A method for generation and analysis of shear waves in a subject with an ultrasound system. Multiple short ultrasound push pulses are applied, as a set and optionally more than once, to one or more push origins at the subject to produce first and second shear waves of large amplitudes and desired spatial distributions, which are separated in space and time and which have opposite polarity such that initial movements of the subject tissue, respectively caused by the first and second shear waves, occur in opposite directions. At least one mechanical property of the subject (including that represented by shear wave group velocity, phase velocity, and attenuation of a shear wave) is determined based at least in part on a distance between wavefronts of the first and second shear waves.

The field of the invention is coherent imaging using vibratory energy, such as ultrasound, and, in particular, systems and methods for shear wave based elasticity imaging.
There are a number of modes in which ultrasound can be used to produce images of objects. For example, an ultrasound transmitter may be placed on one side of the object and sound transmitted through the object to an ultrasound receiver placed on the other side of the object. With transmission mode methods, an image may be produced in which the brightness of each pixel is a function of the amplitude of the ultrasound that reaches the receiver ("attenuation" mode), or the brightness of each pixel is a function of the time required for the sound to reach the receiver ("time-of-flight" or "speed of sound" mode). In the alternative, the receiver may be positioned on the same side of the object as the transmitter and an image may be produced in which the brightness of each pixel is a function of the amplitude or time-of-flight of the ultrasound reflected from the object back to the receiver ("reflection," "backscatter," or "echo" mode).
Acquisition of ultrasound data can be carried out with a number of backscatter methods. In the so-called "A-mode" method, an ultrasound pulse is directed into the object by an ultrasound transducer and the amplitude of the reflected sound is recorded over a period of time. The amplitude of the echo signal is proportional to the scattering strength of the reflectors in the object and the time delay is proportional to the range of the reflectors from the transducer. In the so-called "B-mode" method, the transducer transmits a series of ultrasonic pulses as it is scanned across the object along a single axis of motion. The resulting echo signals are recorded as with the A-mode method and their amplitude is used to modulate the brightness of pixels on a display. The location of the transducer and the time delay of the received echo signals locates the pixels to be illuminated. With the B-mode method, enough data are acquired from which a two-dimensional image of the reflectors can be reconstructed. Rather than physically moving the transducer over the subject to perform a scan it is more common to employ an array of transducer elements and electronically move an ultrasonic beam over a region in the subject.
The ultrasound transducer typically has a number of piezoelectric elements arranged in an array and driven with separate voltages. By controlling the time delay, or phase, and amplitude of the applied voltages, the ultrasonic waves produced by the piezoelectric elements ("transmission mode") combine to produce a net ultrasonic wave focused at a selected point. By controlling the time delay and amplitude of the applied voltages, this focal point can be moved in a plane to scan the subject.
The same principles apply when the transducer is employed to receive the reflected sound ("receiver mode"). That is, the voltages produced at the transducer elements in the array are summed together such that the net signal is indicative of the sound reflected from a single focal point in the subject. As with the transmission mode, this focused reception of the ultrasonic energy is achieved by imparting separate time delays, or phase shifts, and gains to the echo signal received by each transducer array element.
Scanning of an object of interest using a transducer having an array of separately operable elements can be effectuated with electronic methods and systems such as, for example, linear array systems and phased array systems.
A linear array system includes a transducer having a large number of elements typically disposed in a line. A small group of elements are energized to produce an ultrasonic beam that travels away from the transducer, perpendicular to its surface. The group of energized elements is translated along the length of the transducer during the scan to produce a corresponding series of beams that produce echo signals from a two-dimensional region in the subject. To focus each beam that is produced, the pulsing of the inner elements in each energized group is delayed with respect to the pulsing of the outer elements. The time delays determine the depth of focus which can be changed during scanning. The same delay factors are applied when receiving the echo signals to provide dynamic focusing during the receive mode.
A phased array system commonly employs so-called phased array sector scanning ("PASS"). Such a scan is comprised of a series of measurements in which all of the elements of a transducer array are used to transmit a steered ultrasonic beam. The system then switches to receive mode after a short time interval, and the reflected ultrasonic wave is received by all of the transducer elements. Typically, the transmission and reception are steered in the same direction, θ, during each measurement to acquire data from a series of points along a scan line. The receiver is dynamically focused at a succession of ranges, R, along the scan line as the reflected ultrasonic waves are received. A series of measurements are made at successive steering angles, θ, to scan a pie-shaped sector of the subject. The time required to conduct the entire scan is a function of the time required to make each measurement and the number of measurements required to cover the entire region of interest at the desired resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. For example, a total of 128 scan lines may be acquired over a sector spanning 90 degrees, with each scan line being steered in increments of 0.70 degrees.
In the methods described above, multiple ultrasound beams are translated or steered to scan a two-dimensional (2D) area of an object of interest in order to form a 2D B-mode ultrasound image. Assuming that, for example, 100 ultrasound beams are used, the time required for forming such a 2D image is the aggregate of 100 transmit-receive events. If each transmit-receive event lasts 100 microsecond, then the formation of the 2D image takes about 10,000 microseconds. In another B-mode imaging method often referred to as "plane wave imaging", a wave with a substantially planar wavefront is used in the transmission mode. This wave is not focused, typically has a spatial extent comparable to the total width of the aperture of the transducer, and can be formed by applying the transmit voltage to all elements of the transducer without time delay. Echo signals from this "plane wave" transmission are received by each transducer element and stored in corresponding tangible data storage. The stored echo signals from multiple transducer elements are delayed and summed together to reconstruct the ultrasound wave reflected from the object at the location of a given single pixel in the 2D image. This process is repeated for each pixel to obtain the "focused" echoes from all pixels to form an overall 2D image. Different delay parameters are introduced to focus at different pixels. In "plane wave imaging", only one transmit-receive event is required to form a 2D image. Therefore, the image acquisition time for one frame (one 2D image) is small, leading to a higher frame rate as compared to the beam scanning methods described above. Assuming that a transmit-receive event lasts 100 microsecond, for example, a plane wave imaging procedure can have a frame rate of about 10 kHz, whereas the aforementioned example of 100-beam scanning method has a frame rate of 100 Hz.
The same scanning methods may be used to acquire a three-dimensional image of the subject. The transducer in such case is a two-dimensional array of elements which steer a beam throughout a volume of interest or linearly scan a plurality of adjacent two-dimensional slices.
Characterization of mechanical properties of the tissue, particularly the elasticity or tactile hardness of tissue, has important medical applications because these mechanical properties are closely linked to tissue state with respect to pathology. For example, breast cancers are often first detected by the palpation of lesions with abnormal hardness. In another example, a measurement of liver stiffness can be used as a non-invasive alternative for liver fibrosis staging.
The radiation force of ultrasound can be used to generate, remotely, a shear wave within the tissue for noninvasive elasticity imaging. Traditionally, a focused ultrasound beam with long duration (for example, a few hundred microseconds, containing many ultrasound cycles) is used to impart tissue motion at the focus of the ultrasound push beam (referred to as push origin), and a pulse echo ultrasound is used to detect the shear wave propagating outwards from the push origin. The shear wave propagation speed is measured and used to estimate viscoelastic properties of tissue.
The motion of the tissue caused by the push beam is typically very weak (on the order of micrometers), which undermines the reliability of the detection of the shear wave and estimation of tissue viscoelastic properties. The tissue motion increases with amplitude of the push ultrasound beam. However, FDA requirements limit the Mechanical Index (MI) of diagnostic ultrasound to below 1.9 for diagnostic applications in human species. Therefore, the amplitude of the used push beam cannot exceed a certain threshold to avoid exceeding the MI limit.
Another way to increase amplitude of the tissue motion includes increasing the duration of a push pulse. Due to limitations of hardware (for example, due to power droop of transmission circuits) or software (for example, ultrasound output safety watchdogs), current commercial ultrasound scanners may not be equipped to form a push beam with long enough duration to produce a shear wave having sufficiently high amplitude. It would therefore be desirable to provide a method for generating large amplitude shear waves in tissues and do so in a manner that remains within FDA safety limits and that is within the capacity of commercial ultrasound scanners.
Current methods for shear wave detection and shear wave speed estimation are designed to suit traditional ultrasound scanners which image one line from one transmit-receive event. Typically, a shear wave is detected at only a few positions defined along the shear wave propagation path, and detection at each of these positions is repeated at a Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) of several kilohertz for tens of milliseconds. Such relatively long detection period may limit the practically use of currently employed methods in responding or detecting rapid changes of tissue elasticity (in a beating heart, for example). In addition, detection of a shear wave signal during the long detection period inevitably exposes the detection process to interference from physiological tissue motion (for example, gross motion of the beating heart). It would therefore be desirable to provide a method for estimation of shear wave speed that requires detection of shear wave in a shorter time period.

Generation and assessment of shear waves in elasticity imaging

MAYO FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH


The present invention encompasses influenza vaccines, in particular canine influenza vaccines. The vaccine may be a recombinant poxvirus vaccine or an inactivated vaccine. The invention also encompasses recombinant poxvirus vectors encoding and expressing influenza antigens, epitopes or immunogens which can be used to protect animals, in particular dogs, against influenza.

Respiratory diseases resembling influenza has infected thousands of dogs in the U.S. Recurrent outbreaks of severe respiratory disease characterized by coughing and fever have occurred in greyhounds at racing kennels. Pathological findings included severe pulmonary and plural hemorrhage, accurate to subacute erosive to hyperplastic tracheitis, bronchitis and bronchiolitis and bronchopneumonia. In 2004, eight greyhounds in Jacksonville, Fla. were killed by an equine influenza virus that jumped the species barrier from horses to dogs.
Equine influenza is a disease of horses, and the virus is in the same group of viruses that cause flu in people. The disease is present in horse populations throughout Europe, North America and parts of Asia, with horses typically developing a fever and a dry hacking cough. In the early stages of the disease, horses are reluctant to eat or drink for several days, but usually recover in two to three weeks.
H3N8 subtypes of equine influenza were previously isolated from lungs of two dogs from Florida and one dog from Texas who had died from the infection. Genetic sequence analyses and phylogenetic comparisons determined that all three canine isolates were closely related and evolved from contemporary strains of equine influenza H3N8. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated influenza antigen in bronchial gland epithelial cells, bronchial and bronchiolar epithelial cells and in alveolar macrophages. Seroconversion to canine influenza virus was demonstrated by hemagglutination inhibition and microneutralization assays.
In 2005, a mutated form of the Bird Flu (H3N8 Virus) was reported to have killed greyhounds in Massachusetts.
Accordingly, there is a need for an effective vaccine against influenza in canines.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.


The present invention is a scar-reducing plaster and a method for preparing scar-reducing plasters. The scar-reducing plasters comprise a backing film comprising an air- and water vapor-pervious and water-impervious polymer layer, and a breathable and adhesive polyurethane xerogel matrix layer that coats the backing film. The polyurethane xerogel matrix layer includes a central scar contact region and an edge region, wherein the scar contact region merges with the edge region and the thickness of the edge region decreases from the scar contact region to a thickness of from 5 to 150 μm at the edge of the polyurethane xerogel matrix layer. The scar-reducing plasters of the present invention have a reduced tendency to peel off during normal use.

The body responds to a bleeding skin wound by stopping the invasion of pathogens and arresting the bleeding. Once this has occurred it is necessary to remove foreign bodies and tissue detritus and construct new tissue. The normal wound-healing process can be divided for simplicity into 4 phases:                1. vascular reaction and blood clotting,        2. inflammation,        3. new tissue formation (formation of granulation tissue and reepithelialization), and        4. remodeling.These processes overlap and are partly mutually dependent, so that the sequence only approximately corresponds to the time course of wound healing.
The vascular reaction phase has the function of preventing major blood losses and entails vasoconstriction, which persists until blood clotting provisionally closes the wound. The processes taking place in the inflammation phase are predominantly catabolic, i.e. breaking down. In this phase of wound healing, granulocytes, macrophages and lymphocytes clean the wound by taking up exogenous material and tissue detritus and breaking it down enzymatically.
The phase of new tissue formation by contrast includes repair, i.e. anabolic responses. An adequate blood supply is a precondition for a wound to heal well, so that new blood vessels are formed (angiogenesis) from as early as the third day after the injury. New connective tissue formation takes place in parallel with the vascularization. Fibroblasts migrate along the fibrin matrix into the wound. They produce the connective tissue ground substance consisting of proteoglycans and collagen fibers, which are crucial for tissue strength.
In healthy tissue, collagen fibers are aligned in particular patterns which follow the main directions of tension. The presence of coenzymes and cofactors such as, for example, ascorbic acid, iron and copper is crucial for collagen synthesis. If there is a deficiency of these substances, wound healing may be impaired. Scar tissue results in this case, being characterized by an unorganized structure of the collagen fibers.
The outgrowth of connective tissue takes place to the same extent as the breakdown of the provisional fibrin matrix (fibrinolysis) and the recanalization again of the closed vessels. The mitotic activity of the fibroblasts terminates with new fiber formation. They are converted on the one hand into fibrocytes, and on the other hand into myofibroblasts. The latter contain contractile elements and are able to contract. In this case, the collagen fibers are tightened and—where possible—aligned according to the main direction of tension of the tissue. As a consequence thereof, the skin tissue which is capable of functioning contracts at the edge of the wound so that only a small defect then remains.
Wound healing requires a balanced equilibrium of contrary actions such as cell proliferation and cell apoptosis, construction and breakdown of blood vessels, and construction and breakdown of collagen. If this equilibrium—especially in the construction and breakdown of collagen fibers—is disturbed in any way it may lead to a hypotrophic, atrophic or hypertrophic scar. The events differentiating normal wound healing from, for example, hypertrophic wound healing start even during development of granulation tissue. The most visible difference in the tissue is the amount and orientation of the collagen fibers. In hypertrophic scar formation, an excess of collagen is produced, and the granulation tissue shows a tendency to construct the collagen fibers in a random and disordered manner.
Hypertrophic scars are raised relative to the surrounding skin and show a large number of variations in size, shape, color and consistency. These characteristics depend firstly on the site and size of the injury and secondly on the chronological development and the personal susceptibility. The ends are normally prominent and end abruptly, sometimes with finger-like projections. The reddish color and the swelling of fresh scars derives from the increased vessel density. Over time, the connective tissue tightens during the remodeling phase, and the blood vessel density declines. The scar therefore sinks somewhat and becomes paler. The remodeling process comprises remodeling of the scar tissue and is the phase of wound healing which lasts longest and may extend for up to 20 years after the injury. This essentially entails restructuring of the collagen fibers, with some of them being broken down by collagenases present in the tissue or else being newly crosslinked.
The general prior art on dressings and wound plasters says nothing about the specific problems arising in the treatment of scars. Thus, EP 0 264 299 B1 discloses a dressing consisting of a water-absorbing sealing pad which in turn is formed by one or more hydrocolloids. The hydrocolloid(s) are dissolved in a binder or mixed therewith.
The pad is firmly and completely gripped by a water-tight cover layer. The pad is, according to the invention, beveled at least around the outer periphery in such a way that the thickness at the edge does not exceed about one quarter of its maximum thickness. Production takes place by a dicasting process under high pressures and at high temperatures. This process is unsuitable for crosslinked polymer gels, for example polyurethane gels.
WO 92/05755 relates to contoured wound contact materials with an adhesive composition layer consisting of swellable hydrocolloids and water-insoluble, viscous constituents, for example, polyisobutylene, rubber, silicone or polyurethane elastomers. In this case, the adhesive composition layer in the edge zone, which layer is of the same type as the adhesive composition in the central zone, has a thickness of less than 0.5 mm (preferably less than 0.3 mm) and a width of at least 5 mm (preferably at least 10 mm). The hydrocolloid-based adhesive composition shows tack even on a moist substrate.
Foam wound contact materials as are obtainable for example from S & N under the name Cutinova® thin and Cutinova® hydro are inter alia described in DE 42 33 289 A1, in DE 196 18 825 A1 and WO 97/43328. The flat polyurethane foam with a thickness of from 1 to 6 mm is covered on one side by a polyurethane film. Plasters of appropriate size are cut out of the baled product. The wound contact material produced in this way surprisingly adheres completely on uptake of wound fluid and moreover does not show the known tendency of hydrocolloids to disintegrate on pronounced swelling, which may lead to residues of the hydrocolloid remaining in the wound.
The large-area wound contact materials which have been cut out are outstandingly suitable for managing chronic or poorly healing wounds of patients requiring hospital care. There is no discussion of a positive or negative effect on scar treatment. In particular, on mechanical stress the product easily peels off because of its cut edges. On contact with moisture, the open cut edges prove to be disadvantageous because water can thereby reach the absorbent layer and leads to swelling and adhesion of the polyurethane foam through penetration of moisture in from the side.
In addition, the significant height of the product (up to 4 mm) and the identical self-adhesive properties at the edge favors the adhesion of dirt and peeling off to adhesion of, for example, items of clothing.
A process for producing a dressing with thin edges consisting of at least two adhesive composition layers is described in EP 0 680 299 A1. The adhesive layers, which may be of the same type or differ in type, correspond to an arrangement of different areas which are connected together and which decrease in size towards the top. Moreover, the individual layers have a stepped profile which, in order to achieve an externally continuous outline, must be covered with a further layer. A further disadvantage is the stepwise slope of the dressing on the side facing the skin, so that contact is irregular thereby at some places in the wound region and wound edge region.
EP 0 919 211 A2 mentions the production of wound dressings with beveled edges from thermoformed plastics backing films which are release coated and have a cavity into which a self-adhesive hydrophilic polymer gel is introduced. The dressings have an adhesive covering layer which is in turn covered with a protective layer. The process is complicated and is unsuitable for wound dressings of "a piece". In this case too, the dressings are beveled on the side facing the wound.
Finally, mention may also be made of conventional plasters for the care of wounds (for example the fabric plaster Hansaplast® classic from Beiersdorf), which are only conditionally suitable for use as scar plasters. Disadvantages which emerge are the low elasticity and the tendency for the backing material to peel off at the edges of the plaster on mechanical stress when worn for a lengthy period. In addition, the plaster becomes thoroughly wet during daily ablutions or during hand washing and loses adhesiveness. Conventional plasters are visually very conspicuous, impede movements and impair for example the wear comfort in shoes.
Scar dressings differ from known wound care dressings and plasters in being left on the skin over a prolonged period in order to ensure a desired reducing effect. The usual thickness of wound plasters of about 1 mm and more leads with this long duration of wearing to detachment through friction on clothing, bed sheets, skin contacts or during daily washing. For this reason, known dressings or plasters cannot be employed for the indicated purpose. Moreover, the requirements to be met by the scar contact material are quite different from those for wound contact materials.
Scar coverings based on silicone gel, as are described, for example in EP 782457 A1, have the disadvantage that their breathability is lower and they are prone to maceration effects.
The maceration effects are moreover only one disadvantage shown by many known adhesive dressings. The problem with scar-reducing plasters is, on the one hand, skin-kindly and long-lasting adhesion to the skin, and on the other hand painless detachment from the skin without residues. None of the disclosures mentioned provides a proposed solution to this which is acceptable for the manufacturer and for the user.


The present invention provides an acylamide compound of the following formula (1), prodrugs thereof, or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof; and an adiponectin inducer or secretagogue, therapeutic agent of metabolic syndromes, therapeutic agent of hypoadiponectinemia, therapeutic agent of hyperlipemia, preventive/therapeutic agent of diabetes, improving agent of impaired glucose tolerance, improving agent of insulin resistance, enhancing agent of insulin sensitivity, therapeutic agent of hypertension, preventive/therapeutic agent of vascular disorders, an anti-inflammatory agent, therapeutic agent of hepatic inflammation, therapeutic agent of fatty liver, therapeutic agent of hepatic fibrosis, therapeutic agent of liver cirrhosis, preventive/therapeutic agent of non-alcoholic/nonviral steatohepatitis (NASH) or non-alcoholic/nonviral fatty liver disease (NAFLD), or therapeutic agent of obesity, each of which has the above compounds as an active ingredient.

Among the diseases widely called as adult diseases (diseases in persons of middle or advanced age) or life-style related diseases, those such as abnormal carbohydrate/lipid metabolisms; impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes, hyperlipemia and high-blood pressure related thereto; and abdominal obesity form clusters of the diseases that are recognized as metabolic syndromes. Patients with metabolic syndromes not only have a low quality of life due to the various symptoms but also have higher lethal risk or a risk of developing fatal vascular disorders such as arterial sclerosis as compared with healthy people. The diseases or symptoms such as impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes, hyperlipemia and high-blood pressure are just the tip of the iceberg of metabolic syndromes as a whole. Though it is important to provide the treatment corresponding to each disease/symptom, it is thought that the most effective method to diminish a lethal risk is to prevent/treat overall syndromes by preventing/treating abnormalities that deeply relate to the pathogenic mechanism of metabolic syndromes. Nevertheless, such therapeutic agents and/or therapeutic methods have not yet been found until now.
Through the achievement of the recent multicenter studies, the abnormalities relating to adiponectin that is expressed/generated in adipose tissues and secreted in the blood are paid attention as the most important cause of metabolic syndromes. Adiponectin was found as a secreted protein that is specifically expressed in adipose tissues and has a similar structure to that of complements (Non-patent Literatures 1 and 2). Patients with metabolic syndromes develop hypoadiponectinemia and, for example, it is reported that hypoadiponectinemia is a risk factor independent of other factors of type II diabetes (Non-patent Literature 3). In addition to the diseases such as metabolic syndromes and those that relate to abnormal carbohydrate metabolism, e.g. diabetic retinopathy, gestational diabetes mellitus and polycystic ovary syndrome, hypoadiponectinemia or the decreased expression of adiponectin mRNA in tissues is reported in the diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, e.g. ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, vascular stenosis, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; vascular diseases, e.g. coronary artery heart disease, coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disorder and peripheral artery disease; liver diseases, e.g. hepatic fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, hepatic inflammation, non-alcoholic/nonviral steatohepatitis and fatty liver disease (NASH and NAFLD), alcoholic fatty liver and alcoholic hepatic disorder; cancers/malignant neoplasm, e.g. endometrioma, uterine leiomyoma and lung cancer; endocrine/metabolic diseases, e.g. Cushing's syndrome, HIV-related lipodystrophy syndrome, thyroidal dysfunction and atrophy of adipose tissues; and neurogenic emaciation, bulimia nervosa, and nephropathy. It is also reported, including the reports in the level of basic experiments, that the development of the diseases due to lack of adiponectin is seen and there is a possibility of treatment by supplying adiponectin.
Particularly, in the level of the basic experiments, effects of decreasing lipids in the blood and blood glucose and preventing body weight gain are seen in model animals by administering recombinant adiponectin, and, therefore, its possibility as a therapeutic agent of metabolic syndromes is reported (Non-patent Literatures 4 and 5). Besides it, it is also reported that adiponectin has an anti-atherogenic action acting directly to blood vessels, such as effects of: inhibiting foaming or adhesion of monocytes; inhibiting proliferation of smooth muscle cells; and inhibiting intimal thickening (Non-patent Literature 6). Further, its possibility as a therapeutic agent of hepatic diseases is also reported since it inhibits: hepatic fibrosis in the disease models induced by chemical substances; activation of stellate cells that play a large part of hepatic fibrosis; hepatic inflammation induced by endotoxin, and the like (Non-patent Literatures 7 and 8). It is also reported that adiponectin has an anti-inflammatory action, and it is paid attention as a therapeutic agent that mimics exercise effects, since adiponectin induces 5′AMP-activated kinase activity to tissues, said activity which is induced during exercise and considered to be important in the molecular mechanism that brings exercise benefits. Thus, adiponectin is paid attention as a preventive/therapeutic agent of various fatal diseases. However, administration method of adiponectin to patients is expected to be injection just as the method of physiologically active substances such as insulin, and it is a therapeutic method with pain and time-consuming. Therefore, in the present situation, it is desired to develop a therapeutic agent such as those that can induce expression of adiponectin by directly acting on adipose cells and increase its secretion in the blood.
Non-patent Literature 1: A novel serum protein similar to C1q, produced exclusively in adipocytes. J Biol Chem 1995 Nov. 10; 270(45):26746-9
Non-patent Literature 2: AdipoQ is a novel adipose-specific gene dysregulated in obesity. J Biol Chem 1996 May 3; 271(18):10697-703
Non-patent Literature 3: Decreased serum levels of adiponectin are a risk factor for the progression to type 2 diabetes in the Japanese Population: the Funagata study. Diabetes Care 2003 July; 26(7):2015-20
Non-patent Literature 4: The fat-derived hormone adiponectin reverses insulin resistance associated with both lipoatrophy and obesity. Nat. Med. 2001 August; 7(8):941-6
Non-patent Literature 5: The adipocyte-secreted protein Acrp30 enhances hepatic insulin action. Nat. Med. 2001 August; 7(8):947-53
Non-patent Literature 6: Adiponectin reduces atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice. Circulation. 2002 Nov. 26; 106(22):2767-70
Non-patent Literature 7: Enhanced carbon tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis in mice lacking adiponectin. Gastroenterology. 2003 December; 125(6):1796-807
Non-patent Literature 8: Adiponectin protects LPS-induced liver injury through modulation of TNF-alpha in KK-Ay obese mice. Hepatology. 2004 July; 40(1):177-84

Acylamide compounds having secretagogue or inducer activity of adiponectin


A monitoring device for an injection molding machine whereby the state of resin sheared by a rotating screw can be easily monitored. During the period from the start to end of metering process, the rate of heat generated by a heater for heating an injection cylinder is obtained by multiplying an on/off ratio B of the heater by a coefficient K and stored in a memory location THmem(n). Also, a time elapsed from the start of the metering is obtained by adding up a processing period T and stored in a memory location Tim(n). The heat generation rates of the heater stored in memory and corresponding to the respective elapsed times are displayed in graph form. The temperature of the injection cylinder represents heat generated by the heater plus heat generated due to resin shearing. Since the heat generation rate of the heater is detected, the rate of heat generated due to resin shearing can be grasped relatively from the detected heat generation rate, making it possible to monitor the state of the resin sheared by the rotating screw. The resin shearing state can be monitored by simple processing of detecting and displaying the heat generation rate of the heater.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitoring device for an injection molding machine, and more particularly, to a monitoring device capable of monitoring heat generated due to shearing of resin.
2. Description of Related Art
In metering process of an injection molding machine, an injection cylinder is heated by a heater and metering is carried out by retracting a screw while at the same time rotating the screw to plasticize, melt, and knead resin in the injection cylinder. At this time, resin pellets are plasticized and melted by shearing heat generated due to shearing of the resin pellets by the rotating screw as well as by heat generated by the heater.
Resins used for optical components such as lenses, however, are deteriorated by shearing. It is therefore desirable that certain kinds of resins should be melted by heat generated by the heater.
When resin is sheared, plasticized, and melted by rotating the screw, the shearing and plasticization of the resin act upon the screw as a load and thus can be estimated from the magnitude of driving torque of a motor etc. for rotating the screw. There has been known a product quality determination method wherein the driving torque of the motor for rotating the screw is monitored and if the driving torque deviates from a preset allowable range, the deviation is detected as metering abnormality (see, for example, JP 06-297532A).
Also, there has been proposed a control method wherein a torque model for the metering motor, according to which a non-defective product could be produced, is obtained in advance and the current supply to the heater for heating the heating cylinder is controlled such that the metering motor torque approaches the torque model (see, for example, JP 2001-260193A).
Further, a method is known wherein the correspondence between heat generation by the heater, calculated from the value of current supplied to the heater and the current supply time without rotating the screw in the heating cylinder filled with resin, and the temperature of the heating cylinder detected by a temperature sensor is stored in advance as a reference. During actual molding, the temperature of the heating cylinder is detected at sampling periods while the quantity of heat generated by the heater is calculated, and based on the calculated quantity of heat, a difference (or ratio) between the stored reference and the detected cylinder temperature is calculated as a temperature rise attributable to shearing heat generated by the screw rotation (see, for example, JP 2001-225372A).
There has also been proposed a control method in which a screw back pressure model for metering, according to which a non-defective product could be produced, is obtained in advance and also a ratio model of the screw back pressure model, which indicates the ratio of the quantity of heat generated by the heater to the quantity of shearing heat, is obtained. During actual molding, the current supply to the heater for heating the heating cylinder is controlled such that the screw back pressure approaches the screw back pressure model, and at the same time the temperature of the heating cylinder is controlled such that the heat quantity ratio approaches the ratio model (see, for example, JP 2001-287255A).
The driving torque of the motor etc. for rotating the screw represents not only the load applied by the shearing of the resin but other loads. Thus, although the load applied to the screw as a whole can be monitored in terms of the driving torque, it is not possible to extract and monitor only the load applied by the shearing of the resin being melted.
Also, according to the aforementioned techniques disclosed in JP 2001-225372A and JP 2001-287255A in which the influence of screw rotation on shearing is detected, it is necessary to measure and store in advance the correspondence between heat generation by the heater, calculated from the value of current supplied to the heater and the current supply time without rotating the screw in the heating cylinder filled with resin, and the temperature of the heating cylinder detected by the temperature sensor. Thus, resin must be filled in the heating cylinder without rotating the screw, which makes it difficult to measure and store, as a reference, the correspondence between the heat generation by the heater and the temperature of the heating cylinder detected by the temperature sensor.

Monitoring device for an injection molding machine


An output driver configured to drive an output node includes a pull-down section having a plurality of legs and a pull-up section having a plurality of pull-up legs. Each leg and pull-up leg includes a data path and a calibration path. The data paths in the pull-down section are configured to conduct to ground responsive to an assertion of a complement data output signal whereas the data paths in the pull-up section are configured to conduct to a power supply node responsive to a de-assertion of the complement data output signal.

The traces and interconnects that couple an integrated circuit to external devices have a characteristic impedance that should be matched by the integrated circuit's output driver. If the output driver has an output impedance that is mismatched to the characteristic impedance of the associated circuit board, undesirable effects occur such as jitter and signal reflections. Thus, it is conventional for an integrated circuit output driver to have some configurability so that it may be calibrated to the desired output impedance.
A conventional impedance-calibrated output driver 100 is shown in FIG. 1 that drives an output signal into an output pad 105. To adjust or calibrate an output impedance at pad 105, driver 100 includes a pull-down section 110 and a pull-up section (not illustrated). As suggested by the name, pull-down section 110 functions to ground pad 105 when a complement (datab) of the data output signal is asserted high. Conversely, the pull-up section functions to charge pad 105 to a power supply voltage VDD when the data output signal is high. Both the pull-up section as well as pull-down section 110 includes a number of selectable legs as well as a default leg. In pull-down section 110, each selectable leg may form a current path to ground (VSS) whereas in the pull-up section they may form a current path to a power supply node carrying the power supply voltage VDD.
The default leg in both sections is always conducting regardless of the calibration setting. Thus, the default leg in pull-down section 110 is configured to form a path to ground when the complement data signal datab driving an NMOS data transistor M1 and an enable signal dnvm driving an NMOS transistor M2 are both asserted. But the remaining legs are selectable according to calibration bits dn<0> through dn<4> corresponding to calibration transistors M3 through M7, respectively. There are thus five selectable legs in pull-down section 110 corresponding to the five calibration bits ranging from a leg 0 to a leg 4. Each leg, whether default or selectable, includes an NMOS data transistor M1 having a gate driven by the complement data output signal datab. Thus, when datab goes high, all M1 data transistors are conducting. But each selectable leg will conduct only if the corresponding calibration bit is asserted.
The current drawn by each selectable leg and the default leg depends upon the resistance of each leg's resistor. The default leg includes a resistor R whereas the resistance of the remaining selectable legs depends upon the calibration scheme. A number of calibration schemes may be used to adjust the output impedance for driver 100. For example, in a binary calibration scheme, selectable leg 0 has the largest resistance R0. Each subsequent selectable leg has one half the preceding leg's resistance. Thus, selectable leg 1 has a resistance of R0/2, selectable leg 2 has a resistance of R0/4, selectable leg 3 has a resistance of R0/8, and selectable leg 4 has a resistance of R0/16.
The pull-up section is analogous except that the default leg and the selectable legs couple to VDD instead of VSS and the NMOS transistors are replaced by PMOS transistors. The calibration bits depend upon the particular process corner used to manufacture driver 100. For example, suppose pull-down section 110 must sink a current I to provide the desired output impedance at output pad 105. If all the selectable legs are conducting such as for a slow process corner, that current I is then distributed across the selectable legs as well as the default leg. But at a fast process corner in which none of the selectable legs are conducting, transistors M1 and M2 in the default leg must then conduct the full amount of the desired current I. Resistor R in the default leg must then be of a sufficient size to reduce electromigration issues with regard to its coupling vias. The relatively large amount of current carried by the default leg at the faster process corners thus raises reliability issues from the resulting risk of electromigration. The relatively large resistor size for the default leg then carries over to the other legs. Output driver 100 is thus relatively bulky, which reduces density in the corresponding integrated circuit. This is particularly inefficient in that the resistors for the selectable legs would not even be used in the fast process corners.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved drivers with greater density and improved reliability.

Calibrated output driver with enhanced reliability and density


A rolling toy having a tubular assembly with a helical ridge that guides movement of a ball within the tubular assembly when the toy is rolled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to toys and, more particularly, to toys that a child may roll.
2. Description of the Related Art
Infant""s toys are typically designed to promote intellectual and physical growth. Some are designed to encourage infants to crawl. Nevertheless, many of these toys fail to keep the interest of infants, often because they lack sufficient visual or audio stimuli.
Generally speaking, the embodiments of the present invention strive to provide a toy that will encourage an infant to crawl and develop motor skills.
Other advantages and features associated with the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modification in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and the description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not limitative.


A method for automatically verifying the existence of a target compound comprises generating a total ion chromatogram. The total ion chromatogram comprises a plurality of peaks, each peak representing one or more compounds in a sample matrix, each peak comprising at least two compounds. The method also comprises deconvoluting each peak to isolate each target compound present in the peak, and automatically verifying the identity of each target compound against a target compound library.

A gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (typically abbreviated as "GC/MS") analyzes a sample of material to determine the constituent compounds thereof. For example, a GC/MS can be used to determine the compounds that are in a sample of food. In one application, a GC/MS analyzes food products to detect the presence of contaminants, such as a pesticide, a chemical warfare agent (CWA), or other contaminants present in the sample. The sample is also referred to as a "matrix" or "sample matrix." Typically, a GC/MS analyzes a sample using both time-based parameters (for example, identifying a target compound based on a time window, referred to as "retention time") and on mass-to-charge ratio, referred to as "m/z," that identifies ions present in the target compound. For a sample having multiple components, the GC/MS outputs a signal that is represented by a pulse train having multiple peaks. The position of each peak relates to the identity of the components in the mixture while the area of the peak relates to the quantity (also referred to as abundance) of that component in the mixture.
When a target compound is detected in the sample matrix, the identity of the target compound must be verified. Verification of the target compound is typically automated, but manual review of the analysis results is required to validate the results.
Typically, a number of different software programs may be used to process the results of the analysis performed by the GC/MS. A first program can be used to analyze the results of the GC portion of the GC/MS and to analyze the results of the MS portion of the GC/MS. A second program may be used to confirm the results by comparison with a known database.
Typically, an analyst who must be proficient in the use of the above-mentioned software may require on the order of 20–30 minutes to perform peak averaging and background subtraction to confirm a target compound found by a retention time window analysis and four (4) ion identification. Unfortunately, this confirmation process is time consuming and burdensome, due to matrix interferences. As known by those skilled in the art, matrix interferences are those compounds present in a sample in which one is not interested. They have similar retention times and/or similar ion fingerprints that obscure correct identification of the compounds in which one is interested, which are referred to as the target compounds.
Therefore, it would be desirable to automate the identification and verification of a target compound detected in a sample.

Rapid automatic target compound confirmation using deconvolution and spectral matching


Logarithmic Detector Amplifiers (LDAs), multiple antennas, active antennas, and multiple active antennas and receivers are provided in a variety of configurations that are synchronized to reduce or eliminate interference so at to provide, a greater range and bandwidth between wireless routers and their clients in WLAN and WAN environments.

As new generations of cellular phones and other wireless communication devices become smaller and embedded with increased applications, new antenna designs are required to address inherent limitations of these devices and to enable new capabilities. With conventional antenna structures, a certain physical volume is required to produce a resonant antenna structure at a particular frequency and with a particular bandwidth. However, effective implementation of such antennas is often confronted with size constraints due to a limited available space in the device.
Antenna efficiency is one of the important parameters that determine the performance of the device. In particular, radiation efficiency is a metric describing how effectively the radiation occurs, and is expressed as the ratio of the radiated power to the input power of the antenna. A more efficient antenna will radiate a higher proportion of the energy fed to it. Likewise, due to the inherent reciprocity of antennas, a more efficient antenna will convert more of a received energy into electrical energy. Therefore, antennas having both good efficiency and compact size are often desired for a wide variety of applications.
Conventional loop antennas are typically current fed devices, which generate primarily a magnetic (H) field. As such, they are not typically suitable as transmitters. This is especially true of small loop antennas (i.e. those smaller than, or having a diameter less than, one wavelength). The amount of radiation energy received by a loop antenna is, in part, determined by its area. Typically, each time the area of the loop is halved, the amount of energy which may be received is reduced by approximately 3 dB. Thus, the size-efficiency tradeoff is one of the major considerations for loop antenna designs.
Voltage fed antennas, such as dipoles, radiate both electric (E) and H fields and can be used in both transmit and receive modes. Compound antennas are those in which both the transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) modes are excited, resulting in performance benefits such as wide bandwidth (lower Q), large radiation intensity/power/gain, and good efficiency. There are a number of examples of two dimensional, non-compound antennas, which generally include printed strips of metal on a circuit board. Most of these antennas are voltage fed. An example of one such antenna is the planar inverted F antenna (PIFA). A large number of antenna designs utilize quarter wavelength (or some multiple of a quarter wavelength), voltage fed, dipole antennas.
Use of MIMO (multiple input multiple output) technologies is increasing in today's wireless communication devices to provide enhanced data communication rates while minimizing error rates. A MIMO system is designed to mitigate interference from multipath environments by using several transmit (Tx) antennas at the same time to transmit different signals, which are not identical but are different variants of the same message, and several receive (Rx) antennas at the same time to receive the different signals. A MIMO system can generally offer significant increases in data throughput without additional bandwidth or increased transmit power by spreading the same total transmit power over the antennas so as to achieve an array gain. MIMO protocols constitute a part of wireless communication standards such as IEEE 802.11n (Wi-Fi), 4G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), WiMAX and HSPA+. However, in a configuration with multiple antennas, size constraints tend to become severe, and interference effects caused by electromagnetic coupling among the antennas may significantly deteriorate transmission and reception qualities. At the same time, efficiency may deteriorate in many instances where multiple paths are energized and power consumption increases.
Such deterioration in transmission and reception quality is particularly problematic for WLAN and WAN applications as coverage, effective throughput delivered at any point, and the level of interference, and capacity are particularly important parameters for effective wideband connectivity. The performance expectations for WLAN and WAN with new applications such as casual video streaming are very high and antennas used in such systems must be able to address these performance issues to improve performance.
There are many opportunities to improve the performance as experienced by the end-user whether on a WAN with his smart phone or on private or public WLAN network with his PC or handheld device. Specifically, WLAN has room for improvement in residential deployment in a residential scenario where each dwelling has one or more Wi-Fi access point(s) or router(s). The coverage and throughput at range has improved drastically over the years and, on average, the majority of users get good coverage and throughout data in their home. However, an increasing problem is the scarcity of available bandwidth and the related interference problems increasing each year. The first ISM band for a WLAN use was 900 MHz in the USA. With the abundance of devices such as cameras and cordless phones and various protocols and different modulation schemes, the 900 MHz band became rapidly overcrowded. The 2.4 GHz band was then allocated and used for IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g devices on 11 channels but only 3 non-overlapping channels.
New cordless phones (e.g: Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications DECT 6.0) were also introduced in the 2.4 GHz band and the current status is that, on average, in any metropolitan area or suburb, each WLAN node sees 5 or 10 routers in the vicinity. For routers it means competition for bandwidth since they see each-other as rogue applications. Algorithms for decreasing transmit power and back off (delay) transmission exist, but on the practical side they are not applied too often in Wi-Fi applications. Whereas for LTE, WCDMA there is a constant power adjustment between the mobile handset user equipment (UE) and the evolved node B (enode B), base transceiver station in GSM. On average, the 2.4 GHz band is also overcrowded. The relatively new use of the 5 GHz band provides much more non-overlapping channels but the continuous hunger for more bandwidth exacerbated by the need for more video at a higher definition suggests a need for more bandwidth resources such as 802.11ac with the provision of a 160 MHz bandwidth.
The performance problems with WLAN and WAN systems generally have been addressed by the development of new generation 802.11b/g/a/n wireless cards and modules. However, nearby wireless LANs conflict with each other, due largely to interference cancellation of overlapping channels. This conflict reduces bandwidth as the client gets farther from a router, and closer to competing routers in neighboring WLANs. Also, weak throughput data or underperformance for video applications due to interference remains a problem and provides a major opportunity for performance improvement. Moreover, the current 802.11 systems must be compared with new competing wireless standards such as an LTE-Advanced release 10 that promise up to 3 Gbps of data in download (DL) and up to 1.5 Gbps in upload (UL) for cellular devices, tablets and PC through bridging modes. A major difference is the synchronization aspect of cellular networks such as LTE versus Wi-Fi in residential environments. Interference problems should not exist or be much lower with LTE versus Wi-Fi; however, less than perfect capacity and low throughput due to multipath fading still exists even for a synchronized WAN.
The present applicant has developed logarithmic detector amplifiers (LDAs) that address the above issues by enabling a receiver to receive lower level systems more reliably in the presence of noise. Also, LDAs permit the transmit power of the transmitter to be proportionately decreased to provide lower levels of interference for neighboring devices. An exemplary LDA is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,911,235, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. As explained therein, an LDA includes an amplifier (e.g., a discrete transistor or an operational amplifier), means for setting a frequency of operation of the detector (e.g., a tuned L-C or R-C tuned feedback circuit or phase-locked loop), and a controller. An input signal to the amplifier causes an oscillation in the amplifier, and the controller senses a threshold indicative of oscillation and in response to detecting oscillation interrupts the oscillation of the amplifier such that the frequency of the interruption is proportional to a logarithm of the power of the input signal.
During operation, electrical noise at the input of the amplifier sets up oscillations in the circuit at the frequency determined by the L-C tuned feedback circuit. Noise outside the bandwidth of the tuned circuit has minimal effect on the operation of the circuit. On the other hand, incoming signals lying within the bandwidth of the L-C tuned feedback circuit cause the oscillator to oscillate more rapidly than if random noise alone were exciting the circuit. In the event that there is a wanted signal amongst received noise, the relative level of the input signal at the set frequency of operation is higher and a threshold will be reached sooner than would be the case for random noise alone. The higher the level of the wanted signal, the sooner the threshold is reached and the interruption of the oscillation will be more frequent. Accordingly, wanted signals having the desired frequency cause oscillations to occur more quickly than will random noise alone. Such LDAs have been shown to be quite effective in canceling interference.
It is desired to address the afore-mentioned problems in the art by providing greater spatial diversity. In traditional mobile cellular network systems, the base station has no information on the position of the mobile units within the cell and radiates the signal in all directions within the cell in order to provide radio coverage. This results in wasting power on transmissions when there are no mobile units to reach, in addition to causing interference for adjacent cells using the same frequency, so called co-channel cells. Likewise, in reception, the antenna receives signals coming from all directions including noise and interference signals. By using smart antenna technology and differing spatial locations of mobile units within the cell, space-division multiple access techniques offer attractive performance enhancements. The radiation pattern of the base station, both in transmission and reception, is adapted to each user to obtain highest gain in the direction of that user. This is often done using phased array techniques.
In view of the increased spatial diversity using such antennas and the significant improvements in interference cancellation when using LDAs, it is desired in accordance with the invention to explore the use of LDAs in new applications in wireless and wired communications. In particular, it is desired to synchronize LDAs, multiple antennas, active antennas, and multiple active antennas and receivers to reduce or eliminate interference, thereby providing greater range and bandwidth between wireless routers and their clients. The invention addresses these and other needs in the art.

Combination of steering antennas, CPL antenna(s), and one or more receive logarithmic detector amplifiers for SISO and MIMO applications


An accessory holder for use on a stepladder. In one embodiment the accessory holder has hangers for holding tools inserted into holders for the hangers. In a second embodiment there is a stepladder having an accessory holder as an integral part thereof. The top member also contains holders for hangers along the periphery for the insertion of hangers for holding accessories. In a third embodiment a frame which fits over the top member of a stepladder contains risers and lateral strips. The accessory holder is secured to the top member of the stepladder by a strap. Hooks and ring hangers are attached to the frame. A front hanger may be swiveled out of the way and bumpers may be added to allow the stepladder to be positioned against a wall.

1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to stepladders or devices to be placed on the top of stepladders in order to hold a wide assortment of tools and other accessories.
2) Description of the Related Art
Ladders have been employed since their inception to place workers into proximity to an elevated surface or article that needs be physically manipulated, such as for purposes of painting, plumbing, wiring, etc. Of the several well-known styles of ladders available, a stepladder is perhaps the most common for indoor use. A flat surface is usually provided at the top of the stepladder.
One of the problems individuals who find themselves on ladders regularly encounter is that they must prevent themselves from falling from the ladder while performing the task at hand. Additionally, a variety of hand implements is often required to carry out various tasks to their completion. From a statistical standpoint, the probability of an individual having a mishap varies directly as the number of times an individual goes up and down the ladder in connection with a job. Therefore, if it were possible to minimize the number of up-and-down trips an individual was required to make in the normal course of carrying out tasks from a ladder, then the probability of a mishap could be minimized. Also, people who frequently use ladders to perform work often find that they need to mount and dismount them many times in a day to obtain additional equipment and tools needed to complete their assigned tasks. Having to do this is time consuming and inefficient. Also, repeated climbing up and down ladders tires a worker and over time can adversely affect some workers' leg muscles and knees. Most bags and trays currently used to support tools and equipment at elevation are too small to prevent frequent dismounts, not easily or rapidly secured and released at elevation, not adapted for secure transport and storage of power tools, not adapted to multiple types of elevation support, and/or not sufficiently rugged or durable for long-term use.
One way to minimize the number of up-and-down trips required to carry out a task is to provide every tool and/or material needed for a given job in close proximity to the location atop the ladder where the worker is situated. However, while the prior art contains many different types of devices aimed at this end, none has been successful in design both so as to be ergonomically effective, and sufficiently cost-effective to manufacture so as to be widely adopted.
A review of some of the criteria that a ladder tool holder would desirably realize is useful. Flexible and removable fabric-type, holders seemingly offer a large holding capacity, but these holders tend not to maintain a defined volume, and are subject to collapsing inwardly. This is adverse in that even a loaded holder should be capable of being slipped into position on a step ladder by use of one hand. The holder must maintain itself open and ready to be mounted upon the step ladder. Moreover, a holder removed from a ladder should not slump or collapse so completely that held objects such as tools become dislodged.
Another type of accessory holder is a foldable tray or platform attached to the front support legs of a ladder and which tray may then be pivoted to an out-of-the-way position when not in use or when the ladder is stored.
Many ladder trays or article holders attachable to a ladder can be found in the prior art and the following are representative:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,444,096 shows a paint receptacle for use with roller-type applicators having a tray which is supported by a foot which engages the top of a stepladder.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,961 shows a mounting bracket which carries a pivot which, in turn, supports a holder such as a collapsible bag. The device is not specifically for use with a ladder and may be attached to a window sill or ledge to assist in such tasks as washing windows. When not in use, the holder may be rotated so that it may be positioned out of the way.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,435 shows a tray with a clip and wire frame support for secure mounting on the top of a stepladder. The tray is shaped to hold tools and has small pockets for containment of small items.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,740 shows a movable shelf for a stepladder. The shelf has a pair of brackets which, for example, may engage the edge and underside of either a step or the top of a ladder. Stop members in the form of pins may be engaged to prevent the shelf from sliding when in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,063 shows a stepladder work bench which is hingedly attached to a stepladder, allowing it to be raised and hooked in place for use and lowered against the stepladder rails for storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,535 shows an open-bottomed, non-folding, vertical sided, box-like tool holder that sits on top of a folding stepladder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,753 shows a paint can holder with a collar which suspends a paint can to facilitate painting directly from the can. The device is attached or supported from the top of a stepladder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,915 shows a foldable tool holder with a rectangular central top panel that rests on top of a stepladder and four pocketed rectangular side panels that hang down from the respective edges of the top panel and are attached to it by various means, including sewn stitching, a zipper, straps, and rivets. Straps are provided on the lower ends of the side panels for tying them to the ladder's support rails.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,453 show a foldable tool holder with a rectangular central top panel that fits on top of a stepladder and four pocketed trapezoidal side panels that hang down from the respective edges of the top panel. The side panels are attachable to each other at their lower ends by hook and loop tapes on straps that respectively wrap around the legs, one front step and one back rung of the ladder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,433 shows an improved accessory tray securable to the top cap of the step ladder for the temporary storage of tools, parts, and the like. The accessory tray includes a support which is securable to the top of a stepladder by various clamping arrangements which may include bolts, springs or tie downs. The tray is attached to the support and in the deployed position extends horizontally forward from the front steps of the ladder.
As can be seen from looking at the prior art, there is still a need for a ladder accessory holder which is adapted to hold a wide variety of tools while being simple in design and easy to manufacture and apply to the ladder. A need also exists for a holder which can be useful when the stepladder is used in the stand-alone mode or is supported by a wall.


A computing system for managing site security through a communication device includes a mobile communication device, a notification, and the communication device. Using BLUETOOTH technology, the mobile communication device communicates with and activates the communication device and the notification. The communication device detects any noteworthy event and captures visual data accordingly, and transmits the visual data to the mobile communication device. The notification generates visual and audio alerts. A related method and storage medium with instructions for performance of the method also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure are related to systems and methods for managing site security, and in particular to a system and method for managing site security through a communication device.
2. Description of Related Art
Security technology in commercial use may include infrared (IR) detection and alarm systems. An IR sensor may detect events or activity and the alarm system may notify responsible parties thereof. However, such detection and notification measures may not take place in time for appropriate action to be taken, and no information regarding the events is recorded.
As mobile communication devices become more commonly used, opportunities for real-time delivery of information are dramatically increased, especially when combined with advances in wireless data transmission capability.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method for site security management utilizing notification of security events via a communication device.

Systems and methods for managing site security through a communication device


A perpendicular magnetic recording apparatus includes a perpendicular double-layered media having a substrate, a soft underlayer including a soft magnetic layer, an intermediate layer, and another soft magnetic layer in which the two soft magnetic layers are antiferromagnetically coupled with each other, and a perpendicular recording layer, and a magnetic head including a main pole, a return yoke, and an exciting coil. A relationship between an antiferromagnetic coupling force Hex_afc of the two soft magnetic layers included in the soft underlayer and a full width at half maximum MWW in a cross track direction when a low-frequency signal is recorded on the perpendicular recording layer by the magnetic head satisfies the following formula:Hex—afc>1.6*ln((0.23−MWW)2*100))+25.6.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a perpendicular magnetic recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A perpendicular magnetic recording apparatus has a perpendicular double-layered media including a soft underlayer and a perpendicular recording layer, and a magnetic head (single pole head) including a main pole, a return yoke, and an exciting coil, and records data by using magnetic coupling between the magnetic head and the soft underlayer. Since the soft underlayer of the perpendicular double-layered media can be regarded as a part of the magnetic head, it is necessary to stabilize magnetization in the soft underlayer and reduce noise from the soft underlayer.
Magnetization of the soft underlayer is stabilized by using a structure pinning the magnetization of the soft underlayer in one direction in which the soft underlayer is formed on a magnetization pinning layer. For example, a perpendicular magnetic recording media is proposed in which an in-plane hard magnetic layer, an intermediate layer, an in-plane soft magnetic layer, and a perpendicular recording layer are stacked on a substrate, and the intermediate layer is a magnetic layer having saturation magnetization smaller than that of the in-plane hard magnetic layer, a nonmagnetic layer having a thickness smaller than 0.5 nm, or an oxide layer of the in-plane hard magnetic layer (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-162807). In this perpendicular magnetic recording media, magnetization deviation caused by an external magnetic field is suppressed, and media noise is reduced.
Also, as described above, in the perpendicular magnetic recording apparatus using the perpendicular double-layered media and the single pole head, data is recorded by using the magnetic coupling between the single pole head and the perpendicular double-layered media, i.e., a flow of magnetic flux from the main pole to the return yoke through the soft underlayer. Therefore, miserase of information recorded on the media readily occurs due to remanent magnetization in the main pole. To solve this problem, a method which prevents miserase by reducing the remanent magnetization in the main pole after recording by modifying the shape of the main pole is proposed (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-317212). However, as the track density (TPI) of the perpendicular recording media increases, the size of the main pole decreases. For example, to realize 200 kTPI, a track width of 0.13 μm or less is necessary. Therefore, the main pole is made into a needle-like shape and becomes magnetically unstable. This makes it difficult to reduce the remanent magnetization and prevent miserase only by modifying the shape of the main pole. In addition, when the track width of the main pole decreases, the field strength of the main pole also decreases. This makes it difficult to maintain the recording quality.
Furthermore, hard disk drives are incorporated in car navigation systems and household electric appliances as well as in personal computers, and are beginning to be used in wide temperature environments accordingly. Especially because a magnetic recording media changes its coercivity in accordance with the use temperature, recording characteristics at room temperature, high temperatures, and low temperatures may also be different. Therefore, hard disk drives are required to be able to write and read data without any problems in wide temperature environments from low temperatures to high temperatures. More specifically, it is necessary to maintain high thermal fluctuation resistance and good fringe characteristics at high temperatures, and maintain high overwrite characteristics and a high S/N ratio at low temperatures.

Perpendicular magnetic recording apparatus


A liquid immersion type projection optical system that can stably prevent the outflow of immersion liquid into inside of an optical system and can maintain good imaging performance. In the projection optical system of the present invention, an optical path between a light transmitting member (Lp) disposed closest to a second surface (W) side and the second surface is filled with a liquid (Lm1) having a refractive index greater than 1.1, and a light shielding film (36) for shielding the passing of light is formed on the side surfaces (41, 42) of the light transmitting member. When D is a space between the second surface and the light shielding film, Θ is a maximum incident angle of an image forming beam which reaches the second surface, and Ym is a maximum image height on the second surface, the condition of 0.25<D/Ym×tan Θ<1.7 is satisfied.

In a photolithography process for manufacturing semiconductor devices, an exposure apparatus which projects and exposes a pattern image of a mask (or a reticle) onto a photosensitive substrate (e.g. wafer or glass plate on which photoresist is coated) via a projection optical system has been used. For the exposure apparatus, the resolution required for the projection optical system is increasing more and more as the degree of integration of semiconductor devices improves.
In order to satisfy the demand for the resolution of the projection optical system, the wavelength λ of the illumination light (exposure light) must be decreased, and the numerical aperture NA at the image side of the projection optical system must be increased. Specifically, the resolution of the projection optical system is given by k·λ/NA (k is a process coefficient). The numerical aperture NA at the image side is given by n·sin θ, where n is a refractive index of the medium (normally a gas, such as air) between the projection optical system and the photosensitive substrate, and θ is a maximum incident angle to the photosensitive substrate.
When it is attempted to increase the numerical aperture at the image side by increasing the maximum incident angle θ, the incident angle to the photosensitive substrate and the emission angle from the projection optical system increase, and reflection loss on the optical loss increases, so a large effective numerical aperture at the image side cannot be secured. Therefore an immersion technology for attempting an increase of the numerical aperture at the image side by filling a medium, such as liquid, having a high refractive index in an optical path between the projection optical system and the photosensitive substrate, is known (e.g. Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: International Publication No. WO2004/019128 Pamphlet

Projection optical system, exposure system, and exposure method


A module applying a hydrogen generating device for supporting combustion of an internal combustion engine is provided. A hydrogen generating device of the module primarily utilizes a plasma column to assist air and a hydrogen-containing substance to produce a plasma chemical reaction, such a hydrogen component is decomposed from the hydrogen-containing substance and transported into an internal combustion engine. Thus, combustion of the internal combustion engine can be promoted.

Hydrogen, a flammable, colorless, odorless and highly chemically active gas, has a rich content and is mainly applied in the field of basic chemical synthesis. In the recent years, development trends of hydrogen are also targeted at being a substitute energy. In addition to the foregoing applications, based on properties of having high chemical activities and being easily combined with a carbon substance, industrialists may further apply hydrogen for removing carbon deposition in an internal combustion engine to enhance operating efficiency of the internal combustion engine.
Principles of an internal combustion engine are described briefly as follows. A fuel source is inputted into an internal combustion engine and is mixed with hydrogen for combustion. During the process, chemical energy obtained is converted to mechanical energy. According to different types of fuel sources, these fuel sources may be applied to gasoline engines, diesel engines and biomass energy engines, as well as to equipments of various fields such as motor bikes, automobiles, ships, airplanes and rockets. Most fuels include compositions of hydrocarbon compounds. As a result, during the operation process of an internal combustion engine, carbon particles are often accumulated and deposited as the abovementioned carbon deposition. The carbon deposition may degrade the performance of the engine, or even damage and lead to malfunctions of the engine in more severe cases.
There are conventional methods that introduce hydrogen into an internal combustion engine to remove carbon deposition. For example, the Taiwan Patent No. M484630 discloses "Device that Removes Carbon Deposition of Fuel Engine by Hydrogen or Mixed Gas of Hydrogen and Nitrogen". In the above disclosure, a device, which removes carbon deposition of a fuel engine by hydrogen or a mixed gas of hydrogen and nitrogen, directly stores the hydrogen or the mixed gas of hydrogen and nitrogen in a steel bottle or another container, and introduces the hydrogen or the mixed gas of hydrogen and nitrogen to a fuel engine to remove carbon deposition in the fuel engine.
In current technologies, industrial methods for manufacturing hydrogen are employed as a source for hydrogen, and mainly adopt steam reforming as such approach has higher conversion efficiency. However, such approach involves high-temperature operations or has innate chemical reactions yielding high pollutions that lead to environmental damages. On the other hand, with the industrial methods for manufacturing hydrogen, general users can only purchase and then store the hydrogen for further utilization. Thus, not only the above technologies for removing carbon deposition cannot be extensively disseminated and promoted, but also various application inconveniences are resulted.

Module applying a hydrogen generating device for supporting combustion of an internal combustion engine


A process for the removal of metal ions from solution and means for effecting such removal are described. The process is based on the hydroponic growth of sunflowers, terrestrial turfgrasses and/or members of the family Brassicaceae in solutions containing one or more metal ions. Metal ions can be efficiently removed from solutions by passing these solutions through the root biomass of these terrestrial plants. Receptacles containing the plants are also part of the invention.

Deposition of metal-rich mine tailings, metal smelting, leather tanning, electroplating, emissions from gas exhausts, energy and fuel production, downwash from powerlines, intensive agriculture and sludge dumping are the most important human activities which contaminate aqueous systems with water containing large amounts of toxic metals. The list of sites contaminated with toxic metals grows larger every year, presenting a serious health problem and a formidable danger to the environment. Water treatment procedures have been developed to remove metals from aqueous environments but they do a relatively poor job of removing toxic metals from residential and industrial aqueous waste, contributing to the overall problem.
Methods have been developed that utilize biologically active materials (e.g., higher plants) to remove toxic metals from wastewaters. Unfortunately, waste waters such as mine tailing drainage and water from smelting operations are nutrient poor and often contain concentrations of inorganic carbonaceous and nitrogenous nutrients that are insufficient to support growth of plants. Supplementation of metal-containing waste water with growth-promoting amounts of inorganic plant nutrients is problematic since the addition of external nutrients runs the risk of further pollution.

Method for removing soluble metals from an aqueous phase


In one embodiment, an edge server in a content-distribution network (CDN) stores a video asset in the form of partially encoded transport-stream chunks, where the partial encoding does not include quantization processing. When the edge server receives a request from a user device for a particular segment of the asset at a particular quality corresponding to a target bitrate, the edge server retrieves at least one partially encoded chunk corresponding to the request and completes the encoding (including quantization processing) of the at least one partially encoded chunk to generate an output file at the requested target bitrate. The edge server then adds corresponding audio data and any auxiliary data to the output file to generate a transport-stream file. The edge server then transmits the transport-stream to the user device as one or more transport-stream packets.

Field
The current disclosure relates to audio-visual (AV) content delivery, and more specifically, but not exclusively, to AV content delivery using a packet-switched network.
Description of the Related Art
Audio-visual (AV) content, in the form of digital data, may be delivered to consumers using content delivery networks (CDNs). A typical CDN uses a packet-switched network, such as the Internet, to deliver encoded AV content from an origin server to a large group of user devices via a collection of edge servers, each of which is typically located proximately to a subgroup of the user devices. User devices include players configured to decode received digital audio-visual content. A typical CDN comprises an origin server and a plurality of edge servers. Each edge server is connected to one or more different types of end-user devices, such as, for example, set-top boxes (STBs), desktops, laptops, tablets, smart phones, and cellular phones.
AV content items, also known as assets, are created in an original high-resolution format—such as, for example, AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) or AVC-Intra—that typically stores information about each of the frames in the asset with only limited, if any, compression, in order to preserve a maximal amount of information. The original-format asset may be further compressed to generate a high-resolution mezzanine lossy intermediate file of a smaller size than the original-format asset. Common standards for additional compression are ProRes 422, JPEG2000, and long GOP MPEG-2 (H.222/H.262 as defined by the ITU).
The mezzanine lossy intermediate file is then commonly compressed again for end user devices. A common final compression format is part 10 of the MPEG-4 suite, known as H.264 or AVC (advanced video coding). H.264 defines an improved compression process that, compared with older standards, allows for (i) a higher-quality AV segment at the same bitrate or (ii) the same quality AV segment at a lower bitrate.
The H.264 standard is computationally more intensive relative to older standards and allows for encoding a relatively more-compressed version of an AV file. The compression uses multiple techniques that are based on the way moving pictures are structured—having, for example, typically a lot of similarity between neighboring sections of a single frame and between consecutive frames—and the way moving pictures are perceived by humans—with, for example, greater sensitivity to changes in brightness than changes in color (in other words, a greater sensitivity to luminance than to chromaticity). The result of this H.264 encoding can be stored in a defined standard containers such as MP4 (MPEG-4 part 14) or MOV (QuickTime File Format; QuickTime is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.). End user devices typically download the final compressed H.264 encoded video and compressed audio in chunked segments of the MP4 container. The chunked segments are defined by standards such as Smooth Streaming (using ISM files), HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), and HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS), and referred to in this application as transport-stream files. One common file type for transport-stream files, which are used in the user segment, is the .ts file type. A mezzanine intermediate file may be transcoded into a myriad different corresponding transport-stream files of various quality levels. As noted above, a CDN serves different types of user devices. These devices may have different types of media-playing programs on them and the devices may have data connections of different bandwidths to their respective edge servers. Consequently, a user device requesting an asset specifies a particular format, resolution, and/or bitrate (or bitrate range).
In order to be ready to provide the asset to a variety of devices, running a variety of client media-playing programs, at a variety of resolutions and bitrates, multiple versions of the asset are created. Each different version requires a corresponding transcoding of the mezzanine intermediate file into transport-stream files. The origin server stores multiple transport-stream versions of the asset, where the different versions, in the form of different transport-stream files, have different encoding formats, resolutions, and/or bitrates. Multiple versions of the same asset are needed for compatibility with a wide range of user-device types, client programs, and data-transmission rates. These different multiple versions are stored at the origin server.
When a user device requests a particular asset from its corresponding edge server, one or more compatible transport-stream files—corresponding to, for example, different bitrates—are transmitted by the origin server to the edge server for caching at the edge server. The particular versions depend on factors such as (a) the device type of the user device, (b) the user device's client program that requested the asset, and (c) the available bandwidth of the connection between the user device and the edge server. The edge server caches the entirety of the received transmission-ready version of the requested item and streams it to the user device for presentation to a user.
The above-described system requires both the generation, transport, and storage of a large number of versions of every asset that is to be readily available to users.

Audio-visual content delivery with partial encoding of content chunks


An improved brake structure of a tape measure mainly includes a pair of corresponding slide slots which are set at the inner side of one side of the upper housing and the lower housing of a tape measure, a pair of lodging troughs extended from the end portion, which are near the outlet of the tape, of the sliding slots, a pair of slide ways at both sides of the control part combined in slide slots to slide in the slide slots, a slide piece extended from the front end portion of the control part, a pair of lodging blocks extended from both sides of the center of the slide piece, and an inset hole set at the front end of the slide piece. The lodging blocks are hold to the upper edge of the lodging troughs. Below the slide slots of the enclosure, a position pair of columns is set at one side to be combined with a brake part. A guide piece of the brake part is inset into the inset hole at the front end of the slide piece. When the control part moves downward, the slide piece also moves downward to make the lodging blocks of the slide piece clipped into the lodging troughs of the enclosure and drive the brake part to turn in a certain angle such that the brake part holds to the surface of the tape to achieve the purpose of braking the tape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved brake structure of a tape measure, especially to an improved brake structure of a tape measure which can reduce the volume substantially and achieve good braking effect.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When a tape measure is used to proceed measuring task, the brake structure therein plays a very important role because of that the braking ability of the brake structure is essential to position the tape such that the measuring task can be accomplished and the situation of hurting a hand of a user due to retraction motion without advance warning.
Commonly used brake structure is mainly composed of a control part and a brake piece. When a tape measure is assembled, a room is essential to be extended from a lateral side of an enclosure of the tape measure, and a slide slot is set on the room to combine with the brake piece and make brake piece slide on the slide slot. Besides, the control part is set at the top of the enclosure, and one end of the control part holds to one end of the brake piece to make the control part push the brake piece move downward and hold to the tape of the tape measure such that braking effect is achieved. However, the setting method makes not only volume of the enclosure larger but also manufacturing cost higher, and, besides, the control part only can be set at the top of the enclosure.
Therefore, the object described above has many disadvantages such that it is not a perfect design and need being improved.
The inventor of the present invention ruminated over the disadvantages resulted from the habitually used brake structures of a tape measure, and earnestly deliberated the way of improvement and innovation. After studying hard for a long period, the inventor eventually succeeded in inventing the present invention, an improved brake structure of a tape measure.
The first purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved brake structure of a tape measure which can substantially reduce the area of the enclosure of the tape measure.
The second purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved brake structure of a tape measure which has advantages of controlling easily, simple structure, assembling easily, and so on.
The improved brake structure of a tape measure which can achieve the purposes described above mainly comprises an enclosure of the tape measure, a control part, a brake part; the enclosure includes an upper housing, a lower housing, and a turning wheel wrapped with tape is combined inside the enclosure. A pair of arc slide slots along the arc of the turning wheel are set at an inner side of the upper housing and the lower housing. A lodging trough is extended from the end portion of each slide slot nearby the outlet of the tape, and a position column is set slightly below the slide slot.
A push key is set at the surface of the control part, wherein a pair of slide ways are set at both sides while a slide piece is extended from the front end portion. A pair of lodging blocks is extended from both sides of the center and an inset hole is set at the front end of the slide piece. In this way, the slide ways of both sides of the control part are combined in the slide slots of the upper housing and the lower housing to slide in the sliding slots and thus, the lodging blocks of the slide piece at the front end can hold to the upper edge of the lodging trough. The main part of the brake part is a hollow cylinder to slip on and the position columns of the upper housing and the lower housing and further rotate about these position columns. A brake piece and a guide piece are extended from the brake part. The guide piece is used for lodging in the inset hole of the slide piece at the front end portion of the control part. When the user uses the push key of the control part to make the control part move downward, the slide piece also moves downward to make the lodging blocks of the slide piece lodged in the lodging troughs of the end portion of the slide slots such that the control part can be positioned. The brake part can be affected by the downward motion of the slide piece to turn in a certain angle to make the brake piece thereon hold to the surface of the tape such that the function of braking tape is accomplished.


A patient positioning assistance device is disclosed. The patient positioning assistance device is placed under the head of a patient in a supine position during endotracheal intubation of the patient. The device comprises a base and an inflatable chamber slidably coupled to the base to facilitate positioning of the chamber under the head of the patient and being operable to adjust a tilt position of the head of the patient to facilitate insertion and proper placement of a laryngoscope blade into the mouth of the patient.

During and prior to surgery, a patient is often manipulated manually to properly position various parts of his or her body to facilitate the performance of certain medical procedures. For example, a patient's head and neck may be manipulated to facilitate the insertion of an endotracheal tube for intubation, a patient's head and shoulders may be manipulated and positioned for a thyroid operation, and a patient's torso may be manipulated to better present a breast for examination and surgery. The proper manipulation and/or placement of the patient's body is often necessary to prevent brachial plexus injury as in kidney or hip surgery.
Endotracheal intubation requires the insertion of a flexible tube through the oral cavity (or sometimes nasal cavity), the oropharynx, the glottis and into the trachea. Safe and successful intubation requires controlled insertion of the endotraeheal tube so that the tube is introduced through the glottis of the larynx without damaging the teeth or surrounding tissues such as oropharynx, epiglottis, vocal cords or laryngeal cartilages. It is desirable that the practitioner inserting the tube has a clear view of the glottis and vocal cords to guide the tube into the trachea successfully and without injury to the patient. It is sometimes difficult or even not possible to obtain a clear view of the glottis, so it is desirable that optimal positioning of the laryngoscope blade and the patient's head be attained for increasing the success of endotracheal intubation. The intubation process typically requires extending the head of the patient to facilitate insertion of the laryngoscope blade into the mouth. With the laryngoscope blade in place against the tongue of the patient, the practitioner uses the laryngoscope to lift the tongue and frequently lift the patient's head with the blade to expose the glottis into view.
There are several problems with the conventional manner in which endotracheal intubation is performed. Because the blade is used to lift and position the patient's head, there is a certain likelihood of trauma to the soft tissues of the patient's mouth, pharynx, vocal cords, laryngeal cartilages and to the teeth, leading to bleeding, sore throat, hoarseness or dislodgment or breakage of teeth. Furthermore, because the practitioner typically uses his/her weaker non-dominant hand to hold the laryngoscope handle and insert the laryngoscope blade so that the dominant hand can be used to insert the endotracheal tube, the practitioner often has difficulty lifting, supporting and manipulating the patient's head with the weaker non-dominant arm and hand. Therefore, in a substantial percentage of cases, the practitioner is required to request and wait for another person's, typically a nurse's, assistance in lifting the patient's head into optimal position. This person also frequently is asked to apply pressure on the front part of the neck over the cricoid cartilage for better visualization of the glottis and to prevent aspiration of gastric contents which can cause pneumonia, lung abscesses or even death. The necessity of calling for and requiring an assistant causes delay and interferes with the nurse's performance of his/her tasks in getting the surgical procedure underway.
In many other procedures, such as surgery in which the patient is required to assume and maintain a lateral position, such as kidney or hip surgery, the patient's axillary neurovascular structures may become damaged irreparably if the patient's body weight is improperly supported. During other surgical procedures such as thyroid gland surgery and anterior cervical spine surgery, the patient, lying in a supine position, must be positioned to provide better access to the anterior neck region. It is a common practice for medical personnel to simply roll up a towel or some other soft padding and place it under the patient. However, these rolls are often not optimal in size for safe positioning of the patient. Further, these towel rolls and padding cannot be easily adjusted to vary the height or orientation to modify the patient's position intraoperatively. Many other procedures may require the patient to assume a prescribed position in order to minimize risks or improve the performance of the procedures.