling the operation of the first application program executed in interlocked related to the AV content; a command transmission portion configured to transmit to an external terminal apparatus a second command for controlling the operation of a second application program that can be executed by the terminal apparatus in interlocked relation to the AV content when the terminal apparatus is connected to the reception apparatus; and a command reception portion configured to receive the first command transmitted from the terminal apparatus executing the second application program. The command execution portion executes the first application program in response to the received first command.

The present technology relates to a reception apparatus, a terminal apparatus, a control method, a program, and a communication system. More particularly, this technology relates to a reception apparatus, a terminal apparatus, a control method, a program, and a communication system for controlling the operation of a predetermined application program in interlocked relation to AV (Audio Visual) content such as a program.
In digital broadcasting, not only television program broadcast services but also so-called data broadcast services have been implemented today (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2006-50237). Studies are underway on the introduction of more advanced services that utilize the Internet in conjunction with digital television broadcasts from now on.
For example, the advanced services using the Internet in conjunction with digital television broadcasts and currently under consideration may include application programs that are supplied to a reception apparatus via the Internet to control the operation of the reception apparatus in interlocked relation to the AV content of a program, or to operate an external apparatus connected to the reception apparatus in interlocked relation to the AV content.

Reception apparatus, terminal apparatus, control method, program, and communication system