A method of treating cancer in situ and cervicitis is disclosed. A pharmaceutical composition comprising at least one substance with oxytocin activity against cancer in situ and cervicitis and compound of the formula SEQ ID NO:2 is also disclosed.

Oxytocin was one of the first peptide hormones to be isolated and sequenced. It is a nonapeptide with two cysteine residues that form a disulfide bridge between positions 1 and 6 and corresponds to the formula

For a long time the only effects attributed to oxytocin were its stimulating effects on milk ejection and uterine contractions, but in the past decades it has been shown that oxytocin exerts a wide spectrum of effects within the central nervous system, CNS. It has been suggested that oxytocin participates in the control of memory and learning processes and of various types of behaviour such as feeding, locomotion, as well as maternal and sexual behaviour. Oxytocin is also suggested to participate in the control of cardiovascular functions, thermoregulation, and pain threshold and fluid balance. There is also evidence that oxytocin is involved in the control of various immunological processes. It has recently been demonstrated that oxytocin injections cause a lowering of blood pressure and increased weight gain—long lasting effects after repetitive administration. As a central stimulating substance oxytocin plays an important role in the interaction between mother and progeny in mammals. The products may also be used prophylactic in young human beings e.g. already in new born babies or young children to prevent the development of diseases later on in life which diseases are dependent on stress conditions during the fetal life. Such conditions may be heart/vessel diseases such as stroke, heart infarct, hypertension, and diabetes.
In the human body oxytocin is produced in the paraventricular nucleus, PVN, and the supraoptic nucleus, SON, of the hypothalamus. It differs by only two amino acids from vasopressin, which is also produced in these nuclei. The magnocellular oxytocinergic neurones of the SON and PVN send oxons to the posterior pituitary from which oxytocin is released into the circulation. Parvocellular neurones that originate in the PVN project into multiple areas within CNS. The oxytocin-producing cells are innervated by cholinergic, catecholaminergic as well as peptidergic neurones. The presence of oxytocin in different tissues outside the brain, such as the uterus, ovaries, testis, thymus, adrenal medulla and pancreas has been demonstrated and oxytocin is suggested to exert local effects in these organs.
A parallel secretion of oxytocin into the brain regions and into the circulation occurs in response to some stimuli such as suckling, but other stimuli can cause separate activation of oxytocinergic neurones, terminating in the brain or the pituitary.
It has now turned out that oxytocin has a relieving effect on cancer in situ and cervicitis.
There are several oxytocin derivatives, i.e. compounds with a structure similar to that of oxytocin. There are preliminary indications that other oxytocin derivatives than oxytocin could give the effects against cancer in situ and cervicitis as well as parts of the oxytocin molecule. No publications describe the use of oxytocin or any other oxytocin derivatives or parts of the oxytocin molecule to have effects against cancer in situ and cervicitis.
By the expression "cancer in situ and cervicitis" we understand consequences of diseases in vagina and cervix originating from infections, as well as inflammations. In the context of the invention, cancer in situ is related to the cervix. Such diseases include, besides cancer in situ and cervicitis, also precancerous disease states, squamous cell carcinoma, and koilocytosis. By cancer in situ is meant a neoplastic entity wherein the tumour cells are confined to the epithelium of origin, without invasion of the basement membrane. By cervicitis is meant inflammation of the cervix uteri i e the lower and narrow end of the uterus, between the isthmus and the ostium uteri. The epithelium of the cervix uteri is quite different from the epithelium of the rest of the uterus. Koilocytosis is a consequence of herpes virus.
Bussolati et al., Cancer Research, Volume 61, June 2001, p. 4393–4397, describes that oxytocin derivatives may have effects against OTR-positive tumours, such as breast and endometrial carcinomas, neuroblastomas, and glioblastomas. Furthermore, Cassoni et al., Journal of Pathology, Volume 190, 2000, p. 470–477, describes that oxytocin reduces cell proliferation in breast cancer cells, in neural neoplastic cells, as well as in a human endometrial carcinoma cell line. However, these documents relate to the treatment of advanced cancer forms, whereas the present invention relates to the treatment of cancer at a very early stage, e g precancerous disease states as mentioned above. The effects of oxytocin derivatives against such an early cancer are most probably due to antioxidant effects of oxytocin or metabolites thereof such as cysteine and N-acetylcysteine. In van Zandwijk et al., J Cell Biochem Suppl 1995, Vol. 22, p. 24–32, it is stated that the antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic effects of N-acetylcysteine could be ascribed to e g the antioxidant activity thereof.
It has now turned out that oxytocin improves recovery of cancer in situ and cervicitis (Example 1). This example indicates that oxytocin or that substances with oxytocin activity may be used against cancer in situ and cervicitis. However, it should be noted that it is not necessary that the patients treated according to Example 1 have postmenopausal disorders before treatment.
The effect of oxytocin can be extended or strengthened by administration in combination with drugs increasing the release of oxytocin and/or the number or the affinity of oxytocin receptors. One such drug is oestrogen. The effect of oxytocin can also be extended or strengthened by administration in combination with drugs having an α2-agonistic effect. One such drug is clonidine.

Use of oxytocin for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition against cancer in situ and cervicitis


A cantilever for use in an atomic force microscope system is formed of single-crystal silicon and has an integral tip. The tip is formed by the convergence of three planes, one of which is one of the two outer generally parallel planes which define the thickness of the cantilever. The tip lies between the cantilever's two thickness-defining planar surfaces and is thus an in-plane integral tip. The cantilever is supported in the AFM system so that it makes an acute angle with the surface of the sample to be scanned. The cantilever can be supported in the AFM system so that the cantilever outer surface that converges to the tip is oriented to either face the sample or face away from the sample.

Atomic force microscopy is based upon the principle of sensing the forces between a sharp stylus or tip and the surface to be investigated. The interatomic forces induce the displacement of the tip mounted on the free end of a cantilever arm.
As described by Binnig et al., "Atomic Force Microscope", Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 56, No. 9, Mar. 3, 1986, pp. 930-933, a sharply-pointed tip is attached to a spring-like cantilever beam to scan the profile of a surface to be investigated. The attractive or repulsive forces occurring between the atoms at the apex of the tip and those of the surface result in tiny deflections of the cantilever beam. In its original implementation, a tunneling junction was used to detect the motion of the tip attached to an electrically-conductive cantilever beam. An electrically-conductive tunnel tip is disposed within the tunnel distance from the back of the cantilever beam, and the variations of the tunneling current are indicative of the beam deflection. The forces occurring between the tip and the surface under investigation are determined from the measured beam deflection and the characteristics of the cantilever beam.
The principle of atomic force microscopy has been extended to the measurement of magnetic, electrostatic, and frictional forces, with the tip operating in either contact or near-contact with the surface of the sample. Magnetic force microscopy using a magnetized iron tip is described by Martin et al., "High-resolution Magnetic Imaging of Domains in TbFe by Force Microscopy", Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 52, No. 3, Jan. 18, 1988, pp. 244-246. The use of silicon tips coated with a film of magnetic material, such as NiFe or CoPtCr, in magnetic force microscopy is described by Grutter et al., "Magnetic Force Microscopy with Batch-fabricated Force Sensors", J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 69, No. 8, Apr. 15, 1991, pp. 5883-5885. Electrostatic force microscopy is described by Terris et al., "Localized Charge Force Microscopy", J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, Vol. 8, No. 1, January/February 1990, pp. 374-377. Frictional force microscopy is described in Meyer et al., "Simultaneous Measurement of Lateral and Normal Forces with an Optical-beam-deflection Atomic Force Microscope", Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 57, No. 20, Nov. 12, 1990, pp. 2089-2091. As in atomic force microscopy as originally conceived by Binnig et al., the forces in all of these techniques are determined from the measured beam deflection and the characteristics of the cantilever beam. It can be argued that whereas magnetic, van der Waals, electrostatic, and frictional forces differ in magnitude and range of interaction, they are all ultimately atomic in nature. Accordingly, the term "atomic force microscope" as used herein includes any scheme in which a tip attached to a cantilever is moved with respect to a surface, and the deflection of the cantilever is used to ascertain the force exerted on the tip by the sample, regardless of the range or origin of the interaction between the tip and the sample.
In addition to tunneling detection, several other methods of detecting the deflection of the AFM cantilever are available, including optical interferometry, optical beam deflection, capacitive techniques, and more recently piezoresistance. Optical beam deflection is currently the most common form of detection used in commercial instruments.
The principle of piezoresistance to detect the deflection of the AFM cantilever is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,815. The cantilever is formed of single-crystal silicon which is implanted with a dopant to provide a piezoresistive region along the length of the cantilever. Deflection of the free end of the cantilever produces stress in the cantilever. That stress changes the electrical resistance of the piezoresistive region in proportion to the cantilever's deflection. A resistance measuring apparatus is coupled to the piezoresistive region to measure its resistance and to generate a signal corresponding to the cantilever's deflection. Moving a cantilever across a sample for scanning is relatively straightforward with piezoresistive detection in comparison to optical detection, for which external optics must move with the cantilever.
AFM systems have applications beyond their original application of imaging the surface of a sample.
AFM systems have been proposed for data storage, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,372. In that application, the cantilever tip is in physical contact with the surface of a data storage medium. The medium has surface incongruencies in the form of bumps and/or depressions that represent data. The deflection of the cantilever is detected and decoded to read the data. Data can also be written on the medium, if the medium has a heat-deformable surface, by heating the cantilever tip when it is in contact with the medium surface to form bumps or depressions on the medium surface. The tip is heated by a laser beam directed to the tip region of the cantilever. In another approach for heating the tip, as described in Chui et al., "Improved Cantilevers for AFM Thermomechanical Data Storage", Proceedings of Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head, S.C., Jun. 2-6, 1996, pp. 219-224, a single-crystal silicon cantilever is selectively doped with boron to provide a conductive path to an electrically-resistive region near the cantilever tip. The tip is then resistively heated when current is passed through the conductive path.
AFM systems have also been proposed for direct writing or lithographically patterning the surface of a semiconductor sample. This technique is referred to as AFM-based lithography or scanning probe lithography (SPL). One type of SPL is described in Minne et al., "Fabrication of 0.1 .mu.m Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-effect Transistors with the Atomic Force Microscope", Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 66, No. 6, Feb. 6, 1995, pp. 703-705; and Minne et al., "Atomic Force Microscope Lithography Using Amorphous Silicon as a Resist and Advances in Parallel Operation", J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, Vol. 13, No. 3, May/June 1995, pp. 1380-1385. In this type of SPL, the cantilever tip is in contact or near-contact with the semiconductor surface and an electrical potential can be applied between the tip and the semiconductor. The electric field between the tip and the semiconductor surface causes local oxidation on the surface of the semiconductor. As the tip is scanned across the surface and electric potential is cycled on and off in a controlled manner, insulative lines of the oxide are patterned on the semiconductor, which can then be used as a mask for further processing. In another form of SPL, described in Majumdar et al., "Nanometer-scale Lithography Using the Atomic Force Microscope", Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 61, No. 19, Nov. 9, 1992, pp. 2293-2295, electrical current from a gold-coated AFM tip has been used to chemically modify a thin layer of the electron beam resist PMMA. After such exposure, a developing step is used to remove either the exposed or unexposed region, leaving a lithographic pattern of resist which can be used as a mask for further processing. Other types of SPL also involve modifying the surface of the semiconductor substrate through the use of a resist layer. For example, a technique of using an AFM tip to plow through the first of two layers of resist and then performing a development step is described in Sohn et al., "Fabrication of Nanostructures Using Atomic-force-microscope-based Lithography", Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 67, No. 11, Sep. 11, 1995, pp. 1552-1554.
In prior art AFM systems, the cantilever tip is formed on the end of the cantilever to extend out of the plane of the cantilever in a direction generally perpendicular to the length of the cantilever. Thus, during scanning, the cantilever is oriented generally parallel to the sample and the tip extends downward perpendicularly toward the surface of the sample. This perpendicular out-of-plane tip is formed either as a separate structure added to the cantilever end, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,787, or as an integral part of the cantilever, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,021,364; 5,051,379; and 5,444,244.
It is desirable to make AFM cantilevers relatively thin. This reduces the mass of the cantilever, thereby allowing the AFM to operate at a higher frequency. Also, in the case of piezoresistive cantilevers for a fixed stiffness, the deflection sensitivity of the cantilever is inversely proportional to its thickness. However, it is difficult to combine the prior art integral out-of-plane perpendicular tips with thin, single-crystal silicon cantilevers. The integral tip is preferable, as it is mechanically more robust than a tip which is added in some way, either through gluing or deposition, as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,787; and in Wendel et al., "Sharpened Electron Beam Deposited Tips for High Resolution Atomic Force Microscope Lithography and Imaging", Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 67, No. 25, Dec. 18, 1995, pp. 3732-3734. In the particular case of an integral tip extending perpendicularly from the silicon cantilever, a significant amount of material must be removed, typically by an etching process. This tip-formation process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,244. The etching process makes it difficult to control the final thickness of the cantilever, and thus the desired stiffness, which is a function of the cube of thickness. It is also difficult to make out-of-plane tips out of single-crystal silicon with precisely-controlled geometries, as process variations can alter the final shape of the tip. Different shaped tips will in general have different resolving power, will withstand different amounts of stress in directions both parallel and perpendicular to the cantilever axis, and will also give rise to different degrees of wear. A controllable tip geometry allows the tip shape to be optimized for a particular application.
What is needed is an AFM system with a thin piezoresistive cantilever that can operate at high frequencies, has a cantilever tip integral with the cantilever arm, and can be easily manufactured with a controllable tip geometry.

Single-crystal silicon cantilever with integral in-plane tip for use in atomic force microscope system

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention relates to a method and a device for the dynamic optimization of business processes, the business process instances of a business process being managed by a workflow management computer system. The invention is in particular characterized by collecting, investigating and storing parameters, processing data and result data, and subsequently optimizing business processes on the basis of stored information by identifying a business process instance having propitious result data, modifying the parameters of said instance and subsequent verification of such modification. The invention is further characterized by the use of genetic algorithms and orthogonal matrices for the modification of the parameters of the identified business process instance with propitious result data. The invention is suitable for being used in the process optimization in production engineering and plant engineering and in process optimization in the service field.

The ever growing worldwide expansion of enterprises together with the requirement of rationalization of production processes leads increasingly to a reorganization of the business processes involved.
In "Workflow Management: Integration von Organisation und Informationsverarbeitung" by H. Heilmann, HMD, 176, 1994, pages 8-21, a business process which leads up to the creation or utilization of enterprise performance is termed a delimitable, often job-sharing process. In this context, the center of consideration is the dynamic progress of the process from initiation to conclusion. Frequently, the term "workflow" is used instead of the term "business process".
In "Business Process Management with FlowMark" by F. Leymann and D. Roller, Digest of Papers, Cat. No. 94CH3414-0, Spring COMPCON 94, 1994, pages 230 to 234, the Workflow Management System, IBM FlowMark is described. The possibilities of modeling business processes are presented, and the execution of the WorkFlow Management is described.
The desire of the enterprise to optimize its business processes is the catalyst for the reorganization of its business processes. Due to the complexity and the close interconnection of business processes within an enterprise, optimization of business processes offers a giant savings potential with regard to energy, time and expense. Furthermore, the quality of products can be improved due to the optimization of the processes, and the competitiveness of the enterprise will be improved due to higher flexibility and shorter response times.
Previously known methods for optimization of business processes are based upon a simulation concept. These known methods attempt to determine, on the basis of assumptions, the effect of altering the use of resources upon the business targets of the business process. Calculations are carried out using various resource parameters in order to optimize the business process regarding such business targets.
In this context, resources are to be understood to be all participants in the course of the business process, including machines, humans, computer programs, etc. As a rule, business targets are prefixed by the enterprise and include, for example, turnover, quality, cost or runtime.
In T. Jaeger et al.: "A Framework for Automatic Improvement of Workflows to Meet Performance Goals", Proceedings Sixth International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence, New Orleans, La., USA, Nov. 6-9, 1994 IEEE Comput. Soc. Press. Los Alamitos, Calif., USA, ISBN 0 8186 6785 0, a method for the optimization of business processes is presented. The presented method uses query techniques from the technical area of Artificial Intelligence (Al) in order to control modifications of the system model. Also in that method, estimations are made, such as how a modification of the resources will act upon the medium process time of an activity in a business process. Optimizations of the business process are based upon such estimations.
Known business process optimization procedures require the finding of parameters that affect the business process and modeling (as well as quantifying) the extent of the influence of such parameters; in particular, it is required to make assumptions concerning the influence of modifications or redistribution of the available resources. Such qualification and quantification of the influencing parameters require a great deal of administrative effort. A further disadvantage of the prior methods is that the influence of such parameters is dynamic, meaning that they, as a rule, will change over the course of time. This necessitates checking the validity of the assumed quantification.
There is the further disadvantage in that not all of the influencing parameters may be qualified or even quantified. So, there are parameters which escape a modelation and quantification due to their nature and appearance; e.g., items such as customer satisfaction with their causal interconnections cannot be determined with mathematical precision. By the same token, the saving of time due to the use of a supporting computer program may vary depending on such items as corporate culture or employment of collaborators which, in turn, are too complex to be described exactly.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for conducting business process management with a computer system, in which the influencing parameters do not require explicit determination, modeling and quantification.
It is a further object of the invention to take into consideration the dynamic behavior of the flow of business processes during the optimization of a business process while keeping the technical effort as low as possible.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method and a device for the management of a business process with a computer system that takes into account all influencing parameters acting in reality during the optimization of the business process.

Method and apparatus for dynamic optimization of business processes managed by a computer system


A stationary baby jumper apparatus is provided. The jumper apparatus includes a support frame having a U-shaped base leg with upstanding ends. A cantilevered seat-support leg is mounted upon the upstanding ends of the U-shaped base leg. A chair seat is suspended from the seat-support leg. Connectors are provided and are positioned in spaced-apart relation to one another about the cantilevered seat-support leg. The chair seat is suspended from the seat-support leg by shock cords that extend between the chair seat and the connectors. Each shock cord includes a first end coupled to a respective connector, a second end coupled to the frame of the chair seat, and an extensible center portion extending between the first and second ends.

This present invention is directed to a jumper for small children, more particularly to a stationary jumper for small toddlers or babies. Most particularly, the present invention is directed to a seat suspended by elastomeric materials on a cantilevered frame so that a child in the seat is able to bounce and exercise.
There are a wide variety of apparatus available today in which children may be placed for exercise. Similarly, there are a wide variety of devices available today in which children may be placed for entertainment. Some of these devices are expandable to several positions so that the distance to the ground from the seat may be controlled for different sized children. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,242 to Gerken et al. Some devices also have a resiliently supported child seat positioned above the ground. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,582 to Moss. Moreover, child exerciser/rockers are available. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,246 to Meeker et al.
Despite the number of efforts to meet the needs of caregivers for exercise and entertainment of young ones, there remains a need for a jumper that has a support frame which remains substantially still on a floor surface, that is adjustable to one of several expanded positions, and that has an easy access seat portion suspended within the support frame.
According to the present invention a stationary baby jumper apparatus is provided. The jumper apparatus includes a support frame having a U-shaped base leg with upstanding ends, a cantilevered seat-support leg mounted upon the upstanding ends of the U-shaped base leg, and a chair seat suspended from the seat-support leg. In addition, connectors are provided which are positioned in spaced-apart relation to one another about the cantilevered seat-support leg. The chair seat is suspended from the seat-support leg vertically above the base leg by shock cords that extend between the chair seat and the connectors. Each shock cord includes opposite ends and an extensible center portion extending between the opposite ends. One end of each cord is coupled to one connector and the opposite end of each cord is coupled to the frame of the chair seat.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the connectors include a circular sleeve portion and an opposite gripping portion. The seat-support leg extends through the sleeve portion of each connector to securely fastened them onto the support frame. Moreover, the first end of the shock cord extends through the gripping portion and forms a bulb within the connector to prevent sliding movement of the cord out from the gripping portion. Further, the second end of the shock cord extends into the chair seat and forms a second bulb therein to prevent sliding movement of the cord from the seat.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the seat frame is formed so that the height of the chair may be raised or lowered to accommodate different sizes of children. Preferably, the seat-support leg is mounted within the upstanding ends of the base leg and a spring-loaded adjustment mechanism is positioned within the seat-support leg so that it may be raised or lowered with respect to the base leg. The adjustment mechanism includes a U-shaped spring having a locking tab extending outwardly from one end of the spring. The seat-support leg, which houses the spring, includes a hole through which the locking tab extends. In addition, the upstanding ends of the base leg include at least two holes therein which are aligned with the locking tab. Therefore, to adjust the positioning of the seat-support leg, the caregiver must simply push the locking tab into the hole and slide the seat-support leg toward a desirable pre-determined position. Once the locking tab reaches the pre-determined position, it automatically springs back through the hole with which it is aligned to secure the seat-support leg in its new locked position.
From a manufacture's perspective, a stationary baby jumper in accordance with the present invention is preferable over traditional jumpers because the jumper's shape allows for fast and inexpensive tooling. The use of extensible shock cords also eliminates the need to improve the general appearance of exposed springs by expensive plating and finishes. Moreover, it is easy to paint the support frame to any desirable color.
A user of a stationary baby jumper in accordance with the present invention will also find that a jumper in accordance with the present invention is preferable over traditional jumpers. The support frame remains in a stationary position on the floor making it easier to use than traditional jumpers. Furthermore, the chair seat of the baby jumper is readily accessible to the caregiver because it is suspended within a cantilevered seat-support leg.
Additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.


A process for preparing mono-iodinated aromatic compound is disclosed, wherein the process comprises iodinating an aromatic compound, at least two portions of which can be iodinated, in a solvent mixture of water and acetic acid using iodic acid or periodic acid and iodine, wherein the iodic acid or periodic acid and iodine, and the aromatic compound are added in an amount so that the ratio of the atom number of iodine atom to the molecular number of the aromatic compound is less than 1.. The process provides a mono-iodinated aromatic compound having high purity in a high yield.

Recently, an electrophotographic organic photosensitive material having laminated layer comprising a charge generating layer and a charge transporting layer has been developed.
As a charge transporting material used for a charge transporting layer, various compounds such as pyrazoline compounds as disclosed in JP-B-37-16096 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication"), triarylamine compounds as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,180,730, stilbene compounds disclosed in JP-A-58-198043 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), hydrazone compounds as disclosed in JP-B-55-42380, oxadiazole compounds as disclosed in JP-B-34-5466, butadiene compounds as disclosed in JP-A-63-314554, etc., are known.
In these compounds, triarylamine compounds have been particularly noticed in view of high charge-transporting ability (mobility) and recently, various triarylamine compounds are proposed, e.g., in JP-A-1-280763, JP-A-2-178666, JP-A-2-178667, JP-A-2-178668, JP-A-2-178669, JP-A-2-178670, JP-A-2-190862, JP-A-2-190863, JP-A-2-230255, JP-A-3-78755, JP-A-3-78756, JP-A-3-78757, JP-A-3-114058, JP-A-4-133064, JP-A-4-193852, JP-A-4-312558, JP-A-5-19509, JP-A-5-80550, and JP-A-5-313386.
The triarylamine compounds can be synthesized by coupling reaction of an arylamine compound with arylhalide using a copper catalyst generally known. The arylhalide includes aryl bromide or aryl iodide. Of them aryl iodide is preferably used, since an aryl bromide shows a greatly low reactivity in the coupling (tertiary amine formation) reaction in the final stage.
These iodides of aromatic compounds can be synthesized by iodinating an aromatic compound with a sulfuric acid catalyst in a mixed solvent of water and acetic acid using iodic acid and iodine as shown in Ann., 634, 84(1960); by iodinating an aromatic compound with a sulfuric acid catalyst in a mixed solvent of water and acetic acid using periodic acid and iodine as shown in J. Chemical Society of Japan, 92, 1021(1971); or by a Sandmeyer reaction using a corresponding amino compound as shown in Bull. Soc. Chim., 7, 634(1940).
In the preparation of biphenylamine compounds disclosed in JP-A-1-280763, terphenylamine compounds disclosed in JP-A-2-190862, pyrenylamine compounds disclosed in JP-A-2-190863, fluorenylamine compounds disclosed in JP-A-2-230255, monoiodobiphenyl, monoiodoterphenyl, monoiodopyrene, or monoiodofluorene is used as an intermediate compound, which are synthesized by the same methods as described above. However, in synthesizing them by the Sandmeyer reaction, the corresponding amino compound which has a very strong toxicity has to be used, although the formation of a diiodo compound can be prevented. Whereby the compound must be treated with a specific care; the treatment after the reaction is complicated; and the yield of the compound is low, such a method being undesirable.
On the other hand, an iodination reaction with iodic acid or periodic acid is carried out with easy but the selectivity in a reaction to form a monoiodo compound or a diiodo compound is low, and thus the reaction product results in comprising a mixture thereof. When the amination reaction is carried out using the mixture containing the monoiodo compound and the diiodo compound, the reaction product after amination also comprises a mixture. Since impurities in the product provide harmful influences on the electrical characteristics of the charge transport material, a purification of the product is required. The molecular weight of these impurities is, however, considerably large not to be purified by distillation, etc., and thus a very expensive purification method such as a column purification, etc., must be used. In addition of expensiveness of iodine, a method accompanied by a formation of many diiodo compounds leads to a costly process in preparing arylamine compound.
Also, since in monoiodo compound and diiodo compound, the solubility of diiodo compound is greatly low, the diiodo compound can not be removed from the product by recrystallization which is simple in the industrial operation and has a large merit in cost. Therefore, for the product which contains about 10% or more of the diiodo compound, purification by distillation is required.
On the other hand, monoiodo compound has a high boiling point and a high melting point, and thus a high vacuum is required in the distillation of monoiodo compound, and the substance obtained by distillation is apt to be solidify to become difficult in handling. When the substance to be subjected to distillation contains a large amount of diiodo compound, in splashes to result in mixing of diiodo compound into the distilled substance by only a single distillation. Thereby, the purity of the product subjected to the single distillation is lowered. In this way, a fractional distillation is required in a purification of the product containing a large amount of diiodo compound, which causes complicated operation and excessive cost.
Also, it is described in Ann., 634, 84(1960) that by carrying out the iodination reaction in a saturated solution of an aromatic compound, the selectivity of monoiodo compound formation is increased. The method, however, does not provide a product having sufficient purity as a raw material used for a charge transporting material at low cost. Any process which will suffice for the above-described needs has not been found until now. The present invention is provided to solve the problems described above.

Process for preparing mono-iodinated aromatic compound


An apparatus for magnetic resonance imaging includes a magnet, a patient support, and a contoured quadrature coil. The contoured quadrature coil includes a ring coil and an angled butterfly coil. The angled butterfly coil may have a front outer section, an inner section, and a back outer section. The front outer section and the back outer section may be oriented diagonally from the plane of the ring coil such that a portion of the front outer section and/or the back outer section are disposed above the plane of the ring coil and a portion of the front outer section and/or the back outer section are disposed below the plane of the ring coil. Thus, the planes of the front and back outer sections may be angled with respect to each other, and the inner section may be substantially pyramidal and disposed along or below the plane of the ring coil.

In magnetic resonance imaging, an object to be imaged such as, for example, a body of a human subject, is exposed to a strong, substantially constant static magnetic field. Radio frequency excitation energy is applied to the body, and this energy causes the spin vectors of certain atomic nuclei within the body to rotate or "precess" around axes parallel to the direction of the static magnetic field. The precessing atomic nuclei emit weak radio frequency signals during the relaxation process, referred to herein as magnetic resonance signals. Different tissues produce different signal characteristics. Furthermore, relaxation times are a major factor in determining signal strength. In addition, tissues having a high density of certain nuclei will produce stronger signals than tissues with a low density of such nuclei. Relatively small gradients in the magnetic field are superimposed on the static magnetic field at various times during the process so that magnetic resonance signals from different portions of the patient's body differ in phase and/or frequency. If the process is repeated numerous times using different combinations of gradients, the signals from the various repetitions together provide enough information to form a map of signal characteristics versus location within the body. Such a map can be reconstructed by conventional techniques well known in the magnetic resonance imaging art, and can be displayed as a pictorial image of the tissues as known in the art.
The magnetic resonance imaging technique offers numerous advantages over other imaging techniques. MRI does not expose either the patient or medical personnel to X-rays and offers important safety advantages. In addition, magnetic resonance imaging can obtain images of soft tissues and other features within the body which are not readily visualized using other imaging techniques. Accordingly, magnetic resonance imaging has been widely adopted in the medical and allied arts.
Several factors impose significant physical constraints in the positioning of patients and ancillary equipment in MRI imaging. Many MRI magnets use one or more solenoidal superconducting coils to provide the static magnetic field arranged so that the patient is disposed within a small tube running through the center of the magnet. The magnet and tube typically extend along a horizontal axis, so that the long axis or head-to-toe axis of the patient's body must be in a horizontal position during the procedure. Moreover, equipment of this type provides a claustrophobic environment for the patient. Iron core magnets have been built to provide a more open environment for the patient. These magnets typically have a ferromagnetic frame with a pair of ferromagnetic poles disposed one over the other along a vertical pole axis with a gap between them for receiving the patient. The frame includes ferromagnetic flux return members such as plates or columns extending vertically outside of the patient-receiving gap. A magnetic field is provided by permanent magnets or electromagnetic coils associated with the frame. A magnet of this type can be designed to provide a more open environment for the patient. However, it is still generally required for the patient to lie with his or her long axis horizontal.
Recently, ferromagnetic frame magnets having horizontal pole axes have been developed. As disclosed, for example, in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/978,084, filed on Nov. 25, 1997, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,414,490 and 6,677,753, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein, a magnet having poles spaced apart from one another along a horizontal axis provides a horizontally oriented magnetic field within a patient-receiving gap between the poles. Such a magnet can be used with a patient-positioning device including elevation and tilt mechanisms to provide extraordinary versatility in patient positioning. For example, where the patient positioning device includes a bed or similar device for supporting the patient in a recumbent position, the bed can be tilted and/or elevated so as to image the patient in essentially any position between a fully standing position and a fully recumbent position, and can be elevated so that essentially any portion of the patient's anatomy is disposed within the gap in an optimum position for imaging. As further disclosed in the previously mentioned applications, the patient positioning device may include additional elements such as a platform projecting from the bed to support the patient when the bed is tilted towards a standing orientation. Still other patient supporting devices can be used in place of a bed in a system of this type. For example, a seat may be used to support a patient in a sitting position. Thus, magnets of this type provide extraordinary versatility in imaging.
Another physical constraint on MRI imaging has been posed by the requirements for RF antennas to transmit the RF excitation energy and to receive the magnetic resonance signals from the patient. The antenna that receives the signals is positioned near that portion of the patient's body that is to be imaged so as to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio and improve reception of the weak magnetic resonance signals. The antenna that applies RF excitation energy can be positioned in a similar location to maximize efficiency of the applied RF energy. In some cases, the same antenna is used to apply RF excitation energy and to receive the magnetic resonance signals at different times during the process. However, it is often desirable to provide two separate antennas for this purpose.
The antennas are typically formed as one or more loops of electrically conductive material. Such a loop antenna must be positioned so that the conductor constituting the loop extends along an imaginary plane or surface having a normal vector transverse to the direction of the static magnetic field. Stated another way, the antenna must be arranged to transmit or receive electromagnetic fields in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the static magnetic field if it is to interact with the precessing atomic nuclei. This requirement has further limited available antenna configurations and techniques. For example, in a vertical-field magnet such as a ferromagnetic frame magnet having a vertical pole axis, it is impossible to use a loop antenna with the loop disposed generally in a horizontal plane below the body of a recumbent patient. Such an antenna has a normal vector which is vertical and hence parallel to the direction of the static magnetic field. A loop antenna which encircles the patient with its normal vector extending horizontally can be employed. Also, planar or saddle-shaped loops extending in generally vertical planes or surfaces, and having normal vectors in the horizontal direction transverse to the long axis of the patient can be positioned on opposite sides of the patient. However, these antenna configurations do not provide optimum signal-to-noise ratios in some procedures as, for example, in imaging the spine, head or pelvic region.
More recently, quadrature coil arrangements having a combination of planar coil antenna have also been developed. As disclosed, for example, in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,701,209, issued on Apr. 20, 2010 to Charles A. Green (hereinafter, the '209 Patent), the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, two planar coil antenna are combined in the seat and/or back of a chair that defines a support for a patient. In one example, the coil arrangement consists of a substantially flat butterfly receiver coils arranged in a quadrature mode. First and second coils with perpendicular coil vectors lie in a substantially parallel plane that is parallel to surface of the patient support.
In another example, a quadrature planar coil antenna assembly includes a loop coil antenna and a butterfly coil antenna mounted to a support using a plurality of mounting members. The coil vector of the loop coil antenna is perpendicular to the surface of the support, and the coil vector of the butterfly coil is parallel to the surface of the support. The antenna of the second example is vertically adjustable along the support to allow for imaging of the spine, heart, or other areas of the torso, and may also be adjusted to allow a patient to sit on the antenna so that images of the lower abdomen, e.g., pelvic region or prostate, can be obtained.
However, imaging performed using the previously disclosed quadrature coil arrangements is subject to several limitations. For example, due to the substantially planar configuration of each of the coils, it is necessary to place the target imaging area of the patient as close as possible to the coil in order to produce a higher quality magnetic resonance image. Generally, the target imaging area for a patient is separated from the coils by layers of skin, tissue, and fat. The amount of the separation may vary depending on the physique of a given patient. As such, the quality of images taken using the above described coils have a high variance of quality and, in general, are of low quality.
For further example, imaging of a patient's prostate is still generally performed using an RF coil that inserted into the patient. Such techniques are generally uncomfortable and unpleasant. As such, there is a great demand for an apparatus and method for imaging a patient that is less intrusive while yielding high quality (e.g., high-resolution) results.


Embodiments generate a model of demand of a product that includes an optimized feature set. Embodiments receive sales history for the product and receive a set of relevant features for the product and designate a subset of the relevant features as mandatory features. From the sales history, embodiments form a training dataset and a validation dataset and randomly select from the set of relevant features one or more optional features. Embodiments include the selected optional features with the mandatory features to create a feature test set. Embodiments train an algorithm using the training dataset and the feature test set to generate a trained algorithm and calculate an early stopping metric using the trained algorithm and the validation dataset. When the early stopping metric is below a predefined threshold, the feature test set is the optimized feature set.

Products are typically delivered to consumers through a network of manufacturers, distributors, transporters, retailers, etc. Such a network of facilities that together deliver products to consumers is commonly referred to as a "supply chain" network
Suppliers of products (e.g., manufactures, vendors, retailers, etc.) often face the task of forecasting the demand for the products in order to provide a smooth and efficient flow of the products through the supply chain network in the presence of constantly-changing market conditions. Overestimating the demand can result in overproduction and increased costs associated with holding inventories (e.g., storage costs, obsolescence, etc.). Underestimating the demand, on the other hand, can result in lost revenues.
Further, in the retail industry, retailers need to predict their demand in the future to better manage their inventory or promotion/markdown planning. Retailers may engage in many types of promotion to boost their sales. To generate an accurate forecast, a retailer has to consider all factors/features which could impact the demand, such as promotions, price, seasonality, weather, etc.
One technique for forecasting demand for a product is to forecast the demand based primarily on historical demand information for that product (e.g., based on past purchase orders, past shipments, past point-of-sales data, and so on). However, such a technique may poorly adapt to the ever-changing market conditions and can result in an inaccurate forecast. Further, with more and more factors to consider, the traditional forecast method such as time series analysis or regression does not work very well.

Dynamic feature selection for model generation


Diagnostic agents and methods for detecting the presence of metastatic activity in biological samples such as plasma are disclosed. The agent and method preferably immunologically detect matrix metalloproteinases in complexed form with endogenous inhibitors of MMP's. A kit for detecting the metalloproteinases is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to improvements in the diagnosis of metastic disease. In particular, the invention relates to techniques for detecting the presence of proteolytic enzymes associated with metastatic disease.
Although a cure for most forms of cancer remains elusive, early detection and treatment have historically provided the best prognosis. Considerable effort over the years has been directed to developing diagnostic tests which give an indication of the presence of metastatic disease at an early stage.
Recently, a relationship between matrix metalloproteinases (MMP's) and metastasis has been suggested. MMP's are a family of closely related metal-dependent endopeptidases secreted by mesenchymal cells. For example, gelatinase A (MMP-2 or 72 kDa gelatinase/type IV collagenase) and gelatinase B (MMP-9 or 92 kDa gelatinase/type IV collagenase) have been identified as playing a major role in cancer invasion and metastasis. Stromelysin and PUMP (Putative Metalloproteinase), metalloproteinases with broader substrate specificity, are also thought to participate in the metastatic process. Three of these metalloproteinases have been identified in mammalian plasma.
Metastasis is a complex sequence of events in which malignant cells detach and disseminate from a primary tumor. The malignant cells invade adjacent tissue, penetrate into blood and lymphatic vessels, circulate to distant sites and eventually attach to and penetrate tissues in distant organs, thereby proliferating the malignancy. An important part of the metastatic process is the degradation of extracellular basement membranes by various proteolytic enzymes. Basement membranes are collagen-containing connective tissues which form a tough continuous sheet and separate the various cell layers such as the epithelial, endothelial and parenchymal cells from interstitial connective tissue.
Proteolytic enzymes associated with the metastatic process are found circulating in the form of activated enzyme (free enzyme), latent free enzyme and enzyme complexed with endogenous proteinase inhibitors. Only the active forms, however, digest the connective tissue substrates. The body's own natural defense mechanisms rapidly inactivate MMP's by compiexing the enzymes with specific tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP's). Such inhibitors found in the tissues and circulating in the plasma include TIMP-1, TIMP-2 and also alpha-2 macroglobulin which is primarily in blood.
In spite of the relationship between elevated levels of certain destructive proteases and the presence of metastatic disease, it has been difficult to use the relationship to provide an accurate indication of metastatic disease. In the past, it has only been possible to detect free or activated forms of the metalloproteinases, leaving a substantial portion of the inactivated enzymes complexed with inhibitors undetected. Recently it has been shown, however, that latent gelatinase A forms complexes with TIMP-2 and latent gelatinase B forms complexes with TIMP-1. Thus, these gelatinases can exist outside the cell in complexed forms with TIMPs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,058 discloses purifying and detecting type IV collagenase antigens from malignant tumor cells. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,528 discloses antibodies specific to type IV collagenase enzyme antigens. U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,400, a division of the '058 U.S. Pat. No., supra, discloses immunological determination of type IV collagenase antigens using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. None of these references, however, disclose detecting collagenase enzyme-inhibitor complexes associated with metastatic disease.
In spite of the investigation of the role of metalloproteinases in metastatic disease, the total amount of MMP's being released and thus the actual metastatic activity has not been detectable. Indeed, due to the usually rapid inactivation of activated MMP's by TIMP's, measuring only free, circulating MMP's would fail to indicate the presence of many underlying diseases. Determining whether or not the complexes formed between MMP's and TIMP's form more reliable and sensitive diagnostic tests has yet to be investigated.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide highly specific and reliable diagnostic agents and methods to determine the presence of metastatic disease based on measuring matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor complex levels.
Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the following description taken together with the accompanying figure.

Diagnostic tests measuring gelatinase/inhibitor complexes for detection of aggressive and metastatic cancer

The Research Foundation of State University of New York


The invention provides a current detection circuit and a semiconductor memory apparatus using the current detection circuit thereof. The current detection circuit is capable of rapidly sensing the current flowing through a tiny bit line structure. A page buffer/sensing circuit of the invention includes: a transistor TP3 pre-charging a node SNS during a pre-charge period and providing a target constant current to the node SNS during a discharge period; a transistor TN3 pre-charging the bit line according to the voltage pre-charged to the node SNS; and a transistor TP2 connected to the node SNS. The transistor TP2 detects whether or not a current larger than the constant current supplied by the transistor TP3 is discharged from the bit line and outputs a detection result to a node SENSE.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to current sensing, an operation for detecting a current flowing through the bit line, and in particular to a current detection type sense circuit of a semiconductor.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a bit line selection circuit and a page buffer/sense circuit of a conventional flash memory. Here, a pair of bit lines are illustrated by an even-number bit line GBL_e and an odd-number bit line GBL_o. A bit line selection circuit 10 comprises an even-number selection transistor SEL_e connected to the even-number bit line GBL_e, an odd-number selection transistor SEL_o connected to the odd-number bit line GBL_o, an even-number bias selection transistor YSEL_e connected between the even-number bit line GBL_e and a virtual potential VIR, an odd-number bias selection transistor YSEL_o connected between the odd-number bit line GBL_o and the virtual potential VIR, and a bit line selection transistor BLS connected to a common node N1 of the even-number selection transistor SEL_e and the odd-number selection transistor SEL_o. An NAND string NU is connected between the even-number bit line GBL_e and a common source line SL, and an NAND string NU is connected between the odd-number bit line GBL_o and the common source line SL.
A sense circuit 20 comprises a pre-charge transistor BLPRE for supplying pre-charge potential to the bit lines, a capacitor C connected to a sense node SN that is located between the pre-charge transistor BLPRE and the bit line selection transistor BLS, and a pass transistor BLCD which transfers the potential of the sense node SN to a latch circuit 22.
When the even-number bit line GBL_e is selected and the odd-number bit line GBL_o is unselected, the even-number selection transistor SEL_e and the bit line selection transistor BLS are turned on and the odd-number selection transistor SEL_o is turned off. When the odd-number bit line GBL_o is selected and the even-number bit line GBL_e is unselected, the odd-number selection transistor SEL_o and the bit line selection transistor BLS are turned on and the even-number selection transistor SEL_e is turned off. In this way, one sense circuit 20 is shared by two bit lines GBL_e and GBL_o.
Patent Document 1 discloses the following techniques. Under a readout operation, when the even-number bit line GBL_e is selected, the even-number bias selection transistor YSEL_e is turned off, the odd-number bias selection transistor YSEL_o is turned on, and the odd-number bit line GBL_o is supplied with GND potential by the virtual potential VIR. Conversely, when odd-number bit line GBL_o is selected, the even-number bias selection transistor YSEL_e is turned on, the odd-number bias selection transistor YSEL_o is turned off, and the even-number bit line GBL_e is supplied with GND potential by the virtual potential VIR. In this way, when the even-number bit line is read out, the odd-number bit line will be supplied with GND potential, and when the odd-number bit line is read out, the even-number bit line will be supplied with GND potential. Thereby, bit line shielding is performed to reduce noise due to capacitive coupling of adjacent bit lines.
Patent Document 1: Patent publication no. JP11-176177
The sense circuit 20 shown in FIG. 1 is a so-called voltage detection type sense circuit, which supplies the pre-charge potential to the even-number bit line GBL_e or the odd number bit line GBL_o via the pre-charge transistor BLPRE and so on, then makes the bit line be discharged in response to the memory state of the selected memory cell, and detects the discharge state at the sense node SN.
However, such voltage detection type sense circuits make it difficult to reduce sensing time when the bit lines become a tiny structure. Namely, as the width or pitch of bit lines gets smaller, the resistance of the bit lines increases and the capacitive coupling between the bit lines also increases, resulting in it taking a long time to pre-charge a constant voltage to the bit lines. In particular, when a shielding readout operation is performed on a bit line, the adjacent bit line is shielded to be at GND potential. Thus, the pre-charge time for a selected bit line becomes longer.
On the other hand, the threshold values of erased memory cells have non-uniformity. Under a readout operation, current flowing through a bit line is not always constant. Therefore, even if a current detection type sense circuit were to be utilized to replace the voltage detection type sense circuit, the ability to determine little current flowing through the bit line would be required.
To solve the above problems, the purpose of the invention is to provide a current detection circuit which can rapidly detect current flowing through a tiny bit line structure. The purpose of the invention is also to provide a semiconductor apparatus having the current detection circuit.

Current detection circuit and semiconductor memory apparatus


An NB-IOT based wireless device group access method and terminal relate to the technology of smart home systems. The method includes that the NB-IOT based device group access terminal establishes (S601) a connection with an external device requesting to access an NB-IOT network; and when a command issued by the NB-IOT network to the external device is received, the NB-IOT based device group access terminal interprets (S602) the command into a communication command protocol supported by the external device and issues the communication command protocol supported by the external device to the corresponding external device; when information uploaded by the external device with the established connection is received, the NB-IOT based device group access terminal interprets (S602) the information into a communication command protocol supported by the NB-IOT network and uploads the communication command protocol supported by the NB-IOT network to the NB-IOT network.

A smart home system is composed of a sensor, a server and a private cloud. The sensor and the server communicate through short-range communication modes such as Zigbee, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. After network connection is completed between the sensor and the server (namely the sensor accesses a server management network), the server synchronizes information of the sensor and information of the server to the private cloud, and then a user downloads a corresponding APP management software, registers and performs query and setting of a smart home device through the cloud service.


The present invention relates to a liquid infusion apparatus, including: a finger module provided in a main body such that the finger module can elastically move backward from a liquid delivery tube; a tube clamp, in which two clamp bodies spaced apart from each other approach each other by means of restoring force of an elastic member upon the opening of a door during infusion, so as to compress and block the liquid delivery tube; and a tube blockage detection device which detects whether the liquid delivery tube is blocked by a cause, for example, when the outlet-side portion of the liquid delivery tube, which delivers medicinal liquid pumped by a liquid pump during infusion, is bent.

Generally, a liquid infusion apparatus which is used to infuse a medical liquid to a target such as a patient includes a main body, a door, a flexible liquid infusion tube, and a wiggling liquid infusion pump. FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating a portion of the typical liquid infusion apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the door 2 is openably provided on the main body 1. The liquid infusion tube 3 is disposed such that when the door 2 is closed, it is interposed between the main body 1 and the door 2. The liquid infusion pump includes fingers 4 which are arranged in parallel to each other, and a finger drive means (not shown) which move fingers 4 in a wiggling manner. When the door 2 that is openably provided on the main body 1 is in the closed state, the liquid infusion pump faces the door 2 so that the fingers 4 can compress a portion of the liquid infusion tube 3 interposed between the main body 1 and the door 2. Furthermore, a compressing member 5 is provided on the door 2 such that when the door 2 is closed, the compressing member 5 compresses a portion of the liquid infusion tube 3 interposed between it and the fingers 4. A plurality of coil springs 6 are provided between the compressing member 5 and the door 2 so that the compressing member 5 can elastically compress the liquid infusion tube 3. Although it is not shown in the drawings, a medical liquid injection unit such as an injection needle or catheter is connected to an end of the liquid infusion tube 3.
After the door 2 is closed and the liquid infusion tube 3 is interposed between the main body 1 and the door 2, the finger drive means is operated. Then, the fingers 4 repeatedly successively compress the portion of the liquid infusion tube 3 in the longitudinal direction. The compressing member 5 supports the liquid infusion tube 3 at a position opposing to the fingers 4 that are moving in the above-mentioned manner. Thus, medical liquid supplied from a medical liquid storage means to the liquid infusion tube 3 is transferred in constant amounts along the liquid infusion tube 3 by the compressing operation of the fingers 4 and the supporting function of the door 2. The medical liquid is infused into the target by the medical liquid injection unit. During this process, if an excessive load is applied to the liquid infusion tube 3 by the fingers 4, the compressing member 5 moves away from the liquid infusion tube 3 and supports the liquid infusion tube 3, thus preventing the liquid infusion tube 3 from being damaged.
However, in the conventional liquid infusion apparatus, the compressing member 5 and the coil spring 6 which are used to elastically compress the liquid infusion tube 3 are installed on the door 2. The structure of the door 2 is therefore complex. Further, when the door 2 opens, the complex structure of the door 2 is exposed to the outside, increasing the possibility of the door 2 being damaged. Hence, there is a disadvantage in that a separate element is required to cover the complex structure of the door 2 and protect it. Also the thickness of the door 2 is increased, making it difficult to modify the design of it to compactify the apparatus.
Moreover, if the door 2 opens when the conventional liquid infusion apparatus is being operated, transferring medical liquid from the liquid infusion pump cannot be controlled. In this case, medical liquid supplied from the medical liquid storage means to the liquid infusion tube 3 is directly infused into the target. Depending on the kind of medical liquid, the patient that is the target may be put into a coma or die of shock. Therefore, improvements are required to overcome the above problems.
Furthermore, when the conventional liquid infusion apparatus is being operated, if a portion of the liquid infusion tube 3 that is at an outlet-side based on the liquid infusion pump is undesirably bent or the medical liquid injection unit is filled with medical liquid, the liquid infusion tube 3 may be blocked. If the blocked liquid infusion tube 3 is neglected, infusion of medical liquid is interrupted, and the internal pressure of the liquid infusion tube 3 is increased by medical liquid which is continuously supplied by the liquid infusion pump, thus excessively expanding the liquid infusion tube 3 and damaging it. Thus, a device which can reliably detect whether the liquid infusion tube 3 is blocked during the liquid infusion process is required.


A video player includes a CPU adapted to receive video data from an external electronic apparatus, two memories, and a video encoder connected to a video output device. The CPU stores video data from the external electronic apparatus in a first memory at first, and then stores received video data in a second memory when the first memory fully occupied, and at the same time transfers storage video data from the first memory to the video output device through the video encoder, and then switches the storage path to store received video data in the first memory again when the second memory fully occupied, and at the same time, transfers storage video data from the second memory to the video output device through the video encoder, for enabling all received video data to be completely transmitted to the video output device for output in the form of a moving picture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a video player connectable for use with a mobile electronic apparatus and, more particularly, to such a video player, which comprises a CPU, two memory devices adapted to continuously alternatively receive video data from the connected external electronic apparatus subject to the control of the CPU, and to continuously alternatively transmit received video data to a display for motion video output.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following fast development of computer technology, computers of relatively higher operating power and faster operating speed are known. In order to expand the data storage capacity of a mobile computer, electronic dictionary, digital camera, or the like, electronic cards such as network cards, modem cards, SCSI cards are developed. Electronic cards for use in a computer system are commonly of PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) architecture. Various PCMCIA compatible interfaces such as PCMCIA to SCSI, PCMCIA to IDE, etc. have been developed for notebook computers. Most notebook computers support plug and play as well as hot plug. In additional to PCMCIA based memory cards, various other memory cards, such as MMCs (Multimedia Cards), CFs (CompactFlash Cards), SMCs (SmartMedia Cards), MSs (Memory Sticks), SDs (Secure Digital Memory Cards) are commercially available for use in a variety of electronic apparatus (digital cameras, digital video cameras, translation machines, personal digital assistants).
However, due to limited function of the built-in CPU and related software, a PDA (personal digital assistant) is practical for displaying still photos only, not practical for displaying a moving picture.


A fitting for connection with a pipe end configured to have a medium flow therethrough, the fitting including a connecting section having a circumferentially-extending groove, a sealing element arranged in the grove, and a protection sleeve configured to be arranged over the groove and displaceable between a first position and a second position. The first position of the protection sleeve covers the groove at least partially and the second position of the protection sleeve exposes the groove at least partially. An amount of exposure of the groove is greater in the second position than an amount of exposure of the groove in the first position.

The present disclosure relates to a fitting, in, for example, the installation field. The fitting is for connection with an end of a pipe through which a medium can flow. The fitting includes a connecting section with a circumferentially extending groove in which a sealing element is arranged. The present disclosure also relates to a corresponding joining arrangement, for example, also for the installation field. The joining arrangement includes a fitting and an end of a pipe through which a medium can flow, which end is connected with the fitting. The present disclosure also relates to a corresponding process for the production of a joining arrangement, for example, for the installation field. A fitting is provided which has a connecting section having a circumferentially extending groove, and a sealing element being arranged in the groove.
A fitting of the above-mentioned type is used for connecting with an end of a pipe through which a medium can flow. A sealing element extends in a groove at the fitting in a connecting section. In the mounted condition, that is, in the case of a finished joining arrangement, this sealing element has a sealing effect with respect to the pipe end and with respect to the bottom of the groove.
Generally, in the case of a joining arrangement of the above-described type, the pipe end is pushed in the axial direction over the connecting section and the sealing element situated in the groove. While this is taking place or subsequently, the pipe end is axially fixed against an unintentional pulling-out. For this purpose, for example, a cutting element is provided which cuts into the wall of the pipe end. This is customary in the case of a plug-type joining where the pipe end is only fitted onto or into the fitting and is thereby automatically fixed. However, it is within the scope of the present disclosure to secure the pipe end, which is pushed onto or into the fitting, by compression joining, during which a pressure sleeve is compressed in a pressing tool, against an axial pushing-out.
However, in both cases mentioned above, it is problematic that, when the pipe end is pushed onto the connecting section of the fitting, the sealing element, generally, projects partially out of the groove, is damaged or destroyed. Also, during the pushing-on of the pipe end, the sealing element may be pressed out of the groove. The results are leaks within the system.
The present disclosure relates to a fitting wherein an optimal tightness is ensured for the long term.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a fitting includes a protection sleeve which can be displaced in the axial direction between a first position and a second position. In the first position, the protection sleeve covers the groove at least partially and, in the second position, releases or exposes the groove at least partially. The groove may be arranged in the interior of the connecting section as well as in a surrounding manner on the outside on the connecting section. Correspondingly, the protection sleeve may be arranged in the interior of the connecting section or on the outside on the connecting section.
A fitting, according to the present disclosure, may be made, for example, of a plastic material or of metal. The sealing element may be completely covered in the first position of the protection sleeve. Furthermore, it may be provided that the groove is completely covered in the first position. As used herein, "completely covered" is a covering at least in the radial direction.
An advantage for an at least partial covering, is that the sealing element is protected from damage, destruction or displacement when the pipe is pushed on or in. That is because the front end of the pipe does not come in contact with the sealing element. According to the present disclosure, during the pushing-on or pushing-in of the pipe end, the sealing element is released or exposed only when the front of the pipe end has passed the sealing element in the groove in the axial direction. The reason is that, as a result of the pushing-on or pushing-in of the pipe end, the pipe is first pushed onto the protection sleeve. Thus, the movement of the pipe end is transmitted to the protection sleeve, so that the front end of the pipe, while being spaced away from the sealing element, is guided away over the latter. After a certain axial displacement of the protection sleeve, the sealing element is then released and comes into a sealing contact with the pipe wall.
Another advantage of the covering of the groove or of the sealing element, such as when it is a complete covering, is an improved protection against contamination. Thus, when storing fittings and particularly when handling fittings on construction sites, dirt particles may penetrate into the groove of the connecting section. As is known in the prior art, such dirt particles result in an increased risk of leakages. This is prevented, according to the present disclosure, by the covering of the groove or of the sealing element.
As described above, during the pushing-on or pushing-in of the pipe end in the second position of the protection sleeve, the groove is at least partially released or exposed just far enough that the sealing element relaxes and comes in a sealing contact with the pipe end. An effective sealing is achieved especially when the sealing element is completely released in the second position. In such a case, the groove can also be completely released in the second position. In this manner, an optimal contact of the sealing element on the wall of the pipe is made possible. The sealing element may be a sealing ring, such as, for example, an O-ring.
According to a further embodiment of a fitting, according to the present disclosure, the protection sleeve has a device which interacts with the pipe end such that a movement of the pipe end relative to the connecting section can be transmitted to the protection sleeve. In this manner, as soon as the pipe end has been pushed onto the protection sleeve, the protection sleeve cannot be pushed manually in the axial direction into the second position but this can take place automatically by the mere movement of the pipe end. For this purpose, the device may be a stop constructed on, for example, or molded onto the protection sleeve. It is within the scope of the present disclosure to provide a corresponding stop at the pipe end which transmits the movement of the pipe end to the protection sleeve. The molding-on or forming of a stop directly on the protection sleeve, however, requires fewer expenditures.
The stop may, for example, be formed by a radial widening or narrowing of an end of the protection sleeve, such as in a cross-sectionally curved course. It is within the scope of the present disclosure to construct the protection sleeve in a conical shape at least in sections. The protection sleeve as a whole, that is, along its entire length, may also have a conical course. A stop in the shape of a radial widening or narrowing has an advantage that the pushing-on or pushing-in of the protection sleeve into the area of the connecting section is simplified, such as when a certain pressure is to be exercised on the sealing element. A radially expanded or contracted end or a course of the protection sleeve which is conical at least in sections has an advantage that, for a finished joining arrangement, or a completely pushed-on or pushed-in pipe end, a clamping of the pipe in the fitting is caused or at least aided. It is within the scope of the present disclosure to construct the protection sleeve partially, such as completely cylindrically, and to provide a cross-sectional expansion or contraction, such as a surrounding shoulder, as the stop.
According to an embodiment of the fitting according to the present disclosure, the protection sleeve can be displaced between the first position and the second position by a translatory movement. It is within the scope of the present disclosure that, in addition, a rotatory movement is used or required in order to displace the protection sleeve from the first into the second position.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a securing of the protection sleeve against an unintentional displacement is provided. In other words, during the handling of the fitting, for example, during its production or later at the construction site, it is avoided that the sealing element or the groove in the connecting section of the fitting are unintentionally released and/or exposed to damaging environmental influences. A securing also prevents an unintentional losing of the protection sleeve. A securing is possible, for example, in that the protection sleeve is applied under tension, such as a slight press fit, to the connecting section or is inserted into the latter. It is within the scope of the present disclosure to shrink on the protection sleeve. Another possibility of a securing with respect to an unintentional displacement is increasing the frictional resistance between the protection sleeve and the connecting section. In other words, the frictional resistance permits a displacement of the protection sleeve only under a predetermined pressure in the axial direction. In order to increase the frictional resistance with respect to the original surface or with respect to other surface sections of the fitting, the surface of the protection sleeve and/or of the connecting section may, for example, be roughened at least in sections or be provided with an axial stop, such as at the end facing the pipe end.
According to an embodiment of the fitting of the present disclosure, the sealing element can be compressed by the protection sleeve in the first position in the radial direction. It is within the scope of the present disclosure that the sealing element can be compressed by displacing the protection sleeve into the first and/or the second position. In last-mentioned example, the protection sleeve has a section which, in the first position in the radial direction, is arranged over the sealing element and is constructed such that the sealing element is less compressed than in another position. In this manner, it is ensured that, at least during the pushing-on or pushing-in of the pipe end and the subsequent displacement of the protection sleeve, the sealing element is pressed so far into the groove that it cannot be damaged or destroyed by the pipe end. Before the pushing-on or pushing-in of the pipe, it is, however, not absolutely necessary that the sealing element is kept permanently deformed. On the contrary, the service life of the sealing element is clearly increased when the sealing element, although it is covered, is nevertheless relaxed or at least partially relaxed.
The section of the protection sleeve which causes an at least partial relaxing of the sealing element in the condition in which the pipe is not yet pushed on or in may, for example, have a flexible construction. It is within the scope of the present disclosure to provide one or more slots in this section. A cross-sectional expansion or contraction may also be provided in the section. The section may have a conical construction, in which case the cone may be simultaneously used as the stop for the pipe end. All these devices make it possible that the sealing element is as relieved as possible in the not yet installed condition but is nevertheless protected at the point in time of the pushing-on or pushing in of the pipe end with respect to the latter.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the fitting has a sleeve-shaped cap which surrounds the connecting section at a predetermined distance. Thus, the pipe end can be pushed in between the connecting section and the sleeve-shaped cap. On the one hand, such a sleeve-shaped cap is use as a guide of the pipe end and, on the other hand, permits also the axial fixing, for example, by locking. The axial fixing can be achieved, for example, in that the sleeve-shaped cap has a cutting element on the interior side. As a result of a simultaneous effect of the stop on the protection sleeve, on the one hand, and of the cutting element, on the other hand, the pipe end can be optimally locked in the fitting.
It should be pointed out that, at the point in time at which the pipe end is pushed onto the connecting section, the protection sleeve does not yet necessarily have to be in the first position, in which the groove is at least partially covered. The protection sleeve may, at the beginning of the sliding-on of the pipe end, relative to the sliding direction, also be arranged in front of the first position, thus in front of the groove, and may only as a result of the displacing of the pipe end be moved from this starting position into the first position. It is, therefore, not necessarily required that, at the moment at which the sliding-on of the pipe section starts, the protection sleeve is already in the first position. But, for example, it must only be ensured that the protection sleeve initially is in a position which prevents the pipe end from coming in contact with the sealing element when the pipe end is pushed over the groove. Thus, it is provided, according to another embodiment of the fitting of the present disclosure, that the protection sleeve can be moved into the first position and/or into the second position by the displacement of the pipe end. The protection sleeve may already be in the first position at the beginning of the slide-on operation and already covers the groove and, as required, the sealing element at least partially.
The present disclosure also relates to a joining arrangement having a fitting as described above.
According to the present disclosure, the fitting ensures that, for example, in the case of an at least partial covering, when the pipe is pushed on or in, the sealing element is protected from damage, destruction or displacement. Thus, a tightness of the joining arrangement is achieved that is high for a long time.
The present disclosure also relates to a process wherein a protection sleeve is arranged in a first position on the connecting section, which covers the groove at least partially, and an end of a pipe is pushed onto or into the connecting section. In such a case, the protection sleeve is displaced in the axial direction into a second position in which the groove is at least partially released or exposed.
The process, according to the present disclosure, includes an advantage that, for an at least partial covering, during the pushing-on or pushing-in of the pipe, the sealing element is protected against damage, destruction and displacement. This leads, for example, to an improved tightness of the joining arrangement.
According to an embodiment of the process according to the present disclosure, in the first position, the sealing element is covered by the protection sleeve and, in the second position, is released by the protection sleeve to such an extent that the sealing element relaxes and comes in a sealing contact with the pipe end.
Before the pushing onto the pipe end, the protection sleeve may also be arranged in front of the groove, and thus in front of the first position. Then the protection sleeve, during a further pushing of the pipe end onto the connecting section, is first moved into the first position and subsequently into the second position. Correspondingly, according to another embodiment of the process of the present disclosure, it is provided that the protection sleeve is moved into the first and/or into the second position by the displacement of the pipe end.
Other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following descriptions when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fitting and joining arrangmenent having a fitting


An upper-body frame for a vehicle includes a roof frame which is made of a carbon fiber composite material, and which forms a perimeter frame of a roof of the vehicle, and has a closed-loop shape. Door frames which are made of carbon fiber composite material, and form respective perimeter frames of door opening parts of a vehicle body, and each of which has an upper part that is connected to a corresponding side part of the roof frame. A windshield frame is made of a carbon fiber composite material and forms a perimeter frame of a windshield opening part of the vehicle. The windshield frame has an upper part which is connected to a front part of the roof frame, and side parts which is connected to respective front parts of the door frames.

In conventional steel body in white (BIW) upper-body frames, as shown in FIG. 1, opening parts of the roof, side, windshield, and lead frames form individual section structures, and frames of the opening parts partially form open sections. That is, as shown in portions A and B, ends of each member are discontinuous as if they are cut off. The discontinuous ends of the member are separately connected to other frames.
Because of such opening parts and open sections of the upper-body frames, it is difficult to ensure the rigidity of a vehicle body, the strength of a roof, and the durability of the vehicle body. Furthermore, to form a closed section structure, the number of elements needed for assembling and connecting the frames is increased, and the assembly process is complicated.
Moreover, in the conventional discontinuous-member connection structure, it is difficult to ensure a sufficient strength of the vehicle body to maintain space for passengers when a vehicle collision or rollover occurs.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and is not intended to mean that the present disclosure falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.


A sterile X-ray imaging C-arm cover is provided. The sterile X-ray imaging C-arm cover includes an enclosure configured to be secured to a medical table and to cover a portion of a C-arm, two sidewalls extending from a rotation end to a bottom end. The enclosure may include a front wall extending between the two sidewalls, enabling a medical professional to move around the enclosure to access a patient on the medical table. The enclosure may include a bottom wall coupled to the front wall and the two sidewalls, wherein the two sidewalls, the front wall, and the bottom wall form an envelope configured to receive the portion of the C-arm. The sterile X-ray imaging C-arm cover may include one or more securing mechanisms configured to secure the C-arm cover to the medical table, wherein the one or more securing mechanisms are positioned at the rotation end of the enclosure.

During medical procedures, patients are often positioned on medical tables configured to give medical professionals adequate access to the patients during the medical procedure. The medical professionals, however, are not always able to view necessary areas of the patient's anatomy with the naked eye and require medical imaging equipment to view the areas needed to successfully perform the medical procedures.
Unfortunately, during many medical procedures, it is not possible or practical to perform imaging, e.g., X-ray imaging, on a patient using standard imaging equipment due to the size and shape of certain imaging equipment and the positioning of the patient during the medical procedure. In order to overcome this obstacle, X-ray imaging systems incorporating C-arms are often used during medical procedures in order to image a patient or portions of a patient at angles, positions, and locations where standard imaging equipment would not be possible or practical.
C-arm imaging systems typically incorporate X-ray generators and imaging equipment and, as the name suggests, a C-shaped arm configured to rotate around a fixed axis (typically rotating around a medical table during a medical procedure) and image patients in real-time during medical procedures. While in use, the C-arm typically rotates under and around a medical table on which the medical procedure is performed. By rotating the C-arm around the medical table, the imaging system is capable of imaging the patient or portions of the patient at various angles.
While the C-arm brings with it practically in terms of imaging patients, it also brings with it sterility concerns. Since the C-arm rotates around the medical table, the C-arm comes into close proximity to the patient upon the medical table. This places the C-arm in the position of possibly becoming contaminated by the patient on the medical table. In order to maintain the sterility of the C-arm, covers are used to prevent contact between the patient and C-arm. These covers must maintain coverage of the portion of the C-arm that may come into contact with the patient.
During imaging, it is beneficial for medical professionals to be able to have access to the patient. However, common C-arm covers couple to the medical table along the length of the medical table. In this setup, when the C-arm is inserted into the C-arm cover, the C-arm cover expands at all points along the side of the medical table upon insertion of the C-arm, preventing the medical professionals from adequately accessing the patient while the C-arm is in use. For at least this reason, a C-arm cover configured to maintain the sterility of the C-arm while being configured to enable the medical professional to have adequate access to the patent is needed.


A system that is configured to coordinate student dismissal at end of day. The system may use a central server to maintain information across multiple different devices, each for different functions in the dismissal process.

End-of-day dismissal presents particular challenges at many schools. The process must ensure that students of all ages safely get to their appropriate transport or afterschool activity. Parents and drivers, on the other hand, wish the process to occur as "timely" as possible so as not to stand idle or "wait" for too long. Quite often, these interests (among others) tend to stand in exact opposition with one another.
New tools attempt to balance these competing interests. These tools automate some, or even all, of the dismissal process to move students from their classrooms to designated pick-up areas or other areas (or activities). While efficient, some tools require the school to deploy new hardware, which can give rise to other issues or problems including hardware reliability or maintenance (at least to replace batteries). Other tools require the school to adopt new or different processes that can disrupt current workflow, require training (or re-training) of staff, or simply overly complicate dismissal with extraneous features not necessary for the school to achieve its underlying objective to ensure students get safely and timely off of campus at the end of the school day.

Coordinating information across multiple devices to facilitate end-of-day dismissal at a school


A nanowire according to the present invention includes: a nanowire body made of a crystalline semiconductor as a first material; and a plurality of fine particles, which are made of a second material, including a constituent element of the semiconductor, and which are located on at least portions of the surface of the nanowire body. The surface of the nanowire body is smooth.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nanowire in which fine particles have been formed in a self-organizing manner on the surface of a nanowire body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Researches and developments have been carried on extensively in order to reduce the feature sizes of transistors for large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs) or thin-film transistors (TFTs) for flat-panel displays. In a silicon semiconductor process, fine line patterning with a design rule of 0.1 μm or less is realized by shortening the wavelength of an exposing radiation source for a photolithographic process. However, according to the conventional photolithography technology, the feature size cannot be reduced unlimitedly. Also, as the feature size has been reduced, the costs of exposure systems and masking members have been rising steeply.
Meanwhile, carbon nanotubes (see Non-Patent Document No. 1) and nanowires made of a material with semiconductor type properties (see Patent Document No. 1) have attracted a lot of attention recently. Carbon nanotubes and nanowires are very small structures with a diameter of about 1 nm to about 1 μm and can be formed in a self-organizing manner. That is why with those carbon nanotubes or nanowires, a high-performance electronic device of a nanometer scale could be realized even without adopting those advanced photolithography or etching technologies. For that reason, those nanostructures are expected to contribute to manufacturing high-performance devices at a reduced cost without resorting to those complicated process technologies.
Hereinafter, a conventional nanowire structure will be described with reference to FIG. 20.
FIG. 20(a) schematically illustrates the structure of a nanowire. This nanowire has a length of about 500 nm to about 1 mm, which may be appropriately determined according to its application.
FIG. 20(b) shows a nanowire 201, of which the core portion 202 (as the inner portion) and the shell portion 203 (as the outer portion) are made of mutually different materials (see Patent Document No. 2). Such a nanowire will be referred to herein as a "core-shell nanowire".
FIG. 20(c) shows a nanowire 204 in which first and second semiconductor nanowires 205 and 206 are arranged in its length direction (see Patent Document No. 2). Such a nanowire will be referred to herein as a "hetero-nanowire".
According to a normal heterogrowth technology that involves an epitaxy process, the lattice constants need to match at the heterojunction in order to reduce defects and dislocations, and therefore, the types of materials available are limited. However, a nanowire with a pseudo-one-dimensional structure could relax the stress that would be caused due to a mismatch of lattice constants, thus allowing for a more flexible selection of materials.
As described above, those nanowires that could realize nanostructures or material engineering in a self-organizing manner are widely expected as promising materials.
Non-Patent Document No. 2 reports that by doping a silicon nanowire with boron, the outside diameter of the nanowire can be increased and its surface comes to get rugged and have gold-rich fine particles thereon (which are called "nanoparticles").                Patent Document No. 1: Japanese Translation of PCT International Application No. 2004-535066        Patent Document No. 2: Japanese Translation of PCT International Application No. 2004-532133        Non-Patent Document No. 1: R. Martel, et. al., "Single- and Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors", Appl. Phys. Lett. 73p, p. 2447, 1998        Non-Patent Document No. 2: L. Pan, et al., "Effect of Diborane on the Microstructure of Boron-Doped Silicon Nanowires", J. Cryst. Growth 277, p. 428, 2005
Nanowires have been researched extensively recently as prospective materials for use in various applications. However, since nanowires are extremely fine structures, it is very difficult to increase their functions by performing further fine-line patterning on the surface of the nanowires.
Non-Patent Document No. 1 discloses that if a nanowire being grown is doped with a dopant, the resultant nanowire will have irregular ruggedness. However, the formation of such ruggedness is non-controllable and is hard to apply to electronic devices.
It is known that a great many fine particles could be formed on the surface of a nanowire depending on the growth conditions of the nanowire. But a technique for selectively forming such fine particles on a desired region of a nanowire is not known yet. If the formation and distribution of those fine particles on the surface of a nanowire could be controlled, then a nanowire with fine particles should be applicable to various electronic devices. Unfortunately, though, nobody has ever developed such a control technique yet as of today.
In order to overcome the problems described above, the present invention has an object of providing a nanowire in which fine particles have been formed in a self-organizing manner on the surface of a nanowire body, a device including such nanowires, and a method of making such a nanowire.

Nanowire, method for fabricating the same, and device having nanowires