Methods for treating female sexual dysfunction are provided. A pharmaceutical composition containing a vasoactive agent selected from vasoactive intestinal potypeptide (VIP) and VIP agonists is administered to the vagina and/or vulvar region of the individual undergoing treatment. The formulations are also useful for improving vaginal muscle tone and tissue health, enhancing vaginal lubrication, and minimizing excess collagen deposition. Pharmaceutical formulations and kits are also provided.

Sexual response in women is generally classified into four stages: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. Masters and Johnson, Human Sexual Response (Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Mass. 1966). With sexual arousal and excitement, vasocongestion and muscular tension increase progressively, primarily in the genitals, and is manifested by increased blood flow, elevated luminal oxygen tension, and vaginal surface lubrication as a result of plasma transudation that saturates the fluid reabsorptive capacity of the vaginal epithelium. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide ("VIP") release may induce the physiological changes of sexual arousal and excitement, and may be the major neurotransmitter effecting neurologically controlled increase of the vaginal blood supply upon arousal. The peptide histidine methionine has been co-located with VIP within nerve fibers that innervate small blood vessels, smooth muscle, and epithelial cells in the vaginal tract.
VIP is a neurotransmitter known to effect small vessel dilation in the mesenteric blood supply in response to mechanical sensation of food in the gut to promote digestion. VIP is therefore found in the cholinergic, parasympathetic ganglia of the intestinal peripheral nervous system. Kandel, Schwartz, and Jessel, Principles of Neural Science, 4th ed. (McGraw-Hill 2000). VIP was initially discovered, isolated and purified from porcine intestine, and the twenty-eight (28) amino acid VIP has extensive homology to secretin and glucagon (Carlquist et al., Horm. Metab. Res. 14:28–29 (1982)). VIP is known to exhibit a wide range of biological activities in the gastrointestinal tract and circulatory system. VIP has been shown to stimulate pancreatic and biliary secretion, hepatic glycogenolysis, glucagon and insulin secretion and to activate pancreatic bicarbonate release (Kerrins t al., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 142:1014–1017 (1972); Domschke et al., Gastroenterology 73:78–480 (1977)).
The physiologic effects of VIP extend outside the digestive system. For example, neurons containing VIP have been localized by immunoassay in cells of the endocrine and exocrine systems, intestine and smooth muscle (Polak et al., Gut 15:720–724 (1974)), and has been found to be a neuroeffector of the release of hormones including prolactin (Frawley et al., Neuroendocrinology 33:79–83 (1981)), thyroxine (Ahren et al., Nature 287:343–345 (1980)), and the aforementioned insulin and glucagon (Schebalin, et al., Am. J. Physiology E. 232:197–200 (1977). VIP is present in neurons and neural junctions in the airways of animal species including man (Dey et al., Fed. Proc. 39:1062 (1980); Said et al., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sciences 221:103–114 (1974)). VIP has also been found to stimulate renin release from the kidney in vivo and in vitro (Porter et al., Neuroendocrinology 36:404–408 (1983)), and the presence of VIP in other parts of the genito-urinary system has been shown. The widely appreciated direct vasoactive effect of VIP is to increase blood flow into capillary bed by dilation of the afferent blood vessel. Various analogs of VIP, both agonistic and antagonistic are known to exist (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,235,907, 5,141,924, 4,734,400 and 4,605,641 to Bolin; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,939,224 and 4,835,252 to Musso et al.).
Sexual excitement is initiated by any of a number of psychogenic or somatogenic stimuli and must be reinforced to result in orgasm. With continued stimulation, excitement progresses in intensity into a plateau stage, from which the individual can shift into orgasm. The orgasmic stage is characterized by a rapid release from vasocongestion and muscular tension.
During the various stages of sexual response, characteristic genital and extragenital responses occur. Estrogens magnify the sexual responses; however, sexual responses may also occur in estrogen-deficient individuals. Sexual dysfunction may be due to organic or functional disturbances. For example, a variety of diseases affecting neurologic function, including diabetes mellitus and multiple sclerosis, may interrupt sexual arousal. More commonly, local pelvic disorders, such as endometriosis and vaginitis, both of which cause dyspareunia (difficult or painful coitus) may also affect a woman's sexual response. In addition, estrogen deficiency, causing vaginal atrophy and dyspareunia, is a common cause of sexual dysfunction. For a discussion of other causes of female sexual dysfunction, see, e.g., Kaplan, The Evaluation of Sexual Disorders: Psychological and Medical Aspects (Brunner-Mazel, New York, N.Y. 1983), and Kolodny et al., Textbook of Sexual Medicine (Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Mass. 1979).
Excitement stage dysfunction generally involves touch sensation impairment, loss of clitoral sensation, vaginal dryness, and urinary incontinence. Such excitement phase dysfunction generally results in dyspareunia. Dyspareunia is thought to affect approximately 40% of women, due in large part to inadequate lubrication. It has been estimated that over 40 million women will suffer dyspareunia at some time in their lives. On the order of twenty-five million women will experience dyspareunia in the peri- and postmenopausal period (see, Kelly, Clinical Practice and Sexuality 8(8):2 (1992) and Sato et al., Clinical Practices in Sexuality 8(5):1 (1992)). Contemporary symptomatic treatments generally involve the use of physiologically safe lubricants such as egg white, K-Y surgical lubrication jelly (hydroxyethyl-cellulose), ASTROGLIDE® (Astro-Lube, Inc., N. Hollywood, Calif.), and REPLENS® (Columbia Laboratories, Inc., Aventura, Fla.). See, e.g., Semmens, Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality 8:85–86 (1974); and Frishmen et al., Fertility and Sterility 58(3):630 (1992). When symptomatic treatment fails, pharmacological treatment may be indicated.
Estrogen therapy is commonly used in the pharmacological treatment of sexual dysfunction in women. Estrogen-based therapies are generally used to increase mucous production, provide vasodilatory effects, or to increase the general health of the vagina. Nadelson et al. (eds.), Treatment Interventions in Human Sexuality (Plenum Press, New York 1983). In such treatments, estrogen is administered orally, parenterally (e.g., by injection), or topically. With oral administration, the estrogen concentration encountered by the liver is generally four- to five-fold greater than estrogen levels in peripheral blood (the "first pass effect"). This effect may lead to an undesirable increase in the production of certain coagulation factors and renin substrates by the liver. Parenterally administered estrogen avoids the first pass effect in the liver. However, all estrogen-based therapies are known to increase the risk of endometrial hyperplasia, endometrial cancer and breast cancer in treated individuals.
Because of the increased risk of endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer encountered with unopposed estrogen therapies, estrogen/progestogen combinations have been employed. However, progestogens are known to have some androgenic activity. Further, common side effects from such therapies include uterine bleeding and the continuation of menstrual periods. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art to provide safer and more ways of treating female sexual dysfunction.
The present invention is directed to the aforementioned need in the art, and provides a new, highly effective method of treating sexual dysfunction in women. The method involves vaginal and/or vulvar administration of a pharmaceutical formulation containing a vasoactive agent, e.g., a prostaglandin, VIP or a VIP agonist or the like.
Drug therapy for treating female sexual dysfunction has been described. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,323 to Stem describes the use of the anxiolytic m-chloro-α-t-butylamino-propiophenone in the treatment of sexual dysfunction in both male and female individuals. Pharmaceutical compositions containing the agent are described, which are presented in discrete units, e.g., cachets, tablets, capsules, ampules and suppositories, for oral or rectal delivery of the agent.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,421 to Foreman describes the treatment of sexual dysfunction in male and female individuals using the stereoisomers of octahydropyrimido[4,5-g]quinolines, centrally acting dopamine agonists.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,967 to Riley describes the treatment of sexual disorders in male and female individuals using heterocyclic benzodioxinopyrrole compounds, which, like the drugs described in the aforementioned patents, are centrally acting agents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,466 to Gioco et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,339 to Lowrey, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,457 to Nahoum pertain to methods for modulating the human sexual response, with the Gioco et al. and Lowrey patents emphasizing the utility of phentolamine as an active agent.
A number of references describe various methods and devices suitable for vaginal or uterine drug administration, and may accordingly be of some interest with respect to the present invention. The following are representative of such references:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,618 to Zaffaroni describes an intrauterine device adapted for drug delivery. A number of drugs are mentioned as being suitable for use in conjunction with the device. However, the patent does not mention treatment of sexual dysfunction, nor is application of a drug-containing composition to the clitoris or vulvar region disclosed or suggested. U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,254 to Zaffaroni is a related patent that describes an intrauterine device for continuous administration of a contraceptive agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,987 to Heller et al. describes a tampon-like device for delivery of a drug to the uterus or vagina. Heller et al. mention that delivery of prostaglandins is a preferred use of the invention; however, there is no disclosure concerning treatment of sexual dysfunction or delivery to the vulvar area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,362 to Burnhill describes a vaginal sponge for controlled release of a contraceptive agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,942 to Scaife generally describes vaginal administration of medicinal foams.
There are, accordingly, a number of background references relating to treatment of female sexual dysfunction, and cervical or uterine administration of vasoactive agents. However, the present method for treating female sexual dysfunction, by way of vaginal and/or vulvar delivery of a vasoactive agent such as a prostaglandin or VIP or a receptor agonist thereof, is completely novel and unsuggested by the art.

Treatment of female sexual dysfunction with vasoactive intestinal polypeptide agonists


A biopsy needle device includes an outer cannula having a pointed, tissue penetrating distal end and a side-notched stylet located within the cannula. The stylet and cannula are axially movable with respect to each other. The stylet is constructed from a solid rod having a notch near the distal end. The notch is bordered in portions along its length by a walled region to at least in part define a protected sample-containment space. The stylet includes a pointed, tissue penetrating distal end. The notch defines a full cylindrical region and the walled region has a semi-circular cross-section. The cross sectional area of the notch is between about 90-97% of the diameter of the rod. The wall thickness of the walled region is in the range of 0.008"-0.013". A method of taking a biopsy sample from a hard cancerous lesion is described.

A biopsy needle instrument is frequently used to obtain a tissue specimen for microscopic examination to determined malignancy, while subjecting the patient to the least trauma. Typically, the instrument consists of a long, thin probe, termed a stylet, within a close-fitting hollow needle, termed a cannula. A firing device first projects the stylet into the tissue, followed immediately by the cannula. The stylet has a notch into which tissue will prolapse when the stylet enters the tissue. As the cannula subsequently slides over the stylet, it severs the prolapsed tissue from the surrounding mass and captures the prolapsed tissue as a specimen within the notch. The instrument then is typically withdrawn and the piece of tissue removed from the stylet.


A client device has a power system, an operating system, a single chip containing a memory, a memory controller, a central processing unit (CPU), and a peripherals interface, wherein the peripherals interface communicates with external ports over one or more communication buses; an I/O subsystem comprising a display controller, input controllers, a touch screen which includes a soft keyboard, network circuitry, HDMI display/audio, a BIO-reader sensor, a camera, ports, a CDROM drive, an optical sensor coupled to an optical sensor controller, a SATA disk; a disk RAID controller; a Bluetooth device; a Bluetooth controller; an antenna; RF circuitry connected to the antenna; a proximity sensor, an accelerometer coupled to one of the input controllers; and audio circuitry connected to a speaker and a microphone. The client device is used to gain access to a user-adaptable, user-configurable UI-server which is provisioned across a cloud computing environment.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of storing and accessing not only data and programs over the Internet, but also storing and accessing the various component parts of a computer over the Internet.
(2) Description of Related Art (Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98)
The desire for the advancement of the technology has been a steady progression pushing the average computer beyond the comprehensible range of most users. Also, there is an ever increasing number of malicious attacks designed to interfere with the average consumer's usage of a computer. Consumers are all too often forced to buy a new computer because the old computer is so infected with malicious code that it is no longer usable.
Cloud computing typically involves using remote computing resources on a pay-per-use basis for a singular purpose, which is to leverage the data center resources for one-time application resources, where the remote computing resources may be used alone or in conjunction with the internal computing resources of a "data center." For example, the processing resources and storage resources of cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Go Grid, Rackspace Cloud Servers, can be requested and used on-demand in a scalable fashion. As such, cloud computing can be used for applications with varying or unpredictable demand, as seen in year-end financials or tax-return preparation. Additionally, computationally-intensive processing can be performed using cloud computing resources. Cloud computing as described above does not support average users, who have limited understanding of available computer options and need help supporting their computer purchase(s).
A large portion of the success of information technology (IT) can be attributed to a single computing paradigm: client-server computing. In client-server computing, a client is typically a low-cost computing device that enables users to perform computing tasks on a remote server. The server, on the other hand, is typically a costly computer that is capable of performing complex computational tasks. The advantage obtained by coupling the powerful computing ability of a server with the cost savings of multiple low-cost clients is the main reason behind the success of client-server computing.
Unfortunately, over time, the clients in most client-server architectures were replaced by costly workstations. While these workstations interacted with back-end applications, such as large, server-resident databases, they were not true "clients" at all. Rather, they were clients that also had to perform a great deal of local computing.
This trend in client-server computing diminished the main advantage of the client-server paradigm by requiring clients to have expensive hardware and software components.
Recently, the concept of an ultra-thin-client was introduced, which has lately been gaining widespread popularity. For example, an ultra-thin-client can include a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and a built-in smart card reader. Ultra-thin-clients provide users with seamless access to all the applications and utilities they normally use on their workstations or PC's. One example of this technology is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,457,878, which is incorporated herein by this reference. Another example of this technology is called a "zero client device", as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,539,025, and in U.S. Published Patent Application Nos. 20120317184, and 20120297382, all three of which are incorporated herein by this reference.
However, this technology is usually only possible within controlled and educated IT-run organizations where the zero client server can be configured and set up for the user inside the confines of the office. Even in these controlled situations the user is provided with the configuration that someone else has chosen to fulfil the user's requirements.
The consumer of today needs to be allowed to choose how much or how little computer resources they require, and, with that, also a safe and controlled access to applications and support as they require. One example of this methodology is disclosed in U.S. Published Patent Application No. 20140012988 ("Kruempelmann"), which is incorporated herein by this reference. However, Kruempelmann relies on sophisticated users to send appropriate "resource requests" "that represent a list of one or more attributes of the required computing resources". Kruempelmann states, "For instance, based the resource request and the resource request parameters, system attributes of three local databases of 70 GB capacity each and one processor of 50 MHz speed are calculated. Calculating system attributes may include determining memory element requirements, input-output requirements, central processing unit (CPU) power consumption, and the like for the associated resource request and resource request parameters." Consumers often are not sophisticated enough to know the details of a computing system that they need or want. Purchase of a new computer should be due to the fact that the user has increased requirements. Consumers should have easy access to purchasing a new computer system, without the worry of having to know in advance their various options. They need an interactive "client device" that will ask them the pertinent questions needed to provide them with the computing power that they need. Consumers should have easy access to file backup and recovery without the worry of having to understand the complicated details.


According to the voltage VU that occurs at one end of at least one of multiple coils of a fan motor, a back electromotive force detection circuit generates a detection signal BEMFU asserted in a cyclic manner when a fan motor is stably rotating. A lock protection circuit detects a lock state of the fan motor rotor. A period detection unit measures the detection signal BEMFU period. A synchronization pulse generating circuit generates a synchronization pulse having a period that is 1/N (N represents an integer of 2 or more) of that of the detection signal BEMFU measured in a previous cycle. A lock judgment unit counts the synchronization pulse in increments of cycles of the detection signal BEMFU. When the count value exceeds a predetermined threshold value M (M represents an integer of 2 or more) which is greater than N, the lock mode judgment signal is asserted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor driving technique.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, increase in the operation speed of personal computers and workstations has led to rapid increase in the operation speeds of computation LSIs (large Scale Integrated Circuit) such as CPUs (Central Processing Unit), DSPs (Digital Signal Processor), etc. Such LSIs have a problem in that an increase in the operation speed, i.e., an increase in clock frequency involves an increase in heat generation. The heat generation of the LSI leads to thermal runaway of the LSI itself, or affects its peripheral circuits, which becomes a problem. Accordingly, such a situation requires a suitable thermal cooling operation for the LSI, as a crucial technique.
Examples of techniques for cooling an LSI includes an air-cooling cooling method employing a cooling fan. In this method, for example, a cooling fan is arranged such that it faces the surface of the LSI, and cool air is blown onto the surface of the LSI using the cooling fan.
With such a motor that drives such a cooling fan, if the motor locks due to a foreign substance being stuck in the cooling fan, this leads to an excessively large current flowing through a coil or a semiconductor element, which can damage the reliability of the device. In order to solve such a problem, a lock protection circuit is employed, which suspends the supply of electric power to the motor coil when the rotation of the motor stops.
In order to appropriately perform lock protection, there is a need to appropriately judge the motor rotation state. In a case in which the motor has a sensor such as a Hall element, such an arrangement is capable of judging in a sure manner based on the output signal from the sensor whether or not the motor is rotating (Patent document 1).
In contrast, in a case of employing a sensorless motor, such an arrangement cannot use the output signal from such a Hall element. In this case, such an arrangement requires an alternative method. Specifically, with such an arrangement, there is a need to judge the motor lock state based on the voltage (back electromotive force) that occurs across the motor coil.
As a technique for detecting the lock state of a sensorless motor, the present inventor has investigated the following technique (which will be referred to the "comparison technique"). A back electromotive force having a sine waveform occurs across the motor coil according to the rotation of the motor. With the comparison technique, a back electromotive force that occurs across at least one of the coils of the motor is compared with a common voltage of the coil by means of a comparator. When the motor is stably rotating, the back electromotive force thus generated crosses the common voltage in a cyclic manner. Thus, the output signal of the comparator (which will also be referred to as the "back electromotive force detection signal") transits in a cyclic manner. Conversely, if the motor locks, the back electromotive force is not generated. Accordingly, the back electromotive force detection signal is not generated. Thus, with such a comparison technique, a motor lock state can be detected by monitoring the back electromotive force. Specifically, when the back electromotive force detection signal is not asserted, judgment is made that a motor lock state has occurred. Related techniques are described in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2005-6405, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-234130.
Examples of control methods widely employed for a three-phase brushless motor include a 120-degree conduction system and a 180-degree conduction system (sine wave driving). The 120-degree conduction system has an advantage of allowing the control operation to be performed in a simple manner. As a tradeoff problem, such a 120-degree conduction system has a disadvantage in that noise and vibration are likely to occur as compared with the 180-degree conduction system. In contrast, the 180-degree conduction system has an advantage of low noise and low vibration, and an advantage of high efficiency. However, once the control operation goes out of synchronization, the system goes out of control. In order to solve such a problem, the 180-degree conduction system requires a complicated control method, as compared with the 120-degree conduction system.

Driving apparatus for sensorless fan motor


A tiered distribution service is provided in a content delivery network (CDN) having a set of surrogate origin (namely, “edge”) servers organized into regions and that provide content delivery on behalf of participating content providers, wherein a given content provider operates an origin server. According to the invention, a cache hierarchy is established in the CDN comprising a given edge server region and either (a) a single parent region, or (b) a subset of the edge server regions. In response to a determination that a given object request cannot be serviced in the given edge region, instead of contacting the origin server, the request is provided to either the single parent region or to a given one of the subset of edge server regions for handling, preferably as a function of metadata associated with the given object request. The given object request is then serviced, if possible, by a given CDN server in either the single parent region or the given subset region. The original request is only forwarded on to the origin server if the request cannot be serviced by an intermediate node.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to techniques for reducing traffic to origin servers for very popular and large, potentially flash-popular objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well-known to deliver digital content (e.g., HTTP content, streaming media and applications) using an Internet content delivery network (CDN). A CDN is a network of geographically-distributed content delivery nodes that are arranged for efficient delivery of content on behalf of third party content providers. Typically, a CDN is implemented as a combination of a content delivery infrastructure, a request-routing mechanism, and a distribution infrastructure. The content delivery infrastructure usually comprises a set of "surrogate" origin servers that are located at strategic locations (e.g., Internet network access points, Internet Points of Presence, and the like) for delivering content to requesting end users. The request-routing mechanism allocates servers in the content delivery infrastructure to requesting clients in a way that, for web content delivery, minimizes a given client's response time and, for streaming media delivery, provides for the highest quality. The distribution infrastructure consists of on-demand or push-based mechanisms that move content from the origin server to the surrogates. An effective CDN serves frequently-accessed content from a surrogate that is optimal for a given requesting client. In a typical CDN, a single service provider operates the request-routers, the surrogates, and the content distributors. In addition, that service provider establishes business relationships with content publishers and acts on behalf of their origin server sites to provide a distributed delivery system. A well-known commercial CDN service that provides web content and media streaming is provided by Akamai Technologies, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.
It is desirable to reduce wide-area network bandwidth and the load on a content provider's origin server as much as possible. To this end, the prior art has proposed a hierarchical proxy cache architecture wherein caches resolve misses through other caches higher in a hierarchy. This architecture is described, for example, in a paper titled A Hierarchical Internet Object Cache, to Danzig et al., 1996 USENIX Technical Conference, Jan. 22–26, 1996, San Diego, Calif. In this approach, each cache in the hierarchy independently decides whether to fetch a requested reference from the object's home site or from its parent or sibling caches using a resolution protocol. According to the protocol, if the URL identifying the reference contains any of a configurable list of substrings, then the object is fetched directly from the object's home, rather than through the cache hierarchy. This feature is used to force the cache to resolve non-cacheable URLs and local URLs directly from the object's home. If the URL's domain name matches a configurable list of substrings, then the object is resolved through the particular parent bound to that domain. Otherwise, when a cache receives a request for a URL that misses, the cache performs a remote call to all of its siblings and parents, checking if the URL hits any sibling or parent. The cache then retrieves the object from the site with the lowest measured latency.
While the cache hierarchy described in the above-identified publication provides benefits in the form of reduced access latency to the home site, the scheme is overly complex and costly (in terms of network bandwidth) due to the requirement of measuring latency between the cache and all of its siblings and parents upon a cache miss.

Method and system for tiered distribution in a content delivery network


An apparatus for imparting soft hand to a fabric in web form, especially printed knits and non-wovens, by mechanically introducing localized tension in the web. The web is preferably advanced in continuous rubbing engagement with one or more contact members that can be pairs of nip rollers and/or breaker bars. Nip roller pairs include one knobbed roller deformably engaging a soft roller with the web passing therebetween. Breaker bars can have straight, serrated or curvilinear edges and the web can be passed over or under the breaker bars. Various combinations of nip roller pairs and breaker bars are provided for and a variable drive is employed.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for softening a web material by exerting local tensions at predetermined situses on the web.
Certain types of web materials such as non-wovens and printed knit fabrics generally have a harsh hand or feel. Manufacturers and finishers of these fabrics have tried to soften the fabric and improve its drape by applying chemical treatments, compacting and sometimes washing the web following same by relaxed drying. Chemical treatment is expensive and requires application apparatus plus drying equipment. Compacting increases weight of the material and also its cost. Washing and drying also are expensive.
Printed woven fabrics have been and still are softened by applying longitudinal tension while at the same time passing the material in contact with several rollers that have a button head surface. This procedure causes application of added extreme tension on the material as the buttons protrude into and stretch the fabric to break its printed pigment surface to thereby end up with a softer fabric. A machine of this type is referred to in the art as a Button Breaker. While a Button Breaker works reasonably well on woven fabrics, it distorts other materials such as knits and non-wovens to a degree that substantially destroys them. Usually imposing longitudinal tension on a knitted fabric stretches the fabric and curls or rolls its edges making the fabric undesirable for use.

Apparatus for softening a fabric web material


A gear device includes an eccentric cam rotatably formed and including a support portion arranged eccentrically relative to a rotational axis center of the eccentric cam, an internally toothed gear provided coaxially to the eccentric cam, an externally toothed gear supported by the support portion and engaged with the internally toothed gear, an output portion integrally coaxially rotating with the externally toothed gear, and a bearing portion supporting the output portion in a state where an axis line of the output portion and the externally toothed gear slants relative to the rotational axis center of the eccentric cam in a manner crossing the rotational axis center. Each of the internally toothed gear and the externally toothed gear includes a bevel gear portion which is formed by forming gear teeth on a circular cone whose apex overlaps with an intersection point of the axis line and the rotational axis center.

A known gear device includes an eccentric cam having a support portion which is eccentrically arranged relative to a rotational axis and rotatably actuated, an internally toothed gear provided coaxially with the eccentric cam, and an externally toothed gear supported by the eccentric cam and meshed with the internally toothed gear.
For example, JPH05-26304A (hereinafter referred to as Patent reference 1) discloses a construction in which an output shaft is connected to an externally toothed gear via an Oldham's coupling. By fixing the internally toothed gear, according to the construction disclosed in Patent reference 1, a rotation of the eccentric cam can be reduced on the basis of a difference of the number of teeth between the internally toothed gear and the externally toothed gear and outputted.
Notwithstanding, whereas a speed reducer which is downsized and having high speed reduction ratio can be provided by adopting the foregoing construction, there is a drawback that the construction is assumed to be complex by the application of the Oldham's coupling. Further, because the speed reducer attains the high speed reduction ratio, the large load is applied between the meshed gear teeth. Thus, in order to transmit a high torque, face widths (lengths along tooth trace) of the internally toothed gear and the externally toothed gear need to be extended to increase the meshing dimension between the meshed gear teeth. The axial dimension, or axial length is assumed to be long according to the foregoing construction, which leaves room for improvement.
A need thus exists for a gear device which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.


A sample analyzer according to an embodiment includes a magnetic field applier configured to apply a magnetic field to a cartridge containing a sample and magnetic particles which bond an object to be detected in the sample; a measurer configured to measure the magnetic particles in the cartridge; and an analyzing processor configured to analyze and process a result of a measurement by the measurer. In addition, the magnetic field applier includes an electromagnet disposed on a first side of the cartridge; a magnetic member configured to be magnetized by the electromagnet; and a moving actuator configured to move the magnetic member.

Many hospitals are using sample analyzers that detect an object to be detected such as a very low amount of virus or living substance to enable early diagnosis of an infectious disease, for example. Such a sample analyzer includes a cartridge housing a sample containing an object to be detected and magnetic particles that are able to be specifically bonded with the object to be detected, for example, and counts the number of magnetic particles caught in a sensor area in the cartridge in order to highly sensitively detect and quantify the object to be detected contained in the sample.
In such a case, the sample analyzer may include an imager or an optical measurer as a measurer for measuring the object to be detected caught on the sensor area, thereby counting the number of magnetic particles. The arrangement of the measurer and a magnetic field applier needs to be carefully determined so that the magnetic field applier does not obstruct the measurer when the measurer measures the magnetic particles on the sensor area in the cartridge.


The present invention relates to a food fryer. The food frying apparatus generally comprises two sections: a frying section and an oil removal section. The frying section houses and/or heats oil for frying the food, and the oil removal section is operable to reduce the oil content of the food. Exemplary embodiments of the invention comprise a basket well that is configured to be movable between a cooking section and a spinning section. The basket well may be configured to comprise a bearing surface and a basket well gear. The fryer device may further comprise a frame that comprise a bearing configured to interface with the bearing surface. Further, the fryer device may comprise a rotational motor that comprises a spinning gear configured to interface with the basket well gear. The fryer device may also comprise a drawer configured to be slidably removable from the fryer device. The fryer device may also comprise a retrofit fryer device configured to be adaptable to pre-existing fryer devices. In other embodiments, the fryer device may be configured to be operated at least in part by a processor, and the processor may receive instructions from a storage medium. Various aspects of the fryer device are configured to be automatically controlled.

A popular method of cooking many food items is to fry or deep fry them. A brief list of foods that may be deep fried include french fries, potato chips, chicken, pork, beef, candy bars, ice cream, etc. Many other types of food are amenable to deep frying. Deep frying generally involves immersing the food item in a high-temperature, fat-based solution, such as cooking oil (e.g., canola oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil, olive oil, liquefied shortening etc.) until the food is cooked.
While fried foods have a certain appeal due to the particular taste and texture imparted to foods that are deep fried, such fried foods have some undesirable characteristics. For example, immersing foods in cooking oil results in additional fat being introduced into the food, and this fat is not generally beneficial to the person consuming the food. Furthermore, conventional deep frying methods generally do not attempt to remove this added fat. The added fat that is consumed with fried foods raises health concerns because a high level of fat in one's diet is generally not recommended for good health and nutrition. High quantities of saturated and trans fats such as those found in fried foods have been linked to adverse medical conditions.
Thus, some attempts have been made to remove fat from fried foods prior to serving the foods. These attempts, however, require some intervening process between the time the food is removed from the high-temperature oil and the time when the food is served to a consumer. The longer the time between removal from the oil and service to the consumer, the cooler the fried food becomes. As the fried food cools, the freshness and desirability of the fried food decreases at least in part to the change in texture of the fried food because of oil absorption. For example, when french fries begin to cool after being removed from the cooking oil, the outside of the french fries cools more rapidly than the inside. This difference in cooling rates between the outside and inside results in the oil soaking in and collecting in the center of the french fries, which results in soggy french fries containing excess oil. Studies of fried foods have shown that as much as eighty percent of the oil absorbed by the fried food is absorbed during this cooling process.
The prior art has attempted to introduce various means of removing oil from newly fried foods. For example, some prior art discloses the use of centrifuges and ultrasonic energy, sometimes in tandem to remove oil from fried foods. In the case of centrifuges, the prior art generally utilizes a center post or column to serve as the axis for the spinning cycle of the fryer. In some instances the center post is solid, while in other instances, the center post is hollow to allow for a drive shaft to be installed which shaft will spin the food basket when it is in the upper spin position. One issue with the utilization of a center shaft is that it generally requires a perforation of the vessel contain the frying oil and therefore may be prone to leakage of hot oils over time. In addition, such a center post structure may focus vibratory energy from the center post into the machine itself. Center posts also may cause issues with retrofitting of existing fryer vessels and maintenance of the equipment.


A combined air filter and diffuser for attachment beneath an air discharge duct discharging blown air into a room of a building. The air filter is configured to abut and be flushly mounted to the ceiling immediately below the duct. The filter has a housing including a track disposed to receive a flat air filter element so that the filter element lies horizontally proximate the ceiling. The housing has a slidably removable closure exposing the filter element for removal, which is accomplished by sliding the filter element horizontally from the housing. The housing includes a diffuser having pivotally mounted fins disposed immediately below the filter element. The housing mounts to the ceiling by receiving fasteners through small opening formed in an upper, horizontal wall of the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to appliances containing fans, and more particularly to those having downdraft discharge of air located below a motor or bearing, as is typical of residential downdraft evaporative coolers. The fan containing appliance is improved by the present invention by incorporation of a drip catcher in the form of a filter for trapping and retaining oil droplets which may escape the fan motor or shaft bearings over time. In the absence of the filter, oil droplets could be propelled into the space being ventilated or conditioned by the appliance. Any building having a fan utilizing downdraft discharge may benefit from the invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many air moving or conditioning appliances, such as evaporative coolers having downward air discharge generated by powered fans, are burdened with a potential drawback in that if a motor or bearing pillow block leaks oil, the leaking oil will enter the stream of air propelled by the appliance. This oil is susceptible to being blown into fine droplets and widely dispersed by air discharged from the appliance. Such an occurrence could readily contaminate environmental surfaces, architectural finishing materials, and objects contained within the room or living space into which the downdraft current flows.
Air conditioning devices such as evaporative coolers intended to be incorporated into buildings are frequently arranged to direct discharged air downwardly into residential, commercial, and industrial premises. As motorized mechanical equipment wears with use, likelihood of bearing failure increases. It would be desirable to provide a replaceable protective barrier such as a filter which would trap and retain both ordinary airborne contaminants, such as dust, as well as oil droplets entering the stream of discharged air as a consequence of bearing failure, in combination with a diffuser for diffusing the stream of discharged air as it enters the building space being conditioned.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,936, issued to Wendell J. Lough et al. on Nov. 27, 1979, describes a diffuser incorporating a replaceable filter. However, unlike the present invention, the filter of the diffuser of Lough et al. is vertically oriented, and would not be readily replaced by sliding into place from below without removing or significantly opening the diffuser. By contrast, the filter of the present invention is readily replaceable by sliding horizontally into and out of place. Also, Lough et al. lacks pivotally mounted air directing fins, as seen in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,808,777, issued to Gebhard Max Neumann et al. on May 7, 1974, 4,088,463, issued to Irwin M. Smith on May 9, 1978, and 4,976,757, issued to Martin C. Helmus on Dec. 11, 1990, all describe filters mounted above ceilings of clean rooms. These devices are characterized in that removal of a filter element horizontally from the device in the manner of the present invention is not possible. In a second departure from the present invention, these devices lack diffusers located beneath a horizontally oriented filter, for redirecting discharged air from a vertical, downward direction.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

Diffusing filter for downdraft air moving appliances


An underwater motive device provides an integrated front cone and handle assembly with a mechanical link between the front cone and handle assembly to the main body of the unit which includes the battery compartment, motor, propeller and guard. The sealing between the cone and handle assembly and main body is accomplished by a double annular projecting seal having a rear ribbed portion extending deep into a slot in the main unit, and a forward more rounded ribbed unit which provides sealing in a front cone and handle assembly chamber. A battery cassette is provided for loading a number of commercially available flash light type cyclindrical cells, the battery cassette having an uneven pentagonal cross section so that it is inserted into a matching uneven pengagonal cross section within the main unit, but only where the battery cassette is of the proper orientation. The battery cassette also has a female plug which mates with a male plug extending from the rear of the battery cassette matching space within an opening in the main housing. A mechanical link enables handles located on the forward nose cone to mechanically communicate with a switch on the inside of the main housing through a flexible membrane on the seal.

Powered underwater motive devices have been known since the 1950's. Most of those earlier devices were metal and were built like small submarines. Access was had through hatches which had to be securely bolted or clamped in order to resist taking on water at depth. Water is harmful to both motors and batteries and must be sealed out. As a result, the underwater motive devices were large, bulky and designed with a mind to limit outside access to limit the sealing areas provided for service access.
Recent improvements in underwater motive devices have related to the safety of operation, including a slight delay in starting to prevent inadvertent operation. In addition, sealed chambers have been introduced to keep water out of the battery and motor compartments.
However, for small motive devices, providing an integral housing complete with sealing of the battery and motor compartment has proved difficult for users to easily access the battery and motor compartment. The only alternative to a strong seal was unacceptable as a weaker seal would cause the taking of the device to depth to result in cyclical pressure leakage. Where the device is used in salt water, even the slightest leakage can be disastrous.
Seals achieve their integrity by resilient sealing force and area. Both force and area contribute to the necessity for high force of replacement and removal. In a prior underwater motive device, air pressure and a pump were utilized to provide internal assist pressure to unseal the battery and motive compartments. Battery exchange required some setup and interconnectivity time.
In another underwater motive device, a cam system is used to provide significant sealing and un-sealing force. In underwater motive devices which are more oblong, the placement of battery, actuaction switch, sealing member, motor and the like can be arranged in a more orderly fashion. Further, where an underwater motive device is of a larger variety, it is expected that a larger more specialized battery will be supplied and which will have a longer residence time. Further, longer, more powerful devices will achieve greater depth for longer periods of time and the ability to seal out high pressure is paramount.
Where a power supply, typically a battery is to be used, the design of underwater motive devices can generally allow sealing to be accomplished most effectively during manufacturing, but not around the battery. Batteries for such service should be sealed to the extent possible but most are not made for pressurized submersion for any period of time. Any water leakage and especially salt water leakage can ruin a battery. Where an underwater motive device has a larger power supply a larger and more expensive battery is at risk. Further, as the assembly of the underwater motive device is large, larger seals and more complex battery and battery connection arrangements have to be made. For smaller underwater motive devices, there are significant problems associated with the placement of the handles, operating switch, motor and accommodating battery change out.
Another problem for underwater motive devices is the sophistication and time required in battery changeout. For professional divers, a larger more expensive unit which is capable of longer operation is required. Because commercial divers are paid a high hourly contract rate, the equipment used will be dictated by minimizing battery changeout and maintenance time. Underwater motive devices have generally not been available to more economically minded swimmers and skin divers.
Any more simplistic underwater motive device should be more available based upon both cost and operability. To expand the useage of the underwater motive device, younger and weaker users should be able to operate a much more inexpensive device. The aspects to be overcome are cost, ability to access the battery department and the ability to operate from batteries which are less specialized and more common, as well as lowering the sophistication of the individuals who can maintain and operate the underwater motive device.

Easy access power supply underwater motive device


The present invention relates to a hollow bullet for a light weapon which comprises within said hollow: (a) At least one proximity sensor at the front portion of the bullet for sensing an object, and for providing a sensing indication of a proximity object to a control unit;—A control unit for providing a detonation signal to an explosive charge within the bullet upon receipt of said proximity indication;—and An explosive charge for detonating upon receipt of said detonation signal from said control unit.

Light weapons, which are used against human beings, have been widely used for many years now. There are known a variety of ammunition for light weapons, such as: conventional bullets, tracing bullets that are mostly used under dark conditions, hollow point bullets that explode upon impact, hand grenades, shells, etc.
Hereinafter, when the terms "gun" or "rifle" are used, if not otherwise specifically stated, these should be understood as relating to any type of light weapon, such as a pistol, shotgun, hunting weapons, machine gun, automatic rifle, submachine gun, etc.
When shooting a bullet of any type with a rifle, very accurate aim is required in order to damage the target, as the bullet generally does not include any charge. If the bullet misses the target, the target suffers no damage. Even when the bullet hits an object proximate to the target, the damage to the target is in most cases minor. The ricochets that a bullet can cause are generally small in size, and without most of the energy of the impact, the resulting damage to the target is small. Therefore, whoever wants to escape from a direct hit by such a bullet has to seek protection behind a strong and solid object. In such a case, if the bullet cannot penetrate this solid object, or event when it penetrates but loses most of its energy, the target generally escapes significant damage.
The art has failed to provide means for a light weapon firing a bullet to hit a target hidden behind a strong and solid object. The only solution that the art has provided to that problem is the firing of a hand grenade, or a heavier projectile containing explosive charge by means of a heavier weapon. Moreover, no solution has been provided yet by the art for the case in which the bullet passes very close to the target, but misses it.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a bullet for a light weapon, which can cause significant damage to a target, even without directly hitting it.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a bullet that can damage a target hidden behind a strong and solid object.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide said bullet with no change to the structure of the cartridge or the firing weapon.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent when the description proceeds.

Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd.


Communication devices configured to assist hearing-impaired users and related methods are disclosed that synchronize unclean data records of a local database with a remote database of a backend server. Communication elements are configured to receive audio signals from a far end communication device, and to receive text captions corresponding to the audio signals from a relay service for display by the communication device during a call. The memory device stores a local database of data records for the communication device. Each data record has at least one flag associated therewith indicating whether the data record is involved in a modification to the local database by the hearing-impaired user. The processor is configured to synchronize unclean data records from the local database with a remote server associated with the relay service responsive to querying flags in the local database that indicate data records that are unclean.

Hearing-impaired individuals may benefit from communication systems and devices configured to provide assistance in order to communicate with other individuals over a communication network. For example, relay services have been established to provide assistive services (e.g., text captions) to the hearing-impaired user communicating with a communication device (e.g., caption phone, caption enabled device, etc.) that is specifically configured to communicate with the relay service.
In particular, a relay service may be a telecommunication intermediary service, which is intended to permit a deaf or a hearing-impaired person to utilize a normal telephone network. The relay service may include an operator, referred to as a "call assistant," who serves as a human intermediary between the hearing-impaired user and a far-end user. During a captioning communication session, the call assistant may listen to the audio signal of a far-end user and "revoice" the words of the far-end user to a speech recognition computer program tuned to the voice of the call assistant. A text caption (also referred to as a "caption") may be generated by the speech recognition computer as a transcription of the audio signal of the far-end user, and then transmitted to the communication device being used by the hearing-impaired user. The communication device may then display the text caption while the hearing-impaired user carries on a normal conversation with the far-end user. The text caption may allow the hearing-impaired user to supplement the voice received from the far-end and confirm his or her understanding of the words spoken by the far-end user.
Such communication devices manage information locally that is also stored remotely, such as contact information and configuration settings. Conventionally, in order to encourage users to be connected to the network and the relay service, modifying the local data was only permitted when there was a network connection to the relay service so that synchronization occurred at the same time as the modification. However, users sometimes had difficulty making modifications at times when the network connection was unreliable (e.g., particularly when used with a wireless network), which caused the modifications to be lost locally.

Communication device and related methods for offline data record modification and synchronization with a backend server associated with a relay service for hearing-impaired users


A method for the concurrent ultrasonic inspection of partially completed welds is disclosed and which includes providing a pair of transducers which are individually positioned on the opposite sides of a partially completed weld to be inspected; moving the transducers along the length of and laterally inwardly and outwardly relative to the partially completed weld; pulsing the respective transducers to produce an ultrasonic signal which passes through or is reflected from the partially completed weld; receiving from the respective transducers ultrasonic signals which pass through or are reflected from the partially completed welds; and analyzing the ultrasonic signal which has passed through or is reflected from the partially completed weld to determine the presence of any weld defects.

The present invention relates to a method which facilitates the concurrent non-destructive evaluation of partially completed welds.
Thick sectional welds are usually made in several passes. In this regard, it should be understood that the area between two adjacent parts to be joined is filled up a portion at a time. In testing of such thick sectional welds, ultrasonic sensors and other non-destructive evaluation methods are often used to inspect same. However, under most operational circumstances, these inspections have been done heretofore at some time period after the welding has been completed and the weld has cooled down. It has long been known that when welding defects are detected on a pass-by-pass basis, they can be easily repaired before being covered by the welding material laid down by subsequent welding passes. Thus, for example, a defect in the root pass can be repaired easily and economically without grinding out all the welding metal from the later passes. This welding method contrasts with inspecting a completed weld because a significant amount of weld material may have to be subsequently removed to reach the welding defect. Still further, and as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,722, a significant economic and productivity advantage can be obtained if welding flaws can be substantially concurrently detected and repaired on a pass-by-pass basis.
As noted further in our application Ser. No. 09/583,632 from which we claim priority, it has been discovered that for inspection of welds to be accurate, the movement of ultrasonic sensors must be synchronized within small tolerance parameters.
In view of the foregoing, it would be highly desirable to provide a method for the concurrent ultrasonic inspection of partially completed welds which achieves the benefits to be derived from the aforementioned technology but which avoids the detriments individually associated therewith.
Therefore, one aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved method for the concurrent ultrasonic inspection of partially completed welds.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for the concurrent ultrasonic inspection of partially completed welds which includes the steps of providing a pair of transducers which are individually positioned on the opposite sides of a partially completed weld to be inspected; moving the transducers along the length of and laterally inwardly and outwardly relative to the partially completed weld; pulsing the respective transducers to produce an ultrasonic signal which passes through or is reflected from the partially completed weld; receiving from the respective transducers ultrasonic signals which pass through or are reflected from the partially completed weld; and analyzing the ultrasonic signal which is passed through or is reflected from the partially completed weld to determine the presence of any weld defects.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for the concurrent ultrasonic inspection of partially completed welds which includes providing a pair of transducers which are individually positioned on the opposite sides of a partially completed weld which is to be inspected; providing a pair of motors which are individually disposed in driving relation relative to each of the transducers; providing a controlling computer having executable programming for selectively controlling the movement of each of the motors; energizing the respective motors with a controlling computer to cause the respective transducers to travel in a predetermined synchronous pattern of motion; pulsing the respective transducers with a controlling computer to produce an ultrasonic signal which is reflected from or which passes through the weld which is being inspected while the transducers are being moved in the predetermined synchronous pattern of motion; and analyzing the ultrasonic signal which is reflected from or which passes through the partially completed weld by the controlling computer to determine the presence of any weld defects.
Still further, another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for the concurrent ultrasonic inspection of partially completed welds wherein the method employs a controlling computer which includes a pair of pulser/receivers which are controlled by the controlling computer, and which are individually electrically coupled with each of the transducers; an analog to digital converter controlled by the controlling computer and which receives the ultrasonic signal which passes through or is reflected from the partially completed weld being inspected; and an analog and digital input/output assembly controlled by the controlling computer and which is coupled in signal transmitting relation relative to the pair of pulser/receivers and which generates a signal causing the pair of pulser/receivers to produce a pulse, and wherein the signal further causes the analog and digital converter to receive the ultrasonic signal.
Still another aspect of the present invention relates to a method for the concurrent ultrasonic inspection of partially completed welds wherein the controlling computer energizes each of the motors in a manner to cause the substantially synchronous movement of each of the transducers along a predetermined path of travel.
Yet still further, another aspect of the present invention relates to a method for the concurrent ultrasonic inspection of partially completed welds wherein the computer, having executable programming, coordinates the pulsing of the respective transducers during the movement of the respective transducers along the path of travel, and wherein, the controlling computer determines the predetermined locations.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for the concurrent ultrasonic inspection of partially completed welds wherein the step of analyzing the ultrasonic signal occurs following the completion of the movement of the respective transducers.
These and other aspects of the present invention will be discussed hereinafter.

Method for the concurrent ultrasonic inspection of partially completed welds


An auto-focus camera performs a focusing and a photometry when a shutter button is half depressed in an auto-focus mode. In this case, when an MF button is depressed, a result value of the focusing is held as long as the MF button is depressed even if the shutter button is released. When the shutter button is depressed again, only the photometry is performed. On the other hand, when the MF button is depressed in a manual focus mode, an object distance can be set by an UP/DOWN dial which is also used for setting various kinds of photographing items. The MF button is used for maintaining an AF lock, and is used for instructing the setting of the object distance in the manual-focus mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an auto-focus camera, and more particularly to an auto-focus camera which has a manual focus mode for a manual focusing and an auto-focus mode for an automatic focusing, and which has an AF lock function holding a focusing value for focusing by an auto-focus (AF) mechanism in the auto-focus mode and an AE lock function holding a photometry value for controlling an automatic exposure (AE) mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional camera is provided with an AF lock function and an AE lock function for preparing for the photographing when the shutter button is half depressed, and for performing the photographing when the shutter button is depressed completely. That is, when the shutter button is half depressed, a subject distance is measured by an auto-focus (AF) function, and a focusing is performed based on the result (a focusing value). A subject brightness is measured by an automatic exposure (AE) function, and a stop value and a shutter speed are set based on the result (a photometry value) (exposure setting). When the shutter button is depressed completely, the stop value and the shutter speed are controlled (exposure control), so that the shutter can be released. In the above-described camera, the focusing value and the photometry value when the shutter button is half depressed are held (AF lock and AE lock) while the shutter button is being half depressed. For example, if the photographing is performed in such a state that the focus point and the exposure are adjusted to a subject outside a focus area, the following processes are executed.
First, a photographing direction of the camera is directed to a subject, which is desired to be focused. Then the shutter button is half depressed, and the focus point is set to the subject. The camera is turned in a desired photographing direction while the shutter button is being half depressed, and then the shutter button is depressed completely. As a result, the photographing can be performed in such a state that the focus point and the exposure are set to the subject outside the focus area.
However, if the photographing is performed in such a state that the subject outside the focus area is focused as mentioned above, the exposure is adjusted to the subject outside the focus area. Therefore, there is a disadvantage in that the exposure is not correct if the subject brightness in photographing is different from the subject brightness in focusing.
Moreover, in the sequential photographing in the auto-focus mode, the focusing is performed every time the shutter button is half depressed. So, there is a disadvantage in that it takes much time until the shutter is released; therefore, the perfect moment for a good picture is missed. The subject distance hardly changes in the case of the sequential photographing. So, a camera, which can selectively fix a focus point once the focusing is performed, and control the exposure only so that the shutter speed can be faster, is desired.
Furthermore, as the functions of the camera increase, the set items of the photographing conditions increase. It is difficult to provide a switch, which sets the photographing conditions, in a limited space in a camera. Thus, it is hoped that one switch is used for setting the photographing conditions, so that the number of switches can be reduced.


A system and associated aspects thereof are disclosed regarding custom-compounding of drug products such as pills and polypills for particular patients, herein involving adaptations of “micro-dosing” technology to permit sufficiently small and precise amounts of drug substances or optionally formulations thereof to be controllably and automatably handled and dispensed so as to help create customized drug products that do not necessitate bulking or dilution of the drug substances.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art - especially the selection, emphasis, and combination of and commentary on matters discussed. Separate and distinct topics addressed for background in this section include: 1) the traditional and current practice of pharmaceutical "compounding," 2) benefits and challenges of combination drugs or "polypills," whether manufactured or compounded, 3) "inkjet" based dispensing approaches for customizing drug oral dosage forms, and 4) current "micro-dosing" technologies for expediting manufacturability of pills for clinical trials.
Pharmaceutical "compounding" is when a pharmacist prepares medication uniquely for a particular patient, based on a physician's prescription. Before the prevalence of mass-produced drugs, this was a very common practice, but now it has largely been relegated to special cases where a mass-produced version of a drug is either unavailable or unsuitable for a patient. Provided that each compounded medication is uniquely prepared for an individual patient pursuant to a physician's order, compounding generally falls outside the jurisdiction of the FDA and instead within the regulation of the practice of Pharmacy under relevant state law. This line is not always clear, but there is strong general support for maintaining the flexibility needed to personalize medication at the pharmacy level and likewise not unduly bias physicians towards prescribing mass-produced products or dosage levels. But if the "compounding" is not for just one patient/customer but prepared in anticipation of multiple similar prescriptions, it may cross the line into "manufacturing" —and thus subject to such regulations.
Most compounding is either manual or partially-automated with the help of certain tools or equipment. So-called Automated Compounding Devices (ACDs), having full automation, exist at this time only for parenteral/intravenous (I.V.) medications, which are prepared as comparatively high-volume liquid solutions administered from bags (typically in a hospital). There is a noteworthy distinction between "reconstitution" which is performed according to a manufacturer's instruction versus "compounding" which is performed according to a doctor's prescription. Compounding of solid oral dosage forms is relatively rare today for several reasons, including the time and skill involved compared to the relative logistical ease of using mass-produced products instead.
"Polypills" or "combopills" are pills (capsules or tablets) containing multiple medications, manufactured to have combinations and dosages that would get prescribed together. For example, one particular "5-in-1 polypill" is targeted for heart-disease patients and it contains three blood pressure medications, a cholesterol reducer, and aspirin. Polypills are not presently common - especially for more than two drugs - partly because each permutation of drugs and dosages to be marketed must first be developed (including blends with appropriate inactive ingredients), trialed (for a suitable population), FDA-approved, manufactured, and stocked. To be worthwhile for a drug manufacturer, a particular drug/dosage permutation would need to prove suitable for a large number of people. Hence, manufactured polypills lack much personalizability. (In fact, even single-drug pills typically have very limited dosage options.) Alternatively, personalized polypills are possible via custom-compounding by a pharmacist, but very few pharmacies offer such service as it requires significant skill and time and current means have various challenges (e.g. precision, waste, etc.). Hence, combopills/polypills are simply not utilized much today, despite their potential to aid with the prevalent phenomenon of polypharmacy.
Much research has been done over many years on the potential to use inkjet printing based technologies for producing oral drug dosage forms, which may have applicability for facilitating patient-customized pills or polypills, including with customized formulations; Hewlett-Packard has published and patented significantly on inkjet-related approaches (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,962,715, 7,727,576, and 7,707,964), which can offer precision and accuracy for spraying or jetting liquid drops of fluid API-in-solution onto an ingestible substrate such as a sheet or film, as well as for facilitating layer-by-layer deposition of powder substances (which is useful in making controlled-release tablets, via binding agents for "3-dimensional printing." Ink-jet principles have also been adapted for dispensing liquid drugs into vials, or onto porous tablet substrates. All such ideas have been suggested to offer benefits for R&D, mass production, and customized dosage forms -including for multiple drugs. However, their dispensation is restricted to liquids, and to work with capsules they require an intermediary substrate.
In another development which is wholly unrelated to compounding or polypills, there have emerged some technologies to aid the manufacturability of new drugs for clinical trials. To manufacture drug capsules for clinical trial patients, traditionally this had required a choice between either developing a formulation with appropriate excipient(s) to permit automated manufacture (which was not precise enough to accurately handle raw drug substance without bulking), or else manually weighing the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for each capsule (requiring much time and skill, especially for potent substances). In recent years, certain manufacturing equipment has solved this dilemma and thus expedited many candidate drugs' manufacturability.
In order to allow automated manufacture without needing to develop a formulation, certain capsule filling machines have been developed which possess ability for "micro-dosing" very small amounts of powder with great precision, speed, and reliability. These are utilized to place raw API directly into capsules, in order to postpone the need to develop blends until initial studies can be done. This can save several months of delays before trials, thereby allowing failures to occur faster and with less sunk-cost. Simple formulations or select excipients can be included as well when desired, which may still involve significantly less mass than would otherwise be needed without micro-dosing. The most successful of such systems have used a "pepper-shaker" means (e.g. U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 11,571,169 and 12,035,037).
For example, the "Xcelodose" line of products by Capsugel can produce "API only" capsules - thus enabling sooner human trials without needing to first develop a formulation or perform compatibility or preformulation studies. Precise "micro-dosing" or "micro-filling" can be accurate to 100 micrograms-being of API directly, or in simple formulation (if preferred), or after treatment such as bulk densification or compaction (which may occasionally be needed), with minimal waste/attrition owing partly to the lack of a powder bed. Sometimes pre-processing steps (e.g. milling) may enhance performance but are not typically needed; other optional features for potential enhancement can include humidity control or thin metal prongs/baffles to minimize agglomeration. Also, capsule type/size and powder properties can vary significantly. Other systems featuring similar capability, using significantly different technological means, are available from other companies: Mettler-Toledo has the "Quantos" and Symyx has the "Powdernium," which employ other precision-dispensing mechanisms. Known usage and exploitation of all such capabilities has only extended to research and development (R&D) applications & clinical trial product manufacturing-and only for single-drug products.

Custom-pill compounding system with filler-free capability


In a hybrid vehicle, once an engine is started in response to prohibition of an operation stop of the engine based on a deterioration factor, the operation stop of the engine is not allowed irrespective of the value of the deterioration factor D until elapse of a certain time period since the start of the engine. The deterioration factor has an increase according to discharge of a battery and a decrease according to charge of the battery and represents start of deterioration of the battery when exceeding a specific reference value. Such prohibition of the engine operation stop prevents a stop of the engine within a relatively short time period after a start of the engine based on the deterioration factor. This arrangement effectively prevents the driver from feeling odd and uncomfortable due to frequent stops and starts of the engine based on the deterioration factor, which is not apparently correlated to the driver's accelerating operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power output apparatus, a vehicle equipped with the power output apparatus, a driving system, and a control method of the power output apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a power output apparatus for a hybrid vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine and a driving motor arranged to output a driving power and with a motor arranged to crank and start the internal combustion engine, one proposed technique computes a battery output demand based on a drive point of the internal combustion engine and a torque command of the driving motor, which are set corresponding to an output demand for a driveshaft. When the output demand exceeds a rated power of a battery, the proposed technique corrects the torque command of the driving motor to keep the output demand at or below an instantaneous output set based on the state of charge of the battery and a battery temperature (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-058113). The power output apparatus of this prior art technique controls the internal combustion engine and the driving motor to operate the internal combustion engine at the set drive point and operate the driving motor with the set or corrected torque command during only an allowable output time. Compared with a system of restricting the output limit of the battery to its rated power, this proposed technique ensures sufficient exertion of the battery performance and allows size reduction of the battery and the whole power output apparatus.
The battery adopted for an accumulator of the power output apparatus generally has a lower limit voltage in a specific voltage range that ensures sufficient battery performance without deterioration. Some type of the battery may start deterioration by continuous discharge at a high current level even when the output voltage has not yet reached the lower limit voltage. In the power output apparatus equipped with such a battery, there is a potential that continuous discharge of the battery at a high current level may cause a start of deterioration of the battery in the course of power output from only the driving motor with the operation of the internal combustion engine stopped. It is thus desirable to start the operation of the internal combustion engine according to the state of the battery. There is, however, a conflicting requirement for the improved fuel consumption in the power output apparatus. It is thus required to balance protection of the battery with improvement of the fuel consumption.

Power output apparatus, vehicle equipped with power output apparatus, driving system, and control method of power output apparatus


A method of acidizing a subterranean formation with an acqueous acid solution wherein the acid solution contains corrosion inhibiting amounts of an amine derivative prepared by reacting an unsaturated carboxylic acid with (a) fatty amine or polyamine, or (b) a fatty amido amine or polyamine, or (c) a fatty imidazoline amine or polyamine. The derivative is characterized by the absence of primary amino groups, and preferably contains only tertiary amino groups.

The present invention relates to the use of compounds and compositions as corrosion inhibitors in situations where they may come into contact with the natural environment e.g. by discharge of produced water, and to a method of inhibiting corrosion using these materials. In one preferred aspect, the present invention relates to the use of a nontoxic corrosion inhibitor in oil field acidizing operations.
In order to preserve metals, and particularly ferrous metals, in contact with corrosive liquids in gas and oil field applications, corrosion inhibitors are added to many systems, e.g. cooling systems, refinery units, pipelines, steam generators, oil production units, and oil field treating fluids. A variety of corrosion inhibitors are known. For example, GA-B-2009133 describes the use of a composition which comprises an amine-carboxylic acid such as dodecylamine propionic acid, and a nitrogen-containing compound containing an organic hydrophobic group, such as N-(3-octoxypropyl)-propylenediamine.
EP-A-256802 describes a method of inhibiting corrosion of metal surfaces in contact with a corrosive hydrocarbon-containing medium comprising contacting the metal surfaces with the reaction product of (a) tallow triamine or tallow tetramine and (b) an acrylic acid type compound, in which the ratio of the two reagents is preferably 1:1.
Although corrosion inhibitors of many types are known, the materials which have been found most effective in practice have the disadvantage of toxicity to the environment. Toxicity to the marine or freshwater environment is of particular concern. In gas and oil field applications, much work is done off-shore or on the coast. If a corrosion inhibitor enters the sea or a stretch of fresh water, on land or in lakes or streams, even at relatively low concentrations, the corrosion inhibitor can kill microorganisms, causing an imbalance in the environment. Attempts have therefore been made to identify materials which are successful corrosion inhibitors but at the same time are less toxic to the environment than known inhibitors. The applicants have found that adducts of a fatty amine and an unsaturated acid in which the product contains no primary amino groups, and only secondary or tertiary, more preferably tertiary, amine groups has a lower toxicity to the environment (referred to as ecotoxicity).

Amine derivatives as corrosion inhibitors


An ultrasound machine is disclosed that displays a color representation of moving structure, such as a cardiac wall tissue, within a region of interest on a monitor. The color representation is generated by displaying at least one color characteristic corresponding to a movement parameter of the structure, such as velocity or strain rate. The movement parameter is mapped to the color characteristic by apparatus comprising a front-end that generates received signals in response to ultrasound waves. A Doppler processor generates a set of parameter signals representing values of the movement parameter within the structure. A control processor adaptively generates a mapping function based on the distribution of the parameter signals to map the parameter signals to a set of color characteristic signals. A display processor applies the mapped values of the color characteristic legend to the values of the movement parameter representing the moving structure, to display a color representation on the monitor in response to the mapping function.

Certain embodiments of the present invention relate to an ultrasound machine for generating and displaying an image of moving structure. More particularly, certain embodiments relate to adaptively color mapping an image of moving structure such as heart tissue.
Echocardiography is a branch of the ultrasound field that is currently a mixture of subjective image assessment and extraction of key quantitative parameters. Evaluation of cardiac wall function has been hampered by a lack of well-established parameters that may be used to increase the accuracy and objectivity in the assessment of, for example, coronary artery diseases. Stress echo is such an example. It has been shown that the subjective part of wall motion scoring in stress echo is highly dependent on operator training and experience. It has also been shown that inter-observer variability between echo-centers is unacceptably high due to the subjective nature of the wall motion assessment.
Much technical and clinical research has focused on the problem and has aimed at defining and validating quantitative parameters. Encouraging clinical validation studies have been reported, that indicate a set of new potential parameters that may be used to increase objectivity and accuracy in the diagnosis of, for instance, coronary artery diseases. Many of the new parameters have been difficult or impossible to assess directly by visual inspection of the ultrasound images generated in real-time. The quantification has typically required a post-processing step with tedious, manual analysis to extract the necessary parameters.
Much of the prior art describes techniques for non-adaptive color mapping of estimated imaging parameters such as tissue velocity and strain rate. A fixed mapping of a continuous range of color hues is typically used to indicate positive velocities or strain rates and a second fixed mapping of a continuous range of color hues is used to indicate negative velocities or strain rates. This type of color encoding makes it easy to identify reversals in velocities or strain rates. Timing information related to the velocity or strain rate reversals is also easy to extract from M-mode displays.
However, the non-adaptive color schemes in the prior art are not well suited for visual determination of other parameters, such as quantitative velocities or strain rates. Typically, a Nyquist velocity and associated pulse repetition frequency is set in order to avoid aliasing. Most of the actual velocities present are only a small fraction of the peak velocity which, in cardiac imaging from apex, typically may be measured at the mitral ring during the E-wave in diastole. As a result, most regions in the image are mapped with only small variations of the color hue mapped to lower positive and/or lower negative velocities. Quantitative assessment of parameters such as velocities or strain rates from 2-D images has been difficult, even in lucky situations, with a good spread of measured imaging parameters. It has, therefore, been necessary to resort to post-processing techniques and manual extraction of the digital information used in the color encoding for estimation of quantitative values.
Certain adaptive techniques have been previously applied to flow signals. For example, a method in U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,309 to Washburn et al. describes color coding of color flow data relating to fluid, such as blood. As explained in Col. 8, lines 25-54, an Auto Color Map Threshold/Compression Algorithm allows the stored color map threshold to be reset for better detection of low velocity or low power flow and allows the map to be re-mapped or compressed over the range of color flow data actually present. Two algorithms are provided: one for velocity mode and one for PDI mode. For the velocity mode, N frames of color flow data are collected from cine memory 28C and formed into a composite histogram as shown in FIG. 8. The N frames are required to account for flow pulsatility. Then, the fixed map threshold is received by the algorithm from memory at a terminal 31 and is adjusted, if necessary, and the color map is re-created to apply more colors of the map across the full range of data in the composite histogram in a linear manner. As FIG. 8 shows, the positive velocity data in the composite histogram does not cover the full range of 0 to 127, but instead covers some smaller range in-between. The algorithm calculates the statistics of the histogram data and sets the new map threshold to be x standard deviations below the mean. The value of x is determined per application to maximize low velocity flow detection while minimizing low velocity artifacts such as residual wall or tissue motion. The negative map threshold similarly is set for negative velocities based on the statistics of the negative velocity histogram. In this example of FIG. 8, the velocity color map is re-created (effectively linearly compressed) to apply more of its colors across the range of data in the composite histogram, taking into account the map threshold as a reference end point.
Methods in U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,241 to Washburn et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,605 to Washburn et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,176 to Washburn et al., each describe an ultrasound color flow imaging system programmed to optimize display images of power and velocity by automatically adjusting thresholds by using histograms and samplings of color flow data.
A method in U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,451 to Washburn et al. describes an ultrasound color flow imaging system programmed to optimize display images of power and velocity by automatically adjusting thresholds by using histograms.
None of the foregoing patents, however, describe or suggest any color mapping technique for generating an ultrasound display of moving structure that uses the full dynamic range of the color map. The foregoing patents relate to displays representing moving fluid, such as blood and only perform simple linear compressions of the color map dynamic range or pre-determined non-linear compressions.
A need exists for a robust approach to more easily visualize tissue motion parameter information, such as strain rate, in a two-dimensional ultrasound image such that more of the tissue motion parameter information is broken out and is observed.

GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC


A check valve and method for manufacture of the check valve. The check valve comprises a substrate and a channel in the substrate. The channel has an anchor region, a channel corridor and a valve seat region. There is an elastomeric valve mechanism in the channel. The valve mechanism has an anchor portion anchored in the anchor region, an elastomeric web portion in the channel corridor and a valve plug in the valve seat region. The elastomeric web portion interconnects the anchor portion and the valve plug. The elastomeric web portion is in a stretched state such that the valve plug is forced by the elastomeric web portion against the valve seat region to seal the valve seat region. The force of the elastomeric web portion can be overcome by operative fluid pressure within the channel to separate the valve plug from the valve seat region and thereby open the channel at the valve seat region to allow the fluid to exit the channel via the valve seat region.

Check valves are used to control flow of fluids, such as liquids or gases, in devices. For example, check valves can be used to control flow of gases and liquids in fluid systems of medical instruments, industrial process control equipment, medical devices (including implanted devices), mixing apparatus and chromatography. Most types of check valves are on/off valves for the flow of fluid. Check valves also prevent inadvertent mixing and prevent back flow of fluids. Typically in a check valve, there is a valve plug which can be moved to either block the flow or permit the flow of the fluid out of a channel. The valve plug can be moved in a variety of manners such as by fluid pressure moving it to block or unblock a channel containing the fluid. Alternately, the valve plug can be moved by electromagnetic, electrostatic, thermal, stress or other forces either alone on in combination with the fluid pressure.
US Published patent application 2005/0004250 to Hasselbrink Jr. et al. discloses a monolithic polymer element for flow control in a microfluidic device. A free-moving valve plug can be moved by control pressure in one micro channel to either block or unblock flow of the operative fluid in another intersecting micro channel. Also in US 2005/0004250, another valve plug can be moved against or away from an opening in a channel to either block or unblock the channel.
A publication by Unger et al. in Science magazine 288, 113-116 of April 2000 discloses control of fluid flow in micro channels. There are soft elastomer control lines that intersect the microfluidic channels fabricated in an elastomeric substrate material. Applying pressure to the externals surfaces of the control lines causes them to deform, closing off the part of the channel they intersect.
While the foregoing valve mechanisms are effective, further improvements are need to simplify manufacture and provide miniature check valves.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a miniature check valve that can be made by an inexpensive manufacturing process.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for manufacturing a miniature check valve.

International Business Machines Corporation


In an embodiment of the invention, a cam of a pitch adjustment mechanism can be slid and moved along a first shaft. When a sheet is a standard paper, the pitch adjustment mechanism is ejected from an adjustment position by an urging force of a movement spring and is moved to a standby position, and slide contact between the cam and a second shaft is released. When a sheet is a thick paper, a solenoid is turned on, the pitch adjustment mechanism is disposed at the adjustment position by a plunger, and it is prevented that the registration roller pair abruptly come in contact with each other after the thick paper passes through.

The present invention relates to a sheet carrying device for an image forming apparatus, which stably carries a recording medium without causing image blur in a copier, a printer or the like.
In an image forming apparatus such as a copier or a printer, when image formation is performed by using a thick paper having a large weighing capacity, image blur is liable to occur. In general, when the trailing edge of a thick paper passes through a registration roller pair, it is flipped by the registration rollers and the thick paper is instantaneously accelerated. As a result, the thick paper deforms, for example, a transfer belt by its firmness, and the image blur is caused. This is caused because, when the trailing edge of the thick paper passes through the registration rollers, the registration roller pair abruptly returns to the contact state.
Thus, hitherto, a delay mechanism is provided in the registration roller pair, and when the trailing edge of the thick paper passes through, the return of the registration roller pair to the contact state is delayed. This adjustment mechanism is such that a cam is axially attached to one of the registration rollers, and the cam is made to intervene between the shafts of the registration roller pair. By the operation of this cam, when the trailing edge of the sheet passes through, the return of the registration roller pair to the contact state is delayed. That is, after the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the cam, the cam is rotated together with the shaft of the other registration roller, and the registration roller pair slowly returns to the contact state. By this, it is suppressed that the thick paper is accelerated, and the image blur at the time of image formation is prevented.
However, in the conventional adjustment mechanism, even at the time of image formation on a standard paper, the shaft of the registration roller for rotating the cam together is always in contact with a specific position of the cam. Accordingly, the specific position of the cam made of, for example, POM (polyacetal) is worn away by the shaft made of, for example, metal. When the specific portion of the cam is worn away as stated above, the original operation of the cam cannot be obtained, and the cam cannot smoothly rotate during the passage of the thick paper, and besides, after the thick paper passes through, it becomes impossible to smoothly return the registration roller pair to the contact state. Thus, there is a fear that the exchange frequency of the cam increases, and the maintenance property is degraded.
Then, it is desired to develop a sheet carrying device for an image forming apparatus, which prevents a cam of an adjustment mechanism from being worn away, prolongs the life of the cam, and is excellent in maintenance property.

Sheet carrying device and sheet carrying method for image forming apparatus