The invention relates to a power supply device and a communication system. The power supply device supplies power to a main device. The communication system is provided with the main device mounting the power supply device therein and an external device connected to the main device. A feature of the invention is to offer a power supply device and a communication system that are capable of being responsive to external signals for returning to a normal operation mode with minimum power consumption in a power-saving operation mode. In the power saving operation mode, a main power supply circuit (60) is turned off and only an auxiliary power supply circuit (50) is operated. In order to detect external signal, the auxiliary power supply circuit (50) supplies power not to an entire interface section (20), but to a ring detection circuit (31), a LAN signal detection circuit (32), a 1284 signal detection circuit (33), a USB signal detection circuit (34), and a panel signal detection circuit (35) that are respectively provided with a minimum functions for detecting external signal.

In electrical appliance such as personal computer and image forming apparatus, attention has been focused on reducing standby power consumption to a minimum level. One known solution is to incorporate a power supply device that stops power supply from a main power supply circuit during standby time.
However, an electrical appliance on standby is sometimes required to return to a normal operation mode in response to external signals. During standby time, a facsimile, for example, needs to be ready to appropriately receive facsimile data input externally over telephone lines. A printer needs to return to a normal operation state immediately on detection of image data input from a personal computer and perform an image forming operation according to the input image data.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-63101 discloses a composite machine including: a power saving controller for controlling power supply from a main power supply means to a main controller (main CPU) and detecting a trigger for cancellation of a power-saving operation mode; and an auxiliary power supply means for supplying power to the power saving controller. The composite machine stops power supply from the main power supply means in the power-saving operation mode, thereby reducing standby power consumption.
The composite machine of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-63101, however, still consumes power more than necessary in the power-saving operation mode. The composite machine consumes power to be capable of communicating with external devices in the power-saving operation mode. In the composite machine, power is supplied to a sub CPU that performs power saving control and a bunch of interface sections, such as a FAX board and a PC interface board, that communicate with external devices.
Although the composite machine takes some malfunction prevention measures, the composite machine is likely to malfunction when a power-save request and a start-up request are input to the composite machine at about the same time with a slight time lug, or when noise are added to a power-save request to be input to the composite machine.
A feature of the present invention is to offer a power supply device and a communication system that are capable of receiving external signals with minimum power consumption in a power-saving operation mode.
Another feature of the present invention is to offer a power supply device and a communication system that are capable of preventing waste of power caused by false detection of input signal.

Power supply device and communication system


In a polymer electrolyte battery including a battery element having a cathode and an anode coiled through a polymer electrolyte, a section of the battery element perpendicular to the coiling axis has a curved form. As compared with a polymer electrolyte battery having a flat plate type battery element curved, the former battery has an extremely low possibility of short-circuit at the end of an electrode and excellent battery characteristics.

In recent years, as portable electronic devices are made compact and the weight of them are reduced, it has been highly demanded for batteries which supply electric power to these electronic devices to decrease their size, thickness or weight irrespective of uses thereof such as driving means or backup means.
As a battery for satisfying such a demand, has been developed and put into practical use a nonaqueous electrolyte battery, what is called a lithium battery which includes a cathode and an anode having active materials capable of reversibly inserting and extracting lithium ions and a nonaqueous electrolyte and has such advantages as a high output and high energy density.
Especially, the lithium battery including a polymer electrolyte as the nonaqueous electrolyte has characteristics that the battery is excellent in its leak resistance and high in its safety. Further, since the lithium battery including the polymer electrolyte is light in its weight and may be thinned in this thickness, the configuration of the battery can be designed so as to meet the forms or size of various kinds of electronic devices. Therefore, this lithium battery has a feature that has not been seen in the conventional batteries.
For example, when a thin and flat plate type polymer electrolyte battery is produced, a battery element may be formed by providing a polymer electrolyte between a thin sheet type cathode and a thin sheet type anode and the battery element may be covered with a laminate film having an aluminum foil as a core material.
Nowadays, in order to make various types of electronic devices more compact, it has been necessary to efficiently employ the inner spaces of the electronic devices, and it has been especially demanded to use the inner spaces having curved surfaces as spaces for accommodating the batteries serving as the power sources of the electronic device.
However, for instance, as shown in FIG. 1, when a flat plate type polymer electrolyte battery 102 is attached to an inner space having a curved surface in a portable electronic device 101 such as a portable telephone or a PDA, useless spaces 103 are inconveniently generated between the casing of the electronic device 101 and the flat plate type polymer electrolyte battery 102 so that the inner space of the electronic device 101 cannot be efficiently used.
Thus, as a method for efficiently using these spaces 103, the flat plate type polymer electrolyte battery 102 may be curved so as to meet the form of the inner space of the electronic device 101.
However, since the flat plate type polymer electrolyte battery 102 has a flat plate type battery element including a thin sheet type cathode and a thin sheet type anode and a polymer electrolyte interposed therebetween, even when the flat plate type polymer electrolyte battery 102 is curved, a desired curved form cannot be held for a long time. Further, an electrode active material layer may be cracked or further may be separated from a current collector due to an external force when the flat plate type battery element is bent. Therefore, when the flat plate type polymer electrolyte battery 102 is bent, battery characteristics are disadvantageously extremely deteriorated.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. hei 11-307130, is disclosed a method for bending a flat plate type battery element by applying a thermocompression bonding process to the battery element (refer it to simply as a flat plate type battery element, hereinafter) having a cathode and an anode laminated through a polymer electrolyte using two rolls respectively having different diameter. According to this method, although the curved configuration of the battery element is maintained, a shearing stress by the rolls with different diameter is exerted on a part between an active material layer and a current collector, so that the resistance of a cell is undesirably increased, a short-circuit is apt to be generated at the end of a stacked electrode, and accordingly, a stable battery performance cannot be inconveniently obtained. Further, not only the curvature of a desired curved configuration can be extremely hardly obtained, but also the thickness of a cell is inconveniently greatly regulated.


Embodiments for heating an emission control device are provided. In one example, a method for a turbocharged engine comprises during an engine cold-start, delivering boosted air from downstream of a compressor into a wastegate duct coupled across a turbine and exothermically reacting a reductant with the boosted air upstream of an exhaust emission control device. In this way, boosted air may be used to initiate an exothermic reaction to heat the device.

Exhaust emission control devices, such as catalytic converters, achieve higher emission reduction after reaching a predetermined operating temperature. Thus, to lower vehicle emissions, various methods are possible to raise emission control device temperature as fast as possible.
In one approach to raise the emission control device temperature, an engine is operated with a rich air-fuel ratio and secondary air is directly introduced into the exhaust upstream of an emission control device. Such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,842. In this system, the excess fuel from the engine is expelled into the exhaust, where it reacts with the secondary air upstream of the emission control device. The reacted fuel increases the temperature of the exhaust, thus heating the emission control device. However, in order to introduce the secondary air into the exhaust, a secondary air pump is used to increase the pressure of the secondary above the exhaust pressure. Use of such a pump may degrade fuel efficiency and requires additional packaging space, thus reducing the efficiency of the engine.
The inventors herein have recognized the issues with the above approach and offer a method to at least partly address them. In one embodiment, a method for a turbocharged engine comprises during an engine cold-start, delivering boosted air from downstream of a compressor into a wastegate duct coupled across a turbine and exothermically reacting a reductant with the boosted air upstream of an exhaust emission control device.
In this way, boosted air downstream of the compressor may be directed to the exhaust upstream of an emission control device without utilizing a separate pump. By utilizing the pressure differential between the throttle inlet pressure downstream of the compressor and the turbine outlet pressure near where the secondary air is introduced into the wastegate valve, the boosted air may be driven to the exhaust without a separate pressurization mechanism. Further, in some examples the wastegate valve, which regulates the amount of exhaust bypassing the turbine via the wastegate duct, may be used to control the reaction rate between the exhaust and the introduced boosted air.
The present disclosure may offer several advantages. For example, by relying on boosted air rather than air pressurized by a pump, a separate air pump may be dispensed with, thus improving engine efficiency. Additionally, by introducing the boosted air to the wastegate duct, the reaction between the reductants in the exhaust and the boosted air may be controlled by the wastegate valve, thus ensuring that the turbine, emission control device, or other exhaust system components are not subject to high temperatures that may result in component degradation.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.


A graphic arts printing apparatus includes a delivery channel for hydrophobic liquid; a source of pressurized hydrophobic liquid communicating with the delivery channel; a nozzle bore which opens into the delivery channel to establish a continuous flow of hydrophobic liquid in a stream; and a droplet generator which causes the stream to break up into a plurality of droplets at a position spaced from the stream generator. The droplet generator includes a heater having a selectively-actuated section associated with only a portion of the nozzle bore perimeter, whereby actuation of the heater section produces an asymmetric application of heat to the stream to control the direction of the stream between a print direction and a non-print direction.

Printing plates suitable for offset lithographic printing are known which comprise a support having a surface having hydrophilic non-image areas and hydrophobic ink-receptive image areas. The art of lithographic printing is based upon the immiscibility of oil and water, wherein oily ink is preferentially retained by the image area and water or fountain solution is preferentially retained by non-image areas.
Ink jet printing mechanisms can be categorized as either continuous ink jet or drop-on-demand ink jet. Graphic arts require small dots for acceptable resolution, and drop-on-demand ink jet printers are at present incapable of producing drops sufficiently small for the graphic arts industry. Continuous ink jet printing, which can produce acceptably small drops, dates back to at least 1929. See U.S. Pat. No. 1,941,001 to Hansell.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,486 describes an apparatus for the production of lithographic printing plates by melting a solid hydrophobic ink and spraying droplets of the melted ink onto the plate in a pattern corresponding to the image with an ink jet head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,150 describes a process for the manufacture of a lithographic printing plate by image-wise projection of droplets of liquid onto a hydrophilic surface thus to bring together a reducible silver compound, a reducing agent for the silver compound, and physical development nuclei to catalyze the reduction of the silver compound to silver metal. The silver image is hydrophobized to produce the printing plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,924 describes a ink jet printing process utilizing a radiation curable ink composition comprising an ethylenically unsaturated material, a reactive synergist, a dye colorant and an oil soluble salt for conductivity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,477 claims the method of preparing photopolymer relief type printing plates such as flexographic printing plates by use of a radiation cured photopolymeric ink containing ferromagnetic powder for conductivity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,803 discloses a method of forming a graphic arts photomask, also known as a color separation image, by ink jet printing. The photomask is then used to expose a sensitized lithographic printing plate.
JP-A-53015905 discloses the preparation of a printing plate by ink-jetting an alcohol-soluble resin in an organic solvent onto an aluminum plate.
JP-A-56105960 describes the formation of a printing plate by ink-jetting an ink capable of forming an oleophilic surface, which ink contains a hardening substance such as an epoxide or photo-hardening substance onto a hydrophilic substrate.
EP-776763-A1 describes a method for producing a lithographic printing plate by ink jet printing of two reactive inks which combine to form a polymeric resin which forms the ink accepting part of the lithographic printing plate image.
Kokai 62-25081 describes a lithographic printing plate made by ink-jetting an oleophilic liquid onto an aluminum plate.
WO 94/1191 describes in ink jet apparatus for the production of lithographic printing plates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,627 describes an apparatus for ink jet printing which jets two different inks onto the same spot, using electrostatic deflection of conducting inks to control the printing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,658 describes a method for preparing relief images (flexographic printing plates) by ink-jetting a reagent that reacts with a polymer on a substrate to render it insoluble in the subsequent processing solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,288 describes a laser thermal color proofing system, wherein absorption of laser light heats a dye laser thus causing the dye to be transferred to a receiver. Such a system, while effective for producing proofs, is expensive because of the cost of preparing donor sheets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,046 describes a method for preparing a lithographic printing plate by laser thermal exposure of the sensitized plate followed by solution processing. While effective, such systems are expensive because of the high cost of the multiple high power lasers that are required.
Inks for high speed ink jet printers must have a number of special characteristics. Typically, water-based inks have been used because of their conductivity and viscosity range. Thus, for use in a conventional ink jet printer the ink must be electrically conductive, having a resistivity below about 5000 ohm-cm and preferably below about 500 ohm-cm. For good runability through small orifices water-based inks generally have a viscosity in the range between about one and fifteen centipoise at 25.degree. C.
Additionally, the ink must be stable over a long period of time, compatible with the materials comprising the orifice plate and ink manifold, free of living organisms, and functional after printing. The required functional characteristics after printing are: smear resistance after printing, fast drying on paper, and waterproof when dry. Examples of different types of water-based ink jet printing inks are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,034; No. 3,889,269; No. 3,870,528; No. 3,846,141; No. 3,776,642; and No. 3,705,043.
Water-based inks in general can be said to have the following problems:
(1) They require a large amount of energy to dry after printing. PA1 (2) Large printed areas on paper usually cockle because of the amount of water present. PA1 (3) The printed images are sensitive to wet and dry rub. PA1 (4) The compositions of the ink usually require an anti-bacterial preservative to minimize the growth of bacteria in the ink. PA1 (5) The inks tend to dry out on the tip of the orifice resulting in clogging.
Some of these problems may be overcome by the use of polar, conductive organic solvent based ink formulations. However, the use of non-polar organic solvents is generally precluded by their lack of electrical conductivity.
Scitex has demonstrated, at the Print '97 show in Chicago, an Iris jet drop printer with a special liquid writing on grained, anodized aluminum plates to make an offset lithographic printing plate. They showed the press run from such plates. However, the Iris jet drop printer is slow, because it has a limited number of nozzles. Adding more nozzles is expensive. In addition, the use of the electrostatic deflection system in the Iris jet drop printer limits the kinds of liquids that can be used.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,437, which issued to Sweet et al. in 1967, discloses an array of continuous ink jet nozzles wherein ink drops to be printed are selectively charged and deflected towards the printing plate. This technique is known as binary deflection continuous ink jet, and is used by several manufacturers, including Elmjet and Scitex.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,153, which issued to Hertz et al. in 1966, discloses a method of achieving variable optical density of printed spots in continuous ink jet printing using the electrostatic dispersion of a charged drop stream to modulate the number of droplets which pass through a small aperture. This technique is used in ink jet printers manufactured by Iris.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,519, which issued to Eaton in 1974, discloses a method and apparatus for synchronizing droplet formation in a liquid stream using electrostatic deflection by a charging tunnel and deflection plates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,387, which issued to Hertz in 1982 discloses a method and apparatus for controlling the electric charge on droplets formed by the breaking up of a pressurized liquid stream at a drop formation point located within the electric field having an electric potential gradient. Drop formation is effected at a point in the field corresponding to the desired predetermined charge to be placed on the droplets at the point of their formation. In addition to charging tunnels, deflection plates are used to actually deflect drops.
Conventional continuous ink jet utilizes electrostatic charging tunnels that are placed close to the point where the drops are formed in a stream. In this manner individual drops may be charged. The charged drops may be deflected downstream by the presence of deflector plates that have a large potential difference between them. A gutter (sometimes referred to as a "catcher") may be used to intercept the charged drops, while the uncharged drops are free to strike the printing plate. In the current invention, the electrostatic charging tunnels are unnecessary.
It would be desirable to have an jet drop printing process to prepare graphic arts media of all kinds economically, and with high speed, without the limitations of having to use electrically conductive liquids.

Graphic arts printing plate production by a continuous jet drop printing with asymmetric heating drop deflection


The present invention relates to a use for the purpose of preventing, alleviating, or treating bipolar disorder by administering a pharmaceutical composition comprising a carbamate compound of the following chemical formula 1.

Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a mood disorder that is accompanied by mania and depression, which is a chronic, cyclic psychiatric disorder. According to DSM-IV, bipolar disorder is classified as bipolar disorder Type I, bipolar disorder Type II, cyclothymic disorder, and bipolar disorder not otherwise classified. When a patient has experienced more than one manic episode or a mixed episode in which depressive episodes and manic episodes occur simultaneously, he/she is diagnosed as bipolar disorder Type I. Bipolar disorder Type II refers to a case in which a patient having a medical history of at least one major depressive episode has further experienced at least one hypomanic episode (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).
Mania is characterized by at least one of the following symptoms lasting for a week: irritability, euphoria, decreased need for sleep, grandiose ideas, impulsive behavior, increased talkativeness, racing thoughts, increased activity, distractibility, etc. Mania is a condition wherein these symptoms cause severe disruption to life to such a degree that hospitalization is required. Hypomania refers to a condition in which the symptoms are similar to those of mania but the duration is shorter than that of mania and the functional change is mild so that hospitalization is not required. During depressive episodes, the patient experiences loss of attention, lack of worth, guilt, feelings of helplessness (lethargy), loss of interest, fatigue, sleeplessness or excessive sleep, weight gain or loss, suicidal impulse or attempt, etc. According to the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, the lifetime prevalence of bipolar disorder is estimated to be about 4%, and bipolar disorder has a high morbidity rate with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), generalized anxiety disorder, alcoholism, drug abuse and the like.
To date, the pathophysiology and causes of bipolar disorder have not been clearly elucidated. It is understood that genetic factors, biological factors, psychosocial factors, etc. work in combination and cause the onset of bipolar disorder. It is known that bipolar disorder is associated imbalance of neurotransmitters, especially dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, and the sensitivity of each receptor rather than the absolute amount influences the effect of a drug (i.e., alleviation of symptoms).
The aim of the treatment of bipolar disorder is to treat symptoms such as mania, hypomania and depression, and to maintain the therapeutic effect by reducing or preventing the cyclothymic properties of the disease. Lithium and antipsychotics are used as manic therapies, and benzodiazepines are considered as adjunctive therapies. Recently, many articles have raised questions about the efficacy and therapeutic superiority of lithium, but it is still considered the standard treatment for bipolar mania (Ketter et al., 2016). Early onset of lithium therapy can lead to headaches, hand shaking, weight gain, etc., and sudden cessation of therapy can lead to mania, so it is important to maintain adequate blood concentration. Second-generation antipsychotics, such as olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone and clozapine, are likely to treat bipolar mania, but side effects such as sedation, weight gain and metabolic disorders are common (Vieta & Rosa, 2007). Antidepressants are effective for unipolar depression, but the advantages of using antidepressants in combination with mood stabilizers in bipolar depression remain controversial. Due to concerns about symptomatic switch to mania or hypomania, recent guidelines have restricted or prohibited the use of antidepressants for the treatment of bipolar depression (Pacchiarotti et al., 2013).
A variety of drugs have been used for the treatment or prevention of bipolar disorder, but there are still limitations in their use due to an unsatisfactory level of drug response or side effects. Thus, there is a need for new drugs for bipolar disorder with improved efficacy and fewer side effects.

Use of carbamate compounds for prevention, alleviation or treatment of bipolar disorder


The disclosure describes a humectant, antistatic agent, film-forming agent or dispersant comprising an effective amount of a polysaccharide produced by two strains of Kliebsiella composed of D-glucuronic acid, L-rhamnose, D-galactose and D-glucose in a molar ratio of D-glucuronic acid:L-rhamnose:D-galactose:D-glucose=0.8-1.2:2.4-3.6:0.8-1.2:0.8-1.2.

The present invention relates to a humectant, antistatic agent, dispersant and film-forming agent containing a polysaccharide as active principle, a preparation process of polysaccharides, and Kliebsiella oxytoca TNM-3 strain. More particularly, it relates to a tyrosinase-inhibitory humectant containing a polysaccharide as active principle, and cosmetic compositions containing said humectant; an antistatic agent containing a polysaccharide with high biodegradability as active principle; a dispersant containing a polysaccharide as active principle and capable of dispersing, to inorganic and oleaginous substances in a quite satisfactory way; a film-forming agent containing a polysaccharide as active principle, which is capable of forming a low-viscosity solution and can contain an antibacterial metal as counter ion, and films having high break elongation property formed by using said film-forming agent; a preparation process of polysaccharides; and polysaccharide-productive Kliebsiella oxytoca TNM-3 strain.
Generally, hyaluronic acid and chitosan have been used as humectant. For instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 63-156707 discloses a cosmetic composition containing hyaluronic acid having a molecular weight of not less than 2,000,000 as humectant. This humectant is disclosed as having the effect of protecting the skin against the outside stimulus and preventing skin chapping and also contributory to bettering the feeling of use of the cosmetics.
In use of humectant as a cosmetic material, it is required that such humectant has a moisture retention percentage preferably in a range of 10 to 50% under the ordinary environmental conditions with a relative humidity of 40-80%. Such humectant is also required that its moisture retaining ability should be scarcely affected by the change of relative humidity (See Fragrance Journal, special issue No. 9 "Science of Humectant", 1988, pp. 34, etc.).
Kojic acid and arbutin are also known to have a tyrosinase-inhibitory activity and blended in the cosmetic composition as a skin beautifying agent.
However, the humectant comprising hyaluronic acid as a primary principle has the serious defect that its moisture retainability is not stable because it changes depending on the ambient humidity.
Glycerol and sodium pyrrolidonecarboxylate as humactant have also the same defect as hyaluronic acid mentioned above, and further their moisture retention is low under the low humidity conditions, so that their effect is not satisfactory in an environment where the humectant is required to exhibit its maximum performance. Also, because of too high hygroscopicity under the high-humidity conditions like the effect with hyaluronic acid, these humectants may serve for giving a sense of stickiness to the skin of the user of the cosmetics or may rather act to deprive the user's skin moisture.
The humectants comprising chitosan also have the serious defect that their moisture retaining performance is low under a low-humidity condition where high moisture retention is required.
No humectant is known which is credited with tyrosinase-inhibitory activity among the conventional humectants such as hyaluronic acid. On the other hand, a significant moisture retainability is not observed in the conventional skin-beautifying agents such as kojic acid and arbutin.
Antistatic agents, in practical use thereof, are applied on the surfaces of plastic articles or synthetic fibers or incorporated in the materials thereof. However, when a low-molecular weight surfactant is used as antistatic agent, its effect will not last long since it may be easily wiped out with a cloth or washed away.
In view of the above, it is remarkable to the synthetic polymer type antistatic agents such as polyethylene glycol, polyoxyethylenediamine, polyvinylbenzyltrimethylammonium chloride, polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride, sodium polystyrenesulfonate and the like which are capable of keeping effect permanently. However, considering the recently environmental pollution problems, it is pointed out that these polymeric antistatic agents are quite unsatisfactory to biodegradability and safety because of synthetic polymer.
Various types of polysaccharides, which are high-molecular weight compounds, such as dextran, pullulan, curdlan, xanthan gum, gellan gum, hyaluronic acid, etc., are utilized in the fields of medicine, foodstuff, cosmetics, etc. Since these polysaccharides are natural products, they have high safety characteristics, and further since they are biodegradable, the scope of their use is expanding as a material which is well compatible with the global environment and the living things.
Natural polysaccharides can be roughly divided into the three types: those derived from plants, those derived from animals and those derived from microorganisms. Among them, those derived from microorganisms, or so-called microorganism-produced polysaccharides are remarkable from the aspects of supply and productivity, and several studies are under way (such as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 6-136003). Regarding use for dispersants, xanthan gum, which is a microorganism-produced polysaccharide, is widely utilized in many fields of industry.
The dispersants using xanthan gum as a primary ingredient are poor in dispersibility for the inorganic and oleaginous substances, so that a polysaccharide having better dispersibility for above substances is demanded in the market.
Regarding use of film-forming agents, pullulan, which is microorganism-produced polysaccharide, is widely used in many fields of industry. Xanthan gum and hyaluronic acid are also known to have film-forming properties.
However, the films made by using pullulan has low bleak elongation property. Also, since pullulan is a neutral polysaccharide, it is incapable of containing an antibacterial metal such as silver, copper, zinc, etc., as counter ion of acidic polysaccharides. Therefore it is impossible to produce an antibacterial film from pullulan alone.
Generally, for efficient production of films, it is advantageous to the cost down of film-forming that the film-forming agent is used at the high concentrated solution so as to minimize the amount of water evaporated. However, in the case of the acidic polysaccharides such as xanthan gum and hyaluronic acid which are capable of producing the antibacterial film, it is very difficult to prepare the film at a highly concentrated solution because of extremely high viscosity of the solution of these polysaccharides, so that these polysaccharides are unfavorable for the film-forming agents.
In production of polysaccharides by use of microorganisms, it is desirable to use a microorganism having an extracellular polysaccharide productivity, considering ease of collection and purification of the produced polysaccharide.
As a result of the present inventor's earnest studies, it has been found that certain specific polysaccharides produced by a bacterium belonging to the genus Kliebsiella (1) have a tyrosinase-inhibitory activity in addition to a stabilized moisture retainability and are especially suited for blending in cosmetics; (2) have excellent antistatic properties; (3) have excellent dispersibility for the inorganic and oleaginous substances; and (4) are capable of forming a low-viscosity aqueous solution, can contain an antibacterial metal as counter ion and can form a film having high break elongation property. The present invention has been attained on the basis of these findings.

Humectant, antistatic agent, dispersant and film-forming agent having polysaccharide as active principle, preparation process of polysaccharides, and Kliebsiella ocytoca TNM-3 strain


Disclosed herein is an apparatus for fixing a connector for an airbag module. The apparatus comprises a clip integrally formed with a connector, and a connector bracket attached to an airbag case. The connector bracket is inserted in an insertion opening of the clip. The connector bracket has an engagement hole formed at one side thereof so that a hook of the clip is engaged in the engagement hole. The connector is directly fixed to the airbag module by simply inserting the connector into the connector bracket.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for fixing a connector for an airbag module, and more particularly to an apparatus for fixing a connector for an airbag module that is capable of directly fixing the connector to a connector bracket.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, an airbag module generally comprises: an airbag housing 4 mounted to an instrument panel for accommodating an airbag 2; a can housing 8 attached to the airbag housing 4, the can housing 8 having a mounting bracket 6, which is fixed to a cowl cross member by means of bolts, provided at the outside thereof; an inflator 10 inserted in the can housing 8 for supplying a high-pressure gas to the airbag 2 when an electric current is applied so that the airbag 2 is expanded; and an impact sensor for sensing a collision of a car so that the electric current is applied to the inflator.
To the can housing 8 is fixed a connector 10 for supplying the electric current to the inflator 9.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a conventional apparatus for fixing a connector comprises: a connector bracket 20 formed integrally with the mounting bracket 6 and having an insertion hole 21 formed at one side thereof; a connector holder 30 inserted in the insertion hole 21 of the connector bracket 20; and a clip 40 formed at the connector 10 for coupling the connector 10 with the connector holder 30.
The connector bracket 20 comprises: a supporting part 22 connected to the mounting bracket 6 for supporting the connector 10; and a coupling part 23 upwardly and vertically extended from the supporting part 22. The insertion hole 21 is formed in the coupling part 23 of the connector bracket 20.
The connector holder 30 comprises: a partition wall 34 having an insertion protrusion formed at the one side thereof, which is inserted in the insertion hole 21 of the connector bracket 20; a first hook 35 flexibly formed at the insertion protrusion 32 in such a manner that the first hook 35 is engaged in the insertion hole 21 of the connector bracket 20; upper and lower linking members 37 and 38 each formed at the other side of the partition wall 34 in such a manner that the upper and lower linking members 37 and 38 are engaged in the clip 40, the upper and lower linking members 37 and 38 having second hooks 36 formed at the right ends thereof, respectively, in such a manner that the second hooks 36 of the upper and lower linking members 37 and 38 are protruded toward the partition wall 34; and a bridge 39 for connecting the upper and lower linking members 37 and 38.
The clip 40 comprises: a main body 42 having an insertion opening 41 formed therethrough in such a manner that the insertion opening is opened in the right and left directions, the upper and lower linking members 37 and 38 being engaged in the main body 42 through the insertion opening 41; and a hook 44 formed at the main body 42 in such a manner that the hook 44 is protruded toward the insertion opening 41 of main body 42, the hook 44 being engaged with the bridge 39 of the connector holder 30. The main body 42 of the clip 40 is provided at the right end thereof with a cutout part 46, with which the second hooks 36 of the connector holder 30 are engaged.
The assembly operation of the conventional connector with the above-stated construction will now be described.
The assembly of the connector 10 and the connector holder 30 is as follows: the upper and lower linking members 37 and 38 of the connector holder 30 are inserted into the insertion opening 41 of the clip 40 so that the clip 40 is engaged with the connector holder 30.
At the time when the clip 40 is completely engaged with the connector holder 30, the hook 44 of the clip 40 is engaged with the bridge 39 of the connector holder 30. At the same time, the second hooks 36 of the connector holder 30 are engaged with the cutout part 46 of the clip 40 so that the clip and the connector holder 30 are not disengaged from each other. In this way, the connector 10 is coupled with the connector holder 30 by means of the clip 40.
The assembly of the connector holder 30 and the connector bracket 20 is as follows: when the insertion protrusion 32 of the connector holder 30 is inserted into the insertion hole 21 of the connector bracket 20, the first hook 35 of the connector holder 30 is engaged with the connector bracket 20. In this way, the connector holder 30 is coupled with the connector bracket 20.
As described above, the connecter bracket 20 and the connector holder 30 are coupled with each other, and the connector holder 30 and the clip 40 are coupled with each other. Consequently, the connector 10 is securely fixed to the airbag module.
In the conventional apparatus for fixing the connector, however, the connector 10 is fixed to the airbag module by means of the clip 40, the connector holder 30, and the connector bracket 20. As a result, numerous parts for fixing the connector are required. Furthermore, the assembly operation is complicated, and thus the cost of assembly the connector is very high.
In addition, the hook 46 of the clip 40, the first and second hooks 35 and 36 of the connector holder 30 must be flexible. Consequently, it is required that the connector 10, the clip 40, and the connector holder 30 be made of plastic materials. In this case, however, the respective coupled parts may be easily broken, and the respective coupled parts may be loosened or plastically deformed. Consequently, the connector 10 is not securely and reliably assembled, and thus the connector 10 is affected by vibration.

Apparatus for fixing connector for airbag module


An apparatus for controlling stiffness of a vehicle body includes a slide member, a base member, a deformable member and an actuator. The slide member is disposed parallel to a direction of impact force acting on a first end of the slide member. The base member, which is disposed at a second end of the slide member, has a slit into which the slide member moves. The deformable member is disposed at the first end of the slide member. Both ends of the deformable member are connected to the base member and a cross section of the deformable member is substantially U-shaped. The actuator executes one of permitting the slide member to move into the slit and inhibiting the slide member from moving into the slit at a collision.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling stiffness of a vehicle body, which is applied to a vehicle equipped with shock absorbing structure. The apparatus is able to control stiffness of a frame and the like of the vehicle body so as to provide appropriate reaction force according to collisions and colliding objects.
An apparatus for controlling stiffness of a vehicle body has been known, which has piezoelectric actuators for controlling stiffness of right and left side frames. An actuator, which is mounted to each side frame, selectively provides resistive force against impact force, which acts on the front of a vehicle in a backward direction, or assisting force for it according to collisions. Japanese Published Patent Application H11-291951 discloses related arts. The document discloses an apparatus which controls stiffness of side frames in the following manner. In case of a full wrap collision, in which the whole front of a vehicle is involved, the apparatus decreases the stiffness of side frames. On the other had, in case of an offset collision, in which impact force locally acts on one of the side frames, the apparatus increases their stiffness. In this way, the apparatus provides optimal shock absorption according to collisions.
The apparatus described above is able to vary stiffness of a vehicle according to sizes of colliding objects so as to control resistive force acting on a colliding object in addition to selection of stiffness according to collisions such as full wrap and offset collisions.
However, the apparatus described above requires a large amount of power to drive the piezoelectric actuator, which generates the resistive force against the impact force. This results in a drawback that the size of the piezoelectric actuator and the size of a battery for supplying power to it inevitably tend to increase.

Apparatus for controlling stiffness of a vehicle body


A method for forming an electronic device provides a casting master having a casting surface, and deposits a substrate material onto the casting surface to form a flexible substrate sheet of predetermined thickness, wherein the flexible substrate sheet has a circuit-side surface that is formed against the casting surface. The flexible substrate sheet is released from the master and secured against a carrier, with the circuit-side surface facing outward. An electronic device is then formed on the circuit-side surface.

There is increasing interest in the development of flexible circuitry for use in a range of devices, including electro-optical arrays and display panels. Proposed solutions for fabricating thin-film transistor (TFT) devices, used in switching and driver circuitry, onto flexible metallic and plastic substrates have not yet met with commercial success, however.
Conventionally, TFT devices have been fabricated on rigid substrates, typically glass or silicon, using a well-known sequence of deposition, patterning and etching steps. For example, amorphous silicon TFT devices require deposition, patterning, and etching of metals, such as aluminum, chromium or molybdenum; of amorphous silicon semiconductors; and of insulators, such as SiO2 or Si3N4, onto a substrate. The semiconductor thin film is formed in layers having typical thicknesses ranging from several nm to several hundred nm, with intermediary layers having thicknesses on the order of a few microns, and may be formed over an insulating surface that lies atop the rigid substrate.
The requirement for a rigid substrate has been based largely on the demands of the fabrication process itself. Rigidity allows the fabrication system to more accurately register the substrate in position for the different process steps. Thermal characteristics are also particularly important. TFT devices are fabricated at relatively high temperatures, making it difficult to work with many types of plastics and with some metals, due to thermal expansion characteristics. Thus far, the range of substrate materials that have been used successfully is somewhat limited, generally to glass, quartz, or other rigid, silicon-based materials.
In prototype work of various workers skilled in the circuit fabrication arts, TFT devices have been formed on some types of metal foil and plastic substrates, indicating that there is at least some measure of flexibility that can be allowed for their fabrication. However, inherent problems include chemical incompatibility between the substrate and TFT materials, thermal expansion mismatch between substrate and device layers, and difficulties with planarity and surface morphology. These problems must be satisfactorily resolved in order to make commercialization a reality. Various problems associated with the difficulty of forming electronic devices on a plastic substrate are discussed in a paper presented by Kim et al on Aug. 19, 2007 at the International Conference on Amorphous and Noncrystalline Semiconductors (ICANS), entitled Performance of a-Si—H n-i-p Photodiodes on Plastic Substrate.
The fabrication process for the TFT can require temperatures typically in the range of 125-300 degrees C. or higher, including temperatures at levels where many types of plastic substrates would be unusable. Thus, it is widely held, as is stated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,045,442 (Maruyama et al.), that a TFT cannot be directly formed on a plastic substrate.
As one alternative solution, U.S. Pat. No. 6,492,026 (Graff et al.) discloses the use of flexible plastic substrates having relatively high glass transition temperatures Tg, typically above 120 degrees C. However, the capability for these substrates to withstand conventional TFT fabrication temperatures much above this range is questionable. Moreover, in order to use these plastics, considerable effort is expended in protecting the substrate and the device(s) formed from scratch damage and moisture permeation, such as using multiple barrier layers. The use of high-performance plastics, as is noted in the Graff et al. '026 disclosure, still leaves thermal expansion difficulties (expressed using Coefficient of Thermal Expansion, CTE). Solutions of this type generally require additional planarization and isolation layers and processes in order to protect the plastic.
One strategy that shows some promise relates to the use of a rigid carrier during fabrication. As one example, in order to provide the benefits of TFT devices mounted on a plastic substrate, the same Maruyama et al. '442 disclosure describes a method that forms the TFT on a release layer that is initially attached to a carrier. Once the TFT circuitry is fabricated, the release layer is then separated from its carrier and can be laminated onto a lighter and more flexible plastic material.
Although this and similar solutions have been proposed for forming TFT components on flexible substrates, drawbacks remain. Lamination of a release layer that is populated with TFT devices, as described in Maruyama et al. '442 requires additional fabrication steps and materials and presents inherent alignment difficulties.
TFT fabrication onto flexible substrates, then, generally requires that the substrate be held on a carrier of some type during the various stages of layer deposition. One of the more important functions of such a carrier is providing dimensional stability to the flexible substrate. Thus, for example, a rigid glass carrier is conventionally provided. As described in Japanese Patent Publication Number JP 7-325297 A2 (Ichikawa), TFT devices can be formed onto a plastic substrate temporarily held to a glass carrier by means of an adhesive layer.
The use of a conventional glass carrier, however, imposes some constraints on the types of flexible substrate materials that can be used. Some types of plastics are compatible with the use of a glass substrate, but can be impractical because they exhibit transition Tg temperatures near the region of temperatures used for deposition. Thus, plastic substrates can tend to soften somewhat, allowing expansion during a fabrication cycle. Metals do not have this disadvantage. However, metallic materials are not as dimensionally "forgiving" with change in temperature. A significant difference in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between metals and glass results in excessive stress that can shatter glass or can cause a metal substrate to release from a glass carrier prematurely, losing its dimensional stability.
Another problem relates to surface quality of the substrate, also termed planarity. TFT fabrication requires that the substrate surface be extremely smooth, with no more than about 50 nm peak-to-peak roughness. However, this level of smoothness is extremely difficult to achieve without special tooling or other processing of the plastic. Even methods such as spin coating or other deposition techniques are not able to achieve smoothness at this level repeatably and at low cost.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0091062 entitled "Active Matrix Displays and Other Electronic Devices Having Plastic Substrates" by French et al. describes forming a flexible substrate by first depositing substrate material onto a glass carrier plate, with an optional release layer between them. Then, once the substrate thickness is achieved, the exposed substrate surface can be treated for planarization, such as by adding one or more additional layers, and circuit components such as TFT arrays can be fabricated thereon. At the end of the component fabrication process, the substrate and its circuitry are then removable from the glass carrier, such as using a laser release process.
With methods such as those disclosed in the '1062 French et al. application, care must be taken to provide a highly smooth and uniform surface, using deposition methods such as spin coating, skiving with a blade, or various printing techniques. However, even with the use of spin coating and other highly precise deposition methods, the surface of the deposited substrate may still need further treatment steps to improve planarization before circuit lay-down can begin. This adds complexity and cost to the electronic device fabrication process.
Thus, it can be seen that although there has been great interest in developing and expanding the use of both plastics and metals as flexible substrates, the need for extra steps in surface treatment such as planarization remains.

Method for forming cast flexible substrate and resultant substrate and electronic device


Circuit arrangement including an encoding unit having a first input for receiving an address word and a second input for receiving a data word and a check word, wherein the encoding unit outputs an alarm signal if the check word does not correspond to at least the address word or the data word.

A circuit arrangement for processing data essentially comprises a memory and an arithmetic logic unit. A data word is stored at an address in the memory. In order for it to be possible to process a data word in the arithmetic logic unit, the data word must be loaded into the arithmetic logic unit from the memory. After an address which was generated by the arithmetic logic unit has been transmitted to the memory, the data word stored at the corresponding location is loaded into the arithmetic logic unit from the memory. An address bus and a data bus, to which the arithmetic logic unit and the memory are coupled, are usually provided for the purpose of transmitting addresses and data.
One possible way of protecting the data in the memory area from accidental data changes and deliberate manipulation is to use redundant information about each data word, which information is stored together with the latter at the same address.
The redundant information is generally in the form of a check word and comprises a plurality of bits which are generated, for example, during error-identifying encoding and are stored together with the data word. The simplest form of error-identifying encoding is an additional parity bit that provides information about whether a data word contains an even or odd number of one of the two bit states. This makes it possible to identify an odd number of errors but without being able to locate the errors within the data word.
Providing further check bits and using suitable error-identifying encoding make it possible to improve the accuracy of error identification.
When using so-called error-correcting codes, it is also possible to locate these errors and also correct them by inverting the relevant bits. To this end, a check word is generated again from the data word and its deviation from the check word that is already present can be used to infer the errors and their position.
Error-correcting encoding has hitherto been used in circuit arrangements only to detect defective data in the memory. To this end, the data word requested by the arithmetic logic unit together with the corresponding check word in the memory are checked for errors by an encoding unit. Any possible errors may be indicated or, when using error-correcting encoding, may be corrected before being loaded into the arithmetic logic unit.
The disadvantage of this refinement that has been used hitherto is that it is used to protect only the memory (by detection and error correction) from the effects of possible manipulation.


A clipping circuit to limit amplitude of an orthogonal baseband signal includes a 16-gonal clipping circuit almost equivalent to a circular clipping circuit. The 16-gonal clipping circuit includes plural stages of series-connected units each including a rectangular clipping circuit and a phase rotating module. To compensate for variation in the signal amplitude due to the rectangular clipping circuits and the phase rotating modules, an amplitude adjuster conducts amplitude scaling for the signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clipping circuit and a radio transmitter using the same, and in particular, to a clipping method for use in a radio transmitter for limiting the amplitude of orthogonal baseband signals supplied to a power amplifier in a radio transmitter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a radio communication system, it is ideal on the side of a radio transmitter to use a power amplifier having an appropriate linear characteristic for all amplitude values of transmission signals. However, such a power amplifier with the favorable linearity for all transmissible amplitude values cannot be easily implemented in consideration of a circuit size, cost of the amplifier circuit, and power consumed by the circuit. There is hence employed in many cases a general power amplifier having linearity up to a particular amplitude and nonlinearity beyond the amplitude.
When a power amplifier circuit amplifies a transmission signal multiplexed for a plurality of transmission channels using, for example, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) scheme or an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme, the width of the amplitude value of a signal to be amplified becomes greater as the number of channels of signals to be multiplexed into one Radio Frequency (RF; high frequency) output signal increases. When this signal is amplified by the inappropriate power amplifier described above, the RF output signal is distorted if the signal has an amplitude value exceeding an amplitude value range associated with the linear characteristic of the power amplifier. The output signal distorted in this manner interferes adjacent communication channels and deteriorates modulation accuracy, resulting in a deteriorated Bit Error Rate (BER) of a transmission path employed to send the signal.
Various proposals have been offered to suppress the distortion of the RF output signal. An example is the clipping of a baseband signal including I and Q signals at a baseband signal processing module to process the transmission data. Representative clipping methods include a rectangular clipping scheme described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-198174 and a circular clipping scheme.
Although the rectangular clipping is feasible by a small-sized circuit, a phase error disadvantageously takes place in the clipped data. In the rectangular clipping method, I dicrection clipping is independently performed for an I component of the baseband signal and Q direction clipping is also carried out independently for a Q component of the baseband signal. Therefore, if the I component exceeds a clip level indicated by a broken line and the Q component is below the clip level, as shown in FIG. 10A, only the I component is clipped. In a vector element obtained as a result of the clipping, there appears a phase error of θ with respect to the original vector element. Occurrence of the phase error deteriorates the Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) of the modulated wave.
On the other hand, in the circular clipping scheme, the I and Q components of the baseband signal are clipped on the basis of the phase. This does not cause the phase error of the rectangular clipping (FIG. 10B). However, since the circular clipping is conducted through processing of arithmetic calculation or by reading data items from a Read Only Memory (ROM) table, there exists a disadvantage that the circuit size becomes larger as the number of bits of the I and Q components increases. It is also disadvantageous that the circuit size considerably varies depending on an input dynamic range assumed for the circuit operation.

Clipping circuit and radio transmitter using the same


A locking switch assembly includes a cam, a plunger, and a locking mechanism. The cam is rotatably attached to a frame assembly and an end of the plunger is constructed to follow a contour of the cam. The plunger is movable between a plunger first position and a plunger second position. A pin is biased against the plunger and movable between a pin first position and a pin second position and locks the plunger in the plunger second position when the pin is in the pin second position. A breakable arm prevents movement of the plunger from the plunger second position to the plunger first position unless a force above a selected amount is applied to the cam when the plunger is in the plunger second position.

A lockable switch mechanism is described in European Patent Application No. 1376632. That mechanism comprises a switch plunger which is mounted in a housing and is displaceable relative to the housing along a predetermined axis between a first unlocked position and a second locked position. A locking mechanism is provided for locking the switch plunger in the second position and the switch plunger actuates a switch mechanism as a result of movement of the switch plunger between the first and second positions. The locking mechanism comprises two rolling element latches which are normally biased against the switch plunger so as to engage behind an axially facing surface defined by the switch plunger when the plunger has been moved to the second position. The rolling element latches can only be withdrawn so as to permit axial displacement of the switch plunger if a locking plate extending transversely of the switch plunger and having limbs extending in the axial direction of the switch plunger and engagable with a respective one of the rolling element latches is displaced to a latch release position. The latch releasing plate is driven directly by a solenoid which is disposed axially at one end of the switch mechanism housing. The arrangement is such that the switch will hold in its locked position despite the application of a considerable physical force in the opening direction. One particular design is arranged to withstand the application of a holding force of 1600N. It would require the effort of a stronger than average person to apply such an opening force. Hence the mechanism affords a latching mechanism that, prevents unintentional opening—such as is required for latches of safety gate for kinetic machines. However, a disadvantage of the known construction which arises from the relatively ductile material from which the locking element is made is that if the mechanism is loaded to such levels in its closed position it is possible for the locking element to deform without releasing the switch plunger and without tripping the associated electrical safety switch.
The consequence of this is that the holding force of the switch mechanism maybe considerably reduced. Thus a situation can arise where the mechanism has been subject to its indicated maximum load resistance but without providing any indication that this is the case. This may be disadvantageous in certain applications.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved lockable switch mechanism.


The present invention relates to a field inspection system for compressing video signals received from a field inspection video camera into compressed video data and for burning the compressed video data on a compact disc along with an electronic logsheet. The electronic logsheet includes a listing of suspected defects or anomalies and associated pointers to reference frames in the compressed video data. The electronic logsheet may be displayed and an operator may access a portion of the field inspection video showing a listed defect by clicking a mouse button when a pointer icon is posited on the listed defect. To perform this task, the present invention utilizes a technique for randomly accessing the compressed video data in which reference frames included therein are used as access points to the video footage. The field inspection system of the present invention may also utilize a neural network and an artificial intelligence system to detect, identify, and log defects without human intervention. The artificial intelligence system may also automatically generate a report making recommendations for repairing each detected defect.

The present invention relates generally to a system and method for randomly accessing stored compressed video footage and a field inspection system employing the method and system for randomly accessing stored compressed video footage. More specifically, the present invention relates to a field inspection system for acquiring, reviewing, and archiving field inspection video.
Most municipalities that are responsible for maintaining sewer systems, require that the periodic inspections of the sewer lines be accomplished by first having a field inspection crew videotape the inside of the sewer lines and then having an engineer review these video tapes to assess the condition and defects in the sewer lines and to recommend whatever actions are necessary to repair such defects. An example of a pipeline data collection and display system that may be used to obtain video footage of the interior of a sewer line is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,168. In this disclosed system, a field inspection crew positions a van 11 (FIG. 1) including the inspection equipment, close to a manhole entry 16 of a sewer line 15 to be inspected. First, the crew backwashes the sewer line, and then sets up the inspection equipment as shown in FIG. 1, by placing a surface roller assembly 18 at the opening of manhole entry 16 and placing a wind-up winch assembly 21 at the opening of an adjacent manhole entry 17. A tow cable 22 extending from wind-up winch assembly 21 is passed through a manhole down roller assembly 20 and connected to a monitoring device 14, which includes a video camera. A cable assembly 12 coupled at one end to electronic survey equipment 43 located in van 11, is passed down through surface roller assembly 18 and a manhole down roller assembly 19 and coupled to an opposite end of monitoring device 14. Having described the physical assembly of a typical field inspection system, the manner by which the video information is obtained, processed, taped, reviewed, and subsequently archived will now be described with reference to FIG. 2.
As the field inspection crew moves monitoring device 14 through the sewer line, the video footage obtained from the video camera is fed to a display device and monitored by an operator in van 11 (step 52). While monitoring the video footage, the operator prepares a handwritten logsheet identifying the suspected defects and anomalies and their location in the sewer line (step 54). Some of this information written on the logsheet may be entered on a keyboard such that the system may generate and overlay graphics showing this information on the videotape footage to which it pertains (step 56). The videotape footage is recorded on a videotape along with the overlaid graphics using a video cassette recorder (VCR) (step 58). Then after the field inspection crew has filmed the designated portion of sewer line 15, it sends the video tape and the handwritten logsheet to an engineer typically employed by the municipality (step 60).
The engineer's job is to review the field inspection videos supplied by the inspection crew and to recommend what action is to be taken to repair any confirmed defects or anomalies. To perform this task, the engineer will place the video tape in a VCR and review the logsheet to determine whether there are any suspected defects in the sewer line, provided of course that the logsheet is still with its associated video tape. Then the engineer fast-forwards, pauses, and rewinds the video tape to locate the video footage corresponding to each suspected defect indicated on the associated logsheet (step 62). Based upon the review of the video tape, the engineer writes a report identifying each defect and recommending a course of action to repair the defect (step 64). Provided the recommended course of action can be carried out within the municipality's budget, the municipality will accept bids from contractors to repair the sewer line (step 66). Then after a bid is accepted, a contractor will repair the sewer line in accordance with the engineer's recommended course of action (step 68) and the municipality will dispatch the field inspection crew to again video tape the repaired sewer line so that the engineer can review the contractor's work to ensure that the sewer line was repaired properly (step 70). After this process is completed, the logsheet, videotapes, and engineering reports are archived typically by placing the paper documents within the video tape slip cover along with the video tape and placed on a shelf (step 72).
The above described methodology is inefficient for several reasons. First, requiring an engineer to fast-forward and rewind the video tape to find those portions within the video that show the suspected defects listed on the logsheet is frustrating and time consuming for the engineer. Additionally, archiving of the video tapes and logsheets in this manner often results in the logsheets becoming lost or otherwise separated from their associated video tapes.

Method for randomly accessing stored video and a field inspection system employing the same


According to one embodiment of the invention, an energy-absorbing device includes a section of material having a plurality of crush zones along a longitudinal length thereof, a first crush zone of the plurality of crush zones including a pair of opposed first bends formed in a first side and a second side of the section, a pair of opposed second bends formed in a third side and a fourth side of the section, and a first set of notches spaced around a perimeter of the section at a longitudinal location corresponding to the first bends and second bends. The first bends project in a direction that is one of inward and outward and the second bends project in a direction opposite that of the first bends. At least one of the other crush zones includes a second set of notches spaced around the perimeter of the section.

Energy-absorbing impact devices absorb and/or attenuate energy during an impact event for different applications, such as an errant vehicle impacting a road hazard (roadside safety), a vehicle impacting another vehicle (vehicle crashworthiness), an occupant impacting a collapsible steering column (occupant safety), and a helicopter impacting the ground at uncontrolled velocity (collapsible landing gear for occupant safety), to name a few.
A crash cushion is an energy absorbing device that is placed in front of a fixed hazard to "cushion" the hazard. Its function is to reduce the impact severity of an errant vehicle impacting the hazard by absorbing the kinetic energy of the moving vehicle in a controlled manner when impacted head-on. A crash cushion should also be able to redirect an errant vehicle impacting on the cushion's sides since it is possible for such impacts to occur.
There are several crash cushion devices available. For example, some are barrel-based crash cushion systems, such as the Reusable Energy Absorbing Crash Terminal ("REACT") 350 or Connecticut Impact Attenuator System ("CIAS"). Both of these systems utilize the transverse collapsing of cylinders (steel or polyethylene) to dissipate energy of an impacting object. However, these designs use circular cylinders that are oriented about a vertical rather than longitudinal axis. Thus, the cylinders are loaded and collapse in a lateral rather than end-on manner. Most of the remaining crash cushion systems utilize an energy absorbing component like a polymer cartridge (QuadGuard), a metal tearing (TRACC), or a pneumatic (air chambers) crash cushion that need another component for side impact protection, which is usually steel rails or steel plates arranged in an overlapping configuration (fish-scale pattern).

Energy absorbing device having notches and pre-bent sections


To provide a comment submission support system capable of supporting submission of such a comment as to enable a person who has viewed the comment to grasp a purchase status of a product or service. A purchase status information acquisition unit (61) acquires purchase status information relating to a purchase status of a product or service that is sold by a sales method in which a unit price of the product or service purchased by a plurality of purchasers within a target period is determined based on a total number of purchases of the product or service purchased by the plurality of purchasers within the target period. A transmission unit (63) transmits link information for access to a communication service device and information based on the purchase status information to a terminal of a user. The link information and the information based on the purchase status information are used by the terminal of the user to request the communication service device for submission screen data being such data as to automatically input the comment relating to the purchase status of the product or service to a comment input field.

There is known an electronic commerce system that enables a user to purchase a product or service through a communication network. In some of such electronic commerce systems, a product or service can be jointly purchased (for example, Patent Literature 1). In a joint purchase (a group buying), a unit price of a product purchased within a target period is determined depending on a number of purchases of the product within the period. As the number of purchases of the product becomes larger (purchasers of the product increases), the unit price of the product becomes lower.
Further, in the electronic commerce system, a link to a communication service such as a Twitter (trademark) service is sometimes provided to a product screen in order to allow the user to submit a comment relating to the product to the communication service. Some of such electronic commerce systems are configured to display a submission screen for submitting the comment when the user clicks on the link and initially display predefined sentences on the submission screen.

Comment submission support system, comment submission support device, comment submission support device control method, program, and information storage medium


A golf-swing practice device is disclosed as a vinyl plastic sheet imprinted with guide marks, namely a plan view of a golf-swing practice device in accordance with the present invention with four marks, namely an arrow to be aligned with a target, a bar perpendicular to the arrow and behind an aperture for a ball tee, and two lines crossing on the arrow in front of the aperture and equally spaced from the center of the aperture.

Golf-swing practice devices have been provided in two basic forms. One form that involves a golf practice mat is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 3,311,377 comprising a cushioning mat adhered to a hard board with a transparent sheet of polyester that overlies the mat and that has on the underside thereof white markings representing golf ball positions and reference lines indicating the correct direction of swing for various strokes, namely a straight in-line stroke or a fade (slice) or draw (hook) stroke to a target. With a marker affixed to the sole of the club head, the golfer takes practice swings over a golf ball image that is below the surface of the polyester sheet. The mark left on the sheet after each swing by that marker will indicate to the golfer the accuracy of the swing, thus allowing the golfer to make adjustments in stance, grip and/or body pivot necessary to achieve the desired direction of the golf club head over the image of the ball, which may be in-line or either from the inside to the outside (draw or hook) or from the outside to the inside (fade or slice) relative to a direct line to a target. A suction cup tee may be placed over the image of a ball to allow for actual practice strokes.
For either practice swings or actual strokes, the device of the aforesaid patent would be cumbersome to carry for use on a driving range or golf course. It would thus be best suited for use in one's own backyard for practice swings, but then one would not have an opportunity to test the swing with an actual stroke immediately after seemingly perfecting the swing to see if it will in fact produce the desired in-line, draw or fade stroke.
Another form of a golf-swing practice device that may be readily used on a driving range or a golf course is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,179 comprising a disk with an aperture for a golf tee. The disk is marked with a line passing through the center of the aperture to be aligned with the direction of the target. A string is attached to the disk at a point 90.degree. from an arrow indicating the direction of the target. When in use, the string is placed on the ground in a line perpendicular to the line indicating the direction of the target to serve as a guide for positioning the golfer's stance. Such a golf-swing practice device is thus quite limited in providing a guide for improving consistency in the golfer's in-line stroke. What is required is a golf-swing practice device that may be readily carried in a golf bag to a driving range or golf course for use not only as a guide to position ones stance relative to a golf ball for an in-line stroke but also as a guide for a draw or fade stroke.


Benzopyranone Compounds having the following structure:

The estrogen hormone has a broad spectrum of effects on tissues in both females and males. Many of these biological effects are positive, including maintenance of bone density, cardiovascular protection, central nervous system ("CNS") function, and the protection of organ systems from the effects of aging. However, in addition to its positive effects, estrogen also is a potent growth factor in the breast and endometrium that increases the risk of cancer.
Until recently, it was assumed that estrogen binds to a single ER in cells. As discussed below, this simple view changed significantly when a second ER (ER-β) was cloned (with the original ER being renamed ER-α), and when co-factors that modulate the ER response were discovered. Ligands can bind to two different ERs which, in the presence of tissue-specific co-activators and/or co-repressors, bind to an estrogen response element in the regulatory region of genes or to other transcription factors. Given the complexity of ER signaling, along with the tissue-specific expression of ER-α and ER-β and their co-factors, it is now recognized that ER ligands can act as estrogen agonists and antagonists that mimic the positive effects, or block the negative effects, of estrogen in a tissue-specific manner. This has given rise to the discovery of an entirely new class of drugs, referred to as Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators or SERMs. These drugs have significant potential for the prevention and/or treatment of cancer and osteoporosis, as well as cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
Bone-resorbing diseases, such as osteoporosis, are debilitating conditions which affect a wide population, and to which there is only limited treatment. For example, osteoporosis affects about 50% of women, and about 10% of men, over the age of 50 in the United States. In individuals with osteoporosis, increased loss of bone mass results in fragile bones and, as a result, increased risk of bone fractures. Other bone-resorption diseases, such as Paget's disease and metastatic bone cancer, present similar symptoms.
Bone is a living tissue which contains several different types of cells. In healthy individuals, the amount of bone made by the osteoblastic cells is balanced by the amount of bone removed or resorbed by the osteoclastic cells. In individuals suffering from a bone-resorbing disease, there is an imbalance in the function of these two types of cells. Perhaps the most well known example of such an imbalance is the rapid increase in bone resorption experienced by postmenopausal women. Such accelerated bone lose is attributed to estrogen deficiency associated with menopause. However, the mechanism of how the loss of estrogen results in increased bone resorption has long been debated.
Recently, investigators have suggested that an increase in bone-resorbing cytokines, such as interleukin-1 ("IL-1") and tumor necrosis factor ("TNF"), may be responsible for postmenopausal bone loss (Kimble et al., J. Biol. Chem. 271:28890–28897, 1996), and that inhibitors of these cytokines can partially diminish bone loss following ovariectomy in rodents (Pacifici, J. Bone Miner Res. 11:1043–1051, 1996). Further, discontinuation of estrogen has been reported to lead to an increase in IL-6 secretion by murine bone marrow and bone cells (Girasole et al., J. Clin. Invest. 89:883–891, 1992; Jilka et al., Science 257:88–91, 1992; Kimble et al., Endocrinology 136:3054–3061, 1995; Passseri et al., Endocrinology 133:822–828, 1993), antibodies against IL-6 can inhibit the increase in osteoclast precursors occurring in estrogen-depleted mice (Girasole et al, supra), and bone loss following ovariectomy does not occur in transgenic mice lacking IL-6 (Poli et al., EMBO J. 13:1189–1196, 1994).
Existing treatments for slowing bone loss generally involves administration of compounds such as estrogen, bisphosphonates, calcitonin, and raloxifene. These compounds, however, are generally used for long-term treatments, and have undesirable side effects. Further, such treatments are typically directed to the activity of mature osteoclasts, rather than reducing their formation. For example, estrogen induces the apoptosis of osteoclasts, while calcitonin causes the osteoclasts to shrink and detach from the surface of the bone (Hughes et al., Nat. Med. 2:1132–1136, 1996; Jilka et al., Exp. Hematol. 23:500–506, 1995). Similarly, bisphosphonates decrease osteoclast activity, change their morphology, and increase the apoptosis of osteoclasts (Parfitt et al., J. Bone Miner Res. 11:150–159, 1996; Suzuki et al., Endocrinology 137:4685–4690, 1996).
Cytokines are also believed to play an important role in a variety of cancers. For example, in the context of prostate cancer, researchers have shown IL-6 to be an autocrine/paracrine growth factor (Seigall et al., Cancer Res. 50:7786, 1999), to enhance survival of tumors (Okamoto et al., Cancer Res. 57:141–146, 1997), and that neutralizing IL-6 antibodies reduce cell proliferation (Okamoto et al., Endocrinology 138:5071–5073, 1997; Borsellino et al., Proc. Annu. Meet. Am. Assoc. Cancer Res. 37:A2801, 1996). Similar results have been reported for IL-6 with regard to multiple myeloma (Martinez-Maza et al., Res. Immunol. 143:764–769, 1992; Kawano et al., Blood 73:517–526, 1989; Zhang et al., Blood 74:11–13, 1989; Garrett et al., Bone 20:515–520, 1997; and Klein et al., Blood 78:1198–12–4, 1991), renal cell carcinoma (Koo et al., Cancer Immunol. 35:97–105, 1992; Tsukamoto et al., J. Urol. 148:1778–1782, 1992; and Weissglas et al., Endocrinology 138:1879–1885, 1997), and cervical carcinoma (Estuce et al., Gynecol. Oncol. 50:15–19, 1993; Tartour et al., Cancer Res. 54:6243–6248, 1994; and Iglesias et al., Am. J. Pathology 146:944–952, 1995).
Furthermore, IL-6 is also believed to be involved in arthritis, particularly in adjuvant-, collagen- and antigen-induced arthritis (Alonzi et al., J. Exp. Med. 187:146–148, 1998; Ohshima et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:8222–8226, 1998; and Leisten et al., Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol 56:108–115, 1990), and anti-IL-6 antibodies have been reported for treatment of arthritis (Wendling et al., J. Rheumatol. 20:259–262, 1993). In addition, estrogen has been shown to induce suppression of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and collagen-induced arthritis in mice (Jansson et al., Neuroimmunol. 53:203–207, 1994).
The cytokine IL-6 has also been shown to be an important factor in inducing the formation of osteoclasts (Girasole et al., supra; Jilka et al. (1992), supra; Jilka et al. (1995), supra; Kimble et al. (1995), supra; Pacifici et al., supra; and Passeri et al., supra). Other investigators have shown that administration of the neutralizing antibody, antisense oligos, or the Sant 5 antagonist against IL-6, reduces the number of osteoclasts in trabecular bone of ovariectomized mice (Devlin et al., J. Bone Miner 13:393–399, 1998; Girasole et al., supra; Jilka et al. (1992), supra; and Schiller et al., Endocrinology 138:4567–4571, 1997), the ability of human giant cells to resorb dentine (Ohsaki et al., Endocrinology 131:2229–2234, 1993; and Reddy et al., J. Bone Min. Res. 9:753–757, 1994), and the formation of osteoclasts in normal human bone marrow culture. It has also been found that estrogen downregulates the IL-6 promoter activity by interactions between the estrogen receptor and the transcription factors NF-κB and C/EBPβ (Stein et al., Mol. Cell Biol. 15:4971–4979, 1995).
Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor ("GM-CSF") has been suggested to play a role in the proliferation of osteoclastic precursor cells. In long term cultures of human or mouse bone marrow cells or peripheral blood cells, GM-CSF promotes the formation of osteoclastic cells (Kurihara et al., Blood 74:1295–1302, 1989; Lorenzo et al., J. Clin. Invest. 80:160–164, 1987; MacDonald et al., J. Bone Miner 1:227–233, 1986; and Shinar et al, Endocrinology 126:1728–1735, 1990). Bone marrow cells isolated from postmenopausal women, or women who discontinued estrogen therapy, expressed higher levels of GM-CSF than cells from premenopausal women (Bismar et al., J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 80:3351–3355, 1995). Expression of GM-CSF has also been shown to be associated with the tissue distribution of bone-resorbing osteoclasts in patients with erosion of orthopedic implants (Al-Saffar et al., Anatomic Pathology 105:628–693, 1996).
As noted above, it had previously been assumed that estrogen binds to a single ER in cells, causing conformational changes that result in release from heat shock proteins and binding of the receptor as a dimer to the so-called estrogen response element in the promoter region of a variety of genes. Further, pharmacologists have generally believed that non-steroidal small molecule ligands compete for binding of estrogen to ER, acting as either antagonists or agonists in each tissue where the estrogen receptor is expressed. Thus, such ligands have traditionally been classified as either pure antagonists or agonists. This is no longer believed to be correct.
Rather, it is now known that estrogen modulates cellular pharmacology through gene expression, and that the estrogen effect is mediated by estrogen receptors. As noted above, there are currently two estrogen receptors, ER-α and ER-β. The effect of estrogen receptor on gene regulation can be mediated by a direct binding of ER to the estrogen response element (ERE)—"classical pathway" (Jeltsch et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 15:1401–1414, 1987; Bodine et al., Endocrinology 139:2048–2057, 1998), binding of ER to other transcription factors such as NF-κB, C/EBP-β or AP-1—"non-classical pathway" (Stein et al., Mol. Cell Biol. 15:4971–4979, 1995; Paech et al., Science 277:1508–1510, 1997; Duan et al., Endocrinology 139:1981–1990, 1998), and through non-genomic effects via extranuclear estrogen receptor signaling that potentially include plasma membrane ER (Nadal, A. et al., Trends in Pharmacological Sciences 22:597–599, 2001; Wyckoff, M. H. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 276: 27071–27076, 2001; Chung, Y-L. et al., Int. J. of Cancer 97:306–312, 2002; Kelly, M. J. et al., Trends Endocrinol. Metab. 10:369–374, 1999; Levin, E. R. et al., Trends Endocrinol. Metab. 10:374–377, 1999).
Progress over the last few years has shown that ER associates with co-activators (e.g., SRC-I, CBP and SRA) and co-repressors (e.g., SMRT and N-CoR), which also modulate the transcriptional activity of ER in a tissue-specific and ligand-specific manner. In such cases, ER interacts with the transcription factors critical for regulation of these genes. Transcription factors known to be modulated in their activity by ER include, for example, AP-1, NF-κB, C/EBP and Sp-1. In addition, orphan nuclear receptors, such as estrogen receptor-related receptors a, b, g (ERR-a, ERR-b, ERR-g), have been identified. Although estradiol does not appear to be a ligand for the ERRs, some SERMs and other traditional ER-ligands have been shown to bind to the receptors with high affinity (Coward, P. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 98:8880–8884, 2001; Lu, D. et al., Cancer Res. 61:6755–6761, 2001; Tremablay, G. B. et al., Endocrinology 142:4572–4575, 2001; Chen, S. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 276:28465–28470, 2001).
Furthermore, ER-α and ER-β have both overlapping and different tissue distributions, as analyzed predominantly by RT-PCR or in-situ hybridization due to a lack of good ER-β antibodies. Some of these results, however, are controversial, which may be attributable to the method used for measuring ER, the species analyzed (rat, mouse, human) and/or the differentiation state of isolated primary cells. Very often tissues express both ER-α and ER-β, but the receptors are localized in different cell types. In addition, some tissues (such as kidney) contain exclusively ER-α, while other tissues (such as uterus, pituitary and epidymis) show a great predominance of ER-α (Couse et al., Endocrinology 138, 4613–4621, 1997; Kuiper et al., Endocrinology 138, 863–870, 1997). In contrast, tissues expressing high levels of ER-β include prostate, testis, ovaries and certain areas of the brain (Brandenberger et al., J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 83, 1025–8, 1998; Enmark et al., J. Clinic. Endocrinol. Metabol. 82, 4258–4265, 1997; Laflamme et al., J. Neurobiol. 36, 357–78, 1998; Sar and Welsch, Endocrinology 140, 963–71, 1999; Shughrue et al., Endocrinology 138, 5649–52, 1997a; Shughrue et al., J. Comp. Neurol. 388, 507–25, 1997b).
The development of ER-α (Korach, Science 266, 1524–1527, 1994) and ER-β (Krege et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 15677–82, 1998) knockout mice further demonstrate that ER-β has different functions in different tissues. For example, ER-α knockout mice (male and female) are infertile, females do not display sexual receptivity and males do not have typical male-aggressive behavior (Cooke et al., Biol. Reprod. 59, 470–5, 1998; Das et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 12786–12791, 1997; Korach, 1994; Ogawa et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 1476–81, 1997; Rissman et al., Endocrinology 138, 507–10, 1997a; Rissman et al., Horm. Behav. 31, 232–243, 1997b). Further, the brains of these animals still respond to estrogen in a pattern that is similar to that of wild-type animals (Shughrue et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 11008–12, 1997c), and estrogen still inhibits vascular injury caused by mechanical damage (Iafrati et al., Nature Med. 3, 545–8, 1997). In contrast, mice lacking the ER-β develop normally, are fertile and exhibit normal sexual behavior, but have fewer and smaller litters than wild-type mice (Krege et al., 1998), have normal breast development and lactate normally. The reduction in fertility is believed to be the result of reduced ovarian efficiency, and ER-β is the predominant form of ER in the ovary, being localized in the granulosa cells of maturing follicles.
In summary, compounds which serve as estrogen antagonists or agonists have long been recognized for their significant pharmaceutical utility in the treatment of a wide variety of estrogen-related conditions, including conditions related to the brain, bone, cardiovascular system, skin, hair follicles, immune system, bladder and prostate (Barkhem et al., Mol. Pharmacol. 54, 105–12, 1998; Farhat et al., FASEB J. 10, 615–624, 1996; Gustafsson, Chem. Biol. 2, 508–11, 1998; Sun et al., 1999; Tremblay et al., Endocrinology 139, 111–118, 1998; Turner et al., Endocrinology 139, 3712–20, 1998). In addition, a variety of breast and non-breast cancer cells have been described to express ER, and serve as the target tissue for specific estrogen antagonists (Brandenberger et al., 1998; Clinton and Hua, Crit. Rev. Oncol. Hematol. 25, 1–9, 1997; Hata et al., Oncology 55 Suppl 1, 35–44, 1998; Rohlff et al., Prostate 37, 51–9, 1998; Simpson et al., J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 64, 137–45, 1998; Yamashita et al., Oncology 55 Suppl 1, 17–22, 1998).
In recent years a number of both steroidal and nonsteroidal compounds which interact with ER have been developed. For example, Tamoxifen was originally developed as an anti-estrogen and used for the treatment of breast cancer, but more recently has been found to act as a partial estrogen agonist in the uterus, bone and cardiovascular system. Raloxifene is another compound that has been proposed as a SERM, and has been approved for treatment of osteoporosis.
Analogs of Raloxifene have also been reported (Grese et al., J. Med. Chem. 40:146–167, 1997).
As for coumarin-based compounds, a number of structures have been proposed, including the following: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,291,456, 6,331,562 and 6,593,322; Roa et al., Synthesis 887–888, 1981; Buu-Hoi et al., J. Org. Chem. 19:1548–1552, 1954; Gupta et al., Indian J. Exp. Biol. 23:638–640, 1985; Published PCT Application No. WO 96/31206; Verma et al., Indian J. Chem. 32B:239–243, 1993; Lednicer et al., J. Med. Chem. 8:725–726, 1965; Micheli et al., Steroids 5:321–335, 1962; Brandt et al., Int. J. Quantum Chemistry: Quantum Biol. Symposia 13:155–165, 1986; Wani et al., J. Med. Chem. 18:982–985, 1975; Pollard et al., Steroids 11:897–907, 1968.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved compounds useful for treating or preventing a bone-resorbing disease, a neoplastic disease, arthritis, a disease exacerbated by the presence of estrogen or a disease improved by the presence of estrogen; activating the function of ER in a bone cell; inhibiting the function of ER in a cancer cell; inhibiting the expression of IL-6 in a cell; and inhibiting the growth of a neoplastic cell.
Citation or identification of any reference in Section 2 of this application is not to be construed as an admission that the reference is prior art to the present application.

Benzopyranone compounds, compositions thereof, and methods of treatment therewith

Abstract: wherein R1, R2, X, Y and n are as defined herein, are disclosed. The Benzopyranone Compounds are useful for treating or preventing a bone-resorbing disease, a neoplastic disease, arthritis, a disease exacerbated by the presence of estrogen or a disease improved by the presence of estrogen, comprising administering an effective amount of a Benzopyranone Compound to a patient in need of the treating or preventing; activating the function of estrogen receptor (“ER”) in a bone cell; inhibiting the function of ER in a cancer cell; inhibiting the expression of interleukin-6 (“IL-6”) in a cell; and inhibiting the growth of a neoplastic cell, comprising contacting the cell with an effective amount of a Benzopyranone Compound.


A measuring apparatus which applies light, emitted from a light source, to a sample contained in a container, and detects light emitted from the sample to measure physical or chemical properties of the sample, includes a measuring optical system which measures the sample, and a position detection optical system which detects the position of the bottom of the container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a measuring apparatus for executing, for example, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) in which light is applied to a sample, and fluorescence emitted from a fluorescent material contained as an indicator in the sample, and more particularly, to a measuring apparatus with an alignment detection unit for focusing light on the sample.
2. Description of the Related Art
The basic technique of the present invention relates to FCS that utilizes a confocal laser scanning microscope. In FCS, protein or colloidal particles labeled by a fluorescent material are floated in a solution within the viewing field of a confocal optical microscope, and a laser beam is applied to the fluorescent material to excite it, thereby analyzing variations in the intensity of fluorescence based on the Brownian motion of the fine particles to acquire a auto-correlation function and detect the number of target fine particles or translational diffusion speed of them.
For instance, Jpn. PCT National Publication No. 11-502608 discloses a method and apparatus in which a laser beam is applied by confocal laser scanning microscope to a sample labeled with a fluorescent material and placed on a sample stage, thereby analyzing variations in the intensity of fluorescence emitted from the sample, and detecting, for example, a statistical property, such as a translational diffusion coefficient, of fluorescent molecules, or the interaction of the molecules.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,748 discloses an apparatus for condensing a laser beam onto a sample that contains a fluorescent material, and measuring the intensity or life of fluorescence emitted therefrom.
In methods for applying a laser beam to a sample to excite a fluorescent material contained therein, and analyzing fluctuation in the intensity of fluorescence emitted from the sample, a sample container called a microplate is often used. If a microplate is used, a large number of samples can be simultaneously received in a plurality of wells formed in the plate, and be measured individually. Further, since an extremely small amount of sample material of a microliter order can be measured, it is not necessary to prepare a large amount of sample material.
In fluorescence correlated spectroscopy, the bottom of a microplate is formed of, for example, glass, and an objective lens is located below the microplate. The light from a light source is applied to a sample contained in each well of the microplate through the bottom thereof, thereby detecting the behavior of each molecule of the sample. When a microplate with a transparent bottom is used, an optical signal, such as a fluorescence signal, generated by the sample can be measured by an excitation optical system. Namely, a measuring device of a simple structure can be used, which is advantageous in designing the device.
Further, when a light beam is directly condensed onto a sample in each well through the bottom of the microplate, it is necessary to accurately adjust the focal point of the beam to reliably guide it to the sample. However, since an objective lens of high magnification is used as a condensing lens, the focal depth is extremely shallow. In this condition, to accurately adjust the focal point, a skilled operator is needed.
To solve this problem, the following techniques, for example, have been proposed.
Jpn. PCT National Publication No. 2002-541430 discloses a technique of detecting the position of the bottom of a microplate simply using a measuring optical system. Namely, the light from a light source is condensed onto a sample through the microplate bottom, and the focal point of the incident light is gradually moved along the optical axis, thereby measuring the intensity of the light directly reflected from the microplate bottom. The position on the optical axis, at which the intensity peak value is detected, is determined to be the bottom of the microplate, and the focal point of light in each well of the microplate is set based on the determination result.
Jpn. PCT National Publication No. 2002-542480 discloses a technique of receiving, by a CCD camera, the beam emitted from a light source, detecting the position of the beam spot on the light-receiving surface of the camera to determine, for example, the bottom position of the plate, and adjusting the focal point of the light source in accordance with the detected bottom position.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKOKU Publication No. 02-59963 discloses a technique of detecting a deviation in the focal point of a sample, based on a deviation in the point, on the light-receiving surface of a differential diode, of the light emitted from a light source, thereby moving a sample stage along the optical axis, based on the detected deviation, in order to converge the light spot of the light source on the surface of the sample.