The present description refers in particular to a data processing method, a computer program product, and a data processing system for obtaining and storing data in an outsourcing environment, the method including providing a user interface on a user computer; determining an indicator which indicates whether there is synchronization data in a user database, wherein the synchronization data is for synchronization with a remote database which is located on a remote computer; obtaining user data with the user interface; and storing the user data in the user database if the indicator indicates that there is synchronization data in the user database.

Outsourcing may be understood to describe a situation where a client organization imposes a specific set of tasks upon a third party. The third party may be a separate or an auxiliary organization. The third party may be located in an another country or a location near the client organization. One example of outsourcing is a third party providing information technology services for an automobile and/or a machine tools manufacturer. These information technology services might range from supply chain management to the control of manufacturing processes. Some of these information technology services might be performed in one country whereas other information technology services may be performed in a different country.
An outsourcing environment may be understood to include objects, processes, and circumstances defining how the third party performs tasks for the client organization. The elaboration of the outsourcing environment may include information system configuration requirements, access control requirements or restriction enclosed for the sake of security. The objects in the outsourcing environment may include equipment, such as computers configured according to the configuration requirements. It may be desirable for the client organization to define a part of an outsourcing environment for the third party in order to mitigate risk and maintain accountability within the client organization. Thus, the third party may be required to operate under restrictions outside its control.
One or more technical restrictions may be imposed on the users, user computers, and/or server computers in an outsourcing environment. It may be desirable to constrain the communication of computers in an outsourcing environment to one local area network LAN, or to limit the communications of computers in an outsourcing environment to an explicitly defined set of computers. Network connectivity in an outsourcing environment may be limited to users and computers directed to perform specific tasks. It may also be desirable to restrict user access to computers and/or to restrict the interactions between computers.
The outsourcing environment may limit communications and/or the exchange of data between computers. In particular, the outsourcing environment may limit the open TCP/IP ports and/or the services which may be enabled or run on user computers. In addition, it may not be possible to operate a web server or configure a computer system to accept connections conforming to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP or HTTPS), in the outsourcing environment. Also, it may not be possible to operate a database server in the outsourcing environment; in particular, it may not be possible to configure a computer to accept connections conforming to database protocols such as Transparent Network Substrate (Oracle), SQL*Net (Oracle), Tabular Data Stream (Microsoft), or similar protocols (Microsoft is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation; Oracle is a trademark of Oracle Corporation). Furthermore, it may not be possible to make changes to the system registry on a user computer in the outsourcing environment. Moreover, direct access to the Internet may not be allowed in the outsourcing environment.
One or more of the terms in this application may be a trademark of a corresponding owner.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Data processing method, system, and computer program product


A gamma ray camera system is provided, which includes a lens system comprising at least one crystal diffraction lens, and a camera. The camera is configured to perform gamma ray imaging of a first region of a volume of interest using the lens system, and perform gamma ray imaging of a second region of the volume of interest without using the lens system. Other embodiments are also described.

Nuclear medicine imaging is performed by injecting a radiopharmaceutical into a patient and measuring the intensity distribution of gamma radiation emitted from the patient's body. Radiopharmaceuticals are prepared by attaching a radioactive tracer to a pharmaceutical that is known to preferentially accumulate in an organ of interest. The detected radiation pattern thus provides information about the function of the organ.
A majority of current radiation detection systems utilize an "Anger"-type gamma scintillation camera for determining the radiation pattern emitted from patient's body. (The camera is named after its inventor, H. O. Anger, see, for example, "A new instrument for mapping gamma ray emitters," Biology and Medicine Quarterly Report, U.C.R.L.-3653, 1957, which is incorporated herein by reference.) These nuclear medicine imagers use large sodium iodide scintillating crystals in conjunction with a bank of photomultipliers tubes (PMTs). A collimating aperture in front of the scintillation crystal focuses the gamma rays on the crystal, and gamma rays from a radiopharmaceutical injected into the patient produce scintillations (light flashes) in the crystal which are converted into electrical signal by the PMTs. High density shielding material, typically comprising lead, is used to cover the sides and back of the radiation detection assembly to prevent radiation from entering the detector by any path other than through the collimator. A computer locates each flash from the relative magnitudes of the PMT signals. Crystals are typically 200 to 400 square inches in area (1290 to 2580 square centimeters).
Limitations of Anger cameras are mainly caused by the conversion of scintillations into electrical signals. Sources of distortion include variation of the acceptance field-of-view angle of the PMTs with distance from the scintillation event, refraction and light guiding due to index of refraction mismatches, unavoidable dead regions between PMTs, and non-uniform spatial response of individual PMTs.
Semiconductor detector-array imagers have been proposed for solving problems with Anger cameras. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,292,645 to Schlosser et al. and 5,132,542 to Bassalleck et al.; "Semiconductor gamma cameras in nuclear medicine," IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. NS-27, No. 3, June 1980; and "Two-detector, 512-element, high purity germanium camera prototype," IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. NS-25, No. 1, February 1978. All of these references are incorporated herein by reference.
Semiconductor detectors have improved camera sensitivity, particularly at 100 to 250 Kev energy levels. This improved sensitivity has led to improved energy resolution by at least factor of two over Anger cameras.
In an attempt to further improve sensitivity and accuracy, several lens constructions and materials have been proposed by Robert Smither in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,869,841 and 5,004,319, and US Patent Application Publication 2005/0175148, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,411 to Smither, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes techniques for focusing X-rays and gamma
An article entitled, "Gama WAVE: Focusing telescopes in nuclear astrophysic," Sep. 12-15, 2005, Espace St. Jacques, Bonifacio, Corsica, which is incorporated herein by reference, provides an overview of techniques for focusing gamma rays for nuclear astrophysics telescopes.
Compton scatter cameras have been proposed to overcome some of the limitations of Anger cameras. Compton scatter cameras have been described in numerous publications, including the following, all of which are incorporated herein by reference:
Everett D B et al. in the paper entitled Gamma-radiation Imaging System Based On the Compton Effect, Proc. IEE, Vol. 124 (11), (1977), p. 995;
Cree et al. "Towards Direct Reconstruction from a Gamma Camera Based on Computer Scattering," IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, Vol. 13, No. 2, June 1994, pp. 398-407; and
U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,434 to Engdahl (see the description provided with reference to FIG. 1 thereof in the Background of the Invention section).
The '434 patent describes a Compton scatter camera for nuclear medical imaging that includes an annular scattered photon detector disposed around a first scattering detector and shielded from the field of view of incident gamma photons. Scattered photons detected by the annular detector are thus scattered through angles greater than those of a conventional Compton scatter geometry.
Gamma cameras are manufactured by companies such as GE, Siemens, Hitachi, Toshiba, Philips, and Spectrum Dynamics.
All of the references (including patent references and articles) referred to herein are incorporated herein by reference.

Lens system for nuclear medicine gamma ray camera


Improved potassium sulfate salt products in both solid particulate and liquid form are provided which exhibit enhanced salt solubility in water. The products include potassium sulfate, in combination with a surfactant and mixed together in water. The aqueous mixture is heated to a maximum reaction temperature in the range of about 100.degree.-210.degree. F., and will retain enhanced water solubility in either a heated or cooled condition. In preferred forms, potassium sulfate may be treated with at least 0.1% by weight of disulfonate surfactant and heated in water to 100.degree.-140.degree. F. to give K.sub.2 SO.sub.4 solutions of at least 8% by weight solubility taken as K.sub.2 O.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with improved potassium sulfate salt products having enhanced water solubility permitting them to be used with greater efficiency as liquid, spray-on fertilizer products. More particularly, it is concerned with such improved potassium products, as well as a method of producing the same, wherein potassium sulfate is mixed with water and an appropriate surfactant and optional defoamer and subjected to heating to a temperature of from about 100.degree.-210.degree. F.; the solution, when cooled, exhibits a significantly increased potassium sulfate solubility as compared with untreated potassium sulfate solutions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Potassium sulfate, potassium chloride and potassium nitrate are all used as fertilizer products to a greater or lesser degree. Potassium chloride is the most widely used potassium salt, but is inapplicable for chloride and/or salt-sensitive crops such as tobacco, fruits, vegetables and turfs. However, KCl has a significant water solubility on the order of 14-16% as K.sub.2 O, and therefore this salt is often applied as a liquid.
Potassium sulfate (commonly referred to in the trade as sulfate of potash or SOP) is a premium fertilizer product. Certain grades of SOP, particularly those manufactured from the brine of the Great Salt Lake, are especially valuable products because they are essentially free of chlorides. Therefore, such products are admirably suited for use on chloride and/or salt-sensitive crops and the like. A drawback of SOP, however, is that in its natural state it is significantly less soluble in water than KCl, having an ambient temperature solubility of about 4-6% by weight as K.sub.2 O. This relatively low water solubility has inhibited the use of K.sub.2 SO.sub.4 as a liquid fertilizer product, despite its otherwise significant advantages.
Potassium nitrate is more soluble than SOP, normally about 9-11% by weight as K.sub.2 O, but is a very expensive product as compared with KCl or K.sub.2 SO.sub.4. Nevertheless, it has achieved some commercial utility as a liquid fertilizer source, owing at least in part to its low salt index.
It will of course be appreciated that enhancement of the solubility of potassium sulfate salts would represent a significant advance. Such an improvement would mean that more concentrated solutions could be prepared and applied, thereby lessening preparation, storage and transportation costs associated with the liquids.

High water solubility potassium sulfate and method of producing same


An energy absorber includes a base sheet and a plurality of energy absorbing units with domed countermeasures extending from the base sheet. The countermeasures have slits in a domed portion thereof. The side walls of the energy absorbing units protect an adjacent object by cushioning the blow following repeated impacts in both vehicular and non-vehicular (e.g. helmets) environments. Preferably the side walls are oriented to buckle or bend after absorbing energy when impacted. The countermeasures primarily deaden any associated buzzes, squeaks or rattles. The integrally-formed countermeasures have a lower standing strength than the energy absorbing units. Methods related to the above are also described.

(1) Technical Field
The present invention relates to recoverable energy absorbers, such as are used non-destructively and re-usably for absorbing energy in automotive and non-automotive applications.
(2) Background Art
Vehicle manufacturers spend considerable time and effort to eliminate BSR noises because they can be very irritating and annoying to vehicle drivers and passengers, particularly when the BSR noises come from a location close to a passenger's head, and/or any component in the vehicle's passenger compartment, especially when the noises are created near or are amplified by components that effectively form an echo chamber.
Many different geometrically shaped thermoformed energy absorbers are known, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,017,084; 6,221,292; 6,199,942; 6,247,745; 6,679,967; 6,682,128; 6,752,450; 7,360,822; 7,377,577; 7,384,095; and 7,404,593. These absorbers are said to provide dynamic reaction force characteristics that produce a relatively "square wave" shape when observing their reaction force properties as a function of deflection.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,465,087 describes a formed energy absorber with an integrated anti-squeak/anti-rattle feature which includes a protrusion ("countermeasure") that suppresses or dampens buzzes, squeaks or rattles at the end wall of an energy absorbing structure. Such structures typically lie between a Class-A surface (such as a bumper fascia, a headliner, or a door trim panel) and a rigid sheet metal structure in automotive applications. The absorber is typically installed with a 3-5 mm gap from one surface and is attached to another. However, in some instances it becomes necessary to reduce the gap to improve the reaction response time at the primary area of impact prior to secondary impacts as for example the head rolls into adjacent structures. When the absorber contacts the opposing surface, an undesirable buzz or rattle can be heard. This noise occurs because a flat hard plastic surface can tap or vibrate against the opposing structure. The '087 patent describes an anti-buzz, squeak or rattle feature that is formed integrally with energy absorbers during the thermoforming process. However, this feature has proven difficult to form consistently, requires relatively a narrow processing window, and generally lacks the flexibility necessary to fully mitigate the translation of one structure to another that creates a BSR condition.
Materials such as foam, felt, and flock are often added to absorbers which lack an integrated structure to remedy the issue. A fabric pad, flock material, foam padding, or some other kind of flexible material if added to one of the surfaces responsible for making the noise may lessen or eliminate the severity of the buzzing or tapping or eliminate the possibility of one surface translating into the other. However, this solution requires the purchase and assembly of one or more separate components, and that results in added complexity, cost, and mass.

Energy absorber with anti-BSR countermeasure


A system of fattening for molluscs having supporting frames with first coupling members for the uprights that make up components and, carriers of the breeding compartments, and second coupling members on the flotation tubes of a moveable platform. The members and the uprights have aligned openings and that are actuated by removable coupling devices allowing the uprights to be attached or uncoupled. A crossbar, with an arrangement of connectors, keeps the components and provides an easily handled module that can be separated from the supporting frame along with the breeding compartments.

It is well-known that the transformation of a wild oyster egg into an edible adult takes three to five years. When this natural process is induced the time taken for this growth and maturing of an oyster into a marketable size can be shortened by half or even less, although it requires some arduous work in terms of selection, cleaning and handling, almost always by hand.
The use of anchored structures that carry compartments for the fattening of the species being cultivated is very usual in marine aquaculture so that young molluscs can take advantage of the surrounding marine environment, especially the nutrients and water salinity. Document U.S. Pat. No. 2,989,945 serves as a general example, such structures are placed on the chosen seabed, anchored with dead-weights, marked by buoys and when it is thought that sufficient fattening time has passed for the species in question, they are raised from the seabed using cranes, winches or other similar devices and brought to the surface for collection. More recently, documents FR 2649293 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,280 show concrete bases with columns to support a wide-variety of structures that carry breeding compartments, aligned horizontally and superimposed at various vertical levels.
These conventional installations require analytical studies beforehand and the data in question must be carefully weighed up and considered to calculate their optimum location in the sea. As these installations must be maintained over a long period of time the proposed location should avoid creating extra work or problems for the producer. Moreover, transport, towing, ballast, erection of signs and relocation are all necessary, which in some cases makes the installation of the system impossible. In addition, access to the harvesting of the production and the manipulation of the compartments and structures that house them is complicated and labour intensive.


The present invention related to methods for treating neurological-urological conditions. This is accomplished by administration of at least one neurotoxin.

Many medical conditions in urology are rooted in a spastic dysfunction of the sacral reflex arcs. Examples of such conditions include pelvic pain (e.g., interstitial cystitis, endometriosis, prostatodynia, urethral instability syndromes), pelvic myofascial elements (e.g., levator sphincter, dysmenorrhea, anal fistula, hemorrhoid), urinary incontinence (e.g., unstable bladder, unstable sphincter), prostate disorders (e.g., BPH, prostatitis, prostate cancer), recurrent infection (secondary to sphincter spasticity), and urinary retention (secondary to spastic sphincter, hypertrophied bladder neck) and neurogenic bladder dysfunction (e.g., Parkinson's Disease, spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spasm reflex).
The prostate is a partially glandular and partially fibromuscular gland of the male reproductive system. During aging, the prostate tends to enlarge (hypertrophy). This prostatic enlargement can lead to urethral obstruction and voiding dysfunction.
Prostatic enlargement is a common occurrence in older men. Lytton et al. (Lytton, B., Emery, J. M. and Harvard, B. M. [1973] 99: 639-645) estimated that a 45 year old male had a 10% risk of prostate surgery by age 70. The U.S. Census Report estimates that there are 30 million people today over age 65. This segment of the population is projected to rise to 50 million over the next 30 years. Therefore, the number of men with prostatic enlargement also will increase. According to draft reports of the National Kidney and Urologic Disease Advisory Board, 425,000 prostatectomies were performed in the United States in 1989. Based on population growth estimates, the number of prostatectomies performed annually will rise to 800,000/year by the year 2020.
The urethra passes through the prostate (prostatic urethra) as it courses to the external urethral orifice. The prostate has five distinct lobes that are apparent at 12 weeks in the human fetus (Lowsley, O. S. Am. J. Anat. [1912] 13: 299-349.). Although the lobular branching found in the fetus is not visible in the prepubescent prostate, the lateral middle anterior and posterior lobes are used to describe the enlarged prostate.
A more recent viewpoint is that the prostate also is comprised of several morphologically distinct zones (McNeal, J. Urol. Clin. North Am. [1990] 17(3): 477-486). The majority of the glandular volume is composed of the peripheral zone (˜70-75%). The remainder of glandular volume is divided into the central zone (˜20-25%), the transition zone (˜5-10%) and the periurethral glandular zone (˜1%).
McNeal (1990) reported that BPH develops in the transition zone and the periurethral glandular zone. BPH nodules develop either within or immediately adjacent to the pre-prostatic sphincteric zone. The transition zone is a small region close to the urethra intimately related to the proximal urethral sphincter. The stroma of the transition zone is dense and compact, and is unusually susceptible to neurologically-induced disturbances of growth control. Its glands penetrate the sphincter, while sphincter muscle fibers penetrate the transition stroma. The periurethral glandular zone has a similar urogenic sinus origin as the transition zone.
BPH may be associated with increased amounts of stroma relative to epithelium (Bartsch, G., Muller, H. R., Oberholzer, M., Rohr, H., P., J. Urol. [1979] 122: 487-491). A significant portion of the stroma is smooth muscle (McNeal, 1990) which is under sympathetic nervous control. The contractile properties of this smooth muscle could account for the dynamic component of obstruction in BPH (Bruschini, H. et al. [1978] Invest. Urol. 15(4): 288-90; Lepor, H. [1990] Urol. Clin. North Am. 17(3): 651-658).
In addition to sympathetic control of prostatic stroma, the prostate is highly innervated. The prostate nerve fibers enter the prostate from the posterior lateral aspect, with a concentration of ganglia near the junction between the prostate and the seminal vesicles (Maggi, C. A., ed. [1993] Nervous control of the Urogenital System, Harwood Academic Publishers; Higgins, J. R. A. and Gosling, J. A. [1989] Prostate Suppl. 2: 5-16). Acetylcholine (ACH), neuropeptide Y (NPY), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and noradrenaline fibers have been described in this gland. A rich plexus of ACH-positive nerve cell bodies is associated with secretory acini in all parts of the gland. Some of the ACH fibers also contain NPY neurons. VIP-containing neurons have been found associated with ACH-containing nerve cell bodies. Occasional neurons have been found between the ACH-staining nerve fibers, suggesting that both NPY and noradrenergic neurons supply smooth muscle (Higgins, J. R. A. and Gosling, J. A. [1989] Prostate Suppl. 2: 5-16).
Autonomic nerves are distributed evenly between the central and peripheral zones of the prostate (Higgins, J. R. A. and Gosling, J. A. [1989] Prostate Suppl. 2: 5-16). Peripheral neuronal control is similar. In addition, there is no difference in the type of nerve fibers found associated with either epithelial or stromal elements of the gland.
The anatomical studies of nerve fiber types in the prostate, coupled with other studies of innervation of prostatic stroma (Brushing H., Schmidt, R. A., Tanagho, E. A., [1978] Invest. Urol. 15(4): 288-290; Watanabe, H., Shima, M., Kojima, M., Ohe, H. L. [1989] Pharmacol. Res. 21(Suppl 2): 85-94) suggest that cholinergic innervation influences epithelial behavior, while adrenergic innervation influences stromal tonus (excitability). These observations have provided a rationale for the use of, for example, alpha blockers in the treatment of BPH. The effects of alpha blockers (Downie, J. W. and Bialik, G. J. [1988] J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 246(1): 352-358) can also account for improvements in symptoms of BPH as a result of dampening of dysfunctional striated sphincter behavior by the alpha blockers.
Studies have also shown that there are several tachykinins (for example, substance P [SP], calcitonin gene related peptide [CGRP], neurokinin A, bradykinin, and nerve growth factor [NGF]) that can influence the tonus of smooth muscle (Hakanson, et al., [1987] Neuroscience 21(3): 943-950). Neurotransmitter receptors have been quantified throughout the prostate (e.g., NPY, VIP, SP, leu-enkephalin (L-enk), met-enkephalin, 5-HT, somatostatin, acetylcholinesterase positive fibers (ACTH), and dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH) (Crowe, R., Chapple, C. R., Burnstock, G. The Human Prostate Gland: A Histochemical and Immunohistochemical Study of Neuropeptides, Serotonins, Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase and Acetylcholinesterase in Autonomic Nerves and Ganglia). There is some variation in receptor density at different prostatic sites in benign prostatic hyperplasia.
Changes in electrophysiologically recorded cellular behavior and in concentration of neuropeptides within the spinal cord have been shown to be a secondary consequence of mechanical pinch to the tail muscles of a rat, catheter stimulation of the posterior urethra, and electrostimulation of a peripheral nerve. Dyssynergia between the detrusor and the urethral sphincter is a significant finding in prostatodynia patients. Denervation of the prostate has been shown to produce dramatic changes within the prostatic epithelium. Thus there is evidence that experimentally induced alterations in neurological influences can be produced in the sacral, spinal cord, bladder or urethra through mechano-, electron, chemical or thermal (microwave, laser) methods to change irritative behavior. However, there have been no known attempts to use neurotoxins for therapeutic applications.
There is poor correlation between the degree of prostatic enlargement and the severity of symptoms. While 80% of men age 70 show BPH on transrectal ultrasound scans, only 20% seek surgery (Coffey, D. S. and Walsh, P. C. [1990] Urol. Clin. North Am. 17(3): 461-475), the treatment of choice for BPH (Fowler, F. J. Jr., Wennberg, J. E., Timothy, R. P. [1988] J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 259(20): 3022-3028). Symptoms of irritation may far exceed symptoms expected based on the size of the prostate. Symptoms may improve after surgical treatment of BPH by procedures such as transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) (Christensen, Aagaard, M. M. J., Madsen, P. O. [1990] Urol. Clin. North Am. 17(3): 621-629), balloon dilation (Dowd, J. B. and Smith, J. J. III [1990] Urol. Clin. North Am. 17(3): 671-677), or prostatic hyperthermia (Baert, L., Ameye, F., Willemen, P., et al, [1990] J. Urol. 144: 1383-1386). However, symptoms persist in as many as 15% of all BPH patients (Baert, L., Ameye, F., Willemen, P., et al., [1990] J. Urol. 144: 1383-1386; Wennberg, J. E., Mully, A. G., Hanley, D., Timothy, R. P., Fowler, F. J., Roos, R. P., Barry, M. J. et al., [1988] J. Amer. Med. Assoc. 259: 3027-3030). Up to 25% of BPH patients have secondary procedures in long term follow-up studies, suggesting that surgical approaches do not address the fundamental mechanisms that produce BPH, i.e., the faulty neurological influence (control mechanism) on the integrity of the lower urinary tract.
The need for repeated surgeries, the morbidity and mortality associated with TURP and the cost of surgery have led to the development of some non-surgical approaches such as androgen ablation (McConnell, J. D., [1990] Urol. Clin. North Am. 17(3): 661-670) and the use of alpha blockers discussed above, but few medical or surgical treatments to date have produced a restoration of void behavior to normal state (flow rate of about 25 cc/sec and void volume of about 400 cc).
The present invention uses chemical and non-chemical methods, particularly neurotoxins, to modulate neuronally-mediated urologic and related disorders. For example, such methods can be used to treat BPH and related conditions such as prostatitis. The instant invention also may remove triggers of changes in the CNS by non-chemical methods including biofeedback, or by chemical methods that treat BPH and other urological conditions by the administration of substances that block various neurological activities, such as, for example, selected neurotoxins.

Use of botulinum toxin therapy for treatment of recalcitrant voiding dysfunction

The Regents of the University of Colorado, a body corporate


The present invention relates to an improved blast cleaning apparatus for cleaning coiled wire with abrasive cleaning material. A prior art apparatus for blast cleaning wires comprises an elongated boom provided with annular splitters for longitudinal separation of wire coils and metal lifters for radial separation of wire coils to expose substantially all of the surface of the wires to the abrasive cleaning material. Due to the hardness of the lifters, some abrasive cleaning material becomes embedded in the wire and causes problems with subsequent processing steps. The present invention provides a blast cleaning apparatus having resilient lifters which overcome this and other difficulties. Preferably, the lifters according to the present invention are made of polyurethane and are used in combination with a conventional boom with or without splitters.

This invention relates to improvements in a wire coil blast cleaning apparatus, and more particularly to improved radial lifters for use in such an apparatus.
Lengths of wire comprising a plurality of circular coils may be cleaned in an apparatus such as that shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,646 to Goetz. Such cleaning is a necessary step in processes for manufacturing a wide variety of objects such as bolts, axles, nails, etc., and is typically performed prior to drawing the wire through a die. The wire must be completely cleaned before it is drawn through the die.
Goetz teaches a wire coil blast cleaning apparatus having a wire coil support in the form of an elongate boom enclosed in a blast cleaning chamber. A length of coiled wire is slipped over the boom, and the boom is then rotated. Rotation of the boom causes rotation of the wire and displacement of the wire longitudinally along the boom.
During rotation of the boom, abrasive cleaning material is directed at the wire at high velocity from a plurality of different angles by a plurality of throwing wheels located within the blast cleaning chamber.
In order to completely clean the wire, abrasive cleaning material must contact surfaces of the wire located between individual coils of wire. The boom taught by Goetz is therefore provided with annular plates, referred to as "splitters", which assist in creating longitudinal spaces between adjacent coils of wire, and radial "lifters" which radially separate coils of wire along the boom. The longitudinal and radial separation of individual wire coils accomplished by the splitters and the lifters allows individual wire coils to be exposed to the abrasive material.
Radial lifters must be resistant to abrasive materials and must be able to support heavy wire coils weighing up to about 6,000 pounds. Therefore, radial lifters such as those taught in the Goetz patent are made from very hard metal alloys, with manganese steel being preferred. Typically, such metal alloys are harder than the wire being cleaned. This results in a number of disadvantages.
Firstly, and most seriously, it has been observed that abrasive cleaning material thrown at the wire becomes trapped between the hard metal lifters and the wire supported on the lifters. This abrasive material is typically in the form of small, round particles referred to as "shot". A typical diameter of such shot is about 0.017 inches. The shot has a hardness greater than that of the wire. Because the lifter is also harder than the wire, particles of abrasive material trapped between the lifter and the wire tend to be driven into and embedded in the wire. After the cleaning process is completed, some of this shot remains embedded in the wire and causes serious problems during subsequent processing steps, such as when the wire is drawn through a die.
Secondly, even if the shot does not remain embedded in the wire after the cleaning step, scratching of the wire caused by the hard metal lifters and the particles of shot driven into the wire is undesirable.
Thirdly, hard metal lifters such as those taught by Goetz have sharp, angular edges. This is due to the fact that hard metal lifters are fabricated by cutting and welding together pieces of sheet metal, rather than being cast from molten metal. It is difficult to fabricate lifters which do not have any sharp edges. The particular lifters shown in the Goetz patent have "squared off" front and rear ends. It has been observed that wire, particularly small diameter wire, tends to bunch up at the squared ends of the lifters, resulting in tangling of the wire.
Therefore, the prior art wire coil blast cleaners having hard metal lifters, as taught by the Goetz patent, have serious disadvantages, some of which are discussed above. These disadvantages prevent the Goetz blast cleaning apparatus from achieving maximum efficiency in cleaning coiled wire.

Resilient lifter for wire coil blast cleaning apparatus


The inventive axoid mechanism and axoid press relate to mechanical engineering, to devices for converting power and speed parameters of linear motions and are based on power axoid mechanisms whose friction is eliminated by the substitution of a sliding motion with an axoid rolling and by the reciprocal balance of normal reaction components in bearing elements of the novel balanced power axoid mechanism. Said mechanism is embodied in the form of a closed system of axoid mechanisms comprising end elements which are linearly movable in the direction thereof. The axoid mechanisms are provided with support surfaces and an intermediate link consisting of contact elements provided with support surfaces and interacting with the support surfaces of the end elements in such a way that the displacement of one on the end elements ensures the mutual axoid rolling thereof devoid of sliding motion and associated with a force and motion transfer to the other end elements, said elements being integrated into one or several power circuits by means of multi-end elements. The invention also makes it possible to develop a drive which is based on said balanced power axoid mechanism and used for actuating units, in particular a drive for axoid presses which, in comparison with traditional power mechanisms, are provided with an increased service life, pressing power parameters and have a reduced friction, wear and costs for the lubrication, cooling and repair thereof.

Known in the present state of the art is a power axoid mechanism (hereinafter referred to as PAM) as claimed in Eurasian Pat. #000482, comprising end elements linearly displaceable each in its own direction and having support surfaces. The mechanism is provided with an intermediate link consisting of contact elements provided with support surfaces adapted to interact with those of the end elements in such a manner that when one of said end elements is being displaced, the rest of the end elements perform positive involving mutual axoid rolling motion so as to impart forces and motion to another end element. In such a mechanism friction between the end elements is eliminated as a result of substituting sliding motion of the end elements by axoid rolling motion of the supporting surfaces thereof, whereby said mechanism may be manufactured from such materials that tolerate high contact stresses. Accordingly, such mechanisms are featured by power characteristics many times those of articulated linkage having a similar kinematic structure.
However, the effective forces applied to the guide-ways of the PAM end elements and to the mating components thereof, cause considerable friction resulting in premature wear thereon and loss of power. Reduced friction on the PAM guide-ways is attainable by eliminating or decreasing the normal components of reaction forces acting upon the guide-ways of the end elements thereof, due to the provision of conditions for mutually balancing said reaction forces.
Said method for reducing friction in the PAM opens wide prospects for synthesis of new and more efficient balanced power axoid mechanisms operating without any perceptible friction in the guide-ways.
Power actuator mechanisms (drives) of processing equipment make use of diverse mechanical mechanisms which generate high forces, e.g., linkage actuators and slide r-crank mechanisms which is the case with a majority of presses having articulated joints and slide-ways.
Substitution of said traditional power actuators by PAM-based drives featuring reduced friction and higher performance reliability enables one to carry out further upgrading of power equipment, in particular, that of presses.

Balanced power axoid mechanism and axoid press


In a method for manufacturing base paper for release paper, the body layer, which is formed of a fibre raw material, is surface sized with a surface treatment agent. Before the surface sizing, the body layer, whose moisture level is at least 13 wt. %, is calendered in a calender that comprises at least one nip formed between a hard-faced roll and a soft counter surface.

Release papers are used e.g. as backing papers for adhesive labels. The base paper is coated with silicone usually with a solvent-free silicone system. As this method has become more common, the surface properties of the base paper for the release paper have become more significant in achieving a good siliconized surface quality. Due to the properties of silicone, the low porosity, low water and oil absorptivity, and high smoothness of the base paper have become more important.
The functional demands on the base paper for release paper are complex, due to a wide range of usage and difficult applications. The essential properties of base paper include: strength properties (also after thermal treatment), dimensional stability, high density, barrier properties, chemical suitability for siliconization, high transparency, low porosity, and good smoothness. A well-functioning base paper is passed without breaks on a converting machine, requires little silicone for good silicone coverage, functions without problems in die cutting of a laminate, and does not cause problems in labelling.
To improve the quality of the base paper, it is known to surface size the surface, which receives the release agent, with a suitable substance and to calender it after the surface sizing. The quantity of surface size in the base paper is typically at a level of approximately 3 g/m2/side, calculated as the amount of dry matter. The surface size agents are, however, relatively expensive, and therefore it would be beneficial to decrease the quantity of the surface size. Even if a substantial quantity of surface size were used, there is the possibility that there are pores in the base paper, which prevent a good silicone coverage, in which case the adhesive penetrates the pores, and the releasability of the label from the release paper declines.

Method for manufacturing base paper for release paper


A semiconductor wafer comprises a plurality of die areas, at least a first scribe line area and at least a second scribe line area surrounding each die area, at least a first metal structure positioned in the first scribe line area, and at least a second metal structure positioned in the second scribe line area. The first metal structure comprises at least a first slot split parallel to the first scribe line area, or comprises a plurality of openings arranged in an array. The second metal structure comprises at least a second slot split parallel to the second scribe line area, or comprises a plurality of openings arranged in an array.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer, and more specifically, to a semiconductor wafer that can avoid interlayer delamination caused by a wafer sawing process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the continued development of semiconductor process technology, and the miniaturization of the integrated circuit chip, many unneeded parasite capacitors are often formed in the inter-metal-dielectric (IMD) layer. Because the electrons cannot pass through the parasite capacitors until filling up the parasite capacitors, the signal transferred by the electrons is therefore delayed. That is what is called resistor-capacitor time delay effect. The resistor-capacitor time delay effect therefore becomes a limitation for raising the operation rate and the efficiency of the integrated circuit components. In order to increase the operation rate and the efficiency of the integrated circuit components, it is presently suggested that the resistances of conducting wires for the IMD layer should decrease, or the dielectric constant of the dielectric layers should decrease so as to mitigate the resistor-capacitor time delay effect. Therefore, copper with lower resistance is gradually used in place of aluminum with higher resistance to be the material of the IMD layer, and the low dielectric constant (low-k) materials are gradually used in place of the silicon oxide dielectric materials, such as fluoridated silicate glass (FSG), phosphosilicate glass (PSG), or undoped silicate glass (USG).
However, problems such as peeling or delamination are often found near the boundary between the cooper and the low-k materials. After manufacturing the integrated circuit of the semiconductor wafers, the package factories should cut the wafers utilizing grinding wheels or cutters so as to perform the follow-up package processes. The mechanical internal stress is unavoidable during the mechanical cutting process, and causes cracks. Furthermore, peeling or delamination of the low-k materials is especially found when the scribe line area includes the copper and the low-k materials. This is a result of the properties of the copper and the low-k materials. The copper is fairly hard, and is more difficult to be cut in comparison with other materials in wafers. On the other hand, the low-k materials are soft or are porous structures, and the adhesion between the low-k materials and the other materials is rather poor. During the process of cutting, the grinding wheel or the cutter exerts a downward force upon the surface of the wafer. As the force is exerted on the metal pad with larger area, the whole metal pad compresses the low-k dielectric layer at its periphery. The compression leads to the peeling or the delamination of the low-k materials. As the peeling effect extends from the scribe line area to the drive circuit in the die area, it usually becomes a latent problem that damages the reliability of the final products.
Although there might be such a problem, the scribe line area cannot avoid including some metal materials with larger area, such as the metal pad. This is because the wafers should continuously be tested during manufacturing to maintain the quality of the products. At present, the wafer acceptance testing (WAT) is mostly accepted by the industry for testing wafers. It provides a plurality of test keys in the periphery area of two dies to monitor a variety of defects in the semiconductor processes. In other words, as the semiconductor processes are performed, a test component is formed in the scribe line area utilizing the same processes in the same time to simulate. The parameters of the processes are measured by utilizing a metal probe to contact the test keys, and those parameters are important indexes used to indicate the reliability of products. The mentioned test keys include metal structures in the scribe line areas. There are other metal structures in the scribe line areas, such as test components of feature dimension, alignment marks, or logos.
Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a traditional wafer, and FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-section view of the traditional wafer of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, a wafer 10 includes a plurality of die areas 12 arranged in an array, a plurality of first scribe line areas 14 that are essentially parallel to each other, and a plurality of second scribe line areas 16 that are essentially parallel to each other. The first scribe line areas 14 are approximately perpendicular to the second scribe line areas 16 so as to divide each die area 12 from another. Furthermore, there is a passivation layer including a low-k dielectric layer 18 or IMD layer in the surface of the wafer 10 at present. There is at least a metal test structure 20 in the first scribe line areas 14 or the second scribe line areas 16, which can be any of the test keys, test components of feature dimension, alignment marks, or logos.
As mentioned above, after manufacturing the integrated circuit in the wafer 10, the package process starts. The grinding wheel or the cutter may cut the wafer 10 along the first scribe line areas 14 and the second scribe line areas 16 so as to cut the wafer 10 into a plurality of independent die areas 12. Generally speaking, the widths of the first scribe line areas 14 and the second scribe line areas 16 can be dependent on various factors, such as the size of the wafer, the cutting method and the kind of the integrated circuit, and are usually around ten micrometers to hundreds of micrometers.
As shown in FIG. 2, after cutting the wafer 10, the peeling or delamination are easily found near the boundary between the top low-k dielectric layer 18 and the lower other materials. Especially when the cutting force is exerted on the first scribe line areas 14 to the metal structure 20 with larger area, the whole metal structure 20 compresses the low-k dielectric layer 18 in the periphery. The compression leads to the peeling or the delamination of the low-k materials. Those effects are easily transferred along the direction perpendicular to the cutting direction, and the peeling of the low-k dielectric layer 18 might extend to the inter-metal layer of the die area 12, thereby damaging the operation of the integrated circuit in the dies.


In an apparatus for scanning an original image-bearing sheet, including a transparent sheet-retaining plate, below which are a sheet-scanning optical system, a size-detection arm having sensors for measuring an original sheet retained on the plate, and a blower for introducing cooling air into the space under the plate, airstream guides which divert and redirect the cooling air flowing from the blower are provided on the size-detection arm. The airstream guides properly distribute the cooling air beneath the plate, whereby the plate is efficiently cooled.

The present invention relates to a scanning apparatus; and more specifically, it relates to an apparatus for scanning sheets containing a source original image retained on a contact plate in applications such as in image forming apparatus.
A conventional scanning device installed in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine includes a transparent plate for retaining original sheets; an optical system disposed below the plate for scanning the original material; a size-detection arm having original sheet-size detection sensors; and a fan for introducing cooling air into the space under the plate.
Because the scanning apparatus plate becomes heated by flare of the optical system, cooling air is supplied beneath it by the fan in order to reduce the plate temperature.
Under applications requiring high-speed copying, however, the optical system successively scans original material with such frequency that the plate heats considerably. Accordingly, a fan having a greater blowing capacity should thus be required in order to increase effective cooling. Disadvantageously, greater space would be occupied by employing a therefore larger fan, consequently increasing overall size of the scanning apparatus.


Even if a cycle slip occurs in which reception of a positioning signal is interrupted, it is not necessary to estimate an integer bias again. A position during previous observation is updated on the basis of observation information from a sensor. The position during current observation is obtained by solving a modified observation equation obtained by applying a periodic function to an observation equation including a double difference of a carrier phase observed from a positioning signal from a satellite and eliminating the integer bias with the updated position as an initial value. For example, while an error in the position updated by the first calculation unit is less than ½ of a carrier wavelength, the second calculation unit solves the modified observation equation with the updated position as the initial value.

Conventionally, a positioning technology is known that performs positioning on the basis of observation information obtained by observing positioning signals (radio waves) from a plurality of satellites that constitutes GNSS. Then, real time kinematic (RTK) positioning is known as one of positioning methods (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this RTK positioning, a position is calculated from an observation equation including a double difference of a carrier phase and a pseudo distance as observation information.
In this case, a relative position from a reference station is calculated by estimating integer bias existing in the observation equation by using the nonlinear least squares method and further using the integer least squares method, and by solving the observation equation using the estimated value. Here, the estimated value of integer bias obtained during certain observation (during epoch) can be used during subsequent observation as long as the positioning signal is supplemented. However, in a case where a cycle slip occurs in which reception of the positioning signal is interrupted, the integer bias changes, and thus it is necessary to estimate the integer bias again. It takes some time to estimate the integer bias again, and during that time, the position accuracy decreases.

Information processing device, information processing method, and program


The present invention provides a method for estimating the power capability of the primary power source of a hybrid vehicle. The method preferably includes calculating a first indicator based on a broadcast estimate from the primary power source of a hybrid vehicle. A second indicator is obtained by calculating the difference between the value of a torque command and the amount of torque reportedly delivered in response to the torque command. A third indicator is calculated based on a plurality of system dynamic equations. The first, second and third indicators are then combined to obtain an estimate of the power capability of the primary power source.

Hybrid electric vehicles typically include a primary power source such as an engine and a secondary power source such as an electric motor/generator which are operable individually or in combination to drive the vehicle. When a person driving the vehicle depresses the gas pedal, a control module establishes a driver power command. Information pertaining to the power capability of the primary power source may be valuable, for example, in selecting an appropriate response to the driver power command.

Method for estimating the power capability of the primary power source of a hybrid vehicle


The organic EL light emitting device of the invention has an organic EL light emitting layer (3a, 3b, 3c) and an electrode (1, 4) for applying a voltage to the organic EL light emitting layer. The organic EL light emitting layer includes a hyperbranched polymer layer having hyperbranched macromolecules uniaxially aligned with a degree of alignment of 0.95 or more, and emits light with a high emission polarization ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent (EL) light emitting device and a liquid crystal display using the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to an organic EL light emitting device emitting polarized light and a liquid crystal display using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, liquid crystal displays (LSDs) have been used, in place of CRTs, in various fields including T.V. sets, personal computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs). As displays, plasma displays, organic EL displays, inorganic EL displays and the like have also received attention, and commercialization of these displays is now under way.
Among others, organic EL displays, which can emit light spontaneously and use a thin film, are expected as promising light and thin displays. Moreover, great progress has been made in development of materials lately. Actually, a material capable of emitting three colors of blue, green and red efficiently has been developed.
A liquid crystal display using an organic EL light emitting device as the backlight has been proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 61-153693 and 62-227121, for example. Also, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-316376 discloses use of an organic EL light emitting device emitting polarized light as the backlight to thereby omit one polarizer of a liquid crystal display, and discusses that this can not only reduce power consumption but also improve the light use efficiency.
The emission polarization ratio of the conventional organic EL light emitting device is about 20:1 at best, which is one-hundredth or less of the extinction polarization ratio (3000:1) of a polarizer presently used in a liquid crystal display. Note that herein the ratio in intensity between linearly polarized light rays orthogonal to each other is called the "emission polarization ratio" for the light emitted from an organic EL light emitting device, while the same ratio is called the "extinction polarization ratio" for the light transmitted by a polarizer.
For example, the aforementioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-316376 discloses enhancing the degree of alignment of an organic EL layer by means of rubbing, oblique evaporation or mechanical deposition. However, this method fails to provide a sufficiently high emission polarization ratio. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-204261 discloses a method in which a rubbed alignment film is placed between a light emitting layer and an anode electrode and a liquid crystalline light emitting material is aligned with the alignment film. This method fails to provide a sufficiently high emission polarization ratio, either.
If the emission polarization ratio of a backlight is low, the quality of black display decreases due to light leakage. Therefore, a sufficient contrast ratio will not be obtained without provision of a polarizer on the side of the backlight.
In view of the above problems, a main object of the present invention is providing an organic EL light emitting device having a higher emission polarization ratio than that conventionally obtained, and a liquid crystal display using such an organic EL light emitting device.

Organic EL light emitting device and liquid crystal display using the same


The present invention relates to methods for detecting targets by employing a temperature control system with a microfluidic device. The system allows for non-contact heating by employing an infrared emitter. In some instances, the system can be used in conjunction with a centrifugal microfluidic device. Optionally, a mask can be implemented to provide selective heating of desired assay areas of the device.

For microfluidic systems, temperature control can provide enhanced modalities to control reaction rates, as well as to perform certain amplification reactions. Thus, there is a need for other heating systems capable of providing a simplified interface with a rotating device while efficiently controlling temperature.
For simultaneous detection of various targets, temperature can play a key role in assay design. For instance, nucleic acid tests can require an elevated temperature for the amplification process. However, protein tests tend to minimize elevated temperatures, which can denature and/or inactive protein targets or protein reagents. Accordingly, there is a need for selective control of heating to perform diverse assays.

Protein and nucleic acid detection for microfluidic devices

National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC


An optimum communication system employs an encoder coupled to a mapper and two parallel branches, each branch having a transmit filter a digital-to-analog converter, a low pass filter and a modulator coupled in series. Both modulators are coupled to a summer which provides an rf signal to a transmit antenna. A second antenna is coupled to a first down converter, an IF filter, a second down converter, an analog-to-digital converter and a decoder. The encoder is optimized by choosing a desired minimum Euclidean distance between symbols multiplied by the average to peak transmit power ratio (MPDR), an encoder alphabet and a number of constellation points. All possible encoder states and all possible input symbols are permutated to result in a plurality of encoder sets. The minimum distance between coded symbols and a P.sub.ib /P.sub.ab power ratio for each code set is determined. The encoder is adapted to output an encoder set U having a largest P.sub.ib /P.sub.ab power ratio having a large adjacent channel interference protection ratio. In an alternative embodiment, a minimum P.sub.ib /P.sub.ab power ratio (MPR) is chosen. The encoder is adapted to output an encoder set U having the largest minimum distance between coded symbols multiplied by the average to peak transmitted power ratio, that also has a P.sub.ib /P.sub.ab ratio that exceeds MPR.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to land mobile radio systems and more specifically to minimizing adjacent channel interference for land mobile radio systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional land mobile radio (LMR) channels employ narrow-band frequency division multiplexed (FDMA) systems with different radio units assigned to different frequency bands. These bands are typically 25 KHz wide. There is an immediate need for an increase in capacity of LMR systems in the U.S. for such applications as public safety trunking. The trend is to increase capacity by splitting each existing 25 KHz channel used in LMR systems into two 12.5 KHz channels. However, this causes adjacent channel interference (ACI). ACI is interference introduced at a receiver from a transmitter broadcasting at a frequency corresponding to an adjacent channel and this is sometimes called adjacent channel `splatter`.
In a typical LMR system, communication between mobile units takes place through a base unit (base station). Each base station serves a certain geographic area. Communication between mobile units and base units takes place on a pair of frequencies that are separated, usually widely, to prevent interference. One frequency is needed for base to mobile communication and the other frequency in the pair is used for mobile to base communication. In some situations, mobile units can communicate with each other directly without going through the base unit. This is called "Talk-Around". A pair of frequencies are also used in Talk Around communications, one for each direction.
A problem occurs if two mobile units employ spectrally adjacent frequencies to communicate with their base units. Usually, mobile units within the same area will not be assigned spectrally adjacent frequencies but mobile units in contiguous geographic areas can use spectrally adjacent frequencies. The same situation exists with respect to frequency assignments to base units.
A measure of the acceptable level of ACI in a system is an ACI protection ratio (ACIPR). ACIPR is defined as the amount, in decibels, that the power of the interferer can be increased relative to the power of the desired signal, until a certain performance threshold is reached. For LMR system the bit error rate (BER) is used as an appropriate measure of performance. For analog FM, the ACIPR is specified to be in the range of 65-70 dB. Some digital modulation schemes offer adequate spectral efficiency but lower ACIPR (in the range of 45-50 dB). The ACIPR values may be augmented by several techniques. However, the problem gets increasingly difficult as the need for capacity and higher spectral efficiency arises.
Some of the commonly adopted techniques to improve ACIPR for digital modulation are antenna diversity in which more than one antenna receives a signal and the receiver chooses the signal from the antenna having a better signal strength. Antenna diversity is useful in providing a margin of 3-5 dB in ACIPR. Antenna diversity is further described in Characterizing the Effects of Nonlinear Amplifiers on Linear Modulation for Digital Portable Radio Communications, by S. Ariyavisitakul and T. P. Liu, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 383-389, November 1990.
Another technique to improve ACIPR is interference rejection and cancellation where an estimator is employed in estimating what a signal should be, and subtracting the estimated signal from the actual signal to synthesize an interference signal which is then subtracted from the further received signals. A similar technique is interference rejection using filtering described in Rejection Method of Adjacent Channel Interference for Digital Land Mobile Communications, by S. Sampei and M. Yokohama, The Transactions of the IECE of Japan, Vol. E 69, No. 5, pp. 578-580, May 1986. Interference cancellation is described in Method of Rejecting Adjacent Channel Interference Using an Adaptive Equalizer, by N. Kinoshita and S. Sampei, Transactions of IEICE (section B), J71-B, 10, pp. 1119-1126, October 1988. Interference rejection and cancellation involves complex receiver circuitry and is highly dependent upon the channel conditions and interference power. These techniques can provide up to 6-10 dB of gain if properly implemented.
Transmitter power control is described by Y. Nagata and Y. Akaiwa in Analysis for Spectrum Efficiency in Single Cell Trunked and Cellular Mobile Radio, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. VT-35, No. 3, pp. 100-113, August 1987. Transmitter power control offers a larger gain (10-15 dB) in ACIPR by controlling the transmit power of mobile stations. In transmitter power control, the mobile units which are closer to the base station transmit at a lower power in order not to "splash" other mobile units. The base station power is not varied. This scheme is complex and the complexity increases with capacity.
Another commonly suggested approach to providing higher spectral efficiency in a LMR channel is to use Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM) as described in Channel Coding with Multilevel/Phase Signals, by G. Ungerboeck, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. IT-28, No. 1, pp. 55-67, January 1982. A typical TCM scheme employing Ungerboeck codes is designed to maximize the separation between transmitted signal states, called the Euclidean distance. However, optimization of Euclidean distance need not improve ACIPR.
A technique for designing trellis codes for band-limited channels is described in Bandwidth-Efficient Trellis Coded Modulation Schemes, by S. Ramseier, Proceedings of the International Conference on Communications, pp. 1517-1521, 1990. This technique designs Trellis Codes based on optimizing the normalized in-band power. This optimization is not as important for an LMR system since normalized in-band power does not maximize ACIPR. And further, the optimization as described by Ramseier does not consider the effects of the receive filter characteristics, which has a critical influence on ACIPR.
A related problem is that bandwidth saving is typically achieved at the expense of power and hence range reduction. The range reduction can be quite a problem where the area over which the base unit and mobile unit communicate is very large. An increased transmission area implies increased cost and complexity at the base station. Therefore, there is a need to find a spectrally efficient modulation scheme that has high ACIPR and offers a transmit range comparable to existing analog FM systems.

Trellis coding technique to increase adjacent channel interference protection ratio in land mobile radio systems under peak power constraints


A method of managing a memory area, in a data processing system, comprising providing a managing information memory area for items of in use, test done, and temporary fault of pages in a page table for managing a memory unit. In accordance with such a scheme, when a page is allocated to a program, an operation test is conducted on a page not tested, the time when the operation test has been conducted is recorded, and an operation test is again conducted on a page for which a predetermined time has passed since the last test performed thereat. Also, the values of output signals of main and sub memory modules of the data processing system are compared while the data processing system is operating, and if a difference is found, that is, non-coincidence is detected, this difference is detected as a fault by the test.

This invention relates to a data processing system.
In the conventional data processing system, in order to improve its reliability by hardware, the system is multiplexed to incorporate a plurality of modules having the same function which are used simultaneously, and a comparison module is used to collect and compare results outputted from the modules to confirm that the results are the same.
So, another problem is that the multiplexed data processing system has a complicated structure and the cost is increased.

Method for managing data processing system and high-reliability memory


Configuring virtual machines for garbage collection in a deduplication backup system executed on a server computer in a cloud computing network, by configuring at least one virtual machine (VM) of a plurality of virtual machines in a VM cluster to be data protection virtual machines (DP VMs), by enabling only read and write operations to/from the DP VMs, interconnecting a garbage collection VM (GC VM) of the VM cluster to the DP VMs, configuring the GC VM to perform only garbage collection tasks for the DP VMs, and providing data access credentials from each DP VM to the GC VM to facilitate the garbage collection tasks.

For many enterprise-level data protection systems, vendors are increasingly moving to cloud-network based backup solutions. In these new systems, virtual appliances in the cloud are developed for customer, Similar to existing physical PBBA (Purpose Built Backup Appliance), data protection virtual machines (VMs) in the cloud are used to backup data from application V Ms like database servers, e-mail servers, file servers, and so on. Different PBBA vendors often provide different file systems.
A major disadvantage of such garbage collection mechanisms is that it imposes high costs on system resources. With respect to memory resources, one common deduplication system may use up to one-third of overall system memory for garbage collection. Such memory use is required because the middle scan results need to be kept in memory for analyzing data references and re-distributing data segments in disk. Garbage collection also increases disk input/output operations (TOPS) as it scans all data and also rewrite data during redistributing data after removing some of them. Although garbage collection is a usually a background job, processor (CPU) cycles are also increased since garbage collection needs to be performed fast enough in cases where the system needs to free space for newly ingested data.
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions. EMC, Data Domain, Data Domain Restorer, and Data Domain Boost are trademarks of Dell EMC Corporation.

Method and system for garbage collection of data protection virtual machines in cloud computing networks


A kit for obtaining and shipping personal cell samples is provided. The kit contains such items as a transport tube, and collection swabs for obtaining a cell sample. The tube has a media plug impregnated with dehydrated media positioned within the tube near the top of a region of restricted diameter, and a compartment of rehydrating fluid located in a cap on the tube. Upon crushing the cap, the rehydrating fluid is released and rehydrates the media plug. When the collection swab is inserted into the transport tube, the swab pushes the rehydrated media plug through the region of restricted diameter and into the bottom of the tube. The collection surface of the swab thus maintains contact with the rehydrated media plug.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a kit for cell sampling for personal use. In particular, the invention provides a kit for obtaining and shipping personal cell samples.
2. Background of the Invention
In the wake of spectacular advances in molecular and cell biology, which include such feats as the completion of the first sequencing of a human genome, much interest has been generated in applying the acquired knowledge to the treatment of disease conditions. Examples of potential applications include the use of gene therapy to cure diseases, and the use of cells to grow replacement tissue or organs. In particular, the capability now exists to determine the precise sequence of an individual's DNA, opening the possibility of the development of "tailor made" DNA- and/or cell-based therapies for an individual. Such individualized procedures could eliminate certain risk factors such as the rejection of cells or cellular components originating from a non-self donor. Unfortunately, therapies of this type are by and large still in the early stages of development and it may well be many years before they are readily accessible.
Many conditions which may eventually be amenable to treatment in this manner are associated with or develop with advancing age. Further, it is well known that genetic material itself ages and undergoes changes during an individual's lifetime. Thus, in general, cells harvested from an aging individual are less robust than those from the same individual at an earlier age. This observation has prompted the creation of facilities designed for the long-term storage of cells. In particular, cells can be harvested from an individual relatively early in life in the expectation that, as technology advances or as the need arises, the cells can be revived for use in the same individual for a gene- or cell-based therapy. In order to make such a possibility available to large segments of the population, it is necessary to have facile, inexpensive methods for harvesting suitable cells. It is particularly useful to have techniques available that can be carried out by the individuals themselves without any specialized training, and that provide a viable, sterile sample of suitable cells for preservation.
One such method is provided by the previously known Personal Gene Sampling (PGS) cell harvesting kit. The kit, which is available by mail, provides a sterile work surface (a small medical drape) sterile collection swabs, and sterile sample transport tubes for receiving the swabs after a sample has been obtained, as well as a transport bag for containing the transport tubes for shipment to a cryo-preservation facility. A sample-collection surface is located at one end of the collection swab and is formed by positioning suitable absorbent material at that end of the swab. The cell source (e.g. the inside of the cheek) is contacted directly with sample-collecting surface of the swab, for example, by wiping the surface across the cell source. Cells from the source adhere to the sample-collection surface and are removed and transported (for example, by mail) to a cryo-facility.
The sample transport tubes have the feature of containing a plug of material saturated is with media and movably positioned near the top of the tube. Upon insertion of a collection swab into the tube, the sample-collection end of the swab contacts the saturated plug and causes the plug to move further down into the tube. The plug is fitted in the tube and will slide into the tube only as far as it is pushed by the swab. Therefore, upon completion of insertion of the swab, contact is maintained between the collection end of the swab and the saturated plug, thus exposing the cells on the collection surface to the media in the plug. The media previously suggested for use in the kit is Lebovitz's 15 (L-15) media, supplemented with antibiotic and antimycotic reagents.
However, locating the saturated media plug near the mouth of the transport tube provides a ready route of contamination as soon as the tube is opened for use. Further, the use of a media saturated plug means that the shelf-life of the kit is only as long as that of the liquid media. Liquid media is well-known to be readily prone to contamination, and to decomposition during storage.
The prior art has thus far failed to provide a personal cell-sampling kit that overcomes these disadvantages.


A process for the preparation of aromatic polyamide pulp having excellent properties comprising:. a) preparing a polymerization solvent by adding a Lewis acid type compound to an amide type organic solvent, an urea type organic solvent or a mixture thereof; PA1 b) obtaining an anisotropic liquid crystalline polymer solution prior to gelation by dissolving an aromatic diamine in the prepared polymerization solvent and adding an aromatic diacid chloride to the solution, and effecting the polymerization thereof; PA1 c) maintaining the polymer solution at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined period; and PA1 d) separating the polymerization solvent and pulverizing the polymer by pulping machine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aromatic polyamide pulp and a process for the preparation thereof. More particularly, the invention is concerned with an aromatic polyamide pulp prepared by a process wherein Lewis acid type compounds and, optionally, inorganic salts are added and dissolved into amide type solvents, urea type solvents or a mixture thereof, followed by pouring an aromatic diamine and an aromatic diacid chloride into the resulting solvent to obtain a highly polymerized aromatic polyamide pulp and a process therefor.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Various processes for the preparation of aromatic polyamide pulps have been disclosed in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,623 describes a process for the preparation of aromatic polyamide pulp which uses a mixture of an amide solvent, inorganic salts and a tertiary amine as a solvent system. However, there are several disadvantages which result from the use of an excess amount of a tertiary amine. When such an excess is used, the polymerization and gelation proceed so rapidly, i.e. in a few seconds, that the process cannot be controlled. Therefore, the reproducibility is poor. Particularly during gelation, the molecular chains are isotropic and lack orientation; thus, the polymer solution must be maintained for more than 5 hours to obtain a fine fibrous pulp with a high molecular weight. This prior art process using a tertiary amine is very expensive because of the high cost of the tertiary amine compounds. Moreover, the solubility of the polymer is so low that the ratio of polymer to polymerization solvent cannot be increased beyond a certain extent.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-47694 describes a process for the preparation of a pulp-like particle by reacting monomers in an amide type solvent for polymerization, immersing the resulting mixture in alcohol and pulverizing. However, in this prior art process, a polymer solution with a low inherent viscosity must be pulverized in water or alcohol so that the ultimate product has a low inherent viscosity of 2.0-3.5. Such a low inherent viscosity results in a deterioration of the properties of the polymer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,040 describes a process in which a liquid crystalline polymer solution polymerized in an amide type polymerization solvent containing an inorganic salt is pressed and sprayed together with a tertiary amine in a pulping machine. However, this process requires an excess amount of an expensive tertiary amine, which results in an expensive product. Moreover, excessive use of tertiary amines produces environmental problems.

Aromatic polyamide pulp and a process for the preparation thereof


Methods and systems for creating a location-based information sharing platform are described. The method includes receiving location coordinates of a location of a user. The method includes computing great-circle distances between a plurality of points and the location coordinates using a mathematical formula. The plurality of points represents location coordinates of items of interests near the location of the user. The method includes determining a range information of the location of the user based at least on the computed great-circle distances. The range information includes a plurality of range coordinates. The method includes querying a content database based on the plurality of range coordinates to retrieve information lying within the plurality of range coordinates from available data in the content database. The method further includes facilitating access of the retrieved information to the user.

Wireless communication technologies and mobile terminals that have a GPS (Global Positioning System) or other location determination technology have advanced rapidly over the past few years. As a result, there is a growing demand for location-based information services that offer information related to a user's current locality. To keep in pace with this demand, mobile terminals have become more powerful and dynamic by including several components, for instance, GPS receivers, sensors, personal digital assistant (PDA) capabilities, cameras to capture video and still images, Internet access and so on. However, despite these advancements, mobile terminals lack in their ability to provide effective location-based services, information, or communications.
Location-based services have been developed for determining and tracking the locations of the users of mobile devices. A few examples of location-based information include listings of events and sites of interest. A user who wishes to obtain this information would need to search the Internet, visit the local tourism office or consult a travel guide or a local newspaper. However, these approaches require the user to actively search for a resource that can be time-consuming. Another drawback is that outdated information that is of little interest to the user may be provided.
In addition to providing location-based information only to the user, the sharing of location-based information may also provide benefits. However, there are specific instances in which sharing location information is of significant value. For instance, letting friends and other family members know a user's location can be important for safety and coordination reasons. Also, sharing information with certain providers of products and services in user-defined circumstances may provide value as well. However, for privacy reasons, the users may not want to share their location information at all times thereby limiting the sharing of such information. Thus, there exists a need in the art for systems and methods of sharing location-based and other user information, while filtering access to that information.
Mobile terminals are now capable of receiving content from various types of network devices and presenting the content to users in a visual or audible format. Users may browse the Internet and receive various types of content. Users are interested in obtaining this content but are primarily interested in obtaining information/content that is deemed beneficial. Several information services provide information based on the user's location. However, these information services do not provide a user-friendly way to identify user locations. Further, the information services/content providers do not usually know what information the user wants at a particular time and location. A few services push information to the mobile terminals based on the assumption that the users are at locations where the information is useful. However, a large percentage of this information is not useful to the users. So, this unwanted information can flood mobile devices and consume bandwidth, memory, and battery power.
In light of the above discussion, there is a need for methods and systems that provide location-specific content to the mobile terminals associated with users in an efficient and user-friendly manner.


A sustained-release preparation which comprises a physiologically active peptide of general formula ##STR1## wherein X represents an acyl group; R.sub.1, R.sub.2 and R.sub.4 each represents an aromatic cyclic group;. R.sub.3 represents a D-amino acid residue or a group of the formula ##STR2## wherein R.sub.3 ' is a heterocyclic group; R.sub.5 represents a group of the formula --(CH.sub.2).sub.n --R.sub.5 ' wherein n is 2 or 3, and R.sub.5 ' is an amino group which may optionally be substituted, an aromatic cyclic group or an O-glycosyl group; PA0 R.sub.6 represents a group of the formula --(CH.sub.2).sub.n --R.sub.6 ' wherein n is 2 or 3, and R.sub.6 ' is an amino group which may optionally be substituted; PA0 R.sub.7 represents a D-amino acid residue or an azaglycyl residue; and PA0 Q represents hydrogen or a lower alkyl group, or a salt thereof and a biodegradable polymer having a terminal carboxyl group.. The sustained-release preparation shows a constant release of the peptide over a long time and is substantially free from an initial burst.

The prior art includes, as disclosed in EP-A-481,732, a sustained-release preparation comprising a drug, a polylactic acid and a glycolic acid-hydroxycarboxylic acid [HOCH(C.sub.2-8 alkyl)COOH] copolymer. The disclosed process comprises preparing a W/O emulsion consisting of an internal water phase comprising an aqueous solution of a physiologically active peptide and an external oil phase comprising a solution of a biodegradable polymer in an organic solvent, adding said W/O emulsion to water or an aqueous medium and processing the resulting W/O/W emulsion into sustained-release microcapsules (drying-in-water method).
EP-A-52510 describes a microcapsule comprising a hormonally active polypeptide, a biodegradable polymer and a polymer hydrolysis control agent. The disclosed process for its production is a coacervation process which comprises adding a coacervation agent to a W/O emulsion consisting of an aqueous solution of the polypeptide as the internal water phase and a halogenated organic solvent as the oil phase to provide microcapsules.
GB-A-2209937 describes a pharmaceutical composition comprising a polylactide, a polyglycolide, a lactic acid-glycolic acid copolymer or a mixture of these polymers and a water-insoluble peptide. Also disclosed is a production process which comprises dispersing a salt of the water-insoluble peptide in a solution of said polylactide, polyglycolide, a lactic acid-glycolic acid copolymer or a mixture of these polymers, removing the solvent by evaporation and molding the resulting mixture into solid particles.
EP-A-58481 describes a process for producing a pharmaceutical composition comprising a polylactide and an acid-stable polypeptide which, for instance, comprises dissolving tetragastrin hydrochloride and a polylactide in aqueous dioxane, casting the solution into a film and evaporating the solvent.
EP-A-0467389 teaches a technology for providing a drug delivery system for proteins and polypeptides by the polymer precipitation technique or the microsphere technique. However, this literature contains no specific disclosure about a system containing an LH-RH derivative.
The luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, known as LH-RH (or GnRH), is secreted from the hypothalamus and binds to receptors on the pituitary gland. The LH (luteinizing hormone) and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), which are released thereon, act on the gonad to synthesize steroid hormones. As derivatives of LH-RH, the existence of both agonistic and antagonistic peptides is known. When a highly agonistic peptide is repeatedly administered, the available receptors are reduced in number so that the formation of gonad-derived steroidal hormones is suppressed. Therefore, LH-RH derivatives are expected to be of value as therapeutic agents for hormone-dependent diseases such as prostate cancer, benign prostatomegaly, endometriosis, hysteromyoma, metrofibroma, precocious puberty, mammary cancer, etc. or as contraceptives. Particularly, the problem of histamine-releasing activity was pointed out for LH-RH antagonists of the so-called first and second generations (The Pharmaceuticals Monthly 32, 1599-1605, 1990) but a number of compounds have since been synthesized and recently LH-RH-antagonizing peptides having no appreciable histamine-releasing activity have been developed (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,904, for instance). In order for any such LH-RH antagonizing peptide to manifest its pharmacological effect, there is a need for a controlled release system so that the competitive inhibition of endogenous LH-RH may be persistent. Moreover, because of histamine-releasing activity which may be low but is not non-existent in such peptides, a demand exists for a sustained-release preparation with an inhibited initial burst immediately following administration.
Particularly, in the case of a sustained-release (e.g. 1-3 months) preparation, it is important to ensure a more positive and constant release of the peptide in order that the desired efficacy may be attained with greater certainty and safety.
At the same time, there is a long-felt need for a method of producing a sustained-release preparation having a high peptide trap rate for a physiologically active peptide, particularly LH-RH-antagonizing peptides.


Refrigerant compositions are described, which can be used for example, in refrigeration, air conditioning, and/or heat pump systems which for example, can be incorporated into a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system or unit. The refrigerant composition includes an amount of a R125 refrigerant, an amount of a R32 refrigerant, and an amount of a R1234yf refrigerant, where the R32 refrigerant has higher flammability than the R125 refrigerant, and the R1234yf refrigerant has higher flammability than the R125 refrigerant.

Concern about environment impact, e.g. ozone depletion, and the approval of the Montreal Protocol resulted in a movement to replace ozone depleting refrigerant compositions, such as for example, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). As a result, replacement refrigerant compositions, such as for example hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants and hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) refrigerants are commercialized. However, it has been recognized that HFC refrigerants may contribute to environment changes through their relatively large greenhouse effect, e.g. having a relatively large global warming potential (GWP).


For sensing pH of a fluid, a heating apparatus of a semiconductor die controls a temperature of the fluid to a first temperature. A first voltage of a gate of a floating gate transistor of the semiconductor die is measured while the temperature of the fluid is at the first temperature. Also, the heating apparatus controls the temperature of the fluid to a second temperature that is different than the first temperature. A second voltage of the gate is measured while the temperature of the fluid is at the second temperature. The pH of the fluid is determined based on the first and second voltages, the first temperature and the second temperature.

Sensors are useful for sensing a pH of water or other fluid (e.g., liquid). Some pH sensors use an electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistor (ISFET) and a chemical reference, such as silver (Ag)/silver chloride (AgCl). These sensors use a reference electrode positioned within the sensed fluid to obtain an electrical measurement that can be used to characterize the pH of the sensed fluid. However, the reference is complicated and costly to manufacture. Moreover, the reference contains liquids, such as a silver wire coated with AgCl and suspended in a solution that includes potassium chloride (KCl)+AgCl with a glass frit between reference and sensed fluid. Using a more simplified and cost-effective reference, such as platinum (Pt), gold (Au), iridium oxide (IrOx), ruthenium oxide (RuO2), etc. is problematic because the voltage between the electrode and fluid will drift erratically with time.


An electronic blackboard apparatus, which reads a writing on a writing sheet fitted on a blackboard framework and which electronically copies the writing onto a recording medium. The apparatus includes a blackboard framework foldable together with the writing sheet, and a stand supporting the blackboard framework and a copying device. The stand is reducible in size while supporting the blackboard framework and the writing sheet in their folded position and the copying device. The length of the stand is reducible after the blackboard framework and the writing sheet have been folded to reduce their lengths. The blackboard framework and the writing sheet which have been folded are overturned into a space between opposite legs of the stand and the legs are then closed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic blackboard apparatus which can copy information such as letters written on a writing sheet fitting on a blackboard framework as on a blackboard or white board onto a recording paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, an evaluation of operations, such as a production of notes and the minutes in a meeting, of an electronic blackboard apparatus which can copy a writing on a blackboard to a recording paper has been increased.
A prior-art electronic blackboard apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 20 hereinafter. This apparatus comprises a writing sheet 101, a left-hand blackboard framework half 102, a right-hand blackboard framework half 103, an upper hinge 104, a lower hinge 105, a left-hand stand leg 106, a right-hand stand leg 107, a beam 108 extending between and fastened to the stand legs 106 and 107, by means of screws 111, a printer unit 109, and an operator panel 110.
The blackboard comprising the writing sheet 101, the blackboard framework halves 102 and 103, the hinges 104 and 105 and the printer unit 109 is hung on the tops of the stand legs 106 and 107 by means of opposite pins 112 and fastened to the stand legs 106 and 107 by means of opposite screws 113. The printer unit 109 is attachable to and detachable from the blackboard framework halves 102 and 103. After the printer unit 109 has been detached from the blackboard framework halves 102 and 103, the blackboard framework halves 102 and 103 are foldable over each other on the hinges 104 and 105.
When the electronic blackboard apparatus is transported, the screws 113 fastening the blackboard framework halves 102 and 103 to the stand legs 106 and 107 are removed, the blackboard is then lowered from the legs stand 106 and 107. The printer unit 109 is removed from the blackboard framework halves 102 and 103. The blackboard framework halves 102 and 103 are folded over each other. Removing the screws 111 disassembles the stand to the left-hand stand leg 106, the right-hand stand leg 107 and the beam 108. Thus, the electronic blackboard apparatus is disassembled to several pieces which are packed up if necessary and transported to a destination.
However, a disassembly for transport of the prior-art electronic blackboard apparatus requires a great effort and a reassembly after transport of the electronic blackboard apparatus is also very troublesome. Thus, there is a problem in that the transport of the prior-art electronic blackboard apparatus requires a plurality of workers.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Various implementations include systems for processing audio signals to remove artifacts introduced by a machine learning system in challenging environments. In particular implementations, a method includes generating a processed audio signal for a hearing assistance device in which the processed audio signal is intended to perceptually dominate a user auditory experience, including: processing an unprocessed audio signal received by the hearing assistance device, wherein the processing includes utilizing a machine learning (ML) system to generate an ML enhanced audio signal; determining a mixing coefficient from an environmental noise assessment; mixing the ML enhanced audio signal with the unprocessed audio signal using the mixing coefficient to generate the processed audio signal; and outputting the processed audio signal.

Wearable hearing assist devices, which may come in various form factors, e.g., headphones, earbuds, audio glasses, etc., can significantly improve the hearing experience for a user. For instance, such devices typically employ one or more microphones and amplification components to amplify sounds such as the voice or voices of others speaking to the user. To further enhance the experience, devices may employ technologies such as active noise reduction (ANR) and/or speech enhancement. Speech enhancement may for example utilize a machine learning process to separate speech from noise. However, loud and/or noisy environments can create challenges for such technologies, hindering the user experience.

Wearable hearing assist device with artifact remediation


An intravenous bandage having a first component defining an adhesive area for attaching the intravenous bandage to a patient and a second component secured to the first component so as to define a port pocket therebetween for providing stability and sterility to a catheter lumen.

In common practice, a catheter is affixed to a medical patient by use of an adhesive or surgical tape placed over the catheter atop the skin. Similarly, the hub between the catheter and cannula is also maintained in place by tape. A safety loop is typically formed in the catheter tubing to ensure that any tension applied to the catheter is not passed directly to the cannula, but instead is taken up in the slack of the safety loop. As expected, each of the several times this taping process is to be performed over the course of a given catheterization procedure, a considerable amount of the time of a medical practitioner is consumed. Furthermore, the frequent application and removal of typically strong adhesive tape regularly results in the excoriation of the skin underneath the tape and at the site of the cannula insertion. Difficulties attendant to removal and reapplication of tape in this context give practitioners incentives to change the tape less frequently, thereby causing increased incidence and severity of infection and skin suffocation.
When intravenous access by a central intravenous (IV) line is required over a prolonged period of time, as in the case of long term chemotherapy regimens, extended antibiotic therapy, long term treatment of children's' diseases, or total parenteral nutrition, the reapplication of tape becomes even more problematic. A central IV line flows through a catheter with its tip within a large vein, usually the superior vena cava or inferior vena cava, or within the right atrium of the heart. Moreover, the PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter) is vulnerable to damage and occlusion from movement of the arm or of the line itself, or from pressure on the arm and the thin, sterile dressing maintaining the central IV must be protected.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a stable and sterile bandaging for securing the catheter lumens of a central IV line, or any other type of catheter.