A platform allows experts, for example home improvement professionals, to upload their portfolios, i.e. content such as photos, videos, text, and sound, to a publicly available resource, such as a Web browser accessible, network based commerce system. Users may then browse the content, for example by room, style, and metro area. The content is arranged in collections that are in part passively sorted, based upon user relevance. Tags are shown on objects, for example within photos, for which there is more information. In the case of a movable display device, the tags can simulate the physics of real tags, for example they can move back and forth when the device is shaken. In another embodiment, a snap point is set to impart either a scrolling transition or a step transition between display pages, based upon user scroll activity.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the interactive organization and presentation of content within a semi-supervised expert domain. More particularly, the invention relates to the consistent presentation of content and passive relevance determination of content relationship in an on-line commerce system.
2. Description of the Background Art
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce, or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online. It also includes the entire online process of developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing, and paying for products and services.
The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at one point in the transaction's life-cycle, although it may encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail, mobile devices, and telephones as well.
A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely in electronic form for virtual items, such as access to premium content on a website, but mostly electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers are now electronically present on the World Wide Web.
Electronic commerce that takes place between businesses is referred to as business-to-business or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties, e.g. commodity exchange, or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that takes place between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com. Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce where the buyer is directly online to the seller's computer, usually via the Internet. There is no intermediary service involved. The sale or purchase transaction is completed electronically and interactively in real-time, such as in Amazon.com for new books. However in some cases, an intermediary may be present in a sale or purchase transaction such as the transactions on eBay.com.
Online shopping has evolved to the point that a specific user experience is often provided for particular types of goods. Online shopping also includes recommendations, user reviews, and other social aspects of the goods listed on a particular site. Unfortunately, there is no way for a user to make much sense of the listed items because no thought goes into arranging and presenting the items in a meaningful way relative to each other across categories, nor is expert advice associated with the online sale of goods, nor is user interaction with the goods during their presentation considered in subsequent presentation of the goods. Further, most online commerce is presented in a format that belongs to an earlier era of the Internet, and that is not particularly well adapted for modern tablet and handheld devices.

Consistent presentation of content and passive relevance determination of content relationship in an on-line commerce system


The present invention is related to a method for producing a resin composition including feeding a resin (A), a fibrous filler (B), and a particulate filler (C) which is harder than the fibrous filler (B) to an extruder, and melt-kneading to extrude a kneaded material, the resin composition comprising a fibrous filler (B) which is 140 μm or less in weight average fiber length. According to the present invention, a production method with high versatility is provided in which a resin composition containing the fibrous filler having the weight average fiber length of 140 μm or less is effectively produced.

Among resins, liquid crystalline polyesters exhibit favorable molding processability, have high levels of heat resistance and strength, and provide excellent insulating properties, and are therefore used as materials for electrical and electronic components and optical components.
With liquid crystalline polyesters, the molecular chains align readily along the flow direction during molding, and anisotropy tends to develop in the molding shrinkage rate and the mechanical properties between the flow direction and the direction perpendicular thereto. As a result, in order to reduce this anisotropy, fillers of various shapes, including fibrous fillers and plate-like fillers, are mixed into the resin.
On the other hand, when a fibrous filler is mixed with a liquid crystalline polyester, in order to obtain the desired levels of fluidity, moldability and molded article strength, it is preferable that the average fiber length of the filler is controlled. In particular, in order to obtain a molded article with improved levels of dust generation, which can occur due to dislodgement of the fibrous filler and the resulting generation of resin waste, it is important that the weight average fiber length of the fibrous filler in the molded article is shortened to a value within a prescribed range, such as a length of not more than 400 μm.
In this regard, Patent Document 1 discloses a method of obtaining a molded item by injection molding pellets obtained from a glass fiber-reinforced liquid crystalline resin composition, prepared by filling (A) 100 parts by weight of at least one liquid crystalline resin selected from among liquid crystalline polyester resins which form an anisotropic melt phase and liquid crystalline polyesteramide resins with (B) 5 to 300 parts by weight of glass fibers with an average fiber diameter of 3 to 15 μm and subsequently performing melt-kneading, wherein the weight average fiber length in the pellets is within a range from 0.02 to 0.55 mm, the proportion of glass fibers with a fiber length exceeding 1 mm is from 0 to 15% by weight of the glass fibers, and the proportion of glass fibers with a fiber length of not more than 0.1 mm is from 0 to 50% by weight of the glass fibers. The determination of the flow length during the injection molding and the shrinkage rate of the molded item is also disclosed.


Ophthalmologic analysis system for measuring the thickness of the corneal tissue on an eye to be examined having a projection device with which defined regions of the corneal tissue are illuminated, whereby the projection device cooperates with an observation system by means of which the illuminated regions of the corneal tissue can be observed and recorded at an angle in relation to the beam path of the projection device. A second projection device is provided on the analysis system, whereby the second projection device cooperates with a second observation system by means of which the illuminated regions of the corneal tissue are observed and recorded such that the curvature of the corneal tissue can be derived from the image information of the second observation system in the analysis device.

Such analysis systems are of major importance in ophthalmology. By using suitable image processing methods, the significant properties of the corneal tissue can be ascertained extremely effectively.
Tests have shown that the measurement of the thickness of the cornea depends on the radius of curvature of the cornea in the measurement range. In other words, this means that the means known so far for measuring the thickness of the corneal tissue have been subject to a measurement error, with the deviation being greater, the greater the difference between the actual curvature of the cornea in the measurement range and the reference value preselected in the analysis system. Against the background of this state of the art, the object of the present invention is therefore to make available an ophthalmologic analysis system with which this measurement accuracy can be increased.


A rubber sleeve for a printing press and a method for producing a rubber sleeve is disclosed. The rubber sleeve has a rigid support sleeve and a blanket that is wrapped around the support sleeve as well as is firmly connected to the support sleeve. The blanket has at least a two-layer structure with an inner layer embodied as a base layer and an outer layer serving as a functional layer for the printing process, where the butting edges of the blanket are connected to one another via a sealing material, which is introduced in a gap embodied between the butting edges. The sealing material is introduced in the gap embodied between the butting edges while forming a channel.

The invention relates to a rubber sleeve for a printing press. In addition, the invention relates to a method for producing a rubber sleeve for a printing press.
In principle, two methods for producing a rubber sleeve for a printing press are known from practice.
According to a first method for producing a rubber sleeve known from practice, such as, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,798, a rigid support sleeve made of metal or a composite material and which is closed or continuous in the circumferential direction is made available, wherein additional continuous layers of the rubber sleeve are applied successively to this support sleeve. This is accomplished preferably in a so-called coating method.
According to a second method for producing a rubber sleeve known from practice, such as, for example, described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,351,615 and 6,484,632, a rigid support sleeve made of metal or a composite material and which is closed or continuous in the circumferential direction and in addition a blanket with at least a two-layer structure as a semi-finished product are also made available, wherein a pre-cut part of the blanket is wrapped around the rigid support sleeve and firmly connected to the rigid support sleeve. In the process, butting edges of the blanket must be connected to each other in order to prevent the penetration of solutions and/or ink, wherein, for this purpose, according to the prior art, a sealing material is introduced flush with the surface of the blanket in an air gap embodied between the butting edges, and wherein the blanket and the sealing material are finished by grinding. However, the region of the sealing material continues to represent, in terms of printing, a malfunction location or an interruption so that continuous printing is not possible there. These types of rubber sleeves have a limited service life because they are not sufficiently able to absorb the stresses occurring in operation.
Starting herefrom, the present invention is based on the objective of creating a novel rubber sleeve as well as a novel method for producing the same.
According to the invention, the sealing material is introduced in the air gap embodied between the butting edges while forming a channel. The channel also forms an air gap in the process, which essentially interrupts the outer printing layer at least partially, and as the case may be also the inner layers.
The fact that, in the case of the inventive rubber sleeve, the sealing material is introduced in the air gap embodied between the butting edges of the pre-cut blanket part while forming a channel, which allows a considerably longer service life to be realized for a rubber sleeve because the rubber sleeve is better able to absorb the stresses acting on the same during the printing operation. Thus, an inventively embodied rubber sleeve is considerably less susceptible to both mechanical destruction as well as chemical destruction than rubber sleeves known from practice. As a result, the impact zone embodied between the butting edges of the pre-cut blanket section is more resistant to mechanical and chemical stresses, which ultimately results in a significantly longer service life for the rubber sleeve. However, also in the case of this rubber sleeve, continuous pressure that goes beyond the area of the air gap is not possible.
Preferred developments of the invention are yielded from the following description. Without being limited hereto, exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained in greater detail on the basis of the drawings.


Cosmetic formulations comprising mixtures of a polysiloxane having a viscosity at 25.degree. C. of from about 500 centistokes to about 1500 centistokes, cosmetic grade lanolin oil, lanolin wax, a gelling agent, hydrocarbon-derived polymers such as polybutene or ethylene vinyl acetate, or mixtures thereof, and a dry color mix are disclosed. The dry color mix may comprise an inorganic pigment, mixtures of inorganic pigments or a mixture of inorganic pigments and a pearling agents.

The use of various materials to stain, enhance or change the natural color of an individual's lips has been known since ancient times. In modern times, lip color change or enhancement is accomplished primarily through the use of pigments and coloring agents incorporated into a hard waxy material. The waxy material/coloring agent combination is typically made available in a stick form and is known in common parlance as lipstick. Although widely used, conventional lipsticks have a number of drawbacks. Conventional lipsticks can be difficult to apply due to their hard waxy nature and have limited wearability, primarily due to the fact that most lipsticks contain a relatively small percentage of pigment. Thus, conventional lipsticks must be reapplied at frequent intervals.
The use of dry powdered lip colors to enhance wearability over that of conventional lipsticks is also known. However, the use of powdered lip color can be inconvenient and time consuming. Moreover, while the use of powdered lip color may enhance wearability over lipsticks to some extent, powdered lip color tends to dry the wearer's lips and to undesirably enhance the appearance of wrinkles.
Cosmetic formulations incorporating silicones (organosiloxanes) have been proposed. Examples of such formulations are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,699,780 issued Oct. 13, 1987 to Jennings et al.; 4,578,266 issued Mar. 25, 1986 to Tietjen et al.; 4,390,524 issued Jun. 28, 1983 to Nasuno et al.; and, 4,355,046 issued Oct. 19, 1982 to Suess. The foregoing references do not, however, teach the unique formulation of the present invention which provides an improved lip color with superior wearability.


Data in a cache is selectively compressed based on predictions as to whether the benefit of compression in reducing cache misses exceeds the cost of decompressing the compressed data. The prediction is based on an assessment of actual costs and benefits for previous instruction cycles of the same program providing dynamic and concurrent adjustment of compression to maximize the benefits of compression in a variety of applications.

The present invention relates to cache memories for electronic computers and, in particular, to a cache system providing for compression of cache data.
The speed at which computers may execute a program is constrained by the time it takes for data and instructions to be transferred from the computer memory to the computer processor. One method of reducing this "memory latency" is through the use of cache memories which are small, high-speed memories with high bandwidth connections to the processor. Data and instructions expected to be needed by the processor are fetched from the main computer memory into the cache memory. When the data is required by the processor, it is readily and quickly available from the cache memory without the need to access the main computer memory.
A larger cache memory increases the likelihood that necessary data is stored in the cache memory and that the time penalty of accessing the main computer memory can be avoided. The costs of larger cache memories, and the need to provide a high bandwidth connection to the processor, however, practically limits the size of the cache memory.
One method of increasing the effective storage capacity of the cache memory, with minimal increases in the area of the cache memory, is by compressing the data in the cache memory. Unfortunately, compressing the cache data slows access to the cache data because the data must be decompressed before it can be used by the processor. This decompression step is typically in the critical time path when data is being requested by the processor.
Whether compression increases the execution speed of a particular program will depend on whether the time savings in reducing cache misses (where needed data is not in the cache) compares favorably with the overhead of cache decompression. Generally, this will depend on the particular program being executed and thus can help or hurt computer performance in different situations.


The present disclosure relates generally to techniques for the kinematic estimation and dynamic behavior estimation of autonomous heavy equipment or vehicles to improve navigation, digging and material carrying tasks at various industrial work sites. Particularly, aspects of the present disclosure are directed to obtaining a set of sensor data providing a representation of operation of an autonomous vehicle in a worksite environment, estimating, by a trained model comprising a Gaussian process, a set of output data based on the set of sensor data, controlling an operation of the autonomous vehicle in the worksite environment using input data derived from the set of sensor data and the set of output data, obtaining actual output data from the operation of the autonomous vehicle in the worksite environment, and updating the trained model with the input data and the actual output data.

The increasing use of autonomous machines is changing the way traditional tasks are performed. As a result, autonomous machines are increasingly being used in various domains. For example, an increasing number of autonomous machines in the form of autonomous trucks, bulldozers, loaders, excavators, etc. are being used at various work sites such as industrial work sites, mining sites, construction sites, commercial sites, manufacturing sites and so on. For instance, at a mine site, tasks performed by autonomous machines located at a mining site may involve using autonomous excavators to excavate materials, using autonomous loaders or bulldozers (dozers) to load materials into autonomous trucks, using autonomous trucks to transport the materials or objects from one location to another within the site, and so on. Unlike traditional machines, the use of autonomous machines for performing tasks has given rise to a whole new set of problems, especially in sites such as mines, etc. where diverse off-road conditions across the site can pose significant problems. The autonomous nature of the machines for performing tasks also presents unique problems in how tasks are allocated and controlled, and how the tasks are performed by a set (or fleet) of autonomous machines, either individually or cooperatively.

Techniques for kinematic and dynamic behavior estimation in autonomous vehicles


A composition and method for the prevention or treatment of HIV-1 infection comprising an HIV-1 reverse transcriptase-inhibiting heterocyclyl carb(ox/thio)anilide compound, a second HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitor compound which does not select for the same HIV-1 mutant strain or strains selected for by the heterocyclyl carb(ox/thio)anilide compound, and, optionally, a third HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitor compound.

Various compounds have been described as inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in vitro and are targeted at the virus-encoded reverse transcriptase (RT), e.g., nevirapine, pyridinone, TIBO, BHAP, TSAO, and quinoxaline. The selectivity of these compounds for HIV-1 is due to a highly specific interaction with HIV-1 RT.
The rapid emergence of HIV-1 strains resistant to several HIV-1-specific RT inhibitors in cell culture and in AIDS patients has caused concern for further development of these inhibitors in the clinic. However, HIV-1 resistance to one HIV-1-specific RT inhibitor does not necessarily imply cross-resistance to other HIV-1-specific RT inhibitors. Indeed, it has been proven that HIV-1-specific RT inhibitors show differential activity against HIV-1 mutant strains containing different amino acid substitutions in their RT. For example, HIV-1 strains containing the 100 Leu.fwdarw.Ile mutation in their RT are resistant to TIBO R82913 and R82150 but not to nevirapine and the TSAO derivatives TSAO-T and TSAO-m.sup.3 T. Also, HIV-1 strains containing the 138 Glu.fwdarw.Lys mutation in their RT are resistant to TSAO derivatives but not to the other HIV-1-specific RT inhibitors, such as BHAP and nevirapine. In contrast, the 181 Tyr.fwdarw.Cys mutation in the RT of HIV-1 strains renders the mutant viruses resistant to virtually all HIV-1 specific RT inhibitors described to date except certain oxathiin carboxanilide derivatives described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,239. See, e.g., Balzarini et al, J. Virology 67(9): 5353-5359 (1993) ("Balzarini I") and Balzarini et al, Virology 192: 246-253 (1993) ("Balzarini II").
Unsuccessful attempts have been made to combine various HIV-1 RT inhibitors to eliminate virus resistance. See, e.g., Balzarini I.
Accordingly, it is the purpose of this invention to provide a composition comprising a combination of certain HIV RT inhibitor compounds which can inhibit or suppress the emergence of drug-resistant HIV-1 strains.
It is also the purpose of this invention to provide a method of preventing or treating HIV-1 infections by administration of this combination of certain HIV RT inhibitor compounds.

Compositions containing two or three inhibitors of different HIV reverse transcriptases


Provided is a vehicle body structure which can prevent a door from entering a vehicle interior by preventing deformation of a beam extending in a vehicle width direction in a seat of a vehicle even when a side collision has occurred in the vehicle. In the vehicle body structure, a seat leg is placed above a cross member and fixed to the cross member. Additionally, a pair of seat legs is arranged on the right and left sides, and the seat legs are interconnected by a rod member. A beam is coupled with an upper end of the seat leg. The side of the beam protrudes to the outer side of the seat leg in the width direction of the vehicle, and a portion protruding outside of the seat leg is a protruding portion. A load transmission member having a length in the vehicle width direction substantially equal to the length of the protruding portion of the beam is arranged on the side of the seat leg.

A beam disposed along the width direction of a vehicle is provided at a lower position of a seat in the vehicle. The seat in the vehicle is connected to a vehicle body frame as the beam is coupled with an upper position of a vehicle attaching portion. As a vehicle having such a vehicle body structure, a seat for an automobile which transmits a collision load to be input to a vehicle door due to a side collision to a floor via an arm and a seat attaching portion which extend in a vehicle width direction below the seat is conventionally known (for example, Patent Citation 1). In this seat for an automobile, a plurality of seat-side reinforcing members that extend in the vehicle width direction is provided. An end of each seat-side reinforcing member is formed so as to protrude from a seat cushion, and the seat-side reinforcing member is connected to and supported by a strength member which extends between the ends of the plurality of seat-side reinforcing members in the front-back direction of the automobile.


A manufacturing method for a composite fabric material is disclosed, which includes: holding a bundle of fibers under tension, the fiber being continuous filaments of carbon fibers, aramid fibers, or glass fibers, etc.; placing a layer of a matrix material over and under the fiber bundle, the matrix material being a thermoplastic adhesive material such as polyamide resins, thermoplastic polyurethane, or polyester, etc.; heating the matrix material to melt it and applying a pressure on the layers while the fiber bundle is under tension; and cooling the layers, whereby the fibers are locked in place by the adhesive. Composite material layers produced by the above steps may be laminated and further processed or formed as desired. The composite fabric materials manufactured by this method have superior tensile properties, compression properties, impact properties, and impact dispersion and propagation properties compared to composite fabric materials made with conventional methods.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to composite fabric materials made of reinforcing fibers such as carbon fibers and a matrix, and a manufacturing process thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Composite fabric materials, or fiber-reinforced plastic materials, have been widely used as component materials of aircrafts, boats, sporting goods and other items. In composite fabric materials made of fibers such as carbon fibers, fiber bundles (yarns, also referred to as tows when the fibers are unidirectional) are typically held together by an adhesive material. One existing method of producing such a material uses a "prepreg" formed by impregnating carbon fiber bundles with an epoxy resin composition or other adhesive material. One example where such a method is used is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,399,199, entitled "Prepreg and carbon fiber reinforced composite materials". Another existing method uses yarns that are stitched together with a thread such as cloth, polyester or s-glass thread. One example of a stitched laminate is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,599,610, entitled "Multiaxially stitched base material for reinforcing and fiber reinforced plastic, and method for preparing them". Another example of a fiber reinforced material and method of making such is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,944, entitled "Resin composition, a fiber reinforced material having a partially impregnated resin and composites made therefrom". This method involves stitching a stack of partially impregnated preforms together prior to curing to form a fiber-reinforced resin composite upon curing. One disadvantage of composite fabric materials made by the conventional methods is that they tend to be stiff and difficult to work with and thus unsuitable for certain applications.

Composite fabric product and method of manufacturing the same


When an external recording medium connected to an interface is removed therefrom and a new external recording medium is connected to the interface, a processor selects either first file analysis information read from a memory or second file analysis information generated based on analysis of data recorded on the new external recording medium as file analysis information to be used for decoding a file stored in the new external recording medium, and the processor makes such selection based on comparison between first recording medium management information and second recording medium management information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decoding device which decodes a file read from an external recording medium. Examples of the decoding processes are to decompress a compressed music file and decompress compressed image data to reproduce the data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 10, a conventional decoding device which executes a decoding process, such as the reproduction of a compressed file, is described. The compressed file is obtained through a USB interface or the like. An external recording medium 1 is detachably provided in a decoding device 7. The decoding device 7 comprises an interface 2, an operation unit 3, a processor 4, a memory 5, and a decoded data output unit 6. The processor 4 comprises a CPU 41 and a ROM 42. The memory 5 comprises a RAM 51. The processor 4 executes the decoding process using the memory 5.
Below is described an operation of the decoding device 7. First, the external recording medium 1 is connected to the decoding device 7, and a "reproduction button" of the operation unit 3 is then pressed by an operator. Responding to the operation of the operation unit 3, the processor 4 analyzes data recorded on the external recording medium 1 via the interface 2 comprising a USB terminal.
In the case where the decoding device 7 is compliant with the reproduction of a recording medium having a plurality of file structures, first, the file structures of the external recording medium 1 are discriminated from one another. After the file structures are thus identified, information of all of files and folders stored in the external recording medium 1 is read therefrom. Based on the read information, the parentage of the respective files and folders, the total number of the files stored in the respective folders and the external recording medium 1, the total number of the folders, and the like are analyzed.
An analysis result thereby obtained is stored in the memory 5 as file analysis information, and a file designated by the operation unit 3 is thereafter read. Then, the read file is decoded by the decoded data output unit 6, so that data, such as music data, is reproduced.
There is a case in which a power supply for the whole decoding device 7 is disconnected after the external recording medium 1 is analyzed by the decoding device 7, or the external recording medium 1 is removed from the decoding device 7 and reconnected thereto after the external recording medium 1 was analyzed as described. In that case, the external recording medium 1 is regarded by the decoding device 7 as an unknown external recording medium which has not been analyzed yet. As a result, a reproduction instruction is given to the external recording medium 1 by the operation unit 3, and the file analysis is repeated. This technology is recited in, for example, the Japanese Patent Documents (2007-178646 and 2007-179632 of the Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open). However, in the foregoing cases, the decoding device 7 repeats the file analysis to the external recording medium 1 which was already analyzed once, which makes the data reproduction unnecessarily time-consuming.

Decoding device and semiconductor device which read file rewriting discrimination information


An oil pan structure includes a plurality of reinforcement beads of several kinds. An engine utilizes the oil pan, whereby the strength and vibration-rigidity (rigidity against vibration) of the oil pan and the engine are sufficiently enhanced so that a natural frequency of the oil pan and the engine therewith becomes adjustable through a selection as to the numbers, locations, and sizes of the beads.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oil pan structure and an engine therewith whereby the structure comprises: an oil pan flange; a bottom wall that forms a bottom part of an engine; two side walls (i.e. a left side wall and a right side wall) along a longitudinal direction of the engine, each wall that communicates a longitudinal edge of the bottom wall with the oil pan flange; and two side walls (i.e. a front side wall and a rear side wall) along a transverse direction of the engine, each wall that communicates a transverse edge of the bottom wall with the oil pan flange, thereby, the structure forms a boxy space, being capable of storing engine-internal oil therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally known oil pan structures comprise: an oil pan flange that is fastened with bolts to the undersurface of the crankcase; a bottom wall that forms a bottom part of an engine; two side walls along a longitudinal direction of the engine, each wall that communicates a longitudinal edge of the bottom wall with the oil pan flange; and two side walls along a transverse direction of the engine, each wall that communicates a transverse edge of the bottom wall with the oil pan flange, whereby, the structure forms a boxy space so that the space can store engine-internal oil therein. In many cases, such an oil pan is manufactured by means of welding thin sheets of metal; thus, the stiffness of the structure is not sufficient. Further, the engine vibration level is high in general. Therefore, various measures to secure the strength as well as to control the vibration have been proposed.
A patent reference 1 (JP1999-280548) discloses an oil pan structure whereby the bottom part is reinforced with a bellow type plate, that is, with a plurality of reinforcement ribs 27, while the left- and right-side walls are provided with a plurality of reinforcement ribs 26, inside the oil pan.
A patent reference 2 (JP 2002-227626) discloses an oil pan structure whereby the bottom part is reinforced with a plurality of reinforcement channels 58, whereby the channels give the bottom part a bellow surface.
A patent reference 3 (JP2002-364324), i.e. a reference 4 (JP 2007 Patent 3925614) discloses an oil pan structure whereby the bottom part is provided with a plurality of reinforcement beads 1k′, while the left- and right-side walls, along a longitudinal direction of the engine, are provided with a plurality of reinforcement beads 1a′.
A patent reference 5 (JP1999-270408) discloses an oil pan structure whereby the bottom part is provided with a plurality of reinforcement beads along the engine longitudinal direction as well as the engine transverse direction.
In an oil pan structure comprising: an oil pan flange that is fastened with bolts to the undersurface of the crankcase; a bottom wall that forms a bottom part of an engine; two side walls along a longitudinal direction of the engine, thereby each wall communicates a longitudinal edge of the bottom wall with the oil pan flange; and two side walls along a transverse direction of the engine, thereby each wall communicates a transverse edge of the bottom wall with the oil pan flange, whereby, the structure forms a boxy space so that the space can store engine-internal oil therein,
the mentioned oil pan is, in many cases, manufactured by means of welding thin sheets of metal.
Thus, the stiffness of the structure is not sufficient; further, the engine vibration level is high in general. As the mentioned patent references 1 to 5 disclose, mainstream measures to secure the strength as well as to control the vibration are based on reinforcement beads which are provided on the bottom part of the oil pan, the left/right side wall along the engine longitudinal direction, or the front/rear side wall along the engine transverse direction.
However, in the mentioned measures according to conventional manners to provide an engine oil pan with reinforcement beads, improvements on strength as well as vibration-reduction are limited in spite of the reinforcement beads. The reason is that the beads are provided independently on the bottom part of the oil pan, on the left/right side wall along the engine longitudinal direction, or on the front/rear side wall along the engine longitudinal direction,                whereby the oil pan structure comprises: an oil pan flange that is fastened with bolts to the undersurface of the crankcase, a bottom wall that forms a bottom part of an engine, two side walls along a longitudinal direction of the engine, thereby each wall communicates a longitudinal edge of the bottom wall with the oil pan flange, and two side walls along a transverse direction of the engine, thereby each wall communicates a transverse edge of the bottom wall with the oil pan flange, whereby, the structure forms a boxy space.
Further, it is noted that conventional oil pans are often of a welded structure. The present invention, however, is based on the premise that the oil pan structure is basically a one-piece press-work product.
Moreover, it is noted that the mentioned conventional arts do not disclose how a natural frequency of an oil pan can be adjustable in connection with the shape of the reinforcement beads.
In this specification, a term "bead" is fundamentally used for explanation, so as to clarify that the oil pan walls are provided with corrugation reinforcement. Namely, this invention clearly recognizes a bead as a groove that is provided on a sheet metal by means of press working. A groove may forms a module of corrugation. A plurality of grooves may form continuation of corrugation.
Further, a closed end of a bead is defined as a groove end where the groove disappears toward the original sheet metal, with a trace curve of a U-shape, while an open end or end-opening of the bead means a groove end where the groove disappears toward the original sheet metal, without a trace curve. Sometimes, in this open end or end-opening, the groove disappears three-dimensionally with a shape of a round egg-cone. For this reason, a bead both ends of which are the open end or end-opening is named a substantially egg-shaped bead, in this specification. On the other hand, when one end of a bead is a closed end, the bead is named a substantially U-shaped bead in this specification.

Oil pan structure and an engine therewith


A magnetic rail brake, particularly an eddy current brake for rail vehicles, has at least one exciter coil which comprises a coil around a pole core as well as a device for holding the coil and/or for the protection against outside environmental influences. The pole core and/or protection device are composed of individual components which are at least largely electrically insulated with respect to one another.

The invention relates generally to an electromagnetic or permanent-magnetic rail brake, and more particularly to a linear eddy current brake for rail vehicles.
In modern wheel/rail engineering, there is demand for brake technologies which have a brake force that is as much as possible independent of the coefficient of adhesion between the wheel and the rail. Linear eddy current brakes naturally meet this requirement in an ideal fashion because, as non-contact service brakes, they are absolutely independent of the coefficient of adhesion.
A short introduction into the technology of the eddy current brakes for rail vehicles--whose function is based on the law of induction--is found, for example, in the book by Saumweber, et al. "AET--Archiv fur Eisenbahntechnik (Archive for Railway Technology)"--Hestra Publishers, Volume 43, Chapter 2.5.2. Eddy current brakes consist of an iron yoke with several pole cores. Electric coils magnetically excite the brake such that magnetic north and south poles are generated in an alternating manner. When the excited eddy current brake is moved along the rail--that is, during a braking--, electromagnetic fields and eddy currents are generated as a result of the changes of the time rate of flow. The secondary magnetic field caused by the eddy currents is opposed to the magnetic field of the brake. The resulting horizontal force component which acts opposite to the travelling direction is the brake force.
Despite the important advantage of this brake of having no contact with respect to rail, the practical use of eddy current brakes in large part is delayed by the fact that the compatibility of the brake with the existing operating equipment of various railroad operators can still be optimized.
A problem of the above-mentioned type, which results in serious difficulties during the practical application, is the interfering influence of the eddy current brakes on electromagnetic axle counters and/or similar sensing devices.
This problem is described in detail in European Patent Document EP 0 309 651. A large portion of the currently existing track sections of the varied railroad operators have rails which are provided with axle counting sensors laterally below the rail surface. Generally, electromagnetic sensors are used for the axle counting. That is, a transmitter sends out an electromagnetic alternating field (of a frequency of 5 to typically 43 kHz) and, when a metal wheel travels over a sensor arranged on the opposite side of the rail, the sensor registers changes of the electric field, which are caused by the metal wheel, with respect to the amplitude and the direction as counting pulses. A train passing through the sensor arrangements triggers a counting pulse in the sensors by each axle or wheel passing there through. If, during a pass through locally mutually separate axle counters, different counting results are registered, the track section is blocked for the following train.
Since, during a braking, eddy current brakes are lowered from a high position into a low position just above the rail, they may also trigger counting pulses in the axle counting sensors during the braking. However, they trigger counting pulses only in their low position (thus, during the braking) but not in their high position. Eddy current brakes may therefore falsify the result of an axle count and stop a train for no reason.
For solving this problem, European Patent Document EP 0 309 651 A2 suggests that guiding plates made of a ferromagnetic material be mounted on the outside in the area of the lower longitudinal edges of each coil of the brake magnet. These guiding plates each extend along the lower corner edges of the exciter coil. Although the suggested solution eases the problem, faulty signals cannot be excluded to an extent required for a controlled train operation.
From Austrian Patent Document 317 290, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,927, an electromagnetic rail brake is known in which a rod made of a ferromagnetic material extends along the length of the electromagnetic rail brake to reduce disturbing influences. This solution also does not meet the requirements of a high-speed traffic of eliminating disturbances from the rail operation.
The invention is based on the problem of providing an electromagnetic or permanent-magnetic rail brake--particularly an eddy current brake--for rail vehicles which does not interfere with sensing devices, such as axle counters, during braking operations.
The invention implements particularly an eddy current brake for rail vehicles having at least one exciter coil which has a coil around a pole core and also has a device for holding the coil and/or for the protection against outside environmental influences. The pole core and/or the protection device is composed of individual components which are at least largely electrically insulated with respect to one another.
The division into separate individual components interrupts the transmission of a transmitted signal from a transmitter on one side of the rail to a receiver on the other side of the rail. Thus, virtually no more interfering signals occur and the use of the eddy current brake becomes possible in a large portion of the existing track systems. This basically constructively simple measure effectively prevents interfering signals. The invention therefore provides a decisive step in the penetration of the market by means of the technically advantageous eddy current brake technology.
A large number of the axle counters, which are currently used in practices are designed such that a metal wheel passing though the sensor in the receiver section produces a clearly recordable voltage change; for example, in one embodiment of the sensor, a voltage increase. This effect is prevented by the invention. In this variant, a weakening of the signal may even take place by the brake according to the invention. Counting pulses are no longer triggered.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the protection device is designed as a multipart metal housing, in which case the individual metal sections are insulated with respect to one another in the mounted position of the brake in which the longitudinal axis of the brake is aligned essentially along the longitudinal axis of the rail. Correspondingly, it is advantageous for the pole core to have at least two metal plates which are essentially insulated with respect to one another in the mounted position of the brake. Because of the skin effect, the wave transmission takes place essentially on the surface of the metal components. The division into individual layers effectively interrupts this transmission.
According to another embodiment of the invention, at least one of the metal plates is ferromagnetic. Steel can be selected for reaching good electric transmission characteristics. In this case, the metal plates are arranged in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the rail.
In another embodiment, steel plates of the pole core are separated from one another by transformer plates. For example, five steel plates and four transformer plates are used. This embodiment achieves very good results with respect to the freedom from disturbances of axle counters without high demands constructively on the manufacturing of the pole core that, for reasons of cost, an implementation of the product would be made more difficult.
A metal housing is generally used for protecting the coils. According to the invention, it was found to be particularly advantageous for the metal housing to have lateral surfaces which are open transversely to the longitudinal axis of the brake. The partially open lateral surfaces also have an advantageous effect on the field distribution (short-circuit effect) and promote the effect of the laminated core. In further embodiments of the invention, at least one exciter coil is arranged in a housing made of glass fiber reinforced plastic and is fastened by a U-shaped carrying device on a brake anchor plate; and/or the metal plates are screwed to one another and/or are glued to one another, and are therefore mechanically connected with one another in a non-conductive manner.
By the invention, an eddy current brake (or a rail vehicle with such a brake) can be implemented in an advantageous manner which meets the requirements with respect to the freedom from disturbances of most different high-speed railway lines, such as the ICE-train and the TGV-train.
In the following, the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawing by means of embodiments, in which case additional advantages and possibilities of the invention also become clear.

Electromagnetic or permanent-magnetic rail brake

Knorr-Bremse Systeme Fur Scheinenfahrzeuge GmbH


When playback of content has been requested, the terminal device according to the present invention determines whether or not an edge server has cache data for the content on the basis of information that is received from the edge server and that relates to the cache data retained by the edge server, and if it is determined that the edge server has cache data for the content, the terminal device determines whether or not the terminal device is communicating with the edge server via a base station capable of high-speed or high-capacity communication. If it is determined that the communicating base station is capable of high-speed or high-capacity communication, then the terminal device transmits, to the edge server, a request to change the delivery control method for the cache data for the content.

Recently; high-speed and high-capacity radio networks have spread, and, via such radio networks, streaming delivery of high-volume data such as video data or the like, for example, has been performed. Accordingly, the video data has occupied most of the traffic of radio networks recently, and the shortage of network bandwidth has been a problem.
For streaming utilizing the HTTP protocol, techniques in which a delivery server monitors the playback buffer size of a terminal and determines the transfer data amount depending on the playback buffer size, so as to prevent the shortage of network bandwidth have been under consideration.
Meanwhile, in order to distribute the network load or to shorten the delivery delay time, techniques in which content is delivered from a cache server nearest to an end user have been under consideration. As an example of such techniques, Patent Literature (hereinafter, referred to as "PTL") 1, for example, discloses a technique in which, after a content delivery server has delivered content to a terminal via a cache delivery server, the cache delivery server delivers the content cached by the cache delivery server when the terminal requests delivery of the same content for the second and succeeding times.

Terminal device, edge server, data delivery system, and delivery control method


When a weft yarn is broken between a fixed drum type weft yarn measuring and storing device and a picking nozzle, the weft yarn extending to a winding yarn guide is reliably delivered to a yarn suction device by the steps of generating an air current inside the winding yarn guide in the picking direction, generating an air current inside the yarn suction device in the drawing direction while the winding yarn guide is aligned with the yarn suction device disposed in front of the weft yarn measuring and storing device, and keeping a retaining pin from being advanced toward the drum. Thereafter the broken weft yarn on the drum is discharged by retracting the retaining pin.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a method of discharging a weft yarn on a drum of a drum type weft measuring and storing device.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
The Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2-210043 and 3-180544 each discloses a method of discharging a yarn. That is, if a weft yarn is broken between a picking nozzle and a drum type weft yarn measuring and storing device, an air current is generated in a yarn guide for winding a yarn guided thereby a round a drum (referred to as a winding yarn guide hereinafter) in the picking direction after or when a retaining pin is retracted and the sucking operation of a suction pipe aligned with the winding yarn guide is started for delivering the yarn would around a drum to the suction pipe, so as to discharge the yarn out of the loom.
The prior art methods, however, cannot reliably deliver the weft yarn from the winding yarn guide to the yarn suction pipe, and have the following problems. That is, when the winding yarn guide jets air, the weft yarn which has been wound around a drum is unwound therefrom entailing a circular motion. As a result, the looped tip end of the unwound weft yarn not only revolves in accordance with the position of the drum from which it is unwound, but also vibrates as it is fanned by the air current, so that it is uncertain that the weft yarn reaches the suction pipe. Furthermore, when the winding yarn guide jets air, there is the possibility of unwinding of the wound yarn all at once, which prevents the weft yarn from reaching the yarn suction pipe.

Method of discharging a weft yarn wound around a drum


The present invention relates to novel mammalian biogenic amine receptor proteins and genes that encode such proteins. The invention is directed toward the isolation and characterization of mammalian trace amine receptor proteins. The invention specifically provides isolated complementary DNA copies of mRNA corresponding to rat and human homologues of a mammalian trace amine receptor gene. Also provided are recombinant expression constructs capable of expressing the mammalian trace amine receptor genes of the invention in cultures of transformed prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, as well as such cultures of transformed cells that synthesize the mammalian trace amine receptor proteins encoded therein. The invention also provides methods for screening compounds in vitro that are capable of binding to the mammalian trace amine receptor proteins of the invention, and further characterizing the binding properties of such compounds and functional consequences thereof in comparison with known trace amine receptor agonists and antagonists. Improved methods of pharmacological screening are provided thereby.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to biogenic amine receptors from mammalian species and the genes corresponding to such receptors. Specifically, the invention relates to the isolation, cloning and sequencing of complementary DNA (cDNA) copies of messenger RNA (mRNA) encoding a novel mammalian biogenic amine receptor gene. The invention also relates to the construction of recombinant expression constructs comprising cDNA of this novel receptor gene, said recombinant expression constructs being capable of expressing receptor protein in cultures of transformed prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Production of the receptor protein in such cultures is also provided. The invention relates to the use of such cultures of such transformed cells to produce homogeneous compositions of the novel biogenic amine receptor protein. The invention also provides cultures of such cells producing this receptor protein for the cation of novel and useful drugs. Antibodies against and epitopes of this novel biogenic amine receptor protein are also provided by the invention
2. Background of the Invention
Biogenic amines are a class of naturally-occurring amino acid derivatives having a variety of physiological effects in the peripheral and central nervous systems. The parent compound is β-phenylethylamine, and derivatives of this compound include the biogenic amines. The biogenic amines are a large and diverse class of compounds that include dopamine, noradrenaline, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. The biogenic amines are implicated in a variety of psychiatric and neurologic disorders.
In the periphery, biogenic amines are released by the sympathetic nervous system and adrenal medulla and are involved in integrating physiological responses to stress, while in the central nervous system the biogenic amines constitute some of the most important neurotransmitter systems.
The effects of biogenic amines are mediated through their receptors and their associated cell signaling systems (reviewed in Hoffmian & Lelkowitz, 1982, Ann Rev. Physiol. 44: 475-484; Civelli et al., 1993, Ann. Rev. Pharm. & Tox. 33: 281-307). These receptors are located in the plasma membrane of biogenic amine-sensitive cells. Structurally, they are characterized by having a pattern of seven transmembrane domains (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,422,265, 5,569,601, 5,594,108, 5,883,226, 5,880,260, 5,427,942 and 5,686,573). Functionally, certain of these receptors interact with adenylate cyclase, either stimulating or inhibiting the production of cyclic AMP thereby. These receptors include the adrenergic receptors (the a-1, a-2, b-1, b-2, and b-3 adrenergic receptors) and the dopanine receptors (the D1-, D2-, D3-, D−4-, and D5-dopamine receptors).
For example, epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine, as well as synthetic agonists of these biogenic amines which mimic their biological functions, and antagonists which block these biological functions, exert their effects by binding to specific recognition sites, (membrane receptors) situated on the cell membranes in the nervous system. Two principal classes of adrenergic receptors have been defined, the alpha-adrenergic receptors and the beta-adrenergic receptors. Five subtypes of adrenergic receptors (a-1, a-2, b-1, b-2, and b-3 adrenegic receptors) have now been distinguished. The genes encoding these receptors have been isolated and identified (Cotecchia et al., 1988, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85: 7159-7163; Kobilka et al., 1987, Science 238: 650-656; Frielle et al., 1987, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84: 7920-7924; Emorine et al., 1987, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84: 6995-6999; Eorine et al., 1989, Science 245: 1118-1121). Analysis of these genes has made it possible to recognize that they belong to a family of integral membrane receptors exhibiting some homology (Dixon et al., 1998, Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, 221-223; Emorine et al., 1988, Proc. NATO Adv. Res. Workshop), especially at portions of the seven transmembrane regions that are coupled to regulatory proteins, called G proteins, capable of binding molecules of guanosine triphosphate (GTP).
These membrane receptors, after they have bound the appropriate ligand (agonist or antagonist), are understood to undergo a conformational change that induces an intracellular signal that modifies the behavior of the target cell. Beta-adrenergic receptors catalyze the activation of a class of G proteins, which in turn stimulates the activity of adenylate cyclase when they bind with biogenic amine agonists, whereas alpha-adrenergic receptor antagonists act in competition with the agonists for the binding to the receptor and prevent the activation of adenylate cyclase. When adenylate cyclase is activated, it catalyses the production of an intracellular mediator or second messenger, especially cyclic AMP.
In the central nervous system, dopamine is a biogenic amine neurotransmitter that modulates neuronal cells involved in movement initiation, appetitive behavior, hormone release, and visual dark adaptation. In the periphery dopamine plays a role in modulating blood pressure and renal function (see generally Cooper et al., 1978, THE BIOCHEMICAL BASIS OF NEUROPHARMACOLOGY, 3d ed., Oxford University Press, New York, pp, 161-195). The diverse physiological actions of dopamine are in turn mediated by its interaction with family of distinct dopamine receptors subtypes that are either "D1-like" or "D2-like," which respectively stimulate and inhibit the enzyme adenylate cyclase Kebabian & Calne, 1979, Nature 277: 93-96). Alterations in the number or activity of these receptors may be a contributory factor in disease states such as Parkinson's disease (a movement disorder) and schizophrenia (a behavioral disorder) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
A great deal of information has accumulated regarding the biochemistry of the D1 and D2 dopamine receptors, and methods have been developed to solubilize and purify these receptor proteins (see Senogles et, al, 1986, Biochemistry 25: 749-753; Sengoles et al., 1988, J. Biol. Chem. 263: 18996-19002; Gingrch et al., 1988, Biochemistry 27: 3907-3912). The D1 dopamine receptor in several tissues appears to be a glycosylated membrane protein of about 72 kD (Amlaiky et al., 1987, Mol. Pharmacol. 31: 129-134; Ninzik et al., 1988, Biochemistry 27: 7594-7599). The D2 receptor can also be glycosylated and has been suggested to have a higher molecular weight of about 90-150 kD (Amlaiky & Caron, 1985, J. Biol. Chem. 260: 1983-1986; Amlaiky & Caron, 1986, J. Neurochem. 47: 196-204; Jarvie et al., 1988, Mol. Pharmacol. 34: 91-97).
Dopamine receptors are primary targets in the clinical treatment of psychomotor disorders such as Parkinson's disease and affective disorders such as schizophrenia (Seeman et al., 1987, Neuropsychopharm. 1: 5-15; Seeman, 1987, Synapse 1:152-333). Five different dopamine receptor genes (1, D2, D3, D4 and D5) and various splice variants of their transcripts have been cloned as a result of nucleotide sequence homology which exists between these receptor genes (Bunzow et al., 1988, Nature 336: 783-787; Grandy et al., 1989, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86: 9762-9766; Dal Toso et al., 1989, EMBO J. 8: 4025-4034; Zhou et al., 1990, Nature 346: 76-80; Sunahara et al., 1990, Nature 346: 80-83; Sokoloff et al., 1990, Nature 347: 146-151; Civelli et al., 1993, Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 33: 281-307; Van Tol et al., 1991, Nature 350: 610-4).
Biogenic amine receptors are also targets for a host of therapeutic agents for the treatment of shock hypertension, arrhythmias, asthma, migraine headache, and anaphylactic reactions, and include antipsychotic drugs that are used to treat schizophrenia and β-blockers used to control high blood pressure.
In addition to these compounds, a number of biogenic amines are present in much lower quantities (less than 1% of the biogenic amines) and are therefore known as trace amines. The trace amines include such compounds as para-tyramine (p-tyramine), meta-tyramine (m-tyramine), phenylethylamine, octopamine, and tryptamine. The trace amines β-phenethylamine (β-PEA), p-tyramine, tryptamine, and octopamine are found in peripheral tissues as well as the central nervous system (Tallman et al., 1976, J Pharmacol Exp Ther 199: 216-221; Paterson et al., 1990, J Neurochem 55: 1827-37). In vivo β-PEA and p-tyramine can be synthesized from phenylalanine or tyrosine by the enzyme amino acid decarboxylase. (Boulton and Dyck, 1974, Life Sci 14: 2497-2506; Tallman et al., 1976, ibid.).
Investigations into the effects of trace amines on smooth muscle and glandular preparations early in the twentieth century clearly demonstrated that amines produced by putrefaction and lacking the catechol nucleus were capable of producing robust sympathomimetic effects (Barger and Dale, 1910, J Physiol 41: 19-59). Currently it is thought that p-tyramine and β-PEA manifest their peripheral effects by promoting the efflux of catecholamines from sympathetic neurons and adrenals (Schonfeld and Trendelenburg, 1989, Naunyn Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 339: 433-440; Mundorf et al., 1999, J Neurochem 73: 2397-2405) which results in the indirect stimulation of adrenergic receptors (Black et al., 1980, Eur J Pharmacol 65: 1-10).
Sensitive techniques have been developed to detect low concentrations of trace amines in the central nervous system. Such studies have revealed that trace amines in the central nervous system have a high turnover rate (Meek et al., 1970, J. Neurochem. 17: 1627-1635; Lemberger et al., 1971, J. Pharmac. Exp. Ther. 177:169-176; Wu & Boulton, 1974, Can. J. Biochem. 52:374-381; Durden & Philips, 1980, J. Neurochem. 34: 1725-1732). Trace amines are expressed throughout the brain in a heterogenous pattern and at least two of them can pass easily across the blood-brain-barrier (Boulton, 1974, Lancet ii: 7871; Oldendorf, 1971, Am. Physiol. 221: 1629-1639). Trace amines are also known to potentiate caudate neuronal firing in response to dopamine application and act as sympathomimetics by stimulating release of biogenic amines from brain preparations and synaptosomes when applied at high concentrations. Para-tyramine may act as a "false transmitter" in a manner similar to that of amphetamine by triggering release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine.
The abilities of p-tyramine and β-PEA to deplete neurotransmitter from storage vesicles, compete with neurotransmitters for uptake, and stimulate outward neurotransmitter flux through the plasma membrane carders are similar to the actions of the β-PEA analog, α-methyl-β-phenethylamine, better known as amphetamine (Amara and Sonders, 1998, Drug Alcohol Depend 51:87-96; Seiden et al., 1993). Amphetamines were originally marketed as stimulants and appetite suppressants, but their clinical use is now mostly limited to treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Seiden et al., 1993, Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 33:639-677): Although listed as controlled substances, amphetamines are widely consumed because of their ability to produce wakefulness and intense euphoria. Some substituted amphetamines, such as MDMAN ("ecstasy") and DOI, are taken for their "empathogenic" and hallucinogenic effects. (Eisner, 1994, Ecstasy: The MDMA story. Ronin Books, Berkeley, Calif.; Shulgin and Shulgin, 1991, PiHKAL: A chemical love story. Transform Press, Berkeley, Calif.). Numerous liabilities are associated with the use of amphetamines including hyperthermia (Byard et al., 1998, Am J Forensic Med Pathol 19:261-265), neurotoxicity (Ricaurte and McCann, 1992, Ann NY Acad Sci 648:371-382), psychosis (Seiden et al., 1993, ibid.), and psychological dependence (Murray, 1998, J Psychol 132: 227-237). In addition to the actions of amphetamines at biogenic amine transporters, it is also clear that a subset of amphetamine analogs, especially those with hallucinogenic properties, can act directly on 5-HT receptors as they have much higher affinities for these sites than for the transporters (Marek and Aghajanian, 1998, Drug Alcohol Depend 51:189-198).
The importance of biogenic amines and their receptors, particularly in the brain and central nervous system, has created the need for the isolation of additional biogenic amine receptors, particularly trace amine receptors, for the development of therapeutic agents for the treatment of disorders, including disorders of the CNS and most preferably treatment of disorders on mental health such as psychosis, in which biogenic amines and their receptors have been implicated. There is also a need for developing new tools that will permit identification of new drug lead compounds for developing novel drugs. This is of particular importance for psychoactive and psychotropic drugs, due to their physiological importance and their potential to greatly benefit human patients treated with such drugs. At present, few such economical systems exist. Conventional screening methods require the use of animal brain slices in binding assays as a first step. This is suboptimal for a number of reasons, including interference in the binding assay by non-specific binding of heterologous (i.e., non-receptor) cell surface proteins expressed by brain cells in such slices; differential binding by cells other than neuronal cells present in the brain slice, such as glial cells or blood cells; and the possibility that putative drug binding behavior in animal brain cells will differ from the binding behavior in human brain cells in subtle but critical ways. The ability to synthesize human biogenic amine receptor molecules in vitro would provide an efficient and economical means for rational drug design and rapid screening of potentially useful compounds. For these and other reasons, development of in vitro screening methods for psychotropic drugs has numerous advantages and is a major research goal in the pharmaceutical industry.

Nucleic acids encoding a biogenic amine receptor


An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, an exposure unit to form a latent image on the image carrier by light, and a particle entering prevention device to prevent particles from entering an optical path between the exposure unit and the image carrier. The particle entering prevention device includes a particle storage unit disposed in a vicinity of the optical path, to store the particles therein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus, and, more particularly, to an image forming apparatus, which can prevent contamination of an optical path between an exposure unit and an image carrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming apparatuses are devised to form an image on a printing medium according to an input image signal. Examples of image forming apparatuses include printers, copiers, facsimiles, and devices combining functions thereof
Of a variety of image forming apparatuses, an electro-photographic image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member, an exposure unit, and a developing unit. The exposure unit scans light to the photosensitive member, which was charged with a predetermined electric potential, to form an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the photosensitive member. The developing unit supplies developer to the photosensitive member on which the electrostatic latent image is formed, to form a visible image.
The visible image, formed on the photosensitive member, is transferred to a printing medium transported from a printing medium feeding unit. The printing medium, to which the image is transferred, is discharged outside of the image forming apparatus after undergoing a fixing operation to fix the transferred image to the printing medium.
Generally, the exposure unit includes a housing having a light-transmission part, and a scanning optical system mounted in the housing. Light generated from the scanning optical system is emitted outside of the housing through the light-transmission portion. The emitted light is irradiated to the surface of the photosensitive member by passing through an optical path between the exposure unit and the photosensitive member, thereby forming the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive member.
The image forming apparatus contains a variety of particles, including developer scattered from the photosensitive member and the developing unit, paper dust scattered from the printing medium, or dirt introduced from the outside. If the particles enter the optical path between the exposure unit and the photosensitive member, the particles prevent the light from being scanned to the photosensitive member, causing failure in the formation of the electrostatic latent image or deterioration of image quality.

Image forming apparatus and frame unit thereof including a particle management device


Embodiments of an alignment system for a table saw are disclosed, wherein the table saw has a rotatable blade that extends through its table top, the table top having spaced indicia oriented in a direction parallel to the plane of the blade, comprising an elongated fence having first and second end portions, at least the first end portion having a mechanism for securing the fence on the table saw, an elongated portion attached to the first end portion and extending over the table top, the fence being normally oriented so that the elongated portion is parallel to the plane of the blade and being laterally adjustable relative to the blade, at least two light emitting units mounted on the fence at spaced locations along the length of the fence, each unit configured to direct light on a first side of the fence toward the indicia and enable an observer to determine if the fence is oriented parallel to the indicia.

The present invention generally relates to power tools. More particularly, the present invention relates to power tools which utilize a fence for guiding work pieces during operation of the tool.
It has long been known that table saws as well as other saws and power tools have utilized fences for guiding work pieces during a cutting or similar operation. The fences are typically adjustable to accommodate variously dimensioned work pieces or to vary the amount of material that is being cut. Such fences are almost essential for cutting boards or sheet of material as they are being fed to the saw blade of table saw. Of course, fences are used for similar control with regard to many other kinds of power tools such as routers and shapers, miter saws, radial arm saws and the like.
Most table saws generally have a fence which is completely removable fence and which extends completely from the front to the back of the table top and include a clamping mechanism that is typically designed for the particular table saw so that it can be laterally adjusted to a desired position and clamped down. Also, most table saws have a runner, rail or other structure attached to the front of the table saw on which the fence can ride and when it is clamped down, the clamping end has a surface which will engage a complimentary surface of the rail so that an elongated fence portion is oriented in a direction that is perpendicular to the rail. However, many modern fences have the clamping end mechanism that is separately manufactured and is then attached to an elongated portion. Because they are separate pieces which are interconnected and can become misaligned, it is desirable to be able to calibrate the fence and adjust it so that the elongated portion is exactly perpendicular to clamping end mechanism, and the front rail. When the calibration is successfully completed, the elongated portion is also substantially parallel or true to the plane of the blade of the table saw.
If very close tolerances are desired in the cutting of work pieces, it is important for a user to be able to check to insure that the fence is accurately aligned. While it is possible to place lines or grooves in the table top to provide a reference of parallelism to the plane of the blade, uncertainty can remain as to whether the fence is true or not. An inexpensive system for determining and achieving true and accurate alignment is desirable.

Alignment system for a fence for a table saw


The invention presents a methodology and device for distribution of playing cards. Automatic operation without manual intervention is its main theme. This eliminates the likely manipulations, monotony, errors associated with manual handling of playing cards. The device has provision of conventional automatic shuffling prior to distributing. Playing cards shuffled in more elaborate manner by other suitable devices also can be used on the invented device. There are many user friendly features of the invented device. These include compact size, portability, ease of operation and maintenance, adaptability to any card games. Optional operation of this device by a remote control enhances its utility Standard playing cards of Bridge or Poker size can be used with this device. The invented device is said to be useful to group of players in homes, club houses, casinos and at out-doors.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to Automatic Shuffling and Dealing of Playing Cards in a variety of card games.
2. Background of Invention with Regard to the Drawback Associated with Known Art
Card games like Rummy, Bridge, Poker and their numerous variations are played by a group of persons. In these games cards are shuffled and distributed, also popularly called as dealt, to each player in a pre-decided manner. The distribution of cards is done from a shuffled stack of one or more decks. Generally shuffling and distribution of cards is done manually by one of the players or by another person deployed for the purpose. There are some devices already available for automatic shuffling. The cards either shuffled manually or using the automatic machines are distributed manually to card players as per the rule of the game
Some of the devices for automatic shuffling are patented mostly in United States of America. These automatic machines are used for shuffling of one or more decks of cards to form a stack of randomly shuffled cards. This shuffled stack of cards is transferred to a container popularly known as dealing shoe. The randomly shuffled cards are manually distributed to players with the help of dealing shoe . . . .
Recently patented automatic shuffling devices provide computerized random shuffling forming a single or multiple stacks of cards. The randomly shuffled cards from the single stack or the multiple stacks of cards are manually distributed to players with or without the help of dealing shoe. This practice is commonly followed in casinos for playing Poker.
Viewing and playing card games on-line on computer screen is also quite common. However there is no physical handling of cards.
For physical handling of cards in games like Bridge, Rummy there are no automatic devices in common use. In these games 13 or more cards are distributed to each player. Rummy is played by as many as 8-10 players. Thus about 130 or more cards are required to be distributed in every game.
Manual shuffling and distributing cards in large numbers is cumbersome, monotonous and error prone. Besides, manual distribution leaves room for manipulations and unfair practices.

Playing cards shuffling and dealing machine


An underwater object positioning system comprises a workboat, an acoustic transmitter-receiver mounted on the workboat, first and second surface tow units towed by the workboat, an acoustic transducer that is mounted on the first surface tow unit, that is connected by a communication cable to the acoustic transmitter-receiver on the workboat and that is positioned by a radio positioning means; two acoustic receivers that are mounted on the second surface tow unit, that are connected by a communication cable to the acoustic transmitter-receiver on the workboat and that are positioned by a radio positioning means. An acoustic pulse transmitter is mounted on a submerged positioning target. A processor unit on the workboat calculates the location of the submerged target based on data showing the positions of the transducer and receivers, and the distances from the transducer and receivers to the acoustic pulse transmitter.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an underwater positioning system for establishing the position of submerged moving bodies such as deep-sea tow devices and the like, or objects such as underwater piston corers and sunken ships. It particularly relates to a global positioning system or differential global positioning system (both of which are also collectively referred to herein as global positioning system, or GPS), as well as underwater object positioning systems that are a combination of acoustic positioning systems and Loran C and microwave-based short-range positioning systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
As shown in FIG. 11, a conventional long baseline (LBL) system for determining the position of a submerged moving object uses three acoustic transponders 4 that are placed at prescribed locations on the seabed. A transducer 3 is installed on the bottom of a workboat 2. The direct distance from the transducer 3 to each of the acoustic transponders 4 is measured by measuring the time it takes for an acoustic wave to travel from transducer 3 to acoustic transponder 4 and back to transducer 3, which is used to establish the position of the transducer 3 within the coordinate system formed by the acoustic transponders 4. By then measuring the direct distance from the submerged moving object 1 to the acoustic transponders 4, and the distance from the moving object 1 to the transducer 3 of the workboat 2, the position of the moving object 1 is established in terms of the coordinate system formed by the acoustic transponders 4.
In the conventional super-short baseline (SSBL) system, a transducer affixed to the bottom or side of a workboat transmits acoustic signals to an acoustic transponder on the submerged moving object, and the time it takes for the transmitted signals to be received is used to determine the direct distance to the object and the direction in which the object is moving.
FIG. 12 shows an improved version of the conventional LBL system. This system comprises an acoustic receiver 6 on a master workboat 2 and acoustic receivers 7 on two auxiliary workboats 5. Here, the submerged moving object 1 is a submersible research vehicle on which there is a synchronous pinger 8. The synchronous pinger 8 transmits pulses that include depth data,. and the pulses are received by the acoustic receivers 7 and used to determine the position of the submersible research vehicle 1.
LBL positioning systems have good positioning accuracy but require the use of at least three acoustic transponders, and have a range of about three or four square kilometers. In order to use such systems for large-area positioning applications, numerous transponders have to be located on the seabed. Moreover, the system has to be calibrated beforehand by determining the depth of the transponders and their relative locations. Thus, the positioning operation is not efficient.
While SSBL systems do not require the provision of multiple transponders or calibration and hence the positioning operation is efficient, they do have the drawback that the shortness of the baseline results in a decrease in accuracy when the system is used to determine positions over long distances.
The improved LBL system shown in FIG. 12 is a large-scale system, involving as it does the use of two auxiliary workboats and people to handle each boat. Moreover, noise generated by the screws of the master and auxiliary vessels can make it impossible to record the necessary measurement readings. Also, the system requires radio equipment to transmit data obtained by the auxiliary workboats to the master vessel, and in foreign waters, regulations on the use of radio transmission may make it impossible to use the system.
An object of the present invention is to solve the drawback of the foregoing conventional underwater object positioning systems and therefore to provide an underwater object positioning system that has good position measurement accuracy but does not require the installation of two or more seabed transponders, does not need to be calibrated, and also does not require auxiliary vessels, so it does not have to be made large-scale in terms of the system equipment involved.
To attain the above object, the present invention provides an underwater object positioning system comprising a workboat, an acoustic transmitter-receiver mounted on the workboat, first and second surface tow units towed by the workboat, an acoustic transducer that is mounted on the first surface tow unit, that is connected by a communication cable to the acoustic transmitter-receiver on the workboat and that is positioned by a radio positioning means, two acoustic receivers that are mounted on the second surface tow unit, that are connected by a communication cable to the acoustic transmitter-receiver on the workboat and that are positioned by a radio positioning means, an acoustic pulse transmitter mounted on a submerged positioning target, and a computing processor mounted on the workboat that computes a location of the submerged target based on positional data on positions of the acoustic transducer and each acoustic receiver, and distance data on distance from the acoustic transducer and acoustic receivers to the acoustic pulse transmitter.
The above radio positioning means can be a global positioning system. The acoustic pulse transmitter can be an acoustic transponder, a synchronous pinger or a synchronous responder. The submerged positioning target includes such objects as deep-sea tow devices towed by a workboat, sunken vessels lying on the seabed, piston corers used to obtain seabed samples, and divers.
In accordance with the above-described positioning system of this invention, first, the radio positioning means is used to determine the locations of the acoustic transducer on the first surface tow unit and the acoustic receivers on the second surface tow unit. The direct distance from the acoustic transducer on the first surface tow unit and the acoustic receivers on the second surface tow unit to the acoustic pulse transmitter on the positioning target is then obtained from the time it takes for a sound wave to traverse the distance. Since the acoustic pulse transmitter will be located at the point at which the three distance lines intersect on a spherical surface taken as a radius, the position of the submerged object can be determined by obtaining the point of intersection.
To simplify the computation and increase the positioning accuracy, the depth of the acoustic pulse transmitter is measured and the three direct distances and the depth are used to obtain each of the horizontal distances from the acoustic transducer on the first surface tow unit and the acoustic receivers on the second surface tow unit to the acoustic pulse transmitter.
In the positioning system according to the present invention, only one acoustic transponder has to be provided on the object concerned, eliminating the need in the case of a conventional LBL system to provide at least three transponders on the seabed and to carry out system calibration. Thus, the positioning range is increased. Moreover, surface tow units are used instead of auxiliary workboats, so the scale of the system equipment can be reduced and the need for people to handle the boats is also eliminated. In addition, since the data acquired by the acoustic transducers and receivers is transmitted to the acoustic pulse transmitter on the master workboat via cable, the system is not subject to radio-related regulations.
Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and following detailed description of the invention.

c/o National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology 1-1-1 Higashi


A remote-control device which allows remotely controlling parameters of a light via a console. The console actually does the controlling, but the remote-control device enables control of the light parameters by sending the information to the console. For example, the remote can be used to control preset values or to control other aspects of the console. The console may store presets associated with focus, and those presets can be changed from the remote.

Stage lighting systems use a console, such as Production Resource Group's Virtuoso™ console, to control parameters of a number of remotely controllable lamps. It is often important to test certain functions on these lamps. Often this is done using a console that can remotely control the operations of these lamps.
Focusing of these lamps may be important. Each lamp is hung in a location, and a preset focus may be associated with that location.


A rail-to-rail input hysteresis comparator includes: an input hysteresis comparator module, a transmission module, an output comparator, a switching signal module and a bias module. Compared to the conventional device, the rail-to-rail input hysteresis comparator of the present invention can turn off an output of the N-type input hysteresis comparator of the input hysteresis comparator module when the common mode input voltage is relatively low and turn off an output of the P-type input hysteresis comparator of the input hysteresis comparator module when the common mode input voltage is relatively high, thereby avoiding operating in a linear mode and hence achieving a stable CMRR.

Generally speaking, there have been many patents issued on rail-to-rail input hysteresis comparators. However, although the circuits disclosed in these patents can meet the requirements for the application as a hysteresis comparator in the respective input voltage ranges, all of these circuits cannot perform satisfactorily in terms of common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) when the common mode input voltages are in certain ranges.
A typical rail-to-rail input hysteresis comparator includes a P-type comparator and an N-type comparator, and according to the superposition principle, the performance of the rail-to-rail input hysteresis comparator depends upon both the performance of the P-type comparator and the performance of the N-type comparator. In general cases, most operational amplifiers and comparators used in integrated circuits (ICs), including the aforementioned P-type and N-type comparators, have a differential architecture, and use of differential amplifiers is intended to take advantage of the characteristic of such devices that, for two input signals, they only amplify their respective differential components but do not amplify their common mode components. This characteristic of differential amplifiers can be measured by CMRR which is defined as the absolute value of a ratio of the amplifiers' differential gain to their common mode gain:
  CMRR  =                        A        DM                    A        CM              
As can be seen from its above definition, CMRR is prone to significant variation.
Although there have been proposed a variety of solutions that can overcome this drawback, they all fail to impart satisfactory CMRR properties to conventional rail-to-rail input hysteresis comparators.
FIGS. 1a and 1b show the simulation results of a conventional rail-to-rail input hysteresis comparator. As shown in these figures, with the common mode input voltage Vcm varying linearly from 0 to VDDA, there are two ranges, namely the range II (in which the P-type comparator operates properly, while a current source of the N-type comparator operates in a linear mode) and the range IV (in which a current source of the P-type comparator operates in a linear mode, while the N-type comparator operates properly) shown in FIG. 1a, which leads to a high common mode gain but a poor CMRR, rendering the CMRR of the rail-to-rail input hysteresis comparator unstable.

Rail-to-rail input hysteresis comparator

SHANGHAI HUAHONG GRACE SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CORPORATION


Techniques are described for tracking data objects transferred among multiple services in a computing environment. Services that are involved in the transfer of data objects may be instrumented to generate recordings that describe outbound and inbound transfers of data objects. The recordings may be analyzed to identify key-value pairs included in the transferred data objects, where the key corresponds to a data attribute that stores a particular value in a data object. For each pair of keys that are associated with a same or substantially similar value, a correlation metric may be updated for each instance of association. Over time, the correlation metric may indicate a higher degree of correlation for those pairs of keys that frequently share a same value. Pairs of keys exhibiting an above-threshold correlation count may be designated as related in that they are involved in the transfer of data objects.

Commercial enterprises and other organizations often generate and store large amounts of data related to their operations. For example, an online business may generate and store data describing products, sale transactions, customers, vendors, online activities of customers, and so forth. Because such data may be transferred between multiple services or systems, it may be challenging to identify a particular service or system that originates corrupted data. Traditionally, the source code of services involved in the data transfer may be manually examined to trace corrupted data back to its origin. However, such manual examination of source code may be time consuming or unreliable.
Certain implementations and embodiments will now be described more fully below with reference to the accompanying figures, in which various aspects are shown. However, various aspects may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the implementations set forth herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Tracking data communicated between services


The present disclosure relates to a biologically active biomatrix composition. In one embodiment, the biomatrix composition is derived from human amnions. The biomatrix is termed HuBiogel™. The composition of HuBiogel™ closely mimics naturally occurring basement membrane compositions and is capable of supporting a wide variety of cell types in vitro and in vivo. The HuBiogel™ biomatrix disclosed comprises, in one embodiment, laminin, collagen I, and collagen IV, and may further comprise any combination of the following: entactin, tenascin, fibronectin and proteoglycans. The biomatrix composition is essentially free of endogenous growth factors and proteolytic enzymes. Also described are two- and three-dimensional culture systems and physiological/pathological model systems utilizing the HuBiogel™ compositions. The HuBiogel™ compositions may be modified to contain desired growth stimulants, such as growth factors, polypeptides and organic mall molecules, and may also contain growth inhibitory agents and/or therapeutic agents.

The basement membrane (BM) is a continuous structural barrier separating epithelial tissues from adjacent stroma. Major components of the BM include laminin, type I and type IV collagen, entactin, tenascin and proteoglycans, such as heparin sulfate proteoglycans. Since cells are constantly interacting with their extra-cellular environment, the BM is involved in a myriad of processes in vivo. These processes include physiological processes, such as tissue growth and development, bone remodeling, angiogenesis, reproduction, wound healing and neuron regeneration, as well as pathological processes such as tumorigenesis/metastasis (including cellular migration, invasion and angiogenesis), vascular dysfunction, arthritis and aging, and atherosclerosis. In each of these processes, cells interact with and respond to the components of the extra-cellular milieu. As a result, to study these processes in vitro the composition of the extra-cellular milieu (i.e., the BM) must be accurately and reproducibly re-created.
Taking one of the processes discussed above, tumorigenesis/metastasis, the importance of a BM system for in vitro study can be seen. Invasion of the BM is a critical stage in the complex multi-step process of metastasis. The mechanisms controlling tumor invasion through the BM involve multiple morphological and functional events which can be represented as including; (i) tumor cell adherence to the BM via specific cell surface receptors for BM components (such as, but not limited to, the laminin receptor(s); (ii) secretion of BM degrading enzymes (such as, but not limited to, collagenase); and (iii) migration of the tumor cells through BM defects into the circulatory and lymphatic systems, stimulated in part by chemotactic responses.
In order to study the mechanisms of tumor cell invasion, in vitro model systems have been developed. These include both natural and artificial BM systems. The use of naturally occurring BM systems have involved the use of intact BM such as those found in the bladder wall, amnion, lens capsule and chick chorioallantoic membranes. However, when using these naturally occurring BMs in in vitro assays, great care must be taken to ensure that the BM used is intact (i.e., there are no defects in the BM that would allow the test cell to pass through without requiring degradation of the BM). In addition, the thickness of the BM's used in various assays must be uniform. When different thicknesses of BM are used the results of invasion assays will vary dramatically. Therefore, the use of naturally occurring BM in in vitro invasiveness assays is a difficult process subject to significant inter-experiment variation. This makes the result obtained with these assays difficult to compare.
Artificial systems were developed to address these concerns. Initial artificial system utilized composite layers of extracellular matrix proteins that comprise the BM, such as purified rat fibrin, laminin and collagen. Additional artificial BM systems included reconstituted BM-matrices. Matrigel, formulated from reconstituted BM from mouse Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm tumors, is one example. The Matrigel formulation, however, was found not to mimic naturally occurring BM in composition (Matrigel essentially lacks collagen I, an essential protein required for cell-matrix interactions) and to contain significant amounts of growth factors (such as epidermal growth factor, EGF, platelet derived growth factor, PDGF, and fibroblast growth factor, FGF). Matrigel has also been reported to contain collagenase activity. Importantly, the Matrigel composition is both tumorogenic and angiogenic. In many cases, non-transformed cell types display aberrant growth characteristics and invasiveness when cultured in the presence of Matrigel. For example, endothelial cells rapidly form tube like structures when cultured in the presence of Matrigel in the absence of added growth factors or other stimulants, suggesting that growth factors and/or stimulants in the Matrigel composition stimulate this process. In addition, NG108-15 neuroblastoma plus glioma hybrid cells in culture rapidly form long neuritic processes (within 2 hours) in the absence of added growth factors or other stimulants when cultured in the presence of Matrigel, again suggesting endogenous growth factors and/or stimulants in the Matrigel formulation stimulate this process. The presence of growth factors is not surprising since Matrigel was derived from mouse tumor tissues. As a result, formulations such as Matrigel may not be suitable for the determination of invasiveness or other parameters involved in tumor cell invasion since Matrigel provides an artificially stimulated environment as a result of endogenous growth factors and/or other growth stimulants. Although the discussion above has described tumorigenesis/metastasis in detail as one application, the HuBiogel™ biomatrix described herein can also be used to address the deficiencies in other physiological and pathological models, such as those discussed above.
Modifications to the original Matrigel formulation have been attempted, including Matrigel supplemented with collagen and Matrigel containing reduced amounts of growth factors, but even these formulations have failed to provide a reliable reproducible in vitro BM system for study of a variety of physiological and pathological processes. The use of Matrigel has also been hampered by limitations due to its physical properties. For example, the physical form of Matrigel (i.e., gel or liquid) is temperature sensitive, which may impose certain limitations on its use in in vitro assays. Furthermore, it should be noted that Matrigel is derived from mouse BM components raising the possibility that using this composition for the study of human model systems may produce artificial results.
The prior art lacks a defined, biologically active biomatrix derived from human components. The instant disclosure provides such a biomatrix. The biomatrix is termed HuBiogel™.

Biologically active native biomatrix composition