A method and apparatus for managing confidential information in a data processing system server. Information is received from a plurality of users. The information is stored on a server for many different uses and in many different files and databases. A request is received from the client to remove specific selected information from the stored information for a user within the set of users, wherein the selected information is received in response to a transaction involving that user. In response to receiving the request, the selected information is removed from the stored information, thus maintaining the privacy requests of that user.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system, and in particular to a method and apparatus for managing data. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer implemented instructions for removing specific personal or confidential information from a server.
2. Description of Related Art
The Internet, also referred to as an "internetwork", is a set of computer networks, possibly dissimilar, joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from protocols of the sending network to the protocols used by the receiving network (with packets if necessary). When capitalized, the term "Internet" refers to the collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
The Internet has become a cultural fixture as a source of both information and entertainment. Many businesses are creating Internet sites as an integral part of their marketing efforts, informing consumers of the products or services offered by the business or providing other information seeking to engender brand loyalty. Many federal, state, and local government agencies are also employing Internet sites for informational purposes, particularly agencies, which must interact with virtually all segments of society such as the Internal Revenue Service and secretaries of state. Providing informational guides and/or searchable databases of online public records may reduce operating costs. Further, the Internet is becoming increasingly popular as a medium for commercial transactions.
Currently, the most commonly employed method of transferring data over the Internet is to employ the World Wide Web environment, also called simply "the Web". Other Internet resources exist for transferring information, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Gopher, but have not achieved the popularity of the Web. In the Web environment, servers and clients affect data transfers using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a known protocol for handling the transfer of various data files (e.g., text, still graphic images, audio, motion video, etc.). The information in various data files is formatted for presentation to a user by a standard page description language, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In addition to basic presentation formatting, HTML allows developers to specify "links" to other Web resources identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL is a special syntax identifier defining a communications path to specific information. A URL identifies each logical block of information accessible to a client, called a "page" or a "Web page". The URL provides a universal, consistent method for finding and accessing this information, not necessarily for the user, but mostly for the user's Web "browser". A browser is a program capable of submitting a request for information identified by an identifier, such as, for example, a URL. A user may enter a domain name through a graphical user interface (GUI) for the browser to access a source of content. The domain name is automatically converted to the Internet Protocol (IP) address by a domain name system (DNS), which is a service that translates the symbolic name entered by the user into an IP address by looking up the domain name in a database.
There are a number of ways to find out what Web pages have been viewed in a browser. For example, a disk cache is present in which various files, such as graphic images, are stored with respect to a Web page. Additionally, a history list is often recorded to identify URLs visited by a user. Also, a location list containing URLs entered by the user is present. Other types of disk caches include cookies for various Web sites, which are stored in a cookie file for the browser. This recorded information is an example of a history that may be recorded for a Web page received by a user or a Web site visited by the user. These histories also may contain confidential or personal information.
In some instances, a user may desire to prevent others from identifying confidential or personal information that may be located in history. Currently, a user is able to remove this information from the data processing system at which the user is located. As recognized by the present invention, the user is unable to control the storage or retention of personal or confidential information on a server. For example, if a user purchases an item from a Web site, the user may provide a credit card number as well as a name and address to facilitate the purchase and delivery of the item. Currently, the user is unable to remove this information from the server. As a result, the user is unable to control who has access to personal or confidential information.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for removing information from a server.

Method and apparatus for removing information from a server

International Business Machines Corporation


A stock instrument includes at least one guide interacting feature. A lower instrument surface of the stock instrument is placed into contact with the patient tissue. A guide has a lower guide surface contoured to substantially mate with at least a portion of an upper instrument surface of the stock instrument. A predetermined instrument orientation upon the patient tissue is defined, which is preselected responsive to preoperative imaging of the patient tissue. The guide and instrument are mated in a predetermined relative guide/instrument orientation wherein at least one guide interacting feature of the instrument is placed into engagement with at least one instrument guiding feature of the guide. The guide is moved into a predetermined guide orientation with respect to the patient tissue and concurrently the instrument is moved into a predetermined instrument orientation with respect to the patient tissue.

The efficient functioning of the shoulder joints is important to the well-being and mobility of the human body. Each shoulder joint includes the upper portion of the humerus, which terminates in an offset bony neck surmounted by a ball-headed portion known as the humeral head. The humeral head rotates within a socket, known as the glenoid fossa, in the scapula to complete the shoulder joint. Diseases such as rheumatoid- and osteo-arthritis can cause erosion of the cartilage lining of the glenoid fossa so that the ball of the humerus and the scapula rub together, causing pain and further erosion. Bone erosion may cause the bones themselves to attempt to compensate for the erosion which may result in the bone becoming deformed. This misshapen joint may cause pain and may eventually cease to function altogether.
Operations to replace the shoulder joint with an artificial implant are well-known and widely practiced. Generally, the shoulder prosthesis will be formed of two components, namely: a glenoid, or socket, component which lines the glenoid fossa, and a humeral, or stem, component which includes a weight-bearing ball and replaces the humeral head. (Each of these components may be made up of multiple subassemblies.) Alternately, a reverse shoulder prosthesis has a ball as the glenoid component and a socket as the humeral component, but the following description presumes a standard, not reverse, shoulder prosthesis arrangement. During the surgical procedure for implanting the shoulder prosthesis, the remaining cartilage or damaged tissue is removed from the glenoid fossa using a reamer such that the native glenoid fossa will accommodate the outer surface of the glenoid component of the shoulder prosthesis. The glenoid component of the prosthesis can then be inserted into the prepared glenoid fossa. Generally, fixing means such as screws and/or bone cement may be used to hold the glenoid component in the glenoid fossa. There is also generally an implant stem provided to the glenoid implant, the stem being inserted into a prepared cavity in the glenoid fossa to anchor the glenoid implant. The use of additional fixing means and anchor(s) helps to provide stability after the prosthesis has been inserted. In some modern prosthesis, the glenoid component may be coated on its external surface with a bone growth promoting substance which will encourage bone ingrowth which also helps to hold the glenoid component in place. The humeral head also is removed during the surgical procedure, and the humerus shaft hollowed out using reamers and rasps to accept the humeral component of the prosthesis. The stem portion of the prosthesis is inserted into the humerus and secured therein to complete the shoulder joint replacement.
In order to strive toward desired performance of the combined glenoid and humeral shoulder prosthesis components, the glenoid portion should be properly positioned upon the glenoid fossa (among other considerations). The glenoid portion positioning is particularly important since incorrect positioning of the glenoid component can lead to the prosthetic shoulder joint suffering from dislocations, a decreased range of motion, and possibly eventual loosening and/or failure of one or both components of the joint.
Generally, the normal glenoid retroversion of a given patient may fall within a range of approximately 20° (5° of anteversion and 15° of retroversion). (The version of the glenoid is defined as the angle between the plane of the glenoid fossa to the plane of the scapula body.) In the pathologic state, glenoid bone loss may result in a much larger range of version angles.
One goal of shoulder surgery may be to modify the pathologic bone to correct pathologic version to be within the normal range or the normal version of the patient's native anatomy before the bone loss occurred. During surgery, and particularly minimally invasive procedures, the plane of the scapula may be difficult or impossible to determine by direct visual inspection, resulting in the need for assistive devices or methods to define both the pathologic version present at the time of surgery and the intended correction angle.
It is generally believed that there is a preferred orientation for the glenoid component to provide a full range of motion and to minimize the risk of dislocation or other mechanical component failure. Some example orientations of the glenoid prosthesis relative to the glenoid face are about 5° of anteversion to about 15° of retroversion; average version is about 1-2° of retroversion. This broadly replicates the natural angle of the glenoid. However, the specific angular orientation of the glenoid portion varies from patient to patient.
With a view to overcoming these disadvantages, some arrangements have been recently suggested in which a three-dimensional intraoperative computer imaging surgical navigation system is used to render a model of the patient's bone structure. This model is displayed on a computer screen and the user is provided with intraoperative three-dimensional information as to the desired positioning of the instruments and the glenoid component (or any component, depending on the subject patient tissue) of the prosthetic implant. However, surgical navigation arrangements of this type are not wholly satisfactory since they generally use only a low number of measured landmark points to register the patient's anatomy and to specify the angle of the prosthetic implant component (e.g., a glenoid component), which may not provide the desired level of accuracy. Further, the information provided by such systems may be difficult to interpret and may even provide the user with a false sense of security. Moreover, these systems are generally expensive to install and operate and also have high user training costs. Various proposals for trial prosthetic joint components and assistive instruments have been made in an attempt to overcome the problems associated with accurately locating the glenoid portion of the prosthetic implant. While these trial systems and instruments may help with checking whether the selected position is correct, they are not well-suited to specify the correct position initially, and thus there still is user desire for a system which may assist a user in placement of prosthetic implant component in a prepared native tissue site.

System and method for assisting with arrangement of a stock instrument with respect to a patient tissue


The present invention provides a method of predicting outbreaks in influenza virus comprising monitoring concentrations of small peptides having defined structure in influenza viruses, and in particular viral pathogens of shrimp.

Rapid replication is characteristic of virulence in, among other things, certain bacteria, viruses and malignancies. The inventors have described a quantitative chemistry common to rapid replication in different viruses and organisms. The chemistry of rapid replication described by the inventors is present in a family of conserved small protein sequences related to rapid replication, Replikins. An increase in the concentration of these Replikin sequences encoded in the genome of different strains of influenza virus has been correlated with an increase in the virulence of influenza. A correlation between increased concentrations of Replikin sequences and increased replication and virulence has likewise been observed in a range of viruses and organisms. Replikin sequences offer new targets for developing effective methods of predicting and treating influenza outbreaks. There continues to exist a particular need in the art for methods of predicting viral outbreaks.
Influenza is an acute respiratory illness of global importance. Despite international attempts to control influenza virus outbreaks through vaccination, influenza infections remain an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Worldwide influenza pandemics have occurred at irregular and previously unpredictable intervals throughout history and it is expected that influenza pandemics will continue to occur in the future. The impact of pandemic influenza is substantial in terms of morbidity, mortality and economic cost.
Influenza vaccines remain the most effective defense against influenza virus, but because of the ability of the virus to mutate, and the availability of non-human host reservoirs, it is expected that influenza will remain an emergent or re-emergent infection. Global influenza surveillance indicates that influenza viruses may vary within a country and between countries and continents during an influenza season. Virologic surveillance is of importance in monitoring antigenic shift and drift. Disease surveillance is also important in assessing the impact of epidemics. Both types of information have provided the basis of vaccine composition and use of antivirals. However, there has traditionally been only annual post hoc hematological classification of the increasing number of emerging influenza virus strains, and no specific chemical structure of the viruses was traditionally identified as an indicator of approaching influenza epidemic or pandemic. Until recently, the only basis for annual classification of influenza virus as active, inactive or prevalent in a given year was the activities of the virus hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins.
The small peptide structure called Replikins has now been identified within influenza virus proteins and correlated with an increase in virulence. A Replikin sequence is an amino acid sequence of 7 to about 50 amino acids comprising a Replikin motif. A Replikin motif comprises (1) at least one lysine residue located at a first terminus of the motif and at least one lysine residue or at least one histidine residue located at a second terminus of the motif, (2) a first lysine residue located six to ten residues from a second lysine residue; (3) at least one histidine residue; and (4) at least 6% lysine residues. A Replikin sequence may comprise a terminal lysine and may further comprise a terminal lysine or a terminal histidine. A Replikin peptide or Replikin protein is a peptide or protein consisting of a Replikin sequence.
Higher concentrations of Replikin sequences in the genomic code are associated with a variety of infectious agents including HIV, plant viruses, and a range of pathogenic animal and human viruses including flu viruses. Further, the correlation between the concentration of Replikin sequences in viral or organismal proteins and major outbreaks of disease is significant. Replikin sequences generally have been found to be conserved in both intrastrain and interstrain influenza viruses for as long as 89 years based on data going back to the 1917-18 flu pandemic. Concentration of Replikin sequences in viral genomes has been shown to increase prior to strain-specific flu outbreaks.
Within the last century there have been three influenza pandemics, each strain specific: H1N1 in 1918; H2N2 in 1957; and H3N2 in 1968. The inventors have established that prior to each pandemic there was a strain-specific increase in the concentration of Replikin sequences within the strain. The strain-specific increase in Replikin concentration was followed by a decrease in Replikin concentration and several years later a rebound increase in Replikin concentration associated with a strain-specific rebound epidemic. The Replikin algorithm provided the first chemistry that correlated with influenza epidemics and pandemics.
A similar correlation between the outbreaks of H5NI (Bird Flu) between 1997 and 2007 and the concentration of Replikin sequences in the viral proteins during each of those years has been demonstrated. Likewise, a correlation has been established between the global outbreak of SARS coronavirus in 2003 and an increase in the concentration of Replikin sequences in the proteins of coronavirus. In another study, Replikins in two strains of human HIV-1 virus demonstrated that the Replikin concentration in the rapidly replicating strain was six fold greater than that of a slowly replicating strain. No instances of rapid replication have been observed in all the viruses and organisms examined wherein the Replikin concentration did not significantly increase as compared to the Replikin concentration in the dormant state.
The highest concentration of Replikin sequences in an organism or virus that has to date been analyzed and reported is 111 Replikin sequences per 100 amino acids in the extraordinarily-rapidly-replicating parasitic protozoa Plasmodium falciparum (reportedly responsible for 90% of malarial deaths in humans) (herein sometimes referred to as malaria). P. falciparum has been observed to replicate 11,000 times in 48 hours during passage of the parasite from liver to blood in the host.
It has been believed that changes in the activity of different influenza strains are related to random sequence changes in influenza hemagglutinins, which in turn are the products of substitutions effected by one of two poorly understood processes: i) antigenic drift, thought to be due to the accumulation of a series of point mutations in the hemagglutinin molecule, or ii) antigenic shift, in which the changes are so great that genetic reassortment is postulated to occur between the viruses of human and non-human hosts. The data provided by the inventors suggests that change in activity in different influenza strains, rather than being related to non-specific random sequence changes, is based upon, or related to, an increase in concentration of strain-specific Replikins. Data were also examined for insight into which sequence changes were due to "drift" or "shift" and which were due to conservation, storage in "reservoirs," and reappearance. The data has shown that the epidemic-related increase in Replikin concentration is not due to the duplication of existing Replikins in the hemagglutinin of the emerging strain, but, instead is due to the reappearance of at least one Replikin composition from 1 to up to 59 years after its disappearance, plus (in the A strains only) the emergence of new strain-specific Replikin compositions. See U.S. Pat. No. 7,189,800 issued Mar. 13, 2007 (Tables 3-6).
In monitoring Replikin sequences in influenza virus, the inventors have additionally identified a sub-family of conserved Replikin sequences known as Replikin Scaffolds or Replikin Scaffold sequences. Replikin Scaffolds were initially identified in conserved structures in particularly virulent influenza viruses. Included among these strains were the viruses causing the pandemics of 1918, 1957, 1968 and virulent strains of the H5N1 "bird flu" strain of influenza virus. Analogues of Replikin Scaffold sequences have since been identified in the virulent and rapidly replicating SARS coronavirus. See U.S. Published Application No. 2007/0026009.
Scaffolding of Replikin sequences homologous but not identical to the algorithm of the identified Replikin Scaffold has also been identified in P. falciparum. Replikin scaffolding in general has been related to an increase in Replikin concentrations in pathogenic genomes where it has been identified. In P. falciparum, scaffolding contributes significantly to the very high Replikin concentration noted in the proteins of the protozoa.
There is a need in the art for methods of predicting increases in virulence of influenza prior to outbreaks. There is likewise a need in the art for methods of preventing and treating outbreaks caused by virulent strains of influenza. Because of the annual administration of influenza vaccines and the short period of time when a vaccine can be administered, strategies directed at improving vaccine coverage are of critical importance.

Method of predicting influenza outbreaks by correlating an increase in replikin count in shrimp white spot syndrome virus and/or taura syndrome virus


The invention relates to a handheld surgical power saw intended to be an integrated surgical tool or an attachment to a motorized surgical tool. The tool consists of two arms that reciprocate in opposite directions at all times. Attached to each arm is a set of cam followers and a saw blade. The arms are driven by a cam with outer surfaces that smoothly undulate between the two sets of cam followers.

Surgical sawing tools for use in the resection of bone and tissue during surgical procedures are common. Inventions in the prior art utilize single blades, offset blades and chisels in a variety of configurations. Some utilize a reciprocating action while others use a lateral stroke. Inventions in the prior art also experience a number of problems. The single blade configuration will tend to bind up during a surgical procedure if the speed of the blade is diminished or the teeth of the blade catch on bone or tissue. Some of these designs utilize many gears and other moving parts which can be prone to fail. In addition, the rapid reciprocating action of these power tools can affect the precision of the instrument during surgery. What is needed is a smooth and efficient means for sawing that avoids binding and eliminates excessive moving parts that may fail.


A self-uploaded indexing and data clustering method and apparatus. In one embodiment, a method of a server device includes processing a merchant-uploaded inventory data to determine a set of meta-data attributes associated with the merchant-uploaded inventory data and creating an index data using the set of meta-data attributes associated with the merchant-uploaded inventory data. The merchant-uploaded inventory data may be compared with a previous inventory data of a particular merchant associated with both the merchant-uploaded inventory data and the previous inventory data to identify at least a portion of the set of meta-data attributes which do not need to be updated. The index data may be created using an incremental algorithm that builds on preexisting indexes which have substantially similar data as the index data and wherein the incremental algorithm builds on preexisting indexes by infusing into preexisting indexes the set of meta-data attributes associated with the merchant-uploaded inventory data other than the portion of the set of meta-data attributes which do not need to be updated.

A potential buyer may search (e.g., through an Internet) for merchandise through a variety of mechanisms (e.g., querying a search engine, querying a merchant website, etc.). In addition, a seller (e.g., a merchant, a trader, etc.) may offer merchandise for sale through the variety of mechanisms (e.g., by listing on search engines, trade websites, etc.). The seller may not be able to offer his/her entire inventory for search to a potential buyer (e.g., due to financial and/or operational reasons).
A search engine provider may execute a search (e.g., based on the query posted by the potential buyer for a particular merchandise) by querying a finite number of sources (e.g., online merchant stores, web pages, etc.) within a finite amount of time (e.g., as set and/or determined by the search engine provider). However, all the sources may not be able to respond to a search engine query in the allotted time period (e.g., due to internet traffic congestions, slow servers, delay in response time, etc.). As a result, the potential buyer may have limited options (e.g., due to a limited data set provided by the search engine provider) to form his/her decision. The potential buyer may also have to wait for the entire duration that a search engine takes to execute its search.
In addition, the search engine may generate a sizeable response (e.g., large number of items) to the search engine query posted by a prospective buyer. The potential buyer may not have the time and/or skills to analyze and/or process the sizable response to reach an informed decision. Moreover, the potential buyer may be presented with options that might not be to his/her liking (e.g., the search response may have obsolete items). As a result the potential buyer may decide to postpone and/or call off his/her purchase decisions.

Self-uploaded indexing and data clustering method and apparatus


Waveform analysis is used to identify and distinguish components of a sensed input signal, such as P-wave and Far Field R-wave signal components present in a sensed cardiac signal, even when the components are so closely spaced in time that the overlap to create a distorted input signal. A set of composite waveforms are generated by superimposing waveform templates of the signal components with different time delays or degree of overlap. Form parameters for each composite waveform are derived and mapped in a multidimensional map, from which form parameter boundaries are derived. Waveform data is collected from an input signal during a sensed event time window, and form parameters for the input signal waveform are derived. An output identifying the signal component of interest (e.g., a P-wave) and its location within the sensed event time window is produced based upon the set of form parameters of the input signal waveform and the form parameter boundaries.

The present invention relates to digital signal processing using waveform morphology. In particular, the invention relates to processing signals, such as sensed cardiac signals distorted by cross talk or other noise, to identify a signal component of interest.
Implantable medical devices (IMD's) are used for a variety of monitoring and therapy delivery purposes. Many IMD's sense physiologic signals and provide outputs, either in the form of delivered therapy or in the form of monitored physiologic activity. For example, pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) include electrodes (and in some cases other sensors) to sense cardiac activity. The sensed signals representing cardiac activity are processed in signal processing channels, and are used in the detection of cardiac arrhythmias and other conditions that require the delivery of therapy. The types of therapy that can be delivered include, for example, pacing pulses and cardioversion/defibrillation shocks delivered to the heart.
An IMD that is monitoring or delivering therapy to the heart must accurately process sensed signals that may contain noise, such as cross talk, that distorts the signal waveform. For example, a sensed signal from an atrial electrode will typically contain a P-wave signal representing depolarization of the atrium and a Far Field R-wave (FFRW) signal, which occurs when an atrial electrode detects an electrical signal resulting from ventricular depolarization.
The Far Field R-wave is normally an unwanted atrial sensed signal, and can be considered cross talk or noise. Various techniques have been developed in the past to distinguish between P-waves and Far Field R-waves, so that a Far Field R-wave is not erroneously identified as P-wave.
Signal processing of physiologic signals, such as signals representing cardiac activity, has generally been performed in IMDs by analog circuitry. Digital signal processing offers potential benefits that have been used in IMDs. In digital signal processing, the incoming sensed signal is converted to a digital signal at a specified rate. Sampled waveform data representing the input signal can then be processed digitally, which permits more sophisticated signal analysis and has generally been available with analog circuitry.
The Wohlgemuth et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,859 describes the use of digital signal processing to classify sensed atrial signals as P-wave or Far Field R-waves, based upon form factor histograms. In this technique, there must be some time separation between the P-wave form factor histogram and the R-wave form factor histogram, so that each has a specific form or shape. Other techniques are required if there is an overlap or near overlap.
If a P-wave signal and a Far Field R-wave signal occur to close in time, the resulting atrial signal will have a waveform which is a combination of the two overlapping signal components. The sensed atrial waveform may be distorted to the extent that it does not resemble either of the two waveform components (P-wave and FFRW) that are overlapping. Digital signal processing techniques with the ability to extract and identify the waveform component of interest, such as the P-wave in an atrial sensed signal, would be advantageous.

Form parameter forecaster for analyzing signals distorted by noise


Disclosed is a method of analysis of a mixture of biological and/or chemical components that entails spatially arranging a chosen component attached to magnetic particles, exposing the particles to a magnetic field, and recording a magnetic induction signal, from which the content of the analyte in the mixture is judged; this includes grouping the chosen component in a probe volume, making the magnetic field alternating, pre-setting its spectrum, at least, at two frequencies, and recording the signal at a frequency, which is a linear combination of these frequencies, during the exposure of the magnetic particles to the field.

A method of biochemical analysis of a mixture of components with the use of magnetic particles is known [Ch. B. Kriz, K. Radevik, D. Kriz, Magnetic Permeability Measurements in Bioanalysis and Biosensors/Anal. Chem. 68, 1996, pp. 1966-1970], which includes the following:
making use of a chosen component attached to magnetic particles;
exposing said magnetic particles to a magnetic field,
recording a signal due to the magnetic induction produced by said magnetic particles as a result of their exposure to the magnetic field,
judging the content of the analyte in the mixture being analysed from the value of said signal.
According to this method, one introduces particles into a specimen of the mixture to be analysed, which particles carry recognising elements that selectively bind the analyte. Besides, in the mixture being analysed there should be a chosen component attached to magnetic particles. This component binds selectively to the analyte after binding of the latter to the recognising elements, or competes with the analyte for binding to the recognising elements. In exceptional cases when the analyte contains magnetic particles, the chosen component can be the analyte itself.
As this takes place, this method necessarily includes removing from the specimen such magnetic particles that have appeared to be unbound to the carrier particles after the course of the reactions mentioned above. To do so, the specimen is subjected to sedimentation, spinning, and rinsing with a binding buffer solution. Then a certain dose of the specimen is placed in a test-tube, which is inserted in an inductance coil. From the change of the magnetic induction of the coil after inserting the specimen into it the content of the analyte in the medium being analysed is judged.
The drawback of this analogue consists in its high complexity and low throughput because of a large number of operations. This leads also to high cost, insufficient reliability and low accuracy of the results obtained.
The closest to the proposed method is an analogue-method of polynucleotide and protein analysis using magnetisable moieties [U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,429 of Dec. 8, 1997, Polynucleotide and protein analysis method using magnetizable moieties, Int. Cl.: C12 Q 1/68, U.S. Cl.: 435/6,], which comprises the following operations:
choosing a component for attaching magnetic particles to it or a component that is already attached to magnetic particles, this chosen component being either the analyte or another component that allows judging the content of the analyte in the mixture being analysed,
spatially arranging said chosen component,
attaching magnetic particles to said chosen component or using said chosen component that is already attached to magnetic particles,
exposing said magnetic particles to a magnetic field,
recording a signal due to the magnetic induction produced by said magnetic particles as a result of their exposure to the magnetic field,
judging the content of the analyte in the mixture being analysed from the value of said signal.
In doing so, one distributes components in a prescribed manner (e.g., by electrophoresis) on the surface of a substrate according to the molecular size and the quantity of the components in the mixture being analysed. Magnetic particles are attached to one or another component of the mixture before or after distributing the components on the substrate surface. Then one records the resulting distribution by magnetic reading from the substrate surface similarly to that one reads information from a magnetic disk. From said distribution one obtains information on the content of one or another component in the mixture being analysed. To enable the magnetic reading, the particles are magnetised by a dc magnetic field before or after distributing them on the substrate surface. The magnetic reading itself consists in the measurement of the magnetic induction resulting from the residual magnetisation of the particles. An important merit of the analogue-method is the spatial arranging of magnetic particles that are bound with the analyte or the chosen component. This arranging takes place on the substrate surface in a close proximity to a magnetic reader. Consequently, the reliability of the results is increased, the dimensions of the required apparatus are minimised, and compatibility of the apparatus with microelectronics technologies is ensured.
The drawbacks of this analogue-method are low sensitivity of the method and low accuracy of the results it yields, due to a number of reasons. These are: first, small concentration of the magnetic particles being recorded, which are "spread" on the substrate surface; second, very small residual magnetisation of known particles of micron and submicron size; and, third, well-known negative features of dc measurements. The mentioned reasons result in narrow application area of this method.
An analogue-apparatus for reading results is known for the method of biochemical analysis of a mixture of substances, using magnetic labels [Ch. B. Kriz, K. Radevik, D. Kriz, Magnetic Permeability Measurements in Bioanalysis and Biosensors/Anal. Chem. 68, 1996, pp. 1966-1970], which comprises:
magnetic particles attached to a chosen component of the mixture being analysed, directly or through an intermediate material;
a magnetic field generator, within which action said magnetic particles are situated;
a meter of the magnetic induction produced by said magnetic particles;
an output signal receiver;
a block generating the result, which input is connected to the output of the output signal receiver.
In this apparatus the magnetic induction meter, which is made as an inductance coil, is inserted in one arm of a bridge circuit, which input is connected to the output of the magnetic field generator and the input of the circuit is connected to the input of the output signal receiver.
The operation of this analogue-apparatus relies upon that the presence of magnetic particles in the sample being analysed and situated inside the inductance coil, which serves as the magnetic induction meter, leads to a change in this inductance and, hence, to a misbalance of the bridge circuit. This causes the generation of the output signal of the discussed apparatus.
The drawbacks of this analogue-apparatus are its high complexity and low throughput because the bridge should be precisely balanced for each new measurement. This also leads to high cost and, taking into account environmental temperature instabilities (especially in portable variants of the apparatus), to low accuracy of the results obtained.
The closest to the proposed apparatus is analogue-apparatus used for information reading in the polynucleotide and protein analysis method using magnetisable moieties [U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,429 of Dec. 8, 1997, Polynucleotide and protein analysis method using magnetizable moieties, Int. Cl.: C12 Q 1/68, U.S. Cl.: 435/6], which comprises:
a chosen component of the mixture being analysed, said component being spatially arranged in a prescribed manner;
magnetic particles attached to the chosen component of the mixture being analysed directly or through an intermediate material;
a magnetic field generator, within which action said magnetic particles are situated;
a meter of the magnetic induction produced by said magnetic particles;
an output signal receiver;
a block generating the result, which input is connected to the output of the output signal receiver.
Besides, the components of the mixture being analysed are distributed on the surface of a substrate according to their molecular size, the magnetic field generator and the magnetic induction meter enable generation and, respectively, recording of a signal constant in time.
The operation of the analogue-apparatus relies upon that the magnetic particles attached to one or several chosen components of the mixture being analysed, and distributed along the substrate surface, acquire a residual magnetisation resulting from their exposure to a dc magnetic field. Then by means of a dc magnetic field meter, e.g., a Hall sensor, one records the distribution of the magnetic induction caused by the residual magnetisation on the substrate surface. From this distribution one determines the amount of magnetic particles attached to one or another component of the mixture being analysed, and the content of this component in the mixture.
The drawbacks of this analogue are limited sensitivity of the apparatus and low accuracy of the results obtained. These are due to known negative features of dc measurements, low value of residual magnetisation, and low concentration of magnetic particles, which are spread on the surface of a substrate. The application area of this apparatus is rather narrow, too.
To conclude, the wanted technical result consists in rising signal-to-noise ratio and, hence, increasing measurement accuracy, enhancing sensitivity of the method and apparatus, improving reliability of the data obtained, along with lowering the costs of experiments owing to reduction of the operation number and time needed, amount and dimensions of the apparatus, and, besides, in developing mobile, cheap, high-throughput laboratories for mass tests, in improving the operational flexibility of the method and apparatus and extending their application area.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of analysis of a mixture of biological and/or chemical components with the use magnetic particles and apparatus for its embodiment


A sequencing station includes a buffer including a plurality of positions, each position being configured to receive an item. An industrial robot is configured to place items to the positions and pick items from the positions, and a transport device is configured to move items into and out of a work area of the robot. The robot has at least four degrees of freedom. A robot with four degrees of freedom manages both sequencing and restacking tasks faster and with lower investment than conventional machines dedicated to specific tasks.

It is conventionally known to sequence items with hard automated sequencers provided solely for this purpose. A typical conventional sequencer comprises a buffer in the form of a tower temporarily storing items, and a manipulator placing items into the buffer and picking items out of the buffer in a specific order. Such manipulator typically comprises exclusively sliding kinematic pairs each allowing solely a linear movement between the respective elements, and consequently only has translational degrees of freedom (DOF), typically three DOF.
It is furthermore conventionally known to restack items with the help of restacking machines provided solely for this purpose. A typical conventional restacking machine comprises a manipulator capable e.g. of re-ordering a plurality of plastic bins stacked on each other. The reason for piling a plurality of bins on each other can e.g. be to save space on a conveyor.
A conventional sequencer does not manage a restacking task, and a conventional restacking machine does not manage a sequencing task. These two machines dedicated to specific tasks are expensive in purchase, and both expensive and inflexible in operation.
DE19940978A1 discloses a warehouse system not intended for sequencing but for automatically delivering goods from a storage by the means of industrial robots and conveyors.
Further warehouse or material handling systems are known e.g. from US20080181753A1, US20140135976A1, US20160039550A1, WO200712099A1 and WO201277018A1.
There remains a desire to mitigate the drawbacks of conventional sequencing systems.


Described herein are techniques for synthesizing waves (e.g., audio waveforms) at various frequencies. For example, techniques described herein may be used to render musical notes by generating audio waveforms. According to some embodiments, the techniques generate a wave table for an audio waveform based on a set of partial waveforms. The system determines a set of notes with a corresponding entry in the wave table and determines a set of partials for each note. The system renders, for each note, an associated waveform comprising the associated number of partials for the note from the set of partial waveforms.

Analog and/or digital synthesizers can be used to generate audio sounds. Analog synthesizers typically use analog circuitry (e.g., sound-generating circuitry and modulators) to generate sounds. A user can, for example, configure oscillators to generate various audio waveforms at different musical pitches. Digital synthesizers, in contrast, use digital processors. In the digital domain, a number of steps are often applied in order to store and reproduce an audio signal. For example, the techniques can include filtering (e.g., low pass filtering), performing an analog-to-digital conversion (e.g., including sampling the audio signal) to generate a digital waveform, and storing the waveform in an audio file. In order to change the pitch of a stored waveform, the waveform can be re-sampled at different rates to change the frequency of the signal.

Techniques for digitally rendering audio waveforms and related systems and methods


A vehicle identification card is provided to an insured that includes proof of automotive insurance information and charge account information. The card may include an insurance policy covering the insured's vehicle, the VIN number of the vehicle, and other information about the vehicle such as the vehicle's make and model. The card may include account information that allows the card to be used like a credit card. The card may further include means for wirelessly updating information and providing a display to the user, which includes, but is not limited to, a housing, a memory module, a processor, one or more displays, and a power source.

Consumers are often in need of account and other information regarding their various debit/credit cards. This may include items such as account status, available balance and other information. Currently, card holders either call or log on to their account over the internet to get the desired information regarding their account. Also, financial institutions and card issuers are in constant searches for new and effective ways to get relevant information to their card holders such as offers for new products and other marketing information that may be of interest to particular customers. Currently, the main forms of communication between the card holders and the financial institutions is by phone, mail, or internet. These methods are often inconvenient and costly for both the financial institution and card holder.
An automobile insurance policy is an important account for many consumers. Policy payments are required year-round which policy owners must maintain to avoid lapses in coverage. Furthermore, proof of insurance is an important and frequently legally required vehicle identification card that policy owners must have on hand. However, such proof of insurance vehicle identification cards typically expire on a regular basis and policy owners must constantly update their vehicle identification cards to remain current. Finally, many of the problems outlined above for debit/credit cards are applicable to automobile insurance vehicle identification cards. Policy owners frequently need to reference their policy coverage limits or, in the case of a claim, must monitor the amount of an approved claim as repairs and other services are managed.
Automobile insurance providers must continuously find ways to re-engineer business processes to accommodate the demand for a low maintenance and low overhead business model. Furthermore, customers today prefer value and ease of use over loyalty, thus systems and methods that work cohesively to provide a superior insurance product to customers while reducing overhead are needed.

United States Automobile Association (USAA)


A method, system, and computer program product for generating device input using vibrations from surface features are provided in the illustrative embodiments. In an electronic device (device), using a processor, a characteristic of a vibration is determined, the vibration being caused by motion of an object across the surface feature, the surface feature being a feature formed on an user-accessible surface of the device, the object makes a physical contact with the feature during the motion. A determination is made whether the characteristic is mapped to a command in the device. Responsive to the characteristic being mapped to the command, an instruction is generated to execute the command in the device. the instruction is sent to cause a function to be performed in the device.

Electronic devices often employ physical buttons as means for allowing users to provide inputs. Push-buttons, rotary knobs, and toggle switches are some examples of physical buttons. Physical buttons can take many other forms and require different corresponding physical movements to operate.
For example, presently available smartphones have buttons for adjusting the sound volume, powering the device up on down, and for several other functions. A user of the smartphone device depresses a button to input a command to cause the device to perform a function. Many other electronic devices similarly use buttons for these and other functions.
Many electronic devices, such as portable computing devices, smartphones, and others, now employ touch-sensitive interfaces, such as touch-screens. Many functions traditionally handled by buttons have been migrated to those touch-sensitive interfaces.
Removal of buttons and migration of their functions to a touch interface has allowed more seamless device enclosures, as fewer buttons are required than before. A few functions however, such as power and volume control, are still often implemented using buttons. These buttons require breaks and penetrations through the outer case, which can also become paths for dust or moisture to enter the case.

Generating device input using vibrations from surface features

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Process for the cleaning of debris containing water and contaminated with pollutants using solvents, including the steps of: addition of the solvent to the material to be treated, followed by thorough mixing; separation of the liquid phase containing the pollutants; stripping of the remaining solvent from the residue; and recovery of the solvent obtained in the last two steps.

1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to a process for cleaning debris, for example, sludge and/or construction debris.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for the treatment of materials containing water and contaminated with pollutants, the process using solvents. The inventive process has particular application to the treatment of sludge. However, the process can also be used on soil, sand, construction debris and other solid materials which are contaminated with pollutants.
2. Background Information
There is also a process for the extraction of impurities and toxic substances from soils in an extraction process which is performed on site, in which the material to be treated (i.e., soil) is extracted with non-flammable solvents, and the solvent is then recovered following the treatment by distillation. One disadvantage of this process is its use of certain solvents as extraction solvents, on one hand, because of the known toxicity of these materials, and on the other hand, because a complete removal of the solvents from the treated material cannot be guaranteed.
Using the existing processes, sludge from mining, industrial and commercial applications, have been solidified, primarily by mixing with additives, such as cement, calcium hydroxide or gypsum, and then either disposed of in landfills or used in road construction. However, on account of the high concentration of toxic substances, such disposal is no longer possible. Additionally, there are also bottlenecks in the allowable disposal by thermal means (e.g., incineration).
Due to the fact that space in landfills is becoming increasingly scarce, and in order to eliminate hazards to the environment, interest is currently being focused on processes for the separation of components which contain contaminates. The purpose of these processes is to reduce the volume of the waste and the concentration of the toxic substances, and to reuse, if possible, the purified material. Even in cases where reuse is not possible, the reduction in the volume of waste (e.g., by sludge dehydration and contaminant removal) saves valuable landfill space.
Contaminated materials can come from many diverse sources. For example, one well known source of such materials is the construction industry. Contaminants commonly find their way into the refuse piles on various construction sites. Moreover, the demolition of previously existing structures is an obvious source of materials which may have become polluted with contaminants and which therefore, often require that special precautions be taken in the treatment and disposal of the resultant debris. In particular, the demolition of previous manufacturing facilities often yields a great quantity of debris which is, or may be, contaminated with objectionable contaminants. Such contaminants are the result of the various supplies which are employed as a natural part of many and diverse manufacturing processes.
Still further, many manufacturing facilities, in and of themselves, generate considerable quantities of contaminated debris as a natural course of events in the ongoing manufacturing processes. Such debris is quite often not of such a nature that it is safely disposable without treatment to remove therefrom various contaminants which would be objectionable were the untreated debris to be directly disposed of in an untreated condition, for example, in a landfill.
It is clear that the land available for new landfills is becoming more and more scarce, existing landfill sites are becoming ever more overburdened. Therefore, there is an ever increasing interest in methods and processes which minimize the impact of waste and debris disposal upon the above-noted scarce landfill resources. Additionally, as noted above, there is an ever increasing concern that various contaminants not find their way into landfills, but rather be disposed of by more environmentally correct procedures. The present invention is directed towards addressing both of these concerns.
There is also a process for the extraction of impurities and toxic substances from soils in an extraction process which is performed on site, in which the material to be treated (i.e., soil) is extracted with non-flammable organic solvents, and the solvent is then recovered following the treatment by distillation. One disadvantage of this process is its use of chlorinated hydrocarbons as extraction solvents, on one hand, because of the known toxicity of these materials, and on the other hand, because a complete removal of the chlorinated hydrocarbons from the treated material cannot be guaranteed.
Using the existing processes, sludge containing oil, in particular from oil traps used in mining, industrial and commercial applications, have been solidified, primarily by mixing with additives, such as cement, calcium hydroxide or gypsum, and then either disposed of in landfills or used in road construction. However, on account of the high concentration of toxic substances, such disposal is no longer possible. Additionally, there are also bottlenecks in the allowable disposal by thermal means (e.g., incineration).
Due to the fact that space in landfills is becoming increasingly scarce, and in order to eliminate hazards to the environment, interest is currently being focused on processes for the separation of components containing oil. The purpose of these processes is to reduce the volume of the waste and the concentration of the toxic substances, and to reuse, if possible, the purified material. Even in cases where reuse is not possible, the reduction in the volume of waste (e.g., by sludge dehydration and oil removal) saves valuable landfill space.
Used hydraulic fluids, used oils and the contents of oil traps are types of waste which are commonly created in the coal mining industry and which must be disposed of. The waste substances contaminated with PCB/PCDM are normally separated in chemical-physical treatment facilities into a sludge, oil and water phase, which is reprocessed separately, in a so-called three-phase decanter. The end products are oil (contaminated by PCB/PCDM) for high temperature combustion, purified waste water and sludge (containing PCB/PCDM), which is normally solidified by the admixture of additives, for disposal in underground waste dumps.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS) and diphenylmethanes (PCDM) are synthetic oils which are particularly suitable for use in mining applications on account of their characteristics (they have very low flammability). After the entry into force of the Second PCB Guidelines in July of 1986, hydraulic fluids containing PCBs were replaced by PCDM (also called "HFD"), and other aqueous hydraulic fluids (e.g., HFA and HFC) not containing any PCB/PCDM. In spite of multiple changes and replacements of the hydraulic fluids containing PCBs during customary repair and maintenance activities, the oil destined for disposal may still contain residual concentrations of more than 100 ppm of these substances. Oils containing PCB are also encountered during the maintenance and cleaning of hydraulic equipment and machines, and in the disposal of large quantities of motor oil, and are therefore frequently also found in the oil traps of gasoline stations and vehicle repair shops.
The requirements for the residual oils concentration in waste which is to be dumped in landfills is certain to become stricter in the future, and corresponding rules regarding waste disposal are being prepared. To protect the waste disposal concept, for which it is essential, in the long term, that the residues be certified for disposal, attempts have therefore been made to find suitable treatment processes which will remove as much of the oil-containing components as possible. The present inventors have discovered that, by using the conventional washing processes, which work primarily with water and with the addition of surfactant substances (tensides), or with steam, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve a sufficient separation of oil from the solids. This fact is believed to be due, on one hand, to the quality of the oil (high boiling point, non-volatility), and, on the other hand, to the high bonding forces between oil and solid, which cannot be sufficiently eliminated by the water treatment.

Process for cleaning debris containing pollutants


A high temperature RFID tag is described which has a survival temperature in the range of approximately -40.degree. C. to 300.degree. C. and an operating temperature of approximately -20.degree. C. to 200.degree. C. The RFID tag comprises a housing comprising a first thermally resistant material and having a base and a top, and a circuit board substrate comprising a second thermally resistant material which is encapsulated within the housing.

RFID systems are well known in the art. Such systems include relatively large packages containing battery powered transmission/receiving circuitry, such as the identification system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,083, to passive systems in which the transceiver receives its power from the base station or interrogator, such as the identification system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,658.
A typical RFID system is made up of reusable tags fixed to or embedded in product carriers, antennas that interrogate the tags via a RF link and a controller. The host (or computer) system interfaces with the controller and directs the interrogation of the tags.
RFID tags provide effective means of identifying, monitoring and controlling materials in a closed loop process. In the factory, tags are employed as the transport mechanism between "islands of automation," providing a record of each process which can be acted upon immediately or downloaded later for analysis.
The tags can be powered by an internal battery (i.e., an "active" tag) or by inductive coupling (i.e., a "passive" tag). Passive tags have zero maintenance and virtually unlimited life. The life span of an active tag is, however, limited by the lifetime of the battery, although some tags offer replaceable batteries.
RFID tags are packaged in a variety of forms and are fastened by a multitude of means. The tags are typically encapsulated for durability against shock, fluids, dust or dirt. Although such tags are immune to most environmental factors, they can, and in many instances will be, adversely affected by high temperature environments.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a RFID tag having the capability of operating over a broad range of temperatures.
It is another object of the invention to provide a RFID tag which is capable of operation in harsh, high temperature factory environments.


The invention relates to the field of radiation sensitizers and the use of texaphyrins for radiation sensitization and other conditions for which X-ray radiation has proven to be therapeutic.

A radiation sensitizer is an agent used to enhance the effect of radiation therapy. In delivering potentially curative doses of radiation, it is necessary to balance the need for local tumor control with the potential for damage to surrounding normal tissues by the delivered dose of radiation (Bush et al., 1978). It is therefore desirable to use the lowest radiation dose consistent with local control. One way to achieve this would be to utilize a radiation sensitizing agent to enhance cytotoxicity of delivered radiation to the tumor.
Radiation causes cell death by damaging critical targets within the cell, most commonly chromosomal DNA (Hendrickson and Withers, 1991). Radiation therapy relies on two types of ionizing radiation: (1) directly ionizing subatomic particle radiation, such as alpha particles and beta particles (electrons), neutrons, protons, mesons, heavy charged ions, etc., and (2) indirectly ionizing electromagnetic radiation, which exists as a family of waves of varying frequency including high frequency x-rays or gamma rays. However, of the two, electromagnetic radiation is more commonly used in radiation therapy today. In tissue, electromagnetic radiation in the form of x-rays or gamma rays can interact with molecules (especially water) causing the ejection of high-energy electrons. The electrons can break the sugar phosphate bonds in DNA directly (direct action) or the process of electron ejection can ultimately produce free (uncharged) radicals that can also break the chemical (sugar-phosphate) bonds in DNA (indirect action). The damage caused through the indirect mechanism is more significant (Hendrickson and Withers, 1991; Mulcahy et al., 1993; Rubin and Siemann, 1993; Chapman et al., 1974). These damaging effects are mediated by the radiation products of water as shown: ##STR1##
Radiation damage is produced primarily by.the hydroxyl radical, HO.sup..cndot., an oxidizing radical. This radical is extremely reactive and short lived. It causes damage primarily in the vicinity in which it is generated (.+-.4 nm). If it comes into contact with a hydrated electron (e.sup.-.sub.aq), it is deactivated by conversion to a hydroxide ion (OH.sup.-). Hydrated electrons are strong reducing species and highly energetic. They are very mobile by comparison to the hydroxyl radical, can travel distances quickly, and through direct action can damage DNA. However, as mentioned above, they also deactivate hydroxyl radicals readily. Agents with strong electron affinity, by virtue of "soaking up" solvated electrons, prevent them from neutralizing hydroxyl radicals and thereby allow hydroxyl radicals to exert their effect (Adams and Dewey, 1963). Oxygen and other compounds with strong electron affinity would thus be expected to act as radiation sensitizers.
The biological responses to radiation-induced cell injury may be modulated by various endogenous and exogenous compounds, and failure of radiation therapy to achieve local cure is multifactorial. For instance, sulfhydryl compounds, including cysteine, dithiothreitol, and cysteamine have been shown to protect living cells against the lethal effects of ionizing radiation by acting as reducing agents (Rubin and Siemann, 1993) and facilitating the recombination of the ion pairs. It also has been observed that depletion of cellular sulfhydryl compounds can result in radiosensitization.
One of the major factors mediating failure of radiation therapy, or radioresistance, is hypoxia. Hypoxic cells in solid tumors have been observed to be 2.5-3 times more resistant to the damaging effect of ionizing radiation (Tannock, 1972; Watson et al., 1978; both cited in Brown, 1984). Local cure/control rates of a tumor can be increased with an effective increase in the radiation dose; however, such an increase would damage adjacent, fully-oxygenated normal tissues to a greater degree than the tumor cells (Shenoy and Singh, 1992). Specific modification of tumor radiosensitivity has been pursued through alteration of the tumor oxygenation state achieved by fractionation of the radiation dose and by the attempted use of chemical radiation sensitizers (Wang, 1988; Shenoy and Singh, 1992).
Fractionation results in reduced radiation effects in normal tissue as compared with a single acute dose due to cell repopulation and repair of sublethal damage between dose fractions. In malignant tumor tissues, radiosensitive oxygenated cells are destroyed with a subsequent reduction in tumor size. Subsequently, radioresistant hypoxic cells distant from functional vasculature become reoxygenated and therefore more radiosensitive. Reassortment of cells within the cell cycle also occurs and renders the cancer cells more radiosensitive. This differential response between tumor and normal cells may allow dose fractionation to be more tumoricidal than an equal single radiation dose.
Various types of electron-affinic reagents are known to promote radiosensitization of cells with diminished oxygen supply (Shenoy and Singh, 1992). However, few of these show activity at non-toxic doses in vivo. For instance, clinical trials with one of the better known agents, misonidazole, demonstrated that it is highly effective against a number of animal and human tumors (Thomlinson et al., 1976; Ash et al., 1979; Denekamp et al., 1980; all cited in Brown, 1984). However, the neurological side-effects severely limit its clinical usefulness (Kallman, 1972; Dische et al., 1977; Urtasun et al., 1978; Waserman et al., 1979; all cited in Brown, 1984; and Dische et al., 1979). Approaches aimed at improving the therapeutic index of nitroimidazoles have included lowering the lipophilicity so as to restrict nervous tissue penetration and toxicity, and accelerating renal clearance (Beard et al., 1993). Clinical trials with these second-generation analogs of misonidazole have been reported or are on-going (Roberts et al., 1984; Coleman et al., 1984; Saunders et al., 1984; Coleman et al., 1986; Horwich et al., 1986; Newman et al., 1986; Dische et al., 1986; Coleman et al., 1987; Newman et al., 1988; Workman et al., 1989). However, the approaches have yet to produce highly effective hypoxic cell sensitizers.
Halogenated pyrimidines also have been studied as radiation sensitizers. These agents modify the radiosensitivity of cells through structural alteration of the DNA, making the DNA more susceptible to radiation inactivation. However, the drugs must be present in the cells for extended periods since the degree of radiosensitization is directly related to the degree of thymidine substitution. In addition, the agents may undergo rapid hepatic degradation and dehalogenation (Shenoy and Singh, 1992). The main limiting factor from prolonged use of halogenated pyrimidines has become bone marrow toxicity (Kinsella et al., 1984a; Kinsella et al., 1984b; Kinsella et al., 1985; cited in Shenoy and Singh, 1992).
Hypoxic cell sensitizers fall within the broad category of chemical modifiers of cancer treatment. Chemical modifiers are usually not cytotoxic by themselves but modify or enhance the tissue response to standard radiation therapy. The ultimate utility of a radiotherapy or chemotherapy modifier depends upon its ability to alter the therapeutic index.
Texaphyrins have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,935,498; 5,162,509; 5,252,720; 5,292,414; 5,272,143; 5,256,399; 5,457,183; 5,559,207; 5,569,759; and 5,599,923; and PCT/US94/06284; all of which are incorporated by reference herein. The photophysical properties of various texaphyrins are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,720, incorporated by reference herein, and include strong low energy optical absorptions in the 690-880 nm spectral range, a high triplet quantum yield and efficient production of singlet oxygen. U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,720 also describes photosensitized inactivation of enveloped viruses and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of atheroma, liver, kidney and tumor using various substituted texaphyrin metal complexes. Altering the polarity and electrical charges of side groups of these macrocycles alters the degree, rate, and site(s) of binding to free enveloped viruses such as HIV-1 and to virally-infected peripheral mononuclear cells, thus modulating photosensitizer take-up and photosensitization of leukemia or lymphoma cells contaminating bone-marrow. Powerful techniques include the use of these texaphyrins in magnetic resonance imaging followed by photodynamic tumor therapy in the treatment of atheroma, and benign and malignant tumors.
The present invention provides texaphyrins for radiation sensitization. Texaphyrins enhance radiation damage and overcome many of the drawbacks of prior art radiation sensitizers.

Radiation sensitization using texaphyrins

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


A silver halide color photosensitive material suitable for production of a color filter which comprises a polymer coupler comprising at least a yellow coupler monomer and a cyan coupler monomer. The photosensitive material provides a green image having excellent spectral transmission characteristics and fastness to heat and light.

A color filter is used in a color face plate for Braun tube display, a photoelectric conversion element plate for copying use, a single-tube color television camera filter, a flat panel display using liquid crystals, a color solid image pick-up element, etc.
A common color filter is generally constituted of regularly arranged red, green and blue colors (i.e., three primary colors), but it may have four or more different hues, if needed. For instance, color filters for use in an image pickup tube and a liquid crystal display apparatus require a black pattern (black matrix) for various purposes.
As for the way of arranging red, green and blue colors, mosaic, stripe and delta arrangements are exemplified as examples thereof. How to arrange those colors can be chosen so that the color filter meets requirements for the intended use.
Hitherto known methods for producing color filters include an evaporation method, a dyeing method, a printing method, a pigment dispersion method, an electrodeposition method, a resist electrodeposition transfer method, and so on. However, color filters obtained by these conventional methods have several disadvantages, such as involvement of complicated steps, liability to pinholes or scratches, poor yield, insufficient precision, etc.
In order to overcome these disadvantages, production of color filters using a silver halide photosensitive material of coupler-in-developer type (see JP-A-55-6342, the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") or coupler-in-emulsion type (see JP-A-62-148952 and JP-A-62-71950) has been studied. However, the coupler-in-developer type development involves at least three times of color development and is not deemed to be simple and easy to carry out. In the coupler-in-emulsion type, on the other hand, the color filter obtained has a large thickness, and tends to suffer peeling during rubbing treatment in the production of an LCD panel or cutting of lines. In particular, it has been difficult to obtain a sharp pattern from the coupler-in-emulsion type color photosensitive material because the material have many photosensitive layer and therefore have a large thickness.
In order to solve those problems, it could be thought that the coating amount of a binder be reduced. However, it turned out that the reduction of a binder coating amount resulted in a relative increase of the proportion of low melting organic compounds in the coated layers to make the generated dyes diffuse easily under a high temperature, thereby causing a problem of providing a blurred pixel pattern.
When used, for example, in color LCD, a color filter is unavoidably exposed to high temperatures above 150.degree. C. in post-treatments, such as coating with a protective layer, vacuum deposition of a transparent electrode, and formation of an orientation film. Accordingly, the dyes used in a color filter are required to be fast and not to be diffused in such high temperatures.
The dyes are also required to have high light fastness because color filters are to be exposed to back light for extended time periods.

Silver halide color photosensitive material


A program video and program-related information are input, and program-related contents are generated based on a tree structure defined in advance. Based on a preset viewing data quantity as a viewing request from each user who has a portable terminal, leaf nodes in the tree structure of the program-related contents are selected as presentation candidates for each user. A presentation route that follows the leaf nodes of the presentation candidates starting from the root of the tree structure is generated as a presentation scenario for each user. The generated presentation scenario is transmitted to the portable terminal of the corresponding user.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for generation/presentation of program-related contents that generate program-related contents to be distributed to a portable terminal from a program video and program-related information that is relevant to this program video along the progress of a program, under a mobile environment of receiving a text, a still picture, and a motion picture by utilizing a portable terminal such as a portable telephone and a PDA. More specifically, this invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for generation/presentation of program-related contents that generate and present program-related contents, by efficiently presenting a large quantity of information during a short period of time with a simple operation, even when a portable terminal having a small display area and with low manipulability is used.
2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been a rapid progress in the distribution of portable terminals including portable telephones. According to a next-generation portable terminal (IMT 2000) that is currently being operated on a trial basis, this portable terminal can receive motion pictures as well as texts and still pictures by using a network band of a maximum 384 Kbps. It has been considered it possible to install a high-level function of voice reading onto this portable terminal.
As a system using such portable terminals, there has been a service of generating and transmitting program-related contents such as a quick report on a baseball or soccer game. Following the occurrence of an event such as a scoring, or an inning end, a service provider prepares a character string like "The bottom of the first inning, Giant 3-1 Hiroshima, Giant came from behind with Y. Takahashi's timely hit", and transmits this mail to user's portable terminals. Based on this service, a user who cannot watch television during moving can know the progress of the program. At present, a character string is a main form of information transmitted by this service. It is expected that, in the near future, more sophisticated form of information will be transmitted such as motion pictures, data of an existing database, and a page of a relevant Web site.
For example, a baseball program is considered to have various kinds of program-related information such as occurrence events of a hit, an HR (homerun), scores, SBO (a strike, a ball, an out), a safe base status, a player's profile, cumulative number of turns at bat, a digest scene, a page of a relevant Web site, etc. These pieces of information are related to each other, and it is possible to express a structure of this relationship as shown in FIG. 10. A quick report on the game that shows this tree structure corresponds to the program-related contents. All nodes after a start of the game (for example, an occurrence event, a digest, a relevant Web) correspond to the program-related information.
Presentation of the above information to portable terminals has following problems. That is,    (1) As a portable terminal has a small display area, presentable information is limited.    (2) When a portable terminal is used, a user can carry out only a minimum interaction. Therefore, it is difficult to view around the information structure.    (3) A function that can present as much information as possible during a short period of time is necessary.    (4) When a level of information becomes higher, information that is different for each user becomes necessary.
As a measure to solve the above problems (1) and (2), a passive viewing of programmed program-related information (a generation of program-related contents) is considered. For example, when a user views the scenes as shown in FIG. 10 on a portable terminal, it is considered more suitable to passively view scenes as programmed scenes of information than to actively view the scenes. This is because the portable terminal has a small display area, and a user's interaction is limited. If a user is to actively view the scenes in a high-level structure as shown in FIG. 10, the user must continue viewing on the small screen of the portable terminal for a long time, and must repeat the button manipulation frequently. This is painful for the user.
As a measure to solve the above problems (3) and (4), it is necessary to provide a function that can prepare contents effectively and efficiently to enable each user to sequentially view desired scenes of information in a desired order within a short period of time such as one minute or three minutes. It is said that, in general, not more than three minutes is suitable for a user to watch data on the portable terminal. This is because as the form of information becomes more sophisticated, more personalized information becomes necessary. Particularly, there is an extremely large difference in the preference of a sport program between users. Therefore, each user wants information different from what the other users want.
For example, assume that the player Takahashi of Giant hit HR in a game between Giant and Hiroshima. For the users who like Takahashi, information relating to Takahashi is important, and they want to have information relating to Takahashi such as "cumulative number of turns at bat", "record in this season", "relevant Web information", etc.
On the other hand, for Hiroshima fan users, the information on Takahashi is not necessarily important. Therefore, for these users, more information about "pitch status" of Hiroshima pitchers, "digest" up to the current time, and the team's "relevant Web information" are effective, instead of the information on Takahashi. In order to present these pieces of information as a short-time program (program-related contents) of one minute to three minutes on the portable terminals, it is necessary to automatically extract information that is important for each user, and efficiently and sequentially present the information in the order each user wants. In other words, in order to program program-related information and generate program-related contents for the portable terminals, it is necessary to provide a function that reflects individual users' preferences, and automatically generates a short-time program containing various contents.
There are relevant conventional techniques as follows.    1) "Kondo", Hiroyuki Kondo, Akiyo Nadamoto, Katsumi Tanaka, A Restructuring and Presentation of an Output Result of a Search Engine in a Mobile Environment, Summer Database Workshop 2000 (DBWS 2000), pp. 199-206 (2000).    2) "Sumiya", Kazutoshi Sumiya, Nobuhiro Ikega, Kuniaki Uehara, A Reading Support according to Dynamic Abstract of WebSkimming WWW Page Group, The Eleventh Data Engineering Workshop (DEWS' 00) Preparatory Draft CD-ROM (2000).    3) "Uma", Tsuyoshi Uma, Kazutoshi Sumiya, Katsumi Tanaka, An Information Filtering that takes into account Time Series for a Broadcasting type Information Distribution System, Information Processing Academy Paper Database (TOD7) Vol. 41, No. SIG6, pp. 46-57 (2000).    4) "Hashi 00", T. Hashimoto, Y. Shirota, A. Iizawa, and H. S. Kunii, Personalized Digests of Sports Programs using Intuitive Retrieval and Semantic Analysis, Proc. of ER200 19th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, October 9-12, Salt Lake City, USA (2000).    5) "Hashi 01", T. Hashimoto, Y. Shirota, A. Iizawa, and H. Kitagawa, A Rule-based Scheme to make Personal Digests from Video Program Meta Data, Proc. of Dexa2001, September 3-7, Munich, Germany (2001)(to appear).    6) "Shiro", Y. Shirota, A. Iizawa, and H. Kitagawa, A TV Program Generation System Using a Digest of Video Scenes and a Scripting Markup Language, Proc. of HICCS2001 Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, January 3-6, Hawaii, USA (2001).    7) "Shirota", Yukari Shirota, Takako Hashimoto, Atsushi Iizawa, An Event Drive type Data Broadcasting Program-Related Information Preparation System, DBWeb 2000, pp. 97-104 (December, 2000).    8) "Hashimoto 00", Takako Hashimoto, Yukari Shirota, Hiroko Mano, Atsushi Iizawa, A Digest Viewing System in TV Receiving Terminal, Information Processing Academy Paper, Database (TOD6) Vol. 41, No. SIG3, pp. 71-84 (2000).    9) "Hashimoto 01", Takako Hashimoto, Yukari Shirota, Akiyo Nadamoto, Taeko Hattori, Atsushi Iizawa, Katsumi Tanaka, Kazutoshi Sumiya, A TV Program Generation System based on Digest Video Scenes and Markup Language, Information Processing Academy Paper, Database (TOD8) Vol. 42, No. SIG1, pp. 117-130 (2001).
In "Kondo", Kondo and others considered that a passive viewing type presentation system is more suitable than an active type presentation on a portable terminal that has a small display area and has a small opportunity of interaction. Therefore, they proposed a WebCarrousel system that presents a search result on the Web in the Carrousel system as a programmed component. This system is effective for a user to passively views a large quantity of information obtained based on a searching of the Web, on the portable terminal. However, this system does not reflect users' preferences in presenting the information, and does not take into account a programming according to a link circulation when there is a strong relationship between the information like the program-related contents.
In "Sumiya", Sumiya and others proposed a method of presenting information in a stream, by detecting a master page common to each page from a result of searching the Web, and providing a series of flow to the searched result. This system places importance on the determination of a presentation order based on a relationship that common master pages are the same. However, this system does not take into account a determination of a presentation order and a scenario generation that reflect users' preferences.
In "Uma", Uma and others proposed a system of presenting information by calculating a degree of freshness of Web information and a scoop level, and filtering the information based on these values. However, this system does not take users' preferences into account either.
On the other hand, the applicants of the present invention have so far proposed systems that present high-level and structured program-related contents. These systems place an emphasis on how to restructure and present program-related contents according to users' preferences and characteristics of information.
For example, the applicants of the present invention have so far proposed a "personalized digest preparation system" according to individual users' preferences by utilizing metadata of television programs like baseball and soccer, in "Hashi 00", "Hashi 01", and "Hashimoto 00". This system extracts scenes having an organized meaning from basic and objective program metadata, calculates levels of importance of occurred events by reflecting users' preference information, and prepares a digest by selecting scenes in the order of high importance levels.
In "Shiro" and "Hashimoto 01", the applicants of the present invention have proposed a "program generation system using digest scenes" that automatically generates a program for each user, from digest scenes generated by the above personalized digest preparation system. This system has devised a program definition language called ppml (Personalized Program Markup Language). Based on this, the system describes components of virtual characters and program metaphors to generate a program, and stores the components into a database as an operation template. The system automatically generates a program by selecting an operation template that is optimum for each digest scene. A program that is finally output is also described in the ppml. This system can control different elements of videos and character strings, and realize a flexible generation of a program.
In "Shirota", the applicants of the present invention considered that, in order to put a data broadcasting service into practical use in a digital broadcasting, it is necessary to automatically generate data that is relevant to a program. Therefore, the applicants proposed "A Program-Related Contents Preparation System for Data Broadcasting" that dynamically generates program-related contents from program metadata.
However, according to the above conventional techniques, it has not been possible to provide a system that satisfies all the above requirements (1) to (4) that become the problems when the portable terminal receives program-related contents.
In other words, according to the above conventional techniques, in a method of and an apparatus for generation/presentation of program-related contents that generates program-related contents to be distributed to a portable terminal from a program video and program-related information that is relevant to this program video along the progress of a program, under a mobile environment of receiving a text, a still picture, and a motion picture by utilizing a portable terminal such as a portable telephone and a PDA, there has not been provided a method or an apparatus that enables users to passively view information personalized for each user without a complex interaction in a limited display area of each portable terminal and that enables each user to view desired information in a desired order.

Method of and apparatus for generation/presentation of program-related contents


Methods for stretch-forming a thermoplastic film comprises: stretching the thermoplastic film between a first roller and a second roller, wherein the first the roller rotates at a first peripheral velocity and the second roller rotates at a second peripheral velocity that is higher than the first peripheral velocity; and advancing the thermoplastic film from the second roller to a third roller, wherein the third roller rotates at a third peripheral velocity that is lower than the second peripheral velocity, wherein a ratio of the third peripheral velocity to the second peripheral velocity is no larger than 0.95. The resulting breathable thermoplastic films may have a basis weight of no larger than 15 g/m2 and a shrinkage of no larger than 5%.

Breathable thermoplastic films are used for a variety of different applications, such as for packaging and for personal hygiene products. Such films may be produced by blow extrusion or cast extrusion of a polymeric composition comprising at least one thermoplastic polymer, such as polyethylene (PE) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and a filler material, such as calcium carbonate. The extruded solid film may be stretch-formed in a stretching device, sometimes also referred to as an orientation device. Stretch-forming in the machine direction and/or in the cross direction may allow to adjust a thickness of the resulting film. At the same time, the stretching of the film leads to the formation of micropores at the boundaries of the filler material with the surrounding thermoplastic polymer matrix, so that the film becomes breathable, i.e., vapor permeable. The stretched film may be wound in a winder device to form a reel of a film that can be stored and transported.
Blow-extrusion methods and devices of this type are described in more detail in US 2011/0006452 A1 and US 2016/0151950 A1, and a cast extrusion process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,492,332 B2, all of which publications are incorporated herein by reference.
As emphasized for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 9,492,332 B2, incorporated herein by reference, there is a growing need in the industry for thin and lightweight breathable thermoplastic films, for reasons of conservation of resources, waste reduction, comfort and cost. One way to adjust and reduce the thickness and basis weight of the film is by enhanced stretching in the stretching device. A high stretching factor is also desirable to increase the number of micropores in the thermoplastic film, and hence the breathability of the film. However, enhanced stretching during manufacturing may lead to an undesirable residual shrinkage of the manufactured breathable thermoplastic film, for instance when the finished film is exposed to heat during storage or transportation. This shrinkage may be due to a re-orientation of the polymeric molecules under heat exposure that partly reverses the molecular orientation resulting from the stretching. As described in WO 2017/162748 A1 and WO 2017/162746 A1, both incorporated herein by reference, shrinkage may result in a blocking of the reeled film, so that neighboring layers of film adhere to one another. This may cause problems when unreeling the film for further production, and may even lead to structural damages and fissures in the film. The problem is particularly pronounced for thin films, which are even more susceptible to breaks and fissures.
In view of these problems and the prior art, there is a need for improved methods and techniques for producing breathable thermoplastic thin films with reduced shrinkage.

Breathable thermoplastic film with reduced shrinkage


An improved toilet seat closure is described employing weight-driven cords or cables for pivoting forward and lowering a toilet seat and its lid without a loud noise upon flushing of the toilet. The seat and mechanism for achieving the automatic closing can be easily retrofitted to existing toilets without any unsightly or major modification of the toilet or tank. The mechanism employs a flexible cable or cord which runs through a tubular sleeve and extends under and behind the tank and over the rear lip of the tank so as to be substantially out of sight to the users. The cord or cable is connected to a weight in the tank (which weight has a specific gravity slightly higher than 1) so that on flushing the weight draws down the cord or cable a short distance. The cord also runs over a fixed pulley and runs free to the end of a pivoting arm extension from the seat member. The end points of arc of the end of the pivoting arm are so related to the fixed point that the falling weight causes the cable to initially pivot the arm and thus the seat member from its raised position forward to past its forward tipping or falling point. The seat thereby then pivots by gravity downward but is restrained and slowed by the cable and weight system as it approaches its down or closed position.

The proper "default" or between-use positioning of the common toilet seat is a matter that leads to domestic non-tranquility. Men commonly leave the seat up after use. Women generally prefer to find it down when they go to use the toilet. Whatever the psychological or cultural causes of this commonly-occurring difference of opinion, there has been long recognized a need for an automatic seat closure or lowerer so that men may leave the seat up and women find it down.
While some early privies provided for automatic closure of tight-fitting lids (E.g., German Patent 72,094, 1892, stepping off a floor board in front of privy lowers lid; German Patent 203,966, 1908; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,117,663, opening door to privy lowers lid), many modern suggestions exist for flush toilets which use the act of flushing to lower the lid. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,058,216; 4,914,757; 4,433,442; and 3,781,924. As far as applicant is aware, none of these suggestions have met with commercial success and, despite the great desirability for such a device, there is no automatic toilet seat closure in common commercial use in this country.
The reasons for this are believed to be the complex and unsightly nature of the prior suggestions, such as those of the U.S. patent references mentioned above. There, therefore, still exists a need for an automatic flush seat closure which is easy to make, install, use, and has an installed appearance which is not unsightly.